After a string of terror attacks in the country, Pakistan Army has moved heavy artillery towards the Pak-Afghan border in Chaman and Torkham districts. By Hamza Ameer: Pakistan Army has moved heavy artillery towards the Afghan border as part of its "enhanced security arrangements" in the border region, aimed at combating terrorism. After a string of terror attacks in the country, Pakistan Army has moved heavy artillery towards the Pak-Afghan border in Chaman and Torkham districts. The move came just two days after the military targeted the camps of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan's Jamatul Ahrar (JA) faction on the Torkham border opposite to Mohmand and Khyber agencies of the tribal areas. advertisement Pakistan alleges that the group, which claims to be behind the recent wave of terrorist attacks, has found "safe haven" in Afghanistan. More than 130 suspected terrorists have been killed and over 350 people, mostly Afghans, arrested in Pakistan as part of a nationwide crackdown by security forces following a string of suicide bombings in the country. Senior police officers were among 16 people killed when a Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up during a protest rally outside Pakistan's Punjab assembly in Lahore last Monday. On Wednesday, at least seven people were killed and several others, including judges, injured in two separate suicide attacks in Pakistan's restive northwest region. One of the deadliest suicide bombing in Pakistan in recent times struck Thursday night at the Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine in Sehwan area of southern Sindh province where at least 88 people were killed and over 200 injured in an attack claimed by the Islamic State - Khorasan chapter. ALSO READ:Sehwan blast: 100 killed in suicide attack at Sindh's Shahbaz Qalandar shrine; Pakistan-Afghanistan border shut --- ENDS --- See original here By Larry Kirsch and Mel Gurtov V.I. Lenin, no slouch as a political commentator in his day, was the author of a strategically important 1901 pamphlet entitled "What Is to be Done?" with an opening section "Where to Begin?" Precisely the same questions -- in totally different contexts, of course -- are uppermost in people's minds today. What should those of us in the loyal opposition be doing now that Donald Trump has assumed the office of president? And where should we begin? Pressing for prompt impeachment proceedings should be our first port of call and not just a strategy of last resort. George Packer (writing in The New Yorker) recently argued that Trump should be given enough time to break his campaign promise to govern like an autocrat. We demur. Delaying decisive action simply increases the likelihood that Trump and senior White House strategists like Steve Bannon will find new and better ways of taking seriously toxic and irreversible missteps. The impeachment of Donald Trump is legitimate legally, promising politically, and far more pragmatic as a solution than many of the alternatives now being bandied about. Today's menu of Trump's "high crimes and misdemeanors," as assayed by legal scholars and former ethics officials, ranges from fraud (Trump University) to foreign financial corruption (emoluments) to treason ("aid and comfort" as defined in the Constitution). And it doesn't take a cynic to imagine that the brazen and uncontrolled Mr. Trump will stop there. As his financial web unravels, as it almost certainly will, the menu will only increase in length, variety, and downright outrageousness. The immediate keys to a successful impeachment campaign have two main components. By definition, the process in the House and Senate is political and the pressure for partisan avoidance and procrastination (of the "cut Trump some slack" variety) will be enormous. To succeed in both houses, some number of Republicans will have to be convinced to cross over. In all probability, frank revulsion by the degree of moral corruption displayed by Trump will convince potential cross-overs that their constituents will turn against them if they are seen to be impeachment deniers. Thus, the very first decision (and a low bar it is, indeed) must be the selection of the impeachable offenses to be filed against Donald Trump. They must obviously be legally flawless but they must also be politically compelling in the eyes of potential swing Republicans. The imperative, here, is to be sufficiently selective while trolling in Mr. Trump's shop of horrors. The more difficult choice may be selection of the right standard bearer for a Dump Trump impeachment campaign. Ideally, the best nominee should be a person of unquestioned stature and integrity, the necessary conviction and demeanor to serve in this capacity, highly regarded across the political spectrum (not simply in one camp or another), and able to obtain the necessary financial commitments and mobilize and provide leadership to an as yet to be created team of impeachment workers. We hereby nominate Vice President Joe Biden as our leader. Biden meets each of the criteria: stature and integrity, conviction and demeanor, political regard, financial access, and leadership skills. One other attribute merits special recognition. Biden served for two decades as a highly regarded member and then chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he worked side-by-side with two incumbent Republican members, Chuck Grassley and Orrin Hatch. While neither can reliably be counted on for impeachment support, both have been publicly critical of Trump from time to time, the two seem to enjoy good collegial relations with Biden, and each has sufficient tenure to be more independent than many of their peers. While many people will be fighting back against Trump on specific issues -- health care, the environment, labor, foreign policy -- impeachment sharpens the focus on the threat Donald Trump poses to our country's values, institutions, and national security. Even if impeachment does not immediately get sufficient support in the Senate, it puts Trump on notice for the future. A must see movie for all Americans is "Inherit the Wind" (1960, Stanley Kramer, Director). To those who never saw this film, it accurately portrays the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial in Dayton, Tennessee. The trial of substitute high school teacher John Scopes was for breaking Tennessee's Butler Act, which forbade the teaching of evolution in state funded schools. In a nutshell, the film had many levels to it in addition to the story line of questioning the legality of such a law. What really frightened this writer, and yes, frightened is the proper word to use, is how 92 years later America has not ( to use the apropos word) evolved at all! In the film we are made to look at Dayton, Tennessee (renamed Hillsboro for the film) and its inhabitants. This was deep in the Bible Belt and most of the townspeople reflected it, excepting the very few who did not subscribe exactly to fundamentalist Christianity. That minority was looked upon as heathens and godless outcasts. Satan was deemed to be alive and well in the hearts and minds, and yes, the very souls of anyone anywhere who refused to go along with this Old Time Religion . We could see and hear the townspeople marching and singing that song as they first welcomed Mathew Harrison Brady; and later when they burned school teacher Bertram Cates in effigy. This fanaticism was furthermore reflected in the person of Mathew Harrison Brady (portraying William Jennings Bryan, and played brilliantly by Frederic March) as their ' spiritual savior ' and lead prosecutor in the trial. He was transformed through the townspeople's childlike adoration of him into almost a godlike and all-knowing savior. Brady had come and he would damn the sinner and transgressor Cates for all his blasphemous garbage about Darwin and evolution. Brady's adversary in this quest for God's glory was Henry Drummond, Chicago activist attorney, self-proclaimed agnostic and Brady's longtime friend and political supporter (played by Academy Award nominee Spencer Tracy).They did battle in the courtroom for more than just John Scopes or evolution itself. They were battling for what was really on trial in Dayton, Tennessee: The right of someone to think and reason for one! Keep in mind that the Inherit the Wind novel was written a mere seven years after that disgraceful era called McCarthyism, a time all of us should revisit and study. Look how far we have actually fallen as a nation, as a culture for that matter. We have a president who used Muslim and Mexican bashing to help him recruit supporters. His VP is a far right wing evangelical fanatic, worse even than Trump when it comes to trumpeting pre-emptive war against the Muslims. Millions of Amerikans either belong to or agree with this phony Tea Party adoration that mirrors the ' America First ' and fascist leaning movements of the 1930s. These people have learned ZERO from our disgraceful and illegal pre-emptive invasions and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq, or our destructive carpet bombing of Libya. Just as the crazy Islamic State thinks that God is theirs and theirs alone, so do the right wing Christians (and Zionist of Israel and Amerika) think the same about the God they have decided to worship. Utter insanity! Where does hypocrisy fit into all this? Well, we know that the far right wing, which is the Republican Party, is full of hypocrites. The Chicken hawks are most evident, made up of A) All those men who supported and trumpeted the Vietnam War, yet refused to go and serve there and B) All those men, and yes now women too, who were of age to join up for Iraq War 1 and Iraq War 2 and chose to stay home, but were full of " USA USA " bluster. They spend their time , especially those in elected office, railing against what they call ' entitlements ' and keep voting to increase this obscene military spending ( now over 50% of our taxes). They have the nerve to complain about Obama Care as socialism, when it really was a complete sellout to private health insurers; yet they have their own top grade and free socialist health coverage that our taxes pay for... even after they leave office! The other side of this hypocrisy is of course the center/ right wing of the Two Party system, the Democrats. This group likes to tell us how they ' Feel your pain etc. ' and then go along with the Military Industrial Complex. Under their ' savior', Mr. Obama, military spending topped 56% of our taxes in 2011. The Democrats supported Obama's 10 times increase in drone missile attacks, his NATO led destruction of Libya and continuation of our over 1000 permanent military bases in over 100 countries! Just as the Bush/Cheney gang was responsible for tens of thousands of civilian deaths through bombing and missile attacks, Obama and the Democrats signed off, and continue to sign off on such horror. The Democrats agreed with Obama's decision to continue the Bush/Cheney bailout of the crooked Wall Street crowd, which we taxpayers will be paying off for generations! Watching Inherit The Wind should allow you to see how rigid and foolish many of our fellow citizens still are. Just yesterday our new president had a rally in Melbourne, Florida. The first plan in his agenda was for his wife to lead the mob in prayer. No, they did not sing "Old Time Religion" but could easily have. Then, Mr. Trump had this ' ramped up ' supporter of his, another 'Joe the Plumber' type, Gene Huber, recite his love and adoration for his president, wearing ( I kid you not) a black tee shirt (Hitler's National Socialist color of choice) with the words 'President Donald Trump'. Melbourne was transformed into Hillsboro, Tennessee for the afternoon. Thus a warning to those of us who ' know better: If we do not stand up and protest this fanaticism... " He that troubleth his own house will inherit the wind, and the fool shall be servant to the wise in heart." See original here By Frank Vyan Walton Well he may call the media "Fake" and an "Enemy of the American people" but he apparently can't stop himself from watching and reading it incessantly, particularly when he's the subject. "'Our Intelligence Community is so worried by the unprecedented problems of the Trump administration -- not only do senior officials possess troubling ties to the Kremlin, there are nagging questions about basic competence regarding Team Trump -- that it is beginning to withhold intelligence from a White House which our spies do not trust,' wrote former analyst for the National Security Agency Jack R. Schindler. "The Director of National Intelligence flatly denied this was happening and Pompeo released a strongly worded statement saying the same. "'It is CIA's mission to provide the President with the best intelligence possible and to explain the basis for that intelligence,' the statement read. 'The CIA does not, has not, and will never hide intelligence from the President, period.'" So the DNI and the CIA Director have both denied this is the case, but then both of them are Trump appointees and the reports of potentially damaging information being withheld from the White House because of concerns that it could be leaked to Russia goes back all the way to the transition, before either Pompeo or the DNI were put before the Senate for confirmation, so how would they know what it is that they don't know and aren't being told? Apparently all of this has Trump incensed. As reported by CBS... Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). The Panneerselvam faction is all set to get another jolt with disqualification staring in the face of 11 of its MLAs. By Kumar Shakti Shekhar: The rebel faction of ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu, led by former chief minister O Panneerselvam, suffered its first major setback on the floor of the house on Saturday when the rival VK Sasikala faction's Edappadi Palaniswami won the trust vote. The Panneerselvam faction is all set to get another jolt with disqualification staring in the face of 11 of its MLAs. advertisement WHIPS OF PALANISWAMI AND PANNEERSELVAM FACTIONS Before the trust motion was tabled in the House, both the factions had issued whips to all the MLAs. While AIADMK chief whip S Rajendran, owing allegiance to the Sasikala faction, asked all MLAs to remain present in the House and vote in favour of Palaniswami, a similar whip was issued by S Semmalai, appointed by AIADMK presidium chairman Madhusudanan as chief whip of the Panneerselvam camp. However, the only difference was that it asked the MLAs to vote against the confidence motion moved by Palaniswami. Even before the confidence motion was moved, both the main opposition parties - DMK and Congress - demanded secret voting. Congress boycotted the House when Speaker P Dhanapal rejected the demand. MAYHEM BEFORE TRUST VOTE On the other hand, the DMK MLAs allegedly created unprecedented ruckus in recent times inside the House and were evicted on the orders of the Speaker. Hence, only AIADMK MLAs were available in the House to vote. While 122 MLAs voted in favour of Palaniswami's confidence motion, 11 voted against it and two abstained. Also read: Tamil Nadu CM E Palaniswami's trust vote challenged by DMK in Madras High Court, hearing tomorrow Eleven of these 13 MLAs, who voted against the whip issued by the Palaniswamy faction, are at the risk of losing their Assembly seats. The whip did not apply on only two MLAs - Panneerselvam and Ma Foi K Pandiarajan - who have been expelled from the AIADMK. 11 MLAs ATTRACT ANTI-DEFECTION LAW But 11 other rebel MLAs, who are still AIADMK MLAs, could neither disobey the whip nor abstain from voting. They stand to lose their membership if AIADMK chief whip S Rajendran of the Palaniswami complains to Speaker P Dhanapal. Talking to India Today, constitutional expert and former Lok Sabha secretary general Subhash Kashyap said, "These 11 MLAs may attract the provisions of the Anti-Defection Act provided the Speaker is petitioned regarding violation of whip. The Speaker, thereafter, can hold hearings as part of quasi-judicial proceedings. He may accordingly arrive at a decision and disqualify these MLAs." The 11 MLAs includes Mylapore legislator and former Tamil Nadu DGP R Nataraj who voted against the Palaniswami government. Nataraj was neutral till a day before the trust vote. However, he finally decided to vote against the government on Saturday. advertisement ALSO WATCH: E Palaniswami's first announcement as Tamil Nadu chief minister ANTI-DEFECTION LAW REGARDING VIOLATING WHIP Disqualification on ground of defection is discussed under Chapter V and Article 73 of the Constitution. The Tenth Schedule to the Constitution, popularly known as the Anti-Defection Law, was introduced by the Constitution (52nd Amendment) Act, 1985 as amended by the Constitution (Ninety-First Amendment) Act, 2003 lays down the conditions regarding disqualification, on ground of defection. The main provisions of the Tenth Schedule are summarised below: (i) An elected member of Parliament or a State Legislature, who has been elected as a candidate set up by a political party and a nominated member of Parliament or a State Legislature who is a member of political party at the time he takes his seat would be disqualified on the ground of defection if he voluntarily gives up his membership of such political party or votes or abstains from voting in the House contrary to any direction of such party. advertisement Also read: Tamil Nadu CM E Palaniswami's first orders: Close 500 liquor shops, mopeds on discount for women --- ENDS --- Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121 "Rob Kall has been in on the modern bottom-up revolution from the ground floor. While the last two years have put the dangers of social media and connectivity at the forefront of our national debate, Rob Kall knows as well as anybody the infinite positive potential of our new world." Jesse Lee, former White House Director of Rapid Response and Social Media Director for Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121 "We need a more Open digital world -- that's good for business, the economy and the future of humanity. To get there is going to take "bottom-up" effort and Rob Kall's book is an exciting roadmap for how that can happen." Rufus Pollock, author of "The Open Revolution", Founder of Open Knowledge, and formerly Mead Fellow in Economics at the University of Cambridge Quicklink Not Found Sometimes, authors delete their quicklinks after publishing them. To see if the quicklink was renamed or re-published, please click here. Progressive Content Not Found Sometimes, authors delete their progressive content after publishing. To see if the progressive content was renamed or re-published, please click here. (Image by Egberto Willies) Details DMCA Senator Al Franken makes a connection with the actions of the Trump administration and the terrorization of people. It is important that Americans understand precisely the importance of what Franken said. Jake Tapper is quick on his feet and heard the connection that Al Franken was making between what terrorists do and what Trump and his administration are doing. The definition of terrorism is "the use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims." The order between violence and intimidation doesn't matter; just that they occur. Al Franken appeared on CNN's State of the Union with Jake Tapper. The following exchange excerpted from this video clip is important and must be understood. Al Franken: I agree with Senator McCain and Senator Graham that, actually, this kind of ban is -- makes us less safe, because it gives a recruiting tool to ISIS and to other jihadists saying that America is anti -- is anti-Muslim. The Syrian refugees, they are fleeing terror. This -- you know, terror is -- the whole point of terror is to make you afraid. Jake Tapper: Right. Al Franken: I think that Trump and his group are trying to make Americans more afraid. I think that's part of how they got elected: Just make us more afraid. Jake Tapper: You're accusing the president -- president of terrorism by making -- by scaring people? Al Franken: Just because the purpose of terrorism is to make you afraid and the president has tried to make people afraid doesn't mean he's involved with... Jake Tapper: Right. OK. I just wanted to define the language. That's all. Many people especially people of color are in fact petrified. They see the writing on the walls. Trump is attempting to make Americans afraid of the other. From his Muslim ban based on a false assertion that terrorism is growing in the U.S, a provably false statement to the fallacy that there is a crime epidemic, to the statement that crime is a huge growing problem in America, also provably false. The intent is to make many afraid which will justify the violent crackdown on many communities, specifically those of color who are not inherently supporters of the Republican Party's distorted view of America and the world. These communities feel terrorized. And those who terrorize communities must be called out for what they are. Al Franken came close. Democrats, Independents, and empathetic Republicans need to finish the job. Podcast Not Found Sometimes, authors delete their podcasts after publishing them. To see if the podcast was renamed or re-published, please click here. Emily Ratajkowski has been the victim of yet another celebrity iCloud nude hack, and a columnist has spoken out about being anonymously sent nude images of the model and actress. Columnist and contestant on 2014s Celebrity Big Brother in the UK, Helen Wood, said she was privately sent over 200 private images of Ratajkowski, and that the anonymous sender asked her to post them in her regular column for the Daily Star. However, rather than release the images, the columnist used it as an opportunity to slam the shitheads who hack womens private images and release them. Last week, I was pondering along through life, when I received a DM on Twitter. No idea who this guy was, but had a peek all the same out of curiosity. Turns out, it was a link to Emily Ratajkowskis iCloud pictures. This clown had inboxed me and asked that I release the full set of naked images in my column. To be clear, this wasnt footage of a randy star salivating at the mouth wanging their bits about while fishing for a random on Skype for a sex sesh. This was private stuff, sent between two people. I know there are some demented people out there, but I cannot get my head around how sick it is. The columnist goes on the write about a disturbing trend shes noticed of men filming women during sex without their consent, and how disgusting it is. Ratajkowski has been the victim of photo hacking twice now, with a major leak of her private images also occurring in 2015 as part of the major nude image leak The Fappening. The man behind this leak, Ryan Collins, has now been jailed for 18 months after pleading guilty to a felony hacking charge and mass invasion of privacy. Ratajkowski said at the time that she did not believe the people who saw the photos are criminals, but the thieves are: I think once its out there, its out there, and Im not sure that anyone who Googles it is necessarily a criminal. I think the people who stole the photos are. Jennifer Lawrence, who was one of the most high-profile celebrities who was targeted during the 2015 leak told press: It is not a scandal. It is a sex crime. It is a sexual violation. Its disgusting. The law needs to be changed, and we need to change. Thats why these Web sites are responsible. Just the fact that somebody can be sexually exploited and violated, and the first thought that crosses somebodys mind is to make a profit from it. Its so beyond me. Ratajkowski is a vocal feminist and a passionate activist for womens choices over their bodies. In a 2016 edition of ES Magazine, she said this about nudity in her art: Like any art, theres a million ways to interpret it. All I can say is that when a woman is naked, thats not immediately anti-feminist. I have no apologies for it, and Im not ashamed at all. She also gained a helluva lot of attention for a topless selfie she took with Kim Kardashian, which included in the caption, #liberated: However sexual our bodies may be, we need to h[a]ve the freedom as women to choose wh[e]n & how we express our sexuality. We are more than just our bodies, but that doesnt mean we have to be shamed for them or our sexuality. #liberated Even if being sexualised by societys gaze is demeaning, there must be a space where women can still be sexual when they choose to be. Why demonise female sexuality if only to keep us in the dark about the power and beauty of our bodies? When were likewe both have nothing to wear LOL @emrata A post shared by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on Mar 30, 2016 at 11:57am PDT The concept of releasing someones private nude images is oft-referred to as digital rape, in the sense that both situations (rape, and the release of someones nude images) deal with lack of consent in a (often) sexual scenario. Its gross and disgusting, and the important thing to remember is that the victim isnt at fault in any way, shape, or form. Their sexual agency and bodily autonomy is their right, and the fault lies with the scumbags who purposely hack private data with the goal of releasing the images to the public. [AUTHOR NOTE: Ive used the term scumbags, but I feel as though labelling them that is getting off lightly. Actual scum of the earth, imo.] If youd like to read it, Helen Woods full article about the new leak of Emily Ratajkowskis photos is here: dailystar.co.uk/showbiz/587758/emily-ratajkowski-hack-helen-wood Source: The Sun. Photo: Instagram / @emrata. By Shalini Lobo: While former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam continues to live in his alloted government house, one thing has changed - his name plate outside his residence on Greensway Road, Chennai. Now, a brown tape covers his designation. O. Panneerselvam served as Tamil Nadu's caretaker chief minister for more than two months but his nameplate never suggested he was the chief minister. His designation all along was Minister of Finance and Administrative Reforms. advertisement The Tamil Nadu Assembly witnessed violence during during the confidence vote sought by Chief Minister E Palaniswami on Saturday (February 18). Opposition DMK members were seen uprooting mics, throwing chairs and paper inside the Assembly following which the Speaker ordered their eviction. DMK leader Stalin, who was taken out of the House by marshals, appeared before the media with a torn shirt and accused of being manhandled inside the Assembly. Stalin even rushed to Governor C Vidyasagar Rao and demanded the trust vote to be postponed. However, his protest had no impact on the floor test as Palaniswami Palaniswani won the trust vote by a 122-11 margin dashing rebel AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam's CM dream. ALSO READ:Edappadi Palaniswami vs O Panneerselvam: 11 Tamil Nadu MLAs face disqualification --- ENDS --- Day 2 of the 2017 Triton Super High Roller Series Manila HK$ 1,000,000 Main Event (approx. $128,800) saw 23 players return to the tables of the exclusive Solaire Resort and Casino. David Peters was the only player to re-enter before the cards got underway. This created a 39-entry strong field and prize pool of HK$ 37,073,400, which equals approximately $4,776,484. The top six spots will earn at least HK$ 2,224,000 ($289,120) while the winner walks home with HK$ 13,717,400 ($1,783,262). It took just over seven hours to reduce the field to the final six and reach the money, setting up the final showdown for tomorrow's final table. Start-of-the-day chip leader and 2016 Big One For One Drop Extravaganza champion Elton Tsang bubbled, while poker superstar Phil Ivey was eliminated two off the money. Daniel Colman's bid of winning back-to-back events within a few days here in Manila was halted close to the money as well, as the former One Drop champion fell in ninth place. Ultimately, it was high-roller regular and Asia expert Sergio Aido, who claimed 2,490,000 and narrowly edged out Koray Aldemir (2,420,000). The other finalists include defending Triton Super High Roller Manila Main Event champion Wai Kin Yong (1,705,000), 2016 Triton Suncity Cup winner Dan Cates (1,475,000), Devan Tang (1,045,000) and Bryn Kenney (615,000). Kenney finished runner-up to Yong here at the Solaire Resort and Casino in November 2016, while Aido won the HK$100,000 Single Day High Roller of the Macau Poker Cup just one week ago for a payday of HK$2,074,000 (~USD $268,000). Aido also finished 4th in the 6-Max Event here in Manila a few days ago, while coming 3rd in the Suncity Cup and the Main Event in 2016 for a combined score of almost $1 million. Backtobacktobacktobacktoback Final table ##1/6 para manana. 2.49M en 1.625M avg. #TritonSHR @drawingpoker Sergio Aido (@petgaming) Final Table Seat Assignments Seat Player Country Chip Count Big Blinds 1 Sergio Aido Spain 2,490,000 83 2 Bryn Kenney United States 615,000 20 3 Devan Tang China 1,045,000 35 4 Dan Cates United States 1,475,000 49 5 Koray Aldemir Germany 2,420,000 80 6 Wai Kin Yong Malaysia 1,705,000 57 Founder of Triton, Richard Yong was among the early casualties after running ace-king into the pocket aces of Aido. He was joined on the rail by Mikita Badziakouski, Rainer Kempe and Mustapha Kanit. Several players got short in chips and the final two tables were set with the elimination of Erik Seidel, who lost most of his chips against John Juanda before running with jack-ten and flopped top pair into the limped pocket aces of Jack Salter. Peter Chan and Yu Liang followed next before David Peters suffered an unfortunate bad beat. Aido four-bet shoved with pocket jacks and found a runner-runner four-card straight to better the pocket kings of the American Highroller regular. Paul Phua fell to the Spaniard right after with ace-ten versus ace-queen suited and Aido held a deadlock on the top-spot of the leader board on the last two tables. Yong doubled through Colman and sent Juanda to the rail next while Aldemir scored a big double against Tang with five-four suited and the flopped nut straight over on the other table. After Jack Salter and Pratyush Buddiga fell in quick succession, the unofficial nine-handed final table was set with Aido in the lead. It would take some time for the next casualty to fall. Colman first had to fold against Kenney and then got his remaining ten big blinds in with ace-nine, only to find himself dominated by the ace-king suited of Cates in the big blind. What followed was the biggest pot of the tournament when Yong three-bet against Aldemir and fired three barrels on a board containing three fours on the flop. Aldemir check-called all three streets with ace-king high and Yong only had ace-deuce suited for the inferior kicker. Wai Kin Yong Yong, Elton Tsang and Phil Ivey were the three shortest stacks two off the money and Ivey would be the one to exit in 8th place. Yong shoved from under the gun with ace-ten suited and Ivey called for ten big blinds with pocket eights. An ace appeared on the turn to send Ivey packing. Down to the last nine, Tsang wanted to bet on himself becoming the bubble boy, but nobody took him up on the offer. The prediction of the Canada-born and Hong Kong-based start-of-the-day leader would become reality when he open-shoved for around 20 big blinds out of the small blind with pocket eights. Yong sweated his cards, found the ace-ten again and called only to spike a ten on the flop to see the bubble burst. The remaining six finalists will return tomorrow at 1 p.m. local time to play down to a winner. Action resumes with 26:33 minutes left in level 16 at blinds of 15,000-30,000 and a running ante of 5,000. Once the last river card is dealt, representatives of Triton, the Solaire Resort and Casino as well as Hublot, the official timekeeper of the 2017 Triton Super High Roller Series Manila, will present the trophies to the 6-Max and Main Event champion. Make sure to tune back in, as the PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor to provide all you need to know for the final showdown in Manila. 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 Francisco De Paula Jr., or just "Noy" as he's called by family and close friends, was driving northbound on Marine Corps Drive in Piti Saturday when he lost control of of the vehicle, which hit a building and overturned. De Paula Jr. died of a skull fracture and a broken neck, said Dr. Aurelio Espinola, Guam's chief medical examiner. The damage of the impact was so severe the red 2003 Acura Integra broke into pieces. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Error! There was an error processing your request. The tragedy ended the life of a man who himself had suffered one loss of a loved one after another. His story is a heart-breaking one, said Sahara J. Defensor, a close family friend. "His dad and my dad were very good friends since they were younger in the Philippines. Noys older brother Franklin was my dads godson. Noy, his three brothers, and I all grew up together; Noy and I were the same age." Defensor said she and De Paula Jr. went to the same schools, hung out at the same family gatherings, and even performed when they were kids at various events hosted by the Guam-Filipino organizations. 'He was always the strong one' His whole family died of health complications," Defensor said. His dad, Francisco, died in 2001. The crash victim's younger brother, Frank Dodoy, died of a heart disease in 2007, when he was 21. His older brother, Franklin, died in 2014; and his mom, Marlyn, died just a year ago, Defensor said. "Every passing of a family member, he was always the strong one helping the remaining family members see the silver lining, Defensor said. When his moms health started declining in a more obvious and transparent way, we can all see that he started to break down so much more, losing some of the spark, but the thing about our family (extended and otherwise) is that we never leave anyone alone, Defensor said. I think he realized that and needed to be stronger for his mom," Defensor said. Noy ... always was there encouraging her to fight and get better so that she can continue to watch her grandsons grow up. De Paula Jr. was the father of three young boys, who are off island living with their mom. When his mom died, all he had were his boys. One could tell he really struggled with trying to understand what was going on in his life, Defensor said. 'Everyone loved him' He used inspirational memes to keep reminding him of good things in life," Defensor said. "When others were going through a loss, he was always the first one to encourage and try to inspire someone to use the love they had for whomever they lost and share it with those living. He wanted to be an example for people to know that life does move on, Defensor reminisced about De Paula Jr. I can still hear his voice. No matter what mood he was in, there was always some humor in it. ... He always said my name the same way (just like he did when seeing his friends and family), with a lot of love, excitement and delight. And it never fails." The crash victim was always very helpful, and when he couldnt lend a hand at that very moment, he would find a way to either help out later on, or do something else to make sure the work got done, according to Defensor. "Everyone loved him for his helpfulness and sincere desire to do good. He had very little, but he was always willing to give whatever he could. Hes going to be missed by so many people, especially his three young boys who loved him so much," Defensor said. "Im not one to share other peoples stories, but I think Nonoy Francis would be proud that Im doing what he always encouraged others to do, share the memories of those we have lost. Association for Women in Communications SFL and Florida Atlantic University Host Panel Discussion: "Women in Politics" By: Association for Women in Communications South FL Women in Politics hosted by AWCSF and FAU Boca Raton Contact Agata Ren ***@awcsouthflorida.org Agata Ren End -- A high-powered panel of women engaged in South Florida politics will discuss issues related to the topic of "Women in Politics" at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) on Tuesday February 21. The panel discussion aims to inspire young women, as well as women of all ages, to consider a career in politics or related fields to make a difference in our community. Panelists will discuss personal success stories, challenges, and share their advice on overcoming adversity in the political world.The panel discussion is being co -sponsored by the Association for Women in Communications South Florida (AWCSF) and Florida Atlantic University's 3 co-sponsoring departments, Political Science, SCMS< and Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies. The event is being held on the FAU campus. It is a free and open to the public. Ilene Prusher, an international journalist and FAU lecturer, will moderate the panel discussion which will include:: Panel discussion "Women and Politics"Tuesday February 21, 2017 - 3:30 p.m. to 4:50 p.m. (doors open at 3:25).: Business Building, Lecture Hall KH 102, FAU - 777 Glades Rd., Boca Raton 33431: Will be available in Lot 7The Association for Women in Communications South Florida connects communicators in Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade counties by facilitating its members' integration into the business matrix of South Florida and promoting their personal and professional advancement. The National Association for Women in Communications was formed in 1909 celebrating over 100 years of accelerating women communicators' careers in 2017. For more information, visit www.womcom.org and www.awcsouthflorida.org Florida Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University, with an annual economic impact of $6.3 billion, serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students at sites throughout its six-county service region in southeast Florida. FAU's world-class teaching and research faculty serves students through 10 colleges: the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, the College of Business, the College for Design and Social Inquiry, the College of Education, the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the Graduate College, The Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. FAU is ranked as a High Research Activity institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The University is placing special focus on the rapid development of three signature themes marine and coastal issues, biotechnology and contemporary societal challenges which provide opportunities for faculty and students to build upon FAU's existing strengths in research and scholarship. For more information, visit www.fau.edu. Macedonia Baptist Church to again host a performance of choral group with rich musical history Contact Merline Smith event@macedoniaofalbany.org 518-489-4370 Merline Smith518-489-4370 End -- The Macedonia Baptist Church of Albany is proud to host the Morehouse College Glee Club (MCGC) in concert, a world-renowned historical singing organization. MCGC consists of more than 50 voices and is led by their director, Dr. David E. Morrow. The concert will take place on Wednesday, March 15, 2017, 6:30pm at Macedonia Baptist Church, 26 Wilson Avenue, Albany, New York.MCGC has a rich tradition of choral music that dates back to 1911, when Morehouse College was Atlanta Baptist College. For more than 100 years, the group has traveled the U.S. and the world. They have performed live for large audiences and have had many television appearances, some of which include the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games and Super Bowl XXVIII in 1994.Macedonia Baptist Church similarly has a rich history that dates back as far as 1930. The congregation has a diverse membership of more than 500 members and is known for its positive relationship with the Capital District community. Programs of the church are meant to uplift youth, families, and seniors. Some of these programs include full-day summer-camp, tutoring and mentoring programs, scholarship programs, and fundraising for charitable organizations.Tickets are available in advance on Eventbrite and start at $20 for adults, $15 for students, and $18 for group tickets. To purchase tickets, contact (518) 489-4370 or visit http://bit.ly/ mcgc2017albany Macedonia Baptist Church was established in 1930 and is led by Reverend Leonard D. Comithier, Jr. The church's vision includes spiritual development, educational opportunity, outreach, and economic development. To find out more about Macedonia Baptist Church, visit www.macedoniaofalbany.org Pharmamarkets.com publishes new reports and analysis to address the information needs of pharmaceutical companies across the globe. End -- Pharmamarkets.com (http://pharmamarkets.com/)publishes new reports and analysis to address the information needs of pharmaceutical companies across the globe.Today, companies understand the need to be informed throughout to respond to changing market trends and competition. However, data is redundant and expensive, and are not insightful. To address this challenge, expert analysts from Pharma Markets Group collect reliable data from multiple sources, and provide them in a comprehensive report format to pharma professionals.Reports published in pharmamarkets.com caters to all departments of pharma companies including commercial, analytics, pricing & reimbursement, medical communications, insights, clinical, sales, marketing, and brand management. Also, investment banks, CRO, healthcare organizations, biotech companies, and consulting firms can benefit from the reports published in pharmamarkets.com. Pharma Markets Group publishes reports in all market segments including therapeutic areas like oncology, cardiovascular, respiratory, auto-immune, musculoskeletal, dermatology, gastrointestinal, genitourinary. More than 250 diseases in 10 therapeutic areas have been widely covered including orphan diseases, products, product pipeline, messaging, competitor analysis, market analysis, and market forecasts.Pharmamarkets.com's robust coverage of data and information is one of the best in the pharma industry.Pharmamarkets.com have more than 3000 published studies and 150 clients benefiting from the data. Pharmamarkets.com coverage includes more than 30 countries including US, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, UK, Japan, Canada, Australia, Brazil, India, China, Russia, and all emerging markets.With more than 150 expert analysts, consultants, data scientists, and thought leaders, the quality of reports is detailed and unparalleled with methodologies including primary interviews with KOLs, physicians, patients, market experts, and thought-leaders. Our quality of research studies set us apart from other data vendors. All our reports are accurate, actionable, and strategic, so that pharma companies can quickly use our insights for decision making.Search or Inquire for any data you need today in pharmamarkets.com ( http://pharmamarkets.com/ ). Pharmamarkets.com team is based in New Jersey and have sales teams across the globe.John Stevensales@pharmamarkets.com Africa has been earmarked as a sophisticated healthcare hub as the world takes advantage of the outstanding medical care available on the continent By: Pan-African Health Tourism Congress Contact Candice Turner ***@mcgroup.co.za Candice Turner End -- From the moment the world's first human heart transplant was conducted on the shores of South Africa back in the 1960s, the world has engaged with the country as a hub of medical excellence, and its impact has cast a larger net across the continent, as it grows from strength to strength.South Africa has a history of excellence in healthcare and healthcare innovation, having positioned itself at the forefront of some of the world's most celebrated procedures. In recent years, the country has emerged as a serious contender within the Health Tourism industry; one of the fastest growing globally. However, Health Tourism in South Africa and the rest of the continent is relatively new and lacks the organisation and statistics needed to maintain its rise globally. As such, a dire need emerged for the creation of a platform that will allow for open discussions on its current state.In response to this need, Pan-African Health Tourism Congress was born. The first of its kind targeted at not only South Africa, but the rest of the continent, the Congress will bring together experts from around the world who will give presentations linking medicine and tourism, and build a business case for the viability of the industry. Poised for significant growth with South Africa in particular, Health Tourism in Africa is currently being positioned to play a significant role within the global framework, given its pioneering role in the medical field, highly-skilled doctors, exceptional medical care, supported by state-of-the-art facilities, along with one of the world's fastest growing tourism industries in the world.Globally, the Health Tourism industry is valued at USD20 billion per year, with some seven million patients annually traveling to different regions across the world to seek healthcare. South Africa, Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, and Mauritius have emerged as the clear leaders in the continent with South Africa gaining a reputation as a destination of choice. Furthermore, South Africa, alongside other African countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana have a sophisticated, well-developed and organised tourism industry which competes comfortably with some of the best tourism destinations in the world, especially regarding the provision of recuperation facilities.With the above in mind, the opportunities for Health Tourism on the African continent are extensive. "It is necessary to create a Pan-African platform for engagement and sharing of ideas amongst all the parties in the industry value chain as well as amongst African countries who can benefit from a coordinated industry approach," shares His Worship, Cllr Mduduzi G. Mhlongo, The Mayor of the City of uMhlathuze. "The Congress will engage industry thought leaders, practitioners, regulators, public sector officials, and international investors to shape the regional and industry agendas of the health tourism sector."According to His Worship, Cllr Mduduzi G. Mhlongo, the uMhlathuze Municipality has seen exponential growth in the number of healthcare institution developments in the past few years and future projections indicate that the sector is expected to substantially contribute to the GDP of this region and become a pillar of the economy further encourage investment and development."With 4 new medical facilities developments in this area, we hope this move will only encourage adjacent sectors that include the pharmaceutical industry to further invest in drug development facilities that will service a chain of hospitals at their doorstep, while creating jobs for our youth to directly tackle the escalating numbers of youth unemployment "Africa's ticking time bomb" while bridging the skills gap," he explains. "The presence of global healthcare players in the country has positively increased competition and enhanced the image of South Africa as a high-tech medical hub with the healthcare sector now shifting gears towards export of services and positioning itself as a health tourism platform for Africa. Africa has grown into a sophisticated healthcare hub with the world taking advantage of the outstanding medical care available in this continent."Pan-African Health Tourism Congress was conceived as the African Health Tourism Sector's "flagship event" with the specific purpose of exploring a collective strategy that Africa can adopt in order to coordinate its efforts at maximizing its potential within the industry. A diverse continent, African countries offer different opportunities along the health and tourism sectors and these can only be fully explored in a coordinated manner. The stated objective will be achieved by engaging industry thought leaders, practitioners, regulators, public sector officials, and international investors to shape the regional and industry agendas of the Health Tourism sector in order to match their changing business needs."One of the key highlights of the conference is that it will showcase existing opportunities for further development, establish South Africa as a thought leader in the African industry and identify much-needed policy and regulation issues," His Worship, Cllr Mduduzi G. Mhlongo imparts.At the event, media will have the opportunity to engage with His Worship, the Mayor, and a select group of esteemed guests of industry thought leaders, practitioners and public sector officials in a discussion panel on the role of medical tourism in improving our GDP, as they highlight the aims of the Congress to be hosted in June.For more information visit: http://www.panafricanhealthtourismcongress.com The Swedish capital has adopted BlipTrack queue and flow measurement technology from BLIP Systems. It provides the city with travel times and flow data to help alleviate congestion and provide road users with real-time traffic information. By: BLIP Systems Stockholm- Travel- Times- Sign End -- If you drive around Stockholm with a switched on Bluetooth or WiFi device, you are automatically helping your fellow motorists to enjoy a faster and less congested journey.Stockholm, the most populous city in Scandinavia, has joined a host of other major cities, including Bangkok, Zurich, Auckland and Copenhagen, that uses BlipTrack sensors to measure how road users travel and use the citys roadsOtto Astrand, Traffic Analyst at Trafik Stockholm, explains: "We use the collected data to display live travel times via Trafiken.nu, which is our traffic information hub, and on several VMS-signs placed around the city. The travel times help road users to make informed decisions about their journey, both in real-time and for those planning their daily commute."The travel times are continuously updated, in line with the actual behaviour of road users, so, by considering their route and the time they depart, the motorists themselves are helping to reduce bottlenecks and keep the traffic moving."We also use the data for measuring the development in traffic density, speed and congestion. South of Stockholm, where we first installed BlipTrack, will be a roadwork zone for many years ahead, when building the Stockholm Bypass. It will not only affect the main highway (E4) running through the work zone, but also the surrounding roads. With BlipTrack we are able to measure the capacity and traffic flow in real-time in and around the area. This allow us to take proactive steps, to initiate countermeasures, if traffic build-up should occur, continues Otto Astrand."It also helps us to understand various traffic-related matters, such as the impact of traffic control, weather-related patterns, congestion patterns at roadworks, accidents and events, and driving behaviours and patterns. With this information, we can evaluate and validate existing traffic models and make informed decisions about where to prioritize expansions and optimizations to help the daily commute.Measuring travel times over longer distances in complex traffic environments is complicated to do with our traditional sensors, such as Radar and microwave detectors. Bliptrack gives us insights on how much individual journeys can differ from each other, especially when traffic lights are involved. The ability to measure travel times over longer stretches of road with various queue lengths and only looking at specific route choices is another strength of the solution" ends Otto Astrand.Johanna Karlsson, CEO of Trafik Stockholm says, "We are always trying new technologies for traffic monitoring and BlipTrack compliments our other sensors and data sources very well. The ability to measure travel times, monitor queues and perform OD analysis, convinced us to adopt the solution for Stockholm. The ability to detect and mitigate disruptive events offers significant economic benefits through reduced travel times and fuel consumption, as well as environmental benefits due to reduced CO2 emissions and improved air quality.""The solution works by placing BlipTrack sensors at strategic points along the roads. The sensors detect Bluetooth and WiFi devices, found in mobile phones and in-car audio and communication systems. By identifying the devices at multiple sensors, specific and accurate statistical information, such as the travel times, average speeds, dwell times and movement patterns become available," explains Preben Andersen, Sales Manager at BLIP Systems.The city has recently expanded the solution to cover major roads north of Stockholm.Trafik Stockholm is one of four traffic management centres in Sweden, monitoring traffic in eastern Sweden. Trafik Stockholm is a cooperation between the Swedish transport administration (Trafikverket), the city of Stockholm and Nacka kommun. The purpose of Trafik Stockholm is to optimize road usage and minimize delays due to accidents or incidents, for example via real-time traffic information. Each year Trafik Stockholm handles more than 20.000 events, 16.000 of those are within the Stockholm County.BLIP Systems is an information technology company with headquarters near Aalborg, Denmark. The in-house designed BlipTrack solution is a sensor agnostic analysis platform with live and historical information in a web-based, intuitive user interface with compelling visualizations. From pedestrian and vehicular queue- and flow management to advanced capacity forecasting, BlipTrack provides decision makers in airports, road traffic, amusement parks, train stations and ski resorts with visibility and all the necessary tools to optimize staffing resources, improve revenue while maintaining a high level of customer service.BlipTrack is successfully employed in optimization efforts in more than 25 international airports, including Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, JFK Airport in New York, Copenhagen, Oslo, Manchester, Dublin, Brussels, Geneva, San Diego, Keflavik and Edinburgh. The solution is also implemented in road traffic in Switzerland, Thailand, New Zealand, UK and Denmark. In recent years, it has been rolled out in ports in Denmark and UK, train stations in Holland and UK, ski resorts in the US, amusement parks in Denmark and UK, and at events all over the world. Austria, February, 2017, Holger Hartl announced today that it is raising funds via crowdfunding campaign on Wemakeit. The company is set out to raise EUR 4'000 on Wemakeit.com By: Rory Festival Media Contact Holger Hartl ***@roryfestival.at Holger Hartl End --We Alex, Holger, Martin are three Blues-Rock enthusiasts organising the first Rory Gallagher Tribute Festival in Austria. We would like to create a tradition of commemorating Rory's music in our home city. Vienna should have its own Rory Gallagher Tribute Festival like there are many others around the world (e.g. in Ireland, England, Germany, Netherlands, Japan). Established tribute bands as well as young artists will have the chance to present themselves on stage.Three national and international (tribute-)bands will celebrate the famous blues rock guitarist Rory Gallagher together with audience for one night. Fans from Austria and Europe will experience the legendary live atmosphere of a Rorygig. It will be a blast!As a special souvenir for the fans we will produce a CD with a live recording of the festival. The bands, their accommodation and travel, the location and the recording cost a lot of money. For that we need you to back us! Please support us and be part of our story.your support is urgently needed! Please consider getting involved, at whatever level you can, and helpget funded!If you can't afford to donate, don't worry - there are plenty of other ways you can help. Please take some time to share this campaign across your social networks and encourage your friends and family to donate.If you want to support this project, you can do so by donating on their Wemakeit page: Contact Anil Dua ***@scandicexperience.com Anil Dua End -- SWEDEN, ST Experience, a leading Europe tour packages provider, offers specialized and cheap tour packages to Scandinavian countries. Apart from standard set of tour packages, the travel specialists at ST Experience spent quality hours at customizing client's trip as per their need and preferences.ST Experience, one of the finest Europe travel agents and tour operators, operate with a motto to provide ever-lasting travel experience to Europe and Scandinavian countries at best price guarantee to their customers. The Europe travel packages at ST Experience offer undying memories of Stockholm, Oslo, Helsinki, Fjords, Northern lights, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, St Petersburg and many more to vacationers at an affordable price.The Scandinavian Vacation tour package at ST Experience not just include vacation to Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway and Denmark) but it also covers visa free packages for St Petersburg (Russia). In addition to this, a Europe tour package with ST Experience includes tours to Britain, Ireland, Spain, France, Switzerland, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Austria and other popular destinations.ST Experience is an emerging name in Scandinavian travel experts as the company excels in providing exceptional Europe vacations filled with inspiring and life-cherishing experiences to the travellers. The company specializes in providing independent self-guided Europe Tour Packages and is also committed to provide first class customer service with quality at best price. Along with regular travel packages, the company also offers customized Europe tour packages based on vacationers' preferences. The qualified and proficient travel specialists at ST Experience pay proper heed on client's specific interest and vacation preferences while designing their dream trip to Europe and Scandinavian countries.For more, Visit here: http://scandicexperience.com/ en/home/ Lalu's strong reactions came a day after PM Modi at a rally in Uttar Pradesh leveled charges on the Samajwadi party govt that they were discriminating with people in supplying electricity during festival of Eid and Diwali, a comment which Lalu believed was made to communalise the polls. By Rohit Kumar Singh: As RJD chief Lalu Prasad left for Uttar Pradesh today to campaign for the Congress and Samajwadi party alliance in Raebareli and Amethi on Tuesday, he made scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling him a dictator who was out to split the country in parts. Taking to Twitter, Lalu said Prime Minister of the country should not be speaking in a manner which belittles his stature. advertisement "Ye to tanashah pradhanmantri hai. Desh ke tukde tukde kar ke barbaad kar dega. Janab aap pradhanmantri ho, itni choti, aochi aur khoti baatein nahi karni chahiye", tweeted Lalu. Lalu's strong reactions came a day after PM Modi at a rally in Uttar Pradesh leveled charges on the Samajwadi party govt that they were discriminating with people in supplying electricity during festival of Eid and Diwali, a comment which Lalu believed was made to communalise the polls. Further, Lalu took potshots at an earlier comment made by PM modi where he said that he was a "Faqir" who had nothing to lose and will walk away with his "jhola". The RJD chief said that the PM may very well walk away being a "Faqir" but he never told that his "jhola" consisted of business tycoons like Ambani and Adani. "PM Modi ne ye nahi bataya ki unke adrishya jhole mein Ambani aur Adani ke alaawa kaun kaun se jhol jhamele bhare huye hain", tweeted Lalu. In a series of tweets on PM, Lalu advised him to rise over party and hatred and should do politics of uniting and development instead of dividing the society. --- ENDS --- New products and product concepts will increase nurse comfort, support continuous patient care, simplify compliant med administration, and more 4 End -- Jaco Inc., manufacturer of a complete line of point-of-care computer medical carts and other products for electronic medical records (EMR), rolled out seven (7) new products and product technologies at the 2017 HIMSS Conference and Exhibition in Orlando, FL. More than 40,000 healthcare industry professionals are attending the conference to gain expert insights into innovations and best practices for improving health through IT.A long-time HIMSS member and exhibitor, Jaco is showcasing brand new products and product capabilities, and previewing product concepts at the conference. Innovations on display include: Jaco POWER BLADE Hot-Swap Super Charger 2.0. The new charger has been improved to recharge Jaco POWER BLADE lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO) batteries in just 2 hours or less, significantly advancing the safest lithium technology for patient care.scheduled for a Q4 release, designed for low-power-draw zero client computers. Many hospitals are moving to cloud IT infrastructure and zero clients which move data and processing off endpoints and onto servers to better protect data privacy.. Comfort Glide is an ease-of-use breakthrough - simple, fast, whisper quiet height adjustment with virtually no resistance. Based on technology in older Jaco carts still in service after 10+ years, the Comfort Glide Lift System is backed by a 10-year warranty.. The slimmest, lightest and most versatile storage system Jaco has ever built, SL Storage also allows the widest variety of drawer and med bin configurations. SL Storage is currently available exclusively for Jaco One carts.is a simple, intuitive, all-in-one interface for monitoring cart power consumption, managing drawer security, and much more. Scheduled for inclusion on select Jaco powered carts later this year, SmartTouch is tightly integrated with Jaco FleetManager III software, also scheduled for release in 2017., an easy-to-install, secure wall-mounted med storage system. Simplicity Med prevents improper med handling, med loss, and potential non-compliance as well as the added cart weight resulting from on-cart med storage.secures the tablet in a locking cradle that allows portrait-to-landscape rotation forward/backward tilt, all without blocking tablet features and functionality. A WS-16 model for Microsoft Surface Pro 3 is scheduled for Q3, with others to follow."We're in business to simplify nurses' and IT directors' lives, and to offer hospitals more value for their investment, and we do this by constantly innovating in ways other companies don't," said Fred Rossini, CEO of Jaco. "For example, our Comfort Glide lift system on the Jaco One is a completely different approach to height adjustment, and nurses tell us it makes a significant difference in comfort and ease of use. By moving med storage off the cart, Simplicity Med eliminates much of the complexity from med security and compliance, and makes carts lighter, too. And our 'cloud cart' will help hospitals utilize the latest technology to minimize the cost and maximize the efficiency of patient care."To see the latest Jaco innovations, as well as the full line of Jaco medical carts and point-of-care products, visit booth 5971 at HIMSS 2017 , or visit Jaco on the web at www.jacoinc.com About JacoJaco, Inc., located in Franklin, Massachusetts, is a leading manufacturer and integrator of point-of-care Electronic Health Records (EHR) mobile computer carts, mobile cart power systems, wall stations and wall arm technology. Proudly manufacturing products in the United States of America for over 40 years, Jaco has set the healthcare industry standard for overall product performance, sustainable quality, ergonomic design and safety, and exceptional customer service. Jaco is nationally certified as a Woman Owned Small Business (WOSB) and Woman's Business Enterprise by the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) and is an ISO 9001-2008 Registered Company. Contact Nora Paine New Tampa Players ***@newtampaplayers.org Nora PaineNew Tampa Players End --Nora Paine813-644-8285production@newtampaplayers.orgwww.newtampaplayers.org@NewTampaPlayersIn preparation for its upcoming performance of, the New Tampa Players, in collaboration with University Area Community Development Center are presenting a Master Class with Broadway star Danny Zolli on March 11th from 2:00P.M.-5:00P.M. at the University Area Community Development Center. Tickets are $100 and are available at www.newtampaplayers.orgDanny Zolli is a world-renowned rock tenor who has shared the stage with the Three Tenor's opera legend Jose' Carreras, The Gypsy Kings, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame legends Peter Frampton, Phoebe Snow, Felix Cavaliere (The Rascals), Leslie West (Mountain), Zak Starkey (son of Ringo Starr) and worldwide pop/rock legend Sir Cliff Richard. Danny Zolli has also starred in 27 National and International productions of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's iconic rock operaDuring this exclusive hands-on Master Class participants will learn best practices for audition preparation and etiquette, as well as successful strategies for character development, scene study and performing technique.March 11, 2017 from 2:00P.M.-5:00P.M.University Area Community Development Center14013 North 22nd Street, Tampa, FL 33613: Tickets are $100 and are available at www.newtampaplayers.org The New Tampa Players is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to cultivating a growing community of arts awareness and providing educational opportunities for all ages throughout the Tampa Bay community. Through their quality theatrical performances, the New Tampa Players are an integral part of the University Area Community Development Center's efforts to improve the economic, education and social levels of the community, impacting over 3,000 students annually. Consortium receives Newton Fund award to develop heat storage enhanced Organic Rankine Cycle power generation technology that will reduce use of fossil fuels By: Sunamp End -- Sunamp, an SME and world leader in high energy density, high power density Heat Battery energy storage, has led a successful funding bid jointly with Glasgow University and partners in China to boost the performance of Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) power plants that use clean, although intermittent, renewable heat sources for distributed heat and power supply in China.By integrating Sunamp's heat storage technologies with the ORC it is possible to produce a more dependable distributed heat and power supply using a wide range of renewable heat sources, such as solar energy.ORC has the same working principle as a steam power cycle, except it uses organic compounds with low boiling points as working fluids. It is believed to be among the most promising technologies to use sources of renewable heat and cut pollution generated by fossil fuels, and it perfectly fits the needs of a country like China, still mainly relying on coal for its heat and power needs, but with big plans to increase penetration of renewables.The joint project has been awarded 2M (10M RMB and 815K GBP) funding from the China-UK Research and Innovation Bridges programme, a joint UK China initiative under the Newton Fund developing cutting edge solutions for agri-food, energy, healthcare, and urbanisation. At 21m it is largest ever bilateral call between UK and China. In addition, UK partners have contributed 182K towards project costs and Chinese partners contributed a further 577K.The research consortium comprises Sunamp Ltd and University of Glasgow in the UK, and Chinese project lead Beijing University of Technology (BJUT) and business partner China Investment Yixing Red Sun Solar Energy Technology Company (CIYR), a medium sized SME focusing on solar thermal power generation technologies.Andrew Bissell, Sunamp founder and CEO, said: "To overcome the intermittency of solar energy, Sunamp heat batteries will be integrated with ORC power plants to store heat energy for power generation when the sun doesn't shine. This funding award allows us to bring together complementary expertise of the project partners in the UK and China to address the remaining technical challenges ready for commercial roll out."Academic leader Dr Zhibin Yu from the University of Glasgow's School of Engineering said: "We're pleased to be working on this exciting project with Sunamp, Beijing University of Technology and China Investment Yixing Red Sun Solar Energy Technology Company."The Rankine Cycle is named after the University of Glasgow pioneer Professor William Rankine FRS (1820-1872), so it's particularly fitting that the University of Glasgow is contributing to this project. Building upon on-going research on ORC power generation technologies at the School, this exciting project will facilitate knowledge transfer, delivering real impacts to the world."Launched in 2014, and now with a total UK investment of 735 million to 2021, the Newton Fund is a Ministerial-led, high profile programme managed by the UK's Department for Business, Innovation and Skills which aims to strengthen research and innovation partnerships between the UK and 15 emerging (knowledge) economies. The partnership countries are Turkey, Brazil, Chile, India, Colombia, Egypt, China, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, and Vietnam. 375 million will be spent by the UK through the Fund over a 5-year period (2014-2019), with matched funding/effort being provided by the partner countries. The Fund forms part of the UK's Official Development Assistance (ODA), i.e. the UK's support to developing and emerging economies for their socio-economic development ( www.newtonfund.ac.uk ).designs and produces heat batteries which store energy as heat when it is available and release it when it is required, thus overcoming the intermittent nature of many other renewable energy sources.The company has worked closely with Professor Colin Pulham of the University Of Edinburgh School Of Chemistry in developing its products. Sunamp uses phase change materials (PCM) to create the systems that are capable of storing and releasing heat. The patented, non-toxic Sunamp Heat Battery technology stores and provides heat to warm a building or deliver hot water.is a pioneer in power generation technologies. The team from University of Glasgow comprises, a Lecturer in Energy Engineering, is an expert in thermal energy technologies including ORC systems and heat pumps;,an expert in intelligent systems and control engineering;, a Senior Lecturer in power electronics, andFREng, Rankine Chair of Engineering and Professor of Energy Engineering at University of Glasgow. Favorable multifamily market conditions in Texas confirm Knightvest's investment strategy By: Knightvest Management Knightvest Management Contact C. Pharr & Co. ***@pharrpr.com C. Pharr & Co. End -- In 2016, Knightvest Management (Knightvest), a multifamily real estate investment management company, acquired 11 properties across Texas totaling more than 3,100 units. The acquisitions made in 2016 were record-breaking for the 10-year-old company, and ensure Knightvest is well-positioned to further this trend in 2017 by expanding into new markets across the United States."The number of assets Knightvest acquired in 2016 confirm the multifamily market conditions in Texas are favorable for repositioning well-located, undervalued properties with value-add potential," said KC Kronbach, principal and co-founder of Knightvest. "Throughout our 10-year history, Knightvest has focused on off-market multifamily properties in Texas, but we are looking forward to expanding into other states this year."The properties acquired last year are in the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston regions. The multifamily communities in the North Texas region are located in east Dallas, Highland Park, west Fort Worth, Grapevine and Arlington. The multifamily properties acquired in the South Texas region are located across north, south and east Houston, and Webster on the southeast edge of Houston near Space Center Houston.Multi-million dollar renovations underway at each property include granite countertops, new appliances, wood-style flooring and facelifts to the exterior of each community. By improving property management, renovating and repositioning each asset, optimizing the financial structure of the investments and reducing expenses by creating operational efficiencies, Knightvest provides investors with solid investment opportunities. The company has seen success across its portfolio with these types of investments for 10 years."Our experience allows us to customize a creative business plan for each asset to maximize value while minimizing risk for our investors," said David Moore, principal and co-founder of Knightvest. "Knightvest has had a solid track record for the past 10 years in the multifamily investment space and we believe our strategic investment strategy will continue to serve our investors in the years to come."As of February 2017, Knightvest Management owns approximately 50 communities and 16,000 units.Founded in 2007 by David Moore and KC Kronbach, Dallas-based Knightvest manages more than $1.5 billion in multifamily assets and provides exceptional management services to approximately 50 communities and 16,000 units. With a commitment to excellence, Knightvest has established a strong reputation for turning around troubled assets and maintains a culture of respect and integrity by treating residents fairly, providing outsized risk-adjusted returns and attracting and retaining top talent. For more information, visit http://knightvest.com End -- Detroit Unity Temple is proud to announce Ellis Liddell, President of ELE Wealth Management as its Sunday speaker, February 26th at 10am. Mr. Liddell's topic will be "Wealth is Our Legacy...Pass It On!". He will also facilitate a workshop on creating wealth from 12 noon to 2pm.Ellis Liddell as President of ELE Wealth Management, has been in the financial services industry since 1980. He formed his own company, Ellis Liddell Enterprises, in 1990 which formed the foundation for what is today ELE Wealth Management. From 1990 to the present, he has enjoyed lecturing as an inspirational speaker at many different events. Mr. Liddell presents complex financial information in layman's terms and is very knowledgeable in the areas of retirement and income planning.Mr. Liddell is a regular guest on 1200 AM's "Inside Detroit" radio program hosted by Mildred Gaddis, and has appeared on television programs as an expert on investments. In Dallas, he gave financial tips on Fox 4's Insight, and has appeared on CBS Channel 11. He has appeared in Detroit on Channel 7 Action News and on PBS television. He has also been featured in the Bermuda Times, as a contributing writer for The Dallas Weekly Newspaper, and has been quoted in the Detroit Free Press and the Michigan Chronicle.He is the recipient of numerous awards, including a Proclamation from both the City of Atlanta and Rutherford County in Tennessee, and has also received a key to the city of Greenville, South Carolina. In 2006 and 2007, Mr. Liddell became the first African-American to be named the top producer at a major investment firm.All our welcome!For more information, please contract Detroit Unity Temple at (313) 345-4848.Detroit Unity Temple, 17505 Second Avenue, Detroit, MI 48203 CatWise Cat Cafe Tour Presented by Wellness With Pam Johnson-Bennett Kicks-off at The Orlando Cat Cafe on March 23rd By: Whitegate PR INC CatWise Cat Cafe Tour Presented by Wellness Contact Dana Humphrey ***@gmail.com Dana Humphrey End -- The CatWise Cat Cafe Tour presented by Wellness features America's Favorite Cat Expert and Best Selling Author, Pam Johnson-Bennett. Pam will be traveling across the country and stopping at some of the greatest pet loving cat cafes to share her brand new book,. Stop by to meet Pam, the #1 best-selling author of cat books in America, enjoy delicious coffee, check out adoptable cats, all while benefiting The Animal League!March 23, 2017 from 6:30pm 8:00pmOrlando Cat Cafe, 532 Cagan Park Avenue, Clermont, FL 34714Cat cafes have been an international phenomenon for over a decade, and over the past few years they have been taking America by storm. Now, in a unique partnership, some of America's most popular cat cafes will be hosting America's most popular cat expert, as she introduces her new bestseller,, in this national tour sponsored by Wellness Natural Pet Food.Pam will be kicking off the tour at one cozy and cat-loving coffeehouse, the Orlando Cat Cafe. This one-of-a-kind cafe offers guests comfortable furniture, premium coffee, tea and pastries, and 15 to 20 adoptable cats roaming freely in the spacious 1,000 square foot Kitty Play Area/Adoption Area. Pet parents with burning questions about their cat's behavior can visit Pam at the tour stop nearest them for a Q&A with the cat behaviorist and pick up a copy ofto learn more. Wellness Natural Pet Food will also be providing raffles and fun freebies for attendees.The CatWise Cat Cafe Tour presented by Wellness has one very important mission to fulfill: to give back to animals in need. Orlando Cat Cafe has partnered with The Animal League and adoptable cats will be available at the event. The Animal League's overall mission is to enhance the lives of animals and people in our communities through education, awareness, adoption, and compassion. This is a fantastic way to help showcase this admirable 501 (c)(3) non profit animal rescue and hopefully place some special felines in their forever homes. In addition to their role as the presenting sponsor of the event, Wellness, will be donating some of their cat food to The Animal League as well. https://theanimalleague.org/ In its role as presenting sponsor, Wellness Natural Pet Food will be donating 1000 meals to The Animal League to help provide cats with natural nutrition while they wait to be adopted. Wellness Natural Pet Food crafts its recipes with carefully sourced, thoughtfully prepared ingredients to make every mealtime countfor pets at home and those in need."Like Pam, we understand that cats are members of our families, and we want them to be happy and healthy," said Chanda Leary-Coutu, senior marketing manager at Wellness Natural Pet Food. "Just like our own kids, cats can be picky eaters. Teaming up with Pam is the perfect opportunity to help cat parents across the country better understand their cats' behavior and preferences when it comes to mealtime."Pam Johnson-Bennett is the best-selling author of 10 books, including the brand new release,(Penguin Books, 2016). Pam's best-selling book,(Penguin Books), changed the way cat owners view cat training and has been referred to as the "cat bible" by veterinarians, shelters, behavior professionals and cat owners world-wide. Her book,(Penguin Books), was the first of its kind to address the unique needs of households with multiple cats.In addition, Pam hosted the Nat Geo Wild/Animal Planet show Psycho Kitty, which aired in the UK and Canada. With a career that spans over 30 years, she is considered a pioneer in the field of cat behavior consulting and her books have been used as texts for professional behavior and shelter training.Pam is a former vice president of the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants and is the founder and former chair of the IAABC Cat Division. Learn more at: http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Pam.JohnsonBennett.Twitter: @ThinkLikeACatServing Lake and surrounding counties since 1988, The Animal League (formerly South Lake Animal League) has rescued and re-homed thousands of dogs and cats that have been abandoned, abused or neglected in our community. For more information on donating, volunteering, the adoption process and community programs visit: https://theanimalleague.org/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheAnimalLeagueUSA/Twitter: @SLAnimalLeagueThe Orlando Cat Cafe opened in September 2016. Working together with The Animal League and Axum Coffee, our joint mission is to save the lives of homeless cats in Central Florida while drinking good coffee. Learn more at: http://orlandocatcafe.com.Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OrlandoCatCafe/Twitter: @OrlandoCatCafeAt Wellness, we do whatever it takes to create the healthiest foods for the pets that depend on us. We're a family owned company on a passionate mission to raise the bar in pet food and give pets the gift of healthy and happy lives. That means we use the finest, natural ingredients, ensure the highest quality standards, and create delicious recipes pets crave. In other words, we make sure our passion for pets shines through every aspect of what we do. Like you, we know that our pets provide us unconditional love, and providing uncompromising nutrition is one way we can do the same for them. To learn more about Wellness Natural Pet Food, visit wellnesspetfood.com.Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wellnesspetfood.Twitter: @wellnesspetfoodInstagram: @wellnesspetfoodRSVP for FREE: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/catwise-cat-cafe-tour-presented-by-wellness-with-pam-johnson-bennett-at-orlando-cat-cafe-tickets-32238146163 According to an Office Market Snapshot by Cushman & Wakefield, further growth is expected in the Czech office market during 2017 following on from the positive trends seen in 2016. The final quarter of 2016 saw increased rents with investment yields at their lowest level on record. The office market [] Do beautiful people earn more while those who are not so gorgeous are paid less? It's not as simple as that, according to Satoshi Kanazawa of the London School of Economics and Political Science in the UK and Mary Still of the University of Massachusetts in Boston. People's salaries are influenced by more than just physical attractiveness (or lack thereof), and individual differences count too. Their research found that healthier and more intelligent people, and those with more Conscientious, more Extraverted, and less Neurotic personality traits were the ones taking fatter pay checks home. The study is published in Springer's Journal of Business and Psychology. Economists have widely documented the "beauty premium" -- or, conversely, the "ugliness penalty" -- on wages. Population-based surveys in the US and Canada for instance showed that people who are physically attractive earn more than the average Joe or Jane, while those who are aesthetically compromised earn less. More attractive lawyers and MBA graduates are also said to earn more. Kanazawa and Still analyzed a nationally representative sample from a US data set that had very precise and repeated measures of physical attractiveness -- the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (Add Health). It measured physical attractiveness of all respondents on a five-point scale at four different points in life over 13 years. Their analysis showed that people are not necessarily discriminated against because of their looks. The beauty premium theory was dispelled when the researchers took into account factors such as health, intelligence, and major personality factors together with other correlates of physical attractiveness. Healthier and more intelligent respondents, and those with more Conscientious, more Extraverted, and less Neurotic personality traits earned significantly more than others. "Physically more attractive workers may earn more, not necessarily because they are more beautiful, but because they are healthier, more intelligent, and have better personality traits conducive to higher earnings, such as being more Conscientious, more Extraverted, and less Neurotic," explains Kanazawa. Some evidence was found for a so-called ugliness premium in which it pays to not be aesthetically pleasing. Respondents who fell in the "very unattractive" category always earned more than those rated as merely unattractive. This was sometimes even the case when the income of the very unattractive was measured against their average-looking or even attractive co-workers. According to Still, the methods used in other studies might explain why the findings in the current research are contrary to many current thoughts about the economics of beauty. On the one hand, few other studies have taken into account aspects of health, intelligence (as opposed to education), and personality factors. On the other, in most studies the so-called "very unattractive" and "unattractive" categories are grouped together to form a "below-average" category. "Thereby they fail to document the ugliness premium enjoyed by the very unattractive workers," explains Still. There's at least one person in the world for whom smoking has a beneficial effect, and it took an international collaboration of scientists led by a Rice University professor to figure out why. Rice biochemist John Olson and collaborators in Germany and France helped a young woman and her father understand why she has anemia but her father, who is a smoker, does not. The woman, who was in her 20s when diagnosed, and her father share a mutation in the gene that encodes hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells responsible for taking up and delivering oxygen to cells around the body. The mutation is one of more than 1,000 discovered so far in adult human hemoglobin. Most appear to have no effect on people, but when medical problems occur, the disease is called a hemoglobinopathy and often named after the city or hospital where it was discovered. In this case, the family was living in Mannheim, Germany, but the father was born in the Turkish city of Kirklareli. The Kirklareli mutation did not affect the iron content of her dad's blood, but did appear to be the root cause of the young woman's chronic anemia, according to the researchers. Further investigation revealed that absorbing carbon monoxide from cigarette smoke is therapeutic for those with this rare genetic disorder. A paper on the research appeared this month in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. The mutation is in the alpha subunit of human hemoglobin (H58L) and causes it to rapidly auto-oxidize, or rust, which causes the protein to fall apart, lose heme and precipitate. As a result, the protein loses its ability to carry oxygen. Eventually, Olson said, the red cells themselves become deformed and are destroyed. advertisement Remarkably, this same mutation gives the protein an 80,000-fold higher affinity for carbon monoxide than for oxygen. Carbon monoxide from a cigarette will be selectively taken up by the mutant hemoglobin and prevent it from oxidizing and denaturing. This high affinity for carbon monoxide explained why the father showed no signs of anemia, Olson said. "He may never be an athlete because his blood can't carry as much oxygen, but smoking has prevented him from being anemic," he said. "And there's a side benefit. People with this trait are more resistant to carbon monoxide poisoning." Olson said he does not know how or if the doctors treated the young woman. He doesn't even know her name. But he suspected her iron-deficient anemia was more an annoyance than a threat to her life and would not recommend she start smoking to relieve it. "She shouldn't smoke," he said. "But she could take antioxidants, such as a lot of vitamin C, which would help prevent oxidation of her mutant hemoglobin. Her anemia is not that severe. At the same time, she shouldn't worry too much about secondhand smoke, which might have a positive effect." After ruling out common causes like blood loss, gastritis or congenital defects, her doctors were curious enough about her ailment to call upon Emmanuel Bisse, a researcher at the Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Freiburg, who discovered the mutation after sequencing her DNA. advertisement Bisse in turn recruited Olson and his team to help determine why the histidine-to-leucine change caused anemia in the daughter but not the father. Ironically, Ivan Birukou, a graduate student in Olson's lab, had already generated the same mutation in human hemoglobin (one of several hundred made at Rice) to study how the protein rapidly and selectively binds oxygen. "Emmanuel wrote to me and said, 'I know you've been making all these mutants in hemoglobin, and you've probably done the H58L mutation in (alpha) chains. Does this phenotype make sense?'" Olson recalled. "I said, 'We can do a really neat study here, because we've already made the mutant hemoglobin in a recombinant system.' We actually had a crystal structure (matching Kirklareli) that Ivan and (staff scientist) Jayashree Soman never published but had deposited in the Protein Data Bank. We had made this mutation to try to understand what the distal histidine was doing in alpha subunits." They found in their 2010 study that replacing the histidine, which forms a strong hydrogen bond to oxygen, with leucine caused a dramatic decrease in oxygen affinity and an increase in carbon monoxide binding. Olson and Birukou realized back then that histidine played a key role in discriminating between oxygen and carbon monoxide in hemoglobin. "When Emmanuel wrote to me about his discovery, I already 'knew' what was happening with respect to carbon monoxide binding," Olson said. He said that the normal hydrogen bond causes bound oxygen to stick more tightly to hemoglobin in the same way hydrogen bonds cause spilled soda to feel sticky. "When you touch it, the sugar oxygens and hydrogens make hydrogen bonds with the polysaccharides on your finger," Olson said. "That stickiness helps hold onto oxygen. But leucine is more like an oil, like butane or hexane, and oxygen does not stick well inside hemoglobin. In contrast, bound carbon monoxide is more like methane or ethane and can't form hydrogen bonds." Andres Benitez Cardenas, a postdoctoral researcher in Olson's laboratory, did the crucial experiment in which he put carbon monoxide on the mutant alpha subunit of hemoglobin Kirklareli. The bound carbon monoxide slowed down oxidation of the protein and prevented loss of heme and precipitation. "In effect, Andres did the 'smoking experiment' to show why the father's hemoglobin didn't denature and cause anemia," Olson said. He said the effect caused by Kirklareli, though unusual, is not unique. "There is another 'smoking is good for you' mutation," he said, noting discoveries in Zurich in the late 1970s and early '80s. That case mirrored the current collaboration, as the researchers looking for answers then sought help from Nobel Laureate Max Perutz, whose pioneering work on hemoglobin structures won him the prize in 1968. Olson himself served as a reviewer on some of the papers for hemoglobin Zurich in the 1980s. "Emmanuel knew that we had worked on these histidine-to-leucine mutations in myoglobin and hemoglobin, which is why he contacted us," he said. "This type of collaboration is how science and medicine should work together." Caltech's Stan Whitcomb, who has been involved with nearly every aspect of the development and ultimate success of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), will give a talk about the project's historic detection of gravitational waves on February 19 at the American Associate for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meeting in Boston. In September 2015, LIGO made the first direct observation of gravitational waves, ripples in space and time first predicted by Albert Einstein more than 100 years ago. The project's twin detectors -- one in Hanford, Washington and the other in Livingston, Louisiana -- registered the quivering waves from the titanic merger of two distant black holes. Whitcomb will discuss the important of the discovery -- how it confirmed Einstein's general theory of relativity and opened a new way of viewing the universe for astronomers. "This isn't inaccessible 'rocket science,'" says Whitcomb, who is currently retired but still serves as the chief scientist for LIGO. "With proper explanations, high school kids can understand most of the science behind LIGO." He'll also talk about the technical challenges of the LIGO detectors, which, in order to detect gravitational waves, had to make measurements on imperceptibly tiny scales, down to subatomic levels where quantum fluctuations of matter influence measurements. Though the notion of LIGO dates to the 1970s, the endeavor was still taking shape when Whitcomb joined the project in 1980. At Caltech, he helped oversee the design and construction of LIGO's 40-meter prototype, where many of the ideas for the current instruments were tested. Whitcomb also served as the lead scientist for the construction of the initial LIGO detectors, and stayed active on the team until the project's momentous discovery in 2015. Whitcomb retired on September 15, 2015, which coincidentally turned out to be one day after LIGO's big discovery. He recalls taking a walk with his wife on September 14 after reading the first reports of the detection and explaining to her that his retirement wasn't going to be as quiet as he thought. Part of Whitcomb's retirement work was to co-chair a committee to carefully evaluate the veracity of any signals in the unlikely event that any would be detected. "I recognized the signal of gravitational waves right away," says Whitcomb. "But it was the committee's job to pick apart the signal and make sure it wasn't anything else but gravitational waves. We spent months trying to throw cold water on the detection, until we were ultimately convinced it was the real thing." Whitcomb's talk is part of a session entitled "Gravitational Waves: Communicating the Science and Wonder of LIGO," in which Lynn Cominsky from Sonoma State University and Joey Key from University of Washington will talk about LIGO's educational and outreach efforts. The MLC who is backed by the BJP said, "A soldier gets a telegram from his wife that she has delivered a baby.... but he has not visited his home for a whole year. This is the level of politics we have stooped to". By Pankaj P. Khelkar: Retired Army officers in Pune are furious at Solapur MLC Prashant Paricharak for his derogatory remarks questioning the fidelity of wives of army personnel. The MLC who is backed by the BJP was addressing a rally ahead of the civic body polls when he said, "A soldier gets a telegram from his wife that she has delivered a baby.... but he has not visited his home for a whole year. This is the level of politics we have stooped to". advertisement Retired defence officers have now demanded that the BJP government in Maharashtra take strict action against Paricharak. HERE IS ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW: Retired Army officers have decided to take out a silent protest march at National War Memorial in Pune. They are seeking exemplary punishment for the MLC as well as his resignation from the Legislative Council. At an election rally in Solapur on Saturday, Paricharak said, "A soldier gets a telegram from his wife that she has delivered a baby. As he distributes sweets to his colleagues on the border to celebrate, his colleagues ask him the reason behind it. He happily tells them that his wife has given a birth to a baby boy... but he has not visited his home for a whole year. This is the level of politics we have stooped to". As the speech went viral, the MLC came under fire from all corners. He later apologised for the remark and said it was aimed at highlighting the "credit-seeking" mindset of his political opponents. However, his apology did little to stop the barrage of criticism against him. NCP's Dhananjay Munde, who is the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, said, "Paricharak's statement reveals the BJP's mindset towards the jawans and their wives. He has insulted the brave jawans and the party (BJP) should be punished by being voted out". Prashant Paricharak is among the 22 members of the Legislative Council elected by the local bodies of Maharashtra. An Independent candidate from Solapur, he was backed by the BJP and went on to defeat NCP candidate Deepak Salunkhe by 141 votes to get elected to the council in January 2016. ALSO READ: MLC makes derogatory remarks about soldiers' wives --- ENDS --- Can statistics increase the value of science to society? Georgetown University's Rochelle Tractenberg, PhD, MPH, PhD, chair of the Committee on Professional Ethics of the American Statistical Association, will discuss "Promoting Ethical Science and Policy With Ethical Statistical Practice" on a panel presenting three disciplinary perspectives on Sunday, February 19, from 8:00 am to 9:30 am as part of a day long symposium titled Scientific Reproducibility and Social Responsibility at the AAAS 2017 Annual Meeting in Boston. A survey of more than 1,500 investigators, published in a 2016 issue of Nature, showed that more than 70 percent of researchers have tried and failed to reproduce other scientists' experiments, and more than half have failed to reproduce their own experiments. Additional studies have come to similar conclusions, says Tractenberg, associate professor of neurology at Georgetown University Medical Center with secondary appointments in biostatistics, bioinformatics and biomathematics, and rehabilitation medicine. "Irreproducible results do harm that can be difficult to discover and even more difficult to undo," she said. A consulting statistician and practicing scientist for the past 20 years, Tractenberg started pursuing her interest in promoting ethical research skills in 2009 after being invited to join a GUMC task force to explore these challenges. Tractenberg has worked with colleagues at GUMC and other institutions around the country to promote this brand of responsible research, and she'll have a larger stage later this month. Tractenberg will discuss responsible research, and its relevance for all statisticians, data analysts and data scientists, in a symposium she organized for the AAAS 2017 Annual Meeting. Credibility Crisis When most investigators have taken just a single course in statistics, and are therefore laymen when it comes to statistics -- for typical experiments or if they wish to participate in big data analyses -- it is perhaps not surprising that so many studies cannot be replicated, nor results reproduced, Tractenberg says. advertisement "My focus on promoting ethical statistical practice arose because a scientific credibility crisis is emerging due partly to scientists who do not conduct -- or insist upon -- appropriate statistical analysis or interpretation, or both," she says. "If ethical statistical practice becomes the norm across statistics and data science, it may then be taken up into other domains where data analysis makes important contributions." Several elements of a study can lead to irreproducible results, including incorrect analysis, improper interpretation of data, cherry picking results, or failing to transparently report the number of analyses that were done, Tractenberg says. Avoiding these are principles of ethical statistical practice as well as responsible conduct in research. "Although it can often seem that data analysis is secondary to the 'main' science or study purpose, the analytic method and its interpretation are essential attributes of both rigor and reproducibility, and this is true for their own work and for their peer review of others' work," says Tractenberg. A large number of these irreproducible studies may have never been published if peer reviewers that were unable to evaluate the statistics "just told the editor they don't feel qualified to evaluate the study's statistical argument, and that a formal statistical review is needed," she says. Having a formal statistical review does not guarantee reproducibility or rigor, but not having or insisting on one virtually guarantees the continuation of the reproducibility crisis. "Treat Data Ethically" A faculty member at Georgetown since 2002, Tractenberg was appointed to the national Committee on Professional Ethics of the American Statistical Association (ASA) in 2013, a committee that she now chairs. In her 90-minute panel at the AAAS meeting, "How Ethical Science Supports Ethical Policy: Disciplinary Perspectives," she will discuss the ASA Ethical Guidelines for Statistical Practice, which all those who analyze data can utilize, whether dealing with "small" or "big" data. She says that ethical statistical practice -- by every data analyst -- is integral to maintaining the value of science in society. advertisement Tractenberg's panel will also bring together specialists in engineering and economics to describe their efforts to establish and promote ethical practices and policies within their disciplines. These three perspectives will then be discussed with respect to their potential to influence and support ethical policy and decision making. "All scientific fields have different relationships to data and how the data should be interpreted," Tractenberg says. "But the core of all in this work is the data and its analysis, and I firmly believe these must be dealt with ethically. Otherwise, decisions that are based on these results may be incorrect or indefensible, or both." "The data analyst, whether a professional statistician or just the group member who is most skilled with the analysis software, has an obligation to treat and interpret the data ethically," Tractenberg says. "In a post-truth world, this may be the best way to promote scientific integrity." Katharine Mach, who served as co-director of science on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), will present her most recent findings on the trials and triumphs of achieving a consensus on climate science. "There's been a huge amount of attention to the IPCC being a politicized process," said Mach, a senior research scientist at Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences. "We see the final product of assessment in our understanding of the climate challenge, but it's pretty rare that we lift up the hood and say, 'How does this process happen?' and 'How could it happen better?'" Mach's position with the IPCC gave her "immersive exposure to the entirety of that process," she said. Mach will discuss her experience and her current research on Sunday, Feb. 19 at 1 p.m. ET, at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Boston. She will speak at a symposium titled, "Global Environmental Assessments and the Bridge to Environmental Policy," at the Hynes Convention Center, Room 202. Assessment analysis confronts complex issues, ranging from government regulations and corruption to the ethics of publicity, including how to inform media of something like the global warming slowdown, which may not have actually happened. Assessment practitioners must grapple with the ethical dimensions of making sure important assumptions are transparent, especially when one generation is "kicking the can of the climate challenge on to the next," she said. As a member of the IPCC's Working Group II from 2010 to 2015, Mach and her team worked to ensure reports on current climate science incorporated accurate and ambitious assessment, where information is evaluated from diverse sources. The team also created summaries of the reports for policymakers that required line-by-line approval from hundreds of stakeholders in science and government. "Being in an IPCC staff leadership position, you have the most in-depth, intimate view of how every aspect of that process happens," Mach said. "I really got to see all aspects of the government interactions, the intra-institutional decision-making, as well as being the one to create these summary products that had to represent the entire report." Mach worked with Chris Field, a co-chair of the IPCC's Working Group II and Director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. Their work resulted in the IPCC's Fifth Assessment Report and Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation. The reports have supported diverse climate policies and actions, including the Paris Agreement. advertisement Navigating the assessment process can be unfamiliar territory for many scientists, requiring a different set of skills than they typically use -- like tact and negotiation -- according to Mach. Her research aims to find opportunities to improve inefficiencies in this practice, which can be exhaustive to the hundreds of contributors involved. "For scientists hoping for a straightforward summary of physics and math, that can be a really uncomfortable reality -- it's not as if you just put experts around a table and rationality happens," Mach said. "It is actually a social process of interactions, and that can go really well or it can go poorly, and it gets a whole lot more complicated when it's experts interacting with a sea of government delegates." Mach, who also leads the Stanford Environment Assessment Facility (SEAF) at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment -- an initiative to use the university context to innovate and evaluate approaches to assessment so they may be applied to issues such as climate change, conflict, adaptation and infrastructure -- will offer her insider perspective of how different audiences impact revisions, depending on whether it includes scientists or the addition of decision makers. The interaction between experts and decision makers creates complex science policy territory, but it adds more ownership and traction in the process, she said. "Assessment has had these phenomenal successes, and that ranges from framing the understanding of climate change to creating foundations that enable people to step forward and try out climate solutions," Mach said. "At the same time, assessment is really hard intellectually and socially, and we have some impressive experiences to learn from." Mach's current research focuses on complicated adaptation strategies that require tradeoffs, such as managed retreat, a coastal management strategy in which people are moved away from encroaching shorelines. In climate change mitigation with interactions, assessment leaders must consider the public perception of theories such as land-based strategies to compensate for industrial emissions, which may not meet expectations if they are described out of context. "In this exciting question of what's next for climate, assessment has a huge amount to contribute, ranging from revealing risks and options through to pinpointing the ways that it's a challenge of values, and whose values count and how much," Mach said. "The beauty of assessment from the scientific perspective is that it really drives knowledge creation by bringing people together." News is out that Google and Bing have made a deal with the Intellectual Property Office and British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and Motion Picture Association organizations for both search engines to do better removing or demoting pirated content in the UK search results. Both search engines, according to the report, have promised to reduce pirated content in their search results by June 1, 2017. It seems the sites partaking in repeated violations of piracy, specifically in the film and music fans search field, will see their site bump off the first page of the results. I am not sure how different this is from the DMCA Google penalty that aims at hitting pirated content but maybe this is about improving that? We've only seen maybe one update to that algorithm and that was back in 2014. We did hear Google do an unusual mention of it about a year ago but nothing since. Google told Ars, "Google has been an active partner for many years in the fight against piracy online," "We remain committed to tackling this issue and look forward to further partnership with rights holders." Again, it is hard to say what exactly will happen different with Google since they have algorithms and policies in place already for this stuff. Bing on the other hand has not said much but we know their market share is less of a concern in the UK. Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld. Update: Got Google to confirm there is NOT any algorithm changes coming for this agreement. Countries & Areas Search for country or area A Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan B Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burma Burundi C Cabo Verde Cambodia Cameroon Canada Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Costa Rica Cote dIvoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czechia D Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic E Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia F Fiji Finland France G Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana H Haiti Holy See Honduras Hungary I Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy J Jamaica Japan Jordan K Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan L Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg M Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique N Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Korea North Macedonia Norway O Oman P Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Q Qatar R Republic of the Congo Romania Russia Rwanda S Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Sweden Switzerland Syria T Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu U Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Uruguay Uzbekistan V Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Y Yemen Z Zambia Zimbabwe The U.S. Army has found technology is eliminating a growing number of jobs, even for the infantry. The latest casualty is the seven LRC (long-range surveillance) companies (three active duty and seven in the reserves). The army says that these units are no longer needed because of improved aerial surveillance, especially UAVs, and the growing number of SOCOM (Special Operations Command) units with these capabilities plus the ability of regular infantry and marine units to create similar units as needed to do LRC work. All this makes the seven LRC units unnecessary. Each LRC unit had about a hundred men, organized into fifteen six man patrols, each led by a sergeant. These units found some use since 2001, especially in Afghanistan, but as more UAVs and local troop LRC capabilities became available the seven LRC companies became liable to elimination as the army has been ordered to make sharp personnel reductions since 2009. Ironically it was technology, in the form of portable radios that made the LRC possible in the first place. Then again this was a more effective modern version of the ancient tradition of forming long-range scout teams. Radio made possible a unique military unit, the LRRP (Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol.) With a radio, a small unit of men could (if skillful enough) sneak deep into enemy territory and report back what they found. That enabled their side to start taking advantage of this information. Starting in World War II, numerous LRRP units were formed for this kind of dangerous work. In the United States Army, LRRPs went in and out of fashion depending on whether or not there was a war on. Some LRRP units were formed during World War II, and then disbanded after the war. Same thing during the Korean war, although two LRRP companies were created in 1958 for missions deep into Russian controlled territory. LRRPs sprang up spontaneously in Vietnam. All but two companies were disbanded after the Vietnam War and these two companies were used in 1974 to form the Ranger Regiment. In the early 1980s, as the U.S. Army got serious about troop quality and training, the need for LRRPs was felt once more. This time, the drill was a little different. The units were called LRSU (Long Range Surveillance Units) and generally operated in four man (rather than the 8-12 man LRRP) units. Better equipment and the ability to send the patrols deeper made smaller units more effective. LRSU are expected to stay out there for up to 30 days at a time. LRSUs have been used in every American conflict since the 1980s. LRSUs have also been used in anti-drug and anti-terrorist operations. While still trained to fight, the long range scouts are given even more intensive instruction on staying hidden. Being a LRSU is considered on a par with Rangers or Special Forces, if only because LRSU will often go into an area before any of those other elite troops. Since the 1980s the tech and tactics evolved to the use of six man teams, led (in the army) by an NCO with ranger training. Many LRRP veterans and military historians point out that in time of need these larger long range recon units (platoons or companies) will emerge and LRCs will return. Some note that part of the reason for disbanding the LRCs is commanders being under growing pressure to reduce the risk of troop casualties even if the risk is worthwhile in terms of gaining information that UAVs or other forms of electronic and aerial surveillance cannot provide. The U.S. Air Force recently revealed that during 2016 its component of U.S. Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) conducted 4,000 Cyber War operations to obtain useful information (often about location) on more than 100,000 targets. These included more than 200 HVI (High Value Individuals) that the U.S. wanted to capture or, failing that, kill. Cyber Command relies a lot on ELINT (Electronic Intelligence) and monitoring the Internet to obtain useful information and few details. The air force has some of the best airborne ELINT resources that are also very capable of handling Cyber War missions that also include jamming enemy communications or sending faked information. Details of ELINT and other Internet related operations are rarely released because that would make the techniques less effective. But every part of the military needs some media mention if they want to get the money they need in the budget. U.S. Cyber Command became operational in late 2010 and headquarters is in Fort Meade (outside Washington, DC). Most of the manpower and capabilities for Cyber Command come from the Cyber War operations the services have already established. U.S. Cyber Command has some smaller organizations of its own that coordinate Cyber War activities among the services, as well as with other branches of the government and commercial organizations that are involved in network security. But most of Cyber Command manpower actually works for the Cyber War organizations of the four services. Of the four services the U.S. Air Force is the most experienced in Cyber War matters. After 2001 the air force sought to dominate the Cyber War missions. The other services objected and in 2008 the air force officially scrapped its own planned Cyber Command, which was supposed to operate more like USCYBERCOM. That new air force organization led to the original air force Cyber Command plan being scaled back to become the 24th Air Force. This organization handles electronic and Internet based warfare. The U.S. Army, following the example of the air force, also established a Cyber War operation. Some 21,000 soldiers were pulled from a large variety of signal and intelligence outfits to form ARFORCYBER (Army Forces Cyber Command). It became fully operational in 2012, with its headquarters at Ft. Belvoir, Virginia. In 2009 the U.S. Navy created an "Information Domination Corps", in the form of a new headquarters (the 10th Fleet), with over 40,000 people reassigned to staff it. While the new Cyber War command mainly deals with intelligence and network security, it will also include meteorology and oceanography. These last two items are very important for deep water navies, especially since a lot of the information about oceans and the weather is kept secret. The fleet called upon the talents of 45,000 sailors and civilians. Most (44,000) of these personnel were reorganized into 10th Fleet jobs or contributed from within other organizations. A thousand new positions were created, mainly for 10th Fleet. All this gave the navy a more powerful and secure position in cyberspace. The navy does not want to repeat the mistakes of the air force in this area. The U.S. Marine Corps established a Forces Cyberspace Command in 2010, with about 800 personnel, to help provide network security for marine units. The marines are accustomed to doing more with less. All those Cyber War operations are dependent on contract workers (civilians) for their top technical talent. There is always a shortage of these people, partly because they have to be capable of getting a security clearance. This rules out a lot of the best hacking talent, who had misbehaved in the past and were identified or even prosecuted for it. A lot of otherwise qualified technical personnel won't even apply for these Department of Defense jobs because a background check might reveal earlier hacking misadventures they would rather keep quiet about (at least to the government). Meanwhile, the Department of Defense has assembled a growing group of civilian Cyber War volunteers. Not all have security clearances but in the event of a national Cyber War crisis, that would be less of an issue. Your Ultimate Investing Toolkit Sign up for MarketBeat All Access to gain access to MarketBeat's full suite of research tools: Portfolio Monitoring Top Stock Lists Premium Reports Stock Screeners Live News Feed Premium Support Free for your first month. Amethi Food Park was shelved by current NDA regime in Centre. The entire matter was raised in Parliament by Gandhi and a massive showdown had erupted in both the Houses of Parliament. By Supriya Bhardwaj: Amethi Food Park is once again in the news. Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi raised the issue of closing the much talked about Amethi Food Park while addressing a rally in Chhatoh Village which is located on the border of Raebareli and Amethi. Though Rahul was addressing rally in Raebareli, he raised issues related to his own constituency Amethi. advertisement "Whatever I could do I have done have done there got highways, railways, food park and national paper mill. But something that pinches me, pains me. Whatever work we did in Amethi, Modiji stopped it. Amethi Food Park would have been a world renowned organisation. This was my dream but Modiji stopped it. It is out of feeling of revenge. Had that Food park been there your (women voters) lives would have changed," said the Gandhi scion. Also Read: Women outnumber men at Rahul Gandhi's Raebareli rally Amethi Food Park was shelved by current NDA regime in Centre. The entire matter was raised in Parliament by Gandhi and a massive showdown had erupted in both the Houses of Parliament. However, the 46-year-old Amethi MP while summing up his speech in his mother's constituency said, "This is a promise to you all that I will bring a Food Park which will be double the size of the shelved Food Park. Will put it here when we come back in power." Raebareli and Amethi will go to poll in next two phases respectively. --- ENDS --- Himax Technologies, Inc., a fabless semiconductor company, provides display imaging processing technologies in China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Korea, Japan, Europe, and the United States. The company operates through two segments, Driver IC and Non-Driver Products. It offers display driver integrated circuits (ICs) and timing controllers that are used in televisions, laptops, monitors, mobile phones, tablets, automotive, digital cameras, car navigation, virtual reality devices, and other consumer electronic devices. The company also designs and provides controllers for touch sensor displays; in-cell touch and display driver integration single-chip solutions; light-emitting diode driver and power management ICs; and liquid crystal on silicon microdisplays for augmented reality (AR) devices and head-up displays for the automotive industry. In addition, it offers complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor image sensors and wafer-level optics for AR devices, 3D sensing, and ultra-low power AI image sensing, which are used in various applications, such as mobile phones, tablets, laptops, TV, PC camera, automobile, security, medical devices, home appliance, Internet of Things, etc. The company markets its display drivers and display-related products to panel manufacturers, agents or distributors, module manufacturers, and assembly houses; and non-driver products to camera module manufacturers, optical engine manufacturers, and television system manufacturers. Himax Technologies, Inc. was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in Tainan City, Taiwan. The collapse of Kraft Heinz Co.s $143 billion bid to form a global food giant could prove to be just the first step in a long campaign for Unilever NV chief executive officer Paul Polman. Having fended off the unsolicited approach after a 48-hour skirmish, Polman now has six months in which to demonstrate to shareholders that the owner of brands like Ben & Jerrys ice cream and Dove soap is better off on its own. Once that window of protection provided by U.K. takeover rules expires, Unilever could face new proposals from Kraft Heinz. In a sign that investors still expect some dealmaking, Unilever shares on Monday lost only about half their gains from Friday, when the U.S. company disclosed its approach. Unilevers market value in London was about 106 billion ($132 billion U.S.) in afternoon trading Monday, about 6 billion higher than at Thursdays close. Kraft Heinz on Sunday withdrew its offer, saying an early leak complicated its takeover ambitions. Read more: Kraft Heinz withdraws $143-billion bid to buy Unilever We expect the seismic shock to reverberate for a while yet, Martin Deboo, an analyst at Jefferies, said in a note. Kraft Heinz might yet offer a welcome home for some or all of Unilevers foods assets. One possibility would be to separate Unilevers food operations, which contain stagnant brands like Flora spreads, from home- and personal-care units including Dermalogica skin care, Alan Erskine, an analyst at Credit Suisse, wrote in a note to investors. That would effectively undo the 1929 agreement that combined a British soap provider and a Dutch margarine maker to create Unilever and could give each arm more freedom for mergers and acquisitions. The decision not to pursue what could have been the largest takeover in the food and beverage industry came after private-equity firm 3G Capital and billionaire Warren Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway Inc., which together own about half of Kraft Heinz, decided that Unilevers negative response made a friendly transaction impossible, people with knowledge of the situation said. Both also believed that a protracted war of words wasnt in the best interest of Kraft and would risk souring future deal opportunities, the people said, asking not to be named because the process was private. Even though Kraft Heinz was unable to strike a deal a rare instance of Buffett failing to secure a takeover target Polman will face pressure from investors to accelerate growth and raise Unilevers profit margins. While Polman has already announced cost-cutting plans, he may raise those targets, said James Targett, an analyst at Berenberg. The only thing Kraft Heinz could have brought to the business was higher margins, Targett said by phone. Unilever needs to demonstrate that they can deliver the solid revenue growth people have come to expect from the company. While there were minor concerns about opposition from the U.K. government, according to one of the people familiar with the situation, Kraft Heinz was optimistic that it could win the backing of Westminster with a friendly deal. Prime Minister Theresa May had asked officials to study the proposed takeover in the wake of the countrys vote to exit the European Union. Kraft Heinzs interest was made public at an extremely early stage, spokesman Michael Mullen said Sunday in an emailed statement. Our intention was to proceed on a friendly basis, but it was made clear Unilever did not wish to pursue a transaction. It is best to step away early so both companies can focus on their own independent plans to generate value. Representatives for Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway and 3G, with offices in New York and Brazil, didnt respond to messages seeking comment Sunday. Unilever, in rejecting the $50-a-share offer, said the proposal fundamentally undervalues the household-products maker. Its management fretted behind the scenes about the cost-cutting model at Kraft, which sells products like Velveeta and Jell-O, and its lack of vision for cultivating brands, people familiar with the situation said. Unilever shares were down 6.5 per cent at 11:15 a.m. in Amsterdam. The bid, which would have created the second-largest packaged foods business globally after Nestle SA, reflected consolidation desires among consumer-goods companies, which are searching for ways to increase profitability as consumer habits shift and conditions for the industry become tougher globally. Kraft Heinz itself was forged in a $55 billion combination orchestrated in 2015 by 3G and Buffetts Berkshire, which had teamed up two years earlier on a buyout of H.J. Heinz. Berkshire owns about 27 per cent of Kraft Heinz, and 3G holds about 24 per cent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In its 2015 annual report, Berkshire said it will join only with partners making friendly acquisitions. SHARE: MONTREALQuebec, the worlds largest producer of maple syrup, is ramping up output as it fends off rising competition from the U.S. and neighbouring provinces as well as a farmer rebellion from within. The province is adding five million taps over the next two years to its existing 43 million spigots. Simon Trepanier, executive director of the Quebec Maple Syrup Federation, says that is intended to satisfy a growing appetite for the natural sugar, which is increasingly being used as an ingredient in food and drinks. We allowed those new taps to fulfil the demand and make sure that Quebec is still producing and being part of the expansion of the market right now, Trepanier says. More than 90 per cent of the record 73 million kilograms of maple syrup made in Canada last year was tapped in Quebec, according to Statistics Canada. Yet the provinces near-monopoly over the maple syrup market is loosening. Despite a 30 per cent increase in production over the last decade, Quebecs share of global output has fallen from a high of about 82 per cent in 2003 to nearly 71 per cent last year, according to data from Statistics Canada and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The problem, some say, lies with the tight grip that the Quebec Maple Syrup Federation has over the provinces maple syrup producers. The group sets quotas and prices that Quebec sugar shacks have to abide by, requires they sell to authorized buyers and pay an administrative fee on their output. Faced with no such restrictions, Quebecs competitors have been tapping trees at a rapid pace. Tony VanGlad, president of the New York State Maple Producers Association, says production in the state has grown five to 10 per cent annually over the last few years. The bigger guys that we have just keep getting bigger, he says. Competition aside, Quebecs managed production system has also come under fire from within. The provincial government released a report last year that called for a series of changes to Quebecs maple syrup sector, including the dismantling of quotas. If the Quebec model is to survive, it needs to evolve, the report said. (It) has come to promote the development of the maple industry everywhere ... except Quebec. So far, the report has fallen on deaf ears. The government hasnt acted on its recommendations and said the agriculture minister wasnt available for comment. The federation says its system of quotas helps bring stability to supply and prices in an industry subject to the whims of weather, among other factors. We are not sheiks in a building in Longueuil, Trepanier says in response to criticisms that the federation operates like an OPEC-like cartel. We are not Goliath. We represent producers. Angele Grenier, a maple syrup producer in Sainte-Clotilde-de-Beauce, about 100 kilometres south of Quebec City, disagrees. Grenier has spent $150,000 in legal fees to fight $400,000 in fines for bypassing the federation to sell her syrup to a buyer in New Brunswick. The Supreme Court of Canada has to decide whether to hear an appeal in her case. Producers here are limited on everything, Grenier says. In Quebec, youre not able to have a little freedom. A lot is riding on the courts decision in Greniers case, says Nicole Varin, a farmer facing about $500,000 in fines for selling maple butter, candy and other products outside the purview of the federation to sugar shacks and small fruit stands. If Mrs. Grenier wins, we will win freedom to sell to whom we want, she said from her third-generation farm in Oka, west of Montreal. There is plenty of money at stake. Last years record maple syrup harvest in Canada yielded nearly $487 million. The price of syrup runs at about $2.88 per pound, according to the Quebec Maple Syrup Federation, making it 10 times more valuable than crude. The commodity is so valuable that it was targeted in a daring 2012 heist that saw about $18 million worth taken from a rural warehouse that stores Quebecs reserve. Sylvain Charlebois, a professor of food distribution and policy at Dalhousie University in Halifax, said the federations decision to allow for more maple syrup taps indicates its aware of a rising competitive threat. I think they are recognizing that there are some failures out there and theyre trying to address them, he said. Read more about: SHARE: It was at 4:45 a.m. on a chilly Monday last month when Toronto police knocked on the front door of a home on St. Clarens Ave., responding to a report of an emotionally disturbed woman threatening suicide. By approximately 5 a.m., Amleset Haile a 60-year-old resident of the building, a Houselink home for people with mental health or addiction challenges was wheeled out on a stretcher from the narrow walkway between two houses, unmoving, her neck in a brace. Two days later, she died in hospital after being taken off life support. Ontarios Special Investigations Unit (SIU), which probes deaths and serious injuries involving police, is investigating the January 2 incident. The watchdog has not identified Haile, citing its policy not to name those killed in police interactions without family consent; the Star has independently confirmed her identity. Six weeks after her death, friends and neighbours of the quiet, affectionate Ethiopia native a woman they say was struggling with mental illness and dementia are growing eager to learn what transpired in the final moments before Haile suffered fatal injuries. Shortly after the incident, paramedics said they transported a woman to a trauma centre who had suffered life-threatening injuries as the result of a fall, and police and paramedics initially reported the woman fell from a window something the SIU would not confirm. Jennifer Cox, Hailes friend and a fellow resident in the building who witnessed part of the incident, is awaiting the SIUs conclusion, saying the full picture of what occurred has not yet come out. Other than the four police officers who were there, its Amleset and God who know what happened, said Cox. Shes not here to tell her story, so this is why we really want to push and know. According to the SIUs brief description of the interaction, Toronto police arrived at the home on a quiet residential street near Bloor St. W. and Lansdowne Ave. at 4:45 a.m. A short time later, police officers located a 60-year-old woman between the residence and another house, reads a news release. In an email this week, SIU spokesperson Monica Hudon said she could not clarify whether Haile was injured before or after police found her, citing legislation prohibiting any public statement about the investigation during the course of the probe. In order to protect the integrity of the investigation into the womans death, I cannot offer further comment, Hudon said in an email. Toronto police cannot comment on an ongoing SIU investigation. However, a police source with knowledge of the investigation said officers heard a thunk and found Haile after she had jumped or fallen from some height, and that she had no contact with officers prior to incurring her injuries. A neighbour who lives next door to the home where Haile lived also heard a thunk sound, and said Haile was found close to the property line with Hailes three-story building. In an interview this week, Cox, Hailes friend, said she witnessed part of the incident and believes Haile was afraid and running away from police at the time. She expressed doubt that Haile could have jumped from either a window or the buildings third floor balcony, saying she was frail and weak and would have had difficulty lifting herself up. Cox says she was in bed when she heard knocking on the front door before 5 a.m. She then heard someone, who she now believes was Haile, walk past her room on the second floor and go downstairs, presumably to answer the door. But the knocking didnt stop, so Cox went downstairs and opened the door to find four police officers and a paramedic, saying they were looking for Haile. She said police had been summoned by a friend of Hailes who had been on the phone with Haile shortly before and had grown concerned her friend might harm herself. Police came inside the building and began searching for Haile, Cox said. But she believes by that time, Haile had already gone out the back door, which was open. She said she told officers that it seemed Haile had gone out the back, so they went outside the look. Between five to 10 minutes later, officers came back inside and reported that Haile had been located and was injured, Cox said. A short time later, Cox said she saw Haile being carried out on a stretcher, unmoving and wearing a neck brace unfortunately it seemed like the life was being taken from her right there. Cox described Haile as a sweet woman who was suffering from dementia and was acting increasingly erratic. Haile would often come for a visit in Coxs apartment, say goodbye, then re-enter moments later, apparently unaware that she had just left. Cox wonders if the incident could have ended differently if a mental health professional could have responded to the call instead of police. Toronto police does have roving units called Mobile Crisis Intervention Teams (MCIT), consisting of a specially trained police officer and a mental-health nurse. Despite repeated coroners inquest recommendations, the teams are not available 24-hours a day. None are available between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. Toronto police did recently alter the hours of operation to ensure availability during peak times, typically midday and late afternoon. The service has also invited all officers to attend MCIT training, with the aim to increase the number of trained officers available during the hours when MCIT is not. Toronto police say expanding the hours of the MCITs are remain a live issue. Steve Lurie, executive director of the Toronto branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association, said there should continue to be a push to expand the hours of specialized mental health units. If the call was we think someone is suicidal, it makes more sense to bring mental health professionals to bear if they are available, Lurie said in an interview. Haile had many friends in Toronto but had no family in Canada. Earlier this month, Houselink held a memorial her, where she was remembered for her kindness and her love of hugs and Ethiopian cuisine which she affectionately called my country food. Last week, a memorial was also held by Sistering, an organization for homeless and low-income Toronto women. Haile had been a long-time member of Sistering, well-loved by other woman and by staff, said executive director Patricia OConnell. She was just was a really solid member of the Sistering community, she said. She will be remembered as kind, generous, very gentle, a really good friend. Wendy Gillis can be reached at wgillis@thestar.ca Read more about: SHARE: VANCOUVERAn unofficial Conservative leadership debate Sunday was a mostly cordial affair that only saw a few sharp exchanges, such as whether to scrap the Liberal governments proposed carbon tax. Michael Chong drew boos from a crowd of about 250 people for defending a revenue-neutral carbon tax as the cheapest and most conservative strategy to lower greenhouse gas emissions, warning about the political fallout to the Conservative party of not having a viable plan to tackle climate change. If we are going to win the next election we need to have a credible position to reduce emissions. If we do not have a credible plan to reduce emissions, we will lose, he cautioned. Read more: The next leader of the Conservatives is ... one of these 14 The debate was organized by a local riding association and hosted nine of the 14 people vying to lead the countrys official Opposition. Several prominent candidates were absent, including reality TV star Kevin OLeary and Ontario MP Kellie Leitch. Former Conservative veterans affairs minister Erin OToole chided Chong for his carbon-tax proposal, saying, Im not in this race to out-Liberal the Liberals. Andrew Saxton added to the criticism, predicting such a tax would kill jobs and undermine the competitiveness of Canadian companies. As prime minister of Canada, I will axe the tax, the former British Columbia MP said to cheers from the audience. We have to have a harmonized plan with the United States in order to have an effective way to bring down greenhouse gases. The Conservative party has organized five official debates, where candidates are fined for failing to show up. Vancouvers event was the second of two, unofficial, back-to-back leadership debates in B.C.s Lower Mainland, following the previous days rally in Langley. Another point of contention that arose during the weekend was when OToole butted heads with MP Lisa Raitt over the best way to address youth unemployment. He proposed offering them a tax break. Raitt countered with a proposal that would requiring companies to include a youth employment strategy in their business plan in order to compete for public infrastructure projects. If you dont have a job, youre not creating any income to actually get those tax breaks from, Raitt said. So, lets make sure we get the jobs for people. Drugs were another central topic during Sundays debate. British Columbia is ground zero in Canadas opioid crisis, with more than 900 illicit overdose deaths across the province last year alone, and candidates were asked to weigh in on the situation. Former immigration minister Chris Alexander accused the Liberal government of failing to act decisively in response to the fentanyl crisis. Saskatchewan MP Brad Trost advocated a three-pronged approach: technology to keep prescription drugs safe, collaboration with other countries to pinch off drug supply and more resources for law enforcement and border security. If we had this many people dying from a terrorist incident, this would be the number one issue for the government of Canada, he added. Two official debates remain in the lead-up to May 27, when Conservatives will elect a new party leader. One will take place in Edmonton later this month and a location for the fifth has yet to be announced. Read more about: SHARE: BOSTONHundreds of scientists and their supporters rallied in historic Copley Square on Sunday, demanding that the Trump administration accept empirical reality on issues such as climate change and highlighting the centrality of objective information to making policy. We did not politicize science, said Naomi Oreskes, a Harvard science historian who spoke at the rally, which unfolded on a surprisingly warm February day that left the square filled with mud puddles from the melt of a recent blizzard. We did not start this fight. Our colleagues who have been attacked have not been attacked because they did something wrong, Oreskes continued. They have been attacked because they did something right namely, producing information that proved politically inconvenient. Read the latest news on U.S. President Donald Trump The event, called the Rally to Stand Up for Science, was organized by the Natural History Museum, ClimateTruth.org and a number of other groups, including the Union of Concerned Scientists. It was timed to coincide with the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), also occurring in downtown Boston. This timing along with the science-intensive community in an area that features Harvard, MIT and numerous other universities probably helped to ensure a good part of the turnout. I feel that were in this public relations battle right now, and we need to recast our work as scientists, not as dispassionate data junkies, but as people that care about the world around us, said Beka Economopoulos, one of the march organizers, who is with the Natural History Museum. Read more: The story behind Brian Mulroneys crooning at Florida cancer fundraiser Trumps revised travel ban to target same countries, senior official says Trumps Last night in Sweden remark baffles a nation As these were scientists marching, the event naturally featured some colourful signs, reading Objective Reality Exists, Make America Smart Again, and Poetry Nerds for Science. The organizers of the event promised that they would provide not only signs but also lab coats to those who attended. Science and education are the future, and denying that denies us a future, said Perry Hatchfield, a PhD student in physics at the University of Connecticut, who held an Immigrants Make Science Great sign. While the events Facebook page didnt explicitly attack Trump, it did say that this science-focused rally would be the first one since anti-science forces and climate deniers have taken office. Scientists also rallied outside the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco in December shortly after Trumps election. We represent a range of political views here. But what we are united in is our confidence in science and evidence-based investigation, said Anne Rookey, an IT manager from the area, who held a sign reading, Science is Real. Still, its difficult to separate the new-found energy within the scientific community from the advent of the Trump administration. Those organizing the event cited not only the issue of climate change, on which Trump and his appointees have often challenged the scientific consensus that it is mostly caused by humans, but also charged that there has been muzzling of scientists and that research data has been deleted by his administration. However, many science policy watchdogs and observers do not agree that the Trump administration has yet gone beyond what any other new U.S. administration might do when it comes to getting communications organized at different federal agencies and figuring out how each will disseminate its message. Restrictions on immigration, the fear of a U.S. talent drain and concerns about hits to the funding of research also loomed large at the Boston event. We have to be concerned about the best and brightest being kept in our country already France has offered to have scientists go over into their country if they arent welcomed in ours, said Emily Southard, a march organizer with ClimateTruth.org. And you can see just when you walk around the floor of the AAAS that there are other nations interested in recruiting some of our top scientists, Southard said. Organizers had said that they expected several hundred marchers at the event both scientists and non-scientist supporters and the turnout appeared to support that assessment. The Facebook page for the event listed 1,800 people who said they would be attending. The event, which covered much of Copley Square, seemed to be a promising sign for a far larger March for Science event, scheduled for April 22, Earth Day. That event has more than 800,000 Facebook group members at present and, if such momentum continues, could lead to an unprecedented demonstration by scientists against the new administration. Marches arent the only way that the science community has found support since the election the AAAS told The Washington Post that since the election, it has seen more than double the number of new memberships in comparison with a comparable period in 2015-2016. Yet there are tensions within the science world over these marches, and especially the April 22 event. They were apparent Saturday inside the nearby AAAS annual meeting. There, hundreds packed into a panel discussion, hosted by the Union of Concerned Scientists, titled Defending Science and Scientific Integrity in the Age of Trump. The panel included John Holdren, former Obama science adviser, and Jane Lubchenco, former administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. No speaker directly opposed the march, but Holdren did voice his worry, in a general sense, about whether messages emanating from the science world at this moment would be strategically co-ordinated or constructive. If we let a thousand flowers bloom, one liability is that we will end up with a whole less than the sum of the parts, Holdren said. When an audience questioner asked whether the planned April 22 march would lead to scientists being perceived as elitist or partisan, Lubchenco advised that the community should encourage people who arent scientists to march as well. Have it be a celebration of science. Yet it was hard to deny the raw emotion in the room and the potential for energized activism. One audience questioner even went so far as to suggest that the United States was becoming like fascist Germany, leading to a strong rebuttal from physicist Kurt Gottfried, one of the founders of the Union of Concerned Scientists, who was born in Austria in 1929. I have experienced what you are talking about, Gottfried said. And I want to warn you against overstating the case. I think the United States is not Germany or Austria in 1938. Back at the march, Hatchfield, the physics student, said he was confident that the pro-science movement already afoot could build from here. Its about perseverance, he said, and that if you actually stick with a message and continue to stand for it, the movement will grow. SHARE: A week before Michael Flynn resigned as national security adviser, a sealed proposal was hand-delivered to his office, outlining a way for President Donald Trump to lift sanctions against Russia. Flynn is gone, having been caught lying about his own discussion of sanctions with the Russian ambassador. But the proposal, a peace plan for Ukraine and Russia, remains, along with those pushing it: Michael Cohen, the presidents personal lawyer, who delivered the document; Felix H. Sater, a business associate who helped Trump scout deals in Russia; and a Ukrainian lawmaker trying to rise in a political opposition movement shaped in part by Trumps former campaign manager Paul Manafort. At a time when Trumps ties to Russia, and the people connected to him, are under heightened scrutiny with investigations by U.S. intelligence agencies, the FBI and Congress some of his associates remain willing and eager to wade into Russia-related efforts behind the scenes. Read more: Brian Mulroney sings for cancer fundraiser at Trumps Florida resort Trumps revised travel ban to target same countries, makes exemptions, says senior official Trumps Last night in Sweden remark baffles a nation Trump has confounded Democrats and Republicans alike with his repeated praise for the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and his desire to forge a U.S.-Russian alliance. While there is nothing illegal about such unofficial efforts, a proposal that seems to tip toward Russian interests may set off alarms. The amateur diplomats say their goal is simply to help settle a gruelling, three-year conflict that has cost 10,000 lives. Who doesnt want to help bring about peace? Cohen asked. But the proposal contains more than just a peace plan. Andrii V. Artemenko, the Ukrainian lawmaker, who sees himself as a Trump-style leader of a future Ukraine, claims to have evidence names of companies, wire transfers showing corruption by the Ukrainian president, Petro O. Poroshenko, that could help oust him. And Artemenko said he had received encouragement for his plans from top aides to Putin. A lot of people will call me a Russian agent, a U.S. agent, a CIA agent, Artemenko said. But how can you find a good solution between our countries if we do not talk? Cohen and Sater said they had not spoken to Trump about the proposal, and have no experience in foreign policy. Cohen is one of several Trump associates under scrutiny in an FBI counter-intelligence examination of links with Russia, according to law enforcement officials; he has denied any illicit connections. The two others involved in the effort have somewhat questionable pasts: Sater, 50, a Russian-American, pleaded guilty to a role in a stock manipulation scheme decades ago that involved the Mafia. Artemenko spent 2 years in jail in Kyiv in the early 2000s on embezzlement charges, later dropped, which he said had been politically motivated. While it is unclear if the White House will take the proposal seriously, the diplomatic freelancing has infuriated Ukrainian officials. Ukraines ambassador to the U.S., Valeriy Chaly, said Artemenko is not entitled to present any alternative peace plans on behalf of Ukraine to any foreign government, including the U.S. administration. At a security conference in Munich on Friday, Poroshenko warned the West against appeasement of Russia, and some U.S. experts say offering Russia any alternative to a 2-year-old international agreement on Ukraine would be a mistake. The Trump administration has sent mixed signals about the conflict in Ukraine. But given Trumps praise for Putin, John Herbst, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, said he feared the new president might be too eager to mend relations with Russia at Ukraines expense potentially with a plan like Artemenkos. The FBI is reviewing an unverified dossier, compiled by a former British intelligence agent and funded by Trumps Republican political opponents, that claims Cohen met with a Russian representative in Prague during the presidential campaign to discuss Russias hacking of Democratic targets. But the Russian official named in the report told The New York Times that he had never met Cohen. Cohen insists that he has never visited Prague and that the dossiers assertions are fabrications. Cohen has a personal connection to Ukraine: He is married to a Ukrainian woman and once worked with relatives there to establish an ethanol business. Before entering politics, Artemenko had business ventures in the Middle East and real estate deals in the Miami area, and had worked as an agent representing top Ukrainian athletes. Some colleagues in Parliament describe him as corrupt, untrustworthy or simply insignificant, but he appears to have amassed considerable wealth. He has fashioned himself in the image of Trump, presenting himself as Ukraines answer to a rising class of nationalist leaders in the West. He even travelled to Cleveland last summer for the Republican National Convention, seizing on the chance to meet with members of Trumps campaign. Its time for new leaders, new approaches to the governance of the country, new principles and new negotiators in international politics, he wrote on Facebook on Jan. 27. Our time has come! Artemenko said he saw in Trump an opportunity to advocate a plan for peace in Ukraine and help advance his own political career. Essentially, his plan would require the withdrawal of all Russian forces from eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian voters would decide in a referendum whether Crimea, the Ukrainian territory seized by Russia in 2014, would be leased to Russia for a term of 50 or 100 years. The Ukrainian ambassador, Chaly, rejected a lease of that kind. It is a gross violation of the constitution, he said in written answers to questions from The Times. Such ideas can be pitched or pushed through only by those openly or covertly representing Russian interests. The reaction suggested why Artemenkos project also includes the dissemination of kompromat, or compromising material, purportedly showing that Poroshenko and his closest associates are corrupt. Only a new government, presumably one less hostile to Russia, might take up his plan. Sater, a longtime business associate of Trumps with connections in Russia, was willing to help Artemenkos proposal reach the White House. Trump has sought to distance himself from Sater in recent years. If Sater were sitting in the room right now, Trump said in a 2013 deposition, I really wouldnt know what he looked like. But Sater worked on real estate development deals with the Trump Organization on and off for at least a decade, even after his role in the stock manipulation scheme came to light. Cohen said he was waiting for a response to the proposal when Flynn was forced from his post. Now he, Sater and Artemenko are hoping a new national security adviser will take up their cause. On Friday the president wrote on Twitter that he had four new candidates for the job. Read more about: SHARE: Swedes reacted with confusion, anger and ridicule Sunday to a vague remark by President Donald Trump that suggested that something terrible had occurred in their country. During a campaign-style rally Saturday in Florida, Trump issued a sharp if discursive attack on refugee policies in Europe, ticking off a list of places that have been hit by terrorists. You look at whats happening, he told his supporters. Weve got to keep our country safe. You look at whats happening in Germany, you look at whats happening last night in Sweden. Sweden, who would believe this? Not the Swedes. Read the latest news on U.S. President Donald Trump Nothing particularly nefarious happened in Sweden on Friday or Saturday, for that matter and Swedes were left baffled. Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking? Questions abound, Carl Bildt, a former prime minister and foreign minister, wrote on Twitter. As the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet noted, Twitter users were quick to ridicule Trumps remark, with joking references to the Muppets character the Swedish Chef, Swedish meatballs and furniture giant Ikea. Trump did not state, per se, that a terrorist attack had taken place in Sweden. Read more: Brian Mulroney sings for cancer fundraiser at Trumps Florida resort Trumps revised travel ban to target same countries, makes exemptions, says senior official Trump allies Russia-Ukraine peace plan raises red flags Senior national security official fired after criticizing Trump in private speech Iran dismisses pressure from Trump, mocks concept of crippling sanctions Scientists rally in Boston, demand Trump accept factual evidence when making policy But the context of his remarks he mentioned Sweden right after he chastised Germany, a destination for refugees and asylum seekers fleeing war and deprivation suggested that he thought it might have. Sweden, Trump said. They took in large numbers. Theyre having problems like they never thought possible. He then invoked the terrorist attacks that took place in Paris in 2015 and in Brussels and Nice, France, last year, to make an argument for tightening scrutiny of travellers and asylum seekers. Weve allowed thousands and thousands of people into our country, and there was no way to vet those people, he said. There was no documentation. There was no nothing. So were going to keep our country safe. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a White House spokeswoman, tried to clarify the presidents remarks Sunday, saying Trump did not mean to suggest that a particular attack had happened the night before, but rather was talking about crime in general in Sweden. On Sunday, Trump offered his own clarification, writing on Twitter: My statement as to whats happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden. In that story, Fox News correspondent Tucker Carlson interviewed Ami Horowitz, a filmmaker who asserts that migrants in Sweden have been associated with a crime wave. They oftentimes try to cover up some of these crimes, Horowitz said, arguing that those who try to tell the truth about the situation are shouted down as racists and xenophobes. (Carlson interjected, The masochism of the West knows no bounds at all.) Horowitz said, Sweden had its first terrorist Islamic attack not that long ago, so theyre now getting a taste of what weve been seeing across Europe already. It was not clear what he was referring to. In 2010, a suicide bomber struck central Stockholm, injuring two people. The bomber, Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly, 28, was an Iraqi-born Swede who had developed an affinity for Al Qaeda. But that attack occurred long before the current wave of migrants. Sweden has a long history of welcoming refugees Jews, Iranians, Eritreans, Somalis, Kurds and people from the former Yugoslavia, among others but even some of the most tolerant and idealistic Swedes have raised questions about whether the country can absorb so many newcomers so quickly. Henrik Selin, a political scientist and deputy director of the Swedish Institute, a state agency dedicated to promoting Sweden globally, said he was puzzled by Trumps remarks. I do not have a clue what he was referring to, he said in a telephone interview. Obviously, this could be connected to the fact that there has been a lot of negative reporting about Sweden, since Sweden has taken in a lot of refugees. The country processed 81,000 asylum seekers in 2014, 163,000 in 2015 and 29,000 last year, with another 25,000 to 45,000 expected this year, according to the Swedish Migration Agency. Selin completed a study recently focusing on negative news reports about Swedens acceptance of refugees. It found numerous exaggerations and distortions, including false reports that Shariah law was predominant in parts of the country and that some immigrant-heavy neighbourhoods were considered no-go zones by police. Breitbart News, the right-wing website once led by Stephen Bannon, now Trumps senior strategist, has published numerous stories alleging that migrants have been responsible for a surge in crime and for a wave of sexual assaults. Swedish officials have said that their statistics do not justify such sweeping assertions, and that the country has a high number of sexual assault reports relative to other European countries because more victims come forward, not because there is more violence. Selin said the news reports were highly exaggerated and not based in facts, adding, Some of the stories were very popular to spread in social media by people who have the same kind of agenda that countries should not receive so many refugees. As for the coverup alleged by Horowitz, Selin said: That kind of claim has been in the political debate for 15 years now. But nobody has been able to prove there is a coverup. On the contrary, the fact is that crime rates are going down. He added: Swedish authorities have nothing to gain from hiding the truth. We are quite keen to ensure that the debate and the story about our country is fact-based and nuanced. We are more than happy to talk about the challenges our country faces as well as the things that are going well. Asked about Trumps comment, Anna Kinberg Batra, leader of the opposition Moderate Party, said in a statement, President Trump has to answer himself for his statements, why he makes them and based on what facts. Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom declined to comment because, her press secretary, Erik Wirkensjo, said, its hard to say what Trump is talking about. In an essay in the newspaper Dagens Nyheter, journalist Martin Gelin speculated that Trump might have gotten his news from the countless right-wing media in the United States that have long been reporting that Sweden is heading for total collapse. He added, Among Trump supporters, there are common myths that Sweden is in a state of chaos after taking in refugees from the Middle East. Read more about: SHARE: The larger number of women voters present in his rally even forced the Amethi MP to mention it in his speech. By Supriya Bhardwaj: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's rally in Chhato village in Raebareli had a unique factor which is rare as far public meetings or elections rallies in Uttar Pradesh are concerned. Well, it was an all 'women supporters' rally. The larger number of women voters present in his rally even forced the Amethi MP to mention it in his speech. advertisement "For the first time I have seen so many women that have come in a rally here. You (women voters) have even pushed men to the side line," said Gandhi scion while commencing his 27 minute long speech. Amid cheers and sloganeering, Gandhi asked the women supporters, workers and voters whether they got Rs 15 lakh in their account. "Had Modiji given that money to you then you people would have started many small scale businesses. But Modiji runs only rich people's government," said Gandhi. Also Read: Food Park in Amethi was closed as revenge against Congress: Rahul Gandhi The Congress vice president went all out to woo the women in his mother Congress president Sonia Gandhi's constituency Raebareli. He promised more job opportunities and financial stability for women if SP-Congress alliance government was formed in the state. The Amethi MP addressed his second rally in Raebareli district during ongoing poll campaign. Congress president Sonia Gandhi hasn't campaigned in any state during the ongoing Assembly elections owing to health reasons. --- ENDS --- CAIROA Daesh group affiliate in Egypt released a video Monday showing the suicide bomber who killed nearly 30 people when he attacked a packed church in December and vowing more attacks on the countrys Christians. A narrator says in the 20-minute video that the Egyptian Christians are the extremist groups favourite prey. The video shows footage of Egypts Coptic Christian Pope, Christian businessmen, judges and priests who either speak of the need to protect the minority or use derogatory terms to refer to Egypts Muslim majority. The narrator says Christians were no longer dhimmis, a reference to non-Muslims in Islam who enjoy a degree of state protection. Instead, the group describes the Christians as infidels who are empowering the West against Muslim nations. God gave orders to kill every infidel, one of the militants carrying an AK-47 assault rifle says in the video. Read more: 25 dead after bomb explodes at Coptic Christian cathedral in Cairo Egypts Coptic Christians, who make up around 10 per cent of the population, have been always a favourite target of Islamic extremists. Attacks on churches by Muslim mobs increased since the 2013 military overthrow of an Islamist president. Christians overwhelmingly supported the army chief-turned-president, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, and extremists have used such support as a pretext to increase attacks against them. The video shows footage of Abu Abdullah al-Masri, the militant who blew himself up at the central Cairo church in December. The attack, says the narrator, was only the beginning. Oh worshippers of the cross ... the soldiers of the state are watching you, another masked militant identified as Abu Zubair al-Masri says. The video carries the logo Egypt instead of the normal Wilayat Sinai or the state of Sinai. Wilayat Sinai, the name of the Daesh branch in Sinai, has claimed responsibility for dozens of suicide bombings and attacks, mainly targeting security forces and military across the country but primarily in Sinai Peninsula, where the army has been leading an anti-terrorism operation for years. The Daesh message comes at a time when attacks on Coptic Christians have escalated in Sinai. In the past month, at least three Christians were gunned down in separate drive-by shooting attacks in the city of el-Arish. el-Sissi has repeatedly assured Egypts Christians of his goodwill toward the community, visiting the seat of the Coptic Orthodox church in Cairo on major holidays, but many in the ancient community complain that very little has changed in their lives since el-Sissi took office in 2014, especially in rural areas where Muslim radicals frequently attack Christian homes and businesses over a range of issues, including the construction or restoration of churches, land disputes or sexual affairs between members of each community. Read more about: SHARE: NEW YORKRussias ambassador to the United Nations, a veteran diplomat known as a potent, savvy yet personable voice for his countrys interests who could both spar and get along with his Western counterparts, died suddenly Monday after falling ill in his office at Russias U.N. mission. Vitaly Churkin was taken to a hospital, where he died a day before his 65th birthday, said Russias deputy U.N. ambassador, Vladimir Safronkov. The cause of his death was unknown. As Russias envoy at the United Nations since 2006 and a diplomat for decades, Churkin was considered Moscows great champion at the U.N., where he was the longest-serving ambassador on the powerful Security Council. Russian President Vladimir Putin esteemed Churkins professionalism and diplomatic talents, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the state news agency TASS. Diplomatic colleagues from around the world mourned Churkin as a master in their field: a passionate and effective advocate for his country; an intellectual with a doctorate in history who was also a one-time child actor with an acute wit; a formidable adversary who could remain a friend. We did not always see things the same way, but he unquestionably advocated his countrys positions with great skill, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said in a statement. Her predecessor, Samantha Power, described him on Twitter as a diplomatic maestro and deeply caring man who had done all he could to bridge differences between the U.S. and Russia. Those differences were evident when Power and Churkin spoke at the Security Council last month, when she lashed out at Russia for annexing Ukraines Crimean Peninsula and for carrying out a merciless military assault in Syria. Churkin accused Democratic former president Barack Obamas administration, which Power served, of desperately searching for scapegoats for its failures in Iraq, Syria and Libya. Churkins death stunned officials at U.N. headquarters, where the news emerged in the midst of a routine briefing for reporters. He died weeks into some major adjustments for Russia, the U.N. and the international community, with a new secretary-general at the world body and a new administration in Washington. Meanwhile, the Security Council is due this week to discuss Ukraine and Syria. From Moscows vantage point, Churkin was like a rock against which were broken the attempts by our enemies to undermine what constitutes the glory of Russia, Tass quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying. Churkins U.N. counterparts experienced and respected the pride that he took in serving his country and the passion and, at times, very stern resolution that he brought to his job, said General Assembly President Peter Thomson, of Fiji. But colleagues also respected Churkins intellect, diplomatic skills, good humour and consideration for others, Thomson said. He said hed been struck and heartened by Churkins openness to meeting with representatives from small countries, such as Fiji. Britains U.N. ambassador, Matthew Rycroft, recalled a diplomatic giant and wonderful character. Former French U.N. Ambassador Gerard Araud, now French ambassador to the U.S., described Churkin as abrasive, funny and technically impeccable. Churkin emerged as the face of a new approach to foreign affairs by what was then the Soviet Union in 1986, when he testified before the U.S. Congress about the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster. It was rare for any Soviet official to appear before Congress, and Churkin was in his 30s and a second secretary at his countrys embassy in Washington. In fluent English, Churkin provided little new information about Chernobyl but engaged in a friendly, sometimes humorous, exchange with lawmakers who werent accustomed to such a tone or to a representative in a fashionably well-fitting suit and a stylish haircut from the U.S.S.R. After he returned to the foreign ministry in Moscow, Churkin ably dodged questions and parried with Western correspondents, often with a smile, at briefings in the early 1990s. Within the government, he proved himself an able and flexible presence who survived numerous course changes after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. He held ambassadorships in Canada and Belgium, among other posts. Churkin told Russia Today in an interview this month that diplomacy had become much more hectic than it used to be, with political tensions rising and stability elusive in various hot spots. At the time, he looked in good health and was very energetic, reporter Alexey Yaroshevsky tweeted Monday. Read more about: SHARE: PALM BEACH, FLA.President Donald Trump has tapped Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, a prominent military strategist known as a creative thinker, as his new national security adviser, replacing the ousted Michael Flynn. Trump announced the pick Monday at his Palm Beach, Florida, club and said McMaster is a man of tremendous talent and tremendous experience. In a White House statement issued late Monday, McMaster said he was honoured to serve in his new role, adding, The safety of the American people and the security of the American homeland are our top priorities. Read the latest news on U.S. President Donald Trump The presidents choice further elevates the influence of military officers in the new administration. Trump, who has no military or foreign policy experience, has shown a strong preference for putting generals in top roles. In this case, he tapped an active-duty officer for a post thats sometimes used as a counterweight to the Pentagon. McMaster, who wore his uniform for the announcement, joins Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, both retired generals, in Trumps inner circle of national security advisers. , The White House said Monday McMaster plans to remain on active military duty. He will take on the challenge of leading a National Security Council that has not adjusted smoothly to Trumps leadership. The president suggested he does not trust holdovers from the Obama administration and complained about leaks to reporters. His decision to put his top political adviser on the senior committee of the National Security Council drew sharp criticism. On Friday, the head of the councils Western Hemisphere division was fired after he criticized Trumps policies and his inner circle of advisers. Trump said Monday that retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, who had been his acting adviser, will now serve as the National Security Council chief of staff. He also said he would be asking John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, to work with them in a somewhat different capacity. McMaster is viewed as soldier-scholar and creative thinker. He has a doctoral degree in history from the University of North Carolina and has been heavily involved in the Armys efforts to shape its future force and its way of preparing for war. He is currently the director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center, a sort of military think-tank , at Fort Eustis, Virginia. Outside of the Army, he may be best known for his 1997 book, Dereliction of Duty, a searing indictment of the U.S. governments mishandling of the Vietnam War and an analysis of what he called the lies that led to Vietnam. The book earned him a reputation for being willing to speak truth to power. McMaster commanded troops in both American wars in Iraq in 1991, when he fought in a storied tank battle known as the Battle for 73 Easting, and again in 2005-2006 in one of the most violent periods of the insurgency that developed after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. He is credited with using innovative approaches to countering the insurgency in the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar when he commanded the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. He later served as a special adviser to the top U.S. commander in Iraq. McMaster was Trumps second choice to replace Flynn, who has been under FBI investigation for his contacts with Russian officials. Trump dismissed Flynn last week after revelations that the adviser had misled Vice-President Mike Pence about the nature of his discussion with Russias ambassador to the U.S. during the presidential transition. Trump said in a news conference Thursday that he was disappointed by how Flynn had treated Pence, but did not believe Flynn had done anything wrong by having the conversations. Trumps first choice to replace Flynn, retired Vice Adm. Robert Harward, turned down the offer. Trump announced his choice sitting between McMaster and Kellogg in a luxurious living room at the resort property. The president told reporters that Vice-President Mike Pence had been involved in the process, but he did not elaborate. Trump brought four candidates for the position to Mar-a-Lago over the weekend for in-person interviews, McMaster among them. McMaster called the appointment a privilege. It was not clear how closely McMasters and Trumps views align. On Russia, McMaster appears to hold a much dimmer view than Trump of Moscows military and political objectives in Europe. In remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in May 2016, McMaster said Russia managed to annex Crimea and intervene militarily in eastern Ukraine at zero cost from the international community. McMaster said Moscows broader goal is to collapse the post-Cold War security, economic and political order in Europe and replace that order with something that is more sympathetic to Russian interests. In his current role, McMaster has been studying the way Russia developed and executed its campaigns in Crimea and Ukraine, where it used what some call hybrid warfare part political, part disinformation, part military. Sen. John McCain, an increasingly vocal Trump critic, called McMaster an outstanding choice. He is a man of genuine intellect, character, and ability. He knows how to succeed, he said in a statement. I give President Trump great credit for this decision, as well as his national security cabinet choices. The position of national security adviser does not require Senate confirmation. Read more about: SHARE: U.S. President Donald Trump caused confusion during a Saturday rally in Florida when he said: You look at whats happening last night in Sweden. Sweden, who would believe this? Trump then mentioned the French cities of Nice and Paris and the Belgian capital, Brussels. The three European cities were all attacked by terrorists over the past two years. Although Trump did not explicitly say it, his remarks were widely perceived in the United States and abroad as suggesting that an attack had occurred Friday night in Sweden. Read the latest news on U.S. President Donald Trump Trump himself attempted to clarify the remarks, tweeting on Sunday: My statement as to whats happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden. On Monday, Trump elaborated a bit with another tweet: Give the public a break The FAKE NEWS media is trying to say that large scale immigration in Sweden is working out just beautifully. NOT! Trump was likely referring to an interview with filmmaker Ami Horowitz on Foxs Tucker Carlson Tonight, which started circulating on social media shortly after Trumps speech in Florida. Horowitz has blamed refugees for what he says is a crime wave in Sweden. The filmmakers claims have since come under scrutiny, as Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter reported Monday. Two Swedish police officers who were interviewed by Horowitz said that their comments had been taken out of context. One of them, Anders Goranzon, accused the filmmaker of being a madman. Such claims by Horowitz have driven up Google search traffic for information on Swedish crime statistics in recent weeks. In fact, interest in the issue has never been higher over the last four years. Read more: Trumps Last night in Sweden remark baffles a nation Trump rallies supporters, insists White House is running so smoothly Trumps revised travel ban to target same seven countries, says senior official Trumps references to Sweden seemed to suggest that the countrys welcoming approach to refugees and its alleged effects on crime rates should be a warning sign. But were the presidents remarks justified? Absolutely not, said Felipe Estrada Dorner, a criminology professor at Stockholm University. His response was echoed by multiple other experts on Monday who are familiar with Swedish crime statistics. Overall, Swedens average crime rate has fallen in recent years, according to Dorner. That drop has been observed for cases of lethal violence and for sexual assaults, two of the most serious categories of crime. Moreover, an analysis by Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, conducted between October 2015 and January 2016, came to the conclusion that refugees were responsible for only one per cent of all incidents. Researchers caution, however, that segregation and long-term unemployment of refugees could have a negative impact on crime rates in Sweden in the future. The other European country that took in similar numbers of refugees per capita in 2015, Germany, has also refuted claims that the influx led to an increase in crimes. Immigrants are not more criminal than Germans, an interior ministry spokesman said in June. Overall, crime levels in Germany declined over the first quarter of 2016, officials said last year. Nevertheless, skepticism has persisted in Germany, Sweden and elsewhere. A Pew Research study conducted in early 2016 indicated that 46 per cent of Swedes believed that refugees in our country are more to blame for crime than other groups. Reports about alleged police cover-ups of refugee crimes might have contributed to distrust in official statistics. Criminologists also say that a handful of cases have received disproportionate public attention, creating a distorted perception among Swedes. What were hearing is a very, very extreme exaggeration based on a few isolated events, Jerzy Sarnecki, a criminologist at Stockholm University, told the Globe and Mail newspaper last May, when coverage of refugee-related crimes reached a peak. There is one statistic in which Sweden does indeed lead international crime statistics, though: reported cases of rape. When three men raped a woman on Facebook Live, the incident made headlines worldwide. But criminologists say refugees are not the reason Sweden has such an extraordinarily high number of rape cases. The (definitions) of rape differ between countries, said Dorner. In Sweden several changes in legislation have been made to include more cases of sexual crimes as rape cases. Swedens definition of what constitutes rape is now one of the worlds most expansive. Varying figures, as well as other Swedish measures to facilitate rape complaints, might have affected statistics, as well. Swedish crime experts also do not agree that immigrants have created so-called no-go areas inside Sweden areas that allegedly are too dangerous for native Swedes to enter and are effectively run by criminals. This perception is fabricated, said Dorner. But he and others also pointed out that the refugee influx poses challenges to Sweden, just not in the way it is being portrayed by some. Even [though] there are no no-go zones as alleged in the propaganda, there are problems around crimes and disturbances in several suburbs of Swedish cities, where immigrant groups tend to be overrepresented, said Henrik Selin, a senior researcher at the Swedish Institute. Sweden definitely, like other countries, (faces) challenges when it comes to integration of immigrants into Swedish society, with lower levels of employment, tendencies of exclusion, and also crimes related problems, said Selin. So far, there is little evidence, however, that Sweden has turned into the lawless country it is at times being described as abroad. Read more about: SHARE: BAGHDADU.S. Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said Monday he believes U.S. forces will be in Iraq and in the fight against Daesh militants for a while, despite some rocky times between the two nations. Speaking at the end of a day of meetings in Baghdad with military commanders and Iraqi political leaders, Mattis said he is open to any request from his military commanders to aid the battle to retake Mosul and launch a major battle to oust Daesh from the base of its so-called caliphate in Raqqa, Syria. He would not provide details. Despite President Donald Trumps past threats to take Iraqs oil and his attempt to impose a travel ban that includes Iraqi citizens, Mattis said his meetings with Iraqi leaders underscored the partnership the U.S. has with the Iraqis. Read the latest news on U.S. President Donald Trump He said theres no doubt that the Iraqi people, the Iraqi military and the Iraqi political leadership recognize what theyre up against and the value of the coalition and the partnership, in particular with the United States. His optimistic words come on the heels of his earlier declaration that the U.S. does not intend to seize Iraqi oil, distancing himself from comments made by Trump that has rattled Iraqs leaders. Trumps oil threat and his inclusion of Iraq in the administrations travel ban have roiled the nation and spurred local lawmakers to pressure al-Abadi to reduce co-operation with Washington. Read more: Iraqi forces launch major offensive to drive Daesh from western Mosul Daesh in Mosul and Raqqa will be defeated within the next six months, says U.S. official Trump is planning to bring Daesh detainees to Guantanamo, document shows I think all of us here in this room, all of us in America have generally paid for our gas and oil all along, and Im sure that we will continue to do that in the future, Mattis told reporters travelling with him. Were not in Iraq to seize anybodys oil. Trump brought up the prospect during the campaign, and he mentioned it again late last month during a visit to the CIA. He told the gathering there that, To the victor belong the spoils, and added, maybe youll have another chance to take the oil. Despite those tensions, Mattis and Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, described an enduring partnership between the U.S. and Iraq. I imagine well be in this fight for a while and well stand by each other, Mattis said. Townsend, who was standing by Mattis, declined to say how long the U.S. will stay in Iraq. But, he said, I dont anticipate that well be asked to leave by the government of Iraq immediately after Mosul. He added, I think that the government of Iraq realizes their very complex fight, and theyre going to need the assistance of the coalition even beyond Mosul. Townsend also acknowledged that U.S. forces are now operating closer and deeper into the fight with Iraq units as the battle to retake western Mosul entered its second day. He said the change began in recent months during the successful fight to take back eastern Mosul, and is now happening more often. U.S. special operations forces have been working with the Iraqis, offering advice and assistance but initially they were only at the headquarters level. More recently they have been moving closer to the battlefront, working with brigade, battalion and sometimes smaller units. But they are generally with command and control units, not in combat on the front lines. We embedded advisers a bit further down into the formation, Townsend said. Mattis unannounced one-day stop in Iraq was his first as Pentagon chief and the first visit to the war zone by a senior member of the Trump administration. It comes as Mattis and his military leaders are nearing the end of a 30-day review of the fight with Daesh. He must send Trump a strategy to accelerate the battle in the next seven days. Senior U.S. military officers said Monday that the fight in the more urban, heavily populated areas of western Mosul will require more precision airstrikes and probably smaller bombs that can take out a building or group of militants and leave surroundings intact. Lt. Gen. Jeff Harrigian, the top Air Force commander in the Middle East, said troops responsible for calling in airstrikes are closer to the fight and can move forward with Iraqi units. They also have greater authority now to speak directly to pilots in the aircraft overhead, allowing them to launch strikes more quickly, he said. Military leaders, said Harrigian, realized they could be more responsive now because the troops have built up trust with their Iraqi partners. While Mattis and Townsend wouldnt talk about any future changes or accelerants in the war fight, various military options have been discussed in recent months. Among them: putting more troops in Iraq and Syria and boosting military aid to Kurdish fighters backed by the U.S.-led coalition. More specifically, officials have talked about expanding efforts to train, advise and enable local Iraqi and Syrian forces, increasing intelligence and surveillance, and allowing U.S. troops to move forward more frequently with Iraqi soldiers nearer the front lines. The Pentagon also would like more freedom to make daily decisions about how it fights the enemy. Current and former U.S. officials discussed the likely options on condition of anonymity because they werent authorized to talk publicly. In Syria, a possible option would be to send more U.S. forces, including combat troops, there as the Raqqa fight heats up. Another move would be to provide heavy weapons and vehicles to the U.S.-backed Syrian Kurds, and boost training. They have been the most effective force against Daesh in northern and eastern Syria, but the proposal is sensitive. Turkey, a key U.S. and NATO ally, considers the group a terrorist organization. There are more than 5,100 U.S. military personnel in Iraq, and up to about 500 in Syria. Read more about: SHARE: Canadian PM, Justin Trudeau, Smears all Canadians with Islamophobia Lie to Create a Sharia State, tweeted notorious American Islamophobe Pamela Geller, in reference to M103, a motion debated in Parliament this week. Unfortunately, such views are not restricted to the lunatic fringe. Several Conservative leadership hopefuls have bought into the moral panic, only confirming the importance of the motion. Kellie Leitch, Chris Alexander, Brad Trost and Pierre Lemieux even spoke at a Rebel Media event, which according to organizers, was to oppose Islamic blasphemy laws in Canada. Speakers warned that the government planned to silence critics of Islam. Haters have always relied on conflation, misinformation, and obfuscation of the facts to fearmonger. The less bolder ones resort to dog whistle politics. Either way, the pack hears the message. Lets deconstruct the rhetoric. First, its not a bill. Its a non-binding motion asking the government to study Systemic Racism and Religious Discrimination. There is no new law or changes to laws. Quebec passed a similar motion in 2015. There is still no Caliph or Sharia laws on the books. Second, M103 is not giving preference to a community, but rather is tackling a pressing issue by responding to a petition on Islamophobia presented last year after hate against Muslims more than doubled in a two-year period. As noted by the Globe, Motions like this usually receive little attention; this one has taken over Parliament. Such opposition within weeks of the slaughter of six Muslims praying is not only insensitive, but highly irresponsible. Third, to claim it is the lead chariot in the procession of Islamization is ludicrous. Islamophobes love the Sharia, because its mere mention effectively shuts down any critical thought or reasonable discussion. In fact, the moment the word is used, with all the negative associations, Islamophobes win without even having advanced a single coherent argument. The deep-seated bias fixates people on their worst fears and lead many normally critical people to suspend reason and resort to feelings and beliefs. An innocuous and symbolic motion to assuage a community under siege becomes an Islamist Trojan Horse. So, what exactly is the Sharia. It literally means the path, but justice and rule of law to most Muslims, as noted by Harvard Islamic scholar Noah Feldman. It involves both personal, spiritual aspects and the legal/political realm. Only the former is relevant for most Muslims, especially in the West. Within both, there is a spectrum of interpretations ranging from the very liberal to the extreme conservative. There is no monolithic understanding of the Sharia. Like any world view it can be used and abused by people with varying agendas. Developed over 1,424 years in diverse societies, it has manifested itself in a range of views. In fact, the inherent diversity and pluralism of the Sharia may be the best tool we have to counter the violent and antimodern narratives of extremists. For those who fear Sharia creep, its too late. Its already here. For most, rather like the golden rule, the Sharia demands that they obey the laws of the land; live peacefully with their neighbours; don't lie; don't cheat; pay their taxes; respect each other; care for the underprivileged and the oppressed; and focus on making the world better for all. In fact, scholars consider the thrust of the Sharia to be advancing human welfare. Muhamad Abdu, a prominent Al-Azhar jurist at the turn of the 19th century, once said: I went to the West and saw Islam, but no Muslims; I got back to the East and saw Muslims, but not Islam. Getting past the Sharia hysteria is not enough, because opponents still have their trump card (pun intended). They dont have a hate on for Muslims, they only object to the term Islamophobia. These newly minted word etymologists argue it is imprecise and precludes legitimate criticism. They counter that it is not a phobia because it is not a mental condition, but a grounded fear of bad ideas. Au contraire, it is a phobia, because it is prejudice and bigotry towards Muslims and the irrational and exaggerated fear of an assumed, but nonexisting monolithic Islam represented by the Sharia bogeyman. It is exaggerated, because it takes the regressive interpretations of the few who justify terrorism and antimodern ideas and instinctively project it onto all Muslims. It is irrational because it ignores the peaceful and progressive Sharia interpretations adopted by the clear majority of Muslims while authenticating only the extremist views. All 1.6 billion Muslims (except moderates) are painted with the same brush. Respectful criticism of Islam and even Muslim practices is done daily by many, including Muslims. Yet the Islamophobia label is not used, because it is not done with loathing and contempt. Diversity of opinions are a recognized forte of Islamic jurisprudence. For the past 26 years, I have critiqued the mainstream Islamic opinions on blasphemy, apostasy, the status of women, etc. I am challenged sometimes, but never have I been labeled an Islamophobe. Many in the Muslim world are persecuted for this, but its not for Islamophobia. Yes, anti-Muslim hate or Muslimophobia work, but Islamophobia conveys the deeper, richer and more precise nature of the feelings and beliefs that drive the othering of Muslims. Faisal Kutty teaches law at Valparaiso University Law School in Indiana and Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto and serves as counsel to KSM Law. He is co-authoring a forthcoming legal casebook on Global Legal Traditions, including Islamic law. @faisalkutty SHARE: Justin Trudeau has discovered Europe. The prime minister had hoped to find there a counterweight to Canadas economic dependence on the U.S. He found instead a continent anxious about American intentions and desperate to find someone who could interpret Donald Trump. Its easier for the Canadians to speak to the Americans, European Parliament President Antonio Tajani said during a joint press conference with Trudeau on Thursday in Strasbourg. Indeed, explaining America has long been Canadas role. The Europeans regard us, if they think about us at all, as the sane North Americans. We may not be as interesting as Americans. But at least we can articulate the unfathomable enthusiasms that, from time to time, enslave them. These days, Europe is trying to fathom the enthusiasms of Trump, Americas new president. Im not sure Trudeau wants to spend all of his time acting as interlocutor between Trump and the rest of the world. But for a while at least that may be his fate. His trip to Strasbourg was timed to take advantage of last weeks decision by the European Parliament to ratify the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada and the European Union. For Canada, a free-trade agreement with the EU is, in part, a strategy designed to lessen this countrys dependence on the U.S. market, Its antecedents go back to the 1970s and the efforts of then prime minister Pierre Trudeau to find a so-called third option (the first two being either the status quo or full economic integration with the U.S.). The third option didnt get very far in the 1970s. It is having only limited success today. As the Star reported last week, Conference Board of Canada chief economist Craig Alexander says that while CETA will ultimately boost exports to Europe, it wont be a game changer for the Canadian economy. The Canadian Meat Council, which represents federally inspected slaughterhouses, supports CETA. But spokesman Ron Davidson told me Friday some technical issues such as the EUs refusal to accept Canadian beef that has been sprayed with antimicrobials may remain unresolved for more than a year. All of which is to say that, for a while at least, there may be less to Canadas bold new trade deal with Europe than meets the eye. Certainly, the Europeans arent that excited. The 408 to 254 vote for CETA in the European Parliament on Wednesday was solid but hardly overwhelming. To be fully implemented, the deal must still be ratified by all of the EUs 28 member states. In parts of Europe, significant opposition to the pact remains. Presumably, however, the Europeans who turned out to welcome Trudeau last week in France and Germany didnt want to hear him maunder on about CETA. They wanted to know about Trump. Whats he like close up? How crazy is he? Does he really mean what he says? Trudeau assured them that he does. What I saw from the American president was a focus on getting things done for the people who supported him, Trudeau said in Strasbourg. So yes. Trump is serious. He may go back and forth on the need for NATO. But he means it when he says hes sick of America picking up the bill for the alliances free riders. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday her country plans to meet NATOs target for defence spending within a decade. Trudeau, by this time in Berlin, hinted there may be another way that Trump may tolerate financial pikers, such as Canada and Germany, if they put their troops on the front lines of American-led military operations. Throughout his whirlwind trip to France and Germany, Trudeau did all the appropriate things. He talked about climate change and the importance of trade. He embraced openness. But his real role was to reassure Europeans that Trump is not insane, that he can be worked with. There will always be differences of opinion, Trudeau said in Berlin. But we can focus very closely on the things we have in common: a desire to help our middle classes. Thomas Walkom appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Read more about: SHARE: Should you take your cellphone across the U.S. border? Should you even take yourself across the U.S. border? Previously unthought-of-questions keep popping up. If you are in a Canadian airport but talking to U.S. border guards in pre-clearance, are you still on Canadian soil? Can you give up on a conversation headed in a bad direction my euphemism for interrogation and just go home? Can you be strip-searched on a whim? By a Canadian border guard? An American? Prove it was a whim. Watch your dignity, your unconquerable soul, fly away like an African swallow carrying a coconut. The answers are complicated and some of the more obscure have not been made clear. For some questions there are no answers. Laws passed in the 1970s about orange vinyl luggage are being applied to digital devices. The effect is unreal. The U.S. Homeland Security guidelines are clear basically they can do anything they want but were written in 2009 and dont seem to refer to passwords as such. Problems that seem minor at home become massively important when a traveller is alone with U.S. border guards, intimidated and unsure. Being right may not protect you. An airport is not a great place to argue. It is the land of at the discretion of an officer, as the CBC reports, and what are you going to do, call a cop? A new bill, C-23, may make Canadian travellers lives even more miserable. The 2015 Canada-U.S. agreement it enshrines was made during the relatively balmy Obama years and passed both houses of Congress in December. But the bill seems more sinister under the administration of President Trump, as does everything really. Legal experts say the bill gives more power to U.S. border guards in Canada, the CBC reports. No, you cant abandon your journey without explanation. Youre still in Canada but not really. This is assuming you have already handed over your cellphone and laptop to U.S. customs officials, along with passwords. I use a fingerprint to open my phone. Suggestions that I foil the guards by innocently using another finger are not helpful. Theyve thought of that. Naturally you balk at giving anyone the key to your entire life but you have little option. It is not clear whether you have to do the same for a Canadian border guard. At best, they have copied all your data. At worst, they will keep it forever. This is one reason it was so damaging for Trump to have criticized an American circuit court for defying him. American law seems shakier in its performance than it used to be. U.S. customs agents do not tremble for their jobs. Theres a way to cope: Wired magazine recommends a locked-down Chromebook and an iPhone SE thats set up to sync with a separate, nonsensitive Apple account wiped before the trip and loaded with minimum data. But Wireds typical traveller is a stealth security expert. What about you? Even if you left the phone behind and managed though I cannot see how without a laptop on a work trip, your use of social media is up for grabs. Google has that. As Wired points out, this doesnt just affect individual travellers, but everyone theyve communicated with. That includes on social media. What is worrying is the privacy of anyone who has ever emailed me. There are years of emails about legal matters, private stories from readers, conversations with editors, with family. The best portrait of me is a paper trail of a decade of book purchases on Amazon. Readers, I give you my word that I will transfer these emails and delete the initial version of all content. But I dont envision being allowed into the U.S. at this point. Im not sure I want to go. I am being told this is nonsense. But Friday was the first day I was unable to watch Trump doing his crazy because I had work to do. I could no longer fit his latest plan its like childrens pasta art into a highly flexible work schedule. Covering Trumps border security plans is like overfilling sandbags. You ran out of bags long ago but the sand keeps flowing, stupid Trump sand. Soon there will be too much data for border guards to hunt down and master, and they will stop looking for it. Their cup overfloweth. SHARE: Almost every one of Canadas allies has a law protecting confidential journalistic sources from state prying, yet we do not. In recent months, the cost of this lack has been made newly clear, as has the need to remedy it. The government should heed the call from newspaper editors across the country and support a Senate bill that would protect freedom of the press. Last October, Patrick Lagace, a columnist at Montreals La Presse newspaper, revealed that police had been spying on him for months, tracking his whereabouts using his cellphone and monitoring his calls and texts. They appeared to be after one of his sources, he said. The state spying on a journalist suspected of no wrongdoing seemed at the time to be unprecedented in Canadian history. But we have since learned it was not. In the days afterwards, it was revealed that at least 10 reporters in Quebec had had their cellphone communication secretly surveilled by police over the last few years. Then, before a parliamentary committee, a senior official of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service said it was possible his agency had spied on Canadian journalists in the past. Such surveillance poses a clear threat to freedom of the press and the health of our democracy, as the Supreme Court of Canada has warned. The press should not be turned into an investigative arm of the police, a majority of the court wrote in a 1991 ruling, which laid out the narrow grounds on which the state can legitimately seize journalistic materials. Given that such seizures could well hamper the ability of the press to gather information, and thus undermine the medias essential democratic function, warrants should be issued only as a last resort, the court decided. The revelation that such warrants have been sought and issued with some frequency has given new urgency to calls for Canada to join the United States, the United Kingdom, France and other countries in introducing a so-called shield law to protect journalistic sources, and in turn, the journalistic enterprise. The Senate bill, put forward by Conservative Claude Carignan, would do just that. Specifically, it would make it harder for police to obtain warrants to spy on journalists communications and harder to use whatever information so obtained. At a recent meeting of the Senate committee studying the bill, editors from several major news organizations, including the Star, backed the proposed legislation. They understand that the ability of journalists to hold those in power to account often depends on the willingness of sources to speak. Canadas current law doesnt do enough to protect the privilege of that relationship. Private members bills in the Senate rarely make it into law. But for the sake of our democracy, the Trudeau government should ensure this one is an exception. SHARE: Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh has sharply reacted to the Singh's version saying that the people of the state would never bow down to anyone. By Manogya Loiwal : Home Minister Rajnath Singh's statement that there is nothing in the framework agreement that would affect the territorial boundary of Manipur has started a fresh war of words in the state. Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh has sharply reacted to the Singh's version saying that the people of the state would never bow down to anyone. "We shall never bow to any challenge posed to the territorial integrity of Manipur or to the Government of India in matters regarding the state's territorial integrity. In its more than 2000 year-old history, Manipur was a sovereign and independent kingdom with different ethnic groups coexisting together and our brave ancestors had never bowed to anyone," asserted Ibobi. advertisement Apart from the chief minister, Deputy Chief Minister Gaikhangam Gangmei, President of Naoriya Pakhanglakpa Block Congress Sarangthem Chaoba, MLA RK Anand, Minister of Forest and Environment I Hemochandra, Minister of Commerce and Industries Govindas Konthoujam, General Secretary of AICC in-charge Manipur Dr SP Joshi and Chairman of Screening Committee, AICC Ramesh Chinthala have been busy campaigning and attending flag hoisting ceremony at various places in the state. A large number of people of different parts of the constituency attended the flag hoisting ceremony and public rally. Also read: Manipur polls: How former associates of Prashant Kishor are shaping Irom Sharmila's campaign Speaking further on the occasion, Ibobi said, "The BJP-led government at the Centre and the NSCN-IM are trying to disintegrate Manipur by signing the framework agreement. No political solution can ever be brought about by holding the talks between the Centre and the NSCN-IM only." "The state government fully supports the efforts for restoring peace in the region by holding talks with the rebel outfits. However, any attempt to sever the territorial integrity of the state can never be tolerated," added Ibobi. He stated that those in the BJP, who are shouting hoarse on corruption, are the ones who were MLAs and ministers in the Congress and found themselves smeared and sunk in scandals of corruption. DEMAND FOR ORIGINAL AGREEMENT TO BE MADE PUBLIC Gangmei commenting on the statement said, "People of Manipur just don't like to hear the home minister making only oral clarifications. Instead, he should produce the original agreement before the people, so that its details could be known to all people. What is the agenda behind keeping the contents of the agreement from public knowledge." "Now that the home minister has clarified that there is no "Manipur" in the framework agreement and that the likely agreement signed between the Central government and the NSCN-IM has been leaked to the public, the false allegations levelled against the BJP that it has a nexus with the NSCN-IM have been belied. At the same time, the Congress government will disappear from the state soon," Spokesperson of BJP Manipur Pradesh, N Biren said at an election rally held after the flag hoisting ceremony of BJP candidate in Wangkhei AC. advertisement Also read: Manipur: How elections are being held when petrol is selling @Rs250 per litre BJP leader N Biren further added, "Congress has been falsely criticising the BJP for allegedly trying to break the unity and integrity of Manipur, due to the framework agreement in conspiracy with the NSCN-IM. However, yesterday the home minister has clarified that there is nothing in the framework agreement to break the unity and integrity of Manipur. As such, the false allegations of Congress remain meaningless." The BJP leader accused the Congress of supporting drug smugglers and giving them party tickets too. The spokesperson alleged, "Congress is making a hue and cry in Punjab by accusing the BJP of providing drugs to the youths. But in Manipur, the situation is total contrast. Congress is providing drugs to the youths. Besides, the party is injecting venom of hatred among the different communities living in the state and is trying to break the unity and integrity of Manipur." Talking to media persons, former minister and BJP candidate in Wangkhei Assembly Constituency, Y Erabot said, "The Congress has earned lakhs of rupees by recruiting more than 10 thousand employees in different departments before the election code of conduct was enforced." advertisement (With inputs from Jit Ningomba in Manipur) Also read: Manipur CM Okram Ibobi Singh: Rebel groups must shun violence; govt will implement their demands if practical --- ENDS --- Theresa May is no Lady Bracknell, but the U.K. Prime Minister is nonetheless likely to be thinking about Oscar Wilde's most-quoted character this week as she fends off takeover approaches from aboard while simultaneously insisting that Britain is an economy with global ambitions that is 'open for business'. "To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune," Wilde's anti-heroine says in The Importance of Being Earnest. "To lose both looks like carelessness." Careless or not, Britain's decision to leave the European Union has left it vulnerable to losing some of its most important companies and the pound's post Brexit vote plunge has given foreign buyers a near 20% head-start on acquiring some of its most-valued assets. Unilever plc (UL) shrugged off a $143 billion offer from U.S. rival Kraft HeinzCo. (KHC) last week, with the Warren Buffett-backed food group reportedly unsettled by the initial reaction from British politicians, keen to protect the Anglo-Dutch companies 7,500 U.K. jobs, before pulling its bid over the weekend. The government's response comes as it scrambles for assurances on the fate of 4,500 workers - and several thousand more connected through sales and supply-chains - that could be lost once the sale of General Motors' (GM) European operations to France's PSA Peugeot (PEUGF) is complete. Both deals illustrate the twin challenges the government now faces: Britain's assets are cheaper and its post-Brexit place in the European order is deeply uncertain. The pound has fallen 17% against the U.S. dollar since Britain voted to leave the EU on June 23, and around 14.5% against most of the country's major trading partners, according to monthly average data from the Office for National Statistics. That's given added firepower to overseas buyers and, in the words of former Business Secretary Vice Cable, made U.K. companies "sitting ducks". Unilever, for that matter, might still be lounging on the proverbial pond: its shares are down 7.3% Monday, but are still some 6% higher than before Kraft Heinz made its intentions known on Friday, suggesting investors are betting on another suitor wading into the water. Sterling's crash isn't really a key factor in GM's move to dump its Opel albatross, but the mechanics of Brexit have certainly made the decision easier. Building cars in the UK and selling them in Europe is not going to be nearly as easy as it was as the U.K. faces a tough battle to maintain its tariff free access to the European auto market. And its chances of finding an alternative market for its cars in the U.S. -- though never great -- have likely shrunk further amid the newly applied pressure from President Donald Trump to put American manufacturers first. But each require a delicate response from a government keen to establish is "global" ambitions as it peels away from trade ties with the European Union. Prime Minister May is said to have offered Nissan (NSANY) CEO Carols Ghosn enough concessions last year to prevent "Le Cost Killer" from moving a massive production facility in Sunderland to the friendly -- and cheaper -- confines of eastern Europe. Can she and her colleagues offer similar post-Brexit assurances to GM? And would they offset what is sure to be a long list of demands from both France and Germany, which nearly all of the company's 39,000 employees pay their taxes? Furthermore, can she apply sterner "public interest" tests to foreign takeovers, as she suggested in a speech last year before becoming Prime Minister, without alienating investors and officials in the countries she hopes to expand ties with when the Brexit process is completed in 2019? Thankfully, for her, Kraft kicked the second question into the long grass. But it could have been thorny: Buffett, an American investment icon, is perhaps the last person May would chose to pick a fight with as she openly courts the Trump administration with a planned state visit later this year. Nor is May keen to begin erecting barriers around favored sectors in much the same way as the French government did when Danone SA (DANOY) , the world's largest yogurt maker, found itself in the cross hairs of PepsiCo. (PEP) in 2005. According to the United Nations Trade and Development Agency's most recent report, published earlier this month, Britain attracted nearly $180 billion in foreign direct investment last year, behind on the U.S. and ahead of China. But the moving landscape of Britain's post-Brexit place in the global economy could put that at risk. And while May and her colleagues are understandably occupied with the byzantine process of exiting four decades of European legislation over the next two years, the ultimate success -- or failure -- of the country's Brexit adventure will likely be measured by how they handle the more immediate, and unpredictable, corporate opportunities it presents to it foreign partners. "I am not in favour of long engagements," declares Lady Bracknell. "They give people the opportunity of finding out each other's character before marriage, which I think is never advisable." The Prime Minister should consider that counsel as she prepares her country's new relationship with Europe - and the rest of the world. The Toronto-Dominion Bank, together with its subsidiaries, provides various financial products and services in Canada, the United States, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Canadian Retail, U.S. Retail, and Wholesale Banking. The company offers personal deposits, such as chequing, savings, and investment products; financing, investment, cash management, international trade, and day-to-day banking services to businesses; and financing options to customers at point of sale for automotive and recreational vehicle purchases. 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The company operates through a network of 1,061 branches and 3,381 automated teller machines (ATMs) in Canada, and 1,148 stores and 2,701 ATMs in the United States, as well as offers telephone, digital, and mobile banking services. It has a strategic alliance with Canada Post Corporation. The Toronto-Dominion Bank was founded in 1855 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Impinj, Inc. operates a cloud connectivity platform in the Americas, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Its platform, which comprises multiple product families, wirelessly connects individual items and delivers data about the connected items to business and consumer applications. The company's platform comprises endpoint ICs, a miniature radios-on-a-chip that attaches to a host item and includes a number to identify the item. Its platform also consists of systems products that comprise reader ICs, readers, and gateways to wirelessly provide power to and communicate bidirectionally with endpoint ICs on host items, as well as to read, write, authenticate, and engage the endpoint ICs on those items; and software and algorithms that enables its partners to deliver use cases, such as retail self-checkout and loss prevention, and warehouse pallet and carton tracking to end-users. The company primarily serves retail, supply chain and logistics, aviation, automotive, healthcare, industrial and manufacturing, sports, food, datacenter, travel, banking, and linen and uniform tracking sectors through distributors, system integrators, value-added resellers, and software solution partners. Impinj, Inc. was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington. The following companies are subsidiares of American International Group: AGC Life Insurance Company, AIG APAC HOLDINGS PTE. 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Read More Delek US Holdings, Inc. engages in the integrated downstream energy business in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Refining, Logistics, and Retail. The Refining segment processes crude oil and other feedstock for the manufacture of various grades of gasoline, diesel fuel, aviation fuel, asphalt, and other petroleum-based products that are distributed through owned and third-party product terminal. It owns and operates four independent refineries located in Tyler, Texas; El Dorado, Arkansas; Big Spring, Texas; and Krotz Springs, Louisiana, as well as three biodiesel facilities in Crossett, Arkansas, Cleburne, Texas, and New Albany. The Logistics segment gathers, transports, and stores crude oil, intermediate, and refined products; and markets, distributes, transports, and stores refined products for third parties. It owns or leases capacity on approximately 400 miles of crude oil transportation pipelines, approximately 450 miles of refined product pipelines, an approximately 900-mile crude oil gathering system, and associated crude oil storage tanks with an aggregate of approximately 10.2 million barrels of active shell capacity; and owns and operates ten light product distribution terminals, as well as markets light products using third-party terminals. The Retail segment owns and leases 248 convenience store sites located primarily in West Texas and New Mexico. Its convenience stores offer various grades of gasoline and diesel under the DK or Alon brand; and food products and service, tobacco products, non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages, and general merchandise, as well as money orders to the public primarily under the 7-Eleven and DK or Alon brand names. It serves oil companies, independent refiners and marketers, jobbers, distributors, utility and transportation companies, the U.S. government, and independent retail fuel operators. Delek US Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee. By Press Trust of India: Mumbai, Feb 20 (PTI) Actress Kareena Kapoor Khan says since "Rangoon" features Shahid Kapoor, Kangana Ranaut and Saif Ali Khan, the competition amongst the "stellar" trio will bring out their best performances. In "Rangoon", Saif will be seen playing a ruthless Parsi film producer, which marks his return to the negative character zone after portraying Langda Tyagi in Vishal Bharadwajs "Omkara". advertisement Hailing Bhardwaj, with whom she worked in "Omkara", Kareena said while the negative characters in his films are always striking, this time there will be a competition among all the three actors. "In Vishal Bhardwajs films, the negative character is very striking most of the times. But there are three stellar actors in the film, Shahid, Kangana and Saif. I like the competition, there should be competition between all three only then theyll give their best," Kareena told reporters. "I expect nothing less from them. They are the best performers in the industry today, all three," she added. The actress was speaking at a special screening of "Rangoon" last night. Kareena said though she does not usually attend film trailers, she came for this one for producer Sajid Nadiadwala, Bharadwaj and her husband, for whom she is very excited. "His (Saifs) character in the film is going to be very striking because for the first time he will be seen in a role like this. We are very excited. "This film is special because it is by Sajid Nadiadwala. Karishma did Judwaa with him and I did Kambakht Ishq. I normally dont go for trailers and Saif was surprised too. But I had to go because of Vishal, Sajid and Saif." The 36-year-old actress also spilled beans on her plans to shoot for her forthcoming "Veere Di Wedding", post delivering a baby. "We are starting the film in May. I am very excited. Its an amazing story about four women. Normally there are hero heroine in films but I think this is the first time a film will be about four different women." PTI JUR DK SSN --- ENDS --- - Photos have emerged of a Kenyatta University alleged graduate who lives in the streets of Nairobi as beggar - John Kariuki also pushes carts in dowtown Nairobi so as to put food on the table - Kariuki is an orphan who doesn't have even a single relative. He studied at Starehe boys center A disturbing story has emerged of a Kenyatta University graduate who lives in the streets of Nairobi as a beggar as he cannot find a job four years after graduating. John Kariuki lives as a beggar. READ ALSO: ODM makes an announcement that will cause major disunity in NASA John Kariuki Mwangi is an orphan who schooled Njenga Primary School in Kiambu. He joined Starehe Boys Centre where he did his in 2003 and scored A- (minus). He was admitted to the Kenyatta University where he was supposed to undertake a Bachelor Degree in Biotechnology. Install TUKO New App & Enjoy News For FREE John displays his certificates. READ ALSO: NASA holding talks with Ruto - Mudavadi As an orphan, paying school fees became a problem for him. So he was in and out of collage with the money he received from HELB. He eventually finished his university education in July 2013 and hit the streets looking for a job. John displays his KU certificate. READ ALSO: Raila goes to Lodwar and does this to a little girl (photo) Unfortunately, four years down the line, John has never secured a job and now because he has no one to call a relative, lives in the streets of Nairobi as a beggar and a cart pusher. His story was narrated by Ndungu Nyoro. John's KCSE certificate. READ ALSO: Kenyans react after retired President Moi made decision between Jubilee and NASA Nyoro said he has met John in person and he desperately needs a job or something like a small business to save his life. However, help has come for John. John meets his relatives. After his story was shared, his former Starehe Boys Centre classmates showed up and found him as Uhuru Park. His relatives too showed up and revealed that John has a mental problem, schizophrenic. John's former classmates. They have promised to help John. John is a graduate of K.U Have something to add to this article or suggestions? send to news@tuko.co.ke Source: TUKO.co.ke In 2016, Ukraine imported almost 122,954 motor vehicles, totaling more than $1.9 billion. This is reported by UkrAutoprom [Ukrainian Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association Ed.] on its website. In contrast to last year, Ukraine's car imports increased by one third , while foreign currency expenses for their purchase rose by 74%. Most imports consisted of light motor vehicles (87,776 vehicles worth $1.442 billion) and were delivered from Germany (20%), Japan (13%), France (7%), the United States (7%) and Romania (6%). Despite the liberalization of conditions for used car imports, their share dropped from 35% in 2015 to 25% in 2016. In general, Ukraine imported 22.3 thousand used cars. 91% of them were imported from the European Union at an average customs value of $7.8 thousand per vehicle. Meanwhile, new car imports increased by 72% to 65.5 thousand vehicles worth $1.266 billion. Most new car imports were delivered from Japan (11,236 vehicles), Germany (6,883 vehicles), the United States (5,699 vehicles), Romania (5,422 vehicles) and Slovakia (4,572 vehicles). mk The EU will allocate an additional EUR 18 million in humanitarian aid to victims as a result of the Russian aggression in the east of Ukraine. Christos Stylianides, the European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, said this in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, on Monday, Ukrinform learned from the European Commission. "The recent escalation of violence in the east of Ukraine and its negative impact on the civilian population raise great concerns. Today, in Bakhmut, I want to tell Ukrainians that they are not alone. All people in need on both sides should receive assistance," the commissioner said. He has said that the new aid package, which will be financed by the EU in the amount of 18 million euros, will be spent on urgent humanitarian needs. The European Commission also noted that since 2014 the EU and its member states had already allocated 399 million euros in humanitarian aid to Ukraine. ish Today Ukraine marks the Day of the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred, commemorating the fallen activists of the Euromaidan protests in Ukraine in 2013-2014. The Day of the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred is marked annually on February 20 pursuant to the Presidential Decree dated February 11, 2015. The confrontation between the Ukrainian people and the then regime reached its peak during the Revolution of Dignity three years ago. February 20, 2014, the greatest number of Euromaidan activists was killed. The revolutionary events of winter 2013-2014 claimed the lives of more than a hundred protesters. February 21, 2014, the official authorities of Ukraine recognized legitimately the killed Maidan protesters as the victims. The same day, people paid tribute to the fallen activists, who were called in the funeral speeches "the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred." President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko posthumously awarded 104 Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred the title Hero of Ukraine, while three foreigners (a citizen of Belarus and two citizens of Georgia) were posthumously awarded the Order of Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred. ol The memorial ceremony to pay tribute to the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred, the activists of Euromaidan protests, who died defending the freedom of Ukraine three years ago, and those, who have been killed in the ongoing struggle of Ukrainians for the independence, was held in Washington. The event, which took place at the Lincoln Memorial in the heart of the US capital, was attended by hundreds of people, an Ukrinform correspondent reported. Representatives of the Ukrainian community in the USA, the Embassy of Ukraine in Washington, the clergy, indifferent Americans and citizens of other countries observed a minutes silence to commemorate the fallen heroes. Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States Valery Chaly stressed during the ceremony that the struggle for Ukraine is ongoing amid the continuing Russian aggression. He thanked the Ukrainian organizations in the USA for the unity and solidarity with Ukraine. ol By Press Trust of India: Abhinav Pandey Lucknow, Feb 20 (PTI) Rebels challenging official party nominees on many seats in Uttar Pradesh might queer the pitch for the Samajwadi Party. Bitter family feud in the Yadav family which created bad blood among workers at grassroot level also left them confused as to whom to back. advertisement Many leaders close to Shivpal Yadav camp were denied tickets and new faces were accommodated triggering resentment that is palpable even now with almost half of the elections through. This led to the rise of rebels who are making it difficult for the party candidates given tickets as official nominees. Besides, the last minute alliance between SP and Congress, when filing of nominations were on, added to the confusion among the minds of ticket seekers and those very keen on contesting were left high and dry. SP gave away 105 of the 403 Assembly seats to Congress, keeping the rest to itself under the eleventh hour pact, but many of its ticket seekers are still in the fray as rebels in these seats they had been nurturing all these years. While ministers in Akhilesh Yadav cabinet Ambika Chowhdury, Narad Rai and Vijay Mishra have joined Bahujan Samaj Party, another minister Sharda Pratap Shukla joined RLD in a huff. Ambika and Rai have been given BSP ticket from Fefna (Ballia) and Ballia Sadar respectively. Mishra, a sitting MLA from Ghazipur, is not contesting but supporting the BSP candidate there. Another minister Shadab Fatima was also denied SP ticket from Zahurabad (Ghazipur). The ruling party fielded Mahendra in her place. Though she is not contesting polls but her silence might affect winning prospects of the new SP candidate. The situation is the same in a number of other constituencies where sitting MLAs, denied tickets, are either contesting as rebels or working half-heartedly for the official candidates. However, discounting reports of SP facing trouble because of rebels, SP spokesman Rajendra Choudhary said, "The situation is no better in opposition camps, they too are facing the same predicament. It has become a level playing field, so to say." (MORE) PTI ABN SMI DV --- ENDS --- By Press Trust of India: "Rwanda today offers a range of prospects to foreign investors, including in renewable energy, infrastructure, agriculture, mining, tourism, and information and communications technology," he said. "The spectacular growth story of Rwanda, a result of the prudence and vision of Rwandan leadership, represents the dynamism and opportunities of African continent. Rwanda offers a wonderful platform to Indian partners to enhance their presence and capacities in other parts of Africa," Ansari said. advertisement He said the bilateral relations of the two countries are marked by "cordiality, convergence of views and cooperation on major international issues". Bilateral trade and investments have shown a healthy rise. Trade between India and Rwanda has been gradually increasing over the last few years. "Rwanda is also a beneficiary of the Duty Free Tariff Preference Scheme of the Government of India extended to Least Developed Countries. Rwanda can avail of this facility to increase their exports to India. In fact, one of the key elements of the joint declaration issued during the official visit of President Kagame to India last month was to double trade in the next five years," he said. India is also a preferred destination for affordable and quality health care for Rwandans. Several Rwandans have travelled to India for medical treatment and have come back satisfied. India is increasingly becoming a preferred destination for quality and affordable education for Rwandan students. "Every year more than 500 student visas are issued to Rwandan nationals," he said. The government of India also offers scholarships and fellowships to Rwandan students to enable them pursue undergraduate, masters, post-graduate, and research courses in India under ITEC, ICCR, CV Raman Fellowship and Special Agricultural Scholarships. In addition to these, several short-term, fully-funded, training courses will be offered to Rwandese nationals as part of the initiatives under the India?Africa Forum Summit. "I am confident that bilateral relations between the two countries will grow further with more frequent exchanges between businesspersons for mutual benefits," he said. PTI KND UZM --- ENDS --- Four years ago, Noah Lang saw an opportunity in Obamacare. With an eye toward the millions of people set to purchase health insurance on their own for the first time, the 29-year-old Silicon Valley entrepreneur founded a start-up, Stride Health, that helps them compare and choose between plans and do it all from a smartphone. Steadily and without fanfare, the Affordable Care Act has created a boom in Silicon Valley. Since the law passed nearly seven years ago, billions of investor dollars have flowed into digital health start-ups such as Stride Health that were spurred by the legislations overhaul of the health-care system and the market forces it unleashed. The laws reach also extends to a generation of gig economy companies including Uber, Lyft, TaskRabbit and Instacart that are dependent on the labor of flexible workers, who are among the biggest ACA consumers. Tech entrepreneurs have also relied on the law, saying it has made it easier for them to found start-ups. Any time theres a big policy change that affects the financial underpinnings of any system, investors see an opportunity to create billion-dollar companies, said Sean Duffy, whose diabetes-prevention start-up, Omada Health, was spurred by provisions in the law that created national standards for the disease. Obamacare threw a pebble into the water. Today, Stride Health is one of many start-ups trying urgently to read the tea leaves of a new Congress and presidency that is set to strike down President Obamas sweeping health law. With no clear replacement plan at hand, many in Silicon Valley wonder how its repeal will ripple across the region. Up to 18 million people could lose their health insurance in the first year if the law is repealed without a replacement, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. [GOP discusses Obamacare replacement ideas but doesnt call them a plan] One of Silicon Valleys biggest and earliest proponents of the ACA was Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick, who said in 2014 that the law was huge for his business because it gave people more flexible ways to make a living. Thousands of Uber drivers select and manage their insurance through Stride Health. Thomas Bos, a 45-year-old Uber driver in Greensboro, N.C., said the ACA enabled him to leave his job as an assistant manager at a local grocery. I decided I could do Uber full time because of that health insurance capability, Bos said. Bos, a Republican who voted for Donald Trump, said he was worried a repeal of the ACA without a replacement would cause turmoil in his life and end his career with Uber. I may have to go back into a different field, he said. Uber had no comment. The ACA created opportunities for entrepreneurship because it introduced sweeping changes to the health-care system and also sped up transformations already underway, said Robert Wachter, interim chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco. The expansion of insurance coverage to 20 million people through ACA exchanges led to the emergence of a crop of companies that help people comparison-shop for plans. Of these, the most prominent may be Oscar, the health insurance company targeting exchange users founded by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Jared Kushner, President Trumps son-in-law and special adviser. Oscar has raised more than $300 million from venture capitalist Peter Thiels Founders Fund, Google Ventures, Goldman Sachs and Khosla Ventures. The start-up is planning to change its business model. The ACAs mandate that Americans get health insurance led to other types of innovation, said Bob Kocher, a health information-technology investor at the Palo Alto, Calif.-based venture capital firm Venrock. With so many more people seeking health care from roughly the same number of doctors and nurses, new opportunities to use technology to maximize the capabilities of providers also cropped up. Recent telemedicine start-ups, enabling patients to communicate with doctors remotely via smartphones and other devices, are a good example, Kocher said, because they offer a way to deliver care more efficiently to greater numbers of people. While telemedicine would probably have emerged on its own, the ACA gave it a boost in the eyes of investors because it created a much bigger market for such services, he said. Moreover, a major health-care shift that was already underway got a big lift from the ACA, Kocher and Wachter said. The shift, from paying providers for a service, or fee-for-service, to paying for performance or improved health outcomes, was originally prompted by policy changes the federal government put in place several years before the ACA. But the law sped up the trend significantly by tying Medicare payments to hospitals to their performance and creating an innovation center within the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The center provided a pool of cash and federal backing to companies willing to experiment with new models to pay providers. The center helped incubate start-ups such as Amino, which mines data from Medicare that was released for the first time under the ACA, and Aledade, which provides software infrastructure for primary-care physicians to set up groups known as accountable care organizations. Wachter said he was terribly concerned that the innovation center appears to be on Congresss chopping block. Taking it down means Medicare will become far less innovative, less experimental and more risk-averse, he said. Since 2011, venture capitalists have poured $17.8 billion into digital health start-ups, including insurance shoppers for individuals and small businesses, companies that help providers take advantage of provisions in the law, and start-ups that enable employers to cut down on costs, according to Rock Health, a health start-up incubator and seed fund. The number includes total funding for all digital health start-ups; companies tied to the ACA are a smaller subset. Investment in digital health spiked to more than $4 billion after 2013, doubling from the previous year a rise that can be attributed to tail winds created by the ACA as well as broader transformations in the health-care system, such as digitization of medical records and services, said Ashlee Adams, Rock Healths vice president of partnerships and strategy. Entrepreneurs also said they were helped by the law. David Adams, 46, a serial entrepreneur who has founded six technology companies, said that having the ACA made it much easier to launch a start-up. Serial entrepreneurs tend to go through periods where they are not working, he said, such as after they sell a company. Before the ACA, the availability of health care determined when and how he could go back to work, he said. The only answer [after he sold his last start-up] was to go get a job at some big tech company and be a serf, he said. But I didnt want to get a job at a company. I wanted to found a company. As a small-business owner many times over, Adams said he wasnt starry-eyed about the ACA. Choosing a plan is still too complex and expensive and the law is rife with other challenges for small-business owners, he said. But he said it is far better than the previous options. Pre-Obamacare was a sobering experience, he said, adding that his wife had a preexisting condition that might not have been eligible for coverage before the law. Lang, the Stride Health founder, said he will look for opportunities in the repeal of the ACA of the ACA. He said he is turning his focus on lobbying the government. Me personally and my team are investing heavily in working with the new administration to keep this labor force burgeoning and be a voice that represents them, Lang said. Stride has agreements to manage insurance for workers contracting with Uber, Lyft, TaskRabbit and other gig-economy companies. He was heartened by Trumps recent statements that people who benefited from the laws coverage expansion would continue to get insurance when it was repealed. Now theres a lot of complexity behind keeping that promise, Lang added. There is probably going to be more confusion not less. Drummer Clyde Stubblefield plays a set on the drums in 2015 at Sosonic studio before a performance to raise money for a scholarship fund established in his name in Madison, Wis. (Amber Arnold/AP) Clyde Stubblefield, a drummer best known for his association with soul entertainer James Brown and who created one of the most widely sampled drum breaks of all time, died Feb. 18 at a hospital in Madison, Wis. He was 73. He had been suffering from kidney disease for 10 years, and the cause was widely reported to be kidney failure. Mr. Stubblefield was a veteran of Otis Reddings group by the time he joined Brown in the mid-1960s. Over the next several years, he and John Starks, known as Jabo, became the two drumming mainstays of Browns band. Mr. Stubblefield performed on several of Browns classics in the 1960s and early 1970s, including Cold Sweat, Say It Loud Im Black and Im Proud, I Got the Feelin and the album Sex Machine. He was best known for a 20-second solo on Browns 1970 single Funky Drummer, in which he explodes into a drum blast at the singers command. Clyde Stubblefield in 2013. (John Hart/AP) Rolling Stone magazine said the solo was sampled on more than 1,000 songs and served as the backbeat for countless hip-hop tracks, including Public Enemys Fight the Power, Dr. Dres Let Me Ride, LL Cool Js Mama Said Knock You Out and Run-D.M.C.s Runs House. It even turned up on Ed Sheerans Shirtsleeves and George Michaels Freedom 90, the magazine said. Mr. Stubblefield did not receive much in the way of royalties from the music such compensation was not required until a 2005 Supreme Court ruling. Brown, who died in 2006, was listed as the sole songwriter on many of the songs, enabling his estate to claim any revenue. All my life Ive been wondering about my money, Mr. Stubblefield told the New York Times in 2011. He was featured in a 2009 documentary, Copyright Criminals, about music copyright law and the use of sampling. When Prince got wind in 2000 that Mr. Stubblefield was deep in debt from a fight against bladder cancer, he personally paid $90,000 to cover the bills. The hip-hop drummer Questlove once told the Times: There have been faster, and there have been stronger, but Clyde Stubblefield has a marksmans left hand unlike any drummer in the 20th century. It is he who defined funk music. Mr. Stubblefield was born April 18, 1943, and grew up in Chattanooga, Tenn., where he taught himself to play drums. What influenced me mainly was sounds. Train tracks. Washing machines, he once told Madisons weekly newspaper Isthmus. I just put patterns against natural sounds, and thats what I do today. He was playing in Macon, Ga., when Brown hired him in 1965. He had lived in Madison since the early 1970s and had been a fixture on the local music scene. He also performed on the public radio show Michael Feldmans WhadYa Know? A complete list of survivors was not immediately available. From staff reports and news services On her birthday, here's a look at 5 things you can easily learn from the queen of all things cool. By India Today Web Desk: Rihanna is a phenomenon. Besides being a top-selling artiste, she also happens to be a chilled-out celebrity who doesn't forget her roots, stands up for her friends, against slut-shaming and does the whole 'I-have-zero-fu*ks-to-give' thing very well. On her birthday today, here's a look at five things you can learn from the queen of all things cool. advertisement 1. Social media scrutiny is the last thing you should bother about In a world where social media defines one's whole being, Rihanna believes in sharing everyday moments on her Instagram instead of staging and creating them for the pleasure her--nearly 50 million--followers. "I don't really think about [what I post] too much. Literally, I can be sitting in a car and be bored, so I do a selfie just because I'm bored. Or if my dog is running around in circles and I think that's funny, I put it on Instagram," an interview in Vogue quotes her as saying. 2. Your roots are the strongest force there is Every now and then, Rihanna takes a moment and celebrates her roots. Be it heading back to her hometown in Barbados, or just being with her family. She also doesn't shy away from indulging in charity and reportedly, donated USD 1,00,000 to the victims of the 2013 typhoon in the Philippines. Special delivery.....congrats to my nigga and baby cousin @ms_ogella A post shared by badgalriri (@badgalriri) on Dec 25, 2013 at 11:47pm PST Also Read: A fan threw her bra at Rihanna, and RiRi's response was EPIC 3. Friendships are of utmost importance Rihanna proves having a bunch of loyal friends can make life a lot easier. No matter how famous or rich one gets, no monetary benefit can compensate for the comfort and warmth friends bring. Girlz. @caradelevingne #nye A post shared by badgalriri (@badgalriri) on Jan 1, 2014 at 12:52pm PST Also Read: Why Adele's Grammy win dedication to Beyonce is SO important 4. Work hard, party harder For those who question her lifestyle or the 'influence she has on little girls', Rihanna is one of the most successful musicians in today's world and continues to be on the top of her game over a decade after her debut in 2005. Rihanna's 'sex symbol' image doesn't go down well for several people in a world where women talking about their sexuality continue being subjected to raised eyebrows. With over seven world's best-selling singles of all time in her kitty, Rihanna believes in keeping her work real, uninhibited and doesn't forget to celebrate once she's done with it all. 5. Fashion is subjective, experimental and doesn't necessarily have to be expensive advertisement Rihanna reportedly owns 'fake jewellery' and shops from the men's clothing section every now and then. The ever-so-stylish pop star's fashion game might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it is almost always on point. Happy birthday Rihanna, thank you for existing! --- ENDS --- (Erin Patrick O'Connor/The Washington Post) A few days after Stephen K. Bannon was named chief strategist in President Trumps White House, one of his best-known proteges praised him on British television. I am a gay Jew and he made me a star, Milo Yiannopoulos, the frequently profane Breitbart.com columnist and cyber provocateur, told a Channel 4 interviewer in November. While Bannon oversaw the Breitbart News Network, Yiannopoulos built an enthusiastic fan base for his caustic writings. One article proclaimed that birth control makes women stupid and unattractive and argued against contraception because we need the kids if were to breed enough to keep the Muslim invaders at bay. To him, most women are hysterical hypercritical harpies towards their boyfriends and husbands the vast majority of the time. He co-wrote a column that praised the intelligence of white supremacists, and he got banned from Twitter after taunting the African American actress Leslie Jones, who he said looks like a black dude. Bannon, however, has never wavered in his support for Yiannopoulos. Bannon believes in Milo, the sites editor in chief, Alexander Marlow, said in an interview earlier this month. He dedicated time and resources both personally and with his businesses to expanding Milos brand. In July, a month before Bannon left Breitbart after four years as chairman to join Trumps campaign, death threats prompted Yiannopoulos to cancel an appearance at a gay pride parade through a Stockholm neighborhood described in a Breitbart news release as a Muslim ghetto. Bannon declared that his star columnists brand of unique cultural warfare is too valuable to risk it in potentially life-threatening situations. Bannons new White House prominence, including his recent appointment to the National Security Councils principals committee, makes him one of the countrys most powerful men. But it also uniquely positions his former website as a potential force in the Trump era, a media juggernaut emphatically stamped with Bannons imprimatur. Already there have been indications that Bannons former organization might enjoy something akin to most-favored media status, even as the White House wages a very public verbal war with mainstream media outlets. In January, Breitbarts Matthew Boyle got the only reserved seat, in the front row, at Trumps first news conference in more than five months. And earlier this month, Trump came to Yiannopouloss defense after violent protests prompted the University of California at Berkeley to cancel an appearance on the Breitbart celebritys self-proclaimed Dangerous Faggot campus speaking tour. 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 tweeted on Feb. 2. The ascension of the 63-year-old Bannon has prompted a smattering of speculation that Breitbart, which strongly favored Trump during the presidential campaign, could transform itself into a mainstream news site with a more neutral or establishment profile. But that seems highly unlikely for a site that has made its mark through audacious postings and by frequently taking sides, former staffers say. Generally, we have been fighting for the idea of nationalism, with a two-pronged approach, said Marlow, Breitbarts editor in chief. One, we believe in upholding American values; they are to be respected. And two, we believe in strong countries and strong neighbors. We are deeply opposed to the corruption in international bodies and organizations. The sites editorial thrust reflects Bannons nationalist, immigration-restrictionist beliefs and trumpets Breitbarts continuing grievance and outrage against those who trespass against its worldview. The homepage focuses on a handful of thematic categories: praise for President Trump; attacks on his critics and on the news medias coverage of Trump; praise for like-minded nationalist politicians such as the Netherlands Geert Wilders and Frances Marine Le Pen; stories critical of left-leaning political figures such as Michael Moore, Lena Dunham and George Soros; and random reports about immigrants and refugees causing trouble in their adopted lands, especially Europe and the United States. When Trump imposed a travel ban on refugees from seven predominantly Muslim nations, many news organizations focused coverage on mass airport protests and legal criticisms. Breitbart took a different tack. The headline on its lead story blamed a Muslim rights group with supposed links to terrorist organizations for promoting protests & lawsuits as Trump protects nation. The framing of the piece sent a possible signal about what the presidents enemies might expect from the site. And so, from Capitol Hill to the lobby shops on K Street, a single question is being asked about Breitbart in varying incarnations, and in tones ranging from glee to sheer terror: Do they weaponize Breitbart to go after anyone who opposes Trump? White House chief strategist and senior counselor, Stephen K. Bannon, the former head of Breitbart News Network. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post) Bannon leaves his mark In March 2012, a frisson of anxiety coursed through the Los Angeles headquarters of Breitbart.com. The sudden death of its founder, Andrew Breitbart, had cast the sites future in doubt. Staffers gamely posted photos with the hashtag #war, a statement of their commitment to carrying on Breitbarts legacy of fearless, pugnacious reportage and commentary targeting what he considered mainstream media bias and lies. But beneath the bravado, some fretted. A source of concern was the rise of Bannon to the chairmanship of the site, according to former staffers who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of personal attacks or because of confidentiality agreements. Some on the small staff worried that Breitbart, which prided itself in skewering the mainstream media, might morph into something very different, an embodiment of their new leaders passions and grievances, something closer to a de facto Bannon.com. Over the next four years, Bannon built a far-right-wing media sledgehammer, an enforcer of orthodoxy that its fans praised for its swagger and that its critics labeled xenophobic or worse. He presided over the news organization from an ornately appointed Capitol Hill rowhouse dubbed the Breitbart Embassy and an office in Los Angeles. Bannon was brilliant, cunning and domineering, a macho rah-rah guy when pleased and a volcano when angry. Bannons eruptions were theatrics in a lot of cases, said Marlow, the Breitbart editor in chief. Steve is not the easiest boss in the world, but there was a strategy to what he was doing. Bannon did not respond to interview requests. Andrew Breitbart, who founded Breitbart.com, died suddenly in March 2012. Afterward, Stephen Bannon rose to the chairmanship of the site. (Reed Saxon/AP) Early misses and hits The combative site came to be over a dinner in Israel in 2007. Andrew Breitbart, a charismatic new-media innovator, had traveled there on a press junket with Larry Solov, an attorney he had been friends with since they grew up together in Jewish families in Brentwood, a wealthy enclave of Los Angeles. Breitbart told Solov that he wanted to launch a news organization that would change the world, and he hoped his friend would join him as a co-owner. In the early days, Breitbarts site operated out of his basement in Los Angeles. Later, Bannon, who had befriended Breitbart while featuring him as the centerpiece of a documentary about the Occupy protest movement, lent office space. The sites puckishness made it famous, but its loose, unconventional standards could get it into trouble. In 2009, Breitbarts Big Government site, an offshoot of Breitbart.com, published an undercover video of activist James OKeefe pretending to discuss setting up a brothel using underage girls with an employee of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, better known as ACORN, which advocated for affordable housing and health care. Later, it was revealed that the videos were misleadingly edited. OKeefe settled an ACORN employees lawsuit, saying he regrets any pain caused to the man. The next year, the site published another heavily edited videotape, this time depicting Shirley Sherrod, an African American employee at the Department of Agriculture, seeming to make anti-white statements at a local NAACP event in Georgia. Sherrod was fired. But a full version of the video revealed that her complete remarks had, in fact, condemned anti-white thinking, and USDA asked her to return. . (She later filed a lawsuit that was settled for an undisclosed amount several years after Breitbarts death.) Despite those missteps, the sites relentless approach could pay dividends. It broke huge news in 2011 about the sexting activities of Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), eventually leading to his resignation from Congress. Breitbarts Internet experience he worked closely with Matt Drudge, the high-powered Internet aggregator, and later crossed the ideological divide to help launch the left-leaning Huffington Post gave him cachet on Capitol Hill, where he was ushered into the offices of top Republicans. After Breitbarts death from heart failure at 43, Capitol Hill came to fear the Breitbart echo-chamber effect, a phenomenon that rippled through the conservative media world and could whip readers into a frothy rage, as stories pinballed to talk radio and Fox News commentators. As a private entity, Breitbart Newss corporate records are not public. Politico reported that the site receives significant financial backing from Robert Mercer, a hedge-fund billionaire, and his daughter, Rebekah. Bannon, a former staffer said, portrayed himself internally as a bridge between the site and the Mercers. The Mercers did not respond to interview requests. While running Breitbart, Bannon also received a total of $376,000 in salary from 2012 to 2015 from a small nonprofit group, the Government Accountability Institute or GAI, that received a large amount of its funding from the Mercers, according to a Washington Post investigation. At Breitbart, Bannon brought on aggressive staffers, such as Matthew Boyle, a hard-charging Washington reporter who pounded then-Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. with stories about criticism of the troubled Operation Fast and Furious border gun-tracking program, and Yiannopoulos, who became the sites biggest star. Milo Yiannopoulos. (Jeremy Papasso/AP) Platform for the alt-right Bannon boasted in a Mother Jones interview last August that Breitbart is the platform for the alt-right. That term typically refers to a far-right movement whose followers hold racist, anti-Semitic and sexist beliefs and who desire a whites-only state. In a November interview with the Wall Street Journal, Bannon sought to define the alt-right differently, saying it is composed of younger people who are anti-globalists, very nationalist, terribly anti-establishment. The site has published pieces that present the alt-right in a sympathetic manner, most notably a March 2016 piece co-written by Yiannopoulos that was headlined, An establishment conservatives guide to the alt-right. The article notes, There are many things that separate the alternative right from old-school racist skinheads (to whom they are often idiotically compared), but one thing stands out above all else: intelligence. Skinheads, by and large, are low-information, low-IQ thugs driven by the thrill of violence and tribal hatred. The alternative right are a much smarter group of people which perhaps suggests why the Left hates them so much. Theyre dangerously bright. . . . For decades, the concerns of those who cherish Western culture have been openly ridiculed and dismissed as racist. The alt-right is the inevitable result. Yiannopoulos has waded into race issues, seemingly tweaking affirmative action supporters by offering a privilege grant in early 2016 that was exclusively for white males in support of their secondary education. When accused of racism, Yiannopoulos has sometimes responded with crude descriptions of sex acts he performs with his black boyfriend. Milo is the number one free speech warrior of his generation, and Im maybe number two, Marlow said. Hes a deliberate provocateur. He wants to challenge people. He wants to get you thinking about issues in ways that you thought you werent allowed to think about. . . . A lot of it is satire. The site routinely stirred controversy related to the hot news story of the moment. It published a defense of the Confederate flag two weeks after the massacre at an African American church in Charleston, S.C., by a white supremacist gunman who had posed with the flag. It also compared the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to Pamela Geller, the organizer of a prophet Muhammad cartoon contest in 2015 where two men who were followers of the Islamic State were killed by police after they sought to ambush participants. Anyone who knows anything about history understands that tactically and morally, Gellers provocative Muhammad Cartoon Contest was no different than Dr. Martin Luther Kings landmark march from Selma to Montgomery, one staffer wrote. Early last year, Breitbart published an opinion piece by former congressman Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) headlined Political correctness protects Muslim rape culture. The article asserted that Muslim rape culture is not a dirty little secret it is widely recognized as integral to Islam as taught in the Koran and the Hadith. Like honor killings and other parts of Sharia, it will not be wished away. And like honor killings, with massive Muslim immigration on the horizon, it could be coming to a town near you all too soon. Tancredos claim is contrary to widely accepted, mainstream interpretations of Islamic doctrine. We dont regard Breitbart as a legitimate news organization in any sense. Theyre a white supremacist, anti-Islam hate site, Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a D.C.-based Muslim advocacy group, said in an interview. Bannon and others involved with the site have bristled at critics claims that it foments prejudice. In an interview with The Washington Post last year, Bannon said: We call ourselves the Fight Club. You dont come to us for warm and fuzzy. We think of ourselves as virulently anti-establishment, particularly anti- the permanent political class. Breitbart editors have also have disputed accusations of racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism. Joel Pollak, an editor-at-large at Breitbart who describes himself as an Orthodox Jew, said on CNN: Steve Bannon does not have a bone of prejudice in his body. Ben Shapiro, a former Breitbart editor-at-large who has been critical of the site, described Bannon as an old-school nationalist who believes in restricting immigration as a way of preserving Western civilization, but not as a racist. But the websites editorial decisions, including its many barbs aimed at former president Barack Obama, have made it a frequent target of criticism from the left. The site was blasted for using the tag black crime amid the national controversy over police shootings of African Americans and the surge in attention for the Black Lives Matter movement. I think President Obama helped to make Breitbart what it was because they tried to be a tip of the spear in opposition to him in the most bombastic of ways, said Bill Burton, a former deputy press secretary in the Obama White House. When they tagged black crime as something to search for on their website, that was not an accident. There has been some attempt to fight back against Breitbart. The backlash includes a boycott movement by a group called Sleeping Giants that says it has contacted hundreds of advertisers to persuade them to blacklist Breitbart from their ad buys. Its unclear how effective that effort has been. Separately, Kellogg Co. last fall said it wouldnt advertise on Breitbart because the site isnt aligned with the values of our company. (In response, Breitbart launched a counter-boycott of the breakfast-food company under the hashtag #DumpKelloggs.) With Bannon steering the editorial direction, the site has hammered Republicans who are viewed as veering toward the center, especially those who participated in talks on immigration reform. He was determined to destroy people left and right, said a former staffer. Its a very paranoid mind-set. Marlow rebuffed that claim. Not paranoid at all, he said of Bannon. Like many on the left and few on the right, he plays to win. Former congressman Eric Cantor (R-Va.), who had risen to House majority leader, became one of the most high-profile casualties of Breitbarts ire. During Cantors ill-fated 2014 reelection campaign, Breitbart barraged its readers with stories portraying the Virginian as soft on immigration. Tilting toward Trump During the 2016 presidential campaign, Bannon tightened his control of the editorial stance of the site, according to former staffers. He dictated the narrative of the day, personally approving stories about Trump or his then-rival, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), the former staffers said. Negative stories about Cruz such as those questioning his eligibility to become president because he was born in Canada often got big play, while negative stories about Trump would be killed or diminished, former staffers said. For a time, that stance put Breitbart at odds with its patron, the Mercers, who funded a super PAC backing Cruz and whose chief strategist was Kellyanne Conway, the D.C.-based pollster who later joined Trumps campaign. Marlow describes it differently, saying he and Bannon reviewed Trump and Cruz stories because they were widely read. It was about quality control and gaining credibility, not politics, he said. Kurt Bardella, whose public relations firm represented Breitbart for two years, described Bannon as a dictator in a column published by the Hill newspaper. He accused Bannon of purposefully changing the narrative to increase vitriol, playing to the fears of his readers. Another frequent target was presidential candidate Marco Rubio. Were going to be relentless on Rubio, Bannon said in an interview last year with the Daily Beast. Trust me, brother, were coming. Were not backing off. Rubio (R-Fla.) tried to dismiss Breitbart in a Fox interview, saying, I literally dont even talk about the things they report because theyre basically conspiracy theories and oftentimes manipulated. As the site became more aggressively pro-Trump, the New York developers critics could count on rough treatment. The site blasted a prominent conservative commentator for opposing Trump in an article headlined: Bill Kristol: Republican spoiler, renegade Jew. The piece, written by a Jewish author, David Horowitz, said, To weaken the only party that stands between the Jews and their annihilation, and between America and the forces intent on destroying her, is a political miscalculation so great and a betrayal so profound as to not be easily forgiven. (Kristol told CNN, I think Im, Im a proud Jew, strong supporter of Israel.) Internally, the editorial stance chafed at some staffers. The discontentment spilled into public view when the site sided with Trump against one of its own reporters, Michelle Fields. Fields said she was roughly shoved by then-Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski at a campaign event. Video of the incident and the eyewitness account of a Washington Post reporter supported her. But Breitbart published a piece that questioned her version of events. Breitbart became a Trump propaganda outlet, said Shapiro, a former Breitbart editor-at-large who resigned after the Fields incident. Theres a difference between calling out the media and being a shill for a candidate. Andrew never wanted his website to do that. Bannon, obviously, didnt give a crap. For all the controversies, the campaign was good for Breitbarts numbers, as it was for many news organizations. Its traffic grew steadily, peaking at 23 million unique visitors in November, according to ComScore, a tracking firm. (Breitbart claims it reached 45 million readers in November. It is not uncommon for internal metrics to differ from those of tracking firms.) Theres no doubt that Breitbart is a major force within its niche. Less clear is whether its influence extends further. Its December ComScore traffic total of 10.9 million, for example, puts it on par with such websites as Mic and the Daily Dot. CNNs website, by contrast, attracted 93.8 million unique visitors during the same month. The next chapter Breitbart has laid out an ambitious expansion blueprint, announcing plans to hire more U.S.-based staff and open operations in Europe. Breitbarts editorial thrust in favor of national sovereignty and against open borders and mass immigration are likely to sync with the populist movements sweeping the European continent. A semiregular feature: stories about crimes allegedly committed by immigrants, both in the United States and in Europe. An echo of that approach can be seen in Trumps executive order requiring weekly publication of crimes committed by undocumented immigrants. Breitbart will embark on its new chapter with a growing number of its alums in positions of government power. Bannon has been joined in the White House by two prominent Breitbart staffers: Julia Hahn, who has frequently written critical pieces about House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), and Sebastian Gorka, who served as Breitbarts national security editor. Marlow, the executive editor, said he has had very little communication with Bannon since the election, and he cited Breitbarts criticism of the rollout of Trumps immigration order and the sites tracking of Trumps broken promises as evidence of Breitbarts independence. Shapiro, the former Breitbart editor who now runs a rival site, predicted: Theyre still going to be the house organ for Trump, the in-house tool of Bannon. They will never go against the Bannon line. In the hours after the president announced financing plans for an expanded U.S.-Mexico border wall, Breitbart.com was offering to sell a special product to its readers on its homepage: a Breitbart Border Construction Co. T-shirt. White House press secretary Sean Spicer during the daily briefing at the White House on Feb. 14. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP) An eye-opening sentence has appeared in several important news stories about the Trump administration in recent days: The White House did not respond to requests for comment. Not the White House declined to comment or Well get right back to you. But no response at all when reporters have asked for the White Houses take on developments. At a time when President Trump has declared the news media the enemy of the American people, the official silence from the White House has left some journalists wondering whether the non-responses are mere indifference or a strategy to discredit journalists by pointing to flaws after publication instead of beforehand. For its part, the White House which, yes, responded to this story blames reporters for not trying hard enough to get the White Houses side of the story. We have an unbelievable track record of being responsive to the media, press secretary Sean Spicer said in an interview. Some reporters, he said, dont follow established procedures for getting a response or do the bare minimum on deadline, leaving officials little or no time to reply. Wheres the story or question about how many reporters fail to write or tweet without ever calling or writing for official comment, Spicer asked. Variations of the White House-did-not-respond line appeared in the Wall Street Journals revelation last week that members of the intelligence community have been withholding information from President Trump out of concern that it will be leaked; in a New York Times story about the early outlines of Trumps federal budget plans; and in an Associated Press report Friday morning that the administration had drafted an executive order to mobilize as many as 100,000 National Guard troops to help round up undocumented immigrants. Shortly after the AP story appeared, Spicer told reporters traveling on Air Force One with the president that the Guard story was 100 percent not true . . . It is irresponsible to be saying this. He also said, I wish you guys had asked before you tweeted. Except that AP said it did exactly that but never heard back. AP spokeswoman Lauren Easton provided emails from the APs White House reporter, Julie Pace, to Spicer seeking comment. The emails are time-stamped at 10:27 a.m. and 3:29 p.m. on Thursday, roughly 24 hours and 19 hours before AP posted its story. Pace received no reply. Easton also said the news organization also had no luck with the Department of Homeland Security. AP had the draft, tried hard to get comment and went with its story when it seemed reasonable to assume we were being stonewalled, she said. The White House later acknowledged the authenticity of the draft memo but said the proposal is not being seriously considered. Seeking official comment is a fundamental obligation for news reporters. Doing so is a matter of fairness since it gives officials a chance to give their side of a story. It also makes stories more accurate; official sources often flag mistakes and provide additional information that changes or strengthens a story before publication. In his press conference Thursday, however, Trump asserted that the news media was perpetuating fake news by failing to seek comment. I never get phone calls from the media, he said at one point. How did they write a story like that in the Wall Street Journal [about the intelligence community] without asking me, or how did they write a story in the New York Times [about the Trump teams chaotic adjustment to the White House], put it on the front page? (Spicer also took issue with the latter story, after the fact.) Both publications said they made extensive efforts to get the White Houses take. Journal spokesman Steve Severinghaus said its reporters spoke with a White House official and the spokesman for the Office of Director of National Intelligence while compiling its article. Both provided comment for the piece, he said. They chose not to put President Trump on the phone. Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Glenn Thrush, who wrote the story about Trumps transition, have been unusually public about their frustrations with Trumps spokespeople. The last 14 emails I have sent to his press secretary have gone unanswered, Thrush wrote last week on Nytimes.com. In the same forum, Haberman, wrote, I email his press office almost every day, and Sean Spicer and [assistant press secretary] Sarah Huckabee refuse to respond to my emails. She also tweeted, Taxpayer[-funded] press office that has hours to devote to focusing on palace intrigue stories and profiles does not respond to routine qs. Haberman said via email that Spicer and his staff may just be swamped and thus unable to respond in a timely fashion. The White House press office is historically a very demanding job, but youd need to ask Sean or Sarah why they have been nonresponsive. Some sources, however, suggest that Haberman and Thrush are getting a cold shoulder because of stories the White House disputed. A less charitable theory one Spicer disputes is that the White House is playing a passive-aggressive game: Not responding furthers Trumps effort to undermine the media by letting false assertions stand in news stories in order to decry them later. Theres no excuse for going silent with the media simply in order to castigate their credibility for issuing factually true reports, wrote conservative blogger Ben Shapiro in response to the APs story on immigration. No wonder nobody knows what to believe anymore. Spicer says the White House press office has distributed a staff contact list for reporters four times through the White House Correspondents Association and it isnt my fault reporters wont follow it. (The WHCA said it sent the list to its members just once.) Some journalists say the best way to get a response from the White House is to actually be there; Spicer and his staff are often accessible in their West Wing offices, they said. But even that offers no guarantees. Last Monday, as the crisis surrounding national security adviser Michael Flynn crested with Flynns resignation, reporters staked out Spicers office. They eventually were rewarded with a statement from Spicer and a brief appearance by Trump after a two-hour wait. History does not record the details of the very first business meeting. Perhaps it was a group of early hominids discussing who would be hunters and who would be gatherers. Meetings can lead to good things, but thats not what were here to talk about. At the top of todays agenda is embarrassing or stupid things that have happened at meetings, like the thing that Jody Carlson witnessed. We have monthly practice group meetings; theyre usually originated in Boston, with other offices participating by videoconference, wrote Jody, of Fairfax, Va. Usually the video is set up ahead of time but muted at the source. One time, the attorneys at the head table didnt know the audio was live and were gleefully performing the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch sketch from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Jody said she emailed them after the meeting to commend them on their comedy skills. Twenty-five years ago, Therese Creel was one of the few female managers at a large petroleum company. When a snowy day closed her daughters preschool, she brought them to work and into an important meeting where she was the only woman. I was dressed in my early 90s power suit of jacket and skirt, wrote Therese, of North, Va. I thought I had sufficiently entertained my girls during the meeting with coloring books and crayons at the end of the long conference table. But about halfway through her presentation, Therese felt someone hugging her legs. It was her 3-year-old daughter, who, in a tiny voice, announced, Mommy, I see your panties. Wrote Therese: My colleagues never mentioned the incident and I had hoped it would be forgotten. Some of those same colleagues were finally able to roar with laughter when my daughter recounted the story at my retirement party 17 years later. While were on the subject, Emily Grunwell of Olney, Md., was at a meeting of her church council when her nose began to run. As was her habit, she reached up her sleeve for the handkerchief she always carries. This time I pulled out my nylon undies that the dryer had tucked inside my sleeve, Emily wrote. I might have gotten away with this but the sparks from the static electricity caught everyones attention. Ernie Wallace of La Plata, Md., said hell never forget a meeting he attended in the 1970s, when he worked in the office of the director of naval communications at the Pentagon. Two civilian contractors had been kidnapped from a communications facility in Ethiopia by a group hoping to establish an independent Eritrea. This spurred a committee meeting, which opened with a participant spouting what Ernie says he is still unable to accept as anything other than bureaucratic eyewash: Remember, gentlemen, if we make a decision not to make a decision, that is in and of itself a decision. Wrote Ernie: I spent most of the rest of my professional career in the Navy and industry in Washington, attending many meetings, but that was the low point. (The two civilians were eventually released.) When Susan R. Paisner of Silver Spring, Md., worked as a consultant to a local municipality, her boss would take her to a meeting attended by representatives from multiple agencies. Despite the stupid or illogical pronouncements from the meetings convener, employees would nod their heads in agreement. Susan wondered why her boss dragged her along and finally vented to him: Nothing gets resolved, the things the head guy says make no sense, and I have basically no authority to say anything in the first place. Wrote Susan: My friend would laugh and agree, and then add, in reference to the nodding employees: I just love watching the bobbleheads react. The Districts Tom Martella is retired from the world of management consulting, as it happens but he walks his dog every morning with sad sacks who arent so lucky. Among the poor unfortunates is one fellow who kvetches about the stupid meetings at his federal agency. Wrote Tom: I have volunteered to go to his agency and attend a meeting or two as one of those unfamiliar guys from a field office/HQ/inspector generals office who occasionally show up and are more than happy to offer comments. You know the type. Tom could say things that would support him, or irritate a troublesome colleague. He could help vote down something or disrupt the proceedings And most of all, murmur things like, Yes, but what about the downstream impact, Dave? Or, I like the psychic dynamics of that, Sara. Or, Thats pretty lame, Harry, but were not surprised. Tom thinks this could be a new consulting opportunity: Meeting Man Inc., recruiting retired people to enhance your meeting experience. Twitter: @johnkelly For previous columns, visit washingtonpost.com/johnkelly. D.C. Council member Charles Allen, shown in 2015, urged his 8,000 Twitter followers to telephone a Republican lawmakers office to tell him to keep out of the Districts affairs. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post) D.C. Council member Charles Allen was in bed late on a recent Saturday night mulling how to channel wide-ranging public outrage over President Trump into a far more parochial concern: congressional Republicans meddling with District laws. Allen (D-Ward 6) reached for his phone. Thinking about hosting #Ward6 meeting on various assaults on DC laws/values Trump & Co have headed our way & and how to fight back, he tweeted. Any takers? He and his wife, Jordi, a former council staff lawyer, decided to invoke a rallying cry and hashtag to help spread the word: Hands Off DC. Just two weeks later, a rally and a subsequent town-hall meeting Allen organized together drew more than 1,000 people on a Monday night. The crowd was large enough to astonish veterans of the statehood movement accustomed to anemic turnouts. A couple of days later, more than 160 Washingtonians double the usual crowd showed up at the U.S. Capitol to lobby Congress on District issues. It was phenomenal, Bo Shuff, a leader of DC Vote, a nonprofit that advocates for the Districts voting rights in Congress, said of the string of events. All of them have blown the doors off what we thought would happen. With his professorial beard and measured tone, Allen, 40, would never be confused for a rabble-rouser, particularly in a city overwhelmed by lung-busting partisan bombast. Yet the freshman council member, perhaps more than any city leader, including Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), has emerged as a catalyst in the citys opposition to congressional interference. He seized the moment, said Josh Burch, co-founder of Neighbors United for DC Statehood. He realized following the womens march and the attack on home rule that people not only are concerned but they want to be active. Allens tactics have included public needling of Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee who has led opposition to D.C. laws such as one that would allow terminally ill patients to die with the aid of a doctor. On Jan. 31, Allen mocked what he contends is the congressmans overreach by calling Chaffetzs office to report problems with D.C. trash pickup, a call that was reported by a local television reporter. Allen, in a tweet, then urged his 8,000 Twitter followers to telephone Chaffetzs office to tell the congressman to keep out of the Districts affairs. The council member even provided the phone number. Chaffetzs office received enough calls that it created a new recording for callers from outside his congressional district to leave messages. We overwhelmed his phone, Allen said in an interview. Chaffetz, Allen said, has become a potent foil for District activists by turning the city into an easy target for his conservatism. Hes so afraid of D.C. he sleeps on his cot, Allen said, referring to Chaffetzs long-standing practice of using his House office as his living quarters when hes in Washington. The congressman says the cot helps him keep costs down. He won his seat after his boss, then-D.C. Council member Tommy Wells, lost his campaign for mayor. Allen said his goal is to help focus activists, not anoint himself the leader of a movement. His experience includes helping to organize support in the District for Howard Deans 2004 presidential campaign. It wont be a successful model if its Charles leading a parade, he said, adding that his primary concerns at the moment are how do I connect people? This is the beginning. Theyre coming at us, he said of the Republicans. Im not the only voice here. Im not trying to run a citywide campaign. There are a lot of people with me. Indeed, the rally that Allen organized outside Chaffetzs office before last Mondays town hall drew other city leaders, including Bowser, D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.). But Allen presided at the town-hall meeting, which drew an overflow crowd to the Atlas Performing Arts Center on H Street NE, as well as two nearby bars where large screens showed panels discussing possibilities for future action. The ideas included forming a political action committee and traveling to congressional districts to support the opponents of Republicans who vote against the citys interests. It was inspiring, Burch said. But it was also challenging. When you have this type of opportunity, you dont want to miss it. You want to keep people engaged and fired up. A meeting in itself isnt going to do anything. The Districts quest for statehood is a decades-old struggle driven by a small group of activists who have had trouble sustaining support among Washingtonians, many of whom are transient, coming and going with each new administration. Mark Plotkin, a political columnist and longtime advocate for statehood, said he did not go to Allens town-hall meeting because Im sick of going to things where no one shows up. We are the Rodney Dangerfield of American politics even in our own city, he said. People dont come out. They refuse to get angry. They accommodate themselves to whatever their situation is. But maybe the times they are a-changin. Trumps election, as well as Republican control of the Senate and House, has galvanized activism nationwide, with protests in major cities including the District, which hosted the massive womens march the day after the presidents swearing-in. The womens march, Allen said, energized people and created a palpable, if undefined, urgency for further action. I heard a lot of people saying, What do we do now? Allen said. There were a lot of people asking for direction. Now, the council member said, Ive got to see if it can grow. Kiara Jones is learning how to analyze data. But the 8-year-old is not using fancy software on a computer. She has a tactile board in front of her with the names of classmates and information on when they were in class, along with a letter she can touch to find out what data corresponds with each student. Kiara is visually impaired, but her teachers at River Terrace Education Campus in Northeast Washington say she is able to use her strong memory skills to answer math and reading questions. River Terrace serves 135 students, including Kiara, who have severe physical or intellectual disabilities. Once a regular elementary school, River Terrace sits near the Anacostia River and was at the center of a contentious debate five years ago over whether to save the community school or sell the building to a developer. Aquatics teacher, Molly Hockstein, holds sixth grader, Stephon Hansborough, 12, in the pool at River Terrace Education Campus. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post) Instead, D.C. Public Schools remodeled the building into a state-of-the-art school for special-education students. There were already two special-education schools in the city, but they were run-down and did not comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act. The schools were shut down when River Terrace opened in 2015. [DCPS proposes turning River Terrace into special-needs school] At his first visit to the school Wednesday, D.C. Schools Chancellor Antwan Wilson commended the decision to build the school. We saw every student engaged, Wilson said. I was very impressed with what I saw here. Many school systems, including DCPS, enroll special-education students in community schools, not in separate classrooms or buildings. But the principal of River Terrace said that wouldnt be fair to her students. Some students cannot talk. Others are in wheelchairs. Some eat their meals through feeding tubes. They are better served here, said Principal Aimee Cepeda Pressley. Eleventh grader, Charlie Stelly, 16, learns about DNA by building an edible model at River Terrace Education Campus. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post) An eighth-grade student at River Terrace, for example, is in a wheelchair and cannot speak. During Wilsons visit, the students instructional aide, Derrick Holden, was teaching her vocabulary words by holding a picture cutout of a fish against a black poster. When Holden asked her to identify the fish, she would look at it. Holden will later be able to tell if she can recognize the meaning of fish by putting the same picture next to a picture of another animal. If she looks at the fish, that proves she understands the word. If that student were in a conventional middle school classroom with up to 30 other students, she would be an outlier, said Cepeda Pressley. The reality is the teacher may not have the opportunity to spend as much time with a student such as mine, she said. Because our classroom sizes are smaller and we have more support in the classroom, we are able to give the student that one-on-one instruction. [Supreme Court wrestles with defining rights for students with disabilities, including autism] The school also has a swimming pool with multiple ramps and fountains that shower students with water. Most of the students use the pool during their physical education classes. In a science class Wilson visited, the teacher explained the purpose of DNA as the students created a model of a DNA sequence using toothpicks, marshmallows and licorice ropes. The school wants students to live independently. So in addition to math, science and reading, students also learn to cook, do laundry and navigate the District using public transit. The school also offers a workforce development program. Students who finish high school can transition into the workforce program, which teaches skills to go into hospitality, horticulture or medical service careers. One classroom has an area with a replica of a hotel room, with a bed fitted with white linens, nightstands and a dresser. So far, placing students in jobs has been a challenge. Cepeda Pressley said most employers want students with high school degrees, which her students do not receive. Instead, they get a certification of completion. I would like more employers to be receptive to hiring students such as ours, she said. Time and time again they prove their worth and their value and how dedicated they are when they are given the opportunity. BLOOD DONATIONS Blood drives Thursday 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Fauquier Health Sycamore Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton, 540-316-3588; Saturday 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Ashburn Library, 43316 Hay Rd., Ashburn, 800-733-2767; March 8, 2:30-7:30 p.m. Claude Moore Recreation Center, 46105 Loudoun Park Lane, Sterling, 800-733-2767. Inova Blood Donor Center Mondays noon-8 p.m., Tuesdays 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Fridays 6 a.m.-4 p.m. and Sundays noon-4 p.m. Dulles Town Center, 45745 Nokes Blvd., Sterling. 866-256-6372 or inova.org/donateblood. FIRST AID First aid/adult, infant and child CPR/AED (Automated External Defibrillator) Fauquier Hospital Medical Office Building, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-316-3588. Call for schedule. $85. Registration required. HEARING Disability Resource Center Technical assistance through the state Department for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and presentations to businesses, groups and schools. Third Tuesdays 2-5 p.m., Workplace, 205 Keith St., Warrenton. Call for an appointment, 800-648-6324; TDD, 540-373-5890. Free. MENTAL HEALTH Counseling for sexual violence survivors Provided by Loudoun Citizens for Social Justice. 703-771-9020. Crisis Intervention Treatment and Assessment Center Provides emergency mental-health, substance-use and developmental services to Loudoun residents. Daily from 7 a.m.-11 p.m. 102 Heritage Way NE, Suite 102, Leesburg. Emergency services are available 24 hours a day at 703-777-0320. Crisislink Suicide and crisis intervention. Community education, a volunteer crisis response team and CareRing, a telephone outreach program for the elderly and disabled. 703-527-6016, volunteer@crisislink.org or crisislink.org. Piedmont Chapter, National Alliance on Mental Illness Serves Fauquier, Orange, Madison and Rappahannock counties. Support group, education classes and events for people living with mental illness and their family members. First Wednesdays 7-9 p.m. Fauquier Hospital, 500 Hospital Dr., Sycamore Room A, Warrenton. 571-426-8213. Mental health first-aid A public education program offered by the Loudoun County Department of Mental Health, Substance Abuse and Developmental Services to help residents understand mental illness and seek intervention. Go to loudoun.gov/mhfirstaid. Northern Virginia Chapter, National Alliance on Mental Illness A support group, classes and programs for people living with mental illness and their family members. naminorthernvirginia.org. PREGNANCY, PARENTING Adoptive family preservation Adoptive families discuss common experiences; registration required. Third Tuesdays 12:30-2 p.m., Ashburn Library, 43316 Hay Rd. Call 703-941-9008, Ext. 23, or email jmellario@umfs.org. Birthright of Loudoun County Free pregnancy tests, baby clothing, transportation and support throughout pregnancy, 823 S. King St., Leesburg. 703-777-7272. Bond Between Us A nonprofit organization that offers support to birth parents when children have been placed for adoption. Fourth Tuesdays 7:30 p.m. Call for location. 703-771-7844. Breastfeeding support Mondays 9:30-10:30 a.m., Fauquier Hospital Family Birthing Center, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-316-3588. Dad support New and expectant fathers share ideas. First Tuesdays at 7 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital, 44045 Riverside Pkwy., Leesburg. 703-858-6360. For the Childrens Sake A group for separating or divorcing parents to share advice. Four-hour session weekly. Information: 703-391-8599 or fitsfoundation.org. La Leche League Mother-to-mother support and breastfeeding information. 10 a.m. second Wednesdays in Warrenton, 540-351-6103. Third Fridays 10:15-11:45 a.m., call for location, 703-444-7386. Second Fridays 10:15 a.m., Ashburn Library, 43316 Hay Rd., 703-829-0349; Thursdays 10 a.m.-noon, Panera Bread, 43670 Greenway Corp. Dr., Ashburn, lllashburn@gmail.com. Third Fridays 10:15 a.m., Christ the Redeemer Church, 46833 Harry F. Byrd. Hwy., Sterling, 540-338-4637. Loudoun Fatherhood Program Fathers discuss the joys and challenges of being a parent. Meets every other Saturday for two hours for four months; sponsored by Northern Virginia Family Service. 571-748-2796. Free. Loudoun Nurturing Parenting Program Positive parenting techniques; children attend with parents. Registration required. Call 703-771-3973, Ext. 27, or email nurturingprogram@lcsj.org. Free. Mothernet/Healthy Families Loudoun Program links first-time parents with medical, social and educational resources to give children a socially and physically healthy start in life. Family support workers meet with participants in homes. English-Spanish translation provided. 703-444-4477, Ext. 217 , or inmed.org. New mother support Wednesdays 9:30-11:30 a.m. Inova Loudoun Medical Pavilion, 224 Cornwall St., Leesburg. Babies welcome. 703-858-6360. Young parent services Support for teenage parents. Loudoun County Department of Family Social Services, 52 Sycolin Rd., Leesburg. Call for times. 703-771-5375. Online childbirth education program Inova Loudoun Hospitals Web-based program uses animation, videos and interactive activities to guide users through the basics of childbirth, breastfeeding and caring for newborns. 703-858-6360 or thebirthinginn.org/classes. Parenting Alone group For parents of school-age children who have lost a spouse or partner to cancer. Second Tuesdays 5:30-6:30 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital, Radiation Oncology Center, 44035 Riverside Pkwy., Suite 100, Leesburg. Call 703-698-2536 or email jennifer.eckert@inova.org. Pregnancy and childbirth support Childbirth Solutions Resource Center, 8393 W. Main St., Marshall. 571-344-0438. SENIORS Chair yoga Age 55 and older. Mondays 11 a.m.-noon, Carver Center, 200 Willie Palmer Way, Purcellville. Wear comfortable clothes. Bare feet or socks are encouraged. 571-258-3400. $2 drop-in. Exercise equipment Age 55 and older. Weights, treadmills, bikes and a cardio-glide. Instruction provided. Weekdays 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Leesburg Senior Center, 102 North St. NW. 703-737-8039. Free. Eye care LensCrafters staff members clean glasses and make minor repairs. Second Wednesdays 1-2 p.m. Senior Center at Cascades, 21060 Whitfield Pl., Sterling. 703-430-2397. Free. Inova Loudoun mobile van Blood pressure checks. Second and fourth Tuesdays 9:30 a.m.-noon, Senior Center at Cascades, 21060 Whitfield Pl., Sterling, 571-258-3280; first Wednesdays 9:30 a.m.-noon, Leesburg Senior Center, 102 North St. NW. 703-737-8039. Laughing yoga for seniors Improve flexibility and balance. Thursdays 9:30-10 :30 a.m. Leesburg Senior Center, 102 North St. NW. 703-737-8039. Free. Loudoun Adult Day Centers For seniors with physical limitations or memory loss, a safe and social environment, therapeutic activities, individualized care and respite for caregivers. Limited transportation. Sliding-scale fees. Weekdays in Leesburg, 7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m., 703-771-5334; Purcellville, 571-258-3402; and Ashburn-Sterling, 571-258-3232. Senior Outreach Services Free and confidential assistance from an Area Agency on Aging case manager. Call for an appointment or sign up at the Senior Center at Cascades. First and third Wednesdays 11 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Senior Center at Cascades, 21060 Whitfield Pl., Sterling. 571-258-3280. Senior Outreach Services Free and confidential assistance from an Area Agency on Aging Elder case manager. Sign up in the Leesburg Senior Center lobby. Second and fourth Thursdays 11 a.m.-noon and 12:30-4:30 p.m. Leesburg Senior Center, 102 North St. NW. 703-737-8039. Free. Senior Outreach Services Free and confidential assistance from an Area Agency on Aging Elder case manager. Call for an appointment or sign up at the Carver Center. First and third Mondays, 12:30-5 p.m. Carver Center, 200 Willie Palmer Way, Purcellville. 703-737-8741. Free. Tai chi for seniors Stretching and strengthening movements. Mondays 11 a.m. Leesburg Senior Center, 102 North St. NW. 703-737-8039. Free. Zumba gold class Age 55 and older. Wear rubber-soled shoes and comfortable clothing; bring water and a towel. Tuesdays 11 a.m., Tuesdays and Fridays 1 p.m. Senior Center of Leesburg, 102 North St. NW, Leesburg. 703-737-8039. $24 per month. Zumba For people 55 and older learning Zumba for the first time, or those who prefer a lower-impact version. The fitness program combines Latin and international music with dance.Thursdays 11 a.m. Senior Center at Cascades, 21060 Whitfield Pl., Sterling. 571-258-3280. $12. SUPPORT GROUPS Al-Anon Service Center of Northern Virginia A volunteer is available 24 hours with information for spouses, family members and friends of problem drinkers. 703-534-4357 or 877-339-8350. Mondays 8 p.m. Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 125 W. Washington St., Middleburg, 540-554-2747; Tuesdays 7:30 p.m. St. James Episcopal Church, 14 Cornwall St. NW, Leesburg, 877-339-8350; Fridays 8:30 p.m. Grace Episcopal Church, 6507 Main St., The Plains, 800-344-2666; Tuesdays 12:15 p.m. Warrenton Church of Christ, Route 29 N., 540-347-7448; Tuesdays 7 p.m. and Saturdays 8:30 p.m. Warrenton Presbyterian Church, 91 Main St., 800-344-2666. Alcoholics Anonymous Various meeting times and locations in Loudoun County. 800-208-8649 or 703-876-6166. nvintergroup.org. Alzheimers caregiver support For those who care for people with Alzheimers disease and other forms of dementia. Fourth Wednesdays 4-5:30 p.m. The Villa at Suffield Meadows, 6735 Suffield Lane, Warrenton. 540-316-3800. Alzheimers caregivers support For those caring for people with Alzheimers disease and other forms of dementia. Second Mondays 7-8:30 p.m. Galilee United Methodist Church, 45425 Winding Rd., Sterling. 703-430-9229. galileeumc.org. Alzheimers caregivers support Emotional, educational and social support for family members and friends of people with the disease. Third Saturdays 10 a.m. Loudoun County Area Agency on Aging, 20145 Ashbrook Pl., Ashburn. Call 703-771-5407 or email lesley.katz@loudoun.gov. Alzheimers caregiver support group Fourth Thursdays 3-4 p.m. Carver Center, 200 Willie Palmer Way, Purcellville. 540-903-6831 or alz.org. Alzheimers support First Tuesdays 10-11 a.m. Spring Arbor Assisted Living, 237 Fairview St. NW, Leesburg. 540-338-6520. Alzheimers support First Wednesdays 4 p.m. Leesburg Adult Day Center, 16501 Meadowview Ct., Leesburg. 703-771-5334. Alzheimers support Fourth Thursdays 3-4 p.m. Carver Center, 200 Willie Palmer Way, Purcellville. 571-258-3400. Talk About Curing Autism A nonprofit organization educating and supporting families affected by autism. tacanow.org. Autoimmune support Last Thursdays 6:30-7:30 p.m. Jackson Building, 209 Gibson St., Leesburg. autoimmunesupport@hotmail.com. Bereaved parent support One-on-one counseling is available. Spiritual Care Support Ministry Center, 76 W. Shirley Ave., Warrenton. 540-349-5814 or scsm.tv. Bereavement support Age 18 and older. Third Mondays 1 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Chestnut Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. Sponsored by Capital Caring. 703-957-1800. Bereavement support Tuesdays through March 28, 7:30- 9 p.m. Spiritual Care Support Ministry Center, 76 W. Shirley Ave., Warrenton. 540-349-5814. Free. Breast cancer support Fourth Tuesdays 7-8 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Tower, Chestnut Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-349-0588. Breast cancer support For those with new diagnoses or starting treatment. Register if attending for the first time. Fourth Mondays 5-6:30 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital Radiation Oncology Center, 44035 Riverside Pkwy., Suite 100, Leesburg. 703-858-8857. Breast cancer support For those who have finished treatment, have had a recurrence or metastatic breast cancer. Register if attending for the first time. Fourth Mondays 6:30-8 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital Radiation Oncology Center, 44035 Riverside Pkwy., Suite 100, Leesburg. 703-858-8857. Free. Breast Cancer Support Assistance Fund Loudoun County residents who have received a diagnosis or have undergone treatment in the past 12 months are eligible to apply for financial assistance. Areas included are wigs, bras, puffs and prostheses, mammograms and medical bills, food and help with utilities, rent or mortgage, and transportation costs. The Pink Assistance Fund has been established by the Loudoun Breast Health Network. lbhn.org. Cancer support Oncology nurses, social workers and spiritual-care providers offer education and support to patients, families and caregivers. Second Mondays 5:30-6:30 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Sycamore Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-316-2273. Cancer support Life with Cancer, for patients, family members and friends. Second Thursdays 7 p.m. Ashburn Presbyterian Church, Room 202, 20962 Ashburn Rd. 703-729-2012 or ashburnpresbyterian.org. Caregiver support Emotional, educational and social support. Encourages caregivers to maintain their physical and emotional health while caring for people with dementia or other chronic illness. Fourth Thursdays 3-4 p.m. Carver Center, 200 Willie Palmer Way, Purcellville. 540-903-6831. Caregiver support and resource group Wednesdays 10:30 a.m.-noon (no meeting first Wednesdays), Spiritual Care Support Ministry Center, 76 W. Shirley Ave., Warrenton. 540-349-5814. scsm.tv. Caring for Aging Parents Support group. Confidential. Fourth Wednesdays 7:30 p.m., Family Focus Counseling Service, 20-B John Marshall St., Warrenton. 540-349-4537. Chadd parents support For parents of children with ADD/ADHD. Fourth Sundays 3 p.m. KinderCare, 44051 Ashburn Village Shopping Plaza. chadd.novaloudoun@gmail.com. Chronic illness support Tuesdays 1:30-2:30 p.m. Spiritual Care Support Ministries, 76 W. Shirley Ave., Warrenton. 540-349-5814 or scsm.tv. Coffee and Conversation Support for those discouraged because of illness, bereavement, caregiving or a loved one in the military. Thursdays 10 a.m.-noon. Spiritual Care Support Ministry Center, 76 W. Shirley Ave., Warrenton. 540-349-5814. Compassionate Friends For parents who have experienced the death of a child. First Wednesdays 7:30 p.m. St. James Episcopal Church, 14 Cornwall St. NW, Leesburg. 540-882-9707. Creating and Connecting Two-hour art therapy and relaxation workshop for cancer patients. Every other month, 12:30-2:30 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital Radiation Oncology Center, 44035 Riverside Pkwy., Suite 100, Leesburg. Call for dates. 703-858-8850. Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance of Western Loudoun Saturdays 3 p.m. Purcellville Library, 220 E. Main St., Carruthers Room. Call 703-431-7160 or email kathy@dbsanca.org. Drop-in grief support Second and fourth Wednesdays 1-2 p.m. St. Davids Episcopal Church, 43600 Russell Branch Pkwy., Ashburn. Sponsored by Capital Caring. 703-597-1781. Families Overcoming Drug Addiction Support group. First and third Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Sycamore Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. myfodafamily@gmail.com or 540-316-9221. Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth and parent support A group in partnership with Metro DC PFLAG. Fourth Sundays 4-6 p.m. Unitarian Universalist Church, 22135 Davis Dr., Sterling. 703-328-6518. Griefshare Open to anyone who has experienced the death of a loved one. Tuesdays Feb. 28 through May 23 from 7-8:30 p.m. Purcellville Baptist Church, 601 Yaxley Dr., Purcellville. Call 540-338-0918 or email caring@purbap.org. Workbook, $15. Griefshare Nondenominational seminar and support group. Tuesdays 7:30-9 p.m., and Wednesdays, 1-2:30 p.m. Spiritual Care Support Ministry Center, 76 W. Shirley Ave., Warrenton. 540-349-5814. Free. Grief support Sponsored by Hospice Support of Fauquier County. Individual counseling available. First and third Thursdays 3:30-5 p.m. Hospice Support Office, 42 N. Fifth St., Warrenton. Registration required. Email hospicesupport@verizon.net or call 540-347-5922. Grief support Wednesdays, 10:30 a.m.-noon, Spiritual Care Support Ministry Center, 76 W. Shirley Ave., Warrenton. 540-349-5814. Hospice support Free medical-equipment loan facility for Fauquier County residents. Especially needed are donations of wheelchairs, bedside commodes, rolling walkers, electric hospital beds, shower benches and chairs, adult diapers, lift chairs, Ensure and hospital bed mattresses. 540-347-5922. Look Good, Feel Better For women undergoing or emerging from cancer treatment. Every other month, 6:45 to 9 p.m. ,Inova Loudoun Hospital Radiation Oncology Center, 44035 Riverside Pkwy., Suite 100, Leesburg. Call for dates. 703-776-2820. Free. Loudoun CHADD support Led by Children and Adults With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Third Thursdays 7 p.m. Leesburg Town Hall, lower-level conference room, 25 W. Market St. 703-669-2445. Lyme disease support Fourth Sundays 2-4 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital, 44045 Riverside Pkwy., Conference Room A and B, Leesburg. Go to natcaplyme.org or email loudounlymeadvocates@gmail.com. Lyme disease support Third Thursdays at 7 p.m. Warrenton Church of Christ, 6398 Lee Hwy. Access Road, Warrenton. 540-347-7265 or email lymeinfauquier@gmail.com. Lyme disease support Age 18 and older. First Tuesdays 6:30-8 p.m. Carver Center, 200 Willie Palmer Way, Purcellville. Email charphealy@yahoo.com. MADD Loudoun victim support For those who have been affected by drunken driving. Third Wednesdays 7:30 p.m. 210 Wirt St., Leesburg. 540-338-6491. Man-to-Man Cancer Support Sponsored by Loudoun Cancer Care Center, for prostate cancer patients and their families. Second Tuesdays 6:30-8 p.m. Senior Center at Cascades, 21060 Whitfield Pl., Sterling. Call 703-858-8857 or email karen.archer@inova.org. Menopause support Third Thursdays 6:30-9 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital, 44045 Riverside Pkwy., Leesburg (second floor, Patient Education Room). 703-858-8060. Mens grief support Second Mondays at 7 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Sycamore Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 703-568-3346. Free. Multiple sclerosis support Saturdays 10:30 a.m. Fauquier Hospital Chestnut Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-349-2826. Multiple sclerosis support Last Sundays, September-June, 2-4 p.m. Cascades Library, 21030 Whitfield Pl., Potomac Falls. Call ahead to confirm. 703-771-4256. Nar-anon family support For those affected by loved ones with addiction. Meaningful Mondays, 7-8 p.m., Galilee United Methodist Church, 45425 Winding Rd., Sterling. 703-203-9792; Wisdom Wednesdays 7-8 p.m., St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church, 37730 St. Francis Ct., Purcellville, 703-606-7125; Serenity Thursdays, 7-8 p.m. Leesburg Presbyterian Church, 207 W. Market St., Leesburg, 703-606-7125. Overeaters Anonymous For fellowship and support. For locations and times, call oa.org. Parkinson's support Open to those with Parkinson's disease, their family members and caregivers. First Tuesdays 1:30-3 p.m. Call for Ashburn location. 571-442-8851. Post-partum support Second and fourth Wednesdays 1-2:30 p.m. Inova Loudoun Cornwall Campus, 224 Cornwall St., Leesburg. Call 703-909-9877 or email lamckeough@gmail.com. Registration required. Reach to Recovery Home visit program for mastectomy and lumpectomy patients. Temporary prostheses, exercise instruction and encouragement. 703-938-5550. Sexual assault and incest survivors group counseling Services provided by Loudoun Citizens for Social Justice and the Loudoun Abused Womens Shelter are free and confidential. 703-771-9020. Sexual assault survivors empowerment support Sponsored by Sexual Assault Victims Volunteer Initiative. Child care available with 48 hours notice. Mondays; call for times and locations. 540-349-7720. Spiritual support group For cancer patients, family members and friends. Third Tuesdays 6:30-8 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital Radiation Oncology Center, 44035 Riverside Pkwy., Suite 100, Leesburg. 703-858-8850. Spouse loss support Sundays through April 2, 2:30-4 p.m. Spiritual Care Support Ministry Center, 76 W. Shirley Ave., Warrenton. Facilitated by Liz Shaw. 540-349-5814. Free. Stroke survivors and caregivers support Second Wednesdays 11 a.m.-noon, Inova Loudoun Hospital, 44045 Riverside Pkwy., Leesburg, second floor, Patient Education Room. 703-858-6199 or jill.lieb@inova.org. Suicide counseling Third Wednesdays 7-8:30 p.m. Leesburg Town Office, Conference Room 2, lower level, 25 W. Market St., Leesburg. 703-587-1618 or survivorsofsuicidelossleesburg@gmail.com. Womens support Sponsored by Services to Abused Families. Tuesdays 6:30-8 p.m. Confidential location. 540-825-8876. Widows and widowers support Third Mondays 11 a.m. Leesburg Senior Center, 102 North St. NW. 703-737-8039. Womens cancer support Woman to Woman, first Wednesdays 6:30-8 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital Radiation Oncology Center, 44035 Riverside Pkwy., Suite 100, Leesburg. Registration required. 703-858-8850. MISCELLANEOUS Ask the Expert lecture Blood Clots and the Brain: Current Emergency Treatment Feb. 28 from 6-7:30 p.m. Inova HealthPlex, 22505 Landmark Ct., Ashburn. 855-694-6682. Free. Brain trauma survivors brown-bag lunch For survivors and caregivers. First Tuesdays, noon-1:30 p.m., Inova Loudoun Hospital, 44045 Riverside Pkwy., Leesburg, second-floor Patient Education Room. Call 703-737-3150 or email jberg@braininjurysvcs.org. Free. Child developmental screenings For ages 2-5. Children may not be kindergarten-age-eligible. Sponsored by the Loudoun County public schools Child Find Center. 571-252- - 2180. Cholesterol screenings Weekdays from 6 a.m.-8 p.m. Fauquier Health LIFE Center, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-316-2640. Registration required. $35. Emergency food supplies Loudoun County residents in need can receive a free three-day supply of groceries. Supplies are distributed Mondays through Saturdays by Loudoun Hunger Relief. Call 703-777-5911 or go to loudounhunger.org. Fauquier free walk-in medical clinic Call Thursdays from 12:30 to 1 p.m. to register for the clinic, which begins at 5:30 p.m. Patients are seen by appointment Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Fauquier and Rappahannock residents only. Bring proof of address for the first visit. Patients cannot have Medicaid, Medicare or private insurance. Information: 540-347-0394 Tuesdays or Thursdays, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Bistro Senior Supper Club Nutritious meals and fellowship for people 55 and older. Tuesdays and Thursdays 4:30-6:30 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Bistro on the Hill, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-316-3588. $5.49. HEROES (Hometown Enabling Relationships, Opportunities and Empowerment through Support) is a program for military families. Support to military members and families, from pre-deployment up to two years post-deployment. Assistance includes financial help, job placement, family care and mental-health services. caring@purbap.org or heroescare.org. Inova Loudoun Hospital Mobile Health Services Blood pressure screenings, Monday 9-11 a.m. William Watters House, 22365 Enterprise St., Sterling; Wednesday 10 a.m.-noon, Lansdowne Woods, 19400 Leisure World Blvd., Leesburg; Thursday 10 a.m.-noon, Carver Center, 200 Willie Palmer Way, Purcellville; Feb. 28, 9 a.m.-noon, Senior Center at Cascades, 21060 Whitfield Pl., Sterling. For information, call 703-858-8818 or go to inova.org/mobilehealth. Free. Leg vein health seminar Feb. 27, 7 p.m. Cascades Library, 21030 Whitfield Pl., Potomac Falls. The Center for Vein Restoration will lead an interactive discussion on signs, symptoms, causes, diagnosis and treatments of chronic venous insufficiency. Watch a live lower-leg vein ultrasound demonstration. 703-444-3228. Free. , Loudoun Cares information and referral help line Call 703-669-4636 for help in finding resources for county residents dealing with eviction, utility cut-offs, needed health care and employment. Motor skill screenings Birth to 21 months. First Thursdays, Blue Ridge Speech and Hearing Center, 19465 Deerfield Ave., Suite 201, Lansdowne. Call for an appointment. 703-858-7620. Free. Northern Virginia long-term care ombudsman Call 703-324-5861 for help in resolving complaints related to long-term-care facilities. Road to Recovery Free rides to appointments for cancer patients. Call 410-781-6909 or email jen.burdette@cancer.org. Free. Safe sitter classes For girls and boys ages 11-14. First Saturdays except for holiday weekends. 7:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital, 44045 Riverside Pkwy., Leesburg. To receive a Safe Sitter Certificate, students must pass practical and written tests on babysitting and handling an emergency. Bring a lunch or buy lunch in the cafeteria. $70, includes handbook and snacks. Registration required. 703-858-8818 or charlene.martin@inova.org. Seven Loaves Food Pantry Individuals and families can receive a three-day supply of food, distributed Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 10 a.m.-noon. Go to sevenloavesmiddleburg.org or call 540-687-3489. Tree of Life Food Pantry Serving western Loudoun County. Food is delivered Wednesdays and Saturdays. 703-554-3595. Compiled by Sandy Mauck TO SUBMIT AN ITEM Email: ldliving@washpost.com Fax: 703-777-8437 Mail: Health Calendar, The Washington Post, 104 Dry Mill Rd. SW, Suite 101, Leesburg, Va. 20175 Perhaps if this were not Presidents Day weekend, it would have been easier to ignore what happened Sunday night at the Washington Monument. But on the middle day of the long weekend many associate primarily with George Washington, the lights did not go on at the monument named for Americas first president. The floodlights that illuminate the 555-foot-tall stone obelisk and add a dimension of nighttime visibility to what is already one of the foremost symbols of the District and the United States did not bathe the shaft in their bright glow. Mike Litterst, a spokesman for the National Park Service, said the lights failed to turn on as scheduled at about dusk. He said Park Service electricians were called, and at about 7:20 p.m. the lights were on as usual. The cause of the outage was not immediately known. It was the third time this year the lights at the monument failed to do their job. It seemed to add one more indignity to the history of troubles that have plagued the monument since it was damaged in the August 2011 earthquake that was felt up and down the East Coast. The next year brought an announcement that the monument would be closed for repairs until 2014. But in recent years, one problem after another impeded operation of the elevator inside the monument, which opened to the public almost 129 years ago. The elevator, a vital part of the tourist experience, carried visitors from the ground to a lofty observation level that offers a panorama of Washington. The interior stairs have long been closed to the public. Without the elevator, the monument could scarcely operate as the tourist attraction it has been. Authorities finally decided to close the monument once more to modernize the heavily used elevator. But even closed, the monument plays a symbolic role. For the countless thousands who do not contemplate a trip to the top, it has nevertheless served as a luminous sentinel, signifying calm and continuity in the Washington night. No details on the circumstances of Churkin's death were given but the Russian foreign Ministry offered condolences to his relatives. By Reuters: Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, has died in New York, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday. The ministry gave no details on the circumstances of his death but offered condolences to his relatives and said the diplomat had died one day before his 65th birthday. The United Nations is 'shocked' by the sudden death of Russia's envoy to the world body, and has extended its condolences to Moscow, TASS news agency cited a representative for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as saying on Monday. advertisement Earlier, the Russian foreign ministry announced the death of Churkin, who would have turned 65 on Tuesday, but gave no details. Also read: Dubai police summon daredevil Russian model who dangled from skyscraper for photoshoot --- ENDS --- Amanda Ashleys daughter trembled uncontrollably. Her scream rang through the intensive care unit high-pitched and shrill. She was so agitated, no amount of rocking or cuddling could soothe her. Her baby was suffering from symptoms of heroin and buprenorphine withdrawal, and Ashley who had used drugs for nearly a decade, including during the pregnancy was consumed with guilt watching her daughters tiny body detox. I was taking prenatal vitamins and shooting dope, she said. I wanted to stop, but I had no control psychologically and physically on how to do it. Hospitals throughout Maryland are dealing with a sharp increase in the number of babies born exposed to drugs as the opioid epidemic grows and ensnares the youngest victims while theyre still in the womb. These newborns suffer tremors, have trouble feeding and are not easily comforted all signs of drug withdrawal. The number of babies born in Maryland with opiates, alcohol, narcotics or other drugs in their systems has increased 56.6 percent in the past nine years to 1,419 cases in 2015, the latest numbers available. Although some have been exposed to marijuana and cocaine, an overwhelming number are born to mothers who have used prescription painkillers or heroin, the primary cause of deadly overdoses in Maryland and across the country. Some of these babies also have methadone or buprenorphine in their bodies because the mothers are using those drugs to kick their addiction. The babies are weaned off the drugs in hospital neonatal intensive care units, but doctors say it is too early to determine the long-term health consequences. The new wave of addicted babies is reminiscent of the crack baby scare of the 1990s. Studies have shown those children didnt grow up with the major health problems many doctors had predicted. There is a perceptible increase, said Howard J. Birenbaum, director of the division of neonatology at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center. We certainly have babies born here that end up in neonatal intensive care unit requiring treatment we didnt see 10 years ago. We all seem to have babies in the NICU who are suffering from withdrawal. Hospitals are responding with new standards of care such as cuddle programs to help soothe drug-exposed babies. They are working with doctors to help identify pregnant moms who are drug users, but they also know they miss some who dont see a doctor until they arrive to deliver. The Maryland Patient Safety Center is working with 30 birthing centers across the state to come up with standardized care for babies suffering from what is known as neonatal abstinence syndrome, a range of symptoms common in babies exposed to opioids, alcohol, narcotics or other drugs while in the womb. This is not a syndrome that we used to see a lot of, so we are learning quickly, said Jim Rost, a newborn intensive care specialist and co-chair of the patient safety care center committee looking at the issue. The group hopes to speed up the recovery time for these babies, who are now in the hospital an average of 26 days in Maryland. It also wants to reduce the frequency that these babies are readmitted to the hospital. Another goal is to reach expectant mothers as early as possible. People dont show up with a sign on their head saying opioid user, said Rost, who works at Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center in Rockville. It is about screening the mother appropriately so we can help them and we can help their babies sooner. When babies suspected or known to be exposed to opioids are born, they are screened and given a score based on the degree of their symptoms. This score determines how they are treated. Every baby is a little bit different, said Marie Kanagie-McAleese, director of the pediatric hospitalist program at the University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Medical Center. It really depends on the type of medication mom is taking, how frequently and whether she is taking many drugs simultaneously. Initial treatment for all addicted babies involves creating a calming environment with little stimulation. Babies are kept in quiet rooms with low lights. Some hospitals, including the University of Maryland Medical Center and University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake, have created cuddle rooms where volunteers rock and soothe the babies. Some hospitals also may use massage and music therapy. These calming techniques arent always enough for babies with higher exposure to opioids. About 60 to 80 percent of infants with neonatal abstinence syndrome need drug treatment to help with withdrawal, according to a December article in the New England Journal of Medicine about the syndrome. Most are given morphine or methadone, mostly to help relieve seizures, weight loss and other symptoms as they detox. But these drugs can lead to other health issues. For instance, use of morphine can lead to respiratory problems and a longer hospital stay for the baby. The University of Maryland Medical Center is studying whether the use of cuddlers can decrease the amount of morphine and other drugs these babies need to recover and decrease their hospital stay. A nurse cant always do this because they have to take care of other babies, said Dina El-Metwally, medical director of the Baltimore hospitals Drs. Rouben and Violet Jiji Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. At the Center for Addiction and Pregnancy at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, the focus is on treating the mothers addiction and any underlying mental health issues while they also treat the baby. The idea is that the mother will most often be the best caregiver to help her child if given the right support. Among the things mothers are taught is how to address symptoms that may arise after the baby is home. There are usually residual symptoms that can last over the first year stiff muscles, feeding difficulties, trouble sleeping, said Lauren Jansson, the centers pediatric director. All of these symptoms can be managed at home, but it can be difficult without support. Doctors said more studies are needed on the best way to treat babies. For instance, the way medical staff score a babys symptoms is subjective. There are also questions about whether there are other drugs that could be used to treat these babies. And the long-term effects of being exposed to opioids in utero are not known. Ashleys baby was in the hospital for five weeks as the drugs in her system slowly dissipated. Ashley said her addiction stemmed from a car accident at age 18 when she hit a tree. She was prescribed the opioid Percocet and became hooked. In search of a more intense high, she turned to heroin at age 20. She hit her lowest point four months into her pregnancy. Her boyfriend had left her, and she was working as an escort to feed a $200-a-day heroin habit. Deep down she feared what she was doing to her unborn child. I was scared she was going to come out with a lot of birth defects, said Ashley, who is now 28. Feeling down and out, she tried treatment one more time if not for herself, for her unborn daughter. Treatment specialists prescribed buprenorphine, a maintenance drug that reduces withdrawal symptoms. Ashley knew the buprenorphine would still get in her babys system but thought it was a better alternative than heroin. Ashley said her daughter is now 6 months old and healthy. She is perfect, Ashley said. I could not ask for a better child. She is extremely well tempered. She is very loving, very sweet and always happy. She wishes there were more treatment options so other moms dont end up in the same predicament. But, Ashley said, her daughter has given her reason to stay sober. I couldnt imagine ever going back to that life, she said. This is a "slice" of George Washington pie, one version at least. Pies and cakes by that name were popular from the mid-19th century to the early decades of the 20th century. The recipe for this one was printed in The Washington Post in 1935. (John Kelly/The Washington Post) In February 1955, The Washington Post womens section published a letter from a Mrs. Fountaine of the District. I would like a recipe for Washington pie, which is an old-time favorite of my husband, she requested. Can anyone oblige? Apparently, no one could. I found no recipe in subsequent sections. Washington pie had seemingly disappeared from the consciousness of the city. But in the 19th and early 20th centuries, just about everyone in Washington nay, in the country knew how to make Washington pie. And if they didnt know how to make it, they had at least eaten it or knew what it was. Of course, every version was probably different. Some, strictly speaking, werent even pie. They were cake, and Washington cake appeared in print as often as Washington pie. In honor of Presidents Day, I decided to make George Washington pie using one of the recipes that appeared in The Post back before Mrs. Fountaine made her query. How did it taste? Well, lets let it cool before I get to that. Almost from its inception, there was disagreement over what exactly Washington pie was and where it came from. In her 1965 book Red-Flannel Hash and Shoo-Fly Pie, Lila Perl claimed that the dessert arose during the Civil War when housewives in Washington couldnt get lard for pie crusts. But that must be apocryphal, since Washington pie was mentioned in cookbooks as early as 1850. Perl and the cookbooks agreed on one thing: It wasnt a pie at all, but a sponge cake baked in a pie pan and split into two layers. Jelly was spread over the bottom layer, and the top layer was lightly sprinkled with powdered sugar. So, not a pie. A layer cake. Some variation of that is what I found in most references. Recipes called for mixing and baking your basics butter, eggs, sugar and flour and then topping that with, well, take your pick: raspberry jam, whipped cream, custard, coconut, chocolate icing or some other sweet treat. In 1932, the Dodge Hotel at North Capitol and E streets NW advertised that its Washingtons Birthday Bicentennial Dinner desserts would include a Washington cake with strawberry southern, whatever that is. Confusingly, though Washington pie was usually a cake, it could also be a pie, though a very odd pie, indeed. A 1908 story in The Post headlined The Power of the Pie dismissed the Washington pie thusly: As a pie it is a nefarious fraud, but hungry men have eaten it with great relish. . . . It is made of shortened pie dough filled with stale bread, pieces of cake, the refuse of the bakery, cheap spices, a few raisins and an occasional shingle nail. This was cake inside a pie, not a turducken, but a piecaken. It was a way for a baker to unload some of his older, less-attractive stock. In 1930, The Post published a letter from an Old Habitant describing this cake/pie hybrid: It was composed beneath the crust of a dark brown filling which had some resemblance to dried apples with bits of lemon peel thrown in for flavoring. Alas, this version of the Washington pie was gone: We will never see its like again, and only a centenarian is left here and there to mourn its loss. (Thats the sort of Washington pie that Hudson Valley, N.Y., writer Sharyn Flanagan recently made and wrote about. Her verdict: Very interesting taste sensation having pie crust and cake in the same bite, she wrote me in an email.) A 1934 anecdote involving then-Labor Secretary Frances Perkins illustrates the fluidity of Washington pie. Perkins had grown fond of it in Boston, but when she ordered it in Philadelphia, the waiter seemed puzzled. He conferred with a colleague, then returned with a wedge of chocolate cake. But the Washington pie I get in Boston is light cake and has powdered sugar on top, Perkins said. This is chocolate. The waiter explained: They named theirs after George Washington. We named ours after Booker T. I found all manner of Washington pie recipes in The Post, including one composed of crumbled macaroons topped by lady fingers, all drenched in a lemon chiffon filling. I chose one from 1935 because it was so weird: 3 egg whites cup sugar 10 white soda crackers, medium size 1 teaspoons baking powder teaspoon almond extract cup chopped nut meats 8 marshmallows cut in quarters Beat the egg whites until stiff. Then add the sugar a little at a time and beat constantly while adding. Roll the crackers very fine and mix the baking powder thoroughly with the cracker crumbs. Fold this cracker crumb mixture, the almond extract, the nut meats and the marshmallows into the beaten egg whites. Place in a well-greased 9-inch layer-cake tin and bake in a moderate oven (350 degrees) for about half an hour. When serving, cut like pie and top with sweetened whipped cream to which maraschino cherries, cut in small pieces, have been added. Mine kind of fell apart structurally too much marshmallow, not enough cracker? but it tasted pretty good. Happy birthday, George. Twitter: @johnkelly For previous columns, visit washingtonpost.com/johnkelly. Pr. William keeps its AAA bond rating Prince William County recently reaffirmed its AAA rating from all three of the major bond credit rating agencies: Fitch Ratings, Moodys, and Standard & Poors. According to a county statement, less than 2 percent of the nations more-than 3,000 counties carry triple-A bond ratings from all three agencies. Spring burning law in effect through April Spring burning restrictions are in effect through April 30, Prince William County officials said. The law prohibits open-air burning before 4 p.m. if the fire is in or within 300 feet of woodland, brush land, or fields containing dry grass or other flammable materials. Violations could result in a misdemeanor punishable by a fine. For information, call the fire marshals office at 703-792-6360 or visit pwcgov.org. Eight-week college session starts March 13 Registration is open for Northern Virginia Community Colleges eight-week session that begins March 13. Students may register at any of the six campuses, at nvcc.edu or by calling 703-323-3000. County Bar members boost pro bono work The Prince William County Bar Association launched an initiative last year to increase member participation in pro bono programs. The initiative was inspired by the Virginia Access to Justice Commissions concern about the decline in funding for legal services across the state. According to a statement from Jeanie Wiethop, 2016 PWC Bar president, 42 percent of Bar members participated that year in pro bono activities, up from 33 percent in 2015. Current Bar President Brad Marshall is continuing the pro bono challenge, expanding it to include volunteer programs, with the goal of 100 percent participation this year. Spring classes in game design, programming Registration is open for the Mason Game and Technology Academys spring classes. The courses, including Digital Art for Games and Intro to Virtual Reality Game Development, are designed for students ages 9 to 18 and are taught by George Mason University faculty. The Mason Game and Technology Academy is a community outreach youth program from the Virginia Serious Game Institute and George Masons computer-game design program. For information, visit vsgi.gmu.edu/mgta. Web resource offers strategies for saving A website run by the Virginia Cooperative Extension and the local arm of the America Saves program aims to help residents save money. Prince William Saves offers tips and resources for saving money. The site also gives residents a chance to make a pledge to set savings goals By making the pledge on the site, people can get tips and encouragement in the form of monthly emails and text messages. Patricia Contrades, a VCE volunteer, said the messages serve as a pep talk. Its that support that we all need to get financially healthy. For information or to pledge to save, visit princewilliamsaves.org. SATURDAY, FEB. 11 Protesters mob edgy Va. governor candidate Republican gubernatorial candidate Corey Stewart, defending a statue of Robert E. Lee in a Charlottesville park, was swarmed by dozens of protesters who shouted him down everywhere he went. It was the harshest reception yet for the provocative chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors and former Virginia chairman for President Trumps campaign. Stewart is campaigning for the GOP nomination for governor as a Virginian version of Trump, with a hard-line stance against illegal immigration. WEDNESDAY, FEB. 15 Governors races echo White House contest The governors races this year in Virginia and New Jersey are unfolding in ways that powerfully echo the wild campaign for the White House. There is, for example, Corey Stewart, who says President Trumps victory has freed candidates to simply be yourself. You can be profane. You can be politically incorrect, said Stewart, one of three candidates challenging Ed Gillespie, a former Republican National Committee chairman, for the GOP nomination in Virginia. In New Jersey, former Saturday Night Live comic and Trump supporter Joe Piscopo is considering a run for governor, possibly as an independent. THURSDAY, FEB. 16 GOP lags in Va. race; both primaries tight Either Democrat in the Virginia gubernatorial race would be favored to comfortably beat any one of the four Republican candidates, a recently released Quinnipiac University poll found. In the four-person GOP field, former RNC chairman Ed Gillespie led with support from nearly a quarter of Republican-leaning voters. Corey Stewart drew 7 percent of respondents, while state Sen. Frank Wagner (Virginia Beach) took 5 percent, and distillery owner Denver Riggleman attracted 2 percent. Lt. Gov Ralph Northam and former Virginia U.S. representative Ralph Northam are competing for the Democratic nod. In the polls hypothetical head-to-head matchups, Perriello had slightly larger margins than Northam, and Gillespie fared the best of Republicans in a general election. Portions of the viewing stands for the inaugural parade may still be seen outside the White House, but taking them down is not the only unfinished business remaining in Washington from Jan. 20. D.C. police continue their search for whoever set a womans hair on fire along the parade route that afternoon. The flames were relatively small and apparently caused no injury. They were extinguished on the spot, and quickly. But the person who used what is believed to be a cigarette lighter in the incident is still at large, and last week police issued a second appeal to help find the individual they describe as a person of interest in the assault. The original request included still photographs, and police said they may have received the name of the person they wanted to speak with. However, in the announcement issued Wednesday, police said that person was not the one connected to the 2 p.m. incident. They said she had been ruled out and have continued the search. An online video of the incident appears to depict a few moments in which supporters and opponents of President Trump find themselves embedded in a large crowd assembled near the parade route in the 700 block of Pennsylvania Avenue NW. Fists are thrust aloft and placards brandished, largely by opponents of the president. But the scene appears peaceable enough to prompt at least one of the Trump supporters to pose for a picture with the protesters as the backdrop. Despite the vehemence of some of the protesters chants, everything seems orderly. The Trump supporter stands with her back to them and her long brown hair running down behind her. She poses happily, pointing to her ball cap with Trump emblazoned on the front. In the video, an arm reaches toward her from the dense crowd. Moments later, someone notices the small flame on the victims hair. He pats it out amid cries of surprise and dismay from some in the crowd. One or two of the protesters are shown apologizing before the two-minute, 29-second video ends. Police have said they have no doubt that the video is genuine. Many arrests were made in connection with demonstrations that turned destructive several blocks north of the sites of the inauguration ceremony and the inaugural parade, where protesters set a parked limousine on fire and broke storefront windows. It is not clear that there were any arrests in connection with the parade or swearing-in ceremony. As of Sunday evening, police said no arrest had been made in the parade route incident. People in Arlington, Va., pack the Metro en route to the Jan. 21 Womens March on Washington. Demcorats say the march has helped fuel high interest in running for office. (Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg News) Buoyed by a wave of progressive activism that began after the election of President Trump, Virginia Democrats plan to challenge 45 GOP incumbents in the deep-red House of Delegates this November, including 17 lawmakers whose districts voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton. In some districts, multiple candidates will compete in Democratic primaries for the chance to challenge a Republican incumbent. And at least one Democratic incumbent from Northern Virginia will face a primary challenge, from a local school board member who said Clintons defeat helped propel her to run. Republicans hold 66 of the 100 seats in the House, and GOP leaders say many districts including those won by Clinton remain Republican strongholds for state elections. Still, if Democrats succeed in running 45 challengers, it would be a significant increase over 2015, when only 21 Democrats ran against GOP lawmakers. In addition to trying to wrest control of the House, fielding a strong Democratic slate is critical to showing the nation that Virginia is shifting and becoming a more progressive state, said Del. Charniele Herring (Alexandria), chair of the House Democratic caucus. Its important because we know those districts can change, said Herring, who credited Trumps election and years of recruiting efforts with fueling the surge. I think the tide is turning. John Whitbeck, the chairman of the state Republican Party, described the GOPs 16-year majority in the House as near insurmountable and said his party plans to challenge incumbents in heavily Democratic districts in Arlington and Fairfax this fall, too. Until they have 51 winnable races, they shouldnt be talking, Whitbeck said. I just dont buy it. We consistently win those Hillary Clinton districts with good, solid Republicans. [In Virginia governors race, Democrats battle to be most progressive] Some potential candidates were encouraged to run by such newly formed political organizations as Run for Something, founded by former Clinton outreach worker Amanda Litman. Others said they were influenced by the Jan. 21 Womens March on Washington. Were focusing on down-ballot offices to help build a long-term, progressive bench, Litman said in an interview. We are actively recruiting young progressives, and our goal is that no races should go uncontested. Three Democrats will compete to challenge 25-year incumbent Del. Bob Marshall (R-Manassas) in the 13th District, which Clinton won on Election Day with 54 percent of the vote. Two others are battling for the Democratic nomination to oppose Del. Scott Lingamfelter (R-Woodbridge) in the 31st District, where Clinton captured 51 percent of the vote. Elizabeth Guzman, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Peru and longtime party volunteer, said she decided to run because she and her family have endured years of harassing comments about their ethnicity, as well as unprovoked traffic stops. Then Trump gets elected, and my son, my 9-year-old, said, Mommy, we have to get out because Mr. Trump doesnt like people who speak Spanish. That decided it, Guzman said. My district is incredibly diverse, and I think it is time to bring that diversity to Richmond. In the June 13 primary, she faces Sara Townsend, a seventh-grade civics teacher who lost to Lingamfelter in 2015. Protecting public schools is her passion, she said, and with the election of Trump, and his appointment of [Betsy] DeVos as education secretary, theres no question of me running or not this year. In Marshalls district, Mansimran Singh Kahlon, 24, is seeking to be the first Sikh elected to the House of Delegates. Mostly, I feel theres a void between the lives of people and the legislation presented in Richmond, Kahlon said. Danica Roem, an LGBT activist who would be the first openly transgender person in the chamber, said shed been weighing a run since August, but Trumps election convinced me theres literally nothing in my backstory that would disqualify me. . . . But Im not running against Donald Trump, Im running against Delegate Marshall. Steven Jansen, a former Wayne County, Mich., prosecutor who now directs the nonprofit group Prosecutors Against Gun Violence, said Trumps election also shocked him. But what made him enter the race was Marshalls decision to introduce legislation forbidding transgender people from using bathrooms for the gender with which they identify. Hes not representing his district, he has this extremist agenda, and hes trying to bully transgender kids, Jansen said. Not all of the prospective candidates have filed the required paperwork, Herring said. The deadline is March 30 for primaries; independents and candidates running against someone from another party can file as late as June 13. In Alexandria, school board member Karen Graf will challenge fellow Democrat and first-term Del. Mark H. Levine for the nomination to represent the very liberal 45th District. Graf said she has no particular criticism of Levine, but was prompted to run by national issues that demand local responses. The timing is right for women and for education, but also for someone who cares about health care, immigration and other issues, said Graf, who has served five years on the school board. Levine won a five-way Democratic primary in 2015 with 28 percent of the vote and had no Republican opposition in the general election. A self-defined progressive, he has sponsored or co-sponsored bills that have passed the House to preserve evidence for victims of sexual assault and protect people from defamation lawsuits when speaking on matters of public concern. He also has supported stricter gun laws and spoken out against Trumps travel ban; he has the endorsement of Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) and 36 other state and local elected officials. Graf said shes proud of her tenure on the school board, which included four years as chair. She helped hire a new superintendent, kept the state from taking control of the academically challenged Jefferson-Houston School, launched a capital improvement plan in response to growing enrollment pressures and strengthened fiscal oversight. In Herrings district, Charles Sumpter Jr. filed paperwork establishing a campaign committee to run against her. But Sumpter, who chairs the Alexandria Commission on HIV/AIDS, said in a Facebook message Tuesday that he has reconsidered and will not run this year. No other incumbent Democrats in Northern Virginia face primary challengers so far, Herring said, but there are still six weeks to go. All 100 House seats are up for election this year. Local parties decide how to select their nominees. House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford), left, confers with Del. S. Chris Jones (R-Suffolk) during the 2017 session of the Virginia House of Delegates. (Bob Brown/AP) Speaker William J. Howell, a pragmatic Republican who has presided over Virginias fractious House of Delegates for 15 sessions and spent the last four as a thorn in Gov. Terry McAuliffes side, will not seek reelection in November. Howell, 73, announced his decision Monday in emotional remarks in the ornate House chamber, with his wife of 50 years, Cessie, and other family members looking on. I have really enjoyed serving in this esteemed body, Howell said. It has truly been the greatest professional honor of my life. Even before it was officially announced, Howells plan to retire at the end of his term in January set off a competition between two delegates to replace him at the helm of the overwhelmingly GOP-majority chamber. House Majority Leader M. Kirkland Cox (Colonial Heights) and Del. Terry G. Kilgore (Scott) worked quietly over the past week to line up support for their rival bids to replace Howell (Stafford), according to two Republicans familiar with their efforts. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal caucus matters. Kilgore has since withdrawn. I just didnt think it was the right time for me, he said. Cox declined to comment, saying that this is the speakers day. The House GOP caucus is expected to name Cox its speaker-designee in a close-door meeting Wednesday. House members on both sides of the aisle praised Howell on the floor not only for his political leadership but also for a quick wit that could defuse tense situations and for a sense of personal friendship. I think after I called my parents, youre the first person I called after I adopted my kid, thats how much I think of you, said Del. David B. Albo (R-Fairfax), his voice breaking. You are proof, Mr. Speaker, that nice guys can finish first. House Minority Leader David Toscano (D-Charlottesville) praised Howell for standing up to his own party on an off-year redistricting scheme in 2013. Senate Republicans had tacked an entirely redrawn state Senate map onto a bill calling for minor technical adjustments to House districts. Howell ruled it out of order, a move that infuriated some Republicans. [From the archives: Spike of Virginia redistricting plans shows House speakers pragmatic streak] You are truly a historic figure in this chamber and in this Capitol, said Toscano, adding that the speaker is akin to a judge. The good judges are the ones who let you try your case. . . . You let us try our cases, and we thank you for that. Howells relationship with McAuliffe (D) has been strained, despite their shared history as dealmakers and McAuliffes efforts to woo the speaker over craft beer in the Executive Mansion. Howell has used his position among the most powerful in state government to help thwart many of the governors biggest goals, including the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, the appointment of a state Supreme Court justice and the blanket restoration of voting rights to more than 200,000 felons. With a lawsuit filed last year to block the restoration of felons voting rights, Howell became the first speaker in the history of the commonwealth to successfully challenge a governors executive order in court. [Va. high court invalidates McAuliffes order restoring felon voting rights] On behalf of the people of Virginia, I want to thank Speaker Bill Howell for his outstanding service to Virginia, McAuliffe said in a statement. I have tremendous respect for the Speaker and the professional and dignified way he led the House throughout his tenure. I wish him the very best in his retirement. Howell is Virginias second-longest-serving speaker, behind Democrat Edgar Blackburn Moore, who held the post from 1950 to 1968. Deemed the accidental speaker because he assumed the role in January 2003 after S. Vance Wilkins resigned amid a sexual harassment scandal, Howell instituted a number of reforms, including bringing some strictness and objectivity to rules governing what can be ruled in and out of order. A member of the House since 1988, Howell was one of four delegates to start a prayer group that still meets at 7 a.m. every Wednesday during the session. He has been a conservative on social issues such as abortion. But he also sought to keep a lid on some hot-button bills after they consumed the 2012 legislative session. Del. Robert G. Marshall (R-Prince William), one of the chambers most vocal conservatives, often complained that Howell had some of his bills quietly killed off in committees to avoid controversy. An example of that this year was Marshalls ill-fated measure to require transgender people to use the public bathroom that corresponds with the sex on their birth certificates. [Va. lawmaker presses fellow Republicans on transgender bathroom bill] Howell has primarily focused on promoting business-friendly policies. And he has been willing to cut deals to get things done sometimes to the chagrin of more ideologically driven Republicans. Among those deals were some involving McAuliffes predecessors. Howell spoke out against Democrat Mark R. Warners $1.6 billion tax hike but quietly instructed a few Republicans to skip a committee vote so that the bill would go the House floor. Despite his distaste for Democrat Tim Kaines smoking ban, he struck a deal there as well. He signed on to the transportation plan of Republican Robert F. McDonnell, even after the legislation was amended into the largest tax hike in Virginia history. Its really Bill Howells greatest legacy, said Del. Mark Sickles (D-Fairfax), referring to the transportation funding measure. Wed still have smoking in restaurants for that matter. A wills and trusts lawyer who practices in a log cabin on the Rappahannock River, Howell assumed the speakership at a time when his party enjoyed a slim majority in the 100-seat chamber. Their numbers swelled as high as 68 during his tenure, which also saw the adoption of a 2011 redistricting map favorable to Republicans. Two lawsuits one before the U.S. Supreme Court, the other before a state circuit court challenged the constitutionality of the maps. Presiding over that growing majority became tricky with the rise of more conservative, tea-party-affiliated members, who looked askance at Howells pragmatic streak. In 2014, some conservative Republicans said they feared that Howell was secretly on board with McAuliffes plan to expand Medicaid as they pushed for a budget amendment that they thought was needed to tie the governors hands. The speaker had called the amendment unnecessary but eventually got on board. McAuliffe later acknowledged that the amendment blocked a loophole that he had intended to use to expand Medicaid unilaterally. 1 of 17 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Texas border city holds its 120th celebration of George Washingtons birthday View Photos Every year Laredo celebrates the presidents birthday and the heritage of its citizens. Caption Every year Laredo celebrates the presidents birthday and the heritage of its citizens. Douglas Blair Howland, portraying George Washington, walks with Claudio Lerma during the International Bridge Ceremony in Laredo, Tex. Ray Whitehouse/For The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. The young children, two American, two Mexican, walked toward one another, nearing the center of the Juarez-Lincoln International Bridge. The short stretch of road over the Rio Grande has long connected this Texas border town with its sister city, Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and about 15,000 vehicles enter the United States on it each day. But traffic came to a halt on this holiday weekend for this moment. The children, ages 7 to 9 and dressed in colonial regalia, wrapped their arms around one another. Their abrazo Spanish for embrace marked the 120th time in the cities history that the pair celebrated George Washingtons Birthday, part of a month-long party that includes parades, an air show, a debutante ball and a carnival, drawing about 400,000 people. It is a celebration of Americanness that began half a century after Laredo joined the United States following the Mexican-American War, but it is now a show of North American unity. Members of the Texas Sons of the American Revolution walk to the bridge ceremony in Laredo. (Ray Whitehouse for The Washington Post) The two cities might as well be one. They share an economy, separated by hours from the nearest metropolis on either side of the border. They share a culture, with restaurants such as Laredos El Meson de San Agustin serving chicken cordon bleu on the same menu as enchiladas Mexicanas. More than 95 percent of Laredos residents are Latino and carry out life in a fluid stream of English-Spanish bilingualism. [Memos signed by DHS secretary describe sweeping new guidelines for deportations] But the annual birthday party for the nations first president this year is set against a new backdrop created by Donald Trump, the nations 45th the prospect of a border wall and tougher immigration rules. Here in Laredo, Texas, were very unique. Were la frontera, the border area, Mayor Pete Saenz told reporters after the embrace Saturday, a tradition that began in the 1960s, when it was far easier for the residents of Nuevo Laredo to cross the river into the United States. And we want peace and we want mutual respect, and were doing everything possible to communicate that message to everyone, especially in Washington. Laredo Mayor Pete Saenz. (Ray Whitehouse for The Washington Post) Saenz hosted Trump when he visited Laredo as a candidate in July 2015, soon after Trump labeled Mexican immigrants criminals and rapists in a speech announcing his presidential bid. Many people here think Trumps rhetoric and actions including his executive orders to construct a border wall and increase the speed of deportation of undocumented immigrants are deterring Mexican customers from coming over. Sandra Bernal, 37, who works at El Meson de San Agustin, her fathers restaurant, said she is grateful her familys business remains busy; a number of neighbors in downtown Laredo, where Spanish-language music blares from storefronts hawking clothing, perfumes and other goods, are seeing decreased sales. Miguel Conchas, president of the Laredo Chamber of Commerce, thinks the business lull may be linked to Trump in other ways, too: When comments are made about the border wall or eliminating NAFTA, it affects the peso, he said, noting that when the currency weakens, fewer Mexicans want to spend their money in the United States. Thats no small matter for Laredo, a city of 250,000 where the citys retail merchants from small shops to an outlet mall overlooking the Rio Grande set to open in March draw 40 percent of their sales from Mexican shoppers, according to Conchas. And more important, with Laredo being the largest inland port along the U.S.-Mexico border and a major hub for export-import businesses Laredos five border crossings accounted for $204 billion in international trade in 2015 any changes to the North American Free Trade Agreement would have a direct effect on the city. But the potential effect is also cultural, especially for the many families that span the border and commuters on each side who traverse daily to their jobs. Mexican students who attend Laredos Texas A&M International University cross paths with businesspeople and others headed south. We all have somebody that lives on the other side that were in close contact with, said Jesse Gonzalez, president of the International Good Neighbor Council, which is responsible for the abrazo event. For some, its family, and for others, its business, and for others, its friends. Wearing an elaborate brown coat trimmed in lavish golden floral applique, an outfit no doubt far sparklier than anything George Washington actually wore, Doug Howland practiced Thursday night for his leading role in this years pageantry as one of Americas Founding Fathers. The dress rehearsal was for the Society of Martha Washington Colonial Pageant and Ball, an affair in which a handful of Laredo debutantes, the majority of them Latina, pretend to be one of Martha Washingtons colonial cohorts. They come out to society in elaborately festooned, frill- and beadwork-covered gowns complete with flowing hoop skirts; the dresses can weigh nearly 100 pounds and reportedly can cost tens of thousands of dollars. As this years 15 girls, known as Las Marthas, readied for the event, Howland, a retired businessman from the construction industry, said the community is wondering about Trumps next move. Linda Lopez Howland, portraying Martha Washington, waves Saturday during the Washingtons Birthday Parade in Laredo. (Ray Whitehouse for The Washington Post) Right now I think were all kind of waiting to see how its going to play out, said Howland, 66. I honestly think that a lot of it is rhetoric and negotiating strategies more than anything else, but it does have people worried. I can tell you that for sure. For 17-year-old debutante Andrea Martinez, who was dressed in a deep-fuchsia gown, the abrazo signifies a moment of international unity. I think its great when we do that hug, because it represents the bond of two countries coming together, she said. She found the thought that a wall could cleave her community anytime soon incredulous. The closest thing happening to our border right now is the new mall. Authorities investigate the scene where a police officer was fatally shot, and another wounded, in Whitter, Calif., on Feb. 20. (Katie Falkenberg/Los Angeles Times via Associated Press) CALIFORNIA Officer killed, another wounded while responding to accident A California police officer was killed and another wounded in a shooting Monday while they were trying to help a man who had been in a traffic accident, officials said. The two Whittier, Calif., officers had responded to a report of a traffic accident and approached the vehicle when they were shot, said Lt. John Corina of the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department. Police returned fire, wounding the suspect. His name was not released, and his condition was not immediately available. The slain officers name was not released. The wounded officer was in stable condition, said Nicole Nishida, a spokeswoman for the sheriffs office. Corina said police believe the suspect is a gang member. Investigators did not know why the suspect opened fire. The car the suspect was in was believed to have been stolen, Corina said. The Whittier Police Department has about 125 officers who police Whittier and Santa Fe Springs in southeastern Los Angeles County. Associated Press TEXAS Three tornadoes cause injuries, severe damage in San Antonio Severe storms pushed at least three tornadoes through parts of San Antonio overnight, ripping the roofs off homes and damaging dozens of other houses and apartments, causing minor injuries, authorities said Monday. A National Weather Service survey team confirmed that a tornado with winds hitting 105 mph struck a residential area about five miles north of downtown around midnight. Of the 43 homes damaged in the area, three collapsed, said San Antonio Fire Department spokesman Woody Woodward. Eight buildings in an apartment complex were severely damaged, Woodward said. Five minor injuries were reported in the area. Another tornado briefly touched down about five miles northeast of San Antonio International Airport. Associated Press The Supreme Court said that it needs to decide whether certain religious practices can be protected under the Constitution. By Anusha Soni: The Supreme Court on Monday reserved its order on the Sabarimala case on women's rights to enter the temple and referred the matter to a larger constitutional bench. The Supreme Court said that it needed to decide whether certain religious practices can be protected under the Constitution. The court added, "Lw, religion and spiritualism are different facets. God is omnipresent, ubiquitous but we need to decide broader constitutional questions." --- ENDS --- advertisement Massachusetts Protest hits Trump for anti-science rhetoric Hundreds of scientists, environmental advocates and their supporters held a rally in Boston on Sunday to protest what they view as increasing threats to science and research in the United States. The scientists, some dressed in white lab coats, called on President Trumps administration to recognize evidence of climate change and take action on various environmental issues. Geoffrey Supran, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who studies renewable energy solutions to climate change, said scientists are responding to the Trump administrations anti-science rhetoric. Were really trying to send a message today to Mr. Trump that America runs on science science is the backbone of our prosperity and progress, Supran said. The Rally to Stand Up for Science in Bostons Copley Square was held outside the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences annual meeting, one of the first major gatherings of scientists since Trump was elected in November. Protesters held signs that read Science Matters, Scientists Pursuing Truth, Saving the World and Make America Smart Again. Some of those who turned out criticized Trumps appointment of Scott Pruitt as head of the Environmental Protection Agency over the objections of environmental groups. Associated Press Illinois Weekend shootings kill 1, hurt 10 in Chicago A man was killed and at least 10 other people, including an off-duty Cook County correctional officer, were wounded in shootings across Chicago from Saturday afternoon to Sunday morning, police said. The Cook County sheriffs deputy was shot about 8:35 p.m. in the 7300 block of South Aberdeen Street, police said. He was shot in the leg and taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in good condition. The fatal attack happened shortly after 3:30 p.m. in the 4900 block of West Van Buren Street in the Austin community, police said. A 33-year-old man was sitting in a vehicle when a silver sedan pulled up and someone fired shots, striking him multiple times. He was taken in serious condition to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where he was pronounced dead a short time later, police said. He was identified as Eddie Thomas, of the 5000 block of West Adams Street, according to the Cook County medical examiners office, which said he was pronounced dead at 5:11 p.m. Saturday. Chicago Tribune Indiana Police pick top suspect in slaying of two girls A man photographed walking along a northern Indiana trail system around the time two teenage girls later found dead were dropped off by a relative is now considered the main suspect in their killings, state police said Sunday. The unidentified man previously had been considered a person authorities wanted to speak to in their investigation of the killings of Liberty German, 14, and Abigail Williams, 13. The girls bodies were found Tuesday about a quarter-mile from an abandoned railroad bridge thats part of a trail system where they had planned to go hiking during a day off school in Delphi, a community of 3,000 people about 60 miles northwest of Indianapolis. Their deaths have been ruled a double homicide, but authorities have not disclosed how the girls died. Private funerals were scheduled for Sunday. Associated Press SOMALIA Marketplace blast kills 34 in Mogadishu A car bombing at a marketplace in Somalias capital on Sunday killed 34 people, a police official said. President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo visited victims and offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those behind the blast. The explosion hit a busy marketplace in the western part of the capital, said police Capt. Mohamed Hussein. It was a horrific and barbaric attack only aimed at killing civilians, he said. A car parked near a restaurant exploded while shoppers and traders were gathered inside the market, said district commissioner Ahmed Abdulle. The explosion was the first major attack since Somalias new president was elected this month. Although no group has asserted responsibility, the attack bears the hallmarks of the Islamist extremist group al-Shabab. A few hours before the blast, al-Shabab denounced the new president as an apostate and vowed to continue fighting his government. Associated Press ECUADOR Ruling-party candidate leads presidential vote The hand-picked candidate of socialist President Rafael Correa was headed to victory in the opening round of Ecuadors presidential election Sunday, although he looked increasingly unlikely to avoid a runoff against his nearest rival. With more than 77 percent of polling stations reporting, ruling party candidate Lenin Moreno had almost 39 percent of the vote, compared with just under 29 percent for former banker Guillermo Lasso, the closest contender among seven opposition candidates. To avoid a runoff, Moreno needed to win a majority of the total vote, or get 40 percent while holding a 10-point lead. Electoral authorities decided not to announce a quick count of results and instead appealed for patience as official results came in. However, a count of statistically representative tally sheets nationwide by a respected private group had Moreno finishing on top with 38.8 percent to Lassos 28 percent with a one-point margin of error. Outside the region, much of the interest in the election focuses on what the outcome will mean for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who faces rape and sexual assault allegations in Sweden, and his ability to remain at the Ecuadoran Embassy in London, where he has been under diplomatic protection since 2012. Moreno has said he would back Assanges continued stay, while Lasso has said he would evict the Australian activist within 30 days of taking office. Associated Press 11 dead as boat capsizes off Sri Lankan coast: At least 11 people were killed and 24 were rescued after the boat they were on capsized off Sri Lankas southwestern coast, police said. The boat was among 19 that took part in a religious festival procession headed from the fishing town of Beruwala, about 40 miles south of the capital, Colombo, a police spokesman said. Fatal blast near Colombian bullring: A homemade bomb exploded near Bogotas bullring, killing a police officer and injuring as many as 31 bystanders. The bomb appeared to have been left outside a youth hostel popular with foreign backpackers. It was detonated a few hours before a scheduled bullfight, as police were congregating ahead of a protest by animal rights activists. Authorities did not give a motive for the explosion and said they had no evidence that it had anything to do with the resumption of bullfighting at the ring. Avalanche kills 7 in northern Pakistan: An avalanche in northern Pakistan killed seven people, a local government official said. Taimour Khan, an official with the disaster management department in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said eight people were injured. The wounded were extricated from a building buried by the avalanche near a tunnel in Upper Dir that connects northwest Pakistan to the northern mountain regions. 5 bodies found along highway in Mexico: Mexican authorities said the bodies of five men were dumped along a highway in the gulf coast state of Veracruz. The state prosecutors office said the victims were shot in the head. Veracruz has been a hot spot of drug gang violence in recent years. According to Mexican government statistics released this month, homicides more than doubled in the state from 2015 to 2016. From news services At his Feb. 15 meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Trump carefully shifted the emphasis for resolving the Palestinian conflict from bilateral negotiations that have failed for more than 25 years to a regional approach that could have a better chance [Trump pulls back from two-state plan, front page, Feb. 16]. Mr. Netanyahu led the opposition to the Oslo peace accords in the 1990s and remains opposed to a Palestinian state. The important element Mr. Trump introduced is that for a little bit the United States will not support the unilateral territorial expansion by Israel that feeds violence and political instability, but will promote a mutual agreement. A single state is not acceptable to either side, but a renewed, U.S.-sponsored multilateral Arab-Palestinian offer for acceptance of Israel by Arab states, including parameters for an end of conflict and of claims, might create the space for a new Israeli coalition and Palestinians to move forward. Warren Clark, Washington The writer is a former executive director of Churches for Middle East Peace. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson professed in his Senate confirmation testimony that our values are our interests when it comes to human rights. Yet one of his State Departments first acts may be to abandon that stance with the tiny but strategic Persian Gulf state of Bahrain. Concerns in Congress and the human rights community are high that the Trump team is planning to approve a multibillion-dollar sale of Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter planes to Bahrain without any conditions, reversing an Obama administration decision to demand the government take small reform steps in exchange for the jets. Im hoping the Bahrain deal is going to roll out without the restrictions, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said last month. I think it could happen soon. If approved by State, the sale would reward a Sunni monarchy that has been cracking down on its majority-Shiite population and flouting U.S. requests for restraint. Corker objected to the fact that the Obama administration attached human rights conditions to a congressional notification about the F-16 sales sent to Capitol Hill in September. Congress is given a chance to object to an arms sale before it goes through, but typically there are no conditions attached by that stage in the process. (The Washington Post) This type of conditionality would be unprecedented and counterproductive to maintaining security cooperation and ultimately addressing human rights issues, Corker told me. There are more effective ways to seek changes in partner policies. But other lawmakers view the question differently. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) wrote to President Trump last week to argue against the sale. Some people argue that our close ties with Bahrain are reason for America to avert its gaze and ignore the worsening human rights abuses, Wyden wrote. I and many others categorically reject this argument and believe instead that America is obligated to push her friends and partners to uphold basic human rights and the rule of law. Wyden wants to know if the White House or State Department leadership consulted the departments Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor about the human rights situation in Bahrain and also how the sale contributes to U.S. national security. A department spokesman declined to comment, while the White House did not respond to my query. Tom Malinowski, who served as the head of the bureau at the end of the Obama administration, said that the Bahrain case will show whether Congress will stand up for human rights if the Trump administration will not. Heres the first test for Republicans who have been saying that we are going to continue to insist on human rights around the world, he said. Is this going to be a press release or are they going to do something about it? Options for Congress are limited. In addition to Wyden, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has been outspoken about the need for reform in Bahrain. They could bring up a congressional resolution to oppose the F-16 sales, but similar efforts have not succeeded in the past. Last year, the Senate failed to advance a resolution put forward by Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) that opposed U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia over alleged human rights abuses in the war in Yemen. Without congressional action, private bilateral pressures on the Bahraini government are unlikely to work. In 2015, the Obama administration lifted a four-year ban on arms sales to Bahrain after extensive negotiations. Per their agreement, the government of Bahrain released opposition leader Ibrahim Sharif. He was rearrested on new charges only a few weeks later. This wasnt just about human rights, this was about a country going back on its word at the highest levels, one senior Obama administration official said. It was about how the United States was treated. The conditions Obama attached to the F-16 deal in September, which were never made public, were meant to be easy for the government to fulfill. They included the release of human rights activist Nabeel Rajab, who faces years in prison for tweeting and writing an op-ed in the New York Times, and allowing some organization by the regimes political opposition following the forced dissolution of the opposition al-Wefaq party. None of those actions were taken, and the Bahraini government is now in the midst of a full-scale crackdown, said Cole Bockenfeld, deputy director for policy at the Project on Middle East Democracy. If the Trump administration releases the sales now, that completely validates the Bahraini hard-liners view that they dont need to even pretend to be improving on human rights anymore, he said. As Bahrain is a major non-NATO ally and host of the U.S. Navys 5th Fleet, its stability and security are in the United States national security interest. But if the Bahrain government doesnt allow for political dissent and basic human rights, both of those goals will be undermined over the long term, along with U.S. values and interests in the region. Read more from Josh Rogins archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. Clarification: This column should have included a disclosure of donations made by author Edward Price in support of 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. In August, Price gave a total of $5,000 to the Clinton campaign and the Democratic Party. Edward Price worked at the CIA from 2006 until this month, most recently as the spokesman for the National Security Council. Nearly 15 years ago, I informed my skeptical father that I was pursuing a job with the Central Intelligence Agency. Among his many concerns was that others would never believe I had resigned from the agency when I sought my next job. Once CIA, always CIA, he said. But that didnt give me pause. This wouldnt be just my first real job, I thought then; it would be my career. That changed when I formally resigned last week. Despite working proudly for Republican and Democratic presidents, I reluctantly concluded that I cannot in good faith serve this administration as an intelligence professional. This was not a decision I made lightly. I sought out the CIA as a college student, convinced that it was the ideal place to serve my country and put an otherwise abstract international- relations degree to use. I wasnt disappointed. [Anyone home in Trumpville?] The CIA taught me new skills and exposed me to new cultures and countries. More important, it instilled in me a sense of mission and purpose. As an analyst, I became an expert in terrorist groups and traveled the world to help deter and disrupt attacks. The administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama took the CIAs input seriously. There was no greater reward than having my analysis presented to the president and seeing it shape events. Intelligence informing policy this is how the system is supposed to work. I saw that up close for the past three years at the White House, where I worked on loan from the CIA until last month. As a candidate, Donald Trumps rhetoric suggested that he intended to take a different approach. I watched in disbelief when, during the third presidential debate, Trump casually cast doubt on the high-confidence conclusion of our 17 intelligence agencies, released that month, that Russia was behind the hacking and release of election-related emails. On the campaign trail and even as president-elect, Trump routinely referred to the flawed 2002 assessment of Iraqs weapons programs as proof that the CIA couldnt be trusted even though the intelligence community had long ago held itself to account for those mistakes and Trump himself supported the invasion of Iraq. Trumps actions in office have been even more disturbing. His visit to CIA headquarters on his first full day in office, an overture designed to repair relations, was undone by his ego and bluster. Standing in front of a memorial to the CIAs fallen officers, he seemed to be addressing the cameras and reporters in the room, rather than the agency personnel in front of them, bragging about his inauguration crowd the previous day. Whether delusional or deceitful, these were not the remarks many of my colleagues and I wanted to hear from our new commander in chief. I couldnt help but reflect on the stark contrast between the bombast of the new president and the quiet dedication of a mentor a courageous, steadfast professional who is memorialized on that wall. I know others at CIA felt similarly. 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 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. The final straw came late last month, when the White House issued a directive reorganizing the National Security Council, on whose staff I served from 2014 until earlier this year. Missing from the NSCs principals committee were the CIA director and the director of national intelligence. Added to the roster: the presidents chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, who cut his teeth as a media champion of white nationalism. The public outcry led the administration to reverse course and name the CIA director an NSC principal, but the White Houses inclination was clear. It has little need for intelligence professionals who, in speaking truth to power, might challenge the America First orthodoxy that sees Russia as an ally and Australia as a punching bag. Thats why the presidents trusted White House advisers, not career professionals, reportedly have final say over what intelligence reaches his desk. [The Trump White House is already cooking the books] To be clear, my decision had nothing to do with politics, and I would have been proud to again work under a Republican administration open to intelligence analysis. I served with conviction under President George W. Bush, some of whose policies I also found troubling, and I took part in programs that the Obama administration criticized and ended. As intelligence professionals, were taught to tune out politics. The river separating CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., from Washington might as well be a political moat. But this administration has flipped that dynamic on its head: The politicians are the ones tuning out the intelligence professionals. The CIA will continue to serve important functions including undertaking covert action and sharing information with close allies and partners around the globe. If this administration is serious about building trust with the intelligence community, however, it will require more than rallies at CIA headquarters or press statements. What intelligence professionals want most is to know that the fruits of their labor sometimes at the risk of life or limb are accorded due deference in the policymaking process. Until that happens, President Trump and his team are doing another disservice to these dedicated men and women and the nation they proudly, if quietly, serve. MARYLAND ATTORNEY GENERAL Brian E. Frosh (D) got the ball rolling for bail reform with a legal opinion that challenged the constitutionality of a system in which a defendants bank account determines whether they are jailed before trial. The states highest court took the next step with a landmark change in rules that requires judges to first look at other ways to ensure a defendant appears for trial. It is now up to Gov. Larry Hogan (R) and the General Assembly to do their part by putting in place the resources needed to strengthen pretrial services throughout the state. The seven-member Court of Appeals voted unanimously this month to overhaul the bail system by requiring judges to impose the least onerous pretrial conditions for defendants who are not seen to be a danger to the community or a serious flight risk. The change in procedure, which will take effect July 1, doesnt abolish cash bail, but for the first time it requires judges to take into account a defendants ability to pay bail or post a bond. The change is rooted in the common-sense principle that decisions about who should be incarcerated as they await trial should be based on whether they pose a risk. It is modeled on the success of other jurisdictions, including the District, that have moved away from cash bail. There is growing national recognition of the inequities inherent in cash bail. Poor people, many of them minorities, are most harmed when, unable to afford even modest bail amounts for low-level offenses, they are locked up for extended periods of time. Often that leads to lost jobs and broken families even in instances in which it turns out there was no merit to the original charges. Then there is the fact that locking up people who dont pose a danger and can meet conditions that ensure they show up for trial is enormously expensive and inefficient. Consider, Court of Appeals Judge Alan Wilner told the Baltimore Sun, how St. Marys County spent $200,000 to implement a pretrial services program in 2015 and saved $400,000 in the first year. The rule change approved by the court cant be appealed, but lawmakers could pass legislation overturning it, something that unfortunately cant be ruled out given the clout the bail bond industry has traditionally wielded. Action in Annapolis is needed, but it should be devoted to ensuring that pretrial service programs, including use of evidence-based assessment tools, are implemented and funded throughout the state. We urge the governor and legislature to follow the lead of the Court of Appeals and make the additional changes needed to bring real fairness to the justice system. Giovani Carson (L), his mother Jackie (C) and sister Genevieve (R) demonstrate outside the First Unitarian Church on Feb. 18 in Denver, where Jeanette Vizguerra, an undocumented Mexican mother of three US born children received sanctuary. (Jason Connolly/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE via Getty Images) Regarding the Feb. 16 editorial Sweeping up immigrants, sowing anxiety: The deportation of a broad range of immigrants, not just convicted criminals, will include victims of crime and vulnerable women and girls who are entitled to legal relief. The recent arrest and detention of a domestic violence survivor in Texas as she was attending a court hearing is just one example of the consequences of this dangerous order. Immigrant victims will be discouraged from reporting crimes or agreeing to be witnesses for fear of deportation. When crimes go unreported and people are afraid to work with local law enforcement to solve them, we are all less safe. Everyone deserves the right to dial 911 when in danger. Fomenting terror among millions of immigrants is not just unconscionable, but it also undermines the stability of all our communities and the safety of every woman, man and child. Layli Miller-Muro, Washington The writer is chief executive officer of the Tahirih Justice Center. The Feb. 15 editorial Charter schools chance to break through in Virginia promoted legislation in the Virginia General Assembly that would ease restrictions on the authorization and operation of charter schools. The editorial asserted that charter schools have been shown to be effective at improving student performance and offering parents a critical choice in areas that are struggling to adequately educate school populations with high rates of minority or disadvantaged students, and yet it offered no evidence to support such a claim. The reality is that the notion that charter schools promote educational equity is, at best, highly contested. While some research suggests that students in low-income and high-minority-population areas are benefiting from charter school attendance, the findings are by no means conclusive, particularly when one examines the longitudinal data. Other research has shed light on how charter schools may be reinforcing school segregation patterns or creating groups of winners and losers within communities. The reality is far messier than the oversimplified version the editorial board presented. The Post has a long history of holding public officials accountable. It should hold itself to the same high standards. In the era of alternative facts, our childrens futures are depending on it. Michael Massey, Charlottesville, Va. By Press Trust of India: Patna, Feb 18 (PTI) Controversial RJD leader Mohammad Shahabuddin reached here today enroute to Delhi where he would be lodged in Tihar jail in accordance with the direction of the Supreme Court. "In obedience to Apex Court direction, Shahabuddin has been brought to Patna this morning. He has been kept in Beur central jail from where he would be taken to Delhis Tihar jail," Inspector General (Prisons) Anand Kishore told PTI. In reply to a query as whether Shahabuddin would be taken to Delhi by flight or Rajdhani express train, Kishore refused to divulge anything on the issue saying that "We are keeping it (the transit plan of Shahabuddin) a secret as we did while bringing him to Patna from Siwan." advertisement "Even in Siwan, nobody knew except Siwan DM, SP, IG (STF) and other two-three officials about Shahabuddin being taken to Patna...We are keeping it secret due to various reasons including operational difficulties and other problems," IG (Prisons) said. The Apex court had on February 15 last directed the Bihar government to transfer Shahabuddin to Tihar jail within a week to ensure free and fair trial in the cases lodged against him through video conferencing. The order came on the pleas by Siwan-based Chandrakeshwar Prasad, whose three sons were killed in separate incidents, and Asha Ranjan, wife of scribe Rajdeo Ranjan who was murdered in Siwan, seeking shifting of Shahabuddin, a four time MP and twice an MLA, from Siwan jail. PTI AR SNS PR PR SNP --- ENDS --- A protester is arrested during a demonstration in New Haven, Conn., on Feb. 10. The protesters are in favor of changing the name of Yale University's Calhoun College. (Peter Hvizdak/New Haven Register via Associated Press) YALE UNIVERSITY has chosen to rename Calhoun College, an undergraduate residence named for John C. Calhoun and its doing so with grace. The school will replace the South Carolinian slavery supporters name with that of Grace Murray Hopper, nicknamed Amazing Grace, an alumna famous for her work in computer science as a rear admiral in the U.S. Navy. Last spring, Yale said removing Calhouns name would obscure the legacy of slavery rather than addressing it. The recent change of course relies on principles a university-commissioned committee articulated in November, instructing Yale to evaluate whether a figures principal legacy is at odds with the schools mission; whether that legacy was controversial when the individual lived or when Yale chose to honor him; and whether the building plays a substantial role in forming community at the university. When it comes to Calhoun, the answer seems clear. Calhoun was more than a product of his time; he was an active proponent of slavery when many condemned it and he is remembered for, above anything else, his staunch opposition to abolition. Naming the residential college after him, Yale has uncovered, was a controversial choice in 1932. And students who live in Calhoun College today are encouraged to celebrate their community by invoking Calhouns name chanting it on the intramural field, wearing apparel emblazoned with it or calling themselves Hounies. The active celebration is different from keeping a name carved into the stone of a building, or even retaining a statue. More important than the individual decision, though, are the broader principles Yale employed to reach it. By focusing on understanding how a figure fits into his era, our own and the years in between, these principles rely on a respect for history rather than a compulsion to erase it. Future petitions for name changes, Yale says, will rest on arguments grounded in archival research. And in the case of Calhoun, Yale has chosen to contextualize symbols of the colleges former namesake where they still appear adding, for example, plaques that explain his place in the countrys past and in Yales rather than remove them. Hopper, a pioneering woman in the sciences, is also a fine pick to take Calhouns place. One question the choice raised was whether Yale could have advanced the contextualization it has pledged to undertake by honoring an African American alumnus as the new face of Calhoun; Hopper was white. Thats a thought to keep in mind as Yale names new buildings on a campus that celebrates diversity in its mission and strives to cultivate it in the classroom. Hopper College will add to an ongoing story, leaving plenty of room for future chapters. From left, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn; Michael Cohen, executive vice president of the Trump Organization; and former Texas governor Rick Perry talk at Trump Tower on Dec. 12 in New York. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images) President Trumps personal lawyer and a former business associate met privately in New York City last month with a member of the Ukrainian parliament to discuss a peace plan for that country that could give Russia long-term control over territory it seized in 2014 and lead to the lifting of sanctions against Moscow. The meeting with Andrii V. Artemenko, the Ukrainian politician, involved Michael Cohen, a Trump Organization lawyer since 2007, and Felix Sater, a former business partner who worked on real estate projects with Trumps company. The occurrence of the meeting, first reported Sunday by the New York Times, suggests that some in the region aligned with Russia have been seeking to use Trump business associates as an informal conduit to a new president who has signaled a desire to forge warmer relations with Russia. The discussion took place amid increasingly intense scrutiny of the ties between Trumps team and Russia, as well as escalating investigations on Capitol Hill of the determination by U.S. intelligence agencies that the Kremlin intervened in last years election to help Trump. The Times reported that Cohen said he left the proposal in a sealed envelope in the office of then-national security adviser Michael T. Flynn while visiting Trump in the White House. The meeting took place days before Flynns resignation last week following a report in The Washington Post that he had misled Vice President Pence about his discussions in December of election-related sanctions with the Russian ambassador to the United States. Cohen, speaking with The Post on Sunday, acknowledged that the meeting took place and that he had left with the peace proposal in hand. But Cohen said he did not take the envelope to the White House and did not discuss it with anyone. He called suggestions to the contrary fake news. I acknowledge that the brief meeting took place, but emphatically deny discussing this topic or delivering any documents to the White House and/or General Flynn, Cohen said. He said he told the Ukrainian official that he could send the proposal to Flynn by writing him at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. [Read more here on the relationship between Donald Trump and Felix Sater] The Times stood by its story Sunday. Mr. Cohen told The Times in no uncertain terms that he delivered the Ukraine proposal to Michael Flynns office at the White House. Mr. Sater told the Times that Mr. Cohen had told him the same thing, Matt Purdy, a deputy managing editor, said in a statement to The Post. The Times reported that the proposal discussed at last months meeting included a plan to require the withdrawal of Russian forces from Eastern Ukraine. Then Ukrainian voters would decide in a referendum whether Crimea, the territory Russia seized in 2014, would be leased to Russia for a 50-year or a 100-year term. Artemenko said Russian leaders supported his proposal, the Times reported. In Ukraine, Artemenko belongs to a bloc that opposes the nations current president, Petro O. Poroshenko. It is a group whose efforts were previously aided by Paul Manafort, Trumps former campaign manager, who had advised Ukraines previous pro-Vladimir Putin president until his ouster amid public protests in 2014 a development that sparked the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Manafort told The Post that he had no role in Artemenkos initiative. (Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post) The back-channel discussions could disrupt delicate diplomacy between the new Trump administration and Poroshenko. Artemenko told the Times he hopes evidence of corruption by Poroshenko could be used to effect his ouster, a necessary first step to pushing his peace proposal. Cohen said the meeting between the Ukrainian politician, Cohen and Sater lasted less than 15 minutes and took place at a New York hotel. He said he received the proposal and took it with him from the hotel meeting out of politeness but never relayed its contents to anyone in the administration. He said he attended the meeting as a courtesy to Sater, a former business colleague. Cohen has been in the public spotlight since his name was mentioned in a dossier prepared by a former British spy hired by Trumps political opponents suggesting he had once served as a liaison between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign, an allegation he has emphatically denied. Cohen said no federal investigators have contacted him about the dossier, which was widely distributed to Washington journalists and published by BuzzFeed, and he called the ongoing suggestion of federal interest in the case infuriating. It has to stop, he said. Cohen had worked for a decade for the Trump Organization, where he earned a reputation as a trusted and aggressive defender of the celebrity mogul. He left the company in January to assume a more amorphous role as Trumps personal counsel. The role holds no public policy portfolio. Sater pleaded guilty in 1998 to participating in a Mafia-related stock fraud. His sentencing was delayed while he secretly cooperated with the government on criminal and national security investigations. Law enforcement officials have praised him for his participation. Working out of an office just below Trumps in Trump Tower with a development company called Bayrock Group, Sater had worked on several licensed Trump projects, including the Trump SoHo in New York. He also worked on proposals to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, a decade ago and again in 2015. He has said he met with Trumps children Ivanka and Donald Jr. in the foreign capital in 2006 at Trumps request. In 2010, Trump allowed Sater to use a business card identifying himself as a senior adviser to the Trump Organization while he prospected deals. Still, when Saters criminal past, which had long been sealed because of his government cooperation, emerged, Trump claimed to barely know the Russian immigrant. In sworn testimony in 2013 in litigation related to a failed project with which Sater had been involved, Trump said he would not recognize Sater if they were in the same room. Sater confirmed that the meeting at the New York hotel took place at his request after he heard about the peace plan from Artemenko. I got excited about trying to stop a war, he said. I thought if this could improve conditions in three countries, good, so be it. Sater said he held the recent meeting out of honorable intent only. He said he had no business deals in Ukraine and without thought of any business deal or inappropriate relationship with a foreign power. I was not practicing diplomacy and I was not having clandestine meetings, Sater said. He said he called Cohen because his Ukrainian lawmaker acquaintance was emphatic that he wants the war to end. He said the conversations with Cohen and Artemenko were not a back channel to the Kremlin or anything like that. Sater said he thought Cohen intended to give the document to Flynn but was unable to do so because Flynn was embroiled in a crisis over his own job and resigned days later. He had other things on his mind, Sater said. Many of President Trumps most dedicated supporters the sort who waited for hours in the Florida sun this weekend for his first post-inauguration campaign rally say their lives changed on election night. Suddenly they felt like their views were actually respected and in the majority. But less than one month into Trumps term, many of his supporters say they once again feel under attack perhaps even more so than before. Those who journeyed to Trumps Saturday evening event on Floridas Space Coast said that since the election, they have unfriended some of their liberal relatives or friends on Facebook. They dont understand why major media outlets dont see the same successful administration they have been cheering on. And theyre increasingly frustrated that Democrats and some Republicans are too slow to approve some of the presidents nominees and too quick to protest his every utterance. Theyre stonewalling everything that hes doing because theyre just being babies about it, said Patricia Melani, 56, a Jersey native who now lives here and attended her third Trump rally Saturday. All the loudmouths? They need to let it go. Let it go. Shut their mouths and let the man do what hes got to do. We all shut our mouths when Obama got in the second time around, okay? So thats what really needs to be done. She blames the media for circulating fake stories about the president like when she believed he was very cool, wasnt yelling at a Thursday news conference, yet a CNN anchor described his behavior as unhinged. 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 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. Theres such hatred for the man, she said. I just dont get it. It was a common sentiment at the rally in an airplane hangar here, flanked by Air Force One and attended by about 9,000 people. There were chants of CNN sucks! and Tell the truth! A pre-rally speaker gleefully announced that the president had given the media a spanking. [Priebus said Trump meant it when he called the press the enemy of the American people!] Rally attendees panned coverage of the chaos within his administration, the cost of security for his family and the presidents now-halted executive order that briefly banned refugees and residents of seven Muslim-majority countries. Many acknowledged that the presidents first month could have been smoother, especially with the rollout of the travel ban, but they said the media has overblown those hiccups and theyre glad to see the president fight back and label the media on Twitter Friday as the enemy of the American People! It was hilarious to see him give it to the media, said Tony Lopez, 28, a car dealer who drove to the rally from Orlando. The medias problem is that they keep wanting to make up stories so that he looks bad. It doesnt work. Hes talking right through you guys. Several people said they would have liked to see more coverage of a measure that Trump signed Thursday that rolled back a last-minute Obama regulation that would have restricted coal mines from dumping debris in nearby streams. At the signing, Trump was joined by coal miners in hard hats. If he hadnt gotten into office, 70,000 miners would have been put out of work, Patricia Nana, a 42-year-old naturalized citizen from Cameroon. I saw the ceremony where he signed that bill, giving them their jobs back, and he had miners with their hard hats and everything you could see how happy they were. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post) The regulation actually would have cost relatively few mining jobs and would have created nearly as many new jobs on the regulatory side, according to a government report an example of the frequent distance between Trumps rhetoric, which many of his supporters wholeheartedly believe, and verifiable facts. [Fact Checker: Trump made 13 dubious claims during his Florida rally] Melani, for example, gets most of her news from talk radio I listen to Herman Cain on my way into work, I have Sean [Hannity] on my way home, she said and Fox News. She and her husband were well-versed on hold-ups with the presidents Cabinet nominees and legal arguments for the now-frozen travel ban. But they didnt know much about the resignation of Trumps national security adviser Michael Flynn on Monday amid accusations that he improperly discussed U.S. sanctions with the Russian ambassador and then withheld that information from Vice President Pence and other top officials. See, dont question me on that because I havent really been watching and listening too much on it, Melani said. I think he kind of did it just to step away, a trust kind of a thing. And now, of course, they want to pull a big investigation and all of this stuff. And to be honest with you, I really think its only because of the way the haters are out there. Thats what I really think it is. The division that has consumed the country was on display outside Trumps rally. On one side of the street: Thousands of his supporters wearing campaign gear and vendors selling anti-Hillary Clinton merchandise and T-shirts showing a map of the 2016 election by county, with most of the country colored Trump-red and the legend: We the Deplorable. On the other side of the street: Hundreds of protesters gathered in a free speech zone behind orange mesh fencing. Several wore pink knit hats, and some carried signs that focused on Trumps alleged connections to Russia: Impeach that puppet and I can see Russia. Robert Welsh, a 63-year-old vice mayor from South Miami, carried a speaker blasting the Beatles song Back in the U.S.S.R and a sign that portrayed Russian President Vladimir Putin thanking Trump for his service. Insults hurled back and forth across the street, as did accusations that the other side was fabricating information. Both sides accused the other of being hateful and of being paid to be there, which both sides denied. [Life is a campaign: After a difficult first month, Trump returns to his comfort zone] On the protest side was Rosemary Menneto a 53-year-old from Satellite Beach who said several of her friends skipped the rally for fear there might be violence. Theres so much anger and hate and foulness, she said, and hes encouraging it. On the supporter side was Tammy Mussler a 48-year-old whose family runs a local mobile home and RV park and who said one of her guests was hesitant to tell others he was coming to the rally. He goes: Well, Im nervous because people are so nasty about it that youre afraid to admit that youre doing something, Mussler said. Mussler said the women in her family are especially divided right now. She supports Trump, while they do not. Shes opposed to abortion rights, while they support them. They attended the Womens March, while she found it not at all representative of her way of life. Can this nation ever be united? I hope so, Mussler said with a shake of her head. I dont know. I dont know. It would be nice, and I think if I dont know, I dont know. I think the only thing thats going to reunite us is maybe the Lord coming back. Les Neuhaus in Melbourne, Fla., contributed to this report. President Trump on Monday named Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster as his new national security adviser, replacing the ousted Michael Flynn a move meant to help put the White House on firmer footing after missteps on multiple fronts. Trump called McMaster a man of tremendous talent and tremendous experience while briefly introducing him to reporters at the presidents Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida before returning to Washington. In tapping McMaster, Trump turned to a widely respected and fiercely outspoken military strategist who was recognized for his battlefield leadership during both the Persian Gulf War and the Iraq War. But unlike many officers, McMaster has spent virtually no time at the Pentagon or in Washington, which could prove a challenge in his new role. Retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, who has been serving as acting national security adviser, will return to his role as the National Security Council chief of staff. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post) I think that combination is something very, very special, Trump said, later adding: What a team. This is a great team. Both men were among several candidates whom White House aides said Trump had planned to interview over the weekend to replace Flynn, a retired general and an early and vociferous Trump political supporter. Flynn was asked to resign last week amid allegations that he discussed U.S. sanctions with a Russian official before Trump took office and then misrepresented the content of that conversation to Vice President Pence and other administration officials. Trumps first choice of a replacement retired Navy Vice Adm. Robert Harward turned him down, compounding the embarrassment surrounding the episode. [Trump notes new national security list in play after first choice turns down offer] Trumps bid to move forward with a replacement comes as his fledgling administration is seeking a reset on several fronts. The president has pledged to issue a new executive order this week replacing his court-frozen directive on immigration, which has come to symbolize his struggle to translate ambitious campaign promises into policy. The national security adviser, part of the senior White House staff, serves as the chief in-house counselor to the president on national security issues and has traditionally sought to play the role of a broker among agencies. The position does not require Senate confirmation. McMaster will assume the position at a time of widespread security challenges, including Russias alleged meddling in last years election and North Koreas ballistic missile test this month. McMaster is widely known as smart, intense and fiercely outspoken, qualities that have won him wide praise among his fellow officers and have sometimes grated on his superiors. A White House official said McMaster will not retire from the military but remain a three-star general, as Colin Powell did as Ronald Reagans national security adviser. Peter Feaver, a scholar on civil-military ties at Duke University, said he expected McMaster to take a skeptical view of Russia, seeing Moscow as a dubious partner and major potential threat to U.S. security. And Feaver said he expects a similar skepticism toward Iran, whose support for proxy groups across the Middle East many senior military officials say has gone unchecked, despite President Barack Obamas nuclear deal with Tehran. McMaster also brings a deep personal understanding of what it means to go to war, and be at war for a very long time, said David Barno, a retired lieutenant general who knows him well. Barno suggested that McMaster would distinguish himself at the White House in coordinating rather than dictating policy. I dont see H.R. as director of an orchestra; I see him as someone who is getting all the instruments to play together, he said. From his earliest moments as an officer, McMaster stood out among his peers. He earned a Silver Star for valor in the 1991 Gulf War when his armor company destroyed a much larger Iraqi formation in one of the opening battles. The Armys official history of the conflict opened with a vivid description of his tank crew in action that day. McMaster earned a doctorate in history from the University of North Carolina and turned his thesis into a widely acclaimed book on Vietnam, Dereliction of Duty. Relying on declassified documents, McMaster argued that the generals in Vietnam had caved in to political pressure and supported a war strategy they knew could not prevail. In the Iraq War, McMaster commanded a 3,500-soldier brigade in the northern city of Tal Afar, which was being torn apart in 2005 by Iraqs civil war. He largely jettisoned the Bush administrations official strategy at the time of pulling back from cities and training Iraqi forces to take over the fight so U.S. troops could go home. McMaster pushed his troops deep into Tal Afar, establishing 29 small American-manned command outposts. Instead of focusing on training the Iraqis, McMaster and his troops worked to stop the killing in the city and replace the local mayor and security forces. Its unclear to me how a higher degree of passivity would advance our mission, he said at the time in response to criticism. Eventually his strategy, dubbed clear, hold and build, became a model for the broader campaign, led by Gen. David H. Petraeus, to stabilize Iraq in 2007 and 2008. McMasters passion, intensity and high tolerance for risk sometimes put him at odds with his superiors. He was twice passed over for promotion to general before finally earning one-star rank. The panel that promoted him was led by Petraeus, one of his staunchest backers in the Army. In recent years McMaster oversaw an anti-corruption task force in Afghanistan for Petraeus that produced mixed results. Of late, he has focused on Army doctrine and modernization, relative backwaters within the service. Trump also told reporters Monday that John Bolton, a former United Nations ambassador who had been considered for the national security adviser position, would be asked to work with us in a somewhat different capacity. We had some really good meetings with him, Trump said. Knows a lot. In brief remarks, McMaster said it would be a privilege to continue to serve the nation. I look forward to joining the national security team and doing everything that I can to advance and protect the interests of the American people, he said. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump gave full authority for McMaster to hire whatever staff he sees fit. As he introduced McMaster and Kellogg, Trump and his two appointees sat on a couch at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla. The room was decorated with two massive chandeliers and dozens of roses in a large arrangement. As the men spoke, classical music played. The event lasted roughly three minutes. In response to a shouted question from a reporter about whether Pence played a role in the picks, Trump replied: He did. During a visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels on Monday, Pence made his first public comments about Flynns ouster as national security adviser, saying he fully supported the move. [Pence remains above the fray, but is he outside the inner circle?] The vice president learned from a report in The Washington Post that Flynn had been captured on tape speaking to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak about sanctions before Trump took office. The conversation happened the day the Obama administration announced measures against Russia to retaliate for what U.S. intelligence services say was the Kremlins effort to influence Novembers presidential election. Flynn told Pence that he had not spoken about sanctions with Kislyak, an assertion that Pence later repeated on television. Trumps pick of McMaster drew praise Monday from several members of Congress, including Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who has not been shy about questioning other recent Trump moves. McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called McMaster an outstanding choice. I could not imagine a better, more capable national security team than the one we have right now, he said. Jenna Johnson in Palm Beach, Fla., and Michael Birnbaum and Ashley Parker in Brussels contributed to this report. Make America Great Again hats are stocked at a Republican event at the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 15. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post) A Veterans Affairs employee is confused about whether he can display a bobblehead doll of President Trump on his desk. A Federal Aviation Administration staffer wonders whether parking a car with a blue Bernie bumper sticker is allowed in the agency lot. Another federal worker is demanding that a colleague who called Trump a 70-year-old blond playboy in the office be disciplined for misconduct. These are just some of the pointed questions federal employees are asking in the era of Trump, when just about everything seems politicized and civil servants on both sides of the partisan divide want to know just how far they can take their opinions both for and against the president in what is not just any ordinary workplace, but the presidents own back yard. [Resistance from within: Federal workers push back against Trump] Federal offices are supposed to be politically neutral places, removed from partisanship because the government serves the public. But a month into the new administration, civil servants are more politicized than ever. And theyre seeking guidance in record numbers about what they can and cannot do to express themselves without risking their jobs. At agencies from the Army to the Environmental Protection Agency, office politics are becoming heated referendums on the new administration, spilling into meetings, hallways, email exchanges and social media. Their questions are flooding the phone lines and email inbox of the Office of Special Counsel, an obscure, independent federal agency that acts as a watchdog for civil service protections and monitors political activity in the federal workforce. Our inbox has exploded, said Ana Galindo-Marrone, an attorney at the office whos in charge of monitoring compliance with the Hatch Act, the 1939 law that prohibits civil servants from directly supporting candidates or political parties. Galindo-Marrone says shes receiving as many as two dozen queries a day from employees and their managers about what they can say, email and tweet about the new president both for and against Trump and his policies. People are still very emotional about the results of the election, she said in an interview. They want to know whats permissible. Im hearing from rank-and-file employees asking whether they can wear a Make America Great Again hat at the office. Some managers have told their employees wrongly that a hat bearing Trumps campaign logo is not allowed, she said. Heres how the law works: Civil servants are free to opine on the president, his travel ban and other policies. What they cant do is engage in political activity that works for or against a candidate or a party. Every single day, people are talking about it, said a California-based scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. People are wondering, Can we talk to people? What can we say to the public? Theres so much more political activity in government now. The conversation at NOAA has ranged from whether the staff can send emails about the March for Science planned for April from their government accounts to how they should discuss climate change with members of the public they encounter on the job. The consensus for now, the scientist said: Dont say you think the administration has lost its way with its skepticism of global warming. Say instead, The science is telling us this. With hiring frozen and the bureaucracy already in Republicans crosshairs for being too big, some employees worry about the consequences of overstepping the line. Not all are asking whether they can criticize Trump, though. At many agencies, they want to express support. People are so polarized right now on both sides, said Brandon Coleman, an addiction therapist at the VA Medical Center in Phoenix who voted for Trump. Coleman said the Department of Veterans Affairs is split down the middle politically right now, with employees either absolutely ecstatic about Trump or crushed by Hillary Clintons defeat. A Clinton doll in the shape of a nutcracker with an American flag backdrop sits prominently on Colemans desk with the logo, Is America Ready for This Nutcracker? He plans to keep it there. If we just talked more about our views on political issues, I think it would help, Coleman said. The culture here is people are afraid to say their views. But thats exactly what we should be doing. The special counsels office is used to reminding government employees in the heat of election season that they should not politick at work. But for the first time she can remember, Galindo-Marrones staff is responding to numerous questions from employees at the start of an administration. Back in 2009 and 2010 when Barack Obama was president, Hatch Act experts got a flurry of questions from employees who wanted to opine on the Affordable Care Act and the tea party. But interest in political expression is much higher now, officials said. A few high-profile cases have gone public, including that of a Secret Service agent in Denver under investigation for posting numerous anti-Trump comments on Facebook, the most explosive that she would rather go to jail than risk her life for Trump. Scientists want to know whether theyll be fired for protesting the new administrations climate-change policies when they march on the Mall in Washington and in cities across the country on Earth Day. The answer: They wont, as long as they protest on their own time. The Navy is also investigating an apparent misstep by a SEAL unit that was seen flying a blue Trump flag from a military convoy of Humvees around Louisville on Jan. 31. The flag was not authorized under a military policy that prohibits active-duty service members from declaring political preferences on duty. At many agencies, employees are confused about what is appropriate behavior and whether, almost four years from the next presidential election, this is campaign season or not. Trump inadvertently set off a wave of anxiety on Inauguration Day when he filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to declare his candidacy for reelection in 2020. Officially this means that he is running for office again, in theory a warning to employees to hold their tongues. But the special counsels office weighed in early this month with a ruling that the president, for purposes of the Hatch Act, will not be considered a candidate for office until he publicly declares that he is running for a second term. When that happens likely sometime in 2019 the rules will be stricter. Employees wont be able to engage in communications that are directed at the success or failure of his candidacy, the guidance said. For now, government employees are free to express opinions at work about government policies and current events, the special counsels office said. They can, for example, express support or opposition in the workplace to a Trump policy. But they cant say Trump should either win reelection or be defeated in 2020. Federal workers can donate to a political campaign (on their own time), but they cant solicit money or bundle campaign contributions for a candidate. They can tweet or post about politics or policy on the clock as long as Trump is not a candidate and the comments are not made in their official capacity representing the government. A violation of the law can result in a warning letter or disciplinary action from the Office of Special Counsel. Hatch Act experts and others say that in many cases, overzealous civilian bosses are being too restrictive. They can always bring things up at work in a water-cooler-type situation, said John OGrady, a career EPA employee who heads a national council of EPA unions based in Chicago, where about 100 employees marched at lunch hour this month to protest the Senates confirmation of Scott Pruitt to head the agency. OGrady says his colleagues are being overly cautious about sharing information. He frequently emails news stories on critiques of the EPA and pledges from the Trump team to abolish the agency but says some employees resist sharing them on government servers. Im like, Wait a minute, thats a news story, thats not a Hatch Act violation. Nor does the Hatch Act prevent civil servants from signing a petition while on the government clock calling on the White House to remove a presidential adviser such as Stephen K. Bannon, a question posted to the special counsels office by an employee in the Transportation Department. Today employees are allowed to put a Make America Great Again logo at the top of their government email address (another question that landed in Galindo-Marrones inbox). But once Trump is officially deemed a candidate for reelection, they would be advised to remove the logo, because it would be seen as endorsing Trump for a second term. So those eager to show their love for Trump with a bobblehead or a Make America Great Again hat? Who want to keep promoting Bernie Sanders on a bumper sticker? Go ahead, thats all okay, say officials. The biggest consequences, for now, might be a heated debate at the office. Read more at PowerPost A severe food shortage has deteriorated into a famine in two counties in South Sudan, the government and United Nations announced Monday, with 100,000 people facing starvation. Joyce Luma, head of the World Food Program in South Sudan, called the famine man-made, blaming it on political turmoil in a country engulfed in civil war since late 2013. Luma and representatives of two other U.N. agencies UNICEF and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) issued the famine declaration at a news conference in Juba, South Sudans capital, along with Isaiah Chol Aruai, the head of the countrys National Bureau of Statistics. A formal declaration of famine indicates that people are dying of hunger. Our worst fears have been realized. Many families have exhausted every means they have to survive, said Serge Tissot, representative of the FAO in South Sudan. The agencies painted a grim picture of the situation in the impoverished country, saying that 100,000 people are at risk of starvation and that 1 million more are on the brink of famine. About 5.5 million people, or about half of South Sudans population, will face severe food shortages by the summer unless more relief is provided, they said. South Sudan, which became independent from Sudan in 2011 with strong support from the U.S. government and the international community, descended into conflict in December 2013, when President Salva Kiir fired his vice president, Riek Machar. The ensuing war took on ethnic overtones, with Kiirs Dinka group battling members of Machars Nuer group. Tens of thousands of people have died, and more than 1.5 million have fled the country. The U.N. officials said that war had disrupted agriculture, the main occupation in many parts of the country, crippling the economy and leaving people unable to feed themselves. People are relying on whatever plants they can find and fish they can catch, Tissot said. The two counties affected by famine are in Unity, an important oil-producing state in the north. The U.N. agencies said that more humanitarian aid is needed to prevent the famine from spreading to other areas. If sustained and adequate assistance is delivered urgently, the hunger situation can be improved in the coming months and further suffering mitigated, the agencies said in a report. U.N. officials have complained that both government and opposition forces have blocked humanitarian convoys and attacked aid workers, making it difficult to bring assistance to the worst-affected areas. Jeremy Hopkins, head of UNICEF in South Sudan, said that more than 250,000 children are severely malnourished and that if they do not receive food immediately, many of them will die. The officials said the hunger crisis is the worst since fighting started three years ago. South Sudan has experienced starvation before. In 1998, a famine occurred in the region of Bahr El Ghazal after a prolonged drought and fighting between forces supporting Sudans government and rebels seeking independence for the south. The United Nations has been alarmed by the recent deterioration in South Sudan. In December, U.N. officials warned that ethnic cleansing was taking place and that an all-out ethnic civil war could occur. Last week, Arif Husain, the World Food Programs chief economist, told Reuters that 20 million people could die of starvation over the next six months in famines in northeastern Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen. Read more South Sudanese civilians fear the U.N. cant protect them from a massacre They survived Boko Haram, now millions in Nigeria face a new threat: starvation South Sudan thought it solved its child soldier problem. It hasnt. Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news Shahid Kapoor speaks to India Today exclusively about his experience shooting for Rangoon and working with Kangana Ranaut among others. By Suhani Singh: In an exclusive interview with India Today, Shahid Kapoor talks about his experience working with Vishal Bhardwaj for the third time in Rangoon, about his equation with Kangana Ranaut and Padmavati, his film with Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Ranbir has Ayan Mukerji. Ranveer has Sanjay Leela Bhansali. You have Vishal Bhardwaj. You have a fruitful partnership brewing with him. Tell us about it. advertisement I don't see him as a partner because he is way too established. I look at him more as a mentor. I wouldn't put myself in the same category as him. I am privileged to be working with him and under him. Even with Mr Bhansali, I look at it as an opportunity where I am getting to work with somebody I have craved to work with, somebody I can learn from and who I look up to. Vishal sir and Bhansali sir fall in that category of people. I always feel fortunate that Vishal sir has considered me for a part. Having said that I think people like seeing our combination. This is our third venture together and we definitely have had a longstanding relationship. So would it be difficult to say 'No' to him then? Yes. It is impossible. Almost. And that's scary no? Thinking of saying 'No' to him is a lot of pressure. I hope that circumstance doesn't arise. Was third time a charm with Vishal? Rangoon was not an easy film to do. I am used to having Vishal sir all to myself. For me to share him with other people was difficult. I'm being very honest. I used to feel very ignored sometimes and tell him that you are not interested in me. I am just a bystander. I do feel that he took me for granted. I can only speak from a personal space. I can't give you a pragmatic point of view. As much I try and be professional about him, I'm possessive of him and emotional about him. That's how it is. In Rangoon he had a lot of things he had to focus on. I tried to be there and take care of myself which I didn't enjoy much but then I didn't have a choice. The larger journey in Rangoon was learning to adapt to working with him in this fashion. There was nothing very challenging about working with any of my co-stars. I had fun. advertisement So the rumours of you not getting along with Kangana Ranaut? I found it very strange. Throughout the shooting nobody said anything. We finished shooting in May. If there was something that transpired, then it would have leaked at that time. It is all coming closer to the film's release so it doesn't feel real. It was a set of 200 people after all. It is not going to stay in? How was she as a co-star? She draws a very different reaction out of you as an actor which is great thing. She is a different actor; her beats, rhythms and interpretations are different. It is very nice. In a film like this which is driven by relationship dynamics, every actor is pretty much feeding off each other. I found it very fascinating to work with her. She is a huge part of the film and she has done a really good job. Tell us about Nawab Malik, your character in Rangoon. Coming from playing an obnoxious druggie rockstar (in Udta Punjab) who doesn't say or do anything right and is just all about himself, Nawab Malik is his opposite. He is a soldier, a patriot, very proper, very strong and he works with a purpose and that purpose is selfless. There is a huge romantic angle but he is always a soldier first. advertisement Rangoon essentially is a love story against the backdrop of World War II and the Indian freedom struggle. It is a relationship-driven film but then Vishal sir will never just make a love story. There will always be layers and many subplots. You have two releases this year - Rangoon and Padmavati. Both are period dramas, with romance as a key element and also share the backdrop of war. The three things that you said are so true, and yet the films are diametrically opposite to each other. That just goes to show that cinema as an art form can provide so many different palettes. The two filmmakers that we are talking about are so strong in their personas, their worlds and theor interpretations. They create an atmosphere, an ecosystem and an audio-visual experience which is very unique. Now that you have a first look of Rangoon and seen the world and my silhouette, when you will see Padmavati I feel like Rawal Ratan Singh and Nawab Malik (Rangoon) are so different. advertisement How has it been working with the two? It is very challenging. You need to really up your game. Neither provides you parts which are a breeze to do. They don't give you characters where one can just express and be yourself. It is intense, layered, deep, exciting, challenging and a new space. With the grandeur and big budget, Rangoon also looks very unlike a Vishal Bhardwaj film. It is a very different zone for Vishal sir. It is definitely something that he has not attempted before. Before we started the film, he always said that this one is going to be different from what we have done in the past. It is much bigger. I remember Sajid Nadiadwala, the producer and a dear friend, told Vishal sir that "This is your most commercial film". By that he essentially means that this is your most accessible film. Haider, for all its appreciation, had an audience which couldn't go beyond a certain bandwidth. It maxed out and may be gained a few more. Rangoon is not that film. It is a more relatable film and has a universal subject. Having said that it will be told in a manner that is uniquely Vishal sir's. His style, interpretation of people and human behaviour, his music, his language, the way he shoots his films... it's never going to be bright and glossy and all beautiful and yet it will have a texture. And this time it is not all dark. (The writer tweets as @suhani84 .) SEE PICS: Guess who graced Shahid Kapoor's party? Sara Ali Khan with mentor Karan Johar SEE PICS: Mira invites Shahid's ex-flame Sonakshi for his party ALSO READ: Now Kangana Ranaut compares Shahid Kapoor to Hrithik Roshan WATCH: Rangoon to Tubelight to Jagga Jasoos, what to look forward to in 2017? --- ENDS --- Vice President Pence assured nervous European leaders on Monday that the Trump administration is committed to cooperation and partnership with the European Union, as he sought to quiet fears that the White House wants to break up the 28-nation bloc. Pences reassurance was a striking departure from some of President Trumps comments over the past year in which he painted the European Union in dark terms. Trump described Brussels as a hellhole early last year, and he praised Britains decision in June to leave the E.U. In his meetings with top E.U. officials, Pence offered a far more conventional vision of relations with the bloc. It is my privilege on behalf of President Trump to express the strong commitment of the United States to continued cooperation and partnership with the European Union, Pence said after meeting European Council President Donald Tusk, who represents the leaders of the 28 E.U. nations. The United States commitment to the European Union is steadfast and enduring. [Trump asked people to look at whats happening in Sweden. Heres whats happening there.] Pence said he looked forward to greater coordination in dealing with economic matters and fighting terrorism. He urged peace efforts in Ukraine, promising to push Russia hard. We are separated by an ocean, but we are joined by a common heritage and a common commitment to freedom, to democracy and to the rule of law, Pence said. Tusk said he was satisfied with the meeting. Too much has happened over the past month in your country and in the E.U. Too many new and sometimes surprising opinions have been voiced over this time about our relations, and our common security, for us to pretend that everything is as it used to be, said Tusk, a former prime minister of Poland. The world would be a decidedly worse place if Europe were not united. It is in the interest of us all to prevent the disintegration of the West. Concerns about Trumps attitude toward the European Union spiked when he said shortly before his inauguration that he was indifferent to the fate of the bloc, that it was primarily a vehicle for German economic interests and that he expected that more countries would split from the E.U. in the coming years. [Has the White House press offices silence become a weapon in its war on the media?] Worries spiked even higher after a former U.S. diplomat, Ted Malloch, said he was in the running to become Trumps U.S. envoy to the E.U. Malloch, a business professor based in England, believes in breaking up the union. E.U. officials took the highly unusual step of ordering a review to outline how they might reject an ambassador. Theres been no confirmation from the U.S. State Department or the White House that Malloch is a candidate. Trump also termed NATO obsolete last month, sending shivers through Eastern Europe, which relies on U.S. security guarantees to keep it safe from Russia. Pence and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis were deployed to Europe last week to try to calm fears about a shift in U.S. foreign policy attitudes that have otherwise remained constant since 1945. By and large, they outlined a policy toward Europe and NATO that bore only fleeting resemblance to Trumps public comments about the institutions. That left European leaders uncertain about how much faith to place in Mattis and Pences message over the weekend, which came at the same time that Trump called the news media an enemy of the American people and appeared to invent a terrorist attack in Sweden. Both leaders pushed hard for an increase in European defense spending in meetings at the Munich Security Conference. Mattis delivered a stern message to NATO defense ministers in Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday, warning that the United States might moderate its commitment to NATO if other members fail to meet defense spending guidelines of 2 percent of their annual economic output. Pressed Monday for clarity on what that might mean the or else in the threat Pence declined to offer specifics. I dont know what the answer is to or else, he said, but I know that the patience of the American people will not endure forever. The commitment that we have made to one another, that the American people are keeping with the people of Europe and NATO, is a commitment that the president of the United States and the American people expect our allies in Europe to keep as well, Pence said. But failing that, questions about the future well just leave in the future as hypotheticals. Read more: Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news Syrian President Bashar Assad, right, met with Russian Federation Council member Dmitry Sablin and the accompanying delegation from the Russian State Duma in Damascus earlier this month. (Sana Handout/EPA) Four Russian servicemen were killed by a roadside bomb in western Syria last week, according to the Russian military. The defense ministry said in a statement that the Feb 16. attack had targeted a Syrian military convoy close to Tiyas, an air base from which Russian war planes have launched raids on Islamic State fighters in the ancient town of Palmyra. It was not possible to immediately verify the Russian statement, and the attack has yet to be claimed by militants in Syria. But the announcement underscored the growing toll that Syrias conflict has wrought on Russian military and mercenary forces fighting on behalf of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Although Russian authorities acknowledge some combat deaths among military personnel, they often do so with a delay and without announcing an official tally. [Trump and Putin are discussing military cooperation in Syria. Mattis says Russia must prove itself first.] Russia is a longtime ally of Assads government, and its September 2015 military intervention helped the Syrian army turn its war effort around. Moscow, which has been accused of indiscriminate attacks on civilians in opposition-held areas, is now a key player in diplomatic efforts to bring the war to an end. Representatives from the opposition and Assads government head to Switzerland on Thursday for a fresh round of U.N.-backed peace talks, building on a nationwide truce announced by Russia and Turkey at the end of last year. That cease-fire has looked increasingly shaky in recent days, however. On Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring network said the Syrian government had escalated attacks on rebel-held suburbs of Damascus. Seven people were killed in bombing raids on the northern district of Barzeh, while rocket attacks on the opposition-held neighborhood of Qaboun continued throughout the day. [Cease-fire frays in Syrias south as rebels launch new offensive] The White Helmets rescue brigade also published a video showing the apparent aftermath of a bombing raid on the rebel-held Damascus neighborhood of Tishreen. Rescue workers were seen digging a crying child from the bank of rubble that had been her home. With all major urban centers now under government control, these final pockets of resistance are in the armys crosshairs. The Observatory reported Saturday that at least 16 people were killed in government rocket fire on a funeral in Qaboun. The neighborhoods smuggling tunnels supply food and weapons to Eastern Ghouta, the rebel stronghold on the outskirts of Damascus that now poses the most direct threat to Assads hold on the capital. On Sunday, Syrias political opposition condemned the escalating violence as a bloody message aimed at sabotaging this weeks peace talks. A walkout by Eastern Ghoutas largest rebel faction, Jaish al-Islam, would certainly cause significant problems. No opposition delegation would be of much value without the largest faction willing to participate, Aron Lund, a fellow at the Washington-based Century Foundation, wrote in a research note last week. Read more: Russian airstrike kills 3 Turkish soldiers in northern Syria The strange and very cold city of Astana where Syrias war is solved Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news Among the Kashmiri Pandit community Shivratri is seen as the crown of festivals. It is locally known as 'Herath'. By Shuja-ul-Haq : What comes as a sign of relief to the Pandit community living in Kashmir, separatists have called off the Friday shutdown this time which coincided with the festival of Shivratri. A spokesperson of separatist camp said that this decision was taken to facilitate hassle-free Shivratri festival for the Hindu community. SHIVRATRI IS LOCALLY KNOWN AS HERATH Among the Kashmiri Pandit community Shivratri is seen as the crown of festivals. It is locally known as 'Herath'. Special prayers are organised for the event. Walnuts, whose shape represents the universe, play an important part in Herath rituals. Walnuts are filled in earthen pots and then filled with water. Traditionally wet walnuts are distributed. advertisement Also read | Why is Mahashivratri celebrated? FRIDAY SHUTDOWNS The valley has been witnessing weekly protest calendars being issued by separatist camps after the Burhan Wani unrest. In most of these calendars people are asked to observe shutdown on Fridays. In the calendar this time February 24 was marked as the shutdown, however now it would be observed as a normal day. This happened after many locals flagged the issue of Shivratri festival coinciding with the Bandh call. Also read | India vs haters: Kashmir stone-pelters plan petrol bombs after Army chief puts protesters on notice --- ENDS --- The Pentagon is deploying U.S. military advisers closer to the front lines in the campaign against the Islamic State as Iraqi security forces wrestle for control of the city of Mosul, the top U.S. commander here said Monday. Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend said that the advisers, numbering about 450, are operating closer and deeper into Iraqi formations as a new assault on western Mosul gets underway. U.S. commanders made the adjustment during the fight for the eastern side of the city, which began in October and ended last month, and the deployment has continued with the attempt, beginning Sunday, to capture western Mosul, Townsend said. It marks the first time the U.S. military has acknowledged how close American service members are to the front lines as it assists what Townsend characterized as a force of more than 40,000 Iraqi police officers and soldiers fighting to retake Mosul. The battle for the western half of the northern Iraqi city is likely to stretch for months in urban neighborhoods where up to 1,000 militants are believed to be entrenched, U.S. military officials said. [Iraq resumes offensive to retake to Mosul] Iraqi units encountered determined resistance Monday as they fought for control of Albu Seif, an Islamic State-occupied village south of Mosul. Later Monday, federal police forces and an elite squad belonging to the Interior Ministry had drawn within two miles of Mosuls main airport, at the citys southern edge, according to Lt. Gen. Raed Shakir Jawdat, the commander of the federal police. The fight for the western half of the city is expected to be more challenging even than the grueling and bloody battle in the east, which lasted for months, according to Iraqi and U.S. commanders. The terrain, including the narrow streets of Mosuls old city, is more daunting. And hundreds of thousands of civilians will be caught between the militants and the advancing army. Iraqs U.S.-trained counterterrorism forces, the countrys most effective unit and the vanguard force during the fight in eastern Mosul, is expected to join the offensive in the coming days. Townsends comments came during a visit by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, a retired Marine general who led combat forces during the Iraq War. Mattis, the first senior member of the Trump administration to visit Iraq, said the U.S.-led military coalition will be able to simultaneously prosecute the war against the Islamic State in Mosul and the Syrian city of Raqqa, the capital of the groups self-proclaimed caliphate, along with operations against militants in other cities. Were going to continue to go after them until we destroy them and any kind of belief in the inevitability of their message, Mattis told reporters after a day of meetings with senior U.S. commanders and Iraqi officials, including Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. They are going to be shown exactly what they are, which is a bunch of murderous relics, to put it bluntly. Mattis rejected a suggestion by President Trump that the United States might take Iraqs oil. I think all of us here in this room all of us in America have generally paid for our gas and oil all along, and I am sure we will continue to do so in the future, Mattis said during a meeting with reporters Sunday night. Were not in Iraq to seize anybodys oil. Trump had said repeatedly that the United States should have taken Iraqs oil during the Iraq War, most recently during a Jan. 21 visit to CIA headquarters when he said, Maybe well get another chance. The defense secretarys comments are among several he has made in efforts to reassure allies since leaving Washington last week. In Brussels and Munich, he promised audiences that the Trump administration will maintain its obligation to NATO, which calls for all members to help if one is attacked. But he also warned that the United States might moderate its support in other ways to nations that do not meet defense spending guidelines set by the alliance. Mattis is in the middle of a 30-day review of the U.S. strategy to defeat the Islamic State that is expected to make recommendations to the White House on whether additional U.S. troops are needed or whether new authorities should be granted to American forces to help prosecute the campaign. The defense secretary said the United States and its allies are still sorting out what the fight for Raqqa will look like and whether Turkish forces will be involved. The issue is considered particularly sensitive because the Turks view Kurds allied with the United States as terrorists, while U.S. officials view them as the most credible local fighters. Reuters reported Sunday that Turkey has submitted two plans to Washington for the Raqqa battle that would rely on local Arab forces potentially backed by the Turkish military, rather than the Kurds. The allies are still working it out, Mattis said. Theyre sharing planning, and thats all Im going [to say] right now. But the planning is still underway, so it has not all been decided upon who is going to do what and where. Were working together to sort it out. Mustafa Salim in Irbil, Iraq, contributed to this report. Tensions between North Korea and Malaysia became even more heated Monday when Pyongyangs envoy said Malaysia could not be trusted to carry out the investigation into last weeks killing of leader Kim Jong Uns half brother and the Malaysian prime minister defended the investigation as objective. The war of words is striking because Malaysia has been one of the few countries that North Korea could count as a friend. But it underscores the stakes for the Kim regime, which is widely accused of orchestrating the sensational assassination of Kim Jong Nam, the North Korean leaders estranged older half brother, at Kuala Lumpurs airport last week. South Koreas prime minister said Monday that his government was certain that Pyongyang was behind the act of terrorism. In the latest dramatic developments, Kim Han Sol, the 20-something son of Kim Jong Nam, is thought to have arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Monday night. Local media reported that he was on a flight from Macau, where the family is based, to the Malaysian capital, and reporters staked out the airport for hours. But there was no sign of him, perhaps because he was whisked out a private exit to avoid the media scrum. Malaysian authorities have been insisting on a DNA match before releasing the body, so Kim Han Sol could have arrived to provide it. Kang Chol, North Korea's ambassador to Malaysia, addresses journalists outside the North Korean Embassy in Kuala Lumpur on Feb. 20. (Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty Images) Adding to the intrigue was closed-circuit TV footage released Monday showing the attack on Kim Jong Nam. The 45-year-old North Korean is seen going to the airports check-in kiosk, when two women ambush him and appear to apply what authorities have said was poison. He is seen going up to airport staff and reenacting the attack. Kim Jong Nam was still able to walk, although increasingly slowly, so the staff took him to a clinic in the airport. Photos obtained by Japanese media showed him slumped in a chair in the clinic. He died in an ambulance en route to hospital shortly after. [Malaysia arrests North Korean man in connection with death of Kim Jong Uns half brother] North Korea has become angrier by the day over the case, accusing Malaysia of colluding with South Korea to try to make it look bad and of committing human rights abuses in the way the autopsy was conducted and its treatment of a North Korean suspect and his family. We cannot trust the investigation by the Malaysian police, Kang Chol, Pyongyangs envoy, told reporters outside the North Korean Embassy in Kuala Lumpur on Monday afternoon, noting that there had been no evidence released about the cause of death even a week after the attack. It only increases the doubt that there could be someone elses hand behind the investigation, he said, echoing a previous allegation that South Korea was trying to malign North Korea, and accusing Malaysia of defaming his country. He proposed that North Korea and Malaysia open a joint investigation into Kim Jong Nams death. Kangs statement came after he was summoned to the Malaysian foreign ministry over his criticism of Kuala Lumpurs investigation. Meanwhile, Malaysia recalled its ambassador to Pyongyang for consultations. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak rejected the suggestion of a joint investigation, saying that his governments probe would be objective and that Malaysian police and doctors were very professional. We have no reason why we want to do something to paint North Korea in a bad light, Najib told reporters in Kuala Lumpur. I have absolute confidence that they are objective in whatever they do. North Korea had strongly objected to Malaysias decision to conduct a postmortem on Kim Jong Nam, and then went on a public tirade when it emerged that the examination was inconclusive and that a second one would be needed. The results could be out Wednesday. Their attempt to mangle again his body [and] not to release [it] is the culmination of human rights abuse and shows once again how they are desperate to shift blame on us, Kang said in a statement that he read to reporters. [Malaysian airport assassination focuses new attention on N. Korean leader] With one North Korean in custody in Malaysia and at least four of his compatriots suspected of involvement, South Korea voiced increasing certainty that the North Korean regime was behind the assassination. It seems clear that the North Korean regime is behind this case, Hwang Kyo-ahn, the South Korean prime minister who is now acting as president, told a meeting of the National Security Council on Monday. The apparent assassination of Kim Jong Nam was an unacceptable, inhumane, criminal act, he said, and Pyongyang should be punished for committing the act of terrorism. His pronouncement came after Malaysia released information about four North Koreans who had been in Kuala Lumpur for several weeks but left on the day of the attack. The man who has been arrested is 47-year-old Ri Jong Chol, who is said to have a background in chemistry and to have studied in India. A Facebook page belonging to a Ri Jong Chol who studied at Kim Il Sung University and lists his home as Pyongyang features a profile photo of a man wearing gloves in a science lab. [Kim Jong Un is a top suspect in his half brothers death. But questions abound.] The other four named by Malaysia as suspects are now back in North Korea, having gone to great lengths to avoid going through China the most direct route to get home. They appear to have flown from Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta, Indonesia, then to Dubai and on to Vladivostok, Russia, then from there to Pyongyang. It is not known why they went to such trouble, although China had been protecting Kim Jong Nam, who had lived in quasi-exile in Beijing and the Chinese territory of Macau for about 15 years. When pressed to explain how South Korea could be so certain of its conclusion about North Koreas responsibility for the death a position expressed within 24 hours of the attack becoming known the unification minister, Hong Yong-pyo, said it was based on North Koreas behavior. We can see from North Koreas past activities that this points to North Korea, Hong said at a news conference with foreign reporters in Seoul, saying that one characteristic of the Kim Jong Un regime was that it operated as a reign of terror. Read more: North Korean officials are preparing to come to U.S. for talks with former officials China suspends North Korean coal imports, striking at regimes financial lifeline A not-that-short history of North Korean assassinations and attempts Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news Vice President Pence gives a news conference after a meeting at the NATO headquarters in Brussels on Monday. Pence said he has a close working relationship with President Trump. (Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images) Vice President Pence said Monday that he fully supported Michael Flynns ouster last week as national security adviser, setting himself firmly against the retired Army general, who told untruths about his contacts with Russian officials. I was disappointed to learn that the facts that have been conveyed to me by General Flynn were inaccurate, Pence told reporters during a visit to NATO headquarters, speaking slowly and carefully in his first public comments about a scandal that has rocked the young Trump administration. Pence pushed for Flynns ouster after learning from The Washington Post that the national security adviser had been captured on tape speaking to Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak about sanctions before Donald Trump took office. The conversation happened the day the Obama administration announced measures against Russia to retaliate for what U.S. intelligence services say was the Kremlins efforts to influence Novembers presidential election. Flynn told Pence that he had not spoken about sanctions with Kislyak, an assertion that Pence later repeated on television. Trump and others in the White House were warned on Jan. 26 that Flynns public comments about the conversation were incorrect. But no one told Pence, leaving him to learn the information from The Post. The incident raised questions about Pences influence in the White House. On Monday, Pence said he has a close working relationship with Trump. Pence also declined to endorse Trumps characterization last week of the media as the enemy of the American People. Rest assured, both the president and I strongly support a free and independent press, Pence said in response to a question about whether he agreed with Trumps harsh criticism of the media. But you can anticipate that the president and all of us will continue to call out the media when they play fast and loose with the facts. Read more Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news Vitaly I. Churkin, who had been Russias ambassador to the United Nations for more than a decade and championed Moscows perspective on barbarity in Syria, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and other global flash points, died Feb. 20 at a hospital in New York. He died a day before his 65th birthday. Russias deputy U.N. ambassador, Vladimir Safronkov, said that his boss fell ill at his office. The cause wasnt immediately known. Mr. Churkin was the longest-serving member of the Security Council, the United Nations most powerful body. Among many other issues, he had recently made Russias views heard on the conflict in its close ally Syria, sparring with diplomats from the United States and other Western countries over whether to impose sanctions or take action to end the conflict in Syria. Calling Mr. Churkin a diplomatic maestro and deeply caring man, Samantha Power, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said on Twitter that he had done all he could to bridge differences between the United States and Russia. Frances U.N. ambassador, Francois Delattre, said that he and Mr. Churkin had always worked together in a spirit of mutual respect and personal friendship, despite their differences. One of Delattres predecessors, Gerard Araud now the French ambassador to the United States recalled Mr. Churkin as abrasive, funny and technically impeccable. (UNTV) Mr. Churkin, with his flawless English and unflappable demeanor, was regarded as a pinstriped survivor who had scaled the Foreign Ministry ladder over a turbulent 40-year period in his country, in part by asserting Russias diplomatic relevance after the Cold War. Raised as a true believer in communism, he was ideologically flexible enough to traverse the massive political and economic changes under Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and the collapse of the Soviet Union. He became a trusted troubleshooter to President Boris Yeltsin during the Balkans war that fractured Yugoslavia into bloody ethnic chaos. During that period of the mid-1990s, he was a fixture on cable news networks and a major backstage player on forging a diplomatic solution. He used as leverage Moscows ties to the Bosnian Serbs, the aggressors in the Balkans war, to urge them to the negotiating table. He was credited with brokering a deal that averted NATO airstrikes, helped lift the siege of Sarajevo and led to the introduction of Russian troops among U.N. forces in the region, The Washington Post reported in 1994. This strategy has not been without its downsides, but overall it was exactly the right thing for us to do, he told The Post. If we are successful at some point, if this current effort is successful, then it would be to a large extent because of that strategy. And lets face it: This strategy assures a certain place for Russia in the negotiating effort. The peace did not hold. He spoke of the betrayal by the Serbs when they ignored Mr. Churkins demands not to press militarily on Gorazde, a Bosnian Muslim-held city that the United Nations had declared a safe area. He criticized the Bosnian Serbs for using Russian support as a cover. Nevertheless, his work on Yugoslavia elevated his stature, and he served in increasingly visible ambassadorial posts before being named top envoy at the United Nations in 2006. He had a reputation for an acute wit and sharp repartee, especially with his American and Western counterparts. Vitaly I. Churkin addresses members of the U.N. Security Council during a meeting on March 6, 2015. (Eduardo Munoz/Reuters) In a 2014 interview with the New York Times, he was described as coy and disdainful in equal measure in discussing the Western backing of fascist thugs in Ukraine as well as Russian support for Bashar al-Assad amid news of the Syrian leaders use of barrel bombs against his own people. The diplomat pointed to the U.S. airstrikes that caused civilian deaths in Vietnam and Afghanistan, and he exuded confidence that Western capitals would ultimately need Russian leverage over Assad to end the war in Syria. Everybodys speaking about barrel bombs, dropped in cities, he told the Times. Sounds pretty horrific. If civilians are suffering to the scale which is being described, that of course is a very dramatic thing. But we have to be clear on something: This is not something thats per se prohibited by international law. Vitaly Ivanovich Churkin was born in Moscow on Feb. 21, 1952. He was a 1974 graduate of the elite Moscow State Institute of International Relations. After years as a member of the Soviet delegation to the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, he received a doctorate in 1981 from a Soviet diplomatic academy. He then began his ascent at the Foreign Ministry, including five years assigned to the embassy in Washington. He was a diplomat in Belgium and Canada before he was named to lead the Russian mission to the United Nations. Mr. Churkin told Russia Today in a Feb. 7 interview that after his long career in diplomacy, the field had become much more hectic. Unfortunately, the world has not become more stable, he told the Kremlin-backed news outlet. Whatever the challenges, the U.N. continues to be an indispensable mechanism, Mr. Churkin said in the interview. Without the U.N., we would be acting all on our own, without much coordination, and then we will be even less successful than we have been so far. Turkeys State Attorney prolongs police custody for Welt-correspondent Yucel for seven more days. Authorities accuse Yucel of being a member of a terrorist organization and misuse of data. Anzeige Welt correspondent Deniz Yucel will be held in police custody for seven more days, as the newspaper learnt Monday afternoon from Yucels attorneys. Turkeys state of emergency regulations allow for such a prolongation up to 14 days without a hearing before a judge. Anzeige The initial deadline of seven days would have ended Tuesday afternoon. But Istanbul police informed Yucels attorneys about the State Attorneys decision to extend police custody. The 43-year-old Yucel, who holds dual Turkish-German citizenship, had reported like numerous other journalists from international media on emails that the leftist Turkish hacker collective RedHack had acquired from the private email account of Energy Minister Berat Albayrak. Six journalists arrested in the affaire Anzeige Among other subjects, the emails concerned control of Turkish media groups and influencing the public by means of fake users on the messaging service Twitter. Energy Minister Albayrak is a son-in-law of the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The emails have been readily accessible on the whistle-blower platform Wikileaks since early December. Autokorso fur verhafteten Turkei-Korrespondenten der Welt In Berlin hat ein Autokorso fur den verhafteten Turkei-Korrespondenten der Welt, Deniz Yucel, stattgefunden. Die Teilnehmer fordern die sofortige Freilassung Yucels und aller anderen in der Turkei inhaftierten Journalisten. Quelle: N24 The authorities accuse Yucel of being a member of a terrorist organization, misuse of data and terrorist propaganda. Since late December, another six journalists from Turkish media have been arrested in connection with the email affair. Three of them are in custody, each accused of membership of a different terrorist organization. If sentenced they could face up to 10 years imprisonment. 10 Britons injured in Norwegian speedboat accident Witnesses say the crash victims were thrown "like dolls" into the icy water At least 10 Britons have been injured in a speedboat accident off the icy coast of Norway. The boat was involved in a collision with a fountain while travelling at speed, near the town of Harstad. A spokesman for the holiday company Inghams said: "Our local team in Harstad, Northern Norway has advised they are assisting 10 guests who took a boat excursion as part of their 'Arctic Fjord' short break." Some 24 passengers were travelling on two boats on a sightseeing trip, around 875 miles north of Oslo, Norway's capital. The passengers of the vessel involved in the collision were thrown from the boat on impact at around 3pm local time (2pm GMT). It took 15 minutes before emergency response could rescue them from the freezing water. Anyone planning a trip that includes speedboats and watersports should take out specialist travel insurance. Hospital treatment needed The passengers and tour leader were all taken to hospital in Harstad with minor injuries. The Inghams spokesman added: "Six guests and our tour leader are reported to have minor injuries. Of these six, four guests and our tour leader are staying overnight in Harstad hospital on a precautionary basis." The Foreign Office has confirmed it is in contact with the Norwegian authorities "We are ready to support British people affected," a statement read. The Trump White House is under increasing pressure from the anti-Russian campaign instigated by the intelligence agencies and spearheaded by the bulk of the corporate-controlled media, the Democratic Party and a section of the Republicans. Over the past several days, the first official action has been carried out by a congressional committee investigating claims of Russian involvement in the 2016 election campaign. The Senate Intelligence Committee has sent letters to more than a dozen government agencies, organizations and individuals asking them to preserve all materials that may be relevant to the committees investigation. The letters were authorized by committee Chairman Richard Burr of North Carolina, a Republican, and the ranking Democrat, Mark Warner of Virginia. The letters were sent after a two-hour classified briefing by FBI Director James Comey on the alleged Russian hacking of the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign. Senators left the hearing without divulging anything of what took place, but hours later, the request was dispatched for the preservation of documents on alleged Russian interference in the campaign and related issues. The related issues reportedly include the allegations of constant contact during the campaign between Trump advisers and aides and Russian intelligence agents, first made in the New York Times last week and later in a broadcast by CNN. Neither report presented any actual evidence, citing only the claims of unnamed intelligence officials, who said they had monitored phone calls or reviewed telephone transcripts. The letters from the Intelligence Committee came one day after Senate Democrats sent similar appeals to the White House, the FBI, the Justice Department and other federal agencies asking them to preserve any relevant materials. This letter, signed by all the Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was sent to White House Counsel Donald McGahn, asking the administration to preserve all materials related to contacts between the Trump organization, Trump campaign, Trump transition team, or Trump administration, or others acting on their behalf, and Russian government officials or associates. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, speaking on the floor of the Senate last week, warned, There is real concern that some in the administration may try to cover up its ties to Russia by deleting emails, texts and other records that could shine a light on those connections. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi chimed in: Im afraid theyre going to destroy the documents. But the fact that I would even say that, that level of trust has gone so far low in all of this. Pelosi and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, sent their own letter to acting Director of National Intelligence Michael Dempsey requesting a comprehensive intelligence briefing on Russia by February 28, 2017 This briefing should include information about former Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Michael Flynns contacts with Russian officials, and should also provide unredacted transcripts of any intercepted conversations or communications he had with Russian officials. Some congressional Democrats are raising the specter of treason charges against Trump or his aides. Representative Seth Moulton, a Massachusetts congressman and Iraq war veteran, said on CNN, If members of the administration are essentially conspiring with Russiathats the definition of treason. This is a very, very serious affair. At the same time, Trumps congressional defenders are pushing back against his opponents within the intelligence apparatus. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes sent a letter Friday to the FBI asking it to investigate leaks of classified information to the media. He suggested that the leaks came from either career officials who oppose Trumps policies or holdovers from the Obama administration. According to one press report, Nunes believes that Trump is being targeted by the intelligence community. Its an abuse of authority. White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus appeared on three Sunday television interview programs to denounce the media reports of constant contact between the Trump campaign and Russia as false and deliberately aimed at undermining the Trump administration. Speaking on NBCs Meet the Press, Priebus acknowledged receipt of the Senate Intelligence Committee letter and said the White House would cooperate with the request. I know what they were told by the FBI, he said, because Ive talked to the FBI. I know what theyre saying. I wouldnt be on your show right now telling you that weve been assured that theres nothing to the New York Times story if I actually wasnt assured. He also said that no one at the White House except the now-fired National Security Adviser Michael Flynn had been interviewed by the FBI. Bureau agents interrogated Flynn about his telephone conversation with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak prior to Trumps inauguration. Significantly, all three television hosts who interviewed Priebus avoided raising the issue of the political motivation behind the intelligence agency leaks to the media that have fueled the anti-Russian campaign. Nor did Priebus raise the issue himself, even though Trump touched on it in his press conference Thursday, when he suggested that his opponents would praise him if he ordered a Russian spy ship blown up or otherwise took a more belligerent position towards Moscow. The real driving force of the factional struggle within the US ruling elite is a conflict over foreign policy towards Russia. Dominant sections of the military-intelligence apparatus want to continue and intensify the campaign of sanctions, provocations and military buildup undertaken under the Obama administration, whose logical outcome would be a directly military confrontation between the United States and Russia, the possessors of the vast bulk of the worlds nuclear weapons. They view Trumps foreign policyif anything, even more militaristic than Obamas, but targeting Iran and China first, rather than Russiaas undermining this war buildup. The most strident voice on this issue is that of Senator John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential candidate and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. McCain gave an address Friday to the Munich Security Conference in Germany, where he warned that the solidarity of the Western imperialist powers against Russia faced its greatest challenge in half a century. In an interview taped Saturday for broadcast on Meet the Press, McCain denounced Trumps tweet Friday that branded the press as the enemy of the American people. A free press was needed to preserve democracy as we know it, McCain said. And without it, I am afraid that we would lose so much of our individual liberties over time. Thats how dictators get started. While he added that he was not calling Trump a dictator, the implication was nonetheless clear. In an interview and cover story in New York magazine, published this weekend, McCain elaborated on the anti-Russian campaign in the media. He claimed that the alleged Russian interference in the US presidential election was a grave threat to democracy. I view it with the utmost seriousness, he said. I view it more seriously than a physical attack. I view it more seriously than Orlando or San Bernardino As tragic as that was, the far-reaching consequences of an election hack are certainly far in excess of a single terrorist attack. The logical conclusion of such an analysis is that US imperialism should be even more aggressive in relation to Russia than it has been in relation to ISISa formula for military escalation against a nuclear-armed country with catastrophic consequences. By Press Trust of India: New York, Feb 20 (PTI) The act of a mother singing to her baby, one of the universal forms of care giving, is as beneficial to the mom as it is to the child, a new study suggests. Mothers while singing to their baby experience a much needed distraction from the negative emotions and thoughts associated with depression, while also feeling empowered as a parent, researchers said. advertisement On the other hand, the infants are provided with a much needed sensory stimulation that can focus their attention and modulate their arousal, they said. "The extraction and analysis of vocal data revealed that mothers with post-partum depression may lack sensitivity and emotional expression in their singing," said Shannon de lEtoile, professor at the University of Miami Frost School of Music in the US. The findings revealed that when infants were engaged during song, their mothers instincts are also on high alert. "Intuitively, when infant engagement declined, the mother adjusted her pitch, tempo or key to stimulate and regulate infant response," de lEtoile said. Mothers around the world sing to their infants in remarkably similar ways, and infants prefer these specialised songs," she said. "The tempo and key certainly do not need to be perfect or professional for mothers and infants to interact through song. "In fact, infants may be drawn to the personalised tempo and pitch of their mother, which encourage them to direct their gaze towards and ultimately communicate through this gaze," she added. The study was published in the Journal of Music Therapy. PTI APA SAR SAR --- ENDS --- By the winter of 1916-1917, the World War on the Eastern Front had brought Tsar Nicholas IIs armies to the verge of collapse. Casualties for the Russian Empire approached six million dead, wounded, missing and captured. The army was woefully undersupplied. Mutinies proliferated against an incompetent officer corps indifferent to the suffering of the overwhelmingly peasant army. In Russia, as well as in Germany and even the United States, food prices grew rapidly, provoking increasing social unrest. New York, February 20: Bread riots in Manhattan A wave of hunger riots begins in the United States as consumer prices skyrocket, driven by the immense profits American capitalism is reaping from the war in Europe. In New York Citys East Side, thousands protest with women chanting, We want food for our children. Thousands are involved in bread riots in Brooklyn. The protests quickly spread to Philadelphia and Boston. Petrograd, February 23 (Feb. 10 Old Style): Bolsheviks call Petrograd strike The Bolsheviks call for a general strike in Petrograd to protest the anniversary of the arrest of their Duma contingent, which had taken place earlier in the war. Only a few factories respond to the strike, and those that do are not out for long. According to Victor Chernov, a leader of the peasant-oriented Socialist Revolutionary Party, the limited success of the strike convinced the political police of their own strength and of the workers helplessness. Tsarskoye Selo, Russia, February 23 (Feb. 10 O.S.): Duma leader visits Tsar Mikhail Rodzianko, president of the Russian Duma, travels to Tsar Nicholas elaborate palace, Tsarskoye Selo, to plead for changes to the Tsars cabinet and greater powers for the Duma to avert social upheaval. Nicholas is cool toward these entreaties, according to Rodzianko, an Octoberist and Constitutional monarchist who sought to save the Tsarist regime from itself. Rodzianko later writes a warning to Nicholas: The situation of Russia now is catastrophic... for at least three months we have to expect an extreme sharpening on the food market, bordering on an all-Russian famine. The situation with the fuel is not better. He goes on, It is close to midnight, and the time is all too near when any appeal to the reason of the people will be too late and in vain. Trotsky later writes: Nicholas II inherited from his ancestors not only a giant empire, but also a revolution. And they did not bequeath him one quality which would have made him capable of governing an empire or even a province or a county. To that historic flood which was rolling its billows each one closer to the gates of his palace, the last Romanov opposed only a dumb indifference. It seemed as though between his consciousness and his epoch there stood some transparent but absolutely impenetrable medium In the saying of Goethe about reason becoming nonsenseVernunft wird Unsinnthis same thought is expressed about the impersonal Jupiter of the historical dialectic, which withdraws reason from historic institutions that have outlived themselves and condemns their defenders to failure. The scripts for the roles of Romanov and Capet were prescribed by the general development of the historic drama; only the nuances of interpretation fell to the lot of the actors. The ill luck of Nicholas, as of Louis, had its roots not in his personal horoscope, but in the historical horoscope of the bureaucratic-caste monarchy. They were both, chiefly and above all, the last-born offspring of absolutism. Their moral insignificance, deriving from their dynastic epigonism, gave the latter an especially malignant character. (Excerpts from History of the Russian Revolution, Volume 1, Chapters 4 and 6) Berlin, February 23: Social Democratic Party agrees to new war credits In Germany, the mass social democratic party, the SPD, agrees to new war credits. At 15 billion Reichsmarks, it is the largest single credit hitherto granted to the German government, bringing the total sum of credits for the war since 1914 to 79 billion. The decision comes amidst what is the most devastating hunger winter in German history, claiming the lives of tens of thousands of people. The next day, due to severe shortages in fuel and wood, all schools in the German capital of Berlin are closed. SPD delegate Georg Ledebour, who heads a minority faction in the SPD that increasingly opposes the partys pro-war policies, rejects the credits in the Reichstag debate as a vote of confidence for the government. He argues that a party that agrees to the credits bears responsibility for the war goals of this government and for the means which this government deems necessary for the implementation of these goals. In 1914, the German SPDthe biggest and most influential party of the Second Internationalhad played a key role in paving the way for the First World War in agreeing to the first set of war credits. In her Junius Pamphlet of 1915, Rosa Luxemburg described this historic betrayal as the The most precipitous fall, the most violent collapse. Nowhere has the organization of the proletariat been yoked so completely to the service of imperialism. Lenin writes from Switzerland against social patriotism. It befits the bourgeois to try to instill in the people, in the exploited, faith in the bourgeoisie of his own country and use plausible phrases to conceal the realities of its imperialist policies. Something quite different, however, is expected of the socialist, namely: merciless exposure that leaves no room for illusions about the real policies of his own bourgeoisie. (Excerpts from Defense of Neutrality, written in January, 1917, on Swiss armed neutrality) London, February 24, 1917: Zimmermann Telegram draws US to brink of war Walter Hines Page, United States ambassador to the United Kingdom, is shown the intercepted and decoded Zimmermann Telegram, in which Germany attempts to draw Mexico into the war against the USthen officially neutral but increasingly in alliance with the UK and Francein exchange for a promise to return the American southwest. The telegram from Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmermann explains that on February 1, Germany intends to launch unrestricted submarine warfare to choke off the British war machine from its supplies in the US. American neutrality is now a fiction, with the Wilson administration moving openly toward the Allies, which it has funded and armed. It is Berlins hope, Zimmermann writes, to still maintain US neutrality. But if this fails, he invites a military alliance with Mexico, to be funded by Germany. Mexico, which has only recently seen the withdrawal of US troops under General John Pershing pursuing revolutionary Pancho Villa, would reclaim a large portion of the territory lost in the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848. The telegram hints at the possibility of an alliance also with Japan. Berlin, February 25, 1917: German industrialists demand Chancellors resignation In Germany, leading industrialists call for the resignation Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg, whom they accuse of being incapable of leading the war. The petition is an expression of growing opposition in the military and bourgeoisie to Hollweg, who, in an attempt to avoid all-out war with the United States, has come into increasing conflict with the German military high command and sections of the bourgeoisie over submarine warfare. In early February 1917, Germany had declared all-out submarine warfare on the United States, a step long opposed by Hollweg. The conflicts also concern the degree to which the government should make concessions to the increasingly war-tired and hunger-ridden German population. Berlin, Dortmund, Hamburg, February 26, 1917: Hunger riots spread in Germany The New York Times reports increasing hunger riots and strikes in three major industrial cities of Germany: Berlin, Dortmund and Hamburg. A source of the Times reports that in Hamburg, hundreds of workmen in the big shipyards and ammunition factories are falling ill from underfeeding. In Dortmund, hungry crowds have sacked shops. In Berlin, some 8,000 workers of the AEG demand higher wages. A few days earlier, strikes by miners and metalworkers rocked the Ruhrgebiet, the most important industrial region in Germany. The New York Times reporter writes that the situation is in the deepest sense of the word desperate. In the winter of 1916/17, the average food ration allocated by the government to German workers covers only 50 percent of the required daily calorie intake. New York City, February 26, 1917: First-ever jazz recording The song Livery Stable Blues is recorded by the Original Dixieland Jass Band by the Victor Talking Machine Company in New York City. The song is a sensation, selling upwards of 1 million copies and creating an immense demand for jazz musicians in New York and Chicago. It is performed by a group of New Orleans jazz musicians: Nick LaRocca, on cornet, Eddie Edwards on trombone; Larry Shields on clarinet; Henry Ragas on piano; and Tony Spargo on drums. A competing version of the song is released by another pair of New Orleans jazz musicians, Ray Lopez and Alcide Nunez. Angelina Jolie opened up about her shocking split from Brad Pitt for the first time since filing for divorce. The actress and director spoke to BBC World News Yalda Hakim in Cambodia in an interview that was released on Sunday. When asked about the split, Jolie revealed that it had been a difficult time for her family. I dont want to say very much about that, except to say it was a very difficult time and and we are a family and we will always be a family, and we will get through this time and hopefully be a stronger family for it, she said. Jolie, 41, was in Cambodia to promote her new directorial effort, the film First They Killed My Father. The mother-of-six said she was coping by maintaining a focus on her children: Maddox, 15, Pax, 13, Zahara, 11, Shiloh, 10, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 8. Many, many people find themselves in this situation, she said. My whole, my family weve all being through a difficult time. My focus is my children, our children and my focus is finding this way through. We are and forever will be a family. I am coping with finding a way through to make sure that this somehow makes us stronger and closer. Since her divorce filing from Pitt, 53, Jolie revealed that her children and pets have been trying to find a normal rhythm. Its been a difficult few months. Right now, Im going through a moment when just everybodys in my room, she said, laughing. Two dogs, two hamsters and two children at the moment. Its wonderful. But, usually, I just wake up trying to figure out whos going to get dog out, whos going to start the pancakes and did anybody brush their teeth. RELATED VIDEO: Angelia Jolie and Children Step Out for Cambodian Film Premiere When asked where she saw herself in five years, Jolie couldnt help but realize shed have a house full of teenagers by then. At that stage, I hope just standing, she said, joking about being outnumbered. In five years time I would like to be traveling around the world visiting my children, hoping that theyre just happy and doing really interesting things, and I imagine in many different parts of the world, and Ill be supporting them. Everything I do I hope is that I represent something, and I represent the right things to my children, and give them the right sense of what theyre capable of, and the world as it should be seen, Jolie added. Not through the prism of Hollywood or through a certain kind of life, but really take them into the world, where they have a really good sense and become rounded people. Pictures of the crime scene where Kim Kardashian was bound and robbed at gunpoint in a Paris hotel last October have surfaced. France's F1 News released the photos, with coverage from TMZ. They show Kardashian's hotel bathroom, bedroom, the tape that was used to bind her and what appears to be a gag. Surveillance video of several of the alleged robbers has also been released, showing the suspected meeting at a cafe multiple times after the robbery. The French report also shows surveillance footage of some of the suspects meeting at a cafe multiple times after the robbery. They also allegedly used code names and code words to discuss the crime over the phone. So far, French authorities have charged 10 suspects in the crime. Kim Kardashian Robbery Crime Scene Pics Surface (PHOTO GALLERY) https://t.co/MLX3CiqvYA - TMZ (@TMZ) February 19, 2017 BASSE-TERRE, Guadeloupe (AP) Authorities in the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe say a small plane has crashed into a house, killing the pilot. Officials say a young woman inside the house was treated for shock, but was not injured. The government says in a news release that the Monday morning crash occurred in the Petit-Bourg community northeast of the capital of Basse-Terre. Officials say they are investigating why the Piper Cherokee crashed. On Presidents Day 2017 Constitution Daily looks at two what if scenarios that would have given us 10 different Presidents through history. What factor would have given us Samuel Tilden, Willie Mangum or Aaron Burr as the nations leader? ThomasFerry Thomas Ferry As written in 1787, the Constitution gave a broad outline of how the presidency changed hands in elections, or through the process of succession by statute or constitutional amendment. Four constitutional amendments refined this process. The 12th Amendment dealt with the disputed election of 1800, which ended up in a tie when presidential and vice presidential candidates were allocated the same Electoral College votes. The 20th Amendment had provisions for candidates elected but not yet sworn into office. The 22nd Amendment limited presidential terms to two terms. The 25th Amendment ratified in 1967 cleared up any questions about the Vice Presidents ability to succeed a President who dies in office, who resigns, or who is removed from office. Until 1967, the succession rules were based on a loosely defined Article II, Section 1, of the Constitution; a precedent set by President (or Acting President, as his opponents believed) John Tyler in 1841; and a presidential succession law passed by Congress that named the next-in-line to the White House after the President and Vice President. Without these changes, the swing of a few votes in the general election or in the House, or a decision by a special commission or the Supreme Court, the White House might have had a few occupants little known to Americans today. Also some Presidents avoided extreme physical danger, and remained in office. By Election Aaron Burr. The bitterly contested 1800 presidential election between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams became a constitution crisis after a mistake left Jefferson tied with his running mate, Burr, in the Electoral College election. Burr then decided to run for President in the House runoff election against his own running mate. Burr lost on the 36th ballot in the House due to the influence of Alexander Hamilton. Story continues Samuel Tilden. Tilden won the popular vote in the 1876 election against Rutherford B. Hayes, but four southern states has two rival sets of electors, putting the presidential election in limbo. The actions of a special commission of Congress and Supreme Court members headed off a constitutional crisis, as Hayes took the election by one electoral vote. Winfield Scott Hancock. In the often forgotten 1880 election, General Hancock lost to James Garfield by the closest popular vote margin in history, 0.09 percent. Each candidate won 19 states, but Hancock, a Pennsylvanian and a Democrat, couldnt win one northern state, and he lost by 56 electoral votes. Charles Evans Hughes. On Election Night, Hughes went to bed thinking he won the election against his opponent, President Woodrow Wilson. The former Supreme Court justice later found out that California went to Wilson by 3,000 votes, costing Hughes the White House. By Succession Willie P. Mangum. If Mangums name doesnt seem familiar, thats because he was the Senate president pro tempore in 1844. Between 1792 and 1886, the president pro tempore was second-in-line to the White House, after the Vice President. After the passing of President William Henry Harrison in 1841, John Tyler assumed the presidency by boldly declaring he was entitled to the full power and title of President. But Tyler himself was nearly killed in a shipboard explosion in 1844. President Tyler was stopped by a dignitary on his way up to a deck to witness a naval gun display on the USS Princeton. The gun exploded, killing the Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Navy instead. Lafayette S. Foster. Foster was the Senate president pro tempore in 1865 when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. Part of the plot to kill Lincoln included an assassination attempt on Vice President Andrew Johnson. John Wilkes Booth had convinced George Atzerodt to kill Johnson at a hotel where the Vice President was staying. Atzerodt camped out in a room above Johnsons room, but he decided on the fateful night to abandon the attempt, and he went out drinking instead. Had he killed the unsuspecting Johnson, Foster would have been Acting President, until an election could be held to choose a new President in December 1865. Benjamin Wade. It was Wade who had replaced Foster as Senate president pro tempore by 1868, when President Andrew Johnson was impeached by the House and put on trial in the Senate. One of the theories about how Johnson escaped a guilty verdict, by one vote, in the Senate was that there was a contingent of Senators who didnt want Wade, who was a radical Republican, as Acting President. Said one newspaper at the time: Andrew Johnson is innocent because Ben Wade is guilty of being his successor. Thomas W. Ferry. Ferrys brush with the presidency was more of a theoretical one, but all too real under the election laws of 1876 during the Tilden-Hayes election. Congress appointed a 15-person commission, including five Supreme Court Justices, to settle the disputed race. The commission ruled in favor of Hayes just two days before the inauguration. Ferry was the Senate president pro tempore at the time and he would have been the Acting President if the Electoral College vote wasnt certified on March 4, 1877 John Nance Garner. Garner almost became President under the terms of the 20th amendment ratified just weeks before an assassination attempt on President-Elect Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933. The 20th Amendment was ratified on January 23, 1933, and it made provisions for the Vice President Elect, in this case, Garner, to assume the presidency if the President Elect died before taking the oath of office. On February 13, 1933, just 23 days after the amendment went into force, Giuseppe Zangara opened fire on a car in Miami that contained President-Elect Roosevelt. He missed Roosevelt but fatally wounded Chicago mayor Anton Cermak. Recent Historical Constitution Daily Stories 10 little-known facts about President Theodore Roosevelt 50 interesting facts about Abraham Lincolns life The mysterious death of George Washington 10 facts about Thomas Jefferson for his 273rd birthday Al-Bab (Syria) (AFP) - Eleven members of the same family were killed on Monday as Turkey-backed Syrian rebels advanced on the town of Al-Bab held by Islamic State jihadists, a monitoring group said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said four couples and three children were killed in their homes in the centre of town as it came under heavy bombardment and Turkish air strikes aimed at clearing the way for a rebel advance. The rebels gained ground, dodging snipers and deadly roadside bombs planted across the jihadist bastion. With help from Turkish soldiers, artillery fire and air strikes, the "Euphrates Shield" rebel alliance launched a major push into the northern town. "Euphrates Shield fighters gathered last night and divided up the town into three axes to facilitate the storming of Al-Bab," said local field commander Abu Jaafar, speaking to AFP inside the town. The rebels began their offensive at midnight, seizing control of a hospital building, a key roundabout and a school complex in the town's western half, Abu Jaafar said. Some rebels could be seen taking a short break on the western edges of the city after having spent around 12 hours in fierce street fighting. "We've faced some difficulty with Daesh snipers -- there were more than 10 snipers last night that surprised our troops," Abu Jaafar said, using the Arabic acronym for IS. "More than 10 of our forces were killed (Monday), and dozens wounded, because of the mines planted by this treacherous organisation," he added. He said roadside bombs that could be detonated remotely had been particularly deadly. Al-Bab is IS's final stronghold in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo -- second only in importance to the jihadist group's de facto capital in neighbouring Raqa. Turkey began military operations in Syria in August, crossing south into the war-ravaged country to fight both IS and Kurdish forces that it regards as terrorists. Story continues Euphrates Shield forces initially swept across swathes of border territory easily, but they stalled around Al-Bab in December. According to the Syrian Observatory, the rebel advance into Al-Bab on Monday was relatively modest -- 200 metres (yards) into the town's west. "There is fierce bombardment from Turkish forces on IS positions in Al-Bab," the Britain-based monitor said. It has said that more than 110 civilians have been killed in just two weeks of Turkish shelling on the town, but Ankara has said it does its best to avoid civilian casualties. Dozens of civilians have been fleeing Al-Bab every day, according to the monitor, leaving newly liberated areas as well as escaping territory still under IS control. On Monday, Abu Jaafar told AFP that at least 10 families had been evacuated out of battleground districts in Al-Bab. One fleeing resident, Jaafar Ahmad, spoke with a quaking voice as he recounted what he had seen. "I saw destruction -- the artillery and the airplanes shelling. There's destruction everywhere," Ahmad said. "We got out safe and sound, thank God, and the town is now encircled." The Daily Beast GettyIt only took a few hours after Russias Vladimir Putin hailed his mobilization as a sparkling success Friday for a torrent of humiliating reports to emerge that suggest the war effort has been more successful in turning the country against him than defeating mythical Nazis in Ukraine.The most staggering contradiction to the Russian presidents boastful claims came perhaps in Kazan, where dozens of drafted troops were captured on video late Friday berating military leadership outside a colle Algiers (AFP) - Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika had acute bronchitis on Monday, causing German Chancellor Angela Merkel to call off a visit to Algeria at the last minute, the presidency said. Bouteflika, Algeria's longest-serving leader, suffered a mini-stroke in 2013 that affected his mobility and speech. The 79-year-old has since appeared in public on only a handful of occasions and has travelled several times to France for medical treatment. "Algerian and German authorities have today mutually agreed to postpone the official visit" by Merkel, Algeria's presidency said in a statement. "This postponement is due to the fact that Mr Bouteflika, who is at his residence in Algiers, is temporarily unavailable due to acute bronchitis," it said. In Berlin, the chancellor's office said: "The Algerian government asked at the last minute that the visit be called off" and Merkel had accepted this. Algerians had expected Bouteflika -- the North African country's longest-serving leader -- to step down at the end of his third term, but instead he won re-election in 2014, despite his frail health. Bouteflika has been confined to a wheelchair since his stroke, entertaining foreign guests at his home in Zeralda west of the capital and making few public appearances. Bouteflika travelled to France in November for "periodic medical checks", but in recent months National Liberation Front chief Djamel Ould Abbes had said his health was improving -- even mentioning a possible fifth term in 2019. - 'Serious problems' - "It's the first time in Algerian diplomacy that such a visit has been cancelled," political analyst Rachid Tlemcani said. The last-minute cancellation of Merkel's trip showed "the Algerian government was tackling serious problems", he said, and reignited a debate about Bouteflika's capacity to act as head of state. "The situation in the country has become unmanageable due to the president's state of health," Tlemcani said. Story continues "After the cancellation of this visit for a medical reason, it will be difficult for his supporters to defend the idea of a fifth term." Bouteflika's opponents had spoken of a "power vacuum" since his stroke. Elected for the first time in 1999, Bouteflika turns 80 on March 2. The infirm leader made a rare public appearance in September, attending the opening of a new international conference centre in Algiers. Flanked by his younger brother Said, a wheelchair-bound Bouteflika unveiled a plaque at the site before touring parts of the new complex, state television showed. - African migrants - Merkel had been due to arrive in the capital at 1700 GMT Monday as part of efforts to get North African countries to reduce the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean into Europe. The German leader, who last week hosted Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef Chahed, hopes for partnerships with Maghreb countries and Egypt to prevent a new wave of migrants making the dangerous sea crossing to the European Union. Algeria is a key actor in seeking to stabilise neighbouring Libya, which has lacked a functioning government since the 2011 overthrow of Moamer Kadhafi and has become the main gateway for African migrants bound for Italy. But elsewhere in the region too, desperate people, many from sub-Saharan Africa, are trying to cross into the European Union -- an influx the 28-nation bloc fears will rise again with the onset of warmer weather in spring. Some 300 migrants on Monday stormed the double wire fence between Morocco and the Spanish North African territory of Ceuta, after nearly 500 made it over on Friday, one of the largest groups to do so in more than a decade. Merkel's North Africa diplomacy comes after she spearheaded a controversial EU deal with Ankara a year ago that helped sharply reduce the influx of migrants who passed through Turkey and western Balkan countries into the bloc. Merkel, confronted with the rise of the anti-immigration AfD party ahead of elections in September, has been under intense pressure to reduce the number of asylum seekers in Germany, which has taken in more than one million migrants and refugees since 2015. BRUSSELS (AP) The Star-Spangled Banner looked more starry than usual during one of U.S. Vice President Mike Pence's appearances in Brussels. A background picture of the American flag that went up alongside the European Union flag as Pence and EU leader Donald Tusk spoke on Monday had 51 stars instead of the usual 50, one for each state. The Brussels version of the flag had three rows of nine stars and three rows with eight stars each. American flags typically feature a total of nine alternating rows of five or six stars The EU flag featuring 12 stars in a circle against a blue background was configured correctly. And the American flag had the right number of stripes 13. The EU Council did not immediately respond when asked about the error with the misplaced star-state. By India Today Web Desk: Sofia Hayat is the new Rakhi Sawant, which translates to this--The woman knows how to stay in news. Hayat recently posted a picture of her feet on her personal Instagram account. But here is the twist; her feet bore tattoos of the sacred Swastika symbol, which holds importance for especially two religions--Buddhism and Hinduism. advertisement Have a look: Hayat uploaded the picture with the caption, "Ok, so my last photo was me having tattoos on my feet, the sacred swastika found on the feet of BUDDHA the sacred; eternal, self-existence, the star of David, the Islamic moon, universal manifestation, the Sun, Hindu swastika, ancient christian cross, Buddhist, Tibetan, it encompasses the all--the power of the universe at my feet so to at yours, wake up, we are one! Also read: Now, Sofia Hayat is out to support Swami Om's disgusting act A symbol is just a symbol and it is the intent that makes the difference. A scalpel in the hands of a surgeon is a tool in his profession that can save a life; while in the hands of a perpetrator is unlawful possession of a weapon, in the eyes of the law, to commit a crime." Right after she posted the photograph, she started getting a lot of hate for the picture. People wrote saying that they were upset as the picture had hurt their religious sentiments, and some others even abused Hayat for being insensitive. --- ENDS --- By Ben Blanchard and Philip Wen BEIJING (Reuters) - With the suspension of all North Korean coal imports, China has wielded a big stick against its reclusive neighbour, but there is no sign it will cut off all critical links and Beijing is still promoting talks to solve the dispute over Pyongyang's programme to develop nuclear weapons. China has been getting increasingly fed up with what it sees as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's recalcitrance and unwillingness to show any sign of wanting to seek a peaceful resolution to the nuclear weapons issue, according to Chinese experts on North Korea. It has also come under increasing pressure from the United States to get tough with Pyongyang. The Global Times, a widely-read Chinese state-run tabloid, said on Monday that the coal decision showed China's determination to work with the international community to stop North Korea's nuclear schemes but did not mean China's policy towards its neighbour had or would fundamentally change. "Despite participating in UN sanctions, Chinese society's friendship to the North remains unchanged. Chinese sanctions only target at its nuclear weapon programme, and we are firmly opposed to Seoul's political fantasy against Pyongyang," it said in an editorial. The fantasy reference related to speculation in the South Korean media that China may have halted the coal shipments to punish North Korea for the killing of leader Kim Jong Un's half brother Kim Jong Nam last week in Malaysia. South Korean officials say they believe that Kim Jong Nam was assassinated by North Korean agents. The economic impact of suspending coal imports would be severe and may force Pyongyang to the negotiating table, some of the Chinese experts said. China imported about $1.89 billion of coal from North Korea last year, a significant proportion of the $2.5 billion in total Chinese imports from North Korea that year. "This is a very severe measure that has broken with previous convention, it shows just how much China has been antagonised by [Pyongyang's] recent missile tests," said Jin Qiangyi, director of the Centre for North and South Korea Studies at Yanbian University, who specialises in China's relationship with North Korea. "The situation is such that doing nothing will only see risks exacerbate; doing this still comes with some risk but it may force North Korea to negotiate." FEARS OF COLLAPSE Still, Beijing will want to tread carefully to avoid upsetting Kim too much, according to a source with ties to China's military. One concern is that Kim could even point his missiles in China's direction, the source said. "Kim is like a dog who needs to be both loved and beaten to keep him in line," said the source, who has also visited North Korea. "But beat him too hard and he'll bite back. That's the quandary." Among the Chinese government's other fears is the possibility of a sudden regime collapse in North Korea leading to chaos and the potential for hundreds of thousands of North Korean refugees to head across the Chinese border, diplomatic sources have said. In that scenario, Beijing would also be concerned that U.S. and South Korean armed forces would move into North Korea and soon be on the Chinese border. If China really wanted to throttle Pyongyang, it could simply stop all trade with the country, including oil and food, ban flights to and from North Korea, and end all financial transactions with the country. At the same time as unveiling the coal measures, China has been promoting diplomatic efforts. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, speaking at a high profile security summit in Munich over the weekend, said China has not given up hope for a new round of diplomacy with North Korea, even as he pledged support for UN sanctions. Wang also took aim at the repeated calls from Washington for Beijing to step up the pressure on Pyongyang - and said the United States had its responsibilities too. "The United States and North Korea are the parties most directly involved, and they must as soon as possible be politically decisive," Wang said, adding China would continue to play a mediating role. Last month, before being sworn into office, U.S. President Donald Trump criticised China for benefiting from economic ties with the U.S. but not doing enough to curb North Korea's erratic behaviour. RESIDUAL SUPPORT While China is frequently called North Korea's only serious remaining ally, relations have soured steadily due to Pyongyang's nuclear and missile tests and Chinese President Xi Jinping has yet to meet with his North Korean counterpart. The killing of Kim Jong Nam has only underlined the unpredictability of the regime. Malaysian police have detained four suspects - a Vietnamese woman, an Indonesian woman, a Malaysian man, and North Korean man - and are on the hunt for four other North Koreans who fled the country on the day of the attack. Unlike the U.S. and South Korea, China has not pointed the finger at the North Korean leader for the killing. Chinese experts on North Korea said the decision to suspend coal imports would only have been taken after careful deliberation, and was unlikely to be a knee-jerk reaction to Kim Jong Nam's assassination. There is residual support for Pyongyang in the Chinese establishment, especially in the military who fought with North Korea in the 1950-53 Korean War, and some of whose officers blame the U.S. and South Korea for the problems on the Korean peninsula, said a Western diplomat, who has discussed North Korea with Chinese officials. He was speaking before the coal ban announcement. "There is a feeling that a lot of the bad news that is blamed on North Korea is really being cooked up in Seoul and Washington," said the diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. (Editing by Martin Howell) Angelina Jolie met with the King of Cambodia [Photo: Instagram/royal_cambodianmonarchy] Angelina Jolie has appeared in public for one of the first times since her split from Brad Pitt in September last year. The 41-year-old actress arrived in Cambodia for the premiere of Netflix film, First They Killed My Father. Jolie, who directed the harrowing tale, brought along her six children to meet the King of Cambodia. The actress visited the country for the premiere of her latest film [Photo: Instagram/royal_cambodianmonarchy] She took a break from her usual black, instead opting for a pink chiffon gown that showed off her many back tattoos. Her hair was pulled back into a slick chignon with diamond studs proving to be her only accessories. Earlier in the day, Jolie appeared at a press conference for the drama dressed in a simple black lace dress. Her make-up was kept minimal to match her effortless waves. The trip is particularly poignant for Jolie as her eldest child, Maddox, was adopted from a Cambodian orphanage back in 2002. Before the screening, she spoke of her high-profile family troubles to the BBC, saying: My whole family have all been through a difficult time. My focus is my children, our children. We are and forever will be a family. I am coping with finding a way through to make sure that this somehow makes us stronger and closer. 18 throwback photos of Angelina Jolie that will reaffirm your love for the star 40 something and flawless: The celebrities encouraging us to celebrate ageing Luanda (AFP) - Angola's likely next president Joao Lourenco on Monday declared war on graft in the notoriously corrupt country, as he starts to shape his public image ahead of elections due in August. Defence Minister Lourenco was recently named to succeed President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who has ruled Angola for 37 years, as head of the MPLA party. Dos Santos will step back from frontline politics following the transition and is set to become the party's honorary chief. "We cannot accept impunity in the face of corruption," Lourenco said Monday as he opened a student event in the country's northeast. He condemned "bribes which have to be paid by entrepreneurs wanting to invest in the country". Lourenco had earlier railed against "the great sickness" of corruption during a visit to Huila state in the country's southwest on Saturday. He has also promised improvements to Angola's ailing agricultural sector and health infrastructure. As the incoming leader of the MPLA, Lourenco will become president of the oil-rich country in August elections if the party wins the vote as expected. Dos Santos has often been criticised for protecting a corrupt elite and handing his family key roles in state firms. His daughter Isabelle, who is considered the richest woman in Africa, was last year made the head of the national oil company. The main opposition party called Lourenco's crusade against graft a facade. "There won't be any change while the MPLA are in charge. The current president will continue to steer from the backseat even if he has employed a new driver," the Unita party said in a statement. Angola is ranked 164 out of 176 countries for its level of corruption by graft watchdog Transparency International. ` When words fail us, emoji are always there to fill in the blanks. But there are times when finding that perfect emoji for a situation or story is almost impossible. To scope out people's emoji requirements, Mashable took to the streets of London during fashion week to ask strangers to design their very own unique emoji. And, their designs were very revealing... Whiskey-drinking girl emoji Image: Marco Kesseler "A try-hard French girl with a glass of whiskey in her hand." Bianca De Zilva, designer at TJC. Two-faced emoji Image: Marco Kesseler "So, it's got a smiley face behind it with a heart and a straight-faced mask being torn off. That represents me. It's hard for me to show emotions sometimes. But, inside I'm smiling. Sometimes I'm smiling on the outside but not on the inside." Reece Johnson, fashion student. Curly-haired emoji Image: Marco Kesseler "It represents someone who's happy and fun and eccentric." Prince Cassius, TV presenter Eyebrows emoji Image: Marco Kesseler "I really like doing my eyebrows so I've made them eyebrows. I find it quite therapeutic. When your eyebrows are on fleek and I'm talking to my friends, I feel like I'd send them the eyebrow emoji." Lucy Rutherford, art student. Afro emoji Image: Marco Kesseler "I want to see a black face with an afro." Rosetta, bass player. Free spirit emoji Image: Marco Kesseler "My emoji represents a free spirit. I always smile a lot. And the reason the eyes are closed is because you should always be happy no matter what you're going through. It's not as tough because you'll always rise above it. You'll wake up the next day. Hashtag free spirit." Marco Lopez, mentor and writer. Story continues Activist emoji Image: Marco Kesseler "I'm here to protest against the fur industry." Adrien Bercon, activist. Nature and fear emoji Image: Marco Kesseler "Love and respect of nature." Emily Tobert (left), politics student. "I'm terrified of absolutely everything so mine is the fear." Tasha Jasmine (right), retail assistant. Memoji Image: Marco Kesseler "It's me." Kaori Hukumoto, hair and makeup artist. Mermaid emoji Image: Marco Kesseler "It is a mermaid's tale. I think everyone loves a good mermaid. And it matches my dress!" Shireeka Devlin, designer. Smiley face Image: Marco Kesseler "Because I'm happy." Ewa Michalik, stylist. High fashion emoji Image: Marco Kesseler "It represents my beautiful outfit with some feminine touches in the makeup and the hair." Alicja Jakubowska, model. PJ's emoji Image: Marco Kesseler Two squiggle emojis designed by 4-year-old PJ Rose, model. Bangladesh police on Monday detained an Islamist who had been sentenced to death in his absence in 2015 for planning the gruesome murder of a secular blogger. Police said they had caught Rezwanul Azad Rana, a 34-year-old former student at one of the country's top universities, and one other man when they raided a house in a suburb of Dhaka. Rana had been on the run since the start of his trial for the murder of blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider, who was hacked to death with machetes in February 2013 in the first of a string of attacks targeting secular writers in Bangladesh. "The counter-terrorism and transnational crime unit of police has arrested Rana along with an assistant militant named Ashraf during a raid from a house at Uttara suburb in the capital Dhaka," said a statement on the Dhaka police website. It gave no further details of Ashraf's identity. Rana was convicted and sentenced to death in December 2015 along with another former student at North South University, Faisal bin Nayem, who is in custody. Police said Haider had angered his attackers by writing against Islam and allegedly mocking the Prophet Mohammed on blog sites. Bangladesh has suffered a spate of attacks on secular activists, foreigners and religious minorities in recent years. Last year 22 people were killed, most of them foreigners, when Islamist attackers besieged a popular Dhaka cafe. Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have claimed responsibility for several of the attacks, but Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's secular government has pinned the blame on local extremists. Since the cafe attack security forces have launched a deadly crackdown on Islamist extremists, killing around 50. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders used President Donald Trumps favorite mode of communication to call him out on his frequent attacks on the press. Sanders, once again, called Trump a pathological liar in a tweet posted Saturday, and drew parallels between the Trump presidency and totalitarianism. In Trumps view people should ignore all the news except what comes directly from him, Sanders, who was a Democratic presidential candidate for the 2016 elections, said in a tweet. That is what totalitarianism is all about. In a series of posts on Twitter in response to Trumps outburst against many news media outlets Friday Sanders reprised his comments about the president lying. During an appearance on NBCs Meet the Press on Feb. 12, the independent senator said: We have a president who is delusional in many respects, a pathological liar. I know it sounds it is very harsh. But I think thats the truth, he added. At the time, Sanders said the president was attempting to distract the country with immigration issues while he backtracked on every economic promise that he made to the American people when he told workers and senior citizens he was not going to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. The latest comments, however, come after Trump declared war on the mainstream media, which he said distorts facts and misrepresents the functioning of his administration. The president also took to Twitter to single out certain networks including CNN, NBC, ABC and the New York Times calling them the enemy of the American people. During a Saturday rally in Melbourne, Florida, Trump again told his supporters he will not let the fake media get away with the lies it has been telling about the administration. Related Articles On February 20, 1792, President George Washington officially created the modern United States Postal Service by signing a sweeping act that promoted a free press and put privacy safeguards in place. Postal-Service-Truck-475x226 Mail delivery and an earlier version of the Service had been in place since 1775, when Benjamin Franklin was named as the first postmaster and the Continental Congress paid him a salary of $1,000 a year. The Articles of Confederation, which preceded the Constitution, also made it clear that the government shall also have the sole and exclusive right and power of establishing or regulating post offices from one State to another, throughout all the United States, and exacting such postage on the papers passing through the same as may be requisite to defray the expenses of the said office. And the Constitution made sure that these crucial services were preserved. In Article I, Section 8, the Constitution gave Congress the ability To establish Post Offices and post Roads. That means it not only does Congress have the power to create a postal system, it had the ability to acquire and control the land for the post roads to carry the mail and the buildings needed to maintain the system. In 1789, that meant 75 Post Offices and about 2,400 miles of post roads. But it was the Postal Act of 1792 that established the foundation of a modern Postal Service. Congress granted the Postmaster General broader powers. And the act addressed issues related to commerce and privacy. The act ensured newspapers could be sent at low mail rates, which facilitated a free press across the new states. The law also protected privacy by making it illegal for postal officials to open mail unless it was undeliverable. Offenders faced up to six months in jail and a $300 fine. And to make sure people knew Congress was serious, section 17 of the act included death as one of the possible punishments for robbing a mail delivery person, or for stealing mail from a post office. (In 1872, Congress reduced the penalty to five years in prison.) Story continues Congress also called for more mail routes to service an expanding nation. The newly expanded service kept its headquarters in Philadelphia, but moved to Washington, D.C. in 1800. Recent Historical Constitution Daily Stories On this day: A tied presidential election ends in the Washington 50 interesting facts about Abraham Lincolns life How a national tragedy led to the 25th amendment London (AFP) - Britain's House of Lords could delay a bill empowering Prime Minister Theresa May to trigger Brexit, with EU citizens campaigning for their rights to be protected as debate got under way Monday. In a highly unusual move, May watched on as the upper house of parliament opened its debate on the draft legislation after it was overwhelmingly approved by the elected lower House of Commons earlier this month. But the bill's passage through the Lords may not be smooth as May's Conservative Party does not hold a majority in the unelected chamber, which could try to push through amendments to the law. Peers are proposing changes, including measures to guarantee the rights of EU nationals in Britain, and defining how parliament votes on a final Brexit deal. May urged the Lords to follow the lead of the Commons and neither amend the bill nor delay it. The government is still expecting to stick to its timetable of triggering Brexit by the end of March. "There will be debate and scrutiny in the House of Lords, but I don't want to see anybody holding up what the British people want... which is for us to deliver Brexit, to leave the European Union," she said. The bill gives May the right to trigger Article 50 of the European Union's Lisbon Treaty, the formal procedure to start negotiations on leaving the bloc. The government presented the short bill after losing a high-profile court battle in which judges ruled that May must have the consent of parliament before beginning divorce proceedings with Brussels. The legislation sailed through the Commons earlier this month by 494 votes to 122. In a June referendum, 52 percent of voters opted to leave the EU after four decades of membership, sending shockwaves across Europe. - 'Will of the people' - But the government could face greater challenges in the Lords, where only 252 of the more than 800 members are from the centre-right Conservatives. Tory peer Natalie Evans opened the two-day debate on Monday, calling the bill "short and straight-forward... and historic." Story continues "I know that noble Lords respect the primacy of the elected House (of Commons), and the decision of the British people on June 23 last year," she said. "This bill is not the place to try and shape the terms of exit." In response, Labour peer Angela Smith warned that lords should not "provide the government with a blank cheque" and that they would not be intimidated by MPs who have warned the upper house could be abolished if it held up the bill. A few hundred EU citizens demonstrated outside parliament as the debate kicked off, waving flags from their countries and the EU. "Before Brexit, I never thought to return, but I've changed my mind and I will," Araceli Rodriguez, a Spaniard in her 60s told AFP. "It's not worth staying in a country that doesn't want you". Two further days of discussions next week and a final reading are scheduled for March 7. If they vote to amend the bill it will pass back to the Commons for more debate, drawing the process out further. On that possibility, May's spokesman told reporters that: "What's important is that we trigger Article 50 according to the timetable we set out." The government was "confident" of doing this, he added. - Threat to unelected lords - Some politicians warned that voters would not look kindly on unelected lords seeking to block the Brexit bill. "Peers would be wise to consider this clear democratic mandate, and their own futures, when debating the Article 50 bill," said Conservative MP Dominic Raab. Paul Nuttall, leader of the anti-EU United Kingdom Independence Party, warned that Britain could be plunged into a constitutional crisis if the Lords tinker with the bill. "I cannot predict the ferocity of the response we might see if our democracy is subverted in this way." Former British prime minister Tony Blair on Friday urged Britons who support EU membership to "rise up" and persuade Brexit-backers to change their mind. But May's spokesman said on Monday: "We've been absolutely clear that Article 50 will not be revoked after notification." London (AFP) - As Iraqi forces fight to take back Mosul from the Islamic State group, archaeologists trained by the British Museum are preparing for another battle -- trying to save what they can of the city's heritage. One of the world's leading institutions for the study of ancient Iraq, the London museum has been training Iraqi experts for the past year in high-tech methods to preserve and document their history. "Once the city is liberated, there will be an enormous plan of reconstruction of the Museum of Mosul," Sebastien Rey, a lead archaeologist from the Iraq Emergency Heritage Management Training Scheme, told AFP. "One of the participants of our scheme will be the first archaeologist to enter the museum and do an assessment of the destruction inside." The programme is designed to "get people ready for the day" archaeological sites are taken back from IS control, said its director, Jonathan Tubb. "We wanted to do something positive and constructive in the face of the most appalling destruction that had been going on." Islamist militants in Iraq, Syria and Mali have targeted priceless cultural heritage sites after denouncing them as un-Islamic. The Mosul area, home to several archaeological sites including the ancient cities of Nineveh and Nimrud, is of particular importance. In April 2015, the IS group released a video of its fighters destroying monuments in Nimrud before planting explosives around a site and blowing it up. Statues in Mosul's museum were also attacked, as was Hatra, a Roman-era site in Nineveh province. The Iraqi army launched a massive operation in October to retake Mosul, Iraq's second city and the IS group's last major stronghold in the country. After recapturing the city's eastern flank, special forces are now fighting their way through the west in an offensive that began on Sunday. - New discoveries - Launched in January 2016, the British Museum's six-month training scheme sees Iraqi archaeologists spend three months in London and three months in Iraq. Story continues It includes training in the use of satellite imagery and digital mapping, as well as tools for documenting buildings and monuments. The archaeologists then practise their new skills in secure sites across their home country, which has led to new discoveries. In Darband-i Rania, located in Kurdistan, in northern Iraq, the new excavations unveiled a previously unknown fortified city. "We found a city from the Parthian period, thats roughly the time of Christ," John MacGinnis, a senior archaeologist from the British Museum explained. In the ancient Sumerian city of Girsu, or Tello, in southern Iraq, massive mud-brick walls belonging to a temple constructed in the third millennium BC, were discovered. Tello has also proved useful for training because it is huge at around 250 hectares and has a very similar topographical layout to sites closer to Mosul. - 'Change direction of history' - The museum has long called for Britain to ratify an international convention to protect cultural artefacts in warzones, a measure that is currently making its way through parliament in London. In 2003, it raised the alarm on looting of major Iraqi museums and led a taskforce to the country in response to damage inflicted on cultural sites by the conflicts in the region. A graduate of the British Museum scheme, which aims to train 50 archaeologists over a five-year period, is now leading the assessment in Nimrud. And Halkawt Qadir Omer, a current trainee from Arbil told AFP: "The training is very useful and beneficial for us and we can use the tools that we get here." Known as the cradle of civilisation, Iraq is still full of undiscovered treasures. For Omer, the scheme offers much more than simple tools: "Now, we have contact with the British Museum to complete our projects, to discover and to change the direction of history and archaeology." Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted people of the Himalayan states on Twitter. By India Today Web Desk: The two hilly northeastern states of Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram celebrated their Statehood Day today. To mark its 31st statehood day, a four-day-long festival is being held in Arunachal Pradesh, which was earlier a union territory. Besides a gala musical by Bollywood artists, film festival, fashion show and other activities have been planned to mark the occassion. advertisement Appealing for peace, Chief Minister Pema Khandu said in a message that in the days to come major economic activities in all potential sectors will open up employment avenues for youth. Mizoram too was declared a state on this day in 1987. MODI CONGRATULATES Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted people of the Himalayan states on Twitter. "Statehood Day greetings to the citizens of Arunachal Pradesh. May the state scale new heights of development...," Modi said in a tweet. "On their Statehood Day, my greetings to the people of Mizoram. I pray that Mizoram progresses immensely in the years to come," he said in another tweet. --- ENDS --- Lagos (AFP) - The protracted absence on medical grounds of Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari has stoked fears of a full-blown political crisis at the heart of Africa's most populous nation. The 74-year-old former army general left Abuja for London on January 19, leaving Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo in charge while he took time off. But on the eve of his return earlier this month, it was announced that he was prolonging his stay to enable him to collect the results of unspecified medical tests. Speculation, inevitably, went into over-drive that he may no longer be fit for the top job, and despite multiple claims he is well, the government has struggled to seize back the initiative. For many, the situation revives memories of the situation seven years ago, when president Umaru Yar'Adua fell ill and later died while receiving treatment abroad. It also once again lays bare the fragile divide between the majority Muslim north and the predominantly Christian south that characterises Nigeria and underpins political and daily life. Succession to power at the federal level is seen as a balancing force between the two regions. In 2010, it was the southern Christian former university professor Goodluck Jonathan who deputised for the northern Muslim Yar'Adua: now it is Osinbajo for Buhari. When Yar'Adua died, his supporters prevented Jonathan from taking over. The argument ran that the north would be short-changed if a southerner was allowed to complete Yar'Adua's term of office. It took a deft move by parliament to get Jonathan to assume power and prevent a major political melt-down. - What if? - Buhari has repeatedly had to deny opposition claims that he is seriously unwell with claims ranging from prostate cancer to kidney disease. Jonathan's Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) even announced on its official Twitter account last year that he had died. The presidency said he had a persistent inner ear infection. Story continues Conversation in Nigeria has in recent weeks has revolved around "what if?" scenarios: what if Buhari were unable to carry on? What if he were to die in office? What if the north once again lost out on power to the south? How would it affect the choice of candidates for the next presidential elections in 2019? Political analysts, however, dismiss the possibility of a re-run of the Yar'Adua/Jonathan scenario. "There is a whole lot of difference between what happened during Yar'Adua's time and what is happening now," said Professor Abubakar Sadiq, from the Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria. "There was a leadership vacuum under Yar'Adua because he did not hand over to his deputy... and a cabal bent on hijacking power prevented Jonathan from taking over," he told AFP. Yar'Adua's illness was hidden from the public until he died and his body was brought back to Nigeria in the middle of the night, the political scientist noted. "Nobody was allowed to see Umaru. But Buhari in his own case, handed over to his deputy. So, there is no way we will have a repeat of that ugly episode," he added. - 'Zoning' out - Rotating power -- or "zoning" as it's called in Nigeria -- has long been assumed to be part of the constitution and at the heart of the Yar'Adua crisis. But experts said it never has been and was only PDP policy. Now Buhari's All Progressives Congress (APC) is in power, there is theoretically no reason why anyone of any ethnicity, religion or political affiliation can't be president. Osinbajo, a trained lawyer who has long been in charge of economic policy, has widely been seen to be competent, travelling across the country and abroad, and chairing meetings. "If the unexpected happens, Osinbajo should assume the full mantle of leadership," said Sadiq. Politics lecturer Dapo Thomas, of Lagos state university, agreed there was no cause for concern and said the constitution was "very clear" on the succession, should it come to that. "If the president cannot continue because of ill health, incapacitation or death, his vice will take over," he explained. The slew of photographs in recent days of Buhari meeting delegations of well-wishers in London should go a long way to show he was not as ill as some have suggested, he added. Buhari's illness had been politicised, he said, adding: "What is happening is dirty politics by mischief-makers... working to ensure that the government fails." Buhari, who headed a military government in the 1980s, has been struggling to rid Nigeria of the endemic corruption that has blighted its development and plunged the country into recession. (Reuters) - A California police officer responding to a traffic accident in the Los Angeles area was fatally shot on Monday by a gang member who was involved in the collision, a law enforcement spokesman said. A second officer with the Whittier Police Department and the suspect, a Hispanic man in his 20s, were wounded in the exchange of gunfire, said Lieutenant John Corina of the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department. The officers had responded to a traffic accident in Whittier when they determined that one of the cars was registered as stolen. When they approached it, the suspect opened fire, Corina told a news conference. Were still trying to determine why he shot. Obviously, he was in a stolen car. He is a gang member. Were trying to determine if anything else sparked that, he said. Both officers and the suspect were taken to a hospital, where one officer died, Corina said. The second officer and the suspect were in stable condition. The officers have not been identified, and the shooting was under investigation. There had been four firearms-related law enforcement deaths this year through Monday, down from nine in the same period in 2016, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, which tracks on-duty fatalities. (Reporting by Nathan Frandino in Washington; Editing by Ian Simpson and Jonathan Oatis) PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) Cambodia's legislature amended a law governing political parties on Monday to allow the government to apply to the courts to have a party dissolved, an act aimed at the sole opposition group in parliament. The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party boycotted Monday's 90-minute debate on the legislation and subsequent vote, in which all 66 lawmakers from the ruling Cambodian People's Party who were present voted in favor. The amendments now need approval from the ruling party-controlled Senate, a simple formality. Long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen suggested the amendments earlier this month, in what is seen as an attempt to shore up his party's strength ahead of local elections this year and a general election in 2018. The opposition staged an unexpectedly strong challenge in 2013's general election. The new provisions allow the Supreme Court to dissolve parties whose leaders have criminal convictions, and bar the leaders from political activities for five years. Critics charge that Cambodia's courts are under the political influence of the ruling party. In addition, the Interior Ministry will be allowed to suspend parties whose activities incite national disintegration, a catch-all clause similar to those in other laws that are used against the government's critics. "The passage of these amendments marks the final consolidation of absolute power in the hands of Prime Minister Hun Sen and the ruling Cambodian People's Party," said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of New York-based Human Rights Watch. "Hun Sen's election strategy is clear: bulldoze what's left of Cambodia's democratic institutions by using laws like this one, while simultaneously intimidating civil society into silence with arbitrary arrests of human rights defenders and threats to de-register troublesome NGOs," Robertson said. The Cambodia National Rescue Party, in a statement issued before the debate, said the changes violate the principles of liberal and multiparty democracy. Story continues "The proposal of the amendments was done too quickly and with the aim of intimidating and destroying the rival party," it said. There were political consequences even before the amendment was passed, with longtime opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who has been in self-imposed exile since late 2015, resigning from the Cambodia National Rescue Party because he was convicted in a defamation case and has several other cases pending. Hun Sen's government in the past year has put increasing legal pressure on its critics and political opponents, keeping them tied up in court, sending them fleeing into exile, or sometimes jailing them. National Assembly spokesman Leng Peng Long said the purpose of the amendment was to ensure fairness for all parties. The U.S. Embassy said it was "deeply concerned" that the amendments passed with little consultation or public debate. "Any government action to ban or restrict parties under the new amendments would constitute a significant setback for Cambodia's political development and would seriously call into question the legitimacy of the upcoming elections," it said. It called on the government to ensure that the polls this year and next "are free, open, and transparent, that all political parties have the opportunity to compete on an equal basis." Madrid (AFP) - The Spanish outposts of Ceuta and Melilla in northern Morocco, which have the European Union's only land borders with Africa, are tempting launch pads for clandestine immigration to continental Europe. - Reinforced borders - Ceuta, a former Roman colony of 85,000 people, measures about 18 square kilometres (seven square miles) and lies just across the Strait of Gibraltar from Spain. It was captured by the Arabs and the Portuguese and has been under Spanish sovereignty since 1640. Melilla, measuring about 200 square kilometres, is perched on the eastern edge of Morocco's Mediterranean coast, and has been under Spanish control since 1497. It has a diverse population of about 85,000, of which around half are Muslims, and thousands of Moroccans go there to work and shop every day. Thousands of migrants have attempted to cross the 12-kilometre (7.5 mile) frontier between Melilla and Morocco, or the eight-kilometre border at Ceuta, by climbing the border fences, swimming along the coast or hiding in vehicles. More than 350 migrants stormed the six-metre-high double fence at Ceuta on Monday, just days after nearly 500 migrants made it over, one of the biggest entries since the barrier was reinforced in 2005. The two territories are protected by fences fortified with barbed wire, video cameras and watchtowers. Migrants have died or been injured trying to breach the barriers. On January 1 more than 1,000 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa tried to scale the fence at Ceuta during a violent assault in which one officer lost an eye. - Disputed territory - Both exclaves were conquered as part of a strategy by Catholic kings of establishing advance posts of Christendom on the African continent following the expulsion of Moors and Jews from Spain in 1492. Claimed by Morocco, the two cities have long been a flashpoint in diplomatic relations between Madrid and Rabat, with Madrid insisting that both are integral parts of Spain. Both port cities have developed as military and trade centres linking Africa to Europe, and since the 1990s have enjoyed a status similar to other autonomous areas such as the Basque region and Catalonia. President Donald Trumps apparent reference this weekend to an attack in Sweden that never happened confused some listeners -- including Chelsea Clinton. The daughter of former President Bill Clinton and former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton joined the many people online who mocked Trumps comment, delivered during a rally in Florida on Saturday. Trump made the remark while talking about refugees in Europe. You look at whats happening in Germany. You look at whats happening last night in Sweden -- Sweden -- who would believe this? Sweden, they took in large numbers, they are having problems like they never thought possible. You look at whats happening Brussels, you look at whats happening all over the world, he said. Clinton responded on Twitter by tying Trumps statement in with the Bowling Green massacre, an attack Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway invented and mentioned on television. What happened in Sweden Friday night? Did they catch the Bowling Green Massacre perpetrators? Clinton wrote. What happened in Sweden Friday night? Did they catch the Bowling Green Massacre perpetrators? Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) February 19, 2017 No incident occurred in Sweden on Friday night, although Fox News host Tucker Carlson ran a segment interviewing a documentary filmmaker who claimed that crime surges in Sweden were linked to immigrants in the country. Trump is known to repeat what he sees on cable news. See original article on Fortune.com More from Fortune.com Among the protesters filling Time Square in New York City for the Today, I Am a Muslim Too event on Sunday was a first-time protester: Chelsea Clintons 2-year-old daughter, Charlotte. The former First Daughter and only child of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton took to Twitter to post a photo of the scene and share that Charlotte was also participating in the rally held in response to the executive order President Donald Trump signed that put a temporary ban on travelers from seven countries with predominantly Muslim populations and refugees from all nations. Thank you to all who organized #IAmAMuslimToo today Charlottes 1st protest rally. #NoBanNoWallNoRaids, Chelsea captioned a snap featuring a popular protest sign that shows a woman wearing an American flag hijab. The protest was organized in part by hip hop mogul Russell Simmons, who spoke to the crowd with an American flag backdrop. We are here today to show middle America our beautiful signs and, through our beautiful actions and intention, that they have been misled, Simmons told the crowd on the warm February afternoon. We are here unified because of Donald Trump, he said. We want to thank him for bringing us together. Celebrities such as Susan Sarandon also participated in the event. Thank you to all who organized #IAmAMuslimToo today Charlotte's 1st protest rally. #NoBanNoWallNoRaids pic.twitter.com/5mSXGQtPJU Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) February 19, 2017 Chelsea, 36, also posted on Twitter early Sunday to join in the growing chorus of people who were mocking a false claim Trump made about an attack on Sweden during a rally in Florida on Saturday. Story continues You look at whats happening in Germany. You look at whats happening last night in Sweden Sweden who would believe this? Sweden, they took in large numbers, they are having problems like they never thought possible, Trump said, pointing to the non-existent event as rationale for his executive order on immigration and refugees. What happened in Sweden Friday night? Did they catch the Bowling Green Massacre perpetrators? Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) February 19, 2017 What happened in Sweden Friday night? Did they catch the Bowling Green Massacre perpetrators? Chelsea quipped on Twitter, referencing comments by Trumps senior adviser, Kellyanne Conway, who described a supposed terrorist attack committed by two Iraqi refugees that never occurred. Although no incident occurred in Sweden on Friday, Fox News host Tucker Carlson ran a segment interviewing a documentary filmmaker who claimed that crime increases in Sweden were linked to immigrants, many of whom are refugees. Baghdad (AFP) - The Islamic State group on Monday claimed responsibility for a suicide attack near Mosul it said was carried out by a British suicide bomber, the SITE Intelligence Group reported. "The martyrdom-seeking brother Abu Zakariya al-Britani -- may Allah accept him -- detonated his explosives-laden vehicle on a headquarters of the Rafidhi army and its militias in Tal Kisum village, southwest of Mosul," the claim quoted by SITE said. The IS statement did not say when the bombing occurred. The jihadist group uses the word "rafidha", which means "rejectionists", to refer to Shiite Muslims in a derogatory way because it considers them heretics. Forces from the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation), a paramilitary umbrella dominated by Shiite militias backed by Tehran, are active in the area mentioned in the statement. They are fighting alongside other Iraqi forces -- including the army and the federal police -- as part of a push that started on Sunday to retake the west bank of Mosul. Tens of thousands of Iraqi forces launched a massive offensive on October 17 to retake the city, which is Iraq's second largest and the only remaining major stronghold of the jihadists in the country. They retook control of the eastern side of Mosul last month. IS fighters of a variety of nationalities, including Britons, have carried out suicide attacks on many occasions in Iraq and Syria in the past three years. The IS statement said that the British fighter's attack, and that of another suicide bomber of Iraqi nationality, caused many casualties but AFP could not immediately verify the claim. Bogota (AFP) - Colombian authorities suspect the rebel group ELN of carrying out a bombing at a bullring despite peace talks between the leftist force and the government, an official said Monday. Sunday's attack followed the start of talks this month between the government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) which aim to seal an end to five decades of conflict. The ELN said on Twitter that none of its units had owned up to the attack at the Plaza Santamaria bullring, which injured 24 police officers and two civilians. But ELN involvement in Sunday's bombing "is one of the main theories" being considered by investigators, Bogota's Mayor Enrique Penalosa said on RCN radio station. He had earlier ruled out the possibility that animal rights campaigners carried out the bombing in protest at the resumption of bullfights at the ring. Penalosa said the bombing bore similarities to other attacks in Bogota claimed by the ELN. "If they want to somehow affect the negotiation process then we all need to be very vigilant, because they might want to carry out other attacks," he said. Closed in 2012 by the city's former leftist mayor Gustavo Petro, the bullring was allowed to reopen last month by Colombia's Constitutional Court. It was targeted by protesters when bullfights resumed there on January 22. Police have mounted a heavy guard at the venue during bullfights every Sunday since the protests. President Juan Manuel Santos is trying to seal a "complete peace" by seeking a deal with the ELN. He signed a historic disarmament accord last year with the country's biggest rebel force, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The two forces took up arms in 1964 at the start of a conflict that drew in various groups. Authorities say the conflict has killed 260,000 people. Indian National Lok Dal leader Abhay Singh Chautala has announced a party rally at Ambala before leading a march to the Kapuri village to once again dig the canal. The announcement has come as a jolt to the Badals and Shiromani Akali Dal. By Manjeet Sehgal: The Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal controversy genie is out of the bottle again. The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), by announcing a march to the Kapuri village to again dig up the controversial tunnel on February 23, has given a new twist to the controversy. INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala has announced a party rally at Ambala before leading a march to the Kapuri village to once again dig the canal. Kapuri village came to limelight in 1982 when the then Prime Minister late Indira Gandhi had laid the foundation stone of the controversial canal. Chautal's announcement has put politicians in Haryana and Punjab on the boil. advertisement "We will go ahead with our plan to march up to the Punjab-Haryana border to once again dig the canal even if the authorities call the army. The decision has been taken after consulting all the party leaders and workers. We also appeal all political parties to support the move and join the march," Abhay Chautala said. Chautala's announcement has come as a jolt to the Badals and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) which had made the SYL canal issue as a major poll plank during the recently concluded Assembly elections. SAD had denotified the canal land last year in an apparent move to woo the voters. Interestingly, the Chautalas, who enjoy family relations with the Badals, remained silent on the issue during the Punjab Assembly elections. Akali Dal leaders have hinted a 'clash' if the INLD went ahead with its plans to once again dig the canal. "This can lead to a big clash between the two states. We have raised the issue with the Haryana government. INLD should desist from making such statements. We have already made it clear that we do not have even a single drop to spare," spokesperson for SAD and Punjab cabinet minister Daljit Singh Cheema said. ANNOUNCEMENT CREATES TENSION INLD's march call has created fresh tensions between Punjab and neighbouring Haryana which had earlier locked horns over the issue of state capital Chandigarh. The call has also angered Punjab radical groups like AISSF and Dal Khalsa which have announced similar move to counter the INLD march. Meanwhile both the states have decided to deploy police forces on Punjab and Haryana border to thwart the move. Both the governments have also put their intelligence bureaus on the job. Punjab police has already barricaded the Shambhu border which connects Punjab and Haryana. Prohibitory orders have been issued in Kapuri village to deal with any eventuality. Interestingly, despite the Punjab's claims that it will not allow state waters to flow in Haryana, the SYL canal has already been flooded with the Bhakhra canal water. It will be ridiculous to once again dig the canal which is already filled with water. The deployment of police forces on both the sides will not allow the INLD leaders to move beyond Haryana. In such a situation, the march call appears to be a mere political gimmick than a reality. --- ENDS --- advertisement BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombian authorities suspect Marxist ELN rebels were behind a bomb attack near Bogota's bullring on Sunday, leaving dozens of police officers injured as they prepared for anti-bullfighting protests in Colombia's capital. "It's a hypothesis we're investigating," Bogota police chief General Hoover Penilla told reporters on Monday. Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas also said it was the "most-probable hypothesis." The blast, which caused damage to water pipes and smashed windows, appeared to be timed to coincide with the gathering of riot police ahead of a bullfight. Twenty-six people, mostly police, were injured. Villegas told local W Radio the device was probably activated remotely by a cellular phone and that suspects have been identified. If proved to be the National Liberation Army (ELN), the attack will anger President Juan Manuel Santos who is engaged in peace talks with the rebel group in Ecuador. The ELN, which has about 1,500 combatants have stepped up attacks on economic infrastructure since talks began this month. There have been two bombings of an oil pipeline in less than a week and the kidnapping of an elderly man. Santos is seeking to end a war with the ELN, which has battled dozens of governments since it was founded five decades ago. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the biggest rebel group in the South American country, signed a peace accord late last year and is currently preparing to turn in its weapons. It was initially assumed that the attack was in relation to the bullfight. Hundreds of protesters have gathered weekly to demonstrate against bullfighting in Bogota, which resumed last month for the first time after being banned four years ago. The ban was lifted by the Constitutional Court, which said it was part of the national heritage, prompting weekly clashes with police. (Reporting by Helen Murphy and Luis Jaime Acosta; Editing by Alan Crosby) By Lisa Rapaport (Reuters Health) - Studies drug companies fund after medicines go on sale may be too small to detect rare side effects, a recent German study suggests. Even if these so-called post-marketing studies do uncover previously undetected adverse events, physicians conducting the trials are often required to keep results confidential, limiting the potential for regulators or patients to learn about safety issues, according to the study in The BMJ. When drugs are approved based on tests in only a few thousand patients, very little is known about long-term safety or the potential for rare side effects to occur when tens of thousands of people take the medicines, said lead study author Dr. Angela Spelsberg, medical director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center in Aachen, Germany. "The fact that many physicians are obliged by contracts to handle adverse drug reactions as confidential business information rather than reporting them is very disturbing," Spelsberg added by email. "In light of the indispensable role of general practitioners and clinicians in detecting, diagnosing and publicly reporting adverse drug reactions, this means a very big threat to public safety." For the study, Spelsberg and colleagues made freedom of information requests to three regulatory authorities responsible for registering post-marketing studies in Germany and obtained data on 558 studies. On average, these studies had about 2,300 patients and 270 physicians. Trials that include so many doctors and so few patients can have lower data quality because it's cumbersome to effectively train and monitor so many physicians, Spelsberg said. Doctors were paid 441 euros per patient on average to participate in the studies, and 19,424 euros on average per trial. In some trials, doctors earned in excess of 2 million euros. The studies analyzed included a wide variety of drugs and non-pharmaceutical products, and only one third examined recently approved medicines. About 12 percent of the studies assessed non-prescription drugs, while about 15 percent looked at biotech medicines and 11 percent evaluated cancer treatments. Not one adverse event report could be identified from any of the 558 post-marketing studies. Less than 1 percent of the studies could be verified as published in scientific journals. One limitation of the current study is that it looked at data from notifications to regulators but not real trial data, the authors note. Researchers also may have overestimated the number of participating physicians because doctors often work on multiple post-marketing studies, the authors also point out. In addition, they lacked data on any post-marketing trial results published after 2015. Still, the study offers fresh insight into several potential shortcomings of post-marketing drug studies, said Dr. Barbara Mintzes of the University of Sydney in Australia. "When a drug first comes to market it has been tested on average in 2,000 to 3,000 people, too few people to uncover most rare serious harmful drug effects," Mintzes, who wasn't involved in the study, said by email. "Often, patients at greatest risk of harm like the frail elderly or people with several serious health conditions are excluded from the trials, so post-marketing safety studies are very important." When post-marketing studies aren't done, aren't publicized, or are too small to uncover rare side effects, patients can be exposed to unsafe or ineffective medicines, said Stacie Dusetzina, a researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who wasn't involved in the study. "Before the drug is approved there is very strict oversight and management by sponsors; after the drug is approved the follow-through on reporting is more mixed," Dusetzina added by email. "Finding the right balance is important for ensuring that patients have timely access to drugs and that we know the risks and benefits for most patients." SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2lDitW1 The BMJ, online February 7, 2017. By Tom Miles and Aaron Ross GENEVA/KINSHASA (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo must investigate credible reports of atrocities including summary executions by the armed forces, U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein said on Monday. The U.N. human rights office has documented the killings of more than 280 people since July 2016 in a flare-up in violence in Kasai Central province, where Congolese forces have been battling an uprising by the Kamuina Nsapu militia. "There are multiple, credible allegations of massive human rights violations in Kasai, Kasai Central, Kasai Oriental and Lomami provinces, amid a sharp deterioration in security situation there, including people being targeted by soldiers for their alleged affiliation with a local militia, Zeid said in a statement. "It is time to stop a blunt military response that does nothing to tackle the root causes of the conflict between the government and local militias but instead targets civilians on the basis of their presumed links to the militias," he said. The U.N. statement followed the emergence of a video at the weekend that appeared to show Congolese troops shooting dead members of the militia in the province. The U.N. said its peacekeeping mission, MONUSCO, was not in a position to verify the origin or authenticity of the video, which showed unarmed victims being shot at point blank range as they lay bleeding on the ground. After initially promising an investigation, the government has dismissed the video as a "montage" created by political opponents based in Brussels. On Monday, government spokesman Lambert Mende said it was up to foreign countries accusing the army of having committed exactions to prove their cases. "The government calls on its partners to cease promoting condescending and/or deliberately malicious attitudes toward the institutions of DRC that work to consolidate the rule of law," Mende said. The United States, France and the European Union all called for an investigation on Monday, and Zeid added his voice, saying the government must launch an independent and transparent probe and hold those responsible to account. (Reporting by Tom Miles and Aaron Ross; editing by Stephanie Nebehay and Toby Chopra) WASHINGTON (AP) The office of a Missouri congressman says he intends to file a federal lawsuit over the removal of a constituent's painting from its display on Capitol Hill. The painting, which shows a pig in a police uniform, divided members of Congress for its depiction of Ferguson, Missouri, where weeks of protests occurred after the police shooting of an unarmed black man. The painting, one of 400-plus winning entries in the Congressional Arts Competition, hung in a tunnel leading to the Capitol for more than seven months. Some conservative media outlets called for its removal and Republican lawmakers took it down and returned it to Democratic Rep. William Lacy Clay's office. Clay put it back up, saying its removal violated a constituent's First Amendment right to freedom of expression. Clay's office said he will file a lawsuit Tuesday "in response to the arbitrary and unconstitutional disqualification and removal" of the painting. "Congressman Clay is seeking an appropriate remedy through this federal litigation and he is proud to defend both the fundamental rights of his constituent and the First Amendment," according to an advisory his office sent in advance of a press conference Clay intends to hold Tuesday outside the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The American Conservative Union (ACU), the organization hosting the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), rescinded an invitation to speak to Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos on Monday afternoon. The event organizers disinvited Yiannopoulos after video clips surfaced in which the right-wing celebrity appeared to defend pedophilia. In the homosexual world particularly, some of those relationships between younger boys and older men the sort of coming of age relationships relationships in which those older men have helped those young boys to discover who they are and give them security and safety and provide them with love and a reliable and sort of a rock where they cant speak to their parents, Yiannopoulos said during an interview with The Drunken Peasants. The writer is said to have been invited to be the keynote speaker at an event that will also feature appearances by President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, according to The Hollywood Reporter. In a statement posted on Facebook, Yiannopoulos argued his comments were taken out of context, though admitted that he is guilty of imprecise language, arguing that my usual blend of British sarcasm, provocation and gallows humor might have come across as flippancy, a lack of care for other victims or, worse, advocacy. I deeply regret that. Inundated with outraged comments about CPAC, ACU chairman Matt Schlapp said that the Facebook apology is insufficient, tweeting, It is up to him to answer the tough questions, and we urge him to immediately further address these disturbing comments. (The statement went on to claim that the CPAC platform is not an endorsement of everything a speaker says or does.) The controversy is the latest for Yiannopoulos, who has established a reputation of sorts for himself as a rabble-rouser. He has faced a maelstrom of protests in recent weeks, from his Simon & Schuster book deal prompting prominent feminist writer Roxanne Gay to find another publisher to represent her, to University of California ,Berkeley event that the school canceled after violent riots broke out. Most recently, a Real Time with Bill Maher guest refused to appear in the same episode as the Yiannopoulos. PRAGUE (Reuters) - Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said on Monday he was firing his industry minister, accusing him of getting a poor deal for mobile phone customers. The removal of Jan Mladek comes just eight months before parliamentary elections, as Sobotka takes increasing aim at mobile operators. He said this month that Czech prices as a share of household spending were among the four highest in the European Union. Sobotka told a news conference he had grown unsatisfied with the way Mladek handled the ministry, "especially when it comes to improving consumers' situation on the mobile services market." He said he wanted to have a replacement in March. News website Aktualne.cz reported Tomas Prouza, who is the government's secretary of state for European Union affairs and runs the cabinet's digital agenda, was the likely candidate. The three main mobile operators, O2 Czech Republic, T-Mobile and Vodafone, have come under increasing fire from politicians over their charges. Mladek, a member of Sobotka's Social Democratic Party, has served in the center-left government since it was formed in January 2014. He rejected the criticism of his performance. The Social Democrats trail Finance Minister Andrej Babis's ANO party by a wide margin in polls ahead of the October vote. Babis and Mladek have often sparred with each other. On Monday, Mladek failed to push through a proposal for a state-owned mining company to buy insolvent hard coal miner OKD, which Babis opposed. President Milos Zeman, an opponent of Sobotka, must sign off on the cabinet change and could delay or refuse to appoint Sobotka's proposed replacement. Zeman's spokesman went on Twitter on Monday to criticize Prouza for his connections to groups opposed to Zeman. (Reporting by Robert Muller; Editing by Mark Trevelyan; Writing by Jason Hovet; Editing by Ralph Boulton) At the dawn of a turbulent era in American history, an inexperienced but media-savvy President, early in his first term, was obsessing about negative press. John F. Kennedy, who had grown accustomed to compliant coverage, was running up against the limits of his power to control the public narrative when neither the world nor the press would read from his script. Halfway around the globe, a small band of foreign correspondents were undercutting the White House with stories that showed the United States becoming more deeply involved (and less successfully) than the government acknowledged in what would become the Vietnam War. Relations between the Saigon press corps and the United States Embassy had deteriorated into "a mutual standoff of cold fury and hot shoutsLiar! Traitor! Scoundrel! Fool!with an American foreign policy teetering precariously in the void between," wrote William Prochnau in Once Upon a Distant War, an under-appreciated account of fraught relations between the government and the press. Recommended: Trump Gets an Upgrade at National Security Advisor At his wit's end one day in 1962, Kennedy dialed up his long-time friend James Reston, the legendary columnist and New York Times Washington Bureau Chief with an urgent request, in the interest of national security: fire war reporter David Halberstam. Reston declined. Halberstam persevered, the war proving every bit the disaster he had foreseen. And even the President eventually lamented, upon reading the Times one morning, "why can I get this stuff from Halberstam when I can't get it from my own people?" I read Prochnau on the advice of my editor at The Washington Post, just before I flew to Kuwait in early 2003, to cover the invasion of Iraq, embedded with a U.S. Marine infantry unit. I spent the better part of the succeeding three years living in, and writing about, Iraq, and clashing occasionally, though never spectacularly, with the U.S. Embassy there. Story continues More recently, from 2009 to 2017, I was on the other side of those clashes, working on foreign policy in the Obama White House and State Department, dealing frequently with my former journalism colleagues along the way, who were covering our efforts. I have thought a lot about both experiences since Donald Trump's Friday night tweet labeling the media "enemies of the American people," and about why his repeated assaults feel so different from those of his predecessors. The Founding Fathers set a course for such collisions by both recognizing the need for the government to keep secrets, and codifying the right of the press to ferret them out. Recommended: How to Build an Autocracy The relationship between the government and the press should be adversarial, as their missions are often at odds. As those seeking to downplay the current confrontation have rightly pointed out, this has resulted in a power struggle between that is as old as the Republic itself. But Trumps relationship with the media represents something new and potentially dangerous to both. He is the first President to publicly question the place of the media in American society itself And his branding of the press as an "enemy" seems less an attempt to influence coverage than an invitation to repression and even violence. The level of antipathy or collegiality between the government and the press has always moved in cycles of confrontation and detente. Ironically, when I first left for Iraq 14 years ago, close watchers of media-government relations were most concerned by a burgeoning coziness epitomized by, for example, the star-studded White House Correspondents dinner, that resulted the appearance of journalists trading of favorable coverage for access. (Defense Secretary James Mattis, who broke with the president in his characterization of the press as the enemy, was the commander of the division I embedded in). Before the invasion of Iraq, when the Pentagon decided to let reporters "embed" themselves in military units for the first time since Vietnam, press critics warned that reporters would become cheerleaders for an event deserving serious scrutiny. After all, the theory went, it will be hard to remain objective when you ride, eat and sleep among people who are literally defending your life. Recommended: 'Our Readiness for a Terrorist Attack Is Dangerously Low' "They are not your friends," one of my editors told me, referring to the military, in our last meeting before my departure. "Basically everything they tell you will be a lie." It is clear, however, that the current standoff between Trump and the Washington press is a disturbing departure from these precedents. But while the press had failed to interrogate the Bush Administration's rationale for invading, almost as soon as the war began, reports describing what was happening on the ground differed sharply from the official line. If you believed the major newspapers and television networks, you knew the country was descending into insurgency and civil war. If you listened to the Green Zone press briefings, you may have thought Iraq, and indeed the entire Middle East, were on the cusp of a democratic flourishing. That divide, which, like so many others, eventually resolved in favor of the press, as confirmed by a now infamous quote from Dan Senor, an American spokesman in Baghdad: "Off the record: Paris is burning. On the record: stability and security are returning to Iraq." To its credit, the Bush Administration knew the Iraq reporters were not on the team, per se, but it did seek to use them for its own purposes. Access was extraordinary, and deliberately so. The theory, which proved correct, was that reporters were more likely to be impressed by grunts risking their lives for their country than by senior officers briefing on a base far from the front lines. In the end, the arrangement worked out well for both sides. Embedded coverage did tend to be more positive, but it also produced vivid and damning reports on things like American casualties and the killing of Iraqi civilians, that helped turn the public against the war. While the Obama Administration largely avoided major breakdowns in relations with the press, we were far from immune from tensions. One of the few aspects of our tenure I am not proud of is that we oversaw more frequent use of law enforcement tools against journalists. I joined the Administration determined to avoid having to spin my reporter friends and former colleagues, and initially steered clear of press-related government jobs. I came to appreciate the give-and-take with journalists who covered the State Department and deeply respected their mission. Still, I occasionally complained about stories, sometimes sharply. I once even decided to bar a newspaper reporter from flying to Europe on Secretary Kerry's plane because he had, in my view, inappropriately passed on information given to him off-the-record. He took a commercial flight, and we got on with our jobs. It is clear, however, that the current standoff between Trump and the Washington press is a disturbing departure from these precedents. First, as I have written previously, his assault on the press seems calculated not to influence coverage, but to destroy the credibility of the media so he can usurp the its traditional role as the arbiter of facts on which policy decisions are based. If the goal was just to produce better coverage, it would simply not make sense to label the press "fake news,"which tells people not to believe anything it reports. If, on the other hand, you want to define your own reality so that an illogical agenda seem less so... Second, as others have described in great detail, Trump chose a phrase ("enemies of the people") replete with ominous historical resonance in other societies as a prelude to violence. As with his adoption of the slogan "America First," which emerged in the 1930s, among Nazi sympathizers averse to U.S. intervention against Hitler, it is unclear whether Trump is dog whistling dark forces in society or just stumbled into what he considers a good line. Either way, there is no reason to expect him to drop the phrase, even if he knows its origins. Third, while every one of our previous Presidents may have criticized particular reporters, on particularly issuesHalberstam on Vietnam, Woodward and Bernstein on Watergate, Walter Pincus or Knight-Ridder on Iraqthey never publicly questioned the press as an institution. Kennedy paid frequent homage to the First Amendment, including in a 1961 speech entitled "The President and the Press," in which he said he deliberately eschewed the word "versus," because "that is not the way I see things." Richard Nixon's attitude toward the press was perhaps the closest to what we see today from Trump. He regularly referred to the media as "the enemy," put journalists like Mary McGrory and Daniel Schorr on his "enemies list," and did everything he could to intimidate The Washington Post into dropping the Watergate investigation (we know how that one ended). But he also saved his most biting commentary for the seclusion of the Oval Office. While journalists may have judged George W. Bush's Presidency harshly, helping drive his approval rating to unprecedented lows, he maintained cordial and respectful relationships with virtually all of them, whatever he may have felt about the coverage he received. Indeed, no modern President showed anywhere near the degree of open hostility toward the press writ large that Trump displays on a near-daily basis, nor tried to enlist the public in a relentless demonization campaign. Fox News Chris Wallace pressed White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus on these points in an interview Sunday, as the White House defended the Presidents comments as warranted, and urged reporters to take them seriously. I don't have a problem with you complaining about an individual story, Wallace said. But you went a lot further than that, or the President went a lot further than that. He said the fake media, not certain stories, but the fake media are enemies of the country. We dont have a state run media in this country, thats what they have in dictatorships. Priebus responded that it was not a single story the White House was concerned about, but 24 hours a day, seven days a week talking about Russian spies, talking about the intelligence community and other total garbage, unsourced stuff. Wallace did not question how the Administration can equate adversarial coverage with somehow standing against the American people. But he did pointedly remind Priebus that you dont get to tell us what to do any more than Barack Obama did. A fourth and perhaps most difference with Trump's crusade is that while journalism has always entailed risks, the world has become a far more dangerous place in which to practice it, as a privileged status in past conflicts has given way to deliberate targeting and authoritarians employ ever more coercive tactics. The International Federation of Journalists points to steadily increasing levels of violence against media workers since it began keeping statistics in 1990. That year recorded the killing of 40 journalists worldwide. Over the last decade that number has never been under 100. Like virtually every other journalist I know, I have friends and colleagues who paid the ultimate price to do their jobs, and I consider them no less heroic than the soldiers and diplomats who have done the same. I wonder whether Trump has considered the impact his statements might have on authoritarian regimes around the world that are locking up reporters at an accelerating rate. While he surely didn't know it, Trump tweeted at journalistic "enemies" a day after the five-year anniversary of the death in Syria of my friend Anthony Shadid, to my mind the greatest foreign correspondent of the 21st century, after a career marked by countless searing stories, and more than a few near-misses. Intentionally or not, Trump's label also tarred people like Salih Saif Aldin, an Iraqi stringer in The Washington Post's Baghdad bureau, with whom I'd spent many sleepless nights huddled around a television set or computer screen, communicating in our broken versions of each other's languages. He was shot dead in Baghdad in the fall of 2007, conducting interviews in a part of Baghdad deemed too dangerous for American reporters to go. I wonder whether Trump has considered the impact his statements might have on authoritarian regimes around the world that are locking up reporters at an accelerating rate. During my time at the State Department, Secretary Kerry raised these cases, some of whom are American citizens, in literally dozens of meetings with counterparts from places like Turkey, Egypt, Iran, China and Russia. Sometimes he succeeded. Now it seems hard to imagine that such pleas, if the Trump Administration is even willing to make them, will carry anywhere near the same moral weight. And if the President of the only nation with a First Amendment can treat the press as not just his enemies, but enemies of the people he represents, there is little to stop other nations, with far fewer protections, from doing the same. It is important to understand that being a reporter in the United States presents its own challenges. For one thing, the Washington press has the unenviable job of reporting on meetings in which they cannot participate, leaving them subject to the whims and agendas of people who can never provide the whole truth. And for a mix of reasons, including some self-inflicted wounds, journalists' approval rating in America has plummeted to around 20 percent, lower even than Trump's, which is the lowest of any new President in history. The low regard in which they are held, and the way in which reporters were treated on Trump's presidential campaigndisparaged by the candidate, taunted and threatened by his supporters, occasionally even manhandled by his aideshad already raised legitimate, and virtually unprecedented, questions about how safe it is for American journalists to do their jobs. And that was before Trump labeled them enemies. Wondering if I was overstating these dark scenarios, I contacted Jason Rezaian, an Iranian-American journalist for The Washington Post, who was released from an Iranian prison after being held for more than a year on trumped up charges. At the State Department, my colleagues and I had worked extensively on the negotiations that ultimately led to a prisoner exchange through which Jason was freed. I was curious, given his experiences, what he thought of Trump lashing out at his profession. "Most of my reporting until now has been done from an authoritarian country so attacks on the American media by leaders is a phenomenon I've witnessed before. It is absolutely not something I anticipated coming home to, though, after 18 months in prison in Iran for the crime of practicing journalism," Rezaian said. "I worry about the new risks such anti-press attitudes, real or feigned, from this administration will create for reporters working in the US and abroad. A tense relationship between the government and the press can be a key to safeguarding core democratic values and principles, but a situation where basic notions of the other's legitimacy are being repeatedly and publicly questioned and undermined seems to me a dangerous road to start down." Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. Two minors were found murdered in Chennai after being sexually assaulted. By Pramod Madhav: While Chennai was consumed in the political tussle between E Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam, the city witnessed two heart-wrenching incidents of brutal murder of two children in the past few days. Three-year-old Rithika was last seen playing next to her home on Sunday evening at Ennore. The girl was found on Monday morning at a dump yard gagged with a piece of cloth. advertisement Her parents had filed a complaint yesterday night with the cops and the investigation began by questioning 10 men. Police also arrested a neighbour and found Rithika's belongings with her. In another incident, Hasini, a seven-year old girl went missing from her home on February 5 only to be found dead and dumped at a roadside near Anakaputhur. Her neighbor was found guilty of sexually assaulting and gagging her to death. The then CM OPS took a break from his political fight to condole Hasini's death. Such continuous incidents where girl children are being targeted sexually or for personal gains have shocked parents across the state. Also read: Chennai horror: 7-year-old molested, suffocated, burnt, dumped on highway 5 rape cases reported recently by foreign nationals in India --- ENDS --- David Thewlis has been confirmed for the role of Ares in the upcoming "Wonder Woman" movie reports Batman News. The British actor, perhaps best known for playing Dr Lupin in the "Harry Potter" film series, was confirmed for a role in the project last November, however until now there has been no news on which character he would be playing. After French magazine Studio Cine Live reported last month that Ares would be the main villain in the movie, it has now been confirmed that Thewlis will be playing the baddie thanks to a mix of CGI and practical effects. Batman News also speculated that Ares has not yet been seen in any promotional material due to the CGI effects, however the site is expecting a sneak peek of Thewlis in the role in the next trailer. The film will also star Gal Gadot reprising her role as Wonder Woman and will hit theaters on June 2. Mongolia has reached an agreement with the International Monetary Fund on a $5.5 billion bailout package, officials announced, as the debt-wracked country tries to stabilise its economy. The landlocked north Asian nation has been hit hard by a more than 50 percent fall over the past five years in the price of copper, its main export. Billions of dollars' worth of natural resources lie buried beneath Mongolia's sprawling steppes, but development has been delayed for years and slowing growth in its biggest customer China has hobbled the economy. Mongolia's economy grew 1.0 percent in 2016, while its budget deficit exploded to 3.7 trillion tugrik ($1.5 billion) according to its national statistics office. The rescue package will include a $440 million loan over the next three years, Koshy Mathai, the IMF's Asia-Pacific deputy division chief, said in a statement issued Sunday. The Asian Development Bank, World Bank, Japan and Korea are expected to provide another $3 billion in support, while the People's Bank of China will extend its 15 billion yuan ($2.2 billion) swap line for another three years. The bailout package is intended to "restore economic stability and debt sustainability as well as to create the conditions for strong, sustainable, and inclusive growth, while protecting the most vulnerable citizens", Mathai said. It will help the cash-strapped country make a $580 million bond payment due in March. The loan is subject to approval by the IMF's executive board, which is expected to consider it in March. "Fiscal consolidation is a key priority, as loose fiscal policy in the past was a major driver of Mongolias current economic difficulties and high debt," Mathai added. Theres been a familiar script since the Greek debt crisis erupted seven years ago. Athens balks at austerity measures, but eventually caves to European demands to stay solvent. Europeans tire of Greeces political leaders, but tolerate them to keep Europe whole. Now, the storyline is about to change. European finance ministers are set to blow through a deadline Monday to release a $7.4 billion in bailout funds. Greece needs the money to pay a bill in July, but the International Monetary Fund wont pony up the cash unless Europe forgives some of Athens debt. Germany refuses to do so. The group of EU finance ministers known as the Eurogroup meet Monday in Brussels to address the situation. They have already conceded nothing will be decided on the funds at the gathering. The impasse comes as a wave of nationalist sentiment in Europe is threatening the belief that Greece should remain a part of Europe. Nationalists Marine le Pen in France and Geert Wilders in the Netherlands are climbing in the polls. The Dutch vote in March, while the French vote in April. Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is facing a far-right challenge from the anti-EU Alternative for Germany in the fall. Berlin has footed more of the bill of any European country for Greeces rescue and voters there are getting fatigued. Athens is in a danger zone, Ian Lesser, the-Brussels based executive director of the German Marshall Funds Transatlantic Center, said. Wolfgang Schauble, Germanys finance minister and a close ally of Merkel, has said Greece must abandon the euro in order to get debt relief. He has also made clear he will not seek parliamentary approval to release more tranches of the $91 billion Greek rescue fund without the IMF on board. Yet the IMF wont sign off on a deal unless Greeces creditors give it a break on what it must repay. The IMF insists that Greece meet GDP projections two percent lower than Europe before it begins to pay back money it has borrowed. Story continues The Greek government concurs with the IMFs forecast that it cannot reach a budget surplus of 3.5 percent, a European demand. Alexis Tsipras, the Greek prime minister who led his country through the 2015 crisis, has warned Germany to stop playing with fire and grant him relief. There has been a consistent unwillingness to address the issue head on in a way that would give the Greeks sufficient relief that it would put the issue aside for a few years, said Lesser. Jan Kallmorgen, co-chairman of the Atlantic Initiative in Berlin, said he believes Germany will ultimately concede because the stakes of additional European fracture are too high. Negotiations are tough, longer than expected, emotions run high, he told FP. At the end there will be a solution because Tsiprass main interest is to stay in power, and Europe cannot allow for any other exit scenario debate after Brexit. Photo credit: ANGELOS TZORTZINIS/Getty Images The European Union may not feel much like a family these days, but its leaders do tend to bicker like one over questions of money and pride, especially when they have a grumpy uncle named Donald Trump calling in debts on defense spending from across the Atlantic. So it was at the Munich Security Conference this weekend, an annual gathering of senior officials from around the world at a plush hotel in the Bavarian capital. Its normally a collegial affair, intended to reaffirm the transatlantic bond against whatever threats the U.S. and Europe see in a given year. But this time was different. Under pressure from the Trump administration to fulfill NATOs spending targets on defense or face the consequences, some European statesmen openly accused their allies of being cheapskates. Others tried to play semantics over what defense spending even means. And as the confrontations in Munich played out on the stage and in the corridors of the Bayerischer Hof hotel, it became clear that the debate over Europes security will get a lot uglier before it gets resolved. At the head of the U.S. delegation to the conference this year was Vice President Mike Pence, whose speech felt at times like that of a barman politely insisting to a roomful of drinkers that happy hour is over. He reminded the European leaders in the audience that, out of 28 members of the NATO military alliance, only four countries other than the U.S. currently meet their obligation to spend at least 2% of their GDP on defense. (These are Greece, Estonia, Poland, and the U.K. On its own the U.S. spends around $650 billion per year, or roughly 3.6% of its GDP. That accounts for more than 70% of the total defense spending of all the NATO allies.) Let me be clear on this point, Pence said. The President of the United States expects our allies to keep their word, to fulfill this commitment. And for most, that means the time has come to do more. A burst of applause broke out at this point from the American delegates in the audience. But the Europeans mostly took the remark with blank expressions, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel did not feel the need to clap. Story continues Instead, Merkel went on to argue that mutual security went beyond military spending that, for example, some types of development aid should count as defense spending, in effect equating the construction of hospitals in Africa to the stockpiling of ammo in Europe. When we help people in their home countries to live a better life and thereby prevent crises, this is also a contribution to security, Merkel said from the stage in Munich on Saturday. So I will not be drawn into a debate about who is more military-minded and who is less. In fact, few in the alliance are less military-minded than Germany, largely due to its disastrous history of militarism in the first half of the 20th century. Since then, Germanys defense policy has been shaped by a simple and laudable credo: Never again. But the national commitment to pacifism has become hard for Europes largest economy to defend. Its military has been deliberately stunted, and it is seldom willing or able to take on any combat missions, opting instead to offer rearguard support while Germanys allies carry the brunt of the fighting. So the idea that Germany, or any other NATO member, could pad its defense budget by spending more on international development did not sit well with Jens Stoltenberg, the Secretary General of the alliance. Its not either development or security, he told TIME in an interview on Saturday in Munich. We need both. Asked about Merkels suggestion that one type of spending could count toward the other, Stoltenberg pointed out that the United Nations already has a spending goal for international development 0.7% of GDP. But thats not the same thing as NATOs 2% requirement for spending on defense. And splurging on one would not compensate for skimping on the other, Stoltenberg suggested. When we live in more challenging times, we need to invest more in defense. The NATO chief also challenged Merkels argument that development aid could help bring about peace and security in conflict zones. Actually, he says, its the other way around: We need peace and security to facilitate development. Though the debate may seem pedantic, it points to some fundamental disagreements over the threats that Europe is facing. Along NATOs eastern flank, countries like Poland and the Baltic States are most concerned about the threat from Russia, whose military keeps tank formations and missile batteries primed along its borders with NATO. But those threats feel a lot more remote when seen from Germany, which is more concerned about the risk of refugees flooding into Europe from faraway conflicts in the Middle East and Africa. This difference in perspective led to some heated exchanges in Munich. After German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel offered a version of Merkels argument for development aid as a form of defense spending, he got a blunt reply from Artis Pabriks, the former defense minister of Latvia, a NATO member that borders Russia. For me, as a Latvian, he said, it sounds a little bit bitter that support for my borders and the security of my country will be challenged because some other European nations will not pay their share. Gabriel, who also serves as the vice chancellor in Merkels government, responded with some choice statistics. Germany would need to spend an extra 25 billion euros ($26.5 billion) on defense over the next few years in order reach its 2% commitment to NATO. Yet the country is already spending 30-40 billion euros per year on the cost of sheltering Syrian, Iraqi and Afghan refugees, which are flooding into our country because military interventions some years ago went terribly wrong, Gabriel said. It was an unusually pointed rebuke against the U.S., the United Kingdom, France and other NATO allies whose military interventions have caused havoc in many parts of the Middle East and Northern Africa. If we take in these [refugees], integrate them, and prevent them from going to other parts of the world as foreign fighters, that is also part of the debate that we must have, said Gabriel. Its sound logic, but it likely wont let Germany avoid the need to play a much bigger military role in the years to come. On the sidelines of the conference in Munich, some German politicians admitted as much. We have to prove to be reliable, Norbert Roettgen, the chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the German parliament, told TIME. We must not outsource, after the end of the Cold War, the care and concern for European security. In trying to meet the demands of NATO allies, Roettgen has proposed a compromise. He wants to increase the German defense budget slowly, by about 3 billion euros per year, or 0.1% of GDP. But even if he would be able to get the German government and parliament to approve that proposal, it would still take at least another eight years before the country reaches the 2% benchmark. That isnt likely to satisfy President Trump. During the first meeting of NATO defense ministers since Trump took office, his new Defense Secretary James Mattis issued a warning to the Europeans: the U.S. would be moderating its commitment to Europes defense, he said, if NATO allies dont increase funding by years end. Americans cannot care more for your childrens future security than you do, Mattis told his European counterparts in Brussels on Wednesday. If this was a threat, it sounded a lot milder than the ones Trump hurled at NATO in the past. During his campaign for the presidency, he warned that if European allies dont reasonably reimburse the U.S. for the costs of defense, they should expect to be told, Congratulations, you will be defending yourself. In an interview shortly before his inauguration, he suggested NATO might be obsolete. Those remarks caused a lot of alarm on the Continent. But they also urged the Europeans to band together in outrage at Trumps disregard for the core NATO principle of mutual defense. Over the past few days, the message they got from Mattis and Pence caused a different reaction. It made the Europeans look closely at one another, and at their pocketbooks, before starting to quarrel among themselves. Mugla (Turkey) (AFP) - One of the nearly 50 suspects in an alleged plot to assassinate Turkey's president admitted involvement in the botched July 15 putsch bid as the mass trial opened Monday. Forty-four suspects, mainly soldiers, are under arrest over the alleged plot to kill Recep Tayyip Erdogan, while three others still on the run are being tried in absentia at the court in the southern city of Mugla. The suspects, several smartly dressed in suits and ties, were led into the court by security forces in front of television cameras, AFP correspondents said. Onlookers heckled the accused as they stepped out of the buses that took them from prison, shouting "we want the death penalty!" and "Allahu Akbar" ("God is Greatest"). The trial was taking place under the highest security with snipers posted on rooftops and helicopters circling overhead. Erdogan, who was holidaying at a hotel in the upmarket Aegean resort of Marmaris with his family on the night of the coup, has said the plot left him 15 minutes from death. Turkish officials say the bid to kill Erdogan was a key part of the plan to depose the elected government they allege was masterminded by the US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen and his so-called Fethullah Terror Organisation (FETO). - 'Death penalty won't hurt' - One of the most senior soldiers on trial, former brigadier general Gokhan Sahin Sonmezates, denied any link to Gulen, describing his organisation as a "perversion". Sonmezates claimed he believed he was part of an action by the Turkish army. "My motivation was to protect my country," he said. A second suspect, major Sukru Seymen, dramatically admitted in court: "Yes, I conducted a coup", adding, "even if I get the death penalty, it won't hurt me." He also insisted he was not a Gulen follower, but an admirer of Turkey's secular founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. The trial was being held in a conference centre rather than a standard courtroom to accommodate the high number of suspects. Story continues Inside, suspects were placed at the centre surrounded by dozens of soldiers with batons. The initial phase should last until March 15. Prosecutors have sought multiple life sentences for each of the 47 suspects, who include an alleged "hit squad" of 37 soldiers. Many were detained hiding in the mountains above Marmaris, even in caves, in the days after the coup bid that left 248 dead not including the plotters. - 'A different Turkey' - Turkey has hit out at claims that the plotters' failure to eliminate Erdogan raises questions about the seriousness of the plot, insisting that the president was targeted by a potentially lethal conspiracy. Accompanied by close family members including his son-in-law, Energy Minister Berat Albayrak, Erdogan had managed to flee Marmaris and fly to Istanbul where he oversaw the suppression of the coup. Two Turkish policemen who were helping to guard Erdogan at the hotel were killed, according to the indictment. The plan was to "neutralise the president," Erdogan's lawyer Huseyin Aydin told AFP outside the court. "If our president was neutralised as planned... we would have been faced with a different Turkey," he said. Onlookers waving Turkish flags chanted slogans against the accused and Gulen, including "Execution!" and "Game Over, FETO". After the coup, there have been calls to reimpose the death penalty in Turkey, which was abolished in 2004. Its reinstatement would spell the end of Turkey's embattled bid to join the European Union. Despite this, Erdogan has repeatedly told rallies he would approve legislation reimposing the death penalty if it was approved by parliament. Ankara has repeatedly demanded that the United States extradite Gulen, who lives in a secluded compound in the US state of Pennsylvania. The preacher, who is on trial in several cases in Turkey, is one of the three suspects still at large in the assassination plot trial. Some 43,000 people have been arrested since the coup in a massive crackdown on followers of Gulen that has raised international concerns. Gulen vehemently denies involvement. The Mugla trial is one of many now getting under way across the country to judge the coup suspects, the biggest legal process in the country's modern history. Europe's stock markets took a break from Trump-watching on Monday as US markets were closed, instead mulling developments on their own continent. Optimism about a bailout deal for Greece was tempered by signs of growing anti-EU sentiment in France ahead of the presidential election in April and May, analysts said. Polls suggest that National Front candidate Marine Le Pen is gaining on her main rivals, making any second-round runoff in May a closer call, although she would still lose. "Political developments in France and Greece and the absence of US investors, who were busy celebrating Presidents Day, meant European stocks showed no clear direction," said Jasper Lawler, an analyst at London Capital Group. - Good news, bad news - "Europe is caught between the good news of a likely Greek bailout deal and the bad news of rising anti-EU sentiment in France before its election," he said. "Markets remain nervous about the presidential election in France," agreed analysts at brokers Aurel BGC in Paris, saying this is why European gains mostly gave up early gains over the day. Eurozone ministers sought Monday to break a deadlock with the IMF on Greece's bailout, with Germany saying they had now reached a "common position" and EU sources saying that Greece had agreed to a compromise on reforms. The CAC-40 index in Paris closed 0.1 percent lower. Among French stocks, PSA fell after a German newspaper report said the French automaker has pledged to keep Opel plants in Germany running if a planned merger goes forward, and to refrain from layoffs until at least 2019. Frankfurt posted modest closing gains after the Bundesbank predicted a pickup in growth for the first quarter, fuelled by industrial activity and consumer spending. In London, where the FTSE 100 close little changed, Unilever stock shed seven percent after Kraft Heinz backed off from pursuing a merger with the British-Dutch giant. - Unilever drops - Story continues At the weekend, US food giant Kraft Heinz dropped a bid to buy Unilever just days after the Dutch-British consumer goods group rejected a $143-billion buyout offer. Dealers said once Unilever had rejected Kraft's friendly approach the US company's only option was to go hostile, which it did not want to do. They noted, however, that Monday's share price decline was still far from wiping out Friday's 13.7 percent gain, which suggests that a more modest deal between the two companies may still be on the cards. They would also not rule out Kraft making a new approach further down the road. Meanwhile Kraft may turn towards other potential targets to expand, analyst said. "Although the Kraft Heinz deal for Unilever met a very quick end, the market has been quick to embrace the wider possibility of future potential mergers and acquisitions," said Rebecca O'Keeffe, head of investment at stockbroker Interactive Investor. Offsetting Monday's losses for Unilever was a jump in Royal Bank of Scotland's share price. The British government on Friday proposed plans for the bailed-out RBS to fund initiatives worth 750 million to improve competition in the sector, in order to meet its rescue conditions. "RBS shares jumped... after it confirmed the EU is looking at alternatives to forcing the troubled lender to selling off around 300 Williams & Glyn brand branches," said Neil Wilson, senior market analyst at traders ETX Capital. US markets were closed Monday for the Presidents' Day holiday. Wall Street hit new highs Friday for the sixth time in seven sessions. - Key figures around 1640 GMT - London - FTSE 100: FLAT at 7,299.86 points (close) Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP 0.6 percent at 11,827.62 (close) Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.1 percent at 4,864.99 (close) EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.1 percent at 3,312.39 (close) Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.1 percent at 19,251.08 (close) Hong Kong - Hang Seng: UP 0.5 percent at 24,146.08 (close) Shanghai - Composite: UP 1.2 per cent at 3,239.96 (close) New York - Dow: UP less than 0.1 percent at 20,624.05 (close on Friday) Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0622 from $1.0612 Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2467 from $1.2416 Dollar/yen: UP at 113.09 yen from 112.89 yen Oil - Brent North Sea: UP 36 cents at $56.17 per barrel Oil - West Texas Intermediate: UP 26 cents at $54.04 According to the organizers, demand to attend this years Munich Security Conference (MSC) was unprecedented. I can understand why. People on both sides of the Atlantic myself included were eager to hear senior members of the Trump administration talk about the transatlantic relationship at one of the most important and high level transatlantic gatherings of the year. Would the three cabinet members in attendance reflect the sentiments of their boss, who has called NATO obsolete, made disparaging remarks about the European Union, and expressed admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin? Or would Trumps cabinet members present a positive vision for the transatlantic partners, one that would no doubt stress defense spending but also reassure European allies at a time of considerable uncertainty? I came to Munich with a few more questions. In the wake of both Brexit and the U.S. election, I was curious how the heads of state, CEOs, and ministers there would address the publics growing disaffection with so many of the things we would discuss in Munich: globalization, international institutions, and national governments ability to respond to the needs of their citizens. Similarly, I was interested in how Western leaders are thinking today about Russias blatant attempts to undermine the very system we have spent the last 70 years creating. What fresh ideas would these leaders bring to the conversation? I was also hoping perhaps unfairly that the Munich Security Conference would shed at least parts of its notoriously traditional format: long speeches with little to no time for more than two or three questions (often from the same participants). Given the near endless list of challenges we face, I was hoping the organizers would ban opening statements for everyone except heads of state and the U.S. vice president, challenge panelists with tough follow up questions, and allow some heated debates to unfold. Story continues So what did the participants in this years Munich Security Conference get? They got the status quo. In every respect. With regards to the message from the Washington, participants listened to a collection of Americas greatest hits. Like previous administration officials, Vice President Pence promised Americas strong support for NATO and told Europeans, Your success is our success. Pence also shared some touching anecdotes about traveling through Europe with his brother as a young man and later as a member of Congress following 9/11. And unsurprisingly, he pushed Europeans on defense spending just as Defense Secretary James Mattis did during his remarks the day before. Given President Donald Trumps well known views on the transatlantic relationship, Europeans were clearly relieved that Pence didnt depart from Americas standard script about the overarching value of the transatlantic relationship. But they were far from reassured. Immediately following the speech (which did not include Q&A) Europeans asked me if Pences views reflected those of the president. Many also noted that the speech lacked any mention of the European Union or specific policy proposals on Russia, Iran, Syria, or China. In fact, other than the broad peace through strength theme and a pledge to increase U.S. defense spending, push back on Iran, and hold Russia accountable, the speech was nearly void of content. By contrast, when then-Vice President Joe Biden spoke in Munich in 2009 at the start of the Obama administration he outlined a long list of the administrations strategic objectives both at home and abroad. He talked about renewing the relationship with Europe, strengthening U.S.-EU ties, engaging with Russia to secure loose nukes, enhancing missile defense with European allies, investing in renewables, increasing foreign assistance, reaching out to the Muslim world, closing Guantanamo, working towards a two-state solution in the Middle East, and stabilizing the financial system. Folks can take issue with that list, but they cant accuse the Obama administration of lacking vision. The same cannot be said of the Trump team. Other than Make America Great Again, what exactly is Trumps foreign policy? (Jon Finer, one of our Shadow contributors says Trump simply doesnt have one.) So if Pence left the audience at the Munich Security Conference with more questions than answers, how about the other speakers? Well, they too delivered the status quo, often taking great pains to avoid admitting that the West is actually in the soup. Britains Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson described how the United Kingdom would serve as a buttress on the European cathedral, supporting the EU while existing outside it. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke about Russias pleasant relations with its neighbors. And EU High Representative Federica Mogherini, one of the most dynamic speakers all weekend and one of the few women, argued that the European Union is not in crisis. Maybe not but if the French election puts Marine Le Pen in power, France could hold its own referendum on EU membership. Shouldnt we be at least talking about that possible outcome now? As for my hopes for a new and innovative format, again, the MSC delivered the status quo. To his credit, Wolfgang Ischinger who runs the MSC has taken steps over the years to bring the conference into the 21st century. He added a young leaders component, created an app, added live streaming video, and made modest progress in altering the demographics of the audience. But the entire weekend is still too staged, leaving far too little time for real debate at least on stage. The audience and speakers list continues to lack gender, age, and ethnic diversity. And the venue, which should have been declared too small years ago, continues to feel dangerously over capacity. Would I go next year? (Maybe the more appropriate question if Wolfgang reads this is whether Ill be invited back.) Yes, if I manage to secure an invitation in 2018, I will go back. Why? While the speeches and panels can be dry, one can vacuum up incredibly valuable insight that you simply cant get elsewhere. Where else can you speak with the former prime minister of Sweden, the former head of the CIA, the defense minister of Norway, and two of Britains top journalists in the span of a 45 minute coffee break? Wolfgang has also added a number of side events that offer participants the chance to escape the crush of the 400+ people in the main hall and meet in smaller groups. This year I attended a thought provoking cyber simulation. The Atlantic Council also gave a fascinating presentation on recent events in Aleppo using some impressive digital forensics. Many of those events are worthwhile. Finally, lets not forget its the charming southern Germany city of Munich. Whats not to love about Munich? Photo credit:THOMAS KIENZLE/AFP/Getty Images SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) El Salvador's former first lady has declared her innocence as she entered a courthouse to face corruption charges related to her husband's presidency. Prosecutors allege that Ana Ligia de Saca and former President Tony Saca were involved in money laundering and conspiracy. Ligia's attorney says her appearance at Monday's session shows she respects the law. Police have arrested 10 people allegedly tied to a scheme that diverted at least $246 million government funds through advertising and media companies at the behest of the former president. Saca governed El Salvador between 2004 and 2009. If convicted he could face up to 32 years in prison. By Helen Murphy and Nelson Bocanegra BOGOTA (Reuters) - An explosion near Bogota's bullring injured at least 26 people, most of them police officers as they prepared for anti-bullfighting protests in Colombia's capital on Sunday, the police said, but no one was killed. Earlier, the police said one of its officers had been killed in the blast. Details of the cause of the blast were not immediately available, but media images showed a police officer in a shredded uniform walking with support from his colleagues, as well as debris in the road, broken glass and damage to apartment buildings close by. "The national police rejects and condemns these acts of barbarism that affect the integrity of our police and other citizens, as well as the tranquility and coexistence of the country's capital," the police said in statement. Hundreds of protesters have gathered weekly to demonstrate against bullfighting in Bogota, which resumed last month for the first time in four years. The ban was lifted by the constitutional court which said it was part of the national heritage, prompting weekly clashes with police. (Reporting by Helen Murphy; Editing by Alan Crosby and Phil Berlowitz) By Press Trust of India: From Yoshita Singh New York, Feb 20 (PTI) Over a thousand people from various faiths declared I am a Muslim too as they assembled at the iconic Times Square here to express solidarity with the Muslim community and protest against US President Donald Trumps immigration policies. The rally was co-organised by the Foundation For Ethnic Understanding and the Nusantara Foundation in response to the uncertainty and anxiety created by Trumps now-rescinded executive order to bar citizens from the seven Muslim-majority nations. advertisement The I am a Muslim Too solidarity rally drew several thousand people who raised slogans and held banners of Love Trumps Hate and USA, USA and No Muslim Ban. Headlined by American entrepreneur and author Russell Simmons and actress Susan Sarandon, the rally yesterday saw participation by several faith leaders who denounced the divisive political environment in the country and called on Americans to stand up for Muslims facing increasing threat and pressure. Addressing the rally, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said America was founded to respect all faiths and all beliefs and stereotypes against the Muslim community has to be dispelled. "The message I want to give as Mayor of the city to everyone regardless of background or faith or where you were born is that this is your city and this is your country," he said. The Mayor said America was founded by people who were fleeing religious persecution and was founded to respect all faiths and all beliefs. "This is who we are as Americans and this must be protected. An attack on anybodys faith is an attack on all people of faith," he said. Lauding the 900 Muslim members of the New York Police Department, de Blasio said the 1.6 billion Muslims in the world are "overwhelming peace loving" people who care about their community. "We have to dispel the stereotypes" faced by the Muslim community, de Blasio said declaring at the end of his speech that "Im proud to say today Im a Muslim too". Eminent Sikh-American speaker and activist Simran Jeet Singh said he is supporting the rally "because as a Sikh, we know what discrimination and oppression feels like. We want a world that is acceptable and tolerant". Sarandon said given the political environment in the country, it is no longer possible to be neutral. "If you are silent, then you are complacent. "We are here because we will not be a cog in a machine that is dismantling our constitution, that is dismantling our bills of rights," she said to loud cheers from the crowd. (more) PTI YAS NSA --- ENDS --- advertisement Hundreds of families were fleeing from both sides of Pakistan's border with Afghanistan Monday, officials said, as Islamabad continued a violent crackdown on extremists after multiple attacks last week raised fears of a militant resurgence. Pakistan has accused Afghanistan of harbouring the militants who carried out last week's attacks, which killed more than 100 people across the country. The Pakistani military said it used heavy artillery to fire at militant hideouts in Afghanistan Monday, after carrying out airstrikes on both sides of the border over the weekend. Journalists are not allowed into the area and the claims could not be independently verified. But officials on the Afghan side said at least six people had been killed, and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said the firing had displaced up to 200 families. "Military fire across the border into Nangarhar and Kunar Provinces has forced Afghan families to flee their homes... (such) attacks forcibly displace civilians, violating International Humanitarian Law, and must stop," said NRC Country Director in Afghanistan, Kate O'Rourke. A Pakistani security source told AFP Monday that up to 700 Pakistani families were being evacuated from along the border in Khyber tribal district "to protect them from any retaliatory attack". Kabul and Islamabad routinely accuse each other of providing safe haven to militants, and the Pakistani government openly admitted it shelters the Afghan Taliban leadership in statements made by the country's top diplomat last year. On Friday Pakistan gave Afghanistan a list of 76 "Afghan-based" militants and demanded that Kabul take action against them. In a tit-for-tat move Monday, Afghanistan supplied Islamabad with a list of 85 militants it said were sheltering in Pakistan, calling for similar action. Pakistan has already closed the two main gates along its porous border with Afghanistan, Torkham at the Khyber Pass and Chaman in Balochistan province. Officials said Monday they would remain closed "indefinitely". Story continues The spike in tensions was triggered by last week's assaults, the deadliest of which was a suicide attack at a crowded Sufi shrine in Pakistan's Sindh province on Thursday which killed 90 people, according to a new official toll, and which was claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group. A series of other attacks were apparently coordinated by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP, or Pakistani Taliban), including a bombing in the eastern city of Lahore which killed 14 people and wounded dozens on February 13. The emergence of IS and a TTP resurgence would be a major blow to Pakistan, which had enjoyed a dramatic improvement in security over the past two years after a military-led crackdown begun in 2014. But critics have long argued that the government has not addressed the root causes of extremism, and analysts said there were "visible signs" militants were regrouping after last week's attacks. Ann Ravel on Sunday fulfilled her promise to quit the Federal Election Commission by May. In doing so, Ravel who directed her resignation letter at President Donald Trump and included unsolicited advice for new president leaves behind an agency the outspoken Democratic commissioner says she at once considers essential to American democracy and as useful, in its current state, as mens nipples. But Ravel tells the Center for Public Integrity shes reaffirming her quest to rid elections of secret money and reduce wealthy individuals influence on politics, albeit from her home in California instead of Washington, D.C. Her immediate plans include teaching at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, and joining the boards of several nonprofit organizations, two of which primarily advocate for campaign finance reforms. Ravel, whose resignation is effective March 1, declined to name the nonprofits because her appointments there are not yet official. Dont worry, said Ravel, the six-member commissions chairwoman in 2015. Im not going away. Since joining the FEC in October 2013, Ravel had little trouble finding limelight. Her unabashedly left-leaning campaign reform agenda found high-profile platforms that ranged from the New York Times op-ed pages to segments on Comedy Centrals The Daily Show. Ravel rarely missed an opportunity to accuse fellow Republican commissioners of disregarding election laws a recent FEC deadlock involving a conservative nonprofits TV advertising practices proved particularly vexing to Ravel. Her parting shot? A 25-page missive entitled, Dysfunction and Deadlock: The Enforcement Crisis at the Federal Election Commission Reveals the Unlikelihood of Draining the Swamp, in which she derides her GOP colleagues as a bloc of three commissioners [that] routinely thwarts, obstructs and delays action on the very campaign finance laws its members were appointed to administer. This story is part of Federal Politics. News about ethics, campaign finance, lobbying and influence in the federal government. Click here to read more stories in this series. Don't miss another Politics investigation: Sign up for the Center for Public Integrity's Watchdog email. Both Ravels style and substance frequently agitated her Republican counterparts on the six-member, bipartisan commission and even led to death threats. Story continues Current Vice Chairwoman Caroline Hunter most publicly clashed with Ravel, who Hunter accused of gross political overreach attempting to enforce campaign laws that dont exist, instead of regulating and ruling on ones that do. A progression from foolishness to nihilism is how Hunter in August described Ravels FEC tenure. I wish Commissioner Ravel well, Hunter said Sunday. I hope her replacement will follow the law and refrain from pursuing his or her own personal political agenda. ( Update, 11:21 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 23 : Republican Commissioner Lee Goodman offered a pointed rebuttal to Ravel's 25-page document, saying she "manipulated her statistics purposely in order to advance her philosophical narrative that First Amendment rights should be severely restricted.) With Ravels departure, all five remaining FEC commissioners continue to serve at the agency despite their terms having long ago expired. (Ravels was due to end in May.) In Ravels resignation letter to Trump, she urged him to appoint new commissioners to replace Hunter, as well as Republican commissioners Matthew Petersen and Goodman, Democratic commissioner Ellen Weintraub and independent Chairman Steven Walther. Trump is responsible for nominating new FEC commissioners. Im an optimist, and Im always hopeful, given the statements hes made, that the president will do what hes said, Ravel said of her resignation letter. But I have to admit that his appointment of a former FEC commissioner as White House counsel, whose goal it was was to emasculate the agency, makes me skeptical. Ravel is referring to White House Counsel Don McGahn, himself a former FEC chairman whose anti-regulatory stance has long disquieted Democrats convinced hes out to gut standing federal election laws designed to protect against corruption and encourage political transparency. And for all Trumps talk of draining the swamp that he considers Washington, D.C., politics to be, hes to date publicly ignored the FEC, which is congressionally mandated to administer and enforce the nations campaign finance laws. Related story: New FEC chief on 'dark money' mission Trump, foremost, has not indicated if and when hell fill FEC commissioner slots or if hell adhere to a standing practice of a president rubber stamping FEC nominees floated by Senate Republicans and Democrats. Conceivably, Trump could nominate anyone he wants to the FEC, including Libertarians or independents that share his political sensibilities. Federal law only mandates that the FEC feature no more than three commissioners from any one political party it says nothing about them having to be Republicans or Democrats. Such a scenario could give Republicans a potential advantage on the commission. But Walther, for his part, says hes yet to hear from the Trump administration. The White House did not respond to requests for comment about its intentions for the FEC and Ravels resignation. Ravel, without detailing her reasons, says she believes others on the commission are likely to go into the [Trump] administration and soon leave the FEC. Losing a quorum of four commissioners would stop the FECs very ability to conduct business. The commission must have four commissioners in place to take most any official action, from opening investigations to levying fines to offering political candidates and committees formal advice on how to comply with federal law. This last happened in 2008, and for months, it crippled the agency. Goodman, who could not be reached for comment Sunday, in December told the Center for Public Integrity hes make a decision in early 2017 about whether to leave the FEC. Hunter on Sunday declined to discuss her future plans. Petersen, Walther and Weintraub have each recently said they dont have immediate plans to leave the FEC. Meanwhile at the FEC, the agency of roughly 350 employees faces numerous challenges this year. Related story: Death threats directed at elections regulator Don't miss another Politics investigation: Sign up for the Center for Public Integrity's Watchdog email. The agency is attempting to migrate its millions of public records to a new website and physically move the agency to a new headquarters. And the FEC continues to grapple with low employee morale that, statistically, keeps getting worse. Many rank-and-file employees are also perplexed with senior managers, who last year improperly obtained the results of what was supposed to be a confidential survey about such low morale. Catharsis of sorts has come in the form of the @alt_fec Twitter account, which offers decidedly Ravel-esque, and often anti-Trump, critiques of the agency. (It also has about three times the followers of the official @FEC account, despite only being in existence for less than a month.) Weintraub, the only remaining Democrat on the FEC come next week, said Ravels presence will be missed at the agency. Anns been a strong ally in the fight for more complete disclosure of money in politics and more robust enforcement of campaign finance laws, Weintraub said. And Im sure we havent heard the last of Ann Ravel. Ravel says she has no regrets serving on the FEC or attracting attention to what she believes is right. I take seriously my obligation to the public, Ravel said. When I see Im in a job where I cant do the job I am there to do, Im going to speak out about it. This story is part of Federal Politics. News about ethics, campaign finance, lobbying and influence in the federal government. Click here to read more stories in this series. Related stories Copyright 2017 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C. London (AFP) - Five teenagers were arrested in London on terrorism charges on Monday following a series of raids, police said. The suspects, who ranged in age from 15 to 19, were held on suspicion of preparing acts of terrorism, London's Metropolitan Police said in a statement. "The arrests relate to plans to travel to join a proscribed organisation," the note added. A spokesman for the police would not confirm where the teenagers were planning on travelling to or which banned group they had intended to join. The operation followed searches of four homes last month and a further raid in south London on Monday. In 2015 three teenage girls from east London went missing and were believed to have run off to join the Islamic State group in Syria. Reflecting On One Very, Very Strange Year At Uber February 19, 2017 As most of you know, I left Uber in December and joined Stripe in January. I've gotten a lot of questions over the past couple of months about why I left and what my time at Uber was like. It's a strange, fascinating, and slightly horrifying story that deserves to be told while it is still fresh in my mind, so here we go. I joined Uber as a site reliability engineer (SRE) back in November 2015, and it was a great time to join as an engineer. They were still wrangling microservices out of their monolithic API, and things were just chaotic enough that there was exciting reliability work to be done. The SRE team was still pretty new when I joined, and I had the rare opportunity to choose whichever team was working on something that I wanted to be part of. After the first couple of weeks of training, I chose to join the team that worked on my area of expertise, and this is where things started getting weird. On my first official day rotating on the team, my new manager sent me a string of messages over company chat. He was in an open relationship, he said, and his girlfriend was having an easy time finding new partners but he wasn't. He was trying to stay out of trouble at work, he said, but he couldn't help getting in trouble, because he was looking for women to have sex with. It was clear that he was trying to get me to have sex with him, and it was so clearly out of line that I immediately took screenshots of these chat messages and reported him to HR. Uber was a pretty good-sized company at that time, and I had pretty standard expectations of how they would handle situations like this. I expected that I would report him to HR, they would handle the situation appropriately, and then life would go on - unfortunately, things played out quite a bit differently. When I reported the situation, I was told by both HR and upper management that even though this was clearly sexual harassment and he was propositioning me, it was this man's first offense, and that they wouldn't feel comfortable giving him anything other than a warning and a stern talking-to. Upper management told me that he "was a high performer" (i.e. had stellar performance reviews from his superiors) and they wouldn't feel comfortable punishing him for what was probably just an innocent mistake on his part. I was then told that I had to make a choice: (i) I could either go and find another team and then never have to interact with this man again, or (ii) I could stay on the team, but I would have to understand that he would most likely give me a poor performance review when review time came around, and there was nothing they could do about that. I remarked that this didn't seem like much of a choice, and that I wanted to stay on the team because I had significant expertise in the exact project that the team was struggling to complete (it was genuinely in the company's best interest to have me on that team), but they told me the same thing again and again. One HR rep even explicitly told me that it wouldn't be retaliation if I received a negative review later because I had been "given an option". I tried to escalate the situation but got nowhere with either HR or with my own management chain (who continued to insist that they had given him a stern-talking to and didn't want to ruin his career over his "first offense"). So I left that team, and took quite a few weeks learning about other teams before landing anywhere (I desperately wanted to not have to interact with HR ever again). I ended up joining a brand-new SRE team that gave me a lot of autonomy, and I found ways to be happy and do amazing work. In fact, the work I did on this team turned into the production-readiness process which I wrote about in my bestselling (!!!) book Production-Ready Microservices. Over the next few months, I began to meet more women engineers in the company. As I got to know them, and heard their stories, I was surprised that some of them had stories similar to my own. Some of the women even had stories about reporting the exact same manager I had reported, and had reported inappropriate interactions with him long before I had even joined the company. It became obvious that both HR and management had been lying about this being "his first offense", and it certainly wasn't his last. Within a few months, he was reported once again for inappropriate behavior, and those who reported him were told it was still his "first offense". The situation was escalated as far up the chain as it could be escalated, and still nothing was done. Myself and a few of the women who had reported him in the past decided to all schedule meetings with HR to insist that something be done. In my meeting, the rep I spoke with told me that he had never been reported before, he had only ever committed one offense (in his chats with me), and that none of the other women who they met with had anything bad to say about him, so no further action could or would be taken. It was such a blatant lie that there was really nothing I could do. There was nothing any of us could do. We all gave up on Uber HR and our managers after that. Eventually he "left" the company. I don't know what he did that finally convinced them to fire him. In the background, there was a game-of-thrones political war raging within the ranks of upper management in the infrastructure engineering organization. It seemed like every manager was fighting their peers and attempting to undermine their direct supervisor so that they could have their direct supervisor's job. No attempts were made by these managers to hide what they were doing: they boasted about it in meetings, told their direct reports about it, and the like. I remember countless meetings with my managers and skip-levels where I would sit there, not saying anything, and the manager would be boasting about finding favor with their skip-level and that I should expect them to have their manager's job within a quarter or two. I also remember a very disturbing team meeting in which one of the directors boasted to our team that he had withheld business-critical information from one of the executives so that he could curry favor with one of the other executives (and, he told us with a smile on his face, it worked!). The ramifications of these political games were significant: projects were abandoned left and right, OKRs were changed multiple times each quarter, nobody knew what our organizational priorities would be one day to the next, and very little ever got done. We all lived under fear that our teams would be dissolved, there would be another re-org, and we'd have to start on yet another new project with an impossible deadline. It was an organization in complete, unrelenting chaos. I was lucky enough during all of this to work with some of the most amazing engineers in the Bay Area. We kept our heads down and did good (sometimes great) work despite the chaos. We loved our work, we loved the engineering challenges, we loved making this crazy Uber machine work, and together we found ways to make it through the re-orgs and the changing OKRs and the abandoned projects and the impossible deadlines. We kept each other sane, kept the gigantic Uber ecosystem running, and told ourselves that it would eventually get better. Things didn't get better, and engineers began transferring to the less chaotic engineering organizations. Once I had finished up my projects and saw that things weren't going to change, I also requested a transfer. I met all of the qualifications for transferring - I had managers who wanted me on their teams, and I had a perfect performance score - so I didn't see how anything could go wrong. And then my transfer was blocked. According to my manager, his manager, and the director, my transfer was being blocked because I had undocumented performance problems. I pointed out that I had a perfect performance score, and that there had never been any complaints about my performance. I had completed all OKRs on schedule, never missed a deadline even in the insane organizational chaos, and that I had managers waiting for me to join their team. I asked what my performance problem was, and they didn't give me an answer. At first they said I wasn't being technical enough, so I pointed out that they were the ones who had given me my OKRs, and if they wanted to see different work from me then they should give me the kind of work they wanted to see - they then backed down and stopped saying that this was the problem. I kept pushing, until finally I was told that "performance problems aren't always something that has to do with work, but sometimes can be about things outside of work or your personal life." I couldn't decipher that, so I gave up and decided to stay until my next performance review. Performance review season came around, and I received a great review with no complaints whatsoever about my performance. I waited a couple of months, and then attempted to transfer again. When I attempted to transfer, I was told that my performance review and score had been changed after the official reviews had been calibrated, and so I was no longer eligible for transfer. When I asked management why my review had been changed after the fact (and why hadn't they let me know that they'd changed it?), they said that I didn't show any signs of an upward career trajectory. I pointed out that I was publishing a book with O'Reilly, speaking at major tech conferences, and doing all of the things that you're supposed to do to have an "upward career trajectory", but they said it didn't matter and I needed to prove myself as an engineer. I was stuck where I was. I asked them to change my performance review back. My manager said that the new negative review I was given had no real-world consequences, so I shouldn't worry about it. But I went home and cried that day, because even aside from impacts to my salary and bonuses, it did have real-world consequences - significant consequences that my management chain was very well aware of. I was enrolled in a Stanford CS graduate program, sponsored by Uber, and Uber only sponsored employees who had high performance scores. Under both of my official performance reviews and scores, I qualified for the program, but after this sneaky new negative score I was no longer eligible. It turned out that keeping me on the team made my manager look good, and I overheard him boasting to the rest of the team that even though the rest of the teams were losing their women engineers left and right, he still had some on his team. When I joined Uber, the organization I was part of was over 25% women. By the time I was trying to transfer to another eng organization, this number had dropped down to less than 6%. Women were transferring out of the organization, and those who couldn't transfer were quitting or preparing to quit. There were two major reasons for this: there was the organizational chaos, and there was also the sexism within the organization. When I asked our director at an org all-hands about what was being done about the dwindling numbers of women in the org compared to the rest of the company, his reply was, in a nutshell, that the women of Uber just needed to step up and be better engineers. Things were beginning to get even more comically absurd with each passing day. Every time something ridiculous happened, every time a sexist email was sent, I'd sent a short report to HR just to keep a record going. Things came to a head with one particular email chain from the director of our engineering organization concerning leather jackets that had been ordered for all of the SREs. See, earlier in the year, the organization had promised leather jackets for everyone in organization, and had taken all of our sizes; we all tried them on and found our sizes, and placed our orders. One day, all of the women (there were, I believe, six of us left in the org) received an email saying that no leather jackets were being ordered for the women because there were not enough women in the organization to justify placing an order. I replied and said that I was sure Uber SRE could find room in their budget to buy leather jackets for the, what, six women if it could afford to buy them for over a hundred and twenty men . The director replied back, saying that if we women really wanted equality, then we should realize we were getting equality by not getting the leather jackets. He said that because there were so many men in the org, they had gotten a significant discount on the men's jackets but not on the women's jackets, and it wouldn't be equal or fair, he argued, to give the women leather jackets that cost a little more than the men's jackets. We were told that if we wanted leather jackets, we women needed to find jackets that were the same price as the bulk-order price of the men's jackets. I forwarded this absurd chain of emails to HR, and they requested to meet with me shortly after. I don't know what I expected after all of my earlier encounters with them, but this one was more ridiculous than I could have ever imagined. The HR rep began the meeting by asking me if I had noticed that *I* was the common theme in all of the reports I had been making, and that if I had ever considered that I might be the problem. I pointed out that everything I had reported came with extensive documentation and I clearly wasn't the instigator (or even a main character) in the majority of them - she countered by saying that there was absolutely no record in HR of any of the incidents I was claiming I had reported (which, of course, was a lie, and I reminded her I had email and chat records to prove it was a lie). She then asked me if women engineers at Uber were friends and talked a lot, and then asked me how often we communicated, what we talked about, what email addresses we used to communicate, which chat rooms we frequented, etc. - an absurd and insulting request that I refused to comply with. When I pointed out how few women were in SRE, she recounted with a story about how sometimes certain people of certain genders and ethnic backgrounds were better suited for some jobs than others, so I shouldn't be surprised by the gender ratios in engineering. Our meeting ended with her berating me about keeping email records of things, and told me it was unprofessional to report things via email to HR. Less than a week after this absurd meeting, my manager scheduled a 1:1 with me, and told me we needed to have a difficult conversation. He told me I was on very thin ice for reporting his manager to HR. California is an at-will employment state, he said, which means we can fire you if you ever do this again. I told him that was illegal, and he replied that he had been a manager for a long time, he knew what was illegal, and threatening to fire me for reporting things to HR was not illegal. I reported his threat immediately after the meeting to both HR and to the CTO: they both admitted that this was illegal, but none of them did anything. (I was told much later that they didn't do anything because the manager who threatened me "was a high performer"). I had a new job offer in my hands less than a week later. On my last day at Uber, I calculated the percentage of women who were still in the org. Out of over 150 engineers in the SRE teams, only 3% were women. When I look back at the time I spent at Uber, I'm overcome with thankfulness that I had the opportunity to work with some of the best engineers around. I'm proud of the work I did, I'm proud of the impact that I was able to make on the entire organization, and I'm proud that the work I did and wrote a book about has been adopted by other tech companies all over the world. And when I think about the things I've recounted in the paragraphs above, I feel a lot of sadness, but I can't help but laugh at how ridiculous everything was. Such a strange experience. Such a strange year. Moscow (AFP) - Four Russian military personnel were killed and two injured when their vehicle was targeted with explosives in central Syria last week, a defence ministry statement quoted by Russian agencies said Monday. "Four Russian servicemen died when their car exploded on a radio-controlled IED on February 16, 2017, in Syria," the statement said. "Two more were injured. Russian military medics are trying to save their lives." "The convoy of Syrian army cars, in which the vehicle with Russian military advisers was travelling, was en route from the Tiyas airfield area toward the city of Homs," it said. "After they travelled four kilometres, a radio-controlled explosive was activated under the car with Russian servicemen." The four deaths raise the number of Russian military officially reported killed in Syria to 26 since it started its campaign in Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad on September 30, 2015. Another soldier committed suicide. Malaga (Spain) (AFP) - European countries that vote populists into power will experience a fall in jobs, investment and exports as they pull out of the EU, French President Francois Hollande warned Monday. Speaking at a summit in the southern Spanish city of Malaga with his counterpart Mariano Rajoy, Hollande said that nationalists not only threatened Europe but also "the interests of the nations they claim to represent." His comments come as France's far-right leader Marine Le Pen and Geert Wilders in the Netherlands ride high in polls ahead of upcoming elections in their respective countries. Hollande, who will not be standing again in the French elections in April and May, said there would be "fewer exports, fewer investment and therefore fewer jobs" if eurosceptic populists took power. Pulling out of the EU, as Le Pen and Wilders advocate, would mean "the end of trade, fake sovereignty which would translate into fewer jobs, lower growth and fewer freedoms." The Spanish government also announced Monday that Hollande had invited Rajoy for a summit on March 6 in the city of Versailles near Paris, along with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italy's Paolo Gentiloni. Merkel herself is running for re-election in September and faces strong competition from the hard-right populist party Alternative for Germany. Without naming him, Hollande also criticised US President Donald Trump and his pledge to loosen up capital market regulations. Trump argues that less regulation means fewer costs for companies and consumers. He has for instance ordered a review of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform that aims to curb the actions of the finance sector that led to the 2008 recession. "Crises don't come from nowhere, they are due to various conducts, laxity, and the very deregulation that the United States wants to re-implement," Hollande said. By Gerard Bon PARIS (Reuters) - France's far-right National Front accused authorities of staging a media stunt on Monday to influence the presidential election after police searched its headquarters in an investigation into "fake jobs". The searches came after French government bond yields rose sharply on news of a poll showing leader Marine Le Pen gaining ground on her main election rivals, independent Emmanuel Macron and conservative former prime minister Francois Fillon. Le Pen denied on Friday allegations by OLAF, the European Union anti-fraud agency, that she gave parliamentary assistants fake jobs paid for out of EU funds. French judges opened a fraud investigation on Dec. 15 after prosecutors handed the dossier over to them following a preliminary investigation of more than a year. "This is as void as space," the party's vice-president Florian Philippot told BFM television, adding that searches had taken place a year ago and nothing had been found then. "These are media-stunt searches on the day when she (Le Pen) gets a 2-point bounce in the polls. It's always when the system is in panic that these affairs come out." An Opinionway poll of voting intentions on Monday had Le Pen easily beating her four main rivals to win the April 23 first round with 27 percent of the vote. In the second-round two-way runoff against Macron or Fillon, she was still seen losing, but both scenarios saw her narrowing the gap. She would lose against Macron with 42 percent to his 58, while against Fillon she would be defeated with 44 percent to his 56, the poll showed. A week ago she was polling around 36-37 against Macron. It is not clear what impact the probe could have on Le Pen or how quickly the investigation will move forward. Fillon's status as favorite to win the presidency in May has evaporated in the past three weeks amid questions about what work his wife did for hundreds of thousands of euros in taxpayers' money when she was paid as his assistant. He has vowed to fight on despite falling ratings and the threat of being placed under formal investigation by the financial police, who are handling the matter. LEFT-WING BARGAIN UNLIKELY With nine weeks to go, it is not clear whether Macron or Fillon would go through to the knockout against Le Pen. The two men are polling at around similar levels, according to several surveys. Things may become clearer on Wednesday when veteran centrist Francois Bayrou will announce whether he will enter the race. Bayrou, a pro-EU politician who won 18.5 percent of first-round votes in the 2007 presidential vote, is polling around 5 percent. He has accused Fillon of being under the influence of "financial powers" and said French democracy is under threat. Macron, whose aides call for a union with Bayrou, is a political novice who has never held elected office. However, he has pulled in huge crowds at rallies, saying he seeks to transcend the classic left-right divide in French politics. Polls see little chance of a Socialist revival in time for the election given Socialist President Francois Hollande's poor record. Markets have been uneasy about a possible agreement between hard-left Socialist candidate Benoit Hamon, who is polling at around 15 percent, and independent far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, at around 12 percent, which could strengthen Le Pen in the second round. But moves late last week to form an election deal between the two men appeared to have fizzled out. Melenchon, who is standing as an independent, said: "I have no intention of going and hitching myself to a hearse." Hamon hit back at the weekend, telling journalists: "I won't run after Jean-Luc Melenchon. I don't run after anyone." (Additional reporting by Simon Carraud, Yann Le Guernigou and Emmanuel Jarry; writing by John Irish and Richard Balmforth; editing by Andrew Roche) Frances far-right populist presidential candidate was seven points ahead of her closest rivals in the first round of the French presidential election, according to a new poll released Monday. If elected, Marine Le Pen could be a potential ally to President Donald Trump, British Prime Minister Theresa May and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The election was set for April 23. Le Pen led the PresiTrack poll conducted by the research company OpinionWay, the real estate agency ORPI Solutions Immobilieres, the radio station Radio Classique and business news publication Les Echos with a total of 27 percent. Her closest competitors, center-right Republican candidate Francois Fillon and progressive En Marche! party candidate Emmanuel Macron, earned 20 percent support each. The results represented a 1 percentage point rise for Le Pen, while Macron and Fillon saw their respective percentages unchanged from the previous PresiTrack data. Polls for the second-round vote, in which the top two candidates of the April election go head-to-head May 7, told a different story, however. Paired with Macron, Le Pen won just 42 percent to his 58. Against Fillon, she won 44 percent, while he won 56. The results came close to an Ifop poll, which, released Friday, gave Le Pen a likely 26 percent in the first round, compared to runners-up Macrons and Fillons respective 18.5 percent totals. The polls second-round data forecasted Le Pen losing to Macron with 38 percent in a two-way contest, and 44 percent in a run-off against Fillon. Le Pen has often been considered Frances own version of Trump, due to her harsh stance on immigration, her conflation of the Muslim religion with terrorism and her penchant for isolationism. She told Bloomberg in June that she would appreciate the moniker Madame Frexit -- a reference to her "Brexit" support for the U.K. to leave the European Union -- and, in early February, she echoed Trumps inauguration speech with a doom-and-gloom address to supporters, detailing the two totalitarianisms of globalization and Islamism seeking to subjugate France, the New York Times reported. The Kremlin has even faced recent accusations of hacking her left-leaning rival, news that mirrored the leaks of Democratic Party Leaders' emails throughout the U.S. election by a hacking group linked to the Russian government in an attempt to damage Trump's competitor, Hillary Clinton. Story continues Some, however, believed Le Pen was a bit more restrained than her American counterpart, particularly due to her efforts to rein in the anti-Semitic reputation of her party, the Front National started in 1972 by her Holocaust-denying father, Jean-Marie Le Pen for the sake of a more moderate appearance. Ideologically, they are very similar, but one difference is communication style, Stanford Professor of French studies Cecile Alduy told Slate Wednesday, adding that a certain air of professionalism and widespread likeability would be needed for the two-way run-off vote in May. Trump has made his brand about political incorrectness and going against all the ethical, moral, and even linguistic taboos that used to reign in the political world. So we see misogyny, racism, you name it. However, Marine Le Pen is trying to polish the rhetorical and communications style of the National Front. Her father used to be like Trump, causing media buzz by saying something outrageous or anti-Semitic. Marine Le Pen has ironed out the rhetorical style of the National Front and wants to look presidential. Related Articles PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) Plug your noses and ready your "Juche fertilizer." It's time to prep the frozen fields in North Korea. North Korea relies on its farmers to squeeze absolutely all they can out of every harvest. It's a tall order in a country with 25 million mouths to feed that is mostly mountains, hamstrung by international trade sanctions and, beyond a handful of showcase cooperatives, hard-pressed to modernize its agricultural sector. Without doubt, life as a farmer in North Korea is harsh. But there are some signs of change in how North Korea is treating its fields and its farmers. In typically propagandist fashion, the North's state media are already reporting that workers inspired by leader Kim Jong Un's New Year's address are heroically churning out "117 percent" of their production quotas of what they call "Juche fertilizer." A grain of salt is certainly in order. What exactly the patriotic-sounding Juche fertilizer is isn't all that clear, though it's likely a mix of largely organic components augmented with some chemicals. Because of the general lack of livestock, human feces are a key ingredient. Juche refers to the North's longstanding but mostly aspirational policy of self-reliance. The battle in the fields, however, has certainly begun. With the ground still frozen as the North waits out its notoriously cold winters, farmers, joined by workers and students mobilized from the cities, are in the process of transporting truckloads of pungent fertilizer to fields across the country for the planting season ahead. Kim Song Ryong, head technician at the Migok Cooperative Farm in Sariwon, south of Pyongyang, said it takes about 20 to 25 days to distribute the compost. In March, it will be spread over the fields in an even layer and then ploughed in below the surface. "Our respected supreme leader comrade Kim Jong Un instructed us that agriculture is the main approach to building a strong economy and country," he said in an interview with AP Television News. "To get the best harvest with scientific farming, all our farmers and workers are out in the fields to improve the quality of the soil." Story continues In the past, the country's over-reliance on scientific magic bullets has had tragic results. Overuse of chemical fertilizers that began in the 1950s devastated the natural microbiotic soil environment and fueled a cycle in which its fields grew increasingly dependent on ever-more-artificial fertilization. In the 1990s, the fall of the Soviet Union and Pyongyang's other communist benefactors disrupted the supply of that fertilizer which, coupled with other factors, led to widespread famine. But Pyongyang appears to have learned some lessons since. According to Randall Ireson, a private consultant and former nongovernmental program director in the North, farmers have shifted their emphasis since about 2000 to adding compost and organic fertilizers to rebuild the organic content in the soil and revivify microorganisms. "What I've seen and heard of is the use of effective rapid aerobic composting of plant residue and, where available, animal and human manure, with the composted material further augmented with some chemical fertilizer," he said. "The addition of chemical fertilizer to the mix makes it "non-organic" by a strict definition, but the other aspects are generally sound and sustainable, if managed correctly." Ireson noted that the depressed economy, lack of foreign exchange and weak industrial sector combine to make the acquisition of foreign chemical fertilizer difficult. But he said the push in the North for composting, while poorly designed at first, has gradually improved so that farms have started to produce fertilizer using local, low-energy methods. "Buying more would be the easy, if not environmentally or economically sustainable, way to boost farm production," Ireson said. "Lacking that resource, the push has been to find local resources, which I think is quite appropriate." More importantly, policy revisions under Kim Jong Un have since 2012 given farmers more incentive to produce above the state quota and to take more of a personal stake in field outcomes. Though details are scant, farmers can sell excess produce for a profit and smaller, essentially family-sized, work units have been established to make the rewards more direct. Outside experts generally agree the changes are a step in the right direction China and Vietnam had success with similar agricultural reforms. But they also quickly warn it remains unclear how widely and fully implemented the revisions have been. "It's always hard to know what the ag situation really is," said Ireson. "There's a tendency to concentrate on technical aspects of farming (in the North), but the farmers are pretty clever and know how to do things. The main constraint is limited resources and, at least until recently, little personal incentive to produce beyond the quota." Related Video: Rare Look Inside of North Korea - ABC World News Tonight With David Muir (2016) For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android. The teaser of Trapped directed by Vikramaditya Motwane and starring Rajkummar Rao is finally here. By India Today Web Desk: The much-awaited and critically acclaimed film Trapped is going to hit the theatres on March 17. Directed by Udaan and Lootera director Vikramaditya Motwane, Trapped has earned a lot of praise in the festival circuit. Apart from getting a standing ovation at the Mumbai International Film Festival last year, Trapped was widely praised on social media by those who had seen the film at MAMI. advertisement The teaser of Trapped hit the internet today. The story revolves around a man who gets stuck "in an empty high rise without food, water or electricity." #Trapped second poster. Releasing on 17th March. Trailer coming out in 3 days guys. Vikramaditya Motwane's next after Udaan and Lootera. pic.twitter.com/OSnddDBny9 Raj Kummar Rao (@RajkummarRao) February 19, 2017 The Trapped teaser shows a man, played by Rajkummar Rao, entering his flat in a hurry with the key still in the main door's lock. Before Rao can get out of the flat, the door closes, with the key outside, and he gets locked. Trapped is director Vikramaditya Motwane's third film. Co-starring Geetanjali Thapa, best known for Liar's Dice, Trapped will release in screens on March 17. Before that, the Trapped trailer comes on February 22. On the same note, Rajkummar Rao's other indie release this year, Newton, recently won the CICAE (International Confederation of Art Cinemas) award at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival. Watch Trapped teaser here: ALSO READ: Rajkummar Rao-starrer Newton wins CICAE art cinema award at Berlinale --- ENDS --- Public transport systems around the world require people to "tap off" their travel cards when exiting a bus or train, and forgetting to do so is a big (and expensive) headache. But public transport investigators in Australia's Sydney were stunned to find that one of 22 passengers escaping a bus fire last September, went back to the flaming bus try and "tap off," according to Fairfax Media. Guess the unnamed passenger really didn't want to pay that annoying A$4.50 (US$3.45) day rate, which is arguably the bane of all of Sydney's existence. SEE ALSO: An ambitious young photographer captured the chaos and beauty of Greyhound buses in 1943 CCTV footage discovered the passenger making their way to the bus, risking their life to ensure they wouldn't be slammed with the higher charge. And honestly, who could blame them? It's likely easier than trying to get your money back from the Opal Card ticketing people, according to the internet. Luckily, no one was badly hurt, but two passengers and the driver were taken to hospital for smoke inhalation. It's uncertain how many were hurt by the default fare, however. Jerusalem (AFP) - A Palestinian baby was reunited with her mother after more than six months Monday after Israel granted Jumana Daoud a permit to travel from Gaza to Jerusalem to fetch her. Daoud and rights groups said she had submitted an application several months ago to reenter Israel to retrieve baby Maryam from a hospital in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, but received no reply. The Israeli defence ministry body responsible denied that any application had been received. Palestinians in the Gaza Strip need to apply for individual permits to enter or transit Israel, but do so through the Palestinian Authority. The PA circulated a document allegedly showing that the request had been submitted. AFP was not able to independently verify the cause for the delay. Tiny Maryam smiled as she was picked up by her mother for the first time since her premature birth on August 1. "It's a very beautiful feeling. Finally I can take her in my arms. Now I just hope that she'll be happy for ever," her grinning mother said. Daoud said the Israeli authorities called late Sunday to say she could cross the Gaza-Israel border, shortly after a television feature on the case. "She had no maternal affection, nobody held her," said a tearful Umm Abdul Rahman, a woman from east Jerusalem who said she came in weekly to check on Maryam, sending photos to the family via WhatsApp. "I was trying to hold her and make her laugh." Daoud was previously granted permission to travel to Jerusalem in July 2016 for medical treatment as there were complications with her pregnancy. - Born prematurely - Hospitals in Gaza do not have the facilities to care for premature babies, said paediatrician Mohammed al-Najjar at Makassed Hospital in east Jerusalem where Maryam was born more than two months early along with a sibling who died. She needed to be kept in an incubator for several weeks in order to survive, doctors said. Daoud said she now had to return to Gaza to care for her other two young children, assuming she could do so quickly once Maryam's health improved. Story continues She reapplied for a permit to visit Jerusalem in October, she said, a claim supported by Physicians for Human Rights Israel. Her story was covered by Israel's Channel 10 on Sunday night, and the permit was granted shortly afterwards. "The Palestinian side had unfortunately filed no request on her. When we heard about the case, we coordinated the mother's arrival to the hospital within 24 hours," said COGAT, the defence ministry agency responsible for the Palestinian territories. Hossam Liftawi from Physicians for Human Rights said this was not an isolated incident. "There are many cases in the hospital of mothers going back to Gaza for some reason," he said, explaining they find it hard to get another permit because of slow-moving Israeli bureaucracy. "Most of the cases last for a month or two but this one is the longest," he added, calling on Israel to improve its processes. The World Health Organization (WHO) has expressed concerns about the decreasing percentage of Palestinians from Gaza given permission to enter Israel for treatment. In December, only 41.7 percent of more than 2,500 patient applications were granted, the lowest rate since April 2009, according to the WHO. A relatively small number were refused, but the majority received no answer in time for their appointment dates. A UN source said they were informed by Israeli officials at a recent meeting that a number of applications had been deleted by accident. BERLIN (AP) Germany's most prominent nationalist politician held talks with Russian lawmakers over the weekend, including senior members of President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party, her office said Monday. Frauke Petry, the co-leader of Alternative for Germany, traveled to Moscow at the invitation of the Russian capital's city administration to discuss "cooperation" with the legislative assemblies of Germany's 16 states, according to a statement. Petry also met with State Duma speaker and Putin confidant Vyacheslav Volodin, and a deputy speaker, Pyotr Tolstoy, "on the sidelines," the statement said. Her office didn't immediately respond to questions about whether anyone accompanied Petry on the trip, who paid for it and what was discussed at the meeting with Volodin and Tolstoy. But a separate statement by the Duma said the talks covered "interparty cooperation, as well as the development of contacts of youth organizations." It added that the meeting also was attended by Vladimir Zhirinovsky and Leonid Slutsky of the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. The meeting comes at a sensitive time in German-Russian relations. German officials have repeatedly warned that Moscow could try to influence Germany's general election this September and destabilize the country by supporting extremist groups. The Kremlin has already established ties with France's National Front, whose leader, Marine Le Pen, is polling strongly ahead of presidential elections on a platform that includes better relations with Russia. In the United States, lawmakers are examining intelligence agency findings that Russia hacked Democratic Party emails and tried to influence the U.S. election to help President Donald Trump win. Petry's visit to Moscow seemed to take some in her party by surprise. One of her deputies, Alexander Gauland, told the dpa news agency that he only learned of the trip on Monday. Story continues Along with backing closer ties with Russia, Alternative for Germany strongly opposes Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to let hundreds of thousands of refugees into the country. Recent opinion polls showed support for the party falling below 10 percent. ____ Jim Heintz in Moscow contributed to this report. BERLIN (AP) Germany's foreign ministry says the case of a newspaper correspondent detained in Turkey is of "greatest importance" for Berlin. Spokesman Martin Schaefer said Monday that the ministry is in contact with the Welt daily and its correspondent Deniz Yucel. Yucel, who has both Turkish and German citizenship, was taken into custody last week after presenting himself at a police station in Istanbul for questioning in connection with his reporting on a hacking case . Schaefer said Germany will do "everything in our power to support press freedom." But he said the case shouldn't affect rallies that Turkish officials are holding in Germany to campaign for an upcoming referendum on reforming Turkey's constitution. Schaefer said linking the two issues would be like comparing "apples and oranges." BERLIN (AP) Germany's culture minister has handed over an Adolph von Menzel drawing found in the massive trove of a reclusive collector to its rightful owner's descendants. A task force examining the late Cornelius Gurlitt's collection determined more than a year ago the work was sold as a result of Nazi persecution. Minister Monika Gruetters' office said she returned Menzel's "Interior of a Gothic Church" on Monday to a representative of Elsa Cohen's heirs. Cohen sold the piece to Gurlitt's father in 1938. The drawing was identified as looted art in late 2015, but the German government said its restitution was delayed by a court battle over Gurlitt's will that only was resolved in December. A cousin of Gurlitt's unsuccessfully challenged his wish to leave his collection to a Swiss museum. Eleven members of an Afghan family, including women and children, were killed in a grenade attack on their home in the country's volatile east, officials said Monday. The attack, which left three others wounded, occurred in Laghman province on Sunday but no militant group has so far claimed responsibility. "Eleven people were martyred after two grenades were thrown at their house by unknown gunmen in Laghman's Baad Pakh district," the local governor's spokesman Sarhadi Zwak told AFP. "All the victims were civilians, women and children among them," Zwak added. One of them died of his wounds while being rushed to a hospital in neighbouring Nangarhar province, said health official Abdul Latif Qayyomi. Afghan civilians are paying a high price for the escalating conflict. Civilian casualties in 2016 were the highest recorded by the UN since 2009, with nearly 11,500 non-combatants killed or wounded. Twelve civilians, including eight children returning from school, were killed on Friday in a roadside bombing in the eastern province of Paktika. The UN last week voiced alarm over the recent killing of 25 other civilians in the southern province of Helmand, most of them in US air strikes. Updated 2:07 pm Sunday, with Trump response President Donald Trump has explained his Sweden comment: He saw it on Fox. My statement as to whats happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden, hes just tweeted. My statement as to what's happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 19, 2017 The presidents tweet came just minutes after CNN reported that White House deputy press secretary Sarah H. Sanders said Trump was talking about rising crime and recent incidents in general and not referring to a specific incident. Sanders also said Trump may have seen the Fox News report, CNN said. The barbs arrived on cue Wait. So "last night in Sweden" means "last night on Fox News about Sweden?" You find new and innovative ways to embarrass us. https://t.co/GP43Su4v4a Greg Poehler (@GregPoehler) February 19, 2017 Clearly what happens in Sweden stays in Sweden xo m Marcia Cross (@ReallyMarcia) February 19, 2017 Story continues Trump says he got his info on Sweden by misunderstanding a Fox report. Doesn't he know he would have gotten intel briefing on such a thing? Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 19, 2017 My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Sweden tonight. #WeAreAllSweden Warren Leight (@warrenleightTV) February 19, 2017 Previous, Sunday morning So what exactly happened last night in Sweden? Or more accurately Friday night, which is when President Donald Trump suggested during his rally in Florida yesterday that something terribly terroristic had occurred. Last night, we listened to Abba, was one response coming from a country entirely unaware that it had been attacked. Trump made the seemingly off-the-cuff remark during his Florida rally, carried live on the news channels, while discussing the impact of refugees on violence overseas. You look at whats happening last night in Sweden, he said. Sweden. Who would believe this? Sweden. They took in large numbers. Theyre having problems like they never thought possible. Related Video: For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android. The comment prompted a Bowling Green Massacre of Twitter mocking, with tweeters taking up imaginary arms. Former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt led the charge by asking What has he been smoking? One of the more popular memes was a riff on IKEAs famously simple or at least international how-to instructions: Naturally, Alec Baldwin couldnt resist: I think Trump, w his ADD, asks about the latest terror event at same time that Kushner says, "I like these meatballs. Where are they from?" ABFoundation (@ABFalecbaldwin) February 19, 2017 Nor could: The other half will go to their graves always believing Sweden had their own 9/11 last Friday night and nothing will change their minds. https://t.co/NZlsS4gNlh Michael Moore (@MMFlint) February 19, 2017 In honor of the fallen, the President will watch Bergman's "The Seventh Seal". "I didn't know they had seals in Sweden. Beautiful fish". Brent Spiner (@BrentSpiner) February 19, 2017 Our hearts and thoughts are with Sweden for the imaginary terror attack that our President pulled out of his ass. At least he's not yours. Christopher Titus (@TitusNation) February 19, 2017 Both Chelsea Clinton and Keith Olbermann referenced Kellyanne Conways now infamous (and fictitious) Bowling Green Massacre: What happened in Sweden Friday night? Did they catch the Bowling Green Massacre perpetrators? Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) February 19, 2017 Bullshit McGee has his own fabricated "Bowling Green Massacre" now #LastNightInSweden https://t.co/vgrsipnKjY Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) February 19, 2017 And these: Sweden ????????? This is DEFINITELY DELUSIONAL ( See Swedish PM's comment ) John Cleese (@JohnCleese) February 19, 2017 Please pray for my son Glavynn who lost a buttock in yesterday's Feminist terror attack in Sweden. #MAGA rob delaney (@robdelaney) February 19, 2017 Sweden, you ok? Call me. Stephen Mangan (@StephenMangan) February 19, 2017 The hashtag #lastnightinsweden WINS THE DAY!!! Lea Salonga (@MsLeaSalonga) February 19, 2017 Even the Swedish Embassy has no answers: @fuadmb About #swedenincident #lastnightinsweden unclear to us what President Trump was referring to,have asked US officials for explanation Embassy of Sweden US (@SwedeninUSA) February 19, 2017 But the sharpest responses came in a series of tweets from someone fast enough to grab the Last Night in Sweden handle. Last night, "Ivanka" was the name of a cheap piece of furniture at IKEA. #LastNightInSweden Last Night In Sweden (@LastNiteNSweden) February 19, 2017 Everyone had healthcare. #LastNightInSweden Last Night In Sweden (@LastNiteNSweden) February 19, 2017 America, if you start to identify with your captor-President, please call. We can help. #LastNightInSweden #StockholmSyndrome Last Night In Sweden (@LastNiteNSweden) February 19, 2017 Last night, we were mature adults. Today, we are all giggling about Trump's tiny hands. #lastnightinsweden Last Night In Sweden (@LastNiteNSweden) February 19, 2017 Last night, we listened to ABBA. Today, we are listening to an angry yam. #lastnightinsweden Last Night In Sweden (@LastNiteNSweden) February 19, 2017 So what did happen in Sweden? The likeliest explanation for Trumps confusion is a Fox News Channel report that aired Friday during Tucker Carlson Tonight, which included an interview with filmmaker Ami Horowitz about immigration and violence in Sweden. In other words, what happened last night in Sweden is Trump-speak for what I saw on Fox last night about Sweden. Or maybe, Republican Senator Rand Paul has an explanation. On ABCs This Week With George Stephanopoulos this morning, Paul said, There was a New Year Eve altercation, I think, a year ago where there was quite a few things that were happening that did involve refugee populations. And I believe that was in Sweden. Related stories John Oliver: Donald Trump Tyrannizes TV News Week With "Bat-Sh*t Crazy" News Conference, Terrorism-In-Sweden Speech WGA Awards Ceremony Rips Donald Trump So Much, He (Sort Of) Makes An Appearance Sen. John McCain Reassures 'Meet The Press' Host "We Need You"; Beltway Programs Swoon As part of the red-hot globalism trend, "tribal style" exotic, eclectic and influenced by travel has spread from fashion to home decor. There's a caravan of interesting furniture and accessories that work in any space, from the sleek and contemporary to the simple and functional. "It's a look that's meant to reflect the places you've been and decorative objets you brought home," says New York designer Elaine Griffin. "And it's perfectly fine if you've voyaged no further than the internet, in the comfort of your living room." Rugs are a big part of the style, and not just on the floor. Griffin says "the flat-weave kilim and dhurrie rugs that are now back with a vengeance move stylishly onto upholstered chairs, sofas and ottomans." Kilim rugs are admired for their bold, geometric flat-weave patterns. They've been hand-woven for generations in Turkey, North Africa, the Middle East and Asia. A lot of their appeal lies in the bold motifs and pigment dyes, with elements like wolf's mouths, stars and fertility symbols interpreted in geometric patterns. Back in Victorian England, smoking rooms and nooks were rife with kilim-covered furniture. British manufacturer George Smith is known for kilim upholstery marked by careful pattern alignment and crisply tucked edges. They make a range of armchairs and benches covered in detailed modern and vintage Turkish flat-weaves. (https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/pVqXBEhbdWqRSk ) Karma Living's collection of smartly styled midcentury modern chairs and footstools are upholstered in bold stripes and tribal patterns. (https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/LLOJB8h7rd0gu8 ) Both new and antique versions are interesting, working well not only as upholstery, but as wall hangings or table coverings. The hand-crafted nature of kilims, Oriental and rag rugs plays well with woods and metals. White walls make them pop, while more saturated hues are complementary frames. Story continues Joss & Main's style director, Donna Garlough, says pouf ottomans are one of her favorite twists on the Bohemian-inspired trend. "They're a great way to add a pop of pattern to a room, and you can use them for extra seating if you're having a party," she says. An added bonus of these materials is that they're pretty tightly woven and durable, and the bright patterns often camouflage stains. "You don't have to worry as much about a toddler spilling juice on a kilim-covered cocktail ottoman as you would if the upholstery were linen or leather," Garlough says. Atlanta-based artist and textile designer Beth Lacefield has done a collection of kilim poufs for Surya in both muted tones and vibrant hues like raspberry, burnt orange and olive green. Boston designer Jill Rosenwald's pouf collection for the retailer is also inspired by Indian flat-weave rugs, with sophisticated chocolate browns, grays and other muted hues. (https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/GWDrB3tZM37xtn ) Crafters will find lots of ideas online for turning inexpensive rag rugs from big box stores into floor pillows, headboard covers and benches. Courtney Schutz, a designer in Point Reyes, California, turned a staid, traditional, upholstered bench into a fun piece for a girls' room by gilding the legs and covering the seat with a gumball-colored rag rug. (https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/Y1MEBLsnk35Ysr ) At https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/K2JVBDs3znN5U3, Toronto designer Jacquelyn Clark offers a simple tutorial on sewing throw-rug pieces into a square, filling it with foam beads, and then closing it up with thread or a zipper to make a big pillow. While the kilims have an earthy rusticity, distressed wool, linen or silk rugs can make a more elegant piece. Pottery Barn has a cotton velvet line inspired by Persian carpeting. And West Elm's Ornament velvet pouf comes in sophisticated, soothing hues of ivory or platinum. (https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/en90BEseLQV9h8; https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/WD6GBks20YmMcR ) By Press Trust of India: From Lalit K Jha Washington, Feb 21 (PTI) US President Donald Trump has appointed Lt Gen Herbert Raymond McMaster as his new national security advisor following the ouster of Michael Flynn last week. Making the announcement at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida yesterday, Trump described McMaster, currently Director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center, as "a man of tremendous talent and tremendous experience." advertisement Flynn had been forced out by Trump after revelations that he misled Vice President Mike Pence about discussing sanctions with Russias ambassador to the US during the presidential transition. Trump had described this as a matter of trust and not of any wrongdoing. "I just wanted to announce that Gen H R McMaster will become the national security advisor. Hes a man of tremendous talent and tremendous experience. I watched and read a lot over the last two days. He is highly respected by everyone in the military and were very honored to have him," Trump said. The acting national security advisor, Gen (retd) Keith Kellogg, will now serve as Trumps national security council chief of staff. The President also said John Bolton, a former US ambassador to the United Nations, would serve the administration in another capacity. "I met with many other people. I have tremendous respect for the people I met with. I know John Bolton, well be asking him to work with us in a somewhat different capacity. We had some really good meetings with him," he said. "He had a good number of ideas that I must tell you I agree very much with. So well be talking with John Bolton in a different capacity. And well be talking to some of the other generals that Ive met," Trump said. In his brief remarks, McMaster said he looks forward to joining the national security team and doing everything he can to advance and protect the interests of the American people. The White House later told reporters that he has the freedom to bring in his own staff to the National Security Council. In response to a question, Trump confirmed that Vice President Mike Pence played a role in the selection process. Top Republican Senator John McCain, who is Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and a fierce critic of Trump, welcomed the appointment. "Lt General H R McMaster is an outstanding choice for national security advisor. I have had the honor of knowing him for many years, and he is a man of genuine intellect, character, and ability. He knows how to succeed," he said. advertisement "I give President Trump great credit for this decision, as well as his national security cabinet choices. I could not imagine a better, more capable national security team than the one we have right now," McCain said. PTI LKJ BSA --- ENDS --- UPDATE: 6:40 p.m. EST President tweeted Sunday he was referring to a story on Fox News when he mentioned an incident involving immigrants occurring in Sweden Friday night. Swedish officials said there wasn't any serious incident involving immigrants. Original story The Swedish government Sunday demanded a clarification of U.S. President Donald Trumps remarks about a serious incident Friday night in the Scandinavian country. At a campaign-style rally in Florida Saturday, Trump, in a riff about keeping America safe, suggested Sweden had suffered immigrant-related security problems, urging his followers to look at whats happening. Weve got to keep our country safe. You look at whats happening in Germany, you look at whats happening last night in Sweden. Sweden, who would believe this? Sweden. They took in large numbers [of refugees]. They're having problems like they never thought possible. Swedish officials, however, have no idea what Trump was referring to. Our embassy in Washington has been in contact with the U.S. foreign affairs office [State Department] to get clarification. Were of course wondering [what he referred to], Swedish Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Catarina Axelsson told the Swedish news agency TT. Lets see if we get an answer from the embassy. The State Department told Reuters it would not comment on diplomatic communications. Former Swedish Prime Minister Margot Wallstrom tweeted a piece from Swedens foreign policy declaration, citing the Oxford Dictionaries declaration of the term post-truth as its international word of the year. Carl Bildt, Wallstroms predecessor, was less circumspect in his reaction. The Twitter hashtag #lastnightinsweden also took off. Story continues Trump has a penchant for making statements with little evidence to back them up. During his press conference Thursday he repeated the assertion that his electoral victory was the biggest since Ronald Reagans. When it was pointed out that he was wrong, he said he had heard the information from someone. Among his other favorite misstatements are that he would have won the popular vote if it hadnt been for as many as 5 million illegal voters theres no evidence of such overwhelming voter fraud and that the terrorists who committed the attacks in Paris on Nov. 13, 2015, in Brussels last March 22, and in Nice, France, July 14 were among the refugees who have been taken in by Germany and other European countries they werent; they were citizens of France and Belgium. The New York Times reported Trump may have based his statements on a Fox News report about filmmaker Ami Horowitz, who asserted migrants in Sweden have been responsible for a crime wave. Sweden had its first terrorist Islamic attack not that long ago, so theyre now getting a taste of what weve been seeing across Europe already, Horowitz said. But it was unclear to what he was referring. Iraqi-born Taimour Abdulwahab was responsible for a 2010 suicide attack in central Stockholm, but that was long before the current wave of immigrants began. Related Articles JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian Islamist groups on Monday called on the government to suspend the Christian governor of the capital and for the courts to convict him of blasphemy, demands they will make again at a rally outside parliament on Tuesday. Islamist groups have held two big rallies since November against the governor of Jakarta, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, who is on trial for insulting the Koran, and in the midst of an election in which he hopes to win a second term. "Our demands to parliament are that they urge the government to suspend Purnama ... and urge the Supreme Court and judges to detain him and impose the maximum sentence," said Muhammad al Khaththath of the Islamic People's Forum. The forum is one of the groups organising the Tuesday rally. Previous rallies drew hundreds of thousands of people and raised concern about the erosion of religious tolerance in the world's most populous Muslim-majority country. Purnama, Jakarta's first ethnic Chinese and Christian leader, denies insulting the Koran. He has been allowed to remain in office while the court case is going on but faces up to four years in prison if found guilty of blasphemy. His supporters say the charge against him is politically motivated. Last Wednesday, he stood against two Muslim candidates in a city governor election but none of them got enough votes to win outright. A second round is due in mid-April with Purnama competing against a former education minister, Anies Baswedan, who has appealed to the Muslim vote in the city of more than 10 million. Jakarta police have stepped up security ahead of Tuesday's demonstration which up to 10,000 people are expected to join, said police spokesman Argo Yuwono. The Jakarta election is widely seen as a proxy battle for the next presidential election in 2019. Purnama is a former deputy of President Joko Widodo, when Widido was Jakarta governor, and he is being backed by the president's party. Baswedan is backed by a retired general, Prabowo Subianto, who Widodo defeated in the last presidential election, in 2014, and who is promising a political comeback. (Reporting by Agustinus Beo Da Costa; Writing by Kanupriya Kapoor; Editing by Robert Birsel) On this Presidents Day, its time to look at the duties and responsibilities assigned by the Constitution to the President of the United States. Article II of the Constitution deals directly with the job of being President, who can qualify, how a President is elected, the Presidents direct and implied powers, and how a President can be removed from office by Congress. After 1787, constitutional amendments were focused on the timing of presidential terms, changing the presidential electoral voting process, dealing with the inability of a President or President-elect to hold office, and presidential term limits. Our Interactive Constitution project features leading scholars of differing viewpoints agreeing on the basic facts and matters of debate about key Article II clauses. Here is a list of those common interpretations and matters of debate. The Vesting Clause Article II, Section 1 begins: The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States. Saikrishna B. Prakash and Christopher H. Schroeder look at two important questions. First, does the term executive power identify a set of powers beyond those expressly identified in the Constitution, but which are nonetheless given to the President by virtue of the Vesting Clause? And, by vesting powers in a singular executive, does the Vesting Clause establish that the President may exercise those powers by himself, without interference by Congress, and, concomitantly, does it give the President the authority to direct and supervise any federal official involved in such matters? To read their full essay: http://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/articles/article-ii/the-vesting-clause-common-interpretation/clause/35 The Commander-In-Chief Clause The Commander in Chief Clause of Article II, Section 2 provides that The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States. Story continues Michael D. Ramsey and Stephen I. Vladeck examine the long-running debate about the clause, pointing to Supreme Court Justice Robert Jacksons classic comments: These cryptic words have given rise to some of the most persistent controversies in our constitutional history, with Presidents at various points claiming that it vests power to do anything, anywhere, that can be done with an army or navy. To read their full essay: http://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/articles/article-ii/commander-in-chief-clause-ramsey-and-vladeck/clause/25 Treaty and Appointments Power John O. McGinnis and Peter M. Shane look at how treaty making is a power shared between the President and the Senate, and how Article II, Section2, deals with the subject of official appointments. Perhaps the greatest source of controversy regarding the Appointments Clause, however, surrounds its implications, if any, for the removal of federal officers, they write. To read their full essay: http://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/articles/article-ii/article-ii-section-2-treaty-power-and-appointments-mcginnis-shane/clause/24 Article II, Section 3 Article II, Section 3 both grants and constrains presidential power. This Section invests the President with the discretion to convene Congress on extraordinary occasions, a power that has been used to call the chambers to consider nominations, war, and emergency legislation. It further grants the President the authority to adjourn Congress whenever the chambers cannot agree when to adjourn, a power that no President has ever exercised. William P. Marshall and Saikrishna B. Prakash also explain the Take Care Clause, arguably a major source of presidential power because it seemingly invests the office with broad enforcement authority, but it also serves as a major limitation on that power because it underscores that the executive is under a duty to faithfully execute the laws of Congress and not disregard them. To read their full essay: http://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/articles/article-ii/article-ii-section-3-by-bill-marshall-and-saikrishna-prakash/clause/38 The Impeachment Clause The final section of Article II, which generally describes the executive branch, specifies that the President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States shall be removed from office if convicted in an impeachment trial of Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors. Neil J. Kinkopf and Keith E. Whittington write about how much of the controversy surrounding the Impeachment Clause has revolved around the meaning of high Crimes and Misdemeanors, a phrase that is unique to the impeachment context. To read their full essay: http://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/articles/article-ii/article-ii-section-4-by-neil-kinkopf-and-keith-whittington/clause/49 The Hague (AFP) - Is your birthday on April 27? Do you celebrate a special birthday this year? Do you live in The Netherlands? If so, His Majesty King Willem-Alexander would like to invite you to dinner. The royal palace announced on Monday that to celebrate his 50th birthday this year, the popular king will invite 150 people to dine with him and his wife, Queen Maxima, at their palace in Amsterdam. A special website has been set up at www.WA50.nl for those hoping to win an invitation, and the lucky 150 guests will be chosen in a lottery on March 3. The draw is open only to those who share the king's birthday, live in The Netherlands, are over 20 and who are celebrating a "jubilee year" -- a birthday which is divisible by five, the palace said in a statement. In a specially filmed message, the king, seated at a beautifully laid table laden with cut-glass and vases brimming with tulips, says "one of these 150 seats could be for you. My wife and I are looking forward to it." The regal dinner will be held on April 28 -- so you can still celebrate your special day with family and friends. After the dinner, the palace on Dam Square, Amsterdam, will be open to the public for free for 50 hours. April 27 is an official holiday in The Netherlands to mark the king's birthday, and hundreds of thousands of Dutch don orange clothes and turn out for street festivities. The first King's Day was held in April 2014, after Willem-Alexander ascended to the throne when queen Beatrix abdicated in favour of her son. He became the first Dutch king in more than 120 years. As U.S. senators look to impose further sanctions against Iran, reports have emerged claiming that Tehrans Revolutionary Guard, an elite branch of the countrys armed forces, launched sophisticated rockets during routine military exercises. The smart and advanced rockets were launched during an annual three-day exercise that began in the countrys central desert Monday, the Associated Press (AP) reported Tasnim, an agency close to the elite force, as saying. While the capabilities or model of the rockets were not reported, the agency said the set targets had been achieved. The move comes less than a month after Iran tested a medium-range ballistic missile, causing the United States to put the country on notice. The reported launches also came a day after it was revealed that U.S. senators were planning to introduce legislation imposing additional economic sanctions on Iran. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, talked about the plans during a panel discussion at the Munich Security Conference, according to Reuters. I think it is now time for the Congress to take Iran on directly in terms of what theyve done outside the nuclear program, Graham said. Irans alleged violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions may lead to bipartisan support for the introduction of such sanctions. Speaking at the same panel, Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy said a proportional response to the test must be discussed. He added: I don't necessarily think there's going to be partisan division over whether or not we have the ability as a Congress to speak on issues outside of the nuclear agreement. As tensions escalate between the two nations, Irans foreign minister Mohammed Javad Zarif said pushing Iran with sanctions will not yield any results. We dont respond well to coercion. We dont respond well to sanctions, but we respond very well to mutual respect. We respond very well to arrangements to reach mutually acceptable scenarios, Zarif said Sunday, according to AP. Related Articles Tehran (AFP) - Iran on Monday criticised what it said was coordination between Israel and regional rival Saudi Arabia, describing attempts to create an "international atmosphere" against Tehran. Foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said the two countries "imagine they can compensate for their numerous defeats and failures in the region by creating an international atmosphere against our country." The alignment is "not accidental", he was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency. Israel and Saudi Arabia accuse Iran of fuelling regional conflicts by supporting armed Shiite movements in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Bahrain. Iran rejects the accusations and says Riyadh must stop its support for Sunni "terrorists" like the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Washington last week and said there were now "broader conditions for broad peace in the Middle East between Israel and the Arab countries". Gulf states like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar do not have diplomatic relations with Israel -- although that does not prevent them from sharing informal links. US President Donald Trump's pick for ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, has gone on record pushing for cooperation between the Jewish state and Sunni Arab nations to oppose Iran. "It's unfortunate that this occupying regime (of Israel) is counting on the coordination and collaboration of an Islamic country to further its perpetual anti-Iranian policies," Ghasemi said. BEIRUT/ANKARA (Reuters) - Iran summoned the Turkish ambassador in Tehran on Monday over comments made by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and President Tayyip Erdogan accusing the Islamic Republic of destabilizing the region. Tehran and Ankara support opposite sides in the conflict in Syria with mostly Shiite Iran backing the government of President Bashar al-Assad while Turkey, which is majority Sunni, has backed elements of the Syrian opposition. In Iraq, commanders of the predominantly Shiite Popular Mobilization Units, many of whom are trained and funded by Iran, have been highly critical of Turkey's military presence there. On Sunday, Cavusoglu told delegates at a security conference in Munich, Iran wants to turn Syria and Iraq into Shiite, according to Turkeys state-run Anadolu news agency. Cavusoglu also said Turkey was against any sectarianism in the Middle East and had called on Iran to stop threatening the region's stability and security. "We will be patient with their positions," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said on Monday in reference to the comments made in Munich, according to the Mehr News agency. "But there is a certain cap for our patience." The Turkish foreign ministry responded by saying Iran should "revise its regional policies and take constructive steps, rather than criticizing countries that voice criticism of Iran". But Turkish Deputy Prime Minister and government spokesman Numan Kurtulmus had earlier in the day struck a more conciliatory tone, downplaying any reports of tension. Iran and Turkey are friendly nations. There can be differences in views from time to time, but there cant be animosity because of comments," he told reporters during a news conference after a cabinet meeting. "Even if our political differences with Iran emerge, these shouldnt be blown out of proportion," he said. (Reporting by Babak Dehghanpisheh in Beirut and Tulay Karadeniz, Tuvan Gumrukcu and Parisa Hafezi in Ankara; Editing by Louise Ireland) By Stephen Kalin and Maher Chmaytelli SOUTH OF MOSUL/BAGHDAD, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S.-backed Iraqi forces battling Islamic State fighters have fought their way close to Mosul's airport on the second day of a ground offensive on the jihadists' remaining stronghold in the western side of the city, military statements said on Monday. Federal police and elite interior ministry units known as Rapid Response are leading the charge toward the airport on the southern outskirts of Mosul and plan to turn it into a close support base for the push into western Mosul, commanders have said. They dislodged Islamic State fighters from the hilltop village of Albu Saif which overlooks the airport, reaching its "vicinity," an Iraqi military statement said. The militants are essentially under siege in western Mosul, along with an estimated 750,000 civilians, after they were forced out of the eastern part of the city in the first phase of the campaign that ended last month, after 100 days of fighting. "They are striking and engaging our forces and pulling back towards Mosul," Major Mortada Ali Abd of the Rapid Response units told a Reuters correspondent south of Mosul. "God willing Albu Saif will be fully liberated today." Elite Counter-Terrorism Service units headed to frontlines around the western side of Mosul, a city divided in two by the Tigris River. Helicopters were seen strafing the Albu Saif hill during the day to clear it of snipers, while machinegun fire and rocket propelled grenades could be heard. The advancing forces also disabled a car bomb, used by militants to obstruct attacking forces. The Iraqi forces have been advancing so far in sparsely populated areas and there were no families seen escaping. The fighting will get tougher as they get nearer to the city itself and the risk greater for civilians. Up to 400,000 civilians could be displaced by the offensive as residents of western Mosul suffer food and fuel shortages and markets are closed, United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq Lise Grande told Reuters on Saturday. Commanders expect the battle to be more difficult than in the east of the city, which Iraqi forces took control of last month after three months of fighting. Tanks and armored vehicles cannot pass through its narrow alleyways. The militants have developed a network of passageways and tunnels to enable them to hide and fight among civilians, disappear after hit-and-run operations and track government troop movements, according to residents. Western Mosul contains the old city center, with its ancient souks, government administrative buildings, and the mosque from which Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared his self-styled caliphate over parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014. The city is the largest urban center captured by Islamic State in both countries. The U.S. commander in Iraq, Army Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend, told a news conference in Baghdad on Monday he had been putting U.S. military advisers closer to front lines in Mosul. "We adjusted our posture during the east Mosul fight and we embedded advisers a bit further down into the formation," he said, speaking during an unannounced visit of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to Baghdad. Townsend has said he believes U.S.-backed forces will recapture both of Islamic State's major strongholds - Mosul and the city of Raqqa in Syria - within the next six months. Islamic State was thought to have up to 6,000 fighters in Mosul when the government's offensive started in mid-October. Of those, more than 1,000 have been killed, according to Iraqi estimates. The remainder now face a 100,000-strong force made up of Iraqi armed forces, including elite paratroopers and police, Kurdish forces and Iranian-trained Shi'ite paramilitary groups. The westward road that links the city to Syria was cut in November by the Shi'ite paramilitary known as Popular Mobilization forces. The militants are in charge of the road that links Mosul to Tal Afar, a town they control 60 km (40 miles) to the west. CIVILIAN LIVES Coalition aircraft and artillery have continued to bombard targets in the west during the break that followed the taking of eastern Mosul. The United States, which has deployed more than 5,000 troops in the fighting, leads an international coalition providing air and ground support to the Iraqi and Kurdish forces. Mattis told reporters before arriving in Baghdad the U.S. military was not in Iraq to seize the country's oil, distancing himself from remarks by President Donald Trump. A U.S. serviceman died on Monday in a non-combat related incident outside the Iraqi city of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, the U.S.-led coalition said, giving no further details. Islamic State imposed a radical version of Islam in Mosul, banning cigarettes, televisions and radios, and forcing men to grow beards and women to cover from head to toe. Citizens who failed to comply risked death. Capturing Mosul would effectively end the Sunni group's ambitions for territorial rule in Iraq. The militants are expected to continue to wage an insurgency, however, carrying out suicide bombings and inspiring lone-wolf actions abroad. About 160,000 civilians have been displaced since the start of the offensive in October, U.N. officials say. Medical and humanitarian agencies estimate the total number of dead and wounded - both civilian and military - at several thousand. "This is the grim choice for children in western Mosul right now: bombs, crossfire and hunger if they stay or execution and snipers if they try to run," Save the Children said, adding children make up about half the population trapped in the city. The involvement of many local and foreign players with diverging interests in the war heightens the risk that they could clash between themselves after Islamic State is defeated. Influential Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who is openly hostile to Washington's policies in the Middle East, on Monday said U.S. troops should leave as soon as Mosul is captured. Mattis declined to address Sadr's remarks directly, describing them as an internal political matter, but he said he was reassured after his talks in Baghdad that Iraq's leaders recognized the value of its relationship with the United States. "I imagine well be in this fight for a while and well stand by each other," he said. (Additional reporting by Phil Stewart in Baghdad and Isabel Coles in Erbil; Editing by Dominic Evans and Janet Lawrence) SOUTH OF MOSUL, Iraq (AP) Iraqi forces advanced Monday into the southern outskirts of Mosul on the second day of a push to drive Islamic State militants from the city's western half, as the visiting U.S. defense secretary met with officials to discuss the fight against the extremists. With aerial support from the U.S.-led coalition, Iraqi police and army troops launched the offensive Sunday, part of a 100-day-old campaign that has already driven the militants from the eastern half of the city. Iraqi helicopters fired rockets at the village of Abu Saif early Monday, targeting a hill that overlooks the city's airport. By noon, the forces entered the village and gained control over much of the strategic hill as fighting was still raging. Separately, militarized police in armored vehicles were moving toward the sprawling Ghazlani military base on the southwestern outskirts of the city. A U.S.-led coalition has been providing close air support throughout the campaign to retake Iraq's second-largest city. U.S. special operations forces are embedded with some Iraqi units and thousands of U.S. troops are in Iraq providing logistical and other support. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis was holding discussions with U.S. and Iraqi officials, a week before he is expected to present a new strategy to President Donald Trump for defeating the Islamic State group. "We're going to make certain that we've got good situational awareness of what we face as we work together and fight alongside each other," Mattis told reporters traveling with him. Trump has repeatedly vowed to eliminate the extremist group but has provided few details about how his approach might differ from that of the Obama administration, which had partnered with Syrian and Iraqi forces to drive IS out of several towns and cities. The battle for western Mosul, the extremist group's last major urban bastion in Iraq, is expected to be the most daunting yet. Story continues The streets are older and narrower in that sector of the city, which stretches west from the Tigris River, forcing Iraqi soldiers to leave the relative safety of their armored vehicles. The presence of up to 750,000 civilians also poses a challenge. Two suicide car bombers struck army and paramilitary forces west of Mosul on Monday, killing and wounding a number of troops, two army officers said, without specifying the number of casualties. A third suicide car bomber was blown up before reaching the troops, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media. IS claimed responsibility for two attacks in an online statement, saying the attackers were British and Iraqi. ___ Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor and Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad and Maamoun Youssef in Cairo contributed to this report. ___ This story has been corrected to show that Mattis is U.S. secretary of defense, not secretary of state. Jerusalem (AFP) - Israel's Shin Bet security service said on Monday it had arrested an Arab Israeli on suspicion of aiding the jihadist Islamic State (IS) group and plotting attacks in the Jewish state. Its agents and police had arrested Anas Haj Yahya, 35, from the northern town of Taibe, on January 29 "in the wake of intelligence information which pointed to him as someone working to promote terror within the state of Israel". He was formally charged on Monday in a court in Lod, central Israel, Shin Bet said in a statement, without detailing the charges. "During interrogation by the Shin Bet, it became clear that he was in contact with 'Islamic State' activists" through internet forums, the Hebrew-language statement said. He had been asked by IS contacts abroad to plan an attack on a Tel Aviv bus and on Israeli soldiers "but the plan was never carried out". "Among items seized at his home were pictures of military material and explosive charges," the statement added. Several Arabs from northern Israel have been arrested for alleged links with IS and around 50 Arab Israelis are currently believed to be among its ranks in Syria and Iraq. Israel added IS to its list of terrorist organisations in October 2015. Arab Israelis are the descendants of Palestinians who remained on their land after the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. By Press Trust of India: From Yoshita Singh New York, Feb 20 (PTI) Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has ordered a probe into allegations of sexual harassment made by a former female employee of the company in the US against her supervisor. Kalanick said he has instructed Liane Hornsey, the companys recently hired chief of human resources, "to conduct an urgent investigation". advertisement "There can be absolutely no place for this kind of behaviour at Uber. Whats described here is abhorrent & against everything we believe in. Anyone who behaves this way or thinks this is OK will be fired," Kalanick said in a Twitter post yesterday. Kalanicks response came after the companys former female employer said in a blog post that her manager had sent inappropriate messages to her. The employee had joined Uber as a site reliability engineer in November 2015. She wrote in the blog post that "things started getting weird" a few weeks after she joined her team. "On my first official day rotating on the team, my new manager sent me a string of messages over company chat. He was in an open relationship, he said, and his girlfriend was having an easy time finding new partners but he wasnt," she said. "He was trying to stay out of trouble at work, he said, but he couldnt help getting in trouble, because he was looking for women to have sex with. It was clear that he was trying to get me to have sex with him, and it was so clearly out of line that I immediately took screenshots of these chat messages and reported him to HR," she said. She said the companys Human Resource department and upper management were not supportive when she reported the situation to them. She alleged that even though the management felt it was "clearly sexual harassment" and the manager was "propositioning" her, they did not take action as "it was this mans first offense, and that they wouldnt feel comfortable giving him anything other than a warning and a stern talking-to". "Upper management told me that he was a high performer (i.e. had stellar performance reviews from his superiors) and they wouldnt feel comfortable punishing him for what was probably just an innocent mistake on his part," she said. Media mogul and a board member at Uber Arianna Huffington also took to Twitter to say she had spoken to Kalanick about the allegations and "as a representative of Ubers Board I will work with Liane to conduct a full independent investigation starting now". PTI YAS UZM --- ENDS --- advertisement Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli ministers were upbeat Monday on the prospects of working with the new US administration, even after remarks by President Donald Trump that have fallen short of rightwing hopes. Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said Israel now had "an opportunity to create together with the administration the conditions for serious peace negotiations by changing the basic approach of the international community". "Until today the Palestinians had every reason to believe that time was on their side," said Erdan, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, speaking in Jerusalem at the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations. "They could refuse to negotiate, incite terror, and attack Israel in the international arena, while the world put pressure only on Israel. This approach has failed." Members of Netanyahu's rightwing coalition had hailed Trump's election as the beginning of a new era in which they would be able to freely advance settlement construction, considered by the international community as a major impediment to a Palestinian state and peace agreement. But at his first meeting with Netanyahu last week since taking office, Trump on Wednesday asked the Israeli leader to "hold back on settlements for a little bit". And on Sunday, Netanyahu said the US and Israel had agreed to create teams on West Bank settlement, "an area that we have not previously agreed on". Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who heads the far-right Jewish Home and opposes a Palestinian state, told the conference he was "happy that President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu are willing to explore new ideas". That was a reference to Trump's comments that Washington would no longer insist on a two-state solution to the conflict. The US ambassador to the United Nations, however, later disputed the notion that the US does not support the two-state solution. Story continues According to Bennett, "its been 24 years of the same thing", referring to the period since the 1993 Oslo talks that were to have led to the formation of a Palestinian state. The administration of previous US president Barack Obama strongly opposed the expansion of Jewish settlements, arguing they hurt the longer-term search for a two-state solution. Since Trump's January 20 inauguration, the Israeli premier has announced more than 5,000 settlement homes and the construction of the first entirely new settlement for more than 20 years. Benjamin Netanyahu will become the first Israeli Prime Minister to visit Australia on Wednesday on a historic Asia trip that also includes Singapore, but faces protests Down Under. The right-wing Israeli leader will meet with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in Sydney. But a group of 60 business leaders, academics, members of the clergy and former politicians signed a letter released Monday saying that Australia should not welcome Netanyahu, claiming his policies "provoke, intimidate and oppress" the Palestinians. "Israel continues to defy all United Nations calls for it to comply with international law in respect of its illegal settlement building, and its treatment of the indigenous Palestinian population," the letter reads. Demonstrations are planned in Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney during the visit. The letter also calls on the Australian government to reassess its "one-sided" backing of Netanyahu's government. Israel passed a new law this month that legalises dozens of Jewish outposts and thousands of settler homes built on private Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank. The international community sees the settlements as illegal and a major obstacle to peace in the region. Netanyahu has also long wavered on his support for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, that has been on the table for years backed by the US and other major powers, though President Donald Trump recently appeared to put Washington's commitment in doubt. Opposition Labor leader Bill Shorten said he would tell Netanyahu when they meet on Friday "that where settlement building is an obstacle to a two-state solution, it should be stopped". Australia and Israel have traditionally enjoyed friendly ties but this is the first time that a serving Israeli prime minister has visited the country since the establishment of the Jewish state in 1948. Netanyahu on Monday met with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in the city-state, also on a first-time visit. Story continues Israel played a key role in Singapore's history after the city-state became independent from Malaysia in 1965, helping to set up its armed forces after other countries declined. Netanyahu said both countries were "kindred spirits" being "small nations that have become in many areas global powers". He is set to arrive in Australia on Wednesday for four days. BOSTON (AP) The U.S. Postal Service has unveiled a new stamp to mark the 100th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's birth. The Forever stamp was released Monday during the annual Presidents Day family festival at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston. Among those attending were Kennedy family members, including U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy of Massachusetts, the grandson of Robert F. Kennedy. He told a standing-room-only crowd that the stamp, which features a 1960 photograph of John F. Kennedy with his eyes tilted upward, showed his great-uncle's perpetual optimism and confidence. The stamp will be on sale in U.S. post offices starting Tuesday. The future president was born in Brookline on May 29, 1917, the second of Joseph and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy's nine children. John Oliver opened his latest edition of HBOs Last Week Tonight talking about President Trump two words that will always sound unnatural together, like f*ckable clown or Wolf Blitzer,' he said. Donald Trump once again dominated the news cycle, including Saturdays pointless rally that nonetheless got roadblock cable-news coverage, though much of it was boilerplate Trump: Media is fake, Chicago is a nightmare, Im the Greatest. But, catching peoples attention: While warning about the danger of refugees, Trump mentioned, You look at whats happening last night in Sweden. Sweden! Who would believe this Sweden! They took in large numbers; theyre having problems like they never thought possible. Swedens response. Oliver noted: What is your president talking about?! A quick message to all other countries on Earth: In the future youre going to find yourself wanting to ask, What is your president talking about? a great deal. And the answer almost always is going to be, We have no f*cking idea. Trump has admitted since that his Sweden comment was in reference to a Fox News Channel piece the previous night concerning immigration and that Nordic country. Sifting through Trumps brain to see why he said something is now like examining a sharks stomach to see what it ate, Oliver described. Here is where were at right now: Trump can dominate the news merely by referencing something that did not happen in Sweden. With so much of the news cycle devoted to Trump, other fascinating stories got shorted. That includes the murder of North Korean ruler Kim Jong-uns half brother as he waited for a plane by a woman who claims she thought she was taking part in a TV prank show. And the Florida man behind bars after plotting to blow up Target stores along the East Coast, in hopes of sending company stock plummeting so he could buy shares on the cheap. Story continues Instead, Oliver found himself compelled to talk Trump again because you cannot avoid him. In the past week alone, Trump: Designated the media as enemies of the American people; Had his EPA-hating nominee for head of the EPA confirmed; Lost his nominee for Labor Secretary, and his National Security Adviser; and Signed a bill undoing Barack Obamas protection for waterways from coal mining waste. But perhaps nothing summed up Trumps week better than his batsh*t crazy press conference on Thursday. Most particularly, his exchange with African-American journalist April Ryan, in which he asked her to set up a meeting between him and the Congressional Black Caucus. What hits you first there is the incredible racism of assuming all black people are friends, Oliver said. Its not until later you appreciate the sexism of his thinking all women are there to perform secretarial tasks for you. The guy packs so much into so little. Related Video: For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android. Related stories John Oliver Explains Why Donald Trump Loves Vladimir Putin, Who Loves Trump Right Back Donald Trump Doubles Down On His 'Fake News' Attacks & Sweden - Update WGA Awards Ceremony Rips Donald Trump So Much, He (Sort Of) Makes An Appearance Washington (AFP) - US Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly leaves for Guatemala and Mexico on Wednesday to discuss border security and trade with the countries' presidents and other top officials. Kelly is well acquainted with the region, having served as head of US Southern Command under former president Barack Obama until he took up his latest post in January after being tapped by President Donald Trump. The Department of Homeland Security said that during his first stop, in Guatemala, Kelly would meet with President Jimmy Morales, as well as the ministers of government and foreign affairs. He will also observe the arrival of a DHS repatriation flight in Guatemala City filled with undocumented migrants to the United States who were sent back to their home country. In Mexico, Kelly will join Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. The pair will meet with President Enrique Pena Nieto, as well as his ministers of interior, foreign relations, finance, national defense and navy. "The group will discuss border security, law enforcement cooperation and trade, among other issues," a Department of Homeland Security statement read. Mexico-US ties are at their most strained point in years. On Friday, thousands of Mexicans linked arms in Ciudad Juarez to form a "human wall" on their country's border with the United States, protesting Trump's plan to build a massive barrier between the countries. New Zealand's High Court ruled Monday that Kim Dotcom was eligible for extradition to the United States over online piracy allegations linked to his now-defunct Megaupload web empire. But defence lawyers immediately vowed to appeal the decision and maintain the long-running battle to stop Dotcom being sent for trial in the United States. "We are far from defeated," Dotcom's barrister Ron Mansfield said in a statement. Dotcom himself lashed out at the judgement on Twitter, arguing he had proved his central legal point that copyright is not an extraditable offence. "It's a political case. It's a political judgement," he tweeted. "I told you I can't be extradited for copyright and I was right. What is this? Sharia law?" The FBI alleges Megaupload netted more than US$175 million in criminal proceeds and cost copyright owners more than US$500 million by offering pirated content. Dotcom has denied any wrongdoing and accused US authorities of pursuing a vendetta against him on behalf of politically influential Hollywood studios. He argues Megaupload was a genuine file-sharing site that did its best to police copyright infringement but had 50 million daily users and could not control every aspect of their activity. Dotcom, a German with permanent residency in New Zealand, faces decades in jail if convicted in the United States of piracy. He was first arrested more than five years ago when armed police staged a dawn raid on his mansion near Auckland as the FBI shut down Megaupload's servers in the United States. Since then, the fight to avoid extradition has become a war of legal attrition, resulting in numerous court hearings and appeals. - 'Extremely disappointing' - In Monday's decision, High Court judge Murray Gilbert upheld an earlier District Court ruling that there was "overwhelming" evidence to extradite Dotcom and his three co-accused. Gilbert accepted Dotcom's argument that copyright infringement was not a criminal offence under New Zealand law, so he could not be extradited for it. Story continues But he said there was enough evidence to put Dotcom on trial for criminal fraud, meaning he could be sent to America. Mansfield said the extradition decision was "extremely disappointing" but the copyright finding was a crucial legal point that could overturn the ruling. "The last hurdle to what we say is the correct outcome -- no extradition -- will now need to be determined by the Court of Appeal," he said. "We remain confident that this last point, which would prevent extradition in this complex and unprecedented legal case, will be resolved in Kim's favour." Born Kim Schmitz in Kiel, northern Germany in 1974, Dotcom changed his name in 2005, around the same time he established Megaupload. The website was an early example of cloud computing, allowing users to upload large files onto a server so others could easily download them without clogging up their email systems. At its height in 2011, Megaupload claimed to have 50 million daily users and account for four percent of the world's Internet traffic. The problem, according to an FBI indictment, was that many of the files shared were copyright-protected films and music. Dotcom's wealth allowed him to move to New Zealand under an investment scheme in 2010, despite a chequered past as a hacker and an insider trading conviction that would normally have kept him out. MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Monday it had no prior knowledge of a Ukrainian lawmaker's peace plan for his country, which was detailed in the New York Times newspaper, and called it absurd anyway. The U.S. newspaper reported that Andrii Artemenko, a Ukrainian lawmaker, had sent a proposal to associates of U.S. President Donald Trump that was designed to end a simmering conflict in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian separatists and government forces. According to the New York Times, the mooted plan would entail Russian forces withdrawing from eastern Ukraine and Ukrainian voters deciding in a referendum whether Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014, would be leased to Russia for a term of 50 or 100 years. Moscow denies it has any troops in Ukraine and has repeatedly said it will not even discuss the status of Crimea. When asked about the New York Times report, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call on Monday that Artemenko's proposal had not previously been known to the Kremlin and that it was absurd. "There's nothing to talk about. How can Russia rent its own region from itself?" said Peskov. The only way the Ukraine crisis could be resolved was through the Minsk peace accords, said Peskov. (Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Alexander Winning) Buying a home may be the American dream, but buying landempty, yet full of possibilitiesholds an almost mythical appeal. Its also cheap: On average, land will cost you a mere $3,020 per acre. Unlike avocados or iPhones, land is a finite resource, which youd think would shore up its value. So lets talk turkey: Is land truly a good investment? The answer depends, for starters, on what you hope to do with it. The possibilities, of course, are close to endless: You could build a cute little cabin or your dream mansion. Or maybe youre thinking big with your investment, like a future condo complex or shopping mall that will reel in beaucoup bucks. But while land may seem as solid as an investment gets, its not something you want to venture into without careful consideration of the costs and red tape youll encounter. Here are some of the questions to ponder to help you decide whether you want to forge ahead. How can the land be used? Investors must consider not only the value of the land itselfin terms of its location and pricebut also its intended purpose, says Eric Malmberg, a broker with Re/Max Advantage Plus in MinneapolisSt. Paul, who specializes in land sales. As such, your first step should be to check with the city or county to see if the land is zoned as residential (homes), commercial (shopping malls), industrial (manufacturing), or agricultural (farming). Similar to zoning laws, land can have specific designationssay, a historical site or preservethat limit what you can build on it. Whatever a lands label, you should take it seriously, because if you build a house on a commercial lot, a shop on agricultural land, or some other mismatched arrangement, youre breaking the law. And thats rarely a winning strategy for investments (just look at where Bernie Madoff ended up). Can land be rezoned? What if the land youre eyeing is not zoned the way you were hoping? Many an investor has plowed ahead anyway, intending to maximize an investment through rezoning, a phenomenon known among investors as future-use payday. For instance, maybe land thats classified as agriculture currently has a restriction that will be lifted and reallocated for condos once the local population density reaches a certain level, handing a windfall to any landowner savvy enough to see it coming. Story continues But buyer beware, cautions Andy Prasky, who specializes in new construction and land development with Re/Max Advantage Plus in MinneapolisSt. Paul. Investors with rezoning dreams are usually at the mercy of the city staff, says Prasky. They will likely find the process to be full of costly surprises, such as land surveys, engineering reports, wetland delineations, watershed compliance, feasibility reports, and more. In short, waiting for rezoning to happen is high-risk, high-reward. If you arent an experienced real estate investor or a high roller, you should probably look to other options (read on). Can I make money off the land immediately? Keep in mind that land comes with carrying costs: Youll have to pay taxes on it, for instance. As such, to keep your land from being a constant drain on your finances, youll want to find a way for it to generate income immediately. This can be done by planting crops or trees on it, leasing it out for cattle, or offering up hunting rights. The key to holding raw land is to keep the taxes and expenses under control, Prasky says, adding that agricultural land has the lowest taxes. In Minnesota where Prasky lives, for instance, farmland sells for between $8,000 and $16,000 an acre. Rent it out to a farmer, and the crop yields will generally reap a return on investment of about 3.75% per year. In short, farmland is akin to a blue chip stock: It wont make you rich, but it does offer a slow but steady return. What do developers think? But if your dreams are to build something on your land, one professional you may want to call for advice is a developer. As a rookie investor, you may be valuing attributes that a homeowner would look for, like natural beauty, views, and proximity to amenities. And while these factors are important, a developer will eye additional details such as the number of buildable acres (which may not be all of it), expected expenses for site improvement, and ease of getting permits and approvals. Also keep in mind that building will cost you, a lot. According to data from the National Association of Home Builders, the median cost of building a home is $289,415thats more than it costs to buy an existing median-price home, at $223,000. And thats not where your building expenses end. Youll also have to pay for surveys, permits, and health department approvals. Whats more, the site must be cleared, graded, and excavatedall of which can take a year or more to complete. Bottom line: Land, as an investment, may be more trouble than its worth. So if youre looking for fast and easy returns, stocks or regular real estate may be better bets. Still, if land ownership holds some appeal, just make sure to do your homework and maybe grow a few soybeans to make ends meet. The post Is Land a Good Investment? A Reality Check on the Profits and Risks appeared first on Real Estate News & Advice | realtor.com. I think Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster will be the next national security advisor. Like Vice Adm. Bob Harward, General David Petraeus reportedly has withdrawn over the issue of being able to bring in his own staff. And Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, the acting NSA, is probably too old for a job this demanding, especially in this administration. That leaves just two. I dont know about Bolton. Id be surprised, though, if he fit the Trump template. Picking McMaster is not a bad thing. Ive known him since he was major. Hes smart, energetic, and tough. He even looks like an armored branch version of Harward. (Thats him, working out with a punching bag in Iraq, in the foto. I took it in the citadel in downtown Tell Afar one sunny winter day about 10 years ago.) (Btw, Harward was scheduled to appear on ABCs This Week yesterday morning, but backed out an hour before airtime. ) As I said at the end of my Friday post, once Trump was turned down by Harward, it became more likely that he would turn to the active duty military for his 3rd pick for the job. McMaster is among the best of them out there. For his Ph.D. dissertation, he wrote one of the best books on the Vietnam War, Dereliction of Duty: Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam. He has good combat experience, he was a good trainer, and he led the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment well in his deployment to Iraq, most notably in pacifying Tell Afar, to the west of Mosul. I wrote about his operations there in my book The Gamble. I am traveling so I dont have it with me, but I remember him telling his soldiers that understanding counterinsurgency really wasnt hard: Every time you disrespect an Iraqi, youre working for the enemy. They even had Customer Satisfaction Forms that detainees were asked to fill out upon release: Were you treated well? How was the food? What could we do better? There are two big differences between him and Harward: First, he is on active duty. (Though the Army inexplicably couldnt find a four star job for him, and had told him to plan to retire later this year.) Second, his wife wont kill him if he takes the job, as Harwards wife might have. Story continues That said, the basic problems remain. To do the job right, McMaster needs to bring in his own people. And it remains unclear if he can get that. As for relations with the Pentagon: McMaster knows Mattis, but not well. (They both spoke at a conference at the University of North Carolina in April 2010.) But they are similar people and will respect each other. I dont know how McMaster will work Trump. McMaster once wrote that the American war plans for Afghanistan and Iraq were at times . . . essentially narcissistic. (Good line, but I think it is more illuminating to say that they were minimalist plans for maximalist goals, which is of course a bad combination.) At any rate, McMaster may learn a lot more about narcissism in the coming months. Over the weekend, I did an informal poll of people who have worked for McMaster, asking if they would be willing to follow him to the National Security Council staff. To a surprising degree, they replied, Yes, they would. Thats an indication of loyalty to and confidence in him. For extra credit, here is a reading list from McMaster. Meantime, over the weekend, an NSC staffer who had been hired by General Flynn was canned for criticizing the Trumps at a think tank meeting. I actually dont have a problem with this. Either you work for someone or you dont. If you cant be loyal, at least be discreet. I think we may be seeing more such departures throughout the Trump administration, people who are effectively resigning in public. Photo credit: Thomas E. Ricks Beirut (AFP) - France's far-right leader and presidential candidate Marine Le Pen on Monday met a foreign head of state for the first time, holding talks in Beirut with Lebanon's President Michel Aoun. "We discussed the long and fruitful friendship between our two countries," the National Front (FN) leader said after her 30-minute encounter at the presidential palace in the hilltop suburb of Baabda with Aoun, the Middle East's only Christian president. Le Pen, who is leading polls of voters' intentions for the first round of France's presidential election on April 23, said they also discussed the refugee crisis in Lebanon, where more than one million Syrians have fled their country's conflict and now make up one in four of the population. "We raised... the concerns we share over the very serious refugee crisis," she said. "These difficulties are being overcome by the courage and generosity of Lebanon but this cannot go on for ever." The FN leader, whose party takes an anti-immigrant stance, called Sunday for the international community to step up humanitarian aid to keep the refugees in Lebanon. Le Pen also met Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, a Sunni Muslim, who cautioned against associating his religion with the terrorist attacks of the jihadists who have repeatedly targeted France. "The worst mistake would be the amalgam between Islam and Muslims on one hand and terrorism on the other hand," Hariri said, in a statement issued by his office. "The Lebanese and Arabs, like the majority of the world, consider France to be the homeland of human rights and of the republican state that makes no ethnic, religious or class distinction between its citizens," he said. On the refugee crisis, Hariri called on the international community "to assume its responsibilities". Le Pen later had talks with Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil. Emerging from that meeting, she told reporters asking her about the best ways of protecting the Christians of the Middle East: "Eradicating radical Islam." Story continues "Protecting Christians means that they must be able to continue to live on their lands," she added. On Tuesday, Le Pen is to meet Lebanon's grand mufti, the leader of its Sunni community, the Maronite Christian patriarch and rightist Christian party leader Samir Geagea. Shunned by European leaders over her party's stance on immigration and its anti-EU message, Le Pen's meeting with Aoun aimed to boost her international credibility. France had mandate power over both Lebanon and Syria during the first half of the 20th century. Rival presidential hopeful and former French economy minister Emmanuel Macron visited Beirut on January 24, where he met both Aoun and Hariri. Le Pen has met few top foreign officials since taking control of the FN in 2011. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has refused to meet with her. And Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy told AFP last week that "a victory of the populists would be the end of Europe", a clear reference to Le Pen's call for a referendum on France's EU membership. By Press Trust of India: From Sajjad Hussain Islamabad, Feb 20 (PTI) A special UN envoy for Afghanistan today met a top aide of Pakistan Prime Minister and discussed ways to reduce the tension between the two neighbours after Islamabad blamed Afghan-based militants for a series of deadly attacks in the country. United Nations Secretary Generals Special Representative for Afghanistan Tadamichi Yamamoto called on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs Special Assistant Tariq Fatemi here, amid reports that Pakistan has moved heavy artillery towards Chaman and Torkham districts close to the Afghan border. advertisement Their discussion focused on the situation in Afghanistan and efforts to promote peace and stability in that country, Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria said in a statement. Fatemi reiterated Pakistans resolve for effective border management "underlining the need for cooperation by the Afghan side". The meeting comes amid a rise in tension between the two countries after terrorists attacks this month claimed more than 100 lives in Pakistan and unsettled the establishment. The latest of the attacks on Thursday targeted a famed Sufi shrine in Sindh province, killing 88 people. The army in retaliation claimed it killed at least 130 suspected militants across the country, but offered no details about the campaign. Pakistan has blamed terrorists hiding across the border in Afghanistan for the attacks. It has also shut down a border trading point with Afghanistan. Last week, Sharifs Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz telephoned Afghan National Security Adviser Hanif Atmar and asked him to take action against militants on Afghan soil. Pakistan also summoned the officials of Afghan embassy in Islamabad following the shrine attack and handed them a list of 76 "most wanted" terrorists, demanding immediate action. Fatemi, however, today told the UN special envoy that Pakistan desires lasting peace in Afghanistan. He called for a politically-negotiated settlement and described it as the "most viable option for peace and stability in Afghanistan". PTI SH ABH AKJ ABH --- ENDS --- TANAY, Philippines (AP) The death toll has risen to 15 from a bus crash in the Philippines, officials said Tuesday, and could climb further as many of the nearly 50 others who were hurt in the accident are in serious condition. Most of the dead and injured were college students on the way to a camping trip on Monday when the brakes on their chartered bus apparently failed on a steep downhill road. The out-of-control bus then smashed into an electric post, shearing off most of its roof. Berlito Bati Jr., a disaster-response officer in Tanay town in Rizal province east of Manila, where the accident happened, said the dead included the driver and a professor. He said the latest victim died late Monday. There were 62 people on board, although bus manifest listed only 58, Bati said. The impact of the crash was so strong it ripped off a large chunk of the roof of the bus and scattered the victims' belongings, including a stuffed toy and shoes. The students, mostly taking computer courses, were less than 30 minutes from their destination when the crash occurred, he said. Some of the survivors said they smelled burning rubber before the brakes of the bus apparently failed. Some students screamed in panic as the bus went out of control. On Tuesday morning, a priest blessed the bus and the site of the accident and led relatives of the dead in prayers. The bus was one of several vehicles transporting hundreds of college students to a camping resort when the accident happened in Tanay, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Manila. CONAKRY (Reuters) - At least five people were killed in Guinea's capital of Conakry on Monday in protests sparked by a teacher's strike, the government said, reviving labor tensions in a country where previous strikes have led to dozens of deaths. Government spokesman Damantang Albert Camara later told Reuters that a deal to end the strike was signed with Guinea's main teachers' unions on Monday evening. The unions had launched the strike on Feb. 1 to protest the government's decision to dismiss or cut the salaries of many junior teachers after the latest civil service exams, and many of their students had taken to the streets in recent days to support them. Unidentified assailants on Monday morning attacked a police station and demonstrators clashed with gendarmes in several districts of Conakry, witnesses said. "By midday, these demonstrations had unfortunately caused the deaths of at least five people," the government said in a statement, calling the protest "illegal and forbidden". It added that 30 people had been injured, including members of the security forces, and 12 arrested. Witnesses told Reuters that three of the dead had been shot but it was not possible to verify that information. General strikes about 10 years ago caused major disruptions in Guinea, which has around a third of the world's reserves of bauxite, used to make aluminum. The subsequent crackdown led by security forces led to the deaths of 135 people. (Reporting By Saliou Samb; Writing by Aaron Ross; Editing by Toby Chopra) Quito (AFP) - Leftist Lenin Moreno crossed his fingers Monday for outright victory in Ecuador's presidential vote as impatience grew over a delay in publishing full results that could force a runoff. Sunday's election was a test of the legacy of outgoing President Rafael Correa, Moreno's more hardline ally and an outspoken critic of the United States. Moreno, 63, hoped to top 40 percent of the vote with a 10-point lead. That would spare him a runoff that polls indicate he may well lose. But with nearly 89 percent of the votes counted, he was still short with 39.13 percent, against 28.31 percent for his conservative competitor, Guillermo Lasso. The president of the National Electoral Council, Juan Pablo Pozo, said it could take until Thursday for the full results to be confirmed. Supporters of Lasso scuffled with police as they gathered outside the electoral council to demand transparency in the vote-count, with some of them alleging fraud. Pozo urged voters to "wait peacefully for the official results, since there is a narrow margin to determine whether there will be a second round." - Averting suspicion - Moreno called for his Country Alliance party to "cross our fingers" for a first-round victory. "I like big challenges, strong challenges, and I am going to get through this one," he said on television. But ex-banker Lasso vowed: "We will not rest until we achieve a definitive victory for the Ecuadoran people, who want change." Pozo said some of the ballots were taking time to be counted due to "anomalies" such as missing signatures from polling station officials. He said he would hold a meeting with the two candidates to explain the delay in confirming the results, "to avoid any suspicions." Analysts said voters fed up with Correa are likely to rally behind the conservative candidate in the second round. "Any party could beat the governing one in the second round, because there is major resistance to, and rejection of, the government," said political scientist Paolo Moncagatta of Quito's San Francisco University. Story continues - Assange - If Moreno wins he will be the first wheelchair-user to become president in Ecuador, and one of few world leaders ever to do so. His legs were paralyzed when he was shot in a robbery in 1998. If ex-banker Lasso wins the presidency, another pillar of the Latin American left will swing to the right. Lasso has also said he will end WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's asylum in Ecuador's London embassy. Assange is taking refuge there for fear of extradition to the United States for publishing leaked documents that embarrassed Washington. - Economic crossroads - The busting of a commodities boom has hastened the end of two decades of leftist predominance in Latin America. After Argentina, Brazil and Peru switched to conservative governments, economist Correa, 53, is now reaching the end of 10 years in power. He initially oversaw a boom in the country of 16 million people, but the economy shrank 1.7 percent last year. "The big factor in the vote was the economic crisis," said Alberto Acosta-Burneo, a consultant at the Spurrier Group. Lasso slammed Correa's allies over alleged links to corruption. Correa blamed Lasso in part for a 1999 financial crisis when he was economy minister. - Oil - Voters were deciding whether to continue Correa's tax-and-spend policies or give Lasso a mandate to cut spending and taxes. Correa used Ecuador's oil wealth to fund social welfare schemes and public works. But oil prices have plunged over the past three years. Teacher Sofia Tinajero, 32, said she ended her support for Correa's side in this election and voted for a change. "I have witnessed authoritarianism and a very great social decline," she said. But another voter, Nora Molina, 53, said "these past 10 years have shown how the country has advanced. I think we are going to keep that going." Malaysia recalled the North Korean ambassador Monday "for consultations" after heightened tensions between the two nations over the killing of Pyongyang's leader Kim Jong Un's half brother Kim Jong Nam. Last week, Ambassador Kang Chol accused Malaysia of colluding with "hostile forces" to damage North Korea, after South Korea said that the Kim Jong Un regime had orchestrated the airport attack. Tensions between the two countries escalated after North Korea's demands to hand over the body of Kim Jong Nam were rejected. Malaysia said that it will release the body of Kim Jong Nam only after an autopsy. According to reports, the results of the autopsy are expected to be released Wednesday. Malaysia's foreign ministry responded to Kang's complaint, calling it "baseless." "The Malaysian government takes very seriously any unfounded attempt to tarnish its reputation," a foreign ministry statement said Monday after a meeting with the North Korean ambassador. "The Malaysian ambassador in Pyongyang has been recalled to Kuala Lumpur for consultations." "The ministry emphasized that as the death occurred on Malaysian soil under mysterious circumstances, it is the responsibility of the Malaysian government to conduct an investigation to identify the cause of death," the statement added. Kim Jong Nam died last Monday after an apparent substance attack at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, where he had been preparing to take a flight to Macau. South Korea alleged that he was poisoned by two women, who are believed to be North Korean operatives. Several arrests have been made in connection to Kim Jong Nam's killing. On Monday, CCTV footage reportedly released by Japanese broadcaster Fuji TV purportedly showed the deadly assault in Malaysia on Kim Jong Nam by a woman. Four suspects a Vietnamese woman, an Indonesian woman, a Malaysian man and North Korean man have been arrested by Malaysian police, who are also searching for four other North Koreans who fled the country on the day of the attack. Related Articles KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - The autopsy results for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's estranged half-brother, who was murdered last week in Kuala Lumpur, could be released as early as Wednesday, Malaysia's health minister said on Monday. "We are talking about the normal period of time to complete most post mortem and give results, so on this basis, yes," Health Minister Subramaniam Sathasivam told reporters in response to a question about when results would be released. Malaysian authorities have given the victim Kim Jong Nam's next of kin two weeks to come forward to help in the investigation. North Korean officials have sought to prevent Malaysia from carrying out an autopsy on the victim and demanded the body be handed over directly. (Reporting by Joseph Sipalan; Writing by Kanupriya Kapoor; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore) By Press Trust of India: From Lalit K Jha Washington, Feb 19 (PTI) A US aircraft carrier strike group has begun patrolling in the disputed South China Sea despite Chinas warning to America against challenging its sovereignty in the area. The US Navys Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 1, an operational formation of the United States Navy, began routine operations in the South China Sea on February 18, the Pentagon said. advertisement "We are looking forward to demonstrating those capabilities while building upon existing strong relationships with our allies, partners and friends in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region," said Rear Adm James Kilby, commander, CSG 1. Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 1, the naval formation in its current shape established in 2009 includes Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, Destroyer Squadron 1s Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Wayne E Meyer, and aircraft from Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 2. CVW-2 includes the "Black Knights" of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron, the "Blue Hawks" of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron, the "Bounty Hunters" of Strike Fighter Squadron, the "Blue Blasters" of VFA-34, the "Kestrels" of VFA-137, the "Golden Dragons" of VFA-192, the "Black Eagles" of Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron (VAW) 113, the "Gauntlets" of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 136 and the "Providers" of Fleet Logistic Support Squadron. China has a long history of maritime disputes with its South China Sea neighbours. China claims almost all of the South China Sea, including islands more than 800 miles from the Chinese mainland, despite objections from neighbours such as the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam. Beijing has also created artificial islands in the area, outfitting some of them with military features. Friction between the US and China over trade and territory under US President Donald Trump have increased concerns that the South China Sea could become a flashpoint. Chinas Foreign Ministry on Wednesday warned the US against challenging its sovereignty over reports the US was planning fresh naval patrols in the disputed South China Sea. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said tension in the South China Sea had stabilised due to the hard work between China and Southeast Asia countries, and urged foreign nations including the US to respect this. "We urge the US not to take any actions that challenge Chinas sovereignty and security," Geng had said. Prior to their operations in the South China Sea, ships and aircraft from within the strike group conducted training off the islands of Hawaii and Guam to maintain and improve their readiness and develop cohesion as a strike group, the statement said. advertisement While deployed, the Carl Vinson CSG will remain under US 3rd Fleet command and control, including beyond the international dateline, which previously divided operational areas of responsibility for 3rd and 7th Fleets. Third Fleet operating forward offers additional options to the Pacific Fleet commander by leveraging the capabilities of 3rd and 7th Fleets. "This operational concept allows both numbered fleets to complement one another and provide the foundation of stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region," the Pentagon said. PTI LKJ PMS NSA --- ENDS --- By Rozanna Latiff and Joseph Sipalan KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Monday his government's investigation of the killing of the North Korean leader's half-brother, Kim Jong Nam, will be "objective", as tensions rose between the countries. Earlier on Monday, Malaysia said it had recalled its envoy from Pyongyang and summoned North Korea's ambassador in Kuala Lumpur, who again cast doubt on the impartiality of Malaysia's investigation into the murder and said the victim was not Kim Jong Nam. "We have no reason why we want to do something to paint North Korea in a bad light, but we will be objective," Najib told reporters in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. The son of Kim Jong Nam, 22-year-old Kim Han Sol, was expected to arrive in the Malaysian capital from Macau late on Monday, according to an airline source and a media report. Malaysian authorities have said they will release the body of the victim, believed to have been killed by North Korean agents, to the next of kin. CCTV footage, released by Japanese broadcaster Fuji TV, appeared to show Kim Jong Nam being attacked at Kuala Lumpur International Airport last Monday by a woman believed to have wiped a fast-acting poison on his face. Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity of the video, and police officials were not immediately available for comment. Kim Jong Nam, 46, who had been living in the Chinese territory of Macau under Beijing's protection, had spoken out publicly against his family's dynastic control of isolated, nuclear-armed North Korea. South Korean legislators last week cited their spy agency as saying the young and unpredictable North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, had issued a "standing order" for his half-brother's assassination, and that there had been a failed attempt in 2012. CHASING SUSPECTS Malaysian police said they were hunting four North Koreans who fled from the country on the day of the attack, having already detained one North Korean man, a Vietnamese woman, an Indonesian woman, and a Malaysian man. At least three of the wanted North Koreans caught an Emirates flight to Dubai from Jakarta late on the day of the attack, an immigration official in Indonesia told Reuters. Malaysia's Star newspaper reported that all four had returned to North Korea. North Korea had sought to prevent Malaysia from conducting an autopsy, insisting the body be handed over. Its envoy in Kuala Lumpur criticized Malaysian authorities for "delaying" the release of the body. "At the moment we cannot trust the investigation by the Malaysian police," ambassador Kang Chol told reporters after talks at the foreign ministry. He said the embassy had only identified the victim as Kim Chol, based on the passport found on the dead man, and suggested a joint investigation with Malaysian authorities. Kim Jong Nam had been caught using fake travel documents in the past. Malaysia's foreign ministry said it had recalled its ambassador to North Korea "for consultations", and said investigations were being carried out in compliance with the law. "Any suggestion to the contrary is deeply insulting to Malaysia, as is the suggestion that Malaysia is in collusion with any foreign government," Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said in a statement. Malaysia's health minister said autopsy results could be released by Wednesday. Malaysia is one of the few countries that maintains ties with reclusive North Korea, and the dispute could further isolate the impoverished state. "GETTING BOLDER" South Korea, acutely sensitive to events in its volatile neighbor, convened a meeting of its National Security Council. Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn told the meeting that it was nearly certain that North Korea was behind the killing. "The murder carried out in public at an international airport of a third country is an unforgivable and inhumane criminal act and clearly demonstrates the recklessness and brutality of the North Korean regime that will spare no avenues when it comes to perpetuating itself," Hwang said. "The North Korean regime's terrorism tactics are getting bolder so we must be more vigilant." South Korean and U.S. officials had earlier said the killing was probably carried out by North Korean agents. Grainy CCTV images showed Kim, wearing a light-colored jacket and trousers and with a backpack on one shoulder, heading for an automatic check-in counter in the airport departure hall. A woman approached Kim from behind on the left and another - identified by Fuji as the Vietnamese woman, wearing a white shirt - walks rapidly up behind him from his right, before what appears to be a scuffle takes place. In footage taken from another angle, the woman in the white shirt appears to lunge from behind and throw something over his head, locking her arms around him briefly. As the woman in white quickly walks away, the second woman also moves off rapidly in another direction. Later footage shows the portly, balding middle-aged man stumbling, wiping his face, and seeking help from people while gesturing to his eyes before being escorted to a clinic. The mother of the detained Indonesian woman told Reuters that her daughter, Siti Aishah, had been duped into believing she was part of a television show or advertisement. According to Malaysian media, the Vietnamese suspect, Doan Thi Huong, told police she had been tricked into taking part in what she thought was a practical joke. There is speculation that China's patience with North Korea could be tested by the killing, because Kim Jong Nam had been living in Macau, where he was headed when he was attacked. China said on Saturday it had suspended all coal imports from the North, a vital source of revenue. China is seen to be irritated by the North's repeated aggression, including two nuclear tests since early 2016 and a Feb. 12 intermediate-range ballistic missile launch, the latest in a series of missile tests. (Additional reporting by Jack Kim in Seoul and Elaine Lies in TOKYO; Writing by Praveen Menon and Kanupriya Kapoor; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore, Robert Birsel and Mike Collett-White) New Zealands High Court has found that Kim Dotcom, best known for creating the now-defunct file sharing service Megaupload, is eligible for extradition to the U.S., rejecting a legal appeal by the self-styled internet freedom fighter. But the judges supported an argument put forth by Dotcom and his legal team that the U.S. cannot extradite him for charges related to copyright violation, reports the New Zealand Herald. While Justice Murray Gilbert upheld a lower court decision that the U.S. has sufficient reasons to extradite Dotcom and three of his former Megaupload colleagues, he wrote that copyright violation isnt one of them, as online communication of copyright protected works to the public is not a criminal offense in New Zealand. Basis for their extradition comes instead in the form of general criminal law fraud, wrote the judge a charge that the tech entrepreneur says there is nothing about in his arrest warrant. The German-born Dotcom currently faces 13 charges in the U.S., and a maximum of 20 years in jail. Charges awaiting Dotcom and the others include conspiracy to commit racketeering, copyright infringement, as well as money laundering and wire fraud, both of which were added in 2012. The 41-year-old internet businessman called the decision a major victory in an interview with the Herald after the judgment was handed down, saying that the judgment proves that copyright is not extraditable. Likewise, his lawyer put the outcome in a positive light, saying that the largest criminal copyright case was no more. The Herald reports that, with further appeals and legal challenges, it will take at least two years for Dotcom and his co-defendants to face trial stateside, even if everything goes in favor of the U.S. [New Zealand Herald] Ciudad Juarez (Mexico) (AFP) - Guadalupe Guereca wants just one thing: "Justice." In a choked voice, the 59-year-old woman recounts the death of her teenage son, fatally shot on Mexican soil by an American policeman standing on the US side of the border. "He was taken away from me forever," the gray-haired mother said, sitting on the bed in her small home. The killing of Sergio Hernandez Guerece will be examined by the US Supreme Court on Tuesday, coming at a time when President Donald Trump has called for building a border wall to keep out Mexican undesirables. The shooting occurred June 7, 2010. The 15-year-old Hernandez was playing around with three friends in the dry riverbed of the Rio Grande that separates the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez from its Texan neighbor El Paso. The four friends were racing up the concrete embankment to touch the barbed-wire fence on the US side, and racing back down. The unmarked border line runs through the middle of the culvert. Their game bothered Border Patrol agent Jesus Mesa, who managed to grab one of the troublemakers. He aimed his gun and fired, striking Hernandez in the head. The teen died in Mexican territory, and the US justice system has so far prevented his family from suing the border agent in American courts. Guereca described her son as a "very good" boy, saying he was extremely attached to her as the youngest of her seven sons. "We were always very close," she explained, as her pale eyes filled with tears. Two photographs of Hernandez, taken shortly before he was killed, are displayed on a dresser. They are the only photos that remain, she said, because her other children slowly removed the other ones so she's not constantly reminded of him. But even now, more than six years after his death, she still takes out all of her son's clothes once a month and washes them. Each week she visits his grave in the local cemetery, where brightly colored flowers stand out amid the drab desert landscape. Story continues - 'Viva Keko' - She speaks to her son there, and asks him to take care of his brothers as well as two sisters who are living as illegal immigrants in the United States. "That's your assignment," she said. Guereco worries about the impact of Trump's hardening immigration policies. "I hope he has a change of heart and will let them stay there," she said. "I am fighting for my son but also for other people who have suffered in similar cases," she said. Hernandez's death is by no means the only one to have happened under similar circumstances. According to Bob Hilliard, an attorney with Hilliard, Munoz, & Gonzales, the firm representing the Hernandez family before the Supreme Court, US border patrols have fatally shot at least eight Mexicans between 2006 and 2016 in cross-border incidents. "Losing in the Supreme Court and denying legal rights to Sergio's parents is practically giving the green light to massacre Mexicans," said Richard Boren, a volunteer from the Border Patrol Victims Network, based in the border city of Nogales, which supports the relatives of victims in similar incidents. Under the bridge where trains pass between Cuidad Juarez and El Paso, a memorial to Hernandez is painted on a column. "Your mom and brother remember you," says a message inscribed on a blue cross marked with the date of his death. Another message refers to the teen by his nickname: "Viva Keko!" AKRON, Ohio (AP) Police in Ohio say they've safely located a father of three whose mysterious disappearance from the San Antonio area spurred weeks of searching by his family and volunteers. Police tell the Akron Beacon Journal a tip led them to 44-year-old Lee Arms near Bath Township. They say he tried to escape his life in Texas and ended up in Ohio after meeting someone online. Police notified his family but wouldn't release details because Arms wasn't charged with a crime. WOAI-TV in San Antonio reports Arms was located Thursday and his actions are under review by the Bexar (bayr) County sheriff's office. The Falls City, Texas, man vanished Feb. 5. His car was found still running and abandoned with its lights flashing, with his wallet and belongings still at the scene. KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) Nepal's government announced Monday that much-delayed but crucial elections for village councils and towns will be held in May, the first such polls in two decades. Forest Minister Shanker Bhandari said the Cabinet decided that elections for village and town posts would be held on a single day, and that the government is hopeful that people who oppose the polls will also participate. Ethnic groups in southern Nepal have insisted that the elections should only be held after the constitution adopted in 2015 is amended, and have threatened to disrupt the voting. The United Democratic Madhesi Front said it would protest the government decision starting tTuesday. The last election for the local posts was held in 1997, and successive governments have been unable to hold new polls. The official noted that the draft is subject to change ahead of its signing, which Trump said could come sometime this week. By AP: A draft of President Donald Trump's revised immigration ban targets the same seven countries listed in his original executive order and exempts travelers who already have a visa to travel to the US, even if they haven't used it yet. A senior administration official said the order, which Trump revised after federal courts held up his original immigration and refugee ban, will target only those same seven Muslim-majority countries -- Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Libya. advertisement Also read: Donald Trump to unveil revised version of immigration order next week The official said that green-card holders and dual citizens of the US and any of those countries are exempt. The new draft also no longer directs authorities to single out -- and reject -- Syrian refugees when processing new visa applications. ORDER YET TO BE MADE PUBLIC The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the order before it's made public. The official noted that the draft is subject to change ahead of its signing, which Trump said could come sometime this week. Asked about the revised order, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the document circulating was a draft and that a final version should be released soon. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Wall Street Journal also reported that the current draft of the revised order focused on the seven countries but excluded those with green cards. Trump's original executive order triggered chaos at airports around the world, as travelers were detained when the order rapidly went into effect, US permanent residents known as green-card holders among them. Attorneys provided legal assistance to those held and protesters descended on the airports as news of the order's implementation spread. In its original form, the order temporarily suspended all travel to the US for citizens of those seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days. Also read: Trump administration won't appeal travel ban block, plans to issue revised immigration order The original order also called for Homeland Security and State department officials, along with the director of national intelligence, to review what information the government needs to fully vet would-be visitors and come up with a list of countries that can't or won't make the information available. It said the government will give countries 60 days to start providing the information or citizens from those countries will be barred from traveling to the United States. WATCH: --- ENDS --- MADRID (Reuters) - Neymar, Barcelona and Santos will stand trial on fraud and corruption charges over the transfer of the Brazilian forward after their appeals were turned down by Spain's High Court on Monday. Neymar's mother Nadine Goncalves and the family company N&N also had appeals rejected. "Santos FC, Barcelona FC, Neymar, his mother Nadine Goncalves and N&N, the family company, have lost their appeals to have charges of fraud and corruption dropped," the High Court said in a statement. They cannot appeal against the Court's decision. The case stems from a complaint by Brazilian investment group DIS, which owned part of Neymar's transfer rights and alleges that it received less money than it was entitled to when Neymar joined Barcelona from Santos in 2013. Investigations were carried out in Spain and Brazil into whether any part of Neymar's transfer fee had been concealed when he moved to Barcelona from Santos. (Reporting by Adriana Garcia, editing by Ed Osmond) LONDON (Reuters) - Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari met the country's senate head in London on Sunday evening, the presidency's official Twitter account said, amid concern over the leader's month-long absence for undisclosed medical reasons. Word of Buhari's meeting with Senate President Bukola Saraki in London, their second in less than a week according to the presidency, may help alleviate worries that the leader's health is worse than officials publicly admit. "This evening President @MBuhari met with Senate President @bukolasaraki, at Abuja House," the official @NGRPresident Twitter account wrote. But many Nigerians are sceptical of such announcements even when accompanied by photos. The presidency publishes almost daily pictures of 74-year-old Buhari receiving visitors in his London drawing room. He took a phone call from U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday, both administrations say. Officials refuse to disclose what is ailing Buhari, saying only that he has been having tests and is not in a serious condition. (Writing by Paul Carsten; editing by Susan Thomas) Aden (AFP) - Four Yemenis working with the Norwegian Refugee Council have been detained in a rebel-held part of the country, the NGO said Monday, after they distributed aid insurgents allege is linked to Saudi Arabia. In a statement, the NRC said authorities in the rebel-controlled Red Sea district of Hodeida detained three Yemeni staff and a contracted driver on Tuesday last week. "Due to the security sensitivities regarding our staff, we cannot comment any further on the matter at this time," said the Oslo-based non-governmental organisation. In a statement carried by Yemen's pro-government sabanew.net news website, Local Affairs Minister Abdul Raqib Fattah had said earlier a dozen staff had been "abducted" from the aid group's offices in the Hali district of Hodeida last week. Local sources told AFP the employees were accused of having accepted and distributed aid from a Saudi-led coalition, which has been battling the Huthis since March 2015. The NRC said it did not take funding from Saudi Arabia in any of its operations but had been using recycled boxes to distribute hygiene kits in Yemen. The group said when staff had opened the boxes to distribute the aid, the inside read "The campaign of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques for emergency response," a reference to the Saudi king. The boxes were dated January 2015 and had originally been used for food, according to the NRC. Yemen's conflict pits a Saudi-led Arab coalition supportive of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi against Iran-backed Huthis, who currently control the port of Hodeida along with the capital Sanaa and large parts of northern Yemen. Monday's news comes amid a push by forces loyal to Hadi, backed by the Arab coalition, to close in on Hodeida, located on Yemen's western coast. The loyalist forces took full control of Mokha, south of Hodeida, earlier in February as part of a major offensive to oust the Huthis and their allies from Yemen's southwestern coast. Story continues The conflict escalated in March 2015 when the Saudi-led coalition began air strikes to help pro-Hadi forces to take large parts of the country back from the rebels. More than 7,400 people have been killed and nearly 40,000 wounded in two years of fighting in Yemen, according to the World Health Organization. UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen James McGoldrick in January said more than 10,000 civilians had been killed since 2015. burs-ny/ras/dv Riyadh (AFP) - The world's biggest oil exporter on Monday took the first step towards a goal of generating 9.5 GW of energy through solar and other renewable means. It invited local and international firms to try to qualify for bidding on two projects. One is for 300 MW of solar energy to be built in Al-Jouf province, in the kingdom's north. The second is for a 400 MW wind power development in Tabuk, northwestern Saudi Arabia, the energy ministry said in a statement. Government estimates say Saudi peak energy demand is expected to exceed 120 gigawatts by 2032. Virtually all of the kingdom's power currently comes from crude, refined oil or natural gas. But as part of the Vision 2030 economic reform plan to wean the kingdom off oil, it has set a target of 9.5 GW of renewable energy by 2023. "This marks the starting point of a long and sustained program of renewable energy deployment in Saudi Arabia," Khaled al-Falih, Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources, said in the statement. He said this will not only diversify the kingdom's power mix but will also catalyse economic development. Reaching the 9.5 GW target will cost between $30 billion and $50 billion, Falih said last month. Companies will have until March 20 to file documents for bidding pre-qualification. Those which are successful will be announced by April 10. Formal proposals can then be presented until July, the ministry said. OTTAWA (Reuters) - One in four Canadians say Ottawa should have adopted a temporary halt on Syrian refugees in response to the United States' controversial travel ban, though the majority supported the government's current immigration plan, an Angus Reid Institute poll showed on Monday. Sixty percent of those surveyed in an online poll said the Canadian government had done a good job of resettling Syrian refugees since the Liberals came to power in 2015. The Syrian crisis became an issue during the election campaign after photos of a drowned Syrian toddler in Turkey whose family had wanted to emigrate to Canada made front page news. The Liberals made bringing in more Syrian refugees part of their platform. The government plans to bring in 40,000 refugees from Syria and elsewhere this year. Forty-seven percent of those polled said Canada is taking in the right amount, though 41 percent said the number was too high. Just 11 percent said Canada should open its doors to more refugees. "Public opinion in this country is onside with its government's approach and response on domestic refugee policy, but is showing signs Ottawa may be testing the limits of how many migrants Canadians are willing to accept," the report said. After U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order last month suspending travel to the United States by citizens of seven mostly Muslim countries, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted that Canada welcomes those fleeing war and persecution. Fifty-seven percent of people in the poll said the government had made the right decision in standing pat, but 25 percent said Canada should have put its own ban in place. Eighteen percent said Canada should have responded by taking in more refugees. While Canada often prides itself as being a tolerant, ethnically diverse country, 54 percent doubted refugees would make what they considered enough effort to fit into Canadian society. The survey of 1,508 Canadians was conducted earlier this month. (Reporting by Leah Schnurr; Editing by Sandra Maler) Ottawa (AFP) - A sizeable minority of Canadians -- 25 percent -- would like to see restrictions on immigration and refugees akin to what US President Donald Trump has proposed, according to a survey released Monday. Most support Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's openness toward refugees, but public opinion is "showing signs Ottawa may be testing the limits of how many migrants Canadians are willing to accept," said Sachi Kurl, executive director of polling firm Angus Reid. The Angus Reid survey results come as a wave of border jumpers from the United States crossed on foot to file refugee claims in Canada. Members of Parliament, meanwhile, are scheduled to vote this week on a motion condemning "Islamaphobia," which has taken on heightened significance in the wake of a Quebec mosque attack that left six people dead. A debate over whether to screen refugees for "Canadian values" also has flared up in a race for the leadership of the opposition Tories, with several candidates calling for tighter border security and restrictions on migrants. Canada took in 55,000 refugees in 2016, and plans to resettle about 40,000 this year. The Angus Reid poll found that nearly 60 percent support Canada's current quota or higher, while about 40 percent say the target is too high. Overall support for Canada's refugee intake has increased since October 2015 when Trudeau's Liberals came to power in a general election. The online survey of 1,508 Canadians was taken February 6 to 9 and has a plus or minus 2.5 percent margin of error. The Panama Papers investigation has been honored with a George Polk Award for financial journalism, the award sponsor, Long Island University, announced. The series, which exposed offshore tax havens and rattled leaders from around the world, was headed up by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a project of the Center for Public Integrity. The Polk Awards judges lauded the reporting collaboration for sparking official investigations and reforms aimed at combating global tax dodging and money laundering. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Suddeutsche Zeitung, McClatchy, the Miami Herald, Fusion and more than 100 other media partners worked together to investigate a trove of leaked documents from inside Mossack Fonseca, a Panama-headquartered law firm that sells offshore companies and other hard-to-unravel corporate structures. The Polk Award and other honors are an important recognition of the value of cross-border collaborations, ICIJs director, Gerard Ryle, said. This project wouldn't have been possible if our colleagues at Suddeutsche Zeitung hadn't been willing to share the Panama Papers leak with us and other media partners. Some stories are so complex and so global they can only be unlocked when journalists are willing to share information and support each other. Its a tremendous honor, said Center for Public Integrity CEO John Dunbar. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and its network of journalists showed true global reach in a project that was incredibly innovative and impactful. This marked the fourth Polk won by the Center. The George Polk Awards are given out each year to honor special achievement in journalism. They place a premium on investigative and enterprising reporting that gains attention and achieves results. The awards were established in 1949 to commemorate George Polk, a CBS correspondent murdered in 1948 while covering the Greek civil war. Story continues Other winners in this years Polk Awards include the Washington Post, the Arizona Republic, The Marshall Project, National Public Radio, the Houston Chronicle, The Atlantic, The New York Times and ProPublica. This story is part of Inside Publici. Stories were working on, the impact of our investigations, news about our fundraising efforts, and other issues that shape our work. Click here to read more stories in this topic. Related stories Copyright 2017 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C. By Alexandra Ulmer and Alexandra Valencia QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuador's leftist government candidate Lenin Moreno looked set for victory on Monday in a presidential election, but slow results meant it may take days to know if he will face a runoff with former banker Guillermo Lasso. In a nail-biter vote with eight candidates at the weekend, Moreno was close to the threshold needed to avoid a second round on April 2 and continue a decade-long period of leftist rule, just as South America is moving to the right. While Ecuadoreans are angry over an economic downturn and corruption scandals, the opposition split its votes among candidates and the ruling Country Alliance remains popular with many poor voters thanks to social welfare programs. As results trickled in from Ecuador's Andes, jungle, and Pacific coast, Moreno, a disabled former vice president, was just short of the 40 percent of votes and a 10 percentage-point difference over his nearest rival to win outright. He had 39.11 percent of valid votes versus 28.34 percent for Lasso, with 89.5 percent of votes counted, the official preliminary election count showed on Monday afternoon. The electoral council said clarity would not arrive for three more days due to votes trickling in from isolated areas and Ecuadoreans abroad, bureaucratic delays and "inconsistencies" in some ballots. "This doesn't smell right. How can they take three days to count 12 percent?" said Lasso, 61, who already celebrated reaching the second round in his humid hometown of Guayaquil under a stream of confetti on Sunday night. "We're not going to allow fraud ... If they toy with the results, we'll take to the streets," he added. Moreno shot down the opposition's stance. "You can't be a sore loser," he told a news conference on Monday evening, against a backdrop of the Ecuadorean flag and the name "Lenin" emblazoned in large letters. "It's striking to me that there is a politician out there calling for violence," Moreno added, emphasizing the need to wait for final results. A couple of hundred opposition supporters have already congregated in front of the electoral council headquarters in Quito to demand a speedier and more transparent count. "We don't trust the electoral council, it's obviously pro-Country Alliance," said Maribel Cevallos, a 34-year-old psychologist. "We're here watching that they don't cheat us." Protesters waving yellow, blue and red Ecuadorean flags chanted slogans including "We're not Cuba or Venezuela, out with Correa!" Outgoing President Rafael Correa was one of the key figures in Latin America's leftist axis that includes Caracas and Havana. He brought stability to the politically turbulent OPEC country but has aggravated many with his confrontational style. Correa said votes from pro-government rural provinces and Ecuadoreans abroad, many of whom left after a deep financial crisis under a center-right government, would propel Moreno, 63, past the crucial 40 percent mark. POLARIZED NATION The next president faces strong pressure to create jobs and crack down on graft, amid corruption scandals at state-run oil company Petroecuador and Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht [ODBES.UL]. Lasso has campaigned on a platform to revive the economy, which is dependent on exports of oil, flowers and shrimp, by slashing taxes, fostering foreign investment and creating a million jobs in four years. He has also vowed to remove Wikileaks founder Julian Assange from the Ecuadorean embassy in London and denounce Venezuela's Socialist government. But Lasso has also alienated some voters who deem him a stuffy elitist linked to the 1999 financial crisis when hundreds of thousands lost their savings. Moreno, who lost the use of his legs two decades ago after being shot during a robbery, has a more conciliatory style than the pugnacious Correa and has promised benefits for the disabled, single mothers and the elderly. "In the last few years there have been radical changes in the country, like the end of extreme poverty," said Moreno supporter Ramiro Flores, a 60-year-old civil engineer in the mountainous capital Quito. Critics say Moreno is ill-equipped to overhaul an ailing economy hit by low oil prices, steep debts, and a stronger U.S. dollar that has hurt exports. His running mate, Jorge Glas, who as strategic sectors minister oversaw the oil and infrastructure industries, has also been accused by a fugitive oil minister of corruption in the Petroecuador case. Glas has denied wrongdoing. Moreno has said Assange can stay in the London embassy, but warned in a Monday interview with Latin American broadcaster Telesur he would ask him "not to intervene in the politics of countries that are friends of Ecuador." The new president takes office on May 24 for a four-year term. (Additional reporting by Jose Llangari, Yury Garcia, and Cristina Munoz; Writing by Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Alan Crosby and Matthew Lewis) Both the parties have launched a door-to-door 'letter campaign' distributing letter from Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav their 10 key priorities. By Supriya Bhardwaj: Congress-Samajwadi Party alliance pumps in their full might as campaigning for the fourth phase of Uttar Pradesh election comes to an end. Both the parties have launched a door-to-door 'letter campaign' distributing letter from Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav their 10 key priorities. After Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav refrained from addressing a joint rally or roadshow in Congress bastion Raebareli and Amethi, both will be holding a roadshow in Allahabad on Tuesday. The roadshow will start from Gandhi's ancestral home Anand Bhawan on February 20 afternoon. advertisement The "chemistry" between these two is reflective in the election rallies where both leaders look in sync with each other whether it is the body language or the crowd pulling tactics. Though Congress president Sonia Gandhi couldn't campaign in her constituency during 2017 Assembly elections so far, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav will address a rally in Salon on February 20. RJD chief will carry out a roadshow in Raebareli and then will address a rally in Salon. ALSO READ:Akhilesh Yadav in Raibareli: Modi must speak truth, SP provides 24-hour power to Varanasi Modi at Fatehpur: If land is given for kabristan, shamshaan must get it too ALSO READ| Congress to move Election Commission over PM Narendra Modi's Diwali-Ramzan remark --- ENDS --- By Roberta Rampton and Alastair Macdonald BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence assured the European Union in Brussels on Monday that the Trump administration will develop their cooperation in trade and security and backs the EU as a partner in its own right. A month after Donald Trump caused alarm by renewing his endorsement of Brexit and suggesting others may follow Britain out of the EU, Pence told reporters that he had come to "the home of the European Union" with a message from the president. Speaking of a "strong commitment ... to continue cooperation and partnership with the European Union", Pence added: "Whatever our differences, our two continents share the same heritage, the same values and above all, the same purpose to promote peace and prosperity through freedom, democracy and the rule of law." At a later meeting at NATO across town, he made clear that U.S. support for the Transatlantic defense alliance had a price, though; Trump, he said, "expects real progress" from European governments by the end of the year in increasing their spending on military budgets closer to a NATO target of 2 percent of GDP. Donald Tusk, who chairs the European Council of EU leaders, told reporters that Pence had given him affirmative answers to three questions on Trump's support for: the current system of international law, NATO and "the idea of a united Europe". "Reports of the death of the West have been greatly exaggerated," Tusk said, in a nod to American writer Mark Twain. EU officials said they were encouraged by what they called Pence's clear assurances, including on U.S. backing for holding the European Union together after Brexit, though they will watch closely to see how far Trump's actions match his deputy's words. "We got everything we were looking for," one official said. Pence noted the building of common European institutions after World War Two and said: "With this union and in cooperation with the United States, history will attest that when the United States and Europe are peaceful and prosperous, we do advance the peace and prosperity of all the world." COLD WAR HISTORY Echoing comments he made over the weekend in Germany, Pence also addressed worries in Europe over Trump's suggestion that the NATO defense pact was "obsolete"; Washington, he said, was committed to defending the sovereignty and territory of European states and holding Russia to account for its actions in Ukraine. Pence also repeated Trump's belief that "common ground" could be established with Russia after years of confrontation. Tusk, a former Polish premier who was jailed in the 1980s for opposing Soviet control, seized on Pence's personal memories of a youthful visit to divided Berlin to remind the new administration of the value that Europeans attach to Cold War support from an earlier Republican president, Ronald Reagan. Europeans are concerned that Trump may prefer bilateral ties with European powers rather than working with the Union. Pence spoke of cooperation, including against Islamist violence: "The safety and security of your union and our people depends on that increased collaboration on the global fight against terrorism." EU officials said Pence, the former governor of Indiana, had seemed confident in his new role. One said he sought to assure them Trump's "very American", direct style should not be taken as hostile or reflect a push to isolate the United States. (Additional reporting by Philip Blenkinsop, Gabriela Baczynska and Waverly Colville; Writing By Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Ralph Boulton) By Roberta Rampton and Alastair Macdonald BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence assured the European Union in Brussels on Monday that the Trump administration will develop their cooperation in trade and security and backs the EU as a partner in its own right. A month after Donald Trump caused alarm by renewing his endorsement of Brexit and suggesting others may follow Britain out of the EU, Pence told reporters that he had come to "the home of the European Union" with a message from the president. Speaking of a "strong commitment ... to continue cooperation and partnership with the European Union", Pence added: "Whatever our differences, our two continents share the same heritage, the same values and above all, the same purpose to promote peace and prosperity through freedom, democracy and the rule of law." At a later meeting at NATO across town, he made clear that U.S. support for the Transatlantic defence alliance had a price, though; Trump, he said, "expects real progress" from European governments by the end of the year in increasing their spending on military budgets closer to a NATO target of 2 percent of GDP. Donald Tusk, who chairs the European Council of EU leaders, told reporters that Pence had given him affirmative answers to three questions on Trump's support for: the current system of international law, NATO and "the idea of a united Europe". "Reports of the death of the West have been greatly exaggerated," Tusk said, in a nod to American writer Mark Twain. EU officials said they were encouraged by what they called Pence's clear assurances, including on U.S. backing for holding the European Union together after Brexit, though they will watch closely to see how far Trump's actions match his deputy's words. "We got everything we were looking for," one official said. Pence noted the building of common European institutions after World War Two and said: "With this union and in cooperation with the United States, history will attest that when the United States and Europe are peaceful and prosperous, we do advance the peace and prosperity of all the world." COLD WAR HISTORY Echoing comments he made over the weekend in Germany, Pence also addressed worries in Europe over Trump's suggestion that the NATO defence pact was "obsolete"; Washington, he said, was committed to defending the sovereignty and territory of European states and holding Russia to account for its actions in Ukraine. Pence also repeated Trump's belief that "common ground" could be established with Russia after years of confrontation. Tusk, a former Polish premier who was jailed in the 1980s for opposing Soviet control, seized on Pence's personal memories of a youthful visit to divided Berlin to remind the new administration of the value that Europeans attach to Cold War support from an earlier Republican president, Ronald Reagan. Europeans are concerned that Trump may prefer bilateral ties with European powers rather than working with the Union. Pence spoke of cooperation, including against Islamist violence: "The safety and security of your union and our people depends on that increased collaboration on the global fight against terrorism." EU officials said Pence, the former governor of Indiana, had seemed confident in his new role. One said he sought to assure them Trump's "very American", direct style should not be taken as hostile or reflect a push to isolate the United States. (Additional reporting by Philip Blenkinsop, Gabriela Baczynska and Waverly Colville; Writing By Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Ralph Boulton) Brussels (AFP) - US Vice President Mike Pence said Monday he was disappointed that Michael Flynn gave him "inaccurate" information about his contacts with Russia before he resigned as national security adviser. But Pence defended President Donald Trump's handling of the resignation as proper and timely and said he had "great confidence" in the administration's security plans. "I would tell you that I was disappointed that .. the facts that had been conveyed to me by General Flynn were inaccurate," Pence told a press conference in Brussels. On February 13, the White House said Trump had accepted Flynn's resignation amid allegations the retired three-star general discussed US sanctions strategy with Russia's ambassador to Washington before Trump's inauguration. Pence had publicly defended Flynn, saying he did not discuss sanctions, putting his own credibility at risk. In his resignation letter, Flynn -- who once headed US military intelligence -- admitted to "inadvertently" misleading Pence about the substance of the call. "I fully support the president's decision to ask for his resignation," Pence said when asked if the administration kept him out of the loop on Flynn's contacts. "It was the proper decision, it was handled properly and in a timely way. I have great confidence in the national security team of this administration going forward," Pence said. Flynn's unprecedented early departure poured fuel on demands for a full independent investigation into alleged collusion between Trump's inner circle and the Kremlin. US media reported that the Justice Department had warned the White House that Flynn had misled senior administration officials about the contents of his talks with ambassador Sergey Kislyak, and that it could make him vulnerable to Russian blackmail. The Kremlin has previously denied that Flynn and Kislyak discussed the lifting of US sanctions. Story continues Flynn -- who has previously met Russian President Vladimir Putin -- was a vocal supporter of a softer policy on Russia after ties plunged over Moscow's meddling in Ukraine and allegations of interference in the US election. The Kremlin is hoping that Trump will follow through on his pledge to improve relations with Russia and may eventually wind back damaging sanctions that have battered its economy. EU and NATO leaders who have been meeting Pence on his European trip have expressed concern the Trump administration is less committed to transatlantic ties and is taking a softer line on Russia. Brussels (AFP) - US Vice President Mike Pence told nervous Europeans Monday that Donald Trump will remain committed to transatlantic ties, but warned NATO allies they must boost their defence spending in return. Capping a European trip aimed at allaying fears about the new administration's support, Pence said Washington's backing for the EU remained "steadfast and enduring". "Today it is my privilege on behalf of President Trump to express the strong commitment of the United States to continued cooperation and partnership with the European Union," Pence said after talks with EU president Donald Tusk in Brussels. European allies have been unnerved by Trump's criticism of the EU as a vehicle for Germany, his praise of Britain's decision to leave the bloc and his dismissal of NATO as "obsolete" even as he praises Russian President Vladimir Putin. But Pence pledged the United States would keep working with Europe to boost the world's two biggest economies, fight terrorism and defend eastern EU states against Russian encroachment. Tusk, a former Polish premier, said that Europeans "truly needed" the meeting with Pence and that the 28-nation bloc counted on "wholehearted and unequivocal" US support. "Too much has happened over the past month in your country and in the EU... for us to pretend that everything is as it used to be," Tusk said. Pence also met European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker, a former Luxembourg premier, who stressed that the United States "needs a strong united Europe.". - NATO 'actions not words' - Scores of protesters gathered in the EU quarter of the Belgian capital during Pence's visit, criticising the Trump administration's attitude towards women, gay people and climate change. Two female protesters went topless and carried banners saying "Pence get out of our pants," while another placard read "Love Trumps Hate". Story continues At NATO headquarters, Pence said Trump expects NATO allies to make "real progress by the end of 2017" towards meeting a goal they set in 2014 of raising defence spending to two percent of GDP over a decade. "If you don't yet have a plan -- these are my words, not his (Trump's) -- get one. It is time for actions, not words," Pence told a press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. So far, of the 28 NATO members, only the United States, Britain, Poland, Greece and Estonia have met the two percent target. "America will do our part but Europe's defence requires Europe's commitment as much as ours," Pence said Monday. US Defence Secretary James Mattis delivered a similar message at a NATO defence ministers meeting last week, saying Washington could "moderate" its commitment if allies fail to pay up. Pence, Mattis and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson have stuck close to established policy during their first foray into Europe despite Trump's previous pronouncements. But they have also been left to cope with their president's unpredictable remarks, and by a growing scandal over the new White House's links to Russia. The vice president admitted on Monday he was "disappointed" that former US national security adviser Michael Flynn had given him "inaccurate" information about his contacts with Russia over US sanctions before he resigned last week. However he said he fully backed Trump's decision to accept Flynn's resignation. Pence also defended Trump's criticisms of the media, whom the president has called "the enemy of the American people". "Rest assured, both the president and I strongly support a free and independent press," he said. "But you can anticipate that the president and all of us will continue to call out the media when they play fast and loose with the facts." - 'Very positive' - Pence's visit came two days after Trump referred, during a rally in Florida, to a non-existent Swedish terror incident and urged people to "look at what's happening in Brussels" as he listed a series of European cities struck by deadly terror attacks. Pence said the United States would remain "full partners" with the EU in fighting terrorism, a Trump priority. He also pledged it would defend Europe's "territorial integrity" and said the Trump administration will "continue to hold Russia accountable" for the violence in eastern Ukraine and demand that Moscow honour the Minsk agreements for a ceasefire due to begin Monday. Trump is expected to attend a NATO summit in Brussels at the end of May and he has also been invited to meet EU leaders. An EU source told AFP that Pence's meeting with Tusk was "very positive". "Will it allay all Europeans fears about Trump? No but it was the best we could have hoped for," the source added. A veteran policeman in the Philippines' Davao city and leader of the Davao Death Squad (DDS), Arturo Lascanas, claimed at a press conference Monday that he had carried out extrajudicial killings on the orders of the then-Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who is now the country's president. Lascanas also confirmed the existence of the DDS, contradicting his Senate testimony in October last year that the group was "nothing but media hype." He further mentioned that the self-confessed hitman Edgar Matobato was lying about the DDS murders. "I am satisfied that I've made a promise to God to make a public confession," Lascanas said at the press conference, organized by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV at the Senate. Lascanas was presented by the members of the Free Legal Assistance Group for allegations that he had been involved in several murders in Davao on the orders of Duterte. The Senior Police Officer 3, Lascanas, claimed that he had knowledge of the killing of radio broadcaster Jun Pala in 2003, the massacre of the entire Patasahan family in General Santos city, the bombing of a mosque in Davao and the murder of a suspected drug lord. He also took responsibility of the killing of his two brothers. "I was the instrument of death of two brothers - Cecilio and Fernando. I accept what happens to me. Due to excessive loyalty to his campaign, I did it," he reportedly said. Lascanas also talked about the murder of a religious leader, Jun Barsabal, in 1993. Lascanas said that Duterte paid the DDS members after they had followed his orders. He claimed that the highest amount of reward he had received was 1.5 million Philippine pesos ($29,853) after the DDS killed Pala. "There is no Davao Death Squad, your honor. Thats only media hype," Lascanas had reportedly told Sen. Leila de Lima in his Senate testimony last year. In Monday's Senate hearing, Lascanas said that his confession could be backed by Matobato, who also testified during the same hearing. Story continues In a Senate hearing in October last year, Matobato had described Lascanas as Duterte's "right-hand man," and said that he himself was Lascanas' closest aide and was involved with several murders. "Arturo Lascanas is like a general. He can even give orders to a colonel. He is the most powerful cop in Davao City," Matobato had reportedly said then. Matobato had also mentioned that the DDS was led by cops and not civil vigilantes and still continues to operate in Davao. "Our job was to kill criminals such as drug traffickers, rapist, Snatcher. So we killed the day," he had reportedly said. Lascanas had put into effect an affidavit and said he was ready to testify before any government agency, including the Senate, reports said. Related Articles Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte ran a death squad that killed many people, including a journalist and a pregnant woman, when he was mayor of a southern city, a retired policeman who claimed to be part of the group said Monday. Arthur Lascanas, sitting alongside three prominent human rights lawyers, broke down in tears as he listed a series of murders in Davao city that he alleged Duterte ordered either to eliminate critics or fight crime. Lascanas said he even killed his two brothers, who were involved in drug trafficking, due to "blind loyalty" to Duterte as well as cash rewards. "Whether we buried them (bodies) or dumped them at sea, we were always paid by Mayor Rody Duterte," Lascanas said. Duterte has been repeatedly accused of running death squads during his more than two decades as Davao mayor, and expanding on those tactics as president in waging a war on drugs that has claimed thousands of lives. Duterte has over the years variously denied and confirmed the existence of a Davao death squad, and claimed to have personally killed people to set an example for police. However presidential spokesman Martin Anadanar on Monday rejected all of Lascanas's claims. "The press conference of self-confessed hitman Arthur Lascanas is part of a protracted political drama aimed to destroy the president and to topple his administration," Andanar said in a statement. In one of the most chilling accounts, Lascanas said he and other policemen abducted a suspected kidnapper but also took his seven-month pregnant wife, his four or five-year-old son, his son-in-law and two house helpers. "Mayor Rody Duterte gave us the signal: "go ahead, clean them up," he said. "In this case, evil prevailed. They killed the entire family in front of me, using a calibre .22 with silencer." He said Duterte also paid him and other policemen three million pesos ($60,000) for killing in 2003 prominent radio broadcaster Jun Pala, a critic of the then-mayor. Story continues A self-confessed hitman last year told a Senate inquiry that Lascanas was a leader of the Davao death squad that killed more than 1,000 people. Lascanas, when he was still a policeman, initially denied to the Senate inquiry that he was involved. But, after retiring from the police force in December, Lascanas said his conscience dictated he should now tell the truth and confess to being part of the death squads. Duterte, 71, won presidential elections last year after promising during the campaign to eradicate drugs in society by killing tens of thousands of people. He immediately launched the drug war after taking office on June 30, and more than 6,500 people have died in the crackdown in what Amnesty International has said may amount to crimes against humanity. By Manolo Serapio Jr MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines' environment minister said on Monday she stands by her decision to shut more than half the country's operating mines and bar mining in watershed zones as an inter-agency panel began a review of her actions. Members of the government's Mining Industry Coordinating Council will scrutinize the affected mines to ensure due process was followed and consider the impact on jobs and the economy after an outcry by the mining industry in the world's top nickel ore supplier. The review could take three months. The council cannot overturn her orders, but its findings could feed into a decision by President Rodrigo Duterte, who has said he will review the planned closures after initially throwing his support behind his environment minister. "My stand on no mining in watersheds is staunch," Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Regina Lopez told Reuters by phone. "It's madness to do any kind of extractive industry in areas which are the source of the water supply of the island." Lopez on Feb. 2 ordered the closure of 23 of the Southeast Asian nation's 41 mines and suspended five others for environmental violations including harming watershed areas and causing siltation in coastal waters. The decision angered domestic miners which said they would contest the move. A mining industry group has said the closure or suspension of 28 mines would affect 1.2 million people who depend on the sector for their livelihood. She also ordered the cancellation of 75 mining contracts, or nearly a third of mineral production sharing agreements for mines that have yet to go into production, for being located in watershed zones. Lopez, who is a committed environmentalist, co-chairs the Mining Industry Coordinating Council with Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez. SCIENTIFIC MANNER Senior members of the mining council met on Monday to discuss the review and to assess all aspects of affected mine operations, Finance Undersecretary Bayani Agabin said. "It will be investigative and done in a scientific manner. And we determined that we will probably need experts to look at the technical, economic, social aspects of the mine operations," Agabin told reporters. The experts would not come from mining firms, but would likely be academics, he said. "Even if a contract has been made, the (Environment and Natural Resources) secretary is in full authority to review contracts and make decisions based on the common good," Lopez said. "The priorities I am legally mandated to comply with are in many laws." Duterte has previously criticized the environmental damage from mining and said last August that the country could survive without a mining industry. Still largely unexplored, the Philippines' mining sector contributes less than 1 percent to the overall economy, with only 3 percent of 9 million hectares identified by the state as having high mineral reserves being mined, according to government data. (Reporting by Manolo Serapio Jr.; Additional reporting by Enrico dela Cruz; Editing by Richard Pullin and Jane Merriman) Warsaw (AFP) - Poland on Monday formally launched a tender for 16 military helicopters following months of talks with aeronautics rivals Airbus, Lockheed Martin and Leonardo-Finmeccanica. The defence ministry began the talks in October after calling off formal negotiations with France's Airbus to buy 50 of its Caracal helicopters for several billion euros (dollars) in a move that ratcheted up tensions with France. "A committee tasked with the negotiations invited the firms on Monday to present their offers" for the eight anti-submarine helicopters and another eight aircraft for the special forces, the ministry said in a statement. After the Caracal row with Airbus, Warsaw announced it planned to buy at least 21 US Black Hawk helicopters from Lockheed Martin. Warsaw had previously said it was seeking between 50 and 70 helicopters, to be manufactured in both Poland and abroad. The European Union member drew a furious response from Airbus last year after it halted negotiations to buy its Caracal helicopters for an estimated 13.5 billion zloty (3.1 billion euros, $3.3 billion). Chief executive Tom Enders said his company had never been treated so badly by any government. The spat also ratcheted up diplomatic tensions between Warsaw and Paris and French President Francois Hollande postponed a visit to Poland. There is disagreement over who actually ended the negotiations, with Poland blaming Airbus for the breakdown in the talks. The dispute centred on Airbus' commitment to create up to 6,000 jobs in Poland -- the so-called "offset" package, according to the Polish side. But the short time between the collapse in talks with Airbus and the emergence of a possible deal with Lockheed has led some to speculate that Poland was in touch with the US manufacturer before the talks broke down. He asked, "Who want to be my Valentine? [sic]". "Checkout my profile below, and if you are interested, comment me or message me, [sic]" he said. More than 2,000 women did, and this Gurgaon man picked five among them, took them on a date, together, and gifted them iPhones. By India Today Web Desk: Dating app Tinder has worked for many when it comes to finding "true love" and flings, and many found life partners on matrimonial sites. But this Gurgaon man used Facebook to find himself a date this Valentine's Day and guess what? It worked. Shakul with his dates. Photo: Facebook/Shakul Gupta And what did he use to his advantage? WEALTH! advertisement Shakul Gupta, whose bio once said "entrepreneur with an Audi A4", made a Facebook post on February 11 and promised women who agree to be his Valentine a dinner date at Gurgaon's Oberoi hotel, a brand new iPhone 7 of the person's choice and "memorable moments". Two days after Valentine's Day, he announced the overwhelming response he received and that it took a dedicated team five days to scan through more than 2,000 applications he received and to finally select the BEST FIVE. The so-called herculean task of shortlisting 5 girls made him postpone his date. Finally on February 16, he went to the Oberoi with his five dates and posted a photo with them and five iPhones. He also shared the photo of the bill and other Facebook users cannot seem to accept that a man actually pulled this off. Photo: FacebookShakul Gupta Photo: FacebookShakul Gupta What do you think about this? Let us know in the comments below. --- ENDS --- President Donald Trump has named Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster as his National Security Adviser, ending a week of upheaval at the highest tier of the nations foreign policy decision-making apparatus. Trump called McMaster a man of tremendous talent and tremendous experience Monday as he introduced his selection to reporters at Mar-a-Lago, where he has spent the holiday weekend interviewing candidates for the post.I watched and read a lot over the last two days, Trump said. He is highly respected by everyone in the military and were very honored to have him. A career army officer, McMaster replaces Mike Flynn, who was asked to resign by Trump last Monday amid revelations that he misled Vice President Mike Pence on the nature of his contacts with the Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Trumps first choice for the job, Robert Harward, turned down the position last week for family and financial considerations, and because of Trumps initial unwillingness to give Flynns replacement total control over staffing decisions on the NSC. Retired Lt Gen Keith Kellogg, who served as interim National Security Adviser for the week, will return to his post as chief of staff and executive secretary of the National Security Council, the White House said. McMaster, one of the militarys top strategic minds, most recently served as Director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center in Virginia, which is tasked with preparing for future threats. As a younger officer, McMaster attained cult-like status within the military after the publication of his 1997 book Dereliction of Duty: Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, The Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies that Led to Vietnam. The book examined the failure of military leaders to challenge civilian policymakers about the direction of the war. McMaster was named to TIMEs list of the 100 most influential people in 2014 shortly after his promotion to lead the Armys futures center, in which he was lauded as perhaps the 21st century Armys pre-eminent warrior-thinker. He earned a Silver Star for his service in the first Gulf War, when the nine tanks under his command destroyed 80 Iraqi tanks. McMaster commanded the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment during the Iraq War to great acclaim, with his forces providing some of the earliest gains against the Iraqi insurgency. Speaking briefly to reporters, McMaster thanks Trump for the opportunity to serve. Im grateful to you for that opportunity, he told Trump, and I look forward to joining the national security team and doing everything that I can to advance and protect the interests of the American people. A sign protesting President Bannon is seen in San Francisco. (Photo: Courtesy @BannonThe45th) The protests sparked by the election of President Trump are like nothing the country has ever seen. The Womens March demonstrations around country were the largest one-day street protests in American history. The congressional switchboard has logged a record number of calls. In scale and scope, the activist uprising against Trumps agenda has been shocking to even longtime left organizers. The reactions to Trumps actions have been coming as fast and furious as his administrations moves. This roundup will serve as a noncomprehensive effort to highlight some of what is happening each weekday. PRESIDENTS DAY PROTESTS. Protests in New York, D.C., Chicago and Los Angeles have been called for Presidents Day, starting at noon Eastern time. Follow Yahoo News live blog for a taste of the action. These Not My Presidents Day protests are billed as peaceful rallies, with agendas specific to their areas. Notes the Facebook page for the Los Angeles rally: Donald Trump is literally our President, but figuratively, he has attacked every value Californians embody and does not represent our interests. We will be staging a rally downtown at City Hall to protest the anti-Californian policies of the current White House. More than 19,000 people have said they are interested in that march. The New York rally is being held outside the Trump International Hotel in Manhattan; 47,000 people have expressed interest in it on Facebook, and 15,000 said they will attend. RESISTANCE RECESS. A coalition of groups helmed by MoveOn.org has been holding Ready to Resist organizing calls on Sunday nights since Trump took office. On the fourth such call, Ezra Levin, co-author of the Indivisible Guide and executive director of the Indivisible Project, guided more than 30,000 listeners through the protest plans for the coming week, when members of Congress are back in their districts for what is known as a District Work Period. The Donald Trump agenda does not depend on Donald Trump, it depends on if your member of Congress chooses to resist it or rubber stamp it, he told listeners, pointing to the tea party movement of the early Obama years as an inspiration. Story continues We think they got it right in terms of strategy and tactics, Levin said. If you want to resist Trumps agenda, focus locally, focus locally, and never give an inch. Speakers on the call, which also featured representatives from MoveOn.org and an array of local groups, repeatedly emphasized the importance of nonviolence and discussed detailed strategies for getting called on at town halls, getting members of Congress to hold town halls, and filming video at town halls to share live on Facebook or with the press after the fact. Pro-tip: No one wants to see your vertical video. MISSING MEMBERS. Those hoping to ask questions at town halls will have their work cut out for them. Vice News reported last week that Republicans will be holding fewer town halls than in previous District Work Periods: For the first two months of the new Congress, the 292 Republicans have scheduled just 88 in-person town hall events and 35 of those sessions are for Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, according to a tabulation conducted by Legistorm. In the first two months of the previous Congress in 2015, by contrast, Republicans held 222 in-person town hall events. Some members of Congress are replacing in-person meetings with tele-town halls, which activists find unsatisfying. Other lawmakers are making eyebrow-raising excuses for their decisions to avoid constituents. The Indivisible Guide has responded with a Missing Members of Congress Action Plan to bird-dog members at their offices, petition them for public town halls, and generally raise local and national media awareness of members retreat from direct conversations with the public. RESISTANCE CALENDARS. In the 20th century, activists got the word out about upcoming protests through wheat pasting, phone trees and in-person meetings. In the 21st century, they have Facebook and other digital tools. Among them: the just-launched Resistance Calendar, which lists upcoming major protests across the nation. Washington, D.C., activists have put together a Facebook page collecting news of upcoming protests in the U.S. capital, which sees an unusual amount of in-the-streets activity regardless of who is president, and other local groups also are putting together lists of the events in their cities. And MoveOn.org has launched ResistanceRecess.com to list events. THE ART OF PROTEST. Impeach President Bannon posters went up overnight Saturday as a group put together plans for posting them in 135 locations across New York City, Washington D.C., Baltimore, San Francisco, and parts of Los Angeles. The Stop President Bannon art group is seeking to raise funds online to draw attention to Trump adviser Steve Bannons influential role in the White House. SCIENCE! Scientists gathered at Copley Square in Boston Sunday at a Stand Up for Science rally held the weekend of the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting and they had the best signs. Some #standupforscience demonstrators brought signs that used science to poke fun at Trump (cue the pi jokes) https://t.co/zmu6QDTbA5 pic.twitter.com/j937GMhKAa The Boston Globe (@BostonGlobe) February 20, 2017 I AM A MUSLIM TOO. A midday solidarity rally in Times Square on Sunday featured Womens March organizer Linda Sarsour. The energy at the #IAmAMuslimToo rally is absolutely beautiful. The unity among the people is powerful and we will be resilient. Resist! pic.twitter.com/cdaZD6rWXP Michael Skolnik (@MichaelSkolnik) February 19, 2017 .@lsarsour is unapologetically Muslim. We are so honored to stand with her today. #IAmAMuslimToo pic.twitter.com/7pNvUU2evg I Am A Muslim Too (@iamamuslimtoo) February 19, 2017 Read more from Yahoo News: By Karen Lema and Neil Jerome Morales MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte operated a "death squad" while mayor of Davao city, giving cash and orders for police and assassins to murder criminals, according to a former policeman who said he was involved in the clandestine killings. In remarks contradicting his denial under oath last year of the existence of such a "death squad", Arturo Lascanas said he was one of the ringleaders of the group that began operating when Duterte became mayor of the southern city in 1988. Duterte has repeatedly denied involvement in vigilantism or summary executions, either as president or during his 22 years as Davao mayor. His police chief has denied there was ever a death squad in Davao, describing it as fiction created by the media. On Monday, Lascanas asserted that the Davao death squad was no myth and he was one of those who carried out secret killings of drug dealers and criminals at Duterte's behest. "It is true, the Davao death squad, or DDS, really exists," Lascanas told reporters at the Senate in Manila. "When Mayor Duterte sat down as mayor for the first time, we started what is called 'salvaging' of people, these people are suspects committing crime in Davao." "We implemented the personal orders of Mayor Duterte to us." Duterte's legal counsel, Salvadore Panelo, said Lascanas' allegations were a "continuing fabrication" and "another false narration". Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said allegations that Duterte was linked to extrajudicial killings had been proved false by numerous independent agencies. "Our people are aware that this character assassination is nothing but vicious politics," he told CNN Philippines. Lascanas said he had decided his "obedience and loyalty" to Duterte must end and had promised God that he would confess. He is the second man to go public with claims of involvement in murders allegedly ordered by Duterte, the hugely popular president nicknamed "the Punisher", whose ruthless approach to tackling crime has won public approval. 'EXPLOSIVE' The account given by Lascanas was similar to that of hit man Edgar Matobato, who testified in September he had also been a death squad member in Davao and he had seen Duterte shoot a man dead and give orders for police to kill criminals. Senator Antonio Trillanes, a critic of Duterte who appeared at the same news conference as Lascanes, said he would file a motion for a Senate investigation into the so-called Davao death squad. Another anti-Duterte Senator, Leila de Lima, who led a Senate investigation last year into the Davao killings, described Lascanas' account as "a very, very explosive development". Human rights groups have documented about 1,400 suspicious killings in Davao while Duterte was mayor and critics say the war on drugs he unleashed as president has the same hallmarks. More than 7,700 people have been killed in the latest crackdown, some 2,500 in what police say are shootouts during raids and sting operations. Most of the rest are under investigation and activists believe many were extrajudicial killings. Lascanas said death squad members in Davao got 20,000 to 100,000 pesos ($398 to $1,990) per hit, depending on the target's value. Some members, he said, were former Communist rebels. He confessed to the unsolved murder of a Davao radio show host who was staunchly critical of Duterte. Lascanas detailed his involvement in the bombing of a mosque and the killing of the family of a suspected kidnapper. The victims included a pregnant woman, a small boy and an elderly person. Both attacks were ordered by Duterte, he said. "This is how it began, all the killings we did in Davao, whether we bury or we throw in the sea, we are being paid by Mayor Duterte," he said. (Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Robert Birsel) RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) Police in Rio de Janeiro are shooting tear gas and arresting protesters who turned violent during a rally against privatizing a public utility. The clashes come as legislators in the state of Rio try to confront a deep fiscal crisis that has delayed payments to thousands of public workers. On Monday, state legislators voted 41-28 to privatize the state company that provides water and sewage treatment. It's among the austerity measures that have drawn the ire of many Rio residents. In recent months, several meetings of state legislators have drawn rowdy protests that often turned violent. On Monday, protesters gathered around the public utility. They threw rocks and other projectiles at police. At least a dozen people were arrested. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) The foreign ministers of Romania and South Korea have expressed concern about North Korea's missile test last week. South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said Monday during a visit to Bucharest that "the nuclear potential of Korea is much bigger than expected and the rhythm of development of this capacity is very high." North Korea fired a banned ballistic missile on Feb. 12, its first direct challenge to the international community since U.S. President Donald Trump took office. The test was immediately condemned by the U.S, Japan and South Korea. Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu said international sanctions should be continued against North Korea. MOSCOW/PODGORICA (Reuters) - The Kremlin on Monday rejected "irresponsible" allegations by Montenegro that Russia was involved in a plot to assassinate its prime minister. Montenegrin Special Prosecutor Milivoje Katnic on Sunday accused Moscow of involvement in the alleged conspiracy last October, which he said was aimed at bringing an opposition figure to power and halting the integration of the former Yugoslav republic into NATO. "Now we know that Russia's state institutions were involved," he told independent Prva TV. "It is up to Russian state institutions to investigate this." The Kremlin dismissed Katnic's allegations as absurd and denied interfering in Montenegro's internal affairs. "These words are too serious ... and failing to support them with reliable information is irresponsible to say the least," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call. On Oct. 16, the same day Montenegrins voted in a parliamentary election, authorities arrested 20 people from neighboring Serbia on charges of planning armed attacks against the state. Opposition parties accused Djukanovic and his allies of fabricating the plot to extend his grip on power over the small Adriatic republic, NATO's newest member. (Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic in MOSCOW and Petar Komnenic in PODGORICA; Editing by Alexander Winning and Mark Trevelyan) Vishal Sikka, 49, the CEO of Infosys, is in the eye of the storm over the governance issues currently affecting the iconic Indian IT giant. Ever since he joined Infosys in June 2014, Sikka, who holds a PhD from Stanford University, has strived to arrest the downward spiral that most Indian IT companies have experienced because of technological disruptions. Last October, he spoke candidly and at great length to Group Editorial Director Raj Chengappa on the challenges Infosys was facing and what he was doing to overcome them. The interview was held back because demonetisation became the national focus soon after. But in the light of the current controversy that has hit Infosys, we are carrying excerpts. For the record, India Today did request Sikka to answer questions on the current controversy, but he said there was not much he could add to what he had already said at the press conference held in Mumbai on February 13. Q. What are the challenges you faced when you took over Infosys in June 2014, and how did you address them? advertisement A. When I started at Infosys, there were many structural challenges. Some were generic, others were specific to the situation the company was in at that time. These have only become worse. The short-term issues-like the global delivery model, which was a very big deal even 20 years ago-have become much more differentiated. Things are becoming cheaper; more commoditised and so forth. These days, businesses are under immense pressure because of the enormous disruption caused by the digital revolution. By digital, I don't mean just websites, mobiles and so forth; I am talking about the deep-rooted transformation that Nicholas Negroponte has talked about. Of atoms into bits. Physical experiences, physical parts of the supply chain, even machines are becoming digital, are being converted into software. It has created tremendous pressure for innovation among big companies, and also pressure on costs. That goes down the chain and translates to cost pressure on us-the suppliers to the big businesses facing such disruptions. Q. What about automation and artificial intelligence? A. Yes, these are among the most important challenges we are are facing: automation and artificial intelligence. Look at companies like Infosys: in the late 1980s and 1990s, most of the work we did had to do with software development, application development and maintenance. But the new millennium saw BPO, IT infrastructural and verification services becoming much more amenable to automation. That is a deep structural shift that is happening in our industry. Digitisation, automation and artificial intelligence are three big shifts that were Infosys-specific. The challenges imposed by these three shifts have become more severe in the past three years. Q. What is your strategy for Infosys to deal with these key challenges? A. The strategy I have laid out is actually relatively straight-forward. It is inspired by nature. If you look around, you will see that there is a constant renewal taking place in nature. That is true for our business as well; there is a renewal of the work we do, the things we know about and constant improvements to them. So if you look at any business, including Infosys, there is always a dual imperative. There is a renewal of the businesses we do in right now. You can think of that imperative as 'becoming constantly better'. But, in parallel, in order to be relevant in an ever-changing world, we also have to be different; we have to do new things, things we don't have experience or expertise in. So there is this duality: renewing the existing work, and doing something completely new. These two things have to be done in the context of the culture of the organisation. Our values and purpose also have to be transformed, so that we can remain continuously relevant. advertisement Q. How are you implementing these changes? A. What I have been trying to do is to create an atmosphere of transformation of the existing businesses, as well as creating new business. This is led by the two imperatives of automation and innovation. Artificial intelligence is important for us, to automate the work we do as far as possible. When we look at artificial intelligence or AI, we are tempted to see it as something that disrupts industries, makes people redundant. But in reality, going all the way back to the industrial revolution, technology has always amplified us. It helps improve our productivity. I deeply believe that AI is a great amplifier of people. When we equip ourselves with AI, we save time, enable ourselves to exercise creativity and amplify our ability to innovate. advertisement Q. What does one do to foster creativity and innovation in Infosys? A. My dream, my endeavour is very simple, but also very audacious. I want every single Infosysian to embrace automation, to become more productive and therefore more powerful. The only way we will be able to employ millions of people is to create millions of innovators. Since I joined, my endeavour has been entirely about bringing in automation and artificial intelligence, and, most importantly, creating a culture of innovation. We have around 200,000 people doing roughly 9,500 projects at the moment: I want every single person, every single project to innovate. Q. How does one speed up the big elephant that Infosys straddles-IT-enabled services-and make it adaptable to the challenges you have mentioned? A. In every generation, there is a new technological wave. The big thing in today's world is that every industry is becoming digital. It is creating digital experiences for people, for customers, for consumers and even for economies. It creates a new set of opportunities for us-to go and help businesses become more digital. That means we have to improve our own skill sets; not only when it comes to technical abilities, but also in our problem-finding and problem-solving skills. There are also other important skills, such as how to engage with a customer and identify what it means for their business to become digital. Infosys has a tremendous learning culture. We have to become a key driver for people to learn. advertisement Q. Nandan Nilekani told me we now live in a 'hyper-flat world', that there is a big shift from enterprise to consumers. Is that impacting Infosys? A. Hyper-flat is a great phrase. When it comes to the shift from enterprise to consumer, look at it his way-in the physical world, there are many disconnects between the production of a thing and its consumption. Take the example of consumer packaged goods (CPG), like a bottle of shampoo. When you make a bottle of shampoo, you don't actually know who is going to buy it. It is made in a factory, from where it goes to a warehouse, then to shipping, then to a distributor or a retailer, and so on. Finally, the consumer buys it, and then the data begins making its way back to the manufacturer. In a digital world, on the other hand, everything is immediate. With Uber, you know exactly where the car is and who the driver is; the driver knows exactly who and where the passenger is, all in real time. The enterprise world is becoming more consumer-oriented and is a reflection of the fact that there is tremendous connectivity in the world around us. More than the connectivity, there is a tremendous connectedness. We are on the verge of becoming a hyper-connected world. That creates huge opportunities to help business-for instance, CPG companies-become connected to what their consumers are doing. Q. How will the Indian IT sector change its business model to profit from these developments? A. We have to be able to relate to our customers and our businesses in a very deep way about these extremely important strategic problems they face. We have not done that. The IT service industry, especially the Indian IT industry, has been very content with its achievements. We need to become much more pro-active, much more responsive to things that really matter to the CEOs and COOs of our companies, and then work on those critical problems. If we don't, we will become irrelevant; we won't be the ones who are growing. We have to make this shift, and doing it will not be easy. It requires us to acquire completely new kinds of skills and develop relationships with our clients. In the past, all one had to say was that we are from India, and we are Infosys; the doors would open. Now, you have to go and engage with the CEO and understand their context and problems. Increasingly, it is about problem-finding. For example, we use a technique called 'design thinking'. We have trained more than 100,000 people on design thinking, for precisely the reason that we want to create a culture where our people can engage with customers, understand what is important to them, how to articulate the problems they are facing, and then engage to solve it. Q. How come we don't see Indians inventing the next big things, like Google or Facebook? A. We still live in a world where innovation is an abstract idea for most people. They think that one has to be a Mark Zuckerberg or a Steve Jobs to innovate. But the reality, I think, is that innovation is no more than the act of seeing something that is not there. When we force ourselves to be limited to doing what we are told, when we force ourselves to just take orders from others, we lose sight of what is 'not there'. Every innovator and every innovation we have ever had was a result of somebody seeing something that was not there. Something that, if invented, would make things better, would be desirable to people and would be feasible to make. Steve Jobs used to say that an important thing to remember is that everything around you is built by people like you and me-everyday people who are not superior in any way. You and I can do the same thing. This is the culture I am trying to create at Infosys. Q. Won't the focus on bringing AI into business-to save on costs-lead to major job cuts for Infosys? Is that an area of concern? A. In terms of overall job cuts... I don't see that happening. What I do see is that different kinds of jobs are being created, and there is a reduction in the overall rate of job growth. Even so, I have spoken publicly about my aspiration to get to $20 billion in revenue at 30 per cent margin and at $80,000 revenue per employee by 2020. We are a company of 200,000 employees. If you divide $20 billion by $80,000, that still requires more than 250,000 people. So there is still scope for increasing the number of employees, just not as rapidly as before. When it comes to the jobs that AI displaces; those are the jobs of yesterday. AI creates opportunities as well. But the point you make about costs is incredibly important. We have had our traditional business models-which, ironically, are cost-driven-becoming a victim of the cost pressure. We cannot cut our way to success. The need is to develop a culture that is driven by innovation, rather than by costs. And people are rewarded for that. Q. And what will it take to achieve that? A. You asked earlier about why we are not innovators. The truth is, we were mostly renting out our ideas; we were not monetising their innovation, we were renting out the persons themselves. And that will continue to be the case for the immediate future. However, I believe this is not the model that will help us survive in the long run. We have to develop a culture of innovation, and move away from a culture of cost. From a mindset where we deliver something because we are cheaper than the other guy, we have to cultivate a mindset where we deliver something because we do it better than anyone else. Because we deliver value and find innovation in things in a way that nobody else can. This is what has to be done. And we have to develop the skills needed for innovation in a massive way. That is our future. In my case, with Infosys, we are a young company. We don't have the burden of a manufacturing economy; we are a knowledge-oriented economy. We are also a deeply education-oriented culture, so I think if we are able to redirect our energy in these directions-towards innovation, towards acquiring skills of the future-then the sky is the limit. n --- ENDS --- BEIRUT (AP) Airstrikes in the Syrian capital, Damascus, left at least seven people dead Monday as activists reported a third straight day of escalations by pro-government forces against opposition-held areas inside and around the capital. Jets believed to belong to the Russian or Syrian Air Forces pounded the Barzeh and Qaboun neighborhoods in the northeast corner of the capital, leveling several buildings, and also wounded at least 12 people, the activist-run Barzeh Media Center and Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. The side-by-side Barzeh, Qaboun, and Tishreen neighborhoods form one of the last two footholds of the Syrian opposition inside the Damascus city limits. The two neighborhoods connect to a vast, opposition-held district in the suburbs of the capital through a network of smuggling tunnels, according to Syria researcher Aron Lund, in a report for the U.S.-based Century Foundation policy institute. Pro-government forces have so far failed to collapse rebel defenses inside the Eastern Ghouta district, despite besieging them there since 2013. The Syrian Civil Defense first responders, also known as the White Helmets, released a video showing its volunteers trying to rescue a girl from under the rubble of a collapsed building after an airstrike on the Tishreen neighborhood. Also on Monday, the Russian military reported the deaths of four of its servicemen when they their vehicle was struck by a roadside in the center of the country last Thursday. The loss raised the total Russian combat casualties so far in Syria's war to 27. The four died when they were travelling as part of a Syrian military convoy to the central city of Homs on Thursday from the Tiyas air base, which is close to the ancient town of Palmyra held by the Islamic State group. The Russian Defense Ministry said the bomb was detonated by remote control. Two other servicemen were wounded in the blast. Palmyra, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) away, is one of the focal points of the battle against the extremist group. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but blame is likely to fall on IS. Story continues Moscow launched its military operations in support of President Bashar Assad's forces in September 2015. The Russian military has touted its air power as the backbone of its intervention, but its technicians, military advisers, and police forces have helped to clear and secure territory as well. Russian media estimate that more than 4,000 servicemen have been deployed in Syria based on voter rolls from Russia's September 2016 parliamentary elections. The Islamic State group overran Palmyra, prized for its ancient Roman archaeological ruins, for a second time last December. The front between the government and Palmyra is now about 16 kilometers (10 miles) west of the town, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group. The Observatory said the al-Qaboun neighborhood was targeted as well. By Stanley Carvalho ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Russia will start initial deliveries of military helicopters to India in 2019, with assembly and manufacturing to follow in Asia's fastest growing economy, the chief executive of state-owned manufacturer Russian Helicopters said on Monday. India and Russia signed an agreement in October to jointly manufacture 200 of the KA-226T helicopters for the Indian Armed Forces. Both countries have agreed to cooperate in energy and defense as India seeks to modernize its armed forces and build a nuclear industry and sanctions-hit Russia looks for investment and new markets. "The joint venture is in process and the first delivery will start in 2019. After-sales service will also be provided in India," said Andrey Boginsky, who took over as CEO in January. Some 60 helicopters will be delivered to India and the remaining 140 will be assembled or manufactured in India, he said at the International Defence Exhibition in Abu Dhabi. The company has started production of the advanced medium multirole Mi-171A2 helicopter, with four deliveries set for Russia this year, he said. China has shown an interest in the Mi-171A2, he added, without elaborating. Overall sales in 2017 are expected to grow at least 15 percent as demand for civil helicopters increases. "We expect to sell 220 helicopters this year," he said compared to 190 sold in 2016. Military helicopters account for two thirds of sales. "There is demand for civil helicopters and we plan to increase volumes," he said, adding that a key market is Iran, where there is demand from the oil and gas sector. (The story is corrected after company clarifies to say deliveries in 2019 not 2018) (Reporting by Stanley Carvalho, editing by Louise Heavens) A former Uber Technologies engineers blog post on sexual harassment within the ride-sharing company went viral Sunday, describing the engineering organization within the company as having dwindling numbers of women as a result of a culture of sexism and derogatory behavior toward women. But much of Ubers sexual harassment and assault issues have, at least publicly, been tied to its driving service, rather than to its corporate culture. Uber does not make the numbers public, and recent reports peg the incidences at anywhere between 170 and several thousand over a span of two and a half years. The company did not respond to requests for data on the matter from International Business Times by press time. Using a screenshot from a service representative with the San Francisco-based company, BuzzFeed found in March that a search query for sexual assault within Ubers customer support ticketing system yielded 6,160 results, or 6,160 cases, for the period between December 2012 and August 2015. Plugging in the search term rape resulted in 5,827 tickets, while assault revealed 3,524 and sexually assaulted yielded 382. In the same report, BuzzFeed obtained data from the company indicating that it had received fewer than 170 sexual assault claims and five claims of rape over the same time span. In a response to the BuzzFeed article, Ubers heads of communications, safety and global support attributed the thousands of results to misspellings of the word rate, words and names that contain the word rape and discussions of the issue by passengers who were not personally facing assault. A January 2015 report by the libertarian Cato Institute found ride-sharing services provided by Uber and its main competitor, Lyft Inc., to be about as safe as taking a cab, which, for drivers, was not exactly reassuring. Between 1998 and 2007, the homicide rate for taxi drivers stood as between nine and 19 per 100,000 workers or, in other words, between 21 and 33 times the national average for all workers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Story continues The website WhosDrivingYou.org, created by the Taxicab, Limousine & Paratransit Association, a trade group, has tallied dozens of incidents of sexual assaults, deaths and kidnappings involving ride-sharing services as theyve been reported in the media, with a timeline stretching back to July 2014. In November, Uber settled a lawsuit, filed by two women who alleged they had been sexually assaulted by drivers, for an undisclosed amount. The drivers were contractors, not employees, freeing the company of responsibility. The settlement came about a year and a half after Uber launched a new system allowing passengers to update their loved ones with their whereabouts, along with a safety and security team of dozens of employees tasked with rolling out new safety measures for both passengers and drivers. Related Articles Riyadh (AFP) - Prosecutors in Saudi Arabia are seeking the death penalty for a suspect accused of opening fire on German diplomats, a newspaper reported on Monday. The two envoys escaped unharmed when bullets hit their car in the Shiite-dominated Awamiya area three years ago, police said at the time. Awamiya, on the Gulf Coast near Dammam, has been a centre of unrest among the minority Shiite community since protests began there in 2011 and developed into a call for equality. A trial began on Sunday in Riyadh for the suspect, who was not named but could face the death penalty, Okaz newspaper reported. Almost a year after the shooting the interior ministry said it had arrested a suspect, Salem bin Abdullah bin Hussein, who was wanted for a number of violent crimes. Okaz reported that the man on trial before a court specialising in "terrorist" cases is accused of several offences. These include attacking a diplomatic vehicle, attempting to kill police, participating in demonstrations, inciting sedition and causing sectarian strife, the newspaper said. The Germans' car was hit by fire from an automatic weapon which caused the vehicle to burn, it said. Okaz said the accused asked the court for one month to prepare his defence. German media reports after the shooting said the two Germans worked for their country's BND foreign intelligence service, something Berlin's foreign ministry declined to comment directly on at the time. Awamiya was the home of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, who was convicted of terrorism and executed one year ago. Nimr was a driving force behind protests by Shiite residents that began in 2011 and developed into a call for equality. Most of Saudi Arabia's Shiites live in the east and have long complained of marginalisation in the Sunni-dominated kingdom. Data from activists late last year showed 25 Shiites were on death row allegedly related to incidents since 2012 in Qatif, the Shiite-dominated area that includes Awamiya. Hundreds of scientists gathered in Bostons Copley Square over the weekend to express their concerns about, and to protest against the policies of President Donald Trumps administration. The rally, which included crowds holding bright signs such as Stand up for science, Science is not a liberal conspiracy, Science, not silence and Climate change is NOT a controversy, had sponsors that included the Union of Concerned Scientists, Greenpeace USA, Mass Sierra Club and groups from universities in the area, according to Scientific American. Although not directly sponsored by or affiliated with the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) a five-day conference that opened nearby on Wednesday with the theme "Serving Society Through Science Policy" the protest rally was offered support by the CEO of AAAS, who backed plans to hold similar rallies under the banner "March for Science," scheduled to be held on Earth Day, April 22, in Washington and across multiple cities. "It is partly because of the previous statements of the president and his appointees on issues such as climate change and vaccination for children which have not been in keeping with good science," Rush Holt, AAAS CEO, explained to BBC News. "But mostly by what we have seen since the new administration has come in, [which] is silence about science. Very few appointments to positions are filled by people who understand science, very few comments about the importance of science; there is no science advisor in the White House now and we don't know whether there will be oneand so the silence is beginning to sound ominous," he said. The AAAS conference included lectures that reflected contemporary political issues such as the psychology of fake news, and how to protect climate science from hostile governments. It also saw the participation of several scientists who walked over from the conference to take part in the rally. Several of the event organizers gave speeches and addressed the rallies over the weekend. Story continues Im concerned that were going to lose the EPA. Im concerned that were going to lose regulations that have a direct impact on human health, like automobile emissionsPeople will get sicker. People will die because of a lack of environmental regulation and medical research, Jacquelyn Gill, an ecologist at the University of Maine and one of the speakers addressing Sundays rally, told the Guardian. Beka Economopoulos, one of the event organizers and the director of the mobile and pop-up Natural History Museum, explained that one of the big concerns are the arguments regarding trimming the fat of budgets because science and medical research funding already make a minuscule proportion of the federal budget. That money has got one of the best returns on investment you could possibly hope forthe real stakeholders are the citizens that stand to gain or lose the most if the institutions are weakened, she said. Beka also expressed apprehension at the appointment of Oklahoma attorney general Scott Pruitts as head of the EPA. We have a sort of fox in the henhouse situation here with Scott Pruitt as head of the EPA, an agency that he has sued 14 times, she told the Guardian. This is about freedom of inquiryfrom the muzzling of scientists and government agencies, to the immigration ban, the deletion of scientific data, and the defunding of public science, the erosion of our institutions of science is a dangerous direction for our country. Real people and communities bear the brunt of these actions, Economopulos told the crowd, according to the BBC. However, not every scientist was optimistic about the rally. Eminent string theorist Jim Gates, for instance, said that without an end goal in mind, the movement may be perceived as science against Trump. At least as far as I can detect, there is no theory of action behind thisThis bothers me tremendouslyI dont understand how the organizers of this march can guard against provocateurs, quite franklyI dont think theyre ready for that, I dont think theyre considering that kind of danger. To have science represented as this political force I think is just extraordinarily dangerous, he warned. Related Articles Shanghai stocks closed more than one percent higher on Monday, with traders buoyed by reports that China's official pension funds may start investing, as markets across Asia saw modest gains. Wall Street's strong performance last week continued to reverberate after US stocks hit new highs Friday for the sixth time in seven sessions. Tokyo stocks overcame early losses to end modestly higher as yen weakness prompted late bargain-hunting. Shanghai gained 1.18 percent after a Chinese media report that a first tranche of investment into China stocks by official pension funds was expected as early as this week. "This is great news for the mainland Chinese market. Investor confidence and trading enthusiasm was fired by this," Yingda Securities Chief Economist Li Daxiao told AFP. Retail conglomerate Shanghai Bailian Group surged by its 10 percent daily limit to 17.82 yuan on Monday after the announcement of a tie-up with e-commerce giant Alibaba. Heavyweight banking shares were among the gainers in Shanghai. Bank of China added 1.65 percent to 3.69 yuan, while China CITIC Bank Corp climbed 2.17 percent to 7.05 yuan. With US markets closed Monday for the Presidents' Day holiday, investors were turning to corporate and political developments elsewhere. Europe was back in focus after a poll showed German Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling party lagging the Social Democrats for the first time under her leadership ahead of looming elections. Uncertainty in France was also on traders' minds. "The political uncertainty has definitely increased as the chances of a Marine Le Pen victory and the Dutch election got into full swing," said Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at CFD and FX provider AxiTrader. Unilever tumbled after Kraft Heinz withdrew its $143 billion bid for its erstwhile target. - Strengthening yen - Tokyo stocks had moved into positive territory in the afternoon as the yen weakened. A stronger yen is generally a negative for Japan's exporters as it dents the value of their overseas profits when sent back home. Story continues "Players bought on dip as they felt relieved to see the yen losing ground," Toshikazu Horiuchi, a broker at IwaiCosmo Securities, told AFP. The greenback stood at 113.18 yen, up from 112.87 in New York Friday, but well below the near 114 yen seen in Tokyo at the start of last week. In oil markets WTI and Brent both strengthened Monday after earlier weakness. Some analysts suggested ballooning crude stocks may dampen future oil prices. "If demand growth doesn't flow through to balance out the market as OPEC expected, then the ability to drive price sustainably into the $55/$60 region they seem to be targeting is in question," McKenna added. Oil-producing nations in the OPEC cartel have agreed to scale back production, helping send oil prices back above $50 from lows less than $30 per barrel last year, But recent data has shown US shale producers are bringing wells back on line. In early European trade, London was up 0.4 percent, Frankfurt gained 0.6 percent and Paris added 0.5 percent. - Key figures around 0900 GMT - Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.09 percent at 19,251.08 (close) Hong Kong - Hang Seng: UP 0.47 percent at 24,146.08 (close) Shanghai - Composite: UP 1.18 per cent at 3,239.96 (close) Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0625 from $1.0615 Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2475 from $1.2421 Dollar/yen: UP at 113.18 yen from 112.87 yen Oil - Brent North Sea: UP 33 cents at $56.14 per barrel Oil - West Texas Intermediate: UP 21 cents at $53.61 New York - Dow: UP less than 0.1 percent at 20,624.05 (close) London - FTSE 100: UP 0.4 percent at 7,326.70 SINGAPORE (AP) Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, hosting a visit by his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Monday his country believes in a "two-state solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Lee explained his stand at a joint news briefing with Netanyahu, who does not endorse the two-nation approach. Lee said he realizes a two-state solution is difficult to achieve, but said it is the only way to achieve peace. Netanyahu's official visit is the first to Singapore by an Israeli head of government. Last year Lee became the first Singaporean prime minister to visit Israel. Netanyahu referred to Singapore and Israel at the news conference as being "kindred spirits." Both nations are small, with significant defense and high-tech industries. The two countries established diplomatic relations in 1969, but have ties dating back to 1965, when Israeli military advisers covertly assisted Singapore after its declaration of independence. Acknowledging the "very complex situation" between Palestinians and Israel, Lee called for direct negotiations that will ensure "progress toward a just and durable solution to this long-standing and often, unfortunately violent conflict." "We have consistently believed that a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine, however hard to achieve, is the only way to bring peace and security to both peoples," Lee said. Netanyahu did not mention tensions in the Middle East in his remarks at the news briefing, after which questions were not allowed. But afterward, at a state dinner, he said he believes there is an opportunity to seek peace now "because I sense a great change in the Arab world, in many Arab countries, and I hope ... to be able to use that newfound attitude toward Israel to help us solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as well." The two-state approach, in which negotiations aim to lead to an independent Palestinian nation, has wide international support, including from Arab nations. It would likely require Israel to give up occupied territory that is strategically and religiously significant. Story continues A two-state solution has anchored American diplomacy in the Middle East for two decades. When U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Netanyahu last week, the American leader signaled a policy shift, saying both a two-state and a single-state solution should be considered. Netanyahu also said Israel was pivoting toward Asia "in a very clear and purposeful way." "Next month I'll go to China. Somewhat later this year, Prime Minister Modi of India will come to visit Israel," he said. Poised in the middle, he said, is Singapore, "our perfect partner." Netanyahu departs for Australia on Tuesday. ___ This story has been corrected to show that Netanyahu said Israel is pivoting toward Asia. Conakry (AFP) - At least six people died during violent protests in the Guinean capital Monday, as people demonstrated over teachers' strikes that have closed schools for the past three weeks, government sources said. At least 30 people were also wounded, including members of the police force in Conakry, the government said in a statement. A number of violent protests have rocked the city in the past few weeks, mainly by young people and students who support a teachers' strike. Teachers' unions are demanding that contracted teachers, who are not full time, be fully integrated in the public school system. They are also asking for a higher salary and better working conditions. In response, the government closed schools on February 1. After a series of talks, the government asked the teachers to return to school two weeks later. But unions called for a strike, which was still in effect Monday in the capital and in other parts of the country, teachers and other witnesses told AFP. "Our capital was the scene of unauthorised and illegal protests by the governor of the city of Conakry" to demand that schools reopen, the government said in a statement. The protests were marked by "acts of violence, of vandalism" even though the night before, a deal had been reached "with the unions after many days of negotiations." Four men, including two young people, and one woman were shot and killed during the clashes, said a hospital source. Another young man was hit by a bus as he tried to flee the violence, a police official said. At least 12 people were arrested and some ambulances and public health centres sustained damage. TOKYO (Reuters) - Shares in SoftBank Group Corp <9984.T> rose nearly 3 percent in morning trade on Monday after a Reuters report that the Japanese company is prepared to cede control of Sprint Corp to T-Mobile US Inc to clinch a merger of the two U.S. wireless carriers. SoftBank is expected to approach T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom AG for negotiations when an ongoing auction of airwaves ends in April and a ban on talks between rivals is lifted, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. A potential deal could bolster SoftBank's shift towards what billionaire founder Masayoshi Son calls the "Berkshire Hathaway of the tech industry," or a company with cutting-edge tech investments as the telecoms services markets mature. The proceeds of the possible sale of all or a portion of its Sprint stake to a third party could improve SoftBank's credit rating and "allow it to dedicate more of its managerial and financial resources to growth businesses," analysts at SMBC Nikko Securities said in a research note. While SoftBank's domestic mobile business remains a cashcow necessary to fund investments, analysts have said it may be hard for Sprint to grow on its own as it lacks the scale to challenge larger rivals. Son told reporters earlier this month that he was focused exclusively on an acquisition of T-mobile three years ago, but that Sprint's return to profits has opened various new possibilities for SoftBank in an upcoming industry realignment. Son's previous attempt to merge T-Mobile and Sprint, ranked third and fourth respectively, fell through amid opposition from U.S. antitrust regulators. (Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim and Stephen Coates) Vitaly Churkin, Russia's envoy to the United Nations, died in New York, a day before his 65th birthday. A US official said Churkin died of an apparent heart attack. Russia's envoy to the UN died in New York (AP photo) By India Today Web Desk: Russia's envoy to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, died suddenly Monday (local time) in New York, the Russian foreign ministry said. The 64-year-old envoy, whose death came just a day before his birthday, fell ill while in his mission's office in New York. Russia's deputy UN ambassador Vladimir Safronkov told the Associated Press that Churkin was rushed to a local hospital, where he died. The cause of his death wasn't immediately known. advertisement A US government official, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the case, said that Churkin had died of an apparent heart attack. A federal law enforcement official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said that there appeared to be nothing unusual about the ambassador's death. PUTIN DEEPLY HURT Russian President Vladimir Putin was "deeply upset" over the news, Russian news agencies quoted the Kremlin as saying. Russia's foreign ministry called Churkin an "outstanding" diplomat and expressed condolences to his friends and family. Britain's UN ambassador, Matthew Rycroft, tweeted that he was "absolutely devastated" to hear of the death of Churkin, "a diplomatic giant and wonderful character." Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the UN secretary-general's office, said, "He has been such a regular presence here that I am actually quite stunned. Our thoughts go to his family, to his friends and to his government." Churkin had been Russia's envoy at the United Nations since 2006 and was considered Moscow's great champion at the world body. He had a reputation for an acute wit and sharp repartee, especially with his American and Western counterparts. Also read: Shooter smashed photos on wall: Eyewitness account of Russian ambassador's assassination in Turkey Also read: Russian diplomat hits biker, assaults cops in Delhi (With inputs from AP and Reuters) --- ENDS --- WASHINGTON (AP) Getting through college isn't easy, and it can be even harder for low-income and first generation students with few support resources. A new tool involving big data can help those at risk. Researchers at Georgia State University spent four years analyzing students' grades, test scores and other information in order to identify those in potential trouble, and promptly assisted them. The study shows the number of students graduating has jumped by 30 percent and that students are spending less time and money to earn a degree. "These are really encouraging gains," said Timothy Renick, the school's vice president for enrollment management and student success and the principal investigator in the study. "Because of these proactive interventions all students benefited, but the students who benefited the most were first generation, low-income and students of color." Renick presented the study at the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in Boston on Saturday. Inspired by Renick's results, the Education Department awarded a four-year $8.9 million grant that will significantly expand his study. The project, which kicked off last year, will involve 10,000 low-income and first generation students at Georgia State and 10 other large public research universities. While some students are good at keeping track of their academic progress, students from low-income backgrounds may find it more difficult to spot a problem, choose the right courses from an abundance of offerings and navigate the university bureaucracy. That's because they may not have relatives or friends who had gone to college and could offer advice. Gabriella Salinas, a 21-year-old junior at Georgia State majoring in marketing, said she was doing well academically, but then received an F early in her finance class. She successfully completed the course with extra help from her professor. "Not everybody has somebody to turn to and when an academic adviser asks them 'Hey is there anything we can do, what's going on?' They feel as if they have somebody to turn to who actually cares about their success," she said. Story continues Renick analyzed past student data at Georgia State to make forecasts about current students' academic outcomes, a type of study known as predictive analytics. For instance, a grade of C in an entry-level class in a student's major was a sign that student would struggle with more advanced courses. Scoring poorly in a math class meant problems for STEM majors. When such warning signs were spotted, academic advisers reached out to students to guide and counsel them. As a result, STEM degrees awarded to black students rose by 69 percent, to black male students by 111 percent and to Hispanics by 226 percent. The average time to a bachelor's degree at Georgia State decreased by more than half a semester, enabling the Class of 2016 to save $15 million in tuitions and fees. "We are leveling the playing field not by doing academic work for the students ... but instead by giving them timely information about what might maximize their chances of graduation," Renick said. "We have a moral obligation to these students and their families, many of whom are taking out large loans to give them every chance to graduate." Martin Kurzweil, director of the Educational Transformation Program at Ithaka S+R, a nonprofit research group tasked with evaluating Renick's study because it relies on federal money, called the result "pretty much unprecedented, it's fantastic." He stressed that it was important to keep the data protected lest it be used for commercial purposes or identity theft. Some experts have voiced concern that the large amounts of student data collected could be used for profiling. But Ellen Wagner, a researcher who has studied predictive analytics in education, said it would be hard to help the students without first identifying their problems. "Why would we want to put a metaphorical Band-Aid on a headache?" Wagner said. "If we can remove the guesswork of trying to support students to be the most successful they can be, then we owe them the respect to find where they are strong and where we can help them be stronger and get on with their lives." Ryan Baker, associate professor at University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education, said that similar algorithms have been proved successful in auto insurance and banking. "Any technology can get misused, but I tend to think that for students at risk, prediction systems are doing more good than harm," Baker said. TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) Taiwan's foreign ministry has protested Spain's decision to deport more than 200 Taiwanese telecom fraud suspects to China, in the latest instance of a government moving to deport citizens of the self-governing island to its rival. Scores of Taiwanese have been arrested around the world in the past year in connection with vast telecoms fraud scams targeting Chinese nationals. Countries including Malaysia, Cambodia and Kenya have deported Taiwanese suspects to China, in deference to Beijing which views Taiwan as its own territory without sovereign legal status and has long tried to diplomatically isolate it. The Taiwanese ministry said in a statement Sunday that it "deeply regrets" a decision by the Spanish government to agree to a request by Beijing to extradite 269 Taiwanese and Chinese nationals arrested in December in Spain. Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Office said in a separate statement that it had lodged a protest with Beijing over its request that more than 200 Taiwanese nationals be deported to the mainland. Chinese authorities say they are authorized to try the cases because their citizens are the primary victims and have been swindled out of millions of dollars. London (AFP) - Thousands of protesters rallied outside parliament on Monday as MPs debated a petition to cancel a state visit by US President Donald Trump which gained more than 1.8 million signatures. Placards reading "No to Trump" and "Dump Trump" were held by demonstrators in Parliament Square, in the latest rally against the US president who came to power a month ago. British Prime Minister Theresa May became the first foreign leader to meet Trump in the White House in January, when she invited him to the UK on a state visit to be hosted by Queen Elizabeth II later this year. The invitation came hours ahead of Trump imposing tough entry restrictions on travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries and within days an online petition to prevent the president's state visit attracted more than 1.8 million signatures. The British government has said it will not support the petition and stressed that the invitation still stands, but parliament went ahead and debated the issue due to the popularity of the petition. Lawmakers also discussed a counter-petition to uphold the state visit invite, which attracted over 300,000 signatures. During the debate, opposition Labour MP David Lammy said the government offered the state visit because it is "desperate" for a trade deal with the US. "I think my children deserve better than thata I'm ashamed that it's come to this," he said. Fellow Labour lawmaker Paul Flynn said the invitation should be downgraded from the regal affair to a regular visit. "There are great dangers in attempting to give him the best accolade we can give anyone," he said. While Trump was offered a state visit after just seven days in office, his predecessor Barack Obama had to wait 758 days before receiving the same invitation. Outside parliament on Monday, protester Benjamin Kari said people needed to stand up against Trump's policies and avoid becoming complacent. Story continues "He's promoting racist policies, he's normalising racism and misogyny and Islamophobia," he told AFP. Bryan Richardson, a member of the Stand up to Racism group, said May "humiliated herself by rushing over to Washington to be the first leader to meet Donald Trump". A Stop Trump Coalition website named February 20 a "day of action" against the US president, listing events planned across Britain. Around 300 people gathered in Glasgow waving sometimes comical banners aimed at Trump, one describing him as a "Feckin Plonker". WASHINGTON (AP) When North Korea fired a ballistic missile into waters between South Korea and Japan, President Donald Trump moved quickly to show U.S. resolve. He appeared within hours alongside visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and said the U.S. "stands behind Japan, its great ally, 100 percent." Trump happened to be hosting Abe that day in Florida. Yet his lack of any mention of a U.S. treaty ally South Korea didn't go unnoticed by the new secretary of State, Rex Tillerson. So, while on his first official trip, Tillerson arranged a three-way meeting in Germany with the Japanese and South Korean foreign ministers to show the U.S. wasn't picking favorites, according to a senior State Department official. The talks culminated in a joint declaration in which the U.S. pledged to defend a pair of Asian nations that don't always get along. There was no elaborate ceremony before the video cameras, no speeches, as their written statement went out in low-key fashion. It was Tillerson's way. Cautious, reserved and intent on avoiding the spotlight, the former Exxon Mobil CEO is proving to be everything his extroverted Oval Office boss is not. In his first weeks as America's top diplomat, Tillerson has gone to great lengths to avoid attracting attention, despite a growing perception in Washington that the State Department is being sidelined by a power-centric White House. Some State Department officials have been told by the White House to expect drastic budget cuts, with much of the reduction potentially coming out of U.S. foreign aid money. Trump and his team have also told those interviewing for top State Department jobs that significant staffing cuts will come. Some appear to have started already. While Tillerson was in Germany, several senior management and advisory positions were eliminated. The staffers were reassigned. Some other top posts are vacant, and there are no signs they'll be quickly filled. Story continues While Tillerson has met or spoken with dozens of foreign counterparts in his first weeks, the White House is driving the front-page diplomacy. The lack of State Department involvement has flustered many long-time diplomats. When Trump met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week, acting Deputy Secretary Tom Shannon was assigned to represent the agency in the meeting because Tillerson was flying to Germany. At the last minute, Shannon was blocked from participating in the meeting. The meeting went on without State Department representation. It was "modified to allow for a more personal discussion," according to a U.S. official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Tillerson had dined the evening before with Netanyahu and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and a White House aide who has emerged as Trump's top emissary to Israel, Mexico and other countries. That is a role that traditionally has fallen to the secretary of state. Tillerson has barely spoken in public, save for greeting U.S. diplomats on his first day and brief comments after a get-together with Russia's foreign minister. It's a sharp contrast with the Obama administration's last secretary of state, John Kerry, who routinely found his way to the center of global crises, enthusiastically fulfilling the "public diplomacy" part of the job. Whereas Kerry exhausted staff with impromptu, whirlwind foreign trips and constant press appearances, Tillerson has made it known to his staff that he wants a lower profile. In private, the Texas oilman with the booming baritone voice is deliberate, independent and cool-headed, according to U.S. and foreign diplomats who have interacted with him and who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to avoid possible diplomatic fallout from discussing private conversations. A common thread in Tillerson's meetings with diplomats has been an emphasis on the safety of U.S. personnel, State Department officials said. It's a continuation of a theme Tillerson touched on when he spoke to staffers on his first day, and one he plans to echo this coming week on a trip to Mexico City with Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly. Tillerson will stop at the U.S. Embassy to meet with American diplomats, officials said. Diplomats from several foreign countries said Tillerson is playing it safe in high-level meetings so far, avoiding extemporaneous comments. He shows up seeming well-prepared and confident on the substance of issues, rarely consulting his aides or written notes, they reported. In Germany last week, Tillerson urged China to help address North Korea's nuclear threat. He called on Russia to honor a 2015 peace plan for Ukraine. While those signs of continuity in U.S. policy may have assuaged some foreign leaders' concerns about Trump, Tillerson's tight-lipped nature unsettled others. After meeting Tillerson, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault lamented the "vague" U.S. position on issues such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Tillerson told several of his international partners the U.S. is still in "listening mode," leaving some with the perception that Trump may craft U.S. foreign policy on the fly. In a rare interaction with reporters, Tillerson said before leaving Germany he was bringing home "many" messages for Trump. Asked to share a few, he demurred. "Not until I share it with him," he said. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) North Korea's ambassador to Malaysia denounced the country's investigation into the death of the exiled half brother of North Korea's ruler, calling it politically motivated and demanding a joint probe amid increasingly bitter exchanges between the once-friendly nations. Malaysia responded with its own accusations, with a foreign ministry statement saying the ambassador's comments were "culled from delusions, lies and half-truths." Earlier Monday, Malaysia said it was recalling its ambassador to Pyongyang. The diplomatic spat comes in the wake of the death last week of Kim Jong Nam, who died after apparently being poisoned in the Kuala Lumpur airport. BEIJING (AP) The investigation into the death of the exiled half-brother of North Korea's ruler is being conducted in an impartial manner, Malaysia's ambassador to Pyongyang said Tuesday, rejecting accusations from the North that the probe was politically tinged. Mohamad Nizan Mohamad spoke in China's capital, Beijing, while in transit to Malaysia to where he had been recalled following the death last week in the Southeast Asian nation of Kim Jong Nam. Kim appeared to have been poisoned at Kuala Lumpur's international airport and police have so far arrested four people carrying identity documents from North Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) North Korea doesn't have many friends. There's China, its closest ally, and Singapore, where the North Korean elite have long gone in search of investors and shipping contracts. There are neighbors like Russia, and other nations isolated by politics and sanctions, like Syria and Cuba. Until recently there was also sort of Malaysia. While it isn't one of Pyongyang's key diplomatic partners, it is one of the few places in the world where North Koreans can travel without a visa. As a result, for years, it's been a quiet destination for Northerners looking for jobs, schools and business deals. Story continues PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) Plug your noses and ready your "Juche fertilizer." It's time to prep the frozen fields in North Korea. North Korea relies on its farmers to squeeze absolutely all they can out of every harvest. It's a tall order in a country with 25 million mouths to feed that is mostly mountains, hamstrung by international trade sanctions and, beyond a handful of showcase cooperatives, hard-pressed to modernize its agricultural sector. Without doubt, life as a farmer in North Korea is harsh. But there are some signs of change in how North Korea is treating its fields and its farmers. MANILA, Philippines (AP) A retired Philippine police officer said Monday that President Rodrigo Duterte, when he was a mayor, ordered and paid him and other members of a so-called liquidation squad to kill criminals and opponents, including a kidnapping suspect, his family and a critical radio commentator. Human rights lawyers who presented Arthur Lascanas at a news conference said the allegations could be grounds for impeaching Duterte, adding that his alleged role in the killings may not be covered by his presidential immunity. Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, who helped the lawyers from the private Free Legal Assistance Group present Lascanas in a news conference at the Senate, said he would ask his colleagues to immediately investigate the explosive allegations. BEIJING (AP) A prefecture in China's far western Xinjiang region is requiring all vehicles to install a real-time GPS-like tracking system as part of an anti-terror initiative. Traffic police in Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture announced the regulation on Sunday, shortly after thousands of heavily armed police paraded in the Xinjiang capital and Communist Party officials vowed to ramp up their campaign against separatists and Islamic militants. The vehicle-tracking program in Bayingolin will utilize China's homegrown Beidou satellite system, launched in recent years to reduce China's reliance on U.S.-based GPS providers for sensitive applications. Authorities said they will also track cars using RFID technology embedded in license plates. JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) Torrential rains in the Indonesian capital have overwhelmed drains and flooded roads and thousands of homes. The disaster mitigation agency said Tuesday that more than 50 areas are flooded in Jakarta, with waters up to 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) high in East Jakarta. It said the city's drains couldn't accommodate the runoff and rivers also overflowed. Floods in 2013 forced killed more than two dozen people in Jakarta and forced tens of thousands to flee their homes. The city, which has about 30 million people in its greater metropolitan area, says it has reduced the number of flood prone areas since then by dredging rubbish-filled rivers and other measures. BERLIN (AP) A court in Germany has convicted five South Korean citizens over the death of a relative in an exorcism ritual at a Frankfurt hotel in 2015. The Frankfurt regional court found the main defendant, a 44-year-old cousin of the victim, guilty Monday of serious bodily harm resulting in death. The dpa news agency reported that she was sentenced to six years in prison. Four other defendants, including the victim's 16-year-old son, were given suspended sentences of between 18 months and two years. The sentences were lower than prosecutors had demanded. The court concluded that the defendants had genuinely believed they were driving a demon out of the 41-year-old woman's body and that reports of "gruesome torture" weren't proven. TANAY, Philippines (AP) The death toll has risen to 15 from a bus crash in the Philippines, officials said Tuesday, and could climb further as many of the nearly 50 others who were hurt in the accident are in serious condition. Most of the dead and injured were college students on the way to a camping trip on Monday when the brakes on their chartered bus apparently failed on a steep downhill road. The out-of-control bus then smashed into an electric post, shearing off most of its roof. Berlito Bati Jr., a disaster-response officer in Tanay town in Rizal province east of Manila, where the accident happened, said the dead included the driver and a professor. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) Five people were believed killed when a light plane crashed in flames into a shopping mall on Tuesday in the Australian city of Melbourne, officials said. The five were on a twin-engine Beechcraft Super King Air that crashed about 45 minutes before the Direct Factory Outlet mall in suburban Essendon was to open, Police Minister Lisa Neville said. The U.S. Embassy in Canberra would not comment on a report that the passengers were U.S. citizens, but said it was working with local authorities. "We extend our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of all those who died in today's tragic crash," an embassy statement said. By Joseph White DETROIT (Reuters) - Traffic jams cost U.S. drivers an average of $1,200 a year in wasted fuel and time, and much more in Los Angeles, the city with the world's biggest rush hour traffic delays, according to a study by INRIX Inc released on Monday. INRIX, based in Kirkland, Washington, aggregates and analyzes traffic data collected from vehicles and highway infrastructure. The company said the latest edition of its Global Traffic Scorecard report was based on 500 terabytes of data from 300 million sources. While Thailand was the world's most congested country in 2016, according to the study, the United States had the worst traffic among rich, developed economies. Five of the world's 10 most congested cities are in the United States, INRIX found. U.S. traffic congestion is not a new problem, but it could get renewed attention if President Donald Trump pushes for a large-scale infrastructure investment program as he has promised. Chronic traffic jams are a concern for global automakers, and some major cities have begun to limit private motor vehicle access to central city areas. The INRIX study sliced data in different ways. Los Angeles drivers spent an average of 104 peak drive-time hours fighting slow traffic during 2016. That put Los Angeles at the top of the list of cities where drivers spent the most hours stuck in slow rush hour traffic. But on a different measure, time stuck in congestion as a share of all driving, Moscow drivers had it worse. They spent 25.2 percent of their total driving hours on congested roads, while Los Angeles motorists spent 12.7 percent of their total driving time in slow traffic, the study found. In Bogota, Colombia, motorists spend 31.8 percent of their total driving time in traffic jams. The worst stretch of road in the United States is New York City's Cross Bronx Expressway, where drivers on the 4.7 mile (7.5 km) road spent an average of 86 hours a year staring at the bumper of the car ahead. After Los Angeles, INRIX listed New York, San Francisco, Atlanta and Miami as the most traffic-choked U.S. cities. (Reporting By Joe White; Editing by Tom Brown) New York (AFP) - President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, a business associate and a Ukrainian lawmaker have drawn up a peace plan for the Russia-Ukraine conflict, presenting the proposal to the administration's former national security advisor, the New York Times reported Sunday. According to the report, Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen hand-delivered the proposal to the office of Michael Flynn, who resigned in disgrace a week later due to a separate incident involving contacts with Moscow's ambassador in Washington. The report underscored stubborn allegations of improper Russian influence on the Trump administration, with US intelligence agencies saying Moscow meddled in the American election in November to tip the outcome in the Republican's favor. According to the Times, the amateur diplomats behind the proposal are Cohen; Felix Sater, a business associate who helped Trump scout deals in Russia; and Andrii Artemenko, an upstart Ukrainian lawmaker who claims to have evidence of corruption that could oust President Petro Poroshenko. The report said the proposal, which outlined a way for Washington to lift sanctions against Russia, was a plan concocted by Artemenko essentially requiring the withdrawal of all Russian forces from eastern Ukraine. "Ukrainian voters would decide in a referendum whether Crimea, the Ukrainian territory seized by Russia in 2014, would be leased to Russia for a term of 50 or 100 years," the Times said. The conflict in eastern Ukraine has cost some 10,000 lives since parts of two mostly Russian-speaking eastern regions declared independence from Kiev's pro-Western government following the ouster of Kremlin-backed president Viktor Yanukovych. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied having knowledge of the plan Monday, telling journalists: "How can Russia lease its own region? The question itself is rather absurd." In Kiev, the report that Artemenko, an obscure lawmaker in the minority Radical Party, raised eyebrows, and the party's group in parliament was meeting Monday to discuss whether to expel him. Story continues "A lot of people will call me a Russian agent, a US agent, a CIA agent," Artemenko told the Times. "But how can you find a good solution between our countries if we do not talk?" It was not clear if Flynn studied the proposal or took any action on it. Trump met over the weekend with four candidates he is considering as Flynn's replacement. Cohen and Sater said they had not spoken to Trump about the proposal, the Times reported. Ukraine's ambassador to the United States slammed the apparent back-door diplomacy. Artemenko "is not entitled to present any alternative peace plans on behalf of Ukraine to any foreign government, including the US administration," Valeriy Chaly told the newspaper. The idea of leasing Crimea to Russia "can be pitched or pushed through only by those openly or covertly representing Russian interests," he said. Related Video: For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android. By Anna Ringstrom and Jeff Mason STOCKHOLM/WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) - A day after falsely suggesting there was an immigration-related security incident in Sweden, President Donald Trump said on Sunday his comment was based on a television report he had seen. Trump, who in his first weeks in office has tried to tighten U.S. borders sharply for national security reasons, told a rally on Saturday that Sweden was having serious problems with immigrants. "You look at what's happening last night in Sweden," Trump said. "Sweden. Who would believe this? Sweden. They took in large numbers. They're having problems like they never thought possible." No incident occurred in Sweden and the country's baffled government asked the U.S. State Department to explain. "My statement as to what's happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden," Trump said in a tweet on Sunday. Fox News, a U.S. channel that has been cited favorably by Trump, ran a report Friday about alleged migrant-related crime problems in the country. A White House spokeswoman told reporters on Sunday that Trump had been referring generally to rising crime, not a specific incident in the Scandinavian country. Sweden's crime rate has fallen since 2005, official statistics show, even as it has taken in hundreds of thousands of immigrants from war-torn countries like Syria and Iraq. Trump's comment confounded Stockholm. "We are trying to get clarity," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Catarina Axelsson said. Sweden's embassy in the United States repeated Trump's tweet about having seen the Fox report, and added, "We look forward to informing the U.S. administration about Swedish immigration and integration policies." Trump has been widely criticized for making assertions with little or no supporting evidence. He has said more than 3 million people voted fraudulently in the U.S. election, which officials say is false, and incorrectly stated that he won by the most decisive margin in decades. Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom appeared to respond to Trump on Saturday by posting on Twitter an excerpt of a speech in which she said democracy and diplomacy "require us to respect science, facts and the media." Her predecessor was less circumspect. "Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking? Questions abound," former Foreign Minister Carl Bildt wrote on Twitter. Other Swedes mocked Trump by posting pictures of reindeer, meatballs and people assembling IKEA furniture. "#lastnightinsweden my son dropped his hotdog in the campfire. So sad!" Twitter user Adam Bergsveen wrote. (Reporting by Anna Ringstrom in Stockholm, Andy Sullivan and Patricia Zengerle in Washington and Jeff Mason in Florida; Editing by Kieran Murray and Peter Cooney) Donald Trump used Presidents Day to boast about his accomplishments through his first four weeks in office despite the numerous and ever growing questions and concerns his new administration has faced since his inauguration. Touching on his signed executive orders, the economy, immigration and several other topics, the White House released a press release Monday titled, President Donald J. Trumps First Month: Achieving Results For The American People, according to a tweet from NBC News. On the surface, it would appear Trumps administration had tackled major promises it made along the campaign trail, but the bullet points didn't address some of the finer points and backlashes to some of the presidents orders and meetings with major industry leaders and others. The release employed many of the phrasing and slogans Trumps campaign used before claiming the Oval Office last year, like draining the swamp. It was also divided into eight sections dubbed Jumpstarting Job Creation for the economy and Restoring Public Safety with a focus on his actions on immigration like the Mexican border wall and the ban that initially shut down travel for immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries. There was no mention of how the immigration ban was shot down in court. While those latter orders have resulted in protests and the decision by Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to cancel a meeting with Trump, the announcement opened with the new presidents work on the economy. It highlighted tech titan Intels decision to return to a plan that would reopen a chip factory in Arizona earlier this month, a $7 billion deal that would result in roughly 3,000 jobs over the next three to four years, according to CNET. However, Intel also told CNET that neither a policy change nor the new administration were factors in the decision. When it comes to foreign policy, a sticky issue given the administrations alleged ties to Russia during and after Trumps Election Day victory in November, the release mentioned Trump placing sanctions on Iran, directions to come up with a new plan to defeat the Islamic State terror group and Trumps calls and meetings with foreign leaders. Story continues Trump has hosted Japan's Shinzo Abe, Canada's Justin Trudeau and Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu, but the administration hasn't boasted about the contentious phone call with Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull or the president angering China over its "One China" policy and contact with Taiwan's president. Related Articles Stockholm (AFP) - US President Donald Trump's remarks over the weekend that Sweden is paying a high price for its generous asylum policy, including mention of a non-existent terror incident, have baffled Swedes. So what is the real link between immigration, delinquency and terrorism in the Scandinavian country? - What did Donald Trump say? - "You look at what's happening in Germany, you look at what's happening last night in Sweden. Sweden, who would believe this? Sweden. They took in large numbers. They're having problems like they never thought possible," Trump told a campaign-style rally in Florida on Saturday, as he launched into a list of places that have been targeted by terrorists. No serious incident occurred on Friday evening in Sweden and Trump later acknowledged he was referring to a Fox News report, which contained several approximations and exaggerations, and presented Sweden as a violent nation. The Republican president tweeted on Monday: "Give the public a break - The FAKE NEWS media is trying to say that large scale immigration in Sweden is working out just beautifully. NOT!" - Has there been a terrorist act in Sweden? - Yes, but before the large migrant influx in 2014-2015, when Sweden took in the highest number of asylum seekers per capita in Europe. Of the 244,000 people who sought asylum during that period, 34 percent were Syrian and 10 percent were Iraqis. On December 11, 2010, a Swedish citizen of Iraqi origin, Taymour Abdel Wahab, blew himself up in a busy shopping street in central Stockholm. Two people were lightly injured in the attack. More recently, a White House list of 78 terror attacks that received little media attention included a Molotov cocktail attack in October against a Muslim (Shiite) prayer room in Sweden's third city Malmo. A Syrian man was arrested in connection with the attack and no one was injured. The Swedish intelligence agency Sapo has assessed the national terror threat status as "high", the second-highest level on a five-point scale, as around 150 people from Sweden have returned from fighting with the so-called Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria. Story continues - Has crime risen since the arrival of many refugees? - Sweden registered a record number of crimes per capita in 2015, according to the government agency Swedish Crime Prevention Council (BRA). The figures are just a bit higher than in 2009. Crimes and misdemeanours rose by 4.1 percent from 2014 to 2015. Property damage (theft, robbery, burglary) jumped by 7.2 percent between 2014 and 2015. But violence against persons fell by 0.4 percent and all sexual crimes plunged by 11 percent in the same period, according to BRA. Detailed crime statistics for 2016 will not be published until the end of March. Preliminary data shows a jump in attacks on persons (+7 percent), including a sharp rise in rapes (+13 percent) and a drop in attacks on property (-5 percent). Criminologists noted that changes in statistical methods or penal qualifications may explain annual variations. Comparisons are therefore risky. Sweden has one of the lowest crime rates in the world with a homicide rate of 1.1 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2015, according to BRA. That is 4.5 times lower than in the United States (4.9 according to the FBI). - Is crime higher among foreigners in general? - Yes. The Swedish police do not provide statistics based on ethnicity but people who were born abroad or whose parents were born abroad are twice as likely to appear in crime statistics than those whose parents were born in Sweden, according to a study by BRA. Nevertheless the vast majority of crimes in the country are committed by the native Swedish population. That study also shows that in similar socio-economic conditions, the risk of getting in trouble with the law is virtually the same. And asylum seekers are also victims of crimes. Last year, 92 refugee housing centres across Sweden were hit by arson attacks. In October 2015, a young neo-Nazi stabbed and killed two teachers and a high-school student with immigrant backgrounds in a southwestern Swedish town. By Jeff Mason and Andy Sullivan WEST PALM BEACH, Fla./WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump may do another round of interviews for the position of national security adviser with new or existing candidates on Monday as he scrambles to fill the post following the ouster of Michael Flynn. Trump interviewed four finalists on Sunday and may meet with some of them again on Monday, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters. The president interviewed acting adviser Keith Kellogg, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster and Lieutenant General Robert Caslen at his Mar-a-Lago resort. "We may have some additional meetings and names tomorrow, and may also meet with a couple of those people again," Sanders said in Florida. Trump returns to Washington on Monday. The national security adviser is one of the most senior jobs at the White House, holding broad influence over U.S. foreign policy across the globe and presiding over the National Security Council staff. White House officials made clear on Sunday that the new adviser would have autonomy over staffing decisions, an issue that has been reported to have thwarted some other candidates. Trump's first choice to fill the job after Flynn's departure, Vice Admiral Robert Harward, turned it down, citing family and financial reasons. Another potential choice, David Petraeus, a retired general and former CIA chief who resigned in 2012 over an extramarital affair, was cut from the president's short list. Sources familiar with the candidates' thinking said they both wanted control over staffing of their team, and Trump was reluctant to grant that authority. White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus denied the reports that Harward and Petraeus wanted more control than Trump was prepared to give, and said in an interview on "Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace" that the new adviser "can do whatever he or she wants to do with the staffing." He said the issue never came up in discussions with Harward and they "hadn't really gone down the road" with Petraeus. The White House confirmed that Craig Deare, the NSC's senior director for Western Hemisphere Affairs, had left that role. Politico reported that he was dismissed for criticizing the president and his top aides. "He was just sent back to his original position, so he wasnt fired," Sanders said. Deare is on the faculty of the National Defense University. Asked if government employees should be concerned that they would lose their jobs if they criticized Trump, Sanders said: "I dont think that any person that is there in order to carry out the president's agenda should be against the president's agenda." The national security adviser is an independent aide to the president and does not require confirmation by the U.S. Senate. The role has varied from administration to administration, but the adviser attends National Security Council meetings along with the heads of the State Department, the Department of Defense and key security agencies. Trump has added Steve Bannon, his chief White House strategist, as a regular attendee of NSC meetings. Political strategists have not typically been among NSC participants and Bannon's addition has drawn sharp criticism because of his previous role heading right-wing website Breitbart News. For a Graphic on Trump assembles his administration, click: http://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/rngs/USA-TRUMP/010030YY23R/index.html (Additional reporting by Sarah N. Lynch in Washington; Writing by Amanda Becker and Jeff Mason; Editing by Kieran Murray and Peter Cooney) Washington (AFP) - Donald Trump tapped respected Army lieutenant general H.R. McMaster as his national security advisor, hoping to course correct after his first pick resigned and his second turned down the vital post. Trump announced the counterinsurgency strategist's appointment at his Florida estate Mar-a-Lago, ending a one-week search to replace Michael Flynn, who lasted less than a month on the job. Flynn was forced to resign on February 13, after questionable contacts with the Russian government and revelations that he lied about them to the vice president and the FBI. Trump scrambled to replace Flynn after retired vice admiral Robert Harward turned down the post, amid a wrangling over lower-level National Security Council appointments and a meandering Trump press conference. The White House said that Trump "gave full authority for McMaster to hire whatever staff he sees fit." The 54-year-old McMaster is know for his criticism of the US military's handling of Vietnam War and his own service as a commander in northern Iraq in 2005. A 1997 book he authored is pointedly titled "Dereliction of Duty: Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Lies That Led to Vietnam." House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes was prompt to praise McMaster's "history of questioning the status quo and infusing fresh thinking and new approaches into military affairs." His experience in Iraq's Tal Afar is likely to come in useful as US and allied forces attempt to retake nearby Mosul from the Islamic State group. McMaster, still dressed in uniform, appeared with Trump on a sofa in the glitzy living room of Mar-a-Lago as music played overhead. Trump described McMaster as "man of tremendous talent and tremendous experience." "He is highly respected by everyone in the military and we're very honored to have him." McMaster is another name on the long list of Trump advisors who have been plucked from the military. Story continues Among others, Trump has named retired officers as his defense secretary and homeland security secretary. McMaster was most recently the deputy commanding general of the Futures Center at US Army Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Eustis. Trump said McMaster would work in a "very, very special" collaboration with Keith Kellogg, a retired three-star general who had served as acting national security advisor since Flynn resigned a week ago. Kellogg will act as NSC chief of staff. Former president Barack Obama's last national security advisor, Susan Rice, congratulated McMaster on his appointment. "I wish you every success," she said. - In the path of Kissinger - The post of national security advisor is a crucial, if discreet, engine for White House power and the smooth functioning of government. Henry Kissinger and Colin Powell are among those who previously held the post. The national security advisor manages hundreds of staff members, arbitrates between sometimes feuding government departments, balances foreign policy and military policy and ensures the president's national security agenda gets implemented. Current and former staffers fear that under Trump the council is currently being bypassed as political aides like strategist Steve Bannon seize the agenda. They point to an ill-conceived ban on travelers from seven majority-Muslim nations that further complicated counterterrorism partnerships in the Middle East and sullied America's image abroad, but was ultimately struck down by US courts. If policy is "being done over dinner with the president, or in Steve Bannon's office or haphazardly via email or phone calls" said Loren DeJonge Schulman -- a veteran of Barack Obama's NSC -- then "they are shooting themselves in the foot because you can't implement foreign policy from the White House." "This is something that President Obama learned, this is something that every administration goes through," she told AFP. "Being on Fox News and announcing a policy doesn't mean that policy is going to be executed." Current NSC spokesman Michael Anton said that although the full NSC -- chaired by Trump -- had not met since he became president, the deputies and principals committee had. Peter Feaver, a veteran of George W. Bush's national security council, said that under current circumstances the administration could struggle to handle crises that have both diplomatic and military components. "Some kind of crisis will be more challenging for this team until they fix their process," he said. The more difficult potential problems "that would stress them would be (those where) you have to integration across cabinet, departments and agencies," Feaver added. The Europeans are still grieving the election of Donald Trump. But at this weekends Munich Security Conference, where the worlds security policymakers meet for an annual discourse on foreign affairs, there were some signs of acceptance of Trump as president, though they arent happy about it. The administration deployed its top assets to Munich on a reassurance mission. Defense Secretary James Mattis emphatically endorsed NATO. Vice President Mike Pence, whom the Europeans hope will be a prime minister for foreign affairs, insisted that the U.S. will stand by NATO and Europe every day. Still, the Europeans wondered if the secretary and the vice president had cleared their remarks with the boss. It was a little like planning a ski trip with your buddies only to be suddenly asked, are you sure your wife is good with this? The Europeans are still grappling with Trumps organizing principle of America First. They are touchy about the health of the European Union and worried that France will succumb to populism in its coming presidential election. And citing Trumps campaign skepticism of NATO, many profess shock at the withdrawal of the U.S. as supporter of world order. Trump will never please the global elites and he should not try. But some Europeans are trying to move beyond their grief and be constructive. In Munich there was some recognition from European realists that we have to deal with him and that there are no substitutes for the Transatlantic alliance. Especially in light of this opening, Trump should back up his cabinet officers with words and actions. Trump should give an address on our relationship with Europe, certainly before a coming state visit to the United Kingdom. He should state plainly that his administration embraces a Europe whole and free. He should seek at an early opportunity go to the Baltics or Poland to visit our troops serving as deterrents to further Russian aggression. A muscular NATO is a manifestation of Trumpian American Greatness. Whatever affinity there may be for candidates who overturn established orders, seeming to support Marine LePen in the French Presidential election would be a strategic disaster and lock-in the conspiracy narrative that Trumps foreign policy is Russia first. Story continues Given Trumps embrace of chief Brexit engineer Nigel Farage, a Trump endorsement of the European Union as an institution is unlikely. But there may be room for Trump to discuss Brexit as a wake-up call to listen to voters worried about immigration, economic dislocation, intrusive bureaucracies and stifling regulation. But Trump should also acknowledge that many continental Europeans hold European integration as sacred. Admitting that European unity is the foundation of the post-World War era and contributed to the collapse of the evil empire is compatible with Trumps Make America Great Again theme. Getting over this rhetorical hurdle may facilitate discussions about real issues, like a volcanic Middle East that is breeding refugees and terrorists who come first to Europe. Trump can indulge his renegade impulses by continuing to put burden sharing front and center. In Munich, most of the audience sat on their hands when Vice President Pence said Trump expected allies to live up to their word on increased defense spending in service of the NATO Alliance. If Trump returns to his NATO is obsolete rhetoric, foes of increased European defense spending might rightly ask why spend if our American NATO core is foundering. Embracing NATO arguably would increase Trumps leverage. It enables Trump to rightly pound on the Europeans for failing on burden sharing. So far, only five of 28 NATO countries have met their commitment to spend the equivalent of 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense. America is not the problem and through actions, rhetoric and gestures Trump can arrest distracting distress about him as the leader of the free world. More importantly , it would give Trump room to advance his priorities including winning the fight against ISIS, checking Iran, and otherwise stabilizing the geopolitical mess he calls Obamas bequest. All this can be done without injuring Trumps brand as the great disruptor. Photo credit: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images By William James and Alistair Smout LONDON (Reuters) - The British government on Monday defended its decision to offer U.S. President Donald Trump a lavish state visit and an audience with the queen this year, defying protests outside parliament and dissent from lawmakers. Prime Minister Theresa May's government wants to reaffirm the "special relationship" with the United States and secure a trade deal as Britain prepares to leave the European Union. "In the light of America's absolutely pivotal role we believe it entirely right that we should use all the tools at our disposal to build common ground with President Trump," junior foreign minister Alan Duncan told parliament. He described state visits as Britain's "most important diplomatic tool", saying Trump's trip would go ahead as planned. The visit has spurred 1.8 million people in Britain to sign a petition saying he should not be given a state visit because it could embarrass Queen Elizabeth. As parliament debated that petition on Monday - a symbolic discussion which has no power to force the government to withdraw its invitation - around 7,000 protesters gathered outside with placards bearing slogans such as "Dump Trump, Fight Bigotry". "It's about the rise of hate and extremism, which is personified by Trump. It's not just about him, but he represents what's happening in the world at the moment," protester Alison Dale, 61, told Reuters. "The invitation was kneejerk, and made us look desperate. Now we're leaving the European Union, it's clear we're just desperate for trade deals, and we look weak." Since taking office in January, Trump has sparked global protests over plans to ban migrants from seven Muslim-majority countries, and from women activists who call him misogynistic. Trump says his immigration orders are aimed at protecting the United States and that his opponents have misrepresented his intentions. Prime Minister May has said she will not consider cancelling the visit. Managing the backlash adds to her diplomatic "to-do" list as she sets about reuniting a country divided over Brexit and negotiating a divorce with European trading partners. RALLYING POINT The debate, hosted in a packed side room of parliament rather than the main debating chamber, gave lawmakers a platform to air a wide range of views on Trump. "It's difficult to know whether to be appalled at the morality of this invitation, or just astonished at the stupidity of the invitation," said Scottish National Party lawmaker Alex Salmond. Previously Trump has clashed with Salmond over his investments in Scotland. Critics focused on accusations of sexism and referred to his immigration policies, while other lawmakers argued Trump should come to Britain, but should not be given the high honor of a state visit, which would involve lavish displays of royal pageantry and a banquet hosted by the queen. Crispin Blunt, head of parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, said a head-of-government visit by Trump would be appropriate this year but a full state visit should wait until 2020, the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrim Fathers' settlement in New England. "If we don't take the hype out of this debate, with all the people who signed this petition, there is every possibility that of course this visit is then going to become a rallying point for everybody who is unhappy both with the direction of American policy, or British policy or anything else," he said. (Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Andrew Roche) BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is strongly committed to working with the European Union toward common objectives of peace and prosperity, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said on Monday. "Today is my privilege on behalf of President Trump to express the strong commitment of the United States to continue cooperation and partnership with the European Union," Pence said in a statement read out after his meeting with European Council President Donald Tusk. "Whatever our differences, our two continents share the same heritage, the same values and above all, the same purpose to promote peace and prosperity through freedom, democracy and the rule of law. And to those objectives we will remain committed," he continued. (Reporting by Alastair Macdonald and Roberta Rampton, Writing by Philip Blenkinsop) Donald Trump will spend his first Presidents Day in the White House Monday. However, it was unlikely to be a solely celebratory occasion for the current incumbent. Protests were scheduled across the country in a series of rallies under the name Not My Presidents Day. Monday was also the first time that Presidents Day included honoring a president who before being sworn in had no political or military experience. Trumps outsider status has been a continual theme among his most notable quotes about the presidency and former presidents. A sampling of comments Trump has made about past presidents follows below. "I think hes the worst president, maybe, in the history of our country. I think he's been a disaster. He's been weak, he's been ineffective. (On President Barack Obama, Aug. 2, 2016) "[Putin] has very strong control over a country. Now, it's a very different system, and I don't happen to like the system, but certainly in that system, he's been a leader. Far more than our president has been a leader." (On Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Sept. 6, 2016) Trump, Obama Photo: Getty Images "Well, I like Reagan. I didn't like him on trade but other than trade, I liked him very much and he was OK on trade. But not great. (on Ronald Reagan being the president he most admires, Jan. 26, 2017) Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln, and many of our greatest presidents fought with the media and called them out, oftentimes, on their lies. When the media lies to people, I will never, ever let them get away with it. (On claiming that many of his illustrious predecessors also criticized the media, Feb. 18, 2017) When Thomas Jefferson said nothing can be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself, he said, becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. That was June 14 my birthday 1807. (Selectively quoting Thomas Jefferson, Feb. 18, 2017) Story continues "Well, I think Lincoln succeeded for numerous reasons. He was a man who was of great intelligence, which most presidents would be. But he was a man of great intelligence, but he was also a man who did something that was a very vital thing to do at that time." (On why Abraham Lincoln succeeded, April 2016) "Nixon failed, I think to a certain extent, because of his personality. You know? It was just that personality. Very severe, very exclusive. In other words, people couldnt come in. And people didnt like him. I mean, people didnt like him." (And on why Richard Nixon failed, April 2, 2016) "Let me just tell you that Dwight Eisenhower, good president, great president, people liked him. I like Ike, right?" (On Dwight Eisenhower, Nov. 11 2015) "There was a little spirit. Frankly, had he not met Monica, had he not met Paula, had he not met various and sundry semi-beautiful women, he would have had a much better deal going. (On explaining Bill Clinton as his favorite president of the last four, June 16, 2015) "You call it whatever you want. I want to tell you. They lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction; there were none. And they knew there were none. There were no weapons of mass destruction." (On George W. Bush and Iraq, Feb. 13, 2016) Related Articles By Jeff Mason and Patricia Zengerle WEST PALM BEACH, Fla./WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday named Lieutenant General Herbert Raymond McMaster as his new national security adviser, choosing a military officer known for speaking his mind and challenging his superiors. McMaster is a highly regarded military tactician and strategic thinker, but his selection surprised some observers who wondered how the officer, whose Army career stalled at times for his questioning of authority, would deal with a White House that has not welcomed criticism. "He is highly respected by everybody in the military and we're very honored to have him," Trump told reporters in West Palm Beach where he spent the weekend. "He's a man of tremendous talent and tremendous experience." One subject on which Trump and McMaster could soon differ is Russia. McMaster shares the consensus view among the U.S. national security establishment that Russia is a threat and an antagonist to the United States, while the man whom McMaster is replacing, retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, appeared to view it more as a potential geopolitical partner. Flynn was fired as national security adviser on Feb. 13 after reports emerged he had misled Vice President Mike Pence about speaking to Russia's ambassador to the United States about U.S. sanctions before Trump's inauguration. The ouster, coming so early in Trump's administration, was another upset for a White House that has been hit by miscues, including the controversial rollout of a travel ban on people from seven Muslim-majority countries, since the Republican president took office on Jan. 20. Senator John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and a frequent Trump critic, praised McMaster as an "outstanding" choice. "I give President Trump great credit for this decision," McCain said in a statement. Trump also named Keith Kellogg, a retired U.S. Army general who has been serving as the acting national security adviser, as chief of staff to the National Security Council. John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, will serve the administration in another capacity, Trump said. Story continues Kellogg and Bolton were among those in contention as Trump spent the long Presidents Day weekend considering his options for replacing Flynn. His first choice, retired Vice Admiral Robert Harward, turned down the job last week. The national security adviser is an independent aide to the president and does not require confirmation by the U.S. Senate. The role has varied from administration to administration, but the adviser attends National Security Council meetings along with the heads of the State Department, the Department of Defense and key security agencies. McMaster, 54, is a West Point graduate known as "H.R.," with a Ph.D. in U.S. history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was listed as one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in 2014, partly because of his willingness to buck the system. A combat veteran, he gained renown in the first Gulf War - and was awarded a Silver Star - after he commanded a small troop of the U.S. 2nd Army Cavalry Regiment that destroyed a much larger Iraqi Republican Guard force in 1991 in a place called 73 Easting, for its map coordinates, in what many consider the biggest tank battle since World War Two. As one fellow officer put it, referring to Trump's inner circle of aides and speaking on condition of anonymity, the Trump White House "has its own Republican Guard, which may be harder for him to deal with than the Iraqis were." The Iraqi Republican Guard was the elite military force of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein. Trump relies on a tight, insular group of advisers, many of whom zealously guard access to the president, at times appear to have competing political agendas, and who, in the case of senior adviser Steve Bannon, involve themselves in national security matters. McMaster's fame grew after his 1997 book "Dereliction of Duty" criticized the country's military and political leadership for poor leadership during the Vietnam War. Trump's pick was praised by one of the president's strongest backers in the U.S. Congress, Republican Senator Tom Cotton, who called McMaster "one of the finest combat leaders of our generation and also a great strategic mind. He is a true warrior scholar, and I'm confident he will serve both the president and the country well." Representative Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, also backed the choice, noting McMaster's "history of questioning the status quo." 'CRITICISM AND FEEDBACK' In a July 14, 2014, interview with the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer in Columbus, Georgia, where Fort Benning is located, McMaster, then the base commander, said: "Some people have a misunderstanding about the Army. "Some people think, hey, youre in the military and everything is super-hierarchical and youre in an environment that is intolerable of criticism and people dont want frank assessments. "I think the opposite is the case. ... And the commanders that Ive worked for, they want frank assessments, they want criticism and feedback." That attitude was not always shared by his superiors, and it led to his being passed over for promotion to brigadier general twice, in 2006 and 2007. On McMaster's third and last try, General David Petraeus who took himself off the list last week for Trump's national security adviser returned from Iraq to head the promotion board that finally gave McMaster his first general's star. Then a colonel, McMaster was commander of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment that in the spring of 2005 captured, held and began to stabilize Tal Afar on the Iraqi-Syrian border. The city was held by Sunni extremists, a crossing point between Syria and Iraq for jihadists who started as al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia under Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and morphed into Islamic State after he was killed. McMaster's preparation of the regiment is legendary: He trained his soldiers in Iraqi culture, the differences among Sunnis, Shiites and Turkomen, and had them read books on the history of the region and counterinsurgency strategy. It was a sharp change from the "kill and capture" tactics the United States had used in Iraq since the invasion in March 2003, and to which the Obama administration returned in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. The strategy was largely a success, although McMaster's use of it and especially his willingness to acknowledge that Iraqis had some legitimate grievances against one another and the occupying coalition forces, did not endear him to his superiors and helped delay his promotion to brigadier general. The strategy did not survive the departure of McMaster's troops, with Tal Afar falling into the hands of Sunni militants. Along with the west part of Mosul, it is now a key objective in the battle to rid Iraq of Islamic State. (Additional reporting by John Walcott and Sarah Lynch in Washington; Writing by Patricia Zengerle, Frances Kerry, and James Oliphant; Editing by Peter Cooney and Jonathan Oatis) By Phil Stewart BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military is "not in Iraq to seize anybody's oil", Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said, distancing himself from remarks by President Donald Trump, as he held talks with Iraqi leaders on Monday. Mattis was the highest-ranking Trump administration official to visit Iraq since Trump irked Iraqis with a temporary ban on travel to the United States and for saying America should have seized Iraq's oil after toppling Saddam Hussein in 2003. Trump told CIA staff in January: "We should have kept the oil. But okay. Maybe you'll have another chance." Mattis, however, flatly ruled out any such intent. "We're not in Iraq to seize anybody's oil," he told reporters traveling with him late on Sunday, ahead of his arrival. "All of us in America have generally paid for our gas and oil all along and I'm sure that we will continue to do so in the future," said Mattis, a retired Marine general who once led forces in Iraq. His remarks are the latest sign of differences with Trump. Trump has acknowledged that Mattis disagrees with him about the usefulness of torture in interrogation and said he would defer to his defense secretary on the issue. Mattis has been more critical than Trump of RussianPresident Vladimir Putin, and distanced himself from Trump's labeling of the media as "the enemy of the American people", saying he had no problems with the press. A retired Marine general who led American troops in Iraq, Mattis has sought an exemption from Trump's travel ban for Iraqis who have served with U.S. troops, including translators. He said he had not seen a new executive order which the administration is considering. "But I right now am assured that we will take steps to allow those who have fought alongside us, for example, to be allowed into the United States," Mattis said. Mattis' visit came a day after Iraqi Prime Minister Haideral-Abadi announced the start of a ground offensive on westernMosul, where Islamic State militants are under siege along with an estimated 650,000 civilians. Story continues It was unclear whether Trump's remarks on oil had come up during Mattis' with Abadi, who has told Washington that Iraq's oil is the property of Iraqis. Mattis also met Iraq's defense minister and top U.S. officials in Iraq. WILL US FORCES STAY AFTER MOSUL? Influential Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Monday called on Iraq's government to order the withdrawal of U.S. and allied forces after the battle of Mosul is over. "The Iraqi government has to demand that all occupying and so-called friendly forces leave Iraq in order to preserve the prestige and the sovereignty of the state," Sadr said. Mattis declined to address Sadr's remarks directly, describing them as an internal political matter. But he said he was reassured after his talks in Baghdad that Iraq's leaders recognized the value of its relationship with the United States. "I imagine well be in this fight for a while and well stand by each other," he said, repeatedly praising the resilience of Iraqi forces. The U.S. commander in Iraq, Army Lieutenant General StephenTownsend, has said he believes U.S.-backed forces will recapture both of Islamic State's major strongholds - Mosul and the city of Raqqa in Syria - within the next six months. Trump is looking for a plan to accelerate the campaign against Islamic State, which could lead to an additional deployment of U.S. forces, who currently number less than 6,000 in Iraq and Syria. The Pentagon may also look at increasing the number of attack helicopters and air strikes and bringing in more artillery, as well as granting greater authority to battlefield commanders fighting Islamic State. Townsend told a news conference in Baghdad he had been putting U.S. military advisers closer to front lines in Mosul than before, a move that would increase risk but bolster their ability to aid Iraqis, including by directing air strikes. "We adjusted our posture during the east Mosul fight and we embedded advisers a bit further down into the formation," he said. Townsend added he was certain victory in Mosul was within sight. "The Iraqi security forces are going to take that city back. No doubt about it," he said. Related Video: For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android. (With reporting by Maher Chmaytelli in Baghdad; Editing by Alison Williams and Andrew Roche) Nicosia (AFP) - The Turkish Cypriot leader warned Monday that a resumption of UN-brokered peace talks was conditional on his Greek Cypriot rival distancing himself from a parliamentary vote on a decades-old referendum on union with Greece. "Firstly, the Greek Cypriot leader (Nicos Anastasiades) should give a clear message to the Turkish Cypriot people and to the world that he does not support this decision (vote)... and the second is to overturn it," said Mustafa Akinci. "Otherwise, it will not be possible to make progress in the negotiations" aimed at reunifying the island, Aknc said in a statement. The Turkish Cypriot leader said he would "evaluate all the developments step by step" and decide on whether to resume the talks as scheduled on Thursday "once he "understands the intentions" of Anastasiades. Aknc said Monday that the Greek Cypriot parliamentary vote on the 1950 referendum on union with Greece, or Enosis, had "caused public indignation among the Turkish Cypriot people". UN envoy Espen Barth Eide last week voiced confidence that the meeting would go ahead after the rival leaders engaged in a war of words over a walkout last Thursday sparked by acrimony over the church-organised referendum. Eide said it was Akinci who stormed off but the Turkish Cypriot leader has accused the UN diplomat of "hiding half of the truth". "Eide should not come to the situation of having the trust towards him questioned by saying one half of the truth and hiding the other," Akinci told reporters. He insists that Anastasiades left the room first, slamming the door behind him. Anastasiades has denied this and his spokesman squarely blamed Akinci. Tensions have soared over the February 10 approval by the Greek Cypriot parliament for schools in the south to mark the referendum which overwhelmingly approved Enosis but had no legal value. The amendment was sponsored by the far-right ELAM party, a fierce opponent of the peace talks. Story continues The Greek and Turkish Cypriots have been engaged in fragile peace talks since May 2015 that observers have seen as the best chance in years to reunify the island. Much of the progress until now has been based on the strong personal rapport between Anastasiades and Akinci, leader of the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. The eastern Mediterranean island has been divided since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded the northern third in response to an Athens-inspired coup seeking Enosis. MUNICH (Reuters) - U.S. Republican senators plan to introduce legislation to impose further sanctions on Iran, accusing it of violating U.N. Security Council resolutions by testing ballistic missiles and acting to "destabilise" the Middle East, a U.S. senator said Sunday. "I think it is now time for the Congress to take Iran on directly in terms of what theyve done outside the nuclear programme," Senator Lindsey Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told the Munich Security Conference. Graham said he and other Republicans would introduce measures to hold Iran accountable for its actions. Tensions between Tehran and Washington have risen since an Iranian ballistic missile test that prompted U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to impose sanctions on individuals and entities linked to the country's Revolutionary Guards. "Iran is a bad actor in the greatest sense of the word when it comes to the region. To Iran, I say, if you want us to treat you differently then stop building missiles, test-firing them in defiance of U.N. resolution and writing 'Death to Israel' on the missile. That's a mixed message," Graham said. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif told the conference earlier on Sunday that Iran did not respond well to sanctions or threats. James Jones, a former Supreme Allied Commander in Europe and President Barack Obamas first national security adviser, told a separate event in Munich that he remained convinced that sanctions had persuaded Iran to negotiate the 2015 landmark deal with six world powers to curb its nuclear programme. "The sanctions did work. Iran would never have come to the negotiating table without sanctions," Jones said. "This is a new form of response that if properly utilised can change behaviour and get people to do things that they otherwise wouldn't do." Senator Christopher Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told the same panel there was nothing preventing Congress from imposing sanctions beyond those that were lifted as a result of the 2016 nuclear agreement with Iran. Murphy, a Democrat, said had backed the nuclear deal in the explicit understanding that it would not prevent Congress from taking actions against Iran outside the nuclear issue. "There's going to be a conversation about what the proportional response is," Murphy said, referring to Iran's missile test. "But I don't necessarily think there's going to be partisan division over whether or not we have the ability as a Congress to speak on issues outside of the nuclear agreement." Murphy said the United States needed to decide whether it wanted to take a broader role in the regional conflict. "We have to make a decision whether we are going to get involved in the emerging proxy war in a bigger way than we are today, between Iran and Saudi," he said. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal and John Irish; Editing by Jane Merriman and David Goodman) BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A U.S. serviceman died on Monday in a non-combat related incident outside the Iraqi city of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, the U.S.-led coalition said. The United States is leading the mainly western coalition fighting Islamic State in Iraq and in Syria. It has more than 5,000 troops deployed in Iraq. Further information about the dead serviceman "will be released as appropriate," the coalition said in a statement. (Reporting by Maher Chmaytelli; editing by John Stonestreet) The year 2016 was a banner year for British tourism, with a record-breaking 37.3 million overseas visitors traveling to the UK -- more than any other year. That's according to the latest stats released from the UK's official tourism office VisitBritain. The 37.3 million overseas visitors marks a three percent spike from 2015, with strong growth seen from Canada and the US: The number of American visitors rose to 4.3 million, or up seven percent compared to 2015. The UK also saw a record number of visits from tourists within the EU in 2015, with figures up four percent from 2015. Overall, the UK has seen overseas visits soar 25 percent between 2010 and 2016. The latest stats offer a revealing look at how Brexit has impacted travel to Britain, and seem to corroborate predictions that the falling value of the pound would attract more international tourists. A record 3.2 million tourists chose to vacation in the UK between October and December last year, a figure that rose 11 percent compared to 2015. Despite the fallout from Brexit, consultancy group Resonance also named London the world's best city brand for 2017 late last year, citing its dynamic shopping scene, gastronomy, arts and culture. Researchers also said that no other city generates as many online reviews or as much content and general buzz among visitors. Meanwhile, the latest flight booking data from VisitBritain also shows that 2017 is off to a strong start, with bookings to the UK up 16 percent between February and April, compared to the same period last year. The U.S. was reportedly planning in-person meetings with top North Korean officials that would be the first of its kind in more than five years, the Washington Post reported Sunday. The news came despite North Korea's recent missiles tests as well as President Donald Trumps tough talk on the hermetic nation's aggressive posturing. Stating the possible talks may be an indication that North Korea believed it could work with the new administration, the report indicated that if agreed upon, the meetings would take place in New York in the next few weeks. Diplomatic exchanges between the two rival nations have taken place abroad in places like Mongolia, Germany and Switzerland, but not on U.S. soil since July 2011, prior to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un assuming power after his father Kim Jong Ils death. Visas for the North Korean officials have not been approved by the State Department according to the report. Responding to the report, a White House official told Reuters that the U.S. had no plans to meet with North Korean officials at all. A State Department spokesperson said Track 2 meetings, which involve former diplomatic officials from both sides, often take place around the world. The Kim government had recently put the rest of the world on edge after it reported conducting a successful ballistic missile test earlier this month, an act that the United Nations said was in violation of its Security Council resolutions against North Korea. The North Koreans have expressed an interest in engagement, but nothings been approved yet, one unnamed source told The Post. Sources also said North Korean officials were receptive to the idea of a meeting because they have an intense interest in the Trump administration. If this happens, it would be an interesting signal to the new administration, another source said. Trump responded to the reported missile test while reading a statement to reporters beside Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida earlier this month. He vowed to stand by ally Japan, which has condemned North Korea, but did not mention North Korea by name. Story continues A North Korean missile test wont happen! Trump vowed before he was inaugurated. Related Articles Baghdad (AFP) - The United States is not about to plunder Iraq's petroleum reserves, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, who was in Baghdad Monday, said as he sought to soothe partners rattled by President Donald Trump. Trump has repeatedly said both while campaigning and since his election that America, whose troops occupied Iraq for eight years, should have grabbed Iraqi oil to help fund its war effort and to deprive the Islamic State group of a vital revenue source. But Mattis, a retired Marine general who commanded troops during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, appeared to nix the idea. "All of us in America have generally paid for gas and oil all along, and I am sure that we will continue to do so in the future," Mattis told reporters at the start of a visit to Iraq. "We are not in Iraq to seize anybody's oil," said Mattis, who flew out after only a few hours, having met Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and several top defence officials. While speaking at the CIA headquarters last month, Trump cited the adage, "To the victor belong the spoils," and said America "should have kept the oil" after pulling most of its troops out of the country under his predecessor Barack Obama. Trump then added, without elaborating, that "maybe we'll have another chance". Iraq on Sunday reported a total 153 billion barrels in proven oil reserves, the fifth largest in the world behind Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Canada and Iran. Mattis has emerged as a vital statesman for the Trump administration and has spent the past week in Europe and the Gulf on a mission to reassure allies that America is not about to abandon old military alliances. Trump also despatched Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Vice President Mike Pence to Europe in a bid to show "unwavering" US support to NATO. As a candidate, Trump spoke disparagingly of NATO, calling it "obsolete", and he espoused the use of waterboarding and torture to deal with detained IS jihadists. Story continues - Travel ban friction - Mattis has repeatedly pushed back against such views, saying that if NATO had not already existed it would need to be created, and talking Trump down from his torture comments. The Pentagon chief also met Iraqi Defence Minister Irfan al-Hayali, and his visit comes as the battle to recapture west Mosul from IS gets under way. Adding to the friction from Trump's oil comments is his executive order blocking Iraqis from travelling to the United States, part of a decision to stop people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering America for at least 90 days. The move drew immediate international condemnation and prompted the Pentagon to lobby for special consideration of Iraqis who had supported US troops, such as translators and support staff. After a federal judge blocked Trump's travel ban, the White House is planning a new order this week that would tweak it to circumvent the court. Mattis said he had not seen the new executive order but was confident it would cater to the Iraqis who had served alongside US forces. "I right now am assured that we will take steps, allow those who have fought alongside us for example to be allowed into the United States," he said. "They will have been vetted obviously by their performance on the battlefield and by normal procedures and I am sure we will work our way through this quickly." By Philip Pullella ROME (Reuters) - The Vatican and Rome's Jewish museum will jointly host an unprecedented exhibition on the menorah, the ancient symbol of Judaism, and try to put to rest legends on the fate of one candelabra missing for 15 centuries. The May 15-July 23 exhibition, which Vatican and Jewish officials presented on Monday, will be held simultaneously in St. Peter's Square and in the Rome synagogue complex. It will include about 130 menorah or depictions of them in paintings, ancient gravestones and sculptures, and medieval and Renaissance illustrations and manuscripts. Nearly 20 world museums, including the Louvre and London's National Gallery, have contributed pieces. "It will be significant from both the religious as well as the historical aspects," said Barbara Jatta, who last month became the first woman to head the Vatican Museums. But the absolute star of the show - the solid gold menorah taken as a trophy by the Romans when they destroyed the temple in Jerusalem in the year 70 AD, won't be there. Its fate has been a mystery for 1,500 years and the temple vessel has become the stuff of legends. Jerusalem and its temple was destroyed by Titus, a Roman general who became emperor nine years later. A relief on his victory arch in Rome, which still stands, shows the Jerusalem menorah and other war trophies being carried in a parade. Most historians believe the Jerusalem menorah was lost in the Vandal's Sack of Rome in 455. But legends have persisted that it was thrown in the Tiber River and is still there, that it was buried in a cave or that it is hidden in the Vatican. "A lot of people will be disappointed to discover that these urban legends are not true," said Rome's chief Rabbi Ricardo Di Segni. However, the exhibition will contain what may be the next best thing - the Magdala Stone. It was found in 2009 in an archaeological dig that uncovered an ancient synagogue on the shores of the Sea of Galilee in Israel. It shows a seven-branched menorah, similar to the one depicted on the Arch of Titus in Rome, and is believed to have been carved by an artist who saw the missing Jerusalem menorah in the temple before the Roman's destroyed it. Catholic and Jewish officials said the exhibition, called Menorah - Cult, History and Myth, was another sign of radically improved inter-religious relations since 1965, when the Second Vatican Council repudiated the concept of collective Jewish guilt for the death of Jesus. (Reporting By Philip Pullella; Editing by Janet Lawrence) ROME (AP) The museums of the Vatican and Rome's ancient Jewish community are hosting their first joint exhibit, building on decades of improved Catholic-Jewish relations following centuries of mistrust. The focus of the exhibit opening in May will be the menorah, the seven-armed candelabrum described in the Jewish Torah and depicted in Jewish, Catholic and secular art over the centuries. Through figurative art, the exhibit "recounts the multi-millennia, incredible and suffered history of the menorah," organizers said in a statement Monday announcing the initiative. Part of the show will explore the legend of a solid-gold menorah that was kept in the first Temple of Jerusalem. The menorah was taken to Rome after the 70 A.D. destruction of the temple by troops of the Roman emperor Titus. The historic trail of the menorah seems to have been lost during the 5th century, when it was possibly hauled off by the Vandals who sacked Rome in 455. Arnold Nesselrath, a Vatican Museums official who is one of the show curators, called the exhibit about the menorah's history and symbolism a fruit of "intense dialogue" developing between the Holy See and the Jewish community in the last three decades. Representations of the menorah throughout the centuries helped "Christians recall their Jewish roots" in faith, he said. Nesselrath noted that an image of a menorah is frescoed on a wall of the Vatican's Borgia Apartment built for Pope Alessandro VI. His papacy began in 1492, the same year Jews in Spain were ordered expelled. Since Rome's Jewish Museum is tiny, most of the 130 works on display will be hosted at the Vatican Museums' Carlo Magno exhibit space in St. Peter's Square. One of the highlights is expected to be a recently discovered bas relief from a 1st century Galilee synagogue. Ancient Roman glass, sarcophagi and memorial stone tablets from Rome's Jewish catacombs also we be featured. Story continues Marc Chagall and Nicolas Poussin are among artists to be represented in the exhibit. The Jewish Museum flanks Rome's main synagogue. The late Pope John Paul II became the first pope to visit a synagogue when he went there in 1986. On that occasion, he referred to Jews as "our older brothers in faith." Lending museums for the exhibit, which runs from May 15 to July 23, include the Louvre and London's National Gallery. ___ This version has been corrected to show the exhibit's closing date is July 23, nut July 27. (Reuters) - A Vietnamese man said on Sunday he believes his sister is one of the suspects arrested in Malaysia in connection with the murder of the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Kim Jong Nam was assaulted at Kuala Lumpur International Airport with what was thought to be a fast-acting poison. Malaysian police have said that among those arrested was a woman with a Vietnamese travel document. Vietnamese authorities have said only that they are investigating and are in touch with Malaysia. Joseph Doan confirmed that his sister's name was Doan Thi Huong and that she was born in 1988 in Nam Dinh province, southeast of the capital Hanoi. Those details are the same as those released by Malaysian police. "We only hear on the internet and everyone else hears on the internet but judging from the picture it looks like her. I can't be a 100 percent certain because we haven't met her yet," he said in Nam Dinh. The rice farmer said his sister appeared to be the woman whose image was captured in a grainy airport CCTV image wearing a white shirt with the acronym 'LOL' on it. He said Vietnamese authorities had been in touch and had been supportive. Doan said his sister had left home when she was 18 and only came home occasionally and without letting anyone know when she would be back. "Whenever she comes home I can only tell her to study and work hard," he said. South Korean and U.S. officials have said Kim Jong Nam was assassinated by North Korean agents. Malaysian police said on Sunday that four North Korean suspects in the murder fled Malaysia on the day of the killing. Malaysian police arrested a North Korean man on Friday in connection to the murder, while a Vietnamese woman and an Indonesian woman have also been arrested. A Malaysian man is being detained to facilitate the investigation. (Editing by Michael Perry) LONDON (Reuters) - German carmaker Volkswagen has fixed 470,000 cars out of 1.2 million affected by the diesel emissions scandal in Britain, the firm's UK managing director told lawmakers on Monday. Paul Willis faced difficult questions from lawmakers, some of whom are angry that the firm has not been fined in Britain and that motorists have not received compensation, unlike VW owners in the United States, where the company admitted it had used software to cheat tests on diesel emission levels. "Out of 1.2 million technical measures which have to be applied, as of today, we have applied 470,000 and at the current rate we are applying these measures to 20,000 cars a week," Willis told parliament's transport committee. Britain's junior transport minister John Hayes said he and his boss, transport minister Chris Grayling, would be travelling to Germany next month to meet their counterparts and seek more information which could lead to an investigation into VW in Britain. "(We) will go to Berlin next month to meet the minister ... to request that we're provided the detailed technical information that will allow us then, if we chose to, to take further steps," Hayes said. Hayes also told lawmakers he will soon meet legal representatives of consumers seeking to take legal action against Volkswagen to see what help the government could give them. In January a British law firm launched legal action seeking thousands of pounds of compensation each for UK drivers affected by the carmaker's emissions scandal, and other firms have since sought to join the move. (Reporting by Costas Pitas; Editing by Greg Mahlich) WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Preparations are under way to bring senior North Korean officials to the United States for talks with former U.S. officials, the first such meeting in more than five years, The Washington Post reported on Sunday. The talks would be the clearest indication yet that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wants to communicate with the new Trump administration. Planning for the "Track 1.5 talks" is still in a preparatory stage, the Post reported, citing multiple people with knowledge of the arrangements. That name, reflecting planned contact between former U.S. officials and current North Korean ones, is a reference to what are known as "Track 2" talks involving former officials on both sides. The U.S. State Department has not yet approved the North Koreans' visas for the talks, the newspaper said. A State Department spokesman commented to Reuters only that Track 2 meetings "routinely" take place on a variety of topics around the world and occur independent of the U.S. government. A White House official commented that the U.S. government had no plans to meet with North Korea. North Korea's testing of an intermediate-range ballistic missile drew international condemnation last week. President Donald Trump told a news conference after the test: Obviously North Korea is a big, big problem and we will deal with that very strongly." (Reporting by Jeff Mason, Idrees Ali and Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Peter Cooney) The winners of the International Fashion Showcase have been announced in London. The British Fashion Council (BFC), the British Council and Mercedes-Benz presented the annual awards, which took on a theme of 'Local/Global' for 2017, on Sunday night at the city's Somerset House venue in the midst of fashion week. Korean designer Younchan Chung, founder of the forward-thinking menswear brand The-sirius, was named winner of The International Fashion Showcase Designer Award. Czech designer Katerina Plamitzerova and Swiss talent Vanessa Schindler also received special mentions. Chung, who will have the opportunity to showcase a collection during Milan Fashion Week, said: "I am really happy to win this prize as I only started the-sirius in Seoul Fashion Week last year, but I have dreamed of being a part of the global fashion industry." India, meanwhile, claimed The International Fashion Showcase Country Award, thanks to its exhibition The Indian Pastoralists', which showcased some of the country's best emerging talents. The nation was selected from 26 participating countries, of which Chile and Czech Republic were given special mentions for various exhibitions. Polish creatives Wojciech Dziedzic and Agnieszka Jacobson-Cielecka won The International Fashion Showcase Curation Award, with special mentions for Julie HJ Lee of Korea and Roxanne Chen of Taiwan. "The theme of Local/Global has resonated in profound reflections on the environment, identity and the strands which bind people together through generations," said Sarah Mower MBE, BFC Ambassador for Emerging Talent and Chief Critic at Vogue Runway, who chaired the judging panel. She added: "It is impossible not to walk away from this exhibition without feeling that the hope, resourcefulness and intelligence of the world's young people is capable of pulling the world through the dark and divisive times which face us now." The International Fashion Showcase is a series of installations celebrating emerging designers from 26 different countries. The exhibition runs through February 21 at Somerset House, London. Credit: Jason LaVeris/Getty Angelina Jolie and her family traveled to Cambodia this week for the premiere of her latest movie, First They Killed My Father, and it was an emotional event for the mother of six. Not only was it the first day Jolie appeared in public since filing for divorce, but both Jolie and her 15-year-old son Maddox, who was born in Cambodia, shared some touching words at the premiere. First They Killed My Father is a Netflix original movie based on the memoir that details human-rights activist Loung Ung's experience during the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia. Jolie co-wrote the script, and her sons Maddox and 13-year-old Pax were involved in production. Because the movie's creation was a family affair, it's only fitting that the whole gang attended the premiere, as well--Jolie and her six children traveled to Cambodia for the screening, where they met with King Norodom Sihamoni and Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk, according to People. Credit: Heng Sinith/AP Before the showing, Jolie gave a moving speech, expressing her gratitude for being involved in the film. "I cannot find words to express what it means to me that I was entrusted with telling part of the story of this country," Jolie said. "This film was not made to focus on the horrors of the past, but to celebrate the resilience, kindness, and talent of the Cambodian people." RELATED: Here's Angelina Jolie in the First Promo for Her New Film She also gave thanks to the country that allowed her to become a mother for the first time. "Without Cambodia I may never have become a mother," Jolie explained. "Part of my heart is and will always be in this country. And part of this country is always with me: Maddox." VIDEO: Brad Pitt Makes His First Red Carpet Appearance Since Angie Split Her son also said a few words, thanking everyone for coming to the event: "Thank you everyone for attending tonight. We finally made it. It's a great honor to present this film to all of you, and to stand by my mother and my family," Maddox said. Shiloh, 10, also said a few words: "My name is Shiloh and I love Cambodia," she declared in Khmer. With all the emotion and passion that went into the film, there's no doubt it will be an powerful experience for viewers. First They Killed My Father will be available on Netflix sometime this year, and we'll be waiting eagerly to watch. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union data protection watchdogs said on Monday they were still concerned about the privacy settings of Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system despite the U.S. company announcing changes to the installation process. The watchdogs, a group made up of the EU's 28 authorities responsible for enforcing data protection law, wrote to Microsoft last year expressing concerns about the default installation settings of Windows 10 and users' apparent lack of control over the company's processing of their data. The group - referred to as the Article 29 Working Party -asked for more explanation of Microsoft's processing of personal data for various purposes, including advertising. "In light of the above, which are separate to the results of ongoing inquiries at a national level, even considering the proposed changes to Windows 10, the Working Party remains concerned about the level of protection of users personal data," the group said in a statement which also acknowledged Microsoft's willingness to cooperate. Microsoft was not immediately available to comment. A number of national authorities have already begun enquiries into Windows 10, including France which in July ordered Microsoft to stop collecting excessive user data. The EU privacy group said that despite a new installation screen presenting users with five options to limit or switch off Microsoft's processing of their data, it was not clear to what extent users would be informed about the specific data being collected. Microsoft uses data collected through Windows 10 for different purposes, including advertising, the group said in its statement said. "Microsoft should clearly explain what kinds of personal data are processed for what purposes. Without such information, consent cannot be informed, and therefore, not valid." (Reporting by Julia Fioretti, editing by Philip Blenkinsop and Jane Merriman) Russia is currently one of Donald Trumps worst problems, one that the President keeps dismissing as fake news. After Michael Flynns resignation last week, news broke that high-ranking members of the Trump campaign were in constant contact with former Russian intelligence agents during the campaign. The nature of those talks is unknown to the public, but the intelligence community was disturbed by their great frequency. Yet Trump failed to address his Russia-related criticism, and continue to say that an improved USA-Russia relationship wont be so bad. Thats pretty much all you need to take with you into the following segment on Last Week Tonight, where John Oliver explained exactly whats wrong with Putin, complete with a catchy techno song for Trump. Don't Miss: Explosive blog post details abhorrent sexism at Uber The HBO host briefly went through Putins Russia. Oliver explained how popular Putin is in the country, how wealthy he has become over the years, and what happens with people who routinely criticize him hint: its not good. For Putins Russia, Trump seems to be exactly what the doctor ordered. The American president, whether hes influenced directly by Russia or not, may be an asset for Putin. Trump could grant Russia various favors when it comes to worldwide politics just because he wants a better relationship with Russia, Oliver says. Yes, Oliver often uses humor while tackling serious matters, and the complex USA-Russia rivalry cant be explained in just 30 minutes. But Oliver does a great job at showing us why Trumps so far losing to Putin, at least for the time being. Check out the full segment below. Trending right now: See the original version of this article on BGR.com MUMBAI (Reuters) - Uber users in India, who until now had Chinese Internet giant Alibaba-backed PayTM as the only payment wallet option available to book a ride, will now be able to pay through Reliance Jio Infocomm's [RELIB.UL] Jio Money. Reliance said on Monday it had struck a partnership with Uber Technologies Inc which will help it challenge PayTM's dominance in digital payments. Such transactions rose in popularity after a cash crunch caused due to the Indian government's move to scrap some currency notes in November. Reliance, which launched Jio Money in December, said it also plans to soon allow users to book and pay for Uber rides from the app itself, a feature that PayTM does not offer. (Reporting by Zeba Siddiqui in Mumbai; Editing by Alexander Smith) Lab-coated scientists get their pictures taken after a Stand Up for Science rally in downtown Bostons Copley Square. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) BOSTON Hundreds of science-minded demonstrators converged on Boston over the weekend to test a prototype for the March for Science, a campaign thats expected to bring out more than a million people around the globe on April 22. Sundays Stand Up for Science rally took place during the height of this years meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and as a result drew attendees from the AAAS crowd including Bish Paul, a molecular biologist who got his Ph.D. from the University of Washington and worked at Seattles Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Paul, a gay immigrant from India, told The Boston Globe that his aim wasnt to attack Republicans, but to defend the scientific community and what it stands for. Were not protesting a party, he said. As scientists, we want to support truth. The Boston rally also brought out students, retirees and families with kids. One of the non-scientists was Anne Drowns, an education writer from the Boston area who said she wanted to thank the researchers who developed the treatment for her sisters rare form of blood cancer. Anne Drowns holds up a sign at Bostons Stand Up for Science rally. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) This is so personal for me, Drowns told GeekWire. Its personal for everybody. If you stop and think about it, science touches everyone. Jane Lubchenco, a marine ecologist who went back to Oregon State University after heading the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, seconded that view during a preview of the march on April 22, which happens to be Earth Day. This is a march for and about science, she told a standing-room-only crowd at the AAAS meeting. Its not a march of scientists. The Trump administrations early moves are providing the sparks for the March for Science campaign, which currently comprises nearly 300 events in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Oceania (including the big one in Washington, D.C., and a Seattle march). Story continues Those sparks include gag orders for researchers and park rangers, controversial overhauls of online data relating to animal welfare and climate science, and worries about future cuts in research funding. When discretionary spending is threatened, R&D tends to be the first to go, said Harvard physicist John Holdren, who was White House science adviser during the Obama administration. President Donald Trumps immigration crackdown is particularly worrisome, in light of statistics suggesting that at least 10,000 students and researchers at 60 U.S. universities come from the seven predominantly Muslim countries covered by Trumps travel ban. AAAS leaders are also concerned about the tone thats often struck by administration officials. When officials use phrases like alternative facts without embarrassment, you know theres a problem, said AAAS CEO Rush Holt, a plasma physicist who served in the U.S. House of Representatives as a New Jersey Democrat for 16 years. I can't tell you how many older people have come up to me today to say, "I remember polio. Thank you." #standupforscience #AAASmtg pic.twitter.com/hrkIY3d5wh Kathleen Bachynski (@bachyns) February 19, 2017 The March for Science puts some scientists, and AAAS in particular, in a tricky position. Many folks in scientific fields are reluctant to seem partisan in part because it goes against the grain of scientific dispassion, and in part because so many scientists rely on government funding (or, in AAAS case, non-profit tax-exempt status). Nevertheless, speakers at the Boston meeting offered up several tips for those who are thinking about getting involved in the political process to defend the scientific community: First, get involved: Holt said that politics shouldnt influence science. But does that mean scientists shouldnt influence politics? That converse just does not follow, logically, he said. And scientists are figuring that out. I am getting more calls since November than I can remember ever receiving from scientists who say they are thinking about running for office, Holt said. Be relevant: Now is the time for a quantum leap into relevance, Lubchenco said. That means explaining how science benefits society. Scientists need to move beyond broadcasting facts, and even move beyond broadcasting really strong stories, to join in conversations with our fellow citizens who are not scientists, said Amy Luers, director of climate change for the Skoll Global Threats Fund. Help non-scientists join the cause: Holdren likes the suggestion that every scientist who goes to a march should bring along at least two citizens who are not scientists. I think this should be true for speeches from the podium as well, he said. Particularly, bring along citizens who at least in part are representative of individuals who have been helped by science. Address solutions as well as threats: Lubchenco said it was important not to dwell too much on doom-and-gloom environmental scenarios. The reality is that there are some huge challenges facing the world, she said, but its also true that there are a wealth of really amazing solutions that are bubbling up all over the world, and we dont do a good enough job of telling the story about those solutions. Make friends, not enemies: Physicist Lewis Branscomb, former head of whats now the National Institute of Standards and Technology, noted that scientists have allies on the Republican side of the aisle in Congress. If theres a chance of having strong friends anywhere in the conservative community, then dont put them in the pot with everything else we plan to cook, he said. Tithe your time: Holdren said scientists should become more broadly informed about science and societal issues outside their own fields, and consider tithing at least 10 percent of your time to public service, including public and policymaker education, and political engagement. Lubchenco said academic institutions should change their culture so that its more valuable and rewarded for scientists to be engaged in society. Train researchers for the real world: You look at our universities, and youll find there are not very many of them that offer post-graduate or young-scientist programs in which people are trained for at least one year in the combination of how new companies are created and how innovations are done, Branscomb said. All of that needs to be stronger. And I believe that if it were, it might not be that the White House would say, Wonderful, thats what were going to do. But at least they might stop anti-doing it. More from GeekWire: Experts collaborated to create a bust showing how Kennewick Man, also known as the Ancient One, may have looked. (Sculpted bust by StudioEIS; forensic facial reconstruction by sculptor Amanda Danning; photograph by Brittany Tatchell / Smithsonian) After more than 20 years, one of anthropologys most contentious cases was closed over the weekend with the reburial of the 9,000-year-old remains of Kennewick Man, now better known as the Ancient One. More than 200 people, including members of five Native American tribes, gathered at an undisclosed site on the Columbia River Plateau early Saturday to bury the remains in accordance with centuries-old funerary rituals, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation said in a news release. This is a big day, and our people have come to witness and honor our ancestor, said Armand Minthorn, a member of the Umatilla tribes board of trustees and Longhouse leader. We continue to practice our beliefs and laws as our Creator has given us since time immemorial. The reburial marks the final chapter in a saga that began in 1996, when two college students spotted the Ancient Ones skeleton along the banks of the Columbia River near Kennewick, Wash. Experts recovered and studied the remains, determining that they were roughly 9,000 years old. Archaeologists initially said the proportions of the skull were a closer match for Europeans than for Native Americans, setting off a years-long debate over the Ancient Ones origins. Five Pacific Northwest tribes pressed the Army Corps of Engineers, which had jurisdiction over the bones, to hand them over for repatriation in accordance with federal law. However, a group of scientists sued to block the handover, arguing that the skeleton was not associated with a present-day tribe. Federal judges sided with the scientists, and the 380 bones and bone fragments were made available for study. Once the studies were complete, the corps had the remains locked away at Seattles Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. Kari Bruwelheide and Douglas Owsley, forensic anthropologists at the Smithsonian Institutions National Museum of Natural History, examine the Ancient Ones remains during a study period in 2005-2006. (Smithsonian Institution Photo / Chip Clark) The big break in the case came in 2015, when scientists announced that DNA extracted from a hand bone was a relatively close match to an individual from the Colville confederation, one of the five tribes that originally filed suit. (The others are the Umatilla, Yakama, Nez Perce and Wanapum.) Story continues Further studies confirmed that the skeletons characteristics were in the proper range for Native Americans, leading to a definitive ruling from the Army Corps of Engineers. Late last year, federal legislation cleared the way for handing over the remains. Representatives of the five tribes, the Army Corps of Engineers and state officials gathered at the Burke Museum on Friday for the formal handover. The remains, including a stone spear point that was found embedded in the Ancient Ones pelvis, were driven in a caravan for an overnight stop in Richland, Wash., according to a Seattle Times account. The reburial site took place the next morning. The tribes have said the location will remain undisclosed to guard against the possibility of future desecration. Tribal leaders gather at the University of Washingtons Burke Museum on Feb. 17 in advance of the handover of the Ancient Ones remains. (Photo courtesy of Washington Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation) More from GeekWire: Angelina Jolie's latest appearance was a family affair! The 41-year-old actress attended a press conference ahead of the world premiere of her new film, First They Killed My Father, at the Raffles Grand Hotel D'Angkor in Siem Reap, Cambodia, on Saturday. She brought along all six of her children -- Maddox, 15, Pax, 13, Zahara, 11, Shiloh, 10, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 8 -- whom she shares with ex Brad Pitt. WATCH: Angelina Jolie Rang in the New Year in Colorado With Her Kids TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP/Getty Images Angelina appeared as happy as ever during the outing, donning a gorgeous lacy black dress and matching heels. She was all smiles while watching her adopted son Maddox, who was born in Cambodia, greet the nation's king, Norodom Sihamoni. TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP/Getty Images "I cannot find words to express what it means to me that I was entrusted with telling part of the story of this country," she reportedly told the crowd. "This film was not made to focus on the horrors of the past, but to celebrate the resilience, kindness and talent of the Cambodian people." "Most of all, this film is my way of saying thank you to Cambodia," she continued. "Without Cambodia I may never have become a mother. Part of my heart is and will always be in this country. And part of this country is always with me: Maddox." TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP/Getty Images RELATED: Angelina Jolie Weighs In on Travel Ban: 'Refugee Policy Should Be Based on Facts, Not Fear' According to a press release for the film, the Netflix original movie, directed and produced by Angelina and set to be released later this year, is dedicated to those who died under the Khmer Rouge, as well as all who survived, and "focuses on the love and dedication of a Cambodian family," celebrating "the beauty, spirit and resilience of the Cambodian people and culture." It's an adaptation of the 2000 memoir First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers by Canadian author and human rights activist Loung Ung, a survivor of the regime, and Angelina's longtime pal. Story continues TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP/Getty Images The film was shot in Cambodia with a cast made up entirely of Cambodian actors, marking the country's largest movie ever made. Srey Moch Sareum, who portrays the lead role of young Loung, was beaming while chatting about the film with Angelina on Saturday. Watch the video below to see a sneak peek clip ahead of its release. WATCH: Angelina Jolie Explores the Life of a Cambodian Refugee in New Netflix Movie 'First They Killed My Father' Related Articles Senator John McCains belated Valentines Day chocolate for the press We need you, he told Chuck Todd on NBCs Meet the Press was devoured by the Sunday Beltway programs today. The Todd-McCain interview (watch it below), released in tweeted snippets over the last couple of days but aired in full this morning, included the warning that the suppression of a free and many times adversarial press is how dictators get started. Starting with a joke seemingly McCain told Todd, I hate the press. I hate you especially. But the fact is we need you. We need a free press. We must have it. Its vital. If you want to preserve, Im very serious now, if you want to preserve democracy as we know it, you have to have a free and many times adversarial press. And without it, I am afraid that we would lose so much of our individual liberties over time. Thats how dictators get started. The candid comments which the Senator has said was not specifically aimed at President Donald Trump, though it arose in discussion of Trumps tweet accusing the fake news media of being the enemy of the American people was unavoidable even on NBCs rival Sunday talkers. On CBSs Face the Nation, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham managed a side-straddling defense of both a free press and the presidents tweet, telling host John Dickerson that a free press is worth fighting and dying for. But, he quickly added, The bottom line is America is not becoming a dictatorship. Senator McCain was right to say that we need, as politicians, to understand the role of the press and jealously guard it, but I would say this to the American press corps: When it comes to Trump youre over the top. Youre acting more like an opposition party. From a Republican point of view, Graham continued, I think the coverage against President Trump has been almost to the point of hysterical and yall need to do some self-evaluation, in my view. Though, insisting that the true enemies of democracy are Russia, Iran and radical Islam, the American press, he said, need to up their game, because it really is hard to watch from a Republican point of view. Story continues Over on ABCs This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Republican Senator Rand Paul took Grahams its-hard-to-watch stance. I would say that there is bias, Paul told subbing This Week host Jonathan Karl. And I think its fair to point out that there is bias in the media on both sides, both right and left. And that its very hard to find objective news because we have gotten, particularly as you watch cable news, its so dominated by opinion. But Paul brushed aside McCains warning of creeping dictatorships. I think Senator McCains perspective is colored by his disagreements with President Trump on foreign policy, Paul said. If I were to look at foreign policy, I would say John McCain has been wrong on just about everything over the last four decades. And finally, back on Meet the Press, Todd asked White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus whether the presidents enemy of the people slam undercut American encouragement of a free press in places like Turkey and Russia. The President believes in the First Amendment, Priebus said, insisting that Trump characterizes leaks and anonymous sources as fake news. Asked about reports of turmoil in the West Wing, Priebus dismissed the charges as drama and spin mostly in Washingtons daily gossip rags. Here is the McCain interview that started all the debate. The Senator tweeted it out this morning. I joined @chucktodd @MeetThePress from #Munich to defend the post-WWII world order, including the need for a free press watch below pic.twitter.com/lVtsofztTo John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) February 19, 2017 Related stories Seth Meyers: Donald Trump's Past Few Years In Office Have Only Been One Month Greta Van Susteren To Donald Trump: "Back Off" Judd Apatow Roasts Donald Trump In Stand-up Routine: "I Feel Like I've Just Been Raped" In February 2016, Rajnil Kumar and his wife, Sangeeta, watched Cyclone Winston, the most powerful storm to ever make landfall in the southern hemisphere, wreak its devastation in Fiji. Both Rajnil and Sangeeta are originally from Fiji and their family still live there. Rajnil recalls their fears: Houses in Fiji are very old and not built to withstand a cyclone of this strength. We had been through Cyclone Kina in 1992. I still remember clearly how my siblings and I spent a whole night under a bed and our parents were under the table. It was terrifying. So we could visualise how serious Winston could be. I felt helpless. My wife and I didnt sleep at all the first night. As he watched and waited for news, he experienced what would be familiar feelings to most of us faced with disasters of this scale. Shock, fear, helplessness. And most powerfully, he felt the urge to do something. After nearly five days he finally got word that his parents were OK. But with that good news came the harsh reality their house, and thousands more, were damaged, schools destroyed, significant amount of crops ruined. Fiji needed help. As a Deloitte employee, Ranjil, knew that the Deloitte Foundation were an option to assist him in supporting his desire to help, so he contacted them. The Foundation has had a partnership with Oxfam since 1999, and through that relationship, regularly runs campaigns within Deloitte for employees to contribute to Oxfams emergency fundraising appeals. He explains: I didnt think it would be easy but I felt I should at least try. The foundations reply was prompt. I thought, Someone is listening. By March, the Foundation had established a campaign to appeal to all Deloitte employees. Deloitte people gave $5,000 within the first five hours. This grew to a total of $23,623, which was distributed through Oxfams relief efforts on the ground in Fiji. Ranjil says the response of Deloitte, both through the Foundations quick response and the generosity of his colleagues, surpassed all his expectations. It really made me feel like I was a part of a bigger community of people who care and care big. I have worked at Deloitte for nearly six years and moments like this continue to define my purpose for being part of this organisation. This response to Cyclone Winston has further strengthened my connection to the firm. Im very proud to be part of an organisation that has shown support, above and beyond, for people in need. Ranjil returned to Fiji in August 2016 for the first time since Winston. He confirmed a lot of devastation remains. The students at his old school have makeshift classrooms in hot tents, which is not the best environment. But, he says, Fiji is a resilient place. People are moving on. With the continued support of friends like Deloitte and Oxfam in Australia, those affected by Cyclone Winston will rebuild their lives. But it will take time. Oxfam's work in Fiji Tropical Cyclone Winston killed 43 people and destroyed an estimated 32,000 houses, leaving 150,000 people in need of shelter. The cyclone also destroyed water systems, leaving 250,000 people in urgent need of clean water. Many families continue to be dependent on dirty and unprotected water sources. Oxfam has been working with local partners to give communities access to clean drinking water, and provide sanitation and hygiene products, in an attempt to prevent the spread of disease. Donate to the Oxfam emergency relief fund. All donations are greatly appreciated. Oxfam and Deloitte Partnering with community and charity organisations is one of the ways Deloitte tries to work with purpose, to make an impact that matters. Since 1999, Deloitte has worked with Oxfam to make a positive and enduring impact through its work to address complex world problems caused by, or arising from, poverty. Oxfams work includes responding to emergencies, ensuring peoples right to be heard, empowering women, addressing climate change and ensuring a fair sharing of prosperity and resources. We are a principal partner of the annual fundraising Trailwalker event. Our work with Oxfam also includes workplace giving, pro bono, emergency appeals and volunteering. Since 1999 the value of our contributions has exceeded $3 million. Discover more in our Responsible Business Report. He spoke about this and other issues regarding Iran during the 2017 Munich Security Conference. He mentioned that holding Iran accountable for its actions is a high priority and measures will be introduced regarding this. Earlier this month, the Iranian regime test-fired ballistic missiles a flagrant breach of U.N. Security Council resolutions. He said: I think it is now time for the Congress to take Iran on directly in terms of what theyve done outside the nuclear program. At the conference, Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) who is part of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that the proportional response to the missile testing needs to be discussed. He said: I dont necessarily think theres going to be partisan division over whether or not we have the ability as a Congress to speak on issues outside of the nuclear agreement. He added that the United States needs to decide how involved with Iran it will be. He said: We have to make a decision whether we are going to get involved in the emerging proxy war in a bigger way than we are today, between Iran and Saudi [Arabia]. Earlier this month, tensions between the United States and Iran continued to mount after Trump imposed sanctions on 25 individuals and entities. The Foreign Minister of Iran Mohammed Javad Zarif said at the conference that Iran does not respond well to threats and sanctions. He said: We dont respond well to coercion. We dont respond well to sanctions, but we respond very well to mutual respect. We respond very well to arrangements to reach mutually acceptable scenarios. Senator Graham said: To Iran, I say, if you want us to treat you differently then stop building missiles, test-firing them in defiance of U.N. resolutions and writing Death to Israel on the missile. Thats a mixed message. In his original verdict, Khomeini said: I fear 10 years from now, some analysts want to question this verdict against diplomatic principles. So that this is not forgotten and to show it still stands, the award was declared. The funds for the award will come from over 40 institutions some governmental and some private companies. The bounty is one billion and eighty-one million Tomans which is around $300,000 USD. In February 1989, Khomeini issued a fatwa against Rushdie stating the charges of blasphemy. This was to divert attention away from his defeat in the Iran-Iraq war. It also served to turn attention away from the demands of the Iranian population following the war and to distract from the problems within the regime. Since the fatwa was issued, the Iranian regimes supreme leader has reaffirmed its validity. This is reminiscent of the $600,000 award that was to be given for the murder of Rushdie as announced by an Iranian regimes state media outlet last year. This was to be funded by 40 state media outlets. The head of the Saraj Cyberspace Organization and the Secretary of the Third Exhibition of Islamic Revolutions Digital Medias, Mansour Amini, gave the names of the contributing outlets last year. One of the largest contributors was the state-run Fars News Agency. The Fars News Agency has close ties with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and was among the largest contributors. Its contribution was said to be one billion Rials which is approximately $30,000. One billion Rials was provided by Cyberban and Tehran Press News promised 300 million (around $10,000). Saraj Cyberspace Organization and the Headquarters for Advocating Virtue both pledged 500 million Rials for anyone who assassinated Rushdie. The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) condemned the intentions of the Iranian regime, saying that it is more proof of the nature of the regime. A representative of the NCRI said: This once again clearly shows that terrorism is intertwined with the very existence of this regime as one of the pillars of its survival. He added: The mere fact that even the so-called media in this regime allocate a budget for terror manifests that all of the regimes institutions are geared toward its ominous objectives. Its simply ludicrous to think that one can reach out to some parts of the ruling theocracy to bring about moderation. The MEK indicate that the IRGC is expanding its training program for foreign mercenaries in order to ramp up its involvement in Afghanistan, Bahrain, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. There are numerous training camps spread across Iran and the MEK has been able to identify 14. The Iranian Resistance has supported the Trump administrations decision to impose more sanctions on those affiliated with weapons acquisition for the Iranian regime. The resistance maintains that this is a necessary step in trying to confront the Iranian regimes dictatorship. The Resistance said that the sanctions need to be comprehensive if they are to be effective. And they need to be imposed on the IRGC and its many affiliates, as well as any part of the Iranian leadership that has a part in the suppression of the people of Iran. Economic pressure is an effective way of tackling the Iranian regime because it will struggle to continue to support and fund terrorism across the Middle East. Only two months ago the MEK was able to expose some of the Iranian regimes destructive behaviour in the region, especially in Syria. It revealed that the IRGC has numerous bases around the city of Aleppo and had foreign militias (from Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon) intervene to participate in the bloodshed. As a result of this information, the Washington Times described the IRGC as an occupying force, highlighting that the IRGC was responsible for 25,000 fighters in Syria from Iran and abroad. The MEK also revealed the Iranian regimes propaganda campaign that was used to enlist children into the forces. The Iranian regime said that the purpose was to defend the sacred shrine in Syria. For many years now, the MEK has been instrumental in exposing the Iranian regime and the IRGC. The risks taken by the people who obtain the information are phenomenal and have been crucial in making the world a safer place. The MEK has an extraordinary capacity to gain information and has made the international community aware of the dangerous nature of the Iranian regime. The MEK wants to ban the death penalty and separate religion and state. It wants a pluralistic system of governance and universal suffrage as the sole criterion for legitimacy. Respect for freedom and equality, as well as equal participation of women in political leadership, a fair judicial system, free markets and relations with other countries are all matters that are important to the MEK. And of course, a non-nuclear Iran is another main goal. He said: Iran remains the single main sponsor of terrorism in the world. Its determined to upend the order in the Middle East [and] until and unless Iran changes its behaviour, it would be very difficult to deal with a country like this. The Saudi Foreign Minister then said that red lines need to be established in order to confront Iran. He also said that Irans behaviour can potentially be changed if there were restrictions for trade, travel and banking. The Israeli defence minister, Avigdor Lieberman, said that Iran is attempting to undermine Saudi Arabia and said that Arab countries and Israel need to pull together to confront the radicalism in the Middle East. He said: The real division is not Jews, Muslims but moderate people versus radical people. The foreign minister of Turkey, Mevlut Cavusoglu, also agreed that the sectarian policy favoured by Iran has the purpose of undermining Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Cavusoglu affirmed that Turkey is completely against any kind of division. Mohammad Javad Zarif, the foreign minister of Iran, appealed to other nations in the Middle East to help Iran. He said: We have enough problems in this region so we want to start a dialogue with countries we call brothers in Islam. He also claimed that Iran is not planning to obtain a nuclear weapon. With regards to the Trump administrations recent rhetoric regarding the role of Iran in the Middle East, Zarif said that Iran does not respond positively to threats and sanctions. A member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Christopher Murphy, said that the United States needs to define its role in the regional conflict. He said: We have to make a decision whether we are going to get involved in the emerging proxy war in a bigger way than we are today, between Iran and Saudi Arabia. In any case, it has been widely agreed that Iran needs to be treated firmly. The years of Obamas appeasement of the Iranian regime were fruitless, so the opposite direction is a good place to start. [February 20, 2017] Sequans Collaborates with STMicroelectronics on Turnkey LTE-M IoT Design Kit Sequans Communications S.A. (NYSE: SQNS), a leader in LTE for IoT chipsets, today announced a collaboration with STMicroelectronics (News - Alert), a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, to facilitate the HW and SW combination of ST's STM32 microcontroller platform with Sequans' Monarch LTE (News - Alert)-M chipset platform in a design kit for IoT connectivity. The solution will be demonstrated at GSMA's Mobile World Congress in ST's exhibit stand, 7A61. The IoT design kit simplifies device design and speeds time to market for makers of connected IoT devices, including wearables, connected healthcare devices, smart city and smart home devices, asset trackers, agriculture and industrial IoT devices, and more. Monarch is the world's first purpose-built IoT chip to appear in the market that is compliant with the 3GPP Release 13 LTE-Advanced standard defining narrowband LTE-M and developed to support low power and low data rate applications for the Internet of Things. The STM32 family is the leading ARM (News - Alert) Cortex-M-core 32-bit microcontroller platform comprising ten product series addressing a large range of applications. The family spans ultra-low-power STM32L products to the world's highest performance STM32H7 series and offers binary compatibility combined with similar pinout assignments, hardware IP proliferation, and a consistent higher-level programming language that simplifies development across the STM32 families "ST's leadership in low power and IoT-friendly high-performance solutions is an ideal match to our Monarch LTE-M platform," said Danny Kedar, VP and GM of Sequans' IoT business unit. "Monarch will enable low power wider area connectivity for many new IoT devices, and the STM32 design kit we've created with ST will help makers of those devices get to market quickly." "The STM32 processor provides a proven platform ranging from ultra-low power products to the highest performance MCUs, with graphic and advanced connectivity-stack capabilities for IoT applications," said Michel Buffa, General Manager, Microcontroller Division, STMicroelectronics. "Monarch brings the industry's most optimized LTE-M solution for IoT connectivity to completes the turnkey design kit that brings the standalone network connectivity that is vital to any IoT device all developers of connected objects." The IoT design kit will be demonstrated at the STMicroelectronics exhibit stand at GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, February 27 - March 2, in hall 7, stand 7A61. Sequans is in hall 7, stand 7I81. Sequans' Monarch is the world's first and most highly-optimized LTE-M (Cat M1) and NB-IoT (Cat NB1) capable chip. It is purpose-built for narrowband IoT applications, including sensors, wearables, and other low data, low power M2M and IoT devices. Monarch complies with the ultra-low-power and reduced complexity feature requirements of the 3GPP release 13 LTE Advanced Pro standard, defining narrowband, low data rate LTE technology for machine type communications. Monarch provides full support for Power Saving Mode (PSM) and extended discontinuous reception (eDRX) to enable the long battery life needed by many IoT use cases, and it provides the enhanced coverage modes defined in the standard that extend coverage for deep-indoor and remote deployments. Monarch comprises baseband, RF, power management, and RAM (News - Alert), all integrated into a single, tiny 6.5 x 8.5 mm package. In addition, Monarch supports advanced features such as programmable RF filtering for global band support in a single SKU, and proprietary dynamic power management technology enabling battery life of 10+ years for certain use cases. About Sequans Communications (News - Alert) Sequans Communications S.A. (NYSE: SQNS) is a leading provider of single-mode 4G LTE semiconductor solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT) and a wide range of broadband data devices. Founded in 2003, Sequans has developed and delivered seven generations of 4G technology and its chips are certified and shipping in 4G networks around the world. Today, Sequans offers two LTE product lines: StreamrichLTE, optimized for feature-rich mobile computing and home/portable router devices, and StreamliteLTE, optimized for M2M devices and other connected devices for the IoT. Sequans is based in Paris, France with additional offices in the United States, United Kingdom, Israel, Hong Kong, Singapore, Sweden, Taiwan, South Korea, and China. Visit Sequans online at www.sequans.com, www.facebook.com/sequans, www.twitter.com/sequans See: http://www.sequans.com/lteforiot View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170220005095/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Nebraska Community Foundation is pleased to welcome Carrie Malek-Madani as the new director of marketing and communications. Prior to NCF, Malek-Madani worked for the Lied Center for Performing Arts, where she managed the organization's public relations, brand strategy and communications efforts."We are thrilled to have Carrie join our team," said Jeff Yost, NCF president and CEO. "Her experience and expertise will continue to elevate NCF's message and mission to create a path for communities across the state to prosper." As director of marketing and communications, Malek-Madani will be responsible for developing and implementing NCF's communications and marketing goals and strategies to build awareness and support for NCF and its affiliated funds. She will also create and oversee the production of NCF's publications, advertising, social media and video production, as well as assist NCF's affiliated funds located across the state with developing their own marketing strategies and tools. Malek-Madani's previous professional experience includes work for S&S Public Relations, where she developed PR and media relations strategy for clients in industries ranging from technology to education. Prior to S&S Public Relations, she worked for the Denver Museum of Nature & Science's marketing department. Malek-Madani holds a bachelor's degree in communication: media management and is currently pursuing her master's degree at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Journalism & Mass Communications in integrated media communications. She is a member of the National Communication Honors Society, Lambda Pi Eta. Originally from Vermillion, S.D., Malek-Madani lives in Lincoln with her husband, Gunnar, and daughter, Eleanor. Nebraska Community Foundation is a statewide 501(c)(3) organization using charitable giving to build prosperous communities. In the last five years, more than 37,000 contributions have been made to NCF affiliated funds, and more than $127 million has been reinvested to benefit Nebraska communities. Lincoln Industries' Lan Nguyen, Bryan Farley and Josh Hinman have received their certified electroplater finishers (CEF). CEF's have to demonstrate a broad knowledge of surface finishing by taking and passing two large closed-book and closed-note examinations. This knowledge brings great value to Lincoln Industries as customers across industries benefit from the level of service they can receive from our in-house lab. Nguyen, Farley, and Hinman are laboratory technicians at Lincoln Industries. They perform laboratory tests to determine chemical and physical characteristics or composition of materials for such purposes as quality control, process control or process development. This certification strengthens their knowledge serving Lincoln Industries customers every day. Lincoln Industries is the largest and most diverse privately-held metal finishing company in North America. They are a growth-oriented company who for over 60 years has been solving technically difficult problems for premium brands like Harley Davidson, PACCAR, John Deere, Polaris, Navistar and Mercury Marine. Union Bank & Trust recently hired Maggie Schiefen as vice president of human resources. Schiefen brings 24 years of comprehensive human resources management experience to Union Bank. Prior to joining Union Bank, she served as chief administrative officer at RMH Franchise Holdings, Inc., where she led several departments, including human resources. Schiefen also served as the president and vice president of Concord Neighborhood Corporation and was a partner at the law firm of Harding, Shultz and Downs where she focused on labor, employment law, and business strategies for both private and public sector clients. As vice president of human resources at Union Bank, she will oversee all aspects of the bank's training and development, employee satisfaction, hiring and retention, payroll, benefits and wellness programs. Schiefen holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and Economics from Creighton University; Juris Doctor and Master of Public Administration from the University of South Dakota. Schiefen is the current chair of the City of Lincoln Personnel Board and has experience serving on several boards of non-profit organizations. Union Bank & Trust is a privately owned, Nebraska bank that offers complete banking, lending, investment and trust services. The bank has 38 full service and loan production offices in Nebraska and Kansas. In addition to Lincoln and Omaha, branches are located in 21 Nebraska communities. It is the third largest privately owned bank in Nebraska with bank assets of $3.6 billion and trust assets of $16.5 billion as of December 31, 2016. A Lincoln man went to prison last week for randomly texting a narcotics officer's personal phone trying to sell Adderall and for running from police later that summer. Lancaster County District Judge Robert Otte sentenced Nathaniel Atkinson, 26, Thursday to three years in prison, plus 2 years of postrelease supervision and revoked his driver's license for two years. Atkinson pleaded no contest to operating a motor vehicle to avoid arrest and attempted delivery of a controlled substance for what started with a text to a narcotics officer June 1 that read, "Do u mess with adrerall (sic)?" Through a series of texts, a meeting was set up to sell 47 pills for $80, according to police. They said when Atkinson went to the meeting spot near 11th Street and Cornhusker Highway, he denied any drug activity when police contacted him but then texted the "buyer" to say he hid the drugs in the trunk. Police called the number that had been texting the officer and the phone in the driver's seat where Atkinson had been rang. They found 47 Adderall pills in a container in the trunk. On Aug. 28, out of jail on bond, Atkinson fled from police after they tried to track down a suspect seen stealing from parked cars, according to court records. The Lincoln City Library staff and its consultants want library users to: * Put on their proverbial thinking caps. * Get their inventive juices flowing. * Let their imaginations take flight. And help them put together a plan for the citys future central library, something that is uniquely Lincoln and will serve residents for decades to come. One Colorado library system has created studio space for local artists in each library branch, which it rents at a reasonable price in exchange for the artists doing workshops or teaching classes. Library guests can come and learn how to paint and even have their artwork exhibited, said Brad Waters, a consultant with Godfrey's Associates. Many libraries have places where retired executives mentor people who are looking to start a business. A library can afford resources that an individual cant, like certain databases, Waters said. Consultants from Godfreys Associates will talk with Lincoln residents about libraries and local ideas for a new downtown library at two town hall meetings next week. Pat Leach, library director, will hold five additional community meetings in late February and early March. We want to know what makes Lincoln unique and what people want to see in a new building, said Waters about the town halls and community meetings. The consultants will use the input they get from meetings in Lincoln to create a building program document, which provides information on what should be in a new central library, explained Leach. It is not an architectural plan, but a detailed document that tells how much space might be needed for specific areas. It will include details like the number and kinds of tables and chairs, the number of books and computers. These plans will incorporate what the consultants and library staff hear from local people, Leach said. That document, after approval from the library board, will be used to raise money, through private funds and perhaps a voter-approved bond, for a new central library. It will include an estimated cost for a new central library, but will not be specific to any site, Leach said. The consultants will talk with people about libraries in general, will have pictures showing what libraries in other cities are like and ask for ideas about what needs to be in a central library in Lincoln, Leach said. Libraries have become true community centers, places where people come together and exchange ideas as much as they are a place to come and read, Waters said. It is third place to spend time, behind home and work, he said. "Some people think the third place is a Starbucks or a bookstore. But a lot of people go to the library," he said. "One of the things we preach is that the opportunity to build a central library is very rare. It comes along once or twice a century," he said. "We want to take care and be thoughtful in design." A new downtown library, to replace Bennett Martin, 136 S. 14th St., at a potential cost of $50 million, has drawn some criticism. The Lincoln Independent Business Association has opposed using the nearby city-owned Pershing Center site for a new library. There has been no decision made to locate a library at that downtown site. Pershing Center was closed in August 2014 when Pinnacle Bank Arena opened. LIBA also has concerns about the amount of city debt. The library board is paying Dallas-based library consultants Godfrey's Associates up to $55,000, in private funds, for its work on the building program. The firm is partnering locally with HDR Inc., according to Leach. After 67 years of marriage, the stories of her husband's time in a Japanese American internment camp haven't faded from Chiyoko Hachiya's mind. The unit Kiyoshi George Hachiya stayed at was small, with only a potbelly stove to keep the family of five warm during the Wyoming winter. They stayed in a one-room unit in a shack with two other families. Outside, military police stood along the fenced perimeter, keeping watch from guard towers. It wasnt the ideal situation, but it couldnt be helped that was the mantra his mother reminded her children throughout their stay at the Heart Mountain Relocation Center, a Japanese American internment camp in Wyoming. Her words were a strong example of the Japanese culture's use of Gaman, or being able to accept pain without complaints. On Feb. 19, 1942 -- 10 weeks after the bombings at Pearl Harbor -- President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which kick-started the relocation of more than 110,000 immigrants and citizens with Japanese ancestry from the West Coast to internment camps across the country. Sunday marked the 75th anniversary of Roosevelt's order, commemorated with a Day of Remembrance in communities across the country. Around two-third of the evicted were Nisei, U.S. citizens whose ancestors were Japanese immigrants. People like George Hachiya, now 96. He's truly American, Chiyoko, now 88, said of her husband. I understand, that's the way the war happened, but its very difficult." George was a senior at the University of California, Berkeley at the time. While he and his siblings were American-born citizens, their parents were from Japan. Thats all it took to uproot George from school and send him and his family off to an internment camp in Wyoming. The family was forced to leave California in May 1942, leaving behind belongings, careers and friends. George's wife said her mother-in-law told her Wyoming was very cold in the winter, but they never complained. They are tough people, Chiyoko said. Georges parents tell me, (it was) very sad. But thats the way of life. And they understood. While Nebraska didnt have internment camps, the executive order still made an impact in the state. The University of Nebraska was among the first to accept Japanese American students from internment camps. By the end of the war, the state had the third-largest population of Nisei students, according to NebraskaStudies.org. Boys Town, an Omaha-based nonprofit dedicated to caring for children, took in around 40 new employees from internment camps during World War II. Benjamin L. Clark, managing curator at the Boys Town Hall of History, said Father Flanagan, the founder of the organization and an Irish immigrant, thought the internment camps were unjust. He paroled nearly 300 people from the camps and employed around 40 of those. When they left the camps, they had to have jobs, Clark said. It was basically parole, they were treated like criminals. While most of his family was in the Wyoming internment camp for a year, George was able to leave after about three months to enroll at the University of Nebraska. In 1945, his military status was reclassified and he was drafted into the army. In 1950, while he was abroad in Japan, he met Chiyoko. After saying no three times, Chiyoko finally agreed to go on a date with the lieutenant, with George promising to send a car to pick her up. In Japan at that time, most of the cars (were) black, Chiyoko said. He had a beautiful blue car. Im crazy about it. It wasnt until later he told her about his experiences in internment camps in the United States. Chiyoko said while it was difficult for him to talk about the camps, he didnt complain. Thats the way war happens, she said. In 1950, six months after meeting, she and George were married and moved to Nebraska. Chiyoko said she enjoys America, especially Nebraska, and thinks the people are nice. Chiyoko said George visited high schools about 20 years ago to talk about World War II from a Japanese American's perspective. He talked about how the U.S. and Japan reached peace, and discussed being in internment camps. She said while he didn't expect a nice life at the camps, he was OK with the conditions. "The only thing that disturbed me was the lack of privacy," George told the Journal Star in 2010. "You could hear your neighbors." Today, Chiyoko remains at their home in Lincoln, and George is at Tabitha Green House Homes, where hes able to receive care after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's. One day good day, one day bad, Chiyoko said. (He) still remembers Chiyo, my name. Thats good. Through it all, the memories of the internment camp live on. Elizabeth Racz knows she'll hear about the Sunday with a Scientist event for weeks. Racz, who is finishing her Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's School of Biological Sciences, helps out with exhibits at the event and also gets to watch her 5-year-old son's reactions to the hands-on experiments. "He loves it," she said. "He'll talk about the small things for days. ... He remembers the little details amazingly and sort of processes it over the next week." On Sunday, the University of Nebraska State Museum celebrated Darwin Day with specialized exhibits focusing on evolution. The celebration is part of the monthly Sunday with a Scientist series, where UNL students and professors set up interactive displays and games to get kids involved in science. "It's always fun to see someone learn and take home a message from it," Abhilesh Dhawanjewar said. He and Rudy Villegas, both graduate students at UNL's School of Biological Sciences, helped kids learn about plant seed dispersal by crafting miniature parachutes. "What we really wanted to come up with was an activity with plants because everyone thinks they're really boring because they don't move," Villegas said. "We had a video, too, to try to kind of blow their minds with the cool stuff plants can do." The event is beneficial for graduate students because it offers them an opportunity to share and talk about their work while also benefiting elementary-aged children, said Jen Shaughney, who helps to coordinate Sundays with a Scientist. Each month has its own theme, so Shaughney said that with Darwin Day being on Feb. 12, it was a natural fit. About 150 to 300 people usually attend the event, which takes place on the third Sunday of every month. LaVonne Uffelman, who brought her four grandchildren, enjoyed the variety of activities and had a hard time convincing the kids to leave. "There's something for everyone," she said. "Even grandma got to learn something." I love the poorly educated! Donald Trump Think! It aint illegal yet. Funkadelic Its time we talked about the most consequential political divide in this country. That divide is not between liberals and conservatives. Rather, it is between the ignorant and the informed, between those who have information and can extrapolate from it and those who do not and cannot. There is an education gap between left and right, and it poses a grave threat to our national future. This gap has been empirically proven. A 2015 Pew Research Center study, for instance, found that only 24 percent of Americans with post-graduate degrees and 29 percent of those with college degrees identify as consistently or mostly conservative. The corresponding numbers for liberals were 54 and 44, with the rest not identifying strongly with either ideology. But empirical proof is superfluous. The truth has been obvious since the knowledge-starved likes of Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin and Louie Gohmert first became stars of the political right. It has been obvious since Stephen Colbert found it necessary to coin the word truthiness. Now, however, that ignorance has reached the highest levels of American governance. Did The Great Trumpkin really sign an executive order without knowing what was in it? Did he really reportedly have to ask what Vladimir Putin was talking about when the Russian president brought up an arms-control treaty in a phone call? Is his Twitter feed really a blizzard of embarrassing misspellings? Was there really a misspelling in his official inauguration poster? Did his Education Department repeat: his Education Department really misspell W.E.B. Du Bois and then, misspell its apology? Did he really praise Frederick Douglass, stone cold dead since 1895, as an example of somebody whos done an amazing job and is getting recognized more and more? Sigh. Yes, all of it. As he has already legitimized coarseness, misogyny and bigotry, the so-called president now legitimizes ignorance. Im aware of the potential for coming off like a snob or a bully in appearing to score people for lack of education. For what its worth, my mother lacked education; she had about seven years of formal schooling par for the course for a black girl in 1930s Mississippi. The woman had a reverence for knowledge, though. She was never book smart, but she was one of the wisest people Ive ever known. So Im here not to mock those who lack information, but to lament those who fail to value it. We are asked, implicitly, repeatedly, to believe that failure equals authenticity. Meantime, a new poll says that a third of us dont know that the Affordable Care Act and Obamacare are one and the same. And Jennifer Williams, an editor at Vox.com, recently received a note from a reader who was dissapointed with your facts, and advised teaching people the correct history all while talking about how we went to war with Saudi Arabia after Sept. 11. Thats not authentic or funny. No, its frightening. See, those people vote. They make decisions. Indeed, one of their decisions is in the White House. The need to fix American education could not be more stark or urgent. We must wrench our local school boards free of partisan political hackery and re-double our efforts to teach our children not what, but how to think. The world is not growing less complex or challenging while we dither about, literally pretending ignorance is bliss. With apologies to The United Negro College Fund: A country is also a terrible thing to waste. When Donald Trump moved in to the White House, it seemed logical that his administration would pull the plug on efforts to counter climate change. What else would anyone expect from a presidential candidate who once called global warming a Chinese hoax? Yet, earlier this month a cadre of Republican leaders from yesteryear succeeded in winning an audience in the White House with Gary Cohn, Trumps top economic adviser, to talk about carbon dividends. The group included James Baker, a former secretary of state and a former White House chief of staff; George Shultz, who held various cabinet positions; Martin Feldstein, a conservative economist who headed President Ronald Reagan's Council of Economic advisers; and others. The group, organized as the Climate Leadership Council, wants to put a price on carbon, which would be included in the price of fossil fuels like gasoline, coal or natural gas. But instead of the receipts going to the government, they would be funneled through the Social Security Administration and given back to the taxpayers as dividends. Proponents say that for most taxpayers the dividends would more than cover the increased cost of fossil fuels. The organization projects that the typical family of four would receive about $2,000 a year. The plan is similar to a concept promoted in Nebraska by the local chapter of the Citizens Climate Lobby. In reality few expect the plan to win acceptance in the Trump administration, which is filled with climate change deniers and frequently exhibits an anti-science bias. There was immediate pushback. Michael A. Needham of Heritage Action for America said flatly, There is no room in the Republican Party for a carbon tax. But credit the elder Republicans, throwbacks to an era where rationality and facts were respected, for outlining The Conservative Case for Carbon Dividends. Because like it or not, the planet is growing warmer. Last year was the hottest on record, breaking the record set only a year before. Greenhouse gases are at a higher level than any time in the last 4 million years. Every location that monitors carbon dioxide reports levels exceeding 400 parts per million. At the start of the industrial revolution the level was about 280 parts per million. So its encouraging that there are still those on the right side of the political spectrum who are trying to come up with ways to cope with the challenges facing our warming planet. Other Republicans should heed their counsel. The Nebraska Senators cannot get anything done. Rules are holding everything up ("Filibuster time limits reduced," Feb. 17). The issue is simple. Right now, they have about 32 so-called Republicans and 17 so-called Democrats. Right now, they need 33 votes to stop a filibuster. The Republicans are trying to change the rules to lower the number to something low enough to let them stop a filibuster. So, they needed to lower this number to about 27 or less to stop a filibuster. I, for one, am for this change. Nebraska is a conservative state. We have liberals that are doing whatever they can to change Nebraska to a liberal state. They want to stop the currently conservative legislative majority from silencing their voices. I, for one, would love for their voices to not be heard. Sen. Ernie Chambers and the like are trying to hijack this state for their own spending and wasting, making laws to create more protected classes, stopping common-sense gun ownership, and preventing this country from moving forward to progress. Everyone, please get involved and let your senator know how you feel. Maybe you agree with me or maybe you want the liberals to win but, either way, we need to let them know what we think. I just don't think they are hearing us. Rich Dreesman, Plattsmouth I am disappointed myself and others didnt get to testify on Feb. 8 on LB337 ("Ricketts, business groups justify tax cut; others raise concerns," Feb. 9). It is neither right nor fair that the Governor was allowed unlimited time and the people, like myself who drove to Lincoln, were stifled. The place for a tax reduction is in property taxes, not income taxes. It is property taxes that discourage businesses and people from staying in Nebraska or moving into Nebraska. Taxes on ag land overloads the tax burden on the smallest percentage of Nebraskans. Talk about tax inequality compared to our neighboring states! Nebraska far exceeds our neighbors' property taxes. My non-irrigated crop land is $60 per acre and my friend, 10 miles south of me in Kansas, with the same type of land, but irrigated, is $17 per acre! It is the same situation for homes and other real estate. Businesses will move in and out of the state as they always have and for various reasons. There is always competition from other states for these businesses. Income tax is not the major reason for this. People can buy a home in Kansas and it will have lower taxes than a home with half the value in Nebraska. Why would I move to Nebraska when I can use my tax savings from Nebraska, buy a bigger and better home in Kansas and pay less taxes? The income tax cut for the average income families is nothing in LB337. Please vote against LB337. Don Schuller, Wymore FREMONT-- A 23-year-old man died early Monday morning when his car was hit by a truck on U.S. 30 on the west side of Fremont. Justin T. Reynard of North Bend pulled onto the highway from a stop sign just before 4:30 a.m. and was hit by a northbound 1999 Peterbilt tractor-trailer, said Fremont Police Chief Jeff Elliott. Louis Dohmen, 62, of Columbus was driving the semi and was wearing a seat belt, Elliott said. He was released after treatment at Fremont Health Medical Center, the chief said. Reynard died at the scene and was not wearing a seat belt. The accident is still under investigation. OMAHA The Agriculture Department is getting ready to survey farmers about what they are planning to grow this year. The USDA will survey about 84,000 farmers nationwide about their plans. The survey will form the basis for the USDA's annual prospective plantings report. That report is scheduled to be released March 31. The USDA's Dean Groskurth says this report is important because it is the basis for the projections officials will make about this year's crop. Iconic paintings by American artists such as Georgia OKeefe and Grant Wood are recognized throughout the world. Overlooked is the space where their celebrated works of art were created, yet many of Americas most famous artists residences are open for public tours. Visiting where a preponderance of their art was first imagined and then created adds a layer of interest to their work. Examples of a few of the homes and studios of some of our late, great artists in the Midwest and Western states that welcome the public are below. Many provide a few hints of what inspired the creativity that appeared inside the art studio walls. Thomas Hart Benton 1889-1975 Kansas City, Missouri Although Missouri native Thomas Hart Benton is often associated with the Midwestern United States, he studied in Paris, lived 20 years in New York City and summered for 50 years on Martha's Vineyard. However, between 1935 and his death in 1975, Benton maintained a permanent home in Kansas City, painting in a stable he had converted into his studio. When he returned to Missouri in 1935, he was becoming a leader of the Regionalist movement in painting, an art style depicting realistic scenes of rural and small-town America. Bentons paints, cans of brushes and a stretched canvas remain where they were when he died in his studio after having just put the finishing touches on his last mural, The Sources of Country Music, for the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee. A tour through the home reveals Benton was also a sculptor, writer, book illustrator and harmonica player who even recorded an album for Decca Records in 1942 titled Saturday Night at Tom Benton's. Little-known fact: Benton was also an art teacher who counted abstract artist Jackson Pollock as one of his students. Grant Wood Studio and Visitor Center 1891-1942 Cedar Rapids, Iowa It was 1930 when Regionalist painter Grant Wood finished his painting American Gothic, the now immediately recognizable image of an American farmer and his daughter. But Wood was not standing at an easel while the rural couple posed in front of their home with the Gothic arched window in the background and a pitchfork between them. Instead, he was working and living in a 975-square-foot apartment above a carriage house he shared with his mother and sister in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, from 1924 until 1935. The apartment had been offered to Wood rent-free in 1924 by businessman John B. Turner and his son David Turner, who had become patrons of Woods art and had contributed to Woods sojourns to Europe in 1924 and 1928 to study painting. Wood left the studio in 1935, and the apartment continued to be rented until 2000. In 2004 the Grant Wood Studio & Visitor Center opened to the public. Little-known fact: John Turner II (son of David Turner) and his wife donated 84 works by Grant Wood to the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, which is home to more than 200 paintings by Wood and the largest collection of his work. Georgia OKeeffe 1887-1986 Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu, New Mexico Early in her career, OKeeffe felt success as an artist would never materialize. She took a job as a commercial artist and did not paint between 1908 and 1912. Then, after being exposed to an innovative method of painting that was more fluid and freeform than what she was used to, OKeefe returned to her art with a fresh approach and an open mind. By the mid-1920s, her work was being displayed and sold in New York City. By 1929, O'Keeffe felt a need to find yet another source of inspiration for her work, so she traveled to New Mexico, where she discovered the rugged beauty and vivid colors of the southwest. She also happened upon Ghost Ranch, which was an isolated dude ranch in the middle of the scenery she found so appealing. Between 1929 and 1949, O'Keeffe spent part of nearly every year at Ghost Ranch, exploring the desert and capturing the landscape on canvas. In 1940, she purchased a home and seven acres at the ranch. In 1945, she purchased a crumbling adobe home in the nearby village of Abiquiu, which she renovated into her studio and permanent residence. By the end of her career, she was known for her paintings of enlarged flowers, New York skyscrapers and New Mexico landscapes, and has often been referred to as the "mother of American modernism. Today visitors can visit the ranch and her home, and those familiar with her art can identify many of the scenes she painted. Little-known fact: The image of a cow skull that is the Ghost Ranch logo originated from a drawing OKeefe did the first time she visited, and a skull mounted on a post marked the turnoff to the ranch. Charles M. Russell 1864-1926 Great Falls, Montana In 1887, Russell was working as a cowboy on a ranch in Montana when the absentee owner inquired how the cattle herd had weathered the harsh winter. Instead of a letter, Russell painted a gaunt steer being watched by wolves under a gray winter sky, which he titled Waiting for a Chinook. The rancher showed the art to acquaintances and displayed it in a shop window in Helena, Montana. Soon Russell was working steadily as an artist, portraying the Montana landscapes and daily life of range cowboys and the Plains Indians. In 1900, Russell settled into a new, two-story frame house he built for $800 in Great Falls, Montana, and a log studio was added adjacent to the home in 1903. Made of western red cedar telephone poles, the studio is filled with authentic cowboy gear and Native American artifacts that Russell collected and used when he painted and sculpted. Today, the home and studio are on the grounds of the C.M. Russell Museum and open for tours. The museum contains one of the nations largest collections of Russells paintings, sculptures and drawings, as well as his illustrated letters, which chronicle the story of his travels, observations and friendships. Little-known fact: Before becoming established, Russell would paint in the corner of taverns. For more information The Historic Artists Homes and Studios program (HAHS) is a coalition of more than 30 American museums that were the homes and working studios of American artists and which are open for tours. See details at http://artistshomes.org/. Lincoln Community Playhouse will hold auditions for "Ragtime" on March 5- 6 at the Playhouse, 2500 S. 56th St. Actors should sign up for a one-hour slot at www.lincolnplayhouse.com. Actors should bring music and plan to sing 16-32 measures of a song (suggestions include power ballads from such shows as "Jekyll and Hyde," "Les Miserables," "Phantom of the Opera" or "Ragtime") and might be asked to read from the script and learn a short dance combination. Callbacks will be held March 8. Performances are May 5-7 and 11-14. Roles are available for 7 men and 4 women with a large ensemble. Many roles are written for African-American actors. Detailed cast information is available at www.lincolnplayhouse.com. LCP Director Morrie Enders says "Ragtime" is a masterwork musical about America in 1906 that speaks to todays headlines. Set in the volatile melting pot of turn-of-the-century New York, three distinctly American tales are woven together -- that of a daring young Harlem musician, a stifled upper-class wife and a determined Jewish immigrant -- united by their courage, compassion and belief in the promise of the future. Based on the book by E.L. Doctorow, the show won Tony Awards for the adaptation by Terrence McNally and the score by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens. The Playhouse production is directed by Morrie Enders with music direction by Kristen Works and choreography by Jennifer Schultz. RACINE COUNTY State lawmakers may try to address a shortage of volunteer firefighters and emergency medical technicians in the upcoming legislative session. A committee made up of state legislators and those in the field spent about six months studying the issue and issued a report Jan. 20 with a variety of recommendations, covering matters like funding and licenses and training requirements. Volunteer departments are active in many rural areas of the state, including western Racine County. About 80 percent of the state is covered by volunteer agencies, said Marc Cohen, executive director of the Wind Lake-based Wisconsin EMS Association. Volunteer shortages have been seen in Racine County and across the state and country, officials said, as departments struggle to recruit new volunteers and keep the ones they have. Departments face a variety of challenges: the practical difficulties of serving rural areas, high standards volunteers must reach and access to training, among others. "There isn't a quick fix," Cohen said. Eye toward flexibility Cohen and state Rep. Jesse Kremer, a Republican from Kewaskum and a volunteer EMT, pointed to a general decline in volunteerism contributing to the shortages. And becoming a volunteer firefighter or EMT is its own unique commitment with certain skills and training required. Kremer, who was the vice chairman of the study committee, said the committee discussed giving volunteers more flexibility on meeting some of their requirements for example, renewing their license every three years instead of two. "This is a volunteer job," Kremer said. "People work. They have real lives outside of this. We could wind up potentially losing people that we should be trying to hold onto." But officials need to balance the need for new volunteers with making sure emergency responders are properly trained, Cohen noted. The committee also discussed ideas like fire service districts, which would consist of new elected boards to handle tax dollars designated for fire and EMS services; tax credits for emergency responders; and expanding access to training, particularly in northern Wisconsin. "It's more about flexibility and how can we provide the tools necessary to make things work in rural areas," Kremer said. Six bills have been introduced and referred to state Senate committees. Cohen said he appreciates legislators' work toward addressing the issue, even if the problem isn't instantly solved. "I think the legislators are well-intentioned and really want to find a solution," Cohen said. "I think the solutions are complicated." Its the bedrock principle of employment: You agree to work for a set amount of money over a set period of time. You do the work and you get paid. On Jan. 27, Promotions Unlimited, 7601 Durand Ave., discharged its last 48 employees after laying off about 30 others in the preceding several weeks for a total of 77 jobs lost. Employees say the family-owned company, which was a local distributor to independent pharmacies, did not pay them for their last week of work. The state is investigating resulting wage complaints filed with the Department of Workforce Development. Roosevelt Capital LLC, doing business as Promotions Unlimited, also did not pay any severance to terminated employees, nor did it pay them for their accrued vacation time, ex-employees say. And during the week of Jan. 30, the terminated employees scrambled to stop the attempted reversals of their last paycheck direct deposits by the payroll company that Roosevelt Capital owners Ira and Lorraine Greenberg had used. The latest developments involve another prong to the states investigation, and burned former customers. Aimee Jacobs, co-owner of Yough Valley Pharmacy in Confluence, Pa., says Roosevelt Capitals business practices could have cost her business more than $1,000. She added that there are other pharmacies in her area in the same boat because of Roosevelts failure to pay the shipper. Another pharmacy (in Somerset, Pa.) has a stack of freight bills, Jacobs said. The Greenbergs have been unreachable by The Journal Times for comment. Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development spokesman John Dipko said recently that his agency, which has held an information session and a job fair for the former employees, has received 14 complaints contending Roosevelt violated the Warn Act. The state Business (Plant) Closing and Mass Layoff Law states that, with certain exceptions, employers with 50 or more workers must provide notice 60 days in advance of when 25 or more employees are affected by a business closing or 25 percent of the workforce is affected by a mass layoff, said Eric Schuh of the DWD. Schuh previously said the agency received a business closing notice from Promotions Unlimited dated Jan. 31 four days after employees were terminated en masse. Dipko said DWD is investigating those notification complaints as well as 23 wage complaints based on employees not getting paid for their last week of work. Businesses fail. Its an unfortunate reality of the risk inherent in any venture. In such situations, hard-working employees often lose their jobs through no fault of their own. You could argue that the final 48 employees should have seen the writing on the wall and gotten out, to have jumped off the cliff before they were pushed. But whatever their motivation, those employees showed up for work on those days at the end of January. They did an honest days work in expectation of a honest days pay. The final 48 employees of Promotions Unlimited did the work. They must be paid for it. Another fugitive in police net Police on Sunday arrested another fugitive involved in the Capital Merchant Banking and Finance Limited (CMBFL) scam. Charter revision after poll date Speaker Onasari Gharti has said that the constitution amendment bill tabled in Parliament will move forward soon after the government announces the date for local elections. Clinker imports jump nearly sixfold in H1 Nepal has been heading towards self-sufficiency in cement, but at the same time, imports of clinker, one of the key raw materials used in manufacturing it, have soared. Cabinet decides to hold local election on May 14 The government has decided to hold hold local level election on May 14. Earlier in the day, the Election Commission (EC) had proposed May 14 for holding the elections. Families of the disappeared to side with CIEDP The National Network of Families of Disappeared and Missing (Nefad) has announced collaboration with the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) in a strategic move to monitor and challenge the latters activities as it gears up for a detailed investigation into complaints of conflict victims. Feasibility study launched for dry port in Gulariya The government has launch feasibility study for building a dry port at Surajpur in Gulariya, Bardia. Fuel supply to ease from today: NOC Nepal Oil Corporation has said that petroleum products will be easily available at fueling stations across the valley from Monday. Given the current trend of politics, a crisis seems imminent The Nepal Congress and the CPN (Maoist Center) have agreed to announce the election dates for local level elections in the next Cabinet meeting, taking into account the constitutional requirement that local, provincial, and federal level elections must be held by 21 January 2018. Tika R Pradhan is a senior political correspondent for the Post, covering politics, parliament, judiciary and social affairs. Pradhan joined the Post in 2016 after working at The Himalayan Times for more than a decade. Hearing on IGP appointment postponed The Supreme Court on Sunday postponed the hearing on the appointment of Nepal Police DIG Jaya Bahadur Chand to the post of Inspector General until Wednesday. Hundi operators nabbed from Kichhapokhari Police recently arrested two persons for allegedly running the illegal business of hundi (transfer of money through illegal channels), Nepal Police said. Hundreds of migrants cross into Spain's Ceuta in second wave in 3 days More than 300 African migrants jumped the border fence between Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on Monday morning, the second mass push since Friday, the emergency services said. India proposes Kathmandu to Delhi, Kolkata rail links India has expressed interest to link Kathmandu with two Indian cities, New Delhi and Kolkata, using direct railway lines in a bid to strengthen cross-border connectivity and facilitate movement of people between the two countries. Indonesia says at least three N. Korean murder suspects went to Dubai At least three of four North Korean men wanted in connection with the murder of President Kim Jong Un's estranged half-brother caught a flight from Jakarta to Dubai on the evening of the attack, an Indonesian immigration official said on Monday. Long queues appear at gasoline stations A strike by tanker operators disrupted fuel supplies and caused queues of panic buyers to form outside gasoline stations run by the Nepal Army, Nepal Police and Sajha. Man caught with 1.5 kg gold The Tribhuvan International Airport customs department caught a person with 1.5kg illegal gold on Sunday. Marchawar tense as CK Rauts supporters clash with police The Marchawar area in Rupandehi district remained tense on Sunday as well due to sporadic clashes between the supporters of CK Raut, coordinator of the Independent Madhes campaign, and security personnel. Nepali migrant worker found dead in Qatar A Nepali migrant worker was found dead in his room in Qatar. NRNA starts building housing project for earthquake victims Workers have started to dig the foundation for a housing project to keep the earthquake displaced families at Gupsipakha in Laprak, Gorkha. Parties welcome announcement of date for local elections The CPN-UML has welcomed the announcement of the date for local bodies' election by the government. RaxaulParwanipur transmission line construction completes The construction of the Raxaul-Parwanipur 132-KV power transmission line has been completed. SLMM announces stir against local poll date Expressing its serious disappointment over the announcement of date for local polls by the government, the Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha (SLMM) has announced protest programmes. Tension grips Banepa-based school following mysterious death of student Banepa-Gyankunj Shikshik Prathisthan became tense on Monday following mysterious death of a school student. Named one of the BEST 25 BLOGS by TIME Magazine. Ken Levine is an Emmy winning writer/director/producer/major league baseball announcer. In a career that has spanned over 30 years Ken has worked on MASH, CHEERS, FRASIER, THE SIMPSONS, WINGS, EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND, BECKER, DHARMA & GREG, and has co-created three series. He and his partner wrote the feature VOLUNTEERS. Ken has also been the radio/TV play-by-play voice of the Baltimore Orioles, Seattle Mariners, San Diego Padres. and Dodger Talk. He is a contributing cartoonist to the New Yorker magazine, and he hosts the podcast HOLLYWOOD & LEVINE By Ruth Anderah City Hall Court has issued criminal summons against prominent lawyer Bob Kasango to appear on March 13th 2017 for hearing of fraud offences against him. The summons issued after his failure to appear before Courts grade one magistrate Moses Nabende as he was directed. Kasango is accused of forging a land sale agreement and stealing 500 million shillings from the Bank account of his client a one Wivine Nyiramana Mukuru that had been paid to her by a one John Kaweesa. Prosecution states that on 14 January 2015 at Marble Law Firm offices at Kololo, Kasango forged a sale agreement on a land at Impala Avenue Kololo without authority of his client Wivine Nyiramana Mukuru and introduced a different purchase price and payment terms into the agreement. Kasango has been battling with this case since September 2015 to date. WASHINGTON Indianas 3rd District Rep. Jim Banks introduced his first proposed legislation in Congress this week. It seeks to require social media checks and additional vetting measures for visa applicants. Banks, R-Columbia City, on Thursday introduced the Visa Investigation and Social Media Act of 2017, which would aim to gather more information about applicants, notably about their personal web presence. Washington officials including Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly have mentioned the idea recently. Kelly suggested to the Homeland Security Committee earlier this month that the U.S. should begin asking people for passwords to their online accounts. If they refuse to give them, the U.S. would refuse entry, Kelly said. Banks appears generally to have picked up on the nut of that idea with his proposal. We must have confidence that those entering our country do not intend us harm, Banks said in a news release. Directing Homeland Security to review visa applicants social media before granting them access to our country is common sense. Employers vet job candidates this way, and I think its time we do the same for visa applicants. Banks bill would require the Department of Homeland Security to include the following in the background check of individuals applying for a visa with the exception of work authorizations to the United States: a review of the applicants publicly available social media activity such as Twitter posts, YouTube videos and Facebook photos and posts; an interview of each applicant who is age 11 or older; a fraud-prevention check of each applicants documentation; and a requirement that the applicant provide an English translation of his or her documentation. The bill also would require the deployment of a Homeland Security employee to all visa-issuing embassies and consulates. The bill would authorize $60 million to deploy the additional staff worldwide. In response to a question about what constitutes social media, Banks press secretary, Anna Swick, replied the bill would apply to anything that is publicly available on the internet. Asked how the proposal would prevent people from deleting accounts or simply failing to report them at all, Banks office indicated that the social media check would be an added layer to look at, if available. Publicly available social media presents an additional window into whether an applicant is a security threat. However, checking an individuals social media is by no means exhaustive, Swick wrote. The interview and the age range that stretches down into younger children would add a layer that potentially could help stop human trafficking and child exploitation, while also keeping an eye out for security threats, Swicks responses state. The vetting component of the bill is less about vetting children coming into the United States than it is about protecting children coming into the United States. With the influx of human trafficking and child exploitation, coupled with ISIS and other terrorist organizations using children as weapons, we want to interview individuals 11 years and older, Swick wrote. National security and access to the U.S. has been a major focus in the first month of President Donald Trumps administration. Thats included an executive order temporarily restricting entry of any citizens of seven countries that had been associated with terrorist activities, as well as halting the entry of refugees. Trumps executive order was later blocked in a decision by a district court judge in Seattle that was upheld by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court. Banks, a veteran of the U.S. Navy Reserves who was deployed to Afghanistan in 2014 and 2015 and previously served in the Indiana Senate before being elected to Congress, has expressed a heightened interest in addressing security and military matters. Georgia Ragna Carr died peacefully Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017, surrounded by family. She was born Nov. 8, 1919, in Chicago to Henry Valentine and Ragna Mott. The family later moved back to Grafton, N.D., where Georgia grew up. She came to La Crosse in 1938 to pursue a teaching degree in physical education and mathematics. Georgia graduated in 1941 and taught school in Watertown, S.D., before joining the American Red Cross in 1943. Georgia traveled with the Red Cross for two years during World War II, serving soldiers in Austria, England and Germany and was in Dachau, Germany the day the prisoners were released into the streets at the end of the war, an experience she never forgot. After the war Georgia returned to La Crosse and married Richard C. Carr in Grafton, June 22, 1946. They had met in college while both played in the college marching band; Georgia played the drums and Richard was a clarinet player. After they married, Richard and Georgia operated his family grocery store, Richs Super Fair, until Richard retired in 1977. Georgia was an active womana Scout leader for all her children, a UNICEF volunteer, a PTA president, willing to help out wherever needed as her children were growing up. The family always had a boat and spent many hours on the river, camping on sandbars along the upper Mississippi River with five young children and a dog. Georgia had a life long passion for swimming. At the age of 15, she swam across the Detroit Lakes in Western Minnesota. She had an adventurous spirit that pushed her to travel to new places and experience new things, even learning how to fly a plane while teaching in Watertown, just because she didnt know how to fly. Later Georgia was an active volunteer at the Pump House, Norskedalen, St. Johns United Church of Christ and the La Crosse County Womens Republican Party. She was a great bridge player and would never turn down an invite to play. Georgia was proud of her Norwegian heritage. Her mother came to America at the age of 16 from north Norway, near the Arctic Circle. Later Georgia and her sister, Virginia would travel there to find the old family homestead and meet distant relatives. Georgia was also proud to come from North Dakota. Her grandmother and grandfather were North Dakotan pioneers in the 1880s, traveling from New Jersey and becoming active in the settlement of the Dakota Territory as a teacher and a land surveyor. She is survived by her five children, Jeri Sebo and Thomas Carr, both of La Crosse, Richard Carr of Fairbanks, Alaska, Robert (Donna) Carr of Anthem, Ariz., and Randi (Eric) Hartwig of Wausau, Wis.; granddaughters, Ingri Hartwig, Kirta (Matt) Carroll, Gretchen (John) Braley, Bente (Judd) Smith, Chelsea (Ryan) Wagman, Jenna (Scott) Halvorson; and eight great-grandchildren. Georgia was preceded in death by her husband, Richard, Feb. 27, 2006. Best of all, Georgia was a great companion. Her wisdom and humor will stay with us forever. Her children and grandchildren never tired of her stories of an interesting life and different times. Georgia, Mom and Grandma, you will be missed by all. We love you. A celebration of life will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22, at St. Johns United Church of Christ, 630 West Ave., La Crosse. Pastor Donald Fox will officiate. Private burial will be in Oak Grove Cemetery. A visitation will be held from 9 a.m. until the time of the celebration. In lieu of flowers, the family prefers memoriam gifts. Jandt-Fredrickson Funeral Homes and Crematory, Woodruff Chapel, La Crosse, is in charge of arrangements. Online condolences may be sent at www.jandtfredrickson.com. Despite finishing first in Denmarks election, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has decided to step down along with her Social Democratic government. Frederiksens announcement on Wednesday came after a dramatic vote count in which the center-left bloc that has backed her since 2019 retained its majority in Parliament by a single seat. In theory, the Social Democratic leader could have stayed in power as head of a minority government. But she said she would stick to campaign promises to try to form a broader coalition with parties on the center-right. Frederiksen handed her resignation to Queen Margrethe, who was expected to ask her to lead talks to form a new government. On Monday, the individuals and families who have been residing at Houska Park for the summer have to leave and find shelter for the upcoming w About 50 people marched from Winona State Universitys campus to Wells Fargo bank downtown to protest outside the building Monday afternoon. Wells Fargo has been the subject of protests across the country for its potential funding of the pipeline project, along with other large banking institutions, through a $2.5 billion loan signed off on by all the institutions that would help fund the completion the project. The protest was organized by WSUs Turtle Island Student Organization. Aaron Camacho, a founding member of the organization and chairman of the Winona-Dakota Unity Alliance, told the assembled crowd that they were showing their dedication by coming out in all kinds of weather to do all they can to halt the pipelines construction. The people know were serious, Camacho said. Were not fair-weather activists. The group stopped by WSUs Somsen Hall on the way downtown to highlight the universitys connection to Wells Fargo, by offering banking spots and ATMs. Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners obtained federal permits for the $3.8 billion pipeline in July, two years after it was first announced. The pipeline would carry a half-million barrels of crude oil daily from western North Dakotas oil fields through South Dakota and Iowa to an existing pipeline in Illinois, where shippers can access Midwest and Gulf Coast markets. Supporters say the pipeline would expand markets and reduce truck and oil train traffic. Protesters say the pipeline could threaten water supplies for millions, since it will cross the Missouri River, as well as harm sacred Native American sites and artifacts. Since April 2016, protests have grown considerably at the confluence of the Cannonball and Missouri rivers. Camacho said their protests had an increased sense of urgency due to announced plans to oust protesters later this month using federal, state and local law enforcement, despite the protests being on Native American territory ceded to them through treaties. Our government is going to remove native people from their land, Camacho said. Were repeating history. Protesters were encouraged to continue calls to the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers to delay construction, as well as the banks, and North Dakotas governor and legislators. In the meantime, those assembled Monday said they were going to continue local action to spread awareness. Regan Holm, vice president of the Turtle Island Student Organization, said they wouldnt be discourage by rain on Monday, or anything else until they had results. Were going to stop when its done, Holm said. WHITEHALL Trempealeau County will be one of a handful of Wisconsin counties whose voters will narrow of field a circuit judge candidates in Tuesdays spring primary election. Judge Charles Feltes, appointed by Gov. Scott Walker to replace Judge John Damon when he retired last year, will be joined on the ballot by another Osseo man, Rian Radtke, Trempealeau Countys corporation counsel; and by Rick Schaumberg of Independence, who has practiced law in Trempealeau County for almost two decades. Charles Feltes Feltes practiced law in Osseo since 1995, handling real estate, family and business law, estate planning and probate cases. He also served as a court commissioner. Feltes received his law degree from the University of Illinois College of Law. He lives in Osseo with his wife, Susan. A Federalist Society member since 2015, the University of Wisconsin-River Falls graduate majored in economics, with minors in political science and mathematics. Rian Radtke Radtke was in private practice in Black River Falls before becoming Trempealeau Countys corporation counsel. He got his law degree at William Mitchell in St. Paul, Minn., after majoring in criminal justice at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Radtke cites his commitment to uphold the law as written and a reputation for being tough, but fair. He says fairness includes an appropriate balance of retribution and mercy. Rick Schaumberg A Kenosha native, Schaumberg earned a law degree from Franklin Pierce Law School, now affiliated with the University of New Hampshire. He touts his experiences both inside and outside the courtroom nearly 20 years as a lawyer in both civil and criminal cases, and 18 years as a foundry and union worker before that. Schaumberg has represented many municipalities in Trempealeau, Jackson, Eau Claire and Clark counties. Sen. Tammy Baldwin thinks President Trumps ties to Russia deserve some scrutiny, and not because shes a member of the minority party, she said. (This) has to rise above partisanship. This is about country, this is about democracy, she said. The American people have every right to demand answers. Baldwin is one of 11 Senate Democrats calling for an independent investigation into Trump's team and any potential ties to Russia. She appeared on a recent segment of the Sunday political talk show "UpFront with Mike Gousha" to explain her participation, as well as her refusal to support U.S. Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch. The call was triggered by the recent resignation of Michael Flynn, Trumps national security adviser. Flynn resigned last week in light of information that he gave Vice President Mike Pence incomplete information about his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the United States last December. I think this is a subject of enormous gravity, the idea that there could be officials who are compromised, (or) vulnerable to blackmail, Baldwin said. Baldwin said the situation is more serious in light of recent provocations by Russia, including Russias decision to deploy a cruise missile last week, which violated a treaty agreement. She said a need for complete information and transparency goes back to Trumps campaign, citing his refusal to release his tax returns. One of the things that would tell us is whether he has financial entanglements with the Russian oligarchy, for example, whether he has these sort of ties that would allow some sort of compromise of our national security, Baldwin said. Then, when the U.S. intelligence community concluded in early January that Russia had interfered in the presidential election via cyberattacks, Baldwin called for an investigation. That is a very serious charge; our democracy is at stake, she said. Flynns resignation last week brought up more questions about the connections between Trumps team and Kremlin intelligence officials, Baldwin said. Host Mike Gousha also asked Baldwin about her stance on U.S. Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch. Baldwin has stated that she wont support Gorsuch, and on UpFront cited some of Gorsuch's previous decisions on womens health, workers' right, retirees'rights and education to explain her concern. What I want is a strong, independent justice, she said. I would say even Donald Trumps strongest supporters are very focused right now on making sure this is a strong check and balance to his exertion of power. Baldwin recently met with Gorsuch, and Gousha asked whether the meeting with him allayed any of her concerns. Baldwin said the interview was unhelpful. You dont get answers. Part of that is very understandable: you can't have a candidate for a justice position or a judge talking about how they might decide in a controversy not yet before them, she said. But I really felt that there was a type of failure to address very straightforward questions. Specifically, Baldwin said, she couldnt get a sense about Gorsuchs views on the recent travel ban from seven majority-Muslim countries and refugee suspension. Supreme court justices impact the daily lives of Wisconsinites, Baldwin said, and these people need a fair shake in court. The system is rigged in Washington; we cant have that happening on the Supreme Court, she said. Asked how confident she was about her chances for re-election in 2018, Baldwin said shes not focusing on that at the moment. Right now I'm focused on fighting for Wisconsin's workers, Wisconsin values and traditions. I do what I do because I care so deeply about helping people get ahead, she said. I believe that that is what the voters and all the people of Wisconsin want. The primary for state superintendent has been surprisingly contentious, with candidates calling each other liars and Wisconsin Scott Walker calling the whole incident bizarre. One of the candidates in question sought to clear his name before Tuesdays primary on a recent episode of Sunday morning talk show Capital City Sunday. Hes desperate. Theres four or five days before the election and hes doing anything he can to discredit me, and its hurtful, candidate Lowell Holtz said of his opponent. The current state superintendent, Tony Evers, is running for his third term of re-election. He has three challengers: Rick Melcher, a high school math teacher, Holtz, a former superintendent, and John Humphries, a former district administrator and Department of Public Instruction (DPI) consultant. Last Wednesday, Humphries released an email from Holtz to the Wisconsin State Journal. The email detailed an arrangement wherein Holtz or Humphries would be guaranteed a high-paying DPI job by the other if one of them dropped out of the race. Holtz released his own documents and said that he did not come up with the proposal: it was rather the idea of business leaders. In Holtzs version of the story on Capital City Sunday, those business leaders called Holtz and Humphries together for a debate-style interview. It started with a very concerned group of business leaders that were really concerned about our kids and how we were failing them, he said. Holtz declined to name the business leaders when asked by host Greg Neumann, saying that he had given his word not to identify them. He called the meeting well-intentioned. It wasnt bad to talk about how you can support each other if you agree, he said. Theres not a problem with saying how youre going to help kids later on, after the election is over. After the interview, the business leaders called Holtz and Humphries and said they wanted the candidates to work together to keep the campaign clean and support each other after the primaries and the final election. Holtz said the business leaders suggested that the document a potential division of responsibilities in writing. The resulting document, released by Humphries, was not a contract, Holtz said, but a draft of an agreement. The document states that the losing candidate would get a three-year, $150,000 a year contract with full benefits and a driver. Neumann asked whether a DPI official should make $150,000, which is more than the DPI superintendent and governor make. I have no idea, because Im not there, he said. In the proposed role, Holtz would be given authority over Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha, and Madison school districts. Neumann said that the current laws dont give the DPI superintendent much authority over those areas, asking Holtz what he was looking for. Holtz denied that he had sought the role, saying it had more to do with the business leaders who were interested in his commitment to urban districts. He said he has never advocated for a top-down management style. The only way you improve things in an urban environment is by getting involved and getting them involved so its their plan. Ultimately, the agreement for the position didnt go anywhere, Holtz said. The issue is, when wed met, it was very clear that there was no interest in working together after the primary, Holtz said. Neither one of us liked it. Holtz said Humphries was only interested in an agreement if Holtz dropped out before getting on the ballot. I told him that my wife and I prayed a lot about this, we felt that we were called to try to do this, Holtz said, saying his family and friends were his campaign managers. Im not going to betray my faith, my family, my friends, and do that. That was the end of the matter until last week, Holtz said. He said the accusation that he asked Humphries for a job is ridiculous, as he recently retired from a job as a superintendent that he loved. I didnt (retire) so someone would offer me a job for less money and more distance from kids, he said. Holtz called the focus on the controversy unfortunate, saying the candidates ideas should take center stage. We should be saying, What's Tonys idea? Whats mine? Whats Johns idea? and then people select off of that, he said. Asked what his ideas are, Holtz emphasized a variety of school choices, top-down change, empowering teachers and safety in schools, citing fights and gang activity. We have way too many schools that arent safe, he said. You do that with positive discipline. Its not punishment, it's discipline. A church choir has discipline if they sound good. Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy Smart Rating: 93.08 Release year: 1948 Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, Tim Holt In this classic adventure film, two rough-and-tumble wanderers, Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart) and Curtin (Tim Holt), meet up with a veteran prospector, Howard (Walter Huston), in Mexico and head into the Sierra Madre mountains to find gold. Although they discover treasure, they also find plenty of trouble, not only from ruthless bandits lurking in the dangerous Mexican wilderness but from their own insecurities and greed, which threaten to bring conflict at any moment. 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10 (4) Aug 09 (3) Aug 08 (4) Aug 07 (3) Aug 06 (3) Aug 05 (3) Aug 04 (4) Aug 03 (4) Aug 02 (4) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (4) Jul 30 (5) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (3) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (4) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (3) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (5) Jul 19 (4) Jul 18 (4) Jul 17 (3) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (3) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (4) Jul 12 (3) Jul 11 (3) Jul 10 (3) Jul 09 (4) Jul 08 (4) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (3) Jul 05 (5) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (4) Jul 02 (4) Jul 01 (4) Jun 30 (3) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (3) Jun 26 (3) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (5) Jun 22 (5) Jun 21 (3) Jun 20 (4) Jun 19 (3) Jun 18 (3) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (4) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (4) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (6) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (4) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (5) Jun 07 (3) Jun 06 (3) Jun 05 (5) Jun 04 (5) Jun 03 (3) Jun 02 (5) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (3) May 30 (5) May 29 (3) May 28 (4) May 27 (5) May 26 (7) May 25 (4) May 24 (4) May 23 (4) May 22 (6) May 21 (4) May 20 (3) May 19 (5) May 18 (4) May 17 (4) May 16 (5) May 15 (4) May 14 (4) May 13 (5) May 12 (4) May 11 (5) May 10 (6) May 09 (7) May 08 (3) May 07 (6) May 06 (4) May 05 (6) May 04 (6) May 03 (4) May 02 (4) May 01 (4) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (3) Apr 28 (4) Apr 27 (4) Apr 26 (3) Apr 25 (6) Apr 24 (4) Apr 23 (5) Apr 22 (5) Apr 21 (7) Apr 20 (6) Apr 19 (5) Apr 18 (5) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (6) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (5) Apr 12 (5) Apr 11 (4) Apr 10 (6) Apr 09 (7) Apr 08 (7) Apr 07 (4) Apr 06 (7) Apr 05 (6) Apr 04 (5) Apr 03 (6) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (6) Mar 31 (4) Mar 30 (5) Mar 29 (5) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (6) Mar 26 (6) Mar 25 (7) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (4) Mar 22 (5) Mar 21 (5) Mar 20 (5) Mar 19 (4) Mar 18 (4) Mar 17 (4) Mar 16 (3) Mar 15 (4) Mar 14 (5) Mar 13 (5) Mar 12 (5) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (5) Mar 09 (5) Mar 08 (4) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (5) Mar 05 (6) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (5) Mar 02 (4) Mar 01 (3) Feb 29 (4) Feb 28 (4) Feb 27 (5) Feb 26 (5) Feb 25 (4) Feb 24 (5) Feb 23 (4) Feb 22 (5) Feb 21 (3) Feb 20 (4) Feb 19 (2) Feb 18 (5) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (4) Feb 15 (4) Feb 14 (4) Feb 13 (6) Feb 12 (5) Feb 11 (3) Feb 10 (5) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (5) Feb 06 (5) Feb 05 (5) Feb 04 (4) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (3) Feb 01 (2) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (3) Jan 28 (5) Jan 27 (6) Jan 26 (4) Jan 25 (3) Jan 24 (4) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (3) Jan 21 (3) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (4) Jan 18 (3) Jan 17 (3) Jan 16 (3) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (3) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (3) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (5) Jan 06 (3) Jan 05 (5) Jan 04 (3) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (1) Jan 01 (3) Dec 31 (3) Dec 30 (5) Dec 29 (4) Dec 28 (4) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (3) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (3) Dec 22 (3) Dec 21 (3) Dec 20 (4) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (4) Dec 17 (3) Dec 16 (5) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (3) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (4) Dec 08 (3) Dec 07 (3) Dec 06 (5) Dec 05 (3) Dec 04 (3) Dec 03 (3) Dec 02 (4) Dec 01 (5) Nov 30 (3) Nov 29 (4) Nov 28 (3) Nov 27 (5) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (5) Nov 24 (3) Nov 23 (3) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (3) Nov 18 (3) Nov 17 (4) Nov 16 (3) Nov 15 (4) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (5) Nov 12 (4) Nov 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12 (4) Aug 11 (3) Aug 10 (3) Aug 09 (3) Aug 08 (4) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (3) Aug 05 (5) Aug 04 (3) Aug 03 (4) Aug 02 (3) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (4) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (3) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (3) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (3) Jul 20 (3) Jul 19 (3) Jul 18 (3) Jul 17 (3) Jul 16 (3) Jul 15 (4) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (3) Jul 12 (3) Jul 11 (3) Jul 10 (4) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (3) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (4) Jul 05 (3) Jul 04 (3) Jul 03 (4) Jul 02 (3) Jul 01 (5) Jun 30 (4) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (1) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (5) Jun 24 (4) Jun 23 (4) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (3) Jun 18 (3) Jun 17 (3) Jun 16 (3) Jun 15 (3) Jun 14 (3) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (3) Jun 11 (4) Jun 10 (3) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (3) Jun 06 (4) Jun 05 (3) Jun 04 (4) Jun 03 (4) Jun 02 (3) Jun 01 (4) May 31 (3) May 30 (3) May 29 (3) May 28 (4) May 27 (6) May 26 (3) May 25 (3) May 24 (3) May 23 (3) May 22 (5) May 21 (3) May 20 (3) May 19 (3) May 18 (4) May 17 (3) May 16 (3) May 15 (4) May 14 (4) May 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(2) Feb 20 (2) Feb 19 (2) Feb 18 (2) Feb 17 (2) Feb 16 (2) Feb 15 (1) Feb 14 (1) Feb 13 (1) Feb 12 (2) Feb 11 (1) Feb 10 (2) Feb 09 (1) Feb 08 (1) Feb 07 (1) Feb 06 (1) Feb 05 (5) Feb 03 (1) Feb 02 (1) Feb 01 (1) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (4) Jan 28 (2) Jan 27 (5) Jan 26 (5) Jan 25 (5) Jan 24 (3) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (4) Jan 21 (3) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (4) Jan 18 (3) Jan 17 (2) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (5) Jan 13 (5) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (3) Jan 09 (5) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (4) Jan 06 (3) Jan 05 (4) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (6) Jan 02 (3) Jan 01 (4) Dec 31 (4) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (5) Dec 28 (5) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (4) Dec 24 (1) Dec 23 (4) Dec 22 (3) Dec 21 (5) Dec 20 (5) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (4) Dec 17 (5) Dec 16 (4) Dec 15 (6) Dec 14 (4) Dec 13 (4) Dec 12 (5) Dec 11 (5) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (5) Dec 08 (4) Dec 07 (4) Dec 06 (5) Dec 05 (4) Dec 04 (4) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (3) Nov 30 (4) Nov 29 (4) Nov 28 (5) Nov 27 (4) Nov 26 (4) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (5) Nov 23 (4) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 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(3) Aug 21 (3) Aug 20 (5) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (3) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (5) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (3) Aug 12 (4) Aug 11 (3) Aug 10 (3) Aug 09 (4) Aug 08 (2) Aug 07 (2) Aug 06 (2) Aug 05 (2) Aug 04 (2) Aug 03 (3) Aug 02 (4) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (2) Jul 30 (5) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (3) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (6) Jul 24 (3) Jul 23 (4) Jul 22 (4) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (4) Jul 18 (4) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (5) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (4) Jul 12 (4) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (5) Jul 09 (2) Jul 08 (2) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (2) Jul 05 (2) Jul 04 (3) Jul 03 (4) Jul 02 (5) Jul 01 (3) Jun 30 (2) Jun 29 (3) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (3) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (2) Jun 20 (4) Jun 19 (3) Jun 18 (3) Jun 17 (1) Jun 16 (5) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (2) Jun 13 (5) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (2) Jun 09 (2) Jun 08 (2) Jun 07 (2) Jun 06 (2) Jun 05 (2) Jun 04 (2) Jun 03 (2) Jun 02 (4) Jun 01 (3) May 31 (4) May 30 (5) May 29 (3) May 28 (3) May 27 (3) May 26 (4) May 25 (4) May 24 (2) May 23 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Mar 16 (1) Mar 15 (2) Mar 13 (1) Mar 12 (1) Mar 11 (1) Mar 10 (1) VOA Learning English presents America's Presidents. Today we are talking about George Washington. He was the first president of the United States. He served from 1789 to 1797. But he had many other accomplishments, too. He owned thousands of hectares of land in his home state of Virginia. He was a famous general, who led the American colonists to freedom from British rule. And he presided over the convention that created the U.S. Constitution. For Washington, that was enough. He said he wanted to retire from public service and return home. But the countrys new electors had other ideas. They wanted him to move to New York and invent the American presidency. Washington accepted the job as his duty. Washington as president Washington was sworn in as president in 1789. At the time, a truly united states was still just an idea. Americans were unconnected groups. They came from different countries, had different religions, and spoke different languages. For example, a quarter of the people in the state of Pennsylvania spoke only German. Doug Bradburn is the founding director of the Washington Library at Mount Vernon. He says when Washington took office, the country was fragile. The chances that it would even survive were probably very, very slim. Bradburn explains that Washington had to establish social and political unity. But the Constitution did not say how the president could do that. So, Bradburn says, George Washington invented the job for all future presidents. He established a group of advisors called the cabinetas well as the nations official money. He appointed a six-member Supreme Court. And he created the Department of Foreign Affairs, now called the State Department. However, Washington said it was the presidents responsibility to set foreign policy. Historian Doug Bradburn explains that Washington established the president not just as a figurehead, but as a decision maker. But he always used the Constitution as his guide. He wasnt just trying to establish an office and then figure out a way to justify it, he was trying to work with his Constitution. Washington as a young man George Washington was born in 1732 in the colony of Virginia. His father died when George was 11 years old. As a boy, he learned reading, writing and math. Then he worked as a land surveyor in western Virginia. Historian Joseph Ellis points out that Washington did not have a formal education. Instead of going to college, Ellis says, Washington went to war. He fought against the French and Indians as a British Army officer. That experience informed Washingtons world view. Ellis describes the first president as a realist. At the same time, Washington was a very passionate man with extremely strong emotions. He was known to get angry, but he showed his temper to only a few people. Washington not only acted like a great leader he looked like one. George Washington stood about 1.9 meters tall. That was a head taller than the average man of his time. He was very strong, and very graceful. He was known as one of the best horseback riders and best dancers in Virginia. But he had a problem: bad teeth. Unlike his wife, Martha, who was known for her lovely smile, George Washington began losing his teeth in his twenties. When he was sworn in as president, he had only one tooth left. Washington as a myth Washington remains an important figure in the American imagination. Even today people tell stories about him. One popular story, that he had wooden teeth, is not true. But he did wear dentures. They were made, in part, from hippopotamus ivory. And he did not chop down a cherry tree as a child and then admit it by saying, I cannot tell a lie. In fact, historian Joseph Ellis says George Washington lied many times. But it is true that as Washington became more famous, his reputation grew. People thought of him as a man who always did the right thing. Joseph Ellis says even Washington understood people would look at his writings and judge him. Washington went from being a man to a monument. He was aware of the fact that he had a role to play and that all emerging nations need mythical heroes. Washington became very protective of his personal thoughts. His wife burned most of their letters. Yet we know a little bit about George Washingtons thoughts from other writing. One of his regrets, he said, was that he had not done something to end slavery. Like many plantation owners, Washington was a slave holder. More than 300 enslaved people lived on his property. By the end of his life, Washington opposed slavery. He left a will ordering his survivors to free his slaves after his wifes death. Washingtons will became relevant sooner than he might have liked. Three years after he finished his second term as president, Washington fell ill. He had been outside riding his horse on a cold, wet day. When he came home, he complained of a sore throat. Over the next two days, his condition became worse. On December 14, 1799, he died in his bed, surrounded by his wife, enslaved maids, and friends. He was 67. Washingtons legacy Historian Joseph Ellis says one of the best things about George Washington was his ability to give up power. At the end of the Revolutionary War, General Washington returned his sword. And at the end of his administration, President Washington simply returned home. You could trust Washington with power because he was so conspicuously willing to give it up. Doug Bradburn says Washington was the right man at the right time. Bradburn, like many historians, calls George Washington the indispensable man. In other words, Washington was essential to the American experiment in self-government. He made ideas about American freedom real, and he showed that even the president would operate under the rule of law. I'm Kelly Jean Kelly. See how well you understand the story by taking this listening quiz. Play each video and choose the best answer. Quiz: George Washington: The President Who Did Not Want to Be President Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story accomplishment n. something done or achieved successfully figurehead n. a person who is called the head of something but who has no real power surveyor n. a person whose job is to measure and examine an area of land temper n. the tendency of someone to become angry graceful adj. moving in a smooth and attractive way denture(s) n. a set of artificial teeth will n. a legal document in which a person states who should receive his or her possessions after he or she dies conspicuously adv. very easy to see or notice indispensable adj. extremely important and necessary Download Lesson 45 Speaking Pronunciation Conversation Anna: You know I love Washington, D.C. But I want to see more of the United States. My roommate Marsha and I will be on vacation at the same time. So, we are going on a road trip together! Hi, Marsha! Marsha: Hi! Anna: I packed my bags and I am ready to go! Marsha: Did you make a list of all the places you want to see? Anna: I did. I want to see New York City and the Statue of Liberty! Marsha: And I want to see Mount Rushmore! Anna: (Anna writes) Mount Rushmore. Marsha: And dont forget the Grand Canyon! Anna: (Anna writes) Lets not forget Californias redwood forest! There are so many places to see! Marsha: We will be driving for a long time. So, we might get bored. Anna: Bored? No way! We can talk. Marsha: Or not talk. Anna: We can play word games. We can sing! You know, our trip is like that famous American song. (sings) "This land is your land, This land is my land "* Marsha: (sings) "from California to the New York island ..." BOTH: ... to the redwood forest to the Gulf stream waters ... this land was made for you and me! Marsha: Will we be stopping soon? Anna: We wont be stopping soon. Marsha: Im hungry. Anna: Marsha, we just left D.C.! Well be eating lunch in about 2 hours. Can you wait? Marsha: I guess. Anna: Here, have an apple. Its organic! (Anna throws the apple. It goes out the window.) Marsha: Thanks. Marsha: Okay, we will be arriving in New York City very soon! Anna: I cant wait to see The Big Apple! Marsha, look! There she is! Marsha: The Statue of Liberty! Anna: She is awesome! Anna: Marsha, in ten minutes, guess what well be seeing? Marsha: What? Anna: The largest rocking chair in the world! Marsha: No, we wont be seeing that. Anna: Marsha, its on my other list -- Best Roadside Sights. (Marsha grabs the paper and throws it out the window.) Anna: Oh no! We littered! And my list is gone. Don't worry. I brought the book. (lifts up large book, starts reading) (Later) Anna: and that is why I am so afraid of sheep. Marsha: (snores a little) Anna: Wow, I feel better. Marsha, you are a great listener. Marsha: (waking up) Where are we? Anna: We will be entering North Dakota any minute now! Marsha: North Dakota! We are going in the wrong direction! We want to go to South Dakota! Anna: No problem. I will just exit the highway. We will be going south in just a minute. There. Done! We're going south! Okay, we will be stopping for gas and a bathroom break in about an hour. Marsha: Then we will be very near to Mount Rushmore! Anna: Yay! Dead presidents heads on the side of a mountain! Anna: We did it, Marsha! We made it to California! Its beautiful! Marsha: And we saw everything on the list! Anna: Well, we saw everything on page 1 of the list. Marsha: What do you mean "page 1?" Anna: Oh. Here are pages 2, 3 and 4! Well be very busy driving back to Washington, D.C. Until next time ! * This Land is Your Land was written by American folk singer Woody Guthrie. See below for the lyrics and videos of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen performing the song. Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak said his government's investigation of the killing Kim Jong Nam will be "objective." Kim Jong Nam was the half-brother of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un. "We have no reason why we want to do something to paint North Korea in a bad light, but we will be objective," Najib told reporters on Monday in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. Japanese broadcaster Fuji TV released video footage that appears to show Kim Jong Nam being attacked in Kuala Lumpur International airport last week. Two women, believed to be North Korean agents, participated in the attack; one of them appeared to put poison on Kim Jong Nam's face. Officials have not confirmed this footage. Tensions rise between Malaysia and North Korea Tensions have been rising between Malaysia and North Korea in the week following the killing. Early on Monday, Malaysia recalled its representative in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital. Malaysia's foreign ministry said it had recalled its representative "for consultations." The North Korean ambassador in Kuala Lumpur raised doubts about Malaysia's impartiality. He said the man killed in Kuala Lumpur's airport was not Kim Jong Nam. North Korean officials have tried to prevent Malaysia from doing an autopsy. An autopsy is an examination of a dead body to find out the cause of death. Instead, North Korean officials have insisted that Malaysian authorities release the body to them. Malaysian authorities have said they will release the body to Kim Jong Nam's son, Kim Han Sol. Malaysian police said they were hunting for four North Koreans who fled the country the day of the attack. They have already detained several other suspects. Implications and consequences of the attack Malaysia is one of the few countries that maintain ties with North Korea, and this dispute could further isolate the country. Following the news of Kim Jong Nam's death, South Korea convened a meeting of its National Security Council. South Korea's Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn was nearly certain that North Korea was behind the killing. "The North Korean regime's terrorism tactics are getting bolder so we must be more vigilant," Hwang said. Kim Jong Nam had been living in Macau under Chinese protection. On Saturday, China announced that it had suspended all coal imports from North Korea, a vital source of revenue for the country. I'm John Russell. Rozanna Latiff and Joseph Sipalan reported on this story for Reuters. John Russell adapted it for Learning English. Hai Do was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story objective adj. based on facts rather than feelings or opinions to paint (someone ) in a bad light idiom to do something in a way that makes someone or something look bad consultation n. a meeting in which someone (such as a doctor or lawyer) talks to a person about a problem, question, etc. impartiality n. treating all people and groups equally autopsy n. an examination of a dead body to find out the cause of death isolate v. to put or keep (someone or something) in a place or situation that is separate from others Most college students would love to get an assignment like the one Madeline Ota recently received at Stanford University. She and her classmates were asked to make beer in their dorm rooms. But before you get too excited, you need to know that it was for a class called The Archaeology of Food. And the assignment was to make beer according to a 5,000-year-old Chinese recipe. I think it was a bit different than beers that you would buy in the store because it only had a week to ferment, and I think that is one of the biggest differences that you would notice in taste. Because after only a week, alcoholic content isnt very strong. Ota and her classmates made two kinds of ancient beer, some of which are still being made by indigenous people today. One of the beers was made by grinding grains like wheat, millet or barley. The other was made using a root known as manioc, or cassava, in different parts of the world. The students chewed the root and then spit it into glass containers. Their saliva began the fermentation process. Water and heat were carefully added to each mixture. Ota said she has a new appreciation for what goes into making the beer people buy at stores or at the local bar. This is not something we should take for granted when we go and pick up something from the store. And you know, that doesnt just apply to beer, but kind of any sort of processed food. There is a whole story behind how this got to where it is, how people produced it, how they cooked it... Their professor, Li Liu, discovered the old Chinese recipe. Liu and a graduate student, Jiajing Wang, reverse engineered their beer recipe based on substances found in clay pots from northeast China. That means they studied the residue and made guesses as to what the original ingredients might have been. The researchers found evidence of barley, an important grain in making beer today. Until Liu and Wang did their research, most historians thought barley arrived in China more recently. Again, thats where experimental archaeology comes in. Because when you have this small residue from an archaeological artifact, you know, you dont have the full story. You may have parts of a bigger story, but you dont know how those parts necessarily fit together. So experimental archaeology is really cool because it allows you to experiment with those processes and see which ones are the most successful. Ota said we can learn a lot about ancient cultures by learning about their food and beer. You know, when the first people started actually having farms and agricultural societies, very soon after that they actually started making the first alcohols using various techniques. Having alcohol became a very culturally significant and religious experience for many communities and it went on to become an important part of their society. Because the class treated the beer making like a science project, they were able to add their information to the scientific record. Every ingredient was carefully measured. Every degree of heat was noted. Thanks to the students, there is now a very specific record for how to make these ancient beers. In the past, the instructions might have been fill the pot with water, Ota said. But no one ever knew how big the pot was or how much water was used. But the most important question is: How did the beer taste? The beer made from grain, Ota said, was fruity, like a cider. The one from manioc root smelled so bad like cheese she didnt want to try it. Im Dan Friedell. Dan Friedell wrote this story for Learning English. Hai Do was the editor. Would you like to try to make the beer the students at Stanford made? We want to know. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story assignment n. a job or duty that is given to someone : a task someone is required to do dorm n. a building on a school campus that has rooms where students can live archaeology n. a science that deals with past human life and activities by studying the bones, tools, etc., of ancient people ferment v. to go through a chemical change that results in the production of alcohol take for granted v. to fail to properly notice or appreciate (someone or something that is helpful or important to you) residue n. a usually small amount of something that remains after a process has been completed or a thing has been removed artifact n. a simple object (such as a tool or weapon) that was made by people in the past cool adj. often used to show approval in a general way cider n. an alcoholic drink made from apples bar n. a building or room where alcoholic drinks and sometimes food are served reverse engineer v. to study the parts of (something) to see how it was made and how it works so that you can make something that is like it A U.S. Navy aircraft carrier strike group has begun "routine operations" in the South China Sea. The operations came despite a warning from China not to interfere with Chinese sovereignty in the area. The U.S. Navy announced the operations on Saturday. The strike group includes Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson. The Navy Times reported last week on the planned operations with information provided by unnamed Navy officials. The report clearly angered Chinas foreign ministry. A foreign ministry spokesman urged U.S. officials not to take any actions that challenge China's sovereignty and security." China claims the man-made islands are part of its territory, along with many other parts of the South China Sea. Satellite images suggest China has added military weapons to some of the islands. Other countries with territorial claims in the sea are the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei. Freedom of navigation operation A U.S. Navy release said the California-based Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group left last month for a deployment to the western Pacific. A Navy official was reported as saying the deployment would, among other things, contribute to freedom of navigation and lawful use of the sea. Freedom of navigation operation, or FONOP, is meant to show military force and free movement of shipping in international waters. But the operation represents a test to countries holding territorial claims in disputed areas. China has objected to earlier freedom of movement exercises performed in or around its territory. The U.S. military has carried out at least four FONOP operations in the South China Sea in recent years. The most recent one took place last October, when a U.S. Navy destroyer was sent to waters near Chinese-claimed islands. At the time, a Chinese official called the move illegal and provocative. In the past, China has sent military airplanes and/or ships to follow American ships taking part in freedom of navigation exercises. The U.S. government defends the operations, saying they fully comply with international law. During a recent visit to East Asia, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the U.S. military was prepared to hold future freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea. Zack Cooper is with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, or CSIS, a research group based in Washington, D.C. He says international law is clearly described in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Beyond 12 nautical miles from the shoreline, basically any country can fly, sail or operate military vessels in those areas - despite the fact that some countries claim that they can limit that sort of operation. Cooper has been watching new U.S. President Donald Trump. He thinks the new U.S. administration is likely to take a more assertive position to freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea. Cooper added that the next test for Chinas government could be in waters near Mischief Reef, in the Spratly Islands. China has been expanding that man-made island for years and has reportedly built extensive military positions on the reef. I would expect that one of the early operations that the Trump administration might do would target Mischief Reef by sailing fairly close to it - demonstrate that the new administration is willing to accept more risk to directly challenge Chinese claims. U.S. freedom of navigation operations can send an important message to any state testing international maritime law, he added. It's important for the United States and other countries to demonstrate to China that where the law has been made quite clear, that those countries are not going to be intimidated into walking away from what is very clear international law. Still, Cooper said, it is not likely that freedom of navigation operations will stop Chinese militarization or existing projects in the South China Sea. But he said it could prevent China from claiming and developing new territory. China announced changes to its maritime law China recently announced a proposal to change its own laws controlling how it can react to foreign ships entering its territory. According to the countrys official Global Times, a draft of the law would empower maritime authorities to prevent foreign ships from entering Chinese waters if it is decided that the ships may harm traffic safety and order. Cooper said the revision suggests the law would give China the power to declare control over foreign ships passing through the South China Sea and other major waterways. If China was to revise the law in that way, it would again directly contravene the restrictions on those kinds of domestic laws that are in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. So in many ways it would be seen I think as a direct challenge to the UN Convention. He said other nations should send a strong message to China that they would oppose such changes. I'm Jonathan Evans. Bryan Lynn reported this story for VOA Learning English. His report includes information from Reuters, the Associated Press, Navy Times and other sources. George Grow was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page. _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story navigation n. moving a boat or ship over an area of water sovereignty n. power of a country to control its own government assertive adj. confident or strong in speaking or actions intimidate v. intentionally make someone afraid revision n. a change to something that already exists provocation n. something causes anger or action; incitement comply v. to do what you have been ordered or asked to do maritime adj. of or related to the sea contravene v. to fail to follow a rule or law Vice President Mike Pence says the United States will continue to hold Russia accountable. But he adds that President Donald Trump wants to find new common ground with Russia. Pences comments came Monday in Brussels, Belgium with European Union Council President Donald Tusk. In the wake of Russian efforts to redraw international borders by force, we will continue to support efforts in Poland and the Baltic states through NATOs enhanced forward presence initiative. And with regard to Ukraine, the United States will continue to hold Russia accountable and demand that Russia honor the Minsk agreements beginning by de-escalating the violence in eastern Ukraine." Vice President Pence did not provide any details about possible closer ties with Russia. He said that Trump believes they can be found. He said cooperation is needed to have free and fair economies, saying strengthening our economic vitality will require hard but necessary choices. US- EU relations Pence is on his first trip to Europe since taking office. There have been concerns about the new administrations America First policy. The purpose of the trip is to let allies know that the U.S. remains a loyal friend. The vice president said he was speaking for Trump when he expressed U.S. commitment to continued cooperation and partnership with the European Union. "Whatever our differences, our two continents share the same heritage, the same values, and above all the same purpose, to promote peace and prosperity through freedom, democracy and the rule of law. And to those objectives we will remain committed." Donald Tusk of the EU said Mondays meeting was truly needed. He said that he heard from Pence words that are promising about the future, and explain the Trump administrations views. Last month in interviews with two European newspapers, Trump said he thought other countries would follow Britain in leaving the EU. Tusk talked about the importance of the EU. He said "Americans know best what great value it is to be united." Earlier Monday Pence held talks with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. She said on Twitter the two had an "excellent meeting, good basis for our cooperation." Pence also met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in the afternoon to close his European trip. The vice president expressed support for NATO at the alliances security conference in Munich last Saturday. His comments came after Trumps campaign statements described NATO as obsolete, meaning no longer useful. "The United States of America strongly supports NATO and will be unwavering in our commitment to our transatlantic alliance," Pence said in his first major foreign policy address for the new administration. Pence, his wife, Karen, and daughter Charlotte visited the Dachau concentration camp memorial early Sunday. The camp was the first one established by the Nazi government in 1933 near Munich. It was where an estimated countless thousands Jews and other political prisoners died or were killed. Im Anne Ball. Anne Ball adapted this story for Learning English with material from VOA News reports. Hai Do was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section and visit us on our Facebook page. ____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story initiative n. a plan or program that is intended to solve a problem de-escalate v. to slow down or decrease vitality n. lively or energetic quality necessary adj. so important you must do it or have it, an absolute need unequivocal adj. very strong and clear with no doubt unwavering adj. continuing in a strong and steady way You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close Copyright These pages are copyrighted as they appear by John Z. Guzlowski. All content on these pages is his sole property and cannot be used without his permission. This Chabad is going green. Chabad at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, held their first landfill-free Friday night dinner this past January, where everything not eaten was either composted, reused, or recycled. Chana Novack, who leads Chabad at Washington U with her husband Rabbi Hershey, says it was the students who originally came up with the idea; the universitys Green Events Commission (GEC), which promotes sustainability in event planning, reached out to Chabad last year with a suggestion to go landfill-free, and provided them with funding for eco-friendly materials. The students have been part of the process all along, Novack says. Some of Chabads kitchen staff is part of the composting commission, and throughout the dinner, students helped ensure that the different materials were properly sorted. Barak Davidi, a Washington University freshman, is Chabads Green Coordinator and liaison to the GEC. He worked behind-the-scenes to get the dinner up and running. I reached out to a representative from [the GEC] who helped us acquire compost bags and suggested other points of improvement, he says. We then invited other sustainability groups from campus and notified everyone at the dinner that we were aiming for a landfill-free event. The biggest challenge, says Novack, is in the sheer numbersas many as 150 students participate at a typical Shabbat dinner. When you have that many people in such a short period of time, convenience often overtakes what might be the most eco-friendly option, Novack explains. The solution? Find a green alternative to the usual disposables. With donations from parents and alumni, Chabad was able to purchase cutlery and serving utensils that have a greater initial cost but are reusable. A grant from the student government allowed Chabad to obtain compostable items such as plates and bowls. We swapped out a lot of things that we normally use to ensure that everything was recyclable, says Novack. The students attending played a role in sorting and composting their plates, in hopes of making the event more educational, adds Davidi. Chabad plans to make their landfill-free Shabbat dinners a weekly occurrence. While compostable plates and bowls are more expensive than regular ones, Chabad raised funds to purchase enough for this semester, and the student government sponsors compost services provided by a local company. Other Chabad events are eco-friendly where possible; this past Rosh Hashanah, after a dinner for 500, Chabad diverted two full bins from landfill to compost. We want students to be more aware of what the impact of our actions are, Novack says, explaining that caring about the environment is a Jewish value. Sophomore Hammy Sorkin, who is studying for a degree in Environmental Earth Science, says she loves the idea of a landfill-free dinner, especially for such a large, weekly event. Ive noticed that the students who attend will collect the plates at the end of the night to compost them, which wasnt done when they had to be thrown away. We usually have so much extra food, and what we cant save (the dressed salad, for example) gets to be turned into soil! The Novacks, who moved to St. Louis in 2002 to serve Washington Universitys nearly 2,000 Jewish undergrads, welcome the opportunity to help students pursue their interests. When students and young people are passionate about something that will help the world, we, as Jewish community leaders, embrace that passion and do what we can to connect that to Jewish identity and experience, says Chana. To learn more about Chabad at Washington University, visit their website at www.ChabadWashU.org. 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United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe There is an effort underway in Kenneth City to reduce pedestrian and bike crashes. Effort to increase pedestrian/bicyclist safety in Kenneth City Program starts Monday Kenneth City police Facebook page Alert Today, Alive Tomorrow In 2014, nearly 2,500 people were killed in traffic crashes on Florida roads. A little more than 600 of those were pedestrians and another 135 were bicyclists. Kenneth City officials saw those numbers and wanted to do their part in their community. The Kenneth City Police Department received a grant from the Florida Department of Transportation for a highly visible enforcement program. The idea is to increase awareness and compliance with drivers and pedestrians. Officers will be out at some of the area's busiest intersections looking for drivers who aren't yielding for pedestrians - as well as pedestrians who are not using crosswalks. One Kenneth City resident said the enforcement is much needed in the area, especially due to the close proximity if major intersections near schools. Roberts Rajewski owns a used car dealership on the corner of 62nd Street and 54th Avenue in Kenneth City and said he has seen plenty at that intersection over the years. "Sometimes they really don't pay attention," he said of drivers in the area. "We have a lot of foot traffic from the grade school down the street, we have a great crossing guard here, but also from the high school right down the street, and any improvements that will help these children, we find it's great for them and our community here." Dixie Hollins High School is a few blocks away and parents of students they're happy about the effort to keep kids safe. "It is chaotic and you do have to be paying attention," said parent Brian Stavely. "I've seen a couple incidents where there's been some speeders and people not paying attention to the walkways." Kenneth City officers will be at busy intersections Monday making sure drivers and walkers know the rules of the road. Roadways to include the intersections of 62nd St N and 54th Ave N. and 46th Ave N and 66th St N. Bay News 9/News 13 has partnered with the Florida Department of Transportation on its Alert Today, Alive Tomorrow campaign. The idea is to make sure were all sharing the road with people who walk or ride their bikes, and everyone makes it where they need to be safely. FDOT has resources for you at alerttodayflorida.com. News Story not available This story has been published on: 2022-11-06. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. This story is no longer available on our site. Thousands of anti-Donald Trump protesters gathered across the country to change the tune of today's federal holiday. They are calling it the "Not My Presidents Day" rally. The entire event was spearheaded on Facebook with The Los Angeles Facebook group page. &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp; It says, "Donald Trump is literally our President, but figuratively, he has attacked every value Californians embody and does not represent our interests. " Then similar events followed suit. There are now pages for the Chicago and LA protests and 14,000 people say they are going to the one in New York City. Celebrities are getting in on the action too. Actress Maggie Gyllenhaal has been encouraging people to come out on Twitter. Not My President's Day rally. 12 pm. 61 st at Central Park West. TODAY. I'll be there. Maggie Gyllenhaal (@mgyllenhaal) February 20, 2017 Protestors used social media to post updates from the rally. While Trump has not responded to the protests, he did wish everyone a happy Presidents Day on Twitter. HAPPY PRESIDENTS DAY - MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 20, 2017 However, the president does have supporters who are responding online with the hashtag "He's my President," showing support for Trump. A draft of President Donald Trump's revised travel ban targets the same predominantly Muslim countries listed in the original executive order, according to a senior administration official. Revised travel ban lists same 7 countries, source tells AP Ban would exempt green card holders, people with dual citizenship Draft also doesn't single out, reject Syrian refugees RELATED: President Donald Trump in Melbourne: We will win, win, win That official told the Associated Press that the revised order would target immigrants from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Libya. Green-card holders and people with dual citizenship to the United States and any of those countries would now be exempt. The draft also will no longer direct authorities to single out and reject Syrian refugees while processing visa applications. This comes after an appeals court blocked the original order from being enforced nine days ago. The official told AP that the draft was subject to change ahead of its signing, which Trump said could come sometime this week. Asked about the revised order, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the document circulating was a draft and that a final version should be released soon. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Information from the Associated Press was used in this report. In Focus with Allison Walker is a 30-minute public affairs program, featuring a roundtable of newsmakers representing a range of perspectives, including local officials and expert analysts as they tackle topical issues of importance to Floridians. In Focus airs Sundays at 11:30 a.m. and 8:30 p.m., right after Political Connections. More floor space for exhibitors from boom segments including Travel Technology and Arab destinations New exhibitors and innovative stand concepts New: Medical Tourism World's Largest Travel Trade Show mirrors travel industry trends and developments The entire world in 26 display halls: this year, ITB Berlin is booked up again. In 2017, in addition to established exhibitors the World's Largest Travel Trade Show has been able to secure many newcomers. ITB Berlin has also met numerous exhibitors' requests for more floor space. Some of the stands have grown in height and the hall layout has been improved. This year the stands of many tourism destinations, especially in the Mediterranean, are now in different locations. Thus, from 8 to 12 March 2017 around 10,000 organisations and companies will be represented in the largest marketplace of the international travel industry. The latest update of the hall plan is now available here (www.itb-berlin.de/en/Exhibitors/ExhibitionGrounds/) for downloading. "The fact that our halls are booked up sends out a clear message: even in times of political uncertainty the international travel industry places a focus on strong participation, progress and face-to-face meetings at the World's Largest Travel Trade Show. Demand has been high again this year, particularly from Asia, Arab destinations and the travel technology sector. We have taken this into account with a new, improved hall layout and have been able to meet many exhibitors' requests for additional space", said David Ruetz, head of ITB Berlin. This year the spotlight is on Botswana, the official partner country of ITB Berlin. This fascinating, landlocked country in southern Africa will host the artistic performances at the opening ceremonies on the eve of ITB Berlin and will be represented on a larger, two-tier stand. In Hall 20 visitors can find out more about sustainable tourism initiatives, safaris and wildlife conservation projects, this country's impressive flora and fauna, and its cultural heritage. Digital worlds on the march Visitors interested in the booming Travel Technology segment can take a journey into a digital world. In 2017, due to high demand, the eTravel World will feature an additional hall. In addition to Hall 6.1 visitors will find almost only newcomers in Hall 7.1c. At the same time the eTravel World is attracting more and more international exhibitors and especially startups from around the world. The increasing presence of payment system providers also underlines the growing importance of travel technology. The growth potential of Middle Eastern countries is also reflected at ITB Berlin. A total of 32 major exhibitors from the Middle East will be represented at ITB Berlin. The United Arab Emirates and Qatar Airways on an area of 3,380 square metres as well as Saudi Arabia on more than 300 square metres will be occupying larger stands than in 2016. Etihad Airways will be presenting a new island stand concept in Berlin. Russia and the USA are now no longer in Hall 2.1, and instead can now be found in Hall 3.1. The US stand has grown and increased its display area by 100 square metres. This year Australia, the smallest continent, will also be represented on a larger stand at ITB Berlin. New Zealand will be appearing individually with its services and new products in Hall 5.2a. This year Jakarta City can also be found in Hall 5.2a. Hall 26, which focuses on Asia and has attracted many international exhibitors, is also booked up and has waiting lists. Exhibitors from Indonesia will also be occupying more space. HanaTour, one of Korea's largest tour operators, will be represented on its own stand and be appearing for the first time. The stands of Caissa Travel Management, Beijing Nimbus Travel, China Inbound and the Dossen Hotel Group from China will be adding to the range of products displayed by one of Asia's leading growth markets in tourism. Debut for Medical Tourism Medical Tourism represents a new, fast-growing segment at ITB Berlin. The Medical Pavilion in Hall 3.2a will feature a concentrated display of new medical tourism products and information from the following exhibitors: the Anatolia Hospital, the Dunyagoz Eye Hospital Group and the Acibadem Hospitals Group from Turkey, the Dubai Healthcare Authority, the Bella Roma Medical & Aesthetic Surgery Center and the Al Zahra Hospital Dubai, as well as the spa group Polska Grupa Uzdrowisk from Poland and the Vitebsk State Medical University from Belarus. On Thursday, 8 March, starting at 11.30 a.m., presentations by the above exhibitors, the Health Cluster Portugal, Hotel School The Hague and the Croatian Tourist Board, as well as lectures on the importance of medical tourism for the hotel industry and on cooperation with Arab markets will offer an insight into this growth market. Afterwards, there will be a medical networking reception. Interested exhibitors and trade visitors can also find out more about medical tourism every day in the pavilion, on the Information stand of ITB. India focus on sustainability Regardless of India's current economic crisis exhibitors from the sub-continent will be participating in Hall 5.2b, which once again is fully booked. 2017, the International Year of Sustainable Tourism, is also important for India. Sustainable tourism is the focus of a stand in Hall 5.2b, which on 8 March will be opened by Dr. Taleb Rifai, Secretary General of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). Many other exhibitors, representing luxury products in particular, will be presenting their sustainable tourism products. In Hall 5.2b, where India is featured, Assam will be exhibiting for the first time. Many first-time exhibitors from Kerala in the country's south will also be showcasing attractive products. On the stand of Enfield Riders, a newcomer to this year's ITB Berlin, lovers of classic machines can get tips on touring India by motorcycle. Among the European countries occupying larger display areas will be Croatia in Hall 1.2, France and Portugal in Hall 1.1, and the Czech Republic in Hall 7.2 b. Following a prolonged absence Andorra is back at ITB Berlin in Hall 2.1. In Hall 18 the Scandinavian countries will also be represented on larger stands. In Hall 6.2 Bayern Tourismus will be presenting a new stand concept. Return of countries from Africa and Europe At ITB Berlin 2017, besides the partner country Botswana, fans of tours in Africa can again find numerous exhibitors. Thus, Namibia will be hosting several stands in Hall 20. After a lengthy break, Togo und Senegal are back and can be found in Hall 21. This year Colombia will be occupying a larger stand in Hall 23, as will Barbados in Hall 22. For culturally interested visitors the Culture Lounge in Hall 16 (for the first time also in Hall 15.1) will be worthwhile attending. This year, the stand of Slovenia in Hall 17 has grown too. The Convention & Culture Partner is sponsoring the Wi-Fi network at ITB Berlin. In Hall 9 this year, visitors can find even more hotels, including the enlarged stands of Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, Hilton, Accor Hotels, Jin Jiang International and Expedia. Deutsche Hotel & Resort Holding is a newcomer this year and can also be found in Hall 9. Airbus is also a first-time exhibitor, in Hall 25. This is also where Aeroflot will be represented with its own stand for the first time. This year the Finnish airline Finnair can be found in Hall 26. The number of car rental firms and tour operators in Hall 14.1 has risen significantly. Several tour operators exhibiting for the first time can also be found in Hall 25. ITB Career Center the place to kickstart one's career She Trades International Trade Center is a platform for female entrepreneurs and a newcomer to ITB Berlin. Located in Hall 26, this is where visitors can find out about the latest projects of Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). For those looking for a new job in the travel industry or advanced training ITB Berlin is just the place to be. At the ITB Career Center in Hall 11.1, which features the Federal Employment Agency as its exclusive partner, more employers will be exhibiting than ever before. Some 40 universities from Germany and abroad will be on hand to provide individual advice on courses and advanced training. A world full of diversity awaits visitors to Hall 21b, which is where the booming Gay & Lesbian Travel (LGBT Travel) Pavilion can be found for the first time this year. At the newly designed, and currently fully booked, Presentation Corner exhibitors will be able to present their latest LGBT products. The Media Breakfast, a popular event, will also be taking place again. Taking part in ITB Berlin for the first time will be the internet portal Hornet, World Pride Madrid, Belmond Hotel, Aspen Snowmass, Playa de las Americas from Tenerife, as well as the Asociacion Latinoamericana de Turismo LGBT (ALAT.LGBT). First-time exhibitors in the Gay & Lesbian Travel segment also include Illinois, which is sponsoring the LGBT media brunch. The popular ITB Gay Cafe is being organised by mCruise together with its partners Schauinsland, DER Tour and Condor. The CSR activities undertaken by ITB Berlin and many other exhibitors in recent years have met with positive reactions throughout. In 2017, to mark the International Year of Sustainable Tourism, even more activities await visitors to the show. Among the highlights will be the presentation of the World Legacy Awards, an event co-organised by National Geographic and ITB Berlin. On the Wednesday of ITB a festive awards ceremony will be held in the Palais am Funkturm for the first time. About ITB Berlin and the ITB Berlin Convention ITB Berlin 2023 will take place for trade visitors only from Tuesday, 7 to Thursday, 9 March. Since 1966, ITB Berlin has been the World's Leading Travel Trade Show. As in previous years, the internationally renowned ITB Berlin Convention will take place live parallel with the exhibition on the Berlin Exhibition Grounds, with selected sessions live-streamed on itb.com. In 2022 it took place as a virtual event on the brand's website itb.com and registered 60,700 attendees from 125 countries who took part in more than 100 sessions featuring 223 speakers. Taking place on one day, the Digital Business Day gave 2,500 attendees from 96 countries an opportunity to exchange views and do business virtually from anywhere in the world. International attendance was high, with 78 per cent of buyers and providers taking part from abroad. A total of 20,000 business contacts were made, resulting in 14,000 leads and 3,200 business meetings being arranged. As a virtual industry platform, the Digital Business Day augmented the ITB brand family and rounded off the trade show concept. In 2022, under the heading 'TRVLX by ITB', ITB Berlin is planning a series of B2B networking events in European markets the kick-off event took place in May in Georgia. Before the pandemic at ITB 2019, around 10,000 exhibitors from 181 countries displayed their products and services to some 160,000 visitors, including 113,500 trade visitors. Emanuel Hoger Press Spokesman and Press and Public Relations Director, Corporate Communication - Messe Berlin Group +49 30 3038-2270 Messe Berlin GmbH GET OUR APP Our Spectrum News app is the most convenient way to get the stories that matter to you. Download it here. Carrie Lam, widely seen as the frontrunner to lead Hong Kong, vowed to avoid moves that could revive anti-China street protests, and focus on revving up the economy if shes picked to run the financial hub. I have to be very careful in sort of taking on an issue which has a very strong potential of splitting the society again, Lam, 59, told Bloomberg in an interview last week. Once we have some of that sort of mutual trust, Im sure in the usual Hong Kong spirit we can tackle some of those more difficult issues. The former chief secretarys popularity has suffered in recent weeks amid media reports that Chinese leaders had anointed her to win next months vote by a committee of 1,200 business and political elites. Her main rival, former Financial Secretary John Tsang, said he would do a better job at healing divisions over concerns that Beijing is encroaching on the high degree of autonomy promised the former British colony before its return to China two decades ago. While rank-and-file voters have no say in the March 26 decision, the governments critics have argued the citys next leader needed greater public support to counter growing discontent. The current chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, struggled with historically low public approval ratings before his surprise decision in December not to seek a second five-year term. Lam, a career civil servant who would be Hong Kongs first female leader, enjoyed relatively high approval as Leungs No. 2 before stepping down to run for his job. She acknowledged that perceptions of Beijings endorsement had dented her image, even as she continued to canvas for support among the election committee. It is demonstrated by the so-called popularity polls, Lam said. I just dont see what I have done wrong in the last two or three weeks, but my poll seems have come down a bit. Lam trailed Tsang by 14 percentage points in a South China Morning Post poll of 1,018 adults released Feb. 10, compared with 4.4 percent a month earlier. Meanwhile, 66 percent believed Lam would win the job, a 20-point increase from the previous poll. On Feb. 5, Zhang Dejiang the Communist Partys No. 3 leader told Hong Kong business executives and political leaders during closed-door meetings in neighboring Shenzhen that Lam was the preferred choice, the Standard newspaper reported, without saying where it got the information. Last week, 51 election committee members representing political advisers to Beijing pledged support for Lam, the Post reported, citing the groups convenor, Ambrose Lau. Over the past five years, Lam earned a reputation for being less divisive than her boss. When a China-backed election overhaul spurred student protesters to occupy swaths of the city two years ago, it was Lam who met with their leaders. Although she gave no ground in the talks, she acknowledged the movements support and avoided escalating the stand-off. The electoral reform plan, which would let the election committee vet chief executive candidates before a public vote, is one of several Beijing-supported proposals shelved by recent administrations amid protests. Another sweeping national security legislation to outlaw treason sedition and other national threats has regained support after the emergence of a new, more confrontational independence movement. While Lam said the government was obligated to confront such issues, she said her priority would be bolstering economic growth and maintaining Hong Kongs position as a global financial hub. The local economy is forecast to grow 1.8 percent this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Thats up from 1.5 percent last year, but slower than in 2015. Lam said the government has been too reluctant to spend and must invest more in education and medical services. She also called for cutting red tape and taxes, saying there are occasions where if we collect less, we gain more. The time has come for us to take more innovative approach, Lam said, citing the citys structural surplus. We should spend more and invest, with a view that we would grow the economy and make everyone happier. Lam sought to portray herself as a woman of action, rather than talk. While she said she was enjoying the campaign trail, Lam noted running for the office wasnt her first choice. I have to be very frank with you I have planned my retirement, she said. Once Leung bowed out, she said, I sort of tried to convince myself that I should put myself forward as another alternative for the voters and the people of Hong Kong. Fion Li, Bryan Curtis, Bloomberg China yesterday began a suspension of all coal imports from North Korea for the rest of the year as it increases pressure on its communist neighbor to give up its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. The ban is in line with U.N. Security Council sanctions imposed in November in response to North Koreas fifth nuclear test two months earlier, the Commerce Ministry said in an online statement Saturday. China had already banned coal imports from North Korea in April last year, but those restrictions allowed some imports for civilian use. China is North Koreas largest source of trade and aid and Sundays suspension will deprive Pyongyang of an important source of foreign currency. Beijing has come under pressure from President Donald Trump to lean harder on Pyongyang, but Beijing says its influence is limited. However, it has grown increasingly frustrated with North Koreas defiance of U.N. demands that it end missile tests and development of nuclear weapons. North Korea launched its latest ballistic missile test a week ago. AP U.S. Vice President Mike Pence paid a somber visit to the site of the Dachau concentration camp yesterday, walking along the grounds where tens of thousands of people were killed during World War II. Pence was joined by his wife, Karen Pence, and the couples 23-year-old daughter, Charlotte, as they toured the exhibits at the former concentration camp that was established by the Nazis in 1933 near Munich. The vice president was accompanied by Abba Naor, a survivor of the camp, and other dignitaries as he passed through the wrought iron gate bearing the inscription, Arbeit macht frei, or Work sets you free. The Pences placed a wreath beneath the International Memorial at the center of the camp, toured the barracks and viewed the ovens inside the crematorium. The Pences also stopped at religious memorials at the site and later attended a church service on the camps grounds. More than 200,000 people from across Europe were held at Dachau, and more than 40,000 prisoners died there. The camp was liberated by U.S. forces in April 1945. Former Vice President Joe Biden visited Dachau during a trip to Germany in 2015. Making his first overseas trip as vice president, Pence spoke to foreign diplomats and defense officials at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday and met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other world leaders. Pence was traveling to Brussels yesterday for meetings today with NATO and European Union officials. AP The Go-slow protest, which was finally held on Saturday, attracted fewer demonstrators than initially expected. The demonstration, a protest against fee hikes regarding several services and penalties under the Transport Bureau (DSAT), gathered around 100 vehicles and about 150 people. The protestors traveled from the Legislative Assembly (AL) Square to Taipa and back, ending with the delivery of the petition at the government headquarters. The organizers cited different figures. Lawmaker Leong Veng Chai claimed that around 300 vehicles participated in the protest, fulfilling the organizers expectations. However, this number still falls short of the expectations previously disclosed by the group at the press conference announcing the protest. There, Lei Kit Meng, protest organizer and leader of the Workers Self-help Union Macau, had also claimed that at least 500 cars from [his] association are expected to be involved. Initially scheduled for February 11, the Go-slow protest was postponed by a week due to lack of consensus between the organizers and the police authorities regarding the protest route. The protest organizers eventually agreed to follow the route chosen by the police. After the event, the organizers issued a statement saying that the protest had proceeded peacefully and without incident. However, media sources reported several minor incidents before the motorcade left the AL Square. One of these was a dispute between a protestor and the police, allegedly because the driver could not provide a valid drivers license upon the authorities request. The petition called for the sacking of the Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Raimundo do Rosario, a sentiment initially expressed by Pereira Coutinho during the first press conference. The petition also stated that the executive order was precipitated and was granted without obtaining public consensus, which fails to meet the principles of the Code of Administrative Procedure. Pereira Coutinho was notably absent from the demonstration, as he was one of the faces of the protest and had already missed the last press conference on Thursday. When questioned on the topic, Leong explained that his partner was busy handling some personal issues. RM The Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Alexis Tam, said on Friday that he is paying attention to the opinions and concerns expressed by the public regarding the old shipyards of Lai Chi Vun in Coloane. In a statement issued by the office of the Secretary, Tam said that the Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau (DSSOPT) will soon proceed with the demolition of a part of the old shipyard due to safety issues, and will also launch a tender for a study and plan for the area. Tam also stated that the Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Raimundo do Rosario, is fulfilling his duties in terms of planning, adding that the services will also express their opinion on the cultural significance of the venue. Tam hopes that after the work is completed, the area will serve as a new tourist attraction for the region and contribute to the welfare of residents in the area. He further stated that he had been personally visiting the site and cooperating with all bureaus involved to ensure efficient collaboration between departments. The secretary hopes that residents will understand that each service has its own duties and jurisdiction, noting that the activity in the area is performed via cooperation between the public works, the Cultural Affairs Bureau and the MacauTourism Office. A former leader of Hong Kong was convicted Friday of corruption over a luxury apartment in mainland China intended for his retirement, local media reported. The nine-member jury deliberating two days before finding Donald Tsang guilty of one count of misconduct in office and not guilty on a second count, the South China Morning Post and broadcaster RTHK said. Tsang, 72, served as Hong Kongs leader, or chief executive, from 2005 to 2012. He becomes the highest-ranking current or former official convicted of corruption in the Asian financial hub, which prides itself on a reputation for clean governance. Its one of several recent cases that have shaken public confidence and raised concerns about cozy ties between Hong Kongs leaders and wealthy tycoons. The jurors ruled 8-1 that he committed misconduct by failing to declare that the Shenzhen penthouse he planned to rent was owned by a businessman whose media company was applying for a digital radio license, the reports said. Tsangs defense argued the connection was too distant and didnt need to be declared. The jurors unanimously cleared him of a charge that he nominated for an award the interior designer who renovated the penthouse but didnt disclose that connection. They couldnt decide on a third count of accepting an advantage. Tsang was granted bail and is expected to return to court today. He faces up to seven years in prison. In 2014, Rafael Hui, who was chief secretary or No. 2 official, during the first two years that Tsang was in office, was convicted and sentenced to prison in a separate corruption case. AP An exhibition of works by students and teaching staff from the Bachelor of Arts program at the Macau Polytechnic Institutes (IPM) School of Art opened last week at the Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT) Cafe. Three teachers contributed artworks to the exhibition, while the rest of the pieces were from selected students currently taking courses at IPM. Priority was given to students of design rather than fine art, associate professors at the institute told the Times. Among the works exhibited at the inauguration ceremony were color pencil works such as The Boy Who Cried Wolf by Doria Ling. Wilson Chan, an associate professor at the IPM who teaches illustration and assists students with their graduation projects, said that the exhibited works were only a selection of the students creations and that a larger exhibition is usually held at Creative Macau each year. The [IFT] invited us to use the coffee shop to make it more lively. They change the exhibited works every two months and after the fine arts students showed their work [] it was the design students turn. Patrick Lei is the associate professor responsible for assigning some of the students a project to create a print advertisement for chocolate brand Kit Kat. Some of these works are on display at the exhibition. The assignment was to train the students concept [of] how to express a brand image. They needed to make a print advertisement for newspapers and magazines, and so needed to research about the brand and decide on a concept, he said. We chose Kit Kat because it already has an established brand and slogan and so its easier for the students [to create an advertisement], added Lei. The IFT Cafe serves two purposes, according to the institute responsible for managing the venue: to promote culture and to provide training to IFT students. The exhibition, titled The Voice of Design Works Exhibition by Students and Teachers of the Bachelor of Arts in Design of Macau Polytechnic Institute, will be open until April 15. DB Mongolia reached an initial agreement with the International Monetary Fund for a three-year program that includes a USD440 million loan package as part of a $5.5 billion bailout to help the north Asian country with looming debt repayments. The Asian Development Bank, the World Bank and bilateral partners including Japan and Korea are expected to provide up to another $3 billion in budget and project support, while the Peoples Bank of China is expected to extend its 15 yuan billion [$2.2 billion] swap line with the Bank of Mongolia for at least another three years, the IMF said in a statement yesterday. The total external financing package will thus be around $5.5 billion. Economic growth in Mongolia slowed to 1 percent last year as commodity prices fell and growth slowed in China, the main buyer of the nations copper and coal exports. The country also saw foreign investment collapse after a dispute with Rio Tinto Plc over the Oyu Tolgoi copper mine. The Extended Fund Facility (EFF) will support the governments plan to address balance-of-payment pressures and also help the government repay looming debts, including the Development Bank of Mongolias $580 million bond repayment due in March. This marks the sixth time since 1990 that the IMF has bailed out Mongolia, the most recent a stand-by agreement in 2009-2010, according to an e-mail from IMF spokesman Keiko Utsunomiya. The financing will support a Mongolian program, which intends to restore economic stability and debt sustainability as well as to create the conditions for strong, sustainable and inclusive growth, according to the IMF statement. The agreement is subject to the confirmation of financing assurances, the completion of prior actions by the authorities, and the approval of the IMF Executive Board. The board is expected to consider Mongolias request in March. This is great news, the market will receive this positively, Dale Choi, head of the research firm Mongolia Metals & Mining, said in an e-mail. It is the bottom out everyone has been waiting for and the only way is up. Ahead of the agreement, parliament amended the development bank law, making changes recommended by the IMF. The amendments were designed to depoliticize the bank and include a rule that board members cant have held political office in the past five years. Mongolias central bank had $1.3 billion in foreign reserves at the end of December, well below the $4.1 billion it held at the same time in 2012, when money was pouring into Mongolias mining sector amid the commodities boom. The tugrik fell 20 percent last year, fifth-worst among exotic currencies tracked by Bloomberg. While many Mongolian businesses may feel the short-term pressure of a marginal increase in taxes, the successful implementation of the EFF arrangement in Mongolia will stabilize the domestic currency and boost confidence in the banking sector, Bilguun Ankhbayar, Chief Executive Officer of the Mongolian Investment Banking Group, said by e-mail. This will likely result in increased activity in those economic sectors that have the most competitive advantage. Foreign exchange reserves should rise to $3.8 billion by the end of the program, according to the IMF statement. By 2019, economic growth is projected to pick up to around 8 percent. Fiscal consolidation will leave room for the banking sector, over time, to extend more credit to the private sector, consistent with projected growth. These policies would also put public debt on a declining path over the course of the program, the IMF said. The countrys budget deficit at the end of 2016 tripled to 3.67 trillion tugrik ($1.5 billion), compared to a year earlier, while total external trade dropped 2.3 percent and non-performing loans in the banking system rose 25 percent. Attempts to stem the decline through expansionary policies proved ineffective after a few years, and the economy is now stagnating, weighed down by high debt and low foreign-exchange reserves, according to the IMF. Michael Kohn, Bloomberg Irans foreign minister brushed aside new pressure from the United States yesterday, declaring that his country is unmoved by threats but responds well to respect. President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran, the U.S. and five other world powers, under which Tehran agreed to curb its uranium enrichment in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions, but hasnt said what he plans to do about it. His administration has said Iran was on notice over a recent ballistic missile test, and imposed new sanctions on more than two dozen Iranian companies and individuals. Iran doesnt respond well to threats, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told the Munich Security Conference, an annual gathering of top diplomats and defense officials. We dont respond well to coercion. We dont respond well to sanctions, but we respond very well to mutual respect. We respond very well to arrangements to reach mutually acceptable scenarios. Iran is unmoved by threats, he said. Everybody tested us for many years all threats and coercions were imposed on us, Zarif added. He mocked the concept of crippling sanctions, which he said merely ended with Iran having acquired thousands more centrifuges, used for enriching uranium. Iran has always said it has no interest in nuclear weapons. Asked how long it would take to make one if it did decide it wanted such weapons, Zarif replied: We are not going to produce nuclear weapons, period. So it will take forever for Iran to produce nuclear weapons. Irans regional rivals aired a laundry list of grievances about Tehrans behavior, pointing to the wars in Syria and Yemen among other issues. Saudi Arabias foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, argued that the Iranians stepped up the tempo of their mischief during the negotiations on the nuclear deal and have continued to do so since then. I believe that Iran knows where the red lines are if the red lines are drawn clearly, and I believe that the world has to make it clear to the Iranians that there is certain behavior that will not be tolerated, and that there will be consequences, Jubeir told the conference. And those consequences have to be in tune with the financial side. Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman insisted that the main challenges facing the region are Iran, Iran and Iran. Asked what approach he seeks against Iran, he replied: Its a combination of economic pressure, very tough policy and of course to impose the resolutions of [the U.N.] Security Council, for example the ballistic missiles. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, said that Iran has been working to try and build a nuclear weapon, and if they say they havent, theyre lying. He proposed new sanctions in Iran for various reasons, including what he said were violations of U.N. resolutions and destabilizing the Mideast. I think it is now time for the Congress to take Iran on directly, he said. I think most Republicans are on board with that concept and well see where President Trumps at. Jubeir said that he is very optimistic about the Trump administration. We see a president whos pragmatic and practical, a businessman, problem-solver, a man whos not an ideologue, he said. He wants America to play a role in the world. Our view is that when America disengages, it creates tremendous danger in the worlds, because it leaves vacuums. He believes in destroying Daesh [the Islamic State group]; so do we, Jubeir added. He believes in containing Iran; so do we. He believes in working with traditional allies; so do we. Geir Moulson, Munich, AP U.S.-backed Iraqi forces launched a large-scale military operation on Sunday to dislodge Islamic State militants from the western half of Mosul, the latest phase in a four-month-old offensive to retake Iraqs second largest city. The battle for western Mosul promises to be the most daunting yet, as the half of the city west of the Tigris River has older, narrower streets and is still home to hundreds of thousands of civilians, who have been told to shelter in place. Iraq declared eastern Mosul fully liberated last month, but IS has continued to launch attacks there. Plumes of smoke were seen rising into the sky yesterday morning as U.S.-led coalition jets struck militant positions southwest of Mosul and militarized Iraqi police fired artillery toward the city. Heavily armed police units were getting ready to move north with their armored vehicles from a base just southwest of the city. This is zero hour and we are going to end this war, God willing, said Mahmoud Mansour, a police officer, as he prepared to move out. The immediate objective was to take the villages on the southern outskirts of Mosu lairport, a police spokesman told The Associated Press. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters. Police units quickly moved into the village of Athba, about 5 kilometers southwest of the airport, encountering only light resistance, according to an AP reporter traveling with them. Separately, the armys 9th Division moved into the village of Bakhira, also southwest of the city, the Iraqi Ministry of Defense said. The United Nations meanwhile warned that hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped inside their houses are at extreme risk, with dwindling fuel and food supplies and scare drinking water and electricity. The situation is distressing. People, right now, are in trouble, Lise Grande, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, said in a statement. We are hearing reports of parents struggling to feed their children and to heat their homes, Grande said. Citing witnesses in western Mosul, the U.N. said nearly half of all food shops were closed and bakeries had shut down due to a lack of fuel and an inability to purchase costly flour. Prices of kerosene and cooking gas have skyrocketed, and many of the most destitute families are burning wood, furniture, plastic or garbage for cooking and heating. Three out of five people now depend on untreated water from wells for cooking and drinking as water systems and treatment plants have been damaged by fighting or run out of chlorine, said Peter Hawkins, of the U.N. agency for children. The humanitarian agencies were gearing up to aid 250,000 to 400,000 civilians who may flee due to fighting, the statement said. The U.N. estimates that about 750,000 civilians may be left in western Mosul. AP A paranoid dictators estranged brother. Two young female assassins. A crowded international airport. And a mysterious poison that kills within hours. Its the perfect recipe for a thrilling cloak-and-dagger spy novel. Except some or possibly even all of this tale could be true in the apparent assassination of Kim Jong Nam, the older half brother of reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. And just like similar intriguing cases from the past, the public is hanging on to every detail because theres just something about murder by poison that captivates. A gun announces its mischief; poison can sneak in with a sip of champagne, said Robert Thompson, a pop culture expert at Syracuse University. The question isnt why we are fascinated with this latest story, its why wouldnt we be? Still, speculation that Kim Jong Nam was killed by two young female agents at the busy Kuala Lumpur airport last week left even the most seasoned toxicology sleuths shaking their heads. Add in that the portly sibling was apparently sprayed in the face with a substance so potent it killed him before he could reach the hospital, and youve got a scene straight out of a James Bond movie. Four people, including the two women one Indonesian and the other traveling on a Vietnamese passport have been detained. The Indonesian told authorities she thought she was participating in a comedy show prank. Conspiracy theories and speculation abound as police scramble to unravel what really happened to Kim Jong Nam, aged 45 or 46, the son of late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and a mistress. After falling out of favor with the family, the son lived for years in exile and was about to catch a flight to Macau when the attack took place. He sought help at the airport clinic after suddenly falling ill and died en route to the hospital. An autopsy has been performed, but the results have not been released. If a chemical agent really was to blame, finding it may be the hardest part of all. Tissue and fluid samples may need to be sent abroad for analysis at a facility with greater capabilities, such as in Japan or at the FBIs crime lab, if Malaysian experts cannot pinpoint the cause of death. The more unusual, the more potent, the more volatile a poison is, the less likely it is to be detected, said Olif Drummer, a toxicologist at Australias Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine who has spent 40 years in the field. Experts routinely tasked with finding answers in poisoning cases say the events at Kuala Lumpurs budget airline terminal are bizarre, but not impossible. They wonder: What substance could have been used to kill the victim so quickly without sickening the women who apparently deployed it, along with anyone else nearby? Difficult, they say, but doable. Its not an agent that could be cooked up in a hotel room. Its going to take a lot of knowledge regarding the chemical in order to facilitate an attack like this, said Bruce Goldberger, a leading toxicologist who heads the forensic medicine division at the University of Florida. He said a nerve gas or ricin, a deadly substance found in castor beans, could be possible. A strong opioid compound could also have been used, though that would likely have incapacitated the victim immediately. It would have to be cleverly designed in order to be applied in this fashion without hurting anyone else, Goldberger said. History is filled with poisoners. From jilted lovers seeking revenge to greedy spouses looking to collect on life insurance policies. Arsenic, cyanide and strychnine are often the toxins of choice used in murders, but political hits are usually a much more complicated business. Take the Cold War case of Bulgarian defector and journalist Georgi Markov. He was jabbed in the leg with an umbrella in 1978 at a bus stop in London. He died three days later, and a pellet of highly toxic ricin was found under his skin shot there by a device concealed inside the umbrella. No one was ever arrested, but Bulgarian secret police were suspected with help from the Soviet KGB. The Kremlin has been implicated in a number of high-profile cases including Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian spy who fled to the United Kingdom and was lethally poisoned by radioactive polonium-210 in 2006. In a report published last year, a British judge wrote that Russian President Vladimir Putin probably approved the assassination carried out by the countrys security service. And just this month, another loud Putin critic, Vladimir Kara-Murza, fell into a coma and was diagnosed with acute intoxication by an unidentified substance. The Russian nearly died from a similar unexplained poisoning two years ago. Though the dramatic cases linked to espionage tend to make headlines, many other killings are overlooked entirely. To me, murder by poison is the easiest thing to get away with, said John Trestrail, a forensic toxicologist who has examined more than 1,000 poisoning crimes. If all those people in the cemetery who have been poisoned could raise their hands, wed probably be shocked. While murder using toxins is far less common than stabbings and shootings, he said his research shows that poisoners often strike more than once. These people get away with it time and time again until somebody says, Well, hell, shes had four husbands and they all died suddenly, Trestrail said. Then the exhumations come and: Bingo! Margie Mason, Kuala Lumpur, AP Search for 4 suspects who left Malaysia Investigators are looking for four North Korean men who flew out of Malaysia the same day Kim Jong Nam. Yesterday, Malaysias deputy national police chief, Noor Rashid Ibrahim, said four more suspects were on the run. He said the men were North Korean and had flown out of the country last Monday, when Kim died. I am not going disclose where they are, he told a room packed with journalists, adding that Interpol was helping with the investigation. Noor Rashid showed photographs of the four men, who were traveling on regular not diplomatic passports and are ages 33, 34, 55 and 57. North Korea, Malaysia tussle over corpse At a hospital morgue in Malaysias capital, the tightly guarded corpse of a middle-aged man has become the focus of a dizzying case of international intrigue involving five countries, combative North Korean diplomats and an apparently duped female assassin. Kim Jong Nam, who had been estranged from his younger half sibling for years, was attacked at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Monday last week. A rotund man in his mid- 40s, he told medical workers at the airport that he had been sprayed in the face with a chemical. He grew dizzy, suffered a seizure and was dead within hours, Malaysian officials said. North Korean officials made no public comments for several days, but they privately demanded custody of Kims body and strongly objected to an autopsy. The Malaysians went ahead with the autopsy anyway, saying they were simply following procedure. On Friday night, North Koreas ambassador to Malaysia broke his silence. At an unusual news conference held close to midnight outside the morgue, Ambassador Kang Chol said Malaysia may be trying to conceal something and colluding with hostile forces. We will categorically reject the result of the post-mortem, Kang said, adding that the procedure was carried out unilaterally and excluding our attendance. The results of the autopsy have not been released publicly, but a Malaysian official with knowledge of the investigation said the results were inconclusive and that there was a second autopsy Friday night. The Donate Your Sweat event, including a fund raiser for a local charity, was held by ManaVida yesterday at Pousada de Coloane with the aim of building social and physical awareness. The event, which was attended by fitness enthusiasts, featured talks such as first aid introduction talk and discussions on gluten-free and fermented food. Aside from the healthy snacks workshop for kids and adults, ManaVida also hosted some lucky draws. Raffle ticket proceeds were donated to non-profit organization Cradle of Hope. ManaVida co-founders Cintia and Guilherme Martins also placed a donation box for a Filipina baby, who is currently being treated at Kiang Wus Hospital, as the Times reported on Friday. A great portion of the funds we receive go to charity, said Guilherme Martins. We try to combine a healthy lifestyle together with social awareness. We try to make a synergy between those aspects in our society, he told the Times. The couple runs early morning boot camps in the region that involve classes with names such as Body Sweat and Kickn TRX. Described as functional workouts performed outdoors [] such exercises are based on the everyday movements of a human being, such as crouching, pulling and running. The exercises allow the practitioner to gain strength, balance, flexibility, conditioning, endurance and agility. The organization also holds a Me & You activity aimed at children and parents, which is designed to develop trust and self-esteem. Today was an opportunity to show people what were doing. Stretches, body functional classes and [an activity] for kids and parents, explained Cintia Martins. Were just trying to show a little bit of what we are, she added. Guilherme Martins also said that they have to be flexible in terms of their activities and schedules. We adjust according to needs because this is how you build a strong community, by helping each other. Although the duo admitted that it is tough to collaborate with volunteer fitness experts, the Martins said they would continue to promote social and physical awareness. Volunteers with the organization are in charge of promoting the event, taking photographs, and managing its website and Facebook page. Cintia Martins, also a certified trainer, remarked that the event has been popular with expatriates as classes are conducted in English. However, ManaVida also cooperates with a local company, which assists with Chinese interpretation and helps them to reach out to the Chinese community. ManaVida volunteer Britanny Jimerson holds classes for the groups Stroller Mania Class. When asked why she chose to volunteer, she replied that she hoped to build positive energy in the community. Jimerson also volunteered for the preparation of yesterdays event. ManaVidas collaborators for the event include Pousada de Coloane, Blissful Carrot and Yoga Loft. Plug your noses and ready your Juche fertilizer. Its time to prep the frozen fields in North Korea. North Korea relies on its farmers to squeeze absolutely all they can out of every harvest. Its a tall order in a country with 25 million mouths to feed that is mostly mountains, hamstrung by international trade sanctions and, beyond a handful of showcase cooperatives, hard- pressed to modernize its agricultural sector. Without doubt, life as a farmer in North Korea is harsh. But there are some signs of change in how North Korea is treating its fields and its farmers. In typically propagandist fashion, the Norths state media are already reporting that workers inspired by leader Kim Jong Uns New Years address are heroically churning out 117 percent of their production quotas of what they call Juche fertilizer. A grain of salt is certainly in order. What exactly the patriotic-sounding Juche fertilizer is isnt all that clear, though its likely a mix of largely organic components augmented with some chemicals. Because of the general lack of livestock, human feces are a key ingredient. Juche refers to the Norths longstanding but mostly aspirational policy of self-reliance. The battle in the fields, however, has certainly begun. With the ground still frozen as the North waits out its notoriously cold winters, farmers, joined by workers and students mobilized from the cities, are in the process of transporting truckloads of pungent fertilizer to fields across the country for the planting season ahead. Kim Song Ryong, head technician at the Migok Cooperative Farm in Sariwon, south of Pyongyang, said it takes about 20 to 25 days to distribute the compost. In March, it will be spread over the fields in an even layer and then ploughed in below the surface. Our respected supreme leader comrade Kim Jong Un instructed us that agriculture is the main approach to building a strong economy and country, he said in an interview with AP Television News. To get the best harvest with scientific farming, all our farmers and workers are out in the fields to improve the quality of the soil. In the past, the countrys over-reliance on scientific magic bullets has had tragic results. Overuse of chemical fertilizers that began in the 1950s devastated the natural microbiotic soil environment and fueled a cycle in which its fields grew increasingly dependent on ever-more-artificial fertilization. In the 1990s, the fall of the Soviet Union and Pyongyangs other communist benefactors disrupted the supply of that fertilizer which, coupled with other factors, led to widespread famine. But Pyongyang appears to have learned some lessons since. According to Randall Ireson, a private consultant and former nongovernmental program director in the North, farmers have shifted their emphasis since about 2000 to adding compost and organic fertilizers to rebuild the organic content in the soil and revivify microorganisms. What Ive seen and heard of is the use of effective rapid aerobic composting of plant residue and, where available, animal and human manure, with the composted material further augmented with some chemical fertilizer, he said. The addition of chemical fertilizer to the mix makes it non- organic by a strict definition, but the other aspects are generally sound and sustainable, if managed correctly. Ireson noted that the depressed economy, lack of foreign exchange and weak industrial sector combine to make the acquisition of foreign chemical fertilizer difficult. But he said the push in the North for composting, while poorly designed at first, has gradually improved so that farms have started to produce fertilizer using local, low-energy methods. Buying more would be the easy, if not environmentally or economically sustainable, way to boost farm production, Ireson said. Lacking that resource, the push has been to find local resources, which I think is quite appropriate. More importantly, policy revisions under Kim Jong Un have since 2012 given farmers more incentive to produce above the state quota and to take more of a personal stake in field outcomes. Though details are scant, farmers can sell excess produce for a profit and smaller, essentially family-sized, work units have been established to make the rewards more direct. Outside experts generally agree the changes are a step in the right direction China and Vietnam had success with similar agricultural reforms. But they also quickly warn it remains unclear how widely and fully implemented the revisions have been. Its always hard to know what the ag situation really is, said Ireson. Theres a tendency to concentrate on technical aspects of farming [in the North], but the farmers are pretty clever and know how to do things. The main constraint is limited resources and, at least until recently, little personal incentive to produce beyond the quota. Eric Talmadge, Pyongyang, AP The appearance of an oasis of palm trees opposite Milans gothic-era Duomo Cathedral has spawned a vibrant public debate. Twitter is awash with palm-inspired memes, including pink palms in front of an aquamarine-colored Duomo subtitled, Milano Vice, referring to the 1980s television series. A well-known landscape architect wrote a page-one criticism in the daily La Repubblica dismissing the project as neo-gothic folly that veers to the limits of kitsch. The head of the anti-migrant Northern League was criticized after writing on Twitter that the scene was only missing sand, camels and illegal migrants who will feel at home, while one of his colleagues suggested that to accompany the desert scene, the cathedrals famed spires would next be covered with minarets. The city-organized project that provided fresh landscaping this week to two flowerbeds at the far end of Piazza del Duomo is part of a public-private initiative to periodically update the citys green spaces. This one is sponsored by Starbucks, which will soon be opening its first Italian store in Milan. Architect Marco Bay, who won an open competition to landscape the spaces, says he wasnt completely surprised by the discussion because it is difficult in Milan to see something new. He dismissed criticism that palm trees dont belong to the northern Italian city, noting that there are hundreds in the city already and pointing out that palm trees were present in the same piazza for a period in the 1800s. The variety he planted, Trachycarpus fortunei, is well-suited to Milans continental climate, resisting temperatures as low as 15 degrees Celsius below zero. The idea was born by looking at the space, Bay told the AP, saying the trees recalled both the columns of the porticoes skirting the piazza and the spires of the Duomo. I wanted plants that create architecture, but also scenery. Not everyone is a critic. The owner of a bar opposite the palms says sales are up more than 25 percent as people flock to see what the fuss is all about. Milan correctly wanted to do something aggressive to liven up what are otherwise innocuous flowerbeds, said bar owner Mario Governa. AP Samsung Groups Jay Y. Lee was taken back to a special prosecutors office for a second day following another night in police custody as part of a corruption probe that has widened to include South Koreas largest industrial conglomerate. Lee, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics Co., was shown on a YTN television broadcast being led into the office in Seoul around 9:50 a.m. local time. Lee was inside the office for about eight hours the day before. On Friday, the Seoul Central District Court arrested Lee on a warrant including allegations of bribery, perjury, embezzlement, hiding assets abroad and concealing illegal profits. Lee has been the acting head of Samsung while his father, Samsung Electronics Co. Chairman Lee Kun Hee, has been hospitalized since 2014. The probe could eventually interfere with the sons ability to take full control of the group after his father formally steps down. As head of a conglomerate that is the worlds largest maker of smartphones, Lee is the highest-profile business figure yet accused in an influence-peddling scandal that has already seen President Park Geun- hye impeached. Prosecutors have cited evidence that Samsung paid bribes to a confidante of the president to ensure government support for a 2015 merger of affiliates that tightened Lees grip on the chaebol, as Koreas dominant business groups are called. The probe is part of a broader investigation into contributions that dozens of Korean companies gave to Choi Soon-sil, a confidante of Park. The scandal has rocked South Korea, with millions of people taking to the streets in protest. President Park has been impeached and her powers suspended. A separate constitutional court will determine whether she is ultimately removed from office, another tumultuous chapter for a country that became a full-fledged democracy in 1987. Hooyeon Kim, Bloomberg Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, hosting a visit by his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, said his country believes in a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Lee explained his stand at a joint news briefing with Netanyahu, who does not endorse the two-nation approach. Lee said he realizes a two-state solution is difficult to achieve, but said it is the only way to achieve peace. Netanyahus official visit is the first to Singapore by an Israeli head of government. Last year Lee became the first Singaporean prime minister to visit Israel. Netanyahu referred to Singapore and Israel at the news conference as being kindred spirits. Both nations are small, with significant defense and high-tech industries. The two countries established diplomatic relations in 1969, but have ties dating back to 1965, when Israeli military advisers covertly assisted Singapore after its declaration of independence. Acknowledging the very complex situation between Palestinians and Israel, Lee called for direct negotiations that will ensure progress toward a just and durable solution to this long-standing and often, unfortunately violent conflict. We have consistently believed that a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine, however hard to achieve, is the only way to bring peace and security to both peoples, Lee said. Netanyahu did not mention tensions in the Middle East in his remarks yesterday, after which questions were not allowed. The two-state approach, in which negotiations aim to lead to an independent Palestinian nation, has wide international support. It would likely require Israel to give up occupied territory that is strategically and religiously significant. A two-state solution has anchored American diplomacy in the Middle East for two decades. When U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Netanyahu last week, the American leader signaled a policy shift, saying both a two-state and a single-state solution should be considered. Netanyahu departs for Australia today. Annabelle Liang, Singapore, AP A yearlong academic study of sex trafficking in Las Vegas is providing a glimpse into a shadowy world beneath the neon glow where underage girls, threatened by pimps, solicit for business in casinos, on streets and online. Of 190 identified sex-trafficking victims in 2014, Arizona State University researchers found two-thirds were under 18 years old, one in five was brought to southern Nevada from somewhere else and more than half were never reported as missing. These are kids that nobody even cares enough about to report missing, said Laura Meltzer, a Las Vegas police officer involved in the reports roll-out. As a mom, that breaks my heart. A victim advocate in the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Elynne Greene, called them throwaway kids. She said many are products of the foster care system. The average underage victim in the study was 16. The youngest was 12. About one in three victims was recruited by a boyfriend-turned-violent, fear-based abuser, with more than half reporting being forced through physical assault involving a gun, knife, razor or cord. The average trafficker was 29 years old, and 80 percent of them had criminal histories. Most came from outside Nevada, and most of those were from California. Some said they were told their families would be targeted if they didnt cooperate. They are violently forced into this, said Dominique Roe-Sepowitz, director of the ASU Office of Sex Trafficking Intervention Research, which conducted the study of a sex trade thats been made part of a Sin City image and reinforced by a misperception that prostitution is legal in Las Vegas. While brothels are legal in rural counties, prostitution is illegal in Clark and Washoe counties, home to Nevadas largest cities, Las Vegas and Reno. And while sex trafficking has drawn increasing attention in recent years from local, state and federal elected officials, it has been hard to measure and difficult to stop. The report aims to provide data for police, prosecutors, parents and the public about who sex traffickers are and how they recruit, sell and keep victims, Roe-Sepowitz said. The report also pointed to difficulties prosecuting accused sex traffickers. Only 34 of the 159 cases studied, or a little more than one in five, resulted in convictions. Its a fight that will never be easy, said Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson, whose office offers victim advocates and a prosecutor who specializes in sex-trafficking cases. As prosecutors, we need witnesses to come to court to be able to prosecute cases. Often, theyre young, unwilling, uncooperative and fearful. Roe-Sepowitz called the report a snapshot, but she said the ASU School of Social Work planned updates based on reports of prostitution arrests from 2015 and 2016. We really have to find new tools for law enforcement to work to get that trafficker off the streets, or hell find someone else to traffic in five minutes, she said. Ken Ritter, AP Police in Thailand who spent three days in an orderly but unsuccessful search of a vast Buddhist temple for a prominent monk accused of financial wrongdoing kept up the pressure yesterday, sending fresh forces to confront devotees and monks at the compounds gates. Around 3,000 police had surrounded the Dhammakaya sect temple north of Bangkok from Thursday through Saturday, while smaller squads searched for its chief, Phra Dhammajayo, who is accused of accepting USD40 million in embezzled money. Both security forces and Dhammajayos followers gathered in growing numbers at the temple yesterday after the Department of Special Investigation Thailands FBI ordered all people not residing there to leave. Numbers on both sides were difficult to estimate. Yesterdays standoff ended peacefully, with the police forces withdrawing shortly after dark. Dhammajayo has been charged with money-laundering and receiving stolen property. His defenders say he did not know the money was tainted. Some devotees believe his legal troubles are politically motivated because the temple and its followers are seen as supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was deposed in a 2006 military coup. Thailand had another coup in 2014 and currently has a military government. The police are operating under an emergency order issued Thursday by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha allowing them to shortcut normal legal procedures with broad powers to search property and arrest people. They have sought to block people from entering the temple, but many seemed to have gotten through yesterday after senior monks issued statements suggesting the temple was under threat. Police also issued summonses for more than a dozen senior monks, including Dhammajayo who has not been seen in public for months to present themselves at the local police station. Our hearts break because we love Buddhism. We can die, but Buddhism, never, said Dhammakaya devotee Manoj Hemprommaraj. We will protect our temple, [even] if we die. Dake Kang, AP Several dozen people gathered Friday in Hanoi to commemorate Vietnams brief but bloody border war with China nearly 40 years ago. The participants laid flowers and lit incense at the statue of King Ly Thai To, the founder of capital Hanoi, amid a heavy police presence. The authorities used loudspeakers to urge the crowd to disperse. There are no official government activities marking the event, but it was extensively covered in the state media this week. I was moved because many people came here to lit incense to remember these heroic martyrs who sacrificed themselves defending Vietnamese borders, said Phung The Dung, one of the participants. He added he had mixed feelings because the authorities were also trying to limit the public commemoration. The government tries to limit any non-official protests. China sent hundreds of thousands of troops into northern Vietnam 38 years ago, for what it said was to teach Vietnam a lesson for invading the China-backed Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. China withdrew its troops one month later with both sides claiming victory, but periodic fighting continued along the border for more than 10 years before the communist neighbors normalized relations in 1991. The online newspaper Vnexpress reported Friday that for many reasons the border war was rarely mentioned for a long time, and that there were only 11 lines in a high school history textbook about the war. AP PHILIPPINES Fourteen people, mostly college students on a camping trip, were killed yesterday when the brakes on their chartered bus apparently failed on a steep downhill road in Rizal province east of Manila and it smashed into an electric post and a tree. About 45 others were injured, many seriously. The dead included the driver and a professor. PHILIPPINES Gunmen attacked a Vietnamese cargo ship off the Philippines southern tip, killing a Vietnamese crewman and abducting six others including the vessels captain, the ships owner said. HONG KONG Former chief executive Donald Tsang became HKs first leader to spend a night in custody, as he was remanded ahead of sentencing today. Tsang faces jail for misconduct in office. Donald Tsang, 72, swapped his suit and trademark bow tie for a prison jumpsuit last night after a judge sent him to the maximum-security Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre, scmp.com reported. At around 9:25pm, he was taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospitals custodial ward, in chains, after complaining of feeling unwell. NORTH KOREA relies on its farmers to squeeze absolutely all they can out of every harvest. Its a tall order in a country with 25 million mouths to feed that is mostly mountains, hamstrung by international trade sanctions and, beyond a handful of showcase cooperatives, hard-pressed to modernize its agricultural sector. PAKISTAN An avalanche has killed seven people in northern Pakistan. Officials with the provincial disaster management department, say another eight people were injured. Those people have been retrieved from a building buried by the avalanche Sunday near Lowari Tunnel in Upper District. Officials say there could be additional victims under the debris. GERMANYs foreign ministry says the case of a newspaper correspondent detained in Turkey is of greatest importance for Berlin. The ministry is in contact with the Welt daily and its correspondent Deniz Yucel (pictured). Yucel, who has both Turkish and German citizenship, was taken into custody last week after presenting himself at a police station in Istanbul for questioning in connection with his reporting on a hacking case . UK Ubers chief executive ordered an urgent investigation into a sexual harassment claim made by a female engineer who alleged her prospects at the company evaporated after she complained about advances from her boss. Travis Kalanick responded on Twitter to an open statement by Susan Fowler Rigetti about her year at the ride-hailing app. Whats described here is abhorrent & against everything we believe in, Kalanick tweeted yesterday. Natural gas prices are collapsing, reaching a three-month low near $2.83 per million British thermal units. The market is selling off as temperatures across the U.S. are projected to be 15 to 30 degrees warmer than usual this weekend, sapping demand for the heating fuel. Overall, this winter was extremely warm; the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimates that heating demand for natural gas is nearly 20 percent below average. Without significant heating demand, natural gas inventories could stay near record levels and may pull prices lower still. Long term, the U.S. natural gas market may be increasingly dependent on exports to keep demand in line with production. Foreign sales have been rapidly increasing, especially to Mexico, although exports still account for less than 5 percent of U.S. production. Vegetable oil slides lower The market for soybean oil (labeled vegetable oil in the supermarket) is looking cloudy; prices dropped beneath 33 cents per pound on Friday for the first time since October. Bean oil is falling even as the price for soybeans has been robust. Demand for soybean meal, a livestock feed ingredient, has been strong, which has encouraged processors to buy more beans and crush them into meal. This crushing process separates the oil from the high-protein meal and has created an abundance of soybean oil. Soybean oil is consumed widely in the food industry as a cooking oil, processed food additive, and as the basis for many salad dressings, mayonnaises, and margarines, but those sources of demand dont typically rise drastically to soak up excess supply. As a result, the soybean oil glut will likely need to be met by exporting the excess oil or converting it into biodiesel, a demand source that currently consumes nearly 20 percent of U.S. bean oil. Metals rocket on global anxiety Gold and silver have been blasting higher, driven primarily by global concerns. While our government has been battling internal leaks and allegations against former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, there have been major missile launches by North Korea, Russia and Iran, a signal that Americas adversaries may be testing limits on the global stage. These actions inspired fearful investors to buy gold and silver, which reached $1,245 and $18 per ounce on Friday, respectively. Warren Buffett's company reported a $2.7 billion loss Saturday as the paper value of its investment portfolio fell during the third quarter, but most of its operating businesses performed well with the notable exception of Geico. TWIN FALLS After 30 years as a teacher, Mary Barron thought it would be a simple transition to join a school board. But that wasnt the case. Barron, who has now served for five years, has gained a completely different perspective on how the Twin Falls School District operates. Having an education background, I thought I would go into this just being on top of things, she said. I found out its totally different than being a classroom teacher. Trustees play a key role in overseeing public schools, from creating a school year calendar to managing a budget. A handful of current Magic Valley school trustees say the volunteer position is immensely rewarding but also challenging and time consuming. If youre interested in serving on a school board, now is the time to act. Each of the Magic Valleys public school districts have two or three seats up for election May 16. The deadline to file for candidacy is March 17. Candidates must live within the geographic zone theyre running for. Once elected, trustees serve four-year terms. If youre going to run for school board, you need not have a personal agenda, Barron said. You need to be there for the kids. She said she strives to keep that in mind while making decisions. Buhl school board chairman Jim Barker a Realtor whos nearing the end of his second term wants to see more people run for school board seats. I wish more people would be willing to throw their hat in the ring, he said. School board elections happen during odd numbered years. In 2015, there werent enough candidates for the majority of Magic Valley school boards. Karen Echeverria, executive director for the Idaho School Boards Association, said she doesnt have a good sense of expected trends for this election. The biggest reward for Barker as a school trustee: giving out diplomas and hugs to graduating high school seniors each year. Its a small community, so he has known many of the parents and students for years. In a small way, Ive helped them on their educational journey, he said. One of the biggest misunderstandings about school board members: The patrons seem to think were more powerful than we actually are, Barker said. He often receives calls from community members asking for a specific action to address a specific problem. But Barker is one member of a five-member board. By law, we have to make our decisions by a majority, he said, adding it takes three to tango. And as school board chairman, Barker said he doesnt have any special powers. He just runs the meetings. Only through group consensus is how we get anything done. The school administrators, teachers and staff members are in the trenches every day with students, Barker said. The biggest challenge: To keep our eye on the ball, he said. Student academic achievement is really what were all about. But they often get bogged down by other decisions, he said, such as policies and budgets. Its easy to get waylaid. Barron who used to teach third and fourth grades didnt want to leave the education world when she retired. She saw running for school board as a way to give back. I kind of wanted to keep a handle on the kids in the district and also the staff members, she said. As a school trustee, you dont just go to meetings, Barron said. Theres a lot of time behind the scenes. That includes looking over meeting agendas and becoming informed about the topics. You cant ask all your questions necessarily at the board meeting, Barron said. Youve got to be prepared and ready to go when you get there. Beyond one or two meetings a month, trustees often serve on school district committees, too. Plus, Barron said, she feels its important to visit school campuses regularly. The biggest challenges for me are the dedication and involvement you have to have, she said. Thats especially true when theres a bond or levy election coming up. What keeps Barron going: watching how the district interacts with the staff and how they try to keep it open, Barron said, by involving employees in decision making. If youre going to run for school board, you need not have a personal agenda. You need to be there for the kids. Mary Barron Twin Falls School Board member TWIN FALLS Free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty Im free at last. More than 20 second-graders swayed back and forth, snapping their fingers as they sang Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.s words Friday at Lincoln Elementary School in Twin Falls. Music teacher Karen Sweet has been teaching students the song for Presidents Day and Black History Month. As children sang while standing in two rows, a picture of President Abraham Lincoln was projected onto a whiteboard. Sweet asked students: What was Lincoln best known for? After hearing responses, she summarized: Freeing the black slaves. When they got freed, do you think they were pretty excited? Sweet asked the students. Yes, they replied. Despite south-central Idahos small number of black or African American residents generally less than 1 percent of each countys population some teachers are making big strides in incorporating lessons for Black History Month into their classrooms. As of July 2015, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated black or African American residents made up only 0.7 percent of Twin Falls Countys population. But the Twin Falls School District has a population of refugee students and more than 20 languages are represented in schools. And Lincoln Elementary is home to the school districts Newcomer Center for elementary school refugee children. The school system is so diverse, Sweet said, adding students dont focus on skin color during Black History Month lessons. I think they really relate to the issues, she said, on topics such as segregation and equality. Sweet has taught on-and-off for about 30 years in different schools. Theres a lot of black spirituals in the curriculum, she said. With first-grade students this month, she shows a video clip of a civil rights march and they sing We Shall Overcome. Then, students march around the music room with their friends. Its amazing how seriously they take it, Sweet said. Black History Month is also a topic covered at North Valley Academy in Gooding. The public charter school, with students in kindergarten through 12th grades, focuses on creating patriotic and educated leaders. In Gooding County, there were only 11 black or African American residents, according to 2011-15 estimates from the U.S. Census Bureaus American Community Survey. Jami Rossmans kindergarten class at North Valley Academy is learning about slavery, Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. On Fridays, theyre putting together a lift tab book on those topics to eventually take home. Amy Andersons fifth graders are each choosing a prominent African American person to write about, including three of their character traits. Theyre also doing group presentations about what theyve learned. One group, for example, made a bus replica out of cardboard for their skit about Rosa Parks. Its the second year Anderson has been teaching. She led her students in a project for Black History Month last year, too. Plus, her students are also studying the Civil War and U.S. presidents. Shane Christiansens middle and high school history classes at North Valley Academy are learning about Malcom X and Martin Luther King, Jr. Theyve listened to Kings Ive Been to the Mountaintop speech, and will read and analyze a few more speeches. At Raft River Elementary School in Malta, one class is learning about five influential African Americans in U.S. history and writing informational paragraphs about them. Theyll also read texts about the people and discuss them. And a White Pine Elementary School teacher in Burley is doing a unit on the civil rights movement. Back in Twin Falls, Sweet asked second-graders Friday for the name of someone who was famous during the civil rights movement in the 1960s. The answer: Martin Luther King, Jr. When was he born? Sweet asked. One girl raised her hand to say Jan. 2. But after thinking for a moment, she realized the correct answer is Jan. 15. Sweet led students in a chant-like song about King and when he was born. They keep adding extra verses with other pieces of information of him. Where did he march? What was his dream? Somebody tell me something about him, Sweet told students. He wanted to free the slaves, one boy answered. That had already happened, Sweet told him. Oh, the boy said. Another boy said King wanted black and white people to be together. Thats called equal rights, Sweet told the students, asking them to repeat the phrase equal rights after her. Then, they incorporated that into their song. To finish off the class, she picked up a toy drum and mallet, asking students to stand up. Can you march on my beat? Here we go, she said. Children stomped their feet vigorously on the carpeted floor along with the beat, swinging their arms stiffly up and down by their side. BOISE A new version of a bill to ban sanctuary cities in Idaho was introduced Monday morning, this time minus language requiring police to check arrestees immigration status. Rep. Greg Chaney, R-Caldwell, said he has conferred with immigrant, Hispanic and agricultural organizations about their concerns since introducing the last bill. While theyre not all on board with the new version, he said the United Dairymen of Idaho and the Milk Producers of Idaho have said they would at least remain neutral rather than opposing it as they did the last one. The purpose of the bill is to keep local and counties from protesting in a way that would be counterproductive to a solution as a whole at the national level, Chaney told the House State Affairs Committee. Idaho doesnt have any sanctuary cities now every jurisdiction in the state cooperates with federal immigration authorities and honors immigration detainers, or requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement to hold someone. However, local police are also not actively involved in immigration enforcement. The new version of Chaneys bill would take half of all sales tax money away from a city or county that seeks to block enforcement of federal immigration laws. The last version would have taken most of it. Its a proactive prohibition against the sorts of policies we see throughout Oregon, in areas like San Francisco and others, that intentionally seek to obstruct any action by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Chaney said. The new version also removes a section requiring local authorities to check the immigration status of anyone they arrest if in doubt, and to notify ICE always if someone isnt here legally. Im not aware of any sheriffs department in the state that doesnt already follow those protocols, so getting lost in the weeds of what check marks they need to check didnt seem prudent, Chaney said. Like the last version, the latest one has language saying it is not the bills intent to involve Idaho authorities in actively enforcing immigration law. Chaneys bill comes at a time when immigration policy is one of the most watched and controversial issues of the country. President Donald Trump was elected promising to take a hard line on immigration, and some of the immigration executive orders he has signed suggested deputizing local authorities to enforce immigration laws. The American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho will likely still oppose the latest version of the bill, said the groups Public Policy Strategist Kathy Griesmyer. The ACLU, she said, views some of the immigration actions the Trump administration has been taking or considering as unconstitutional, and this bill would require cities and counties to comply with actions that may be illegal and potentially open them up to liability as a result. If a city or county weighs the risk and decides not to cooperate, she said, they should be able to. The committee room filled up before the meeting even started, mostly with people opposed to the bill, and some people had to listen in an overflow room down the hall. The bill was introduced with the two Democrats on the committee opposed and all the Republicans in favor. Rep. Paulette Jordan, D-Plummer, asked Chaney a series of pointed questions, many focused on why the bill is necessary given that authorities in Idaho follow the law now. She made a motion not to introduce the bill that failed, with only her and Rep. Elaine Smith, D-Pocatello, voting for it. TWIN FALLS The Historic Preservation Commission wants to have more of a say regarding construction in Twin Falls historic districts. City Council will meet Tuesday this week because of the Presidents Day holiday Monday. The commission has proposed a new subsection of city code requiring a certificate of appropriateness for building changes or new developments in those sections of town. Before altering a buildings exterior or applying for a building permit, the applicants plans would have to follow the new design guidelines for the warehouse, City Park and downtown historic districts. The Historic Preservation Commission would decide whether to grant a certificate of appropriateness. The Council has already approved a request to codify the Historic Preservation Commissions design guidelines. But before the code amendment can be approved, it has to go to at least two public hearings. It has already been heard and approved through the Planning and Zoning Commission. The public hearing takes place at Tuesdays City Council meeting, no earlier than 6 p.m. The Council meets at 5 p.m. at 305 Third Ave. E. Also at the meeting, the City Council will receive the Urban Renewal Agencys annual report for 2016, and receive a report on the citys efforts to accomplish the goals of the 2030 Strategic Plan. The Long Term Planning Committee has requested the Councils input for this year. Elmer Ketterling HEYBURN Elmer Ketterling of Heyburn, funeral services at 11 a.m. Monday, February 20 at the Paul Congregational Church. A viewing will be held from 4 until 6 p.m. Sunday, February 19 at Joel Heward Hansen Mortuary and one hour prior to the services at the church. Ormand Burch BURLEY Ormand Burch of Burley, funeral services at 11 a.m. Tuesday, February 21 at the Burley Stake Center, 2050 Normal Ave. A visitation will be held from 6 until 8 p.m. at the Morrison Funeral Home, 188 South Hwy 24 in Rupert, and from 10 until 10:45 a.m. Tuesday prior to the service at the church. Ervin Cantrell HEYBURN Ervin Cantrell of Heyburn, services at 11 a.m. Tuesday, February 21, at Hansen Mortuary. A viewing will be held from 6-8 p.m. Monday February 20 and an hour prior to the service. Myrtle Louise Allen RUPERT Myrtle Louise Allen of Rupert, family and friends will meet at 1 p.m. Wednesday, February 22, 2017 at the Rupert 7th Ward, 324 East 18th in Rupert, for the family prayer and brief remembrance. Following the family prayer, the graveside service will be held for all at the Rupert Cemetery, 50 West 400 North (Meridian), Rupert, Idaho. Abel Artashevich Arushanov Abel Artashevich Arushanov, of Twin Falls, funeral service and visitation 3 p.m. Wednesday, February 22 at Rosenau Funeral Home, Twin Falls. Phillip White GOODING Phillip White of Gooding, celebration of life from 1 until 5 p.m. Friday, February 24 at Canyon Crest Dining & Event Center, 330 Canyon Crest Drive, Twin Falls. Robert Bob Haslam JEROMERobert Bob Haslam of Jerome, funeral services at 2 p.m. Friday, February 24 at Farnsworth Mortuary. Visitation is from 6-8 p.m. Thursday, February 23 at Farnsworth Mortuary, 1343 S Lincoln Ave, Jerome. Joseph Lambert BURLEY Joseph Lambert of Burley, funeral at 1 p.m. Saturday, February 25, at the Burley LDS West Stake Center, 2420 Parke Ave., in Burley. Visitation is from 6-8 p.m. Friday, February 24, at the Rasmussen Funeral Home, 1350 E. 16th St., in Burley, and from noon until 12:45 p.m. Saturday at the church. Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy Seniors wellness The Twin Falls Senior Center will hold a presentation for senior citizens at 12:15 p.m. Monday at 530 Shoshone St. W. Connie Campbell of Syringa Place will speak about five common drug interactions. Free; 208-734-5084. Yoga Morning Bliss Yoga, 9 a.m. Tuesdays and Saturdays at the YMCA, 1751 Elizabeth Blvd. The yoga class stretches and strengthens the muscles with a strong focus on breath and body alignment. Get your workout in early, connect with your breath, be mindful and find what feels good for your body. Free to the community. 208-733-4384. Womens and childrens support Voices Against Violence will offer support groups at 212 Second Ave. W., No. 200, Twin Falls. Womens Sexual Assault Support Group will meet from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesdays; Womens Domestic Violence Support Group, 6 to 8 p.m. Thursdays; and Childrens Domestic Violence Support Group, 6 to 8 p.m. Thursdays. All groups are facilitated by licensed mental health professionals. Childcare is provided. All services are free. Information and to register: case manager, 208-733-2558. Victims support Support group for victims of domestic violence, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. every Tuesday at the Mini-Cassia Shelter Haven of Hope, 323 First St., Rupert. Information: Rachel, 208-312-7021. Healthy heart Heart Health Seminar, Heart Healthy Lifestyle, 6 p.m. Wednesday in the Oak Rooms on the lower level of St. Lukes Magic Valley, 801 Pole Line Road W., Twin Falls. Presented by Dr. Joseph Rosenblum, cardiologist. Free. Pre-registration is recommended, 208-814-0095. Alzheimers support Alzheimers Association, Greater Idaho Chapters Caregiver Support Group meeting, 6:30 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at DeSano Place Village, 1015 E. Ave. K, Jerome. The group meets on the first and fourth Wednesdays every month. Information: Becci Bowler, 208-749-1621. Childbirth St. Lukes Magic Valley Medical Centers prepared childbirth classes, 6:30 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays, Feb. 21 through March 14, in Oak Rooms 2-4 on the lower level of St. Lukes, 801 Pole Line Road W., Twin Falls. Topics: Wellness during pregnancy; labor and delivery process with relaxation and breathing techniques; caesarean birth; postpartum care for mother and newborn; infant CPR; car seat and home safety; and a tour of the maternal and child units. Bring a labor-support person if possible. Cost is $25 for a five-week session. Pre-registration is required: 208-814-0402. Anxiety support Anxiety Support Group, 6 p.m. every Thursday at Magic Valley Fellowship Hall, 801 Second Ave. N., Twin Falls. Support for those who experience anxiety, panic attacks or depression. Learn about the signs, symptoms of anxiety and depression, and coping skills. Information: Cathy Shaddy, 208-410-2768. Seniors wellness The Twin Falls Senior Center will hold a presentation for senior citizens at 12:15 the p.m. Friday at 530 Shoshone St. W. Students from the College of Southern Idahos dental hygiene program will talk about Mouth Rinses and Fluoride. Free; 208-734-5084. Dental sealants College of Southern Idaho dental hygiene programs free sealant clinic, 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday at the dental clinic lab in CSIs Health Science and Human Services building in Twin Falls. The clinic is open to children ages 5-18 and is by appointment only. Dental sealant is a varnish-like substance painted onto teeth that helps prevent cavities. Students in CSIs dental hygiene senior class will place the sealants as members of the junior class assist. All procedures will be done under the observation of local supervising dentists, who assist with the program. The cost is $5 per child. Schedule an appointment: Andie Dayley, 208-732-6751. Joint replacement Free community education class on joint replacement (hip, knee or shoulder surgery), 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 28, at BridgeView Estates, 1828 Bridgeview Blvd., Twin Falls. Meet in the lobby. Topics: Preparing for surgery, recovery time, insurance coverage, care after surgery, discharge planning and long-term rehabilitation. Tours of the BridgeView rehabilitation facility are available. Pre-registration is required, Amy at 208-280-0047 or Sarah at 208-280-0045. Blood drives The American Red Cross is making an emergency appeal for blood donations and has scheduled community blood drives in Kimberly and Twin Falls. A blood drive will be held from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Feb. 28 at the Kimberly Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Stake Center, 3850 N. 3800 E., call Spencer Wilkins, 208-420-9001 for an appointment. In Twin Falls, blood donation opportunities will be available from noon to 6 p.m. March 2 at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Twin Falls West Stake, 1134 N. College Road, contact Mitchell English, 208-410-1226; and from 1 to 7 p.m. March 6, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. March 7 and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 8 at Church of the Ascension Episcopal, 371 Eastland Drive N., call Sharla, 208-734-4566 for appointments. Donors of all blood types, especially type O, are needed. Information: redcrossblood.org. Childbirth St. Lukes Magic Valley prepared childbirth bootcamp, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. March 4 in the Oak Room at St. Lukes, 801 Pole Line Road W., Twin Falls. This session is for those unable to attend the five-week prepared childbirth classes. Topics: wellness during pregnancy; labor process with relaxation and breathing techniques; videos of deliveries and labor positions; and care of the postpartum mother and newborn. Bring a labor support person if possible. Cost is $25 and pre-registration is required, 208-814-0402. Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy This appeared in Saturdays Washington Post. Russias apparent violation of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty has moved a worrisome step forward. A ground-launched cruise missile that the United States has identified as a treaty violation is being deployed by Russia, according to a report in the New York Times. This threatens to upend an important treaty and poses a major challenge for the United States, especially since years of objections over the violation have been stonewalled by President Vladimir Putin. With a new U.S. administration taking office, it would make sense for President Donald Trump to press Russia once more to adhere to the treaty, while holding out the possibility of military countermeasures if he does not. The treaty was a centerpiece of the cooperation between President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at the end of the Cold War, eliminating an entire class of deployed land-based missiles in Europe with a range between 300 and 3,400 miles, and their launchers; prohibiting flight-testing and production of new missiles in the future; and including new, intrusive verification measures. Over the past decade, Russia stealthily developed a ground-launched cruise missile in apparent violation of the treaty, one of a number of asymmetric weapons programs developed by Putin to throw the West off balance. The new missile was first seen in a flight test in 2008; former President Barack Obamas administration told Congress about it in late 2011, and State Department compliance reports formally called it a treaty violation in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Russia has repeatedly refused to acknowledge a treaty violation. A special commission set up in the treaty to resolve disputes met late last year without result. Now, Trump should raise the issue directly with Putin and make it clear that the United States will not tolerate behavior that undermines the very foundation of arms-control treatiesthat they are binding and verifiable. Trump has described himself as a good negotiator and as a Mr. Fix-it. Certainly, the INF treaty needs repair. The military countermeasures prepared by the Pentagon, such as deployment of new U.S. missiles or active defenses, might, over time, coerce the Kremlin to change tack. But it would be far preferable for Trump, who has yet to meet Putin, to attempt persuasion first, while being direct about the consequences of inaction. According to an account by Reuters, Trump denounced another U.S.-Russian accord, the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty), in a Jan. 28 phone call with Putin, saying it favored Russia. In fact, the treaty has been a model of successful implementation, holds both nations to equal levels and ought to be extended when it expires in 2021. The real worries about strategic nuclear weapons are elsewhere, starting with setting priorities for the hugely expensive nuclear modernization cycle that the United States has embarked upon. Theres also the unratified nuclear Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the toothless and drifting Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. Plenty of negotiating and fixing up awaits Trump, and none is getting easier by waiting. After describing in a recent column annoying cellphone service gaps in the Idaho Statehouse, the Lewiston Tribunes William Spence remarked how that serves as a metaphor for this: I cant count the number of hearings Ive attended where the testimony is skewed entirely one way or the other and the committee votes the opposite way. In my days covering the Legislature years ago, that happened seldom. If the testimony was strongly weighted in one direction, that ordinarily was how the committee would vote. Apparently not so much these days. I crowdsourced the question of whether Spence was right. The crowd told me that he was. The legislative examples cited most were guns on campus, Medicaid expansion and add the words. Large crowds showed in support of the latter two and against the first; few people countered; the committees involved wasted little time siding with the few. (They did at least, it should be said, hear out the public first.) Holli Woodings, a former state representative, offered: Guns on campus. I listened to an entire day of testimony against it, and still was in the committee minority voting nay. There were two, maybe three folks who testified in favor, and dozens against, including law enforcement, educators, students, administration, and others who actually had a stake. The proposal won approval. Activist Donna Yule: Happens all the time in the Idaho statehouse. Its extremely frustrating to all the people who take the time to testify. Ive come to the conclusion that most of the GOP chairs of the committees already have their minds made up, and they care more about their base voters than the people of Idaho. But I still think the testimony matters. Even though they ignore the people testifying, it still makes them uncomfortable, and maybe eventually the people will get angry enough to rise up against them and vote in some new people who WILL listen. Do your representatives listen? Actually listen, or just sit there with minds made up? Idahos United States senators have been barraged with comments and protesters in recent weeks, but theres been little response from them. After Sen. Mike Crapos office rebuffed media requests to find out how Idahoans calling in on Education Secretary-designate Betsy DeVos stood, a staffer let slip to the Payette County commissioners: DeVos is the one were hearing the most about and I think 95 percent are against her. Crapo, and fellow Idaho Sen. Jim Risch, voted for DeVos confirmation, and said little or nothing about what they were hearing from back home. OK. Its possible not every protesting call or visit came from a constituent (though Id bet the great bulk of them did). It isnt the job of a representative to vote in the popular direction every time. Yes, its those in opposition who usually are most motivated to step up, more than those in support. Sometimes the majority is wrong; it happens. But when this kind of dissonance happens as often as it seems to (and yes, Idaho is not alone in this), something is wrong. In saying this, Im looking most directly at the voters. Are you not being listened to? Are your concerns not being met? Are your representatives not doing what you want them to do? If you think so, then: Are you getting organized and out to the polls? Thats the message that will be heard without a doubt. President Rodrigo Dutertes leadership skills and commitment to social change will be put to test in the next few days and weeks. Will he stand by the courageous and visionary leadership of Environment Secretary Gina Lopez who has made decisions on mining that has, overnight, transformed the governance of that sector? Will he decide to put the brakes on a slide back to war and allow his peace negotiators to meet this week in Amsterdam, Netherlands to deliberate and hopefully finalize a bilateral ceasefire agreement? Will the President fully support the Bangsamoro Transition Commission as it begins its work to draft a new version of the Bangsamoro Basic Law? Its interesting that seven months to his term and with the coming of the Holy Week and Easter break of Congress, leaving only a few more weeks of legislative work left before Dutertes second State of the Nation Address, there has not been a single new big law, other than the budget, that Congress has enacted under this administration. Unfortunately, so much time is being wasted by the House of Representatives on bad and useless bills like the death penalty and the lowering of criminal liability. Both have zero chance of passage in the Senate. In the meantime, the tax reforms, transportation, and FOI bills are progressing slowly. For tax reforms and FOI, the ball is in the court of Congress. For transportation, its the executive department that is not doing its part from what I gather. Both chambers of Congress, with Senate and House committees led by Senator Grace Poe and Representative Cesar Sarmiento respectively, have done excellent work on the bills for emergency powers on transportation. There is unfortunately a lot of backsliding in the corruption area. While you have bright lights like Martin Delgra who is doing a yeomans job cleaning up the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, stories from many government agencies at how corruption is rearing its ugly head in so many places abound. The Bureau of Immigration bribery case is the most visible but there are other similar incidents elsewhere in the bureaucracy. The impunity of the Camp Crame killing of a Korean businessman did not help. And now we see the ground being prepared for dismissing the PDAF cases with the legal position of the Solicitor General on the Napoles illegal detention case. The biggest diversion from genuine change is the war against illegal drugs which has resulted in the massacre of the poor. It has diverted resources and attracted domestic and global criticism, including, possibly, a case against Duterte, Bato, and others in the International Criminal Court. The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is understandably worried about being dragged into this unwinnable war as its officers too can be sued later in the ICC. And it is doomed to failure because the strategy being followed has long been discredited and its implementation is led by institutionsthe PNP, NBI, DOJ, and now PDEAthat have a history of corruption and complicity in criminal activities. The persecution of Senator Leila de Lima is also wrong. I am certain she will eventually be cleared. Granting convicted drug lords immunity in exchange for testifying against De Lima also creates a bad precedent. ADVERTISEMENT More positively, there is real change in the social development and social justice sectors. From the basic sectors and local governments, I hear only good feedback of the work that Secretaries Jun Evasco, Manny Pinol, Judy Taguiwalo, and Paeng Mariano are doing. Likewise, Liza Maza, Terry Ridon, and others like them are working hard making sure their offices deliver to their constituencies among the basic sectors. Their efforts are not noticed by traditional and social media because they are not controversial even as they are making an impact on the lives of the poor. But it is in the environmental sector and potentially in the peace process with both Moro revolutionary organizations and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (which includes the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New Peoples Army) where the greatest potential good social change can come. For immediate impact, the decisions that Gina Lopez makes promise to be the most dramatic. For lasting reforms, success in achieving and implementing permanent peace settlements with the Moros and the communists will go a long way to change the country. Unfortunately, the detractors of Lopez have become personal and have launched propaganda attacks against her, distorting things from her past to put her in a negative light. There is also misinformation about the impact of her mining decisions, with the President himself misled into saying that we would lose P70 billion because of this. As Dr. Cielo Magno, a UP economics professor and an expert on mining economics, has computed, its more like P10 billion. There are of course serious issues around the decisions of Secretary Lopez that the President must resolve. On this, I align myself with Finance Undersecretary Bayani Agabin who has said that these decisions must be weighed according to the standards of substantive and procedural due process. As for the peace processes, I am optimistic about the Mindanao talks now that the BTC is about to be launched, but there is uncertainty on the fate of the NDFP negotiations. Negotiators on both sides are supposed to meet this week to discuss and hopefully agree on a bilateral ceasefire. In my view, such a ceasefire is essential for the process to succeed. Yes, the negotiations can go on even when there is fighting but trust will not be built. Unfortunately, as historian Vince Rafael has pointed, the fight between the AFP and the NPA has taken on dimensions of a rido, a family feud, as we see in Mindanao, that is difficult to stop once it begins. Definitely, a good step forward as well would be for the President to release the 400-plus political prisoners affiliated with the NDFP. This is a matter of justice and not necessarily a quid pro quo or in exchange for the ceasefire. In any case, agreement on the ceasefire should not be contingent on the release. Still on the NDFP peace process, I would also propose to the negotiators that they accelerate the timetable of the talks. I have studied the texts of both sides on the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER), and my expert opinion, as a negotiations professor, scholar, and practitioner, is that the positions between the government and the NDFP are not far apart. Mostly, its a difference language and that is not a formidable obstacle. I believe a CASER agreement can be completed in a couple of months. In relation to the political detainees, maybe the government can release first, upon signing of the bilateral ceasefire, those prisoners who are over 60 years old, those who are sick, and young mothers. After the CASER is adopted, the rest of the political prisoners could then be released. A full amnesty for all involved in this 49-year-old conflict should wait the final political settlement. All eyes are on the President. I hope he makes the right decisions on mining and peace. Facebook: deantonylavs Twitter: tonylavs Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. In the years before cyberspace became a reality, the dissemination of information was largely done manually. Research work meant trips to libraries and the acquisition, either by sale or by loan, of reference books and materials. In some extreme cases, this meant archival work or trips to dark building attics where dusty crates house rare documents. If one wanted to find a particular photograph of a famous person or a historic event, one had to check out an encyclopedia or a book that specialized in that particular line of interest or concern. In all instances requiring research work, one who had a private library had a pronounced advantage over one who did not. Back then, cinema and television, on account of their inaccessibility to ordinary researchers, did not provide a convenient source of research information. To put it simply, it was basically impossible to cite television, and motion pictures were exhibited at the cinema houses at the whim of the film distributors. The Internet radically changed the information landscape not only for the contemporary researcher but for everyone seeking information about anything. At the touch of a key on a laptop computer or a mobile telephone, anyone can access information on just about any subject of human interest, including pornography and subversive literature. In addition, cyberspace paved the way for the birth of the so-called social media, by which private citizens can be sources of both general and specific information. Because of social media, the dissemination of information, once a lucrative monopoly of the traditional media, can now be undertaken by private citizens through cyberspace. The unprecedented accessibility of cyberspace to ordinary citizens eventually triggered numerous issues and concerns. Many netizens, as the users of the social media came to be called, had no regard for the laws on libel and invasion of privacy. Quite a number of information sources on cyberspace likewise disregarded the basic rules on news gathering and dissemination, namely, news accuracy and the treatment of victims of heinous crimes. ADVERTISEMENT In 1996, the United States Congress enacted the Communications Decency Act, which made it a felony to send indecent material over computer networks. It also prohibited using a telecommunications devise to, among others, transmit obscene material. A year later, the US Supreme Court declared the law unconstitutional on First Amendment (free speech-free press) grounds. More specifically, the Court said that cyberspace is entitled to the fullest possible free speech protection, and that content posted on the Internet deserves the same protection as content printed on paper. The Court likewise held that First Amendment rights to free speech and a free press are essential to online media; that a free Internet is essential to the rights of all Americans; and that government regulation of the content of speech is more likely to interfere with the free exchange of ideas than to encourage it. Moreover, the Court said, the Internet is not as invasive as radio or television because users of the Internet seldom encounter content by accident. The Court, however, emphasized that the door is not closed to legal measures designed to protect against copyright violations, invasions of privacy, and consumer fraud. American jurisprudence also posits that a public school library may use cyber filters to block access to pornographic sites by minors, provided that the filters must be removed whenever an adult requests access to the same sites. In fine, the US Supreme Court was unwilling to authorize the construction of humps in what the tribunal called the unprecedented information highway of the world. The Philippine approach to cyberspace regulation is not too different. In 2012, the Congress of the Philippines enacted Republic Act No. 10175, or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012. Under this law, the penalty for libel, if committed through a computer system, was increased one degree higher than that for libel committed through other means. This meant that one who is convicted for cyber libel will not be entitled to probation, and must, therefore, serve time in prison. One provision of Republic Act No. 10175 authorized the Secretary of Justice to close down, without any court authorization, any website or information provider suspected of criminal activity. Another provision required e-mail and mobile phone service providers to submit to the government traffic data regarding their clients use of their services. As expected, the constitutionality of Republic Act No. 10175 was challenged in the Supreme Court. Eventually, the tribunal upheld the main provisions of the law, particularly the one regarding cyber libel, but voided the provision authorizing the justice secretary to close down, without the benefit of a valid judicial warrant, suspect websites and information providers, as well as the provision on traffic data. The ruling of the Court was welcomed by well-meaning users of cyber technology. There is word that the government intends to filter pornographic sites on the Internet. If that is so, there is a good chance of that measure getting questioned in the Supreme Court. Just recently, however, the Secretary of Health espoused the view that censorship of pornographic sites in the Internet is an effective measure against the spread of HIV among the students and the youth. In fine, that view suggests that internet pornography effectively encourages the youth to be promiscuous, and to engage in unprotected sex. While the Health Secretarys view appears to be well-meaning, it is legally untenable and impractical because, first, the jurisprudence on cyberspace regulation indicates that it is virtually impossible for the State to impose restrictions on Internet access on the part of adults. Second, Philippine law provides that a person above 18 years of age is an adult. Third, many college students are, legally speaking, adults already. The governments crusade against the spread of HIV is laudable, but it should not be at the expense of free speech and freedom of expression. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. More people are coming out to criticize the institutionalization of extra-judicial killings in the context of President Rodrigo Dutertes war on illegal drugs. The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines led some 20,000 Roman Catholics in a protest rally. The war on drugs has left more than 7,000 people dead since Mr. Duterte assumed office. In the rally called Walk for Life, the Catholic leaders called for non-violence. The promotion of violence, they say, only encourages more violence. The Duterte administration may dismiss this rally as nothing more than an expression of the sentiments of a minority in social media. But we should not forget that eight out of 10 Filipinos are Roman Catholics. The problem though is that the Catholic Church no longer has a Jaime Cardinal Sin, who never hesitated to do what he thought was best for the country. We should not forget that the participation of the Church led to the downfall of two presidenciesthat of Presidents Ferdinand Marcos and Joseph Estrada. ADVERTISEMENT And then there is former President Fidel Ramos, the man who convinced former Davao City Mayor Duterte to run for president. But Ramos, a few months into the Duterte presidency, called the country a sinking ship under the former Davao City mayor. And now he has other issues against the man whom he encouraged to seek the highest post in the land. I am sure President Duterte knows what his mentor is talking about. He should listen, instead of lashing out at him as he always does at his critics, whom he calls sons of whores. Getting the armed forces involved in the war against drugs will worsen the culture of impunity. The military has a different mandate from serving and protecting the people that is the Polices responsibility. I also notice that there are more opinion writers criticizing the Presidents methods. Those in power do not have the monopoly of good intentions and patriotism. I repeat the President must listen, because democracy is about assent and dissent! * * * The camp of Vice President Leni Robredo is trying all tricks in the book to delay the resolution of the election protest of former Senator Bongbong Marcos against her. She has appealed the decision of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal finding Marcos petition valid in form and substance. I am, myself, a lawyer. I know that when respondents appeals for reconsideration, it is just a ploy to delay the process. We all know what the Liberal Party and the Yellowtards tried to do during the counting of votes. They tried to make Roxas win but Dutertes lead was so overwhelming that the task proved impossible. Since Marcos margin over Robredo was so much slimmer, things happened in that particular race. * * * I have earlier refrained from commenting on whether former Justice Secretary and now Senator Leila de Lima deserves what she has been getting from President Duterte and Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II. I am convinced that this is vindictiveness that the Liberal Party is getting. It is also a violation of human rights since she is getting tried by publicity. I cannot say with certainty that De Lima is guilty as charged. Only the courts of law can determine that. But my gulay, what she is getting from the Duterte administration is not something I would wish on my worst enemy. Since the issue is now in court, she would have her day to contest these charges. For me a person must be presumed innocent until proven guilty. Indeed there has been miscarriage of justice in many political cases. Still, I believe in the majesty of the law. I dont know how long the case against de Lima would last, but knowing our lawyers and judges, we may not even see their finality until after the end of President Dutertes term in 2022. The only consolation De Lima can get is that she would certainly have her day in court. The way I see it, everything being experienced by De Lima these days is politically motivated. She is a staunch opponent and critic of the President. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. PINNACLE PINNACLE is more than a new name for the State Bar of Wisconsins Continuing Legal Education Department it emphasizes our commitment to provide the highest quality, Wisconsin-focused professional development and practice resources available. Whether youre looking for seminars to enhance your knowledge or refine your skills while earning CLE credits, system books and forms to help you increase your efficiency and accuracy, or videos to help prepare your clients or train your staff, PINNACLE will deliver. With the PINNACLE name to guide you, youll be sure youre choosing an official State Bar educational offering with the consistently superior content and service youve come to expect from the Bar. Tourism is on the rise in Egypt signaling that the once paralyzed sector could be on the verge of recovery according to spokeswoman of the Tourism Ministry Omaima al-Husseini. She said there is an increase in the number of tourists and the number of arrivals was much better in January than in previous years with most of them coming from China, Japan and Ukraine. There are also reports that Russian tourists would be returning to Egypt before the end of this week after flights to the North African country were suspended in October 2015 due to security and air safety concerns. The Head of the Egyptian Federation of Tourism, Karim Moshen, confirmed that there is an improvement, especially in cultural tourism in Cairo, Luxor and Aswan after revealing that there have been more bookings between October 2016 and January 2017 than last year. In June 2015, a massacre of tourists at a Luxor temple was narrowly averted when assailants armed with assault rifles and explosives were intercepted by police before they start their attack. The increase in tourist arrivals was confirmed by Tamer al-Shaer, vice president of the Blue Sky travel agency while Japans HIS travel agency said bookings to Egypt have multiplied by four to five times compared to last year. However, the recovery of the tourist sector highly depends on the return of Russian and Briton tourists especially to Sharm el-Sheikh. After the October 2015 plane disaster that killed 224 people, Moscow and London suspended flights plunging visitor numbers from 9.3 million in 2015 to 5.3 million in 2016. Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar has accused Western countries of fueling the conflict in Libya by supporting terrorist groups operating in the country. The Head of the Libyan National Army, loyal to the Tobruk-based House of Representatives (HoR), made these allegations against the governments of France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the U.S. Haftar, who described these states as partners to the Libyan terrorists, did not name the Libyan sides that he considered as terrorist. In his allegations to Egyptian On Live radio channel, he claimed that the terrorist groups were being trained by these countries that also provided them with weapons secretly. Libya has been dominated by violence since a NATO military intervention that followed the 2011 uprising led to the overthrow and killing of Gaddafi. Countries such as France and the U.S. were instrumental in the campaign and there are reports that western countries continue to have their military personnel in Libya taking part in operations covertly. Haftar called on the Western states to reconsider their positions before he issued a bold warning. We sent back in coffins the terrorists that Turkey had dispatched to Libya and signaled that Ankara will pay dearly for the harm it did to the Libyan nation. None of the countries accused by the Field Marshal have responded to the allegations. It is also unclear which groups Haftar is referring to as terrorist groups. The army he is leading is not recognized by the international community that considers the UN-backed Government of National Accord as the legitimate representative of Libya and its people, although it is not approved by the HoR. Meanwhile, UN Special Envoy for Libya Martin Kobler tweeted that he held constructive talks with President Ageela Saleh of the HoR that focused on concrete steps to facilitate the approval of the Libyan Political Agreement. No joint statement was released after the talks. Saudi Arabia and Israel are cooperating to provoke the international atmosphere against Iran according to the Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir and Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman in their remarks at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) termed Iran as supporter of terror and a main threat to the region while strongly criticizing the July 2015 nuclear agreement. Iran described such allegations as bogus and ridiculous and accused Riyadh of having deep links with extremist groups and providing diverse support to terrorists. Qassemi highlighted that the coordinated stances between Riyadh and Tel Aviv against Tehran is not accidental as he claimed that there are numerous clues about coordination between the two regimes on regional dossiers. The spokesman added that their collaboration is geared towards covering their own defeats and failed regional policies which are a sign of their painful frustration. Israel has been working towards closing the diplomatic and political gaps it has with Arab States. Prime Minister Netanyahu renewed this stance during his recent visit to the US saying that they are seeking broader conditions for broad peace in the Middle East between Israel and Arab countries. Jubeir stated during the MSC that Saudi Arabia stands ready with other Arab countries to work to see how we can promote that (Arab-Israel conflict). There can be progress and a solution can be reached if there is a political will because we know what the settlement looks like, the Saudi official said. Tehran considered cooperation on such matters as pathetic and believes that it is aimed at propagating anti-Iran policies. Iran has long been at odds with Riyadh and Tel Aviv. Its strong stance and increasing military capabilities have been of concern to regional countries with many believing that the war in Yemen is a Saudi-Iran and a Sunnis-Shias proxy war. Iran is known for its derogatory remarks against the Jewish State and one amongst many is wiping Israel off the world map. King Mohammed VI of Morocco started Sunday a historic visit to Zambia, 3rd leg of a new African tour that led the Sovereign to Ghana and South Sudan. On Monday, King Mohammed VI and the Zambian President Edgar Chagwa Lungu held tete-a-tete talks, before the two leaders co-chaired the signing ceremony of 19 governmental and economic partnership agreements. The agreements cover the fields of political consultations, air services, investment protection, finance, insurance, education, training, tourism, agriculture, technology, industry, mining and renewable energy. This visit, first of its kind by the Moroccan monarch in this English speaking African country, will open up a new era in relations between the two countries, which are both looking forward to lifting up their political, commercial and economic cooperation to higher levels. As put by the Zambian Foreign Minister Harry Kalaba, besides strengthening bilateral relations, the visit will foster dialogue between Rabat and Lusaka on issues of common interest. On the eve of the royal visit, Moroccan and Zambian businessmen held a meeting in Lusaka to look into ways of enhancing partnership in financial services, mining, renewable energy, water management, tourism, port and free zone management Zambia, unlike most of its neighbors, has managed to avoid the war and upheaval that has marked much of Africas post-colonial history, earning itself a reputation for political stability. The landlocked country has experienced rapid economic growth over the last decade as Africas second largest copper producer after the DR Congo. Its overreliance on copper has however made it vulnerable to falling commodity prices. Zambia also has one of the worlds fastest growing populations with the UN projecting that its population of 13 million will triple by 2050. However, economic growth and massive Chinese investments have failed to improve the lives of most Zambians, with two-thirds still living in poverty Before Zambia, King Mohammed VI visited Ghana where he conferred with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on cooperation prospects as well as on regional and international issues of common interest. The visit was crowned by the signing of 25 cooperation agreements. Immediately after addressing the African Union summit convened in Addis Ababa (January 30-31) and during which Moroccos bid to rejoin the AU was largely approved, the Moroccan Sovereign paid his first visit to South Sudan and met with president Salva Kiir Mayardit. The two countries signed during the visit, nine cooperation agreements covering housing, urbanism, foreign Affairs, investment, taxation, agriculture, fisheries, food security, industry, mining and business. During this visit, the North African Kingdom expressed readiness and commitment to help South Sudan build a new capital city to cost nearly $10 billion. Morocco is currently the second major investor in Africa and Moroccan private companies are present in several African countries. Chicken will be the best-positioned protein due to its low price position in times of pressure on consumer spending power but rises in production costs and the long-term impact of COVID-19 threaten to disrupt the sector, according to Rabobank. Ghana and Morocco are poised to add new momentum to their economic and business ties as they concluded Friday no less than 25 cooperation agreements consolidating or establishing partnerships between the two Governments and between the governments and the private sector. King Mohammed VI who started an official visit to Ghana Thursday and Ghanas President Nana Akufo-Addo, who held private talks and exchanged decorations, co-chaired the signing ceremony of the 25 agreements. The accords cover several sectors, including agriculture, industry, insurance and reinsurance, banking, renewable energies, tourism, and foreign trade. The two countries also agreed, under a Memorandum of Understanding, to start talks on a set of agreements on reciprocal investment promotion and protection, the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion. Also, the two sides decided, under a MoU, to set up a Moroccan-Ghanaian Business Council, to foster cooperation and mutual assistance between the two countries enterprises and help these enterprises set up strategic partnerships. Under another MoU, the network of Bank of Africa in Europe and Africa will finance investment needs of firms, member of the Ghana Industries Association, and assist them in their development process at the international level. The Bank of Africa is signatory to another agreement under which it will earmark a $10 Million Financing Line for the benefit of Ghanas Electricity Company to promote electrification in Ghana. Moroccos Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines (ONHYM) and Ghanas Mineral Commission on their part signed a MoU on scientific and technical cooperation. All these agreements and MoUs reflect Moroccos unwavering commitment for the consolidation of a solidarity-based and active South-South cooperation that is one of the fundamental pillars of Moroccan foreign policy, the ultimate goal being serving the interests of African peoples. After Ghana, King Mohammed VI is expected to visit Guinea-Conakry, Zambia, Kenya, Cote dIvoire, and Mali. THE TRUE COST OF ALL THAT 'CHEAP' LAOR THAT DESTROYED AMERICA THE BIG SECRET DEMOCRATS DO NOT WANT YOU TO KNOW: Heather Mac Donald of the Manhattan Institute has testified before a Congressional committee that in 2004, 95% of all outstanding warrants for murder in Los Angeles were for illegal aliens; in 2000, 23% of all Los Angeles County jail inmates were illegal aliens and that in 1995, 60% of Los Angeless largest street gang, the 18th Street gang, were illegal aliens. It's robo-call time for 20 more Republicans in the Florida House. They are the GOP members of the House Appropriations Committee who are set to vote Tuesday on one of Speaker Richard Corcoran's top priorities: a bill dismantling Enterprise Florida and Visit Florida (HB 7005). This is the issue that has created a major rift between Corcoran and Gov. Rick Scott, who supports retaining the two programs that Corcoran calls "corporate welfare" and "the government picking winners and losers." Eleven of the 20 GOP members on Appropriations are from South Florida or Tampa Bay, including Reps. George Moraitis, R-Fort Lauderdale; Holly Raschein, R-Key Largo; Larry Ahern, R-Seminole; Rep. Carlos Trujillo, R-Miami; and Jose Felix "Pepi" Diaz, R-Miami (left), who said Tuesday's vote will simply keep the debate going. "We're not even in session," Diaz said. "For somebody to vote in the affirmative does not mean that they support the bill wholeheartedly. It just means that they want to continue the conversation, and I don't think anyone has ever lost an election for continuing a conversation." "We're in kind of a tough spot," said Moraitis, whose Fort Lauderdale district is heavily dependent on tourism. "But this is not a final vote. This is advancing a conversation." That sounds like a vote less about the merits of the issue and more about process, and enabling Corcoran to retain a bargaining chip with the Senate and governor. At a private caucus with House Republicans last Wednesday, Corcoran said he urged everyone to "vote your conscience." Moraitis, who met with hoteliers and tourism people in Fort Lauderdale Friday, said that in the wake of last year's Zika scare, it's more important than ever to promote Florida to visitors. He said Corcoran has not put any pressure on him to vote for the bill. "I certainly feel I have to help advance the conversation and not shut it off prematurely," he said. @PatriciaMazzei Florida Sen. Marco Rubio will travel with a delegation of other senators to Europe this week while Congress is in recess, his office said Monday. Due to Senate business Friday, Rubio was unable to go over the weekend to the Munich Security Conference attended by Vice President Mike Pence. He's traveling, like the other senators on the trip, with his wife, Jeanette. Indivisible Miami, one of the groups recently formed to oppose President Donald Trump's presidency, plans to hold a Rubio "constituents town hall" on Thursday even though the senator won't be present. Photo credit: J. Scott Applewhite, Associated Press Michael-in-Norfolk disclaims any and all responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, completeness, legality, reliability, operability, or availability of information or material displayed on this site and does not claim credit for any images or articles featured on this site, unless otherwise noted. All visual content is copyrighted to it's respectful owners. Information on this site may contain errors or inaccuracies, and Michael-in-Norfolk does not make warranty as to the correctness or reliability of the site's content. If you own rights to any of the images or articles, and do not wish them to appear on this site, please contact Michael-in-Norfolk via e-mail and they will be promptly removed. Michael-in-Norfolk contains links to other Internet sites. These links are provided solely as a convenience and are not endorsements of any products or services in such sites, and no information or content in such site has been endorsed or approved by this blog. HELENA Multiple opponents and committee members questioned the constitutionality of a bill introduced on Monday that would effectively prohibit the abortion of a viable fetus in all cases. Senate Bill 282, introduced by Albert Olszewski, R-Kalispell, would establish viability at 24 weeks and prohibit an abortion after that point, even if the pregnant womans life is at risk. If a womans life was at risk, her doctor would have to induce labor or deliver the fetus by cesarean section and do everything medically possible to support the fetus. A violation of the law would be a felony. Most of the proponents said they support the bill for moral reasons and cited several cases of premature babies living without complications. Bowen Greenwood, of the Montana Family Foundation, said the bill supports a core value of his organization by cherishing life. He said the bill avoids a majority of the expected abortion debate by only focusing on a viable fetus. If a baby would live outside the womb, are we justified in legally protecting its life? he asked. Terry Forke, a Lutheran pastor, said viability discussed in Roe v. Wade is outdated, with new medical technology capable of supporting fetuses sooner. But opponents cited numerous cases they say makes the bill patently unconstitutional. In addition to issues of constitutionality being raised by Planned Parenthood and the ACLU, a legal review by Legislative Services questions the legality of the bill. The review says the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Article II section 10 of the Montana Constitution protect a womans right to abortion. SK Rossi of ACLU Montana cited Planned Parenthood v. Danforth and Colautti v. Franklin, two cases that prohibit states from establishing a viability marker. Rossi also said some laws appear to protect the health of a woman, but are introduced without medical evidence and only serve to restrict abortion access. In Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the Supreme Court said states cannot use that argument to shut down abortion clinics without evidence. I would propose to you that the womens health piece is not the actual intent of this bill, Rossi said. I think the intent of this bill is to restrict legal abortion access. Martha Stahl, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Montana, said viability should be decided by a doctor and varies on a case-by-case basis. Abortion in the U.S. is safe and has an extremely low rate of complications overall, she said. This bill threatens doctors for exercising their medical judgment. Olszewski gave members of the committee statistics of maternal mortality rates in the U.S., which say abortion after 21 weeks results in 76.6 deaths per 100,000. Sen. Steve Hinebauch, R-Wibaux, asked the sponsor why more deaths occur later in pregnancy, but Olszewski declined to go into details further than saying an abortion is messy. When Sen. Diane Sands, D-Missoula, said Olszewski is an orthopedic surgeon, not an obstetrician, he responded saying he wasnt an obstetrician because he was blushing too much during his clinical rounds. POLSON When he turned 18 years old, John Payne was required to present himself at a United States embassy and declare which nation he would be a citizen of. He had three choices. His parents were American citizens, and so even though hed been born overseas, and even though the rules for U.S. citizenship were different more than half a century ago he had fulfilled the requirements. America was an option. But he could become a British citizen, too. Technically, Payne had been born on British soil. Paynes third choice? Afghanistan. My one claim to fame, the Polson pastor says with a smile. I was the first American to be born in Afghanistan. It was 1942, and Paynes father was teaching at a university in Kabul. At least, thats what the Afghan government thought. He was actually an American spy, employed by the forerunner to the CIA, the Office of Strategic Services. When John Paynes mother went into labor, she was taken to the British Legation Hospital to give birth. Hence, I was born in Afghanistan, of American parents, on British soil, Payne says. He chose U.S. citizenship 56 years ago, of course, but his U.S. passport hasnt done him many favors for several years, even in the U.S. Not when it says I was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, Payne says. Everywhere I go, its, You, step over here, and he gets to tell the story yet again. *** The rest of the story is just as interesting. John Payne, who was raised Catholic and was once a candidate for Holy Orders in the Episcopal Church, today can be found ministering in one of the most progressive (and comfortable) churches youll ever come across. That they took out the rows of pews, and replaced them with a sea of couches and recliners, is just the tip of the iceberg. There are no barriers to anyone becoming a part of this open and affirming church, no matter their age, beliefs, sexuality or background, and most especially for the little, the least, the last, the lost and the lonely. Its called journeyBe Christian Church, associated with the Disciples of Christ. When Payne took over in 2002, it had only eight members left and a name a mile long containing the words Christian Church, Disciples of Christ and Heritage of Faith. Most of the congregation had departed during a rift with the previous pastor and joined with Methodists, who had a new building, to form the Polson Community Church. One of the first things Payne did was shorten the name of the church he took over. One of our beliefs is that, if you want to make change, youve got to be change, he says. And, our whole program is about your spiritual journey. So, journeyBe it was. Today, Payne estimates approximately 80 people consider themselves a part of journeyBe theres no official membership list and 30 to 50 regularly show up on Sundays. Not for services. For gatherings, as journeyBe prefers to call them. They begin at 10 a.m. with theological soup (discussions focused on the future of Christianity), followed by songs, Bible readings, then a sermon, after which Payne asks for additions, corrections, deletions and comments. Gatherings also include open-table communion. No magic hands, no questions about whether a communicant is a Christian, Payne says. We have a solid core, and a migratory group, their pastor says. To be honest, every time I get more liberal we lose some. *** Payne is the pastor people in Polson often turn to for weddings and funerals, when such services involve folks who are not or were not members of another church or religion or, when the churches they do or did attend refuse to officiate. It happens. Its saddest when a denomination shuns its members for a reason, Payne says. Thats when they turn to us. But I also do a lot of funerals in town for people who didnt belong to a church. Others ask Payne simply because they know and like him. The pastor married Ken Ross and Mary Lindell at a small ceremony on Friday. The couple has been together for seven years, but maintained their own residences throughout. When hes sick, Im there, and when Im sick, hes there, Lindell explained. We finally decided, what the heck, lets just get married. I met John in the hospital when I was laid up, Ross said. Hes a super guy. I think he can make anybody feel comfortable. Payne met Ross because serving as pastor at journeyBe is just one of three jobs the 74-year-old holds down. Payne also is the chaplain at St. Joseph Medical Center in Polson, and the chaplain for hospice services offered in Polson by Partners In Home Care. Ive worked in large hospitals, says Payne, who spent much of his life as a biomedical engineer, helping to automate clinical laboratory systems in hospitals across Europe and the U.S. This 22-bed critical access hospital (St. Joes) is amazing. Their spirit here, the care they give, is terrific. *** Payne came to his pastoral career relatively late in life. He graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in biochemistry, then enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. The Air Force stationed him at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls. It was 1964, and I thought Id gone to the end of the world, Payne says. But I ended up marrying a fourth-generation Montanan. His wife, Sharon, was a teacher and the daughter of the Episcopal priest in Polson. That explains his switch from Catholicism to Catholic Lite, as the Episcopal Church is sometimes called. After the Air Force, Payne pursued the career he studied for in college. He went to work for Honeywell, a multinational conglomerate, and lived in London or Dublin, Ireland, for years, helping hospitals across Europe automate their operating room information systems. In 1987 he returned to the U.S. to start his own company. Cost Quality Management Systems of Minneapolis did the same sort of work for American hospitals. I cant believe I waited so long to do what I wanted with my life, says Payne, who sold the company in 1991 and entered a seminary. I finally figured out at age 51 what I should have been doing my whole life. I was never made for the military or corporate world. *** He was on the path to priesthood in the Episcopal Church, but eventually decided Id be more at home in a less hierarchically structured environment, Payne says. Hes found that at journeyBe. At the Wander Inn behind the Seventh Avenue church, Soups On offers lunches to any and everyone Mondays through Thursdays. While donations are accepted, no one has to pay to eat there. Volunteers from local Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran and Polson Community Church congregations help ones from journeyBe do the cooking and serving. Similarly, journeyBe joins Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists and the community church members in taking turns hosting free Friday night Family Table dinners. Sandy Ferrell is the sparkplug who keeps the kitchen going, Payne says of one of his journeyBe participants, and the church recently cleared out space and opened a used book and used furniture store where all sales help fund Soups On and assist families dealing with housing crises. With the Wander Inn kitchen in need of serious electrical upgrades six years ago, Payne joined others in moving into a tepee on the lawn out front. They would not leave, they vowed, until $1,800 was raised. No sooner had they announced the February fundraiser than a bitter cold snap engulfed western Montana. Temperatures plummeted to as much as 27 degrees below zero in Polson. One night, maybe the coldest, it was just me and one other guy, Payne recalls. He had this big dog he slept with, and that helped. Me, I had a dog too, but it was a Chihuahua. He smiles at the thought. The $1,800 actually came in quickly, and the freezing tepee residents stayed on an extra five days, until donations hit $10,000. Its all done to help their fellow human beings, and Payne, who was diagnosed with Stage 3 prostate cancer eight years ago, is grateful to be part of it. Sentinel High School's DECA chapter returned from the state competition last week with a slew of awards. Several hundred students competed in the Montana DECA Career Development Conference in Great Falls, including 119 from Sentinel's chapter. The conference included a variety of competency-based competitive events in specific marketing, finance, hospitality and management professions. This year, 45 Sentinel members qualified for the DECA International Career Development Conference in Anaheim, California, by placing either first or second (and, in some events, third) in their respective events. Fourteen members qualified in more than one event, with three members qualifying in three events, and three members qualifying in four events a first in Montana DECA history. Senior Nathan Wildeboer earned Montanas top score on the Marketing Cluster Exam. Sentinel DECA also received the Montana DECA Spirit Award and the DECA, Inc. Membership Campaign Certificate of Achievement for being Montanas largest DECA chapter for 10 years. Advisor Mark Hartman was honored with the Montana DECA Advisor of the Year Award. Sentinel High is returning to Diversity Week after several years off. This is Diversity Week's 14th year, an annual event that runs alongside the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. Some BSDFF films are shown at the schools, directors come to chat with students and a slew of programs and speeches are planned nearly every period throughout the week. Over the past several years, Diversity Week has only been at Big Sky and Hellgate high schools. This year, Sentinel is coming back into the fold. Sentinel last participated in Diversity Week in the 2010-2011 school year, though the school's Montana Behavioral Initiative team took over some events in spring 2013 and 2014. MBI is a statewide effort to create a culture of respect and teach alternatives to inappropriate behaviors in schools. The Flagship Program runs the event at the other two schools, a program that's no longer at Sentinel. English teacher Jennifer Reinicke jumped on it this school year. "After our Flagship person left, we just didn't have time to take it over," she said. "But we thought with the rise in hate speech and hate crimes, it was important to bring it back." Sentinel shares Hellgate's theme: "Overcoming Conflict and Establishing Harmony." Events planned throughout the week parallel those at the other schools, including a speech from Mayor John Engen. The Montana Historical Society, Missoula Rises, Progressive Veterans, the Montana Human Rights Network and more are headed to Sentinel. The Montana World Affairs Council also will be at the school Wednesday and Thursday to talk about the global refugee crisis, ahead of a community discussion Thursday night at the DoubleTree Hotel. Students got involved in the planning, as well. The Key Club is hosting a global potluck for the student body on Friday, bringing food from different countries. Student government will highlight music from around the world. "I just think it's an important time to recognize that our differences make us stronger, and that's why we wanted to do this," Reinicke said. Soazig Le Bihan is a philosopher of science; she loves science so much, she made it the topic of her life and the core of her research. "That's what I do every day. I find it fascinating," said Le Bihan, a faculty member at the University of Montana. "But I also know how to recognize bad science. That's also my expertise." And the associate professor said her recent analysis of literature reviews written by scientists for scientists in scientific journals about the results of 50 years of animal research on spinal cord injuries shows a barren field. "As a philosopher of science, I discovered a field that is hopeless in many ways," she said. In short, the findings that worked on animals largely did not translate into humans, she said; the one treatment that did have results for people was controversial and eventually abandoned. "So the question, my concern as a faculty member, is why are we investing in research that has a track record, a 50-year track record of failure?" Le Bihan said. UM has proposed hiring a faculty member with expertise in spinal cord injury research and experience using pigs. A $4 million porcine facility to be located off campus is part of the proposal. A summary of the scientific reviews by Le Bihan (online with this story) and excerpts from two of the articles discuss results from rodents, cats, dogs and nonhuman primates; the conclusion that the research has failed to translate into humans does not include a review of outcomes from porcine models. However, some of the barriers that make results difficult to translate from other animals are true for pig research as well, according to the studies. And faculty members such as Le Bihan, ethicist and professor of philosophy Deborah Slicer, and others want the university to invest in scientific research that relies on new technologies instead of on large animals. For one, UM has an environmental ethic. It has strength in studies that evaluate moral and philosophical questions about animals. Plus, its major funder, the National Institutes of Health, has acknowledged that alternative models are the way of the future. Slicer said she was pleased to learn UM was going to launch a health and medicine initiative. But she wants the scientific initiatives UM pursues to be consistent with and enhance its "green" image and grow in the direction of non-animal alternatives. "It's the cutting edge stuff nationally," Slicer said. "There's NIH money for it and NSF (National Science Foundation) money for it. And there are some strong indications when you go on the NIH site that they're moving in that direction. "And that's where we should be going." UM vice president for research Scott Whittenburg notes the prior animal studies typically involved rats and mice, and the literature review does not draw specific conclusions about research on pigs. "The few studies on pigs have been limited to drug delivery studies, which have no relation to the proposed research project (at UM)," Whittenburg said. "The point of the research is to demonstrate that a porcine model for human spinal cord injury is viable and, if successful, will provide hope to those affected by SCI." *** Pigs are used in science because their systems closely resemble those of humans. At UM, professor Jay Evans already is using pigs at the tail end of his research to develop a universal flu vaccine; but he spent the bulk of the time and NIH money on methods that don't involve animals. Le Bihan said she and her peers are not arguing against animal research in general at UM. Rather, she said, the concerns are specifically related to the dearth of results for humans from spinal cord injury research, and she summarized reasons the work doesn't translate. The injuries inflicted on animals are uniform and done under anesthesia, while human injuries "are extremely heterogeneous" and difficult to simulate; People walk upright on two feet, unlike mammals; and Scientists can't ask animals if they feel pain, and animals lack fine motor skills; also, animals can't tell researchers if they're experiencing neuropathic pain, like the phantom limb. "I'm inviting them (proponents) to give me some reasons to change my mind, but at this point, I haven't seen anything," Le Bihan said. The faculty member stressed that she is not an animal rights activist or even an ethicist; she's a philosopher of science evaluating the available evidence, as she does daily in her field. "I can revise my beliefs and revise my views if I am provided good reasons for it," Le Bihan said. Since the use of pigs is a relatively more recent development, she said, there hasn't been a systematic review of results, but she's skeptical of the benefits to humans. "No pig research has resulted in a breakthrough, and there is no evidence that it will. While pigs are more similar to us in many ways, they're still very different in the relevant physiopathology, and the assessment issue is still the same." *** As Slicer sees it, expanding animal research at UM is inconsistent with its reputation as a great place to do environmental studies and do "critical animal studies" that evaluate moral questions about animals. Faculty in English, law, anthropology, environmental studies, Native American studies and other fields are working on the topic, she said. Two of the three graduate students in philosophy came to UM specifically to research related questions, and students in general are sensitive to concerns about living beings. "What matters when you're thinking about the moral status of anybody? Does it have to do with cognition? Does it have to do with your relationship with your god and your god's relationship with animals? Does it have to do with they're just being alive and in this same moral boat that we're in?" Research that uses trauma to damage the spinal cords of pigs is especially disconcerting to her. "They are as smart or smarter than dogs. There's no question about that. And this is something that's really violent," Slicer said. *** Le Bihan wonders if a couple decades from now, UM will have a large animal facility, but no money for it because the NIH has redirected its funding. "There is an explicit goal that they are funding more and more of the alternatives to animal models," she said. Both Johns Hopkins University and Harvard University have centers dedicated to alternative models, and Harvard shut down its primate facility a couple years ago. John Pippin, with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, said other universities are making the shift as well. "But I think it's particularly telling that certainly two of the very most highly respected research institutions are out ahead of the curve in promoting these alternative methods," Pippin said. UM research vice president Whittenburg, though, wants UM to do meaningful research, and findings on spinal cord injuries could help people with a debilitating health condition. The World Health Organization estimates 500,000 new cases of spinal cord injuries come up a year, he said, and people with such injuries are two to five times more like to die prematurely. "If UM research can help alleviate this condition, we should try," he said. "There is, however, a cost to the animals used in the study. There are processes in place that determine whether the benefit to society of the research outweighs the cost to the animal. "That process will be applied should this project move forward." Montanas economy and workforce have remained strong over the last two years thanks to highly skilled employees, partnerships with the private and public sectors, and expanded training opportunities in our two-year colleges. Our state has a healthy employment rate that continues to be bolstered by diverse industries. It is a good time to be a member of the labor force under the Big Sky. But as our states workforce continues to age and retire, the legislature needs to seriously consider opportunities that will strengthen apprenticeship programs and train the next generation of Montanans. The biggest roadblock to businesses growth is often a shortage of skilled, trained workers. The problem will only get worse for Montana, unless we act now. Thats why I have partnered with Gov. Steve Bullock to carry legislation that will grow apprenticeships and provide Montanans with a paycheck, all while building a talented workforce for businesses across the state. My proposed legislation, House Bill 308, will provide Main Street Montana businesses with tax credits to strengthen apprenticeship opportunities throughout Montana. HB308 provides for a $1,000 employer tax credit for every apprentice hired and provided on-the-job training through the Montana Registered Apprenticeship program. For every veteran hired, the incentive doubles to $2,000. Administered by the Montana Department of Labor and Industry, the Montana Registered Apprenticeship program has collaborated with businesses to implement customized training curriculum. Since 2000, the Montana Registered Apprenticeship program has overseen more than 7,000 apprentices in 53 of our 56 counties. Apprentices who successfully completed their program earned average wages of $59,600 in 2015. Over the last five years, the program has graduated an average of 164 apprentices per year. On average, apprentices complete their programs in 42 months. These time-honored training models are receiving more attention from both the private and public sectors to build talent pipelines for Montana businesses, especially through partnerships with the Montana Registered Apprenticeship program. For those who are looking to enter the workforce immediately following high school or who are seeking a change in their career, apprenticeships open new doors. They allow businesses to grow and expand their operations. Apprentices learn new skills and begin contributing back to Montanas economy immediately. Simply put, these skills are the cornerstone of business growth for Montana. As businesses look at various avenues to hire qualified workers, apprenticeships continue to yield benefits for industries across the state. It is the job of the legislature to serve, support and collaborate with the private sector to meet the needs of growing businesses and of a strong labor force. I hope the legislature will stand firmly behind Governor Bullock and I as we put into action what we were elected to do: create good-paying jobs for Montanans and grow Main Street Montana businesses. Lets not let this be another missed opportunity. Ive been a small-business owner for six years and a cancer survivor for two years. The Affordable Care Act saved my life because it allowed me to access necessary health care, including a mammogram that led to a breast cancer diagnosis, followed by eight months of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Fortunately, my treatments have been successful so far. I continue to see my medical team every three months, and I'll take an estrogen blocker for the next eight years to help prevent cancer from returning. Without the Affordable Care Act, I wouldnt have health insurance due to the high cost of premiums and denial of coverage for those with pre-existing conditions. In Montana, and in the United States, small businesses are a cornerstone of our economy. However, the threat of losing health care coverage is terrifying for small-business owners like me and will discourage vital entrepreneurship. Many of our elected officials pride themselves on their business acumen, and describe the current administration as "pro-business." As the owner of a business that includes website design, I would never tear down a clients website before designing a much-improved solution and planning a seamless transition with minimal interruption. Likewise, Congress should have the common sense not to tear down the ACA before creating a responsible and compassionate solution. As a professional, I listen to my clients - all of my clients. I am impressed that U.S. Sen. Jon Tester and his staff traveled across Montana, listening to concerns about health care. Tester's staff also recently met with a group of Missoulians to hear stories about how crucial the ACA is to our lives. U.S. Sen. Steve Daines and his staff have declined to meet with constituents, citing they are too busy to do so. Thats not good business, and Daines is not doing his job. Amy Coseo, Missoula We pride ourselves in the United States as being the best democracy in the world. It is, therefore, shocking to note that as of 2012, we ranked 80th among all nations in the percentage of women elected at the congressional/parliamentary level and 69th in terms of women elected in all levels of government. Countries such as Tajikistan, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Uganda ranked higher than we do! While women constitute 51 percent of the U.S. population, in 2017 they constitute only 19.4 percent of Congress. Why is this so? Why does the Unites States lag behind in achieving better representation from women among our elected officials? Answers to this question are explored in the film Raising Ms. President. This award-wining documentary will be shown for free on Tuesday, Feb. 21 at 7 p.m. in the Missoula Public Library, hosted by the Missoula League of Women Voters and the Forward Montana Foundation. Filmmaker Kiley Lane Parker explores the reasons why women dont run for office, where political ambition begins and why we should encourage more women to lead. A discussion will follow the film. If you believe that women's voices, ideas, and perspectives should be a proportional part of our government, join us Tuesday night. Nancy Leifer, Michael Nelson, Missoula At least 18 U.S. presidents have visited Montana while in office, some making mere whistle-stop speeches, while others explored Montanas beauty. These visits date back to at least 1883, when Chester A. Arthur arrived in Montana on horseback. The last sitting president to visit the state was Barack Obama, who arrived by Air Force One in 2009. In honor of Presidents Day, which originally marked George Washingtons birthday and then morphed to take in Abraham Lincolns, its a good excuse to travel through Montana history for highlights of the parade of presidents whove stopped in Big Sky Country. Taft goes missing President William Howard Taft, who visited Helena in 1909, went missing from his scheduled parade route to the consternation of some Secret Service agents. This led to a number of colorful tales about where he might have strayed. Historian Dave Walter wrote in an article, Lost in Helena, published in More From the Quarries of Last Chance Gulch, that recounts varying theories for why and where Taft disappeared -- ranging from him visiting old friends, to sitting in a saloon on South Main, to sampling the bawdy offerings of Clore Street. The tale holds just enough truth to keep the yarn alive, wrote Walter. On his Sept. 27 visit, Taft stopped in Helena as part of an almost 14,000-mile, 57-day railroad tour of the United States. He packed the Montana State Fairgrounds, which were located in Helena at the time, with a crowd estimated at 10,000. Following a 12-minute speech, he was whisked away in a motorcade of 11 vehicles. As the cars headed down Lawrence Street toward the federal building, Tafts car disappeared and headed up North Benton Avenue. The President, thanks to enterprising Sen. Thomas Carter, met Catholic Bishop John Patrick Carroll on the building site of what is now Carroll College, and helped to lay the cornerstone for St. Charles Hall. Meanwhile, the short diversion most aggravated the puzzled ... security agents sitting in their Pathfinder in front of the federal building, and hundreds of squirming school children assembled by their teachers at the site. The tale of lost in Helena apparently was developed by some chagrined security agents who were trying to explain to a boisterous crowd ... that the President was right behind them, wrote Walter. Colorful, poignant memories of JFK Another colorful tale is about President John F. Kennedys visits, first as a candidate and then as president. Kennedy had campaigned in Helena in 1960 prior to his election and clearly remembered a drive with flamboyant Helena promoter Walter Marshall. Marshall had arranged the campaign visit that included a speech at the Marlow Theatre and a dinner at the Civic Center. Apparently, Kennedy asked Marshall for a ride to the airport and wound up sharing Marshalls ramshackle station wagon with the familys three big dogs, who were in the backseat. All the way to the airport, the dogs were licking the back of Kennedys neck. Although Kennedy loved animals, he was apparently not a fan of these particular dogs. After Kennedys election, Marshall again arranged some of the logistics for a 1963 visit. When Kennedy arrived in Montana, he spied Marshall and reportedly said, I am glad to see you, Walter. But I hope you left those blankety-blank dogs at home. A 2013 Missoulian article by Vince Devlin recounts Kennedys Sept. 26, 1963, visit to Great Falls, which drew a crowd of 20,000 to 25,000 at Memorial Stadium, according to Secret Service estimates. One moving account Devlin found was that of two teenagers -- Kathy Dufresne and her friend Carley Zimmer -- who were so thrilled with Kennedys visit they took the day off from school and then rushed back to Highwood High School that night to add a story to their school newspaper. Devlin's article described Kennedy wading into the crowd to shake hands with pioneers from Helena and Fort Benton, who were 95 and 97 years old. He also stopped by the home of Sen. Mike Mansfield's elderly parents. Kennedys visit was just a few short months before his assassination. For that reason, in particular, it seems seared in the memories of many people, wrote Devlin. I kept the copy of what Carley and I wrote, Dufresne told Devlin, because we had so much hope and excitement for the future under the direction of John Kennedy. The Billings Gazette also wrote a 2013 news story of Kennedys Sept. 25, 1963, visit, which was part of the same trip. The Billings mayor of the time, Willard Fraser, was miffed at the Kennedy motorcade route from the airport and that the president was spending the night in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, rather than Billings, wrote Lorna Thackeray. Fraser relented and joined Sens. Mike Mansfield and Lee Metcalf and Gov. Tim Babcock on stage and apparently was as excited as everyone else. Kennedy spoke at 4 p.m., and the Secret Service estimated the crowd at 17,000, even though he was a Democrat and this was a Republican stronghold. He praised the Senate for approving a limited nuclear test ban treaty, then talked about natural resource conservation, wrote Missoulian reporter Jim Ludwick in a 1989 wrap-up article about presidential visits to Montana. Guess who came to visit When President Chester A. Arthur rode into Montana in 1883 on a horse named Cinnabar, Montana was still a territory, and Arthur was on a trip leaving Yellowstone National Park. In the 134 years since, there followed some memorable and some momentary visits to Montana by a parade of presidents. Many of these were captured by Ludwick in his article: President Theodore Roosevelt visited Montana in 1903, making speeches in Butte and apparently also stops in Helena. He was on a nine-week trip that included a camping vacation in Yellowstone. In Butte, he drew such a large crowd that the mayor was going to raise the blinds of the banquet room so the crowd outside could watch Roosevelt dine. Roosevelt objected to the honor. He also visited Missoula in 1911. President Warren G. Harding visited Montana as part of a transcontinental railroad trip that ended in his death in 1923 in San Francisco from undetermined causes. He spoke in Helena and Butte, where he took a tour of a mine and handed out medals to Boy Scouts for heroic service when their summer camp was struck by lightning. He then headed by train to Yellowstone. President Franklin Roosevelt came to Montana in 1934 and 1937 and delivered a radio address after touring Glacier National Park. In it he told the country that his administration would fight to save our resources of agriculture and industry against the selfishness of individuals. During both visits he toured the Fort Peck Dam area. "President Harry Truman made a whistle stop tour of Montana" in 1952 and urged the public to vote for Mike Mansfield, who was in the House of Representatives and running for a Senate seat. He also visited in 1948 and 1950. President Dwight Eisenhower visited Missoula in September 1954 to dedicate the Forest Service smokejumper headquarters. He was willing to accept a smokejumper helmet and some shirts once he was reassured he wouldnt have to jump. President Lyndon Johnson wowed a Butte audience in 1964 and drew a crowd of approximately 35,000 who watched his motorcade travel from the airport. He talked of the Cuban missile crisis and said, I never knew when I left my wife and children in the morning whether I would see them again that night. But the nations voters and I knew that President Kennedy was a man who when he mashed that button you would know there was nothing left to do. President Richard Nixon made a speech in Kalispell in 1971 on his way to a meeting with Japanese Emperor Hirohito. He told the crowd the Vietnam War was ending and of a goal: Something we havent had this whole century -- a whole generation of peace. President Gerald Ford visited Libby in 1975 to help dedicate the Libby Dam. Speaking to a crowd of 3,000 to 5,000, he called for more homegrown energy. We cannot look elsewhere for a solution. We cannot pretend the energy problem does not exist. ... We have delayed far too long. Our vulnerability increases daily. President Ronald Reagan visited Billings on Aug. 11, 1982, and packed MetraPark with an estimated 10,000. He rode into the park atop a Wells Fargo stagecoach. In his speech, he praised Montana: You still admire independence, resourcefulness and determination. You have a legacy of those ideals and you have a history so colorful, even your sunsets cant match it. In September 1989, President George H.W. Bush drew a crowd unofficially estimated at 10,000 in Helena. He visited Billings in 1990 and apparently in October 1992 on a bid for re-election, when he spoke to a large crowd in Pioneer Park. President Bill Clinton spoke fondly of his visits to Montana in his book, My Life. He wrote of Hillary, Chelsea and him spending a few happy days in Montana, thanks largely to Governor Ted Schwinden. After spending the night (possibly in Helena), they got up at dawn for a helicopter trip up the Missouri River and watched as wildlife woke for the day. Then they took a four-wheel-drive vehicle equipped with rail connectors along the Burlington Northern rail line for a couple hundred miles that included a dramatic crossing of a 300-foot-deep gorge and traveling in a rented car along Going to the Sun Road, where they saw marmots scrambling along the snow line. They also stayed at Kootenai Lodge on Swan Lake. After all my travels, I think western Montana is one of the most beautiful places Ive ever seen, Clinton wrote. Newly elected President George W. Bush drew a capacity crowd of 10,000 to Rimrock Auto Arena in 2001, according to the Billings Gazette. And in 2005, he visited Great Falls, pushing the notion of privatizing the Social Security system, a proposal that went nowhere, according to a Great Falls Tribune column by Richard Ecke. And closing out the presidential Montana parade was President Barack Obama, who arrived at Gallatin Field Airport in Belgrade (now called the Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport) in August 2009, to hold a town hall meeting on health care reform. HAMILTON Local fishermen who have given up on fishing the upper reaches of the Bitterroot River, including the popular West Fork, because of crowding are going to like this news. Following four long days of deliberations, a diverse volunteer committee has agreed on an alternative that will set aside portions of the river to non-commercial use on specific days. There was consensus on the alternative, said Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Regional Fisheries Manager Pat Saffel. I actually didnt expect that. The 16-member Bitterroot River Recreation Advisory Committee will meet one more time to finalize their preferred alternative before passing it off to state officials. That meeting is tentatively set for Monday, March 6, at 6 p.m. at the Bitterroot Forest Supervisors office in Hamilton. The proposed preferred alternative uses a plan similar to whats already in place on the Big Hole River. It divides the West Fork and upper Bitterroot River into four sections. The section just below Painted Rocks Dam would be set aside for non-commercial wade fishermen one day a week. It runs from the dam to an unnamed fishing access site directly across from the Bitterroot Forests West Fork Ranger Station thats commonly called the Canoe fishing access site. Floating would not be allowed on that section on that designated day, to provide more opportunity to fishermen who enjoy getting their feet wet while casting a fly. The next section would start at the Canoe site and run downstream to Hannon. The other two sections would run between fishing access sites at Hannon to Darby and then Darby to Wally Crawford. Each one of those sections of river would be closed one day a week on consecutive days to commercial outfitters. The days when the closures would occur have not yet been determined. Those closures would mean that local anglers would not have to compete with outfitters three days a week on different sections of the river. Saffel said the section between Canoe and Hannon is considered a day-long float. The lower two sections take about a half-day to float. The proposed alternative would also limit outfitters to two launches a day at the access sites open to commercial fishing. At this point, were not certain on how that actually would be administered, Saffel said. The committee is also proposing that all outfitters that use any portion of the Bitterroot River would be required to obtain a special recreation permit. They want that to apply to whole Bitterroot River, Saffel said. It would provide an accounting of outfitters using the river, including how many days theyre on the river. The new permit would not limit commercial use beyond whats already being proposed on the upper reaches of the river. Saffel said the committee recognized there would be some displacement of angling pressure by the proposed regulations on the upper reaches. They were wary of pushing that use around on the river, Saffel said. The permits would be a tool in helping understanding that new dynamic. Those special recreation permits for outfitters are already required on other state rivers, including the Blackfoot and Madison. Safell said there was some interest from the committee in capping the number of outfitters allowed to float on the Bitterroot River. To be able to address that question, we have to know how many outfitters are out there now, he said. Beyond this preferred alternative, Saffel said the committee has created five other alternatives that the public will have a chance to consider when the draft environmental analysis is released later this spring or early summer. There would not be any changes to the current management this summer. By the time we get through the entire process, it will be in the middle or end of the fishing season. Its going to be next year," Saffel said. The public will get its chance to weigh in during a public comment period and at least one public hearing. After that, the proposal will go before the Montana Fish and Game Commission. Safell said its difficult to guess just how long the entire process will take. A lot of that depends on how much comment we receive and how much consideration there is on the different alternatives, he said. Safell said there has been some concern from the public that the process to develop the alternatives was rushed. We had four intensive, long days working this with a 16-member committee, he said. Each one of them spent 30-plus hours working on it. I think there has been a lot of thought put into this proposal and there will be a lot more. We are not hurrying this along, Saffel said. I think we have a really good start. Now, well see what people think. HAMILTON A Florence physician is asking the court to drop 400 charges that revolve around the illegal distribution of drugs in three motions filed recently in Ravalli County District Court. Dr. Chris Christensen, 69, was arrested in August 2015 following a yearlong investigation that included a raid on his former Florence clinic in 2014. Christensen was charged with providing methadone to two patients from Missoula who overdosed and died, according to charging documents. In addition to the two negligent homicide charges, Christensen was also charged with 389 counts of criminal distribution of dangerous drugs and nine counts of criminal endangerment. Christensen was originally scheduled to go to trial last October, but there was a lengthy delay in acquiring a private attorney after he was denied a public defender. Christensen hired Missoula attorney Josh Van de Wetering last August and his trial was then delayed until this coming October. Van de Wetering filed three separate motions in January asking the court to dismiss the various charges against Christensen. In a motion asking for the dismissal of the negligent homicide charges, Van de Wetering argues that the state doesnt have probable cause to support its case that Christensen was the cause of the peoples death. The two deaths in this case, tragic to be sure, were nevertheless actually caused by the patients accidental or deliberate misuse of the drugs prescribed, Van De Wetering wrote. Christensen may have prescribed the drugs, but the two people who ingested them in excessive amounts were responsible for their own deaths, he said. Van de Wetering said the distribution charges should be dismissed because the states statutes do not prohibit prescribing drugs deemed dangerous. The states criminal drug distribution statute focuses its penalties on people who sell, barter, exchange or give away any dangerous drug. Van de Wetering said Christensen did not possess or own any of the controlled substances that he prescribed. He issued written prescriptions that patients took to pharmacies to have filled. Last, Christensens attorney said the criminal endangerment counts should be dismissed because the states criminal endangerment statute is unconstitutionally vague. Van de Wetering said the law does not provide physicians with notice about which medical decisions may be considered conduct that illegally creates a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury. In his response, Ravalli County Deputy Attorney Thorin Geist said the district court has already determined that probable cause exists to support the charges and Christensen is not entitled to a second probable cause determination. The Montana Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized that once a district court determines that sufficient probable cause exists to support a charge, the State bears no further burden of proof until trial, Geist wrote. Once the state has concluded its case at trial, Geist said Christensen will have the opportunity to ask for a directed verdict under a different standard. In addressing the motion to dismiss the negligent homicide charges, Geist said the state needs only to show that the victims probably would not have died, but for the gross deviation from the standards of conduct in their medical treatment by Christensen. Geist alleged that Christensen made no attempt to review his patientss prior medical records, to contact their physicians, to conduct a substantive examination or review the states prescription drug registry for prior prescriptions. Christensen handed his victims a gun in the form of powerful narcotics told his victims to use the gun to take the narcotics even though they had a history of drug addiction, and as a result, they died, Geist wrote. Christensen faces a potential prison sentence of up to 388 life terms, plus 135 years and a fine of up to $20 million is convicted on all charges. He remains free on a $200,000 bond. SAN JOSE, Calif. Its no wonder titans of tech are locked in an epic battle of the bots, racing furiously to produce the best virtual assistant. Their respective help-bots Apples Siri, Googles Assistant, Amazons Alexa and Microsofts Cortana promise consumers one of the most valuable commodities in the world: free time. Thanks to the sudden acceleration of artificial intelligence and advancements in speech recognition and big-data storage, the technology behind virtual assistants is rapidly spreading from phones to cars and homes, and the truly useful helper is approaching fast. The four giants are fighting for the biggest share of a market expected to grow to $12 billion by 2024. Theres a tremendous amount of promise for these agents to help and assist with many different tasks that we face every day, said Ross Rubin, principal analyst at Reticle Research. The more the agent can help you with, the more value it holds. The ultimate goal is our own personal genie in a bottle that awakens with a word or touch to liberate us from all our mundane tasks, organize our days and nights, and free us from the stress of lives that have become so terribly busy. But thats not going to happen quite yet. Today, the aid these virtual assistants provide remains limited. Most users of Google Home and Amazon Echo devices which host Assistant and Alexa, respectively stream music, play audio books and control smart-home devices, according to surveys by San Francisco analytics firm VoiceLabs. Still, the virtual agents foundation in AI means the more it learns about a users preferences and behaviors, the better job it can do. So while experts predict a handful of firms will dominate in this field most agree Apple, Google and Amazon will be major players, with Microsoft in a lesser role theyre split on whether consumers will be served best by one bot, or more. People want one assistant, they dont want two, said Jan Dawson, chief analyst at Jackdaw Research in San Jose. You want one assistant, to be very readily available wherever you are. However, the various assistants will likely end up somewhat specialized in their expertise, with Googles Assistant, for example, excelling in providing knowledge and managing schedules, and Microsofts Cortana leading on gaming, said VoiceLabs CEO Adam Marchick. In a few years, many people will use two or three different assistants, Marchick predicted. The industry stands at a critical moment, because the first highly effective help-bot to get a foothold in a consumers home, phone or car will likely stay, creating a barrier to competitors, Marchick said. In order for a virtual helpmate to run your life, it needs to engage with the providers of all the services you rely on, from your calendar app to your Uber ride. Those providers must either partner with the company operating the assistant, or design their app to integrate with the assistant. So Spotify will stream music upon request via Alexa, and Honeywells smart-home thermostat, via Assistant, will bump up the temperature 15 minutes before Grandmas expected arrival. For providers, if there is a competitive advantage to be gained, then absolutely they will do it, said Brett Sappington, senior director of research at market research firm Parks Associates. For all the major players, virtual assistants provide important data that fuels the AI that powers and improves them, making both the assistants and the products they live in ever more marketable. For Amazon, Alexa is an enthusiastic purchasing agent for the e-commerce that drives the firm. For Google, Assistant is a turbocharged vacuum for the data the company collects to sell ads targeted directly at users. Underlying the projected expansion of virtual assistants is the voice first approach to personal technology, said Brian Roemmele, a Los Angeles tech entrepreneur and expert in voice computing. Voice operation keeps hands free and its faster, he noted, because speaking conveys information more quickly than typing. So far, both Google and Amazon have focused largely on home-based assistants. Googles new Pixel phones host Assistant, but it has an uphill battle because Apple has far more phones equipped with Siri on the market, said Tim Bajarin, an analyst with San Jose market research firm Creative Strategies. The popularity of Amazons Echo and Alexa notwithstanding the company has sold more than 8 million Echo devices since rolling them out in late 2014, according to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners most people want their virtual assistant on their phones, Bajarin said. When youre driving, thats critical, or if your hands are busy, Bajarin said. The phone will continue to dominate as the vehicle for delivering the virtual assistant. Putting these robo-helpers into cars onboard systems has become a priority for major firms, including Microsoft, which seeks to extend the reach of its PC-based Cortana through the connected-vehicle platform it announced this year. In January, Nissan announced it would integrate Microsofts platform into its cars. Siri already can be used in a car via a phone or Apples CarPlay system, or in cars sold with Siri integration built in. Hyundai is bringing Alexa and Googles Assistant into some of its cars so, for example, an owner could start their car from their living room. While building the supreme help-bot is clearly a priority for many major tech firms, experts say the software today lacks the knowledge base to take the next big leap: to enable virtual assistants that can predict our needs to serve us better. Some of it is just raw amounts of data and understanding about how the world works and what humans expect, Reticles Rubin said. Which companies rise to dominance depends both on the capability of their bots and the draw of the gadgets that house them. The story has not been written on what success is going to be in this space, Sappington said. Le Monde has organized an international competition to reward innovative solutions for improving urban life entitled the European Le Monde - Smart Cities Innovation Awards 2017. LE MONDE Given numberous incomplete applications and at the request of candidates running out of time, we have extended the period to apply to our awards for one more week. Applications will now close at midnight on February 26th, 2017 to the email address : smartcities@lemonde.fr Private or public entities as well as associations, businesses or individuals from every country of the European Union may apply. We are looking for innovative projects in the following categories : The Urban Innovation Award : technological and/or social innovation applied to the city. The Civic Engagement Award : a democratic, horizontal process whereby citizens play a role in developing and managing physical and virtual urban spaces and services. This award will be presented in partnership with the INTA - the International Urban Development Association. The Habitat Award : an innovative project in terms of urban living space (residential, offices, new materials, etc.). The Mobility Award : a project that facilitates movement around the city at a more human level and in a more economical way. The Energy Award : a project that seeks to reduce the carbon footprint of cities. The Cultural Action Award : a social and digital innovation with cultural and urban impact. To be selected, the project must include : A link to a video (three minutes maximum) that presents the solution; An introductory text (3,000 characters maximum) containing a description of the innovation, its aim(s), the type of innovation, the projected schedule, players, cost and funding. An international jury of qualified personalities will select the best project in each category, awarded of 1,000 each. Among the projects rewarded, the jury will select the winner of the Grand Prize Le Monde LAtelier BNP, who will receive 2,000, as mentioned in the terms and conditions of these awards. The awards will be offered to the winners in Lyon (France), on April 7, 2017. Le Monde An off-duty law enforcement officer escaped injury after he was almost hit by a bullet while wrestling a suspect in an attempted robbery at the Safeway pharmacy in Dillon Sunday around 10:30 a.m., authorities said. Terry Watson of Dillon is facing an attempted deliberate homicide charge with more charges expected, Dillon Chief of Police Don Guiberson said Monday. Watson remains in the Beaverhead County jail. Guiberson said the officer from Utah, whose name hasn't been released, was in the store when the situation unraveled. Watson apparently jumped over the pharmacy counter and brandished a .45-caliber weapon to get drugs, Guiberson said. The off-duty officer's wife saw what happened then ran to another part of the store to tell her husband. The unarmed officer approached the suspect, who pointed the gun at him. The officer then backed away and positioned himself in a way that enabled him to tackle the suspect. As the two wrestled to the floor, the gun discharged, but the officer was able to take the weapon away. The officer with the pistol in hand then held the suspect at bay. "Officer Nikki Cowperthwait arrived and determined an off-duty Utah law enforcement officer had struggled with and subdued an armed suspect. The investigation shows a shot was fired from the suspect's gun during the struggle," Guiberson said. "Luckily, no injuries were sustained by anyone. Several Dillon Police Officers responded to the scene as well as a deputy and detention officer. Customers and Safeway staff immediately evacuated the building. "There are no other suspects, and there is no remaining threat to the community," Guiberson said. "I cannot express in words the professionalism, dedication, and expertise shown by law enforcement in handling the situation. "I would like to express deep gratitude to the off-duty officer who put his life on the line to save people he did not even know. He went to the store to get Tylenol and ended up wrestling with an armed suspect. This is a shining example of what law enforcement does on a daily basis, even when not in their jurisdiction or on the clock." HELENA At least 18 U.S. presidents have visited Montana while in office, some making mere whistle-stop speeches while others explored Montanas beauty. These visits date back to at least 1883, when Chester A. Arthur arrived in Montana on horseback. The last sitting president to visit the state was Barack Obama, who arrived by Air Force One in 2009. In honor of Presidents Day, which originally marked George Washingtons birthday and then morphed to take in Abraham Lincolns, its a good excuse to travel through Montana history for highlights of the parade of presidents whove stopped in Big Sky Country. Taft goes missing President William Howard Taft, who visited Helena in 1909, went missing from his scheduled parade route to the consternation of some Secret Service agents. This led to a number of colorful tales about where he might have strayed. Historian Dave Walter wrote in an article, Lost in Helena, published in More From the Quarries of Last Chance Gulch, that recounts varying theories for why and where Taft disappeared ranging from him visiting old friends to sitting in a saloon on South Main to sampling the bawdy offerings of Clore Street. The tale holds just enough truth to keep the yarn alive, wrote Walter. On his Sept. 27 visit, Taft stopped in Helena as part of an almost 14,000-mile, 57-day railroad tour of the United States. He packed the Montana State Fairgrounds, which were located in Helena at the time, with a crowd estimated at 10,000. Following a 12-minute speech, he was whisked away in a motorcade of 11 vehicles. As the cars headed down Lawrence Street toward the federal building, Tafts car disappeared and headed up North Benton Avenue. The President, thanks to enterprising Sen. Thomas Carter, met Catholic Bishop John Patrick Carroll on the building site of what is now Carroll College and helped to lay the cornerstone for St. Charles Hall. Meanwhile, the short diversion most aggravated the puzzled ... security agents sitting in their Pathfinder in front of the federal building, and hundreds of squirming school children assembled by their teachers at the site. The tale of lost in Helena apparently was developed by some chagrined security agents who were trying to explain to a boisterous crowd ... that the President was right behind them, wrote Walter. Colorful, poignant memories of JFK Another colorful tale is about President John F. Kennedys visits, first as a candidate and then as president. Kennedy had campaigned in Helena in 1960 prior to his election and clearly remembered a drive with flamboyant Helena promoter Walter Marshall. Marshall had arranged the campaign visit that included a speech at the Marlow Theatre and a dinner at the Civic Center. Apparently, Kennedy asked Marshall for a ride to the airport and wound up sharing Marshalls ramshackle station wagon with the familys three big dogs, who were in the backseat. All the way to the airport, the dogs were licking the back of Kennedys neck. Although Kennedy loved animals, he was apparently not a fan of these particular dogs. After Kennedys election, Marshall again arranged some of the logistics for a 1963 visit. When Kennedy arrived in Montana, he spied Marshall and reportedly said, I am glad to see you, Walter. But I hope you left those blankety-blank dogs at home. A 2013 Missoulian article by Vince Devlin recounts Kennedys Sept. 26, 1963, visit to Great Falls, which drew a crowd of 20,000 to 25,000 at Memorial Stadium, according to Secret Service estimates. One moving account Devlin found was that of two teenagers Kathy Dufresne and her friend Carley Zimmer who were so thrilled with Kennedys visit they took the day off from school and then rushed back to Highwood High School that night to add a story to their school newspaper. Devlin's article described Kennedy wading into the crowd to shake hands with pioneers from Helena and Fort Benton, who were 95 and 97 years old. He also stopped by the home of Sen. Mike Mansfield's elderly parents. Kennedys visit was just a few short months before his assassination. For that reason in particular, it seems seared into the memories of many people, wrote Devlin. I kept the copy of what Carley and I wrote, Dufresne told Devlin, because we had so much hope and excitement for the future under the direction of John Kennedy. The Billings Gazette also wrote a 2013 news story of Kennedys Sept. 25, 1963, visit, which was part of the same trip. The Billings mayor of the time, Willard Fraser, was miffed at the Kennedy motorcade route from the airport and that the president was spending the night in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, rather than Billings, wrote Lorna Thackeray. Fraser relented and joined Sens. Mike Mansfield and Lee Metcalf and Gov. Tim Babcock on stage and apparently was as excited as everyone else. Kennedy spoke at 4 p.m., and the Secret Service estimated the crowd at 17,000, even though he was a Democrat and this was a Republican stronghold. He praised the Senate for approving a limited nuclear test ban treaty, then talked about natural resource conservation, wrote Missoulian reporter Jim Ludwick in a 1989 wrap-up article about presidential visits to Montana. Guess who came to visit When President Chester A. Arthur rode into Montana in 1883 on a horse named Cinnabar, Montana was still a territory and Arthur was on a trip leaving Yellowstone National Park. In the 134 years since, there followed some memorable and some momentary visits to Montana by a parade of presidents. Many of these were captured by Ludwick in his article: President Theodore Roosevelt visited Montana in 1903, making speeches in Butte and apparently also stops in Helena. He was on a nine-week trip that included a camping vacation in Yellowstone. In Butte, he drew such a large crowd that the mayor was going to raise the blinds of the banquet room so the crowd outside could watch Roosevelt dine. Roosevelt objected to the honor. He also visited Missoula in 1911. President Warren G. Harding visited Montana as part of a transcontinental railroad trip that ended in his death in 1923 in San Francisco from undetermined causes. He spoke in Helena and Butte, where he took a tour of a mine and handed out medals to Boy Scouts for heroic service when their summer camp was struck by lightning. He then headed by train to Yellowstone. President Franklin Roosevelt came to Montana in 1934 and 1937 and delivered a radio address after touring Glacier National Park. In it he told the country that his administration would fight to save our resources of agriculture and industry against the selfishness of individuals. During both visits he toured the Fort Peck Dam area. "President Harry Truman made a whistle stop tour of Montana" in 1952 and urged the public to vote for Mike Mansfield, who was in the House of Representatives and running for a Senate seat. He also visited in 1948 and 1950. President Dwight Eisenhower visited Missoula in September 1954 to dedicate the Forest Service smokejumper headquarters. He was willing to accept a smokejumper helmet and some shirts once he was reassured he wouldnt have to jump. President Lyndon Johnson wowed a Butte audience in 1964 and drew a crowd of approximately 35,000 who watched his motorcade travel from the airport. He talked of the Cuban missile crisis and said, I never knew when I left my wife and children in the morning whether I would see them again that night. But the nations voters and I knew that President Kennedy was a man who when he mashed that button you would know there was nothing left to do. President Richard Nixon made a speech in Kalispell in 1971 on his way to a meeting with Japanese Emperor Hirohito. He told the crowd the Vietnam War was ending and of a goal: Something we havent had this whole century a whole generation of peace. President Gerald Ford visited Libby in 1975 to help dedicate the Libby Dam. Speaking to a crowd of 3,000 to 5,000, he called for more homegrown energy. We cannot look elsewhere for a solution. We cannot pretend the energy problem does not exist. ... We have delayed far too long. Our vulnerability increases daily. President Ronald Reagan visited Billings on Aug. 11, 1982, and packed MetraPark with an estimated 10,000. He rode into the park atop a Wells Fargo stagecoach. In his speech, he praised Montana: You still admire independence, resourcefulness and determination. You have a legacy of those ideals and you have a history so colorful, even your sunsets cant match it. In September 1989, President George H.W. Bush drew a crowd unofficially estimated at 10,000 in Helena. He visited Billings in 1990 and apparently in October 1992 on a bid for re-election, when he spoke to a large crowd in Pioneer Park. President Bill Clinton spoke fondly of his visits to Montana in his book, My Life. He wrote of Hillary, Chelsea, and him spending a few happy days in Montana, thanks largely to Governor Ted Schwinden. After spending the night (possibly in Helena), they got up at dawn for a helicopter trip up the Missouri River and watched as wildlife woke for the day. Then they took a four-wheel-drive vehicle equipped with rail connectors along the Burlington Northern rail line for a couple hundred miles that included a dramatic crossing of a 300-foot-deep gorge and traveling in a rented car along Going to the Sun Road, where they saw marmots scrambling along the snow line. They also stayed at Kootenai Lodge on Swan Lake. After all my travels, I think western Montana is one of the most beautiful places Ive ever seen, Clinton wrote. Newly elected President George W. Bush drew a capacity crowd of 10,000 to Rimrock Auto Arena in 2001, according to the Billings Gazette. And in 2005, he visited Great Falls, pushing the notion of privatizing the Social Security system, a proposal that went nowhere, according to a Great Falls Tribune column by Richard Ecke. And closing out the presidential Montana parade was President Barack Obama, who arrived at Gallatin Field Airport in Belgrade (now called the Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport) in August 2009, to hold a town hall meeting on health care reform. HELENA The Montana House of Representatives passed a bill last week that would shutter the Office of the Commissioner of Political Practices, which some critics say could put the integrity of Montana elections in jeopardy. The bill, introduced by a state lawmaker tied to one of the offices most significant investigations, would place oversight and enforcement of campaign laws back into the hands of the Secretary of State and Attorney General, as it was before the offices creation in 1975. Supporters say that would make the job apolitical. Others say it only makes it more partisan. Its an asinine solution to a problem that doesnt exist, said Rep. Rob Cook, R-Conrad. House Bill 340, introduced by Rep. Derek Skees, R-Kalispell, comes on the heels of an investigation by the office into the role of dark money in Montana elections. Nine lawmakers were investigated, including former state Rep. Art Wittich, R-Bozeman, who was found guilty of accepting almost $20,000 in outside contributions last year. Documents obtained by the office named Skees among the state lawmakers allegedly involved in illegally receiving expenditures from corporations. Skees denies any wrongdoing and says his bill isnt about any beef he has with current Commissioner Jonathan Motl. This office has absolute power, Skees said, arguing the commissioner has an excess of authority in determining the outcome of cases seen by the office. OPPONENTS ON BOTH SIDES The bill has opponents from both sides of the aisle, including Cook and Rep. Geraldine Custer, R-Forsyth. The office works fine the way it is, Custer said. She said the position requires a qualified individual, and both she and Cook said they did not feel Motl was guilty of any impropriety. Custer described the bill is a witch hunt. Somebodys got their hand in the cookie jar and got slapped, Custer said. This is a personal vendetta. The bill would shift responsibility for the filing of reports related to campaign practices and lobbying to the Secretary of State, while the state Attorney General would investigate complaints. Both offices are currently held by Republicans. Cook said he does not believe the role of commissioner is partisan, and said moving authority to those offices puts that role in the hands of people that are even more political. Skees sponsored the bill along with 29 other Republican representatives, including House Judiciary Chairman Alan Doane, R-Bloomfield, who was also named in one of the documents and similarly denies any involvement. Only five Republicans joined Democrats in voting against the bill during its final 54-45 vote in the House Cook and Custer, as well as Frank Garner of Kalispell, Walt Sales of Manhattan and Ray Shaw of Sheridan. The bill will now be considered by the Senate. Skees said the concern stems from the fact that the governor appoints the commissioner. Its appointed by one party, because the governor is one party, and its partisan because it doesnt answer to anybody but that one party, Skees said. The commissioner is selected from a list of names drafted by both parties and given to the governor. The office holders term is limited to six years, so as not to match the governors term. Rep. Greg Hertz, R-Polson, said some Republicans felt unjustly targeted by the commissioners office. Its obvious from the last six years weve had some problems with that office, Hertz said. The most notable investigation undertaken by the commissioners office in the last six years began when a trove of documents showed several Montana politicians had illegally coordinated with a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization on their campaigns. Such organizations are only allowed to focus on issues, and are barred from working directly with candidates by Montana law, partially because the groups do not have limits on contributions like candidates do. The documents were discovered in a drug house in Denver, Colorado in 2011 after the car carrying them was stolen. The documents were later obtained by the commissioners office. Nine candidates were discovered to have been working with a group called Western Tradition Partnership, a conservative issue advocacy group that was later revealed to have been overseen by the National Right to Work Committee, an anti-union organization. Following the discovery of those documents, the commissioners office obtained a spreadsheet showing a list of candidates who had coordinated with the Western Tradition Partnership during the 2010 election cycle. Among those named in the document is Art Wittich, a former legislator who was found guilty in court in 2016 of accepting contributions from WTP. ALLEGATIONS DENIED Derek Skees name was also found on that spreadsheet. The spreadsheet, which Jonathan Motl said was found on several computer archives maintained by multiple National Right to Work Committee staffers, shows Skees ordered a package of multiple campaign services known as the works. Montana law prohibits corporations from spending money or providing paid professional staff services directly to candidates. Skees denied asking for these comprehensive services. I didnt get the works, Skees said. He argued because the spreadsheet was found in a drug dealers house its legitimacy should have been called into question. He said he never worked with WTP to create attack ads, and denied working with Western Tradition Partnership at all, saying he used a mail house service run by the wife of WTPs then-director of strategic programming, Christian LeFer. His position is the same as the others were, Motl said, on Skees denial of ordering the works. That is why we had to go to litigation. They all denied that they were involved. Motl said Skees was not investigated due to a lack of sufficient evidence within the meth house documents. Skees name was only directly tied to ordering the works when it appeared in the spreadsheet found on National Right to Work computers. The commissioners office is required to write a sufficiency decision within four years of the acts being committed. Of the nine candidates the office found to have coordinated with Western Tradition Partnership, seven were found to have been in violation. Wittich was found guilty by a jury, two had their cases settled by judges, and four eventually admitted fault pre-trial. Two more cases have yet to be heard. Rep. Rob Cook said the actions of groups like Western Tradition Partnership helped push out moderate Republicans from the states Legislature. Rep. Amanda Curtis, D-Butte, said eliminating the Commissioner of Political Practices would remove oversight in elections, and would allow for more undisclosed spending and receiving of funds. We are taking one step back toward the day when money ruled in politics, Curtis said. Bob Brown, a former Republican Secretary of State, said the position was created partially in response to the Watergate scandal. Before the offices establishment, campaign filings were done with the Secretary of State, as they would be under HB 340. Brown said the position was designed to put the practice of investigating campaign finance into more nonpartisan hands. He said this is a better-coordinated method. Brown said the conviction of Wittich and the investigation of other Republicans is simply part of the job. Their solution to it is to eliminate the law and the political mechanism whereby these convictions took place, Brown said. That sends a cold shudder down my spine. Im amazed at their brazenness for doing it. Montana is known nationwide for having strong campaign practice and transparency laws. Last year, Montana received an A grade from the National Institute on Money in State Politics. Montana has resisted corporate influence on elections since voters passed the Corrupt Practices Act by initiative in 1912. The law restricted the amount of money candidates could receive from corporations. Montana also resisted the federal Supreme Court ruling on Citizens United, which allowed corporations the right to make political contributions. The states resistance was overruled by Supreme Court. HB 340 was referred to committee after first reading in the Senate last week. If it wins Senate approval, it would be presented to Gov. Steve Bullock, who has veto authority. The idea to just abolish the Commissioner of Political Practices, an office that was created post-Watergate I think is ill thought-out, Bullock said. Last week Republicans in Congress took their first steps toward dismantling some Obama-era regulations. This came as no surprise, but the optics of it were spectacularly brutal: The first regulation to be dumped was the Stream Protection Rule. Thanks to the Senate and House, coal mining companies will face fewer hurdles dumping mine waste into streams and rivers. They wont have to pay for destroying resources that belong to the American people, nor for the potential health hazards of dumping waste containing arsenic, lead, manganese, iron, sodium, strontium and sulfate into the water. Trickle-down economics dont work, but trickle-down water does. What goes into streams in Appalachia eventually makes its way into the Mississippi watershed, polluting public water supplies along the way. Mine waste, of course, has been a problem for years. In recent decades, coal companies in Kentucky, West Virginia and elsewhere have ripped the tops off more than 500 mountains to get at the coal underneath. The spoil is dumped into Appalachian valleys, burying almost 2,000 miles of headwater streams. The slurry created by washing coal is injected into underground shafts and crevices, putting groundwater at risk. The government was slow to address the problem, but in December the Interior Department adopted the Stream Protection Rule. Environmentalists said it didnt go far enough; mining interests said it was part of the Obama administrations war on coal. As a candidate, President Donald Trump vowed to get rid of it, as did congressional Republicans. Because the rule was new, it still had to pass through congressional review. On mostly party-line votes, the rule was killed. Other Obama-era regulations still subject to review will no doubt meet the same fate. But consider: In their first move out of the gate, GOP congressional leaders sided with coal companies that trash mountains and then use draglines and bulldozers to dump tons of waste and debris into streams and creeks. Is this really what Republican voters thought they were getting? The last time we checked, Republicans cared just as much as Democrats about having their water supplies poisoned. Getting rid of the Stream Protection Act will increase profits for coal-mining corporations if they dont have to worry about environmental review much less the morality of trashing the planet. But it wont save many jobs and it certainly wont help fulfill Trumps promise to revive the coal industry. Coals big problem is that natural gas is cheaper; gas-fired generating plants are cheaper and faster to build and emit less than half the planet-warming carbon dioxide that coal-fired plants do. When costs arent an issue, consumers show a preference for more environmentally friendly energy sources. Despite the economics, despite the environment, Republicans made trashing the planet in defense of a dying industry their first priority. Nice. On the east side of the Crazy Mountains there is limited access to the National Forest. There is, however, a historic trail that dates back a century or more, running north from the Big Timber Canyon Picnic Area. It is a numbered trail, FS Trail 115, later numbered 136. Trail 115/136 shows on the Forest Service Map of 1925 with its route winding in and out of National Forest land. Later maps also show the trail on the same route. The District Ranger who manages this area of public land has encouraged the public to use this trail since there has been no abandonment. Concerning this trail, the Forest Supervisor replied to Sen. Daines stating, The Forest Service maintains that it holds unperfected prescriptive rights on this trail system, as well as up Sweet Grass Creek to the north based on a history of maintenance with public funds and historic and continued public and administrative use. The local landowners object to the publics right to use this historic trail and have posted a sign, The USFS has no easement to enter this private property. PLWA believes the evidence indicates otherwise. My message to the landowners is this: When land is acquired in Montana there comes with it a piece of natural and human history. Almost without exception, there will be public water running through your property. In addition, there is often travel ways in the form of roads and trails with associated public rights that predate your acquisition. The law provides for the protection of these travel ways. The Public land and Water Access Association has been successful in protecting the publics right to use these travel ways. In fact, one of our early victories was on a trail to Cowboy Heaven in Madison County. In the case of the Crazy Mountain Trail 115/136, however, the Forest Service has its own legal team capable of settling this dispute. They have the records of public money invested in the trail over the years. They have records of public and administrative use including fire suppression. If anyone thinks that lack of maintenance is akin to abandonment they should review the court case of the Tenderfoot Road or the Indian Creek trail in the Madison Valley. -- John Gibson, Billings, president, Public Land/Water Access Association On Jan. 30, more than 1,000 Montanans squeezed into the Capitol building to tell our elected officials in Helena and Washington, D.C.: Keep public lands in public hands. Sportsmen and women, conservationists, outdoor recreationists, kids and families traveled from as far as Fort Peck, Miles City and Thompson Falls. We blew the roof off the Capitol in defense of our shared outdoor heritage, making clear that we wont stand for any legislation that even considers transferring, selling or otherwise divesting citizens of our public lands. The rally was organized by a broad coalition of groups, including Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, Montana Wildlife Federation, Montana Audubon, Montana Conservation Voters Education Fund, Montana Wilderness Association, Forward Montana Foundation, Outdoor Alliance Montana, and Business for Montanas Outdoors. Some elected officials in Washington, D.C., apparently got the memo we sent from Helena. Within days, Rep. Jason Chaffetz from Utah withdrew H.R. 621, which would have mandated the sale of more than 3.3 million acres of public lands, including close to 100,000 acres here in Montana. The congressman cited the massive backlash from hunters, anglers, recreationists, conservationists and businesses across the country as reason enough to reconsider the legislation. Our victory over H.R. 621 hasnt stopped state and federal decision makers from trying to steal or exploit our public lands in other ways, however. In Montana, State Sen. Jennifer Fielder plans on introducing two resolutions: one to study public lands transfers to the state and another to request public lands transfers to the state. If passed, Fielders resolutions would give the false impression that Montanans support public lands transfers. They also would provide false political cover to Fielders allies, who are pushing public lands transfers at the national level. In D.C., Congress is eliminating rules that increase public involvement in land management decisions, chipping away at the Environmental Protection Agency and bedrock laws that protect clean water and wildlife habitat, and undermining the Antiquities Act a pillar of Theodore Roosevelts legacy. H.R. 622, another bill by Rep. Chaffetz, would eliminate federal land law enforcement officers in the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, giving poachers and drug cartels better opportunities to use public lands and diminishing public safety. For more than 20 years, Montanans have fought for access to our state lands and against their sale. We continue to fight for access to rivers, streams and our national public lands. Yet Montana Senate Majority Leader Fred Thomas of Stevensville responded to our rally by saying that Montanans concerns over the state selling off public lands are silly at best. Whats silly is that for the last several years, Sens. Thomas and Fielder, along with other proponents of public lands transfers, have wasted taxpayer dollars and critical legislative time on an agenda that Montanans have repeatedly rejected. Even sillier is their argument that, somehow, one million Montana taxpayers can afford to manage 27 million acres of additional lands, a cost that currently is covered by all American taxpayers. Our state taxes would skyrocket in the event of a transfer, leaving the state with no choice but to sell off or industrialize lands that make our outdoor way of life possible. A message to Sen. Thomas, Sen. Fielder and other elected officials who are trying to eliminate our public lands and waters: Anglers, hikers, skiers, campers, hunters, kayakers and other Montanans who enjoy the outdoors have united to ensure that Americas legacy of public lands will stay public. We remain united and vigilant. And we will continue fighting any attempts to take public lands out of our hands. -- Jeff Lukas, coordinator, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, Missoula; and Montana Wilderness Association Montana Conservation Voters Action Fund Business for Montanas Outdoors Montana Audubon Montana Wildlife Federation Forward Montana Foundation Outdoor Alliance Montana HAMILTON A Florence physician is asking the court to drop 400 charges that revolve around the illegal distribution of drugs in three motions filed recently in Ravalli County District Court. Dr. Chris Christensen, 69, was arrested in August 2015 following a yearlong investigation that included a raid on his former Florence clinic in 2014. Christensen was charged with providing Methadone to two patients from Missoula who overdosed and died, according to charging documents. In addition to the two negligent homicide charges, Christensen was also charged with 389 counts of criminal distribution of dangerous drugs and nine counts of criminal endangerment. Christensen was originally scheduled to go to trial last October, but there was a lengthy delay in acquiring a private attorney after he was denied a public defender. Christensen hired Missoula attorney Josh Van de Wetering last August and his trial was then delayed until this coming October. Van de Wetering filed three separate motions in January asking the court to dismiss the various charges against Christensen. In a motion asking for the dismissal of the negligent homicide charges, Van de Wetering argues that the state doesnt have probable cause to support its case that Christensen was the cause of the peoples death. The two deaths in this case, tragic to be sure, were nevertheless actually caused by the patients accidental or deliberate misuse of the drugs prescribed, Van De Wetering wrote. Christensen may have prescribed the drugs, but the two people who ingested them in excessive amounts were responsible for their own deaths, he said. Van de Wetering said the distribution charges should be dismissed because the states statutes do not prohibit prescribing drugs deemed dangerous. The states criminal drug distribution statute focuses its penalties on people who sell, barter, exchange or give away any dangerous drug. Van de Wetering said Christensen did not possess or own any of the controlled substances that he prescribed. He issued written prescriptions that patients took to pharmacies to have filled. Last, Christensens attorney said the criminal endangerment counts should be dismissed because the states criminal endangerment statute is unconstitutionally vague. Van de Wetering said the law does not provide physicians with notice about which medical decisions may be considered conduct that illegally creates a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury. In his response, Ravalli County Deputy Attorney Thorin Geist said the district court has already determined that probable cause exists to support the charges and Christensen is not entitled to a second probable cause determination. The Montana Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized that once a district court determines that sufficient probable cause exists to support a charge, the State bears no further burden of proof until trial, Geist wrote. Once the state has concluded its case at trial, Geist said Christensen will have the opportunity to ask for a directed verdict under a different standard. In addressing the motion to dismiss the negligent homicide charges, Geist said the state needs only to show that the victims probably would not have died, but for the gross deviation from the standards of conduct in their medical treatment by Christensen. Geist alleged that Christensen made no attempt to review his patientss prior medical records, to contact their physicians, to conduct a substantive examination or review the states prescription drug registry for prior prescriptions. Christensen handed his victims a gun in the form of powerful narcotics told his victims to use the gun to take the narcotics even though they had a history of drug addiction, and as a result, they died, Geist wrote. Christensen faces a potential prison sentence of up to 388 life terms, plus 135 years and a fine of up to $20 million is convicted on all charges. He remains free on a $200,000 bond. Charlie Chelf, 58, was transported by Louisa County Ambulance and flown to the University of Iowa Hospitals by AirCare, where he later died of his injuries from the crash, according to a news release from the Muscatine County Sheriff's Office. Social media companies Facebook, Google and a group of news organizations launched an initiative in early February to tackle fake news stories in France, with the media in the spotlight as the country's presidential election approaches. According to a poll from Morning Consult, thoughts are pretty split on who is most responsible for people being exposed to "fake news." 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 [] They keep grabbing the headlines as theyr fairy tale love story continues to unfold beautifully. Mr and Mrs Mutura are the darling of Kenya after their humble wedding in Kasarani that cost them Sh 100 to buy two rings. Ann Mutura, 23, the wife of Wilson Mutura, 27, has made a startling revelation about being approached by rich men and turning them down for Mr Mutura. According to the soft-spoken bride, she agreed to wed her now-husband in a KSh100 ceremony late last month because she is sure of a peaceful union with him. Financially stable men approached me, but I rebuffed their advances. You know what? There are some men who have goods, property, and money in abundance, but are arrogant and controlling. I thought to myself: if I gave in to their advances, I would never have peace. But with Wilson, I was sure of experiencing near-lifetime peace, Ann told eDaily. She added that no amount of money can lure her to go against her primcipals. Everyone has his own principles, everyone makes his own decisions. If you are firm in your decisions, then theres no one or anything that can sway you, especially if you are serious with what you believe in, she said, adding: With me, no amount of money can lure me. It is very hard to make me pull out of a decision. She advises the youth, especially young women, to be weary of rich men out to use and dump them. There are those men and women who will lure you with money, a tidy sum of money, but if you evaluate their intentions keenly, youd realise they are motivated to use and dump you. But again, there are women who are out to milk these men dry, and once the coffers are drained, they disappear. So, to me, love is paramount. Money-motivated love will never beat true love, said Ann Mutura. The man or woman who approaches you could be financially loaded and has everything working for him or her, but again you wouldnt know how much of a struggle he or she went through to get that wealth; you wouldnt know what he did to acquire the riches. I would love to advice young people, especially my fellow women, to be patient with their partners who are yet to have a financial breakthrough. If you find out he has tried the best he can to own that which he owns, then the best move you can make is to join him and work in cooperation toward creating more wealth together. But above all, God should come first in your relationship; there shouldnt be a compromise on that, she concluded. After the couples grand wedding on Valentines Day, the couple are set for another all expense paid honeymoon to Dubai by Bonfire Adventures. Nairobi senator Mike Sonkos eldest daughter Agnes Saumu Mbuvi over the weekend was treated to a surprise baby shower party. The Saturday afternoon baby shower was held at an undisclosed location in Nairobi. The surprise baby shower made me feel loved by my family and close friends. The private ceremony took place in Nairobi; a place I wont mention. My mum, Primrose Mbuvi, headed the ceremony. Later on my dad, Mike Sonko, joined us. It was amazing, Saumu said. Ms Mbuvi, who is pregnant with budding politician Benson Gatu, is two weeks away from welcoming their first child. Gatu, a law graduate from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), has expressed interest to run for Mathioya parliamentary seat in August 8 polls. See photos of the delightful baby shower NEW YORK Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, died suddenly after falling ill Monday in his office at the mission, Russian officials said. Churkin, 64, was rushed to a hospital in New York, where he died, Russia's deputy U.N. ambassador, Vladimir Safronkov, told The Associated Press. His cause of death wasn't immediately known. Churkin had been Russia's envoy at the United Nations since 2006 and was considered Moscow's great champion at the U.N. He had a reputation for an acute wit and sharp repartee, especially with his American and Western counterparts. He was currently the longest-serving member of the Security Council, the U.N.'s most powerful body. Among many other issues, he had recently made Russia's views heard on the conflict in close ally Syria, sparring with diplomats from the U.S. and other Western countries over whether to impose sanctions or take action to end the conflict in Syria. President Vladimir Putin had been notified of the death, according to the state news agency TASS. "The president was grieved to learn about the death of Vitaly Churkin. The head of state highly estimated Churkin's professionalism and diplomatic talents," spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the agency. Russia's foreign ministry called Churkin an "outstanding" diplomat and expressed condolences to his friends and family. Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a Facebook post that Churkin was "an extraordinary person. A bright man. We have lost a dear one." His death, the day before his 65th birthday, stunned officials at the U.N.'s headquarters. "Our thoughts go to his family, to his friends and to his government," said U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq, who heard the news from reporters as it circulated during a daily briefing. Diplomatic colleagues mourned Churkin as a powerful and passionate voice for his nation, with both a deep knowledge of diplomacy and a large and colorful personality. Calling Churkin a "diplomatic maestro and deeply caring man," former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power said on Twitter that Churkin had done all he could to bridge differences between the U.S. and Russia. French U.N. Ambassador Francois Delattre, too, said he and Churkin had "always worked together in a spirit of mutual respect and personal friendship," despite their divides. One of Delattre's predecessors, Gerard Araud, now French ambassador to the U.S., recalled Churkin as "abrasive, funny and technically impeccable." Britain's U.N. ambassador, Matthew Rycroft, tweeted that he was "absolutely devastated" to hear of the death of Churkin, "a diplomatic giant and wonderful character." Churkin was previously ambassador at large and earlier served as the foreign ministry spokesman. Churkin had a doctorate in history and was a graduate of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. And he was a child actor in what was then the Soviet Union. The low point of the trip wasnt when my husband, Andrew, and I hiked into the Grand Canyon without our teens, because Solomon and Celia opted to stay behind in our tiny cabin. As insane as it seemed for them to miss their chance to explore the most spectacular natural phenomenon our country has to offer, that morning, we chose to let it go. The worst moment had been the day before, when our kids undisguised misery while visiting a mitten-shaped rock formation in Arizona sucked all joy out of a hike. It led to hours of uncomfortable silence and passive-aggressive mutteringin both the front and back seatson the long car ride to the North Rim that followed. We learned some crucial lessons on that trip that have improved family vacations since. For example, just because a trip sounds dreamy to Andrew and mein that case, daily hikes through the astonishing natural treasures of Utah and Arizonadoesnt mean its also our kids idea of a great time. From their view, walking over rocks and through canyons day after day became excruciatingly boring. Since then, weve had some fantastic trips with Solomon and Celia, now 19 and 17, including an awesome adventure to colonial cities, volcanoes, a Monkey Island and a remote beach in Nicaragua last month, and a driving loop around gorgeous, hipster Oregon the year before. The tweaks to how we approach family travel have dramatically reduced tension. But we know weve also gotten a bit lucky in terms of favorable weather, great activities and being able to afford to take these trips. We have friends who have returned early from vacations because the tension with their teens got so high, and some who have opted to travel without their kids. But through trial and error, we have found an approach to traveling with our teens that seems to suit us all. Here are nine things that we have tried to incorporate into our getaways. I hope they help make your family vacations more enjoyable and less infuriating. - Involve them in planning. Depending on your kids enthusiasm for this task, this may simply mean giving them choices between several destinations and having them look over the itinerary before finalizing it, or it may mean that they take the lead on planning the itinerary. But even giving them a small amount of control can help them feel like they are part of the process and, therefore, elevate their enthusiasm about the trip and activities. Diana Beckman of Alexandria, Virginia, has her kids rank their top three activities for each destination. They make sure to get to everyones top choice, and try to get to others, with the expectation that there are no guarantees beyond the top picks. She finds that this ensures the kids have better attitudes about participating in everyone elses top priorities, because they know theyll get the chance to enjoy their top choice(s), too. - Set expectations ahead of time and express your needs. When Beckmans kids were 12 and 16, she took them on a road trip from Nebraska to Wyoming. On the day of the longest drive, Beckman prepared her children by telling them ahead of time that it would be a long day for all of them and that she would need their help navigating and keeping her entertained while she drove. After that discussion, both kids were fully engaged, checking on her frequently and offering her shoulder rubs and snacks. That eight-hour car ride was an unexpected high point of the trip. - Have some separate time or space. We enjoy each others company but it also helps, especially on long trips, to be able to retreat from each other for a few hours. When possible, we choose a lower-priced hotel so we can get two rooms. The time apart helps all of us better appreciate each others company. - Dont make every activity mandatory. Minimize the shoulds and musts. If your kids are old enough, let them choose whether they want to participate in some outings. When they dont feel forced, they are more likely to join us for most activities. If your kids are not old enough to be left alone and you have at least two adults on the trip, divide and conquer when necessary. - Leave plenty of downtime. Teens usually like to have time to relax, check social media or just be alone. We have found that at least a few unstructured hours each day, usually in the afternoon, keeps moodiness at bay and makes the scheduled outings more fun for all of us, so we try hard not to overschedule. This has the added benefit of leaving time for spontaneity, and for Andrew and me to do something together without the kids, too. - Travel with a peer pack. Vacationing with other families with kids of similar ages, whether they are friends or family members, can make trips more fun for everyone. On New Years Eve at Morgans Rock Eco-Lodge in Nicaragua, we met two families from New York and Montreal who travel together every winter break so that both the kids and adults have stimulating companions. Alternatively, consider inviting the kids friends or traveling to places where other teenagers are also likely to be staying. That way, theyand youcan make new friends. - Dont try to control everything, including their experiences. We try to keep our mouths shut and let the kids do things their own way, even if it seems like the wrong way to us. On our last night in Nicaragua, we planned to watch the sunset from the beach as a family. But as the sun was disappearing behind the horizon, Solomon still had not joined us. I was tempted to find him and call him over before the sun disappeared, but I resisted. It turned out that he was on the beach, happily observing scuttling hermit crabs. We each enjoyed the sunset in our own ways. - Put your fears aside. We let the kids go off on their own in a new place, even though it sometimes makes us nervous. On New Years Eve, Solomon and Celia met some other teenagers at our hotel and wandered down the pitch-black beach after midnight while we were still listening to the band. A few of the other parents went searching for the kids, and although we were a little concernedis Celia safe? Will Solomon dive headfirst into the shallow waves and break his neck?we stayed put. At their ages, they are operating independently most of the time, and it is not fair to put on the shackles just because it is a family vacation. As they have gotten older, we have chosen to trust their judgment, even in unfamiliar settings, and even when it causes us some anxiety. - Set boundaries about technology. For us, this means not getting international phone plans in foreign countries. That way we can all disconnect so we can reconnect. Many families find it helps to decide and discuss in advance whether and where theyll use technology while on vacation. For Andrew and me, vacation is a time to step away from the smartphones, so rather than nagging during the vacation, we discuss boundaries ahead of time. Admittedly, that has boomeranged on me: the kids sometimes have to remind me to stop taking notes and photos with my phone during meals. As Solomon and Celia get older, we are acutely aware that we may not have many more vacations left with just the four of us. So we are willing to be flexible about where and how we travel, hoping that theyll continue to want to explore the world with us, even where the WiFi is spotty. As Napans recover from a spate of storm-triggered power failures last week, PG&E is cautioning customers to be ready for more of the same partly due to soils have been saturated by a winters worth of heavy rains. A storm pattern that entered the Bay Area late Sunday was expected to continue into Tuesday, bringing more moisture to terrain already lashed by storms on Thursday and Friday. The fresh winds, combined with wind gusts forecast to reach 30-40 mph, led the utility to warn county residents to expect additional trees and utility poles to topple in the course of the storm. PG&E has deployed more than 400 crews to respond to power problems in Northern California and the Central Valley, according to spokeswoman Tamar Sarkissian. In addition, the company has brought in 70 crews from other utilities in Arizona, New Mexico and Washington state, who are expected to assist in repairs and restoration in the next several days, she said. Anyone clearing debris, mud or dirt from their property, or doing any work that includes earth moving, is asked to call 811 to allow PG&E to mark utility lines in the area. Residents also are advised to keep a safe distance from active PG&E crews during the storm. Up to 7,000 Napa County customers, including the Napa Valley Register office, were affected by blackouts during Friday. As of late Monday afternoon, local outages numbered 22 in Napa, Calistoga and Pope Valley, mostly new disruptions less than eight hours old, according to Sarkissian. A flood watch remained in effect for the Bay Area through 4 a.m. Tuesday and a wind advisory through 3 a.m., with the National Weather Service forecasting an elevated risk for local flooding, rock and mud slides, downed power lines and fallen trees. An additional one-third to three-quarters of an inch was expected Monday night, with south-southwest winds of 15-20 mph gusting to 25 mph, according to the weather services Monterey bureau. Overnight temperatures were expect to drop to 51 degrees from a daytime high in the low 60s. After arriving in the Napa Valley later than originally forecast on Sunday, bands of rain totaled 1.65 inches at the Napa city corporation yard in the 24 hours ending at 3:30 p.m., according to the countys OneRain website. Higher amounts were recorded in the countys elevated areas, including 4.64 inches in Angwin, 2.68 inches at Mount Veeder and 2.52 inches in St. Helena. Flooding briefly affected two roads in American Canyon early Monday, as water encroached on northbound Highway 29 around 4 a.m. and American Canyon Road between Highway 29 and Flosden Road about two hours later. Authorities reopened American Canyon Road at 11:30 a.m. after about a 5 -hour shutdown, but police Sgt. Dave Ackman advised drivers to prepare for more closures as rains continue. Meanwhile, a toppled tree blocked both directions of Dry Creek Road near Mount Veeder Road at 12:36 p.m. Monday, according to spokesman Marc Renspurger of the California Highway Patrol. Fire crews in the area also reported a slide on Mount Veeder Road near the fallen tree, CHPs online incident log reported. Another blockage on Mount Veeder Road occurred shortly after 5:05 p.m. when a large tree fell onto power lines, the Sheriffs Office said in a Nixle alert. Elsewhere, Mount Veeder Road remained closed at milepost 5.5, more than two days after a slide cut off the road west of Napa on Saturday morning. There was no word on when the road would reopen, according to the Sheriffs Office. Because repeated rains have so weakened the soil, county road crews must await the passing of the rains before mounting any repairs on Mount Veeder Road that would stick, according to Steve Lederer, county public works director. Were continuing to monitor it, he said of the earth slide. We cant do anything until the rain stops, and once it does we will evaluate the situation and determine the best way to get it open. The ground is too unstable for heavy equipment to get in, nor would any repair (during the storm) be practical. Those wishing to report new rain-related road damage are asked to call the Napa County dispatch line at 707-253-4451. Spring Mountain Road west of St. Helena also was briefly blocked at about 11:30 a.m. after a tree fell across both lanes near Boysen Lane, according to the CHP online log. Local waterways and reservoirs remained below the monitoring stage except for Milliken Reservoir, which measured 916.69 feet as of 3:30 p.m., above the 910-foot monitoring stage. Flood stage at the Napa city-owned reservoir is 924 feet, with drain holes set 16 feet below the dam crest. Lake Berryessa on Friday reached the 440-foot level that causes water to spill into the glory hole relief drain marking the reservoirs full capacity. As of late Monday afternoon, the water height had reached 442.3 feet, according to the Solano County Water Agencys website. Baldacci Family Vineyards has won Napa County Planning Commission praise both for a proposed expansion and for the way it worked with the county to correct rules violations. Among other things, the winery northeast of Yountville held tours and tastings without county approval. Winery General Manager Kellie Duckhorn said news of the violations was unexpected. When we learned we were out of compliance, we actually closed our visitors center and we have been closed for 14 months, Duckhorn told the commission at meeting last week. Commissioners appreciated the move by the winery located at 6236 Silverado Trail. That is a big one for me, because it shows an interest in getting compliance started from the get-go and not waiting for the county to act, Commissioner Anne Cottrell said. Commissioners approved a production increase from 20,000 gallons annually to 40,000 gallons. They approved construction of a 3,510-square-foot winery addition for a hospitality center, a 2,619-square-foot production building and an 11,031-square-foot addition to a 7,613-square-foot cave. On the visitation front, they approved by-appointment tours and tastings for 100 people a day. They approved a marketing program allowing for two events monthly for 30 people, four events annually for 100 people and six events annually for 50 people. Cases of wineries not following the detail of their county approved permits sometimes these permits are decades old and each permit is different have become a high-profile issue in recent years. The Baldacci infractions had their roots in a 1986 permit issued to previous owners. Duckhorn praised county staff for the approach it took to working with the winery to rectify the rules violations. We never felt it was us against them, Duckhorn said. That was much appreciated. Planning Commission Chairwoman Jeri Gill also appreciated what she called a team approach between the winery and county staff to address the rules violations. Thats exactly how it is supposed to work, Gill said. Cottrell said that the 100-visitors-a-day request by Baldacci Family Vineyards is higher than average level for wineries with similar wine production. Still, given the location of the winery on Silverado Trail and the sites 29-acre size, she could accept the numbers. Commissioner Terry Scott praised Baldacci Family Vineyards for thinking ahead to what visitor numbers it might need in future years. Applicants sometimes come in asking for what they need today, then are back asking for more, he said. You have addressed that, some might think aggressively, but I think practically, in that you are planning for the future, Scott said. That, to me, is effective strategic planning. Duckhorn said the Baldacci Family Vineyards site has been planted continuously in wine grapes since 1888. The Baldacci family has owned the property since 1998, with a new generation now taking winery positions. The Baldacci website shows that winery presently has retail sales only, not tours or tastings. An update posted after the Planning Commission meeting says the winery can now move ahead with the next phase of development, which includes seeking a permit for a temporary trailer to host visitors. Thank you, Napa County, California Planning Commission for your unanimous approval on our use permit modification, the website says. Vista Tulocay, a future development of more than 400 new apartment homes behind Soscol Avenues Auto Row has been sold for an estimated $34.25 million. The seller was BLT Enterprises of Santa Monica. The buyer is Fairfield Residential Company of San Diego, which hopes to begin construction this year. We are quite pleased with this opportunity and to be working in Napa, said Brendan Hayes of Fairfield Residential Company. The company views Vista Tulocay as a great opportunity to meet housing demand by building a community that offers excellent walkability in a desirable area. According to Hayes, Napa is sought-after within the greater Bay Area with a limited housing supply. The Vista Tulocay development was originally owned by the Gasser Foundation. The nonprofit is currently developing the front part of an adjacent large parcel into commercial and retail space next to Soscol. The Gasser Foundation agreed to sell the Vista Tulocay site to BLT Enterprises for $9 million in 2002, but the sale did not close until 2013 because of flood control and entitlement delays. Fairfield is very well capitalized and they are very good at executing and building, said Joe Fischer, a Gasser spokesman. Were very excited that this group is going to take what took many years to design and entitle and have it come out of the ground, providing housing for many people in the community, said Fischer. Shawn Gutterson, vice president at BLT Enterprises, said the company decided to sell after being presented with a unique opportunity that would allow the first phase (282 units) of the project to begin construction in the near future by a quality home builder and operator. The company chose Fairfield because its development team and their commitment to quickly construct the first phase of the project, said Gutterson. Fairfields proven track record, which includes several large high-quality projects throughout California, also assisted in our final decision, he added. According to its website, Fairfield Residential manages an estimated 50,000 units nationwide across luxury, new construction and renovated apartment homes in urban and suburban infill neighborhoods and tax credit affordable housing properties. This isnt the end of BLT in Napa. Gutterson said the company is working with Plenary Group to create a proposal to develop the land around City Hall on First Street, including a residential housing component. More housing is always a need in the city, said Lark Ferrell, housing manager for the city of Napa. We need market rate and affordable units. Any additions are good news. Ferrell said Napas apartment market is extremely tight. A 5 percent vacancy rate is considered healthy. Napas apartment vacancy rate is well under 2 percent, she said. Im excited to have the project move forward, she said. The city approved the Vista Tulocay project in 2016. The rental homes form the first stage of what the Gasser Foundation envisions as a mixed residential and retail development straddling the gap between the river and the car dealers, strip malls and other businesses of Soscol Avenue. Under the BLT plan, the projects first phase is planned for 77 one-bedroom units and 186 two-bedroom dwelling, along with 11 three-bedroom apartments and eight three-bedroom townhouses. Phase 1 of the project intended to fill the northern 12 acres of the site, with up to 201 more homes possible in a second stage on the remaining property. New street construction will bridge the gap between Soscol and the development site, which is west of the road and faces the Napa Valley Wine Train and the river on its west. Drivers using the main entrance will encounter a landscaped roundabout decorated with a water-tower structure. For Vista Tulocays secondary entrance, a tree-lined north-south street is planned from the tip of Oil Company Road (which will be renamed as an extension of Sousa Lane) through the project, linking to a northward extension of Gasser Drive with a bridge spanning Tulocay Creek. The company is preparing building plans and hopes to start construction by the end of the third quarter, said Hayes. In November of 2016, I attended the first county workshop meeting regarding the future use for the eight-acre development site at 2344 Old Sonoma Road, where the Health and Human Services Agency had been located. There were about 100 people in attendance. We were seated at about 10 tables. With the exception of the facilitators at each table, most of us were neighborhood residents discussing what type of development we wanted. Vice Mayor Juliana Inman, who lives on the outskirts of the neighborhood, was at my table. Everyone had concerns, including parking and traffic congestion. Height, architecture, and use of buildings were discussed. Preserving the older buildings was also discussed. Inman made a case for low-income housing requiring three-story-high buildings. Having been a California-licensed Certified Real Estate Appraiser, among my concerns was how the values of surrounding homes would be adversely affected by the project. When the workshop concluded, nearly everyone in attendance, with the exception of our public officials and the facilitators, made it clear that we oppose high-density housing. On Wednesday, Feb. 8, the second workshop meeting was held, except there wasnt anything workshop about it. The way the meeting was conducted and controlled by our public officials, they should have been wearing Castro dictator-style military uniforms. Our public officials acted like Marxist socialist central planners in telling us how Napas expanding hotel growth requires low-income labor to run them. Thus Napa needs what our public officials called high-density workforce housing, ranging anywhere from three to six stories high. We were told the brochures for attending the second workshop were mailed to a 1 1/2 mile radius of residents. It was obvious Napas public officials needed people coming from outside the neighborhood to bring about their desired statistical outcome supporting workforce housing. Public officials said that approximately 40 percent of us at this workshop attended the first workshop. Unlike the first workshop, participants were seated in rows of chairs like a typical lecture setting. Neighborhood residents were asking for a raise of hands so we could figure out where people were actually from, but we were ignored. Public officials continually told us everyones opinion counted. We were each given a remote clicker to answer multiple- choice questions as public officials asked them. Nearly all questions were leading questions, which could only be answered to favor one form or another of high-density housing. If we wanted to save the historical buildings, the new housing had to be higher than three stories. Some neighborhood residents seated around me said they werent going to click any answers because they didnt like any of them. Meanwhile public officials wrote the statistics on a large board from the answers clicked. After the meeting, later in the evening, I sent the following email to Deputy County Executive Officer Molly Rattigan, the county spokesperson for this project, who was in attendance: I was at the first meeting, where nearly everyone was from the neighborhood and, with the exception of some public officials, were opposed to high-density housing. We were told our input would be considered. Tonight we saw how it really works. What's funny is my only written comment at the last meeting, which I showed to Inman was "I don't trust government." She said that she didn't trust government either. Before I went to the meeting tonight, I told my wife how people from other areas (who knows where) would be brought in to distort statistics to favor high density housing. I was correct. And, of course, you said "Everyone has an opinion," as if it didn't matter where they come from so long as it accomplished your goals. And every time someone asked for a raise of hands for who was from the neighborhood, they were ignored. You claimed throughout the meeting that these were only our opinions we were punching in, not statistics to be used for decisions, and nothing was set in stone. But according to you, after the meeting, high density housing is set in stone. You also said that the Napa Valley Register might use the statistics written on the board--we'll see if their reporter is a real investigative journalist or uses the twisted statistics to write an article in favor of high density housing. You asked me to be civil with you, when those speaking and directing the meeting showed absolute disrespect for many of the citizens there. You get the respect you give. (I removed some paragraphs from my approximately 650 word email sent to Rattigan because of Napa Valley Register commentary length limits). The Napa Valley Register on Feb. 11 published a front-page article about the workshop, Balancing History and Housing, which included statistics from this workshop. This workshop was a sham. I can only imagine the deception coming at the next workshop as county officials push through their High Density Workforce Housing. Kevin Eggers Napa (As delivered) So good afternoon, Vice President Pence, welcome to NATO headquarters. It is really a great honour and a great pleasure to have you here. Just a month after you took office and just a few days after your great speech in Munich. Where you so clearly declared the commitment and unwavering support of the US to the transatlantic bond. We welcome that because we see the strong commitment of the US to the transatlantic bond not only in words but also in deeds. These days the US is deploying new forces, additional forces, to Europe which is of great importance for the security of Europe and which is demonstrates the strong transatlantic commitment of the US and we are very grateful for this commitment. You also stressed that just as the US stood with Europe, Europe stood tall with the US. And we have to remember that the only time that the Alliance has invoked our NATO has invoked our collective defence clause, Article 5, our, was after an attack on the US. And this was more than just a gesture. Several hundred thousands of Canadian and European troops have served in Afghanistan. And more than a thousand paid the ultimate price. The bond between the US and Europe, embodied in the NATO Alliance, is very important today, because we live in times of turmoil and instability and then we need a strong Alliance more than ever. And we are stronger when we stand together. During our meeting we discussed our progress in the fight against terrorism. NATO continues to train security forces in Afghanistan. We have started to train security forces and officers in Iraq. And we support the US-led Coalition against ISIL with AWACS surveillance planes. But we agree that the Alliance can, and should do more, in the fight against terrorism. We also agree on the importance of higher defence spending and fairer burden-sharing in NATO. This has been my top priority since I took office. Europeans cannot ask the United States to commit to Europe's defence if they are not willing to commit more themselves. And they are committing more. In 2016, after many years of cuts, we turned a corner. Defence spending increased across Europe and Canada by 3.8 percent in real terms, or ten billion US dollars more. But we still have a long way to go, so all Allies must speed up their efforts to spend 2 percent of GDP on defence. This will be an important point when Allied leaders meet here in Brussels in May. So Mr Vice-President, thank you for our excellent discussion. We agree that NATO is the most successful Alliance in history because NATO has been able to adapt and change when the world is changing. And we agree that we must continue to change, to keep our people safe. US leadership remains indispensable. So I really look forward to working with you. And to welcoming President Trump in Brussels in May. So please, you have the floor. THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Mr. Secretary General. It is a privilege to meet with you today to bring greetings on behalf of President Donald Trump and also to have the opportunity for a thorough and substantive discussion of the issues facing NATO and our historic alliance. It has been a busy weekend for me. As I prepare to head back to the United States, Im grateful. Im grateful to have had the opportunity to speak on Saturday about our shared security issues at the Munich Security Conference. And I appreciate your encouraging words about the message of the United States at that conference. And I also was pleased to be able to hold a series of productive bilateral meetings with leaders from all across the world. It was also deeply moving for me and my family to return to Dachau, the very first concentration camp, and to be accompanied by a survivor by the name of Abba Naor. I had first visited that camp in 1977. I wanted my daughter to see it. And we went there and walked through that historic memorial. Abba told me that he arrived at Dachau as a 17-year-old boy. He told me of the nightmarish existence that he experienced there. But then he spoke words that resonate with our alliance. He said: Then the Americans came. Those words touched my heart, and they speak volumes about the history and importance of the North Atlantic alliance and of NATO, more of which Ill address momentarily. But I thank you again for your hospitality in this historic place at this important time. I was also grateful today to meet with the leadership of the European Union. And on behalf of President Trump, I express the commitment of the United States to continued cooperation and partnership with the EU. While we have our differences on some issues, I reiterated this point in all of my meetings with the EU leadership and appreciated the cordial and substantive discussions that we had. But on Saturday, as the Secretary General mentioned, at the Munich Security Conference, I brought a message from President Trump -- the message is the same one I bring to you today. It is my privilege here at the NATO Headquarters to express the strong support of President Trump and the United States of America for NATO and our transatlantic alliance. The United States has been a proud and faithful member of NATO since its founding in 1949. This alliance plays a crucial role in promoting peace and prosperity in the North Atlantic and, frankly, in the entire world. The United States commitment to NATO is clear. As we speak, President Trump and our administration are developing plans to ensure that the strongest military in the world in the United States becomes stronger still. Let me assure you, Mr. Secretary, that in the United States, we're about the process of strengthening our military and restoring the arsenal of democracy. Working with members of Congress, we intend to increase military funding to make it possible for us to provide for the common defense for the people of the United States, but also meet the obligations that we have with our treaty allies, including in this historic treaty. America -- therefore I can say with confidence: America will do our part. But Europes defense requires Europes commitment as much as ours. At the Wales Summit in 2014, all 28 members of the NATO alliance declared their intention to move towards a minimum security investment of 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense within a decade. As a candidate for office, President Trump actually called attention repeatedly to the fact that for too long, for too many, this burden has not been shared fairly among our NATO allies. And that must come to an end. At this moment, the United States and only four other NATO members meet this basic standard. And while we commend the few nations that are on track and have met the obligation, the truth is that many others, including some of our largest allies, still lack a clear and credible path to meet this minimum goal. So let me say again what I said this last weekend in Munich, the President of the United States and the American people expect our allies to keep their word and to do more in our common defense. And the President expects real progress by the end of 2017. As Secretary of Defense James Mattis said here in Belgium just a few short days ago, if youre a nation that meets the 2 percent target, we need your help encouraging other nations to do likewise. If you have a plan to get there, as he said, our alliance needs you to accelerate it. And if you dont yet have a plan, these are my words not his: Get one. It is time for actions, not words. And let me thank specifically the Secretary General for your outspoken leadership on this issue. As you and I discussed privately and you've discussed with the President, the world needs NATOs strength and leadership now more than ever before. And we are grateful, Mr. Secretary General, that you join us in calling for immediate and steady progress on all of our NATO allies commitment to our common defense. The truth is the rise of adversaries new and old demands a strong response from this alliance. In the east, NATO has embarked on improvement in its deterrent posture by stationing four combat-ready multinational battalions in Poland and the Baltic States. And as I assured the Secretary General in our meeting today, in the wake of Russian efforts to redraw international borders by force, the United States will continue its leadership role in the Enhanced Forward Presence Initiative and other critical joint actions. With regard to Ukraine, as I said before, our alliance will continue to hold Russia accountable and demand that they honor the Minsk Agreements, beginning with de-escalating violence in eastern Ukraine. For the sake of peace and for the sake of innocent human lives, we urge both sides to abide by the ceasefire that began today. And we pray for peace in Ukraine. Be assured, the United States, as well, will continue to hold Russia accountable, even as we search for new common ground, which President Trump firmly believes can be found. As I said in Munich, though, NATOs continued leadership is also necessary in the fight against radical Islamic terrorism; this, another item that as a candidate for office, President Trump first raised. As a candidate a year ago, he called on NATO to evolve by expanding counterterrorism operations. And we're encouraged to see under your leadership NATO is in the process of doing just that. Its hard to speak of these issues in the abstract as I stand here in Brussels, just now almost a year ago that three horrific suicide bombings occurred, 33 innocent victims, including four Americans, hundreds more injured. I just want to assure the people of Brussels and all the people of Europe that your pain is our pain, your loss our loss. And its precisely why the President believes its essential that NATO continue on this new path of evolving and expanding its mission to be more effective in counterterrorism. We will work tirelessly with our NATO allies to ensure security in our countries and yours. But adapting to these new and ever-shifting challenges must remain a central focus of our collaboration and cooperation. Our alliance needs to intensify efforts to cut off terrorist funding and increase cyber capabilities. We must be -- as I said before, we must be as dominant in the digital world as we are in the physical world. And the United States is committed to continuing to work with our NATO allies to achieve that objective for the security of all the nations in our alliance. By building on tactics from the last century with these new century opportunities and challenges, NATO will be better prepared to confront and overcome the new adversaries of the 21st century. Under President Trumps leadership, the United States, I can assure you, is fully committed to NATOs noble mission. We are grateful for your leadership, Mr. Secretary General. And I know the President looks forward to working closely with you to advance our shared objectives. A strong NATO means a safer world. And the United States of America looks forward to continuing to work with our partners in NATO to achieve just that. So, Mr. Secretary, thank you very much for your hospitality and for your leadership. OANA LUNGESCU [NATO Spokesperson]: We have time for a few questions. We will start with the BBC Damian Grammaticus over there. DAMIAN GRAMMATICUS (BBC Reporter): Vice President, youve given your assurances today here in Brussels to European leaders that the U.S. is committed to working with Europe; President Trump has said very different things. He has said that the EU is a vehicle for Germany, that the U.K. was smart to get out and he expected other countries to follow. Who should European leaders listen to, you or President Trump and can they be certain that what you say, the assurances you give wont be contradicted in a tweet or a statement at a press conference tomorrow? And Secretary General who do you listen to and are you concerned about differences in what you hear? MICHAEL PENCE: Thank you for the question. Let me say that it was [sic] my great privilege to serve as Vice President for the 45th President of the United States and the President directed me to go to Munich and to come here to Brussels with a very specific message. To go to Munich, to the Munich Security Conference and make it very clear, as I do so again today here at NATOs Headquarters that the United States is expressing strong support for NATO even as we challenge NATO and challenge our allies to evolve to the new and widening challenges and further meet their responsibilities in this ever changing, ever complicated world of threats. But with regard to the EU the President also directed me to come here to Brussels and I had the great privilege of meeting with leaders of the European Union throughout the morning and to express the desire of the United States to continue; continue cooperation and partnership with the European Union. We respect the determination of the people of Great Britain as manifested in Brexit and we respect the judgment of the peoples of Europe in the European Union and as I said today through many leaders we look forward to working across the channel with all parties in the years ahead on behalf of peace and prosperity. JENS STOLTENBERG (NATO Secretary General): I have heard exactly the same firm message from the President of the United States in two phone calls; from the Vice President in meetings today and in Munich and from Secretary Mattis, Tillerson and Kelly. They have all conveyed the same message, that the United States is firmly committed to the Trans-Atlantic Partnership and have an unwavering support for the NATO Alliance and I welcome that very much, both very clear statements from all the leaders in the new administration but also the fact that this is not only something we see in words but we also see it in deeds. For the first time in many years we see an increase of U.S. military presence in Europe and we are deploying new battle groups; the U.S. is deploying a new brigade and we see on the ground more U.S. presence in Europe so this is a commitment in words but also in deeds. When it comes to the European Union I would like to underline the importance of the enhanced cooperation between NATO and the European Union. We have actually been able to bring that to a new level, implementing many different issues or measures and we signed a joint declaration between President Tusk, President Juncker and me in Warsaw and we are now following up on implementing that. We are working closer on hybrid, on cyber, on addressing how to build the capacity in our neighborhood and how to stabilize our neighborhood are areas where we are working together with the European Union and I think actually the NATO-EU cooperation is even more important now because we lives in times with turmoil and unpredictability and then we need a strong cooperation between NATO and the European Union and I welcome the very strong U.S. support for that approach. MODERATOR: Next question Ken Thomas from the Associated Press. KEN THOMAS (Associated Press): Thank you Mister Vice President. I wanted to ask about the dismissal of General Flynn recently. Did you feel like you were misled by members of the Trump administration or were you frustrated that you were left out of the loop on this situation and what assurances have you received from President Trump that something like this will not happen again? And for Mister Secretary General both you and the Trump administration have talked about the need for additional funding for defence, what are the consequences for inaction by NATO members? Is there any scenario in which the in which the Article 5 commitments might be considered conditional if NATO members do not fulfil their defence spending obligations? MICHEAL PENCE: Let me say Im very grateful for the close working relationship I have with the President of the United States. I would tell you that I was disappointed to learn that the facts that have been conveyed to me by General Flynn were inaccurate but we honour General Flynns long service to the United States of America and I fully support the Presidents decision to ask for his resignation. It was the proper decision. It was handled properly and in a timely way and I have great confidence in the National Security Team of this administration going forward. The combination of Secretary Mattis, of Director Pompeo at the CIA, of Secretary Kelly at Homeland Security, I think it gives the American people great confidence that the team in this administration is providing the leadership and the direction to those agencies and also to the President of the United States to advance the security of our people. JENS STOLTENBERG: Our collective defence clause, our collective defence commitment is unconditional, its absolute and its the core of the NATO Alliance and I welcome the very strong commitment of the United States to this Trans-Atlantic bond and to this collective defence clause. At the same time I fully support what has been underlined by President Trump and Vice President Pence today, the importance of burden sharing and I think that we have to remember that this is not only something that the U.S. is asking for, its actually something that 28 Allies agreed, the leaders from 28 NATO allied countries sat around the same table in 2014 and agreed to stop the cuts, to gradually increase defence spending and then to meet the 2% target within a decade and the good news is that we are moving in the right direction. After many years of decline, after many years of defence cuts across Europe and Canada we saw that in 2015 we stopped the cuts - the first year after we made the pitch - and then in 2016 we have a significant increase of 3.8% in real terms or $10 billion dollars. There is a long way to go and much remains to be done but at least we have turned the corner and we have started to move in the right direction. I am encouraged by that and I expect all allies to make good on the promise that they made in 2014 to increase defence spending and to make sure that we have a fairer burden sharing. OANA LUNGESCU: Next question to Suddeutsche Zeitung, Daniel Brossler. DANIEL BROSSLER: A question to the Vice President and the Secretary General. The German Foreign Minister has called to the 2% goal too ambitious and said that more spending would not necessarily lead to more security. Are you disappointed by that and what would be the consequence if a country like Germany would not hold up to the 2% goal? And a question for the Vice President, if I may. President Trump has repeatedly talked about his war with the press. Since NATO is an alliance of values can you assure the allies that the freedom of the press is not under threat from the Unites States? Thank you. JENS STOLTENBERG: All allies have committed to the defence investment pitch meaning to stop the cuts and to start to increase and that also includes Germany and it has also been clearly expressed from Germany that they are committed to the defence investment pitch we made together in 2014. The good thing is that Germany has started to increase defence spending. In 2017 there will be a significant increase in German defence spending, around 8%, so of course Germany as many other allies have a long way to go and some allies will meet the 2% target within a year or two. Romania declared last week that they will meet the 2% target this year. Lithuania and Latvia will soon be able to meet the 2% target also within a year or two. So we are really making progress, Germany has started to increase defence spending and again I expect all allies to keep the pledge they made together as leaders in 2014. MICHAEL PENCE: Let me say again, the President and I and our administration are very grateful for the Secretary Generals focus on burden sharing and for our NATO Allies, whether it be Germany or other countries, to meet the commitment that treaty allies made to one another. I think its a demonstration of President Trumps leadership that before taking office he was speaking about the fact that the United States provides more than 70% of the costs of NATO today and we are committed to continue to do our part but the time has come for our NATO Allies to step forward and the Secretary Generals strong message on this is in all of our collective interests. I will tell you that I had very productive discussions with Chancellor Merkel. We spoke about just this issue and we look forward to continued dialogue. Our hope is that we will have a date very soon where Chancellor Merkel will come to the White House. I expect the President will talk with her about it as well; this is simply about all of us doing what we all said that we would do. To provide for our common defence and in the ever changing threat environment in which we live, thats more important now than ever. Now with regards to your second question rest assured both the President and I strongly support a free and independent press but you can anticipate that the President and all of us will continue to call out the media when they play fast and loose with the facts. The truth is that we have in President Trump someone who has a unique ability to speak directly to the American people and when the media gets it wrong I promise you President Trump will take his case straight to the American people to set the record straight. MODERATOR: Next question Julian Barnes with the Wall Street Journal. JULIAN BARNES (Reporter Wall Street Journal): Mister Vice President, you said the U.S. commitment to the EU was steadfast and enduring. Is the administration opposed to further disintegration of the EU, further countries exiting; and on NATO what is the or else? If there isnt more defence spending this year would you recommend cutting the European Reassurance Initiative? Would you cut back on exercises? Whats the or else? MICHAEL PENCE: I think your second question is a very fair one. What is the or else? I think when Secretary Mattis was here he spoke very plainly here at NATOs Headquarters about the frustration of the American people that as our country continues to make investments in Europes security we see European countries falling behind. The President really put this issue front and centre before the American people in his campaign for President and frankly it struck a very resonant cord and so I dont know what the answer is to or else but I know that the patience of the American people will not endure forever. The commitment that we have made to one another, that the American people are keeping with the people of Europe and NATO is a commitment that the President of the United States and the American people expect our allies in Europe to keep as well. But failing that, questions about the future we will just leave in the future. Its hypothetical but I have to tell you that with the Secretary Generals strong leadership having made the issue of burden sharing his top priority, having a partnership with so many countries across NATO who in my meetings over this weekend have expressed a desire to step forward and keep their word. I am very encouraged about the progress. What you see happening here is in a very real sense the result of American leadership in President Trump; we have a President who is stepping forward, he is expressing American leadership not just on the issue of funding but also on his call last year that NATO should evolve to widen widen its tactics to include counterterrorism as a major focus and NATO has begun to do that. The United States looks forward to supporting that. With regard to the European Union my message very simply was that the United States is committed to continuing our partnership with the European Union and I wanted to make that very clear. We understand the relationship between our economies; we understand the deep heritage of member states in the European Union with people in the United States of America and looking for ways that we could reassure this weekend leaders of the European Union of our commitment to ongoing cooperation and maintaining that partnership in the years ahead. Its hopefully a resonant message that came through and its my great privilege to be here to deliver it. JENS STOLTENBERG: Let me just add that the focus of the alliance is on how can we make sure that we succeed in delivering on what we agreed about fairer burden sharing and increased defence spending and therefore I will not speculate so much about or else - what will happen if we dont succeed. But weve heard a firm and clear message from the United States. We have heard from the President. We have heard it from the Vice President and from Secretary Mattis at the Defence Ministerial meeting. So I think that just underlines the importance of making sure that we move, that we succeed in increasing defence spending across Europe and Canada and the good thing is that we have started, 3.8% real increase in 2016 is a significant step but its only one step in the right direction, we need much more. Let me also add that we need both to spend more but we also need to spend better. So the focus of the alliance, the focus of the Defence Ministers but also in our cooperation with the European Union is how can we increase efficiency? How can we develop cooperation? How can we make sure that we address the fragmentation of especially the European defence industry so we can reduce costs and get more out of the money that we invest in our defence? But there is no way to choose between either spend more or better. We need to spend both more and better so what we committed to in 2014 was not either to spend more or to spend better but it was to spend 2% of GDP in a better way and we are realizing both things and we are moving forward on both tracks. OANA LUNGESCU: Thank you very much. This concludes this press conference. Thank you. Local Aborigines Back SA Windfarm The ceremony that launched the Hornsdale Windfarm project involving art by local Aborigines Jeremy Eccles | 20.02.17 Author: Jeremy Eccles News source: Press Release Despite massive controversy in Canberra about the benefits of renewable energy and its effect on statewide blackouts in South Australia, the irony has emerged that Parliament House's lights are actually going to be powered in future by the wind blowing up the Spencer Gulf and across mid-North South Australia. For, as Ross Garnaut, economist extraordinaire regarding energy economics was quoted as saying in Saturday's SMH, Nowhere in the developed world are solar and wind resources so abundant as in the west-facing coasts and peninsulars of South Australia. And local Aboriginal tribes the Ngadjuri and Nukunu have both recognised this and celebrated it by adding huge artworks to the base of two of the 105 massive wind turbines that will form the Hornsdale wind project outside Jamestown, near Port Pirie. The works were unveiled last week. Hornsdale is a joint venture between French company Neoen, Siemens Australia and the Australian Capital Territory Government. And while the controversy has been about SA seeking to achieve 50% renewable energy, Hornsdale Wind Farm aims to help the ACT achieve its 100 percent renewable energy target by 2020, powering 70,000 homes by the end of Phase 1. "We've now got the renewable energy power generation process down to the lowest in Australia and we're getting down to the levels of traditional fossil power generation, which is where we really want to be," Siemens wind power chief executive David Pryke said. Pryke added that the installation of the artwork was a recognition of the collaborative relationship established with traditional owners during the development of the Hornsdale wind farm project. "The Aboriginal community are involved right from the start of the project when we did a heritage survey on the site", he said. Meanwhile, Quentin Argus, Chair of the Ngadjuri Nations Aboriginal Corporation said it was a proud moment for his people to be recognised by the renewable energy project. "Recognition towards our people and to the both groups the Ngadjuri and Nukunu it's been a long process but a good one," he said. "Anything to do with renewable energy which leaves a lesser footprint on the land is good for us all, so we welcome the development." The SA Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation Minister, Kyam Maher said the project symbolised the coming together of the world's oldest culture with the technologies of tomorrow. "It's a great juxtaposition for tens of thousands of years the traditional owners have cared for this country and now we're looking at better ways to care for our country in terms of renewable energy," he said. "Bringing that oldest traditional country in the world together with Siemens and Neoen is almost like completing that matrix of the old and the new together. We know how energy is produced is changing, we know we're going to be facing a carbon constrained future and renewables will play a greater part of the jigsaw puzzle for our future energy needs." Nukunu artwork created by Jessica Turner Jessica Turner is a Nukunu woman who is also of Adnyamathanha and Kokotha background. Jessica developed an interest in visual art as a child and in the last five years has started to share her work publicly. Two of her projects have been the Port Pirie GP Health Centre in 2013 and the Port Pirie ABC Radio Reconciliation Statement in 2016. Nukunu people refer to themselves as snake people with a particular serpent of this region being held in the highest regard. The work that Jessica has developed represents the story of the serpent and its role in forming aspects of the landscape, particularly the waterholes and the need to protect this most vital resource. The colours that Jessica has selected for her artwork represent aspects of Dreaming stories relating to the serpent. Ngadjuri artwork created by Chris Angrave and Louise Brown Chris Angrave and Louise Brown are both Ngadjuri people who have been painting for years. Chris focuses on coastal arts, hunting stories and the different places such as Yorke Peninsula where people fish and collect seashells. Louise brings a womans perspective to the art. The painting by Chris and Louise showcases how the Mungiura were found in the hilly country. They were seen peering over the top of the windbreaks, a storm was about to occur. The people then proceeded to blow hard, causing whirly wind within which old people could be seen dancing. They built the narrative together and took turns in painting their parts of the painting. URL: http://corporate.siemens.com.au/en/home/news-centre/press-releases/first-wind-towers-featuring-australian-indigenous-art.html Share this: del.icio.us Digg it reddit Google StumbleUpon Technorati Facebook Contact Details The Ngadjuri artwork at Hornsdale created by Chris Angrave and Louise Brown, and featuring Mungiura spirits peering over windbreaks; or are they wind turbines on the hilltops? The Nukunu artwork by Jessica Turner revealing the serpent which formed Nukunu Country around Jamestown, South Australia Further Research Twenty-three students and five professors from the University of Miami and four Latin American countries huddled in teams of five in the glass enclosed meeting room at the School of Business Administration on a recent Saturday afternoon, the latest meeting for those in the Innovators for the Americas program. They were there in search of innovative solutions to some of the worlds most pressing problems faced by underrepresented populations in countries from Mexico to Colombia to Peru and Chile. One team chose to focus on how disenfranchised groups in Peru access business opportunities, and transport and sell agricultural goods grown in a rural area to customers in a more densely populated market. Altair Dahrouch, a junior majoring in finance, marketing and entrepreneurship, thinks he has an answer. He wants to create a tangible product that directly touches customers. You have to empower people who have a lack of access to the infrastructure to bring their crops to market with the right tools to help them improve their lives and the lives of their family, Dahrouch said. He and his team will be working both in person and virtually to develop a solution and the tools to successfully implement it over the next several months. Students on the other teams are also focusing their energies on other countries. The goal of the class is to develop startup ideas and business plans to leverage innovative and technological solutions to address market needs in the four participating Latin American countries. The students, who are enrolled at UM and four Latin American Universities Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), Monterrey, Mexico; Universidad Icesi, Cali, Colombia; Universidad del Pacifico, Lima, Peru; and Universidad Adolfo Ibanez, Santiago, Chile are part of a non-traditional course with an experiential learning approach developed last year as part of the School of Business Center for International Business, Education and Research (CIBER) program. CIBER is funded from a U.S. Department of Education Title VI grant that supports travel expenses for the student teams. The Innovators for the Americas program is one of more than 40 programs conducted by the CIBER program. Throughout the semester, the student teams will travel twice to Latin America. During a mid-term trip, teams will travel to the country in which their startup idea is focused to validate their business assumptions. Once the business plans are developed, students will pitch their solutions to a panel of potential investors and academic advisors from each country during the wrap up event scheduled for late April in Cali, Colombia. During last years pilot program, the teams made their final presentations at the Universidad del Pacifico in Lima, Peru. These are both business and life skills the students are developing during this course, said Professor Greg Smogard. Dahrouchs team is set on working with local airlines to increase geographical coverage and create value for four groups of stakeholders; their solution will provide interconnectivity to the Peruvians, allow for globalization of their agriculture and offers job creation to the government. The group wants to consult with the Peruvian government and airlines to eliminate inefficiencies and promote inter-connectedness to promote the distribution and manufacturing of goods and agricultural products. The teams business plan and goals are aligned with his personal goal to start his own airline from scratch between the ages of 35-40, said Dahrouch. German Acosta Quiros is a sophomore Foote Fellow and Hammond Scholar majoring in aerospace engineering. He learned about the course from a flyer posted at the College of Engineering, and enrolled in the course to feed his need to study business. Quiros founded and runs UMs Rocket Canes and successfully led the group to third place in a competition among Florida-based universities to develop a hybrid rocket. The course provides him a way to develop his skills as an engineer, businessman and entrepreneur. Quiros team presented their business plan in Spanish and wants to use drones, software and consulting services to help small farmers in Peru utilize that same technology to increase their agricultural production. Sydney Groll, a senior majoring in entrepreneurship, has entered many business plan competitions already. She plans to continue her education by going to law school and sees opportunities in the legal services sector. The non-traditional course offers her hands-on learning and complements another course shes taking in business consulting. The team she is working with presented three different ideas and decided to develop a solution for Chile. They will develop a business plan to create an online platform to assist individual Chilean artisans to sell their products and handicrafts to a larger customer base. The course offers Groll a window into how she can use her law background as an entrepreneur. Eventually, her goal is to offer unbundled legal services to those who cannot afford to pay law firm retainers when they need a lawyers assistance. You have to empower people who have a lack of access to the justice system with the right tools to help them improve their lives and the lives of their family, Groll said. Students interested in applying for the Innovators for the Americas course for Spring 2018 semester should visit www.UMCIBER.com The requested page is currently unavailable on this server. Back to [RTHK News Homepage] UF alumnus selected for Gates Cambridge Scholarship 36 future leaders chosen for prestigious Cambridge University Scholarship, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Thirty-six of the most academically outstanding and socially committed US citizens have been selected to be part of the 2017 class of Gates Cambridge Scholars at the University of Cambridge. The University of Florida is pleased to have an alumnus selected as a Gates Cambridge Scholar for the third year in a row. Mr. Simpson follows Yevgen Sautin (UF class of 2012, 2016 Gates Scholar) and Juan Serrano (UF class of 2014, 2015 Gates Scholar) to Cambridge. Grant Simpson Grant Simpson will pursue an MPhil in Chemistry with the aim of developing new, more selective cancer therapeutics. His research project involves using quadruple helical DNA structures as platforms to hold both cancer-targeting antibodies and cancer-cell-killing drugs. He intends to develop synthetic methods to chemically link these different classes of biomolecules in order to circumvent the poor efficacy and side effects of current, standard-of-care chemotherapy and increase the therapeutic utility of first generation antibody-drug conjugates. Grant, majored in Chemistry and Cognitive and Behavioural Neuroscience and minored in Philosophy at UF. The prestigious postgraduate scholarship programme which fully funds postgraduate study and research in any subject at the University of Cambridge - was established through a US $210 million donation to the University of Cambridge from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000; this remains the largest single donation to a UK university. Since the first class in 2001 there have been more than 1,600 Gates Cambridge Scholars from 104 countries who represent more than 600 universities globally (more than 200 in the USA) and 80 academic departments and all 31 Colleges at Cambridge. The gender balance is approximately 50% men and women. In addition to outstanding academic achievement the programme places emphasis on social leadership in its selection process as the mission of the programme is to create a global network of future leaders committed to improving the lives of others. In the US round 2017 approximately 800 candidates applied for the scholarship; 200 of these were nominated by their prospective departments in Cambridge and 97 were put forward for interview by shortlisting committees and were interviewed by panels of academics from the UK and USA in Washington D.C. at the end of January. The 36 US Scholars-elect will join 54 Scholars from other parts of the world, who will be announced in early April after interviews in late March and will complete the class of 2017. The class of 2017 will join current Gates Cambridge Scholars in October to form a community of approximately 220 Scholars in residence at the world-leading University of Cambridge. "Acting upon an intelligence report, the drone attack was conducted in Nawa district on Sunday that killed the commander named Qari Salim," the official told Xinhua news agency. Qari Salim, according to the official, was commanding several dozen militants, besides organising suicide attacks in the province. --IANS ksk/vt ( 83 Words) 2017-02-20-17:24:07 (IANS) Within an hour after government declared dates for the polls, the Madhes based parties, who had been demanding an amendment to the Constitution prior to the poll announcement, rejected the polls and announced a fresh stir programme. Prior to the Cabinet meeting, the Prime Minister had held final consultations with the Election Commission. Ahead of the polls date, the government also decided to discuss the much awaited Constitution amendment Bill in Legislative-Parliament in order to appease the Madhes based parties. In the midst of failing constitution amendment proposal, the Madhes based parties also declared fresh round of protest from Tuesday. According to their programme, they will conduct torch rally and called for Madhes banda on Wednesday. Nepal was bound to hold elections to local level, provincial and center parliament by 2018 February. The last local elections were held in May 1997. After the end of tenure of local bodies elected in 1997, the then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba failed to conduct fresh elections in 2002, owing to the Maoist threat and his political ambitions, which ultimately led to his dismissal. --IANS giri/ahm/vm ( 228 Words) 2017-02-20-21:52:12 (IANS) Global software major Infosys on Monday refuted charges by an anonymous whistleblower, who alleged that its executives had personal interests in buying the US-based Panaya firm for $200 million in February 2015. "We refute the allegations made in the anonymous whistleblower letter. The assertions are libellous and aimed at tarnishing the company's image and its management," asserted the IT major in a statement here. The whistleblower is reported to have mailed the letter to the Indian market regulator Securities Exchange of India (Sebi) in Mumbai. The city-based outsourcing firm acquired the automation technology firm to offer large-scale enterprise software management as a service to its global clients. Stating that no member of the management team had investments in the deal, the company said insinuations on anyone in the team benefitting from its acquisition were misleading and slanderous. "Regardless of the malicious intent of the letter, we will pursue its normal course of action and investigate the charges made," pointed out the statement. Clarifying to the charges on the buyout, the company said it had a strong internal process to evaluate acquisition targets and make investments. When the management presented the rational for the deal, the Board deliberated and approved the investment, as it was within the valuation range. Terming the charge that $20 million invested in Panaya before the deal was distributed to shareholders untrue, the company said when bought, it had $18.6 million (Rs.116 crore) cash balance as disclosed in fiscal 2014-15 annual report. "Panaya was looked at as an acquisition candidate based on its strategic fit. There was no conflict of interest due to CEO Vishal Sikka's association with its investor Hasso Plattner, when the former was with SAP enterprise software firm," added the statement. --IANS fb/mr ( 299 Words) 2017-02-20-22:56:06 (IANS) Ahead of the release of 'Rangoon', Saif Ali Khan and Kangana Ranaut made an appearance on the 'most royal episode' of 'KWK' till date. The duo to say the least was a riot in one of the most entertaining episodes of KWK's fifth season and was exceptionally chatty as they took the show by storm. While KJo sang praises for the "hatke" actress Kangana the episode began with him applauding the "hatke dukan" of Kangana and asked her to bear with the "unapologetic frivolities" of the show's format. Kangana credited her success to KJo's rejection and derision, the filmmaker constantly tried to make it up to her for underestimating her ability as an actress. Saif Ali Khan, on the other hand, was pleasant throughout and being a charmer as he was a delight. The actor, however, confessed that he is nervous on the sets and confident otherwise. After two serious sessions with the guests, the host moved on to a raunchier segment Koffee shots with Karan, which was all dedicated to sex. The situational round had Saif and Kangana saying a yes or no by drinking or not drinking the coffee shots. As interesting as it sounds, the section was a revelation. With Saif's confession of cheating on his partner a long while back and Kangana opening up on her lesbian encounter, the coffee shots were hilarious, to say the least. The much-hyped rapid fire round during the episode was one helluva ride. While both Saif and Kangana gave a tough competition to each other, the coffee hamper went to the 29-year-old. In an attempt to form a new relationship, KJo was all the more happy to congratulate Kangana on her KWK victory. As the episode neared its end, Shahid Kapoor turned up to accompany his Rangoon stars on the Koffee couch. Talking about his "simple" relationship with Saif and a "complicated" equation with Kangana, the 35-year-old definitely spilled some beans on his reported cold war with the female lead in the historical drama. (ANI) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday registered a case against a Chhattisgarh government employee for allegedly seeking 'help in a case against him' by paying bribe through Hawala operators. A case was registered against a Principal Secretary, a 1988 batch IAS officer, and three other persons under the section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code, Section 8 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, for paying Rs. 1.5 crore to three other persons to help him disrupt a CBI case registered against him. "It was further alleged that an amount of Rs. 45 lakh (approx.) was handed over by the public servant to hawala dealer at Raipur which was to be delivered at Delhi to a person (r/o Greater Noida) at Delhi, out of which Rs. 20 lakh (approx.) has been delivered to the said at Delhi," an official release stated. It was also alleged that the hawala operators agreed to accept the part of a payment in the form of Gold in 2 kilograms which was delivered by the bureaucrat's brother-in-law to one of the persons. "During investigation, 2 kg of gold was recovered. Searches were conducted at the premises of accused persons and Hawala operators at Raipur, Hyderabad and New Delhi/Greater Noida," the officials added. (ANI) Coming down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for drawing a parallel between Hindu and Muslim festivals, the Congress on Sunday asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) to take stock of the matter and urged the former to refrain from making such statements which bring 'disrepute' to his post. "The Prime Minister is invoking communalism in order to polarise voters. The ECI should take note of this because it is a clear violation of its rules and regulations. He has brought disrepute to his post and has violated the principles for which he took his oath. These conservative ideas are subscribed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the like minded organisations. It seems that the Prime Minister is unable to come out of this mentality. We hope the ECI will take action in this," Congress leader Anand Sharma told ANI. Earlier today, while addressing a rally in Uttar Pradesh's Fatehpur, Prime Minister Modi said, "In a village, if a cemetery can be constructed, so should a cremation ground. If electricity is supplied during Ramzan, so electricity should also be supplied during Diwali as well. There should not be any discrimination on the basis of religion and caste." The Prime Minister also said the 'exile of development' must end in Uttar Pradesh, while appealing the people to cast their vote for a government which ensures safety in the state. "'Vikas ka vanvaas' in Uttar Pradesh must end now. The country is moving ahead at fast pace and so must Uttar Pradesh," he said. (ANI) The Delhi High Court on Monday will hear a plea by controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik's NGO, the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), challenging the ban by the Home Ministry on the organisation. Earlier in February, the Court had set up a Judicial Tribunal to look into banning Zakir Naik's NGO under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. A notice had also been issued to IRF to respond to a plea by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to hold in camera proceedings The National Investigation Agency had also filed three affidavits in sealed cover before the Court giving reasons for the ban on the IRF. The IRF, earlier moved a petition seeking directions against the ban imposed on it by the central government. On November 15, the central government had banned the IRF for five years after declaring it as an "unlawful association" under the anti-terror laws, and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) followed up with raids on its premises in Mumbai on November 19. According to the Home Ministry, Naik has allegedly made many provocative speeches and had engaged in terror propaganda. The Maharashtra Police have also registered criminal cases against Naik for his alleged involvement in radicalisation of youths and luring them into terror activities, officials said. He came under the scanner of the security agencies after Bangladeshi newspaper 'Daily Star' reported that one of the perpetrators of the July 1,2016 terror attack in Dhaka, Rohan Imtiaz, ran propaganda on Facebook in 2015 quoting Naik. Last month, The Enforcement Directorate (ED) issued summons to Zakir Naik and the IRF under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The foundation had first come under the scanner after the terrorist responsible for Dhaka attack earlier this year, in an online post had said, that he was inspired by Naik's speeches. (ANI) The Congress is set to file a complaint against Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his controversial remarks made during his rally in Fatehpur district in Uttar Pradesh yesterday. Speaking to ANI here, secretary of the Legal and Human Rights Department of the Congress party K.C. Mittal confirmed the development, stating that a complaint will be filed over the Prime Minister's "deplorable" statement during his address. Prime Minister Modi on Sunday said that no government must discriminate the public on the lines of religion and caste. "Ramzan me bijli athi hai tho Diwali me bhi ani chahiye; Bhedbhav nhi hona chahiye (If there is electricity during Ramadan then it must be available during Diwali too; there shouldn't be any discrimination),"he said. The other statement which seems to have invited the wrath of the Congress was when he said, "Gaon me kabristan banta hai to shamshaan bhi banna chahiye" (If land is given for cemetery in a village, it should be given for cremation ground also). Asserting that the public should not be divided on lines of caste and religion, he further stated that "Sabka sath, sabka vikas" is his government's mantra. Last week, the Congress has asked the Election Commission to take action against Prime Minister Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for hosting a public rally in Uttarakhand without permission. Uttarakhand Congress president Kishore Upadhyay had dispatched a letter to the Election Commission, terming the Prime Minister's 10 February public rally as unauthorised and an open case of model code of conduct violation. In January, the BJP had demanded that the Election Commission freeze the election symbol of Congress alleging that its vice-president Rahul Gandhi violated the model code of conduct by linking his party symbol "hand" with various religious figures. (ANI) The Congress and the BJP have pumped in all available forces for the Manipur Assembly polls scheduled to be held on March 4 and 8. The Congress campaign is led by Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh, Dy Chief Minister Gaikhangam and president T N Haokip. Mr Ibobi being a Meitei, Gaikhangam being a Naga and Haokip a Kuki the Congress is pushing the secular images and using development planks to seek votes. The Congress leaders have reportedly informed central leaders that they can carry out the election activities on their own . BJP however is using central leaders to campaign for the elections as the party has only one MLA. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, HRD Minister Javedkar, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu , BJP Manipur in-charge Prahlad Singh Patel, Assam Finance Minister Hemanta Biswas and others were taking part in the election campaign. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also likely to visit Manipur on Feb 25. Rajnath Singh who toured the state till late to meet candidates and voters said the Framework Agreement signed between the Government of India and NSCN-IM on August 3, 2015 will not affect Manipur in any manner at all. Territorial integrity is a touchy issue in Manipur as people of the state has opposed any compromise of its territory. Mr Singh further said BJP will construct four lane roads to connect all districts, provide water, investigate fake encounters incidents and make Manipur the eco tourism capital of the country. When being queried about declaring a leader for the BJP in the state, Mr Singh did not give any statement. Chief Minister O Ibobi said the Congress will be trying to provide jobs to at least 3 lakh unemployed youths by focusing on IT sector. He said the state is now benefiting the efforts of the government as 24 power supply is provided to all. He said in Manipur, Infant Mortality Rate is low. MPCC president TN Haokip said Manipur is different from other states and only a secular party like Congress will come out strong. Mr Gaikhangam said the Congress is taking up developmental works in the rural and interior areas of the state. Chief electoral Officer VK Dewangan said Director General of Election Commission of lndia Sudeep Jain will visit DHQs of Tamenglong, Ukhrul, Senapatl and Chandel today and review Poll Preparedness and Security scenario in the above districts and new districts of Noney, Kamjong and Tamenglong. He will meet top officers of Army, Assam Rifles, CRPF and BSF alongwith State Police Nodal Officer tomorrow. The full team of Election Commission of lndia led by Nasim Zaidi, Chief Election Commissioner, A K Joti, Election Commissioner and Om Prakash Rawat, Election Commissioner are visiting Manipur on Feb 21 and 22. A total of 168 candidates are in the fray for the first phase poll to be held in 38 constituencies on Mar 4. For the second phase 102 candidates are in the fray in 22 constituencies.UNI NS BM -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0214-1157721.Xml The Special Court on Monday adjourned the hearing in the Coal Scam case for March 6th, as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has sought more time to examine documents pertaining to the matter. The court allowed the investigating officer's (IO) plea seeking time on the ground that he had finalised the report, forwarded it to senior authorities and was awaiting approval. In the previous hearing, the court had granted two weeks' time to the CBI to file the final report in a proper format in the cases against Congress leader and industrialist Naveen Jindal, ex-Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayan Rao and others. Earlier, the Supreme Court ordered the CBI to probe the allegation of misuse of power by former CBI director Ranjit Sinha in the scam. A report of a SC-appointed panel had held that prima facie there was an attempt to influence investigation in the coal scam cases by Sinha. On January 13, the CBI filed the final report against Jindal, Rao and others in connection with the case. Jindal, however, had refuted allegations of any involvement in the Amarkonda Murgandangal coal scam case in which he has been chargesheeted as an accused along with former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda and 13 others. The court had earlier pulled up the CBI for the delay in filing the report, saying it was affecting the progress of the trial. The CBI had alleged that Koda, also accused in the case, had favoured Jindal group firms - Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) and Gagan Sponge Iron Private Ltd (GSIPL) - in the allocation of Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block in Jharkhand. Opposing the CBI's contention, all accused said that there was no evidence to show that there was any conspiracy during the coal block allocation process. (ANI) Aiming to tap telecom market in ASEAN nations, India is willing to grant long-term financing loan for telecom products and services and eager to share telecom 'knowhow and knowwhy'. Addressing the ASEAN delegates here, Manoj Sinha, Minister of State for Telecom said, "Our industry is eager to share knowhow and knowwhy. As our Prime Minister has announced that we are willing to provide long-term financing for pioneering telecom products and services." The event 'inter-ministerial meeting between telecom ministers of ASEAN countries and India' was organized by the Telecom Equipment and Services Export Promotion Council (TEPC) to commemorate the 25th year of the ASEAN-India relations. He also said that the Indian industry would help these countries in all possible ways for strengthening the digital connectivity. "The Business to Business (B2B) meetings with the ASEAN nations hold a significant role in developing relationships. In the last 25 years, the relations have been scaled to new height with the participating nations that include Lao PDR, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Indonesia. We will help these countries as much as we can in the field of digitalization, ICT and telecom," the minister said after inaugurating the event. To improve digital connectivity, the government has also granted one billion dollars to these nations."The government has already given a Line of Credit (LoC) of one billion dollars to promote digital connectivity with India and ASEAN countries. In the times to come, we will further strengthen our relations with other countries too," Mr Sinha added. On impact of telecom sector in routine life, the minister added that the telecom is transforming not only everybody's lives but it has also become catalyst of business and improving the performance and promptness as well. It has played a vital role in stimulating the economic growth and bridging the digital gaps. Commenting on sharing of technological knowhow and knowwhy, he said, "With our experiences and expertise, it will be easier for you all to achieve the target. With our experience, you can be assured when you buy telecom products and services from India you will be secured as best buying technology with highest quality and competitive cost." Further, he added, "We look forward as you as a preferred partner and accelerate digital connectivity."UNI ASH SB 1356 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0388-1157876.Xml Ridiculing the alliance between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party for the ongoing assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday sardonically remarked that the 'shehzaadey' of the alliance - Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and incumbent Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav - have disappointed their respective parents and hence, cannot do anything good for the state. Referring to Rahul Gandhi, BJP president Amit Shah said, "One has disappointed his mother," adding, "while the other one has made his father suffer," while training his guns at Akhilesh Yadav. "The whole of Uttar Pradesh is annoyed with both of them. Their partnership cannot bring development in the state," Shah added. Shah also asked the SP-Congress alliance to list down what all the state government did for the development of Uttar Pradesh in its tenure. The BJP leader also accused the alliance of giving benefits to people on the basis of their castes. "If your caste and religion do not suit them, they will not give you the laptops. But the BJP will give free laptops to every youth without any bias," Shah asserted. Meanwhile, SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary courted controversy by branding Prime Minister Modi and Amit Shah as 'terrorists', adding that they are trying to mislead voters in Uttar Pradesh to gather support for the party. Today is the last date for withdrawal of nominations for the seventh and last phase of Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. 40 constituencies in Eastern Uttar Pradesh will go to polls in this phase on March 8. Over 61 percent polling was recorded till 5 p.m. in the third phase of Assembly elections in the state yesterday. Voting was held for 69 seats spread over 12 districts including the capital Lucknow. (ANI) The Madras High Court today said final argumentsin the Lexus car import case, involving AIADMK General Secretary V K Sasikala's husband M Natarajan, his nephew V N Bhaskaran and two others, would be held from February 27. When the appeals filed by Natarajan and others came up for hearing before Mr Justice S Bhaskaran, the Judge posted the matter to February 27 for finalarguments. The CBI had already submitted a memo seeking early hearing of the case. The case pertained to the import of the luxurious Lexus car in 1994, declaring it as a used vehicle of 1993 model to evade import duties. The CBI and the Enforcement Directorate registered separate cases against Natarajan and three others, stating that documents were createdto show a new vehicle as a used one, and that it caused a duty loss of more than Rs 1.62 crore to the exchequer. Apart from M Natarajan and Baskaran, cases were also registered againstthree others--London-based businessman Balakrishnan who had sent the car,his son Yogesh and a bank official Sujaritha Sundararajan--for the loss caused to the exchequer to the tune of Rs 1.62 crore. Since Balakrishnan had absconded, the case was delinked, and proceeded against the remaining four. In 2010, the Economic Offences Court convicted all the four and sentenced them to undergo imprisonment for two years. All the four, including Mr. Natarajan, filed appeals in the High Court, which had stayed the sentence and the appeal was pending. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) also filed separate cases against them under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA), which was still pending before the Economic Offences Court, which had last month dismissed thedischarge petition filed by Natarajan. Now the Madras High court had pronounced that the final arguments in the case would commence from February 27.UNI GV CS 1521 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0275-1158063.Xml The South Indian Film Artistes Association,popularly called as Nadigar Sangam, today condemned the alleged molestation of actress Bhavana in Kerala. Talking to reporters, Association Secretary Vishal said they had contacted Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and urged him to ensure that the abductors were punished. ''We appreciate her courage to come out and speak in open. We have extended our full support to the Kerala film body, which has taken up this issue, he added. Expressing its anguish over the incident, the Association also dashed off a letter to the Kerala Chief Minister seeking to speed up the investigation and put the culprits behind the bars. In a letter been written by Nadigar Sangam President Nasser, he said ''we are shocked to know about this unruly behaviour and violent attitude of her own driver and his associates''. ''One can understand that they have worked out a game plan and committed the act of abduction and molested with ulterior motive and intention to demure the reputation of our member'',he said, adding, the incident showed that there was no safety and security for a popular woman celebrity woman in the country. UNI GV CS 1545 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0275-1158104.Xml Thirtytwo-year-old Simson of the Assam Rifles was taken into custody from Ernakulam last night after the woman lodged a complaint that she has harassed by him. The incident occurred in the Second AC compartment of the Guwahati-Thiruvananthapuram Express on February 17. Though the accused alighted at Ernakulam, the woman lodged a complaint after reaching Thiruvananthpuram. He was identified by the police after verifying the passenger list. The jawan, who was travelling to his hometown Ambalapuzha, was reportedly in an inebriated state. His arrest was recorded after the woman identified him. A case under IPC section 354 (assault or criminal force on woman with intent to outrage her modesty) had been registered against Simson. UNI CR CS 1657 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0324-1158186.Xml In a bid to ensure sufficient supply of drinking water in major parts of Basirhat and Bongaon in North 24-Parganas, the state government is planning to engage an international firm that will set up water treatment plants to produce potable water from salt water. Mr Subrata Mukherjee, Minister, State Public Health Engineering department, said, "There is a necessity to take steps to ensure sufficient supply of potable water in areas, including Basirhat, Taki, Hingalganj and Bongaon. There is no scarcity of salty water in the area. But they need to be recycled to potable condition so that they can be supplied to the people. " Lakhs of people will be benefited as there would be no shortage of water with setting up of the treatment plants. At the same time, the state government has taken initiative to ensure sufficient supply of drinking water in Bankura and Purulia. Water is supplied in half of the Bankura district from the Damodar river. Initiatives have been taken to ensure supply of safe drinking water in the remaining parts of the district. ADB is funding the project for Bankura district. Quite a similar project has been taken up for Purulia district to ensure that scarcity of potable water becomes a thing of the past in the district. Japan International Cooperation Agency is funding the project in Purulia. With implementation of the projects, people of the area would not have to face any trouble due to short supply of water. UNI SJC KK -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0213-1158299.Xml The trust runs skill development institutes in various fields at free of cost to rural youth who are economically poor. Andhra Bank established rural self employment and skill development training institutes in association with Swarna Bharat Trust in the trust campus recently. Andhra Bank CEO Suresh N Patel handed over the key to the trust chairman Ch Krishna Prasad in the presence of Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, Union Skill Development Minister Rajeev Pratap Rudy and Trust Managing Director Ms Deepa Venkat, yesterday.UNI VV CS 1935 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0275-1158656.Xml Demanding an immediate upgradation from secondary to higher secondary standard level, students of Kaji Shah Madrasa at Beldanga in Murshidabad district of West Bengal today staged a demonstration at the educational institute and blocked a nearby road for hours.When police tried to lift the road blockade, students clashed with the cops and ransacked a police vehicle.Later, a heavy police force went to the spot and policemen resorted to mild lathi-charge to bring the situation under control, a senior district police official said.UNI XC-BM RN 2045 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0311-1158815.Xml Taking the Clean Delhi, Green Delhi campaign started by the Delhi government to the next level, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation came up with a unique idea of giving the waste material a makeover and turning it into one-of-its-kind park- Prakriti Metro Park.Oriented towards creating greener public spaces in the capital, the park was unveiled by the DMRC at Shastri Park today. The main highlight of the park is the artistic installations created from waste material generated from Delhi Metro's construction sites. Artists from across the country have come together to create these beautiful masterpieces, all of which carry pertinent messages on a range of issues. Almost one third of the constituents in the park are salvaged material. Delhi Metro's care for environment has also been depicted, both in design as well as the eventual construction of the park. An environmental gallery has been created, which has paintings about the importance of environmental protection. Justice Swatanter Kumar, Chairperson, National Green Tribunal (NBT) inaugurated the park in the presence of DMRC's Managing Director Dr Mangu Singh and other senior officials, a DMRC spokesperson said. Spread over an area of over 10 acres, the park has a host of recreational as well as artistic attractions. Facilities such as an auditorium, amphitheatre, meditation alcove, playground for children and gymnasium have been provided for the visitors. A lake with fountain along with a rain forest has also been created in the park.Utilisation of top soil from various underground station sites, plantation of nature, medicinal and pollution absorbing plants and bird attracting species are some of the other green attractions of the park. Because of these features, the park has also received a 'Platinum' rating from the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC). The water required for horticultural use will be provided by the Sewerage Water Treatment Plant (STP) in the vicinity and 20 kW of power requirements will be met by solar power generation, making it a net positive energy park. For irrigation purposes also, treated water is being used. Arrangements for rainwater harvesting has been done for 100 percent runoff water from the site. Almost 97 percent of plant species are native enabling water use reduction. Nearly, 90 percent of construction materials used are also local materials. During the construction work, no construction waste was sent to landfills, instead waste materials from other DMRC sites was reused. The organic waste generated at the park is also being treated. Another highlight of the park is the Trellis Court which has eight pillars of progressively increasing height in the centre which depicts the evolution of Delhi Metro from a nascent organisation, which took up the challenge of encompassing Delhi with metro network to a confident and evolved organisation which is now in the process of completing many new lines. Appreciating the efforts of Delhi Metro in creating this park, Justice Swatanter Kumar said, ''DMRC has not only contributed excellence in transportation but it stands out for two more things - it is environmentally conscious and it makes the effort to be self reliant. With the Prakriti Park, DMRC has begun a new chapter in CSR. It will set a good precedence for others in the corporate sector to follow.'' The park is within walking distance from the Shastri Park Metro station on the Red Line. It also has a dedicated parking lot, where there is space for the parking of 72 cars.UNI NY RJ 2148 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0099-1158830.Xml The sixteen member delegation from Russia and the three member delegation from UK will take part in the two-day 'International Symposium on Gen Next Initiative for Digital India' organised by the JIS Group on February 23 and 24.Four areas have been identified for this Symposium Education, Skill Development, Science and Innovation and Technology Transfer. State Education Minister, Dr Partha Chatterjee and Vice Chairman of AICTE Dr M P Poonia will be present during announcement of JIS College of Engineering's tie-up with four Russian Universities and a University of UK.Since, both Russia and India have several common priorities in science & technology the tie-up too would explore them, including helping JIS inculcate the Digital India initiative into its teaching-learning process as well as administration. Also, the tie-ups will not only facilitate student and teacher exchange programs between the universities but will also help the students of JIS Group in skill development. Besides, the institutions will work closely on several scientific areas and would focus on innovation and technology transfer. In November 2016, a delegation from Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCCI) went to Russia to explore opportunities for Bengal. As a fruit of that visit and in order to commemorate the completion of 70-years of diplomatic relationship between India and Russia four Russian Universities Russian New University, Moscow, Scientific Research Institute 'ASONIKA', Russian-Indian S&T Centre, Moscow & Moscow Institute of Physics & Technology are entering into a tie-up with JIS Group. University of Bedfordshire, from UK too would be entering into partnership with JIS Group.UNI BM RN 2122 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0311-1158839.Xml After much delay and political hue and cry, the Uttar Pradesh government today sent its recommendation to the Centre for a Central Bureau Investigation (CBI) probe into the gruesome murder of Shravan Sahu on February 1. Sahu was killed by hired contract killers by one April, for pursing the murder case of his son in 2013. Official sources here tonight said the recommendation has been sent to the Department of Personnel in the Home ministry for a CBI probe, as requested by the family members. Earlier, state DGP Javeed Ahmed too had sent his recommendation for CBI probe in the killing. Motorcycle-borne assailants had killed 61-year-old Sahu outside his residence at Daalmandi locality in Saadatganj area here, after which the traders in the state capital were on a war path. Shravan was key the witness in the murder of his son Ayush on October 16, 2013. Aqueel Ansari and Azeem were behind the murder. Aqueel was in jail when Shravan was murdered by the hired shooter. Police has already arrested three people involved in the killing of Sahu. The role of Lucknow police for assisting Aqueel was also found in the case. BJP General Secretary Vijay Bahadur Pathak in a statement said the CBI recommendation is just an effort to cover up the issue and the family has already showed their annoyance on the role of the state government and the police.UNI MB SHS RJ 2246 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0329-1158884.Xml The last budget session of the 13th Gujarat Assembly today took off on a stormy note, with Governor O P Kohli forced to cut short his customary opening address, house being adjourned twice and Opposition Congress legislators marshalled out over the issue of Naliya gangrape case.A 24-year-old woman from Kutch had got an FIR registered at Naliya town of the district earlier this month, stating that she had been raped repeatedly by nine people, including four local BJP office-bearers over the last year. She complained that the accused had made a video of the act and threatened to circulate the video clip on social media. She also alleged that these men in fact ran a sex racket.The legislators from Opposition Congress today came to the house wearing black clothes to protest against the gangrape and seek an independent probe in to the issue by a sitting High Court judge. Though the state government has set up an SIT and asked Crime Investigation Department to monitor the probe, Congress wants a probe by sitting High Court judge.As soon as Governor began his speech, Congress legislators rushed to the well shouting slogans and taunting the treasury benches by raising slogans 'Beti bachao, beti bachao, Balatkariyon Se Beti Bachao' (Save the Girl child, Save the Girl child. Save the Girl child from rapists!). This saw Governor end his speech in six minutes and Assembly speaker adjourn the House for half-an-hour.The sloganeering stopped for a while the house paid condolences to prominent citizens and former legislators who had died since last Assembly session. The Congress members resumed slogan shouting, leading to second adjournment. The Speaker also suspended Congress legislators for a day. "Ours is a genuine demand and BJP fears that such an investigation could lead to exposure of 'bigger' names, including of those in Gandhinagar and even Delhi," Shaktisinh Gohil, Congress leader and legislator from Kutch district told mediapersons.Earlier in the day, Congress party, led by its state President Bharatsinh Solanki took out a rally from Ahmedabad to Gandhinagar and held a public meeting on the issue. When Congress tried to take out a rally from venue of public meeting in Gandhinagar to state Assembly, police detained Solanki and over 200 Congress workers. "We had given them permission for a public meeting and not for the rally to Assembly," R Brahmbhatt, Range IG, Gandhinagar, said.Other than Congress, 40 Aam Aadmi Party workers too were detained from a different venue in Gandhinagar as they tried to begin a protest dharna on the issue. AAP's 100 workers were also detained in Surat for protesting on the issue.State BJP leaders claimed that opposition parties were now trying to politicize the issue. "We are committed for security to mothers and sisters. We have initiated swift action and will take investigations to logical conclusion," Pradeepsinh Jadeja, minister of state for Home, said. UNI ND SHS BL2257 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0329-1158888.Xml "We hope that Pakistan stops the attacks and that the relationship between the two countries will return to normal. If not, Afghanistan will not sit silent, but will use its internal, regional and international power in response to Pakistan's actions," Tolo News quoted Faramarz Tamana, Director of Strategic Studies at Ministry of Foreign Affairs as saying. President Ashraf Ghani said earlier that Afghanistan and Pakistan should unite against terrorism and not to differentiate among terrorists. In its reaction to the Pakistani attacks, the CEO's office said Afghanistan's national interests are a priority of its foreign policy. "Afghanistan's national interests are the most important thing for our people. We will act and go ahead based on our national interests," Jawid Faisal, deputy spokesman of CEO said. The Afghan government has summoned Pakistan's ambassador in protest of the recent shelling in Afghanistan's eastern provinces. Yesterday, Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry also summoned Pakistani Ambassador Abrar Hussain in Kabul to register protest and seek an explanation over the alleged firing of rockets by Pakistani troops in eastern Nangarhar province. (ANI) "This morning, Vladimir Kara-Murza flew abroad with his wife Evgenia Kara-Murza, accompanied by physician to undergo a rehabilitation course after repeated severe poisoning (a few days earlier he had been in a critical state of coma)," Kara-Murza's lawyer, Vadim Prokhorov posted on Facebook. According to CNN, Kara-Murza was released from a Moscow hospital, said Prokhorov, who did not reveal his client's destination. "The diagnosis in the discharge summary is the same - 'toxic effects of unknown substances,'" Prokhorov said. The lawyer added that Kara-Murza plans to continue to pursue "the restoration of democracy in Russia". Kara-Murza, who fell into a coma in 2015 after a suspected poisoning, was hospitalised on February 3. He is a part of Open Russia, an organisation of anti-Putin activists, who are calling for open elections, a free press and civil rights reforms. Russia has denied any connection to Kara-Murza's illness. Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio has urged the White House and the State Department to question Russian authorities about the case. "Vladimir Putin does not deserve any benefit of doubt here, given how commonplace political assassinations and poisonings have become under his regime," said Rubio, a frequent Putin critic. (ANI) According to CNN, China's Ministry of Commerce, in a public notice jointly issued with the country's customs agency said the decision was made to comply with a UN Security Council resolution that China helped draft and pass last November. Resolution 2321 imposed some of the toughest sanctions yet against the North Korean regime, after it disregarded an earlier UN ban to test what it said was a nuclear warhead in September 2016. "Imports of coal produced in North Korea -- including shipments already declared to the customs but yet to be released -- will be suspended for the remainder of this year," said the statement posted on the ministry's website. Coal is North Korea's main export and an important source of foreign currency for its fragile economy. Most of North Korea's coal is shipped to China, its only major ally on the global stage. North Korea claimed success in its February 12 test of a new medium long-range ballistic missile, the Pukguksong-2. China voiced its opposition to the launch and joined other members of the UN Security Council in condemning Pyongyang's action.(ANI) According to CNN, two of the 31 were seriously injured, Mayor Enrique Pealosa tweeted, "At least 10 police officers were hurt, according to the Bogota police press office." A dozen suspects were taken into custody. "The terrorists won't intimidate us. And we're going to do everything necessary to capture them," Pealosa said in another tweet. Footage aired by local media showed dozens of police in fluorescent yellow jackets converging at the base of a highrise near the plaza, blocking off streets and directing pedestrians away from the scene. The stadium is located in the La Macarena neighborhood of the Colombian capital. It was not clear who was behind the blast. Bullfighting has long been a contentious issue in Colombia. On one side are Colombians who say the events are art, part of the country's culture and tradition. Opponents call it animal abuse, and say they want the city-owned bullring to be converted into a space for cultural and educational events. In 2012, then-Bogota Mayor Gustavo Petro essentially banned bullfighting by suspending the city's contract with the Bullfighting Corporation of Bogota. But the constitutional court overturned Petro's decision, siding with those who say bullfighting is a form of artistic expression. Bullfights are held on Sundays in January and February in Colombia. (ANI) U.S. President Donald Trump's reference to "what's happening last night in Sweden" during a rally in Florida raised questions in Sweden and over the internet about what he really meant. According to CNN, Trump referenced the Scandinavian nation, known for liberally accepting Syrian refugees, during a section of his speech decrying the dangers of open borders. "You look at what's happening in Germany. You look at what's happening last night in Sweden. Sweden, who would believe this? Sweden. They took in large numbers. They're having problems like they never thought possible. You look at what's happening in Brussels. You look at what's happening all over the world. Take a look at Nice. Take a look at Paris," he said in a rally in Florida. He went on to name Brussels, Nice and Paris - European cities that have been struck by deadly terror attacks. Top Trump aides, in his month-old administration, have faced criticism and ridicule after speaking publically about massacres that never took place. Trump appeared to be referring to the recent terror attacks in Germany and elsewhere, but no such attack has occurred in Sweden. The White House did not immediately respond on Sunday morning to questions about what Trump meant. (ANI) According to a report in wcvb.com on Sunday, Trump had appointed Craig Deare last month to head the National Security Council's Western Hemisphere division and on Friday, Deare was escorted out of the building where he worked. "A senior White House official confirms that Deare no longer works at the NSC. That official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an incident not otherwise made public," the report noted. But other administration officials believe that Deare was terminated because of his remarks recently at a private talk at a Washington think-tank. During the talk, he slammed the Trump administration for its policies on Latin America and its start to relations with Mexico. --IANS qd/pgh/ ( 148 Words) 2017-02-20-06:14:06 (IANS) Indian Ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Rae handed over the approval papers to Physical Infrastructure and Transport Minister of Nepal Ramesh Lekhak in the presence of Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu. Under this programme Mahalaki bridge and 15 roads will be constructed in various parts of Nepal. Expressing India's commitment for strengthening infrastructure in Nepal, Suresh Prabhu said that it is just a beginning. He said that we want Nepal to have world class infrastructure so that members of Indian parliament can one day say why can't India also do like Nepal. Expressing thankfulness towards India Ramesh Lekhak said that the sanction of loan is a symbol of close friendship between India and Nepal. He said that completion of infrastructural projects will not only strengthen physical connectivity but also emotional bonding between the people of both the countries. Earlier both ministers and senior officers of India and Nepal discussed various developmental issues in a closed door meeting.(ANI) Following this development, a grand operation had been started against JSMM since 48 hours and more than 150 workers and their relatives have been arrested. JSMM Chairman Shafi Burfat's elder brother Habibullah Burfat along with his two sons namely Hosho and Hamer has been arrested. His relatives including his brother-in-law, a well known journalist Ghulam Rasool Burfat, along with his brother have also been picked up. Forces had arrested JSMM chairman's father in law, 80-year-old M Qasim along with his two sons Azam and Asif Burfat. JSMM has vowed that they would continue their struggle against CPEC and strike will be observed at any cost. (ANI) A group of over 60 prominent Australians have opposed the upcoming visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in protest of his policies towards Palestine, a media report said on Monday. Netanyahu will begin his five-day trip to Australia on Wednesday, marking the first visit to the country by a sitting Israeli Prime Minister. "It is time for the suffering of the Palestinian people to stop and for Australia to take a more balanced role in supporting the application of international law...," Efe news quoted a statement issued by them said. The statement by Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, signed by former politicians, religious and legal experts, denounced Netanyahu's policies citing the demolition of Palestinian homes and illegal settlement building among other issues. Among the signatories are Australia's former Attorney General Gavan Griffith, human rights lawyer and advocate Julian Burnside, and labour politicians Laurie Ferguson, Melissa Parke, Alan Griffin and Jill Hall. The visit has also sparked criticism from former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who said he feared the "death of an independent Palestinian state", which could lead to the "re-radicalisation" of its people. "The time has come for Australia to join countries like Sweden and the Holy See in formally recognising the Palestinian state," he added. Netanyahu's arrival is expected to be met with protests in cities including Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra. Israel has among its allies the conservative government of Australia led by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who criticised the UN Security Council resolution in 2016, which condemned Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Netanyahu's visit comes after the Israeli parliament passed a law to legalise some 4,000 houses built on Palestinians' privately owned land in the West Bank. It also comes after US President Donald Trump suggested following a meeting with Netanyahu that peace could be achieved through a one-state rather than two-state solution. Following these statements, the UN reiterated its defence for the creation of two states as a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a position that has also been supported by the Australian government. --IANS in/ ( 351 Words) 2017-02-20-09:38:06 (IANS) Parts of war-ravaged South Sudan have been hit by famine, a senior government official said today, saying nearly half the country's population would be food insecure by July."In greater unity (state), some counties are classified in famine or ... risk of famine," Isaiah Chol Aruai, chairman of South Sudan's National Bureau of Statistic, told a news conference in Juba.He said the long term effect of the conflict combined with high food prices, economic disruption and low agricultural production would was expected to make 4.9 million people food insecure between February and April, with that number rising to 5.5 million by July.REUTERS PY PR1333 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0298-1157873.Xml The detainees have been identified as Abu Rayhan, Mostofa and Shariful. "Acting on a tip-off, we conducted a drive in Kachpur and Mograpara areas and detained them around 4:30am on Monday," the Dhaka Tribune quoted RAB 11 Commanding Officer (CO) Lt Col Kamrul Hasan as saying. RAB retrieved five improvised bombs, two machetes, three knives, explosives, jihadi books and leaflets from the possession of the detainees. (ANI) Four Russian soldiers have died and two were wounded last week when their car was hit by a radio-controlled bomb in Syria, Russian news agencies cited the Russian Defence Ministry as saying today. The ministry said the explosion ripped through a column of Syrian army and Russian military vehicles carrying advisors from an airbase in Tiyas and the city of Homs, the agencies reported. REUTERS SHS RAI1843 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0329-1158522.Xml The agency's move came following the Delhi Police request to it regarding issuance of the RCN, that is an arrest warrant circulated by Interpol on behalf of the government of a country. The Delhi Police in October, 2016 registered a First Information Report against Bhandari under sections 3 and 5 of the Official Secrets Act (OSA) after the Income Tax sleuths recovered confidential defence documents during the search operation on his premises in April. Police officials suspects that Bhandari might have reached London via Nepal, evading a look-out notice issued against him. He was earlier stopped from boarding a London-bound British Airways flight in June last year, a police official told IANS. Bhandari was already under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate and Income-Tax department for allegedly holding a 'benami' property in London. The ongoing probe is also examining Bhandari's links with Thales group, a French multinational company and European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) that makes commercial and military aircraft, space systems and other defence products. Bhandari, investigators suspect, is involved in Indian Air Force's basic trainer aircraft purchase for which a deal worth around Rs 4,000 crore was signed during previous UPA regime in 2012. The investigators are probing tax evasion cases into Bhandari's companies Offset India Solutions Private Limited' and Avaana Software and Services Private Limited'. A source said they are also examining Micromet Ati India Private Limited formed in 2010, which is also under the scanner for alleged tax evasion. --IANS rak/vgu/vm ( 291 Words) 2017-02-20-21:52:11 (IANS) The list, which was delivered by Afghanistan's ambassador in Pakistan, came in the backdrop of the brewing tension between the two nations following the last Thursday's deadly blast in a Sufi shrine Pakistan's Sindh Province. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) of Afghanistan, in a press release, announced that the list contained 32 training camps in Pakistan used as a breeding ground against Afghanistan. "The letter also added a list of at least 85 Taliban operatives and their leaders in Pakistan. It included other terrorist groups such as the Haqqani terrorist network which have conducted major crimes against the people of Afghanistan to Pakistan. This was with the intention that Pakistan launches a crackdown against the insurgent groups and hand over the terrorists to the government of Afghanistan," the press release added. According to TOLOnews, the MoFA statement mentioned that Pakistan responded positively to the letter. "The government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan expects to jointly work with the Pakistani government on the issue of the list and the concerns the two sides have over their problems so as to deal with matters in a responsible and constructive manner," the press release stated. Kabul expects Pakistan to take stern action against the terror camps and terrorist groups. (ANI) Pakistan will seek the help of a paramilitary border-security force to crack down on Islamist militants in Punjab province, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's power base, after attacks that killed more than 100 people last week, a government spokesman said today.Yesterday, days after a suicide bomber killed 13 people in the Punjabi city of Lahore, the provincial government said the security force, called the Rangers, would carry out "indiscriminate action" against all militants and their facilitators.For the Rangers to conduct a full-scale operation in Punjab would represent the civilian government once again granting special powers to the military to fight Islamist militants."Rangers-police joint operations will start in a week or two," the Punjab government's spokesman, Malik Muhammad Ahmad, told Reuters today.It was unclear whether the new crackdown would target groups like the Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba, which are aligned against Pakistan's archrival, India. Critics have accused Pakistan in past crackdowns of sparing militant groups that do not attack on Pakistani soil. The Pakistani state denies this.A government statement did not specify which groups would be targeted. The army's media wing did not respond to requests for comment.Rangers have been called in for special security operations in much of the country, but the issue is politically sensitive for Sharif's home province, where local officials have expressed reluctance.A crackdown by the Rangers in the port city of Karachi in 2013 drew accusations of rights abuses and the targeting of opposition politicians, though the rate of violence has dropped sharply since. The Rangers deny any wrongdoing.A member of the Punjab government's task force on law and order said Rangers' help would be sought in counter-terrorism operations but a full-scale paramilitary operation like the one in Karachi was "out of the question." He declined to be named.The Punjab government has promised "indiscriminate" action against all militants in the past, including after an Easter Day bombing in Lahore that killed 70 people.Last month, after years of pressure, Pakistani police arrested Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed, accused by the US and India of masterminding the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people.Just days after last week's Lahore bombing, an attack at a shrine in the southern Sindh province killed 90 people in the country's deadliest attack in two years, shaking a nascent sense that the worst of Pakistan's militant violence may be behind it.The attack was claimed by Middle East-based Islamic State, which has a small but increasingly prominent presence in Pakistan.REUTERS SHS BL2322 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0329-1158904.Xml French President Francois Hollande said today there would be a summit in Versailles with the leaders of Germany, Italy and Spain on March 6 to prepare reforms for the European Union ahead of the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome."It's not about deciding between the four of us what Europe should be. That's not our conception, but we are four important countries and it is up to us say what we want to do with the others, together," Hollande said at a news conference alongside Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. REUTERS SHS BL2328 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0329-1158917.Xml French police were searching the headquarters of Marine Le Pen's National Front party west of Paris today in relation to a probe into alleged misuse of European Union funds to pay parliamentary assistants, an FN official told Reuters."It looks on the face of it like a media operation whose goal is to disturb the course of the presidential campaign," the National Front said in a statement.The European parliament has said that, in her role as French National Front leader, Le Pen had during the 2011-12 legislature paid party staff with EU funds, which EU rules say should be used only to pay EU lawmakers' assistants.REUTERS SHS BL2328 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0329-1158918.Xml KUNMING, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- A fire starting in Myanmar has spread across the border to China, raging through forests in two townships and into a protected nature reserve, local forest fire control authorities reported Sunday. The blaze crossed the border into Yunnan Province in late Saturday afternoon. Two sections of forests -- under the jurisdiction of Lushui City -- are still on fire, the officials said. A section of Gaoligong Mountain Nature Reserve is being affected. More than 100 fire fighters were mobilized as they marched into the difficult terrains toward the blaze at about 3,100 meters above sea level. There is no known habitants in the affected area, according to the officials. The authorities said they are monitoring the wind change or other favorable weather conditions to put out the blaze. BEIJING, Feb.19 (Xinhua) -- China will strengthen coordination with BRICS members including South Africa to prepare for the BRICS leaders' summit. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made the remarks during a meeting with his South African counterpart Maite Nkoana-Mashabane Sunday in Beijing. The summit, to be held in southeast China's coastal city of Xiamen in September, will not only contribute to common development of BRICS countries, but also promote more inclusive and balanced economic globalization, allowing the BRICS mechanism to play its role of rebalancing globalization, Wang said. Wang also lauded the close ties between China and South Africa, featuring "profound" political mutual trust and "fruitful results" of mutually beneficial cooperation. "Particularly on issues of major concerns and concerning their core interests, the two countries understand and firmly support each other, incessantly deepening their strategic partnership," Wang said. The two countries will hold the first meeting of the China-South Africa High-Level People-to-People Exchange Mechanism, according to Wang. China stands ready to work with South Africa to push forward the implementation of the agreements reached during the 2015 Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, so as to better benefit the two countries and the people, he said. Nkoana-Mashabane said that South Africa regarded China as an important strategic partner and is ready to deepen political and strategic mutual trust, strengthen coordination in regional and international cooperation mechanisms including the BRICS, and further lift bilateral ties to a new high. The BRICS groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Related: BRICS cooperation to be strengthened during Chinese presidency: NDB president SHANGHAI, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- Cooperation between the five BRICS countries will be strengthened during Chinese presidency over the bloc in 2017, said BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) president K.V. Kamath. Kamath made the comment in an interview with Xinhua at NDB headquarters in Shanghai on Friday. Full story Interview: Expert hails China's role in spurring African growth through BRICS mechanism NAIROBI, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- China is now best-placed to lead a global drive against the biased economic environment which has mostly relegated non-European countries to the sidelines of the mainstream discussion about the future of the world economy, analysts have said. THE HAGUE, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- United States foods giant Kraft Heinz has stopped its attempt to acquire Anglo-Dutch consumer goods company Unilever, both companies stated in a joint statement on Sunday. "Kraft Heinz has amicably agreed to withdraw its proposal for a combination of the two companies," said the statement. "Unilever and Kraft Heinz hold each other in high regard. Kraft Heinz has the utmost respect for the culture, strategy and leadership of Unilever," it said. A deal, if reached, would have been one of the biggest take-overs ever in corporate history. Last Friday Unilever stated that it had rejected a take-over bid by the U.S. company for 135 billion euros (143 billion U.S. dollars), at 47 euros per share. The Anglo-Dutch company stated on Friday that the bid "fundamentally undervalued Unilever" and that it sees "no merit, either financial or strategic, for Unilever's shareholders". The bid was remarkable because Kraft Heinz is a much smaller company than Unilever. The total turnover of Unilever in the full-year 2016 amounted to 52.71 billion euros, while Kraft Heinz recorded net sales of 24.97 billion euros. Unilever produces among other brands, Lipton tea, Dove soap, Axe deodorant and Magnum and Ben and Jerry's ice cream, while Kraft Heinz's brands include Heinz Ketchup and Philadelphia cheese. New Yorkers rally in Times Square against Trump's immigration policy. Photos taken on Feb. 19, 2017. (Xinhua Photo/Yuan Yue) By Xinhua writersYang Shilong, Yuan Yue NEW YORK, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- About 1000 New Yorkers rallied in Times Square, dubbed as the Crossroads of the World on Sunday, to show solidarity with New York City's Muslim community, protesting U.S. President Donald Trump's immigration policy. "We are here today to show middle America our beautiful signs and, through our beautiful actions and intention, that they have been misled," Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, co-host of the "Today, I Am A Muslim Too" rally, told protesters on a stage set up on the corner of 48th Street and Broadway, against the backdrop of an American flag. "We are here unified because of Donald Trump," Simmons said. "We want to thank him for bringing us together." Another of the event's organizers, Imam Shamsi Ali, a prominent Muslim Scholar, said the rally was not just for the Muslim faith. "This rally today is for America. Do you know why? Because any harm that happens to the Muslim community, which is an integral part of this nation, is harm to all Americans." Linda Sarsour, Director of the Arab American Association of New York, urged fellow residents to commit to never allowing history repeat itself. Trump signed an executive order on January 27, temporarily banning all people from seven majority-Muslim countries and nearly all refugees from entering the United States. The order has been put on hold as judges around the country have questioned its constitutionality. Despite the legal challenges to the travel ban, Trump administration has promised a revised version as early as this week. The protesters, holding signs including "I AM A MUSLIM TOO", "We the people" and "Ban the wall not immigrants", chanted "not my president" and "hey hey, ho ho, Donald Trump has got to go." "I'm an immigrant myself, I'm here to support the cause. My families are immigrants, I'm here to support all Muslims, every immigrant around in America," Beatrize Ramirez, a white lady in her 20s, told Xinhua. Savria Symist, who is black and also in her 20s, could agreed no more. "America is built on immigrants, we are all immigrants. My families are immigrants too. I feel that all these need to stop." "We want the whole world to know that America isn't a country full of racist people," Joe Ronson, a white Musician, said. "Still a lot of people are here to support each other, and to support what America is really about, that is more equality, tolerance, you know, (symbolized by )the statue of liberty." SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- A leading marine ecologist on Sunday called for incentive-based solutions "to use the ocean without using it up," so as to achieve the long-term potential of blue growth. Jane Lubchenco, a professor from College of Science in Oregon State University (OSU), shared her thoughts at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) as nations look to the ocean for new economic opportunities, food security or poverty alleviation. At the AAAS event, taking place Thursday through Monday in Boston, Massachusetts, Lubchenco and Elizabeth Cerny-Chipman, a former postdoctoral scholar under Lubchenco and now a Knauss Fellow at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), delivered their presentation entitled "Getting Incentives Right for Sustained Blue Growth: Science and Opportunities." Saying that achieving blue growth will require aligning short- and long-term economic incentives to achieve a diverse mix of benefits, Lubchenco and her collaborators noted that the world's oceans are the main source of protein production for 3 billion people; are directly or indirectly responsible for the employment of more than 200 million people; and contribute 270 billion U.S. dollars to the planet's gross domestic product. Blue growth refers to long-term strategies for supporting sustainable growth in the marine and maritime sectors as a whole. "If we harness human ingenuity and recognize that a healthy ocean is essential for long-term prosperity, we can tackle the enormous threats facing the ocean," Lubchenco was quoted as saying in a news release, "and we can make a transition from vicious cycles to virtuous cycles." "Some nations, like the Seychelles, Belize and South Africa, are doing integrated, smart planning to deconflict use by different sectors while also growing their economies in ways that value the health of the ocean, which is essential to jobs and food security. They are figuring out how to be smarter about ocean uses, not just to use the ocean more intensively." The first step in building increased support for sustainable blue growth, Lubchenco said, is highlighting its potential. That means working with decision-makers to promote win-win solutions with clear short-term environmental and economic benefits. Governments, industry and communities all have important roles to play. "Another key step is transforming the social norms that drive the behavior of the different actors, particularly in industry ... Finally, it will be critical to take a cross-sector approach," she noted. "The right incentives can drive behavior that aligns with both desired environmental outcomes and desirable social outcomes," she added. QUITO, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Ecuadorian presidential candidate Lenin Moreno on Sunday declared victory after at least two exit polls showed him with a substantial 10-point lead over his closest rival. While the exit polls are not official, Moreno, of the ruling PAIS Alliance, seized the opportunity to rebuke his rival Guillermo Lasso of the Creating Opportunities (CREO) party, for mud slinging during the campaign. "The important thing is we have shown that you can win elections by running a clean campaign," Moreno told reporters. Moreno garnered 42.9 percent of the votes, followed by Lasso with 27.7 percent of the votes, according to polling firm Opinion Publica. To win in the first round and avoid a runoff, Ecuadorian law requires a candidate to get at least 40 percent of the votes with a 10-point advantage over the runner up. Pollster Market reported Moreno leading with 36.2 percent of the votes, trailed by Lasso with 26.1 percent. However, as many as 12 polling firms were registered to carry out exit polls, and survey taker Cedatos reported the results were closer, with Moreno getting 39.4 percent versus 30.5 percent for Lasso, which would lead to a runoff in April. Firmer results are not expected until after 7:00 or 8:00 p.m. local time, when the National Electoral Council (CNE) announces the results of its initial count. MAPUTO, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Mozambican Prime Minster Carlos Agostinho do Rosario paid a visit on Sunday to southern Inhambane province, which was hit by cyclone Dineo last Wednesday. Do Rosario was told by the provincial government that it needs around 13 million U.S. dollars for reconstruction after the devastation left by the cyclone. At least 7 people were dead and 130,000 people were affected by the cyclone in the province. "We would like to salute the people for their resilient manner. We noticed that our people are rebuilding by themselves," said the Prime Minister. Meanwhile, more than 1,000 people have returned to their homes, but more than 100,000 people are still living in temporary accommodations such as schools and state institutions. CANBERRA, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The "time has come" for Australia to officially recognize Palestine, Australian former Prime Minister and respected diplomat Kevin Rudd said Monday. He said he feared a "death of an independent Palestine state" would only further inflame tensions in the Middle East. Rudd made the remarks Following indications from U.S. President Donald Trump that the United States would support a "one-state solution" between Israel and Palestine. Rudd called on current Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to label a one-state solution as "unacceptable". Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to become the first sitting Israeli leader to visit Australia when he meets with Turnbull on Wednesday, and Rudd said it is up to the Australian prime minister to make a strong statement on behalf of his nation. "It is now critical for Israel's closest friends and allies to send a clarion clear message to both Tel Aviv and Washington that the abandonment of a two-state solution is unacceptable," Rudd told Fairfax Media. "Australia is one such close friend and ally. It is not acceptable, therefore, for Australia to use weasel words." "It is time for Australia to draw a line in the sand on this matter, as 137 states already have." Rudd's comments also come as Israel continues to move ahead with the construction of more than 4,000 homes on Palestinian land in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem, something Rudd said would only inflame tensions. "My deepest fear is we are drifting towards the disintegration and death of an independent Palestinian state. This would be a tragedy for both the Palestinian and Israeli people," Rudd said. "For Israel, the isolation of Palestine and the removal of the prospect of both land and statehood may well lead to the re-radicalization of the Palestinian people." "I deeply fear the possibility of a third Intifada. And so, the time has come for Australia to join countries like Sweden and the Holy See in formally recognizing the Palestinian state," he said. SYDNEY, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- A Greek-Australian family of four faces deportation after incorrectly filling out a visa application form. Nina Christidi and Stefanos Stefanoglou, who have lived in Melbourne with their two children for five years, could be forced to leave Australia due to a simple administrative error. Christidi said that when she was filling out the online visa application she mistakenly answered "no" to a question asking whether she, or anyone in the family, was planning to study in Australia, believing the question only applied to her. "It was an honest mistake, I genuinely thought the question referred to whether I intended to study or not," Christidi told News Limited in comments published on Monday. However, since the couples' children attend school in Melbourne, the Department of Immigration has said that it was provided with misleading information, which is grounds for cancelling a visa. If the family, who live in Oakleigh in Melboure's south-east, withdraw the incorrect application they face the prospect of their visa being cancelled and would have to spend up to 7500 US dollars on an application re-lodgement. "I can't afford to spend the money on another application... I just wanted to fix my mistake," Christidi said. "My children have never been to school in Greece. Melbourne is our home." The children were 11 months and four years old when the family moved to Melbourne in 2012. Christidi's son, Erotokriti, has Global Developmental Delay (GDD) and attends a special school. "Until he's ready for a mainstream school, Erotokriti goes to a special school to help and guide him," she said. "He wouldn't stand a chance in Athens." Christidi said the prospect of having to leave Australia "worried her sick." "Australia is our home, we came here to give our children a better life and more opportunities," she said. "My husband and I work very hard and want to give back to this beautiful country." CANBERRA, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Australia's Trade Minister will this week lead a delegation of Australian tourism executives on a visit to Beijing and Shanghai to launch the China-Australia Year of Tourism. Steve Ciobo, Australia's Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, said the week-long visit would also help Aussie business leaders "advance" the burgeoning trade and tourism relationship between the two nations. "I will visit Beijing and Shanghai this week to advance the Australia China trade relationship," Ciobo said in a statement released on Monday. "A delegation of chief executives from the Australian tourism sector will join me. We will meet with senior Chinese business executives and government representatives to build on our already strong tourism links and discuss opportunities for greater two-way investment." Ciobo said one of the primary aims of the visit would be to fast-track the implementation of the "open aviation market air services" agreement signed by the two governments in December last year. "The delegation, including the chief executives of seven Australian airports, will explore opportunities arising from the landmark agreement," Ciobo said. "The arrangement removes all capacity restrictions between Australia and China for airlines of both countries and allows airlines of Australia and China to offer unlimited flights to and from any points in Australia and China, including international airports in regional Australia. "This is the first time China has signed such an agreement with any country." The minister said the agreement should also result in strong flow-on effects for Australia's growing tourism industry. "China is Australia's most valuable tourism export market, with the potential to be worth more than 13 billion Australian dollars (10 billion US dollars) by 2020," Ciobo's statement said. "Capitalizing on this historic agreement will drive more Chinese tourists to Australia. The more tourists we can get to Australia, the more jobs will be created." Malaysia's Deputy Inspector-General of Police Noor Rashid Ibrahim (L) releases the information of a female suspect, at a press conference held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Feb. 19, 2017. (Xinhua/Chong Voon Chung) KUALA LUMPUR, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Malaysian police said on Sunday that four suspects from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) related to the death of a DPRK man had fled the country. A postmortem on the DPRK man had been conducted but the cause of death remained unknown as the police were waiting for the pathology and toxicology results, Deputy Inspector-General of Police Noor Rashid Ibrahim told a press conference. The 46-year-old man, who was found dead on Monday at the Kuala Lumpur airport, is believed to be Kim Jong Nam, the elder half-brother of DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Un. But the deputy police chief said they still needed DNA samples from the next-of-kin of Kim to help identify the dead man. Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had earlier confirmed that the dead man was Kim Jong Nam. Kim's family members would be given a priority to claim the body, but so far no one had made such requests, Rashid added. He said the police were seeking four more suspects from the DPRK, whom they believed had fled the country on the same day of the killing. Police were also seeking three men who might assist the investigation, including a DPRK male. "Our job is to reveal the truth, to get facts and evidence, and bring the perpetrators to justice," he said. The Malaysian police have arrested four suspects, the latest being a 47-year-old man from the DPRK, who worked as an IT engineer at a company in Kuala Lumpur. It is yet to know the connection between him and two female suspects, one with Vietnamese travel document and the other an Indonesian, A Malaysian local male has also been detained to assist investigation. The DPRK ambassador to Malaysia had said his country would "categorically reject the postmortem results," blaming Malaysia for delaying the release of the body and conducting the autopsy unilaterally. In response to the allegations, Rashid said the police were following the Malaysian law and legal requirements. "Every death in a suspicious manner must be investigated, which we have to put a report and submit a report to the court. In this case we are investigating a sudden and suspicious death," he said. KUALA LUMPUR, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's Foreign Ministry on Monday summoned Ambassador of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kang Chol to seek an explanation over a statement he had made on the police investigation of a deceased DPRK man. The deceased man was reportedly to be Kim Jong Nam, the elder half-brother of DPRK top leader Kim Jong Un. In a strongly worded statement on Friday, Kang accused the Malaysian government of having "something to conceal" in its investigation, purposely delaying the release of the body and conducting the autopsy unilaterally. The Malaysian government viewed the criticism as baseless, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement after the summon meeting, which was called upon by the ministry's Deputy Secretary General for Bilateral Affairs Nushirwan Zainal Abidin. Kim's death occurred on Malaysian soil under mysterious circumstances and it is the responsibility of the Malaysian government to conduct an investigation to identify the cause of death, the statement said, adding the probe has been conducted in the manner prescribed by Malaysian law. The Malaysian government has been transparent, said the statement, noting that it takes very seriously any unfounded attempt to tarnish its reputation. The statement said the Malaysian ambassador in Pyongyang has also been recalled to Kuala Lumpur for consultations. At a press conference on Sunday, Malaysia's deputy national police chief Noor Rashid Ibrahim said the police were following the Malaysian law and legal requirements. "Every death in a suspicious manner must be investigated, in which we have to put a report, submit a report to the court. In this case we are investigating a sudden and suspicious death," he said. SYDNEY, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- A planned violent brawl between rival gangs during a public event in Melbourne's CBD has been prevented by Victoria Police. The two youth gangs were on their way into the city armed with knives and bats as Melburnians flocked to the city for White Night, an event where the city is transformed by lights, artists and performances, when they were apprehended, Victoria Police said on Monday. Some 20 people were arrested by officers and several weapons were seized, including a can of pepper spray. Stephen Leane, Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner, said officers had prevented violence from erupting between the two groups and ruining the night for hundreds of thousands of revellers in the city for White Night. "We watched them all night. We talked to them all night. We engaged with them all night," Leane told Fairfax Media. "Many of them were upset and telling police when they were leaving that it was boring. They were looking for something else." A small group of the youths remained behind and at 2 a.m. local time started a fight but were quickly apprehended by the police. A 17-year-old from Dandenong in Melbourne's south-east was arrested and charged with possessing a dangerous article. Leane said the altercation had nothing to do with the Apex gang, a youth group that rose to notoriety after a riot during Melbourne's Moomba festival in 2016. "I'm not sure Apex even still exists," he said. He said the two groups were made up of youths aged 14 to 19 and part of a loosely organized rivalry comprised of many different ethnicities. "They take a disliking to each other and, for some reason, the groups were deciding they'd have a go," he said. A total of 21 people were arrested throughout the event, which drew 600,000 people into the CBD, for offences including drunkenness, drugs and assault. BEIJING, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- With the help of attractive fragrance and fans' loyalty, Ivanka Trump's brand perfume took over the top two best selling spots on Amazon recently. The scent of the daughter of U.S. President Donald Trump took the two spots of Amazon's best sellers in Women's eau de parfum in the beauty section as of early Saturday -- one for the spray and the other for the roller-ball version. Her perfume products, retailing between 15 to 46.5 U.S. dollars on the website. One of the "top comments" on Amazon said the scent is "light in fresh." However, more recent comments were cast in political light. One user said the perfume has "a really interesting scent of bigotry, white nationalism, and fake news ... just not me;" while another Trump supporter with the name of "Miranda Taylor" said Saturday that "we needed to show our support for our President and his family." "If buying a $15 perfume helps just a little in sending a message to those companies that are caving in to the left and their intolerant hate of OUR President then so be it," she said. Amazon updates the best-seller ranking, which is determined by the products' popularity, every hour. The first daughter has run into wide controversy recently. Famous U.S. retailers like Nordstrom and TJ Maxx have been pulling her line of fashion items off the shelves due to their claimed poor performance on sales. MANILA, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Ten students were killed in a road accident in the Philippines on Monday after the tourist bus they were riding in hit an electric post, local media reported. The bus was travelling in the municipality of Tanay in the province of Rizal to the east of capital city Manila when the driver lost control, and hit an electric post. In an interview with ABS-CBN, Engineer Carlos Inofre, chief of Tanay Disaster Risk Reduction and Management said the bus passengers were students of Bestlink College Novaliches and were en route to a camping activity in a resort in Tanay. No other details were provided. HANOI, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's rice inventory reached over 955,900 tons as of the end of January 2017, according to Vietnam Food Association (VFA) on Monday. Among the figure, Vietnam Southern Food Corporation had nearly 318,000 tons of rice, 109,800 tons of Vietnam Northern Food Corporation, and the rest of 528,000 tons belonged to other companies, reported local Bao Dau Tu (Vietnam Investment Review) online newspaper on Monday. In the first month of 2017, Vietnam exported some 325,000 tons of rice worth 136 million U.S. dollars, down 32 percent in volume and 35.1 percent in value year-on-year. Average free on board (FOB) price of Vietnamese rice during the month stood at 427.51 U.S. dollars per ton. Official statistics showed that in 2013, Vietnam sold 6.748 million tons of rice abroad. The figure went down to 6.461 million tons in 2014 and bounced back to 6.615 million tons in 2016. In 2016, the country's rice exports saw sharp decline to hit 4.89 million tons worth over 2.128 billion U.S. dollars, down 25.54 percent in volume and 20.5 percent in value year-on-year. According to VFA, Vietnam's rice exports will continue to face difficulties this year on decreasing world economy, as well as increasing consumption of wheat and corn. JAKARTA, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia's resort island of Bali has earned the Best Island title awarded by Singapore-based influential travel website DestinAsian through its recent 2017 Readers Choice Award (RCA). It was the 12th of such a title received by the island from the media consecutively. The award was resulted from the readers' picks on best Asian prominent destination islands asked by the website. Natural beauties, cultural and culinary richness, commendable hospitality accommodation and local people's friendliness were accounted as reasons to pick Bali as the best Asian destination island. "This is a praiseworthy title. Bali now has earned it in 12 consecutive years as the best island picked by DestinAsian Readers Choice Awards (RCA)," Tourism Deputy Minister for Foreign Marketing I Gde Pitana said recently to welcome the award. Bali outclassed Phuket, Maldives and Langkawi in DestinAsian RCA's 10 best Asian destinations with Indonesia's Lombok picked at the tenth. In hospitality category, the DestinAsian readers picked Bali's Alila Villas Uluwatu as the Best boutique hotel. Meanwhile in hotel spa category, Bali won the readers' pick with Ayana Spa and Bali Four Season Resort's The Spa secured the third rank. Apart from those categories, Destinasian readers ranked state-run airline Garuda Indonesia as the third in best economy class for airline category. In airline frequent flier program category, Garuda was ranked the fifth. Indonesian Tourism Minister Arief Yahya hailed such an appreciation from the reputable travel review website, saying that it would encourage the efforts to further boost the tourism sector which has been declared as the nation's core business. "We should go further in pursuing world class reputation so as to place our Wonderful Indonesia brand exists in any competition," the minister said in a statement. Previously in 2015, Bali earned the world's second best island title after Galapagos from Travel+Leisure magazine. Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen attends a National Assembly session in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Feb. 20, 2017. The National Assembly of Cambodia on Monday amended the Law on Political Parties to bar convicted politicians from leading a political party, despite a boycott from the opposition's lawmakers. (Xinhua/Sovannara) PHNOM PENH, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The National Assembly of Cambodia on Monday amended the Law on Political Parties to bar convicted politicians from leading a political party, despite a boycott from the opposition's lawmakers. Under the legal changes, the Supreme Court will be allowed to dissolve any political party over the conviction of a party top leader and ban its entire leadership from political involvement for five years. Sixty-six ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) lawmakers, including Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen, voted in favor of the proposed amendments, as all the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) lawmakers boycotted the voting session in protest against the legal changes. The parliament comprises 123 lawmakers, including 68 from the CPP and 55 from the CNRP. The amendments to the law needed a 50 percent plus one majority vote, or 63 votes, only. The legal changes were made following a suggestion from the prime minister earlier this month. The CNRP said in a statement on Sunday that it did not support the amendments, saying that the legal changes could be used for the suppression and destruction of rival parties. CNRP's president Sam Rainsy, who has lived in self-exile in France since November 2015 to avoid 7-year imprisonment for defamation and incitement cases, resigned from the party's presidency last week in hopes of saving the CNRP from dissolution. National Assembly spokesman Leng Peng Long defended the legal changes, saying that they targeted neither the CNRP nor its top officials. "This is the law, which requires all political parties to comply with. It does not specifically aim at any political party," he told reporters after the parliamentary session. However, political analysts believed that the changes were aimed at the CNRP ahead of the commune election in June 2017 and the national election in July 2018. "The amendment aims to put pressures on the opposition party through legal means," said Chheang Vannarith, chairman of the Cambodian Institute for Strategic Studies. "It would be counterproductive to national reconciliation." An injured man receives medical treatment at a hospital in Jalalabad of Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, Feb. 20, 2017. Some 10 Afghan civilians were killed and four others wounded in a grenade attack in eastern Laghman province overnight, the provincial government said on Monday. (Xinhua/Rahman Safi) MEHTARLAM, Afghanistan, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Some 10 Afghan civilians were killed and four others wounded in a grenade attack in eastern Laghman province overnight, the provincial government said on Monday. "Ten members of a family were martyred and four others injured after unknown men hurled two hand grenade into their house in Muruwatkas locality of Badpakh district roughly at 07:30 p.m. (local time) on Sunday," it said in a statement. Among the victims were several women and children and the injured were shifted by the security forces to a hospital for treatment, the statement added. Motive behind the attack remained unknown and no group or individual has claimed responsibility for the incident yet. Police have launched an investigation into the incident. Provincial Gov. Abdul Jabar Nahimi denounced the attack and ordered the health authorities to provide best medical treatment for the wounded besides instructing the security force to find and bring to justice the culprits behind the attack, the statement noted. More than 3,490 civilians were killed and over 7,920 others injured in conflict-related incidents across Afghanistan last year, according to figures released by the UN mission in the country. SYDNEY, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of villagers in Papua New Guinea are picketing on Monday at the country's largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, after they claim the government has failed to pay them the royalties they are due. The villagers have assembled outside the major LNG plant in Port Moresby, and have attempted to blockade the plant until their demands are met. The royalties are due on the 25 billion dollar (19 U.S. billion dollar) project, but have yet to be paid by the government, who contend that there have been difficulties in identifying landowners who are owed remuneration. The spokesperson for the villagers, Chief Nao Nao said the people just want what they are owed. "They (the villagers) are unhappy with when they haven't been receiving this royalty until today. So they are all here to show their pleas to the government." Nao Nao said. The owners of the LNG plant, ExxonMobil, said their operations on the island have remained unaffected. "ExxonMobil is monitoring the peaceful protest outside the LNG plant in Central Province and continuing to engage with the relevant landowner groups," the company said. "We hope that landowners and the government can resolve this situation promptly and in an amicable manner." The villagers had been previously told not to protest by LABA Holdings chairman, Raho Kevau on Wednesday, who called on the people of Papua New Guinea to understand the current predicament the nation is facing. "We call on the instigators to understand the country's economic problems which we are all facing, the hardships at the moment," Kevau said. "Let's have patience and wait for the Government to deliver when the time is right." Court hearings will continue regarding the unpaid royalties, after an alternative resolution process failed. HAVANA, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- China will be the guest country at the 2018 Cuba International Book Fair as a sign of historical friendly ties between the two nations and a way to expand cultural cooperation, a senior Cuban official said on Sunday. "Inviting China to be the guest country at next year's fair will be of great importance for our bilateral cultural relation because we have distinct historical ties," Abel Prieto, Cuban minister of culture, told Xinhua. Prieto said there are high expectations regarding the upcoming fair because China's great literature and arts will be available for the Cuban people to enjoy from Feb.1 to Feb. 11 next year. He recalled the Chinese migration to Cuba in the 19th century, saying their footprints in the island have become an important component of what makes up the Cuban nation. "The book fair dedicated to China will be an important event to remember that historical tradition, and to update our knowledge of the younger, more recent literature that must be extraordinary. I think it will be a great opportunity for the Cuban people to have closer contact with Chinese literature and arts," he added. Meanwhile, Juan Rodriguez, president of the Cuban Book Institute, said over the last decade the institution has edited about 30 kinds of books by different Chinese authors, but next year's fair will be an opportunity to increase that figure significantly. "It is a great pleasure to have China as a guest country of honor because our ties and collaborations will increase. Also we'll edit books by Cuban authors that have been published in China and print as many books by Chinese authors as possible," said Rodriguez after closing this year's book fair. He said the Cuban people have always been eager to learn more about Chinese culture, and the fair, considered the island's greatest cultural event, will be a perfect opportunity. "We have already worked with the Chinese side in the recently concluded 2017 International Book Fair. We believe China will be a great guest country in the 2018 edition of the event," he added. According to Rodriguez, the 10-day book fair gathered over 416,000 people at the colonial fortress of San Carlos de la Cabana, east of Havana, where more than 301,500 books were sold for around 3.1 million pesos (132,000 U.S. dollars). MANILA, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- A crew man has been killed and seven others abducted after armed men believed to be Islamist militants attacked a Vietnamese boat Sunday night, a spokesman for the Philippine coast guard said on Monday. Commander Armand Balilo said the incident took place around 7:10 p.m. Sunday in Sulu Sea, 17 nautical miles north of Pearl Bank near Baguan island, Taganak in Tawi-Tawi. Balilo said the Vietnamese coast guard alerted the Philippines coast guard about the attack in MV Giang Hai, prompting the Philippine coast guard to dispatch two speed boats and some marine soldiers to the area. He said 17 Vietnamese were rescued by the Philippine team that conducted a maritime patrol in the area. The boat has a total of 25 crew members, he said. Initial investigation showed that seven crew members were kidnapped by the attackers. The Vietnamese boat is now anchored in Taganak island, Balilo said. The Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia have forged a an agreement to combat piracy and terrorism in their maritime borders. Many of the kidnapped victims usually end up in the hands of the Islamic extremist group Abu Sayyaf group that operates in the remote southern Philippine islands of Basilan and Sulu off Mindanao. SYDNEY, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Australian researchers at the University of Technology Sydney received the technology against poverty award for their clean water filtration system on Monday. The prize worth 500,000 Australian dollars (384,000 U.S. dollars) will go toward implementing a low-cost, easy to operate technology designed to remove arsenic from drinking water in a densely populated area of Vietnam. With around 20 million people, the Red River Delta region has a severe problem with contaminated water. The symptoms of ingesting arsenic include major health problems like cancers, gastrointestinal disorders, muscular weakness, nerve tissue injuries, blackfoot disease and intellectual impairment. "This sustainable system will both maximise locally sourced resources and minimise arsenic waste and environmental pollution, improving health and quality of life," University of Technology Sydney Professor Saravanamuth Vigneswaran said. "There are three key components to this system: an organic membrane, a tank/drum in which the membrane is inserted, and an absorptive cartridge made from locally-available industrial waste products." Researchers imagine the scheme conducted in collaboration with the Vietnam National University, the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology and local manufacturers, could also help create jobs in the area too. The simple maintenance of the system, will require workers and may provide much needed employment in the local community. "The filtration can be powered by gravity, water pump solar or by hand. Membranes will last up to three years, while the cartridges absorb the arsenic and are periodically removed (3 to 6 months) and replaced with new ones. The waste cartridges will be turned into safe building materials, so the system safely disposes of arsenic waste," Vigneswaran said. CHENGDU, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Southwestern China's city of Chengdu is expected to run 1,000 cargo trains to Europe in 2017, more than double the number last year, the Chengdu International Railway Services Company said Monday. Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, ran 460 cargo trains to cities in Poland, the Netherlands and Germany last year -- more than any other Chinese city. Chengdu delivered a total of 73,000 tonnes of goods worth 1.56 billion U.S. dollars in 2016 globally. The southwestern hub has planned three major rail line services to Europe, with a middle route to Germany, Poland and the Netherlands, a southern route to Turkey and beyond, and another northern route to Russia. This year, new routes linking Chengdu to Istanbul and Moscow will be officially launched, company chairman Fan Jun told Xinhua. Fan said trains to Istanbul and Moscow would take about 16 days and 10 days, with each route planning to operate 200 and 150 trains in 2017, respectively. Demand for rail cargo service between China and Europe, an alternative to slower and riskier sea freight and much costlier air cargo, has exploded in recent years. By June 2016, trains had made nearly 2,000 trips between 25 Chinese cities and Europe, with a total import and export value of 17 billion U.S. dollars. by Xinhua writer Luo Jun BEIJING, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- A month into his presidency, Donald Trump has made some unexpected moves with foreign leaders and caused some disputes and concerns, but he seemed to be gradually finding his rhythm in foreign affairs and hopefully will stick to a win-win path. The former successful business mogul, who is still coping with a political "cultural shock" in Washington, may find it relatively easier to put his negotiation skills to good use when dealing with foreign affairs. The first phone call between Chinese President Xi Jinping and the U.S. president earlier this month has sent out some positive signals. Trump said he fully understands the high significance of the U.S. government's pursuit of the one-China policy, and pledged to adhere to the one-China policy, a pledge which was warmly received by Xi. Xi told Trump that China will work with the United States to enhance communication and cooperation so that bilateral ties can advance in a sound and stable manner and yield more fruits to benefit the two peoples and people of all countries in the world. Affirming a stance on adherence to the one-China policy is a move that Trump must make sooner or later. But his choice of timing -- before a scheduled meeting between Trump and the nationalist Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe -- may have been carefully chosen to maximize U.S. interests, but in an all-win situation that satisfies all parties. To Washington, demonstrating a friendly and cooperative relationship with Beijing before engaging in possibly difficult negotiations with Tokyo could be regarded as perfect leverage to pressure Abe for more economic benefits. Tokyo expects some promises from Trump on the U.S.-Japan alliance to be possibly fulfilled, so Washington's leverage is more of a signal for it to show utmost sincerity and offer more economic contributions during the Trump-Abe meeting. Yet Trump's one stone, two birds strategy is not a loss for Beijing. Respecting each other's core interests in sovereignty has always been a cornerstone of Sino-U.S. relations. Such arrangements could help quell some doubts and show that the new U.S. president can be what he claims to be: a champion of negotiation. Unlike those traditional politicians who are significantly influenced by Realism politics' zero-sum mindset, Trump, with his business background, could identify well with China's win-win philosophy. As Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma has pointed out recently, trade must be based on mutual trust and mutual benefit. Without trust and win-win, a business deal could not be reached. There is a possibility that Trump's business background could give the U.S. president a fresh perspective on foreign policy, and produce more tangible results for the United States and China, two economic and political heavyweights, and for the world. However, the new, non-traditional U.S. administration should also pay attention to walk its talk on constructive cooperation with China and other countries, so as to cement its much-needed credibility. Related: Xi, Trump agree to boost win-win cooperation, develop constructive China-U.S. ties BEIJING, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump pledged Friday to boost win-win cooperation in a variety of areas and develop a constructive China-U.S. relationship. The two leaders made the pledge in a phone conversation Friday, the first of its kind since Trump took office in January. Full story Spotlight: Constructive U.S.- China relations to stay strong & thrive in long run MUNICH, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Microsoft founder Bill Gates said at the Munich Security Conference that genetic engineering could be a terrorist weapon and may kill tens of millions of people. "The next epidemic could originate on the computer screen of a terrorist intent on using genetic engineering to create a synthetic version of the smallpox virus ... or a super contagious and deadly strain of the flu," Gates made the remarks on Saturday. Having spent billions of U.S. dollars in a philanthropic drive to improve health worldwide, Gates said that bio-terrorism could kill more than 30 million people in less than a year. Furthermore, he predicted that there is a possibility our globe will experience such an outbreak in the next 10 to 15 years. Some intelligence agencies have noticed that the Islamic State has been trying to develop biological weapons at its bases in Syria and Iraq, according to the Guardian. Although the threat seems tiny due to technological support and manpower, the pressure from bio-terrorism has become more and more realistic in the past years. "Getting ready for a global pandemic is every bit as important as nuclear deterrence and avoiding a climate catastrophe. Innovation, cooperation and careful planning can dramatically mitigate the risks presented by each of these threats," said Gates. BAGHDAD, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis arrived here on Monday on an official visit, Iraqi state television reported. Mattis' visit came at a time when Iraqi forces are trying to clear Islamic State (IS) militants from its major stronghold in the western side of Mosul. Mattis is expected to meet with top Iraqi officials and military commanders to discuss bilateral relations and the offensive against the IS group in Mosul, state-run Iraqiya channel said without giving further details. Hundreds of U.S. troops are already in Iraq, serving as trainers and advisers, in an attempt to help the country win the battle against IS militants in Mosul. A U.S.-led international coalition has also been conducting air raids against IS targets in both Iraq and Syria. HANOI, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam will apply import tariffs quotas for tobacco material and poultry eggs from the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) member states in 2017, 2018 and 2019, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) on Monday. Accordingly, the application of import tariffs quotas for tobacco material and poultry eggs from the EEU is in accordance with Vietnam-EEU Free Trade Agreement. The ministry states the quotas for poultry eggs imported from the EEU into Vietnam in 2017 will be 8,400 dozens. The figures will be 8,820 dozens and 9,261 dozens in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Regarding tobacco material, the amount that Vietnam can import from the EEU in the next three years is 500 tons each, reported Vietnamese government's e-Portal. The quotas will be valid from March 14, 2017 to the end of Dec. 31, 2019. LANZHOU, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Dunhuang airport, located near the Mogao Caves, which contain some of China's finest ancient Buddhist art, will be closed between March 15 and May 25 for an expansion project aimed at coping with a growing tourist influx. The 976-million-yuan (142 million U.S. dollars) expansion project, which began in 2016, will enable the airport to handle an annual capacity of 960,000 passengers and 1,700 tonnes of cargo. The airport will close to allow for revamping of the runway and enlarging airport aprons, said the airport on Monday. The 1,600-year-old Mogao Caves are home to more than 2,000 colored sculptures and 45,000 square meters of frescoes. They are located in a series of 735 caves carved along a cliff in northwest China's Gansu Province along the ancient Silk Road route. In 1987, the site became China's first UNESCO World Heritage Site. In recent years, tourist numbers to the caves have soared thanks to their growing fame both at home and abroad. The Buddhist site received more than 8 million domestic and foreign visitors in 2016, up 21.37 percent year on year. Since 2014, the Mogao Caves have set a daily limit of 6,000 reserved tickets plus an extra 12,000 emergency tickets to cater to the growing number of tourists during the peak travel season. Transportation infrastructure has been built to cope with the large passenger flow. In addition to the airport expansion, easier transport links to Dunhuang were launched last year, including new trains from Beijing, and Yinchuan, capital of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. HANGZHOU, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- China's leading e-commerce firm Alibaba and Shanghai-based retail conglomerate Bailian Group announced a strategic alliance Monday to push forward partnership in "New Retail" formats. "The strategic partnership will allow Alibaba to put its New Retail concept into practice, changing customer experience and efficiency of logistics and services," said Alibaba's CEO Zhang Yong. The alliance does not involve capital ties at this stage. Bailian Group is a state-owned enterprise in Shanghai. Its main business covers department stores, shopping malls, outlets, large stores, supermarkets, convenience stores and specialty retail formats, as well as operating in non-ferrous metals, ferrous metals, automobiles, chemical lighting, electricity, timber and fuel, etc. It operates 4,700 stores in more than 200 Chinese cities. Zhang said the two parties had reached a consensus on creating a new shopping scenario, using big data. In a bid to reshape the retail landscape, China's e-commerce companies such as Alibaba have been strengthening their presence in offline retail channels. Jack Ma, Alibaba Group Founder and Executive Chairman, said the partnership will trigger a reform in the retail industry. It will integrate online and offline business to combine tradition and innovation. Alibaba's previous venture in offline retail include its share-swap deal with Suning Commerce Group and a privatization deal to merge with brick-and-mortar retail chain Intime. Ye Yongming, chairman of Bailian, said traditional retailing requires technology to provide consumers with new shopping experiences anytime and anywhere. Consumption contributed 64.6 percent to China's GDP growth last year, as the country moves from an export and investment-driven growth model into one that draws strength from consumption, innovation and the service sector. Retail sales rose 10.4 percent in 2016, slightly down from 10.7 percent in 2015, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Shanghai-listed Bailian shares rose by the 10-percent daily limit Monday to 17.82 yuan (2.6 U.S. dollars) on news of the announcement. HANOI, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- An international conference on nuclear medicine opened here Monday, with the participation of representatives from 17 countries and regions in the Asia-Pacific. Speaking at the conference, Nguyen Quoc Anh, director of Hanoi-based Bach Mai hospital, said a cooperation program between his hospital and the International Atomic Energy Agency has been implemented over the past few years. The program focused on increasing awareness on nuclear medicine procedures among experts' network, enhancing capacity of relevant government organizations, increasing special medical capacity in dealing with non-infectious diseases like cancer. During the five-day conference, participants will hold discussions on an action plan in 2017 and 2018, as well as share experience on nuclear medicine application in cancer diagnose and treatment of participating countries, according to the state-run news agency VNA. Photo taken on Feb. 19, 2017 shows the site of a car bomb attack in Mogadishu, Somalia. At least 30 people were killed in a huge car bomb blast at a busy market in Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Sunday, officials said. (Xinhua/Faisal Isse) MOGADISHU, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Top UN envoy in Somalia has condemned Sunday's terrorist attack at a market in Mogadishu that killed at least 30 people and injured over 40 others. The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) in Somalia, Michael Keating, described the incident as a brutal reminder of the retrograde tactics employed by violent extremists. "I condemn the terrorist attack in Mogadishu today. Killing civilians is despicable and achieves nothing -- except to remind Somalia of the indifference of extremists to human life and suffering," Keating said in a statement issued in Mogadishu. The deceased include pedestrians and shopkeepers who were in the vicinity of the market when the blast took place. No group has yet claimed responsibility, but it becomes the first major attack to happen since the election of the new president on February 8. Somali National Intelligence and Security Agency confirmed the huge car bomb attack at Kawo-Gudey in Wadajir district, and claimed that the Al-Shabaab militants targeted innocent civilians who were going about their daily business activities in the market. The attack takes place as the country prepares for the inaugural celebrations of the new Somalia President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed (Farmajo) who has come to office amid a public outpouring of euphoria marking the beginning of a new chapter in Somali history that is ripe with opportunity and promise. "I commend the swift response of Somalia's security and first responders. The perpetrators need to be brought to justice swiftly. Our deepest sympathy goes out to the families and friends of those who have died," Keating said. The militants have recently increased their attacks against AU and Somali forces in the country, which has seen a surge of attacks that resulted in the loss of lives and property. The AMISOM and Somali forces have also increased airstrikes in southern Somalia in the recent past. Adama Barrow is pictured during the swear-in ceremony at the Gambian embassy in Dakar, capital of Senegal, on Jan. 19, 2017. (Xinhua/Cisse) BANJUL, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Gambian President Adama Barrow Saturday night released 174 prisoners from the State Central Prison, situated at the outskirts of Banjul, a government official confirmed to Xinhua on Sunday. The move was seen as a goodwill gesture from Barrow, whose inauguration on Saturday as the third president of The Gambia coincided with the 52nd independence anniversary. The celebration of independence and inauguration was done in grand style, witnessed by six African heads of state and high profile representatives from outside the continent, including China and the United States. The release of the prisoners came less than a week when a public outrage erupted over a video that exposed the conditions of the prisons when the new interior minister visited the prisons. "We will improve the conditions of the prisons to meet international standards," Interior Minister Mai Fatty told Xinhua. "Prison reforms must happen. We intend to transform bad citizens into good citizens, unskilled into skilled citizens and uneducated into educated citizens," he said, adding that some of the prisoners he met are very intelligent and the government should help them harness the potentials. Conditions at the State Central Prisons are reported to be degrading and inhuman. In 2014, two UN Special Rapporteurs on prisons and torture were denied entry to the State Central Prisons. BEIJING, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- China's civil aviation sector posted strong growth in passenger trips and cargo transportation in 2016, official data showed Monday. Air passenger trips rose 11.8 percent year on year to 487.8 million last year, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). That growth was faster than the 11.3 percent increase recorded in 2015 and the annual average rate of 10.4 percent between 2010 and 2015. Passenger trips made on domestic routes increased 10.7 percent year on year to 436 million in 2016, while those made on international routes surged 22.7 percent to 51.6 million. During the same period, cargo and mail transportation reached 6.7 million tonnes, up 6 percent year on year. China ranks second in the world in terms of passenger and cargo turnover by air, behind the United States. The country aims to build 44 new airports and complete construction of 30 airports in the 2016-2020 period, most in the mid-west regions,according to a plan released by the CAAC last week. GHAZNI, Afghanistan, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- A Taliban key commander in the eastern Ghazni province, Qari Salim alias Sabawon, has been confirmed dead after a drone attacked a Taliban hideout in Nawa district, Ghazni province on Sunday, an army spokesman in the province said Monday. CHANGCHUN, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Lyu Xiwen, former deputy Party chief of Beijing, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for taking bribes on Monday. According to the court, Lyu was also fined 2 million yuan (290,816 U.S. dollars), and her illegal gains shall be recovered and turned over to the state treasury. Lyu was found to have taken advantage of various official posts from 2001 to 2015 to seek benefits for others. She accepted bribes worth 18.79 million yuan. The Intermediate People's Court of Jilin City in northeast China's Jilin Province said it showed leniency as Lyu confessed to her crimes, expressed remorse and voluntarily returned illegal gains. Lyu accepted the verdict, according to the court. SEOUL, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn has yet to respond to the calls by special prosecutors to extend their investigation into a corruption scandal that led to the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye. Lee Kyu-chul, spokesman of the independent counsel team which kicked off their investigation on Dec. 21, told a press briefing Monday that it had yet to get a response from Prime Minister Hwang who is serving as an acting president following President Park's impeachment in early December. Under a special law, the independent investigation is scheduled to end this month. With Hwang's acceptance, the probe can be extended for up to 30 days. In the absence of the interim president's response, the special prosecutors officially called for the extension once again in an apparent part of efforts to pressure Hwang into making a rapid decision on it. The independent counsel team sent a letter to Hwang last Thursday to ask for the extension, but the caretaker leader has not replied yet though only eight days are left for the termination of the investigation. The spokesman said that if Hwang gives a reply as rapidly as possible, it will help conduct an effective probe for the rest of the days allowed. Hwang is widely forecast to refuse the prolonged probe as he is one of closest aides to the impeached president. The ruling Liberty Korea Party adopted the rejection on the lengthened one as its party line earlier in the day. The main opposition Minjoo Party had submitted the revision of the law to the parliamentary judiciary committee to enable the special prosecutors to look into the influence-peddling scandal for 50 more days. Related: Samsung heir appears in hearings to decide arrest sought by S.Korean prosecutors SEOUL, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) - The heir apparent of Samsung Group, South Korea's largest family-run conglomerate, on Thursday appeared in hearings at a Seoul court, which will decide whether to issue an arrest warrant for him sought by prosecutors. Full story S. Korean court nullifies prosecutors' bid to search presidential office over scandal HEFEI, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Five people have died and another injured after a tow truck collided with a car on a county road in east China's Anhui Province, local authorities said Monday. The accident occurred at about 4:30 a.m. Monday in Guoyang County, Anhui. One person was pronounced dead at the scene and four died in hospital. The investigation continues. BRUSSELS, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Monday reaffirm the "strong commitment" to the European Union(EU) in a bid to allay the bloc's doubts on the new U.S. adminstration's stance towards the EU. ISLAMABAD, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- A United Nation (UN)'s special envoy arrived Pakistan Monday to reduce tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan following a surge of terrorist attacks in the country that claimed over 100 lives in few days, according to a Foreign Ministry statement. The UN Secretary General's Special Representative for Afghanistan Tadamichi Yamamoto met Special Assistant to Prime Minister Tariq Fatemi and discussed the "situation in Afghanistan and efforts for promoting long term peace and stability in that country," said the statement. Pakistani military said it has targeted hideouts of a Pakistani Taliban group on the "Afghan side of the border," which had claimed responsibility for several attacks. The Pakistani authorities also closed its border with Afghanistan. Reports suggest troops of the two countries have exchanged fire over the past two days. Emphasizing that Pakistan desires lasting peace in Afghanistan, Fatemi highlighted Pakistan's continued efforts for strengthening engagement with the Afghan government to enhance cooperation in diverse areas including fights against terrorism, the ministry said in the statement. In this regard, he reiterated Pakistan's firm resolve for effective border management, underlining the need for cooperation by the Afghan side. The Foreign Ministry's statement did not mention the current tension between Pakistan and Afghanistan, but diplomatic sources said that reducing the tension was on a key agenda point. Fatemi stressed the importance of a politically negotiated settlement as the most viable option for peace and stability in Afghanistan, for which Quadrilateral Coordination Group remained an effective forum. Expressing appreciation for Pakistan's positive role for promoting durable peace and stability in Afghanistan, Yamamoto apprised Fatemi about various activities being undertaken by the UN for peace and development in Afghanistan. Afghan security force members search a vehicle during a military operation in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, Feb. 20, 2017. Taliban key commander Qari Salim alias Sabawon has been confirmed dead after a drone attacked a Taliban hideout in eastern Ghazni province on Sunday, an army spokesman said Monday. (Xinhua/Sayed Mominzadah) GHAZNI, Afghanistan, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- A Taliban key commander has been confirmed dead after a drone attacked a Taliban hideout in eastern Ghazni province on Sunday, an army spokesman in the province Liaqat Ali Amini said Monday. "Acting upon intelligence report a drone attack conducted against rebels hideout in Nawa district Sunday afternoon and after investigation it was confirmed that Taliban notorious commander Qari Salim alias Sabawon, also known as Sabawon, has been killed and two of his bodyguards sustained injuries," Amini told Xinhua. The infamous Qari Salim, according to the official, was commanding several dozen militants, besides organizing suicide attacks in Ghazni province. His death could be a major blow to the Taliban fighters in the province and adjoining areas. Taliban militants, who are in control of Nawa district over the past few years, are yet to make comment. SINGAPORE, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Singapore's Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat on Monday delivered the Budget statement for financial year 2017, which mainly aims to help companies and workers manage economic transition. The budget statement marked Minister Heng's first speech in Parliament since he suffered a stroke on May 12, 2016. The finance minister said Budget 2017 outlines how Singapore can thrive in an uncertain and rapidly changing world. "It's a call for Singapore to pull together -- the government, firms, unions, community organizations, individuals, with everyone doing their part," said Heng. On the economic front, the minister announced some support measures to address near-term concerns. He also echoed with the strategies proposed by the country's Committee on the Future Economy by outlining plans to help companies manage economic transition and assist Singaporeans for the changing economic landscape. Heng announced that foreign worker levy increases for the marine and process sectors will be deferred for another year. Singapore government will bring forward 700 million Singapore dollars (493 million U.S. dollars) of public sector infrastructure projects to start this year and next to support the construction sector. In addition, over 80 million Singapore dollars (56.4 million U.S. dollars) will be used to strengthen corporate capabilities, particularly in promoting digitization for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs). As for measures for workers, Global Innovation Alliance will be introduced for Singaporeans to gain overseas experience, build networks, and collaborate with their counterparts in other innovative cities. Heng also unveiled that Singapore government will implement a new carbon tax on the emission of greenhouse gases from 2019. STOCKHOLM, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Global arms trade in the last five years has reached its highest point since the end of the Cold War, with the United States remaining the world's largest weapons exporter, a study said on Monday. The volume of international transfers of major weapons has grown continuously since 2004 and increased by 8.4 percent between 2007-2011 and 2012-2016, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in Sweden. As the top arms exporter during the five years through 2016, the United States accounted for a one-third share of all weapon exports worldwide, the study said. "The USA supplies major arms to at least 100 countries around the world -- significantly more than any other supplier state," said Aude Fleurant, director of the SIPRI Arms and Military Expenditure Program. Most of the weapons were very expensive and strategically important, she added. Of all the U.S. exported weapons in the last five years, 47 percent ended up in the Middle East, with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey becoming the top three major buyers. Saudi Arabia, which launches a military intervention in Yemen in early 2015, was the world's second largest arms importer after India. It increased its intake by 212 percent compared with 2007-2011, mainly from the Untied States and Britain. MARIEL, Cuba, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Giant Chinese-built cranes briskly unload shipping containers from cargo ships at Cuba's deep-water port of Mariel, a fledgling special economic zone the country hopes will drive development over the coming years. China, Cuba's second largest trading partner, is playing a key role in helping the Caribbean island country to make Mariel live up to its promise. WORLD-CLASS TERMINAL The Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co. (ZPMC), a global leader in port equipment, has provided the Mariel Container Terminal (TCM) with four ship-to-shore gantry cranes (STS), 12 rubber tiered gantry cranes (RTGs) and two rail mounted gantry cranes (RMGs). As business picks up at Mariel, the company will increase the number of state-of-the-art cranes to 24 STS and 72 RTGs, increasing the unloading capacity from 800,000 containers to 3 million. As global trade grows, Cuba is betting on its strategically located port to become a hub for companies doing business with the Caribbean, Central America and other parts of Latin America. The deep-water port is part of Mariel, which also features a duty-free zone and an industrial park with modern facilities and business-friendly tax breaks. The Cuban government has pledged to guarantee an average investment of 300 U.S. million dollars a year in Mariel, Oscar Perez-Oliva, Mariel's business assessment director, told Xinhua in a recent interview. The 702 meters long and 14.3 meters deep port can accommodate today's super-sized cargo ships, which transit from Asia through the Panama Canal, and expects to become a major container loading and unloading center for other destinations in the region. The cranes, as well as the technological support provided by Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, make the Mariel Container Terminal one of the world's most modern and efficient container terminals. Each container is identified with a number, and is weighed and scanned with a state-of-the-art system to determine its contents, as part of a so-called "non-intrusive inspection" procedure done at most leading terminals around the globe. CHINESE INVESTORS While these Chinese companies have been key contributors to the construction of Cuba's landmark project, other Chinese companies are also expected to enter Mariel, producing goods or providing services. "There are interested companies that we are working with on different projects and we hope this year we will see a Chinese company present in our zone as a user," said Perez-Oliva. "Various delegations from our special economic zone and other institutions have made promotional visits to China to meet with representatives of different companies and jointly assess the possibility of establishing Chinese investment in the area as soon as possible," he said. Mariel officials are working with the Chinese investors in "maturing" projects in the areas of biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and industrial production, according to the director. He also noted that "there are several advanced negotiations with Chinese investors to set up operations in the area in different forms, either through joint ventures or as 100-percent foreign owned companies." China is Cuba's second largest trading partner behind Venezuela, with bilateral trade surpassing 2 billion U.S. dollars in 2015. Numerous Chinese companies are involved in multiple sectors of Cuba's economy, particularly in industry, technology, transportation, biotechnology, agricultural machinery, household appliances and textiles. SINGAPORE, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began his two-day official visit to Singapore on Monday. Netanyahu received a ceremonial welcome at Istana, met with Singapore President Tony Tan Keng Yam and Prime Minister (PM) Lee Hsien Loong respectively. This is the first official visit by a Prime Minister of Israel to Singapore. President Tan and Prime Minister Netanyahu reaffirmed the strong and longstanding ties between Singapore and Israel and exchanged views on regional and international developments, according a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) on Monday. On developments in the Middle East, Lee reiterated Singapore's longstanding and consistent position on the two-state solution, including Singapore's support for Israel's right to live within secure borders and in peace and also the right of the Palestinian people to a homeland, according to MFA. He also expressed Singapore's hope that the Israelis and the Palestinians would resume direct negotiations to find a just, durable and comprehensive solution to the conflict. MFA said both leaders also discussed on the cooperation in areas such as research and development, technical cooperation, housing policy and education. JAKARTA, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian transport ministry has developed several airports across the country to help accelerate expansion of tourism sector in the country, a minister said here Monday. Transport Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said the move was expected to facilitate foreign tourist arrivals, which is estimated to rise to 15 million people this year from about 12 million last year. The minister cited that the number of passengers heading to tourism destinations has risen sharply, which has often triggered air traffic congestion. "At the beginning of 2019, it is expected all developments in the airports to be completed, so there is no more air traffic jam," he said. In 2015, a total of about 10 million foreign visitors visited Indonesia. MADRID, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- An estimated 350 immigrants forced their way into the Spanish North-African enclave of Ceuta from Morocco in the early hours of Monday morning, local authorities and rescue services confirm. The assault on the frontier which separates Ceuta from Morocco took place at around 4 a.m. local time in the midst of a storm, which complicated the work of security forces as high winds also activated the security alarms on the border, making it almost impossible to tell the true alarms from the false ones. The Red Cross confirmed they attended two groups of immigrants, one around 300 and the other 50, which arrived in the town. It said 11 of the immigrants needed to be taken to hospital, eight of whom were described as having suffered "injuries of different consideration and three with possible fractures." This is the second successful attempt by immigrants to force their way into Ceuta, which is effectively European Union territory, in the last four days. Friday saw border breach by 498 illegal immigrants, who later made their way to the Center for Temporary Immigrant Residency (CETI) in the town. The arrival of the about 350 immigrants on Monday means there are now around 1,400 people in the CETI, which has a capacity to house just 512. Data published by the European Border and Coastguard Agency (FRONTEX) on Wednesday confirmed around 1,000 people crossed from Morocco into Ceuta and another Spanish enclave of Melilla in 2016, just 150 more than the number registered in the last four days. BRUSSELS, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Monday reaffirmed "strong commitments" to the European Union (EU), in a bid to allay the bloc's doubts on the new U.S. administration's stance towards it. "Today is my privilege to be on behalf of President (Donald) Trump, to express strong commitments of the United States to continue cooperation and partnership with the EU," Pence said at a joint press conference with European Council President Donald Tusk after their meeting in Brussels. He stressed that despite differences between the United States and the EU, the two sides "share the same heritage, the same values, above all the same purpose to promote peace, prosperity, freedom, and rule of law." JERUSALEM, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Two rockets that were fired from Egypt's Sinai have exploded in southern Israel on Monday morning, the army said, in the second such incident over the past month. The rockets landed in an empty field, causing no injuries, a military spokesperson said in a statement. "Projectiles launched from the Sinai Peninsula hit an open area in the Eshkol Regional Council," the statement read. No organization immediately claimed responsibility for the fire. The incident came amid rising tension between Israel and an Islamic State affiliate in Sinai. On Feb. 8, the group, known as the Sinai Province, fired four rockets at the Red Sea Israeli resort city of Eilat, in a rare incident along the usually peaceful border. Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted three of the rockets, and the fourth rocket exploded in an open field, causing no injuries or damage. On Sunday, the Islamic State affiliated news agency Amaq said that four of its members were killed by an Israeli drone in northern Sinai and that the group plans to retaliate with rockets. In 2014, Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, a Salafi jihadist group in Sinai, fired several rockets at Eilat in two separate incidents. Kang Chol, the ambassador of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to Malaysia, speaks to media during a news conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Feb. 20, 2017. Kang Chol on Monday denied telling Malaysian authorities that a DPRK diplomatic passport holder, who died at Kuala Lumpur last week, was Kim Jong Nam, the elder half-brother of DPRK top leader Kim Jong Un. (Xinhua/Chong Voon Chung) KUALA LUMPUR, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said Monday that he believes the work of the Malaysian police and doctors concerning an investigation into the death of a man from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). The Malaysian prime minister, at an event, said, "I have absolute confidence that they (the Malaysian police and doctors) are objective in whatever they do," according to the Malaysian state news agency Bernama. Najib stressed that Malaysia "will be objective and expect them (DPRK) to understand that the probe will follow Malaysian laws." The DPRK ambassador to Malaysia on Monday denied telling Malaysian authorities that a DPRK diplomatic passport holder, who died at Kuala Lumpur last week, was Kim Jong Nam, the elder half-brother of DPRK top leader Kim Jong Un. At a news conference in the front of the DPRK embassy, Kang Chol, the ambassador, said an official document has been submitted to the Malaysian side, pointing out that "we did not know any other name except Kim Chol as written in the passport" of the deceased. The DPRK embassy called the press conference after Kang was summoned in the morning by the Malaysian Foreign Ministry. The Malaysian Foreign Ministry defended the investigation into the deceased man, saying in a statement that the investigation has been conducted in a manner prescribed by Malaysian laws. Malaysia has also recalled its ambassador in Pyongyang for consultation. Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said on Thursday that the deceased DPRK man was Kim Jong Nam. At a press conference, when asked if the man was confirmed to be Kim Jong Nam, Zahid relied, "yes, certainly yes." He said he was briefed by the police that the DPRK embassy had confirmed Kim's identity. Malaysian police had earlier also identified the deceased man as Kim Chol, according to his passport. ISTANBUL, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- A total of 47 suspects went on trial on Monday in Turkey's southwestern city of Mugla over their alleged roles in plotting an assassination of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a coup attempt in July last year, local media reported. The defendants, among them 37 soldiers who formed an alleged hit squad, are mainly accused of attempting to kill the president, remove the constitutional order and kill intentionally, according to the Hurriyet daily. Six life sentences are demanded for each of the defendants, three of whom are still on the run, Hurriyet said. The defendants are accused of joining efforts to raid a hotel in Turkey's Aegean resort town of Marmaris, where Erdogan and his family were on holiday, after some in the Turkish military launched a coup attempt on the night of July 15. The overthrow bid was crushed hours later, but left nearly 250 people dead. Erdogan said on TV that the hotel was bombed 15 minutes after he left. Two police officers in charge of the president's security were killed during the raid. Outside of the courthouse, a group of people staged a protest demanding a reinstated death sentence for it to be applied to the coup plotters, the state-run Anadolu Agency said. Ankara believes the coup attempt was masterminded by Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish cleric living in the United States, and has been pushing for his extradition. BANGKOK, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Scuffle broke out in Thailand's controversial buddhism temple when its monks and followers tried to push police out around the temple, leaving some injuries, local media reported Monday. According to a televised report, the clash happened Monday morning when hundreds of followers erected barricades to block police forces who were trying to enter Dhammakaya temple in search for its fugitive former abbot. It's reported that the monk's supporters marched to guard Gate 5 and 6 of the 1,000-acre temple, which have been a focal point in all previous standoff between police and Dhammakaya because they link the temple's east and west where the search has not covered yet. The two sides pushed and shoved for nearly 20 minutes. Local media said the scuffle injured two policemen, three monks and an elderly woman. The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) has launched a raid with more than 4,000 police forces to search for the wanted former abbot Phra Dhammachayo since last Thursday. The raid began after Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha issued an order under Section 44 of the interim constitution. However, the search team failed to find the monk. The 72-year-old Dhammachayo is wanted for allegedly accepting more than a billion baht in donations that came from the president of a credit union who is in prison for embezzlement. He's also been charged with illegal land encroachment. Leaders of the the temple maintain that the elderly former abbot is too ill to meet with the police to discuss the charges, and deny any knowledge of his whereabouts. CANBERRA, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Australia's Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Monday embarked on a trip to the United States, aiming to "reinforce" bilateral relationship. In a statement released late Monday, Bishop said her upcoming meetings with U.S. officials would allow the two nations to "reinforce" their commitment to the bilateral relationship. The foreign minister reaffirmed the Australian government's support for liberalized free trade, something Trump has been critical toward since he first campaigned for presidency in 2015. "Australia is an open, liberal trading nation. Under the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA), two-way trade has grown to more than 53 billion US dollars in 2015-16 and two-way investment is worth 1.11 trillion US dollars," Bishop said. "I will continue to make the case for free trade and open markets as drivers of jobs and growth." Bishop will visit the United States from Feb. 20 to Feb. 22. GENEVA, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Executive Director of the World Food Program (WFP) Ertharin Cousin and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi warned Monday that critical shortages in food assistance are affecting some 2 million refugees in 10 countries across Africa. The two agencies said the shortages could worsen in coming months without new resources to meet food needs. The number of refugees in Africa nearly doubled from 2.6 million in 2011 to nearly 5 million in 2016, according to the UN agencies, who said donor funding for refugee assistance did not keep pace with the rapidly rising needs despite increased donation during the period. As a result, the humanitarian response is significantly underfunded, which has forced cuts in food assistance to some refugee groups, said the agencies. The two agency heads warned dire consequences of the shortages on health and protection of the vulnerable people, calling for urgent support. "Refugees are extraordinarily resilient, but cuts in food assistance, sometimes as high as 50 percent, are having a devastating impact on the health and nutrition of thousands of families," said UNHCR's Grandi in a statement. "The right to food is a basic human right. We are working with WFP to ensure that no refugee goes to sleep hungry, but support has to come quickly," Grandi added. "Millions of refugees depend on WFP food and our work to treat and prevent malnutrition to stay alive. But in Africa they are in danger of being overshadowed by large humanitarian crises elsewhere," said Cousin. UNHCR and WFP recognized the very concerning food security and nutrition situation in the Horn of Africa and the unprecedented needs for assistance. Individuals are fleeing Somalia and South Sudan and arriving as refugees in critical condition. Over 75 percent of the Somali refugee children who have arrived in Ethiopia since January were acutely malnourished, said the agencies. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence attends a joint press conference with European Council President Donald Tusk (not in the picture) in Brussels, Belgium, Feb. 20, 2017. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Monday reaffirmed "strong commitments" to the European Union (EU), in a bid to allay the bloc's doubts on the new U.S. administration's stance towards it. (Xinhua/Gong Bing) BRUSSELS, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Monday reaffirmed "strong commitments" to the European Union (EU), in a bid to allay the bloc's doubts on the new U.S. administration's stance towards it. "Today is my privilege to be on behalf of President (Donald) Trump, to express strong commitments of the United States to continue cooperation and partnership with the EU," Pence said at a joint press conference with European Council President Donald Tusk after their meeting in Brussels. He stressed that despite differences between the United States and the EU, the two sides "share the same heritage, the same values, above all the same purpose to promote peace, prosperity, freedom, and rule of law." Earlier on Monday Pence met with EU foreign policy chief Fedirica Mogherini, who in her tweeter hailed the "excellent meeting" as "good basis for our cooperation". Pence will meet with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg later on Monday. Pence is on his diplomatic foray to Brussels as U.S. vice president, after attending the Munich Security Conference in Germany. Pence said Saturday at the conference that his country would "strongly support NATO" as European members of the military alliance were worried about security uncertainties arising from possible change in U.S. policy. While seeking to reassure European leaders, Pence also urged NATO members to shoulder their fair share. "NATO requires your commitment as much as ours," he said. TOKYO, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Japan posted a larger-than-expected goods trade deficit in January as costs for energy imports increased and exports of auto-related products dropped, the government said in a report on Monday. According to the finance ministry's preliminary report, the deficit, the first red-ink logged in five months, totaled 1.09 trillion yen (9.63 billion U.S. dollars), with imports rising more than exports, owing to increasing commodity prices during the reporting period. The latest data showed that exports gained 1.3 percent to 5.42 trillion yen, bolstered by robust shipments to Asian markets, the ministry said, while imports gained for the first time in 25 months. The ministry said in its preliminary report that imports had leapt 8.5 percent from a year earlier to 6.51 trillion yen, with the value of crude oil imports jumping 35.6 percent from a year earlier, to 637.6 billion yen in January. Japan is still highly reliant on energy imports as the majority of its nuclear power plants remain shuttered in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, which remains the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986 and the worst commercial disaster in history. Regarding further specifics of the trade data, Japan's surplus with the U.S. saw the value shrink for a second straight month, standing at 399.31 billion yen, as exports to the United States fell after auto shipments dropped 10.1 percent year-on-year, the ministry's data showed. Exports from Japan to the U.S., meanwhile, declined 6.6 percent to 1.05 trillion yen and imports rose 11.9 percent to 654.66 billion yen, the ministry's data also showed. Shipments to China, meanwhile, increased 3.1 percent to 887.11 billion yen on rising demand for auto parts, the ministry said. Imports of clothing added to the overall import picture from China and contributed to a 7.2 percent gain to 1.80 trillion yen, marking the first rise in 10 months, the ministry said. Exports to the European Union retreated in the recording period, however, falling 5.6 percent to 596.51 billion yen, and marking the fourth straight month of decline the ministry's data showed. Meanwhile, imports were down 4.0 percent to 691.32 billion yen, marking an 11th consecutive month of decline the government's figures, all of which were measured on a customs-cleared basis, showed. Some economists were of the view that the pressure on exports would be short-lived as there are no fundamental indicators suggesting a problem with demand for Japanese goods. "The slowdown in exports seen in January is just temporary and there's no change to the view that Japan's economy is driven by external demand, while domestic forces remain weak," said Yuichi Kodama, chief economist at Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co. The January data included for the first time imported shale gas from the U.S. NAIROBI, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Kenyan ministry of agriculture and leading insurance companies on Monday announced 2.5-million-U.S.-dollar compensation for 12,000 pastoral households affected by drought in six counties. Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries Willy Bett said the compensation, embedded in the Kenya Livestock Insurance Program (KLIP), will be completed in February to enhance drought resilience among herders. "The insurance payouts to pastoralists affected by the current drought will enable them to purchase fodder, water and medicine for their livestock," Bett told reporters, adding that Kenya's pioneering livestock insurance program will be expanded to all drought-prone counties Kenya's ministry of agriculture in partnership with the World Bank and International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in August 2016 launched the insurance program to compensate herders in 14 drought-prone counties. The KLIP is designed to make advance payments to herders to enable them source for fodder elsewhere in case their natural grazing areas are depleted during the dry spell. Bett said each pastoral household will receive 170 dollars in compensation from insurers to enable them to keep the animals alive until April when long rains are expected to ease drought. He added that the state will mobilize additional resources to expand insurance coverage for herders in arid regions during the current dry spell. "The livestock insurance program is a critical component of our national drought relief effort. It enables pastoralists to thrive and contribute to our national development agenda," Bett said. Andew Mude, a Principal Research Scientist at ILRI, said that an insurance scheme for pastoralists is key to enhance the resilience of Kenya's livestock sector that is reeling from negative impacts of climate change. ISLAMABAD, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Monday welcomed Afghan leaders' statements to cooperate with Pakistan in anti-terror fight. He told a high level meeting that enhanced security arrangements along the border are to fight common enemy terrorists of all hue and color. The statement came amid tensions between the two countries after terrorist attacks in Pakistan. Pakistan says the Pakistani Taliban militants operate from Afghan soil. "Pakistan and Afghanistan have fought against terrorism and shall continue this effort together," the army chief said. He directed for more effective border coordination and cooperation with Afghan Security Forces to prevent cross border movement against terrorists, including all types of illegal movement. He also welcomed recent proposals from Afghan authorities to take forward the mutual coordination for result oriented efforts against terrorism. HANOI, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam is "active" in verifying the information regarding a suspect carrying Vietnamese passport named Doan Thi Huong arrested in Malaysia, said Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA)' Consular Department on Monday. The remark was made in response to reporter's question over the related information about Huong. "As soon as learning that Malaysian authorities arrested a suspect holding Vietnamese passport called Doan Thi Huong, the MoFA instructed Vietnamese embassy in Malaysia to promptly work with relevant agencies of Malaysia to verify related information." "At the same time, Vietnam's internal agencies are also coordinating closely to verify the information. However, the Malaysian side said as it is a serious case, in the seven days' time, consular contacts with suspects arrested are not allowed." "As a result, the verification has made no progress," said the department, adding that Vietnamese embassy in Malaysia continues to closely watch the issue. BANGKOK, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Thailand plans to open battle ships for viewing by Chinese visitors, among other tourist attractions, under the so-called New Looks of Thailand campaign. Deputy Tourism Authority of Thailand governor Srisuda Wanapinyosak said on Monday the tourism agency has suggested the navy to open some frigates or patrol boats, naval training camps and shooting ranges as tourist spots, especially for Chinese tourists from the mainland, under the New Looks of Thailand campaign. Besides, the visitors will be encouraged to tend to promotional activity such as riding bicycles around Rattanakosin Island and along Chao Phraya River and learning to fold lotus leaves, among others, she said. Up to 70 percent of all visitors from Chinese mainland is expected to come as Free Independent Traveler throughout this year, she said. RABAT, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Morocco and Ghana have agreed to enhance and diversify the bilateral cooperation in all areas, particularly the economic and trade sectors, local media reported on Monday. Citing a joint statement issued at the end of the official visit of king Mohammed VI to Ghana on 17-19, the daily Le Matin said the Moroccan king and President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo pleaded for a genuine economic partnership between Morocco and Ghana that combines public and private sectors' initiatives. The two leaders called for ambitious Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between the two countries that could serve as model of South-South cooperation in the continent, the statement pointed out. The Moroccan king and the Ghanaian president identified numerous areas that would give additional impetus to the Ghana-Morocco cooperation, such as transport, tourism, energy, trade, fisheries and agriculture, it added. According to the statement, the two heads of state condemned terrorism and violent extremism in all its forms and reaffirmed the support for regional and international efforts to combat this scourge. During the king's visit, the two countries signed 25 agreements in the different sectors of cooperation, including five agreements between the two governments and 20 between private companies. TEHRAN, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Ground Force started a large-scale military exercise in Dasht-e Kavir in central part of the country on Monday, Tasnim news agency reported. The war game code-named Payambar-e Azam 11 (The Great Prophet) will be conducted for three days under the motto of "Presentation of Power and Sustainable Security," the report said. Various units of the IRGC Ground Force including the artillery, air defense, drone, infantry and air force units have participated in the military drills. On Monday, the IRGC forces fired smart rockets to hit the positions of the mock enemy with pinpoint accuracy. On Saturday, Commander of the IRGC Ground Force Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour said that advanced rockets will be test-fired during the war game in central parts of the country. The exercises also feature the intelligence command and defensive preparedness of the IRGC's elite servicemen against potential incursions, Press TV said. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) shakes hands with Mongolian Foreign Minister Tsend Munkh-Orgil in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 20, 2017. (Xinhua/Cui Xinyu) BEIJING, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia reaffirmed its commitment to the one-China policy on Monday during the visit by the country's foreign minister, after bilateral relations were disrupted by the Dalai Lama's visit to the landlocked country in November. A long-standing, stable, mutually beneficial and equal relationship with China is Mongolia's primary foreign policy goal, Mongolian Foreign Minister Tsend Munkh-Orgil said in Beijing. Speaking at a joint press conference with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi after their two-hour-long talks, Munkh-Orgil said Tibet is an inseparable part of China and Tibet-related issues are China's internal affairs. Mongolia made efforts to repair ties with China and promised it would never allow future visits by the Dalai Lama, a political exile with ambitions to split Tibet from China under the guise of religion. Hailing the Mongolian foreign minister's statement, Wang said it was important for the two countries to boost ties from a new beginning. The two countries should outline high-level communication, synergize China's Belt and Road Initiative with Mongolia's Prairie Road program and promote cooperation in various fields, Wang said. Munkh-Orgil said the Belt and Road Initiative would bring great opportunities for Mongolia's development, adding that Mongolian Prime Minister Jargaltulga Erdenebat will visit China and attend the Belt and Road forum for international cooperation in May. He also thanked China for its support during Mongolia's financial difficulties. Vice President Li Yuanchao also met with Munkh-Orgil on Monday, during which both sides agreed to protect the political foundation for bilateral relations. ANKARA, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- A total of 34 members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) were killed on Monday in two separate cross-border airstrikes in northern Iraq, Turkish Armed Forces said in a written statement. Turkish warplanes killed 23 PKK members on early Monday as the group was planning an attack against the Turkish territory, said the statement. Another 11 PKK members were killed in the afternoon in a military campaign by Turkish Air Forces, the statement said. In recent weeks, the Turkish army accelerated its military campaign against the PKK both in Turkish territory and northern Iraq where the group has hideouts for thousands of militants. Turkish government aims to maintain security and hinder the group attacks before upcoming constitutional referendum on April 16. As clashes intensified, curfew was imposed in several towns in southeast Turkey where operations are carried out in the area. JINAN, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- A total of 1,195 head of live beef cattle arrived in east China's Shandong Province Monday, the first batch of imported sea-borne beef cattle to the country. The cattle were imported from Australia to the port of Shidao in Weihai city. They will be quarantined before being slaughtered within 14 days, according to the Shandong Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau. China has imported live cattle for breeding purpose as well as dairy cows, but the meat from foreign countries was mostly frozen. China and Australia signed a deal in 2014 that involved shipping 1 million head of Australian cattle to China each year, which is expected to bring a business boom to Australia's farming sector while meeting China's demand for high-quality beef. The first batch of 150 head of cattle were sent to southwest China's Chongqing by air in October, 2015. Sea cargo transportation is much cheaper. AMMAN, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Jordan on Monday called on the Danish government to increase its support for Jordan to help address challenges the country is facing. The remarks were made by Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Imad N. Fakhoury during a meeting with a Danish delegation headed by the Minister for Development Cooperation Ula Tornis, said a statement the ministry emailed to Xinhua. Fakhoury urged the Danish government to increase its support of Jordan by making an optimal benefit of the Danish- Arab Partnership Program of 2017-2021 and focusing on programs of economic opportunities and employment. In addition, he urged to enhance the implementation of Jordan Response Plan to the Syrian Crisis 2017-2019 through the World Bank's concessional financing facility to reduce the costs of borrowing for development. This is due to the pivotal role that Jordan plays in enhancing regional and world security, peace and stability, and in fighting extremism and terrorism. Jordan, he said, reached the point of saturation in its ability to host Syrian refugees on behalf of the world. It is of utmost importance that the international community continues to carry out its commitments and pledges to give sufficient support to Jordan, so that it can enhance its resilience and continue to render relevant services. Tornis stressed that the continued support of Jordan is a priority to Denmark. She confirmed that her country would continue its humanitarian assistance and support to refugee hosting communities. A picture taken from Animation film "Battle of Persian Gulf II" depicts an armed confrontation between Iran's Revolutionary Guards and the U.S. Navy. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) TEHRAN, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Ground Force started a large-scale military exercise in Dasht-e Kavir in central part of the country on Monday, Tasnim news agency reported. The war game code-named Payambar-e Azam 11 (The Great Prophet) will be conducted for three days under the motto of "Presentation of Power and Sustainable Security," the report said. Various units of the IRGC Ground Force including the artillery, air defense, drone, infantry and air force units have participated in the military drills. On Monday, the IRGC forces fired smart rockets to hit the positions of the mock enemy with pinpoint accuracy. On Saturday, Commander of the IRGC Ground Force Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour said that advanced rockets will be test-fired during the war game in central parts of the country. The exercises also feature the intelligence command and defensive preparedness of the IRGC's elite servicemen against potential incursions, Press TV said. BORACAY, Philippines, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Southeast Asian foreign ministers are to meet this week in this beach island of Philippines to discuss ways to revitalize the 50-year-old, 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc amid the various challenges confronting the region and the world. Philippine Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay will chair the ASEAN foreign ministers' retreat on Tuesday in Boracay, an island in central Philippines famous for its powdery white sand and shallow azure water ideal for swimming and snorkeling. The meeting is the first major meeting of ASEAN under the Philippine chairmanship of ASEAN in 2017. "During the retreat the ASEAN foreign ministers will take stock of ASEAN's community building and integration efforts as well as exchange views and ideas on ASEAN's relations with its external partners and also exchange views on regional and international issues of common interests and concern," Philippine Foreign Assistant Secretary Charles Jose told a news conference. Specifically, he said that the ASEAN foreign ministers will discuss "the many changes that are happening in the world," including political, economic, social and environment. "They have to plan on what step that ASEAN has to take in order to forge ahead in ASEAN's community building efforts. And what do we have to take stock of? There are many challenges that we are facing right now, including transnational crime like terrorism, violent extremism, human trafficking, and even illegal drugs," Jose said. Yasay said in a statement that the retreat will discuss "ASEAN community building, including implementation of the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and international and regional issues of common concern to ASEAN." Yasay will issue a statement shortly after the retreat ends on Tuesday. Launched in Dec. 2015, the ASEAN community "envisions an outward-looking region with economic that are vibrant, competitive and highly integrated, and an inclusive community that is embedded with a strong sense of togetherness and common identity." "This community encompasses all facets of life as reflected by its political, security, economic and socio-cultural pillars," Philippine Foreign Undersecretary Enrique Manalo said. The theme of the Philippine chairmanship this year is "Partnering for Change, Engaging the World," Manalo said. There are six priorities that the Philippines will pursue in 2017: A people-oriented and people-centered ASEAN; peace and stability in the region; maritime security and cooperation; inclusive innovation and growth; ASEAN's resiliency; and ASEAN as a model of regionalism and a global player. Under each thematic priority, Manalo said the Philippines will be pursuing, among others, the adoption of important documents, the conduct of activities in ASEAN, the crafting of work plans, action agendas on vital issues and areas such as peace and security in the region, maritimes cooperation, health and nutrition, the environment, women and children, migrant workers, radicalization and violent extremism, trade and investments, medium and small scale, medium enterprises, and innovation and inclusive growth. As in past meetings, he said issues of common concern to ASEAN like the thickening tension in the Korean Peninsula and the South China Sea issue will also be part of the agenda. But this year, Manalo said President Rodrigo Duterte would like to include ASEAN's efforts in combating terrorism and illicit drugs in the agenda. On Jan. 1 this year, the Philippines officially assumed the chairmanship of ASEAN for the year 2017, which also coincide with the 50th anniversary of the regional bloc. BRUSSELS, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Monday said the United States needs "a strong and united" European Union (EU) on all possible issues, in the presence of visiting U.S. Vice President Mike Pence. "I do not think that the moment has come to divide the United States and the EU. We are partners for so many decades in the world," he told reporters before their meeting here. Underscoring that global stability heavily depends on good relations between the United States and the EU, Juncker said the United States and European Union collaborate on issues such as defense, "where we want to step up our own defense efforts, including in a broader understanding of what stability in the world means." He also highlighted EU's importance to the U.S. economy, saying "The U.S. economy is depending -- more than some in the United States think -- on exchanges, trade volumes between the United States and the European Union." Pence is on his first diplomatic visit to Brussels as U.S. vice president, after attending the Munich Security Conference in Germany. Earlier on Monday, Pence also met with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and European Council President Donald Tusk. MOSCOW, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Four Russian servicemen were killed and two others were injured when their vehicle was blown up by a radio-detonated mine in central Syria on Thursday, the Russian Defense Ministry said Monday. The vehicle was part of a convoy transporting Syrian government troops and Russian military advisers, the TASS news agency reported, quoting a brief Defense Ministry statement. Medics are now trying to save the lives of the two wounded, said the ministry. Russia began its military intervention in the Syrian war in September 2015. Russia has cut the number of airstrikes and withdrawn the majority of its troops since December 2016 but Moscow said it will continue to support anti-terrorist missions there. DAMASCUS, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Syrian army said Monday it had recaptured 44 towns and villages in eastern countryside of Aleppo, calling people to return to their homes in those areas, according to state news agency SANA. Retaking the towns came as a result of a wide-scale military campaign the army forces unleashed last month in eastern Aleppo against rebel groups, mainly the Islamic State. In its statement, the general command of the Syrian army urged the civilians to return to their homes, pledging to cooperate and offer all possible facilitations and services for the return of people to their villages and homes. The Syrian army wrested full control over the entire city of Aleppo in December last year, poising for further military operations in the sprawling countryside of the key province, with the help of Russian air force and ground fighters of Hezbollah and other Shiite groups. LUSAKA, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- A Zambian opposition party on Monday presented a petition to the country's chief judge to set up a tribunal to investigate agriculture minister Dora Siliya on her alleged involvement in a maize export scandal to Malawi. The United Progress Party (UPP) has asked Chief Justice Irene Mambilima to set up the tribunal to investigate the minister for allegedly being the chief facilitator in the 34.5-million-U.S.-dollar maize export scandal. UPP President Savior Chishimba said the minister should be investigated for alleged breach of the Parliamentary and Ministerial Code of Conduct when she allowed for a permit to be issued for the export of 100,000 tonnes of maize to Malawi which was shrouded in controversy. He said there was enough evidence to show that the minister was involved in the maize scandal, adding that setting up the tribunal will help to clear the air. Authorities in Malawi have already set up a Commission of Inquiry on the scandal, which presented its report to parliament last week. Chidanti Malunga, who was chairperson of the Inquiry, told parliament that the investigation was worth it as it saved a lot of money which could have exchanged hands through abuse of office and corruption. But the Zambian minister last month denied the government's involvement in the maize scandal. She said the Malawian government did not buy the maize from the government but from individual farmers and that the only role the government played was to issue a permit of clearance. Rescuers work at bus collision site in Turkey's eastern Igdir province, Feb. 20, 2017. At least eight people were killed and 28 others injured after two buses collided in Turkey's eastern Igdir province on Monday, local channel CNNTurk reported. (Xinhua) ANKARA, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- At least eight people were killed and 28 others injured after two buses collided in Turkey's eastern Igdir province on Monday, local channel CNNTurk reported. The accident occurred on the highway linking Igdir's Aralik district with the Dilucu border gate near Azerbaijan. Due to thick fog, the two buses crashed as they passed each other, Igdir Governor Ahmet Turgay Alpman said. Both drivers and six passengers, one Turkish and five Azerbaijani nationals, were killed in the crash. Most of the wounded are also Azerbaijani nationals. LANZHOU, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- At around 7 a.m., Yang Shishi pulled up to his township station, dragging a cart heavy with 50 kg of Chinese chives. He has come to this same station for almost two decades, so that he can catch one of the green-colored train into the city. Yang, who is in his 70s, is a farmer in poverty-stricken Pan'an township, Tianshui city in northwest China's Gansu Province. The slow train is the only one that stops at Pan'an, and it takes an hour to travel the 60 km to Tianshui. It has been running for 63 years, picking up passengers from 13 stations in one of China's most impoverished hinterlands. Unlike shiny bullet trains that whoosh past new stations in big cities and counties nationwide, slow, decades-old trains are still very popular among rural residents in impoverished areas, as a cheap and convenient means of transportation. The train passes through three counties and a district. It does a round trip between Longxi County and Tianshui each day and has 13 stops. The single 146-km trip takes three hours and costs 9.50 yuan (1.40 U.S.dollars). These trains have no aircon and are often crammed with people and huge bags bulging with goods. For many rural areas, however, these trains are a life line; a link to the outside world and to wealth. Other farmers like Yang take the train to the city. "Summer is our busiest season," said train conductor Du Cuilan. "Farmers bring their strawberries, cherries, peaches and grapes. The carriage becomes colorful and the air is filled with the sweet aroma of fruit." For An Xuegen, 55, a farmer from another township, the train holds memories.. Thirty-six years ago, he picked up his fiance from a neighboring town and they took the train to go to their wedding ceremony. "There was no aircon and the seats were made of wood. We had to stand all the way," recalled An. Over the three decades, An and his wife have often taken the train and witnessed its changes. In 2015, Lanzhou Railway Bureau improved the service on the train and furnished the interior. New seat covers and paintings were installed. During Chinese New Year, performances are arranged in the carriage. Despite the upgrade, the ticket price has stayed the same. "For the people who live in poverty or struggle financially, this means a lot," said Mu Chenghui, an official with Longxi railway. "As long as there are people who need it, we will keep it running," said Mu. KIGALI, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Aviation experts have called on African economies to channel more investments towards improving airports to cater for the rapidly growing passenger and cargo traffic volumes. They made the call on Monday during the opening of 5th Annual Africa Airport Expansion Summit in the Rwandan capital Kigali. Rwanda hosts the event from Feb. 20-21 which has brought together investors, civil aviation authorities and airport management groups, consultants, architects, construction companies, equipment providers and service groups from Africa and beyond, to discuss ways towards boosting the aviation sector across the continent. Johann Frank, managing director of Airport Consulting Vienna, an international aviation consulting firm, said that renewed interest in investing in Africa by foreign companies and improved tourism have left many African economies struggling to boost the capacity of their airports. "Increased intra-African air connectivity in Africa requires improved aviation infrastructure which will lead to economic growth on the continent," he added. He called on African countries to focus more on enhancing airport facilities through improved infrastructure, regulations and air traffic management. According to Aggrey Henry Bagiire, Uganda's minister of state for transport, Africa's aviation industry is grappling with the issue of security of its airspace which has led to unfortunate aviation accidents on the continent. Higher taxes and tariffs are also blamed for hindering interconnectedness among the various African economies, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Prudence Tuyishimire, head of planning and development Rwanda Civil Aviation Authority, said the majority of African airports are undergoing expansion, but more investments are needed to boost the growth of airport facilities. "The aviation industry in Africa is hampered by poor airport infrastructures, lack of physical and human resources, limited connectivity, and lack of transit facilities. African governments and the private sector need to work together to address these challenges," he added. Africa is home to 12 percent of the world's people, but it accounts for less than 2 percent of the global air service market, according to the World Bank. In 2014, Africa initiated 40 new airport projects in a bid to expand its airport infrastructure. RABAT, Morocco, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The 2nd International Parliamentary Forum on Social Justice kicked off in Morocco on Monday under the theme "the institutionalization of social dialogue: an essential preamble for sustainable development and social justice." Organized by Morocco's House of Advisors, also known as the upper house, the annual forum aims to expand deliberations regarding social justice issues and efficiently contribute toward achieving the World Day for Social Justice's goals and objectives. During the forum's opening session Morocco's King Mohammed VI relayed a message to participants highliting the need for innovative social dialogue in order to reach effective systems and promote social peace, economic growth and sustainable, inclusive development of all social categories, in order to reach the main goal of social justice. He stressed that one of the main challenges facing all parties involved in the social dialogue process is managing the transition toward a new generation of mechanisms. The king noted that the country's new constitution offers valuable opportunities which need to be intelligently and innovatively applied by legislators, stakeholders, local councils and civil society in order to achieve an advanced standardization of social dialogue, as a component of the national model for social justice. Hereof, he urged parliament to pursue an all-inclusive development of a Moroccan social justice model, through organizing thematic and sectoral debates, forums and consultations with relevant actors and adopt their results in preparation for future parliamentary forum sessions. During its first edition, the forum adopted the Rabat Declaration on Social Justice, considered by the Inter-Parliamentary Union as part of its affidavit documents for the 2017-2021 period. VIENTIANE, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- High-level officials from Laos, China, Vietnam and Thailand gathered here on Monday to discuss cooperation efforts in the prevention and control of the yellow-spined bamboo locust outbreak in Laos. A consultation workshop on the management of the yellow-spined bamboo locust outbreak in Laos for 2017 was held Monday in Lao capital Vientiane. The workshop was co-chaired by Lao Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Bounkhouang Khambounheuang and FAO Representative for Laos Stephen Rudgard. Speaking at the workshop, Bounkhouang noted that the yellow-spined bamboo locust outbreak in the region has been devastating for food crops over past years. The first outbreak of locusts occurred in 1929 in China before spreading to Yunnan province in 2012. There were locust outbreaks in 2008 and 2015 in Vietnam as well, the official was quoted by Lao state-run media Vientiane Times as saying. In Laos, the yellow-spined bamboo locust was first detected in October 2014 in northern Luang Prabang province's Phonthong district before spreading to other areas in the province and then to northern Huaphan and Phongsaly provinces. Locusts were reported in 140 places in 2014, but in 2015 they had been recorded in more than 500 locations in 14 districts of the three provinces, despite increased efforts to stop them, he said. The Lao official said the yellow-spined bamboo locust outbreak has threatened food security and poverty reduction in Laos especially in the affected provinces. In response, the government introduced measures on the prevention and control of a locust outbreak in 2016 by increasing responsibility to prevent and destroy locust populations in the northern provinces of Laos. In the past, the government has received cooperation and technical support from China, Thailand and international organizations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations to combat the locust population and help reduce devastation to crops. However, the government was unable control the outbreaks of locust at all, he added. There will be a severe increase of locust outbreaks in 2017 after the surveillance team from Lao agricultural department found an increase of 20 to 30 percent for locust infestations compared to previous years. According to a report by FAO, this locust species normally emerges in April as it hatches from the previous year's eggs laid in the ground, then feeds and grows for up to four months, before developing wings as it reaches adulthood. BEIJING, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- China's Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) has called for unremitting efforts to address duty-related crimes. During a symposium on the issue, procuratorates at all levels were urged to clear the backlog of cases and investigate any allegations of corruption, according to an SPP statement issued on Monday. The top procuratorate also pledged to find suspects of duty-related crimes who may have fled overseas, the statement said. LOS ANGELES, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of scientists Sunday rallied at Copley Square in Boston, dubbed as the Rally to Stand Up for Science, demanding that the U.S. President Donald Trump administration recognize climate change. "Science is under attack by a president who puts ideology before fact. It's time for us to fight back," Geoffrey Supran, a postdoctoral fellow studying energy modeling at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and science history at Harvard University, said in a video clip posted on Twitter. The rally is a protest to Trump's stance on climate change, which he called a "hoax." The White House, shortly after Trump was sworn in as U.S. president, published his First Energy Plan, in which he said "harmful and unnecessary" policies such as the Climate Action Plan and embrace the shale oil and gas revolution will be eliminated. At the rally, demonstrators held such signs as "Science Not Alternative Facts", "Make America Smart Again" and "Immigrants Make Science Great" and chanted "science is not silent." Local media reports said restrictions on immigration, fear of talent drain and concerns about research funding reduction also loomed large at the rally. The event was timed to coincide with the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) which publishes the Science magazine. While the AAAS was not involved in the rally, many conference attendees headed to Copley Square for the rally. "I've never seen anything like it in my entire career," said Rush Holt, head of the world's largest scientific membership organization. The Facebook page for the event showed 2,000 people going to the rally, which was organized by over a dozen science activism groups, including the Natural History Museum, ClimateTruth.org, the Union of Concerned Scientists, 314 Action and MIT Alumni for Climate Action Leadership. The event's Facebook page said the rally is "the first one since anti-science forces and climate deniers took office." Last December, a few hundred scientists also held a rally outside the annual fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco shortly after Trump's election. Science supporters say they plan to march in Washington DC and cities around the globe on Earth Day (April 22). "We are going to work with our members and affiliated organizations to see that this march for science is a success," Holt said. HELSINKI, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Finnish Red Cross is sending more nurses and medical supplies to Mosul, northern Iraq, to help people injured in battle, it was announced Monday. The aid workers and supplies will support two hospitals in Mosul, which were in shortage of basic supplies and medicines, said the Finnish Red Cross. "The hospitals located in Mosul and its vicinity are no longer able to handle all the wounded in battle efficiently enough," said Andreas von Weissenberg, head of the International Disaster Relief Unit of the Finnish Red Cross. Also on Monday, the Finnish government announced it would grant 500,000 euros (531,152 U.S. dollars) to support the humanitarian operation conducted by the Red Cross. The Finnish Red Cross said that it would use the governmental financial aid and 100,000 euros of its own catastrophe fund to back its mission in Iraq. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has supported hospitals in Mosul and nearby areas since October 2016. In October 2016, Iraqi army with allied forces launched a joint offensive to recapture the city of Mosul, seized by the Islamic State in 2014. OUAGADOUGOU, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Burkina Faso will host the fifth pan-African forum on information and communications technologies (ICT) in its capital in June, organizers told Xinhua on Monday. The June 22-23 event is themed "Steering for digital economy" and will occur on the margins of the national week of Internet and ICT scheduled from June 20-25. A release issued here says that ICT present a huge potential for growth and are one of the major sources for competitiveness, innovation and economic dynamic. It is now recognized that ICT may positively impact development on the African continent if their tremendous opportunities are known and wisely used, it says. "The challenge is to foster common understanding of the ecosystem and the mechanisms of digital economy for its effective implementation, in avoiding cacophony among stakeholders and identifying innovative financing strategies for the sector," the release notes. A source close to the ministry in charge of information technologies said the theme "Steering for digital economy" is likely to enable constructive discussions on the best way to achieve the transformation of African economies through digitalization. BEIJING, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Red Cross Foundation (CRCF) Monday launched a first-aid project under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative in Beijing. The project will offer first-aid resources, including ambulances and medical professionals, and public health services along the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a 3,000-km network of roads, railways and pipelines linking Kashgar in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and southwest Pakistan's Gwadar Port. The first emergency medical center under the project will be built in Gwadar Port, according the CRCF. The project is sponsored by the CRCF Silk Road Bo'ai Fund, a non-profit program which aims to contribute to the Belt and Road Initiative by providing humanitarian services. The fund was also launched Monday. As part of the fund, a project on helping children with congenital heart disease in Afghanistan was announced by the CRCF on the same day. DAR ES SALAAM, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Tanzania will host commemoration of 18 years since the establishment of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), authorities said Monday. A statement by the Nile Basin Initiative Secretariat said citizens from the 10 member states and friends of the Nile will converge in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam on February 22 for the landmark celebrations. "This is a celebration of the day the Nile Basin countries agreed to collectively take care of and use the shared Nile Basin water and related resources to ensure win-win benefits for the current and future generations," said the statement. Gerson Lwenge, Tanzania's Minister for Water and Irrigation, said the annual event was marked across the NBI member states of Burundi, DR Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. "That day, in 1999, marked a major milestone in the history of Nile Cooperation," said Lwenge, adding: "It was the very first time the countries jointly agreed to establish an all-inclusive basin-wide regional institution, to provide a forum for consultation and coordination." He said over the years, the NBI has focused on activities aimed at assisting member states to achieve their development objectives through Nile Cooperation. "We have worked together as member states to negotiate and agree on more than 35 investment projects contributing to food, water and energy security in the region," said Lwenge. The minister added that the projects once fully implemented by the member states will benefit at least 30 million people by 2025. Lwenge highlighted some of the benefits of the projects to Tanzania as the 80MW Regional Rusumo Falls Hydroelectric project, which will provide an additional 27MW of renewable hydroelectric power to Tanzania, and the Iringa-Mbeya Interconnection that will reinforce the Tanzanian power grid and extend the 400 KV system up to Mbeya and later to Kasama. In addition, the 400-KV Kenya-Tanzania Interconnection will add 510 kilometres to the existing grid, he said. The theme of Nile Day for this year is "Our Shared Nile - Source of Energy, Food and Water for All", which will provide an opportunity to highlight the importance of the River Nile in the quest for food, water and energy security in the Nile Basin as well as the interrelationships among the three sectors. Traversing about 6,695 kilometers, the Nile is one of world's longest rivers, feeding millions and giving birth to entire civilizations. The river is a major source of water for the Nile Basin countries. Enditem JERUSALEM, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- An Israeli-Arab citizen was indicted Sunday with planning attacks on a bus in Tel Aviv and other locations on behalf of the Islamic State. Anas Haj Yehiye, a 35-year-old resident of the Arab town of Taibe in central Israel, was arrested on January 29 and interrogated by the Shin Bet security service. The Shin Bet said in a statement that during the investigation, "it was learned that Haj Yehiye had been in contact with IS operatives and had disseminated both extremist material and knowledge regarding the production of explosives." He planned to carry out an attack on a bus in Tel Aviv, Israel's financial capital, and another attack against soldiers, but the plans were never realized, according to his indictment. He pledged his allegiance to the IS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and had considered going to Syria to join in the fighting. He joined online groups of IS operatives and distributed information on the production of explosive belts and the preparation of sarin, a lethal gas used as a chemical weapon. The Shin Bet considers Islamic State supporters in Israel as "a severe security threat," and said Israel "will use all counter-terrorist and preventive means at its disposal and will with those involved to the fullest extent of the law." Over the past years, dozens of Arab Israelis were arrested and underwent legal proceedings under suspicion that they have gone to Syria, or planned to do so, in order to join the IS. Israel outlawed any affiliation with the Salafi jihadist group in 2015. MOMBASA, Kenya, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Four suspected members of the Islamic State (IS) were on Monday charged with terrorism related charges in a Kenyan court. The suspects were not allowed to take plea before a Mombasa Magistrate Court until detectives complete their investigation. The four- Nasra Faiz Hyder, Salim Mohammed Rashid, Aisha Faiz Hyder and Fatuma Mohammed, were arraigned in the court accused of being ISIS sympathizers. Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) said two of the four accused suspects were arrested enroute to Syria where they were allegedly going to join the ISIS terrorist group. "They were intercepted at the border of Syria and Turkey by police and handed over to Kenyan embassy in Turkey who facilitated their deportation. The Syrian territory border is infiltrated by ISIS, they were travelling to join them," said the prosecution in its application. The four were remanded in police custody for 21 days after Shanzu Principal magistrate Daina Mochache granted police more days to complete the investigation. While making her ruling, Mochache said the investigation was complex and hence police required more time to continue detaining the suspects. Mochache said detectives need more time to extract data from mobile phones, and laptops seized from the suspect to assist in the investigation. The suspects were arrested on Saturday in major operation by anti terrorism police officers. "The offence of terrorism is like chain link, or web, it takes time to investigate each and every chain. The court hereby grants investigation officer 21 days to investigate this case," ruled Mochache. Police say they have launched investigation with a view to arresting more suspects or averting any possible terrorist attacks in the country. Last year, two medical students were arrested in the coastal region of Malindi for alleged links with the Islamic State. Mohamed Shukri and Abdulrazak Abdinuur were arrested during a joint operation by Mombasa and Nairobi anti-terror police. The two are attached to Malindi sub-county hospital. The two were planning to acquire fake travel documents to facilitate their escape to Somalia. A senior ATPU officer had stated that the two students were part of a wide network of medical students targeted by ISIS after being promised better job. Enditem ALGIERS, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to Algeria scheduled for Monday and Tuesday has been postponed to a later date due to Algerian President Bouteflika "acute bronchitis," according to the statement issued by the president office. "Algerian and German authorities mutually agreed on Monday to postpone Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Angela Merkel's official visit," read the official APS agency's statement. The source specified that the visit will be rescheduled on a date to be agreed upon by both parties. President Bouteflika, 80, is recovering from a stroke at the end of April 2013 which restricted his mobility and presidential activities. The president's health has been the subject of controversy as opposition parties claim he can no longer govern the country and ought to step down. Bouteflika came to power in 1999 and was reelected in April 2014 for a fourth 5-year-term. BAGHDAD, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis made a visit to Baghdad Monday to reassure support to Iraqi forces which are fighting to drive out the Islamic State (IS) group from its major stronghold in the western side of Mosul. A statement by the office of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said that Abadi held a meeting with Mattis and the two "discussed boosting relations between the two countries in the military and security fields, in addition to the war on Daesh (IS group) to liberate the right bank (western side) of Mosul." Abadi also asserted on the importance of international support for Iraq in its war against terrorism," the statement said. Mattis reiterated his country's "full support to Iraq in its war against terrorism, pointing out that his visit was aimed at supporting Iraq and to emphasis his country's attitude to continue the good relations and support to Iraq after (defeat of) Daesh," according to the statement. Earlier in the day, Mattis arrived in Baghdad in his first trip to Iraq as Pentagon chief to discuss the campaign against IS group in the western side of Mosul. Hundreds of U.S. troops are already in Iraq, serving as trainers and advisers, in an attempt to help the country win the battle against IS militants in Mosul. A U.S.-led international coalition has also been conducting air raids against IS targets in both Iraq and Syria. HARARE, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe's struggling national carrier is targeting to increase revenue to 47 million U.S. dollars from 36 million dollars last year through efficient operations, chief executive Ripton Muzenda said Monday. He told a parliamentary committee that the loss making Air Zimbabwe had been consistently reducing its losses since 2013 due to improved operational efficiency. The national carrier reduced the loss by 11 percent in 2014, 28 percent in 2015 and 21 percent in 2016, Muzenda said, adding the airline was targeting to further reduce the loss by 30 percent in 2017. The chief executive revealed that the national carrier was currently incurring a loss of 300,000 dollars per week. The airline has been performing poorly over the years, weighed down by a 300 million U.S. dollars debt, an aging fleet and lack of funds to pay off creditors. According to the government, the airline requires 1 billion dollars for recapitalization. The government last year gave the airline the approval to find a suitable strategic partner to help revive its operations. At peak, Air Zimbabwe flew to over 25 regional and international destinations but is currently plying regional routes in southern Africa due to lack of funds to expand its fleet. Enditem by Marwa Yahya CAIRO, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The burial of "Blind Sheikh" Omar Abdel-Rahman, a jihadist leader linked to numerous bomb plots who died in prison in the United States on Saturday, has stirred debate in Egypt. His death has come with a division in Egyptian society: some call for bringing his body back to be buried in his home village in Egypt's Delta while others say he should be dishonored and left in the United States. "Allah has taken the soul of Sheikh Omar," his daughter Asmaa Abdel-Rahman tweeted in Arabic on Saturday. Ammar, one of Abdel-Rahman's son, said a U.S. representative had phoned him about his father's death in prison in North Carolina. The 78-year-old "Blind Sheikh" was serving a life sentence for his involvement in the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing in New York, where six people were killed and hundreds others injured when a truck bomb was detonated in the building's garage. He was the spiritual leader of Islamic group Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, which was suspected to be responsible for many acts of violence such as the 1997 massacre that killed 62 in Luxor, Egypt. The Egyptian foreign ministry said on Sunday that it follows the U.S. authority's arrangement of shipping the body to Egypt as soon as possible. In his will, the "Blind Sheikh" asked to be buried in his family cemetery in Gamaliya city in Daqahliya province, north of Cairo. "We started to paint his tomb and prepare it to receive his body from the United States," said Shamas Abdel Rahman, a nephew of Abdel-Rahman. Ahmad Moussa, a TV talk show presenter, however, was against burying Abdel-Rahman in Egypt, as "his shrine will be a destination for terrorists to visit from everywhere." The "Blind Sheikh" was the biggest supporter of terrorism against his country, Moussa said, wondering how Egypt could honor him on its land. A hashtag "Omar Abdel-Rahman not to bury in Egypt" has trended with 14,000 tweets only one hour after its launch on Sunday. "Egypt rejects desecration of soil by burying a terrorist on its land," said one tweet. "Oh, Egypt sacred land, we wouldn't allow a terrorist and traitor to be buried here," said another tweet. Born in a village along the Nile in 1938, Abdel-Rahman lost his eyesight because of childhood diabetes. He graduated from Azhar University's Religious Science Faculty in 1956. After graduation, he became associated with Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya. In his speeches, he often called for the installation of an Islamic government in Egypt. In 1990, he managed to get to New York after the U.S. Embassy in Sudan granted him a tourist visa. He preached in Brooklyn and New Jersey mosques. In the aftermath of 1993 World Trade Center bombing, he was arrested and finally convicted of a series of conspiracies including attempts to murder then Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and to "wage a war of urban terrorism against the United States." In 1996, he was sentenced to life in prison. At his sentencing, he gave a statement that lasted over an hour and encouraged his followers to stand up to the United States. "The prosecution wants that we should kneel and be subservient to America and obey America," he said. "But we do not kneel to anyone, except to God." Despite being imprisoned for 20 years, he remained a spiritual leader of Jihadists in the Middle East, where followers listened to cassette tapes and radio broadcasts of his sermons. A year before the attack on Sept. 11, 2001, Osama bin Laden had pledged a war to free Abdel-Rahman from the U.S. prison. In 2011, Abdel-Rahman's followers organized a protest outside the U.S. Embassy in Cairo demanding his release for health reasons. In 2012, then Egyptian President Mohammad Morsi, a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, said in his first national speech that securing Abdel-Rahman's freedom would be a priority. Enditem HARARE, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe turns 93 Tuesday and has declared that he is ready to soldier on as head of state and government. Mugabe, who is Africa's third longest serving after Jose Eduardo dos Santos of Angola and Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, is the only head of government Zimbabweans have ever known since the country attained independence from Britain in 1980. In an interview with state television to be aired this week, Mugabe said he would only step down if the call came from his party, but that would not be any time soon because the party wanted him to stand as its candidate in the 2018 elections when his current tenure ends. "They want me to stand for elections everywhere in the party," Mugabe said, adding that in any case party members did not consider anyone good enough to replace him at the moment. His sentiments echoed those of his wife Grace who said on Friday that even if Mugabe was to contest the election as a corpse, the people would still vote for him. Mugabe introduced universal education and a robust social program which saw previously marginalized communities benefiting while international aid organizations poured in millions in support of the fledgling government. However, relations with Western powers started getting frosty over perceived mis-governance issues and alleged violation of human rights in the 1990s and eventually broke down in 2000 when the government expropriated land from white commercial farmers and re-allocated it to formerly landless blacks. This led to serious economic decline with Mugabe attributing most of the failures to economic sanctions imposed on him by the European Union, the United States and their Western allies since the early 2000s over the land issue. The government also blames persistent droughts for the decline. The World Bank said the country's economy grew by 0.4 percent in 2016 weighed down by a drought and low commodity prices, the lowest growth since the country adopted a multi-currency regime in 2009. The country recorded a trade deficit of 2.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2016 because of low activity in the manufacturing sector, while Foreign Direct Investment was curtailed by the government's hazy indigenization policy which favors blacks. Zimbabwe has also been hit by cash shortages since 2014, with the U.S. dollar - the major currency in the multi-currency basket adopted in 2009 - becoming elusive. As a result, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has introduced bond notes at par with the U.S. dollar to plug the deficit, but while many people have grudgingly accepted them, prices of some commodities continue to rise as the black market operators come into play. Civil servants have endured the effects of a harsh economy with payments of their salaries being done late. In the meantime, Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party has remained divided along factional lines over the years. Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa is the perceived leader of one going by the name Lacoste, while Mugabe's wife is fighting in her own corner with mainly younger leaders calling themselves Generation 40. Both factions will converge in southern Zimbabwe on Saturday to celebrate Mugabe's birthday at a lavish party organized by the party's youth league. Former Vice President Joice Mujuru was expelled from the party following the party's congress in 2014 for allegedly harboring ambitions to topple Mugabe and has since formed her own political outfit. HARARE, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is expected to officiate at the groundbreaking ceremony of the rehabilitation of the Beitbridge-Harare-Chirundu highway in early March. The ceremony will trigger commencement of works on the highway by Austrian firm Geiger International in partnership with Chinese contractor China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC), Transport Minister Jorum Gumbo said Monday. He told a parliamentary committee that at least 40 percent of the value of the project will be sub-contracted to local Zimbabwean companies. "We asked the financier to allow 40 percent involvement in the project by our local people and they are going to advertise on what they want the locals to contribute," the minister said. He said some engineers from Geiger International were already in the country preparing to start the work. An independent engineer in conjunction with government engineers will supervise the project to meet required standards, he said. Last November, Geiger International signed an Engineering, Procurement and Construction contract with Zimbabwe to pave for the rehabilitation and dualization of the 900-km highway. The highway will be rehabilitated in segments with Geiger International set to construct the Beitbridge-Harare segment at a cost of 984 million U.S. dollars under a 25-year build operate and transfer model while the Harare-Chirundu segment of the highway will be constructed by CHEC under a loan financing model. The Beitbridge-Harare road would be constructed over a period of three years. The Zimbabwe government has since approved the EPC contract for CHEC and a delegation from the Chinese firm is now expected in the country to sign the contract. The loan agreement for the Harare-Chirundu highway is expected to be concluded by mid 2017, according to minister Gumbo. The scope of the work include full dualization of the road, including the widening and rehabilitation of the existing road and construction of 37 new two lane bridges and 8 tollgates. The Beitbridge-Harare-Chirundu highway is Zimbabwe's busiest road and the gateway to neighboring countries including South Africa, Zambia, Malawi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The narrow highway has since outlived its lifespan and is in urgent need of rehabilitation as it is now littered with potholes. Enditem NICOSIA, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades said on Monday that he believes Turkey is using a domestic vote to delay a solution of the Cyprus problem. Turkey will hold a constitutional referendum on April 16, which will bring drastic changes to the country's political system, including a shift to an executive presidential system from the current parliamentary system. The president of Turkey will be granted sweeping powers if the constitutional amendments proposed by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) are accepted in the referendum. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has launched a Yes campaign. "The vote is nothing else than a pretext to cover problems President Erdogan may be facing in his bid to pass his constitutional amendments," Anastasiades told Xinhua in an interview. "He would not like to lose votes by making decisions that would displease nationalist voters," Anastasiades said. Anastasiades said the decision of Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci to pull out of the negotiations cannot be explained by a Cypriot parliamentary vote he described as immaterial. On Feb. 16, Akinci pulled out of a meeting with Anastasiades in the context of the negotiations for a deal reunifying Cyprus. Akinci had said ahead of the meeting that he would talk only on the issue of a vote in the Cypriot parliament last Friday on an bill amendment instructing teachers in school to make a brief mention of a referendum 67 years ago in which Greek Cypriots almost unanimously voted in favour of Cyprus uniting with Greece. During voting, ruling party DISY abstained while the leftist opposition AKEL party voted against the motion. In doing so, the two parties which have supported Anastasiades in his quest for a solution gave the opportunity to the neo-Nazi ELAM party, with just two seats in parliament, to pass its amendment by appealing to other dissent parties. "It was an unfortunate and untimely decision by parliament and at the same time an immaterial one," said Anastasiades. But the so-called "enosis (union) referendum" had provoked a strong reaction by the Turkish Cypriots and Turkey. Akinci said he would in turn discontinue his participation in the peace negotiations. Anastasiades said that Turkey aimed to buy time so as to avoid making any decisions on Cyprus that would drive away nationalist votes. He pointed out that since February 2014, the two sides have been negotiating a solution that would exclude both "enosis" and the secession of the occupied part of Cyprus. Anastasiades said that all parliamentary parties except ELAM have reaffirmed this basic provision only last week. He added that Greek Cypriots have annually been celebrating the anniversary of the start of an armed struggle in the mid-1950s for "enosis" without any objections by the Turkish side. "So, all this exaggerated reaction was unwarranted," said Anastasiades. He said that if the Turkish side is not using the vote as a pretext to delay a solution, Akinci should return without any further delay to the negotiations. Anastasiades dismissed a claim by Akinci that he is in two minds -- one preoccupied with a solution to the Cyprus problem and one with presidential elections in February 2018. "What I have is one divided country and not a divided personality. I do not even think of the elections and my mind is constantly and exclusively preoccupied with finding a solution which will reunify Cyprus in a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation," said Anastasiades. Akinci was non-committal when he was asked whether he would attend a scheduled meeting with Anastasiades on Thursday, which will be presided over by a United Nations official. A Cypriot government official told Xinhua on the condition of anonymity that Akinci may opt to stay away from Thursday's meeting, despite moves by the Cypriot parliament to negate its "enosis" vote as demanded by the Turkish Cypriot leader. "We may get to know his intentions after talks he will have on Tuesday with Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu," the official said. Cavusoglu is expected to show up in the northern part of Cyprus to have talks with Akinci and other Turkish Cypriot officials on Tuesday. MALAGA, Spain, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of France and Spain called for further and faster European integration, at the 25th bilateral summit here on Monday. At the joint press conference at the Pompidou Center in Malaga, French President Francois Hollande expressed his vision of Europe. He said there was a "responsibility to define what the European future will be," explaining member states had to "give another meaning to Europe." The president looked back at the economic crisis, which he believed did not "simply arrive; it came from lack of regulation...we are not in crisis anymore, we need to look at other issues...at what we want to do together in next 10 years, at what our objectives are and at what unites us." The French leader admitted that not all countries in the EU shared the same ambitions, but that he wanted to "go further and faster with the countries that want to do so," insisting this did not rule out those who preferred slower integration. "We don't want Europe to be a place to dominate others, but to be a force for peace and progress at the service of the planet," he expressed. Both he and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy highlighted the threat caused by populism and extremism. Asked about the possible victory of France's far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in the coming elections, Hollande said, "We have to denounce extremism, not just for France, but for other places where extremists could get to power in Europe." "Their proposal is to leave Europe and close in on themselves. In name of Europe and we have to reject this solution," he said. In his speech, Rajoy highlighted how the past years of the European Union (EU) has brought peace to a region which had seen "two world wars." "We should make an effort to dedicate ourselves to what is important to the citizens...the main priorities have to be immigration, the fight against terrorism, security, and to create employment and better look after those who most need it," said the Spanish leader, who added "we want more Europe... the more the better." Spain and France signed documents on issues of security, fighting terrorism and drug trafficking, energy cooperation, improvements on rail and sea links, as well as university exchanges. Hollande confirmed he would meet with Rajoy, as well as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, to discuss further and faster integration in Versailles on March 6, three days ahead of the European Council meeting in Brussels. The meeting ended with a joint statement stating that "Spain and France, two countries who are neighbors and allies...have the responsibility to give a new impulse to Europe." Sorry, this news has been deleted. UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- President of the 71st session of the UN General Assembly Peter Thomson on Monday said that he was "greatly saddened" at the news of the passing of Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin. Churkin, who became the Russian permanent representative to the United Nations since 2006, died of an apparent heart attack in New York on Monday morning at the age of 64, just a day before his 65th birthday, local media said. Thomson, who described the late Russian envoy as a "dear friend," said in a statement issued here by his spokesman that "the Russian Federation and the United Nations have lost a true son and a great international intellect." The General Assembly president is scheduled to make a full statement at 3:00 p.m. (20:00 GMT) on Monday, his spokesman said. Deputy UN spokesman Farhan Haq the said that he was "actually quite stunned" by the reports of Churkin's death. "He has been such a regular presence here that I am actually quite stunned," Haq said. "Our thoughts go to his family, to his friends and to his government." "A prominent Russian diplomat has passed away while at work. We'd like to express our sincere condolences to Vitaly Churkin's family," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued in Moscow. Born on Feb. 21, 1952 in Moscow, Churkin was ambassador-at-large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation from 2003 to 2006. He was his country's ambassador to Canada from 1998 to 2003, and to Belgium from 1994 to 1998 before he represented Russia at the United Nations since 2006. UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations said Monday that shortages in food assistance are affecting some 2 million refugees in 10 countries across Africa. Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said at the daily news briefing that the Executive Director of the World Food Program (WFP), Ertharin Cousin, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, "are very concerned that critical shortages in food assistance are affecting some 2 million refugees" in Africa. "The number of refugees in Africa nearly doubled from 2.6 million in 2011 to nearly 5 million in 2016," he said. "While donor funding for refugee assistance increased during this period, it did not keep pace with rapidly rising needs," said Haq, adding that the humanitarian response "is significantly underfunded" and this "has forced cuts in food assistance for some groups of refugees." Ten refugee operations in Africa have experienced cuts and food rations have been dramatically cut - in some cases by up to 50 percent - in large operations including Cameroon, Chad, Kenya, Mauritania, South Sudan and Uganda, he said. by Ndumiso Mlilo JOHANNESBURG, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The South African Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Police said Monday the xenophobic attacks on foreigners by South Africans in Rosettenville and Pretoria West could be avoided if the police responded timely to complaints by the community. At least 15 Nigerian residents' houses were burnt last weeek in Rosettenville community and Pretoria West. The South Africans accuse Nigerians of selling drugs and making young girls sell their bodies. Last weekend over six houses were burnt in Pretoria West. Police said they have arrested six suspects with the burning of houses belonging to foreigners. The Portfolio Committee on Police said if the police had build trust with the community the tragedy could be avoided. The Committee Chairperson Francois Beukman said, "Cluster and station commanders should ensure that the trust between the community and SAPS (South African Police Service) is strengthened through proactive steps, such as constant visible policing, the deployment of specialized units, better coordination of crime intelligence units and improved relations with Community Policing Forums, as well as improving response time to crime complaints by members of the public." The police was accused of not responding to complaints by the community about drugs being sold in Rosettenville. Beukman expressed concern over the losing of trust on the police by the people. The survey released by the Statistics South Africa this month show that people have lost trust in the police. He said, "We cannot allow citizens' trust in law enforcement agencies to erode any further. It is patently clear that urgent interventions are needed at certain police stations in the Republic." The cluster and station management of Rosettenville police are expected to tell the Parliamentary Committee on Wednesday how they are dealing with xenophobic attacks in their area. The committee also called on the police management to investigate of all complaints of police misconduct and alleged corruption. TALLINN, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Britain looks to have a quick agreement with the European Uion on EU citizens' rights in Britain and vice versa, Brexit minister said here Monday. "I see no reason why we couldn't get a very, very fast answer to that question -- an answer which is generous to EU citizens in Britain and generous to British citizens in the European Union," said David Davis, the British Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union. Davis arrived in Estonia on the first leg of his Baltic tour, with his next visits scheduled to Latvia and Lithuania. He also said that Britain wanted the European Union to be strong also after his country's departure from the bloc. Britain would not pursue a policy that would contravene its national interests, Davis specified that these interests included foreign students enrolling at British universities, financiers doing business in the City of London and highly-skilled labor like programmers from foreign countries coming to work in Britain. As for low-skilled guest worker's job prospects, he said it would take "years and years before we get British citizens to do those jobs and so that [the employment of guest workers] will continue too". "Wherever we go, we get the response that we want a constructive negotiation and a constructive future," Davis said about the ongoing preparations for the upcoming Brexit talks. MADRID, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Spain's trade deficit fell by 22.4 percent in 2016 to 18.75 billion euros (19.90 billion U.S. dollars), compared with a year earlier, according to data released on Monday by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. The ministry reported that exports hit a record high reaching 254.53 billion euros, which meant a 1.7 percent rise year-on-year, while imports fell by 0.4 percent to 273.28 billion euros. Regarding exports, the number of companies that exported products reached 148,794 in 2016, meaning a 1 percent increase, compared with a year earlier. Spain especially exported capital goods (which accounted for 22 percent of the total), items related to the automobile industry and consumer goods. Exports shipped to other EU countries represented 66.3 percent of the total, increasing by 4.1 percent in 2016 year-on-year, and those shipped to the eurozone countries accounted for 51.8 percent of the total, rising by 4.4 percent year-on-year. Meanwhile, exports to third countries fell by 2.6 percent in 2016 year-on-year and represented 33.7 percent of the total. Spain's State Secretary for Trade, Marisa Poncela, said the data was positive in a context of economic recovery, highlighting that it shows a better performance of the economy and improvement of the country's competitiveness. (1 euro = 1.06 U.S. dollars) Enditem RIGA, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Latvia has ratified the Paris agreement on climate change, Latvian foreign minister Edgars Rinkevics announced in a post on Twitter on Monday. On Feb. 2, 2017, Latvian lawmakers passed a bill approving the Paris agreement intended to restrict global warming by curbing greenhouse gas emissions. Foreign ministry spokesman Raimonds Jansons said Latvia had now finished all the national procedures for the climate agreement's ratification. By ratifying the Paris agreement, Latvia has officially committed to EU member states' collective target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by at least 40 percent by 2030. The legally-binding target has been set in order to keep global warming this century below 2.0 degrees Celsius the average temperature of the pre-industrial age. Enditem Iraqi counter-terrorism forces assemble in Bartella town, about 20 km east of Mosul, northern Iraq, on Feb. 20, 2017, preparing to participate in military operations to retake western Mosul. Iraqi security forces on Sunday announced the commencement of a new phase of offensive to drive out the extremist militants of Islamic State (IS) group from its major stronghold in the western side of Mosul, the Iraqi military said. (Xinhua/Yaser Jawad) MOSUL, Iraq, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi security forces reached the vicinity of the international airport in western Mosul on Monday, as the troops are pushing closer to the city in a new phase of offensive to drive out Islamic State (IS) militants from its major stronghold in the western side of it, the Iraqi military said. In south of Mosul, the federal police forces and Counter-Terrorism Service freed the hill of Albu Saif, just south of Mosul airport, after clashes with IS militants, leaving many of them killed and destroying a booby-trapped vehicle, a statement by the Iraqi Joint Operations Command said. The recapture of the strategic hill of Albu Saif is crucial for the Iraqi forces, as the area will give the troops the ability to command IS positions in the southern neighborhoods and inside the airport. In southwest of Mosul, the army's 9th armored Division and a paramilitary unit of Hashd Shaabi recaptured the villages of Lazaga and Sahaji, after sporadic clashes with IS militants, killing many of them and destroying three car bombs, the statement said. The troops' advance toward Mosul came after the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced on Sunday the start of an offensive to drive the extremist militants out of the western side of Mosul, locally known as the right bank of Tigris River which bisects the city. "We announce the start of a new phase in the operation (We Are Coming Nineveh) to liberate the western side of Mosul," Abadi, who is also the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi forces, said in a brief televised address, referring to the province of Nineveh, of which Mosul is the capital city. Late in January, Abadi declared the liberation of the eastern side of Mosul, or the left bank of Tigris, after more than 100 days of fighting against IS militants. However, the western side of Mosul, with its narrow streets and a heavy population of between 750,000 and 800,000, appears to be a bigger challenge to the Iraqi forces, according to the United Nations estimates. Mosul, 400 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, has been under IS control since June 2014, when Iraqi government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling IS militants to take control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions. UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Tens of thousands of families are "at extreme risk" as operations to retake western part of Mosul, a city in north Iraq, began, Farhan Haq, the deputy UN spokesman, said here Monday, quoting humanitarian agencies. "With military operations to retake western Mosul beginning, humanitarian organizations are warning that tens of thousands of families are at extreme risk," Haq said at a daily news briefing here. "Recent surveys confirm that food and fuel supplies are dwindling, markets and shops have closed, running water is scarce and electricity in many neighborhoods is either intermittent or cut off." Lise Grande, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, said that "the situation is distressing," Haq said. The United Nations estimates that between 750,000 and 800,000 civilians are living in the western section of the city. Few, if any commercial supplies have reached Mosul during the past three months after the main road to Syria was cut off. Informants report that nearly half of all food shops have closed. "Humanitarian agencies are rushing to prepare for the humanitarian impact of the military campaign," he said, adding that emergency sites are being constructed south of the city and stocks of life-saving supplies are being pre-positioned for the 250,000 to 400,000 civilians who may flee. On Sunday, the Iraqi security forces announced the commencement of a new phase of offensive to drive out the extremist militants of Islamic State (IS) group from its major stronghold in the western side of Mosul, the Iraqi military said. However, the western side of Mosul appears to be a bigger challenge to the Iraqi forces with its narrow streets and heavy population of between 750,000 and 800,000 people, according to the United Nations (UN) estimates. Mosul, 400 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, has been under IS control since June 2014, when Iraqi government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling IS militants to take control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions. UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The UN food and refugee agencies on Monday voiced concern at "the critical shortages" which are affecting some 2 million refugees in 10 countries across Africa. Farhan Haq, the deputy UN spokesman, told reporters here the executive director of the World Food Program (WFP), Ertharin Cousin, and the UN high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, were very concerned about the critical situation. The number of refugees in Africa nearly doubled from 2.6 million in 2011 to nearly 5 million in 2016, he noted. "While donor funding for refugee assistance increased during this period, it did not keep pace with rapidly rising needs," Haq said. "As a result, the humanitarian response is significantly underfunded and this has forced cuts in food assistance for some groups of refugees," he said. Ten refugee operations in Africa have experienced cuts and food rations have been dramatically cut -- in some cases by up to 50 percent -- in large operations including Cameroon, Chad, Kenya, Mauritania, South Sudan and Uganda, he added. PARIS, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- French investigators searched the headquarters of Marine Le Pen's far-right Front National Party in Nanterre, west of Paris on Monday as part of an inquiry into alleged misuse of European fund to pay the party's staff. The anti-immigration party confirmed in a statement that a search was made for the second time at the same offices concerning the same alleged facts. "It is obviously a media operation whose goal is to disturb the course of the presidential campaign and to harm Marine Le Pen at the moment when her candidacy is making a major breakthrough in voting intentions," it added. The European parliament has accused Le Pen of paying party staff working in France with the EU fund worth 340,000 euros (360,705 U.S. dollars), after she claimed they were European parliamentary assistants. In December 2016, French prosecutor opened an investigation for breach of trust, organized fraud scams and forgery following the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) claims of fake job. Rejected any wrongdoing, Le Pen told France Bleu radio last week, "there is absolutely nothing fictitious, no fake jobs or anything of all in this issue." Opinion polls showed the 49-year-old lawyer was likely to win the first round of voting on April 27 but lose the run-off in May to whoever should be her opponent. Styling herself "the candidate of people", Le Pen pledged to slash migration, sent homes all illegal migrants and impose taxes on the job contacts of foreigners. If winning the election, she claimed that she would renegotiate the European Union treaty, restore internal borders and the French currency. In 2012, Le Pen came third in the presidential race but had made the first round surprise with an unexpected high vote. About 17.9 percent of 44.6 million French voters had cast their ballots for an anti-immigration policy and the abandon of the euro currency. LA PAZ, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Bolivian government stated Monday that it believes an arsenal of weapons seized last week was intended for criminal gangs in Brazil. Bolivia's Interior Minister Carlos Romero told a press conference that the investigation is going and that the hypothesis is that the shipment was headed to Brazil. "The arsenal of weapons seized in Bolivia is linked with drug cartels fighting an internal war in the neighboring country where there is a demand for weapons. We are checking information since the shipment's departure from its point of origin, Miami in the U.S.," said Romero. Last week, the country's customs seized a cargo of 75 military-grade weapons, including semi-automatic rifles, machine guns, rifles, side-arms, and scopes with a range of up to 3,000 meters. On Friday, Bolivia's customs chief Marlene Ardaya said that after leaving Miami, the container went through the Dominican Republic, Peru and Chile before entering Bolivia where it was stopped in the city of Santa Cruz. According to Romero, this is not the first time Bolivian authorities have caught weapons being smuggled into Brazil and stated that government agents should carry out more controls on incoming cargo. While several people have been arrested, the owner of the transportation company is still in the U.S., although he promised to present himself to Bolivian authorities on Tuesday, said the minister. BEIRUT, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Philippe Lazzarini stressed Monday that the generous international funding support for Lebanon has not been enough to turn the tide of refugees' deepening poverty and vulnerabilities affecting both Lebanese host communities and refugees. The International funding for Lebanon in 2016 amounted to USD 1.9 billion, according to the a statement showing the funding update released by the Office of the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon. This amount includes a total of USD 1.57 billion disbursed by donors in 2016 and USD 344 million carried over from 2015 by UN Agencies, the World Bank and NGOs, the statement added. The consolidated data shows a continued high-level of donor support to Lebanon in 2016 in response to the impact of the Syrian crisis. Moreover, donors have also reported an additional amount of over USD 1.3 billion committed for 2017 and beyond for Lebanon. Regarding available resource in support of the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan, UN agencies and NGOs reported a total of USD 1.13 billion received under the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan (LCRP) framework in 2016. This represents 53 percent of the overall 2016 appeal, taking into consideration the carry-over of USD 186 million related to the LCRP. "Needs are outpacing donor funding. And with competing humanitarian crises globally and limited resources, we might face a situation where humanitarian support has reached its ceiling. The more protracted the crisis in Lebanon becomes, the more innovative and efficient the support has to be in order to genuinely make a difference," Lazzarini added. The UN official also encouraged international partners to focus beyond the short-term emergency response in the country. "We need to get better at combining life-saving assistance and longer-term responses that address the country's security and socio-economic challenges," Lazzarini said. "We have to support Lebanon in reversing its economic decline by investing in key productive sectors, modernizing the country's infrastructure, and encouraging key structural reforms. This would benefit both the Syrian refugees and the Lebanese," Lazzarini concluded. BRUSSELS, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Experts from international lending bodies will soon return to Athens to complete a review of Greece's economic reforms, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, president of the Eurogroup said here on Monday. Eurozone finance ministers gathered in Brussels on Monday and discussed the ongoing second review of Greece's economic adjustment program, which has been in a deadlock for months. "We have intensified talks in the last week, with the institutions and the Greek government, to find enough common ground for the institutions to go back to Athens. The outcome of today is that they will go back to Athens in a very short time," Dijsselbloem told a press conference after the Eurogroup meeting. The review -- carried out by the European Commission, the European Central Bank, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) -- has been on hold since last December when IMF's requirement of a substantial debt relief to Greece was refused by the European creditors. The president of Eurogroup said the outcome of the meeting was a "very positive and good step," which allows the review mission to return to Athens and resume work in order to conclude a staff-level agreement on policy reforms. A staff-level agreement is a necessary condition for the successful conclusion of reviews and therefore for the country to receive financial support consisting of 86 billion euros (91 billion U.S. dollars) in bailout funds. But Dijssebloem stressed "there is no agreement, no political agreement at this point, as that would be too early." Meanwhile, to address the IMF's concern of debt sustainability, Dijsselbloem said the review mission would shift from austerity measures to structural reforms. "There will be a change in the policy mix moving away from austerity and putting more emphasis on deep reforms which has also been a key element for the IMF," he said, noting that the mission experts would work with the Greek authorities on tax and pension system reforms, and also on labor market regulation. The meeting comes with Greece due to make a 7.2- billion-euro repayment in July. To avoid the Greek economy falling back into uncertainty, Dijsselbloem urged the Greek government and the institutions to come to an agreement as soon as possible. "We all feel a sense of urgency because of the key issue of confidence. If we want the economic growth in Greece to continue and to start picking up, confidence is the key factor," he said. "That confidence has been returning in the last year and needs to strengthen and we do not want to jeopardize that. That will be a strong motivator to do the work as soon as possible," he added. (1 euro = 1.06 U.S dollars) Visiting U.S. Vice President Mike Pence addresses a press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (not in the picture) after their meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on Feb. 20, 2017. Visiting U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said Monday Europe needed to increase defense spending for the sake of fair burden-sharing among NATO members. (Xinhua/Ye Pingfan) BRUSSELS, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- In his first trip abroad, United States Vice President came to Europe this weekend to talk with European leaders and NATO, with interested parties on both sides of the Atlantic hoping to see growing tensions between the U.S. and Europe soothed. U.S. President Donald Trump has ruffled feathers in the European Union (EU) both before and after his election, creating concerns on several fronts. Regarding security, Trump put many Europeans ill-at-ease when he called NATO "obsolete" for having been "designed many, many years ago," for not adequately adapting to the threat of terrorism, and for countries not paying "what they should." Concerns around Trump's NATO position have only been compounded by what seems to have been a complementary softening of U.S. positions toward Russia. The U.S. president has frequently praised Russian President Vladimir Putin as a "strong leader" and indicated that a better relationship with the Kremlin might be welcome. American commitment to a unified Europe has been further called into doubt by Trump's repeated statements praising the outcomes of the Brexit vote. It has also been reported that the U.S. president's top pick for Ambassador to the EU is Ted Malloch, a professor who angered Europe by predicting in January that the single-currency bloc could collapse within 18 months, and saying he would "short the Euro" as an investor. These issues and more have rattled Europe, with leaders looking for answers about future U.S. policy toward European unity and security. Mike Pence's visit, it appears, has been designed to allay fears. "Today is my privilege to be on behalf of President (Donald) Trump, to express strong commitment of the United States to continued cooperation and partnership with the EU," the vice president said at a joint press conference with European Council President Donald Tusk after their meeting in Brussels on Monday. "Whatever our differences, our two continents share the same heritage, the same values and above all, the same purpose to promote peace and prosperity through freedom, democracy and the rule of law," he continued. The message of direct support for the EU will have been a relief to some European observers, after a Saturday speech at the Munich Security Conference in which Pence managed to avoid any mention of the Union. It will be difficult for others, however, to ignore signals that U.S.-European relations have been cooling. European Council President Donald Tusk, who previously described Donald Trump as a potential "threat" to Europe, spoke positively of his meeting with Mike Pence in a statement after the talks, but with a show of reserve. "Too much has happened over the past months in your country, and in the EU; too many new, and sometimes surprising opinions have been voiced over this time about our relations -- and our common security -- for us to pretend that everything is as it used to be," said Tusk before thanking the American vice president for his frankness and honesty. "Today I heard words which are promising for the future, words which explain a lot about the approach of the new administration in Washington," the European Council president admitted, before enumerating Pence's confirmation of American commitment to rules-based international governance, shared transatlantic security through NATO, and European unity. President Tusk, though, made certain to demonstrate that he wanted action that matched Mike Pence's "promising words." "After such a positive declaration, both Europeans and Americans must simply practice what they preach," he said. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker also appeared positive about his meeting with Pence, making it clear in a speech before the talks that he would be seeking to mend relations. "I do not think that the moment has come to divide the U.S. and the European Union. We are partners for so many decades in the world," Juncker said. "The global stability is heavily depending on the good relations between the United States of America and the European Union." Similarly, the office of EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini said in a press release that in her meeting with the American vice president, she had discussed the importance of a strong partnership between the EU and the U.S. in an "open and warm conversation." With all the positive spin on events, it is almost possible to forget that this round of U.S. diplomacy began with American Defence Secretary James Mattis telling fellow NATO allies on Wednesday that they needed to foot more of the security bill, claiming that it was no longer acceptable for American taxpayers to carry a "disproportionate share of the defence of Western values." He warned that unless fellow members -- of which only five current reach a target 2 percent of GDP (gross domestic product) defence spending, including Estonia, Greece, Poland, Britain and the United States -- moved towards more equal burden-sharing, the U.S. could "moderate its commitment" to NATO. Mike Pence himself made it clear on Monday at NATO that while U.S. support for the security alliance was "unwavering," equal burden-sharing was necessary. The question that remains is whether Mike Pence's round of talks in Europe will be enough to calm nerves and return U.S.-EU relations to traditional warmth. While Mike Pence is certainly addressing some worries, European leaders are likely to remain wary about the future of U.S.-EU relations. Many Europeans will be waiting, like Donald Tusk, to see if American diplomacy will be realized in practice. COPENHAGEN, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- A total of 6,235 people applied for asylum in Denmark in 2016, registering a sharp drop from the previous year when the country received 21,000 asylum seekers, Danish news agency Ritzau reported Monday citing Statistics Denmark. Given the large influx in 2015, the Danish government anticipated 25,000 asylum seekers at the beginning of 2016. However, that figure was later revised down to 7,500. Most of the asylum seekers were from Syria, the report said. Ritzau said several factors might have contributed to the dropping of asylum seekers, among them the border control put in place by the Danish government on Jan. 4, 2016. The move came on the same day when bordering Sweden started implementing border controls, requiring all trains, buses and ferries on the Danish side to check passengers' photo identification before allowing them to travel from Denmark to Sweden. The border control has since been extended several times, most recently until May 12 this year. Among other things, the previously widely used Balkan route, which many refugees traveled through, was closed, according to Ritzau. TRIPOLI, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Convoy of Libya's UN-backed prime minister, Fayez Serraj, has come under fire on Monday in the capital Tripoli, with no injuries, according to a government spokesman. Ashraf Al-Thulthi, the government's spokesman, said Serraj was accompanied by the head of State Council and the presidential guard chief, when their convoy was fired at in Abu Salim district in southern Tripoli. "All the vehicles are armed and there were no injuries," Al-Thulthi said. "I would like to confirm that the security service of the government is pursuing the group responsible for the attack," Serraj said a statement following the attack. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Tripoli has been witnessing heavy clashes and violence lately between rival militias. GENEVA, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein on Monday called on the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to take immediate steps to halt the "apparent summary executions" by the country's armed forces. Horrific video footage emerged over the weekend apparently showing soldiers shooting repeatedly and without warning at men and women, according to a statement from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. "There are multiple, credible allegations of massive human rights violations in Kasai, Kasai Central, Kasai Oriental and Lomami provinces, amid a sharp deterioration in security situation there, including people being targeted by soldiers for their alleged affiliation with a local militia," said High Commissioner Zeid. "In line with its international human rights obligations, the DRC Government must ensure that its security forces, including the police and the army, respect and protect life and only resort to firearms as a last resort when faced with an imminent threat to life or of serious injury," Zeid said. A local militia has been increasingly active in DRC's Kasai Central Province, mostly attacking government buildings and churches, and national security forces. The militia also reportedly recruits and uses children. The UN Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) has been monitoring the Kamuina Nsapu situation closely over several months and has documented a recent flare-up in violence in Kasai Central Province. According to the UN office, some 50 people were killed by troops between Feb. 6 and 8 this year, and a further 101 people were reportedly killed in confrontations with soldiers between Feb. 9 and 13. Overall, the UNJHRO has documented the killings of more than 280 individuals since July 2016 in the context of this violence. "The DRC has long been afflicted by serious violence but amid a worrying escalation of violence in provinces considered relatively calm, I call again on the Government to redouble its efforts to tackle impunity that feeds further violence and human rights violations," said Zeid. The UN official also called on the UN Human Rights Council and the international community to monitor the security situation in DRC, including any progresses made by the authorities in investigating, prosecuting and punishing these crimes. ALGIERS, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Algerian Energy Minister, Noureddine Boutarfa, and his visiting Malian counterpart Malick Alhousseini on Monday agreed to boost bilateral energy cooperation, as an Algerian operator are due to build two large power plants in Northern Mali. The meeting between Bouterfa and Alhousseini is recommended by the energy cooperation agreement signed by the two neighboring nations in November 2016 in Bamako. After the meeting, Boutarfa told reporters that that Algeria was present in Mali through several actions, including in the energy sector. He further added that Algeria is ready to help Mali build and voltaic and wind energy plants, and the development of electrification networks. In this regard, Alhousseini said his meeting with Boutarfa aimed at identifying mechanisms for the achievement Malian energy program for supplying remote areas, including northern regions, with electricity by 2020. Later in the day the Algerian private group of Amimer Energy and the Energy Company of Mali (EDM) signed a contract worth 70 million US dollars to build two power plants with a capacity of 40 MW. The Malian minister further specified these project aims at augmenting Mali's power coverage which is currently standing around 36 percent. TUNIS, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Tunisian, the Algerian and the Egyptian foreign ministers said on Monday that the resolution of the Libyan conflict must imperatively be political and integrates all the intervening Libyan parties. After a meeting held in the capital Tunis since Sunday, the three ministers concluded in a declaration that "the resolution of the crisis in Libya can only be in the hands of the Libyans themselves." In addition, the three neighboring countries of Libya have expressed their categorical refusal of any military intervention in the Libyan territory in order to resolve the conflict. "The political aspect of the resolution, the preservation of the entire territory and the sovereignty of Libya remain the only issue," said the declaration announced by the Tunisian Foreign Minister Khemais Jhinaoui. This declaration insists as well on the prerogatives respect of Skhirat agreement signed in Morocco on December 2015 as a "reference text" under the aegis of the United Nations. The results of this tripartite meeting will be submitted to the heads of state of the three countries expected to meet in a tripartite summit to discuss the Libyan crisis. The presidential candidate of the ruling PAIS Alliance party Lenin Moreno attends a press conference in Quito, capital of Ecuador, on Feb. 20, 2017. The ruling party candidate Lenin Moreno is leading the Ecuadorian presidential race but the electoral authority said the final results may be known until a few more days. (Xinhua/Str) QUITO, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The ruling party candidate Lenin Moreno is leading the Ecuadorian presidential race but the electoral authority said the final results may be known until a few more days. The National Electoral Council (CNE) President Juan Pablo Pozo told local press on Monday that the full vote count would take another three days. Pozo said with 88.4 percent of the votes being counted, the candidate of the ruling PAIS Alliance party Moreno won 39.11 percent of votes, while his nearest rival Guillermo Lasso had 28.30 percent. However, President Rafael Correa stated that he would wait for the complete results of the election. "We must count vote by vote to see if this can be decided in a single round. If not, we will prepare for a new popular victory in April," said the president, who will step down on May 24 after 10 years in office. Pozo also pointed out that inconsistencies had been found in around 5.49 percent of ballots cast, but that "not one vote will be gifted or stolen from anyone." To win in the first round and avoid a runoff, Ecuadorian law requires a candidate to win an outright majority of more than 50 percent, or get at least 40 percent of the votes with a 10-point advantage over the runner up. According to the country's electoral authority, if neither of the two leading presidential candidates could ensure a first-round victory, the second round will be held on April 2. Pozo explained that he would invite the two leading candidates, Moreno and Lasso, to a joint work meeting to discuss the elections and the second round. Lasso is seeking to end a decade of socialist rule in Ecuador. On Monday, he also reacted on Twitter that "we will have a broad dialogue between all political forces. The people have decided they want a change. There will be a second round." However, Correa stated that the ruling party had enjoyed "another democratic celebration in a decade which has won much in political stability." He was jubilant that the PAIS Alliance had secured "an absolute majority in the Assembly...with 75 assembly members" out of 137. The assembly ballots were held alongside with the presidential election. General Assembly President Peter Thomson (C) makes a statement on the sudden passing of Russia n Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin at the United Nations headquarters in New York, on Feb. 20, 2017. The UN General Assembly on Monday mourned the sudden passing of Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin hours after his death was made public. (Xinhua/Li Muzi) UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The UN General Assembly on Monday mourned the sudden passing of Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin hours after his death was made public. Ahead of a General Assembly meeting held here, diplomats rose and stood in a moment of silence to pay a tribute to Churkin. Churkin, who has been the Russian permanent representative to the United Nations since 2006, died of an apparent heart attack in New York on Monday morning at the age of 64, just a day before his 65th birthday, local media said. General Assembly President Peter Thomson said that the assembly is shocked and deeply saddened by the passing of Churkin, while expressing the heartfelt condolences to Churkin's family as well as staff at the Russian mission to the UN. Thomson spoke highly of Churkin's "great intellect," sense of humor and his considerations for others. "We've all experienced and respected the pride that he took in serving his country and the passion at times of very stern resolution that he brought to his job," said Thomson. "Not only has Russia lost one of its truest sons, here at the United Nations, we've lost one of our truest," he added. The General Assembly will hold a formal meeting to pay a tribute in memory of the late Russian Ambassador Churkin at an appropriate time, according to Thomson. Born on Feb. 21, 1952 in Moscow, Churkin was ambassador-at-large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation from 2003 to 2006. He was his country's ambassador to Canada from 1998 to 2003, and to Belgium from 1994 to 1998 before he represented Russia at the United Nations since 2006. "The Russian Foreign Ministry is saddened to announce the death of Vitaly Churkin, Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN, on Monday in New York, a day before his 65th birthday," said a brief statement, without disclosing the cause of his death. The ministry expressed its condolences and hailed Churkin as an "outstanding diplomat," who has served as Russian envoy to the UN since 2006. U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with his new National Security Adviser Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster after making the announcement at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida U.S. February 20, 2017. (Xinhua/REUTERS) WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday named Lieutenant General Herbert McMaster as his new national security adviser. "He is a man of tremendous talent and tremendous experience ... he is respected by everybody in the military, we are very honored to have him," Trump said in his Florida residence Mar-a-Lago. For his part, McMaster said he looked forward to advancing and protecting the interest of the American people. The appointment came days after former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn resigned after it was revealed that he had misled Vice President Mike Pence about his telephone conversation with the Russian Ambassador to the United States, in which he made comments about U.S. sanction on Russia. McMaster, 54, is considered a military strategist among the U.S. top brass. He has written extensively on the U.S. military failures in the Vietnam War, and has contributed to a shift in tactics in the military campaign in Iraq. ANKARA, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- As ties between two prominent actors in the Middle East, Sunni Turkey and Shia Iran, are full of ups and downs, the two neighbors are again in war of words as their relations are getting strained after the Turkish president criticized Tehran of pursuing "Persian nationalism" in the region. Recently, President Erdogan visited Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Qatar in a bid to boost political and economic relations, and Ankara signed a defense cooperation agreement with Sunni Riyadh, a move that irks its regional rival Tehran. On top of that, in a speech in Bahrain, the Turkish president accused Tehran of meddling Iraq and Syria for, and promoting "Persian nationalism." "Some people want both Iraq and Syria to be divided. There are some that are working hard to divide Iraq. There is a secretariat struggle, a Persian nationalism at work there. This Persian nationalism is trying to divide the country. We need to block this effort," Erdogan said on Feb. 14. In response to the Turkish president's remarks, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said, "among regional leaders, no one more so than Mr. Erdogan is aware of Iran's constructive role in the region, especially in Iraq." "It is concerning that terrorist organizations in the region are being supported directly or indirectly to destabilize neighboring countries," said the statement on Feb. 15 without direct reference to Turkey. In Munich Security Conference last weekend, the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu joined the anti-Iran rhetoric of Israeli and Saudi Arabian ministers who signaled that they would cooperate with the new Trump administration in the region against Tehran. In a speech at the conference, Cavusoglu accused Tehran over "sectarian policies" in the region. The Turkish minister suggested that some of the actions of Iran had harmed the stability in the region. "Iran wants Syria and Iraq to make Shia," he said. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and the Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim met on the sidelines of the Munich Conference, the first high level meeting between the two NATO allies since new Trump administration. "Both leaders agreed that they would not allow Iran to undermine stability in the region," according to a press note provided by the White House. Iran's reaction was not delayed. Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi said on Monday that the Turkish minister's remarks were"not constructive." His country was "patient," but this patience has "limits," the spokesperson said. Iran's Foreign Ministry also summoned Turkish ambassador in Tehran Hakan Tekin on Monday over Turkish leadership's remarks. The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Monday responded saying that Tehran should "revise its regional policies and take constructive steps, rather than criticizing countries that voice criticism of Iran." Turkey and Iran are political and economic partners, but are also in power struggle in the Middle East, the Caucasus and Central Asia waging their political and military struggles along Shiite-Sunni sectarian lines. They have differences particularly on current political and military situation in Syria and Iraq. In Iraq, Iran backed Shi'ite Popular Mobilization Units and Shia politicians have been highly critical of Turkey's military presence in north of the country. Tehran opposes Turkey's military incursion into the Syrian territory suggesting it will only complicate the prospect to end the bloody war. Turkey is a long standing staunch opponent of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and lends support to the rebel groups since Syria was plunged into chaos in 2011, arguing al-Assad had lost his legitimacy to rule. Iran, along with Russia, stands by Assad and provides military backing to the government forces. Despite disagreements, two countries are also part of a recent cease-fire deal in Syria which is regarded as first step for political talks to end six years of war. Turkish Deputy Prime Minister and government spokesman Numan Kurtulmus on Monday tuned down the criticism and said "Iran and Turkey are friendly nations." "There can be differences in views from time to time, but there can't be animosity because of comments," he told reporters after a cabinet meeting. PRAGUE, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka announced dismissal of Industry and Trade Minister Jan Mladek, citing the disappointing performance of the department under his management as the reason. The current minister Jan Mladek would be replaced by the end of this month, Sobotka said. As Sobotka said, the Czech Republic has been known as one of the European countries with the most expensive mobile data, therefore, Mladek's replacement became obvious in the light of recent debates over Czech mobile service market and amendment to the Telecommunications Law. The prime minister said he was "really unsatisfied" with the results of Mladek in the field of investment promotion and exports development, which were "extremely important" for the country. Mladek, however, said that in his opinion mobile communication didn't really belong to the sphere of industry and trade, according to reports. He said that his dismissal was likely to be part of the political campaign before the elections scheduled for October 2017. Sobotka said he would submit his proposal for Mladek's dismissal to the country's President Milos Zeman and inform him of the name of the minister's successor on Thursday. Police dogs in the Carnival Police dogs, that is. National Security Minister Edmund Dillon yesterday confirmed that dogs from the Police K9 Unit will, under control of their handlers, mingle in and among revellers during Carnival to detect illegal drugs and also aid in maintaining law and order. Dillon said this is the first time that K9 dogs will play a major role as part of a package of anti-crime measures to be implemented during the ongoing Carnival Season. Dogs and their handlers will be out and about during Jouvert celebrations as well as in areas where there is a heavy concentration of revellers and mas related activities. TT Police Service Gold Commander for Carnival 2017, Deputy Commissioner of Police Deodath Dulalchan will hold a press conference today, Newsday was told, to inform the nation via the media of the rollout of anti-crime measures for Carnival 2017. Police shoot two, kills one The man who remained unidentified up to late yesterday, was one of two persons shot in separate incidents by officers of the Southern Division. In the first incident, at 2.45 am, Ste Madeleine police responded to a report of a break in at the Fujian Supermarket, Manahambre Road, Ste Madeleine. On arrival, the officers were confronted by two men one who opened fire on them. Fearing for their lives, the officers returned fire, hitting one of the bandits. The injured man was rushed to the San Fernando General Hospital where he died. Police said his accomplice managed to escape. Just after midday, officers again had to rush to the scene of another police involved shooting, this time at Pond Street, La Romaine. A rape/robbery suspect was armed with a cutlass when he was shot and wounded, a police report stated. He remains warded in serious condition at San Fernando General Hospital under police guard. Student threatens Miss The distressed teacher visited Cunupia Police Station to report the death threat. In October, the student who is a member of a gang, maliciously set fire to the school compound resulting in the principal, staff room, tuck-shop and other rooms being razed. A report on the incident was made to the Cunupia police and another report sent to the Ministry of Education. However, the ministry after reviewing the report, instructed that the student not be expelled and he returned to school in January. According to well-placed sources, the students father who is a police officer, has already stated that he cannot control the teenager. Teachers have said they are in no position to rehabilitate the youngster. The schoolboy was one of several students ordered transferred from the Chaguanas North Government School by Minister of Education Anthony Garcia last year for deviant behaviour. This student was transferred to the Cunupia High School and according to reports, the lives of teachers at the school have since become miserable because of his continued deviant behaviour. According to sources, the student has long unkempt hair and has not been wearing the school uniform when he attends classes. The female teacher who was threatened last week by the student, was in tears at the Cunupia Police Station, as she reported the threat. Other teachers at the school have also written to the Ministry of Education asking for an invention because they too have had instances of unruly and disrespectful behaviour from the same student. Teachers at the school said if the ministry fails to address the situation, they will be asking for transfers. Chalkie dazzles Calypso Fiesta Liverpool was one of 15 persons announced to challenge reigning Calypso Monarch Devon Seale at the big yard, Queens Park Savannah. It was not all smooth sailing for veterans of the calypso art form as two former calypso monarchs received the annual Calypso Fiesta toilet paper wave. However, Chalkie at 75, is still in his musical prime and he dazzled with his hard-hitting song 75 cannot go into 14. In song, he trained his guns on Maha Sabha leader Sat Maharaj over the controversial child marriage issue. Long division Sat Maharaj brother; you cyah divide a big number by a small number...because 75 cannot go into 14, Chalkie sang as the crowd went wild. Chalkies message in song was that a child should not be allowed to marry an older man. Singing since 1967, this will be Chalkies 48th visit to a Calypso Monarch finals, testament to his musical longevity. He has won the competition eight time. Patrons brought out their toilet paper to wave as seasoned calypsonian and former politician Winston Gypsy Peters performed when he sand Angry Land. We no longer care and hate is everywhere; angry soul and we are out of control, Gypsy sang as a sea of toilet paper, held high by the audience, waved in the breeze. He tried to pacify the crowds by doing an extempo line saying, The best audience no matter where I go...I call Cocoyea my home...why you treating me so? Former Calypso Monarch Roderick Chucky Gordon also got toilet paper for his song Tell Me Mr Trini in which he questioned what the PNM-led government is doing for the people. Former monarch Weston Cro Cro Rawlins received a warm reception for his song Final Send Off, an ode to deceased former prime minister Patrick Manning. Political commentary and crime were the major topics by many of the 43 performers at the Fiesta, where three so-called reserves were allowed to perform along with the 40 competitors. Of the 15 selected to challenge Seale in the Finals, eight are women. The finalists include: Weston Cro Cro Rawlins, Winston Gypsy Peters, Victoria Queen Victoria Cooper, Terri Lyons, Sasha Ann Moses, Rondell Donowa, Roderick Chucky Gordon, Miguella Simon, Marsha Lady Adana Charles, Lornette Fya Empress Reid, Kurt Allen, Karene Asche, Heather Mc Intosh, Hollis Mighty Chalkdust Liverpool and Anthony All Rounder Hendrickson. PM defends Camille To the best of my knowledge that article contained no new information and in fact contains significant misinformation. The information that I have is that the minister did respond and I am not aware that there is any minister in the Cabinet that has put any money in any bank and did not comply with the requirements of that . To not comply will have consequences to that and I am not aware that there is any minister facing consequences in that area. So, I dont know that there is anything for me to respond to. On January 8, 2016, Robinson- Regis was reported to have walked into the Arima branch of First Citizens with cash totalling $143,800. The minister had conducted two cash transactions a payment to T&T Mortgage Finance Company in the sum of $60,030 via a Managers Cheque #70260 and a payment of $16,000 to a Visa Card. Watchdog group Fixin T&T has since called on Robinson-Regis to make public the specifics of the bank transactions she conducted on January 8, 2016. PM, leaders agree on ICT Caricom leaders also agreed last Friday to support the establishment of an interim Tourism Working Group that will prepare a pilot, region-wide public relations and marketing initiative and include mechanisms for financing by the private and public sector. Caricom leaders next meet in conference in Grenada from July 4 to 6. I used to be one of those parents who took a second look at their kids bags of candy theyd gotten Halloween night and think, Wait a minute. Is that a full-size Butterfingers bar? Why would a kid need that much candy in one serving? Id either then ask if they really wanted that item or I "If it rains today, Alpaca the cart, and you push it." Kevin Wehrer was this week's winner. The winner's name will be put into a drawing for a free month subscription or extension. Look for a new photo Monday. President of Ghana Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has congratulated King Mohammed VI for Moroccos return to its African institutional family, saying Rabats comeback will give a new momentum to the African Union (AU). A joint statement issued following the official visit paid by the Moroccan Sovereign to this West African country Feb. 16-18 says the two leaders discussed the Sahara issue and agreed that the efforts made by the UN to reach a just, lasting and mutually agreed peaceful resolution should be given the needed support. The Ghanaian president and the Moroccan monarch also reviewed regional and international issues of common interest, adds the joint statement, hailing the convergence of views and stands of the two countries on several international issues. They condemned terrorism and violent extremism in all its forms and reaffirmed their support for regional and international efforts to combat this growing threat. The two African leaders pledged to join efforts to rev up CEN-SAD so that this regional organization will be able to fulfill its mission in the fields of peace, security, stability and development of its member states, particularly in the Sahel region. President Akufo-Addo voiced his countrys keen interest in the creation of the North-West African forum, which seeks to enhance coordination between member states in the political, economic and social fields, stresses the joint statement, underlining in this regard the importance of the gas pipeline project to be built from Nigeria up to Morocco. The landmark project, which will be beneficial to all the countries of the region, is a symbol of the South-South cooperation that African countries should promote in order to ensure Africas model of development as King Mohammed VI has consistently called for, says the Ghanaian president. He also hailed Moroccos migration policy and commended the North African Kingdoms contributions for the development and stability of the West African region, calling for the consolidation of relations between Rabat and ECOWAS. Regarding bilateral relations, president Akufo-Addo praised Moroccos constitutional reforms and congratulated the Sovereign for his exemplary leadership which has gained wide recognition in Africa and around the world. For his part, King Mohammed VI paid tribute to Ghana for its investment policy which turned the country into a major gateway for foreign direct investment in the continent. Both Heads of State underlined the need to build a strong economic partnership combining public and private sectors to serve as a model of South-South cooperation in the continent. They also expressed joint determination to enhance further cooperation in various sectors namely in transportation, tourism, energy, trade, fisheries and agriculture. The royal visit to Ghana, part of a new African tour, was crowned with the signing of 25 cooperation agreements in agriculture, industry, finance and the avoidance of double taxation. This visit has enabled Morocco to score another point against its enemies as it gained the support of another country which until recently was deceived by the Polisario separatists, armed and funded by Algeria. But, apparently, the more support Morocco wins in Africa, the more loss its foes incur in the continent. As Rabat goes up, its enemies go down. The Moroccan capital city Rabat is readying to welcome a multitude of African artists and culture-lovers to celebrate African multi-faceted culture and also Moroccos return to the African Union (AU) enacted on January 30. The Afrique en Capital festival, to go on from March 28 to April 28, will bring together movie directors, street art artists, photographers, painters, musicians etc. from the four corners of the continent, says the event organizer, the National Museums Foundation (FNM), in a statement. The event, which is described as promoter and federalist will become an annual festival if this first edition unfolds successfully, said Brahim El Mazned, the general coordinator of the event. Participants and delegates from at least 30 African countries are expected at the event. Even though names of prominent artists are still kept secret, the participation of Abdoulaye Konate, the celebrated Malian artist, winner of several awards, including Chevalier de lOrdre National du Mali and Chevalier de lOrdre des Arts et des Lettres de France, is already announced. The artist will display his pieces at the CDG exhibition hall, Espace Expression. Simultaneously, the Malian artist will also come under the spotlight in Casablanca from March 17 to April 16 at Gallery 38. Afrique en Capital will feature street art performances on four walls of the Moroccan capital. Artists will also showcase their painting skills on the citys tramway. African movie directors and actors have been invited to add their own touch to the event. For one week (April 10-15) and in collaboration with the Moroccan Cinema Center, directors and several African students in the movie industry will screen their movies. The event also features a number of conferences and forums, including on Moroccos historical heritage. Moroccos Human National Council (CNDH) will give a lecture every Thursday at the Mohammed VI Museum, the event organizers said. The US Defense Departments military section for Africa, AFRICOM has told Associated Press (AP) that the number of Tunisian terrorists affiliated to the Islamic State group in Libya has fallen from 5,000 fighters to a few hundreds. According to a 2015 UN report, Tunisia was the largest terrorist supplier, as over 5,000 Tunisians had left the country since 2011 to join terrorist groups in hotbed conflict zones, namely Syria, Iraq and Libya. The Stuttgart-based US-Africa command enabled Libyas Government of National Accord (GNA) to flash IS militants out of Sirte, last year. AFRICOM joined the Libyan anti-IS campaign in August and ended its operations in the country in December after it conducted close to 500 airstrikes. The US command told AP that the number has downsized due the death of thousands of terrorists and also because several have run away. In a case of recidivism, Dutch Far-right leader Geert Wilders uttered racist statements against Moroccan migrants in the Netherlands calling them scum and telling his supporters at a political rally that he will make the Netherlands ours again. The Moroccan scum in Holland once again not all are scum but there is a lot of Moroccan scum in Holland who make the streets unsafe, mostly young people and that should change, he told journalists. By igniting xenophobia, Wilders is building on a global upsurge in populism in the US, the UK, Eastern Europe and elsewhere. Following the example of US president Donald Trump, Wilders built his campaign by pledging a ban on Muslim immigration and closing all mosques as well as leaving the EU. Last December, Wilders was convicted of inciting discrimination and of insulting a group after he led an anti-Moroccan chant at a political rally. Wilders was found to have violated laws on inciting discrimination and group offense when he led a crowd at a political rally around the time of municipal elections in The Hague in chanting, Fewer, fewer to the question Do you want more or fewer Moroccans in this city and in the Netherlands?. Several members of the Moroccan community in the Netherlands took senior positions in the Dutch political scene. Recently, Khadija Arib from the Labor party became Speaker of the Dutch Parliament after she was elected by 83 MPs out of the 134 qualified to vote. Ahmed Aboutaleb, another member of the Labor Party, has been the Mayor of Rotterdam since January 5, 2009. He served as State Secretary for Social Affairs and Employment from February 22, 2007, until December 12, 2008, in the Cabinet Balkenende IV. Zambia, a long-time supporter of the Algerian-sponsored separatist thesis, is set to open a new chapter in its relations with Morocco marked by strong economic and political ties. King Mohammed VI, who is in Lusaka, the second stop in a new African tour that previously led him to Accra, is leading a political and economic delegation with a view to ushering a new era of cooperation with Zambia. Fostering economic ties is on the agenda of the royal visit as Zambia looks forward to taking advantage of the expertise and know-how of Moroccan firms notably in the fields of tourism, agriculture, renewable energies as well as telecommunications, finance and banking. The Kings visit to Zambia, started Sunday, comes after a successful visit to Ghana during which the King chaired the signing ceremony of 25 bilateral cooperation agreements. In keeping with a south-south cooperation policy in Africa underpinned by co-development and solidarity, Morocco had strengthened ties with countries that formerly espoused the separatists thesis, including Rwanda, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Nigeria. By joining words to action, Morocco led steady efforts in favor of African development that earned it credibility and respect in the continent leading to its triumphal return to the African Union with an outspoken majority. The visit to Zambia is part of a momentum to extend Moroccos cooperation model to the English-speaking African countries through the establishment of cooperation partnerships. Since ascending the throne in 1999, King Mohammed VI has prioritized Africa in his foreign policy, making 46 visits to 25 African countries and presiding over the signing of nearly a thousand bilateral and multilateral agreements in various areas. Mattis arrives in Baghdad. Photo: THOMAS WATKINS/AFP/Getty Images As a part of his global tour to clean up after President Trump, Defense Secretary James Mattis stopped in Baghdad Monday where he sought to reassure Iraqis feeling skittish about Trumps continued insistence that the U.S. should have already taken Iraqs oil and his suggestion that well have another chance. Were not in Iraq to seize anybodys oil, Mattis flatly told reporters. The secretary said his visit to Baghdad was to get current on the situation there, the political situation, the enemy situation and the friendly situation. But as with several of his recent stops in Europe, Mattis had to spend some of his time in the country smoothing over some of Trumps more controversial remarks. In addition to the denial of oil snatching, Mattis said Trumps revised executive order on immigration, expected to be issued this week, will no longer exclude Iraqis who partnered with U.S. troops from entering the U.S. I have not seen the new executive order, he said. But right now, Im assured that we will take steps to allow those who have fought alongside us to be allowed into the United States. The revised travel ban is still expected to place travel restrictions on other Iraqi citizens, though. Before trying to persuade Iraqis that Trumps statements should not always be taken seriously, Mattis did the same at a NATO meeting in Brussels, where he criticized Russia more than Trump ever has. The point about Russia is they have to live by international law just like we expect all mature nations on this planet to do, he said. He added that Russia must prove itself before its military can work alongside the U.S. Then in Munich, at a security conference, Mattis calmed the nerves of any NATO nations worried about Trumps warning last July that America would not defend its allies if they didnt fulfill their obligations to us. The reality is that American security is permanently tied to the security of Europe, Mattis said. When it comes to security no one goes their own way in this world. McCain at the Munich Security Conference on Friday. Photo: Andreas Gebert/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Senator John McCain continued to offer veiled and not-so-veiled criticism of President Trump and his administration over the weekend. In a Meet the Press interview that aired on Sunday, the Arizona Republican indirectly rejected the premise of Trumps Friday tweet calling critical news organizations the enemy of the American people, warning that suppression of the press is how dictators get started. McCain ominously reminded host Chuck Todd that authoritarians looking to consolidate their power historically start with eliminating press freedoms. If you want to preserve democracy as we know it, you have to have a free and many times adversarial press, McCain insisted. Im not saying that President Trump is trying to be a dictator, he added, Im just saying we need to learn the lessons of history. In the same interview, McCain indicated that he was worried about Trumps national-security goals and principles. Asked about his confidence in the president, McCain gingerly explained that he was worried about Trumps understanding of some of these issues and his contradictory articulations regarding areas of U.S. foreign policy like Russia. The senator also called Trumps recent moral equivalency of Vladimir Putins Russia and the U.S. a contradiction of everything the United States has ever stood for in the 20th and 21st century and warned that achieving some of Trumps stated goals in Europe would upset the last 70 years of a new world order. Trump has previously stated that he thought NATO was obsolete and has routinely expressed his support for the dismantling of the European Union. In light of the ongoing scandal regarding the possible links between the Kremlin and Trump advisers, McCain also concluded that he had more hope than belief that Americans could count on the Republican-controlled Congress to investigate President Trump should that prove necessary. Just how much McCain may be able to move that needle, or get such an investigation started by himself, remains to be seen. The senators comments on NBC reflected remarks that he made on Friday at the Munich Security Conference in Germany. In that speech, McCain promoted a worldview that clearly contradicted Trumps, though McCain declined to reference the president by name. Raising the stakes about as high as they can go, McCain warned conference attendees that the West was now facing an existential threat, and he worried that Western leaders, including in the U.S., seemed ready to give up on it in its hour of greatest need. The former presidential candidate also spoke out against several tenets of Trumpism, including the romanticization of authoritarianism, the disinterest in hard truth, the turn away from universal values and toward old ties of blood and race and sectarianism, and the hardening resentment toward immigrants and minorities. All of these remarks also echo or complement the many insights in this weeks New York cover story about McCain by Gabriel Sherman. As Sherman highlights, the ambivalent maverick has regularly struggled with when and how to respond to Trump a dynamic made all the more difficult by how unpredictable the president is and how isolating it can be to speak out against him. Regardless, though the legacy-minded McCain remains caught between president, party, and his occasionally shifting notions of principle, the senators pushback on Trump seems to be intensifying. Naive? Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images President Donald Trump likes risks, but can be naive, according to a psychological profile being assembled for Russian president Vladimir Putin as he prepares for his first meeting with Trump. NBC News spoke with former Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Fedorov, who provided details of the dossier, and suggested that Trump doesnt understand fully who is Mr. Putin. Very serious preparatory work is going on in the Kremlin, including a paper seven pages describing a psychological portrait of Trump, especially based on this last two to three months, and the last weeks, Fedorov told NBC News. This type of profile on another foreign leader is uncommon, NBC News says, but Moscow knows whats at stake when Putin and Trump finally meet. Trump has suggested his openness to lifting sanctions on Russia, and the Kremlin is reportedly taking steps to ensure that happens. Among the preparations are regular updates to the profile on the American president, who many in the Kremlin think views the presidency as a business, NBC News says. While Putin prepares to meet with Trump, Moscow is watching Washington closely as U.S. lawmakers push for further investigations into Trumps ties to Russia. These moves have the Kremlin worried Trump will lose the political capital needed to lift sanctions or otherwise smooth relations with Russia, NBC News says. Others in Moscow think the situation for their guy in D.C. is even more dire. Kremlin-friendly activist Sergei Markov, who called Trumps election a great day for American democracy, is now angry at how the president is being treated. As he told NBC News, the intelligence community wants to overthrow President Trump in a coup. U.S. Army Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster and President Trump. Photo: NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images President Donald Trump has found his national security adviser and once again, its a general. On Monday, Trump named Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster as his replacement for former NSA Michael Flynn and called the 54-year-old a man of tremendous talent and tremendous experience. Trump made the announcement while sitting on a golden couch at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, where he also said that acting NSA Keith Kellogg, a retired lieutenant general, will serve under McMaster as chief of staff. Additionally, Trump said that former U.N. ambassador John Bolton, a candidate for the NSA job, will be asked to work with us in a somewhat different capacity. A career Army officer, McMaster previously served as the director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center, described by USA Today as an internal think tank that looks at future threats and how to deal with them. In 2014, he was named to Time magazines 100 most influential list and called the architect of the future U.S. Army. In the magazine, retired Lieutenant General Dave Barno described McMaster as an iconoclast who repeatedly bucked the system and survived to join its senior ranks. The West Point graduate also has a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His dissertation was turned into the 1997 book Dereliction of Duty, which CNN said in 2006 is considered the seminal work on militarys responsibility during Vietnam to confront their civilian bosses when strategy was not working. While McMasters academic bona fides may stand in contrast with Trumps the Times says hes seen as one of the Armys leading intellectuals he shares the presidents opinion that the U.S. military is too small. We are outranged and outgunned by many potential adversaries, he said at a 2016 hearing of the Air-Land subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Our army in the future risks being too small to secure the nation. McMaster, who has been described as a blunt-spoken bulldog, joins Defense Secretary James Mattis, whose nickname is Mad Dog, and Homeland Security head John Kelly, a no-nonsense pragmatist, as one-time generals who have signed up to work in the Trump administration. Michael Cohen at Trump Tower in December. Photo: Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty Images President Trumps personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, recently hand-delivered a sealed peace plan to the White House outlining a way to remove the U.S. sanctions on Russia, a plan that was conceived by a pro-Putin Ukrainian lawmaker connected to Cohen by a Trump business associate with links to the mafia. This is according to a new report published by the New York Times on Sunday. The plan was apparently delivered to the desk of former national security adviser Michael Flynn one week before he was forced to resign over having allegedly had, and lied about, a discussion about U.S. sanctions with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. It is not clear if the plan was ever opened after being delivered to the White House, or if the plans proponents have discussed the plan with Trump or anyone else in the administration. The Times describes the group behind the plan as amateur diplomatic freelancers, and while this is obviously a lot more smoke in the already murky story regarding Team Trumps possible connections to Russia, the new report alleges no wrongdoing regarding the scheme. The Times explains that the wealthy Ukrainian lawmaker who came up with the plan, Andrii V. Artemenko, sees himself as a Trump-style leader of a future Ukraine and claims to have corruption evidence that can bring down current Ukrainian president Petro O. Poroshenko (in order to replace him with someone who is less hostile to Russia and thus amenable to Artemenkos peace plan). Artemenko also claims that top Putin aides have encouraged his plans, but the Ukrainian government is already disavowing Artemenkos efforts; they say that he was not authorized to present any such plan to a foreign government. Ukrainian political efforts to oppose Poroshenko were in part developed by former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, who left the campaign after his varied connections to Russia-aligned leaders in Ukraine were exposed back in August. Manafort and Artemenko have apparently never met. Poroshenko has been fighting a war against Russia-backed separatists in Eastern Ukraine since replacing his ousted pro-Russia predecessor, Viktor Yanukovych, in 2014. (And Manafort used to work for Yanukovych.) The Times and Politico also report that Artemenko met with Trump campaign officials after he traveled to Cleveland for last summers Republican National Convention. The Times adds that Artemenko says that he saw in Mr. Trump an opportunity to advocate a plan for peace in Ukraine and help advance his own political career. The other players in the story are: Trumps special counsel, Cohen, a top Trump Organization lieutenant with business and familial ties to Ukraine who is currently under investigation by the FBI over his possible connections to the Kremlin; and Felix Sater, a Russian-American businessman with a decade of experience working with the Trump Organization who once pled guilty in a mafia-linked stock-manipulation scheme and became a government informant. Sater, who has also done time for stabbing a man in the face with the stem of a margarita glass, has said in the past that he and Trump were close. Trump has denied that. A mutual friend apparently introduced Artemenko to Sater and they then involved Cohen. The three men allegedly worked on the deal at a Manhattan hotel in late January. Now, Artemenko is hoping the next national security adviser, whomever that is, will consider the plan after joining the Trump administration. A controversial and unverified dossier assembled by a former British intelligence agent alleged that Cohen had discussed Russias hacking of Democratic Party computer systems with a Russian official in Prague during Trumps campaign, but Cohen and the Russian official have both denied that allegation. Sater had apparently been working on a plan for a Trump Tower in Moscow that was halted on account of Trumps presidential campaign. Talking Points Memos Josh Marshall, for what its worth, thinks Saters inclusion in the report is a very big deal, since Sater was at the center of the Trump Soho development project in Manhattan, which Marshall notes was the Trump project with the most Russia-linked shadiness. Photo: Adam Berry/Getty Images The #DeleteUber hashtag is going around Twitter again, and this time the controversy has nothing to do with the Trump administration. In a blog post published Sunday, former Uber engineer Susan J. Fowler describes the institutional sexism she allegedly encountered while working for the ride-hailing company over the last year, calling the experience strange, fascinating, and slightly horrifying. Fowler, who left Uber in December and now works at Stripe, says that a few weeks after she started at Uber, her new manager sent her messages explaining that he was in an open relationship and looking for women to have sex with. Fowler took screenshots and reported the incident to HR. She says that while both upper management and HR agreed that he was propositioning her, they said they would only give him a warning because he was a high performer and it was his first offense. She writes: I was then told that I had to make a choice: (i) I could either go and find another team and then never have to interact with this man again, or (ii) I could stay on the team, but I would have to understand that he would most likely give me a poor performance review when review time came around, and there was nothing they could do about that. I remarked that this didnt seem like much of a choice, and that I wanted to stay on the team because I had significant expertise in the exact project that the team was struggling to complete (it was genuinely in the companys best interest to have me on that team), but they told me the same thing again and again. One HR rep even explicitly told me that it wouldnt be retaliation if I received a negative review later because I had been given an option. I tried to escalate the situation but got nowhere with either HR or with my own management chain (who continued to insist that they had given him a stern-talking to and didnt want to ruin his career over his first offense). Fowler decided to leave the team, but as she got to know other women at the company, she discovered they had similar stories about the manager. It became obvious that both HR and management had been lying about this being his first offense, and it certainly wasnt his last, she says. Within a few months, he was reported once again for inappropriate behavior, yet those who reported him were told it was still his first offense. Eventually the manager left the company for unclear reasons. Fowler goes on to describe a game-of-thrones political war in the infrastructure engineering department, with upper managers openly working to undermine each other. Fowler says she was shocked and saddened when her transfer requests were blocked, despite receiving perfect performance scores. After much pushing, she was given only vague explanations, such as performance problems arent always something that has to do with work, but sometimes can be about things outside of work or your personal life. She says she eventually found out she was being held back because she was one of the only remaining female engineers: It turned out that keeping me on the team made my manager look good, and I overheard him boasting to the rest of the team that even though the rest of the teams were losing their women engineers left and right, he still had some on his team. When I joined Uber, the organization I was part of was over 25% women. By the time I was trying to transfer to another eng organization, this number had dropped down to less than 6%. Women were transferring out of the organization, and those who couldnt transfer were quitting or preparing to quit. There were two major reasons for this: there was the organizational chaos, and there was also the sexism within the organization. When I asked our director at an org all-hands about what was being done about the dwindling numbers of women in the org compared to the rest of the company, his reply was, in a nutshell, that the women of Uber just needed to step up and be better engineers. In another bizarre incident, Fowler says the company promised to buy everyone in her organization leather jackets, then, at the last minute, the women were told they would only go to the men. They company received a discount for buying 120 mens leather jackets, but there were only about six women still working in the organization. Fowler says a superior explained it wouldnt be fair to buy the women slightly more expensive jackets, and if they wanted them we women needed to find jackets that were the same price as the bulk-order price of the mens jackets. Fowler says the last straw was when HR called her out for consistently reporting incidents of sexism, and asked her whether she was friends with other female engineers, and what email addresses and chat rooms they used to communicate. A week later, her boss called her in for a meeting: He told me I was on very thin ice for reporting his manager to HR. California is an at-will employment state, he said, which means we can fire you if you ever do this again. I told him that was illegal, and he replied that he had been a manager for a long time, he knew what was illegal, and threatening to fire me for reporting things to HR was not illegal. I reported his threat immediately after the meeting to both HR and to the CTO: they both admitted that this was illegal, but none of them did anything. (I was told much later that they didnt do anything because the manager who threatened me was a high performer). After Fowlers post began circulating, another former Uber employee said hed had a similar experience with the companys human resources department. This is outrageous and awful. My experience with Uber HR was similarly callous & unsupportive; in Susan's case, it was reprehensible. https://t.co/eSiOuHSMjU Chris Messina (@chrismessina) February 19, 2017 Uber CEO Travis Kalanick released a statement promising to conduct an urgent investigation and fire anyone who behaves this way or thinks this is okay. I have just read Susan Fowlers blog. What she describes is abhorrent and against everything Uber stands for and believes in. Its the first time this has come to my attention so I have instructed Liane Hornsey our new Chief Human Resources Officer to conduct an urgent investigation into these allegations. We seek to make Uber a just workplace and there can be absolutely no place for this kind of behavior at Uber and anyone who behaves this way or thinks this is OK will be fired. Uber board member Arianna Huffington said she would conduct her own investigation: Just talked w/ Travis & as a representative of Uber's Board I will work w/Liane to conduct a full independent investigation starting now 1/2 Arianna Huffington (@ariannahuff) February 20, 2017 You can email me directly: ah@thriveglobal.com 2/2 Arianna Huffington (@ariannahuff) February 20, 2017 Uber has faced multiple accusations of sexism. In 2014, senior vice-president Emil Michael suggested launching a smear campaign against unfriendly journalists specifically, PandoDailys Sarah Lacy, who accused the company of sexism and misogyny. Uber has also faced criticism over how it handles sexual harassment and assault allegations against its drivers. In November, Uber settled a lawsuit filed in California by two women who say their Uber drivers sexually assaulted them. I didn't know they had a brother Reply Thread Link did everyone in this fucking family get lyme disease Reply Thread Link u know it!!! and the "sympathy" worked. Reply Parent Thread Link No, there's doctors that diagnose Lyme disease when the individuals have something else or are hypochondriacs. It's strange, but somehow not that exposed (yet). It has nothing to do with real Lyme disease or its treatment. Reply Parent Thread Link oh. so there isn't an army of ticks infecting people in NYC or wherever these people live Edited at 2017-02-19 11:27 pm (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Expand Link my ex best friend did this. one month she had lime disease, then the next month her son had it, then the next son got it too. No one ended up ever having it.... rme Reply Parent Thread Link I know a girl who has "had" Lyme disease for about 4 years now and there's no progression towards recovery. I'm convinced it's mental illness. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link lmao yeah except i think gigi is the only one who didn't get it. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link lmao MTE What's going on there? Reply Parent Thread Link Yeah, that is really strange. Its not like 3 people even if you were all out hiking together and ALL got bitten by a tick would all get lyme disease. So this sounds unbelievable. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I mean my friend's family all has lyme so \_()_/ Reply Parent Thread Link It's bullshit She claims they were all bit in CA by horseflies around the same time when they lived on a ranch except horseflies don't transmit lyme disease and there are so few instances of lyme in CA that her family would account for 5% of all cases in the state which is really unlikely for a single family and chronic lyme isn't even provable Reply Parent Thread Expand Link when i was in middle school my mom got diagnosed with lyme, then me, then my brother. we all thought that was sketchy as hell and stopped going to that doctor. no other doctor has found lyme in any of us. so creepy Reply Parent Thread Link they are all liars. kardashians 0.2 Reply Parent Thread Link i hate this family so much. Reply Thread Link smh trash Reply Thread Link wait when has chocolate and onions been a korean stereotype? this is a fucking reach. Reply Thread Link Yeah, I was trying to connect the dots, but I can't. Maybe it really just stunk. Sometimes shit just stinks. Reply Parent Thread Link Garlic has been a Korean stereotype and really, onion is a mild version of garlic (in terms of smell) so maybe he got those confused. Also, actual Koreans in Korea are pissed off about it and who is ONTD to dismiss native Koreans calling it racist? Sorry for posting this comment multiple times, but I wanted to respond to everyone... :) Let me know if you have any questions. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link this is armchair activism at its worst. the fact that they went digging through instagram to find 'receipts' in a 2 year old post is fucking laughable. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Yeah I'm confused by this Reply Parent Thread Expand Link yeah that's...what??? Reply Parent Thread Expand Link right??? I've never heard of that before so if someone could enlighten me that would be great Reply Parent Thread Expand Link ok glad i wasnt the only one who didnt get it lol i genuinely dont understand D; Reply Parent Thread Expand Link maybe that starbucks was serving lots of onion lattes and chocolate fraps that day? Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I really can't make the connection either... Reply Parent Thread Expand Link mte, i was so confused...someone needs to explain to me why this is offensive because i honestly don't get the connection OTL Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Garlic has been a Korean stereotype and really, onion is a mild version of garlic (in terms of smell) so maybe he got those confused. Also, actual Koreans in Korea are pissed off about it and who is ONTD to dismiss native Koreans calling it racist? Reply Parent Thread Link mte i've never heard of that Reply Parent Thread Link Yeah... I lived there for almost a year and this does not compute. If he said rotting cabbage, skunk and/or manure, then I would be like... well it does. Reply Parent Thread Link The chocolate was because he was in a Starbucks, I think.. Reply Parent Thread Link I lived in South Korea and have no idea what smell he's talking about. All of the coffee shops I went to smelled completely normal. Reply Parent Thread Link Yeah. I'm like ??? Reply Parent Thread Link Garlic has been a Korean stereotype and really, onion is a mild version of garlic (in terms of smell) so maybe he got those confused. Also, actual Koreans in Korea are pissed off about it and who is ONTD to dismiss native Koreans calling it racist? Sorry for posting this comment multiple times, but I wanted to respond to everyone... :) Let me know if you have any questions. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link i'm also confused Reply Parent Thread Expand Link garlic is from the kimchi (fermented cabbage) but I like that smell lol Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I can't really speak for Koreans or how it falls under racism, but isn't it a thing for foreigners to complain about how some countries have weird and nasty smells as a way to imply the country as a whole is dirty? Like cultural ignorance I guess. Idk if that makes sense, my English is failing me rn lol. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link i'm Korean and i've literally never heard of this?? i don't even know Reply Parent Thread Expand Link It's not a specific slur, but it does reflect a whiny and nasty attitude a lot of westerner people take toward Korean food. When I was in Seoul it was embarrassing to see how often someone would be having tantrums over their food being ~too intense~ or ~so stinky~ when two minutes ago they were going on and on about how important it was to get an authentic Korean experience. As an American in Korea I also found that when I'd order more traditional dishes the waiters would spend a fair amount of time asking if I was okay with pepper/garlic/kim chi etc. because non-Koreans complain so much. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Garlic has been a Korean stereotype and really, onion is a mild version of garlic (in terms of smell) so maybe he got those confused. Also, actual Koreans in Korea are pissed off about it and who is ONTD to dismiss native Koreans calling it racist? Sorry for posting this comment multiple times, but I wanted to respond to everyone... :) Let me know if you have any questions. Reply Parent Thread Link oh, come on. Reply Thread Link Garlic has been a Korean stereotype and really, onion is a mild version of garlic (in terms of smell) so maybe he got those confused. Also, actual Koreans in Korea are pissed off about it and who is ONTD to dismiss native Koreans calling it racist? Sorry for posting this comment multiple times, but I wanted to respond to everyone... :) Let me know if you have any questions. Reply Parent Thread Link knetz is crazy and i don't take them seriously or think they're representative of the korean population. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link i've never in my life heard of this koreans/garlic relationship?? does that mean if i said something stank of garlic while visiting korea that i'm racist??? lol what even tho. also garlic and onion are two different smells imo, so. Reply Parent Thread Link 12 in my mind lol Reply Parent Thread Link i think he's 18 Reply Parent Thread Link He's 17. I feel old. Reply Parent Thread Link I don't get it, is that a common slur there?. I googled chocolate and onions korea and didn't get any results either. Reply Thread Link Garlic has been a Korean stereotype and really, onion is a mild version of garlic (in terms of smell) so maybe he got those confused. Also, actual Koreans in Korea are pissed off about it and who is ONTD to dismiss native Koreans calling it racist? Sorry for posting this comment multiple times, but I wanted to respond to everyone... :) Let me know if you have any questions. Reply Parent Thread Link but... a starbucks that smelled like chocolate and onions..wouldnt..smell...good? And starbucks...is..an american...company???? this is such a reach I just.. Reply Thread Link Garlic has been a Korean stereotype and really, onion is a mild version of garlic (in terms of smell) so maybe he got those confused. Also, actual Koreans in Korea are pissed off about it and who is ONTD to dismiss native Koreans calling it racist? Also, I don't know where he would get that it would smell like onion, because Korean Starbucks don't sell anything with onion in it. Sorry for posting this comment multiple times, but I wanted to respond to everyone... :) Let me know if you have any questions. Reply Parent Thread Link maybe I'm dim and don't know anything about Korean stereotypes but isn't he talking about the store and not people? I couldn't care less about the guy but I mean...going back 2 years to prove someone is racist and this is the only receipt? Reply Thread Link I just realized this was posted 2 years ago like what the hell lol Reply Parent Thread Link He posted it when he was 15 too. Reply Parent Thread Link Starbucks is an American store too if he said that about a traditional Korean place it'd be more understandable but this is confusing to me. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Garlic has been a Korean stereotype and really, onion is a mild version of garlic (in terms of smell) so maybe he got those confused. Also, actual Koreans in Korea are pissed off about it and who is ONTD to dismiss native Koreans calling it racist? Sorry for posting this comment multiple times, but I wanted to respond to everyone... :) Let me know if you have any questions. Reply Parent Thread Link are these common slurs used for koreans? i hadn't heard of it before... Reply Thread Link Garlic has been a Korean stereotype and really, onion is a mild version of garlic (in terms of smell) so maybe he got those confused. Also, actual Koreans in Korea are pissed off about it and who is ONTD to dismiss native Koreans calling it racist? I've personally experienced this where someone said my home smelled badly and specifically referred to garlic (like are you guys vampires, etc). Sorry for posting this comment multiple times, but I wanted to respond to everyone... :) Let me know if you have any questions. Reply Parent Thread Link no need to apologize! thanks for the reply. i'm sorry if i came across as dismissive, i truly had never heard of it before but that's good to know. Reply Parent Thread Link I would trade Dorit for that storyline tbh. Reply Parent Thread Link Dorit and her husband are the worst. Reply Parent Thread Link Am I racist for saying the african hair dressers I went to today smelled? I mean I endured it because I wanted my hair done and they were super nice- expecially the lady doing my hair, but it was rank up in there. Reply Thread Link YOU RACIST!!! Reply Parent Thread Link salons in general smell to me because of all the chemicals Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Garlic has been a Korean stereotype and really, onion is a mild version of garlic (in terms of smell) so maybe he got those confused. Also, actual Koreans in Korea are pissed off about it and who is ONTD to dismiss native Koreans calling it racist? Sorry for posting this comment multiple times, but I wanted to respond to everyone... :) Let me know if you have any questions. Reply Parent Thread Link "Am I racist for saying the african hair dressers I went to today smelled? I mean I endured it because I wanted my hair done and they were super nice- expecially the lady doing my hair, but it was rank up in there" Are you white, though ? Reply Parent Thread Link prob a mix of all the chemicals/hair products theyve been using at work all intermingling uncomfortably in ur nose Reply Parent Thread Link as I said over on ontd_blacksails, I'm Silverflint trash, but Dimplemas was always my first love and always will be. I love Silverflint as it gives Flint a second chance at love, but bc it never competed with Dimplemas, who will forever be perfect and untarnished. Now that the possibility of Thomas is back in play, Silver hew? I know it's my own post but just ASGKSGFGHAKDHHSKDas I said over on ontd_blacksails, I'm Silverflint trash, but Dimplemas was always my first love and always will be. I love Silverflint as it gives Flint a second chance at love, but bc it never competed with Dimplemas, who will forever be perfect and untarnished. Now that the possibility of Thomas is back in play, Silver hew? Reply Thread Link So TH being still alive is confirmed now, yes I mean those tweets Reply Parent Thread Link i mean not necessarily, they could just be commenting on what a shocker that was Reply Parent Thread Link But Thomas and Flint have grown up from those blessed days of closet bliss. I am wary that one or the other wouldn't have the same feels as before... Silver/flint had their build up and even if they write Silver as being Madi's lover.... I wish I could see something there after so long. Silver got a spark back in Flint... I am giddy by the news though.... should be an interesting twist! Reply Parent Thread Link [ Spoiler (click to open) ] Thomas has to be alive, rite? Like there is no way they're fucking with us on this RIGHT Seriously tho, there was no reason for Max and Silver be talking in depth about this LGBTQ retreat in the upstate Florida/downstate Georgia wilderness that is reform-minded that just so happens to cater to undesirables in families, prominent families. In London. And it just so happens that Silver turned into the WTF emoji when Max tells him this, and then he presses her to ask specifically what kind of families. And just in case the viewers weren't sure, it also just so the fuck happens that Silver mentions this possibility to Flint (albeit hypothetically at this point) and they have another little chat about Thomas and whether or not Flint would give up the war to have him back. And he would, you know he would. I'm down for this being the actual death of Flint. Reunion with Thomas Hamilton. But I know it's not gonna be that simple and even if it happens it'll probably be heartbreaking and unspeakably sad and I'll cry actual human tears because there is no happiness on Black Sails ever SPEAKING OF. ANNE. MY GOD, MY SWEET ANNE. Ugh, that sequence was brutal, and what she did for a crew that frankly doesn't appreciate her the way they should was heroic and hard to watch and she is the GOAT, fuck your faves. Jack is still sitting there mute and useless as a corpse and Anne has got to realize she's outgrown him. She's paid whatever debt she thinks she's owed probably years before the events of this show, she needs to move on and into the loving embrace of Max. Eleanor...ugh, god. She's trying to be redeeming in my eyes with her convo with Max and whatnot and idk, I still think she's gonna die. I just don't think they'll let her live. I'm excited to see Flint and Eleanor together, those fucking 2. Flint has got some kind of angle, I know he does. Is he gonna work with Eleanor for real for real or is he gonna backstab her? I don't know which I want. And Silver's in a bit of a pickle, isn't he. He and Flint tag-teaming the heauxs was so much fun to watch, but it hurts my heart because it's not gonna last, Billy's already gotten inside Silver's head talking about Madi. Which I find fascinating, because between Billy and Flint, Silver, which of the two POINTED A FUCKING GUN AT MADI AND HER MEN AND GAVE THE ORDER TO FIRE Flint has done nothing but protect Madi in your absence. If Madi's in danger of being corrupted by anything, it's gonna be by you your damnself, Silver. Even Hands said Flint was counseling Silver to be reasonable. I have a feeling Silver is gonna go too far too fast with his villainry, especially with Flint gone now. Also fuck Billy. Fuck his beard, fuck his biceps, fuck his general life endeavors. He was petulant as fuck this episode and he's not gonna wanna give up the treasure either, not to get Flint back. UGH WHAT A MESS I am intrigued by the entrance of King Julius, Breaker of Chains. A CHALLENGER APPEARS. He hates the pirates so I imagine Madi is gonna have to play point on that. I also did not appreciate the slave sequences at the beginning of the episode. It felt longer than it actually was and I could've done without it tbh. I expect to be given a torture sequence involving former slaves getting some payback on the masters. Ugh this episode was really really good but I'm really preoccupied with the notion that Thomas might still be alive. I will renounce any and all ties and affiliations with the notion that Silver should be shacking up with Flint if Thomas is alive. The ending would be bittersweet, ugly sobbing, utterly magnificent L I F E and I will accept nothing else now. Thomas has to be alive, rite? Like there is no way they're fucking with us on thisRIGHTSeriously tho, there was no reason for Max and Silver be talking in depth about this LGBTQ retreat in the upstate Florida/downstate Georgia wilderness that is reform-minded thatto cater to undesirables in families, prominent families. In London. And itthat Silver turned into the WTF emoji when Max tells him this, and then he presses her to ask specifically what kind of families. And just in case the viewers weren't sure, it alsothat Silver mentions this possibility to Flint (albeit hypothetically at this point) and they have another little chat about Thomas and whether or not Flint would give up the war to have him back. And he would, you know he would.I'm down for this being the actual death of Flint. Reunion with Thomas Hamilton. But I know it's not gonna be that simple and even if it happens it'll probably be heartbreaking and unspeakably sad and I'll cry actual human tears because there is no happiness on Black Sails everSPEAKING OF. ANNE. MY GOD, MY SWEET ANNE.Ugh, that sequence was brutal, and what she did for a crew that frankly doesn't appreciate her the way they should was heroic and hard to watch and she is the GOAT, fuck your faves. Jack is still sitting there mute and useless as a corpse and Anne has got to realize she's outgrown him. She's paid whatever debt she thinks she's owed probably years before the events of this show, she needs to move on and into the loving embrace of Max.Eleanor...ugh, god. She's trying to be redeeming in my eyes with her convo with Max and whatnot and idk, I still think she's gonna die. I just don't think they'll let her live. I'm excited to see Flint and Eleanor together, those fucking 2. Flint has got some kind of angle, I know he does. Is he gonna work with Eleanor for real for real or is he gonna backstab her? I don't know which I want. And Silver's in a bit of a pickle, isn't he. He and Flint tag-teaming the heauxs was so much fun to watch, but it hurts my heart because it's not gonna last, Billy's already gotten inside Silver's head talking about Madi. Which I find fascinating, because between Billy and Flint, Silver, which of the two POINTED A FUCKING GUN AT MADI AND HER MEN AND GAVE THE ORDER TO FIREFlint has done nothing but protect Madi in your absence. If Madi's in danger of being corrupted by anything, it's gonna be by you your damnself, Silver. Even Hands said Flint was counseling Silver to be reasonable. I have a feeling Silver is gonna go too far too fast with his villainry, especially with Flint gone now. Also fuck Billy. Fuck his beard, fuck his biceps, fuck his general life endeavors. He was petulant as fuck this episode and he's not gonna wanna give up the treasure either, not to get Flint back. UGH WHAT A MESSI am intrigued by the entrance of King Julius, Breaker of Chains. A CHALLENGER APPEARS. He hates the pirates so I imagine Madi is gonna have to play point on that. I also did not appreciate the slave sequences at the beginning of the episode. It felt longer than it actually was and I could've done without it tbh. I expect to be given a torture sequence involving former slaves getting some payback on the masters.Ugh this episode was really really good but I'm really preoccupied with the notion that Thomas might still be alive. I will renounce any and all ties and affiliations with the notion that Silver should be shacking up with Flint if Thomas is alive. The ending would be bittersweet, ugly sobbing, utterly magnificent L I F E and I will accept nothing else now. So I just wanna say Reply Thread Link i haven't even clicked the spoiler tag yet b/c i know i need a drink before i settle in to read your glorious comment Reply Parent Thread Link gotta run but this comment is A++++ Reply Parent Thread Link [ OK IM READY ] if thomas isn't alive, i'm never going to let the writers live that ultimate gay bait down. they'll be persona non grata to me until they make explicit, sniveling, groveling amends and give me an alternate ending graphic novel spin off. i need to know what flint's aim with eleanor is b/c while i want them to fall back into old habits of working together, their goals are so at odds, and billy and roger will never let any kind of peaceful plan come to fruition. AND MTE ABOUT FLINT PROTECTING MADI. flint and madi are the sleeper hit of this season. they're so good together. it's like finally having two intelligent adults in a room working together. my ass feels more secure and that's not even my world. flint and madi (plus silver) is dream team shit. silver is gonna regret pushing flint away because other people planted toxic fears in his head. my money is on julius and madi absolutely making a deal at some point. and furthermore, i don't see madi being silver's wife at the end. there's no happy ending for him when this is all through. she's gotta put her people first and julius seems like the right guy to help her make that happen. also mte @ that last bit. thomas/flint are the truth. if they get a reunion, it's gonna be so interesting to see what their new dynamic is, since thomas hasn't even met flint before (and who knows what's changed about thomas after everything he's likely been through omg) this show... constantly fucking me up. they better not fumble this thomas tease tho. if thomas isn't alive, i'm never going to let the writers live that ultimate gay bait down. they'll be persona non grata to me until they make explicit, sniveling, groveling amends and give me an alternate ending graphic novel spin off.i need to know what flint's aim with eleanor is b/c while i want them to fall back into old habits of working together, their goals are so at odds, and billy and roger will never let any kind of peaceful plan come to fruition.AND MTE ABOUT FLINT PROTECTING MADI. flint and madi are the sleeper hit of this season. they're so good together. it's like finally having two intelligent adults in a room working together. my ass feels more secure and that's not even my world. flint and madi (plus silver) is dream team shit. silver is gonna regret pushing flint away because other people planted toxic fears in his head.my money is on julius and madi absolutely making a deal at some point. and furthermore, i don't see madi being silver's wife at the end. there's no happy ending for him when this is all through. she's gotta put her people first and julius seems like the right guy to help her make that happen.also mte @ that last bit. thomas/flint are the truth. if they get a reunion, it's gonna be so interesting to see what their new dynamic is, since thomas hasn't even met flint before (and who knows what's changed about thomas after everything he's likely been through omg)this show... constantly fucking me up. they better not fumble this thomas tease tho. Reply Parent Thread Link [ Spoiler (click to open) ] my money is on julius and madi absolutely making a deal at some point. They released a clip of 4.05 before 4.04 even aired. I don't know if you want to be spoiled about it though and I know spoiler tags don't always work in emails Reply Parent Thread Link [ Spoiler (click to open) ] my money is on julius and madi absolutely making a deal at some point. and furthermore, i don't see madi being silver's wife at the end. there's no happy ending for him when this is all through. she's gotta put her people first and julius seems like the right guy to help her make that happen. I would expect Madi to always put the needs of her people above her own wants IE Silver if the two ever clashed. I know that the idea of benevolent King Silver is cute but I don't think it's gonna last the next few episodes honestly. John Silver is the villain in Treasure Island so if they're setting that up, Silver's gotta go full evil. And hell it might be next episode if they argue about the treasure and getting Flint back calling it now, if Silver actually goes back to get the treasure, it ain't gonna be there. I bet Flint moved it already. I want Flint and Eleanor to scheme together because I miss them together but I can't see how it works out re: Billy and Rogers. There's no way we can resolve shit peacefully now. But he's up to...something. I don't even know. I just want more Flint and Madi together, without Silver actually lol. They have such a good dynamic and I knew they would and I'm still not over her quoting Don Quixote, I need them to discuss literature more please and thank you. Like I said in the other comm, I'm perfectly fine with Thomas and Flint reuniting and it not being about a romance. Or it being heart wrenchingly sad and awful. I just want to see it because Flint has got to look him in the eye after everything he's done, I need to see it This glorious ass comment right here <333 Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I want to tattoo this comment all over my body, A++++ Reply Parent Thread Link I'm just catching up with season 4 and I feel the exact same way. Reply Parent Thread Link Also Anne is the queen of everything and needs to dump Jack's sorry ass asap. (also I wish I didn't have to go to work rn. I'll be back w more feelings.) Reply Thread Link actual footage of me: Edited at 2017-02-20 06:00 am (UTC) anne was such a boss omg. flint's face in that scene with silver T_T (you know what one). elinor's ~condition!!! THOMAS!!!! if he is alive istg!!!! max and elinor!!! that ending!!!!!!! where do i even start????actual footage of me: Reply Thread Link lol this gif Reply Parent Thread Link lol accurate gif is accurate Reply Parent Thread Link Silverflint is perfect and every new scene together is so good. Also I know it's such an unpopular opinion but I don't want Thomas to be alive. I can't fully explain why. I know a bit of it relates to Miranda being dead but the rest idk. Edited at 2017-02-20 06:06 am (UTC) Reply Thread Link same tbh like I'd like a happy ending for Flint, but Thomas' death was such huge part of Flint's motivation it'd feel cheap if he was all "surprise I'm fine" Reply Parent Thread Link i love this fucking show. season 4 is already legendary and it's only been 4 eps... gay sails is finally back real quick thoughts: - flint saying max's name shook me - anne being the greatest, truest, bravest warrior tv has ever seen shook me - jpk acting circles around everyone on this show, except toby stephens, shook me - bill, jack, and roger need to die. they just gotta go. - silver needs to stop buying his own hype - eleanor/flint - silver/max - flint/thomas lajsdlkajsdlkajsd - 10/10* perfect episode for beautiful, earned character moments Reply Thread Link silver needs to stop buying his own hype lol this. I think it's gonna become borderline unbearable next episode It was such a good episode. I hope they're all of this caliber Reply Parent Thread Link lowkey he already is honestly i haven't felt this positive about a black sails episode since season 2. season 3 was full of misery. good episodes and writing, but fucking misery. i know things are generally gonna be dark, but there's suddenly some light at the end of the tunnel? maybe?? thomas' resurrection is the best thing to ever happen to me alksjdkjasld Reply Parent Thread Link - flint saying max's name shook me TF ME TOO? - anne being the greatest, truest, bravest warrior tv has ever seen shook me But where is she Reply Parent Thread Link I always had hope Thomas was alive tbh not going to get my hopes up but I'm almost positive that there were spoilers that the actor filmed scenes for S4 that ppl thought were flashbacks or maybe I'm crazy and making this up in my head. Also the Billy/Silver scene. Anne. Jack is definitely dying this season. I just need Max/Anne walking off into the sunset. This. entire episode was A+ they are really delivering this season. Reply Thread Link I'm not ready for Anne to lose Jack Reply Parent Thread Link Im so bad at remembering shit when Silver mentioned Thomas I was like omg how does he know about him?! smh also lol @ Luke's tweet. Anyways can't wait to see how all that plays out! Anne! I love her and Jack. Im going to be so sad when he dies, but at least she'll have Max. Reply Thread Link i haven't watched the episode yet so i'm gonna gtfo but omfg i'm already emotional!! Reply Thread Link well, lol. i know it's an unpopular opinion and i'm in the minority but i still don't really want thomas to come back. i just feel like it's cheap and contrived. going back and rewatching earlier eps, i feel like all of the really incredible meaning will be undermined by the awareness that thomas is alive. i know people ship flint/happiness even at the expense of the integrity of the storytelling and i cant hate on that, but... eh, idk. anyway, i'm not convinced it's even really going there. they showed their hand pretty early. there could be another twist coming. also lol @ luke's tumblr tweet Reply Thread Link idk if you're in such a minority, I've seen quite a lot of people voice a similar opinion. But yeah I feel like if anything, Thomas being alive would make a rewatch even more tragic, not less. And I don't think a return of Thomas would spell a happy end for Flint, it would def be a lot more ambiguous. Also it wouldn't really be out of left field (the way the flashbacks ended so abruptly always seemed to indicate that there was more to come and we only rationalized the weird storytelling re: Thomas after that with decisions made by The Powers That Be). But honestly I don't get why you think it would undermine the things that have happened? Flint won't be able to magically revert back to McGraw, all of this has sailed long ago. In fact, nothing about the odiousness of Thomas' father would change fundamentally, England would still be the same etc, the only tragedy would be that in channeling his energy to rage against the system~, Flint probably missed a chance to live a good, settled life. But that's true in any case (and underlined by what Ruth tells Madi in this ep about what's important in life). But I agree that there will be another twist coming and also I don't believe that he's still alive but it would be good storytelling if he were, if written correctly. Reply Parent Thread Link really suffered and when. That's why I think Flint's reaction to [ Spoiler (click to open) ] Miranda But we'll just have to see I guess and I'm not opposed to the idea just wondering how'd they do it. I understand this and it feels weird if they would bring Thomas back in some way. Part of the tragedy about Thomas was always the fact that Flint doesn't know the specifics. Like what and how Thomassuffered and when. That's why I think Flint's reaction towas so different and it escalated because he was literally there in the very same room with her. Thomas just drifted away~But we'll just have to see I guess and I'm not opposed to the idea just wondering how'd they do it. Reply Parent Thread Link It was hard to watch Queen Anne get beat up but she was such a boss in that scene. I liked that Max and Eleanor finally talked about their past. Eleanor is inching towards some redemption. Perhaps Roger's devil spawn might save her from death? Idk Not sure how I feel about Thomas possibly alive and the info being discovered out of nowhere. I know the writers are better than this. This is the grossest Silver has ever looked [super greasy hair and long ass mustache] and yet this is the hottest I've ever found him. Reply Thread Link Weirdly, they actually cut his moustache in that conversation by the fort. I've been grossed out by it the whole season and it was a brief reprieve. Reply Parent Thread Link I have a sick feeling Flint might kill Eleanor. The men in her life are so infinitely disappointing that way Reply Thread Link Yeah I've got a bad feeling about that whole situation, too. It def seems like she's going to die in the next episodes and Flint gave off this scheming vibe so either they'll collude and it'll go awry because of Silver and that'll drive a wedge between Flint & Silver or Flint will be more directly involved in her demise... though I really really hope not, they always had a special connection and got each other. Reply Parent Thread Link I don't understand how they could possibly collude with the divergence Flint has taken. I'm really looking forward to their scenes next week though because of that. He's her only surviving father figure. He's so unknowable now though, its worrying. And there's this palpable sadness as well that also adds in more dread. He's either going to do something really smart or really dumb. Reply Parent Thread Link ngl that possibility popped up in my head. i don't think flint is in a murder mindset at the moment because he's been very mellow, but i also don't think eleanor is going to make it out of that fort alive. flint might be the (indirect) cause of her demise Reply Parent Thread Expand Link i honestly thought when flint was going to eleanor at the end of this ep that he was just going to kill her. i wouldn't be surprised :( Reply Parent Thread Link the universe has paid her dust. i honestly would be disappointed, but not surprised if she died (IDT at flint's hand but @ some weak man's tbf) Reply Parent Thread Expand Link They need to chill with gore and torture porn. I'd rather watch another keelhaul than everything that happened in the start and the middle of the episode. There were tons of nice aspects to the episode otherwise but can't remember, too upset. Reply Thread Link The gore was a bit much but it wasn't as gratuitous as anything on GoT (and I found the keelhauling 10x worse because it was such a long excruciating scene in broad daylight). But yeah I'd be glad if they dialed back on the torture porn, no need to go overboard. Reply Parent Thread Link Who cares about got Reply Parent Thread Expand Link re: the revelation, it felt like a moment of pure hope but there's so much that could/will be crushing if it's even real. also, what if it is true and flint never finds out? Reply Thread Link also, what if it is true and flint never finds out? You think Silver might find out and withhold the info from Flint to keep him on track? I hadn't thought of that but wow that would be too much for my poor heart. Either way I'm pretty sure we're heading for major tragedy, whether Thomas is alive or dead and whether they reunite or not. Like it seems like a ray of hope but I fear it won't lead to a happy end. Reply Parent Thread Link Yeah I think he probably has withheld the information and by the time we reach the end Silver might not be able to/want to give him that info. There's always the possibility they might flash back to a missing scene, like they did last episode with Rogers and Beringer but idk how they're gonna deploy this massive dramatic irony and the fact it's still the first half of the season is freaking me the fuck out Reply Parent Thread Expand Link omg I never even considered this Silver would be officially dead to me if this happened Reply Parent Thread Link If it's true and Flint never finds out that's fucking tragic. If Silver withholds the information to keep Flint on track and Flint finds out somehow, that could drive a wedge between them. This is definitely a moment of hope I can't trust, because I know somehow it'll end in tears. Reply Parent Thread Link Tasteless comment Reply Thread Link *looks at post* *looks at OP* Reply Thread Link lol Reply Parent Thread Link the cat in your icon was my reaction to seeing the post and OP lol Reply Parent Thread Link lmao Reply Parent Thread Link lmao ikr Reply Parent Thread Link MTE Reply Parent Thread Link lmao mte Reply Parent Thread Link lol I had to scroll back up. Reply Parent Thread Link Reminds me of the glorious days of hawaii_bombay wank posts Reply Parent Thread Link He's the reincarnation of H_B Reply Parent Thread Link same here lol Reply Parent Thread Link Ofc Reply Parent Thread Link lmfao Reply Parent Thread Link mmhmm Reply Parent Thread Link LOL Reply Parent Thread Link *lights a candle* Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Can men just shut up. Liberal or conservative they are cut from the same cloth. Reply Thread Link This applies to op too. Reply Parent Thread Link And even the ones who supposedly do say harmful shit like this. Reply Parent Thread Link Ugh there were some young guys in maga hats at his rally basically saying they're not entirely happy with his performance so far. Something tells me the travel ban isnt what they're worried about. Reply Parent Thread Link This fucking word vomit, but hasn't he always said incredibly stupid shit. You being pissed off at the administration will not ever fucking equate to the sexual violence that women and men face. Why do celebrities make these horrible comparisons? Reply Thread Link Iawtc and I'll extend by saying that as an incredibly wealthy, straight, cis white man he has nothing to worry about personally, and if he's trying to show concern for the women in his life with these statements, he wouldn't talk about how he feels like a sexual assault victim, or even use the concept of rape in this way at all. Edited at 2017-02-20 04:51 pm (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link When men will learn?? there are better analogies, ugh. Reply Thread Link His "feminist" image change was just to repair his reputation after the misogyny of his movies. Fun fact: He needed a feminist, woman-centered project badly, so he started mentoring Lena Dunham after "Tiny Furniture." Reply Thread Link gross and grosser Reply Parent Thread Link :)))))) great thx judd, cool comedy Reply Thread Link NOOOOOOOOOOOOO I've loved Judd during election time/post-election time. But HOW THE HELL does he NOT know that saying that "X" is "like being raped" is something you CAN. NOT. SAY. at this point? Also he needs to NOT do this during Crashing promo because I REALLY want it to succeed because I have a soft sport for Pete Holmes and Artie Lange. AGH, JUDD. YOU *AREN'T* A STAND UP. YOU KNOW THIS. Reply Thread Link Shut the fuck up judd apatow. This isn't a cute joke in general and it still isn't cute when you factor in that dump is an admitted sexual assaulter Reply Thread Link LOL Reply Parent Thread Link lmfao Reply Parent Thread Link L Reply Parent Thread Link L Reply Parent Thread Link lmaoo Reply Parent Thread Expand Link lol Reply Parent Thread Link lol i love this gif Reply Parent Thread Link LMAO. This is the darkest timeline. Reply Parent Thread Link omg Reply Parent Thread Link white people need to stop Reply Thread Link lena dunham and 53% of white women tho Reply Parent Thread Expand Link how the fuck is this a white thing. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Cute white icon Reply Parent Thread Link not with that icon Reply Parent Thread Link Did "not all men" morph into "not all white women" while I wasn't looking? Reply Parent Thread Expand Link BJ Novak is literally the pinnacle of white male success that isn't really that deserved sis. I like him but come on now. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link lol at the yt outrage Reply Parent Thread Link Lol at these hurt feelings Reply Parent Thread Link screaming at the white tears in this thread Reply Parent Thread Link he's jewish, sis Reply Parent Thread Link Damn @ all these hurt replies. Did ONTD open membership and flood once more with Reddit peeps or something? Reply Parent Thread Link As someone who had the misfortune of being raped and living through this election and now adminstration, I can tell you they don't quite feel the same. Reply Thread Link well at least it's canceled Reply Thread Link Breitbart contributors are also threatening to quit if he isn't fired Reply Parent Thread Expand Link He never will, there are too many neo nazis who would send funds to his paypal. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link wow, there is a line for them. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link ha ha thats what he deserves well actually he deserves worst but this is a step in the right direction Edited at 2017-02-20 10:34 pm (UTC) Reply Thread Link hopefully this is just the beginning of a chain reaction of shitty things coming his way Reply Parent Thread Link Right? Like, I literally wouldn't feel even a little bad if he just dropped dead right now. We can only hope tbh Reply Parent Thread Link exactly! It's preposterous that he was even given a damn platform to begin with. Reply Parent Thread Link Where's that gif with the guy talking about how the worst things in life should happen to "you, and no one else but you"? Reply Parent Thread Link Only if the show gets reformatted. I really tried to stick with it. The discussions never went anywhere. And Larry cared more about joking around during them Reply Parent Thread Link ia. they'd bring on interesting people for the panels and then nothing interesting was ever said. Reply Parent Thread Link You know after that shit on Bill Maher, he's probably giddy over this lol. Reply Parent Thread Link I love them ;-; Reply Parent Thread Link So off topic but I love these girls. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link oop, just submitted this also. simon & schuster did the right thing! Reply Thread Link The right thing would have been never making a deal with him in the first place Reply Parent Thread Link lbr, they did the profitable thing. It just happened to turn out to be the right thing. Can't wait until Milo disappears from people's minds forever. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link imo they're just saving their own ass Reply Parent Thread Link They should have drawn the line long before this. Reply Parent Thread Link Nah they're still trash for caping for him from the very start Reply Parent Thread Expand Link This goddamn gif lol! Reply Parent Thread Link my fav gif atm Reply Parent Thread Link What is the context of this gif? lol Reply Parent Thread Link gina is sf gorgeous Reply Parent Thread Link YES Reply Parent Thread Link Gina is a fucking queen. We should write entire books of poetry about her majestic self tbh Reply Parent Thread Link I LOVE THIS GIF SFM. It perfectly express my joy at this vile sacks of shit suffering or losing money. Reply Parent Thread Link Hell yeah! Love that gif! Reply Parent Thread Link Is that Gina Torres? Was she on Blackish? Reply Parent Thread Expand Link i feel like im watching the opening credits of a 90's black sitcom everytime i see this gif Reply Parent Thread Link lmao at the white dude in the back Reply Parent Thread Link but replace animal cruelty with pederasty but replace animal cruelty with pederasty Reply Thread Link so true Reply Parent Thread Link I was about to use this GIF. They're the absolute worst. Reply Parent Thread Link mte Reply Parent Thread Link It shouldn't have taken this long for Milo to face real consequences, but not sure how I feel about that gif being used in this particular context. Reply Parent Thread Link Pretty much Reply Parent Thread Link lol mte Reply Parent Thread Link *nelsonmuntzHAHA.gif* CPAC needs to keep him on as a speaker though--ya know, free speech and all. Reply Thread Link Those people ain't shit. What's wrong, y'all? Thought "free speech" shouldn't have limitations! Reply Parent Thread Link I'm surprised CPAC even let him attend, they get their panties in a twist over gay Republicans who are far more conservative than Milo and reprimanded women for daring to actually drink at happy hours. And yes, sadly, I know people who've gone to CPAC multiple times. Reply Parent Thread Link You know youve fucked up when people in publishing are answering emails and phone calls on a holiday weekend over a mess you made. Saeed Jones (@theferocity) February 20, 2017 Reply Thread Link Honestly I'm glad S&S is feeling some of the heat here. Reply Parent Thread Link U.S. markets are closed today in observation of Presidents Day, but crude prices are still trucking on higher in thin electronic trading. Fun and games have been deferred until later in the week, with the EIA inventory report pushed back until Thursday. As for today, hark, here are five things to consider in oil and energy markets: 1) The word on the street is that Asian refiners will receive full allocations of Saudi crude in March, as OPEC's kingpin chooses to keep its Asian customers well-supplied - at the expense of those in North America. As our ClipperData illustrate below, Asia was the destination for 68 percent of Saudi's crude exports last year, while North America accounted for some 16.5 percent of volumes. There appears a distinct trend in July and December last year: exports heading to North America spiked at the expense of flows to Asia. The December spike has been reflected in strong arrivals of Saudi crude to the U.S. in January and through the first half of February. However, as the share of January exports heading to Asia spiked to its highest percentage on our records, the share of flows heading to North America is dropping once again. (Click to enlarge) 2) Recently we've been referencing Jack Nicholson movies (such as 'As Good As It Gets' - in relation to January OPEC cuts). The juxtapositioning of record net long positions in WTI versus record crude inventories at 518 million barrels lends itself to another Nicholson move title: 'Something's Gotta Give'. As bullish positioning by hedge funds continues to push on in uncharted territory, the risk of a swift, sharp snapback in prices continues to build - especially given the bearish backdrop of record crude and gasoline inventories amid lower fuel demand year-on-year. (Click to enlarge) 3) Even though Canadian drilling activity is expected to pick back up again this year amid a rising rig count and signs of higher capex from some producers, total capital investment in the oil sands is expected to drop again. Related: Iraqs Oil Reserves Rise To 153 Billion Barrels As much as $200 billion was invested into the Canadian oil sands over 10 years to 2014, but given the low oil price environment since, only 20 percent of reserves - some 36.5 billion barrels - are capable of being profitable, according to Wood Mackenzie. Capital investment fell by 30 percent in each of the last two years, and is projected to shrink a further 11 percent this year. 4) Shell has launched its first LNG Outlook, highlighting global LNG demand is expected to rise by 4 - 5 percent per annum from 2015 to 2030. Supply growth is expected to outpace demand through the duration of the decade, with global LNG trade projected to grow by 50 percent by 2020 from 2014 levels. The majority of the increase in LNG exports last year came from Australia, where exports rose by 50 percent to 44.3 million tons. In terms of demand growth, this was led by China and India, whose imports increased by a total of 12 million tons last year (to 27 and 20 million tons, respectively). LNG imports into Japan, the world's largest importer of LNG, dropped for a second consecutive year. (Click to enlarge) 5) Finally, the chart below shows how nuclear plant construction has been declining, after a seven-year increase from early last decade was halted by the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011. The latest setback for the industry comes from Toshiba, who has decided to throw in the towel on its nuclear ambitions. The company had bought Westinghouse for $5.4 billion in 2006 amid the aforementioned upturn in nuclear plant construction, but after massive cost overruns and delays, Toshiba may need the Japanese government to intervene to guarantee its survival. This leaves competitors in just three countries - China, Russia and South Korea - to vie for nuclear construction deals going forward. (Click to enlarge) By Matt Smith More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The UAE may not be the first country that comes to mind when one thinks of space exploration, but it has big plans to colonize mars, and its got the oil money to do it. The plan is already in the works, complete with a concept design for a mini city, to be built by robots. Though space exploration usually conjures up visions of Russia and the U.S., the UAE has a long history of high-profile, futuristic technological developments, for everything from artificial islands to the worlds first rotating skyscraper and 3D printing. This time, however, the Emiratis are in no rush: their project is called Mars 2117 and media have praised them for not being overambitious, unlike, some say, Elon Musk and NASA, with their plans to start sending people to Mars some time over the next few decades. As one author points out, neither SpaceX, nor NASA have the money needed to advance space transportation technology quickly enough. The Emiratis, however, are starting slow, from square one. According to a press release from the government of Dubai, the initial stage of the project will focus on developing the skills and expertise necessary to move forward. This stage will in effect involve a change in the educational system of the emirate, to enable future generations to sprout the engineers who will take the project further. Related: How Long Can The Permian Craze Continue? In a poetic summary, the emirates ruler, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, said that The new project is a seed that we plant today, and we expect future generations to reap the benefits, driven by its passion to learn to unveil a new knowledge. One cannot help but appreciate the sober, rational approach, devoid of the urge for quick results. It is this approach that has the biggest chance of success, after all, and we or rather our descendents may see the Emirati-international team in a nose-to-nose race with SpaceX because, to be fair, Elon Musk has not set a tight deadline for SpaceXs manned mission to Mars. It could take place in 40 to 100 years. So, the interesting question is: will the Emiratis team up with Musk to take people to Mars? Its not unlikely, to say the least. The UAEs space agency was set up just three years ago and has yet to build sufficient expertise and experience to enable the education of those future engineers we mentioned. SpaceX, on the other hand, has been around for 13 years and is already sending rockets to space and getting them back, too. The company has scheduled its 10th commercial launch for tomorrow, to take supplies and science reports to the International Space Station. Related: Is The Bakken A Bust? Its a perfect fit, really. SpaceX and Elon Musk have the expertise, the experience, and the skills, and Dubai has the money. Of course, just because they look like a perfect fit this doesnt mean they will team up. And yet, on a speculative note, lets recall that Musk last week opened a Tesla showroom in Dubai. Thats the first Tesla presence in the Middle East and many considered it an exceptionally bold move, given the Emirates oil focus. The Emiratis, despite the oil price crash, still have a respectable stash in their sovereign wealth fund, the Investment Corporation of Dubai. The fund was worth US$175 billion three years ago, when it launched its international expansion strategy, and now, according to one author, it has reached US$500 billion. With that kind of moneyand technological prowessMars seems feasible. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: On Saturday, China said that it was suspending all imports of coal from North Korea as part of its effort to implement United Nations Security Council sanctions aimed at stopping the countrys nuclear weapons and ballistic-missile program. The ban, according to a statement posted on the website of the Chinese Commerce Ministry, takes effect on today and will last until the end of the year. While China will hardly suffer material adverse impacts, Chinese trade - and aid - have long been a vital economic crutch for North Korea, and the decision strips North Korea of one of its most important sources of foreign currency. The ban comes six days after the North Korean test of a ballistic missile that the Security Council condemned as a violation of its resolutions that prohibited the country from developing and testing ballistic missile technology. In the test, - which took place during a dinner between Japan's Prime Minister and Donald Trump - North Korea claimed that it had successfully launched a new type of nuclear-capable missile. It said its intermediate-range Pukguksong-2 missile used a solid-fuel technology that American experts say will make it harder to detect missile attacks from the North. According to the NYT, China's decision has the potential to cripple North Korea's already moribund economy: coal accounts for 34-40% of North Korean exports in the past several years, and almost all of it was shipped to China, according to South Korean government estimates. As Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul confirms, coal sales accounted for more than 50 percent of North Koreas exports to China last year, and about a fifth of its total trade. China had previously bought coal under exemptions that allowed trade for livelihood purposes. Chinas Ministry of Commerce didnt respond to faxed questions outside office hours. Related: Russia Gains Upper Hand In Asian Oil War Of course they may have methods to replace the damage, but just by looking at the size of the loss, thats a pretty big blow, Yang said. China's import ban follows a UN Security Council resolution adopted in November in response to the Norths fifth and most powerful nuclear test, according to which the country should not be allowed to export more than 7.5 million metric tons of coal a year or bring in more than $400 million in coal sales, whichever limit is met first. It was unclear whether that cap has already been reached for this year. Officials of the United States and its allies, including President Trump, have suggested that China, North Koreas principal economic patron, should be more aggressive in enforcing sanctions. But while it does not approve of the Norths weapons program, China has also been seen as reluctant to inflict crippling pain on North Korea, for fear that it might destabilize its Communist neighbor. That, however, changed on Saturday and as Bloomberg says "Chinas move to ban coal imports from North Korea, effectively slicing the countrys exports by about half, came with a message for the U.S. and its allies: Its time to do a deal" even if it means risking political upheaval. While China has previously resisted calls by the U.S. to apply greater pressure on Kims regime, North Korea is increasingly becoming a strategic liability, according to Zhou Qi, director of the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University in Beijing. What were seeing now is Beijing is showing a new willingness to bring the North to near the breaking point, she said. There is still some room to squeeze the regime. But of course, its a risky card to play. The Chinese are getting more frustrated with North Korea, Eurasia Group President Ian Bremmer said in an interview at the same conference. They clearly dont feel that they have a lot of influence and theyre worried that the U.S. under Trump is going to blame China as opposed to continuing a multilateral process. At the same time as China announce the coal import bank, Chinese officials said that pushing North Korea into a corner wont work as Kims regime will keep developing its nuclear capability until it feels safe. Instead, its time to restart talks and break the negative cycle on the nuclear issue, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a statement on Sunday after meeting South Korean counterpart Yun Byung-se at a security meeting in Munich. Related: This Copper Hotspot Faces Another Shutdown China may soon have company in making the shift. South Koreas President Park Geun-hye was impeached in December and the leading candidates to replace her all take a softer line on North Korea, with front-runner Moon Jae-in saying that the next administration should review the decision to deploy Thaad. Meanwhile, last week's bizarre assassination of Kims estranged half-brother, who was protected by Chinese authorities, added to calls in Beijings foreign policy establishment to take stronger action, according to Shi Yongming, an associate research fellow at the Foreign Ministry-run China Institute of International Studies. The case fully exposed the desperate irrationality of the Kim regime, Shi said. Beijing still wants to bring him to a negotiation table - and thats where the U.S. role lies - because the collapse of the regime is right now outside Chinas realistic capacity to handle. Making the recent situation somewhat embarrassing for Beijing, China has backed the Kim dynasty since it took charge after the Korean War, in part to prevent having a U.S. ally on its border. With the international community enforcing sanctions on North Korea after a series of nuclear tests, China now accounts for more than 90 percent of its total trade, according to Bloomberg data. Whether the Chinese ban will bring Kims regime to the negotiating table is unclear. North Korea has accelerated its development of nuclear bombs and ballistic missiles since 2009, when it walked away from six-party talks involving the U.S., South Korea, China, Russia and Japan. However, losing perhaps the biggest source of outside funding will almost certainly lead to political chaos in the communist nation. The question on everyone's lips, but which few dare to ask in public, is whether Kim Jong-Un, pressed into a corner, will - after years of posturing with his ballistic missile tests, finally launch a rocket into one of the neighboring nations. Trumps administration has said it will deploy the missile defense system this year in South Korea and back Japan 100 percent in moves to deter North Korea. Since it may have no choice but to test out this defense system in the very near future, one hopes that any North Korean "desperation" launches are safely brought down. By Zerohedge More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The results of appraisal and exploration in central and southern Iraq have led to increased estimate for the countrys proven oil reserves to 153 billion barrels from 143 billion barrels previously estimated, Iraqs Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi said on Sunday. Iraq will ask OPEC to use the updated higher figure as the official estimate for the countrys reserves, al-Luaibi noted. OPECs facts and figures about Iraq currently place the member states proven crude oil reserves at 142.503 billion barrels as of 2015. Despite the increase, Iraq will still keep its ranking as holding the fourth largest reserves, just after Iran whose reserves are 158.4 billion barrels. The two leading nations in terms of reserves are Venezuela with 300.878 billion barrels, followed by Saudi Arabia with 266.455 billion barrels, as per OPECs data. Currently, the proven oil reserves are for now just statistics, as OPEC producers move to reduce oil supply in hopes of boosting crude oil prices. Iraq is one of the OPEC producers that is having troubles keeping its end of the supply-cut deal. The country has contractual obligations to foreign oil companies, and must deal with the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), which controls fields in the north, making any production cuts quite complex. In this way, Iraq faces more challenges than other OPEC members in trying to comply with the deal. Related: Middle East Oil & Gas Investment Surges To $294 Billion Last week, reports had it that Iraq would reduce the amount of crude oil it exports via its largest port terminal in Basra to 3.013 million bpd next month, which would be the lowest daily figure since last August. This may be a signal that Iraq is working to improve its compliance with the production cut agreement. As of the end of January, Iraq was still producing 130,000 bpd above its quota. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: All eyes in the copper world have been on stoppages at the Escondida, Chile and Grasberg, Indonesia mega-mines this past week. But elsewhere, other concerning events are emerging for copper supply. The major Las Bambas mine in Peru, for example, had another flare up of community protests. Which forced the operation to shut down for several days as locals blocked access roads which were only reopened last week after the Peru government declared a state of emergency here. And the worlds top copper-producing nation Chile also had tough news for copper miners. With yet another mine in the country being shut down, on issues between the operator and national regulators. Thats the El Soldado copper mine, run by Anglo American. An operation thats been in business for years, and was running toward the end of its productive life under the current mine plan. Anglo American had come up with a plan for a redesigned mining operation which would keep El Soldado in production, and prevent a full stoppage. But reports emerged late last week that Chilean regulators have refused to endorse Anglos redesign. With Reuters first citing sources in the government as saying that the application had been rejected. Officials from Anglo confirmed Friday that the plan has been turned down by national regulator Sernageomin. Prompting the company to take drastic action: shutting down the mine completely. Related: Record High Oil Inventories Crush Hopes For $70 Oil Anglo said that it now plans to immediately and temporarily suspend mine operations at El Soldado. With the company saying it will examine options including appealing the Sernageomin decision, or submitting a new plan for the mine redesign. The direct effect on the copper market wont be enormous with El Soldado producing a modest 36,000 tonnes of copper yearly. But it is one more operation lost at a time when supply concerns in the global sector are running high. The move is also another warning sign for the Chilean mining sector in general. Where regulators have been active lately in intervening at operations around the country including laying serious environmental charges against key producers Antofagasta and Kinross Gold. Watch for the next actions from Anglo American, and for the reaction from the government. This could be yet another signal of looming problems for miners in this critical region. Heres to going back to the drawing board. By Dave Forest More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: By John A. Charles, Jr. A bill has been introduced in the state legislature that would impose a $1,000 ownership tax every five years on automobiles more than 20 years old. Fortunately, leaders of the Republican Party quickly denounced it; and without bipartisan support the bill has no chance of passage. The chair of the House Revenue Committee, Rep. Phil Barnhart of Eugene, has announced that the bill is dead. The fact that this legislation was even introduced points to a conceptual problem shared by many lawmakers: They think that owning a vehicle is undesirable and should be taxed. But owning a car imposes no cost on the public; its the use of the vehicle that we should be concerned with. As one legislator told me many years ago, I own four carsbut I only drive one at a time! Since we do need money for improved roads, any transportation tax should focus on road use. One option would be to lower the cost of vehicle registration in exchange for a small increase in the gas tax. Motorists deserve all the roads they are willing to pay for. Raising the gas tax would give drivers a chance to vote with their tires for a better road system. John A. Charles, Jr. is President and CEO of Cascade Policy Institute, Oregons free market public policy research organization. Former tough guy and Navy Seal, Congressman Scott Taylor will be a keynote speaker at Oregons Liberty Rally this Saturday February 25th. Congressman Taylor served as a SEAL sniper and served in Iraq, Yemen as well as in Central and South America. Taylor is a Congressman representing the second congressional district in Virginia. Congressman Scott Taylor joins other all-stars at the Liberty Rally including Mike Huckabee, Star Parker and Dennis Richardson. Sign up today at Oregon Liberty Alliance. Oregon Liberty Alliance (OLA) is a coalition of organizations that share a common mission to support Oregon candidates that uphold conservative values and protect our freedoms. A cooperative relationship that has existed for years took on a more formal status in 2014 when a group of well-connected liberal Republicans engaged in efforts to push fiscal and social conservatives out of the way. One of the first actions taken by OLA members was to sponsor a conservative values rally that was pulled together in 10 short days in March. It drew over 800 attendees. The momentum of this rally carried over into the Oregon Primary Election in May where conservative candidates supported by OLA member organizations won in each of four contested races. Sign up ASAP at Oregon Liberty Alliance. Punjab to have Rangers operation LAHORE: Expressing grave concern over the involvement of an Afghanistan-based terrorist network in Lahore's Charing Cross suicide blast, the Punjab Apex Committee on Sunday decided that the provincial government would seek Pakistan Rangers' help in action against Afghan terrorists. The committee meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, also stressed the need for focused and indiscriminate operation against terrorists and their facilitators. National Security Adviser Lt Gen (r) Nasser Khan Janjua, Lahore Core Commander Lt General Sadiq Ali, Punjab Minister for Counter Terrorism Colonel (r) Muhammad Ayub, Punjab Rangers Director General (DG) Major General Azhar Naveed Hayat, General Officer Commanding 10 Division Major General Sardar Tariq Aman, Chief Secretary Captain (r) Zahid Saeed, Inspector General Mushtaq Ahmed Sukhera, Interior Secretary Major (r) Azam Sulaiman Khan and other senior civil and military officers also attended the meeting. A briefing was given on the arrest of those responsible behind the Lahore suicide attack and on ways to bust terror networks. The meeting was informed that those providing sanctuary to terrorists would also not be spared. It was also decided to broaden the scope of operation on the basis of intelligence and to take strong measures to stop illegal movement of Afghan migrants. It was also decided to strictly watch the bordering divisions of Punjab. The participants decided to enhance cooperation among all intelligence networks in order to tackle any internal and external challenges. The need for holding meetings of provincial intelligence committee on a regular basis was also stressed. It was decided to take indiscriminate operation against all banned organisations and to arrest all active workers of those outfits. It was also decided to stop all the sources that provide financial assistance to those banned organisations and to provide foolproof security to foreigners and all CPEC-related projects. During the meeting, the recent terrorist attack in Lahore was strongly condemned and fateha was offered for those who lost their lives. Sincere condolences were also offered to the bereaved families. The committee expressed unity with the heirs of martyrs and paid tribute to their invaluable services. During the meeting, appreciation was also given to Punjab Safe City project. All the participants showed determination to end terrorism, militancy, extremism and sectarian violence from the country and to take immediate measures to achieve this end. Speaking on the occasion, the CM said that no one would be allowed to play with the lives of citizens. "The people of Pakistan do not deserve terrorism, extremism and sectarian violence on their soil. This war will not end until and unless terrorism ends in the country, and those who are responsible for it will be brought to justice." The CM said that the political and military leadership were on the same page in this war against terrorism. "Terrorists will be held accountable for every drop of blood," he reiterated. During the meeting, progress on the initiatives taken under the National Action Plan was also reviewed. It may be mentioned here that the committee meeting continued for four hours. Before the meeting started, the CM recited some verses from the Holy Quran. Separately, Lahore Core Commander Lieutenant General Sadiq Ali held a meeting with Shahbaz Sharif. Both the leaders condemned the recent incidents of terrorism across the country and offered sincere condolences to the bereaved families. They also paid gratitude to the invaluable services rendered by the Pakistan Army and young police officers, and appreciated the bravery of those who lost their lives during the ongoing war against terrorism. Revival of Military Courts underway: Ishaq Dar ISLAMABAD: The government has stepped up its hectic lobbying for the revival of military courts following the deaths of over 100 people in six terrorist attacks across the country last week. On Sunday, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq contacted parliamentary leaders from opposition parties and informed them about the governments intention to prepone their next meeting on the issue of the military courts from Feb 27 to Feb 23. The finance minister called Dr Farooq Sattar of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Sahibzada Tariqullah of the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), Ghulam Ahmed Bilour of the Awami National Party (ANP), Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and Fata MNA Shahji Gul Afridi, according to a handout issued by the Ministry of Finance. In his conversation with parliamentary party leaders, the minister highlighted the significance of extending the working of military courts to ensure speedy trial of terrorists and stressed the need for consensus on this all-important issue. NA speaker, finance minister continue canvassing; govt looking to prepone parliamentary body meeting The minister also telephoned the speaker, asking him to move back the date of the next meeting of the main parliamentary committee on the matter. Mr Dar advised the speaker that since the meeting of the sub-committee formed to review the draft of the constitutional amendment bill was scheduled to be held on Feb 22, it would be appropriate to convene the main committee to meet day after that, in order to facilitate a swift decision on the matter. Following his conversation with the finance minister, the speaker also spoke to parliamentary leaders from various political parties. An official statement issued by the National Assembly Secretariat, however, did not mention who Mr Sadiq spoke to. On Saturday, Mr Dar had spoken to parliamentary leaders from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and stressed the need for a prompt decision on the matter in the wake of renewed terrorist attacks. He also reached out to Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and his brother Senator Maulana Ataur Rehman, PPPs Syed Naveed Qamar, PTI vice-chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Qaumi Watan Party chief Aftab Sherpao. Referring to the recent incidents in Fata, Peshawar, Lahore, Quetta, Awaran and Sehwan Sharif, the minister had stated that an effective and well-coordinated response on part of the federal and provincial governments was need of the hour. The minister told the political leaders that revival of the military courts was essential for ensuring continuation of the momentum of anti-terrorism campaign and the political leadership in parliament needed to show unity as well as complete unanimity of views on this issue. A senior PPP leader told reporers that the urgency being shown by the government all of a sudden indicated that the ruling party had succumbed to pressure from certain quarters, which wanted revial of military courts as soon as possible. The impression they got in previous meetings, the PPP leader said, was that the government itself was not serious in reviving the courts and was trying to pass the buck on to other parties to delay the matter. But in the wake of the recent terrorist attacks in all four provinces, the government had been prompted to take a swift decision on the matter. The military courts were established and granted permission to try civilians charged with terrorism in January 2015, in the aftermath of the gruesome terrorist attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar. The courts were given constitutional cover for two years after parliament passed the 21st constitutional amendment, despite fears among lawmakers that the establishment of the military tribunals might undermine democracy in the country. The courts have been non-functional since Jan 7 after the expiry of two-year constitutional cover. During a meeting of the parliamentary leaders chaired by the National Assembly speaker last week, the government had circulated a draft of a proposed amendment bill seeking a three-year extension for military courts. However, government members failed to break the deadlock over the issue as opposition parties refused to support the proposal without certain guarantees and before intra-party discussions. The opposition parties did, however, agree on the formation of a five-member committee, headed by Law Minister Zahid Hamid, to review the draft. The new subcommittee was scheduled to hold its first meeting on Feb 22, whereas the parliamentary leaders will meet again on Feb 27. Initially, apart from the PPP and the PTI, two government allies JUI-F and the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party had also refused the proposal to extend the term of military courts. Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Prof. Aaron Michael Oquaye has said there is no way Ghana will succumb to the liberalization of the world by accepting homosexuality as part of its culture. Same sex marriage, he noted, is abomination since the culture, religion and traditions of the Ghanaian set up frowns on it. It is unfortunate that people have become so liberal that they want to liberalise Christianity. I believe these are some of the challenges of this modern world which are manifest of abomination, he noted. According to him Parliament will do its best to strengthen its laws against homosexuality. The Speaker made this remark Monday, February, 20, 2017, when the Founder of the Royal House Chapel International, Apostle General Sam Korankye Ankrah and the leadership of his church, paid a courtesy call on him to solicit the support of Parliament to help sanitize religion in the country. Rev. Sam Korankye Ankrah was specifically concerned about the proliferation of churches in the country, which in his view, was affecting the work of God. He believes that so many church leaders have taken the advantage of being men of God to abuse the fundamental human rights of their church members. Rev. Sam Korankye Ankrah noted that once the churches operate within the confines of the country, they should subject themselves to the laws of the land, arguing that the practice of religion does not supersede the constitution of a country. Prof. Aaron Oquaye commenting further said it was about time the church regulates itself by putting in place internal mechanisms to help them do so. In his contribution, the Minority Leader, Hon. Haruna Iddrisu said he wholeheartedly welcomes the pronouncement of the Speaker on homosexuality. I am encouraged today that if the world is in doubt about Ghanas stance of homosexuality, the Speaker has said it all that same sex marriage is an abomination to God, he emphasized. Source: kasapafmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Jan-Henrik Forster of Bloomberg reports the clock is ticking for private equity to spend through tough times: Time is ticking away for private equity firms to get ready for their next wave of deals. Rising interest rates, inflation and recession risks have eroded consumer confidence and left buyout firms facing a new reality of higher financing costs and potentially lower returns. None of which changes the fact theres more than $1 trillion sitting in their funds that needs to be spent. People say theres no financing available but then our clients are telling us we have a big fund that we have to deploy, said Umberto Giacometti, co-head of financial sponsors in Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Nomura Holdings Inc. If you need to deploy, say, $10 billion in four years, and dont do anything for sixth months, you are under pressure. The shift is profound for an asset class that for more than a decade was flooded with cash from investors hunting yield in a low-i 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. This is the latest in a series of posts about the 1916 presidential election between Democratic incumbent Woodrow Wilson and Republican challenger Charles Evans Hughes, a Glens Falls native. National political commentator Howard D. Hadley predicted residents of Hughes native county would turn out in large numbers to vote on Election Day. Now I happen to know that Warren County, where Governor Hughes was born, is getting ready to roll up a record breaking majority for him, Hadley wrote in a column published Oct. 30, 1916 in The Republican-Journal of Ogdensburg. And why not? he continued. The most distinguished man -- the ablest man Northern New York has ever produced and given to the world, is this year the candidate of the reunited Republican Party for the highest office within the gift of the people of any nation in the world. Click here to read the most recent previous post in the series. CAMBRIDGE Ask anyone in southern Washington County, and they will tell you its a long way to the Washington County municipal complex in Fort Edward, and theres little or no public transportation to get them there. From the village, its 27 miles, or 37 minutes, to the county complex, the place residents need to go to renew their car registrations, get social services, visit their parole officer or visit the unemployment office. As pastor of Cambridge United Presbyterian Church, Kate Kotfila knows this only too well, and its one of the reasons she has been hosting meetings for more than a year to establish a community center in the Brieman Building on her churchs campus. Residents and people who attend the church have been meeting, most recently two weeks ago, to discuss ways to further use Brieman, which already serves as a soup kitchen and food pantry. The church is selling one of its other buildings, which is being used as a senior center, and Kotfila said, It is our desire to be an inter-generation county lunch program. The group is also planning activities for tweens, Kotfila said, middle-schoolers and high-schoolers who do not currently have anywhere to go during off-school hours. We are going to start during spring vacation, Kotfila said. We may be able to add fifth- and sixth-graders at some point. There are other ideas Kotfila and the steering committee have for the community center, including connecting individuals and technology, hosting the senior association and hosting the local quilters group. Washington County Economic Opportunity Council will host the Bridges Out of Poverty training in May. We need to find other knowledgeable people who can help our residents. Connect with county But one of the biggest priorities remains finding ways to provide county services to local residents, and County Administrator Chris DeBolt agrees it is a good idea, with some caveats. They have not talked to me about it yet, but I do think it would be a good idea, he said. Last year we did some satellite DMV offices, and that worked out well. We are a rural county, and transportation is an issue, he added. This is absolutely a conversation I would like to have. But looking at it from his office, DeBolt sees additional issues. Sure, having something in Cambridge would help people in the southern part of the county, but its a long way from Granville and Whitehall to Fort Edward, and even farther from Dresden and Putnam. But in theory, I completely agree. More on youth center While Kotfila is hoping to provide a youth program at the community center, Mayor Carman Bogle said last week she expects to have a site for the villages youth center picked out in early March. We have four sites we are looking at, and we want to get it down to a single site when the Village Board meets in March, she said. The village is looking at the former Patrician Hall near the elementary school, a building in Varak Park, the former OHearns Pharmacy and sharing space in Hubbard Hall. There are good parts to all of those, she said. We have a lot of options. LAKE GEORGE The town and village of Lake George are looking to put together a committee to explore the future of the village including what dissolution could look like. Town Supervisor Dennis Dickinson said he and Mayor Robert Blais have been having discussions about how the two municipalities share services and work together. We talked about getting an ad-hoc committee together to put together some facts and figures about dissolution and what it could mean, he said. The committee would analyze the benefits and drawbacks of dissolution, according to Dickinson. He stressed that the town is neither pushing for or against getting rid of the village. He said he and board member Marisa Muratori, who lives in the village, are spearheading the effort from the town side. The comptrollers from the town and village would also be involved. Dickinson said he also offered the services of Dan Barusch, the towns director of planning and zoning. Hes a professional planner and is familiar with dissolution and consolidation, he said. A resolution to appoint a committee to explore dissolution was listed on an earlier draft of the agenda for the Village Boards Feb. 13 meeting. However, it was removed from the agenda because Blais could not attend the meeting. He was in Albany testifying before the Legislature to try to obtain funding to build a new sewer plant. The town and village already share many services, according to Dickinson. They share the courts and lifeguards. The town does some mowing for the village and village employees help check in on the Caldwell Sewer Plant during off hours. The town pays a contract to the village for the fire department. In addition, the town shares in the cost of the wastewater treatment plant, according to Blais. There is no specific timeline for this committees work. Dickinson said there is nothing pressing. Part of his reason for wanting these meetings is to prepare for the day when Blais is no longer mayor. He did not want someone green to have to get up to speed on this issue. Blais had said previously that he may retire mid-term, but now he seems like he is staying to finish the sewer plant project. Dickinson said it is important for the town to be up to speed on this issue as well. The village ultimately controls its own destiny. If the village decides they want to consolidate, we have nothing to say about it, he said. They could hold a referendum and declare themselves null and void. And wed have to take them by law. Dickinson said he had not looked at the previous studies recently but he believes the town taxes would go up, but it wasnt by a lot. Still, nobody wants taxes to increase. Blais said the issue has been studied twice before. The first time it cost the village $35,000. The second time it was funded by a $50,000 grant from the state. The past two studies have pointed out that the village taxpayer would save a relatively small amount and the town taxpayers would see a rather substantial increase, he said. There was no interest in the community to go forward, he added. A 2008 study found that town taxes could increase by 9 percent, or $32, while village taxes could go down to 24 percent saving nearly $400. The Village Board voted in November 2010 not to put a dissolution referendum on the ballot for that following spring, after hearing concerns from the public that there was too much uncertainty about how the town would handle the village assets once it dissolves. Most of the large assets such as the water system and sewer system are owned by the village. It also owns the firehouse and the Lake George Village Visitors Center, according to Blais. In any consolidation, there has to be a plan whereby the town taxpayers pay the village to purchase their assets, he said. It is important that the committee does its work in house and not use outside consultants, according to Blais. I think the Village Board would be crazy and so would the town to spend any taxpayer money to study it again, Blais said. QUEENSBURY Nick George is stepping into a new job at an agency he thinks is already having great success. There are so many things that are happening on a daily basis, said George, the former director of the Queensbury Senior Center who is now executive director at High Peaks Hospice. We are making such a difference in peoples lives. George, who has been on the groups board since 2014, said he was intrigued by the possibility of applying for the position when Meg Wood, the former executive director, announced her intention to retire. I want to help hospice grow. I love the kind of care they give, George said. A lot of it is working with the people. I want to tell the story of the program. I want to turn up the volume on that. High Peaks has offices in Queensbury and Mineville and serves five counties. As of last week, George said, High Peaks was working with 57 people in their homes. I would say about half of the people we work with are in Washington and Warren counties, he said. We also serve people in Franklin, Essex and Hamilton. George, who began at High Peaks in January, has a wide range of experience in nonprofits, including serving as training director for Rotary District 7190, advisory council to the executive director of Tri-County United Way, treasurer of the Adirondack Interagency Council, council chairman of the Greater Glens Falls Roman Catholic Cluster Council, and member of the board of trustees of Catholic Charities Samaritan Center of Chemung County and Chemung Valley Montessori School. George is a Clarkson University graduate and a former U.S. Air Force captain. He also has experience in technology and runs a martial arts school. He said he will miss working with the senior citizens in Queensbury. I love the seniors, he said. I love working with them. FORT EDWARD Washington County is pushing to increase its mortgage tax to funnel more revenue to SUNY Adirondack. Supervisors on Friday decided to ask their state representatives to allow the county to increase the mortgage tax from 1 percent to 1.25 percent. County officials have sought this change for the last few years to increase the funding to the community college. The issue has taken on increased importance as the county has committed to funding new construction at the college. The college in October broke ground on its $17 million nursing, science, technology, engineering and math building, which will be an addition onto the south side of the science building. The 26,000-square-foot addition will contain five science laboratories on its first floor. The second floor will house four more laboratories and two classrooms. When the new space is completed, the existing science space will be renovated into offices, a computer classroom and the nursing simulation suite on the first floor. The second floor will have science offices, nursing labs, a practice lab and small tutoring space. The project is scheduled to be done by this fall. Half of the buildings cost is being covered by the state, the other half by Warren and Washington counties. Warren County is responsible for about $5.76 million and Washington County will pay nearly $2.74 million. Approval from the Legislature is required for a county to increase its mortgage tax. Sen. Elizabeth Little, R-Queensbury, has sponsored the bill in the past. She said previously there is resistance to tax increases in the Republican-controlled state Senate. Hartford Supervisor Dana Haff opposed the 25 percent increase. I dont think we should increase any taxes by that much, he said. Other supervisors believe the increase is necessary to pay for the improvements at the college, which will help it to expand its course offerings. Board Chairman Bob Henke, the Argyle supervisor, said he attended the colleges Investors Breakfast recently. People were upbeat and wanted to donate to the college foundation. Its very interesting to see how much incredible support we have for our community college, he said. Haff was the only supervisor in attendance who voted in opposition. Welcome Guest! You Are Here: Inside the eye of this hurricane, however, Trump could soon face critical issues that have yet to fully materialize like next week's planned replacement of his rejected immigration executive order that is likely to be challenged in courts throughout the country. Trump was named in 42 federal lawsuits in his first 11 days as commander-in-chief, CNN reported earlier this month. Those lawsuits focus mostly on the president's original travel ban and accusations of conflicts of interest, but other questions surrounding the legality of some of the White House's statements and actions may follow. In an interview with Business Insider, UCLA School of Law professor Jon Michaels offered insight into whether the Trump administration has been acting consistently with the rule of law. " Noting what seemed to be repeated missteps in rolling out various initiatives, Michaels said "the additive effect of all these questionable moves raised serious questions about the integrity of the decision-making of the executive branch these days." Here are some of the controversial and legally questionable actions the Trump administration has taken, and the ramifications he could face. Trump's original executive order targeting refugees and travelers from seven majority-Muslim countries On January 27, Trump signed an executive order that temporarily barred people from majority-Muslim Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen from entering the US. Syrians were banned indefinitely. Although Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly rejected the notion that the original order was a ban on Muslims specifically, Trump's December 2015 demand for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States," would eventually complicate the defense of his travel ban in court. "Leaving aside the merits of it It was a sheer act of unprofessionalism to issue the memo the way he did," UCLA law professor Jon Michaels said. "By all reports, he did not consult with the Justice Department, the State Department, or the Department of Homeland Security." Michaels explained why that matters: "The reason why this custom makes sense is because the Justice Department vets the law. [The Justice Department] aren't just presidential aides ... They have constitutionally sworn duties to make sure the government follows the law." "The State Department needs to make sure that ... at the very least, they're able to communicate with our allies and to the affected countries so that theres a diplomatic 'heads up' to manage the fallout." "If you dont tell the Department of Homeland Security, you don't have the operations on the ground to handle demand and we saw this incredible chaos." The controversial travel ban led to massive protests nationwide, but in the background, legal proceedings ensued to challenge the constitutionality of Trump's executive order. The order's confusing provisions created chaos that briefly denied the entry of both green card holders and dual citizens alike. Michaels said: "Regardless of whether you think its a good or bad policy, it was very poorly implemented. And thats not the Department of Homeland Security's fault per say ... they were caught off-guard when planes were already in the air." Judges from lower courts eventually blocked parts of the executive order, ruling that it violated due-process and equal protection rights guaranteed by the Constitution. After being blocked by federal judges in Washington state and Minnesota, the ban was eventually slapped down by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, freeing people from the affected countries to continue traveling into the US.. The White House has since planned to try again with a new executive order. An ethics pledge and lobbying the government In another executive order, Trump began weakening the ethics firewalls put in place by the Obama administration one of which prevented lobbyists from joining the administration if they were registered lobbyists the year prior. Trump's ethics pledge issued last month, as noted by Politico, prevents White House officials from lobbying the same agency for which they worked for five years after they leave, however, this still leaves open the possibility to lobby other parts of the government. Additionally, the pledge prevents lobbyists-turned-staffers from working on issues for which they lobbied for two years. That stands in contrast to Obama's blanket-ban from 2009 which said lobbyists were entirely banned from joining the administration if they were registered lobbyists in the preceding year. Trump also changed Obama's rules meant to prevent staffers-turned-lobbyists from contacting their former government agencies. Under Obama, the ban was for two years. Trump knocked it down to one. And while Obama's order applied to all staffers, Trump's rules do not apply to cabinet-level appointees. Theres every reason to expect this administration will be the most scandal-ridden in history, and [the] executive action does nothing to change that, said Robert Weissman, president of the watchdog Group Public Citizen, in an interview with Politico. Norm Eisen, the Obama administration's ethics attorney gave this assessment of the matter to Politico: "Go buy Ivankas stuff": A top White House adviser's "free commercial" for Trump's retail brand The president's public criticisms have raised ethical concerns, but the actions of his counselor, Kellyanne Conway, prompted calls for a government ethics investigation. Conway, in an interview on the Fox News program, "Fox and Friends" declared "Go buy Ivankas stuff Im going to give a free commercial here. Go buy it today, everybody; you can find it online." Legal experts were quick to point out that Conway's statements violated the Office of Government Ethics' rules governing the use of a public office. Here's the most relevant portion of that rule: A shocking conflict of interest with China Trump has said he would remove himself from the day-to-day operations of the Trump Organization and move his investments into a trust controlled by his sons and a longtime employee. Critics remain skeptical, however, because he still maintains control of at least some elements of his empire. And, as The Washington Post reported earlier in February, he is listed as the sole beneficiary of the trust. Since he did not divest himself completely, that calls into question whether Trump is violating the law that governs foreign payments to the president. One such issue came to light last week, as explained by Business Insider correspondent Pedro Nicolaci da Costa. Trump was awarded a valuable 10-year trademark in China after an earlier phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping in which Trump affirmed that the US would support the "One China" policy that sees Taiwan as part of China. Trump has 77 registered trademarks in China and 49 waiting for approval. "There can be no question that it is a terrible idea for Donald Trump to be accepting the registration of these valuable property rights from China while he's a sitting president of the United States," former Obama administration lawyer Norman Eisen said in an interview with the Associated Press. "It's fair to conclude that this is an effort to influence Mr. Trump that is relatively inexpensive for the Chinese, potentially very valuable to him, but it could be very costly for the United States," he added. Trump's campaign-trail criticisms of US Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl could jeopardize Bergdah;'s pending court martial trial Early in his election campaign, Trump voiced sharp criticism against US Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the soldier who walked off his post in Afghanistan in 2009 and was later captured by Taliban forces. The US regained custody of Bergdahl in 2014, in exchange for five Taliban-affiliated detainees held at Guantanamo Bay. Since the swap and the legal proceedings that followed in 2015 and 2016, then-candidate Trump had some words about the matter that have riled up Bergdahl's attorneys and a US Army colonel presiding over the soldier's court martial. Trump said at a campaign rally in October 2015: "We're tired of Sgt. Bergdahl, who's a traitor, a no-good traitor, who should have been executed. ... Thirty years ago, he would have been shot. At a January 2016 event in Pensacola, Florida, Trump said " Frankly, I would take that son of a b----, Id fly him back, Id drop him right over the top." Bergdahl, who has been in legal proceedings since his return, faces a court-martial for charges on desertion and misbehaving before the enemy. During a pre-trial hearing, defense attorneys argued that Bergdahl's right to a fair trial had been compromised due to the fiery references Trump had made. US Army Col. Jeffery Nance, the military judge presiding over the case, called Trump's campaign rhetoric about Bergdahl "disturbing." Bergdahl's attorneys argued that the case should be dismissed. I think President Trumps words and actions during the campaign made him a bull in a china shop, and now a number of federal agencies will have to be cleaning up after him, said Yale Law School research scholar and former US Coast Guard judge advocate Eugene Fidell in The Charlotte Observer. The trial is set to begin on April 18, however, if Col. Nance rules that Trump's statements were an unlawful command influence, Nance has the option to dismiss the charges against Bergdahl. In an extended Twitter storm, the owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks who stars on ABC's "Shark Tank" said the biggest dilemma facing the president was whether to lead the government "effectively" or "play to his base." He then outlined what he believed to be Trump's "biggest issues." "No self awareness, no situational awareness, can't admit mistakes, no leadership skills, can't stay focused," he wrote, adding, "No management skills, doesn't read, doesn't use tech and makes no effort to learn, only consumes analog media." He then said Trump had "no attachments to other people (Ivanka=exception)." He added: "People are fungible to him. He doesn't care who stays or goes." Asked why he decided to harp on those points by a Twitter user, who added that Trump "was elected despite these flaws," Cuban wrote he was doing so "because they matter to our country." He did say Trump was "trying to do some things right," however. "Taxes, lobbyists, bureaucracy, FCC, SEC," he wrote. "If he can get the changes passed, they are positives." Still, he added that Trump was "making very wrong policy errors." "Wall, legal immigration, diversity in cabinet, micromanaging job growth, ACA changes, EPA," he wrote. Soon after Trump's Thursday press conference, Cuban said it was "a waste of time to try to turn Pinocchio into a real president." Cuban, who was quieter on Trump after his electoral victory, has returned in recent weeks to hammering the president on social media and in TV interviews. Cuban took aim at Trump for his implementation of the travel ban, taking a more openly critical position than other prominent executives. "I've been crushing POTUS," Cuban wrote in late January in a tweet that has since been deleted. "He has earned it." Cuban was warmer to the idea of a Trump presidency during the primary season, but he quickly soured on Trump after the Manhattan billionaire secured the nomination. He eventually endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and became a prominent supporter and surrogate for her in the general election. Republican governors were quick to react to the report on Friday morning. "While we havent had any contact from the Administration in regard to this issue, I would have concerns about the utilization of National Guard resources for immigration enforcement with the current deployment responsibilities our guardsmen have overseas," Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson told Business Insider. "During my time at Homeland Security, we utilized National Guard partnerships for specific responsibilities along the border, so the concept is fine, but it's a matter of resources," said Hutchinson, who served under President George W. Bush as the undersecretary for border transportation and security under after 9/11. "In Arkansas, I believe it would be too much of a strain on our National Guard personnel." Utah Gov. Gary Herbert told Business Insider that "while we cannot speculate as to what may be requested via official channels in the future, we have serious constitutional concerns about activating the National Guard to provide the mentioned services and the potential financial impacts of doing so." Mari St. Martin, the communications director for Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, told Business Insider that it hadn't been contacted by DHS regarding the draft memo. "It's premature to comment on potential actions regarding the Nevada National Guard and its citizen-soldiers based entirely on a draft memo and outside speculation," St. Martin said. "The governor said earlier this morning that he didn't think it was an appropriate use of the guard." John Wittman, the press secretary for the Texas governor's office, told Business Insider: "The Office of the Governor has not received, much less seen, a memo or request from the White House or Department of Homeland Security regarding the use of Texas National Guard troops for immigration enforcement. ... The White House has adamantly denied there are efforts underway to mobilize the National Guard for this purpose." The Louisiana governor's office told Business Insider that it hadn't been contacted by the Trump administration regarding the memo. The Oklahoma governor's office told Business Insider that it would be "premature to discuss" the memo, as the office hasn't seen the document. The Colorado governor's office also told Business Insider it hadn't been contacted by the Trump administration. A DHS representative told Business Insider that the AP report was "incorrect," and that the department was "not considering mobilizing the National Guard for immigration enforcement." Sean Spicer, President Donald Trump's press secretary, called the AP's reporting "false" and "irresponsible" on Friday morning. "It is irresponsible to be saying this," Spicer said, according to a pool report. "There is no effort at all to round up to utilize the National Guard to round up illegal immigrants. I wish you guys had asked before you tweeted." An AP reporter said that the wire service had requested comment from the White House multiple times before publishing. Spicer, meanwhile, said he didn't know if the draft memo had been considered by the DHS and that he knew of "no effort to do what is potentially suggested." Another DHS official told Cox Media producer Dorey Scheimer that the immigration memo was "a very early, pre-decisional draft ... and was never seriously considered by the department." Reaz Jafri, an immigration expert and a partner at Withers Bergman, told Business Insider on Friday morning that the DHS memo would be "subject to immediate legal challenges" because it would allow the National Guard to perform the function of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials including the "apprehension and detention of individuals that have committed no crime and may otherwise have a legal basis, under our immigration laws, to be in the US." Claude Arnold, The Trump administration has signed executive orders increasing the scope and abilities of both ICE and Customs and Border Protection officials to detain unauthorized immigrants. Trump himself said during the campaign that he would create a "deportation force" to round up unauthorized immigrants. Business Insider has reached out to the governors' offices in the 11 states affected by this memo and will update this story as we hear back. The President is expected to touch on how he is going to bring into fruition the various promises he made during the electioneering period. Ahead of his presentation, some analysts in the various sectors of the economy have been speaking with Pulse.com.gh on what their expectations are. Governance "For me, I am looking at the strengthening of state institutions to allow them to be able to function without any interferences from the government. For example, how do we ensure that CHRAJ is resourced to be able to perform its duties. What about the auditors general as well as PIAC. We can also look at the NCCE, how will they be able to work effectively within their mandate. For me I expect government to allocate more resources to these institutions and appoint competent people to lead these institutions. And of course, we have also heard about the independent prosecutor. We want to know the framework, how independent will it be from the government." Education "The president has indicated his preparedness and intention to implement the free Senior High School (SHS) policy. We expect the president to highlight how that project will be implemented. And also address quite an important issue such as quality. We are expecting the president to highlight issues on equity for pupils who have access to secondary school and have dropped out...Ghana secondary education improvement project is currently underway and that is expected to end in 2019. And we expect the president will highlight how his free shs will integrate into exisiting policies. And also teacher quality...There are existing programmes like transforming teacher education and learning project. So we expect the president to highlight how he intends to improve teacher quality. Technical and vocational education must also be an important issue on the table in relation to developing our education system. And we expect the president to provide us a clear direction on how the people who are unable to access the senior high school will have the opportunity to enter the technical and vocational education. We expect the president to look at the professional development of teachers in terms of the National Teaching council...as we speak now that Council is not operating efficiently. We expect the president to highlight how that teaching council can be allowed to operate efficiently with the relevant funding." Business "We expect that the state of the nation address will make clearer the vision for the first 2017 and particularly for the business environment. And also essentially the strategy in terms of stabilising the currency which is a major worry now. It appears that it is difficult to begin to budget very well in the country now because you cannot predict the behaviour of the currency in a next week or so. So we are expecting that a vision will be laid down clearly and an outline of what measures they will take to stabilise basically the economy. I think that if the economy is clearly very stabilised...and as to how to be able to engender growth in the private sector so as to create the needed jobs which is very very imperative in this country. I've always said that this country is sitting on a time bomb in the sense that the teeming youth will one day rise against this country if we do not do something." Health "We are hoping that now that a new government is here and they are going to read the State of the Nation address we are hoping that we wouldnt be neglected as we used to be especially with our LI that we are always asking that they should pass. We hope that it will be factored in there, in fact they should tell us the plan they have for mental health. Because in their manifesto we didnt see anything at all...so we hope that they put something in there concerning us, especially with funding. Funding is a major issue for us. And at least the logistics and the medications that we need...consequently, we should have them. It shouldnt be always we running around and they have to tell us about procurement issues here and there." Meanwhile, the opposition National Democratic Congress(NDC) has asked President Akufo-Addo to come clean on his grandiose campaign promises made to Ghanaians, when he delivers his maiden State of the Nation Address on Tuesday, February 21, 2017. "My statement as to what's happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden," Trump tweeted on Sunday. Trump's original comments, made at a campaign-style rally in Melbourne, Florida, seemed to suggest a security incident involving immigrants in Sweden on Friday on par with terrorist attacks in Germany and France. "You look at what's happening in Germany. You look at what's happening last night in Sweden. Sweden! Who would believe this? Sweden, they took in large numbers, they are having problems like they never thought possible," Trump said at the rally. "You look at what's happening Brussels, you look at what's happening all over the world. Take a look at Nice, take a look at Paris," he continued. The allegation sent pundits and political observers scrambling to find evidence of any such incident in Sweden and they came up empty. Swedish foreign ministry spokeswoman Former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt even chimed in, mocking Trump's dubious claim on Twitter. "Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking? Questions abound," Bildt said. The Fox News segment Trump was referring to was an interview between host Tucker Carlson and documentarian and media personality Ami Horowitz that aired Friday night. Horowitz presented a clip from a film documenting alleged violence committed by refugees in Sweden, and the segment went on extensively about an alleged crime surge in Sweden and its links to immigrants. In fact, a 2016 crime survey found crime rates in Sweden have stayed relatively stable over the past decade. The president's comments drew immediate comparisons to a gaffe committed earlier this month by Trump surrogate Kellyanne Conway, who referenced the fictional "Bowling Green Massacre" as justification for Trump's controversial immigration order in interviews with multiple media outlets. "I've been shopping at Nordstrom for 30 years," one woman in the video says, speaking into a telephone. "Because of your decision to drop Ivanka Trump, I will no longer shop at your store, nor will my husband or our nine children or our eight grandchildren." Instead, the women say they are "headed to Dillard's to buy all kinds of stuff." Dillard's continues to sell Ivanka's brand. Ray said on Facebook that ditching Nordstrom was a "YUGE" sacrifice because it was her daughter's go-to place to buy shoes, but that she made the decision to support Ivanka. "A big group of us are meeting at Nordstrom's to cancel our accounts, than [sic] to lunch at Cheesecake Factory," Ray said in a Facebook post on Tuesday. "Afterwards we are headed to Dillard's to #buyivanka and open up accounts there." The video of the women shopping went viral quickly, with more than 422,000 views as of Thursday afternoon. On Thursday, Ray said in a Facebook post that she and her companions didn't post the video looking for attention or to put Nordstrom out of business. "Our husbands love us and support us," the post says. "Some of us were wearing our 'HATERS GONNA HATE' shirts, so the hate is ironic and unnecessary." Earlier in February, Nordstrom cut ties with Ivanka Trump's brand, citing disappointing sales. The move came after months of online efforts from the anti-Trump #GrabYourWallet movement, which has encouraged shoppers to boycott any retailer that does business with the Trump family. Since Nordstrom's decision to cut ties with Ivanka, some supporters of Donald Trump, like Ray, have threatened to boycott the retailer. He said this will be a strategy to help importers and other businesses contribute to the growth of the economy. Nana Addo said that the full details to address this challenge will be made available in the first budget presentation which will be laid before Parliament in March 2017 by the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori Atta. The complaints, that is being made is the harassing by customs officials of Ghanaian traders with concern about preferential treatment that they meet in terms of the duties imposed on them at the ports. We would like to take it up and lets see what can be done to bring relief to our community, he said. Most Ghanaian business owners who import products have often bemoaned the high cost of import charges over the years at the ports. Some businesses have relocated to Cote DIvoire from the Tema Port due to the high cost of import charges in Ghana. During the campaign ahead of election 2016, the NPP promised to reduce taxes and also reduce the financial burden on Ghanaians. President Akufo-Addo addressing members of the Ghanaian community in Gambia, Banjul last Saturday assured that the finance minister is handling the issue and gave assurance that the charges will be addressed. The president of the Chamber Kwame Addo-Kufuor said in an interview with Accra-based Citi FM that the proportion of funds that is injected into mining communities for development is disappointing. He said the mining companies pay the right amount of revenue to government in order to help the mining companies amongst others. In 2016, mining companies paid mineral royalty in the amount of GHS550 million to the government.[But] the proportion of the total mineral royalty which goes directly to the fourteen District Assemblies in whose jurisdiction mining takes place represents only 4.95 percent of mineral royalty payments, he said. This implies that only GHS27 million is expected to be returned to district assemblies for development. This amount is woefully inadequate for the stimulation of infrastructural development in the mining communities, he added. However Addo-Kufuor said he was optimistic government will reconsider its level of investment in the mining communities. He said pronouncements made by the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, John Peter Amewu, has given him some assurance there will be a change. We are comforted by the Hon. Ministers publicly stated commitment to increase the overall proportion of royalty revenue ploughed back to the mining communities to 20 percent from a gross 10 percent. The Director of the Secretariat Fuseini Lansah said his office requested the Bank of Ghana to transfer money for their stipends in January 2017. During the first week of January, we called the Bank of Ghana to transfer $78, 000 to cater for three months stipend for regular students, and the 9-month stipend for year-aboard Chinese language students. We have asked the mission to explain because we requested them to confirm receipt of the money and then give us expenditure returns after disbursement, but other missions have confirmed collecting the money, he added. About 20 Ghanaian in various universities in China said they have not received their monthly allowances for over 12 months. The students said they have been left "appallingly demoralised and disheartened" by the government. READ ALSO: Two Ghanaian kids to raise the flag high at the Scripps Spelling Bee The students added they have received no response from the Scholarships Secretariat and the Ghana Mission in Beijing even though they have complained several times. "As a result, most students are highly constrained in their research work, which if further delayed will not guarantee their timely graduation. We are therefore strongly compelled to draw the attention of our nation through your reputable medium and to appeal to the authorities to take action quickly to especially assuage the headache of those who are working on their projects and those who are about to graduate," a statement from the student said. In a related development, Lansah has said that he has requested for a report from the Ghana Mission in China so they know what step to take next. Chief Edochie who paid a courtesy call on the Former President of Ghana, H.E Jerry John Rawlings on Friday with the cast of the new move said state officials who swear with the Bible become corrupt when they are in office, according to Zionfelix.com According to him, God forgives easily so these officials do not take the oath serious whenever they hold the Bible to swear. READ MORE: When he stood to defend the bill to legalise weed, Mongare disclosed to the nation that he at one point had used Cannabis sativa, which some people refer to as the holy plant. It doesnt mean if the plant is legalised it will destroyed lives, it depends on with the level of indulgence. As a juvenile I used it. I was also in India where the plant is legalized but it is vital if people are discipline, you can choose not to use it the presidential hopeful argued. The senator joins a long list of presidents and public figures from George Washington, Bill Clinton, Berner Sanders, Sarah Palin to snoop dogg who have come clean about using the drug at one point in their lives. The immediate former president of United States, Barrack Obama in his 2004 book, Dreams From My Father admitted to smoking the drug with his crew Choom Gang while attending secondary school in Hawaii. "As has been well documented, I smoked pot as a kid, and I view it as a bad habit and a vice, not very different from the cigarettes that I smoked as a young person up through a big chunk of my adult life. I dont think it is more dangerous than alcohol Obama explained in his captivating memoir. One of the most beloved US presidents, Bill Clinton too admitted to smoking Marijuana. I didnt say I was holier than thou, I said I tried. I never denied that I used marijuana, Clinton said in an interview with the time magazine. Back to Mong'are pot days, after the discloser, the senate house members tried to pin the use of marijuana as the reason behind his running for top office, Mong'are however told them to be realistic and not bury their heads in the sand. I used to use it sometime ago. It didn't inform my decision to contest for presidency. If the senators want to know about the plant, the House should organise for a retreat to discuss the same," said the besieged senator. Garrissa county senator, Yusuf Haji came to his rescue and argued the bill should be discussed in a sober manner since Senator Okongo had used the plant himself but still managed to become a legislator was proof enough. "The gentleman's petition should be allowed and he should appear before the committee to explain himself. Senator Okongo used it but it didn't prevent him from being a legislator," Haji said. While launching his presidential bid late last year, the Nyamira senator said nobody was better fit to govern Kenya than him since Kenyans have been betrayed by subsequent governments since independence. "We need a paradigm shift in our politics," Mong'are told the nation. For those brushing him aside as a deluded joker, Mong'are warned them it will come at their own peril "My opponents should be careful. They can ignore me at their own peril. Kenya needs change and I am that change," the legislator said. The renowned Ghanaian witch doctor affirmed to Kumasi-based Kessben FM that, Gospel musicians locally and internationally, in these recent times, approach him for assistance. I can mention the names of all false gospel musicians in the country if Im being permitted. But I can state categorically without any fear that these musicians still come to me for help Kwaku Bonsam stated. When challenged to attest to his claims, Nana Kwaku Bonsam live on air entered into a conversation with a gospel musician who had traveled all the way from South Africa for help from him just to solidify what he was saying. Before then, Nana Kwaku Bonsam made claims that Prophet T.B. Joshua, founder of Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) is his boy. According to Kwaku Bonsam, he has on countless occasions supported the man of God to perform miracles in his church based in Nigeria indicating that T.B. Joshua is one of over 1,700 pastors he assists. READ ALSO: House of Chiefs promise to be citizens and not spectators Dr Mairo Mandara, its Country Representative, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja. She said that the foundation does not estimate how much will be invested on a nation but based its investments on the needs on ground. Five years ago, we spent about 35million dollars; but last year alone, we spent 250million dollars because the needs were high and we had to spend the money. This year we will see a little increase in what we were doing; we do not say this is the amount of money we will spend in Nigeria. We see the need and then address the need based increasingly on partnership with the government; we look at what the government is trying to put on its own scale and then partner with them. Speaking on the 2017 annual letter written by the Gates to the world, she said that it was significant because it highlights the successes of the foundation even in a time of hardship and loss. She said that in the annual letter, they usually expressed their reflection of the year and their expectation for the world. She said facts showed that the foundation was experiencing the fastest growth the world had ever seen and that through it, 122 million childrens lives had been saved since 1990. Highlighting some of the achievements of the foundation across Africa, she said that mortality in children under the age of five caused by pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria had decreased across sub-Saharan Africa. In Nigeria, we have witnessed a 49 per cent reduction in under age five mortality between 1990 and 2016. Also in Nigeria, percentage of children who receive vaccine against Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Hepatitis B and HIV increased to 56 per cent in 2016. Mandara said that there was increased access to information about reproductive health and innovative contraceptive methods. She added that 27 per cent of women now use contraception in sub-Saharan Africa, while Nigeria accounted for 15 per cent of the figure. According to her, this implied that more women now have the power to make their own family planning decisions. She also said that a report by the United Nations (UN) says that extreme poverty in sub-Saharan Africa has decreased by 28 per cent since 1990. She, however, urged wealthy Nigerians to support the cause of humanity to help improve the lives of others and bridge the poverty gap, adding that millionaires around the world had started supporting it. Mr Gates has started a giving programme called 'The Giving Pledge' where he goes to his billionaire friends to convince them to give half of their wealth to charity upon their death. They can choose whatever area they want to invest in but it has to be for the cause of improving the lives of others and so the billionaires are already coming out massively to support other people. What is crucial is that our own multi-millionaires in Nigeria need to get up-to-speed in investing in critical strategic areas that improve the lives of poor people particularly health, education and poverty reduction. Nyamira Senator and 2017 presidential candidate Kennedy Mongare surprised his colleagues in the chambers during the debate when he confessed as having previously been a bhang smoker and criticised those against the petition. Strict regulations do not help. It is abused because of laws criminalising it. The problem with Kenyans is living in denial, Mongare argued. The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act of 1994 lists bhang as a banned substance. Multiple benefits Ogot, argues in part that the plant - scientifically known as Cannabis Sativa has multiple documented benefits. He says the medicinal and industrial uses of the plant, upon its legalisation, will be of 'great social and economic gains'. Research has indicated that bhang can be used for medicinal purposes to cure diseases. It is disease resistant and can be replanted several times a year without use of pesticides, Mr Ogot argued in the petition. Crimes and controversies over the plant, he said, are due to its prohibition, adding that if legalised, it can be one of the cash crops and contribute to improving peoples living standards besides boosting the countrys revenue. Regulatory body Section 3 (2) (a) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Control Act lists cannabis as a banned substance. Ogot wants marijuana expunged from the list and a new law legislated to establish a regulatory body the Cannabis Sativa Board of Kenya (CSBK) to govern its use. Those serving jail terms for offences related to the drug including possession, cultivation, transportation, sale or use will have to be set free if the law-makers agree to process the petition, into law. The Minister criticized the gang action and sexual assault of a lady who was seen harassed and stripped naked leaving just her red bra on. The viral video has since made rounds on social media after the incident happened in Kumasi. A group of agitated young men are seen harassing and molesting a woman alleged to have stolen GHC 1100 at a shop in the busy hub of the Kumasi Kejetia Station. The men mercilessly strip the suspect naked, force her legs open and abuse her while parading her in shame on the streets as onlookers huddle around to hoot and video. The 2 minute 54 sec video is all sorts of heart-breaking. Not only is the womans rights being unbelievably violated, the very mindlessness and cruelty of the perpetrators tarnishes the perceived image of Ghana as a haven of tolerance and hospitality. Madam Otiko Djaba has charged the police to bring the perpetrators involved in that act to book.I know the police will crack this case if they need to, this is pure CID action, Ms Djaba addressed. Commenting on the matter, Ms Djaba said it was a pure case of violence against women which should not be taken lightly. The convict was charged with robbery, contrary to section 149 of Act 29/60, and after a full trial, was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. Read more: The prosecutor, Chief Inspector Kwabena Adu presenting the facts of the case before the court said the complainants, Isaac Obuobi Paintsil and Esther Nana Yeboah are friends residing at Kaneshie and Bubuashie. He said Blezu resides at Abossey Okai and on February 12, 2017, at about 10:30pm, the complainants were sitting on some stones conversing when Blezu and another, now at large, attacked them with a knife and took their mobile phones. The Prosecutor said after the act, Blezu and his accomplice fled. READ MORE: Man jailed 15 years for stealing phone The court presided over by Mr Aboagye Tandoh said, he considered the accused persons plea for mitigation and how he readily admitted his guilt. It has however, called on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to scrap the Savannah Development Authority (SADA), the Lively Empowerment Programme and the Microfinance, Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) as well as the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC). According to the group, the Free Senior High School (SHS) programme is one of the most powerful interventions that will aid all Ghanaians irrespective of their status in the society. "In a statement signed by the Corporate Communications Manager of the group Philip Boafo, he said "When the 1992 Constitution obliged us to introduce progressively free education, it had not anticipated that it was going to take the country over 20 years to implement the freeness of secondary education. We believe the free education policy can be achieved in every form and shape. If Uganda, with an economy of $12billion, rolled out Free SHS 10 years ago, then Ghana's $37billion is more than able. "Basic education is a right we owe to our children, regardless of their socio-economic background and, therefore, same must be paid for by all citizenry. We are aware that the government of Nana Akufo-Addo did promise in its partys campaign to reduce taxes paid by citizens. In our view such a reduction in taxes is not necessary if we are going to implement such a bold and expensive free education policy. "In the view of the National Media Centre, the time has come for us to re-look at some of the many social intervention policies and to stop many of them for the sake of the free education we are about to introduce. We do not see any more important policy than our children being able to go to school for free up to the secondary school level. Non-universal social intervention initiatives such as LEAP, MASLOC, SADA, and the yet-to-be introduced Zongo Development Fund, have all become centres of waste, cronyism and corruption that seem to be serving partisan purposes only. "It is estimated that 40% of LEAP beneficiaries use the money for educational needs. About 50% of Junior High School (JHS) graduates become SHS dropouts largely because of funds and accessibility. This means the greatest investment we can make in the future of our children is in education." The statement said, "Government should not shy away from utilising any available fund to implement the Free Secondary School policy. For instance, the Petroleum Revenue Management Act, 2011 (Act 815) established the Heritage Fund which is to serve as an endowment for future generation. The government should not be afraid to resort to it as a source of funding the Free Education policy. For us, heritage means future and future means education. Free education is the only sure way that every citizen can benefit from the oil money. "Our concern, however, is the feeding component of the Free SHS policy. We believe that the feeding component of the free education policy may open the policy up for abuse, aggravated corruption, and parental irresponsibility, and we, therefore, urge government to implement the Free Secondary school policy without the feeding component of the programme. "The Free SHS policy should not be looked at as a political policy, but a collective national agenda. Government should invest heavily in quality and accessible education, build more educational facilities, increase the Capitation Grant, provide teaching and learning materials, and maintain highly motivated teachers. The MP who spoke to the media said "They asked him [Driver] to show the papers and he said he had been sent by his boss. The other two were dropped and the driver started struggling with the taskforce until a police patrol team came in to save the driver." Mr Adomako Mensah added that, "The car was taken to the Tesano police station, seized and parked there... I went there and there was no one to be found." He noted that he has been using the vehicle since 2014. "I bought it from Toyota Ghana" adding that he will inform Speaker of Parliament and will make available all documents covering the vehicle. "I will inform my leaders and will make a statement about it on the floor on Tuesday," he said. The legislator is not the first to suffer such fate from the task force set up by the government. Some armed men dressed in military fatigues, suspected to be army officers, have allegedly stormed the private residence of the NDC National Organiser, Mr Kofi Adams. According to Mr Adams, the men, numbering 15, seized all his vehicles in the company of four alleged National Security officers and personnel from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA). On Friday, 17 Febraury, fifteen police officers in six patrol vehicles stormed the home of Mr Fame Derek Djisam, the NDCs Communication Secretary for the Trobu constituency, to seize a 2012-registered 2008 model Tundra. "It was sort of like a substitute for coffee," It stimulated brain power and helped people cram for those big exams." He ended up making a couple thousand bucks from the endeavor. The 28-year-old Russian-native is the co-founder of Thirstie, an online alcohol-delivery service. He was recently named to the Forbes' 30 under 30 food & drink list for his innovation in the over $250 billion alcohol industry. Razmakhin got his start working as an equity analyst after college. He then moved to New York in 2011 to work for Haver Analytics as an economic database manager. But his entrepreneurial aspirations did not abate during his time in the corporate world. He was brainstorming ideas with his current-partner while he was working in New York. "And then it hit me one day," he said. "I realized alcohol was the space to get in to, because there was no technology there." But not too long after starting, Razmakhin said the on-demand alcohol-delivery business exploded. "At one point we had like 30 plus competitors," he said. He told Business Insider that successful entrepreneurs do everything they can to make their product stand out. In order to differentiate Thirstie from the other alcohol-delivery services, Razmakhin said he and his partner added content to their site. "Today we aren't just a place where you can purchase alcohol," he said. "We are here to help users discover and learn new things about alcohol and broaden their horizons." "I want people to experience more than vodka soda, rum and coke, and gin and tonic on a Friday night," he added. Razmakhin said the content engages his customers and incentivizes them to come back to the site. Ignore the noise. The media is going to say stuff about your company. Competitors are going to be saying stuff or trying different tactics. Pay attention to it, but don't make it your focus. Don't chase your competitors. "After careful consideration, Simon & Schuster and its Threshold Editions have canceled publication of 'Dangerous' by Milo Yiannopoulos," a statement from the company released Monday afternoon said. Yiannopoulos confirmed the cancellation on his Facebook page. Civil-rights advocates railed against Simon & Schuster after the $250,000 book deal was announced last year, citing Yiannopoulos' far-right politics that often delved into discriminatory language. The publisher defended the deal at the time, saying, "We do not and never have condoned discrimination or hate speech in any form." The book cancellation was announced shortly after the Conservative Political Action Conference disinvited Yiannopoulos as a speaker over a video that recently surfaced showing Yiannopoulos commenting on pedophilia. Yiannopoulos has been on a speaking tour to promote the book in recent months. Some of his appearances were heavily rebuked by critics and protesters. A Yiannopoulos speaking engagement at the University of California at Berkeley sparked campuswide protests earlier this month. President Donald Trump scolded the university and suggested federal funds could be pulled if the school "does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view." In response to the comments that led to Monday's events, Yiannopoulos issued an apology on his Facebook page: Though Michael Flynn, whom McMaster is replacing, was rather controversial the retired general peddled conspiracy theories and ultimately resigned amid accusations he misled Vice President Mike Pence about a phone call with Russia's ambassador to the US I don't suspect anything other than professionalism and solid advice being given to the president by McMaster. Here's why. He commands a great deal of respect from his troops Much like Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who was revered by his troops while serving as a general in the Marine Corps, McMaster has earned a great deal of respect from soldiers. That's because his career has been marked by personal heroism, excellent leadership, and his tendency to buck traditional ways of thinking. As a captain during the Gulf War in 1991, McMaster made a name for himself during the Battle of 73 Easting. Though his tank unit was vastly outnumbered by the Iraqi Republican Guard, he didn't lose a single tank in the engagement, while the Iraqis lost nearly 80. His valor and leadership that day earned him the Silver Star, the third-highest award for bravery. Then there was his leadership during the Iraq War, during which he was one of the first commanders to use counterinsurgency tactics. Before President George W. Bush authorized a troop "surge" that pushed US forces to protect the population and win over Iraqi civilians, it was McMaster who demonstrated it could work in the city of Tal Afar. Hes far from a being a yes man McMaster is the kind of guy who says what's on his mind and will call out a wrongheaded approach when he sees one. That tendency is something that junior officers love, but those maverick ways are not well-received by some of his fellow generals. Put simply: McMaster isn't a political guy, unlike other officers who are trying to jockey for position and move up in their careers. In 2003, for example, McMaster criticized then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's Iraq War plan that placed too much of an emphasis on technology. McMaster also pushed back on his boss' refusal to admit an insurgency was starting to take hold in 2004. He has been held back in his career because of it he was passed over two times for his first star but it wasn't because of incompetence. Instead, his fight to be promoted from colonel to brigadier general was seen as pure politics, and McMaster doesn't like to play. He was eventually promoted in 2008, but that hasn't made him any less outspoken. Hes a strategic thinker with a Ph.D. McMaster has a lot in common with another well-known general: David Petraeus. In fact, he was one of a select few officers who were in the Petraeus "brain trust" during the Iraq War. McMaster is an expert on military strategy, counterinsurgency, and history. And he, like Petraeus, stands out among military officers, since both earned advanced degrees. McMaster holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of North Carolina, where his dissertation went far beyond the readership of just a few professors. Titled "Dereliction of Duty," McMaster's dissertation became an authoritative book on how the US became involved in the Vietnam War. Much of the book's focus is on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, whom McMaster criticized for failing to push back against President Lyndon B. Johnson. "McMaster stresses two elements in his discussion of America's failure in Vietnam: the hubris of Johnson and his advisors and the weakness of the Joint Chiefs of Staff," a review on Amazon says. Whether McMaster can transition well from the Army to the White House is the big question now, but he's one of the best people Trump could have picked. And like Mattis, he seems unafraid to challenge the president's views. "He's not just a great fighter and not just a conscientious leader," one Army officer told me of McMaster. "He's also an intellectual, a historian, and a forward-thinking planner who can see future trends without getting caught up in bandwagon strategic fads." The 29-year-old rapper is said to be one of the biggest rappers in Nigeria and Africa. Ice Prince is widely regarded as one of the most stylish artistes in Africa. He is known for wearing the most exclusive European and North-American brands in urban fashion. The award winning rapper who hails from Jos and was introduced as part of the Choc Boi collective with M.I and Jesse Jagz made his grand entry with his chart-topping music single 'Oleku' featuring BrymO in 2010. He has released two successful albums Everybody Loves Ice Prince and Fire of Zamani. Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! The platform creates an enabling environment for communication and marketing professionals to interact with leading media organizations on how their respective companies/organizations work. Also gives opportunity for Brands, Politicians, Actors, Musicians others to interact and share information with the media on their respective projects, achievements, ambitions and other topical issues. Activities to feature on the three hour interactive dinner will include overview of Banky W and his recently released musical video. The psychologist and relationship expert, Joro Olumofin will take centre stage. The celebration of outstanding media personality of the month. The 9th edition of Nigerian Media Professionals monthly interactive dinner celebrates Love this Valentine season. We are focusing on Love, Relationships and Sex with the theme No Money, No Love For the month of February, lets discuss one of the most talked about and thought about subjects throughout history. Love, relationships and sex. This edition is open to single, dating and married individuals. Were not going to shy away from anything and we will help you to: Establish boundaries Develop a realistic view of love Deal with shame and forgiveness Effective interpersonal communication and conflict resolution He gave the sentence on Monday, February 20, 2017 after reviewing incriminating evidences against the pair. According to Bamidele Salawu, the prosecuting counsel on the case, the accused committed the offence on Wednesday, May 2, 2012, the Daily Post News reports. Armed with guns, the duo forcefully entered the residence of their victim, Mrs Aladete who resides at Asabi Okin in Iwo and reportedly beat her up. Ishaiah and his accomplice carted away valuable items including Aladete's official vehicle before being apprehended by policemen in Ibafo, Ogun State. ALSO READ: High Court sentences man to death by hanging The offences contravened Section 6 (b) and section 1 (1) and (2), (a) of the Robbery and Fire Arms (Special Provisions) Act Cap. R, 11 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004. the prosecutor told the court. Prophet Chukwudi made the startling declaration in one of his prophetic revelations at a service in his church located at Mgbo Court, Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi where he stated that if President Buhari does not die in power, then he is not a man of God. Chukwudi in his statement said that although he hoped that the president is hale and hearty as the presidency has continued to tell Nigerians, the Lord revealed to him categorically that Buhari will not complete his first term as president of Nigeria. "Buhari will die in office; if he does not die, then I am not a man of God. Osinbajo will rule in his stead. I told them a long time ago to pray for their master, that he needed urgent prayers to avert the calamity of death at Aso Rock, but they were lazy. No one has bothered to reach me, now see what is happening. They don't want to come for prayers. Things will get worse," he emphasized. Addressing the presidency directly, Prophet Chukwudi said: "I had early said he will die, now see what is happening. Nobody wants to come and see the man of God, no one cares. You think it's like something you can wish away. You cannot wish it away. You people around the president, you are sleeping. You won't do anything to pray for him. Let me tell you, until you come before the man of God, and kneel down and pray for the president, you are also heaping curses upon yourself. You think the calamity will visit only him? It will visit those who also heard and refused to do anything to save the president. While it's still early, seek the face of God for the sake of Nigeria for the sake of President Buhari, and save the situation. But the Lord has even said that you will suffer due to your obstinate mind. Unless one arises to save the president, he shall never rule beyond one term. He shall certainly die in office, says the Lord, unless I am not God, says the Lord." The accused appeared on a two-count charge of stealing and negligence. The accused pleaded not guilty to the charge when it was read to him. The prosecutor, Insp. Chinalu Nwadione said that the accused committed the offence on Oct. 30, 2016 at No. 5, Siyanbola Close, off Akora Estate, Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja. He alleged that the accused had been negligent in his duties and had not been quick to detect the death of one Joshua Bello, 29, who had drowned in the pool in the residence where he was guarding. Nwadione also said that the accused stole the following items: Infinix dual sim, Apple I-pad, grilling machine, a wrist watch, a pair of ray ban glasses, a bunch of keys and N3, 000 from the deceased. He said the offence contravened Sections 216 and 285 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015. Read her story here. "My name is Gloria, a 28-year-old woman whose world has been turned upside down and my wedding which would have taken place this June has been called off by my fiance who is not ready to listen to anyone. My fiance, Jones, has sent me out of his life and is unwilling to listen to anyone who has pleaded on my behalf. Jones practically threw out our pastor who went to beg for me and threaten to physically beat up my sister anytime she goes there. I know many would blame me for what is happening to me and I take full responsibility for my actions and I regret what I did but we are all humans and could fall into temptation once in a while. All we can do is to ask God for forgiveness whenever we fall. I work for a telecommunication company and my boss is one randy man that can go to any length to get any woman he wants. In fact, he has slept with almost all the ladies that work in the company and sometimes, the only criteria for employment is having a great figure and willingness to sleep with him. Most of the ladies would also do anything to get his attention because he is also very generous. For over one year, my boss had tried everything he could to get me into his bed but I always stood my grounds that I would not be one of his preys no matter what he did. He kept showering me with gifts and money all in a bid to win me over but I refused to fall for him. But in December of 2016, the devil reared his head and I not only fell into temptation but actually had sex with my boss and that act has come to haunt me and has destroyed my life. The company held our end of the year party on December 17 at a beach and there was so much fun with lots to eat and drink. At the end of the party which dragged into the night, I was a bit tipsy. When my boss offered to drive me home, I was glad as I would not have the hassle of trying to get a taxi especially as it was late. On the way, my boss used one hand to romance me and coupled with the drinks I had taken, I became quite horny and could not resist him even if I wanted to. He drove into a hotel and got a room for the night and once inside, we could not wait to take off our clothes and had sex all night. In the morning, I was ashamed of myself and made a vow never to allow such to happen again. But my boss would not let me be as he kept pressurizing me to continue sleeping with him and when I insisted that what we had that night was a mistake, he became furious and threatened to send my naked pictures to Jones. I never knew he had taken my nude photos while I slept and wondered why he could descend so low to do such a thing. He carried out the threat early this month. I was at home that weekend when Jones came and the look on his face was not friendly at all. I went to hug him but he pushed me away and told me he was calling off the wedding. While I looked at him in surprise, he opened his phone and showed me several naked photos of me as I laid sprawled on the hotel bed and some with my boss making love to me in my drunken state. I did not know when Jones left my apartment because I must have passed out from the shock. And since then, I have ben crying and trying to get Jones to forgive me but he has refused. I resigned from the company after raining curses on my wicked boss and his family but he was not even shaken. I don't even know what to do at the moment. Gloria." She should continue begging Jones to have a change of heart - 16% She should accept her fate because she led herself into the mess - 30% She should sue the wicked boss - 19% She should attack the boss spiritually - 5% She should beg God for total forgiveness - 31% According to Zim News, the disgruntled Moyo stormed the funeral service of the deceased on Saturday, February 18, 2017 and beat up the lifeless body of his rival for sleeping with his spouse, Selina Nyoka. Reports revealed that Moyo got to know about his wife's philandering with Dube due to her reaction concerning his death. He was able to get confirmation of the affair after questioning Nyoka who seemed unsettled about the death of her lover. A traditional ruler, Chief Chireya of Magamba village, the community where the incident occurred said: He came to the funeral wake and started insulting everyone who was there and demanded to see Dubes corpse. He said his wife had confessed to having an illicit affair with Dube." Chireya confirmed the betrayed husband's reaction as one of immense anger. Beating up the deceased corpse offered a great deal of closure according to the chief. I was angry after discovering that he was sleeping with my wife. What made me angrier is that the truth came out when he was dead, meaning I couldnt confront him. Therefore, I decided to beat him and honestly I felt better after beating him," Chireya quoted the angry man in a statement. Mr Nelson Ofem, Chairman of the Committee on Judiciary, Public Service Matters, Public Petitions and Conflict Resolution, in his remark said the House was disturbed over the lingering crisis. The public hearing had in attendance representatives of Local Government Service Commission and the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, (NANNM), Cross River chapter. Also in attendance were representatives of the state chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC). Ofem, who represents Yakurr 1 State Constituency, appealed to all interested parties in the crisis to assist in resolving the problem, in the interest of the people of the state. He assured that the committee would investigate the immediate and remote causes of the crisis to ensure return of peace to the health sector. According to him, the crisis has virtually paralysed activities in the states health sector and endangered the lives of the people. In her contribution, Dr Inyang Asibong, the state Commissioner for Health, said she had addressed aggrieved parties on ways to resolve the matter amicably but that her efforts proved abortive. She called on the committee to take urgent steps to resolve the crisis and protect the sector from total collapse. Also speaking, the Chairman of Local Government Service Commission, Dr Peter Agideb, told the committee that the appointment and posting of one Christiana Akeke which the nurses resisted followed due processes. Dr Betta Edu, Director-General, Public Health, also pleaded with all parties in the crisis to resolve the matter amicably for the sake of mothers and children in the state. She expressed concern that the lives of the people of the state would be and at stake if the crisis continued. However, Mr Ojong Ogar, the Chairman of the state chapter of NANNM said the nurses disagreed with the way the appointment of Akeke was done by the Local Government Service Commission (LGSC). According to him, a grade level 14 officer cannot be appointed as a Primary Health Care (PHC) Coordinator above a level 15 officer, insisting that the appointment should be reversed. This was revealed to Punch by a reliable source in the presidency. The source also said that Buhari asked Osinbajo to ensure that all stakeholders are brought to the table during his tour. He said The President also decided to play down the use of open military tactics and gave firm instructions on this ahead of his delegation instructions to the Vice-President to embark on the ongoing trips to Niger Delta states." It was also at the meetings the President held with his deputy that President Buhari firmed up the resolve that the Maritime University project in Delta State would be fully supported by the Federal Government. Before then, there had been an open disagreement between two ministers from the Niger Delta region on the fate of the university. Besides, the President also asked the Vice-President to ensure that during the visits, the communities should be made to understand that the government is now interested in action and would do its own part. The Vice-President was also asked to secure from the communities a buy-in of peace and collaboration from state governments and the oil companies in particular, the source added. He also said that Buhari also ordered that more budgetary allocation be made for the Niger Delta Amnesty Program. In an exclusive interview with , he said both President Buhari and Prof Osinbajo have the same vision, purpose and motivation. "Their working relationship is excellent," Acting President's spokesperson said. "What you see is what happens privately. They are a formidable team. There is mutual respect between them. "The Vice President told me that he finds President Buhari very inspiring. President Buhari's commitment to the average Nigerian, his commitment to do things right, correct wrongs, inspired the Vice President even before he was picked as the vice. "They both have the right chemistry and I have seen that in the way they work. They have the same vision, purpose and motivation. ALSO READ: Acting President rejects N7bn official residence "President Buhari is not trying to prove anything, he's not trying to make money - he has never been a businessman. The Vice President is a man of integrity, his records are clear so is that of the President," he added. This was disclosed by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Publicity, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi via a statement. The statement reads: The 8th Senate returns to regular business on Tuesday as it continues work on the 2017 budget and several economic priority bills which are at different stages of their passage. Its President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki will also read the two pending letters from President Muhammadu Buhari on extension of his holiday in London and the nomination of Justice Walter Onnoghen as Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN). On February 2nd, the Senate adjourned its normal plenary session schedule for three weeks to enable members participate in their various committees for the defence of budget estimates by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). Also within the period, for the first time in the history of the Nigerian parliament, the House of Representatives and the Senate held a joint three-day Appropriations Committee public hearing on the 2017 budget. By all accounts the public hearing event was an outstanding success, the Senate President said. Federal ministers, private sector leaders, civil society organizations and others all participated in what I like to call the peoples budget process, Saraki noted. Government officials were on hand to defend their budget proposals and answer questions. CSOs, academics and professionals associations offered commentary on their views and critique of the budget. It is the intention for the public hearing exercise to be institutionalized as a yearly exercise to promote government transparency and greater public participation in the process, he added. The Senate President said it is very important for the executive branch and the legislature to continue to work together to get the spending plan right. The months of collaboration will determine the extent to which the appropriations spending begins to grow the economy and create jobs. From tomorrow [Monday, February 20], various committees are expected to start submitting reports to the Committee on Appropriations based on schedule earlier provided as a result of the conclusion of budget defence by MDAs. This will be followed by compilation of the reports by the Appropriation committee and engagement with the leadership of the Senate and interface with some committee where necessary. The last stage of the budget process will be laying of report at plenary by the Appropriation Committee as well as the consideration and passage of the Appropriation Bill. Simultaneously, the Senate will also begin to consider several economic reform bills that form the basis of the Red Chambers priority economic agenda. This coming week alone may see two such bills, the Independent Warehouse Regulatory Agency Act and the Company and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), come up during plenary session. Meanwhile, Saraki, on Sunday, February 19, held a meeting with President Buhari in London. Buhari has been away from Nigeria since January 19, when he left the country for a 10-day medical vacation in London. The president was due to resume on February 6, but he wrote the Senate on February 5 to extend his vacation indefinitely. He said Okay, if you are making a suggestion, we will put it to him, in case he would agree. We will put it to him. Shehu said this on Sunday, February 19, 2017, at a programme organised by Citizens Support for Good Governance in Nigeria. The presidential spokesman also told Nigerians that the Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo has the total support of the members of Buharis cabinet. Shehu also debunked reports that some people have formed a cabal to check the VPs influence is not true. He said This country has one government. When Nigerians voted, they voted for Buhari/Osinbajo on one ticket. Nobody can divide that ticket, so if Prof. Osinbajo achieves a milestone, it is a milestone by the Buhari administration. It is one government, no division in this government. : , , , , - 28 . Speaking at the weekend during an interactive session with Nigerian youths on the platform of Citizen Support for Good Governance in Nigeria (CSGGN) in Abuja, Shehu said the Boko Haram terrorists would have taken over Aso Rock if former President Goodluck Jonathan was re-elected in 2015. "We have achieved so much in terms of security," President Buhari's spokesman said. "There are many people who believe that if not for president Muhammadu Buhari, PDP had continued in this country in 2015 they [Boko Haram] would have taken over Aso Rock by now," he added. Speaking on the recently recovered loot from former GMD of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation,Andrew Yakubu, Shehu urged Nigerians to the advantage of the whistle-blowing policy to expose high-level corruption and get rewarded. He said: "On the war against corruption people are stealing money, huge amounts of money, the kind of money that they don't need. "Look at the one from Kaduna, I was at another event and they said the man's aunt said she wanted food, he said there was no money. Look at the hug amount of money in a neighbourhood that had no electricity, no road, no water, in the same compound, you had low level working Nigerians. They didn't know they resided in a compound billions of Naira was kept from stolen funds. "The important policy of whistle-blower that the president has instituted, it gives an opportunity to me, you and to every citizen of this country. If you see stolen money going anywhere, you will not only be honoured for pointing it out for discovery but you can earn a commission. About 10 million USD and they give 2.5 of that. That money can change one's life," he added. Describing President Buhari as a long distance runner, Shehu urged Nigerians to be patient adding that things will become better soon. "You can see that exploration and exportation of oil is growing, gas is coming back and power is getting better. So all we require of you is to be patient. President Buhari is a long distance runner, he is not looking for short term gain that people will just clap at him and those advantages just disappear. "He wants to build a future of prosperity, a future that will be everlasting. Something that will stay for generation upon generation and I assure that this is a beginning of the good things to come," he said. In a series of tweets on Monday, February 20, 2017, Shehu said Nigeria has been feeding many parts of West, North and Central Africa since October 2016. "Don't forget that since October last year, Nigeria has been feeding many parts of West Africa, North and Central Africa," he wrote on Twitter. He continued: "Many of these countries have been shopping in Nigeria for rice, sorghum, sesame and millet. "To support the growing rice industry, the Federal Government just acquired 110 rice milling machines which will be installed in different parts of the country between now and July. "A lot is happening in Nigeria for which we should be proud," he concluded. The Secretary of the Local Government Pensioners Association in Kwara, Alhaji Saidu Oladimeji, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in llorin. He said the over 6,000 pensioners had served the 16 councils diligently and were being owed N5 billion gratuity and over N2 billion pension arrears. The secretary said the essence of the seven days fasting and prayers was to seek Gods favour for the settlement of their entitlements. Oladimeji, who said the exercise was voluntary, added that majority of the pensioners were now septuagenarians. The secretary said since 2008, when the payments became epileptic, the association had lost 1,720 members across the areas. One of the members of the association and former Secretary of the state Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Alhaji Zulu Umar, told NAN that several of his colleagues died without taking their gratuity. He attributed their death to various ailments and inability to buy drugs or access modern medical treatment following unpaid gratuities and pensions. Reacting to the fasting and prayers, the Chairman of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON), Alhaji lsiaka Danmairomu, described the exercise as the only solution. Danmairomu attributed the non payment of backlog of gratuities and pensions to current economic recession which brought about shortfall in monthly allocation to the councils. The ALGON chairman urged the fasting-pensioners to use the period to pray for the whole country, to overcome various challenges confronting it. The workers issued the threat at a joint press conference organised by the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) and Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP). The state NULGE President, Mr Bayo Titilola-Sodo, alleged that the ministry often deliberately withholds workers salaries and retirees pensions for between two and three months. The union can no longer guarantee industrial peace with the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters if salary arrears of members and other demands are not addressed, he said. While the Oyo State Government disburses monthly allocations promptly to pay workers and pensioners. The ministry from where NULGE, NUP and NUT members draw their entitlements withholds allocations. The Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) allocations are released to state governments and local governments at the same time. However, workers and pensioners wallow in undeserved poverty, while these allocations are kept in banks. Right now, the Oyo State government has paid its workers and pensioners two months salaries and pensions from Paris Club Fund and a month allocation. The ministry is yet to release funds for payment of local government workers, pensioners, and serving primary school teachers, the NULGE president said. He lamented that local governments like Lagelu, Egbeda, Ibadan North West and Ogbomoso South were being owed arrears of up to eight months. Titilola-Sodo said the "fortunate" local governments were last paid a full salary in September 2016. He disclosed that retired primary school teachers had not been paid their gratuity since 2008 and were being owed 43 months pension arrears. The union leader demanded that all workers and pensioners who draw their salaries and pensions from the ministry be paid regularly and promptly every month. The Governors allegedly diverted funds from the London-Paris Club refunds, The Nation reports. A source who spoke on the issue revealed that N19B and an unspecified amount were recovered from two accounts reportedly opened by the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF). The detectives have uncovered the two accounts opened in the name of the NGF and the signatories to same. We are looking into circumstances behind such huge deposits from London-Paris Club refunds into these accounts. The payment of 2% of the refunds to consultants and 3% to some governors which was rated as curious by investigators have been confirmed. We also discovered that some of the governors nominated these consultants, the source added. Also, investigations revealed that a huge amount of money was also given to a highly placed principal officer of the National Assembly. Mrs. Jonathan went to court seeking a declaration that the freezing of her bank accounts and those of her relatives by the EFCC is a violation of her fundamental human rights to own property and to fair hearing. She also described the ransacking of her family property by operatives of the anti-graft agency as a violation of her fundamental human rights to private and family life. The ex-first lady seeks damages sum of N2 billion for the alleged violation of her fundamental human rights by the EFCC. But the Commission in its motion of preliminary objection sought an order dismissing and striking out the entire suit for want of jurisdiction and for being speculative, describing it as an abuse of court process. ALSO READ: The drama continues as EFCC freezes another Patience Jonathan's bank account After hearing the arguments from the EFCC and Jonathan's counsels, Justice Salihu Saidu of a Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers state pronounced the adjournment of the case. THE GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER London Police called to arrest the Guardian's reporter over Buhari Security staff at the Abuja House in London yesterday called in policemen to arrest a correspondent of The Guardian who was on the premises to see President Muhammadu Buhari and possibly interview him. Budget 2017; Onnoghen, Magu top agenda as Senate resumes The nominations of Justice Walter Onnoghen as the Chief Justice of Nigeria and Ibrahim Magu as the substantive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), as well as the 2017 budget, are some of the key issues that would take immediate attention of the Senate when it re-opens tomorrow. Passengers groan under dollar scarcity, hoarding at airports Air passengers were thrown into confusion at the weekend when Bureau de Change (BDC) outlets at international airports nationwide declared foreign exchange, especially dollar, out of stock VANGUARD NEWSPAPER We'll tell Buhari to speak with Nigerians - Presidency The Presidency has promised to get President Muhammadu Buhari, who is on indefinite vacation in London, to speak to Nigerians to douse welling controversies and disquiet in the country over his health status and well-being. Fayose, Fani-Kayode, Ihedioha kick as Sheriff's men go on charm offensive Ahead of todays meeting of governors, senators and other top stakeholders of the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led mainstream of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the contending Ali Modu Sheriffs faction yesterday launched a charm offensive to ward off further judicial acrimony. N3bn loot: Give me back my money, Yakubu tells court Erstwhile Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Mr. Andrew Yakubu, has asked a Federal High Court sitting in Kano to order the Federal Government to return to him, over N3billion that was found in his home in Kaduna. THE NATION NEWSPAPER Ex-NNPC GMD Yakubu seeks to recover seized $9.7m Former Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Andrew Yakubu has asked the Federal High Court to discharge the order temporarily forfeiting his $9,772,800 to the Federal Government Seven governors linked with N19b bank account Seven governors have questions to answer in the alleged diversion of part of the N388.304billion London-Paris Club refunds into two accounts opened by the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), The Nation has learnt. 16 Ibru siblings in property, paternity battle Five months after the death of frontline businessman Chief Olorogun Michael Ibru, 16 of his children are in a legal tussle over their paternity and his multi-billion naira assets. THE PUNCH NEWSPAPER Corruption cases: FG to sack five SANs as prosecutors The Federal Government is currently investigating its team of special prosecutors to fish out those who may be operating with conflict of interest. Five Senior Advocates of Nigeria out of the 20 on the team are said to be have been found culpable, according to a preliminary random check, said a source in the Federal Ministry of Justice. Yakubu asks court to set aside forfeiture order on seized N3bn A former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mr. Andrew Yakubu, has asked the Federal High Court in Kano to set aside the ex parte order of interim forfeiture on the $9,772,000 and 74,000 recovered from him. Ex-governor Aliyu recieves Sheriff in Minna, both meet ex-dictator Representing the women of Rivers state, Ann-Kio Briggs, a Niger Delta activist said this at a meeting with Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, during his visit to Rivers state. Six policemen attached to Wike were reportedly dismissed by the Nigerian Police Force over alleged misuse of firearms during the legislative rerun in the state in December 2016. Briggs said As women, we must express our serious concern on the removal of the security details of our governor. If our governor is exposed to the risk of having inadequate security, this poses not only a threat to our state but to our economy and to the Federal Republic of Nigeria. (And) if this extreme danger continues, as mothers we may have no other alternative but to consider protecting our governor. Also speaking on the issue, the Chairman, Rivers State Council of Chiefs, Douglas Jaja, called on the VP to ask the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris to restore Wikes security. Jaja said Governor Wike is our son. As fathers, when any of our sons is in danger we get worried. We are worried (that) he may be set up for attack or assassination. We have no doubt that as a man of God you do uphold the sanctity of life. It is on this basis that we request that you assist us by bringing pressure to bear on the inspector general of police to restore the governors security aides to their former position. Under his watch, this state has protected the federal government infrastructure. No case of pipeline vandalisation has been reported in recent years. We believe that having done so well as a governor, he should not be subjected to such torture. Rather, he should be encouraged to do more. Governor Nyesom Wike also told the VP that the Federal Government has not treated Rivers state fairly. A cross section of Nigerians also condemned the withdrawal of Rivers Governors security aides. This was revealed in a tweet posted on Twitter by the Presidency, using the handle: @NGRPresident. Saraki had earlier visited Buhari in London, in the company of the House Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, and the Senate majority leader, Senator Ahmed Lawan. However, there are insinuations that the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu was allegedly kept in the dark regarding the London visit. Last week, Gifty was up for eviction alongside Cocoice and Debie-Rise, but got saved as CocoIce was evicted. Sadly, Gifty's notoriety with kisses in the house did little to save her and Nigerians have had enough of her seeming aloof behaviour, as they have described her as fake and proud. He made the comments during a recent meeting with journalists in Lagos. Am I very close to Buhari? Yes. I worked very closely with him in the CPC (Congress for Progressive Change) when everyone had given up on him. I know him, I know how he thinks and he trusts me, the governor said according to The Nation. He knows that I am driven by public interest. Do I participate in federal decision making? I dont. I am too busy addressing Kaduna problems to be part of it. When I am called for an opinion or when I happen to be around, and I have an input or if I see something going seriously wrong; I drive and go and see Mr. President I have heard A, B, C, D. I dont think it is right, you should consider doing C, D, E. I do that and I drive back to Kaduna. My primary assignment is Kaduna. I am not involved in the Federal Government. People like to say and attribute so much to me, and sometimes it is good for me, it gives me a larger than life image! There is always a cabal. Even in your own newspaper, there is a cabal. Nobody can run an institution without a coterie of two, three, four trusted people. There is always a cabal; the issue is whether it is a positive or a disruptive cabal. Am I a member of the cabal? No, I am governor of Kaduna State, I work for Kaduna State 24/7. Why have you not transmitted some good things you did in Kaduna like the attachment of portfolios to commissioners-designate to the president? he added. First Lady, Aisha Buhari caused controversy in October 2016 when she said that her presidents government had been hijacked by a cabal. ALSO READ:5 shocking things Aisha Buhari said in BBC interview The president does not know 45 out of 50, for example, of the people he appointed and I don't know them either, despite being his wife of 27 years, Mrs Buhari told BBC. Some people are sitting down in their homes folding their arms only for them to be called to come and head an agency or a ministerial position, she added. President Buhari however dismissed her comment by saying that she belongs in the kitchen and the other room and does not have any business commenting on politics. The duo made the call on Sunday when they visited the former military President Gen. Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida in Minna. An appeal court in Port Harcourt last week recognised the Ali Modu Sheriff faction of the Peoples Democratic Party, while declaring the convention that established the Ahmed Makarfis caretaker committee as illegal. Sheriff said that the court ruling was a victory for the Party and not him. My victory is a victory for PDP all over Nigeria. There is no loser; it is just a misunderstanding within a family. We are calling on everybody to come together so that the party can be a formidable one once again. Babangida commended Sheriff for the manner he handled his victory at the Appeal court. I am very happy with your statement after the court ruling; it shows that there is room for reconciliation and unity. There is need to bring everybody back together to make the party a formidable opposition party, Babangida said. On the purpose of his visit after two-hour meeting with Babangida, Sheriff said IBB is our father. IBB congratulated me and advised me to continue that way so that I can bring everybody back together to make the party a formidable opposition party. What we want to do now is how to put the party back to shape so that everyone that is aggrieved is brought back as one united family once again. This is because united will stand, divided will fall, he said. On Ahmed Makarfi, leader of another PDP faction, Sheriff said he has extended his hand of fellowship to him. I have called Makarfi himself, and everybody to come back so that we can work together. Similarly, Dr Babangida Aliyu, former Niger governor, said: Now that we have a legal decision supporting the position, we are okay. Though some people are talking of taking the matter the Supreme Court others are saying no. We should start widening the solution so that we dont waste time in terms of legality. That is why for the moment, Ali Modu Sheriff is the Chairman of the Party until anybody is able to go higher to set aside this decision of the court. Those of us who love to see solution to this party will continue to find solution. I think we should all bury our ambitions; you can have an ambition without a platform. We need to have a platform first of all and we are in the opposition, and we need time to organise and reorganise and go back to the people with plausible real solution to their problems. The PDP members, who are supporters of the Ahmed Makarfi faction, were scheduled to hold a stakeholders meeting at the ICC at 2pm on Monday. However the meeting could not hold because police officers barricaded the entrance to the venue. This was disclosed via a statement released by Makarfi PDP spokesman, Prince Dayo Adeyeye. The statement reads: Senator Ali Modu Sheriff in collaboration with the All Progressive Congress (APC) led Federal Government has barricaded the International Conference Center, ICC, venue of the scheduled Stakeholders Meeting of the entire organs of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). This is a very sad development in our democratic history where there is no longer free association and movement of citizens of this country. Senator Ali Modu Sheriff and his APC collaborators cannot stop the will of the people. Nigerians can now confirm that Senator Ali Modu Sheriff is a mole in PDP to destroy the only strong opposition in the country. Adeyeye said further that the new venue for the meeting is the Ekiti State Governor's Lodge in Asokoro. The development follows an Appeal Court judgment which confirmed Ali Modu Sheriff as the lawful chairman of the PDP. ALSO READ: I am not interested in PDP chairmanship - Ali Modu Sheriff One such tool called SecureDrop, being used by at least 30 US and global media organizations, offers a way for sources to anonymously communicate via encrypted servers. "We've seen an explosion of interest in SecureDrop in the past two months," said Trevor Timm, executive director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, which created the tool. Timm said "dozens" of news organizations had expressed interest in using the tool which enables sharing without leaving digital traces. "Ever since the election there seems to be an urgency within these organizations to set up a more secure way to get information from whistleblowers," he told AFP. While news leaks have come from a variety of sources, Trump, who took office on January 20, has denounced the release of classified information by officials as "criminal" and vowed to punish leakers. Timm argued however that the news leaks have been important in holding elected officials accountable and helping the truth emerge. He said the resignation of national security adviser Michael Flynn, caught lying about his contacts with Russia, was an important example. "Not only are leaks allowing the public to put pressure on the government to pull back awful policies, but it's even informing other people within the Trump administration," Timm said in a blog post for the Columbia Journalism Review. Though the methods for leaks are not always known, some news organizations have acknowledged using SecureDrop, including the Associated Press and First Look Media's investigative site The Intercept. SecureDrop "is the system easiest to use for newsrooms to facilitate communication that allows a back-and-forth exchange while allowing the source to remain completely anonymous," said Intercept editor-in-chief Betsy Reed. The system "has become an increasingly useful source of genuinely newsworthy documents for us," Reed noted. "In the current political environment there can be tremendous risks to cooperating with a journalist and becoming a whistleblower, and it makes sense to offer this as protection." Reed said she expects the media to rely more on these kinds of sources, with the Trump administration seeking to control the flow of information. "We're going to have feistier independent journalism that depends on cultivating these kinds of sources," she said. "Whistleblower journalism will have its heyday, and access journalism is on the decline." Secure mobile apps Meanwhile some government officials, fearful of monitoring, have taken to using encrypted mobile applications to share information. Some newsrooms use a secure chat app called Signal. Another application called Confide, which takes a cue from Snapchat by allowing people to send messages that disappear after being read, also is gaining popularity. The app offers "the digital equivalent of a face-to-face conversation," according to Confide co-founder Jon Brod. "End-to-end encryption ensures that only the intended recipient can read the message, but ephemerality adds another layer of protection ensuring that no copies reside on any servers or devices." Founded in 2014, Confide has seen downloads and usage spike during times of well-publicized hacks or leaks. "Our growth has accelerated significantly since the US election and we have seen a recent surge in our business -- the number of new users joining Confide this week is more than seven times higher than last week's," Brod told AFP. Legal questions But the use of private channels by officials raises a host of questions, such as those that surfaced over Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's private email server. "Conducting official White House business in this way almost certainly violates the Presidential Records Act, which requires preservation of any correspondence or records" of top officials, says a Lawfare blog post by Brookings Institution fellow Susan Hennessey, with Harvard law student Helen Klein Murillo. Analysts point out that leaking classified information may be illegal, but the degree of enforcement has varied over the years with leakers, and even journalists, facing potential prosecution under the Espionage Act. Even without these specific tools, news organizations have gotten major stories from leaks provided through systems such as WikiLeaks and documents obtained by former national security contractor Edward Snowden. Hennessey and Murillo note that the Trump administration "might have a range of criminal statutes and enforceable legal obligations to use (or threaten to use) to stem the tide of leaks." McMaster's appointment comes after Lt Gen Michael Flynn, who formerly occupied the position, was fired. Flynn stepped down after misleading Vice President Mike Pence over his conversations with Russia's ambassador to the US. The new appointee, a lieutenant general with the US Army, served in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he worked on a government anti-corruption drive. Trump's first choice, retired Vice Admiral Robert Harward, had turned down the offer giving "personal reasons." The US President announced the appointment at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. He called President McMaster "a man of tremendous talent and tremendous experience". "He is highly respected by everybody in the military," he said. The attorney, Michael Cohen, is seen as someone Trump turns to with tough problems, and not a diplomat; Cohen however is married to a Ukrainian, the report said. Meanwhile, Andrii Artemenko, the Ukrainian lawmaker, "claims to have evidence -- 'names of companies, wire transfers' -- showing corruption by the Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko, that could help oust him. And Mr Artemenko said he had received encouragement for his plans from top aides to Mr Putin," the report said. While Artemenko was described as seeing "in Mr Trump an opportunity to advocate a plan for peace in Ukraine," Kiev was having nothing of it. Ukrainian ambassador to the United States Valeriy Chaly, rejected a lease of that kind. "It is a gross violation of the Constitution," The Times quoted him as saying in written responses to its questions. "Such ideas can be pitched or pushed through only by those openly or covertly representing Russian interests." The 12 employees were taken hostage from the aid group's offices in the Hali district of rebel-held Hodeida late last week, Local Affairs Minister Abdul Raqib Fattah said in a statement carried by the pro-government sabanew.net news website. Yemen's conflict pits a Saudi-led Arab coalition supportive of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi against Iran-backed Huthis, who currently control the Red Sea port of Hodeida along with the capital Sanaa and large parts of northern Yemen. Monday's news comes amid a push by forces loyal to Hadi, backed by the Arab coalition, to close in on Hodeida, located on Yemen's western coast. Forces loyal to the government took full control of Mokha, south of Hodeida, earlier in February as part of a major offensive to oust the Huthis and their allies from Yemen's southwestern coast. Yemen's conflict escalated in March 2015 when the Saudi-led coalition began air strikes to help forces loyal to Hadi to take large parts of the country back from the rebels. More than 7,400 people have been killed and nearly 40,000 injured in two years of fighting in Yemen, according to the World Health Organisation. Keating, who made the remarks in condemnation of the attack in a Mogadishu market, said it was a reminder of extremists indifference towards human lives. He strongly condemned the terrorist attack which killed at least 25 people and injured dozens more. Killing civilians is despicable and achieves nothing except to remind Somalia of the indifference of extremists to human life and suffering. The perpetrators need to be brought to justice swiftly, he said. Reports said at about 1 p.m. local time in Mogadishu, a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonated at the Abagedo market near Kawa Guudey in the Dharkenley district of the capital, killing pedestrians and shopkeepers in the vicinity. According to UNSOM chief, no group has claimed responsibility. He said the attack came at a time when Somalia is preparing for the inaugural celebrations of its newly elected Federal President, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmajo, who came to office earlier this month. Keating said Mohamed came to office amid an extraordinary public outpouring of euphoria marking the beginning of a new chapter in Somali history that is ripe with opportunity and promise. U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos said Monday that she will not run for governor of Illinois in 2018. Bustos, D-Ill., who is in her third term in Congress, pointed to her recent selection as co-chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, saying as the only Midwesterner around the table, the post gives her constituents a unique voice in Congress. "There's ton of work to do in Washington. There's a ton of work to do in Springfield. And I am driven by being able to make the biggest difference possible, and I think that's going to be in Washington here for the next couple of years," she said in an interview with the Quad-City Times on Monday. Bustos has been among several Democrats considering challenges to Gov. Bruce Rauner. The Moline Democrat has been critical of the first-term governor, and just last week, she led other congressional Democrats in the state in a letter to Rauner demanding restoration of funding for domestic violence shelters and programs. Bustos has said that as a downstate Democrat, she could bring a unique vantage point to the governor's race, especially as someone who is willing to work across party lines. She said Monday that still is an important perspective and that she will get behind the candidate who can win, who will represent the entire state, including downstate, and who "will fight hard for people, for working families and for our children." She did not say which Democrat she might be considering. She added she thinks Rauner is vulnerable, too. "I think he's entirely beatable," she said. Among the Democrats who have been mentioned as possible gubernatorial candidates are U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly of Matteson, state Sens. Andy Manar of Bunker Hill, Kwame Raoul of Chicago and Daniel Biss of Skokie, Chicago Alderman Ameya Pawar, Chicago Treasurer Kurt Summers and businessmen J.B. Pritzker and Chris Kennedy. Kennedy announced his candidacy several weeks ago. Pawar also has said he will run. The primary is about a year away. DES MOINES Gov. Terry Branstad had a busy schedule Friday morning when he signed legislation making sweeping changes to Iowas 43-year-old collective bargaining law, but not so busy that he couldnt accommodate a representative of one of the few groups that publicly backed the changes. Branstad defended the presence of Drew Klein, the Iowa state director for Americans for Prosperity, or AFP, in his formal office when he signed the collective bargaining bill into law. Branstad also posed for pictures with Klein, who was one of just a handful of people who spoke in favor of the legislation at public comment sessions before bill was passed largely along party lines last week. We had a few people who made a specific request to be able to witness the bill signing, including a lot of staff people who worked on it, so we accommodated that, Branstad said. Media requests to be present for the signing were not accommodated, however. It wasnt a public bill signing. It wasnt a formal bill signing, Branstad said at his weekly news conference Monday. It wasnt a big thing as far as that goes. It was a big deal for Danny Homan, president of AFSCME Local 61, which represents 20,000 state employees. When was the last time youve seen this governor sign a bill without doing it in front of the press? Homan said in a conference call with reporters Monday. Who was in the room? The Iowa chairman of the AFP. That said volumes to me as to who was behind and pulling the strings for the passage of this law. Homan said he had seen Klein sitting in the House and Senate galleries during debate on the bill, watching over the people who have been bought and paid for by AFP and ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) and the Koch brothers making sure they did what they were supposed to do." I hope they got their moneys worth, Homan said. Those hard feelings, Branstad said, stem from the fact that the groups that spent the most money on the bill debate were on the losing side. Theyre not happy, he said. Theyve had their way for decades. We had an archaic law that needed to be amended to be more fair and balanced. WEST DES MOINES Negotiators for the state and a union representing public safety employees hit the restart button Monday in talks aimed at reaching a two-year labor agreement by March 15. The compressed timeline was precipitated by the Legislature's swift action to scrap Iowa's 1974 collective bargaining law and replace it with a sweeping overhaul that Gov. Terry Branstad signed Friday to take effect immediately. The state Public Employment Relations Board notified negotiators late last week that contract talks had to start anew if a voluntary agreement hadn't been reached prior to Friday. "It is what it is, and now we're just trying to figure out how we move forward from here," said Jason Bardsley, a state trooper from Des Moines and current president of the State Police Officers Council, or SPOC, a union representing 600 Iowa State troopers; special agents with the Division of Criminal Investigation and the Division of Narcotics Enforcement; state fire inspectors and agents; Iowa conservation officers; and Iowa park rangers. Both sides presented opening positions Monday that were similar to what they proposed in November. The state's unionized law enforcement employees requested 3 percent across-the-board pay increases for each of the next two fiscal years beginning on July 1. SPOC's proposal also called for maintaining a health plan under which the state pays 80 percent of insurance premiums while seeking changes in areas of overtime policy, transfers and call-back time, clothing allowances and other workplace issues. Janet Phipps, director of the Iowa Department of Administrative Services and lead state negotiator, said the state was sticking to its position of not offering an insurance proposal at this time, saying "the state agrees to provide health and dental benefits as determined by the state to eligible bargaining unit members." Gov. Terry Branstad's administration first signaled a desire to change Iowa's collective bargaining law on Nov. 21 by announcing it was not including a specific insurance proposal as a mandatory item of bargaining pending possible action once the GOP-led Legislature convened in January. Branstad has said he would like to explore the option of creating a larger risk pool of public employees at the state, county, city and school district levels that would help drive down costs for all the entities that chose to participate. However, a lead GOP author of the collective bargaining rewrite last week said Republicans were cool to proposal, especially for local entities. Branstad reiterated Monday that the pooling approach would reduce state health insurance costs and free up more money for wages in the future. The state offer to SPOC presented Monday was unchanged at a 1 percent across-the-board increase for the next two fiscal years. Bardsley said the uncertainty over the future of their health-care coverage probably is causing angst among his members. "We're looking forward to sitting down with the state today and seeing where things go," he said. "We'll just see how things are handled." The SPOC leader also expressed concern over the compressed timeline that requires talks to be wrapped up in less than a month. On Monday, an attorney for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME, Council 61 union filed a lawsuit on behalf of its 40,000 workers challenging the state's new collective bargaining law for public-sector employees. AFSCME President Danny Homan said the only thing his members may bargain over now are their base wages, while people who do similar work such as police officers were exempted from the new law, so they can discuss 17 subjects as they negotiate their contracts. "Why have we created a system in this state that treats public employees that are virtually doing the same work differently than other employees?" Homan told reporters during a conference call. G'Day! G'Day! Randy Andy's Weak in Review Sydney, NSW, Australia SAY What! G'day, G'day, check my BLOG and be intrigued by new music, theatre reviews, movie reviews and random junk (maybe my junk)..... View my complete profile In what appeared to be an improvised moment, President Donald Trump invited one of his supporters to join him on stage and take the microphone during a rally in Melbourne, Florida, on Saturday night. As the man climbed up, the President addressed security concerns by saying to the crowd, and perhaps to Secret Service agents, "I'm not worried about him. I'm only worried he's going to give me a kiss. I'm not worried about anything else." Gene Huber, wearing a black Donald Trump T-shirt, hugged the President and spoke for a few moments. "Mr. President, thank you so, sir. We the people, our movement is the reason why our president of the United States is standing here in front of us today," Huber said. "When President Trump during the election promised all these things that he was going to do for us, I knew he was going to do this for us." "A star is born," Trump said as Huber returned to the crowd. "I wouldn't say that the Secret Service was thrilled with that, but we know our people, right? We know our people. Great guy. And so many others." Later, Huber was interviewed by CNN's Pamela Brown and said he'd been waiting since 4 a.m. ET to get into the rally. He believed Trump chose him to climb on stage after watching his interviews with TV reporters before the rally. Huber said Trump inspires him so that he keeps a six-foot cardboard cutout of the President in his house. "I salute that every single day and I pray and I tell him, 'Mr. President, I pray for your safety today,' " Huber said. "And I'm not lying,I do that every single day to the president, but he's cardboard." He posted a photo of the cutout on Twitter, saying: "The Best Vistor I could ever have! President Trump came to Florida to see me! Wow, never will forget this! @realDonaldTrump @thebestcloser" As the interview with Brown wrapped up, Huber asked, "And can I just say one quick thing?" "Quickly," Brown replied. "I appreciate the interview," Huber said. "Let's just be a little, little nicer to our president. Thank you so much." Trial of Sakhalin ex-governor Khoroshavin begins on Monday MOSCOW, February 20 (RAPSI, Diana Gutsul) The Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk City Court has held preliminary hearings in a criminal case against former Sakhalin governor Alexander Khoroshavin, who stands charged with corruption, and his alleged accomplices, RAPSI learnt from the Investigative Committee on Monday. Ex-deputy of the Sakhalins government chairman Sergey Karepkin and counselor of the Sakalins governor Andrey Ikramov, Minister of the Agriculture, Trade and Food Provision for the Sakhalin Region Nikolay Borisov are also defendants in the case along with Khoroshavin. All four men are accused of receiving bribes and embezzlement. Investigators announced in March 2015 that Khoroshavin and several other officials were arrested for allegedly taking a $5.6 million bribe to secure a contract to build a power unit for the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk thermal plant. According to investigators, Khoroshavin organized a criminal group in 2009, which included Karepkin and Ikramov. In 2009-2015 period, they allegedly received bribes from local entrepreneurs estimated at more than 522 million rubles ($9 million). President Vladimir Putin dismissed Khoroshavin from his post due to loss of trust in March 2015. In April 2015, Khoroshavin was charged in another criminal case with taking a bribe of at least 15 million rubles ($230,000) for providing credits on advantageous terms to one of the local businessmen. He pleaded not guilty. In January 2016, the third criminal case was opened against Khoroshavin. According to investigators, he took 27 million rubles ($414,000) in bribes from candidates for the positions in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk City Duma in 2014. In May 2016, a court in Yuzno-Sakhalinsk granted a motion by prosecutors for confiscation of property belonging to Khoroshavin, his wife and son. In particular, expensive apartments, fancy cars, money, jewelry were taken to the state based upon the facts of corruption established by investigation. The family appealed the ruling. Interestingly, in September 2015, Irina Khoroshavina filed for divorce and division of property. Roscosmos official to remain detained in $3 mln embezzlement case MOSCOW, February 20 (RAPSI) The Moscow City Court has upheld a lower courts ruling to extend the detention of Vladimir Yevdokimov, executive director of the Russian space agency Roscosmos allegedly involved in embezzling 200 million rubles ($3.5 million) from MiG aircraft company, RIA Novosti reported Monday. Defense lawyer asked the court to release Yevdokimov on a 30-million-ruble bail ($520,500). The appeal therefore was dismissed. The defendant will stay in jail until April 30. Investigators claim that Yevdokimov was a member an organized criminal group that managed to unlawfully acquire in 2007-2009 assets owned by MiG aircraft company and estimated at 200 million rubles. Alexey Ozerov, former CEO of MiG-Rost, and Yegor Noskov, deputy CEO of Tupolev aircraft company, were also members of the group, according to investigators. They were put in detention as well. An arrest warrant in absentia was issued for Alexey Andreev, former deputy general director of Helicopter Service Company. Akim Noskov, CEO of Helicopter Service Company, absconded during the investigation. Hermitage Capital CEO again arrested in absentia by Russian court MOSCOW, February 20 (RAPSI) Moscows Tverskoy District Court again issued an arrest warrant in absentia for Hermitage Capital Management CEO William Browder, RAPSI learnt from the court's press-service on Monday. The court's press service did not give any details of the case. Browders defense lawyers have already filed an appeal against the ruling. The hearing date has not been scheduled yet. Earlier, the Tverskoy District Court has issued an arrest warrant in absentia for Browder on charges of embezzling stock of Russias oil giant Gazprom. The United Kingdom refused to extradite its national. According to Russian authorities, Browder illegally bought over 130 million Gazprom shares worth at least 2 billion rubles ($32.6 million at the current exchange rate) at a lower, intra-market price through a Russian company he controlled, Kameya LLC, which amounts to large financial loss for Russia. Earlier, a Russian court sentenced Browder in absentia to nine years in a penal colony. The court found that in 1997-2002, Hermitage Capital auditor Sergei Magnitsky created and applied an illegal tax evasion scheme in the interests of Browder. Magnitsky worked for Firestone Duncan and represented Hermitage Capital, which the Russian authorities accused of tax evasion. Magnitsky was arrested on fraud charges in November 2008 and found dead in a Moscow detention center in November 2009. The lawyers death provoked an international outcry. In July 2013, Moscows Tverskoy District Court found Magnitsky guilty of tax evasion and closed the case due to his death. According to the case materials, Magnitskys and Hermitage Capital director William Browders actions cost Russia over 500 million rubles (over $8 million). MSU NARC in third year of research with new pivotsHAVRE, MT - New technologies in irrigation are revolutionizing the way producers - with access to irrigation water - grow their crops, use water more efficiently, and save on inputs, labor and time.Producers in this region want to know more about this new center pivot irrigation technology - called variable rate irrigation (VRI) - and see the effects of water savings, said Dr. Darrin Boss, animal scientist and superintendent at Montana State University's Northern Ag Research Center near Havre.The center had been using flood irrigation from Beaver Creek and the stored water from the lower lake for its research on forages, commodity crops and soils.There is significant irrigation and producers who use irrigation in the region - whether it is from the Fresno Reservoir, down to the Milk River, all the way down to the Missouri and Yellowstone corridors.NARC put out competitive bids in 2014 for an irrigation business to install two high-tech center pivots for irrigation research.Severinsen Irrigation, LLC, near Fairfield, was the winning bid.All the irrigation businesses really wanted to invest in Montana agriculture by taking part in the bidding process, and we appreciated that, Darrin said.Brett Severinsen, a certified pivot electrician and a certified pump technician, designed and installed the two Lindsay Zimmatic pivots.Severinsen was excited about being a major part of future irrigation research.We were excited about the project and the research NARC would do with the variable rate irrigation pivots - identifying crops that use water efficiently to help Montana producers, Severinsen said. He added that variable rate technology from Lindsay is the precision farming tool that takes into account different crops and different soils, keeping water from field obstacles and roads, and delivering water in the right water amountIn 2015, NARC began its first crop year with the pivots, first growing all corn for silage in an effort to clean up the fields from previous research projects. We wanted to equalize the fields the first year, removing the residues from a whole variety of crops or grasses that had been managed differently and grown on the fields in previous years, Darrin said.He added the center has grown corn silage for more than 50 years.In the region, there are commodity crops, such as wheat and pulses that are grown. But even that first year, NARC researchers found there was a 20 percent increase in corn silage yields under the pivots than there was under flood irrigation.In addition, Darrin and other researchers found their water budget for growing the corn silage dropped.We felt we used less water and did it more efficiently, he said. We put as much water down as the crop needed for optimal yields, but no more.With flood irrigation, water is run down the furrows, and there can be water buildup until the water is shut off. The first year was the pivot learning curve year for NARC. It was a learning year for us - learning all about the pivots. The analogy I would use is 'we wanted to kick the tires on the car as we drove it the first 100,000 miles,' Darrin said.The center's researchers needed to learn the software, all the programs involved and how to use the variable rate irrigation (VRI) pivots.That first crop year, producers were very interested in the VRI pivots. A large number of them came out to hear about the pivots and the water use efficiency trials at 2015 field days.Presentations about our center pivots and variable rate water application was the second most attended presentation at our field days, so there was a lot of interest, Darrin said.Darrin attended a school on center pivot technology put on by Zimmatic, and explained about VRIWith VRI, every nozzle can be turned 100 percent on to 100 percent off, he said.VRI technology allows producers to apply exactly the right amount of water to specific areas of their field _ giving them full control to maximize yields and profitability.Each nozzle drops water in a 40-feet circle, and that nozzle can be set to different spray settings.We use a FieldNET software program (field maps) that Zimmatic uses for their pivots, he said.NARC wanted the VRI pivots not just for commodity production research, but for other research, as well.Our goals for future irrigation research include looking at soil health as well as 'can we do more with less,' Darrin said.With NARC's new cropping systems agronomist, Dr. Maryse Bourgault, they can now study plant root morphology.Bourgault, who is originally from Canada, but worked previously in dryland agriculture in Australia, is interested in how roots impact production, and how we can breed for drought-adapted varieties.It makes sense to look at roots with the pulses being grown in Montana and North Dakota these days, Darrin said.Cropping system agronomists at NARC also want to study nutrients and plant uptake of nutrients.We can actually see if there are root structures or plant relationships, whether it be under spring or winter wheat or other crops - root morphology - that does a better job of scavenging and mining nutrients, Darrin said.NARC can study both irrigated and dryland plots in the same field with VRI. Since the pivots have VRI technology, one plot in the field can be shut off to irrigation, while another plot still receives irrigated water.For example, NARC can evaluate winter wheat variety performance on dryland in the Havre, Mont., region by using VRI technology.We have the ability to simulate dryland if we need to by simply shutting off the pivots, he said, adding in the Havre region, rainfall is typically only 8 inches during the growing season.In the plot next to the dryland simulation, we turn the water on and give it a 10 percent boost, Darrin said. Now we can see if 10 percent more water improves root structures or if less water (dryland) is better or the same as irrigation for root morphology.Does adding an inch more of water via VRI help growers do more or does taking away water help growers more?In 2016, NARC started studying double-cropping under VRI pivots because of the short growing season in Havre.By being able to put water on in late July and August when it doesn't traditionally rain here through VRI pivots, can we double crop and get two crops with one growing season, he explained.They planted field peas early and harvested the peas in mid-June, and hayed the pea forage.Then they sprayed to rid the field of volunteers, and planted German millet behind the peas.It is a warm season crop that tends to like heat, Darrin said. They were only able to germinate the second crop because they had the VRI pivots and could add rainfall.We grew a full season of millet after those peas, and once we had a killing frost in September, we swathed the millet into windrows, he said.It was not only a cropping study but also an integrated livestock/cropping study.NARC brought in their calves in in October and let the calves swath graze the millet forage.We actually took two annual forage crops off for the price of one, which is pretty attractive here because we have trouble germinating a second crop in the year without irrigation, Darrin said.In addition, the double cropping used two different types of crops, a broadleaf and a cereal, which helps break up the disease and insect cycles.We can grow a variety of rotational crops here, he added.For more on NARC irrigation and dryland research, see agresearch.montana.edu/narc/ Privacy Policy RealChoice is a BlogSpot blog. You get whatever privacy you get when you post on a blog. As Blogmistress of RealChoice, I do not collect information on my users or those who post comments. I will delete spam and offensive comments, and thoroughly cooperate with law enforcement, as I did in the case of Ted "Operation Counterstrike" Schulman, if people make terroristic threats on my blog. So fight nice, kids. Made In Chelseas Lucy Watson has released her Top 5 Dating Tips every girl needs to know, all in good time for picking up Mr Right. Relationships on Female First Lucys Tips: Always be true to yourself never change for anyone Sooner or later, the real you will come out so why bother trying to hide it? If a guy doesnt like you for who you are then you are dating/ thinking about dating the wrong one. You should have the ease of friendship with your partner. Its nice not to show them your Sunday morning look on your first dates, but no accents, white lies or embellishments with the truth or you will get off on the wrong footing. Always wear something that you are confident in There is no point in worrying about your wardrobe when you are supposed to be listening to and enjoying the time with your date. No fiddly tops, too short skirts or massive heals. You need to be a balance of sexy and comfortable or will spend all night in a perpetual state of fidgeting. Smile Everyone looks better when they smile. It is inviting and shows that you are having a good time, that you are not a bag of boring and mood swings. (You may be but dont show them that side of you yet!) Just make sure that when you do that you check your teeth straight after dinner- you dont want the dreaded herby filling grin! Dont wear too much make up This shows that you are also trying to hide yourself, just as if you were telling him a lie. Accentuate your good points, but avoid, false eyelashes, too heavy foundation and masses of colour. If they wanted to date a china doll they would visit a toy store. Cover up your spots and highlight your eyes so you can be confident about your eye contact! Make sure to avoid messy foods if you are eating out especially spaghetti! So it may have worked out on Lady and the Tramp, but that is Disney and they are dogs. Pick something that lacks sauce and expert forking action! (Save that for later..*wink, wink*) In association with Witch Skin Clearing Primer. by Lucy Moore for relationships.femalefirst.co.uk find me on and follow me on Comments and links to reports on science, and its applications. America must return to conservative principles of less government,reduced taxes, less spending and a balanced budget! Cut,cap and balance! Guwahati : Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday alledged that the Congress wouldn't want to end the ongoing economic blockade in Manipur, which was the result of a conspiracy contrived by the Okram Ibobi Singh led state government. While releasing the Manipur BJP Vision document in Imphal ahead of the assembly polls in the north eastern Indian state to be held on March 4 and 8 in two phases, Rajnath Singh said that, the economic blockade in Manipur was the result of a conspiracy contrived by the Congress led state government to divert attention from their failures. The Union Home Minister said that, actually Ibobi led state government didn't want to end the over three months long economic blockade. "It is an political conspiracy made by the Congress led state government, in which people of Manipur suffered huge problems since past couple of months. I don't know why despite the Centre extended all supports, the blockade still there," Rajnath Singh said. "I had already asked the Manipur government to sit for a tripartite talks with United Naga Council (UNC) and Centre to solve the months long problem, but Congress didn't want to solve the problem. The Centre had sent sufficient security forces to the state to handle the trouble torn situation. But the state government is not use those forces," the Union Home minister said. The Union Home minister further said that, the law and order is a state subject. The poll bound state faces several problems following the economic blockade imposed by the UNC since November 1 last protesed against the creation of seven new districts by Ibobi led government. Rajnath Singh assured Manipur that the NDA government at the Centre will not harm Manipuras territorial integrity at any cost. Our government and BJP will never do anything that would affect territorial integrity of Manipur at any cost,aA Rajnath Singh. The Union minister who visited Manipur on a day long visit to campaign for the party also made similar assurances while addressing two election rallies in Bishnupur district and Imphal city. Anywhere in the framework agreement (signed between the Centre and NSCN-IM) the name of Manipur exists. In any eventuality Manipur's territorial integrity will not be compromised. There should not be any confusion about this,aA the Home minister said. (Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath) Guwahati: Over 2.49 lakh students will appear in the Higher Seconday Examination, 2017 under the Assam Higher Secondary Education Council (AHSEC) which to be started from tomorrow across the state. AHSEC official said that, this year examination will be held at 820 examination centers in the state. A total of 2,49,313 students will appear in Higher Secondary examination in Arts, Science and Commerce stream. Among the students, a total of 1,94,069 students will appear in Arts stream while 37,350 in Science and 17,894 students to appear in Commerce stream. Meanwhile, to curb the malpractices in the examination the AHSEC and the state government have decided to enforce section 144 CrPC within a radius of 200 metres from the examination center. The AHSEC official further said this year examination will be held under CCTV surveillance. The Assam government had already issued order to install CCTV in each examination center. (Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath) Kathmandu, Nepal: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has said that the date for the local body elections will be announced today. Addressing a program organized by the Private and Boarding Schools Association Nepal (PABSON) on Monday prime Minister Dahal made the revelation to the effect. As elections is must to implement the constitution the the government is going to announce the elections today itself, Prime Minister Dahal had a saying. Katmandu, Nepal: The agitating United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF), the alliance of some Madhes-based parties, has announced protest programs against the governments decision to hold local elections on May 14. A meeting of the UDMF leaders held at Tarai Madhes Democratic Party's central office, Bizulibazar, has made the decision not to allow holding the local level elections in Terai districts. To protest the government decision, the UDMF has announced general strike for Wednesday in Madhes districts. Issuing a press statement after the meeting, the UDMF has termed the government decision to announce the date for local level elections as an unfortunate move. The UDMF had been demanding the endorsement of the constitution amendment bill registered in the parliament before announcing the date for the local level elections. Though the UDMF has also extended support to the incumbent CPN Maoist Center Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal led government, the meeting has not made any decision regarding the support to the government. Kathmandu, Nepal: The government has decided to recommend the names of 14 persons for appointment as Nepali ambassadors in various countries. A second cabinet meeting held on Monday evening made the decision to recommend on the basis of share among the allies of the incumbent government. Interestingly, Madhesi Janadhakar Forum-Democratic led by Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar has got a share in the ambassadorial position. The decision to include the Madhesi Janadhakar Forum-Democratic in the share distributed among the government allies is taken as the preparations to include the party in the government. There was a speculation that Gachchhadar was being tried to appoint as the Deputy Prime Minister (DPM). According to the office of the Prime Minister and council of minister, the persons and the country recommended for the ambassador are as following. Yuba Nath Lamsal for Denmark Lakki Sherpa for Australia Mahendra Bahadur Singh for Saudi Arabia Padam Sundas for Bahrain Sharmila Parajuli for Oman Arjun Jung Bahadur Singh for South Korea Bhim Udas for Myanmar Dr. Choplal Bhusal for Bangladesh Prof. Bishwambher Pyakuryal for Sri Lanka Ramesh Prasad Koirala for Qatar Aasha Lama for United Arab Emirates Pratibha Rana for Japan Bharat Rayamajhi for Spain Niranjan Thapa for Israel Among the recommended persons, Udas, Bhusal, Pyakuryal, Koirala and Lama were from the Nepali Congresss quota, Lamsal, Sherpa and Sundas from CPN Maoist Centres quota, Rana and Thapa from Rastriya Prajatantra Partys quota and Parajuli from Madhesi Janadhakar Forum-Democratics quota. The recommendation made during the erstwhile CPN UML chairman KP Sharma Oli led government was cancelled after formation of the incumbent government. However, those recommended from the CPN Maoist Center and Madhesi Janadhakar Forum-Democratic became lucky as their names are approved from the incumbent government. "I would like to say 'This book is written to the glory of God', but nowadays this would be the trick of a cheat, i.e., it would not be correctly understood."--Ludwig Wittgenstein "Talk to me about the truth of religion, and I'll listen gladly. Talk to me about the duty of religion and I'll listen submissively. But don't come talking to me about the consolation of religion or I shall suspect that you don't understand."--C.S. Lewis You have permission to edit this collection. Edit Close I was introduced to the films of Pedro Almodovar when I was about twelve years old almost entirely by accident. I don't remember the year exactly, though 1992 seems like a good guess based on the other memories that have attached themselves to my discovery of the melodramatic comedies of Almodovar. At the time there seemed to be a wealth of Latin American and Spanish language films making waves internationally, and my father was like a pig in slop trying to keep up with the new arrivals at the video store. Among the piles were titles like Nicolas Echevarria's Cabeza de Vaca and Alfonso Arau's Like Water for Chocolate, but nothing quite stoked my interest like the arresting - pun intended - cover of a film called Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! I never watched these films with Dad back in those days, it was most likely a combination of the fact that most were completely inappropriate for a kid my age, and the fact that I wasn't quite a fan of films with subtitles at the time. However, there was something about that cover that drew me in. After Dad went to sleep, I put it into the VCR and I was scarred for life, but in the best possible way. The images flashing across the screen of Antonio Banderas and Victoria Abril embroiled in a chaotic amour fou were burned a brand upon my psyche that I still feel today. Forget the fact that there was plenty of the usual T & A that a growing boy desires, the images, the humor, and the mountains of dense subtext did something to me that day that has yet to be undone. Of course, I didn't understand most of the material in the film, and I fell prey to the more salacious bits as adolescent boys are wont to do, but I could tell that there was something important about this film, and I needed more. As I grew older and more of Almodovar's work became available, I dove into the films headfirst still not completely understanding why I was so drawn to them, but inevitably pulled into his world of candy-colored melodrama and distinctly feminine comedy and sentimentalism. After years of watching these tapes my Dad rented, Kika, The Flower of my Secret, High Heels, Law of Desire, Almodovar was as much a part of my understanding of what films were as he was about my understanding of who women are. Pedro Almodovar made me a romantic in his own fucked up way. As one of the greatest writers of female characters the movie industry has ever seen, he gave me the ability to feel a kind of empathy that I don't think I'd have otherwise known. In Almodovar's films women are strong, women are frail, women have the power to control, women are destined to be controlled, they are funny, they are fearsome, and they are uniquely humane. Pedro Almodovar taught me that women are people, they are everything, and at the same time, they are no more or less special than anyone else. I think that lesson was the most powerful of all. Rather than writing women as foils to lecherous men, Almodovar placed them at the top of his pyramid of power. They have harnessed the power of their emotions while maintaining their dignity - in most cases - and utilize empathy as the wonderful equalizer it is. One of his most striking and succinct examples of this ability is in his 1987 masterpiece Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. Even though I'd been watching Almodovar's films since I was far too young to understand, it wasn't until Sony Classics re-released them into cinemas in 2006 that I first saw Women on the Verge, and suddenly everything made sense. The glorious outlandish color scheme, the fantastical world of a Madrid in which everything is perfect except the relationships between men and women, the archetypal characters coming together to represent the many faces of women everywhere, it had been there in all of his other films all the time, but it really started here. Almodovar's stamp is everywhere, his wonderful eye of artifice and art in the eeryday, his ability to stage melodrama and comedy within the same frame, his unique worldview gets its first real workout in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. His thematic obsessions with telephones and missed/mixed messages, philandering men, enabling women, violent revenge, and ultimately the ability to let it all go all make appearances in what is probably still the quintessential Almodovar work. The story is a convoluted mixture of revenge, tragedy, comedy, and women looking for their own centers in a world dominated by the lies of one man. In some of his films it takes more than one man, and in some of his films the only way to escape is to abandon men altogether, but in Women on the Verge, the name at the top of everyone's hit-list is Ivan (Fernando Guillen). It's up to the miraculous Pepa (Carmen Maura in a career defining performance) to keep it altogether, wrangling her friends and ersatz family together to protect them against a world torn asunder. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is as close as I'll ever see to a perfect film. It is Almodovar to a tee, and its influence on me through the films that followed in its wake, is immeasurable. The Disc: Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown appears on this new Criterion Blu-ray in a ravishing new 2K restoration supervised by the director and his brother/producer Agustin. The image is breathtaking, taking full advantage of the high definition format in a way that few films can. I watch a lot of discs from this era, and this is among the very best in terms of its ability to recreate Almodovar's color palette and attention to fine detail. Every frame is sharper than the last, and Almodovar's unique and crucial framing of every image is picture perfect. An outstanding achievement. The audio, so important in this take of a pair of voice actors at odds with one another, is also crisp and clear with no audible distortions or hissing. Perfect. Criterion have provided a quartet of exceptional interviews with the film that do an amazing job of placing the film in context as well as illuminating the life and career of Almodovar. The first is with the director himself, and it is absolutely sublime. Almodovar talks about the celebration of freedom from fascism that was the '80s and how that celebration translated into his film. He also talks about the layers upon layers of text and subtext in a way that will make you want to watch the film all over again. It's an exceptional interview with a filmmaker who is far more capable than most at talking about his particular art and making it interesting. The remaining three interviews are also quite solid. Next is an interview with Agustin Almodovar, Pedro's brother and biggest supporter. In the interview Agustin talks about what it's like to facilitate his brother's art and how out of step it puts him with the rest of the producing community. An interview with Women on the Verge star and iconic Spanish actress Carmen Maura explores her early years working with Almodovar and the way they were able to communicate and understand one another intrinsically. She briefly addresses their 20 year hiatus and ultimate reunion for her amazing turn in 2006's Volver. The final interview is with film writer and former New York Film Festival programmer Richard Pena who discusses Almodovar's work and the finding of Women on the Verge for his opening night film back in 1988 and the major international recognition that followed. Rounding out the bonus content is an essay from Spanish film writer Elvira Lindo that further contextualizes this film and the rest of Almodovar's early work in the context of a post-Franco Spain and just how important it was for a nation struggling to catch up with a series of cultural revolutions they'd missed. This is an exceptional package for one of my favorite films and Criterion has done an amazing job. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is an easy recommendation. Buy it now! "I sentenced criminals to hundreds more years than I wanted to. I had no choice." | Main | Awakening to a sleepy sentencing debate: do tired federal judges sentence more harshly? Regular readers know I am always eager to provide a forum for responses and respectful criticisms of sentencing-related activities and comments by public officials. In that vein, I am pleased to provide here the sharp commentary sent my way by Beth Curtis, a prisoner advocate who runs the website Life for Pot. Beth sent an extended commentary my way under the heading "Responding to: The Man Who Ran Obamas Clemency Machine"; she was inspired to write by the recent Marshall Project interview with former White House Counsel Neil Eggleston about Prez Obama's clemency efforts (noted here). Beth's full commentary is available for download below, and here is a snippet to highlight why the full piece is worthy of time and attention: For the first five years of Obamas presidency the federal prison population grew by 13,000 incarcerated people. In 2013, the population was 214,149, the highest incarceration rate in history. Criminal justice organizations, prisoner advocacy groups, criminal defense attorneys, law school clinics, prisoners families and various other lobbying groups started the drum beat for sentencing reform and an initiative of Presidential Clemency. Finally in 2013 Eric Holder announced that there would be a clemency initiative that could mean 10,000 or more acts of mercy for incarcerated people who would not be a threat if they were released. Those of us with incarcerated loved ones who had sentences that would assure that they would die behind bars now had a reason for hope. We felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude to the President and all who were involved in the decision and the process that would lead to our loved ones freedom. We could hope to have our family member in our daily lives again. The hope was an ache, but we knew this President had compassion. It was not to be. The lack of commitment became apparent almost immediately. I have the web site Life for Pot and the nonviolent marijuana offenders that I advocate for waited patiently for their evaluation by cp-14. Surprisingly some were rejected, and others accepted to the project and were told they would be assigned an attorney. Those fortunate inmates who were assigned an attorney would sometimes just receive a notification that they were represented and hear nothing more. We urged them to submit their own and wait. This is not just a passing interest for me. I have a 69 year old brother, John Knock, who has two life sentences for a nonviolent marijuana conspiracy. He has been incarcerated for 20 years and never had an infraction. His prison resume is impeccable. He is a first time offender. On January 18, his clemency petition was denied by President Obama. These are the numbers that tell you about the mercy and compassion of the Clemency Initiative. The promise was 10,000 or more. 1,715 Commutations granted we could only find 39 for nonviolent marijuana only offenders. The rest were denied or left pending. Over 18,000 petitions for commutation were denied. Over 4,000 petitions for commutation we closed without action. Over 8,000 petitions for commutation were left pending in the Pardon Attorneys office for the next administration. I must reject Mr. Egglestons assertion that he had better information and insight than the attorneys, advocates, or families about who was a good candidate for release. He asserts that he and President Obama looked over all the applicants and rejected all but 1,715. Apparently Mr. Eggleston and President Obama based their denials on secret information. That implies that all the nonviolent marijuana offenders that I know who were denied should remain in prison till they die because Mr. Eggleston and President Obama have special information unknown to anyone else? What are the secrets that gave them confidence to make this Sophies Choice? They missed the point of Clemency. It is not a legal process but a Constitutional Power given to the President to be compassionate and merciful. In this endeavor they failed miserably. These assertions made by Mr. Eggleston have tainted the character and behavior of all they left behind. I can only believe this was done in order to in order to burnish the administrations legacy of compassion at the expense of those they left behind without hope. There is one secret that most of us know that the White House and the Pardon Attorney did not address. That secret is that most nonviolent offenders who receive sentences of life without parole were charged with conspiracy and went to trial. A conspiracy charge does not require definitive evidence, but only the testimony of those testifying for a plea or for part of the forfeiture. If you exercise your sixth amendment right to trial you receive the trial penalty. This charge allows the Prosecutor to tell the story. In the spring of 2016 at a White House Briefing, it was obvious to many of us that the promise of clemency was waning and The Administration was pivoting to reentry as the major emphasis for time and money. The White House would not pay attention to any effort to expedite the clemency project by granting clemency to categories of inmates. Many individuals and groups implored them to take this approach so that they would not fail the thousands who placed their trust in their concept of mercy. The White House and Justice Department did not seem to even understand the concept as it had been used in the past. Heals were dug in, and fates were sealed. Download FEBRUARY 2017 CLEMENCY FAILURE UPDATE: For those unable to get download to work (which may be my fault, as I am working from the road), here is a link to Beth's site with her full commentary. Text by Rabbi Daniel Travis Two by two the animals came into the Ark to Noach. [ Noah 7:9 ] The concepts in this verse are ill... [If you did not see Part 1 click here to watch ] What will happen in the final war of "Gog and Magog" at the End of Days? Who are ... HT: AG "A soul like his does not descend in every generation, it descends once in many generations" Rav Shlomo Yehudah Be'eri... Rabbi Efraim Palvanov Where did all the water for the Great Flood come from, and is it scientifically possible? Was Noahs Ark a simple wood... Current News The United States is concerned about threats from Iran against Saudi Arabia and will not hesitate to respond if necessary, a... ORANGE CITY, Iowa The first hearing in the country on the 2018 Farm Bill reauthorization will be at 2 p.m. Feb. 23 at the Kansas State University campus in Manhattan. Beth Doran and Fred M. Hall, Northwest Iowa livestock and dairy specialists, will host the live webinar in the basement meeting room at the Iowa State University Extension and Outreach - Sioux County office. No registration is required, but seating will be on a first-come basis. While those attending will be able to hear the questions and testimony, if they would like to submit written testimony they can email their comments directed to U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts at: Alexandra_swee@ag.senate.gov. Roberts, chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, says lawmakers need clear direction from producers on what is working and what isnt working in farm country. For more information, contact the ISU Extension and Outreach - Sioux County office at 712-737-4230. One Trump supporter, who came over from South Dakota to see the Sioux City event, said "We went from the greatest country this world has ever known, to in the toilet under Biden." SIOUX CITY | The death of a 2-month old girl is under investigation by the Storm Lake Police Department. The infant was brought by her parents to the Buena Vista Regional Medical Center emergency room just before noon Saturday, police said in a news release Monday. After arriving at the hospital, police determined the girl was dead. The child was brought to the hospital from a residence, so later Saturday a search of a residence in the 1100 block of Ontario Street was conducted after a warrant had been obtained. The cause of the childs death is unknown. An autopsy was to be performed Monday at the Iowa State Medical Examiners Office in Ankeny, Iowa. The identity of the child and her family are being withheld pending the outcome of an investigation. The police department is being assisted by the Buena Vista County Medical Examiners Office, the Iowa State Medical Examiners Office and the Buena Vista County Attorneys Office. SIOUX CITY | A first sign could be the car drifts -- first right, then weaving back left, a few feet at a time, perhaps off pavement and onto SIOUX CITY | The Ply part of the PlyWood Trail isn't locked in. The proposed $10 million recreational trail linking Le Mars and Sioux City has hit a major stumbling block over the issue of who would own the segment of the pathway in rural Plymouth County. The private group of trail enthusiasts who have pledged to raise funds for the construction and future maintenance of the trail believe it would make the most sense for the Plymouth County Conversation Board to take ownership. But that five-member board, after a recent meeting, said they "couldn't commit to the project at this time." "We are respectfully declining ownership and maintenance responsibilities," Conservation Board Director Nick Beeck said. Beeck said he is drafting a letter to the PlyWood Trail Advisory Board, advising the group it should look for a different entity to own the trail. The letter will encourage the trail group not to delay the project in hopes the board's decision will change. The conservation board's decision is tied to the chilly reception the trail issue has received from the Plymouth County Board of Supervisors, which approves the conservation board's budget. In a November letter to the PlyWood Trail Board, the supervisors said they are "generally in favor of the project so long as no county property tax dollars are being requested for the construction and the maintenance of the trail." In an interview last week, county supervisors chairman Don Kass, of rural Remsen, said the board is "not anti-bike trail," but contended only 2 percent of people are avid bicyclists. Kass said it is not fair for the county to use tax money to give to the county conservation board for maintenance costs, since some county residents living some distance from the trail will never use it or "never lay eyes on it." Kass said the sole solution is for the PlyWood trail group to officially register as a non-profit entity, take ownership of the trail, and commit to assuming the full trail construction and subsequent maintenance costs. "I admire the passion of the group...They are not being completely realistic on the upfront costs and the long-term costs of maintenance," Kass said. While it is possible for the group to own the trail as a non-profit, PlyWood Trail board member Greg Grupp, a retired Sioux City banker who is also the chairman of the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation Board, notes that from his review of trails in Iowa, it is not a best practice for private foundations to do so. PlyWood Trail board member Jeff Stanley said a foundation could have fluidity in membership, and subsequent members might not keep the endeavor going. That's why he said ownership by a local governmental body in Plymouth County is essential. "Without their support or partnership, it will be difficult to maintain this trail," Stanley said. "...I live and hope that the board of supervisors see the value in this trail and how we might bet partner in meeting their concerns." 16-mile route Fourteen of the 16 miles of the proposed route lies in Plymouth County. If Plymouth County officials don't reverse their decision, PlyWood Trail leaders said they are prepared to approach the Le Mars and Sioux City councils -- which both back the project -- about the possibility of each city taking possession of segments of the trail closest to their respective boundaries. That could be accomplished through creation of "lineal parks," slender strips of right-of-way along the route, which would run parallel to U.S. Highway 75, through the small towns of Merrill and Hinton. The trail would run for six miles in an abandoned railway, as verbally approved by the Iowa Department of Transportation, contingent upon final engineering plans, Stanley said. The other 10 miles would cross about 30 private landowners' parcels, where easements would be needed. It would also tie into an existing trail in Hinton, Iowa, on the west side of Highway 75. The pathway would tie into existing trail systems in Le Mars and Sioux City. Stanley noted Sioux City is the largest city without a trail connection to a neighboring city in Iowa. Stanley said people would love to have the PlyWood Trail to broaden biking options, through usage of Sioux City trails to have more miles to ride. "This is a great alternative to provide a safe trail, not only for bikers, but runners, rollerbladers, others," he said. Stanley enjoys biking and said the committee's research has shown that employers support the trail, since it is seen as a nice quality-of-life piece that will draw people to live and work in the area. "We hear from people who are in favor of it," Stanley said. "Nine times out of 10 it is a positive comment." Cost estimates The PlyWood name is derived from the first few letters of Plymouth and Woodbury and does not speak to the material that will be used to build the concrete trail, which was first broached in 2012 by the Siouxland Interstate Metropolitan Planning Council. In a best-case scenario, Stanley said construction could start in late 2018, after financing is finalized and easements settled. Backers plan to start fundraising later this year. They have already received $1 million in seed money from the city of Le Mars, and the largest employer in Le Mars and Plymouth County, Wells Enterprises, also has pledged a seven-figure contribution, said Stanley, who is an employee of Wells, maker of Blue Bunny ice cream. State and federal grants could account for much of the remaining cost. Stanley noted that certain grants can only go to government entities. During an August 2016 meeting of the Iowa Transportation Commission, commissioner Charese Yanney of Sioux City told trail supporters that money is also going to be available in the near future for the trail from the Enhanced Iowa program. The Woodbury County Board of Supervisors heard a PlyWood presentation from supporters during a meeting in November. The supervisors were not asked to financially support the trail, but then-board chair Jeremy Taylor said he hoped the project moves forward. Kass argues the $10 million estimate for the trail is too low. Kass said he discussed with trail board members in a January meeting that there is a need for a six-mile fence between the trail on the abandoned railway and the existing, mostly parallel railway. He also predicted trash from the highway would blow into that fencing, creating an unsightly look for the trail and raising the maintenance cost to remove it. "I don't think it is dead, but they are going to need to raise an incredible amount of money." PlyWood Trail officials said they intend to raise funds not only for construction, but also extra money to put into an endowment fund that would generate interest to pay for the trail's annual upkeep. Beeck said the trail may have little maintenance in early years, but he's seen some trails that in later years cost $1,500 per mile annually to maintain. Extrapolating that number would result in a possible $24,000 annual maintenance cost. Another two-county Iowa trail There is another trail in western Iowa owned by two counties. The Sauk Rail Trail, founded 20 years ago in the 1990s, covers 25 miles from Carroll to Lake View primarily on an old vacated railway. Maintenance of the trails is handled by the conservation boards of Carroll and Sac counties. Carroll County Conservation Board Director Jason Christensen said the cooperation between the two counties has been sound. Christensen said the annual upkeep of the trail runs about $1,000 to $1,500. "It has been a positive. I can't recall any issues where it hasn't been a good working relationship," Christensen said. "Everything has worked out. The maintenance costs, we divvy up on our own. Sac County takes the costs up there and we take care of our own." SIOUX CITY | A Sioux City man accused of having sexual contact with residents at a facility that provides services to people with special needs now faces misdemeanor rather than felony charges. District Judge Jeffrey Poulson on Thursday approved the dismissal of three counts of third-degree sexual abuse that had been filed against Sergio Pinedo in October in Woodbury County District Court. According to court documents, Pinedo, 22, had sexual contact with three different residents at Opportunities Unlimited in Sioux City from Aug. 1 through Sept. 29. Pinedo was an employee at the facility. First Assistant Woodbury County Attorney Mark Campbell said in his motion to dismiss the charges that after taking depositions of the victims, he believed it would be difficult to prove the nonconsensual nature of the sex acts, a key element in the sexual abuse charges, which are felonies. Campbell has since filed a complaint charging Pinedo with dependent adult abuse, a serious misdemeanor that is not dependent upon the nonconsensual nature of the sex acts. SIOUX CITY Sundays near-record-high temperature of 67 degrees motivated plenty of Siouxland residents to get out and enjoy the unseasonably warm weather for February. One popular spot was Sioux City's Chris Larsen Park, the 110-acre downtown recreation area that overlooks the Missouri River. Dozens of parents and children swamped the parks playgrounds and walking trail while others took time out for a picnic or just to enjoy the serene setting. Katie Dailey of Sioux City kept a close eye on her 5-year-old daughter, Nayeli, as the tyke rode her scooter around the parks trail and climbed on the playground equipment. Dailey described her daughter as an active child who enjoys the outdoors. Just being able to go outside and not being stuck in the house, was Daileys reply when asked why they came out to the park Sunday. Amy Marshall of Sioux City mostly sat and watched as her daughter, Stephanie, and three of her granddaughters Niya, 8; Sienna, 6; and Sydney, 3 played on the monkey bars and other equipment at the park. Its nice to be outside for once, Stephanie Marshall said. The weekends nice weather also prompted the Marshall family to make a visit to LaunchPad Childrens Museum Friday and do other outdoor activities. Sunday also was a special day for 9-year-old Kaelyn Burns of Sioux City. She received an electric scooter for Christmas and Sunday was the first time she was actually able to ride it. Im very excited to be able to ride it in February, she said. The recent streak of warmer weather was caused by a range of high pressure over the area, according to Tim Masters, a technician with the National Weather Service in Sioux Falls. Masters was glad to hear that people took time out to enjoy their day Sunday, but noted the warm weather is coming to an end soon. The average daily high for Sioux City in February is 46 degrees. Well have some showers and thunderstorms coming in late tonight and tomorrow, and then another couple warm days and then, potentially, a snowstorm for Thursday night and Friday, Masters said Sunday. "Tell your readers, enjoy the warmth while it lasts because it's coming to a crash." SIOUX FALLS | A Yankton, South Dakota, man has pleaded not guilty to robbing a Yankton bank in July. David Giese, 26, is charged in U.S. District Court in Sioux Falls with bank robbery. His trial is set for April 25. Giese is charged with the July 26 robbery of the Wells Fargo bank at 200 Cedar St. Police said that a suspect holding a package entered the bank, demanded money and claimed that the package was an explosive device. The package was later found to not be an explosive. Police said no other weapon was used during the robbery, in which an undisclosed amount of money was stolen. WEST DES MOINES, Iowa -- Negotiators for the state and a union representing public safety employees hit the restart button Monday in talks aimed at reaching a new two-year labor agreement by March 15. The compressed timeline was precipitated by the Legislature's swift action to scrap Iowa's 1974 collective bargaining law and replace it with a sweeping overhaul that Gov. Terry Branstad signed Friday to take effect immediately. The state Public Employment Relations Board notified negotiators late last week that contract talks had to start anew if a voluntary agreement hadn't been reached prior to Feb. 17. "It is what it is and now we're just trying to figure out how we move forward from here," said Jason Bardsley, a state trooper from Des Moines and current president of the State Police Officers Council (SPOC), a union representing about 600 Iowa State troopers, special agents with the Division of Criminal Investigation and the Division of Narcotics Enforcement, state fire inspectors and agents, Iowa conservation officers, and Iowa park rangers. Both sides presented opening positions Monday that were similar to what they proposed in November. The state's unionized law enforcement employees requested 3 percent across-the-board pay increases for each of the next two fiscal years beginning on July 1. SPOC's proposal also called for maintaining a health plan where the state pays 80 percent of insurance premiums while seeking changes in areas of overtime policy, transfers and call-back time, clothing allowances and other workplace issues. Janet Phipps, director of the Iowa Department of Administrative Services and lead state negotiator, said the state was sticking to its position of not offering an insurance proposal at this time, saying "the state agrees to provide health and dental benefits as determined by the state to eligible bargaining unit members." Gov. Terry Branstad's administration first signaled a desire to change Iowa's collective bargaining law on Nov. 21 by announcing it was not including a specific insurance proposal as a mandatory item of bargaining pending possible action once the GOP-led Legislature convened in January. Branstad has said he would like to explore the option of creating a larger risk pool of public employees at the state, county, city and school district levels that would help drive down costs for all the entities that chose to participate. However, a lead GOP author of the collective bargaining rewrite last week said Republicans were cool to proposal especially for local entities. Branstad reiterated Monday that the pooling approach would reduce state health insurance costs and free up more money for wages in the future. The state offer to SPOC represented Monday was unchanged at a 1 percent across-the-board increase for the next two fiscal years. Bardsley said the uncertainty over the future of their health-care coverage is probably causing angst among his members. "We're looking forward to sitting down with the state today and seeing where things go. We'll just see how things are handled," he said. The SPOC leader also expressed concern over the compressed timeline that requires talks to be wrapped up in less than one month. On Monday an attorney for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 61 union filed a lawsuit on behalf of its 40,000 workers challenging the state's new collective bargaining law for public sector employees. AFSCME President Danny Homan said the only thing his members may bargain over now are their base wages, while people who do similar work - like police officers - were exempted from the new law, so they can discuss 17 subjects as they negotiate their contracts. "Why have we created a system in this state that treats public employees that are virtually doing the same work differently than other employees?" Homan told reporters during a conference call. Telefonica, S.A., together with its subsidiaries, provides telecommunications services in Europe and Latin America. The company's mobile and related services and products comprise mobile voice, value added, mobile data and Internet, wholesale, corporate, roaming, fixed wireless, and trunking and paging services. Its fixed telecommunication services include PSTN lines; ISDN accesses; public telephone services; local, domestic, and international long-distance and fixed-to-mobile communications; corporate communications; supplementary value-added services; video telephony; intelligent network; and telephony information services, as well as leases and sells handset equipment. The company also provides Internet and broadband multimedia services comprising Internet service provider, portal and network, retail and wholesale broadband access, narrowband switched access, high-speed Internet through fibre to the home, and voice over Internet protocol services. In addition, it offers leased line, virtual private network, fibre optics, web hosting and application, outsourcing and consultancy, desktop, and system integration and professional services. Further, the company offers wholesale services for telecommunication operators, including domestic interconnection and international wholesale services; leased lines for other operators; and local loop leasing services, as well as bit stream services, wholesale line rental accesses, and leased ducts for other operators' fiber deployment. Additionally, it provides video/TV services; smart connectivity and services, and consumer IoT products; financial and other payment, security, cloud computing, advertising, big data, and digital telco experience services; virtual assistants; digital home platforms; and Movistar Home devices. It also offers online telemedicine, home insurance, music streaming, and consumer loan services. The company was incorporated in 1924 and is headquartered in Madrid, Spain. Did you know that today, 20 February is the U.N. World Day of Social Justice? Social justice is the view that everyone deserves to enjoy the same economic, political and social rights, regardless of race, socioeconomic status, gender or other characteristics. Learning about Social Justice in the classroom is crucial to prepare you to become responsible global citizens in the 21st century. Try out some of these great activities for different grade levels to help you think about human rights and our responsibility to take care of each other. Do you think we all enjoy Social Justice in Samoa? Write and tell us why or why not. Banana Peel Years 3+: Give a banana to each student and ask them to get to know their bananas. Have them look for any identifying marks, shape, brightness of the banana, etc. Then, take the bananas, put them in a basket and have the students find their banana. Students should not have trouble with this. The next day, peel the bananas and have the students attempt to find their bananas again in the basket. This will teach them that although we look different on the outside, we are the same on the inside. Face-to-face Years 3+: Place students in pairs and have them observe and interview each other. Have students list their differences as well as similarities. See if these attributes are external or internal, and discuss this with the class. Students should leave the activity realizing that its important to respect and celebrate human differences. Draw a picture Years 2+: Gender stereotyping is common in the workplace and in society. Have students draw pictures that represent different professions, such as construction worker or teacher. Collect the drawings and add up how many men or women were represented in each drawing. Use the data to discuss how gender roles and societal expectations impact individuals employment opportunities. Put-ups Years 1+: In this activity, students will be learn to encourage others. Have kids offer put-ups rather put-downs about classmates. This way, students will recognize the value of kindness and affirming what is good about each individual. Thats not fair! Years 3+: This activity demonstrates the impact of educational disparities. Give one half of the classroom nice construction paper and well-working scissors and the other half notebook paper and pairs of old scissors. Ask students to create paper dolls. Then, switch the resources and display the artwork. Students will see how low-quality resources and high-quality resources can affect student achievement. The Assertion Jar Years 5+: Have students write and then place their assertions in a jar and pull one out each day to use as a daily activity eg: The sky is blue, You never get cold in Samoa, Older people know everything All Samoans are good at rugby Students can practice refutation skills and learn how it is common to disagree with others, but it must be done in a respectful, civil way. Can girls be plumbers? Years 2+: Teach about gender stereotypes, roles and career choices. Provide photos of both men and women and a list of different jobs. Have kids use the photographs to create a display with the photos on one side and the corresponding jobs on the other. See what the students match up, and then discuss. The Small Island Developing States (S,I.D.S.) Symposium, organized by the Government of Bahamas with support of the United Nations, focusing on the specific development challenges faced by S.I.D.S., will kick off on 21 February 2017 in Nassau, the Bahamas. The three-day Symposium will take stock of how S.I.D.S. can fast track towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and the SAMOA Pathway a global commitment which highlights the unique development needs of S.I.D.S. due to their particular vulnerabilities, including to the impact of climate change. At the Symposium, participants, including high-level government and UN officials, will also discuss partnerships for development, the role of public institutions as well as the need to mobilize information and communication technology, and strengthen monitoring and statistical capacities. For more information on the Symposium, please visit: http://bit.ly/2kh6Fch. Join us online by using the hashtag #SIDSSymposium2017. The Symposium will be streamed live: http://bit.ly/2kR2pwc. Main Speakers at the Symposium: Perry G Christie, Prime Minister, the Bahamas Wu Hongbo, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, UN What LGBT Americans can expect from a Trump administration and the realities of marriage equality were topics of a lecture presented by Our Fund Thursday evening in Fort Lauderdale. You must support civil society organizations like Our Fund, said Robert W. Kuhn, a board member of Lambda Legal. Because your government has left you behind. It was an ominous opening to the lecture held at Josephine S. Leiser Opera Center. Speaking on behalf of Lambda Legal was Christopher Clark, National Pro Bono Director, who attempted to ease fears that a change in Washington would negatively affect same-sex marriages. We are not at this point alarmed that that right is going to be rolled back by the Supreme Court, said Clark. Clark said public opinion now favors marriage rights for all thus making it harder for the high court to flip on its historic Obergefell vs. Hodges decision of 2015. Along with marriage rights come nearly 1,000 other federal rights and protections for same-sex couples from immigration sponsorship to social security survivor benefits. Aside from marriage, however, other rights could be eroded, Clark said. He called Supreme Court justice nominee Neil Gorsuch dangerous to the LGBT community. Rae Chorowski, a South Florida attorney, joined Clark on the lecture panel. Chorowski explained what she called the nuts and bolts of marriage from emotional, financial and personal standpoints. Her part of the lecture veered into new ground for LGBT Americans as the topic of divorce was broached. Its been really interesting for me on a professional level because Ive had so many gay and lesbian clients come to me now for a divorce, Chorowski said. Some of these couples have been together for many years before they were married and a year or two into their marriage and theyre getting divorced. Its fascinating to me and really a psychological issue more than a legal one. Chorowski said a mistake married couples make is not entering into a pre-nuptial agreement due to romantic reasons. I have actually witnessed the blood drain from somebodys face when I explain to them the implications and ramifications of what this marriage may cost this person, Chorowski said. Family law in Florida, Chorowski said, is based on five different areas Equitable distribution, alimony, custody of children, child support and attorney fees. Equitable distribution is most impactful in the LGBT community, Chorowski said. Title is not relevant anymore once youre married, Chorowski said. Previously when same-sex couples owned a home together and broke up, the home stayed in the ownership of the title holder. With married couples, the home falls under equitable distribution. All assets accumulated by a couple from the time they were married to the time they divorce are to be divided equally, Chorowski said. The days of packing your shit and leaving are over, she added. A pre-nuptial agreement, Chorowski said, solves many problems during a divorce. In many cases, a forensic accountant is required to determine enhanced assets. Enhanced assets are assets that existed before the marriage began and have gained substantial value since. Nobody likes them and nobody wants to enter into them because its not romantic, but it really does help clarify a lot of issues, Chorowski said of pre-nuptial agreements. More Info: www.our-fund.org www.lambdalegal.org www.leisercenter.org At a press conference this morning, the Wilton Manors Police Department announced it arrested four suspects in connection with the Feb. 14 armed robbery that took place near Wilton Drive. At 3:30 a.m. on Feb. 14, Wilton Manors resident Denis Kladchihin was walking home from Wilton Drive. When he got to the corner of Northeast 21 Court and Northeast 1 Avenue, he saw two men, who had hidden behind the bushes of a nearby home, start to chase him. Related: Police Looking for Mugging Suspects; $3,000 reward offered Initially, Kladchihin outran the suspects but, using a 2015 Honda CRV, they caught up to him, pistol-whipped him and stole his credit card, cell phone, drivers license, and $20 in cash. After seeing the robbery reported by the media, police say the suspects wiped the phone of fingerprints and tossed it into the Everglades. The charges include robbery with a firearm, grand theft of less than $5,000, attempt to commit conspiracy, destruction of evidence, and criminal mischief. The suspects are Darrion Vankleeck, 18, a white male; Corey Dukes, 18, a black male; Adolfo Vela, 18, a white male; and Anne Feeley, 18, a white female. Feeley was only charged with accessory after the fact. Operations Commander Gary Blocker said that detectives made this case their top priority and that the department will not tolerate acts of this nature. He added that there was no evidence that this was a hate crime. According to Blocker, the video recording of the incident played a key role in the investigation and that the four suspects were caught because of anonymous tipster. We want to thank that individual, Blocker said. He said that police were still looking into the backgrounds of the four suspects for a history of similar crimes. Despite the armed robbery, Chief Paul OConnell said crime is down overall in the city. He noted that the number of Part One crimes aggravated assault, rape, murder, and robbery were down in 2015. OConnell added that preliminary numbers show Part One crimes are also down in 2016 but the numbers wont be official until the end of April. Its the lowest in 20 years. The total number of Part One crimes, which is reported to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement by the Wilton Manors Police Department, dropped from 353 in 2014 to 277 in 2015, but the rape and murder rate increased from 0 to 1 murder and 2 to 4 rapes. The only murder in the city that year was Henry Vidal, a popular local bartender who was found dead in his home by a co-worker on May 29, 2015. UPDATE: Monday's time of protest has been changed to 3:30-5 p.m. from 8-10 p.m. Palm Beach County groups organized against President Donald Trump have started merging. Palm Beach Indivisible leader Robb Allan and other members told attendees what local anti-Trump groups had planned for the upcoming week and in the future. No 45 Protest, 3:30 to 5 p.m. Monday -- Local group South Florida Activism is scheduled to protest Trump at Dreher Park on 1100 Southern Boulevard in West Palm. Protesters will put on the backs of their shirts paper signs reading NO 45, referring to Trump, who is the 45th president. Protesters plan to turn their backs on the presidential motorcade as it drives down Southern. Our message is singular and direct, the events Facebook page states. We say NO to the wall. NO to the ban. NO to the retraction of DACA. NO to the pipelines. NO to the swamp cabinet. NO to countless other unjust orders and propositions made by 45 and his administration. DACA stands for Deferred Action for Childhood. It is an executive order signed by former President Barack Obama in 2012 that temporarily shields from deportation some child immigrants brought into the U.S. illegally. Pro-Planned Parenthood rally, 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Tuesday -- Planned Parenthood of South Florida has scheduled a rally at the Port Saint Lucie office of Republican Representative Brian Mast. Planned Parenthood is in the fight of our lives given what is at stake for our patients, the events Facebook page states. If our opponents are successful, patients will lose access to preventive health services such as contraception, cancer screenings and STI testing and treatment. Please bring signs to let Rep. Brian Mast know why funding Planned Parenthood is important to you. Masts office address is 121 SW Port Saint Lucie Boulevard. The local Planned Parenthood chapter stated the event is co-sponsored with Palm Beach Indivisibles, South Florida Activism, and the local chapters of the Service Employees International Union and the Womens March. Indivisibles meet with Mast, 8 to 8:30 a.m. Wednesday -- One Palm Beach Indivisible leader, Mark Beaumont, said he and other group members who live in Floridas 17th Congressional district are scheduled to meet with Mast, their representative. They plan to discuss the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, Beaumont said. Mast supports repealing the health insurance program. Beaumont and the Indivisibles oppose this. Around 12.7 million people are enrolled in the ACA, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services stated on Feb. 4. In a recent interview with small-town Michigan newspaper The Detroit News, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos discussed her plans to make cuts within the Department of Education throwing up red flags for GLSEN, an organization that fights for LGBT rights and protections. I cant tell you today what is being done [at the Department of Education] thats unnecessary, DeVos told the publication. But I can guarantee that there are things that the department has been doing that are probably not necessary or important for a federal agency to do. Well be looking at that. DeVos also shared that her biggest goal for education is to continue to stoke and enhance a childs creative and curious nature. In response to DeVoss unclear plans on education cuts, Executive Director of GLSEN Dr. Eliza Byard released a statement urging the Secretary to continue to enforce LGBT protections against bullying and discrimination: With 66 percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQ) students reporting having personally experienced LGBTQ-related discriminatory policies or practices at their school, protecting LGBTQ students is a necessity, Byard said. Last year, a record number of families from across the country turned to the Department of Education for help, Byard continued. Sixteen-thousand reports of discrimination, each more heartbreaking than the next. Clearly, the Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Education is an essential service to the American people. The Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Education currently has funding of $107 million, which is only a fraction of the proposed 2017 Department of Education budget of $69.4 billion in discretionary funding. No concrete cuts have been proposed as of yet. I would hope by the time I leave to have allowed students across this country, particularly those who are today struggling the most, to find and go to a school where they are going to thrive in and grow and become everything they hope to be, DeVos said. Rene Martinez was president of Comunidad Gay Sampedrana, an LGBT advocacy group in San Pedro Sula, a city in northwest Honduras, in June 2016. He was also running an outreach center in the citys Chamelecon neighborhood through Youth Alliance Honduras, an organization that is part of an anti-violence program the U.S. Agency for International Development helped to develop. Martinez was a well-known member of President Juan Orlando Hernandezs ruling National Party when he disappeared on June 1, 2016. Martinezs relatives identified his body in San Pedro Sulas morgue two days later. We worked a lot together, Allysson Hernandez, a transgender rights activist who lives outside of San Pedro Sula, told the Washington Blade on Friday during a telephone interview. He gave me the space to work on my projects. Martinezs murder underscores the very real risks that San Pedro Sulas LGBT activists face in one of the worlds most dangerous cities. San Pedro Sula in 2015 had 171.2 murders per 100,000 people, which made it the most dangerous city in the world that it is not in a war zone. This figure dropped to 111.03 murders per 100,000 people in 2016. San Pedro Sula is Honduras second-largest city with 719,064 people, according to the countrys 2013 Census. The city generates more than 60 percent of the countrys gross domestic product. Honduras which borders Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua is among the most violent countries in the world. The State Departments Bureau of Diplomatic Security notes the Central American nation in 2011 had 86.5 murders per 100,000 people in 2011. The Honduran government indicates this figure dropped to 66.4 murders per 100,000 people in 2014, but advocates have questioned these statistics. Activists: Police are more of a threat than gangs Maras and pandillas (street gangs) and drug traffickers are largely responsible for the violence that is concentrated in Chamelecon and other poor neighborhoods in San Pedro Sula. Cattrachas, an advocacy group based in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, and activists with whom the Blade spoke said members of the countrys military and Policia Militar (Military Police) routinely commit human rights abuses. LGBT people are the frequent targets. Sometimes the worst violations that we have are with the government, a San Pedro Sula-based activist told the Blade during a Feb. 10 interview. The activist, who has been the target of two assassination attempts over the last year, asked the Blade not to publish their name. Police officers, soldiers are the ones who violate our rights, said the activist. The activist said police officers frequently target trans sex workers for extortion and violence. The activist told the Blade that gangs also force them to pay daily or weekly rent to do their work on the street and force them to sell drugs. The activist said those who publicly criticize the gangs and the police and file formal complaints against them receive threats and often go into hiding. Freddy Funez, an LGBT activist who worked closely with Martinez, largely echoed these accounts. Funez told the Blade on Feb. 10 during an interview at his office in San Pedro Sula that police officers often extort money from LGBT sex workers in order to allow them to work. He said they also extort money from their clients in exchange for not detaining them and telling their families. We are much more afraid of the police, said Funez. Funez told the Blade that police officers are responsible for a great number of murders of LGBT people in San Pedro Sula. He cited a case in which officers cut off a gay mans penis before they dismembered him. The police can carry out more atrocities and violence than the gang members, said Funez. The Blade has reached out to the Honduran government for comment. We have a forced migration Funez, Hernandez and the activist with whom the Blade spoke all said the lack of employment, education and health care and poverty have made San Pedro Sulas LGBT community particularly vulnerable to violence and discrimination from the police and gangs. Many feel as though they have no choice but to flee the country. They kill them; they assault them, said the activist. This, therefore, forces them to migrate. We have a forced migration. They dont do it because they want to. They are doing it because the situation in which we are living in our country is very difficult. Many trans women who migrate to Mexico with the hope of entering the U.S. do so with the assistance of coyotes (smugglers) who frequently force them into prostitution or target them for human trafficking. Gangs that operate along the Mexico-U.S. border also force them into sex work and drug smuggling. They are a great danger for them, said the activist. Funez told the Blade that eight out of 10 LGBT people in San Pedro Sula still want to migrate to the U.S., in spite of the risks. I am in this country; I am LGTB; I dont have employment opportunities; I dont have a quality education that I am going to migrate, he said, speaking hypothetically. For us and for the community in Honduras in general and for the LGTB community, it has always seen the United States as the best, as the safest country, as the country that respects human rights a lot. For someone in the community to say I am going to go to the United States and not return to this country is common, added Funez. Funez spoke with the Blade 15 days after President Trump signed an executive order that spurs construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have detained hundreds of undocumented immigrants in raids across the country. The White House on Friday denied an Associated Press report that said it planned to mobilize as many as 100,000 National Guard troops to roundup undocumented immigrants in 11 states. Mara Salvatrucha other street gangs that are responsible for the majority of the violence in San Pedro Sula and across Honduras and in neighboring El Salvador can trace their roots to Los Angeles. The U.S. in the 1990s began to deport large numbers of foreign-born criminals. Many of them were gang members who ended up in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. Funez told the Blade that many people dont understand why Trump wants to build the wall. He also noted remittances from the U.S. account for a fifth of Honduras gross national product. For the majority of LGTB Hondurans who have gone, they are people who have dignified work in the United States, said Funez. They are feeling productive in the United States. The activist who asked the Blade to remain anonymous said LGBT migrants are going to face more risk because of the wall. My work is here in San Pedro Sula In spite of pervasive violence and discrimination, San Pedro Sulas LGBT activists insist they have seen progress. Claudia Spellman, a trans woman who directed an HIV/AIDS service organization in San Pedro Sula, and Josue Hernandez, an openly gay man from the Cortes Department in which the city is located, ran for the Honduran Congress in 2012. Spellman resettled in the D.C. area with her now wife after she received death threats. Erick Martinez, a prominent gay activist in Tegucigalpa, is running for Congress as a candidate from the left-leaning Liberty and Refoundation and Anti-Corruption Parties. Trans advocacy groups and their supporters organized a march to the Congress on May 17, 2016 the International Day Against Homophobia an Transphobia in support of a bill that would allow trans Hondurans to legally change their names on legal documents. The Honduran government a few weeks later condemned the massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., that left 49 people dead and more than 50 others injured. The massacre took place less than two weeks after Rene Martinezs murder. There has been a very big opening in this country in the political arena, Funez told the Blade, noting San Pedro Sula is Honduras most LGBT tolerant city. Hernandez was equally as optimistic, if not defiant. I am going to continue this fight, Hernandez told the Blade. The activist with whom the Blade spoke on Feb. 10 said emphatically they have no plans to leave San Pedro Sula. My work is here, said the activist. When I go to another country, my fight ends. I want to keep fighting until it is possible that there is a gender law, until trans women dont face human rights violations, they added. - Chris Johnson, Washington Blade courtesy of the National LGBTQ Media Association China has a plan to stop the spread of HIV among men. The South China Morning Post reports Beijing is aiming to educate 90 percent of its high-risk population and lower the mother-to-child transmission rate by four percent. The plan, released by Chinas State Council in January, intends to target men who have sex with men with a goal of lowering the infection rate by 10 percent by the year 2020. MSM infection is where the real epidemic is, Chen Zhiwei, Founder of the AIDS Institute at the University of Hong Kong told the Morning Post. It is the major problem for China in its public health policies today. Homosexuality is not illegal in China, but still frowned upon by society. Lack of acceptance, activists argue, is a driving factor for risky behaviors and increased HIV rates. Overall acceptance (of gays) is a challenge, Chen told the Morning Post. The rate of gay male HIV transmission increased from 2.5 percent in 2006 to 28 percent during the first nine months of 2016. With 96,000 new cases in a nine-month span, experts labeled Chinas HIV statistics an epidemic. A 2016 study by the Chinese Medical Journal found only half of gay men in Beijing used condoms consistently. China is home to the worlds largest population 1.3 billion. A 2012 estimate by the Central Intelligence Agency ranked China 11th globally in HIV cases with 780,000. Cooperation between gay groups and the government is vital, Jing Jun, Director of Tsinghua Universitys AIDS Policy Research Institute, told the Morning Post. 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. We can't seem to find the page you are looking for. You may have typed the address incorrectly or you may have used an outdated link. How is an award-winning Manitoba-bred horse -- currently competing successfully in Ontario -- connected to one of Canada's Members of Parliament? This past weekend, Redonkulous was named the Aged Manitoba-Bred of the Year at the province's awards banquet. The five-year-old son of Armbro Baylor -- a familiar face on the WEG circuit in the 2000s -- recently lowered his lifetime mark with a 1:51.2 win for trainer/driver Travis Cullen on February 6 at Woodbine. Cullen purchased Redonkulous this past summer from fellow Manitoban Roland Rey. Just before Redonkulous left Rey's care, he was one of the many Standardbred horses introduced to the Hon. Candice Bergen, MP for Rey's riding of Portage-Lisgar and the Official Opposition House Leader for the Conservative Party of Canada. "Summer is a chance for me to get out into areas of the riding that I don't always get to go to, some of the smaller places. And I wanted to see smaller businesses. So I was actually visiting a number of not just farms but small businesses in some of the communities," Bergen told Trot Insider. "I had received an invitation to visit Roland Rey's farm some time ago but hadn't been able to do it between weather and scheduling. We were looking at the summer schedule, I love horses and the girl that works for me in Portage, they train thoroughbreds. So she's very interested in horses. So we thought, 'this is great, let's go visit Roland's horse operation' but I didn't know much about it." Bergen's introduction to the horse racing industry provided her with exposure to both of the province's horse racing entities. Starting at Rey's farm in St. Claude, Bergen also visited the Manitoba Great Western Harness Racing Circuit's stop in Miami before ending with an afternoon at Assiniboia Downs in Winnipeg. Left: The Hon. Candice Bergen in the starting car at Miami. Right: Bergen with Assiniboia Downs' announcer Kirt Contois. Left: The Hon. Candice Bergen in the starting car at Miami. Right: Bergen with Assiniboia Downs' announcer Kirt Contois. A self-professed rookie in terms of horse racing knowledge, Bergen admitted she's also not much of a gambler and had mentally linked the two together. Now she understands that while the two are inseparable, there's more to the product than just a wagering component. "What I really saw and took away was...this is a community, that's what I took away from it. The whole horse racing industry is like a family and a community and they're very inter-connected. And then how that affects what they do. The breeders and the trainers know the drivers and how they all work together, I found that to be very interesting." A federal Member of Parliament and thus not directly involved in her home province's political process, Bergen told Trot Insider she would "encourage the provincial government to continue to support horse racing in Manitoba" while also contemplating ways in which government should not get involved. "It's important for me to know and to be able to bring back what government can do to support industries that create jobs and stimulate our economy, and help our economy grow. That's one of my focuses. When the Canadian economy is doing well, when the province is doing well, when small towns and rural Canada are doing well...obviously being from rural Manitoba, I really like supporting and advocating for our rural parts of Canada. "I wanted to see what government can do or not do...right? Sometimes there's value in what government doesn't, like 'get your hands out of certain things', 'don't create more red tape or problems', so that was really my goal with all of the visits: to ask these small businesses and people who are creating jobs and helping rural Manitoba thrive, what can the government do to help you and what should the government not be doing so that we don't cause you a hindrance." Bergen thoroughly enjoyed her week with the horse racing industry, even placing a modest wager or two on the horses. The equine stars and the devoted individuals that care for them left a lasting impression on her. "The other thing I know I'll take away -- I was telling some friends and family after I'd been to the races -- it's a really fun thing to do....we had so much fun doing our $2 bets. The races at Miami, lots of local people there ... again, the horse racing community is very interwoven. "The other part I really enjoyed seeing was the love that these people have for their horses. At Roland's farm, he talked about his horses...we went right out into the pasture and these horses were running all around us but they were so gentle, and yet so powerful and strong. And he loves those horses. The care...we should be so proud of our rural way of life and the connectivity with animals and what the animals give back to us. It was enjoyable, it's why I didn't want to leave and why we made the plans to go back again." Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. License for publishing multimedia online 0108263 10120170006 Registration Number: 130349 11010502032503 [2011]0283-097 ICP13028878-6 BY OLIVIA ROSE DEPUTY Premier, Hon. Sean Astwood, leads a delegation to the Twenty Eighth Inter-sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community, to examine a wide range of issues of concern to the Caribbean Community and the Turks & Caicos Islands. During the two-day conference, which will be held at the Marriott Hotel, Georgetown Guyana on February 16 & 17 2017, Astwood is expected to hold bilateral with CARICOM Secretary-General Ambassador, Irvine LaRocque and region leaders including Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bahamas Hon. Fred Mitchel. Commenting on the visit Astwood said : "I am excited to be attending this meeting as the newly elected ambassador and Minister of Border Control and Employment as it offers many opportunities for the Turks and Caicos to collaborate with regional leaders in advancing my Government's mandate and our country's prosperity. Astwood noted that the meeting also offers the TCI the opportunity to network with CARICOM leaders and to address the body of Caribbean leaders in an effort to garner support for challenges that lie ahead. Chairman of CARICOM and President of Guyana, His Excellency David Granger charged Heads of Government and delegates at the opening of the Meeting to expedite the full implementation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). He said: "Economic cooperation is a fundamental pillar of our Community. The Caribbean, if it is to escape the hazard of economic emasculation in todays global environment, must expedite the full implementation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). "We face threats that include dampened demand for our goods and services and distortions in our financial sectors caused by de-risking by international banks, Granger said. The CSME, a regional flagship programme, is one of the main agenda items of the two-day Intersessional Meeting. The CSME is considered the best vehicle to promote economic development and integration, and last July, CARICOM Heads of Government had requested a review of the programme. That review will be considered by the Heads during the Intersessional. Significant progress had been made in the CARICOM Single Market, especially its legal and administrative framework, but more needed to be done with respect to the Single Economy. "The CSME has the potential to enhance private sector growth and competitiveness by providing access to a larger pool of resources, facilitating the movement of human capital, catalysing the establishment of regional businesses and encouraging the free movement of goods. The CSME must not be allowed to become a victim of equivocation and procrastination, President Granger warned. CARICOM Secretary-General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, in his address to the opening ceremony, also focused on the CSME, pointing out that it was timely for the Meeting to consider a comprehensive review of the programme. The meeting is expected to focus on the effects on the economic climate on member states of the Caribbean Community and framework by which the Community can achieve growth and development amidst the current environment. Additionally, the issue of crime and security is top among the three broad area that are up for discussion. The Heads of Governments of the 18-member body and its associate membership are also scheduled to discuss issues relating to the regions slow recovery from the global economic crises; the heavy debt burdens of some members and the effects policies by international financial institutions have had on the economies of CARICOM. Amongst the key topics to be discussed are Tourism in the region, corresponding banking, regional security and information and technologies for development. The delegation returns to the Turks & Caicos Islands on February 19, 2017. By Daisy Handfield THE LIFELESS body of an American doctor was discovered in Middle Caicos, on a rock above the shore on Friday (February 10, 2017), after he had been missing for days. According to a police report, Dr John McGurk, a 32-year-old St Louis doctor, arrived on the island on Monday (February 6, 2017) and checked in at the Blue Horizon Resort at around 2 pm. Hotel management, concerned about his whereabouts after not seeing him since check-in, filed a report to the police on Wednesday, February 8 at 9:12 pm. As a result, a search was launched and the body of McGurk was found in an area not too far from the hotel on Thursday (February 9, 2017) around 8:40 am. He was pronounced dead at 1:30 pm by Dr Camelia Clarke. The body of the deceased is currently in Providenciales, awaiting an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death. Meanwhile, Dr. Doug Pogue, president of BJC Medical Group issued a statement Sunday confirming McGurk was a doctor at Missouri Baptist Medical Centre. He said: "We are shocked and saddened to have been informed by family members of the sudden passing of our friend and colleague Dr. John McGurk. "Our thoughts and deepest sympathy are with his loved ones at this difficult time, along with his practice partners, staff and all those who worked with him at BJC Medical Group and Missouri Baptist Medical Centre. Dr. McGurk was on staff at Missouri Baptist Medical Centre and began practicing in 2014, according to BJC. He graduated from the University of Texas South-western Medical Centre in Dallas, and finished his residency in internal medicine at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and the Washington University School of Medicine. BY: Olivia Rose TREVOR Botting has been selected as the new Deputy Commissioner of Police following the resignation of the current Deputy Commissioner Mr. Callaghan which will take effect March 2017. According to the Police press department a significant number of persons applied for the position in response to the internationally advertised position. A shortlist of six persons was agreed and interviews held in early February as a result, the panel unanimously agreed to recommend Mr. Trevor Botting to His Excellency the Governor as the best candidate for the post. Mr. Botting, who is the current Chief of Police in St Helena has accepted the position and is due to arrive in TCI in early May. Botting said: "I am delighted to be appointed as the Deputy Commissioner for the Royal Turks and Caicos Police Force and look forward to working with the Commissioner and my Teams to develop and deliver a policing service to the communities, partners, and stakeholders on TCI. Trevor Botting, currently Chief of Police for the British Overseas Territory of St Helena, Ascension, and Tristan Da Cunha has over 34 years of policing experience both in the UK, with Sussex Police, and in his current role overseas. Botting has significant experience as a Strategic and Tactical Police Commander, his last role in the UK being focused on Crime and Operations, leading 500 staff in dealing with all aspects of crime, operations, and response to calls from the community. He has also worked in Neighborhood Policing, working as a local District Commander. He has also lead the Force Firearms Operations and Training Teams and the Force Dog Unit, working at a National level in the development of Police Dogs across the UK. Botting has experience of airport policing and disaster management when he was the Police Commander for Gatwick Airport, the busiest single runway airport in the world. According to the department Botting has served in positions with responsibility for Immigration, HM Prison, Fire and Rescue, Sea Rescue, Disaster Management and Search and Rescue. During his time on St Helena he has developed and reformed policing and his other business areas through introducing Neighborhood Policing, a Code of Ethics, developing multi-agency working in relation to Disaster Management and developed a brand new Sea Rescue Service for the Island. By Delana Isles LEADER of the Opposition, Charles Washington Misick has been accused of being disrespectful to members of the House of Assembly and has since been suspended. On Monday (February 13), a debate over allocations made in a 2016/2017 supplementary budget that was tabled by the new government, denigrated into a shouting match among members after insults flew from the main opposition bench. The appropriation bill at the centre of the controversy requests $4M for expenditure largely relatedly a number of contingency warrants, funds for Hurricane Matthew and urgent and unforeseen works related to the Prison, seawalls, projects in Grand Turk, treatments abroad, additional funding for TOLCO acquisition, and various litigations and other sums for urgent and unforeseen expenditure. In his contribution to the debate following the second reading of the Bill, elected member for Cheshire Hall and Richmond Hill, Doug Parnell supported the appropriation, while pointing to what he recalls as the PDM calls for resolution of the TOLCO agreement during the PNPs four years in office, which is only now leading to it now being resolved under a PDM government. He then goes on to congratulate the PDM government for "turning things around and closing the deal. Parnell continued that he does not think that without Goldray Ewings (elected member for Blue Hills then and now) impassioned pleas these last four years things would have gotten done so quickly. The Cheshire Hall members statement did not sit well with the Misick, as he rose to contribute to the debate, stating that he had not intended to do so, but changed his mind after Parnells comments. Responding to the statements made by Parnell, Misick said: "I have in fact listened to the blowhard from Cheshire Hall, I had to arise to say something. Not only is he a pompous blowhard but he is also a blatant stranger to the truth At this point, the Premier Sharlene Cartwright Robinson rose to register her displeasure with the leaders use of the word blowhard to which Misick told her to look it up in the dictionary. "Is this the contribution you are going to be making at this levelarrogance? she responded. She encouraged him to find a different way to address the member, to which Misick told the Premier that she should stick to the point of order she rose to intervene on, or have a seat. At this point, there was disruption in the House as other members sought to have their voices heard by the Speaker of the House. Cartwright Robinson forcefully pointed out that the party leader cannot address members of the House in that manner. When quiet and order was restored in the House, the Speaker acknowledged that while debates can get heated, members must conduct themselves in an honourable manner. Addressing the leader of the opposition directly, the Speaker stated that "no one is a blowhard in this honourable house and invited him to withdraw the statement. Misick pointedly stated that he would not, to which the Speaker cautioned him to be careful. "This is my honourable House, dont disrespect the chair I sit in this chair, dont ever disrespect this honourable house and dont ever disrespect this chair, the speaker said, further warning Misick not to speak when he is speaking, as he could be heard doing in the background. Misick was then invited to withdraw his statements and have them expunged from the record. But a persistent Misick sought to define what a blowhard is for the Speaker, rather than tender an apology. The definition of a blowhard is a person who blusters and boasts in an unpleasant way; I will not be withdrawing that statement, that is not against the rules of the House, I will not be withdrawing the statement, he said. The member for Cheshire Hall then rose to point to Standing Order 59, 4 which states that a member may not include insulting language in relation to another member. Parnell added: "The member on the other side may not like the content of my speech but I have never insulted any of them and I believe that such an accusation that he has laid against me as well as some things he referred to the Premier is unbecoming, unbecoming of parliamentary language. But despite continued encouragement from the Speaker to withdrawn the word and apologise for his alleged disrespectful behavior to both the Premier and the Speaker, the leader of the opposition stood firm, prompting a ten-minute suspension of the House. Upon its resumption, Misick agreed that his comments to the Speaker and to the Premier were inappropriate and withdrew them. However, he was unrepentant about calling Parnell a blowhard. The Speaker said that the statement was offensive and insulting, and subsequently suspended Misick until further notice after a suspension motion was made by the government and a division of the vote was called. BY OLIVIA ROSE PREMIER Sharlene Cartwright-Robinson has committed to fostering partnerships with the private sector in an effort to create employment for the Turks and Caicos diaspora in London. This comes as Cartwright-Robinson, visited London to attend the Joint Ministerial Council (Overseas Territories Europe Negotiations meeting. The Premier hosted a reception in London and Manchester to address the Turks and Caicos Islands students and diaspora on matters of national priority and the focus of her Government, and further had the opportunity to hear their concerns. As an advocate for the development and empowerment of young people, the Premier informed the gathering of her plans for re-positioning young professionals in the work-place and beckoned those who had completed their studies to participate in the development of the Turks and Caicos Islands by returning home. Premier Cartwright-Robinson said: "I was astounded by the large number of Turks and Caicos Islanders residing and studying in the UK, and especially in Manchester. "In addition to the scholarship beneficiaries, many persons are employed or self-funding their educational development. "So the response to the invitation to meet with them was very well received and I found the evenings to be very engaging and invigorating. Premier Cartwright-Robinson, who got the opportunity to speak one-on-one with the students and diaspora, committed to working with the private sector to create more jobs for those who have desires of returning home to contribute to the country`s development. "Our people have been displaced and many left as their final option but I am here to tell them that the Turks and Caicos Islands needs them, we need them and we want them, and we will be working in partnership with the private sector to ensure that our young and not-so-young have access to opportunities for employment, training and certification which would equip them for advancement in the corporate arena." BY OLIVIA ROSE THE SPEAKER of the House of Assembly has been accused being biased towards the Government when he ejected the Leader of the Opposition this week from the House of Assembly. Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Charles Washington Misick was suspended from the House on Monday February 13, for calling Member for Cheshire Hall and Richmond Hill, Hon. Doug Parnell, a "pompous blowhard. Speaker of the House, Hon. Dwayne Taylor called on Misick to withdraw his remarks against the member and to apologize to the Chair for other unparliamentary remarks. A heated engagement then ensued between the Speaker and the Leader of the Opposition, who responded: "As it relates to my comments in relation to "blow hard, I stand on the dictionary, it is not an offensive word, and I will not withdraw it, and I will not apologize. Misick who issued a press statement shortly after his suspension said the Speaker is clearly partial to the Government. He said: "At todays sitting of the House of Assembly, the Leader of the Peoples Loyal Opposition was erroneously suspended for the remainder of the day in a move instigated by the Premier and executed by the Speaker of the House. Even though debate rules prohibit the hurling of insults at Members of the House, Misick remained adamant that he correctly labeled the Member for Cheshire Hall and Richmond Hill a "pompous blowhard for his numerous attempts at trying to take credit for the actions initiated and budgeted for by the PNP administration. He argued that the TOLCO agreement designed to save Turks and Caicos Islanders Homes; Phase 2 of Road Works in the Cheshire Hall Area; Funds identified to secure the perimeter fence of the prison; Funds identified to cover treatment abroad; in addition to other projects were all achieved during his administration`s tenure. He said: "To add insult to injury the proper procedures were not followed and the Speaker could be heard referring to Standing Order 59(3) which states "Except in respect of a substantive motion for rescission, a member may not reflect on a vote of the House or attempt to reconsider a specific matter upon which the House has come to a conclusion during the current session, he should have referred Standing Order 59(4). The leader of the Opposition pointed out that in an effort to guide the Speaker in the correct procedures of the House, the Member for Leeward and Long Bay Hills, Hon Akierra Misick, was told by the Speaker: "Its the speakers turn now, have your seat and turn off your mic. Misick, who believes the Speaker was being controlled from the floor, said: "Of grave concern was the visible sidebar conversation between the Speaker, Premier, and Member for Cheshire Hall and Richmond Hill, when the Speaker used the incorrect procedure clearly instructing help on the next moves during the 10 minute suspension of the Houses proceedings. "The change is here, no record, no plan, just taking credit for the work of the PNP administration and silencing anyone who attempts to set the record straight or oppose them. He pointed out that the Speaker even allowed Premier Sharlene Cartwright Robinson to speak without stating whether she was rising on a point of order. And when this was brought to his attention he allowed the Premier to speak without interruption. Misick stated the planned bait and hook orchestrated by the Premier, Speaker and Member for Cheshire Hall was meant to provoke the Opposition. "We, your loyal Opposition will keep records of partiality as it relates to the Speakers execution of his duties, which must be firm, fair and consistent in dealing with all members of the House of Assembly, regardless to which side of the House they sit on. By OLIVIA ROSE PRELIMINARY negotiations with the United Kingdom (UK) Government in anticipation of the Britains exit from the European Union got underway last week at the Joint Ministerial Council (Overseas Territories Europe Negotiations) Meeting in London. Premier and Minister of Finance, Investment and Trade, Honourable Sharlene Cartwright Robinson, joined other leaders of the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOT) for a two-day meeting which sought to facilitate political engagement and collaboration between the UK Government and the Governments of the Overseas Territories to ensure that OTs requirements are taken into consideration in the preparations of the UK to exit the EU. According to Government release the forum presented an opportunity for OT leaders to discuss areas of opportunity for EU cooperation and collaboration that may be affected during the period that the UK remains a member of the EU. The basis for a future relationship between the UK, OTs and EU was also discussed at the dynamic two day meeting. According to the statement the meeting further provided a road map for future engagement at the Ministerial and Official level to ensure that matters agreed at the forum are upheld during UK negotiations on their exit from the EU. On Thursday, June 23, the people of Britain voted for a British exit, or Brexit, from the European Union in a historic referendum. The outcome has prompted jubilant celebrations among Eurosceptics, around Europe and sent shockwaves through the global economy. Although it will take Britain at least two years to leave the EU, the shift has already changed the financial dynamics of the entire world. It resulted in the slowing down of commerce in the UK and brought the British pound down to its lowest in history, not to mention the escalation of the volatility of the financial markets. Meanwhile, Premier Cartwright Robinson had other key engagements on her agenda. To this end a bilateral meeting was held with Minister of State of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Baroness Anelay of St. Johns on key areas of concern for the Turks and Caicos Islands Government, among which are national security: border protection, crime and policing and prison reform, SIPT funding and she also highlighted human rights achievements and concerns. The Premier also committed to continuing dialogue on TCI's proposed constitutional amendments. Additionally, a meeting took place with the Minister of State for Security; Hon. Ben Wallace MP on proposed amendments to the Criminal Finances Bill, which if passed in the UK Parliament could see the introduction of open registries in British Overseas Territories sooner than originally anticipated. Premier Robinson also received a courtesy call from former Governor Peter Beckingham at her London Office. Former Governor Beckingham is expected be a part of TCI's Investment Conference that is scheduled to be held in March 2017. The JMC (OT-EN) was hosted by the Rt. Hon. Baroness Anelay of St. Johns DBE Minister of State of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Mr. Robin Walker MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, DExEU, and was attended by leaders of twelve members of the Overseas Territories of the United Kingdom Overseas Territories Association (UKOTA) which includes: Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Montserrat, St Helena and Ascension Islands, Tristan Da Cunha and The Turks and Caicos Islands. Crews completed clearing the right lane at about 3 p.m. Sunday, said Bart Treece, spokesman for the Washington State Department of Transportation. The left and center lanes were reopened at about 9 p.m. Friday night, five hours after the slide blocked the freeway just north of the Dike Road Exit. Jersey barriers have been placed along the edge of the highway to keep any further minor slides off the roadway. Wed heard in November last year that the Honda WR-V crossover was headed to India. Recent reports now suggest that the vehicle is likely to make its India debut in March this year. The WR-V is said to based on the Honda Jazz platform. However, as we noted earlier, the vehicle seems to take more of its design cues from the BR-V than from the Jazz. The Hindu reports that the WR-V will debut at around Rs 6.5 lakh and is meant to compete with the likes of Maruti Suzukis Vitara Brezza. No details of the vehicle are known at this time, but its possible that itll carry the same engine options as the Jazz. This means that we might see a 1.2 litre i-VTEC petrol engine with a 5-speed manual transmission as well as an i-DTEC diesel engine with a 6-speed manual. The power output and torque figures of the two engines are 90PS/110Nm and 100PS/200Nm. In other news, Honda Cars India President and CEO Yoichiro Ueno told reporters that theyre overwhelmed with the response for the new Honda City and that they have already received 5,500 bookings for the vehicle. "We've decided to maintain our traditional positioning, which is a bit more premium though not luxury. So, we'd like to target customers a bit different from others in terms of products, service, and customer experience," he added. A premium Civic for 2017 was also hinted at. He also hinted at the possibility of Hondas luxury brand Acura coming to India. With inputs from PTI hidden Robots that steal human jobs should pay taxes, Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates has said. "Certainly there will be taxes that relate to automation. Right now, the human worker who does, say, USD 50,000 worth of work in a factory, that income is taxed and you get income tax, social security tax, all those things," Gates told Quartz website. "If a robot comes in to do the same thing, you'd think that we'd tax the robot at a similar level," said Gates, one of the world's richest men. Gates said he believes that governments should tax companies' use of robots, as a way to at least temporarily slow the spread of automation and to fund other types of employment. The 61-year-old philanthropist said a robot tax could finance jobs taking care of elderly people or working with kids in schools, for which needs are unmet and to which humans are particularly well suited. He argued that governments must oversee such programmes rather than relying on businesses, in order to redirect the jobs to help people with lower incomes. "If you can take the labour that used to do the things automation replaces, and financially and training-wise and fulfilment-wise have that person go off and do these other things, then you're net ahead," said Gates, one of the leading players in artificial-intelligence technology. "But you can't just give up that income tax, because that's part of how you've been funding that level of human workers," he said. The web portal reported that the idea is not totally theoretical as EU lawmakers considered a proposal to tax robot owners to pay for training for workers who lose their jobs, though on February 16 the legislators ultimately rejected it. "You ought to be willing to raise the tax level and even slow down the speed" of automation, Gates said. "Exactly how you'd do it, measure it, you know, it's interesting for people to start talking about now," Gates said. Talking about the tax on robots, Gates said, "Some of it can come on the profits that are generated by the labour- saving efficiency there. Some of it can come directly in some type of robot tax. I don't think the robot companies are going to be outraged that there might be a tax. It's OK." PTI hidden In a bid to bring awareness among the youth regarding the growing cyberattacks and cyber bullying, Delhi-based IT risk assessment and digital security services provider Lucideus on Monday launched a first-of-its-kind cybersecurity course. Titled Cyber Whiz Kids, the course will delve into topics like basics of computers, hardware and software, basics of networking and how computers communicate with each other, smartphones, basics of programming and the security of each one of them. Students from class 8 can enrol for the month-long course of 26 Hours (12 classes and a two-hour exam) that will teach them how to securely create and manage their email inboxes along with a dedicated module on social media security. The course, starting from the first week of April, is priced at Rs 15,000 per student and will include lab practice, classes, certificate and an e-toolkit. "The idea is not only to increase awareness but also show a career path to students who may want to join the information security industry in the future," Rahul Tyagi, Vice President (Training) at Lucideus, told IANS. "The course will increase digital literacy in the country and also significantly reduce case of cyber bullying, phishing, vishing and many such frauds which happen due to lack of awareness," Tyagi added. India unfortunately ranks highest among Asian countries in cases of cyber bullying. Over 53 per cent of the internet-using population in India fall in the age group of seven-20 and have been subjected to cyber bullying in some form or the other. This is in contrast to a sizeable 49 per cent children who face cyber bullying in Bangladesh, 33 per cent in Thailand and 25 per cent in Malaysia, according to a recent Norton Cyber security Insights Report by Symantec. Lucideus also plans to partner with some of the leading schools across the country to conduct smaller seminars and workshops at the school premises for a greater out reach, Tyagi said. IANS tech2 News Staff Taiwan based smartphone maker HTC is expected launch a new smartphone for the Indian market as it has sent out a launch invite for the same. The all new HTC U Ultra, which was announced last month, will make its way to India on 21 February. The HTC U Ultra is the first device from the company for 2017 and is a premium offering. It features a 5.7-inch display, a virtual assistant and a secondary screen above the regular one just like LG. The 5.7-inch display is a Super LCD 5 screen with a QHD resolution. The 2-inch screen above it offers a resolution of 1601040 and can be used to show contacts, notifications, music controls, and so on. Leaving metal and plastic behind, this smartphone comes with a glass finish which the company calls 'Liquid Construction'. Inside there is a Snapdragon 821 processor with 4GB of RAM and was announced in 64GB and 128GB onboard storage variants. We are expecting the former to arrive in India. There is a microSD card slot as well which can take up to 2TB capacity cards. Oh and HTC has gone with the no headphone jack policy. The rear camera is a 12MP UltraPixel 2 sensor which is said to be very similar to the one on the HTC 10. The front camera is a 16MP unit with a 4MP UltraPixel mode. The rear camera can record slow-motion video up to 120fps at 720p. It can also record 4K video with 3D Audio and Hi-res audio. The 3D Audio recording is done via four microphones on the device while Hi-res audio is only limited to stereo recording. Other features include a 3,000 mAh battery with fast charge support, USB 3.1 Gen 1 over a Type-C port, Bluetooth 4.2, dual-band Wi-Fi and NFC. It will also feature the HTC Sense Companion, a virtual assistant which is said to be different from AI like Google Now and Siri. It is meant to learn your habits and tune the phones behaviour accordingly. HTC says the phone will learn your travel route and let you know when your phone needs to be charged. The phone features voice recognition, so it can actually recognise your voice and respond to commands. Technology called USonic apparently analyses your ears and determines how best to modulate a headset for the best listening experience. We are expecting a price range of anything above Rs 35,000 for the HTC U Ultra. The company had also announced the HTC U Play which could also head to India at a later period. tech2 News Staff Ever since Narendra Modi's demonetisation announcement speech on 8 November 2016, there have been efforts by private players as well as the government to move towards a less cash society. Over the last three months, we have been hearing of digital wallets, UPI, Bhim app, USSSD codes and more. Today there will be yet another payment method which could become come into mainstream conversations IndiaQR. IndiaQR your new electronic payment option IndiaQR is the government mandated quick response (QR) code which is aimed at helping with electronic transactions in merchant shops without the need for POS machines or swiping your plastic cards. The service is expected to be launched on 20 February. IndiaQR has been developed jointly by Mastercard Inc, Visa and RuPay. It will be launched today in Mumbai. This would be the second method of digital payments, after UPI, which will see a push from the government side according to report in the Financial Express. According to a Times of India report, Indian Banks Association had a meeting with all the banks last week, to finalise on the launch details of IndiaQR. Apart from working as a common interface for Mastercard, Visa and RuPay cards, IndiaQR will also help with payments using Aadhaar-enabled payments and bank transfers. Manoj Adlakha, CEO of American Express Banking corporation has said that IndiaQR will also be seen with American Express. "It is a path breaking initiative to bring quick, easy and affordable payments to both merchants and consumers. American Express is proud to be part of this global first capability, which will significantly contribute towards growth of Digital India," said Adlakha. How does it work? This payment method uses the existing network of companies such as Mastercard, Visa and RuPay. So if you have a debit card from any of the three vendors, but the merchant does not have a terminal or a POS machine to swipe your card to accept payments, then you can pay by scanning the QR code which is present with the merchant. So it does not depend which bank's app you have, so long as it has support for IndiaQR code, you can proceed with the payment. You will need to have the bank's app on your phone though, and it has to have IndiaQR support. The merchant will require a unique IndiaQR code. After the customer scans the IndiaQR code, they can make payments directly to the merchant's account. How is it different from existing wallet QR codes? Apps such as Paytm offer a QR-code based payments system. But considering Paytm is a closed ecosystem, its QR code can only be used by people who have the Paytm app on their mobile phones. Similarly mVisa can be used by anyone who has a Visa card and is using a mobile application that supports mVisa. What differentiates IndiaQR from Paytm's QR code is the fact that as a customer, you do not have to be locked in to one particular payment network over the other. IndiaQR will work across banks, just like UPI. The only condition that needs fulfilling is that banks need to get into agreements with merchants to get them onboard so that they accept IndiaQR payments. Advantages for the merchant The merchant does not need to have expensive POS machines and spend on their maintenance. All he or she needs is a QR code, which makes sure that the merchant can accept digital payments without investing in a separate infrastructure to accept card payments. As we had noted in the past, according to RBIs Payment System Indicators, there has been a 114 percent increase in volumes of m-Wallet transactions from October to December 2016. In the same October to December 2016 period, card transactions saw a 0.64 percent decline in volumes and over 70 percent decline in value transacted. In 2015, these numbers were 1.5 percent increase in volumes and 0.07 percent increase in value respectively. Replicating the China model In China, the use of QR codes is quite prevalent, as people prefer scanning QR codes to manually entering a web address, even for making digital transactions. Chat apps such as WeChat and wallets such as Alibaba's Alipay have made payment using QR codes much more mainstream. It is apparently the most popular payment method in China. QR codes are used in China for multiple reasons such as social campaigns, shopping, offline engagement and more. India right now has many ways to enable digital transactions - mobile wallets, UPI, USSSD, Aadhaar Pay, card transactions, mobile banking and so on. IndiaQR is yet another flower in that bouquet. But to see a China-like adoption, there has to be quick on-boarding of merchants by the respective banks. Considering merchants don't have to invest in a heavy infrastructure to get this rolling should certainly help. The IndiaQR service will start rolling out in Mumbai on 20 February. hidden A New Zealand court ruled on Monday that internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom could be extradited to the United States to face charges relating to his Megaupload website, which was shut down in 2012 following an FBI-ordered raid on his Auckland mansion. The Auckland High Court upheld the decision by a lower court in 2015 on 13 counts, including allegations of conspiracy to commit racketeering, copyright infringement, money laundering and wire fraud, although it described that decision as "flawed" in several areas. Dotcom's lawyer Ron Mansfield said in a statement the decision was "extremely disappointing" and that Dotcom would appeal to New Zealand's Court of Appeal. U.S. authorities say Dotcom and three co-accused Megaupload executives cost film studios and record companies more than $500 million and generated more than $175 million by encouraging paying users to store and share copyrighted material. High Court judge Murray Gilbert said that there was no crime for copyright in New Zealand law that would justify extradition but that the Megaupload-founder could be sent to the United States to face allegations of fraud. Dotcom's co-accused, Mathias Ortmann, Bram van der Kolk and Finn Batato were also found eligible for extradition. "I'm no longer getting extradited for copyright. We won on that. I'm now getting extradited for a law that doesn't even apply," Dotcom said in a series of comments on Twitter. Lawyers for Dotcom argued during the appeals hearing in September that there was not enough evidence to show he conspired to commit a crime. German-born Dotcom, who has New Zealand residency, became well known for his lavish lifestyle as much as his computer skills. He used to post photographs of himself with cars having vanity plates such as "GOD" and "GUILTY", shooting an assault rifle and flying around the world in his private jet. Dozens of black-clad police raided Dotcom's mansion in 2012, breaking him out of a safe room and confiscating millions of dollars in cash and property, including a fleet of luxury cars, computers and artwork. Reuters hidden Re-verification of existing mobile subscribers through Aadhaar-based eKYC will cost an estimated Rs 2,500 crores, mobile operators' body COAI said today, seeking certain exemptions in the process. "The re-verification activity entails a huge cost which is borne by the telecom service providers. In this case, the activity needs to be carried out for about 1,000 million subscribers which is a huge number and involves a humongous resources and efforts," said Rajan Mathews, Director General of Cellular Operators Association of India. In a letter to the Telecom Department, COAI has estimated the cost of carrying out this activity at about Rs 2,500 crores. The letter came in response to a meeting by the Telecom Department on the issue of re-verification of existing subscribers through Aadhaar-based eKYC. Last month, telecom regulator TRAI had suggested verification of existing mobile subscribers through Aadhaar based eKYC. The Supreme Court too has asked the Centre to apprise it about the steps which can be taken to scrutinise the existing and future mobile users in the country. In its letter, COAI has suggested that once the eKYC based activation facility reaches an acceptable levels, new customer activation should only be allowed through eKYC except in case of foreign nationals and company-owned connections. This, said COAI, would have to be mandatory precursor, as otherwise new non-eKYC subscribers would continue to be added into the system. COAI believes that Aadhaar-based eKYC re-verification exercise will be "robust", as the verification of demographic details would happen through the government database. The association has suggested a series of measures to carry out the exercise in a "more effective manner". These include allowing telecom operators "adequate time" for expanding coverage of eKYC facility pan-India on a shared basis. COAI has suggested that corporate bulk connections, post-paid accounts, as well as SIMs used for non-voice devices like iPads, POS machines, and data cards, be exempt from the Aadhaar-based re-verification. COAI has also said eKYC should not be mandated for States such as J&K and Assam which have low penetration of Aadhaar. It has urged that no penalty should be imposed in case of mismatch between subscriber information stored with the telecom operator and data stored in UIDAI server. "During the re-verification exercise, subscriber inconvenience should be avoided. It is, therefore, submitted that re-verification through Aadhaar-based eKYC should not be mandated at the time of recharge," COAI added. PTI tech2 News Staff Satya Nadella has arrived in India for Future Decoded, Microsofts flagship technology and business conference which will take place in Mumbai on 21-22 February. But before coming to Mumbai, Microsoft CEO attended an event in Bengaluru where he spoke about India's internet scale, augmented reality and more. Nadella has visited Bengaluru for the first time since he was appointed Microsoft CEO. Nadella said that storage networks are fuelling artificial intelligence revolution. "We are excited about Microsoft Cortanas AI offering, it has capability to do human-level speech recognition," he said. He also spoke about winning in the cloud first, mobile first world along with Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani. "I actually think Cortana as a third runtime. Operating system on a device was the first runtime, the second runtime you could say was the browser. The third runtime can actually be the agent. In some sense, the agent knows you, your work context and your world. That is how we are building Cortana. And giving it a natural language understanding," said Nadella. Nadella also touched upon augmented reality and virtual reality, as according to him it will touch up on everyone from a technician to a student. He said that a first year anatomy class in Cleveland was being taught using HoloLens. Nadella also complimented Nilekani and the team behind the India Stack. "It is pretty tremendous, how it got started. But now with the speed at which you are able to scale it, it is comparable to any other internet scale ramp up," said Nadella. At the Future Decoded conference, Nadella will be a keynote speaker on 22 February. He is expected to speak on how digital technology is empowering people and organisations across spheres such as government, banking, hospitals, e-commerce and so on. Along with Nadella, the other major dignitaries expected at Future Decoded include Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, former MI5 director generation Lord Jonathan Evans, Tata Motors CEO Gunter Butschek among others. Cisco today announced a series of strategic initiatives to help accelerate the digital transformation of Telangana. Digital disruption is a reality and is transforming every country, state and city. A digitized state aims to drive GDP growth, create jobs and foster innovation, enhance education, stimulate entrepreneurship, accelerate business innovation, develop economic cluster initiatives, and support infrastructure. Toward that end, Cisco and the Government of Telangana have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which includes the Digital Zone smart city project in Hyderabad, establishing an Internet of Things (IoT) Innovation Hub and a Living Lab near Hi-Tech City in Hyderabad, a Center of Excellence and Living Lab in THub premises, the largest building in India to be entirely dedicated to entrepreneurship, remote education in 10 schools in Karimnagar, and deploying digital solutions at the historical landmark monument of Hyderabad, the Qutubshahi tombs. The MoU between Cisco and the Government of Telangana was signed today as part of the IT Sectoral Policy Launch event in Hi-Tech City in Hyderabad, in the presence of the Honorable Minister of IT E&C, MA&UD, Industries & Commerce, Mines& Geology, Public Enterprises and NRI Affairs Sri K. T Rama Rao, other government dignitaries; and Dinesh Malkani, President, Cisco India and SAARC. Partnership with Government of Telangana to deploy Digital Zone Project As part of the Digital Zone project, Cisco will deploy City Digital Platform (CDP) in the 2.2 km area near Hi-Tech City in Hyderabad, including smart Wi-Fi, smart parking, smart lighting, traffic analytics at key junctions, Remote Expert for Government Services (REGS), smart environmental sensors, smart waste management, and a smart control center to monitor and manage the city with greater efficiency and effectiveness. In the Digital Zone project, Cisco will collaborate with local ecosystem solution providers to build a scalable model for the effective rollout of city services across the state of Telangana. This project will utilize Ciscos global expertise and intellectual property in the areas of IoT, mobile technology and applications, cloud computing, data analytics, social media, energy, and lighting solutions. Cisco will also engage with ecosystem partners in the state to develop new applications specifically for Indian smart cities and collaborate with the state for its upcoming smart cities in Telangana. Boost Research and Local Innovation in Telangana Cisco will set up a Centre of Excellence (CoE) and a Living Lab on the T-Hub premises to foster regional innovation, and will enable partners and startups to build solutions around IoT and cyber security and engage in rapid prototyping. This will also act as a platform to bring startups, accelerators, developers, researchers, ecosystem partners and the venture community together to showcase possibilities of the Internet of Things. In the CoE, Cisco would showcase its global smart cities platform, City Digital Platform (CDP), which can integrate various smart city services onto a unified platform along with Cisco Collaboration solutions and Cisco Mobility Services Engine. The Cisco CoE will be hosted in the IIIT campus in T-Hub, which is part of the state-of-the-art 70,000-square-foot building called Catalyst, the largest building in India to be entirely dedicated to entrepreneurship. T-Hubs mission is to catalyze the growth of Hyderabad into one of the most vibrant startup communities in the world. Delivering Remote Education in Telangana The vision of the state government of Telangana is to bring the best education to all the students across the state and bring in the best of faculty remotely to every school in the state. Toward that, the Government of Telangana will collaborate with Cisco to help deliver remote interactive education bringing in benefits of virtual expert learning. Cisco will set up virtual video-based classrooms in 10 remote schools in Karimnagar district for inter-school learning. The solution will connect the district school to the remote schools for the sharing of faculty. Cisco will deploy the solution to connect these schools over HD-quality video conferencing to share the faculty across the connected schools. The solution will also enable digital sharing of content, live streaming, recording, creation of a repository and accessing the content on demand. Partnership with Government of Telangana to digitize historical Qutubshahi tombs in Hyderabad As part of the digital blueprint of the state of Telangana, Cisco will collaborate with the government on developing smart city infrastructure in Telangana to transform itself into a digital state of the future. Cisco will digitize one of the most important landmarks and monuments of Hyderabad the Qutubshahi tombs close to the Golconda Fort. Cisco will deploy digital solutions to enhance the experience of visitors to the Qutubshahi tombs and boost tourism in the state. Cisco will also deploy public Wi-Fi, surveillance, smart lighting and smart parking solutions to provide visitors and citizens details of each of the monuments in the area. The solutions will cover 3 acres of the monument site. @Technuter.com News Service The Union Budget 2017-18 significantly focuses on bringing socio economic development and digitalization in the country while emphasizing on the nine key initiatives for economic reforms Farmers and rural population, youth education and job opportunities, poor and underprivileged, infrastructure, financial sector, digital economy, public service, prudent fiscal management and tax administration. With increase in Foreign Direct Investment and Foreign Exchange reserve, India has now emerged as one of the fastest growing economy with an accelerated growth in 2016-2017.It is also quite encouraging to see that investment on infrastructure has been given priority at todays budget while focusing on the GDP growth. Budget mainly focused on digitalization of the economy as an integral part like; introducing Aadhaar Pay an enabled payment system to be launched shortly for those without debit cards and mobile phones and initating high broadband connectivity in more than 1 Lakh villages which will help rural India move one step closer to a digital economy. Rs.10,000 Crore have also been allotted for the recapitalisation of public banks which will in turn regain the spending capacity of the masses and hence, accelerate economic growth. Another great initiative by our finance ministry is the establishment of over 100 skill centres in 2017 to provide training in foreign languages and various other skills to the youth of our country to maximise their potential. We personally think it is a great initiative as it will help our economy reach the desired GDP. It is also great to see that both corporates and salaried employees are relieved in the budget as there is relief in personal income taxes and other various taxes. The budget also mentioned our Finance Ministers initiative to create an ecosystem and make India a hub for electronic manufacturing by increasing the allocation of schemes related to these to Rs 745 crores. This budget has been a great initiative keeping in mind the various obstacles in the growth of our economy. We wish our Finance Minister a great luck for the successful implementation of Budget 2017. @Technuter.com News Service This years Union budget is game changing and progressive. Demonetization is leading Indian to shift towards a Digital India. The cashback scheme and referral bonus to promote the usage of BHIM app will make citizens more comfortable with mobile wallets. This is extremely encouraging for company operating in internet space like us because no of Indians coming online will increase exponentially. Our country is becoming the victim of hackers, the proposal of a dedicated Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) for the financial sector is a beneficial move as it would help in keeping transactions safe and secure. Moreover, the extension of tax holiday from existing 5 years to 7 years will cheer up the start-up ecosystem. We wish the finance minister a great luck to implement all the progressive reforms. A game changing and progressive budget, focused on growth This years budget has ramped up the countrys move towards Digital India. The impact on growth from the governments cash crackdown is wearing off. Demonetisation was a bold and decisive measure, which will lead to higher GDP and higher tax revenues. Union Budget has rightly addressed the Digital economy and will help the country in cleaning up the system, will energise private investment through low cost credit, and benefit the common man. Digital India promoting mobile payment In terms of mobile payment, our country will be benefitted as our Government will introduce cashback scheme and referral bonus scheme to promote the usage of BHIM app. 125 lakhs people are already using it and the usage will increase further. This is extremely encouraging for company operating in internet space like us because no of Indians coming online will increase exponentially. In 2017-18, high speed broadband connectivity will be available in more than 1 lakh villages which will impact and help the rural people to shift towards Digital India. The allocation of INR 10000 crore for the Bharat Net Project is a move in a right direction. With this allocation for the Bharat Net project the optical fibre cables will now be increased to cover over 1.50 lakh gram panchayats from over 75,700 lakh currently. Enhanced focus on security of finance sector Our Finance Minister has specially addressed the issue of cyber security and security of the finance sector. The proposal of a dedicated Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) for the financial sector is a beneficial move. The CERT team, which is a team of computer experts and computer scientists to help secure governments online presence, will work closely with regulators such as SEBI and RBI to further boost the move towards digitization. It is expected that this will allow finance technology companies more opportunities in the financial sector. With the rise of hackers privacy is important if team will work closely with financial regulator flow of transaction will be safe and secure. Great Boost for the Startup Ecosystem The 3 year tax holiday available to start-ups has been extended from the existing period of first 5 years to 7 years. This is a welcome move as the initial gestation period of start-ups is generally long. Also, tax rate for companies with an annual turnover up to 50 crores has be reduced to 25%, to strengthen MSME sector. These announcements will cheer up the startup ecosystem which has seen a challenging year. @Technuter.com News Service With technology becoming more and more a part of our lives, it was only a matter of time before it started to impact the way Marijuana legalization in Colorado has been an absolute boon for the state when it comes to tax revenue and visitors. Many other states in the U.S. are wanting to legalize it either recreationally or medically. Before other states are able to make headway in weed innovation, Colorado is already stepping up its game. In Parachute, Colorado, the citys Board of Trustees just approved a business license for Tumbleweed Express, a drive-through for purchasing of marijuana. Theres a joke about Parachute, Colorado and getting high, but Im not the right person to make the joke. According to Robert Goulding, a spokesman for the state Marijuana Enforcement Division, this is the first drive-through proposed in the state. Parachute Town Manager Stuart McArthur said, We think the drive-through is a very creative and innovative idea. He also stated that marijuana contributed to over 30% of the towns 2016 sales tax revenue. The town had a sales tax revenue of over $1 million this past year. Nothing to scoff at, at all. While the idea may make some people wary, it has many officials excited for the possibilities. Parachute Mayor Roy McClung said the citys economy would be in big trouble without the legalization. While the drive-through is going to catch people outside of the states eye, its just another in a long line of ways Colorado is reinventing their economy. Not too bad of a strategy. [Coloradoan] 'Only 8pc of CSE graders contribute to software dev' Only 8 percent of around 10,000 graduates in computer science and engineering (CSE) in Bangladesh contribute to software development, said BASIS President Mustafa Jabbar at a conference in the city on Monday. "As we are going towards a middle income country by 2021, technology is the main driver for the vision. But, a very few number of CSE students have kept them with software development," he said, adding, "We should inspire them in programming otherwise the sector will be grabbed by foreign outlets." Information and Communication Technology (ICT) division in association with Google Developer Group (GDG) and Preneur Lab jointly organized the Machine Learning Conference at Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC), said a press release. Machine learning is a type of artificial intelligence that enables computers to learn without being explicitly programmed. Tensor Flow is a developer tool of Google which is used mostly around the world. Around 300 programmers on Machine Learning (ML) along with officials from ICT division and telecom operators participated in the event and shared the future of ML technology in the country. Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) President said most of the young people complain that there are not enough contents in Bangla for technology. He said the government has taken a project to develop 16 technology tools including - speech to text, optical char-rector reader (OCR) and multi-language dictionaries for Bangla which will be implemented in next 3 years. GDG Advisor and Preneur Lab Chief Executive Officer Arif Nezami said the global market of ML is increasing day by day. According a Google research, the ML will dominate a market of $ 8.3 trillion by 2035. LICT project specialist Nile Rahman, mobile phone operator Grameenphone's Head of Apps Ecosystem Zakia Zerin, Robi Axiata Digital Services Manager Mohammad Salah Uddin and Prime Tech Chief Technical Officer Mohammad Asif Atick were, among others, attended the sharing sessions. GDG Manager Rakhshanda Rukham said, "We want to introduce the new trend of ML to the technology start-ups, software developers as well as the authority concerned in the country though they can adopt the future innovation". The organizer also informed that officials from Google head quarter connected to the sessions over internet and share the latest innovations of the trend. Singaporean PM, hosting Netanyahu, endorses `two-state` plan Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) sits with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong during a meeting at the Istana, or Presidential Palace, in Singapore on Monday. AP, Singapore : Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, hosting a visit by his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Monday his country believes in a "two-state solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Lee explained his stand at a joint news briefing with Netanyahu, who does not endorse the two-nation approach. Lee said he realizes a two-state solution is difficult to achieve, but said it is the only way to achieve peace. Netanyahu's official visit is the first to Singapore by an Israeli head of government. Last year Lee became the first Singaporean prime minister to visit Israel. Netanyahu referred to Singapore and Israel at the news conference as being "kindred spirits." Both nations are small, with significant defense and high-tech industries. The two countries established diplomatic relations in 1969, but have ties dating back to 1965, when Israeli military advisers covertly assisted Singapore after its declaration of independence. Acknowledging the "very complex situation" between Palestinians and Israel, Lee called for direct negotiations that will ensure "progress toward a just and durable solution to this long-standing and often, unfortunately violent conflict." "We have consistently believed that a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine, however hard to achieve, is the only way to bring peace and security to both peoples," Lee said. Netanyahu did not mention tensions in the Middle East in his remarks Monday, after which questions were not allowed. The two-state approach, in which negotiations aim to lead to an independent Palestinian nation, has wide international support. It would likely require Israel to give up occupied territory that is strategically and religiously significant. A two-state solution has anchored American diplomacy in the Middle East for two decades. When U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Netanyahu last week, the American leader signaled a policy shift, saying both a two-state and a single-state solution should be considered. Netanyahu departs for Australia on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met secretly with Arab rulers last year to hear then US secretary of state John Kerry pitch a regional peace plan, an Israeli newspaper reported on Sunday. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi also attended the February 2016 talks hosted by King Abdullah II in the Jordanian city of Aqaba, Haaretz said, citing former senior officials in the Obama administration who asked to remain anonymous. It said Kerry wanted the sides to endorse six principles, which he laid out publicly in a December speech. Hundreds of Texans may have voted improperly A huge \"Vote!\" flag waves above Interstate 35 as motorists pass, in San Antonio. Texas election officials have acknowledged that hundreds of people were allowed to bypass the state\'s toughest-in-the-nation voter ID law and improperly cast ballots in th AP, Austin : Texas election officials have acknowledged that hundreds of people were allowed to bypass the state's toughest-in-the-nation voter ID law and improperly cast ballots in the November presidential election by signing a sworn statement instead of showing a photo ID. The chief election officers in two of the state's largest counties are now considering whether to refer cases to local prosecutors for potential perjury charges or violations of election law. Officials in many other areas say they will simply let the mistakes go, citing widespread confusion among poll workers and voters. The Texas law requires voters to show one of seven approved forms of identification to cast ballots. It was softened in August to allow people without a driver's license or other photo ID to sign an affidavit declaring that they have an impediment to obtaining required identification. Even after the affidavits were introduced, voters who possess an acceptable photo ID were still required to show it at the polls. The revelations come as President Donald Trump makes frequent claims that the nation's voting systems are vulnerable to fraud. The president has repeatedly said, without citing any evidence, that he would have won the popular vote if not for 3 million to 5 million immigrants in the country illegally who voted for his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. An Associated Press analysis of roughly 13,500 affidavits submitted in Texas' largest counties found at least 500 instances in which voters were allowed to get around the law by signing an affidavit and never showing a photo ID, despite indicating that they possessed one. Others used the sworn declarations to lodge protest statements against the law. One affidavit from Hidalgo County, along the Texas-Mexico border, read: "Did not want to 'pander' to government requirement." In Tarrant County, an election judge noted on an affidavit: "Had photo ID but refused to show it." "If we see that somebody blatantly says 'I have ID' and refused to show it, we're going to turn that over to the D.A.," said Stephen Vickers, chief deputy elections administrator for Tarrant County, which includes Fort Worth. "If they tried to use the affidavit to get around the system, yeah, I see that as a violation." The disclosures came as top Texas Republicans cheered the case of a Mexican national who was sentenced to eight years in prison for illegal voting. Rosa Maria Ortega was convicted earlier this month on two felony counts of illegal voting over allegations she improperly cast a ballot five times between 2005 and 2014 in Tarrant County. Her attorney has said Ortega was a permanent U.S. resident who mistakenly thought she was eligible to vote. Security beefed up for Amar Ekushey Chittagong Bureau : The Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP), Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and district police have decided to enforce a four-tier security measure in and around the Central Shaheed Minar in the city and all Shaheed Minars at Upazila headquarters by deploying 4,500 members of law-enforcement agencies. "A four-tier security measure is being taken in the Central Shaheed Minar area for peaceful observance of the Shaheed Day on February 21", CMP said. A total of 2, 000 police personnel will be deployed in the Shaheed Minar and its adjoining areas to ensure security, CMP Commissioner Iqbal Bahar told the journalists. Closed Circuit Camera Televisions (CCTVs) will be installed in Shaheed Minar areas while archway and metal detectors will be set up at each of the entry points to make the security fool-proof, CMP sources added. A total of 2,500 police personnel, 2,000 in uniform and 500 in plain-clothes will be deployed at different upazila headquarters of the district for peaceful observance of the day, district Police superintendent Nur-e-Alam Mina told the journalists. Police and RAB sources said law enforcers will keep vigil on different important points in the city and district to avert any possible untoward incidents. The CMP will engage 1,550 police personnel at 121 points all over Chittagong and would set up 32 check posts in different strategic places in the metropolis for the purpose, sources said. The RAB will also deploy over 250 personnel in different areas including educational institutions in Chittagong to maintain law and order. Chittagong district police will also keep vigil from tomorrow by deploying over 1,250 police personnel at important places including upazila headquarters under its jurisdictions on this occasion, district police officials said. District police will also give more attention at Chittagong University and Chittagong University of Engineering Technology (CUET) campus during the observance. Mobile app for Biman ticket soon Economic Reporter : Biman Bangladesh Airlines is going to introduce mobile phone-based ticketing for the convenience of its clients. The new window of Biman's sale, mobile phone app, would enable the traveler to book or purchase ticket of the national flag carrier instantly from anywhere without any hassle, said officials. Talking to BSS, Biman spokesperson Shakil Meraj said: "We are developing the app to make it operational within next two or three months." Using the app, he said, passenger could book, procure and reserve seat in advance. Mentioning that people could purchase ticket at local or international currency, Shakil Meraj said: "We are working with Dutch-Bangla Bank and Kbank of Thailand for the payment system." Besides, Biman has to sign a deal with SITA, a multinational information technology company providing IT and telecommunication services to the air transport industry especially for ticketing. "Hopefully, we would make the deal with SITA within a month for the mobile app-based service," he added. Meraj said the app would be available in goggle play store and apple store for users of both platforms. "Not only ticketing, people could also know booking status, flight schedule and different service related phone numbers," he said. Biman is developing the mobile app by own along with the innovation works of a2i of Prime Minister's Office. Apart from the mobile app, Biman has been offering online ticket booking service for the customers. In addition, Biman has been selling tickets through own sale centres and countrywide sales agents. Biman is now running its operation with 10 wide-body and two narrow-body updated and advanced aircraft to 15 international and 7 domestic destinations. Moreover, Biman has decided to procure three Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 aircraft from Canada to strengthen fleet for ensuring smooth operation on domestic and regional routes. Recounting the sacrifices that made Bangla the State Language Barrister Nazir Ahmed : Bangla is the State Language of Bangladesh - more than 155 million people of Bangladesh speak Bangla. It is the mother tongue of almost all people of Bangladeshi origin. Although Bangla is one of the 23 official languages recognised by the Republic of India, it is the official language of the states of West Bengal and Tripura. It is also a major language in the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Bangla is also the co-official language of Assam, which has three predominantly Sylhet speaking districts of southern Assam, Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi. Bangla is a second official language of the Indian state of Jharkhand from September 2011. In December 2002, Sierra Leone's President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah also named Banla as an "official language" of Sierra Leone in recognition of the work of more than 5,300 troops from Bangladesh in the United Nations (UN) Mission in Sierra Leone peacekeeping force. The national anthems of both India and Bangladesh were written in BangIa by the Bangla Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore. Another giant of Bangla literature, Kazi Nazrul Islam is the National Poet of Bangladesh. In 2009, elected representatives in both Bangladesh and West Bengal called for Bangla to be made an official language of the UN. There may be some other countries or nations who have campaigned for or demanded recognition of their languages, but Bangla is the only language for which people have made the highest sacrifice. People gave their lives for Bangla on 21st February 1952. The day of that utmost sacrifice was declared as the 'International Mother Language Day' throughout the world by the UN on 17th November 1999 - a day to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. International Mother Language Day has been observed every year since 2000 February. As a Bengali as well as Bangladeshi I remember with utmost respect those who sacrificed their lives for the Bangla language to be recognised. My thoughts and prayers are for those martyrs. May the Almighty (SWT) accept their sacrifice and grant them Jannatul Ferdous - the highest place in Jannat. I would also like to remember and thank to those who contributed to the cause and suffered for it (harassment, torture, being falsely implicated to legal cases, being jailed etc.) in our historic chapter of the Language Movement which has fought from 1948 for Bangla to be recognised officially. Three languages are very important to us: Bengali, English and Arabic. In my view, people of Bangladeshi origin must learn three languages side by side : Bengali, English and Arabic. They must learn Bangla because it is their mother tongue and state language, and it is for this language that the utmost sacrifice of an unprecedented nature was made. With about 220 million native speakers, and about 250 million speakers in total, Bengali is one of the most spoken languages, ranked seventh in the world. In order to learn other languages, one must be good at one's own native language. One who is competent in his or her own language can easily pick up other languages. In other words, the mother tongue is a gateway to other languages. Alongside BangIa, English must be learned because it is the only international language by which one can communicate anywhere ,in the globe. Truly, the 'English' language is the most important language in the world. It is an international language in proper and true sense. It is the mother tongue and the first language of some of the most powerful nations and developed countries of the world. After Bangla, English is highly desirable language in Bangladesh. In many countries of the world, English is the second or third official language. Hardly any country can be found on the earth where English is not spoken or written or at least understood. English is given due importance (often given over importance too) in non-English speaking countries. Even in those countries, native applicants who are fluent or competent in English are given apparent priority in the competitive job market. Almost all International bodies, agencies, institutions and organisations consider fluency and competency in the English language as one of the compulsory or mandatory requirements for recruitment or appointment of their staff. The English calendar is followed in all international trades and businesses and by almost all countries of the world, regardless of whether English speaking or non English speaking. In Bangladesh, English is widely spoken, written and used. Students who studied at English medium schools or students who studied at public schools but were good at English have, statistically, been doing better in their subsequent profession, job and career. Generally, a student or job applicant who has good command of English is considered as smart, skilled and competent. Thus, apart from linguistic value and international dimension, the English language has distinct economic value too. Thus, former British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Mr Anwar Chowdhury once rightly said "English is not only a language, but it is an essential commodity too." Besides BangIa and English, Arabic must also be learned. At least 85% of the population in Bangladesh are Muslims. The holy book of Islam, the Quran, was revealed in Arabic. Other important religious texts including the major/authentic Hadith books and original Tafseers are written in Arabic. In order to understand the religion of Islam properly and perfectly in a non-alienated way the knowledge of the Arabic language is essential. Apart from the religious perspective, there are economic and business benefits as well in learning Arabic. There are huge markets and employment prospects in the Middle East and in some countries of Africa, in which the native or State Languages include Arabic. Arabic is one of the current official languages of the UN. Therefore, knowledge of the Arabic language, regardless of religion, would be an invaluable communicative asset for exploring that huge market and to get maximum benefit of that global opportunity. Our children in the UK can easily learn four languages: Our children who live in the United Kingdom can easily learn four languages: English, Bangla, Arabic and one modern language. The medium in which our children's teaching and learning is conducted in the UK is English. Therefore, parents do not need to do anything extra for their children to learn the English language. They will automatically and naturally learn and be competent in the English language and literature. Alongside the English language, all pupils in schools are required to learn a modern language : either French or Germany or Spanish or another suitable language. It is a part of their national curriculum. With the efforts of school and little effort from parents, our children can learn one of the modern languages. The first or at least second language of almost all of our children is Bangla. Most of them have Bangla as their mother tongue. Bangla is widely spoken in the house and the community they live in. With proper support and care, our children can easily learn Bangla. Almost 90% or above of those of British Bangladeshi origin in the UK are Muslims. To all Muslims, Arabic has a value and importance, for the reasons stated above. With extra care and support, our children can easily learn the Arabic language. Learning more languages is like acquiring new skills. Those who are competent in their own language, be it Bangla or English or any other, they can easily grasp other languages. With proper support, guidance and care, our children can be multi-lingual skilled in four languages! This is a unique opportunity for our children which should not be taken or considered lightly. Can 'Bangla' be fully introduced in the Supreme Court of Bangladesh? Altbough 'Bangla' is our mother tongue and State Language of Bangladesh, the language of the Apex Court of Bangladesh is, however, English. Thus, many people demand that 'Bangla' be fully introduced in the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. As mentioned above, we are the only nation on earth which sacrificed lives for the restoration of our mother tongue. This is probably why when the month of February comes, we become emotional and there is, no doubt, a logic for being so. But when people demand the introduction of 'Bangla' fully in the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, they genuinely need to consider the wider importance and international implication. When late Dr M Zahir, an eminent jurist and country's leading company law expert, visited London few years ago, I discussed this with him and drew some issues to his kind attention. One of them was the possibility of introducing 'Bangla' at the Supreme Court. He straightway replied "Nazir, look, three things you cannot do in Bangla: Namaj (prayer) cannot be done in Bangla, company law cannot be done in Bangla and Supreme Court proceedings cannot be done in Bangla." There is a strong logic for this assertion. One of those is perhaps that the Supreme Court judgements of a country are often referred to throughout the world. For example, House of Lords' judgments and the judgments of the Indian Supreme Court are frequently referred to the proceedings and hearings of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. Likewise, in order for the judgments of our Apex Court to be referred to the proceedings of the Apex Court abroad, the judgments would have to be of that standard. Thus, if the judgement is written in Bangla, can it have international force and be referred abroad? How could 'Bangla' be an official language of the UN? Six languages are currently official languages of the UN. These are: English French, Arabic, Russian, Chinese and Spanish. Proposal has been made to include 'Bangla' as one of the official languages of the UN. Besides Bangla, Esparento, Hindi, Portuguese and Turkish have also been proposed. There have been some campaigns, albeit of a very limited scale, for recognising Bangla as one of the UN official languages. Despite all these, the UN has not recognised it yet. The mere wish or desire to have Bangla recognised by the UN, or a limited campaign to achieve this, would not bring any fruitful result. In order for Bangla to be recognised by the UN, the value and importance of the country would have to be raised. Our images would have to be positive throughout the world. The presence of a proper democracy in the country, having a record of upholding human rights and rule of law, being known outside the country as a civilised and desirable nation, less dependence on foreign aid, having an excellent and cordial relationship with the major and powerful nations and having competent diplomacy are all relevant key factors in order for this demand to be recognised by the highest international body, the UN, to be pursued. If anyone compares and assesses our country against the barometer of the above components, he can easily ascertain where our country is at the moment. Empty rhetoric, emotional outcry and making demands without being able to show support for them are one thing - and marching ahead with a solid demand backed by sustainable and appreciable records and tangible and concrete evidence is completely another thing. The latter is the most important thing needed for our country. The sooner our superior authorities realise this, the better for our country. (Barrister Nazir Ahmed: Legal expert, analyst, writer and columnist. AL betrays FFs, martyrs `besieging` democracy: Fakhrul UNB, Dhaka : BNP on Monday alleged that Awami League has betrayed the Language Movement martyrs and the freedom fighters of the 1971 Liberation War by keeping democracy 'besieged' in the country.2 Establishing democracy was the main spirit of the Language Movement and the Liberation War. But the current ruling party has restored a one-party rule in the country by trampling the majority's hopes and aspirations. They've kept suppressed people's justified demands by using the sate machinery," said BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir. Speaking at a discussion, he further said, We want to clearly state that they (AL) have betrayed the Language Movement's spirit and blood scarified for it. At the same time, they betrayed the Liberation War spirit and blood of the freedom fighters." BNP arranged the programme at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh marking the Shaheed Dibas and International Mother Language Day, commemorating the supreme scarifies of golden sons of the soil who scarified their lives on February 21 in 1952 to protect the dignity of their mother tongue Bangla. Fakhrul called upon all to get united imbued with the Language Movement and the Liberation War spirit to restore democracy and people's 'lost' rights. Bangladesh's history says it was never possible to suppress people's justified rights by force and using arms for a long time." He said their party wants to see the next general election to be held in a credible and acceptable manner under a neutral administration. The BNP leader, however, warned that if the government holds another unilateral election deceiving the country's people, it will not be acceptable both at home and abroad. BNP standing committee member Moudud Ahmed said the government has destroyed the spirit of the Liberation War and the Language Movement by establishing a 'one-party' rule in the country. We didn't join the Liberation War and Language Movement for it." Mentioning that lakhs of people embraced martyrdom, lakhs of women raped while lakhs of people got maimed during the Liberation War, he said the government has dashed their all sacrifices only to cling onto power. We must now take a vow to uphold the spirit of the Liberation War and the Language Movement by restoring democracy." HC order on President`s power to appoint SC judges Feb 26 UNB, Dhaka : The High Court on Monday fixed February 26 for delivering its judgment over a writ petition filed challenging the legality of Articles 95 and 116 of the Constitution which allow the President to appoint the Supreme Court judges and control the lower court judges. An HC bench comprising Justice Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque and Justice Mohammad Ullah fixed the date after hearing a petition. Earlier, on November 22, the High Court adjourned sine die the delivery of its verdict on the writ. Supreme Court lawyer Eunus Ali Akond filed the writ petition with the court on November 3. The petitioner said that the two articles are contradictory to articles 7,22,26,31 and 109 of the Constitution. The writ was filed following a recent remark by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha that the article 116 of the existing constitution is one of the main reasons behind the slowness of the judiciary. According to the writ petition, the petitioner said as per the article 95 (2) of the Constitution, the President will appoint the Chief Justice and recruit other judges in consultation with the Chief Justice. However, the President is not fully independent as he cannot accomplish all works except the appointment of the Prime Minister and the Chief Justice, without consultation with the Prime Minister, he said. As per the article 116 of the present constitution, the control (including the power of posting, promotion and grant of leave) and discipline of persons employed in the judicial service and magistrates exercising judicial functions shall vest in the President and shall be exercised by him in consultation with the Supreme Court. But the Constitution of 1972 stipulates 'the control and discipline of persons employed in the judicial service was completely exercised by the Supreme Court'. He said four basic principles-Secularity, Nationalism, Democracy and Socialism-of the original Constitution were reinstated through the 5th Amendment to the Constitution in 2011. However, the article 116 of the 1972 Constitution was not restored. 3 `JMB` men held in N`ganj UNB, Dhaka : Members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested three suspected members of the banned militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) from different areas in Sonargaon upazila early Monday. RAB sources said that a team of RAB-11 conducted drives in different areas of the upazila and arrested the three from a house. The team also seized Jihadi books, arms and explosives from the house. BNP slams Inu for comment on Khaleda's case UNB, Dhaka : BNP on Monday hit out at Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu for his comment on its chairperson's graft case, saying he is just trying to appease the Prime Minister with such remarks only to keep his position in tact in the cabinet. Following the Prime Minister's remark (on Khaleda's case), Hasanul Haq Inu has said Khaleda Zia must be convicted. You (Inu) don't think people won't forget your such vindictive comment to appease the Prime Minister and your flattering role in retaining your position in the cabinet," said BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi. He came up with the comment while unveiling the cover of a book titled 'Khocha' written by Chandra Rahman at the Jatiya Press Club. Rizvi also accused the Prime Minister of trying to influence the court by making comments on their chairperson's Khaleda Zia's under-trial cases. Addressing a reception accorded to her in Germany by the local unit of Awami League on Friday, Sheikh Hasina said Khaleda Zia will certainly be punished in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case if the court is convinced with proper evidence and documents. Reacting to Hasina's comment, Rizvi said it is the jurisdiction of the court to deliver verdict on Khaleda's cases, whatever it may be. aBut, the Prime Minister was predicting about the verdict from Germany's Munich. So, it can be said she is influencing the court to act as per her will." He warned that the country's people will not accept and remain silent if anything happens as per the Prime Minister desire regarding Khaleda's cases. Don't think people won't raise their voice and protest against your misdeeds only in fear of reprisal and repressive acts. If you continue your misrule, one day your throne will fall apart dashing your all dreams." Youth held with 1.39kg gold at HSIA UNB, Dhaka : Customs intelligence officials arrested a young man along with 12 gold bars, weighing 1.39 kg, in his rectum at Shahjalal International Airport here on Monday. The arrestee was identified as Russel Khan, 32, son of Ashraf Khan of Rauzan upazila in Chittagong district. Airport sources said the customs officials challenged Russel after noticing the existence of gold while checking through a metal detector when he was crossing the archway of the airport in the morning. Upon interrogation, the youth confessed that he was carrying 12 gold bars hidden inside in his rectum in exchange for money. Later, the gold bullion were brought out from his bowl through an operation. Russel arrived at the airport from Dubai by a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight via Chittagong. Involvement of teachers won`t be tolerated:Nahid Staff Reporter : Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid on Monday warned the teachers saying that no irregularities of them would be tolerated. "We show our highest respect to the teachers. We never expect any irregularity or unethical activities from them. The Education Ministry will not tolerate it. We will take stern action if we find unscrupulous activities," Nahid said. The Minister came up with this remark while talking to the journalists at the Secretariat on Monday. "We heard that a teacher of Jagannath University (JnU) violated a female student. I asked the Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the university to expel him immediately. The VC informed me that the university expelled the teacher and formed a probe committee," he said. "I thanked the JnU administration for their immediate action against a immoral teacher. I believe that they will continue their stance against any unfair means," the Minister said. Nurul Islam Nahid said that the Ministry stopped all the ways of question papers leakage. We trust the teachers every time. But some teachers leaked the question papers just before the examination, he said. "Some teachers were found that they sold question papers to the students. Some one of them inspired the guardians to buy the leaked question papers. It is totally unethical activities," Nahid said. He also called upon the teachers and the guardians not to involve any immoral activities. "Please don't destroy your sons and daughters' life by providing question papers before the examinations," Nahid said. The Minister also declared that the Ministry would find out the persons involved with the question papers leakage soon. Deputy Secretary of the Ministry Subodh Chandra Dhali told The New Nation that the Minister's stance against irregularities is a positive sign. The immoral teachers will get a message from the Ministry's initiative. Death row convict among 2 held Staff Reporter : A team of the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit arrested two persons, including a death row convict of blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider murder case from the city's Uttara area on Monday. The arrested men were identified as convict Rezwanul Azad Rana and his aide Ashraf, an Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) member , police said. Deputy Commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police media wing Masudur Rahman said, the Counter Terrorism Unit of Dhaka Metropolitan police nabbed them from a house in Uttara around 2:00pm, They were being interrogated in this connection, the Police official said. Earlier, a Dhaka court on December 31, 2015, handed down death penalty to two people-Rana, 34, and Faisal Bin Nayem alias Dweep, 24, -- for killing Rajib Haider. They have also been fined Tk 10,000 each. The court also awarded different jail terms to six others, including the chief of banned Islamist outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team, in the case. Rajib Haidar, a blogger and activist of Shahbagh movement, was hacked to death on February 15, 2013, near his house in the city's Mirpur . He used to write against Jamaat-Shibir and war criminals on different blogs under the pseudo name of Thaba Baba. Thousands protest against Trump travel ban in NYC Thousands on protest against Trump travel ban, a young protester at the #I Am A MuslimToo rally (inset) in New York City on Sunday. Middle East Eye : Thousands of New Yorkers crammed city streets on Sunday to participate in the #IAmAMuslimToo rally and protest the actions of the Donald Trump administration. Co-organised by hip hop mogul Russell Simmons, rabbi Marc Schneier and imam Shamsi Ali, the event, which stretched back multiple city blocks, saw a range of speakers who declared, amid the unseasonable February sunshine: "Today, I am a Muslim too." After only a month into his presidency, Trump's executive order banning travel to the US of individuals from seven Muslim-majority countries has been met with popular, political and judicial opposition. Although the actual order does not include the specific phrase "Muslim Ban", on the campaign trail Trump spoke often about banning the entry of Muslims to America. 'Attack on one faith is an attack on all' Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour noted the historical significance of 19 February: it was on that day, 75 years ago in 1942, that President Theodore Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, beginning the process of interning more than 120,000 Japanese-Americans. "We won't let horrific things happen to our brothers and sisters," said Sansour. "Not on my watch, not on your watch, not on our watch." New York mayor Bill De Blasio garnered widespread applause as he praised the right to freedom of assembly, then used rhetoric in direct opposition to that of the Trump administration. "An attack on anybody's faith is an attack on all people's faith," he told the crowd. "It's clear that we have the power. We the people have the final say in achieving fairness and justice for all." Representatives from just about every faith group were present. A Buddhist monk shared the stage with a Muslim sheikh. Christian ministers spoke, to be followed by a female rabbi. Individuals delivered speeches on behalf of New York's African-American Muslim community. Latino Muslims made their presence felt too. One of the most moving moments came when Pakistani-American Talat Hamdani told the crowds: "I am Muslim. My son was Muslim. On 9/11, he gave his life for his country as a first-responder NYPD officer to the attacks on the World Trade Center." She then read out the names of some of the Muslim victims of the 9/11 terror attacks and implored: "Do not let them do this. Not in their names! Not in their names!" Placards raise laughs But there were also moments of levity. Hosts Dean Obeidallah and Judy Gold, Muslim and Jewish respectively, injected energy into the day, poking fun at similar stereotypes about their faiths and reminiscing about the Obama administration. "Man! I wish the expression: 'Once you go black, you don't go back' applied to presidents," Obeidallah told the crowd. The crowds also made their own satirical observations, carrying smart placards that were called out by the speakers. Obeidallah pointed to a sign that read: "'Humanistic Jews' and asked: "What does that mean?" Gold responded: "Well, I'm a human and I'm a Jew. It's amazing." Amar Ekushey today Staff Reporter : The nation is paying rich tributes to the Martyrs of the Historic Language Movement with the clock striking 00.01am on Tuesday marking 'Amar Ekushey', the Language Martyrs Day and International Mother Language Day. People at home and abroad have been observing the 'International Mother Language Day' since last 17 years. In 2000, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) declared February 21 as International Mother Language Day. Walking barefoot to the Central Shaheed Minar with wreaths and flowers singing 'Amar bhaiyer roktey rangano Ekushey February', people are paying their deep respects to the Language Movement heroes who sacrificed their lives for achieving the recognition of Bangla as the State Language of erstwhile Pakistan on this day in 1952. The day is a public holiday. The national flag will be hoisted at half-mast atop all educational institutions, government, semi-government and autonomous offices and private buildings across the country. On this day in 1952, when students defying Section 144 started marching forward demanding recognition of Bangla as an official language, police opened fire and killed a number of students, including Abdus Salam, Rafiq Uddin Ahmed, Abul Barkat and Abdul Jabbar in the city's Dhaka University area. The Language Movement was the forerunner of the nationalist movement that culminated in the Liberation War in 1971 and won the nation independence. On March 21 in 1948, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the first governor general of the then Pakistan, in a public meeting in city's Suhrawardy Udyan, formerly known as Race course Maidan, had said, "let me make it very clear to you that the State Language of Pakistan is going to be Urdu and no other language." "Therefore, so far as the state language is concerned, Pakistan's shall be Urdu," he had mentioned. These comments generated enormous anger and resentment in the hearts of the Bengalis of the then East Pakistan and prompted voices of protest even at the public rally. And later in the face of massive upsurge, the then Pakistan government granted Bangla the status of official language in 1956. Meanwhile, President Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Bangladesh Nationalist Party Chairperson Khaleda Zia have issued separate messages on the occasion. Amid tight security arrangements, President Abdul Hamid was scheduled to pay tributes to the Language Martyrs by placing wreaths at the altar of the Central Shaheed Minar at 00:01 am followed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Hasina alongwith her cabinet members, advisers, lawmakers and party leaders was also scheduled to place another wreath on behalf of her party. BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia will also pay tribute to the Language Martyrs and place wreaths at the altar of the Central Shaheed Minar. Agency adds: Authorities of Dhaka University (DU) have chalked out comprehensive programmes to observe the Amar Ekushey and International Mother Language Day with due solemnity. Marking the day, a Provat Feri, led by Vice-Chancellor (VC) Professor Dr AAMS Arefin Siddique, will be brought out from Aparajeyo Bangla premises on the campus at 6.30 am which will end on the Central Shaheed Minar premises following placing floral wreaths there after visiting the Azimpur Graveyard. However, Fateha will be offered seeking eternal peace of the Language Movement Martyrs at Amar Ekushey Hall, mosques of all dormitories and at central mosque of the University. Besides, a weeklong drama festival will begin at Teacher-Student Center (TSC) on the campus on February 21 organised by the Theatre and Performance Studies Department of the university. Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor is expected to address the inaugural function as the chief guest while VC Prof Arefin will inaugurate the festival. The festival will end on February 27 Meanwhile, Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende arrived in Dhaka yesterday morning to pay homage to Language Martyrs of the great language movement at Central Shaheed Minar in the first hour of Amar Ekushey. He is visiting Bangladesh as the first ever foreign minister from any Nordic Country to Bangladesh. Stringent security measures have been taken across the country especially in the large cities, for peaceful observance of the Shaheed Dibosh and International Mother Language Day today. Police and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) have taken special security measures at Central Shaheed Minar at Divisional cities and District headquarters across the country with deployment of law enforcers in large numbers and installing Closed Circuit Camera Televisions (CCTVs) and archways. Intelligence surveillance has been intensified aimed at warding off any sorts of criminal activities centering the observance of the Day. Check posts have been set up at different strategic points across the country to make the security foolproof. "RAB personnel in large numbers have been deployed across the country to ensure overall security for peaceful observance of the Shaheed Dibos," Director General (DG) of RAB Benazir Ahmed said yesterday while elaborating on their security arrangement. "Bomb squad and striking force of the RAB have been kept ready to face any untoward situation," he also said. Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has taken a four-tier security measure for Central Shaheed Minar and its adjoining areas alongside with a three-tier security arrangement taken by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) for smooth and peaceful observance of the Shaheed Dibosh. "Necessary security measures have been taken at Central Shaheed Minar and its adjoining areas with four-tier deployment of law enforcers for peaceful observance of the Shaheed Dibosh," said DMP Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia. "Appropriate numbers of archways and closed circuit camera televisions (CCTVs) have been installed in all the entry gates and strategic points of the Central Shaheed Minar to make the security foolproof," he said, adding that a cell has been formed to monitor the CCTVs round the clock. "None will be allowed to enter the main venue without search while sweeping will be conducted by the dog and bomb disposal squads," he said. Plain clothed law enforcers have been deployed alongside with setting up of watch tower to bring the Central Shaheed Minar area under special security surveillance, he also said. Special security measures have been taken for the foreigners and diplomats to ensure their security, he informed. Route map: The 'Ekushey Udjapan Samonnay Committee' on Saturday finalized a route map for going to the Shaheed Minar on the historic Shaheed Dibosh on Tuesday. The route map came into force from 8:00pm on Monday. According to the route, people will enter Azimpur graveyard through the old High Court road, Doyel Crossing, Bangla Academy, TSC crossing, road beside Vice-Chancellor's residence and New Market crossing. After offering fateha at the graves of the Martyrs, they will come out through the main gate (South) of the graveyard and go through Azimpur Road, Palashi crossing and Fuller Road. Those who want to go to Shaheed Minar without visiting the graveyard will use the road on the west of Zahurul Huq Hall after crossing the Vice-Chancellor's residence. The Shaheed Minar could also be reached through the road in front of Home Economic College and Eden College via Azimpur crossing and Palashi crossing. From Chankharpul area, people can go to Shaheed Minar through Bakshibazar crossing, Palashi crossing and the road in front of Jagannath Hall. It is to be noted that the road on the east of Jagannath Hall from TSC will remain completely closed. After placing wreaths at the Shaheed Minar, people will go through the road in front of the university playground, Doyel Chattar and Chankharpul. Meanwhile, the government has taken extensive programmes to observe the 'Shaheed Dibash' and the International Mother Language Day today. In line with the national programmes, the day would be observed by all educational institutions, city corporations, pourasabhas, the district and upazila administrations and Bangladesh missions abroad. Quran Khwani, Milad Mahfil and special munajats will be held at Azimpur graveyard in the city for the martyrs of the Language Movement. Different road islands and important spots in the city were decorated with festoons inscribed with Bangla alphabet. Various organizations and institutes, including Bangla Academy, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Nazrul Institute, Jatiya Grantha Kendra, Islamic Foundation, National Museum, International Mother Language Institute and Shishu Academy, are observing the day across the country through different programmes. The programmes include book fair, discussions, recitation, essay writing competition and cultural function. 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. The best bang for your buck! This option enables you to purchase online 24/7 access and receive the Sunday, Tuesday & Thursday print edition at no additional cost * Print edition only available in our carrier delivery area. Allow up to 72 hours for delivery of your print edition to begin. Print edition not available for Day Pass option. The sextoy market is growing quite rapidly in India right now. Although it is not a big trend, it is a hot topic on the internet as it is secretly expanding its market. In this article, we will focus on sextoy and introduce recommended sextoy for Indian beginners of sextoy by gender. India, the birthplace of the Kama Sutra, is very strict about sex. Also, premarital sex is basically not allowed. Therefore, there are many people who are sexually restricted. But what happens when you continue to be sexually restricted? Frustration may build up and you may end up taking your sexual stress out on your partner. If you are able to adopt sextoy in a timely manner, you can get rid of those problems. I want to have more exciting sex than Im having now. I want more variation in masturbation I want to get even stronger pleasure than I do on my own. If you have any of these problems, please stay with me until the end. What is sex toys for Indian? Sextoy, as the name implies, is a toy used during sex and masturbation. It is a generic term for vibrators, Egg-vibrators, Electric massagers, dildo, handcuffs and condoms. They are used to make regular sex more exciting or to make masturbation more pleasurable. Because sextoy is very stimulating, it can help you to get rid of the problems and frustrations of being in a rut of sex with your partner for a long time, or if you are unhappy with the lack of pleasure in sex with your partner. The ability to satisfy your desires with movement, texture, and size, which cannot be done by a normal human being, can help you to be satisfied with sex and, as a result, improve your relationship with your partner. It is also said to help improve sexual dysfunction (inability to get an erection or ejaculate) and difficulty in feeling during sex (insensitivity), which is attracting more attention than in the past. In recent years, the demand for sextoy has increased due to the spread of smartphones and the Internet and the increasing number of people using online shopping. Even those who are concerned about the appearance of sextoy (and find it difficult to purchase) can now easily obtain it by using mail order. In the case of online shopping, most of the stores have taken steps to ensure that the contents of the products delivered to you are not revealed, so you can purchase them without your family members knowing. Until a while ago, you had to go to the store where the adult goods were sold to buy them, so it was quite a hurdle to overcome. Also, many people may have an image that sextoy is somehow embarrassing to own. But nowadays, some of them are so stylish and cute that you cant believe they are sextoy at a glance. More and more people are using them for travel and outdoor use because they are not too bulky and are suitable for carrying around. Sextoy situation in India Before introducing the recommended sextoy for Indians, lets talk about one of the sextoy situations in India in recent years. In India, due to the high concentration of population, the following six cities have particularly high sales of sextoy in India. Mumbai Kolkata Bangalore Delhi Chennai Hyderabad These cities account for roughly 70 percent of sextoy sales in India. In the future, the percentage of sextoy use will gradually increase in other cities in India as well. If you never talk about sextoy publicly, that girl in your neighborhood might be a sextoy user too. If you are interested in sextoy, you dont have to suppress your desire for it. What are Sextoys for beginner? Among all sextoys, sextoy for beginners are vibrators, dildo, masturbators, Sex Lubricants, and condoms. Sex Lubricants and condoms, which are familiar to people who have had sex, are also a great beginners sextoy. I will explain the details of each toy later, but there are many sextoy products that are painful to use and can only be used after some anal expansion. I assume that the Indian readers of this article are people who have not had much experience with sextoy. If such people use professional sextoy suddenly, they are at risk of injury or trauma. Therefore, to introduce sextoy, you need to start with a beginners version and gradually become familiar with it. Advantages of using sextoy for Indians There are three advantages of using sextoy for Indians You can masturbate in a wide variety of ways. Can have stimulating sex Can develop new sexual zones If you try to masturbate with your own fingers or hands, it tends to be a pattern. However, with sextoy, you can easily masturbate in a variety of ways. You will definitely be fascinated by the attraction of new stimulation. Also, your daily sex life will be more exciting than ever. There are many things in sextoy that are visually stimulating and give you a strong and intense feeling of pleasure. This allows you to see your partners promiscuity in a way that you wouldnt normally see it. When you are in a relationship, sex with your partner may become a pattern, but it can also eliminate these problems. It can also lead to the development of new sexual zones (which is the training of sexual stimulation to allow you to feel orgasms). For more information on the development of new sexual zones, see the following articles [Women's Erogenous Zone]How to find and develop, 7 hidden sexual zones !![In India] In this issue, we will dissect the female erogenous zone! ..." Many of you may be like that. Men, in particular, shou... Thus, the use of sextoy can only be a good thing for the men and women of India. Sextoy for beginner men in India So, lets continue with the recommended goods for Indian sextoy beginners. For ease of understanding, we will introduce them by gender. Lets start with the men! The following five goods are recommended for novice Indian sextoy men Masturbator Cock rings Love Doll Sex Lubricants Toys for the prostate Lets check each one in detail. Masturbator The masturbator is a sextoy for men that elaborately reproduces a womans vagina, mouth, and anus, and is one of the most popular sextoy products. It is used by men to masturbate, and it is popular because it provides stronger stimulation and pleasure more easily than using hands. Most are made of good quality silicone, and their softness is something that cannot be achieved with ones own hands. They can provide stronger pleasure than a real womans vagina, so be careful not to overuse them. (You wont be able to have an orgasm in a womans vagina anymore.) Again Male masturbators are a wonderful toy. I do not need any favourite timing, bothersome bargaining. You do not have to worry too much. Revolutionize your masturbation time! ! ! Made in Japan is a wonderful kinky toy.#sextoysindia #SexToyIndia #Japanhttps://t.co/4k70QGzoTP pic.twitter.com/tRVdxTKPpa SEXToys India PR (@SextoysIndia) November 12, 2018 Some of them are disposable, while others can be washed and used over and over again, so its fun to buy a few to use depending on your mood. If you want to know more about masturbator, please click here Really pleasant male masturbation and how to do it Are you in a rut with your daily masturbation routine? I'm going to show you five ways men masturbate that you might ... [For Beginners] How to choose and use a male masturbator without fail Gentlemen.Have you ever used a masturbator? The person who sees this article is probably the one who has not experien... Cock Ring A cock ring is literally a ring-shaped sextoy that is worn on a mans penis. It maintains an erection by binding the penis with a ring of rubber and blocking blood flow. It is sometimes used as an accessory to be worn on the penis, and may be made of metal or plastic as well as rubber. In some cases, cock rings have parts or vibrators attached to them that stimulate the vagina, so they kill two birds with one stone, giving a woman pleasure while maintaining an erection. Cock rings are also sometimes used to treat erectile dysfunction. It can help with erectile dysfunction, where the penis doesnt get hard when you get an erection or doesnt last long when you try to insert it. Men who are prone to breakage or who are unsure of the hardness and size of their erections can use a cock ring to increase the size of their penis and maintain an erection for a longer period of time. Cock rings vary in price from around RS700 to over RS2000 with a vibrator function. Some of them do not fit your penis, so you should check the size of the cock ring before you buy. You should know the size of your partners or your own penis when it is erect. [Penis enlargement] What is a cock ring? Types and usage Cock rings can make your penis bigger and harder. It also makes sex with women more fulfilling and increases your sat... Love Doll Love dolls, also known as Dutchwives, are dolls with the appearance of a woman who can experience simulated sex. There are dolls that look like a woman, but they have no face and only have their breasts and lower torso cut off, and some dolls are so realistic that they can actually be mistaken for real women. Some expensive dolls can cost more than 1 million yen, and the quality of the doll is easily influenced by the price. The higher the price, the higher the quality of the doll will be, the closer it will be to the real woman, and the cheaper the doll will be, the less elaborate it will be, making it look like a real doll! Something is wrong! That is also true. You cant go wrong if you choose a balance between price and taste. There are stores that allow you to make custom-made love dolls, so you can create a girl of your choice. You can make a girl of your choice. You can start with inexpensive love dolls at first, and once you get used to it, you can try custom-made love dolls. If you want to know more about Love doll, please click here Thorough explanation of the charm of sex dolls! Have you ever heard of sex dolls that are used primarily for pseudo-sex purposes? It is a doll that is quite close to... Sex lubricants Sex lubricants are used as a substitute for lubricating fluid during sex or as a lubricant for men to use masturbator rules. It is not uncommon for women to have difficulty getting wet, depending on their physical condition, or to have difficulty getting wet due to their constitution. Forcing the penis into the vagina at such times can cause painful intercourse. There are various types of Sex Lubricants, some with a warming effect, some with a cooling effect, and some with a scent. Changing the Sex Lubricant used during play is recommended as a good sex accent. If you want to learn more about Sex Lubricants, click here. What is sex lubricant?Explain the difference and usage of each ingredient The word "sex toy" may seem like a hurdle to overcome, but lotion is actually one of the most familiar sex toys. Many... Toys for the Prostate Another sextoy for men is prostate toys. The most famous prostate toys include Enemagra, which was originally a prostate massager developed by an American urologist to treat an enlarged prostate line. Modern prostate toys are imitations of Enemagra that have spread as sextoy for men. Many people think of prostate toys as being used by gay men, but in fact they are often used by straight men. What is the prostate? The prostate is an organ found only in men. It is a walnut-sized organ located deep in the pelvis, just below the bladder, and its primary role is to protect and nourish sperm. You cannot touch the prostate gland from outside the body, but you can touch it by inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus. By inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus and touching the prostate and developing it, you can feel intense orgasms. Orgasms felt in the prostate are mainly dry orgasms, which are orgasms that do not involve ejaculation. (You can also feel orgasms with ejaculation through prostate stimulation.) The prostate is called the male G-spot, and dry orgasms can be much more intense than ejaculation. Therefore, men who are able to develop a prostate can become addicted to the pleasure. sextoy for beinner women in India The following are the recommended goods for Indian women who are new to sextoy. The following three are recommended for use by women who are new to sextoy. Vibrator. Dildo Electric Masserger Lets check out what each one is in detail. If you want to check out womens toys, click here. [BEST25]Sex Toys for Women in IndiaThat Can Help You Have an Orgasm There are many women who pretend to feel orgasm during sex. But don't worry, you don't have to pretend to feel orgasm... Vibrators A vibrator is a sextoy that vibrates with an Egg-Vibrator to provide stimulation and is often referred to simply as a vibrator. Some vibrate as well as rotate, and there are many variations of sextoy. It is quite a popular sextoy, and is well recognized by people who do not know much about sextoy. Its usage is similar to that of a massager, but it is more compact and easier to carry than a massager, and many of them look as cute as a lipstick or a macaroon, so they are popular among women. For a while, a famous influencer on twitter said, This is good! You may have heard of the topic of this article by introducing the recommended vibrators. Vibrators are great for women to use on their own, but they are also recommended for men who have difficulty satisfying women with sex. Since it is powered by electricity, it is far less tiring than moving your hands by yourself. This makes it easier to satisfy a woman with sex because you can caress her for longer than usual. Vibrators are mainly used on the female side, but they can also be used on men. When used on men, they are used to attack the nipples and glans, and in both cases it is recommended to wear a condom for hygiene reasons. Introducing how to use the vibrator, its purpose, and how to choose it! Vibrator uses the vibrations caused by the rotation of the motor to provide stimulation. It is one or two of the most... Dildo A dildo is a model sextoy made to mimic a male penis. It can be made of silicone, elastomer (think of it as a material similar to PVC), metal or glass. A dildo can be used by a man for his female partner during sex, or by a woman for masturbation to get pleasure from it. They are mainly inserted into women, but some can be used in the male anus as well. It is sometimes used synonymously with vibrators, but the vibrator is not the same thing as a vibrating device. A model of a penis that does not vibrate is a dildo. Some of them have suction cups that can be attached to the floor or wall so that you can enjoy realistic masturbation without using your hands. For fun, there is a dildo made in the shape of your partners penis. This one is also popular as a gift, and if youve been together for a long time and are having trouble finding a gift for your partner, you might want to pick one. To learn more about dildo, please click here. What is Dildo: Orgasms with Dildos for Men and Women A dildo is a model of a male organ that is used by women for masturbation and by men to stimulate the prostate gland. Th... Electric Masserger A Electric Masserger is a hand-held electric massager, also known as a handheld massager, and can usually be purchased at electronics stores. It was originally designed to relieve stiff shoulders and back pain, so the hurdle of buying one in a physical store is quite low. Many people may have seen or used it in some form or another, as it is often installed in leisure hotels. Such a massager is highly recommended for beginners because it is easy for women to get pleasure from it when they use it during masturbation. It is larger than Egg-Vibrator and vibrations are stronger than those of Egg-Vibrators and vibrators, so even just hitting the clitoris can give you a great deal of pleasure. For those women who have never had an orgasm during sex with their man, the massager may be a good way to get a feel for what it feels like to have an orgasm. It looks and feels like an electric massager, so you wont have to feel awkward if your roommate finds out. If you are in a rut of having sex with your partner, if you want to feel an orgasm through masturbation, or if you are thinking of using a sextoy, why dont you try it from a simple massager? To learn more about Electric Masserger, click here. What is a massager? Introducing types, selection methods, and usage Originally, the Magic-wand vibrator and the massage machine were sold as a home massage machine used for the back and th... How to choose a sextoy for Indian Now that weve covered the different types of sextoy, heres how to choose one. Especially if you are trying sextoy for the first time, pay attention to the following three points: Does the size fit you (the partner)? Does the size fit you (your partner)? Is the environment able to produce sound without problems? Price range First of all, the choice of size is quite important. Most sextoy are used against or inserted into the genitals, but the genitals are very delicate organs for both men and women. For this reason, using an inappropriate size may cause damage. Secondly, the environment should be able to produce sound without problems. Some sextoys not only wear, but also rotate and vibrate. Its easier to get pleasure from something that moves than something that doesnt, but the fact that it moves means that the internal rotors make some noise. If you live in a house with thin walls or if you have roommates, you may not be able to concentrate because of the noise, so it is best to choose one that is silent or has a low noise level. Especially in India, where many people live with their families, it is very important that you dont have to worry about sound when you use it. Finally, there is the price range. The price range of sextoy ranges widely, from around RS500 at the cheapest to RS10,000 or more at the highest. Its good to consider how much money you can afford and how much you want to buy. Do you want your family to not find out about sextoy? I live with my family and want to use sextoy without them finding out! If you are a man, you should buy a camouflage sextoy that does not look like a sextoy at first glance. For men, there are many masturbators that do not look like a sextoy, and for women, there are vibrators that only look like cosmetics. If you choose such a type, youll be safe in case your family members find out. How to buy sextoys in India The best way to purchase sextoy is through online shopping. For more information on how to purchase sextoy, please see the article below. Sextoy is one of them. Therefore, you can easily get sextoy in India by using online shopping. SexToysINDIA is a long established and stable sextoy store and you can have sextoy delivered to any place in India. They also offer cash on delivery, so those who are worried about shopping with a credit card do not have to worry. Of course, the latest security is in place, so your information will not be taken out when you use your credit card. To begin with, many people may be concerned about whether they are legally allowed to purchase sextoy. ikmAs it turns out, its not illegal. Right now, it is not open to the public because the Indian adult market is still in the development stage, but it will gradually spread from now on. Take advantage of sextoy and open the door to new pleasures and culture. Cautions for Indians using sextoy When using sextoy, keep the following three things in mind Keep sex toys clean Watch out for electrical leakage Beware of the heat generated by the body while using a sex toy As I mentioned earlier, many sextoy products are used for the delicate zone. Therefore, it is most important to keep the sextoy itself clean. It is very important to keep the sextoy itself clean, because if a slight scratch is created by friction, bacteria can enter and breed there. It is safe to wear a condom when using the masturbator, just in case. 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If this is your first time to learn about sextoy, or if you are interested in using sextoy, why not give it a try? Indian Sextoys for ur best! will introduce you to sextoy and other trivia about sextoy, sexuality, and sexuality for men and women. I want to read more! If you think its a great idea, please bookmark it. Indiana State Police(DELPHI, Ind.) -- A tip line set up by investigators in the murder of two Indiana teens who disappeared while hiking is filling up with calls from across the country after a man photographed on a nature trail was named a primary suspect in the killings, police said. "Everyone is calling us from everywhere," a spokesperson for the Delphi Police told ABC News. The bodies of the two girls -- Liberty Rose Lynn German, 14, and Abigail Jay Williams, 13, both of Carroll County -- were found last Tuesday near a creek, roughly three-quarters of a mile from an abandoned railroad bridge, near Delphi, Indiana, where they were dropped off Monday to go hiking. Indiana State Police named a man in a photograph as the primary suspect in the double homicide investigation Sunday afternoon, but nothing is known about him at this time outside of a single image. Previously, he had been labeled a person of interest, and police said he might only be a witness to the crime. That changed Sunday afternoon. "Since Wednesday February 15th, law enforcement officers have distributed a photo of a person observed on the Delphi Historic Trail. The photo appears to depict a white male wearing blue jeans, a blue coat/jacket, and a hoodie," a statement from the Indiana State Police read. Investigators told ABC News that a search warrant was executed at a home in Delphi on Thursday night, but it did not yield anything of value to the investigation. State police referred to "preliminary evidence" that led their attention to the man in the picture, without detailing what it was. "During the course of the investigation, preliminary evidence has led investigators to believe the person, in the distributed photo, is suspected of having participated in the murders of Abigail Williams and Liberty German," the statement added. The case has garnered great attention in the otherwise peaceful area of rural Indiana from which the girls disappeared. On Monday, police told ABC News that people in the small city of Delphi bonded together following the tragedy and have been extremely helpful to the investigation. "The people of Delphi are being very helpful," the spokesman said. "They are helping in any way that they can." Thousands gathered in Delphi this weekend to take part in a motorcycle memorial ride to commemorate the lives of the two girls. Organizers for the motorcycle rally estimated that more than 3,000 people took part in the ride on Saturday, while hundreds of spectators watched, according to the Lafayette Journal and Courier, a local paper. The paper said that the downtown area of the small city overflowed with motorcycles and cars, who registered for $20 per driver and $5 per passenger to ride from Office Tavern Bar in Delphi to Whiskey and Wine Saloon in Monticello, and that the funds were split between the families of the two victims. ABC affiliate WRTV in Indianapolis reported that residents of Delphi were applying purple ribbons to their homes and storefronts show their support for the victims and their families. The affiliate also reported that several local businesses in Delphi are hosting fundraisers for the families. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. WEST FRANKFORT This city's new sewer facility, which has been years in the making, is more than halfway completed and should be online this year, the project engineer working on the facility says. Matt Tosh, project engineer with Brown and Roberts, of Harrisburg, which is managing the job, said the project is about 60 percent complete and hopes to have the new wastewater treatment plant online by the end of summer. In March 2014, the city of West Frankfort was given a $6.4 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to upgrade their 50-year-old southern wastewater facility. West Frankfort Mayor Tom Jordan said that facility had a history of flooding and needed to be replaced. He said the city contributed $2.2 million to complete the project. Phase one, which broke ground in April 2016, will relocate the southern wastewater plant half a mile north, nearer the citys northern plant. Midwest Petroleum and Excavating from Benton is handling the project. Tosh said the new facility is being built well above the 100-year floodplain, which should prevent future flooding. Tosh also said the filtration system in the new facility will be upgraded. He said the old plant was a drip filtration system, which cleaned water by filtering it through a physical media, while the new system uses microbes to clean the water. Tosh said phase two of the project will include demolishing the old plant as well as making upgrades to the older, northern plant. Editor's note: This story was originally published on Feb. 17, 2013. MOUNT VERNON After attending Sunday afternoon services, 300 people filed out of First United Methodist Church of Mount Vernon to enjoy what was left of the unseasonably warm but stormy February day. Thirty minutes later, the church building where they had worshipped was in shambles, tossed about by a vicious cyclone that left the city in mourning: 30 people dead and hundreds more injured; some would die later from their wounds. Mt. Vernon is in ruins. Her once beautiful streets are now the scene of desolation and destruction, the then-Mt. Vernon Daily Register wrote a few days after the Feb. 19, 1888, tornado. On Sunday evening at 4:45 oclock, a terrific cyclone struck the southwest part of the city traveling northeast, carrying death and destruction in its course. It had been raining very hard for an hour previous which was followed by hail, after which a deep, guttural roar preceded the terrible engine of death which swooped down upon the city. Devastation More than 500 residences were damaged by the tornado or the fires it sparked 329 of them were deemed complete losses and 1,200-plus people left homeless. The scene at midnight was peculiarly distressing. Through the great heaps of ruins men, women and boys were struggling in their efforts to reach those imprisoned beneath timbers and bricks. Cries came from every pile of debris, according to the newspaper account. Whole families were buried under their roofs without warning, save that given by the storm cloud as it bounded over the earth like an immense rubber ball. The slaughter here was appalling. Businesses and public buildings did not go untouched. The county courthouse, a centerpiece of the citys downtown, was demolished as were several public schools, churches, mills and shops. Train conductor H.S. Reardon witnessed the cyclones fury. It was all over in a minute and the terrible scenes I witnessed I shall never forget, he told the newspaper. The thing that most impressed me was the destruction of the county courthouse, a magnificent three-story brick building. It looked to me as though the huge pile of brick and mortar had been struck by a giant battering ram or, if you please, by a big club in the hands of a power strong enough to knock it down at a single blow. It seemed to collapse all at once with a crash. Rescue and recovery Rescue and recovery efforts began almost as quickly as the storm had passed. Neighbors began helping neighbors, and neighboring towns like Nashville and Centralia sent crews to assist the broken city. The citys plight gained national attention with the arrival of American Red Cross founder Clara Barton. A hospital was set up in the appellate courthouse, mostly spared as the tornado whipped across the city. Clara Barton, Red Cross pioneer, sped to help, personally operated telegraph When disaster struck in the late 19th and early 20th Century, as it did in Mount Vernon abou While Barton brought with her $150,000 worth of supplies, she put out a plea for funds to help the city in its recovery. The pitiless snow is falling on the heads of people who are without homes, without food and without clothing, she wrote. More than $100,000 was donated for the efforts and donations of materials and supplies were also sent to the city. A supply center was set up at the citys Presbyterian church, its location near the railroad, making it a convenient repository for the donations that would soon pour in from around the country, like the boxcar filled with flour donated by the citizens of Fargo, N.D. The city also buried its dead. The demand for coffins ... has been so great that it is almost impossible to supply it. The business feature of it has been lost sight of in the mournful monotony of seeing so many personal friends carried to their last resting places as victims of the storms dreadful work, according to a newspaper account more than a week after the cyclone struck. The tornado remains one of the deadliest in the states recorded history, but within five years, the Jefferson County city had doubled its population and tripled the number of businesses located there. With the city so devastated after the tornado, The prophet who would have ventured the prediction of the beautiful, progressive and prosperous Mt. Vernon of 1893 would have been left without honor, not only in his own country but all countries, according to a special edition of the newspaper published five years after the tornado. Mayor Mary Jane Chesley, a student of the citys history, said Mount Vernon was successful in building itself out of ruin. There was a rebirth after the tornado. The energy and determination of the people to rebuild the town was extremely strong and that carries on today. We come together in a crisis. COLUMBIA -- South Carolina coastal fishermen will be required to catch bigger flounder in smaller quantities under a proposed bill that is now moving to the S.C. House. The legislation, passed Thursday by the House Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee, concerns size limit and bag size on the saltwater fish that plies inlets and shallows of the South Carolina coast. Backers of the measure want to make sure female flounder reach sexual maturity in order to reproduce so overfishing is not in an issue in the short or long term. The females, we are trying to protect with the size limit, said Rep. Bill Hixon, R-Aiken, the bills sponsor. Female flounder reach sexual maturity at 14 inches in length, and the Legislature wants to give these females another year to reproduce before the fish are caught and consumed. The current size limit is 14 inches, but this bill proposes it to be 15 inches. According to a S.C. Department of Natural Resources study, increasing the size limit would result in a 29 percent reduction in catch and will boost the stock in the Atlantic. Currently, the bag size per person is 15, but the proposal calls for reducing that to 10 fish per person. The same DNR study reports changing the bag size only has an impact of 0.01 percent. The bag limit per boat is also proposed to change from 30 to 20 flounder. A survey from SCDNR of the last 20 years show a decline in the Southern flounder population. This correlates with the increase in tourism involving recreational fishing along the coast over the same years. Brad Floyd, a South Carolina DNR biologist, says the agency conducts independent and dependent studies every several years relating to fishing flounder, but a lot is still unclear about population and where reproduction off shore happens exactly. South Carolina is home to three different breeds of flounder: Southern flounder, summer flounder, and gulf flounder. Typically, in South Carolina, Southern flounder are found and caught in greater abundance than the other two. Most anglers dont catch flounder for the sport but for their meat. The white, firm filets cook well in a frying pan or shallow baking dish accompanied by crab meat stuffing in the middle. Anglers use traditional hooks and lines or employ gigs or other multipronged spears to hunt the fish. Floyd did say, Gigging is more successful, but most people are unsuccessful in both methods. Recreational fishing is more widespread than commercial and fish reaching the limit is close to impossible. About a dozen people gig flounder commercially in the state, Floyd said. Charleston in-shore fishing guide Zachary Litchfield agrees with the proposed size limit. He said in Charleston, gigging for flounder is more abundant and done mostly at night because the fish come into the shallows. The use of the high-powered lights is necessary to see through the murky waters. I was probably out on the water 200 days last year and only caught about two flounder, Litchfield said. Rep. Lee Hewitt, R-Georgetown, another sponsor, said he lives about 15 minutes from the water and goes out fishing about once a week. He says the average gigger catches about five flounder a day, while a hook and line catches only about one or two on average. Hewitt ended the meeting by extending an invitation to committee members to go fishing and have a fish fry. The proposed bill passed in the committee 16-0 with one not voting. South Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture and Bowman resident Hugh Weathers says low market prices and a changing Washington political landscape are facing farmers in 2017. "Right now the markets are not very favorable for farmers," Weathers told the Orangeburg Lion's Club during a January meeting. "The movement of commodities is not as brisk as it would be otherwise. The law of supply and demand is really impacting where markets are now and prices are relatively low." Weathers says low prices come as global crop production has been up at the same time that countries like China and India, which receive U.S. exports, see their economies slowing down. Weathers said the department can do little to help improve commodity prices, but it does work with the Port of Charleston to ensure products move more smoothly. "That does help South Carolina farmers with pricing, because the competition knows that it is not as costly in Charleston as opposed to other options in getting those commodities delivered," he said. Weathers said the department is also working with the S.C. Department of Commerce to see if the state can attract an ag-related industry such as a food-processing plant to the state. "If they are shipping a food product out the front door, we know there is a chance they can use a South Carolina crop in the back door," Weathers said, noting local ag-based industries will help the farmer in the reduction of shipping costs. Low commodity prices also coincide with a changing of the guard in Washington with Donald Trump as president. "The most uncommon man ever to be elected president of the United States was elected by the common man," Weathers said. "I remind the farmers they spoke up collectively around this country that we are not pleased with the way Washington has managed our affairs, farmers included, so now is the time they made their voices known." Weathers says he is hoping the administration will mean "less burdensome regulations," especially through the Environmental Protection Agency. He says with regulations in place such as the Food and Drug Administration's Food Safety Modernization Act, farmers are also being trained to they can better comply with the criteria in place. The law regulates the way food is grown, harvested and processed with the intention of making it safer. Weathers said an estimated 5,000 state farmers will be impacted by the new rules, noting if farmers abide by the new laws it will enable them to access new markets such as schools and hospitals. "We need some of our farmers to take it to the next level," he said. Weathers stated his support for Georgia's Sonny Perdue as U.S. secretary of agriculture. "The former governor over there who has a great agricultural background and is a South Carolina agricultural owner," Weathers said. Weathers said farmers will continue watching the new administration's impact on trade, specifically the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The TPP aims to deepen economic ties between the U.S. and nations such as Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, Chile and Peru. Trump has said the United States is withdrawing from the TPP. "The reason it is important to farmers is that exports are critically important," Weathers said. "Our estimates are ... that somewhere between 30 to 35 percent of our production in this country is exported to somewhere else. Fair trade is very important to South Carolina farmers." He said the United States competes with Russia, Brazil and Argentina to name a few. In addition, Weathers said challenges closer to home including aging. Farmers are getting older. The average age of the South Carolina farmer is 59-1/2 years. In an effort to attract more farmers, he says the SCDA is working with Clemson University to support new and beginning farmer training programs to see if farming is what an individual person wants to do. He says the department also has the Commissioner's School of Agriculture where high school juniors can spend a week in the summer to examine what a career in agribusiness can look like in the state. The program is put on with Clemson University. Despite the challenges, Weathers said "this is not our first lap around the track. We have run this race quite awhile," he said. As part of a question-and-answer period, Lions Club members asked Weathers questions ranging from his thoughts on the prospect of medical marijuana legalization in the state to the status of the state farmers market. Weathers said while farmers in some states are growing medical marijuana, he says by federal law it can only be grown under the oversight of research universities. "It is pretty restricted, but I think eventually it will pass because they have proven enough benefit from it," he said. "What I am more excited about is industry hemp not for the traditional uses but as an engender product. I think hemp might see a little more progress over medical marijuana." Weathers said the state farmers' market has seen an expansion in wholesalers. "We have had so many new farmers markets around the state, we actually created competition for the state farmers market," Weathers said. "We do have wholesalers who are expanding and we got some interested in doing more and buying some more property." President Donald Trump used a news conference on Thursday to further his war of words with the news media. His strongest supporters love it. Its no different than the campaign. As much as the president is knowingly or unknowingly undermining freedom of the press in a nation where getting unbiased news reporting has become a challenge, the media are doing their part to give Trump ammunition. How can any network claim to be unbiased in its reporting when a so-called news show is introduced with the anchor calling the president dishonest, lacking knowledge and dangerous. Many people may say the description is on target, but reporting is not about the reporter making such judgments. The reporter is to be unbiased, telling and showing the audience what happened, what was said, and adding facts and background. From there, it is up to the news consumer to decide. Professional journalism is about being a reliable source, pursuing all sides of a story. News and opinion are to be clearly distinguishable, with opinion offering different views. With the national television networks providing so much opinion and commentary as part of news shows, they have made it nearly impossible for television journalists reporting stories to be seen as unbiased. Newspapers and the many platforms we use to reach an audience that is larger than ever face some of the same obstacles as television and other media. Trump has not spared major national publications such as The New York Times and The Washington Post from his wrath when stories are not to the presidents liking. And based on editorial positions (opinion espoused by the newspapers on their editorial pages), it is easy for Trump to just label the publications as liberal and dismiss them. But convincing Americans that all journalists particularly those reporting for newspapers big and small are purveyors of fake news is not going to happen. The aforementioned publications, along with others such as USA Today and The Wall Street Journal, are seeing increased audiences, particularly for their online platforms. The reason is basic: People are looking for reliable information and turning to the sources they best believe will offer it. According to a new study conducted by BuzzFeed with results distributed by the News Media Alliance, American adults cite the print newspaper as their most-trusted news source, with three-quarters (74 percent) saying they trust the platform. Newspapers' websites are the second most-trusted platform, with 69 percent, more than broadcast TV news (68 percent), talk show radio (57 percent) and Twitter (49 percent). A key factor is the connection that newspapers have with local news. In a majority of communities around the country, the newspaper is the only source of local news other than social media, where everyone is a reporter. But how reliable is social media? When people go searching for the facts to distinguish between multiple versions of a story, they look to professional journalists, many of them reporters for newspapers. As noted, more people are reading, viewing and listening. Newspapers traditional print platform has seen declines in audience the same as any traditional print product, including mail and magazines. Electronic communication is reality. But the news that is gathered by reporters for newspapers is now consumed by more people than ever. The Times and Democrat is an example: The printed edition is read on average by 2.3 people per copy. Thus the Sunday edition reaches 18,563 people and the daily audience is 17,250. TheTandD.com, with its words, photos and video offerings of news and advertising, has 265,000 unique visitors a month. Those individual users, counted just once monthly, account for 1.8 million page views each month. The T&Ds mobile app has 160,000 unique visitors a month accounting for 1 million page views. The T&Ds presence on social media reaches 14,750 Facebook followers and 2,880 Twitter followers. People are gravitating to reliable sources in numbers that will continue growing as focus even from the highest office in the land is placed on news and fake news. For newspapers, that means growth in audience and a reinforcement of the vital role of professional journalists in ensuring a free America. EUTAWVILLE -- Fear and frustration sparked heated discussion about recent break-ins, armed robberies and reckless driving at Eutawville Town Council's Feb. 13 meeting. Weve had a total of, I think, six armed robberies and two armed robbery attempts that I know of right now, Councilman Vincent Duncan said. Weve had a shooting that occurred on Gaillard Street last Sunday night. He added, Last week, the manager at the Hot Spot was going to the bank with a weekend deposit. As he was approaching the door of the bank, a masked gunman tried to rush in on him. He was able to open the door, get in and close it behind him and (the would-be robber) took off, Saturday night a young lady went to the ATM at Farmers & Merchants Bank and an armed gunman came out from around the corner of the building. She was able to get into her car and speed off before (the perpetrator) was able to get a hand on her. Of course, everyone knows about the (armed robbery at) Dollar General the other week, Duncan said. (And the break-ins at) IGA twice and the Hot Spot twice. Speeding and reckless driving have also plagued the town in recent months, he said. Duncan even reported seeing an individual on a dirt bike racing a car through town. Council members and citizens alike have attributed these problems to a lack of police protection. Eutawville currently has only one officer on its payroll. I think we really need to pursue another officer in this town, Councilman Brandon Weatherford said. Mayor Jefferson Johnson said Eutawville has been advertising for another police officer in local newspapers, on social media and via the Municipal Association of South Carolina. Several applications were received but none provided all the documentation necessary for consideration, he said. Additional applicants failed to pass muster because of other issues. We had an applicant who had stuff on his record, Duncan said. He wanted to become an officer in the town of Eutawville, but he had stuff on his record from the town of Eutawville. One resident asked if the town had considered other options, such as an ordinance that forces businesses to close at sunset or forming armed citizen patrols to assist the police department. The mayor said state law prohibited the latter action. I will not, as long as Im the mayor of this town, put anyone in a car with another officer unless the person has some kind of skill to be a policeman, Johnson said. He has to either go to school before he rides in a police car, or he has to be out of the (S.C. Criminal Justice) academy and looking for a job. If he brings those papers to me and meets what the application says, I will hire him tomorrow, the mayor added. So, youd rather just get somebody killed? a resident asked him. I am a law-abiding citizen. I pay taxes. What about my children who are lying in their beds with gunshots flying over their heads? she continued. The other Saturday night, we heard many, many gunshots. What does a small down like this do when they need help from the state of South Carolina? the woman asked. Apparently, you do like Holly Hill. You go in debt however many thousands of dollars and somebody will bail you out," Weatherford said. Holly Hill was $450,000 in debt at one time. Now theyve got this huge complex and theyve got a lot of officers riding around, Weatherford said. How did they do that? he asked. Somebody bailed them out. I dont know who it was, but they had to because it came up out of nowhere. So, Im sure that if we go in the hole, Im sure eventually somebody will help us somehow because weve got to get a cop. The multi-agency complex that houses the Holly Hill Police Department was built and is owned by Orangeburg County. The discussion also revealed that confusion exists over whether Eutawville has enough money in the budget to pay an additional officer. The mayor and council members assured citizens that they included money for a second officer in the current budget. Council also took care of some regular business at the meeting. Weatherford reported the fire department assisted law enforcement in responding to several recent shootings. Also, Councilman Harry Brown reported the Concerned Citizens of Eutawville group met on Feb. 3 and expressed interest in holding CPR training for local residents. The group also hopes to have a representative from the Lower Savannah Council of Governments at its March meeting to help the town get moving with our comprehensive plan," Brown said. I would like for all council members to be present because it takes all the council to get this thing moving, he said. In other business, council voted to adopt the updated Orangeburg County Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan for 2017. Municipalities must adopt the plan in order to receive funding to mitigate emergencies before they occur. Mitigation is the effort taken to help reduce the loss of life and property by lessening the impact of natural disasters. This may include identifying hazardous environments and isolating them from development or altering the environment (i.e., flood zones). The Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved the countys updated mitigation plan, with final approval being subject to its adoption by the county and the affected communities. Eutawville Town Council will hold its next regular meeting at 6 p.m. on March 14. D.A. Hewitt is an award-winning author of four novels and over a hundred short stories. One novel was awarded a gold medal from the Independent Publishers Book Awards for best regional fiction. He attributes his success to hard work, honing a skill and providing an outlet for his passion for writing. Born in Michigan, he lived for 25 years in North Carolina before returning to live in his home state. In addition to enjoying sky diving and mountain climbing, he is a proud veteran of the US Marine Corps and has earned a degree in mathematics. Dominion came to him. He wrote the novel in a stream of consciousness. It makes sense, tapping into the collective unconscious, Mr. Hewitt says, very much like Carl Jung might have predicted. Mr. Hewitt admits to a fascination with the work of Carl Jung and of the Gnostic religion. Hed always thought intertwining these topics in a science fiction novel was a stretch, but one day the storyline ofcame to him. He wrote the novel in a stream of consciousness. It makes sense, tapping into the collective unconscious, Mr. Hewitt says, very much like Carl Jung might have predicted. About the Book: Its the year 2075. Lunar mining and processing facilities have prospered near the lunar south pole, where the Moons largest city, Valhalla, rests on the rim of the Shackleton Crater. Dominion Off-Earth Resources has beaten the competition into space and is ready to establish its The rescue squad gets nearly more than it can handle when its first mission involves the Pope, whos traveling to the Moon to establish the Lunar See. During the rescue attempt, they discover Earth is imperiled by an asteroid large enough to cause mass extinction. Using the unique skills taught during their training, skills emphasized by the great psychoanalyst Carl Jung, these Jungi Knights must elevate their game if they are to save both the Earth and the Popewhile not getting killed in the process. Q: Welcome to The Writer's Life! Now that your book has been published, wed love to find out more about the process. Can we begin by having you take us at the beginning? Where did you come up with the idea to write your book? Dominion came from the work I did developing the Process Map of Consciousness. Many people are familiar with the ideas of ego, superego, and id. But how do they interact? I realized that its a process, and just like any manufacturing process, it can be mapped. Wanting to find a venue for the Process Map of Consciousness, I came up with the idea of the first rescue squad in space, a squad that used psychology to develop special skills. From that germ of an idea, my novel sprang to life. My inspiration for writingcame from the work I did developing the Process Map of Consciousness. Many people are familiar with the ideas of ego, superego, and id. But how do they interact? I realized that its a process, and just like any manufacturing process, it can be mapped. Wanting to find a venue for the Process Map of Consciousness, I came up with the idea of the first rescue squad in space, a squad that used psychology to develop special skills. From that germ of an idea, my novel sprang to life. Q: How hard was it to write a book like this and do you have any tips that you could pass on which would make the journey easier for other writers? This book was easy to write, difficult to edit. A bit of advice for writers: writing is rewriting. I went through a dozen drafts of Dominion before it was published. Think of revising a manuscript as polishing a gemstone. Until its polished, its not as spectacular as it could be. Q: Who is your publisher and how did you find them or did you self-publish? Double Dragon. There are many writer-friendly websites that help authors find publishers within their genres. Finding the right one is just a question of doing the right research. Q: Is there anything that surprised you about getting your first book published? Dominion is my third published novel. I also have five nonfiction books under my belt. But the surprise I got with my first book is the same I got with my third. Its always surprising how big a thrill it is when those first author copies arrive from the publisher. Awesome. is my third published novel. I also have five nonfiction books under my belt. But the surprise I got with my first book is the same I got with my third. Its always surprising how big a thrill it is when those first author copies arrive from the publisher. Awesome. Q: What other books (if any) are you working on and when will they be published? Im working on a dark urban fantasy. The working title is Frame of Mind but my wife is strongly urging me to change it to Roanoke. Theres a parallel universe to ours, and a rift opens between them. Much fun ensues! Q: Whats one fact about your book that would surprise people? The techniques developed by the space rescue team in Dominion actually work. I know because I went through the same regimen as the characters in my novel. It wasnt easy. A bit grueling, actually. But I was actually stunned that the techniques work so well. Q: Finally, what message (if any) are you trying to get across with your book? I want to show how the Process Map of Consciousness lays out the roadmap to combine the great Eastern and Western religions. Carl Jung, the great psychoanalyst, suspected that if it was possible to do such a thing, it was likely come from America. And I think Ive done just that. For people who want to see the map itself, visit my website at www.StinkyUniverse.com Q: Thank you again for this interview! Do you have any final words? For me, the quest for a deeper level of consciousness is equivalent to the desire for a more fully developed spirituality. The Process Map of Consciousness is key to both. monopoly with the opening of the orbiting space resort Dominion. But Pettit Space Industries has a secret plan to emerge as a major contender in the commercialization of space. The upstart company is training the first space rescue squad at a secluded off-grid site in Barrow, Alaska. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. By Azernews By Laman Ismayilova Nizami Cinema Center presented a new film "Paper grave". The screening was dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the Khojaly genocide, Trend Life reported. The film's premier was attended by prominent public and art figures. The event participants first observed a minute of silence in memory of the victims of the Khojaly genocide, committed by Armenian militaries against the civilian population of of Azerbaijan in February 1992. In their speech, Chairman of Azerbaijan's Union of Writers Anar Rzayev, Turkish Ambassador to Azerbaijan Erkan Ozoral, head of ILESAM Mehmet Nuri Parmaksiz and poet Khayal Rza spoke about the Khojaly genocide, which is one the bloodiest tragedies in the history of the mankind. Directed by Elchin Arifoglu, the films shooting took place in the village Ikinji Nugedi of Guba region. The feature film was shot on the initiative of Azerbaijan's Union of Writers with the support of Turkey's Professional Organization of Authors (Owners) of Intellectual and Artistic Works (ILESAM). The film also will be shown in Ankara, Turkey. Khojaly, the second largest town in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, came under intense fire from the towns of Khankendi and Askeran already occupied by the Armenian armed forces in 1992. About 613 civilians mostly women and children were killed in the massacre, and a total of 1,000 people were disabled. Eight families were exterminated, 25 children lost both parents, and 130 children lost one parent. Moreover, 1,275 innocent people were taken hostage, and the fate of 150 of them remains unknown. By Trend Over the past 24 hours, Armenias armed forces have 30 times violated the ceasefire in various directions along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry reported on February 20. The Azerbaijani army positions located in Gushchu Ayrim village and on nameless heights of Azerbaijans Gazakh district underwent fire from the Armenian army positions located in Voskevan village of Armenias Noyemberyan district. Moreover, the Azerbaijani army positions underwent fire from the Armenian army positions located near the Armenian-occupied Bash Gervend and Marzili villages of the Aghdam district, as well as from the positions located on nameless heights of the Goranboy, Terter, Khojavand 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. By Azertac President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has underlined the necessity of respecting territorial integrity of all countries as he made remarks at "The Fault Lines of Eurasia" panel discussion at the Munich Security Conference. Among the concerns we are facing the biggest one is continued occupation by Armenia of the territory of Azerbaijan, which resulted in ethnic cleansing and occupation of twenty percent of our territory by Armenia, the President said. United Nations Security Council adopted four resolutions demanding withdrawal immediate and unconditional of Armenian troops from our territories. They remain on paper for more than twenty years. President Ilham Aliyev said: All the conflicts must be solved on the same principle, on the same approach, territorial integrity of every country must be respected, cannot be violated, and internationally recognized boundaries cannot be changed by force. The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan is the biggest threat also to the region. And our constructive policy is aimed at the soonest, peaceful resolution of the conflict based on the resolutions of Security Council of United Nations and other important organizations, he added. By Azernews By Rashid Shirinov The so-called referendum in Nagorno-Karabakh, the occupied region of Azerbaijan, is unacceptable, said Bahram Ghasemi, Iranians Foreign Ministry spokesman. He made the statement at a press conference in Tehran on February 20 while commenting on the referendum, which is held in the Armenia-occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. Ghasemi said that the "referendum" of illegitimate regime will not help to resolve the crisis, adding that only dialogue can resolve the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Earlier, Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry announced that this provocative step, as well as Armenias attempts to change the name of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, the integral part of Azerbaijan, is yet another clear manifestation that Armenia is not genuinely interested in seeking a political settlement of the armed conflict. The OSCE Minsk Group co-chair states, namely Russia, the U.S. and France, have also confirmed that they will not recognize the upcoming referendum in Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia broke out a lengthy war against Azerbaijan laying territorial claims on its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts. By Azernews By Nigar Abbasova Azerbaijan and Pakistan, two brother nations and strategic partners are eager to bolster relations in the defense industry. Pakistani Defense Minister Rana Tanveer Hussain told Report that his country is ready to supply the Joint Fighter 17 (JF-17) Thunder and Super Mushak trainer aircrafts to Azerbaijan. The JF-17 Thunder is a multi-role fighter aircraft, which was jointly developed by China and Pakistan. This aircraft is intended for air defense and ground attack missions. Being produced at the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC), the Super Mushsak has a service ceiling of 22,000 feet, and a maximum speed of 268 kilometers per hour, while the range is estimated at 814 kilometres. Hussain went on to say that the countries already enjoy good relations, particularly in the defense sector, adding that Pakistan is interested in implementation of joint projects. We can cooperate in a wide spectrum of spheres, ranging from submunition to the manufacture of aircrafts, he said, adding that Pakistan has a good experience in the sphere. The call for stronger military cooperation between the two countries saw a surge in 2016. In early 2016, Azerbaijan invited Pakistan to exhibit its JF-17 at its International Defense Industry Exhibition (ADEX) in Baku. In late 2016, Azerbaijan and Pakistan signed a plan of bilateral military cooperation and agreed to continue cooperation in carrying out joint military exercises. The Azerbaijani side voiced interest in purchase of the most modern and high-tech weapons from Pakistan. Pakistan became the second country after Turkey which recognized the independence of Azerbaijan in 1991. The diplomatic relations between two countries were established on June 9, 1992. By Azernews By Amina Nazarli In an effort to further enhance legal cooperation and business relations between the prosecutor's offices of Azerbaijan and Ukraine, a delegation led by Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yuri Lutsenko visited Baku on February 20. Visiting Baku at the invitation of his Azerbaijani counterpart Zakir Garalov, Lutsenko and his delegation had a meeting at the Prosecutor Generals Office. Garalov addressed the event, stressing that the relations between the two parties were based on the strategic alliance, and signing of agreement On Legal Assistance and Cooperation between the General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine and the Prosecutor General's Office of Azerbaijan" in May 1994 plays an important role in increasing the content of a new level of ties between the prosecutor authorities of the two countries. In turn, Lutsenko noted great interest for legal reforms successfully carried out in Azerbaijan. He emphasized the broad prospects of cooperation in the judiciary sphere, and the rapid development of relations between the two countries in various fields. The sides had a wide exchange of views on the protection of the rights and freedoms of citizens of the two countries and the joint fight against crime, including terrorism and extremism. The talks also focused on the effective cooperation both in the bilateral format and within international organizations, improvement of contractual base in legal cooperation. Following the meeting, the Ukrainian delegation visited the building of the Main and Administrative Directorate for Combating Corruption under the Prosecutor General's Office. Lutsenko was received by Interior Minister Ramil Usubov to discuss a number of questions of mutual interest. Usubov with great satisfaction emphasized that according to the political will of the Presidents of the two countries, friendship and signed intergovernmental documents, the relations between Azerbaijan and Ukraine develop in all spheres, the law enforcement bodies of the two countries effectively cooperate in fighting crime, in particular, dangerous types of organized crime. He expressed gratitude to Lutsenko for his role in this work, and also personal control of investigation of a number of the crimes committed against Azerbaijanis in the territory of Ukraine. Lutsenko, for his part, expressed satisfaction with rapid development of Azerbaijan, the stability created in the country. The guest emphasized importance of further development of mutually beneficial and effective law enforcement cooperation of two countries. The delegation then toured ASAN Service Center 5. ASAN Service, established by the presidential decree in 2012, provides opportunity for state agencies to render their services in a uniformed and coordinated manner. The Service reduces extra expenses and loss of time for many citizens, upgrades the level of professionalism, ensures a larger use of electronic services, increases transparency and strengthens the fight against corruption. The Service, which already has 11 centers across the country, provides venues for state agencies to render their services in a uniformed and coordinated manner. Until 2018, the state plans to launch ten more centers in the regions of the country. Lutsenko was informed that the number of appeals submitted to "ASAN Service", Azerbaijans leading e-Government institution acting on behalf and in cooperation with other state entities in public service provision has reached 14 million, so far. By Trend Tehran welcomes the process of joining of new states to the Syrian settlement process, especially if such countries could contribute to the solution of the crisis in the country by political means, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said Sunday, Sputnik reported. Iran, along with Russia and Turkey, has made a number of efforts aimed at cessation of hostilities in Syria, such as convocation of settlement talks in Astana and establishment of a trilateral mechanism on monitoring the ceasefire in the war-torn country. "Russia and Iran have a common goal to reach a political settlement of the Syrian crisis and now are contributing to rapprochement of the positions of the parties [to the conflict] We welcome joining of other countries, which could support the process of political settlement," Larijani said in an interview with the Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen broadcaster. The Kazakh capital has already held two rounds of the talks between the Syrian government and armed opposition groups brokered by Ankara, Moscow and Tehran. During the Astana talks, such countries, as Jordan and the United States had been playing the role of observer states. By Trend Chairman of Supreme Assembly of Azerbaijans Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic Vasif Talibov, Interior Minister Ahmad Ahmadov and Health Minister Niyazi Novruzov have visited the accident site, the Igdir Province Governors Office told Trend Feb. 20. The governors office said the officials from Nakhchivan will also visit those injured during the accident. 17:56 (GMT+4) Identities of two Azerbaijani nationals killed in the road accident in Turkeys Igdir Province have been established, the provinces healthcare authority told Trend Feb. 20. One of them is Suleyman Aliyev and the other is Farhad Farhadli. The identities of other casualties are being clarified, according to the healthcare authority. 15:21 (GMT+4) Five Azerbaijani nationals and three nationals of Turkey have been killed as two buses collided in Turkeys Igdir Province, the provinces healthcare authority told Trend Feb. 20. The health condition of one of the 28 injured is critical. 14:28 (GMT+4) Eight people have been killed and 28 have been injured in the road accident, the Igdir Province Governors Office told Trend Feb. 20. Twenty-six people among those injured are Azerbaijani nationals. Currently, Governor of Igdir Ahmet Turgay Alpman is in the hospital where the injured people have been taken. 14:12 (GMT+4) Azerbaijani Consulate General in Turkeys Kars Province has told Spokesman of Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry Hikmat Hajiyev that the accident killed eight and work is underway to find out whether there are Azerbaijani citizens among the casualties. In the meantime, Nurettin Aras, a member of Turkeys Grand National Assembly, told Trend that there are four Azerbaijanis among the eight killed. 13:39 (GMT+4) Twenty-six Azerbaijani nationals have been injured as a result of the road accident in the Turkish province of Igdir, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministrys Spokesman Hikmat Hajiyev has told Trend. 13:26 (GMT+4) Reports suggest that two buses have collided in Turkeys Igdir Province on the road running from Igdir to Azerbaijans Nakhchivan. By Azernews By Kamila Aliyeva The Ground Forces of the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution also known as Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) conduct military exercises called "Peyhambar e-Azam" (Great Prophet) in the desert, in the central part of the country. During exercises, IRGC forces have been conducting tests of various types of advanced missile systems, including guided missiles, ISNA news agency reported. During the three-day exercises, several units of the IRGC will demonstrate their combat skills and technical capabilities. The first phase of this three-day maneuver started on Monday under the motto of Presentation of Power and Sustainable Security with various units of Iranian Revolutionary Guard force such as artillery, air defense, drone, infantry and air force units in attendance. During this phase, the positions of the mock enemy were hit by advanced and smart rockets with pinpoint accuracy. This security-defensive drill will last till Wednesday during which elite units will display their high defensive preparations in fighting against mock threats from foreign invaders. Iran held a number of the large-scale military exercises over the past few years to improve the defense capabilities of its armed forces. On February 4, the IRGC Aerospace started the major phase of defense exercises in an area of 35,000 square kilometers in an effort to demonstrate Irans power, intelligence command, and defense readiness to counter any threats. Different types of missile and radar systems, which are designed and manufactured by Iranian specialists and which have diverse ranges, will be used during the exercises. Earlier, Tehrans ballistic missile tests caused concerns among their international partners but Iranian foreign minister spokesman Bahram Qasemi said that the Islamic Republics missile program is about Iran and its people, and doesn't concern others. On January 29, Iran test-fired a medium-range ballistic missile, capable of carrying a 500-kilogram payload with a range of 300 kilometers. The United States insisted that the Iranian test violated UNSC Resolution 2231 which compels Iran not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles and the U.S. Treasury Department imposed new sanctions on Iran due to Tehrans missile program. Iran's Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan stated that Tehran will not allow foreigners to interfere in the defense matters of the country and insisted that the test did not violate the nuclear deal or UN Resolution 2231. The negotiations on the Iranian nuclear issue began in 2004, as Western nations were accusing Tehran of developing a "secret military nuclear program. Since 2006, negotiations with Iran were led by the "six" of international mediators (the five permanent UN Security Council members and Germany). The long-awaited deal was achieved in Vienna on July 14, 2015, that committed Iran not to produce weapons-grade plutonium for 15 years, to keep no more than 300 kg of enriched uranium to 3.67 percent, and to convert nuclear facilities and use them exclusively for peaceful purposes. Qatar Insurance Company, a leading insurer in the Gulf region, said it has won approval from the shareholders to increase its capital from QR2.41 billion ($661 million) to QR2.77 billion ($760 million). The company announced this after its annual general meeting held yesterday at the Four Seasons Hotel under the chairmanship of Abdulla bin Khalifa Al Attiya, the deputy chairman of the board of directors. Despite sluggish economic growth and fluctuating commodity prices, Qatar Insurance Group recorded strong operational performance, coupled with a robust premium growth, taking gross written premium (GWP) to QR9.9 billion, up 19 per cent over the same period in 2015. The groups consolidated net profit for the full year 2016 came in at QR1.03 billion. This result reflects regional economic and investment headwinds due to lower oil prices and continued softening of global reinsurance and specialty insurance markets, said the Qatari firm. On the back of prevailing global market volatility, the groups net investment income came in at QR925 million. This result can be attributed to QICs prudent principle of managing the Groups investment portfolio and pursuing an effective cost discipline, it added. The shareholders discussed the groups annual performance and also gave approval for capital hike besides endorsing the recommended distribution of cash dividend payout of 15 per cent for the year ending December 31, 2016 and an issue of bonus shares in the amount of 3 shares for every 20 held. Key contributors to the reported growth were the Groups dedicated global reinsurance and specialty insurance subsidiaries as well as the life and medical segments of the business emanating from the Middle East. The international subsidiaries in Bermuda, London and Malta grew at a rate of 18 per cent and now account for approximately 70 per cent of the Groups total GWP. QIC Group generated a healthy return on equity (RoE) of 14.7 per cent for the reporting period. At December 311, 2016, QIC Groups shareholders equity stood at QR8.2 billion, up by 42 per cent from QR 5.8 billion at the end of 2015. On the performance, QIC group president and CEO Khalifa Abdulla Turki Al Subaey said: "Despite global repercussion, which has massively influenced major sectors in the region, QIC Group has witnessed strong business momentum and has performed in line with our expectations." "The overall performance in 2016 highlights the groups well thought out strategy and its successful execution. For 2017 our outlook remains cautiously positive," stated Al Subaey. "We shall focus on consolidation and enhance our operational efficiency. With renewed focus on achieving bottom line driven growth, we will continue to maximize value for shareholders, our trusted business partners and customers while supporting development of the sector and the economy," he added.-TradeArabia News Service Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry has unveiled the key objectives and initiatives outlined under its 2017-2021 strategy that aims to boost competitiveness and growth within the private sector in line with the Dubai Plan 2021. The briefing was led by Hamad Buamim, President and CEO of Dubai Chamber during its annual media briefing, and attended by members of the local media who were honoured for their efforts during the last year. During the event, Buamim explained that the new customer-oriented strategy that reinforces the Chambers role as a trusted partner to Dubais business community and a bridge between business and government. The strategy is supported by four pillars, namely promoting Dubai as a global business hub; creating a favourable business environment; supporting the development of business in Dubai; and becoming the best chamber in the world. Six initiatives are outlined under the new strategy, which aim to ensure that the Chamber supports the government in executing the Dubai Plan 2021; enhances its international network; promotes Dubai as an attractive market to establish commercial and business ties; leverages its relationships and stakeholders to become the voice of Dubais business community; develops the emirates entrepreneurial ecosystem; and provides the best and most appropriate services to members through strong engagement and innovative solutions. Buamim explained that the strategy also comprises several sub-initiatives and events, including the launch of a new award and summit to recognise companies that have made the biggest contribution to the Dubai Plan 2021, in addition to the establishment of a specialised centre for economic research and policy. Dubai Chamber has studied the needs of the private sector, and developed an integrated strategy that aligns such requirements with the objectives of the Dubai Plan 2021. The strategy encompasses the vision of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to accelerate the emirates economic growth, boost the competitiveness of the private sector, and attract leading global companies to specialised sectors within Dubai, said Buamim. He revealed that the Chamber is planning to strengthen its international presence in 2017 with the opening of representative offices in India and Brazil. The new offices will explore new trade and investment opportunities in those countries, and complement the Chambers network of branches, which spans promising markets across the Middle East, Asia and Africa. After organising three Global Business Forums on Africa over the last few years, the Chamber will plan to host the fourth forum in Dubai later this year, which will focus on new business opportunities opening up on the continent. The Global Business Forum series was expanded in 2016 to focus on other promising regions such as the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Latin America. The Chamber is planning to invest Dh100 million ($27.2million) on innovation-focused projects and initiatives over the next few years, Buamim noted, while it will continue to invest in next-generation business through the Dubai Smartpreneur Competition, Dubai Startup Hub, Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Business Innovation Award, and the Dubai Innovation Index. In addition, the Chamber will continue to upgrade and expand services provided to its members through its various smart apps, with the aim of improving efficiency and facilitating greater ease of doing business in the emirate. TradeArabia News Service Bahrain has been chosen as the first-ever host in the Middle East for the World Productivity Congress, reported the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication. To read further, please visit GDNonline. Dubai Holding, a global investment holding company, has announced the launch of Dubai Holding Future Investments LLC (DHx), a regionally-focused company, to support the growth and development of young innovative businesses in the region. DHx will leverage Dubai Holdings networks, assets and strategic regional position to enable new businesses to access capital, and specific industry expertise to grow their enterprises from smaller operations into larger, global entities. Khalfan Belhoul has been appointed as the chief executive officer of the new company that will support the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Ahmad Bin Byat, the vice chairman and managing director, Dubai Holding, said: "The growth of innovative businesses is the future lifeblood of economies and critical to job creation, talent development and the unlocking of creative ideas." "The Mena region is still in early stages compared to more developed markets in terms of investment into new ventures, especially in the technology sector. This has to change if we are to help the next generation build the successful businesses that will support our future economies," noted Bin Byat. "DHx seeks to identify promising companies and enable them to scale quickly and effectively, while delivering sustainable, long-term returns on investment," he added. Commenting on the new initiative, Belhoul said: "The start-up and technological potential of the region is immense; where Dubai has firmly established itself as the epicentre for commercial activity in the region." "As the world progresses towards the fourth industrial revolution, where technology and new business concepts will shape the way we live, there is a significant opportunity for Dubai to become a global hotbed for innovative start-ups, and venture capital investment," remarked the new company chief. "DHx seeks to be the catalyst in rapidly accelerating the growth of the ecosystem, and work hand-in-hand with the stakeholders in our sector," he added.-TradeArabia News Service Dubai Holding is an investment conglomerate with operations in 21 countries employing over 22,000 people. It manages a Dh130 billion ($35 billion ) portfolio of assets, which supports the strong development of Dubais non-oil economy across sectors including tourism, hospitality, real estate, media, ICT, education, design and trade.-TradeArabia News Service Emrill, one of the UAEs largest facilities management companies offering innovative solutions tailored to support clients' needs, has appointed Gopala Krishnan as its new operations director. Furthering Emrills commitment to internal staff promotion and talent development, Krishnan has been promoted from his previous position of portfolio general manager. After an exhaustive selection process, he was successfully interviewed for the position following the recent promotion of Alex Davies to become Emrills managing director. Krishnan holds both a BE in Civil Engineering and an MBA from SMU University. He also holds a PGc FM from IFMI, MBIFM (Member Grade - British Institution of Facilities Management) and is Nebosh certified (course provider British Safety Services), as well as being a certified E-Com professional. Starting his career as an executive at TI Cycles in India, Krishnan joined Emrill in June 2003 as assistant facilities manager of The Greens Community. More recently, he held the role of general manager, responsible for three major FM contract portfolios comprising residential, infrastructure and healthcare. Reporting directly to the managing director, Krishnan is now responsible for leading Emrills operations throughout the UAE and will develop FM strategies in line with the companys strategic objective plan. Commenting on his appointment, Davies said: "I am delighted to welcome Krishnan to the Emrill Leadership Team as his extensive engineering and facilities management experience is a key asset to us." "His proven ability to lead and develop the entire company offering will be put to full use in further enhancing our customer excellence quality service approach," he added. A major FM player in the emirates, Emrill adheres to worldwide standards and is an ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004 and OHSAS 18001:2007 certified company.-TradeArabia News Service Johnson Controls, a leader in delivering products, services and solutions that increase energy efficiency in buildings, shared its enhanced capabilities and strategies for aggressive growth across the region at its first Middle East & Africa Executive Channel Conference held in Dubai, UAE. The company hosted more than 200 guests including leaders of 78 distribution channels across 24 countries in Middle East and Africa (MEA) at the two-day event. Speaking at the event, Bill Jackson, the president, Global Products & Channels, Building Technologies & Solutions, Johnson Controls, said the successful merger with Tyco had resulted in superior capabilities for the company. "Our complete buildings solutions portfolio uniquely positions us to drive innovative technologies which support smart buildings, campuses and cities of the future," he noted. "This allows us to build upon strategic, high value-added services supported by data analytics and connectivity, giving customers access to insightful information and better decision making capability," he added. Ashraf Abdalla, the VP and general manager, MEA, pointed out that its products and solutions increase efficiency and productivity, thus helping customers achieve their financial and sustainability goals. A global diversified technology and multi industrial leader, Johnson Controls serves a wide range of customers in more than 150 countries. "Our growth strategies are shaped by global trends. Young, growing populations, rising urbanization, growing demand for energy efficiency and sustainability, coupled with increasing digitalisation in buildings, positions Johnson Controls to add unique value for customers through its total building solutions offering," stated Abdallah. Addressing the conference, David Budzinski, the VP, Indirect Channels, MEA, said: "Our channel partners are an extension of Johnson Controls and a central element of our growth. Their support and expertise helps drive our next generation products and technology to cater to the markets we serve." "Today, we are celebrating over 450 years of partnerships. Our collective successes are a testament to the continued commitment and appreciation of these partnerships which have helped us achieve success in the MEA region. Johnson Controls remains focused on offering the best products and services through its channel partners," he added. Senior leadership from Johnson Controls including Linda Chapin, VP, Global Human Resources and Dr Marcus Schumacher, VP, Strategy, Programs and Business Integration, MEA and other executives attended the gathering.-TradeArabia News Service Intelligent Foods, the Dubai-based supplier for airline catering sectors across the GCC, has announced its participation at the upcoming Gulfood 2017. Gulfood is the worlds largest annual exhibition for the food and beverage sector and is returning for its 22nd edition this month, from February 26 to March 2 at the Dubai World Trade Centre. Having participated in previous editions of Gulfood, the group will model its exhibition stand this year to demonstrate the expansion of the Intelligent Foods parent brand including related cafe and restaurant brands, and resemble modern designs centred on the companys core offerings. The company will display a selection of its artisanal core products consisting of coffee beans sourced from the best coffee producing regions in the world and roasted fresh in Dubai; Fresh made pasta varieties; wild selection of dressings and chutneys; artisan bakeries and bread; and their ice cream. Mark Humphreys, business development manager/corporate chef at Intelligent Foods, said: The sheer size of the food and beverage exhibition draws various suppliers and partners from across the world. It is not only the worlds largest exhibition of the F&B sector, it is also a huge opportunity for us to display our core competencies, products, and communicate with our clients and potential clients. Intelligent Foods has carefully built its repertoire of products and services based on customer requirements and feedback. We want to communicate our capabilities in producing differentiated products to suit requirements and taste buds. We do not believe that one size fits all, and that is why we pride ourselves on our unique business model designed to help bring our customers ideas into fruition for their respective markets, he continued. The Intelligent Foods stand will be located at B7 40. Gulfood 2017 is expected to draw over 95,000 attendees of which 60 per cent are international visitors, and over 120 trading countries. - TradeArabia News Service Motor City, the leading commercial distributor in Bahrain, has signed up as a major sponsor for Gulf Construction Expo 2017 (formerly Gulf Bid), the Northern Gulfs showcase for the building and construction sector. The international expo will run from April 25 to 27 at the Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Centre under the patronage of HRH Prime Minister Prince Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa, said the event organisers Hilal Conferences and Exhibition (HCE). Motor City is the sole distributor for Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), the worlds largest shipbuilder and manufacturer of plant and machinery. An agreement was signed by Dr Bijan Majidi, the senior general manager of Motor City and Jubran Abdulrahman, the managing director of HCE to cement the partnership. Hyundai product line up will form a major feature of the Motor City stand at Gulf Construction Expo. The Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) brand offers wide range of hydraulic excavators, wheel loaders, backhoe loaders, skid steer loaders and Industrial Vehicles which will be on display at the top regional industry event. "Our presence with Hyundai Heavy Industries product range at Gulf Construction Expo is an occasion to present last generation of construction and industrial vehicles to the key players of this industry, remarked Dr Majidi. Abdulrahman said: "Plant and machinery is the backbone of the construction sector. Motor Citys support of this sector will highlight within Gulf Construction Expo the important part that Plant and Machinery plays in the construction and infrastructure projects in the region." "As organisers, we are excited that the products of one of worlds biggest construction equipment and manufacturer, Hyundai, will be at Gulf Construction Expo," he added. Gulf Construction Expo is strategically sponsored by Haji Hassan Group.-TradeArabia News Service Cisco has announced that Cisco Tetration Analytics now automates policy enforcement, enabling organizations to build secure environments for their business applications and also expands Tetration with new deployment options. Building on Tetrations original discovery and visibility capabilities, Ciscos latest software for Tetration Analytics now provides the industrys first consistent security policy enforcement applied holistically across each application. Policy is enforced regardless of where the application resides: virtual, bare metal, physical servers, or in private or public clouds, across any vendors infrastructure. This new enforcement model binds policies to workload characteristics and behaviours while ensuring that the policy stays intact even as the workload moves. Enterprises worldwide are adopting multi-cloud strategies to realize their objectives for digital transformation, but these present ongoing challenges related to visibility and security. Although 80 per cent of security spending is focused on the perimeter, only 20 per cent of the breaches occur there. IT organizations are often under siege by a mix of elevated expectations and a rising tide of security threats, not to mention the need to show ongoing improvements in operational efficiencies, said Osama Al-Zoubi, chief technology officer, Cisco Middle East. Cisco Tetration Analytics addresses these challenges through pervasive visibility and application segmentation, which is designed to bolster security-policy enforcement across hybrid application environments. Complex applications challenge security Todays complex business applications often span hundreds of servers residing on a wide array of heterogeneous infrastructure, both in the data centre and in the cloud. This complexity is further compounded by virtualization technologies, application mobility and constant application changes due to modern DevOps environments. As a result, IT managers are challenged to understand an applications components, their communication pattern and dependencies all necessary to meet security requirements for modern applications. Enhanced security through application segmentation Tetration Analytics takes micro-segmentation a security technique enabling workload separation a leap further by delivering application segmentation, which consistently drives policies across the application layer, regardless of where the application resides: virtualized, bare metal, physical servers, or in the cloud. Policies can be pushed to any vendors firewall, and can be orchestrated at the network layer as well. Compared to static legacy solutions, Tetration provides actionable results dynamically based on behaviour analysis of billions of flows, processes, and workload characteristics. Consistent policy is enforced through the workload agent for any workload, anywhere. New tetration deployment options Cisco is also delivering two new deployment models for Tetration Analytics. In addition to the original large scale platform, Cisco now offers a new smaller-scale platform, Tetration-M, suitable for deployments up to 1,000 workloads. Cisco is also introducing a new cloud appliance with software deployed in the public cloud on Amazon Web Services (AWS), Tetration Cloud also suitable for deployments up to 1000 workloads. Regardless of the deployment model, Tetration can monitor workloads in private as well as public clouds. Platform extensibility through APIss and apps Tetration Analytics now enables customers and ecosystem partners the ability to write their own applications that access data stored on the platform. Users can bring their own analytics algorithms to Tetration to create apps that generate customized data exports and notifications in open formats specific to their business needs. Cisco is continuing its tradition of open ecosystems by working with partner companies to build applications and integrations with their solutions: AlgoSec, Citrix, Dell EMC, F5, Infoblox, ServiceNow, and Tufin. Cisco ASAP data centre Tetration Analytics is a key part of Ciscos strategy to help enable digital transformation, which starts with a Cisco ASAP data centre. ASAP stands for Analyze, Simplify, Automate, and Protect. This architectural approach enables organizations to modernize their data centre and IT infrastructure with a hybrid IT solution that maximizes application performance, mitigates risk, and increases operational agility in support of digital transformation. Ciscos comprehensive data centre portfolio underscores its commitment to innovation: Cisco Nexus 9000 switches, Cisco ACI, CloudCenter, Tetration Analytics, Cisco UCS, and HyperFlex. About Tetration Analytics Tetration Analytics is designed to help organizations gain complete visibility across everything in the data centre in real time every packet, every flow, and every speed. Tetration gathers telemetry from software and hardware sensors and analyzes the information using advanced data centre analytics and machine learning to provide IT managers with a deep understanding of the data centre. Through a single pane of glass, security policies are automated and enforced based on context and roles. Tetration simplifies operational reliability, zero-trust operations and application migrations to SDN solutions and the cloud. With Cisco Tetration Analytics, organizations can: Understand application dependencies throughout their data centre and in the cloud Move from reactive to proactive: make informed operational decisions and validate the effect of policy changes before they are implemented Search billions of flows instantly using Tetrations forensics search engine and user interface Continuously monitor application behaviour, quickly identifying deviations in communication patterns Enforce consistent security policies across each application, regardless of where it resides The Tetration platform is a one-touch appliance: the servers and switches are prewired and the software is pre-installed. Setting up Tetration is easy: answering a few questions about the data centre environment allows the Cluster to be configured. The big data complexity is hidden- no special big data expertise is needed to deploy or operate Tetration. Cisco advanced services Cisco Services experts can help organizations to rapidly integrate Tetration Analytics in their data centres, define use cases specific to their environment, and deploy validated application segmentation policies. Cisco Services expertise can help organizations to gain even faster time to value, and in addition provides 24/7 global solution expertise for centralized issue management and solution-wide support in a single service. TradeArabia News Service Swiss luxury wristwatches company Oris has a stated mission to make a difference to the future of endangered species, particularly those found in the ocean. The company will introduce the Oris Hammerhead Limited Edition, a watch that will help raise funds for a shark conservation project run by the non-profit organisation Pelagios Kakunja, and supported by Oris ambassador and professional diver Jerome Delafosse. Pelagios Kakunjas mission is to understand movements and migratory pathways of marine top predators. Its latest project will look to learn more about migration routes of the endangered Scalloped Hammerhead (Sphyrna lewini) species of shark in the Eastern Pacific. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the global population of Scalloped Hammerheads has declined by up to 90 per cent over the last 30 years. Project scientists will tag sharks using MiniPAT satellite transmitters funded by Oris. Each transmitter will track the sharks for six to nine months before being automatically released on a set date and floating to the surface, from where they will transmit collected data to satellites. This data will help scientists understand sharks better so they can advise government agencies on fishing practices. Fishing is one of the greatest threats to sharks, which can become entangled in nets while feeding. Jerome will join the expedition together with fellow conservationists Dr James Ketchum, Pelagios Kakunjas Director of Marine Conservation; shark specialist Dr Mauricio Hoyos, who filmed the largest Great White Shark ever captured on film; and record-breaking free diver and underwater photographer Fred Buyle. The Oris Hammerhead Limited Edition is based on the second generation Aquis collection, also launched this year. The new line picks up on the spirit and design DNA of the original 2011 Aquis, bringing the same high-performance together with a more stylish silhouette. The new Aquis has a visually lighter feel than its predecessor. But it still offers a uni-directional rotating bezel with a black ceramic inlay, and water resistance to 50 bar (500 metres). Limited to 2,000 pieces, the Oris Hammerhead Limited Edition reflects the colour of the ocean with a blue central seconds hand and a blue minutes scale around the outer edge of its grey dial. The case back is embossed with a hammerhead shark and the limited edition number. This watch is both a stark reminder of the threat facing the worlds shark population, and clear evidence of Oriss commitment to fighting the extinction of endangered species, said Oris chairman Ulrich W. Herzog. We are delighted to be supporting Pelagios Kakunja and to be working with Oris ambassador Jerome Delafosse, and we look forward to seeing the results of the project. We have to do something about the declining population of the worlds sharks, said Jerome Delafosse, who has spent the last 20 years observing the worlds shark and dolphin populations. Sharks play a vital role in the life of our oceans and we must do everything we can to ensure their future. Its our duty to protect them, and Im thrilled to be working with Oris and Pelagios Kakunja on this fantastic project. The Oris Hammerhead Limited Edition is not just a high performance divers watch it will also play a significant role in the conservation of the hammerhead shark. It goes on sale in June 2017. - TradeArabia News Service UAE consumers have strong emotional connections with comfort foods from local dairy brands, Patchi chocolate and Americana products, according to the Brand Intimacy 2017 Report by MBLM Dubai. Overall, an impressive five of the top ten most intimate consumer goods brands in the UAE are local or regional brands, competing well with global heavyweights Kraft, Nestle and Lays. The Brand Intimacy 2017 Report analyzed responses of 6,000 consumers and 54,000 brand evaluations across 15 industries in the US, Mexico and UAE. Along with measuring the intensity of emotions people have with the brands they use, the study also goes a little deeper to uncover the characteristics of that bond, like if a brand makes a person feel nostalgic or deeply fulfilled. Called archetypes, these characteristics tell us more about the nature of the connections between brands and consumers. Understandably, the archetype most strongly associated with this category is indulgence, meaning that the brands give consumers consistent moments of gratification or pampering. Given the various relationships people have with the food they eat whether related to stress, social engagements or cultural events indulgence comes as no surprise. But identity? This descriptor might not be one youd put side by side with the dairy or snack aisle. An archetype strongly associated with automotive brands, identity implies that a brand reflects ideas or values that resonate deeply with consumers so much so, that the brand can be a symbolic part of who they are. Identity ranks unusually high in the consumer goods industry, with many of the top ten having above-industry average scores, implying that we may place more personal (and emotional) weight on food brands than we might think. Higher brand intimacy plays out in several ways the most notable being that brands with higher intimacy outperform less intimate brands in both revenue and profit growth. The study also delves into consumers willingness to pay more for the brands they are intimate with. Its worthwhile to note that Americana and Almarai have above industry averages for consumers willing to pay 20 per cent more for their product with figures slightly higher than mega global brands Kraft and Nestle. Top ten most intimate consumer goods brands in the UAE Brand Intimacy quotient in brackets. Local or regional brands are marked (**) 1. Kraft (47.1) 2. Nestle (46.9) 3. Americana (34.9)** 4. Almarai (32.4) ** 5. Patchi (32.3) ** 6. London Dairy (31.7) 7. Al Ain (31.4) ** 8. Lays (29.5) 9. Sadia (22.0) 10. Marmum (19.7) **- TradeArabia News Service Meet award-winning artisans and buy their products at Kerala Arts and Crafts Village Even at 100 years old, John Wold would be waiting promptly at 8:30 a.m. each day to go to the office. He no longer ran the company he started 60 years before, but Wold was still engaged in philanthropy, politics and business in Wyoming. On a recent morning, the former congressmans secretary arrived to drive him to work and found Wold on an exercise bike listening to the news. He wanted to get a little more biking in before he started the day, he told her. So she waited. Two hours passed before Wold stepped off the bike. He approached every venture in his life with that same measure of tenacity and spirit, his sons said Monday. Wold died Sunday night in Casper. A geologist by education, Wold pioneered new technologies for coal and trona while building a robust family business in oil and gas. He helped galvanize the Wyoming Republican Party that in his early days was overshadowed by a stonger left. Those who knew him best said he left an indelible impression on Wyomings industries and its politics. U.S. Sen. John Barrasso called Wold a legend. John did it all. He truly exemplified our Wyoming values and Western spirit, the senator said in a statement Monday. I will miss Johns friendship and his love for all things Wyoming. *** In his businesses, Wold was known for his vigor and curiosity. John was probably the most hands-on, enthusiastic, optimistic explorer of things to do with energy that has been in the state of Wyoming, said George Bryce of Lincoln Financial Advisors, a family friend who worked with Wolds companies over the years. Wold first moved to Wyoming in 1949 with his wife, Jane, to work for Barnsdall Oil Company. The geologist and industry man started his own outfit, Wold Oil and Gas, the following year. Over the years, Wold explored business ventures in virtually every extractive industry in the state, from coal, oil and gas to soda ash and uranium. He thought large, explained geologist Jimmy Goolsby, a friend and colleague. He got a lot of things going that probably would never had been started if not for John Wold. He was an early developer of new technologies, and had particular faith in the underground gasification of coal in the Powder River Basin. Wold hoped to capture the vast reserves of coal too far beneath the surface to be obtained economically. With that in mind, he obtained the rights to 20 million tons of deep coal as others gobbled up the coal-bed methane leases nearer to the surface. Imagination set Wold apart, said Goolsby, the geologist. The technology never took hold, and the company sold the coal to larger firms at a profit. Even in his regrets or failures, the man learned and grew, said Peter and Jack, Wolds sons. Dad was a real visionary, Jack Wold said. He was a guy that would really look at things and he wasnt afraid to follow his vision. There are many defeats he had and regrets, but you dont hear as much about those. The two sons joined their fathers business in the 70s and 80s, and run it today. But getting into the company was not a guarantee, they remembered. Wold would not offer easy promotions or positions of leadership to his sons. They had to work on their own for six to eight years to prove their merit. He did it as much for the good of the young men he raised as for the company hed built, they said. It was character that made Wold successful in business, and he also brought it home. He had an intellectuals love for learning and teaching. The only time Peter or Jack went home from church with homework was when their father was the Sunday school teacher, they remembered. *** Wolds political career began as soon as he moved to Wyoming, as a member of the school board. First elected to the Wyoming Legislature in 1956, he became the youngest committee chairman in Wyoming history. He believed in free enterprise and small government. Wold threw the same energy into politics as he did into business. He worked tirelessly to advance the Republican Party in Wyoming at a time when the Democrats had a strong hold on Wyoming through the railroad unions. Wold went on to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives after an unsuccessful bid for a Senate seat. Elected in 1968, he was the first geologist to serve in Congress. He always had this conservative yet responsible outlook towards government, said Bryce, the financial advisor. He was brilliant and he could see opportunities. The ability to notice trends is something his sons believe their father possessed as well. From politics to business, Wold seemed to be one step ahead of his peers. *** On hearing of Wolds death, members of Wyomings congressional delegations offered condolences to the family while celebrating the businessmans unique vitality. Barrasso noted Wold and his late wife Janes kindness and generosity. Wold gave to Casper College, the University of Wyomings College of Engineering and Applied Science and his alma mater, Union College. He contributed $2 million to Cornell University, where he received his masters in geology, for the Wold Chair of Environmental Balance. Speaking to the Star-Tribune in 2011, Wold said there needed to be a deeper understanding between environmental concerns and extractive industries like oil and gas. There should be a balance between responsible development of our minerals and desire to leave the country we work in more desirable in terms of agriculture and hunting and fishing, he said. The central philosophy he lived by was integrity and honesty, he said in an interview. It sounds cliche, but he wanted to leave the world a better place, said Jack Wold. Wolds wife died in 2015, and the couple is survived by Peter, Jack and a daughter, Priscilla Longfield. One of Wolds goals in life was to live until he was 100. And like most of his goals, he reached it. Have an event, trend or general energy happening youd like to see in the Energy Journal newsletter? Send it to Star-Tribune energy reporter Heather Richards at heather.richards@trib.com. Sign up for the newsletter at www.trib.com/energyjournal. This week in numbers Friday oil prices: West Texas Intermediate (WTI) $53.37, Brent (ICE) $55.71 Natural gas weekly averages: Henry Hub $2.89, Wyoming Pool $2.62, Opal $2.67 Coal company's neighbors voice concern The potential to open a new coal mine in Sheridan County has excited some. Brook Mine, proposed by Lexington, Kentucky-based Ramaco, would be the first new Wyoming coal mine in decades. However, the company has many worried. Existing issues with sink holes and burning coal seams could be made worse by new operations. To some, Ramaco has failed to take these issues seriously or offer a concrete plan to protect local landowners, land and water from the effects of mining. An end to self-bonds for CPK Cloud Peak announced Wednesday that it had replaced all of its self-bonds with more secure insurance. The Gillette-based company follows Arch Coal and Contura Energy, both of which replaced self-bonds during bankruptcy proceedings. Cloud Peak was one of the few large coal players in the state to avoid insolvency in the last few years when a coal surplus and market conditions created a perfect storm disaster for the industry. However, the company couldn't outpace the storm and finished 2015 with a $205 million loss. The company posted a modest gain for 2016 and promised a strengthening year to come. Orphans and bad operators Operators who consistently fail to pay taxes or have a history of irresponsible management in Wyoming may be required to notify the state before operating in Wyoming. The idea of a notification requirement was floated at a recent hearing of the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission in response to a problem owner who has continually evaded his responsibility to plug idle wells and pay fees, while continuing to make money from producing wells. The commission is looking into whether they can demand notification. The commission staff would not preclude these operators from working in Wyoming, but may consider higher bonding or additional securities to ensure clean up obligations will be met in the future. Should mining be allowed near sage grouse? The Bureau of Land Management is continuing with a public comment period related to sage grouse in six western states. Though state efforts have greatly reduced industry impacts to the grouse, ongoing conservation debates address hard rock mining in key habitats. The federal agency could remove millions of acres from potential mining for the next 20 years, though whether that option is probable, possible or unlikely remains unclear. The land being considered in Wyoming wouldn't impact planned development, but some hope the BLM decides against new rules on mining. Natural gas prices are collapsing, reaching a three-month low near $2.83 per million British thermal units. The market is selling off as temperatures across the U.S. are projected to be 15-30 degrees warmer than usual this weekend, sapping demand for the heating fuel. Overall, this winter was extremely warm; the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), estimates that heating demand for natural gas is nearly 20% below average. Without significant heating demand, natural gas inventories could stay near record levels and may pull prices lower still. Longer-term, the U.S. natural gas market may be increasingly dependent on exports to keep demand in line with production. Foreign sales have been rapidly increasing, especially to Mexico, although exports still account for less than 5% of U.S. production. Vegetable Oil Slides Lower The market for soybean oil (labeled vegetable oil in the supermarket) is looking cloudy; prices dropped beneath 33 cents per pound on Friday for the first time since October. Bean oil is falling even as the price for soybeans has been robust. Demand for soybean meal, a livestock feed ingredient, has been strong, which has encouraged processors to buy more beans and crush them into meal. This crushing process separates the oil from the high-protein meal and has created an abundance of soybean oil. Soybean oil is consumed widely in the food industry as a cooking oil, processed food additive, and as the basis for many salad dressings, mayonnaises, and margarines, but those sources of demand dont typically rise drastically to soak up excess supply. As a result, the soybean oil glut will likely need to be met by exporting the excess oil or converting it into biodiesel, a demand source that currently consumes nearly 20% of U.S. bean oil. Metals Rocket on Global Anxiety Gold and silver have been blasting higher, driven primarily by global concerns. While our government has been battling internal leaks and allegations against former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, there have been major missile launches by North Korea, Russia, and Iran, a signal that Americas adversaries may be testing limits on the global stage. These actions inspired fearful investors to buy gold and silver, which reached $1245 and $18 per ounce on Friday, respectively. Wyomingites attending the states seven community colleges will pay $5 more per credit hour starting this fall as officials try to increase revenue while also keeping education affordable in tough economic times. The increase is imposed by the Wyoming Community College Commission and effective for at least the next two academic years. It represents a 5.6 percent hike, bringing the per-credit cost at the seven schools to $94. Thats in line with the commissions past increases, said executive director Jim Rose. The commissioners also removed the 12-credit-hour cap, in which students paid for the first 12 hours of classes but were not charged for any more. That change will go into effect in fall 2018. For out-of-state residents who live in several Western states that participate in the Western Undergraduate Exchange, base tuition will go up to $141 per credit hour, while all other nonresidents will pay $15 more, at $282, officials said. At Casper College, after the school assesses $29 of its own fees, tuition-related costs will now be $123 per credit hour for residents, said spokesman Chris Lorenzen. Rose said the tuition increase will generate roughly $480,000 in additional revenue for the colleges. Tuition constitutes about 10 percent of the schools revenue, he said. Prior to the revelation that the commission was considering raising tuition, Casper College was already planning on increasing its own per-credit-hour fees, he said. A proposal that will go before the colleges board recommends raising the fees by $3, to $32 per credit hour. The University of Wyoming Art Museum will host a free gallery walk-through featuring student award winners from the 42nd annual Juried UW Student Exhibition. Students will their artistic motivations and answer questions in an informal setting. These skills help students develop as professional artists and bolster work-related skills. Catharine Clark, owner of Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco, California, juried the exhibition. The show is on display through March 18. Where: University of Wyoming Art Museum, Laramie When: 5:30-7 p.m. Feb. 27 Cost: Free Info: www.uwyo.edu/artmuseum or 766-6622 CHEYENNE The Wyoming Arts Council hosts the Poetry Out Loud State Finals Competition at 7 p.m. March 6 at the Laramie County Community College Playhouse in the College Community Center, 1400 E. College Drive. Awards will be announced at a ceremony at 10:30 a.m. March 7 in the lobby of the Barrett Building, 2301 Central Ave. The public is invited to attend both events. Poetry Out Loud (POL) is the national recitation and memorization contest sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation. Designed specifically for students in grades nine to 12 attending public, private or home schools, the POL program is a fun way to teach and learn language arts standards through poetry. Eleven students from high schools around Wyoming will participate in the state competition. Participating schools are Kaycee High School, Western Heritage Lutheran Academy (Riverton), Sundance Secondary School, Summit High School (Jackson), Star Lane Center (Casper), Sheridan High School, Arvada Clearmont High School/Junior High, Moorcroft High School, Whiting High School, Worland High School and Buffalo High School. Each school champion will recite three poems. The state champion will receive $200 and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., to compete at the National Finals. The state champions school will receive a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry books. The first runner-up will receive $100; his or her school will receive $200 for the purchase of poetry books. This years judges for the state competition are Colorado poet Adrian Molina, Wyoming poet Matt Daly, Wyomings Poet Laureate Eugene Gagliano and University of Wyoming student and past Poetry Out Loud contestant Sara Ellingrod. The emcee for the event will be Wyoming Public Radios education reporter, Tennessee Watson. Wyomings State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Jillian Balow, will be the master of ceremonies for the awards ceremony. Poetry Out Loud builds on the resurgence of poetry as an oral art form, encouraging the nations youth to learn about great poetry through memorization and performance. Students can work on mastering comprehension, public speaking, acting, performance, drama and English skills while building self-confidence and internalizing our rich literary heritage. For more information, please contact Tara Pappas at tara.pappas@wyo.gov. MV Baptist hosts women's event Mountain View Baptist Church, 4250 Poison Spider Rd., Women's Ministry hosts a 6 p.m., Friday, Feb. 24, coffee klatch. Enjoy an evening filled with fun, laughter and Blue Ridge anecdotes. Sue Hatfield will be the keynote speaker. For more information, call Pastor Mike Sain at 234-4381. Sportsman's breakfast set Mountain View Baptist Church, 4250 Poison Spider Rd., hosts a Sportsman's Breakfast at 8 a.m., on Saturday, Feb. 25. Neal Hatfield is the keynote speaker. Enjoy a hearty, home-cooked breakfast full of fun, laughter, and Blue Ridge life-changing anecdotes. Men and women are welcome. Enjoy lots of free drawings and vendors after the breakfast. For more information, call Pastor Mike Sain at 234-4381. Ceramic knitting bowl workshop at Nic A Ceramic Knitting Bowl workshop with Ryan Olsen will be held from noon to 4 p.m., on Saturday, Feb. 25, at the Nicolaysen Art Museum. Please pre-register and pay by Feb. 19. Fees are $40 per member, $30 per student with valid student ID, $55 per non-member. Bring a friend and save $10 off one admission. Clay, supplies and expert instruction will be provided for all ages and experience levels. Local ceramic artist and teacher, Ryan Olsen, will guide participants in how to create a ceramic bowl using simple clay construction techniques. He will also demonstrate decorative techniques to help personalize a unique creation with pattern and color. Olsen will help customize bowls for those who are not knitters or fiber artists. For workshop and classes description, pricing and registration forms, visit www.thenic.org or call 235-5247. Senior Stompers meet Mondays Free only for Seniors 60+ who like to have fun, love music and like to dance, tapping and stomping to the beat. Join Joyce's Senior Stompers on Monday mornings at 10:50 a.m. and exercise your mind and body. Call Joyce for more information 237-4908. Fun month at Mountain Plaza Mountain Plaza Assisted Living, 4154 Talon Dr., has a packed month of February planned for residents, guests and those interested. Feb. 24: International Margarita Day at Happy Hour, 2 p.m. Virgin and non-virgin Margaritas will be served. Feb. 28: Mardi Gras Masquerade Ball, 6:30 to 8 p.m. Lively music and masquerade costumes or masks. Music will be provided by the Twang Gang. For more information, call 232-0100. Monthly vets ceremony Feb. 28 The Natrona County United Veterans Council and the staff of the Oregon Trail Wyoming State Veterans Cemetery conduct a monthly memorial service for those know Wyoming Veterans who have died since the last memorial service which was held on Jan. 31, when 83 Wyoming veterans were honored. This months memorial service is at noon, Tuesday, Feb. 28, in the Tom Walsh Chapel at The Oregon Trail Veterans Cemetery. All are welcome to attend. This memorial service is provided on behalf of a grateful state and nation as an expression of appreciation for the honorable and faithful service rendered by each of these veterans. The veterans name, Wyoming community and branch of service is read at roll call. There is a rifle salute, taps, and the folding of a flag. Apply for Mrs. Casper The Mrs. Wyoming Pageant is seeking applicants for the title of Mrs. Casper. Once selected, the successful applicant will advance to represent her community in the 2017 Mrs. Wyoming Pageant to be held on May 6 in Cheyenne. Local titleholders will compete to win a prize package valued at over $8,000 including an all expense paid trip to the national Mrs. America Pageant. Applicants must be at least 18 years old (no age limit), married at the time of competition and a Wyoming resident, no performing talent required. Celebrating its 41st year, the Mrs. America pageant is the only competition to recognize Americas married woman. To request the official application or for information, call Sheree Cooke, Wyomings state director, at 720-549-0440 or visit www.mrswyomingamerica.com. New member exhibit opens The Art 321/Casper Artists Guild, 321 W. Midwest, February Exhibit features the guild's newest members (three years as members or less). The New Members Exhibit will give the community a chance to get to know some new artists who may be exhibiting for the first time, as well as many already seasoned artists who have become new members of our organization. The exhibit will hang until Feb. 25. Art321/Casper Artists Guild is a non-profit organization that offers many art opportunities and experiences for the citizens of Casper and surrounding communities, offering exhibits, classes, workshops and the chance to meet fellow artists and art lovers. Please visit the gallery and see what becoming involved as a member has to offer. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, call 265-2655. Nostalgic display at Senior Services The Senior Center, 1831 E. 4th St., is featuring a display that features nostalgic items back to the late 1800's. The display will be up through February and March. Items include baby plates and cups, antique dolls, Steiff collectibles, and many other items, thanks to Tom and Lida Volin. For more information, call 265-4678. Needle Guild meets Feb. 21 The Casper Needle Guild meets at 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 21, at the Central Wyoming Senior Center, 1831 East 4th Street. The project is stitching a heart-shaped scissor fob, as well as practicing several stitches. For further information, please contact Ann Hudson at 265-5510, or email CasperNeedleGuildEGA@gmail.com. Gold prospectors meet Feb. 22 The Casper Chapter of the Gold Prospectors Association of America will have its monthly meeting at 7 p.m., on Wednesday, Feb. 22, at the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Building, 2211 King Blvd. Enter through the east door. Members and guests are welcome. The speaker for this month is Dylan Bergman, a game warden with the Wyoming Game and Fish Dept. He will give a demonstration about basic GPS usage. Guests should bring their GPS device. A general club business meeting will follow the presentation. There will also be a discussion about the upcoming trip to the Yukon. The club is holding a raffle for a Thompson Drywasher. Raffle tickets are $10 and may be purchased at the meeting or by calling Eric Weaner at 513-259-7902. The drawing for the drywasher will be held at the March meeting. For more information about the GPAA or the Casper Chapter, or about prospecting in general, call Eric Weaner at 513-259-7902 or email caspergpaa@gmail.com. Historians hear frontier medicine The Feb. 23 program of the Natrona County Historical Society at 7 p.m., at the Oil and Gas Commission Building, 2221 King Blvd., will be on Frontier Medicine. It will be presented by Stacey Moore, who is an educational technician for the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center. She has devised a broad range of childrens programs related to the historic trails and general history of Wyoming. Her prior service includes teaching in Japan with the JET Program and serving in West Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer. County Dems meet Feb. 23 Natrona County Democrats meet Feb. 23, at the IBEW Hall, 691 English Dr. Potluck begins at 6:30, with the meeting at 7 p.m. The agenda includes preparation for county party elections in March. The party provides the main dish for the potluck; attendees bring the sides and sweets. For more information, call the office at 234-1992. Vital Network hosts speaker Join Caspers Vital Network for Breakfast with the Girls, a special event at 10 a.m., on Saturday, Feb. 25, at the Cheese Barrel, 544 South Center St. The gathering takes place in the meeting room for coffee and conversation and optional breakfast. The speaker is Cheryl Flores of Casper, who will share Rest for My Weary Soul, her powerful story of poor life choices, including addiction, and the transformation shes experienced. Any woman is welcome to attend the event. Vital Network is a Stonecroft Ministries nondenominational group of women who gather monthly and host different events each year to help the community in various ways. For more information on the February gathering or about Vital Network, call Julie at 235-8848. PFLAG dinner and movie The Casper community is invited to this months PFLAG dinner on Sunday, Feb. 26, at the United Church of Christ, 15th & Melrose. The agenda is: 5 to 5:25 p.m., business meeting; 5:30 to 6 p.m., potluck dinner; 6 to 7 p.m., program. The group will watch The Out List (58 minutes), a 2013 documentary movie on famous people who have come out as LGBTQ. The dinner theme is baked potato and salad bar. White and sweet potatoes will be provided. Bring toppings, salads and desserts to share. For more information, call Ruth Ann Leonard at 265-5449 or Rob Johnston at 259-5026. Woman of Distinction nominees set These women have been nominated for the Casper Woman of Distinction Barbara Crews, Linda Fittje, Tammy Frankland Ph.D., Nurieh Glasgow, Elizabeth Marshall, Gretchen Wheeler and Yvonne Wigington. The 22nd annual Woman of Distinction Luncheon to honor all of the nominees and choose the Woman of Distinction for 2017 is 11:30 to 1 p.m., on Thursday, March 9 at the Parkway Plaza Hotel. The charge for the luncheon is $20 per person and reservations are due March 2, 2017. Those making reservations made after that date will be charged $25. The luncheon is sponsored by the Accounting and Financial Womens Alliance, the American Association of University Women, Casper Alumnae Panhellenic and Soroptimist International. For reservations, please contact Dyann at 237-1334 or 258-7071. Soroptimists hear filmmaker McInroy The Soroptimists of Central Wyoming (SICW) meet at noon on the second and fourth Mondays of each month. A program meeting will be held at noon on Monday, Feb. 27, at the Cheese Barrel, 544 South Center Street. Patricia McInroy will be the speaker. Patricia created a documentary, Clara: Angel of the Rockies, which aired on Wyoming PBS, on Jan. 8, 2017. The documentary tells the biographical story of Clara Brown, a former slave who came west and made a fortune. The film was a winner of PBSs To The Contrary: All About Women, film festival in the womens U.S. history category. McInroy grew up in Casper, went to Casper College, and is a former Star-Tribune photographer. She will talk to the group about Clara Browns life and the documentary. All women are invited. Soroptimist means Best for Women. SICW is a volunteer non-profit organization which strives to improve the lives of women and girls through community-based and international projects. SICW provides gift baskets and holiday meals to Seton House, gift baskets to the Transformation Center, and offers an annual Live Your Dream cash award for women seeking higher education or job training. For more information about the monthly meetings or the Soroptimists, please contact Debbie Ehlers at 234-2173 or debbiehlrs@yahoo.com and find SICW on Facebook. Mended Hearts Feb. 27 Mended Hearts meets at 7 p.m., on Monday, Feb. 27, in the board room of the Support Services Building at Wyoming Medical Center. The presentation will be by Andy Dunn, M.D., medical director of both Mesa and Sage clinics. After several years in Wyoming Medical Centers emergency room, he has seen many heart issues. His topic will cover new ideas in family medicine. To find the meeting room, go towards the second floor lobby. From the elevator, take a right down the first hallway and through the automatic double doors. The room is on the left. All who manage heart issues, including caregivers and support, are welcome. After Dr. Dunns presentation, there will be refreshments. Next month, March 27, will feature a presentation by Kendra Martin, exercise therapist with the cardio rehab program in the new NERD facility. AAUW Readers meet The AAUW Readers Group meets at 11 a.m., Tuesday, Feb. 28. After a no-host lunch, Carolyn Deuel will review Fess Parker: TVs Frontier Hero, by William R. Chemerka. Call Robin for information or reservations at 259-4174 by Monday, Feb. 20. Craft night at Elks Craft Night at the Elks Lodge at 6:30 p.m., on Tuesday, Feb. 28. Stop by the lodge between 4:30 and 6 p.m. Members, their spouses, and guests are welcome but class size is limited so sign up quickly! Cost is $5 for cost of supplies. Contact Stacey at 259-7809 or Wendy at 670-1078 to sign up or for more information. 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 dont 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. Casper Charla meets 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, 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. 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 Applebees The Casper German Stammtisch is meeting weekly on Thursdays at Applebees 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. However, the Northwest Seaport Alliance said it may see lower cargo volumes for February, and volumes with Alaska are expected to decline for the full year of 2017 due to soft market conditions. Source: Port of Seattle The Northwest Seaport Alliance handled 301,105 TEUs in January 2017. The Northwest Seaport Alliance (NWSA), which encompasses the marine facilities of the ports of Seattle and Tacoma, handled 301,105 TEUs in January 2017, a 17 percent increase from January 2016. The NSWA reported that for January 2017, compared to 12 months prior: Full international import containers increased 18.9 percent to 128,892 TEUs; Full international export containers increased 16.7 percent to 76,339 TEUs; Empty international containers increased 15.3 percent to 44,579 TEUs; And total domestic containers increased14.6 percent to 51,295 TEUs. The NSWA attributed the boost in container volumes to fuller ships from Asia calling ahead of the Chinese New Year, as well as retail stores restocking their inventory after a strong holiday season for the retail industry. The Lunar New Year landed on Jan. 28 this year. Traditionally, the factories in China ramp up production leading up to the holiday before they shut down for up to two weeks for the holiday, the NWSA said. As a result, ocean carriers reduce the number of sailings to accommodate for the slowdown. With China making up approximately 60 percent of our import volumes, we may see lower cargo volumes in February because fewer ships will reach our gateway. Domestic volumes for January performed better than the previous year, with Alaska volumes up more than 19 percent as a result of three additional sailings in January, the NWSA said. However, the alliance cautioned, Alaska volumes are expected to decline 5 to 6 percent this year due to soft market conditions. The new CEO of Mountain View Regional Hospital says she wants to grow the facilitys outreach and partner with local providers to expand services in Casper and beyond. Renee Schroyer was promoted from the chief financial officer to lead the hospital last month. She joined Mountain View last May after spending several years as CFO and then CEO of a similar facility in California. She worked in various roles in that states health care industry for more than 25 years after graduating from Texas A&M with an accounting degree. While shes worked on the insurance and business side of health care, she said she prefers the patient side of the industry. I like the provider side, Schroyer said, because I like patients and like to take care of them, versus insurance and just paying bills. Schroyer viewed the chance to be Mountain Views CFO as an opportunity and a challenge: The hospital hadnt had a consistent chief financial officer for a while, she said, so she would need to organize the administrative side of the hospital. The support departments smooth operation was of critical importance to the rest of the facility. It was also a challenge because of the hospitals size. The hospital she oversaw in California had about 110 employees, while Mountain View has around 300. Mountain View also has a clinic in addition to its hospital. Schroyer said she likes facilities like Mountain View because of their ability to have a closer relationship with patients. ... we can provide specialty care to people and be more attentive to their needs (with) the smaller group of people, she said. Its harder to touch the patients at larger hospitals. As CEO, her five-year goals for Mountain View include continuing to grow its outreach program. Currently the hospital serves a dozen towns in Wyoming, as well as in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, said spokeswoman Lisa Hulshizer. The hospital doesnt necessarily plan to expand to more places, Hulshizer and Schroyer said. It wants to continue to evaluate the needs of those places and adjust the services offered as needed by the community. The hospital will take a fresh look at each area, Schroyer said. Are we doing what we need to be doing in those places? Mountain View is also evaluating adding more specialists. It added an ear, nose and throat surgeon and an orthopedic surgeon in recent months, she said, and might expand further. Its just a question of looking in the community and finding what (people) need, she said. Do we have high quality for women? Do we have high quality health care for children? ... What do we need to support the community? In that same vein of responding to the community, Schroyer said she also wants to coordinate and partner with other providers, from other hospitals down to individual doctors, to better serve Caspers needs. The more we partner and the higher quality health care there is, its better for the community, Schroyer said, adding that partnering could mean anything from just conversations to exploring joint ventures. Those are her short-term, five-year plans. Asked about long-term goals, she talked about the health care industry as a whole. She wants to see affordable, accessible care available for people, both here and nationwide. That conversation invariably turned into a discussion about the future of the Affordable Care Act. Like many health care professionals, Schroyer said that if the ACA is repealed, she wants a replacement in place before the health care law is fully dismantled. A lot of people did benefit from the ACA, despite all the negative things, she said. Id like to see them replace it or adjust it. She doesnt think repeal without replace will cause chaos, but she said the vacuum would result in people being denied access to care that they need. More than 22,000 people in Wyoming have health care through the exchanges, and 240,000 have pre-existing conditions, which might make it harder for them to obtain health care. But she noted that it was too early to tell what exactly would happen with the ACA. For some of Mountain Views employees, the hospital is a home, and the facility and the patients within it matter to them, she said. It starts to just flow, she said, and it just becomes an amazing place for people to go. Law enforcement located a missing Montana teen in Casper on Friday night, authorities said. A Montana sheriff's office asked the public for help Friday locating Tristin Carter, 15, who was believed to be in the Casper area. The sheriff's office said he was found in Casper the same day authorities asked for the public's help. Carter was reported missing from his home in Belgrade, Montana, on Feb. 11, according to the Gallatin County Sheriff's Office. Authorities believed he may have been staying with friends in the Casper or Mills area. The sheriff's office said it didn't know what he was wearing when he left the house, but that he has a backpack. Authorities asked that people not approach Carter if they see him or tell him that they have called law enforcement. As Casper encourages downtown development and more residents are expected to flock to the area following the opening of several new bars and restaurants over the summer, parking is becoming an increasing concern for local business owners. Casper City Planner Craig Collins told the City Council at its Thursday work session that he would like to commission a study of downtown parking. Although Ive never had problems parking downtown personally, we hear from a lot of business owners, customers and other people that parking is difficult, Collins said in an interview. He cant dispute that because, as things stand, Casper doesnt have much of a strategy for managing parking in the area. Right now, its not being planned well, he said. With Caspers efforts to revitalize the citys core bearing fruit, the situation may become increasingly untenable. The popular Raccas pizzeria, at Midwest and Ash streets, shares a building with Art 321 and the Urban Bottle liquor store and draws crowds, especially on weekend nights. While customers and employees can currently use an empty lot across the street to park, the state owns the property and plans to build a parking lot there for a government office building to be construced nearby in the coming years. Meanwhile, just one block away, the David Street Station plaza expects to offer regular events throughout the summer months once it is completed. And the plaza sits across from the site of the Lyric civic auditorium project, which hopes to create a venue for events of its own. A renovated Karen and Jims and Wonder Bar could open by this summer, along with the Roaring 22 bar across from Raccas in a building developer Matt Galloway said he expects to also house a new cafe. The Old Yellowstone Garage already attracts crowds when it hosts public music nights and is working on opening a full bar and restaurant of its own. All this begs the question of where people are going to park. One problem is that while Casper has a downtown parking garage, people prefer the free two-hour parking in front of businesses. Councilman Charlie Powell said that many years ago, an outside consultant recommended that Casper tremendously expand its downtown parking capacity. Five parking garages, he said. Thats what they thought our core needed. Collins, the city planner, told council he would love to bring in a firm to conduct an updated study. All it takes is money and time, Collins said. With the city operating on a lean budget, Collins said that more realistically, the city planning office could study basic things like how many people use the parking garage and which areas see parking fill up and when without hiring an outside consultant. Collins said that there were various ways to solve the parking issue, including building more parking garages or street-level lots and introducing metered parking. Councilman Bob Hopkins said he had heard from business owners frustrated that their own employees were taking advantage of the free street parking to leave their cars in front of stores all day. Metered parking which Casper previously used downtown could solve that, Collins said, perhaps by allowing customers to pay extra to park in front of stores and offering a discount for those who use the parking garage. All the business owners want their customers to have easy access to parking, Collins said. The council did not offer a formal recommendation at the work session but Collins said they may direct his office to move forward with preliminary efforts to look into studying parking in the coming weeks. One of the two victims of a shooting Thursday in north Casper has died. The male victim died after being shot late Thursday night in his home in the 900 block of North Jackson Street, police said Monday afternoon. The second victim of the shooting, a woman who also lived in the home, remains hospitalized, authorities said. Police have yet to release the victims names, the nature of the shooting or any other details. Casper police responded to the home about 10:30 p.m. Thursday and found the man and the woman with gunshot wounds after a third person called 911. The man died Friday. No arrests were made in the shooting and nobody was in custody for questioning, Lt. Chris Hadlock said Friday morning. He said investigators had identified all the people involved in the shooting and that there was no danger to the community. JERUSALEM Israels prime minister turned down a regional peace initiative last year that was brokered by then-U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, former American officials confirmed Sunday, in apparent contradiction to Benjamin Netanyahus stated goal of involving regional Arab powers in resolving Israels conflict with the Palestinians. Netanyahu took part in a secret summit that Kerry organized in the southern Jordanian port city of Aqaba last February and included Jordans King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi. The secret meeting was first reported by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz1 According to two former Obama administration officials, Kerry proposed regional recognition of Israel as a Jewish state alongside a renewal of peace talks with the Palestinians with the support of the Arab countries. Netanyahu rejected the offer, which would have required a significant pullout from occupied land, saying he would not be able to garner enough support for it in his hard-line coalition government. The initiative also appeared to be the basis of short-lived talks with moderate opposition leader Isaac Herzog to join the government, a plan that quickly unraveled when Netanyahu chose to bring in nationalist leader Avigdor Lieberman instead and appoint him defense minister. Herzog tweeted Sunday that history will definitely judge the magnitude of the opportunity as well as the magnitude of the missed opportunity. Two former top aides to Kerry confirmed that the meeting took place secretly on Feb. 21, 2016. According to the officials, Kerry tried to sweeten the 15-year-old Arab Peace Initiative, a Saudi-led plan that offered Israel peace with dozens of Arab and Muslim nations in return for a pullout from territories captured in the 1967 Mideast war to make way for an independent Palestine. Among the proposed changes were Arab recognition of Israel as the Jewish state, recognition of Jerusalem as a shared capital for Israelis and Palestinians, and softened language on the right of return of Palestinian refugees to lost properties in what is now Israel, the former officials said. WASHINGTON A draft of President Trumps revised immigration ban targets the same seven countries listed in his original executive order and exempts travelers who already have a visa to travel to the U.S., even if they havent used it yet. A senior administration official said the order, which Trump revised after federal courts held up his original immigration and refugee ban, will target only those same seven Muslim-majority countries Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Libya. The official said that green-card holders and dual citizens of the U.S. and any of those countries are exempt. The new draft also no longer directs authorities to single out and reject Syrian refugees when processing new visa applications. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the order before its made public. The official noted that the draft is subject to change ahead of its signing, which Trump said could come sometime this week. Asked about the revised order, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the document circulating was a draft and that a final version should be released soon. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Wall Street Journal also reported that the current draft of the revised order focused on the seven countries but excluded those with green cards. Trumps original executive order triggered chaos at airports around the world, as travelers were detained when the order rapidly went into effect, U.S. permanent residents known as green-card holders among them. Attorneys to provide legal assistance those held and protesters descended on the airports as news of the orders implementation spread. In its original form, the order temporarily suspended all travel to the U.S. for citizens of those seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days. The original order also called for Homeland Security and State department officials, along with the director of national intelligence, to review what information the government needs to fully vet would-be visitors and come up with a list of countries that cant or wont make the information available. It said the government will give countries 60 days to start providing the information or citizens from those countries will be barred. Even if Syrian refugees are no longer automatically rejected under the new order, the pace of refugees entering the U.S. from all countries is likely to slow significantly. Thats because even when the courts put Trumps original ban on hold, they left untouched Trumps 50,000-per-year refugee cap, a cut of more than half from the cap under the Obama administration. The U.S. has already taken in more than 35,000 refugees this year. I recently delivered a presentation to the sales team of a large marketing firm. My goal was to teach them to stop marketing to their clients, and to start building relationships with their strategic partners. With the right strategy, they could easily double their income and work less hours at the same time. This concept can apply to any business. Every business and non-profit has many strategic partners and they probably are not a client. A strategic partner is someone well connected to many of your potential clients. Once they trust you, a strategic partner can send you steady streams of referral business on a consistent basis. To identify who your strategic partners are, first think of your clients. Who are they and what are they doing when they need your service? What other services do they need at that same time? For example, one of the target markets for the marketing firm was medium sized businesses opening or expanding operations in Tucson. There are additional services these businesses need before they open. Some examples might be a commercial realtor, business attorney, CPA, business consultant, graphic designer, website builder, business telecommunications, fleet vehicle sales and a host of others. After identifying the right strategic partners, we identified a marketing plan specifically designed to reach them. The plan included direct mail, social media, and which professional referral groups they should join to build relationships with these strategic partners. Once you have identified your strategic partners and developed a marketing strategy to reach them, the challenge becomes how do you get them to send business to you? Most strategic partners already have a good relationship with one of your competitors, and may have been using them for years. Rural Ireland, complete with insulated lives, black humor and a wide streak of cruelty, comes to vivid, exciting life in Live Theatre Workshops production of The Cripple of Inishmaan. This is not an easy play to do: It has a large cast, Irish accents, cruel characters. That did not daunt director Amy Almquist, who did some spot-on casting and gave the piece the rhythm that playwright Martin McDonaghs play demands. It takes place in a rocky, isolated village in the Aran Islands in the late 1930s. Nothing much happens here, which makes Johnny Pateens daily recitation of the news a big event. That news consists primarily of gossip, but that makes it all the more compelling for those on the receiving end. A couple of his eager listeners are sisters Kate and Eileen, caretakers and aunts to Billy, a young man orphaned (or maybe just abandoned) and afflicted with a twisted body. They are the ones behind the teens nickname, Cripple Billy. Billy reads plenty, spends hours staring at cows, dreams about kissing a girl anything he can do to escape his suffocating life. So when he hears that a Hollywood filmmaker is headed for a nearby island to shoot the documentary Man of Aran, Billy begs and lies to convince a boatsman to take him there. He intends to do something no one ever thought he wanted to do: get out. His unannounced departure launches lots of hand-wringing from the aunts and additional gossip for Johnny Pateen to embellish. This play sits with you long after youve seen it. Much of that is due to the mastery of McDonaghs storytelling. But credit also goes to Almquist and this cast, which caressed the language, the humor and the heart of the play. There wasnt a weak link among them, but there were some standouts: Gino Cocchi made Billys interior life rich and streaked with pain vivid. The gossipmonger Johnny Pateen is a vicious personality, but Patrick Burke understood his heart. In a role that can alienate the audience, he made us love him. Brie Zepeda mesmerizes as the beautiful Helen, aloof and meanspirited and Adam Denoyer as her not-terribly-bright brother Bartley was a hoot. But this play really belongs to the aunts, Kate and Eileen, who are slightly looney, overbearing, big-hearted one moment, heartless the next. Carlisle Ellis and Rhonda Hallquist had the chops and the chemistry to capture the contradictions, wit and worries of the women. Live Theatres The Cripple of Inishmaan will shock you, warm you, and make you laugh as it transports you to this small Irish village. Its a trip youll want to take. Sex and sensibility rarely team up. Margaret Sanger saw that as a problem. So in the early days of the last century, she used her her short-lived newspaper column What Every Girl Should Know, her pamphlets and her proselytizing to educate girls and women about sex, their bodies, sexually transmitted diseases anything they needed to know to prevent them, as Sanger said, from entering into sexual relations whether in marriage or out of it, without thinking and knowing. The wise woman, the founder of Planned Parenthood, was condemned by many. But in the case of the teen girls in Something Something Theatres production of Monica Byrnes What Every Girl Should Know, she was worshiped. Three young women share a room at a Catholic reformatory school in 1914 New York City. Their room has dirty walls, uncomfortable-looking metal beds, a crucifix, and pictures of their patron saints looking over them. When a fourth teen joins them, she brings news of the outside specifically, she schools them on the revolutionary Sanger, who becomes the new patron saint for the young girls. Before Sanger, the girls had been content going to Mass in the morning and masturbating at night. Post Sanger, they begin to look more askance at the abuses they had been subjected to in the past. They create stories to free their minds while they are imprisoned in the school. They develop a cult around Sanger, who seems to have the power to whip them into frenetic dances to mark their conversion to Sangers way of thinking, or to act out the death of a former roommate who died as the result, presumably, of a botched abortion. Theres an innocence about the girls in this play, even as they try to verbally explain the steps to self gratification to one whos having trouble reaching it, or talking about an abusive father, or a brother who is a sexual predator, or imagining stories in which they kill their oppressor. The play is self-conscious at times, and a tad too obscure at other times, but it never stops mesmerizing, thanks to the insightful work of director Jasmine Roth. She put together a cast that embodies the innocence and struggles of young women: Ellie Boyles, Kate Cannon, Robin Carson and Christine Peterson. There was not a false moment among them. Its been more than a century since Sanger tried to insert some common sense into information about womens health. With the threat to Planned Parenthood increasing daily, it seems as though we are still struggling for that common sense. This play never preaches, but its a compelling story that underscores that what Sanger said back then is so relevant now. When Salpointe Catholic High School teachers created a curriculum based on Pope Francis encyclical on the environment, they hoped other schools could make use of those lessons. They hoped, but werent sure. The idea of bringing the essence of the encyclical, which is basically respect for the earth and respect for all of the peoples of the earth, parallels Salpointes mission ... said Kay Sullivan, the schools president. Kids wouldnt necessarily think what the pope said is relevant to them, and we wanted to make it relevant. Thats why six teachers from the theology, science, humanities and social studies departments created about 60 lesson plans based on the popes Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home, which he released in the summer of 2015. Another teacher translated the lessons into Spanish. With its emphasis on the environment, the encyclical is a neat fit for science class, and the theological implications make it a go for students of theology. But Salpointe teachers said the philosophies presented in the encyclical make it relevant in humanities and social studies, too. The curriculum developed here could have an international reach as it is offered first to at least 40 schools worldwide that, like Salpointe, are part of the Carmelite religious order. The curriculum will also be available to schools outside of the order, Sullivan said. Sister Jane Remson, the main representative at the United Nations for the New Orleans-based Carmelite NGO, initiated and oversaw the project and has received inquiries about the curriculum from schools in Spain and Africa, she said. Approval has already come from Archbishop Gregory Aymond of the Archdiocese of New Orleans and the Rev. Raul Maravi Cabrera, the president of the International Commission of Carmelite Schools and Youth and a general councilor of the Carmelite Order representing the Americas. The material will be presented internationally in November at a congress in Rome for Carmelite schools. At Salpointe, some teachers are already using the material. On Feb. 6, the Rev. Eduardo Agosta Scarel, a climate scientist who helped consult for Laudato Si, spoke to Salpointe students. Pope Francis has addressed these issues where if we look at development in a sustainable way, we will be caring for the earth, eliminating poverty and protecting natural resources ... Remson said. We were looking at it and said this crosses everything we do, not just when we go to church on Sunday. This should be incorporated into every aspect of our lives. Remson already knew Sullivan and selected Salpointe as a pilot school for its environmental science program and social consciousness, she said. Kevin Russell, an environmental science and AP biology teacher at Salpointe, jumped at the opportunity to work on and lead the project, traveling in 2015 to New Orleans and then Peru with the Carmelite NGO to further develop the idea. As a scientist, it was amazing to see the church embracing what I have been teaching in environmental science class, Russell said of the encyclical. For him, incorporating the popes thoughts on climate change and the responsibility to care for the environment was a cakewalk. But he needed to get other teachers involved. In January 2016, he pitched the idea to Salpointe faculty from other departments. Elena Malovich, who teaches AP literature and sophomore honors English, took the challenge. In English class, Malovich uses the encyclical, along with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as philosophical texts through which students can analyze other works. Cross-curricular learning teaches students to think more critically, she said. What you are learning in other classes applies, Malovich said. You might be learning this in environmental science, but think about the stories we read and how authors bring out the earth as part of their characterization. Sophomores read Wuthering Heights, and I have them characterize characters, and they have to include the landscape as a character. How is the earth a character in the texts we read? The popes points on environmental stewardship apply in theology class and those on consumerism and the unequal distribution of wealth correspond with social studies, Russell said. The lesson plans encourage students to evaluate how they can make a difference in caring for the earth and for other people. They draw on the encyclicals statements that an unhealthy environment affects the poor, and people affect the environment. We've collected a few front pages from newspapers.com to give you a look at some Feb. 20 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. TOHONO OODHAM RESERVATION Leaders of the Tohono Oodham Nation southwest of Tucson say theyre confident President Trumps executive order to build a border wall wont become a reality on their land. The border has already cut our home in half, said Verlon Jose, vice chairman of the 34,000-member tribe. Since President Trumps Jan. 25 executive order to secure the southern border of the United States through the immediate construction of a physical wall, the Tohono Oodham Nation has become a focal point of a contentious national issue. The American Indian nation has been inundated with calls from media around the globe because of its unique situation, as well as from supporters who want to know how they can help. No other U.S. tribe shares a longer stretch of the international border with Mexico 75 miles, or 62 miles as the crow flies, and tribal officials have long gone on record saying a wall would never be in line with their spiritual connection to the land. Jose and tribal Chairman Edward Manuel would like President Trump and any other leaders who want to build a physical wall along the southern border to visit the reservation first. If they see it, theyll understand, tribal officials say. The tribal leaders traveled to Washington, D.C., last week to meet with Congressional leaders and others to clearly state their position. Manuel said he left feeling positive that the wall wont happen. No word for wall For the Tohono Oodham Nation, the U.S. border with Mexico is an unnatural line that divides their indigenous homelands. About 2,000 of the tribes members live in Mexico, and many of them use services such as the dialysis clinic, which is on the U.S. side in Sells. Sells, the tribes capital, is about 60 miles southwest of downtown Tucson. The expansive Arizona reservation is roughly the size of Connecticut. The tribe essentially has a wall already, many members say. Most of the tribes border is already lined with steel vehicle barriers that wind around saguaro cacti, across sacred archaeological sites, and allow for rushing waters to cross the border through washes that water their land during summer months. The added security has had effects. Places where members can legally cross the border with tribal identification cards have shrunk from seven to three in recent years, in some cases tripling travel time to visit families and attend ceremonies in Mexico. The Serapo family ranch along the tribes border with Mexico was literally cut in half by vehicle barriers that went up in 2007 and 2008. Since the familys well is on the other side of the barrier, they now must travel four miles to get water, Jake Serapo describes in video the tribe has produced about the issue called Theres No Oodham Word for Wall. There is, incidentally, no Oodham word for citizenship, either. Whether here or in Mexico, its all one land to us, Manuel said. Its just not feasible to put a wall out here on the Tohono Oodham Nation. Its going to cost too much money, way too much money. More than what they are projecting ... its not going to happen. Cost is extreme The border is a complicated issue on the reservation, where some members have been frightened by drug runners and related crimes, and want more security. But tribal leaders officially oppose a physical wall, and that appears to be the prevailing opinion among most members, too. In the parking lot outside a members-only meeting about the wall on Friday night in Sells, 57-year-old Ronald Felix tended a fire meant to provide a spiritual center for thought and prayer for people leaving the meeting. They can leave their emotions here and journey home without burdens and stress, Felix said, pointing to a pile of creosote for members to burn. This issue is very sensitive and contentious. It is hard to put into words. The cost is extreme. Amanda Garcia, a 14-year-old tribal member, said everyone she knows opposes a wall. Its hard enough to visit her family members in Mexico as it is, she said. She is worried about animals not being able to cross the border and is writing a research paper about it for a class at Baboquivari High School. Our generation is going to be left with environmental damage in the future, she said. Albert Francisco, a 34-year-old student at Tohono Oodham Community College, said hes afraid of the governments power. And as a single dad he worries about his daughters future. Were not rich out here, said Francisco. If we get (Trump) mad, I dont know if hell take things away from us. Our home The executive order on border security calls for a comprehensive study of the southern U.S. border to be completed within 180 days. The study should include the current state of border security, the order says. Tribal leaders want to make sure the Tohono Oodham Nation has a place at the table for that study, but emphasize that the clock is ticking. We are a sovereign nation and they have to talk to us before they make a decision, Manuel said. People living near the border should be able to watch the sun set behind a mountain, and not a wall, tribal member Sienna Ventura, 14, wrote Friday in a letter to U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican. You are our voice when it comes to the White House, but if they come to us we will be the voice for our tribe, she wrote. Our land is our home. In an emailed statement to the Star, Flake suggested securing the border might not mean a contiguous wall. We need to ensure that we have a secure border using the most effective barriers, which might mean a wall in some places or a fence in others, as well as the right combination of manpower and surveillance, he wrote. Arizona communities along the border should be a part of the discussion and planning as they are of the most affected. A physical wall on tribal land could also raise constitutional issues in terms of the federal governments trust responsibilities to the tribe, said Dinah Bear, former chief lawyer for the Council on Environmental Quality under four U.S. presidents and now a Tucson resident. But before getting to court, I also think it would generate tremendous pushback from some Congressional members and tribes nationwide, she said. Gestures of support While Manuel and Jose were in D.C., the National Congress of American Indians passed a resolution opposing a continuous physical wall along the southern U.S. border without the consent of affected tribes. On Feb. 10, the Inter Tribal Association of Arizona, which comprises 21 Arizona tribal governments, passed a similar resolution. Among other things, a continuous wall on the Southern U.S. border would further divide tribal historic lands and communities, the association said. The Tohono Oodham Legislative Council on Feb. 7 passed its own resolution a five-page document that among other things says the reservation is not public land. Rather, it is reserved for the benefit of the nation and its members, and the nation has a duty to ensure that tribal members rights and the nations sovereignty are protected, the resolution says. The tribe wants the public to understand that it has already worked hard to create a secure border by working with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security. The reservation has two law enforcement centers in border areas that have historically had high levels of illegal activity. Both the Tohono Oodham Police Department and the U.S. Border Patrol work out of the centers in a cooperative partnership that is unique along the border, said Richard Saunders, executive director of the Tohono Oodham Nations Department of Public Safety. Saunders began his career as a Tohono Oodham police officer in 1987, back when the border was demarcated by a three-strand barbed wire fence. Members at one time traveled freely between the two countries. But as security tightened at ports of entry during the 1990s, illegal activity was increasingly pushed into more remote areas like the Tohono Oodham reservation. Then 9/11 happened, and that was followed by the 2006 Secure Fence Act, which added the waist-high vehicle barriers to most of the reservations border. And the number of federal personnel on the border increased significantly, Saunders said. After the vehicle barriers went up, apprehensions along the border dropped an 84 percent decline in the last decade. Still, the tribe spends $3 million per year on border-related issues, including police time, autopsies of migrants, and hospital costs for migrants who need medical care, tribal officials say. Last year there were 85 death investigations of migrants who were found on the reservation, Saunders said. Now, a plan for 15 surveillance towers within the Chukut Kuk and Gu-Vo border districts is underway. Some tribal members are opposing those, saying the Border Patrols presence on the reservation has already hurt vegetation and animal habitat, and that the towers will only make it worse. Nature disrupted The sign that welcomes visitors to the reservation has an Oodham phrase, Sic Has Elid g Jewed, which means Respect the Land. Every stick and stone is sacred, every creature is sacred and has a significant part in the Oodham way of life, Jose said. One of the biggest worries for the tribe is how it will harm the Earth, Jose said Friday as he drove along a bumpy road beside the tribes border with Mexico. The rattlesnakes dont know what season it is, the saguaros arent blooming on schedule, he said. It is what humans are doing to Mother Earth. In order for the world to be in balance, Mother Nature has to be in balance, too. The remote tribal borderlands are dramatic, with jungles of mesquite trees, vast, thick stands of saguaros, mountains and sheer cliffs. It is this rugged desert of the tribes borderlands that makes a solid wall unworkable in many locations, he said. Jose last summer got attention for saying the border wall would be constructed over my dead body. He hasnt backed down from that statement, but stressed he doesnt want to be dead. Hed rather work together to hold hands with the rest of the U.S. to solve the problem, he said. If we didnt care so much about the land, about our people, we wouldnt be raising a fuss, Jose said. DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. Marcus Foiles beamed with excitement as he piloted an A-10 in the skies over a virtual southern Arizona landscape. Foiles had been in a flight simulator before, but today was a whole new experience. The odds of him sitting where he was at that moment in time were immeasurable. The last time Foiles held the simulators control stick was when he was 10 years old, after being diagnosed with leukemia. Davis-Monthan rolled out the red carpet for the young boy from Springfield, Illinois, who was granted a tour of the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center with sponsorship from the Make-A-Wish Foundation. As far as I knew, we were going to pull in to a lot full of airplanes and that would be it, Foiles said. Instead, we come through the front gate [with] the honor guard there and thats where I met Gregg. In 1989, then-Air Force Capt. Gregg Montijo, was an A-10 instructor pilot who volunteered for an additional duty as a tour guide at the AMARC. With the help of other agencies on base, Montijo was able to give the Make-A-Wish recipient an exclusive tour of D-M and his very own flight suit. Getting to work one-on-one with someone was kind of a unique experience at the time, said now-retired Air Force Lt. Col. Gregg Montijo. They could have just simply showed [him] the boneyard but it became a special day. In 2016, Foiles had the idea to reconnect with some of the friends he made during his trip to D-M. He was able to find Montijos contact information, so he decided to send him an email. Attached to the email was a weathered newspaper clipping of Foiles and Montijo behind the controls of an A-10 simulator during the visit in 1989. I see the name and theres something in the back of my brain going, I know this name, its ringing a bell, its tied to my past somewhere, Montijo said. I clicked on it and it had the picture [that] brought back a lot of memories. On Jan. 27, 2017, Foiles and his wife Melanie made the trip back to D-M to reconnect with Montijo, take another spin in the A-10 simulator, and have a quick look at an A-10 on the flight line. Just to get caught up with him was awesome, and for the rest of this to be possible is exceeding expectations, Foiles said. The A-10 simulator that Foiles flew this time around was generations ahead of the one in 1989. I was in awe at the fact that you can go and sit inside the cockpit, close the doors behind you and have 360 degree viewing night or day, was just amazing, Foiles said. The controls are the way that they would be if you were on the aircraft; it was definitely a rush. During the visit, Foiles and Montijo shared an easy rapport as if they had just seen each other yesterday. It was like finding an old, long lost friend, Montijo said. Its a part of my life that has now come full circle. Its been a little bit emotional to have someone from your former life come back. Foiles brought along a photo album that his mother put together from the original trip. The book contained photos of the tour, old newspaper clippings, and a running commentary written by his mother in the margins. Foiles endured a total of two and a half years in chemotherapy, one of which followed the trip in 1989. But his visit to D-M provided him with memories he could reflect on for a lifetime. I would get [the photo album] out every once in a while as a kid and look through it, Foiles said. There was never a time when I could look through that book and not have a smile on my face. I know I really did something special. The Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center transitioned to the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group in 2007. Regular readers may recall the woeful state of Ruby Road, which this column explored last summer and which was then described by many Arivaca residents as the most poorly maintained road in Pima County. But it would not be fair to say that things havent improved however modestly since then. In response to a growing number of requests for pothole repairs, the county transportation department has patched roughly two miles of the just over 5-mile stretch of Ruby Road inside county lines that sees the heaviest local traffic over the last year or so. It doesnt look pretty, but its indisputably smoother than the cratered road that had raised the ire of hundreds of area of residents, according to photos of the repairs posted to the Ruby Road Coalitions Facebook page. Joe Kleinholz, a coalition member, said hes happy with the countys work . Nevertheless, that far-from-permanent and far-from-cheap fix is already starting to degrade. If you drive it at night, your headlights show how its sinking back into original potholes, said Ruby Road motorist and coalition coalition member Donald Willett, echoing Kleinholz. Its getting pretty rough again already, and its only been less than a year. The only real solution is to fill the potholes and then resurface over that, Willett added later. Since 2012, the county has spent just shy of $360,000 on Ruby Road, largely on pothole repairs. Nearly half of that $172,000 came in 2016, according to spending data. With another year like that, the costs would approach the $550,000 a double chip seal is estimated to cost and start inching toward the $1 million price tag of a full fix. Priscilla Cornelio, county transportation director, is aware this is not the ideal solution, and even described the pothole patching as a Band-Aid approach. However, her department is in a bit of a bind. When residents complain about potholes and the county doesnt do anything about them, the county and taxpayers can be on the hook when vehicles are damaged on those roads. As the Road Runner previously reported, that is one of the criteria used to decide when to pay out on such notices of claims, as is whether the road in question has received regular maintenance. Depending on the damage done, those bills can be steep. Pothole and other maintenance work in Arivaca a small, rural community well over an hours drive from Tucson is also a more expensive endeavor than it is in more urban areas. On average, it costs about $7,250 for maintenance on each of the 2,150 miles of county-owned roads, and as little as $1,000 per mile for new, high-quality roads. Last year, that figure worked out to $32,633 per mile for Ruby, according to calculations provided by Cornelio. On top of it all, the countys total budget for pavement preservation, which is where funding for resurfacing projects come from, is around $4.5 million for the current fiscal year, meaning just the Ruby project would eat up over 20 percent of it. Last summer, the county conducted vehicle counts in Arivaca and found that near the midpoint of the road, between 113 and 135 vehicles used it daily, many of which are Border Patrol vehicles. With so many other county roads in poor condition, many with significantly higher daily traffic counts, it might be difficult to justify spending so much in Arivaca. The bottom line is, if I had the money in hand to do a permanent fix, I have many, many other roads that would be a higher priority, she said. Ken Buchanan, another coalition member, said he understands the county has to spend the money where the traffic is, but other residents took a dimmer view of Cornelios explanation. So, if not the county, who should pay for Ruby Road, which was last paved in 1997? Arizonas senate delegation thinks the Border Patrol might have a role to play there, and along other border roads in the southwest. Thats why Sen. John McCain and Sen. Jeff Flake, whose office has heard a number of concerns about Ruby, sent a letter in December 2015 requesting that the Government Accountability Office look into the federal agencys use of border roads like Ruby. There appears to be a dearth of information to determine the overall extent of Border Patrols recurring use of state, local and private roads or property for border security operations, and the maintenance costs incurred by these property-owners that may result from such routine use, the senators, joined by Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, wrote in their letter. To fill that vacuum, the requested study, a little over a year later, just got going. As a part of the work, a GAO representative met with county officials and Arivaca residents earlier this month. In a written statement provided by a spokeswoman, Flake said he is pleased with the study, which is expected to be finished in the fall, and that we need to make sure that the federal government doesnt unduly burden Arizonans with the maintenance costs associated with that use. Buchanan agreed, saying its the Border Patrol that uses it more than anyone. A Tucson Sector Border Patrol spokeswoman did not respond to requests for comment, but last summer the agency said while the condition of Ruby Road has negatively impacted Tucson Sector Border Patrols fleet by increasing maintenance and repair costs, the agency does not provide funding for county-maintained paved roads. In early February, Felix Chavez, the Tucson Sectors acting chief patrol agent, wrote to Cornelio to tell her basically the same thing, according to a copy of the letter Road Runner obtained. Arivaca residents who attended the GAO meeting said they were skeptical the study, and any congressional action it might eventually spur, will change things for them in the near future. And without a source of funding, Cornelio said, the status quo of fairly expensive patch jobs is likely all the department can do, though she did say they are still pursuing federal funds authorized by the 2015 FAST Act for roads like Ruby. But Linda Willett, Donalds wife, said that dragging the issue out and waiting for a likely long-off federal solution doesnt serve anyones interest, and that Ruby Road is ultimately (the countys) responsibility. Fix it right, Willett said. Quit throwing this money at quick fixes. ABC News(NEW YORK) -- The Oscar-nominated film Hidden Figures celebrates the true story of three African-American women who helped propel the U.S. space program to new heights. While Mary Jackson, Dorothy Vaughan and Katherine Johnson were breaking barriers at NASA, another hidden figure, Raye Montague, was making history at the U.S. Navy. "I faced a lot of the same barriers that those ladies faced," Montague said Monday on ABC News' Good Morning America, recalling a time when a fellow employee asked her for a cup of coffee and she replied that she'd like one too, adding, "Be sure mine has cream and sugar." Montague, a native of Little Rock, Arkansas, grew up in the segregated South. She never saw an engineer who looked like her but she would go on to shatter glass ceilings as a female, African-American civilian employee at the then-male-dominated Navy. "I'm known as the first person to design a ship using the computer," Montague, now 82, said in an interview that aired Monday on Good Morning America. "And I was the first female program manager of ships in the history of the Navy, which was the equivalent of being a CEO of a company." Montague credited her mother with providing the confidence to know she could achieve anything she wanted. She earned a bachelor of science degree in business at a historically black college, the Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical and Normal School, which now goes by the name the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. The school she wanted to attend, the engineering school at the University of Arkansas, did not accept minorities at the time. "Growing up in a segregated South, you never dreamed that these options were available to you," Montague said on GMA. "I can remember wondering, 'Where am I going? What am I going to be?,' and when I was 7 years old my grandfather took me -- this is during World War II -- to see a German mini-submarine that had been captured off of the coast of the Carolinas and they let me go inside." "I said to the guy, 'What do you have to know to do this?,' and he said, 'Oh, you'd have to be an engineer but you don't ever have to worry about that,'" she recalled. "I didn't realize I'd been insulted." Despite not being able to earn an engineering degree during her college years, Montague is now registered as a professional engineer in the U.S. and Canada. "My mother told me when I was a very little girl, 'Raye, you'll have three strikes against you. You're female and you're black and you'll have a southern segregated school education,'" Montague recalled. "'But you can be or do anything you want, provided you're educated.'" She began her career with the Navy in 1956 in Washington, D.C. Like the women in Hidden Figures, Montague entered service in what was then a traditional female role, as a "clerk typist," and quickly proved her worth. "She had to keep proving over and over that she could do the job and she was able to rise above those types of things," said Trenita Russell, one of Montague's former coworkers. Montague would go on to spend 33 years as a civilian Navy employee. She learned engineering skills on the job and went to computer programming school at night. Years later, during the Nixon administration, Montague's bosses gave her department one month to use a system she developed to design a naval ship. Montague famously completed the task in just under 19 hours. "To think back to what she dealt with back then, especially with the gender variable, they thought that she was supposed to be getting them coffee," said Montague's son, David Montague. "And then she was the one actually there in charge." Montague said she always answers no when people ask her if she was the first woman or the first black woman to achieve what she did in the design of Navy ships. "No, I was the first person and that's important," Montague said of her reply. Montague was surprised Monday on GMA by Janelle Monae, who portrays Mary Jackson in Hidden Figures. Jackson played a crucial role in helping NASA send John Glenn to orbit the Earth in 1962. "You all were beautiful, just beautiful, and I know what you were going through because I was going through the same thing," Montague said to Monae. Monae replied, "We thank you so much for your service. You are an American hero and you are hidden no more. Everybody sees you." Octavia Spencer, who is Oscar-nominated for her portrayal of Dorothy Vaughn in Hidden Figures, also delivered a message for Montague. "I want to let you know that you are no longer hidden. We see you. We salute you. And we thank you," Spencer said in the video clip that aired Monday on GMA. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Help India! By Shafeeq Hudawi, Twocircles.net Ever since the news of her sons arrest broke out, Safiya has had little to do apart from waiting for her phone to ring, and hoping that by some miracle she will receive some good news about her Mouinudheen Parakkadavath. Mouinudheen was arrested by National Investigation Agency (NIA) on February 14 for allegedly being part of an IS module. When she attended Twocircles.nets call at their residence at Kanhangad in Kasargod district, Safiya was eager to know about her son. She handed over the phone to her husband Abdulla Theruvath when she realised that we did not have any good news to convey to her. Support TwoCircles We received information from NIA after he was taken to custody in New Delhi. After that, we have had no information about him. But the local news is trying to make it sound like we have deliberately hidden information about our family, a worried Abdulla said. Abdulla and Safiya were praying for Mouinudheen after NIA informed that their son was associated with people connected to the Islamic State. On October 2, 2016, five youths-Manseed from Kannur district, Swalih Mohammed from Thrissur district, Safwan P from Malappuram district and Jasim NK and Ramshad Nageelan from Kozhikode district were arrested by NIA from Kanakamala, a small hill station in Kannur for allegedly being in touch with IS. Abdulla says that his son was not involved with any terror activity. I am sure that my son wouldnt be in touch with any kind of such groups. No one from my family has taken such radical steps and I see no reason why he would do so, he says. Mouinudheen, according to Abdulla, was brought to Delhi by Indian embassy after he was taken into custody by the Abu Dhabi police. I got call from NIA saying my son was in touch with IS sympathisers two months back. I handed them his contact as the officers said they wanted to just question him and assured me that Mouinudheen was not in trouble, he said. Abdulla believes that NIA got him arrested by the Abu Dhabi police. My son told me that he was not involved in such activities while he called me from Abu Dhabi jail, he said. In a press release issued after his arrest, the NIA alleged that the youngsters arrested from Kanakamala received money from Mouinudheen. Mouinudheen, who stopped his education in 10th standard, was taken to Abu Dhabi by his brothers Mahmood and Rasheed about six years ago. He was working as a salesman in the computer sales shop, run by the two brothers. The case relates to a terror module in which a group of youths from Kerala including some members based in the Middle-East, hatched a conspiracy as per the instructions from their online ISIS handlers. On 2nd October, 2016 based on the intelligence inputs, five accused, associated with this terror module, were arrested from Kanakmala Hill in Kannoor district, Kerala and another associate was arrested from Calicut the same day. Based on their revelation, it was established that Mouinudheen was a key figure in the module, which was actively planning various aspects of terrorist plot, on a Telegram group. Mouinudheen was using the online identity Abu-Al-Indonesi as well as Ibn Abdullah, on the telegram group. It was also revealed by the arrested persons that Mouinudheen had sent funds from Abu Dhabi to members of the terrorist module in Kerala, for purposes of the conspiracy, through Western Union Money Transfer, last year, says the NIA release. He will not deliberately get involved in an organisation like IS. He must have fallen into the trap if he did so, but we need to know the truth, Abdulla added. The parents are as of now waiting for their son to be presented before the NIA Special Court in Kochi. We have not initiated any steps towards helping our son simply because we dont know what to do as we are left with no information about him, he said. Help India! By Fahad Zuberi The turn of events at the Aligarh Muslim University in the last one week is not only a question mark on the understanding of democratic politics among the apparent Muslim leaders of tomorrow, it raises doubtful concerns over the quality of education and the admission procedures which are followed by the best institutes of the country. Support TwoCircles While it is clear that the one-month-old post was dug up for purely political interests, the gullibility displayed by a large section of students at the AMU is deeply disturbing. Here we have a group of young minds, studying in one of the top ten institutions in the country, not being able to understand basic sentence structuring and the semantics of quoted texts even when it was pointed out to them. It is funny in a sad way that even after pointing out the structuring and semantics of the text that Ms. Shehla wrote, most of the Muslims at AMU can still be found debating, in the typical threatening manner that their IQ allows, about the blasphemy committed by her. This is what happens when you get outraged without checking the facts. Even when the basic blind spot in their cognizance was pointed out, taking a step back from the extreme threat of beheading requires courage and intellect, the lack of both being a well-established fact by now. This widespread gullibility and resort to violent threats and abuses is representative of a very low average value of IQ in the campus. However, the statistical variance in this value would be gigantic. Right from creative and illustrious scholar down to the violent scum. This once again raises questions about the efficiency of our admission procedures. How does that gullible violent megalomaniac make his way into the top Central University of the country? One might argue that the purpose of these centres of learning is to raise an otherwise underprivileged Indian to a level where he can deserve to be called an educated citizen. Now, that the disease and its carriers have been exposed, are we taking any steps to eradicate violence and extreme intolerance from our campuses? Or will we let the society of tomorrow become worse than the society of today? I disagree with many acquaintances of mine on many different topics. Right from the new earth creationists to global warming deniers to religious fanatics to capitalists to racial supremacists. In my pursuit to justify the education and manners that I have received from the society till now, I look forward to chances to debate with these people. So that I can criticize their ideology openly and with facts and logic. This exposes the inconsistencies in the ideology that I am debating against and therefore, ideologically destroys it in public. Only a person with strong insecurities would want to avoid such a debate by resorting to any and every tactic available at his intellects disposal. A reasonable and educated person uses the tactic of debate and discussion, the rest of us establish their ability to reason through the tactics they use, like some students at AMU who reacted to Ms. Shehlas writings. The fact that debating is the only civil and honourable way of handling differences in opinion was crystal clear in the mind of our founder, the great Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. Knowing its importance, he envisioned the Siddons Debating Union. A debating chamber at AMU which would inculcate the glorious attitude of rationality, reason, debate and discussion in the students of the University. Siddons was meant to teach the students of AMU, the noble art of embracing dissent. Since its closing in 1961, the AMU which used to be at the zenith of rationality and reason has slowly turned into a lawless and dangerous place for the proponents of free speech and critical thought. Ms. Shehla Rashid, the student leader who raises the voice of minorities in the presently intolerant scenario of India ran a risk of violence by visiting the AMU campus. All of this because of a group of gullible students refusing to understand their mistake in analytical reading, almost resorting to violence and falling prey to the political insecurities of their leaders. It is needless to say that the Aligarh Muslim University requires the Siddons Debating Union at this moment, more than it ever did before. This article was originally published here. Help India! By Sandeep Pauranik Jhansi, (IANS): Once political rivals, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Akhilesh Yadav seem to be sharing great camaraderie in Uttar Pradesh assembly polls for which their parties have stitched an alliance. Support TwoCircles The chemistry between these two is reflective in the election rallies where both leaders look in sync with each other whether it is the body language or the crowd pulling tactics. The assembly polls are underway in Indias largest state. In one such rallies in Jhansi where Rahul Gandhi landed in a helicopter, the Congress leader waited for half an hour for Akhilesh Yadav only to go to the stage together. When the duo reached, it looked as if they were from one party. Though their outfit was different, their style was alike. While the Samajwadi Party leader wore white kurta-pajama which was suggestive of him trying to establish himself as a rural leader, the Congress scion was in jeans and kurta with a scarf around his neck bearing his partys symbol. They were complimentary to each other in their speeches, seeming to have been scripted by one. The outgoing Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said bicycle the SPs electoral symbol had gained speed while Rahul Gandhi remarked their friendship had changed the mood of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and made him sweat. The workers in both parties are enthusiastic over the bonhomie. It is not difficult to change the course of politics when young leaders of same age join hands. Its inspiring for youths as well, Samajwadi Party leader Singhvrat Singh Yadav said. While BJP was resorting to communalism and catch phrases, these two talk about development and social harmony. Their togetherness is becoming the need of this state, he added. Congress ideology is the closest to socialist ideology. The new thinking of these two leaders will pave way for the progressive development. Their chemistry is great, which is a good coincident, said Congress leader Ramkumar Shukla. Girl group Little Mix are on the hunt for a handful of awards at the Brits after being named in three categories. Up for British Single with 'Shout Out To My Ex', British Group and British Artist Video with 'Hair', the former X Factor contestants look set to enjoy an exciting evening on Wednesday. Skepta holds the fort for the men with a trio of nominations himself. After enjoying a thrilling year, he has opportunities to take home British Breakthrough Artist, British Male Solo Artist and British Album of the Year for Konnichiwa. Video and Single double a possibility for several artists British Artist Video and British Single form familiar playlists with several songs nominated for both categories. The number one seller on the list, Calvin Harris and Rihanna's 'This is What You Came For', is joined by Clean Bandit and Sean Paul's 'Rockabye', Coldplay's 'Hymn for the Weekend', James Arthur's 'Say You Won't Let Go', Tinie Tempah's 'Girls Like' and Zayn's 'Pillow Talk'. The late David Bowie has the biggest selling album of the year on the nomination list and has also been put forward in the British Male Solo Artist category. Drake topped the bill for biggest single across the globe and he is nominated for a double of International Male Solo Artist and International Group. Global names battle it out Bruno Mars will challenge Drake for International Male Solo Artist, whilst two of the World's most recognised divas in Beyonce and Rihanna battle it out for International Female Solo Artist. Tried and tested acts Kings of Leon and Radiohead look to challenge for International Group and British Group respectively, whilst Ellie Goulding and Emelie Sande head a somewhat unfamiliar British Female Solo Artist list. Craig David returns with a nomination in the British Male Solo Artist category, whilst Stormzy has enjoyed an incredible year and will be a serious contender for British Breakthrough Act. Adele was the big winner last year with four gongs but has only been nominated in one category this time around with her single 'Send My Love' up for British Artist Video. Coldplay took home British Group twelve months ago and are the only other act nominated for a second consecutive year, albeit in different categories. A startling study conducted by The Fawcett Society has found that almost half of young men think that women are to blame if they are drunk while being sexually assaulted. 38 per cent of men and 34 per cent of females think that women should take responsibility if they are assaulted on a night out. Different opinions depending on age 41 per cent of men aged 18-34 think women are partially to blame for sexual assault on nights out- a staggering 14 per cent believe that a women is to blame for sexual assault if she is drunk, according to the study of 8,000 people. However, in older demographics, it is most likely females that believe women are to blame if they are sexually assaulted. 55 per cent of women over 65 stated that it is the women's fault if she is sexually assaulted compared to 45 per cent of men. Sam Smethers, the chief executive of The Fawcett Society, stated: "I can't think of any other crime in which the victim is blame so readily as sexual assault. Females are being held responsible for the abhorrent behaviour of their attackers. The study reveals to us how ingrained our readiness to blame women is within our culture". "Females experience lad culture on a daily basis. Just saying "no" to turn down an approach by a male at a bar can sometimes lead to violence. This hostility towards women is surprisingly high," said Sam Smethers. The president of the United States Donald Trump has been accused of normalising "lad culture" and "locker room banter" by his critics. An astonishing 18 per cent of men between the ages of 25-34 stated that they didn't want females to enjoy equality with men. 14 per cent of men aged 18-24 stated they don't want women to be equal men. Women's rights demonstrations The report by The Fawcett Society was released to coincide with a Women's march to protest the inauguration of Donald Trump. Over 2.5 million marched in over thirty different countries. In London, over 100,000 people demonstrated outside the US embassy, with many more marches occurring around the nation. Anti-Trump protests continue to occur across the globe. Peter Mandelson, the architect of New Labour, has declared that pro-European Union MPs must demonstrate more courage in their opposition of Brexit. Peter Mandelson's comments came after former Prime Minister and poster child for New Labour, Tony Blair, claimed that a weak Labour party was facilitating a poor Brexit deal for the United Kingdom. Mandelson echoing Blair's arguments Peter Mandelson, on the BBC's 'Andrew Marr Show,' said that he believed people are 'feeling bulldozed into a Brexit that they didn't vote for'. Further, Mandelson added that the government's pursuit of leaving the European Union must be challenged, echoing the sentiments of Tony Blair's speech on Friday. 'There is strong opinion across all parties that these issues are very serious but aren't being dealt with efficiently,' Mandelson said. The former first secretary of state claimed the most important issue was the ability for parliament to turn down Theresa May's Brexit strategy before it is signed by Europe. 'If it isn't good for Great Britain lets go back to the negotiating table. We shouldn't be made to settle for a bad Brexit deal. Granting MPs the ability to vote on the final Brexit strategy before it is signed by Europe is a hugely important issue and it safeguards against a Brexit the people didn't vote for,' Mandelson said. A call to MPs 'I urge MPs from all parties to challenge Theresa May and her government's plans to enforce a hard Brexit. We're trying to instil some courage in the Conservative MPs, put some pressure on Labour MPs, the Lib Dems and the Greens. They have to speak up in parliament,' Mandelson said. Mandelsons arguments contained much the same sentiment as those put forward by Tony Blair, who gave a speech on Friday that urged both pro-European Union MPs and citizens to challenge to government. Blair's intervention was warmly received by Labour MPs but was dismissed by the front bench, who, by and large, supported Thersa May's legislation to trigger article 50. Peter Mandelson and Tony Blairs campaign has been rejected by multiple Conservative MPs, who have accused them both of attempting to frustrate the will of the British people. First, some backstory: actress Leah Remini, best known as Carrie from King of Queens, once joined the Church of Scientology. She didnt like it (like, at all), so she left the organisation, which is a task unto itself, and now she is very outspoken against the church, doing the best she can in order to sway people from signing up because its a dangerous trap, and thats exactly what she did on a TV appearance, which aired on HBO last night, except this time she actually offered up tips on ending Scientology. By the way, these are pretty wild times, since this aired within the same hour as Trump calling the press the enemies of the American people. Theres too many simultaneous controversies these days. Scientology is a blend of Religion and cult created by famed science-fiction author L. Ron Hubbard and its bible reads like one of his novels, with its story of aliens chucking bombs at Earth in order to create humans, which is all crazy stuff. Its a business, too; it actually costs money to be a member, and a lot of it. At least being a Christian or a Muslim or a Buddhist is free. The annual revenue that the church receives is estimated at $200 million. Theres a documentary called Going Clear (which coincidentally aired on HBO) that offers a lot more information. Remini spoke out against Scientology on Real Time with Bill Maher Remini appeared on HBOs political talk show Real Time with Bill Maher, the show on which comedian Jim Jefferies appeared last week to tell Piers Morgan to f*ck off when Morgan said that Trumps travel ban was not a Muslim ban, to slam Scientology and offer up ways to eradicate the church altogether, and Maher seemed to admire her outspokenness against the organisation. Maher told Remini of her importance in the quest to end Scientology, saying that when it finally ends and its history is documented, it will show that fate chose you to come on in act five, suggesting he sees her as the chosen one who arrived to heroically save the day, who will be instrumental in its downfall. He compared her to President Ronald Reagan and his Tear down this wall speech. It stands to reason that if the Berlin Wall were standing today and Reagan was President today (if only), he would appear on Real Time to tell Mr. Gorbachev to tear it down. Remini has a reality show on A&E that shows the effects of a Scientology membership on unsuspecting people called Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath. She said that Mahers 2008 Documentary Religulous, which takes a stance against religion, almost swayed her from Scientology, but she didnt actually leave until later, admitting that in her hypnotised Scientologist state, Maher seemed a little crazy to me. They say Tom Cruise could end the church on his own Actor Tom Cruise is the biggest and most famous advocate of the Church of Scientology. He is credited with bringing mass attention to the church and getting enough people involved for the money scam to have worked successfully. Remini and Maher agree that Cruises influence is so strong that he could end this single-handedly. Remini explains that this is because, according to most Scientologists, Cruise is single-handedly clearing the planet. Pakistan Army's cross border bombarding is now in day two In its targeted operation against the border, Pakistan Air Force hit 10 shelters of JUA (Jamat-ul-Ahrar). On the other hand, Afghanistan recorded protest against the strikes by Pakistan Army. Pak officials replied to hand over terrorist groups that have claimed the responsibilities of recent bomb attacks in Pakistan. Pak-Afghan border at Torkham has been closed for the second day while lengthy lines of vehicles can be seen on both sides of the border. Targeted strikes being carried out in Afghanistan by Pak-Army in a response to recent attacks by Jamat-ul-Ahrar including Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta and Sehwan. The strikes resulted in elimination of Jamat-ul-Ahrar's Deputy Commander Aadil Baacha and his camps were also demolished by the Pakistan Air force. The Pakistan Air force used JF-16 jet fighters that were heavily armed in order to revenge. Safe shelters of JUA and TTP in Afghanistan Nangarhar and Kunar provinces of Afghanistan are considered to be the safest places for TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban) and JUA ( Jamat-ul-Ahrar). Afghan authorities protested against the attacks by Pakistan Army in their territory, saying that Afghanistan will never accept such violations and can also react to the situation. Afghan Army Chief General Qadam Shah Shaheem asked Pakistan to provide strong evidence of safe heaven for terrorists in Afghanistan so that they can evaluate and eliminate the terrorists themselves. After the announcement of Operation Zarb-e-Azb by Pakistan Army, hundreds of thousand terrorists transferred their bases and camps to Afghanistan from North-Waziristan and other tribal areas of Pakistan including FATA and Balochistan (largest province of Pakistan in sense of the area). Pakistan is demanding Omar Khalid Khurasani who is the head of JUA (Jamat-ul-Ahrar), the mastermind behind the recent terrorist attacks in Pakistan, killing almost 150 people and remaining 500 to seriously injure with 5 suicide bomb attacks in almost all 4 of the provinces of Pakistan in just 3 days. It is a battle of giants that begins in the consumer goods sector. On Friday, 17 February, Unilever officially rejected Kraft Heinz's advances, which had offered him a $ 143 billion ( 134 billion) buyout offer. The Anglo-Dutch group considers that this proposal "underestimates it fundamentally" and that it presents "no advantage, be it financial or strategic." Kraft Heinz may increase its offer Kraft Heinz does not admit to being beaten. "We hope to conclude an agreement on the terms of a deal," said the US food giant. Under UK law, it now has 30 days to file an offer, friendly or hostile. In order to succeed, the group will "most certainly increase its offer substantially," predicts David Palmer, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, who points out that the proposed premium (18% compared to the closing price on Thursday, February 16) Is not high enough. If successful, it would be the third largest M & A transaction in history. Euromonitor, Unilever, and Kraft Heinz have occupied the third, fourth and fifth positions respectively in the food products industry and these three may have more to do with their suppliers and customers, including Walmart, Carrefour, Asda, and Rewe. The deal would also allow the American company to grow outside the United States, where it generated 70% of its sales last year with Heinz ketchup, Philadelphia cheese trays or Maxwell soluble coffee. Conversely, 57% of Unilever's sales were made in emerging markets. Unilever may have won the battle with Kraft Heinz The new ensemble would be a very variegated group. Unilever, which manufactures Knorr soup, Hellmann's mayonnaise and Eskimo Magnum, is also a mastodon of cleaning products, with its Omo brand and Cif detergents. And the Rotterdam manufacturer is one of the leaders in hygiene and beauty products, accounting for almost half of its turnover. Unilever is thus a significant competitor of L'Oreal and Procter & Gamble in the cream, shampoo and deodorant markets thanks to the Dove, Rexona and Sunsilk ranges. The Houthis are a Shia sect in Yemen. Iran supports them. The Houthis have overrun most of Yemen and are facing an attack led by Saudi Arabia. This is another example of Shia-Sunni conflict. The Houthis are different from the ISIS who treat their women as sex slaves. In contrast, many Houthi women replete with Burkha have been battling the coalition led by Saudi Arabia for the last 2 years. Tens of women armed with rifles paraded in Sanaa, the capital a few days back; This was in support of their men. The Houthi Islamic women have turned out to be good fighters. They were part of the defense force that faced the US navy seals in the recent raid.They were all killed but ensured the raid was not an unqualified success. 4 seals were injured/ killed, and one helicopter was damaged. Loss? 75 million dollars. Houthi women The Houthis treat their women better than the Sunni ISIS. Sunni fighters frequently lash their women with whips if they fail to dress as per the Sharia. They are treated as objects of sexual gratification. Many foreign girls from Europe who joined the ISIS were in for a rude shock when they realized that their only purpose was to satisfy ISIS fighters sexually. Women fighters The Houthis women are better off. Sex is a factor but punishments like lashing are not inflicted. Houthis have been training their women to use rifles, machine guns, and grenades. Their motivation is high as they are prepared to die to fight. No wonder the Saudi coalition supported by the USA has not much to show after 2 years of fighting. The coalition against the Houthis is a Sunni coalition and the US because of its close relations with Saudi Arabia is battling the Houthis. Battle in Yemen Women of Yemen are Arabs, but unlike Saudi who debar their women even to drive a car, the Shia Houthis have no compunction in teaching their women to handle AK 47s. Iran is on the side of the Houthis, and the battle in Yemen is a classic Shia-Sunni conflict. Despite a US blockade, the Houthis are far from defeated. Houthis women are also taught military drills. There is, however, no compromise on wearing the Burkha and head cover. Firing guns, rocket launchers, machine guns? YES but no modern dress. Two 12-year-old Texas boys are being called heroes after saving a four-year-old girl with autism who had fallen into a creek. Police in Roman Forest, a tiny community about 40 miles northeast of Houston, say the boys pulled the girl out of Peach Creek after she had fallen in on Thursday evening. Houston media outlets report the boys were riding their bikes near the creek when the girl, while trying to swing on a tree limb, fell into the creek. Police say one boy pulled the girl out of the water while the other assisted. "The two 12 year-old boys who saved this girl are heroes in the eyes of RFPD. Thank you for your quick action," police said in a Facebook posting announcing the rescue. Girl fell into creek while trying to swing on tree limb Roman Forest Police Chief Stephen Carlisle told Houston television station ABC-13 that the girl, identified as Melodie, apparently fell into the creek while playing at its edge. She tried to swing on a limb. She fell in the water and she looked like was drowning, Carlisle told the station. So one of the boys pulled her out of the water, and the other one assisted. Social media postings led to reunion with girl's mother The boys, police have only identified by their first names of Markuise and Cameron, waved down a man nearby, who called 911 and wrapped Melodie in jackets to try to warm her up after her ordeal. When emergency crews arrived she was taken to a local hospital to be checked for injuries. Police initially didn't know who the little girl was, who her parents were, or how she had ended up at the side of the creek. So they posted her photo on social media seeking help in identifying her. The postings led to a joyous reunion with her mother and stepfather. Shes got autism, and we just found out about it, her mother, Melissa Maddox told ABC-13 after being reunited with her daughter. She just likes to wander off and do her own thing sometimes, Maddox said. After the incident police said that no charges would be filed pending an investigation. A couple found shot dead and wrapped in rugs and plastic in a Massachusetts home has spawned a manhunt for two unnamed suspects. Police believe the suspects are driving a 1992 Acura and they could be armed. The scene unfolded late Saturday when a woman came running out of a Peabody home and flagged down a passing motorist for a ride to the state police barracks in Danvers, Massachusetts. It is not known what this woman said, but it sparked the investigation at the home. Special X-ray equipment used in cluttered mess Police went to the house and found a mess. It was not just untidy, it is the kind of mess that police needed to use specialized X-ray equipment to try and figure out just how many victims they had, according to law enforcement. According to Fox News, the bodies turned up on Sunday as the police searched the home. When the district attorney spoke with the media Sunday evening, the investigation was still ongoing inside the home, as the mess really slowed things down. Couple shot - found wrapped in rugs and plastic The clutter left law enforcement extremely hampered while attempting to investigate these murders. The couple found dead in the house were identified as Mark Greenlaw, 37 and his girlfriend, Jennifer O'Conner, 39. The couple was living at the rented home. The home is rented to a disabled man named David Moise, but the police did not mention where the 67-year old Moise was at the time of the murders and during the investigation that followed. The police stress that these murders were not random acts. Investigation hampered Essex District Attorney Jon Blodgett told the media that they were doing the best they could in a house that is very messy and cluttered. Blodgett said the medical examiner was on the way and that law enforcement is tapping into every resource available to them in their attempt to determine just went on in this home. Manhunt for two armed suspects The manhunt is on for two suspects, but police did not release their names. The home was very familiar to the police, as they've been called out to this location many times in the past. Police Chief Thomas Griffin told the media that they had been to this house for "all kinds of incidents." Neighbors not shocked A neighbor of the dead couple was saddened by the incident, but stated she was not shocked. Rachel Hrubes said that she was not surprised to hear something this gruesome had happened in the home. Peabody is a bedroom community about 20 miles northeast of Boston. The investigation is ongoing today. Is it possible President Donald Trump does not like living at the White House? The POTUS is reportedly struggling to adjust to his new life in the White House. The Axios' Mike Allen's latest newsletter reveals that a Trump adviser has claimed Donald is currently experience cabin fever with his new life at the White House. The POTUS is suffering from cabin fever symptoms The adviser claims Trump is experiencing headaches and is becoming increasingly frustrated that he cannot spend his evenings dining at restaurants near the Trump Tower in his old neighborhood as the POTUS had become accustomed to doing. What is living at the White House like? While it might be surprising to hear, Donald Trump wouldnt be the first president to dislike living at the White House. President Harry S. Truman described it as living in a glamorous prison. Julie Nixon Eisenhower revealed the president experiences a great deal of isolation while living there. Nancy Reagan even claimed the First Lady and POTUS were required to pay bills for meals and incidentals such as toiletries and cleaning products used inside of the White House. Trump is struggling to control his spending as well Compared to Obama, Trump is also costing taxpayers a lot of money when it comes to his travel expenses and family vacations. During each of his eight years Barack spent roughly $12.1 million in taxpayers money on travel expenses. Trump has managed to spend just shy of what Barack spent in an entire year in his first month as POTUS. With his three trips to visit his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida and his sons business trips, Donald has spent roughly $11.3 million since his inauguration. The cost of secret service agents and other protective measures is factored into this cost. Donald Trump complained when Obama spent less money than he has Perhaps the hardest pill to swallow is that Donald Trump complained about how much money Barack spent on vacations while he was president multiple times on Twitter. After complaining about how much money the previous POTUS spent, Trump is setting himself up to spend 12 times as much as Obama if what he spent during his first month ends up being his average monthly travel expenses. During a rally in Florida on Saturday night, President Donald Trump referenced a Terrorist Attack in Sweden, despite the fact that no incident took place. After 24 hours of criticism, Trump is attempting to clarify his statement. Trump on Twitter After just a month in office, Donald Trump appears to be gearing up for re-election. On Saturday night, almost 10,000 supporters attended a rally in Melbourne, Florida where the president touted his alleged accomplishments since entering office. During the rally, the former host of "The Apprentice" brought up a terrorist attack that he claimed happened the night before in Sweden. "When you look at what's happening in Germany, when you look at what's happening last night in Sweden," Trump said, before adding, "Sweden!" "Who would believe this? Sweden!," he added, noting, "They (Sweden) took in large numbers, they are having problems like they never thought possible." Since then, news outlets and fact-checkers have confirmed that no attack took place, which Trump addressed in a February 19 post on Twitter. My statement as to what's happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 19, 2017 "My statement as to what's happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on Fox News concerning immigrants & Sweden," Donald Trump wrote on Twitter on Sunday afternoon. Trump's tweet lines up with what many thought was the case, where Fox News host Tucker Carlson reported on increased crime rates in Sweden, though no terror activity took place like the president said. While social media users ridiculed Donald Trump, others took the allegations more serious. The Swedish Embassy in the United States was not pleased, and demanded clarification in regards to Trump's comments, which apparently led to the Twitter message in question. JUST IN: Trump clarifies remarks on nonexistent Sweden incident: I saw it on Fox News https://t.co/AuVxQ3AOuf pic.twitter.com/PGEcIIzuiI The Hill (@thehill) February 19, 2017 Deja Vu This isn't the first time that the Donald Trump administration has had an issue pushing falsehoods about terror attacks. Earlier this month, Presidential Counsel Kellyanne Conway cited the fake "Bowling Green Massacre" in an attempt to justify the president's "Muslim ban" executive order, while White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer noted a terror attack in Atlanta. Spicer eventually walked back his comments, saying he meant to say an attack in Orlando, which was the site of the Pulse nightclub shooting last year. Over the weekend, President Donald Trump held a campaign-style rally in Florida and cited a nonexistent terrorist attack in Sweden when talking about border security. Trump was quickly debunked by fact-checkers, but that didn't stop the president from defending his remarks. Trump on Sweden On Friday night, Fox News host Tucker Carlson ran a segment where the focus was the increase of immigration in Sweden, and how it correlates with the rise in crime rates. Donald Trump watched the broadcast and incorrectly interpreted the information to mean that a terrorist attack was occurring in the country at the time. In the 24 hours that followed, the former host of "The Apprentice" received heavy backlash, as well as mockery on social media for his blunder. Trump attempted to clarify his remarks on Sunday afternoon, but took to his Twitter account on February 20 to elaborate further. Give the public a break - The FAKE NEWS media is trying to say that large scale immigration in Sweden is working out just beautifully. NOT! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 20, 2017 Using his social media following to once again bypass the mainstream media to reach the American people, Donald Trump was not happy with how the press has handled the aftermath of his aforementioned Sweden comments. "Give the public a break," Trump wrote on Twitter, before adding, "The Fake News media is trying to say that large scale immigration in Sweden is working out just beautifully. NOT!" Trump explains that his confusing "Sweden" remark was not in reference to a terror attack https://t.co/xiS8SPj2p8 pic.twitter.com/G3hTc7CXLD The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) February 20, 2017 The relationship between the Donald Trump administration and the press has reached a fever pitch which was evident during a press conference that took place at the White House last week. After announcing his new nominee for Labor Secretary, the billionaire real estate mogul spent the better part of the next hour lashing out at the press, and attacking various media outlets. Continuing issue While Donald Trump cited a false terrorist attack, he isn't the first person in his administration to do so. In recent weeks, Presidential Counsel Kellyanne Conway came under fire for using the fake "Bowling Green Massacre" to justify Trump's "Muslim ban" executive order. Just a week later, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer spoke to the press and gave two separate interviews where he referenced a terror attack in Atlanta which never occurred, though he later walked back his comments and clarified them. On Saturday night, Donald Trump held an apparent re-election campaign rally in Florida. At one point, Trump invited an excited member of the crowd onto the stage with him, and now new information about the man in question is coming to light. Trump fan After just one month in office, President Donald Trump is already gearing up for his potential re-election in 2020. Holding a campaign rally in Melbourne, Florida on Saturday night, nearly 10,000 screaming fans of the president were in attendance. Trump then noticed Gene Huber and called him on stage, as the two shared a hug. Not long after the incident took place, Huber was interviewed on CNN and shared some interesting information about his feelings towards the commander in chief. The Hill elaborated further on the story on February 19. Supporter who Trump invited on stage salutes cardboard cut out of him every day https://t.co/vomDFDRWxU pic.twitter.com/RbHoGnyqXB The Hill (@thehill) February 19, 2017 "Mr. President, I've been with you for two years," Gene Huber said while being interviewed on CNN, before adding, "every single second, every day, I'm with you." Not stopping there, Huber went on to admit that he salutes and prays to a life-size cutout of the former host of "The Apprentice." "I've got a 6-foot cardboard box of President Trump in my house," he admitted, while noting, "I salute that every single day." (CNN interview in video above) Continuing, Gene Huber explained his religious-like daily routine that he has with his Donald Trump cardboard box. "I tell him, Mr. President, I pray for your safety today," he said, while doubling down, "I'm not lying. I do that every single day." The Trump superfan said he thinks the billionaire real estate mogul is doing a "fantastic" job in the White House, and that there were "no words to describe" how well he is doing leading the country. Not long after the interview, a video clip circulated on social media where Huber was shown interviewing a Trump-talking toy. A star is born! I love this guy! We love you Gene Huber (@Squeakey6)! pic.twitter.com/HmbHy9LqNK Trump 2020 (@TrumpSource) February 19, 2017 Moving forward According to recent polls, Donald Trump is dealing with historically low favorability ratings, with his positive numbers dropping below 40 percent in the latest Gallup poll. While supporters like Gene Huber appear to be die-hard and loyal to the core, Trump is struggling to expand his approval to potential voters outside of his base. With the election still almost four years away, only time will tell if Huber's enthusiasm will rub off on enough people to ensure a second term. Over the last week, President Donald Trump has increased his attacks on the media as his administration deals with its first major scandal. While Trump has lashed out at the media during various press conferences and on social media, the issue has become so heated that it resulted in a clash on Fox News. Fox News on Trump During the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump made the mainstream media one of his top targets. Often referring to reporters and journalists as "terrible," "horrible," and the "most dishonest people" he's ever met, the commander in chief caused a rift between himself and the press. Since Inauguration Day, Trump has increased his attacks on members of the press, accusing credible and respected outlets like the New York Times and CNN of being "fake news." Trump's media attacks have become so intense that some members of the media who are considered more conservative are now speaking out. As reported by Mediaite on February 19, one host on Fox News is speaking out. Joining Fox News host Chris Wallace was Reince Priebus, the White House Chief of Staff. As expected, the issue of the aforementioned feud between the media and the administration was front and center. "You don't get to tell us what to do any more than Barack Obama did," Wallace told Priebus. "Barack Obama whined about Fox News all the time, but I gotta say, he never said we were an enemy of the people," Wallace went on to say. Chris Wallace Grills Priebus on Trumps 'Enemy' Tweet: You Dont Get to Tell Us What to Do https://t.co/z0AScUvE07 (VIDEO) pic.twitter.com/KmHuHA7XxC Mediaite (@Mediaite) February 19, 2017 Reince Priebus went on to cite a recent story in the New York Times that claimed members of the Donald Trump campaign had been speaking to Russia during the election, which the Chief of Staff referred to as "complete garbage." After Wallace asked why the story was false, Priebus refused to give anymore information, saying, "I'm not going to tell you." White House chief of staff Reince Priebus denies collusion between Trump campaign and Russian officials https://t.co/wDn76RaLuI pic.twitter.com/S3LArZj7pO CNN (@CNN) February 19, 2017 Clash continues "Wait a minute, Reince," Wallace fired back, before noting, "You just complained about unnamed sources. You're using an unnamed source!" Not stopping there, the Fox News host continued to grill the Trump adviser, stating "We don't have a state-run media in this country," before noting, "That's what they have in dictatorships." Moving forward After just a month in the White House, Donald Trump has found a way to increase the controversy that has surrounded him since he announced his campaign for president. With the press and the administration continuing to butt heads, it doesn't appear that both sides will find common ground anytime soon. Over the last week, the grudge between Donald Trump and the mainstream news media has only increased. With tensions at an all-time high, Vice President Mike Pence has decided to speak out. Pence on media From the day Donald Trump announced his candidacy for president, he quickly clashed with the media after they reacted harshly to his comments about illegal immigrants from Mexico being "murderers" and "rapists." Over the next year and a half, it appeared that Trump's sour relationship with the press would be enough to bring him down in defeat, but it wasn't the case. The billionaire real estate mogul managed to win the Republican primary last July, before eventually going on to defeat Hillary Clinton to become the 45th President of the United States. Since his election, Trump and the media have continued to butt heads, which Mike Pence elaborated on during a Monday afternoon press conference, as reported by CBS News on February 20. "Both the president and I strongly support a free and independent press," VP Pence says at press conference with Nato Secy General pic.twitter.com/vFFwnJMC7C CBS News (@CBSNews) February 20, 2017 Joining NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg for a joint press conference on Monday was Vice President Mike Pence who was asked about the administration's relationship with the media. "Rest assured both the president and I strongly support both a free and independent press," Pence said, before adding controversial comments that many have accused of being a threat or a warning. "But," Pence made sure to said, while continuing, "you can anticipate that the president and all of us will continue to call out the media when they play fast and loose with the facts." The vice president praised Donald Trump for his "unique ability" to reach the American people, in an apparent reference to his non-stop Twitter posts. Mike Pence: Trump and I Believe in a Free Press, But https://t.co/n9LrHNnS5J (VIDEO) pic.twitter.com/ECozNtFkiP Mediaite (@Mediaite) February 20, 2017 Moving forward Last week, Donald Trump held his own press conference at the White House where he ripped into the media and various news outlets for their alleged "unfair" coverage of his administration. Trump continued to lash out at the press, accusing them of publishing "fake news" in an attempt to discredit his presidency, despite not providing any credible evidence to back up his claims. With only a month in office, it doesn't look like the relationship between Trump and the media will be improving anytime soon. Answers Africa is one of a kind platform created for Africans both locally and in the diaspora and those seeking for more in-depth information about Africa. We have always focused on creating the highest quality informational contents right from the beginning. We share the most relevant information on the latest and trending news, events, people, and places in Africa. We produce contents across various categories including Politics, People, Love and Romance, Nature, Entertainment, Technology and pretty much everything else that Africans may find relevant. 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Chinua Albert Achebe Biography- Family, Net Worth & Death Chinua Albert Achebe, of blessed memory, was a Nigerian prolific author best known for his inventive style of writing and simplicity of expressions. Famed as one of the finest writers Nigeria has ever produced, Achebe lived and died an international hero and a literary giant, who left behind unforgettable legacies and footprints in the sands of ... Steve Harvey His Wife, Kids & Height Steve Harvey is an American comedian, actor, radio and TV show host, producer and an author of different relationship advice books. Steve Harveys Early Life Born in Welch, West Virginia, on January 17, 1957, as Broderick Stephen Harvey, Steve was the last of five children. His family relocated to Cleveland when he was young and there, he attended Glenville High School from ... 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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 ... 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Tucker Carlsons Love Story With Wife Susan Andrews, their Children and Net Worth Today On the TV screens, Tucker Carlson is that fiery fellow who passionately dishes out his conservative and often controversial views on issues of national importance. Such brazenness has fetched him many enemies, especially on the left-wing, but it has also helped him cement a reputation as one of the foremost broadcast journalists in America. His ... Paige Wyatts Net Worth, Boyfriend and Where She Is Now Paige Wyatt became popular after the Wyatt family began running the reality television show, American Guns. The Wyatt family comprises Rich Wyatt (father), Renee Wyatt (mother), Paige and Kurt Wyatt (children). Rich Wyatt originally ran a gun shop, the Gunsmoke Guns in Wheat Ridge, Colorado which is outside of Denver. The business which he ran together ... The Progression of Howard Sterns Career As A Media Personality And Why He Divorced His First Wife Howard Stern is a legendary American radio host, who has also done some notable work as an actor, producer, author, as well as photographer. The radio personality achieved worldwide fame as a result of his self-titled radio program, The Howard Stern Show. As a professional radio personality, he has worked in different radio stations. Since 2006, ... Lisa Joyners Biography Ethnicity, Net Worth and Other Key Facts Lisa Joyner is an American Journalist, TV talk show host, and actress. Some of her well-known works are her correspondences for the Los Angeles based TV KCBS, inFANity show, Find My Family Show including her film and television appearances in Brimstone, American Sweetheart, The Bold and The Beautiful among others. Lisas passion for reconnecting people with their biological families ... Amanda Balionis Rise Through the Ranks of Sportscasting and the Identity of Her Boyfriend Amanda Balionis is an American sportscaster currently working as a golf broadcaster for CBS Sports. Among so many of her works in the field of sports reporting, Amandas PGA Tour coverage seems to be the most popular so far. She covered the Super Bowl working with CBS Sports social media team in Atlanta, where she ... Dissecting Charles Paynes Sexual Allegations, Its After Effects and More About His Wife Charles Payne had a respectable career as an analyst on Wall Street before he made the transition to television and became a contributor and later a host on Fox. In that time, his expertise has come under scrutiny, and he has been at the center of at least one major controversy. The major controversy in question ... Erik Asla And Tryra Banks Split: Everything You Need To Know Tyra Banks and Erik Asla have called it quits! 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Nayyera Haqs Bio What To Know About Her Husband, Parents And Family Nayyera Haq can take anyone on political debates as well as discussions on social issues affecting many. Her ability to masterfully deliver her stance on every issue or political debate has made her a regular face in morning and evening news media platforms. This is not a common feat especially for someone from her kind ... Inside Guy Fieris Family With Wife, Kids and Sister Who Died of Cancer Over the years we have seen men dominate the kitchen and churn out amazing delicacies from it. Some do it way better than their female counterparts and one of such men is Guy Ramsay Fieri an American TV host, celebrity chef, restaurant owner, bestselling author of four culinary books, and game show host. His ... Meet Phil Mudd of CNN The Former CIA and FBI Exec, Is He Married, Who Is The Wife? 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The Ups and Downs of Erin Mcpikes Journalism Career and Other Facts About Her Personal Life Erin McPike is a journalist working for the Independent Journal Review (IJR) as a White House Correspondent but she gained widespread recognition for her coverage of general news. Whether its breaking news or some mainstream story, McPike has a reputation of baring the facts. As a journalist, her work as a White House Correspondent for Independent ... Bert Kreischer Is Married To LeeAnn Kreischer With 2 Kids Meet His Family Those familiar with Bert Kreischer mainly have the image of a large-bellied party man whose college life inspired the National Lampoon film, Van Wilder. It is an image that one would not naturally associate with a wholesome family. The standup comedian still maintains his wild party animal image on stage. But, back at home, he is ... 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This Is Everything You Should Know About Caroline Heldman, Her Career Portfolio and Other Facts Love it or hate it, there is no escaping the fact that feminism has come to stay in our world. The movement has continued to garner momentum over the years and this is due to the sustained push by several women, and even men, including the likes of Caroline Heldman. A Professor of Politics at ... Understanding The Enigma That Is Gavin McInnes, The Controversies He Has Stirred and All About His Wife Gavin McInnes is a polemical English-born writer and TV personality, who is best known for his racist and fascist ideologies, as well as his co-ownership of Vice Media and Vice Magazine. He is also an actor a On Friday, Donald Trump amped up his attack on the mainstream media with a series of tweets. In response, one host on MSNBC was not going to let him slide. MSNBC on Trump After Donald Trump took part in his controversial press conference on Thursday afternoon, it marked the start of a new level of hate in his war of words with the media. In the day since the aforementioned press conference, the former host of "The Apprentice" has increased his use of social media to pile on the press. On Friday morning, Trump railed against the "fake news" mainstream media, while praising right-wing talk show host Rush Limbaugh in the process. Hours later, the president went back to his Twitter account, not only accusing ABC News, CBS News, CNN, NBC, and the New York Times of being "fake news," but also labeling them the "enemy of the American people." As expected, backlash quickly followed, as Trump's tweets were highlighted across cable news. In response, MSNBC host of "Morning Joe," Joe Scarborough, used his Twitter feed to call out the president. Only a FAKE PRESIDENT would declare the First Amendment to be the enemy of the American people. https://t.co/ZFZvlTf8Az Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) February 17, 2017 "Only a FAKE PRESIDENT would declare the First Amendment to be the enemy of the American people," Joe Scarborough wrote on Twitter Friday night. In a follow-up tweet, Scarborough didn't hold back. "It's not even Saturday morning and someone is already losing his shit," the MSNBC host added. It's not even Saturday morning and someone is already losing his shit. https://t.co/ZFZvlTf8Az Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) February 17, 2017 Someone is cranky that Gallup has him at 38% and Pew has him at 39%. So now he's resorting to FAKE TWEETS. SAD! https://t.co/ZFZvlTf8Az Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) February 17, 2017 "Someone is cranky that Gallup has him at 38% and Pew has him at 39%. So now he's resorting to FAKE TWEETS. SAD!," Joe Scarborough wrote. Not stopping there, the "Morning Joe" host added, "This president attacks the judiciary's legitimacy, the intel community, and calls press outlets critical to him 'the enemy of the people.'" Joe Scarborough sent out several other critical messages on his Twitter account, going as far as calling on other conservatives to stand up for the Constitution. "Conservatives, feel free to speak up for the Constitution anytime the mood strikes," he noted, before adding, "It is time." Conservatives, feel free to speak up for the Constitution anytime the mood strikes. It is time. https://t.co/0mfHUQ03yO Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) February 17, 2017 Feud escalates Joe Scarborough's comments follow the harsh remarks made in recent days during "Morning Joe," along with co-host Mika Brzezinski. While the hosts have had a friendly relationship with the billionaire real estate mogul in the past, the 2016 presidential election and the tension surrounding it has ended any possible chance of getting back on the same page. Earlier this week, Brzezinski announced that Presidential Counsel Kellyanne Conway was banned from the show due to her lack of credibility. President Trump's Western Hemisphere Region National Security Council Advisor Craig Deare was escorted out of the White House West Wing on Friday, allegedly for his sharp criticism of President Trump's policies pertaining to Latin America, most notably Mexico. News of the escort and firing of Deare was leaked by a Trump Administration official who asked that his/her name not be disclosed. However, White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders did disclose that Deare had been "sent back to his original position," (ABC News, 2/19/17) at National Defense University at Fort McNair in the District of Columbia. Backlash to Trump Administration officials When she revealed Deare's firing to the media, Sanders was asked if it would create an atmosphere in which Trump Administration officials would fear reprisals for speaking out. Sanders' response was to the effect that all members of the President's team should be there "in order to carry out the president's agenda," (ABC News, 2/19/17). In other words, nobody who is on the President's team should oppose any part of the President' agenda and should be willing to carry out all parts of the agenda, period. Early last week, Trump's National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, was forced to resign over his failure to be candid with Vice-President Mike Pence about the nature of his conversation with a Russian Ambassador. Flynn told Pence that he did not discuss America's sanctions on Russia for its occupation of Crimea and for its interference with the 2016 American Presidential Election. The forced resignation of Flynn, the lying to Pence and the firing of Deare, have led to a nauseating feeling of "gloom and doom" among administration officials, especially among the senior staff. The fear of a general, invasive backlash against the senior staff has permeated the West Wing and created an atmosphere of instability and insecurity. GOP Arizona Senator John McCain recently described the Trump Administration as being in "disarray." Deare felt 'left out.' The unnamed source also revealed that Deare's remarks were made to the Wilson Center, which is a Washington, D.C. think tank. Deare not only criticized Trump's policies on Latin America, but he also expressed his outrage at being left out of most of the major administration policy discussions pertaining to Latin America. As it were, Deare felt isolated and excluded from the "inner circle" of senior White House staff, which included Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law. What's ahead for Deare Deare allegedly will return to National Defense University where he has been on the faculty since 2001. When he left the University to take the job at the White House, Deare was a dean at the university's College of International Security Affairs. It is unknown if he will return to that position. Trump's 'fine-tuned machine' Meanwhile, President Donald Trump told reporters at his press conference last week that despite rumors that his administration is in "chaos," that, it, in fact, is "running like a fine-tuned machine," (ABC News, 2/17/17). Trump did not explain how the recent controversy involving Flynn, Bannon, Deare and other administration officials, fits into his definition of a "fine-tuned machine." When Donald Trump announced his campaign for president in June 2015, he quickly came under fire for his controversial comments about illegal immigrants. Fast forward to present day, and Trump is now being linked to an immigration policy that is receiving harsh backlash. Trump denies On Friday night, the Associated Press reported that the Donald Trump administration were planning to use as many as 100,000 National Guard troops to deport illegal immigrants in 11 different states around the country. The memo obtained by the AP was reportedly drafted by Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, and would be seen as yet another controversial act by the White House. The news comes just days after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took close to 700 illegal immigrants into custody, the majority of whom had prior criminal records. As reported by The Hill on February 17, the White House is now denying the AP report. White House strongly denies report National Guard will be used to round up illegal immigrants https://t.co/n4N0KPMOGL pic.twitter.com/DCa2uPozzZ The Hill (@thehill) February 17, 2017 "That is 100 percent not true. It is false," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said while speaking to a pool of reporters, before adding, "It is irresponsible to be saying this." Not stopping there, Spicer continued to deny that the administration had any plans to use the National Guard to help in their deportation efforts. "There is no effort at all to round up, to utilize the National Guard to round up illegal immigrants," he confirmed. As of press time, Trump has not responded to the report, but has continued to bash the media on a daily basis, referring news outlets as "fake news" and reporters as "terrible people." The draft memo says participating troops would be authorized "to perform the functions of an immigration officer.' https://t.co/bMpTwNHd2a The Associated Press (@AP) February 17, 2017 White House backlash President Donald Trump hasn't even been in office for a month and he's already being forced to deal with the growing backlash against him, as well as his first major scandal. With the exception of the right-wing leaning Rasmussen poll, the billionaire real estate mogul's favorability rating is hovering around just 40 percent. With retired Gen. Michael Flynn now out as National Security Adviser due to being caught taking part in illegal communication with Russian officials, only time will tell how Trump handles business moving forward. On Thursday, February 16, 2017, Wikileaks, the global whistleblower organization founded by Julian Assange, released it's latest cache of sensitive internal governmental documents. This latest release pertains specifically to the United States' Central Intelligence Agency's opinions, actions, and operations related to the 2012 French National Elections. The first release of Wikileaks' 'CIA Vault 7' documents Wikileaks describe these documents as the first of a forthcoming series which is being called "CIA Vault 7". At this time, it is unclear what other nations, government agencies or covert operational details might be contained in future releases from this cache. Wikileaks describes the current CIA-related documents as concerning classified and restricted espionage orders which were allegedly carried out in France by human agents and electronic surveillance between a period of November 21st, 2011 and September 29th, 2012. During this time, the CIA focused it's intelligence gathering efforts on the French Socialist Party, the National During this time, the CIA focused it's intelligence gathering efforts on the French Socialist Party, the National Front, and Union for a Popular Movement. Additionally, current President Francois Hollande, former President Nicolas Sarkozy, current presidential front-runner Marine Le Pen, and previous presidential candidates Martine Aubry and Dominique Strauss-Khan are described by Wikileaks as principal targets for these covert actions. Who will be implicated by Wikileaks next? The main purpose of the actions described in these documents seems to have been the accumulation of strategic intelligence related to French governance structures, challenges, and opportunities in regards to United State's geopolitical ambitions and goals. CIA internal documents labeled, "Non Ruling Political Parties and Candidates Strategic Election Plans" and "What policies do they promote to help boost France's economic growth prospects?" and "What are their opinions on the German model of export-led growth?" are described by Wikileaks as "espionage orders", or operational directives regarding intelligence gathering. The documents contained in this cache are available to be viewed or downloaded in French and English from Wikileaks' website. Speaking during the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting panel on February 19th, Taylor Ricketts of the University of Vermont (UVM) presented his research findings during a presentation entitled: Plan Bee: Pollinators, Food Production, and U.S. Policy. Ricketts is a conservation ecologist and director of UVM's Gund Institute for Ecological Economics. How can we save the wild bee? Described as the first national map of wild bee pollination, these research findings paint a startling picture of the landscape of Bee Population Decline while also correlating this with the rise in the necessity for agricultural crop pollination. Though originally published in 2015 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Rickett's research was presented to the multidisciplinary scientists at the AAAS in hopes of fueling innovation and collaboration around this topic. In his view, without considered efforts undertaken to address the decline of wild bees, drastic economic losses could result from the impact of U.S. agriculture. Currently, pollinators such as wild bees are suggested to be directly connected to as much as $3 Billion of the domestic U.S. economy. The map Ricketts developed covers a very wide area of key U.S. agricultural zones in California, the Pacific Northwest, the upper Midwest and Great Plains, west Texas, and Mississippi River Valley. In these areas, losses of wild bees are leading to the need for increased artificial methods of pollination. Though pesticides, climate change, and other factors contribute to losses in the bee population, in this current research, the blame falls on development. In all of the target areas of greatest concern across 11 states, Ricketts describes increases amounting to land used to grow corn by as much as 200% over a five-year period. Without access to the wild grasslands where bees traditionally made their homes, their populations are threatened. Many of the areas of greatest concern are either connected to the growth of specialty crops such as almonds, blueberries, and apples because they rely so heavily on native pollinators. Additionally, certain crops such as pumpkins, watermelons, pears, peaches, plums, apples, and blueberries were found to be growing in the highest rates in areas with the least ability to naturally support them due to the decline of bees. Will future generations forgive us for forgetting about the wild bee? It is estimated that there as many as 4000 species of bees native to the United States. Without finding a way to protect their population numbers, the U.S. may face unprecedented challenges. Future generations may see the economic impact as one small piece of this increasingly complicated puzzle. During his victorious presidential campaign many critics made an issue of his inexperience in government and particularly in diplomacy. The beginning of Donald Trumps Administration has shown that these doubts were not imagined and two cases have highlighted the problems that can face a world leader on the international stage. The Old Ally When British Prime Minister Theresa May visited the White House #Donald Trump had the opportunity to forge the first real personal relationship with an important ally of the United States. As proof of this relationship the Conservative Prime Minister invited the businessman come politician to a State visit to great britain. Naturally the invitation was accepted with great pleasure by the President, but the reaction in England was not what he or Theresa May expected. Within hours people began a petition against the visit which would eventually reach over 1.6 million signatures. The public protest was against the public perceptions of Trumps racism and attitude to women To make matters worse, John Bercow, the Speaker of the house of commons, then announced that he would not allow to President of the United States to speak to a joint sitting of Parliament. As quoted by the newspaper the Independent the Speaker explained his decision by saying "However, as far as this place [the Commons] is concerned, I feel very strongly that our opposition to racism and to sexism and our support for equality before the law and an independent judiciary are hugely important considerations in the House of Commons." This decision was greeted by loud applause from many Members of Parliament and one parliamentarian replied to the Speakers speech with a simple Well done! This afternoon the petition against the visit will be debated in the House of Commons as required by law for such a petition. The Guardian reports that one outcome of the debate may be the withdrawal of the invitation to the President. This decision may well be the cause of new controversy for the White House at the beginning of the new week. Sweden On a more humorous note, an off the cuff comment by President Trump Saturday at Florida during his campaign rally drew satirical replies from #Sweden. In explaining the need for an immigration ban, as widely reported by the Press the 45th President referred to the look at what's happening last night in Sweden. Needless to say, no terrorist incident had occurred the night before in Sweden. In proof of the speed of international communication the reaction in the Scandinavian country was amused with an immediate wave of tweets under the hashtag #last night in Sweden. The most memorable reply was from former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt who tweeted What has he been smoking? As the Swedish population enjoyed itself taking the mickey out of the American President, the White House went into damage control. To add fuel to the fire Swedens Ambassador to the United States asked the White House for an explanation of the comment. On Sunday the President explained in a tweet that he had been referring to a report he had seen on Fox News. This explanation will almost certainly raise more questions than it answered. Mine fields Foreign policy and diplomacy are mine fields and these two incidents show quite clearly that it takes little to cause controversy between two countries. In the case of Sweden, in terms of international prestige, the delighted reaction of the Swedes in deriding the American president only adds to Donald Trumps image problem around the world. With his comment on Saturday Donald Trump has only added an item to this weeks to do list and, sadly for him London may also contribute to his busy agenda if the debate in the House of Commons today goes against him. After a relatively mild weekend with the only the hiccup being his comment about Sweden President Donald Trump will now begin the fourth week of his Administration with matters still hanging over his head that will require his attention. These will include matters blocked, come to be started and others to be completed. New order During his unusual press conference on Thursday President Donald Trump stated that a new executive order blocking Moslem Immigration from seven at risk countries in the Middle East will be signed this week. The original order that led to protests and was blocked by successful court challenges had been hastily prepared and without consultation with the Departments involved. This new order will need to address the issues that led to the court defeats. such as the apparent preference for Christian refugees from these countries, which seem to be unconstitutional and also the reference the inclusion of green card holders and other regularly recognized residents in the country. Complicating this matter was the report of Friday that the DHS was planning to use 100,000 members of the National Guard to enforce the wave of detention and deportations of illegal immigrants in the country. Although the White House denied that the use of the Guard was not policy, it did admit later that the proposal had been made in an early paper, but had been disregarded as an operational procedure. The messengers and the messages One issue that the White House will need to urgently address is its relationship with the Press Corps. Last weeks tweet calling the Press the enemy of the people and the accusations in the comments made by the President at his de facto campaign rally in Florida on Saturday do nothing to create a word relationship with journalists. In fact, the situation seems to be spreading after comments by #Fox News hosts Chris Wallace and Shepard Smith seem to indicate that now even traditionally pro Trump journalists are reacting to the constant calls of fake news by the White House in reply to any criticism of the Administration. The habit of blaming the messengers for the messages sent by the oval office and the regular barrages of tweets only worsen this long term problem for Donald Trump. Team Trump The resignation of Michael Flynn as National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and the decision by Andrew Pudzer to withdraw as a nominee for the position of Labor Secretary also highlighted the problems of the Oval Office to complete its Administration team. This too is becoming a matter of urgency as the Oval Office struggles to deal with the limits imposed by law and the Constitution in the decision making process as was witnessed with the Moslem Immigration ban. Allies' concerns One of the prime themes of #Donald Trumps winning presidential campaign was security, but his messages about his plans for NATO and also with the doubts raised by allegations of Russian interference, the Administration needs to address the quite open worries of its long term allies. At the Munich Security Conference last week Vice President Mike Pence and Defence Secretary James Mattis spoke about these issues with allies and Senator McCain also made an impassioned speech at the conference which was seen as a rebuke of the President on a number of issues. But as the New York Times reports, the worries of the allies was not quelled and must become a matter of priority for the Oval Office. To these issues must also be added the practical implementation of his border wall with Mexico which the President sees as a priority and the many campaign promises such as renegotiation NAFTA and the Iran Deal, rebuilding infrastructure, withdrawing from the Paris Agreement and many more. Not all of these will be possible, but after the first three chaotic weeks of the new Administration it will be interesting to see how many of them will be carried out. During the course of the entire presidential election, it was made clear that Donald Trump and most people in Hollywood didn't see eye-to-eye. After Trump was officially sworn in as the new commander in chief, the backlash from celebrities only continued to grow. Trump backlash When Donald Trump announced his plan to run for president, he did it knowing that the mainstream media and most high-profiled celebrities would not be by his side. Despite this, the billionaire real estate mogul was able to craft a message that resonated with enough voters to put him over the top on Election Day. While Trump was unable to win the popular vote, the former host of "The Apprentice" weathered the criticism from his opposition, and passed the required 270 electoral votes needed to get into office. As seen across Twitter on January 20, Hollywood critics were quick to lash out. The peaceful transfer of power is a thing of beauty. One moment Barack Obama is leader of the Free World. A moment later it's Angela Merkel. George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) January 20, 2017 "The White House removed its climate change web page. And the healthcare, civil rights and LGBT sections," actor George Takei wrote on his Twitter page, while adding, "Just thought you should know." In another shot at Donald Trump, Takei mockingly tweeted, "The peaceful transfer of power is a thing of beauty. One moment Barack Obama is leader of the Free World. A moment later it's Angela Merkel." Actor Alec Baldwin made sure to express is frustration with the Trump inauguration. "All of the jokes/parody/comedy aside, let's stop for a moment to take a full account of where we are," Baldwin wrote, before stating, "This country is lost. It's in trouble." All of the jokes/parody/comedy aside, let's stop for a moment to take a full account of where we are. This country is lost. It's in trouble. ABFoundation (@ABFalecbaldwin) January 20, 2017 Former MSNBC and ESPN host Keith Olbermann sent out various messages on Twitter throughout the day, one including a video, while also tweeting, "Our resistance will be arduous. But as the Russian scandal emerges resisting starts easily: Boycott the inauguration." In a more simplistic follow-up tweet, Olbermann added, "#ImpeachTrumpNow." Our resistance will be arduous. But as the Russian scandal emerges resisting starts easily: Boycott the inauguration pic.twitter.com/wbBpMGzNLD Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) January 20, 2017 Welcome to the age of plunder, bluster, and empty rhetoric. In other words, to the Age of Dumb. If you voted for him, you're responsible. Stephen King (@StephenKing) January 20, 2017 Anger from the left Noted horror author Stephen King also gave is thoughts on his Twitter page, writing, "If you voted for him (Donald Trump), you're responsible." Comedian Chelsea Handler decided to give her view with a humorous tweet, proposing, "In exchange for El Chapo, we would like to hand over Donald Trump. #Freetrade. #Inauguration." In exchange for El Chapo, we would like to hand over Donald Trump. #Freetrade. #Inauguration Chelsea Handler (@chelseahandler) January 20, 2017 Is anyone else getting this propaganda on your feed? I don't follow either of these and it's in my feed https://t.co/2nRABDGeG1 Sarah Silverman (@SarahKSilverman) January 20, 2017 After the Fox News Research Twitter feed posted a positive message about Trump's impact on the stock market, comedian Sarah Silverman responded back with curiosity. "Is anyone else getting this propaganda on your feed?" Silverman asked, before noting, "I don't follow either of these and it's in my feed." With the new president kicking off the start of his four years in the White House, backlash from Hollywood is not expected to slow down. It's no secret that the Brangelina divorce has taken a toll on both Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, both of whom have been spending less time in the spotlight than usual. On Saturday, Angelina stepped out with the Jolie-Pitt kids for the first time since filing for divorce. Jolie and her brood made an appearance in Cambodia at a press event for her new movie "First They Killed My Father." Angelina Jolie brings the children to Cambodia Angelina Jolie directed the movie, which is based on the memoir written by Cambodian human-rights activist Loung Ung. "First They Killed My Father" is a true story, written about the Khmer Rouge regime and the effects that communism had on the country in the 1970s. "First They Killed My Father" is described as a passion project for Angelina, whose son Maddox was born in Cambodia. It was reported that both Maddox and Pax helped her to make the movie adaptation. While in Cambodia for the press event, Angelina Jolie's children were able to meet the Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's divorce battle got ugly Jolie made headlines, not so much for her new movie, but because it was the first time that she has been seen in public with her children since back in September when everyone learned that she had filed for divorce from Brad Pitt. Angelina Jolie cited irreconcilable difference in the divorce paperwork but their problems went much deeper than just not getting along. Brad Pitt ended up getting investigated for child abuse due to an alleged altercation on board a private jet flight from France to Los Angeles. It was when the jet landed that someone outside of the aircraft heard the commotion going on inside and filed a report. Children's Protective Services and the FBI got involved and although Angelina ended up winning full custody of the children, no charges were filed against Pitt. Quite a bit of information about the Jolie-Pitt divorce and custody battle was being shared with the press until January. That was when both Jolie and Pitt finally signed a legal agreement to keep the remainder of their custody battle private, in order to protect the children. While in Cambodia to promote her new movie, Angelina Jolie broke her silence about the ordeal only for a minute. Before talking about how her main focus is her children, Angelina said: "We are a family, and we always will be a family, and we will get through this time and hopefully be a stronger family for it." Tyler Perry's "Too Close To Home" is in its second season. The show is the first original series of TLC and is a hit! The loyal fans tune in each week to watch what the residents of Happy, Alabama are up to. Right now, the third season is still in question. While fans anxiously await the news of a confirmed third season, there is talk of why the ratings dropped a couple of weeks ago after steadily climbing for each show over two seasons. Going Live on Facebook to interact with fans The cast of "Too Close To Home" is very involved with their fans! There are several fan pages on social media where the actors post to their fans. On one of those sites, Trisha went live before the last show. She was joined by a couple of other wonderful cast members -- Rebel (Annie Thrash) and Sheriff Mobley (Robert Craighead). While all of them were wonderful, Trisha stole the show! Her acting career started with a degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Not only did she earn a degree in Theatrical Performance, she also achieved a Master of Arts in Teaching. Her loyal 'Glee' fans follow her still Over the course of her career she has appeared in several shows, short films and commercials. In 2012 she joined the cast of Glee in a recurring role. Her fan base began to grow and those fans have followed her over to "Too Close To Home." In the live video with her fans prior to the last episode, many of her fans from Brazil logged on to say hello to her. When Annie and Robert asked why there were so many fans from Brazil, she gave a shout out to "Glee." The character of Momma Jolene is not a warm and fuzzy, nurturing mother. She is an angry, ungrateful, self-centered woman. Her daughters take care of her out of obligation, not love. Though fans have not been made privy to her past, we know it was sordid. A quick conversation with Sheriff Mobley made that clear. Trisha's interviews and interactions with her fans make it obvious that she is a sweet and fun-loving person. Her personality is downright adorable. And those interactions make a loyal fanbase even more loyal. lisa marie presley, the only child of rock and roll legend elvis presley, is finding herself embroiled in a heartbreaking family battle. Court documents reveal hundreds of indecent photos of children were discovered on a computer belonging to Michael Lockwood, Presleys estranged husband. Lockwood, who is a musician, is also the father of Presleys 8-year-old twins Harper and Finley. Unfortunately, the shocking evidence was enough for California authorities to make the decision to remove the girls from the home and place them in protective custody. According to papers filed in the California Superior Court, Lockwood is facing charges of sexual abuse and neglect. He has not yet been convicted of any crime related to possessing the photos, but the mere fact of having such material is documented evidence of conduct, which has destroyed the emotional calm of Presley. Accordingly, Lockwoods request for spousal support from Presley must be denied based on reason of his conduct. Bitter divorce and courtroom drama Presley, who was once also married to late pop star Michael Jackson, said she was shocked and horrified by the discovery. Lockwoods attorney, Jeff Sturman, rejects the claims, calling them inaccurate and unproven. Sturman told People magazine that his client will not elaborate or publicly disclose any negative information regarding his estranged wife as an act of retaliation. Daughter of the king of rock and roll and former wife of the king of pop The 49-year-old Presley is expected to appear in Edelman Childrens Court in March, in an effort to settle the matter. Presleys legal team also allege in court documents that her home was raided by the Beverly Hills Police Department, wherein 80 of Lockwoods devices were confiscated. The mother of four states she has no idea what is on those devices but fears that there could be more damaging images on them. In the documents, Presley added that she believes Tennessee law enforcement officials are conducting an investigation and that she lived in treatment some time between June and the filing date. The family lived in Tennessee until recently. Reportedly, she is currently having financial difficulty and living with her adult daughter, Riley Keough. Lisa Marie Presley married Michael Lockwood in 2006 and filed for a divorce last June, alleging he was a poor parent and took advantage of her finances. This is her fourth marriage. Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle have been dating since the summer. They have been spending a lot of time together. In fact, the "Suits" actress has been staying at Kensington Palace since the beginning of the year. They seem to be very much in love. However, there is one major thing that might stand in their way if they decide they want to get married. Royal Marriages Act Prince Harry cannot marry Markle or anyone else without Queen Elizabeth's permission. Usually in the United States, it is a custom that the bride's father gives permission for his daughter to marry. However, in this case it's the groom's grandmother who must give her approval. That's because she is the Queen of England, and there is a United Kingdom's Royal Marriages Act of 1772 that must be enforced. The law was passed by King George III after he disapproved of his brothers' marriages. Queen Elizabeth has never denied a marriage request of family members. She has not met Meghan yet, but she has heard about her. Kate Middleton had dated Prince William four years before she was introduced to Queen Elizabeth. Rumors are out that the 32-year-old royal intends to marry the 35-year-old biracial actress. They can marry only if Queen Elizabeth puts her stamp of approval on the nuptials. It is not just Prince Harry, but the Queen has the power to veto the marriage of any royal family member. It applies especially to the first six in line to the throne. Prince Harry is fifth in line following Prince Charles, Prince William, Prince George and Princess Charlotte. Pre-nuptial agreement It might be a rumor, but it has been reported that the couple has discussed marriage and have drafted a pre-nup. Meghan is worth $7 million, and Prince Harry is worth $52 million. He was left $19 million after his mother, Princess Diana, was killed in a car crash in Paris in 1997. In 2002, he received an undisclosed amount of money when his great-grandmother, the Queen Mother, died in 2002. When Prince William married Kate Middleton in 2011, he reportedly refused to sign a pre-nup. Prince Charles and Camilla do not have a pre-nuptial agreement. It wasn't Prince Harry but Meghan who suggested they sign a pre-nup. A different war awaits at the camps Currently, it is a time of harsh wars in the Middle East, women are being put down even more than ever before. Every day it is an ongoing battle for them and most of the time, there is not much being done to help. Almost 50 percent of the current Syrian refugees around the world are female. While most refugees look to escape the Civil war in Syria and flee to neighboring countries like Jordan, Malta and Greece, there is not much good waiting for them there. Obviously better than being stuck in the middle of a war. But what they dont know and come to realize, is that there is just another type of war waiting for them at the camps. The environment in the refugee camps is not something to raise heads, thats a fact. With cruel hot summers and bitter cold winters, the weather is not the real issue. Women have it much worse Up until today, living in a desperate and unsafe situation becomes an everyday battle for female refugees. They are at risk for abuse, harassment, rape and trafficking. Dont think its only by other men in the camps. Half of the cases happen from the authorities and volunteers there. Rape has now become a weapon of war at the camps. As if seeing massacres, Family Members killed and kidnapped before hoping for refuge wasnt enough. Almost 300 cases are reported to the camp clinics on a daily basis, where 1/3 of these cases are issues of harassment against females of all ages. This issue is a very under reported topic , mainly because a female will not speak about it or try to hold charges against the assaulter due to the fact that a girls family honor is more important, and should one jeopardize the family honor, risks being killed by her own family members, even if it was rape. A family solution Due to the dangerous risks for girls at these camps, parents are marrying off their daughters as young as 12 years old to other men, just to secure the safety of their daughters and their family name. If it were only that simple. Most of these young girls are being SOLD in to marriage. Men from outside the camps and sometimes of different nationality are picking out girls and offering money to the parents for marriage. Some as little as $200 and others are paying thousands of dollars, especially from men of the gulf. This is a huge crisis that is ongoing, yet nothing is being done about it. Females are under stress and depression, leading few of them to the point of suicide. In the camps, a girl cannot even go the bathroom at night without worrying about having her innocence stolen from her or not being abused. While the UNHCR and other groups have been trying to help women break their silence and try to find a solution for better living, the fact remains. These young women will always be a target for sexual assault and abuse, just because they are female. When Shandong Borun Process Industrial Technology Co acquired Birtley Industrial Equipment for $15 million in 2013, it marked a milestone: this was the first investment made in Kentucky by a Chinese company. Founded in 1994, Borun is located in the high and new technology district of Zibo city, Shandong. Borun mainly focuses on the production, R&D and marketing of four series of products: wear protection products, coal-washing equipment, material handling systems and chemicals. Its investment in Birtley in Kentucky was to produce coal-washing equipment. The decision was made at the height of US coal industry the US ranked second only to China in coal production and consumption in the early 2010s. Primarily used for power generation, the US national annual production of coal was at roughly 1 billion tons. Kentucky produced about a tenth of it and its demand for heavy duty coal equipment was high. With the anticipation of selling coal-washing equipment to the coal industry, Birtley built a large capacity factory to produce the machines, said Zhao Caoxun, production technology and development manager at Birtley. Whenis first mined, it contains a lot of impurities such as sulfur and stones. Coal-washing equipment, which includes cyclones, screens and centrifuges, helps remove those rejects. However, soon after the investment was made, trends in the coal industry began to change. Shale gas technology emerged and gas production went through the roof. Natural gas, a cleaner energy, became abundant and affordable. Meanwhile, the Obama administration was enforcing stricter environmental protection regulations. "Under President Obama, the requirements for emission and waste water treatment became more stringent for the coal-related industry," said Zhao. "The permitting process took much longer, often more than a year. Coupled with cheaper gas, power generation through coal became unprofitable for many." US coal production dropped more than 25 percent in the last a few years. Unable to sell as much as equipment as it originally envisioned in a shrinking market, Birtley took steps to adapt. "We first turned to the parts and service business," Zhao said. "Mining companies are less likely to buy new equipment but they still need repairs and parts. We provide a parts supply as well as repair service. We also refurbish used equipment." Birtley also functions as a procurement unit for its parent company Borun in China and exports millions of dollars of materials to China every year. In addition, Birtley has begun to explore other business opportunities, and has succeeded in building projects related to environmental protection. In Shandong, where Borun is located, the impact of industrial pollution is obvious and serious. "The environmental industry is becoming a big deal in China, and Birtley has become a platform for Borun to bring advanced US environmental technology to China," Zhao said. Working with academics from Georgia and Alabama, Birtley helped bring plasma gasification technology to China. "Plasma gasification technology uses extreme high temperature to process harmful waste and turn it into syngas [synthesis gas] for power generation or into chemicals for other industrial uses," Zhao explained. Working with experts in the US, Birtley and Borun brought this technology to China and built the first plasma gasification facility in Zibo for Shandong Xinquan Pharmaceutical Co to treat pharmaceutical wastewater. Taking the lesson learned in Kentucky, Zhao said the first facility is not that big, with an investment of around $2 million only. Other similar plasma gasification projects are underway. Birtley is also working with an Oklahoma company on another environment friendly project using key US components to build a high-temperature furnace to incinerate hazardous industrial waste. Besides adapting to a changing market, Zhao said that adaption to local culture has been another experience at Birtley. Doing business in the more culturally homogenous state of Kentucky compared to the west or east coasts where Chinese investment is more visible Zhao said there has been a cultural learning curve. "People here are very reliable, they do what's supposed to be done and always deliver. However, some of them don't like to venture outside. We had one worker who declined to go to China for job training because it's just too far away and too different," said Zhao. Another major issue had been guns. Carrying a gun is common for a lot of people in Kentucky, and Zhao finds the presence of guns in the workplace a bit unsettling. "Some said that they feel naked without guns with them. Eventually we had to compromise: they leave their guns behind in the car in the company parking lot," said Zhao. Of the close to 20 employees at Birtley, the majority are local residents and only four staff members are ethnically Chinese. Communication styles are certainly different between the two groups, Zhao said. Americans are more direct while Chinese tend to be more subtle. The two groups have learned to appreciate the other's style and get the message across. Zhao also emphasizes that quality of products and service is the most important factor for success in the US. "Bad quality means downtime for the customers. Downtime means large amounts of revenue loss. Quality, not price, is the most important part of having a successful business," said Zhao. mayzhou@chinadailyusa.com By Xinhua in Bonn and Zhao Huanxin in Washington and Zhang Yunbi in Beijing | China Daily USA | Updated: 2017-02-20 11:49 Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his US counterpart Secretary of State Rex Tillerson agreed in Bonn on Friday that the two countries should work together for greater development of bilateral relations during the term of US President Donald Trump. Wang and Tillerson met on the sidelines of the foreign ministers meeting of the Group of Twenty (G20) to exchange views on bilateral ties and issues of mutual concern. The meeting is the first of its kind since Tillerson assumed office. Wang said the recent telephone conversation between President Xi Jinping and US President Trump had been of great significance. During the conversation, Wang said the US side had made it clear that it would continue to honor the one-China policy and the two leaders agreed that China and the United States could be great partners and should promote greater development of their bilateral relationship from a new starting point. This key consensus has safeguarded the political basis of Sino-US relations, charted the course of the relationship in the new era, and created the necessary pre-conditions for the two nations to engage in strategic cooperation on bilateral, regional, and global issues, Wang noted. Wang said that China and the United States, both shouldering the responsibilities of securing world stability and enhancing global prosperity, had more common interests than disputes. China is ready to work with the US side to implement the consensus reached between President Xi and President Trump, and move the bilateral relationship forward in a direction that features no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation, Wang said. He said the two sides should increase communication, enhance trust, handle differences properly, and deepen cooperation in a bid to ensure greater development of bilateral relations during Trump's presidency, bring tangible interests to the two countries' peoples and make more contributions to world peace and prosperity. On Friday, acting State Department spokesperson Mark Toner said: "Secretary Tillerson and Minister Wang noted the recent call between leaders and discussed efforts to advance bilateral cooperation while addressing differences in a constructive manner." The two also discussed the need to create a level playing field for trade and investment, according to Toner. Tillerson reiterated the US stance to abide by the one-China policy, which carries specific significance, not only to the bilateral relationship, but also to regional stability and development. The US secretary of state said the US side looked forward to working with China to conduct high-level exchanges, facilitate understanding, and maintain, improve and consolidate mutual dialogue and cooperation mechanisms in all fields. Tillerson also expressed the US side's hope for strengthened cooperation with China in areas such as economy, finance and security and pushing for greater development of bilateral ties. Wang and Tillerson also exchanged views over the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula. Ruan Zongze, vice-president of the China Institute of International Studies, said "the talks further clarified the new US administration's China policies", and Tillerson's reaffirming the one-China policy helps dismiss widespread doubts over the bilateral ties. Ruan said many international issues, including the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue and Syria, need renewed coordination between China and the US. Wu Xinbo, director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, said the meeting was pragmatic and indicates that key mechanisms, such as the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue, will continue in previous or similar forms. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin talked with Vice-Premier Wang Yang and other senior officials separately on the phone on Friday, four days after he was sworn in. A report from the Xinhua News Agency was brief, stating that Wang and Mnuchin had a phone conversation on Feb 17 night Beijing time by appointment, and the two sides exchanged views on China-US economic cooperation and other issues. The readout from the US Treasury spokesperson was longer. It said Mnuchin held separate calls with Wang as well as the Minister of the Office of Central Leading Group on Finance and Economic Affairs Liu He, People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan and Minister of Finance Xiao Jie. "In each of these calls, Secretary Mnuchin underscored that he looked forward to fostering strong US-China engagement during his tenure," it said. "The secretary emphasized the importance of achieving a more balanced bilateral economic relationship going forward. He conveyed his commitment to working with the Chinese leadership on a comprehensive set of economic, financial, trade and investment, and illicit fiance issues, in both bilateral and multilateral forums," the statement said. Mnuchin noted that demonstrated leadership by the two countries on critical issues will not only be of benefit to each country but also to the global economy, according to the readout. Mnuchin commended Wang for the critical role that he has played as a partner in managing the bilateral economic relationship and expressed his desire to work closely together, it said. The call came on the same day that China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi was meeting with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Bonn, Germany during the G20 foreign ministers meeting. It was the first high-level face-to-face meeting between the two countries under the new US Donald Trump administration. It came a week after Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping had a phone conversation described by the White House as "lengthy" and "extremely cordial". During his 2016 presidential election, Trump threatened to name China a currency manipulator and impose a 45 percent tariff on Chinese exports to the US, triggering speculation about a possible trade war between the world's two largest economies. David Dollar, a senior fellow at the John L. Thornton China Center of the Brookings Institution, noted that Trump has not done any of these things in his first four weeks in office. "So it does seem that he is approaching China cautiously, which is probably good," Dollar said. Dollar still sees uncertainty due to disagreements within the Republican Party on how to treat China. "Probably the administration would do some protectionist measures against China. But I am hopeful that those will be relatively small, almost symbolic. And I am sure China will retaliate. But if the measures are small on both sides, then it's a minor annoyance," said Dollar, a former US Treasury emissary in Beijing from 2009 to 2013. "But I could be wrong," he added. "I do think if the Trump administration does any major protectionist measures against China, I am sure that China will retaliate in a major way. And that will be quite bad for our two economies." Dollar thinks a real trade war between the two is unlikely. He blamed both sides for the bilateral imbalance. "I blame both countries because it takes mistakes on both sides to create that kind of problem," he said, adding that the US problem is not enough saving, while problem on the Chinese side is too much saving and not enough consumption. chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com October 31, 2022 17:51 World wheat prices up At the opening of trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, world wheat prices jumped by almost 5 percent, trading data show. The trigger for the rise in prices was the fact that Russia announced it was suspending the grain deal, news.am informs. ABC News(WASHINGTON) Vice President Mike Pence today said he was "disappointed" that former U.S. national security adviser Michael Flynn had misled him about the nature of his conversations with Russian officials during the presidential transition period. "I was disappointed to learn that the facts that had been conveyed to me by General Flynn were inaccurate," Pence told reporters at a joint news conference with the head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Brussels. "I fully support the president's decision to ask for his resignation." It was the vice presidents first time speaking about President Trumps asking retired Lt. Gen. Flynn to resign as national security adviser. "I'm very grateful for the close working relationship I have with the president of the United States," Pence said. "It was the proper decision. It was handled properly and in a timely way. And I have great confidence in the national security team of this administration going forward." Trump asked for Flynn's resignation after learning he did, in fact, have communications with the Russian ambassador about pending sanctions by the Obama administration in December, after initially believing there was no such discussion. Pence was kept in the dark for two weeks, according to Pence's press secretary. Pence repeated the incorrect claim in January that Flynn had not discussed the sanctions but eventually learned Flynn had misled him through media reports. In his resignation letter, Flynn said he "inadvertently" gave "incomplete information" about multiple calls with the Russian ambassador. Flynn had previously said he did not speak with Russian officials about the pending sanctions. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer cited the "eroding relationship" between Trump and Flynn as the reason Trump asked for his resignation. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Iran is patient with Turkeys positions, however the patience has its own limits, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Ghasemi has made such a statement during todays meeting with the reporters, Panorama.am reports, referring to MEHR Iranian news agency. February 20, 2017, 17:46 Iran warns Turkey its patience 'not unlimited' STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 20, ARTSAKHPRESS: Turning to the recent tension in Turkey-Iran relations, Irans Foreign Ministry Spokesman particularly noted the following: We hope that the Turkish politicians will be more cautious and prudent in their statements on Iran. Iran will still be patient with Turkeys positions, however our patience has its limits. To note, during his visit paid to Bahrain, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan touched upon the regional developments noting that religious and national differences are observed in Iraq. Iranian nationalism, as well as separatist movements have also been formed there which must be stopped. His work is informative, topical, funny or quirky and, very importantly, offers a personal touch. He writes in a style we are beginning to recognise as from the Simbu School of writing. He has no respect for stultifying political correctness. Sil never ceases to surprise with the range of topics he addresses in his essays. Stylistically, he walks in the footsteps of the great essayists. He has also authored a significant book, launched in Canberra in 2013, The Flight of Galkope, a magical combination of Simbu history and myth brought to modern times with a thoughtful discussion about the prodigious Simbu diaspora. KELA Kapkora Sil Bolkin has been a consistent and popular writer for many years and his work submitted to the Crocodile Prize began has consistently been of high quality. Readers always look forward to Sils next piece and he attracts plenty of comments, as a good essayist should. In 2014 Sil provided a particularly thought-provoking array of writing topped by his revealing and prize-winning - story about criminal complicity between Asian businesses and the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary in Port Moresby. It won him that year's Crocodile Prize essay award. He was undertaking post-graduate study at the Australian National University when The Flight of Galkope was launched by Charles Lepani, PNGs high commissioner to Australia, in Canberra (see photo above). I flew down from Hervey Bay for the event to be dismayed when the publisher lost the entire shipment of books. We were undeterred: the book was launched with the single proof copy. The books arrived the following day and, as we were both flying out that day, Sil met me at the airport and presented me with a copy. Now hes back in Papua New Guinea the essays have begun to appear again. Sil hasnt lost any of his bite and readers can look forward to a steady stream of incisive pieces on subjects that would not normally be canvassed. Sil Bolkin is a substantial and significant Papua New Guinean writer. __________ Papua New Guinea as a banana republic: Chinese Li Wu suborns officials KELA KAPKORA SIL BOLKIN A recent incident I witnessed at the Taurama Shopping Centre in Port Moresby ended up posing some important questions for all Papua New Guineans. An argument started between a Tari man in a Chinese kaibar and the Chinese man on the other side of the counter. Moments later, a towering Chinese man came out and punched the 1.5 metre Tari man into submission. He was beaten and bruised to the point of exhaustion and, as you might expect, two of his Tari wantoks came to the rescue and nearly punched and kicked the tall Chinese man to death. The public who witnessed the incident were divided in their support. The pro-Chinese mob said the Chinese had created employment and paid taxes through their businesses. They said Papua New Guineans do not create employment but sit and gamble (bom or 7-leaf) or talk politics and wait for free handouts. They added that Papua New Guineans finding themselves with some money become one-day-millionaires and go on a drinking spree and sing until dawn. They concluded that PNG men and women have no business acumen and should not talk about Chinese business aggression. On the dissenting side, the pro-Taris said most of the Chinese come into the country through back door deals with politicians and immigration officials and corrupt every system in place. They said being citizens of a superpower doesnt give Chinese the right to break the laws of a small country and trample on its citizens. As the arguments went on, they almost erupted into another melee but police officers speedily arrived on the scene, and this was most interesting. Two police cars arrived containing high ranking officers. The Chinese called these senior police officers by name and chatted with them. It was evident they were friends. The policemen ignored the bruised Tari man. I started taking photographs but an obese policeman demanded that I delete them on the spot. I deleted the shots while he watched. One of the policemen said, You journalists write bullshit. I told him I was not a journalist and didnt even know how to write. No one could find out the reason for the argument because the Tari man could not speak good Pisin and the Chinese culprit could only speak Mandarin. People tried to ask the young women in the kaibar to explain what went wrong but the Chinese told them not to talk. Anyhow, no arrests were made. The Taris were told to go home and refrain from being such nuisances and one of the Chinese came out of the kaibar and gave the police servings of rice and stew in takeaway cartons and some Coca Cola. One of the policemen took the plastic bag without saying thank you and looked in the direction of the crowd, swore and told us to disperse. Maybe swearing at the public was an indirect way of saying thank you to his Chinese friend for the free lunch. When the police left, a veteran public servant said the Chinese keep a black book that contains the names of the 80% of PNG politicians and bureaucrats who are given Li Wu. Li Wu in Chinese Mandarin is gift or present and Her Li is a congratulatory gift. Most politicians when they are elected and ministers when they are appointed receive Her Li, the public servant said. He added that around 80% of top police officers are on the payroll of Chinese businesses. Occasionally you hear people on the streets of Port Moresby say, Em ol polis bilong LGNA or Em ol polis bilong RH. LGNA and RH are, of course, Asian companies. The incident at Taurama Shopping Centre seemed to confirm what the veteran civil servant had said about the black book and the various police officers in PNG in the pay of both government and Chinese and other Asians. The Chinese are able to call top ranking police officers who within minutes will arrive to provide protection. The top officers release the Chinese and get junior police to assault Papua New Guineans. One has to ask, Does the Li Wu to politicians and top bureaucrats make Chinese businessmen and women in Papua New Guinea immune to the laws of the independent state of Papua New Guinea? 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. U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand wants the federal government to continue its support for arts and humanities programs across the country. Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and 23 of her Senate colleagues signed a letter sent to President Donald Trump urging him to preserve funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The letter followed a New York Times report revealing that the Trump administration is aiming to eliminate several federal programs, including the NEA and NEH. The NEA and NEH, which formed in 1965, received $296 million $148 million apiece in the 2016 fiscal year, according to the Washington Post. The programs each accounted for 0.003 percent of federal spending. A report released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis found the arts and humanities is a $704 billion industry. "Their reach extends to communities in every corner of the state of New York and across the country," Gillibrand said of the NEA and NEH. "The critical work of these agencies includes funding research, preserving our culture and history, strengthening museums and bringing artistic projects to life, while adding tremendous value to the national economy. "Support for national arts and humanities initiatives define who we are as a nation and are pivotal in the advancement of our education and economy." The letter sent to Trump was signed by a bipartisan group of senators, including U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, a West Virginia Republican, and U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, a Democrat from New Mexico. Here is the full text of the letter: Dear Mr. President, We write today in support of the critical work being done at the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). These federal agencies provide vital support and resources to endeavors in the arts and humanities across the country that serve as drivers of innovation and economic prosperity. We encourage you to support the Chairmen of these agencies, who demonstrate a continued commitment to supporting the arts and humanities. Since its creation in 1965, the NEH has funded groundbreaking scholarly research, preserved essential cultural and educational resources, cataloged more than 63 million pages of our nations historic newspapers, and helped millions of young people grapple with the lessons of history. Additionally, both the NEH and NEA offer healing programs for those who serve in our Armed Services and their families, as well as veterans reintegrating into civilian life. Also established in 1965, the NEA supports art and education programs in every Congressional District in the United States. Access to the arts for all Americans is a core principle of the Endowment. The majority of NEA grants go to small and medium-sized organizations, and a significant percentage of grants fund programs in high-poverty communities. Furthermore, both agencies extend their influence through states arts agencies and humanities councils, ensuring that programs reach even the smallest communities in remote rural areas. Programs offered through the NEA and NEH not only help Americans express their values and forge connections between cultures, but they also serve as important economic drivers. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reports that the arts and culture sector is a $704 billion industry, or 4.2 percent of the nations GDP. The nonprofit arts industry alone produces $135 billion in economic activity annually and generates $22.3 billion in government revenue. The arts spur tourism, prepare our students for the innovative thinking required in the 21st century workplace, and employ more than 4 million people in the creative industries nationally. While it is very rare for artists or institutions, like museums, to secure funding from just one source, it is the funding from these agencies that stimulate strong private investments. These agencies collaborate with private foundations across the country to bring artistic endeavors to life. In fact, each dollar awarded by the NEA leverages nine dollars from other sources. The ideals of these agencies are enshrined in our Constitution as a fundamental tenet of American civil society. Article I, Section 8 explicitly empowers the United States Congress to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts. The importance of federal support for these activities inherently aligns with the founding principles of this country. Federal support for the arts and humanities is essential to our education system, economy, and who we are as a nation. We hope you will keep this in mind as you consider proposals that support these fundamental American institutions. As members of upstate New York's congressional delegation criticize a plan to move forward with biometric screening at U.S.-Canada border crossings, U.S. Rep. John Katko says he supports the initiative. Katko, R-Camillus, said in an interview with The Citizen Thursday that he's aware of the potential impact the screening could have on border communities, especially those in northern and western New York. But as a member of the House Homeland Security Committee and chair of the Subcommittee on Transportation and Protective Security, he's focused on new technology that could bolster security, particularly at the northern border. "I think we can find a happy medium between the two," he said. "I think we need to work to do that. Travel and tourism are a large part of our economic opportunities in New York state and in our district. We need to take a look at that." The biometric screening requirement, which could involve either fingerprinting or iris scans for those entering and leaving the U.S., is a product of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump. The system was first proposed in the 9/11 Commission Report, which recommended the implementation of biometric screening. Requiring biometric screening, critics say, will lead to long lines at border crossings and could have an adverse economic impact on communities, such as Buffalo, that tend to draw large numbers of Canadian visitors. The opponents of biometric screening include U.S. Rep. Chris Collins, a Republican with close ties to Trump. Collins came out against biometric screening in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly. Members of the Northern Border Caucus, including U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins, a Buffalo-area Democrat, signed a letter sent to Kelly raising concerns about the possibility of biometric screening at the U.S.-Canadian border. "Our border infrastructure is already congested, hampering the seamless flow of goods and people across our border and the economic growth potential that comes with it," Higgins said in a statement. "Adding another checkpoint layer is logistically unfeasible for many bridges and plazas already at capacity and completely counterproductive to efforts that feed our local and national economies." Katko said he's eager to get the results of a review being conducted at the northern border to determine what steps, if any, need to be taken to increase security at U.S.-Canada border crossings. The first bill Katko introduced in Congress was a measure requiring the northern border security review. The legislation was approved by the House and Senate and signed into law by President Barack Obama late last year. Katko expects that the security assessment will be completed in April. "We should let that dictate how we proceed going forward," he said. "Obviously we always have to be mindful of the economic impact of such rules. I think that report is going to inform us that there are security vulnerabilities on our (northern) border. I also think that we can work with our counterparts in Canada and the U.S. to make sure that we don't unduly disrupt commerce." Sometimes you need an escape from the outside world, and books can take you away to another place and time. A good mystery can do that, and the three authors highlighted this month have each written a series set in a different era, with a female protagonist in an interesting profession. Susan Elia MacNeal set her Mr. Churchills Secretary in 1940 London. Maggie Hope is a young American woman, all set to attend prestigious MIT in Massachusetts, when she is called to London to oversee the sale of her late grandmothers home. With the looming war, Maggie is unable to sell the house, so she stays in London and finds work as a secretary for Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Maggie had her sights set on working in British intelligence, using her education in math to help break German codes, but as a woman that avenue is closed to her. There is a mystery to Maggies life. For some reason unknown to Maggie (or the reader), British intelligence is keeping tabs on Maggie. At the same time, she discovers something about her dead father that puts her in the middle of a dangerous situation. Mr. Churchills Secretary is a fast-paced and well-researched novel. McNeal reveals in a historical note at the end of the book that she came upon the idea while touring the fascinating war cabinet rooms in London, and researched the women who worked there. (Dont skip this interesting section.) Maggie is a wonderful character, and several times in the book, MacNeal had me audibly gasping as she put Maggie in some tight situations. If it was a movie, I would have spilled my popcorn many times. MacNeal plunges the reader into wartime London, and you get a real sense of what it was like to live with the terror of bombs descending on the city where you live. MacNeal has six more books in this terrific series, with a seventh due this August, and I cant wait to read them all in succession. Radha Vatsals debut novel A Front Page Affair takes us to 1915 New York City, as Capability (what a great name!) Kitty Weeks is working as a reporter on the fashion and society pages for the New York Sentinel newspaper. Kitty really wants to cover the hard news stories, something that women just werent allowed to do. While covering a society party on Long Island, a man is murdered and Kitty is the only reporter on the scene. She takes advantage of her position and works to discover why Mr. Cole was murdered. Was he having an affair with a married woman? Did he owe money to someone shady? As Kitty delves deeper into the murder mystery, she discovers that her father (like Maggie Hopes) has something he is hiding. The murder mystery may also have something to do with a wartime conspiracy, and Kitty uses her wits and education to unravel the truth. Kitty Weeks is an intriguing protagonist, and the jailhouse scene is tense and well-done. Vatsals second book in the series, Murder Between the Lines, publishes in May, and her interest in female silent film directors is supposed to be a running theme in her books, which is unique and interesting. Victoria Thompson writes about turn-of-the-20th-century New York City in her Gaslight Mystery Series, featuring midwife Sarah Brandt. The first book in the series, Murder on Astor Place, introduces us to Brandt and NYPD Detective Sgt. Frank Malloy. As a midwife, Sarah has seen many women die in childbirth. But while on one house call to aid in a delivery, she stumbles upon a young woman who has been murdered. The woman comes from a well-to-do family, a family that Sarah knows well, but they seem uninterested in why or how their relative died. Sarah meets Sgt. Frank Malloy, a widower with a young son. Since the murdered womans family is interested in the case, Malloy decided he has other, more pressing issues. Sarah pushes Malloy to work the case and insinuates herself in the investigation, and a friendship blossoms. Thompson has written 18 books in the series, all set in New York neighborhoods, such as Murder in Chinatown and Murder in Little Italy, and her series has an avid fan following. If you are a New York City history buff, the Gaslight Mystery Series gives you a true look at a growing city. AURELIUS After a weekend of folks geeking out with comic book artists, "Doctor Who" replicas, "Star Wars" stormtroopers and more, Joey Gates chalked up the first-ever Fingerlakes Comic Con as a success. The three-day convention came to a close on Sunday at Fingerlakes Mall in Aurelius. Gates, the event's organizer and a Marcellus resident, said he believes at least 300 people attended the convention's final day. "We've had a lot of different age groups," he said. "When I say it's family friendly, I mean everyone and everything, there's something here for everybody." Sunday's main event was a costume contest. About 30 cosplaying contestants from different parts of the state were dressed like a variety of characters, whether it was Spider-Man, Harley Quinn, the Thing from the Fantastic Four or even an 8-month-old dressed as Barf from the 1987 Mel Brooks film "Spaceballs." Prizes for the convention included exclusive prints and collectibles donated by artists Charles Urbach and Rusty Gilligan. The event also closed with appearances by other comic book artists, like Steve Geiger and Matt Bolton. Members of Garrison Excelsior the upstate New York unit for the 501st Legion of Imperial Stormtrooopers, an organization of "Star Wars" reenactors posed for photos around the convention area on Sunday. The Ghostbusters of upstate New York appeared at the mall the day before. The convention took over much of the mall's west wing at the event center near the former Sears space. Gates characterized Friday's opener, which ran for around five hours, as more of a "half-day." Overall, Gates estimated that around 700 people turned out over the course of the convention. The 27-year-old said he put on the show based on his own personal experiences with conventions. His friends and family including his four brothers and parents were instrumental, he said, in serving as convention staff and bringing the event together. Intent on organizing a second convention next year, Gates said he plans to condense the show into two days with lower ticket prices. "We want to make this a family-friendly, budget-friendly event," he said. "We've had a lot of input on the event this year and we are taking everything everyone has said into consideration and we will develop year two into something even better than year one." Adam Sabol, of Adam's Action Figures & Comics in Edinburg, Ohio, was one of several vendors who turned out for the weekend's convention. After staying for the full three days, Sabol said while any first-time convention will have its "growing pains" with drawing people, his booth was still profitable and noted interest in returning next year. Tyger Smith, emcee for Sunday's cosplay contest, said the convention brought a comic con experience to an Auburn-area community that does not normally see those types of events. "There's no age gap. There's nothing, man. This culture transcends all of that," Smith said. I gave this lecture on January 24 at ESMT, the business school in central Berlin. While not a verbatim transcript of the presentation, the text below is based on oral delivery and on unpresented but prepared notes. It was also published online by ESMT (with a video of the lecture) and by PIIE. At a time when there is much uncertainty in the world, this open lecture will focus on the challenges that are facing the European Union this year and, among them, on those that have a specific economic and financial dimension and may be addressed by European policy initiatives in the near future. I am very grateful to Jorg Rocholl, President of ESMT, for his generous invitation to speak today in this intimidating historic room, and to Micha Grajek who has kindly accepted to moderate the questions-and-answers session after my initial remarks. A more stable outlook after ten years of turmoil The title of this lecture is an invitation to look forward, but it is also important to remember where we come from. The European Union is only slowly emerging from nearly a decade of continuous economic and financial emergency, which started with the first indications of major dysfunction in the financial system in the middle of 2007including here in Germany, with the rescue of IKB in late July of that year. Financial and economic turmoil later morphed into disruptive political developments, which in turn generated economic and financial challenges of their own. Of these political developments, at least one will certainly have lasting structural consequencesthe choice made last year by the United Kingdom to leave the EU, or Brexit. Apart from the UK, there are many current challenges in European politics, but it remains to be seen whether they are of more than a temporary nature. The initial political impact of Brexit itself has been weathered by the rest of the EU, better than many observers (including myself) would have anticipated. There has been shock and disbelief, but no obvious contagion to other member states in terms of collapse of public support for European integration; if anything, the opposite has been observed in several opinion polls since June 2016. It is early in the year, of course, and a string of elections later this year will give us a number of new data points. As for financial system aspects, there is no question that Brexit represents a significant shift in the European landscape, given the central role of London as a capital markets hub for the entire European Union in the recent past and the present. 2017 is likely to mark the end of the EUs decade-long sequence of economic and financial emergency. Such a statement may appear overly optimistic given all the catastrophist media headlines about the EU and the euro, which are routinely depicted as on the verge of collapse. But while that alarming picture was definitely appropriate during the transatlantic financial meltdown of the early autumn of 2008, or during the climax of the euro-area crisis in late 2011 and early 2012, or even during the high drama of the Greek crisis in mid-2015, it rings less true now. The last major pockets of country-specific banking sector fragilityin Portugal and Italyare belatedly on the way towards being properly addressed, at least if a number of important ongoing transactions are confirmed. These include the privatization of Novo Banco, the capital increases of BCP and Caixa Geral de Depositos in Portugal, and in Italy, the public recapitalization of Monte dei Paschi di Siena and that of the entity resulting from the announced merger of Banca Popolare di Vicenza and Veneto Banca. If and when all these are completed, which I hope and expect will be the case in a few weeks, a picture will emerge of a euro-area banking sector still in need of considerable restructuring but no longer in a situation of systemic fragility (even though smaller banks in Italy and elsewhere will remain a concern). Similarly, while negotiations on continued financial assistance to Greece remain difficult, they are unlikely to degenerate into the kind of unreasonable brinkmanship that occurred in mid-2015. And while Brexit creates significant challenges for the financial system of the EU-27 (the 27 other EU countries, excluding the UK), it is unlikely to generate financial instability given the long lead times that will allow financial firms to adapt their structures and anticipate even the most non-cooperative outcomes. Altogether, in a broadly probable baseline scenario, there will be situations to manage in 2017 but they wont be as existential as in every year of the last decade. Of course there are tail risks that could trigger severe financial instabilitysuch as a far-right government in France, for examplebut their likelihood should not be exaggerated. In a turbulent global environment, and somewhat ironically given the recent experience, the European Union (minus the UK) could even quickly become an area of comparative stability. The need for further reform Even if one accepts this comparatively benign assessment, there is evidently no room for complacency. The European Union is far from having reverted back to a normal economic and financial condition. The clearest sign of this is the continuation of extraordinary monetary support by the European Central Bank, including in the form of the current program of quantitative easing. Greece is very far away from regaining market access for its sovereign financing. And as previously mentioned, the European banking system cannot retain its current structure; major changes in the financial landscape will have to happen before it becomes healthy again. Thus, the desirable transition back to normal will only happen if further efforts are made, including in the area of new policy development. This lecture focuses on outlining a realistic agenda for such efforts, which should also draw appropriate lessons from the last almost-ten years of crisis. One hopes that 2017 will be a busy year for the EU policy debate, so that the new governments that will emerge from the sequence of elections scheduled this year in several key countries, including this one in September, will be able to initiate useful actions once they are in place. Such new policy initiatives at the European level should not be thought of as overly radical. Experience suggests that paradigm shifts in EU governance only occur under massive short-term pressure and, as highlighted above, such pressure is not expected to be repeated in the year ahead, at least in a baseline scenario. In particular, there should be no expectation of treaty change in the immediate future. Indeed, treaty change would be very hazardous as long as the negotiation with the UK on Brexit is not completed. In the same vein, there should be no expectation of fiscal union, understood as a fully-fledged system of debt issuance and revenue collection at the European level. The euro area has limited elements of a fiscal framework, such as size-bound financial firepower (including the ability to issue debt) at the European Stability Mechanism, and a limited-purpose levy on European banks to feed into the Single Resolution Fund, which is expected to become fully transnational by 2024. More longstanding arrangements include the European Investment Banks financial capacity and the EUs own resources, such as customs duties and sugar levies. But these arrangements stop well short of a full fiscal framework. There is no expectation here that the political and legal parameters which so far have prevented the emergence of genuine fiscal union in the euro area will change any time soon. Even within these constraints, a lot can be done. Four areas in particular can be singled out for bold reform. They may be labelled, respectively: a stronger banking union; a reframed capital markets union; a common information backbone for fiscal policy; and renewed thinking on how to achieve a true single market in regulated services sectors, which may also be thought of as economic union. The rest of this lecture is devoted to examining these four possible projects in a bit more depth. A steel-framed banking union Banking union refers to the pooling of banking-sector policy instruments at the European (in this case, euro-area) level to achieve the objective to break the vicious circle between banks and sovereign as memorably stated by the euro area political leaders in their landmark declaration of 29 June 2012, which started this project, and in subsequent pronouncements. This unusually clear statement of intent came from the painful lessons of the months preceding that mid-2012 policy breakthrough. During that period (late 2011 and early 2012), it became increasingly evident to all that the financial linkages between national banking systems and the respective sovereign issuers, through mechanisms that may variously be labeled implicit government guarantees of the banking sector, financial repression, and banking nationalism, were generating a destabilizing dynamic of contagion and escalation that came close to forcing an irreversible break-up of euro-area monetary integration. As long as genuine fiscal union was not on the cards, banking union was eventually, and correctly, identified as the only way to break that vicious circle. Several policy initiatives came from this recognition: mainly the creation of a brand-new system of European banking supervision (also known as the Single Supervisory Mechanism) in which the central role was entrusted to the ECB, operational since late 2014; the acceleration and strengthening of the hitherto tentative shift from a default assumption of public rescue (or bail-out) of creditors of failed banks towards that of burden-sharing by private stakeholders (or bail-in), materialized in the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD) of 2014; and the partial centralization of bank resolution decisions in the euro-area through the establishment of the Single Resolution Board and Single Resolution Fund, both in place for more than a year now. But despite these path-breaking achievements, Europes banking union remains, to borrow the words (if not the full analysis) of Germanys finance minister in a 2013 article, timber-framed, an unfinished construct that mitigates the bank-sovereign vicious circle but is not strong enough to break it. To achieve that aim, again borrowing Mr. Schaubles expression, a steel-framed banking union should replace the timber structure, and this requires further legislative reform. The specific content of such reform requires public debate, which itself can only be fruitful once the European public, including observers in this country, has been sufficiently persuaded that the existing system works as intended, and in particular that European banking supervision is tough and fair, as its officials often put it. This requires clear indications of progress in countries such as Portugal and Italy, but also a sense of direction on high-visibility German cases such as Deutsche Bank or, in a completely different category, HSH Nordbank. The lack of that perception in the past goes a long way towards explaining, in particular, the lack of progress in the discussion on strengthening banking union during the Dutch Presidency of the Council of the EU in the first half of 2016. But if, as previously suggested, the picture of ECB supervisory effectiveness improves significantly in the near future, then a much broader space will be opened for further constructive steps. There is not enough time today to describe in much detail what these steps should look like. But they should include at least three dimensions. First, the framework for bail-in should be made more consistent across member states, an aim that inevitably entails harmonization of bank insolvency law. Second, regulation should ensure that banks cannot be used by governments as instruments to get easy funding, which suggests a binding framework of well-calibrated exposure limits on banks sovereign debt portfolios, with proper transition arrangements. This is a complex and important matter that requires much more public debate than has happened so far, but the euro area will not escape that debatenor can it be successfully delegated to international bodies such as the Basel Committee, because the problem is the unduly high home bias in euro-area banks sovereign debt exposures and this problem is essentially unique to the euro area. Third, there is a need for explicit risk-sharing to rule out the possibility that local banking problems, especially in smaller countries, may trigger sovereign default. This should take several forms, including the creation of a European Deposit Insurance System broadly along the lines suggested in November 2015 by the European Commission, a financial backstop from the ESM for the Single Resolution Fund and the future European deposit insurance fund, and also the ability for the ESM to intervene financially in precautionary bank recapitalizations under the conditions set by BRRD. These three dimensions are mutually interdependent, not only politically but also on substance, and should be envisaged as a single policy decision package even though their implementation will inevitably occur in several stages. In addition, more work is needed on subsidiarity and proportionality in the banking union architecture, to ensure that smaller banks are subject to consistently high prudential and supervisory standards without burdening them with unnecessary administrative requirements. This latter objective may take more time to achieve but also deserves open discussion as soon as this year. Capital Markets Union 2.0 The EU project of Capital Markets Union (CMU) was initially announced in July 2014 as part of the broader policy program of the new European Commission led by Jean-Claude Juncker. At the time, the aim was to reduce an excessive dependence on bank intermediation in Europes financial system but also, plainly, to signal a financial-market-friendly attitude in the run-up to the UK referendum. But far from rendering CMU obsolete, Brexit actually adds to the projects urgency and should force a reframing on how to achieve its aims. The underlying reason is that Londons role as a central hub has meant that the EUs wholesale financial markets were overseen in a consistent wayby the UK authoritiesbecause they were overwhelmingly located in a single member state. In a EU-27 context post-Brexit, there is a major risk of oversight fragmentation, with different national authorities taking different approaches leading to regulatory loopholes, lack of enforceability of EU policies, and a higher cost of funding for the EU economy. Even though banks represent a major share of financial intermediation, banking union per se doesnt address this challenge, if only because many of its aspects are unrelated to prudential supervision. For example, the enforcement of the Markets in Financial Instruments directives and regulation (known as MiFID/MiFIR) is largely in the hands of securities authorities, not prudential supervisors, and in most member states (though not Germany) these are entirely separate organizations. Thus, the new incarnation of CMU in the changed context created by Brexit should put the emphasis on the reform of the oversight architecture (possibly complemented by regulatory harmonization projects), in order to reach a status in which, to borrow a recommendation from the last annual report of the German Council of Economic Advisers, the oversight of financial markets [should be] located at the European level. In practice, this would require a reform and reinforcement of ESMA, the European Securities and Markets Authority created in 2011, to make it the hub of policy-setting in that area. Many individual decisions would remain in the scope of national authorities, but under ESMAs binding oversight, in a hub-and-spokes framework akin to those for competition policy or for banking supervision. For example, ESMA should have authority over the enforcement of International Financial Reporting Standards throughout the EU, and similarly for the oversight of audit firms and of critical market infrastructure (such as clearing houses), as it already has over credit rating agencies and trade repositories (disclosure: I am an independent director in a trade repository supervised by ESMA). This vision for CMU 2.0 would also allow for the creation of third-country regimes that would allow European authorities, including ESMA and the ECB, to oversee market infrastructures located outside of the EU-27for example, in Londonif they play a critical role for the EU-27 financial system. Such a vision is not at all utopian, since a framework along these lines already exists for US authorities, which have arrangements in place to directly supervise and inspect some critical financial infrastructure in London and elsewhere. It is high time for the EU to revise its approach in this area and learn the right lessons, both from the American experience and from the shortcomings of its own frustrating past attempts to address this challenge through the means of equivalence recognition. A reliable information base for fiscal policy As mentioned earlier in this lecture, it is arguably not realistic at this stage to advocate decisive steps towards fiscal unioneurobonds, eurotaxes and euro-spending even if theyre not called that way. There is a sound intellectual case to be made for such things, but it is abundantly clear that Europe is not yet ready for them politically and can most likely overcome its current challenges without them. But that doesnt imply that nothing can or should be done to improve the euro areas current highly imperfect fiscal framework. Sadly, the Maastricht treatys stability pact (later, stability and growth pact) has not worked as intended by its framersand my country and yours, France and Germany, were the ones who first and foremost breached it almost fifteen years ago. Since then, increasingly complex patches have been applied, but their credibility has not been better. If the rules are simple, they tend to be too rigid and in many cases even stupid, as was memorably put by a former president of the European Commission; in order to better meet economic objectives, the framework requires more nuance and judgment, but then it quickly becomes overly complex and open to political tweaking, which is more or less the present situation. Meanwhile, the EU does not appear to have fully drawn the lessons from its most obvious fiscal policy failure: the repeated misrepresentation by Greece of its true fiscal condition (under different political coalitions) that led to the well-known drama of 2010 and ever since. Some changes have been introduced to make national numbers more reliable, but they have not gone nearly far enough. One case summarizes the problem: that of Mr. Andreas Georgiou, head of the Greek national statistical office for five years from 2010 to 2015 and, in that capacity, the one who established the definitive figures for Greeces deficit and GDP developments in 2009 in particular. These figures have been validated by Eurostat and have not been questioned outside of Greece. Within Greece, however, they have become a matter of highly emotional controversy. The government has repeatedly declinedagain under successive political coalitions, including but not limited to the current one to vouch for them. Worse, Mr. Georgiou was accused of harming the national interest by publishing them and has been the target of a number of high-profile lawsuits that are still ongoing. It is evidently not acceptable that a statistician should be persecuted for doing his job with integrity and left to his own devices by both national and European authorities for his defense. As long as such a thing can happen, the potential for undue political interference in the production of national accounts and statistics is achingly obvious, and not only in Greece. This situation cries for reform. What is needed iswith reference to the arrangements existing in the private sector and in particular those covering publicly listed companiesa proper accounting and auditing framework for European governments, with a robust enough central function to ensure relevance, comparability, reliability, and understandability. The accounting standards should be based on the age-old principle of accruals accounting, which has only recently been introduced into government accounting in some countries, including some EU member states but far from all of them, for example Austria but not Germany. Equally important, the current oversight by Eurostat should be transformed into a genuine euro-level auditing authority. These more centralized arrangements should also apply, with due adaptations in accordance with the subsidiarity principle, to the accounts of subnational governments, to the extent that they contribute to national aggregates. Such ideas are bound to be controversial, but the lessons from the Greek tragedy in general, and from the more specific but significant Georgiou tragedy in particular, must not be allowed to be lost. EU-level structural reform: the single market in regulated services The Four Presidents report of June 2012, whose lead author was then-President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy, has popularized a framework of fourfold union to think about the missing pieces of euro-area policy: financial union (i.e., banking union and capital markets union), fiscal union, economic union, and political union. This lecture has already included suggestions for financial union and for a sounder information basis for fiscal policy even as fiscal union is left for a more distant future. Political union is not discussed here, beyond the observation of the EU-27s initial resilience following the shock of the Brexit vote. Economic union, however, deserves more debate and attention than it has habitually received since Mr. Van Rompuys report. Different analysts have used the expression in many different ways. It is proposed here that it may best refer to those structural economic policies that are conducted at the European level, not the national level. Viewed that way, economic union may be taken as just another name for the completion of the European single market, particularly in services sectors where EU-wide market integration is partial at best. Single market policy has been very successful in markets for goods and unregulated services but much less so in regulated services sectors. This distinction is especially significant since regulated services tend to represent an increasing share of the EUs economies, and this increase implies that national economies become less not more integrated if the EU is not able to complete the single market in such sectors. The underlying reason for the gap is that, in regulated sectors, market structures are shaped not only by the content of rules and regulations but also by the way they are implemented and enforced, which typically involves a degree of administrative discretion and judgment. If such administrative oversight and enforcement is in the hands of national authorities, as is habitually the case, then markets tend to be segmented across national lines. One aspect of this is the tendency of national authorities to give preferential treatment to national champion companies, as is being illustrated by the burgeoning cases about the control of car emissionseven though one would expect this type of technical standards not to be susceptible to national twisting. Capital markets union 2.0 as previously discussed, and indeed also banking union, can thus be viewed as early examples of a new and promising approach to promoting EU single market integration in regulated services sectors, by complementing the structure of national enforcement authorities with a European overlay, thus achieving a hub-and-spokes architecture comparable to the one that has long existed for the implementation of competition policy. This approach can and should be extended to an increasing range of regulated sectors, be it energy (e.g., electricity and gas networks), digital services (e.g., the enforcement of privacy protections), as well as various regulated professions, commercial health and education services, and more. Overhauls of EU supervisory architecture through the creation of sector-specific EU-level authorities with a mandate for binding decision-making, not just loose coordination, has long been considered unachievable politically. But the initial successes of European banking supervision have led to a shift in perceptions. With the UK veto removed by Brexit, it may now be time for the EU-27 to envisage new initiatives to create appropriate institutional settings that would allow for the vision of a seamless single market to be achieved, in a broader range of economic sectors than has been the case so far. Concluding remarks The theme of this lecture has been that the EU-27 is just exiting a decade-long period of short-term emergencies, and now needs to consider fresh initiatives to reach a more consistent framework for banking, capital markets, fiscal (if only as regards the information base), and structural economic policies, building on the early achievements of recent shifts such as European banking supervision. This might strike some observers as an exceedingly optimistic way of looking at the EUs current situation and challenges. Only time will tell if there is too much optimism in this vision, but in any case it should not be mistaken for complacency. As previously emphasized, even assuming no new dramatic development in the EU-27 in 2017, the area is far from having returned to a normal economic and financial condition. This is precisely why a strategic, forward-looking policy debate is so important this year. As the old American saying has it, Europeans will hang together or hang separately. Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Loading... Checking your browser before accessing the website. This process is automatic. Your browser will redirect to your requested content shortly. Please wait a few seconds. NEW YORK (AP) Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, a veteran diplomat known as a potent and personable voice for his country's interests as he sparred with his Western counterparts, died suddenly after falling ill Monday in his office at the mission. Vitaly Churkin, 64, was taken to a hospital in New York, where he died, Russia's deputy U.N. ambassador, Vladimir Safronkov, told The Associated Press. His cause of death wasn't immediately known. He had been Russia's envoy at the United Nations since 2006 and was considered Moscow's great champion at the U.N. Diplomatic colleagues from around the world mourned Churkin as a powerful and passionate voice for his nation, with both a deep knowledge of diplomacy and a large and colorful personality. He was the longest-serving member of the Security Council, the U.N.'s most powerful body. Among many other issues, he had recently made Russia's views heard on the conflict in Syria, sparring with diplomats from the U.S. and other Western countries over whether to impose sanctions or take action to end the conflict. President Vladimir Putin praised Churkin's professionalism and diplomacy, according to the state news agency TASS. "The president was grieved to learn about the death of Vitaly Churkin," spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the agency. Russia's foreign ministry called Churkin an "outstanding" diplomat and expressed condolences to his friends and family. Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a Facebook post that Churkin was "an extraordinary person. A bright man. We have lost a dear one." Churkin's death came at the start of a week when the Security Council is expected to discuss Ukraine and Syria. The U.S. and the European Union imposed sanctions on Russia for its 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and its support for insurgents in eastern Ukraine. Meanwhile, the United States, Britain and France have been pressing the U.N. Security Council to impose sanctions on the Syrian government for using chemical weapons, while Russia Syria's closest ally has repeatedly questioned investigators' conclusions linking chemical attacks to Syrian President Bashar Assad's government, which has denied them. Churkin's death, the day before his 65th birthday, stunned officials at the U.N.'s headquarters. "Our thoughts go to his family, to his friends and to his government," said U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq, who heard the news from reporters as it circulated during a daily briefing. Calling Churkin a "diplomatic maestro and deeply caring man," former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power tweeted that he had done all he could to bridge differences between the U.S. and Russia. The current ambassador, Nikki Haley, said he was a "gracious colleague." "We did not always see things the same way, but he unquestionably advocated his country's positions with great skill," Haley said. French U.N. Ambassador Francois Delattre said he and Churkin had "always worked together in a spirit of mutual respect and personal friendship" despite their divides. One of Delattre's predecessors, Gerard Araud, now French ambassador to the U.S., recalled Churkin as "abrasive, funny and technically impeccable." Britain's U.N. ambassador, Matthew Rycroft, tweeted that he was "absolutely devastated" to hear of the death of Churkin, "a diplomatic giant and wonderful character." Churkin was previously ambassador at large and earlier served as the foreign ministry spokesman. He had a doctorate in history and was a graduate of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. And he was a child actor in what was then the Soviet Union. After his long career in diplomacy, Churkin told Russia Today in an interview this month that the field had become much more hectic than it used to be. "Unfortunately, the world has not become more stable," he told the Kremlin-backed news outlet. At the time, he "looked in good health and was very energetic," reporter Alexey Yaroshevsky tweeted Monday. Whatever the challenges, "the U.N. continues to be an indispensable mechanism," Churkin said in the interview. "Without the U.N., we would be acting all on our own, without much coordination, and then we will be even less successful than we have been so far." Pictured is Kyle Hewitt, who was arrested by State Police for allegedly pouring bleach into the gas tank of what he thought was the vehicle driven by someone he was engaged in a dispute with. The vehicle actually belonged to someone who was not involved in the episode. HCM CITY Viet Nam is not expected to meet its target of generating 800 MW of wind power by 2020 as a proposal to increase the regulated selling price of wind power has been postponed. Bui Van Thinh, chairman of the Binh Thuan Wind Power Association, said the Ministry of Industry and Trade had sent a proposal to raise the regulated selling price of wind power to the Government, but the decision, expected at the end of last year or beginning of this year, would be delayed. Last year, the association asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade to raise the selling price of wind power to US$9.5-10 cents per kWh, up from $7.8 cents. Viet Nam has great potential for wind power, estimated at about 10,000 MW, according to research by the German International Cooperation Agency (GIZ). Initially, the Government set a target of generating 1,000 MW of wind power by 2020, but later lowered it to 800 MW. Only four wind power projects are operating in the country with a total capacity of 160 MW. Meanwhile, total capacity of the proposed registered wind power projects has reached 5,700 MW. Most of the investors postponed the projects because regulated prices were below production costs, Thinh said. For example, Ben Tre Province licensed five wind-power projects with a total capacity of 150 MW, but investors have been waiting for the price to increase. Nineteen wind power projects were registered in the south-central province of Binh Thuan, but work on them has yet to begin, he said. The regulated selling price of wind power in Viet Nam is among the lowest in the world, only 7.8 cent per kWh (compared to Thailand with 20 cent per kWh, the Philippines with 29 cent per kWh, and Japan with 30 cent per kWh). In addition, poor infrastructure such as seaports and roads are also a challenge for investors. Thinh said, however, that the wind power market was still attractive to foreign investors. Binh, who is also director of the Thuan Binh Wind Power Joint-Stock Company, said the company was upbeat about renewable energy as the industry was expected to flourish when the price increased. After operating the first phase of the Phu Lac Wind Power plant with a capacity of 24 MW in Binh Thuan Province, the company now plans to increase the charter capital from VN240 billion ($10.54 million) to VN450 billion ($19.76 million) to develop new projects with an estimated total capacity of 510 MW of wind power and more than 570 MW of solar power. From now to 2030, we need more than $2 billion to develop wind power and solar power projects in Binh Thuan and Ninh Thuan provinces and the Central Highlands region, Thinh said. Moreover, to increase revenue for the company, the Phu Lac Wind Power Plant plans to develop wind power and solar power in combination with eco-tourism, Thinh said. The number of wind power projects in Viet Nam remains low since only wind turbine towers, which account for 20 per cent of production costs, can be produced locally, while investors have to import the other components. Viet Nam plans to produce propellers valued at 10 per cent of the investment cost, turbines worth 7 per cent of the cost, and several other small components. A South Korean firm in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province produces wind turbine towers, and a US company manufactures turbines in the northern port city of Hai Phong. If the wind power market achieves strong growth in the future and attracts foreign investors capable of producing complicated parts, we will be able to raise the localisation ratio to more than 40 per cent, Thinh said. Viet Nam needs to switch to renewable energy such as wind and solar power as the country has cancelled its first two nuclear power projects and has started implementing commitments on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, experts have said. The countrys total wind power output has reached only 160MW, far below the huge potential that exists in the country. The Government has released its National Electricity Development Plan for the 2011-2020 period with a strategic priority on renewable energy, with wind power capacity targeted at 800 MW by 2020 and 6,000 MW by 2030. VNS HA NOI The Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUD) has started construction of a new US$16.2 million social housing project in the central coastal Khanh Hoa Provinces Nha Trang City. The project spans an area of 1.8ha in the Phuoc Long new urban area, comprising of three 10-storey apartment buildings. Each apartment has an area of 59-66sq.m. HUD, under the Ministry of Construction, is waiting for the provincial Peoples Committees approval for the pricing plan of the project, with the average price of an apartment under VN9.5 million per sq.m. Located in the west of the city, the project is connected to regional residential areas, factories, universities, attracting a large number of citizens, students and workers who have high demand for affordable housing, especially housing with an average price that is below VN10 million per sq.m. At the projects groundbreaking ceremony, Deputy Minister of Construction Bui Pham Khanh said the project, once completed, would meet the demand for housing of poor and low-income households currently living in Nha Trang City, creating favourable conditions for them to improve their living standards. The Ministry of Construction has asked HUD to focus on the management of the projects construction and quality and make ensure citizens get their new houses as scheduled. According to ao Cong Thien, vice chairman of the provincial Peoples Committee, from now until 2020, Khanh Hoa needs 15,000 affordable apartments and, so far, it has implemented a total of 11 affordable housing projects with 5,733 apartments. Although the price, fluctuating at some VN9 million per sq.m. seems reasonable, but in total, people have to spend VN600 million to buy a 60 to 70sq.m. house, which may still be a strain for them. Therefore, investors, in the future, should consider building smaller apartments, such as from 30 to 40sq.m, to meet the demands of people from lower income groups," Thien said. Thien added that Khanh Hoa Province will create favourable conditions for investors and solve any problems related to project development. VNS HA NOI The Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines) is seeking to reduce its ownership rate in the Port of Hai Phong Joint Stock Company by 27.56 percentage points. For this, it has already sought permission from the Ministry of Transportation. Currently, Vinalines is holding 95.56 per cent of Hai Phong Port companys charter capital which stands at VN3.27 trillion (US$145.3 million). Since the equitisation of Hai Phong Port company was completed, Vinalines has reduced its ownership rate by 2.12 per cent by conducting a debt-to-equity swap with the Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (Vietinbank). Debt-to-equity swaps are common transactions that enable a borrower to transform loans into shares of stock, or equity. According to the document sent to the ministry, Vinalines said that its plan of divestment from the Hai Phong Port company was to create a financial source for the corporation to restructure its debts and implement development and investment projects. Shares of the Port of Hai Phong Joint Stock Company have been listed on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange under the code PHP. In the end of 2014, Omans State General Reserve Fund (SGRF) expressed its willingness to purchase all the 29.68 per cent stake of Vinalines at the Hai Phong Port through negotiation. The transaction was planned to be done through the Viet Nam Oman Investments (VOI Fund) a joint venture between SGRF and the State Capital Investment Corporation. VNS SYDNEY Australia Vietnam Business Council (AVBC) and Canberra University recently held a workshop in Sydney where they called on Vietnamese businesses to invest in Australias New South Wales. Addressing the event on Friday, Suzanne Gilham, a senior official from the NSW Department of Industry, introduced the Australian business visa programme for 2017, which offers many incentives for entrepreneurs and investors from China, Malaysia and Viet Nam. She said the state government regards Viet Nam as a potential and promising market to develop this new model in Australia. Local authorities are coordinating with Vietnamese agencies and organisations to promote this programme in Ha Noi and HCM City in June this year, she added. Laurence Strano, president and founder of AVBC, said the programme aims to encourage Vietnamese enterprises to do business in New South Wales. He cited the increasing two-way trade, which surged from US$45 million in 1990 to $10 billion at present. Bilateral trade is expected to double in the near future, he said, adding that he hopes more Vietnamese businesses will invest in Australia and vice versa. VNS SYDNEY Young Vietnamese businessperson ao Lan Huong has been selected as one of 15 entrepreneurs to take part in the Australia-ASEAN Emerging Leaders Programme (A2ELP). The event is scheduled to take place in Melbourne and Sydney in March this year. The list of businesspeople was announced by Australian Foreign Minister Julia Bishop on Friday. Minister Bishop said the selected entrepreneurs have made contributions to eradicating poverty, improving healthcare and promoting education, technological development and environmental protection. A2ELP is hoped to promote partnerships among enterprises and organisations and further deepen relations between Australia and countries in Southeast Asia, she said. Huong is executive director of Weshop Global, which specialises in e-commerce in the United States, Viet Nam, Malaysia and the Philippines, as well as Indonesia and Thailand. While she was a student in 2004, Huong joined PeaceSoft/Nexttech Group a technological startup enterprise as its co-founder. She worked to build strategies for the firm, developing it into a strong 400-employee group from only five people. Huong held many important positions in PeaceSoft/Nexttech, and also invested in the Vietnam Investment Club to help young entrepreneurs in startup activities. A2ELP is designed to create meaningful people-to-people links among entrepreneurs across Asia. It will bring together 10 social entrepreneurs from South-East Asia and five from Australia to take part in a series of innovative learning and development opportunities in 2017. It will also offer participants a good opportunity to learn from the experiences of Australias leading experts in identifying opportunities and dealing with implicit negative impact on their businesses. VNS HA NOI Margrethe Maersk, a Triple-E container ship which is the worlds largest, docked at Cai Mep International Terminal (CMIT) on Monday a milestone in Viet Nams navigation history. With the arrival of Margrethe Maersk, CMIT, located downstream Cai Mep River of the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, is the first port in Viet Nam and the 19th in the world to be able to handle an 18,300-TEU Triple-E vessel, according to the Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Sai Gon) daily. Margrethe Maersk, built by Danish container shipping company Maersk Line, is 399.2m long and 59m wide and has a deadweight tonnage of 194,000. Triple-E is a class of the worlds largest container ship. The name is derived from its three design principles: economy of scale, energy efficiency, and environmentally friendly. In recent years, about 30 per cent of Viet Nams containers destined for faraway markets had to transit ports in Hong Kong (China), Singapore or Malaysia, which has added to the delivery costs and time. The vessel Margrethe Maersk is arriving at Cai Mep to load goods to be transported to Europe. With this direct trip, transport time for Vietnamese goods will be cut by a day and transport expense by 10-20 per cent, compared with the traditional shipping routes, which would transit at other countries. CMIT managing director Robert Hambleton said the arrival of Margrethe Maersk is a landmark for both CMIT and Viet Nam. It proves the capacity of the port and the country, which can become a point of transit for goods being transported from Asia to Europe. Under a plan for seaport development in Viet Nam until 2020, the Cai Mep complex of container terminals consists of CMIT, Tan Cang-Cai Mep ODA Terminal and SP-SSA International Terminal. It was designated to be a deep-water port complex capable of handling container ships of more than 100,000 DWT. About 1.36 million TEU of goods was handled by the Cai Mep complex in 2015. The volume increased by 47 per cent in the following year to more than two million TEU. The inclusion of CMIT in the network of terminals eligible for receiving Triple-E vessels by 2M Alliance of Maersk Line and MSC demonstrates the strategic position of the Cai Mep complex, and the successful handling of Margrethe Maersk is also a step towards turning this complex into an international point of transit for containers. In October 2016, Lloyds List named CMIT as one of the top four port operators in Asia. VNS HA TINH Authorities in central Ha Tinh Province denied the connection between Formosas waste water discharge and the reddish streak appeared on water edge near the provinces Son Duong wharf. A joint force between local authorities and the Institute of Environmental Technology yesterday afternoon announced their testing results and affirmed that the reddish streak did not start from the Hung Nghiep Formosa Steel Corporations sullage pit. Nguyen Van Toan, the institutes inspector said his taskforce team had arrived at the site to monitor the discharge of Formosa and took samples for testing three times in a month and at different time a day, but no link between the streak and Formosa waste water discovered. Theres no type of reddish waste water from Formosa, he said, adding that Formosa sullage pit did not look like the one captured by a clip broadcasted on social network that show a strong reddish flow. In a month, residents living near the coast where Formosa is based found a reddish streak on water edge and later a video clip spread out on social network saying that the start of the streak was from Formosa discharge system. The clip appeared online last Saturday but it did not show capturing time and it was difficult to identify the location. But it sparked angers among Vietnamese netizens as they suspected Formosa once again release waste to the ocean after the deadly spill in April last year. Public pressure has resulted in an inspection to Formosa yesterday by the joint force. Hoang Thanh Tung, deputy manager of Ha Tinh Authority for Industrial Parks said every sullage pit owned by Formosa have been checked and he assured no pit similar the one in the clip. Formosas representative added that the company has three discharge gates open to the ocean and each has locker to manage the release of waste water. They all are in different size compared to the one in the clip, the representative said. Duong Tat Thang, deputy chairman of Ha Tinh Province Peoples Committee affirmed the existence of a 50m reddish streak at local coast but called it a natural phenomenon that occurs annually during winter. Local residents said the streak never lasts for long but continues to return, as it has for over a month. VNS HA NOI Nguyen Dus classic Tale of Kieu will be performed in Viet Nam National Drama Theater, 1 Trang Tien street from March 1st to 10th to celebrate the International Womens Day, March 8th. The work has been staged in traditional art forms including cai luong (reformed theater), cheo (traditional opera), tuong (classic drama) and ballet. The national drama theater will adapt this literary work with a combination of singing, dance and drama, creating a new approach to this work. The play is adapted from The Tale of Kieu by writer Nguyen Hieu. The experimental drama combines singing, dance and drama with the use of lotus flower implying a human life which opens slightly, blossoms, and withers. The Tale of Kieu, an epic poem written by Nguyen Du (17651820), is widely regarded as the most significant work of Vietnamese literature. The Tale of Kieus 3,254 lines were written in luc bat a traditional Vietnamese verse form, which consists of alternating lines of six and eight syllables, and is the most popular Vietnamese poem of all time. Depicting the arduous life of Thuy Kieu, a beautiful and talented young woman who had to sell herself into prostitution to save her father from prison, Nguyen Du overcame harsh social prejudice to praise Kieus physical and soulful beauty, as well as her talents and personality. Through Kieus story, the author drew a picture of the corrupt, money-dominated and unequal feudal society in Viet Nam in the late 18th century and the early 19th century, while reflecting the aspirations for the right to live, and the right to freedom, justice, love and happiness. VNS QUANG NAM Researcher Tran Tan Vinh from Quang Nam provincial library has completed a 200-page book on the Co Tu ethnic groups artistic wood sculptures. Vinh told Viet Nam News that 800 copies of the book will be released later this year. The book features culture of wooden sculpture of the central provinces Co Tu ethnic group, an artistic approach that has been preserved by the community from past centuries. Vinh said he took 15 years to study and research the Co Tu culture and lifestyle. Traditionally, Co Tu people create wooden masks and sculpture on timber columns to decorate their Guol (communal house) and play as spiritual protection figures for the community. The artwork has been preserved for a few hundred years, since the appearance of the ethnic group in the region. Porning Village, which has a large population of Co Tu people in Quang Nam Provinces Tay Giang District, still preserves the longest-standing tradition of the Co Tu people. According to Co Lau Nam, 86, one of the oldest sculptor living in Porning, wooden carved masks are believed to represent the souls of the dead, the good and the evil, while depict the daily lives of the Co Tu people. He said masks used to hang on the villages gate and all columns of the Guol two spiritual places of Co Tu community to drive away devils and protect the villagers from supernatural disasters. The book, written in Vietnamese, will also feature photos and collections of wood statue sculpture. VNS Linh Van HA NOI - Around 8am last Saturday, my son and I were taking a break on the banks of Ho Tay (West Lake) after riding around it on our bicycles. The sun was shining and we were enjoying the moment when it was rudely disrupted by a young couple. The couple threw a bag of trash on the pavement, and its smell spread quickly, annoying many people who were doing their morning exercises. There was a trash bin not so far away, but they could not be bothered. Littering is a very common occurrence in Viet Nam, including the capital city. Public spaces, including parks, are often a free-for-all space for throwing ice-cream sticks, wrappers, cans or water bottles. The habit cuts across all sections of society. People going around in expensive cars, often lower their windows and throw rubbish out. Bus and train stations are trashed all the time. I decided to talk to the couple whod just littered on the banks of the West Lake. Nguyen Thi Huyen ,21, said theyd not known that there was a dustbin nearby. Besides, she said, there were sanitation workers responsible for keeping the streets clean and what they dumped was a small pack. It was nothing. Huyen and many others do not realize that sanitation workers in Ha Noi alone have to deal with nearly 5,400 tonnes of household waste per day. The littering habit is not only polluting the environment; it has also polluted the countrys image in the eyes of foreign friends. Jonathan Meaney, from Canada, said the littering was disgusting. In my country, littering in public places is frowned upon. We think of cleanliness of cities and public places as the responsibility of the people. In a city like Ha Noi, which can be very beautiful, its shocking that people litter so carelessly and so often, he said. To deal with this worsening problem, the Government has issued a decree, which, starting this month imposes punishments for littering, throwing cigarette butts and ash in non-smoking areas, urinating in public places, and so on. The decree has been welcomed by many people who say dealing with the smaller offenses can have a big impact, with violations attracting bigger fines, of up to VN7 million (US$308). In the latest case, last week, three taxi drivers were fined a total of VN6 million by Ha Nois Hoang Mai District police for urinating on pavements. Lawyer inh Anh Tuyet, Managing Partner of IDVN Lawyers and Vietnam International Arbitration Centre Arbitrator Lawyer inh Anh Tuyet, Managing Partner of IDVN Lawyers and Arbitrator of Vietnam International Arbitration Centre, said the fastest and most effective way to weaken bad habits and behaviours of people is to have strong laws with punishment that can serve as a deterrent. Singapore is well known for the severe punishment it has for littering and graffiti, and this has proved effective in the island nation, which is famous for how clean it is. In Viet Nam, too, strict fines for riders without helmets and drunk driving have reduced violations in a very short time, she said. However, nearly a month since the new Decree took effect, there seems to be no difference, in littering or other practices. On many streets in Ha Noi, like Tay Son, Nguyen Luong Bang in ong a District and Tran ai Nghia, Tran Khat Chan in Hai Ba Trung District, trash is still dumped outside on the pavement by local residents. Hoang Ngoc Dung, a sanitation worker on Tran ai Nghia Street, said people continued to throw rubbish on streets despite having dustbins nearby. It makes our job harder, she said. Huyen, who dumped the bag of trash on the banks of the West Lake, said she did not know that littering is a punishable offence. Toilets, dustbins Many people have criticised the Government for not ensuring enough resources, including infrastructure and human resources, necessary for stricter laws to be enforced. Vu Thi Vinh, former General Secretary of the Association of Cities of Viet Nam, said a shortage of dustbins and public toilets was partly to blame for peoples littering and urinating in public places. For example, there were just 340 public toilets in a capital city of up to six million people, she said. The 1.5-km long Thanh Nhan Street in Hai Ba Trung District does not have a dustbin, so people end up throwing trash on the street, she said. Head of the Hoang Mai District Police, Nguyen Hong Thai, said the lack of human resources and necessary tools and equipment to record violations made it difficult for police to punish violators. Other officials also welcomed the new law with stricter punishments, but said it would take time for it to be fully enforced. Head of the Viet Nam Environment Administration Nguyen Van Tai Head of the Viet Nam Environment Administration Nguyen Van Tai, said waste discharge had become an urgent problem and it required stricter laws to gradually change the bad habits of many people, he said. Local authorities should be creative in finding ways to detect and punish violators, he said. "Apart from authorised agencies like the police, public participation and co-operation is necessary for disseminating and detecting violations," he said. Money collected via fines can be reinvested in improving infrastructure, including building more public toilets and installing more dustbins along streets. Residents who identify violators should be rewarded, he added. In tandem Other people said several things have to happen together over a period of time for laws to become effective and cities to stay clean. Administrative punishments should go along with peoples awareness and discipline, which should start from kindergarten onwards. In Australia, for example, dusbins are located in many corners of schools, from kindergartens to universities, so students learn to deposit trash in the right places. Dustbins carry detailed information and images on the kind of waste that should be dumped in them. Around ten years ago, Ha Noi implemented a plan to have dustbins for two kinds of waste, recyclable and non-recyclable. The plan failed because many people did not know how to classify the rubbish, which resulted from a lack of education on different kinds of rubbish and children not being taught about the importance of not littering. James Joseph Kendall, Founder of Keep Hanoi Clean James Joseph Kendall, Founder of Keep Hanoi Clean, which carries out clean-up activities every weekend, said he was glad to see the Government taking big steps to solve the problem of littering in the city. I think the new law will help, but I dont think it alone will solve the problem, he said. I think education is the most important part of the solution. Starting a program in schools to make sure all children know the importance of being responsible when they throw trash would be a good start, he said. Meaney said the care of public spaces required a cultural and educational change. If Viet Nam wants to clean up its cities and the countryside, they need to encourage public participation, he said. Lawyer Tuyet said strict implementation of the law could have a strong impact. I think adequate human resources to impose penalties on violators is not the main feasibility factor for the law. If the punishment is meted out strictly, right from the start, without any concession or exception, the regulations will certainly take effect. People will become more self-conscious and careful about their behavior, and this will gradually minimise actions polluting the environment, she said. In addition, the responsibilities of agencies and individuals in handling violations should be clearly stipulated to ensure its effectiveness. Obviously, the implementation of the new decree should be thorough and carried for a long time to be able to alter peoples behavior, she said. Vinh, former General Secretary of the Association of Cities of Viet Nam, also said participation of the community in keeping its surroundings clean would be a key factor alongside strong determination of the administration and improved infrastructure. Once the attitude of people changes, it would help reduce environmental pollution on a larger scale, as factories and industrial zones. VNS Decree 155/2016/N-CP on administrative penalties in the environmental protection sector: Types of fines: - Between VN500,000 ($22) and VN1 million ($44) for throwing cigarette butts and ash in no-smoking areas, including shopping malls and residential areas. - Between VN1 million ($44) and VN3 million ($133) for urinating in public spaces, including shopping malls, pavements and parks. - Between VN3 million ($133) and VN5 million ($313) for littering in apartment buildings, commercial buildings or public places. - Between VN5 million ($313) to VN7 million ($308) for littering on streets, pavements or sewage systems in residential areas. - Other fines of between VN10 million ($440) to VN25 million ($1,100) to be imposed on violations such as trucks spilling building materials like sand on streets, failing to classify solid waste as regulated, and failing to transfer solid waste to functional units. Who can impose fines: - Chairman of the communal and districts authority. - Head of the communal, district police and head of provincial police. - Police on duty - Special inspectors, border and coast guards, customs officials and rangers. Who can the fines be imposed on: - Those aged 14-16 years old for intentional violations. - Those aged over 16 years old for all violations. The decree took effect on February 1, 2017. NGHE AN Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc yesterday advised businesses in Nghe An to devise long-term strategies that utilise the many advantages enjoyed by the central province. He was speaking at the provinces annual Spring Festival sponsored by the Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BIDV). The province is the birthplace of late President Ho Chi Minh, is located on a strategic transportation junction as the centre of the north-central region and the north-south and east-west exchange route, has road, railway, aviation, seaway and inland waterway links and serves as a gateway to the East Sea from central Laos and northeast Thailand via the Thanh Thuy border gate. Nghe An is also endowed with vast land and abundant human resources, including more and more intellectuals and engineers returning home to do business. It has built eco-friendly projects and made infrastructure breakthroughs to serve socio-economic development. The Prime Minister suggested that the province prepares a master plan for sustainable development of industry, agriculture and infrastructure, boost connectivity with the south of central Thanh Hoa Province and the north of central Ha Tinh Province and accelerate administrative reforms. The province should also protect and effectively tap natural resources, ensure public involvement in science, education and healthcare sectors and attract investment in high value-added products and services, he said. Social security and safety must be ensured, especially in mountainous areas, he said. "While the Government is determined to develop the economy, the living environment will not be traded for such growth. The Government is also resolved to having a transparent, constructive, action-oriented cabinet that will protect peoples rights and their assets," he said. He pledged that the Government would also strive to develop a pro-business environment, maintain macro-economy stability and foster an environment of peace and friendship. Incentives would be offered to investors in the supporting and high-tech industries, as well as tourism, the PM said, adding that he hoped Nghe An would take the lead in such areas. Chairman of the Nghe An Peoples Committee, Nguyen Xuan Duong, said they had identified nine comprehensive measures to make Nghe An an attractive business destination in the near future, including simplifying administrative procedures and reducing the time for granting investment licences to three days or even one day, and launching online public services at the ASEAN 4 level for business registration. On the occasion of the Spring Festival, provincial authorities granted investment licences to eight projects and signed 15 memoranda of understanding and co-operation agreements valued at over VN22.62 trillion (US$983.8 billion). It was the ninth time that BIDV was sponsoring the event, which attracted hundreds of enterprises and investors at home and abroad. Also attending the event were former National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung and Deputy Prime Minister Vuong inh Hue. In the past nine years, Nghe An attracted 804 projects worth more than VN261 trillion ($11.34 billion), including 758 ones worth more than VN101.29 trillion ($4.4 billion) and 46 foreign-invested ones with a total registered capital of over VN160.43 trillion ($6.97 billion). This year, the province targets attracting over 100 projects worth VN30-35 trillion ($1.3-1.5 billion) and generating jobs for 13,000-15,000 workers. Container factory A ground breaking ceremony for a shipping container factory invested by the TKV Group from the Republic of Korea was held in central Nghe An Province on Saturday. The project in the ong Nam Economic Zone has total registered capital of VN550 billion (US$24.2 million). It is expected to be completed in June 2018 and produce 6,000 shipping containers a year. At the ceremony, Le Ngoc Hoa, Vice Chairman of the Nghe An Peoples Committee, pledged that the province would create favourable conditions on policy and investment environment for investors. The TKV Group hopes to continue cooperating with Nghe An to implement several projects in the future, including a high technology university, health waste treatment factory, and developments in the field of electronics. Cattle feed factory A cattle-feed factory with total investment of VN325 billion (US$14.3 million) was inaugurated in central Nghe An Province on Saturday. The Mavin Austfeed Nghe An factory has a capacity of 300,000 tonnes of domestic animal feed per year and generates jobs for 300 local workers. Construction began in September 2015 on an area of 3.6ha in Block B, at the Nam Cam Industrial Park, in the ong Nam Economic Zone. Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, Nguyen Xuan uong, Chairman of the provincial Peoples Committee, said that the factory would be a driving force for investment in the ong Nam Economic Zone, contributing to the socio-economic development of Nghe An Province.-VNS KHANH HOA More than 390 representatives from APEC working groups were brought together in the city of Nha Trang, in the province of Khanh Hoa, on Saturday to map out cooperation orientations in 2017. The meetings opened a series of activities under the first Senior Officials Meeting of APEC (SOM-1) scheduled to run until March 3. The groups include the Human Resources Development Working Group (HRDWG), Emergency Preparedness Working Group (EPWG), Anti-Corruption and Transparency Working Group (ACTWG), Policy Partnership on Science, Technology and Innovation (PPSTI), Intellectual Property Rights Experts Group (IPEG), Experts Group on Illegal Logging and Associated Trade (EGILAT), Chemical Dialogue (CD), and Business Mobility Group (BMG). Participants proposed new measures to boost cooperation in training regional young scientists, promoting technology transfer and application to reduce natural disaster risks and facilitate the mobility of entrepreneurs, as well as promote the legal trade on timber products and strengthen connectivity of regional supply chains for mutual sustainable growth. They also shared experience in developing human resources in intellectual property and increasing public engagement in corruption prevention. Chief of the Vietnamese Government Inspectorate Phan Van Sau addressed a workshop on enhancing the involvement of society in preventing and combating corruption, during which he highlighted Viet Nams positive changes in the field. Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Tran Quoc Khanh attended a meeting on increasing competitiveness, innovation and connectivity of the PPSTI, while Deputy Director of the General Department of Irrigation under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Quang Hoai chaired a meeting of the EPWG. Other Vietnamese ministries and agencies proactively contributed their initiatives, including the development of a creative and innovative business ecosystem in the APEC member economies. In the days to come, the panels will continue discussing collaboration priorities for this year. Established in 1989, APEC now comprises 21 economies, namely Australia; Brunei; Canada; Chile; mainland China; Hong Kong; Indonesia; Japan; the Republic of Korea; Malaysia; Mexico; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea; Peru; the Philippines; Russia; Singapore; Taiwan; Thailand; the United States; and Viet Nam. Viet Nam joined APEC in 1998, and hosted APEC in 2006.-VNS HA NOI Chairperson of the Council of the Federation (Upper House) of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, Valentina Ivanovna Matvienko, starts a two-day official visit to Viet Nam today, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Assembly (NA) has announced. The visit is being made at the invitation of NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan. VNS More than 400 university students attended a debate on Saturday about protecting the pangolin, the worlds most commonly trafficked mammal. HA NOI More than 400 university students attended a debate on Saturday about protecting the pangolin, the worlds most commonly trafficked mammal. Viet Nam is known as a hotspot for yellow and Java pangolins. These two kinds of pangolin are ranked as urgently endangered animals, due to their abundant use in Chinese medicine. During the debate, held by Save Vietnams Wildlife (SVW), students heard information about pangolin trafficking in Viet Nam and China. The students were also informed of ways the animals could be protected. Nguyen Van Thai, director of SVW, said that he felt hopeful about raising awareness of wild animal protection among young people. VNS iStock/Thinkstock(BANGKOK) Scuffles broke out at the Dhammakaya Temple north of Bangkok in Thailand as police search for former abbot Phra Dhammachayo, who is wanted on multiple charges. Authorities ordered monks to leave the temple, but followers instead flocked there to defy police as they try to arrest the 72-year-old Dhammachayo. Thailand's military government ordered emergency powers to be used in the search. The temple penned an open letter to Thailand's National Human Rights Commission saying the police's actions were in violation of international law. Thousands of devotees showed up to defend the former abbot. In 2016, a similar standoff took place. BBC News reports there were no major injuries at the latest clash, but some monks were treated for minor injuries. The charges against Dhammachayo are conspiracy to launder money and receive stolen goods, as well as taking over land unlawfully. Supporters of Dhammachayo say the seige by police is politically motivated. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. 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. A NANG Japanese consultants have recommended that Da Nang deploys the Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) model for the first stage of expanding the Lien Chieu Port, expected to cost VN5.58 trillion (US$247 million). The pre-feasibility report for the expansion was prepared by the Japan Port Consultants (JPC) company and the Overseas Coastal Area Development Institute of Japan (OCDI). Under the Japanese experts proposal, VN2.792 trillion ($123.4 million) will be raised from the State Budget and VN2.788 (123.3) trillion from the private sector. The development of Lien Chieu port is one of two key projects that aim to boost the central city as a main logistics centre in ASEAN and the East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC) that links Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam. It is expected that the Lien Chieu Port will begin operations in 2022. The port project is linked with other projects including the a Nang-Quang Ngai Expressway, expansion of the Hai Van Tunnel and a new railway station. It is expected to ease the burden on the overloaded Tien Sa Port and gradually develop as a major cargo port in a Nang. Later, only cruise ships will dock at the Tien Sa Port. The Lien Chieu Port will become a logistics centre for the countrys north-south road, sea ports and railway systems. The city will consider the use of funds from the State Budget and Official Development Assistance (ODA) from Japan for a dredging project and for building a sea dyke as part of building the Lien Chieu Port. The port, which currently handles 50,000 DWT (deadweight tonnage) container ships, will be able to handle 100,000 DWT ships with a loading capacity of 8,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEUs) from 2025. According to Transport Ministry, a Nang will handle 29 million tonnes of cargo by 2030. Last year, the citys Port company commenced the second stage of upgrading the Tien Sa Port. The central citys port system including Tien Sa, Lien Chieu and Son Tra is slated to become the biggest of its kind in the country. The national seaport system development plan envisages a Nang as one of key gateways to the East Sea from the sub-Mekong region. VNS The Ha Noi Peoples Procuracy has proposed the death sentence for Giang Kim at, the former official at a subsidiary of Viet Nams Ship Building Industry Corporation, or Vinashin, a state-owned shipbuilding giant. Photo vnexpress.net HA NOI The Ha Noi Peoples Procuracy has proposed the death sentence for Giang Kim at, the former official at a subsidiary of Viet Nams Ship Building Industry Corporation, or Vinashin, a state-owned shipbuilding giant. at, 40, who used to be a sales manager at Vinashin Ocean Shipping Company Ltd, or Vinashinlines, was accused of embezzlement and money laundering along with another eight former officials at a trial on Saturday. The eight other defendants were likely to face between eight years to life in prison During the trial, it was recommended that Tran Van Liem, former general director of Vinashinlines receive a life sentence, while Tran Van Khuong, the companys ex-chief accountant, face a 20-year jail term for his involvement in the corruption. According to the indictment, from July 2006 to March 2007, as general director of the company, Liem signed contracts to buy three foreign ships, Vinashin Summer, Vinashin Island and Vinashin Phoenix, and authorised at to negotiate with the foreign partners. The city Peoples Procuracy also decided that Giang Van Hien, ats father, would likely be put behind bars for eight to nine years for money laundering. at fled the country in 2010, when authorities commenced legal proceedings against him and many officials for their wrongdoings in a corruption case at the shipbuilding giant that caused a loss of about US$43.5 million, as calculated in 2012, to the state coffers. He was arrested on July 7, 2015. Liem, at and Khuong conspired with ship owners to rig prices and earn profits, pocketing around VN249 billion (US$11.06 million) from May 2006 to June 2008. at received a commission of between 2 and 3.75 per cent of the total contract value for each transaction, which was transferred to a bank account in Hiens name, investigators said. In total, the trio abused position and power and misappropriated around VN260 billion ($11.56 million), the indictment said. Liem misappropriated VN3.1 billion ($138,000), while at and Khuong embezzled around VN255 billion ($11.34 million) and $110,000, respectively. The police found that after money was transferred to his bank account, Hien withdrew money for at to buy some 40 villas and luxury apartments as well as 13 cars in his or his relatives names. At the trial, the defendants pleaded not guilty, affirming that the prosecution against them was wrongful. As one of the major corruption cases ordered to be brought to trial as soon as possible by the Central Steering Committee for Anti-Corruption, the trials of at and his accomplices has attracted a great deal of attention from the public. VNS HA TINH The Institute of Environmental Technology under the Viet Nam Academy of Science and Technology has taken samples from a 50-metre streak of reddish seawater that appeared in central Ha Tinh Provinces Son Duong Port last Friday for tests. The move came after the local authority was informed about the appearance of the red streak in the port belonging to the Vung Ang Economic Zone, said Vo Ta inh, director of the provincial Natural Resources and Environment Department, the Tuoi tre (Youth) online newspaper reported. Previously, another reddish streak also appeared in the port on January 19. The results of the analysis conducted by the institute showed that the reddish water was caused by the phenomenon of jellyfish breeding. Additionally, waste discharged from the floating restaurants and houses nearby was also blamed for the red streak. The Taiwanese Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Company is located in the Vung Ang Economic Zone. Last June, the companys leaders had to apologise for triggering massive fish deaths in four central provinces. VNS HA NOI A crew member of a Vietnamese ship was reported killed and six others abducted in waters off the Filipino island of Mindanao. The information was confirmed Monday afternoon by a representative of Pham Hai Import-Export company that owns the ship, Thanh Nien (Young People) online newspaper reported. The ship, named MW Giang Hai, with 17 crew members onboard, was transporting cement from Indonesia to the Philippines, and came under attack on Sunday evening near the restive Sulu archipelago. The attackers havent been identified, however the rebel group Abu Sayyaf is known to operate in the area, and have previously been involved in piracy and kidnapping. According to Thanh Nien, crew member Vu uc Hanh, 22, was reportedly shot dead. The six other Vietnamese nationals abducted are the captain of the vessel, two vice captains, two mechanics, and one sailor. The other 10 sailors were left onboard and later rescued by a Vietnamese-flagged cargo ship. Phan Van Hien, a security officer from International Marine Transport Joint-Stock Company that operates the ship, said the vessel sustained damaged in the attack. The Vietnamese transport ministry has informed the countrys Consulate General in the Philippines of the incident and has asked for co-operation and support from Filipino authorities. A Vietnamese ship was attacked by pirates about 10 nautical miles from Basilan Island in November last year, as it was transporting cement from Quang Ninh Province to the Philippines. VNS THUA THIEN HUE A serious collision between a train and another vehicle occurred this afternoon in Phu Loc District, Thua Thien Hue Province, killing at least three people. The SE2 train, travelling from HCM City to Ha Noi, collided with a truck at a crossing in Phuoc Hung Village, Loc Thuy Commune of Phu Loc District. The accident derailed 11 train carriages and destroyed the truck. Doctors at the site reported that at least three people had been killed, including the truck driver. The victims are yet to be formally identified. Authorities are investigating the cause of the accident. VNS BAC NINH The provincial police, in collaboration with the Department of Criminal Police, recently apprehended two suspects allegedly responsible for the murder of a truck driver on February 14. The two were attempting to steal the 34.3 tonnes of steel he was carrying. On Sunday, Colonel Nguyen Cong Khoi, head of the Bac Ninh criminal police (PC45), told the media that the two apprehended suspects are Nguyen Minh Lien, 34, and Truong Viet Cuong, 38, both hailing from Kim Thanh District in the northern province of Hai Duong. The truck driver was Chu Van Phong, 41, from Ung Hoa District of Ha Noi. According to the initial testimony, Liem was working as a tractor driver for some time and personally knew Phong. Phong made a deal with Liem on the phone to sell a certain amount of the steel the former was ordered to transport from Hai Duong to Ha Noi on the fateful day. When Liem and Phongs truck reached Hung Yen Province, Liem asked Phong to stop and let Cuong hitch a ride. Cuong and Liem then killed Phong, reportedly with a knife, and hid his body in the cabin. The subjects told the police that later Liem drove the truck around to find an interested buyer. Eventually, Liem sold the entire 34 tonnes of steel to a company in Gia Lam District of Ha Noi and received VN30 million (US$1,300) in initial payment, following which they were arrested. The provincial police announced their decision to initiate criminal proceedings against Lien and Cuong on the grounds of murder. At present, the 34.3 tonnes of steel have been confiscated by the Bac Ninh provincial police for further investigation. Earlier, last week, some people noticed that a truck was parked on the side of Road 280 in Luong Tai District, giving off a foul smelling odor and with no signs of activity for several days. On inspection, the body of a man was found decomposing, tied up and covered with a blanket. The GPS on the truck was reportedly deactivated and damaged, so the owner of the steel shop, where Phong worked, was unable to locate the truck. Luong Tai District police immediately secured the scene, managed traffic on that section of the road and carried out the investigation. VNS BINH PHUOC Authorities in the southern province of Binh Phuoc have apologised for deforestation violations in the province. The apology was delivered by Nguyen Van Tram, chairman of the provincial peoples Committee at a meeting with a working group led by Mai Tien Dung, Minister and head of the Government Office yesterday. Tram attributed the shortage of forest rangers to ineffective forest management, adding that each ranger was responsible for 700ha of forest. Nguyen Van Loi, the provinces Party Secretary, admitted shortcomings in forest protection work. He has promised to clarify the responsibilities of relevant officials and take drastic measures to overcome shortcomings. Addressing the meeting, Dung said the provincial authorities did not follow an order by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc last June to close natural forests nationwide. Specifically, hundreds of ha of natural forest area had its designated use changed illegally, he said. Dung asked provincial authorities to strictly implement the Prime Ministers instructions on forest protection. "The natural forest should be closed and shifting from so called "poor" forest which means forest suffering exhaustion for other purposes should be considered carefully," he said. The Ministry of Public Securitys Environmental Crime Police Department in August last year detected various violations by provincial authorities relating to turning over 575 ha of forest into land for husbandry and cultivation. The project was later suspended. According to the department, provincial authorities granted a licence to an enterprise exploiting the natural forest without compiling a report on the environmental impact. The provincial authorities violated regulations on forestation when allowing Song Be Rubber Company to exploit the natural forest before the projects approval. Binh Phuoc Provinces Department of Agriculture and Rural Development also erred when granting a license to an enterprise that was not authorised to perform husbandry. VNS Municipal authorities are considering following in Binh Duong Provinces footsteps to build super-affordable houses, but the jury is out on the projects feasibility. These houses come with shockingly low price tags, starting at just VN100 million (nearly US$4,500). A Thoi Bao Kinh Te Sai Gon (The Saigon Economic Times) report has officials, economists, construction experts and businesspeople weighing in on how this feat can be achieved. Tran Trong Tuan, head of the HCM City Department of Construction The department is finalising a project to build super-affordable houses in the VN100 million ($4,500) and VN300-500 million ($13,200-22,000) range. To be able to build $4,500 - houses like in Binh Duong, the project must achieve three criteria: no land fees (land clearance and land use fee), no infrastructure investment costs, and a 25sq.m. floor area per house, which works out to around VN4 million, or $175 for each square metre). In addition, the housing complex must be located near clusters of workers, for example, industrial zones. Tuan said that in HCM City, two locations that meet all the above requirements are the Hiep Phuoc Industrial Park in Nha Be District and Linh Trung Export Processing Zone in Thu uc District. Nguyen Hong Hai, Chief Architect of Becamex IDC Corporation Binh Duong was build to build the super affordable houses thanks to a lot of conducive conditions. First, the workers housing complexes are accounted for in the provinces general urban plan including infrastructure development of industrial zones, urban residences, roads, schools, and hospitals. Second, the provinces determination and resulting support policies helped cut down construction time and cost. Third, the province issued a policy expanding eligibility for social housing projects. The socio-economic conditions of each locality are different, and HCM City cannot expect to copy the Binh Duong model. In my opinion, HCM City can build affordable houses, but in the $13,200-22,000 range, since the land and development fees are way higher than in Binh Duong. The city needs to prioritise sustainability. It is the economic hub of the country, so the construction of affordable houses must be done in a sensible way so that they can still function in 20-30 years without turning into slums later. An affordable complex must be designed in a flexible manner, so people with financial means can buy two or three adjacent apartments to merge into one big living space. In Binh Duong, we also constructed space walks functioning as spacious, clean, and convenient streets to connect between buildings. I think that super-affordable houses must not be merely a place to live, they must form a connected ecosystem for the community, where residents can access public services as easily as residents in other luxury apartments. Le Hoang Chau, Chairman of HCM City Real Estate Association. In my opinion, HCM City can only build some 15,000 to 20,000 $4,500 apartments because its land reserves are very limited. Geologically, only districts like Go Vap, Hoc Mon, Cu Chi, and part of District 9 are similar to Binh Duong. Despite having the infrastructure, the Linh Trung and Hiep Phuoc industrial parks have weak ground. If HCM City authorities are dead set on building super-affordable houses, infrastructure must be a priority. The complexes must have everything from schools to hospitals, playgrounds, and other amenities. The super-affordable houses are meant to meet living demands of workers working at industrial parks in the city, so theres no point in worrying about a potential influx of people from neighboring provinces pouring in, raising the already high pressure on existing infrastructure. However, in my opinion, only a limited number of $4,500 homes should be built to accommodate a small number of immigrants. Therefore, the Construction Ministry and other competent authorities need to issue as many support policies as they can to help develop social housing projects and commercial affordable houses. In the meantime, the city needs to develop satellite urban areas for low-income city residents that follow social housing projects standards, but still with full options. When the economy develops and peoples income rises, these areas can be renovated. Le Huu Nghia, Director of Le Thanh Commerce & Construction JSC I felt $4,500 houses are not achievable in HCM City. The construction cost alone of each square metre is already VN5 million ($219), that means the price for a 25sq.m apartment cannot be lower than VN125 million ($5,500). Furthermore, many areas in HCM City have weak ground, requiring intensive consolidation and deep foundations, and combined with other land and infrastructure fees, the cheapest apartment will be in the VN150-180 million ($6,600-7,900) range. But, in apartments with that kind of price, theres no guarantee of a liveable living standard for inhabitants. And theres the inadvertent risk of these apartment buildings becoming slums. Therefore, I think if the city authorities are pursuing affordable housing, then apartments at the price range of $13,000 to $22,000 are the viable option. In addition, the city will need to focus on developing infrastructure, especially streets and other types of traffic infrastructure, that make it most convenient, and thus, attractive, to residents. VNS MOGADISHU At least 20 people died on Sunday when a car bomb exploded in the Somali capital, as Shabaab Islamists threatened to escalate attacks in a "vicious war" against the new government. In the deadliest attack since the election of President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed -- nicknamed Farmajo -- the vehicle exploded at an intersection packed with civilians, traders and security forces. "A suicide car bomber blew himself up inside this market at a busy time, killing at least 20 people and many others were also injured," said Ahmed Abdulle Afrah, the district commissioner of Mogadishus Wadajir district. Final death tolls in attacks in Somalia are difficult to establish, as relatives, public and private ambulances ferry the injured and dead away. "There were many small-scale traders alongside the road and tea shops and restaurants. There were also members of the security forces and shoppers and the blast was so huge that it killed nearly 20 people, most of them civilians," said witness Sumayo Moalim. The Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab group had not claimed the attack, however it came on the same day as the group threatened to wage "vicious war" against Farmajo and his new government, according to the SITE intelligence group which monitors jihadist accounts. The president, via Twitter, described the attack as "horrific" and shared pictures of himself visiting victims in hospital. Local media also reported he had offered a $100,000 reward for information on who carried out the attack. A senior Shabaab official, Sheikh Hassan Yaqub Ali, said in a speech broadcast on a radio station linked to the group, that Farmajo was considered more dangerous than past presidents as he held joint American citizenship. The blast brought international condemnation, with the European Union describing it as "yet another act of terror targeting the Somali people by those wanting to undermine progress towards a stable and secure Somalia". The bloc added it stood behind Farmajos efforts to bring security to his nation and build strong institutions. The latest attack underlines the challenge facing the new president, who has inherited an administration with limited control over Somali territory due to the presence of Shabaab, and is heavily propped up by the international community. I will need time Farmajos inauguration takes place on Wednesday, although he officially took office this week at a ceremony marred by a series of Shabaab mortar strikes near the presidential palace which left two children dead. AU troops drove Shabaab militants out of Mogadishu in August 2011 but the fighters continue to control rural areas and launch repeated attacks in the capital. Farmajo, whose brief stint as prime minister in 2010-11 showed him to be a no-nonsense leader set on improving governance and cracking down on corruption, is hugely popular in Somalia. But he faces enormous difficulty in turning around one of the worlds foremost failed states. "I need the Somali public to understand how much the government is in need of their support. Government will need enough time to address things," the president said during the ceremony. Somalias limited election process, in which only several thousand delegates voted for lawmakers, is seen as a step toward full democracy. Somalia has not had an effective central government since the collapse of Siad Barres military regime in 1991, which led to civil war and decades of anarchy. AFP DEAR ABBY: I will be spending a couple of months visiting my daughter, who is a single mom. She has asked me to help her wake her 8- and 11-year-old kids in the morning and have them ready for school. Unfortunately, she works some distance away from her home. The kids attend private school and are involved in sports. The problem is, they eat and go to bed later than they should. In the morning, they can't wake up or get out of bed. She reminds them repeatedly to get ready, but when it's time to leave and they're not dressed or haven't eaten breakfast, my daughter begins raising her voice. Leaving late means the kids arrive at school late, and my daughter is late for work. I'm leaving in a couple of weeks and need some guidance on how to approach this no-win situation. -- RISE AND SHINE IN MAINE DEAR RISE AND SHINE: I'm surprised the teachers haven't complained about your grandchildren's constant tardiness, or that your daughter's boss hasn't warned her about her constant lateness. It's time you and your daughter had a private chat. The obvious solution would be for her to get the kids to bed at an earlier hour, with lights off and no electronics. You can enforce it while you are there, but unless your daughter is willing to continue to do that, nothing will change. This website is intended for U.S. visitors only. AMES -- Police have made two arrests in connection with an early Sunday shooting incident in Ames. Three people were injured during an early morning shooting. The two men arrested also were injured in the gunfire. Those arrested Sunday were Terrion Maxfield, 20, and Desmon Siner, 19, both of Milwaukee, Wis. Both face charges of attempted murder. The two were located at a hospital in Fort Dodge, both suffering from gunshot wounds. The suspect vehicle also was found in Fort Dodge, Ames police said. Later Sunday, based on further investigation and with the assistance of the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation and the Fort Dodge Police Department, two more men were arrested. They are: Charles Smith, 20, and Traveion D. Henry, 21, both of Milwaukee, Wis., and both charged with attempted murder. Both men were located in Fort Dodge. Ames police said at about 1:30 a.m., they were called the area of Chamberlain and Stanton streets to investigate a fight. A short time later, a red passenger car stopped in the 200 block of Welch Avenue and shots were fired from the vehicle into a crowd of people. Police said they believe the individuals involved were also involved in the earlier fight. Two Ames police officers were on foot in the immediate area. When they observed the shots being fired, both officers responded by firing at the red vehicle. The suspects then stopped shooting and fled northbound on Welch Avenue and then west on Lincoln Way. The victims were treated for gunshot wounds at the scene. One was taken to a Des Moines hospital, while the other two were taken to Mary Greeley Hospital in Ames. Police said non of the injuries were life threatening. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation has been called into assist in the investigation. Both Ames officer have been placed on administrative leave pending the review. Police are asking for the public's help in providing information to them about the incident. WATERLOO Two people have been detained on weapons charges after someone shot at them Friday afternoon. Police were called to the area of Logan Avenue and Edwards Street around 1:45 p.m. Friday after neighbors reported hearing gunshots and seeing people running from the scene. According to court records, 19-year-old Jyshawn Robertson, a 16-year-old and a third person were walking in the area when someone in a passing vehicle fired at them. One of the trio other than Robertson fired back at the vehicle, reports state. No injuries were reported. Police found two loaded revolvers and a loaded semi-automatic pistol in the area that Robertson and the teen had allegedly been carrying, but they were unable to determine who was in the vehicle. Robertson was arrested for carrying weapons and felon in possession of a firearm. His bond was set at $150,000. The 16 year old was also taken into custody for carrying weapons and felon in possession of a firearm. Robertson has been shot at before, according to Courier archives. In May 2016, he was shot in the leg in the 200 block of Newell Street in an incident where a woman was also shot in her leg. In 2014, he accidentally shot himself in the leg while carrying a revolver, records state. OSAGE Osage may form a junior firefighting program for teens ages 16 to 19, according to discussion at the City Council meeting earlier this month. Seen as a mentoring program, the group would allow those considering becoming a volunteer firefighter the opportunity to assist the fire department in a limited capacity. While there already have been teens, including sons of current volunteers, expressing an interest in the program, a launch date has not been set. Osage fireman Tim Blake presented the idea to the council. He stated the program would allow junior firefighters to roll up hoses and remain beside a mentor running a pump while experiencing a burning structure. The teens would not be allowed at crash scenes or real emergency events, though they would be able to assist at the firehouse afterwards by cleaning or restocking vehicles, Blake said. Council members voted to allow the fire department to pursue the program as long as permitted by insurance. There is a similar program in Manly and other districts around the state, with regulations already in place to assist with establishing the group. WEST DES MOINES Negotiators for the state and a union representing public safety employees hit the restart button Monday in talks aimed at reaching a new two-year labor agreement by March 15. The compressed timeline was precipitated by the Legislatures swift action to scrap Iowas 1974 collective bargaining law and replace it with a sweeping overhaul Gov. Terry Branstad signed Friday to take effect immediately. The state Public Employment Relations Board notified negotiators late last week contract talks had to start anew if a voluntary agreement hadnt been reached prior to Feb. 17. It is what it is and now were just trying to figure out how we move forward from here, said Jason Bardsley, a state trooper from Des Moines and current president of the State Police Officers Council. The union represents about 600 Iowa State troopers, special agents with the Division of Criminal Investigation and the Division of Narcotics Enforcement, state fire inspectors and agents, and Iowa conservation officers and park rangers. Both sides presented opening positions Monday that were similar to what they proposed in November. The employees requested 3 percent across-the-board pay increases for each of the next two fiscal years beginning July 1. SPOCs proposal also called for maintaining a health plan where the state pays 80 percent of insurance premiums while seeking changes in areas of overtime policy, transfers and call-back time, clothing allowances and other workplace issues. Janet Phipps, director of the Iowa Department of Administrative Services and lead state negotiator, said the state was sticking to its position of not offering an insurance proposal at this time, saying the state agrees to provide health and dental benefits as determined by the state to eligible bargaining unit members. Branstads administration first signaled a desire to change Iowas collective bargaining law Nov. 21 by announcing it was not including a specific insurance proposal as a mandatory item of bargaining pending possible action once the GOP-led Legislature convened in January. Branstad has said he would like to explore the option of creating a larger risk pool of public employees at the state, county, city and school district levels that would help drive down costs for all the entities that chose to participate. However, a lead GOP author of the collective bargaining rewrite last week said Republicans were cool to proposal especially for local entities. Branstad reiterated Monday the pooling approach would reduce state health insurance costs and free up more money for wages in the future. The state offer to SPOC on Monday was unchanged at a 1 percent across-the-board increase for the next two fiscal years. Bardsley said the uncertainty over the future of their healthcare coverage is probably causing angst among his members. Were looking forward to sitting down with the state today and seeing where things go. Well just see how things are handled, he said. He also expressed concern over the compressed timeline that requires talks to be wrapped up in less than a month. WATERLOO Of the 33 firearms that the Waterloo Police Departments Violent Crime Apprehension Team seized last year, at least 18 were the result of tips received by Officer Jamie Sullivan, according to police. Police Chief Daniel Trelka cited that statistic Monday as Sullivan was named the Waterloo Exchange Clubs Officer of the Year for 2016. Over the years, Sullivan has provided valuable information to others that has resulted in numerous arrests and solved numerous crimes, including homicides, Trelka said. Thats just how Jamie is. Hes always on the go. Trelka said Sullivan frequently fields tips from members of the public, often taking phone calls during his days off. The chief also cited Sullivans skills at interviewing and building a rapport with people he encounters. A Wapsi Valley High graduate, Sullivan earned a degree from Upper Iowa University in Fayette in 2002, and he served with the Franklin County Sheriffs Office before he joined the Waterloo Police Department in 2006. Since that time, he has been assigned to third-shift patrol and VCAT. Also receiving kudos Monday was James G. Scott, who was named the departments Reserve Officer of the Year. Every year, Jim puts in a tremendous amount of time and effort into keeping the (reserve) unit intact and performing at a very high standard, Trelka said. He said Scott has written grants to provide the reserve officers with new radio equipment and often fills in for other reserves officers. Scott has been a reserve officer since 1991. He is a Cedar Rapids native who graduated from the former Hawkeye Tech. He works at Harrison Truck Center as an information technology manager. Reserves earn $2 a year for their work and often provide their own equipment for the job, Trelka said. The two received their awards Monday during a Waterloo Exchange Club luncheon at the Elks Club. All clear after semi crashes blocked I-24 Caldwell County; semi crashes also blocked detour route By West Kentucky Star Staff Feb. 19, 2017 | 10:12 PM | MARSHALL COUNTY, KY Two men face methamphetamine and gun charges following their arrest Friday in Marshall County. According to the Marshall County Sheriffs Office, deputies were contacted by Kentucky Probation and Parole officers in reference to a warrant for a fugitive parole absconder, Gary Rowland. Probation and Parole officers requested the assistance of the sheriffs office because Rowland was reportedly armed and dangerous. Police found Rowland hiding under a bed inside a home on Davin Dale Lane in Hardin. During a search of the home, detectives located digital scales with meth residue, a plastic baggie with over an ounce of methamphetamine, marijuana, loaded handguns and a loaded rifle. Rowland was also found in possession of $2,000 cash. Rowland was arrested and lodged in the Marshall County Jail on charges of trafficking meth (firearm enhanced), possession of drug paraphernalia (firearm enhanced) and possession of a handgun by a convicted felon. Another person at the home, Montana Cunningham, was also arrested. Cunningham is charged with trafficking meth and possession of drug paraphernalia. Deputies said additional charges may be filed. CAPE COD, Mass. Word spread quickly this weekend that Pagan and Witch Dana Eilers had died unexpectedly. Born Sept. 15, 1956 in North Chatham, Mass, Eilers spent much of her adult life using her knowledge and skills to assist the growing Pagan community in its quest for religious freedom. Eilers held a law degree from the New England School of Law and spent more than 17 years practicing in the states of Missouri and Illinois. Over the past three decades, she also applied her extensive knowledge of constitutional law and her passion for religious freedom to help Pagans facing religious discrimination. Included in that work was the writing of the essential guide book, Pagans and the Law. Dana was a cherished and dear colleague at The Wild Hunt. Whenever I personally needed assistance working through court documents for an article, Dana would drop everything to help. No matter how long it took or how arduous it was, she did it. Her influence and support knows no bounds in our communities. She will be missed. said Heather Greene, managing editor of The Wild Hunt. At this point, the exact details of her death have not been made public. We will have more on that in the coming week, as well as more details on her life and her work. What is remembered, lives. * * * GEYSERVILLE, Calif. After a devastating drought, the rains are now coming in California and have led to a very different set of consequences. The dams now need to hold back water again. The Oroville Dam, in particular, was in such dire straits that evacuations were ordered last week, affecting many thousands of people including local some Pagans.Covenant of the Goddess (CoG) member Rachael Watcher shared some recollections about her experience, which began with an evacuation notice. The only spillway for the entire Oroville Lake Reservoir, the second largest reservoir in California, had suddenly begun to spew chunks of cement, and they immediately closed it down to view the damage. Closing the spillway led to the lake filling too fast, leading the Feather River to flood quickly. We had just enough time to grab the cat, the dog, the computers and our meds and beat feet out of town. By Sunday evening the highway patrol had closed all of the roads both north and south of Oroville. The spillway ultimately did not fail, and while they were able to return home, concerns about more heavy rain this week hang over her and her family. As concerns over the Oroville Dams condition mounted, leaders of the Temple of Isis offered sanctuary to anyone evacuated from the dams vicinity. With 180,000 evacuees potentially overwhelming existing resources, I thought we had an obligation to open up if we could possibly be of help, said temple director deTraci Regula, particularly since the temple grounds have room for evacuees pets and larger animals. The temple is three hours drive from the dam, and the crisis was handled in relatively short order, meaning that this show of hospitality was not needed this time around. However, this is not the first time the temples doors were opened to those fleeing a potential or manifest disaster. When the Valley Fire scorched over 76,000 acres in 2015, including the Harbin Hot Springs retreat center, those services were needed. For that incident, we provided food and shelter and other support for about 35 people and some animals for up to three weeks here at Isis Oasis Sanctuary, according to Regula. * * * COLUMBIA, S.C. An interfaith healing ceremony at the state capitol brought out many people from different paths in honor of South Carolina Interfaith Harmony Month.The event was hosted by members of Temple Osireion, based in the area. Head Priestess Holli Emore told a reporter at the event that there were many tragedies that still require healing. Orlando, the pulse night club, Bataclan in Paris, San Bernadino, the Charleston shootings, it was just one thing after another, she said. We all need food, shelter, love, support, safety, said Melissa Miranda Allgrim, another temple member. While this was an interfaith event, Temple of Osireion was the only organization named in the WLTX news coverage, with more than half the quotes provided coming from members.Others who were interviewed were identified simply as attendees. The video segment is available to stream directly from the WLTX news site. In other news: Wyldwood Radio is set for a relaunch on Feb. 27 by original creators Herne and Lottie, after a hiatus that began last September. The internet station, which will broadcast Pagan, Gothic, and dark folk music, is supported by listener donations through PayPal and Patreon. Future plans include live shows, band promotions, band contact, playlists and website updates, all managed by the core team of Herne and Lottie. The founders said, We hope to find our many listeners once again, as it was over 21,000 per month near the end of the old incarnation of Wyldwood Radio. Sable Aradia is inviting her fellow Pagan fiction authors to take over the internet. A series of writers are scheduled to post on the aforementioned Facebook event page for an hour apiece. According to Aradia, this includes introductions, FAQs, personal info, social media and website links, and most importantly, teasers, trailers, and giveaways or contests for ongoing prizes. Authors scheduled thus far are Jocelyn Babcock, Aradia herself, Frances Pauli, Sarah Burhman, Treeson, Brendan Myers, Shauna Aura Knight, Roxanne Rhoads, Shannon Barnsley, T.A. Moorman, Samantha Nocera, Sarah Avery, and Graeme A. Barber. A doctoral student at Loyola University Maryland is conducting research into the role of spirituality in resilience. David Christy is especially interested in reaching out to the Pagan community since we are so underrepresented in the research literature (despite the fact that were the second fasted growing religious group in the U.S). Christy wrote, Please consider taking this survey and boosting the signal by sharing it with others in your communities. The survey, found here, should take 30-40 minutes to complete. Registration for this years Equinox in the Oaks is now open, signaling the beginning of festival season. In addition, the indoor conference ConVocation is coming up this weekend in Detroit. Word comes from the Adocentyn Research Library that over 10,000 books have now been cataloged in that project. The library was started with the private collections of seven elders in the Bay Area of California, and organizers are in the process of putting the entire catalog online. They added that, right now, they are very interested in preserving runs of Pagan and Wiccan newsletters in our collection. T Thorn Coyle is among several authors who contributed to the anthology The Resistance, United in Love, which is being released today for Presidents Day. Proceeds will be donated to the American Civil Liberties Union. Pre-release this book has already hit #1 slots on Amazon under several categories. Heres a brief video blurb: Correction 2-21-17 8:34am: The interfaith story originally said that Temple Osireion were event attendees. However, the temple actually organized the event as part of South Carolina Interfaith Harmony Month. 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Consultant and I like to take winter vacations to warmer, sunnier places, and that generally means the Caribbean, which can be reached from Maryland with a mere four hour flight. The warmth and sunshine are reliable, but the bonus is that the Caribbean is like a spilled jewel box of islands, each with its own unique character. This year's main vacation was a cruise on a Windstar ship, the Star Legend. Because it carries only 212 passengers, the ship can visit small, out of the way islands. Such islands don't have large modern ports, so passengers usually go ashore on tenders, which adds to the fun. This particular cruise started and ended in Puerto Rico, which is the gateway to the Eastern Caribbean. Cruise ships sail from San Juan and there are small planes that fly out to farflung islands. I cherish the memory of our first visit to Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands, when our 10 passenger plane included a caged rooster sitting on luggage behind the seats. As you might imagine, he was not a happy rooster, but he made it safely to his new home. Antiqua San Juan Over the years we've spent scattered days in San Juan while coming and going from vacations, but this time we decided to go two days early, partly to visit an old college friend who is a professor at the university and also as a buffer against possible bad weather that might interfere with leaving Baltimore. (This turned out to be unnecessary--there's been virtually no snow this winter. But I like to be prepared for the worst because sometimes we've been hit with blizzards when we're trying to escape .) In San Juan, we decided to stay at a hotel in the historic area, called El Convento. which is literally a 350 year old Carmelite convent built across the street from the oldest cathedral in North America. I'm told there were tunnels to allow the nuns to go to the cathedral in privacy. There has been a lot of remodeling since the nuns left, and the hotel rooms are beautiful, not tiny cells. But the really spectacular part is the courtyard, where meals are served under gorgeous trees. Heaven to have a late lunch after flying in from the US! Originally founded by Ponce de Leon, Old San Juan has narrow streets and steep hills and not much parking, but it's beautiful and rich with history. Puerto Rico ("Rich Port") itself is fascinating: as a commonwealth of the United States, there is a lot of American influence and a lot of bilingual people, but the country is very much itself, with a proud Hispanic history. We want to return to El Convento as part of future getaways. Saint Bart's: One of the first visits on our cruise was Gustavia, the capital of St. Barthelemy, a French island and known as a hangout for the glittering rich. I didn't know much about it other than the rugged island's only airport has such a short runway that only six passenger planes can land, and when they fly in over the rugged mountains, the pilot has to cut the engine and glide onto the runway! Strong men who have climbed mountains and dived from airplanes admit to being terrified. Above is a picture and yes, the runway really is that short! The glittering part was true, too. The harbor was packed with yachts and the main street was one world class boutique after another: Hermes, Bulgari, Louis Vuitton, and other brands I'm too provincial to recognize. But what impressed me the most was getting off the tender and seeing a Windstar crewman pushing a small trolley with a very, very large fish on it. See that tail? I asked what he had and was told it was a mahi mahi and yes, it would be dinner on board ship that night. Sure enough, this placard with the chef's dinner special showed up a few hours later. Montserrat: All of the islands were interesting, but the one that impressed me the most was Montserrat, about which I had known absolutely nothing. I thought it was a French island because of the name, but in fact it is a British Overseas Territory. (A lot of the Caribbean islands changed hands over the years in a colonial version of musical chairs.) Montserrat was nicknamed the Emerald Island of the Caribbean both because of its lush greenery and because of the number of Irish who settled there. Apparently Gaelic was spoken in places on the island into the 19th century, and we were told it's the only country besides Ireland where St. Patrick's Day is a legal holiday. But what makes Montserrat so memorable is what the island has suffered. Hurricane Hugo blasted the island in 1989, leaving 90% of the population homeless. One of the things destroyed was the recording studio built by Sir George Martin, manager of the Beatles. Many famous musicians, from the Rolling Stones to Paul McCartney to Jimmy Buffet had recorded albums there, enjoying a world class studio in a tropical paradise. But worse was to come. In 1995, a long dormant volcano in the southern section of the island erupted and continued its destruction for years. About 60% of the island was covered with lava and ash and the 18th century island capital, Plymouth, was completely destroyed. The majority of the population left the island and much of it is now an exclusion zone where entry is forbidden. We were lucky enough to hire a tour guide who was a retired police officer. He'd been one of the first people on the island to discover the eruption, and he was in charge of the evacuation. Relatively few islanders died--about 21, he said--but the beautiful, prospering island was devastated. Slowly, stalwart islanders are rebuilding and there will be a new capital at Little Bay. This is one island I will not forget. Jost Van Dyke: Our last port of call ended the cruise on a much lighter note. Jost Van Dyke is the smallest of the four main islands of the British Virgins. It's only three square miles and very rugged, with only about 300 residents. Several times we vacationed on Tortola, the largest island in the BVI and only about five miles away. We saw Jost floating in the distance like Bali Hai, but getting there is complicated and we never made it over. This time, we finally reached Jost Van Dyke. I'd contacted a local taxi company to hire a driver and guide, and the charming woman who arranged our trip joined us on our journey, which went up and over the hills and brought us to Foxy's, a well known local beach bar, where we had lunch. All the people we met were wonderfully friendly and it was fun all the way. A bonus was the sea grapes I saw at Foxy's. Somewhere between a shrub and a tree, sea grapes love beaches and are found throughout the Caribbean, but for the first time ever, I saw them bearing fruit. And yes, they do look very much like grapes. The green turns purple and it's said that the fruit has a lovely taste. Maybe next time I'll find a some sea grape preserves. For surely there will be a next time because there are still many islands we haven't seen! Do you have favorite islands? Not just tropical ones, but anywhere? Because there is something about an island..! Mary Jo Please Donate In order to maintain this blog I have to pay for its upkeep including a hosting company, support services, virus and other malicious hackers. If you appreciate what I write please make a donation. Racist PayPal Tries to Close Down My Blog As you can see from this article PayPal have removed my blog. I would therefore ask people to make any future donations to the following: Name of Account: Brighton and Hove Unemployed Workers Centre Account No: 04094107 Sort Code: 09-01-50 Reference: Web donations by Claire Chambers In her 1963 book, Eichmann in Jerusalem, Hannah Arendt argues that there is nothing in evil that is radical or lucid. Instead, she claims, even the most extreme evil is senseless and banal. Amos Elon summarized Arendt's argument in terms that cannot but resonate with the current political circumstances in the United States: 'Evil [] need not be committed only by demonic monsters, butwith disastrous effectby morons and imbeciles as well'. As Arendt writes about Adolf Eichmann, one of the Holocaust's prime orchestrators: '[he] was not Iago and not Macbeth []. Except for an extraordinary diligence in looking out for his personal advancement, he had no motives at all'. The world's new Orange Overlord, 45th President of the United States Donald J. Trump has gifted us too many irrational, muddled, and downright idiotic statements and actions over the last year for enumeration in this short blog post. To take just one example, on the first day of Black History Month, Trump seemed to believe that Frederick Douglass, the nineteenth-century author of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass an American Slave, was still alive. According to Trump, Douglass was 'an example of somebody who is doing an amazing job, who is being recognized more and more, I notice'. Arendt was right to observe that the slide from thoughtlessness to evil is easy and smooth. A week before his Douglass gaffe, on Holocaust Remembrance Day 2017 Trump issued his executive order banning refugees from the United States for 120 days and from Syria permanently. Additionally, citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries (Syria, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Libya, Sudan and Somalia) were blocked from entering for 90 days. What a way to commemorate the premeditated and industrial killing of six million Jews and 200,000 Roma by singling out refugees and a religious group for exclusion. Thankfully, Trump soon found himself struggling with implacable opposition from the US legal system and at the time of writing has been unable to execute his order. Moreover, there was no mention of the Jews or anti-Semitism on Holocaust Remembrance Day. Trump's inept Press Secretary Sean Spicer later clarified that this omission was not regretted because the White House's intention was to 'acknowledg[e] all of the people' who died. Prince Charles responded by saying the lessons of the Holocaust are being forgotten. Yet these lessons are in fact being wilfully erased by Trump and his team. Central to that team is the anti-Semitic, Islamophobic far-right Chief Strategist for the United States Steve Bannon. Writing in Foreign Policy, Kate Brannen makes clear the former Breitbart News chief's significance: 'If there was any question about who is largely in charge of national security behind the scenes at the White House, the answer is becoming increasingly clear: Steve Bannon'. Bannon is the shadowy power behind the gaudy Trump Tower throne. And a brief glimpse at Bannon's messy private life points to the conclusion that this is a man of staggering banality. It must be acknowledged that he is not as chaotic as Trump and has a political agenda that he has been working on for a long time, even in his Breitbart days. Yet in his quotidian life, rumours of alcoholism surround Bannon, who has been divorced three times. His second wife Mary Louise Piccard alleges that he physically and verbally abused her, was an absent and neglectful father to their twin daughters, and told her that he 'didn't want the girls going to school with Jews'. If Indian author Hari Kunzru was right to say that there was a 'Weimar feeling' to 2016's rise of populism, then in 2017 the Muslim ban may be aimed at provoking a new Reichstag Fire. When British Prime Minister Theresa May's Home Secretary Amber Rudd belatedly worried that the travel ban might provoke more people to join Daesh, she missed that that might be precisely the point. (And it is amazing how quickly people forget that there has already been a terror attack in North America since the banbecause it was committed by a French Canadian Nazi on Muslim mosque attendees in Quebec. More such atrocities are inevitable and will continue to be forgotten or misreported as being perpetrated by Muslims.) When a Muslim extremist executes an act of terror on American soil, it may be just the excuse needed for the Bannonality of Evil to erode democracy further and institute emergency powers. But I am straying far from my usual literary brief. The rise of neo-fascism in Euro-America today got me thinking about how Nazism has been represented in South Asian Muslim literature. I read Anna Guttman's fine book Writing Indians and Jews: Metaphorics of Jewishness in South Asian Literature, and for the rest of this post will concentrate on one Muslim woman who fought Nazis in earlier times: Noor Inayat Khan and her representations in fiction and film. Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan was born in Moscow in 1914. Her father was the Sufi philosopher and musician Hazrat Inayat Khan, who was a descendant of Tipu Sultan. Inayat Khan met Noor's mother Ora Ray Baker in San Francesco when he was touring his music around the United States. Ora's family were interested in the East and devotees of yoga, but were nonetheless opposed to her marriage to this itinerant Indian. Despite their tolerant strand of Sufi Islam, Hazrat Inayat Khan's relatives also disapproved of the match. In the face of disownment, the young couple married and Ora took the Muslim name Ameena Begum. Inayat Khan and Ameena travelled to England and France before their first child Noor was born in Moscow. In Suresnes on the outskirts of Paris they estabilised their family home, which was named Fazal Manzil or the House of Blessing. Many disciples from different nationalities would flock to Fazal Manzil to listen to the devotional music that played there and seek guidance from the mystical patriarch. It can easily be imagined that with her Indian and American parents, birth in Russia, French upbringing, and work in England during the Second World War, Noor was a multilingual and open-minded woman. In Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan, popular historian Shrabani Basu writes, 'Noor was an international person: Indian, French and British at the same time'. Another formative influence on Noor was the untimely death of her father when he fell ill on a solo trip to India. At the age of just 12, this gentle, imaginative girl had to take on a maternal role to her younger brothers, Vilayat and Hidayat, and only sister Khair-un-Nisa (known as Claire). Her mother sank into a deep depression, which did not lift for a decade. The stories Noor told her siblings to get them through this dark time shaped her budding career as a children's writer. In 1939 Noor published an illustrated volume of ancient Buddhist stories that she retold in Twenty Jataka Tales. Her father's pluralist interpretation of Islam meant that she was well acquainted with and could breathe new life into the tales and traditions of other religions. Yet she gave the stories a distinctive Sufi slant, emphasizing the values of truth, activism, self-sacrifice, and justice. For instance, in 'The Guilty Dogs', hounds from the royal household mischievously bite through some valuable leather leashes. The king imposes severe punishment on all the kingdom's dogs, but the chief dog speaks truth to power: 'O King,' said the chief in a gentle voice, 'is your command just? Why should the dogs of the palace be innocent and the dogs of the city be judged guilty? The ones you favour are saved and the ones you know not are to be killed. O just King, where is your justice?' In her biography of Noor aimed at children and young adults, Gaby Halberstam erases the words 'Islam' and 'Muslim' altogether, just mentioning Noor's religion once as Sufism and referencing the Hindu Bhagavad Gita as an important influence on her. This is doing Noor a disservice because, as the quote suggests, the core Islamic principle of justice is at the heart of much of her writing and political activity. And in today's Islamophobic political climate it is crucial to highlight that Muslims like Noor have lived, worked, and contributed much to Western societies for centuries. If Noor had not had the misfortune of living in interesting times, she might have become a major author. I feel this loss keenly, as someone who has long been researching 'British Muslim Fictions'. But of course in 1939 war broke out and Noor and her family were among the hundreds of thousands of people who had to flee Paris in scenes of chaotic desperation. Despite her tolerant Sufi background and mixed heritage it was always assumed that Noor would have an arranged marriage to a distant cousin in India. Instead, Noor, who was an accomplished musician herself, had fallen in love with a student attending Paris's Ecole Normale de Musique. Some surviving family members told Shrabani Basu they did not remember his first name, so strongly did they disapprove of him. However, according to Khair/Claire's son, Noor's nephew David Ray Harper, the fiance's name was Azeem Goldberg and he was of Turkish Jewish descent. Noor's six-year engagement to Goldberg despite her family's implacable and possibly anti-Semitic opposition likely contributed to her fierce resistance to the Nazis. However, it also seems probable that her passion dwindled over time and that she broke off the engagement in 1940. In her 2004 novel The Tiger's Claw, Indian-Canadian author Shauna Singh Baldwin turns Noor's unique biography into historical fiction that has strong resonances for the post-9/11 era. She embellishes the relationship with Goldberg, who is renamed Armand, and imagines that the couple had an informal marriage which was quickly consummated. Noor became pregnant but when her Jewish lover was deported from France she had an abortion. Partly written in epistolary form, The Tiger's Claw presents letters from Noor to the terminated child. She hopes this baby girl will be reborn when Noor and the imprisoned Armand are reunited and their marriage can be legalized. Singh Baldwin presents readers with a fugue on Noor's impassioned realization that, notwithstanding her conservative uncle's principles and later her armed guard's unwanted advances, 'my life is my own, my soul and my body my own'. This chimes with the trope of the struggle for control over women's bodies common to much diasporic South Asian women's writing. Shompa Lahiri similarly 'map[s] Khan's shifting embodied representations' in an article in which she 'highlight[s] the performative aspects of embodiment, or the roles the body plays'. Nowhere does this emphasis on Noor's bodily autonomy and physical shape-shifting take on more importance than in her activity during World War II. Exiled in England after the family's expulsion from Paris, Noor contributed to the British war effort. Her flawless French eventually led to her becoming one of just about 30 women recruited by Selwyn Jepson to become a Special Operations Executive (SOE) operative. As the excellent Making Britain database explains her career as a secret agent: Noor Inayat Khan joined SOE, F section on 8 February 1943 and was seconded to FANY (Womens Transport Service First Aid Nursing Yeomanry) as a cover story for family and friends. There she trained in the use of firearms. On 16/17 June, after 4 months of training, she was flown to France under the code name Madeleine and her cover name Jeanne-Marie Renier, one of the first female wireless operators to be infiltrated into France. SOE operatives were saboteurs and guerrillas more than spies. Noor, with her petite beauty and pacifist views made an unlikely team member and her credentials were frequently questioned by her seniors. The wireless operator role that Noor accepted was the most dangerous designation. After deployment these agents notoriously had an average life expectancy of just six weeks. In the documentary film Enemy of the Reich, however, Hanna Diamond observes that the few women operatives that worked for SOE had the advantage of going unnoticed by the Germans for much of the war. Noor had several narrow escapes from the Gestapo where she used disingenuousness, quick thinking, and flirtation to get out of trouble. Following these brushes with danger and the arrests of many members of her network, Noor was offered the chance to return home to her family in England. She turned this down, choosing instead to stay on and try to rebuild her Prosper team. Small wonder that she would posthumously receive Britain's George Cross and France's Croix de Guerre. Soon after, in autumn 1943, she was captured. At the Gestapo headquarters on Paris's Avenue Foch, she was held in isolation and treated as a Nacht und Nebel prisoner who was supposed to disappear into figurative night and fog. On her own and with fellow prisoners, she made several unsuccessful attempts at escape. She was treated more harshly than others incarcerated by the Nazis because of her intransigence and because her olive skin tone led officers to believe she was a Creole. Eventually she was moved to Dachau concentration camp where, after a night of torture and perhaps rape, she was shot. Legend has it that her last word was 'Liberte!' Pir Zia Inayat-Khan says of the war and his aunt Noor in Enemy of the Reich: 'I believe if one studies history this is one of the very few global situations in which there was such a clear contrast of values and such a clear moral imperative []. I think she [Noor] felt that moral imperative very viscerally'. Indeed, according to several accounts Noor was in favour of Indian independence and had no sympathy with what Saikat Majumdar has called, with a nod to Arendt, the 'banality of empire'. But as a non-white French refugee, resisting fascism had to take priority over her nationalist politics. The relevance to issues rearing their heads again today does not need spelling out. To come back to Trump, Bannon, and their henchmen, amidst rampant anti-immigration sentiment and mooted Muslim bans, recovering Noor as a role model is important. As Vrinda Grover argues, she was wise enough to know what was the right path and how best to resist. Singh Baldwin has Noor express herself to her unborn child as follows: With other followers of Sufism, I performed namaaz and zikr, meditating to heal the planet. We prayed for the miraculous enlightenment of Fascists everywhereGerman and French, Hindu and Muslim. But where did conciliation and appeasement lead? First to losing you, ma petite, then to losing the one man worth calling husband. And so, my first night back in Paris, I swore to Allah: I resist all tyranny. Refusing to let non-violence become appeasement or spirituality become quietism, Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan did justice to the meaning of her first name, 'the light of womanhood'. by Max Sirak Happy Presidents Day, Murica!!! Ah, nothing like a made-up holiday to honor the CEO of our oligarchy. Mmmmdrink it in. It goes down jagged with a bitter and retching aftertaste. Which is good. It means we're of a like mind and among friends. 3QD is a bastion of thought. It's a place where words still mean things and facts still matter. It's a digital, international safe space for liberal sisters and brothers. It's a place to exchange ideas, gather, and garner support. This last point is important. It's easy to look around today, become discouraged, and feel alone. But we are not alone. We all have friends and loved ones who are fighting or flighting. I know I've spent a good amount of time recently trying to figure out what I can do to make things better. My quest has led to me to travel in time and look back. Today I'd like to share some of what I've found. So whether you're running away or rastling to make the world a better place here are some things I've learned over the last month. The History of the Holiday In 1971, the third Monday of February became Presidents Day. It's the only federal holiday of the month. Before 1971, there were two days off from work (or school respectively), the 12th and 22nd. On the 12th we paid tribute to the 16th president. You know, the guy who said, "Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?" and issued what is quite possibly the most famous Executive Order in history. (Hint it's the one that freed the slaves.) On the 22nd we used to honor the man who would have been our king, the man we wanted to be king, but who turned us down. You know, the slave-owning first president of the nation, who said, "Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience," and warned, "If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter." Now, instead of celebrating The Emancipator or The-Would-Be-King, we are told to respect all the holders of the office. So today we are going to bask in the glory of the election and term of our 11th President, James K. Polk. (Because, as luck would have it, there are some similarities between #11 and #45.) 1) The Election Itself Oh, what a time, 1844. Sure, you had to be a white male who could read, afford the poll tax, and live no farther west than Iowa or Missouri in order to vote, but at least we did away with all those property ownership requirements. It's also the only other time in our history a president won the election and lost both his home and birth states. 2) Stygian Stallions Did you know Polk, who won his party's nomination in 1844, wasn't even trying to be president? He was aiming for vice president. He had already been the Speaker of the House and the Governor of Tennessee. It wasn't that he didn't want to be president, it's just back then, being VP was an important stepping stone to the Big Dance. But slavery was kind of a big deal at the time. The Democrats were split over it. The Northerners wanted to re-elect our 8th President, Martin Van Buren. The Southerners liked former Vice President John C. Calhoun. At the convention, eight ballots were cast and all ended in a draw. On the ninth, James K. Polk, a compromise candidate no one thought would actually win, won. 3) Mexico Interestingly enough, Mexico featured prominently in Polk's election and presidency too. His aims at expanding the borders of the nation were part of the reason he was elected. Polk was a big believer in manifest destiny and thought the United States should reach from ocean to ocean. This led to war. We wanted The Republic of Texas for ourselves. Texas thought it had won independence from Mexico eight years prior and was free to join our Union. The Mexican government thought otherwise. And, when a foreign nation invaded its territory, Mexico got pissed. We went to war in 1846. We won in 1848. As part of the surrender, The United Mexican States gave up about 600,000 square miles of territory. The Mexican Cession included what would become parts, or all of: California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming. Now, we want to build a wall along this 169 year old, peaceful boarder. 4) Slinging Muck and Mud Polk essentially ran a smear campaign against his opponent, Henry Clay. In the words of historian Sean Wilentz, "In the South, Democrats played racist politics and smeared Clay as a dark skin-loving abolitionist, while in the North, they defamed him as a debauched, dueling, gambling, womanizing, irreligious hypocrite whose reversal on the bank issue proved he had no principles." Ad hominem at it's best. 5) Our Inherent Greatness We all know President Agent Orange (Shout out Busta-Bus!) won over the middle of the country with his promise to "Make America Great Again." Polk did something similar. Only his message wasn't about recapturing lost glory. It was about our preordination to it. Manifest destiny was a selling point of Polk's campaign. As historian William E. Weeks notes, manifest destiny has three major themes: "Virtue of the American people and their institutions; The mission to spread these institutions, thereby deeming and remaking the world in the image of the United States; The destiny under God to do this work." Appealing to our pride, ego, and god-given natural awesomeness. Check. 6) Unrest It was largely in response to James K. Polk's presidency, the Mexican-American War, and our continued acceptance of slavery that Henry David Thoreau wrote Civil Disobedience in 1849. Thoreau was fed up and appalled at the unconscionable actions of his nation, and he wrote lines like "It is truly enough said that a corporation has no conscience" "Law never made men a whit more just; and, by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice." "As most legislators, politicians, lawyers, ministers, and office holders serve the state chiefly with their heads; and, as they rarely make any moral distinctions, they are as likely to serve the devil, without intending it, as God." "The broadest and most prevalent error requires the most disinterested virtue to sustain it." "Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once?" Seems to resound a bit with some of our contemporary moods and sentiments, doesn't it? OK, But What Can I Do? That's the million dollar question, isn't it? Unfortunately, when it comes to actionable solutions, Thoreau was a bit lackluster. He basically advised us to go about living our lives and stop paying our taxes. That last part landed him in jail for a short stint. He was there one night. Then a relative of paid his taxed for him. So, I guess if you don't have many assets and don't mind being locked up, you can follow Thoreau's lead. Although it might help if you have sympathetic, rich relatives. Systemic Solutions My colleague, Evert Cilliers/Adam Ash, wrote a piece called The Only Way to Fight Trump: Eternal Resistentialism. It's not about the antipathy of inanimate objects. But it is full of disturbing quotes and ideas on actions to take with a little bit of Star Wars thrown in for good measure. Ariana Huffington wrote How To Get Out of the Cycle Of Outrage In a Trump World. She lists links to six different websites you can go to. 5 Calls Calling your Congresspeople has never been easier. Here you'll find their names, phone numbers, and even a script of what to say. The Resistance Manual It isn't sexy or flashy, but if you're looking for information, go here. Run For Something A site designed to help young people run for office. No One Left Behind A place to go to help the fight against the immigration ban. The March For Science This is a protest taking place at the National Mall on Earth Day (April 22nd) in support of science and facts. The Indivisible Guide "A Practical Guide For Resisting the Trump Agenda." It was put together by former congressional staffers, people who know how Congress works. Our Actual Impact Lori Deschene's 50 Things You Can Control Right Now is my favorite response. It's an article with a series of 50 things you can do, this moment to help the world. They aren't geared toward addressing global political problems. They are directed locally. Because, while Gandhi may never uttered his most famous bumper sticker, "Be the change you wish to see in the world," Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did say, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." It's on his memorial in DC. And, if you're the type of person who thinks I'm full of shit and your daily actions don't really matter, I have two more quotes for you. Both are from John Briggs and F. David Peat's Seven Life Lessons of Chaos. "Subtle influence is what each of us exerts, for good or ill, by the way we are. When we're negative or dishonest, this exerts a subtle influence on others, quite aside from any direct impact our behavior might have. Our attitude and being forms the climate others live in, the atmosphere they breathe." "On December 1, 1955 On that particular day, (Rosa) Parks had no idea that she was starting a revolution. She was living in the truth of the moment, a tired, hardworking human being who deserved the seat no less than the white man who demanded she give it up." We can never know the full effect of our actions. On this Presidents Day long live the King. And I'm not talking about the one who turned us down. ***** Max likes to think, write, and record. Say hi here. ***** Sources http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper2/thoreau/civil.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_horse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1844 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_K._Polk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican%E2%80%93American_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manifest_destiny http://www.snopes.com/holidays/presidents/presidentsday.asp https://www.census.gov/history/www/through_the_decades/fast_facts/1840_fast_facts.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Disobedience_(Thoreau) https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/abraham_lincoln.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Van_Buren https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_historical_population https://www.brainyquote.com/slideshow/authors/top_10_george_washington_quotes.html https://stevencwatts.newsvine.com/_news/2011/02/15/6060912-logical-fallacies-101-ad-hominem-attack-the-source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr._Memorial#Inscriptions Bakers have hit out at a report naming businesses that have underpaid staff saying it is misleading and has branded honest people as criminals. Three hundred and fifty-nine employers were named by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (DBEIS) for underpaying their workers the national minimum or living wage. As well as recovering arrears for some of the UKs lowest paid workers, HMRC issued penalties worth around 800,000. For the first time, the list includes employers who failed to pay eligible workers at least the new National Living Wage rate, which currently stands at 7.20 for workers aged 25 and over. British Baker tried to get in touch with all the bakers named and shamed by the report and found the story was not as clear cut as it appeared. We have been branded criminals and all this business is guilty of is trying to help people, said Tony Bain, general manager at Glovers Bakery in Preston. I have worked here for over 30 years I learnt my trade at Warburtons with Alf Glover, and then he started this business 40-odd years ago. You will never meet a kinder, more caring man. He has been left devastated by this report. Glovers was listed as having failed to pay 11,320.33 to two workers. That amount was for two employees to live in a subsidised flat above the bakery it was deducted at their request, added Bain. We are not cheats We didnt know that the money had to be paid to them and then paid back to us for the rent all we are guilty of here is an administrative error. We are not cheats. Mr Glover has been fined over 10,000 for basically trying to help people. Is that what this world is coming to? He has in the past given people advances for cars, houses. He does so much charity work. He is beloved by each and every one of his employees for being such a good man and this has left him broken. Bain added: The staff at Glovers have all signed a card to be given to Alf, telling him how much they appreciate him they want him to know how valued he is, because right now he feels his staff and customers think hes a crook. Laughable report Brian OLoughlin, managing director at Thomas Bakery in Dalton-on-Furness, declared the report laughable after his business was accused of underpaying a total of 779.75 to nine workers. That is the 1 coin our employees put in for tea, coffee and biscuits each week, he said. That is only the ones who want to, obviously, and instead of putting a pound in a cup each week, we had the written agreement of each and every one of them that theyd rather it be taken out of their wages. That amounts to 779.75 over two-and-a-half years. We thought we were modernising everything by not asking for a pound coin but were now back to putting a pound in a pot. OLoughlin added that he embraced the minimum wage, because it puts him on a level playing field with his competitors. In the past, businesses could get away with paying less, but our main competitor around here is Greggs, for example, and I like that they have to pay their staff exactly the same as me. He described the attitude of BEIS as like running a protection racket but without a balaclava, adding they would have a point if employees were being diddled out of their money. Pulled up over tea and biscuits But 2.3p an hour, or 1 a week thats what we were pulled up over for tea and biscuits! He added that, although the report was ridiculous, it could mean customers would not to trust his business as a result. And that is no laughing matter, he said. We make some of the best pies in Britain, award-winning, but all that means nothing if your customers dont trust you. Greencore, which was also listed in the report, said it was guilty of an administrative error (it failed to pay 1,675.50 to 22 workers). Michael Evans, group communications manager at the company, said: Greencore has been notified the company made an administrative error when carrying out minor wage deductions from a small number of employees at the groups facility in Hull. The company has therefore reimbursed 22 colleagues with an average amount of around 76, and has put measures in place to prevent an oversight of this kind from happening again. Bakeries and related businesses on the list include: In honor of Presidents' Day, we've compiled a hunky slideshow of our favorite (or should we say favourite?) leader of the free world, who, in addition to being really ridiculously good looking, also happens to love immigrants! And gays! Hellooo, Trudeau. Previous Next Justin Trudeau at last year's Toronto Gay Pride Parade. (Mark Blinch via The Canadian Press) Previous Next Trudeau with former prime minister Jean Chretien, December of 2006. (Tom Hanson via The Canadian Press) Previous Next Showing his stuff in August 2015. (Carlos Osorio via Toronto Star) Previous Next Trudeau weighed in (shirtless!) after boxing at a charity event in 2012. (Courtesy of cbc.ca) Previous Next Rocking a Movember 'stache in 2010. (Courtesy of Postmedia News) Previous Next Making friends while campaigning in October 2015. (Paul Chiasson via The Canadian Press) Previous Next Trudeau's college days in Montreal, back in the '90s. Why yes, those appear to be Tevas! (Courtesy of Gerald Butts via ottawacitizen.com) Previous Next Pondering his own hotness perhaps? At a talk at the University of Saskatchewan, September, 2010. (Greg Pender via Star Phoenix) Previous Next Hmm. (Courtesy of thenelsondaily.com) Obama, where art thou? Previous Next Thinking of you, Mr. President. Happy Presidents' Day! (Courtesy of theplaidzebra.com) Looking to protest our president today? Here's what's going down in the Bay Area: Not My President's Day, Nationwide San Francisco, 12pm to 3pm: "Hundreds of people at SF United Against Trump's general meeting on February 4th endorsed the national call to action for a mass mobilization on February 20th titled "Not My President's Day." Rally will start at Justin Herman Plaza (also known to activists as Chelsea Manning Plaza) at noon." // 1 Market Street (Embarcadero), facebook.com San Jose, 10am: San Jose City Hall // 200 E Santa Clara St. (San Jose), indivisibleguide.com San Mateo, 4:30pm: Sidewalk protest // 300 S. El Camino Real (San Mateo), indivisibleguide.com Anti-Trump Rally, San Francisco, 5:30pm Cleve Jones, one of the subjects of ABC's upcoming miniseries When We Rise, is hosting an anti-Trump rally during an exclusive screening at the Castro Theatre. The rally will take place during the two-hour break of the screening, but tickets to the screening are not necessary to participate in the rally. // 429 Castro St. (Castro), facebook.com Meanwhile, in Hawaii, where the temperature clocks in at a brisk 77 degrees, there are a number of gorgeous hikes just waiting for you. Kauai: Hike to Spectacular Views in Nualolo Valley This 6.2-mile out-and-back hike leads you through a forest reserve and ends with amazing views from the cliffs of Awa'awapuhi and Nualolo Valley. You will find yourself hiking through clouds and mist in the forest, with the clouds parting near the ocean, giving you spectacular views of the cliffs and the gorgeous Pacific. The hike to the cliffs is all downhill making the return leg much more tiring. Learn more. Inside Tip: If you want to get on the trail early, consider camping the night at Kokee State Park. You can make a reservation here. Kauai: Backpack or Hike The Na Pali Coast This is arguably Hawaii's most famous hiking-based adventure, and for good reason. The Kalalau Trail is breathtaking as it traverses five lush valleys before ending at Kalalau Beach, where it is blocked by sheer, fluted cliffs. The 11-mile trail is graded but almost never level as it crosses above towering sea cliffs and through deep valleys. The trail drops to sea level at the beaches of Hanakapi'ai and Kalalau. The first 2-miles of the trail, from Ha'ena State Park to Hanakapi'ai Beach, make a popular day hike. Learn more. Inside Tip: Pack light and go early. If you're interested in a longer day hike, you can do the 4-mile hike (8 miles roundtrip) to Hanakapi'ai Falls, which is spectacular. Maui: Hike Pipiwai Trail to Waimoku Falls This 4-mile roundtrip hike through a beautiful bamboo forest to a 400ft waterfall is one of the most well-maintained hikes in Hawaii as part of the National Parks System. This trail is scenic throughout and located in southeast Maui, the Pipiwai trail is within Haleakala National Park in the area called Kipahulu. Learn more. Inside Tip: You can complete this hike in about two hours, but take your time and explore the forest and surrounding areas for a few hours. The views of Makahiku Falls make for killer eye candy. Oahu: A Stunning Ridge Hike Just Outside Waikiki This 5-mile out-and-back hike follows a series of switchbacks that zigzag up the ridge line to Kuliouou summit's breathtaking ocean views. Along the way you'll meander through forests, scenic clearings, and finally up a set of steep stairs. The variety of terrain makes it one of our favorite hikes on the south side of Oahu. Learn more. Inside Tip: The Kuliouou Ridge Trail starts at the end of Kalaau Road. Make sure you look for the specific trail sign as there are two trails in the area. If you follow the paved road you'll end up on the valley trail, not the ridge trail that you want, so take a right at the fork. Oahu: Hike Koko Head's 1,048 Stairs This is more of an intense workout than a traditional hike, but the 360 degree views of the island at the top are worth the effort. Located a short drive from Waikiki, this hike ascends 1,200 feet straight up Koko Head and will really get your legs burning. The trail itself is comprised of old railroad ties, a bridge, and a few cool WWII lookouts. It's a unique outdoor workout that we love to do every time we're in town. Learn more. Inside Tip: The trail can be quite slippery in wet weather, so use caution. Water is also a key take-along item. Once you've conquered Koko Head, be sure to make a quick stop at Diamond Head Market & Grill to really reward yourself! Its been 53 years since Sidney Poitier became the first African American to win an Academy Award for best actor for his role in Lilies of the Field. He may have broken a huge barrier that night, April 13, 1964, but racial discrimination was still widespread. When actress Anne Bancroft gave him a kiss on the cheek after presenting him with the Oscar, conservative audiences were offended. Often recognized as the forerunner of the wealth of successful black talent today, Poitier was a featured performer or star of 48 films, and he directed six. He also fought for civil rights, marching alongside the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s. In 2009, President Barack Obama presented him with the Presidential Medal of Honor, the highest honor for a civilian. On Feb. 20, as we celebrate Poitiers 90th birthday, lets take a look at seven reasons to wish this actor, author and director a spectacular day. 1. Poitier persevered when the odds were heavily stacked against him. Born three months premature in Miami to Bahamian parents who were there to sell tomatoes, Poitier spent much of his youth in the Bahamas on Cat Island, in a home with no running water or electricity. Nearly illiterate, he was sent to live with his older brother in Miami at the age of 15. A few months later, he traveled to New York with only $3 and after a brief stint in the U.S. Army sought work as an actor with the American Negro Theatre. Upon hearing Poitiers thick Caribbean accent, a director told him hed be better off as a dishwasher. But Poitier wouldnt have it. He changed the way he talked by mimicking American newscasters. He returned to the same theater company and nabbed a role in Days of Our Youth. 2. He refused parts that played to racial stereotypes. In 1950, Poitier made his film debut by playing a doctor who treated a white bigot in No Way Out. His big breakthrough, though, came five years later when he played a musical prodigy in Blackboard Jungle. In 1967 alone, Poitier starred as a detective in the Southern crime drama In the Heat of the Night, a black man engaged to a white woman in Guess Whos Coming to Dinner and an inner-city teacher in To Sir, with Love. These three huge hits made him the countrys biggest box-office draw in 1968. Always, he insisted on playing smart, poised and thoughtful black characters. 3. He stood up for what he believed was right. It was called the slap heard around the world. When filming In the Heat of the Night, released just as racial tensions in America were boiling over, he insisted on changes to a key scene. Poitier played a black homicide detective who, along with a bigoted white sheriff, was trying to solve the murder of a white businessman. When a prejudiced cotton plantation owner grows angry over being considered a suspect, he slaps Poitiers character. Initially, Poitier was just supposed to take it. But after demanding a rewrite, Poitier slapped back, even harder, stunning both white and black audiences. 4. And he broke still more barriers beyond acting. Here, we outline the four tests you may be able to avoid with your doctor's blessing, of course as well as two tests you should get, if you haven't already. Colonoscopy Having a colonoscopy past age 75 may do little to protect you against cancer, reports a new Harvard study of more than 1.3 million Medicare patients ages 70 to 79. Researchers found the cancer risk dropped from about 3 percent to a little more than 2 percent over a span of eight years. At the same time, other studies have shown, the risk of complications from the test increases with age, especially for those in their 80s. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), an independent advisory board of medical experts, recommends that screening for colorectal cancer in adults 76 to 85 "be an individual decision," based on overall health and careful consideration of potential benefits and risks. Obviously, if you've had a polyp removed or have a family history of colon cancer, your risk is higher and you should probably be screened. If not, you may be able to finally skip all that lovely laxative prep. Mammogram The experts pretty much agree that women should get a mammogram every one to two years until age 75. After 75, however, the evidence for continuing the exams is murky. The USPSTF says there is "insufficient evidence" to conclude yay or nay to mammograms past 74. A large European study of women 70 to 75 showed that screening mammograms may have limited benefits and could lead to overtreatment, putting some women at risk from harmful side effects. For women with several chronic conditions that could affect their life expectancy, the benefits of routine mammograms after 75 are questionable. Those women should discuss with their doctors whether continuing the exams is really necessary. PSA Test No medical group recommends a PSA screening for prostate cancer past age 75, yet recent research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that 41 percent of men in this age group still have the test, many at the recommendation of their physician. Talk with your doctor, but many men age 76-plus can skip this. Pap Smear After age 65, most women with no previous cancer or precancerous lesions are good to go if they've had three negative Pap smears to check for cervical cancer in the previous 10 years. Unfortunately, most women have become so accustomed to having an annual Pap smear that they have them even after undergoing a hysterectomy, according to a study. So, ladies, assuming your physician agrees, you can cross this test off your annual to-do list. Insurers have long been allowed to charge older consumers more for premiums. This discriminatory practice has been especially harmful to people not yet eligible for Medicare, who are often juggling caring for their parents and their children, and struggling to save for retirement. But the Affordable Care Act imposed a limit: Insurers may not charge older adults who need individual policies more than three times the amount they charge other people for the same products. Thats why the new bill is unfair and unaffordable. If Congress imposes an age tax, doctors bills and insurance costs could go up for many older people, who would have to dig much deeper into their own pockets just to get care they need. Older persons in the individual insurance market have median incomes of only $20,000. Hiking premiums is a tremendous financial burden that will eat into older Americans retirement savings. According to a recent Federal Reserve report, the median retirement savings for households headed by people ages 50 to 64 is only about $12,000. And seniors already spend one of every six dollars on health care. Not only is an age tax unfair, it is bad policy. AARP researchers found that charging older Americans five times the rate for other people would cost taxpayers an extra $6.7 billion in subsidies to help them afford coverage. Specialist patisserie Maitre Choux has unveiled its newest eclair the Paris Brest. The eclair, which contains a crunchy nougatine filling and a layer of Maitre Chouxs homemade praline cream, is available from all Maitre Choux stores from this month at 5.80. In 1910, the Paris-Brest dessert was created by a French pastry chef to commemorate the Paris-Brest-Paris bicycle race. Over a century later, another French-born patissier, Maitre Chouxs three-Michelin-star chef Joakim Prat, has created his own take on this classic. Joakim Prat told British Baker: The Paris-Brest is a French pastry classic, which has been delighting dessert lovers for more than 100 years. We wanted to give it a facelift and, with a few tweaks to the original recipe, we gave it a modern twist: light, balanced and crunchy. Its our favourite at the moment. Maitre Choux, based in South Kensington, London, claims to be the first and only choux pastry specialist patisserie in the world. We should have learned from Hansel and Gretel Local columnist Donna Marmorstein takes a look at how technology, and her home movie collection, has evolved. Registration for National Doughnut Week is now open for bakeries who want to get involved in fundraising activities. National Doughnut Week, which will run from the 6-13 May 2017, will be sponsored by CSM Bakery Solutions who will be raising funds for The Childrens Trust, the UKs leading charity for children with brain injury. Bakers who register to take part in the week will receive a pack of promotional materials from CSM with everything they need to make the most of the occasion and raise as much money as possible through sales of doughnuts. Last years participants included Warings Bakery and Birds Bakery, who got involved with the fundraising. Warings Bakery said they always look forward to National Doughnut Week. It provides a splash of colour in what can be a beige industry and adds fun for our customers who love supporting the charity through the eating of doughnuts, they said. We always choose a theme and create a range of doughnuts to match, giving us a focus on how to decorate our shops, dress up and create our games. Our theme last year was Circus and our doughnuts included The Ring Master, Dotty Clown, Toffee Popcorn, and even an American Hotdog Doughnut called The Strongman. We also ran a competition to find the doughnuts in the big top. Mike Holling from Birds Bakery said the business would definitely recommend getting involved. We have supported National Doughnut Week for more than 15 years and this year we look forward to helping make the week another huge success, Holling said. Our target this year is to raise 8,000, our biggest achievement yet. Last year National Doughnut Week celebrated its 25th anniversary and raised 22,783 with the help of 394 bakers. Independent baker Christopher Freeman launched the annual celebration back in 1991. To register for National Doughnut Week 2017 simply visit www.thechildrenstrust.org.uk/doughnuts As a result of an administration error, organisers previously announced incorrect dates for National Doughnut Week. This resulted in the incorrect dates appearing on the British Baker 2017 wallplanner. National Doughnut Week is taking place from 6-13 May 2017, said a spokesperson for the organisers. Apologises for the previous dates, slight admin error. Dont forget to amend your wall planners. Don't miss out on the greatest wealth-transfer in history. Are you invested in gold and gold stocks now? If not, you're missing the boat. The Gold Symposium is a must-attend for anyone who wants to understand what's happening. Norsk Hydro (OSL:NHY) The investigation report into Hydro's former oil operations in Libya and consultancy agreements relating to the company's international oil and gas operations was submitted today to the Norwegian National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime (kokrim). The investigation provides grounds for criticism of certain issues. The investigators' report to the board was published today. CRU 22nd World Aluminium Conference 2017 at the Marriot in London London, Feb 20, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - CRU's World Aluminium Conference 2017 takes place on 3-5 May 2017, at the Marriot ( NASDAQ:MAR ) London Grosvenor Square, London, UK. Now in its 22nd year, the conference regularly attracts over 200 delegates from around the world to discuss the key issues facing the industry. This year's conference will address sustainability in the aluminium sector, focusing on how environmental and economic strategies interact and the business opportunities created. Plus, you'll get an expert update on the outlook for markets, prices and premiums. In addition to the two and a half days of topical conference programming, the 2017 conference sees the introduction of two, hands-on, practical workshops, to give you even more value. ABN Newswire readers can save 10% off the delegate rate! Enter code ABN10 at checkout! Register now at the following link: http://www.abnnewswire.net/lnk/M08B2880 Speakers at World Aluminium 2017 include: - Michael A. Bless, President, Chief Executive Officer and Director, Century Aluminum ( NASDAQ:CENX ) - Erika Ahlqvist, Executive Vice President, Communication & CSR, SAPA - Goksal Gungor, General Manager, Assan Aluminyum - Christopher Robert Smith, President, Ma'aden Rolling Company - Andrew Wood, Group Executive Strategy & Development, Alumina Limited ( ASX:AWC ) - Torbjorn Sternsjo, Senior Vice President Technology & Business Development, Granges AB - Senior Executive, Norsk Hydro ASA ( SWX:NHY ) - Christopher Beauman, Senior Adviser, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development - Max Layton, Managing Director, Commodities Research, Global Investment Research, Goldman Sachs ( NYSE:GS ) - David Wilson, Director, Metals Research and Strategy, Citi Research - Vivienne Lloyd, Base Metals Analyst, Macquarie Group ( ASX:MQG ) - Tolga Egrilmezer, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Rio Tinto ( ASX:RIO ) - Andrew Kenningham, Global Chief Economist, Capital Economics Download the 2017 Conference brochure at the following link: http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/X32S5E0B Key Topics Include: - Can large markets in low carbon and high recycled material content be created beyond castings and cans? - Would a premium for green aluminium be achievable or does the benefit lie in market creation? - Is China on a path to rolled products dominance? - Barriers to Chinese exports: Will the WTO case re-shape global aluminium trade? - How will 'Industry 4.0' and the 'Internet of things' drive efficiency and create new opportunities for aluminium? - Can the US cope with being the largest importer of aluminium in the world - where next for the Mid-West premium? BOOK NOW! [Enter code ABN10 at checkout and save 10% off the delegate rate!] http://www.abnnewswire.net/lnk/M08B2880 To find out how issues related to sustainability will significantly influence the future of the aluminium market and the strategies of the companies that operate within it, book your place at CRU's World Aluminium Conference 2017. About CRU Group CRU Group is an independent business analysis, and consultancy group focused on the mining, metals and fertilizer sectors. Founded in the late 1960s and still privately owned to ensure its independence, the group employs more than 200 experts in London, Beijing, Mumbai, Santiago, Sydney and key centres within the United States. 250m @ 1.01% Li2O from surface to End of Hole Wide, High Grade Lithium Results from First Diamond Hole Sydney, Feb 20, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Plymouth Minerals Ltd ( ASX:PLH ) ("Plymouth" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the assay results from MSJ DD-0003 (see Figure 1 and appendix 1 in link below). This is the first diamond hole drilled at the San Jose Lithium Project completed by Plymouth. San Jose is located in the Extremadura province of Spain. San Jose Lithium Project Assays received from first diamond drill hole (of 10 diamond drill hole programme): o 250m @ 1.01% Li2O from surface to the end of the hole*, significant intercepts utilising a +1.0 % Li2O cut off; - 5m @ 1.27% Li2O from 51m - 12m @ 1.21% Li2O from 67m - 31m @ 1.28% Li2O from 89m - 23m @ 1.24% Li2O from 126m - 19m @ 1.10% Li2O from 151m - 12m @ 1.23% Li2O from 227m o Drilled to a depth of 250m, finished in grade of 1.08% Li2O indicating that the deposit has further potential and remains open at depth o Mineralisation open to bulk mining - open pit method at a low mining strip ratio - Two diamond drill rigs working around the clock - 10 diamond drill hole program is completing 2,400m of drilling - Assay results expected to continue flowing until the end of March 2017 Executive Chairman, Adrian Byass commented: "I am delighted with the results from our first diamond drill hole into the San Jose Lithium Project. We have wide and high grade intersections that have exceeded our expectations and go a long way to validating this as a standout lithium project. We remain excited for the assay results from the rest of the 9 diamond holes from this 10 diamond hole programme." "The style of mineralisation encountered in the drilling conducted by Plymouth would lend itself to be exploited by a bulk mining, open pit method at a low mining strip ratio." MSJ DD-0003 was targeting the centre of the deposit and was drilled to a depth of 250m. Plymouth is pleased with the results from the first hole in the programme as the assays support and enhance the Company's understanding of the deposit. The hole finished in grade of 1.08% Li2O indicating that the deposit has further potential and remains open at depth. Plymouth is conducting an initial drill programme of predominantly diamond drilling. The programme is expected to include 12 holes (2 RC, 10 Diamond) for 2,400m to confirm the historic resource at San Jose. There are currently 2 diamond rigs working around the clock to complete the programme (Figure 2 in link below). Samples from further diamond drilling are being sent for analysis as the core is processed and further results are expected shortly (Figure 3 in link below). This programme of confirmation drilling is planned to continue until the end of February with all assay results expected to be received by the end of March 2017. Plymouth is excited about these results as it works towards what it believes has strong potential to be a JORC2012 Resource. The style of mineralisation encountered in the drilling conducted by Plymouth would lend itself to be exploited by a bulk mining, open pit method at a low mining strip ratio. Plymouth is continuing with metallurgical testwork to confirm the ability of the project to produce saleable Lithium Carbonate (LCE). The Company has engaged Independent Metallurgical Operations (IMO) based in Perth to assist in the development of the confirmation testwork programmes. Plymouth is able to use the publicly available historic information on the San Jose deposit to fast track the development of the updated metallurgical processes and flowsheet. The San Jose deposit is a significant, shallow, bulk tonnage lithium deposit with high grade zones (ASX release 15 July 2016) with collar plan shown in Figure 4. The deposit has an Historical Foreign Estimation of mineralisation of 83Mt @ 0.56% Li2O for 468kt of contained lithium oxide or 1.15Mt lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE). Historical drilling outlined a deposit which is open at depth and open along strike. Disclaimer: There has been insufficient exploration completed to date to estimate a Mineral Resource in accordance with the JORC 2012 Edition Guidelines. It is uncertain if further exploration will result in the delineation of a Mineral Resource. The San Jose deposit was formed by an amalgamation of quartz and quartz-pegmatite veins, which formed a stockwork hosted by metasediments. The majority of the lithium mineralisation is disseminated in the host metasediments as lithium micas including muscovite-phengite and zinnwaldite. Intrusive stockwork quartz vein systems hosting tin (as cassiterite) and minor tungsten as wolframite as trace lithium intrude the metasediment host rock. Beneficiation test-work focussed on the separation of the quartz material from metasediments for relatively coarse crushing prior to upgrading (see ASX announcement 21st July 2016). notes: *250m intercept calculated utilising a 0.5% Li2O% cut off and including up to 2m of consecutive waste Lithium oxide Li2O% = Li x 2.153 Lithium Carbonate Li2C03 = Li x 5.32 About Plymouth Minerals' Lithium Project Plymouth has partnered with the large Spanish company Sacyr and its wholly owned subsidiary Valoriza Mineria in an earn-in JV over a large, lithium-tin project (San Jose) in central Spain. Plymouth can earn up to 75% of San Jose by completing a Feasibility Study within 4 years (approximately A$6 million in spend). Plymouth also retains an 80% interest in the Morille tungsten project in Spain which was extensively explored by Plymouth in 2013-2015. About Plymouth Minerals' Potash Projects Plymouth owns 100% of the Banio and Mamana Potash Projects, which are drill proven, high-grade, shallow potash deposits that are favourably located on the coast of Gabon and on major transport river ways (barge) with direct access to export ports. Banio has an multi-billion tonne Exploration Target of carnallite and sylvanite based on historical seismic and drilling data. Plymouth intends to drill test this Target. To view tables and figures, please visit: http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/O127F58J About Plymouth Minerals Ltd Plymouth Minerals Ltd (ASX:PLH) has world class lithium and potash assets in Europe and Africa. These advanced, drill-proven assets are well located in terms of infrastructure and markets. The Company is well positioned to supply burgeoning demand for both and has a high caliber team to implement its development strategy Argent enters JV agreement to earn up to a 90% interest in the Loch Lilly project Argent Secures Strategic Stake in MT. Read Equivalent Belt Sydney, Feb 20, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Argent Minerals Limited ( ASX:ARD ) (Argent, or the Company) is pleased to report that it has entered into a joint venture agreement to earn up to a 90% interest in the Loch Lilly project, with exploration licences and applications covering a significant area of the Loch Lilly - Kars Belt of over 1,400 km2. Highlights: - Argent has entered into a Joint Venture Agreement, and has been appointed as Manager, to earn up to 90% of the Loch Lilly project on low risk/high reward JV terms. - The Loch Lilly project comprises exploration licences EL8199 and EL8200, and exploration licence applications ELA5376 and ELA5377, over 1,447 km2 of the Loch Lilly - Kars Belt in western NSW approximately 80 kilometres south of Broken Hill. - Argent to drill-test two identified geophysical targets, Eaglehawk and Netley, each with a 500 metre diamond drill hole. - Up to $150,000 of drilling costs co-funded by the NSW Government Cooperative Drilling fund. - Loch Lilly drill program scheduled to follow the West Wyalong drilling program in late May 2017, subject to access agreements, regulatory approvals and weather. The Loch Lilly - Kars Belt, located in western NSW approximately 80 kilometres south of Broken Hill, hosts a polymetallic volcanic-hosted massive sulphide VHMS, copper-gold porphyry and nickel sulphide mineralisation potential analogous to the Mount Read Volcanics of Western Tasmania. Argent will earn its first 51% interest in the Loch Lilly Joint Venture by completing a drill program to test two compelling geophysical targets - Eaglehawk and Netley. One hole will be drilled to test each target to a depth of 500 metres. The direct per-metre drilling costs of the drilling program will be 75% co-funded by the NSW Government up to $150,000. The highly contested Government funding was awarded to the project based on merit as assessed by an independent expert advisory panel. The drill program is scheduled to commence in approximately late May 2017, subject to access agreements, regulatory approvals and weather. About the Loch Lilly - Kars belt and equivalent Mt. Read volcanics potential The Loch Lilly - Kars Belt is a NE-SW belt of Late Neoproterozoic and Cambrian rocks measuring 200 by 30 kilometres in area in western NSW located approximately 80 kilometres south of Broken Hill. The belt occurs along the southern margin of the Palaeoproterozoic Broken Hill Block and forms part of the ~600Ma breakup margin of Gondwana that is represented by volcanic rocks that extend from Antarctica, through western Tasmania and western NSW to Charters Towers in Queensland. The project area is covered by exploration licences EL8199 and EL8200, and exploration licence applications ELA5376 and ELA5377, the combined 1,447 km2 area of which covers the majority of the belt. Research undertaken by Argent's joint venture partner, Dr. Anthony J. Crawford, has indicated that this belt, which extends from western Tasmania, through western Victoria, and easternmost South Australia before swinging northeast and into western NSW, includes rocks equivalent to western Tasmania's Mt. Read Volcanics, with potentially major discovery implications for the Loch Lilly - Kars Belt in NSW. Over a strike distance of just 80km, the Mt. Read Volcanics hosts several world-class base and precious metal deposits, including Mt. Lyell, Rosebery and Hellyer, and numerous medium-sized deposits, including the Que River and Hercules VHMS Cu-Pb-Zn deposit and the Henty gold deposit. About Argent's participation in the project as JV partner and manager Under the terms of the Joint Venture Agreement (JVA), Argent has been appointed as the Manager/Operator and is the sole contributor during the earning period during which time Argent has the right to earn a 51% interest, then 70% and 90%, in the Loch Lilly project. The joint venture continues until Argent either earns 90% or withdraws from the joint venture. Figure 2 (see link below) illustrates the project area and tenements against a magnetic image background, with the key identified targets highlighted by yellow ellipses. The key terms of the Loch Lilly JVA are as follows: - 51% interest - will be earned by Argent drill-testing the Eaglehawk and Netley targets by 22 December 2017 - the direct drilling costs of which are 75% co-funded by the NSW Government to a maximum of $150,000 under the terms of the NSW Government Cooperative Drilling program; - 70% interest - will be earned by Argent investing a further $200,000 in exploration expenditure of the project area, plus a payment of $50,000. There is no time limit by which the expenditure is to be completed, other than that implied by the regulatory expenditure requirements; - 90% interest - will be earned by Argent investing a further $250,000 in exploration expenditure of the project area, plus a further payment of $50,000. There is no time limit by which the expenditure is to be completed, other than that implied by the regulatory expenditure requirements; - JV Structure following the Earning Period - Argent to continue as sole contributor to the project until a decision to mine; and - Withdrawal - Either party may withdraw from the JVA on the provision of 30 days' notice. In the event that Argent withdraws after it has earned a 51% interest but no further interest, its interest will revert to 49%. In any case if Argent withdraws more than three months into the relevant tenement regulatory annual licence period, it must pay the other party sufficient cash to fund the minimum regulatory expenditure for the remainder of that annual period. To view tables and figures, please visit: http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/3G600YVC About Argent Minerals Limited Argent Minerals Limited ( ASX:ARD) is an Australian publicly listed company with a 100% interest in a silver/gold project at Kempfield NSW. Work is underway on the preparation of an EIS and a feasibility study for the first stage of the project which will involve heap leaching some 8.8 million tonnes of mainly oxide and transitional material to produce over 9.5 million ounces of silver and 15,000 ounces of gold over a 5 year mine life. Argent is also earning up to a 70% interest in two other NSW projects - gold at West Wyalong and base metals at Sunny Corner. Technical Report on Namdini Perth, Feb 20, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Cardinal Resources Limited ( ASX:CDV ) ( CRDNF:OTCMKTS ) ("Cardinal" or "the Company") advises that the resource estimation report from EGRM Consulting (Perth, Australia) is now available on the Company's website, see links below. About Namdini Project: Ghana The Namdini Mining Licence is located in the Bolgatanga region, 6 km south east of the operating Shaanxi underground Gold Mine and 12 km from Cardinal's Ndongo East Prospect. Extensive mining activities occur all around the Namdini licence attesting to the gold bearing potential of this whole area. Known Mining Region The Project is located in a mineral-rich region of Ghana where significant production has previously taken place from a number of gold mines and from numerous artisanal gold workings. The producing open pit Youga Gold Mine, the historic Nangodi underground gold mine, the producing Shaanxi underground gold mine and the Namdini Mining Licence are all located along or adjacent to a major regional shear. The Youga gold mine was recently sold by Endeavour Mining Corporation ( TSE:EDV ) ( ASX:EVR ) and is currently in production and operated by MNG Gold. At 31 December 2013, the Proven and Probable mineral reserves at Youga and Youga Satellites are 4.0 million tonnes at 2.0 g/t gold containing 0.265 million ounces (on a project basis 100%). The Measured and Indicated mineral resources, inclusive of reserves, are 15.5 million tonnes at 1.6 g/t gold containing 0.805 million ounces, plus Inferred resources of 2.2 million tonnes at 1.4 g/t gold containing 0.099 million ounces (0.5 g/t cut-off grade). This deposit was identified through regional exploration in the early 2000's. The historic Nangodi gold mine produced 18,620 oz Au from 23,600 tonnes, at an average of ~23.9 g/t Au during the 1930's from underground workings exceeding 150m depths (Ghana Department of Mines records 1938). The producing Shaanxi underground gold mine operates with 4 head frames, a large processing plant, an extensive range of equipment and company operated drill rigs. The underground workings are reported to range between 150-200m depths. Regional Setting The Bole-Bolgatanga Fault is a major regional fault zone trending ~NE from Cote d'Ivoire, through NE Ghana, through Burkina Faso and into Niger. In Niger, the Samira Hill Gold Mine is located along the fault. This fault zone is developed over ~6 km in the NW corner of the Kungongo tenement and along the ~18 km SE border of the Bongo tenement and constitutes long lengths of potential gold bearing exploration targets. The Nangodi Greenstone Belt is the southern portion of the greenstone belt that crosses into Burkina Faso where the Youga gold mine is located. Locally, the belt trends NNE-SSW over a distance of 30 km and turns to a more ENE-WSW trend in the south of the area. The belt is comprised of Birimian interbedded metavolcanics (mainly basalt flows), metasediments (phyllites, greywackes and cherty horizons). Some small basic to intermediate intrusions occur within the belt which are associated with gold mineralisation. Metasediments of Tarkwaian age occur adjacent to the belt and host the gold mineralisation of the nearby Youga mine. Visit Technical Reports at Cardinal's website at: http://www.abnnewswire.net/lnk/9D2S4JGO View or download the Technical Report directly at: http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/6JXGFOK8 View the Latest Cardinal Presentation on Namdini Gold Project at: http://www.abnnewswire.net/lnk/6YY7G28P About Cardinal Resources Ltd Cardinal Resources Ltd (ASX:CDV) (TSE:CDV) (OTCMKTS:CRDNF) is a West African gold exploration and development Company that holds interests in tenements within Ghana, West Africa. The Company is focused on the development of the Namdini Project with a gold Ore Reserve of 5.1Moz (0.4 Moz Proved and 4.7 Moz Probable) and a soon to be completed Feasibility Study. Exploration programmes are also underway at the Company's Bolgatanga (Northern Ghana) and Subranum (Southern Ghana) Projects. Cardinal confirms that it is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects the information included in its announcement of the Ore Reserve of 3 April 2019. All material assumptions and technical parameters underpinning this estimate continue to apply and have not materially changed. Lekki Lagos, February 1st 2019. Rilla Web Hosting, one of the top players in domain registration and web hosting has announces its full ... Tennessee Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is celebrating its 25 th anniversary this year. I had the opportunity to serve as the coordinator of TCBF for slightly over 10 years. So far, that is a record but one that I hope the current coordinator, Rick Bennett, will surpass. Suzii Paynter has used the term "denomi-network" to describe CBF. The terms network, partnership, and fellowship continue to be the preferred descriptors. Most participants in CBF life seem to prefer a bit of ambiguity in describing the group and their relationship to it. This allows for churches to continue to have multiple affiliations while still participating in CBF life. Both the state and national incarnations of CBF continue to evolve. When CBF was born, Dr. Bill Leonard made a comment, This is a difficult time in American life to be part of a denomination or to start a new one. CBF has skirted around the use of the D word in recent years. Executive Coordinator In this blog, I want to talk about the beginnings of CBF life in Tennessee. In a subsequent post, I will speculate on the future. Left to right: Ircel Harrison, Bill Junker, Lila Boyd, and Lloyd Householder As TCBF coordinator, I found the challenges of formalizing and normalizing a state organization both stimulating and frustrating. Churches still did not know exactly how to deal with the new kid on the block, so I spent a lot of effort on leveraging old relationships and creating new ones. I will always be grateful for the support of friends like Lloyd and Anne Marie Householder, Lila and Bob Boyd, Bill and Patsy Junker, Don and Vicky Dixon, Judy and Jeff Fryer, Mike and Grace Smith as well as many others. Several of the challenges we faced dealt with our identitywho we were and what would we do. Here are three of those challenges First, we had to find a way to work with constituents from the three grand divisions of the state. Supporters in each part of the state had their own agendas. Many TCBF adherents in the middle part of the state, especially in the Nashville area, were former employees of the Baptist Sunday School Board (now Lifeway) or the Executive Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. They were angry and upset because the investment of their lives was slipping away. Those in the eastern part of the state were not happy with what was happening in the SBC and the Tennessee Baptist Convention but, with typical Appalachian detachment, they tended to take a wait and see attitude. When I met with the pastor of one large congregation and openly lobbied for support for Tennessee CBF, he very honestly responded, We will wait and see what you do. Those in Memphis were a minority in the state and in their own community, struggling to be a progressive voice in a bastion of conservativism. The advantage I had as coordinator was that I had lived in east Tennessee, had my current residence in middle Tennessee, and traveled enough in west Tennessee to know the culture and its people. Although Tennessee is my adopted state, I loved the people and appreciated the differences in the churches across the state. The second challenge was whether TCBF would become politically active in the denominational wars, especially at the state level. The conversations around this subject could fill a book, but one decision confirmed our direction. I was asked to supply the TCBF mailing list to a moderate group that planned to be a dissenting voice at an upcoming meeting of the Tennessee Baptist Convention. Their goal was preserving not only historic Baptist ideals but the Baptist institutions as well. I was not comfortable sharing this information. After a discussion with our moderator, an east Tennessee pastor, I took the request to our Coordinating Council for a decision. They rejected the request and adopted a policy to cover the use of information from our donors and handle it in a confidential manner. We would not become a political action group. Third, TCBF had to achieve some credibility as a ministry. Today, I would use the term a missional organization. We did this by finding partners both on the national and state level. Of course, we supported the mission initiative of the CBF. We partnered with University Baptist Church in Bloomington, Indiana, around International ministry; Samaritan Ministry at Central Baptist Church, Bearden, in Knoxville, on ministry with victims of HIV and AIDS; Neverfail Community Church on the Cumberland Plateau with a ministry in one of the poorest counties in our state; CBF missionaries in Jordan and, eventually, the Baptist Union of Croatia as a global outreach; and several others. Some of these initiatives were more successful than others, but in each case, the partners we choose defined who we were and what we valued. They honored us by their partnership with us. Churches, clergy, and laity came to believe in the ministry of TCBF and provided the resources and support to grow and extend the outreach of our churches and partners. I am grateful for those who came alongside as staff members and contract workers during those days: Judy Fryer, Tammy Abee Blom, Mike Young, Lara Cotey, Amy Anderson Taylor, Tambi Swiney, LuAnne Prevost, and Emily Roberts. There is not room enough to name all the othersboth in Tennessee and in the National CBF officewho contributed their time and talents during those days. During those days, my wife said, "You are much happier than I have seen you in years." She was right. I am grateful to have been part of the CBF movement during a challenging and fruitful decade. Get AfricaFocus Bulletin by e-mail! Format for print or mobile Africa/Global: Agribusiness Giants on Merger Path AfricaFocus Bulletin February 20, 2017 (170220) (Reposted from sources cited below) Editor's Note "If the Bayer-Monsanto merger is approved, the new merged company will control almost 30% of the global commercial seed market and 25% of the agrochemical market - making it the world's largest supplier of seeds and chemicals. In South Africa, it would control about 30% of both markets. Already today, Monsanto is one of two companies in South Africa that employs 80% of the private sector breeders in maize and 100% of the breeders in soybean and sunflower breeders. " - African Centre for Biodiversity The dominance of giant agribusiness multinational companies in the supply of seeds and chemicals is not new, whether at the national level in both developing and developing countries or on a global scale. The vast influence of these companies is felt in policies imposed on national governments damaging to small farmers as well as to the environment and human health, as well as in control of pricing for agricultural inputs. Recent years, however, have seen a further escalation of mergers which is accelerating concentration in the industry, of which the merger of Bayer and Monsanto is currently under review by national regulatory agencies in South Africa and other countries. This new report highlights the negative consequences of this trend, particularly for smallholder farmers. For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on biodiversity and related issues, documenting this and other related critical analyses on policies in African agriculture, visit http://www.africafocus.org/intro-ag.php ++++++++++++++++++++++end editor's note+++++++++++++++++ The Bayer-Monsanto merger: Implications for South Africa's agricultural future and its smallholder farmers February 2017 The African Centre for Biodiversity (http://www.acbio.org.za) Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung (http://www.rosalux.co.za) [Excerpts only: Full paper available at http://tinyurl.com/z4pkxb9] About This Paper This paper explores the likely implications of an approved BayerMonsanto merger for the South African agricultural system. It outlines the trend of consolidation occurring within the seed and agrochemical industries, provides a background to the merger, criticises the rationale given for the merger by Bayer and Monsanto and outlines concerns should the merger be approved in South Africa. These concerns focus on the implications for South African farmers, smallholder farmers in particular. The paper argues that further consolidation of an already corporate- controlled seed sector is not needed and that it undermines the emergence of an alternative system that would support smallholder farmers in contributing to food security in an egalitarian agricultural economy. Key Findings Context The proposed Bayer-Monsanto merger takes place in a context of megamergers: China National Chemical Corporation (ChemChina)- Syngenta; DuPont-Dow. If approved, just three corporations would control about 60% of the global patented seed market and 64% of the agrochemical market. If the Bayer-Monsanto merger is approved, the new merged company will control almost 30% of the global commercial seed market and 25% of the agrochemical market - making it the world's largest supplier of seeds and chemicals. In South Africa, it would control about 30% of both markets. Already today, Monsanto is one of two companies in South Africa that employs 80% of the private sector breeders in maize and 100% of the breeders in soybean and sunflower breeders. The merger will need to be approved by regulatory authorities in more than 30 countries. Authorities are viewing the merger activities in totality to assess possible implications for the market, farmers and consumers. They will look at whether reduced competition will lead to reduced innovation, lowered spending on research and development and implications for increased input costs and reduced choice for farmers and other consumers (although the market is already significantly consolidated). Merger activity is being driven by the global economic downturn and reduced demand for products by farmers because of low commodity prices. It is also driven by the desire to reduce operational costs, particularly for research and development processes, and to access proprietary knowledge enclosed in intellectual property rights, such as patents. The merger and acquisition trend is supported by the historically low interest rates (close to zero) being offered in the United States, the Euro zone, Japan and the United Kingdom. Both Bayer and Monsanto are already engaged in big data projects in the agricultural sector. Bayer notes that one of its prime reasons for acquiring Monsanto is because it owns The Climate Corporation, which has the most powerful data science engine and the most extensive field research network. In addition, Monsanto has its foot in several important Genome Editing initiatives: it owns one of the two existing CRISPR licenses and has started two joint ventures on precision agriculture with the agrotech giants CNH and AGCO. Both companies would benefit from sharing patents on genetically modified crops and existing network and distribution models as they both plan to expand into the African market, with a particular focus on smallholder farmers. Bayer has been in the plant genetic engineering arena since the early 2000s and holds more patents on transgenic plant traits (206) than Monsanto (119) in the European Union). Having access to each other's proprietary knowledge would provide them with significant cost savings, particularly as the biotech industry shifts towards using CRISPR genome editing technology, which revolutionises transgenic interventions through the rewriting of whole DNA-sequences, but is not yet subject to a comparable degree of regulatory oversight as the first generation of genetic engineering. Both traits and germplasm is needed to remain competitive in this market. South Africa is the most important African market for both companies in terms of sales and for providing a base for African expansion. The recent request by GrainSA, Agbiz Grain, the South African National Seed Organization (SANSOR) and the Agricultural Research Council for a breeding and technology levy to be imposed on winter cereals in South Africa - with the possibility of expanding this to other crops - would effectively mean that public resources would be used to collect royalty payments for these companies. Both Bayer and Monsanto sit on industry representative bodies, giving them a significant degree of influence on the industry - a combined company would enjoy benefits of greater influence. Implications The merger between Bayer Crop Science and Monsanto would have possible implications for the agricultural sector and the food system in South Africa: It would further reduce the competition within the South African seed sector. Evidence from the US seed market shows that mergers of this size will change key parameters of the seed market. BayerMonsanto' s dominant market position will be further enhanced, as will both companies' control over traits-germplasm-crop protection products in the country. Quite contrary to the claims of Bayer and Monsanto managers, the merger is likely to decrease the amount of investment and the range of innovations. This paper argues that the potential merger must be analysed in the larger context of a rapid privatisation of research and development. A particularly important tool of the potential Bayer-Monsanto seed giant would be the instrument of licensing rights, and increased pressure on farmers through the collection of levies is expected. Serious impacts are anticipated for farmers and food consumers alike. For farmers, evidence from the last few years at both the South African seed market and the US seed market shows that a further increase in seed prices is very likely. The choice of available inputs will further decrease. Given the high amount of sunk costs that particularly Monsanto invested in the development of partly unsuccessful genetically modified organisms, there is a threat that the South African market will be used as a strategic point from where to 'dump' old genetically modified (GM) technologies onto the African market. On the other hand, available micro data from households in South Africa show how any price increase in staple food prices might affect the income poor. An indirect effect on food prices from the merger cannot be excluded. A closer look at the drivers of the Bayer- Monsanto merger reveals that the 'efficiency argument' put forward by the corporations might lead to a benefit to their shareholders, but cannot be expected to spill over to external groups, such as farmers and food consumers. ... Seed and Agrochemical Markets Global agricultural input markets (seed, fertiliser, crop protection products, farm machinery and agri-tech markets) are already significantly consolidated, having experienced a series of horizontal and vertical mergers and acquisitions over the past two decades (Figure 1). The global and regional seed market In 1994, the four biggest seed companies controlled 21% of the global market (AgriPortal, 2016); today just ten companies own about 65% of the world's proprietary seed (seed registered for legal protection) for major crops (Wattnem, 2016). It must be noted that in Africa 65-100% of seed used by smallholder farmers is farmer-saved and exchanged (varies by crop and geography) (Wattnem, 2016). The global commercial seed market has an estimated value of about US$53 billion and is expected to grow to US$113 billion by 2020 (Marketsandmarkets, 2016) with the African market contributing less than 2% to the current value (CTA, 2015). This presents a potentially lucrative market, but many obstacles have to be overcome to carry out a sustainably profitable business. Some of the bigger ones include lack of infrastructure, specialised knowledge, institutional arrangements and political bureaucracy. The genetically modified seed market was worth US$15.6 billion in 2011 and is expected to grow to US$30.2 billion in 2018 (AGPRO, 2013). However, a recent market report notes that conventional seeds are expected to be the fastest growing segment of total seed sales (Marketsandmarkets, 2016). ... Africa presents an untapped market but with very slow processes of regulatory and institutional development to allow GM crops to be grown. In the meantime, market expansion will be based on conventional certified seed and agrochemicals. Maize and horticulture are the two biggest seed markets on the African continent, with the maize market valued at about US$500 million and horticulture at US$250 million; most seed company activity takes place in this space (ACB, 2015). There is more recent interest in commercialisation of legume seed on the continent. The South African seed market South Africa has a dominant commercial seed industry, which is primarily geared to serving the needs of large-scale commercial farmers, with a dominant focus on hybrid, improved and genetically modified seed (DAFF, 2015). South Africa's marginal smallholder farmers also rely on commercial seed as a significant source of planting material, especially for maize and horticulture, although indigenous crops and farmer seed varieties are also used. Multinational corporations dominate the seed industry: Pioneer HiBred /Pannar, Sakata, Monsanto and Syngenta (GrainSA, 2015). ... The value of the South African seed market was estimated at R5.62 billion in 2012/13 (TASAI, 2015). The focus of both Bayer and Monsanto is on commodity crops: maize, sunflower, soybean, cotton and wheat. The value of the seed market in grain and oilseed was about R3.9 billion (about US$285 million) for the 2014/15 production season (GrainSA, 2015). ... Maize dominates the national variety list - there are 546 maize varieties on the official list; 308 are protected by plant breeders' rights and 162 are genetically modified (TASAI, 2015). There are 41 genetically modified soybean varieties on the list and 35 non- genetically modified ones, including 19 with plant breeders' rights protection (TASAI, 2015). Monsanto and DuPont/Pioneer Hi-Bred/Pannar own at least 85% of the seed business for the big commodity crops - maize, soybean (the second largest agronomic crop in the country) and sunflower. There is intense competition between them (TASAI, 2015). DuPont is planning to merge with Dow, which puts pressure on Monsanto to increase its scale to continue competing in seed and agrochemical markets. Bayer's strength is in agrochemicals, although it has a small seed footprint in South Africa. Bayer introduced its cotton seed to South Africa in 2014 and a new canola seed variety in 2015 (Breytenbach, 2015). It reportedly introduced these new varieties into South Africa in response to a direct call from farmers asking for alternative products (Breytenbach, 2015). Syngenta, Monsanto, Pannar-Du Pont Pioneer and Dow form SANSOR's committee on genetically modified organisms (SANSOR, 2016). Any activity that is likely to increase Monsanto's influence in this market in South Africa is significant given the extent of genetically modified maize planted, the country's staple food crop. The global and regional agrochemical market The global agrochemical market is estimated to be worth about US$33.4 billion (Macaskill, 2016) with the African market valued at around US$1.1 billion (R15-20 billion) in 2014 (Odendaal, 2014). The agrochemical market is dominated by Monsanto (US$15 billion), Syngenta (US$13.4 billion), Bayer (US$10.4 billion), DuPont (US$9.8 billion), Dow (with sales of US$6.38 billion in 2015) and BASF (US$5.8 billion); Chinese-owned ChemChina doesn't make divisional sales figures available, but total sale figures for all divisions (of which agrochemicals is just one) were US$45 billion in 2015 (Alessi, 2016). The South African agrochemical market South Africa uses more agrochemicals than any other African country, mostly for grain crop production (PR Newswire, 2015), yet it comprises less than 2% of the global market (Macaskill, 2016). South African farmers spent R2.3 billion on agrochemicals in the 2014/15 season (GrainSA, 2015). The South African agrochemicals market is estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 4.5% by 2020 (PR Newswire, 2015). Major agrochemical companies operating in the country range from Bayer Cropscience and Syngenta to Adama, Dow Agrosciences, Philagro South Africa, BASF South Africa, Sipcam, Monsanto and Chemtura Corporation (GrainSA, 2015). Companies such as Bayer, Syngenta SA, Dow, DuPont and Monsanto South Africa sit on the executive council of CropLife SA, an industry representative body (CropLife SA, 2016). Bayer and Monsanto in South Africa Both Bayer and Monsanto are major manufacturers of agrochemicals, seeds and genetically modified seed (Court, 2016). Company confidentiality makes it difficult to ascertain market-specific market shares for any company. Bayer Crop Science in South Africa Most of Bayer's African sales are generated in South Africa, and a key part of Bayer's strategic focus for its business in southern Africa is 'expanding our seed footprint - especially for soyabeans and wheat - through further acquisitions, in-licensing agreements and partnerships' (Bayer, 2016). It owns a manufacturing plant in South Africa, has established a maize competency centre in KwaZuluNatal (Bayer Crop Science, 2016e) and has opened its first African SeedGrowth Centre near Johannesburg (one of 16 in the world) (Bayer, 2016c). The Centre will train seed company production staff, support seed companies in upscaling processes, act as a base for research in optimising seed treatment technologies and demonstrate how Bayer's equipment works (Bayer, 2016c). It is focusing on both the large-scale commercial and small-scale farming sectors. In March 2016 Bayer launched its 'Committed to the Future Pledge' at the South African Grain Congress, in which it promised to continue to invest more than 10% of turnover into developing new compounds (it should be noted that this is their core business and so does not qualify as an added benefit for South Africa). It also promised to invest in further initiatives, like its Bayer Forward Farms project, a knowledge platform that facilitates the sharing of knowledge between selected farms and the combined expertise of the broader industry (Bayer, 2016d). It is also actively pursuing the small-scale farming market. Bayer uses demonstration farms and training centres set up by organisations, such as the United States farm machinery giant AGCO to showcase its inputs (Maritz, 2016). It is involved in other projects like this in South Africa, Ghana, Ethiopia and Morocco (Maritz, 2016). ... Monsanto in South Africa Monsanto is a pioneer of genetic modification of agricultural crops (ACB, 2005) and the largest maize seed company in the country by sales (DAFF, 2015); it also supplies 90% of soybean planted commercially in South Africa (ACB, 2016). It has been operating in South Africa since 1968 and has licensed its genetic modification technology to other seed companies operating in the domestic market. In the late 1990s it purchased domestic seed companies Sensako and Carnia, thereby taking up a major stake in local seed and grain markets (ACB, 2005). Monsanto sells seed for alfalfa, canola, corn, cotton, sorghum, soybean, sugarbeets and wheat (Stucke and Grunes, 2016). Monsanto's purchase of global seed company Seminis gave it ownership of plant breeders' rights to a range of South African vegetable seed varieties (ACB, 2005) and access to germplasm. The Sensako purchase gave Monsanto about 45% of the South African agrochemical market for field crops (ACB, 2015b). In November 2016 Monsanto opened its renovated breeding centre in Petit near Benoni, South Africa (Van Wyngaardt, 2016). The 300 hectare plant breeding farm uses imported and local germplasm to establish new breeding crosses (Van Wyngaardt, 2016). Monsanto also pursues the small-scale farming sector through projects, such as Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) (Monsanto, n.d.[2]). ... ACB has extensively critiqued this programme for its use of Monsanto's genetically modified drought tolerant maize because the product has not been successful in the United States, and it is inappropriate for smallholder farmers, due to its reliance on the use of synthetic fertilisers and agrochemicals (ACB, 2015a). The project, which is supposedly meant to benefit small-scale farmers, leads them onto a technological treadmill with known environmental consequences and one that is difficult to escape. Farmers have drought tolerant varieties of their own, which are freely saved and thus always available and adapted to localised conditions. Genetically modified crops were also trialled in eight African countries in 2015 (SeedWorld, 2016a) with Monsanto's drought tolerant maize from the WEMA project expected to be released in field trials in Tanzania and Mozambique in 2017. ... 2016 - The year of the mega-mergers July 2014: Monsanto tried to buy Syngenta for US$46 billion, but the deal was rejected by shareholders. November 2015: Chinese state-owned ChemChina made a US$43 billion bid for Syngenta, which was accepted by shareholders in February 2016. This was the largest purchase of a foreign firm in Chinese history. ChemChina owns Adama (formerly Maktheshim Agan Industries), the world's seventh largest agrochemical company. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States approved the deal in August 2016 (Bloomberg 2016b), South Africa in September 2016 and Australia in December 2016 (Food Ingredients First, 2016). South Africa attached the condition that Syngenta's formulation plant could not be relocated outside of the country for an undefined period to avoid job losses (CCSA, 2016a). The deal was also approved by the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) Competition Commission in September 2016 (Comesa Competition Commission, 2016). The European Commission has requested additional information from both companies and will announce its decision on the ChemChinaSyngenta merger on 12 April 2017 (Produce Business UK, 2017). A possible obstacle to approval is ChemChina's plans to acquire another Chinese state- owned fertiliser company, Sinochem, which was not mentioned in the applications for approval of its acquisition of Syngenta (Noel and Baghdjian, 2016). December 2015: DuPont and Dow announced a merger that will give the combined company an estimated value of US$130 billion. The deal was approved by the COMESA Competition Commission in September 2016 (Comesa Competition Commission, 2016a), but still awaits approval in Australia, the United States, Brazil and South Africa. The deal is being held up by the European Commission, which has launched a full investigation on the basis that insufficient information has been provided (Reuters, 2016a). The Commission will announce its decision on 6 February 2017 (Investopedia, 2016). May 2016: Bayer started the bidding process for Monsanto. The $66 billion bid was accepted in December 2016. If approved, the merged company will be the world's largest seed and agriculture chemicals company. If the merger is not approved by competition regulators, Bayer will pay a US$2 billion termination fee to Monsanto (Begemann, 2016). The European Commission will decide on this merger by 15 March 2017 (European Commission, 2016). It has not yet been submitted to South Africa's regulators. August 2016: Canadian Potash Corp. started negotiations to buy fertiliser producer Agrium for US$30 billion. The deal is expected to close in mid-2017 and will create the largest fertiliser company in the world; it also plans to expand into seeds and crop chemicals (Skerritt and Casey, 2016). BASF has been left out of the scramble to consolidate and may well have to buy up smaller companies, or sell, because it will not have the strength to take on the concentrated power of its competitors (ETC Group, 2016). Or it could benefit from forced divestitures of the mergers. If all the proposed megamergers are approved, these three companies (ChemChina-Syngenta, DuPont-Dow, Bayer-Monsanto) will own and sell about 60% of the world's patented seeds and pesticides/herbicides (AgriPortal, 2016). AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic publication providing reposted commentary and analysis on African issues, with a particular focus on U.S. and international policies. AfricaFocus Bulletin is edited by William Minter. AfricaFocus Bulletin can be reached at africafocus@igc.org. Please write to this address to subscribe or unsubscribe to the bulletin, or to suggest material for inclusion. For more information about reposted material, please contact directly the original source mentioned. For a full archive and other resources, see http://www.africafocus.org Bangladeshi filmmaker Mostofa Sarwar Farookis No Bed of Roses, starring and co-produced by India actor Irrfan Khan, has been effectively banned in Bangladesh. Speculation has been rife in the Bangladeshi and Indian media that the film is a biopic loosely based on late Bangladeshi writer and filmmaker Humayun Ahmed who divorced his wife of 27 years and married an actress 33 years his junior. Farooki has denied that the film is a biopic. According to Variety, the film begins with a disclaimer that the film has no resemblance to any real life characters alive or dead. Irrfan plays a filmmaker named Javed Hasan who leaves his wife and marries an actress who was his daughters classmate in school. I am really surprised to know that the government of Bangladesh has blocked the film. This is a humane story that deals with complex male and female relationships in a subtle and balanced way. What harm will it cause to the society if seen? Irrfan said. The film is a co-production between Bangladeshs Jaaz Multimedia and Indias Eskay Movies with Khans IK Company as co-producer. The Bangladesh Film Development Corporations (BFDC) Joint Venture Preview Committee approved the script on March 8, 2016 after which the film went into production. The completed film was previewed for the BFDC on February 12, 2017 and received a No Objection Certificate on February 15. On February 16, the BFDC sent the production a letter stating that the certificate had been cancelled due to a letter from the Bangladesh Information Ministry. When BFDC Managing Director Tapan Kumar Ghosh was asked about the reason for the revocation of the Certificate, he said that it is not the BFDCs prerogative to issue the certificate and it was up to the Bangladesh Film Censor Board to issue it. However, all the letters issued to the production from the BFDC are all on the organizations official letterhead. In reality, international co-productions cannot approach the Censor Board without the BFDC certificate. We have been blocked at the first gate. As the order does not explain any reason, I dont know why they thought screening of the film would be inappropriate. Yes, my film handles a so-called taboo subject but it doesnt show anything explicit and hence doesnt violate any censor code. This goes against the freedom of expression, said Farooki. Farooki is now taking the matter to court. Iraqi forces, backed by jets and helicopters, battled their way to Mosul airport on Monday as they prepared to take on the ISIS stronghold in the citys west bank. The fresh push in the four-month-old operation to retake Mosul has sparked fears for 750,000 trapped civilians who risk getting killed trying to flee and face starvation if they stay. The federal police has resumed its advance Our cannons are targeting ISIS defence lines with heavy fire, federal police chief Raed Shaker Jawdat said in a statement. Federal police forces, as well as elite units from the interior ministry, army soldiers and Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) paramilitary fighters, launched a major assault on Sunday. On the second day of the renewed offensive, they pushed northwards towards Mosul airport, which lies on the southern approach to the city, on the east bank of the Tigris. The assault marks a new phase in the broad operation launched on October 17 to retake Mosul, Iraqs second city and the terrorists last major stronghold in the country. The recapture of Mosul would deal a death blow to the caliphate which ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed in the city in June 2014, but has been shrinking steadily for two years as anti-ISIS forces advanced. But it took the Iraqs most seasoned forces, the elite Counter-Terrorism Service, two months to retake east Mosul, where ISIS put up stiffer than expected resistance. Pentagon chief in Iraq Commanders and experts believe the citys west bank could prove even harder to retake, with the narrow streets of the Old City forcing Iraqi forces to undertake perilous dismounted raids. ISIS also likely has stronger support within western Mosul, and the ISF (Iraqi security forces) are more likely to encounter populations that are wary or hostile, said Patrick Martin, Iraq analyst at the Institute for the Study of War. Yet after a lull in the four-month-old operation, optimism was high on the front lines. I dont expect a very difficult fight: their end has arrived, Hakem Gassem Mohammed, an officer with the interior ministrys Rapid Response force told an AFP reporter south of Mosul. The first day of the rekindled offensive saw forces advance in sparsely populated areas just south of the city itself. Elite units trained for urban warfare are expected to move into west Mosul at a later stage. According to a top army commander coordinating the operation, Abdulamir Yarallah, Iraqi forces on Sunday retook 15 villages on three different fronts converging towards the airport. The terrorists defending Mosuls west bank have no choice but to defend their bastion. Bridges across the Tigris in the city have been destroyed and Iraqi forces have cut off escape routes. The forces were receiving support from a US-led coalition that has delivered more than 10,000 munitions on ISIS targets since the start of the Mosul operation. Akhilesh Yadav hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his comments at election rallies in Uttar Pradesh that the state is facing an acute power crisis. He said why dont Modi swear on the Ganga and tell us is the Samajwadi Party government giving 24-hour electricity in Varanasi or not? Modi had accused Akhilesh of discriminating on religious grounds, saying, If theres electricity on Ramzan, it should also be there on Diwali. There must be bijli (power) both on Eid and Holi There should be no discrimination. In his campaign for the seven-phase election in Uttar Pradesh, Modi has taken several digs at the power situation in the state but he neglected the fact that BJP has maximum MPs from the same state and they did nothing for the Uttar Pradesh. Moreover, central government is elected to make policies that fits all states and its people, but whats been happening is, just preaching and speeches by our countrys PM for one political party forgetting the dignity of his post. Modi is yet to realise that he is not campaigner for the party but a PM of this country. From the PM of a party which could not find a single non Hindu candidate for UP Elections sensing impeding loss in UP, PM has started stooping to BJPs usual communal card? These comments from Modi is showing the condition of BJP in UP. How much Modi has become frustrated that he forgot the respect of his position. The scenario was not different in Bihar also when BJP realized that it have lost the election brought cow mata, crackers bursting in Pakistan, ramzade and exactly same is happening in UP. Thus the party will meet same fate in UP polls. Though they might be deciding factors but they will not make it to power. During the onset of election all politicians flock the place like the bees. After the conclusion of polls, they suffer amnesia. That is why the different level of elections should not be held at one go but different times. Even students have to appear for two terms exams and there after finals. Politicians are no different from academic students. The difference is that one is sincere in clearing exams other one takes everyone for granted and disappears after emerging victorious. BJP had been out of power since 2002 in the politically vital state that has since been ruled by the Samajwadi Party and Mayawatis BSP. BJP and its counterpart always tried to divide people by playing communal card. Mayawati stood by Dalits and SP always worked for Muslims and Yadavs. If we remember, previously too BJP miserably lost in Bihar. The charm of Modi waves are fading and people started disowning BJP. Now ahead of UP elections, BJP again raked up Ram Mandir issue to gain votes, then they realised that Ram will not fetch votes, they twisted subject to providing equal electricity for Hindus and Muslims. They also claimed UP should have equal number of cremation ground and Kabristan (graveyard). BJP wants to keep all the divisive issues on the backburner, the cadres in the party has been left puzzled by the renewed interest of Sangh Parivar towards the Ram temple. Actual election topic is forgotten by BJP after collecting huge donations in the name of Ram Mandir, now they restored to different issues but Akhilesh launched a fierce attack on Modi ahead of fourth phase voting for Assembly elections. Addressing a rally in Raebareli, Akhilesh criticised Modi over Gujarat Tourism advertisement which showcases superstar Amitabh Bachchan. He said, theres an ad on TV which shows donkeys. I appeal to centurys biggest starplease stop endorsing donkeys of Gujarat, Akhilesh said this referring to one Gujarat Tourism TV advertisement. The statement came a day after PM Modi stirred a massive controversy by drawing a parallel between Hindu and Muslim festivals. The Opposition lashed out at PM Modis statement which they termed communal. The Congress said it will be filing a complaint with the Election Commission against Modi. Modi also mocked at Mayawatis opposition to note ban, saying the BSP is no longer Bahujan Samaj Party but Behenji Sampatti Party. Modi said those who deposit wealth for themselves can never solve the problems of people. He also attacked the SP and Congress for criticising the demonetisation decision. No matter what the PM says, it is the BJP which has lost the initiative generated in its favour in 2014 after the demonetisation drive and an all-round failure on the governance front. Modi is banking on his oratory to win UP and failed totally on merits. Akhilesh is far more effective communicator. Even Rahul Gandhi is far more confident and delivering effective speeches. Priyanka Gandhi has punctured Modis claim to be an adopted son of UP with few effective words. Dimple Yadav and Aparna Yadav are easily winning voters by their words and deeds. Even Modi sister Smriti Irani looks jaded and silly. If BJP wins in UP, Prashant Kishore has to take the entire blame. Modiji is in UP every day, his voice is cracking, he is taunting the opponents in vile language. Yesterday he stoked anti-minority sentiments, saying Muslims are favoured in UP more than Hindus. He likes only discrimination in favour of Hindus. Minority hatred of the majority is bad and should be controlled. But it cannot win elections. Majority hatred of the minority can win elections. The PM is using hatred to win votes. Prime Minister, neither has done a greater job. It is very evident from his present way of governing. So wait and watch the results on 11th March. BJP always say Vikas for all, justice for all, employment for all etc. If this is their policy, then why they did not issue a SINGLE TICKET to any Muslim in UP Assembly and Lok Sabha elections? Why this dual policy? Should we say, Modiji played communal card to gain votes in UP? If yes, if this going to work in their favour? (Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@afternoonvoice.com) The Shiv Sena on Monday said its support to the BJP-led government in Maharashtra was temporary in nature and that the future of Chief Minister Devednra Fadnavis remains uncertain. The fresh attack on the Chief Minister came a day ahead of the crucial civic polls, campaign for which was marred by mudslinging by the states ruling coalition partners. The Chief Minister is going around giving assurances about Mumbai everyday at a time when his chair depends on the support of the Sena. His own future remains uncertain, yet he wants to change the future of Mumbai. He should not forget that temporary support has been given by Sena only to let Maharashtra remain stable, an editorial in the party mouthpiece Saamana said. It said the fact that the Chief Minister is being forced to beg for votes in the city bylanes points to the fact that the BJP has already lost the race. If developmental works have been done in the last two-and-a-half years (since the government came to power), he would not have been forced to go begging for votes, it said. The CM talks of removing the intestines of the corrupt. In that case, his own corrupt cabinet ministers should be cautious because he may go after them in an uncontrollable manner, it said. Meanwhile, Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray, in a veiled attack on the BJP, said some candidates of a particular party had been indulging in a misinformation campaign by running a fake exit poll and through trolls on social media as a desperate attempt. Desperate measures. Shame I hope Election Commission takes action on those candidates spreading fake exit poll lies, he tweeted. Some have even stooped so low to forging a letterhead and signature of an MP with another exit poll. Such jumlas are an absolute shame, he added. The high-voltage campaign for civic polls in Mumbai and nine other cities across Maharashtra sharpened the BJP-Shiv Sena rift, casting a shadow over the stability of the Fadnavis government. Dubbed as a mini Assembly election, over 1.94 crore voters across the state are entitled to exercise their franchise to choose representatives for 10 city corporations on February 21. On the same day, 11 Zilla Parishads will go to the polls. The first phase of the polls in 15 Zilla Parishads was held on February 16. The electioneering assumed an unusually shrill pitch in the final phases largely due to the no-holds-barred attack on each other by the BJP and the Sena, fighting the civic polls separately for the first time in over two decades. iStock/Thinkstock(MOSCOW) Russia has denied that "Russian state bodies" were invovled in an attempted coup in Montenegro according to a BBC News report. The plotters were allegedly targeting the Balkan state's Prime Minister, Milo Djukanovic. Serb paramilitaries and Russian nationalists were blamed in a series of more than 20 arrests in October 2016 before Montenegro's elections. Prosecutor Mlilvoje Katnic is urging Russian authorities to investigate what happened. Katnic claims a Russian military figure is behind the alleged plot, aiming to prevent Montenegro from joining NATO. Montenegro could join NATO this year, but an opposition alliance is calling for a referendum on the decision. Russia has called the claims unsubstantiated. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. A proposed constitutional amendment limiting the governor and lieutenant governor to two terms in a lifetime (House Bill 105), introduced by Rep. Bert Jones, R-Rockingham. Now, the governor and lieutenant governor have a two-consecutive term limit. Jones said he filed the bill because he believes in term limits and no one should serve more than two terms as governor. He said he thought the same limit should apply to lieutenant governor. A bill making all elections in North Carolina partisan (S.B. 94), introduced by Sen. Ronald Rabin, R-Harnett. A bill allowing any person residing in the jurisdiction of a city, county, or law enforcement agency to have the right to bring a court claim against such an entity for not complying with state immigration laws (H.B. 113), introduced by Rep. George Cleveland, R-Onslow. RALEIGH The House on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a bill aimed at beefing up the state's rainy day fund.said Rep. Nelson Dollar , R-Wake, the sponsor of the bill and the House's senior budget writer. The Washington, D.C.-based Pew Research Center provides research and information on government issues.The bill ( House Bill 7 ) requires the state to annually set aside in its rainy day fund 15 percent of its estimated growth in tax revenue. It specifies the saving account can be used only to cover a decline in the General Fund from one fiscal year to the next, to cover the difference between a fiscal year's base budget needs and projected revenue, to pay costs imposed by a court or administrative order, or to provide relief and assistance from an emergency.A two-thirds majority vote would be needed to spend money from the rainy day fund if the money needed from the fund exceeded 7.5 percent of the previous year's General Fund budget. Otherwise, a majority vote would be sufficient.Rep. Billy Richardson , D-Cumberland, argued against the bill, saying one General Assembly could not bind a future General Assembly.Richardson said. Americans for Prosperity state director, praised the bill.Bryson said. He applauded the lawmakers who are making thedecision to build a substantial reserve fund.The bill passed, 110-3, after an amendment was approved to ensure the revenue didn't include money used by the Highway Fund or Highway Trust Fund. It now goes to the Senate.Meanwhile, Rep. Darren Jackson , D-Wake, and Sen. Dan Blue , D-Wake, have filed bills implementing Gov. Roy Cooper's proposed compromise on House Bill 2 . The bills ( House Bill 107 and Senate Bill 93 ) would repeal House Bill 2 and increase penalties for certain crimes - such as rape, peeping into a room, and taking indecent liberties - occurring in a changing facility or place of public accommodations, by six months.It would also require a 30-day notice to the public and the General Assembly before a city council could adopt a nondiscrimination ordinance that goes beyond state law.Other bills filed in the General Assembly include: Mumbai has the dubious distinction of recording dismal voting percentage in the BMC election. The Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) had appealed to Mumbaikars to come forward and cast their votes for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) election but will the city witness better voter turnout this time? Mumbai has the dubious distinction of recording dismal voting percentage in the civic body election. Even NGOs had held voter awareness campaign to educate people about the importance of voting. This time youth have been roped in large numbers to improve voting percentage. Many of them have launched social media campaign to interact and connect with citizens. An event page on facebook was created where around 1700 to 2000 people had taken pledge to vote. Thus a question which arises here is whether Mumbai will witness better voter turnout this time. Ajit Kumar a TY Bsc student from Kandivali said, I have registered my name in the voting list and looking forward to vote for the first time. This time the Election Commission had laid emphasis to increase the enrolment of youth who will turn up at the polling booth for the first time to vote. Sujit Desai a marketing executive employed with a FMCG firm in Andheri said, People blame the government for poor governance but how will it improve if they dont vote. Citizens should be aware about the candidates contesting election in their locality and the work done by them in the past. Even people need to be responsible and exercise their franchise. Around 2.39 lakh new voters have registered themselves in the city. Thus the total number of voters have reached 91,80,635, out of a population of 1.24 crore. Even though 70 per cent citizens are registered voters but voting percentage in the city has never crossed 50 per cent mark. During the 2012 Mumbai civic elections, only 42 per cent voters cast their votes. They dont even see that they suffer despite BMCs annual budget of Rs 37,000 crore, making it the richest civic body in India. On the other hand, the voting percentage has increased in zilla parishad polls held in other cities. Mumbai always have recorded low voting percentage. However this time we are expecting that more people will come forward to cast their votes, said a senior official who has been assigned electoral duty. Sumit Jain a businessman from Borivali said, People dont take voting seriously in the city. If polling date falls between a long weekend then they move out of the metropolis for enjoying their vacations. Many others are lazy and dont want to venture out of their house to exercise their franchise. Some of them are unaware about how to register their names and whom to contact for the same. While some people have voter ids they might not be able to cast their vote if their names dont appear in voting list. Adequate security arrangements have been made in the city ahead of BMC polls. In addition, SEC will also be deploying 750 buses for election duty, along with 290 mini and regular private buses. Dr. Summers, let me say first of all, your argument that studies show no link is what Kennedys offer was all about. Finally you dismissed Robert Kennedys plea that people show him the science that proves its safe to inject mercury into babies and pregnant mothers as As far as autism is concerned, you asserted that signs of autism can be found early in infancy well before children receive more vaccines. In support of your position you cited the 350 health organizations who recently reaffirmed the safety of vaccines and highlighted more than 40 of the most respected studies in an open letter to President Trump. You cited lots of studies that support the safety of vaccines, both ones with mercury and the MMR vaccine. You referenced research from Denmark,where the CDC doesnt have a lot of pull. In your strong criticism of Robert Kennnedy, Jr. and Robert De Niro, you were adamant that all the science is in on vaccine safety. You wrote, Kennedy offered $100,000 to anyone who could turn up a study showing that it is safe to administer vaccines to children and pregnant women, with a specific call out to concerns about mercury. I read your Feb 17 th article in the Washington Post entitled, T he evidence for vaccine safety is abundant. That will be $100,000, please. Note: Thanks to Anne for this open letter to Massachusetts Pediatrician Dr. Daniel Summers. We need to ask doctors by name how they can justify vaccine injury without batting an eye. By Anne Dachel Toxicity studies have never been done on either the mercury additive thimerosal or the aluminum used in vaccines. (And yes, thimerosal is still in large amounts in the flu vaccine given to pregnant women and babies as young as six months. In addition, while American children have reduced levels of mercury in their other vaccines, no such protection is afforded children in poor countries where vaccines are laced with full doses of thimerosal.) The Danish research that you cited as independent comes from Dr. Poul Thorsen, the principal researcher who is under indictment for 22 counts of wire fraud and money laundering by the U.S. government, having stolen over $1 million in research funding paid for by the U.S taxpayers. How reliable do you think his work is? What Kennedy is offering is $100,000 for anyone who can produce the reputable science showing that injecting mercury into humans is safe. (And the 19 easily flawed and manipulated population studies that officials use just dont make it. They are proof of nothing.) Where are the toxicity studies? Where are the animal studies? There are none. Parents whove looked into the issue of vaccine safety see huge holes in your arguments and a lot of omissions. You fail to inform readers that you, as a pediatrician, have no liability for any injuries resulting from administering vaccines. Doctors, along with vaccine makers, have been protected by federal law. You cant be sued. If a child is injured, parents have to appeal to a federal program of vaccine injury compensation where theyre up against government lawyers defending the governments vaccine program using government money. Despite the deck being stacked against claimants, this program has paid out over $3 billion for vaccine injuries that included death. How can you overlook the news story out everywhere in 2008 about Hannah Poling, the Georgia girl whose case of vaccine-induced autism was conceded by medical experts at HHS? The government compensated her because they agreed that a pre-existing condition made her susceptible to develop autism because of vaccines. No one has ever looked at how many other children have the same exact pre-existing vulnerability. In 2011 it was announced that the governments injury program has compensated over 80 cases where the vaccine injuries included autism. The media refused to cover this. In 2014 it was announced that a top scientist at the CDC, Dr. William Thompson, revealed that he was ordered to destroy research findings that showed a marked link between the MMR vaccine and autism in African American boys who received the vaccine before 36 months of age. U.S. Congressman Bill Posey of Florida went on floor of the House of Representatives and pleaded with members to call for a hearing on Thompson. Congress refused. In truth, we cant trust the CDC. Hundreds of employees have conflict of interest waivers because theyre also being paid by the industry theyre supposed to be regulating. There are no answers, Dr. Summers. Autism now affects two percent of our children. No one has been able to find a similar rate among adults, especially adults with severe autism whose symptoms are easily recognized. Where are the autistic adults? No doctor can advise parents on how they can prevent their healthy, normally developing toddler from suddenly losing learned skills like speech and regressing into autism. And when little children stop speaking, making eye contact and engaging with others, doctors are helpless. They only thing theyre sure of is that the battery of vaccines the child just received couldnt be the causebecause studies show no link. Phony population studies are proof of nothing. Where is the study that has looked at these children who regressed to find the common factors that suddenly affected their health? No one wants to look. Dr. Summers, you cant show us the science that would settle this controversy overnight. There is no official study that has compared fully-vaccinated and never-vaccinated children for health outcomes. If one in every 45 never-vaccinated kids also has autism, the proof would be there for all to see. There are now so many parents too afraid to vaccinate, the study group is out there. The government does retrospective studies like this all the time, but they wont when the subject is vaccines. We all need to ask ourselves why. Dr. Summers, I hope you contact Robert Kennedy, Jr. He has looked at all the science on vaccine safety and found 240 studies that raise serious concerns about side effects and 81 studies that link vaccines to autism. These studies are by well-credentialed scientists from leading institutions. Theyve been peer reviewed and published in journals. Health officials wont look at them. They pretend they dont exist. I look forward to your response. Anne Dachel, Media editor: Age of Autism Note: This article in American Conservative offers a concise summary of the vaccine injury topic the mainstream media avoids at all costs. Feel free to comment at their site and share. You'll notice that our own Mark Blaxill and Jennifer Larson are featured along with Dr. Gary Kampothecras and Dr. Andrew Wakefield. Thanks to everyone in the community who puts their reputation on the line and gives so much of their time. A presidential commission led by Robert Kennedy Jr. could raise uncomfortable questions about the incentives driving vaccination recommendations. Robert Kennedy Jr. and Robert De Niro convened a news conference on Wednesday at the National Press Club to announce a $100,000 cash reward for anyone who identifies a peer-reviewed scientific study demonstrating that the mercury in vaccines is safe. Though the challenge was perhaps something of a stunt, the significance of the appearance was underscored by Kennedys confirming that President Trump may ask him to lead a commission on autism. The consequences of such a commission could extend beyond the narrow vaccine/autism debate. More significantly, the commission could expose the incentives driving vaccination policy, which, in the current political climate, could move mainstream opinion against vaccines and also bolster doubts about the integrity of the health-care system. Since at least 2007, Trump has suggested that the recent epidemic of autism might be related to current immunization practices. He is not categorically against immunizationin fact, he is totally in favor of vaccines, as he saysbut he suggests that the rate and quantity of injections given to infants, per the recommended immunization schedule, may contribute to incidents of autism. In Trumps words, massive combined inoculations and simultaneous vaccinations may be producing a wave of doctor-inflicted autism. Former state Supreme Court Justice Bob Edmunds at an Oct. 6, 2016, judicial candidates forum. Edmunds, a Republican, lost his race to Democrat Mike Morgan, flipping the balance of the court from Republican to Democratic. That prompted Republicans to make Supreme Court races partisan contests. (CJ photo by Dan Way) Republicans in the General Assembly have contended nonpartisan elections mask important candidate information from the voting public. Many blamed last year's loss of Republicans' majority on the state Supreme Court to the absence of party labels by candidates' names.The GOP-led General Assembly passed legislation at the end of 2016 to require Supreme Court and Court of Appeals candidates to be identified by political affiliation on ballots, but the debate did not end there.On Wednesday state Sen. Ronald Rabin, R-Harnett, introduced Senate Bill 94 to make all elections in the state partisan contests. On Tuesday, state Rep. Justin Burr, R-Stanly, introduced a less sweeping House Bill 100 , restoring partisan elections to Superior and District courts.Attempts to get comment from Rabin were unsuccessful. His bill would require all candidates for District and Superior courts to run for office under a party label. Partisan elections also would be required for county boards of education, city boards of education that are elected, and elected positions in cities, towns, incorporated villages, and special districts.State Rep. David Lewis, R-Harnett, said he "absolutely" supports Burr's legislation, which has been referred to the House Elections and Ethics Law Committee that Lewis chairs. He said he had not yet read Rabin's bill.Lewis said of Rabin's measure.Paul Meyer, executive director of the North Carolina League of Municipalities, representing 540 cities and towns, was averse to state intrusion into municipal elections.Citing a link to the organization's advocacy goals for 2017-18, Meyer said its goal for municipal electionsThe North Carolina Association of County Commissioners, North Carolina School Boards Association, and North Carolina Bar Association did not respond to requests for comment.Lewis scoffed at the notion an election could be made neutral simply by removing party labels.Lewis said.Lewis said the prevailing feeling among House Republicans is thatSenate Minority Leader Dan Blue, D-Wake, opposed the Republican legislation that made Supreme Court and Court of Appeals races partisan. He did not respond to a request for comment on the Rabin and Burr bills.Lewis contends partisan elections are a good government measure.he said. How do you frame a story as big as the refugee crisis in a photograph? The migration of millions is one of the defining narratives of an epoch. Photojournalists have documented the journey of people fleeing to Europe from Syria and Africa on land and sea, through international borders and Photojournalist Poulomi Basu has won the 2017 FotoEvidence Book Award for her project A Ritual of Exile: Blood Speaks, which investigates normalized violence against women in Nepal. Perpetrated under the guise of Hindu tradition, the root cause of this violence is the belief in the impurity of a womens menstrual Aiken, SC (29801) Today Cloudy early, then off and on rain showers for the afternoon. High 78F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.. Tonight Partly cloudy. Low 61F. Winds light and variable. The old Aiken County Government Complex on Richland Avenue has sat vacant since County staff moved out of the former old Aiken Hospital into the new Aiken County Government Center off University Parkway. Compact for America's Scheme for Pre-ratification of a Massive New Taxes Amendment Do you remember the public discussions which went on for years about the proposed equal rights amendment to our federal Constitution? That's how it's supposed to be before an amendment is ratified: The People get an opportunity to hear the arguments, discuss it among themselves and their state legislators, and reject amendments which are bad. What if someone found a way to circumvent this pesky public discussion, and get an amendment ratified before The People found about it? And even before the state legislators who ratified it found out what they had done? And what if this amendment delegated massive new taxing powers to Congress? Such a scheme has been developed by Compact for America (CFA). They present their already prepared compact legislation to state legislators as a "balanced budget amendment"; and urge them to get it passed by their state legislature. The provisions which authorize Congress to impose the new taxes, and which provide for pre-ratification of the new taxes amendment, are buried in some 15 pages of single-spaced excruciatingly convoluted and boring writing. Rare is the legislator who has the time to wade through the verbiage and figure out what it says. 1 Once three fourths of the States have passed CFA's compact legislation, the new taxes amendment is thereby ratified. So that's how an amendment to our Constitution which delegates massive new taxing powers to Congress can be ratified before The People know what has been done to them; and before the state legislators who did it find out what they have done to the American People. The scheme has already been passed by state legislators in Alaska, Georgia, Mississippi, and North Dakota; has been filed in Missouri as SB 13; and is now pending in Arizona (HB 2226), where it passed the House on February 9, 2017, 2 and is now before the Senate. Let's look at the particulars of the compact legislation. I HB 2226 does nothing to control federal spending or "balance the budget" Section 1 of the Compact [page 2, line 16 of the pdf edition] allows Congress to spend as much as they take from us in taxes or add to the national debt! But that's what Congress has been doing! Sections 2 & 3 [page 2, lines 20-37] permit Congress to raise the debt whenever 26 States agree. Section 4 [page 2, lines 38 et seq.] is a joke: Who believes Congress will impeach a President for refusing to "impound" an appropriation made by Congress? II CFA's BBA is an actually a grant of MASSIVE new taxing powers to Congress. The true purpose of the compact legislation is hidden behind promises such as, "cutting federal spending", "balancing the budget", and "scaring Congress". The true purpose of the Compact is to delegate to Congress MASSIVE NEW TAXING POWERS. Specifically, it authorizes Congress to impose a national sales tax and a national value added tax (VAT). This is where the grant to Congress of the new taxing powers is set forth: Section 5 [page 3, lines 4-6] permits Congress, by a 2/3 vote of each House, to impose a new or increased "general revenue tax". Section 6 [page 3, lines 24-26] defines "general revenue tax" as "any income tax, sales tax, or value-added tax levied by the government of the United States..." There it is! All Congress needs to impose a national sales tax and/or a national VAT tax (in addition to the income tax) is a 2/3 vote in each House! Section 5 also permits Congress, by a simple majority of each House, to impose a "new end user sales tax" which would replace the federal income tax. But nothing requires Congress to impose a "new end user sales tax" to replace the income tax. It will be up to Congress to decide whether to impose a new national sales tax and/or VAT tax on top of the existing income tax (if they get 2/3 vote of each House); or whether to impose a new end user sales tax to replace the income tax (if they get only a simple majority in each House). So! CFA's version of a BBA is not about "balancing the budget", or "scaring Congress", or "reducing federal spending". It's about giving the federal government massive new taxing powers! A value-added tax is a "turbo-charged national sales tax on goods and services that is applied at each stage of production, not merely on retail transactions" and raises a "gusher of revenue for spendthrift governments worldwide." III When State Legislatures pass compact legislation such as HB 2226, they are actually pre-ratifying the new Amendment to the US Constitution which grants these massive new taxing powers to Congress. Please note: If Arizona passes HB 2226, Arizona IS RIGHT THEN AND THERE RATIFYING THE AMENDMENT. I'll show you: HB 2226 says in Article IV, Section 7 (e) of the Compact [page 6, line 43, et seq.]: "When any Article of this Compact prospectively ratifying the Balanced Budget Amendment is effective in any Member State, notice of the same shall be given together with a statement declaring such ratification and further requesting cooperation in ensuring that the official record confirms and reflects the effective corresponding amendment to the Constitution of the United States..." [boldface mine] Article IX, Section 1, of the Compact [page 11, line 41 et seq.] says: "Each Member State, by and through its respective Legislature [passage of HB 2226], hereby adopts and ratifies the Balanced Budget Amendment." There it is: If Arizona passes HB 2226, Arizona is thereby ratifying an amendment to the US Constitution which delegates massive new taxing powers to Congress. When 38 States have passed legislation like HB 2226 - and when Congress approves it, 3 our Constitution is thereby AMENDED and Congress now has constitutional authority to impose a new national sales tax and a national VAT tax - even while keeping and increasing the income tax. The provisions of the compact which deal with a convention - Articles V through VIII - are a smokescreen which obscures from state legislators the fact that when they pass legislation like HB 2226, they are pre-ratifying the amendment to our federal Constitution. The convention is a formality - a free trip at taxpayers' expense. IV What's the Solution? Don't feed the beast by giving it massive new taxing powers. The solution is to downsize the federal government to its enumerated powers. Our Constitution already limits federal spending to the enumerated powers - learn what those powers are, and enforce the Constitution we already have. And use your heads! You who foolishly believe that a BBA [whether CFA's version or another version] will force Congress to reduce spending, know this: a BBA is a mandate for Congress to increase taxes, among other horrors. 4 Endnotes: Legislators don't have time to read the bills they vote on. That's why they have bill summaries. The Compact legislation filed in Arizona has two bill summaries: HERE and HERE. Can you find where Arizona Legislators are informed they are pre-ratifying a new taxes amendment to the US Constitution if they pass the compact legislation? 2 Click on this link: see the sponsors and the votes. Do they know what they have done? 3 Pursuant to Article I, 10, last clause, US Constitution, CFA's Compact is not effective unless Congress approves it. Will Congress approve a Compact Amendment which delegates massive new taxing powers to them? 4 The Arizona House also passed on Feb 9, 2017, HCR 2013 an application for an Article V convention which purports to be limited to proposing a "balanced budget" amendment (BBA). Do the sponsors and those who voted for it not know that a BBA does the opposite of what they have been told - that it removes the enumerated powers limitation on federal spending and creates a completely new constitutional authority to spend on whatever the feds want? See THIS short article. People of Arizona! Get with your State Senators and put a stop to these reckless applications for an Article V convention. And to show that there is no limit to the damage a legislative body can do on one day, your Representatives also passed HCR 2010, the COS application for an Article V convention. The real agenda of the movers and shakers is to put our existing Constitution on the executioner's block - and you won't like the new Constitution. Column: Thank you to the paper and the city that gave me my first beat Long Persecuted, Assyrians Find Safe Haven in California Mervat Shlemoun (L) and Carmen Morad hold up Assyrian flags. ( Alice Daniel/KQED) Inside the Assyrian American Civic Club of Turlock there's a large banquet hall, a catering company and a radio station that broadcasts Assyrian music. "The music that you're hearing, this is the original language. We speak the modern Aramaic dialect," says the club's president Sam David. Assyrians are some of the earliest Christians. They're indigenous to Mesopotamia, which is defined as the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, including much of modern-day Iraq. Assyrians also scattered to parts of modern day Syria, Turkey, Lebanon and Iran. Assyrians are a stateless nation, and the diaspora is huge. In California, Turlock has the largest number of Assyrians, about 20,000. That's a quarter of the town. And the civic club has become a gathering place for everyone, not just Assyrians. "It's the city's community center," says David. "The majority of events are here. We have a lot of quinceaneras, weddings..." And funeral receptions. Like the one in early February for 92-year-old Hank Adams, the first Assyrian born in Turlock. His father the Rev. Isaac Adams founded an Assyrian farming community here in 1911. Not long after, in Turkey, the Ottoman Empire waged genocide against Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians. "Well the Assyrians are never talked about," says David. "There were 750,000 Assyrians massacred. And this genocide has been going on and on for the last 100 years. And we just had another genocide in 2014 where the Christians were being massacred because they were Christians." David says the Assyrians have been persecuted over and over again. It's why some Assyrians are not opposed to President Trump's travel ban that targets seven majority Muslim countries. "It's important for this country to protect its security interests and for us as Assyrian-Americans, it's equally important if not more important," says David. But he acknowledges it's complicated. The ban would also keep Assyrians out of the United States, at least temporarily. "Of course we're not happy they're stuck there," he says. "But it's just another waiting process." Community leader Carmen Morad says Assyrians continue to be persecuted in Iraq and Syria by ISIS. "As you and I speak, there are Assyrian Christians that are in refugee camps. They are awaiting their resettlement paperwork to come," she says. "Their homes have been destroyed. They are seeking an environment where they can go to school without fear of being blown up, where they can worship freely." She says the vetting process is rigorous and expensive. "Being a stateless nation, for them to be able to come over here, my opinion is they should be allowed to enter even though they still go through the vetting process." Morad and I visit a family who has experienced the vetting process: Mervat Shlemoun and her 17-year-old son Matius. They escaped Baghdad 10 years ago and ended up in Syria. It took them five years to come to California as refugees. Shlemoun feels fortunate she got a job at a fast food place. "The Taco Bell," she says. "Thanks for God." Matius Anioel says he may return to Iraq one day to help his people. He wants to be a doctor. ( Alice Daniel/KQED) She worked so hard when she first moved here that she rarely saw her son. She missed spending time with him. But he was safe. She was no longer thinking, 'How is he? Where is he? What's happening?' "Because when I'm living in the Iraq," Shlemoun says, "I send him to school, sometimes we listen to the bomb, and I'm running to him at school, I wanna see if he safe or no." Matius is doing well. He's volunteering at a medical center and plans to be a family practice doctor. And now, she says, she can freely practice her religion. Orthodox Christian icons hang on her living room wall above an altar with candles and crosses. She shows Morad an Assyrian star around her neck and then goes to the bookshelf to pick up a new license plate. "In my country I cannot drive, here I drive, I'm working, going to the church," she says. Shlemoun is almost giddy with excitement. She's speaking in Aramaic now and Morad interprets for her. "She says in Iraq she would never wear her necklace or display her flag," says Morad. "She says here she feels her freedom where she can display the Assyrian flag on her license plate on her car." In the center of the flag, there's a four-pointed star symbolizing the four corners of the world, what the diaspora calls home. Shlemoun and her son still have friends in Iraq and Syria. "They always say 'it is not good, no water, no electricity, it's not safe,'" says Matius. Matius says he understands Trump's role is to protect America but he worries about Assyrians and others who are targeted by ISIS. "He's trying to target like the extremists but he's not only targeting extremists but he's targeting Christian communities and other people who are being persecuted and trying to get out just to survive," he says. These kinds of concerns are exactly why the hosts of Assyria Today are doing an interview with Patrick Kolasinski, an immigration lawyer in Modesto. Kolasinski is answering questions via skype about the travel ban. Assyria Today is a global satellite TV network based in Los Angeles. One question centers on Trump's statement that he will prioritize Christian refugees coming to the United States. Kolasinski says it's unlikely a provision like that could survive. "Prioritizing based on religion is by and large considered to be against the constitution." Meanwhile, Assyrians are doing what they can to help refugees by mobilizing in their churches and sending money and provisions. Mervat Shlemoun says it's that kind of worldwide community involvement that helped her survive her long journey. I saw when the light came to the world this morning. Just now, the sun is rising behind the woods . For a few brief moments, the winter trees, make the light look like stained glass. A cardinal cried out in a morning song like a joyful proclamation, just as the shine broke through. I love morning.I am at the rabbit patch, this week-end. Cash, Christopher Robin and Moon Shine are still sleeping, while I sit at the "morning table" and plot my day. It is a good thing that I enjoy housekeeping, as the old house is full of it. I like to take my time going about chores or else they become "work". Cash starts barking if he sees me dashing about in a hurry, because he knows that company is coming! He is always right about that and I find it so funny. The cats run for cover, at the prospect of strangers. They know that Cash is never wrong, about that order of events. Cash does not bark, when I am cooking, nor rushing to get ready for my job-only when I am hurriedly, putting things in order, does he carry on, so. It really tickles me that he quickly put it all together.I love animals-the whole lot of them, but I especially love dogs, and especially boxers. Ironically, the first dog that ever nipped me was a boxer. The next was a chihuahua. Jo Dee has a chihuahua, named "Georgia". Jo Dee says every one has a chihuahua story-and she may be right.My children bought Cash for me, almost three years ago. My boxer, Gage, of fourteen years passed in June, of that year. Gage, was my friend and guardian. He served me well. He layed in the yard, while I mowed the sprawling rabbit patch, in terrible heat. He would move from one area to another, keeping his eye on me. Gage was a loyal dog. He was also well mannered and I use to brag that he could accompany me anywhere. He really could have gone to church, or the dentist or to get my taxes done. When Gage died, I missed him with my whole heart. He was my friend, after all. I knew I wanted another dog, at some point, but I wanted a boxer-and they are pricey dogs. My friends consider me extremely practical, and I am by nature, so they were amused that I had to have a boxer and only that breed would do.My children bought Cash for me in July. I have never seen a cuter puppy. We decided on the name "Cash" as Johnny Cash had just passed. I was mourning Gage and felt ashamed that maybe I would never love this puppy as deeply as he deserved. One day I realised that a fourteen year affair, took fourteen years. My bond with Gage started with days, that turned in to what it was, because of time. Some how, this freed me to love again.Today, as I move from room to room cleaning, Cash, Christopher Robin and Moon Shine will move along with me. As long as I behave calmly, all will go well-otherwise, Cash will spread false rumors. I am not expecting guests today.The light has brightened as I wrote this. I have "charted my course" of duties and planned Sunday Dinner. The day seems mild enough to put the windows up-and I might dry the sheets on the line -to catch the scent of the daffodils, that bloomed in February.Share this:Share on TumblrinSharePrint Throughout January 2017, more than 90 wildfires raged across parts of Chile. Thousands of people lost their homes, and thousands more were evacuated as firefighters battled the blazes on the ground and from the air. An H125 operated by Ecocopter fights wildfires in Chile in January 2017 By most accounts, some 600,000 hectares (nearly 1.5 million acres) succumbed to the worst wildfires to ravage Chile in recent history. Since late December 2016, the country has seen fires sweep into rural and urban zones alike, displacing thousands. Historically high temperatures and an extended dry spell have created favorable conditions for the fires propagation and have exacerbated firefighting efforts. To help combat the fires, aid was sent by a host of countries including the United States, France, and Peru. Still, it has been an all-out effort for firefighters, land brigades, the Chilean military, and even civilian aircraft operators. Below, we hear from two pilots who helped in the fight in January. The Chilean Navy's AS365 Panther in the Pumanque region of Chile The Chilean Navy in Pumanque Captain Alessandro Pulleghini Flores of the Chilean Navy flew an AS365 Panther in the region of Pumanque, the then-epicenter of the fires, in mid-January. Under the direction and coordination of the Chilean National Forest Corporation (CONAF) and the Chilean Army, Pulleghini and his detachment were first sent to Coinco, 10 miles southwest of Rancagua. With bambi buckets slung to the helicopters underside, they attacked active fires, supporting the work of land brigades and helping to contain the fires. With Coinco controlled, Pulleghini was next dispatched to the region of La Patagua, east of Santa Cruz, where he battled fires for 6 consecutive days. Could you describe the kind of days you had fighting the fires? Alessandro Pulleghini Flores: We operated nonstop from 8 am to 3 pm. After that we had to stop due to the high temperatures. We operated with bambi buckets discharging 700 litres each time, reloading water from any available source such as lagoons, swimming pools, reservoirs, etc. How did the AS365 perform under such pressure? A.P.F.: We operated with the Naval 50 which is a Panther AS365, with a maximum takeoff weight of 4,100 kilogrammes, which allowed us to operate around an hour and lift approximately 780 kilogrammes. One of the advantages of using this helicopter is its great manoeuvrability and the easy change configuration from one mission to another. We were able to switch quickly from firefighting to rescue or EMS. How effective were helicopters in battling the fires? A.P.F.: The mission of helicopters that perform firefighting is fundamental. Even though they release less water than airplanes, they can go back and forth more quickly, meaning they achieve greater efficiency in extinguishing or controlling a fire. On the other hand, the aerial support for land brigades is fundamental because the land needs to cool off [through water drops] and even the personnel working benefit from the water falling from above. The Panther performed more than 400 effective water releases. An H125 operated by Ecocopter fights wildfires in Chile in January 2017 Going above and beyond with Ecocopter On ordinary days, the pilots of private operator Ecocopter fly utility missions. To help their countrymen during the worst of the fires, chief pilot Mauricio Neira and his team joined the aerial fight with two H125 helicopters. Dispatched to Pirque, Alhue, Linares and Cajon del Maipo, the extra workload (Ecocopters main fleet continued operations on its utility contracts) required coordination and effort beyond the call of duty on the part of its pilots, crew, maintenance and operations staff. Could you describe how your firefighting operations went? Mauricio Neira: Once the aircraft crew is activated, the helicopter is ready for takeoff in 15 minutes. During this time we can plan the flight to the point of emergency. Once there, the aircraft is at the sole disposal of CONAF and we continue according to their instructions and requirements. What were the H125s advantages during these missions? M.N.: Each helicopter discharges 1,000 litres. Were able to monitor the discharge from the cockpit using equipment which allows the pilot to define the weight he can carry, thus improving flight autonomy and aircraft performance so that we can operate at maximum capacity. Normally this permits 2.5 hours of operation before refueling. Helicopters allow the land brigades to create the firewall and attack spots with difficult access, while keeping the fires from extending beyond the defense line. The advantage of the H125 is its versatility. Its weight to power performance allows it to operate in almost every environment. How would you describe the past 3 weeks with the fires? M.N.: Sad, exhausting, demanding and fortunately: mission accomplished. Medias: Qatar Airways Cargo inaugurated a Boeing 777 freighter connection with Miami International Airport (MIA) from its Doha hub on February 2, the route also taking in South American stops at Sao Paulo in Brazil, Buenos Aires in Argentina and Quito in Ecuador, as well as in Luxembourg. The inaugural was celebrated with a traditional water salute at Miamis cargo terminal. The twice-weekly freighter service leaves Doha for the carriers European freight hub in Luxembourg before crossing the Atlantic for the three stops in South America and then flying on to its final destination in Florida. On the return trip, the freighter stops at Liege, Belgium, before arriving back in Doha. Ulrich Ogiermann, Qatar Airways chief officer cargo, remarked: Our recent launch of a freighter service to these new destinations across the Americas is another successful start-up for Qatar Airways Cargo and we are grateful to the local authorities and customers for their immense support. We strive to connect these burgeoning import and export markets in the Americas with the rest of the world. Miami, in particular, is an important distribution hub for our air freight moving to and from the Latin American and Caribbean regions, given that Florida is an exporting powerhouse equipped with robust trade and supply chain infrastructure, he observed. Miami-Dade County mayor Carlos Gimenez added: Our community already benefits from the daily world-class passenger service Qatar Airways provides to Doha and we look forward to the additional impact its cargo service will have on our local economy. The addition of these new stops on the Qatar Airways Cargo network brings to 12 the number of cities the carrier serves in the Americas with freighter services. The additional 200 tonnes of weekly cargo capacity now offered also supplements the bellyhold cargo capacity available on Qatar Airways daily passenger flights to Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires and Miami. Major commodities flown out of Sao Paulo, Bueno Aires and Quito typically include fresh flowers, perishables and pharmaceuticals, whilst imports into South America include a wide variety of products ranging from medicines, automotive and chemical products to high-tech commodities and equipment for the oil and gas industry. The carrier views the new route as being of particular value to exporters of perishables and pharmaceuticals. The cargo carrier only recently added Sao Paulo as the 71st destination on its QR Pharma network. Share this story February 20, 2017 The use of violence against those who took part in the demonstrations that started Feb. 11 upon the request of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to demand that the electoral commission accused of corruption be overhauled might lead Iraq to a crossroads and a political crisis with dire consequences. Sadrists believe the government instructed riot police to use violence against the demonstrators, leading to the killing of five protesters and two security officials and the wounding of more than 320 people. While Sadr's followers fired mortar shells at the Green Zone, Sadr condemned the violence perpetrated against the demonstrators as well as the launch of missiles. Sadr warned that if the violence continues against the protesters, Iraq will suffer. On Feb. 17, Sadr called for a mass demonstration in Baghdad's Liberation Square, asking the protesters to organize a silent demonstration and to not violate the law. He asked the security forces to protect the protesters. The escalation of differences and mutual accusations between the Sadrists and the Iraqi government and the widening gap between the two sides led Parliament Speaker Salim al-Jabouri to call Feb. 13 for the formation of an investigative parliamentary committee to look into the targeting of protesters. Jabouri stressed the need to protect demonstrators and refrain from using violence while dealing with peaceful demonstrations. Those opposing the reform protests accused the Sadrist leadership of mobilizing the Iraqi street against state institutions through reform slogans. Meanwhile, the Sadrists accused the security members who attacked the demonstrators of being loyal to political parties that are hostile to both the Sadrists and the Iraqi people. They also accused leader of the State of Law Coalition Nouri al-Maliki of pushing certain security apparatuses to suppress the demonstrations. Faiq al-Sheikh, a parliament member for the Civil Democratic Alliance, accused Maliki and several Dawa Party leaders of taking advantage of the Election Commission and hindering its overhaul process because the Dawa Party is widely represented in the current commission. Nahla al-Hababi, a member of parliament for the State of Law Coalition, told Al-Monitor she was strongly against these accusations. What happened is a violation on the part of some agitators in the security forces who were trying to protect themselves in any way possible, she said. Maliki has nothing to do with the demonstrations, as some people are saying. The demonstrations were chaotic and almost spun out of control, and the security services maintained security and order, which is their main duty. Asked about the legitimacy of Sadrs call on July 2, 2016, to change the Election Commission by mobilizing the street, political analyst Abdul Qadir al-Arsan said, This conflict has nothing to do with any reform process because Sadrists are essential partners in the political process, and they have representatives in the Election Commission, so how can they call for institutional reform in an institution they are represented in? On Feb. 14, the complexities plaguing the security and political landscape in Iraq as well as the easily penetrable demonstrations led Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to acknowledge the existence of troublemakers who pushed some demonstrators to cause friction with the security forces. During his weekly press conference, Abadi asked which side benefits when the youth are engaged in political quarrels. He called for respecting the right to peacefully demonstrate and identifying those who were behind the mischief that affected innocent citizens. Iraq's current political and security situation is reminiscent of 2006, when political differences and regional interventions produced a sectarian conflict in the country. Member of parliament for the Liberal bloc Abdul Aziz Dalimy told Al-Monitor, The continuation of the reform protests threatens some powerful political forces and prevents them from achieving political ends. He described what happened to the demonstrators as a crime of unspeakable cruelty and a violation of the constitution, which guarantees the right to demonstrate and the freedom of expression. Shorouk al-Abeiji, a parliament member for the Civil Democratic Alliance, expressed to Al-Monitor over the phone her concern over the governments failure to take a firm position on the suppression of protesters. She said, There are armed groups affiliated with known political parties or registered with the Popular Mobilization Units that may be accused of repressing demonstrators. One PMU leader, however, immediately denied these accusations. Rayan al-Kaldani told Al-Monitor that the PMU are a security force that does not get involved in political differences. Kaldani denied the existence of PMU factions inside the capital Baghdad," saying, "All of the PMU factions are fighting in the battlefields and defending important areas in the Baghdad belts. The political dispute between the Sadrists and the government could play a significant role in shaping new alliances prior to the parliamentary elections scheduled to be held in September this year. Amir al-Kanani , an adviser to the president for legal affairs, acknowledged that differences could play a major role in shaping new political relationships among the current allies within the Shiite groups, and wondered "what led the government to use excessive force against demonstrators. Kanani, a former parliamentarian for the Liberal bloc, called on the government and the House of Representatives to conduct an honest and transparent investigation to identify those who gave the orders to kill protesters and submit the findings of this investigation to the presidency of the republic and human rights organizations." Legal adviser to President Fuad Massum criticized what he called the phenomenon of multiple decision-making sources in the security services and their lack of a true identity. He called on the prime minister to hand over the security dossier in the capital to the Interior Ministry alone and to hold accountable those who violated the law and fired live bullets to avoid the recurrence of such cases. If the political partners fail to reach an agreement on how to manage the state affairs and build state institutions, another round of violence and verbal and media escalation is bound to take place in the next stage, especially considering that all the partners possess armed units that can collide with each other at any time. Birmingham sushi chef Abhi Sainju is too humble to name a restaurant after himself, but everybody who is familiar with his imaginative culinary skills insisted that he do it. So tonight, the Napalese-born chef will open his first restaurant at the Summit, and, yes, it's called Abhi. "I didn't want a restaurant named after me," Sainju said in an interview with AL.com. "But the Bayer (Properties) people suggested that and everybody said, 'Hey, that's a unique name and everybody knows you.' I was like, 'OK, but I'm still not OK with that.'" Bayer Properties, which manages the Summit, also is the developer of the new Pizitz Food Hall in downtown Birmingham, where Sainju will operate a food stall called mo:mo, which will serve Nepalese dumplings and Vietnamese banh mi. The food stall should open within the next few weeks, Sainju said. Abhi, his restaurant, is located in the former Primeaux Cheese & Vino space at 300 Summit Blvd. It will be open for dinner only initially, but after a few weeks, Abhi will also serve lunch, Sainju said. "I want this (restaurant) to be for the people who have supported me," he said. "I'm so happy to do this for Birmingham, and I'm happy Birmingham has allowed me to do this." Sainju is well known among Birmingham diners as the founder of Everest Sushi, which he served at catered events and private parties and at the Blue Monkey Lounge in Five Points South. More recently, he was executive chef at the Asian fusion restaurant Bamboo on 2nd. "We are extremely excited to help showcase Chef Sainju's talents at the Summit," Sam Heide, vice president of leasing for Bayer Properties, said in a media release. "His story and rise in the culinary ranks is so inspiring. Sainju is humble and hard-working - a perfect example of what makes Birmingham's food scene so unique and special." The Abhi menu will feature many of Sainju's signature dishes, including momos served with an Alabama tomato vinaigrette, the KFC (Kathmandu Fried Chicken), the Wham Bam Birmingham sushi roll, and classic ramen and spicy miso noodle bowls. Sainju also plans to introduce several new dishes, including seared tuna with calamansi ponzu, sekuwa lamb skewers, and gado-gado, an Indonesian dish with sauteed seasonal vegetables and a house-made peanut sauce. Sainju is partnering with the Urban Food Project to get seasonal produce from local farmers who follow sustainable agricultural practices. "The menu is going to be changing all the time," he said. "We'll have daily specials, and we might have a secret menu because I have so many things to introduce to Birmingham." Abhi will also offer an Asian-inspired cocktail program crafted by bar manager Steven Bradford. The bar menu will feature such signature cocktails as a Cognac Old Fashioned with shitake mushrooms and rosemary and Matcha Tea served with Bombay gin and Green Chartreuse. Hours for Abhi are 5 to 10 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 5 to 9 p.m. Sundays. Once the restaurant begins serving lunch, it will open daily at 11 a.m., Sainju said. The Hoover Crescent Islamic Center and other Islamic organizations are being cautious after threats. In the face of threats, Alabama Muslims say they have received an outpouring of community support. Over the weekend, Muslims in Birmingham and Huntsville asked for increased law enforcement protection after anonymous email threats. "They notified us of the emails the center here and others got," said Lt. Stacy Bates, public information officer for the Huntsville Police Department. "We have zone officers extra patrolling." Ashfaq Taufique, president of the Birmingham Islamic Society, said Hoover Police Department also promptly responded to the email threats. "I got a call from Hoover Police in a few minutes," he said. "We are thankful for the law enforcement agencies and their commitment to keep our community safe." The email message to the Birmingham Islamic Society had a subject line of "Your One Warning," with a mispelled, grammatically faulty text below: ". . .MUZLIMS MEXICANS BLACKS WE WILL HUNTED NATION WIDE UNTIL ARE ARE DEAD OR GONE. . .PLAN TO RUN OR DIE, THIS IS A KINDNESS THAT WE GIVE YOU ALL WARNING, TAKE IT AND GO ." All threats are taken seriously, Taufique said. "We're not going to ignore it," Taufique said. "Since the election, that's the only negative email we've gotten," Taufique said. More noteworthy than the email threat has been the warmth and well wishes from non-Muslims, Taufique said. "I'm so glad the negative has made us tell the story of all the positive," he said. "With all the hate and fear-mongering going on, there has been an overwhelming number of supportive emails and mail, from all over the place," Taufique said. "People were showing up with cookies and flowers and cards. The community at large has a desire to come and be with us." On Sunday, Feb. 26, the Hoover Crescent Islamic Center will host an open house from 2 to 5 p.m., welcoming visitors who want to learn more about Muslims. "This open house and all the outreach we do is a continuation of our objective to introduce the American Muslim community and our faith and the way we practice," Taufique said. "There is so much misunderstanding of Islam." Muslims want those who are curious about Islam to ask them in person. "I've been here 27 years," Taufique said. "I've never seen coalitions and alliances built like they have since the divisive election season. The post-election has brought a lot of us together. We want to respond to hate with love. We want to make our communities safer and better." Muslims in America are not sympathic to terrorism, Taufique said. "There have been more Muslims killed by terrorists than non-Muslims," Taufique said. "Muslims all over the world have spoken against these violent behaviors. Muslims are victims when a terrorist act happens, because it is believed that it has something to do with us. It's far from the truth." The UAB Muslim Student Association will host a panel discussion of feminism in Islam, led by three women (doctoral students Hala Sabatto and Shima Dowla, and CAIR-AL Outreach Director Ream Shoreibah), tonight at 7 p.m. at the Resident Life Center of Blazer Hall. "It shows the diversity of Muslims we have," Taufique said. "They are going to talk about feminism. Those who think Muslim women are oppressed should attend." AL.com writer Ashley Remkus in Huntsville contributed to this report. Announcing Macbeth Tomorrow Award of Achievement I propose a bronze bust award for politicians who at one time exhibited an extra ordinary accomplishment or act of bravery in their life. However some have lingered a bit too long on the world stage. I propose that we name this award the Macbeth Tomorrow Award of Achievement. I propose that we build a wing on the Smithsonian to house the bust and tributes to these remarkable people for their accomplishments. I also propose that we retire them to the history books because they have had their hour upon the stage and then be heard no more. I propose that their hour of strutting and fretting on the stage is over. An occasional presentation of an honorable mention in the toilet roll of minutes for those non heroes who should be retired just because. No bust will be awarded for this distinction and they will receive an "idiot, full of sound and fury" badge . I propose that the honorable mentions have also had their hour of strutting and fretting on the stage and it is over. This honor will be awarded on a non-partisan basis. Those refusing to accept the awards will be escorted to the Richard Nixon wing of the "You won't have me to kick around anymore Pavilion" until they acquiesce to retirement. Macbeth: To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Lifes but a walking shadow, a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. John McCain: A true American Hero who was captured during the Vietnam war when his plane was shot down. He endured five years of POW status and exemplified the true American patriotism by refusing to be released prior to others who were captured before him. Let us remember him as the hero he was and not the caricature he has become. John Lewis: He was a hero of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. He marched with Martin Luther King, was arrested and beaten by establishment police for trying to equalize the playing field for all people regardless of race. His willingness to pay the price is in the highest honor the American tradition of fair play. Accordingly, we honor the following persons and escort them to the STAGE LEFT EXIT , where they may continue to bask in the appreciative thanks of a grateful nation. Their understudies will enter UPSTAGE (1), to restore some relevance to the idea that your fifteen minutes are up. Nominations are still open and we are accepting applications for this prestigious award. The award will be decided based on a majority vote of Me, Myself and I. The only requirement is for the recipient to acknowledge that: ITS OVER 1 You might be interested to know that there used to be a greater significance in the difference between upstage and downstage: old stages were often built on a rake, sloping gently upward from the audience. "Upstaging" was thus all the more a sin, exalting the upstager as well as forcing the other actors to turn their backs on the audience. Frank Matthews Frank Matthews holds a press conference about changes to gun laws (Ivana Hrynkiw | ihrynkiw@al.com) A Birmingham organization and a state representative held a press conference today to propose changes to Alabama's gun laws. Frank Matthews, President of the Outcast Voters League, spoke about the proposed Sheri Williams Mandatory Gun Changes Act, named for a woman who was killed in Gate City by a stray bullet in 2013. Williams was holding her 10-day-old baby as she was shot. State Rep. John Rogers was also present, and said he wants to "fashion a bill that's passable" involving gun law reform. "We're not against gun rights... [but] demand accountability and responsibility of gun owners," Matthews said. Rogers said, "I'm begging the law enforcement agency to come out and fight these gun laws... We need to stop the proliferation of guns." The 12 changes the proposed act would make to gun laws are as follows: Mandatory gun registration- owner has registration card that lists all weapons No transfers unless done through a registration office New purchases must be picked up at registration office Mandatory gun safes; only registered owner will have combination Mandatory gun safety classes Open carry and concealed carry policies abolished Waiting period for gun purchase extended to three months to allow all paperwork to pass People under 21 prohibited from owning guns Extensive mental evaluation Mandatory liability insurance for firearms Required reporting of stolen firearms within four hours of discovery Ammo purchases made only for the caliber gun specified on registration Robert Walker, president of a local neighborhood association, said that gunshots are common in his neighborhood. "No one gets up to look anymore, it's so common place now." Walker owns a handgun and has a concealed carry permit. He had his gun with him at the press conference today to discuss how gun owners should support stricter gun laws and harsher penalties for those who carry guns illegally. "You have the right to bear arms," Matthews said while holding the gun, but added gun owners and gun dealers need to be "responsible." Matthews also talked about a recent shooting in downtown Birmingham that killed 17-year-old Isaiah Johnson. That shooting happened after what police say was a gun transaction, arranged through Facebook, went bad. Johnson and his friend planned to rob the third person who has not been publicly identified, police said. The unidentified person then shot and killed Johnson. He was not charged with a crime. Johnson's friend who police said helped plan the robbery, Tavares Floyd, was charged with Johnson's murder. Under Alabama law, a person can be charged with murder if they are participating in a felony crime that results in death, whether or not that person actually pulled the trigger. "He violated the law," Matthews said about the unidentified person who shot Johnson. After reading the state law about legally selling or trading guns between two parties, Matthews said "a teenager is a prohibited person." He called on the Jefferson County District Attorney's Office to investigate the case and make an arrest. Rogers plans to go to Montgomery on Tuesday to discuss the Sheri Williams Mandatory Gun Changes Act and other gun law changes with other lawmakers. He said anyone with ideas about gun laws is welcome to contact him. "Everyone's life matters," he said. jewish-center.JPG The Levite Jewish Community Center in Birmingham was evacuated on MOnday, Feb. 20, 2017, after receiving a bomb threat. The Levite Jewish Community Center was briefly evacuated Monday morning after receiving a bomb threat. Many parents picked their children up from the child care facility. Authorities have given the all-clear now, and staff and students are now back in the building. A Birmingham police officer said there have been several of these threats across the U.S. today. The JCC has received bomb threats before, including one in mid-January. The FBI has been investigating threats to Jewish centers in Alabama and several other states. This post will be updated. An investigation is underway in Birmingham's Inglenook community after a man was shot Sunday night. The shooting happened before 9 p.m. in the 4000 block of 41st Avenue North, said Birmingham police Sgt. Bryan Shelton. The victim was in front of a home when someone opened fire. The victim was reportedly shot twice. He drove off and crashed into a parked vehicle. After being shot, the victim got out of the vehicle and ran to a nearby fire station for help. Shelton said the victim is in his early 20s and his injuries are life-threatening. A second person in the vehicle was not shot, but was injured in the crash. No other information was immediately available. No suspects are in custody. The incident was the second time Sunday a person was shot while in a vehicle in Birmingham. Sunday morning a man was shot in the head on the west side of town. Lt. Sean Edwards said a victim was shot while in his vehicle in the 1400 block of Steiner Avenue SW. The victim was taken to Princeton Baptist Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries. Birmingham police were on the scene, located in front of an apartment building, collecting evidence at approximately 11:40 a.m. KyleMabreyKilled.jpg Pro bass fisherman Kyle Mabrey was killed Sunday, Feb. 19, 2017 when his SUV dropped from an I-459 overpass onto railroad tracks, and was then struck by a train. ( ) A McCalla man killed overnight when his SUV dropped off of I-459 and was then hit by a train was one of the state's best known bass fisherman. The Jefferson County Coroner's Office on Monday identified the victim as Kyle Mabrey. He was 42. Mabrey was a regular on the FLW Tour and had produced his own version of the lure called the "Yellowhammer,'' a take on the Alabama state bird. He was a pro fisherman for 14 years, and was ranked 286th in the world. He also worked as a respiratory therapist at Children's of Alabama. The unexpected death of Mabrey, a husband and father, quickly prompted memorials to him on social media. One poster wrote this: "One of the anglers I respect most from the state of Alabama died last night. Kyle Mabrey had more impact on my fishing then he could have ever known. He taught me more in the short amount of time I got to speak to him than many people have taught me as long as I knew them. To Kyles family, I'm sorry. To Kyle, Rest In Peace man. We're gonna miss you down here in Bama." Another wrote this: "A great man of character is gone. Goodbye Kyle Mabrey, you will be missed." Authorities said Mabrey was traveling north on Interstate 459 Sunday night when his Chevrolet Tahoe left the roadway and went down an embankment between the northbound and southbound lanes. They believe he was en route to meet people to fish. Mabrey was pulling a boat, and came to rest on railroad tracks near McAdory School Road, said Jefferson County Chief Deputy Coroner Bill Yates. Investigators aren't sure what time Mabrey wrecked, but shortly before midnight a Norfolk Southern train struck the boat, causing Mabrey to be ejected from the SUV. He was pronounced dead on the scene at 11:51 p.m. Authorities said there were no witnesses to the car crash. Norfolk Southern officials called police after they struck Mabrey's boat. The crash remains under investigation. "Like everybody else who knew him, I really admired Kyle Mabrey," Bill Taylor, FLW's senior director of tournaments, told flwfishing.com. "He loved to go fishing with his little boy and always brought that up in our conversations. He would always text me pictures of their fishing results; his closeness with his family was all the world to him." "I just lost my best friend and my brother," Blake Nick, a Tour pro, also told the website. "All of us lost somebody special. We fished together for years and it just tears me up. You're talking about a guy who would go fish his heart out all weekend in a tournament and then, come Monday morning, work with kids on ventilators and try to make them as comfortable as he could." A crash in Limestone County today left one teenager dead. The crash happened at 4 a.m. Sunday on New Cut Road, one mile west of Athens. Trooper Curtis Summerville said Morgan Lane Creel was driving a 2003 Toyota Corolla when the car left the road, overturned, and then hit a tree. Creel, of Athens, was ejected from the car. Creel was not using a seat belt, Summerville said, and was pronounced dead at the scene. He was 19 years old. While state troopers are still investigating the incident, Summerville said the preliminary report showed speed was a factor in the crash. Preschool is a personal matter for Ellen Hill. Her grandson attends Hardins Kindergarten Readiness Center, a preschool run by the public school system. When Hill picks the boy up next Tuesday, they plan to join her other grandchildren to lay flowers on the grave of Hill's daughter. Their mother. It will be one year since the woman died in a car wreck. It fell to Hill, now 63 years old, to raise the children while also working at a local grocery store. Now, just starting all over, I just have to be strong, she said. I try not to get stressed out. I know this school is so good. The Hardin program is more than child care while Hill works. Its a social hub for her grandchild. Its a jump-start on education for many students who, statistically, face long odds for success. The preschool is one of a handful around Montana that cobble together local district funds and federal grant money to offer free child care and a free education to students. Montana is one of six states that dedicate no state funding to public preschool, and a $12 million ask from Gov. Steve Bullock appears stalled in this years legislature. A group of parents whose children attend the Hardin preschool talked Monday about why they believe their children are better off with the program a conversation that was more personal than political. If it wasnt for this program, kindergarten would be the roughest year ever, said Erica Enick. Her son attended the preschool last year, and she provides child care for a nephew in the program this year. Her son struggled with health issues early in life, and was rarely separated from Enick. He would cling to my leg, he wouldnt want me to drop him off, she said. With time, and effort from preschool staff, he adjusted. There was one day he just walked away, no hug or anything, Enick said. For you, you want that hug, but for him, you have to let him go. I was a little, not scared, but concerned at first, said Duane Bull Chief, whose son attends the preschool. I thought he was going to stay in his cocoon. Before my kids were in school, I was terrified that they were going to be behind, Enick said. If your kids get behind, how are you ever going to catch them up? Theres a mixed body of research on the benefits of high-quality preschool programs, but most of it shows that such programs have long-lasting educational, social and health benefits. And theres a large body of research documenting that if children are behind their grades reading level in third grade, theyre likely never to catch up. What you do as a parent to try to teach your child were not educators, said Geraldine Bull Chief. They definitely teach them above and beyond what I expect. Enicks oldest son, who didnt attend the preschool program, struggled initially in kindergarten, she said. Enick, who recalled learning basics like names of colors at the grade level, assumed her son would have a similar experience. But students today are expected to know more. Her son who attended the program last year started kindergarten at an advanced level. He entered kindergarten knowing his sight words, being able to sound things out, she said. Duane Bull Chief used to teach in Crow Agency. The hardest thing, I thought, as a teacher, is getting your students excited for work," he said. "Theyre doing it here. Enick recalled a day her son arrived at home spouting volcano facts he learned at the preschool. Im like looking at him, like how do you even know this word? she said. He was just so proud that he knew something about lava. If they're learning something new and they really enjoy it, they talk about it for a week, said Geraldine Bull Chief. A draft of the national GOP platform last year opposed public preschool on grounds that it represented a government intrusion into childrens lives at a too-early age. Enick, who identified as a Republican, wasnt having it. I can see where they would say something like that, she said. I want (my kids) to love school. I want them to love learning. If it means sending them to a preschool, Id rather have that come in sooner. While many public preschool programs serve urban students, rural families typically have few options for high-quality providers outside of public schools or Head Start, a federal program. Private programs are often expensive if they are available. I dont need to pay child care for this, said Karen Wemple. Its huge, when you talk about your monthly budget. Enick doesn't work because her family couldn't afford child care, she said, and she cares for relatives' children. Hill liked the opportunity for Native American children to learn and socialize with white kids early on different kids getting to know each other, (they) dont care about the color. Parents said that they think state preschool funding is worth the price tag. If we want our future to be brighter, then weve got to put more into it, Duane Bull Chief said. The desperate conditions of west Mosul residents are expected to be compounded as Iraqi forces surround the old city. Aid organisations are racing against the clock to prepare for what is expected to be a mass exodus of hundreds of thousands of civilians from Mosul as Iraqi forces advance west of Mosul in the final stage of the battle for Mosul to recapture the city from the Islamic State or Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS). Emergency camps are being built up in nine cities and tents are being erected in existing camps to absorb internally displaced people. Food and other basic supplies are also being pre-positioned for up to 400,000 Iraqis that aid agencies expect might flee, according to aid groups. The greatest concern is the fact that we might have a massive surge of civilians being displaced, said Hala Jaber, a spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration (IOM). We are preparing to expand the camps and build up emergency sites to be able to take the numbers. Aid agencies operating on the ground in Iraq say there are three possible scenarios: A protracted siege of the old city, mass displacement of up to 400,000 or the best case scenario, an orderly evacuation of Iraqis as parts of western Mosul become secure. There are already plots available to shelter at least 60,000 people in sites east and south of Mosul, according to the UNHCR, but in addition to this, other utilities, including latrines, showers and roads as well as security personnel, should be made available, a process that usually takes up to six weeks. Hundreds of thousands of civilians might be trapped - maybe for weeks, maybe for months. by Lise Grande, UN humanitarian coordinator Since the offensive was launched on October 17, 2016, more than 217,000 people have been displaced from eastern Mosul, which was retaken by Iraqi forces last month, lower than the initial projections of aid agencies. Already 57,000 people have returned to their neighbourhoods. However, the battle for western Mosul, where 800,000 people live, is expected to be more challenging than the east because armoured vehicles cannot pass through the compact areas narrow alleyways, Iraqi commanders have said. Around 400,000 people live in the dense quarters of the old city, which contains ancient souks and the Grand Mosque. In the old city, the narrow alleyways may require a different fighting modality so the level of risk could reach unmanageable proportions, Bruno Geddo, UNCHRs representative in Iraq, told Al Jazeera. That is why we want to make sure we are prepared for a possible large-scale outflow. There are places reserved for 250,000 civilians, Geddo added, but timing is another concern. If they are displaced in a matter of two days, this could become overwhelming. We need enough capacity for a mass outflow. Humanitarian workers are also bracing for a possible siege of the old city, but the unpredictable nature of the fighting is also complicating planning for them. We dont know what will happen during the military campaign but we have to be ready for all scenarios, Lise Grande, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator, said in a statement. Hundreds of thousands of civilians might be trapped maybe for weeks, maybe for months. Supplies are already dwindling for Mosul residents trapped in the west, after the main road to Syria was cut off three months ago. Half the food shops have been shuttered, and prices of fuel to heat homes and cook food have skyrocketed. Families reported burning furniture and rubbish to keep warm. Food prices in western Mosul are almost double those in the east. About 60 percent of Mosul residents also lack potable drinking water, according to UN figures. Many depend on untreated water from wells, after treatment plants suffered damage from the fighting. The desperate conditions of west Mosul residents are expected to be compounded as Iraqi forces close in and surround the old city in an effort to root out ISIL fighters. There are possibilities which in fact may be sequential. What we expect for now is a siege-like situation in which forces surround the city, they go in and extract people from neighbourhoods, said Geddo. But there could also be a possibility that ISIS will use civilians as human shields, in which case we would have a pro-longed situation. In that case we need to get supplies to people inside so they can survive. Aid workers admitted there is little that can be done without a humanitarian corridor in the event of a siege, and even then civilians would have to risk their lives and transgress ISIL orders to stay put. Geddo said aid agencies are working out a means to provide cross-line support. Civilians are also being smuggled out of western Mosul, some paying as much as $2,000 to escape and meet their family members in the east. Another aid worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, hinted the possibility of scattering aid from low-flying airplanes, but added there was no guarantee of success. With a protracted siege, funding too might become an issue, Geddo warned. If the Mosul operation is prolonged, we will find ourselves in need of additional funds. Can the city maintain its 30-year status as a sanctuary for undocumented migrants as Trump threatens to pull funding? Somerville, Massachusetts Natalia lives in Somerville. She pays her taxes. She goes to a Crossfit gym. She has friends with whom she unwinds after work. She has an affectionate if prone to shedding dog. She has everything most of her neighbours have except citizenship. She is an undocumented immigrant, waiting on papers for citizenship she filed 17 years ago. All that separates her from being a citizen, at this point, is legislation. She distinctly remembers the day after President Donald Trumps election in November. I came to work, and the kids were crying, like, We will all move to Mexico!' the 35-year-old nanny to two children says. Natalias case is not unusual in Somerville. Jaclyn Rossetti, a media representative in the mayors office, says that about one-third of Somervilles 80,000 residents are immigrants, although there is no data on how many are undocumented. Somerville is a sanctuary city, and has been for 30 years. A sanctuary city is a municipality that does not prosecute undocumented immigrants for violating federal immigration laws. The United States currently has 39 outright sanctuary cities, as well as more than 300 counties that do not comply with federal policing of undocumented immigrants. But the immigrants sense of safety here has diminished in recent months. Trumps threats to deport undocumented immigrants and to de-fund sanctuary cities for noncompliance hangs over the country. During his campaign, Trump targeted, among other groups, Mexicans. He said the US should build a wall along its southern border and called Mexican immigrants criminals and drug dealers. Trump also alleged that sanctuary cities are rife with crime. But according to a study by the Centre for American Progress, an independent nonpartisan policy institute, this claim is false. In fact, comparing sanctuary counties to counties of comparable size and demographics, the study concluded that the crime rate was lower in the sanctuary counties. It also found higher labour force participation in the sanctuary counties. Kacey Brister, another media representative in the mayors office, says data collected by the Somerville police department shows that the citys crime rate is down by 50 percent since 1987 the year Somerville became a sanctuary city. But Trump does not seem to care about the facts. Instead, in one of his first acts as president, he signed an executive order denying federal funding to cities that did not cooperate with deportation orders namely, sanctuary cities. She is not an undocumented immigrant by choice. When she was 17, she moved to the United States from Mexico, spurred on by the beautiful dream her mother painted. I moved here thinking I was going to go to school, and that she was going to petition for me, and it was going to be nice and peachy, but it definitely didnt turn out like that, she says. Instead, she found herself forced to work, because her mother, already a US citizen by marriage, could not afford to support her. She became a nanny, and saved all the money she could to pay the legal fees that come with the path to citizenship. Natalia says she worked for about a year to save the several thousand dollars it would take to begin the process, then gave it all to her mother, who had promised to petition on her behalf. After a year, I hadnt heard anything, so I went to the lawyers office, and asked [about] the status of my papers, she says. Long story short, my mother never petitioned for me. She took the money. Since then, her case has dragged on for almost two decades, and she does not see it ending anytime soon. I just talked to my lawyer maybe two months ago. And they said they are still processing petitions entered in 1984. Deirdre Giblin, a lawyer at the Boston-based Community Legal Services and Counselling Centre, explains that in Natalias case, such a wait is not surprising. Because she does not have a family member to petition for her, a path to citizenship is virtually impossible. There is a priority list, with first priority given to children [under 21], then spouses if you are anything less than that, you are put down on the priority list, Giblin says. Moreover, if you are from a country that is already oversubscribed, your wait is even longer, she adds. An oversubscribed country is one that has exceeded its visa quota, which, as of November 1, 2016, was set at 23,400 visas. Unfortunately for Natalia, Mexico is one such country. But even without all those obstacles, citizenship would still be difficult. In an ideal situation, Natalia would have to wait five years under a legal residency permit, while paying around $5,000 for a lawyer, as well as hundreds of dollars for required miscellaneous expenses, such as medical fees and vaccinations. But depending on how long the process drags on for, Giblin says, it can cost a lot more: Natalia says her expenses have run up to between $10,000 and $15,000. Fortunately for Natalia and others like her, lacking citizenship does not mean they lack support. In a phone interview, Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone iterated what he has been saying since the election: We are not going to run away from our fellow human beings, our neighbours, our colleagues We are not going to profile based on immigrant status. In other words, city officials will refuse to cooperate with any upcoming orders to hand over undocumented immigrants for potential deportation regardless of what that means for the $6m in federal grant money Somerville receives for programmes such as special education, substance abuse programmes and school lunch programmes. The mayors office said in late November that the city would tighten our belts if Somerville does lose the funding. Curtatones office has been closely following the legal case of San Francisco, California, which has made headlines recently, as it was the first sanctuary city to sue the Trump administration over his order to withhold federal funding. Curtatone told Al Jazeera that Somerville is also prepared to take legal action, if necessary. Because the mayor does not know exactly what kinds of challenges could arise the situation is truly unprecedented in the US he and other community leaders have been meeting to discuss various options. One such leader is Luis Morales, the pastor of Vida Real Internacional. A refugee from El Salvador granted citizenship in 1983, Morales knows what it is like to be forced to flee a dangerous country immediately, rather than risk his life waiting for the legalities of citizenship. At the time Morales left the country, there was a raging civil war that ended up killing more than 75,000 people. We came to the sanctuary city just to be protected, Morales says. I am going to protect my community the best I can. My church is willing to do whatever it takes. Churches have always been sanctuary places in the US I have beds, I have bathrooms, and I will do whatever it takes, he adds, implying that people could live in the church, if worse comes to worse. Ben Echevarria runs The Welcome Project, an organisation dedicated to working with the immigrant community since 1987. He, too, is working with the mayor to push back against Trumps threats. Since Trumps election, The Welcome Projects resources have been stretched thin, Echevarria says, with undocumented immigrants statewide calling in to ask for assistance from the organisation. Lack of federal funds would cut even more deeply into the organisation, as it receives a community development grant. Echevarria fears that the order will have negative effects on the community as a whole, not just on undocumented immigrants. If people are afraid to talk to the police for fear of having their legal status questioned, crime rates will increase, he says. Because the community and city government promote immigrant-police dialogue, residents currently feel safe reporting crimes, or coming forward to act as witnesses to them. But we know what happens when these people are no longer part of the community, when these groups become disenfranchised. There all of a sudden becomes a problem with policing. Crime rates go up, because nobody wants to talk to the police, he says. Echevarria knows the value of the integrated neighbourhood that is the modern-day Somerville, because it was not always like that. Although he was born in the US, his parents came from Puerto Rico. The family was targeted for being Latino. Echevarria can remember nights in Somerville, nights of people throwing rocks through our window, yelling, Go back to your country!' It wasnt a perfect city, but it certainly has changed, Echevarria reflects. He also believes that Trumps order will cripple the city economically, in ways aside from losing the federal funding. We are seeing a lot of entrepreneurs and restaurateurs [from the immigrant community]. Its not just American fare, any more. We are seeing more and more small businesses open up from migrants. Five largest funds have more than $8bn invested in companies that do business in Israeli settlements, report shows. Ramallah The five biggest European pension funds are conflicting with their governments official policies by investing in companies that do business in illegal Israeli settlements, analysts say. If their citizens and their companies are directly undermining their governments foreign policy commitment to a two-state solution, is it not therefore incumbent on these governments to explore ways to either better regulate their own companies or to ensure that the law as it is, and domestic legislation, is adequately enforced? asked Hugh Lovatt, a policy fellow and Israel/Palestine project coordinator at the European Council on Foreign Relations. His remarks come after a new report revealed that Europes five largest pension funds have more than $8bn invested in companies that do business in illegal settlements. An investigation by the Danish media outlet Danwatch found that pension funds in Norway, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands have billions of euros invested in 36 companies involved in settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Illegal Israeli settlements have stunted the Palestinian economy and are deemed to be a major obstacle to a two-state solution. In a United Nations Security Council resolution passed in December 2016, Israeli settlements were denounced as a flagrant violation of international law. European foreign policy on Israel/Palestine is based on the two-state solution and the applicability of international law in the occupied Palestinian territories, Lovatt noted. A number of European Union member states have issued advisories to businesses warning against the financial, legal and reputational risks associated with dealing with Israeli entities involved in settlement activities. There is this issue of a possible violation of international law. This is the general issue about providing material assistance in support of Israels unlawful activities, which is a pretty clear-cut case of assisting in the violation of the Geneva Convention and other unlawful practices, Lovatt told Al Jazeera. The Danwatch list of companies consists of Israeli and international publicly-traded companies with activities in the occupied territories, including those in the security, communications, financial and construction sectors. The 36 companies on our list are not in compliance with UN guidelines because they contribute in varying degrees to a negative impact on the human rights of Palestinians. by Mikkel Bahl , journalist The 36 companies on our list are not in compliance with UN guidelines because they contribute in varying degrees to a negative impact on the human rights of Palestinians, Mikkel Bahl, a journalist who worked on the investigation, told Al Jazeera. In its Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the UN sets out corporate responsibility guidelines, stating that businesses should avoid infringing on the human rights of others and address instances where they are involved in harming human rights. These pension funds all have policies for responsible investments on their websites, where they refer to UN and [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] guidelines, Bahl said. They tell their customers that they follow these international guidelines and make sure that they dont contribute to a negative effect on human rights. The biggest investor named in the investigation is the Norwegian governments pension fund, Statens Pensjonsfond Utland, which has 5.2bn euros ($5.6bn) in investments spread across all of the companies listed. Two Dutch funds, Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP and Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn, both have multimillion-dollar investments in a number of companies, including Caterpillar, which supplies bulldozers that are used to demolish Palestinian homes in the occupied territories. Swedish fund, Alecta Pensionsforsakring, has investments in a single company on the list, Volvo Group, whose excavators are used in demolitions of Palestinian property. Volvo also partly owns the Israeli bus-maker Merkavim, which supplies armoured buses used on roads in the occupied territories. Finally, the Danish fund, Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension (ATP), has investments in Priceline Group Inc, which owns Booking.com, a travel portal that allows the booking of hotel rooms in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and Siemens, which has delivered a traffic control system for Israeli roads in the West Bank. Asked to respond to the Danwatch report, Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP noted that in the coming years, it would re-evaluate and decide which listed companies make for responsible and sustainable investments and will therefore be included in its investment portfolio. Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn told Al Jazeera in a statement that of all the companies in which we invest, we require that they comply with internationally agreed standards when it comes to the environment, social conditions and human rights, without specifically addressing how the issue of support for Israeli settlements fits into that assessment. NBIM, which administers the Statens Pensjonsfond Utland fund, noted that some companies in the region were excluded from the fund due to serious violations of individuals rights in a situation of war or conflict, but did not specifically comment on the companies named by Danwatch, which were not on a provided list of exclusions. Alecta declined to comment, while ATP said that after the Danwatch report, it had investigated the specifics of the two companies in which it was investing, and did not find their activities to be of a controversial nature. BROKEN HOMES: A record year of home demolitions in occupied East Jerusalem The UN Human Rights Council announced in 2016 that it would establish a list of named companies doing business in the occupied territories. The database, expected to be published later this year, could be referenced by any organisation investing in entities that might be involved in the occupation of Palestinian land. Lovatt noted that for pension funds owned by the government, there is more of an onus on the state to ensure its adherence to international guidelines and laws. Of the five funds investigated by Danwatch, only Norways Statens Pensjonsford Utland is wholly owned by the government. That raises the bar in terms of obligations because, for governments, you have a number of Security Council resolutions and other things that actually speak much more to the responsibility of third-party states, Lovatt said. Hundreds of Palestinians will be made homeless to build a road that will only serve Israeli settlements. Hundreds of Palestinians in the Jabal al-Mukaber area of occupied East Jerusalem say they are living in a state of anxiety and fear as Israeli occupation authorities begin excavations for the American road project, set to be built on the ruins of their homes. The road that constitutes only one section of a larger highway, titled al-Touq, will cut through East and West Jerusalem, with the unstated aim of connecting illegal Israeli settlements north, south, and east of the city. It is set to bridge between the West Bank settlements of Har Homa and Maale Adumim, passing through Jerusalem. The Israeli municipalitys planning and construction committee introduced al-Touq road scheme in Jerusalem a decade ago. The completed highway will run a length of more than 11km, with a width of about 70 metres. To build the road, the Jerusalem municipality will confiscate approximately 1,200 dunams (300 acres) of Palestinian land in at least 12 Palestinian neighbourhoods within Jabal al-Mukaber. Construction for the American road section of the project has already commenced in the Salaa neighbourhood of Jabal al-Mukaber, stirring fears among residents. We are living in a state of perpetual fear, said Mohammad al-Sawahra, a resident of Salaa. Its as if we are living in [two different worlds]. In Palestinian areas, it is like living in the third world, while those living in settlements built on the land of Jabal al-Mukaber are offered a life of comfort like first world countries, al-Sawahra told Al Jazeera. A month ago, Al-Sawahra received a demolition order for his home to make way for the new road. Now, they want to build a road on the ruins of my home for themselves, as well, he added. About 57 homes, housing 500 Palestinians, will be demolished for the completion of the American road, according to Raed Basheer, a lawyer with the Committee of Defence for Jabal al-Mukaber properties. We were surprised to hear about the project, which will be 32 metres wide, with an additional 32 metres on the sides to allow for the light rail. All of the homes, both old and new, standing in the way of the road, will be demolished, Basheer told Al Jazeera. In response to this plan, we reached out to the Israeli municipality in Jerusalem and managed, with difficulty, to obtain an extension on the house demolition orders for five years, provided that we submit a request every year to extend the demolition orders. But, still, we do not know whether we will be allowed to remain in our homes over the next five years. INTERACTIVE: 2016: A record year of home demolition in East Jerusalem Suhad Bishara, a lawyer with the Haifa-based Adalah legal centre, said that the map for the planned project indicates that the road will serve only Israelis and Israeli settlements. The plan will wipe out all the roads that connect the Palestinian neighbourhoods of Jerusalem together, turning the areas into islands that will be geographically and economically disconnected, making it difficult for Palestinians to access their schools and health centres, she told Al Jazeera. Nabeel Basheer, another resident of Salaa, described the al-Touq scheme for the city as deceptive. It [the project] is being promoted as a one that will benefit the Palestinians of East Jerusalem, without mentioning of the fact that it will entail the demolition of homes, and its ultimate goal of connecting the settlements, he told Al Jazeera. Israel frequently uses home demolitions to control and punish Palestinians living under its occupation in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Since 1967, when Israel occupied the Palestinian territories, at least 48,000 Palestinian homes and housing structures have been demolished. The reasons that the Israeli state gives to the homeowners vary from building without permits to punishment for an attack. Women whose knitted hats became a national phenomenon want to keep the momentum of last months march in Washington. Los Angeles, United States Half a dozen women sat around a large table, each with a ball of yarn in front her. Some made fumbling progress, while others settled into the rhythmic calm that so many knitters say reminds them of meditation. Kat Coyle, 54, walked around the students, inspecting their progress and handiwork. Two of the women were making their first pink, knitted pussyhats. One planned to give hers to a friends infant. Coyle paused to share an email she just received. I want to thank you for the free pattern, she read. Im 70 years old and havent knitted in 50 years. I have friends in theirs 80s who are activists and are making more hats. Coyle smiled, and the other knitters cheered. I had asked to stop by Coyles shop, the Little Knittery in Los Angeles, after my own admiration for those who attended the womens marches with handmade hats, and my subsequent beginner efforts to make my own. A month after womens marches across the United States, people continue to stop by Coyles shop, looking for pink yarn or lessons to make more pussyhats. Coyle designed the first hat pattern for what became the national phenomenon launched by two of her former students, Jayna Zweiman, 38, and Krista Suh, 29. Zweiman and Suh had two missions when they launched the Pussyhat Project: to paint a collective visual statement for marchers in Washington, DC, and to find a way for people who could not travel to the capital to show their support for womens rights. While they had high hopes their idea would stick, no one could have imagined how the one-off project would endure beyond January 21, 2017. We know the hats arent going to solve anything, Coyle said. A knitter at the shop said, It will take more than a march. But the pussyhats have made the cover of TIME and The New Yorker, and became the oppositions answer to President Donald Trumps own Make America Great Again trucker hats. Zweiman and Suh are proud of the role they played and are thinking deeply about what direction to pivot their project to. On Monday, they announced plans to join the organizers of the Womens March for A Day Without a Woman on March 8, International Womens Day. They are asking people to continue knitting hats, and will take a global focus in a special virtual march that day on Instagram, sharing womens messages from around the world. A lot of first-time activists have used this as their way in, and thats a huge honour. And so the question is what our relationship will be with the community. Is it about further galvanising people, or educating them, or should we be a resource, said Suh. There are all these ways we could go about it. Since the Womens March, the Pussyhat Project has shared photos on Twitter and Instagram of newly finished hat projects. At one point, its social media feed directed knitters to call senators in an attempt to stop the confirmation of Betsy DeVos as secretary of education. Generally, however, it has focused less on specific courses of actions, and more on messages of equality, empowerment, and solidarity. OPINION: Why women marched on Washington The projects latest announcement carries on that spirit, but is also an indication that its founders realize not only the tremendous capital and momentum they have, but the responsibility of a movement they launched. Zweiman and Suh have felt some pressure from craftivists that is craft activists waiting to see what specific things they have planned. Their original, stated goals had centred solely around the Washington march. We want to make a really smart, deliberate move versus just jumping on a bandwagon, Zweiman said. They promise more exciting news soon. In the meantime, some knitters have taken their own initiative. Caitlin Corliss, 27, of Savannah, Georgia, knits and sells pussyhats, with a portion of proceeds going to womens healthcare provider Planned Parenthood. She attended her local march in January. I wanted to continue making a tangible difference promoting womens rights, she said. In Milford, Pennsylvania, Jennifer Rivera, 37, also makes pussyhats. She donates 50 percent of the money to the American Civil Liberties Union, the legal rights organisation that has taken the Trump administration to court across the country. If knitting a hat can help me to help others, count me in! said Rivera. I plan to continue knitting these hats as long as there is demand. The day after the Womens March, its organisers had launched the 10 Actions in 100 Days campaign to channel the fresh energy of its millions of participants. The second action, rolled out earlier this month, asked people to hold small gatherings of 10 to 15 people to come up with specific steps to resist the presidency. IN PICTURES: Women marches across the world draw huge crowds In many ways, knitting circles had already started doing that, from even before the march. The Pussyhat Project lists more than 100 yarn shops and communities across the country, from Alabama to Wyoming, as allies. These groups made and distributed the hats in the run-up to the march. New groups continue to organise. Dana Dickey, in her 40s, reached out to the Little Knittery after marching in Washington. She wanted to gather some friends, most of whom had never considered themselves activists or knitters, and have Coyle teach them how to make pussyhats. They would also use their meeting to brainstorm ideas on combating Trump. Dickey likes the creativity of the Pussyhat Project and recognises it as an important component of the new movement. She had participated in HIV/Aids activism in the 1990s. We had a lot of fun when we did direct action. Its an important part of activism that people forget about to have fun, she said. The women of the Pussyhat Project echo that point. As much as the mood of the resistance, in some ways, have darkened as Trump sets out to fulfil his campaign promises both seriously and literally, activists also know the long, hard fight will require occasional levity. Considering the design of their simple, silly hats, Suh said: We dont have to be masculine in order to be serious. Some of Montanas most popular beer hit the Billings market Monday and will slowly land on shelves and taps across the city in upcoming days. KettleHouse Brewing Companys expansion into central and eastern Montana was announced Jan. 12. Briggs Distributing took its first delivery of KettleHouse products a couple of weeks ago but stockpiled inventory so more beer could enter the market during the first week of sales in Billings. Hopefully the bars we cant get draft in will get cans for a while. Thats just how it will have to start, said Adam Decker, beer sales manager for Briggs. Decker said Tinys Tavern is the first Billings location to take delivery of KettleHouse products from Briggs. Tinys will have Cold Smoke Scotch Ale on tap Monday. Cold Smoke, Fresh Bongwater Hemp Ale, Double Haul IPA and Eddy Out Ale will be available in cans and on draft in several locations in Billings as retailers take delivery on their normally scheduled days. By the end of the week KettleHouses beers will be available at Buffalo Wild Wings, Old Chicago, Pug Mahons, Shooters, The Pub Station and The Windmill. The beer will also be sold at Town Pump Convenience Stores, 3Gs filling stations and select Albertsons grocery stores among other retailers. KettleHouse Brewing Company started in 1995 but until recently wasnt widely distributed east of Big Timber. The brewery started construction on a 23,000-square-foot facility in Bonner in 2016 to ramp up production for the move into new markets in the state. Tim OLeary, co-owner of KettleHouse Brewing, said the expansion was tricky because the brewery had to ensure a steady supply chain to existing customers while supplying new ones in Billings. OLeary said KettleHouses move east was eight years in the making. The company not only had to invest in a new brewing facility, it also procured a third beer manufacturing license to allow for the increased production while keeping its two pre-existing Missoula taprooms. We want to be a premium Montana brand that is a go-to for locals and tourists alike, and we cant do that without being in Billings, he said. The company also had to change its recipes to keep its signature beer's flavor the same while brewing them on a larger scale. OLeary said brewers often adjust recipes to deal with changing availability of supplies. It takes a lot of practice, trial and error to consistently offer a beer loyal customers dont want to see change. Even the color has to be right. If people are used to seeing a different color and they get (a beer) thats five shades lighter they think theres something wrong with it, OLeary said. And theyre right. The brewer didnt do his job. The global trade in heavy arms has skyrocketed to its highest level since the Cold War. Ten countries are responsible for the vast majority of all major arms exports, accounting for 90 percent of global sales, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The new study said the global trade of heavy weapons systems has now reached its highest level since the end of the Cold War in 1991. The worlds top five major arms exporters are the United States, Russia, Germany, France and China. Together, they account for 74 percent of the total volume of exports. In the Middle East, major arms imports have surged over the past few years, the SIPRI report said. Between 2012 and 2016, imports by countries in the region skyrocketed by 86 percent, accounting for 29 percent of global weapons purchases. Globally, India, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were the most prolific importers of major weapons. Its an uphill battle for the Trump administration to convince the EU that the US will not abandon its Western allies. For more than 50 years, the Munich Security Conference has served as a global forum on international security, with both public and private events involving heads of state, foreign and defence ministers, other notable government officials, international organisations and policy experts from more than 70 countries. This year, however, was perhaps the most remarkable ever in terms of geopolitical crisis needing immediate attention, but with no apparent resolution in sight. With an agenda that included everything from nuclear proliferation to civil wars in Syria, Libya and Yemen, the refugee crisis, terrorism, a resurgence of nationalism, and escalating regional rivalries, there was much to discuss, both publicly and behind closed doors where ideas are more likely to lead to action sometimes good and sometimes not. But also on the minds of those in attendance, particularly officials from the European Union, was the future of the United States foreign policy under the Trump administration. Would the US continue its key role in helping to maintain a liberal world order or would it turn inward and adopt a non-interventionist foreign policy? And thats a wholly justifiable concern given the frank and sometimes-bizarre rhetoric of US President Donald Trump towards Europe. Justifiable concern Consider his statements both as a candidate and since the inauguration, when he predicted the eventual downfall of the EU and called into question the importance of NATO, which he categorised as obsolete. Add to those comments his repeated praise and character defence of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as his not-so-subtle threats to tear up the Iran nuclear deal. And if his foreign policy rhetoric alone isnt enough to make heads turn, a controversial travel ban put into place without any inkling of interagency discussion beforehand calls into serious question the inner workings of his administration, not to mention American values. The list of disturbing oratory and actions could quite possibly fill a book something that is probably in the works as you read this but you get the picture. While it's too early to say in which direction the Trump administration will ultimately go with its foreign policy - working with allies to maintain the status quo by continuing to pursue a liberal world order or reversing course by adopting a position of non-intervention - recent comments by Vice President Pence and other members of the president's foreign policy team at least hint towards the former. by No doubt, Trump says exactly whats on his mind, regardless of who may take offence. But some would argue thats exactly why he won the election last November. While there may have been a glimmer of hope that the rhetoric would subside after the election or at least after the inauguration its not likely well see a move in that direction now. Fortunately for the USs allies, President Trump did have the good sense to put together a foreign policy team that should be able to steady the ship. Along with Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis have the credibility, moral courage and common sense to help President Trump avoid rough seas if he listens to them. And thats a big if. The US will not abandon its allies If recent meetings in Europe are any indication, Trumps foreign policy may be taking shape in a form more palatable to US allies than originally thought. On his first official overseas visit, Vice President Pence sought to reassure an anxious forum in Munich that while the US was re-evaluating its long-term foreign policy objectives, it would not abandon its allies. On NATO specifically, the vice president pledged that the US was unwavering in its commitment to European security and would stand firmly behind its Article 5 treaty obligation to come to the aid of any member state subject to armed attack. But in return the US administration is also very clear that it expects the other 27 member states to stand behind their own, long-standing treaty obligations by contributing a minimum of 2 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) towards defence spending. OPINION: The Baltic states No easy target Quite notably, only four NATO members besides the US live up to that commitment Greece, Britain, Estonia and Poland. France is the next closest with 1.8 percent and then its a rapid descent after that. The administrations argument for increased NATO spending was received with mixed results. While some member countries acknowledged the need for increased defence spending, others questioned the wisdom of tying it to GDP. The jury is still out on what happens next. While Pence acknowledged Trumps continued desire to ease tensions with Russia and look for areas where the two countries could realistically cooperate especially in counterterrorism matters he stopped short of offering an olive branch in Munich. Indeed, speaking on Trumps behalf, Pence vowed to hold Russia accountable in Ukraine. In what was an overt effort to ease the concerns of US European allies over an expansionist Russian foreign policy, he further demanded that Russia adhere the 2015 Minsk agreement before the lifting of any sanctions are even considered. READ MORE: Sergey Lavrov I hope world chooses post-West order The US is holding Russia to task in Syria, too. While Trump previously looked to Russia for cooperation in combating the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) in Syria, Secretary of Defense Mattis stated unequivocally at the NATO conference in Brussels last week that the US was not ready to collaborate with Russia on a military level as long as they consider all rebel groups to be terrorists a point also stressed by Secretary of State Tillerson during last weeks G-20 meeting in Bonn. While its too early to say which direction the Trump administration will ultimately go with its foreign policy working with allies to maintain the status quo by continuing to pursue a liberal world order or reversing course by adopting a position of non-intervention recent comments by Vice President Pence and other members of the presidents foreign policy team at least hint towards the former. Still, its an uphill battle for the US to convince its allies that actions speak louder than words. Time will tell. Lets just hope sound minds and not rash rhetoric carry the day. Martin Reardon is a senior vice president with the Soufan Group, a New York-based strategic security and intelligence consultancy, and senior director of Qatar International Academy for Security Studies. He is a 21-year veteran of the FBI and specialised in counterterrorism operations. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy. China wants people to care for the environment, one person at a time. Its winter in Beijing, and that means two things: cold and smog. Beijing has had freezing winter temperatures for thousands of years, but the smog is something new. China first started experiencing serious air pollution in the 1970s, and by the 1990s Beijing was already one of the worlds most polluted cities. Twenty years later, China still hasnt begun to solve its pollution problems. The problem is serious. Beijing has spent much of this winter on yellow alert, a level of pollution that would be considered catastrophic in many other places but is business as usual in China. To avoid bad publicity, China rarely issues red alerts, even when smog levels warrant them. This year the smog has been so bad that travel companies are reportedly offering lung cleansing trips to cleaner countries for those who can afford to escape for a week or two of fresh air. When Chinese people have to choose between fight or flight in response to air pollution, the only rational choice is flight. Even the mildest pollution protests are met with a heavy police response. For example, the city centre of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province in southwest China, was shut down in response to a simple prank: protesters had put face masks over the mouths of statues. Anti-pollution face masks are ubiquitous in China, where people wear them to filter out fine particles in the air. One man in Chengdu was even arrested for sharing a photo on social media. He allegedly claimed that the photo was a picture of a large crowd of environmental protesters. It was apparently a stock photo of a 2012 event. Worlds worst Chinas air pollution is notorious for being among the worst in the world, though India and Iran are catching up fast. The World Health Organization says that 92 percent of the worlds population breathes air that exceeds global pollution standards. China is far from the only country dealing with rampant air pollution, but it is one of the most repressive. Pollution protests are effectively banned. Local meteorological bureaus are prohibited from giving independent pollution advice that may conflict with the warnings issued by the central government. And independent lawyers who sue to hold the government accountable to its own pollution regulations are routinely jailed, and in some cases lawyers have allegedly been tortured. Yet China allows many other kinds of protests, even environmental protests against new chemical plants and power stations. In such cases citizens have been allowed to circulate petitions and stage demonstrations, some of which have even been covered on state media. Protesters can share photos of themselves marching to protest against local pollution, as long as it doesnt involve smog. The Chinese government seems to have a relatively relaxed attitude towards such not in my backyard protests against air, water, and soil pollution. These are viewed as localised outbreaks of well-focused anger. The inconvenient truth for China is that a billion individual actions won't solve China's pollution problem. Air pollution is a collective problem that can only be solved through coordinated government action. by A protest against a smokestack belching poisonous fumes into a particular neighbourhood is unlikely to spread across a city, never mind the country. In a country that lacks a free media space, protests can even be used to gauge public opinion. If a project is unpopular, people will protest and their concerns can be addressed. If there are no protests, the project is allowed to go ahead. Protests against smog are different. Everyone in China suffers from catastrophic air pollution. They can see it day in and day out, all over the country. A protest against smog in one city has the potential to spread like wildfire on national social media. Any effort to complain about a problem such as air pollution that affects nearly everyone in the country is rapidly repressed by police and social media monitors. Chinas inconvenient truth For one week in March 2015 the Chinese government allowed its people to watch an environmental documentary that exposed Beijings true pollution levels and the government corruption behind them. The film, Under the Dome, is believed to have been watched by hundreds of millions of people before it was abruptly removed from the Chinese internet. The timing was no accident: Under the Dome was made available during the annual session of the National Peoples Congress (NPC), Chinas rubber-stamp legislature. The theme of the 2015 NPC? The environment, of course. The film, clearly inspired by Al Gores An Inconvenient Truth, ends with the now-familiar list of things that you can do to save the environment: Take the bus. Ride a bike. Turn off lights. Call a government hotline to report suspected polluters. Viewers were even encouraged to join one of Chinas 700-plus government-approved environmental organisations. The inconvenient truth for China is that a billion individual actions wont solve Chinas pollution problem. Air pollution is a collective problem that can only be solved through coordinated government action. Protests wont solve the problem either, but protests might spur the government to act. With no one to hold them accountable, Chinas rulers may waste yet another decade hoping the problem will just blow away. It wont. Salvatore Babones is a comparative sociologist at the University of Sydney. He is a specialist in global economic structure. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy. Donald Trump wants the US to go to war with Iran, but Iranians can still stop or at least delegitimise his efforts. Are nations entirely helpless in the face of blatant warmongering targeting their homeland? What can ordinary people do, independent of the state that is ruling them, to prevent, or at least make it difficult, for US militarism, now under the command of a mentally unstable commander-in-chief, first to demonise before starting to bomb them? For those of us who still actively remember the preparatory stage of the United States-led invasion, destruction, and occupation of first Afghanistan in 2001 and then Iraq in 2003, we know how demonising entire nations was and remains the indispensable first step before starting to bomb a country. That history has now assumed an added urgency. Donald Trump needs a war and all the indications point to Iran as what seems like the easiest target in his crosshairs. He will never pick a fight with China, or Russia, or even North Korea. Like all bullies, he picks a fight he thinks (falsely) he can easily win. A war with Iran will justify his Muslim ban, drum up his xenophobic base, distract people from his terrifying domestic atrocities, create a state of emergency in which no resistance is tolerated, critical thinking and civic opposition will be equated with treason, Muslim registry and even internment will not be too off their marks. In what follows, I enumerate 10 things Iranians, as a people, can do to preempt a war on their country. Although I will be specific to Iran for I think it is the most obvious target of Trumps warmongering the same ideas can be extended to any other potential target of US militarism, which predates and will outlast Trump. Reclaim the nation First and foremost reclaim the term Iran for the nation and away from the state that rules over it. In the current diplomatic and journalistic parlance, Iran summons both the nation and the state that claims it together. This is a false coupling. As a signifier, Iran belongs to the Iranian people. The state, the current or any other, is an appendix to it. Like all other states around it, the Islamic Republic is today integral to a geopolitics of the region with almost all their soft and hard powers active in each others territories. From Turkey to Iran to Saudi Arabia at the head of an eleven Arab nation coalition are militarily engaged outside their own borders. Turkish, Iranian, and Arab nations are trapped inside their states and have little to no control over their diplomatic and military operations. States seek to survive their hostilities, while nations pay the unfathomable price of suffering their leaders decisions. Reclaim the name of the country and do not allow it abused as the first political move towards a military attack. Second, denounce those treacherous forces among the expat opposition now led by the cultic Peoples Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), and Reza Pahlavi, the son of the former Shah that demand regime change in Iran. OPINION: Trump and Iran Scenarios of escalation Neither of these characters has the slightest legitimacy inside Iran. A blind hatred of the Islamic Republic is definitive to these expat forces, no matter what the consequences for Iranians as a people. That hatred is categorically different from any legitimate critical stand vis-a-vis Iran. There must remain no false claim that any one of these discredited expat oppositions represents the Iranian people. They do not. Third, give voice to the legitimate internal dissidents who oppose foreign intervention and domestic tyranny at one and the same time. These forces must be mobilised to denounce war and demand civil liberties in one breath. Their active opposition to a possible US war on Iran will have domestic, regional, and global echoes. Our task is not to side with either of the two ruling regimes in Iran or the US. Our task is to unite Iranians, Americans, and other nations against any and all acts of violence and warmongering in any country. by Fourth, the more democratic, a nation the lower the possibility of a military invasion by the US and its allies. If the ruling regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq had any semblance of democratic legitimacy, they would not have been so easily demonised, invaded, and destroyed. Iranians do not live in a democratic country. They cannot freely mobilise a demonstration denouncing Trumps warmongering and Ali Khameneis tyranny at the same time. Nevertheless, they habitually turn their periodic presidential and parliamentary elections into a major force to register their democratic will within the tight limits of the ruling theocracy. The forthcoming presidential election in May 2017 must be turned into a full spectrum of staging their antiwar and democratic will, whether they opt to participate in this election or boycott it, they must use it as a stage to show the world their opposition to regime change by nefarious forces cooked up in the US, Europe, and their own region. READ MORE: It is in Trumps interest to keep the Iran deal alive Fifth, the globally celebrated Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi and the lead actress Taraneh Alidoosti have publicly denounced Trumps Muslim ban and declined to come to the US to attend the Academy Awards for which their new film, Salesman, has been nominated. In a bold and brilliant move, Sadiq Khan, the Muslim mayor of London, has just announced on that designated night February 26 he will have a public screening of Farhadis film at Trafalgar Square, in which around 10,000 people are expected to attend, and leading British filmmaker Mike Leigh is scheduled to speak. On this, and other international public scenes, Iranian artists and intellectuals and their non-Iranian colleagues must use their forum to denounce war on their homeland. Iran without borders Sixth, the expat intellectuals must clearly and unequivocally denounce economic sanctions and war on their homeland. They must remember how expat Iraqi intellectuals were used and abused by the US propaganda to pave the way for the invasion of Iraq. Whatever qualms they may have with the ruling regime and they are plenty is secondary to the territorial integrity of their homeland and the physical wellbeing of their people. Seventh, prominent Iranians in the US in various industries must start employing their social capital and call their senators and representatives, opposing more sanctions and warmongering against their homeland. They need to find out more about the so-called Authorization of Use of Force Against Iran Resolution, H J Res 10, introduced by Representative Alcee Hastings days before Trumps inauguration. They need to find out who inspired this man to pave the way for the US military action against Iran, and how to counter it. READ MORE: Is Trump leading the US on a warpath with Iran? Eighth, Iranians outside their homeland must join antiwar mobilisations in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe, and make their voices integral to all other antiwar voices. They must exit their habitual nativism and learn a far more global antiwar culture. Ninth, the Iranian community in the US has an even more critical role to play. They must join the massive protests against Trumps domestic and foreign policies. If their concerns against war on Iran is to be taken seriously, they must equally care about Trumps war on the environment, on Native American rights to their lands, voter suppression, the immigrant communities, deregulation of Wall Street, assault on public education and healthcare. Tenth, none of these may, in fact, prevent the war, but they can strip American militarism of any claim to legitimacy. Our task is not to side with either of the two ruling regimes in Iran or the US. Our task is to unite Iranians, Americans, and other nations against any and all acts of violence and warmongering in any country. Hamid Dabashi is Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy. Sri Lankan police have arrested five military intelligence officers on suspicion of killing a well-known anti-establishment newspaper editor and orchestrating attacks on other journalists and dissidents under the former regime, according to a legal source. Lasantha Wickrematunge, a sharp critic of former President Mahinda Rajapakse, was assasinated by unidentified gunmen while driving to work in the capital Colombo in January 2009. His killing sparked an international outcry and shone a spotlight on violence against members of the press in Sri Lanka. The source involved with the investigation said on Monday that the five men were taken into custody over the weekend initially over the May 2008 abduction of journalist Keith Noyahr, who had criticised military leaders. Detectives have found evidence to show that the group which abducted Noyahr was also involved in the assassination of Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickrematunge and several other attacks, the source told the AFP news agency on condition of anonymity. Detectives told a magistrate on Sunday that the five accused had operated a military death squad led by a top defence official who has not yet been named. More senior people are likely to be arrested in the coming months, the source said. Reaction to arrests Free Media Movement, a rights group, gave a cautious welcome to the arrests, urging the government to ensure an independent investigation into the allegations and resist undue influence from the powerful military. President Maithripala Sirisena has publicly criticised police for holding military suspects for long periods, and another group of army intelligence officers arrested in 2015 over the abduction of cartoonist Prageeth Eknaligoda was later given bail and reinstated. Rajapakse, the former president, and several members of his family are under investigation for large-scale financial fraud and murder during his 10 years as president, in which 17 journalists and media workers were killed. All deny any wrongdoing and in turn accuse the new government of a political vendetta. WATCH: Sri Lankan journalists struggle to gain press freedom Wickrematunge, an investigative journalist who wrote about corruption, had accused Rajapakses defence secretary and brother Gotabhaya of taking kickbacks in arms purchases, and was due to testify in court when he was killed. He was attacked with sharp objects by a group of men on motorcycles who blocked his vehicle. Wickrematunges remains were exhumed in September under a court order after police investigators sought permission for a new examination due to contradictory medical and post mortem examination reports.. A retired army intelligence officer was found hanged at his home in October with a note claiming responsibility for the journalists death. But police have said they do not believe the claim and are treating the officers death as a murder. Trial of 47 people accused of plotting to kill President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has begun in the southern city of Mugla. A court hearing on the alleged assassination attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during last years failed coup attempt started in Turkeys southwestern Mugla province. Mondays hearing, which was held in Mugla Chamber of Commerce and Industrys conference hall due to the large number of suspects, began amid tight security. The assassination team accused of targeting Erdogan was among 47 suspects appearing at the hearing. They had all been jailed pending trial. According to what the chief prosecutor says, this trial is historically important, said Al Jazeeras Sinem Koseoglu, reporting from Istanbul. Because it is the only coup-related case where President Erdogan is the direct plaintiff. So, the result of this trial is going to be important and the trial is expected to continue throughout this year, Koseoglu said READ MORE: Turkeys failed coup attempt All you need to know A small crowd protested against the suspects as they were being brought into the court. During the night of the coup attempt, two police officers were killed at the hotel were Erdogan was vacationing in the port town of Marmaris. Later that night, Erdogan told on live television that he had narrowly escaped with his life when the hotel was bombed 15 minutes after he left the premises. The Turkish government holds Fethullah Gulen, a US-based preacher, responsible for the coup attempt. The violence left at least 248 people dead and around 2,200 others wounded. The government also accuses Gulens supporters of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary. Only days after the coup attempt, on July 22, the Turkish government declared a state of emergency to be able to remove swiftly all the elements of the terrorist organisation involved in the coup attempt. In the following weeks, Turkish courts placed tens of thousands of suspects under arrest on charges of links to Gulen. Thousands of military officials, pilots, police officers, civil servants, academics and even teachers were sacked from their jobs for alleged links to the terrorist preacher and his movement. Dozens of media outlets suspected of having links to Gulens movement were also shut down. As of today, more than 100,000 people have been sacked or suspended and more than 50,000 arrested in an unprecedented crackdown. The government has deemed the crackdown necessary to root out all coup supporters from the state apparatus. No injuries as motorcade carrying prime minister of Libyas UN-backed government comes under fire in Tripoli. Unidentified gunmen have opened fire on a convoy carrying the prime minister of Libyas UN-backed government, Fayez al-Sarraj, in Tripoli without causing any casualties, according to his administration. Ashraf al-Thulthi, the administration spokesman, said on Monday that the incident occurred as the motorcade passed near the Abu Salim district of the Libyan capital. All the cars were armoured-plated, and there were no injuries, he said, adding an investigation was under way to identify the attackers. It was unclear whether it was a targeted attack, Thulthi said. The convoy was also carrying Abdurrahman Swehli, the head of the state council, Najmi Nakua, the commander of the presidential guard, according to Thulthi. READ MORE: Libya conflict explained Sarrajs Government of National Accord (GNA) said in a statement that Sarraj, Swehli and Nakua had opened a new criminal investigations unit in Tripoli on Monday morning, and published pictures of the three at the event. It did not mention the shooting. Sarraj and the GNAs other leaders arrived in Tripoli last March following a UN-backed deal signed in late 2015. Yet, his Tripoli-based government has struggled to impose its authority, particularly in eastern Libya where a rival administration holds sway. Raid is part of an investigation into allegations that far-right leader used EU funds to pay staff of her FN party. French police have searched the Paris-based headquarters of far-right leader Marine Le Pens National Front (FN) party in relation to a probe into alleged misuse of EU funds, according to a party statement. The European Parliament (EP) says Le Pen, a member of the European institution since 2004, had paid FN party staff with EP funds. According to EU rules, parliamentary money should be used only to pay assistants working with the institution. The parliament says the breach happened during the 2011-12 legislature, after Le Pen assumed her role as FN leader in January 2011. The EP says 20 assistants presented as parliamentary aides back then continued to work for the FN elsewhere. Al Jazeeras Natacha Butler, reporting from Paris, said Le Pen, currently in a visit to Lebanon, has not yet commented on the police search, but in the past, she has always denied misusing European funds. She basically says this is a political smear by her opponents because she is running very much on an anti-EU platform, Butler said. Second raid The raid is the second in a year by investigators trying to determine whether the FN misused EP funds. For the second time, a raid took place at the same offices, over the same allegations, which confirms that the first raid amounted to nothing, the party said in a statement. The group accused investigators acting for the Paris prosecutors office of a media operation designed to disrupt Le Pens campaign before a presidential vote in April. The search at the FN headquarters came only days after corruption accusations against conservative candidate Francois Fillon. Fillon, a former prime minister, has been hit by allegations that his wife was paid for years as his assistant in the French parliament but never actually worked there. The parallels are rather striking with Fillon who is also accused of using parliamentary money, this time in France, to pay his relatives for fake jobs, Butler said. Butler added: He has always presented himself as an honest politician and those allegations have been very damaging. The spotlight has been very much on Fillon until now but of course with the French police now being involved it seems that perhaps Le Pen will be far more in the headlines after this search. An election poll by Opinionway, the French research company, had Le Pen easily beating her four main rivals and winning the first round with a score of 27 percent to move through to the two-way runoff against either Fillon or Emmanuel Macron, the left-wing independent candidate. According to the poll, Le Pen is predicted to lose in the second round to either of the candidates. Major Middle East arms imports jumped by 86 percent between 2012 and 2016, double from the previous five-year period. The global trade in heavy weapons has skyrocketed to its highest level since the Cold War, with arms sales to the Middle East surging, a new report says. The five biggest exporters the United States, Russia, China, France and Germany accounted for 74 percent of total arms exports, according to research published on Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). In the Middle East, arms imports jumped by 86 percent between 2012 and 2016, accounting for 29 percent of global weapons purchases. The increase was nearly double from the previous five-year period studied. Saudi Arabia was the worlds second largest arms importer in 2012-16 with an increase of 212 percent on 200711. Weapon imports by neighbouring Qatar , meanwhile, surged 245 percent. The majority of other states in the Middle East also increased arms imports, although at a lower rate than the Gulf nations. Despite low oil prices, countries in the region continued to order more weapons in 2016, perceiving them as crucial tools for dealing with conflicts and regional tensions, Pieter Wezeman, senior researcher with the SIPRI Arms and Military Expenditure Programme, told Al Jazeera. Saudi Arabia and the UAE take the lead in what is one of their first efforts to intervene in a neighbouring country [ Yemen ] all by themselves, and they can do so because over the years they have acquired these large amounts of advanced weapons. Conflicts in Syria , Iraq and Yemen have led to hundreds of thousands of deaths over the past few years. INSIDE STORY: Whos benefiting from the war industry? (24:59) Governments around the world spent $1.57 trillion on defence purchases in 2016, according to Janes Defence Budgets. India was the worlds largest importer of major arms in 2012-16, accounting for 13 percent of the global total far greater than regional rivals China and Pakistan, SIPRI reported. With no regional arms control instruments in place, states in Asia continue to expand their arsenals, said Wezeman. While China is increasingly able to substitute arms imports with indigenous products, India remains dependent on weapons technology from many willing suppliers, including Russia , the US, European states, Israel and South Korea. In Africa, Algeria was the largest arms importer, accounting for 46 percent of all weapons sales on the continent. Nigeria , Sudan and Ethiopia were the largest buyers of heavy weapons in sub-Saharan Africa . Troops backed by jets battle their way to Mosul airport, as US defence chief arrives in Baghdad on unannounced visit. Iraqi security forces have pushed into the southern outskirts of Mosul on the second day of a new offensive to drive ISIL fighters from the citys western half, as US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis arrived in Baghdad on an unannounced visit. Iraqi forces backed by jets and helicopters battled their way to Mosul airport on Monday as they prepared to take on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant groups stronghold in the citys west bank. The federal police has resumed its advance Our cannons are targeting Daesh defence lines with heavy fire, federal police chief Raed Shaker Jawdat said, using and Arabic acronym for ISIL, also known as ISIS. The main focus of Mondays operations was to secure an area south of the Al-Buseif airport. Its a strategic location because it is on a hill. We have to seize today because ISIL fighters can fight back from there, Jawdat told AFP news agency near the front line. Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), who have urban warfare experience and did most of the fighting in east Mosul, were seen heading across the desert to the western side of Mosul. They are expected to breach the densely populated western part of the city once other forces have moved all the way up to Mosuls limits. ISIL fighters defending Mosuls west bank have no choice, but to protect their bastion. Bridges across the Tigris in the city have been destroyed and Iraqi forces have cut off escape routes. Meanwhile, Iraqi police forces in armoured vehicles were moving towards the sprawling Ghazlani military base on the southwestern outskirts of the city according to the AP news agency. Backed by aerial support from the US-led international coalition, Iraqi police, CTS and regular army troops launched an offensive on Sunday to retake western Mosul from ISIL following a 100-day campaign that pushed the fighters from the eastern half of the city. The Iraqi forces said they had seized 17 villages from ISIL on Sunday, according to top army commander Abdul Ameer Yarallah. Not here to seize anybodys oil Meanwhile, Mattis, on an unannounced visit to Iraq, said the US is not in Iraq to seize anybodys oil, shifting away from an idea proposed by President Donald Trump that has rattled Iraqs leaders. I think all of us here in this room, all of us in America have generally paid for our gas and oil all along, and Im sure that we will continue to do that in the future, Mattis told reporters travelling with him on Monday. Mattis arrived in Baghdad on Tuesday, as the Pentagon considers ways to accelerate the campaign against ISIL in Iraq and Syria. OPINION: Taking west Mosul A bridge too far? Under the presidents deadline, Mattis has just a week to send Trump a strategy to ramp up the fight and defeat ISIL. Trump has signed an order on January 28 that gives Mattis and senior military leaders 30 days to come up with a new plan to beef up the fight. Any plan is likely to depend on US and coalition troops working with and through the local forces in both countries. Humanitarian cost As the fight to take control of ISIL-occupied sections of Mosul continues, about 750,000 civilians are still believed to be trapped in western Mosul. Aid organisations had feared an exodus of unprecedented proportions before the start of the fighting, which began four months ago with a government push on the east, but a significant majority of residents stayed home. The aid community fears a bigger exodus from west Mosul, however. READ MORE: UN agency cuts food aid to 1.4 million displaced Iraqis We are racing against the clock to prepare emergency sites south of Mosul to receive displaced families, Lise Grande, the UNs humanitarian coordinator in Iraq, said in a statement. Save the Children urged all parties to protect the estimated 350,000 children currently trapped in west Mosul. This is the grim choice for children in western Mosul right now: bombs, crossfire and hunger if they stay or execution and snipers if they try to run, said Maurizio Crivallero, the charitys Iraq director. A pair of architects, the mayor of Billings, a Billings banking institution and four accomplished women are among YWCA Billings Salute honorees for 2017. The winners will be honored April 7 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, 27 N. 27th St. According to a YWCA Billings news release, Sherril and Michael Burke of HGFA Architects are being given the 2017 Distinguished Service Award to celebrate their many contributions of time, professional services and financial donations to the YWCA and other organizations. Their firm, HGFA, donated their work developing the concepts for YWCAs Gateway Vista affordable housing project. Billings Mayor Tom Hanel is being recognized for being a passionate advocate for YWCA and its domestic and sexual violence programs, the release stated. He testified in Helena before the Montana Board of Housing in support of the Gateway Vista project. Four women earned women of achievement honors: physicians Margaret Beeson and Heidi Duncan as well as Darla Davis Jones and Debra Sundberg. Beeson is the founder and medical director of the Yellowstone Naturopathic Clinic and is described as a protector and proactive advocate for women and veterans health and is an advocate for girls growth in science and math. For 20 years, Duncan has worked as a Billings Clinic family medicine physician. She was co-chair of the Yes for Kids campaign and mentors health care students. Jones retired from St. Vincent Healthcare where she mentored colleagues and encouraged them through difficult personal and professional situations. Shes on a pair of boards Yellowstone Valley Family Promise and Dress for Success Billings. Sundberg supports organizations that make a difference for Billings women and girls, including the Montana Womens Run and Zonta. She is working to find solutions to domestic violence and human trafficking. First Interstate Bank is being honored for its long history of inspiring and empowering women, the release noted. Seventy-four percent of the banks workforce is female, as are three members of its executive leadership team. The bank supports YWCA programs to help abused and disadvantaged women with donated funds and volunteers. Learn more about the Salute awards at www.ywcabillings.org/events or call 406-252-6303. CCTV footage purportedly showing the deadly assault on Kim Jong-uns brother by a woman in Malaysia is also released. Malaysia has summoned the North Korean ambassador over his accusation that it was conspiring with hostile forces as it investigates the murder of leader Kim Jong-uns half-brother. Malaysia also recalled its envoy to Pyongyang after a spat erupted when North Korean demands to hand over the body of Kim Jong-nam were rejected. The ministry emphasised that as the death occurred on Malaysian soil under mysterious circumstances, it is the responsibility of the Malaysian government to conduct an investigation to identify the cause of death, a foreign ministry statement said after a meeting with the North Korean ambassador. Ambassador Kang Chol last week accused Malaysia of colluding with hostile forces to damage the North, after rival South Korea said Pyongyang had orchestrated the airport attack. Reputation tarnished Malaysia views the complaint as baseless, the foreign ministry statement said. The Malaysian government takes very seriously any unfounded attempt to tarnish its reputation, it said. The Malaysian ambassador in Pyongyang has been recalled to Kuala Lumpur for consultations. North Korea cannot trust the Malaysian police investigation into the death, Pyongyangs ambassador said Monday after being summoned. It has been seven days since the incident, but there is no clear evidence on the cause of death and at the moment we cannot trust the investigation by the Malaysian police, Kang told reporters outside the embassy. Police had pinned the suspicion on us, he added, calling on Malaysia and the international community to work with North Korea on a joint investigation. CCTV footage purportedly showing the deadly assault in Malaysia on Kim Jong-nam by a woman who is believed to have wiped a fast-acting poison on his face was released on Monday. Kim Jong-nam died last Monday a short time after the attack in the departure hall of Kuala Lumpur International Airport, where he had been preparing to take a flight to Macau. North Korean arrested over Kim Jong-nams killing Malaysian police have detained four suspects a Vietnamese woman, an Indonesian woman, a Malaysian man, and North Korean man and are on the hunt for four other North Koreans who fled the country on the day of the attack. At least three of four North Korean men wanted in connection with the murder caught a flight from Jakarta, Indonesia to Dubai on the evening of the attack, Indonesian immigration office spokesman Agung Sampurno told Reuters news agency by text message. The details of the fourth suspect were unclear. The grainy closed-circuit television footage showed from two different angles a woman wearing a white top grab a mans face from behind with both hands and walk away. A second woman was also seen walking swiftly away in another direction after the assault, though it was unclear if she had participated in the attack. The portly, balding, middle-aged man was seen stumbling and wiping his face after the assault, and later clips showed him seeking help from people while gesturing to his face and then being escorted to a clinic. More footage showed him inside the clinic seeking medical assistance. The authenticity of the video could not independently be verified, and police officials were not immediately available for comment. Half-brother of Kim Jong-un assassinated in Malaysia In a press conference on Sunday, the police said the victim complained to the airport customer service personnel that two women had wiped his face with a liquid. Autopsy results could be released as early as Wednesday, Malaysias health minister said on Monday. We are talking about the normal period of time to complete most post mortem and give results, so on this basis, yes, Health Minister Subramaniam Sathasivam told reporters in response to a question about when results would be released. North Korean officials have sought to prevent Malaysia from carrying out an autopsy and demanded the body be handed over directly. South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn told a meeting of South Koreas National Security Council on Monday it was nearly certain that North Korea was behind the killing of Kim Jong-nam, the eldest son of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. Kim Jong-nam, 46, who had been living in the Chinese territory of Macau under Beijings protection, had spoken out publicly against his familys dynastic control of the isolated, nuclear-armed nation. Seven aid workers held after being accused of distributing Saudi-led coalition supplies allegations the group denies. Yemeni rebels detained seven people working for the Norwegian Refugee Council in the Red Sea district of Hudaida. The aid workers were taken while distributing humanitarian relief in rebel-held Hali district on February 14 and were still being held. They were seized over accusations that they accepted and distributed aid from the Saudi-led coalition that has battled the Houthi rebels since March 2015. However, the Norwegian Refugee Council said no aid from the coalition was being delivered and a misunderstanding had taken place. We stress that, as humanitarians, we do not take any sides in any areas of the conflicts where we work, the group said in a statement to Al Jazeera. READ MORE: Yemenis mark six-year anniversary of uprising Boxes containing humanitarian aid had been recycled after use by the Arab coalition two years ago, but still had its military markings on the inside, the Norwegian Refugee Council explained. Recycling materials is common in the impoverished country. We reiterate that NRC does not have any Saudi-funded projects in Yemen. Due to the security sensitivities regarding our staff, we cannot comment any further on this matter at this time. Yemens conflict pits a Saudi-led Arab coalition supportive of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi against Iran-backed Houthis who currently control the Red Sea port of Hudaida, along with the capital Sanaa and large parts of northern Yemen. READ MORE: Yemen conflict Who controls what Mondays news comes amid a push by forces loyal to Hadi, who is backed by the Arab coalition, to close in on Hudaida on Yemens western coast. Forces loyal to the government took full control of Mokha, south of Hudaida, earlier in February as part of a major offensive to oust the Houthis and their allies from Yemens southwestern coast. Yemens conflict escalated in March 2015 when the Saudi-led coalition began air strikes to help forces loyal to Hadi to take large parts of the country back from the rebels. UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, James McGoldrick, last month said more than 10,000 civilians had been killed since 2015. Benjamin Netanyahu turned down regional peace initiative last year brokered by John Kerry, former US officials confirm. Israels prime minister turned down a regional peace initiative last year that was brokered by then-US secretary of state John Kerry, former US officials confirmed. The revelation, first reported by the Haaretz daily, was in apparent contradiction to Benjamin Netanyahus stated goal of involving regional Arab powers in resolving Israels conflict with the Palestinians. Netanyahu took part in a secret summit that Kerry organised in the southern Jordanian port city of Aqaba last February and included Jordans King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. According to two former Obama administration officials, Kerry proposed regional recognition of Israel as a Jewish state a key Netanyahu demand alongside a renewal of peace talks with the Palestinians with the support of the Arab countries. Netanyahu rejected the offer, which would have required a significant pull-out from occupied land, saying he would not be able to garner enough support for it in his right-wing coalition government. The initiative also appeared to be the basis of short-lived talks with moderate opposition leader Isaac Herzog to join the government, a plan that quickly unravelled when Netanyahu chose to bring in nationalist leader Avigdor Lieberman instead and appoint him defence minister. Herzog told Israels Channel 10 TV on Sunday night the agreement would have changed the face of the Middle East and the one who ran away at the end was Netanyahu. Israels opposition leader said the prime minister was ready to freeze settlement construction in most of the West Bank, but Netanyahu ultimately blinked under pressure from his hard-line allies. Herzog tweeted on Sunday that history will definitely judge the magnitude of the opportunity as well as the magnitude of the missed opportunity. OPINION: How Palestinians should respond to Trumps one state Two former top aides to Kerry confirmed the meeting took place secretly on February 21, 2016. According to the officials, Kerry tried to sweeten the 15-year-old Arab Peace Initiative, a Saudi-led plan that offered Israel peace with dozens of Arab and Muslim nations in return for a pull-out from territories captured in the 1967 Middle East war to make way for an independent Palestine. Among the proposed changes were Arab recognition of Israel as the Jewish state, recognition of Jerusalem as a shared capital for Israelis and Palestinians, and softened language on the right of return of Palestinian refugees to lost properties in what is now Israel, the former officials said. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were still not authorised to discuss the secret meeting publicly, said the Egyptian and Jordanian leaders reacted positively to the proposal, while Netanyahu refused to commit to anything beyond meetings with the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. One of the officials said the main purpose of the meeting was to start a regional peace process that Netanyahu said he wanted. However, he said it was not clear if the Arab states would have gone along with it either. He said it appeared that Netanyahu was not interested in doing anything beyond meeting with the Palestinian president and some Arab leaders and promising unspecified confidence building steps. READ MORE: Trump stand on settlement encourages Israels land grab This was not enough for anyone at the meeting and would not have been enough to get other Arab states to even express willingness to pursue a regional approach, the former official said. We saw it as building on, or updating, but certainly not superseding the 2002 Arab initiative, one of the officials said. A second former official said other Gulf Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, along with the Palestinians, the Europeans and the Russians, were also consulted as part of the process. The officials said opposition inside Netanyahus government, which is dominated by nationalists opposed to Palestinian independence, presented a formidable obstacle. But he said the Arab partners also showed varying degrees of enthusiasm, with the Palestinians most concerned about concessions forced on them. Netanyahu himself did not address the report in his weekly Cabinet meeting and his office refused to comment. Instead, the prime minister focused on last weeks visit to Washington to meet new President Donald Trump. At that meeting, both Trump and Netanyahu talked of searching for new ways forward with the Palestinians and raised the possibility of involving the broader Arab world in a new peace process. Netanyahu called the meeting historic and one that strengthened the two countries longtime alliance. He said at the end of the meeting, Trump shook his hand and told him it was a new day in Israeli-American relations. After eight years of testy ties with Barack Obama, Netanyahu seems to be relishing Trumps warm embrace. The new president has broken from his predecessor in adopting friendlier positions to the Israeli government regarding a tough line on Iran, a vaguer stance on Palestinian statehood and a more lenient approach to West Bank settlements. Netanyahu said the two leaders see eye to eye on Iran and a host of other issues. There is a new day and it is a good day, he said. But in a joint press conference last week, behind the warm smiles, there were signs of trouble ahead. Trump asked Netanyahu to hold off on Jewish settlement construction in occupied territories the Palestinians claim for a future state. Netanyahu said Sunday that the sides have formed joint teams to coordinate settlement construction. In a striking departure from long-time US policy, Trump also refrained from supporting a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Gambias new president has begun his tenure by releasing all prisoners who were detained without a trial. As The Gambia enters a new era of democracy, President Adama Barrow has reiterated his commitment to ending human rights abuses in the country and ordered the release of all prisoners detained without trial. Orders have already been given for all those detained without trial to be released, he said during his official inauguration ceremony at the Independence Stadium in Bakau, a town 20km from the capital Banjul, on Saturday. As a result, a total of 171 inmates in the tiny West African nations notorious 2 Mile Prison were set free. They were all detained without trial some time during former President Yahya Jammehs 22-year rule. Jammehs tenure was marred by clampdowns on dissenting views, enforced disappearances and detention without trial, creating a climate of fear. Hundreds of people were jailed for their political views and thousands of others were forced to flee the country. This is a day of victory for Gambian politicians who for decades faced arrest and intimidation from the security services, said Al Jazeeras Nicolas Haque, reporting from the capital, Banjul. Among Gambias new cabinet are men and women that have spent time in the Mile 2 prison, he said. Many politicians have either died in custody or gone missing after being taken to jail. Jammeh clung to power, creating a political crisis that forced Barrow to be inaugurated in January in Senegal, which surrounds Gambia except for its coast. READ MORE: Profile Adama Barrow, The Gambias new president International pressure, including the threat of a regional military intervention, led Jammeh on January 21 to finally accept his election defeat and fly into exile in Equatorial Guinea. Hundreds of thousands welcomed Barrows return to Gambia days later. Barrow has pledged to reverse Jammehs repressive policies and promised to keep The Gambia in the International Criminal Court, rejoin the Commonwealth, and free political prisoners. At Saturdays ceremony, Barrow also said that his government will undertake key constitutional and legal reforms and announced that he would highlight them in his first address to the National Assembly. It [the legal reform] intends to enforce constitutional provisions that are entrenched to protect the fundamental rights of the citizens, he said. OPINION: Big hopes for the New Gambia Barrow said the attorney general and minister of justice will receive information regarding all those who went missing. An appropriate commission will be established to conduct inquiries into their disappearances, he said. Barrow has also promised to establish a truth and reconciliation commission. The release of Mile 2 prisoners, many of whom have been victim of abuse from security forces, is the first step to redress the miscarriages of justice in the Gambia, said Al Jazeeras Haque. Its a moment many in Gambia have been waiting for. At least five people killed and 30 wounded in Conakry demonstrations sparked by a teachers strike, the government says. At least five people have been killed in Guineas capital, Conakry, in protests sparked by a teachers strike, according to the government, reviving labour tensions in a country where previous strikes have led to dozens of deaths. Guineas main teachers unions launched the strike on February 1 to protest at the governments decision to dismiss or cut the salaries of many junior teachers after the latest civil service exams. Many of their pupils have taken to the streets in recent days to support them. Beginning early on Monday morning, unidentified assailants attacked a police station and demonstrators clashed with security forces in several districts of Conakry, witnesses told the Reuters news agency. By midday, these demonstrations had unfortunately caused the deaths of at least five people, the government said in a statement, calling the protest illegal and forbidden. The statement added that 30 people had been injured, including members of the security forces, and 12 arrested. Demand for higher salaries The two largest teacher trade unions have been on strike for weeks, demanding higher salaries and the resumption of work by contracted teachers, who are not full-time. The government, they say, is not meeting their demands. The unions said their strike will continue until a pay rise of between 7.5 to 10.3 percent is met. Later on Monday, the government said a deal had been struck to end the teachers strike but that could not be immediately confirmed. General strikes about 10 years ago caused major disruptions in Guinea, which has around a third of the worlds reserves of bauxite, used to make aluminium. The subsequent crackdown led by security forces led to the deaths of 135 people. A retired Philippine police officer says President Rodrigo Duterte, when he was a mayor, ordered and paid him and other members of a liquidation squad to kill criminals and opponents. The former policeman, Arthur Lascanas, told a news conference on Monday that he was speaking up because he was bothered by his conscience including his role in the deaths of his two brothers, whom he ordered killed because they were drug users. I had my own two brothers killed. Even if I end up dead, Im content because Ive fulfilled my promise to the Lord to make a public confession, he said, breaking into tears. READ MORE: Children and Dutertes drug war Lessons from the past Human rights lawyers who presented Lascanas at a news conference said his allegations could be grounds for impeaching Duterte. Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar described Lascanas claims as a protracted political drama and attempted character assassination of Duterte orchestrated by his critics to topple his administration. Duterte has denied his government backs unlawful killings of suspects under his deadly crackdown against illegal drugs, which is feared to have killed more than 7,000 mostly drug users and petty pushers since he took office in June. The killings under the crackdown, an expansion of his anti-drug campaign when he was a longtime mayor of southern Davao city, have alarmed the United States, other Western governments, and UN rights officials. Lascanas said the gang of hitmen were paid between $400 and $2,000 per murder, depending on the target. Of all the killings we did in Davao City, either we bury them or throw them into the sea. It is paid [for] by Mayor Rody Duterte, he told the news conference at the Senate in the capital Manila. In many public speeches, Duterte has told policemen to defend themselves if drug suspects fight back and has openly threatened drug lords and dealers with death. Lascanass comments came after he denied to a Senate hearing last year that he had been involved in any extrajudicial killings in Davao. He testified at the inquiry last October after he was implicated by another witness, Edgar Matobato, a former militiaman who said Duterte ordered him and others to kill criminals in gangland-style assaults that left hundreds of people dead. Lascanas narrated several killings he said Duterte had ordered, permitted or financed as mayor of Davao, including the 1993 bombing of mosques as retaliation after Muslim rebels were blamed for the bombing of a Roman Catholic cathedral. READ MORE: Thousands march against Dutertes war on drugs Lascanas said he and his group shot dead a kidnapping suspect along with the mans pregnant wife, young son, father-in-law and two others with the consent of Duterte. After his group informed Duterte about the capture of the suspected mastermind of a kidnapping in Davao, Lascanas quoted the mayor as saying: All right, make it clean. Another target was radio commentator Jun Pala, who was critical of Duterte. He was killed in 2003 by gunmen, who then got financial rewards from the then mayor, Lascanas said. Moscow denies Montenegros claims that Russia was involved in a coup plot in the Balkan country last year. Moscow has denied accusations by a prosecutor in Montenegro of Russian state bodies involvement in an alleged coup plot during last years election. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday branded the allegations absurd and irresponsible. Russia has not, does not and will not interfere in the internal affairs of another state, particularly Montenegro with which we enjoy very good relations, he told journalists. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also denounced what he said were baseless allegations against us and our country. Montenegrin special prosecutor Milivoje Katnic on Sunday accused the Russian state of involvement in the alleged plot to seize parliament and assassinate former prime minister Milo Djukanovic during the October election. So far we have had evidence that Russian nationalist structures were behind [the plot], but now also that Russian state bodies were involved at a certain level, Katnic told local media. The organs of the Russian state must investigate which bodies are involved and open a criminal trial over these acts. Manhunt for two Russians Montenegrin prosecutors suspect 25 people, mostly Serbs, of links to the alleged coup, and have launched a manhunt for two Russians. One of the suspects is Eduard Sismakov, an aide to Russias military attache in Poland who is believed to be the architect of the plot aimed at preventing Montenegro from joining NATO, Katnic said. The suspects include two leading pro-Russian politicians from the opposition Democratic Front, which is strongly opposed to Montenegros bid to join NATO but denies any involvement in the plot, claiming the affair was fabricated by the government. General McMaster to replace Michael Flynn who was ousted after misleading US officials about communications with Russia. US President Donald Trump has named Lieutenant General Herbert Raymond McMaster as his national security adviser, taking over the post left vacant after Michael Flynns resignation. He is the man of tremendous talent and tremendous experience, Trump told reporters on Monday, sitting next to McMaster, 54, who was dressed in uniform. He is highly respected by everybody in the military and we are very honoured to have him, Trump said from West Palm Beach, Florida. Trump also named Keith Kellogg, a retired army general who has been serving as the acting national security adviser, as chief of staff to the National Security Council. The US president said John Bolton, a former ambassador to the United Nations, would serve the administration in another capacity. Trump, McMaster and Kellogg ignored questions from reporters after the announcement, including over whether the new national security adviser would be allowed to hire his own staff. The appointment came a week after Flynn was asked to quit after reports emerged that the retired lieutenant general misled Vice President Mike Pence about having spoken to Russias ambassador about US sanctions before Trumps inauguration. Trump interviewed four finalists to replace Flynn on Sunday, according to White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders. Robert Harward, a retired vice admiral and former Navy SEAL, reportedly turned down Trumps offer of the job last week over concerns that he would not be able to bring in his own team to staff the National Security Council. Other reports said he was put off by apparent chaos in the White House. A serving soldier The national security adviser is an independent aide to the president and does not require confirmation by the US Senate. The role has varied from administration to administration, but the adviser attends National Security Council meetings along with the heads of the state department, the department of defence and key security agencies. Having served in Iraq and Afghanistan, McMaster is a highly regarded military tactician known as HR. In 2014, he was listed as one of Time magazines 100 most influential people, partly because of his willingness to buck the system. Al Jazeeras James Bays, reporting from Washington, DC, said that since McMaster was a serving soldier, he could not turn the president down even if he wanted to. McMaster is certainly seen as one of the thinkers of the US military, Bays said. McMasters fame grew after his 1997 book Dereliction of Duty criticised the countrys military and political leadership for poor leadership during the Vietnam War. The main theme of that book was that during the time of Vietnam the generals didnt say enough; they didnt speak up enough to the president, Bays said. A very interesting theme as this is the man who is now going to be guiding and advising the president on national security matters. McMaster heads the Army Capabilities and Integration Centre and is deputy commanding general of the Futures Centre at US Army Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Eustis. Rebels persistently shelled army positions, killing at least one soldier, according to Ukraines military. The Ukrainian army has accused pro-Russia rebels of breaking a new ceasefire deal hours after it came into affect, saying the separatists killed one soldier and wounded another. The military on Monday blamed the rebels for persistent shelling often with heavy weaponry in the countrys east. The occupying forces continue to shell our positions on all fronts, said Leonid Matyukhin, the Ukrainian military spokesman, announcing the latest casualties. But Eduard Basurin, the spokesman for the rebels self-proclaimed Donetsk Peoples Republic, said the truce had largely held since it started at midnight. It is possible to say that there were almost no attacks, he told the AFP news agency. The latest attempt to silence the guns in Ukraine was agreed after more than 30 people were killed in a sharp increase in violence in early February between government forces and Russian-backed separatists. But the deal, announced on Saturday after the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France held talks in Munich, remained fragile. INTERACTIVE: Ukraine divided stories from warring sides Also on Monday, Germany criticised as unacceptable Russias decision to recognise passports issued by the separatists in the eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions. The recognition of travel documents of the self-declared, so-called peoples republics of Luhansk and Donetsk undermines the unity of Ukraine, said Steffen Seibert, German Chancellor Angela Merkels top spokesman. It directly contradicts everything that was agreed in Minsk [peace talks] and is therefore unacceptable. France on Monday also denounced the move, with the countrys foreign ministry saying during a regular press conference that France regrets this decision. It said Paris wanted Moscow to focus on using its influence over rebels in Ukraine to ensure application of the terms of a peace accord negotiated in Minsk, adding: It is the only way of ensuring a lasting solution to the crisis in east Ukraine. Russia responds After drawing the criticism, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement published on its website: The order fully complies with international law, which does not prohibit the recognition of documents needed to implement the rights and freedoms granted by the authorities which are not internationally recognised. Meanwhile, Mike Pence, the US vice president, said Washington would continue to hold Russia accountable for the violence in eastern Ukraine. It would also demand that Moscow honour the internationally brokered Minsk agreements aimed at bringing peace after 34 months of conflict, he said. Philosopher Srecko Horvat looks at Europes identity crisis and asks if the continent is colonising itself. PART TWO THE COLONISED SOCIETY Scroll for part one Croatian philosopher Srecko Horvat explores the recent rise of Europes far right and asks if the continent is in a desperate search for sense. The film shows how Europes colonialism is experienced by the minority ethnic population, who disproportionately feel the power of state surveillance and intrusion. You look at Nice; Brussels; these are people from the miserable suburbs of Paris and Belgium. Its internal problems that are leading to the terrorist attacks. The people involved, the people who have been picked up by the police at least, have had very few shallow Islamic roots, explains Noam Chomsky, a prolific author on international relations and the origins of terrorism. Theyre drawn to jihadism as a way out of degradation and humiliation and internal repression. Slavoj Zizek, a philosopher and psychoanalyst, argues that the rise of the right represents a new phenomenon emerging in Europe, where capitalism is now comfortable with authoritarianism, racism and xenophobia. I think it is absolutely crucial that when we talk about [the] horror of new racism, anti-immigration that you read it as a symptom, or a reaction, of what is wrong with todays big global capitalism, that is the key, Zizek explains. Horvat also reflects that its not just the right that reaches for nationalist and xenophobic legitimacy. He illustrates how mainstream politicians through Frances banning of the niqab and the Danes taking valuables from migrants channel this anger toward migrants, refugees and even the idea of Europe itself. He also meets Gabor Vona, the leader of the far-right party Jobbik in Hungary, who claims they are not as interested in demonising minorities as attacking the Establishment, who he believes are robbing the people. Escaping from the Soviet Union, escaping from the communism, we thought joining the democratic European community would also bring us economic success. But then, we had to realise Hungary often appears, for Western companies or multinational companies capital, only as a market or cheap source of labour, Vona says. Horvat finally asks how Europe can free itself in the future. In this episode Horvat talks to MEP Nigel Farage, professor Noam Chomsky, Belgian youth worker Ihsane Haouach, Dr Corinne Torrekens, author of Islam in Brussels, philosopher Slavoj Zizek, leader of far-right Hungarian party Jobbick Gabor Vona, Hungarian philosophers Agnes Heller and Gaspar Tamas. French protesters at the Nuit Debout, the Greek No-Middle Man movement, leader of the campaign to remunicipalise Hamburgs electricity grid Wiebke Hanson, the Mayor of Friedland Wilfried Block and Syrian student Ihab Al Saleh, deputy Mayor of Barcelona Gerardo Pisarello and Mayor Ada Colau. PART ONE THE BUSINESS OF COLONISATION Croatian philosopher Srecko Horvat is going on a journey across Europe, searching for the connections between the crises he believes are tearing the continent apart. Unemployment, debt and an influx of refugees are often pointed to as the causes of a European identity crisis. But, Horvat asks, could they in fact be the results of it? He travels from Idomeni in Greece, where in 2015 refugees fleeing war and poverty entered Europe, to the dockyards of the Greek port of Pireaus, where workers unions say they are fighting a new kind of privatisation, and from Romania, where people are fighting to protect their forests from international investment firms, to the City of London. Along the way, he argues that the real cause of Europes identity crisis stems from the trauma of it colonising itself. I think Idomeni is the best metaphor for whats happening in Europe today, he reflects. It shows people, refugees who were fleeing from war, and wars such as Syria but also Afghanistan and Iraq became a problem. Why? Because we are at a train track and they were blocking the train track. So it became a problem for the corporations, for other countries, not only [for] Greece because this way was blocked. So on the one hand what you can see is refugees dont have the right to move freely, [while] on the other hand goods can move freely as far and as much as they want. How, he asks, can this colonial process of dispossession be taking place on such a massive scale without becoming headline news? The answer, he explains, is that: This 21st century colonialism doesnt ride into town waving a national flag, it just seems to happen. But its actually the result of institutions and rules that are designed to be hidden. It is those institutions and rules that Horvat hopes to expose in Europes Forbidden Colony. In this episode Horvat talks Syrian refugee Mustafa al Hamoud, Greek dock workers Anastasia Frantzeskaki and Georgios Gogos. Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, privatisation expert Dr David Hall, Romanian lawyer Bogdan Tudor Todoran. Environmental activist Hans Hedrich, Sociologist Saskia Sassen, Welsh steel worker Mark Turner, Eurotunnel spokesperson John Keefe, Green MEP Jean Lambert, Hungarian philosophers Agnes Heller and Gaspar Tamas, and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Children with disabilities often learn at a slower pace than their nondisabled classmates. However, Montana law doesnt take this longer learning curve into account when distributing school funding. Usually, they must leave school at 19, ready or not. Montana is the only state that stops funding students when they turn 19, regardless of why they need to continue their public education. Forty-eight states pay to educate disabled students till their 22nd birthday; one state pays till age 20. Rep. Kathy Kelker, D-Billings, a former school trustee and special education instructor at Montana State University Billings, has proposed to right a longstanding wrong by starting to count severely disabled students in the state funding formula till they graduate or turn 22. The more students with disabilities learn in school, the less help they will need as adults, Kelker said at the House Education Committee hearing on House Bill 274. Parents and teachers from Bozeman told of a local vo-tech program that has helped students with severe disabilities get jobs in the community. Parents of children with Down syndrome and autism appealed to lawmakers for the extra time their kids need to master skills that are harder than average for them. Shelly Dowdle, the mother of two boys with disabilities, said she is praying that my youngest son doesnt lose ground like his older brother who graduated and had to wait years for services while losing ground. Despite having medical issues and a developmental disability, her oldest son had to graduate at 19. He then waited five years for vocational rehab. House Bill 274 was endorsed by Parents, Lets Unite for Kids; the School Administrators of Montana, Disability Rights Montana and the Montana School Boards Association. HB274 wouldnt keep most special ed students in school past their 19th birthdays only those with a significant disability who havent graduated, who are likely to need developmental disability services as adults and have an individual education plan with goals for living and working in the community. Montana needs to make the changes proposed in HB274, for the sake of children with disabilities and for the sake of taxpayers who will pay more for their care if they cant complete their education. On Friday, the House Education Committee tabled HB274. Three other bills Kelker introduced to provide more adequate funding for special needs children, including one for gifted children, all have been tabled. Montana needs HB274 to do right by its young citizens with disabilities. The Legislature must fund severely disabled students education through age 21. Montana needs a system to adequately fund special education. House Resolution 1 would study funding alternatives and make recommendations to the 2019 Legislature. Requested by the School Funding Commission that met over the past two years and sponsored by Kelker, HR1 received unanimous support in House and Senate Education Committees and passed both chambers. The study would cover needs of children with disabilities, at-risk students, students with limited English proficiency, and gifted and talented children. Students and families deserve action now, but a study is probably all they will get this session. The annual UF Engineers Week will continue this week to encourage students to learn about UFs Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering. This year, Engineers Week, or E-Week, consists of 19 events aimed to educate others of the opportunities UFs College of Engineering offers. E-Week, a two-week series of events that started Feb. 13, is open to everyone and continues through Friday. There are seven events planned for this week both on and off campus. Nick Poindexter, the executive director for E-Week, said hes been preparing for the events with other students since September. The point of E-Week is to celebrate the diversity we have within the college, said Poindexter, a 19-year-old UF electrical engineering sophomore. One of the goals for this years E-Week was to host more service events, he said. Two new events, Project Pawsitivity and Bowling with Faculty, which were held last week, were added to the schedule, he said. This week, the events will include an engineering Trivia Night on Wednesday at the Brass Tap, located at 3833 SW Archer Road. There will also be a gaming social and an Engineering Leadership Forum held on campus. Jacob Hay, a UF chemical engineering sophomore, said he plans to give tours this week for elementary and middle school students participating in the Engineering and Science Fair on Tuesday and Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., which starts at the Reitz Union. The fair gives the younger students a chance to learn about being an engineer. Hay said he appreciates all of the E-Week events held at UF. Its a pretty unique opportunity that not a lot of the colleges at UF put on, the 19-year-old said. Its a way to give back to the college, but it is also an opportunity to have some fun and volunteer. Upcoming Events: E-Wiik gaming social from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the Pugh Hall Ocora on Monday Hour of Code event to teach students how to create a website, from 6:15 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. in McCarty Hall A, Room 2196, on Tuesday Trivia Night at Brass Tap from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., located at 3833 SW Archer Road, on Wednesday College of Engineerings annual Town Hall SWOT analysis from 5:15 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. in McCarty Hall C, Room 100, on Wednesday Engineering Leadership Forum from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Arredondo Cafe on Thursday STEM Olympiad from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. in Little Hall, Room 125, on Thursday Attendees of the Engineering Festival crowd around a display area in the rain on Saturday. The group watched robots go head to head in what some called "combat robotics." Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now Two brothers were arrested Friday in connection to 39 car burglaries in Haile Plantation and Blues Creek, the Alachua County Sheriffs Office and Gainesville Police said. Elijah Anthony Simmons, 19, and his 16-year-old brother, Joseph Simmons, drove a white Dodge Dakota to Haile Plantation late last month, stealing from 29 unlocked cars between Jan. 25 and 27, according to an arrest report. They drove to Blues Creek on Jan. 25 and stole from 10 cars. Wes Corbett, a Blues Creek resident, said a Navajo ceremonial womans pipe worth about $225, a gym bag, a green backpack with a stone collection and about $10 in change was stolen from his white Honda Pilot. He said he hasnt been given back any of his belongings, but he knows his gym bag was recovered by police. I felt upset I didnt lock my car, he said. Now I do. Someone who knew the brothers called police and said they were driving toward West Newberry Road on Jan. 27, according to the report. Deputies stopped the truck and found some of the stolen items, including Bluetooth speakers, glasses and a lottery ticket. Police also found marijuana in Elijah Simmons possession and two guns in the truck, according to the report. He told police that one of the guns was his and the other he took from a car. Witnesses of the burglaries told police they saw two hooded men driving in a loud, white truck, according to the report. GPD said the two would toss the items they didnt want on the ground or in the next car they robbed, according to the report. Elijah Simmons was arrested on charges of petty theft, unarmed burglary, drug possession and carrying a concealed firearm. Authorities took him to the Alachua County Jail, where he remains as of press time in lieu of a $101,000 bond. Joseph Simmons was arrested and taken to the Alachua Regional Juvenile Detention Center. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now Contact Meryl Kornfield at mkornfield@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter at @MerylKornfield Elijah Anthony Simmons Gary Langfords trumpet communicated grief for a fallen friend Saturday. His soulful rendition of Amazing Grace, delivered inside the United Church of Gainesvilles chapel, was fitting considering who he was mourning: longtime band director Gerald Dean Poe, who died Feb. 6 in Trenton, Florida. He was 74, and the father of Gainesville Mayor Lauren Poe. After a tenure at UF as an assistant band director, the senior Poe continued spreading music throughout Alachua County, serving as the band director at Hawthorne Middle/High School in 1986 before working at Kanapaha Middle School until 2004. Joined inside the chapel by about 100 others singing along to his tribute, Langford said he will miss eating lunch every Monday with his friend of 20 years. Senior Minister Shelley Wilson led the service. She picked two of Poes favorite hymns to share with the congregation, Be Still My Soul and Be Now My Vision. After the service, friends and family met in Reimer Hall, which is in the church, and looked through memorabilia of Poes life and career. Poe is survived by his two sons, the mayor and Russell Poe. Lauren Poe said he was proud to have called Poe his father. He gave fully of himself until he had no more to give, he said. Poe grew up in Montrose, Colorado, with two sisters in a two-room house. Lauren Poe said his fathers parents, Chester and Esther, were hard-working and taught their children the values Poe would later instill in his sons. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now He must have been made from unadulterated love, Lauren Poe said. Poe graduated with a music degree from Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado, where he met his wife. He worked at the University of Portland as a band director before he working at the University of Oregon. He then moved to Florida to be an assistant band director at UF. He met lifelong friends at UF and discovered a love for fishing on Florida shores, Lauren Poe said. He even bought a fishing shack on the Gulf Coast, where he spent most of his time. Langford said he watched Poe teach and it was inspiring. He taught his students not just about music but also about life, he said. During his retirement, Poe directed the Gainesville Community Band, traveled and handcrafted gifts for his two granddaughters. Gainesville Commissioner Helen Warren works with Poes son and knew the kind of impact Poe had on the community for more than 40 years. He brought people together with music, she said. Contact Meryl Kornfield at mkornfield@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter at @MerylKornfield Gerald Dean Poe Smith Meyers knew he wanted to run for UFs Student Body president after a childhood friend slipped into depression in Spring 2016. Since Meyers was involved in Student Government, he helped his friend get support through UF resources. Now, he wants to continue being students advocate by running for UFs Student Body president with Impact Party. I realized I was part of something bigger than myself, and that led me and inspired me to want to serve through leader- ship, Meyers said. The election, to be held Tuesday and Wednesday, will be the first one since 2014 with an uncontested presidential race. Meyers, 22, was born and raised in Tampa, Florida, and came to UF because it had the best education for its value, he said. His parents, Florida State University alumni, had to forgive him for becoming a Gator. What I realized was, when I joined The Gator Nation, I found a family, the UF food and resource economics senior said. After participating in his high schools student government, Meyers decided he wanted to join UFs SG. He ran as a Swamp Party senator in the Fall and Spring of his freshman year, but he lost. During Spring 2014, he applied for a business replacement seat, but he failed to reach Student Senate again. During Summer 2014, he became a replacement District A senator. He won an election for a District A Senate seat with Swamp Party in Fall 2014 and hasnt left Senate since. Meyers then became budget and appropriations chairman in Spring 2015. He said one of his biggest accomplishments was reaching across the aisle to Access Student Body Treasurer Nicholas Carre. Together, he said they created a budget that didnt increase student fees but brought in new services such as The New York Times Readership Program. The budget passed with bi- partisan support. When Swamp stopped running Senate candidates in Fall 2015, Meyers ran with Impact because it was created to work with other parties, he said. He served as the Senate pro tempore in Spring 2016 and is currently the Senate president. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now Meyers, a member of the fraternity Alpha Tau Omega, said he served as the chapters first sophomore president. Every Sunday, he also attends worship services at Christ Community Church. Avery Smith, 22, said he and Meyers met during a UF trip to Israel about a year ago and bonded over their faith. Their friendship continued when Smith, a UF philosophy and economics senior, served as a District B senator from Fall 2015 to Fall 2016. He said he believes Meyers is the best candidate for UF Student Body president. Anything that he does, he just puts his mind to it and fights for it, Smith said. Meyers said he wants to emulate the integrity of his favorite politician, Sen. Ben Sasse (R- Neb.), during his presidency. Im dedicated to listen to every student, he said. I want them to bring all their concerns to me, and I will hear them out and advocate for them as best as possible. Smith Meyers yield: serves 4 Author: Heather Schmitt-Gonzalez print recipe Burnt Coffee Flan prep time: 4 hours and 15 MINS cook time: 45 MINS total time: 5 hours Coffee is infused into both the creamy custard base and the burnt sugar sauce (aka caramel) in this dreamy flan. INGREDIENTS: For the caramel: 3/4 cup sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons instant coffee granules For the custard: 3 large eggs 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk 1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk 1 tablespoon instant coffee granules 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract pinch of fine sea salt INSTRUCTIONS: Preheat oven to 325 F. Put on a kettle of water to boil. Set 4 (8 ounce) ramekins inside of a 9"x13" baking pan. Make the coffee burnt sugar sauce (caramel): Place sugar and instant coffee granules in a small saucepan over to melt the sugar, stirring and pressing down on the sugar chunks often with a large metal spoon, once it starts to melt. There will be chunks at first, but don't fret, they will melt down. As soon as your caramel sauce is smooth and fragrant (this could take up to 10 minutes, so have patience and don't walk away, because it can burn easily), remove from heat. Using that same large spoon (the size of a serving spoon in your silverware set), scoop 3 spoonfuls into the bottom of each ramekin; the bottoms should be coated completely, and the caramel should look just over 1/4-inch thick. The caramel sauce will harden as it sits - this is normal. Make the custard: Combine all of the ingredients for the custard in the jar of a blender, cover, and blend until smooth and thoroughly combined. Put it all together: Slowly and carefully pour the custard mixture into the ramekins, over the "set" caramel. Set the baking pan with the ramekins in it on the center rack of the hot oven. Very carefully pour the boiling water into the pan around the ramekins, taking care not to splash any water into the ramekins themselves; the water should come up the sides of the ramekins about 3/4 of the way. Close the oven and cook for 45 minutes, or until the flan is just set; if you touch one lightly in the center, it will still seem very jiggly and maybe stick slightly to your finger, but it should not be at all liquidy. Carefully remove the pan from the oven. You can let the ramekins sit in the water bath for 10 minutes, so that they are slightly easier to handle, then lift them out of the water and set on a wire rack and allow them to cool to room temperature. Cover each cooled flan with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours. When you're ready to serve, run a thin-bladed knife around the outside edges to release from ramekin. (You should be able to turn the ramekin in a back-and-forth motion, like turning the wheel of a car if the wheel was laying down horizontally, and the flan will easily move back and forth.) Invert a serving plate onto the ramekin and in one swift motion, with one hand holding the bottom of the plate and the other holding the ramekin, flip everything over so that the plate is now on the bottom. You should hear the flan plop onto the plate. Lift the ramekin off and allow the caramel syrup to fall down onto the top of the flan. Some will probably stick in the ramekin, you don't need that extra bit (just wash it off under hot water). http://www.allroadsleadtothe.kitchen/2017/02/burnt-coffee-flan-pans-labyrinth.html All Roads Lead to the Kitchen Created using The Recipes Generator Did you enjoy this? Receive new posts in your inbox! Click here to sign up for to have new posts delivered straight to your inbox. Did you make my recipe or try something that I recommended? I want to hear about it! Please let me know by snapping a photo and sharing it on my Comment Policy I love getting comments! If you have a question about a recipe, an article, or a recommendation, please leave a comment below the individual post. I read all of the comments and will make every effort to respond in a timely manner to your questions. Spam will be removed. I want to hear about it! Please let me know by snapping a photo and sharing it on my Facebook page or upload it and tag me on Twitter or Instagram using hashtag #allroadsleadtothekitchen in the caption (I will only be able to see it if your account is public).I love getting comments! If you have a question about a recipe, an article, or a recommendation, please leave a comment below the individual post. I read all of the comments and will make every effort to respond in a timely manner to your questions. Spam will be removed. Now that Betsy DeVos has been selected as secretary of education, it is important to consider the issue of charter schools in a reasoned and logical fashion. Parents should have the ability to choose the school they deem best for their children. But how will this actually occur? Will students from an inner-city school opt to go to a wealthier school district, where scores are higher and education more intense? Will they be bused if they live too far? Who will be paying the taxes for the additional teaching staff and materials to accommodate the students? There are mixed reviews about the success of charter schools. They hinge on the dichotomy between charter schools and district schools. David P. Magnani, who was the Senate chair of the Education Committee in Massachusetts, reminds readers that "most have forgotten that charter schools were created to serve as 'laboratories of change,' disseminating new ideas, not as competitors to existing district schools. To date, very little, if any, of this 'dissemination' agenda has been achieved, largely because neither charter nor district schools have any mandate and few resources, incentives or the regulatory environment for such dissemination." In fact, Magnani maintains that "charter schools have increased inequality overall, contrary to initial intent." He cites a 2009 UCLA study that confirms this finding. Moreover, in "suburban districts, charter schools hurt district schools in another way: by leaving children with the most severe physical or intellectual disabilities as district responsibilities." For those who would argue about the economics of charter schools, Magnani maintains that "in spite of temporary reimbursements from the commonwealth, over time, the district actually loses money for each student it sends to a charter school. This is because the average cost-per-student leaves the district and 'follows the child,' but the marginal district 'savings' are less than the amount the district is required to send to the charter school." But let us set aside the economic concerns for a moment. How have charter schools fared concerning the educational attainment of their students? First and foremost, it is critical to understand the vital connection between parental interest and school achievement. Parental engagement has always produced more engaged students because the child has a back-up system that promotes student academic success. Moreover, as E.D. Hirsch has noted, "a systemic failure to teach all children the knowledge they need in order to understand what the next grade has to offer is the major source of avoidable injustice in our schools. ... It is impossible for a teacher to reach all children when some of them lack the necessary building blocks of learning." In her 2016 piece, Kate Zernike of the New York Times writes that "Detroit now has a bigger share of students in charters than any American city except New Orleans, which turned almost all its schools into charters after Hurricane Katrina. But half the charters perform only as well, or worse than, Detroit's traditional public schools." John Oliver at Business Insider asserts that "[s]ome charters are "so flawed, ... that they don't make it through the year. The most flawed are in Florida, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Charters have also had problems with misuse of funds, as they are supposed to be nonprofit but certain groups aim to make a profit, and there's been lackadaisical attendance monitoring for online charters." For those charter schools that have been high-performing, Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post explains that in Pennsylvania, "high performing charters school had certain common characteristics" that include "innovative education programs with most of them focused on a specific approach to education instruction or a specific academic area of instructional focus." They tend to offer longer and more school days as well as more individualized education programs. They also tend to be smaller and have fewer special education students than traditional students. But then Strauss goes on to explore a dozen problems associated with charter schools, including "little more than reading and math test prep, inexperienced teachers with high turnover, and 'blended learning' products designed to enrich charter school board members' investment portfolios." Moreover, there is a "lack of transparency and accountability" and an "increasing segregation based on race, ethnicity, and income." Public schools used to be able to produce high-quality education for all strata of people because the books and tools were comprehensive and not politically driven not the politically correct drivel that has been steamrolled into education. For example, in the past, writers from all over the world were part of a solid curriculum without there being an overriding and often anti-Western approach to the study of great literature. As Sol Stern has written, a "half-century of discredited instructional practices in the classroom" has hurt generations of Americans in the public school system. Stern writes that while "charters seem to have produced significant gains for students in some school districts including New Orleans, Washington, D.C. and New York," a "study of charter school effects nationally found that only 17 percent of all charters had higher academic gains than similar public schools, while 37 percent had worse performance. Forty-six percent of charters performed no better or worse than public schools in the same district," and the "grade for voucher programs is also an Incomplete." Actually, the school system has "been transformed into a knowledge-free zone," which is, sadly, producing the "dumbest generation" ever. It is evident in every two- and four-year school of higher education where I teach. Instructors of every discipline relate breathtaking stories of ignorance. And it all began in the 1960s. First, affirmative action or open enrollment was begun, which initiated an acceptance of lower standards. Proven instructional practices were abandoned so much so that today's college student majoring in history knows less than people aged 70+ who obtained only a high school degree. Instead, "preferred pronouns, gender-neutral bathrooms, and pansexuality" are the topics in a 21st-century classroom. Incrementally, "progressive educators succeeded in stripping away any semblance of a coherent grade-by-grade curriculum." Mushy educational theories such as whole language, Eurocentric curricula, and the belief that memorization and "mere facts" are useless now permeated the halls of learning, and children were set adrift. Every year, another "new" but totally confusing way to learn mathematics was introduced. The latest assault is the abandonment of cursive writing. As could be expected from all these actions, the racial achievement gaps loom larger each year. Vocabulary study has all but been abandoned so that my college students do not know the meaning of words that used to be part of the seventh grade vocabulary list. If they have such a huge vocabulary gap, it has, in effect, rendered them incapable of writing and articulating ideas well. Thus, it is totally understandable why parents, especially those living in disadvantaged neighborhoods, would see charter schools as the panacea. But how will the charter schools begin to incorporate a knowledge-based curriculum, and even more importantly, why can't public schools do the same? Public schools were the means for assimilating students to appreciate America; instead, charter schools may lead to a balkanization of American students so that genuine diversity is not promoted. Another disturbing aspect of charter schools is highlighted by Siddique Malik, who has written of the "dangerous mirage of charter schools" that will, in effect, warm the hearts of "Saudi propaganda strategists [who] will love any American state's public school system going charter because [then] their agents will ... invoke the U.S. Constitution's equality clauses to demand public money for certain schools that will eventually become Saudi Arabia's satellite schools." Currently, in public schools, sixth-grade students are being force-fed Islam in a public school classroom. How much worse will it become when charter schools are able to do this? Over 100 Islamist tax-funded charter schools are currently operating in the United States. They are schools that follow the Sunni imam Fethullah Gulen, leader of a politically powerful Turkish religion movement. Arnold Ahlert explains that a "federal document released in 2011 ... posits that Gulen's charter schools may in fact be madrassahs, where students are 'brain-washed' to serve as proponents of the New Islamic World Order Gulen purportedly seeks to create." In addition, The Gulen schools are among the nation's largest users of H-1B visas, used to import foreign workers with technical skills to fill job shortages of qualified American workers. Parents have alleged that certified, competent American teachers have been replaced at higher salaries by uncertified Turkish men who speak limited English. They claim that the schools "discriminate against women and non-Turkish teachers and that Gulen teachers receive preferential treatment." The devil is in the details, and I worry that the rush to charter schools may be ushering in another huge set of problems that will afflict the next generation of students. Eileen can be reached at middlemarch18@gmail.com. The fake news that the Trump administration was considering using 100,000 National Guardsmen to round up illegal aliens has been thoroughly debunked by now, except in the minds of those who screech, But, but, there was a memo! Well, the memo, as the Independent Journal Review reported, was a DHS draft memo that was never put forward for serious consideration. Nor did it mention the figure 100,000, The hyperventilating Associated Press put the fake news out that it was an actual plan one smidgeon short of an imminent executive order. President Trump said the report was false. The Pentagon said the report was false. So just who were considering it? The janitorial staff after emptying the waste basket it was tossed in? ICE arrested over 700 illegals in recent operations and reported that they are doing exactly what they did under President Obama. ICE reports that some 75 percent of these illegals had criminal records. They should be deported to protect American citizens such as Kate Steinle, murdered in the sanctuary city of San Francisco. President Obama used to tout his record number of deportations. ICE reports that one 2012 operation netted 350 percent more illegals than recent raids In April, 2012, ICE arrested more than 3,100 illegals with criminal records. Problem was, Obamas deportees kept coming back over an unsecured border. An illegal that was deported four or more times was counted as four or more deportations. Undaunted by the facts, fake news outlets like CNN weave tales of children living in fear that ICE will shatter their dreams with that proverbial midnight knock on the door: Donald Trump's win shattered the dreams and ignited the fears of hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants known as "dreamers." They are the young people who were brought to the United States by their parents as children. This population, which the American Immigration Council says is roughly 1.8 million, feels exceptionally vulnerable under a Trump presidency because many came out of the shadows when President Barack Obama offered them temporary legal presence through executive action in 2012. Now, with a president-elect who promised to deport the undocumented, the fear of deportation is more real than ever. Time was when liberal Democrats like Hillary Clinton shared Donald Trumps dream of family reunification for illegal alien families on the other side of the border. Hillary should know about deportations, since she was First Lady when presidential hubby William Jefferson Clinton returned a young Elian Gonzalez to his father in Cuba, literally at gunpoint. As recently as June, 2014, when unaccompanied minor children were being ferried by coyotes under contract north on the tops of boxcars in what GOP presidential contender Jeb Bush said was an act of love, Hillary Clinton told CNN such children should be quickly returned to their foreign parents, to send a message: They should be sent back as soon as it can be determined who the responsible adults in their family are because there are concerns about whether all of them can be sent back, but I think all of them that can be should be reunited with their families, she said, adding that the United States must do more to confront the violence in the region and strengthen border security. But we have to send a clear message that Just because your child gets across the border, that doesnt mean your child gets to stay. We dont want to send a message that is contrary to our laws or encourage more children to make that dangerous journey. They should be sent back as soon as possible, she said, which is what Donald Trump is saying. We dont want to encourage more children to come, which is what Donald Trump is saying. Trump would go farther, building the same type of fence Israel has built and Saudi Arabia is building as well as interpreting the 14th Amendment as it was written, an amendment to guarantee freed slaves, not illegal aliens, their U.S. citizenship. President Bill Clinton was also for family reunification of minor children with their parents south of U.S. territory as shown by the case of Elian Gonzalez, the young Cuban boy who was nearing his sixth birthday on Thanksgiving 1999 when a fisherman off the Florida coast found him hanging on to an inner tube after his mother, among others fleeing Castros Cuba, drowned in the attempt. Elians mother was hoping to bring Elian and join the extended family in the U.S. as they fled the poverty and oppression (sound familiar?) of Cuba. Elians father, who was separated from his wife at the time, chose to stay behind. As Investors Business Daily editorialized: As Fox News Latino reported, Gonzalez's Miami relatives had refused to surrender him to authorities, leading to the infamous raid on April 22, 2000, on President Bill Clinton's watch, by armed federal agents who seized Elian at gunpoint from a closet where he was hiding at his uncle's home in Little Havana. He was forcibly returned to Cuba two months later It was then-Deputy Attorney General Holder who invented the "legal" cover for federal agents to forcibly enter the home of Elian Gonzalez's legal custodians, American citizens all, so he could be returned to the warm embrace of Castro in communist Cuba. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled that once the INS chose a guardian, the guardianship could not be changed. On Dec, 1, 1999, the INS asserted that Miami-based uncle Lazaro Gonzalez was now Elian's legal custodian. Holder then decided on his own that the court ruling and the INS determination were both invalid and that Elian would be returned to his father in Cuba Today, if Elian Gonzalez were Honduran and his reunited family likely to vote Democratic down the road, he might get to stay with Holder's blessings under the same rule of lawlessness that once forcibly returned a young Cuban boy to Castro's tyranny. Aye, theres the rub, Hispanics were more in political play in 1999 and the Cubans of south Florida were staunchly Republican. Just ask Florida Senator and presidential contender Marco Rubio, himself the son of Cuban immigrants seeking freedom from oppression. Today, illegal alien is a term many find synonymous with undocumented Democrat. So it is no surprise that Democrats, who under Bill Clinton, stood silently by as Elian Gonzalez was seized at gunpoint and forcibly removed to the oppression of Castros Communist Cuba, now hyperventilate as Donald Trump proposes building a high wall, albeit with a big gate, to protect American sovereignty and the declining value of U.S. citizenship. We should at least copy what has been called the Great Wall of Saudi Arabia. Built to block a potential influx of Islamic State terrorists, it accomplishes what a sovereign state is obligated to do -- protect its borders. We too often ignore the fact that among the flood of oppressed illegal aliens, gang members like those of MS-13 and terrorists could be hiding, as Marine Corps. Gen. and now DHS Secretary John Kelly once testified before Congress: "Clearly, criminal networks can move just about anything on these smuggling pipelines," he testified in February to the House Armed Services Committee. "Terrorist organizations could seek to leverage those same smuggling routes to move operatives with intent to cause grave harm to our citizens or even quite easily bring weapons of mass destruction into the United States." Build Trumps fence first, and then talk about immigration reform. And while we are having this conversation, liberals, let us remember it was Bill Clinton who pointed a gun at Elian Gonzalez, not Donald Trump. Daniel John Sobieski is a freelance writer whose pieces have appeared in Investors Business Daily, Human Events, Reason Magazine and the Chicago Sun-Times among other publications. President Trump told Prime Minister Netanyahu in their joint press conference on Wednesday, he likes the one both parties like. He also said on another occasion that he wasnt going to pressure Israel to make a deal. The importance of his remarks is that the object of the exercise for the US is to make a deal rather than to create a Palestinian state. The push back on this has been substantial, not only from the EU and the UN but also from some officials in the State Department. To deflect some of the criticism, the Nikki Haley, the US Ambassador to the UN, framed it this way, We absolutely support the two-state solution but we are thinking out of the box as well. The solution to what will bring peace in the Middle East is going to come from the Israelis and the Palestinian Authority, Haley said. The United States is just there to support the process. Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Emirates have been working together with Israel to confront their common enemy, Iran. Both Netanyahu and Trump want to build on this and formalize it. They hope that as part of building this alliance, Saudi Arabia and the Emirates will soften their demands on Israel regarding the solution to the Arab/Israeli conflict or perhaps enter a peace agreement with Israel without reference to the conflict. DEBKAfile reports: these sentiments reflected agreement in principle between Trump and Netanyahu to seek an Israeli peace accord with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf emirates as the lead-in to negotiations for an accord with the Palestinians. Egypt, Jordan and Turkey with whom Israel already has normal relations would jump in later. This deal fits in with the US plan reported more than once on these pages for a regional peace between the Sunni Arab nations and the Jewish State. At the press conference, Trump also said, This is one more reason why I reject unfair and one-sided actions against Israel at the United Nations -- just treated Israel, in my opinion, very, very unfairly -- or other international forums, as well as boycotts that target Israel. That was not the first time that he indicated that he would not tolerate the U.N.s war on Israel. To buttress this position, Haley said in her U.N. remarks, I am here to say the United States will not turn a blind eye to this anymore. I am here to emphasize that the United States is determined to stand up to the U.N.s anti-Israel bias. The message to Saudi Arabia is that they can no longer fight Israel through the U.N. It is hoped that Saudi Arabia will be more amenable to burying the hatchet, particularly given the threat from Iran. But let us go back to the one-state, two-state choice. Neither is doable. Israel will not accept a bi-national state inherent with the one-state choice, And the PA wont accept it if there isnt such a state. Neither will compromise on this. As for the two-state plan, Netanyahu laid out his long-standing demands in the press conference: But rather than deal with labels, I want to deal with substance. Its something Ive hoped to do for years in a world that's absolutely fixated on labels and not on substance. So heres the substance: There are two prerequisites for peace that I laid out two years -- several years ago, and they havent changed. First, the Palestinians must recognize the Jewish state. They have to stop calling for Israels destruction. They have to stop educating their people for Israels destruction. Second, in any peace agreement, Israel must retain the overriding security control over the entire area west of the Jordan River. Because if we don't, we know what will happen -- because otherwise well get another radical Islamic terrorist state in the Palestinian areas exploding the peace, exploding the Middle East. He went on to say: Now, unfortunately, the Palestinians vehemently reject both prerequisites for peace. First, they continue to call for Israels destruction -- inside their schools, inside their mosques, inside the textbooks. You have to read it to believe it. They even deny, Mr. President, our historical connection to our homeland. Both of these prerequisites have been adamantly rejected by both the Palestinians and the Saudis from day one. Obviously, if the Saudis agree, the Palestinians would be isolated in their refusal. But even if they accept such prerequisites, Israel will still insist on borders that include most of the settlements so that their citizens dont have to be uprooted as they were in Gaza. Aside from Jerusalem, there are close to 500,000 Israelis living in Judea and Samaria, their homeland. The political will or the physical ability to remove even 100, 000 of them is not there. Another reason Israel wants to retain part of these lands is that they wish to widen their midriff from 6 miles to perhaps 30 miles or even more. Naftali Bennett, head of the Jewish Home Party, is demanding that Israel annex all of Area C as laid out by the Oslo Accords. If this sounds overly aggressive to some of you, let me state for the record, these are not Palestinian occupied territories. They are territories awarded to Jews/Israel by the Palestine Mandate and the UN; anyone who believes in international law has no power to change that. Furthermore, Israel has no obligation to relinquish any part of these lands, having come into possession of them by means for a defensive war. So, it would appear, neither the one-state nor the two-state solution will be agreed upon. To achieve peace, the U.S. must think outside the box as Haley suggests. The New York Times recently published an article by Yishai Fleisher titled A Settlers View of Israels Future, in which he decried the two-state solution and laid out five alternatives which are being discussed. I like the first one: The first option, proposed by former members of Israels Parliament Aryeh Eldad and Benny Alon, is known as Jordan is Palestine, a fair name given that Jordans population is generally reckoned to be majority Palestinian. Under their plan, Israel would assert Israeli law in Judea and Samaria while Arabs living there would have Israeli residency and Jordanian citizenship. Those Arabs would exercise their democratic rights in Jordan, but live as expats with civil rights in Israel. I recently wrote an article setting out my version of this plan which was first published by American Thinker. Thereafter, I published it on Israpundit with significant changes. It is followed by close to 200 very knowledgeable comments. It needs the agreement of only Israel and the U.S. No other idea out there will result in a deal. Theres been an undeniably increased usage among leftist pundits since Trumps election of the term progressive populism. (Here, here, here) Given the context of the times, its a curious marriage of words for the left, which is perhaps why their more frequent juxtaposition seems unusual. After all, to the extent that we heard them term populism from the leftist propaganda machine in the last year, it was most often meant to be taken as synonymous with racism, sexism, nativism, Islamophobia, homophobia, you name it. Particularly, theyve employed the word to describe Trump, Brexit, and opposition to the establishment politics in France and Germany. In other words, it had become quite clear that the current vein of populism represented the bane of leftists vision of the multi-culti fantasy and globalist governance, i.e., progress. Yet seemingly overnight, it has become the preferred method of identification of the movement that Bernie Sanderss candidacy represented, and leftists everywhere are employing it. Over at Salon, Jonathan Matthew Smucker gives us a glimpse into the reason for this packaging of the terms. So then, he wonders, what undermines the power of right-wing populism? Progressive populism. By telling a more compelling story about the causes and culprits of working peoples woes, progressive populists like Bernie Sanders are able to weaken one of the central pillars of right-wing populist appeal. Who is Jonathan Matthew Smucker, you ask? Why, a political organizer and strategist seeking a doctorate in sociology at UC Berkeley, of course. And we all know that no one knows the plight of working people more than just such a man, who touts the merits of a septuagenarian, self-avowed socialist, who was a neer do well into his late 30s. A man who, after having failed spectacularly in an attempted career at carpentry and stints on unemployment, later went on to a life as the angry radical and agitator he has become. This is the man whose ideas the progressive left hopes all working Americans will rally around? The newly self-identified progressive populists seem to think so. And we Americans might think that strange. But history disagrees. First, its important to know that what is meant by progressive populism is actually just socialism, pure and simple. This should not be a stretch, as Sanders is often cited as the standard bearer of progressive populism, and he has proclaimed himself a socialist. The recent and frequent description of their ideology as populist in America is just a late, feeble attempt by the radical left to extract the value of the terms obvious popularity, despite having tried and failed miserably to devalue it in 2016. Once we understand that progressive populism is just the latest attempt to rebrand socialism, its easy to see that Sanders is not an unlikely leader for a socialist movement, and if he is, its only due to his advanced age. It will forever be among the greatest mysteries of our little window on human history that the most powerful authoritarian leaders of the twentieth century nearly always rose to power claiming to understand and care about the plight of the working class, despite having never actually worked themselves (or having never been successful at it, anyway). Always, they have been educated political theorists, and rarely, if ever, did they perform work that would be suggestive of their inclusion in the working class that they hoped to champion. Vladimir Lenin, for example, was born to an upper-middle class family, earned a law degree, and immediately became a party agitator at the age of 23. His successor, Josef Stalin, attended seminary school before being expelled, and worked as a part time clerk before going becoming a full time revolutionary, writing and distributing propaganda for the Bolsheviks. He was 25. Mao Zedong was born to wealthy farmers, and tried and failed at becoming a police officer, lawyer, economist, and soap producer before getting a job as assistant to the librarian at Peking University. By 28, he had chartered branches of the Communist Party of China and the Socialist Youth Corps, and began operating a bookstore to distribute the propaganda. Fidel Castro was the son of a rich farmer, he attended the University of Havana and began studying law. Just two years later, he had begun leading student protests and speaking publicly about income inequality in Cuba. This list could go on and on with similar correlations to be found. But suffice it to say, theres nothing strange about Bernie being the leader of an ideological movement that has always found its leaders among radical political thinkers who look to redistribute the value created by others. Again, except for his advanced age, hes extraordinarily common for a socialist leader of any such movement. But heres what the left continues to miss about Trumps ascendancy. As I observed last year, Donald Trump is far from common, but he has far more in common with the common man than Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, et al. The average American sees Trump as a man who has spent his life doing things rather than thinking about things. This is a huge distinction. While the radical leftist has spent his or her entire life hectoring Americans about the lives they should lead, dictating how much money they should reasonably earn, and orchestrating a cultural shift toward their radical direction and away from traditional American values, Trump has spent his life creating wealth and value, living the American dream through hard work, talent, and ambition. The American people, in a populist electoral uprising, have just rejected the Democrat platform of transforming America to conform with a radical leftists vision. Its comical that some among the left refuse to believe that fact, considering that Trump won with the omnipresent slogan of Make America Great Again. And the lefts answer to that is to capture the populist sentiment by having lifelong do-nothing socialists promote an even more identity-altering platform that is left of even the previous administration? The radical lefts idea here, no doubt, is the capture the spirit of the Tea Party, the inception of which in 2009 signaled the beginning of the Democrats most recent end, culminating with Trumps populist victory. They hope that the new progressive populism will now signal the demise of Trumps brand of populism. There is a distinct difference here which thwarts the prospects of their success, however, and it is not hard to see. The Tea Party sought to stop the transformation of our culture and our social contract. They believed that the federal government had exceeded its tether in accordance with that social contract, and sought to rein in its power. This was not an idea that is foreign to Americas character. In fact, its a fundamental trait of who we are, and have always been. Socialism, however, absolutely is a foreign concept. Yet the radical left is doubling down on the ideas that caused them to lose in 2016, seeking to transform our culture and our social contract by giving the federal government the power to endlessly sluice our wealth, abolish all student debt, subsidize healthcare for all, make childcare and college free, and all the other silly fantasies that would be even further from the realm of possibility if not for the individuals and free market ideals of America which have created the circumstances where those fantasies even seem like a remote possibility in the minds of academics and social engineers. Labeling that latter ambition progressive populism will do as much to change the course of current political populism as sticking an oar into the water will stop a riverboat from moving downstream in a fast-moving current. But still, its fun to watch them try. William Sullivan blogs at Political Palaver and can be followed on Twitter. These are facts and stories one does not hear about too often because they are personal, and not about national politics. George Washington died a fabulously wealthy man. He was also generous in funding schools and universities. His Last Will and Testament, transcribed at various places, opens this large window into his life -- a life well lived. Heres an incomplete list of the personal side of the first president at the end of it. He owned a fair number of slaves, but he did not release them, though he earnestly desired (his terms) to do so, because many had intermarried with his wifes slaves, whom she brought into the marriage. (It is a myth that back then a man could control all of his wifes dower property, whether human, personal or real). If any of his slaves qualified to go free were ill or infirm by reason of age or injury, they were to be well looked after with food and clothing, a kind of retirement system or disability insurance. Slaves who qualified to go free and were under twenty-five and had no parents or were unwilling or unable to provide for them, were to be taught to read and write and to learn a trade of occupation. His slaves were forbidden to be sold or transported away, which was a relief for them because they formed attachments with their families and friends -- and yes, even with their owners. (It is a myth that the owner-slave relationship was always and only harsh and cruel, with one beating after another. Economically, a plantation owner wanted his slaves to work, not resist. How could this happen if antagonism prevailed?) His mulatto (half white and half black) man -- another word for personal groom or valet, or in todays jargon a personal assistant -- was to get his freedom immediately upon the presidents decease because William Lee (the personal assistant) had served the president faithfully during the Revolutionary War and on through life. In short, they had formed an attachment of mutual respect and endearment. William Lee got an annuity of thirty dollars per annum for the rest of his life. This amount was adequate for back then. William Lee got an annuity of thirty dollars per annum for the rest of his life. This amount was adequate for back then. President Washington donated $4,000.00 (twenty shares he held in the bank of Alexandria) to be held in trust fund a free school for poor and indigent orphans who others who were too poor to pay their way. The president got one hundred shares of one hundred dollars each in the company that was rendering navigable the James River from the Tidewater to the mountains. He bequeathed these shares to the benefit of Liberty Hall Academy, in Rockbridge County, Virginia. He also got fifty shares of fifty pounds sterling in a company established to open the navigation of the Potomac from the Tidewater to Fort Cumberland. He bequeathed these shares to the founding of a university within the boundaries of the District of Columbia. Those two investment gifts were done in appreciation for compensation for any services I could render my Country in its arduous struggle with Great Britain for its Rights and other honorable reasons. The president intended to start a university away from Virginia and the east coast, in the middle of the country to avoid local attachments and state prejudices. He proposed to start the university in a central part of the country. The education offered at this university had this curriculum and purpose: the branches of polite literature, in Arts and Sciences, in acquiring knowledge in the principles of Politics & good government; and (as a matter of infinite importance in my judgment) by associating with each other, and forming friendships in juvenile years, be enabled to free themselves in a proper degree from those local prejudices & habitual jealousies which have just been mentioned; and which when carried to excess are never failing sources of disquietude to the public mind; and pregnant of mischievous consequences to this Country, under these impressions so fully dilated [expanded or opened]. He owned property in the town of Manchester and bequeathed it to his nephew William Augustine Washington. He gave his papers concerning the civil and military administration of this country to his nephew Bushrod Washington. He had sold or leased land in Pennsylvania, New York, and Virginia, and the proceeds deriving from them were to be given to his wife Martha. The Earl of Buchan gave to the president the oak box preserved by William Wallace (yes, that William Wallace) who fought for the freedom of Scotland. The earl instructed him to pass it on, but since it was such a precious gift, he gave it back to the earl. He bequeathed the spy glasses he used during the Revolutionary War to Lawrence and Robert Washington. He bequeathed to them his two gold-headed canes with his arms on them. He gave his three-volume Bible with notes to Rev. Bryan, now Lord Fairfax. He bequeathed a pair of finely wrought pistols he took from the enemy in the Revolutionary War to General Lafayette. He gave to his nephews his swords and cutteaux. His nephew Bushrod attended to Mt. Vernon during the Revolutionary War, so the president gave part of it to him. During the Revolutionary War, George Fayette Washington and Lawrence Augustine Washington took care of his affairs during his public service, so they got 3137 acres. The president took care of his wifes grandchildren and bequeathed to them considerable property; and the same went for his many nieces and nephews. He ordered that he should be buried in the brick family vault on his property at Mt. Vernon. He did not want a parade or funeral oration at his decease. President Washington tallied up his stocks and investments and land holding and concluded they were all worth $530,000. In todays terms, a modern converter gives these amounts: Current data is only available till 2015. In 2015, the relative price worth of $530,000.00 from 1799 is: $10,500,000.00 using the Consumer Price Index $9,980,000.00 using the GDP deflator From these facts it is clear that President Washington lived a full and generous life. He had natural leadership ability, and his friends and family -- often the harshest critics -- fully respected and admired him. The entire nation admired him. It is now easy (for me at least) to see why, on a personal level: a man of integrity and honor and humility. James Arlandsons website is Live as Free People, where he has posted a humber of other pieces on George Washington. Here we are, three weeks into a new administration that has managed to poke a stick in the eye of several foreign leaders; try to ban Muslims, even those with visas, from entering the country; sign executive orders to help take us back to the dark ages (one of the most egregious, just signed today, is a repeal of regulations keeping coal companies and other polluters from releasing toxic waste into our streams) an administration that has populated its swamp with billionaires and inexperienced people who are supposed to run important government agencies. Hearing his press conference today was cringe-worthy. He spent much time insulting the press and re-visiting his glorious victory in the election; trying to convince everyone that the contacts with Russian operatives during his campaign were fake news, though documents exist to prove these facts. One Trump-ism: The leaks are real. The news is fake. Huh? He hung his VP out to dry on Flynn's lies, not bothering to alert him, and letting Pence go out and vouch for Flynn's honesty. Kudos to Sen. Jon Tester who is really trying to stand against some of this administration's bad moves. I wish Sen. Enzi and Sen. Barrasso would decide they have enough money and would now stand on the side of their constituents, the environment, and the children who are now at the mercy of Betsy DeVos. It's a fine mess, as Laurel and Hardy would say. Paula Dee Lovell, Wyo. Chris Wallace of Fox News and other media reporters are having fits because Trump tweeted that the media are an enemy of the American people. When the media willingly support a candidate who clearly violated the law by peddling classified documents but spreads a false story that the intelligence community won't share information with President Trump because they don't trust him, they are enemies both of truth and of the American people. There is no indication at all that anyone on the Trump team did anything illegal or improper involving Russia, yet the media is putting out continuous stories implying that there is something wrong. The IRS clearly targeted political opponents of the Obama administration, but I did not see any indication that the media cared about free speech rights. In fact, they went along, calling anyone who opposed Obama and big government extremists. The media know that scientists in and out of government manipulate temperature data, yet instead of reporting that, they go along and try to shut up skeptics, again infringing on free speech rights. When the Obama administration challenged the Little Sisters of the Poor for daring to exercise their freedom of religion, the media didn't care. When ISIS and other terrorist groups terrorize Christians, the media are mostly silent. When Iran threatens to destroy Israel and the U.S., the media support giving massive amounts of money to Iran. It is disingenuous at best when they suddenly insist they care about anyone's religious freedom. When the media go along with a specific agenda of one party by repeating talking points, they are essentially a propaganda arm. When a president seeks to enforce existing immigration laws, including building a wall that Obama, Hillary, and Biden voted for, that does not threaten democracy. John McCain says dictatorships start because people like Trump want to shut up the media, but all Trump wants is for them to give him a fair shake. I never saw McCain show any concern as Obama continually hid the truth from journalists. There was little transparency during Obama's eight years, but the media didn't care because they agreed with his agenda. Everything I see Trump doing indicates that he wants to give power back to the people and reduce the power of the greedy and ever growing government. That does not look like a would-be dictator. Everything I saw Hillary and Obama do or support indicated that they wanted the government to be more powerful. They looked like dictators-in-waiting, and the media supported them. The bureaucrats leaking are leftovers from the Obama administration, and the media just repeat what they are told.. Trump is America's chance to reduce the size of the greedy government and bureaucracy. He will need a spine of steel to fight off the media, the Democrats, and establishment Republicans like McCain and Graham both great reasons for term limits. So yes, when the media intentionally seek to sabotage and destroy a president because their chosen candidate lost, they are essentially an enemy of the American people. They choose what to report and what not to report based on an agenda instead of on actual facts. Ann Ravel, a Democrat commissioner on the FEC who infamously tried to censor political speech on the internet, has resigned. In 2014, Ravel called for "a reexamination of the commission's approach to the internet and other emerging technologies." This was widely interpreted to mean she wanted the FEC to redefine what constitutes political speech on the internet to allow the FEC to regulate it. Blogs and news sites that specifically advocated for a federal candidate would be treated as adjuncts to that campaign and subject to FEC donation limits. Thankfully, all three GOP members of the commission blocked the scheme. Ravel rarely bothered to show up for FEC meetings in the last couple of years except when she wanted the commission to approve her travel to exotic places to "monitor" elections. Washington Free Beacon: Ravel has also been a no-show from FEC public meetings in recent months, phoning it in from California after being passed up for the attorney general spot in the state. During one meeting, Ravel seemed so distant that the Democratic chair of the commission asked if she was awake. Despite Ravel's absence from the meetings, she attempted to call for a special meeting that would allow a vote on whether or not she could attend a foreign-funded junket to Ecuador to observe their elections. After being contacted by the Washington Free Beacon seeking comment on the demand, Ravels special counsel said that Ravel had reversed her decision to participate in the trip. If Ravel did not rescind her demand and the trip were approved, she would currently be in Ecuador. "Ravel had become a frequent no-show at Commission meetings since late last year, phoning into 4 public meetings (one from a train) and completely skipping two executive sessions in January," a source close to the Commission said in an emailed statement. "That did not stop her, however, from requesting a special meeting to obtain Commission approval to travel to Ecuador, at foreign expense, a request she later withdrew after the Free Beacon wrote about the matter." By law, President Trump must name a registered Democrat to fill the post. Tradition dictates that Senate Democrats recommend a name for the president's approval. But Trump is not required to follow the Dems' recommendation. But conservatives who think Trump will name someone to their liking may be disappointed. While campaigning, the president made it clear he thinks money from big donors is not good for the electoral process. He didn't come out and say he supports campaign finance reform, but it is likely he would take a far more favorable view of at least some regulation of big contributions than a traditional Republican. It's not unusual for former administration officials to criticize the president they served after they leave office. But it's rare that the criticism is as harsh as the statement made by former Obama national security adviser General Jim Jones about the failure to enforce the infamous "red line" drawn by President Obama in Syria regarding Bashar Assad's use of chemical weapons on his own people. Jones has been prominently mentioned as a candidate for President Trump's national security adviser. The Hill: Retired Gen. Jim Jones, President Obamas first national security adviser, on Sunday blasted the former president's decisions on Syria, saying it was a colossal mistake to draw a red line. Jones told CNN's Jim Sciutto on "State of the Union" that the administration failed to follow up on the statement, which caused a loss of confidence in a very important part of the world. "I think at the very least the penalty for [Syrian President] Bashar al Assad for having used chemical weapons on his own people should have been the forfeit of a piece of his territory for -- where refugees could have been handled and might have prevented the flow of refugees into Europe, Jones said. Jones is believed to be one of the four contenders to be Donald Trumps next national security adviser after retired Vice Admiral Robert Harward declined the position recently vacated by Michael Flynn. When asked about the qualifications needed for the position, Jones said the position needs a "strategic thinker." "[It has] got to be someone who understands that the coordination, the strategic coordination of the inner agency... someone who can resist and cause the [National Security Council] to resist getting involved in the tactical operations of our efforts around the world, Jones said. Jones also added the national security adviser choice must have "access and confidence" to the president and top White House leadership. There is little doubt that Obama's and Hillary Clinton's bumbling efforts in Syria led directly to the massive refugee crisis, not to mention several hundred thousand deaths of Syrian civilians. Recall that only the intervention of Vladimir Putin, who agreed to force President Assad to relinquish control of his chemical weapons, saved Obama from a humiliating retreat after he drew the "red line" without consulting his secretary of defense or of state. And Hillary Clinton's refusal to back the nascent Free Syrian Army which at the time was led by mostly secular officers led to the rise in Islamist militias, including AQ's affiliate in Syria, Al Nusra, and ISIS. Jones is an intelligent, tough military guy but may be too closely identified with the Obama administration for President Trump to work with. It's a shame that such clear thinking was missing in Obama's White House, when the Syrian civil war might have turned out differently. The Usual Suspects of the left are strangely silent as a legal immigrant, a mother of three American-born children, married to an American citizen, faces deportation. The reasons are twofold. Margarita Del Pilar Fitzpatrick committed a crime that the left insists never happens: illegal voting by a non-citizen. Mrs. Fitzpatrick now faces deportation, and separation from her husband and children, unless they can obtain residency in her native Peru, thanks to the left. The Cook County Record explains: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has denied the application of a Peruvian national to stay in the country, following the discovery that the non-citizen voted twice in federal elections. (snip) She had been living in the U.S. for three years and applied for a driver's license in Illinois. During the application process, she had to fill out forms at the Illinois Secretary of State's driver services facility and used her green card and Peruvian passport as identification. While filling in the forms she admitted that she checked a box on the form claiming she was a citizen of the U.S. "The form sternly warns aliens not to check that box, and Fitzpatrick does not contend that she has any difficulty in understanding written English," the court documents state. On the form there was a checkbox that would allow her to register as a voter. She did so after the clerk inquired whether she wanted to register. She then proceeded to vote for federal officials twice in 2006. The court emphasized that non-residents were not allowed to vote in elections. There is a statute that allows for the removal of non-citizens who vote in state or federal elections. The clerk acted in accord with the law, The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) (52 U.S.C. 20501 - 52 U.S.C. 20511). That law, frequently called "Motor Voter," was pushed by ACORN and was so critical to the left's strategy for political dominance that both Cloward and Piven attended the signing ceremony, standing behind Bill Clinton as he signed it into law. Mrs. Fitzpatrick: ... claims that the clerk at the driver services facility told her it was up to her if she checked the box to register to vote. However, the court documents state that what the clerk told her "was a refusal to give advice, not an assurance that it was lawful to register." The court record also noted that it is against federal law for state officials to say anything that may discourage an individual applying for a driver's license from registering to vote. By terms of the law, the clerk was not able to discourage Mrs. Fitzpatrick from registering to vote, even though it was an illegal act that eventually led to her deportation order. That created a situation in which she may have felt she had received approval. In the law, a facility that represents a danger to the public but is accessible is called an "attractive nuisance," and its owner faces legal liability for damages that result from its availability. The classic example is an unfenced swimming pool that could lure children to use it and then face danger of injury. It is clear to me that the Motor Voter Law, a headliner strategic goal of the left, is an attractive nuisance for immigrants, legal and illegal, luring them into felonious behavior that could expel them from the country no matter how deep their family roots have become. The left is embarrassed by the fate of Mrs. Fitzpatrick. It is up to conservatives to make her story known and to push for repeal of The National Voter Registration Act of 1993. We on the right have grown to expect bias in political journalism but most of us probably thought science literature would always be objective, and exempt from radical leftist opinion. If so, then our thoughts were mistaken. Every once in a while, I receive emailed articles from science journals for example, Scientific American. Most of these are of interest to science junkies like myself but a disturbing and growing number of them have less to do with science than with left-wing political propaganda. Much of it is unashamedly anti-Trump. It seems (sarcasm here) that by questioning the (questionable) evidence of global warming, President Trump is seeking to inundate the entire world with rising oceans. In reality, thousands of government grants are at risk, billions of dollars of them, unless the scientists receiving the money can prove that global warming is man-made and that human effort can reverse it. Of course, the scientists can prove no such thing, which is why their journal articles increasingly give the impression of "hair on fire" panic. More recently, I am beginning to notice an even more sinister trend, one that hints at anti-Semitism. In an article at Space.com, a site oriented toward NASA news, the authors seem to twist and turn through verbal contortions, straining to avoid any mention of the word "Israel," even though the science news therein was discovered by studying ancient Jewish records. The article describes the geography of the featured discovery as being that of "Judah, an ancient kingdom situated around what is now Jerusalem." This seems like an awful lot of words to substitute for the word "Israel." The article credits Israeli scientist "Erez Ben-Yosef, an archaeologist at Tel Aviv University," with analyzing much of the information but yet again avoids mentioning that he is an Israeli scientist. In other articles, I find no shortage of phrases such as a French scientist or a scientist at Britain's Oxford University and so forth. It is perhaps possible that I am being a bit overly sensitive in my appraisal of this one article, but I noticed its omissions largely because the piece fits the mold of many other science articles I have read over the past year, articles that in my view are ever more politically oriented toward leftist opinions. For example, some time ago, in American Thinker, I quoted this: As Scientific American has reported in the run-up to the election, Trump's views on science, health and medicine appear unformed at best, ignorant and destructive at worst. To be sure, science journalists are entitled to their political opinions, right, left, or otherwise but the danger is that their partisan agendas can easily come into conflict with actual science. It happened in the old Soviet Union, where, thankfully, communist scientists set back their nation's progress far enough to help result in an American victory in the Cold War. It could easily happen here, where, for so many scientists, the competition is fierce and unrelenting. The dictum is "publish or perish." The chase for government grant money, much of it wasted, goes to research into the mating habits of this or that exotic species of salamander and the like. Literally billions of taxpayer dollars are at risk if these grants are closely scrutinized, which is likely to happen under a Trump presidency. We already find that meteorologists who question global warming are threatened with loss of their livelihoods by those who do not dare to question its dogma. How much longer will it be before we find that grant money for research into life-saving medications is given only to scientists, however mediocre they might be, based largely on their unquestioning endorsement of liberal propaganda? Many of our future scientists are being trained in universities, which have become leftist indoctrination centers, where independent thinking, an absolute necessity for scientific progress, is often discouraged and, in some cases, forbidden. How can that not have an adverse impact on the direction taken by science? If President Trump can break through the bureaucracy of politically motivated scientists, he will have done science a great favor. President Trump promised to unite us, repeating several times that he inherited a divided nation. True enough. His predecessor had presented himself also as the one not only to stop the oceans from rising, but to unite us into one America, as spoken of in his speeches at the time of his debut on the national scene. Eight years later, we know that the opposite was the result. Racially, the division deepened as President Obama's first attorney general, Eric Holder, lined up with "his people." Obama invariably sided against law enforcement if the so-called victims were black. Politically, his "blame America" rhetoric did not sit well with hardworking, patriotic Americans. Their resentment was expressed to the Democrats on November 8. Donald Trump inherited and owns this divide and says he'll fix it. Protests by women, students and teachers, immigrants, athletes, and artists are increasing. Their demonstrations against Trump and his policies are becoming more vocal and at times have been violent. But Donald Trump is not a leader; he has never been a leader. He is boss. A boss cannot unite; only a leader can. This was also true with Obama; he was not a leader, but a community organizer. The difference between a boss and a leader is huge. Tito was the boss of Yugoslavia before it fractured beyond repair; Winston Churchill was a leader of his nation and much of the free world in WWII. Donald Trump became a boss rather than a leader because it worked for him. He was always his own role model. Becoming successful in business as a boss, he found no need to acquire leadership abilities. Leadership also requires additional skills, such as diplomacy, something Trump demonstrated a distinct lack of in his interactions with the other Republican primary candidates. Good leadership demands veracity and consistency in words and actions that will inspire and motivate people. Boss Trump in his business dealings could ignore these attributes as long as he made money. The lack of veracity and consistency in a president leads to confusion and chaos. The divide in this nation that President Trump promises to heal is immense. Healing the racial issues, the black and white divide, is vital for the well-being of our country. Economic inequality, the difference between the rich and poor, has always been with us, but now the entitlement mentality is like a painful boil that needs to be lanced. The political split between Democrats and Republicans on immigration, taxation, and health care alone would strain Solomon on his best day. The religious freedom issue will not go away by itself. Judicial appointments, with Trump making a great start with his first SCOTUS nomination, only reveals the siege mentality of the opposing party. And that is just the beginning. President Trump's promises to unite this country are genuine. He is not a bigot, and for all of his personal shortcomings, he was elected to serve the next four years as our president. Unfortunately, a large number in the opposing party and others cannot accept that fact and demonstrate their displeasure in ways that penetrate Trump's thin skin, thereby further promoting the split. Tweeting insults back does not help the cause of unity. Being boss all of his adult life has not prepared him to lead our diverse nation. Donald Trump's apprenticeship for presidency ended on the same day as he took the oath of office. With a boss at the helm, it is going to be rough sailing for the foreseeable future. Fourteen Medal of Honor recipients from the Vietnam War have signed a letter challenging and rebuking Connecticut's pathetic Stolen Valor senator, Richard Blumenthal, for his hypocrisy on opposing Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch. Their lengthy letter included this charge: Valor is too uncommon a commodity, and too precious a virtue, to be stolen by those who have not paid the high price for freedom. We recognize that some concerns over any appointee, especially the Supreme Court, are honest and legitimate. You, sir, are neither. If you ever had a sense of duty, if ever you respected the service and sacrifice of others, then please recognize your duty now: Sen. Blumenthal, "take your seat"! The signatories: Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Bennie Adkins, U.S. Army, Auburn, Ala. Retired Col. Don "Doc" Ballard, U.S. Army, Grain Valley, Mo. Retired Maj. Gen. Pat Brady, U.S. Army, New Braunfels, Texas Retired Col. Bruce Crandall, U.S. Army, Manchester, Wash. Retired Sgt. 1st Class Sammy Davis, U.S. Army, Freedom, Ind. Retired Col. Wesley Fox, U.S. Marine Corps, Peoria, Ill. Retired Col. Harold Fritz, U.S. Army, Peoria, Ill. Retired Maj. Gen. Jim Livingston, U.S. Marine Corps, Mount Pleasant, S.C. Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Bob Patterson, U.S. Army, Pace, Fla. Retired Sgt. Maj. Kenneth Stumpf, U.S. Army, Tomah, Wis. Retired Maj. James Taylor, U.S. Army, Trinity Center, Calif. Retired Lt. Mike Thornton, U.S. Navy, Dallas Retired Col. Leo Thorsness, U.S. Air Force, St. Augustine, Fla. Retired Col. Jay Vargas, U.S. Marine Corps, San Diego That's some heavy artillery being brought to bear on a Democrat weasel who couldn't be more deserving of being targeted. It's a good sign to veterans everywhere when leaders such as these stand up to the military fraud that is routinely accepted by the Democratic Party. Had Democrats had their way in 2004, we would have had a Stolen Valor fraud as president of this nation and commander of our armed forces. When John Kerry was exposed as a fraud by those who served with him, rather than consider that they might have made a mistake, the Democratic Party and its complicit mainstream media went all out in an attempt to destroy the honorable men, known as the Swift Boat Veterans, who exposed Kerry. Luckily for America, the people believed the Swiftees and not those treacherous, lying Democrats and their media hit men, who kept right on supporting Stolen Valor fraud candidates like this "Dick" Blumenthal for high national office. The Democratic Party has no sense of either hypocrisy or shame. Rarely do volcanologist get to watch the birth, growth, and death of a volcano. Paricutin provided such an opportunity. Paricutin is a cinder cone volcano located in the state of Michoacan, in Mexico, close to a lava-covered village of the same name. The volcano erupted on February 20, 1943, and continued erupting till 1952, during which it destroyed the villages of Paricutin and San Juan Parangaricutiro, burying both beneath ash and lava. San Juan Parangaricutiros church spire is all that remains of the village, poking out of the now solidified lava rock. Unlike most volcanoes, Paricutin volcano didnt exist until that fateful day. This makes the volcano unique because it is one of the very few volcanoes whose birth has been witnessed by man. The volcano is located about 200 miles west of Mexico City, in the Michoacan-Guanajuato volcanic field, that contains about 1,400 volcanic vents. Paricutin is the youngest volcano to form in the Northern Hemisphere. Birth of a volcano: The earliest known postcard of Paricutin Volcano, taken on day 2 of the eruption. Photo credit For weeks before the eruption, the inhabitants of this village had been experiencing tremors and deep rumblings from the earth. On February 20, 1943 a farmer, Dionisio Pulido, and his wife Paula were burning shrubbery in their cornfield when they observed the earth in front of them swell upward and crack to form a fissure about 2 meters across. They heard hissing sounds and saw smoke rising from the fissure, which they later described as having a repugnant smell of rotten eggs. Dionisio Pulido was not sure what it was, but it frightened him enough to flee the scene. Incredibly, what the farmer unknowingly witnessed was the birth of a new volcano. The next day, Dionisio, along with several others from the village, went out at dawn to examine the site. What they saw both amazed and terrified them. Rocks and smoke were shooting into the sky while the cone was growing before their very eyes. After little more than a day the cone was already 50 meters high, and within a week it had reached 100 meters, and lava began flowing out onto the surrounding land. "VOLCANO Born at 5:30pm on February 20, 1943 in the village of Paricutin, Michoacan. Photo taken by Chavez Ruiz on February 28, 1943." Photo credit The eruption became more powerful in March, generating columns of smoke several kilometers high. The volcano was most intense during the first year when it ejected more than 90 percent of the total material spewed out by the volcano. The thick smoke, ash, sulfur fumes and lava made it unsafe for the people in the villages of Paricutin and San Juan Parangaricutiro to stay, and they had to be evacuated. By August 1944, most of the villages of Paricutin and Parangaricutiro were covered in lava and ash. Only the towers of the church of San Juan Parangaricutiro were visible above the lava field. Because of timely evacuation, no one was killed by lava or ash. However, three people died by lightning associated with the eruption. For the next nine years the volcano continued to erupt, although this was dominated by relatively quiet eruptions of lava that scorched the surrounding 25 square kilometers of land. In 1952, the eruption ended and Paricutin went quiet, attaining a final height of 424 meters (1,391 feet) above the cornfield where it began. Paricutin is believed to be a monogenetic volcano, meaning that it will never erupt again. It is classified as an extinct volcano. The cinder cone and the half-buried church are popular among tourists today. The birth of the volcano generated tremendous interest not only among scientist but the populace at large. Pan American planes between Los Angeles and Mexico City reportedly diverted from their regular route in order to be able to show passengers the new volcano. It even captured the attention of the silver screen. Shots of the volcano during its active phase were included in 20th Century Fox's film Captain from Castile, released in 1947. The cinder cone soon after its birth in 1943 in a Mexican cornfield. Photo credit (Left )View from Uruapan. (Right) View from Parangaricutiro Photo credit Same view from Parangaricutiro, but a few months later. Photo credit Parangaricutiro: In the middle of photo, surrounding the church and blocking the street, is a black wall of lava oozing toward the church. Notice all wood from church and village is being removed, as the town is slowly covered with lava. Photo credit Photo credit Photo credit Photo credit Photo credit Photo credit Photo credit Photo credit 1943 photo shows a spectacular view of an eruption of Paricutin at night. Photo credit Photo credit Photo credit Satellite image of Paricutin volcanos cinder cone. Photo credit Photo credit Photo credit Photo credit Photo credit Photo credit Photo credit Sources: Wikipedia / Mexonline / Smithsonian Institution / San Diego State University Should a museum keep artistic treasures it acquired under dubious circumstances a long time ago, or should it return them to their country of origin? This is the debate surrounding the so-called Elgin Marbles. Currently at the British Museum of London, the Elgin Marbles are some of the finest sculptures of classical Greece, originally sculpted for Athens's greatest monument, the Parthenon. Built nearly 2,500 years ago, the Parthenon was originally a temple dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena, before it became a church of the Virgin Mary. When Greece came under the Ottoman rule, the Parthenon was converted to a mosque. The Muslim rulers made small changes to the structure such as removing the Christian altar and whitewashing the walls to cover all icons of Christianity. But the worst was yet to come. Photo credit: Alessandro Grussu/Flickr During the Great Turkish War (1683-1699), the Ottoman Turks decided to use the Parthenon as an ammunition dump, believing that the Venetians would never try to blow up a building of such historic importance. The ploy didnt work. On 26 September 1687, a single mortar fired from the Hill of Philopappus blew up the powder magazine, and half of Parthenon along with it. The decorative frieze adorned with beautiful sculptures came crashing down and broke into a hundred pieces. The Turks simply cleared out the center and using the rubble erected another mosque within the shell of the ruined building. For the next hundred years, these fragments of sculptures were taken away by robbers and by tourists as souvenirs of their travels. In 1801, Thomas Bruce, the Earl of Elgin and the British Ambassador at Constantinople, allegedly obtained permission from the Ottoman Empire whose existence or legitimacy has not been proved until today to take away about half of the remaining sculptures from the fallen ruins back to Britain. It wouldnt have mattered if the Earl had taken only the fallen stones, like everybody else. But the Lord Elgins men also pried out many pieces that were still in place. Aside from the Parthenon, Lord Elgin removed sculptures from the Acropolis, the Erechtheion, the Propylaia, and the Temple of Athena Nike. According to his own account, Lord Elgin was passionate about ancient Greek art, and was concerned about the Turks indifference towards it and the damage being done to important artworks in the temples of Greece. He claimed that the Turks were grinding down the statues to make mortar. Photo credit: Ignacio Munguia/Flickr Lord Elgin initially only took casts and made drawings of the sculptures, but later began to remove material from the Parthenon and its surrounding structures, and shipped them back to Britain. When the marbles arrived in London, a huge outcry arose. Many people including some learned men of that time, such as Lord Byron, accused Lord Elgin of vandalism and dishonesty. The fact that the Earl intended to use the marbles to decorate his private house in Scotland, also helped sway the publics opinion against the man. But fate had other plans for Lord Elgin. Upon returning to Britain, Lord Elgin learned that his wife was cheating. Distraught by his wifes adultery and the public scandal it caused, Lord Elgin divorced from his wife and sued his wifes lover. But the drawn out legal battle left him penniless forcing him to sell his house, as well as the Parthenon Marbles to the British government. After gaining independence from the Turks, the Greek government demanded that marbles be returned to them, on grounds that they were taken illegally during the country's Turkish occupation. But the British refused saying that Lord Elgin legally purchased the statues from the Ottoman Empire before Greece won its independence. Britain fears that if the marbles are returned it would set a disturbing precedent that could empty major museums around the world of its collection. Today, the Elgin Marbles are one of the most prized possession of the British Museum. There is about 75 meters of sculpted frieze that once ran all round the Parthenon, as well as 17 life-sized marble figures from its gable ends, and 15 of the 92 metopes, or sculpted panels, originally displayed high up above its columns. The British Museums possession accounts for about 30 percent of the original sculptures from the Parthenon. The Acropolis Museum in Athens houses another 30 percent. About 5 percent lie scattered in different museums across Europe. Photo credit: Alex Dawson/Flickr Photo credit: Nathan Meijer/Flickr Photo credit: Kevin Gessner/Flickr Photo credit: paula soler-moya/Flickr Photo credit: Wally Gobetz/Flickr Photo credit: Lara Eakins/Flickr Photo credit: Lara Eakins/Flickr Sources: Wikipedia / www.nicholls.edu / www.britishmuseum.org / Telegraph / Britannica / BBC Five meters below the runway of Sarajevo's airport runs a short stretch of tunnel that was dug out during the Siege of Sarajevo to bring supplies to the cut-off city. For four years this 800-meter long tunnel was the besieged citys only connection to the outside world, and its life support. In the spring of 1992, when Serbian forces encircled the city of Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and began bombarding it with artillery and sniper fire, some three hundred thousand citizens found themselves trapped within its perimeter. The Serbs had blocked all access roads to the city, cutting supplies of food and medicine. They also cut off the city's water, electricity and heating. With people starving, the UN negotiated a deal with the Serb nationalists and secured the airport so that humanitarian aid could be flown in. But the merge supplies were not enough for the citys population. Photo credit: rich white/Flickr Beyond the airport, lay Bosnian territory and freedom. But Sarajevo's citizens just couldnt walk into the airport technically a neutral venue under the UN and then slip out of the city into the adjoining suburb of Bosnian-held Butmir, on the other side of the airport. Because all around the city, Serbian snipers had taken up positions in high rises and kept eye on the main street that lead to the airport. Through the sights on their rifles, they watched for movements and didnt hesitate to pull the trigger. More than two hundred people were killed on this street and a thousand more wounded, earning the street the name Sniper Alley. A Bosnian civil engineer, Nedzad Brankovic, drew up the plans for the tunnel that would connect the two suburbs held by Bosnian troops Dobrinja, lying inside the Serbian siege lines, and Butmir on the outside. Construction of the tunnel began on January 1993, and continued round the clock for the next six months. Workers, working in 8-hour shifts, started digging from both ends using shovels and picks, until the two ends met at the center, underneath the Sarajevo airport runway. Originally, the work was carried by men from the Bosnian army, but later miners from central Bosnia were brought it. These men were paid in cigarettes one packet a day. Cigarettes were scarce, costly and were highly prized items in bartering. The tunnel was entered through a nondescript house near the airport belonging to a man named Bajro Kolar. The opposite entrance on the Dobrinja side was hidden inside a garage of an apartment building. Everyday between three and four thousand people and thirty tons of various goods passed through the tunnel. Initially, the supplies had to be carried by hand or on the backs of soldiers, until a railway track was laid with wagons pushed by men. Eventually, an oil pipeline, electrical cables and a telephone line was laid through the tunnel. An electric pump bailed out water that frequently accumulated inside, sometime up to waist height. The tunnel itself is five feet tall. Because there was no ventilation, the air was stale and fetid, forcing everybody to wear a mask. When the Serbs learnt about the tunnel in 1994 they tried to destroy it by intensifying their bombing in the area where they presumed the entrances were. After the war ended, the tunnel fell into disrepair and most of it collapsed and got flooded. But thanks to the Bajro Kolar, through whose house the tunnel was entered on the Butmir side, a short section of the tunnel was preserved and a museum was built around it. Today, it is one of the most visited sites of the Bosnian capital, with hundreds of daily visitors. Strangely, the Sarajevo Tunnel Museum has remained a fully private undertaking with no government support despite its historical importance. Bajro Kolars house, now the Sarajevo Tunnel Museum. Photo credit: csw27/Flickr Photo credit: leiris202/Flickr Photo credit: Iain Hinchliffe/Flickr Photo credit: leiris202/Flickr The walls of the museum still bear bullet holes from the war. Photo credit: Shiraz Chakera/Flickr The tunnel's south entrance, outside the siege lines. Photo credit: BiHVolim/Wikimedia Close-up of the tunnel entrance. Photo credit: Damien Smith/Flickr Sources: www.balcanicaucaso.org / NY Times / Dark Tourism Vice President Pence Remarks at Munich Security Conference Vice President Pence delivered his first major foreign policy speech since taking office at the annual Munich Security Conference in Germany. He talked about the U.S.-Transatlantic relationship and urged European allies to share the burden in the fight against terrorism through NATO. On Russia, the vice president stressed that the U.S. would continue to hold Russia accountable even as the administration searched for common ground. - Read More Search crews located a body Sunday believed to be a Columbus man who went missing on or just before Dec. 13. The body was discovered about a half-mile down river from the location the man is thought to have fallen into the Yellowstone River in December. At that time officers discovered footprints leading to the water but not returning, a news release from Stillwater County Sheriff Cliff Brophy stated. Officers from the Stillwater County Sheriffs Office and Columbus Police Department searched the banks of the river intermittently since the man was first reported missing as weather hampered efforts. The release said the mans name will not be released until his identity has been confirmed. Identification could take several weeks through examination of dental records, medical records and DNA. An autopsy will be performed in upcoming days to determine the cause of death. Jeremy M. Johnston, curator of the Buffalo Bill Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, will present a lecture detailing the early years of the Buffalo Bill Memorial Association. The talk will take place on Feb. 27 at the Sunset House in Cody, beginning with a no-host dinner starting at 6 p.m. and followed by the presentation around 7 p.m. The dinner and the presentation are open to the public. Guests are also welcome to attend only the presentation. Johnstons presentation, Establishing a Pioneer Center in a Small Town, examines the early history of the Buffalo Bill Memorial Association (the parent organization of the Center of the West) and its efforts to create a lasting memorial for William F. Cody. Johnston compares these accomplishments with similar efforts in Denver, Colorado. Johnston is the Hal and Naoma Tate endowed chair and curator of Western History, the Ernest J. Goppert curator of the Buffalo Bill Museum, and the managing editor of the Papers of William F. Cody. JACKSON, Wyo. There may be too many elk gathered at the National Elk Refuge in northwest Wyoming. Potentially twice the desired number of elk are believed to be gathered right now, wolfing down alfalfa pellets, the Jackson Hole News & Guide reported. The presumed overpopulation will be confirmed or debunked Tuesday. That's when managers conduct the official count for the 24,700-acre U.S. Fish and Wildlife property north of Jackson. Staff biologist Eric Cole estimates that the number right now is about 85 percent above the 5,000-elk goal. "It's obvious to me that we're well above the 5,000 objective," Cole said. Given trends from recent years, the high refuge numbers were expected. In winter 2014-15, 8,390 elk the most in 17 years were tallied during the refuge classification. Last winter the number dipped by about 1,100. But nearly 1,400 elk were nearby, "wintering out" on the northern refuge and just to the east on the Bridger-Teton National Forest. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department is in the process of counting elk elsewhere in Jackson Hole. On Saturday, the state surveyed feed grounds up the Gros Ventre River drainage. As of Friday, feeders estimated 1,000 elk receiving hay rations in the Gros Ventre drainage. Managers' goal for the Gros Ventre is 3,500 elk. If the official Gros Ventre tally comes in at less than a third of that number, it will mark the continuation of a distribution problem that in recent years has resulted in proportionately way too many refuge elk. A decade-old interagency federal plan setting the 5,000-elk goal calls for just 45 percent of the Jackson Elk Herd on the National Elk Refuge. The number was devised to allow managers to forego supplemental alfalfa feeding during normal winter conditions, and in doing so reduce the spread of disease and bring the historic winter range closer to the natural condition. But in recent years, three-quarters of the herd or more has been gathered on or around the refuge. A young girl approached Bismarck Police Sgt. Tim Sass with a question on Monday morning. "How can they smell the drugs?" Sophia Holmes asked. "We train them," the K-9 officer responded. With toys, a lot of petting and a lot of praise they learn to detect the smells, he said. "And then they get a rest?" Holmes asked. Yes, Sass told her. "That's kind of like their Christmas break." "I might become a police officer one day," Holmes said later. "Because they get to wear cool gadgets, and they save the day like Batman." Holmes met Sass at a community event called Coffee with a Cop, where Bismarck Police officers visit with residents at a local coffee joint. On Monday morning, they met at Boneshaker Coffee Co. in north Bismarck. It was the second event hosted by the department. "I just think it's a great opportunity to have officers and staff interact with the public," said Chief Dan Donlin. Often, the public and police only meet during an emergency. Donlin said he hopes to hold three to four meet and greets yearly. Similar events have taken place around the country since 2011. The event drew about 20 people, including parents with kids off for President's Day, aspiring officers, former cops and some other community members. Alex Sauer, a freshman at Bismarck State College, came to meet people in the department. A criminal justice major, he wants to join the police force when he graduates. Someday, he hopes to become a Bureau of Criminal Investigations agent. "I would always see cops around town," Sauer said of the reason behind his career goals. "I want to do something that will help people, help the community." He recognizes the job has its dangers, but he thinks it will be worth it to help. "One day, I could be patrolling. The next day, I could be on a call and end up being shot or killed or something like that. So that does stay in the back of my mind," Sauer said. "I also think that, hey, I die helping and serving the community of Bismarck." Some people met and found something shared in common. A retired safety director overheard a school resource officer talking about his work and could relate since his own son is a school resource officer for a high school in Williston. Officer Mark Otterness, known to the middle schoolers as Officer Otter, deals with issues such as truancy, social media and some drugs. It's a job he loves. "You're a parent, a teacher, everything," Otterness said. "You can change that behavior when younger." This is Up and Down, where we give a brief thumbs up and thumbs down on the issues from the past week. Up Its always satisfying to see the community support schools. Choice Financial is doing so in a big way. Choice Financial has donated $2 million to Light of Christ schools. Half the money will be used for scholarships and tuition reimbursement for families with children at St. Marys Central High School. The rest of the money will be used to build a financial education center at the new St. Marys Central High School. Along with the money, Choice Financial employees have volunteered to teach students about financial literacy. Thats a long-term commitment to education and we commend Choice Financial. Down It wasnt a surprise that the states oil production figures dropped in December. It was a terrible month for weather with snow, cold and high winds. There were days wells couldnt operate and times when the weather wasnt fit for crews. December production was 942,455 barrels a day, a drop of more than 92,000 daily barrels from November. Januarys numbers may not be much better as the bitter cold lingered. Hopefully, the present warm spell will continue and operations will improve in the oil patch. The state needs it. Up Parshalls kids got a healthy outdoor activity recently. The town got a new warming hut and skating rink for some winter fun. Last year the Lucky Mound segment purchased skates for every child in town who wanted them. The kids had to chip in $5. Byron Young Bird, Parshall, put a lot of work into building the hut and hes thrilled with the results. As is Three Affiliated Tribes Chairman Mark Fox, who sees the warming hut and skating rink as a way to get the kids off to a good start. Healthy activities help build a positive culture for the kids. Down The Senate last week approved Senate Bill 2152 and thats unfortunate. The bill would keep job applicants records secret until finalists are selected. The measure involves those who apply for jobs with a public entity. The state has good open records and open meetings laws and if this is approved by the House it will weaken the laws. The public should be able to know who is applying for a job from the beginning. Its the best way to know if the best candidate is selected. Also, the measure could open the door to further weakening of the open records and open meetings laws. The House should reject SB2152. Up We appreciate the Senates approval of another bill, SB2201, that would protect student advisers from retaliation and schools and employees from being held liable for students lawful expressions. The bill says an expression of free speech made by a student journalist is not an expression of the school policy. The bill extends the rights of student journalists in the state. It sends the right message to young journalists and we hope the House approves it. Down The sergeant-at-arms politely asked Gov. Doug Burgum to leave the Senate floor on Wednesday. The reason: Burgum was wearing jeans and the legislative dress code requires a suit and tie. There was no fuss, since Burgum understands the rules. We appreciate the fact that legislators follow rules to dress nicely to do the peoples business. We also like the governors sometimes casual approach to the office. There are a lot of North Dakotans who go to work in jeans and many who have dress jeans for church and other functions. The governor will follow the legislative rules and we expect others to respect Burgums decision to dress casual on occasion. Hes a working person like most North Dakotans. FARGO The job of police chief is fraught with potential pitfalls. Its a precarious role that feels the tug of demands from the public, officers and city leaders. Not meeting enough of those demands can be a problem, but so can trying to please everyone. Youre basically putting a guy out there on a tightrope with a broomstick to balance with over a whole bunch of crocodiles, said Pat Claus, a former deputy chief at the Fargo Police Department. Claus said he once withdrew his name from consideration for an open chiefs job in Grand Forks because he realized he loved being a cop, and he wasnt sure hed love being a chief. Chiefs dont get to be cops anymore. Its too political, he said. Along with navigating a political landscape, chiefs now have to find their footing as police agencies across the country shift from a militaristic style of leadership to one that emphasizes the empowerment of officers. In the past few years, Fargo and West Fargo have both seen police chiefs leave their departments under clouds of officer complaints, as well as concerns from city leaders. How much the departures of Fargo Chief Keith Ternes in 2014 or West Fargo Chief Mike Reitan this month had to do with their leadership styles, particularly a failure to fully embrace an empowerment model, is debatable. But whats clear is that theres a nationwide trend of chiefs losing their jobs or struggling with departmental dysfunction as they cling to a militaristic, command-and-control leadership style, according to a police leadership expert. The command-and-control approach to law enforcement may have worked in the 50s, 60s, early 70s. It has long since outgrown its lifespan within our profession, said Barry Reynolds, a former Wisconsin police officer who owns Police Leadership Resources, a training and consulting firm. Fortunately, we are turning the corner, and were seeing new approaches to how we lead within our organizations. To feel supported In a command-and-control structure, Reynolds said, power and decision-making is retained at the top of an organization. Little, if any, input is expected from subordinates. It's more of a do-your-job type of environment, he said. Reynolds said todays well-educated officers dont respond well to that rigid brand of leadership. What works better, he said, is empowerment leadership, or transformational leadership, which invests in the training of officers and encourages them to make decisions on their own. Jeffrey Bumgarner, a criminal justice professor at North Dakota State University, said he agrees that the job of police chief has changed over the years. He said many chiefs are trying to move beyond a hierarchical bureaucrat role by consulting with officers and seeking their buy-in on department initiatives. They know that their officers today in particular are under greater public scrutiny and so officers need to feel supported by the administration, he said. Grant Benjamin, president of the North Dakota Fraternal Order of Police, said police chiefs are put between that hard place of theyre trying to protect their officers, but they also have to answer to your city administrator or your mayor. Benjamin, who retired as a Fargo police officer in 2013, said that when chiefs have to make an unpopular decision, theyre better off telling their officers the reasons for that decision. At least then, he said, officers can give feedback. Reitan said this is where he fell short as West Fargos chief. I didnt communicate personally some of these conditions or some of the circumstances under which I made decisions, he said. I relied on the information being shared all the way down the chain of command. A military bearing Before the West Fargo City Commission voted Feb. 6 to fire Reitan, his relationship with his direct supervisor, City Administrator Tina Fisk, had become strained. And officers had complained about times when Reitan yelled at them and slammed his fists down in anger during conversations. They described his communication style as cold, stoic and ineffective, according to complaints filed with the city. In a letter to The Forum, Reitan acknowledged that he does display his emotions, that he has a stoic appearance and that he presents a military bearing because the military was part of my life for 33 years. Despite his military background, Reitan said he had been working to bring empowerment leadership to his department. He said he tried to develop leaders within his force and added a couple of sergeants and a lieutenant so he could delegate power to them. I wasnt in a position that I wanted to make all the decisions, he said. I wanted people within their areas to make decisions. Reitan, who became chief in 2014, said he held one-on-one meetings that year with all his officers and sought their input on the direction of the department. Last year, he held another round of meetings in which he talked with officers about their career goals and future training, he said. Similar to the upheaval at the West Fargo Police Department, Ternes resigned as Fargos chief in 2014 after scores of officers complained that his leadership style created low morale, particularly his handling of discipline. Attempts to reach Ternes by phone were unsuccessful. Under command-and-control leadership, discipline of officers is punitive, leaving them afraid to step out of line, Reynolds said. Under more of an empowered leadership paradigm, we look at discipline as being an opportunity, an opportunity to train, an opportunity to develop, he said. The little things Chief Dave Todd, who replaced Ternes, has given officers who break rules the option of education-based discipline through which they teach their peers to avoid making the same mistakes. Todd said he believes that if officers know their chief cares about them, they will be OK with being held accountable. Todd noted that command-and-control leadership is needed during emergencies. But at other times, its important for a chief to listen to officers and incorporate their input into decision-making, he said. As a leader, youve got to recognize that youre not the smartest person in the room on any given topic, he said. You kind of impart your vision on where you want the department to go, but then you have to be willing to let go. Todd said he hopes the steps hes taken have brought the departments leadership closer to an empowerment model. He said some of those steps have been little things, like wearing his uniform to work every day, getting dressed in the locker room, chatting informally with his officers and sometimes hopping into a squad car to respond to a call. Bumgarner, who spent three years as police chief of Bird Island, Minn., said these sorts of steps are inexpensive, easy ways to boost morale. The mission isn't to be best friends with all of your officers, he said. But you don't want to be their overlord either. FARGO -- When Sophie Hackman, a 13-year-old from Velva, saw a young girl at the bottom of the deep end of the pool at the Holiday Inn in Fargo, she knew something was wrong. It didnt look right. She looked way too young to be in that part of the pool, Hackman said. Hackman said the little girl appeared to be trying to use her toes to bounce off the bottom of the pool but couldnt reach the surface. I just grabbed her when I realized that, said Hackman, one of two teenagers Fargo police credit with possibly saving the little girls life on Saturday, Feb. 18. Fargo police said Sunday they were still investigating the incident, which was reported about 9 p.m. Saturday. The 3-year-old victim was turning blue and clearly in distress when she was pulled from the water, Fargo police Sgt. Mike Sanden said. The toddler vomited and coughed up water after the teenagers pulled her from the pool, Sanden said. He said after the girl, who is from Fargo, was looked at by ambulance workers and the Fargo Fire Department, her parents took her to a hospital to be checked out. It was a busy night at the hotel, and the pool was close to capacity at the time, said Sanden, who said it's likely the two teens saved the 3-year-old from suffering serious harm. Sanden declined to release the names of the teens, who were initially identified Saturday night as being 16 years old, as the case was still under investigation. Hackman, however, said the other teen rescuer was her friend, Lizzy Massine. She said after she pulled the girl out of the water, she asked Massine to find the girls parents and to call for help. We couldnt find the parents, Hackman said, adding that she was relieved and happy when it appeared the little girl would be OK. The toddler, who told the teenagers she was 4 years old, was blue and pale and coughed up water, Hackman said. Im so glad I was there at the right time, said Hackman, who was in town because her brother was competing in the state wrestling tournament that concluded in Fargo on Saturday. Ted Health: what the police believe Was Ted Heath a paedophile? The Mail says its been told that Wiltshire Chief Constable Mike Veale regards the allegations as totally convincing. An unnamed source tells the paper: Mr Veale believes in them 120 per cent and thinks they are totally convincing. What Mr Veale believes is now fact? Not too long ago police on Operation Midland said the words of a man known only as Nick were credible and true. They werent. Whereas once the police response was to undermine the alleged victims credibility they now accept claims at face value. So much for evidence-based police work. The police arrested known faces at the airport as the cameras clicked and the BBC televised police raids on empty homes. The hunt for child abusers began to look like a PR drive to support the police and media, two pillars of society that had let down victims. While were on the matter of moving your organisation to the right side of history, the police once supported laws that made homosexuality a criminal offence. Thats relevant because at the time of his alleged offending, Heath was a confirmed bachelor, a euphemism for what TV light entertainers, the Press and the police in the 1970s termed poofs. Heath was not out and proud. He was very much in, giving organ recitals to his enthusiastic mates. Back then to the source who knows Mr Veales opinions: There are very close similarities in the accounts given by those who have come forward. The same names used for him, the same places and same type of incidents keep coming up. What stands out is that the people giving these accounts are not connected but the stories and the details dovetail. It contains disturbing stuff. Investigators have been shocked by what they have learned. With the coppers thought aired, the media pile in. The Sun (Page 14), thunders: PM TED HEATH WAS A PAEDO. The Cop is 120% certain. Who needs all those barriers to justice, like evidence, proof, courts, charges and lawyers. The copper is more certain than certain can be. The trouble is that the man he knows to have been a paedophile is stubbornly dead. The Sun says Heaths supporters view the police investigation as a witch hunt. Seventeen police work on the matter. Were told that the ex-PMs supporters say he did not have a car. Cops are thought to have proof that he did. This is relevant because one claim is that he picked up a 12-year-old boy and took him to his Mayfair flat. Back in the Mail, we see Heath standing by the drivers door of the Rover 2000 he bought after Margaret Thatcher ousted him as Tory leader in February that year The Mail on Sunday has learned that Wiltshire Police has also obtained photographic evidence of him driving. The Mirror, which featured Nick on its front page, covers the story on Page 4. The report is short. The final line says the police reports, may reignite the case against Sir Edward. Consider the flames lit and the smoke fanned. The Express features the story on Page 2. Tory outrage as police chief claims that Edward Heath was paedophile, runs the headline. Tory grandee Malcolm Rifkind calls the new despicable gossip. He adds: Until you know the facts you no in a position to judge. You cant judge it in a court of law, but you can make a judgement in the court of public opinion. We are free to wonder why 12 years after he played his last note, Heath is in the frame? Are accusations easy when the target is dead? Or is 12 years the time it takes for coppers, editors and politicos who were around at the time of the PMs alleged crimes to retire, succumb to failing memory syndrome and die? Of course, as the adults accused of heinous act wither, their alleged victims mature into adulthood. One argument is that theyre speaking out now because they can. If theyre dismissed because their alleged abusers are dead, the message to deviants is that so long as your victim is much younger than you are by the time they get the confidence to point the finger, youll be polluting the water supply and out of harms way. Which leaves only prejudices and gut feelings. Ted Heath, eh. Always thought he was a wrong un. So lets end with this short extract from the Michael Cockerell documentary Westminsters Secret Service broadcast by the BBC in 1995. Tim Fortescue, a Whip under Edward Heath between 1970 and 1973, told the cameras: Anyone with any sense who was in trouble would come to the Whips and tell them the truth, and say now, Im in a jam, can you help? It might be debt, it might be a scandal involving small boys, or any kind of scandal which a member seemed likely to be mixed up in, theyd come and ask if we could help. And if we could, we did. We would do everything we can because we would store up brownie points. That sounds a pretty nasty reason but one of the reasons is, if we can get a chap out of trouble, hell do as we ask forever more. And Ted? In Churchill to Major: The British Prime Ministership Since 1945, Donald Shell writes: The most significant changes in the role of the whips appear to have taken place during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Heath as chief whip from 1956 to 1959 brought a new professionalism to the job; he was the first holder of that position to routinely attend cabinet meetings,although neither he nor his successors have been full cabinet members. More significant was the way he systematically gathered information about every member of the party, and developed the art of using this to maximum advantage. He was after all responsible for piloting the Conservative party through the Suez crisis and its turbulent aftermath. When Edward Short became Wilsons chief whip in 1964 he found that it had been the practice to keep a dirt book in which unsavoury personal items about members were recorded, and he immediately ordered this to be discontinued. It is probable that such stories arose simply out of the thoroughness with which Heath and his successors had gathered information. Heath himself explained his professionalism: I acted on the principle that the more you know about the people you are speaking for, and the more they know about you and what you are being asked to do, the better. Nuff said. Paul Sorene Posted: 20th, February 2017 | In: Key Posts, Politicians, Reviews, Tabloids Comment | TrackBack | Permalink Fake News: European Union Baroque Orchestra quitting UK over immigration Looking beyond fake news, we turn to the Guardian, which tells us about yet another casualty of the Brexit vote. The headline is to the point: Top orchestra quits Britain over Brexit migration clampdown. The musicians are so worried by looming restrictions on travel they are all moving to Belgium. The Guardian hammers the point home: One of Britains most successful orchestras is moving to Belgium amid fears that its musicians may be among the victims of a post-Brexit crackdown on immigration. One clue that this story might not be as its presented appears in the orchestras name: the European Union Baroque Orchestra. Its been based in Oxfordshire since 1985. The Guardian says the London-based highly influential European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO), could also leave the UK. Marshall Marcus, chief executive of the EUYO, says: For some time we have been forming our plan to be ready to relocate, if and when this becomes necessary. Or indeed simply advantageous. Thats the second clue as to the value of this anti-Brexit story. The orchestra is located in the place where it gets the most advantageous terms inside the EU. So what else do we know about the EU Baroque Orchestra? On its website we learn that its an Official Cultural Ambassador for the EU. Its activities are open to young musicians from all 28 EU member states. EUBO renews its personnel 100% each year. For 28 years, between 1985 and 2013, EUBO was funded annually through various European Commission Culture programmes, most recently and aptly with Operating Grants as a Cultural Ambassador for the EU. Its not about immigration. Its about an orchestra funded by the European Union to promote the EUs activities moving to a country that actually pays for it and is part of the EU. The site continues: Since 2014 a change in the EUs cultural funding policy meant that funding from the EU was only available for projects under the EUs new Creative Europe programme. EUBOs application for Creative Europe funding in 2014 was unsuccessful. EUBO decided to re-apply in September 2015 and managed to maintain a reduced programme of activities during 2014, the unfunded period. EUBOs second and revised application entitled EUBO Mobile Baroque Academy [EMBA] was successful. The project was found to meet the aims and criteria of the Creative Europe programme. The training orchestra EUBO remains at the core of the activities. The project is organised in partnership with nine other organisations across nine EU Member States for the period 2015 to 2018 EUBOs Honorary Patrons are the Culture Ministers of all of the 28 EU Member States. It might well be a pity that a cultural outfit is leaving the UK, but the European Union Baroque Orchestra is not moving to Brussels because the UKs become anti-migrant and anti-foreigner. Maybe the orchestra is moving to be closer to the money? Karen Strike Posted: 20th, February 2017 | In: Broadsheets, Key Posts, News Comment | TrackBack | Permalink (ANSA) Milan, February 20 - Patrizia 'Black Widow' Reggiani on Monday ended a three-year parole at the end of her sentence for ordering the murder of her husband Maurizio Gucci after a Milan judge upheld a prosecutor's request. She has thus become a free woman again. Reggiani, 68, "has paid her debt in full", her lawyers said. Asked if she still maintained her innocence, Reggiani told reporters last week, Yes, I believe so...I trusted the wrong people". In October Reggiani was adjudged to have served out 16 of her 26-year prison term for ordering the murder by a hitman of her fashion-heir husband Gucci, and a custody review tribunal said she should serve the remainder of a three-year parole by continuing to work in a high-end jewellery shop and with the Caritas Catholic charity organisation in Milan. Reggiani was released in September 2013 pending the community service order after spending 16 years in prison thanks to a reduction for good behaviour. The Black Widow left jail on September 16, 2013 for work parole having refused early release after completing half her sentence two years previously, saying she wouldn't know how to work as she had never done so. Maurizio Gucci was shot dead in front of his office in March 1995. Reggiani, soon dubbed The Black Widow because of her heavily laced garb at his funeral and subsequent public appearances, was convicted of ordering the killing and jailed in Milan's San Vittore prison in 1997. When she became eligible for day release if she accepted a job in October 2011, she declined the offer. "I have never worked in my life, and I'm not about to start now" Reggiani told Milan judges. When Reggiani was arrested in January 1997 she was living in the upscale Swiss ski resort St. Moritz and enjoying a life of luxury as the wife of the last Gucci to head the luxury goods firm bearing his name. Maurizio Gucci sold his holding for $170 million to a Bahrain-based investment company in 1993. (ANSA) - Rome, February 20 - Taxi drivers were on strike for the fifth consecutive day across Italy on Monday as part of a protest in response to an amendment that would deregulate the sector enabling a wider use of Uber. Taxi service will continue to be offered to and from hospitals and for the disabled. Taxi unions will meet on Tuesday in Rome, as announced in recent days by Transport Minister Graziano Delrio. A rental car driver in Milan has been reported to the police for threats after pointing a pistol - later found to be a toy - at taxi drivers who had thrown eggs at his car around 4 am. The man was tracked down by police shortly thereafter. In recent days, several Uber drivers have had their vehicles damaged and been targeted by the egg throwing from the taxi drivers on strike. The Naples strike started around 8 am on Monday ahead of the meeting at the transport ministry in the Italian capital on Tuesday. Announcements are posted at the Capodichino airport detailing how to get around the city without taxis. Service will be provided to the disabled, the elderly who require assistance and doctors that have to get to hospitals and healthcare centers, taxi drivers in the city said. Delrio commented by saying that "tomorrow we will look into why there is a situation that has long not been regulated" as concerns taxi drivers, and "come up with a regulation that is finally serious and takes away the temporary nature of the current situation". He added that "guarantees are needed. On the one hand are the rights of citizens and on the other the rights of those who have invested in their business, the taxi drivers". TUNIS - German chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday began a two-day visit to Algeria, a statement issued by the Algerian president's office reported. The talks between Merkel and President Abdelaziz Bouteflika are expected to involve an exchange of views especially as concerns relations between Algeria and the European Union, as well as on the situation in North Africa, the Sahel and the Middle East. Merkel's visit is also expected to contribute to cooperation, the partnership between the two countries and exchanges between Algeria and Germany, the statement said. She will be meeting with Bouteflika as well as the prime minister and other members of the government. Migration, counterterrorism efforts and economic cooperation will be at the center of the talks. Merkel's visit will be happen at the same time as the 6th session of the Algerian-German Cooperation Commission and a forum of businessmen from the two countries. The chancellor will be on an official visit to Tunis on March 3, Tunisian Union of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA) chief Wided Bouchamamoui announced on Saturday during a meeting with editors from the media. Prime Minister Youssef Chahed had visited Germany on February 13-15. TEHERAN - Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned Turkish ambassador in Tehran Raza Hakan Tekin on Monday over recent anti-Iran remarks by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and the country's President Recep Tayyep Erdogan. IRNA news agency reports. Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia-Pacific Affairs Ebrahim Rahimpour conveyed Iran's complaint to the Turkish ambassador. Earlier today Iran Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi said that Iran considers yesterday's remarks of Turkey's foreign minister in Munich "unconstructive", and believes that nobody is guilty for instability and insecurity in the region but certain regional countries and foreign states. 'Those who wishfully think of returning to their ancient empire and take interventionist, illegal, and illegitimate measures have caused bloodshed in the region,' Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi said. According to IRNA, Cavusoglu in his speech on Sunday accused Iran of 'sectarianism' and promotion of Shi'ism in Iraq and Syria. Countries that support terrorist groups and heighten tensions and instability in the region cannot evade their resposabilities by putting blame on others, Qasemi added. Merkel's visit to Algeria postponed, Bouteflika unwell According to Algerian president's office (ANSAmed) - TUNIS, FEBRUARY 20 - An official visit by German chancellor Angela Merkel to Algiers on Monday and Tuesday was at the last minute postponed due to poor health suffered by Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Bouteflika has a severe case of bronchitis, according to a presidential office statement. ''The Algerian and German authorities have decided to postpone the official visit due to the temporary unavailability of the Algerian president caused by severe bronchitis,'' it said. A later date for the visit has not yet been announced. (ANSAmed). Italians and refugees cook together in Rome's Altrove Restaurant promoted by CIES (ANSAmed) - ROME, FEBRUARY 20 - Italians, refugees and asylum seekers meeting in the kitchen to share their cultures and foster social inclusion is the idea behind the restaurant Altrove. The Rome restaurant was set up as part of an initiative by the non-profit CIES and is ''the end of an educational process'', said the center's Alessandro Bernardini. ''We have an aggregative center called Matemu that is frequented by youths of different origins, including refugees and asylum seekers. We organized a cycle on intercultural gastronomy in order to give the youths the possibility to build up their job prospects.'' The course, entitled "Materchef", makes fun of televised cooking shows and has already trained 30 youths and is in the process of training 15 more. For now, Altrove will be open Friday and Saturday at dinner, with menus that try to ''tell stories'', with seasonal and organic ingredients provided by cooperatives including the anti-mafia Libera. ''We do not have a commercial aim. The work focuses on the possibility of inserting these people into the social fabric,'' Bernardini said. ''All of them have contracts and work permits. We hope that others take this as an example to create things that are of quality and that ensure respect for workers.'' (ANSAmed). ISTANBUL - A trial began on Monday in Turkey's southwestern city of Mugla against 47 people accused of trying to kill President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in an attack on the Mamaris hotel on the Aegean coast. Erdogan had been on holiday there with his family when the attack took place as part of an attempted coup on July 15, 2016. The 47 defendants may be sentenced to life in prison. Erdogan escaped the raid by only a few minutes but two policemen were killed. The defendants are accused of crimes against the state and constitution and 37 of them are former soldiers who were discharged after the attempted coup. The hearing iwas held amid tight security while a protest took place against the network under imam-in-exile Fethullah Gulen, allegedly behind the coup attempt. Gulen has denied the accusations by the Turkish government. CAIRO - A ''convoy'' of cars including Libyan prime minister Fayez Al-Serraj was targetted by shooting in Tripoli that injured two bodyguards, ANSA was told by a source from the Libyan government on Monday. Earlier reports had come out from Arab media outlets including Al Jazeera and Skynews Arabiya. The perpetrators and motives are unknown. ''We can confirm that two bodyguards have been injured in an incident in Tripoli near the Al-Khadra hospital this afternoon n which the Prime Minister Serraj's convoy was involved. We are investigating the incident,'' the source said. Skynews Arabiya reported that Serraj and the chairman of the High Council of State Abdulrahman Asswehly had escaped an assassination attempt and that their convoy had been targeted by intense shooting near the Rixos Hotel as they were passing in front of the High Council of State and the presidential residences in front of the hotel. Al Jazeera reported that Serraj has escaped shooting that had targeted his convoy on the way out of a ceremony. A Tripoli town councillor, Ahmed Wali, told ANSA that the convoy had instead by chance found itself in the middle of clashes between criminals. Later in the day a press release by the Presidential Council confirmed the attack but denied that two bodyguards were injured. A state Senate committee initiated a move to dissolve North Dakota's tobacco prevention and control agency. The House Senate Appropriations Committee voted 11-3 on Friday to give Senate Bill 2024 a do-pass recommendation. The bill would phase out the North Dakota Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control Policy, or BreatheND, by the end of the biennium and shift tobacco settlement funds to the state Health Department. Sen. Ray Holmberg, R-Grand Forks, chairman of the Senate Appropriations committee, said the bill received a party-line vote, with the three Democrats on the committee voting against it. Holmberg said the bill could come up on the Senate floor as early as Tuesday or Wednesday. Former Gov. Jack Dalyrmple recommended the agency be eliminated in his final budget address in December. Gov. Doug Burgum also did not include funding for BreatheND in his budget proposal. Jeanne Prom, executive director of BreatheND, expressed concern that eliminating the agency could undo the work it already has done, which includes cutting youth smoking rates in half since the agency's inception. This is a real big step backwards in public health," Prom said. BreatheND was created in 2008 after North Dakota voters approved a measure to use a percentage of the states tobacco settlement fund part of an agreement states reached with big tobacco companies in 1998 for a comprehensive tobacco prevention program. The agency uses about 20 percent of the tobacco settlement for a prevention program. "Even in these economic times that we have in our state right now, theres still ample tobacco settlement money to be used for a comprehensive program without a dime of taxpayers money, without a dime from the state general fund. And yet (legislators are) ignoring the vote of the people an initiated measure that created this comprehensive program," Prom said. The state could save money by eliminating BreatheND, thus creating only one agency, the Health Department, that would focus on tobacco prevention, according to Holmberg, who noted the agency's current costs included "some of the highest salaries in the state" for its eight employees. "Some people could look at that and say, you know, maybe the Health Department could do it a little cheaper," Holmberg said. Prom said her salary and her employees' salaries are set by the Office of Management and Budget and are within the permitted ranges. She also said many of her employees have upward of 35 years of experience. Two Democrats who voted against the bill in committee pointed to the BreatheND's track record in reducing smoking rates. BreatheND has been a complete success story, it has worked; its one of the best programs in the country, and, to me, its a mistake that were not getting behind it and supporting it and keeping it in place," said Sen. Larry Robinson, D-Valley City. The bottom line is, the Health Department is going to be loaded implementing medical marijuana, and to take this on on top of it is clearly a step in the wrong direction," Robinson said. Merkel visits Algeria to discuss migration and terrorism Cooperation and Algiers-EU relations also on agenda (ANSAmed) - TUNIS, FEBRUARY 20 - German chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday began a two-day visit to Algeria, a statement issued by the Algerian president's office reported. The talks between Merkel and President Abdelaziz Bouteflika are expected to involve an exchange of views especially as concerns relations between Algeria and the European Union, as well as on the situation in North Africa, the Sahel and the Middle East. Merkel's visit is also expected to contribute to cooperation, the partnership between the two countries and exchanges between Algeria and Germany, the statement said. She will be meeting with Bouteflika as well as the prime minister and other members of the government. Migration, counterterrorism efforts and economic cooperation will be at the center of the talks. Merkel's visit will be happen at the same time as the 6th session of the Algerian-German Cooperation Commission and a forum of businessmen from the two countries. The chancellor will be on an official visit to Tunis on March 3, Tunisian Union of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA) chief Wided Bouchamamoui announced on Saturday during a meeting with editors from the media. Prime Minister Youssef Chahed had visited Germany on February 13-15. (ANSAmed). (ANSAmed) - TUNIS, FEBRUARY 20 - An official visit by German chancellor Angela Merkel to Algiers on Monday and Tuesday was at the last minute postponed due to poor health suffered by Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Bouteflika has a severe case of bronchitis, according to a presidential office statement. ''The Algerian and German authorities have decided to postpone the official visit due to the temporary unavailability of the Algerian president caused by severe bronchitis,'' it said. A later date for the visit has not yet been announced. (ANSAmed). remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. The contract being negotiated is for three years. No timeframes have been revealed although, should the contract be finalised, it will be Iran Aseman's first B737NextGen aircraft. At present, it operates three A320-200s, one A340-300, six ATR72-200/500s, three B727-200s, two B737-400s, and nineteen Fokker 100s. The first of six scheduled Boeing 787 C-checks begins this month, with the last one planned for October 2017. The airline is also planning a number of product and reliability improvement modifications to systems and components during these heavy maintenance checks. Jeff Wilkinson, chief executive officer, Etihad Airways Engineering, said: We are pleased to support Kenya Airways in optimising its fleet performance and building its technical know-how through our expanding Boeing 787 heavy maintenance capabilities. Martyn Haines, Kenya Airways technical director, said: We will use this opportunity to upscale and retool some of our technical department, who will be onsite to provide oversight of all work being done. The agreement also opens up other collaborative opportunities including training programmes. We have an ongoing maintenance programme of small and large checks across our other fleets, with all of these scheduled for completion within our maintenance facility. Etihad Airways Engineering is the largest commercial aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services provider in the Middle East and has served more than 100 airlines and aviation operators from around the world. The company was named MRO Service Provider of the Year - Middle East at the 2016 Aviation Business Awards. With two decades of regional experience under its belt, the company is now expanding operations to help strengthen the industrial capabilities of the Middle Easts defence and aerospace industry. Its planning to accelerate its growth through partnerships and collaboration with regional entities. During 2017, we plan to double the business development team working out of our regional headquarters in Dubai and our offices in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, said Claude Alber, vice president and managing director, Europe, Middle East and Africa for Rockwell Collins. As the new managing director for the Middle East, Turkey and North Africa, Talel Kamel is now responsible for leading and developing the companys commercial and government systems business interests in the region. Kamel, who has previously worked at Airbus and Strata, joined Rockwell Collins in 2013 as a Government Systems Principal sales account manager for the companys International and Service Solutions (I&SS) business. Bernard Bouillaud is now sales director for the Middle East and Africa leading a new team dedicated to the defence market and based in the Middle East. Bouillaud moves up from being strategy director for the Middle East, Turkey and North Africa Were fulfilling our strategy to strengthen and build new relationships in this region by putting the right resources where our customers need them," said Alber. Bernard Bouillaud, sales director for the Middle East and Africa Being awarded a new contract for British Airways to supply inflight catering to their London flights, at the end of last year, for an initial period of three and a half years, is just one among them. Oman Air Catering Services recently won the contract with Royal Flight of Oman for three years. With a focus on quality and increased efficiency, Oman Air Catering Services division now offers services to 12 airlines worldwide (including its two newest contracts). The Catering Services division has grown from strength to strength and has the capability to produce in excess of 18,000 meals a day. In the past year alone Oman Air Catering Services produced an extra one million meals, increasing productivity without compromising on quality. Oman Air Catering Services operates adjacent to Muscat International Airport in a 10,000 square metre HALAL certified facility. The division employs around 650 staff with 74% of the work force being Omani. Abdulaziz Alraisi, executive vice president, products and brand development said: Despite difficult trading conditions, we are delighted to announce these new contracts. Oman Airs Catering Services division aim to replicate the vision of Oman Air as a whole, focusing on being the best, increasing efficiency and differentiating products and services through enhanced quality. Our talented team is derived from a multicultural array of nationalities which gives us an edge when developing and producing menus for our many international clients. Sener said: 2016 was a challenging year for the aviation sector, both in Turkey and abroad. Security-related concerns had a negative impact on the aviation industry. And yet, TAV achieved to increase the number of passengers served by 2 percent compared to 2015 thanks to its stable portfolio. Our consolidated revenue for the year was EUR 1,092 million, still 1 percent up compared to 2015; mainly thanks to other operating incomes particularly contributed by the newly created businesses. EBITDAR declined by 4 percent, mainly due to high volume of low margin businesses and projects, as well as the change in passenger composition at Ataturk Airport. Meanwhile, the decrease in our net profit compared to 2015 was a result of the increase in leasing amounts paid to the state due to the increase in Euro. All in all, the decrease was also caused by the increased depreciation and leasing amounts, mainly stemming from Milas Bodrum International Terminal, and conversion of deferred tax asset of TAV Tunisia. For 2017, the Board of Directors has resolved to submit a dividend of TRY 248 million to the approval of the General Assembly. Whilst this amount corresponds to a payout of 50 percent, which is the general approach; it is also a clear indicator of our smart growth policy that balances the growth with the dividends. I find the social benefits that we create for our country, employees and clients as a company as equally important as our profitability. This year, we paid around TRY 1.5 billion to the state in the form of leasing amount, taxes and social security payments. In 2016, 23 percent of our combined revenue resulted from our international operations. Furthermore, TAV invested EUR 108 million to increase passenger comfort and create employment opportunities. In 2017, we expect to see an increase by 4 to 5 percent in total number of passengers, a flat revenue & EBITDAR and a significant increase in net profit. Moreover, capital expenditure of approximately EUR 50 million is expected for 2017. In 2016, TAV commenced works for the construction of new terminal building and runway rehabilitation projects at the Tbilisi Airport in Georgia. In the near future, TAV plans to close the transaction of acquiring 16.67 percent of the shares of Saudi Oger, TAV's concession partner at Madinah Airport, corresponding to half of the selling partners shares. The most important development of the year, on the other hand, was the invitation of our consortium by the Cuban state for exclusive talks to operate Havana Jose Marti and San Antonio de los Banos airports. TAV is eager to start operating Cuban airports. Our best-in-class intellectual capital embodied by our employees is our most important competitive advantage in the growth and expansion of our portfolio in the following periods. I would like to thank all our employees, shareholders, and stakeholders for their unwavering support and trust in the TAV brand. CANBERRA - Australia's Trade Minister will this week lead a delegation of Australian tourism executives on a visit to Beijing and Shanghai to launch the China-Australia Year of Tourism. Australia's Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Steve Ciobo said the week-long visit would also help Aussie business leaders "advance" the burgeoning trade and tourism relationship between the two nations. "I will visit Beijing and Shanghai this week to advance the Australia China trade relationship," Ciobo said in a statement released on Monday. "A delegation of chief executives from the Australian tourism sector will join me. We will meet with senior Chinese business executives and government representatives to build on our already strong tourism links and discuss opportunities for greater two-way investment." Ciobo said one of the primary aims of the visit would be to fast-track the implementation of the "open aviation market air services" agreement signed by the two governments in December last year. "The delegation, including the chief executives of seven Australian airports, will explore opportunities arising from the landmark agreement," Ciobo said. "The arrangement removes all capacity restrictions between Australia and China for airlines of both countries and allows airlines of Australia and China to offer unlimited flights to and from any points in Australia and China, including international airports in regional Australia. "This is the first time China has signed such an agreement with any country." The minister said the agreement should also result in strong flow-on effects for Australia's growing tourism industry. "China is Australia's most valuable tourism export market, with the potential to be worth more than 13 billion Australian dollars ($10 billion) by 2020," Ciobo's statement said. "Capitalizing on this historic agreement will drive more Chinese tourists to Australia. The more tourists we can get to Australia, the more jobs will be created." YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 20, ARMENPRESS. Lawmaker of the Armenian Parliament Zaruhi Postanjyan announced resigning from the Heritage Party. The MP released a statement on Facebook, saying: Dear Heritage members, the Heritage Partys principle, ideological and program gap with its declared and passed political track is an obvious fact, which led to refusing the principles, ideology and program adopted by the Party. The abovementioned fact has made my membership to the Heritage Party incompatible for realizing political activity. I am informing you that I am terminating my membership to the Heritage party. At the same time, I appreciate the joint work of over 10 years and the path which we have passed together. The Heritage Party decided to take part in the parliamentary election by an alliance, and Zaruhi Postanjyan was against this decision from the beginning. She was in favor of taking part in the election alone, or not taking part at all. YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 20, ARMENPRESS. At this point, Armenias President Serzh Sargsyan sees no reason to record any breakthrough in the negotiations over the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. In that case, maintaining balance of powers between Armenia and Azerbaijan is the only measure of maintaining stability and the fragile peace. During a meeting on February 20 with the operative gathering of Armenias Armed Forces, the President stressed the official Baku is always trying to accuse the Armenian side in attempting to protract the status-quo. This is false. I would like to assure you all, that we really want the issue to be solved, but the reality is that Azerbaijanis propose such solutions which are unacceptable for us, therefore for this reason the issue isnt being solved. When they understand what kind of solution can become reality, then the issue ill be settled. This is why Azerbaijan is always making small and large provocations, in order to escalate the situation in the frontline and in that way remind us and the international community about itself, the President said. The President expressed conviction that the propaganda tricks of Azerbaijan are in vain and doomed to failure. Our stance is the following: the already established ceasefire cannot be changed with a ceasefire establishing with worse conditions. We must negotiate and lay solid foundation for establishing normal interactions and peace between the two peoples. Yes, the conflicting sides must negotiate over peace based on firm, trustworthy, mechanisms subject to inspection. The first right step on this path could have been the faithful implementation of the Vienna and St. Petersburg agreements. However, unfortunately, the Azerbaijani leadership doesnt even wrinkle from assuming commitments in the highest international level and refusing it the next day, he said. The ceasefire must be transformed to peace, however it will never happened as result of unilateral concessions. The President stressed the Armenian side is clearly assessing the situation and doesnt expect unilateral concessions from Azerbaijan. We demand the same, for the Azerbaijani leadership to realize this clear, rather this very simple circumstance. Therefore, we wont spare efforts and vigor for maintaining the balance of powers. We dont have the need of entering an arms race with Azerbaijan. Let Azerbaijan compete with its own ambitions. However, we will surely continue the formation of such capabilities, which will enable organization of effective defense, as well as the capability of massive countermeasures for the possible aggression of the adversary, Sargsyan said. According to him, in the current conditions, the balance of powers is simply irreplaceable for the vitality of the two peoples. Based on this balance, it is possible to negotiation over reconciliation. Attempts of breaking the balance of powers are fraught with the danger of provoking new military operations. STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 20, ARMENPRESS. President of Artsakh (NKR) Bako Sahakyan received on February 20 members of the delegations from France, Germany, Austria, Spain, and the Basque Country consisting of parliamentarians, diplomats, political figures, lawyers, civil society representatives and journalists, who had arrived in Artsakh to carry out an observation mission at the Constitutional Referendum. As Armenpress was informed from the press service of Artsakh Presidents Office, the Head of the State highlighted the importance of the observation mission carried out by foreign delegations from the viewpoints of consistent development of democratic institutions in Artsakh, presenting objective information about Artsakh in various countries and cementing bilateral relations. Issues related to the NKR state-building process, domestic and foreign policies and regional trends were touched upon during the meetings too. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Former Eddy County commissioner Glenn Collier of Artesia was recognized recently by Carlsbad Mayor Dale Janway for his contributions to the community of Carlsbad during his time on the Eddy County Commission. Janway issued a proclamation declaring Friday, Feb. 10, as Glenn Collier Day in Carlsbad in recognition of Colliers 12 years as a commissioner, his service on the New Mexico Association of Counties Board of Directors, and his receipt of the NMACs prestigious Glass Flame Award. We appreciate his support for area industry, including WIPP, potash, agriculture, tourism, and oil and gas, and his responsible stewardship of the county, the proclamation reads. Commissioner Collier has devoted a lifetime of service to all of Eddy County being a special friend to Carlsbad. That is, ancient Greece: The times we are living in have forced us to acknowledge that there is a darkness in humanity. The Greek tragedies, those stories of darkness and obsession and revenge, resonate because were living in dark times and these are dark stories. HUGE Exclusive Interview With DHS Insider! http://victuruslibertas.com VL has been fortunate enough to work with some awesome people! We have loyal and awakened followers who help bring us information, and we also have trusted insiders, whistleblowers and leakers who trust us enough to give us information, too. Today, we have an exclusive interview with a special DHS insider who has answered some critical questions we have on PizzaGate. Our insider prefers to call it PedoGate and what he told us blew our minds! VL has been fortunate enough to work with some awesome people! We have loyal and awakened followers who help bring us information, and we also have trusted insiders, whistleblowers and leakers who trust us enough to give us information, too. Today, we have an exclusive interview with a special DHS insider who has answered some critical questions we have on PizzaGate. Our insider prefers to call itand what he told us blew our minds! We are so fortunate that members of the Intel community like our work and feel they can trust us. We have been trying to get to the bottom of PizzaGate for months and the answers we got from our DHS insider stunned and shocked us. Here we go! A. In my 34 years of Governmental service, I have never seen anything like it. Its the bifurcation of the entire intelligence apparatus. A. There are many Trump supporters within the FBI. The CIA, however, is against Trump because Trump threatens to ruin their game in the middle east . A. CIA and Mossad work in tandem with British intel. The goal for the CIA was to replace Assad with a puppet and to topple Iran so we could access their oil. Israel works closely with its sister, Saudi Arabia, to help this dark cause. Q. So it seems like the intel community has it in for Trump. How can he protect himself? A. Trump has a tremendous opportunity here, but needs to circle wagons. The travel ban included 7 countries chosen by both Jared Kushner and Rudy. Why did it not include Saudi Arabia, or Pakistan, or Turkey or other countries that hate us? The seven nations mentioned were chosen by Israel, thats why. And the unspoken alliance of Israel and Saudi Arabia should be exposed. They are brother and sister. Jared Kushner needs to be careful with what he says and to whom. But, the biggest thing Trump can do is expose PedoGate via Sessions. Big names will go down hard, and it gets the blood suckers drained from the swamp. There are as many pedophiles on the Republican side as there is with democrats, but Trump is in a unique position to truly clean up Dodge, so to speak. I can tell you that what is in Anthony Weiners hard drive, and what videos exist via Jeffery Epstein, WILL BRING massive arrests in time. Trumps legacy could be truly great if he was to purge the CIA, stop the extortion, prosecute the pedophiles and reinstate the death penalty for pedos convicted a second time. Pedogate is his path to greatness. A. The CIA and Israel are responsible for the creation of Isis. Isis was created specifically to weaken Iran and destabilize Syria. It worked for awhile until Putin shored up Assad and bolstered Iranian Qud forces. The real reason you see such anti-Russian fever from both Schumer and McCain, Graham and Feinstein, is because the operation has blown up in our faces. A. Yes. Israeli intelligence is furious with Trump, and will do anything to keep Trump from working with Putin. Understand that if Trump and Putin work together to defeat Isis, they are actually defeating a CIA/Mossad creation , and furthermore, Syria and Iran grow stronger, which the Saudis and the Israelis fear. Their goal was to divide Syria and ultimately destroy Irans regime. It is not just an oil grab, but a much bigger attempt at moving the chess pieces to allow Israel and Saudi Arabia to dominate the entire Middle East. A. The Deep State is at war with both Trump and Putin. Understand that when Israeli intelligence hears America first from Trump, they go apeshit. Israel has bribed, extorted and intimidated our politicians for decades and suddenly this upstart billionaire threatens to ruin everything. A. PedoGate is only a modern term associated with a long history of Pedo-blackmail connected to both Israel and the Intel community. There is a full court press to stop PedoGate from being looked at because if people knew the true motives behind the pedophilia epidemic, they would do more than march on Washington. They could actually seed a revolution, with the spark coming from decent American parents who want to protect their kids. Our politicians are compromised. The senior analyst nicknamed FBI Anon alluded to this in his exchange with folks on 4chan and with you. A. Do you notice 2 central themes running through the MSM lately? Those themes are Fear the Russians and #PizzaGate is fake news. Both tropes come from the same place. A. How do we exert power? Via fear. Do you ever wonder why both Democrats and Republicans fall all over themselves to kiss up to Israel? Odd, since Israel is the size of Rhode Island The fact is, many of our politicians on both sides have been compromised by CIA and Mossad for years. Its actually not admiration they are expressing for Israel, but fear. Notice Lindsay Graham and Chuck Schumer repeating the same salute when it comes to Israel. How does that even happen? The American people are finally seeing that there is no two-party system, but one big shadow Government pretending we have political dichotomy. A. Let me explain how threatening PedoGate is Who wins? Trump. Putin. Americans. Russians. The world. Who loses? Israel, since they no longer can blackmail our politicians, the same goes for the CIA. The Shadow Government loses. But, the people win. Q. Can you give me specific instances of politicians being compromised by Israel? A. Sure. Lolita Island. Jeffery Epstein, a billionaire convicted of pedophilia received a soft sentence. His island was rigged with video recorders. Many politicians have been compromised. It was a Mossad/CIA operation. Contact ex-senior CIA CCS, Robert David Steele. Bob knows and has even spoken about this with numerous reporters. Q. So an ex-CIA senior agent named Robert Steele is on record saying Epsteins island was a honey trap to lure our most powerful politicians into a extortion scheme? A. Yes. There are videos of some of the most powerful players in the most humiliating positions. If this gets out, not only are the politicians ruined, but the extortion game is over and suddenly, the influence CIA and Mossad wield over Washington, is gone. A. Yes. lets continue this conversation later. Q. So I checked out Robert David Steele, and he mentions Chuck Schumer being on Lolita Island. So does FBI anon. Is that why Schumer is targeting Trumps cabinet picks? A. Connect the dots. A. One in three, roughly. Its not just the Island, its all of their activities. The reason #Pedogate terrifies the media, the CIA, the Israel Lobby, is because they are all part of this shadow swamp Q. Former CIA agent, Robert Steele, says Mossad operated Lolita Island and CIA worked with them. Thats treason on all levels. A. Yes, and its espionage. Just as these leaks from the intel community regarding Flynn. I expect that at some later moment, Trump will leak some of these videos A. No, But the Intel community has them, and Trump has strong support among certain players in the community. Trump has said he wants to throw a spotlight on the cockroaches. Q. But Trump just met with Netanyahu and pledged the usual unbreakable bond with Israel. A. Theatre. Netanyahu is desperate to both play Trump into attacking Syria,and hate Putin, and to convince him PedoGate is a conspiracy theory. Q. That is what Robert Steele says, as well. So, exposing the Pedophiles diminishes Israels influence in American politics and also changes the map in a critical mass way? A. The same media screaming The Russians are coming is the same media who says Pizzagate is fake news Thats CIA and Mossad talking points. A. Facebook and CIA are literally the same petri-dish. Google became a Deep State organ courtesy of Eric Schmidt. A. There are videos of WJC that would destroy him. FBI anon leaked weeks ago, on purpose. There was a reason. A . FBI anon did a bank shot. Thats a pool hall term we use. Ask Bob about it. FBI Anon rattled their cages as other DHS and local authorities rounded up all sorts of street-level human traffickers. The big arrests will come in time, but first the small fish are interrogated, and provide information that leads to larger fish. FBI Anon was firing a shot across the bow, much like you shake a beehive to infuriate the bees. Notice how blatantly hostile McCain, Schumer, Graham, and others are? It was what we call a targeted trigger. It worked. By long-kniving Flynn, they exposed their hand. Now, Trump has full executive powers to investigate the CIA and Mossad. Notice how there is sound and fury about Russian influence and utter silence on Mossad influence in our power structure? When FBI anon leaked in early July, the whole idea was to expose the Clinton Foundation,and to hint at the sale of people i.e. Pedogate. Look back at his exchange on 4chan. He is a gifted analyst, and knows just what stone to throw at Goliaths noggin. By triggering the shadow Government, he helps citizen journalists ask the right questions and follow the right breadcrumbs, not the rabbit holes the Elite scum want you to follow. Now, PedoGate victims are speaking out on their experiences! You just had a story on some lady who went through having her family abused by California-Deep-State-sponsored terrorism. If folks knew that CPS in California is tied into a huge racket that kidnaps children from parents, they would realize just how sick this is. Foster homes, CPS, etc all get paid well to jail parents and then snatch their kids away . These kids suffer abuse, and perpetuate the growing cancer called pedogate. Politicians who have pedophile tendencies are groomed for power, because they can be later extorted and controlled. Meanwhile, victims have no voice- until now. Suddenly, we have citizen journalism, and it will end up saving the people, in the end. I have to go, but please contact Robert David Steele, the former CIA agent we discussed. I am sure he would appear on your channel. You are providing a real service to the people and we hope you will continue to speak up for the regular folks who are concerned, rightfully, as to the state of our nation. Take care Former CIA Agent Gives VL Inside Info on #UNRIG VL EXCLUSIVE A man we have been following, personally, for years now, who we consider to be brilliant, honest and a leader in this country Robert David Steele, just talked to us about pedo-gate, Comet Ping Pong, the NSA, the FBI, the CIA, Zionism, the Rothchilds, Soros, 9/11, the electoral reform, the shadow government, and his thoughts on President Trump and what he needs to do to be the greatest President in modern history! Thank you to Victurus Libertas Blog , two recent intel updates posted below.***********************************************************************************************************He asks us to light up the internet urging President Trump to NOT choose a National Security Advisor, but instead meet with Robert David Steele to set an Electoral Reform #UNRIG Visit Roberts website at:See theDonations advancing public intelligence:See Mr. Steeles reviews on various recommended booksOf particular interest wsa the role of Wikileaks, Vault 7, and the role of, a former Deputy Director of the CIA and expert cryptographer.Evidently Mr. Clarke and his protege, a musician, and a leading linux visionary created Cicada 3301 with the idea of it being a vehicle to expose the Deep State and ensure personal privacy. The protege created the concept and Clarke and the tech pioneer assembled a team to create the ciphers.Wikileaks has created a cryptic series of clues on Vault 7 that was inspired by Cicada 3301.Mr. Steele has created a memo for President Trump and we ask that you include #UNRIG and #ItsTime if you plan to post this video.We are in a civil war folks, and our freedom and values are at risk. The #America February 19, 2017Ascensionwithearth.comIt's great to be back! Had a wonderful time exploring Argentina. Such a beautiful country, great food, and wonderful people.First few days was spent in Buenos Aires exploring the city and eating great food. Found out on the city tour that the Dark Nobility families have made their mark in the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina. Just like the Vatican, London, Washington, D.C., France, Turkey, Egypt, you can add Buenos Aires as a place where the Illuminati families have marked their claim. So what do these cities have in common? A monument known as the Obelisk, here is a picture taken of the Obelisk that I came upon in the city tour.Further research shows that hundreds of these Obelisk monuments have been commissioned to be built over the last few hundred years all over the world. A comprehensive list of Obelisk monuments with pictures can be seen at this Obelisk Wikipedia page After a couple days in Buenos Aires, we headed to Iguazu National Park. This was my favorite destination in Argentina. Imagine a setting in the movie Avatar or Lord of the Rings movies, and that does not even come close to what Mother Earth has created at Iguazu. We spent the whole day trekking through the pathways around the park watching the most magnificent display of waterfalls on Earth. Absolutely breathtaking! Here are some pictures that hopefully show how amazing this place actually is. I highly recommend a visit to this place as a bucket list item. I was surprised I had never heard of the Iguazu Waterfalls until we started planning our vacation a few months ago. Here is some additional information of the Iguazu Waterfalls Our next stop in our Argentina adventure was to small town called El Calafate . Known for its incredible glaciers and mountain trekking excursions. We were actually only a few hundred miles away from Antarctica and had some day dreaming of going on my own expedition to uncover the ancient civilizations lurking beneath the ice. LOL! Maybe next time! We got to trek and explore a famous glacier called the Perito Moreno Glacier. Drank water directly from the glacier and ended our tour with 8 year old whiskey and 350 year old glacier ice cubes. It was fun and exciting to experience such an amazing landscape surrounded by mountains, forests, lakes, and glaciers.Argentina was amazing and there was so much more we wanted to do and explore in this amazing country. We hope to go back sometime in the future. Thank you Argentina!Arrived in South Florida, United States, this weekend and was welcomed to a massive chemtrail operation taking place across the skies. How sad! Literally saw over a dozen chemtrails over south Florida the day I arrived home. Apparently the dark cabal is in still control of our airways and has the continued funding to keep these operations active. I have had a source tell me on a private call that chemtrails are being used to block out the Sun as well as an attempt to block out the second sun, which others are calling Nibiru or Planet X.Not sure how much I missed in alternative news as I have not read much since I was out in nature most of the time. Very refreshing to step away from the daily dramas unfolding around the world in both the alternative media and main stream publications. I highly recommend others who are tired/frustrated/depressed of the rumors and daily news to step away from the internet and reconnect with nature, even if it is for one whole day with out your phone, computer, TV.I will continue posting when I get a moment these coming days. Trying to settle in and catch back up on news, work, and life within the 3D matrix.Good to be back!~enerchiascensionwithearth.com 'The family members of both the women have snapped the ties with them,' police said. Mathura: Two women in Mahaban tehsil of the district have left their homes "fearing danger to their lives" after they decided to enter into a live-in relationship. Sonia, 21, who returned from her in-laws' place soon after her marriage seven years back, left with Rina, 20, who was a student at the former's tailoring school in Anauda village. They left their homes yesterday after they failed to convince their parents on their decision to get "married". "Finding it difficult to persuade the parents, we called police for help," Sonia said. "First, we tried to persuade them to change their decision. However, finding them firm, their parents were called at the police station," SHO Anil Kumar said. "The family members of both the women have snapped the ties with them. The women have left for unknown place to stay in a live-in relationship," Deputy SP Sanjai Kumar said. He said legally they can be in a 'live-in relationship', as per a judgment of the Supreme Court. Before leaving the police station, Sonia said they now would stay at an unknown place as they "fear danger to their lives from their relatives". 'If BJP does not win (in UP), I would like to know if Prime Minister Modi will step down from his position,' SP spokesman said. New Delhi: Samajwadi Party spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary courted controversy by branding Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah as 'terrorists', adding that they are trying to mislead voters in Uttar Pradesh to gather support for the party. Speaking to the press on Sunday, Chaudhary stated that misleading voters is a political crime, a crime which is being committed by Shah and Prime Minister Modi, adding that the two 'magicians' from Gujarat are trying their level best to change the face of politics in UP. "The people of UP will not disrespect politics at any cost. Nobody should take UP voters for granted; they know everything about politics," claimed Chaudhary. The UP assembly polls has turned into a battleground of words, added Chaudhary, further claiming that the State has seen a wave of development under Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, adding that Prime Minister Modi's blame-game has no base. "Our Prime Minister feels that holding a top position nationally has a lot of impact on states. This is not true. I feel he has no regrets in lying," added Chaudhary. Speaking of communal harmony, Chaudhary assured that UP is a state that has always been free from religious divide, adding that the public is well aware of BJP's agenda. "UP locals very well understand the BJP ideology and will not fall for it. There is no place for Hindu-Muslim clashes in UP," explained Chaudhary, adding that it would be a miracle if BJP gets even a few seats in the assembly. Results of the assembly polls will be declared on March 11, 2017. To this effect, Chaudhary questioned Modi on his intentions post this. "If BJP does not win, I would like to know if Prime Minister Modi will step down from his position," concluded Chaudhary. Earlier today, the Congress decided to file a complaint against Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his controversial remarks made during his rally in Fatehpur district in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday. The secretary of the Legal and Human Rights Department of the Congress party K.C. Mittal confirmed the development to ANI, stating that a complaint will be filed over the Prime Minister's 'deplorable' statement during his address. According to news agency reports, Saeed, the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief, is currently under house arrest in Pakistan. New Delhi: Reacting to the listing of terrorist Hafiz Saeed under the Anti-Terrorism Act in Pakistan by authorities there, India on Monday said action against him is a logical first step in bringing him to justice. New Delhi seems to be waiting and watching whether Pakistan this time is really serious about action against Saeed or whether Islamabad is once again trying to deceive the world. Foreign policy watchers believe that American pressure on Islamabad to act against terrorists sponsored for long by the Pakistan Army seems to be bearing fruit despite suspicions that Pakistan is only carrying out symbolic acts to relieve the pressure on its dubious record. Islamabad is running scared that the new Trump Administration will ban Pakistani citizens from entering the country. Nevertheless, there is a possibility that India and Pakistan could move closer once again to resuming the composite dialogue and peace process if New Delhi is convinced that the Nawaz Sharif Government is taking firm action against terrorists like Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar. Hafiz Saeed is an international terrorist, the mastermind of Mumbai terrorist attack and responsible for unleashing wave of terrorism against Pakistans neighbours through LeT/ JuD and their affiliates. Effective action mandated internationally against him and his terrorist organisations and colleagues is a logical first step in bringing them to justice, and in ridding our region of the twin menaces of terrorism and violent extremism, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) said on Monday. According to news agency reports, Saeed, the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief, is currently under house arrest in Pakistan. In a statement, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) said, Jaishankar, foreign secretary of India, visited Lanka from Feb. 18-20, 2017 New Delhi: In a clear message to Sri Lankan Tamils that India had not forgotten their interests, foreign secretary S. Jaishankar met prominent Sri Lankan Tamil politicians during his three-day visit to the island nation that concluded on Monday. But New Delhi also announced it would donate eight water bowsers and 100 metric tonnes of rice as immediate assistance in view of the drought situation in Sri Lanka. In a statement, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) said, Dr S. Jaishankar, foreign secretary of India, visited Sri Lanka from February 18-20, 2017 for bilateral discussions with Sri Lankan leaders. His visit is part of the continued high-level engagement between the two countries. During his visit, Dr Jaishankar called on Mr Maithripala Sirisena, President of Sri Lanka and Prime Minister, Mr Ranil Wickremesinghe. He also met minister of foreign affairs, Mr Mangala Samaraweera.... Counsel argued that this religious practice is not a discrimination against women. At the outset Justice Misra said the court will have to balance the rights, viz the right of denomination or cult to deny entry to women of particular age and the rights of those women who are excluded claiming right of entry into the temple. New Delhi: The SC on Monday indicated that the issue of allowing entry of women in the age group of 10 to 50 to Sabarimala temple in Kerala will have to be heard by a five-judge Constitution Bench. Giving this indication, a three-judge bench of Justices Dipak Misra Ms R. Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan reserved verdict on a batch of petition seeking a direction to lift the ban on entry of women in the age group of 10 to 50 in Sabarimala temple. It asked counsel for parties to give written submissions within a week on the various issues that are to be adjudicated by a five-judge bench to enable the bench to pass appropriate orders, thereafter. At the outset Justice Misra said the court will have to balance the rights, viz the right of denomination or cult to deny entry to women of particular age and the rights of those women who are excluded claiming right of entry into the temple. Whether the state can change its stand when there is change of government is also an issue to be considered, the bench added. Earlier senior counsel K.K. Venugopal appearing for the Travancore Dewaswom Board justified the regulation/restriction on entry of women in the age group of 10 and 50 years on the ground that the deity Lord Ayyapa is a Naisthik Brahmachari (celebate) and said the 1,000 year old custom and religious practice cannot be interfered with. He said for several centuries, traditionally it has been a practice in the temple located in a forest notified area to restrict the entry of women who are in the age group of 10-50 years as the deity Lord Ayyappa did not want the penance to be disturbed. When the Lord himself says dont allow access to women in the age of 10 and 50, how can the court go into that question. The court will be going great injustice to millions of devotees, if it interferes and will set a precedent which will seriously affect other religious institutions, argued Mr. Venugopal. Counsel argued that this religious practice is not a discrimination against women. In all other Ayyappa temples in Kerala or other parts of the country and abroad, women are allowed entry without any discrimination. He said Article 25 of the Constitution gives the right to the temple to manage its own affairs. He urged the court to refer the matter to a five-judge Constitution Bench as important questions of law relating to Articles 14, 21, 25 and 26 required interpretation, which can be done only by a larger bench. Senior counsel K. Radhakrishnan, submitted that he was appearing for the King of Pandalam, whose foster son was Lord Ayyappa and he should be heard before any order was passed. Counsel for the petitioners submitted that the custom that restricts entry of women violates the right of women to equality and non-discrimination guaranteed under Article 14 and Article 15 and 25 of the Constitution and is not protected by Article 26. Article 14 of the Constitution mandates that the State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or equal protection of laws. Senior counsel Jaideep Gupta, appearing for Kerala government informed the Bench that women of all ages should be allowed entry and worship at Sabarimala Ayyappa temple without any restriction. He said that the Kerala government was sticking to its 2007 stand when it filed an affidavit seeking removal of the ban on entry of women in the age group of 10 and 50. Shivratri is a festival of great significance for Kashmirs Brahmin Hindus called Pandits. Srinagar: The separatist leaders in Kashmir have called off their day-long strike on February 24 as the day coincides with the festival of Maha Shivratri, in much relief to the Pandit community living in the Valley. A spokesman for the alliance of Kashmirs key separatist leaders, which is spearheading what it calls its resistance movement in the Valley, said here on Monday that decision was taken to facilitate a hassle-free Heerath (as Shivratri is known locally). The alliance, which has Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik as its members, had last week issued a new 12-day protest calendar which said that keeping in view three-day strike observed in the previous week, no shutdown will be observed on Friday, February 17. It, however, also said that next day of strike would be Friday, February 24 when peaceful protests will be held across the Valley. It also called for protests and sit-ins by traders, transporters and lawyers for short durations on different days. But after it was pointed out that Shivaratri falls on February 24 and that the alliance should reconsider the strike call for the day, its leaders discussed the issue and decided to withdraw the call. Shivratri is a festival of great significance for Kashmirs Brahmin Hindus called Pandits. In the Valley, it is also known as Heerath which is the corrupt form of hairat, a Persian word meaning utter surprise. The term Heerath was coined during the Pathan rule in Kashmir. The spokesman said, There will be no strike on February 24 so that hassle-free celebrations are held. In fact, it was a local Muslim journalist Majid Hyderi who on February 16 while addressing the alliance leadership through Facebook wrote on his timeline. As a part of the protest calendar, hartal has been called on February 24, Friday. But the day coincides with the Maha Shivaratri, a revered festival of our Pandit brethren. It would be highly appreciated if you reconsider the decision and choose some other day for the strike. Just a humble suggestion! The request was endorsed by many people and Shahid-ul-Islam, the spokesman of the Mirwaiz-led Hurriyat Conference responded by saying Noted and conveyed. However, the alliances decision to call a strike on February 24 without giving a thought to the fact that Shivaratri falls on the same day also evoked criticism within and outside the Valley. The trend, sources said, proves that subversive elements are constantly working on improving the quality of fake notes of new currency notes This is the second seizure by security agencies of counterfeit currency of Rs 2,000 denomination from the same region in the last 10 days. (Representational image) New Delhi: Acting on a specific tip-off from intelligence agencies, the Border Security Force (BSF) has seized Rs 2,000 fake currency notes worth Rs 96,000. This is the second seizure by security agencies of counterfeit currency of Rs 2,000 denomination from the same region in the last 10 days. However, what has baffled investigating agencies is that the quality of the second consignment seized late Sunday evening is even better that the previous one. The trend, sources said, proves that subversive elements are constantly working on improving the quality of fake notes of new currency notes. Both the Intelligence Bureau and the National Investigation Agency have informed the Centre of Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has managed to copy some of the security features of the new Rs 2,000 notes. Swami furnished details of the accounts and further claimed that Chidambaram had been influencing the FM to keep the matter under wraps. New Delhi: Senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Monday took aim at former Finance Minister P Chidambarams son Karti and accused him of holding at least 21 secret foreign bank accounts. According to a report in Indian Express, Swamy has also accused the current Finance Ministry of not taking any action in the matter, despite being provided with the details of the foreign account. He has sought Prime Minister Narendra Modis intervention in the issue. It is shocking that the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate having been provided details of 21 undeclared foreign accounts of Mr Karti Chidambaram and of the companies that he control, have failed to proceed against Mr Karti Chidambaram to its logical end. Mr Karti has also refused to obey three Summon Orders of the Enforcement Directorate, Swamy said in a press release. Swami furnished details of the accounts and further claimed that Chidambaram had been exerting pressure on the Finance Ministry to keep the matter under wraps. These foreign bank accounts were not declared to Income Tax authorities by Karti or his parent Indian companies. These accounts are at various foreign banks like Barclays Bank in Monaco, Metro Bank in UK, Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore, OCBC in Singapore, HSBC in UK, Deutsche Bank in France, UBS in Switzerland, Wells Fargo Bank in California etc, Swamy said. Its easy to find fault with the Prime Minister that he promised of bringing black money from abroad but co-operation of bureaucracy isn't there. It is clear that Congress's 65-70 year rule has placed so many of their people in the bureaucracy, that it is blocked, he said. Caught in the eye of the storm, Karti Chidambaram rubbished the allegation made by Swamy and claimed innocence. Some outrageous claims have been made about me. My filings are up to date and completely in compliance with regulatory/statutory requirements, he tweeted. My companies have made all declarations as required by statutory requirements, he said in another tweet. Congress' KC Mittal said that the Bharatiya Janata Party symbol should be withdrawn and should be derecognized. New Delhi: Branding Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Diwali, Ramzan bhed-bhav" remark as deplorable, Secretary of the Legal and Human Rights Department of the Congress party KC Mittal on Monday appealed to the Election Commission to exercise its constitutional powers and take stern action to ensure that free and fair elections are held. Mittal said that the Bharatiya Janata Party symbol should be withdrawn and should be derecognized. "We will approach the Election Commission that stern action should be taken against the Prime Minister and the BJP. Earlier also we have made number of complains and having requesting of de-recognisation of their symbol. We hope and expect that the EC will ultimately exercise their constitutional powers and ensure that free and fair elections are held. Their symbol should be withdrawal and should be derecognized," he added. He further said that the speech was not only deplorable but it totally violates in the model code of conduct. "Prime Minister talks of shamshaan and kabristan to evoke the religious sentiments of the people. He talks of Dalits, OBC trying to show discrimination; he talks of Diwali and Eid. All that is in what he said is in particular in reference to evoke the feelings of the people and it is clear violation of the court," he added. The Congress is set to file a complaint against Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his controversial remarks made during his rally in Fatehpur district in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday. Prime Minister Modi on Sunday said that no government must discriminate the public on the lines of religion and caste. "Ramzan me bijli athi hai tho Diwali me bhi ani chahiye; Bhedbhav nhi hona chahiye (If there is electricity during Ramadan then it must be available during Diwali too; there shouldn't be any discrimination)," he said. The other statement which seems to have invited the wrath of the Congress was when he said, "Gaon me kabristan banta hai to shamshaan bhi banna chahiye" (If land is given for cemetery in a village, it should be given for cremation ground also). Asserting that the public should not be divided into lines of caste and religion, he further stated that "Sabka sath, sabka vikas" is his government's mantra. Last week, the Congress has asked the Election Commission to take action against Prime Minister Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for hosting a public rally in Uttarakhand without permission. Uttarakhand Congress President Kishore Upadhyay had dispatched a letter to the Election Commission, terming the Prime Minister's 10 February public rally as unauthorised and an open case of model code of conduct violation. In January, the BJP had demanded that the Election Commission freeze the election symbol of Congress alleging that its Vice-President Rahul Gandhi violated the model code of conduct by linking his party symbol "hand" with various religious figures. The slant was in reference to an ad featuring Amitabh Bachchan, wherein the "Wild Ass sanctuary" is shown on behest of Gujarat tourism. Raebareli: Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Samajwadi Party's President Akhilesh Yadav, on Monday, urged superstar Amitabh Bachchan to not do any promotional campaign for Gujarat's 'gadhas'. While campaigning in Raebareli, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said, "I request the century's biggest superstar, please don't do any ad campaigns for Gujarat's gadhas (donkeys)." "What will happen if the donkeys also start getting advertised?" the UP CM asked the audience. The slant was in reference to an ad campaign featuring Amitabh Bachchan, wherein a view of the "Wild Ass sanctuary" near Ahmedabad is provided, in order to promote Gujarat tourism. The 74-year-old veteran actor is also an ambassador to the Gujarat tourism department. In his jibe to the PM and Bharatiya Janata Party, the CM also said, "We will tell the mahanayak (superstar), 'Don't campaign for donkeys'. Have you ever heard of campaigning for donkeys? Gujarat's people are doing campaigns for donkeys... Then they accuse me of working only for kabrastan (graveyards)." The latter part of his comment was in reference to an earlier comment made by Narendra Modi during his campaign at Fatehpur on Sunday. "If a village has a graveyard it should also have a cremation ground. If there's electricity on Ramzan, it should also be there on Diwali. There must be bijli (power) both on Eid and Holi... There should be no discrimination," said the Prime Minister, indicating that the SP government is working in a process solely to boost their minority vote bank. The UP Assembly election are being held in seven different phases and it has so far been reduced to a bitter tussle of defamation. Lucknow: The battle for Uttar Pradesh Assembly election has intensified by manifolds and the comments hurled between the stalwarts of each of the contesting parties testify to that. From mentions of previous scams, to distorting the name of the party to Behenji Sampatti Party to calling out on star endorsers for promoting 'gadhas', the slurs went no-holds-barred. On Monday, Akhilesh Yadav took a dig at PM Modi and veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan. He said: Ek gadhe ka vigyapan aata hai, main iss sadi ke sabse bade mahanayak se kahunga ke ab aap Gujarat ke gadhon ka prachar mat kariye (I would urge the Superstar of the century to stop advertising for donkeys of Gujarat). Bachchan had been the Gujarat tourism ambassador and in that discourse, he recently appeared in an ad campaign that showed the Wild Ass Wildlife Sanctuary. The 'donkey' from Akhilesh drove his point home. Speaking of the discontent among Opposition parties on demonetisation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, struck out at the Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati. "Money started being deposited in banks all of a sudden (after note ban) and (Mayawati) started shouting as why is it only at election time that the account of her brother has been made public...why is it being discussed that Rs 100 crore have been deposited," he said. "Arrey Behenji discussion not because elections are being held but because you have deposited Rs 100 crore after note ban...BSP is no longer Bahujan Samaj Party...bahujan toh Mayawati me simat gaya hai...it is Behenji Sampatti Party now. Those who deposit wealth for themselves, can they solve your problem?" he asked. He further added, "I have said SCAM stood for SP, Congress, Akhilesh and Mayawati...there is a leader who is seeing honesty and service in scam and had said for us scam is 'seva' do you need such service? You have an opportunity in this elections to throw out SCAM from Bundelkhand." While Rahul Gandhi was not mentioned, Modi did not forget to warn Congress. Mein Congress ke logon se kehta hoon: jabaan sambhaal kar rakho, warna mere paas aapki poori janampatri padi hui hai(hold your tongue, I have your entire horoscope)," he said. In retort to the 'behenji' comment Mayawati, in a rally at Sultanpura, said, "Do you know the full name of Modi? It's 'Narendra Damodardas Modi'. Narendra means negative, Damodardas means Dalit and Modi means Man - he is 'Negative Dalit Man', which implies that he is a 'Dalit Virodhi'." The UP Assembly election are being held in seven different phases and the contest for majority in the 403 seat house has thus far been reduced to a bitter tussle of slander and defamation. The Prime Minister yet again reiterated that SCAM stood for SP, Congress, Akhilesh and Mayawati. New Delhi: With the fourth phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections approaching, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday stepped up his aggressive stance and decided to take on both, the BSP and SP. Ridiculing the dalit queen, the Prime Minister, while speaking at a rally in Jalaun, Uttar Pradesh, said, BSP is no longer Bahujan Samaj Party but Behenji Sampatti Party. Those who deposit wealth for themselves can never solve the problems of people, he added. The Prime Minister, who is leading the BJPs campaign for the crucial Uttar Pradesh elections, went on to brand the SP, BSP and Congress as corrupt parties. SP, Congress and BSP are all chips of the same block as they all just work for their own partys benefits, he said, while claiming that the three phases of UP polls have already determined that the BJP will form the next government in UP. He pointed out that when the Centre launched a crusade against black money on November 8 last year, SP, BSP and Congress came together, and were seething as they did not get enough time to stash away their black money. The PM also dragged in Ms Mayawatis brother, saying that after demonetisation, the BSP supremo started shouting as to why it was at election time that the details of her brothers account were made public. Mocking her, Mr Modi said, Behenji this has nothing to do with elections. The problem is that you have deposited Rs 100 crore after note ban. The Prime Minister yet again reiterated that SCAM stood for SP, Congress, Akhilesh and Mayawati. Without naming Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, the Prime Minister said that there is a leader who finds honesty and service in scam. Campaigning for the fourth phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, covering 53 constituencies in 12 districts, including Bundelkhand, ends on Tuesday. Congress president Sonia Gandhis Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituency will be covered in this phase, polling for which will be held on February 23. Today is the U.S. federal holiday known as Washingtons Birthday (not Presidents Daysee item #1). In honor of George Washingtons birthday, here are 5 things you should know about the day set aside for our Americas premier founding father. 1. Although some state and local governments and private businesses refer to today as Presidents Day, the legal public holiday is designated as Washingtons Birthday in section 6103(a) of title 5 of the United States Code. The observance of Washingtons birthday was made official in 1885 when President Chester A. Arthur signed a bill establishing it as a federal holiday. 2. Washington was actually born on February 11, 1732, under the Julian calendar in effect at the time he was born. But his birthday is considered to be February 22 under the Gregorian calendar which was adopted throughout the British Empire in 1752. 3. Because the public holiday is on the third Monday in February, the observance can never again occur on Washingtons actual birthday since the third Monday in February cannot occur any later than February 21. 4. Some sourcesincluding Wikipedia and the U.S. Mintincorrectly claim that President Nixon changed the name of the holiday to Presidents Day to honor all past presidents. While Nixon did issue an executive order making the third Monday in February a public holiday, the claim that he changed the name is a modern myth. Presidents Day was created by marketers who jumped at the opportunity to play up the three-day weekend with sales, and Presidents Day bargains were advertised at stores around the country. 5. Almost every February 22 since 1888 President Washingtons 1796 Farewell Address has been read in the United States Senate. Here is the text of that address: Friends and Citizens: The period for a new election of a citizen to administer the executive government of the United States being not far distant, and the time actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person who is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the public voice, that I should now apprise you of the resolution I have formed, to decline being considered among the number of those out of whom a choice is to be made. I beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice to be assured that this resolution has not been taken without a strict regard to all the considerations appertaining to the relation which binds a dutiful citizen to his country; and that in withdrawing the tender of service, which silence in my situation might imply, I am influenced by no diminution of zeal for your future interest, no deficiency of grateful respect for your past kindness, but am supported by a full conviction that the step is compatible with both. The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in, the office to which your suffrages have twice called me have been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty and to a deference for what appeared to be your desire. I constantly hoped that it would have been much earlier in my power, consistently with motives which I was not at liberty to disregard, to return to that retirement from which I had been reluctantly drawn. The strength of my inclination to do this, previous to the last election, had even led to the preparation of an address to declare it to you; but mature reflection on the then perplexed and critical posture of our affairs with foreign nations, and the unanimous advice of persons entitled to my confidence, impelled me to abandon the idea. I rejoice that the state of your concerns, external as well as internal, no longer renders the pursuit of inclination incompatible with the sentiment of duty or propriety, and am persuaded, whatever partiality may be retained for my services, that, in the present circumstances of our country, you will not disapprove my determination to retire. The impressions with which I first undertook the arduous trust were explained on the proper occasion. In the discharge of this trust, I will only say that I have, with good intentions, contributed towards the organization and administration of the government the best exertions of which a very fallible judgment was capable. Not unconscious in the outset of the inferiority of my qualifications, experience in my own eyes, perhaps still more in the eyes of others, has strengthened the motives to diffidence of myself; and every day the increasing weight of years admonishes me more and more that the shade of retirement is as necessary to me as it will be welcome. Satisfied that if any circumstances have given peculiar value to my services, they were temporary, I have the consolation to believe that, while choice and prudence invite me to quit the political scene, patriotism does not forbid it. In looking forward to the moment which is intended to terminate the career of my public life, my feelings do not permit me to suspend the deep acknowledgment of that debt of gratitude which I owe to my beloved country for the many honors it has conferred upon me; still more for the steadfast confidence with which it has supported me; and for the opportunities I have thence enjoyed of manifesting my inviolable attachment, by services faithful and persevering, though in usefulness unequal to my zeal. If benefits have resulted to our country from these services, let it always be remembered to your praise, and as an instructive example in our annals, that under circumstances in which the passions, agitated in every direction, were liable to mislead, amidst appearances sometimes dubious, vicissitudes of fortune often discouraging, in situations in which not unfrequently want of success has countenanced the spirit of criticism, the constancy of your support was the essential prop of the efforts, and a guarantee of the plans by which they were effected. Profoundly penetrated with this idea, I shall carry it with me to my grave, as a strong incitement to unceasing vows that heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence; that your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual; that the free Constitution, which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained; that its administration in every department may be stamped with wisdom and virtue; that, in fine, the happiness of the people of these States, under the auspices of liberty, may be made complete by so careful a preservation and so prudent a use of this blessing as will acquire to them the glory of recommending it to the applause, the affection, and adoption of every nation which is yet a stranger to it. Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. But a solicitude for your welfare, which cannot end but with my life, and the apprehension of danger, natural to that solicitude, urge me, on an occasion like the present, to offer to your solemn contemplation, and to recommend to your frequent review, some sentiments which are the result of much reflection, of no inconsiderable observation, and which appear to me all-important to the permanency of your felicity as a people. These will be offered to you with the more freedom, as you can only see in them the disinterested warnings of a parting friend, who can possibly have no personal motive to bias his counsel. Nor can I forget, as an encouragement to it, your indulgent reception of my sentiments on a former and not dissimilar occasion. Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of your hearts, no recommendation of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm the attachment. The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee that, from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth; as this is the point in your political fortress against which the batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed, it is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national union to your collective and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts. For this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest. Citizens, by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of American, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles. You have in a common cause fought and triumphed together; the independence and liberty you possess are the work of joint counsels, and joint efforts of common dangers, sufferings, and successes. But these considerations, however powerfully they address themselves to your sensibility, are greatly outweighed by those which apply more immediately to your interest. Here every portion of our country finds the most commanding motives for carefully guarding and preserving the union of the whole. The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the South, protected by the equal laws of a common government, finds in the productions of the latter great additional resources of maritime and commercial enterprise and precious materials of manufacturing industry. The South, in the same intercourse, benefiting by the agency of the North, sees its agriculture grow and its commerce expand. Turning partly into its own channels the seamen of the North, it finds its particular navigation invigorated; and, while it contributes, in different ways, to nourish and increase the general mass of the national navigation, it looks forward to the protection of a maritime strength, to which itself is unequally adapted. The East, in a like intercourse with the West, already finds, and in the progressive improvement of interior communications by land and water, will more and more find a valuable vent for the commodities which it brings from abroad, or manufactures at home. The West derives from the East supplies requisite to its growth and comfort, and, what is perhaps of still greater consequence, it must of necessity owe the secure enjoyment of indispensable outlets for its own productions to the weight, influence, and the future maritime strength of the Atlantic side of the Union, directed by an indissoluble community of interest as one nation. Any other tenure by which the West can hold this essential advantage, whether derived from its own separate strength, or from an apostate and unnatural connection with any foreign power, must be intrinsically precarious. While, then, every part of our country thus feels an immediate and particular interest in union, all the parts combined cannot fail to find in the united mass of means and efforts greater strength, greater resource, proportionably greater security from external danger, a less frequent interruption of their peace by foreign nations; and, what is of inestimable value, they must derive from union an exemption from those broils and wars between themselves, which so frequently afflict neighboring countries not tied together by the same governments, which their own rival ships alone would be sufficient to produce, but which opposite foreign alliances, attachments, and intrigues would stimulate and embitter. Hence, likewise, they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty. In this sense it is that your union ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty, and that the love of the one ought to endear to you the preservation of the other. These considerations speak a persuasive language to every reflecting and virtuous mind, and exhibit the continuance of the Union as a primary object of patriotic desire. Is there a doubt whether a common government can embrace so large a sphere? Let experience solve it. To listen to mere speculation in such a case were criminal. We are authorized to hope that a proper organization of the whole with the auxiliary agency of governments for the respective subdivisions, will afford a happy issue to the experiment. It is well worth a fair and full experiment. With such powerful and obvious motives to union, affecting all parts of our country, while experience shall not have demonstrated its impracticability, there will always be reason to distrust the patriotism of those who in any quarter may endeavor to weaken its bands. In contemplating the causes which may disturb our Union, it occurs as matter of serious concern that any ground should have been furnished for characterizing parties by geographical discriminations, Northern and Southern, Atlantic and Western; whence designing men may endeavor to excite a belief that there is a real difference of local interests and views. One of the expedients of party to acquire influence within particular districts is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts. You cannot shield yourselves too much against the jealousies and heartburnings which spring from these misrepresentations; they tend to render alien to each other those who ought to be bound together by fraternal affection. The inhabitants of our Western country have lately had a useful lesson on this head; they have seen, in the negotiation by the Executive, and in the unanimous ratification by the Senate, of the treaty with Spain, and in the universal satisfaction at that event, throughout the United States, a decisive proof how unfounded were the suspicions propagated among them of a policy in the General Government and in the Atlantic States unfriendly to their interests in regard to the Mississippi; they have been witnesses to the formation of two treaties, that with Great Britain, and that with Spain, which secure to them everything they could desire, in respect to our foreign relations, towards confirming their prosperity. Will it not be their wisdom to rely for the preservation of these advantages on the Union by which they were procured ? Will they not henceforth be deaf to those advisers, if such there are, who would sever them from their brethren and connect them with aliens? To the efficacy and permanency of your Union, a government for the whole is indispensable. No alliance, however strict, between the parts can be an adequate substitute; they must inevitably experience the infractions and interruptions which all alliances in all times have experienced. Sensible of this momentous truth, you have improved upon your first essay, by the adoption of a constitution of government better calculated than your former for an intimate union, and for the efficacious management of your common concerns. This government, the offspring of our own choice, uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full investigation and mature deliberation, completely free in its principles, in the distribution of its powers, uniting security with energy, and containing within itself a provision for its own amendment, has a just claim to your confidence and your support. Respect for its authority, compliance with its laws, acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined by the fundamental maxims of true liberty. The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government. But the Constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government. All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels and modified by mutual interests. However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion. Towards the preservation of your government, and the permanency of your present happy state, it is requisite, not only that you steadily discountenance irregular oppositions to its acknowledged authority, but also that you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its principles, however specious the pretexts. One method of assault may be to effect, in the forms of the Constitution, alterations which will impair the energy of the system, and thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown. In all the changes to which you may be invited, remember that time and habit are at least as necessary to fix the true character of governments as of other human institutions; that experience is the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution of a country; that facility in changes, upon the credit of mere hypothesis and opinion, exposes to perpetual change, from the endless variety of hypothesis and opinion; and remember, especially, that for the efficient management of your common interests, in a country so extensive as ours, a government of as much vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of liberty is indispensable. Liberty itself will find in such a government, with powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian. It is, indeed, little else than a name, where the government is too feeble to withstand the enterprises of faction, to confine each member of the society within the limits prescribed by the laws, and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of person and property. I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the State, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally. This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy. The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty. Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it. It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another. There is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the government and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This within certain limits is probably true; and in governments of a monarchical cast, patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular character, in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose. And there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be by force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume. It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositaries, and constituting each the guardian of the public weal against invasions by the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern; some of them in our country and under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them. If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit, which the use can at any time yield. Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice ? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric? Promote then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened. As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it, avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertion in time of peace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear. The execution of these maxims belongs to your representatives, but it is necessary that public opinion should co-operate. To facilitate to them the performance of their duty, it is essential that you should practically bear in mind that towards the payment of debts there must be revenue; that to have revenue there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant; that the intrinsic embarrassment, inseparable from the selection of the proper objects (which is always a choice of difficulties), ought to be a decisive motive for a candid construction of the conduct of the government in making it, and for a spirit of acquiescence in the measures for obtaining revenue, which the public exigencies may at any time dictate. Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be, that good policy does not equally enjoin it It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and at no distant period, a great nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt that, in the course of time and things, the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary advantages which might be lost by a steady adherence to it ? Can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue ? The experiment, at least, is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human nature. Alas! is it rendered impossible by its vices? In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest. Antipathy in one nation against another disposes each more readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable, when accidental or trifling occasions of dispute occur. Hence, frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed, and bloody contests. The nation, prompted by ill-will and resentment, sometimes impels to war the government, contrary to the best calculations of policy. The government sometimes participates in the national propensity, and adopts through passion what reason would reject; at other times it makes the animosity of the nation subservient to projects of hostility instigated by pride, ambition, and other sinister and pernicious motives. The peace often, sometimes perhaps the liberty, of nations, has been the victim. So likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others which is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions; by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation), facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding, with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation. As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public councils. Such an attachment of a small or weak towards a great and powerful nation dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter. Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government. But that jealousy to be useful must be impartial; else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a defense against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike of another cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots who may resist the intrigues of the favorite are liable to become suspected and odious, while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender their interests. The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop. Europe has a set of primary interests which to us have none; or a very remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves by artificial ties in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities. Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a different course. If we remain one people under an efficient government. the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation; when we may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel. Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation? Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor or caprice? It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world; so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it; for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy. I repeat it, therefore, let those engagements be observed in their genuine sense. But, in my opinion, it is unnecessary and would be unwise to extend them. Taking care always to keep ourselves by suitable establishments on a respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies. Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, are recommended by policy, humanity, and interest. But even our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand; neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences; consulting the natural course of things; diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the streams of commerce, but forcing nothing; establishing (with powers so disposed, in order to give trade a stable course, to define the rights of our merchants, and to enable the government to support them) conventional rules of intercourse, the best that present circumstances and mutual opinion will permit, but temporary, and liable to be from time to time abandoned or varied, as experience and circumstances shall dictate; constantly keeping in view that it is folly in one nation to look for disinterested favors from another; that it must pay with a portion of its independence for whatever it may accept under that character; that, by such acceptance, it may place itself in the condition of having given equivalents for nominal favors, and yet of being reproached with ingratitude for not giving more. There can be no greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation. It is an illusion, which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard. In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression I could wish; that they will control the usual current of the passions, or prevent our nation from running the course which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations. But, if I may even flatter myself that they may be productive of some partial benefit, some occasional good; that they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism; this hope will be a full recompense for the solicitude for your welfare, by which they have been dictated. How far in the discharge of my official duties I have been guided by the principles which have been delineated, the public records and other evidences of my conduct must witness to you and to the world. To myself, the assurance of my own conscience is, that I have at least believed myself to be guided by them. In relation to the still subsisting war in Europe, my proclamation of the twenty-second of April, I793, is the index of my plan. Sanctioned by your approving voice, and by that of your representatives in both houses of Congress, the spirit of that measure has continually governed me, uninfluenced by any attempts to deter or divert me from it. After deliberate examination, with the aid of the best lights I could obtain, I was well satisfied that our country, under all the circumstances of the case, had a right to take, and was bound in duty and interest to take, a neutral position. Having taken it, I determined, as far as should depend upon me, to maintain it, with moderation, perseverance, and firmness. The considerations which respect the right to hold this conduct, it is not necessary on this occasion to detail. I will only observe that, according to my understanding of the matter, that right, so far from being denied by any of the belligerent powers, has been virtually admitted by all. The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be inferred, without anything more, from the obligation which justice and humanity impose on every nation, in cases in which it is free to act, to maintain inviolate the relations of peace and amity towards other nations. The inducements of interest for observing that conduct will best be referred to your own reflections and experience. With me a predominant motive has been to endeavor to gain time to our country to settle and mature its yet recent institutions, and to progress without interruption to that degree of strength and consistency which is necessary to give it, humanly speaking, the command of its own fortunes. Though, in reviewing the incidents of my administration, I am unconscious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall also carry with me the hope that my country will never cease to view them with indulgence; and that, after forty five years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest. Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, and actuated by that fervent love towards it, which is so natural to a man who views in it the native soil of himself and his progenitors for several generations, I anticipate with pleasing expectation that retreat in which I promise myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow-citizens, the benign influence of good laws under a free government, the ever-favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers. Mr Yadav asked filmstar Amitabh Bachchan to stop promoting Gujarats donkeys. New Delhi: Political opponents UP CM Akhilesh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati under attack from their common enemy Prime Minister Narendra Modis barbs returned fire, causing campaigning to reach a fever pitch on Monday. Known for his caustic remarks and subtle humour, Mr Yadav asked filmstar Amitabh Bachchan to stop promoting Gujarats donkeys, in a reference to a tourism promotional advertisement featuring the actor, with several donkeys in the background. Ek gadhe ka vigyapan aata hai. Main iss sadi ke sabse bade mahanayak se kahunge ki ab aap Gujarat ke gadhon ka prachar mat kariye, the SP chief said at a rally in Rae Bareli. Meanwhile, after PM Modi called BSP Behenji Sampatty Party at Orai, Mayawati hit back in Sultanpur and said that the PMs name Narendra Damodardas Modi actually stood for Mr Negative Dalit Man. She said that the PM was unaware that BSP is a movement first and then a party. She claimed to have dedicated her life for making members of dalit, deprived and weaker sections and Muslims stand on their feet. Replying to Mr Modis jibe, she claimed that the dalits consider me as a sampatti (asset) for them. She accused the PM of being perturbed over the rising popularity of the BSP. During his speech, Mr Yadav also attacked the PM for his no electricity jibe, and said, Why dont you swear on the Ganga and tell us...is the SP government giving 24-hour electricity in Varanasi or not? Union minister M. Venkaiah Naidu came out in the PMs support in Delhi and said, He (Akhilesh Yadav) is disturbed. Hence he is using such a language and making such comments. He is insulting the people of Gujarat. I dont know from where this donkey comment came in between. The Muslim vote bank also seems to have split, which, the BJP claims, has been to its benefit. New Delhi: The BJP is upbeat post the third phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh. Saffron poll managers say that the feud in the Samajwadi Partys first family could dent the ruling partys poll prospects in the region, which is also known as the Yadav belt. BJP poll strategists are also of the view that with both the Mayawati-led BSP and the SP-Congress alliance going on a minority overdrive, the non-Yadav OBCs and the upper castes have rallied around the saffron party. And the much talked about reverse consolidation in favour of the BJP is now rapidly taking place, they say. The Muslim vote bank also seems to have split, which, the BJP claims, has been to its benefit. During the last Assembly elections, the SP had bagged 55 of the total 69 Assembly constituencies that went to polls on Sunday. The BJP, which had won just five seats in this region in the 2012 Assembly elections, is confident of winning more than 20 seats this time. Ms Mayawatis BSP had won six and two seats were won by the Congress in the last Assembly elections from here. The 69 seats are spread over 12 districts. Some of the key districts that went to polls in the third phase were Farrukhabad, Hardoi, Kannauj, Mainpuri, Etawah, Kanpur, Lucknow, Unnao, Sitapur and Barabanki. UP main SP ke kaam ke bolne se pehle, gundagardi ne zyada bol diya. Netaji bole the ladke, ladke hain galti ho jati hai. Ab mahilaayen uska jawad dengi (grim law and order situation in the state under the SP rule had had more impact than its work... Mulayam Singh Yadav had opposed capital punishment for rape saying boys will be boys, now women will reply to his remarks and to law and order situation in the state), said BJPs state general secretary, Ashok Katariya. The SPs main slogan for the UP elections is Kaam bolta hai. And the BJP has been highlighting the deteriorating law and order situation in the state and promising parivartan through development and good governance. BJP poll managers claim that even in Mulayam Singhs Yadav home turf, Etawah, the going was tough for many SP candidates. Sidelined by his nephew and chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, Shivpal Yadav contested from the Jaswant Nagar seat. There are reports that ticket distribution and Shivpals supporters, who are miffed with the new SP supremo, played spoilsport for the ruling party in the Yadav belt and in other regions as well. Furthermore, the BJP has gone into a high-octane campaign for the remaining four phases of polling. Strategists say that Prime Minister Narendra Modis popularity remains intact, and that would be the game changer in the coming phases of polling. In the next four phases, Bundelkhand and Poorvanchal will go to polls, including Mr Modis own parliamentary constituency, Varanasi. The BJP hopes that if the current trend of reverse consolidation continues, it would do better than expected in the coming phases. A case has been registered at Baba Haridass Nagar Police Station and a man has been detained for questioning. New Delhi: The body of a 33-year-old man was found inside his house in outer Delhi's Dichaon Kalan village this morning, police said. The highly decomposed body of Bhim Singh, a labourer, was found in the house with hands and legs tied with telephone wire, after the neighbours complained of foul smell from one of the houses in the area, they said. Family members of Singh said that he was missing since February 7. His family earlier used to live in that house and had moved to a new house a few metres away some months back, a senior police officer said. It is suspected that the murder may have been committed by a family member since they knew that Singh was a homosexual and it could have been a matter of family reputation, the officer said. Singh's mobile phone was found lying near his body and the main door of the house was locked form outside, police said. A case has been registered at Baba Haridass Nagar Police Station and a man has been detained for questioning. The body has been sent for post-mortem, they said. "During the probe, we have come across a private number from which Singh had received 24 calls on a single day," an officer said. A case has been registered and the police is on the lookout for the accused. The accused on the pretext of guiding the complainant, led her to an isolated stretch in the adjoining area and committed sexual assault. (Photo: Representational Image) New Delhi: A 24-year-old woman from the Northeast was sexually assaulted near Delhis Hauz Khas Village on the pretext of being dropped home. The victim is a native of Manipur. She is pursuing a language course from an institute in South Delhi. She was out with her cousins and friends on the weekend to visit Hauz Khas Village when the incident happened. After the party, all of the friends dispersed and the woman started walking to her PG accommodation nearby when a youth offered to drop her home. The woman was allegedly taken to the Deer Park area near Hauz Khas around 11.30 pm where she was sexually assaulted on an isolated stretch. She later reached the nearby police post and informed the police about the incident. A case has been registered and the police is on the lookout for the accused. According to the police, a complaint has been received from a woman stating that on Saturday night, after visiting Hauz Khas Village, when she was returning, she was offered a drop home by an unknown person who stated that his vehicle was parked at some distance near Dear Park. The accused on the pretext of guiding the complainant, led her to an isolated stretch in the adjoining area and committed sexual assault. However, private security guards near the Hauz Khas Fort and Deer Park area have also alleged that they did not hear any commotion during the time of the said incident. She somehow managed to wrest free from her attacker and managed to call the police. We have registered a case of rape under IPC Section 376 and a thorough probe has been launched. Efforts are being made to ascertain the identity of the culprit with the help of the local intelligence and electronic surveillance, said a senior police official. We have gathered vital clues in preliminary investigation, the accused will get arrested soon, the police official added. The woman, in the meantime, has undergone medical and counselling sessions. We are in touch with the woman, and she is being provided counselling to help recover from the trauma, the officer added. The woman told police that around 11.30 pm she was offered a drop home by an unknown person. New Delhi: A 24-year-old woman from the northeast was allegedly raped by a man near Delhi's Hauz Khas village, police said on Sunday. The incident happened last night when the woman, who belongs to Manipur, was returning from a party in Hauz Khas village along with her friends and cousins, said a senior police officer. The woman told police that around 11.30 pm she was offered a drop home by an unknown person. He apparently told her that his vehicle was parked at some distance near Deer Park. The accused, thereafter, on the pretext of guiding the woman, led her to an isolated stretch in the adjoining park area and allegedly raped her. The woman somehow managed to escape from the spot and later informed the police. A case under IPC section 376 (rape) has been registered and efforts are being made to ascertain the identity of the accused with the help of local intelligence and electronic surveillance, said the officer. We have gathered vital clues in preliminary investigation and the accused will be nabbed soon, he added. "We are in touch with the woman, and she is being counselled to help her recover from the trauma," the officer said. Nine students of a public school were taken ill after a dead rat was found in the meal served to them. Food safety commissioner Mrinalini Darswal has asked the officials to visit all midday meal kitchens to take stalk of the hygiene and cleanliness standards. (Representational Image) New Delhi: The Delhi government on Monday asked food safety officials to shut down the midday meal kitchens where hygiene is found too lacking. Nine students of a public school were taken ill after a dead rat was found in the meal served to them. The Aam Aadmi Party government is in the eye of the storm, with the BJP and Congress mounting attack on the ruling party after the police said that the students consumed meals supplied by the NGO run by an AAP MLAs father-in-law. Food safety commissioner Mrinalini Darswal has asked the officials to visit all midday meal kitchens to take stalk of the hygiene and cleanliness standards. After inspection, they are directed to fill up the inspection format completely and, if required, improvement notices be issued. If hygiene is found to be too lacking, kitchen may be ordered to shut down, Ms Darswal said. The food safety department has directed all NABL-accredited empanelled private labs to test surveillance samples from midday meal kitchens allotted to them. The samples will have to pass the standards laid down by the governments food safety norms. It has also asked the labs to do microbiological testing of food and cooking water samples. Non-compliance will be viewed seriously, the commissioner said in the Monday order. The government said it will soon launch a mobile application to assist the members of school management committees (SMCs) in their functioning. The SMCs have 16 members, each comprising a teacher, a principal, an MLA, a social activist and 12 parents. Last year, the AAP dispensation had directed the SMCs to ensure a bigger role for parents in the running of schools. The app will help the management bodies to connect with the SMC members and be updated on issues pertaining to the functioning of the schools, a Delhi government official said. Besides SMC members, officials of the directorate of education and other departments concerned will have access to the application. Last year, the AAP dispensation had directed the SMCs to ensure a bigger role for parents in the running of schools. The police teams are also recording statements of witnesses in the case. The police said that they have asked all the restaurants and bars in the Hauz Khas Village area to provide CCTV recordings of their premises between 9.30 pm and 12 am. (Representational image) New Delhi: A day after a 24-year-old student from Manipur was allegedly raped inside Deer Park, the Delhi police claimed to have identified the accused on Monday. Dependra Pathak, special commissioner of police(southwest) and Delhi police spokesperson confirmed the development. The accused has been identified and further investigation is underway, he added. Sources said that the accused resides in a jhuggi in southeast Delhi and when teams were sent to his place of residence, he was not present at home. A senior police official said that they have questioned parking attendants, private security guards of Deer Park, and other shopkeepers in the locality to get additional leads in the case. The police teams are also recording statements of witnesses in the case. The police said that they have asked all the restaurants and bars in the Hauz Khas Village area to provide CCTV recordings of their premises between 9.30 pm and 12 am. On Saturday night, a 24-year-old woman from Manipur was reportedly returning home with a cousin after dinner at a restaurant in Hauz Khas Village, when she was taken to the park by a man who offered to drop her home in his car. The man allegedly raped her in the park and fled. 'People should vote for BJP, which utilises people's money for developmental works,' he said. Mumbai: In an apparent jibe at Shiv Sena, BJP MP Yogi Adityanath on Sunday said voters should save the Mumbai civic body from "those who are involved in various corrupt practices". "Those who used to attack hardworking people from eastern Uttar Pradesh have now changed the tone and are stating that they (Shiv Sena) are the saviours. One must remember that during BJP's regime, no one attacked the innocent people," said the Gorakhpur MP while addressing a rally here. Polls for the 227-member Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation are scheduled on February 21. BJP and Shiv Sena are going solo for this election. "Voters should save BMC from those who are involved in various corrupt practices," he said in an apparent reference to Shiv Sena, which controlled the civic body for over past two decades. "People should vote for BJP, which utilises people's money for developmental works. Late Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray was an architect of the alliance between BJP and Shiv Sena", he said, adding that "voters should teach a lesson to those who have hurt Balasaheb's soul by breaking the alliance". The comic book will have inspirational stories of survivors who triumphed over the dreaded disease The survivor who has written seven other books said that it would be the first comic book on the subject of cancer. (Photo: Neelam Kumar, a cancer survivor and an author is on the verge of getting funds from mega film star Amitabh Bachchan and businessman Ratan Tata, to come out with a comic book, which would share inspirational stories of survivors, who triumphed over the dreaded disease. "I have written seven books. Each book is helping survivors and care-givers. In fact, after the success of my book, Mr Amitabh Bachchan and Mr Ratan Tata - they said they will fund my next two books," she told PTI at Self V, a unique campaign where cancer survivors tell their successful stories of overcoming the disease. "It is going to be the first comic book on cancer, which is due for publication," she said. "Self V" was organised by Pink Hope Cancer Patient Support Group along with HCG (Healthcare Global Enterprises Limited), which is India's largest provider of cancer care, with a network of comprehensive cancer centres spread across the country. "Self V" is a platform where survivors from across the country participate and share their stories of hope and inspiration. Cancer survivors are urged to take a self-video of up to 60 seconds duration, capturing the story of their struggle and conquest over cancer. The videos are then uploaded in Facebook in Self V website for people to watch and get inspired by their survival stories.Neelam thanked cancer for changing her outlook towards the life and making her pen even more stronger, as she is an author of seven books. "I have to thank cancer for coming into life because it completely changed my outlook and my compassion became deeper and my perspective became wider, and since I am a writer my pen became stronger," she said."Why I thank cancer is, because I am a winner. I am a face of victory for many people who are going through it," she said.Neelam said each book that she has written has helped survivors and care-givers.She said she wants her books to get translated into various languages so that the inspirational story of cancer survivor like her reaches to the rural masses. "My aim is to reach out to rural masses. Since I am a writer and an author, I would like my book on cancer to be translated into many Indian languages. Doctors can only cure, but books give hope and happiness," she said.However, translation work requires a lot of fund, she said. Amar Bhaskar, another cancer survivor, said after coming out of the woes of cancer twice, in 2010, he decided to give back to cancer survivors and patients by forming a support group to an organisation.Another cancer survivor, Urmi Sabnis, said she offers memographies on International Women's Day and Mother's Day, at a very nominal rate, in order to spread awareness, telling people cancer could be overcome. This month, at least 22 people were killed and 41 wounded in a suicide blast at Afghanistans Supreme Court in Kabul. Men carry the coffin of a relative who died in a suicide attack on the Supreme Court in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Photo: AP) A series of unfortunate events is fast propelling Afghanistan towards yet another flashpoint. This time, conflicting global interests, uninhibited foreign intervention and a worsening humanitarian crisis could combine to tear Afghanistan apart and open up a maelstrom populated by terrorists, heroin kings and death-dealing warlords. The bells started tolling ever since Pakistan Army guns and rockets opened up along Afghanistans eastern borders over the weekend. As the shelling commenced, in an apparent retaliation to the terrorist carnage at a Sufi shrine in Pakistan, thousands of Afghans fled their homes, leaving uncounted dead behind. Despite repeated warnings from the feeble government in Kabul, the Pakistan Army has continued its shelling into eastern Afghanistan and claimed it had a right to retaliate given Kabuls refusal to act against the terrorists and their foreign masterminds who had carried out the shrine attack. Islamabad also closed the crucial Torkham and Spin Boldak border ports and summoned the Afghan ambassador, who was handed a list of 76 terrorists to target. Pakistan Army chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa threatened military action against the terrorists in Afghan territory, prompting Kabul to declare that no country and no power will be allowed to intervene militarily in Afghanistan. The gathering war clouds are only one part of the gloomy portents. Already, 2017 has been a year of utter mayhem. Horrendous terrorist attacks and the forcible repatriation of thousands of Afghan refugees from Pakistan has made life even worse for Afghanistans suffering millions. In January, a Taliban bomb attack in Kandahar left 11 people, including five diplomats from the United Arab Emirates, dead. The UAE ambassador, injured in that blast, succumbed to his wounds last week. A few days later in the same province, the Taliban gunned down 43 Afghans, including 16 police officers. This month, at least 22 people were killed and 41 wounded in a suicide blast at Afghanistans Supreme Court in Kabul. The fingers all pointed towards Pakistan but the only response Kabul received were denials. Things will get worse this year. A spokesperson for the US-led Resolute Support (RS) mission in Afghanistan last week warned that the war will intensify next fighting season as the Taliban have already started preparing for it. The RS mission believes that 20 out of 98 world terrorist groups are active along the Afghanistan-Pakistan de facto border. Afghan security experts believe Daesh, as the Islamic State is often referred to, will increasingly infiltrate Afghanistan since they are on the verge of being defeated in Syria and Iraq. Pakistan also will provide more support for Taliban to intensify the war in Afghanistan. Four factors are set to complicate matters in Afghanistan, the first of which is increased Pakistani support for the Taliban. As terrorist incidents rise within Pakistan and the Pakistan Army, the guardian of the nation, fails to stop it, there will be increased pressure on Rawalpindi to bring about a quick and decisive resolution of the lingering Afghan problem. The Pakistan Armys only Afghanistan card is the Taliban, which could now be used with greater efficacy given the new dynamics with Russia and increased desperation in Washington. Pakistans decades long effort to legitimise the Taliban received a boost following Russia, China and Irans formal recognition of the Taliban as a party in the Afghan dispute. The Taliban, in turn, supported the trilateral meeting in Moscow between Russia, Pakistan and China, where the three nations agreed to negotiate with the Taliban leadership, which desperately wants to clear itself from the United Nations sanctions list. Recent Russian manoeuvres cosying up to Pakistan and the Taliban could completely upset regional equations. While Moscow claims that accommodation with the Taliban is necessary to counter the rise of Daesh, which could threaten Central Asia and southern Russia, its real motive is to challenge Washingtons writ in the region. At the same time, uncertainties in Washington arising out of President Donald Trumps lack of clarity on Afghanistan and his larger policy aimed at distancing the United States from myriad global crises could further undermine the Kabul regime. It is also far from clear how the Trump administration will deal with Moscows bid to rope in the Taliban, Pakistan, Iran and China to create a powerful, new lobby for Afghanistan. Rahmatullah Nabil, former head of the National Directorate of Security, recently claimed that Pakistan has stepped up its intervention within Afghanistan to show the world, and the US in particular, that it has legitimate security concerns vis-a-vis that country. Nabil claimed that Rawalpindi is trying to show that it is itself vulnerable to terrorist attacks even while it continues to train, arm and fund terrorist groups for its own ends. The Afghan situation is all the more fragile given the ineffectual leadership provided by its President, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai. President Ghani had initially cold-shouldered New Delhi, assuming that such a stance would please the generals in Rawalpindi. That this was naivete in the extreme was proved by the continuing Taliban assaults on regime forces and, in the end, the stream of reports implicating Pakistans generals in the mounting conflict compelled President Ghani to dump his pro-Pakistan policy and reach out to New Delhi. But India is constrained by geography and geopolitical equations even though a flashpoint in Afghanistan cannot but be bad news for India. The Afghan vortex is too near home; it will invariably suck in world powers, render them more proactive and trigger a series of events that could perhaps forever destroy peace in the region. And the pity of it all is that Pakistan, whose unrelenting quest for regional domination has spawned the Afghan tragedy, would once again be cajoled, bribed and rewarded by world powers seeking its assistance in defusing the latest crisis. On Wednesday, February 15, the European Parliament approved the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), a free trade agreement abolishing most trade restrictions between the European Union and Canada. Negotiators hammered out the 1,600-page agreement over the course of seven years before Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and European Council President Donald Tusk signed CETA last October 30. Then, the pact swept through the Strasbourg-based European Parliament by a vote of 408-254 with 33 abstentions last week. What does it do? CETA would eliminate 98 percent of all tariffs on goods and services between the EU and Canada. With 500 million people, the EU is ranked the worlds largest (according to the UN) or second largest economy (according to the World Bank and IMF); Canada, with a population of 36 million, has the worlds 10th largest GDP. Canada and the EU currently engage in $67 billion (U.S., or 63.5 billion) in trade annually. What are the benefits? Supporters estimate the treaty will create jobs while reducing the prices of goods, increasing trade between CETAs parties by 20 percent. EU exporters would save an estimated 500 million ($530 U.S.) a year in tariffs. According to the European Commission website: From day one, Canada will remove customs duties on EU exports worth 400m every year, rising to 500m a year at the end of phase-in periods. This will make Europes exports more competitive on the Canadian market. European firms will also benefit from cheaper parts, components, and other inputs from Canada which they use to make their products. Europe will be able to export nearly 92% of its agricultural and food products to Canada duty-free. What are the drawbacks? The primary opponent of the treaty is Wallonia, the 3.6-million, French-speaking province of Belgium the BBC describes as staunchly socialist. To be approved, all 28 members of the EU must ratify the agreement, and Belgium requires that all provincial governments authorize the federal government to ratify CETA. However, Wallonia vetoed the pact last October, over numerous objections. Both Walloon officials and Marine Le Pen, the populist candidate running for president of France on a platform of smart protectionism, say CETA weakens national sovereignty by granting multinational corporations the power to sue in an international tribunal and overturn democratically enacted laws. The agreement replaces the ad hoc committees that comprise existing investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) arrangements with an Investment Court System (ICS). Companies who believe member nations laws violate the terms of the treaty may appeal to the ICS, a permanent body made up of 15 judges appointed by Canada and the EU. A randomly selected panel of three judges would hear the dispute. CETA also contains an appeals process. Investors have prevailed in 25 percent of ISDS cases, according to the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The European Commission responds that CETA will not affect EU standards that protect peoples health and safety, social rights, their rights as consumers or the environment. Imports from Canada will still have to satisfy all EU product rules and regulations CETA wont change how the EU regulates food safety, including on GMO products or the ban on hormone-treated beef. CETAs opponents also object on job security and environmentalist grounds. For instance, the president-minister of the province, Paul Magnette, asked if it is reasonable to import beef from the other side of the Atlantic when we are at the same time supposed to be fighting global warming. Whats next? Ninety percent of CETA will take effect provisionally. But Magnette tweeted last Wednesday that he will not approve CETA until the provinces conditions are met, including his insistence that the European Court of Justice review and approve the ICS structure. EU officials hope CETA will set the stage for a similar trade pact with Australia. We hope to launch the negotiation with Australia in the second half of the year, Sem Fabrizi, the EUs ambassador to Australia, told The Australian Financial Review. Further, the UK would like to negotiate a post-Brexit free trade agreement with the EU; the successful adoption of CETA will prove to Westminster that such a deal is feasible. Why should Christians care? A free trade agreement between these two mammoth, similarly situated partners has the potential to vastly increase trade, reducing unemployment which is rightly recognized as a spiritual problem. Aside from material considerations, joblessness deprives people of the ability to use their gifts for productive purposes and enjoy a sense of accomplishment. Trade also lowers consumer prices, freeing a greater portion of a workers paycheck for church or philanthropic goals. (Photo credit: Farfur, cropped, CC BY-SA 2.0) Mongolias population is around that of the city of Kanpur, but its land mass equals half of Indias in area. It is hard to see how bilateral relations with Mongolia can be strengthened with the budgetary support for aid for Mongolia for 2017-18 earmarked at a mere Rs 5 crores. This is an amount just about sufficient to buy two or three high-end cars. New Delhi thus risks making a mockery of itself in the eyes of Mongolia, sandwiched between its giant neighbours China and Russia, that has gone out of its way to accord India the privileged third neighbour status at the cost of incurring Beijings displeasure. While Mongolia isnt in the day-to-day consciousness of most Indians, the countrys significant geostrategic dimension can hardly be overlooked. It was to bolster this that Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Ulan Bator in May 2015, becoming the first Indian PM to do so. There is much respect for India in Mongolia as New Delhi was the first country outside the socialist bloc to recognise Mongolia and had supported its entry into the UN. Mongolias population is around that of the city of Kanpur, but its land mass equals half of Indias in area. Besides, the country is super-rich in minerals, including strategic minerals. This is the reason American companies have shown a not inconsiderable interest in Ulan Bator. While we have a line of credit of $1 billion, that amounts to a pledge to spend if Ulan Bator indicates projects. That money is returnable, of course. Indian aid, specially on soft terms, would have had a different ring. The situation needs to be urgently remedied. The new draft also no longer directs authorities to single out - and reject - Syrian refugees when processing new visa applications. President Donald Trump gestures as he holds up a piece of paper on the presidential powers on immigration during a campaign rally at Orlando-Melbourne International Airport, in Melbourne. (Photo: AP) Washington: A draft of President Donald Trump's revised immigration ban targets the same seven countries listed in his original executive order and exempts travelers who already have a visa to travel to the US, even if they haven't used it yet. A senior administration official said the order, which Trump revised after federal courts held up his original immigration and refugee ban, will target only those same seven Muslim-majority countries - Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Libya. The official said that green-card holders and dual citizens of the U.S. and any of those countries are exempt. The new draft also no longer directs authorities to single out - and reject - Syrian refugees when processing new visa applications. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the order before it's made public. The official noted that the draft is subject to change ahead of its signing, which Trump said could come sometime this week. Asked about the revised order, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the document circulating was a draft and that a final version should be released soon. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Wall Street Journal also reported that the current draft of the revised order focused on the seven countries but excluded those with green cards. Trump's original executive order triggered chaos at airports around the world, as travelers were detained when the order rapidly went into effect, US permanent residents known as green-card holders among them. Attorneys to provide legal assistance those held and protesters descended on the airports as news of the order's implementation spread. In its original form, the order temporarily suspended all travel to the US for citizens of those seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days. The original order also called for Homeland Security and State department officials, along with the director of national intelligence, to review what information the government needs to fully vet would-be visitors and come up with a list of countries that can't or won't make the information available. It said the government will give countries 60 days to start providing the information or citizens from those countries will be barred from traveling to the United States. Even if Syrian refugees are no longer automatically rejected under the new order, the pace of refugees entering the U.S. from all countries is likely to slow significantly. That's because even when the courts put Trump's original ban on hold, they left untouched Trump's 50,000-per-year refugee cap, a cut of more than half from the cap under the Obama administration. The U.S. has already taken in more than 35,000 refugees this year, leaving less than 15,000 spots before hitting Trump's cap, according to a U.S. official. That means that for the rest of this fiscal year, the number of refugees being let in per week will likely fall to a fraction of what it had been under the Obama administration's cap of 110,000. Earlier this month, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco refused to reinstate Trump's ban, unanimously rejecting the administration's claim of presidential authority, questioning its motives and concluding that the order was unlikely to survive legal challenges. The pushback prompted Trump to tweet "SEE YOU IN COURT!" and he has since lashed out at the judicial branch, accusing it of issuing a politically motivated decision. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said Saturday that Trump is working on a "streamlined" version of his executive order banning travel from the seven nations to iron out the difficulties that landed his first order in the courts. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference about combating terrorism, Kelly said Trump's original order was designed as a "temporary pause" to allow him to "see where our immigration and vetting system has gaps - and gaps it has - that could be exploited." He said the Trump administration was surprised when U.S. courts blocked the executive order and now "the president is contemplating releasing a tighter, more streamlined version" of the travel ban. Kelly said this next time he will be able to "make sure that there's no one caught in the system of moving from overseas to our airports." Kelly mentioned "seven nations" again on Saturday, leading to speculation they will all be included in Trump's next executive order. Trump's order sparked an immediate backlash and sowed chaos and outrage, with travelers detained at airports, panicked families searching for relatives and protesters marching against the sweeping measure - parts of which were blocked by several federal courts. Protests were held across the country, including in sight of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in New York City, and at international airports where travelers were temporarily detained. Pakistan alleges that the group, which claims to be behind the recent wave of terrorist attacks, has found safe haven in Afghanistan. Islamabad: Amid reports that Pakistan has moved heavy artillery towards the Afghan border, Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Monday said enhanced security arrangements in the border region were aimed at combating terrorism. After a string of terror attacks in the country, Pakistan Army has moved heavy artillery towards the Pak-Afghan border in Chaman and Torkham districts, the Express Tribune reported, citing security officials. The move came just two days after the military targeted the camps of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistans Jamaatul Ahrar faction on the Torkham border opposite Mohmand and Khyber tribal regions. Pakistan alleges that the group, which claims to be behind the recent wave of terrorist attacks, has found safe haven in Afghanistan. General Bajwa said security measures along the border with Afghanistan were part of efforts to defeat terrorism which is a common threat to both countries. Army spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor said that General Bajwa chaired a high level security meeting at Army headquarters in Rawalpindi. Mr Ghafoor quoted the Army Chief as saying that enhanced security arrangements along border were to fight (the) common enemy, i.e., terrorists of all hue and colour. Pakistan and Afghanistan have fought against terrorism and shall continue this effort together, General Bajwa said. He also called for more effective border coordination and cooperation with Afghanistan. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov laid out a diametrically opposed global vision and offered Moscow: Russia on Saturday called for an end to an outdated world order dominated by the West, even as US Vice President Mike Pence pledged Washington's "unwavering" commitment to its transatlantic allies in NATO. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov laid out a diametrically opposed global vision and offered "pragmatic" ties with the United States, just hours after Pence vowed to stand with Europe to rein in a resurgent Moscow. "I hope that (the world) will choose a democratic world order - a post-West one - in which each country is defined by its sovereignty," said Lavrov. The time when the West called the shots was over while NATO was a relic of the Cold War, he said. In its place, Moscow wanted a relationship with Washington that is "pragmatic with mutual respect and acknowledgement of our common responsibility for global stability". The two countries had never been in direct conflict, he said, and were close neighbours across the Bering Straits. Moscow has been impatiently waiting for US President Donald Trump to make good on his pledge to improve ties which plunged to a post-Cold War low as Barack Obama slapped on sanctions over the Ukraine crisis and Russia's alleged meddling in Trump's election. On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and voiced his willingness to work with him in fighting terrorism. But in the face of growing heat over its links to Moscow, Trump's administration appears to be backing off the warmer words used earlier for the former Cold War foe. Exasperated and worried by Trump's calling into question long-standing foreign policy assumptions, European leaders have warned Washington not to take transatlantic ties for granted. On a European roadshow this week, Trump's lieutenants have sought to reassure jittery allies that the administration will hold fast to existing foreign policies, including maintaining sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine crisis. Hours before Lavrov addressed the Munich Security Conference, Pence told the same forum that the United States will stay loyal to its old friends. "The United States is and will always be your greatest ally. Be assured that President Trump and our people are truly devoted to our transatlantic union," Pence said. The US would also not relent in pushing Russia to honour the Minsk ceasefire accords with Ukraine, he said. "The United States will continue to hold Russia accountable, even as we search for new common ground, which as you know, President Trump believes can be found," the vice president said. by Kamel Abderrahmani The official religious institutions and so-called Islamic universities are the cause of the immobility of the Muslim world. The programs taught and literature used at Al Azhar are the same that are applied on the ground by all armed terrorists. No comparison possible between Al Azhar and the Vatican. The Vatican has hosted Iraqi Muslims and Syrians fleeing the war. Al Azhar has never done anything for Christians and Yazidis. The persecution of Nasr Mohamed Abdellah, eager to modernize Islam. The comment of one Muslim student. Paris (AsiaNews) - While the West and the rest of humanity evolve with all their religious, cultural, social, economic institutions, the Muslim world and its institutions are sinking further into archaism. Nothing is moving in the right direction, and any attempt to evolve things ends up being fought and resulting in failure. But where is the problem? Is it linked to a genetic failure, or to a moral decay? As we all know well, religion is the focus of the entire Muslim world. For centuries this world stagnates on all aspects of life, and offers nothing to humanity, except death, terrorism and religious extremism. The official religious institutions and so-called Islamic universities are the cause of this calamity. Al Azhar, which is one of the oldest Islamic universities in the world, exerts a hypocrisy par excellence and plays a huge role in subjecting the Muslim world to this closure. In May 2016, after the unprecedented meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican, Ahmed el-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al Azhar mosque gave an exclusive interview to Vatican media. As you know, he was questioned about the conflicts and the advance of Islamic terrorism in the Middle East. In response, he said he wanted to take advantage of his presence at the Vatican to launch an appeal to the whole world to unite and close ranks to confront and put an end to terrorism. The Grand Mufti did not hesitate for a second to appeal to all "free men of the world" to put an end to "rivers of blood". Unfortunately, it is the literature produced by Al Azhar that is the basis of radicalism and terrorism! Proof of this is its refusal to excommunicate Islamic terrorists and the organization of the Islamic State of Daesh. Why do you think? Simply because the programs taught at Al Azhar are the same that are applied on the ground by all armed terrorists! In fact, these terrorists have not invented anything, they have a readily available literature. A literature that has spread everywhere, especially in Al Azhar. The only difference with the different fundamentalist movements are in the manner and to the extent of their application of the different teachings. If not for this, they have the same references and the same literature. Al Azhar must be reformed as well as its teaching programs. I can honestly say that Al Azhar, as it is now, is a danger for the Muslims and for all humanity. Recently one of his former students has pursued legal action, accusing it of defaming religion. This is Sheikh Mohamed Nasr Abdellah, a former student of this institution. After receiving his license in theology with excellent results, he has devoted his life to research and asked to be an imam, but his case was always rejected by the Egyptian Ministry of Religious Affairs. That would be because of his speech that constitutes a danger according to "the guardians of the Islamic temple". More than 80 of his speeches are present on satellite channels; He is the author of many articles on religious issues where he condemns the veil, stoning, amputation of hands of thieves, jihad, etc ... During the Egyptian Revolution, he was among the first to say no to the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood. After the attacks in Paris in November 2015, he was in the group of Muslim theologians who came to Paris to present their condolences and publicly denounce the barbaric acts of the Islamic movement. At present he is one of the greatest figures of Koranic current of thought in Egypt. This current leads to the actualization, to the reform, the modernization of Islamic jurisprudence and especially the coexistence among all members of the Arab-Muslim societies. Sheikh Nasr Mohamed Abdellah in one of its publication on Facebook denounces the Muslim Brotherhood designs on Al Azhar and the key posts in the Egyptian religious institutions. At present, as a Muslim, I think that Al Azhar plays a very negative and dangerous role. Al Azhar is often termed the "Muslim Vatican": any comparison with the Vatican is illogical, irrational, absurd and coarse. The Vatican maintains a clear, clean and precise line of thought, and abolished hate speech and threats of excommunication. It also welcomed the Iraqi Muslims and Syrians fleeing the war. And then we can ask the question: why did Al Azhar not do the same with Christians and Yazidis persecuted by Daesh? Is this not sufficient proof of the bad faith of its components? If Daesh proceeds with an unlawful physical elimination of the enemy, Al Azhar uses legal methods, ready, in order to silence those who reveal its skeletons in the closest. by Melani Manel Perera The victims were taking part in a sea procession yesterday, feast day of Our Lady of Good Voyage, protectress of local fishermen. Buddhists also took part in the celebration. Overcrowding is the main cause of the incident. Colombo (AsiaNews) An overcrowded boat capsized yesterday off the coast near Katukurunda (Kalutara District), on the southwest coast of Sri Lanka with many Catholics on board. The vessel was taking part in a procession in the sea on the Day of Our Lady of Good Voyage, protectress of fishermen. Attempts by people on other boats to rescue proved in vain for 11 passengers, three of them children. President Maithripala Sirisena expressed his sincere condolences to survivors and victims families, and offering his wishes to the injured for a speedy recovery. Like other years, hundreds of people, Catholics but also Buddhists, joined in the fishermen's celebrations. After Mass in the Church of Saint Lazarus in Beruwela, Archdiocese of Colombo, the faithful set sail on their boats, about 20, one with the statue of Our Lady (Sindathri Deva Maatha Feast) decorated for the occasion. Witnesses told police that "the boat capsized as it was turning. It was not equipped for the trip and lacked minimum safety conditions." Although it could carry at most 25-30 passengers, witnesses said that "more than 40 people were on board, but no one knows for sure the exact number." Rescuers recovered 11 bodies, and saved 18 people who were taken to hospitals in Nagoda Kalutara and Beruwela. One survivor told AsiaNews that "the tradition of gathering on boats to ask the Virgin for protection ahead of the fishing season is well established. This year a priest, Fr Kennedy, came from Negombo parish. He co-celebrated Mass with the parish priest, Fr Chaminda Roshan." The boat upturned as the blessing of the boats was still going on, after the third Hail Mary of the Rosary. Rescue operations were particularly difficult because of the type of boat. The Sri Lankan Navy deployed several ships and the Air Force sent a recovery helicopter. by Fady Noun At the initiative of the Grand Imam Ahmed el-Tayeb, the Sunni University will host an interfaith meeting on 27-28 February. Lay people and clergy, academic and scientific figures, Christian and Muslim leaders will be present. Lebanese President Aoun, the only Christian head of state of an Arab country, has been invited. Beirut (AsiaNews) Religious freedoms, the civilian nature of the state, citizenship, equality before the law, and respect for diversity will be at the heart of the upcoming Islamic-Christian conference on 27-28 February in Cairo, convened at the initiative of Shaykh Ahmad al-Tayeb of al-Azhar University, the main Sunni religious body in the Arab world. A large number of religious, academic and scientific leaders from the Arab world are expected at the event. Lebanese President Michel Aoun has been officially invited, but his presence has not yet been confirmed. His attendance is considered important, by participants, since he is the only Christian head of state in the Arab world. Conversely, the main leaders of Lebanons religious groups are set to come. They include the Maronite Patriarch Bechara al Rahi, Greek Catholic Patriarch Gregory III, the Mufti of the Republic Shaykh Abdel-Latif Deriane as well as representatives of the Shia Higher Council and the Druze community. Former Lebanese President Amine Gemayel is also among the invited guests. The Al-Azhar conference follows a first meeting in 2014, during which significant progress was made on all topics. The latter will serve as themes of the upcoming work. According to Mohammad Sammak, the second Azhar conference will be characterised by final documents adopted by committees that include both lay people and clergy as well as Muslims and Christians. It goes without saying that the rejection of extremism serves as a backdrop to the meeting, which must put forward an enlightened and moderate Islam capable of interacting with modernity without recourse to violence, whilst remaining faithful to itself. Younan, president of the Lutheran World Federation was born in Jerusalem and is rewarded for having used his position to create a fully fledged network among religious leaders of different faiths in the Middle East. Tokyo (AsiaNews) - The Lutheran Bishop for Jordan and the Holy Land, Munib A. Younan, is the winner of the 34th Niwano Peace Prize. The prize is awarded for his perseverance and compassion in encouraging dialogue between faith groups in the Holy Land. His commitment emphasizes the communion between faiths, as an integral part in the fight for peace. Bishop Younan - who was born in 1950 in Jerusalem - has been president of the Lutheran World Federation since 2010. During his long career he has held numerous positions in Lutheran organizations and interreligious he was also president of the Lutheran Council in Asia - and used his position to create a fully-fledged network among religious leaders of different faiths in the Middle East . Bishop Younan was one of 14 religious leaders who signed the Declaration of Alexandria in 2002, a document in which rabbis, sheikhs, and bishops assured their commitment to establish peace in the Holy Land, which is holy for all three monotheistic religions. The reason for the award states that in a world characterized by leaders who seek to highlight differences and contrasts, Bishop Younan has constantly tried to prove the opposite. Bishop Younan embodies the qualities that the Niwano Peace Foundation attributes to religious leaders. The awards ceremony will take place in Tokyo on 27 July. In addition to the award, Bishop Younan will receive a medal a sum of money. The selection process of the Award winner is vetted by some 600 people and organizations, representing 125 countries and religions. Nominations are evaluated by an international selection committee of the Niwano Peace Prize, which currently consists of ten religious leaders involved in movements for peace and interreligious cooperation and from various parts of the world. The second day of fighting to oust the jihadists from the western sector, the last IS stronghold in the country. Prime Minister al-Abadi says priority is to free the civilian population "from oppression". The militiamen have sown bombs and mines in the ground to stop the advance. UN warns there are civilians trapped in the conflict. Baghdad (AsiaNews / Agencies) - In the early hours of today the Iraqi government army pressed its offensive - launched yesterday morning - to conquer the western area of Mosul, the last stronghold of the Islamic State (IS) in the country. Local sources confirm loud explosions and heavy artillery fire between the parties. Yesterday the army cleared several villages of jihadists and liberated the local population. As reported by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in a speech broadcast on television, the primary goal is "to liberate Mosuls population from the oppression of the of IS and terrorism forever." Last month, the government had managed to drive out the Daesh militants [Arabic acronym for the IS] after months of intense fighting. The offensive began on 17 October last year and has taken nearly five months to overcome jihadi resistance in the area. According to UN sources most of the victims are civilians; since October 1096 people have been killed, nearly 700 wounded in the plain of Nineveh. Thousands of soldiers are engaged in the assault, supported by heavy artillery and air strikes. The police forces have regained control of a power plant at the outskirts of the city. However, the militia have sown the streets with bombs and mines that slow operations. The army has already sent specialist teams in to de-mine land and pave the way for ground troops. Analysts and experts point out that the seizure of the eastern sector of Mosul took some time and even more difficult tasks lie ahead for the west, beyond the Tigris River. The western part, though smaller, is more densely populated and critical logistically, with its narrow streets that do not allow the passage of armored vehicles. All the bridges that link the two areas were destroyed. In the west the majority of the population is Sunni and it is said that not everyone is willing to support the offensive of the Shiite government. Added this is the risk that the jihadists are using civilians as human shields - as has happened several times in the past - to slow the advance of Baghdad. Meanwhile, activists and humanitarian associations are making dramatic appeals concerning the fate of the civilian population. Up to 650 thousand people are likely to be caught in the fighting, among them over 300 thousand are children. Specialized agencies are preparing aid and setting up centers to accommodate up to 400 thousand people fleeing the fighting. According to the United Nations there are between 750 thousand and 800 thousand civilians who still live in the western districts of the city controlled by jihadists. by Nirmala Carvalho Mumbai (AsiaNews) - A statue of Our Lady inside a grotto, along a road on the outskirts of Mumbai, has been vandalized. Police sources report that the incident was carried out by three vandals around 4 this morning (local time). Speaking to AsiaNews, Sajan K George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), expresses "great concern, on behalf of the Christian group, for vandalized the statue of the Virgin Mary in Mumbai. Glass placed to protect the statue was shattered and Mary with the baby Jesus in her arms, was decapitated. This grave act deeply wounds the religious sentiments of Christians and the spiritual feelings of all those who venerate the Mother. " The grotto was located in Kurla district, in the suburbs of the capital of Maharashtra. The officers requested footage of CCTV cameras placed in the area, which recorded the moment when the statue was desecrated. Paramjit Singh, deputy police commissioner of Zone V, reports that the authorities are doing everything possible to identify the culprits. Some agents have been deployed in the area, where initially there were tensions between communities. According to the official reports, calm has now returned. Sajan K George complains that what happened "is really worrying. Mother Mary is venerated by all Indians, by all denominations, with great fervor and devotion. " He adds that "incidents like this generate suspicion among communities and disturb the lives of ordinary people." The GCIC concludes, "pray for peace, especially the eve of the vote for the election of the Mumbai Municipal Assembly, which takes place tomorrow." In Virginia, a security guard has been charged with murder in the death of a 60-year-old grandfather who was fatally shot last month while he was in his van apparently playing Pokemon Go.On Thursday, the Chesapeake Commonwealth's Attorney's Office announced that it is pursuing criminal charges against 21-year-old Jonathan Cromwell, the security guard who fatally shot Jiansheng Chen on January 26. Cromwell is charged with second-degree murder and use of a firearm.According to prosecutors, Chen was driving his van around 11:00pm that night when he turned into the driveway of the River Walk clubhouse parking area. When Cromwell saw the van, he confronted Chen and stopped his vehicle directly in front of Chen's van. Chen then backed up and turned around to the entrance of the driveway facing the street. That's when Cromwell got out of his car, said "stop," then fired his weapon.Chen suffered a gunshot wound to his left upper arm and four gunshot wounds to his upper left chest.According to his family, Chen did not speak any English, and was playing Pokemon Go on his phone at the time of the confrontation with Cromwell. There was apparently a Pokemon gym at the site of the shooting.But an attorney for Citywide Protection Services Inc., the private security company that employs Cromwell, claims that he was acting in self-defense when he fired at Chen's minivan."I have reviewed and discussed this evidence with the detective and Chief Wright," Chesapeake Commonwealth's Attorney Nancy Parr said in a news release . "The decision to pursue these criminal charges is based solely on the evidence collected pursuant to the investigation."James Broccoletti, the attorney representing the Chen family, said, "They are very gratified that they are now one step closer to justice for their family.""The family is thankful for the Chesapeake Police Department and the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office," Broccoletti said, "and they look forward to having their day in court and to have all the evidence set forth in front of the court and the community that will clearly show that Mr. Chen was a peaceful, caring, loving, unaggressive individual."More here: Security guard charged with murder of man shot, killed playing Pokemon Go More than 20 thousand faithful gathered in Manila to pray, march and protest against the "reign of terror" operated by President Rodrigo Duterte. In recent months, the campaign of violence has resulted in about 7 thousand victims including drug addicts and drug dealers. Manila (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Thousands of Catholics lined the streets of Manila, on Saturday, to demonstrate against the brutal war on drugs sought by President Rodrigo Duterte and his decision to reinstate the death penalty. This is the most important intervention of the Filipino Catholic Church since, the president Duterte has started a campaign of repression seven months ago that has killed at least 7 thousand people. One of the bishops who attended the protest said that the event began at dawn because "it is the time when every day we discover corpses along the streets or in the trash." According to organizers over 20 thousand faithful were present - before police dispersed half of them - from at least 21 dioceses in Luzon and other Christian churches. "We protested against the growing culture of violence. We have to show our opposition to this regressive tendency intent on suppressing our humanity, "said one of the faithful who took part in the event. The participants prayed and marched together carrying placards with slogans like "No to the death penalty 'or' Yes to Life, No to the culture of death." However, the campaign against drugs, initiated by President Duterte after his rise to power, is approved by most of the population. The Church in the Philippines a Catholic majority country - has hesitated to take sides against the policy of violence, but since late last year, when the dead began to be counted in the thousands, the Filipino bishops' conference denounced this "reign of terror" . Zenaida Capistrano, president of the Council for the Laity of the Philippines said that the aim of the event is to show that " we have been given life by God and should be protected as much as possible." President Duterte accused of hypocrisy the Church, disagree with a campaign which he said is meant to "liberate future generations of Filipinos from the threat on drugs". by Thanh Thuy A Mass was celebrated in Vinh, but Mgr Girelli was not allowed to lead the service. Still, "love always leads us to victory. It is the reality that is needed to build our future in a climate of peace." Hanoi (AsiaNews) "Love is never defeated" but "always leads us to victory: love God, love Asia, love your country" is the reality that Fr Jean-Baptiste Malo experienced. The missionary victim of a "bloodless" martyrdom was remembered on 16 February in Vinh Hoi parish, Ngan Sau district, diocese of Vinh. Non-resident Nuncio Mgr Leopoldo Girelli took part in the ceremony but did not lead it because the authorities did not authorise him. Bishops Phaolo Nguyen Thai Hop and Phero Nguyen Van Vien (both from the diocese of Vinh) and Bishop Emeritus Micae Hoang uc Oanh celebrated the service along with almost a hundred priests before thousands of worshippers. Representatives of the French Embassy and the postulation for the beatification of Fr Jean-Baptiste Malo were also present. Mgr Nguyen Thai Hop, auxiliary bishop of Vinh, noted what Mgr Girelli did for the ecclesial communities of the diocese of Vinh. In a letter to the people of God he said, "Today is a very special, a very important occasion, the latter said. I wanted a lot to be here to pray with you. Unfortunately, the authorities have not allowed me even though I was in Vinh" diocese. "Father Malo was a missionary with the Foreign Missions of Paris, a citizen of noble France and a beloved child of the French Catholic Church. He loved Asia very much. He left his country to go to China where he spent 18 years during which he proclaimed the Gospel of Jesus Christ and helped the poor." "When he was expelled from China, he did not leave the Asian continent, but went to Laos where he lived for 16 months in extremely difficult circumstances. He always loved Asia and Indochina." Father Malo was a missionary, a messenger of Jesus Christ. Like all other messengers, he led a nomadic life for the sake of evangelisation. It is significant that he died on a road from exhaustion in a long and tragic journey to the diocese of Vinh. He died of exhaustion. His death was not caused by an act of violence. He did not shed blood like other martyrs, but no blood circulating in his body: we can say that his was a bloodless martyrdom." Father Malo was buried on a bank of the Ngan Sau River where his death became a major spring for many Christians, like the river that irrigates the fertile lands of Ha Tinh province." "His love for Asia, missionary trips and martyrdom left us an example of obedience to God's will and of the power of faith to bear witness to Jesus Christ and uphold Christian values for the difficult situation of today's society." "God has his own plan for the Church in Vietnam, but he needs cooperation. The future of the Church in Vietnam is up to you and your faith. I realise that you face many challenges. Your fidelity to Christian principles is challenged in many ways, including secularisation and the limits to religious freedom"; yet, "love always brings us victory. It is the reality that is needed to build our future in a climate of peace." India was the world's largest importer of major arms in 201216, accounting for 13 per cent of global trade with Saudi Arabia ranked second. The United States, Russia, China and some European nations are the main suppliers. Stockholm (AsiaNews/SIPRI) Arms imports by states in the Asia-Oceania region rose by 7.7 per cent between 200711 and 201216 and accounted for 43 per cent of global imports in 201216. Between 200711 and 201216 arms imports by states in the Middle East rose by 86 per cent and accounted for 29 per cent of global imports in 201216. Saudi Arabia was the world's second largest arms importer in 2012-16, with an increase of 212 per cent compared with 200711. Although at lower rates, the majority of other Mideast states also increased arms imports. Over the past five years, most states in the Middle East have turned primarily to the USA and Europe in their accelerated pursuit of advanced military capabilities, said Pieter Wezeman, Senior Researcher with the SIPRI Arms and Military Expenditure Programme. Wezeman added that Despite low oil prices, countries in the region continued to order more weapons in 2016, perceiving them as crucial tools for dealing with conflicts and regional tensions. India was the world's largest importer of major arms in 201216, accounting for 13 per cent of the global total. Between 200711 and 201216 it increased its arms imports by 43 per cent, outspending its regional rivals China and Pakistan. Russia accounted for a 23 per cent share of global exports in the period 201216. About 70 per cent of its arms exports went to four countries: India, Vietnam, China, and Algeria. Vietnam was the 29th largest importer in 200711. Over the following period, 201216, its arms imports rose by 202 per cent. China, one of the leading arms exporters, saw its share of global arms exports rose from 3.8 to 6.2 per cent between 200711 and 201216. The five biggest exporters the United States, Russia, China, France and Germany together accounted for 74 per cent of the total volume of arms exports. With a one-third share of global arms exports, the United States was the top arms exporter in 201216. Its arms exports increased by 21 per cent compared with 200711. Almost half of its arms exports went to the Middle East. 'The USA supplies major arms to at least 100 countries around the world significantly more than any other supplier state, said Dr Aude Fleurant, director of the SIPRI Arms and Military Expenditure Programme. Fleurant noted that Both advanced strike aircraft with cruise missiles and other precision-guided munitions and the latest generation air and missile defence systems account for a significant share of US arms exports. The United Nations established the day in 2007 to highlight global issues like poverty, exclusion, employment, and gender equality. For Mgr D'Silva, violence is the result of inequalities. Existing economic structures must be revisited out of compassion for our brothers and sisters. Mumbai (AsiaNews) The World Day of Social Justice, which falls today, is an opportunity to put people before profits, said Mgr Allwys D'Silva on the World Day of Social Justice established by the United Nations Day in 2007. Speaking to AsiaNews, the recently appointed auxiliary bishop of Mumbai, who has been involved for years in social issues, human rights and environmental protection, said that "Today the world is full of strife and divisions", And Social justice is an underlying principle for peaceful and prosperous coexistence within and among nations. The United Nations established the day to highlight global issues such as poverty, exclusion, employment, gender equality, access to welfare, and justice for all. This years theme is Preventing conflict and sustaining peace through decent work. To this end, all states are urged to promote the objectives and goals of the World Summit for Social Development, such as employment, resilient societies, greater knowledge, co-operation with the United Nations and other stakeholders to build effective strategies for action. We uphold the principles of social justice when we promote gender equality or the rights of indigenous peoples and migrants, said Mgr D'Silva, who heads the Climate Change desk and is the secretary of the Human Development Office of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC). We advance social justice when we remove barriers that people face because of gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture or disability. When we uphold equality, divisions and strife will disappear. Let the world strive for this equality on world social justice day. Violence is often the result of inequalities, the prelate explained. There is no better example than the injustice in the economic sector. When only a few eat the majority of the cake and the rest is given only a small piece of cake there is bound to be violence on the streets. Unemployment is widespread in Asia and hence we need to take a better look at our economic structure which has profit as our only goal and hence the compassion for our brothers and sisters is not taken into account in our daily life. We need to put people first before profit. (NC) Aussie Farmers Direct brings the farm to the city in new ads Aussie Farmers Direct has launched a new advertising campaign reminding Australians they can support local farmers through shopping with their business. The new multi-channel brand campaign includes a number of television advertisements in which parents struggle to bring the farm life to their urban centre. In the ads the parents fail at teaching their regular dog to work as a sheepdog, they bring a tractor to pick up their child from school and do not have any luck with urban farming. Whilst the parents struggle the kids make things easy by ordering from Aussie Farmers Direct. Marketing Director at Aussie Farmers Direct, Peter Bakker, said the campaign highlights how the Aussie Farmers Direct range has grown to meet customers needs while remaining true to its roots of supporting Aussie farmers. Instead of taking up farming yourself, the campaign highlights how easy it is to put delicious meals on the table using one of our great value dinner boxes, he said. Bakker said the dinner boxes were only a new Aussie Farmers offering but were proving successful. The campaign also highlights the launch of The General Store, our new grocery site that lets customers get their full food and grocery shop with us and say goodbye to the supermarket in the process, he stated. Related articles EPA tells Tassal to destock Macquarie Harbour farming lease Tasmanias Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has told salmon producer, Tassal, to destock one of its Macquarie Harbour farming leases by the end of February 2017. The decision comes after the EPA decided to lower stocking limits from 20, 000 tonnes to 14, 000 tonnes in January 2017 to help address concerns regarding the state of Macquarie Harbour. In a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange, Tassal said it has been concerned about conditions in Macquarie Harbour and as a result reduced stocking rates as early as 2015 by 20 per cent. As previously reported, monitoring in November in November 2016 picked up significant non-compliances at the Frankin lease Lease no. 256. The decision was made to fully destock the site, with a harvest start date and harvest strategy that was determined to ensure that this was done with an appropriate consideration of the environment, our fish and the safety of our people and process. We have been actively destocking the Franklin site since the beginning of January 2017, harvesting to maximum capacity, We are providing regular updates to the EPA. We are committed to getting the Franklin lease Lease no. 266 back into compliance, Tassal said. Earlier in February Australian Food News reported that Huon Aquaculture, another Tasmanian salmon producer, lodged proceedings against the Tasmanian government in the Australian Federal Court saying it has not properly regulated Macquarie Harbour. The proceedings claim that the government is not complying to the conditions of a 2012 decision which approved the expansion of salmon farming in the harbour. Related articles Korea welcomes Aussie eggs To address a shortage of fresh eggs caused by a bird flu outbreak, the South Korean Government has temporarily removed tariffs for egg imports from a number of countries, including Australia. Australian egg exporters are taking advantage of this temporary change, with shipments of fresh eggs already sent to South Korea. The opportunity arose after the Australian Government, through the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources. and the South Korean Government agreed to export certification conditions which provide technical market access for shelled eggs from Australia. Amanda Hodges, Austrades Seoul-based Senior Trade Commissioner for Korea and Mongolia, said Korea is applying a temporary zero tariff on imported shelled eggs until 30 June 2017. While this is welcome news for the industry, helping to highlight Australias capabilities of producing high-quality food, Australian exporters still need to meet Koreas import requirements for shell eggs, said Hodges. South Korea maintains strict requirements for imports and requires all air and sea freight containers of shell eggs to be sealed using an Australian Government seal. The number of the Australian Government seal must also be included on the certificate, she said. Hodges said the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources has provided two market access advice notices (number 2017-02 and 2017-03) detailing the necessary requirements to assist exporters of fresh eggs to South Korea. From a Korean consumer perspective, Koreans prefer to eat brown shell coloured eggs, rather than white. It is anticipated there may be demand for hatching-eggs and live chicks for breeding at a later date, as Korea seeks to rebuild its laying and breeding stocks, added Hodges. Other global suppliers such as the US and Spain have also negotiated export protocols to supply fresh eggs to Korea for the first time. Hodges also noted that once the tariff returned to normal levels, Australian exporters would still benefit if access is maintained because under the Korea-Australia Free Trade Agreement (KAFTA) the tariff will be reduced over time. Under normal conditions, the tariff in 2017 would be 21 per cent. Korea is Australias fourth-largest trading partner and KAFTA is helping to create a competitive advantage for Australian exporters on a range of products. You can find out the applicable tariffs for any imports or exports to South Korea at https://ftaportal.dfat.gov.au. Read more about KAFTA and the business opportunities in South Korea. Related articles Scientists figure out how to fish with invisible and painless robots American researchers have developed a new innovative way of catching fish without damaging them. Reported by the Nature Communications Journal on 1 February 2017, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US, created a transparent, gel-based robot which can capture and let go of live fish. The robots are made of hydrogel, a tough, rubbery, nearly transparent material that consists mainly of water. When water is pumped into the robots they quickly inflate and are able to curl up or stretch out. Although the researchers are currently looking to adapt the robots for medical purposes, they are near invisible and have the ability to capture live fish, so the robots could perhaps be used by commercial fishers one day. The researchers have spent the past five years developing recipes for the hydro gels used to create the robots. The robots are also very soft so they do not damage any fish they capture. Related articles Surprise Kraft Heinz Unilever acquisition bid withdrawn Unilever has rejected a takeover offer from Kraft Heinz worth approximately US $143 billion. If the acquisition went ahead, it would have been one of the largest in global corporate history. Addressing the takeover bid made last Friday, both Unilever and Kraft Heinz said Kraft Heinz has amicably agreed to withdraw its proposal for a combination of the two companies. Unilever and Kraft Heinz hold each other in high regard, the joint statement said. Kraft Heinz has the utmost respect for the culture, strategy and leadership of Unilever, the statement concluded. Both Unilever and Kraft Heinz shares jumped when news of the acquisition bid was made public. Unilevers increased by 13 per cent and Kraft Heinz by 11 per cent. Unilever is based in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, but has a large international presence, including in Australia. Within Australia it is responsible for numerous food, drink, personal care and home care brands including Lipton, Flora, Continental, Bertolli, Bushells, Streets and Lan Choo. Within the US, Kraft Heinz is also responsible for numerous household brands including Golden Circle, Philadelphia Cream Cheese and Watties. In Australia, a lot of Kraft brands were acquired in 2012 by Mondelez International which In January 2017 sold the Australian rights to most of these products to Bega including Kraft peanut butter, nut spreads, processed cheese slices, mayonnaise, cheese spread and Mac and Cheese. Kraft Heinz owns the rights to Philadelphia cream cheese but it is sold by Mondelez in Australia. In Australia, Kraft Heinz controls Golden Circle, Watties, Cottees, Greenseas, The Original Juice Co, as well as Heinz branded products under the company name H.J Heinz Company Australia Ltd. Related articles A major new initiative is being launched by the Law Council of Australia to tackle unconscious bias.The program has been developed in association with diversity and inclusion specialists Symmetra and aims to help lawyers identify and address the issues which create a barrier to diversity in the legal profession."Addressing unconscious, or implicit bias encourages better decision making and new approaches to problem solving, said Law Council of Australia President, Fiona McLeod SC.She noted that humans hardwiring means that we notice those who are different to us and prefer those with similar attributes or experiences to our own, although this is not with conscious awareness.However, Ms. McLeod has highlighted the benefit to the Australian legal profession in unlocking future diversity.A deliberate focus on diversity enables organisations to better attract and retain top talent, allows for the use of a greater talent pool and can boost productivity, she said.The program will be offered to all lawyers and legal practices via face-to-face workshops, train-the-trainer modules, and online courses from March 1 2017.A team from international law firm Allen & Overy, together with Indian firm Trilegal, have advised on a major renewables deal involving Japanese joint-venture JERA.JERA is owned equally by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) and Chubu Electric Power Company (Chubu) and the deal was an acquisition of a 10 per cent stake in one of Indias largest renewable energy firms ReNew Power.The Allen & Overy team was led by Tokyo-based partner Simon Black with support from senior associate Hitomi Komachi and associates Frederieke van Baal and Jake Finlayson.We are delighted to have represented JERA on its first major renewables transaction since its formation last year. The transaction reflects growing investor interest in the Indian renewable energy sector and the opportunity for JERA to deliver on its strategy to become a diversified international energy company, Simon Black commented.A man who has claimed for almost 40 years that he is the inventor of email is suing a publisher for defamation.Although there is no definitive proof of who invented the form of electronic communication which has become widespread, Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai first made his claim to have invented email as a 14 year old in 1978.Publication TechDirt is being sued for U$15 million for its alleged ridicule of the claims but says that its blog posts were opinion pieces and protected under the US First Amendment to defend free speech.It has asked a US court to throw out the case but Fortune.com reports that even without a defeat in court, the publication could be crippled by legal costs.Dr Ayyadurai is being advised by well-known media lawyer Charles Harder, whose recent clients include Hulk Hogan in his case against Gawker and Melania Trump who sued the Daily Mail in the months before becoming Americas First Lady. HI everyone. Mrs_kk here. Australian resident with an American husband currently going through the spousal visa process. It's been extremely stressful and anxiety inducing and I wish he'd just get approval so we can get on with our lives I'm 37 with two children, one is 11 and one is almost four months (she is my husbands baby) Thanks for allowing me to join!! Please, i want to know all the required documents for tourist visa. And must i need to present invitation letter in-order to secure tourist visa? How important it is to click "Information Provided" button in online visa application Hello to all, Currently, my wife has lodged two visa applications via her online immigration account. Firstly, she applied for a 309/100 and later on, she applied for visit visa 600. She has uploaded the documents for both applications. The recommended documents are mentioned in the account of 309 application. Therefore, it is a bit easy to upload those documents as the applicant is clear about what needs to be submitted, although the list of documents is too long. Even after applying one month ago for a 309 visa, some documents are still pending and she is collecting those in order to complete the list of required documents. (Note: The "Information Provided" button has NOT been clicked yet) Regarding visit visa 600, based on checklist provided on the immigration website, all relevant documents have been uploaded. However, the "Information Provided" button has NOT been clicked yet. The questions/concern about the activity of NOT clicking "Information Provided" button are as below: Is it essential to click this button? Is it the case that the case officer will NOT be allocated until and unless the button is clicked? Will it have any impact on processing time? (Note: What about the button "Information Provided" impact on 309 application as the processing time is already between 8 to 12 months?) As always, I hope to receive some valuable comments from this forum. Bundles of thanks in advance, Regards, Henry Toyota has announced that its global sales of its hybrid vehicles have just passed the 10 million mark. The Japanese car manufacturer's global hybrid vehicle sales have it 10.05 million units. Toyota hybrid vehicle sales pass 10 million mark. As of January 31, 2017, the company's cumulative sales of its hybrid cars have reached 10.05 million. This technically shows the potential of a technology that is one of the mainstream solutions to excess CO2 emissions worldwide. The car manufacturer released its first hybrid vehicle 20 years ago. The Coaster Hybrid EV was launched in August 1997 with the mass-produced Prius Hybrid getting released in December of the same year. The Camry Hybrid followed in August of 2013 and proved to be much more successful than its combustion engine counterpart. Ever since the launch of the hybrid vehicle, the popularity eco-friendly and fuel efficient cars have gradually increased. The popularity growth of hybrid vehicles in the industry gave birth to a new customer standard that of which is choosing vehicles based on their impact to the environment. This stand in return led to a standard amongst other manufacturers of releasing their own hybrid vehicles both for the purposes of competition and being environmentally friendly. The chairman of the board of directors at Toyota, Takeshi Uchiyamada, was quoted as saying, "When we launched Prius, no one even knew what a hybrid was... hybrids have grown in popularity, and have ridden a wave of success out of the unknown and into the mainstream." He further added the company is very much grateful to every one of their customers who assisted in reaching this important milestone. Uchiyamada stated the company is very much committed to cooperating with customers to tackle environmental issues worldwide. Takeshi is popularly known as the 'Father of the Prius'. He is one of the many who worked on popularizing the vehicle which is considered to be the world's best-selling hybrid vehicle. Samsung's newest Galaxy Note 8 has remained relatively low key. Unlike the latest Galaxy S8, it hasn't been getting much news, and the Korean tech company has been silent about it. But this doesn't mean that the Korean tech company doesn't have something magnificent under its sleeves. After the Note 7 fiasco, Samsung has been hard at work with both the Note 8 and the S8. They are ensuring that their batteries are secure and their phones are safe. Samsung Galaxy S8. The Samsung Galaxy S8 is expected to come out before the Galaxy Note 8. The Korean tech company has already announced that the new smartphone will not launch at the Mobile World Congress. However, several sources have confirmed that the company will instead give the launch date of the new Galaxy S8 at the MWC. Note 8. Gadgets 360 reported that Samsung's next Galaxy Note phablet has an internal codename of "Baikal." This will likely be the new Note 8. However, considering what happened to the Note 7, some have even wondered if Samsung would phase out their Note phablets. However, BGR confirmed that indeed, the Galaxy Note 8 is still set to launch for later this year. The site further reported that an official from Samsung Electronics has confirmed that the Korean tech company will introduce a 2K resolution display for the new Galaxy S8. However, the new Note 8 will have a 4K resolution display. In addition, it is expected to have improved VR functions that can even connect with the new Gear VR wearable. Safety. In a recent report by CNET, the site revealed that Samsung will be using Sony batteries for this year's flagship phone. The Japanese company will provide lithium-ion batteries for the Galaxy S8. However, the Korean tech company still plans to get batteries from its previous manufacturers, Samsung SDI Co. and Amperex. With this new leak, it is possible that the Note 8 could also use Sony batteries. Hopefully, with the Japanese company's track record for producing high-quality components, the Note 8 will not have any battery problems. The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is expected to release sometime this year, after the S8. Do you think it will still be a big hit in the smartphone market? Share your thoughts and comments below. A Long Island pilot was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries Sunday morning after his Piper Arrow went down in a residential area of Bayonne, New Jersey. George Pettway, 56, of Wheatley Heights, reportedly radioed that he was having some kind of difficulty while flying near the Statue of Liberty and headed for the Jersey side. Bayonne Police spokesman Lt. James Donovan told the New York Daily News that Pettway said the aircraft had experienced some kind of mechanical failure. The aircraft is registered to Airborn Flight Services, of Farmingdale. According to various local reports Pettway made a last-minute turn to avoid hitting a gas station and ended up inverted on a sidewalk, hitting several cars along the way. A piece of the plane went through the front doors of the gas station but none of the three people inside was hurt. No one in the cars was hurt but the vehicles were heavily damaged. The aircraft took down power lines and they remained live, creating a hazard for bystanders and emergency crews. The pilot was trapped inside the wreck and had to be cut out by first responders. He was reported to be alert and in stable condition at a local hospital. 20 February 2017 10:22 (UTC+04:00) By Trend Armenias armed forces have 30 times violated the ceasefire in various directions along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops over the past 24 hours, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry reported on February 20. The Azerbaijani army positions located in Gushchu Ayrim village and on nameless heights of Azerbaijans Gazakh district underwent fire from the Armenian army positions located in Voskevan village of Armenias Noyemberyan district. Moreover, the Azerbaijani army positions underwent fire from the Armenian army positions located near the Armenian-occupied Bash Gervend and Marzili villages of the Aghdam district, as well as from the positions located on nameless heights of the Goranboy, Terter, Khojavand 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. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 20 February 2017 16:35 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has published a report on the world arms trade. The report revealed that military imports of Azerbaijan and Armenia have a rather serious difference in volume the Azerbaijani arms purchases exceeded Armenian by 20 times during 2012-2016. So, Armenias recent statements about new supplies and procurement of arms are just a hoax designed for Armenian population in order to somehow justify the epic fail of their army in April 2016 on the contact line of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops in Nagorno Karabakh. Lack of armament and unfit military equipment put Armenian soldiers in an easy situation in those clashes. But that gave to understand that the corrupt Armenian government spends grants from the Armenian Diaspora and other organizations not for what they are designed for but for the needs of Armenian authorities. The clashes not only destroyed the myth of invincibility of the Armenian militaries, but also undermined the credibility of the Armenian government after the information about the shortage of arms and shortcomings in the preparedness of the Armed Forces was published, said the Head of the Center for Regional Studies, political scientist Richard Giragosian, in his article published at Neweasterneurope.eu. Now Armenia lacks any resource to fill in the gap in its military sector and there is no hope to recover the situation further. It is even impossible to rely on long-standing norther ally -- Russia, who has recently approved a draft agreement with Armenia on the establishment of the joint group of forces of the collective security in the Caucasus region. The group will include the 102nd Russian base in Armenia and some Armenian units. The Russian militaries have a lot of arms at their base. Under the agreement, in case of aggression against Armenia or Russia, the Armenian commanders will administer actions of the joint group, whilst the Russian base will operate under Russian command. This means that if anyone attacks Armenia, it will not be able to use the Russian weapons the Russian base will obey orders of Moscow. Thus, Armenia seems to further continue significantly lacking behind Azerbaijan in terms of armament, as well in many other fields. Armenia, which is very limited in financial resources, cooperates in the military sphere with no one except Russia, which in most cases gives Armenia arms in credit. As for Azerbaijan, the country for many years freely cooperates with such countries as Pakistan, Israel, Russia and others in the sphere of military-technical cooperation. Therefore, it seems that the gap between Azerbaijani and Armenian military capabilities will continue to grow in future. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz In those clashes, 20 February 2017 19:28 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov Azerbaijans State Committee on Property Issues will hold another auction for the privatization of state property on March 28, the agency said on February 20. The auction will feature 76 state objects, including 48 small enterprises, 20 joint stock companies, and eight vehicles, two of which are ships. Thus, the vessels of Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Company at the cost of 30,000 manats ($16,800) and of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources for 10,000 manats ($5,600) are put up for privatization. The smallest enterprises and non-residential objects are offered for privatization together with the land on which they are situated. They are located in the Garadagh, Yasamal and Binagadi districts of Baku, cities of Ganja and Sumgayit, as well as in Kurdamir, Imishli, Guba, Ismayilli, Shaki and Masalli regions of Azerbaijan. The most expensive object offered for privatization together with the land is a non-residential building with a starting price of 561,000 manats ($314,000) in Nasimi district of Baku. Other expensive objects are a non-residential area in Sabail district, warehouse in Garadagh district, and Lachin restaurant in Sumgayit. As for joint stock companies, only 30-45 percent of their shares will be exhibited for sale. These companies operate in construction and repair, cotton, poultry, agricultural chemistry, transportation and other spheres. The cost of one share of these companies varies from 0.5 to 2 manats ($0.28-1.12). The third stage of privatization in Azerbaijan started in the framework of the presidential decree dated May 19, 2016. Under the decree, the acceleration of the state property privatization process has been defined as an important direction of the economic policy. The portal for privatization privatization.az, launched in July 2016, reflects all necessary information about the facilities, their addresses, location, and even initial cost and aims at facilitation of the process. The website is available in two languages - Azerbaijani and English. Why Azerbaijan is special section available on the website explains the reasons and advantages of investing in the country. The privatization process is designed to attract both foreign and local investors, as well as improve the business environment of Azerbaijan. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 20 February 2017 11:54 (UTC+04:00) By Laman Ismayilova Baku's best live music venue hosted a concert of local jazz performers. A wonderful gala concert took place at the Heydar Aliyev Palace this weekend, Trend Life reported. The well-known Azerbaijani jazzmen, including People's Artist Enver Sadikhov, honored art workers Javan Zeynalli, Jamil Amirov, Akif Suleymanbeyli, Emil Afrasiyab, Tarana Makhmudova and Elbey Mammadzadeh`s trio, saxophonist Teymur, Suleymanbeyli, "Rast" and "Gaya" bands performed at the event. Tofig Hasanov, presenter of the evening informed the audience about Azerbaijan's jazz history. Baku became the home for the first jazz Orchestra, established in 1938 by two legendary Azerbaijani composers Niyazi and Tofig Guliyev. Despite jazz was prohibited by the Soviet government to avoid the anti-Western propaganda, true lovers of jazz were continuing to listen to Western radio and energize music-lovers with favorite melodies at private concerts. The revival of jazz in the Land of Fire started in 1960s, thanks to the active efforts of great national composers such as Gara Garayev, Tofig Guliyev, Rauf Hajiyev and Niyazi. The love for vocal singing and jazz brought together four young talents including Teymur Mirzoyev, Arif Hajiyev, Rauf Babayev and Lev Elisvetskiy in 1961 to create famous national quartet Gaya, whose records were popular in more than 40 countries around the world including Soviet Union, Europe, America and Africa. The flowering of Azerbaijani jazz is associated with the names of giants such as Rafig Babayev and Vagif Mustafazade, who experimented creating unrepeatable compositions, becoming the founders of a new jazz trend jazz-mugham. This unique genre assembles both a traditional Azerbaijan music and a classic American jazz. Baku`s first jazz festival was held in1969. Baku Jazz Festival has turned into a tradition since 2005, promoting jazz in Baku and discovering new names. Today, Azerbaijani jazz performers are winners of many international jazz festivals and competitions. --- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 20 February 2017 14:00 (UTC+04:00) By Laman Ismayilova Nizami Cinema Center presented a new film "Paper grave". The screening was dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the Khojaly genocide, Trend Life reported. The film's premier was attended by prominent public and art figures. The event participants first observed a minute of silence in memory of the victims of the Khojaly genocide, committed by Armenian militaries against the civilian population of of Azerbaijan in February 1992. In their speech, Chairman of Azerbaijan's Union of Writers Anar Rzayev, Turkish Ambassador to Azerbaijan Erkan Ozoral, head of ILESAM Mehmet Nuri Parmaksiz and poet Khayal Rza spoke about the Khojaly genocide, which is one the bloodiest tragedies in the history of the mankind. Directed by Elchin Arifoglu, the films shooting took place in the village Ikinji Nugedi of Guba region. The feature film was shot on the initiative of Azerbaijan's Union of Writers with the support of Turkey's Professional Organization of Authors (Owners) of Intellectual and Artistic Works (ILESAM). The film also will be shown in Ankara, Turkey. Khojaly, the second largest town in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, came under intense fire from the towns of Khankendi and Askeran already occupied by the Armenian armed forces in 1992. About 613 civilians mostly women and children were killed in the massacre, and a total of 1,000 people were disabled. Eight families were exterminated, 25 children lost both parents, and 130 children lost one parent. Moreover, 1,275 innocent people were taken hostage, and the fate of 150 of them remains unknown. --- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 20 February 2017 14:30 (UTC+04:00) By Laman Ismayilova Azerbaijans National Art Museum will host an event "Museums as bridges between cultures", Trend Life reported. A series of colorful events will be held to bring nations together and learn customs of other nations. Thus, an event devoted to the Russian holiday "Maslenitsa" will be held. Maslenitsa will welcome its guests with performance of the folklore ensemble. Guests will not only be able to cook pancakes but also make talisman that protects its bearer. Maslenitsa, also known as Pancake Week, is the last week before Lent. It celebrates the end of winter, symbolized by the burning of effigies. The celebration has been getting more popular in recent years! In Slavic mythology, Maslenitsa is a sun-festival, personified by the ancient god Volos, and a celebration of the imminent end of the winter. In the Christian tradition, Maslenitsa is the last week before the onset of Great Lent. Everyday there is a special activity. For example, on Tuesday different games are held in the open air. Everyone can take part in them. On Wednesday you have to visit your mother-in-law and eat pancakes at her place. On Thursday you can go sled-riding. On Sunday a straw effigy symbolizing winter is burnt. --- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 20 February 2017 14:50 (UTC+04:00) By Laman Ismayilova This year, all eyes are on "Karabakh Collection" by Leonie Mergen, who has so far captivated fashion world with her new collection. The Berlin based young designer presented her "Karabakh Collection" in London within the scope of the FASHION WEEK, Azertac reported. With the rich cultural heritage of Azerbaijan as her inspiration, Leonie released her current collection, a series of pieces inspired by the traditional attire of Azerbaijans Karabakh region. The ensembles features patterns reminiscent of the countrys famous tapestries, with signature necklines and sleeved capes making an appearance in both men's and women's clothing. Azerbaijans legacy as a hub on the historical Silk Road and as a leader in horse breeding can be seen in Leonies designs, with equestrian-influenced leather accessories and sophisticated silk elements playing an essential role in her collection. The collection features 26 stunning looks while traditional Azerbaijani mugham and instrumental music was playing in the background. Leonie Mergens unusual and intercultural, as well as technically skilled approach was highly appreciated by the attendees. The spectators were enthusiastic and appraised the fashion collection which represents a further milestone in the European Azerbaijan Societys continuous efforts to raise awareness about the ongoing occupation of Nagorno Karabakh by Armenian forces. After her Karabakh Collection had been highly acclaimed following its presentation to the public during this years Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Berlin, Leonie was selected by LOreal Professionnel for their annual brand event. --- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 20 February 2017 11:35 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov Turkey will never recognize results of the so-called referendum to be held in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, said Necdet Unuvar, the head of the Azerbaijan-Turkey inter-parliamentary group. A referendum on amendments to the constitution will be held on February 20 in the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is under Armenian occupation for more than 25 years. It is obvious that the "referendum" openly violates the principles of international law, decisions of the UN Security Council and the principles of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Unuvar said. He emphasized that holding of the so-called "referendum" a few days prior to the anniversary of the Khojaly genocide, committed by Armenians against the peaceful population of Khojaly on February 26, 1992, is of inflammatory and fake nature. Unuvar said such actions may harm the efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Turkey will never recognize the "results" of the referendum, he reaffirmed. Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry previously said the illegal referendum constitutes a clear violation of the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the norms and principles of international law, and, therefore, has no legal effect whatsoever. The OSCE Minsk Group co-chair states, namely Russia, the U.S. and France, have also confirmed that they will not recognize the upcoming referendum in Nagorno-Karabakh. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia still controls fifth part of Azerbaijan's territory and rejects implementing four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Beijing will help Mongolia overcome its economic difficulties, and he announced a slew of measures to aid the debt-ridden neighbor. The measures include gearing up the implementation of non-reimbursable assistance to Mongolia and considering extending the bilateral currency swap deal, Wang told a media conference in Beijing on Monday after meeting with his Mongolian counterpart Tsend Munkh-Orgil. On Sunday, Mongolia agreed to implement an economic rescue package proposed by the International Monetary Fund and refinance bond loans, easing concerns that it might default in March, Xinhua reported. China supports aid given by international financial institutions to Mongolia, and it will also consider Mongolia's wishes to expand its exports of minerals, agriculture and husbandry products to China, Wang said. The pledges were offered as the relationship emerges from a tense period. In November, Mongolia angered China by allowing the visit of the secessionist 14th Dalai Lama, who has worked on separating Tibet from China. In January, the two senior diplomats had a phone call, and Wang said Mongolia reflected deeply upon the Dalai's trip and promised no such further occurrences. Wang said on Monday the relationship "has already got things packed and is ready for another start". 20 February 2017 11:38 (UTC+04:00) By Trend Armenian presidents statement, which pushes the South Caucasus region and the Armenian people for a new war, is a characteristic feature of military dictatorship and junta regimes, Hikmat Hajiyev, a spokesman for Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry, told Trend on November 20. Hajiyev was commenting on the statement of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan at the 11th congress of a volunteer union in Yerevan. By such speech, the head of the military junta regime of Armenia has once again proved that he still cannot get rid of illusions related to the beginning of the 90s, said Hajiyev. This person, as the head of a state, which is in a deep political and economic, financial and demographic crisis, promises the Armenian people nothing more than another war instead of making pre-election statements on how to overcome the crisis in the country and repair relations with the neighboring countries, he added. Despite the fact that the situation is clear for everyone, the Armenian leadership at the level of president has once again confirmed the occupation and destruction of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the adjoining seven districts of Azerbaijan, Hajiyev noted. At the time when Azerbaijan demonstrates a unique model of post-conflict rehabilitation and ensuring long-term peace in the South Caucasus region by restoring Azerbaijani Jabrayil districts Jojug Marjanli village liberated from the occupation, the Armenian leadership takes pride in its aggressive and destructive policy, he added. There is no doubt that the sooner Armenian leadership understands this, the sooner long-term peace will be ensured in the South Caucasus region and, in particular, the Armenian people will be able to take advantage of regional cooperation, Hajiyev said. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 20 February 2017 12:29 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov Indonesia has once again condemned the aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan. Meutya Viada Hafid, Chairman of Indonesia-Azerbaijan bilateral cooperation group, has said that a ceremony to honor the memory of the Khojaly genocide, committed by Armenians in February 1992, was held at the Indonesian Parliament. Indonesia has always stood against aggression by anyone, anywhere, not only in Azerbaijan but also in any other country, Hafid said. The chairman also expressed support for the UN resolutions calling for unconditional withdrawal of all Armenian forces from the Azerbaijani lands. Hafid recalled that despite the four UN resolutions, Armenia still controls the territory of Azerbaijans Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions. "I hope that the UN will be able to enforce resolutions that were adopted earlier, because the resolution without coercion is useless," Hafid said. She added that Indonesia intends to promote dialogue and cooperation with Azerbaijan, which will strengthen the position of Baku on the international stage in the settlement of the conflict. Khojaly, the second largest town in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, came under intense fire from the towns of Khankendi and Askeran already occupied by the Armenian armed forces in 1992. 613 civilians mostly women and children were killed in the massacre, and a total of 1,000 people were disabled. Eight families were exterminated, 25 children lost both parents, and 130 children lost one parent. Moreover, 1,275 innocent people were taken hostage, and the fate of 150 of them remains unknown. Azerbaijan and Armenia for over two decades have been locked in conflict, which emerged over Armenian territorial claims. Since the 1990s war, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions. The UN Security Council resolutions on Armenian withdrawal have not been enforced to this day. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 20 February 2017 15:43 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov A number of unexploded ordnances (UXOs) have been found in a village of Azerbaijan's Tovuz region. Azerbaijan's Interior Ministry told Trend that employees of Tovuz region's Police and State Security Service departments discovered 75 shells, a mine, 66 mine fuses, three grenades and 139 bullets in the region's Vahidli village. The Vahidli village is located near the Azerbaijani-Armenia border. The UXOs were transferred to Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA). Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. ANAMA was established in 1998 for planning and coordination, management and monitoring of mine action related activities all over the country. The problem of unexploded ordnance in the country can be divided into the areas of Azerbaijan that are still under the occupation of Armenian forces and those areas that have been liberated. The project is designed to create indigenous capacity to undertake survey, mapping and clearance in currently liberated areas and to prepare for dealing with the UXO problem in occupied areas after their liberation. ANAMA cleared more than 393,832,826 square meters of Azerbaijans territory, discovered and defused over 754,010 pieces of unexploded ordnance since the beginning of its activity. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 20 February 2017 17:52 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov Latvia does not recognize the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh and the referendum which is held there, Latvian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Juris Maklakovs told Trend on February 20. The so-called constitutional referendum is held on February 20 in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, which is now ruled by a puppet regime controlled by Armenia. Maklakovs stressed that Latvia supports territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group on the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Norwegian Embassy in Baku also said on February 20 that Norway recognizes neither the "independence" of Nagorno-Karabakh nor the "referendum" held there. Earlier, Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry as well as the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair states, namely Russia, the U.S. and France, have also confirmed that they will not recognize the referendum in Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijani MP Bakhtiyar Sadigov, in turn, urged international organizations to react to the illegal referendum in Nagorno-Karabakh. By not reacting to the conduction of illegal referendum by Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh, international organizations harm their prestige, he told Trend on February 20. Sadigov said the referendum is designed for the domestic audience of Armenia and it has no legal force. The MP added that international organizations have always applied double standards towards the issue. The four resolutions on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which were adopted by the UN Security Council, are still not implemented. And this organization does not respond to it, the MP said. He also noted that the OSCE Minsk Group and the co-chair countries undertook mediation in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict by peaceful means, but failed to achieve any results so far. Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of the sovereign State with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of due attention of the international community for years. Armenia ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 20 February 2017 12:53 (UTC+04:00) By Amina Nazarli Azerbaijan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will outline further ways of developing the cooperation both in political and economic spheres during an official visit of UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan to Azerbaijan. A diplomatic source told Trend that the visit is scheduled for May 21 in accordance with the preliminary agreements. Bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and the UAE, especially their political component, are at a high level. The relationship between the two countries based on multilateral cooperation based on mutual interests. The UAE is one of the most important partners of Azerbaijan in the Persian Gulf and Middle East region. At the same time, Azerbaijan is the most important partner of the Emirates in the Caucasus. Both countries have similar positions on many international issues and are actively cooperate on a bilateral basis and within the framework of the OIC, the United Nations and other international organizations. Some 223 UAE companies are currently operating in Azerbaijan. The trade turnover between the countries amounted to almost $58 million as of the end of the third quarter of 2016, with some $50 million falling to a share of import from the country. The figure is 24 percent higher as compared to the same period of 2015. Recently, the two countries agreed to establish a joint investment fund to facilitate the implementation of joint investment in mutually beneficial projects. UAE also supports the fair position of Azerbaijan in connection with the aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan and the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict during the consideration in the OIC, the UN and other international organizations. 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 regions. -- Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 20 February 2017 15:27 (UTC+04:00) By Amina Nazarli The fight against corruption is among the priorities of the state policy in Azerbaijan. To this end, Azerbaijan has been cooperating with the OECD Anti-Corruption Network for Eastern Europe and Central Asia since 2003. These remarks were made by Deputy Prosecutor General, Head of the Central Anti-Corruption Department under the Prosecutor General, Kamran Aliyev during the presentation of a report adopted by Azerbaijan in the framework of the 4th Monitoring round of the Istanbul Anti-Corruption Action Plan. A total of 31 recommendations, including 11 new recommendations in the field of education are reflected in the 4th Monitoring Plan. Most of them are identical with the provisions of the next National Plan measures for 2016-2018 years to promote "open government", approved by the presidential order dated April 27, 2016. A number of measures on the recommendations are planned to be implemented until 2019. Aliyev said that the Istanbul Action Plan provides for the phased implementation and evaluation of anti-corruption reforms in the member countries and Azerbaijan have successfully passed three phases of the monitoring to obtain the corresponding report. Aliyev stressed that Azerbaijan hosted large OECD expert group and held meetings and discussions with representatives of the state structures and civil society institutions. The delegation prepared a corresponding report on Azerbaijan, which was adopted during the discussions in Paris last September. Azerbaijan, along with Georgia, has successfully completed the 3rd Monitoring round, and became one of the first two countries, passing to the 4th Monitoring round. The report highlighted important role of "ASAN Service centers in the implementation of preventive measures against corruption and the activity of the Main Department, and both structures were presented as an exemplary model for the region. The OECD representatives expressed their satisfaction with the fruitful cooperation with Azerbaijan and stressed that an anti-corruption legislation that meets international standards was formed in Azerbaijan thanks to the widespread and systematic legal, institutional and administrative reforms. Progress has been made in the field of corruption prevention, criminal prosecution in this field, enhancing transparency in the sphere of civil service and the judiciary, information, education, and customs regulation of business activity. In her speech, Tatiana Hvanska, the representative of OECD said that fight against corruption is implemented at the high-level in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has created the necessary conditions for the fight against corruption, according to the OECD representative. She further stressed that not only government agencies, but also members of the public should be involved in the implementation of anti-corruption measures in Azerbaijan. Commission on the fight against corruption and the General Directorate for Combating Corruption are operating in Azerbaijan. Of course, the fight against corruption depends on the will of the government, but society also plays a significant role in the realization of this process. Investigations confirmed that state structures in Azerbaijan are actively cooperating with non-governmental organizations and society, on aspects of the fight against corruption, she explained. -- Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 20 February 2017 18:47 (UTC+04:00) By Amina Nazarli In an effort to further enhance legal cooperation and business relations between the prosecutor's offices of Azerbaijan and Ukraine, a delegation led by Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yuri Lutsenko visited Baku on February 20. Visiting Baku at the invitation of his Azerbaijani counterpart Zakir Garalov, Lutsenko and his delegation had a meeting at the Prosecutor Generals Office. Garalov addressed the event, stressing that the relations between the two parties were based on the strategic alliance, and signing of agreement On Legal Assistance and Cooperation between the General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine and the Prosecutor General's Office of Azerbaijan" in May 1994 plays an important role in increasing the content of a new level of ties between the prosecutor authorities of the two countries. In turn, Lutsenko noted great interest for legal reforms successfully carried out in Azerbaijan. He emphasized the broad prospects of cooperation in the judiciary sphere, and the rapid development of relations between the two countries in various fields. The sides had a wide exchange of views on the protection of the rights and freedoms of citizens of the two countries and the joint fight against crime, including terrorism and extremism. The talks also focused on the effective cooperation both in the bilateral format and within international organizations, improvement of contractual base in legal cooperation. Following the meeting, the Ukrainian delegation visited the building of the Main and Administrative Directorate for Combating Corruption under the Prosecutor General's Office. Lutsenko was received by Interior Minister Ramil Usubov to discuss a number of questions of mutual interest. Usubov with great satisfaction emphasized that according to the political will of the Presidents of the two countries, friendship and signed intergovernmental documents, the relations between Azerbaijan and Ukraine develop in all spheres, the law enforcement bodies of the two countries effectively cooperate in fighting crime, in particular, dangerous types of organized crime. He expressed gratitude to Lutsenko for his role in this work, and also personal control of investigation of a number of the crimes committed against Azerbaijanis in the territory of Ukraine. Lutsenko, for his part, expressed satisfaction with rapid development of Azerbaijan, the stability created in the country. The guest emphasized importance of further development of mutually beneficial and effective law enforcement cooperation of two countries. The delegation then toured ASAN Service Center 5. ASAN Service, established by the presidential decree in 2012, provides opportunity for state agencies to render their services in a uniformed and coordinated manner. The Service reduces extra expenses and loss of time for many citizens, upgrades the level of professionalism, ensures a larger use of electronic services, increases transparency and strengthens the fight against corruption. The Service, which already has 11 centers across the country, provides venues for state agencies to render their services in a uniformed and coordinated manner. Until 2018, the state plans to launch ten more centers in the regions of the country. Lutsenko was informed that the number of appeals submitted to "ASAN Service", Azerbaijans leading e-Government institution acting on behalf and in cooperation with other state entities in public service provision has reached 14 million, so far. -- Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 20 February 2017 10:18 (UTC+04:00) By Trend Trends exclusive interview with Giorgos Stathakis, Minister of nergy and Environment of Greece, on the occasion of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Councils meeting to be held in Baku on February 23. Q: What are your expectations from the upcoming meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council? A: I believe that the third meeting of the Advisory Council in Baku will deepen further the practical realization of the Southern Gas Corridor. It will send a strong signal that the EU strategic aspiration of diversifying gas supply routes works not only on paper but in real practice. Three years after its initial inception, this priority project promoted the cooperation between gas suppliers and transit countries and led to tangible results. The next step is to consolidate further this cooperation by combining the expansion of the corridor with the gradual creation of what I call a South-Eastern Energy Crossroad. Q: How do you see the significance of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project for Greece and the progress in the projects implementation? A: TAP is the key driver that puts the whole Southern Gas Corridor concept into place. The project is unfolding smoothly and in a timely manner across the 550 km of Greek soil. Already works on the initial 30 km of the pipeline are completed and the operations on the other parts are well underway. The involvement of local companies in the construction processes reinvigorated the economy of Northern Greece. The long-term benefits though are yet to come, since TAP will consolidate the countrys position as a key transfer country of the Southern Gas Corridor, while a future upgrade of the pipelines capacity to 20 billion cubic meters combined with additional infrastructure works of gas storage could lay the ground for transforming Greece into a gas hub. Q: At what stage is the work on privatization of DESFA natural gas grid operator? A: The project of DESFA privatization proved so far a rather adventurous undertaking with many twists and turns coupled with legal uncertainty. Our government opted for a clean start and will launch very soon a new tender process that will abide by the EU requirements and will set qualitative standards, such as investment plans and job creation, for the prospective buyers. Q: Senior officials from Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Israel have agreed to advance talks on a pipeline for exporting gas from Israel to Europe. How do you assess the possibility of Israeli gas export to Europe? A: A direct and intra-EU connection between the Levantine Basin offshore resources should be a top priority project, if one takes into account that current discoveries already adding up to 1.2 Tcm, equal the size of Azerbaijani gas reserves [in Shah Deniz field]. Pre-Feed studies demonstrated that the EastMed Pipeline could be a fully viable export option to the converging dynamics between present and future gas discoveries in the East Med Region and Europes growing import requirements. It also fits well with the EUs target of increasing the security of supply and diversification of routes. I believe that all interested parties should continue in the spirit of the already existing good cooperation to advance the project farther. Q: How do you see the prospects for connection of the Southern Gas Corridor with vertical pipelines such as the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) and Ionian-Adriatic Pipeline (IAP)? A: If EastMed qualifies as the southern part of the South-Eastern Energy Crossroad, I referred to in the beginning, then vertical pipelines such as IGB or IAP form the northern part of it. Our government strongly endorses these projects with particular reference to IGB. The latter is a key project and a stepping stone for the development of the vertical corridor that will further ensure the security of supply of Eastern Europe and the Balkans. We are determined to continue our good cooperation with our Bulgarian friends so as to bring the project to fruition. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 20 February 2017 15:24 (UTC+04:00) By Nigar Abbasova Energy-rich Azerbaijan may provide a quarter of Bulgarias demand in natural gas. The Bulgarian Energy Ministry told BGNES that Azerbaijan is planned to launch gas supplies to Bulgaria by early 2020, while the construction of the Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB Pipeline) will be completed by late 2019. IGB is expected to be connected to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), a core pipe of the Southern Gas Corridor that will bring Azerbaijani gas to Europe. IGB will provide a direct link between the national natural gas systems of Greece and Bulgaria with an Entry Point in the vicinity of Komotini and an Exit Point in the vicinity of Stara Zagora. The Pipeline will serve as a gas transportation infrastructure providing diversification of gas supplies to the Bulgarian and South East Europe gas market and supply security to Greece. The ministry also recalled that Bulgaria will be represented by Energy Minister Nikolay Pavlov in the third ministerial meeting of the SGC Advisor Council s scheduled for February 23 in Baku. Bulgaria is highly dependent on natural gas supplies, while prices for the commodity in the country are among the highest in Europe. The country imports over 95 percent of its natural gas, while Russia is currently a dominant supplier. Average yearly supplies of Gazprom (Russian energy major) are estimated at a range of 2.5 and 3.0 billion cubic meters (bcm). In this regard, the Southern Gas Corridor is a project of strategic importance for the entire region of South-East Europe, including Bulgaria, which has supported the project since its initiation. To reach its objective Bulgargaz signed a contract with Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR for supplies of one billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas per year from the Shah Deniz 2 project. The gas will be delivered through the Southern Gas Corridor, namely: the South-Caucasus Pipeline, Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB). The SGC envisages transportation of 10 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas from the Caspian region to Europe via Georgia and Turkey. -- Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 20 February 2017 10:34 (UTC+04:00) By Trend The upcoming constitutional referendum on April 16 will be a rebirth of Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday, Anadolu reported. Speaking at an opening ceremony for infrastructure projects in southeastern Gaziantep province, Erdogan said the new changes will make Turkish democracy better and stronger. April 16 will be a rebirth. I hope this will be a new resurrection, [and] it will be a sign of revival. We will receive the outcome that would be shameful for those who do not trust you and those who dont believe in you, he said. Constitutional reforms have been under discussion officially since Erdogan was elected president in August 2014. The proposals aim to hand wide-ranging executive powers to the president and abolish the post of prime minister. The president would also be allowed to retain ties to a political party. Erdogan again slammed opposition parties for criticizing the upcoming constitutional changes. Unwary people, who are opposed to the presidential system, always say something, but they always say it is wrong [and], unfortunately, what they say is a lie, he said. Two opposition parties -- the Republican Peoples Party (CHP) and the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) -- are opposed to the constitutional changes while the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party is supporting it along with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). About the opposition parties criticism, he said: They are saying the Turkish parliament is going to be suppressed, shamelessly. However, he reiterated the Turkish parliament would in fact become stronger with the new system, which he called both presidential system and presidential government system. No one has the right to block change, [and] regeneration, he said. Referring to recent terrorist attacks in Turkey, he said: Turkey needs strong governance while it passes through its fragile era. We have to change the system to come to a conclusion for our fight against terrorism, [we have to change to the new system] for the success of our fight in the region and to reach our 2023 targets. Erdogan kicked off the Yes campaign on Friday after the official referendum schedule was announced by the Supreme Election Board. The campaign began in southern Kahramanmaras, one of the areas that gave him the most votes in the 2014 presidential polls. The reforms would remove parliaments power to question ministers or to stage a vote of confidence on the government. The minimum age for parliamentary candidates would be reduced to 18 and the number of deputies will rise to 600. Simultaneous parliamentary and presidential elections for a five-year term would be held in November 2019 under the new constitution. Turkish nationals overseas will be able to vote in the referendum between March 27 and April 9 at polling stations in embassies and consulates as well as at Turkish ports and airports. These votes will be tallied in Turkey on referendum night. The political parties can campaign until 6 p.m. on April 15. The bill of constitutional changes was passed by parliament in January, with 339 votes in favor -- nine more than needed to put the proposals to a referendum. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 20 February 2017 10:41 (UTC+04:00) By Trend A number of people who used to promote the campaign for not buying domestically made cars have been "identified", Irans Minister of Industry Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh said. "We have given their list to authorities," he said, accusing the campaigners of having conspired against one of the countrys booming economic sectors, ISNA news agency reported. The minister has recently led a campaign in favor of an industrialism in Iran that disregards environmental concerns. The "dont buy" campaign which went viral in Iran last year tried to prevent Iranians from opening the way for a new flow of outdated cars into the market. Just a week ago the same minister lashed out at the Department of Environment for not allowing the ministry to authorize mining in central Iran in an area preserved for saving an endangered species of zebras. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 20 February 2017 13:38 (UTC+04:00) By Kamila Aliyeva Kazakhstan experienced losses in the CIS market as its food exports decreased by 20 percent in 2016 and amounted to only $623 million. The main reason for the fall is decreasing demand in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, Stanradar reported. Kazakh manufacturers of agro and food products are trying to restore the volume of exports, but the pace of growth remains weak. In 2016, the total aggregate value of the export of crops, flour, and meat was $1.2 billion that is only 2 percent more than in 2015. A modest growth in food exports of Kazakhstan is linked with lower demand in the main market for the countrys goods- the CIS countries. In 2016, the amount of the export of crops and food to the CIS countries decreased by 20%, or $ 155.6 million. The main decline was observed in exports to Uzbekistan as delivery in 2016 to the neighboring republic decreased by $78 million, or 20 percent. The export of foodstuffs to Uzbekistan amounts to 25 percent of the total volume of such supplies. Also, a 20-percent fall was recorded in the exports to Tajikistan, which is worth $42 million while the country's share in food export of Kazakhstan is 14 percent. But, the countrys exports to non-CIS countries increased by $178 million or 45 percent. This growth was supported by an increase of supplies to Afghanistan by $120 million. The National Economy Ministry reported that the volume of mutual trade of Kazakhstan with the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union in January-December 2016 decreased by 16.8 percent compared to the same period of 2015. In 2016 the mutual trade of Kazakhstan with the EAEC countries amounted to $13.583 billion that is 16.8 percent less than in 2015 while export made only $3.917 billion (decreased by 23.5 percent), and import was $9.665 billion that is 13.7 percent less than in 2015. Mainly machinery and equipment (25.8 percent of total import), mineral products (16.8 percent), chemical products (16.5 percent), products of animal and vegetable origin, ready food products (13.9 percent), metals and metal products (12.5 percent) are imported from the EAEC countries. In 2015, the country's foreign trade amounted to $60.7 billion, with the export at $41.2 billion and import at $19.5 billion. Kazakhstans top foreign trading partners are the EU, Russia, China, Switzerland, USA, and Japan. GDP growth of Kazakhstan slowed to 0.7 percent in 2016, despite continued public investment, budget relaxation and the stabilization of the tenge. Analysts left the countrys 2017 GDP growth forecast unchanged from last months 2.1 percent and see the economy accelerating further to a 2.8 percent expansion in 2018. --- Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 20 February 2017 18:25 (UTC+04:00) By Kamila Aliyeva The re-elected for the third term President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov approved the Concept of foreign policy course of Turkmenistan for 2017-2023 making a particular stress on the importance of the stability in the Central Asian region for his country. The concept envisages the new directions in the foreign policy of Turkmenistan for the next seven years. The document emphasizes that the core of Turkmenistans foreign policy remains the same as the country has a unique and one-of-a-kind legal status of permanent neutrality approved by the world community. The concept presents specific plans and directions for further consolidations of friendly relations and accumulation of partnership with neighboring countries and states of the region. Policy of neutrality enabled Turkmenistan to establish peace, and respect, relations of friendship, cooperation, and mutual understanding with Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and other Central Asian states Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The fruitful cooperation with the European countries, and the United States will continue, first of all, on such major issues as ensuring peace and stability in Central Asia as it is a key direction of the national foreign policy. Turkmenistan intends to improve the authority of the country in the world arena, bringing of cooperation of the country with other states and international organization to the new level. Turkmenistan targets a special attention to the development of close, strategic partnership with the UN, OSCE, Non-Aligned Movement, OIC, and other international organizations. Particularly, the expansion of cooperation with foreign countries and international institutions for development of solutions of urgent issues in such spheres as energy and provision of energy, security establishment of sustainable transport system, ecology and environmental protection, especially matters of water resources management, prevention and mitigation of natural and man-made disasters, food security and others are among top priorities. The document outlines main vectors of the development of regional and bilateral cooperation with Asian, European, North and South American and African Countries were outlined. Turkmenistan aims to diversify its economy by developing energy and fuel sectors. The country has significant commercial relations with Russia and Iran and a growing cross-border trade with Afghanistan. A great deal of potential has always existed in Afghanistan-Turkmenistan relations. Turkmenistan has the fourth largest gas reserves and has been actively looking for building transportation routes to large markets and the route through Afghanistan has been the most feasible and economical. The rise of India as an economic giant and its increasing energy needs make Turkmenistan and Central Asia energy markets interesting for that country. The Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline (TAPI) has been one of the most important initiatives to be undertaken by these regional countries. Construction of the Turkmen section of TAPI was launched on December 13, 2015. In addition, Afghanistan depends on Turkmenistan for meeting a large part of the country's electricity needs. At present, Afghanistan imports more than 320 million kWh of electricity every year from Turkmenistan. Turkmenistan officially became a neutral state on December 12, 1995, when the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 50/80 that recognized the status of permanent neutrality of Turkmenistan. The republic has taken a neutral position on the majority of international issues and is virtually isolated from world politics. It was the first time that the UN supported the neutrality of an independent state. Turkmenistan doesn't contribute to the UN monitoring forces and doesn't participate in any military alliance. --- Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 20 February 2017 17:07 (UTC+04:00) By Kamila Aliyeva The Ground Forces of the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution also known as Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) conduct military exercises called "Peyhambar e-Azam" (Great Prophet) in the desert, in the central part of the country. During exercises, IRGC forces have been conducting tests of various types of advanced missile systems, including guided missiles, ISNA news agency reported. During the three-day exercises, several units of the IRGC will demonstrate their combat skills and technical capabilities. The first phase of this three-day maneuver started on Monday under the motto of Presentation of Power and Sustainable Security with various units of Iranian Revolutionary Guard force such as artillery, air defense, drone, infantry and air force units in attendance. During this phase, the positions of the mock enemy were hit by advanced and smart rockets with pinpoint accuracy. This security-defensive drill will last till Wednesday during which elite units will display their high defensive preparations in fighting against mock threats from foreign invaders. Iran held a number of the large-scale military exercises over the past few years to improve the defense capabilities of its armed forces. On February 4, the IRGC Aerospace started the major phase of defense exercises in an area of 35,000 square kilometers in an effort to demonstrate Irans power, intelligence command, and defense readiness to counter any threats. Different types of missile and radar systems, which are designed and manufactured by Iranian specialists and which have diverse ranges, will be used during the exercises. Earlier, Tehrans ballistic missile tests caused concerns among their international partners but Iranian foreign minister spokesman Bahram Qasemi said that the Islamic Republics missile program is about Iran and its people, and doesn't concern others. On January 29, Iran test-fired a medium-range ballistic missile, capable of carrying a 500-kilogram payload with a range of 300 kilometers. The United States insisted that the Iranian test violated UNSC Resolution 2231 which compels Iran not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles and the U.S. Treasury Department imposed new sanctions on Iran due to Tehrans missile program. Iran's Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan stated that Tehran will not allow foreigners to interfere in the defense matters of the country and insisted that the test did not violate the nuclear deal or UN Resolution 2231. The negotiations on the Iranian nuclear issue began in 2004, as Western nations were accusing Tehran of developing a "secret military nuclear program. Since 2006, negotiations with Iran were led by the "six" of international mediators (the five permanent UN Security Council members and Germany). The long-awaited deal was achieved in Vienna on July 14, 2015, that committed Iran not to produce weapons-grade plutonium for 15 years, to keep no more than 300 kg of enriched uranium to 3.67 percent, and to convert nuclear facilities and use them exclusively for peaceful purposes. --- Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 20 February 2017 15:16 (UTC+04:00) By Trend Tehran says it is against setting up a safe zone in the war-torn country of Syria as was recently proposed by Turkey. This idea of Turkey is wrong and will worsen the problems. We do not accept it, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi told a press conference, Trend correspondent reported from the event. The response came one week after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told an audience in Bahrain that he wants to create a safe zone near Raqqa, Syria. Erdogan said the safe zone would encompass 3,475 square miles and include the Syrian town of Manbij, which was taken from the Islamic State (IS, ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) in August by Syrian Kurds working closely with the U.S. military. Commenting on Tehran-Moscow cooperation over the Syrian crisis, Qassemi said, We are in the best mode of cooperation and have had no disagreement during the Astana talks, without commenting on Tehran-Ankara relations over developments in Syria. Last week Iran, Turkey, and Russia attended a round of talks in Kazakhstans Astana to discuss how to safeguard an ongoing ceasefire in Syria. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 20 February 2017 18:01 (UTC+04:00) By Kamila Aliyeva Russia stated on unacceptability for the Moscow group of Syrias opposition not to be invited to the Geneva talks and has sent a signal to the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday. Lavrov noted that under UN Resolution 2254, the delegation of the Syrian government and all opposition groups, including the Moscow, Cairo, Riyadh and Astana groups, should be invited by the UN for this weeks talks in Switzerlands Geneva, TASS reported. "The fact that representatives of the Moscow group, namely Qadri Jamil (leader of the Popular Front for Change and Liberation) have not received invitation is regrettable," Lavrov stressed, thus sending a signal to De Mistura to draw his attention to the unacceptability of such discriminatory approach to forming the oppositions delegation. "Qadri Jamil did not say that he would not come but that he had not received the invitation," Lavrov said, adding that sending the invitation is not a "goodwill gesture but a commitment of our UN colleagues." "Im convinced that over the last several days before the talks they will be able and should fix the current situation," he said. Lavrov also expressed his hope that the new team of the U.S. State Department will actively join the Syria peace effort as soon as it is formed. During last weeks meeting in Germanys Bonn with his U.S. counterpart Rex Tillerson Lavrov discussed the fight against international terrorism that is declared as a priority of the Donald Trump administration. The sides agreed that "the formation of the new U.S. team in the Syrian direction" is rather important and representatives of the State Department and the White House are now actively dealing with this. "As soon as this team is set up, I hope, it will actively join our efforts," Lavrov stressed. Lavrov hailed the Astana initiative, through two rounds of meetings in the past two months, for "helping end the period of endless waiting on the part of UN colleagues". Many experts highly assessed the results of Astana talks and the agreement between Russia, Turkey, and Iran on the establishment of a tripartite mechanism as a step to a political solution which might end the six-year war. The U.S. side participated in the talks as observers and was represented at the ambassadorial level. Meanwhile, the head of the Duma Committee on Defense, Vladimir Shamanov said that the coalitions fight against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria was not successful. "This is not the first year when a coalition of countries led by the United States fights against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, he said adding that during this time, the territory controlled by the Islamists even expanded. The countries that have been fighting against Islamic State have their own reasons, but the fight is uncoordinated and as such has not been as effective as it could be. It is not an accident, taking into account quite motley coalition and various political interests of its members," Shamanov said. Another round of UN-sponsored talks on Syrian reconciliation is expected to begin in Geneva on February 23, after a break of nearly ten months. De Mistura earlier said the crisis in Syria may be settled this year. He explained his optimism by the fact that the ceasefire in the country, announced in December, is being observed in general. Armed conflict continues in Syria since March 2011. Government troops are confronted by militants of different armed groups. Russia has begun airstrikes on terrorist facilities in Syria since 30 September 2015. The Russian military involvement follows an official request from President Bashar Assad to President Vladimir Putin. The UN has repeatedly tried and failed to end the Syrian conflict, which has killed 300,000 and displaced 11 million since its beginning 6 years ago. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 20 February 2017 20:19 (UTC+04:00) By Kamila Aliyeva Tajikistan and Turkey may increase the volume of trade turnover up to $1 billion in the years to come as there is a huge potential in cooperation between the two countries. Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce of the Republic of Tajikistan, the co-chairman of the Tajikistan-Turkey Business Council Sharif Said held talks with the co-chairman of the Turkish-Tajik Business council Mahmut Er, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the republic of Tajikistan. The sides summed up the results of the Tajik-Turkish business forum with the participation of more than 500 business circles as well as state agencies of Turkey and Tajikistan. The head of the Tajik CCI suggested working out the issue of the organization and holding of an exhibition of Turkish products and industrial technology, as well as holding a business forum to intensify trade and economic cooperation. Both countries can significantly diversify their business relations and increase a two-way trade to one billion U.S. dollars in the coming years. The sectors like tourism, minerals, light industry, and agriculture are areas which could drive the bilateral trade between Tajikistan and Turkey to the higher level. The volume of trade between the two countries, despite the impact of the global financial and economic crisis, has been characterized sustainable, as well as activation of the work of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation, organization of Business Forum, intensification of activity of the Council of Tajikistan and Turkey have been named effective ways of strengthening bilateral relations. According to the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Tajikistan, in 2016, due to the global financial and economic crisis, this index dropped to $350 million. In 2015, the volume of trade between Tajikistan and Turkey exceeded $650 million. Taking into account the production and export potential of Tajikistan in the field of energy it is planned to develop partnerships by attracting Turkish investments in the construction of small and medium-sized hydropower plants and the use of solar energy in the highlands. There are more than 60 joint Tajik-Turkish enterprises in trade, printing, production of plastics, paints, civil construction in Tajikistan. In October 2016, Tajik and Turkish Foreign Ministries signed a program on cooperation for 2017-2020. TajikTurkish relations are friendly and cooperative and underlined with a legal basis of more than 30 treaties and protocols which the two countries have signed since 1991. Turkey and Tajikistan enjoy solidarity within the international institutions such as UN, ICO, and ECO and have close cooperation in the framework of membership to international institutions. Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. He said he would submit the resignation letter to the President this week, he told Mizzima on February 18. On his Facebook page, he wrote this morning: I resign. Thanks to you all. It is usual that all things eventually cease to exist. He met with Win Htein, secretary of the Central Executive Committee (CEC) of National League for Democracy, on February 17 at Kyaik Hto Township NLD office. Regarding the meeting, he said, I negotiated with and informed them that I will resign. There have been complaint letters against Min Min Oo and Tanintharyi Region parliament speaker Khin Maung Aye concerning alleged conflicts of interest. An investigation committee was formed by NLD on 28 November, 2016. The committee submitted their finding to NLD CEC and the State Counsellor Office of Myanmar in January this year. The committee leader Nyan Win alleges that Min Min Oo is guilty of conflicts of interest. Min Min Oo, who obtained an electronics engineering degree from Yangon Institute of Technology, has a rubber-related business, a mobile-phone shop and rice-noddle business. According to Mon News, during the eight months after the Mon State Chief Minister took office, he has been occasionally absent from the Hluttaw [parliament] conferences, he included business associates in the state project committee, and he often had meetings with certain financiers. This has led to public criticism, alongside condemnation of his social life. The Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) campaign during the 2015 general election. Speaking to Shan Herald on Thursday, SNLD spokesperson Sai Lek said that party members kicked off the campaign in Kehsi, Monghsu and Kengtung townships on February 15. He explained that the candidates main task will be to explain the partys policies to the electorate. We have started campaigning in all seven constituencies: three in Kehsi, another three in Monghsu, and one in Kengtung township, he said. We are laying out our policies and helping voters understand how to cast their ballots. Polling in Kehsi and Monghsu tonwships was cancelled during the general election in November 2015 because of fighting between the Tatmadaw [Burmese government forces] and the Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA). We will not be forcing people to vote for us, Sai Lek added. We will explain to them that they can vote freely and for whomever they wish. We are taking time to explain the voting process. During the general elections in 1990, 2010 and 2015, many people in Shan State did not understand the responsibilities of voting. To this day, many still dont truly understand the process, and thats why we are explaining it to them. This is the main issue we are addressing. We will contest all seven seats, Sai Lek said. If the public supports us, we believe we will win them all. In the 2015 election, the SNLD, commonly known as the Tiger Head Party, won a total of 40 seats, making it the second strongest party in Shan State, next to the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). Its main rival, the Shan National Democratic Party (SNDP), won only one constituency in the last general election; that was a State Assembly seat in Mong Pan Township. The SNDP will also contest all available seats in the April 1 by-election. However, the newly formed Eastern Shan State Development Democratic Party (ESSDDP) has announced that it will not contest any seats at the upcoming by-election unless its sister parties, the SNLD and SNDP, cooperate with them. According to a Union Election Commission (UEC) announcement on October 1, a total of 18 vacant seats will be up for grabs in both Union and regional parliaments on April 1. Constituencies under the control of the United Wa State Army (UWSA) namely Panghsang, Narpan, Pangwai and Mongmaw as well as Mongla Township, which is the headquarters of the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA), have not announced whether they will hold polling for the by-election. By Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN) A Gulfport couple suffered critical injuries and a Dunellon man was killed Sunday night in a Citrus County crash. Man, 45, killed in Sunday night Homosassa Gulfport couple suffers critical injuries in crash Bay News 9 Traffic resources According to the Florida Highway Patrol, Albert Funari, Jr., 45, was killed in the 3-vehicle crash that happened just after 8 p.m. on U.S. Highway 19 at West Arber Court in Homosassa. Troopers said Funari's northbound 2004 Nissan Xterra was bumped by a 2000 Jeep Cherokee when the driver, Matthew Canning, attempted a lane change. The collision sent the Nissan to the right, forcing Funari to over-correct. His vehicle began to rotate while going back across all of the northbound lanes and into southbound traffic. The Xterra crashed into a 2012 Nissan Altima, being driven by Pamela Wikberg, 56. The Xterra overturned and Funari was ejected. He died at the scene. Wikberg and her passenger, husband, 62-year-old Tony Wikberg suffered critical injuries and were rushed to Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point in Hudson. The 29-year-old driver of the Jeep and his 28-year-old passenger were not injured in the crash. The crash remains under investigation. This blog is looking for wisdom, to have and to share. It is also looking for other rare character traits like good humor, courage, and honor. It is not an easy road, because all of us fall short. But God is love, forgiveness and grace. Those who believe in Him and repent of their sins have the promise of His Holy Spirit to guide us and show us the Way. Sharing the Coast Conference Digs Deep Into Oregon Beaches, Citizen Science Published 02/18/2017 at 6:49 PM PDT - Updated 02/21/2017 at 5:00 AM PDT By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff (Waldport, Oregon) It's a festival of science coming up on the central Oregon coast, filled with dozens of fascinating events and activities that help you dig a little deeper into your beach experience. It's all thanks to CoastWatch, the group of volunteers who keep a close eye on Oregon's beaches. CoastWatch will be holding its annual Sharing the Coast Conference in Waldport on March 3 5. The conference offers a wealth of information for the general public in the world of citizen science, and it's plenty of fun. It's also geared to CoastWatch volunteers, helping them learn more about monitoring their adopted miles. It all kicks off Friday evening, March 3, with a free talk by marine mammalogist Leigh Torres, 6:30 p.m. (doors open at 6) at the Waldport Community Center (265 Hemlock St.). An Assistant Professor in Oregon State Universitys Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, based at the Ecology of Marine Megafauna Laboratory in Newport, Dr. Torres will discuss results of the most recent research into the gray whales that frequent our shores. Her research focuses on the habitat use, distribution and behavioral patterns of marine megafauna" species (marine mammals, seabirds, and sharks) in relation to environmental variability, prey availability and anthropogenic threats such as fisheries, vessel traffic, climate change, and habitat alterations. She will also discuss how non-scientists can help to contribute to our knowledge of marine mammals through citizen science. This event is free, although a donation is requested. The primary events of the conference happen Saturday, March 4, from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. (registration begins at 8:30). This days activities take place at Waldport High School (3000 S Crestline Dr.). There will be a series of talks focused on various aspects of monitoring the shoreline and citizen science, with special slants towards CoastWatch volunteers. The conference co-sponsors, Northwest Aquatic and Marine Educators, will offer other activities of a similar nature happening during that day as well. On Saturday evening it's time to party it up, Oregon coast-style. Starting at 5:30 p.m., there will be a celebration with food, drink, company and the group's traditional Oregon coast trivia competition. On Sunday (also at Waldport High School), you will be able to attend a training for the beached bird survey or participate in other indoor workshops or field trips. Cost is $10 for Oregon Shores members, $20 for CoastWatchers (or join Oregon Shores--$35 individual, $50 family membershipand take the discount), or $35 for other members of the public. Lunch is on your own. More details about the schedule coming soon, but for now, mark your calendars and plan to join us. For information, contact Fawn Custer, CoastWatch volunteer coordinator, at (541) 270-0027, [email protected] Newport Hotels for this event - Where to eat - Map and Virtual Tour More on the Waldport area below: More About Newport Lodging..... More About Oregon Coast Restaurants, Dining..... Coastal Spotlight LATEST Related Oregon Coast Articles Back to Oregon Coast Contact Advertise on BeachConnection.net All Content, unless otherwise attributed, copyright BeachConnection.net Unauthorized use or publication is not permitted This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Not long ago, Dowlen Road was a four-lane boulevard where westbound roads abruptly ended at a mostly unbroken wall of woods. The Amoco Corp., which owned the west Beaumont oilfields from the 1930s, pulled up rigs and pumpjacks by the mid-1990s and began selling off land parcels. The first big land sale and notable development was the Walmart Supercenter. In the unknowable future, a commercial center anchored by a supermarket could go in at the southwest corner of Dowlen Road and Delaware Street, currently blocked by a screen of trees. A site plan shows a potential growth area for Beaumont, but it exists only as a drawing superimposed on an aerial map, produced by Houston-based commercial real estate company NewQuest Properties. Shielded from view are 360 acres, still producing oil, owned by the Hilcorp Energy Co. of Houston. The Texas Railroad Commission lists at least six distinct well permits for Hilcorp within the site. The permits are not specific about where the producing wells are located. The NewQuest site map shows a fully developed commercial area along the Dowlen-Delaware corner. For years, a sign at the corner of Dowlen and Delaware promised future commercial development. The NewQuest site map is the first evidence of it. "It's a lofty idea," said Mark Fertitta, principal of Mark A. Fertitta Realty and Property Management in Beaumont. Fertitta said he has no dealings with Hilcorp and is not representing its property. He is involved in a 100 acres or so of land north of Folsom Road that will be opened up to development with the just-begun construction of Northwest Parkway, which might be finished by late 2018. The Dowlen-Delaware site could be attractive to commercial developers because it is close to a heavier concentration of homes - often referred to as "rooftops" by real estate professionals. "It might cause a shift of some tenants to be closer," he said, referring to the attraction of a development at Dowlen and Delaware. "I'm not sure how many retailers would want to come in. The economy is OK, but it's not great," he said. Fertitta mentioned Hilcorp founder, chairman and chief executive Jeffery D. Hildebrand. "If he's smart, he'll do it in increments (a development) with anchor tenants in tow," Fertitta said. Hildebrand was not available for comment. Hilcorp's executive director for external affairs, Justin W. Furnace, did not return a voice mail. Fertitta said Beaumont seems to be saturated with retailers, some of whom are not in good shape. Macy's recently announced closures of 68 stores across the country this year, including its Parkdale Mall store. Sears is closing 42 stores across the country, but has no plans affecting the Parkdale store. Gander Mountain, a privately held company owns and operates a store at 5855 Eastex Freeway, is fending off rumors of a looming bankruptcy filing but has said it is reviewing options for "long-term success." Pat Parsons, vice chairman of CommunityBank of Texas, said even from his perch at the bank's imposing building at 5999 Delaware at Dowlen, he can't see in to Hilcorp's property. "We wanted to build there (on that southwest corner of the intersection), but we couldn't get it," Parsons said. He said he thinks demand is strong enough in Beaumont for commercial and residential development to make that property a good target. "Over time, it will be absorbed," he said. Parsons mentioned the new La-Z-Boy Home Furnishings store that opened at 3775 Dowlen Road, sandwiched in next to the Walgreens pharmacy. Just to its west is Howell Furniture on Folsom. An Ashley HomeStore is under construction nearby. Parsons, 68, said he doesn't know anyone who lives west of Dowlen Road anymore, and when he dines at Carrabba's Italian Grill on Interstate 10, he barely recognizes anyone. That means new people to him. There is continuing demand for housing, he said. Beaumont's residential real estate market has never been boom or bust. It's hard to know about commercial demand until land opens up. "You never know until you've got some place to plant (a development)," he said. DWallach@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/DWallach This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 5 1 of 5 National Weather Service Show More Show Less 2 of 5 National Weather Service Show More Show Less 3 of 5 4 of 5 National Weather Service Show More Show Less 5 of 5 A one- to two-inch soaker is sloshing into Jefferson County and will rain begin to fall by late morning, the National Weather Service is predicting. Much of the expected rainfall will be in the afternoon, said meteorologist Donald Jones, from the weather service's Lake Charles, Louisiana, office. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate SOUTHEAST TEXAS TALES When the Texas Department of Transportation looks in its rear-view mirror, it can see a century of road-building that grew from 8,865 miles of two-lane blacktop to more than 80,000 miles of pavement carrying more than 25 million vehicles. The department, originally named the Texas Highway Department on April 4, 1917, used a World War I surplus truck for its first vehicle. That truck, dubbed "Liberty," is coming to Jefferson County on Wednesday to help celebrate TxDOT's centennial. In October 1918, the highway department got into the road-building business with a 20-mile stretch between Falfurrias and Encino in Brooks County, southwest of Corpus Christi, now designated U.S. 281. >> See historic photos from TxDOT's first 100 years in the gallery above. The "Liberty" truck will visit all 25 of TxDOT's districts around the state leading up to and beyond the actual centennial day. "Liberty" isn't making the statewide drive on its own power; it will be aboard an 18-wheeler truck for that. The Beaumont district, formed in 1932 with eight counties, has almost 2,400 miles of highways and more than 1,500 bridges to look after, like the newly rebuilt Quick Sand Bridge in Newton County destroyed a year ago in the massive downpour and flooding in March 2016. The Texas Highway Department name stuck around until 1978 when the Legislature changed it to the unwieldy mouthful of the Texas State Department of Highways and Public Transportation. It was mercifully shortened to Texas Department of Transportation in 1991. (Story continues below) Its mission changed in the 1970s to include local and regional transit providers. In the 1990s and 2000s, it added duties that included aviation, railroads, ports and waterways. A local application of TxDOT's aid to ports and waterways can be seen in the under-construction "flyway" from Old U.S. 90 alongside Interstate 10 in Orange County into the Port of Beaumont's Orange County dock, vaulting over the KCS and Union Pacific railroad tracks and wetlands. TxDOT is still rebuilding portions of Interstate 10 from the Sabine River to Winnie. Most of the work in previous years focused on Orange County, the Neches River Bridge - now Purple Heart Memorial Bridge - the intersection at Major Drive and now the section of interstate from Beaumont to Chambers County, transforming the oldest segment of Interstate 10 into the newest. TxDOT also is nearing the end of its Eastex Freeway ramp change project and the Concord Road reconstruction. TxDOT transformed the manner in which Southeast Texans commute when it built the new Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway in the 1980s. Completion of Concord to Texas 105 will close a loop extending from Cardinal Drive, past Lamar University, through Old Town and into the North End, where it ultimately connects to the northwestern route to Interstate 45 and North Texas. Southeast Texas Tales is a weekly feature that revisits regional history. DWallach@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/dwallach This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Beaumont's Ninth Court of Appeals will again consider a Beaumont man's murder conviction for killing a 16-year-old from Vidor after the state's highest appeals court determined the original trial judge made an error in his jury instructions. Kelvin Lee Roy was sentenced in August 2014 to 75 years in prison for the murder of Alexandria "Lexy" Bertrand, but the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled last week that trial Judge Dennis Powell should have instructed the jury to consider a charge of intoxication manslaughter as well. Because Roy presented evidence that could have led to manslaughter charges rather than murder, "he was entitled to a jury instruction on the lesser-included offense of manslaughter," Judge Michael E. Keasler wrote in the opinion. The Beaumont-based Ninth Court of Appeals, which upheld Roy's conviction in August 2015, will now determine whether the error in jury instruction contributed to the conviction. Roy's lawyer, Beaumont attorney Dustin Galmor, said in a statement that Roy will seek a new trial. Guiseppe Barranco/Photo Editor Roy was driving with his girlfriend, Taralynn Brown, on Feb. 7, 2014, when he ran his white Mercury Sable into a minivan stopped at a Vidor intersection. Bertrand, a passenger in the minivan, was ejected from the vehicle and killed. During Roy's trial in Orange County's 163rd District Court, prosecutor Krispen Walker argued that Roy "suddenly 'snapped'" while driving and began muttering and smoking a cigarette that had been dipped in PCP, according to the appeals court ruling. He was swerving and speeding and refused Brown's "repeated and frantic requests" to stop, Keasler wrote. According to the ruling, "Roy told Brown, 'Oh, you're scared? I'm going to kill both of us. I'm going to kill both of us,'" and then accelerated toward train tracks where two cars were stopped. "His car flew through the air and crashed into another car," the Bertrands' vehicle, Keasler wrote. Roy's "intent to cause serious bodily injury" to Brown was transferred to Bertrand, allowing for the elevated charge of murder rather than manslaughter. Roy's lawyer argued for an intoxication manslaughter charge; his blood alcohol level was below the legal limit but he tested positive for three substances, including PCP and tetrahydrocannabinol, the active ingredient in marijuana, according to the ruling. During testimony, Roy "stated that he blacked out while driving and had no memory of the crash." He said he knew the risks of driving while smoking marijuana and dipped cigarettes and drinking, but "chose to drive that night." A jury "could rationally find that Roy did not intend to harm Brown and that his reckless behavior caused Bertrand's death" based on the evidence presented in the trial, Keasler wrote. Therefore, Powell should have instructed the jury to consider that conviction in addition to murder. The maximum sentence for intoxication manslaughter is 20 years in prison. LTeitz@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/LizTeitz Belurusian leader Alexander Lukashenko calls himself "Europe's last dictator": he's a thug who steals elections and sends opposition politicians to forced labor camps, the kind of guy who can get away with arresting a one-armed man for clapping but when he imposed a "social parasite tax" on unemployed people in the recession-devastated country, it proved too much. The mass-marches in the capital of Minsk have now spread to Gomel, the country's second city, with more demonstrations nationwide. 470,000 people are caught by the tax, but fewer than 10% have paid it. The new tax, enshrined in a decree on preventing social dependency, widely known as the "Law against social parasites", requires those who declare less than 183 days of work per year to pay $250 in compensation for lost taxes more than half an average monthly salary. Oh, PS: despite all of Lukashenko's wicked ways, Hacking Team still sold him cyber-arms to spy on his people. Belarus tax protests spread beyond capital [Andrei Makhovsky and Andrey Ostroukh/Reuters] (Image: Alex Kokcharov) (via Naked Capitalism) Voters in Beaumont and China will elect mayors on May 6, and residents in the Beaumont school district will cast ballots in the first trustee election since 2011. The filing period for local municipal elections closed on Friday, finalizing contested races in some cities and school districts and allowing other entities to cancel elections where incumbents did not draw a challenger. The 2017 Beaumont mayoral election is a repeat of the candidate slate in 2015. Incumbent Mayor Becky Ames, running for her sixth two-year term, faces Christopher Jones, occupation unknown, and Jude Paredez, who listed his occupation on his application as building maintenance. To win, a candidate must have a clear majority of votes. First-time candidates Beth Gallaspy, a writer, editor and teacher; and William Robbins, occupation unknown, look to unseat at-large Beaumont City Council members Gethrel Williams-Wright and W.L. Pate Jr. The top two vote-getters for at-large will win. Ward 1 incumbent Claude Guidroz, finishing his first term, will face Virginia Jordan, of the Old Town neighborhood association. Ward 3 incumbent Audwin Samuel drew Kevin Reece, the son of the former Beaumont ISD trustee Woodrow Reece, as a challenger. Reece apparently also filed to run for Beaumont ISD's District 4 seat. In 2015, the Texas attorney general said Texas Constitution prohibits a person from holding incompatible elective offices at the same time, namely a school district seat and a city council seat. The opinion did not address whether a person can run for two offices at the same time. Ward 2 incumbent Mike Getz and Ward 4 incumbent Robin Mouton drew no challengers. In China, incumbent Mayor John Walker will face William "Butch" Sanders, who was on the city council as a representative of District C. On the southern end of Jefferson county, none of the open positions went unchallenged for Port Arthur City Council elections. All council seats, excluding Mayor Derrick Ford Freeman, are up for election. All incumbents for at-large positions and district's one, two and four refiled. District three incumbent Morris Albright III will challenge Kevin A. Christopher and incumbents Charlotte Moses, Kaprina Richardson Frank for at-large positions. In total, eight non-incumbents filed. Port Arthur will eliminate council seats five and six, held by Willie "Bae" Lewis Jr. and Osman Swati, respectively, after the May 2018 election in the wake of residents' November vote in favor of a charter change to bring the council down in size. Port Arthur council members serve three-year terms. When Beaumont ISD voters elect new school board trustees this spring, the new board members will have to wait for word from the state about when they will take office. The district's managers, appointed by the state in 2014, announced in July their plan to collectively resign by the end of May. Education Commissioner Mike Morath plans to install seven new managers to replace them; applications for those positions are open until 5 p.m. Monday. Morath is expected to name the managers after an interview process. That will leave the district with 14 new leaders this spring - the seven newly appointed managers, whose terms will formally run at least through July 2018, and the newly elected trustees, who will be sidelined until Morath seats them. Beaumont ISD's districts 1 and 3 drew only one candidate each, Charles J. Daleo and Thomas P. Sigee Sr., respectively. Zenobia Bush, who was ousted with other board members in 2014, will run in District 2 against Daniel Ozane, La'Toyya Twine Ozane and Kathy Bell-Schexnaider. Kevin Reece intends to run in District 4 against Shedrick D. Evans. Nathan Cross and Jonathan Owens will run in District 5. Candidates seeking one of two at-large postilions on the school board are Denise Wallace-Spooner, Robert Dunn, Willie M. Lewis, Tillie Hickman, Treva Whiting Smith, Michael Perez, Mandie Peel and Natalie Tuck Bonner. LIST: These candidates are on the municipal, school board ballots in the May election This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Former Beaumont school administrators largely ignored a district initiative to increase minority business hiring for construction projects in a 2007 bond issue, using such firms as "window dressing" while they mismanaged the project's finances and pursued their own agendas, according to a forensic audit of the $389 million bond project released earlier this month. As part of the bond issue, the district launched a Local, Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprise (LMWBE) program to enable the "entire Beaumont ISD community to be part of the services that we were needing," said Woodrow Reece, former president of the board of trustees. Reece said the goal was to promote hiring local businesses and educate them about opportunities and bidding procedures. He called it "a learning process." Weaver LLP, the firm that produced the 2,700-page forensic audit, wrote in its final report that the program spawned minority "brokers," who teamed up with non-minority-owned businesses and acted as "little more than window dressing" or were referred to as "trailers" and put on teams "for appearances only." "General contractors understood that in order to be awarded a project, they must 'team up' with a minority-owned business," wrote Weaver partner William Brown. The brokers "provided little or no actual construction services, but rather hired non-minority sub-contractors to do the actual work or did work that was unnecessary," the report said. In many cases, the audit concluded, the program's goal of hiring minority businesses was not accomplished. 'No minority contractors benefited' On the Carrol A. "Butch" Thomas Educational Support Center stadium project, Hallmark Group, a minority-owned business hired for part of the project, hired all non-minority contractors. "In the end, it appears no minority contractors benefited from the contract," the auditor wrote. Daniels Building and Construction, a woman-owned Beaumont company, twice bid unsuccessfully for work on BISD's elementary schools. The firm partnered with Andre Lewis of Architectural Associates "to finally win the bid" for the third set of schools, Brown wrote. Daniels' project manager told auditors that Lewis, who was a full-time employee of the City of Beaumont at the time, acted as a consultant on the project but "added no value to the project." Lewis was paid $180,000 for the work, which was usually "about one day a week," the report said, limited mainly to color schemes and facades. Although his presence on the team helped Daniels win the contract, it did not benefit the project overall, the report stated. Lewis did not respond to requests for comment. Best bids were passed over Daniels and BGI Contractors, a minority company owned by current board of managers member A.B. Bernard, sued BISD in 2008, after their bid was rated highest but not selected for the first set of elementary schools. When the district issues a request for proposal, criteria and qualifications for the bid are identified and assigned point values. The criteria can include cost and quality of service, with additional points going to historically underutilized businesses (HUB), such as women- or minority-owned. The proposals are evaluated and scored based on the point values and then ranked. The board of trustees votes to approve awarding the contract. The Texas Education Code requires that contracts be awarded to the highest-rated bids. The lawsuit alleged that former Superintendent Carrol Thomas, the board of trustees or the district's bond management company, Parsons, illegally manipulated the process to award the contract to a lower-ranked bidder. The suit was settled, and BISD paid Bernard's legal fees, according to the report. Reece defended the board's oversight of the program and hiring for bond projects, saying it was not trustees' job to micromanage, but instead to "trust the people you hire," including the superintendent, business managers and district administrators. Bernard said the report's conclusions on flawed hiring practices were reflective of Thomas' "maligned way of dealing with responsibility" and habit of selecting contractors based on his own discretion and relationships. "It was disappointing and disheartening that our school district had to experience that type of leadership," he said. Thomas did not return multiple calls seeking comment. Firm 'did not do anything' The minority business program was managed by the Fort Worth public relations firm Ware & Associates, which Parsons paid $310,000 to operate and promote. Auditor Brown wrote that the company "arranged several meetings where the district and Parsons could promote the LMWBE program," but "did not do anything to determine or vet the qualifications of attendees." Ware & Associates did not respond to requests for comment. The program was discontinued after a 2011 lawsuit brought by L&L General Contractors, which was the top-rated bidder for construction on West Brook High School's field house but lost out to fourth-rated Healthy Resources Enterprise (HRE). HRE, a Houston minority-owned company owned by Eric Boutte, had previously done construction work for the district, including $19 million in renovations to Smith Middle School. The company was sued for not paying subcontractors and ultimately failed to complete the project. In its federal suit, L&L, which "is owned and operated by persons of the white race," alleged it wasn't selected because of fraud and favoritism and called the LMBWE program unconstitutional. In April 2012, the district was ordered to pay the company $85,000 to settle and $28,116 in legal fees, and the program was terminated. Bidding was 'slanted' for Parsons Much of the financial mismanagement documented in the audit is attributed to Parsons, a California-based international engineering firm, which auditors determined was selected in a process rigged in its favor. Two Beaumont ISD assistant superintendents made recommendations to Parsons of local firms to list as team members on their proposal, which was not allowed, and the company leveraged its relationships with district officials from previous work, auditor Brown wrote. The report found that the scoring sheets for the proposals appear to have been altered, and administrators reported that the process seemed "slanted" in Parsons' favor. Parsons was selected over five other competitors, including at least one minority-owned firm that told auditors that district administrators interfered in the process. LANWalton, a minority-owned company from Bryan that competed for the bid, said BISD administrators did not provide enough information to submit a fee range for the bid, misrepresented conversations to other officials and told the company it would be required to employ two people representing BISD on its payroll. LANWalton's principal in charge for the proposal, former Texas State University System chancellor Lamar Urbanovsky, told Brown that State Rep. Joe Deshotel advised him that he "would need African-Americans on his team to get the job, and in particular, Eric Boutte with HRE (Healthy Resources Enterprise) out of Houston, Texas," Brown wrote. Deshotel said last week that he "certainly wouldn't have said that they had to have (Boutte)" but might have recommended him to Urbanovsky. "I think I ran into him somewhere, as I recall, he told me what he was doing, I said you ought to apply. I can see myself saying that (BISD) was looking for minority participation," Deshotel said. "He may have asked if I knew anyone," he said, so he recommended Boutte', who had worked as an aide for his office between 1999 and 2003. In the report, Urbanovsky told auditors he was pressured to hire Boutte and criticized for lack of minority representation on his team throughout the interview process. Brown, however, noted that Parsons' representatives did not have minority-owned business partners with them during their interview, as LANWalton did, indicating that the criteria was applied unevenly to different companies. Thomas recommended that the board of trustees hire Parsons for $9 million, and Boutte was later hired by BISD and Parsons for bond projects. District eventually dumped policy Beaumont ISD no longer has a written policy for hiring minority-owned businesses but gives them additional consideration in the bidding selection process. When issuing requests for proposals, the district contacts "Historically Underutilized Businesses" or "HUB" vendors from the Texas Comptroller's database, according to BISD purchasing agent Clifton English. The "HUB" designation is available to businesses owned by "Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, women, Asian Pacific Americans, Native Americans" and veterans "who have suffered at least a 20 percent service-connected disability," according to the Texas Government Code. "We make the effort to contact (HUB vendors) and let them know there is a bid opportunity out there" when issuing requests for proposals, English said. If HUB vendors apply and meet all other qualifications for the bid, they receive an additional five points on their rating scores. "We don't have a policy, it's a practice," said Jimmy Simmons, president of the board of managers. LTeitz@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/LizTeitz Louisiana Heart Hospital in Lacombe closed Feb. 10, and the hospital's medical clinics will shut down by Feb. 28, according to The Times-Picayune. After facing financial challenges in recent years, the 134-bed hospital and its affiliated medical group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Jan. 30. When the hospital shut down in early February, it was unclear if its medical clinics would follow the same path. On Friday, Atlanta law firm Alston & Bird sent an announcement to The Times-Picayune confirming the hospital's 14 medical clinics in Louisiana will close by Feb. 28. The hospital will close four clinics in Slidell, three in Mandeville, two in Covington, two in Lacombe and one each in Bogalusa, Franklinton and Hammond. Although the clinics are closing, many of the physicians will continue to see patients at new private practice locations in the area, according to The Times-Picayune. More articles on healthcare finance: Allina Health's nursing strike costs reached $149M in 2016 North Tide Capital sells off entire stake in CHS 6 latest hospital credit downgrades Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey will pay a $1.1 million fine for not protecting the information of 690,000 consumers, reports NJ.com. In 2013, two laptops were stolen from Horizon BCBS' Newark, N.J.-based headquarters. The unencrypted information on the laptops included patients' names, addresses, dates of birth, insurance identification numbers, some Social Security numbers and some medical information. Steve Lee, director of the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, said the patient information on the laptops was only protected with a password. "This settlement ensures that Horizon BCBSNJ will maintain appropriate data privacy and security protocols to prevent future data breaches," Mr. Lee said, according to the report. Horizon spokesperson Tom Vincz said there's been no evidence the stolen information has been used. "While it is reassuring that not a single confirmed incident of identity theft is traceable to the two stolen laptops, Horizon remains vigilant in protecting our members' privacy through consistent attention to and significant investment in our physical and cybersecurity practices," he said, according to the report. On Dec. 12, the medical records of more than 1,100 patients were stolen from a storage unit rented by Columbus, Ohio-based Capital Prosthetic and Orthotic Center, according to The Columbus Dispatch. The files stored at Zanesville, Ohio-based Brandywine Lock-N-Stock contained information on patients seen at Capital Prosthetic and Orthotic Center's Zanesville office between 2008 and 2012. The data in the files possibly included patients' names, addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers, Social Security numbers, medical diagnoses and insurance information. On Dec. 21, the Genoa Township Police Department informed Capital Prosthetic Orthotic Center that some of the records had been recovered. Mike Riehle, a detective with the Genoa Township Police Department, did not cite the means by which they were found. The break-in remains under investigation. Capital Prosthetic and Orthotic Center's attorney Cliff Mull said the prosthetics center believes all the missing files have been found. In a statement, the prosthetics center added it "has no evidence that the information stolen has been used for fraudulent purposes." The break-in also affected nine other units, including those rented by Kennett Square, Pa.-based Genesis HealthCare and Jeff Rice, OD, of Zanesville-based Vision Source. A spokesperson for Genesis HealthCare said none of the organization's records were stolen. Vision Source said it's reaching out to all impacted patients. O'Connor Hospital in Delhi, N.Y., selected Scott Bonderoff to serve as president. Here are four points: 1. Mr. Bonderoff has been with Cooperstown, N.Y.-based Bassett Healthcare, O'Connor Hospital's parent, since 2001. 2. Most recently, he served as vice president of patient services and ancillary support at Bassett Medical Center in Cooperstown, N.Y. 3. He is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives and Medical Group Management Association. 4. He succeeds Carlton J. Rule, MD, who left to serve as vice president and executive director of Ellis Medical Group, a 250-member provider group in Schenectady, N.Y. Interesting exchange between Fox's Chris Wallace and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus (who went on Fox on Sunday to complain about the "fake news" coverage of Trump's Russian connections). "But you don't get to tell us what to do, Reince, any more than that Barack Obama did. Barack Obama whined about Fox News all the time, but I gotta say, he never said that we were an enemy of the people." Priebus looked stunned that someone from Fox had harsh words for his boss. Richard Toussaint, MD, co-founder of physician-owned Forest Park Medical Center in Dallas, has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to pay and receive healthcare kickbacks and one count of commercial bribery, according to D Magazine. Dr. Toussaint was one of 21 defendants charged in a federal indictment in 2016 for their alleged involvement in a bribe and kickback scheme that involved paying surgeons, lawyers and others for referring patients to Forest Park Medical Center's six facilities, which were all out of network with payers. Those involved in the scheme allegedly paid and/or received $40 million in bribes and kickbacks for referring patients. The fraud results in more than $500 million in patient charges and FPMC collecting more than $200 million. Dr. Toussaint agreed to plead guilty in the case in exchange for a prison sentence of no more than 10 years. The plea deal includes a factual resume, which Dr. Toussaint signed and verified, according to D Magazine. FPMC fell into financial trouble in 2015, and its hospitals filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in late 2015 and early 2016. The facts laid out in Dr. Toussaint's plea deal reveal FPMC's financial meltdown came after several surgeons allegedly involved in the kickback scheme decided to stop referring patients to FPMC facilities, according to the report. More articles on legal and regulatory issues: 15 things to know about Stark Law 11 latest healthcare industry lawsuits, settlements DOJ joins whistle-blower suit accusing UnitedHealth of overbilling Medicare The number of babies born with drug withdrawal symptoms in Maryland hit 1,419 cases in 2015, marking a 56.6 percent increase in the last nine years, according to The Baltimore Sun. While some infants have been exposed to drugs like cocaine and marijuana, the primary cause for the increase is the surging rates of heroin and prescription painkiller abuse currently racking communities across the state. "This is not a syndrome that we used to see a lot of, so we are learning quickly," said Jim Rost, MD, a newborn intensive care specialist at Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center in Rockville, according to the Sun. Dr. Rost serves on a Maryland Patient Safety Center committee working with 30 birthing center's across the state to address the issue. "People don't show up with a sign on their head saying 'opioid user,'" said Dr. Rost. "It is about screening the mother appropriately so we can help them and we can help their babies sooner." When these Maryland babies are born with opioids in their system, they are assessed and assigned a score based upon the severity of their withdrawal symptoms. The score determines the course of treatment. While some babies can be treated with soothing strategies like "cuddle programs" where volunteers hold and soothe the babies or massage and music therapy, approximately 60 to 80 percent of infants with neonatal abstinence syndrome require treatment with morphine or methadone to relieve seizures, weight loss and other symptoms related to detox. Physicians said more studies are needed to determine the best way to treat babies exposed to opioids in utero. The current scores used to assess symptoms among these infants are subjective and the long-term effects of neonatal abstinence syndrome are not known, according to the Sun. More articles on opioids: Alaska governor officially labels opioid epidemic 'state disaster' Aetna ends preauthorization for opioid addiction treatment New Jersey places 5-day limit on initial opioid prescriptions Indianapolis-based Anthem and Bloomfield, Conn.-based Cigna accused each other of sabotage in recent lawsuits filed after a U.S. District Court blocked their proposed $54 billion merger Feb. 8, according to a Bloomberg report. Here are five takeaways from the lawsuits. 1. In a lawsuit filed Feb. 14, Cigna motioned to terminate its merger agreement with Anthem and sued the insurer for roughly $14.85 billion. Cigna claimed Anthem undermined its business by obtaining confidential information and harassing Cigna's customers, according to the report. 2. Cigna said Anthem allegedly "misappropriated" confidential information from Cigna and said it would use Cigna's innovative strategies if the deal was blocked, according to the lawsuit. 3. Additionally, Cigna's lawsuit accused Anthem of agreeing to the merger for its own benefit, which Cigna said led to the transaction's failure. "Anthem's destructive conduct must come to an end," Cigna said in the lawsuit. 4. In its counter lawsuit filed Feb. 15, Anthem sued to block Cigna from unilaterally terminating their agreement. Anthem argued Cigna was responsible for the court's failure to approve the proposed merger agreement. Specifically, the lawsuit argued Cigna CEO David Cordani sabotaged the deal after Cigna determined the agreement to make Mr. Cordani president and COO of the combined entity was insufficient. 5. Anthem also argued the insurers' merger agreement required both parties to appeal the court's decision, which Cigna didn't pursue following the block. Anthem said there may be a "path forward" for the deal as the Justice Department lawyers transition to President Donald Trump's administration. A Delaware Chancery Court judge ruled in favor of Anthem Feb. 15, momentarily banning Cigna from motioning to end the two payers' merger agreement. Arguments for Anthem's appeal of the U.S. District Court's decision to block the deal will be held March 24, according to the report. A specialist in housing at Ulster University has been named the top 'power player' in the UK housing market by an industry publication. Paddy Gray, a professor in housing who has also championed better standards in social housing, received the award from 24 Housing Magazine. Professor Gray is a former president of the Chartered Institute of Housing, which sets professional standards in the UK and Ireland. He is also chairman of housing association Connswater Homes. A spokesman for the magazine described Professor Gray as a "an asset to the sector in the UK, Ireland and worldwide". "He has been an influential player in Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland, chairing housing associations and sitting on boards on both sides of the border. He has also been Chartered Institute of Housing president, bringing together groups from both sides of the border to share best practice and work closer together." Jennie Donald, deputy chief executive of the Northern Ireland Federation of Housing Associations (NIFHA), said: "NIFHA was delighted to see Paddy Gray recognised as number one in the top 50 power players in UK housing. "His influence as an academic, commentator and board member has been extensive and he has a genuinely global impact, through his work with universities and housing organisations across the world. "Paddy champions social housing and the voice of tenants in all that he does." Professor Gray said he was "delighted" with the award: "It is testament to the dedication of colleagues in improving wellbeing across these islands. Over the years I have met so many professionals working selflessly to improve people's lives and I look forward to working with individuals and groups to help eradicate poor housing conditions and improve access to decent affordable housing for all." The identity of Pint Baby has been revealed. A clip from an archived episode of RTE's Nationwide became a massive hit on social media at the weekend and turned an oblivious bystander into an overnight sensation. The Nationwide clip, which was shared by RTE journalist Cian McCormack to Facebook, shows a bar in Ennistymon County Clare, in which a small baby sits at the bar with what appears to be a pint of Guinness in his tiny baby hands. As the video did the rounds on Facebook, it sparked one of the biggest mysteries of 2017 -just who is Pint Baby? Now, the question has been answered. Pint Baby is Kildare man Stephen Barron, who is now 20 years old. Speaking on RTE Radio 1, Stephen said he can't believe how much attention the clip has garnered. He said: "I suppose everyone can relate to it. I'm not the only one who was doing it." Stephen, who wants to be a blacksmith, said that he doesn't mind being called Pint Baby, but would rather be called by his actual name. "I don't really mind, I'd rather be called Stephen," he said. His mother Caroline also spoke on the show, saying she doesn't look at the video differently "at all" today. "I don't look at it differently at all. It was only a drop of Guinness. There's no harm in it." Caroline noted that "plenty" of people dip a baby's soother into Guinness, even today. "He's turned out perfectly fine," she said. "It wasn't an everyday or weekly occurrence. There just so happened to be a camera there." "The reaction has been very good. I've a great young lad and he's a good young man." DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, Philip Logan watches as DUP Leader Arlene Foster makes her speech at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured with Mervyn Storey at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, DUP Leader Arlene Foster at the DUP manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. DUP party faithful at DUP manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, DUP Leader Arlene Foster at the DUP manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, DUP leader Arlene Foster was too ill to take questions from the media at her party's manifesto launch a spokesman said after the politician admitted she had been hit with the dreaded "man flu". The DUP officially launched its election manifesto at the Stormont Hotel, in Belfast, on Monday morning. Before she began her speech Mrs Foster said she had "man flu". A DUP spokesman later told the media Mrs Foster was not well enough to take questions. During the launch she cited a recent LucidTalk poll which found that Sinn Fein and the DUP were "neck-and-neck". Mrs Foster told supporters there was a "very real prospect" Sinn Fein could emerge as the largest political party in Northern Ireland and a Sinn Fein first minister would be a "hugely significant world-wide propaganda boost". She added: "It would give Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein a hugely significant worldwide propaganda boost just months after nationalism's worst election since 1993 and would undermine the unionist confidence which is being rebuilt after so many years in decline. "Our job is to make sure that does not happen." Following the election on March 2 there will likely be a lengthy period of negotiations between the political parties. Mrs Foster said she will lead her party, along with deputy leader Nigel Dodds, into these negotiations. The talks will include the divisive issue on how to deal with the legacy of Northern Ireland's Troubles. The manifesto included 10 commitments the party had ahead of the negotiations to get the devolved institutions up and running. Mrs Foster insisted the party will not permit "the rewriting of the past or the persecution of the security forces". Included was pledges to avoid the return of direct rule and that they were committed to working "constructively and in partnership with all those who are in the Executive after the election". The manifesto also pledged to "respond positively" to any proposals to increase transparency and accountability to help the institutions function more effectively as well as "oppose any border poll outside the terms of the Belfast Agreement". Mrs Foster said it was "inexplicable, sad and shameful that Mike Nesbitt would urge people to transfer people to transfer to the SDLP ahead of other unionists". The DUP leader described the March 2 vote as the "most important in a generation". BBC's Gareth Gordon said Arlene Foster refused to take questions from the Press as she had been "struck down by the cold stroke man flu". We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference Stormont's institutions collapsed in January after serious flaws were uncovered in a botched renewable heat incentive (RHI) scheme, which could cost taxpayers 400 million. A snap election was called after Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness resigned as deputy first minister in protest at the DUP's handling of the RHI scandal. Mrs Foster claimed Sinn Fein "precipitated a crisis" so they could deal directly with the UK government because the party is unable to deal with the DUP in negotiations. She did not mention the RHI scandal in her manifesto speech. UTV has been accused of trying to "shaft and sideline" the smaller political parties by proposing to screen their leaders' election debate shortly before midnight. The heads of the five main parties secured a 9pm prime time slot for their hour-long showdown last Thursday on the channel. But TUV, People Before Profit and the Green Party have criticised UTV for originally proposing that their half-hour leaders' debate be screened at 11.40pm this Thursday. TUV leader Jim Allister said: "It was an outrageous attempt to shaft and sideline us. Such an attitude is very disappointing at a time when the electorate is angry at the bigger establishment parties, and receptive to the idea of change." Mr Allister said his party joined forces with People Before Profit and the Greens, with the trio threatening to pull out of the debate altogether if they weren't offered a better slot. UTV came back with a proposal that the debate be shown at 10.40pm this Friday, which the parties agreed to, the TUV leader revealed. A UTV spokeswoman said last night: "Following consultation with the smaller parties last week, we have secured a new time slot of 10.40pm in our schedule this Friday evening, which is the same time as 2016 for this smaller party leaders' debate. Our election debate coverage and timings are in line with regulatory guidance." Mr Allister will take part in the debate along with People Before Profit's Eamonn McCann and Green leader Steven Agnew. Mr Allister said: "UTV's original proposal diminished and demeaned us. A screening which ended after midnight on a day when people have to get up for work in the morning would inevitably have failed to secure a wide audience. "The 'cash for ash' scandal has led to a fluidity in politics here which we haven't seen in a long time, so it's particularly disgraceful that we were being denied the chance to have our debate shown at a reasonable hour." Mr Agnew said: "We're disappointed that we had originally been demoted compared to previous years, given that this time the Greens are standing in all 18 constituencies across Northern Ireland." Mr McCann commented: "I welcome that UTV has had a change of heart. "But I'm not surprised that the smaller parties were initially offered such a late slot. The entire system, in Stormont and outside it, greatly favours the five big parties." Last Thursday's debate on UTV was watched by an average of 141,000 people - 23% of total viewers - with a peak audience of 162,000. Last year's debate was watched by an average of 99,000 people, or 18% of the total audience - peaking at 128,000. UTV Smaller Parties Election Debate, Friday, 10.40pm. DUP leader and former First Minister Arlene Foster launches the Democratic Unionist Party's manifesto at the Stormont hotel on February 20, 2017 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) The DUP has been accused of 'whipping up fear' within unionist communities ahead of the election. Instead of "scaremongering" the party should answer questions about the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scandal, the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) has said. During the launch of the DUP manifesto Arlene Foster said that the party and Sinn Fein will be "neck and neck" in the March Stormont election. She also said that a victory for Sinn Fein would give the party and Gerry Adams a "hugely significant worldwide propaganda boost". However, Ulster Unionist candidate Doug Beattie accused the DUP of "attempting to whip the unionist electorate into a state of perpetual fear". He also accused the party of being "up to their necks in scandal". Read more Read More "Instead of scaremongering why don't they tell the people what they are going to do about the RHI scandal, clearly explain their role in it and where they are going to get the money from to replace the 85,000 per day currently going up in smoke? "People should not buy the DUP snake-oil at this election," he said. Mr Beattie added that another DUP, Sinn Fein powersharing government would mean "more scandal, more failure and Northern Ireland on a downward spiral of despair". Launching her party's seven-page manifesto Mrs Foster added that a win by Sinn Fein - the DUP's former powersharing partners - would threaten economic recovery, lead to a "divisive and destabilising" border poll and allow Sinn Fein to "shape policy consistent with Gerry Adams' all-Ireland agenda in a thousand different ways". She added: "It would give Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein a hugely significant worldwide propaganda boost just months after nationalism's worst election since 1993 and would undermine the unionist confidence which is being rebuilt after so many years in decline. "Our job is to make sure that does not happen." Mrs Foster was too ill with the flu to take any questions from the media. Before she began her speech at the manifesto launch in Belfast's Stormont Hotel Mrs Foster said she had "man flu". A DUP spokesman later told the media she was not well enough to take questions. A large portion of Mrs Foster's speech referred to Sinn Fein and Mr Adams. She mentioned Mr Adams 12 times. She criticised Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt's intention to transfer his vote to the SDLP, saying unionists transferring to nationalists will make it "much more likely that Sinn Fein win the election". Following the election on March 2 there will likely be a lengthy period of negotiations between the political parties. Mrs Foster said she will lead her party, along with deputy leader Nigel Dodds, into these negotiations. The talks will include the divisive issue on how to deal with the legacy of Northern Ireland's Troubles. Mrs Foster insisted the party will not permit "the rewriting of the past or the persecution of the security forces". She said: "In this new political era, we will defend those who defended us through the dark days of the Troubles." However, this will lead to further tensions with Sinn Fein and the SDLP who have both said soldiers must be held accountable under the same laws as the rest of the population. Mrs Foster also said the DUP will oppose any Border Poll outside the terms of the Belfast Agreement. "As we have seen from Scotland, in the absence of any likely change in the status of Northern Ireland, a referendum on our future constitutional position would be divisive and damaging," she said. The DUP leader added: "We will honour all previous commitments we have made on the basis that republicans will honour theirs as well. "Even after this unnecessary and damaging election, we will stand over the commitments that we have made in the past to help ensure politics works and people have confidence moving forward." Stormont's institutions collapsed in January after serious flaws were uncovered in a botched renewable heat incentive (RHI) scheme, which could cost taxpayers 400 million. A snap election was called after Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness resigned as deputy first minister in protest at the DUP's handling of the RHI scandal. Mrs Foster claimed Sinn Fein "precipitated a crisis" so they could deal directly with the UK government because the party is unable to deal with the DUP in negotiations. She did not mention the RHI scandal in her manifesto speech. However, she did say during post-election negotiations the DUP will "respond positively to any proposals to increase transparency, accountability and to help the institutions function more effectively". Doesn't look like they thought they were pranking him. The Star/Asia News Network: The woman with shoulder-length hair approaches Jong-nam with what could be a cloth or a hood and lunges from behind, reaching over his head and covering his face with the cloth. The woman resembles Doan Thi Huong, who was later arrested as a suspect. It takes only seconds and both women walked back to the directions they came from. The woman who was seen attacking him glances back furtively as she walked quickly away from the scene. CNN reports on why North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un wanted his brother dead. DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, DUP Leader Arlene Foster at the DUP manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. DUP party faithful at DUP manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, DUP Leader Arlene Foster at the DUP manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, Philip Logan watches as DUP Leader Arlene Foster makes her speech at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured with Mervyn Storey at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, DUP leader Arlene Foster has launched her party's manifesto at a Belfast hotel. Mrs Foster was too ill to take questions. Below is her speech. "In ten days time the people of Northern Ireland will return to the polls in what will be the most important Assembly election in a generation. What is at stake on 2 March is not just who fills what posts but the very nature of devolution and the future direction of Northern Ireland. Read More And what makes this election even more important, is the very real prospect of Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein exploiting the present situation to allow Sinn Fein to emerge for the first time ever in an Assembly election as Northern Irelands largest political party. People need to understand why that really matters; why that really matters to them and their families. This morning, I want to set out why this would be a disaster for unionism, and for Northern Ireland, and the platform on which the DUP will be seeking a mandate. I also want to dispel the manufactured myth that devolution was not working, and could not work, and highlight just a few of the very real achievements of recent months. Only nine months ago this party received a resounding mandate for our five-point plan and the manifesto we stood upon. Today, rather than reinventing the wheel, we are asking for a renewed mandate for that plan. Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Philip Logan watches as DUP Leader Arlene Foster makes her speech at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured with Mervyn Storey at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye DUP Leader Arlene Foster at the DUP manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye DUP party faithful at DUP manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye DUP Leader Arlene Foster at the DUP manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, Our plans for the next five years were sound nine months ago and they remain the basis for progress today. Today, in addition to republishing our 2016 manifesto we are printing an update setting out our stance on the negotiations which will follow the election. But first, I want to take a few minutes to remind people why it mattered that the DUP won the election last May and what has been delivered for people in Northern Ireland. Winning 38 seats did not just mean there would be a unionist First Minister, it also meant that we would control the most government departments and have the best choice of those departments. We used that strength to make sure that Northern Ireland had its first unionist Education Minister in almost 50 years, its first Agriculture Minister since the restoration of devolution, held the enormous and diverse Communities portfolio and retained responsibility for the economy. In the Department for the Economy, Simon Hamilton has ensured that the number of people claiming unemployment related benefits in Northern Ireland has fallen by almost 6,000 in the last year, unemployment is now at its lowest level since 2008, exports by Northern Ireland companies rose by 6% in the past year making us the best performing UK region. Nearly 5,000 new jobs have been promoted so far this year, our economy grew by 1.6% last year, with that growth being driven by the private sector, external visitor numbers increased by 8% last year to 2.5 million, the most ever recorded. In the Department for Communities, Paul Givan has invested more in the Co-Ownership scheme and supported a Rent-To-Own scheme; and is transforming our town and city centres right across Northern Ireland with projects from Belfast to Enniskillen. In the Department of Education, Peter Weir has removed the long-term ban on primary schools preparing their pupils for transfer and granted schools greater flexibility with their budgets and subject choices. And in the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Michelle McIlveen has made sure that Northern Ireland is the first region of the UK to pay advance CAP payments to farmers; and has introduced new capital grants for farmers to help grow their business. I want to thank all of our outgoing Ministers for the work that they have done during their short time in office. The long-term and ambitious programme the DUP presented to the voters in May 2016 remains as relevant now as it was a mere nine months ago. We need to prioritise spending on our Health Service, create more jobs and increase incomes, protect family budgets, raise standards in education for everyone and invest in infrastructure. These were the fundamental issues that we said would make a difference to peoples lives in May 2016. If anything they are even more important today. Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye DUP Leader Arlene Foster at the DUP manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye DUP party faithful at DUP manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye DUP Leader Arlene Foster at the DUP manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured with Mervyn Storey at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Philip Logan watches as DUP Leader Arlene Foster makes her speech at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at their manifesto launch at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye, What we need is an Assembly back and working to deliver on this five-point plan to deliver the better future for Northern Ireland people want. All of this is at stake on 2 March. The choice is quite simple. All of the recent polling confirms that this election will be neck and neck between Gerry Adams Sinn Fein and the DUP. The other parties are trailing far behind. The reality is that if people vote for Mike they will not get Colum, they will just get Gerry Adams Sinn Fein with a strengthened hand in negotiations. Colum Eastwood will do well if the SDLP return with ten seats at the election - and they are not even fielding enough candidates to compete with Sinn Fein. Equally, even if Mike Nesbitt won every seat in which his party has even the remotest of chances, they cannot win more seats than Sinn Fein. They are not running to win they are now running to stop the DUP from winning. That couldnt be clearer from Mikes advice of transferring to the SDLP without even getting a reciprocal agreement from the SDLP in advance. I know other parties dont like us saying it, but the reality is that every vote for another unionist party is a vote which is lost in the battle to make sure that Sinn Fein does not win this election. Northern Ireland must be the only country in the world where people who contest elections claim that it does not matter who wins the elections. Indeed, even some of the people who forced an unnecessary election seem to take this view. So if someone on the doorstep asks if it matters if Sinn Fein wins the election, here are 10 reasons why it matters; why it really matters. It would give republicans a massive mandate for their demands with the British Government. Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein would use an election victory as a justification for a border poll which would be divisive and destabilising. Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein would use an election victory for vindication of their position that the border between the UK and the EU should be the Irish Sea and not the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein would take an election victory for republicans as a mandate to pursue their strategy of putting our soldiers and security forces in dock and of rewriting history. By vindicating the decisions to force an election, it would not only make devolution harder to restore but would reward those who caused the crisis and make devolution permanently unstable. Make no mistake it is not the DUP, but the British Government that Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein want to be dealing with. It would threaten our economic recovery by undermining the prospects for a reduction in Corporation Tax and make the needs of the Northern Ireland economy subservient to the narrow party political interests of Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein. If as Sinn Fein has sought, the Justice department is selected by dHondt, it would allow a Sinn Fein Justice Minister for the first time in history while the PSNI and Security Services state that the IRA Army Council still exists and some believe that it continues to control Sinn Fein. It would lead to the sort of sectarian abuse of power that has been seen wherever Sinn Fein have been able to do so from the removal of the Union Flag at City Hall, to the glorification of convicted terrorists to the Ministerial abuse of office which has been adjudicated upon by the courts. It would likely give Sinn Fein the power to run the most government departments in Northern Ireland with the ability to shape policy consistent with Gerry Adams all Ireland agenda in a thousand different ways. It would give Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein a hugely significant world-wide propaganda boost just months after nationalisms worst election since 1993 and would undermine the unionist confidence which is being rebuilt after so many years in decline. And finally, it would of course give Sinn Fein the right to nominate a First Minister. Our job is to make sure that that does not happen. Just 10 reasons why we must not allow Sinn Fein to become the biggest party at Stormont. There are many more. And that's why it is inexplicable, sad and shameful that Mike Nesbitt would urge people to transfer people to transfer to the SDLP ahead of other unionists. This will not only have the impact of ensuring some unionist first preference votes essentially have the same impact as if they had been cast for nationalists, they also have the knock on impact of making it much more likely that Sinn Fein win the election. There are undoubtedly constituencies where the DUP and Sinn Fein will be fighting it out for the final seat, meaning the transfers of eliminated Ulster Unionist candidates will be the crucial and deciding factor. So even if the DUP were to have a small first preference vote lead over Sinn Fein, it could well be that Mike Nesbitts transfer advice could cost unionism the election. I hope and trust that unionist voters will not allow that to be the case. Whatever happens on 2 March, it is clear that we will be heading into a period of negotiations immediately after the election. That is why today, in addition to setting out our agenda for the next administration, I also want to set out our platform for the negotiations. It is not our desire to construct red lines or barriers to the restoration of the Executive so rather than listing a series of demands, we are setting out a set of ten principles which will govern our negotiations. 1. We will work to avoid Direct Rule and get local government back at Stormont as quickly as possible. That means we will work with all of those who have a mandate to see if it is possible to get an Executive formed rather than handing powers back to the Westminster government. 2. Our demands in negotiations will be proportionate to those of Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein. While we have always regarded the present arrangements as transitional to a more normal form of democracy, we are prepared to continue to work the present structures. However, if Sinn Fein are putting more fundamental changes on the agenda we will be happy to table our own long list of demands. 3. As has been the case since 2007, we remain committed to working constructively and in partnership with all those who are in an Executive after an election. The reality is that whatever the exact structures we have at Stormont, these will only work if the parties are prepared to work within them and work at them. As recently as last November, Sinn Fein accepted our good faith efforts and I hope once the election is out of the way that they will do so again. 4. We will respond positively to any proposals to increase transparency, accountability and to help the institutions function more effectively. It is clear there is a lack of confidence around the operation of devolution in Northern Ireland. We will support as an early action of a new Executive, the introduction of legislative and other measures to address these concerns. 5. We will not compromise on fundamental unionist principles in order to retain power. While we want to see devotion restored, we will honour the mandate on which we have been elected and maintain our consistent defence of the Union. 6. We will not permit the rewriting of the past or the persecution of the security forces. In this new political era, we will defend those who defended us through the dark days of the Troubles. 7. We will oppose any Border Poll outside the terms of the Belfast Agreement. As we have seen from Scotland, in the absence of any likely change in the status of Northern Ireland, a referendum on our future constitutional position would be divisive and damaging. 8. We will stand over those proposals for reform as set out in our Making Stormont Work Better document which have not yet been delivered. While we have made significant progress in delivering on our commitments, a number of key changes remain outstanding. 9. We will work to ensure the full implementation of the Military Covenant in Northern Ireland. It is unacceptable that those who have served in our armed forces should be treated differently in Northern Ireland than they are in other parts of the UK. 10. We will honour all previous commitments we have made on the basis that republicans will honour theirs as well. Even after this unnecessary and damaging election, we will stand over the commitments that we have made in the past to help ensure politics works and people can have confidence moving forward. We will judge and we will ask others to judge us - against these ten principles for the negotiations. We offer them as a sign of our good faith and our good will - and also as a test against which we will expect to be judged in the weeks ahead. It is critical that Unionism enters these negotiations from a position of strength. While we will not be prepared to give in to radical republican demands, there is a danger that the government in the face of an election victory by Sinn Fein would be prepared to make compromises on the basis of the mandate they have won. This must not be allowed to happen. The DUP has a wealth of experience in negotiations, both from within those members who are likely to be returned to the Assembly, as well as our MPs and MEP. In conjunction with Nigel Dodds, I will lead the negotiations after the election along with a strong team of MPs and MLAs. No other unionist party has a fraction of the strength in depth of the DUP when it comes to negotiations. For many years unionists came off second best in negotiations and Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein were able to advance their radical republican agenda. That all stopped when the DUP became the leading unionist party in 2003. Since then, the DUP has gradually but steadily regained ground lost when the UUP was negotiating for Unionism. This culminated in the Stormont House Agreement and the Fresh Start Agreement, which represented another significant step forward for Unionism. The reality is that it is because of Sinn Feins inability to deal with the DUP in negotiations, they have precipitated a crisis in which they will wish to deal directly with the UK government. That is why it is so important that the DUP wins a strong mandate to ensure that the government does not give in to Sinn Feins demands. Finally, let me say a word about the future. This has been a difficult period for devolution. Sinn Fein has caused an unnecessary election. The people of Northern Ireland are already suffering as a result. No budget is in place, the health service waiting lists are not being tackled as quickly as they should be. But it doesnt have to be this way. We can get back to business after a short and a sensible negotiation. The DUP stands ready to do so. In the months after the last election, things were working well. They can be again. The vision of Northern Ireland that I had last May is that same that I do today. I want to see a strong, safe and stable Northern Ireland where every child has the opportunity to succeed, regardless of their background. Where economic prosperity is achieved and shared across Northern Ireland Where business can grow and create more jobs, Where we value people from every background, Where a dependable health system looks after us when we need it, Where everyone takes pride in our country, Where we change the way we do politics, Where paramilitaries are gone for good, Where victims can see justice done, Where no one is permitted to rewrite the past, Where we play a full part in the United Kingdom, Where we make unionism stronger by bringing us together. If we can win this election on 2 March we can work to make this vision a reality. The election will be close. The task ahead will be difficult but there is a job of work to be done. After the election the time for blame and recrimination will be over. It will be time to get down to work. If this party is once again given the mandate to serve the people of Northern Ireland we will be honoured to do exactly that. Let us all learn the lessons from the past few months, Let us sort out the problems that exist but let us make sure that we get back to doing the work that those who elect us want to see done - the work that will make a real and positive difference to people's lives. The work that will keep Northern Ireland moving forward. The disputed route for the dual carriageway scheme was identified following a public inquiry nearly a decade ago. Building a new 160 million road through landscape made famous by poet Seamus Heaney would be like cutting away at a Rembrandt painting, the High Court heard on Monday. An ornithologist compared the wetland where migratory birds nest to the works of the Dutch Master as he challenged plans for the A6 Belfast to Derry upgrade to pass nearby. Chris Murphy also branded Northern Ireland "the dirty corner of Europe" in dealing with environmental and conservation issues. He is seeking to stop a section of the road being built near Mossbawn, Co Derry - the former Nobel laureate's childhood home - due to an alleged breach of a directive on specially protected areas (SPA). Judicial review proceedings are examining ecological checks on the potential disturbance to wildlife on Lough Neagh and Lough Beg from the proposed Toome to Castledawson stretch. The disputed route for the dual carriageway scheme was identified following a public inquiry nearly a decade ago. With commuters regularly facing rush-hour gridlock, the intention is to significantly improve the transport corridor connecting Belfast to Derry. Legal action commenced after Infrastructure Minister Chris Hazzard gave the green light to the scheme last year. Mr Murphy, who is appearing as a self-litigant, claims a breach of the habitats directive giving protected status to the Loughs. Further assessments have been carried out since the Department first made checks on the presence of nesting birds, badgers and bats, and to ensure minimisation of disturbance to whooper swans. But it is still to be determined whether these actions were part of a fulfillment of the habitats directive obligations. In court today Mr Murphy gave an unqualified assessment of the area's significance. "This wetland area should have world heritage status," he told Mrs Justice Keegan. He went on to claim a constant erosion is taking place. "Bit by bit the habitat is being nibbled at, just like cutting the corner off a Rembrandt," he argued. "How can you build a motorway through such a special place and not expect at least some residual adverse effect to remain?" He described walking all the fields in the SPA during more than 30 years of bird watching. According to Mr Murphy it represents the most important site for the rare Bewick's swan in Northern Ireland. But their numbers have plunged from just over 500 back in 1991, the court heard. The ornithologist claimed it was "ridiculous" to contend that only 2% of the 41,000 hectare site could be impacted by the road. He also recalled his excitement at coming to Northern Ireland from Cambridge in 1984. "I was proud to be in a country that protected its heritage," he said. However, he alleged that the reality is different. "In truth, everybody now knows that Northern Ireland, in planning, major conservation and the environment, is the dirty corner of Europe." The case continues. Electoral polls show that the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Fein will be "neck and neck" in the March Stormont election, Arlene Foster has claimed. The DUP leader warned that a victory for Sinn Fein would give the party and Gerry Adams a "hugely significant worldwide propaganda boost". Launching her party's seven-page manifesto Mrs Foster added that a win by Sinn Fein - the DUP's former powersharing partners - would threaten economic recovery, lead to a "divisive and destabilising" border poll and allow Sinn Fein to "shape policy consistent with Gerry Adams' all-Ireland agenda in a thousand different ways". She added: "It would give Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein a hugely significant worldwide propaganda boost just months after nationalism's worst election since 1993 and would undermine the unionist confidence which is being rebuilt after so many years in decline. "Our job is to make sure that does not happen." Mrs Foster was too ill with the flu to take any questions from the media. Before she began her speech at the manifesto launch in Belfast's Stormont Hotel Mrs Foster said she had "man flu". A DUP spokesman later told the media she was not well enough to take questions. A large portion of Mrs Foster's speech referred to Sinn Fein and Mr Adams. She mentioned Mr Adams 12 times. She criticised Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt's intention to transfer his vote to the SDLP, saying unionists transferring to nationalists will make it "much more likely that Sinn Fein win the election". Following the election on March 2 there will likely be a lengthy period of negotiations between the political parties. Mrs Foster said she will lead her party, along with deputy leader Nigel Dodds, into these negotiations. The talks will include the divisive issue on how to deal with the legacy of Northern Ireland's Troubles. Mrs Foster insisted the party will not permit "the rewriting of the past or the persecution of the security forces". She said: "In this new political era, we will defend those who defended us through the dark days of the Troubles." However, this will lead to further tensions with Sinn Fein and the SDLP who have both said soldiers must be held accountable under the same laws as the rest of the population. Mrs Foster also said the DUP will oppose any Border Poll outside the terms of the Belfast Agreement. "As we have seen from Scotland, in the absence of any likely change in the status of Northern Ireland, a referendum on our future constitutional position would be divisive and damaging," she said. The DUP leader added: "We will honour all previous commitments we have made on the basis that republicans will honour theirs as well. "Even after this unnecessary and damaging election, we will stand over the commitments that we have made in the past to help ensure politics works and people have confidence moving forward." Stormont's institutions collapsed in January after serious flaws were uncovered in a botched renewable heat incentive (RHI) scheme, which could cost taxpayers 400 million. A snap election was called after Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness resigned as deputy first minister in protest at the DUP's handling of the RHI scandal. Mrs Foster claimed Sinn Fein "precipitated a crisis" so they could deal directly with the UK government because the party is unable to deal with the DUP in negotiations. She did not mention the RHI scandal in her manifesto speech. However, she did say during post-election negotiations the DUP will "respond positively to any proposals to increase transparency, accountability and to help the institutions function more effectively". Do our politicians think they're over-paid, what do they really make of Donald Trump, what is their favourite food, and do they know the price of milk? These were the quick-fire questions posed to seven MLAs seeking re-election in a series of fascinating video interviews by the Christian group, Evangelical Alliance. Its director, Peter Lynas, interviewed Alliance leader Naomi Long; the SDLP's Nichola Mallon; TUV leader Jim Allister; the DUP's Paul Givan; Sinn Fein's Mairtin O Muilleoir; Green Party leader Steven Agnew, and Ulster Unionist Robbie Butler. People Before Profit declined to be interviewed. All the interviewees gave a price for milk except Jim Allister, who revealed that his wife sometimes asked him to buy a carton. Paul Givan heaped praise on President Trump while Robbie Butler branded him "mad as a hatter". While most politicians named pizza, lasagne or chips as their favourite food, Mairtin O Muilleoir opted for an artisan cheese. The questions were chosen by young people across Northern Ireland. Mr Lynas said: "We are trying to engage young folk with the election so we looked to do something different. "Some may question the softer approach with our politicians but young people can turn off the adversarial stuff, and there are revealing answers in the interviews." Naomi Long, Alliance leader Favourite food: Pizza. Donald Trump in three words: Orange, sexist, bigoted. Should 16 year olds be allowed to vote?: Absolutely Something most people dont know about you: In the Guides, I made Irish stew for Princess Anne. Are MLAs paid too much?: Had I stayed as an engineer, Id be earning more than I am as a politician. But, relative to what many people, earn, its a very good salary. Last book you read: To Kill A Mockingbird (by Harper Lee). What would you call your autobiography?: The Long Road. Favourite Movie: Dirty Dancing or Schindlers List. Whats the price of milk?: I havent drunk milk since primary school. The smell of warmed milk sitting in my classroom turned me. I wont have milk in the house. Paul Givan, Lagan Valley DUP candidate Favourite food: Lasagne, chicken and ham pie. Something most people dont know about you: I enjoy getting up to the north coast to jump into the sea and do a bit of bodyboarding. Donald Trump in three words: Charismatic, opinionated, strong. Are MLAs paid too much?: Im not involved in politics for what I can get out of it its what I can give to others. Last book you read: The Book of Esther. Its very interesting around Mordecai and all the political issues going on. What would you call your autobiography?: Paul Givan Why Did I Get into Politics? because there must be a greater purpose. Whats the price of milk?: I can get two 2 litres of milk for 2. If I go for the individual 2 litres, its 1.29. Steven Agnew, Green Party leader Favourite Food: Anything vegetarian. Im a big fan of greasy Chinese food. Something most people dont know about you: Ive been in movies which a friend made: I Wanted To Talk To You Last Night and Endless Life. Id a significant role in both. Donald Trump in three words: Racist, misogynist, terrible. Are MLAs paid too much?: I oppose the pay rises weve seen. Id happily see the MLA salary reduced if my support staff were better paid. Last book you read: Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh. What would you call your autobiography?: Steven Agnew A Gentle Prod. Whats the price of milk?: I drink soy milk which is between 60p and 1.15. Jim Allister, TUV leader Favourite food: Its hard to go past a tender steak. Something most people dont know about you: Im a bit of a besotted granda. Should 16 year olds be allowed to vote?: I dont think so. There needs to be a bit more general maturity. Not all 30 year olds are adequately mature, some might say! What would you call your autobiography?: From Here to There and Back. Are MLAs paid too much? Theres a deficit of talent in Stormont. Paying 49,000 a year hasnt solved it but, if you paid less, the problem would get worse. Last book you read: The Bad Boys of Brexit, and a book about the SAS. Whats the price of milk?: It depends what you buy. Two litres of milk is ... oh ... my wife does occasionally say Bring some milk. You can get offers, two for whatever. Nichola Mallon, SDLP candidate North Belfast Favourite food: Seafood. Donald Trump in three words: False. Most pressing issue in Northern Ireland: Public confidence in politics is at an all-time low. Are MLAs paid too much?: It depends. You have MLAs who work seven days a week, extremely long hours. They earn their salary. And then there are other people who always swing the lead. Last book you read: The God of Small Things (by Arundhati Roy). What would you call your autobiography?: I dont think anybody would be interested in reading it. Favourite movie: Big Fish. Whats the price of milk?: Two 2-litres for 2 in my garage, full fat and semi-skimmed. Robbie Butler, Lagan Valley Ulster Unionist candidate Favourite food: Lasagne and chips. Should 16-year-olds be allowed to vote?: Absolutely. Something most people dont know about you: I was a butcher from when I was 15 until I was 24. Donald Trump in three words: Could I do it in four? Mad as a hatter. Are MLAs paid too much?: I dont think so. I left a job of a life-time as a fire officer and I was also a councillor. I took less money when I became an MLA. Last book you read: Every day a friend of mine who is 72 and I read Word for Today and another devotional and we have a time of prayer. Favourite movie: Forrest Gump. What would you call your autobiography?: The Encourager. Whats the price of milk?: You get two 2-litre bottles for 2. Mairtin O Muilleoir, Sinn Feins South Belfast candidate Favourite food: Some Kearney cheese. Should 16 year olds be allowed to vote?: Why not? Donald Trump in three words: A difficult passenger. Most pressing issue for Northern Ireland: Love your neighbour. Are MLAs paid too much? Probably. MLAs should be cognisant of the huge pressures on working families. Last book you read?: I took to bed last night Zen and the Meaning of Zen. I didnt open it, but there you go. What would you call your autobiography? I did write a memoir in Irish about my time as the Lord Mayor and I called it A Prayer for Belfast. Favourite movie: One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest. Whats the price of milk?: 1.20 for the blue one that I saw last night in the shop, but Im open to correction. Police at the scene of the double shooting yesterday evening A mother and son have been injured in a paramilitary-style shooting in their home in Northern Ireland. The man in his 20s was shot in the leg, while his mother, who is in her 50s, was shot in the foot during the attack in Coleraine. Their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening. A masked man entered the house in James Street off the Bushmills Road at around 7.15pm yesterday. The property, described as being in a mixed but mostly loyalist area, still had its lights and TV on when cordoned off by police last night. PUP councillor Russell Watton knows the victims. "We are doing our best to leave these types of incidents behind," he said. "We are all trying to move away from that. "Coleraine has been quiet over the past few years." Mr Watton said reports of a lone gunman was an unusual feature of the shooting. "At the minute I would keep a very open mind about it," he added. SDLP Assembly candidate John Dallat said a recent increase in paramilitary-style shootings in Northern Ireland should give all candidates pause for thought. "We must not create a vacuum to let this type of thing regain control over our communities," he said. "Everyone, not just our politicians, need to look at this. People have to get out and vote." He added: "Coleraine has endeavoured to put the past behind it, though obviously we are aware there are still paramilitaries." Councillor William McCandless, an Ulster Unionist Stormont candidate, also condemned what happened. "James Street is a quiet street and the local community is absolutely shocked to learn of this incident," he said. "There is simply no excuse for bringing guns onto the streets and using them against anyone. This is exactly the type of criminality that the new Assembly must help take a stand to eradicate. "It is absolutely essential that the police catch whoever was responsible for this and ensure that he and the weapon he carried are removed from the streets of Coleraine." Alliance East Londonderry candidate Chris McCaw said: "For someone to enter a house in Coleraine and shoot two people is shocking. "There can be no excuse or justification for this act of violence and I condemn it without reservation. "I send my best wishes to the man and woman and hope they have a speedy recovery." PSNI Inspector Paul Patton appealed for anyone with information to contact police on 101, or anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Jonathan Martin Murray-Lacey is currently the subject of a Mental Health Order in England and lives in a residential care home A pensioner facing historic sex abuse charges has been granted bail to return to England after it emerged that he had spent an "unnecessary" month in Maghaberry. Jonathan Martin Murray-Lacey is set to stand trial in Belfast Crown Court later this year on allegations of sexual abuse carried out in this jurisdiction in the early to mid 80s. The 65-year old, whose address was given as Clanfield Way in London, is currently the subject of a Mental Health Order in England and lives in a residential care home supporting people with mental health issues. Murray-Lacey was ordered to travel from England to Belfast last month as a date was set for his trial. On this occasion, his travel costs were covered by the care home. However, when the trial didn't go ahead Lacey was remanded into custody and remained in Maghaberry for over a month. Murray-Lacey's legal team launched a bail application earlier today which was granted by Judge Patricia Smyth, who warned that she would take a "very dim view" if he failed to return to Northern Ireland for his trial, which is now expected to start in May. He is due to be released from Maghaberry this week. Prior to granting the application, Judge Smyth was told by Crown prosecutor Kate McKay that while funds were in place to enable Murray-Lacey to travel when his trial was listed last month, there were currently "no means of getting him back to England." Ms McKay said that whilst "potentially" Murray-Lacey could be released from Maghaberry and could make his way on his own to the Liverpool ferry, this was not ideal. The prosecutor told the court: "The difficulties police have is they are concerned he will not come back for his trial in May." She also revealed that the care home "cannot fund leaving him back over, like they did the last time, and that's where we are at the minute. It's a bit of a dilemma." Accepting the current issue arose because Murray-Lacey's trial didn't go ahead when it was scheduled to, she spoke of concerns of a risk of flight as a bench warrant was issued in the past. Murray-Lacey's barrister Kelly Doherty said that the month her client has spent in Maghaberry was "unnecessary", adding his time in custody was not due to him presenting a risk. Explaining Murray-Lacey has Bi-polar Affective Disorder and is the subject of a Commmunity Treatment Order under the English Mental Health Act, Ms Doherty said that if he doesn't go back to the care home, he "will be returned to hospital." Telling the court "we need to find a way to get this man back", Judge Smyth granted bail and ordered that the police liaise with Murray-Lacey's solicitor before his release from prison. Judge Smyth also ordered that Murray-Lacey return to Maghaberry four days prior to his trial, and he will remain in custody for the duration of the case. Addressing Murray-Lacey, Judge Smyth said she was granting bail but told him he had to come back to Northern Ireland for his trial in May. The judge said: "If you do not return, I will take a very dim view of that and you will not be given a second chance." Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson meet on the sidelines of a gathering of foreign ministers of the G20 leading and developing economies at the World Conference Center in Bonn, Germany, on Friday. [Photo/China News Service] The outlook for this year once appeared bleak with the United States seeming set on a collision course with China. Pessimistic predictions of conflict, sparked by their differences over issues ranging from Taiwan to the South China Sea to currency and trade, appeared particularly credible when weighed against the background of US President Donald Trump's tough-talking tweet storm against China and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's pre-inauguration belligerency. But the belated phone conversation between the Chinese and US presidents was the previously missing stabilizer that restored lost confidence that the two countries could get along, and Friday's meeting between Tillerson and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Bonn, Germany, struck a positive note indicating the two countries were still willing to work together to forge friendly relations. Although the meeting between the two countries' top diplomats was welcomely upbeat, there is no denying Beijing and Washington have different, sometimes competing, interests and priorities. While Wang reiterated the US' adherence to one China as the precondition for China-US relations, Tillerson highlighted "a level playing ground for trade and investment", as well as cooperation on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. The Trump administration has brought a change of style to the country's diplomacy and shifted its focus inwards, blaming the US' economic woes on globalization. The withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement was widely viewed as being the new US president's first shot at globalization and the harbinger of an isolationist Trump era. President Xi Jinping's speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January, on the other hand, was the ultimate Chinese assertion of faith in the process of economic globalization. And differences exist between China and the US on some of Asia-Pacific's most sensitive issues, from the South China Sea to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's nuclear weapons program, that are just as obvious. These differences run deep and broad, from historical facts to present-day international law. But both Wang and Tillerson left their meeting expressing the conviction that working together, instead of against each other, will benefit their countries, and the world, more. So long as there is a shared understanding of the harm of confrontation, and the benefit of cooperation, as well as a willingness to talk, there is little that cannot be handled. This has been proven true through different leaders on both sides since diplomatic relations were established, and hopefully, that will continue to hold true through the Trump presidency. Norway has committed to join an international initiative that plans to raise millions of dollars to replace funding shortfalls from Donald Trump's ban on American-funded global NGOs that offer information about abortion. Let that sink in. Trump's ban doesn't just cover organizations that offer the medical service of abortion, a procedure that can be necessary to save the life of a pregnant person. The ban will de-fund organizations that offer speech or educational materials that include information about terminating a pregnancy. That's medieval. It's just as insane as all the "Muslim extremism" stuff American conservatives go on and on about. This is 2017. Women get to be human beings with sovereignty over their bodies. If not in America, then dammit, the woke folks in Norway gonna make sure we get to be complete humans at least somewhere. From Reuters: A Co Tyrone priest said he has been left frightened and upset after his home was broken into as he celebrated Mass on Saturday evening. The burglary occurred at the parochial house beside St Theresa's at Melmount Street in Sion Mills at around 6.30pm while Father Peter McLaughlin was saying Mass in the adjacent church. "It's frightening, especially because it wasn't until later that I realised they had got in - initially I thought they had just tried," he told the Belfast Telegraph. It wasn't until close to midnight when the clergyman realised that the culprits had actually succeeded in gaining entry to his home, after noticing the inside of the property had been disturbed. "It's an emotional thing. I am most annoyed because, obviously, whoever is responsible deliberately targeted my home at this specific time knowing that I wouldn't be in. "It's worrying because, given my duties as a priest, the times are known when I will be in church and not in the house. "But I can't allow myself to get to that level or you'd never go out again." Nothing was taken from the house, but Fr McLaughlin said he believed the burglars were looking for money. "The suggestion is that they were looking for cash, but I don't keep any in the house," he said. "It's annoying and upsetting, but I am thankful that the house wasn't wrecked." The PSNI has urged local residents to remain vigilant and report any suspicious persons or vehicles to police. Daniel McCrossan, an SDLP Assembly candidate in West Tyrone, said he was "disgusted" by the "despicable opportunists' attempt to steal from the home of a priest". Local Sinn Fein councillor Brian McMahon also condemned the incident. "A break-in at anyone's home or business is horrendous, but when it happens in a local parochial house it seems even worse," he said. "This is a completely despicable act that is even more disturbing because it may have been deliberately planned for while he was at church." Police have appealed for anyone with information to call the non-emergency number 101, quoting reference 1198 18/2/17. Theresa May has been warned she will face difficulties in Brexit negotiations Theresa May ramped up pressure on peers over Brexit by attending the opening of a crucial debate in the chamber of the House of Lords. In a highly unusual move, the Prime Minister sat on the steps in front of the Royal Throne as Lords leader Baroness Evans of Bowes Park urged peers not to frustrate the passage of a Bill which will give Mrs May authority to launch EU withdrawal negotiations under Article 50. Her presence, in a position she is entitled to occupy as a member of the Privy Council, was seen as a visual warning to peers not to seek to block or delay the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal Bill) in the Upper House, where the Government does not enjoy an in-built majority. Speaking during a by-election campaign visit to Stoke ahead of the debate, the Prime Minister said peers should "pay attention" to the fact that the Bill was passed unamended by a large majority of MPs in the House of Commons. And she added: "Properly there will be debate and scrutiny in the House of Lords, but I don't want to see anybody holding up what the British people want, what the people of Stoke-on-Trent voted for last year, which is for us to deliver Brexit, to leave the European Union." Around 190 peers are expected to speak during the two days set aside for the Bill's second reading, the first opportunity for the upper chamber to debate the legislation. No votes are expected during second reading, but the Government is braced for a battle over EU citizens' rights and a meaningful parliamentary say on the final Brexit deal when the Bill returns for its committee stage next week. Opening the debate, Lady Evans said she was "confident" that peers would take a "constructive approach". "This Bill is not the place to try and shape the terms of our exit, restrict the Government's hand before it enters into complex negotiations or attempt to re-run the referendum," she said. Labour's leader in the Lords, Baroness Smith of Basildon, confirmed her party will seek to amend the Bill but stressed that MPs will "as always, and quite rightly, have the final say". "We will not block, wreck or sabotage the legislation before us. Whatever our personal views, disappointments and genuine concerns for the future, that is not the role of this House," said Lady Smith. "But, I've also said, neither should we provide the Government with a blank cheque." Liberal Democrat leader in the Lords Lord Newby said the Government's approach was "little short of disastrous" as he called for a second referendum on the final deal. "We now have a country more deeply divided on Brexit than ever," he said. "The anger of those who wanted to leave is now matched by the growing anger of those who wish to remain - particularly young people. "If, at the end of this process, we are to come together as a country, we need to dissipate this anger. We believe that giving the people the final say will help to do so." Former EU commissioner Lord Mandelson insisted he voted as "a patriot" for Britain to remain in the 28-nation bloc. The Labour peer, who served as business secretary, said claims the UK would enjoy the same trade benefits after breaking with Brussels amounted to "a fraud on the public". But former Tory leader Lord Hague condemned Tony Blair's call for pro-Europeans to form a new cross-party movement to reverse the outcome of last year's referendum as a "great mistake". He warned that any attempt to "rise up" against the result would lead to the most "bitter, potentially endless conflict" seen in British society for decades. Meanwhile, Brexit Secretary David Davis said the UK will continue to be a "good European citizen" after leaving the EU, following talks with Estonia's chief Brexit negotiator Matti Maasikas in Tallinn. Speaking at the start of a two-day trip which will also take in Latvia and Lithuania, Mr Davis said that on justice and home affairs issues, Britain would " try and get as close as we can to where we are today". Meanwhile, the Guardian claimed that quitting the EU with no free trade deal and falling back on World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules could saddle British exporters with 6 billion in extra tariff costs. The newspaper said its analysis of trade figures compiled by the United Nations and World Bank suggested that the 204 billion dollars worth of British goods bound for Europe each year would be hit with 7.6 billion dollars in new tariffs under current WTO rules, equivalent to 6.1 billion. Commenting on the figures on behalf of the Open Britain campaign group, Labour MP Owen Smith said: "The Government is threatening to leave with no deal with the EU, which threatens only UK manufacturing and industry. These are real jobs and workplaces and this would cause real damage. "The Government need to start being honest with people about the consequences of their reckless 'Brexit at any cost' policy. "This underlines why it is so essential to have a democratic check and balance at the end of negotiations, with a meaningful vote in Parliament. "If we give the Government a blank cheque, it will be working people who pay the price." Women pray during a rally in support of Muslim Americans and protesting against President Donald Trump's immigration policies in Times Square, New York (AP/Andres Kudacki) US President Donald Trump has chosen army Lt Gen HR McMaster as his new national security adviser. Mr Trump announced the choice on Monday at his Palm Beach club, Mar-a-Lago. He said Lt Gen McMaster is "a man of tremendous talent and tremendous experience". Mr Trump said retired army Lt Gen Keith Kellogg, who had been his acting adviser, will now serve as the National Security Council chief of staff. The president had been looking for a replacement for retired general Michael Flynn, who was ousted last week. Mr Trump also said he would be asking John Bolton, a former US ambassador to the United Nations, to work with them in a "somewhat different capacity". He made the announcement from a luxurious living room, sitting on a settee between Lt Gen McMaster and Lt Gen Kellogg. Mr Trump brought four options for the position to Mar-a-Lago over the weekend for in-person interviews, Lt Gen McMaster among them. Lt Gen McMaster called the appointment a "privilege". The president told reporters as he exited the room that Vice President Mike Pence had been involved in the process. The position of national security adviser does not require senate confirmation. Mr Trump pushed out Mr Flynn a week ago after revelations that the adviser had misled Mr Pence about discussing sanctions with Russia's ambassador to the US during the presidential transition. The president said in a news conference on Thursday that he was disappointed by how Mr Flynn had treated Mr Pence, but did not believe Mr Flynn had done anything wrong by having the conversations. Mr Trump's first choice to replace Mr Flynn, retired vice admiral Robert Harward, turned down the offer. Malaysian police officers guard the gate of the forensic department at Kuala Lumpur Hospital (AP Photo/Alexandra Radu) North Korea's top envoy in Kuala Lumpur has denounced Malaysia's investigation into the apparent killing of the exiled half-brother of the country's ruler. Ambassador Kang Chol called the investigation politically motivated and demanded a joint probe into the death. The comments from Mr Kang came amid rising tensions between North Korea and Malaysia over the death, with Malaysia recalling its ambassador to Pyongyang over what it called "baseless" allegations. Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un, died last week after apparently being poisoned in a Kuala Lumpur airport. Security camera footage obtained by Japanese television appeared to show a careful and deliberate attack in which a woman comes up from behind him and holds something over his mouth. Pyongyang demanded custody of Mr Kim's body and strongly objected to an autopsy. The Malaysians not only went ahead but also conducted a second autopsy, saying the results of the first were inconclusive. Malaysian authorities said they were simply following procedures, but Mr Kang questioned their motives. "The investigation by the Malaysian police is not for the clarification of the cause of the death and search for the suspect, but it is out of the political aim," the ambassador said. He referred to the dead man as Kim Chol, the name on the passport found with Kim Jong Nam. Police had "pinned the suspicion on us," Mr Kang said, calling on Malaysia and the international community to work with North Korea on a joint investigation. Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak told reporters later on Monday that he has "absolute confidence" that police and doctors have been "very objective" in their work. Mr Najib said Malaysia had no reason to "paint the North Koreans in a bad light" but added: "We expect them to understand that we apply the rule of law in Malaysia." Mr Kang previously said Malaysia may be "trying to conceal something". On Monday, the Malaysian foreign ministry said it had recalled its ambassador to Pyongyang "for consultations" and had summoned Mr Kang to a meeting "to seek an explanation on the accusations he made". The statement called Mr Kang's comments "baseless" and said it "takes very seriously any unfounded attempt to tarnish its reputation". Police investigating the killing have so far arrested four people carrying identity documents from North Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam. Those arrested include two women who were allegedly seen approaching Mr Kim on February 13 as he stood in the terminal of the airport. Surveillance video footage, obtained by Fuji TV and often grainy and blurred, seems to show the two women approaching Mr Kim from different directions. One comes up behind him and appears to hold something over his mouth for a few seconds. Then the women turn and calmly walk off in different directions. More footage shows Mr Kim, a long-estranged member of the family that has ruled North Korea for three generations, walking up to airport workers and security officials, gesturing at his eyes and seemingly asking for help. He then walks alongside as they lead him to the airport clinic. Fuji TV has not revealed how it acquired the video footage, which was taken by a series of security cameras as Mr Kim arrived for a flight to Macau, where he had a home. Mr Kim, in his mid-40s, died shortly after the attack, en route to a hospital after suffering a seizure, Malaysian officials said. Malaysia's deputy national police chief, Noor Rashid Ibrahim, said on Sunday that Mr Kim had told airport customer service workers that "two unidentified women had swabbed or had wiped his face with a liquid and that he felt dizzy". Investigators are still looking for four North Korean men who arrived in Malaysia on different days beginning January 31 and flew out the same day as the attack. The four suspects, who range in age from their early 30s to late 50s, were travelling on regular - not diplomatic - passports, police said. Indonesian officials said three of those men transited through Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport after the apparent assassination, leaving on a 10.20pm flight to Dubai. That was about 12 hours after the attack on Mr Kim. Police also want to question three other people. Autopsy results on Mr Kim could be released as early as Wednesday, said officials. Investigators want to speak to Mr Kim's next of kin to formally identify the body. He is believed to have two sons and a daughter with two women living in Beijing and Macau. AP Vitaly Churkin, Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, has died suddenly in New York. Churkin would have been 65-years-old on Tuesday. Mr Churkin had been Russia's envoy at the United Nations since 2006 and was considered Moscow's great champion at the UN. He had a reputation for an acute wit and sharp repartee, especially with his US and Western counterparts. He was currently the longest-serving member of the Security Council, the UN's most powerful body. Among many other issues, he had recently made Russia's views heard on the conflict in close ally Syria, sparring with diplomats from the US and other Western countries over whether to impose sanctions or take action to end the conflict in Syria. Russian President Vladimir Putin has been notified of the death, according to state news agency TASS. "The president was grieved to learn about the death of Vitaly Churkin. The head of state highly estimated Churkin's professionalism and diplomatic talents," spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the agency. Russia's foreign ministry called Mr Churkin an "outstanding" diplomat and expressed condolences to his friends and family. Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a Facebook post that Mr Churkin was "an extraordinary person. A bright man. We have lost a dear one". His death, the day before his 65th birthday, stunned officials at the UN's headquarters. "Our thoughts go to his family, to his friends and to his government," said UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq, who heard the news from reporters as it circulated during a daily briefing. Diplomatic colleagues mourned Mr Churkin as a powerful and passionate voice for his nation, with both a deep knowledge of diplomacy and a large and colourful personality. Calling Mr Churkin a "diplomatic maestro and deeply caring man", former US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power said on Twitter that he had done all he could to bridge differences between the US and Russia. French UN ambassador Francois Delattre said he and Mr Churkin had "always worked together in a spirit of mutual respect and personal friendship", despite their divides. One of Mr Delattre's predecessors, Gerard Araud, now French ambassador to the US, remembered Mr Churkin as "abrasive, funny and technically impeccable". Britain's UN ambassador Matthew Rycroft tweeted that he was "absolutely devastated" to hear of the death of Mr Churkin, "a diplomatic giant and wonderful character". Mr Churkin was previously ambassador at large and earlier served as the foreign ministry spokesman. He had a doctorate in history and was a graduate of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, and had been a child actor in what was then the Soviet Union. Like many commentators, Ive been humbled by recent failures as a political forecaster. Id bragged about accurately predicting the result of the 2015 UK general election, but was brought down to size by getting both the Brexit referendum and the US Presidential election results wrong. Still despite my new-found caution Id hazard a guess that Enda Kenny wont be Taoiseach for much longer. He was lucky to have been able to hang on after his poor performance in the 2016 general election, when his Fine Gael party lost 27 seats. With only 49 out of the total of 158, he came back to power only because Micheal Martin, the leader of Fianna Fail, which had 44, agreed to back his minority administration after agreement had been reached on certain key policies. To placate some restive back-benchers Mr Kenny had said he wouldnt fight the next general election, but he confidently expected after the Brexit result in June that he would be left unchallenged over the next few years to negotiate the best possible deal with the European Union. Having been in his job since 2011, which is longer than most EU leaders, hes well-known in Brussels, and is liked for being co-operative and constructive (in fact, he has often been criticised for being too subservient to the European Commission). Hes in trouble now, and as with the RHI scandal and Arlene Foster whats put him in jeopardy began with a whistleblower and reached crisis point over an alleged cover-up. Irish nationalists are ambivalent about whistleblowing, which is often seen as disloyal and close to informing. And, as we know all too well, the IRA regarded informing as a capital offence. Garda Sergeant Maurice McCabe has had several years of persecution ever since he made allegations about various incidents of police malpractice. No one tried to kill him, but he has been ostracised and smeared and was, he believes, the object of an organised campaign by senior members of the Garda to discredit him. Horrifyingly, this appears to have included spreading false allegations of sexually assaulting a child, in which Tusla, the Republics child protection agency, appears to have behaved with either startling incompetence or actual malevolence. Its a very complicated story that involves other brave gardai who have backed up Sergeant McCabe, and have in turn been victimised. It was one of the ironies of the peace process that Irish politicians called incessantly for root-and-branch reform of the RUC a fine police force demonised by terrorists while being at best half-hearted about applying the same standards to the Garda. The Garda has traditionally been so popular in the Republic that people chose to ignore any allegations of brutality and corruption. People who didnt get much worked up about the murders of hundreds of police and soldiers in Northern Ireland were furious about the IRA killing of their equivalents in the south. In a Dail debate last week Gerry Adams enraged several TDs by seeking the high moral ground on the whole controversy. Memorably, Patrick ODonovan from Limerick made an eloquent and furious speech that included a demand that the forthcoming tribunal on the whole affair should require Sinn Fein TDs to come clean on what happened to the six dead members of An Garda Siochana, the dead members of the defence forces and the dead members of the Irish prison service, who were put into early graves by an organisation the sole motive of which was to subvert the State. As Deputy ODonovan pointed out, Sinn Feins interest in the wellbeing of the police force is very new, but then Mr Adams is responding to a dramatic change of mood. The public can no longer ignore painful truths and foot-dragging, and now they want justice. In 2014 Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan had to resign after telling the public accounts committee that the leaking of information had been disgusting. There have been other scalps along the way, and there will be more to come from among police, politicians and civil servants. The clamour to replace Mr Kenny who has handled recent developments very badly has become deafening. It would be a foolhardy commentator that would predict him lasting much longer. The Caleb Foundation - a lobby group articulating the concerns of evangelical Christians in Northern Ireland - is encouraging them to be sure to use their vote on March 2. While many across the province may see this election as unnecessary and unwanted, we nevertheless must take seriously the choosing of representatives for our devolved government. Though Caleb does not support any particular political party, we do want to urge evangelical Christians to vote for those candidates who will make the honour of God their priority, not least in preserving real marriage and protecting the life of the unborn child. REV PHILIP CAMPBELL Secretary, Caleb Foundation The Falls Road and west Belfast in general have changed greatly since the start of the Troubles West Belfast has a mythological importance for republicans. The area is spoken of with a reverence that Pearse and the earlier generation of republicans had for the west of Ireland. They had a sense that the simple people of the wild coast were the touchstone of authentic Irishness. So Pearse loved Mayo and Connemara, and even within later tourism brochures and anthropological studies it seemed that the people of the stony ground and the barren fields were somehow more representative of real Ireland than the city dweller, the trader or the politician might be. Now, many modern republicans still love the barren coast and the smell of burning turf, but the west of Belfast has taken on a similar relevance for them. This is where the Provisional movement was born. In the mid-1960s there was a small grouping of IRA men and Fianna boys. They had their swearing in ceremonies in a room in the old Ard Scoil, the Irish language centre where children from the Catholic schools came to mix and speak Irish and dance and earn their fainne brooches. The Falls Road was narrower then, running into Divis Street, which was narrower still. There was no ring road cutting through it. And life was basic and mostly peaceful. This was the crucible of the Troubles. The ingredients in the mix included poverty and unemployment, the atrocious housing. I knew large families which spread themselves out at night, with children sleeping on sofas and mats in the scullery, stepping over each other on the way to the toilet outside. The IRA and the British Army shook all this up, yet republicans preserved and embellished a story about the perfect community there. Gerry Adams, even while urging on the bombing campaign, was writing little stories about the banter of the women on their doorsteps, the wakes, the music and the culture. And he came to be the figurehead of the whole road. In some ways the tension between the IRA armed campaign and the republican political project was played out in west Belfast, or more precisely in the Belfast West constituency. Adams had been trying to persuade governments and his IRA comrades that the growth of Sinn Fein as a political party was an alternative to war. He was mocked by some in the Belfast Brigade when he started out on that project, but showed results with gains for councillors and his own grasp of the seat. The British mistake, later acknowledged by Jonathan Powell, was not cutting Sinn Fein some slack. But the setback that made peace processing urgent for Adams was the loss of that seat in 1992 to the SDLP's Joe Hendron. I remember Hendron being scoffed at by his own party colleagues when he argued that regaining the seat had forced Adams's hand, but there is much on the record now, in the published letters of Danny Morrison for instance, to back that argument. It was the electoral setback in Belfast West that forced Adams and Sinn Fein to accept that the political and military paths were incompatible, that a Sinn Fein candidate would lose votes if the IRA stayed in play. So it was in west Belfast that the peace process was affirmed. It was there that the guns first came out in 1969, and it was there that the decision was taken to put them away again and let Sinn Fein grow unhindered by the 'army', which had managed it until then. It was there that another key republican concept was hammered out, the idea of the 'Community'. It's a scary word as spoken by some. The Community is not the neighbourhood. It is not the electorate of the constituency. It is, somehow, the real people. The Community has a coherent heart, a fixed opinion. It's spokespeople are not necessarily their elected representatives. The Community is always judged to be decent, upright, good-hearted, and always speaks well of the IRA. The creation of the concept of the Community was a propaganda masterstroke and a political device, for it enabled people to say that they were more truly representative of west Belfast than others who might have lived next door. Adams was of the constituency and of the Community. And while plausibly grounded in the streets of Belfast West, he grew into a globally honoured statesman. That is, he got his neighbourhood discussed and its needs attended to in the White House in Washington. He was the local boy made magnificent. But what have we now but a constituency that has lost its mythic aura and its bearded champion? West Belfast has been transformed since the start of the Troubles, with wider, cleaner roads, better housing and much more crime, drug use and car theft. It feels more Irish now. When I was young there were no Irish language shopfronts. Armed gangs masquerading as republican purists have extended the vigilante procedures that were developed by the Provos. If you see a man with a limp on the Falls Road, the likelihood is that he was shot in the leg by some gouger with a political badge. And you can tell by his age which generation of republicans most likely did it. And looking at the election posters, you can see the old familiar faces of Fra McCann and Alex Maskey, both of them surely ready for a rest. Then there's Pat 'Sheeky' Sheehan and Orlaithi Flynn, both of them appointed by the party to fill places vacated by Adams and Jennifer McCann, and guaranteed a vote anyway because it's a vote for Sinn Fein, whoever is standing. Both, like their predecessors, are in the IRA lineage, Sheehan through his own bombs, Flynn through her father's. Which makes you wonder if there is something dynastic about the republican movement. Is it not pulling in enough talent from outside its core camp, or does it not favour that talent when it finds it? In the real world, those tired old hands, McCann and Maskey, neither of them ever noted for expressing an original thought, would be ready for the bin. Similarly, in the real world, Flynn would be judged to be pitching herself too high and too early. Sheehan would have had to impress with his eloquence before getting a vote. In the coming election the battle hardens between Sinn Fein and its upstart rival People Before Profit, as well as the SDLP. There is a crowded field now for only five seats and someone is going to be cut down to size. And Belfast West will make a little history again. Updated at 2:53 p.m. ET on 2017-02-20 Malaysia recalled its ambassador to North Korea on Monday and traded angry words with Pyongyang, amid rising bilateral tensions over Kuala Lumpurs refusal to release the body of Kim Jong-Uns half-brother following his apparent assassination in Malaysia a week ago. Malaysias foreign ministry also summoned the North Korean envoy to explain his recent criticism of the Malaysian government, but Ambassador Kang Chol issued a fresh attack, demanding a joint investigation into the death which he claimed had been politicized. To date we have been respecting the Malaysian police and waiting with patience for the fair and accurate investigation result. On the contrary, they pinned the suspicion on us and targeted the investigation against us, said a five-page statement read by Kang Chol outside the North Korean embassy shortly after he answered the summons. As far as all the happenings clearly show that this incident is politicized by Malaysian in collusion with the South Korea, we officially inform the international community that we suggest the joint investigation on this incident for its clear clarification. As the diplomatic feud escalated, Foreign Minister Anifah Aman spoke out late Monday, saying the North Korean allegations were culled from delusions, lies and half-truths, and that police were conducting an impartial investigation. Any suggestion to the contrary is deeply insulting to Malaysia, as is the suggestion that Malaysia is in collusion with any foreign government, Aman added. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak commented on the issue for the first time, defending the professionalism of the national police. We have no reason why we would want to do something that paints the North Koreans in a bad light, Najib said. But we will be objective and we expect them to understand that we apply the rule of law in Malaysia, Najib said, as quoted by the New Straits Times, a Malaysian news outlet. The Malaysian Government takes very seriously any unfounded attempt to tarnish its reputation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement earlier Monday. The Malaysian Ambassador in Pyongyang has been recalled to Kuala Lumpur for consultations. A false remark A man whom Malaysian officials have identified as Kim Jong-Nam died en route to hospital on Feb. 13 after reportedly telling medical personnel that a woman had attacked him with a chemical spray at Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2. Malaysian officials have repeatedly stated that they would identify a cause of death and hand the deceased mans body to the next of kin in accordance with existing Malaysian laws and procedures. Malaysia is among a small list of countries with close relations with the communist regime in Pyongyang, which is under global sanctions over its illegal nuclear weapons drives and ballistic missile launches, the latest of which took place on Feb. 12. South Korea has blamed North Korea for Kims death, citing a standing order from leader Kim Jong-Un to kill his older sibling and a failed assassination bid in 2012 after his half-brother criticized the regime. Malaysia has four suspects in custody but announced Sunday that four North Korean men wanted in connection with the killing had left Malaysia the day it happened. In his statement read out to reporters Monday, Kang Chol said, we cannot trust the investigation by the Malaysian police. He also accused Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi of making a false remark when he identified the dead man as the elder half-brother of Kim Jong-Un. The ambassadors statement, however, did not mention Kim Jong-Nam by name. In the morning on 18th February, we submitted the official document that we did not know any other name except Kim Chol as written in the passport to the Malaysian police side in the Embassy. Then how could the deputy prime minister make a false remark one day before our submission? the statement said. On Feb. 17, Zahid confirmed that the man allegedly assassinated at the airport was Kim Jong-Nam. His identity was confirmed from the passport that we compared with the document issued by the Embassy of North Korea and by the identity issued by the embassy, Malaysian state news agency Bernama quoted him as saying. Malaysian officials had yet to release an autopsy report stating the cause of death. Results of pathology and toxicology tests are still pending, Deputy Inspector-General of Police Noor Rashid Ibrahim told a press conference on Sunday. At the moment, I cannot say the cause of death, he said. But he confirmed that police were treating the incident as a murder case. He said Malaysian police were looking for Kims next-of-kin to identify the body and gave relatives two weeks to come forward. Moncks Corner, SC (29461) Today A mix of clouds and sun early followed by cloudy skies this afternoon. High near 80F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 61F. Winds light and variable. ein Google-Unternehmen Google-Dienste anzubieten und zu betreiben Ausfalle zu prufen und Manahmen gegen Spam, Betrug und Missbrauch zu ergreifen Daten zu Zielgruppeninteraktionen und Websitestatistiken zu erheben. Mit den gewonnenen Informationen mochten wir verstehen, wie unsere Dienste verwendet werden, und die Qualitat dieser Dienste verbessern. neue Dienste zu entwickeln und zu verbessern Werbung auszuliefern und ihre Wirkung zu messen personalisierte Inhalte anzuzeigen, abhangig von Ihren Einstellungen personalisierte Werbung anzuzeigen, abhangig von Ihren Einstellungen Wenn Sie Alle ablehnen auswahlen, verwenden wir Cookies nicht fur diese zusatzlichen Zwecke. Nicht personalisierte Inhalte und Werbung werden u. a. von Inhalten, die Sie sich gerade ansehen, und Ihrem Standort beeinflusst (welche Werbung Sie sehen, basiert auf Ihrem ungefahren Standort). Personalisierte Inhalte und Werbung konnen auch Videoempfehlungen, eine individuelle YouTube-Startseite und individuelle Werbung enthalten, die auf fruheren Aktivitaten wie auf YouTube angesehenen Videos und Suchanfragen auf YouTube beruhen. Sofern relevant, verwenden wir Cookies und Daten auerdem, um Inhalte und Werbung altersgerecht zu gestalten. Wir verwenden Cookies und Daten, umWenn Sie Alle akzeptieren auswahlen, verwenden wir Cookies und Daten auch, umWahlen Sie Weitere Optionen aus, um sich zusatzliche Informationen anzusehen, einschlielich Details zum Verwalten Ihrer Datenschutzeinstellungen. Sie konnen auch jederzeit g.co/privacytools besuchen. By Matt Markey 76 In some of the most heinous crimes, there is no smoking gun, no clearly legible fingerprints and no useable DNA to lead investigators to the guilty party. The single most incriminating piece of evidence might turn out to be the voice of the killer. During his long career in law enforcement, Tracy Harpster has become one of the leading experts in the world in analyzing 9-1-1 calls and determining if the individual that placed the call is indeed a shocked innocent witness as they profess to be, or the actual perpetrator. It is an investigative tool in very high demand, since a surprising number of murders end up being reported by the person who committed the homicide, said Harpster, who graduated from Bowling Green State University in 1983 with a Bachelor of Science in criminal justice. Sifting through recordings dozens of times and attempting to detect the subtle nuances that point to the caller as the criminal is a cutting edge, new-age science and one that Harpster has made his forte. Hidden in those gasps, the bursts of emotion, the feigning and the phrasing of the caller are what Harpster refers to as indicators of innocence, and indicators of guilt. He developed a keen interest in this specialized aspect of criminology while studying under Susan H. Adams, Ph.D, his former instructor in statement analysis when Harpster attended the FBI Academy in 2004. Following his graduation from the FBI Academy, Harpster, who works as the deputy police chief in Moraine, Ohio, a Dayton suburb, continued an intensive study of statement analysis. While pursuing his graduate degree in criminal justice at the University of Cincinnati, Harpster focused his thesis on the indicators of innocence and guilt in 9-1-1 callers and how homicide detectives can use those clues to gain additional insight into the offense. In 2008, Harpster and his former instructor from the FBI teamed up to author a paper for The FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin entitled Is the Caller the Killer? They looked at the myriad elements of 9-1-1 homicide calls, and the intricate analysis of statements made by the callers. Their extensive research of hundreds of cases found distinct differences in the calls placed by innocent parties, and those that originated with the actual killer. No one had ever done so much study on the subject before, Harpster said. He soon found his area of expertise was much in demand, and Harpster was called on to appear at numerous law enforcement conferences across the country. Harpster, who has worked on the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, the Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission and as a Special Deputy-U.S. Marshal, and Adams regularly assist with homicide investigations in the United States, Canada and England. Ive worked my fair share of homicides, but I dont consider myself a homicide expert, Harpster said, but when detectives call Im happy to help them with these cases. I dont want to know anything about the case, just the 9-1-1 call. He is often able to discern from the recording of the 9-1-1 call the likelihood that the caller is guilty or innocent. We get cases all of the time that initially the investigators thought involved an accident, but after getting an audio recording of the call, making a transcript of it, and then reviewing what is there, we often call the detectives back and tell them they are dealing with a homicide, he said. Harpster said that while he was attending BGSU and studying in the criminal justice program, he was seriously considering going on to law school. An internship with an Ohio sheriffs office changed his plans. After I did that internship, law school was out. I found that real police work was very challenging, but also a lot of fun, Harpster said. He cited the positive influence of Dr. Steven Ludd, now a professor emeritus at the University, for teaching him a lesson that proved very beneficial outside the classroom. He taught jurisprudence and was a great teacher. However, he once went out of his way to stick up for me and helped me out of a jam. Ludd taught Harpster that sometimes you have to take it on the chin in life and keep moving forward, and I never forgot that all these years later, Harpster said. Harpster is called on often to travel the country teaching the analysis of 9-1-1 calls to detectives, prosecutors and coroners. He has teamed with Adams to author a textbook for forensic investigators entitled Analyzing 911 Homicide Calls: Practical Aspects and Applications. The investigators we instruct are very receptive, Harpster said. This is their world, and they understand how important this research is, and they use it to solve murders. Harpster, who has analyzed more than a thousand 9-1-1 homicide calls and has directly assisted the investigation in more than 600 homicide cases, is also a member of the prestigious Vidocq Society, a collection of forensic experts that meet monthly in Philadelphia to pool their skills toward examining "cold case" homicides and unsolved deaths. I consider that one of the highest honors for someone in my field of work, Harpster said. You are driven to see justice served, and the guilty party identified and prosecuted. Its very challenging, and although I enjoy it, this is rough work. Quite often, you see the ugliest side of humanity. bigtrial.net D.A. Announces He Won't Run Again AP/Matt Rourke n his email, Barry told police he was issuing his new policy directive so he could put the ADAs in the charging unit in a position where "they feel more comfortable charging difficult cases" and actually follow the law. But domestic violence isn't the only crime being undercharged by our D.A. After domestic violence, the next biggest category where the D.A's office doesn't feel comfortable charging suspects is so-called "stranger robberies" where the victim doesn't know the perpetrator. Such as on last Dec. 23rd, when an assailant grabbed a woman from behind, as she was getting out of her parked car on the 1200 block of Taylor Street, and "forced her against her car." The attacker was a man who pressed a sharp object against the victim's ribs and threatened to stab her, before he pushed her to the ground and ran off with the victim's Michael Kors pocketbook. The Fire Department wound up taking the victim to the emergency room at Jefferson University Hospital, where she was treated for a "minor head injury." Five days later, the woman was driving when she saw a man who looked like her attacker following two other women. The guy saw her, made an abrupt turn and tried to get away. But the woman was so determined she made a U-turn and followed the man to 25th and Mifflin, where she pulled over and called 9l1. When the police arrived, they apprehended the guy and the woman who was the victim of the previous robbery "positively identified" the suspect as her attacker, according to police records. The suspect was arrested and declined to give a statement. But when the cops sent over to the D.A.'s office an affidavit of probable cause, the D.A. declined to charge the suspect, citing "insufficient corroboration." A search warrant was executed at the suspect's home, an ADA wrote, and no evidence was found. Apparently the would-be robber was smart enough to toss the pocketbook on his way home. The positive ID made by the woman who was the victim of the earlier robbery wasn't good enough as far as the D.A.'s office was concerned. As recounted in Newsweek, on Aug. 26,. 2015, police arrested 19-year-old Samir Price of Philadelphia after he was positively identified as a perpetrator by the victim of an attempted carjacking. Police, responding to a call of a robbery in progress, apprehended Price just two blocks away, 30 minutes after the crime. When Price was taken into custody, the cops found a Smith and Wesson BB gun in his backpack. But the district attorney declined to prosecute the case because of insufficient corroboration, citing an uncorroborated stranger robbery with nothing else. So Price was set free. Sixteen months later, on Dec. 7th, police arrested Price and charged him with murder and robbery in the Nov. 28th ambush shooting death of Ian Wilsey, a 14-year-old ninth-grader at Northeast High School in Philadelphia. The victim was shot three times; one bullet pierced his heart. If the D.A. had pressed charges against Price for carjacking, the cops say, Price would have been in jail and Wilsey would still be alive. Round Three: The Narcotics Field Unit South In this episode, Seth Williams once again found a public controversy to exploit, only this time it was one of his own making. In the years leading up to this mess, Seth Williams and his office had been involved in a pissing match with members of the Philadelphia Police Department's Narcotics Field Unit South. The D.A. had its own narcotics unit charged with busting drug dealers. But so did the Philadelphia cops and their Narcotics Field Unit South was kicking the D.A.'s ass when it came to high-profile drug arrests. Because the D.A. was losing the battle of the narcs, time and time again, his office was losing out on drug forfeiture money, as well as publicity over big-time drug busts. So what did Seth Williams do? First, he refused to allow the members of the Narcotics Field Unit South to sit on "proffer" sessions with the D.A.'s office. Proffer sessions were interviews where assistant district attorneys sat down with drug dealers under arrest, and sought to turn those drug dealers into cooperating witnesses, so they could go out and arrest more drug dealers hopefully higher up on the food chain. The breaking point in the petty feud between the D.A. and the Narcotics Field Unit South came over the busts of a couple of high-profile drug dealers. On Jan. 17, 2012, the Narcotics Field Unit tailed a suspected drug dealer to a garage, where they confiscated 53 pounds of hydroponic marijuana with a street value of $481,240. On Jan. 17, 2012, the Narcotics Field Unit tailed a suspected drug dealer to a garage, where they confiscated 53 pounds of hydroponic marijuana with a street value of $481,240. How did he do it? Once again the law, due process and the truth meant nothing to Seth Williams. He wrote a two-paragraph letter to the police commissioner in 2012 where he stated that he would no longer prosecute any drug busts that involved five members of the Narcotics Field Unit South, and their supervisor, because Seth didn't trust the cops. With that letter, the D.A. effectively put the narcs out of business. Even though, court records show, First Assistant District Attorney Ed McCann, Seth's number 2 guy, when pressed by the public defender's office, twice had to admit that the D.A.'s office didn't have one scrap of evidence of police misconduct when Seth William wrote the letter that put the narcs out of business. To make sure he would destroy the careers of those narcotics officers, Williams, according to court papers in a defamation suit filed by the cops, leaked that letter two days later to Fox 29 through Tasha Jamerson, then the D.A.'s spokesperson. Jamerson, a former Fox 29 reporter, was married to the managing editor at Fox 29. So the career of the most effective narcotics squad in the history of the city went up in smoke, thanks to the reckless and irresponsible conduct of Seth Williams. "They were taking millions of dollars of poison off the streets," Lt. Robert Otto, who oversaw the unit, testified on April 30, 2015 in federal court. In just 2011 alone, according to police statistics, the unit seized 357 guns, $7 million worth of drugs and $1.8 million in cash. But our D.A. not only wanted to put the narcs out of business, he also decided to overturn the convictions of 852 drug dealers that had been previously arrested by the Narcotics Field Unit. All those drug dealers went free, including Mohammed and the Fatboy, who had been caught red-handed with more than 200 pounds of marijuana worth more than $2 million. "They were one of the best outfits in the city," FOP President Joh McNesby said about the Narcotics Field Unit South. "I think the D.A.'s office sold the feds a line of shit and none of it was true." At the federal trial of the narcotics officers, all six were acquitted on all 47 charges of a 26-count RICO indictment that alleged systematic beating and robbing of drug dealers. In a trial where the prosecution case amounted to "absolutely nothing," the jury foreman said. "It almost got to the point where you almost wanted to make jokes about it," the jury foreman said. When it came time to deliberate, "I could have been out of there in 10 minutes. That's how easy it was." The consequences of all this folly will fall on the taxpayers. "Now, the city is paying out their ass for this," McNesby said. He was referring to the millions of dollars in legal fees that taxpayers has spent to hire seven outside lawyers to defend more than 200 civil rights cases filed against the city by the convicted drug dealers that Seth Williams set free, the vast majority of whom had pleaded guilty. The first civil rights case was settled by the city for $625,000. Because it would be difficult to defend the city in court against more than 200 such cases, the parties are reportedly talking about a global settlement that could cost taxpayers millions of dollars. If the 200 formerly convicted drug dealers collect half of what the plaintiff in the first case got, the bill will be more than $60 million. That's all on Seth. And as recounted in Newsweek, so is the crime spree that many of the convicted drug dealers went on after they got their sentences overturned. So far, Seth Williams has been responsible for the overturning of the convictions of 852 drug dealers. But Seth's get-out-of-jail free extravaganza is still ongoing. Public Defender Bradley Bridge expects that by the time it's through, the final tally of drug dealers who have had their convictions overturned will hit 1,100. What happened to the drug dealers who got out of jail? The court records of many of those convictions are gone from the system. I was able to trace the histories of more than 400 of those drug dealers, however, who got their convictions overturned. As recounted in Newsweek, more than 200 of them got locked up again, many repeatedly, for more crimes that included narcotics, rape, robbery, burglary, aggravated assault, aggravated assault with a gun, attempted murder, and murder. The freed drug dealers included Jason V. Siderio, 34, arrested by the narcotics unit on July 8, 2009 and charged with criminal conspiracy, possession and manufacture of barbiturates, after he was caught with pills that had a street value of $17,260. As recounted in Newsweek, Siderio pleaded guilty on Oct. 21, 2010, and was sentenced to 2 to 5 years in jail. But his conviction was overturned on June 19, 2014, thanks to the D.A. and the public defender. Less than a year later, on March 18, 2015, Siderio was charged with murder after he allegedly shot to death Michael Walsh, 38, in the Grays Ferry section of Philadelphia. Siderio is currently being held in jail pending trial. As recounted in Newsweek, many of the convictions overturned involved career criminals. Such as Anthony Hill, 26, of Northeast Philadelphia, who was arrested on May 3, 2009, for possession with intent to manufacture. After his original arrest, Hill was arrested seven more times on narcotics charges, and pleaded guilty six times. The convicted drug dealers who went free also include Mario Adorno, 40, of North Philadelphia. The narcs arrested Adorno on July 20, 2006, a conviction that was overturned on Nov. 20, 2015. But after his original 2009 arrest for narcotics, Adorno was arrested 11 more times for narcotics, and pleaded guilty four times. But guess what? Adorno is one of the more than 200 formerly convicted drug dealers who are suing the city claiming their civil rights were violated. If there's a global settlement, Adorno will collect. All of this, the crime sprees, the millions in legal fees, the millions in future civil rights settlements, is on Rufus Seth Williams, our lawless D.A. A man with no conscience. A man who put innocent men in jail and allowed thousands of guilty men to go free. A man whose only guiding light is his own ambition. This is your legacy Seth Williams. You're a disgrace to your office and you should resign immediately. Last week, R. Seth Williams, our beleaguered district attorney, gave a brief defense of his time in office as the city's top prosecutor."Look, I've made some mistakes," Williams told Inquirer political columnist Chris Brennan. But "I was a great D.A. in terms of what we did internally" to change how the office operates.Allow me to advance an alternative thesis: Williams did institute some far-reaching changes at the D.A.'s office, but it wasn't for the better. With three big decisions during his eight-year tenure, Williams stepped into the middle of public controversies and placed his own personal political ambitions above the law, with disastrous consequences.The sins of Seth Williams have put innocent men in jail, and allowed 852 convicted drug dealers and hundreds of domestic abusers and other criminals to go free. The sins of Seth Williams have perverted truth and justice, wreaked havoc upon the citizens he was sworn to protect, and will ultimately cost taxpayers millions of dollars.Let's start with Williams' alleged biggest accomplishment as D.A., the prosecution of Msgr. William J. Lynn for endangering the welfare of a child.In this case, Williams was following groundbreaking work done by his predecessor in office, former District Attorney Lynne Abraham, and a 2005 grand jury report she oversaw on sex abuse committed by priests in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.The 2005 grand jury report enraged the city by documenting the sins of 63 priests who had raped and molested hundreds of innocent children. But because of a successful coverup masterminded over decades by two former archbishops, Anthony Bevilacqua and John Krol, all those guilty priests escaped punishment because their covered up crimes didn't fall within the statute of limitations.While others saw a tragedy in the shame of the Catholic Church, Seth Williams the former altar boy saw a political opportunity to exploit.If he could put a member of the Catholic hierarchy in jail for the coverup, Williams figured, he could be elected mayor or governor. So he targeted Msgr. William J. Lynn, Cardinal Bevilacqua's yes-man who as the archdiocese's secretary for clergy from 1992 to 2004, was responsible for overseeing abusive priests.But there were two problems with the prosecution of Msgr. Lynn. First, the state's original 1972 child endangerment law applied only to people who had direct contact with children, such as parents, guardians and teachers. It did not apply to supervisors, such as Msgr. Lynn, who was a supervisor of priests, but had no direct contact with children.Lynne Abraham and a grand jury had openly stated this in the 2005 grand jury report, to explain why they couldn't charge Msgr. Lynn and other officials in the archdiocese, including Cardinal Bevilacqua, with child endangerment. Then, D.A. Abraham led a state-wide campaign to reform the child endangerment law so that it would include supervisors such as Lynn. The state legislature complied by amending the law in 2007 to include supervisors.So what did D.A. Williams do? He said when political expediency is concerned, the law be damned. And he went ahead and indicted Msgr. Lynn anyway for endangering the welfare of a child under a law that clearly didn't apply to him.To do that, the D.A. had to ignore the written conclusions of D.A. Abraham and the 2005 grand jury report, as well as the actions of the state Legislature, which had amended the child endangerment law to include supervisors. And the D.A. did it without ever explaining the complete about-face.The D.A.'s second problem with the Msgr. Lynn prosecution was that he needed a victim whose crime fell within the statute of limitations, so he could prosecute the monsignor for endangering the welfare of a child by exposing him to an abusive priest. Seth Williams found his victim in Danny Gallagher, AKA Billy Doe.To make prosecutorial history, the D.A. didn't care whether Gallagher, a mentally unstable heroin addict, made up a patently ridiculous tale about a series of violent rapes, with endless factual inconsistencies and blatant contradictions. It was a series of fables that contradicted the usual pattern of sexual abuse, as documented in 45,000 pages of the archdiocese's secret archive files, a once secret history of sexual abuse by the clergy pried loose from an archdiocese safe by multiple subpoenas from D.A. Abraham's office.Missing from Danny Gallagher's fables was the usual pattern of sex abuse in the archdiocese. There was no "grooming" of the victim by abusers showering little Danny Gallagher the innocent altar boy with presents, attention, etc. In Gallagher's made-up stories, he and his family barely knew his attackers, and their vicious assaults came out of nowhere.Another contrast between the secret history of sex abuse in the archdiocese and the fables told by Danny Gallager was flagged early on by Jack Rossiter, a former FBI agent hired by the archdiocese to investigate claims of sex abuse. The alleged abusers in the Billy Doe case barely knew each other. Yet, according to the story line advanced by Gallagher and the D.A., the abusers somehow trusted each other enough in a sinister conspiracy to pass around a child rape victim, Billy Doe, like a pinata. As Rossiter told the archdiocese, he had never seen this happen in sex abuse cases with two abusers, let alone three.More proof that Danny Gallagher was a fraud: for a year his file gathered dust at the D.A.'s office while Abraham was still the incumbent. At a time when Abraham and her staff were scouring the Commonwealth for a victim whose abuse fell within the statute of limitations, so they could prosecute top church officials. The only reason that Gallagher's complaint wasn't thrown in the trash while Abraham was D.A., I am told, was because Gallagher's father had political pull because he was a Philadelphia police sergeant.To make the Billy Doe story work, the D.A. had to publish a grand jury report in 2011 that ran with the uncorroborated accusations and wild stories of Danny Gallagher, and Mark Bukowski, another bogus victim with huge credibility problems. Nearly two years later, when the D.A.'s detectives finally got around to investigating those claims, they discovered that none of it was true.To make the Billy Doe story work, the D.A.'s office in that 2011 grand jury report also had to rewrite grand jury witness testimony to conform to bogus story lines.All you have to do is compare the two jury reports to see what happened in the D.A.'s office. Under Lynne Abraham, the D.A.'s office did its investigating before it wrote the 2005 grand jury report. And the report that was factually checked and double checked by Abraham's staff of senior prosecutors withstood the scrutiny of a team of lawyers hired by the archdiocese to refute it. The critics of that 2005 grand jury report never found a single factual mistake that I am aware of.But the 2011 grand jury put out by Seth Williams, where they wrote the report first and did the investigating two years later, was so shoddy that this blogger found more than 20 factual mistakes in it. Mistakes that the office of Seth Williams has for five straight years refused to explain or correct.Seth Williams was right, however, about his political calculations. After he hung the monsignor out to dry, with the full cooperation of a gullible press, Williams was the subject of fawning national media coverage for being the first prosecutor in the country to lock up a member of the Catholic hierarchy for covering up sex abuse by the clergy.Maureen Dowd of The New York Times hailed Williams, raised Catholic, as the "avenging altar boy." Meanwhile, Sabrina Rubin Erdely described Billy Doe in Rolling Stone as "a sweet, gentle kid with boyish good looks" before she turned her attention to another alleged victim of gang rape named Jackie.What were the consequences of Seth Williams' lawless actions? Three priests and a Catholic school teacher were sent to jail for imaginary crimes, and one of those priests died there. After an appeals court twice overturned Msgr. Lynn's conviction, D.A. Williams still insists on retrying the case, even though Msgr. Lynn has served 33 of 36 months of his mandatory sentence, plus 18 months of house arrest. The retrial is scheduled for May.But the whole case is crumbling. Last month, Joe Walsh, the former lead detective in the Billy Doe case, testified on behalf of the defendants in the D.A.'s witch hunt.Walsh explained to a Common Pleas Court judge how he repeatedly told a prosecutor in the case, former Assistant District Attorney Mariana Sorensen, about all the factual inconsistencies he had found, and how his investigation had repeatedly revealed that Danny Gallagher was a liar.But Sorensen, according to Walsh, refused to do anything about it, saying, "You're killing my case."That's on Seth, the sins of his so-called signature accomplishment, his self-described "historic" prosecution of the church. And when it came time for the D.A. to refute Detective Walsh's words by putting former ADA Mariana Sorensen on the witness stand last month, she was nowhere to be found.The next big crime committed by D.A. Williams occurred when he decided he was going to capitalize on publicity over his predecessor in office's low conviction rate by being "smart on crime."Once again, Williams was stepping into a public controversy to exploit it. The Philadelphia Inquirer in 2009 had run a front-page four-part series on the administration of his predecessor, Lynne Abraham, entitled "Justice: Delayed, Dismissed, Denied."The series found that Philadelphia defendants went free in two-thirds of violent crime cases. Thousands of crimes were dismissed because prosecutors weren't prepared or witnesses didn't show up in court. Among large urban counties, the newspaper found, Philadelphia had the lowest felony conviction rate. So Seth Williams proclaimed that his new administration was going to be "smart on crime."That meant, as the D.A. explained to The New York Times in 2010, fewer prosecutions but a higher conviction rate based on a computer analysis of past prosecution efforts."We need to be smarter on crime instead of just talking tough," the D.A. told the Times.But the hidden side of being smart on crime, the cops will tell you, was that under Seth Williams, the assistant district attorneys in his charging unit were only interested in charging cases that were slam dunks. So that Seth Williams could show voters a lower crime rate and a higher conviction rate.To be smart on crime, however, the D.A.'s office had to ignore cases of domestic violence where the victim was often too terrified to make a statement or cooperate as a witness. Because those cases inevitably involved a he-said she-said dispute that could translate into a loss in court. Which would be bad for the D.A.'s conviction rate.So this D.A., for political gain, stopped charging attackers in domestic assaults. Even though state law said that when the cops witnessed injuries in a domestic violence case and knew who did it, they were supposed to arrest the guilty party so the D.A.'s office could charge the suspect. When dealing with a non-cooperative victim, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania could act as the complainant to protect victims, punish the guilty, and hopefully to prevent repeat offenses.For years, however, the D.A.'s office has refused to prosecute domestic violence cases where victims had declined to cooperate, often out of fear for their lives.For the past week, nine such cases of domestic abuse have been documented on this blog. Cases where victims were shot, stabbed, beaten, and choked unto unconsciousness. In one case, an attacker tore out "a chunk of hair" from a victim's head, and the cops found both the attacker as well as the evidence, as in the missing chunk of hair. In each of these nine cases, however, the D.A.'s office refused to follow state law and protect victims by charging the guilty. All the accused attackers got away no matter what they did.But that pattern of lawlessness by the D.A.'s office under Seth Williams supposedly came to an end last week when Deputy District Attorney Michael Barry sent out an email to police, trumpeting a new policy directive in domestic violence cases.When it comes to a robbery by a stranger, "absent other corroboration, we are hesitant to charge," explained Deputy District Attorney Michael Barry. "It's tough."Hey Mike, is that tough on the D.A.'s office or is that tough on crime victims?A decision not to charge a suspect in a so-called stranger robbery can have deadly consequences.When the cops interviewed the suspect, Mohammed Samhan, 26, of Los Angeles, he decided to cooperate and give up another marijuana dealer. The cops subsequently raided the home of Kit "Fatboy" Poon, 41, of Northeast Philadelphia. This time, they confiscated 172 pounds of hydroponic marijuana with a street value of $1,565,420.Faced with serious jail time, Poon decided that he too wanted to cooperate. He told the cops he knew about an even bigger future marijuana shipment due to arrive by tractor-trailer.But what did the D.A.'s office do under Seth Williams? They cut the Narcotics Field Unit out of the proffer sessions. And when the narcotics officers and their supervisor protested, Seth Williams decided basically to get rid of them. It can be tough to be a vegetarian. You have to work harder than everyone else to make sure youre getting all the nutrients your body needs. So, when its time to take a As a devastating drought grips Somalia, UNICEF and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) are warning that only a massive and immediate scale-up of humanitarian assistance can help the country avoid falling into another catastrophe. Image by 123RF The drought that the northern regions have struggled with for the last year has now spread throughout Somalia, threatening an already fragile population battered by decades of conflict. Almost half the countrys population, or 6.2 million people, are either severely food insecure or in need of livelihood support. It is expected that 944,000 children will be acutely malnourished this year, including 185,000 who will be severely malnourished and in need of urgent lifesaving support. It is very likely that this projected number of severely malnourished children could increase 50 percent to 270,000 over the coming months. The UNICEF and WFP representatives this week have been visiting some of the worst-affected areas in the northern Puntland region, where the two agencies are delivering much-needed assistance. Huge numbers of Somalis have come to the end of all their possible resources and are living hand-to-mouth, said Steven Lauwerier, the UNICEF Somalia Representative. We have a small window of opportunity to avert this looming catastrophe and save childrens lives and we are determined to work with all partners and stakeholders to succeed. The UNICEF and WFP representatives this week have been visiting some of the worst-affected areas in the northern Puntland region The ongoing drought and other shocks have left communities with little to no resources to fall back on. Whole villages have lost their crops or seen their livestock die. The prices of water and locally produced food have risen dramatically, and thousands of people are on the move in search of food and water. The drought has also led to an increase in waterborne diseases with more than 4,000 cases of Acute Watery Diarrhoea/Cholera this year. Humanitarian assistance has saved lives in the drought-affected north over the past year, but as the crisis spreads we have no time to lose, said WFP country director Laurent Bukera. Together with UNICEF and other partners, we are moving as quickly as possible to reach many more people with lifesaving support using every option we have, including cash-based transfers, specialised nutrition support and airlifting of relief goods. The agencies noted that humanitarian access remains worryingly limited in some drought-affected areas of the south, but that WFP and UNICEF are reinforcing their joint efforts to scale up the response in areas that are accessible, where millions of lives are at risk. The agencies are responding together to the drought by providing food and water vouchers to hundreds of thousands across the most affected areas of Somalia as well as nutrition assistance. As additional resources are mobilised, this joint response will continue to expand in the most vulnerable regions. Funds have been generously provided by international donors from Europe, Asia, North America and the UN system for life-saving services in nutrition, food security, health, education, water and sanitation. With the growing needs, UNICEF and WFP together still require more than US$450 million to be able to provide urgent assistance required in the coming months. In part three of my exploration of digital marketing in 2017, I delve into subjects I haven't covered yet, such as apps, B2B and tracking ROI digital marketing trends, and share more insight into other trends. I caught up with Lana Strydom, EHOD: Digital, Content and Social Marketing at Vodacom South Africa; Jeanine Ferreira, Senior Portfolio Manager: Digital Marketing at Vodacom South Africa; Justin Spratt, Head of Business: Sub-Saharan Africa at Uber; Michel Holworthy, Senior Specialist: Online Marketing at Vodacom South Africa; and Terence Gomes Rei, Specialist: Digital Marketing at Vodacom South Africa. (c) Rabia Elif Aksoy - 123RF.com How will digital marketing ROI be measured? We live in challenging times from a macro-economic perspective, so its no surprise that companies are scrutinising marketing ROI more than ever before, while digital marketing which is no different will be stepped up in 2017. Heres an example: Googles research revealed that about 92% of product-related Google searches on cellphones lead to a product being purchased, and this does makes sense. This subsequent purchase may take place in-store. However, this sale may not have been attributed to the product-related search marketing efforts, which should have been the case. Digital marketing spend must accurately reflect its offline effect on consumer buyer behaviour. Jeanine Ferreira believes that 2017 will be the year of attribution: Attribution modelling will become more sophisticated, and more companies will start working on online-to-offline attribution. Google and Facebook are working hard to implement this in South Africa through satellite and beacon technology. Can traditional marketing boost digital marketings effectiveness? There is definite symbiosis at play. Traditional marketing such as TV and radio ads play an important role in helping to generate online buzz, and often act as an overall catalyst for marketing success. Digital marketers would see this impact in the form of a sudden increase in the number of related Google searches and website visits. Jeanine shares her thoughts: TV, and especially radio, will contribute to digitals success and vice versa. Combining these different marketing channels will add another dimension to marketing in 2017. This, combined with a more robust understanding and implementation of data brings us closer to customized marketing probably the only reason consumers will not install ad-blockers on their devices. Apps need to provide more value Most brands want their own apps, but is there a proper value proposition for these apps to exist? Terence shares his perspective: As the South African market steadily moves towards being mobile-focused, the competition for downloads is on. According to a study conducted by research giant Nielson, the average smartphone user has 27 apps on their phone, and if you want your app to be one of them, then you best be creating value for the end-user. Undoubtedly, 2017 will see increased innovation in apps through the likes of AI, virtual reality, IoT and wearable technology which provides users with tools they may not even be aware that they need or want just yet. But its not enough to have an app that only has cool gimmicks. If its not helping the end-user in some way, then it's likely to sit on their phone inactive until one day they realise that they do not use it and inevitably delete it. Go innovative, but keep it relevant. Content marketings prominence will grow I touched on this slightly in part 1 but Lana Strydom gives us deep insight into the subject: The concept of brand as publisher has been prevalent for the last few years, but were now seeing some serious movement in this space. Content marketing plays a significant role at the top and middle of the conversion funnel, driving awareness and engagement while often providing information and education around complex products and services. Data-driven content that enhances the customer experience along the various stages of brand engagement is going to drive a significant change in approach to content production. Measurement and attribution models which show the contribution of content marketing to brand and commercial objectives are going to draw significant focus. In line with demand from major brands, weve seen some specialised content marketing agencies develop, often straddling hybrid publisher-agency roles. What about B2B digital marketing in 2017? This type of digital marketing is not often in the limelight, but its intriguing nonetheless. B2B marketers will continue to win with LinkedIn this year. Online contents importance will continue to expand for B2B marketers. Justin Spratt has fascinating ideas about where B2B digital marketing will go in 2017: I think email will see a continued rebirth, specifically in the B2B space. Business buyers increasingly procure through a consumer lens, so much of the B2C ideas will extend to this category. This means social signalling, backed by emails with direct calls to action, will work a simple mechanic but very hard to get right. But get it right, and suddenly that tight marketing budget looks abundant. Michel Holworthy said: B2B content marketers believe that content marketing is one of the most effective lead-generation channels today. Lead generation and website traffic are some of the top goals and metrics in content marketing in 2017. Most B2B companies are more concerned about getting more potential clients and find tremendous value in personalised touchpoints. Thats it for digital marketing trends for 2017. Lets conquer digital marketing this year knowing that it's full of exciting opportunities and challenges too. Be resilient, be a risk-taker and most of all, be curious! Read more: Digital marketing trends for 2017 (part 1) Read more: Digital marketing trends for 2017 (part 2) A new report recently published by WWF and ISEAL, SDGs mean business: How credible standards can help companies deliver the 2030 Agenda , indicates how businesses can contribute strongly to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and unlock new market opportunities by using credible voluntary sustainability standards to transform entire sectors and supply chains. The report illustrates how such standards - ready-made tools for businesses and supply chain actors - can help accelerate progress on many of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) while delivering direct benefits for companies and small-scale producers. Poverty, inequality, water scarcity, climate change and the loss of biodiversity are significant risks for business and aligning with the SDGs represents an opportunity, says Richard Holland, director, Global Conservation Division at WWF International. While leading companies have already made far-reaching commitments to help address climate change, deforestation and decent work, the majority of business sectors are not yet delivering on their responsibility towards the Agenda 2030. Partnership spirit of the SDGs Credible, multi-stakeholder standards embody the partnership spirit of the SDGs, bringing together businesses, NGOs, governments and others to work toward common goals that benefit business, people and the planet. They are an important mechanism to help companies reach their targets by scaling up sustainable practices. Tried and tested on the ground, they can be used at every link in the value chain enabling producers, harvesters and processors to achieve a recognised level of sustainability, and traders, manufacturers and retailers to address the impacts of their supply chains. Many farmers using sustainability standards have seen net increases in their incomes due to productivity and quality improvements. The Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) 2014 Harvest Report found farmers following the BCI standard across seven countries had yields 23% higher and profits per hectare 36% higher than conventional cotton farmers, while using less water and chemical inputs. For certified coffee farmers, this has translated among other benefits to improved school attendance of their children. In Indonesia, Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) smallholder certification is taking pressure off elephants and tigers in Tesso Nilo National Park where French retailer Carrefour has been working with WWF to support smallholders to achieve RSPO certification. Smallholders taking part in the project have managed to increase productivity through better management practices, without expanding into the national park. For businesses, certification helps to manage risk. The social and environmental impacts of palm oil production for example represent a significant risk for investors. To mitigate these risks, a number of finance institutions, including the International Finance Corporation, Credit Suisse and Rabobank, require their clients to achieve RSPO certification. Measure of progress Over the next 13 years, all countries are expected to make progress across all of the SDGs. Considering the overarching focus of the SDG agenda on people and the environment, it is clear that sustainability standards can play a crucial role in its implementation, says Norma Tregurtha, senior policy and outreach manager at ISEAL. By providing an independent, verifiable method to assess whether or not a certain level of performance on sustainability is reached, standards and certification systems can serve as a measure of progress against the SDGs. Direct benefits for businesses from using sustainability standards can range from efficiency gains through improved management practices, increased transparency and traceability throughout the whole supply chain to better quality relationships between suppliers and buyers. A contentious rescue plan to save 159-year-old retailer Stuttafords goes to a vote today in what promises to be a hot-tempered meeting. Financial Mail Source: Freddy Mavunda via Stuttafords hit a wall last year and was put into business rescue in October, owing a sizeable R836m to hundreds of creditors, including R147m to Nedbank. The list of creditors obtained by the Financial Mail reveals that some big brands stand to lose plenty. For example, the company owes Adidas R1.34m, Estee Lauder R53.8m, Levi Strauss R2.1m, LOreal SA R13.5m, Puma R2.1m and Tommy Hilfiger R14.6m. Now, a new rescue plan proposes that these small suppliers (concurrent creditors whose debt wasnt secured) will only get an immediate 5c for every R1 they are owed. Then, over the next year and a half, they will get another 18c for every R1 due to them. Critics say that, for small suppliers already on the breadline, writing off more than 77% of what theyre owed by Stuttafords could cause them to go bust. Gareth Cremen, a lawyer from Hogan Lovells who is representing several creditors alongside colleague Alex Eliott, says: These suppliers are staring down the barrel, and many of them dont have any other option but to keep supplying Stuttafords. Cremen takes issue with the fact that, while the suppliers are facing a monumental loss, Stuttafords main banker, Nedbank, will get most of its money back, and its main shareholders (including the Rubenstein family and the Ellerines brothers) benefit at the expense of the creditors. Its heavily prejudicial to suppliers, says Cremen. The rescue plan also says that while the suppliers will get only a fraction of what theyre owed, Stuttafords also retains the right to pay them by returning a portion of their own stock. Theres another catch: if these suppliers dont agree to the plan, theyre not entitled to any further distributions being that further 18c. All forfeitures are permanent, irreversible and irrecoverable, according to the plan. Despite this criticism, Stuttafords business rescue practitioners, John Evans and Neil Miller, say the plan provides creditors with the best possible outcome. Evans told the Financial Mail that while Nedbank will get all of the R42m it is owed in secured credit, it will also have to write off between 77% and 95% of a R105m unsecured claim it has. Equally, he says the existing shareholders (who are owed R364m) will have to write off similar amounts. Shareholders are significantly diluted and receive no payments in respect of their shareholding, he says. The details of those financials, revealed in the plan, lay bare just how grisly Stuttafords finances have been. For the year to June 2016, the company clocked up revenue of R753m, and made a gross profit of R299m. However, its operating expenses of R276m, as well as its finance costs of R13.8m and depreciation of R28.4m meant it made a bottom-line pretax loss of R17.5m. Evans claims that in the three months since business rescue Stuttafords fortunes have improved, with the company making sales of R178.9m and gross profit of R82.8m. All stores traded profitably, says his document. This is why Evans and Miller believe the company, if rescued, can trade profitably and on a solvent basis into the future. Some creditors say the rescue plan has few specifics on its new strategy. The plan theyre putting to the vote is essentially just a financial plan, says Cremen. It doesnt say how they plan to fix [the companys] business model, which was under serious pressure. For one thing, Stuttafords existing management, led by CEO Robert Amoils, remains in place. Amoils is leading a consortium that will inject R10.3m in new money, and end up with 56% of the new Stuttafords. The shareholding of existing owners will be diluted to 13.9%. One supplier, who spoke to the Financial Mail but didnt want to be named, believes its deeply unfair. The big creditors get to keep the money theyre owed, the shareholders keep their shares and the only ones who lose are the smaller guys. This is going to cause a wave of smaller suppliers to go to the wall, he says. Either way, Stuttafords is in a race against time. It needs an estimated R210m to buy stock for the coming winter season. Today, the rescue plan needs to be adopted by 75% of creditors and 50% of independent creditors. With Nedbank and the existing shareholders likely to vote in favour, it could be a bunfight. Source: Financial Mail MFM 92.6 identified one of the biggest barriers to successful learning as stationery and, in partnership with Checkers and the Stellenbosch community, donated stationery of R35,000 to schools in the Stellenbosch area. stokpic via Pixabay The donation was divided between St Idas Primary School, Kayamandi High School and Makupula High School. This is the second year that Checkers has supported the stations on-air initiative to provide stationery to schools in and around Stellenbosch, as there is a massive need for stationery every year. The contributors hope this campaign will raise more awareness about the fact that stationery plays a vital role in the motivation of a learner, as it enables them to participate in their daily learning processes without worrying about where their material for schooling will come from. The focus on stationery is part of the stations longer-term approach to improve the education system in South Africa. The second round of the pan-African competition in PR and HR is open for submissions until 22 February 2017. The African Excellence Awards were created to honour the most outstanding achievements of communications and HR professionals in their field. They are part of a worldwide implementation of Excellence Awards, being rolled out in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America simultaneously. Founded in 2007, the European Excellence Awards are the most prestigious awards in the European communications sector. The Excellence Awards are open to public relations, communications, brand building and reputation management professionals from companies, consultancies, associations, institutions, universities and NGOs whose work has displayed exceptional talent and ability. They are hosted by Communication Director, the globally distributed magazine for corporate communications and public relations. With 59 in-depth categories, which cover everything from brand relationship to social media and multi-market communications, the awards explore the full range of the profession, and take a comprehensive look at communications achievements across Africa. The Jury of the African Excellence Awards consists of leading communications and HR professionals from companies, agencies, associations, institutions and universities. They will review all submissions on the following criteria: creativity and innovation, strategy, implementation, results and impact. On 29 June 2017, the winners of the African Excellence Awards will be revealed during a festive event. Further information: https://af-pr.excellence-awards.com Contact the awards team: Stefanie Hose Award Manager +49 30 8485 9129 moc.sdrawa-ecnellecxe@einafets A controversial Australian mining company's allegedly illegal activities at its West Coast mine that resulted in massive environmental destruction is the subject of a legal battle starting in the Western Cape High Court in Cape Town on Monday, 20 February. The most obvious physical symbol of the dispute is a sea cliff directly in front of the Tormin mineral sands mine 400km from Cape Town near Lutzville that collapsed in January 2015. But at the heart of this dispute is a much more significant issue, with potentially far-reaching legal and environmental consequences for the South African mining industry. This is the future application of the governments recently introduced management system that transferred full responsibility for granting, monitoring and enforcing the conditions of environmental authorisations for prospecting and mining operations to the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR). Coming into effect in December 2014 after over a decade of wrangling and disagreement within government, the One Environmental System was designed to improve efficiencies and reduce bureaucracy and delays in the approval and management processes in the industry. There was widespread acknowledgment that the previous system had been slow, cumbersome and due for a shake-up. But for many, assigning responsibility for the vital but contested environmental component of the mining industry to the DMR has been the equivalent of putting the fox in charge of the hen-house. And during the past two years, the DMR has come in for stinging criticism for not tackling its new environmental compliance responsibilities with enthusiasm or effectiveness. Tormin is sited on rich concentrations of mineral sands such as zircon, ilmenite, rutile, magnetite and garnet. It is owned by Mineral Sands Resources (Pty) Ltd (MSR). MSR is in turn a subsidiary of Mineral Commodities Ltd that trades on the Australian Securities Exchange as MRC. MRC is the company that for the past 13 years has also attempted to develop a mineral sands mine at Xolobeni on the Pondoland coastline of Transkei, before announcing in July last year that it was selling its stake in this highly controversial project to its BEE partner. Mining started at Tormin in November 2013, although mining rights had been awarded back in 2008, and by 2015 the operation had already produced some 1.6-million tonnes of mineral sands, generating annual sales of $46.2m. National and provincial environmental authorities say that the collapse of the sea cliff was facilitated by the unauthorised and illegal re-positioning and operation of Tormins two primary beach concentrators mechanical plants where mineral sands are initially separated from the beach sand (or primary ore). They also say this is only one of a number of breaches and violations of the conditions of its mining right and environmental authorisation. Following a number of complaints over two years from individuals and organisations about the mines alleged lack of compliance with, and transgressions of, its statutory environmental management programmes, the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) led a search-and-seizure operation at Tormin in September last year. Immediately afterwards, the DEA laid criminal charges against the mine in respect of five alleged transgressions: increasing the footprint of its secondary land-based concentration plant beyond the extent approved in its environmental management programme, without authorisation; unlawfully widening existing roads and constructing new roads without authorisation; constructing a jetty-like structure in the coastal public property without authorisation; dumping at sea without a permit, because tailings are transported by pipeline from the secondary concentration plant to the beach and pumped directly into the sea; and failing to obtain required municipal planning approval for the expansion of the secondary concentration plant. As of January, these charges were still being investigated and no summons had been issued against Tormin. The allegations are denied by MSR, and the mining company has now brought a High Court review application in which it argues that both the DEA and Western Capes Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning (DEADP) currently lack any legal jurisdiction to monitor and enforce compliance with Tormins statutory environmental management programmes. MSR contends this is because the One Environmental System has given exclusive compliance authority at Tormin to the DMR. In terms of its three-part review application, MSR is seeking relief in the form of: the setting aside of the decision by Vredendal magistrate CS Kroutz to issue the warrant for the search-and-seizure dated 28 September 2016, or declaring the warrant invalid; an order for the DEA to return any documents seized during the operation and to destroy any notes and surveys done during the search; and a declaratory order to the effect that, because of the implementation of the One Environmental System, neither the national nor the Western Cape environment ministers and their departments has authority to perform compliance monitoring and enforcement in terms of the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) in respect of Tormin and other mines, except for one specific part of this Act section 31D, clauses 5-8. MSRs court papers include a founding affidavit by its environmental compliance officer Sibonelo Mkhize who states: (MSR) will demonstrate that the complaints, and alleged criminal conduct on its part, have no merit, and that all its operations and activities were lawfully authorised and that (it) is acting within such authorisations. MSR argues it is clear that the DEAs jurisdiction in respect of compliance monitoring and enforcement of NEMA in mining areas has been removed, save in limited and defined circumstances. The respondents are Magistrate Kroutz, the Minister of Environmental Affairs, the Minister of Mineral Resources, the Minister of Water and Sanitation, and the Western Cape Minister of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning. For technical legal reasons, the heads of the two environmental departments, DEA and Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning (DEADP) were later also added as respondents. Tellingly, MSR is not seeking relief against either the DMR or water and sanitation ministers, and says they are only cited because their departments have a direct interest in this matter. Ironically, the first complaint against Tormin was made by a DMR official, but MSR accused him of being biased. Also, the DMR had agreed with, had helped plan and was initially party to the search-and-seizure operation. But its two officials who were part of the inspection team were withdrawn at the last minute by the deputy director-general, ostensibly because he was unhappy that police were to accompany the team. (The DEA explains in court papers that there have been incidents during other mine inspections, including one where its team was held hostage by mine employees, and so it requests a police presence as a matter of course.) The environmental authorities have not taken Tormins challenge lying down, and have filed voluminous replying papers. The DEA and DEADP acknowledge the legal changes brought about by the One Environmental System, but argue inter alia that Tormin transgressed aspects of environmental authorisations granted in terms of NEMA in 2012 for which they (DEA and DEADP) have compliance responsibility, and then failed to submit an amended application that could have rectified the transgressions. They also argue that the environmental authorities have maintained certain oversight functions under NEMA, and that MSRs interpretation of NEMA would result in a far-reaching curtailment of powers that the environmental authorities have historically exercised under NEMA as the umbrella environmental legislation. A third leg to the argument by DEA and DEADP is that they remain responsible for enforcing compliance with the Integrated Coastal Management Act (ICMA) and the Control of Use of Vehicles in the Coastal Area Regulations the so-called ORV regulations and that as such they retain jurisdiction in respect of areas such as illegal coastal discharges, unauthorised driving in a coastal area, and illegal developments/structures along the coast. They have therefore filed a conditional counter-application: if the court rules in favour of Tormin and agrees that the DEA and DEADP ministers have no jurisdiction to perform compliance monitoring and enforcement of NEMA (other than in respect of very specific circumstances), they will ask for an order confirming their full authority over those parts of Tormins mining operations that occur within the coastal zone as defined by the Integrated Coastal Management Act. Because of the national significance of the applications outcome, lawyers and environmentalists will be watching this case keenly. The observers include activist lawyers at the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) a non-profit organisation that helps communities and civil society organisations realise their constitutional right to a healthy environment. The CER was among those who submitted formal complaints about Tormins alleged environmental breaches, and it has also been vocal about the way in which the DMR has taken on or not taken on its new environmental responsibilities. In mid-2015, the CER issued a media statement saying that despite many assurances by the DMR, both in Parliament and elsewhere, that it was more than ready to implement the new One Environmental System, the department has so far either been completely unwilling to enforce the law, or has interpreted it in such a way as to defeat the purposes of sound environmental management. As far as we can tell, only the most initial steps have been taken to start building the necessary capacity and designation within the DMR to fulfil its new role of monitoring and enforcing compliance with NEMA. In brief, all signs so far point to the fact that civil societys dire warnings about the risks of placing the implementation of NEMA in the hands of the DMR were entirely well-founded. In addition to providing legal case history that could significantly influence environmental management of the mining industry throughout South Africa, and particularly in coastal areas, the Tormin review application will also cast light on the extent to which the DMR has now taken on its new responsibilities. The fourth annual African Utility Week Industry Awards will honour pioneering utilities, projects and people in the energy and water industry on the continent on Wednesday, 17 May, during African Utility Week and Energy Revolution Africa at the CTICC in Cape Town. Dr Kandeh Yumkella, UN under-secretary-general and former special representative of the secretary-general and CEO, Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All), won the Lifetime Achievement Award last year. Award categories vary from the Power and Water Utility of the Year Awards, Young Energy Leader Award and Outstanding Woman of the Year: Power/Water and include new categories to reflect the latest developments and evolution of the energy and water sectors. The new categories include: Small-Scale Sustainable Energy Project (under 5MW) Innovative Technology of the Year Deal of the Year ICT Excellence Award Gas-to-Power Project of the Year Entries for nominations for the awards close on 17 March and the public is invited to nominate themselves or colleagues and projects that have made outstanding contributions to the energy and water sectors. For more info, go to www.african-utility-week.com. Children's ideas about what their gender means for their intellectual capacity are formed before they have even turned six . One idea that's particularly pervasive and dangerous is that, only boys are good at maths and science. Popular media only exacerbates the problem. Research has shown that girls hardly ever see adult women doing jobs that involve science, technology, engineering and maths on television programmes. Childrens programmes also rarely feature women doing anything scientific. These early stereotypes may lead to young girls developing a fear of these subjects throughout their schooling. This ultimately limits their career aspirations. They become afraid to enter into fields that are based on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Statistics compiled by UNESCO reveal that, globally, women make up less than 30% of the people working in STEM careers. The situation is worse in some countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In South Africa, where I live and work, the problem is worsened by the countrys apartheid history. Today, black women are still struggling to access scientific careers at all. Those who do may fall victim to the leaky pipeline syndrome: they start degrees in science, but dont continue to postgraduate level or go on to work in STEM fields. There are many reasons for this, including gender bias. Its a complex problem. So, how can it be tackled? For starters, there should be a concerted effort to raise girls in a way that encourages them to ignore stereotypical norms. The countrys basic education system also needs massive improvement when it comes to teaching maths and science so that they become attractive subject choices for more pupils. But it will also require funding for bursaries, improved science communication and, linked to this, boosting scientists visibility so that young people and especially girls realise that they, too, could become scientists. Interventions with just this aim have been successful elsewhere in the world, and theres no reason they cant work in Africa too. History and the present There have been some positive steps towards getting more young people, particularly women, involved in studying STEM subjects. In recent years, South Africa has unveiled a number of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes to encourage women to enrol for STEM subjects. For example, black women held the largest share of National Research Foundation (NRF) bursary support in 2016 overall. In the areas of engineering and computer sciences, NRF funding was increased more for women though men still get the lions share of funding in these important subjects. The funders are trying, but because of the leaky pipeline, among other factors, there arent always women to take up these opportunities. So while money is important, its not enough. Retention levels are low. Almost equal numbers of males to females are entering undergraduate science based degrees. At the postgraduate levels, though, the number of men is higher in many science based degrees, suggesting that their female peers have left the system. This isnt a uniquely South African problem, but what drives it is different the fact that apartheid, for the most part, kept black people out of universities. As elsewhere, patriarchy is a common global factor in holding girls (and especially black girls) back. In many cultures, women are expected to be subservient to show respect for men and the idea that a womans place is in the kitchen persists. UNESCO Science Report, Towards 2030 Theres another issue at play: young people in Africa very rarely know any scientists. They dont see scientists at work, learn about local scientists in school or, often, understand what it is that scientists do. The role of scientists is still a mystery to many even though there have been a number of great initiatives, both global and regional, to improve science communication and engagement. To fix this problem more science communication and public engagement of society in science is needed. Possible solutions All media, whether its print, radio, television or social platforms, should be geared towards breaking stereotypes linked to science and technology. With clever campaigns, girls will realise that they can become scientists and work in technology and innovation environments and thrive. The lack of role models is often a resounding theme for young women entering STEM careers. STEM-based content, whether its on TV fiction series or contained in non-fictional journalistic articles, is urgently needed. This can be developed to reach all South Africans, ideally through the SA Broadcasting Corporations radio and TV channels because these have incredible reach and represent all 11 of the countrys official languages. Mentorship is another possible approach. Research has shown just how valuable it is for women in STEM to work with mentors. Doing so increases their access to role models, helps them to acquire and refine career development skills, allows them to set goals more effectively and provides a supportive network. All of this wards off womens feelings of being isolated and under represented in their STEM fields. A word of caution, though: individuals shouldnt feel forced into mentorship. It must be a matter of personal choice. If universities offer mandatory mentorship programmes, these might do more harm than good by suggesting that women need more help than men to succeed. Finally, society needs more messages that counter stereotypes. Schools, for instance, could teach pupils about the important contributions made by women scientists, especially those in Africa, in all fields. This would improve the visibility of women in STEM a good way to start untangling age-old stereotypes so that Africas future women in science dont remain forever hidden. The town of Bethlehem in the Free State Province, South Africa, gets its name from the Hebrew words Beit lechem - house of bread. It is a fitting name for a town nestled within a patchwork of privately-owned commercial farmland. Much can be learned here about the challenges farmers face when conserving nature. Although renowned for producing wheat, Bethlehem is also an important habitat for hundreds of bird species, some of which are threatened by extinction. Bird watchers have spotted 257 different species in a 9km by 9km area just south of the town. This is only eight species fewer than on the entire island of Madagascar. BirdLife International even recognises the region as the Rooiberge-Riemland Important Bird and Biodiversity Area. Exposing nature to agriculture This small corner of Africa typifies what is happening worldwide. Agriculture is the single largest user of land globally, with cultivated land and permanent pasture already covering 38% of the ice-free parts of our planet. In South Africa, farmers are responsible for 80% of the total surface area, of which 11% has arable potential and the rest is used for grazing. As these percentages increase, so too will the number of species living in or around agricultural landscapes. To have any chance of coaxing these species back from the brink of extinction we must reconcile the pressures of food production with the need for nature conservation. What are the options? Farmers can potentially reduce their impact on nature by using wildlife-friendly farming methods. Such methods attempt to maintain natural habitat across the cultivated landscape, plant a variety of crops in smaller patches and minimise the use of chemical pesticides and fertilisers. This strategy is known as land-sharing because it assumes that agriculture and conservation share the land for their separate purposes. The downside of land-sharing is that it tends to reduce agricultural yields per unit area. To compensate for such reductions, farmers need to increase the area under cultivation to meet the demand for food. Thus, land-sharing generally exposes more species to agricultural activities. A second strategy Farmers can increase their yield per unit area by producing monocultures on larger individual fields and liberally applying pesticides and fertilisers. In doing so, they can produce more food while maintaining, or even reducing, the area under cultivation. This limits the number of species exposed to agricultural impacts. This strategy is called land-sparing because it aims to prevent conversion of natural habitat by increasing yields on existing farmland. A delicate trade-off Land-sparing and land-sharing are two extremes of a continuum, so it is possible to use a mixture of both approaches. For instance, large monoculture fields (a feature of land-sparing), can be separated by corridors of natural grassland (a feature of land-sharing). The contrast between land-sparing and land-sharing creates an easy-to-understand starting point for discussing the trade-off between food production and nature conservation. Are we getting it right? Unfortunately, if we consider a recent policy proposal, South Africa seems to be ignoring these potential trade-offs. The draft Preservation and Development of Agricultural Land Framework Bill effectively commits farmers to the land-sparing approach. Even though the draft bill states that sustainable agriculture must complement ecological and biodiversity conservation, it also promises to entangle farmers in new regulations. Sending the wrong message To illustrate the suffocating nature of these proposed regulations, imagine a farm near Bethlehem that happens to be a breeding site for the endangered grey crowned crane. This bird regularly forages in agricultural land. The bill does not provide farmers with the correct incentives to conserve these birds. Agriculturally there is no benefit for them. Section seven of the draft bill states that farmers will have to apply, at their own expense, to use high potential cropping land for conservation. Such an application requires an agro-ecosystem report compiled by a registered agricultural specialist. Moreover, according to section 54(3) of the draft bill, if farmers ignore these regulations and fail to use the land for active agricultural production on a continuous basis over a period of at least three years they risk having their land expropriated at a lower price than would be paid for similar land in the same geographical area which is used optimally. No farmer would risk their livelihood in this scenario for the sake of conservation. Such policies ultimately consign species, like the grey crowned crane, to formally protected areas. This is particularly concerning for the Rooiberge-Riemland Important Bird and Biodiversity Area near Bethlehem and for other areas like it which relies completely on conservation in agricultural landscapes. Whether the bill will be accepted by parliament remains to be seen. Nevertheless, the situation in Bethlehem illustrates the important role agriculture plays in conserving nature. By ignoring this role, we risk creating one-sided policies that jeopardise our constitutional right to prevent ecological degradation and promote conservation. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. On 6 April 2017, the same day that the FSA Young Farmer Committee will celebrate their 32nd year in existence at their annual conference - this year under the theme of The Younge Farmer in the Global Market - the 21st Free State Agriculture Young Farmer of the Year will be announced. The team of judges are: Stefan Hanekom, Johann van Graan, Janus Henning, Prof. Pieter Fourie, Prof. Erhard du Toit, Boet Wilken and Dr. Cobus le Roux. The speakers at the event include Jaqcues Celliers, CEO of FNB SA, and Dr. Dirk Strydom, manager of Grain Economy and Marketing at Grain SA. Myan Subrayan will be the motivational speaker of the day. The competition originated in the Free State, and it is presented to empower young farmers for sustainable growth by means of organised agriculture. It enables the young farmer to focus on aspects of his farming operation which he may have taken for granted before. A team of judges visited the three finalists on 14 and 15 February 2017. Meet the finalists Willie Stols "I was born and raised a farmer." Willie and Wilmien Stols Willie and Wilmien Stols farms on the farm Gelykvlakte, that has been in the Stols family for more than 108 years. Under the guiding hand of his father, Willie planted his first crop in 2006. Eleven years later the smell of wet red soil, maize, cattle, and sheep is still his reason for getting up in the morning. Stols vision for the future includes improved precision farming as well as managing his farming enterprise to become more efficient and profitable. His father gladly shares his knowledge and assists him with advice, especially with advice that has filtered down generations of farmers. Stols would like to focus more on planning and making changes in terms of below average rainfall. According to Stols, young farmers are the food producers and providers of the future. To survive we will have to increase profit and earnings so that we can make a positive contribution towards the economy and the country. Stols started a 50ha overlay system on the farm. He also manages moisture levels by focusing on the amount of livestock per ha to prevent overgrazing. Some of the most important resource conservation practices that he focuses on, is planting tef or dry land lucern on un-used optimal lands. With the assistance of good workshop staff and in cooperation with his father they build, repair or improve farming equipment before buying new equipment. Stols is a member of Free State Agriculture, Vierfontein Farmers Association, Grain SA and the Manna Study Group. He also forms part of the local safety structures and is a member of the fire protection association. A video that was taken of Stols while the judges visited him, is available here. Johan van Huyssteen 'Diversification may be good, but I choose to specialise!" Johan and Juanita van Huyssteen Johan and Juanita van Huyssteen farm on Bloekom in the Virginia district. He farms with his father. According to Van Huyssteen, he is a perfectionist and planner, characteristics he tries to implement in all areas of his farming operation. The best way of doing things is to think of and try and plan for everything. Van Huyssteen does, however, believe in simplicity; the easier, simpler and faster - the better! The most significant change that he brought into the farming operation was the use of pre-planting preperation and precision equipment. Top dressing is no longer applied, which contributes to better root development. His future vision for the farming enterprise is to grow sustainability, manage risks and farm more effectively. Van Huyssteen would also like to use technology more effectively in future. Some of the most significant risks that he has to manage include drought and the price of products. The 50% overlay system that is used contributes to good yields and it counters drought conditions. With regards to price management, steps are followed in cooperation with companies that supply information. With good information, informed decisions can be made that contributes to limiting risks. Van Hyssteen is an active member of the community and farmers association. He is someone who can take the lead and inspire others. Currently, he is the chairperson of Virginia Landbou as well as the local fire protection association. Previously he was also a member of Free State Agricultures Young Farmer Committee. A video that was taken during the visit at the Van Huyssteens is available here. Herman Archer "Will you be doing it... Or am I doing it myself?" Herman Archer Herman Archer has been farming with his father on the farm Settlement in the Trompsburg district the past five years. He considers himself to be a strong leader who can think on his feet in pursuit of perfection. He can make decisions under pressure and stick with them. Tasks are completed fast and effeciently, while he chooses to think outside the box when it comes to problem-solving. Archer is focused on making a difference in his community and agriculture, and he rather focuses on solutions than to just moan about issues. Archers vision for the future includes producing top quality wool, lambs of high quality and to improve reproduction. He would also like to expand the farming enterprise by, for instance, incorporating a hammel farming component. The most significant risks for Archers farming enterprise includes management of predators, the prevention of wildfires and taking weather conditions into account. Archer strives to use the farm optimally by following nature and weather patterns and to ensure that livestock is managed in such a way that overgrazing is prevented. Where water is available on his farm, he tries to optimally irrigate fields to add value to the farming operation. According to Archer, young farmers fulfill a very important role in the economy of South Africa. Young farmers approach the economy and agriculture with a different perspective, as they think outside the box, which is important to promote agriculture. Archer is the chairperson of Trompsburg Landbou, vice chairperson of the NWGA in the Free State and the vice chairperson of the Red Meat Producers organisation in the Free State (FSRPO). He serves on the executive management of the South African Sheep Shearing Federation (SASSF), while he is also a judge for shearing and wool handling on national level. A video that was taken during the visit to Archer is available here. Parliament on Sunday refuted the claims made in several media reports over the criteria used to allocate bursaries. In 2016 Parliament invited staff members to apply for bursaries to study for this year through its allocated bursary budget of R1.5 million. This has been the case annually. Out of a total of 155 funding requests received totalling R5.6 million, which far exceeded the available R1.5 million bursary budget, only 50 applications could be approved, said Parliamentary spokesperson Manelisi Wolela. Wolela said that in order to ensure fairness and equal opportunity for all staff members, preference was given to new applicants who have not previously benefited from the bursary fund. Parliament refuted media reports that an employee was sent to Columbia University at a cost of R1.1 million. When Ms Mtya was employed by Parliament in 2016 following a lengthy search for a suitably qualified person to fill the CIO position, she had already been accepted at the said university and her studies were to be sponsored under her previous employers employee bursary fund, said Wolela. Since Parliament has a similar scheme for its employees, one of the mutually agreed terms and conditions pertaining to her employment was that she would, like any employee of Parliament, benefit from the institutions bursary fund. The circumstances around the Secretary of Parliament Gengezi Mgidlanas bursary are not entirely different to that of Mtya in that when Parliament engaged him in 2014, he was already pursuing his MBL at Unisa under a bursary funded by his previous employer. With the exception of both Ms Mtya and Mr Mgidlana, whose unique circumstances have already been thoroughly explained, the rest of the bursary beneficiaries this year are junior managers and ordinary staff. Essentially, this means over 96% of Parliament bursary fund are ordinary staff. Parliament said the criteria for allocating bursaries to staff is fair, transparent and non-discriminatory. Gauteng government partnerships will provide thousands of young people with training and job opportunities while empowering them with the relevant skills needed in the job market. One example of this is Tshepo 500,000, a flagship programme focusing on creating opportunities for half a million young people to enter the labour market and access skills and entrepreneurial development. Another partnership that will be implemented by government over the next two years is a partnership with Microsoft, which will provide one million young people with training opportunities in digital skills. In partnership with the Massive Open Online Varsity (MOOV), an additional 80,000 young people will access free, high quality online university education. The provincial government will also partner with the Business Process Outsourcing Sector to facilitate the creation of 20,000 digital jobs for young people over the next three years. Others include a partnership with Buddibox and the National Youth Development Agency, which will provide 10,000 ownership and entrepreneurial opportunities in the cooperative wholesale and retail sector. A partnership with Coca Cola will provide employment and new entrepreneurship opportunities for 30,000 new retail outlets in the townships for youth. These partnerships were announced by Gauteng Premier David Makhura when he delivered his State of the Province Address on Monday. Another programme targeting youth is the National Youth Service, which will increase the number of opportunities for young people in the EPWP and Community Works Programme to 300,000. We are launching , targeting especially young people who will be contracted by government and also sub-contracted by companies doing business with government to do infrastructure maintenance and other work in public facilities, Premier Makhura said. In addition to all of this, the provincial government has adopted a policy that 50% of all people employed in infrastructure projects are young people. The focus on youth in the province is imperative as youth unemployment is the most acute and primary economic problem of our time, according to the Premier. Currently, there are 2.7 million young people of working age who are neither in education nor in employment, while around three million young people are in the public and private education system, including higher education and TVET colleges. Many of these young people end up getting involved in social ills such as drug and substance abuse as well as crime. They deserve a second chance in life. To address the issue, the provincial government introduced Tshepo 500,000 in 2014 to enhance the employability of youth and ignite the spirit of entrepreneurship among young people in order to rescue them from a self-destructive lifestyle of drug abuse, violence and crime. Over the past two years, Tshepo 500,000 has touched the lives of more than 350,000 young people, who benefitted from the four pillars of this programme. More than 90,000 permanent jobs were facilitated. Training and skills development were provided for more than 145,000 young people, while 15,000 youths received entrepreneurship and business development support and 110,000 received transitional employment. The major lesson we learnt since the launch of Tshepo 500,000 in December 2014, is that to deal with the chronic global problem of youth unemployment successfully, we must embark on unconventional approaches and build sector-specific partnerships, said Premier Makhura. Working with partners such as Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator and various private sector companies, Premier Makhura is certain that they will reach 500,000 young people by 2019. He called on businesses, civil society and municipalities to join the crusade to give youth a chance to prove themselves. They dont want patronage. They want to be empowered so that they can take charge of their own destiny and become their own liberators. They want opportunities to be opened so that they can seize them with both hands. Transport Minister Dipuo Peters has dismissed four Airports Company SA (Acsa) board members, capping a dramatic week in which the non-executive directors thought they had been granted a reprieve. McDonald Kenosi Moroka, Kate Matlou, Bajabulile Luthuli and Chwayita Mabude were served with notices of their immediate dismissal from the Acsa board in their inboxes just after midday on Thursday, when they were expecting to make representations at a shareholders' meeting about why they should remain on the board. The minister's move has split insiders, with some saying the minister was trying to shield CEO Bongani Maseko, while others said Peters had signalled her intent to "strengthen" the board at Acsa's annual general meeting in 2016. It comes after several ACSA senior managers have been suspended for procurement irregularities. On Sunday, the spokesman for Peters, Ishmael Mnisi, confirmed she had dismissed the four nonexecutive directors. Asked why the minister had done this, Mnisi cited recommendations contained in Acsa's board evaluation report. "The minister decided to retire some members to strengthen the board with the necessary expertise/skills as identified by the report to guide the company going forward," he said. "The minister will embark on the process of advertising and recruitment to fill the four vacant positions in the board with individuals with the appropriate expertise and skills set required to guide the company going forward," he added. Both Acsa and Mnisi said Peters's actions had nothing to do with Maseko. Late in 2016, Acsa suspended procurement manager Percy Sithole, GM for regional airports Jabulani Khambule and legal counsel Bongani Machobane for suspected supply chain irregularities. They are challenging the disciplinary process. On Sunday, acting Acsa chairman Roshan Morar referred questions about the board members' dismissals to the Department of Transport, saying it was a shareholder issue. Sources, who are not authorised to speak to the media, said the affected board members would not take the surprise move by Peters lying down. But other insiders said board resolutions would not disappear into "thin air" and would have to be carried out irrespective of who was serving on it. Source: Business Day WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND: New Zealand's High Court ruled on Monday, 20 February 2017, that Kim Dotcom was eligible for extradition to the United States over online piracy allegations linked to his now-defunct Megaupload web empire. But defence lawyers immediately vowed to appeal the decision and maintain Dotcom's long-running battle to avoid him being sent for trial in the United States. "We are far from defeated," Dotcom's barrister Ron Mansfield said in a statement. High Court judge Murray Gilbert upheld a District Court ruling that there was enough evidence to extradite German national Dotcom and his three co-accused over their involvement in Megaupload. The FBI alleges Megaupload netted more than US$175 million in criminal proceeds and cost copyright owners more than US$500 million by offering pirated content. Dotcom has denied any wrongdoing and accused US authorities of pursuing a vendetta against him on behalf of politically influential Hollywood studios. He argues Megaupload was a genuine file-sharing site that did its best to police copyright infringement but had 50 million daily users and could not control every aspect of their activity. Mansfield labelled Monday's decision "extremely disappointing", but he said Dotcom has proved a crucial legal point that could stop his extradition. He said judge Gilbert had found that copyright infringement was not a criminal office, undermining the FBI's case. "The last hurdle to what we say is the correct outcome - no extradition - will now need to be determined by the Court of Appeal," he said. "We remain confident that this last point, which would prevent extradition in this complex and unprecedented legal case, will be resolved in Kim's favour." Dotcom, a German with permanent residency in New Zealand, faces decades in jail if convicted in the United States of piracy. He was first arrested more than five years ago during a police raid on his mansion near Auckland after the FBI shut down Megaupload's servers. According to Jonathan Kohler, CEO of Lansdowne Investment Properties, for over 12 years in the residential sectional title space, the one-bedroom apartment has been the best investment property performer, yet South Africans continue to buy two-bedroom apartments with lower returns. The thinking behind this is that two people could rent the property together or two people could perhaps purchase the property. However, this has simply not been the case and investors in this market are not reaching their maximum return. Investors looking to purchase a property must keep two of the key principles in mind rental return and capital appreciation," says Kohler. Entry-level apartment for tenants, owners The one-bedroom apartment has traditionally been your entry-level property in the South African market. Whether you are a student, living away from home for the first time, a young professional renting your first apartment that you are paying for yourself, a first-time home owner or a first-time investment property buyer, with buy-to-let aspirations, the one bed, one bath is generally a good place to start. However, with the ever-increasing need for secure lifestyle estates, it has become more generally accepted that the studio or bachelor apartment has become your entry-level apartment for tenants and owners alike. The price point for both the studio and one bed, one bath apartments start from around R550,000 and go up to around the R1m mark which is the sweet spot in the property market, adds Kohler. The transfer duty rates are the lowest in this market, where properties purchased for R750,000 and less are transfer duty-free and properties purchased between R750,001-R1,250,000 are charged at 3% of the value above R750,000. So even if a purchaser invested in a property for R800,000, the transfer duty would be R1,500. Traditionally, property investors like to buy property off plan from developers, so they can save on transfer duty, however if investors remain around the R800,000 mark for a purchase, investors can often get better value in the second-hand market. Rental return percentage The rental return percentage is greatest on a studio or a one-bedroom apartment compared to two and three bedroom apartments, which is based on the rental amount. The rental achievable for studio and one-bedroom apartments range from R5,000-8,500/month dependant on location and positioning within the complex. This rental price point constitutes the largest amount of quality tenants in South Africa. These are people who can afford to pay between R5,500-R8,500/month in rental. Affordability for these clients should be calculated the same way banks pre-qualify clients for a home loan, their gross monthly income should be three times or greater than that of the monthly rental amount. So, in order to qualify for a monthly rental of R5,000/month, a tenant would need to earn a gross income of R15,000/month. Similarly, in order to qualify for a rental amount of R8,500/month you would need a gross income of R25,500/month. The largest market of quality tenants, first-time home owners and first time investors would then fall in between the R15,000-R25,000 mark. Below is an example of two properties in the same complex in the Northern suburbs of Johannesburg. The first is a one-bedroom apartment and the second is a two-bedroom apartment both on the ground floor sold in 2016. Property A: One-bedroom ground floor apartment Price: R740,000 (transfer duty free) Rental: R7000 Levy: R977 Rates: R320 Net rental return: 9.25%/annum Appreciation: 8%/annum Total return on investment: 17.25%/annum Property B: Two-bedroom ground floor apartment Price: R980,000(transfer duty R6900) Rental: R8250 Levy: R1650 Rates: R420 Net rental return: 7.25%/annum Appreciation: 8%/annum Total return on investment: 15.25%/annum It is evident that the one-bedroom apartment has a far better rental return percentage than the two bedrooms, in fact a 2% difference which is substantial. It is also important to remember how much bigger the market is that can afford to pay R7,000/month in comparison to R8,250/month in rental. Another factor that needs to be considered is the levy amount, which is far lower on the one-bedroom apartment being R977/month compared to two-bedroom being R1 650/month. More first-time home owners, investor buyers Capital appreciation in the above example is estimated at 8%/annum for both properties, but again it is important to remember that at the lower price point of the one-bedroom apartment, there are far more first-time home owners and first-time investor buyers who can afford to purchase the property from you when it is time to sell. The capital appreciation is only realised when the property is sold. Keep your investment properties in the sweet spot and you will increase your chances of the property always being tenanted, and easily sold at a good price, concludes Kohler. Dogon Group Properties has launched a Gauteng-based division operating from Hyde Park which will be overseen by Dawn Dorfman as the managing director. Constantia, Cape Town As in the Western Cape, Dogon Group Properties Gauteng will focus on high-end sales to clients in the market for exclusive properties in the citys northern suburbs. Opening an office in Gauteng was a natural expansion path for the company, says Denise Dogon, founder and CEO of Dogon Properties Group. Over the next five years we expect strong growth in the luxury property market in Gauteng, with the weaker rand benefiting overseas investors. There is also a huge demand for luxury homes in Gauteng from top executives employed at the major companies which are based here and new developments on the outskirts of Sandtons business district, Hyde Park and Sandhurst will continue to provide world-class value for the finest properties. Dorfman, who has 40 years of experience in Johannesburgs northern suburbs and has twice been a finalist in the Nedbank Property Professional of the Year Awards, is no stranger to record-breaking sales, having recently concluded a landmark R42m land-only deal in the sought-after suburb of Hyde Park. With the reputation and resources of the Dogon Group, coupled with my knowledge and experience in the upmarket suburbs of Gauteng, we will go from strength to strength, says Dorfman. Our goal is to create an unbeatable team of sales people in Gauteng. Shifting their focus to the global frontier and emerging markets, rivals Savanna Sunrise and HotelOga have signed an agreement to merge, creating an African giant in the hospitality marketing technology. HotelOga was founded by Marek Zmysowski and Maciej Prostak with an initial backing from Polish VC SpeedUP and a prominent Indian Garg family. In less than a year HotelOga contracted more than 500 hotels, taking a lead in the Nigerian market. Their customer portfolio features reputable brands such as Lagos Oriental Hotel, Protea Hotels, and Golden Tulip. HotelOgas technology was recognised by global players like Google and awarded by Expedia. Savanna Sunrise is a travel and hospitality marketing group, launched in Kenya in 2014 by experienced hoteliers and managers Endre Opdal and Havar Bauck. The company grew organically to become a market leader in Eastern and Central Africa, with more than 400 hotel partners across 14 African countries. Savanna Sunrise was built without external funding and has been running a profit since day one. The merger will create the biggest hospitality marketing technology group in online travel in Africa, changing the way hotels utilise technology and online marketing in their operations. The group already inked partnerships with Expedia, Booking.com, TripAdvisor, HotelBeds, and CTrip. Both companies are in agreement to merge at similar valuations. Marek Zmysowski will take the role of CEO of the newly established entity, and Havar Bauck will be the executive chairman. The group will retain both brands initially until a unified marketing strategy is rolled out in the near future. Marek Zmysowski said, "This merger will enable us to become the leading company in our sector. Our next goals include: unifying operations within the group and strengthening our dominant position in Africa. We are also preparing our expansion to certain markets in Asia and Eastern Europe, where we can implement our learnings from Africa." Havar Bauck said, "With this merger, we are writing a new chapter in the evolution of the hospitality sector in Africa. From the position we are building, we are now well poised to expand our footprint to frontier and emerging markets globally. The challenges facing the hospitality sector across these markets are very similar, and we are eagerly preparing to tap into the immense opportunities that exist." Short message service (SMS) marketing is becoming increasingly popular with many businesses all over the world. Text messaging in business is not only fast and convenient, but also very cost-effective compared with other forms of communication. When done properly, a text marketing campaign can improve your business' reputation and boost your profits. Here are some great tips for running a successful text messaging campaign: 1. Obtain consent Many marketers just collect random numbers and send out marketing messages expecting a response. However, sending unsolicited messages will only annoy recipients and mess the reputation of your business. Therefore, the first thing you need to do is get people to sign up to receive your marketing messages. You should also make it easy for subscribers to opt out when they dont want to continue receiving your texts. When sending messages, be sure to start with the name of your business. This way, your recipients will not confuse your messages for spam. 2. Send at the right time Timing is very crucial when it comes to SMS marketing. Unlike email, text messages are usually read within less than five minutes of being sent. Therefore, you need to ensure that your marketing messages reach customers or prospects just when they are about to make a buying decision. For instance, fast food outlets should send out promotional messages to consumers just before lunch hour. The good news is that SMS scheduling tools such as 'SMS Scheduler' and 'Schedule SMS: Send it later' can make your work much easier. 3. Add a call to action Your text messages should be accompanied with a powerful call to action (CTA). The CTA could be a URL to your website, a phone number or a short code. This will give your audience an idea of what you want them to do next. By calling the number or visiting your website, they might just end up buying your products or services. If you are planning an event, visitors can click on the URL to find more details. 4. Use basic language If your texts are going out to people of different cultures, ages and backgrounds, keep your messages as simple as possible. Avoid using abbreviations and acronyms which could confuse your recipients. Dont use too many emoticons or exclamation marks. You should also avoid using caps, except for key words like 'sale', 'discount' or 'offer'. Keeping your messages friendly, concise and professional will enhance your chances of success. 5. Make it exclusive For an SMS marketing campaign to be successful, you need to make your messages as exclusive as possible. The information your subscribers are getting should not be something that is readily available elsewhere, like your Facebook page, blog or website. When people realise the value of the messages they're receiving, they're more likely to take action. 6. Analyse your results You can use tools such as Google Analytics to monitor the progress of your SMS marketing campaigns. Some of the metrics you need to keep track of are open rates and the number of clicks on links. You can test different message styles and timings to find out what works best. Comedians Stuart Taylor, Joey Rasdien, Barry Hilton, Kagiso Lediga and Loyiso Gola are set to perform at The Big Five Comedy Show at the Grand Arena on 4 March. They will be joined by award winning DJ Ready D. Elouise Matthys, PR and promotions manager at GrandWest, says: We are thrilled to host five of South Africas best as they kick off their national tour. With each comedian bringing their own brand of comedy to the show, the audience can expect diverse, larger than life comedy and loads of stomach clenching laughter. About the comedians Taylor, well known for his role as presenter on the SABCs travel show, Going Nowhere Slowly, is renowned for his fusion of comedy and magic. Over the years, he has performed locally and abroad at major comedy festivals including the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the Berlin International Comedy Festival. His comedy productions such as Learner Husband, Techni-Coloured and Moneys too Tight To Mention have sold out at venues around South Africa. Rated one of South Africas comedic heavyweights, Rasdien is also a seasoned television actor and also a star of several local films. His characteristic style of understating the social, political, moral and ethical questions facing everyone today in his effortless way has made him a favourite amongst comedy fans. Forged in the fire of the global comedy circuit from London to Hong Kong, Hilton is a versatile and dynamic comedy icon. For more than 30 years, he has become known as a gentleman comic and a master craftsman with flawless timing, an unpredictable hairline and a gaze that doesnt miss a thing. For over 17 years, multi talented comedian, Lediga has entertained audiences in the live space, on the small screen, on the big screen and from behind the scenes as a producer. During his career, he has graced the stages of major comedy events in South Africa including the prestigious Cape Town International Comedy Festival where he won the Peoples Choice Award in the company of acclaimed comedians from all over the world. Gola, the host of the twice Emmy nominated Late Nite News with Loyiso Gola (LNN), has been enthralling live and television audiences with his brand of refreshingly frank and outspoken comedy for over a decade. From performing with the Cape Comedy Collective, he has evolved into a comedy phenomenon performing all over the country as well as appearing on television, radio and the big screen. Tickets are on sale at Computicket and range in price from R170 to R300 per person. People working a 9-5 job often forget to eat healthily - they opt for the closest takeaway restaurant or make do with what's available at the office, which is often not the healthiest option, especially if the office isn't health conscious. FOODwelove , founded by Christina Thomas and Stephanie Schwatlo, aims to change all that, offering desk jockeys the option to have a healthy and wholesome lunch delivered in a cleverly designed box, straight to their desk. We spoke to co-founder Schwatlo and asked her to tell us what it's all about. Christina Thomas and Stephanie Schwatlo Tell us about FOODwelove and how it all started. Stephanie Schwatlo: We started FOODwelove as a Deli at the Palms Centre in Woodstock in December 2015. The idea for our healthy office lunches delivered directly to your desk was born last year February and we started with our first clients in March 2016. Besides coming from a healthy background ourselves, I guess Christina, my business partner and I saw the need to provide a lunch service which is not only convenient but also affordable and most importantly offers healthy options. People always get a bit nervous when they hear healthy. They think lettuce and cucumbers topped with tomatoes but our dishes are so much more. We are offering four to six different meals every day, the main meals for R69 and the light lunch for R45. These meals are changing every day and every week - at FOODwelove we are constantly changing our menu according to seasons, what our local suppliers are offering, preferences of our customers and of course the latest health trends. Our signature dish, the Healthy Lunch Box, is a composition of carefully selected grains, veggies, and protein. This is also available as a Low Carb option which is naturally gluten free, and a vegetarian option. For example, the Rainbow Buddha Box comes with roasted butternut, crunchy cabbage, grilled broccoli and yellow pepper, served on steamed buckwheat and topped with pan fried chicken and avocado dressing. For a more comforting and feel good meal, we offer a Comfort Classic lunch. This is a hearty and home-cooked dish with a healthy twist. Additionally, we have a vegan and a light lunch choice. What inspired you to start FOODwelove? Schwatlo: Our main aim at FOODwelove is to transform the way offices eat. We want to engage with the companies directly so they see the value in having happy and healthy staff. If they want to subsidise, pay in full or simply promote our service to their employees, either way, it is in the companys interest to offer healthy and nutritious meals to boost not only the productivity and performance but also happiness and inter-office connection. What makes FOODwelove special what differentiates it from other food delivery solutions? Schwatlo: FOODwelove is constantly creating a wide range of affordable meals that are not only delicious but also balanced, healthy and free from preservatives, artificial additives, and refined sugar. We produce every meal fresh from scratch every morning, supported by our local suppliers. Basically we cater for everyone who is in need of a healthy, nutritious lunch which keeps you going through your work day without any regrets. And lets not to forget: Convenience is key! So, no excuses to eat junk or simply forget to eat because you dont have time the lunch is delivered directly to your desk! The food industry is a very competitive industry, but we at FOODwelove believe in what we do and how we do it. Not only do we offer consistent quality, constantly changing and exciting menus but also deliver an extraordinary service. Our clients are king and we are very passionate about to keep them happy and well fed Hence our slogan - FOODwelove, nice to feed you. Where do you get your produce? Schwatlo: We are sourcing all our ingredients from local suppliers, starting from butcheries to vegetables and fruits. Everything is local because we believe "local is lekker." Tell us about the design of the food boxes Schwatlo: We are trying to use as much biodegradable packaging as possible for our delivery service. Based on the newest trends, we are constantly looking for new suppliers who offer a range of containers which are suitable for our meals.The environment is important to us. The personal touch comes from us directly, with a FOODwelove sticker and your name handwritten on it. Sometimes even a personal message, if it is your Birthday or Christmas or the like. How do you decide what goes into each box? Schwatlo: Every box is filled manually in the morning with the meal chosen by the customer for that day. The recipes for those meals are created, changed, enhanced and developed by Christina herself who is a professional chef. Christina owned a restaurant and catering service in Germany before moving to South Africa and has a lot of experience when it comes down to creating a healthy composition of ingredients which will eventually form one of our lunches. FOODwelove deli Inspirations, trends, etc. you can get everywhere - local, worldwide, you name it. We normally cook dishes and testing them before allowing them on our menu to guarantee the 100% quality we promise our clients. What would you like to achieve with FOODwelove? Schwatlo: We would like to change how offices and perhaps even homes, eat. We want to show people that eating healthily can be also fun, exciting and easy. Some people never really have the opportunity to be exposed to healthy food. By encouraging companies to subsidise lunches or contributing towards them and including our service to their employee benefits, they are making healthy eating available to every staff member. People get inspired by the fresh, healthy food and hopefully take ideas to their families at home and start to eat more healthily even in their private time. Obesity and diabetes are major problems here in South Africa and if you are looking around what the majority of people eat, it is not surprising. Companies can make a change by simply offering healthy lunches to their staff, making it available to everyone and start the change and education of how important it is to eat the right things. Not only will people feel better, more energised, and happier, they will see all the health benefits too. Cape Town Air Access, based at Wesgro, has announced the launch of a new direct flight to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe which will be operated Kenya Airways and will launch on 18 May 2017, providing weekly flights with the airline's Embraer E190. TAAG Angola Airlines' existing service to Luanda, Angola will also expand to a daily service on 30 October 2017. paulbr75 via pixabay The team is celebrating a significant expansion of connectivity to the rest of Africa because these flights come on the back of recent announcements by Airlink of an expansion of their service to Maun, Botswana from five to seven times per week, and their service to Windhoek, Namibia from two to three times per week. Wesgro CEO Tim Harris said, The increase in connectivity to the rest of Africa helps to strengthen trade, investment and tourism ties to key partners on the continent. We have seen increased demand for Cape Town and had to increase our frequency in December. The route via Victoria Falls offers our guests two leisure holiday options, added Kenya Airways MD and CEO Mbuvi Ngunze. The addition of this new route is excellent news for improving access for strategic markets to travel to our destination. In the Western Cape, we have prioritised tourism through our Project Khulisa growth strategy. It is our goal to add up to 120,000 additional jobs to the Cape's tourism sector, and we believe that Cape Town Air Access has a crucial role to play in helping us reach this goal, concluded Western Cape Minster of Economic Opportunities Alan Winde. Cape Town Air Access is a Wesgro-led collaboration between the Western Cape Government, the City of Cape Town, the Airports Company of South Africa and Cape Town Tourism to improve air connectivity in the Cape. In a city such as London, commuters who travel for an hour to get to work pass 2.5 million jobs on the way, some of which would match their skills - so those who lose a job have much opportunity to find another. Nairobi, Kenya. Image by 123RF In an African city such as Nairobi, most of those commuting for an hour would be walking to work, in which case they would pass only 10% of the city's jobs, while those lucky enough to be riding one of the city's taxis would pass only 20% of its jobs. The contrast reflects how fragmented and disconnected Africa's cities are, according to a study by the World Bank of the concentration of jobs and housing across 64 cities on the continent, including in SA. The study finds that while African cities are crowded with people, they are not dense with investment, said World Bank lead economist Somik Lall. Because they are disconnected, they are costly. The bank's economists found Africa's cities are among the costliest in the world for businesses and households. African cities are 29% more expensive than cities in countries with similar income levels. African households face costs relative to their per capita GDP that are 55% higher than in other regions, with city dwellers paying about 35% more for food in Africa than in other low-income and middle income countries and forced to pay high commuting costs - if public transport is available. That tends to make African cities relatively uncompetitive and less attractive to foreign investors than cities in Southeast Asia, for example. The bank urges better urban planning and land use, as well as higher and more efficient investment in the infrastructure of cities. The study ties in with concerns that SA's cities have a spatial architecture going back to apartheid that raises the cost of living for working people. This increases what economists call the "social wage" that people need to be paid if they are to get out of poverty and that makes cities uncompetitive. Lall said one of the most striking things about SA was how much progress it had made in overcoming the geography of the apartheid state, with much more integration of where people live than under apartheid. However, SA's urban development had remained fragmented and the bank is collaborating with the Treasury on a detailed three-year review of urbanisation. "We want to help South African policy makers rethink the urban spatial economy, as part of the intergovernmental drive to ensure that cities can be an engine for economic growth in SA," Lall said. The study noted that Africa was urbanising at income levels much lower than those of many other developing countries, so that there were fewer resources available for public investment - East Asian countries could invest 40% of GDP in infrastructure while in Africa the ratio is only about 20%. This meant African cities had to use every dollar of investment in infrastructure more efficiently, Lall said. Source: Business Day. Africa Travel Week will be held in Cape Town from 19-23 April 2017. Three travel industry events all held at the Cape Town International Conference Centre, will take place over the course of an action-packed week including WTM Africa, ibtm africa, and ILTM Africa. Focusing on the meetings industry in Africa, ibtm africa has announced a collaboration with both the Southern African Association for the Conference Industry (SAACI), as well as Meetings magazine. The latter will aim to provide better quality information on the industry and how to improve business dealing within it, while a new Career Progression Programme will aim to better skill those working in the meetings sector. Both partnerships strive to enhance awareness around ibtm africa as an educational programme, but also further collaboration between industry bodies to facilitate growth within the meetings industry within, and outside of, the African continent. Luxury travel exhibition, ILTM Africa has confirmed it will host up to 100 of the finest luxury travel brands from the continent in pre-scheduled meetings with international agents. Buyers confirmed include US based Brownell Travel, Silktravel from the Netherlands and Brazilian luxury specialists PHD Travel. With around 90% of buyers new to ILTM Africa, and a third completely new to the ILTM Portfolio, it promises to be an event of great new business connections and opportunities. To register, visitwww.africatravelweek.com. Subscribe to daily business and company news across 19 industries SUBSCRIBE Urban Brew Studios, a division of Kagiso Media and one of the largest production studios in South Africa, will be opening up shop at the Brightwater Commons Shopping Centre in Randburg, Johannesburg. The Moolman Group has been tasked with turning 10,000 square metres of the shopping complex into an ideal and modern space for the production house, which will boast office space for over 300 staff member, 12 television studios, audio post-production and compilation facilities, as well as a business centre and meeting rooms. Urban Brew Studios will take up their new office space between September 2017 and February 2018. This is the first examination of a prosecution witness in this case on February 16 at the trial of Yebaw Min Htay from ABSDF, a group which is a signatory of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA). ABSDF Central Executive Committee Member Sali Yaw Aung said: A prosecution witness was examined by asking him the process of arresting him on that day. A car carrying Yebaw Min Htay was stopped at the Seinlon checkpoint and they found him in the car. During a search, badges of the ABSDF were found in his possession. Then the Military Affairs Security (MAS) was immediately informed and MAS took over this case. He added that the prosecution witness testified at the trial court that 150 badges of the ABSDF 10th Battalion, 150 badges of 11th Battalion, 70 badges of ABSDF (Northern Region), 370 badges of ABSDF and a Huawei mobile phone were found in the possession of the accused on that day. Salai Yaw Aung said that these badges were issued by ABSDF HQ to battalions and units. He added that when they met with State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing on January 23, they were told by the two leaders to take legal course in this case so that it would take time for the release of Yebaw Min Htay. We must defend this case as the law takes its legal course. I think it will take a long time and we must be patient. Finally the judgment will be pronounced. We cannot say yet at the moment what is right or wrong in this case, he went on. Captain Thet Swe Lwin from the Bhamo-based Military Operations Command 21 indicted Yebaw Min Htay in this case as prosecutor and they submitted 10 prosecution witnesses to the court, it has been learnt. February 16 was the third hearing in this case and Yebaw Min Htays health was found in good shape on that day. The court has reportedly fixed March 1 for the next hearing. Yebaw Min Htay was arrested on December 28, 2106 at Seinlon checkpoint on Bhamo-Lwejie highway and his case was registered under Section 17(1) of the Unlawful Associations Act for his alleged illegal contact and working for the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO). The New Mon State Party (NMSP) and members of the Tatmadaws Southeast Regional Command gathered on February 16 in Mon States capital Mawlamyine. At the meeting, we agreed to resolve whatever is not yet resolved between the two sides as soon as possible. Based on the current situation, we will meet again, said Nai Win Hla, Chief of the NMSP Home Affairs Department. The issue relates to the NMSP, a non-signatory to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement, holding an armed parade at the 70th anniversary of Mon National Day at an event near the Three Pagodas Pass on the Thai-Myanmar border despite objections voiced by the Mon State Minister of Security and Border Affairs. Two days after the NMSPs armed parade on February 12, Tatmadaw troops reportedly seized the NMSPs two toll checkpoints along the Three Pagodas Pass highway. The Tatmadaw also informed the NMSPs office in Three Pagodas Pass that the NMSPs gate in Japan Well Village would also be seized. On the same day, Tatmadaw troops and police officers reportedly conducted a search of the NMSPs liaison office in Ye township, without advanced notice. On February 16, in addition to the Tatmadaw and the NMSP Mawlamyine meeting, several representatives of both sides also met in Three Pagodas Pass. The battalion commander of the Tatmadaws Light Infantry Battalion Number 284, NMSP officials based in Three Pagodas Pass, officials from the Mon Literature and Culture Association and local residents attended the discussion. At the meeting, after the battalion commander gave his opening speech, he suggested that we talk. I explained to the NMSPs officials that he warned against any clashes erupting, and said that the Tatmadaw wants the NMSP to sign the NCA and to join the [21st-Century] Panglong Conference. He added that what he discussed also represents what the state counsellor would like us [the NMSP] to do, said Banyar Aung Moe, a former Amyotha Hluttaw representative and a resident of the Three Pagodas Pass area. Banyar Aung Moe added that at the meeting, the battalion commander mainly wanted to discuss the NMSPs inking of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement and joining the Union peace conference, rather than focusing on the current tensions between the Tatmadaw and the NMSP. The Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee has said that it will invite the United Nationalities Federation Council an alliance of ethnic armed groups as special guests to the second 21st-Century Panglong Conference, which has been delayed from the end of this month until March. However, the NMSP, which is a member of the UNFC, stated at its recent 70th anniversary Mon National Day event that it will not participate in the peace conference unless it is allowed to present a paper and be involved in discussions at the conference. Translated by Aong Jaeneh Edited by Laignee Barron With invitations extended to state-level CSOs from across the country, the forum is scheduled to be held in Taunggyi from 21- 23 February, ahead of a national-level conference in Naypyidaw on 24- 25 February. According to Min Aung Htoo, an executive member of the CSOs Forum, the agenda at the national forum in Naypyidaw will include three topics: federal economics and finance; the resettlement of internally displaced persons (IDPs); and environmental policies and natural disaster management. Min Aung Htoo said that the meeting will bring together members of CSOs from different states who are each working to build peace in Burma. CSOs will be represented at the upcoming peace talks, said Min Aung Htoo, referring to the next round of the Union Peace Conference, also known as the 21st Century Panglong Conference (21CPC), which is slated to kick off in Naypyidaw in mid-March. Therefore, in order to for us to speak with one voice on behalf of the general public, we need to prepare. The CSOs sent a joint-letter to the Burmese government after the first round of the 21CPC, requesting permission to send a greater number of CSO representatives to the peace talks. However, they say, to date they have not had a response. The peace talks are based on the framework of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), which limits representation of CSOs. We wish to be legitimate representatives at the national-level peace talks, said Su Su Shwe, a CSO representative from Tanintharyi region. At national-level negotiations, there are four sectors in play: the parliament and government; political parties; Tatmadaw [Burmese military]; and ethnic armed groups. So, the question is: why not give CSOs fair representation? According to Win Htay Kaung Myat, a representative of the CSOs Forum in southern Shan State, 49 CSO representatives will attend the next round of talks in Taunggyi, plus an additional 24 female delegates who are due to debate womens issues. At the 21CPC conference, we are not permitted to directly discuss issues such as cultural heritage, he said. There are so many limitations on us. Therefore, we will have to wait and see how much dialogue we can introduce and how the UPDJC will react. The UPDJC, or Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee, oversees the agendas for the peace talks, and is headed by State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi. By Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN) My main argument is that without necessary basic factors being fulfilled, holding the second Union Peace Conference 21st Century Panglong (UPC-21CP) a compromised term worked out between the NLD and the Military bloc comprising of the Tatmadaw and Union Solidarity Development Party (USDP) under the NLD regime, wont be able to achieve its objective of national reconciliation and political settlement as anticipated. The first Union Peace Conference (UPC) from January 12 to 16 of 2016 was conducted during the ex-President Thein Sein; the Union Peace Conference 21st Century Panglong (UPC-21CP) from August 31 to September 3, under the NLD headed government; and the forthcoming second UPC-21CP is geared to take off on February 28. The issues or problem areas we touched upon were the timing of conducting the forthcoming conference; the assessment of first conference held under NLD regime; the controversial situation created by the Union Peace and Dialogue Joint Committees (UPDJC) decision on not to hold national-level political dialogue in Arakan and Chin States (latest BBC news of February 14 said Chin State would be allowed to conduct the meeting); Daw Aung San Suu Kyis urging on making binding major decisions during the upcoming conference; all-inclusiveness debacles; Daw Aung San Suu Kyis often promoted notion of ask not what your country can do for you ask what you can do for your country; reformation of the Tatmadaw into a federal army; creation of a Bamar State; new national states, nationalities states, national areas; and problematic of trust-building between adversaries or negotiation partners. As the interview, or better the discussion, which lasted some thirteen minutes was in Burmese, I thought I should also made it known in English for international consumption, as the issues discussed here are crucial for a wider debate or brainstorming, which might possibly pave the way for a better conceptual thinking for all actors, stakeholders and opinion-makers to be able to conduct this delicate peace process in a fair and justified manner, if possible without much bias, in Burma or Myanmar. True, there would be disagreement on the way I have approached various woes and issues surrounding the country. But my main aim is to be able to open the debate by pinpointing crucial issues in an objective manner and in order to do this, wider discussion possibilities among stakeholders and the general public might be the way to go. And as such, I sincerely hope that some key words mentioned here in the discussion or interview might serve the purpose. Thus, the translated version of the VOA aired discussion between U Kyaw Zan Tha and Sai Wansai, titled, The Prospect of 21st Century Second Panglong Convention, on February 9, is presented here as follows: This week Burmas current affairs discussion would focus on how much the 21st Century Panglong second conference, that is to be held at the end of February, would be able to resolve the ethnic problems. The situation was discussed and analyzed by Sai Wansai, political commentator on Burmas ethnic affairs and U Kyaw Zan Tha. Sai Wansai started with the criticism for calling the convention without fulfilling the basic needed factors. Sai Wansai: I am beginning to suspect if Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is blindly going ahead without looking back and forth (of the existing situation). U Kyaw Zan Tha: You believe that the timing is not ripe to conduct the meeting. Sai Wansai, what has been achieved during last convention (UPC-21CP) and how much positive helpful outcomes to resolve ethnic problematic were being achieved? How would you assess the first conference (under the NLD government)? Sai Wansai: The first meeting invited by convener were termed as meeting participants and not representatives, as there were problems in defining as such. All Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs) were invited and nearly all came. The plus point is that all could made known their complete feelings, desires and aspirations. Because of this, we were in the situation to know who wanted what in detailed manner. Therefore, I see it as a plus point. But it didnt seem like having the nature of consensus and just became a forum reading position papers, which was the weak point. No agreement was achieved, no discussion took place and no future guidelines were able to be mapped out. U Kyaw Zan Tha: But at that time, it was said that national-level political discussion would be made, followed by third conference (second 21st Century Panglong under the NLD government). Right? Sai Wansai: Correct. U Kyaw Zan Tha: As it is, national-level political discussion, according to the situation, just in three places. Now the inability to hold such meetings have even prompted the Chin National Front (CNF) to say something like that it is reconsidering to attend the meeting. So how important is that meeting for not being able to hold such national-level political discussions? Sai Wansai: I believe that it is one of the very important chapter. Because those who are in politics or political elite are just speculating and saying on that the people might either want this or that, but (the best would be) national-level political dialogue must be made known to the public and as well also conducting it. I see it is as a very appropriate and good undertaking. By not conducting it in front of the masses, like U Kyaw Zan Tha said it was able to pull through only in three places. Arakan State was not able to do it. Chin State was not able to do it. I think, calling (holding) second Panglong under such circumstances wouldnt be able to gather facts or enough inputs from the people and would be like jumping a step, which Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and political leaders have hoped for. That is why holding second Panglong stubbornly and coercively wont be conducive (to the peace process). U Kyaw Zan Tha: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi likes to make a move to be able to make exact, decisive decisions in the second conference. Would it be possible? Sai Wansai: Daw Aung San Suu Kyis intention is good. But if asked whether this is possible, I would say the chances are quite slim. Why the chances are slim is because all-inclusiveness still cannot be realized. Another thing is the ongoing wars cannot be stopped. Other than that, the Tatmadaws planned implementation with the aim and intention to swing the non-NCA-signatory organizations either to surrender or give in to its demand. So because of the inability to carry out all-inclusiveness and to conduct national-level political discussion all over the country, I think we dont have enough facts or inputs. And if Daw Aung San Suu Kyi would draw decisive conclusion from such given condition, I dont think it couldnt be correct and comprehensive decision-making. U Kyaw Zan Tha: When you said that there is no all-inclusiveness, one leader from UPDJC said that non-NCA-signatory ethnic groups would be invited. Sai Wansai: Yes, I have heard about it. But at the same time, Hkun Okker from UPDJC who is also the PNLO leader said that they wont be invited. Even if they are really invited, the UNFC has clearly said that it wont attend if given just observer status. So it seems like that the government side is just inviting to look good and to strike a posture that nobody has been left behind. U Kyaw Zan Tha: I think, another thing, which Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said is worth pondering. People who would be attending the conference should not only ask but mainly should give priority to ask themselves of what they could give. Couldnt we say that it is correct? Sai Wansai: I would say this thinking and advocacy are justified. Although it is correct, one point of consideration also comes to mind. About four, five, six months ago, a Karenni leader Khu Oo Reh said that we didnt have anything to give. Our land and rivers have dried and our people have fled. We didnt have anything more to give. At this moment, regarding conflict which is going on between powerful (Tatmadaw) and weaker (less powerful) ethnic resistance forces, I think the Tatmadaw is in a position that could give more, by having the desire to end the war. If this is done, all other related problems could become a lot easier to resolve. Therefore, among all the forces, the most that could give is the Tatmadaw; the second is the government; and the ethnic are the forces that could just give very little. U Kyaw Zan Tha: But regarding the demands, for example could the ethnic desire for federal army (formation) be implemented? Another point is whether the the demand for seven states configuration like after the early stage of independence period be immediately realizable? Couldnt we consider that the demands would be like asking too much than needed? Sai Wansai: We could consider. You said two points. One is the federal army and the other ethnic-based union. The federal army formation is a justified demand and it is not the thing that is impossible to achieve. If one looks at other countries, the Security Sector Reform (SSR) which is the reformation of the military forces could take decades. So basically, we need to accept the change of the lop-sided nature of the Tatmadaw, which is dominated by the ethnic Bamar. This is one part. The demand is justified but it would take time. At the same time, the Military would need to make flexible adjustment of give-and-take (for eventual reformation into a federal army). Another point is the demand for new national state, which have two parts. One is carving out new national states from the existing national states and the other, creation of national area or self-rule (for sub-ethnic groups or minorities within a dominant ethnic state). This is another category. The two demands are not wrong. They are correct. But in order to do this all stakeholders would have to sit down together and draw up standard, like pondering on this is doable and this not, to agree on a criteria and only after this it could proceed step by step. So the demands are justified but time is needed. Regarding the formation of a Bamar State (the majority ethnic group in Burma without its own ethnic state but diversified into seven Division or Regions now), it is not an issue which could not be negotiated. We could work on it. Places where the majority Bamar ethnic group reside could be lump together to create a state if it is desirable. After such undertaking, Divisions or Regions with mixed ethnicity could form nationalities states, if the people residing there like to form them. All these could be done by sitting down together through negotiation, but would have to give time. U Kyaw Zan Tha: So it is now questionable if there is such trust on each other to be able to sit down and negotiate? Sai Wansai: We still cannot overcome the first hurdle of trust-building among each other. Why we couldnt overcome this is due to the fact that the people who are sitting around the discussion circle still need to accept the idea that they are equal. To be straight-forward, the Tatmadaw administrative class considered itself as being above all the negotiation participants. Because of such consideration, it cannot accept other participants as equal fellow negotiation partners, leading to the inability even to start the trust-building process. As the first point, the Tatmadaw must accept that it is equal with the others and the meeting and negotiation conference is being held in unity together, with commonly drawn agendas. If this could be done practically, really believing in it, trust-building is not an impossible thing that we cannot achieve. U Kyaw Zan Tha: Some might even say most of what we have discussed concerning the second Panglong Conference seems to be only talking about impossible situations, with negative outlook and pessimism. But whatever it is, in my mind I pray that may this convention be able to overcome all the difficulties and be successful. Sai Wansai: I also like to wish like you that this convention be able to serve as a grain of sand or a block of brick that would help in the trust-building process. The conflict in Syria is of exceptional violence and intensity [1], giving rise to one of the largest movements of refugees and internally displaced people in the Middle East since the Second World War. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that nearly five million Syrians have fled their country since the beginning of the crisis, in addition to millions of internally displaced people. Jordan is one of the leading host countries, with more than 630,000 refugees registered with UNHCR. Since gaining independence in 1946, the country has seen hundreds of thousands of refugees settle on its soil. The arrival of the Syrians, although unusual in its scale, is therefore in keeping with the conflicts that have shaken the Middle East in recent decades, bringing hundreds of thousands of refugees in their wake, from the forced exile of the Palestinians following the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 to that of the Iraqis since the 1990s. While the majority of Syrian refugees are still living in neighbouring countries, several hundred thousand of them have no choice but to continue their journey to Europe. Entire sectors of Syrian society are being re-established in exile, and the question of their place in their respective host countries is now being raised, as is the question of whether or not they should continue their journey to third countries, either towards the European Union or North America. The main victims of the Syrian conflict are still Syrian civilians who are continuing to flee the fighting in a context that is increasingly marked by violence and restrictions on mobility, both within Syrias borders and towards neighbouring countries and Europe. Difficult living conditions in countries bordering Syria are driving many people to risk their own lives in an effort to reach more distant countries. However, it is primarily the increasing complexity of the conflict in Syria and the lack of prospects of return that are motivating these new departures. The refugee crisis in Europe [2] has tended to overshadow the reality experienced by the majority of these refugees, which consists of long-term exile in Syrias neighbouring countries. At the beginning of the uprising those countries opened their borders, but as the conflict dragged on the Lebanese, Jordanian and Turkish governments gradually imposed restrictions on the entry of new refugees to their territories. According to UNHCR, Jordan now has 87 refugees for every 1000 inhabitants, excluding Palestinian refugees who settled there after 1948 and make up almost half the population of the Hashemite Kingdom. For example, Sweden whose asylum policy is one of the most generous in the European Union has just 15 refugees per 1000 inhabitants. The Middle East, a space of transit and settlement Syrian migration as it currently stands is thus producing profound changes in the Middle East migration system and determining the migration policies that are taking shape across European. The European Unions desire to outsource asylum applications to third countries is placing the eastern and southern shores of the Mediterranean at the forefront and forcing them to adopt increasingly restrictive migratory policies. The agreement between Turkey and the European Union signed in March 2016 seeks to stabilise Syrian refugees outside Europe but overlooks the overall issue of refugees at regional level. It aims to limit new arrivals, while the causes of peoples departure are not properly taken into account, both for those who continue to leave Syria and those abandoning their initial country of reception. An understanding of the long-term nature of the Syrian crisis must be accompanied by a reflection on the multiplicity of factors that are now compelling an increasing number of refugees to try to exile themselves ever further away. The permanence of the conflict, violence and destruction is always the most decisive factor. At the same time, the length of their exile in neighbouring countries is leading to the increasing impoverishment of the most disadvantaged refugees who have limited access to the legal employment market. Syrians are therefore usually confined to the informal sector, enduring low pay and high exposure to competition from other migrant groups. The precariousness of their legal status is also a source of instability. It is the combination of all these factors that explains why they continue their journey to Europe. In Jordan, the situation for refugees attempting to flee to Europe is somewhat complex given that the country does not have a land or maritime border with any European country. The journeys are long, complex and costly via Syria then Turkey, or through Egypt and North Africa. This is helping to stabilise the population in the Hashemite Kingdom. Mass exodus of refugees since the start of the crisis UNHCR has now registered more than 4.7 million Syrian refugees, making it the largest refugee population, ahead of Afghans, Rwandans and Iraqis. Only Palestinians with more than 5 million refugees registered by UNRWA [3] whose exile stretches back to 1948 and includes their descendants outnumber Syrians. As well as refugees who have crossed an international border, more than 7 million internally displaced people have repeatedly been forced to flee fighting, precariousness and destruction. [4] Beyond the data and the debates it often sparks in host countries, [5] it is the meaning of this exodus that must be understood. The scale of the exodus and its long-term nature have reshaped every level of Syrian society. Exile is by no means confined to any particular categories of population, such as active opponents to Bashar Al Assads regime. Whole sections of Syrian society have found themselves forced to leave their country following the mass destruction and continuing insecurity. The multiplication of actors in the conflict is resulting in the growing fragmentation of Syrian territory. The majority of refugees initially try to seek refuge inside Syria, but this is becoming ever more complex as the violence is so widespread. The number of internally displaced people concentrated in the safest areas is rising, making access to housing and basic services more difficult in many Syrian cities. In this case, the only option is to leave Syria to seek asylum elsewhere. The long-term nature of the conflict causes refugees to seek more sustainable settlements where they can try to rebuild a more stable life. Jordan: coping with the arrival of Syrian refugees If European countries are finding it difficult to cope with the arrival of several hundred thousand refugees, then what about Syrias border countries, which receive the overwhelming majority of refugees? In the very composition of its population, Jordan embodies all the conflicts in the region. As a country of refuge for Palestinians, Iraqis and now Syrians, Jordanian society is now strongly characterised by the presence of forced migrants. Paradoxically, Jordan has welcomed refugees from across the region ever since its independence, yet does not have its own national asylum system. Jordan, like other Middle Eastern countries, is not a signatory to the 1951 Geneva Convention on Refugees (Zaiotti, 2006). [6] Only Palestinians are recognised as refugees by the authorities in the state where they habitually reside, and when registered with UNRWA. In the absence of any specific legislation to guarantee the registration and protection of refugees, UNHCR establishes asylum procedures and collaborates with the authorities of the countries involved through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding that clarifies UNHCRs mandate (Kagan, 2011: 9). These agreements are usually signed in specific contexts in response to particular crises, such as the post-2003 Iraq crisis, and are difficult to apply in new situations. Syrian refugees thus find themselves in a rather precarious legal situation. They must register with UNHCR in order to obtain refugee status while simultaneously fulfilling the conditions of residence as defined by their host state, which regards them as temporary migrants. In Jordan, the Residence and Border Administration of the Ministry of the Interior issues Syrians with a special service card for the Syrian community, which is valid for one year and may be renewed. The lack of a specific legal status for refugees places them in a temporary situation that conflicts with the de facto prolongation of their exile. While refugee status in the industrialised countries that are signatories to the Geneva Convention provides long-term protection (a permanent residence permit and access to nationality), it only gives temporary protection in Jordan. It is similar to the forms of subsidiary protection that have been developed in Europe in recent years. This temporary status makes it difficult for Syrian refugees to make any medium- or long-term plans, knowing that they have little guarantee that their status will be renewed. This particular status imposes restrictions on them with regard to the location in which they reside in Jordan. Refugees who want to settle outside the three camps that have been open since mid-2012 must have a Jordanian guarantor (kafil) who qualifies them for a residence permit. However, this does not give them access to the labour market. Up to now, Syrians have had to get a paid work permit, as have other immigrant populations residing in the Kingdom. At the beginning of April 2016, UNHCR and the Jordanian government announced new conditions to facilitate Syrian refugees access to the labour market. They are exempt for a period of three months from the costs involved in obtaining a work permit. They are no longer required to have a valid passport because the residence card issued to them by the Jordanian authorities is sufficient. The primary sectors of activity are agriculture, construction and the food industry, where the majority of migrant workers are concentrated. The government also plans to promote the employment of Syrians in skilled industrial areas. Jordan has also announced a three-month suspension of legal proceedings against refugees working without a permit in order to give their employer time to regularise their situation. The geography of Jordan has also been profoundly transformed by the long-term settlement of forced migrants on its soil. Whole neighbourhoods in Amman have built up around the Palestinian refugee camps which are now an integral part of the Jordanian capital. It is in the light of the Palestinian experience that the arrival of new refugee groups is interpreted. Local authorities fear a repeat of this situation which could result in the permanent settlement of a large number of refugees in the Kingdom. The political and social effects of the long-term presence of hundreds of thousands of Syrians are difficult to assess in a context in which Jordan is facing economic difficulties in an unstable regional environment. The role of camps in reception policy The failure to resolve the Palestinian question, resulting in the continued presence of the camps since their creation in the early 1950s, thus strongly determines the current processing of new refugee flows both regionally and within Jordan. The reluctance of authorities in host states to open refugee camps is partly due to their fear that the refugees will settle on their land in the long term, as has been the case with Palestinian refugees. [7] Unlike Lebanon, which takes in a higher number of refugees, Jordan has opened refugee camps in the north of the country in an effort to channel incoming flows. [8] While the three main Syrian refugee camps in Jordan comprise only 20 per cent of the total number of Syrians, most of the refugees have passed through transit camps on the border with Syria. These camps were established along with the gradual closure of the western border between Syria and Jordan. They enable the Jordanian authorities to carry out security checks before allowing the refugees to enter their territory. Waiting times in these camps vary according to refugee profiles. If accepted, they are then sent to one of the three settlements. If they have a Jordanian kafil they can settle elsewhere on the territory. The tightening of policies for entry into Jordan has transformed border posts into de facto camps. In May 2016, nearly 60,000 Syrians were stranded in the two transit camps of Rukban and Hadalat to the east of the Syrian-Jordanian border, in a no-mans land between the two countries. [9] As crossing points to enter Jordan, these spaces have changed from transit camps where refugees initially spent between one and ten days into settlements where their temporary stay lasts several weeks. Despite the intervention of the International Committee of the Red Cross, humanitarian conditions are extremely challenging. In Jordan, Syrian refugees, like other refugee groups in the Middle East, continue to gather in urban areas whenever possible, mostly on the outskirts of urban peripheries. For example, the Azraq camp opened in April 2013 to accommodate up to 130,000 people, when the number of refugees arriving in Jordan was very high. Today it is mostly empty. According to UNHCR, in May 2016 there were 47,000 refugees living in the camp. The majority of Syrian refugees, therefore, settle in urban areas whenever they have the chance, where employment opportunities are better and it is easier to resume a normal life. This issue of urban settlement has been a subject of reflection for some years at UNHCR. In September 2009, the UN agency adopted an Urban Refugee Policy, [10] designed to provide urban refugees with the same kind of protection and assistance as refugees in camps. The experience of Iraqi refugees in the Middle East served in part as a model for the development of UNHCRs priority-setting strategy: refugee registration, protection, assistance, access to services and development of permanent solutions. Syrian refugees in Jordan today benefit from that experience. Refugees who have settled mainly outside the camps In Jordan, the physiognomy of the northern villages and towns was profoundly disrupted by the long-term settlement of refugees. The coexistence between Jordanians and Syrians, although made easier by the historical ties between the Syrian south and the north of the kingdom, is also marked by difficulties common to both populations. Refugees play a relatively important role in urban development, particularly in informal settlements. They also develop specific relationships with host societies, based on the supposedly temporary nature of their settlement. The massive influx of forced migrants into certain areas (such as towns and villages in northern Jordan) brings about significant changes for the host societies at local level. The settlement of refugees sparks a number of debates regarding the pressure placed on the rental market, the overall rise in prices, the loss of safety in certain areas, labour market competition, and so on. In the case of Jordan, the region has not escaped a more global phenomenon that usually stigmatises the large-scale influx of refugees (Hyndman, 2000). In some border areas, such as the north-west of Jordan, the effects of the settlement of a very large number of refugees have in fact had important consequences for local populations, even if it is the poorest and most marginalised populations that are paying the price of increased pressure on the rental market. In some neighbourhoods, rents have risen significantly and are difficult to access for the poorest households, while some services such as schools and medical care have also been affected. According to UNHCR, [11] 145,000 Syrian school children were enrolled in public schools in Jordan in 2015. In municipalities with a high number of Syrians, the schools have had to transition to a system in which classes are held in two shifts. Jordanian pupils usually attend school in the morning and Syrian refugee children in the afternoon. There is also increased competition in certain sectors of the labour market (day workers employed in construction or agriculture). Unemployment rates among Jordanians, for example, rose significantly between 2011 and 2014, increasing from 14% to 22%, with young men particularly affected. [12] However, it is difficult to determine what part the refugees presence has played in this increase. [13] It should also be noted that many of the jobs in question were taken by other migrant groups such as Egyptians, who were affected by the Syrian crisis. Moreover, the presence of refugees has had positive effects for the host country thanks to investments made by Syrian entrepreneurs who have relocated part of their activities to the industrial areas of Jordan. International aid, while it does not cover the full costs of the refugee presence, also helps to develop certain sectors of activity (such as NGOs) and stimulates demand for consumer goods and equipment. For Syrians who were working in Jordan before 2011, the situation has also deeply deteriorated. They have gone from having the status of migrant workers, some of whom had a recognised professional qualification, to being refugees in competition with an increasing number of their co-religionists. They have had to face a significant increase in the standard of living (the cost of renting their accommodation), which has often been accompanied by a drop in their wages. A young Syrian I met in the Zaatari camp in November 2014 had become a refugee in 2011 even though he had been settled for several years in Irbid, in Jordan. He was working as a carpenter for a Jordanian employer and earned 400 dinars a month. He was renting an apartment in Irbid for 100 dinars a month. The arrival of a high number of refugees from 2012 resulted in increased competition on the labour market. In some regions, the presence of a workforce seeking employment, with no other resources to fall back on, has driven down wages. His employer offered to give him permanent work in exchange for a cut in wages. At the same time, his rent rose sharply. No longer able to cope with the rising cost of living combined with a considerable loss of income, he decided to settle in the Zaatari refugee camp where the accommodation was free and where he received humanitarian aid. Although this is merely an example, it illustrates the fact that the effects of the Syrian crisis have been felt among migrant populations already present in Jordan. The Zaatari camp: a symbol of the Syrian presence in Jordan The Zaatari camp opened at the end of July 2012. It now accommodates almost 80,000 people and is the best-known Syrian refugee settlement. The camp is located in a semi-arid area about ten kilometres southeast of the town of Mafraq in northern Jordan, close to the Syrian border. Originally consisting of tents erected side by side, the camp expanded dramatically following the influx of Syrian refugees, with up to 200,000 inhabitants registered by UNHCR in April 2013. This figure decreased as people moved on either to urban areas in Jordan or back to Syria. A real city in which prefabricated structures and a few remaining tents lie side by side, this space encompasses all the paradoxes of the Syrian presence in Jordan. Humanitarian organisations are ubiquitous here, a symbol of the vulnerability of an exiled population deprived of all resources. Unlike Iraqi refugees, who were mostly urban middle-classes who settled in the Jordanian capital, a large proportion of Syrian refugees today are from rural areas and are therefore more vulnerable. At the same time, despite the limitations placed on them by the humanitarian government, the refugees have managed to create a space in which to develop their social and economic life. The camps today are dotted with small businesses and other small-scale activities that generate meagre incomes. The refugees have tried their best to create a semblance of normal life in a context of almost total deprivation and severe constraints. Indeed, Syrian refugees have limited access to the labour market and those who live in the camps must obtain a permit to leave, valid for a fixed period of time. In a landscape without vegetation, a city has emerged out of the dynamism of its inhabitants. As soon as the camp opened, an informal economy developed and then took on a structure throughout the different areas of the camp. At the entrance, a shopping street, the Souk Street referred to as Champs Elysees by the inhabitants of the camp has emerged. It is lined with shops of all kinds: mobile phone shops, groceries, bakeries, small restaurants, hairdressers and so on. Street vendors stroll around the camp selling all kinds of products or sandwiches. Close to many facilities established by NGOs, this shopping street is frequented by a large number of refugees. It has become a central living space symbolizing the economic dynamism of the refugees. In other areas of the camp, small grocery shops and hairdressing salons have sprung up. These businesses provide an income for the refugees who have opened them and serve as places for Syrians to socialise. The camp is by no means a mere waiting area; rather, it has become a place where Syrians are getting on with their lives and rebuilding their society in exile. UNHCR estimates that a total of almost 3000 stalls have opened in the camp. The refugees have partly regrouped by family and village of origin. Prefabricated structures and tents have been reorganised to create living areas which, although precarious, have enabled people to have their own private living space. The camp has therefore changed a great deal in three years. Today, there are almost no tents left, except as an extension to a prefabricated living structure or to cover the inner courtyard of the accommodation. The materials distributed by the humanitarian agencies are reused and transformed by the residents. The camp is not merely a juxtaposition of standardised settlements. Instead, it recreates forms of housing that are fairly similar to those in southern Syria or in the informal neighbourhoods in the outskirts of large Syrian cities. In these living spaces, the room where guests are received (madhafe in Arabic) plays an important role. People from outside the family are seated in this room, where mattresses are arranged on the floor, thus serving as a meeting room for men. The women, meanwhile, gather in the courtyard to cook together, or in adjoining rooms where they talk. The camp therefore fulfils a dual function: that of a closed space where the most disadvantaged refugees are forced to reside in most cases, but also that of a city in the making, which is developing with limited means but trying to recreate a semblance of social and economic life in exile. From one exile to another At the same time, although the current conflict has generated new refugees, it has also forced tens of thousands of others already on Syrian soil to seek refuge in a third country. Before becoming one of the countries with the highest number of refugees, Syria was the primary host country for several hundred thousand Iraqi refugees fleeing the chaos and violence that followed the fall of Saddam Husseins regime in 2003, not to mention the presence on its soil of nearly 500,000 Palestinian refugees. Jordan quickly decided to close its borders to this category of refugees. As Jalal Al Husseini wrote, after a relatively tolerant phase during which some 10,000 Palestinian refugees entered the national territory, Jordan has toughened its reception policy since the end of 2012 on the grounds that it needs to counter the Israeli vision of Jordan as a substitute national homeland for Palestinians. [14] The Syrian conflict, particularly the siege of the Yarmouk Palestinian camp in the outskirts of Damascus from December 2012, recalled the Palestinians precarious situation in their respective host countries. On 31 January 2014, UNRWA disseminated a photograph [15] showing thousands of Palestinians in a street lined with homes destroyed by bombs, converging at a food aid distribution point following weeks under siege by the Syrian army. Whereas the camp had accommodated almost 150,000 Palestinian refugees before 2011, it is estimated that only 18,000 were still living there in 2015. Overall, 280,000 Palestinians (of the 520,000 registered with UNRWA in Syria [16]) have been forced to flee their place of residence, either to safer areas within Syria or else abroad. [17] More than 70,000 of them (that is, 13.5% of the Palestinian population living in Syria registered with UNRWA) have sought refuge in neighbouring countries. Almost 45,000 registered refugees have left Syria for Lebanon, with 15,000 more leaving for Jordan and 9000 for Egypt. This movement has been largely overshadowed by the scale of the Syrian crisis. The Palestinians from Syria have been therefore returned to their status of stateless persons, deprived of protection, dependent on humanitarian aid and forced to seek asylum in one of the neighbouring countries which, with the exception of Lebanon up to 2013, have closed their borders (Al Husseini, Dorai, 2013). More than half have joined the existing Palestinian refugee camps, placing further pressure on those areas marked by poverty and exclusion, which already included some migrants from more distant countries (Dorai, 2015). As for Iraqi refugees who had sought refuge in Syria, mostly in the outskirts of Damascus, they were forced to leave their country of first asylum. Most of them returned to Iraq, despite the continued violence. Others were able to continue their journey to Europe, North America or Australia. According to UNHCR, just over 20,000 are still in Syria unable to leave their host country. These populations, already refugees before the Syrian conflict, are thus restricted to new mobilities in a context in which the countries bordering Syria are reluctant to grant them asylum. Unable to settle, even temporarily in the region, and for some stateless Palestinians who are unable to return to their countries of origin, [18] an increasing number are seeking longer-lasting solutions outside the region. Conclusion While the Middle East has fallen prey to multiple conflicts, Jordan is being forced to cope with the arrival of refugees mostly from Syria but also from Iraq, Yemen, Libya and the Palestinian territories. Today, as the Syrian conflict continues, the question of the future of these refugees remains unresolved. By partially opening up its labour market to Syrian refugees, Jordan has altered its reception policy in favour of better integration of the refugee population in the medium-term. This policy is nonetheless dependent on the receipt of more substantial international aid. The current situation, the result of the multiplication of actors in the Syrian conflict, is marked by a three-fold constraint: first, while Syrias neighbours have mostly opened their borders to refugees, these host states do not intend to tackle the issue of their long-term integration; second, their swift return to Syria is not an option for the majority of refugees; finally, resettlement in Europe, North America or other third countries will be only possible for a very tiny sector of this population. The Most Extensive and Reliable Source of Information Related to the Mexican Drugs Cartels. You will not find this level of coverage anywhere else, join us! WARNING: Posts may contain strong violent material, discretion is advised. COMMENTS: We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. Police are investigating a case of shop breaking and theft involving jewellery worth over P1.2 million, which occurred in Gaborone last week Thursday. According to a Botswana Police press release, unknown culprits allegedly broke into a jewellery shop at the Central Business District (CBD) in Gaborone and stole diamond rings, earrings, bracelets and silver necklaces. Police investigations are continuing and we appeal to the public to help with information that could lead to the arrest of suspect(s). Any information regarding the crime should be communicated to Borakanelo Police at telephone numbers (3901355, 3181810), the statement reads Councillor for Satellite South ward, Godisang Radisego was on Monday sworn in as the deputy mayor of the Francistown City Council(FCC) replacing Lechedzani Modenga. Modenga has been deputy mayor since 2014 following the general elections. Both Radisego and Modenga belong to the ruling Botswana Democratic Party(BDP). Radisegos swearing in came about after the position of deputy mayor was declared vacant following a motion of no confidence on him by Andy Boatile, a BDP Specially Elected Councillor in Francistown. Boatiles motion was seconded by Jenamiso Mojaki, a ruling party councillor for Ipopeng ward. Lesego Kwambala declined nomination leaving Radisego to go unopposed. Curiously, Kwambalas name had been proposed by Biki Mbulawa, seconded by Gaone Majere with Sennye Matsoo supporting. All of them are opposition councillors. The motion, which was not part of the business of the day, was put into the days agenda when more than 2/3(two thirds) of the councillors supported its inclusion as an urgent matter. Presenting his motion, Boatile said that, ever since Modenga became deputy mayor, he has not performed his duties fully a as result of his intermitent absenteism from office due to ill-health. His office has been vacant for too long and he has not been able to help the mayor in her duties due to ill-health. I request that he be relieved of the duties of deputy mayor due to his long absence from council duties, said Boatile whose motion was not countered. Modenga was not available to say whether or not he was aware of his new status as his cellphone rang unanswered. Bridget Mary's Books: https://www.amazon.com/Books-Bridget-Mary-Meehan/s?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3ABrid A Promise of Presence Affirmations from the Heart of God Exploring the Feminine Face of God God Delights in You- A Four Week Journal Heart Talks with Mother God Inclusive Worship Aids Living Gospel Equality Now- Praying with a Passionate Heart Praying with Celtic Holy Women Praying with Visionary Women h Praying with Women of the Bible The Healing Power of Prayer-New Edition Dr. Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP IAF's Sarang helicopter aerobatics team dazzles in the sky during Aero India 2017. A PIB photo BENGALURU (PTI): The biennial Aero India show came to a close on Saturday with the event turning into a carnival during its last two days as lakhs of people thronged the Air Force Station at Yelahanka in Bengaluru to witness the aerial feast. The 11th edition of the five-day event began on Tuesday with Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar making a strong pitch for 'Make in India'. Aero India 2017 turned out to be big sheer in numbers with no mega defence deals on the ground. With reports of Goa being considered for the next Aero Show, and no official word yet on the 'Aero India 2019,' speculations are rife that this will be the last Aero Show to be held in Bengaluru, where aviation industry has flourished over the years. Recently, reports have emerged quoting Parrikar and Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar hinting at the biennial event being shifted to Goa. Lakhs of people turned up on Friday and Saturday when the show was thrown open to the general visitors with the road leading to the air base on city outskirts being choked. According to official sources, nearly five lakh people have visited the event, of them about one lakh were business visitors. Braving the hot weather, people crawled through heavy traffic on the highway headed to the air base, which presented the picture of a sea of humanity, with crowds jostling for vantage places and craning their necks to witness the daredevilry of aerobatic teams from across the globe. Besides, 65 ministerial and other high-level delegates from several countries that attended the event, the exhibition at the show saw participation from 549 companies, out of which 270 were Indian and 279 foreign. A five-member Chinese delegation from the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) attended the show for the first time. The show turned out be a huge attraction for aviation aficionados who thronged the event to witness the static and air display by various aircraft, including fighter, transport, helicopter and aerobatic display teams. Aero India saw participation of about 72 aircraft and witnessed enthralling stunts performed by helicopter display team 'Sarang', and 'Surya Kiran', Russian-made Yakovlevs and SKYCATS - Scandinavian Air Show aerobatics teams. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)-developed Light Utility Helicopter (LUH), Cheetal helicopter, Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), Light Combat Helicopter (LCH), Hindustan Turboprop Trainer-40 (HTT-40), Dornier Do 228 along with indigenously upgraded Hawk Mk132, named as Hawk-i and vintage Tiger Moth aircraft also performed breath taking manoeuvres. Home-grown LCA Tejas along with Sukhoi (Russian), Gripen (Swedish), Rafale (French), F-16 (US), Pilatus (Swiss) aircraft roared the skies with their daredevilry stunts. Embraer 145 Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft equipped with the first ever Active Electronic Scanning Array (AESA) radar, and LUH were displayed for the very first time at the Aero Show. It was a special occasion for Surya Kiran Aerobatics Team (SKAT) as they marked their 500th public display since formation in 1996. SKAT, with a fleet of brand new single engine jet powered advanced Hawk aircraft and redefined manoeuvres, was back after having skipped two editions of the Aero India. The Hawk aircraft are faster and more manoeuvrable than the Kiran aircraft SKAT used earlier. There was also a static display of HTT-40, upgraded Jaguar and Mirage 2000, LCH and LUH at the air show along with few foreign aircraft. Elaborate security and traffic management arrangements were put in place by the city police for the smooth conduct of the event. NEW DELHI (PTI): The Navy has sealed a Rs 200-crore deal with Tata-backed Nova Integrated System Ltd for procurement of over two dozen surveillance radars, said to be first such contract by an armed force under the 'Buy and Make' category. The procurement of surface surveillance radars (SSR) is part of the navy's plan for modernisation of its fleet and these systems will also be installed on board ships under construction. "A contract between Nova Integrated Systems Ltd and Indian Navy for procurement of surface surveillance radars (SSR) has been concluded today (Friday, Feb. 17)," a navy statement said. It said the deal is in line with the government's 'Make in India' initiative. Nova Integrated Systems Ltd is a fully owned subsidiary of Tata Advanced System Ltd and it will indigenously manufacture these radars in collaboration with Terma of Denmark. "This contract marks the entry of Indian private industry in production of hi-tech sensors for Indian Navy," the statement said. It said the government's drive to modernise the armed forces and build an Indian defence industrial base with participation of the private industry has got a major boost with the signing of the contract. Under the deal, over two dozen radars will be procured at a cost of Rs 200 crore. "This is the first contract concluded under the Buy and Make category," it added. WASHINGTON (PTI): A US aircraft carrier strike group has begun patrolling in the disputed South China Sea despite China's warning to America against challenging its sovereignty in the area. The US Navy's Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 1, an operational formation of the United States Navy, began routine operations in the South China Sea on February 18, the Pentagon said. "We are looking forward to demonstrating those capabilities while building upon existing strong relationships with our allies, partners and friends in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region," said Rear Adm James Kilby, commander, CSG 1. Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 1, the naval formation in its current shape established in 2009 includes Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, Destroyer Squadron 1's Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Wayne E Meyer, and aircraft from Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 2. CVW-2 includes the "Black Knights" of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron, the "Blue Hawks" of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron, the "Bounty Hunters" of Strike Fighter Squadron, the "Blue Blasters" of VFA-34, the "Kestrels" of VFA-137, the "Golden Dragons" of VFA-192, the "Black Eagles" of Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron (VAW) 113, the "Gauntlets" of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 136 and the "Providers" of Fleet Logistic Support Squadron. China has a long history of maritime disputes with its South China Sea neighbours. China claims almost all of the South China Sea, including islands more than 800 miles from the Chinese mainland, despite objections from neighbours such as the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam. Beijing has also created artificial islands in the area, outfitting some of them with military features. Friction between the US and China over trade and territory under US President Donald Trump have increased concerns that the South China Sea could become a flashpoint. China's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday warned the US against challenging its sovereignty over reports the US was planning fresh naval patrols in the disputed South China Sea. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said tension in the South China Sea had stabilised due to the hard work between China and Southeast Asia countries, and urged foreign nations including the US to respect this. "We urge the US not to take any actions that challenge China's sovereignty and security," Geng had said. Prior to their operations in the South China Sea, ships and aircraft from within the strike group conducted training off the islands of Hawaii and Guam to maintain and improve their readiness and develop cohesion as a strike group, the statement said. While deployed, the Carl Vinson CSG will remain under US 3rd Fleet command and control, including beyond the international dateline, which previously divided operational areas of responsibility for 3rd and 7th Fleets. Third Fleet operating forward offers additional options to the Pacific Fleet commander by leveraging the capabilities of 3rd and 7th Fleets. "This operational concept allows both numbered fleets to complement one another and provide the foundation of stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region," the Pentagon said. News / Local by Mary Charamba An unnamed police officer who was injured while on duty is allegedly being victimised by his Bulawayo boss and transferred to cover up gross irregularities.According to information from a concerned police officer sent to Bulawayo24.com, the said cop was injured five years ago and was transferred from Bulawayo's Western Commonage Traffic section to Nyamapanda.He was initially transferred to Lusulu but reversed on medical grounds. That angered a Bulawayo Provincial police commander who later instructed the treasury to cut his salary to fix him.It is understood that police commissioner Augustine Chihuri is aware of the matter and at one point ordered an investigation."About five years ago a police officer who was then based in Bulawayo was seriously injured in a road accident while on duty in uniform" said the concerned police officer.He added " The police officer was involved in acrimonious disputes with his bosses after the former accused the traffic cops who were investigating the case of being biased towards the accused person".The injured cop was last year transferred to a station in the rural areas but failed to go since he is nursing serious life threatening injuries, he added."The officers new boss ordered treasury to cut his salary and as a result the injured cop is failing to access medication since he has not been on pay roll for the past six months now. How can the police boss do such a thing to an officer who was injured during the tour of duty? he asked.The concerned police officer told Bulawayo24.com that after being involved in the accident, the traffic cops who investigated the accident were biased towards the accused commuter omnibus driver."The junior cop then approached the Bulawayo Provincial police commander for his intervention. The Provincial commander did not take action and as the result the junior police officer approached Chihuri.Chihuri is said to have dispatched a team from Internal Investigations."The team unearthed serious irregularities and accused the Provincial commander of dereliction of duty. This angered the Provincial commander."From that time onwards, the Provincial commander was not comfortable to see the junior officer in the province. In 2013 the junior officer was transferred to Lusulu. The transfer was reversed after he approached Chihuri citing medical reasons."The police officer said what worries him more is that the junior officer was injured while on national duty and therefore it's the duty of the police to look after his welfare."How can somebody be declared a deserter when he has been in constant touch with his bosses appraising them of his condition? he asked. News / Local by Alice Dube One of the two Air Force helicopters deployed in Sipepa Tsholotsho area at the weekend to rescue at least 60 families marooned by floods is reportedly grounded.According to information gleaned from social media feed, the helicopter is out of fuel.Scores of villagers are waiting to be airlifted to Sipepa Hospital.The Civil Protection Unit Deputy Director Sibusisiwe Ndlovu is quoted saying that they cannot determine the exact number of people who were injured.Sipepa is prone to flooding and yesterday disturbing pictures were posted on social media showing mud houses and a school surrounded by water. Campaigners against plans to build the new National Children's Hospital at St James's Hospital say the cabinet appears to be misinformed on the issue. The Connolly for Kids group has written to the Attorney General and all Ministers to outline their concerns about the Dublin project. A man who sexually assaulted a patient while working as a care assistant at a private hospital in Dublin has lost an appeal against his conviction. Folajimmy Awode (32) of Ballinteer House, Tyrellstown, Dublin had pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to the sexual assault of a female patient at the Mater Private Hospital, Eccles Street in November 2013. He was found guilty by a jury and sentenced to two years imprisonment with the final six months suspended by Judge Patricia Ryan on July 21, 2015. In bringing an appeal against conviction, counsel for Awode, Kevin White BL, submitted that the trial judge erred in her directions to the jury. Mr White said the trial judge failed to advise the jury as to the nature and purpose of complaint evidence and failed to advise the jury on the purpose of that evidence - that it only went to the consistency of the complainant's evidence and not the facts. Furthermore, Mr White submitted that the trial judge failed to adequately put forward the defence's case. Mr White said the defence's case was that she was clearly mistaken and arguably dreaming, that Awode was entitled to be on the ward and the injured party gave evidence that was not necessarily consistent. Counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions, Elva Duffy BL, said the evidence in controversy was used to attack the credibility of the witness on the basis that the complainant may have been dreaming and she may have said that to another witness. Dismissing his appeal today, Mr Justice John Edwards said the evidence that was said to represent complaint evidence was adduced by the prosecution at the urging or behest of the defence. It was done so to facilitate a collateral attack on the complainant's credibility. Mr Justice Edwards said the trial judge was obliged to give the jury particular instructions on complaint evidence. However, while ideally it should have been given, the failure to give such an instruction did not necessarily render the trial unsatisfactory and the conviction unsafe. Mr Justice Edwards, who sat with Mr Justice George Birmingham and Mr Justice Alan Mahon said the court was not disposed to uphold any grounds and the appeal was dismissed. A young woman who was the victim of a shooting last year has spoken out about the vicious abuse she has received since the gunman was jailed. Ciara Sheehan was shot in the neck last year when Gavin Sheehan fired a gun through the window of a house in Cork. He received an eleven-year sentence in court last week. Gavin Sheehan At the time Judge O Donnabhain described Sheehans sending of a Christmas card to Ciara as reprehensible behaviour. Speaking about the incident on this mornings Today with Sean ORourke show , Ciara read a passage from the card: "I hope you dont be upset by this," Sheehan wrote. "I just want to say sorry for what happened to you and I defo have no bitterness between you. Im done with all that stuff. "I wish you and Dylan the best in life and thats from the heart, and the only thing Im concentrated on is getting out and building a life for my daughter. Tell the Cunninghams and all your family Im so sorry. "Try and have a good Christmas. I hope you do so and Im glad you made a full recovery and I wish you the best in your life." Ciara, who was left with a visible scar on her neck, went on to reject the apology, describing it as "blaggarding". "In the Christmas card it says sorry for anything Ive done to you. Hes saying sorry in the card, but whats he saying sorry for if he pleaded not guilty?" Ciara Sheehan in hospital. Ciara has been subjected to online abuse since Sheehan was sentenced, and she and her family have been asking Cork City Council to move them from the area for a number of months. "People close to Gavin had left comments saying shell have more than a bullet wound next time, she should have died when the bullet hit her," Ciara said. "Itd be good for us to get out of here and have a fresh start. "Its left me bad really, to be honest. Constantly upset, paranoid, anxious. Im always getting anxiety attacks. Some nights I cant sleep. I get my bad days, I get really bad days sometimes. I think itd be better for us all really to get out of here and have a fresh start. "There was a lot of abuse [in court]. I was getting looks off some people. Threats. Im going to get you. Ive done nothing wrong. Why am I getting these threats for something he done? They just cant accept the fact that he done it and they dont believe it." Since 20yr old Ciara Sheehan was shot in the neck her family have been subjected to threats. More on @TodaySOR @10 pic.twitter.com/J2DlaLCv26 Brian O'Connell (@oconnellbrian) February 20, 2017 Ciaras mother, Susan, worries about her daughters safety in their home of 20 years since the abusive messages began to appear. "Theyre wishing her dead, that the next time theyl get her," she said. "They said theyre going to basically finish the job. "Weve been here for 20 years. Since this happened it does not feel like our home. "We dont feel safe here anymore." Susans partner, Alan, echoed her concerns. "The threats that came across worried us, the threats to Ciaras life. They were horrible things to be reading," he said. Susan believes the people sending threatening messages are influenced by gangland culture and programmes like Love/Hate. "Its like theyre living in a telly land," she said. "Its like theyre living in that kind of bubble. its like theyre not living in normal reality at all. "They dont realise what theyre after doing to another family. They nearly killed someone. Its a big joke kind of a thing to them. They nearly killed a young girl." Former MEP Patricia McKenna joined with trade unionists and defendants in the upcoming Jobstown 'false imprisonment' trials to launch a public campaign in the run up to the April trials. In October a 17-year-old boy was found guilty of falsely imprisoning Joan Burton and her adviser in November 2014. He was aged 15 when he blocked them from leaving a graduation ceremony in Jobstown in Dublin - by standing in front of two Garda vehicles. Anti-Austerity Alliance TD Paul Murphy and six others are set to stand trial on April 24, with further trials to follow in June and April 2018. In a statement at today's launch at Buswell's hotel, the group said: The spontaneous protest against the then Tanaiste Joan Burton in Jobstown on 15 November 2014 was seized upon by establishment politicians and the Gardai to try to strike back against the anti-water charges movement. Today we are launching a campaign of public information. It will challenge the false narrative that has been put forward about Jobstown and the protest, where many in the political world and in the media have found us guilty before the trial even begins. Convictions are being pursued because the establishment resented that a new mass movement had cut across their attempts to impose water charges. It is an attempt to send a chilling message to all those who would wish to protest in future. The group plan to hold a public rally on April 1 at Liberty Hall, where Paddy Hill of the Birmingham Six will speak. "As someone who is an expert in what being falsely imprisoned is I can say this was not false imprisonment, Mr Hill said. This was a community exerting its democratic right to oppose an unjust policy. A right that we should all be proud to defend." Latest: Simon Coveney has told Fine Gael TDs and Senators to 'back off' the Taoiseach, over the party leadership. Update 6pm: Simon Coveney has told Fine Gael TDs and Senators to 'back off' the Taoiseach, over the party leadership. Speaking at the launch of a local housing scheme in Cork, Minister Coveney said it was imperative that the party trust the Taoiseach to know what is best for the country. As the countdown continues to Wednesday's Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting, Ministers Simon Harris, Richard Bruton and Frances Fitzgerald today refused to rule themselves out as possible contenders. Minister Coveney and Leo Varadkar agreed at the weekend that a new leader should be appointed after the Taoiseach returns from his St Patrick's Day trip to the US. Update 1.20pm: Charlie Flanagan has said his WhatsApp comments about the Health Minister were just "Sunday afternoon banter". Leaked messages from a Fine Gael WhatsApp group showed him saying Simon Harris wanted out of the Department of Health. Charlie Flanagan. Minister Harris replied by saying 'telling funny jokes' is clearly not one of the Minister for Foreign Affairs' better attributes. Charlie Flanagan said he regrets the comments and that Simon Harris is a 'great' Health Minister. It was a joke and should be taken as that. It was jovial Sunday afternoon banter and I regret it has been taken so seriously. Three Ministers have refused to rule themselves out of a potential Fine Gael leadership race. In addition to Harris, Frances Fitzgerald and Richard Bruton have yet to declare their intentions. Tanaiste Fitzgerald has said she wants to wait until after this week's parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday. It's very important that we wait and hear what the Taoiseach has to say and when he has made that clear I will be considering my own position. Lets wait and hear what he has to say on Wednesday evening. He said he is going to speaking to the parliamentary party and hes not making a comment before then. So I think we all look forward with interest to see what he has to say. RTE reports that it is unlikely that Mr Kenny will face a no-confidence motion until after that meeting. Fianna Fail TD Barry Cowen said on Morning Ireland that it was important that Fine Gael resolve their leadership issues as soon as possible. "Fine Gael needs to put a process in place to deal with this issue and convince the public that it won't interfere with Government business thereafter". Update 11.45am: Simon Harris says telling funny jokes is not one of the Minister for Foreign Affairs' best attributes. His remark comes after a leaked WhatsApp message from Charlie Flanagan suggested Harris wants out of the Department of Health over the weekend. Minister Flanagan has since clarified the remark, saying it was tongue-in-cheek. It follows days of speculation over when the Taoiseach intends to stand down as leader of Fine Gael. Speaking to Midlands 103 this morning Minister Harris says he is not going anywhere yet. "Well my colleague Charlie Flanagan has many fine attributes, he's a great colleague of mine, but to make funny jokes on a Sunday afternoon is clearly not one of them. "I'm absolutely honoured to hold this position. People can say what they like about me but I would hope even my harshest critics would acknowledge that I'm doing everything I can in this role and that I'm trying to engage with the role with an energy and enthusiasm that I think is befitting of the role." Earlier 11.15am: Former Fine Gael leader Alan Dukes hopes Enda Kenny will announce his intention to step down as Taoiseach on Wednesday and allow the election of a new Fine Gael leader to begin. "I'd like him to say he will stand down at a given time from the presidency of Fine Gael and that when an election has taken place he will stand down as Taoiseach," he told Today with Sean O'Rourke on RTE Radio 1. "The electoral process in Fine Gael takes some three weeks so a period around that would be appropriate." Dukes would like that process to begin this week. "I think we are at the point now where as I say its inevitable it seems to me that there would be a change in leadership and the only question then is how we handle that with the greatest respect to Enda for whom I feel personally very supportive and very sorry that he is in this position but that it is carried out in such a way that does the least damage to Fine Gael and gives the best starting point to the next leader. "Up to now the process has been extremely untidy." Dukes added that an outgoing Taoiseach could "perhaps be more direct" when visiting the White House in March. Earlier 10.50am: A former leader of Fine Gael is suggesting politicians from all parties take a vow of silence on social media. Alan Dukes has said leaking to the media from party meetings is foolish. "The business of people sitting at parliamentary party meetings tweeting out what's going on is absolutely corrosive. "It makes it very, very difficult, if not impossible, to have a clear, rational debate, and it makes decision-making very, very difficult indeed." Earlier: This week's Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting will discuss the leadership and a series of leaks which emerged at the weekend. WhatsApp messages from within the party appeared to suggest the Health Minister could enter the race, but they prompted Simon Harris to tweet that he has "no intention of engaging in idle speculation". Working as hard as I possibly can in my job as Health Minister. Lots to do! No intention of engaging in idle speculation Simon Harris TD (@SimonHarrisTD) February 19, 2017 Two of the other expected candidates, Simon Coveney and Leo Varadkar, agree Enda Kenny should remain in the position until after his St Patrick's Day trip to the White House. Mr Kenny is expected to make a statement on his position at Wednesday's meeting. Latest: Tesco says there is an onus on Mandate to accept a Labour Court recommendation to end the current industrial dispute. Update 5.40pm: Tesco says there is an onus on Mandate to accept a Labour Court recommendation to end the current industrial dispute. The union made a number of proposals to the company on Friday but has not yet received a response. It says if the retailer does not respond today it will have no option but to ballot for further action. Tesco says the Labour Court - which is the key player in solving industrial disputes - has already found a solution, which needs to be respected. Spokesperson for the company is Christine Heffernan: "The Labour Court has issued a recommendation. "It addresses all the issues that have been raised by our colleagues throughout this process and Tesco has accepted that, so we think that Mandate should reconsider their course of action, they should accept the Labour Court recommendation, and also they should recognise that the strike action they are now taking is unjustified." Update 3.05pm: The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has called on Tesco Ireland to respond positively to proposals aimed at ending the dispute at stores around the country. The union Mandate has said it made a series of proposals to the company on Friday and it is still waiting for a response. Congress has urged the company to consider the proposals seriously and re-enter talks. Mandate General Secretary John Douglas said if the company doesn't respond today it will have no option but to ballot for further action but Tesco has said it is shocked at the suggestion of further ballots. In a statement the company said: Mandate did not put forward a positive proposal rather they wanted to turn the clock back 13 months and unpick all the work done by the WRC and Labour Court. This was rejected by Tesco on Friday as the Labour Court has provided the solution to this issue. We are shocked that Mandate is balloting in more stores this week in an effort to up the ante in this dispute. There is no justification for strike action when there is a Labour Court backed solution to this issue. Earlier: As the Tesco dispute enters another week, the Mandate trade union says it is disappointed the company has not responded to proposals tabled at last week's talks. The union has said it made a genuine effort to achieve a breakthrough in the current dispute between the parties. Mandate General Secretary John Douglas says if the proposals had been accepted, action could have been suspended immediately. We tabled a document on Friday which, had it been agreed by the company at the time, would have allowed the pickets be removed on Friday or anytime over the weekend but they havent even bothered to respond to us. The next stage is it will be escalated. The pickets are very solid, there is fantastic public support. It is unfortunate that we have no option but to escalate it, causing more disruption to the public and more financial hardship to the workers concerned. Tesco Ireland said nearly 45,000 customers shopped in the 16 stores subject to what it called unjustified strike action over the weekend. In a statement it said: We again call on Mandate to accept the Labour Court Recommendation as the solution to this issue. Mandates irresponsible refusal to accept the Labour Court Recommendation remains at the heart of this dispute. We believe the Mandate leadership should endorse the outcome of the State industrial relations process which both Tesco and Mandate jointly agreed to utilise to resolve the changes to the pre-1996 terms and conditions. Update 1pm: Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary has said there is a remote possibility that flights to the UK may be suspended during the Brexit negotiations. Mr O'Leary said if the UK leaves the Open Skies arrangement a new deal will have to be agreed. He says if they leave the current arrangement it could leave passengers temporarily without flights. Then they've got to put in place some bilateral agreement with the European Union and it is going to be very hard to see how a bilateral gets put in place with an 18 month timeframe. So there is a possibility, unlikely but a possibility, that there may be no flights to and from the UK after March 19 for a three or six month period. "That may be one of the things that shocks the British electorate into realising, Oh my God, what have we done here?. Minister for Transport Shane Ross referred to the Government as 'an asylum' during a speech earlier. Addressing the National Civil Aviation Forum the Minister also said he was 'taking over the asylum that is the transport sector'. He singled out comments made by Ryanair's Michael O'Leary during his opening address this morning. One of your members did say at some stage that independents were lunatics who couldnt be trusted with ministerial portfolios. Well, I say to the chief executive of Ryanair you know what lunatics do, they take over asylums and Im very glad today to have taken over this particular asylum. Looking around me, it doesnt seem to be in terribly bad shape. Earlier: Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary has said it will not matter who the leader of Fine Gael is when Brexit negotiations start. The businessman says Ireland will not be listened to regardless of whether it is Enda Kenny or someone else representing the country. "It really doesn't matter whether it's Enda or somebody else in there doing the Irish negotiations, really Ireland are not going to be listened to," O'Leary said. "It's largely going to be driven by the bigger countries - Germany, France, Italy - in a face-off against the British. "We should be much more muscular in defending our own interests." He believes Brexit poses a risk to the aviation industry, and he foresees a return to a hard border with the North. A man has been jailed for five years for killing a man after a wedding in Dublin. Terry Connors of Drumcairn Drive in Tallaght stood trial for Peter Conroys murder but was found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter. His trial heard he stabbed him during a fight at a B&B in Palmerstown in June 2015. At the time he was killed, Peter Conroys partner Elaine lived at the Palmerstown Lodge and he used to stay there occasionally. A number of residents had been at a wedding, and a fight broke out when they returned to the B&B. Terry Connors stabbed Mr. Conroy but claimed he was defending his family. There were angry scenes in court when the sentence was handed down. A man was removed for storming the dock and a woman began screaming abuse at Mr. Connors accusing him of laughing in their faces Mr Conroys mother Marion gave this reaction afterwards. "How can you put a time on a person? Peter will always be with us in spirit, but his two poor children will feel this. "They'll live with the loss, without their daddy, for the rest of their lives. Whereas his kids can see him walking around and visiting him, whereas we will never see our son again." News / Local by Mary Charamba Zimbabwe's national airline Air Zimbabwe is eying a return on the Harare-London lucrative route by May as it targeting to increase revenue to $47 million from $36 million.Chief executive Ripton Muzenda on Monday told a parliamentary committee that it posted $15 million losses in 2016 up from $26 million in 2015."We intend to change the way we are operating and hope to launch long haul flights which will be key in driving revenuethere is so much demand for London..we need to sort out our debt obligations and address regulatory compliance issues and also revamp our aircraft so that we are competitive," the son of the late vice president Simon Muzenda told legislators.Government which is the shareholder in Air Zimbabwe, has been scouting for a technical partner to help turn around the struggling company whose $330 million debt could be taken over by the state. In 2011, Air Zimbabwe's Boeing 737-500 was impounded in South Africa after failing to settle a $500,000 debt owed to Bid Air Services for handling services. Its largest aircraft, a Boeing 767-200 was seized by American General Supplies in London over a of $1,2 million debt in the same year. The plane was later released after the airline paid the debt, but Air Zimbabwe stopped flying to London, one of its most lucrative routes, since then. In the same year a French court granted the Agency for Aerial Navigation Safety in Africa and Madagascar (ASECNA) a ruling to impound Air Zimbabwe's airplanes to recover debts. Last year, President Robert Mugabe's son-in-law Simba Chikore was appointed as Chief Operating Officer.Chikore's father-in-law, Mugabe who turns 93 in a few hours, frequently uses Air Zimbabwe for official and personal foreign trips. Ireland has been ranked eleventh out of 15 European Union countries in the Sustainable Progress Index. Ireland is ranked last on its performance on the environment, tenth on performance on the economy and ninth on its performance on society. "Ireland is making poor progress when ranked against the other 14 countries in the EU-15," says Dr Sean Healy, Director Social Justice Ireland (pictured). "The new Sustainable Progress Index, published today by Social Justice Ireland, shows the scale of the challenge facing Ireland under the headings of economy, society and environment." "This new study shows that of the EU-15 countries, Ireland is ranked last on its performance on the environment; tenth on performance on the economy and ninth on its performance on society. Overall it is ranked eleventh of the 15 countries studied. "These results show that despite huge austerity, rapidly growing GDP and improving employment statistics, Ireland has a long way to go before it reaches the level of development and fairness to which most Irish people aspire." This index has been developed to show how Ireland is currently performing on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. These 17 goals were divided into three sub-groups economy, society and environment. The indicators were compared to the other 14 countries in the EU-15 to see how the situation had changed over the past decade and to see how Ireland is performing currently. Under all three headings Irelands ranking is worse now than it was in 2006. "On the economy Ireland has slipped from sixth in 2006 to 10th in 2014, the latest year for which data is available, despite an excellent performance in GDP growth. On the environment, Ireland fell from fourteenth to fifteenth over the decade," said Michelle Murphy, research and policy analyst with Social Justice Ireland. "Measuring its progress as a society Ireland fell from seventh to ninth position. These rankings go some way towards understanding why many Irish people dont believe there has been sufficient real progress in recent years." The researchers who conducted this study, Professor Charles Clark, an economics professor from New York and Dr Catherine Kavanagh from UCC argue that their results strongly suggest that focusing exclusively on GDP as a measure of progress is clearly misleading. So many people want to be Donald Trump this Carnival season in Austria that some costume shops have run out of wigs mimicking the US president's memorable hairstyle. Shop owner Manuela Plank, recognising a business opportunity, went to work making her own toupees a la Trump. Ms Plank thought she was ready to meet demand with the 10 Trump wigs she had stocked for Austria's pre-Lenten season of balls and other masked events. But they were quickly snapped up. Trump wigs in big demand during Carnival season in Austria https://t.co/mLgUJmaLul pic.twitter.com/uXYZjtE3li DAILY SABAH (@DailySabah) February 20, 2017 That is when she started snipping, backcombing, teasing and spraying blond hairpieces to give them the trademark Trump look. "It all takes quite a bit of time," Ms Plank said as she assessed her latest creation. "You have to do a lot of back-combing. But you can get it done." Her shop in the town of Pfaffstaetten, south of Vienna, carries more than 7,000 costumes, including ancient Greek outfits and the lace and ruffles of the Rococo period. But the Trump look is trumping most others. Ms Plank said that 25 of her Trump wigs are now in circulation within her community of just 3,500 people. Since Carnival extends into early March this year, she is making more. "I think it's simply because a lot of people are talking about him. And because everybody knows him," she said. "And his hairstyle is very distinctive." While many Austrians go all-out for Carnival, Ms Plank said dressing up as Mr Trump carries extra appeal for people who do not have the patience to create elaborate costumes. "Wig, suit - and done," she said, tucking a stray wisp of plastic hair in place. -AP US vice president Mike Pence has reassured European Union officials about the Trump administration's stance towards the EU, according to European Council president Donald Tusk. Mr Tusk said he and Mr Pence held "open and frank talks" aimed in part at allaying concerns about President Donald Trump's support of the EU and of European security through the Nato military alliance. "I heard words which are promising for the future, words which explain a lot about the new approach in Washington," Mr Tusk said. Mr Tusk said that "too many new and sometimes surprising opinions have been voiced... for us to pretend that everything is as it used to be". Mr Pence said he was looking to explore ways to "deepen our relationship with the European Union and the European community" as he opened a day of meetings on the EU and Nato with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini in Brussels. Mr Pence was facing deep scepticism among European leaders over the foreign policy direction of his boss. Mr Trump was supportive of Britain's vote last year to leave the EU, and he has suggested that the EU itself could soon fall apart. Mr Pence voiced the administration's strong support for Nato over the weekend. Mr Pence said he was acting on behalf of Mr Trump "to express the strong commitment of the United States to continued cooperation and partnership with the European Union." He added: "Whatever our differences, our two continents share the same heritage, the same values and above all the same purpose: To promote peace and prosperity through freedom, democracy and the rule of law." Mr Trump's election campaign rhetoric - branding Nato obsolete and vowing to undo a series of multinational trade deals - and his benevolence towards Russian President Vladimir Putin sparked anxiety across the Atlantic. Mr Tusk said: "We are counting as always in the past on the United States' wholehearted and unequivocal - let me repeat, unequivocal - support for the idea of a united Europe. The world would be a decidedly worse place if Europe were not united." He added: "The idea of Nato is not obsolete, just like the values which lie at its foundation are not obsolete." AP A court in Germany has convicted five South Korean citizens over the death of a relative in an exorcism ritual at a Frankfurt hotel in 2015. The Frankfurt regional court found the main defendant, a 44-year-old cousin of the victim, guilty of serious bodily harm resulting in death. Four Russian servicemen were killed in Syria when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb, officials have said. The explosion happened as a Syrian military convoy, including the vehicle with Russian military advisers, was driving to Homs in central Syria from the Tiyas air base, which is close to the ancient town of Palmyra held by the Islamic State group, the defence ministry said. Vice President Mike Pence said today the US intended to "deepen our relationship with the European Union and the European community". Mr Pence, speaking at the start of his meeting with the EU's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini in Brussels, was opening a day of meetings on the EU and Nato. News / National by Stephen Jakes MDC-T senior official Tapiwa Mashakada has said failure by the MDC-T to assume power in 2018 elections will be condemning those in the diaspora to live there for ever while those back home will continue to suffer more than they have ever suffered."People who are opposed to MDC taking over the reigns of government have no idea what the implications of Zanu PF rule beyond 2018 means. If an MDC victory is subverted here are some of the stark consequences: Zimbabweans in the diaspora will be permanently condemned to stay abroad for good. They will miss their motherland for good. They will further severe their ties with the rest of their families and friends in Zimbabwe. No business opportunities or jobs back home," he said."Remittances will become difficult to remit because of Zanu PF dirigisme. The economy will remain in comatose position because Zanu PF policies have failed to stimulate production and growth. Government books will not balance. Infrastructure, especially roads and transport will will vanish. Agriculture and land will be buried capital, not dead capital. No rebound. Manufacturing will be museum."He said there will be generational curse and this present generation will condemn its children to abject poverty because the middle class wont sustain savings."Their pensions will eroded. They will have nothing left for their posterity. The quality of life will diminish Businesses will fail. Zanu PF will continue to use patronage to look after its support base. Patronage schemes that benefit Zanu PF will be extended and asset stripping will reach dizzy heights. Such is the spectra of a Zanu PF victory," he said."In other words if Zanu PF wins Zimbabwe will be frozen for another 5 years. No change, no transformation, no jobs, no industry the list is endless.. Now is this what Zimbabweans want? Do you want running water in your homes, your kids getting good education, access to health facilities, good roads, democracy and good governance?""I think people have no choice except to vote MDC and its coalition. Opposition must unite and put Morgan Tsvangirai forward as the trump card. Let us put personalities aside. Morgan Tsvangirai is the brand that is known locally and internationally. He is the face of the post nationalist struggle." Amber Harrison will have her first opportunity on Tuesday morning to argue against an court-imposed injunction granted to the Seven Network that has silenced her one-woman campaign against the media company. It will be the first time both sides have appeared before a judge, as Seven has not taken any legal action against Ms Harrison for allegedly stealing $262,000 from the company. Ms Harrison had an affair with Seven's chief executive Tim Worner from 2012 to 2014, and alleges the company has tried to crush her after she revealed the affair to management. She privately battled the company's allegations of credit card mis-spending through lawyers before revealing everything to the media in December. Justice Robert McDougall will hear the matter at 10am in the Supreme Court of NSW. It will be the first hearing since Justice McDougall issued an ex-parte order on February 13 banning Ms Harrison from disclosing any confidential information, talking to journalists, making any adverse statement about Seven or participating in social media. Vatican authorities froze more than 2 million in cases of suspected money laundering in 2016 as part of Pope Francis' drive to clean up the finances of the Holy See, its chief magistrate says. Gian Pietro Milano, whose official title is Promoter of Justice, made the disclosure during his annual address on the state of the Vatican's criminal justice system. Pope Francis is on a drive to clean up the Vatican's finances. Credit:AP Milano gave no details in his speech but added that the total amount of suspect money frozen between 2013 and 2016 was about 13 million. The money was frozen following alerts from the Vatican Financial Intelligence Authority (AIF), which Francis has given more operative power. Food and drink giant PepsiCo will boost paid parental leave for employees in Australia and New Zealand from 12 to 16 weeks and double paid leave for carers from one to two weeks. The company says its parental leave policy puts it well above the average of 9.7 weeks. PepsiCo is boosting paid parental leave from 12 to 16 weeks. Credit:Getty Images The decision follows the company receiving recognition from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency as an employer of choice for three consecutive years. Bill Shorten has never been more dominant than this February. His Australian Labor Party leads the Coalition convincingly in many polls, while the public has seen a petulant side to Malcolm Turnbull in question time that is rather unattractive. So the Opposition Leader's performance during the past fortnight should have been a success. But it was not to be. His Wednesday morning interview on Labor's commitment to a 50 per cent renewable energy target was a disaster. It raised serious doubts about the Labor leader's political judgment and ability to perform under pressure. The ABC's Sabra Lane is one of the most fearsome and forensic inquisitors in the country; and those of us hoping for blood at breakfast were not disappointed. On four occasions, the AM host asked Shorten how Labor would meet its goal to produce half the nation's electricity from renewables by 2030. Each time, Shorten declined any specifics and brushed the question off saying "there is a cost in not acting". Labor announced its renewable energy target two years ago, plenty of time for its leader to explain how much households would pay. Of course, as a successful union leader who's knifed two Labor prime ministers, Shorten knows how to deal with scrutiny. That, though, was not what allowed him to dead-bat away many of Lane's relevant questions. It was also helped by the fact that he is manifestly divorced from reality. Government entities such as Australia Post - which the Turnbull government is now demanding be more transparent - were explicitly told they could keep senior executive salaries secret under watered-down rules issued by the Coalition two years ago. Spurred by public anger at Australia Post chief executive Ahmed Fahour's $5.6 million salary, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann announced on Saturday he had written to the heads of seven government business enterprises demanding they reveal their executive remuneration packages. Liberal Senator James Paterson, who forced Australia Post to disclose Mr Fahour's salary to a Senate committee earlier this month, said it was "not appropriate" for the postal service to shield Mr Fahour's salary from public scrutiny and that taxpayers have a right to such information. But it was new rules introduced by the Abbott government as part of its much-hyped red tape repeal "bonfire" that gave the green light to Australia Post and other entities to strip out the detail of senior executive remuneration from their annual reports from 2015. A member of the Turnbull government has prepared a private members bill to introduce fixed, four-year terms to mend what he says is the one "glaring" structural weakness in our political system. Liberal MP David Coleman argues the shift to four-year terms is necessary to give governments and citizens greater certainty. And he says "governments would get more done". "A fixed, four-year term reduces the impact of short-term political drama, and allows for a more strategic approach to decision-making," he says. "Economic activity would increase. Both businesses and consumers tend to hold off on investment during election periods - and the phony war that precedes them," and in addition, "consistency with the states would be achieved. Every state except Tasmania now has fixed four-year terms." A broken-down truck that created long delays on the M1 this morning has been cleared but its effects are still being felt. The vehicle was cleared about 7.15am but heavy peak hour traffic was only slowly improving. The M1 is crawling from Coomera to Yatala. Credit:Paul Rovere Traffic was left crawling for more than 13 kilometres after the truck broke down on Queensland's busiest stretch of road. The two left lanes were blocked on the M1 northbound at Yatala after the crash about 6.15am, slowing traffic to a crawl as far south as Coomera. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has announced an urgent investigation into claims of sexual harassment and sexism within the company. The action comes in response to an overnight blog post by former employee Susan Fowler titled One Very, Very strange year at Uber, in which she details her experiences of working as an engineer at the company's headquarters in San Francisco from November 2015 to December 2016. Her account details harassment beginning on the first official day, when her manager allegedly sent a message saying he was in an "open relationship" and "looking for women to have sex with him". After reporting the incident to HR, upper management allegedly said the manager in question was a "high performer" and they wouldn't feel comfortable punishing him for "what was probably just an innocent mistake", according to Fowler's post. News / National by Staff reporter A FAMILY in Masvingo went through a horrific experience after learning that a body which they believed was of their relative who had died in South Africa turned out to be a stranger's.The incident which occurred last Thursday has delayed the burial of Mrs Nyaradzai Ncube (45) of Pangolin Suburb.The mistake was discovered by officials at a funeral parlour in South Africa who quickly informed Ncube's family when the body was still in Rutenga on its way to her home in Masvingo.The wrong body the family was handed belonged to a woman from Buhera who also died in South Africa and was supposed to be collected by the Muchemwa family.The deceased's husband, Mr Maxwell Ncube (53), said when he received a message that there had been a mix-up, he quickly phoned his uncle who was transporting the body and told him to proceed with it straight to a parlour in Masvingo.Mrs Ncube died two weeks ago at a Cape Town Hospital in South Africa where she had gone for breast cancer treatment.Mr Ncube said the mix-up would be corrected and he was expecting his wife's body anytime."There was a mix-up of bodies at a funeral parlour in Cape Town, South Africa, after my wife passed on in that country. She had flown there for a check-up for breast cancer two weeks back. My uncle and other relatives who represented us in South Africa were handed the body belonging to the Muchemwa family from Buhera instead of my wife's body," said Mr Ncube."My uncle did all the modalities to have my wife's body repatriated to Zimbabwe. When he went to the parlour with other relatives, they were stopped from observing the cleaning and dressing of the body."Mr Ncube said on Thursday afternoon some officials at the dispatching parlour in South Africa realised the mix-up and phoned a partner funeral parlour in Masvingo who alerted the Ncube and Muchemwa families about the mistake. New York: A week before Michael Flynn resigned as national security adviser, a sealed proposal was hand-delivered to his office, outlining a way for President Donald Trump to lift sanctions against Russia. Flynn is gone, having been caught lying about his own discussion of sanctions with the Russian ambassador. But the proposal, a peace plan for Ukraine and Russia, remains, along with those pushing it: Michael Cohen, the president's personal lawyer, who delivered the document; Felix H. Sater, a business associate who helped Trump scout deals in Russia; and a Ukrainian lawmaker trying to rise in a political opposition movement shaped in part by Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort. At a time when Trump's ties to Russia, and the people connected to him, are under heightened scrutiny -- with investigations by US intelligence agencies, the FBI and Congress -- some of his associates remain willing and eager to wade into Russia-related efforts behind the scenes. Trump has confounded Democrats and Republicans alike with his repeated praise for the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and his desire to forge a US-Russian alliance. While there is nothing illegal about such unofficial efforts, a proposal that seems to tip toward Russian interests may set off alarms. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams Brooklyns got buzz! New York City Beer Week is an annual eight-day celebration of suds, and this year the beer bash will hold all of its major events and dozens of smaller gatherings in the borough of Kings! To help you sort through the frothy offerings organized by the New York City Brewers Guild, we have put together this list of highlights from the hoppiest week of the year. Swede song Brooklyn Brewery welcomes Swedish beer makers Nya Carnegie to the festivities with a Swedish Sing-along bar crawl. The night begins in the brewerys tasting room, where attendees will down a couple of beers before hitting the streets with songbooks, making stops to serenade neighborhood watering holes with Swedish pop hits. Tickets include a songbook and one beer at each bar along the way. Brooklyn Brewery (79 N. 11th St. at Wythe Ave. in Williamsburg, www.brook lynbr ewery.com ). Feb. 24 at 6 pm. $20. Bottle opener The week-long ale extravaganza officially kicks off with the Opening Bash Invitational on Feb. 25. New York City brewers have invited some of their favorite beer creators from across the country and one brewer from Sweden, making it an one-night international beer festival! Visitors will get a glass for unlimited tastes from more than 50 breweries, including Brooklyn natives Strong Rope, Other Half, Sixpoint, Lineup, Folksbier, Wartega, Threes Brewing, Kings County Brewing Collective, Coney Island, the Brooklyn Brewery, and more. Brooklyn Expo Center (72 Noble St. at Franklin St. in Greenpoint, www.nycbe erwee k.com ). Feb. 25, 5:309:30 pm. $55$70. Just brew it Learn how to whip up your own beer at the Homebrewing Workshop hosted by expert Dailey Crafton. Along with learning the art of the brew, attendees will also taste six popular beer styles created within the city. Brooklyn Kitchen (100 Frost St. at Meeker Ave. in Williamsburg, www.thebr ookly nkitc hen.com ). Feb. 27 at 6:30 pm. $60. Living Easy Celebrate Fat Tuesday with Sixpoint Brewery at the Mardi Gras Mambo party. You can listen to live Cajun music, eat some southern cookin, and sip beers from Sixpoints tap takeover at this Nawlins-themed extravaganza. Bar Chord (1008 Corteylou Rd at. Coney Island Avenue in Ditmas Park, (347) 2406033, www.barch ordny c.com ). Feb. 28 at 7 pm. Free. Spoiled for Choice More than 40 breweries will craft custom beers for NYC Brewers Choice, the marquee event of New York City Beer Week. A ticket gets you all of the beer you can drink at this intimate event, plus access the brewers themselves and a chefs table loaded with brisket, cheeses, and a raw bar. Food Science Academy at Long Island University (1 University Plaza at Flatbush Avenue Downtown, www.nycbe erwee k.com ). March 1, 69:30 pm. $80. Beware goggles! Find someone who loves beer as much as you do at the special speed dating and drinking event Tap That. A ticket gets you at least five rounds of awkward dates, and a rare or unique craft brew with each round, along with access to a post-event mixer with two-for-one drink specials. The Well (272 Meserole St. at Waterbury St. in Williamsburg, www.thewe llbro oklyn.com ). March 2 at 7:30 pm. $25. Big beer Cup Celebrate the end of Beer Week at the Rupperts Cup Awards, which will honor New York Citys Favorite Craft Brewer, along with peoples choice awards for favorite beer event, bartender, venue, and the best beer brewed especially for NYC Beer Week. It all happens at Barcade, which will serve special beers made in collaboration between brewers inside and outside the city. Barcade (388 Union Ave. between Ainslie and Powers streets in Williamsburg, www.barca debro oklyn.com ). March 4, noon3 pm. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams Shell do the voodoo that she brews so well! A Sunset Park brewer will launch her new taproom and a new stout beer called Voodoo Juice early next month with a party featuring free samples of the black brew. The opening party, in Industry City on March 4, comes at the end of New York City Beer Week, and the woman behind it says that she is excited to tap the first keg in front of an audience of brewers and beer fans. Im excited to come out strong out of the gate and to show off the business, said Katarina Martinez, the owner of Lineup Brewing. The new brew is a chili chocolate malt stout a combination that might seem daunting, but Martinez said that it goes down smooth and will have guzzlers coming back for more. Its only four percent beer, so we want people to drink more than one of them, she said. It has a little bit of heat, but not too much, and a bit of residual sweetness from the lactose and rich chocolatey malt. Along with all of the free Voodoo Juice you can drink, Lineups opening party will serve a pale ale made especially for Beer Week and two other beers from Long Island brewery Great South Bay, its partner for the event. Lineup recently moved into a warehouse space that it shares with Industry City Distillery, which opened a tasting room for its vodka and gin drinks in 2015. For the launch party, the sixth-floor bar has installed several beer taps, and locals cannot wait to see them flowing with suds, said Martinez. People are really excited, they see the taps and they want beer, she said. The tasting room is currently open on Friday and Saturday nights, but Martinez who just quit her day-job plans to expand the hours throughout the week. Martinez, who moved to Sunset Park from Colorado, has made a name for herself as the only woman in Brooklyn to operate her own brewery solo. The only thing that matters is a passion for brewing, says Martinez, no matter the gender, but she hopes that her example will help women feel more comfortable ordering a beer instead of a vodka soda. I want women to drink what they like without it being some sort of boys club, she said. And she wants men and women to crowd into Lineups taproom to test the new drink. The bash comes right after Mardi Gras, but Martinez promises that it will be just as wild as a party in the Big Easy. We want it to be a party and for everyone to have a good time, she said. There will be free beer whats not to like? Voodoo Juice release party at Lineup Brewing (33 35th St., sixth floor, between Second and Third avenues in Sunset Park). March 4 at 7 pm. Free. Reach reporter Lauren Gill at lgill @cngl ocal.com or by calling (718) 2602511. Follow her on Twitter @laurenk_gill Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams He went to a wedding, but didnt mean to say I do. State Sen. Kevin Parker (DFlatbush) is under fire over revelations that he voted in favor of a bill prohibiting cities from declaring sanctuary status for undocumented immigrants last summer. But the pol, who represents many immigrants in Flatbush and part of Kensington, is claiming it was just an accident he was off officiating friends nuptials during the vote, and got marked as a supporter due to arcane rules that count someone present for the session but not there for the actual vote as a yes. I didnt vote for it I had to leave because I was officiating a wedding and that was not the last day to vote, it was the bleed-over day, he said. I was marked yes because I wasnt there. Parker is one of four senate Democrats whose votes helped pass the legislation through the senate in June 2016, and a similar bill is now back on the floor this time with far more eyes on it due to President Trumps plan to deport more undocumented immigrants and to pull federal funds from places that offer them sanctuary. But Parker claims his vote is really in the spotlight now due to a smear campaign from members of the Independent Democratic Conference a breakaway group of senate Democrats that partners with Republicans who are trying to avert negative attention from themselves. This is much ado about nothing and an attempt by renegade Democrats to deflect from their interest in disempowering the black and Latino community with my vote from late 2016, said Parker. But local immigrant leaders say it is much ado about something when a pol is too busy with a friends wedding to realize hes voting against his own constituents. A politician is supposed follow this and you have to make sure you know what you are doing thats why youre in the state senate, said Mamnunul Haq, a longtime Kensington resident and leader in the local Bangladeshi community. We the people, the community, are depending the politicians thats their job, we voted them to keep us safe and do better for us. Parker insists he does support making New York City and State sanctuaries, and pointed to his past support for the Dream Act, the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, and providing voting materials in Haitian Creole as proof of what side he is on. I represent the largest concentration of Caribbean immigrants outside of the Caribbean half of the consul generals from the Caribbean live in my district so how to do I become a 15-year incumbent unless I have an impeccable record on immigration? he said. My history and record on issues around immigrants and immigration speak for themselves. But Haq says he doesnt feel like the state senator whose district covers part but not all of Kensington has been there for his community since Trump was elected. The community counts on him but I never ever saw him in Kensington, he said. After Donald Trumps Muslim ban we did a hate-free zone protest in Kensington and I didnt see him. Astros win second World Series title in six seasons behind dramatic moonshot The Astros beat the Phillies in six games to win the World Series, thanks to Yordan Alvarez's 450-foot three-run home run in the clincher. News / National by Staff reporter PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has effectively ruled out his two deputies, Emmerson Mnangagwa and Phelekezela Mphoko, from the succession race, declaring in excerpts of a yet-to-be-aired interview to mark his 93rd birthday, that he would rather cling onto power for now until an "acceptable successor" has been identified."The majority of the people feel that there is no replacement, a successor, who to them is acceptable, as acceptable as I am," he said.The remarks effectively shut the door for Mnangagwa, who until recently was touted as the front runner and Mugabe's heir apparent.Mugabe's statement also corroborated his wife, Grace's rant on Friday at a Zanu-PF campaign rally in Buhera, where she declared that the Zanu-PF leader was irreplaceable and his corpse would win the upcoming 2018 presidential elections.Mugabe said his Zanu-PF party, which under normal circumstances should have led the call for him to step down, recently gave him a fresh mandate to contest the 2018 presidential election, despite his advanced age in an apparent show of no confidence in his deputies."The call to step down must come from my party, my party at congress, my party at central committee. But then what do you see? It's the opposite," he said in an interview published by Sunday Mail."They want me to stand for elections. Of course, if I feel that I can't do it anymore, I will say so to my party so that they relieve me. But, for now, I think I can't say so"Zanu-PF has been divided along two distinctive factions, with the First Lady and Mphoko on one hand together with a number of youthful politicians, while Mnangagwa is backed by war veterans.Mnangagwa is reportedly locked in a fierce succession battle with a faction of Zanu-PF Young Turks, believed to be led by Grace, who are fighting to block his ascendancy to power.Both Grace and Mnangagwa have publicly denied harbouring ambitions to succeed Mugabe.Turning 93 this week and battling ill-health, Mugabe has kept an iron grip on power since the country's independence in 1980, and has repeatedly denied reports of frailty.Grace, on Friday, told a Zanu-PF campaign rally in Buhera that no one among the ruling party's bigwigs had the capacity to succeed her husband."There are people, who know that if they stand for election, even with a chicken, they will lose," she said."A cock can win against a person, who was given dominion over everything and lose. That man is irreplaceable. That is the truth, whether we like it or not."Grace challenged unnamed politicians, who have been in government since 1980, who are pushing for Mugabe to retire, to also step down with him.The jibe appeared aimed at Mnangagwa, long considered as Mugabe's political confidante since the liberation struggle and has remained a constant figure in the successive Zanu-PF governments since 1980.State broadcaster, ZBC is set to air Mugabe's interview today and tomorrow. Yardley Friends Meeting at 65 N. Main Street in Yardley will host the documentary Organic Roots on Friday, November 18 at 7 p.m. Join director Al Johnson for a showing of this film followed by a discussion of the last 50 years of this movement. Organic foods are part of our life today and a tool in our concern for... Staff at Russell Roof Tiles are raising money with the launch of a Strictly Come Dancing-style live ballroom dancing competition. Tickets are already selling fast, with only 30 left for the event, which is being held on 10 March at Brewhouse Arts Centre in Burton on Trent. The event is in aid of Shropshire & Staffordshire Blood Bikes (SSBB), a volunteer-led charity providing an urgent delivery service, transporting lifesaving medical supplies to NHS Foundations across the region. The competitors will dance a freestyle choice of either jive, salsa, samba, rumba, cha cha cha, charleston, quickstep or a viennese waltz, in front of an audience of nearly 250 colleagues, friends and family. Andrew Hayward, managing director at Russell Roof Tiles, said: We wanted to have a fundraising event with a bit of a twist, and its a great opportunity for the staff to try something different. Everyone has been hard at work since Christmas practising for the competition so they are taking it all very seriously. No one has ever danced like this and all are putting their reputations on the line for the company all in a good cause. In 2015, staff at Russells raised 12,000 for SSBB to buy a new motorbike, plus 12,000 for Dumfries and Galloway Blood Bikes. News / National by Simbarashe Sithole Two Mvurwi men are in police custody after allegedly robbing their neighbour at knife point in Rusununguko Township Mashonaland Central on Friday.Investigations by Bulawayo24.com proved that Ngoni Pele (22) and his colleague only identified as Godfrey (23) were jointly arrested after they allegedly robbed Flex Urban of his 3 laptops 2 mobile phone and US$80.According to Urban the pair approached him around 3 am on Friday and knocked off his door before covering him with a sheet while pointing a knife at him.The two were later arrested at Dendere night club soon after their raid since Urban had seen their faces.However, Pele is admitting that they committed the crime while Godfrey is denying the charge there by making the case very difficult for Mvurwi Criminal Investigations Department (CID).The pair is expected in court today at Guruve magistrate court but there is no tangible evidence to that effect.Cases of theft and robbery are on the increase in Mvurwi as we approach the opening of tobacco floors where a lot of bizarre and drama is expected from robbers and sex workers. News / National by Staff reporter After praying for much-needed rains for years, the drought-prone Matabeleland region is counting the cost of flash floods which have left a trail of destruction in the area after violent Cyclone Dineo storms swept through southern Africa over the past two days.The storms, which have killed seven people and left about 130 000 more destitute in neighbouring Mozambique, reached Zimbabwe on Friday - bringing with them a deluge of rainfall and devastating flash floods in the three regions of Matabeleland, Manicaland and Masvingo."This weather system is expected to give rise to incessant rains resulting in increased risk of flooding and damage to homes and infrastructure."Communities in Insiza District (in Matabeleland) must maintain vigilance as the entire river systems are full and walls of some of the small dams have failed as the district received in excess of 82mm of rainfall over 24 hours, and it continues to rain," the Civil Protection Unit (CPU) warned yesterday.Local Government minister Saviour Kasukuwere also said the cyclone had left considerable damage in Matabeleland South, including flooding as a result of dams bursting their banks."Insiza South districts and Filabusi Water Station have been seriously affected by flooding after Waneka Dam failed," Kasukuwere said on micro-blogging site, Twitter.The Bulawayo City Council (BCC) advised that Mtshabezi Dam, one of the city's main water supply sources, as well as Upper Ncema, were now spilling."The Upper Ncema Dam has reached the 100 percent mark and is now spilling. This morning, the dam was at 74,55 percent and was at 99 percent by late afternoon," BCC said yesterday.Former Education minister David Coltart, also revealed on Twitter the intensity of the rain which had hit Matabeleland, revealing how he was swept by floods of almost similar proportion in 1978."In the source of the Matsheumhlope River where I live, Burnside, it is raining lions and hyenas, if not cats and dogs. #Dineo "On Friday, February 17, 1978 I was swept off the Cecil Avenue bridge when crossing the Matsheumhlope in my lime green VW Beetle ... just saying," Coltart said.The heavy downpour prevented many pupils from going to school in Bulawayo, while the high density suburbs of Nkulumane, Emganwini and Cowdray Park reported major flash floods which damaged property.In Manicaland's Chimanimani District, torrential downpours pounded the area on Thursday evening, causing rivers to burst their banks.In Chipinge, refugees at the low-lying Tongogara Camp had to be evacuated to higher ground on the same day amid fears that they would drown.Manicaland CPU chairperson and provincial administrator Edgar Seenza, told the Daily News on Sunday yesterday that the region remained vulnerable although the rains had started subsiding.In 2000, Manicaland experienced its worst floods in living memory when Cyclone Eline left a trail of destruction, including killing more than 136 people and damaging 59 184 houses and huts. Unlock 30+ premium stories daily hand-picked by our editors, across devices on browser and app. Full access to our intuitive epaper - clip, save, share articles from any device; newspaper archives from 2006. Curated newsletters on markets, personal finance, policy & politics, start-ups, technology, and more. Pick your 5 favourite companies, get a daily email with all news updates on them. 26 years of website archives. Indias largest e-commerce marketplace has opted to go with Microsofts Azure cloud computing platform, as it looks to use the software company's technologies to help scale its business. As the Indian IT sector shifts its focus from legacy technology to cloud-based services and automation; Trumps administration in the US may bring fresh challenges primarily with access to talent. like TCS, Infosys, Cognizant, Wipro or HCL Technologies will vie for rebid of a lot of technology deals from clients in the US and Europe. Phil Fersht, chief executive of HfS Research, tells Ayan Pramanik in an interview that Indian firms should acquire better consulting capabilities. Edited excerpts: The IT services industry is passing through a tough time given the shift from traditional to digital technology. Adoption of Robotic process automation or AI has been slow. Where do you position Indian firms like TCS, Infosys, Wipro, compared to their global peers like Accenture, IBM and others in this journey of transformation? I think their position is quite well in certain areas to be honest. They are all different in their own strategies. has developed a strong digital competency. It has invested in onshore delivery as well as offshore. The company has good local presence. It hired 4,000 people in the US last year. It is an example of how they effectively compete with the likes of Accenture, IBM. Wipro has acquired Appirio and DesignIT. These are good acquisitions and it is building some great competencies around the digital ecosystem. The Holmes platform is another great strategy. Infosys has a focus on design thinking and has a team in California, with focus on innovation. You can look at HCL Technologies of how it has done some interesting things with their IBM partnership. Clients will look at using any of these firms in addition to Accenture or an IBM for many many deals. Some of the work they are doing in automation help them stay competitive I think that the Indian firms have kept with the changes as much as anyone else. Everybody is going through the change and we are moving to an era of skills rather than locations. Our research is saying no one is thinking of location but looking at skills. But, at the same time there is an increasing need for more consulting capabilities to be with the clients on-site and I think the Indian firms need to make more investments, acquire consulting skills by buying local firms. A lot technology contracts are up for rebid over the next 1-2 years. Do Indian firms stay ahead of the curve? There is a concern. I think there will be some issues around immigration. If there is heavy requirement for H1B and L1 visas, that may hurt some of these firms that are reliant on such visas. At the same time a lot of these deals are shifting away from locations to skills. So, immigration will put them on disadvantage in certain deals. In one of your blogs you said automation will eliminate 8-9% of the current jobs. How fast that may happen as many are releasing people from projects and not all of them are redeployed? We have done the maths quite extensively. Around 9 per cent of the services jobs will be eliminated in five years due to automation and that is not a huge number. Parts of jobs will be automated, rudimentary works will be automated. People will take on more judgement-based work more personalised work, there will be retraining. I do not think Robotic Process Automation hurts the industry as bad as recession does. Automation will become more prevalent and will streamline the processes. We will see more mid-size opening up. The legacy kind of business is shrinking slightly, but there is an emerging business in digital and other complex areas. With digital focus, people will have to be retrained with new skills. If they do not, they will be in trouble across junior, middle or senior management. These services companies have to be like universities for learning as well. Do you believe new H1B visa norm is a threat to Indian IT players as they have been dependent on sending engineers on-site? I think it is a threat, unlike it was the case five years ago. Indian IT has learned to manage with offshoring. It is not as dependent on visas as it used to be. It will stifle certain deals, it will restrict access to talent, it will be a difficult period with the new legislation, if it comes. Microsoft chief executive has warned that embracing Artificial Intelligence (AI) without reskilling people will have an impact on jobs, even as it has displayed efficiency in delivery of government services. News / National by Staff reporter In a statement that has further highlighted the ruling Zanu-PF's deadly tribal, factional and succession wars, powerful First Lady Grace Mugabe revealed on Friday that some party bigwigs are working feverishly to scuttle her high-octane meet-the-people rallies.Addressing hundreds of Zanu-PF supporters in Buhera - as the influential first lady made her much-anticipated return to the rally circuit in 2017 - she said she was being fought left, right and centre by senior Zanu-PF figures, including Cabinet ministers, who were against her rallies.While going out of her way to be more circumspect than she is renowned for, regarding her views on Zanu-PF's ugly ructions, Grace still revealed that some party heavyweights were engaged in deliberate and calculated attempts to hamper her rallies in the run-up to the make-or-break 2018 national elections."There are people who feel threatened when we come down to meet the people. They have been writing letters all over to say don't give her resources, including those that are confiscated at the border, that I give to our people."As first lady, don't I have a right to ask even Cabinet ministers to put together resources for our programmes? I thought I respected them with their positions unlike other first ladies in other countries. So, I expect that they too should do the same," she said."We know they don't want us to be with the people. But that's about leadership and now that I am back, and have already started going around, we are not going to stop."I have a good working relationship with most of the ministers though, and when they heard that I was coming here, they donated an assortment of goods," Grace added.Zanu-PF is deeply divided over President Robert Mugabe's succession, with a faction of young party Turks going by the moniker Generation 40 (G40) rabidly opposed to Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa succeeding the nonagenarian, and squaring up against the VP's allies, Team Lacoste.The first lady's rallies, particularly her donations during these mega gatherings, have been interpreted by her rivals within the warring Zanu-PF, as confirmation of the fact that she harbours presidential ambitions.However, Grace has repeatedly denied having such ambitions - declaring instead that by virtue of being Mugabe's wife, she was already involved in ruling the country.Grace also let rip at Zanu-PF bigwigs on Friday, savaging those she said were angling to take over from her husband - and mocking them on their alleged lack of "leadership qualities".In the process, the first lady gave fresh legs to the loud whispers within the ruling party that her husband wants to rule Zimbabwe for life - particularly as she also went on to tell the gathered crowd that if Mugabe were to die, Zimbabweans would vote for his corpse.She said Mugabe was irreplaceable, adding that Zimbabweans would find it difficult to get someone after him with his qualities."As Zanu-PF, we have an upper hand, but sometimes we want to throw away the gifts that we are given by God. That man (Mugabe) is irreplaceable. Whether you like it or not, what is in him comes from God."We have a problem when our leader is insulted. Hatisikuzodyiwa takatarisa samatemba, we may be quiet but we are watching. The media is being given money to write stories and sometimes they would have been threatened ... they are being fed," Grace said."I cannot be told by someone with whom he began with in 1980 that he is old. That is unfair. If you want him to go motobva mese totora over isusu (leave and we will take over)."You will hear people saying you want Mugabe to continue so that you will remain as the first lady. It's unfair. Don't expect me to tell him to retire when there are millions who voted for him."There can be miracles. If God decides that Mugabe should go and we put pictures of his corpse on the ballot paper, people will still vote for him and he will win the election," she added.In May last year, Grace stunned thousands of Zanu-PF supporters who had gathered in Harare for a solidarity rally with her husband when she said Mugabe would rule Zimbabwe from the grave."We want you to lead this country from your grave, while you lie at the National Heroes' Acre," she said.Speaking during a rally at Murehwa Business Centre in 2015, the influential first lady also warned Zanu-PF heavyweights that she was going to design a special wheelchair from which Mugabe would rule until he was 100 years old."We are going to create a special wheelchair for president Mugabe until he rules to 100 years because that is what we want. That is the people's choice. We want a leader that respects us," she said.The Zanu-PF youth league has also since formally moved a motion, at the ruling party's annual conference which was held in Masvingo last December, for Mugabe to be declared life president.The former liberation movement's tribal, factional and succession wars have escalated since the beginning of the year after Mnangagwa hosted sacked Zanu-PF officials at his rural home during the festive season - with the VP's party foes saying this was in fact a meeting organised to plot the ouster of Mugabe from power.G40-linked party officials subsequently met at the Zanu-PF headquarters in Harare where they issued a statement in which they called for a probe into Mnangagwa for hobnobbing with the likes of war veterans' leader Christopher Mutsvangwa and maverick businessman-cum-politician, Energy Mutodi.Mnangagwa's allies on the other hand, have been ratcheting up the pressure on Mugabe to pave the way for the Midlands godfather to take over the reins at both party and government levels.Mugabe, the only leader Zimbabweans have known since the country's independence from Britain in 1980, has consistently refused to name a successor, arguing that his party should rather follow what he sees as a more democratic process - managing his succession via a congress. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Monday said it appointed V as the chief financial officer (CFO). He takes over from Rajesh Gopinathan, who has been appointed as chief executive officer and managing director. He would take charge from Tuesday. Meanwhile, Tata Sons Chairman-designate N Chandrasekaran was also named the chairman of TCS. A Rs 1,380 crore contact given by GST Network to to build and maintain technology network for the proposed new indirect tax system is liable to service tax, feel experts. However, ideally services given by GSTN and received by it should be exempt from service tax, they said. The service tax department is investigating whether the contract is liable to tax. It has asked GSTN CEO Prakash Kumar to come out with all the relevant papers in this regard. "We are investigating the case. Let it be investigated first," a service tax official said. GSTN is responsible for providing the technology backbone to introduce GST and connect the databases of states and the centre. The information technology (IT) system will allow taxpayers to register themselves and file tax returns online. This will also allow collation of data at a central level after which it will be transmitted to the state tax departments. This will prevent tax evasion and widen the tax base as more traders would come under tax net compared to the present system. Ironically, it is the service tax evasion issue against GSTN that is being looked into by the service tax department now. "We have just asked for papers," another official tries to down play the issue. When contacted, Kumar said he has not received the notice. M S Mani of Deloitte Haskins & Sells explains that service tax exemption can be provided through a negative list of service tax or through mega exemption notification. While the former requires Parliament's approval, the latter is just a notification by CBEC. Neither negative list nor mega notification issued in 2012 had GSTN as an exempted category. For instance, mega notification, containing 64 items, says that all services received by the Reserve Bank of India, from outside India in relation to the management of foreign exchange reserves are exempted from service tax. The notification has not been amended since it was issued first in 2012. Negative list of services has 17 categories such as services provided by government or local authority with some exceptions. Mani says so far GSTN does not have any revenue model and is supported by the government. But, once it has a revenue model, it may ask for offsetting the tax paid on this kind of services by from the government. In that case, one arm of the government will pay tax and the other will collect tax, while the compliance burden on GSTN will increase, he said. As such, it does not make sense to not keep GSTN in an exempted category, he opines. Bipin Sapra, tax partner EY, says in the contract given to Infosys, the liability will be on the I-T company to pay tax. However, if the services are provided by GSTN, it has to be evaluated whether the entity getting services will pay tax or GSTN, depending on whether the Network is taken as a government entity or private entity. The Centre and states have 24.5 per cent stake each and the rest is distributed between LIC Housing Finance, HDFC, HDFC Bank, NSE Strategic Investment Corporation and ICICI Bank. The notice to GSTN CEO came amid Indian Revenue Services (IRS) Officers protesting against the Centre's decision to give 90 per cent of assessees up to Rs 1.5 crore of annual turnover to states to administer. The issue was flagged by Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) Chairman Najib Shah in front of finance minister minister Arun Jaitley on Customs Day last month. Infosys will investigate a whistle-blowers charges on the acquisition of Panaya, an Israeli company, even as the information technology majors Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Vishal Sikka hit out at detractors for making false and malicious charges against him. He said they were designed to target him to the point of harassment. have lowered prices for the first time since the government introduced trade measures like the minimum import price (MIP) on the back of lower demand. To bring debt to a manageable level, is looking at three options to raise funds. One option is to sell up to 30 per cent stake in its renewable power firm, after it merged its own renewable power portfolio with Welspun Renewable Energy, which it had acquired in June 2016. The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence has arrested a Gujarat-based businessman in connection with a major drug haul last year in Udaipur. Sanjay R Patel's name had cropped up during the investigation of the case. He was summoned by the DRI at Jaipur for questioning on February 17 and was placed under arrest under the Narcotic and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act on Sunday. The accused, who runs a drug factory, had exported Mandrax (Methaqualone) from Udaipur to Mumbai in a container. "He was produced before NDPS court in Udaipur where the magistrate remanded him to judicial custody till March 1," public prosecutor Praveen Khandelwal said. It is the sixth arrest in the case. In its biggest-ever drug seizure, the DRI had recovered a huge quantity of a banned psychotropic substances worth over Rs 3,000 crore in the international market in Udaipur during a search operation launched in October last year. The DRI claimed that it is one of the biggest seizures of the substance in the world, banned under Schedule 1 of NDPS rules, 1985. After the unfortunate incident of a leading actor from Malayalam film industry being allegedly molested, many celebrities and dignitaries have rallied in support and the latest to join the list is Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who has minced no words to condemn the incident. Tharoor on Monday rued the fact that the incident took place in Kerala, inarguably the state with the most educated populace. "This is an India-wide problem and that it is now happening in Kerala too is very sad. Somehow we have become a cultural state, an educated state but we are losing our values, we are losing our capacity," he told ANI in New Delhi. Tharoor also slammed the mentality of people wherein they shame the victim, while the culprit remains almost scott-free. "The horrible thing about this kind of crime in this country is that the people make the victim feel ashamed. That's why so many women don't come forward. They don't file their case. We must applaud this actress who has come forward. She had the courage to say that this wrong must be corrected," he said. Tharoor also heaped on praises for the actress who showed the courage to come forward and report the misdoing to the police. "What's incredibly impressive on the part of the lady is despite the trauma that she has gone through, she has had the courage to demand action. She has gone to the police. And I am hoping that the perpetrators of this criminal action are arrested, punished and prosecuted to the fullest extent of law," he said. Tharoor further emphasised upon the importance of teaching children, especially the boys, to respect women. "There are two things that we need to do. The law and order machinery of the state must improve. They have to ask whether they have done anything in terms of street-lighting, police patrolling. Secondly, we have to definitely educate our children, particularly our boys. There has to be a sustained information campaign. We can get the top actors and actresses of the state, actors in particular. We need to teach our children how important it is to respect the girls and women and not to behave in this way. Nothing justifies this," he said. A case of attempted rape was filed after a popular Malayalam actress was allegedly abducted and molested on Friday night in the Ernakulam district of Kerala. The incident, reportedly, took place while the victim was returning from a shoot. According to police, the actress was held in the car for an hour, after which, she was dropped near her residence at around 10.30 pm. News / Press Release by Nqobizitha Dumakude Khumalo President Robert Mugabe is soon to wine and dine with a potion of his supporters at a time the nation is reeling under myriad problems. Just like last year the lavish bash will be held at a time of great distress for the province involved. Last year it was in Masvingo, a province then groaning under the Mutokwe-Mukosi displacement and a crippling drought. This time it is in a province smitten by floods. We still have the lingering picture of that woman scavenging for crumbs soon after the lavish bash in Masvingo. This Lazarus act is a microcosm of the greater macrocosm which is the nation. We are scavengers scrounging for food under the table after the Divas chefs have had their fill. Mugabe's bash is being thrown in one of the most marginalized provinces of our nation. Mugabe goes to thumb his nose at them by displaying affluence in a region of penury. Mugabe's bash is also being held in a region that suffered under Gukurahundi. Mugabe goes to celebrate with the survivors and progeny of his induced atrocities. Ironically in his pre-event interview he never alluded to the Gukurahundi atrocities. He has never publicly apologized for what he termed, "a time of madness." One wonders who was mad?Doubtless much money was and will be spent to carry through this bash. Of course many people "donated"towards this event. Thousands of dollars were raised. Money that could have been poured towards improving infrastructure in the province and helping to alleviate the poverty in the region. Mugabe could actually celebrate his birthday in a far humane way by asking for donations towards humanitarian efforts as a way of celebrating his birthday. I know of an overseas celebrity who did just that. Truth be said the celebrations are of no value to the nation other than promoting what Edgar Tekere termed, "a very dangerous personality cult." It seems the Mugabes are not at all capable of having any qualms in spending huge sums of money while the country suffers. Are we not aware of that expensive birth in Singapore and subsequent "baby clinic" check ups in the same country? Are we not aware of the numerous foreign trips and holidays all at the taxpayer's expense? One wishes that Magufula's father had visited Zimbabwe at the time of the conception of some of our leaders.Doubtless ZanuPf will argue that the party raised money on it's own. Everyone knows of the party's methods in "sourcing donations." No audit will ever clear the party of dipping fingers in state coffers. After all the state apparatus that man the bash are never funded by the party. We need a more human government for our nation.However, we shall always ask, "what is the nation celebrating anyway?" Yes, Mugabe was one of the nationalist leaders during the period of African struggle. This he shares with many others on the continent. He is not special there. After all the man was a relative late comer in the struggle and freed the third last state on the continent. One wonders why he is given preference even over Samora Machel and Kenneth Kaunda among others who actually helped him free his country.One will Talk of the "development" he wrought. Well, even Hitler had some positives and some demons have healing powers, but they remain what they are; agents of darkness.He is credited with creating an education system that produces unemployed graduates, he is credited with embarking on an agrarian reform programme which practically killed off the very agriculture it was meant to boost. He is credited with pioneering an indigenisation programme that that killed the country's industrial production and growth.What legacy then are we celebrating?Those of us who were old enough remember the nightmare of the Gukurahundi genocide. Harrowing stories of pregnant women being bayonetted with the embryo flopping out to remove "mwana wedissident" and those of infants picked by the legs to be dashed against rocks with brains gushing out still linger. When the so called unity accord was signed we all thought the ordeal was over. We saw the shooting of Patrick Kombayi and the attempted murder of Jerry Nyambuya. 2008 saw unprecedented levels of terror with the murders of Talent Chiminya and Tichaona Chiminya together with Fainos Zhou. The year saw the ugly emergence of unpleasant characters like Chibhamure Mawarire aka Black Jesus, Joseph Chinotimba, Tom "Kitsiyatota" Zimunya, Biggie Chitoro, Matthew Mwale and one Black Jesus. This is also the year that saw the disappearance of Patrick Nabanyama among many others. Areas like Mberengwa and many of the Mashonaland Provinces were simply out of bounds for the opposition and even innocent visitors to these areas found themselves victimized.Of course we cannot forget 2008 what of the ugliest periods of our history when over 500 people lost their lives. A trail of tears and blood grasped the country like forceps of steel. Fear hung over the land like an enchanted cloak. Areas like Mutoko, Uzumba-Maramba-Pfungwe and Muzarabani again became death camps for the opposition.The haunting picture of the roasted Joshua Bakacheza comes to mind. We remember the mangled remains of Tonderai Ndira. We shall never forget Godfrey Kauzani, Beta Chokururama and Cain Nyevhe who were killed and eaten. I make no apologies when I say they were eaten for how else does one explain the neat slicing away of prime steak from a corpse. For me to be seen celebrating the birth of a man presiding over a cannibal regime would be hypocrisy of the highest order. One of the heroes of our liberation struggle was a man called Edison Sithole. The man was whisked away in broad daylight by agents of the Rhodesian regime. He disappeared never to be heard of again. Yet with one eye Mugabe's henchmen mourn the disappearance of this man yet with the other they masterminded the kidnapping of Itai Dzamara. This is hypocrisy of the highest order.Mugabe has created a monstrosity; he has turned a portion of our citizens into automatons and murderous zombies. Every five years elections are held in the country. This is a normal process in other countries but in Zimbabwe it has become the most dreaded time. It has become an orgy of torture, rape, arson, maiming, murder and a shameless rigging of elections. These have become synonymous with Robert Mugabe and ZanuPf.What legacy is Mugabe bequeathing to our youth?Violence, lack of respect for the sanctity of life and the rule of law, intolerance for democracy and divergent views?While this profanity of idolatrous celebrations is going on let the rest of us show our displeasure by expressing in the strongest terms our distaste for this vulgarity. Let us as a nation shun and condemn this insensitivity to our suffering. Poverty and want are all around us and there is nothing to celebrate. It is ironical that Mugabe celebrates his birthday with the youth and children whose future he is destroying. Yes, Mugabe celebrates his long life and relatively good health. For the rest of us there is nothing to celebrateAs PDP, Harare Province we join all the progressive forces locally and elsewhere in condemning this outrage.The future has long since abandoned Mugabe and all he stands for. Let us all embrace the future. Lets unite for change. We owe it to the departed heroes of the struggle, to ourselves and to our children after us.PDP....COURAGE TO BE DIFFERENT.Cde. Nqobizitha Dumakude KhumaloProvincial SpokespersonHarare ProvincePDP. Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Monday told the Delhi High Court that it has lodged an FIR against students who have been blocking access to the varsity's administrative block. The varsity, however, said its officials would need police assistance to enter the administrative block and sought such a relief from Justice V K Rao, who is hearing the pleas of several students seeking copies of their mark sheets and certificates to pursue further studies or apply for jobs. The court refused to issue any such direction, saying the varsity has to seek its own remedies. "Only for providing mark sheets you need police? I do not understand this. The university has to take an appropriate remedy. It must take an appropriate remedy," the judge said while adding that students will, otherwise, keep approaching the court for relief. It asked to provide, to the petitioners, the names and details of the students named by it in the FIR, so that they can be made a party to the matter and listed it for hearing on March 1. The court wanted the students named in FIR to be made a party, as it was of the view that they would be affected by any order passed in the petition. During the hearing, senior advocate Aman Lekhi, appearing for the petitioners, contended that the varsity appeared to be intimidated by the protesting students. "They (JNU) are afraid. It is clear," he said. He said the protestors have no right to agitate where they are as there is an appropriate place and time for such activities. Central government standing counsel Monika Arora, appearing for JNU, informed the judge about the lodging of the FIR pursuant to the court's query on February 17 as to why the varsity had not taken legal recourse against the blockade of its administrative block. She also said that the set of students who were blocking the block keeps changing. Around 150-200 students have been blocking access to the block since February 9, protesting against a May 2016 notification of the University Grants Commission which set a limit of eight students per professor for M.Phil and Ph.D courses, the petitioners have claimed. Apart from their documents, the petitioner students in their plea have also sought removal of the protesters and restoration of the functioning of the varsity's administrative block. In their plea, filed through advocate Pradeep Arya, they have contended that no protest can be staged within 20 metres of administrative and academic complexes as per JNU's academic rules and regulations. They have sought police protection for varsity officials so that they can enter the administrative block and get the documents which the petitioners want. A record number of 27 US Congressmen will visit India in February, reflecting the increased efforts by American lawmakers to strengthen ties between Washington and New Delhi. More than a month after the fracas over replacing Mahatma Gandhi's pictures with that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in its annual diaries and calendars, the Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has been served a stern memo by the Centre for its now-infamous decision, official sources said here. The Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) has shot off a detailed memo to the management stipulating stringent guidelines to be adhered to in future. The memo has ordered the to henceforth send any such proposal for the approval of Prime Minister's Office (PMO), routed through the Ministry of MSME, which has administrative jurisdiction over . "KVIC has to ensure that the office of ministers/Secretary is kept informed of any such major event/activities which are undertaken by KVIC as part of its promotional activity," the memo of February 14 makes clear. It also asked the KVIC to ensure that in future, it should send any such mails to the official email ids of of the PS of the ministers, secretary and officers of the ministry. A copy of the memo is available with IANS. "The private email id should not be used for any official correspondence. The (above) directives should be followed scrupulously," warned the memo, signed by KVIC Deputy CEO Y.K. Baramatikar. The latest communication from the Centre has effectively debunked the claims made by KVIC's top officials in recent weeks that it had reportedly sought the PMO's clearance before replacing Mahatma Gandhi's pictures with Modi's in its 2017 wall calendars and desktop diaries. The issue was first highlighted by IANS on January 12 when KVIC officials and employees were outraged after large stocks of the 2017 New Year calendars and diaries were received at the KVIC head office in Mumbai. It showed Modi weaving khadi on large 'charkha' in the same iconic and historic pose as Mahatma Gandhi. While Gandhi's historic picture weaving khadi on a simple wooden charkha, wearing his trademark loin cloth, is legendary and imprinted in the minds of the masses since generations, Modi comes across in his signature attire of kurta-pyjama-waistcoat, weaving khadi on a slightly modernised charkha. The employees even staged a symbolic "silent, soul-cleansing" protest wearing black bands on their mouths during lunch hour that day, and were later threatened with disciplinary action by the KVIC management. At that time, Saxena sought to defend the move by saying "the entire khadi industry is based on Gandhiji's philosophy, ideals and ideas, he is the soul of KVIC, so there was no question of ignoring him." "In fact, PM Modi is khadi's biggest brand ambassador, and his vision matches KVIC's, of 'Make In India' by making villages self-sufficient, 'skill development' by generating employment among the rural masses, infusing modern technology for khadi weaving, innovations and marketing. Plus, the PM is a youth icon," Saxena explained to IANS after the controversy erupted. While plans to take action against the employees and its union leaders were quietly dropped a few days later, the Shiv Sena-led Khadi Gramodyog Karmachari Sena (KGKS) demanded the removal of Saxena and other officials responsible for the faux pas. "While the Centre has sought to streamline the KVIC in such matters in future, it has remained silent on whether any officials would be punished for misusing the PM's name and photo in this manner," a senior KGKS official, requesting anonymity, told IANS. The issue had split the KVIC horizontally with the officers association supporting the chairman, and the employees unions opposing the move to replace Gandhi with Modi. The KGKS also demanded that Mahatma Gandhi should figure prominently on all calendars and diaries of the KVIC henceforth and appropriate directives must be issued in this regard. Snowballing into a raging nationwide controversy, the KVIC decision was flayed by all political parties including the Shiv Sena, a BJP ally, as well as prominent Gandhians, among them Tushar Gandhi, the great grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. Many have demanded that the entire lot of calendars and diaries be withdrawn and fresh ones printed bearing the pictures of Mahatma Gandhi. Ola and Uber taxi drivers shout slogans during the Fifth day of their strike against withdrawal of incentives by the app-based cab aggregators, at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. Photo: PTI Commuters in Delhi-NCR had some respite on Monday morning when they were able to book cabs easily with lesser waiting time than earlier. However, fares were slightly higher than normal in the morning. On Sunday too cabs were available on Ola and Uber's apps throughout the day in the capital. Thousands of drivers have been on strike since February 10 in Delhi-NCR demanding an increase in fares from the existing Rs. 6 per km and also want the 25 % commission the app-based aggregators charge on every booking to be discontinued. Though Sarvodaya Drivers Association of Delhi (SDAD), refused to accept that the strike is off, around 70% of cabs plied since Sunday morning. In the evening, Ola started sending a notification to its costumers, saying "We are back in full strength". SDAD vice-president Ravi Rathore, who is currently admitted at RML Hospital after his condition deteriorated as he was a hunger strike since Friday, said, "We have so far not called off our strike. It will continue till our demands are met. Hundreds of drivers are still on dharna at Jantar Mantar in favour of their demands." Rathore said that there was still no fresh communication from either Ola, or the Delhi government. Pinky Sharma, a resident of Gurugram, said that in morning, she was charged Rs 679 by an app-based cab aggregator for a ride to her office in New Delhi, but during normal days, the fare used to be around Rs 350. The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday adjourned the hearing of State Bank of India (SBI)-led consortium's plea against defunct airline Kingfisher's owner till February 27. On January 11, the SC granted three weeks time to Mallya to file a reply to the consortium of banks who sought deposit of the amount of 40 million dollars. The consortium of banks had earlier approached the Apex Court seeking its intervention in bringing back Mallya to India and also repayment of money which the beleaguered businessman, who has absconded to England, had taken. The banks, in their plea, told the court that there was an outstanding loan of almost Rs 9,000 crore against the businessman. The banks have argued that the business tycoon has not been candid with the court regarding his assets, citing the failure to disclose the severance package he received from Diageo Plc as part of his exit from United Spirits. On April 26, the Supreme Court had directed Mallya to disclose his assets to the consortium. The banks also said the disclosures made by Mallya on his Indian and overseas properties were "vague". The banks also refuted Mallya's allegation that all 17 banks did not reject the three proposals made by him for repayment of over Rs 9,000 odd crore in installments. The on Monday refused to entertain a plea challenging the Akhilesh Yadav government's 'Samajwadi' pension scheme for the poor. A bench comprising Chief Justice JS Khehar and Justices DY Chandrachud and SK Kaul said the scheme is meant for the poor and "it is a beautiful one". The court was hearing the appeal filed by 'Hindu Front for Justice' against the Allahabad High Court order which did not find merit in the plea against the scheme. It was alleged that it provides 25 per cent reservation for minorities which is not permissible under the Constitution. It is estimated that antibiotics add an average of 20 years to all of our lives. However, their overuse, misuse and inappropriate use has encouraged microbes to evolve resistance, resulting in the emergence of untreatable superbugs that threaten the basis of modern medicine. For a government so devoted to rankings and ratings, India dropping 20 places to 143 in the 2017 Index of must have been a bummer. If Prime Minister Narendra Modi felt it worthwhile to approvingly cite Indias 19-place improvement in the World Banks Logistics Performance Index, surely such a dramatic fall in should send alarm bells ringing? News / Regional by Alice Charamba Local Government minister Savior Kasukuwere has today announced that the government is distributing drought relief food in Nyamandlovu area.Kasukuwere posted an aerial picture of a truck with drought relief handouts.Zimbabwe has in the last two seasons been importing maize from Zambia and South Africa to stave off famine.Last year the government launched an ambitious $500 million command agriculture scheme funded by private fuel companies that helped pool their resources together for the floundering agriculture sector.Zimbabwe has struggled to provide sufficient food reserves for itself since 2000 after the implementation of the fast-track land reform programme that saw more than 4 000 white commercial farmers violently pushed off the land. If not in ATMs in the country, remonetisation seems to have happened in industrial clusters of Gujarat. The Securities and Exchange of India (Sebi) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) met on Monday to discuss the breach of foreign portfolio investor cap in HDFC Bank, said sources with knowledge of the development. India might set up an integrated tea park close to the Dhamra port in north Odisha. This is proposed as an export-oriented unit, with facilities for warehousing, packaging, blending, testing and allied activities. As progress in laying new railway lines in hilly, remoter and hitherto unconnected habitations gets more focus, the central government is mulling a separate scheme or programme for giving impetus to this, on the lines of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). Reeling under huge losses, public sector lender IDBI Banks board is meeting on Tuesday in Delhi to consider capital-raising plans, especially from the government, to meet regulatory norms by March 2017. Co Ltd is targeting its global premium to go up to Rs 25,000 crore in 2017-18, anticipating the year could offer better growth. The company said that it is also looking at increasing the contribution of its overseas business from the current 18 per cent to 25 per cent in next five years. G Srinivasan, chairman-cum-managing director of the company said that the company is in sunc with its plans to reach a global premium of Rs 21,000 crore by the end of the current fiscal, and its initial public offering (IPO) is expected to be ready in six to eight months. "We are expecting the global premium for the year to be around Rs 25,000 crore in 2017-18," said Srinivasan. Process for the proposed IPO has been started and the company expects that going public, which as per the direction of the government, would increase the profile and branding of the company. He added that currently 18 per cent of its business comes from overseas and the company is targeting to increase it to 25 per cent of the business in next five years. It already has a presence in 28 countries and has a license to start operations in Myanmar. Besides, the company is looking at starting operations in Dubai, in the Middle East. At present the company as presence in regions and countries including UK, Middle East, Japan, Australia and Newzealand, among others. With the expansion, it will have presence in 35 countries in five years, he added. In 2017-18, the company will add another 300 more micro offices along with existing 1,400 micro offices in India. It will also increase its digital selling in a big way, added Srinivasan. As on December 31, 2016, the company has registered a nine month global premium of Rs 15,543 crore and a growth of 21.11 per cent. Further, with a profit after tax of Rs 455 crore, the company has a net worth including fair value of Rs 30,845 crore and an asset base of Rs 64,392 crore. The company today launched New India Premier Mediclaim Policy to address the need of the market for a sum insured of Rs 15 lakh to Rs 1 crore. This product will meet the perceived needs of niche segment who are High Net-worth Individuals, he said. President of India calls upon Shri Ram College of Commerce to set itself higher benchmarks of excellence The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee addressed the inaugural Ceremony of the 90th Anniversary of Shri Ram College of Commerce today (February 20, 2017) in New Delhi. Speaking on the occasion, the President said global rankings of Indian higher educational institutions remain poor. After several years of efforts, he is satisfied that at least three institutions of higher learning in the country have secured top places. Shri Ram College of Commerce, New Delhi has been doing well. It should now set itself higher benchmarks of excellence. Pointing out the importance of research and innovation, the President said Germany was only the country unaffected by 2008 financial crisis and Euro zone crisis. This was because of the solid foundation for research and development within the country as well as the world class institutions it has established. The President said for decades Shri Ram College of Commerce has met the essential requirements of connecting education to the needs of an emerging nation, as also developed livelihood and professional skills in the field of business and economics. It is heartening to note that the vision of its founder, Sir Shri Ram to create an institution that would train young minds to manage the needs of industry, business and economic administration has been fulfilled comprehensively. Today we talk of industry-academia interface. It goes to the credit of the founders of Shri Ram College of Commerce that almost a century back they insisted on real life industry exposure to teachers as well as students. The President said a class room is meant to complement the realities and complexities of the real world. Application of theoretical learning to real life situations and finding workable solutions to such situations is the real test of success in academic postulates. He was happy that having stood the test of time, the Shri Ram College of Commerce has not only maintained excellence in academics but also produced students who have gone on to excel professionally. President of India greets King of Bhutan on his birthday The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee has conveyed his greetings and felicitations to His Majesty JigmeKhesarNamgyelWangchuck, the King of Bhutan on his birthday which falls on February 21. In his message, the President has said, Please accept my warm greetings on behalf of the Government and people of India on the special occasion of Your Majestys birthday. 2016 has been a landmark year of celebrations on account of the joyous birth of the Royal Heir, the Gyalsey and the completion of ten years of Your Majestys successful reign. India and Bhutan are not only close neighbours but special friends. Our exemplary relationship has stood the test of time. India attaches great value to Your Majestys personal contribution to the consolidation of our historic ties of mutually beneficial cooperation. On this occasion, I offer my best wishes for the health and happiness of Your Majesty and the esteemed members of the Royal Family of Bhutan and for the continued progress and prosperity of the friendly people of Bhutan". Some 350 sub-Saharan migrants on Monday managed to enter after breaching a border fence that separates it from Morocco, authorities said. Red Cross emergency response teams in the area said 11 people who were injured scaling the tall fence in Ceuta city were taken to hospital for treatment, three of those suffered possible fractures, Efe news reported. Ceuta, an 18 sq km autonomous Spanish city located on the north coast of Africa, shares its western border with Morocco. The latest border breach followed on from a similar incident on February 17 when close to 500 migrants hurdled the barrier and entered Ceuta. Police told Efe news that Monday's breach occurred amid torrential rain and strong winds currently lashing the region. According to the police, the adverse weather conditions were advantageous for those trying to cross the border because the strong gusts of wind have been triggering the border alarms on the fence continuously, making it difficult for security agents to discern when an actual breach was taking place. Over 800 people have entered Ceuta, and the refugee centre was dealing with around 1,400 at one time, almost three times its capacity of 512. India on Monday said the action against 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind and his colleagues was a first logical step in getting the region rid of the twin menaces of terrorism and violent extremism. " is an terrorist, the mastermind of the Mumbai terrorist attack and responsible for unleashing a wave of terrorism against Pakistan's neighbours through Lashkar-e-Toiba/Jamaat-ud-Dawa and their affiliates," External Affairs Ministry Spokesman Vikas Swarup said. "Effective action mandated internationally against him and his terrorist organisations and colleagues is a logical first step in bringing them to justice, and in ridding our region of the twin menaces of terrorism and violent extremism," he said. Swarup was responding to a question on the listing of Saeed by Pakistan under the Anti-Terrorism Act. Saeed, the JuD chief, is currently under house arrest in Pakistan. The Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 empowers the Pakistan government to mark a person as "proscribed" and to place that person on the fourth schedule on an ex-parte basis. Any violation of provision of the fourth schedule may result in imprisonment of up to three years and fine or both. Opinion / Columnist I hate to be a messenger of doom but the idea of opposition coalition in Zimbabwe is: "... a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing," Macbeth. The idea lacks originality and understanding of the Zimbabwean political landscape.I want to give you a simple example why the idea of coalition is a stillbirth move. You see in my village, we are about 35 households with an average of four voting adults. The village comprises of the village head (sabhuku), his lieutenants (secretary, mudhibhisi, village policeman, etc.) Three quarters of the people living in the village are related to the headman. ZANU (PF) pays a monthly stipend to the headman, his secretary and the village policeman. This is just in my village.I am going to be very generous and say the best the coalition will do is to sway 5 out of 35 households to vote for them in the 2018 general election. There are 25,000 villages in Zimbabwe.5 households * 4 people * 25,000 = 500,000 Opposition votes30 households * 4 people * 25,000 = 3,000,000 ZANU (PF) votesThis is the tragedy of the opposition politics and/or coalition in Zimbabwe. All ZANU (PF) needs is to sway one million people in the urban areas and they romp to victory even with Robert Mugabe's corpse.Opposition has no sway at the village level, they have no organization, no institution; pointing out the inadequacies of ZANU (PF) alone will not sway the vote.ZANU (PF) understands the importance of rural chiefs, headmen, and village heads. Even Ian Smith understood the importance of rural chiefs. The turning point for ZANU (PF) was when they turned the heat on chiefs. The chiefs became endangered humans who needed Ian Smith's government protection 24*7. I am not advocating a campaign against traditional leaders because such a fight can be ruthless and brutal as witnessed during the liberation war.What I am suggesting is that the opposition parties in Zimbabwe and the mushrooming pastors must stop making sound and furious tales of coalition, ZANU (PF) brutality, corruption etc. and understand the main problem, electoral reform! What is the use of participating in an election whose results are already known? Would it not be a better approach to demand electoral reform before engaging in any elections? Would it not make sense to build a strong youth organization capable of repelling ZANU (PF) hooligans bent causing mayhem and chaos in our society? US President has appointed Lt Gen Herbert Raymond McMaster as his new national security advisor following the ouster of Michael Flynn last week. Making the announcement at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida yesterday, Trump described McMaster, currently Director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center, as "a man of tremendous talent and tremendous experience." Flynn had been forced out by Trump after revelations that he misled Vice President Mike Pence about discussing sanctions with Russia's ambassador to the US during the presidential transition. Trump had described this as a matter of trust and not of any wrongdoing. "I just wanted to announce that Gen H R McMaster will become the national security advisor. He's a man of tremendous talent and tremendous experience. I watched and read a lot over the last two days. He is highly respected by everyone in the military and we're very honored to have him," Trump said. The acting national security advisor, Gen (retd) Keith Kellogg, will now serve as Trump's national security council chief of staff. The President also said John Bolton, a former US ambassador to the United Nations, would serve the administration in another capacity. "I met with many other people. I have tremendous respect for the people I met with. I know John Bolton, we'll be asking him to work with us in a somewhat different capacity. We had some really good meetings with him," he said. "He had a good number of ideas that I must tell you I agree very much with. So we'll be talking with John Bolton in a different capacity. And we'll be talking to some of the other generals that I've met," Trump said. In his brief remarks, McMaster said he looks forward to joining the national security team and doing everything he can to advance and protect the interests of the American people. The White House later told reporters that he has the freedom to bring in his own staff to the National Security Council. In response to a question, Trump confirmed that Vice President Mike Pence played a role in the selection process. Top Republican Senator John McCain, who is Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and a fierce critic of Trump, welcomed the appointment. "Lt General H R McMaster is an outstanding choice for national security advisor. I have had the honor of knowing him for many years, and he is a man of genuine intellect, character, and ability. He knows how to succeed," he said. "I give President Trump great credit for this decision, as well as his national security cabinet choices. I could not imagine a better, more capable national security team than the one we have right now," McCain said. (REOPENS FGN 1) Harry J Kazianis, Director of Defense Studies at the Center for the National Interest, founded by Richard M Nixon and the only Washington DC think-tank to host then candidate for a major address on foreign policy, said the President had made an outstanding choice. "With the sheer amount of big challenges the administration faces around the world -- from North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile programs, a rising Chinese military, an Islamic State that still has the capacity to inflict damage throughout the Middle East and beyond as well as a revanchist Russia, McMaster has vast experience taking on America's enemies on the battlefield. He has proven leadership qualities that will serve him well in his new role," he said. Kazianis said McMaster was a veteran of the First Gulf War, where he fought in the now famous Battle of 73 Easting, and the Second Gulf War, wherein he again fought with honour. "As an advisor to General David Petraeus, has seen the horrors of war up-close, providing McMaster a very different perspective when it comes to evaluating risk and making recommendations of war and peace to President Trump than a civilian would," he said. "McMaster is someone who is widely respected in not just the US military but in defense and national security circles in Washington and around the world. He will provide solid leadership and a steady hand where President Trump needs it most after the departure of General Michael Flynn," Kazianis said. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes congratulated McMaster on his appointment. "With his history of questioning the status quo and infusing fresh thinking and new approaches into military affairs, Lt Gen McMaster will make a fine addition to the Trump Administration's national security team," Nunes said. Whatever one thinks of the Trump administrations policies, it is difficult to ignore that the new presidents tenure has so far been characterised by incompetence and carelessness. And while its easy to laugh at daft missteps such as an aide plugging Ivanka Trumps clothing line in a TV interview, the indications are that Trump also struggles to handle national security. Israeli Prime Minister on Sunday said he and US President Donald Trump has agreed to set up a team to discuss settlements in the occupied West Bank. Netanyahu told his weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem that during his recent visit to Washington, the two leaders also agreed to establish teams in many areas, reports Xinhua. "Even in areas, we did not previously agree on. I mean, of course, the settlements in Judea and Samaria," Netanyahu said, with Judea and Samaria being the Israeli government term for the West Bank. "We agreed to create joint teams to upgrade relations between Israel and the US in all of the main areas," he said. Earlier, Netanyahu and Trump met at the White House on Wednesday, where in a conference, the US President backed off from the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying he is open to either a one-state or two-state solution. The previous US administrations have pushed for the two-state solution to the West Asia peace process, an idea of establishing an independent Palestinian state that lives side-by-side with Israel. Israel's settlement-building in disputed territory is a major dispute between the Israelis and Palestinians. The settlements are illegal under law because they are built on lands seized by Israel in the 1967 Mideast War, where the Palestinians wish to form their future state. Israeli Prime Minister met secretly with Arab rulers last year to hear then US secretary of state John Kerry pitch a regional peace plan, an Israeli newspaper reported today. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi also attended the February 2016 talks hosted by King Abdullah II in the Jordanian city of Aqaba, Haaretz said, citing former senior officials in the Obama administration who asked to remain anonymous. It said Kerry wanted the sides to endorse six principles, which he laid out publicly in a December speech. They included a call for Israel to vacate territory it occupied during the 1967 Six-Day War, subject to land swaps agreed between the two sides. A former Obama administration official, who asked not to be identified, confirmed to AFP that the meeting was held but would not comment on the substance of Kerry's proposal. Since 1967, Israel has pulled out of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip but annexed east Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. It continues to occupy the West Bank, where hundreds of thousands of Israelis live in settlements seen as illegal by the community. Kerry's parameters envisioned a Palestinian state, with Palestinians recognising Israel as a "Jewish state". Both would share Jerusalem as the "internationally recognised capital of the two states". Israel claims the city as its "undivided" capital. Netanyahu's coalition government, the most right-wing in Israel's history, rejects talk of ceding any part of it to Palestinian sovereignty. "Netanyahu did not accept Kerry's proposal and said he would have difficulty getting it approved by his governing coalition," Haaretz wrote on today. Netanyahu's spokesperson and Jordanian officials refused to comment on the report. Meeting on Wednesday at the White House, Netanyahu and President Donald Trump each spoke of prospects of a regional Middle East understanding to end the stalemated Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "For the first time in the life of my country, Arab countries in the region do not see Israel as an enemy, but increasingly as an ally," Netanyahu told Trump. "We think the larger issue today is how do we create the broader conditions for broad peace in the Middle East between Israel and the Arab countries," Netanyahu said the following day on MSNBC. Trump said Netanyahu's proposal for a regional alliance was something that "hasn't been discussed before", adding that it would take in "many, many countries and it would cover a very large territory". The Army has moved heavy artillery towards the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, security officials said on Monday. The move came just two days after the military "decimated" camps of the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar group on the Torkham border opposite Mohmand and Khyber tribal regions, Geo News reported. The group, which claims to be behind the recent wave of terrorist attacks, has found safe haven in Afghanistan, according to the Pakistani security establishment. Security sources said their forces have resolved to restrict illegal border movement and any attempt to breach border security will be responded with full force. Security forces have stepped up patrolling in the areas along the Afghan border, while security has been put on high alert in North and South Waziristan agencies. The stringent border checks were implemented after a week of deadly attacks by terrorists left over 100 people dead and injured in different cities of Pakistan, prompting a pledge of "revenge - immediate revenge" from Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa. Security forces have also indefinitely closed the border between and Afghanistan. Robots that steal human jobs should pay taxes, Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates has said. "Certainly there will be taxes that relate to automation. Right now, the human worker who does, say, $50,000 worth of work in a factory, that income is taxed and you get income tax, social security tax, all those things," Gates told Quartz website. "If a robot comes in to do the same thing, you'd think that we'd tax the robot at a similar level," said Gates, one of the world's richest men. Gates said he believes that governments should tax companies' use of robots, as a way to at least temporarily slow the spread of automation and to fund other types of employment. The 61-year-old philanthropist said a could finance jobs, taking care of elderly people or working with kids in schools, for which needs are unmet and to which humans are particularly well suited. He argued that governments must oversee such programmes rather than relying on businesses, in order to redirect the jobs to help people with lower incomes. "If you can take the labour that used to do the things automation replaces, and financially and training-wise and fulfilment-wise have that person go off and do these other things, then you're net ahead," said Gates, one of the leading players in artificial-intelligence technology. "But you can't just give up that income tax, because that's part of how you've been funding that level of human workers," he said. The web portal reported that the idea is not totally theoretical as EU lawmakers had considered a proposal to tax robot owners to pay for training for workers who lose their jobs, though on February 16 the legislators ultimately rejected it. "You ought to be willing to raise the tax level and even slow down the speed" of automation, Gates said. "Exactly how you'd do it, measure it, you know, it's interesting for people to start talking about now," Gates said. Talking about the tax on robots, Gates said, "Some of it can come on the profits that are generated by the labour-saving efficiency there. Some of it can come directly in some type of . I don't think the robot companies are going to be outraged that there might be a tax. It's OK." Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh) [India], Feb.20 (ANI):Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday announced numerous schemes for Arunachal Pradesh on the occasion of its 31st Statehood Day. Singh, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thawarchand Ghelot, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju, Adviser S K Paliwal and other senior officers arrived by a chopper from Guwahati for the event. They praised Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu for the various development-related projects initiated by his administration. The Union Home Minister also gave away gold and silver medals to some of the selected awardees. Singh described Khandu as young, dynamic and visionary leader and urged him to create records while marching ahead on the path of progress as India's youngest chief minister. "There is neither dearth of funds for the most sensitive and important region of north east India, as it is critical for India's economic development, particularly as Arunachal Pradesh shares a 1080-km Indian border with China," he said. He said that the Indo-China border dispute talks are still work in progress, and added that relations with China are better. He cited the USD 70 billon worth of bilateral trade between the two nations as an indicator of this. He said state government proposals worth Rs.4,400 crore is being considered on top priority, including police modernisation, setting up of 20 police stations in insurgency affected Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts and a forensic laboratory for the state. He also decared the three-day Festival of Arunachal open. However, he cautioned that every penny provided by the Centre must be accounted for in a transparent manner, leaving no scope for raising questions. The Union DoNER Ministry and the Look East Policy are catapulting development in the north east. Road, rail, air and IT communications are vital for growth, Singh said before announcing numerous schemes and projects including: six advanced landing grounds upgraded to airports to facilitate use as civilian airports, permission to fly small planes from Guwahati to Pasighat, 75 percent subsidy for helicopter fares, four-lane highway for Itanagar and a two-lane highway for district headquarters. Union Surface Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari during his recent visit to the state had announced an investment of Rs 50,000 crores within two years, besides declaring four state highways as highways, massive installation by the BSNL is on to improve telephone and internet connectivity, the foundation stones for rail line to Pasighat and Tezu will be laid soon, and survey for two rail lines, including to Tawang has been ordered. Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju sought the whole hearted support of one and all and urged them to rise above caste, creed, religion and region to help the state to march forward. He insisted on peace for development to take deep root. Chief Minister Kandu expressed confidence in the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that his focused approach within short time with 'Team Arunachal' spirit, would result in all round development. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The parents of children studying in a private school in Bengaluru gathered around the school after they heard that a three-year-old girl was sexually assaulted by an employee. Following an FIR, the accused was immediately arrested by police. Expressing concern, the parents staged a protest and demanded more assurance as they suspected that there could be more cases like this. "School took the matter lightly. We want investigation because we doubt there can be more such cases," said Vikas, a parent of another student. "I almost cried when I got to know our children are not safe here. What do they take fees for," said another parent. Later, police had to intervene and the principal was taken to the police station. The school has been closed till further order. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday sent a Red Corner Notice (RCN) to Interpol on the request of Delhi Police in defence consultant Sanjay Bhandari's case. The RCN is an arrest warrant circulated by Interpol on behalf of the government of a country. The Delhi Police in October, 2016 registered an FIR against controversial arms dealer and defence consultant Sanjay Bhandari. Bhandari was already under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Income-Tax (I-T) Department for allegedly holding a 'benami' property in London. The IT Department had been carrying out an investigation against Bhandari and the OIS Group in connection with a tax evasion case. Earlier in June 2016, the IT Department carried out searches on two Bengaluru-based business premises associated with Bhandari, who is under investigation for ascertaining the sources of about Rs.70 crores received by his companies between 2009 and 2014. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) China says it will halt all coal imports from North Korea from Sunday for the rest of 2017, amid growing tensions on the Korean Peninsula following Pyongyang's most recent missile test last week. According to CNN, China's Ministry of Commerce, in a public notice jointly issued with the country's customs agency said the decision was made to comply with a UN Security Council resolution that China helped draft and pass last November. Resolution 2321 imposed some of the toughest sanctions yet against the North Korean regime, after it disregarded an earlier UN ban to test what it said was a nuclear warhead in September 2016. "Imports of coal produced in North Korea -- including shipments already declared to the customs but yet to be released -- will be suspended for the remainder of this year," said the statement posted on the ministry's website. Coal is North Korea's main export and an important source of foreign currency for its fragile economy. Most of North Korea's coal is shipped to China, its only major ally on the global stage. North Korea claimed success in its February 12 test of a new medium long-range ballistic missile, the Pukguksong-2. China voiced its opposition to the launch and joined other members of the UN Security Council in condemning Pyongyang's action. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Opinion / Columnist Garikai Mafirakureva is a Zimbabwean Journalist and an independent analyst.. Feedback on garrymafirakureva09@gmail.com You can follow him on twitter @Garry4Peace or Facebook Ras Garikai Mafirakureva Jnr Often times, when we try to act as intelligent as we think we are, we usually portray the highest level of our stupidity. We usually strech our imaginations and start majoring the minor.One thing that definitely crops up to mind when one hears such statement is the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, headed by none other than Lazarus Dokora, who is undoubtedly having the time of his life.The minister has managed to tie bears on everyone's legs in the Zimbabwean education sector that many are suggesting his actions are attributed to his borderline personality disorder, while others feel the ministry is being run by someone who has gone soft in the head.Well, I know they are not experts in that field. Maybe, if it was in some developed countries where there is so much discussion around psychology, and every action is viewed in terms of subconscious drives, someone would have probably brought up the much needed answer on the minister's mental state.The incumbent minister has introduced so many things during his tenure including the the national pledge, the new curriculum, and even threatened teachers with pay cut if they fail to produce a certain percentage of the desired results.It is that pay cut threat, that led schools to come up with a concoction of shenanigans ranging from registering students as non-formal to recruiting pupils with five units and below at form one, encouraging not so bright students to repeat classes, connive with corrupt zimsec official for pre-exam tips, the list is endless.Unfortunately, all this is happening under the ministry's nose, while they are focusing on trivials. A quick glance at last year's best one hundred schools will expose a shocking revelation. Big schools with five or more classes have100 % pass rates with children that cannot fill up one or two classes. Some schools whose number of candidates raise eyebrows are number 2 Nyanga High School with 65 candidates and 100% pass rate, number 3 St Anthony's High School with 72 candidates and a100% pass rate, number 4 Sandringham Secondary School with 64 candidates and a 100% pass rate, number 5 St Ignatius College with 65 candidates and a100% pass rate.Sitting at number 6 is Hebron High School with 30 candidates and a 100% pass rate, number 7 Shungu High School with 85 candidates and a 100% pass rate, number 8 Zaka High School with 28 candidates and a 100% pass rate, number 9 Chinorumba Secondary School with 21 candidates and 100% pass rate.With these results, one is tempted to think that most schools in Zimbabwe have one or two O' Level classes. I am not so sure about the teacher to pupil ratio given such statistics, but most these figures are expected at satellite schools and not at well established schools. If I am wrong I am more than ready to swallow camels.In other words, this would mean some big schools like in the case of Chinorumba Secondary School has 84 students from form one to four, Mutare Girls High 212, Sandringham Secondary School 240, Hartzell 172, Dadaya 240 and so on. I stand to be corrected if I am wrong by making an assumption that the number of students recruited at form one is likely to be the number of candidates at O' Level. The figures paints a picture that the Zimbabwean education system has improved tremendously and the ministry deserves a pat on the back and should be applauded for improving the teacher to pupil ratio. With 72 candidates it would mean two classes of 36 students each or three classes of 24 students each or even in some cosy situations, four classes of 18 students each. Unfortunately, this is not is not the case in most cases if not all. The best 100 schools list shows 100 % pass rates regardless of number of candidates. It can be noted that some schools recorded 100% pass rates while others had very low pass rates. This does not give a true reflection of the school's performance and can be so misleading if comparison is made by considering these percentage pass rates. However, I feel schools should be grouped according to candidature, so that high entry schools are compared on their own, followed by medium, low entry, and very low entry schools. In fact, this year's best 100 schools not only discourage hard working teachers and pupils but encourage unscrupulous ways of attaining a 100% pass rate through hook and crook. What is mind boggling is that, while schools try to use every trick in the book to outclass each other to impress that harlequin who is excited beyond control, the grandiloquent minister and his partners in crime's children are studying abroad, and can not recite three words of that inane national pledge, let alone know the meaning of mass display. Even their extended families in Zimbabwe are writing Cambridge exams and attending expensive private schools, but he is trying to shove his trash down our children's throats without any slight compunction. Lord have mercy!It's so disheartening to hear the Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (Zimsec) director, Esau Shingirai Nhandara and the seemingly nonchalant minister himself commenting highly on such a grotesque, incongruous and flawed list, as if its something out of the ordinary.Instead, the minister, rather than expending his energy on fixed false beliefs of introducing an experimental and an opaque curriculum whose feasibility is questionable, and whose costs far outweigh the benefits, he should focus chiefly on improving the existing curriculum, incentivising teachers' efforts and restoring yesteryear's dignity the profession deserves.If that is not possible then let's hope that in the next fews days if not weeks he will be polite enough to be found out of office after tendering his resignation. In fact, he should do it in less time than it takes to say "Amen", otherwise the whole education sector is going to the grave and vistors and our great great grandchildren will always hear the requiem and read the epitaph engraved on a marble stone : HERE LIES THE REMAINS OF THE ZIMBABWEAN EDUCATION SECTOR WHO WAS GRUESOMELY MURDERED BY DOKORA AND DIED FROM MALADMINSTRATION AND MISMANAGEMENT. See full list of the best 100 schools below:Position | Centre Name Candidature | %Pass Rate1. ST FAITH's SECONDARY SCHOOL 107. 100%2. NYANGA HIGH SCHOOL 65. 100%3. ST ANTHONY's HIGH SCHOOL 72. 100%4. SANDRINGHAM SECONDARY SCHOOL 64. 100%5. ST IGNATIUS COLLEGE 65. 100%6. HEBRON HIGH SCHOOL 30. 100%7. SHUNGU HIGH SCHOOL 85. 100%8. ZAKA HIGH SCHOOL 28. 100%9. CHINORUMBA SECONDARY SCHOOL 21. 100%11. ST DAVID's BONDA 84. 100%12. ROOSEVELT GIRLS' HIGH SCHOOL 91. 100%13. CHATIKOBO HIGH SCHOOL 21. 100%14. MUTARE GIRLS' HIGH SCHOOL 53. 100%15. TUNGWANE SECONDARY SCHOOL 27. 100%16. TONGWE GOVT RURAL SECONDARY 22. 100%17. MUTIMWI HIGH SCHOOL 29. 100%18. ZEZANI SECONDARY SCHOOL 21. 100%19. ANDERSON SECONDARY SCHOOL 37. 100%20. MHARI HIGH SCHOOL 25 100%21. GUTU HIGH SCHOOL 78. 98.72%22. MUFAKOSE 1 HIGH SCHOOL 148. 98.65%23. JAMESON HIGH SCHOOL 72. 98.61%24. ST PAUL's MUSAMI 61. 98.36%25. MARANGE HIGH SCHOOL 60. 98.33%26. MONTE CASSINO SECONDARY58. 98.28%27. MAZOwE HIGH SCHOOL 55. 98.18%28. GOKOMERE HIGH SCHOOL 108 98.15%29. ST MICHAEL's HIGH SCHOOL 52 98.08%30. CHIBI HIGH SCHOOL 51 98.04%31. ST ALBERT's SECONDARY SCHOOL 51 98.04%32. ST JOHN's SECONDARY SCHOOL 98. 97.96%33. PAMUSHANA SECONDARY 98. 97.96%34. ZIMUTO SECONDARY 92. 97.83%35. HARTZELL HIGH SCHOOL 43. 97.67%36. NYAMUZUWE SECONDARY. 42 97.62%37. MT SELINDA HIGH SCHOOL 84. 97.62%38. ST AUGUSTINE's PENHALONGA 82 97.56%39. CHINDUNDUMA 41. 97.56%40. REGINA MUNDI SECONDARY SCHOOL 81 97.53%41. ST FRANCIS XAVIER's KUTAMA 78. 97.44%42. ZENGEZA HIGH SCHOOL78. 97.44%43. MANGWENYA SECONDARY 39. 97.44%44ST DOMINIC's HIGH SCHOOL 78. 97.44%45. ST JOSEPH's SECONDARY 77. 97.40%46. KRISTE MAMBO SECONDARY 77. 97.40%47. MUZONDO HIGH SCHOOL 36. 97.22%48. CHEGATO HIGH SCHOOL 71. 97.18%49. EMMANUEL SECONDARY SCHOOL 69. 97.10%50. RATELSHOEK SECONDARY SCHOOL 34. 97.06%51. MIRIRANGWE SECONDARY 33. 96.97%52. NYAZURA ADVENTIST HIGH 66. 96.97%53. BERNARD MIZEKI 33. 96.97%54. ST MARK's SECONDARY 32. 96.88%55. RUSUNUNGUKO HIGH 63. 96.83%56. HAMA SECONDARY 63. 96.83%57. Z.R.P. 62. 96.77%58. GOROMONZI HIGH SCHOOL 93. 96.77%59. MARONDERA HIGH 93. 96.77%60. SANYATI BAPTIST SECONDARY 57. 96.49%61. SERIMA SECONDARY110. 96.36%62. MUKARO HIGH 53. 96.23%63. MPOPOMA HIGH 130. 96.15%64. NYASHANU SECONDARY76. 96.05%65. GOMOREFU SECONDARY 25. 96.00%66. MUTERERE SECONDARY 25. 96.0%67. MUTENDWE HIGH 25. 96.0%68. NYABATA SECONDARY 49. 95.92%69. NERUPIRI SECONDARY 24. 95.83%70. WADZANAI HIGH 48. 95.83%71. DEWURE HIGH 95. 95.79%72. CHEZIYA GOKWE HIGH 71. 95.77%73. ST DOMINIC's CHISHAWASHA HIGH 47. 95.74%74. KWENDA SECONDARY 47. 95.74%75. TSHABANDA SECONDARY 23. 95.65%76. GIDEON MHLANGA SECONDARY 23. 95.65%77. CHEMHONDORO SECONDARY 67. 95.52%78. MANAMA HIGH SCHOOL 66. 95.45%79. RIMBI HIGH SCHOOL44. 95.45%80. MNENE SECONDARY 44. 95.45%81. JITI SECONDARY 21. 95.24%82. GOMBAKOMBA SECONDARY 21. 95.24%83. CHIDEMBO SECONDARY 21. 95.24%84. DADAYA HIGH SCHOOL 60. 95.0%85. BRADLEY SECONDARY 59. 94.92%86. HOWARD MISSION 97. 94.85%87. NGEZI SECONDARY 76. 94.74%88. MAKUMBE HIGH SCHOOL 56. 94.64%89. MUREWA HIGH SCHOOL 110. 94.55%90. NEMAKONDE HIGH 91. 94.51%91. CHINGOMBE ALHEIT HIGH 53. 94.34%92. HIGHFIELD HIGH SCHOOL 121. 94.21%93. BEREJENA SECONDARY 69. 94.20%94. HIPPO VALLEY SECONDARY SCHOOL 86. 94.19%95. KANA SECONDARY SCHOOL 33. 93.94%96. LUNDI SECONDARY 81. 93.83%97. EMPANDENI SECONDARY SCHOOL 64. 93.75%98. ARCTURUS SECONDARY 32 93.75%99. MWENEZI GOVERNMENT SECONDARY 62 93.55%100. NYADIRE SCHOOL 31 93.55% A post office in Delhi's Anand Vihar was looted by five to six unknown men and around 17 bags on money were stolen on Sunday night. According to reports, 17 bags of money were looted from the post office, however, the exact amount of money has not been ascertained yet. The police say that before the incident was carried out, the wrongdoers allegedly drugged the two security guards that were on duty and held them hostage before carrying out the robbery. The police were informed of the situation over two hours later in the wee hours of Monday morning, and upon reaching the crime location, they found the two guards in an intoxicated state and were therefore not able to recall exactly what happened. The Police further revealed that intoxicating the guards made the robbery easier to be carried out. Resources in this office are collective of 32 other small post offices in the area. Police stated that if the robbers had succeeded in breaking open the primary vault, a lot of monetary damage would have been caused. Furthermore, there was only one CCTV camera installed in the premises, footage of which was not clear enough to identify the conspirators. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With Prime Minister Narendra Modi courting controversy over his 'Diwali electricity' remark, the Congress on Monday took a jibe at him asking if he wanted to become a municipal commissioner, since he was showing a keen interest on local issues as distribution of electricity. Responding to Prime Minister Modi's 'Diwali, Ramzan bhed-bhav remark' Congress leader Salman Khurshid told ANI that this kind of language should not be used to by the leader of the nation and added that he should learn to be a Prime Minister. "I believe every Indian citizen be it Hindu, Muslim or Sikh, Christian anyone, their festivals should be given every possible assistance that is reasonable. And I don't think so we should be treating these festivals only like festivals. India has traditionally treated all festivals as festivals of everybody..I think Mr. Modi is not learning how to be a Prime Minister which is a very sad thing. A Prime Minister no matter of which party is the PM of the country, but Mr. Modi just isn't learning to be the PM of the country," he said. Further attacking Prime Minister Modi over his 'diwali electricity' remark, Khurshid added, "is Mr. Modi wanting to become a municipal commissioner? he is descending to talking about electricity being provided on particular days and in particular places." "I have never known this to be an issue with Diwali. Diwali is a festival of lights and in fact not only is electricity provided, but also people add to that by placing enormous number of diyas and various other thing that light up the atmosphere. I have never heard of this issue. And if this is an issue, it is not for the Prime Minister to be raising it but something which has to be handed locally," he added. Earlier on Sunday, while addressing a rally in Uttar Pradesh's Fatehpur, Prime Minister Modi said, "In a village, if a cemetery can be constructed, so should a cremation ground. If electricity is supplied during Ramzan, so electricity should also be supplied during Diwali as well. There should not be any discrimination on the basis of religion and caste." The Prime Minister also said the 'exile of development' must end in Uttar Pradesh, while appealing the people to cast their vote for a government which ensures safety in the state. "'Vikas ka vanvaas' in Uttar Pradesh must end now. The country is moving ahead at fast pace and so must Uttar Pradesh," he said. Meanwhile, the Congress is set to file a complaint against Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his controversial remarks made during his rally in Fatehpur district in Uttar Pradesh yesterday. Speaking to ANI here, secretary of the Legal and Human Rights Department of the Congress party K.C. Mittal confirmed the development, stating that a complaint will be filed over the Prime Minister's "deplorable" statement during his address. Last week, the Congress has asked the Election Commission to take action against Prime Minister Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for hosting a public rally in Uttarakhand without permission. Uttarakhand Congress president Kishore Upadhyay had dispatched a letter to the Election Commission, terming the Prime Minister's 10 February public rally as unauthorised and an open case of model code of conduct violation. In January, the BJP had demanded that the Election Commission freeze the election symbol of Congress alleging that its vice-president Rahul Gandhi violated the model code of conduct by linking his party symbol "hand" with various religious figures. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi Police on Monday claimed that they have identified the main accused in connection to the alleged rape of a 24-year-old woman in Delhi's Hauz Khas area. "After intense investigation, the accused has been positively identified. Various teams are raiding his probable hideouts and results are expected soon," the police said. Earlier, the police launched a search for the accused, after a case was registered against unknown people for allegedly assaulting the woman. The incident took place on February 18, when a woman, hailing from Manipur, was returning from a party in Hauz Khas village, along with her friends and cousins. The woman told police that the incident took place around 11.30 pm, when the accused offered to drop her home. According to the victim, the accused told her that his car was parked at some distance and led her to the adjoining Deer Park, where he allegedly raped her. A Jet Airways flight from Mumbai to London, with more than 300 people, triggered a major scare when it lost contact with the Air Traffic Control (ATC) after getting intercepted by German fighter jets. The flight then had to be escorted by German Air Force fighter planes before it landed. The contact was eventually re-established through an SOS channel. "The contact between Jet Airways flight 9W 118, from Mumbai to London Heathrow, of February 16, 2017, and the local ATC, was briefly lost while flying over German airspace. The communication was safely restored within a few minutes," Jet Airways spokesperson told ANI. "As a precaution, the German Air Force deployed its aircraft to ensure the safety of the flight and its guests. The flight with 330 guests and 15 crew subsequently landed at London without any incident," he added. Earlier, it was presumed that the aircraft was hijacked by a terrorist group. Jet Airways has duly reported the matter to the concerned authorities including the DGCA. As part of the standard process, the flight crew of 9W 118 has been de-rostered pending investigation. The Director General of Civil Aviation has ordered an inquiry. Both the pilots of Jet Airways 9W 118 have also been put off roster till inquiry. A similar incident happened, back in 2014, when a Jet London-Mumbai flight was reported missing for more than 30 minutes over the German airspace. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi Police on Monday told the High Court it has no objection to get a polygraph test done on Najeeb Ahmed's friends, along with nine students of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). The mentioned nine students had raised suspicion on the intent of the Delhi Police, asking why the police wanted to conduct only their polygraph test and not of Najeeb's friends. The High Court has asked the police to specify who all have agreed for a polygraph test and who have not in the next hearing of the case before Patiala House Court on February 22. The court will hear the matter further on March 16. Earlier, the Delhi Police had conveyed to the High Court that it has not been able to carry out lie-detector tests on nine "suspect" students, as none of them responded despite multiple notices. A habeas corpus plea was moved by Najeeb's mother, Fatima Nafees, who sought direction to trace her son who has been missing since the intervening night of October 14-15. Najeeb, 27, a first year M.Sc. student, went missing from his JNU hostel, allegedly after a row with members of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Star striker Lionel Messi converted a penalty corner into a goal in the final seconds as Barcelona scraped a 2-1 win over Leganes in their La Liga clash at the Camp Nou here last evening. Messi scored both the goals for Barcelona to save his side from another demoralizing result this week, after a 4-0 defeat at Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Tuesday. The Argentina striker put Barca ahead as early as in the fourth minute of the match, but Leganes were rewarded for creating numerous chances in the second half when Unai Lopez levelled the score in the 71st minute, goal.com reported. However, Neymar won a penalty in the 90th minute which Messi converted to help Barcelona come out victorious and keep them just behind leaders Real Madrid in the second spot. Barcelona will lock horns with Atletico Madrid in their next La Liga clash on February 26. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In the aftermath of noted gangster Lovely Lamba's arrest in Ludhiana, Punjab, his supporters resorted to vandalism across the city, expressing their resentment over the same. Shopkeepers in Ludhiana's Clock Tower and Chaura Bazar region stated that as soon as news spread of Lamba's arrest, over 100 supporters created a ruckus on the streets, supposedly closing down shops and destroying public property. Protestors allegedly blocked traffic in the aforementioned areas. Locals in the area also revealed that the protest took a violent turn as protestors took to open firing in the area. Subsequently, the police resorted to lathi charge to disperse these supporters and take charge of the situation. Lamba is said to be facing trial in at least 10 criminal cases, including murder, following a complaint filed by a local resident. Lamba, along with his fellow conspirators were booked by Division number 4 police for illegal restraint, assault, rioting and theft, among others. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Days after a popular Malayalam actress was allegedly molested by her driver in Ernakulum district of Kerala, Member of All India Mahila congress, Shobha Oza, blamed the Communist Party governance in state asserting that crime is on the rise under the Pinarayi Vijayan-led government. "Since the Community Party came in governance, then there is a rise in crime against women like rape, gangrape, assaults which have become very common in the state, since no one fears the police and law there anymore. The Kerala Government has to take immediate action," Oza told ANI here. Using the recent shocker in Kerala to highlight the prevalent lack of safety for women across the nation, women rights activist Brinda Adige claimed that India is not safe for women anywhere. "No matter what kind of profession the women are in, she is not safe and free from any kind of abuse. This case shows the impunity which the driver committed the crime. The accused knows that our country is not going to immediately sue him. He also knows that the system is not so effective and every time women will be blamed for such things," she said. A case of attempted rape was filed after the actress was allegedly abducted and molested some days ago. Police claimed that they have arrested all seven accused in this case. Her former driver Martin, who worked with the actress for a day has been arrested and another driver Sunil, who, according to police, is the prime accused, is absconding. The incident reportedly took place while the victim was returning from a shoot, when Sunil and Martin forcefully entered the car and tried to take her pictures. According to police, the actress was held in the car for an hour, after which, she was dropped near her residence at around 10.30 pm. Alleged molestation shook the entire malayalam industry. The members of Malayalam Film Fraternity expressed their outrage against this heinous crime in the state on Sunday and demands for proper and effective investigation. Malyalam actor Prithviraj Sukumaran demands for effective investigation and other actors like Dulquer Salman and Tovino Thomas also showed their outrage and increasing fear of safety for women in Kerala. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Slamming Prime Minister Narendra Modi for calling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) as 'Behenji Sampatti Party', party supremo Mayawati launched a blistering counter-attack and said that the real meaning of Narendra Damodardas Modi was 'Negative Dalit Man'. "Do you know the full name of Modi? It's 'Narendra Damodardas Modi'. Narendra means negative, Damodardas means Dalit and Modi means Man - he is 'Negative Dalit Man', which implies that he is a 'Dalit Virodhi'," Mayawati said, while addressing a rally in Sultanpur. "Modi has been resorting to a lot of 'naatakbaazi' like calling himself the adopted son of Uttar Pradesh and a servant of the state, but, the people of the state will not vote for him," she said. Mayawati further said that Prime Minister Modi was upset over the growing voter base of the BSP. She added that unlike Prime Minister Modi, who married and abandoned his wife, she never married and devoted her whole life for the development of the state. "That's why people of the weaker sections of the society not just consider me as their leader but as their big asset," she added. To further position herself as the sole voice of the Dalits and the Muslims, she appealed to take notice of the factional fight in the Samajwadi Party and desist from voting for the SP-Congress combine. "Mulayam Singh Yadav insulted his brother Shivpal to promote his son Akhilesh. Both the factions will do everything they can to ensure the defeat of the other and this will lead to a division of votes. That's why if Muslims were to vote for the Samajwadi Party, then their vote will get divided and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will benefit," she said. "Muslims should unitedly vote for the BSP. Our Dalit vote base is intact. If Muslims vote in tandem then the BJP can never come to power in the state," Mayawati asserted. She also appealed to the people to vote and form a taintless BSP government. Earlier in the day, hitting at Mayawati's opposition to the Centre's demonetisation drive, Prime Minister Modi said the nature of the party has changed to 'Behenji Sampatti Party' and accused her for amassing ill-gotten wealth after demonetisation. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Opinion / Columnist Sometime in 2014, Gideon Gono, the former governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) was within spitting distance of a seat in the Senate, the upper chamber of Parliament, before it was dramatically snatched away.He was the Zanu-PF nominee to replace Kumbirai Kangai, who had died not long after the 2013 election. However, just as he was about to take the new title, Gono's ascendancy was brutally thwarted.The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) rejected his nomination on the grounds that he was not registered on the voters' roll in Manicaland province, where the seat was vacant. Gono had approached the Office of the Registrar General (RG) to transfer his registration from Harare to Manicaland.Zec declared that it was an invalid registration because the RG no longer had the power to register voters. Zec was right.But instead of correcting the RG's error and registering Gono, Zec claimed that it could not do so until electoral laws were amended to confirm its new constitutional role. On this, Zec was wrong. They had the power to register in terms of the Constitution and they could have used it if it wanted to.Based on Zec's refusal, the Zanu-PF politburo replaced Gono with another candidate. With that, Gono's dream of becoming a senator in Manicaland was over. Curiously, a few weeks later, Zec announced that it was registering voters, a perfect somersault given its earlier position on Gono when it said it had no power. Nothing had changed between the two instances to justify Zec's sudden change. It was an intriguing case in which the positions of Zec and a faction in Zanu-PF were curiously aligned against Gono.It seemed there was a faction that did not want to see Gono take the Senate seat and Zec was complicit in this scheme. That or Zec was simply incompetent when it dealt with the Gono case before it changed its mind.It seems Gono was collateral damage in the war of attrition between Zanu-PF factions in 2014 and may have been as an ally of the Mujuru faction. Rugare Gumbo, who was later fired remained hopeful that the legal issues would be cleared to ensure Gono's smooth passage to the Senate, a view that was extinguished by Justice minister Emmerson Mnangagwa when he declared that it was a closed chapter. Jonathan Moyo publicly berated Gono for alleged failure to understand the law.Interestingly, while Joice Mujuru and her allies were unceremoniously fired from the party, Gono survived. That might have been due to his proximity to President Robert Mugabe's family. But with the Manicaland senate seat snatched from under his nose, his fortunes waned and he retreated from the political limelight.Around the same time that Gono was losing the Senate seat, he was also under a barrage of attacks from Munyaradzi Kereke, a former loyal lieutenant at the RBZ. In contrast to his former boss's political fortunes, Kereke's were on the rise.He had contested the elections in 2013 in defiance of a party directive and won. He had allegedly been thwarted by the Mujuru faction but had received backing from the Mnangagwa faction. When the Mujuru faction was fired from Zanu-PF, and with the Mnangagwa faction in charge, Kereke was readmitted into Zanu-PF.Kereke's departure from his role as a subordinate of Gono at the RBZ had been unceremonious and messy. The acrimony led to bad blood between the two men. Kereke threw all manner of allegations against Gono, including charges of corruption and inappropriate liaisons.It was a messy divorce.In due time, Gono left his post at the RBZ after the end of his 10-year statutory tenure. Kereke launched cases against Gono and even approached the Constitutional Court, in pursuit of private prosecution. He claimed to have vast amounts of evidence that would nail his former boss.Meanwhile, Kereke's fortunes dipped in dramatic fashion. He was accused of raping a minor in 2010, a matter which had been stifled by prosecution authorities which refused to prosecute him for alleged lack of evidence. The prosecutor-general, Johannes Tomana, was accused of protecting Kereke, said to be a political ally.It was a controversial decision which was challenged by the victim's guardians who eventually managed to carry out a successful private prosecution. Kereke was found guilty of rape. He is now at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison, where he is serving a 10-year prison sentence.It was curious therefore, to keen observers of the Zimbabwean political scene, that the Kereke-Gono affair was rekindled in recent weeks, following prominent coverage in The Sunday Mail, the State-owned weekly newspaper. First, a public apology to Gono by Kereke was given front page treatment. Two weeks later, Gono's acknowledgement of the apology received similar high profile treatment.What might have prompted the State weekly to bring back into the limelight two men who had seemingly gone into political oblivion, one by confinement to jail, and the other, by political banishment?It is highly unusual that a convicted rapist hogs the front page of a State weekly - for an apology, not to the victim but to a former boss. It appeared there was a story behind the story - just what it could be remains a matter of conjecture.There has been much speculation as to what might have prompted this curious exchange between these two men via the State weekly.One theory is that this could be a well-choreographed act designed to "cleanse" the former central bank governor in preparation for political office. It was Kereke after all, who made the high profile allegations and threatened to expose Gono. The theory is that "cleansed" of the dirt that Kereke threw at him, Gono would be ready for some political office.But this theory would be incomplete without the assumption that Gono is part of the elaborate scheme. Yet, this assumption could be false, as there are suggestions that Kereke's apology came as a complete surprise to Gono. Reading through Gono's interview, one can observe that his acknowledgment of Kereke's apology is qualified, which shows some hesitation. He does not, for example, undertake to withdraw his own defamation suit against Kereke. But if Gono is not part of an elaborate "cleansing" scheme, what else might have triggered Kereke's apology?The second theory is that Kereke initiated the apology in pursuit of self-interest and in response to powerful political forces that he may have offended.It will be recalled that one of Kereke's claims during his rape trial was that the allegations were political and that they were designed to punish him for his allegations against Gono.After his conviction he has tried, on at least two occasions, to apply for bail pending appeal. Both times, he has hit a brick wall. Kereke believes he is suffering political persecution. The apology may be a desperate plea for mercy. He probably thinks an apology and withdrawal of his allegations will thaw the hearts of those whom he offended. The apology may therefore be a plea for forgiveness.But if it is a plea for forgiveness, to whom is Kereke really apologising? Gono does not have any legal powers to forgive him, even if he chose to do so. If it is a plea for forgiveness, it must be a plea directed to a higher power, which brings the Mugabe family into the equation.Gono's proximity to the Mugabe family is well known. Perhaps that is where the apology is directed. Furthermore, even if it was a plea for forgiveness, why would the State media grant such a favour to a convicted rapist?There must be thousands of prisoners who would want to make apologies to other private persons they wronged outside. They would never get space in a mass circulating paper. Kereke could have written a letter of apology to Gono. His appearance in the State paper could only have been engineered by powerful political forces in control of State media.Nevertheless, a pertinent question is what prompted Kereke to make those allegations against his former boss in the first place? Has he suddenly discovered that he was wrong about his former boss? Was he acting on his own when he went rogue on his old boss?Gono's failure to land the senatorial post in Manicaland was arguably down to powerful political forces in the struggle for succession. Could those forces have been behind Kereke's allegations then? Could they be behind the recent apology, a change in strategy perhaps in light of the succession race?When Kereke attacked Gono, he may have been acting on behalf of political superiors who might have been disturbed by Gono's entrance into the political arena. They achieved their purpose when they thwarted Gono's rise to the Senate.Gono's proximity to the Mugabe family must be a source of concern to succession protagonists. There was a time when Gono was the prime minister in all but name. But if Gono's political entrance was inconvenient in 2014, what has changed now? Could there be a realignment of political interests?It should be interesting to see what comes next after the Kereke apology and Gono's acknowledgment. The collusion theory has no discernible basis.While Kereke is motivated by self-interest, his access to State media and favourable coverage suggests that his apology has more beneficiaries beyond himself and Gono.If that is the case, both Kereke and Gono could be mere pawns in an elaborate and increasingly complex war to succeed Mugabe. It won't be surprising if this ritual is a precursor to Kereke's release from jail or Gono's re-emergence on the political arena or indeed, a dramatic re-configuration of the succession race as it goes to the wire. North Korea's ambassador to Malaysia, on Monday, denied identifying the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) man, killed here last week, as Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. According to Chinese state owned Xinhua News Agency, ambassador Kang Chol, at a news conference in the front of the DPRK embassy, said an official document has been submitted to the Malaysian side, pointing out that "we did not know any other name except Kim Chol as written in the passport" of the deceased. The press conference was called after Kang was earlier summoned by the Malaysian Foreign Ministry. The Malaysian Foreign Ministry defended its investigation on the deceased man in a statement, that said the investigation has been conducted in the manner prescribed by Malaysian law. Malaysia has also recalled its ambassador in Pyongyang for consultation. Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said on Thursday that the deceased DPRK man was Kim Jong Nam. At a press conference, when asked if the man was confirmed to be Kim Jong Nam, Zahid replied, "yes, certainly yes." He said he was briefed by the police that the DPRK embassy had confirmed Kim's identity. Malaysian police had earlier also identified the deceased man as Kim Chol, according to his passport. For the unversed, Kim Jong-nam was allegedly poisoned last week at an airport in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur. Two women, one Indonesian and one Vietnamese, were among the first to be arrested. The Indonesian, named as Siti Aisyah, is said to have told Malaysian police that she had been paid to perform what she thought was a prank. According to reports, the Malaysian Police has also detained one North Korean suspect, Ri Jong-chol, and said they are looking for four more men, who may have already left the country. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Baloch leader Mazdak Dilshad who was in Gujarat's Vadodara on Sunday, asserted that Baloch people are awaiting the support of the international community in connection to their human rights' violation and mass genocide by the Pakistani Army. Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for initiating talks about the cause, the Baloch leader called on the public across India, the Indian Government, political parties, NGOs and other organisations to come and support the community deprived of their basic rights. Speaking to ANI after attending a conference of the Baloch community held at the Baroda Hall, Dilshad said, "the atrocities that is being faced by the people of Balochistan have also been faced by people of India, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, adding that emotions of Indians had brought him here with lot of expectation but the people gave us a huge support than we had expected." He said every Indian has supported there cause and wanted them to reach their destination. Dilshad said he would definitely meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi if he gets an opportunity. He also thanked External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj for raising the Baloch issue at the United Nations. Dilshad had alleged that Pakistan was responsible for the atrocities on the people of Balochistan. The Baloch leader asked Pakistan authorities to remove all there armed forces from the region and hand over the property of Baloch people back to them The Baloch Community had organised a conference in order to gather support to continue their fight against the violation of Human Rights in Balochistan. The Baloch community from across the Gujarat took part in this conference with great zeal. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Kathmandu [Nepal], Feb.20 (ANI): The ruling alliance of present government Nepali Congress and the Maoist Center has decided not to wait for agitating parties consensus over announcing the date for polls. The meeting between the two parties which was held in Prime Ministers Governmental Residence on Sunday decided not to wait for "Morcha's" consensus on announcing the date for polls. The long time agitating madhesh based parties has demanded for constitution amendment before the election. After the decision on Sunday the government has prepared to announce the date for local polls after the discussion is made in the cabinet meeting that is scheduled to be held this evening. Though the cabinet meeting of Monday morning was highly expected to fix the election date it was later postpone. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court on Monday reserved its order on reffering the case challenging the ban on entry of women at the Sabarimala temple to a larger constitution bench. The apex court is hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), filed by the India Young Lawyers' Association (IYLA), seeking entry of women in the Sabarimala temple in Kerala. The PIL had challenged the ban on entry of women between the age group of 10-50 inside the ancient temple dedicated to Lord Ayyappa. On November 7, 2016, the Kerala Government had told the Supreme Court that it was then ready to allow women inside the sanctum sanctorum of the temple, a prominent pilgrimage site among Hindu devotees in the state of Kerala. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court on Monday will hear the plea regarding the Cauvery dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The apex court had earlier asked the Karnataka Government to provide 2000 cusecs of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu till it hears the matter. Earlier, the top court had last month dismissed the plea seeking compensation from both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu governments for the loss of property during the Cauvery water related dispute between both the states. Siva Kumar, a Tamil Nadu based activist had earlier filed the petition in the Supreme Court on the same. On January 9, the Tamil Nadu Government sought a compensation of Rs. 2,480 crores from Karnataka for not releasing water to the state despite getting the Supreme Court directive to do so. A bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice Dipak Misra and comprising Justice Amitava Roy and Justice A. M. Khanwilkar extended the interim order in the water issue, directing Karnataka to release 2,000 cusecs of Cauvery water per day to Tamil Nadu. The lawyer from the side of Tamil Nadu, Shekhar Naphade, urged the three-judge bench to bring the matter to a logical end for which there should be a continuous hearing. On December 9, the apex court upheld its constitutional power and right to hear appeals filed by Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala, against the 2007 Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal final award. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The United States deployed the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson in the disputed waters of the South China Sea on Saturday as part of maritime "routine operations." According to CNN, sailing with the 97,000-ton Vinson is the guided-missile destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer, the Navy said in a statement. The Vinson carries a flight group of more than 60 aircraft, including F/A-18 jet fighters. The operation comes amid growing tensions between the United States and China over territory and trade, and as the Trump administration looks set to take a more confrontational stance toward China than its predecessor. During his confirmation hearing, new Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said China should be blocked from accessing the artificial islands it's built, setting the stage for a potential showdown. Earlier, China's Foreign Ministry said it heard about the planned deployment of the Vinson days before it happened, and warned Washington against challenging its sovereignty. "China respects and upholds the freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea, which countries enjoy under international law, but firmly opposes any country's attempt to undermine China's sovereignty and security in the name of the freedom of navigation and overflight," China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said. The contested waters are a crucial shipping route at the heart of a territorial dispute that pits multiple countries against one another. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Vice President Mohammed Hamid Ansari today met Rwandan Senate President Bernard Makuza in Kigali and discussed ways to enhance bilateral ties. The Vice-President met Makuza at the Senate, accompanied by Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Vijay Sampla and other senior officials. The two sides then held bilateral talks. Vice President Ansari also gifted a copy of the Indian Constitution to Mr Makuza. He later attended a luncheon hosted by the Senate President. Later, he called on Rwandan President Paul Kagame. Earlier in the day, the Vice President visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial and paid tributes to the victims of the horrific tragedy. The site is the final resting place for more than 250,000 people who were massacred in the 1994 in Rwanda. This is India's first high-level visit to Rwanda. Vice President Ansari will depart from Kigali tomorrow for the next leg of his visit to Uganda. Yesterday, in order to enhance the bilateral ties with Indian diaspora settled in Rwanda, New Delhi announced that it is all set to open its resident mission in the country's capital. "India and Rwanda are great friends, and Rwanda has a good population of Indian community here and, we have had a valid complaint of not having a resident mission in Kigali. So, the government has already taken up the matter and in the coming week and months the physical presence of resident mission will be here," said Vice-President Hamid Ansari while addressing the Indian community here. Vice-President Ansari also said that shortly the facility of direct flights between the two countries would be started which would make the bond between India and Rwanda stronger. "I hope this would not only make things easier, but it would also encourage travel from both the sides for business and tourism," he said. He further said that the government is working to build ties and give it more content and added that India is willing to strengthen the bilateral relationship that already exists. "The result of this would be that by the end of the week and in the coming weeks or months there would be a much stronger relationship between the two countries, more purposely which will add greatly to our relations," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The AAP on Monday slammed the North Delhi Municipal Corporation for proposing to develop a shopping complex on the premises of a maternity and child healthcare centre in the capital. The Maternity and Child Welfare Centre (MCWC) in north Delhi's Sant Nagar is reportedly in a dilapidated condition. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sarita Singh said the while the centre was indeed in a dilapidated state, North MCD was aiming at generating revenue by selling the shops after developing a shopping complex here. "There is no dearth of markets and shopping complexes in Delhi. There is lack of health services but North MCD only seeks to indulge in corruption. This time they are doing it by denying women their rights," Singh said. Sarita Singh, a legislator from Rohtas Nagar, said no effort had been made to repair and renovate the centre. She accused the BJP, which controls three civic bodies, of doublespeak. "On one hand it made hollow claims towards women and girl child welfare while on the other it was snatching away a mother's right to give birth. "AAP will ensure that no such corrupt scheme is implemented. We will ensure that the Women and Child Welfare Centre is protected, repaired and not sold for commercial exploitation," the AAP leader said. --IANS am/gsh/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Monday took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi by asking Amitabh Bachchan to stop promoting "donkeys of Gujarat" a sarcastic reference to a tourism promo on wild asses that features the superstar. The remarks amid the hotly contested and bitterly fought Uttar Pradesh elections came a day after Modi told a rally that the ruling Samajwadi Party in the state was appeasing Muslims and said "if a village has a qabristan (graveyard), it should also have a shamshaan ghat (cremation ground)". Yadav responded to the prime minister at a rally in Rae Bareli, urging Modi to stop promoting donkeys and "focus on more important things". "There's an ad which shows donkeys. I appeal to the century's biggest star that he should stop promoting donkeys of Gujarat," the chief minister said, without naming Amitabh. "Have you ever heard of campaigning for donkeys? Gujarat's people are doing campaigns for donkeys. Then they accuse me of working only for qabristan," the 44-year-old Samajwadi Party chief said. Bollywood megastar and brand ambassador of Gujarat Tourism, Bachchan, was once close to the Yadavs in Uttar Pradesh. Bachchan has been campaigning for the wild ass sanctuary in Gujarat for years. The remarks are the latest in the caustic campaigning for the Uttar Pradesh polls seen as the semi-final before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Modi told a rally in Uttar Pradesh's Fatehpur district that "no discrimination" should be made on the basis of caste or religion. "There must be bijli (electricity) both on Eid and Holi," said the prime minister. Yadav retorted by asking Modi to swear on the Ganga if his government had not ensured uninterrupted power supply in Varanasi the Hindu holy city and the prime minister's parliamentary constituency in Uttar Pradesh. "You revere Ganga maiyya. Why don't you swear on the Ganga and tell us if the Samajwadi Party government is giving 24-hour electricity in Varanasi or not?" Akhilesh asked the prime minister. Modi also continued with his no-holds-barred criticism at a poll rally in Jalaun of the Bundelkhand region, which he said had suffered from the years of neglect by the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) governments. He said that the BJP's fight was against SCAM, which stood for the Samajwadi Party, the Congress, Akhilesh (Yadav) and Mayawati of the BSP. "You have an opportunity in this election to throw SCAM out from Bundelkhand," he said. He also mocked at Mayawati's opposition to the November 8 note ban and said that the BSP was actually the 'Behenji Sampatti Party' calling it a personal asset of the former chief minister. "Where has Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) reached today... When I announced note ban on November 8, rivals SP and BSP, who never see eye-to-eye, came together? I was amazed when I launched the war against corruption and asked for the details of black money. They came together and all, including the Congress, started speaking the same language," Modi said. He said that Mayawati had alleged that the government was ill-prepared with its demonetisation move but "was it the government or it was you who was not prepared". "Money started being deposited in banks all of a sudden and Mayawati started shouting as to why is it only at election time that the account of her brother has been made public," the prime minister asked. "You have deposited Rs 100 crore after note ban. Those who deposit wealth for themselves, can they solve your problem?" he asked. The family of a minor whose arm had to be amputated following an infection, on Monday protested at a primary healthcare centre in West Bengal, accusing the authorities of medical negligence. Farzana was brought to the Muradih Block Primary Healthcare Centre in Purulia district on January 30 with a stomach ache. "The doctor didn't even properly examine her. He gave an injection and prescribed a medication. Later on, the arm turned black. We went to consult experts from Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai, and were told that nothing could be done as the infection had spread," Farzana's father said. Her left arm was eventually operated upon and amputated below the elbow at a hospital in Chennai. The girl's father demanded strict punishment for the doctor and the nurse, as the rest of his family and neighbours staged a demonstration outside the healthcare centre. --IANS sgh/vgu/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Opinion / Columnist The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Zimbabwe was approached by the constitutionally independent Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to tender and pay for a biometric voter registration kit.UNDP put out the tender and ZEC announced that five companies had been shortlisted to supply the biometric kit.All of a sudden the broke Zimbabwean government, which had failed to fund ZEC, leading to the involvement of the UNDP, found US$17 million required to purchase the kits; UNDP was taken out of the procurement process; and ZEC announced that the government was now going to purchase the equipment, and not UNDP.The MDC-T spokesman Obert Gutu rightly said this week that something very fishy and dodgy was going on, as reported by bulawayo24.com.Both ZEC and the UNDP owe Zimbabweans a satisfactory explanation and one which will convince us that the process of procuring this equipment has not been hijacked by the government for the purpose of rigging the election.Gutu said, and justifiably so, the MDC-T is convinced that the Zanu PF regime was hijacking the process and disallowing ZEC from independently and transparently acquiring the biometric voter registration kit so that a company that they can manipulate will be awarded the contract to supply the biometric kit.This is living proof of a plan by the regime to cheat in the upcoming election and the plan cannot be allowed to come to fruition right before our very eyes.The MDC-T UK and Ireland hereby calls on the UK government and the international community in general to make it clear to the Zimbabwean government that any election rigging will not be tolerated, that the procurement of voter registration equipment should be allowed to proceed as per UNDP process, and that the election must be run transparently, freely and fairly.The UNDP itself must come out and tell Zimbabwean people what is going on with regard to the tender for the purchase of the biometric voter registration equipment and what measures they have in place to ensure that the election will be run transparently.This is also the right time for the regional body Sadc and the African Union to start getting engaged with Zimbabwe's next election, not to wait until two weeks before the election then mount a superficial and ineffective election monitoring process.---------More information Makusha Mugabe Information and Publicity Secretary tel (+44) 07503322918 email: czeditornews@gmail.com The BSF on Monday seized Bangladeshi currency worth 8 lakh taka and arrested two Indians from West Bengal's Nadia district for allegedly smuggling the money to India, an official said. Acting on a tip, Border Security Force troopers in Nadia's Chapra outpost conducted a special operation in the border area on Monday morning which led to the arrests. Abu Suddin Sardar and Sahid Ali Singh were caught Bangladeshi currency worth 8 lakh taka in various denominations was seized from them, Deputy Inspector General R.P.S. Jaiswal said. "Both the traffickers were handed over to police along with the seized currency," he said in a statement. According to the officer, the BSF has so far seized Bangladesh taka worth 8.12 lakh in the region and caught four smugglers in 2017. --IANS mgr/ssp/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) China will increase coordination with BRICS members to prepare for the summit of the bloc's leaders, a top official said. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made the remarks during a meeting with his South African counterpart Maite Nkoana-Mashabane on Sunday in Beijing, the People's Daily reported. The summit, to be held in Xiamen city in September, will not only contribute to the common development of BRICS -- Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa -- countries, but also promote more inclusive and balanced economic growth, allowing the BRICS mechanism to play its role of rebalancing globalisation, Wang said. Wang also lauded the close ties between China and South Africa, featuring "profound" political mutual trust and "fruitful results" of mutually-beneficial cooperation. The two countries will also hold the first meeting of the China-South Africa High-Level People-to-People Exchange Mechanism, according to Wang. --IANS ksk/sac (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress on Monday said it will approach the Election Commission (EC) against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "controversial" remarks of "graveyard and cremation ground" during a recent rally. K.C. Mittal, head of the Congress's legal cell, told IANS: "We will approach the Election Commission today (Monday) over his controversial remarks." Modi on Sunday said the Uttar Pradesh government was playing of discrimination, while his flagship schemes benefit everyone irrespective of their caste and religion. "If a village receives funds for a graveyard, then it should also get for cremation ground... If you provide uninterrupted power supply for Eid, then you should also do it for Holi," Modi said while addressing an election rally in Fatehpur. --IANS sid/aks/in/py/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Delhi court on Monday asked the CBI to file its reply on a bail plea by Anuj Saxena, the COO of Elder Pharmaceuticals, accused of bribing former Corporate Affairs Ministry official B.K. Bansal who committed suicide last year. Special CBI Judge Gurdeep Singh sought the agency's response by Tuesday and posted the matter for Thursday. Saxena, also an actor, model and producer, was also sent to 14 days' judicial custody after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told the court that his custodial interrogation was not required. On February 16, Saxena surrendered before the court and was allowed to be quizzed by the CBI till Monday. Saxena was directed by the Delhi High Court on February 13 to surrender before the trial court. The CBI has alleged that Saxena played a direct role in bribing Bansal to ensure that he does not order a Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) inspection against his company on charges of illegal collection of Rs 175 crore from 24,000 investors, diversion of funds to companies abroad and not filing returns on time. The CBI has also alleged that Bansal was dealing with the violations by Elder Pharmaceuticals. Bansal and his 31-year-old son Yogesh committed suicide on September 27, 2016 by hanging themselves at their house in east Delhi. His wife Satyabala, 57, and daughter Neha, 27, committed suicide on July 19. Bansal was arrested by the CBI on bribery charges on July 16 last year. He was accused of taking Rs 9 lakh from Elder Pharmaceuticals. --IANS gt/ahm/vt/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The DMK on Monday approached the Madras High Court with a request to hear the issue of trust vote won by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami two days ago. The court asked the DMK's counsel to submit a petition which could be heard on Tuesday. The DMK decision to move the court comes a day after DMK leader M K Stalin urged the Governor to nullify the assembly proceedings of Saturday when Palaniswami won the confidence vote amid bedlam. Stalin, leader of the opposition in the assembly, told Governor C Vidayasagar Rao that the motion of confidence moved by Palaniswami was adopted in the absence of the entire opposition. Stalin requested Rao to invoke his constitutional powers "to nullify the entire proceedings with a view to protect the spirit of democracy and the constitution". Stalin said police were mobilised, giving an impression of a "war-like situation" around the assembly complex and the voting took place amid an "atmosphere of terror". According to Stalin, the AIADMK legislators belonging to the now jailed V K Sasikala camp were brought to the assembly from a resort "under tight security and they appeared to be under constant threat". Stalin said Speaker P Dhanapal did not respond to his request for a secret ballot on the confidence motion. According to the DMK leader, the party legislators had no other way but to stage a peaceful sit-in inside the house. "The Speaker ordered the expulsion of all the members of the DMK, without following the procedure. The police entered the house presumably on instructions given in advance by the Speaker. "The police and the assembly guards forcibly evicted us from the house and in this process, many of us sustained bleeding injuries. "The other opposition parties staged a walk-out, strongly protesting against the action of the Speaker," Stalin told Rao. On receipt of Stalin's complaint, Rao asked the Tamil Nadu assembly Secretary to submit a report on the happenings of Saturday. The European Commission (EC) on Monday denied that its President Jean-Claude Juncker was to resign soon, as stated by the Italian media. EC spokesperson Mina Andreeva said in a statement that Juncker was as motivated as ever to do his job, Efe news reported. "President Juncker is there to stay, fighting all the crises Europe is going through, from Grexit (Greek withdrawal from the Eurozone), Brexit (Britain's exit from the European Union) to migration," she said. The Italian daily La Repubblica said Juncker would be abandoning his post at the helm of the EC, which would be taken up by one of his vice presidents, most likely the European Commissioner for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, Jyrki Katainen. Andreeva said Juncker had already stated that he would be serving one single mandate when he was elected president in 2014, thus relinquishing his power in 2019. "He also said several times that this is not out of fatigue: he is not tired but motivated like on the first day, fighting for Europe every day," she added. --IANS ksk/vt (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A CBI court on Monday convicted four policemen over a 20-year-old "encounter" that left four persons dead. Declaring them guilty, Special CBI judge Rajesh Chaudhary said the quantum of punishment would be announced Wednesday. On November 8, 1996, five policemen -- Station Officer Lal Singh, Sub-Inspector Yogendra Singh and constables Ranvir Singh, Surya Bhan Singh and Subhash -- claimed to have shot dead four criminals. The four, who turned out to be innocent, were identified as Jasbir Singh, Ashok Kumar, Pravesh and Jalalludin. While constable Ranvir Singh died during trial, Surya Bhan was not in the court on Monday. The other three have been sent to jail. A young IPS officer, Jyoti S. Belur, who was 28 when she was listed as a co-conspirator, did not appear in court despite several summons. She is said to have migrated to the UK. --IANS sps/lok (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 15-year-old girl was attacked with acid at her home allegedly by a man in West Bengal's Midnapore district early on Monday, police said. "Acid was thrown at the girl at Sabong in West Midnapore district around 3 a.m.," a police officer said. She sustained serious burn injuries on the face and was admitted to a hospital. Police arrested the attacker, Digbijay Pradhan (28), a resident of the same village. According to the victim's family, the man knew the girl and was harassing her for some months, the officer added. --IANS mgr/ssp/ruwa/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi High Court on Monday issued notice to the JNU on a plea against a UGC notification that a Professor cannot guide more than three M.Phil and eight Ph.D scholars at any one time. Justice V.K. Rao sought the response from the Jawaharlal Nehru University on the students' plea by March 2. The May 5, 2016 University Grants Commission notification recommends an upper limit on the number of M.Phil and Ph.D students a faculty member can guide at a given time, which has become a bone of contention between the students and the university administration. The notification was adopted by the university during its 142nd Academic Council meet on December 26 amid protests from several Council members. The students argued that the UGC notification "threatens to put their future in jeopardy" as they would not be able to find a supervisor due to the clauses prescribed in the notification. The ramifications of the notification would extend beyond existing students and would also mean that very few admissions in the current academic session would take place for aspiring research scholars, thereby violating norms of mandated reservation norms, said the students. The JNU counsel told the court that the administration will not issue admission forms and prospectus for the next academic year till the next date of hearing on March 2. As a protest, the students have been "occupying" the Administrative Block of the university since February 9 despite requests to end the protest. --IANS gt/lok/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actress-producer Dia Mirza says she may not be tech savvy, but she realises the importance to understand technology as a consumer. "I'm not tech savvy but I think as a consumer it's very important to understand what it is that we are consuming --and whether it's the technology that we bring home, whether it's lifestyle products or the food we eat or whatever," Dia told IANS here. The 35-year-old actress, who was here to unveil New Elite Inverter SKY series for the electronic brand Panasonic -- Radiant cooling air conditioners, says there are certain questions a consumer must ask before making a purchase. "I don't believe that we're encouraged enough by corporations and companies to ask questions and I think as modern day citizens of the world who are exposed to so much information, it is urgent and important that we apply that understanding and ask these questions before we bring anything home," she added. Talking about her association with the brand, Dia said: "I've had a longstanding relationship with Panasonic with the company with the capacity of a brand ambassador in the past. I have been their eco-ambassador as well today of course I was here for the launch of a beautiful technology that they are introducing through their ACs" --IANS dc/rb/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Opinion / Columnist Mugabe's birthday celebration near Bhalagwe disused mine is a genocide victory ceremony and endorsement of Gukurandi massacre of the Ndebele people.Forensic psychology states that a serial killer will at most return to the crime scene to conceal evidence. Some serial killers return to the crime scene as act of ritualistic grandiose behaviour associated with a sense of accomplishment. Genocidal ZANU PF, Robert Mugabe ,his henchmen Mnangagwa, Sekeramayi, Chiwenga and others celebrate this 21st February movement in Matabeleland South to fully endorse the dissemination and liquidation of the Ndebele people by Mugabe's Gukurahundi 5th Brigade private militia of the 1980s. Thousands of Ndebele Gukurahundi victims were killed and begrudgingly thrown into the disused Bhalagwe mine shaft and many others were buried in shallow graves all over Matabeleland commanded by the over decorated first secretary and commander of ZANU pf, President Mugabe.This birthday bash is a scornful victory ceremony by Mugabe to mark the decapitation of the Ndebele people, to laugh at them, to show off an injudicious view that the Shona tribe has supreme authority over the Ndebele people and also an early hero's send-off for Mugabe in advance of his inevitable death as this may be his last 21st February celebration in his life time. We all die.It is ironic that this 21st birthday celebration for Mugabe is held in the middle of a drought stricken poor rural community of Matabeleland with nothing else there other than the human corpses scattered everywhere in unmarked graves of the unknown innocent victims of Mugabe's act of genocide.There is no doubt the small community around Rhodes Estate Preparatory School in Matopo will be overwhelmed with suspense, bewilderment and a reminder of the historic traumatic experience of gukurahundi atrocities as the tiny community springs to a buzz of government 4x4 trucks, hordes of army details, army helicopters and trucks, passenger buses, large tents pitched up, the smell of cuisine reserved for the upper class and the display of the latest Gucci ZANU pf regalia fashion.Makeshift improvements will be made to this small community such as a short tired road if any, and borehole drilled mainly done for the comfort of the president and his gang of heartless supporters to have a good time. The mainly hungry and dejected villagers will be treated to elephant meat, a few food handouts and a donation of items unwanted by Grace. The villagers, some of them forced to donate their cows to feed Mugabe and his lot will spend the whole day sitting in the scotching sun, chanting ZANU PF slogans and singing songs of admirations more of Grace than anyone else in the celebrations. The poor villagers will be reminded of historic disparaging ethnic hate speeches by Grace that they are prostitutes, interested in making babies, uneducated and keen on crossing the border to South Africa to become criminals.Matabeleland will also be reminded that the genocide on Matabeles sponsored by ZANU PF using its Gukurahundi machinery which was driven by Mugabe's deep rooted political and tribal hatred of the Ndebeles, powerful emotions of political domination and control, the desire for a one party state; and a deliberate unwillingness for him to create a truly inclusive and a diverse tribal tolerant government for all the people of Zimbabwe.The people of Matabeleland see the birthday bash as a smoke screen by Robert to sway the attention of the public away from his real motive. The main motive for genocidal Mugabe and his henchmen is returning to Bhalagwe disused mine to cover up his atrocious crimes by digging up the skeletons at Bhalagwe in an attempt to destroy the evidence. It is not coincidental that the ZANU PF hangman Emmerson Mnangagwa is pushing hard for command agriculture at Maphisa's ARDA irrigation scheme less than 10 km from Balagwe disused mine where the remains of the butchered Ndebele victims were thrown into like dogs by Mugabe's representatives. Mnangagwa is using his command agricultural project as a fore runner for him to secretly proceed to Balagwe mine to temper with the evidence of the broken skulls and bones of the Ndebele people. Mnangagwa sees himself as the likely successor of ZANU PF and the issue of Gukurahundi genocide hangs over his head. In the likelihood that he wins the state presidency and having destroyed the evidence at Bhalagwe, Mnangagwa may then have the confidence to order an investigation into the Gukurahundi atrocities blame it on the then deceased Mugabe in the hope that his name is cleared.The ZANU PF perpetrators of the Gukurahundi genocide are certainly living with emotions of guilt and shame for violating moral standards and the respect for human life. The prospects of the end of ZANU PF government in the 2018 elections is provoking in them a sense of fear of the impending investigation and incarceration of perpetrators of genocide and crimes against humanity of which ZANU pf leaders are the main suspects. It is not unusually for governments and government leaders with a diagnosis of dictatorship and genocidal disorder to dig up the mass graves of their making in attempt to destroy the evidence; locate it elsewhere or just burn it in a blast furnace to destroy the exhibit. After doing all that they would then run their mouths in denial to portray themselves as victims of smear mongering.ZANU pf have always denied and dismissed the Gukurahundi genocide as having ever happened describing it as 'a moment of madness' (Robert Mugabe); 'A western conspiracy' (Report Phelekezela Mphoko); 'A closed chapter' (Emmerson Mnangagwa); and 'a myth' (George Charamba aka Nathaniel Manheru). All these are acts of denial from inconsistent, conflicting and unconnected positions. They even put forward a case that all the reports about Gukurahundi atrocities cannot be taken seriously because they do not come from officially sources. It is important to note that there is nothing as official as the story told by the victims themselves not the likes of Nathaniel Manheru (George Charamba). ZANU pf also minimizes the number of people killed and refuses to categorize their action as genocide but an act of protecting national sovereign. They even compare their act of genocide as not anything to talk about as the numbers of the killings of the people of Matabeleland and Midlands was nothing as compared to the number of deaths during the liberation struggle of Zimbabwe.The expression by Mugabe of entitlement and self-importance is to blame for the deviant behaviour which is linked to narrow mindedness to seek control of the material and human world craving for superficial authority by imposition of fear to promote superficial goodness about himself. It is expected and not surprising that Mugabe's birthday's speech will be about cosmetic and superficial remedies to the gukurahundi atrocities such as the "National Healing Integration and Reconciliation Commission" reburying victims of Gukurahundi atrocities ignoring all the important due processes of identification of victims, the causes of their death, prosecution of the perpetrators and reparation of victims. Mugabe does not want to be investigated, he does not want the world to know how he killed those people thrown into Bhalagwe and he does not want the world to know the identity of those people by the names, gender and age. I guess all the identity cards that were confiscated from those people pending their death were present to Mugabe as trophies and so he knows who they are and many they are. None of those people killed by Mugabe's gukurahundi militias carried a gun, spear, knife, stone or even threading pin. Mugabe would say that they were dissidents while the grand motive was the tribal extermination of the Ndebeles. Mugabe enjoyed when his tribal sword struck and pierced deep into the hearts and minds of the Ndebeles now living with emotional traumas of his actions. Mugabe is returning to Matabeleland today now in person to do a head count of the remaining Ndebeles. I pray and hope that none of the remaining Ndebele people will ever die of another tribal sword of hate from a tribalist president now and in the future.ZANU pf conducted its own fact finding mission, the Chihambakwe commission of inquiry in 1983 and no one was surprised when the report was not made public even up to now. There are two likely reasons why the Chihambakwe commission of inquiry was undertaken. The first reason was that Mugabe wanted this inquiry to defend his position and give justification for having a military intervention in Matabeleland and Midlands. The results of the commission may have been too much to bear for Mugabe and his government and therefore got withheld from public circulation. The government's reason for withholding the publication of the Chihambakwe report was that the findings would provoke public outcry and violence. The second reason was that the commission of inquiry was not necessarily for public consumption after all but an evaluation excise to measure the degree of success by Mugabe in achieving the objectives for the killings in Matabeleland.The genocide against the Ndebele people was unprovoked hostility and aggression which was calculated and aimed at achieving goals of crimes of against humanity. The actions of Mugabe did not fit within the definition of politics but a humanitarian catastrophe completely outside the rule book of politics. It was a wicked attack on the overall well-being of the people of Matabeleland and Midlands aimed at degrading, denigrating, destroying, displacing, humiliating, liquidating and decapitating the people in that region. President Mugabe has chosen to celebrate the demise of the people of Matabeleland right at their door step. I wish the president a happy birthday while I ponder where to find the tomb my grandparents that still remains a mystery about its location. I am still at loss as to what harm an elderly person would have done to the government of Robert Gabriel Mugabe to deserve to be ruthlessly killed by heavy weaponry. Their death was a victory to you Mr President but pain, sorry and tears to me. Your cakes get bigger with every year of your birthday celebrations. I see the size of your cake as representative all those Ndebele people who died at your hands on the very soil your birthday is hosted this February. Just to warn you sir, there is a grave not very far from where you will be standing. We don't expect any sympathy to come from you sir for good reasons that are also known to you too.The Ndebele ZANU Pf political surrogates, Abedinico, Never, Khaya, Phekelezela and others are deluded scroungers that carry out the evil ideals of ZANUPF both in their heads and stomachs to perpetrate them on their Ndebele kith and keen. They are ZANU PF running dogs doing all the dirty work against their own tribal clan. Enos Nkala,ZANU PF surrogate and minister of gukurahundi in the height of the massacre of the Ndebeles in the 1980 got deluded with fake authority and power disowned his tribal identity at rally in Maphisa and , wished he was cleansed of being a Ndebele. Nkala died as good as pauper living amongst the Ndebele people that he so despised during his hay days of surrogacy later kicked out by Mugabe at the end of his surrogate mission. Jabulani Sibanda with his 'Mugabe & Grace bedroom coup' slur was in breach of his surrogate contract and for that he lost the privileges that come with being a surrogate. Calistus Ndlovu drunk with surrogate power referred Dr Joshua Nkomo as 'dead donkey' now he is a spent force as there is no more surrogate roles for him in ZANU PF. Jonathan Moyo is now learning one or two things about being a ZANU PF surrogate.The experience suffered by people of Matabeleland is beyond human comprehension, dignity and morality. In the bellies of the earth of the land of Matabeleland are hundreds of unmark shallow graves pregnant with bodies of innocent people whose lives were cut short in their prime life. These people meant everything to their loved ones; they were significant to them in every conceivable way. Their main crime for them to deserve to die was that they were none other than being Matabeles.Happy birthday Comrade Robert Gabrial Gutshungu Mugabe first secretary and president of ZANU PF and first known black president to have killed more than 20 0000 Ndebele people in an independent Zimbabwe. The on Monday rejected a plea for interim bail by a convict in the 1996 Delhi bomb blasts, saying those convicted of killing innocents must forget their family ties. "Those who indulge in indiscriminate killings of innocent people must forget their family ties," observed a bench of Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul as the court rejected Mohammaed Naushad's plea for the interim bail to attend his daughter's wedding in March. Naushad is serving life term for his involvement in the bomb blasts in Lajpat Nagar area on May 21, 1996 which left 13 persons dead and 38 injured. "This is such a heinous crime. Those who carry out such activities must realise this is the end of the families. You can't kill citizens indiscriminately and say I have my family, my sons, my daughters," the bench said. "You cannot have both... Either this or that. If you want to kill indiscriminately you cannot say I have a family. Once you kill, that's the end of your family," Chief Justice Khehar observed. The counsel for Naushad urged the court to grant him parole as he had already spent 20 years in jail. Naushad sought interim bail for a month to attend his daughter's marriage in March. The police confirmed the wedding was fixed for March. India on Monday offered to share its expertise with Asean's member countries in the development of their telecom and digital connectivity sectors. "We look forward to being your preferred partner in your digital connectivity initiatives. I can assure you, we will do whatever is required, for Indian products and services to become the first choice for your telecom needs," Communications Minister Manoj Sinha said. Sinha was addressing a conference of Telecom Ministers, officials and industry leaders from member counties of the Association of South East Asian Nations, organised here by the Telecom Equipment and Services Export Promotion Council (TEPC). "The experience of taking technology to remote corners at affordable price can be leveraged by you to provide cost-effective communications solutions in your home countries. With our experience and expertise, it will be easy for you to achieve targets," he added. The minister also said that India is willing to provide long-term financing to Asean member nations for buying Indian products and services. "Mobile technology, products and services from India come with best security, and high quality... You can rely on Indian telecom products," he said, adding that Indian communications industry made progress over the last decade and with an overall tele-density of 88 and rural tele-density of 53. Referring to one of the lowest mobile tariffs in the world, Sinha said that India has already overtaken the United States to become the world's second-largest internet market, with more than 220 million broadband subscribers and more than 450 million users, only behind China. TEPC has organised this inter-ministerial meeting to commemorate the 25th year of Asean-India relations. "India has committed to provide financial as well as technological support for projects that could include-high-speed fibre optic networks, digital villages, rural broadband, national knowledge network and telecom training and skill development," an official said in this connection. India had committed a line of credit of $1 billion to promote projects that support physical and digital connectivity between India and ASEAN. TEPC is organising its two-day global business exposition -- India Telecom 2017 -- here from Tuesday. Sinha and Union Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be the chief guests at this event. The event will witness more than 100 foreign high-profile information and communication technology (ICT) industry delegates from over 30 countries. Its main objective is to provide opportunities to Indian telecom exporters, including SMEs and start-ups, to meet qualified overseas buyers. --IANS bdc/lok/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India's successful launch of putting a record 104 satellites into orbit is a wake-up call for China's commercial space industry which has a lot to learn from New Delhi's frugal space programme, a Chinese daily said on Monday. The state-controlled Global Times, which last week commended India for the feat but also stressed China's superiority in the field, was in its Monday editorial all praise for India's economic launches of satellites. The influential newspaper noted that the competition with India for commercial space launches cannot be ruled out. "India's successful launch of a record-breaking 104 satellites into orbit could serve as a wake-up call for China's commercial space industry and there are a number of lessons for the country to learn." The daily said what made India a fierce competitor in the global market for commercial rocket launch services was the launch of the 104 satellites, 96 were Americans. "The South Asian nation's achievements are largely driven by its low price advantage, a weak point for China's commercial space sector," it said. The daily said despite developing into a major player in the space industry, China's commercial space sector was still in its "infancy." "Many of the world's satellites are made in or use parts from the US. However, satellites and components made in the US are prohibited from being exported to China, making it very difficult for China to get contracts for commercial satellite launches with other countries." "Its independent research and indigenous manufacturing of parts and components for satellites will help China bypass restrictions imposed by the US. China has made great progress in the field but its customers are mainly from developing countries." "China is likely to continue to focus on developing countries where price will be an important factor in customers' decisions of choosing launch partners." "Competition with India for commercial space launches may be inevitable, and the most urgent action needed for China to expand its market share is to reduce the cost of putting satellites into orbit." Over the years, India is increasingly being talked about launching cheap yet successful space missions. So much so that India spent $74 million on Mars mission in 2014, a budget way below than Hollywood's thriller "Gravity." "China's space sector, developing rapidly as an important part of the country's defence industry, has focused less on cost control in the past few decades. The country should make a fundamental transformation to allow some institutions in its space sector to run like a business instead of as government-backed research bodies." "The Chinese commercial space sector has lagged behind the global market and now the country has to learn from the experiences acquired by other countries, India included, on how to commercialize rocket launches." --IANS gsh/vt (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Filmmaker Oliver Stone, who was at the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW), ceremony to accept the Laurel Award, said its "fashionable" now to take shots at US President Donald Trump. But he strongly feels the issue is not just about one leader. Like at most of the awards ceremonies this year, the Writers Guild Awards (WGA) ceremony on February 19 was being fairly Trump-heavy, including several shots at the President. Stone reminded filmmakers that "you can be critical of your government and your society", reports variety.com, "you don't have to fit in." "It's fashionable now to take shots at Republicans and Trump and avoid the Obamas and Clintons. But remember this: In the 13 wars we have started over the last 30 years and the $14 trillion we've spent, and the hundreds of thousands of lives that have perished from this earth, remember that it wasn't one leader, but a system, both Republican and Democrat." Stone said, "Call it what you will: the military industrial money media security complex. It's a system that has been perpetuated under the guise that these are just wars justifiable in the name of our flag that flies so proudly." Stone said: "(The) country has become more prosperous for many but in the name of that wealth we cannot justify our system as a center for the world's values. But we continue to create such chaos and wars. No need to go through the victims, but we know we've intervened in more than 100 countries with invasion, regime change, economic chaos. Or hired war. It's war of some kind." "In the end, it's become a system leading to the death of this planet and the extinction of us all." Stone has never shied away from politics. During a speech at the Gotham Independent Film Awards in November last year, the "Snowden" director made a point to make a reference to the national security under a Trump administration. --IANS nn/rb/vt (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who also holds the Home portfolio, on Monday directed the state's 14 District Collectors to ensure the arrest of 2,010 goons listed by the intelligence wing in 30 days time. The directive came after the widespread criticism of the deteriorating law and order situation in the state from the opposition ranks. The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have demanded Vijayan should hand over the Home portfolio to another minister as he has failed to handle the police department with diligence. Things turned for the worse last week following the "kidnap" attempt of a leading Malayalam actress in Kochi by a gang, forcing Vijayan to come out with the directive. The district-wise list of goons is topped by Alappuzha, with 336 goons, followed by Kannur (305) and Thiruvananthapuram (266). Vijayan has directed the authorities to make arrests under the Kerala Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, if needed. --IANS sg/sm/sac (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi will host a special screening of the Oscar-nominated film "Lion" here. The invite list includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the movie's distributor has said. Cabinet ministers and other dignitaries will be invited for the screening later this week before the film's release on Friday, read a statement. "We are glad that a person of such repute such as Maneka Gandhi has expressed her desire to host a screening of 'Lion'. It's for a wise cause and thought and currently we are in process of setting up the screening in the coming week in Delhi," Avinaash Jumani, CEO at Pictureworks (film's distributor in India), said in a statement. Gandhi, an animal rights activist and environmentalist, recently achieved success in tracking down 100 children and she is going to reunite them with their parents next month. The fact that it finds resonance with the story of "Lion" -- about an Indian boy who when separated from his biological family, is adopted by an Australian couple in Australia and then years later, he finds his lost family using Google Earth -- makes it apt for Gandhi to host the screening. Even the makers of "Lion" had started The #LIONHEART Campaign for helping street children, by joining hands with India-based NGO Magic Bus, Childline and Railway Children. Directed by Garth Davis, the movie is based on Saroo Brierley's best-selling autobiography "A Long Way Home". It features child actor Sunny Pawar, with Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman in pivotal roles. --IANS ks/rb/vt (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US Senator John McCain has slammed President Donald Trump's attacks on the media, saying dictators "get started by suppressing free press". It was a startling observation from a sitting member of the Congress against the President, especially considering McCain is a member of Trump's Republican Party. McCain, who has broken with Trump on several issues, made the statement in an interview with NBC News after the President in a tweet condemned several organisations as "fake news" and "an enemy of the American people". "I hate the press. I hate you especially," McCain said on Saturday. "But the fact is we need you. We need a free press. We must have it. It's vital." "If you want to preserve the democracy... you have to have a free and many times adversarial press," he said. "And without it, I am afraid that we would lose so much of our individual liberties over time. That's how dictators get started." The Republican cautioned that he was not accusing Trump of trying to be a dictator. He made the comments during a discussion of the post-World War II world and America's role in it. McCain at the Munich Security Conference on Friday warned "of an increasing turn away from universal values and toward old ties of blood, race and sectarianism" in the West as well "the growing inability and even unwillingness to separate truth from lies". The Senator said the European leaders he has spoken to have been reassured by speeches by Defense Secretary James Mattis and Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly. "They have a lot of trust in these individuals," McCain said. "We've just got to have a consistent message to these people who are seriously threatened, particularly our friends in the Baltics." McCain reiterated his confidence in the President's national security team. When asked how much confidence he has in Trump as commander-in-chief, McCain expressed some doubts -- pointing to the chaotic implementation of his travel restrictions on citizens from seven predominantly Muslim nations. "I worry about the President's understanding of some of these issues and his contradictory articulations. And I think the rollout of the, quote, immigration reform was an example of a need for an orderly decision-making process in the White House," McCain said. The 2008 Republican presidential nominee was troubled by Trump's response to a recent challenge in a Fox News interview that Russian President Vladimir Putin was "a killer" -- in which Trump said "What, do you think our country's so innocent?" "I guess it was Bill O'Reilly who said, 'But Putin is a killer.' And he basically said, 'So are we'," McCain said. "That moral equivalency is a contradiction of everything the US has ever stood for in the 20th and 21st century." "I think we should give the President the benefit of doubt. But at the same time, we have our responsibilities of advise and consent," he said. --IANS py/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress on Monday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his controversial "graveyard and cremation ground", remark alleging him of "vitiating" the atmosphere during the state polls. While urging the Election Commission to take cognizance of the matter and issue a notice, the party asked, if the Commission would initiate an inquiry into the matter. "The Prime Minister, true to his form, is vitiating the atmosphere during election time," Congress leader Anand Sharma told media. "He has tried to stir communal tensions and polarise the society. His speech on graveyard and crematoria, shows his mindset and reflects his true face," the Congress leader said. Sharma's remarks came a day after Modi addressed a rally in Uttar Pradesh's Fatehpur accusing the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party government of playing of discrimination. He also said that this was while his flagship schemes were benefiting all irrespective of their caste and religion. Modi on Sunday said: "If a village receives funds for a graveyard, then it should also get for cremation ground... If you provide uninterrupted power supply for Eid, then you should also do it for Holi." "It is clear BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) is heading towards a big defeat. Flustered and frustrated Modiji has lost all sense of balance in his speeches," the Congress leader added. "PM is not above the Constitution or the law. The Prime Minister would be better served to tell the people how many of his promises he has kept," Sharma added. The Congress leader accused the Prime Minister of not fulfilling his promises to the farmers made in 2014. "PM Modi has reduced the political debate to low levels. He is busy with election speeches, while governance is suffering. Who is running the nation? How is it being governed? PMs claims have been faulty. His promises are hollow," said Sharma. "We would like the PM to talk about development and progress rather than crematoriums and graveyards," he added. On the question that few Samajwadi Party leaders also abused the Prime Minister, Sharma said: "Congress party has not said anything that has assaulted the dignity of the office of the PM." "We have strong differences with the person who occupies the office. But at the same time, we have kept the decorum and dignity of the political discourse," he added. Asked if the discourse during the election campaigns has stooped low, Sharma said: "The PM and BJP President Amit Shah has always done that if you go by their language and statements. There will be some people who will not be as restrained as the Congress party. "People would react to what he says. He should not provoke people and use language which is unacceptable and unbecoming of the PM of India," he added. --IANS sid/ahm/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The members of Parliament in Britain's House of Commons have debated the proposed state visit by US President Donald Trump. As the politicians on Monday discussed the proposed state visit, shouts and noise from a "Stop Trump" rally taking place in London's in Parliament Square could be heard inside the Houses of Parliament, Xinhua news agency reported. It followed a petition to parliament signed by 1.85 million people calling for Prime Minister Theresa May's invitation to Trump to be withdrawn. A second petition, signed by more than 300,000 people supported a state visit to Trump during which Queen Elizabeth would host a state banquet. MP Paul Flynn said only two US presidents have been granted a state visit since 1952, but within seven days of Trump becoming president he had been invited to a state visit. Flynn described this as extraordinary and completely unprecedented. Emotions ran high among MPs who supported the visit and those backing opposition to the red carpet being rolled out for Trump. A number of MPs said Trump should have been invited to an official visit, a step down from a state visit. Conservative James Cartlidge said removing the invitation for a state visit will make Britain a "laughing stock" and would damage Britain's national interests. Labour MP Liam Byrne predicted that the level of protests "taking place in Parliament Square tonight" will look like a tea-party compared to the likely protests when Trump arrives in London. But the Foreign Office Minister Sir Alan Duncan said a state visit was part of plans for strengthening bilateral relations with the United States. Despite the petition, the second biggest since parliamentary petitions were introduced, there is no obligation on the government to act. --IANS pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday accused non-BJP parties of not developing Bundelkhand region in Uttar Pradesh and said all of them are "two sides of the same coin". "Among all Indian states Uttar Pradesh is in the worst condition. No development has taken place in Bundelkhand since dependence," Modi told an election rally in Orai area here. "It is not because the people of the region are not skilled, but it is all due to the kind of the government you people elect," he thundered. "You people elected a government, MLAs and ministers who have destroyed the region and this is visible everywhere. "Whether it is Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party or the Congress, they are two sides of the same coin." The Prime Minister promised to develop the area and said: "If we come to power, we will set up a Bundelkhand Development Board." The Bundelkhand region, which covers seven districts of southern Uttar Pradesh bordering Madhya Pradesh, will see the fourth phase of assembly election on Thursday. --IANS aks/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) February 19, 2017 For the last two months, mystery and confusion has shrouded Gen. Raheel Sharif, Pakistan's retired army chief, over whether he will be the supreme commander of the Saudi-led "Islamic military alliance" created by Riyadh in 2015. News of Sharif's appointment has been widely criticized in Pakistan, and the drama underscores the friction in the Saudi-Pakistani relationship. Sharif retired as chief of army staff last fall. The highlight of his tenure in office was a major crackdown on the Pakistani Taliban that has plagued the country with horrific terror attacks. Pakistan continued to support other terrorist organizations such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, but it is at war with the Pakistani Taliban and now with the Islamic State (IS) that has created an infrastructure in the country. The Saudi-led Islamic military alliance now has 40 members. Some Saudi commentators have argued that Pakistan should provide a commander for the group because it is the only Muslim country with nuclear weapons. In fact, Pakistan has the fastest growing nuclear arsenal in the world. A leader who has commanded a nuclear strike force would have credentials unlike any other Muslim general. Saudi Arabia has depended on Pakistani military support for decades. In the 1980s, thousands of Pakistani troops were deployed in the kingdom, but Pakistan refused Saudi requests to send troops to join the Saudi war in Yemen against the Houthi rebels. In 2015, the Pakistani parliament voted unanimously against joining the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen; only the extremists such as Lashkar-e-Taiba supported deploying troops to Yemen. Appointing Sharif commander of the military alliance would enhance the credibility of the so-called Arab NATO. The alliance has carried out military exercises in the kingdom, but it has not developed a strong joint command or headquarters staffed by representatives of its 40 members. For two months now, it has been unclear whether Sharif has been formally offered the post or if he will take it. Initially the Pakistani Defense Ministry said he had accepted the position, but no Saudi sources confirmed this. Recently, the Saudi media has reported that he is on track to get the job, but again that is uncertain. Much of the uncertainty involves controversy inside Pakistan about whether Sharif should take the command. Since the Islamic military alliance excludes Iran and Iraq, it is seen as a Sunni entente against the Shiites. The alliance exercises have been clearly targeting Iran. Pakistan's large Shiite community is opposed to joining a blatantly anti-Iranian alliance, and Sunni Pakistani politicians are also against tilting the country against Iran. Pakistani officials want to maintain cordial relations with both Riyadh and Tehran, as sectarian tensions are already intense and violent in Pakistan. The Pakistani Taliban and IS are exploiting the sectarian divide and targeting Shiites. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (not related to Raheel Sharif) is especially keen to prevent the country from moving away from a balanced approach to the Saudi-Iranian rivalry. There may also be some disagreements inside the kingdom about whether Sharif should be in command of the alliance. Saudi Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman has been the leading force in the creation of the alliance, and his influence might be seen to be diminished if the Pakistanis took command. The Saudis are very hopeful that the new US administration will be a strong opponent of the Iranians. Riyadh wants Washington to reverse Tehran's gains in Iraq and Syria; it wants uncritical American support in Yemen. Pakistan is much more nervous about US foreign policy. On Jan. 30, Lashkar-e-Taiba leader Hafiz Saeed was placed under house arrest, to create the impression that the group is being controlled. This is a well-practiced Pakistani game intended to forestall pressure for Pakistan to be tough on terrorism. The mystery surrounding Sharif may never be resolved; the confusion is indicative of some dysfunctional decision-making in both Riyadh and Islamabad. Opinion / Columnist The need for Zimbabwe to hold free, fair and credible elections next year is now the single most important issue on the nation's agenda because it is the pre-requisite to economic recovery. Zimbabwe's economic meltdown has seen unemployment soar to 90% and the number will be boasted by another 200 000 who will be send back from SA end of the year; basic services such as health, education and supply of clean water have all but collapsed; millions of our people now live in abject poverty; etc. The economic situation is totally intolerable and unsustainable; we are now standing on the very edge of the precipice.We need do no something to revive the economy and save the nation from tumbling over the edge into economic, social and political chaos. We know what we need to do to revive the economy - end the mismanagement, corruption and lawlessness. We have done nothing to address these economic evils for the last 37 years because we are stuck with this Zanu PF regime that will not do anything to address these problems and, worse still, rigs elections to justify its continued stay in power and stopping anyone else getting into power and address the economic problems.For years, my anger and frustration has been directed at President Mugabe and Zanu PF for dragging the nation into this economic mess and for creating this de facto one party dictatorship the has made it very difficult to get out of the mess. But in recent years my anger and frustration has turned on Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends; whilst they have continued to keep up the outward appearance of fighting in the common people's corner to bring democratic change it is now increasing clear they are the ones now stopping change, for their own selfish reasons!Tsvangirai and his MDC friends sold-out during the GNU years; they accepted President Mugabe's gravy train lifestyle bribes plus a $4 million Highland mansion for Tsvangirai himself and, in return, they saw to it that not even one democratic reform was implemented. This is a well-established historic fact that no one, worth his salt, can dispute!As if selling-out during the GNU was not bad enough, MDC leaders continue to undermine the people's struggle to end this Zanu PF dictatorship with their mind boggling mediocracy or out and out betrayal!"Recent reports to the effect that the bankrupt and faction infested Zanu PF regime has, all of a sudden, managed to raise the more than US$17 million that is needed to acquire biometric voter registration kits are very disturbing," said a recent MDC-T statement. "The MDC is deeply concerned about the improper involvement of the Zanu PF regime in the acquisition of the biometric voter registration kits.""For the record, the Constitution of Zimbabwe specifically provides, under Section 232, that the ZEC is one of the five (5) independent Commissions. This essentially means that ZEC should be getting its own budgetary allocation from the national budget for the purpose of running its operations."The issue of making sure the next elections are free and fair is a serious matter and making sure that ZEC is independent, voter registration and voting are transparent, etc. are all very important. It is therefore very disappointed that MDC are trivialising these matters by making a mountain out of mole hills. MDC should be calling for the wholesale democratic reforms of the funding, appointment and supervision of ZEC and not waste time on minor issues of no consequence. Accepting UNDP funding of the biometric voting kit would not have guaranteed ZEC's independence or stopped the regime corrupting the system afterwards.As for Zimbabwe government being "bankrupt", MDC-T leaders should know by now that there is a "parallel government in Zimbabwe, the Joint Operation Command (JOC), with its own source of funding", as Tendai Biti, when he was Minister of Finance in the GNU, rightly pointed out. Whilst the formal government is bankrupt JOC is loaded with cash.It was JOC that paid the US$20 million for Zanu PF's fleet of new 365 off-road vehicles, in preparation for next year's elections. Zanu PF must have spent $4 billion, at least, in 2013 elections and the party has already started spending money as if there is no tomorrow, at this rate the party will burn $10 billion for 2018 elections.The funding disparity between Zanu PF and the opposition is so big; it is no exaggeration to say the latter have already lost the elections! It is also in the nation's interest to establish the sources of Zanu PF's lavish finance; given big hospitals like Harare and Mpilo Hospitals have been running out of life saving basic drugs due to decades of underfunding!"We are not going to allow a situation whereby the moribund and corrupt Zanu PF regime will be allowed to steal the people's vote in Election 2018.The MDC is doing everything possible to ensure that the biometric voter registration kits are going to be supplied by a legitimate and credible company and not by a surrogate company of Nikuv that is manipulated and controlled from Chaminuka and Munhumutapa Buildings in Harare," concluded MDC-T.This is just hot-air coming out of Harvest House, MDC-T HQ!MDC-T were warned not contest the 2013 elections without implementing the reforms first, they did not listen. They were confident they will win regardless of the Zanu PF vote rigging shenanigans. It was only after the rigged elections that MDC leaders came to their senses and accepted that reforms were important. The party resolved to boycott elections until reforms are implemented. "No reforms, no elections!" they agreed.MDC-T has failed to get even one democratic reform implemented since the July 2013 elections. Not one! And yet, surprise, surprise they are going to contest next year's elections! They are assuring us here they "doing everything" to stop Zanu PF rigging the 2018 elections and yet they have done NOTHING.Indeed MDC-T are doing everything to make it easy for Zanu PF to get away with another rigged elections because by participating they are giving the whole process a measure of democratic credibility! Zanu PF has since learned that by allowing the opposition to win a few seats they will participate in elections regardless how flawed and unfair the process happens to be.MDC-T sold-out during the GNU by failing to implement even one reform. They sold-out by participating in flawed 2013 elections in total disregard of the warning not to. They are now preparing to participate in the flawed 2018 election in disregard of their own resolution of "No reform, no elections!"We want to stop Zanu PF rigging the 2018 elections we can do so be stopping Tsvangirai and his band of sell-out opposition friends from contesting the flawed elections! As the Shona would say "Kukwira gomo kupoterera!" (The most direct uphill route is not necessarily the quickest, easiest or surest way up a mountain!) Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Monday said that enhanced security arrangements along Pakistan-Afghanistan border were to fight common enemy -- "terrorists off all hue and colour". He was chairing a high-level security meeting at the Army General Headquarters in Rawalpindi. Pakistan and Afghanistan have fought against terrorism and shall continue this effort together, the Inter-Services Public Relation said in a statement. The army chief directed for more effective border coordination and cooperation with Afghan security forces to prevent cross-border movement of terrorists, including all types of illegal movement. Gen Bajwa also welcomed recent proposals from Afghan authorities to take forward the mutual coordination for results oriented efforts against terrorism. --IANS ahm/vt (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The police in Pakistan's Sindh province released a video allegedly showing the Sehwan attacker bypassing a security check at the Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine last week. The suicide attack targeting a Sufi shrine on February 16 killed at least 88 people and injured hundreds others. It is one among a deadly series of attacks carried out by militants in recent weeks. Inspector General Police Sindh A.D. Khawaja was quoted by the Dawn on Sunday as saying during a press conference that the man shown in the CCTV footage was "99 per cent" the suicide bomber. He described the man as an Afghan national, saying that the 'attacker' saw the police officer at the gate and decided to go the other way. The attacker is suspected of involvement in the Shikarpur and Jacobabad blasts, the IGP said, adding that the involvement of a man named Hafeez Brohi in the Sehwan attack could not be ruled out, as he had a terrorist network in Sindh. The IGP said that police have arrested one man in connection to the Sehwan carnage in Johi, a town in Sindh's Dadu district. The suspected facilitator has been shifted to an undisclosed location for further investigation, he added. The Sindh government will have the case investigated through Sindh police's Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), as was done in suicide bombings in Jacobabad during Ashura and at Shikarpur's shrine, and then again last year in Shikarpur on the second day of Eidul Azha. Sehwan police had lodged a case on February 17 against one suicide bomber and three facilitators involved in the suicide bombing. The accused remained unidentified. The shrine has now been opened for the general public. --IANS qd/pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A former Filipino police official has accused President Rodrigo Duterte of heading death squads to kill off detractors during his tenure as mayor of Davao city, a media report said. In a news conference in the Senate, Arturo Lascanas, who served as an officer in the National Police until December 2016, admitted the Davao death squad was real, Efe news reported. Lascanas said Duterte used to pay them "20,000 pesos ($400) for each kill", and sometimes even 50,000 or 100,000 pesos. However, in October, Lascanas, one of the policemen closest to Duterte in his over 20 years as Davao mayor in the period between 1988-2016, had denied the existence of death squads. The former policeman regretted his earlier statement and called it "all lies" and confessed to his role in some of the killings allegedly ordered by Duterte. He added Duterte gave him 3 million pesos to hire a hitman to kill radio commentator Jun Pala in 2003. Lascanas added in 1993 he had direct orders from Duterte to kill religious leader Jun Barsabal for land-grabbing in Davao, and also submitted an affidavit saying he was ready to testify before any government agency, including the Senate. Last year, the upper house of Parliament conducted a probe into the Davao death squads -- said to be responsible for killing over a thousand people - but did not find sufficient evidence to prove their existence. --IANS ksk/vt (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Diversified EPC conglomerate Punj Lloyd on Monday said it won two contracts worth Rs 348 crore in its verticals- pipelines from the Mumbai Port Trust and in tankage from Adani Group. "The company has received Letters of Award from Adani for EPCC (design, engineering, construction and commissioning) of refrigerated double wall storage tanks and mounded bullets for its LPG terminal at Mundra worth Rs 139 crore and from Mumbai Port Trust for installation of offshore/onshore pipeline and terminal work for the 'Fifth Oil (J5) Berth' at Jawahar Dweep in Mumbai harbour for a contract value of Rs 209 crore," the firm said. Atul Jain, the Company Director and CEO of the Pipeline and Tankage Division, said: "Pipelines and tankage have been our core competence." Jain said construction of the fifth oil berth will enable Mumbai Port Trust to meet the additional requirement of crude for oil companies. --IANS bdc/sm/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Russian Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Vitaly Churkin died on Monday in New York, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "The Russian Foreign Ministry is saddened to announce the death of Vitaly Churkin, Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN, on Monday in New York, a day before his 65th birthday," said the brief statement, without disclosing the cause of his death, Xinhua news agency reported. The ministry expressed its condolences and hailed Churkin as an "outstanding diplomat," who has served as Russian envoy to the UN since 2006. UN Secretary-General Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq said he was shocked by Churkin's sudden death and mourned him, RIA Novosti news agency reported. --IANS pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court on Monday indicated that it may refer a plea for allowing the entry of women aged between 10 to 50 years in Kerala's Sabarimala temple to a five-judge constitution bench. The bench of Justice Dipak Misra, Justice R. Banumathi and Justice Ashok Bhushan reserved its verdict on the plea seeking the reference of the issue to a constitution bench as it involved important questions of law and the interpretation of the constitution. It gave both sides -- the petitioner Indian Young Lawyers Association for the opening of the temple gates to women in the age group of 10 to 50 years and Travancore Davaswom Board and others opposing the plea -- a week's time to file their written submissions. The top court had in July 11, 2016 hearing indicated that it may refer the question whether the constitutional right to equality of a woman could be raised to "interfere" with the religious beliefs and customs denying entry to women in Sabarimala temple to its constitution bench. The question was whether women's right to equality before law guaranteed under Article 14 could be invoked in the face of the freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion guaranteed under Article 25 and Freedom to manage religious affairs guaranteed under Article 26 of the constitution. At the outset of the hearing today, senior counsel K.K. Venugopal appearing for the Travancore Davaswom Board, which manages the Sabarimala temple, reiterated his earlier plea that since the issue before the court involved substantial question of law and the interpretation of the constitution, it should be referred to a constitution bench. The court also indicated that it may refer the question whether with the change in the political party in power, could there be a change in the position taken by the state before the court. During July 11, 2016 hearing senior counsel Jaideep Gupta appearing for the Kerala government had told the court that State government was of the view that women of all ages should be permitted entry into the temple and worship the deity. However, Venugopal had said that the stand or stance cannot be altered at the convenience of a party in power. This assumes significance as after coming to power, the CPM-led Left Front government has favoured the entry of women of all ages into Sabarimala temple -- a position that is divergent from the one earlier taken by the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government. The CPM-led Left Front government in 2007 had filed an affidavit saying that it favoured entry of women in the temple but this position was reversed in an affidavit filed by the Congress-led UDF government in February 2016. --IANS pk/lok/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chief Minister-designate Shurhozeilie Leizietsu on Monday met Governor P B Acharya here to stake claim to form a new government. He will take oath on Wednesday. Shurhozeilie will be the 17th Chief Minister of . The 81-year-old Naga People's Front (NPF) leader was elected head of the NPF legislature party after Chief Minister T R Zeliang resigned on Sunday night bowing to the demands of protesting tribal groups opposed to his move to hold civic polls with 33 per cent reservation for women. The Governor accepted Zeliang's resignation but asked him to continue in office till an alternative arrangement was made. "Shurhozeilie will take the oath of office as the Chief Minister on February 22 along with his council of ministers," a Raj Bhavan official told IANS. Initially, the NPF legislators had plans to elect Nagaland's lone Lok Sabha member, Neiphiu Rio, as their legislature party leader. Rio, a three-time Chief Minister, met the NPF legislators at a resort in Assam's Kaziranga National Park on Saturday. In 2015, Rio had made attempts to oust Zeliang but the NPF had last year suspended him and former Home Minister Imkong Imchen from the party for anti-party activities. "Shurhozelie has been unanimously elected the new legislature party leader of the NPF and also of the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) government," Nagaland's lone Rajya Sabha member K G Kenye told IANS. The legislators also elected Zeliang as Chairman of the DAN Co-ordination Committee. The NPF is the major constituent of the opposition-less DAN coalition government with 48 legislators, including its suspended NPF member Imkong Imchen, in the 60-member Nagaland assembly. Eight independents and four Bharatiya Janata Party legislators are part of the DAN government. In his acceptance speech after he was unanimously elected Leader of the DAN legislature party, Shurhozelie lauded Zeling's "supreme sacrifice" of vacating his chair to save Naga people from going into further turmoil. "I will do my best to see that we work together to bring back normalcy to our land and society. A lot of damage has been done to the fair name of Nagaland and our economy has been adversely affected in the last few weeks. I hope good sense will prevail so that people can come together and rebuild our society," the Chief Minister-designate said. Shurhozelie has been elected to the Nagaland assembly eight times from Northern Angami assembly constituency. But he did not contest the 2013 election and paved way for his son Khriehu Leizietsu. Khriehu was inducted as parliamentary secretary of youth resources and sports, Music Task Force and state lottery in the Zeliang government. He is likely to vacate his seat for his father to contest the by-election after six months. Nagaland has been in turmoil since January after Zeliang decided to hold local body elections in 12 towns across the state. The government has been in limbo following an indefinite shutdown. Meanwhile, the powerful Naga Student's Federation has asked the government to restore internet and mobile data services that have been suspended since January 31. Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who has not campaigned in the ongoing Uttar Pradesh elections, didn't figure in the party's campaign schedule for Tuesday -- the last day to seek votes for the fourth phase of balloting on Thursday. The party released its schedule late Monday for rallies to be addressed by Sonia Gandhi's son and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi in Rae Bareli -- the Congress bastion and its President's Lok Sabha constituency. According to the schedule, Rahul Gandhi would address a road show in Allahabad along with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav as the Congress and Samajwadi Party are contesting the polls together. Sonia Gandhi has not attended a single rally in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa -- the five states where elections began early this month. Goa, Punjab and Uttarakhand have voted while staggered polling in Uttar Pradesh that began on February 11 will end on March 8. Manipur votes on March 4 and 8. Results of all the elections will be known on March 11. This is for the first time in Sonia Gandhi's political career that she has skipped election campaign for the party she has headed since 1998. The Congress President was listed one of the star campaigners for the party. She was expected to canvass for Congress candidates in Rae Bareli -- spread over five assembly constituencies. But she had not been keeping well since August last year when she was taken ill at a public meeting in Varanasi. She also skipped much of the budget session of Parliament this month. A Congress leader told IANS on condition of anonymity that Sonia Gandhi won't attend any public rally in Uttar Pradesh and Manipur. --IANS sid/sar/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Thousands of people across the US are planning to protest on President's Day against President Donald Trump and his policies, according to media reports. The President's Day is a federal holiday observed on the third Monday of February in honour of George Washington, the first US President. According to a report in NBC News, people in large numbers spent their President's Day Weekend at "Not My President's Day" rallies and more such rallies are expected to take place in at least 25 cities across the US on Monday. On Facebook, more than 12,000 New Yorkers said they would attend "Not My President's Day" on Monday while 47,000 have showed their interest in the event. Another rally that is expected to take place on Monday in Chicago is claimed to be aimed at uniting the people. "Focusing on just one issue, like immigration, would serve the administration's purpose and further divide the country," Laura Hartman, Chicago rally coordinator, was quoted as saying. "We want to fight the entirety of the administration," she said. The rally is expected to witness a gathering of around 3,000 people and members from the American Federation of Government Employees, Sousaphones Against Hate, and others are scheduled to speak at the event. According to the report, Georgia organisers are planning a 'peach-ful' march in Atlanta that hundreds of demonstrators have signed up for on Facebook. Nearly 1,000 protesters in Dallas took to streets on Saturday and chanted "Immigrants are welcome here" slogans. "My parents are immigrants, they came here in the late 1980s, and I can't allow their memory of what they've done and I can't let their sacrifices be impugned by people wanting to scapegoat brown people and black people for all the problems US has," one protester was quoted as saying. "We're not the problem, we're the solution," the protestor added. The organiser of the protests, Eric Ramsey, said he hoped that the rallies would let the establishment know that people do not agree with its policies. "We do not agree with the hateful policies they are putting into place that further marginalise these communities," Ramsey was quoted as saying. Protesters also demanded "an immediate stop to the ICE raids and deportations," and pressed for Los Angeles to be established as a sanctuary city. Dressed in black, hundreds of protesters in New York City's Washington Square attended a mock funeral for President's Day and listened as a eulogy was delivered for the US presidency. --IANS qd/pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Donald Trump's close aides met privately with a member of the Ukrainian Parliament to discuss a peace plan for that country, media reports said on Monday. Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen and former business associate Felix Sater met Ukranian politician Andrii V. Artemenko to discuss the policy that could give Russia long-term control over the Crimean peninsula it seized in 2014 and lead to the lifting of sanctions against Moscow, Washington Post said. Cohen is a Trump Organisation lawyer since 2007, and Sater is a former business partner who worked on real estate projects with Trump's company. A week before Michael T. Flynn resigned as National Security Adviser, a sealed proposal was hand-delivered to his office, outlining a way for Trump to lift sanctions against Russia, the New York Times reported on Sunday. "At a time when Trump's ties to Russia, and the people connected to him, are under heightened scrutiny with investigations by American intelligence agencies, the FBI and Congress, some of his associates remain willing and eager to wade into Russia-related efforts behind the scenes," the media report said. Acknowledging that the meeting took place, Cohen told the Post: "I acknowledge that the brief meeting took place, but emphatically deny discussing this topic or delivering any documents to the White House and/or General Flynn." --IANS ruwa/in/vt (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Opinion / Columnist Dear President Robert Mugabe!Your Excellence!Our African tradition requires that, I congratulate you on your 93rd birthday irrespective of our political differences. As a practicing Catholic yourself, I believe you are thanking His Almighty for a long life. Your peers never lived to celebrate this milestone in your life. Some died in the hands of the colonialists during the liberation struggle, others died during your rule due to poverty following the neo liberal policies that your regime implemented over the years, while others died during Gukurahundi, which in your own words, "was a moment of madness".I therefore find it difficult to wish you a happy birthday but as tradition requires, I say to you, happy birthday Cde President. In IsiNdebele we say, " akusilima sindlebende kwaso", this basically means, despite your "moment of madness" you are still one of us - an African.It is in that African spirit that, I have chosen to write you this open letter.Some few years back, the ZANU (PF) Youth League adopted, through your advice a political programme known as the '21st February Movement'. This 21st Movement is meant to coincide with your birthday; it is on this day that young people in Zimbabwe and abroad are expected to celebrate your political ideas as articulated by yourself as leader of ZANU since its inception and your leadership of an independent Zimbabwe. Over the years, the 21st Movement had sought to confer a cult status on you.We have seen the hero worshiping of you by members of your party. Some have even gone to call you 'the second Son of God'. This cultism was rejected by Cde Fidel Castro, the father of scientific socialism. At the funeral of Cde Fidel, the Cuban President, Cde Raul Castro said,"The leader of the revolution rejected any manifestation of a cult of personality and was consistent in that through the last hours of his life, insisting that, once dead, his name and likeness would never be used on institutions, streets, parks or other public sites, and that busts, statutes or other forms of tribute would never be erected,"The 21st Movement has nothing to do with the Zimbabwean struggle against colonialism and imperialism, but has everything to do with a selfish individual who seek personal glory at the expense of poor Zimbabweans who gave their all for the liberation of our people, of whom some paid the ultimate price. As the ZANU (PF) Youth League gather in Matobo district,Matabeleland South in a few days time to sing your praises, its critical for me and other progressive Africans to unpack your political ideas and what they mean to the youth of today.You will agree with me Cde President that we can not separate your political ideas from those of your party ZANU (PF). You will recall Cde President, that as a young man teaching in Ghana, you were inspired by the Ghanian independence to an extent that you joined the only authentic liberation movement ZAPU, a broad nationalist liberation movement at the time, supported by the Soviet Union, Cuba and other Communist countries. ZAPU at the time was in alliance with the ANC and other progressive liberation movements.As you will recall Cde President, this was during the Cold War, where the imperialists as led by the Americans and the British were engaged in struggle , seeking to limit the influence of Soviet Union in Sub Saharan Africa. The imperialists used the CIA as a tool in destabilising the liberation movements through splits and by sharing intelligence information with colonial governments in arresting the political leadership as was the case with Cde Nelson Mandela and others. The arrest of President Nelson Mandela in 1962 on his way from Durban was part of the imperialist plot which sought not only to derail the revolutionary liberation movement but to fight communists. Agence France -Presse writes - "A tip from a CIA spy to authorities in apartheid-era South Africa led to Nelson Mandela's arrest, beginning the leader's 27 years behind bars, a report said on Sunday.Donald Rickard, a former US vice-consul in Durban and CIA operative, told British film director John Irvin that he had been involved in Mandela's arrest in 1962, which was seen as necessary because the Americans believed he was "completely under the control of the Soviet Union", according to a report in the Sunday Times newspaper."He could have incited a war in South Africa, the United States would have to get involved, grudgingly, and things could have gone to hell," Rickard said."We were teetering on the brink here and it had to be stopped, which meant Mandela had to be stopped. And I put a stop to it." It is the Americans and their British friends who characterised the ANC as a terrorist movement. This is the liberation movement which inspired nationalists in Zimbabwe to embark on revolutionary journey by establishing the UNDP which latter changed to ZAPU following the unbanning of the UNDP. At the time Cde President, you were the Secretary of Information and Publicity in ZAPU.The CIA had to infiltrate other liberation movements and governments to exert the imperialist influence. It was during this period that Congo's liberation hero Cde Patrice Lumumba was assassinated and the imperialists installed their man, Mobuto. In Mozambique and Angola, the imperialists created and funded Renamo and Unita respectively. In our case, the imperialists used some of our leaders to split the liberation movement in 1963. You are one such leader who broke away from ZAPU to join ZANU, a reactionary movement. A reactionary movement is characterised by thuggery, lack of organisational discipline, looting of resources, killing of those who hold different political views, advances the imperialist agenda. This defines ZANU from the days of the liberation struggle up to date.You will recall Cde President that, the 1963 split was not based on ethnicity but was influenced by the West. The CIA recruited some of our intellectuals who caused the split, in the process raising the tribal card as a way of dividing our people. Your government has over the years taught lies in our schools claiming that, Dr Nkomo never wanted to commit to the liberation struggle hence the split. It is common cause Cde President that, ZANU was created by the imperialists in 1963 with the sole purpose of installing a puppet government. This imperialist political project paid off in 1980 when you were sworn into office on the 18th April 1980 as the Prime Minister of an independent Zimbabwe. Your "victory" in 1980 was celebrated by the imperialists.The then American diplomat Andrew Young, said that your victory was a victory for the Western diplomacy as your victory would push back the Soviet influence in our region. When vote rigging was reported to Margret Thacher in 1980 and was asked to nullify the results, she refused. To her and others, Britain could not just hand over political power to the black people but she had the responsibility of handing over political power to a man who would protect British interests in a newly independent Zimbabwe.You became that man Cde President until the Conservatives lost power in Britain in 1997 and you could not be trusted by the Labour Party as led by Tony Blair. When you assumed political office in 1980, your cabinet became the managers of British business interests ,whipping into line the workers, ensuring that the workers struggle for better working conditions and a living wage was defeated. You facilitated the formation of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), appointed your late brother Albert Mugabe as its first Secretary General. The ZCTU was basically the organ of your party. It began to fight for autonomy and independence after your government attempted to force through the one party state, corruption, and the introduction of the neo liberal Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP) in 1991.The whole idea of the 21st February Movement by the ZANU (PF) Youth League to indoctrinate our young people with what they call, your political ideas or to be specific, 'Mugabeism' is totally misplaced. The Robert Gabriel Mugabe I know is a creation of imperialist forces, who got dumped by his handlers as they did with Mobuto of Zaire and others. I was listening to you Cde President when you spoke of the late Brother Leader, Col Gaddafi in 2011 following his assassination by NATO and her allies. You seemed to offer wise counsel, that the mistake Brother Leader did was to trust the imperialists, not forgetting that your party ZANU and its entire leadership was created by the same imperialists in 1963.I have had the opportunity to speak to my brothers and sisters in Johannesburg, who come from the rest of the Continent. They speak highly of you Cde President, they see you as a true Pan Africanist. I might say, you have done well in controlling the media and projecting yourself as a true champion against imperialism.But your charm is fading away Cde President, one of the young leaders who once admired you, Julius Malema now says you are a 'national disaster" and we must declare you as such. His message is beginning to resonate with young people across the Continent who are fighting for economic and political freedom. One thing you did Cde President after you were dumped by your political handlers, the British and the Americans, you moved to the far left, typical of National bourgeoisies who are always in competition with imperialist forces for the control of our natural resources, not to the benefit of the masses , but for its selfish benefit. The looting of diamonds , our gold, our timber, our coal, our cattle, our money has been the hallmark of your leadership as you sought to prevent the imperialists from looting while ,you , your family and your political appointees continue to loot.As you celebrate your 93rd birthday in Matobo, the whole nation is in mourning over the genocide you committed in the '80s in Matebeleland and parts of Midlands, over the collapsed economy, and over other evils associated with your leadership.Our African custom does not allow young people like myself to give advice to an elderly person like yourself Cde President. I will stick to our tradition and customs by not giving you any advice. What I will do though, is to give political advice to the young people in your party who mistake you for a revolutionary. You are not and you have never been one.My advice to the young people in your party is that, first and foremost, they must study Marxism and Leninism. One of the great revolutionaries Che Guevara says, "one of the things that young people must do, is to learn". The study of Marxism and Leninism will open their revolutionary eyes and begin to disassociate themselves from a reactionary movement like your party ,ZANU (PF) which they mistake for a revolutionary party. It is not revolutionary in character. A revolutionary party will never drive its citizens out of the country, it will instead transform the commanding heights of the economy to the benefit of the masses not to the benefit of its political leadership like yourself who buy holiday homes in the Far East or get medical treatment in foreign lands.A revolutionary party advances, deepens and defends the struggle of the working class and the poor, it does not destroy the economy and force 94% of the working people into the informal economy who get abused by the military police on daily basis. Nor does a revolutionary party hold the peasants into hostage by destroying industries and agriculture ,then use food aid as a political weapon. The peasants in villages are not interested in food aid, they want to control the decisive means of production. They cannot be given land without title deeds, how do they apply for agricultural loans?A revolutionary party defends our sovereignty, rejects imperialism and national bourgeoisie. It advocates for peoples power in communities and the workplace. This is why a revolutionary party builds peoples power in communities and the working place. This political power must be used by the masses in electing their political representatives and reject this notion of building a centre of power to an individual as is the case in your party. The Freedom Charter says, among others, "...the people shall govern" , it does not say, "the leadership shall govern". Our own heroes, the likes of Makhathini Guduza, whom you denied hero status participated in the drafting of the Freedom Charter before they joined the liberation movement back home.Cde President, let me once again wish you well as you celebrate your 93rd birthday amid poverty in our society. If I had my way, I would confine you to your village in Zvimba and allow you to celebrate your birthday with your family only. As you celebrate your birthday, as young revolutionaries, we get inspiration from the words of Cde Che Guevara who said, "Am not a liberator. Liberators do not exist. The people shall liberate themselves". Indeed, we the people shall liberate ourselves from your dictatorship.Yours Comradely,Cde Ngqabutho Nicholas MabhenaA political activist and a student of Marxism and Leninism.Contact - +27 83 340 1000Email - ngqabuthomabhena@gmail.com US President Donald Trump has named Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster as his new national security adviser, succeeding Michael Flynn, who left last week amid criticism of his pre-inauguration contacts with the Russian ambassador. "General H.R. McMaster will become the national security adviser. He's a man of tremendous talent and tremendous experience," Trump, who was accompanied by the general, said in a surprise announcement at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, Efe news reported on Monday. "I watched and read a lot over the last two days. He is highly respected by everyone in the military and we're very honored to have him," the President added. McMaster, who holds a PhD in military history and is the author of a book - "Dereliction of Duty" - that criticizes the "lies" that led to the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War, had not been regarded as one of the frontrunners for the post. Retired Vice Adm. Robert Harward had been offered the post last week, but he turned it down due to a staffing dispute. Retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, who also was present for the announcement, was named McMaster's chief of staff. Neither post requires Senate confirmation. Flynn stepped down last week after a leaked transcript showed he discussed sanctions on Russia with that country's ambassador to the US prior to Trump's inauguration. Trump said retired Lt. Gen. Flynn was asked to resign because he had lied to Vice President Mike Pence when he told him that the topic of sanctions had not been addressed during the phone call. Flynn's exit has been one of the biggest crises of Trump's first month in office. Trump spent the weekend in Florida, where he announced that he would meet with possible candidates for the post of national security adviser, and is scheduled to return to Washington on Monday night. --IANS pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President Donald Trump's revised travel ban targets the same seven countries listed in his original executive order and exempts green card holders and those who already have a visa to travel to the US, even if they have not used it yet. According to a senior White House official, the order will target only those same seven Muslim-majority nations -- Iran, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, Sudan and Libya. The President came up with a second order after federal courts held up his immigration and refugee ban. The order could come sometime this week, Fox News reported. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the order, said green card holders and dual citizens of the US and any of those countries were exempted. The new draft also no longer directs authorities to single out -- and reject -- Syrian refugees when processing new visa applications. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the version being circulated was a draft and the final version should be released soon. Trump's original executive order triggered chaos at airports across the US, as travellers were detained when the order rapidly went into effect, US permanent residents known as green card holders among them. Attorneys provided legal assistance to those held and protesters descended on the airports as news of the order's implementation spread. The order temporarily suspended for 90 days all travel to the US for citizens of those seven countries. The original order also called for Homeland Security and State Department officials, along with the director of national intelligence, to review what information the government needed to fully vet would-be visitors. It asked them to come up with a list of countries that cannot or would not make the information available. It said the government would give countries 60 days to start providing the information else citizens from those countries would be barred from travelling to the US. Even if Syrian refugees are no longer automatically rejected under the new order, the pace of refugees entering the US from all countries is likely to slow significantly. That is because even when the courts put Trump's original ban on hold, they left untouched the President's 50,000 per year refugee cap, a cut of more than half from the cap under the Obama administration. The US has already taken in more than 35,000 refugees this year, leaving less than 15,000 spots before hitting Trump's cap. This means that for the rest of this fiscal year, the number of refugees being let in per week will likely fall to a fraction of what it had been under the Obama administration's cap of 110,000. The travel ban again came under attack when the ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco refused to reinstate the ban, unanimously rejecting the administration's claim of presidential authority, questioning its motives and ability to survive legal challenges. The pushback prompted Trump to tweet "SEE YOU IN COURT!" and he has since lashed out at the judicial branch, accusing it of issuing a politically motivated decision. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, speaking at the Munich Security Conference about combating terrorism, said Trump was working on a "streamlined" version of the initial executive order. Kelly said Trump's order was designed as a "temporary pause" to allow him to "see where our immigration and vetting system has gaps -- and gaps it has -- that could be exploited". He said the Trump administration was surprised when US courts blocked the order and now "the President is contemplating releasing a tighter, more streamlined version" of the ban. This time he will be able to "make sure that there's no one caught in the system of moving from overseas to our airports". Kelly mentioned "seven nations" again on Saturday, leading to speculation they will all be included in Trump's next executive order. The President's order sparked an immediate backlash and saw chaos and outrage, with travellers detained at airports, panicked families searching for relatives and protesters marching against the sweeping measure -- parts of which were blocked by several federal courts. --IANS py/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Donald Trump was trolled on Twitter for his garbled remarks that something terrible had happened in Sweden last week. According to a report in Politico on Sunday, while he was talking about terror attacks across Europe, Trump told his supporters at a Florida rally: "Look at what's happening last night in Sweden." It baffled the Swedes and others as nothing particularly unusual had happened in Sweden. "Sweden? Terror Attack? What has he been smoking? Questions abound," former Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt wrote on Twitter. Soon after his statement, Twitter was flooded with hashtags ridiculing Trump for his remarks. Hasgtags like "LastNightInSweden" and "PrayForSweden" emerged on Twitter that made jokes about what Trump might had been referring to. --IANS qd/pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The UK's attempts to "blackmail and divide" European Union (EU) countries in the run-up to Brexit negotiations will lead to a disastrous "crash-landing" out of the bloc, European politicians have told the Guardian. The leaders added that the approach being pursued by UK Prime Minister Theresa May's government will leave the UK without a free trade deal -- with perilous consequences for the country. Formal talks are due to open next month, but a trio of parliamentary leaders and a close ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel have said those talks risk ending in failure unless Britain changes what they say are "divide and rule" tactics. "The benefits go to the UK only," Tomas Prouza, the Czech Minister for EU Affairs, told the daily on Sunday. "There is a real danger that British politics, with all its whipped up resentments of Europe, will mean British negotiators are unable to compromise, and we will head for a crash-landing." Elmar Brok, a German Member of the European Parliament (MEP), said the British government should not underestimate the strength of the EU's resolve. He said colleagues had told him Britain was seeking to win over MEPs, but it would end in failure. "They believe they can take members of Parliament out of certain nations...to win support by dividing us. If they try to negotiate while trying to interfere in our side, then we can do that too. We can make a big fuss over Scotland or Northern Ireland." Gianni Pittella, leader of the socialist bloc in the European Parliament, said the UK's apparent attempt to split Europe was "certainly not the best way to kick off very complicated negotiations. This inappropriate attitude could undermine the outcome." He also said recent threats that Britain could become a low-tax state if it did not achieve a good deal with the EU were a form of blackmail: "I was surprised because I don't think it is in the interests of the UK to open this phase in an aggressive way. We reject this blackmail. It is not fair, it is not elegant, it is not useful." The UK is slated to trigger Article 50 -- formal process to exit the EU -- next month. --IANS ksk/vt (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US Vice President Mike Pence on Monday reaffirmed "strong commitments" to the European Union (EU) in a bid to allay the bloc's doubts on the new administration's stance towards it. "Today is my privilege to be on behalf of President (Donald) Trump, to express strong commitments of the United States to continue cooperation and partnership with the EU," Pence said at a joint press conference with European Council President Donald Tusk after their meeting in Brussels. He stressed that despite differences between the US and the EU, the two sides "share the same heritage, the same values, above all the same purpose to promote peace, prosperity, freedom, and rule of law," Xinhua news agency reported. Earlier on Monday, Pence met with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, who in her tweeter hailed the "excellent meeting" as "good basis for our cooperation". Pence will meet with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg later in the day. Pence is on his diplomatic foray to Brussels, after attending the Munich Security Conference in Germany. Pence said on Saturday at the conference that his country would "strongly support NATO" as European members of the military alliance were worried about security uncertainties arising from possible change in US policy. While seeking to reassure European leaders, Pence also urged NATO members to shoulder their fair share. "NATO requires your commitment as much as ours," he added. --IANS ksk/vt (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Author Sanchit Gupta, who has debuted with a novel based in of the early 1990s when militancy peaked and saw mass exodus of Hindu Pandit families, does not think settling migrant Kashmiri Pandits in separate areas in the state is a good idea. Gupta, whose book is titled "The Tree With A Thousand Apples", feels settling Kashmiri Pandits in separate townships in the Valley would create further communal wedge in an already communally-tense Jammu and . "When ideologies clash in the name of religion or identity, it is the common residents who suffer the most; and it is the children and their childhood that we truly destroy. This is what I try to bring out in my novel," Gupta told IANS in an interview. Gupta's work is a fictional narrative of three Kashmiri friends -- one Hindu and two Kashmiri Muslims -- and how their lives changed after the mass exodus of Hindus in early 1990s. He said it was the empathy towards the people of that made him choose the state as the subject for his first book. "I lived in Kashmir in 2009 and saw a 12-year-old Kashmiri Muslim boy sit beside a 20-year-old Indian Army soldier sipping cups of qahwa together... My Kashmiri Pandit friends told me stories and I have seen that they are all right in their own world, yet wrong in each other's. I just wanted to tell their story as honestly as I could," Gupta said. Asked about the rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits in separate areas in Kashmir - which has received huge criticism from both separatist and mainstream parties - the author said the idea was not good. "Walls will always divide and separate areas will always mean the same, be it in Kashmir or any other part of India," he said. Rather than separate structures, all the stakeholders, including the government, needed to "build confidence" for people to live in harmony. "The second aspect is to provide security to Pandits (who wish to come) because terrorists will want to use this as an opportunity to further create a rift between the Pandits and the local Kashmiri Muslims, which will eventually harm them both." The book is dedicated to Kashmiri youth of 1990s who "struggled through the past 26 years." "One character - Deewan - is dedicated to Kashmiri Pandits who had to leave their homes in 1990 and live in refugee camps. The characters of Bilal and Safeena are dedicated to all those Kashmiri Muslims whose lives were shattered for no fault of theirs," he said. The first step towards reconciliation between the divided groups, the author said, was "to understand that no one's suffering is smaller or greater". He said he had never honed the idea of writing a book even as he used to get deeply involved in conversations with his friends in Srinagar during his stay when he worked as an area sales manager with a private firm. The conversations, he said, would usually be about the social fabric of the valley. "Somewhere hidden in my head and the heart -- it all came back to me when I finally started writing my book," Gupta said about the narrative on the lives of Safeena, Deewan Bhat and Bilal Ahangar, three childhood friends who grew up in an atmosphere of peace in Srinagar until a dark night enveloped their amity and changed everything. The exodus left Deewan a migrant, Safeena's mother turns "collateral damage" in a fight between militants and security forces and Bilal lives in poverty and fears for his life. Two decades later they are together, but at crossroads. (Ruwa Shah can be contacted at ruwa.s@ians.in) --IANS ruwa/rn/tb/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A woman on Monday attempted to commit suicide by jumping in front of a Delhi Metro train at the Guru Dronacharya station in Gurugram, the capital's suburb in Haryana. "A 28-year-old woman jumped in front of the train which was going towards Jahangirpuri at 7.45 a.m. She was taken to a nearby hospital in an injured state. The Metro services were not impacted by the incident," a Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) official told IANS. Five days ago, on February 16, two other persons similarly jumped before the oncoming Metro trains. One person died, while the other was injured. These incidents occurred at Shahadra and Saket Metro stations. --IANS vn/sm/vt (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tackling the challenges discussed in Banking on consolidation (February 20) is critical to augment better operational synergy and to set a right direction for bank reforms. Past instances of merger of banks in the public sector space (except the merger of two subsidiaries of the State Bank of India) were mostly meant to rescue the stakeholders of the merged entities. The merger process should now focus more on making bank branches of the merged entity lean and smart than reducing numbers. In an emerging environment where banking is needed but not necessarily banks, it will be more prudent to adopt a model of a new set of branches built on connectivity using less space and infrastructure to reduce operational costs. Demonetisation has come as a boon for the sector. The move led to a sudden spike in premium, though a temporary one. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will launch an agitation throughout Madhya Pradesh from March 1 to protest against the government's reported move to hike the already costly power tariff by 12 per cent. "In Madhya Pradesh, the power consumers are shelling out three times higher prices than Delhi. To add to it, plans are on to hike the electricity tariff by 12 per cent," Delhi Labour Minister Gopal Rai said. Comparing the power tariff scenario in MP and Delhi, Rai said, "Power is generated in MP, whereas Delhi doesn't produce electricity, rather it buys energy for its people. Yet the tariff there is much less." Rai alleged that the consumers were getting electricity at a higher cost in MP due to massive corruption in the power sector. "Though MP produces electricity, the government buys costly power from private players and thereafter sells it at a very high cost to consumers," he alleged. Giving details of AAP's state-wide protest, Rai the in charge of MP affairs said that his party is going to petition the power distribution offices in all the 230 assembly seats on March 1 to block the move to hike power tariff. Thereafter on March 20, the party will stage protests in-front of Sub Divisional Magistrates' (SDMs) offices and petition them across the state. "We are going to 'gherao' the MP Assembly over the electricity issue on March 27," Rai added. Opinion / Columnist Dr Benson Mudiwa is a medical doctor, trained in Zimbabwe and practised at Harare Central Hospital, Musiso Mission Hospital in Zaka. He writes in his personal capacity Zimbabwe's health system was plunged into further chaos, a day after Valentine's Day on Wednesday 15 January 2017, when the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association (ZHDA), the representative association of Government Doctors in Zimbabwe, announced that doctors in Zimbabwe were withdrawing their services.This is after negotiations with relevant authorities concerning their conditions of service had hit a brick wall. One should understand that Doctors resort to industrial action when Government drags its feet in timeously resolving pertinent issues bedevilling the profession in providing healthcare to the nation. Strikes are unnecessary, but become necessitated when Government turns a deaf ear to the plight of the Doctors.There has been much bickering, misinformation and public backlash to the striking Doctors. It is evident that the public is unaware of what Doctors are fighting for, and how they need to support this fight, as it is not for selfish aggrandisement on the Doctors part, it's far from that, but rather an attempt to reduce the rot happening to the healthcare of Zimbabwe.It is easy to be disillusioned by just looking at the surface and apportioning blame to these hard working Doctors, it is easy to throw in phrases like " your profession is a calling, negotiate while at work" , or "you are no longer upholding the Hippocratic oath", but it suffices to say that "calling" is not a currency that can be used to pay bills like electricity, water, neither can "calling" be used to buy groceries and pay school fees. Also, those quoting the Hippocratic oath, unfortunately have no idea what it says or means, thus making their assertions conjectural fallacy.Doctors demands are simple and reasonable, far below the minimum SADC requirements for any health professional, and the Government of Zimbabwe can surely meet the demands. If other SADC countries like Lesotho and Swaziland, with far less resources and a smaller GDP can prioritise their health and grant these, it is embarrassing that the Zimbabwe government chooses not to do so.Doctors are demanding that the government does not freeze Doctor's posts. As it stands, the country does not have enough health professionals to meet its objectives, the doctor-patient ratio in Zimbabwe is far above being unacceptable with many hospitals having severe health professional understaffing. It is therefore perplexing that Government would want to freeze posts for Doctors citing Budgetary constraints. This is the same government, though not at war, continues availing "budget" for army and police recruitment yearly. The consequence of this freeze is to further paralyse healthcare in Zimbabwe by worsening the understaffing already present. This means the few health professionals left will be overworked and fatigued which is actually dangerous to the citizenry as mistakes abound in tired, overworked health professionals. By demanding posts to be made available, doctors are actually trying to protect the citizenry, which is already overburdened by other multifactorial national problems.Doctors are also demanding that their posts be appropriately graded. It is common practice in all government departments, that when an officer has assumed a more senior post, they should be upgraded, and receive remuneration commensurate with the post they have assumed. This, for some reason is not happening to doctors, though it happens in all other government departments. Doctors continue receiving the same salaries many years after they have acquired more senior ones. The situation is akin to a police officer who continues rising through the ranks over the years but still receives the salary of the most junior position he once held, it's like a Headmaster continuing to receive the salary equivalent of a student teacher. It does not make sense, and doctors should not be an exception to the norm.The reneging by Government of the promise made to Doctors after the strike in 2014, with regards to the On Call allowance is another bone of contention doctors are having with their employer. This is basically an overtime' allowance that all other civil servants are entitled to, and are receiving and it surely cannot be termed greed when Doctors demand it.The wavering of Duty on vehicles purchased by Doctors is another of the doctors demands. This facility was availed before, around 2010, bur was mysteriously discontinued shortly afterwards, government again citing incomprehensible "budgetary constraints". This is not a request for an opulent top billing lifestyle of top of the range vehicles like what other more deserving civil servants are accorded, this is just a request for exemption from the punitive duty that is aid on cheap, imported, mostly ex-Japanese vehicles which will be some semblance of reliable transport. This will enable these professionals to discharge their duties timeously. No patient should have to wait to be attended in an emergency simply because a doctor is stuck in public transport.In conclusion, Doctors demands are very reasonable, and the lack of willower and dragging of feet being exhibited by the government is unfortunate. Truth of the matter is that the government can most certainly meet these demands, the fact the they continue turning a blind eye to the industrial action and protracting the negotiations is a call to the citizenry of Zimbabwe to support the doctors as they fight for the expeditious betterment of the healthcare of Zimbabwe. Even as Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav was removed as the party president over a bitter power feud, his biopic, which was planned to be shot and released in 2016, has failed to see the light of day. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, who took charge on last Thursday, has signed five orders on Monday, in line with the election manifesto the party has issued in 2016. This includes closing down of 500 more liquor shops, 50 per cent subsidy for 100,000 working women to buy two wheeler, among others. Marking a step up for democracy, may soon rope in bright young scholars who would get an opportunity to work with the standing committees. An estimated 2,000 IS fighters are left in west Mosul to defend their bastion against a massive offensive by the Iraqi security forces, a senior US intelligence official said today. "There's about 2,000 remaining," the official told reporters on condition of anonymity during a trip to Iraq by the new Pentagon chief, Jim Mattis. The estimate which the US-led coalition supporting Iraqi forces gave before the October 17 launch of a huge operation on Mosul was that the city was defended by 5,000 to 7,000 jihadists. The coalition has not provided figures but it has said that the four-month-old campaign on Mosul had inflicted heavy casualties on IS. Tens of thousands of Iraqi ground forces, receiving air support from the coalition as well as from its own aircraft, are involved in the operation, seen as the culmination of efforts to retake the land the government lost to the jihadist organisation in 2014. Commanders and experts expect that the fighting in west Mosul could be the bloodiest yet. The neighbourhoods that lie west of the Tigris River that divides the city are densely populated, have narrow streets that will be impassable for some military vehicles and are home to populations that could be more hostile that on the east bank. Mattis, a retired Marine general who commanded troops during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, has been touring the region and arrived in Baghdad early Monday on a unannounced visit. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) More than two tonnes of PDS rice kept for smuggling to Kerala was today seized and two persons were arrested at a village in the district. Acting on a tip-off that ration rice was being hoarded, a police team raided Kumbikaradu village and seized 50 bags of rice totally weighing 2,500 kgs loaded in a van which was about to leave for Kerala, police said. They also impounded the van and handed over them to the District Foodcell CID police wing for further investigation. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least 22 migrants fled the United States for Canada over the weekend, sneaking across the border in Manitoba province to request asylum, authorities said today. Twenty-two people, mostly from Africa, crossed the border on foot overnight Saturday into Sunday, said Greg Janzen, a local official in the city of Emerson. Eight others had arrived on Friday. Emerson, 120 kilometers south of Winnipeg and close to the US states of North Dakota and Minnesota, has seen the porous border -- in many areas with no official crossings -- drawing greater numbers of asylum seekers since US President Donald Trump's travel ban. The Republican took office in January and promptly signed an order to temporarily ban US entry for nationals of seven Muslim-majority countries, and for all refugees. Under a bilateral agreement, asylum-seekers from the United States are usually turned back at Canada's border crossings. But this does not apply to those crossing the border illegally in other places. Migrants who crossed into Canada in early February faced harsh, frigid conditions: two had their hands frozen and needed to have several fingers amputated. But temperatures were much milder this past weekend. Migrant arrivals, mostly people who are undocumented in the United States, are rising sharply in Manitoba. Ninety-nine people crossed the border since the beginning of the year to seek asylum, local authorities say. The trend has officials in Emerson fretting. They have asked federal and provincial authorities to increase resources to address the situation. "Illegal crossings are dangerous and a burden on our local communities, and our laws must be enforced," Tony Clement, a Conservative spokesman for public safety issues, said on Twitter. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Four "high-profile" Pakistani Taliban militants were killed today by the army in Pakistan's northwestern city here. The media wing of the military released a statement in this regard, saying the operation was reportedly carried out against Asmatullah Shaheen Bhittani Group of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The Inter-Services Public Relations claimed that the suspects killed in the military operation were allegedly "high-profile" terrorists. The group was allegedly involved in target killings, extortion and kidnapping for ransom in Dera Ismail Khan, Tank and surrounding areas, the ISPR statement said. Cache of weapons and ammunitions also recovered from the possession of the deceased suspects, it added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Reserve Bank deputy governor SS Mundra today warned that unless traditional banks quickly convert themselves in to a new-age digital banks, they face the risk of becoming history. "The age of fintechs is here and for the incumbent banks there is no time to lose. Banks that do not quickly convert in to a new-age digital banks run the risk of becoming history," Mundra said here while addressing the NAMCABS Seminar on MSME financing organised by the central bank-run College of Agricultural Banking. Asking the brick and mortar banks not to treat fintech companies as "threats" but as an "opportunity", he said "traditional banks would need to tap the requisite talent and create an environment where such talent can innovate and be agile. Banks must view the success of fintech ecosystem as an opportunity and not as a threat." Noting that fintech companies are disrupting every facet of the traditional financial services business and have emerged as a challenge to the banking system, he quoting a recent PwC global report said "up to 28 per cent of the banking and payments business are at risk by 2020." Mundra said the imminent competition to banks' business comes from the new breed of fintechs having capacities to address specific pain-points of financial customers such as remittance, credit, savings etc. The 2016 PwC report predicted that the MSME banking is likely to be the fourth largest sector to be disrupted by fintech in the next five years after consumer banking, payments, and investment/wealth management. Quoting another study done by Citi, he said the fintech revolution will wipe out nearly a third of all the employees at traditional banks in the next decade. This prediction is essentially about the lack of growth and loss of business over time, though it may be difficult at this juncture to accurately gauge the possibility of any particular benefit or risk materialising in the fintech universe, Mundra said. "In view of the above challenges that fintechs may present, it seems to make business sense for traditional banks to collaborate with them as they are more efficient and agile. Banks would need to assess the likely impact of disruption and re-orient their business models. "As incumbents, they may need to leverage their comparative advantage to improve their customer relationships, change their internal processes, mindsets, and internal structures," the commercial-banker-turned-central-banker warned. Though some traditional banks have already adopted the ways of fintechs by employing technology for making credit- decisions in a limited way with many using credit scoring models for retail and SME borrowers, he warned that "what still eludes them is the nimble-footedness of fintech players, which alienates the potential borrowers. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Andhra Pradesh Health Minister Kamineni Srinivas today urged Union Health Minister J P Nadda to lower the cut-off score in the NEET exam to facilitate qualification of more students from the state. At a meeting with Nadda, Srinivas said the reduction in the cut-off marks would help more students qualify for courses under the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test. "The Union minister accepted my request in principle and assured a positive outcome. The move would help fill up vacant seats, including in non-clinical courses, in government colleges," Srinivas said. Srinivas also requested a NEET exam centre in Tirupati to facilitate students in Rayalaseema region. "We have centres in Vijayawada and Vizag. We have requested another centre in Tirupati to help students from Rayalaseema region," he said. Srinivas also urged Nadda to hasten the process of setting up AIIMS at Mangalagiri. "Apart from AIIMS, 3 more super speciality blocks in existing district medical college hospitals were requested. The state government will be submitting a priority list of three locations for setting up the blocks after a meeting with Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu," he said. A trauma centre in Nellore, virology lab in Guntur, second tranche of funds for strengthening medical colleges were part of the wishlist from the state. Later, the state minister also met Union Environment Minister Anil Dave to discuss the Kolleru issue. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Vice President Hamid Ansari today launched an India-Rwanda innovation growth programme here to boost ties in areas of science, technology and innovation, and said Rwanda offers a "wonderful platform" to Indian partners to enhance their presence in other parts of Africa. The Vice President was addressing a gathering of business leaders and experts from both the countries at a business forum hosted at the Convention Centre. Ansari also emphasised that India was now "ready to work" with partners in Rwanda and other partners of Africa in "transferring our experience" in building an innovation-driven economy in Africa. "India-Rwanda Innovation Growth Program is being launched to expand ties in science, Technology and Innovation. After this pilot project, the programme is proposed to be implemented in the East African community in seven countries and will then be scaled up to seven other economic zones across Africa," he said. Under the programme, 20 demonstrated and validated Indian technologies and innovations are expected to be adopted over a period of two years. "The joint ventures created with Rwandan partners can deliver many sustainable social enterprises that will stimulate economic development in Rwanda," he said. "The programme aims at creating an ecosystem wherein Indian innovations and technology enterprises will thrive and encourage business ventures from both sides," Ansari said. Prime Minister of Rwanda Anastase Murekezi attended the event organised by Rwanda Development Board and the Private Sector Federation of Rwanda and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI). "The translation of ideas and innovations into practical applications will require the 3 Ds of discovery, development and delivery. India has, over the years, developed certain expertise and skills in domains of low-capital intensive innovations. We are now ready to work with our partners in Rwanda and other partners of Africa in transferring our experience in building an innovation driven economy in Africa," he added. The Vice President said it was an 'exciting prospect' to see the captains of trade and industry from Rwanda stand alongside members of Indian business community and innovators from various parts of India. "This portends well for the future of Rwanda-India commercial and economic relations," he said "The efficient and clean city of Kigali, captures the great strides that this country is taking on its path of growth and prosperity. Rwanda has put behind it the unfortunate genocide of 1994 and has embarked on the path of economic development. Its economy has since made steady and considerable progress," he said. (REOPENS FGN29) "Rwanda today offers a range of prospects to foreign investors, including in renewable energy, infrastructure, agriculture, mining, tourism, and information and communications technology," he said. "The spectacular growth story of Rwanda, a result of the prudence and vision of Rwandan leadership, represents the dynamism and opportunities of African continent. Rwanda offers a wonderful platform to Indian partners to enhance their presence and capacities in other parts of Africa," Ansari said. He said the bilateral relations of the two countries are marked by "cordiality, convergence of views and cooperation on major international issues". Bilateral trade and investments have shown a healthy rise. Trade between India and Rwanda has been gradually increasing over the last few years. "Rwanda is also a beneficiary of the Duty Free Tariff Preference Scheme of the Government of India extended to Least Developed Countries. Rwanda can avail of this facility to increase their exports to India. In fact, one of the key elements of the joint declaration issued during the official visit of President Kagame to India last month was to double trade in the next five years," he said. India is also a preferred destination for affordable and quality health care for Rwandans. Several Rwandans have travelled to India for medical treatment and have come back satisfied. India is increasingly becoming a preferred destination for quality and affordable education for Rwandan students. "Every year more than 500 student visas are issued to Rwandan nationals," he said. The government of India also offers scholarships and fellowships to Rwandan students to enable them pursue undergraduate, masters, post-graduate, and research courses in India under ITEC, ICCR, CV Raman Fellowship and Special Agricultural Scholarships. In addition to these, several short-term, fully-funded, training courses will be offered to Rwandese nationals as part of the initiatives under the India-Africa Forum Summit. "I am confident that bilateral relations between the two countries will grow further with more frequent exchanges between businesspersons for mutual benefits," he said. Vice President Hamid Ansari today met the Rwandan Senate President and discussed ways to cement bilateral ties. The Vice President met Bernard Makuza at the Senate, accompanied by Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Vijay Sampla and other senior officials. The two sides then held bilateral talks, an official said. Ansari also gifted a copy of the Indian Constitution to Makuza. He later attended a luncheon hosted by the Senate President. "This visit intends to tie bilateral cooperation between #Rwanda and #India," the Rwanda Parliament said in a tweet. Earlier in the day, Ansari visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial and paid tributes to the victims of the horrific tragedy. The site is the final resting place for more than 250,000 people who were massacred in the 1994 in Rwanda. Ansari laid a wreath at the memorial site and also took a tour of the site. Highligting the importance of the Indian diaspora, Ansari, while speaking at a banquet last night, said, "I arrived here to know there is a good, very purposeful, very entrenched Indian community here. Our relationship with Rwanda, I hope would grow much stronger in coming weeks...As we have indeed turned a page." This is India's first high-level visit to Rwanda. Ansari will depart from Kigali tomorrow for the next leg of his visit to Uganda. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Vice President Hamid Ansari today paid tributes to the victims of the 1994 horrific Rwandan Genocide at a memorial which is the final resting place for more than 250,000 people who were massacred. The Vice President visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial this morning, a day after arriving in the capital on his five-day two-nation tour that will also take him to another East African country Uganda. Ansari paid tribute to the victims of the horrendous tragedy by laying a wreath at the memorial site and also took a tour of the site, which, among other exhibits the skulls and belonging of several victims. "He was received by the Director of the memorial and representatives of the Rwandan government and was guided at the site by the manager of the memorial," a senior official said. The site commemorates the mass slaughter of Tutsi in Rwanda by members of the Hutu majority government in 1994. The memorial was opened in 2004. "In 1999, the City of Kigali provided land where a place of remembrance could be built and where victims of the genocide against the Tutsi could receive a dignified burial. Construction of the Kigali Genocide Memorial began in the same year and the process of burying victims began in 2001. Today the memorial serves as the final resting place for more than 250,000 victims of the genocide," according to the memorial's official website. "The objective and the concept was to create a place to remember our beloved relatives and pay tributes and that people would understand the impact of what happened to never repeat it in the future," according to an official who was associated with the memorial project. Ansari is also scheduled to visit the Rwandan Senate where he will meet with President of the Senate Bernard Makuza and hold bilateral talks. He will later attend a luncheon hosted by the Rwandan government in his honour and also meet President Paul Kagame at the Presidential Palace. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Music maestro A R Rahman today offered his prayers at the dargah of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti here. The Oscar-winning composer offered floral tributes and sought blessings. The presence of Rahman, 50, attracted a huge crowd at the dargah. He stayed for a while in Gumbad Sharif near tomb of Chisti. Rahman has visited the Ajmer dargah several times before. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bangladesh police today arrested an absconding death row convict for the gruesome murder of a secular blogger in 2013, that set off a chain of attacks targeting liberal writers in the Muslim-majority country. Dhaka Metropolitan Police's (DMP) counter-terrorism unit arrested 34-year-old Redwanul Azad Rana, a former student at the country's top North South University, and one other man during a raid at the capital's Uttara suburb. "The counter-terrorism and transnational crime unit of police has arrested Rana along with an assistant militant named Ashraf during a raid," the police said in a statement. Rana was absconding since the start of his trial in the murder of secular blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider, who was hacked to death with machetes in February 2013, and was sentenced to death in his absence in December 2015, along with another former student at the same university, Faisal bin Nayem, who is in custody. Rana could not challenge the conviction as he was on the run. The gruesome day-light murder also set off a chain of similar Islamist attacks on secular writers, civil activists, foreigners and religious minorities in the country. In 2015, five secular bloggers were killed in separate attacks, including Bangladeshi-American blogger Avijit Roy, who was killed on a Dhaka street by a group of assailants in February 2015. His wife was also grievously injured in the attack. Haider had also started a movement demanding the highest punishment to the 1971 war criminals just days ahead of his murder, the BDnews reported. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The West Bengal government today said that it would start monitoring the supplies and quality of mid-day meals provided to school students in the state. Education Minister Partha Chatterjee told the assembly that it had been reported that supplies of mid-day meals do not reach the targetted beneficiaries and were diverted elsewhere. He said that chief minister Mamata Banerjee had given instructions for proper monitoring so that the students were able to partake of the programme intended at lowering drop-outs from schools. Chatterjee said that the chief minister had also asked for improving the quality of meals supplied and in sufficient quantity. The minister also alleged that the eggs which were supplied for the mid-day meals did not reach the schools. He said that the government would instruct officials to conduct surprise checks to see if irregularities were still continuing. The government will also step up vigil, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A senior member of BJP today said there is a need for a law to regulate data privacy and maintained a lot of apps obtain information from people that they are not supposed to do and are lax in managing them. "You all know that a lot of apps take data from you which they are not supposed to. Who regulate them or set the standards for them? I think we, as a country or as the industry, have to think about it. Especially with the digital movement, I think we have no choice but to think about it," national head of BJP's IT Cell Arvind Gupta told reporters. "May be there has to be a law to be thought about in the future," he said, speaking on the sidelines of an event hosted by American lender Citi here. If not a separate law, concerns can be incorporated by amending the prevailing regulations on cyber security, he added. Gupta was quick to stress that the Government's IT architecture does not have any such concerns and made a special mention of Aadhaar in this regard. Asked about findings by an international agency showing concerns on cyber safety like trolling, Gupta declined to comment, saying he has not seen the report. He said the rate of change to digitalisation in financial transactions is "fairly good" but underscored the need for it to help in other sectors like education and healthcare. Terming cyber security as a "constant battle", Gupta said the entire system, including the consumer, their apps, the network and the enterprise, has to be in a state of alertness. At the event, a public-private partnership started by Citi, aimed at finding newer digital solutions to solve real world problems across sectors, was launched. Individuals, start-ups or large corporations will be submitting entries for the 'Citi tech for integrity challenge', and the final awards will be given in August after live demos, said Citi India's head for global consumer banking Kartik Kaushik. The initiative was first launched at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos last month. Citi has partnered with other companies, including IBM, PwC and Wipro apart from the Government's Electronics and Information Technology Ministry, for the programme. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The death toll from a car bomb at a marketplace in Somalia's capital has risen to 34 with 52 injured, said a police officer. Many of the dead were carried away by their relatives soon after the blast, said Capt. Mohamed Hussein. "It was a horrific and barbaric attack only aimed at killings civilians," he said from the scene of the blast. Sabriye Abdullahi, an ambulance driver told The Associated Press that some of the injured victims died on their way to the hospitals. "Many of them suffered extensive third degree burns and others were burned beyond recognition," he said. The blast by a car bomb parked near a restaurant went off at a busy time when shoppers and traders were gathered inside the market, said district commissioner Ahmed Abdulle. Mohamed Haji, a butcher who suffered shrapnel wounds, pointed to a clothes shop devastated by the blast. "Someone had parked the car here and left before it was detonated," he said. Pieces of wood and metal sheets on the ground were all that remained of the shop. Women sobbed and screamed outside the market as rescue workers moved bloodied bodies and wounded victims into ambulances. "It's a painful carnage." said Ali Mire, a government soldier who was helping a friend with shrapnel wounds The powerful explosion was the first major attack since Somalia's new president was elected on Feb.8. Although no group has yet claimed responsibility, it bears the hallmarks of Somalia's Islamic extremists rebels, al-Shabab. In a Twitter post, President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed condemned the blast, saying that it shows the "cruelty" of al-Shabab. A few hours before the blast, al-Shabab denounced the new president as an "apostate" and vowed to continue fighting against his government. Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano, in a statement condemning the attack, said that "Italy remains solidly on Somalia's side in the process of the country's stabilization." He added that "together we will act so that the terrorists don't succeed in stopping the path of peace and reconciliation that is underway. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A city-based man today approached a local court seeking its directions to Railway Police to file a case against actor Shah Rukh Khan in connection with the death of a person following a stampede during the superstar's train promotion campaign for his film "Raees" last month. Farid Khan Pathan had died of cardiac rest as crowd went berserk after Shah Rukh arrived by August Kranti Rajdhani Express at the Vadodara railway station on the night of January 23. Solanki approached the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class here seeking its directions to railway police at Vadodara to register a case against actor Shah Rukh Khan. Talking to PTI today, Solanki's lawyer Juned L Saiyed said his client has demanded registration of cases against actor and others under IPC 304 (a) (causing death by negligence), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 147 (punishment for rioting). SRK had boarded the train from Mumbai Central for Delhi as part of his promotional campaign 'Raees by Rail'. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actor Channing Tatum is enjoying a romantic short break with wife Jenna Dewan in Hawai. The married couple was all smiles as they hit the beach with their red hot romance, reported Us weekly. The two flaunted their toned bodies with Dewan, 36, donning a red-colour strapless string bikini, while Tatum, also 36, sporting a pair of black swim trunks. The duo tied the knot in 2009 and are parents to 3-year-old daughter Everly. On work front, Tatum will next be seen in an upcoming comedy film "Logan Lucky". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A police team including a CID officer probing the Jalpaiguri child trafficking case today visited the office-cum-shelter of NGO 'Bimala Sishu Griho' in Falakata and two other facilities for investigation. The team also visited Ashray and North Bengal People's Development Centre - both shelters run by the NGO, and spoke to the people who work there, a senior police officer said. The CID officer also went through documents available at these places, the officer said. Later the officer also interrogated Chandana Chakraborty and Sonali Mondal, the chairperson and chief adoption officer of the NGO respectively, who are in CID custody at Jalpaiguri Kotwali police Station, SP Jalpaiguri Amitava Maity said. The Jalpaiguri Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP) staged a demonstration in front of the BJP party office, demanding the immediate arrest BJP Mahila Morcha (women's wing) leader Juhi Choudhury who allegedly had helped Chandana Chakraborty in the past. Led by the Jalpaiguri district president of TMCP Abhijit Sinha, the activists also burnt an effigy of BJP state president Dilip Ghosh. The AIWDF, (women's wing of CPI-M) also demonstrated in front of Kotwali police station on the issue. Chandana Chakraborty and Sonali Mondal were arrested by the CID on February 18 in connection with the case. Earlier the CID had cracked a child trafficking racket by conducting raids in North 24 Parganas, Kolkata and some other parts of the state in November last year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) will run nearly 1,000 cargo trains to Europe in 2017, more than double the number from last year, as the Communist trading giant ramps up efforts to boost its dwindling exports. The cargo trains from southwest China's Chengdu city would be doubled, the Chengdu Railway Services Company said on Monday. Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, ran 460 cargo trains to cities in Poland, the Netherlands and Germany last year more than any other Chinese city. Chengdu delivered a total of 73,000 tonnes of goods worth $1.56 billion in 2016 globally, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. The southwestern hub has planned three major rail line services to Europe, with a middle route to Germany, Poland and the Netherlands, a southern route to Turkey and beyond, and another northern route to Russia. This year, new routes linking Chengdu to Istanbul and Moscow will be officially launched, company chairman Fan Jun was quoted as saying by the report. Fan said trains to Istanbul and Moscow would take about 16 days and 10 days, with each route planning to operate 200 and 150 trains in 2017, respectively. last month has launched its first freighttrainto London. London is the 15th city inEuropeadded to China-Europe freight train services. Demand for rail cargo service between and Europe, an alternative to slower and riskier sea freight and much costlier air cargo, has exploded in recent years. By June 2016, trains had made nearly 2,000 trips between 25 Chinese cities and Europe, with a total import and export value of $17 billion, it said. China's exports totalled to $2.27 trillion in 2015 slowing down from $2.34 trillion in 2014. China's economy grew at 6.9 per cent in 2015 slipping below seven per cent in a quarter of century. As part of its efforts to stabilise its exports and economy, China has embarked on multi billion dollar global connectivity project called the One Belt One Road, (Silk Road). The Supreme Court-appointed EPCA was today informed that gas supply was sufficient across the National Capital Region and the time was ripe to prohibit use of polluting industrial fuels like furnace oil and pet coke. Natural gas companies informed the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) at a meeting here that they had supply network in critical areas of the National Capital Region, however, cost of gas was an issue. Nevertheless, EPCA chairman Bhure Lal and its member Sunita Narain made it clear that the Environment Ministry should ban the fuels without any further delay. "India has become the dumping ground of pet coke from countries like USA and China," Narain, who heads Cente for Science and Environment, said. Such a ban is expected to have a huge impact on the industry, which is reluctant to switch to gas by replacing furnace oil (FO) and pet coke, as the alternative continues to be expensive. FO is used to generate power in industries to run boilers, turbines etc. The cost of power generated using FO is around Rs 4 to Rs 5 per unit, while it is Rs 7 to Rs 8 per unit in case of gas. Companies like GAIL, IGL and Adani Gas present in the meeting expressed concern that the cost of natural gas may actually go up after implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST), further complicating the process. Narain pitched for removal of Value Added Tax (VAT) from the cost of gas, which she said could help it emerge as a viable alternative. Earlier, EPCA had informed the apex court that rampant use of FO, a sulphur-heavy fuel, in industries across NCR was generating "enormous" amount of air pollutants which needed immediate attention. While FO is a "bottom-of-the-barrel" product at refineries, pet coke is a by-product found in these facilities. There has been a spike in their sales possibly due to a "crash" in the global fuel prices, the panel had said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A group of ex-servicemen and others today protested BJP-supported Maharashtra legislator Prashant Paricharak's controversial remarks about soldiers. Ex-servicemen and people from various walks of life gathered near the Maratha War Memorial here to protest against Paricharak, an independent member of the state Legislative Council. "His statement is unfortunate and hurtful....By making such a statement, you are abusing the entire nation," said Lt General D B Shekatkar (retd). Col Sambhaji Patil (retd) said the remarks were hurtful and insulting. The protesters demanded the MLC's resignation and registration of a criminal case against him. At a campaign rally in Solapur last week, Paricharak had said, taking a dig at NCP leaders for 'credit-seeking', that a soldier gets a telegram from his wife that she has delivered a baby and he distributes sweets to his colleagues on the border, though he has not visited him home for a whole year. He was referring to NCP leaders who, he said, were taking credit for water supply from Ujani dam in Solapur district. However the remarks backfired after a video clip of his speech went viral. Paricharak expressed regret over his choice of words yesterday, saying he only wanted to highlight credit-seeking by NCP leaders and had no intention to hurt sentiments of jawans and their wives. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Four Russian military personnel were killed and two injured when their vehicle was targeted with explosives in central Syria last week, a defence ministry statement quoted by Russian agencies said today. "Four Russian servicemen died when their car exploded on a radio-controlled IED on February 16, 2017, in Syria," the statement said. "Two more were injured. Russian military medics are trying to save their lives." "The convoy of Syrian army cars, in which the vehicle with Russian military advisers was travelling, was en route from the Tiyas airfield area toward the city of Homs," it said. "After they travelled four kilometres, a radio-controlled explosive was activated under the car with Russian servicemen." The four deaths raise the number of Russian military officially reported killed in Syria to 26 since it started its campaign in Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad on September 30, 2015. Another soldier committed suicide. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar will arrive in Beijing on Tuesday for crucial talks with top Chinese officials amid differences over issues like India's NSG bid and China's blocking of efforts to get JeM chief Masood Azhar banned by the UN. Jaishankar, who served as the Indian envoy to China from 2009 to 2013, the longest tenure by an Indian diplomat in Beijing, will begin his visit tomorrow by meeting State Councillor Yang Jiechi, Beijing's Special Representative for border talks, official sources told PTI. In the Chinese official hierarchy, the State Councillor of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) is regarded as the top diplomat functioning directly under the country's leadership. Besides attending an upgraded strategic dialogue with China's Executive Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui on February 22, Jaishankar is also expected to meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Underlining the significance of the strategic dialogue, which was upgraded during Wang's visit to New Delhi last year, the Chinese side has deputed Zhang, who is also the head of the influential CPC committee of the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Zhang, a former Chinese envoy to the US, mostly deals with issues related to China's tenuous ties with America as well as Taiwan-related affairs -- both key areas of concern to Beijing. Ahead of the talks, China appeared unrelenting in its opposition to efforts to get Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Azhar banned by the UN and ambivalent on India's membership to the 48-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). Putting the onus on India to prove Azhar's involvement in the Pathankot terrorist attack, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters here last week that China will back the move to designate him as a terrorist only if there is "solid evidence" against him. China last year put a technical hold twice on India's application to get Azhar banned by the UN. This year, the US moved the proposal in the UNSC to designate Azhar as a terrorist. China once again has put a technical hold on the move. Also, another issue weighing on the bilateral relationship is the $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) over which India has protested as it passes through Pakistan- occupied Kashmir (PoK). China defends the project, saying that it is a development oriented project aimed at improving lives of the local people and it makes no difference to its stand that the Kashmir issue should be resolved by India and Pakistan bilaterally. The CPEC which is part of Chinese President Xi Jinping's One Belt and One Road project assumes significance this year as Xi has called for a world leaders summit on the initiative in May this year. Chinese officials say that Beijing is keen on Prime Minister Narendra Modi attending the summit, notwithstanding differences. Over 20 leaders, including Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe have so far confirmed their participation. Officials say China may raise this during Jaishankar's visit as Beijing plans to make it one of its biggest summit meetings considering it is Xi's personal initiative. India's ties with the US and Chinese investments in India were also expected to figure in talks during Jaishankar's visit. The two sides have been stressing that they are holding talks at various levels to iron out differences, stressing that dialogue is the best way forward. Commenting on reports of "friction points" in the bilateral relationship, including the Azhar issue and India's admission into the NSG, Geng said "differences are only natural". Officials say Jaishankar's talks here in the next two days were expected to set the tone for bilateral ties this year. Vice President Hamid Ansari today attended a government-hosted luncheon at a hotel here, which had sheltered over 1,200 people during the Rwandan Genocide in 1994, an episode that inspired an acclaimed film a decade later. Incidentally, Ansari paid tributes to the victims of the harrowing tragedy at the Kigali Genocide Memorial this morning and hailed the "resilience and courage" demonstrated by Rwandans in putting behind the hatred and moving ahead on the path of "reconciliation and inclusion". The coincidence may perhaps serve another healing touch to the victims, as Ansari earlier had said that the purpose of his visit was a "conscious effort" by India to intensify interactions with Africa as a whole, and that "India and Rwanda were great friends". The luncheon was hosted by the Rwandan Senate President Bernard Makuza at the Hotel des Mille Collines here after the two leaders met and held bilateral talks at the Senate. The story of the hotel and its manager at that time, Paul Rusesabagina, inspired a Holywood film 'Hotel Rwanda' with actor Don Cheadle playing Paul. The poignant film received critical acclaim and went on to be nominated for three Academy Awards, including for Best Actor. Inaugurated in 1973 as the first grand hotel of the country, it receiving global attention since the Hollywood movie 'Hotel Rwanda' released in 2004. The French named multi-storied hotel, which means hotel of a thousand mountains, offers breathtaking views over the hills of Kigali. Rwanda is nicknamed as the 'land of a thousand hills'. "The hotel ownership has changed hands but people still remember this place especially after the film came out. And, though the movie was shot in South Africa, the story portrayed was real. And, now with Indian Vice President having visited it in official capacity, I think it makes the place further memorable," said a staff of another hotel opposite to Hotel des Mille Collines. Delhi-born Aniket, who spent part of his childhood in Rwanda and India, but now lives in Kigali, says, the hotel is a tourist attraction, and "everyone visiting Kigali asks for it. The film made it even made the memories in people's consciousness stronger about the genocide that took place in Rwanda". "So, people, go see the genocide memorial to learn about the tragedy and then enquire about this hotel. Now, It has an official India connection too after it hosted the Vice President," he said. The site, opened in 2004, commemorates a genocidal mass slaughter of Tutsi in Rwanda by members of the Hutu majority government in 1994 that has left people with painful memories. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The government is favourably considering the proposal of US-based iPhone maker Apple, which plans to set up a manufacturing unit in the country. The proposal is with the Commerce and Industry ministry and it is "favourably" considering the proposal, sources said. "Although no final decision has been taken yet and the proposal has to be finally approved by the Prime Minister's Office but a few states are ready to welcome them," they said. Last month, Inc had indicated to the government that it is ready with a blueprint to begin manufacturing iPhones in India but wants fiscal concessions, including customs duty waiver on import of components. With sales tapering in the US and China, is eyeing India-- the fastest growing smartphone market in the world-- and looking to set up a local manufacturing unit to cut costs. It, however, does not manufacture devices on its own and rather does it through contract manufacturers. Besides exemption from the customs duty on imports of components and equipment for 15 years, wants relaxation in the mandated 30 per cent local sourcing of components. As far as duty and tax-related concessions being sought by the company, most of them are within the policy domain and decisions would be taken by the respective departments. The company sells its products through Apple-owned retail stores in countries like China, Germany, the US, the UK and France, among others. It has no wholly-owned store in India and sells its products through distributors such as Redington and Ingram Micro. With sudden rise in temperature not beneficial for wheat crop at this stage, growers were today advised to apply light irrigation to the crop. Wheat growers were also asked to regularly monitor their crop to check the incidence of aphid and yellow rust. "Farmers are advised to give need-based irrigation to wheat," said an advisory issued by Ludhiana based Punjab Agricultural University. The advisory came as Punjab and Haryana observed rise in minimum temperatures by several degrees above normal in the last few days. Minimum temperatures today stayed several notches above normal in several areas including Ambala, Hisar, Karnal, Ludhiana, Amritsar and Patiala in both the states. "During last 4-5 days, the maximum and minimum temperatures were above normal. During next 2-3 days, maximum and minimum temperatures will fall by 1to 2 degrees but will remain above normal," the advisory said. An official of Punjab Agriculture department said, "Increase in temperature is not good for wheat crop at this stage and if this situation prolongs, it can cause early crop maturity. Rise in mercury can lead to shriveling of grains and hence there can be yield loss." Punjab and Haryana-major foodgrain growing states, have been anticipating bumper wheat crop this season. Punjab and Haryana grow wheat at 35 lakh hectares and 25 lakh hectares respectively. PAU advisory further said that farmers were advised to monitor wheat and mustard fields regularly to check the incidence of aphids and symptoms of yellow rust. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Police today claimed to have identified the main accused in the alleged rape of a 24-year-old woman from northeast in south Delhi's Hauz Khas Village area and his friend. Special Commissioner of Police (Southwest) and Delhi Police spokesperson Dependra Pathak said, "The main accused has been identified and further investigation is underway." According to sources, there were two persons who were present there but only one of them raped the woman. One of them is a minor. The two persons reside in a slum in Hauz Khas area. When police teams were sent to their residence today, they were not at their home, police said. However, police said they are likely to be arrested soon as 15 police teams are working on the case. Police teams had been working on different leads based on CCTV footage and local intelligence and by questioning parking attendants, private security guards of the Deer Park and other shopkeepers in the locality. Police also reconstructed the route allegedly taken by the accused person. The incident took place on the night of February 18 when the woman, who belongs to Manipur, was returning from a party in Hauz Khas village along with her friends and cousins. The woman told police that around 11.30 PM she was offered a drop home by an unknown person. He apparently told her that his vehicle was parked at some distance near Deer Park. The accused, thereafter, on the pretext of guiding the woman, led her to an isolated stretch in the adjoining park area and allegedly raped her. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) BJP MLA O P Sharma, suspended from Delhi Legislative Assembly for two sessions, today moved the Delhi High Court for early hearing of his plea challenging the action taken against him. He sought an early hearing as the Budget Session was likely to be convened by the middle of March and he wanted to attend that. Allowing his plea for early hearing, Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva listed the matter for consideration on March 2. Sharma was suspended from the Assembly on March 31 last year for two sessions for allegedly making derogatory remarks against AAP legislator Alka Lamba. Sharma's lawyer had earlier claimed that he has apologised and so has his party and so he be allowed to sit in the sessions. The court, however, has not yet issued any interim direction allowing the legislator to sit in the sessions. The Delhi government had earlier alleged before the court that Sharma in the past too had engaged in "immoral, violent and appalling behaviour". The government has opposed the maintainability of Sharma's plea challenging his suspension. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Adolf Hitler's personal telephone which the Nazi dictator used to give deadly orders during the World War II has been sold for a whopping USD 243,000, more than double the starting price at a US auction. The identity of the buyer for the Fuehrer's Siemens rotary telephone, who bid by phone, has not been made public. The phone, which has the Nazi leader's name engraved on it and a swastika, was found in his Berlin bunker in 1945. Soviet soldiers gave it to British officer Sir Ralph Rayner as a souvenir shortly after Germany surrendered. Rayner recovered the phone from Hitler's bunker while visiting Berlin on the orders of Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery just a few days after the end of the war, according to Rayner's personal account and shipping documents from that time period, according to the auction house. His son Ranulf Rayner, 82, inherited the phone after his father's death in 1977. "My father didn't see it as a relic of Hitler's glory days, more a battered remnant of his defeat, a sort of war trophy," he told CNN. "He never thought it would become an important artifact." "He could still smell burning flesh," Ranulf Rayner said, recalling his father's description of the underground shelter where Hitler spent his final days. In his words, it was a "dreadful hellhole." The phone, originally a black Bakelite phone, later painted crimson, was sold by auction house Alexander Historical Auctions in Chesapeake City, Maryland, yesterday. The auction house had estimated its worth between USD 200,000 and USD 300,000. The bidding started at USD 100,000. The auction house had described the telephone as "Hitler's mobile device of destruction" and called it "arguably the most destructive 'weapon' of all time, which sent millions to their deaths around the world." A porcelain figure of an Alsatian dog, also owned by Hitler, fetched USD 24,300. It was bought by a different bidder, the BBC reported. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Nearly 200 British peers will today debate the crucial Brexit Bill in the House of Lords where Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative party does not hold a majority. Lawmakers in the lower House of Commons have already given their go-ahead to the so-called Brexit Bill, which gives May the authority to invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty to formally initiate Brexit negotiations. The UK government does not have a majority in the House of Lords, where as many as 190 peers are due to speak during the debate, which will include a number of amendments being proposed. The voting in the upper house of Parliament, whose total strength is in excess of 700, is expected by tomorrow evening. Opposition and crossbench peers are seeking guarantees about the rights of EU citizens in Britain following an exit from the EU and the role of Parliament in scrutinising Britain's final exit deal with the economic bloc. The Lords begins the Second Reading debate on the Bill on Monday and a vote will take place on Tuesday only if peers allow government legislation through unopposed at this stage. Detailed scrutiny of the bill at committee stage is due to take place on February 27 and March 1. If the bill is not amended, then it could theoretically be approved by the Lords at Third Reading on March 7 and go on to become law. However, if peers do make changes to the bill, it would be a direct challenge to the Commons MPs who have effectively passed the bill unaltered. Parliamentary norm would lead to MPs then overturning any Lords amendments. The Conservatives have the largest number of peers in the Lords, with 252 members, but the Opposition has 202 Labour peers and 102 Lib Dems, who are expected to join forces against the government. It will be the 178 crossbench in the Lords, who are not aligned to any party, who are expected to determine the final outcome of the Second Reading. May has declared her intention to invoke Article 50 by the end of next month and believes she can stick to that timetable. She was forced to table the Bill after the Supreme Court ruled in January that the government must seek parliamentary approval on pressing the Brexit trigger button. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) More than 350 migrants stormed the border between Morocco and Spain's Ceuta today, officials said, days after one of the largest rush of arrivals over the frontier in more than a decade. The young migrants forced their way through the high border fence into the Spanish North African territory, ecstatic to have finally crossed into a European Union state. Some kissed the ground and shouted "Thank you lord" and "Viva Espana", although several had bloodied hands and feet as well as torn clothes after making it through the barrier. Ceuta and Melilla, also a Spanish territory in North Africa, have the EU's only land borders with Africa. As a result, they are entry points for migrants who either climb the high double border fences, swim along the coast or hide in vehicles. "356 managed to get in out of a total of around 700" who attempted entry, a spokesman for the local authority said. "They entered after breaking access gates with shears and hammers." Their arrival came just days after nearly 500 migrants crossed into Ceuta on Friday, one of the biggest breaches since the border barrier was reinforced in 2005. The Spanish territory is now ringed by a double wire fence eight kilometres (five miles) long. The six-metre high fence also has rolls of barbed wire. Isabel Brasero, spokeswoman for the Red Cross in Ceuta, said no one was seriously injured on Monday, as has been the case in the past. "We took 11 people to hospital, eight needed stitches and three needed an X-ray," she said. The border rush also comes amid a dispute between Morocco and the EU over the interpretation of a free trade farm and fishing deal. Ties between Morocco and Brussels suffered a blow last year after an EU tribunal annulled the deal on the grounds it illegally applied to the Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony controlled by Rabat. The Algeria-backed Polisario Front has long been fighting for independence for the region and had challenged the agreement. But then in December, the EU's top court overturned this decision, paving the way for the trade agreement to be reinstated. Earlier this month, Rabat warned Brussels that failure to implement the deal would have severe consequences and could spur illegal migration as it would affect "thousands of jobs" in Morocco and in Europe. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rwandan Prime Minister Anastase Murekezi today hosted a banquet for Vice President Hamid Ansari and asserted that 54 years of bilateral relations have been "fruitful". The Prime Minister said with the signing of three MoUs, "our relationship from here forth is going to grow stronger," he said. "We have 54 years of fruitful bilateral relationship. Rwanda and India share important ties and we are committed to make this relationship grow stronger," Murekezi said. Rwanda is a safe country and a recent report has ranked the country as one of the best places to do business, Murekezi said. "We are also third least corrupt country in Sub Saharan Africa and we definitely are ready for business and greater cooperation," he said. The Rwandan PM also pitched for India companies to look beyond the traditional sectors while engaging with Rwanda. Ansari is on a five-day tour to Rwanda and Uganda. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Jet Airways, which runs the largest frequent flyer programme in the domestic aviation sector called JPMiles, with 5.5 million customers, today announced a bonus loyalty scheme offering an assured 1,500 JPMiles for every passenger. The Jet Privilege scheme also involves offering 1,00,000 JPMiles every day during the offer period between today and March 31 and a one lucky Jackpot winner. Called 'The billion miles festival', the airline said the reward miles can be redeemed even after March 31 and will also cover all its codeshare partners like Etihad, Delta Airlines, KLM and Air France among others, Jayaraj Shanmugam, chief commercial officer said. Manish Dureja, managing director, Jet Privilege said the airline adds 11-12 billion JP miles a year, but refused to share the redemption details. He said the offer is open to all existing members of JetPrivilege and loyalty rewards programme. Bonus JPMiles will be earned for every ticket booked on jetairways.Com or the mobile app between February 21 and March 31. Guests can earn 1,500 to 10,000 bonus JPMiles per sector depending on the class of travel- economy/premiere, irrespective of fare buckets. For instance eight round-trips between Mumbai and Delhi can get the passenger one free ticket in the sector, he added. Jet Airways operates close to 500 flights a day to 46 domestic destinations, and 20 international cities using its 113 aircraft. Jet Privilege is a specialised loyalty and rewards management company set up in 1994, as a joint venture between Jet Airways and Etihad Airways, established to develop, manage, operate and market JetPrivilege programme. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Three child shepherds were killed in western Iraq when one of them stepped on a roadside bomb planted by the Islamic State group, local officials said. "Three children were killed today by a leftover improvised explosive device planted by the Daesh organisation north of Al-Baghdadi," said the mayor, Sharhabeel al-Obeidi, using an Arabic acronym for IS. He said the victims, aged between nine and 13, were herding sheep when the bomb exploded yesterday under them, just north of Al-Baghdadi, about 180 kilometres (110 miles) northwest of Baghdad. "They died on the spot. A police unit went to the site of the explosion and brought their bodies to the morgue," a local police major said. Al-Baghdadi was briefly under the control of the IS jihadists who seized around a third of Iraq in 2014. It lies in Anbar province, which has yet to be fully retaken by the Iraqi security forces and continues to see frequent IS attacks originating from desert areas on the towns and cities that dot the Euphrates River valley. Unexploded ordnance in retaken areas kills civilians and security forces on a regular basis and is a major obstacle to reconstruction. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The convoy of Libya's contested unity government chief, Fayez al-Sarraj, came under gunfire in Tripoli today, without causing any casualties, his administration said. "The convoy of GNA (Government of National Accord) chief Fayez al-Sarraj... Came under fire as it passed near the Abu Slim sector of Tripoli," said spokesman Ashraf al-Thulthi. "All the cars were armoured-plated, and there were no injuries," he said, adding an investigation was underway to identify the assailants. Sarraj's fragile GNA, formed under a UN-backed deal signed in late 2015, has struggled to impose its authority, particularly in eastern Libya where a rival administration holds sway. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Nagaland People's Front (NPF) President Shurhozelie Liezitsu was today elected as the consensus candidate to replace T R Zeliang as the next chief minister of the state. He was chosen as the new Chief minister at the meeting of the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) which was attended by 59 legislators, NPF sources here said. Liezitsu, also the DAN chairman, is expected to meet the Governor this evening apparently to stake his claim. Zeliang had yesterday stepped down from the chief minister's post. Governor P B Acharya had accepted his resignation and told him to continue till further arrangements were made. A statement from Zeliang's Office had stated that a consensus leader will be chosen at Naga People's Front Legislature Party meeting today. Zeliang had left for Delhi on February 16 after seeking two days' time to step down from the chief minister's post. Protests had erupted in Nagaland after the state government announced that in the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) election, 33 per cent of the seats would be reserved for women. Different organisations in the state had demanded that the state government declare the ULB elections null and void, suspend the police and security personnel involved in January 31 firing on the protesters leading to the death of two youths in Dimapur and that Zeliang step down from the post of the Chief Minister. The Nagaland government had fulfilled the demand of Nagaland Tribes Action Committee (NTAC) Kohima and Joint Coordination Committee (JCC), declaring the entire process of Urban Local Bodies election with 33 per cent reservation for women as null and void. Their second demand of suspending the personnel involved in January 31 police firing on the protesters has been partially fulfilled as they were transferred. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former Chairman and Managing Director of Power Finance Corp M K Goel has been appointed as Chairperson, Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) for Goa and all Union Territories, excluding Delhi. Power Minister Piyush Goyal has administered the oath of office and secrecy to Goel in presence of senior officials of the Ministry of Power and PFC, an official statement said. Goel took the oath of office on last Friday, a senior official said. Goel, an electrical engineer, has over 36 years of varied power sector experience. Before joining JERC, he was the CMD of Power Finance Corporation, the largest NBFC in the country. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Malaysia summoned the North Korean ambassador today for a dressing-down over Pyongyang's attack on its investigation into the assassination of leader Kim Jong-Nam's brother, deepening a diplomatic row. Five North Koreans are in the frame for last week's airport killing, drawing a furious response from Pyongyang which has accused Kuala Lumpur of conspiring with "hostile forces" to damage its reputation. Malaysia recalled its envoy to Pyongyang and also summoned the North Korean ambassador to Kuala Lumpur, who was told his accusation was "baseless", the foreign ministry said in a statement. "The ministry emphasised that as the death occurred on Malaysian soil under mysterious circumstances, it is the responsibility of the Malaysian government to conduct an investigation to identify the cause of death," it said. The row erupted when Malaysian police rejected North Korean diplomats' demands to hand over the body of Kim Jong-Nam after he was apparently poisoned at Kuala Lumpur's international airport. Ambassador Kang Chol last week told reporters outside the morgue where Jong-Nam's body is being held that Malaysia was being pressured by South Korea in a bid to defame its northern neighbour. Seoul has pointed the finger of blame for the attack at the North, citing a "standing order" from Kim Jong-Un to kill his elder sibling and a failed assassination bid in 2012 after he criticised the regime. "The Malaysian government takes very seriously any unfounded attempt to tarnish its reputation," the statement said, after the ambassador's meeting with Deputy Secretary General for Bilateral Affairs Raja Nushirwan Zainal Abidin. The Malaysian ambassador in Pyongyang has also been recalled to Kuala Lumpur for consultations, the statement said. Police said yesterday they believed five North Koreans were involved in the killing, with four having fled the country on the day of the murder. Officers have already arrested one North Korean living in Kuala Lumpur, an Indonesian woman and her Malaysian boyfriend, as well as a Vietnamese woman. Three more North Koreans were wanted for questioning, police said. The drama erupted last week as Jong-Nam prepared to board a plane to Macau, where he has been living in recent years. Malaysian police say the 45-year-old was jumped by two women who squirted liquid in his face. Jong-Nam suffered a seizure and died before arriving at hospital. He was once thought to be the natural successor to his father, the then-North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il. But after Jong-Il's death in 2011 the succession went instead to his younger half-brother Kim Jong-Un. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will visit Poland which has invited her to a three-day conference of European Economic Congress. A senior official at the state secretariat said the conference is slated to be held from May 10 to May 12. Banerjee, he said, has also been invited to visit Russia for another conference. Incidentally, Australian High Commissioner to India Harinder Sidhu paid a visit to the chief minister during the day. CMO sources said Sidhu invited Banerjee for a visit to Australia. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is reviewing the situation in Afghanistan and will soon submit his report to US President Donald Trump, who is awaiting a similar assessment from intelligence agencies. "We're putting our thoughts together now," Mattis told reporters in Abu Dhabi, where he is travelling to now after cancelling his Afghan trip due to bad weather. "The President has been rightly reticent on it, because he's waiting for my assessment, and the assessment from the intelligence community. And he's open to my advice on it," he said in response to a question. "But first of all I've got to formulate where I stand, and so this is the normal collection of the information, and to assess what the other countries in the region are doing in Afghanistan to help or hinder us in our efforts there," the Defense Secretary said. Mattis also asserted that last year was "disastrous" for the Taliban. "They lost their leader.They took no provincial capitals.And you can say, well, that's a pretty low bar." On the Taliban, Mattis said "they know they cannot win at the ballot box and are using bombs and guns on purpose. They were unsuccessful in gaining their tactical objectives." "So, I think it was a lot more damaging to the Taliban and the Afghan security forces paid a very heavy price to keep the Taliban on the back foot. The Taliban is in a worse position today, even though I do not equate that to success on our side," he added. Last week, Mattis met Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. He also spoke to Gen John Nicholson, Commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan through video conference. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) British Prime Minister Theresa May today exhorted the members of House of Lords to not to hold up the crucial Brexit Bill already passed unchanged by the House of Commons. Her intervention came asthe House of Lords, where the Conservative party does not hold a majority, began debating theEU (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill, with a vote expected by tomorrow evening. On a visit to the constituency of Stoke ahead of a by-election there later this week, May said: "[The Bill] was not amended [in the House of Commons]. I hope that the House of Lords will pay attention to that. "Properly there will be debate and scrutiny in the House of Lords, but I don't want to see anybody holding up what the British people want, what the people of Stoke-on-Trent voted for last year, which is for us to deliver Brexit, to leave the European Union." Some time later she was seen in the House of Lords steps to watch the debate kick off. In a British PM's rare appearance in the Lords, May sat in the chamber'steps below the royal throne, as she is allowed to do as a member of the UK's Privy Council. MPs in the House of Commons have already given their go-ahead to the so-called Brexit Bill, which gives May the authority to invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty to initiate Brexit negotiations. The UK government does not have a majority in the House of Lords, where as many as 190 peers are due to speak during the debate, which will include a number of amendments being proposed. Opposition and crossbench peers are seeking guarantees about the rights of EU citizens in Britain following an exit from the EU and the role of Parliament in scrutinising Britain's final exit deal with the economic bloc. The Lords begins the Second Reading debate on the Bill and a vote will take place on Tuesday only if peers allow government legislation through unopposed at this stage. Detailed scrutiny of the bill at committee stage is due to take place on February 27 and March 1. If the bill is not amended, then it could theoretically be approved by the Lords at Third Reading on March 7 and go on to become a law. However, if peers do make changes to the bill, it would be a direct challenge to the Commons MPs who have effectively passed the bill unaltered. Parliamentary norm would lead to MPs then overturning any Lords amendments. The Conservatives have the largest number of peers in the Lords, with 252 members, but the Opposition has 202 Labour peers and 102 Lib Dems, who are expected to join forces against the government. It will be the 178 crossbench in the Lords, who are not aligned to any party, who are expected to determine the final outcome of the Second Reading. May has declared her intention to invoke Article 50 by the end of next month and believes she can stick to that timetable. She was forced to table the Bill after the Supreme Court ruled in January that the government must seek parliamentary approval on pressing the Brexit trigger button. (Reopens FGN 22) Meanwhile, May is in Swansea, Wales, as part of a UK-wide tour, which will cover Northern Ireland and Scotland, before the formal Brexit notification next week. Her aim is to enforce a message of unity in the wake of Scotland demanding a second referendum over its independence from the United Kingdom. The developments come as an independent think tank warned that up to 15 new bills could be needed to deliver Brexit. The Institute for Government said in a report titled 'Legislating Brexit' that the extra 15 measures would cover areas including immigration, agriculture and customs. They would be in addition to the Great Repeal bill, which will end EU legal authority in the country by scrapping the 1972 European Communities Act. "Brexit will place a huge burden on both Parliament and Government departments," the report warns. EU leaders have said they intend to conclude Brexit talks within 18 months to allow the terms of the UK's exit to be ratified by the UK Parliament and the European Parliament, as well as approved by the necessary majority of EU states. May has said that Britain's House of Commons and Lords will have a vote on the deal she negotiates but she has insisted the UK will leave anyway even if Parliament rejects that deal. Uttar Pradesh legislator Mukhtar Ansari today opposed in the Delhi high Court the Election Commission's plea seeking cancellation of his parole granted by a trial court for canvassing in the ongoing UP Assembly polls. Ansari, an MLA who recently joined the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to contest from Mau Assembly seat in UP, was given custody parole till March 4, enabling him to campaign in the election. The high court, however, on February 17 had stayed its operation after the poll panel moved a plea seeking cancellation of his parole on the ground that he may influence witnesses in the 2005 murder case of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai, in which he is facing trial. Terming the EC's claim as baseless, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Ansari, submitted that this is not the ground to restrict his movement in his constituency from where he is contesting, as none of the witnesses are from there. Sibal said that the EC should not get involved in the "thicket of politics". "It (the EC) should remain an independent body. Only in extraordinary situation, the EC can come to court. Participation of candidates in free and fare election is also a basic structure of the Constitution," he submitted. The counsel contended that Ansari has been elected from the Mau constituency for a record four times and he is willing to give an undertaking to the court that he will not violate its order. This was strongly opposed by the poll panel, which was represented by senior advocate Dayan Krishnan, who said that the release of the accused has direct impact on conduct of free and fare election in the Mau constituency. The court will now resume arguments on the EC's plea on February 22. Till then Ansari will not be released. The trial court on February 16 had granted him custody parole. The accused, while seeking the relief, had told the trial court that he has been in judicial custody since December 2005 and was granted parole to contest polls earlier too. The poll panel has submitted before the high court that besides releasing him on parole, the trial court has also asked the authorities to provide him security with the personnel carrying AK-47 rifles. The EC has also said it may create fear in the mind of the voters if Ansari is allowed to roam around in the constituency. The BSP had welcomed the jailed gangster-turned politician and his family after his Qaumi Ekta Dal merged with the party, ahead of the Assembly polls in UP. The 2005 murder case was transferred from Ghazipur in UP to Delhi by the Supreme Court in 2013 on a plea filed by Alka Rai, wife of Krishnanand Rai. Ansari, who is at present lodged in Lucknow jail, has over 40 criminal cases against him, including that of murder and kidnapping. North Korea and Malaysia today exchanged barbs over the investigation into the killing of leader Kim Jong-Un's brother, as footage emerged of the moment he was fatally attacked in Kuala Lumpur airport. Malaysia's probe has put five North Koreans in the frame for the airport assassination of Kim Jong-Nam, but Pyongyang said it had no faith in the investigation and claimed Kuala Lumpur was in cahoots with "hostile forces". The diplomatic confrontation gathered pace today when Malaysia recalled its envoy to North Korea and summoned Pyongyang's ambassador Kang Chol for a dressing down. But an unbowed Kang hit back. "It has been seven days since the incident, but there is no clear evidence on the cause of death and at the moment we cannot trust the investigation by the Malaysian police," he told reporters in the Malaysian capital. Pyongyang has also criticised Malaysia for carrying out a post-mortem examination without North Korean permission -- a complaint Kuala Lumpur said was groundless. "The ministry emphasised that as the death occurred on Malaysian soil under mysterious circumstances, it is the responsibility of the Malaysian government to conduct an investigation to identify the cause of death," the foreign ministry said. "The Malaysian government takes very seriously any unfounded attempt to tarnish its reputation. The Malaysian Government views the criticism... As baseless". Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak backed those running the probe, saying it would be "very professional". "I have absolute confidence that they are very objective in whatever they do," he said in his first comments since of the killing broke. "We have no reason why we want to do something that would paint the North Koreans in a bad light. But we would be objective and we expect them to understand that we apply the rule of law in Malaysia." CCTV footage aired on Japanese television on Monday gave the first public glimpse of the apparent moment Jong-Nam was attacked at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The dramatic film shows two women approaching a portly man -- identified as Jong-Nam -- with one of them grabbing him from behind and appearing to push a cloth in his face. The man is then seen talking to airport staff and apparently explaining to them what had happened, gesturing to his head. The staff then lead him to the airport clinic. Photographs showing a man slumped in a chair at the clinic, consistent with the CCTV images of the attack, were published in the Malaysian press over the weekend. Seoul has pointed the finger of blame at Pyongyang for the attack last Monday, citing a "standing order" from the leader to kill his elder sibling and a failed assassination bid in 2012 after he criticised the regime. The claim was bolstered over the weekend, with Malaysian police saying they believed five North Koreans were involved in the killing. One of them was already in custody, and four are believed to have fled the country on the day of the murder. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Nepal government today decided to hold much-delayed but crucial local body elections in May, the first such polls in two decades. Earlier in the day, the Election Commission (EC) had recommended the government to conduct polls on May 14. Minister for Environment and Population Jayadev Joshi told PTI that a Cabinet meeting has taken the decision. The election body proposed the date for local level elections during a meeting with Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda and other members of the council of ministers. Secretary at Election Commission Gopi Nath Mainali said that it along with the government reached an agreement on holding the local body election in a single phase. The local body elections have not been held for 20 years years due to the decade-long Maoist insurgency. It was last held in 1997. As the constitutional deadline of holding local, provincial and federal elections is fast approaching, the government had come under pressure to announce the election dates. Earlier, the Cabinet meeting had asked the taskforce formed to study and review the report of the commission formed to restructure local units. The commission has recently recommended the government to fix the number of local units at 719. Till date, there are nearly 4,000 local bodies. The main opposition CPN-UML has welcomed the government's decision to conduct local body elections. The UML said it would extend all possible cooperation to the government to make the election successful. However, the agitating Joint Madhesi Front has opposed the decision. The alliance has also announced stir beginning from tomorrow to show protest against the government decision. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Nigeria today urged the African Union to step in to stop what it said were "xenophobic attacks" on its citizens and other Africans in South Africa. The presidency said there was a need for the continental body to "intervene urgently," claiming that in the last two years "about 116" Nigerians had been killed, including 20 last year. "This is unacceptable to the people and government of Nigeria," a senior presidential aide on foreign affairs, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said in an emailed statement. There was no independent verification of the claimed number of deaths, which may have been the result of wider criminal activities rather than anti-immigrant sentiment. According to the Nigerian Union in South Africa, there are about 800,000 Nigerians in South Africa, many of them living in Johannesburg. The community was hit badly by the wave of xenophobic violence that hit the country in April 2015 but South African police said only seven Nigerians died. An independent watchdog has said 640 people died from police brutality or in custody in South Africa. Dabiri-Erewa renewed Abuja's call on the government in Pretoria to take "decisive and definite measures" to protect Nigerian citizens and other Africans in South Africa. She said there was credible information that more attacks were being planned for Wednesday and Thursday. Nigeria has met senior South African officials, including the resident high commissioner to protest against the attacks on its citizens. South Africans police and government officials were not immediately available to comment. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today made a strong demand to the Centre to decommission the Farakka barrage, saying it has no utility and causes floods in the state every year. Kumar also protested against the proposed reservoir at Buxar and in Uttar Pradesh enroute Allahabad-Haldia waterway. "We had made the demand to decommission Farakka barrage in West Bengal to the previous UPA government. I told this to Prime Minister Narendra Modi also that the Farakka dam is causing heavy siltation in river Ganga which is a major reason for heavy floods every year in Bihar," Kumar told reporters. "Many experts have also pointed out the disadvantages from Farakka dam and its original engineer from West Bengal involved in construction of the barrage had opposed it and was forced to leave the job," the chief minister said in order to buttress his argument. "I have made the demand against Farraka barrage at every platform as its a leading cause for deposit of silt in Ganga river and also hampering flow of the mighty river," he said after a "Lok Samvad" (public dialogue) programme. He said that during the previous UPA government of Manmohan Singh, the state had taken the then Water Resources Minister Pawan Bansal to the barrage to show him how it was causing problem to Bihar and other riparian states. "During flood last year when PM Narendra Modi had talked to me I had told him about disadvantages accruing from Farraka dam and during a meeting with him explained this in detail also," Kumar said. Flanked by state Water Resources Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh Lallan, the chief minister said that the barrage has been genesis of floods every year in Bihar. Flood water stayed for a long time in Katihar last year due to siltation caused by Farakka. "There is no benefit from Farakka dam...Get a study done on it," he said. Asked about West Bengal's stand on the dam, he said that state is also adversely affected by it but "I do not focus on what others say or is doing on this, since Bihar is affected by it grossly we are protesting against the barrage". Kumar also protested the proposed construction of reservoir at Buxar enroute Allahabad-Haldia national waterways number I. "Cleanness of Ganga is possible only when there is unhampered flow of its water," he said. Kumar, who visited Punjab's Seechwal village yesterday to see the low cost water treatment developed by environmentalist Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal, said Bihar would take help of the Seechwal model. Seechewal, and Magsaysay award winner waterman Rajendra Singh have been invited for the two-day national seminar in Patna from February 25 on better water conservation and environment protection, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) No one appears to be happy with Delhi Police' investigation to trace the missing JNU student Najeeb Ahmad, the Delhi High Court observed today. "No one, be it the roommate or the family of the student or nine suspected students, appears to be happy with the manner in which the investigation is being carried on," a bench of Justices G S Sistani and Vinod Goel said. The observation came during the hearing of a habeas corpus plea moved by Najeeb's mother seeking a direction to the authorities to trace her son who is missing since the night of October 14-15 last year. Meanwhile, Delhi Police, represented by senior standing counsel Rahul Mehra, told the court that lie-detector tests are going to be "simultaneously conducted" on Najeeb's roommate, the nine students who are suspects in the case and some others. Mehra said the nine students are not being singled out for the polygraph test and the submission was taken on record by the court. This was stated during the hearing of an application by one of the nine students who has challenged a Delhi Police notice asking him to appear before the trial court to give consent for the test. The high court was today told that the matter in the trial court has been adjourned to February 22. Advocate Pallavi Sharma, appearing for Najeeb's mother, said that the nine students only have to say yes or no to the test as no one can force them to undergo it, so there is no need for them to be apprehensive. Thereafter, in view of the submission made by Delhi Police, the bench listed the matter for further hearing on March 16. On February 13, the court had said it was "foxed" by the lack of information about Najeeb's whereabouts even after five months of his disappearance as his family sought that the probe be handed over to some other agency. Najeeb's family had said they wanted some other agency to probe the matter as they had no faith in Delhi Police as its investigation has hit a dead-end. 27-year-old Najeeb has been missing since October 14-15 last year after a scuffle at his JNU hostel allegedly with ABVP activists the previous night. The RSS students' wing has denied any involvement in his disappearance. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The first town hall meeting of 2017 for the Wilson Road Neighborhood Group will be Thursday, March 2, at 6:30 p.m. at New Covenant Baptist Church, 105 Spruce St. in Rossville. Over the past year many advances toward a better Walker County have been made and the citizens have came together to make a change, Jim Hill said. Walker County Commissioner Shannon Whitfield will be the special speaker and the Wilson Road Neighborhood Group will have announcements on projects planned for the area as well as updates from the past year. Yoga guru Ramdev today said he was not yet disillusioned with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he has two more years to work on the issues he had promised to resolve during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. He ruled out the possibility of forming a new political outfit. "Everything in the world is based on faith and trust. The action against black money has been taken in the country and the government needs to adopt an effective mechanism to repatriate the black money stashed in other countries. It is peoples' money," Ramdev told reporters. He was in Bhopal en route to Alirajpur where he will take part in ongoing "Namami Devi Narmade -Sewa Yatra" campaign to spread awareness about conservation of the river. "I am not yet disillusioned with the prime minister. Modi enjoys a track record of keeping promises. About three years of his government have been completed and two more years are remaining. The post of Prime Minister is very powerful and he can fulfil huge expectations of the people in two years," he said responding to a query. However, Ramdev also said he was "impartial and neutral" and he would even welcome the Congress if it seeks help in any work concerning the national interests. The seer recalled how Modi, then the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP, had promised him to change the system and eradicate corruption and black money. "There was a political crisis and a widespread scepticism prevailing in the country during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. In such a situation, Modi had said he was agreed with the issues raised by me and promised to change the system, fight against corruption and eliminate black money. I believed in him and supported him in the polls," he added. Ramdev, however, refused to comment about the outcome of the ongoing Assembly polls, especially in high-stake Uttar Pradesh. "I am impartial and neutral. I am neither in favour of anyone nor in opposition," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) After days of silence, Pakistan Army today dismissed as "disinformation" a media report that said army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa urged officers to read a book about how India succeeded in keeping the military out of politics. The Nation newspaper reported on February 12 that Bajwa addressed a gathering of senior army officers of Rawalpindi Garrison in the General Headquarters in December and recommended 'Army and Nation: The Military and Indian Democracy Since Independence' written by Steven Wilkinson. The book provides details of changes made in the structure and recruitment pattern of the Indian Army to suit the fledgling democracy in the new country. Army Spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor issued a brief statement to reject the contents of the report. "News/comments quoting COAS' address to officers at Rawalpindi regarding book 'Army and Nation' is a disinformation," he said in the statement posted on Facebook. It had been reported that Bajwa in the address dwelt on the thorny issue of civil-military equation in the country where the army has ruled for almost half of the history since independence in 1947. The report said the new army chief in a poised manner communicated it to his officers in unequivocal terms that there should be cooperation and not competition between army and civilian leadership of the country. "The army has no business trying to run the government. The army must remain within its constitutionally defined role," Bajwa was quoted as saying. He also urged officers to read Wilkinson's book, according to the report. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Amid reports that Pakistan has moved heavy artillery towards the Afghan border, army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa today said "enhanced security arrangements" in the border region were aimed at combating terrorism. After a string of terror attacks in the country, Pakistan Army has moved heavy artillery towards the Pak-Afghan border in Chaman and Torkham districts, the Express Tribune reported, citing security officials. The move came just two days after the military targeted the camps of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan's (TTP) Jamaatul Ahrar (JA) faction on the Torkham border opposite Mohmand and Khyber tribal regions. Pakistan alleges that the group, which claims to be behind the recent wave of terrorist attacks, has found "safe haven" in Afghanistan. Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Bajwa said security measures along the border with Afghanistan were part of efforts to defeat terrorism which is a common threat to both countries. Army spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor said in a statement that General Bajwa chaired a high level security meeting at army's headquarter in Rawalpindi. Ghafoor quoted the army chief as saying that "enhanced security arrangements" along border are to "fight (the) common enemy i.E. Terrorists of all hue and colour". "Pakistan and Afghanistan have fought against terrorism and shall continue this effort together," Bajwa said. He also called for more effective border coordination and cooperation with Afghan security forces to prevent cross border movement of terrorists, including all types of illegal movement. Bajwa welcomed recent proposals from Afghan authorities to take forward the mutual coordination for result oriented efforts against terrorism. Pakistan has increased security at the Afghan border to stop all illegal movements after a wave of deadly attacks last week. More than 130 suspected terrorists have been killed and over 350 people, mostly Afghans, arrested in Pakistan as part of a nationwide crackdown by security forces following a string of suicide bombings in the country. Senior police officers were among 13 people killed when a Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up during a protest rally outside Pakistan's Punjab assembly in Lahore last Monday. On Wednesday, at least seven people were killed and several others, including judges, injured in two separate suicide attacks in Pakistan's restive northwest region. One of the deadliest suicide bombing in Pakistan in recent times struck Thursday night at the Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine in Sehwan area of southern Sindh province where at least 88 people were killed and over 200 injured in an attack claimed by the ISIS. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Poland's foreign ministry today rejected an EU warning over controversial changes to the country's constitutional court, moves which Brussels insists pose a serious challenge to the rule of law. The European Commission, the executive arm of the 28-nation European Union, has set the Polish government a late-February deadline to reverse the changes or face sanctions. The PiS administration said Monday in its formal reply to Brussels that the changes to the court "are in accordance with European standards applying to the functioning of constitutional courts." It also insisted that the laws on the court adopted by parliament in November and December are "comprehensive and conclusive in regulating the system and functioning of the court" and in line with the recommendations of the Venice Commission, a Council of Europe rights watchdog. Warsaw also accused European Commission vice president Frans Timmermans of playing politics. He has been one of the EU's most vocal voices urging Warsaw to reverse court reforms regarded by critics as unconstitutional. It accused Timmermans of "calling for other member states to create a common front with the European Commission against Poland. "The Polish side regards Frans Timmermans' actions and statements as being politically motivated and aimed at stigmatising a member state." Since coming to power in late 2015, the PiS government has changed the way the court operates -- including the order in which cases are heard and how the chief justice is chosen -- and has put forward its own judges instead of those approved by the previous parliament. Critics argue the reforms undermine judicial independence and the system of checks and balances. They cite other PiS bids to consolidate power including moves to increase state control over public broadcasters. Clashes over the judicial reforms gave rise to string of large demonstrations by a new popular movement, the Committee for the Defence of Democracy. The Commission had already in July handed Poland a three-month deadline to reverse changes to the court or face sanctions. Last week rights groups including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders, FIDH (the International Federation for Human Rights) and the Open Society European Policy Institute urged the EU to take enforcement action against Warsaw. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ecuadoreans have voted for a new leader ,and exit polls indicated socialist President Rafael Correa's hand-picked successor was close to the threshold needed to win outright and avoid a runoff against his nearest rival. As balloting ended, a survey released by pollster Cedatos yesterday said ruling party candidate Lenin Moreno had just over 39 per cent of the votes, compared to 30.5 per cent for former banker Guillermo Lasso, the closest contender among seven opposition candidates. A poll by Opinion Publica broadcast on state TV said Moreno had nearly 43 per cent to Lasso's 28 per cent. Both surveys had a margin of error of two percentage points. To avoid an April runoff, Moreno needed to win a majority of the votes, or get 40 per cent while holding a 10-point lead over his nearest rival. Moreno was quick to declare himself the virtual winner when the exit polls were published, while Lasso said the surveys indicated a second round of balloting would be needed. Preliminary results were expected last night. "This revolution nobody can stop," a triumphant Moreno told supporters in Quito. Standing next to Correa, who he thanked profusely, Moreno called on Lasso to recognise defeat. The opposition candidate showed no sign of throwing in the towel. "We have 45,000 volunteers who are watching over the count to confirm what we already know: that there will be a runoff in Ecuador," Lasso told cheering supporters in Guayaquil. Pre-election polls had suggested that no candidate was likely to get enough votes to win the first round. Expected to decide the race were a third of voters who until recently declared themselves undecided amid low-energy campaigning as the charismatic Correa prepares to retire from politics. The outcome was being watched closely in Latin America, where conservative leaders in Argentina, Brazil and Peru have assumed power in the past 18 months after the end of a commodities boom that boosted leftists like Correa. Outside the region, much of the interest in the election focused on what the outcome might mean for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been staying at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London. Moreno has indicated he would back Assange's continued stay, while Lasso vowed to evict the Australian activist within 30 days of taking office. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Infosys chief Vishal Sikka today said "false and malicious" stories are being spread about the USD 200-million Panaya buyout to target him even as the tech major asserted that no one from the management team benefitted from the deal. In a letter to employees, Infosys chief executive Vishal Sikka lashed out at detractors for spreading "false and malicious" stories about the company and said they were "designed" to target him to the "point of harassment". In a strongly worded email to Infosys employees, Sikka said the reports questioning the company's acquisition of Panaya are "orchestrated by people who are hell-bent on harming the reputation of the company and its employees". In a late evening statement, Infosys said, "We categorically state that no member of the Infosys management team was involved in any prior investments in Panaya, and insinuations that anyone from the management team at Infosys benefitted from this acquisition are misleading and slanderous." The IT giant added that it will investigate the charges made and "will respond to all queries received either directly or from the regulatory authorities" as per its process. In February 2015, Infosys had announced buying the Israeli automation technology company for USD 200 million or Rs 1,250 crore in cash. A section of media reported about a whistleblower's letter to market regulator SEBI, alleging irregularities in the acquisition of Panaya. Referring to the charges, Sikka said "they create a false alternate-reality out of events and dates, with embellishments that are calculated to mislead and sensationalise". He added that while these "distractions are expensive, draining and time-consuming", it is Infosys' burden to ensure that the company's business continues "unflinchingly". "We cannot let these stand unchallenged, and we will take every step and pursue every avenue to strongly defend the company in the face of these unfair and unwarranted attacks," the Infosys CEO said. Sikka is pitted against a clutch of co-founders led by N R Narayana Murthy voicing concerns over a spike in his remuneration and hefty severance packages for two former executives. Stating that the company has "far bigger battles ahead", Sikka urged employees to "rise above the distractions, focus on what really matters, and deliver". "I am, as always, counting on your faith and unwavering attention to what really matters. Change is never easy, and change at the scale that we are undertaking may be unprecedented, and perhaps it is this change that has so inflamed some into trying to drag us all into the mud," he said. Infosys said it has a strong, established internal process to evaluate acquisition targets and make investments. (REOPENS DEL 83) "In the case of Panaya, all the requisite steps in this process were followed. The valuation was done by Deutsche Bank, the financial and tax due diligence was done by one of the Big four firms and legal diligence was done by a leading law firm - Kirkland & Ellis," it said. "The management presented the rationale behind the acquisition - including synergies and business potential to the Board, along with necessary reports and findings." The board deliberated the acquisition, and unanimously approved the investment, which was well within the valuation range determined by the evaluator, it added. Infosys emphasised that Panaya was looked at as an acquisition candidate based on its "strategic fit". Over the last few weeks, Infosys has come under fire from some of the co-founders who have alleged corporate governance lapses. Some former employees also called for re-constitution of the board and demanded that Chairman R Seshasayee step down taking moral responsibility over issues like steep compensation hike of Sikka and hefty severance packages to ex-CFO Rajiv Bansal and David Kennedy, its former General Counsel. Infosys board and management have, however, stood their ground denying these charges. On an investor call, Sikka had recently stated that the company's large clients have come out in its support. Steel demand is expected to improve in coming months on the back of increased spending on infrastructure and long-term government policies, Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh has said. "The steel demand has grown 3.3 per cent during April -December 2016. This is expected to improve in the coming months, due to long-term government policies and increase in infrastructure spend," the minister told PTI. India has been a bright spot in global economy, he said, adding that World Steel Association has predicted the steel demand in India will grow at the rate of 5.7 per cent in 2017. The government of India, he said, has provided extensive support to the domestic steel industry by way of various trade remedial measures in recent times, such as minimum import prices (MIP), anti-dumping and safeguard measures and quality control. "The current scenario in the steel sector is well known, and hence the government will take all necessary measures as and when required to support the industry," the minster said. MIP, he said, was notified as an emergency measure as other trade remedial measures such as anti-dumping rules and safeguard rules are process oriented and are time consuming in terms of implementation and impact. "However, MIP was gradually phased out as and when suitable trade remedial measures were put in place," he added. As on date, 124 out of 173 tariff lines, initially notified as MIP, are covered under anti-dumping duties in addition to the safeguard duties on Hot Rolled Coils and Plates. MIP has also been withdrawn on February 4, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Shiv Sena today said its support to the BJP-led government in Maharashtra was "temporary" in nature and that the future of Chief Minister Devednra Fadnavis "remains uncertain". The fresh attack on the Chief Minister came a day ahead of the crucial civic polls, campaign for which was marred by mudslinging by the state's ruling coalition partners. "The Chief Minister is going around giving assurances about Mumbai everyday at a time when his chair depends on the support of the Sena. His own future remains uncertain, yet he wants to change the future of Mumbai. He should not forget that temporary support has been given by Sena only to let Maharashtra remain stable," an editorial in the party mouthpiece 'Saamana' said. It said the fact that the Chief Minister is being forced to "beg for votes" in the city bylanes points to the fact that the BJP has already lost the race. "If developmental works have been done in the last two-and-a-half years (since the government came to power), he would not have been forced to go begging for votes," it said. "The CM talks of removing the intestines of the corrupt. In that case, his own corrupt cabinet ministers should be cautious because he may go after them in an uncontrollable manner," it said. Meanwhile, Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray, in a veiled attack on the BJP, said some candidates of a particular party had been indulging in a misinformation campaign by running a fake exit poll and through trolls on social media as a desperate attempt. "Desperate measures. Shame... I hope Election Commission takes action on those candidates spreading fake exit poll lies," he tweeted. "Some have even stooped so low to forging a letterhead and signature of an MP with another exit poll. Such jumlas are an absolute shame," he added. The high-voltage campaign for civic polls in Mumbai and nine other cities across Maharashtra sharpened the BJP-Shiv Sena rift, casting a shadow over the stability of the Fadnavis government. Dubbed as a mini Assembly election, over 1.94 crore voters across the state are entitled to exercise their franchise to choose representatives for 10 city corporations on February 21. On the same day, 11 Zilla Parishads will go to the polls. The first phase of the polls in 15 Zilla Parishads was held on February 16. The electioneering assumed an unusually shrill pitch in the final phases largely due to the no-holds-barred attack on each other by the BJP and the Sena, fighting the civic polls separately for the first time in over two decades. The Congress, NCP and the MNS are also in the fray. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tata Steel's Katamati iron mine has been honoured with the the Best Green Organisation of the Year Award at the Global Green Future Leadership Awards in recognition of its environmental protection measures. The award was presented at a function organised by World CSR Day on February 18 in Mumbai. Rahul Kishore, Head (Mining Operations), Katamati Iron Mine, Tata Steel received the award on behalf of Tata Steel from Jordan Reeves, Consul General of Canada in Mumbai, a company release said. Katamati iron mine has been engaged in environmental protection efforts for years and has successfully implemented Environmental Management System as per the requirements of ISO 14001:2004, the statement said. Pankaj Satija, General Manager (Ore, Mines & Quarries), Tata Steel said, "Tata Steel has always been committed towards the environment protection. Our focus has always been responsible environmental practices and optimal resource utilisation while upgrading skills of workmen through training as technologies evolve." The Global Green Future Leadership Awards is for any organisation that participates in environmentally friendly or green activities to ensure that all processes, products, and manufacturing activities adequately address environmental concerns while maintaining a profit. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Delhi-bound plane, with 168 passengers and crew members on board, was grounded after the aircraft developed some technical glitches while landing this afternoon. "The flight (AI-155) which was ready to take off around 3 PM initially developed a technical problem and had to come back before taking off," Airport director BCH Negi told reporters. The flight, which had its technical problem fixed, took off from the runway but returned after the problem prevailed, he added. "It was not an emergency landing but it made technical landing," Negi said. He said the passengers, who were at the airport, would be sent by another plane later in the evening. An spokesman told PTI that the airline had sent a plane from Mumbai to Goa to ferry the stranded passengers. "We had sent a plane (flight no AI-1663) from Mumbai to Goa at 1930 hrs and the same landed at the airport at 2020 hrs and left for Delhi at 2107 hrs," the spokesman said. Mildred Maupin Spelling Bee on Tuesday , 6:00 pm . Middle school students will compete in the spelling bee, and the top five winners will advance to the regional Scripps Spelling Bee in Chattanooga. For more information contact Leneda Laing, llaing@clevelandschools.org. Cleveland Middle School hosts the. Middle school students will compete in the spelling bee, and the top five winners will advance to the regional Scripps Spelling Bee in Chattanooga. For more information contact Leneda Laing, 423-479-9641 House Breakfast on Thursday , 8:15-8:45 am . Students will grab breakfast to go from the cafeteria and join their House friends for fellowship, games, and House chants. For more information contact Lisa Earby, learby@clevelandschools.org. E.L. Ross Elementary students will gather for. Students will grab breakfast to go from the cafeteria and join their House friends for fellowship, games, and House chants. For more information contact Lisa Earby, 423-479-7274 All Pro Dad Breakfast on Friday , 7:40 am . All students and fathers are invited to attend this monthly breakfast program. For more information contact Laura Murray, lmurray@clevelandschools.org. Blythe-Bower Elementary will host the. All students and fathers are invited to attend this monthly breakfast program. For more information contact Laura Murray, 423-479-5121 E. L. Ross students and staff will participate in the Happiness Sprinkling Project on Friday. Drive by Ross during the afternoon and get a dose of happiness. Students will be holding signs that have traveled the world and giving passing motorists a wave and a smile. For more information contact Emily Elliott, 423-479-7274, eelliott@clevelandschools.org. Arnold Memorial Elementary 2nd grade students will host the Famous Americans Wax Museum on Friday, 1:00-2:00 pm. Students have been researching important facts about many famous Americans such as Martin Luther King Jr., Ruby Bridges, Sitting Bull, Johnny Appleseed, Neil Armstrong, and more. Students will be in character and ready to present their facts during this awesome research finale! For more information contact Michael Chai, 423-472-2241, mchai@clevelandschools.org. Father/Daughter Valentine's Dance on Friday , 6:30-8:00 pm . For more information contact Richelle Shelton, rshelton@clevelandschools.org. Stuart Elementary PTO hosts the. For more information contact Richelle Shelton, 423-476-8246 PTO Meetings: With a "stable" government in place, Tamil Nadu will see a new era of development to realise late J Jayalalithaa's dreams under the guidance of V K Sasikala, senior AIADMK leader Thambidurai said today. "We (the AIADMK government) are going to implement the programmes initiated by Amma (Jayalalithaa) in our remaining term of four-and-a-half-years. "Now a stable government is in place in the state. You will see a new era of development to realise the dreams of Amma under the guidance of Chinnamma (Sasikala)," he told PTI. Thambidurai, the Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker, is here to attend the the South Asian Speakers' Summit on Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Replying to a question on the division in the party after the death of Jayalalithaa, he said that the party was united whereas former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, who rebelled against the party chief Sasikala, has only about 10 MLAs with him. Asked whether Panneerselvam would be taken back in the party, he said, "As far as Panneerselvam is concerned, he has already been suspended from the party. Only Chinnamma can take a decision (on that). Whatever decision she takes, we will abide by it." He also attacked the opposition DMK for creating ruckus in the state Assembly during the trust vote, which Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami won by a 122-11 margin. "It was preplanned by DMK to create ruckus in the House so that the proceedings could not be conducted. Panneerselvam also cooperated with them. They all wanted President's Rule in the state," he added. Attacking Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly M K Stalin, he said the DMK leader showed himself in poor light by tearing off his shirt himself. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A draft of President Donald Trump's revised immigration ban targets the same seven countries listed in his original executive order and exempts travellers who already have a visa to travel to the US, even if they haven't used it yet. A senior administration official said the order, which Trump revised after federal courts held up his original immigration and refugee ban, will target only those same seven Muslim-majority countries Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Libya. The official said that green-card holders and dual citizens of the US and any of those countries are exempt. The new draft also no longer directs authorities to single out, and reject, Syrian refugees when processing new visa applications. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the order before it's made public. The official noted that the draft is subject to change ahead of its signing, which Trump said could come sometime this week. Asked about the revised order, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the document circulating was a draft and that a final version should be released soon. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Wall Street Journal also reported that the current draft of the revised order focused on the seven countries but excluded those with green cards. ALSO READ: US security agency guidelines seek aggressive detention of immigrants Trump's original executive order triggered chaos at airports around the world, as travellers were detained when the order rapidly went into effect, US permanent residents known as green-card holders among them. Attorneys provided legal assistance to those held and protesters descended on the airports as news of the order's implementation spread. In its original form, the order temporarily suspended all travel to the US for citizens of those seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days. The original order also called for Homeland Security and State Department officials, along with the director of national intelligence, to review what information the government needs to fully vet would-be visitors and come up with a list of countries that can't or won't make the information available. It said that the government will give countries 60 days to start providing the information or citizens from those countries will be barred from travelling to the United States. Swedes have been scratching their heads and ridiculing President Donald Trump's remarks that suggested a major incident had happened in the Scandinavian country. The American president now says he was referring to something he saw on television. During a rally in Florida on Saturday, Trump said "look what's happening last night in Sweden" as he alluded to past terror attacks in Europe. It wasn't clear what he was referring to and there were no high-profile situations reported in Sweden on Friday night. The comment prompted a barrage of social media reaction yesterday, with hundreds of tweets, and a local newspaper published a list of events that happened on Friday that appeared to have no connections to any terror-like activity. Yesterday, Trump took to Twitter to explain: "My statement as to what's happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden." A White House spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, says that Trump was talking about rising crime and recent incidents in general, not referring to a specific issue. The president may be referring to a segment aired Friday night on the Fox Channel show "Tucker Carlson Tonight" that reported Sweden had accepted more than 160,000 asylum-seekers last year but that only 500 of the migrants had found jobs in Sweden. The report, which was illustrated with video of broken windows and fires, went on to say that a surge in gun violence and rape had followed the influx of immigrants. Reacting to Trump's original remarks, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Catarina Axelsson said that the government wasn't aware of any "terror-linked major incidents." Sweden's Security Police said it had no reason to change the terror threat level. "Nothing has occurred which would cause us to raise that level," agency spokesman Karl Melin said. Former Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt tweeted , "Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking? Questions abound." Addressing Trump in an article yesterday, the Aftonbladet tabloid wrote, "This happened in Sweden Friday night, Mr President," and then listed in English some events that included a man being treated for severe burns, an avalanche warning and police chasing a drunken driver. One Twitter user said, "After the terrible events #lastnightinSweden, IKEA have sold out of this" and posted a mock Ikea instruction manual on how to build a "Border Wall." Sweden, which has a long reputation for welcoming refugees and migrants, had a record 163,000 asylum applications in 2015. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) British Lawmakers will debate US President Donald Trump's proposed state visit to the UK after a petition opposing the tour amassed nearly two million signatures. The House of Commons will debate an online petition with more than 1.8 million signatures saying a formal state visit by President Trump "would cause embarrassment to Her Majesty the Queen." A second petition in support of such a state visit had attracted over 300,000 signatures and will also be debated in line with UK parliamentary rules requiring petitions receiving more than the 100,000 signatures to be considered for a Commons debate. The debate in Westminster Hall of the House of Commons will be opened by petitions committee member MP Paul Flynn, with a response by UK Foreign Office minister Alan Duncan on behalf of the government. British Prime Minister Theresa May has already officially rejected the 'Prevent DonaldTrumpfrom making state visit to the United Kingdom' petition. A Downing Street statement earlier this month said: "We look forward to welcoming PresidentTrumponce dates and arrangements are finalised. Her Majesty's government recognises the strong views expressed by the many signatories of thispetition, but does not support this petition. "During her visit to the United States on January 27, 2017, the Prime Minister, on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen, invited PresidentTrumpfor a state visit to the UK later this year. The invitation was accepted." "This invitation reflects the importance of the relationship between the United States of America and the United Kingdom. At this stage, final dates have not yet been agreed for the state visit." The state visit, expected around August/September this year,has been at the centre of a lot of protests and controversy, including Commons Speaker John Bercow's impartiality coming into question after saying thatTrumpshould be barred from addressing Parliament during any such visit to the UK. Thousands of protesters are expected to gather for rallies outside Parliament in London and across other UK cities to coincide with the Commons debate today. According to the Stop Trump coalition website, protests against the US President and in support of migrants will also be held in Manchester, Liverpool, Nottingham, Leicester, Brighton, Bristol, Leeds, Newcastle, Glasgow and Edinburgh. The group has called a nationwide day of action and dozens of protests have been coordinated by the "One Day Without Us" movement, celebrating the contribution immigrants make to British society. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) One soldier has been killed and another wounded in eastern Ukraine, the army said today, as it accused rebels of breaking a new truce deal announced at the weekend. Ukraine's military spokesman Leonid Matyukhin said Russian-backed rebels had shelled his troops "on all fronts", resulting in one death and one injury over the past 24 hours. But a military spokesman from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Eduard Basurin, told AFP that the truce had largely held since midnight with "almost no attacks." The fresh clashes cast a shadow over the new ceasefire deal announced after the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France held talks in Munich on Saturday. The agreement brought renewed hope of an end to 34 months of conflict in which nearly 10,000 people have been killed. The conflict flared up again earlier this month with several dozen people killed around the flashpoint town of Avdiivka and both sides shifting heavy weaponry forward. Under the Minsk plan -- agreed in the Belarussian capital in 2015 -- the warring parties are meant to withdraw their big guns to create a buffer zone along the frontline. Both sides have repeatedly violated the Minsk agreement and little progress has been made towards a political resolution of the conflict. Ukraine accuses its neighbour Russia of launching the war in retaliation for the ouster of Kiev's Moscow-backed president in 2014. Russia however denies any role in the conflict. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Uttar Pradesh government today recommended a CBI probe into the killing of a local trader who had been was shot dead outside his house early this month apparently for pursuing the trial of his son's murder. "On request of slain trader Shravan Sahu's family members, a CBI probe has been recommended by the state government. A letter for the same has been forwarded to the Centre," State Home Secretary Mani Prasad Mishra told PTI. Motorcycle-borne assailants had gunned 61-year-old Sahu outside his residence in Daalmandi locality in Saadatganj area here. Shahu had been actively pursuing the trial of his son Ayush's murder both as a key prosecution witness and main complainant with a history sheeter Aqeel facing the trial in the case as the key accused. Aqeel had allegedly gunned down Ayush in Thakurganj area in October 2013. Shravan allegedly faced consistent threat at the behest of Aqeel, who warned him against pursuing the trial of Ayush's murder. An alleged notorious criminal of Thakurganj area in Lucknow, Aqeel has 13 FIRs lodged against him and was put in Lucknow jail on January 27 after threatening Sahu with dire consequences. Sahu's murder issue was raked up BJP president Amit Shah in his rallies to put the Akhilesh Yadav government in the dock over the law and order situation in the state. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A US Congressional delegation comprising 27 lawmakers is on a visit to India during which the government is likely to convey to them about India's concerns over H1B visa besides other issues. The visit of the US lawmakers reflected the growing bipartisan support for strengthening the Indo-US strategic ties and comes nearly a month after Donald Trump became the President. The delegation is scheduled to meet senior Indian leaders during which they are likely to be apprised about India's apprehensions over the H1B visa. During the visit from February 20-25, the lawmakers are scheduled to have a wide range of meetings with top government officials, politicians, members of think-tanks and non-governmental organisations. Besides Delhi, the largest delegation of 19 Congressmen would also visit Hyderabad. Another bipartisan Congressional delegation (or Codel) of eight lawmakers, being led by Bob Goodlatte, Chairman of powerful House Judiciary Committee, is visiting India from February 20 to 23. India's Ambassador to the US Navtej Sarna last week had said such a visit is reflective of the efforts on the part of the US to "strengthen and build" on the bipartisan support that they have in the US Congress for India-US relations. Congressional records indicate that this is the largest ever travel of US lawmakers to India. The delegation includes Congressman George Holding, Co-Chair of the India Caucus, Jason Smit and Dave Trott. All four are from the Republican Party. The Democratic members to the delegations include Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, Congressmen Hank Johnson, David Ciciline and Henry Cuellar. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A high-powered delegation led by a US Congressman is to meet Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Tuesday to discuss issues such as movement of skilled manpower and intellectual property rights. The eight-member team is being led by Bob Goodlatte. The meeting comes at a time when the new administration in the US, under President Donald Trump, is proposing an overhaul of the popular regime, raising concerns among Indian IT firms. Industry association Nasscom met the delegation on Monday. We have shared our views with them that the Indian IT industry is a large contributor to job creation in the US and we bring skills in areas where there is a huge skill deficit, Nasscom President R Chandrashekhar told PTI. Microsofts chief Satya Nadella is also scheduled to meet Prasad separately on Tuesday. Indian IT companies are heavily dependent on the US market, which accounts for more than 60 per cent of the sectors exports, and any clampdown in the visa regime could result in higher operational costs and shortage of skilled workers for the $110-billion Indian outsourcing industry. Goodlatte, as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and other members play an important role in crafting policies around high-skilled immigration and intellectual property in the US Congress. The Indian side is expected to highlight and share information on direct jobs being created by Indian IT firms in the US, and their contribution in making the American economy competitive. Growth in the Indian IT sector has been slowing amid multiple headwinds such as changing technology landscape (automation and digitisation) and global events like Brexit, apart from the proposed tightening of regime by the Trump administration. Supply of water from Veeranam lake in the district to Chennai to meet the drinking water requirement was stopped from today owing to poor storage, a senior PWD official said. The water level in the sprawling tank today stood at 27 feet as against its maximum of 47.50 feet, PWD Assistant Engineer R Govindarajan told reporters. He said the water level was dwindling as it had not been receiving inflow from Mettur Dam. Most parts of Tamil Nadu are facing drought like situation in view of monsoon failure. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bihar Minority Affairs minister Abdul Gafoor today said he would meet controversial RJD leader Mohammed Shahabuddin at Tihar jail whenever he visits Delhi. Gafoor's photograph with Shahabuddin inside the Siwan jail last year had gone viral, creating controversy. "I will definitely meet him whenever I feel. I will tell you all whenever I make a trip there," he told reporters on the sidelines of "Lok Samvad" (Public dialogue) programme held by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Asked if Shahabuddin's controversial remarks against Kumar, calling him 'circumstantial Chief Minister' proved to be his nemesis, Gafoor disapproved of the remark and said, "Kumar is CM in a truthful circumstance." In reply to a question, if Shahabuddin's challenge to the Bihar CM led to his difficulties, he said the state government had no role in Shahabuddin's matter. The former RJD MP's transfer to Tihar jail, he said, was in accordance with the Supreme Court's order. "The state government went to Supreme Court not only in Shahabuddin's case but also in many other matters including those of expelled RJD MP from Madhepura, Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav," he said in his support. Speaking about his photograph with Sahabuddin inside Siwan jail which went viral last year, he asked, "What's wrong?" "I had gone there after taking permission from the jail authorities," he said. Replying to another question if RJD should remove Shahabuddin from its national executive and also from the party, Gafoor was not categorical in his answer and merely said his wife Heena Sahab had contested Parliamentary poll from Siwan on RJD ticket. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) BJP National Secretary Tarun Chugh today said the Punjab government and the people of the state will not allow INLD volunteers to dig the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal. "Punjab farmers can not afford to allow even a single drop of water to Haryana or any other state as there was no water to spare," he said in a statement here. It is high time that Haryana's opposition party the INLD understands that the resolution passed by Punjab Vidhan Sabha regarding "de-acquisition" of land acquired for SYL canal has settled the issue once and for all, Chugh said. "It has left no scope for digging or construction of the canal as the land has been returned to the farmers from whom it was acquired," the BJP leader said and warned INLD leaders not to seek political mileage out of this highly sensitive issue. He said the INLD must understand that the people of Punjab are united on this issue and capable of protecting their own interests by "opposing any misadventure peacefully but effectively". Notably, INLD leader Abhay Chautala had announced that party activists will assemble at Ambala on February 23 and march towards Punjab for the purpose of digging the SYL canal after the recent Supreme Court verdict favouring Haryana in terms of sharing of river waters. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) By Nidhi Verma NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India plans to sell refined crude oil products to Myanmar as part of New Delhi's efforts to deepen ties with its eastern neighbour, which is expected to see strong demand for fuels as it builds new roads, factories, utilities and airports. Indian oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan began a five-day trip to Myanmar on Monday, scouting for opportunities in oil exploration, refining and products retailing. Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to expand ties with the country's eastern neighbours including Myanmar to develop its landlocked northeastern states. Pradhan is also expected to discuss laying fuel and gas pipelines linking India's northeastern states with Myanmar. The Indian oil minister's trip comes months after Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi visited New Delhi, courting investments in sectors left in disarray under nearly 50 years of a military dictatorship. A sweeping electoral victory for Suu Kyi's party in 2015 paved the way for the lifting of U.S. sanctions against her country last year. Numaligarh refinery Ltd (NRL), a unit of India's state-run Bharat Petroleum Corp, is looking at selling gasoil into northwest Myanmar, its managing director said. "Initially it will be a small quantity. We will look for a long-term contract for diesel exports after expansion of our refinery, " Padmanabhan told . NRL plans to treble its refining capacity to 180,000 barrels per day in four to five years. Myanmar's refined fuels consumption is estimated to rise at an average annual rate of 6 percent over the next 10 years to 2026, BMI Research, a unit of credit ratings agency Fitch Group, said last month. "Demand for automotive fuels (gasoline, diesel) will grow particularly strongly, as rising consumer wealth and car ownership combine to rapidly expand the size of Myanmar's vehicle fleet at a healthy clip of 18.6 percent per annum over the next five years," it said. B. Ashok, chairman of India's top refiner Indian Oil Corp earlier this month said his firm was looking for downstream opportunities and the sale of refined fuels to Myanmar. ONGC Videsh Ltd, a unit of Oil and Natural Gas Corp last year said his firm was in exploratory talks with Gazprom for the supply of natural gas through a complex swap involving Russia, China and Myanmar. (Reporting by Nidhi Verma and Neha Dasgupta; Editing by Greg Mahlich) (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's wheat imports from Russia, France and Ukraine could come to a halt after March, as New Delhi has asked exporters to fumigate their cargoes with methyl bromide, an insect control gas banned in Europe and the Black Sea region. Currently, food shipments are fumigated at India's ports. After March 31, the plant quarantine authority will only accept cargoes fumigated with methyl bromide at the country of export. The decision is aimed at curbing wheat imports to help local farmers, who will harvest the new-season crop from next month. "Since the government does not apprehend any shortage, the idea is to limit imports when local wheat harvests are round the corner," said a government source with direct knowledge of the matter. The source did not wish to be identified as he is not authorised to talk to the media. India has bought more than five million tonnes of wheat since mid-2016, its biggest annual purchase in a decade, after it turned to the world market to meet a supply shortfall left by two years of droughts. New Delhi is slowing imports ahead of the harvest in April and purchases in the months ahead will depend on production this year. The farm ministry last week forecast wheat output at 96.64 million tonnes in 2017, up from 92.29 million tonnes in the previous year. "It is a non-tariff barrier, which will affect cargoes from Europe and Black Sea. But supplies, if any, will continue from Australia, which allows the use of methyl bromide," said Tejinder Narang, a trade analyst in New Delhi. India probably does not need imports until October because of its local harvest, said a European trader. But both Moscow and Kiev are in talks with New Delhi to reach an agreement, traders in Russian and Ukraine said. Other than wheat imports from Europe and the Black Sea, India's imports of yellow peas from Canada will grind to a halt. Although India imports yellow peas, a sharp rise in local production of chickpeas, pigeon peas and black gram has bumped up local supplies of protein-rich pulses, mostly consumed in curries. (Reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj; Additional reporting by Polina Devitt in Moscow and Michael Hogan in Hamburg; Editing by Mark Potter) (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) By Vladimir Soldatkin, Alexander Winning and Kira Zavyalova MOSCOW (Reuters) - A consortium led by Russian oil major Rosneft plans to finally complete its $12.9 billion acquisition of India's Essar Oil next month, two Russian sources close to the deal told . Acquiring the refiner will give state-owned oil Rosneft access to India, one of the world's fastest-growing energy markets. The deal was announced to fanfare in October but has still not closed. The sources said the delay was due to the complexity of Essar's structure and financing, not to any issues relating to the buyers, who will buy 98 percent of Essar. Rosneft is under Western sanctions due to Moscow's role in the Ukraine crisis. The deal, announced during a visit to India by Russian President Vladimir Putin, is now set to be completed on March 15, the two sources said. Rosneft will acquire a 49 percent share in Essar and another 49 percent will be shared between commodities trader Trafigura and Russian private investment group United Capital Partners (UCP). The deal was structured to avoid the risk of Western sanctions, the chief executive of Russian bank VTB, which is involved in financing the deal, told last year. Essar Oil operates a 400,000 barrel-a-day refinery in Vadinar on India's west coast and sells fuels through its 2,470 filling stations across the country. Trafigura has said that VTB would co-fund Trafigura and UCP's 49 percent stake. Rosneft has said it may use its own funds, external financing or both to pay for its share. One of the sources close to the deal said discussions about the management team at Essar were holding up completion of the deal, but did not elaborate. The second source said that Essar's Indian creditor banks, who include State Bank of India (SBI), must approve a change of control at the company. The deal was also complicated by Essar's ongoing debt restructuring programme, the source said. "The process of receiving lender approvals, including SBI, for the transaction is underway. Sanctions provisions do not apply to the transaction," Essar said in emailed comments to . A senior SBI official said the bank was on course to approve the deal, and did not see U.S. sanctions getting in the way, but did not give a timeframe. VTB earlier agreed to provide Essar with up to $3.9 billion for debt reconstruction. In response to Reuters queries, Rosneft said it expected to close the deal in the first quarter of 2017. Trafigura gave the same timeframe, and said it was also replying on behalf of UCP. (Additional reporting by Nidhi Verma in New Delhi, Devidutta Tripathy in Mumbai, Dmitry Zhdannikov in London and Katya Golubkova in Moscow; Editing by Susan Fenton) (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Every January, I do a digital tune-up, cleaning up my privacy settings, updating my software and generally trying to upgrade my security. This year, the task feels particularly urgent as we face a a world with unprecedented threats to our digital safety. Commercial Feature is a Business Standard Digital Marketing Initiative. The Editorial/Content team at Business Standard has not contributed to writing or editing these articles. For further information, please write to assist@bsmail.in It is a confusing time for party workers of the Samajwadi Party and the Congress in Amethi. Are they fighting together or against each other, is the question they are still trying to figure out. Samajwadi Party leader and UP minister Gayatri Prajapati on Monday moved the Supreme Court for recall of its order for lodging an FIR against him in cases of alleged gangrape and attempt to rape a woman and her daughter. Prajapati, whose involvement in these cases has been used by political opponents in electioneering in the poll-bound state, has cried foul alleging that it was a "politically motivated" case as the complainant was affiliated to the BJP. Seeking a stay on his impending arrest, he claimed that the state Government had not put the actual facts in the right perspective before the apex court and false allegations were levelled against him. On February 17, the apex court had directed the UP Police to lodge an FIR against Prajapati and asked it to inquire and file a report of the action taken regarding the incidents in eight weeks in a sealed cover. The apex court's direction had come on a PIL filed by a woman who had alleged repeated gang rape by Prajapati and others and sought the court's direction for lodging of an FIR. The petitioner's counsel had argued that the UP Police had not taken any action on the complaint which was given to the Director General of the state police. Counsel appearing for the state had said that since it was currently election time in the state, the petition has been filed and the government has said in the affidavit that the alleged incident cannot be ascertained and there was a delay in filing of the complaint. Narrating the incident, the petitioner's counsel had said the alleged incident had first taken place in October 2014 and continued till July 2016 and when the accused tried to molest the minor daughter of the petitioner, she decided to lodge a complaint. Prajapati was sacked by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav from his cabinet last year but was later reinstated in the council of ministers. Tata Teleservices and Reliance Communications' share saw a hike of at least 10 per cent on Monday amidst news of the merger talks between the two. According to media reports, Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani has met the newly appointed Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran to talk about the possible merger of Reliance Communications with the Tata Group. Last month, Britain's Vodafone Group also confirmed that it is in discussions with the Aditya Birla Group about a possible merger of its India unit with Idea Cellular, which would create India's largest telecom company. Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular stocks rose 1.66 percent and 2.55 percent, respectively. While Reliance Communications rose 4.37 per cent, the Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) stock rose 6.62 percent on the BSE. These big mergers could reshape the entire telecom sector scenario. Here's all you need to know about the massive union: If Tata Tele, Reliance Communications deal happens, it will create the third largest entity in the industry with around 260 million subscribers. "Nothing has been finalised yet," the Economic Times quoted sources as saying that the issue regarding NTT Docomo's exit from Tata Tele needs to be resolved. The source also added that there are a few hurdles such as Tata Tele's debt of about Rs 30,000 crore. Reliance Communications is already on the verge of finalising the agreement to merge Aircel Ltd into its own business. It will also soon be merged with Systema Shyam Teleservices, the owner of MTS services. Meanwhile, Idea Cellular and Vodafone India are reportedly looking to seal their proposed merger within a month. The merged entity of Vodafone-Idea has potential to emerge as the market leader in terms of wireless subscribers. Vodafone and Idea are in the second and third spot currently, while Bharti Airtel is number one. Top five service providers have over 80 per cent of the market share of the total broadband subscribers. Vodafone-Idea entity would become the leader in the category, overtaking Bharti and Reliance Jio. However, the biggest hurdle to the merger will come in form of regulatory approvals and practical implementation challenges, warn industry experts who, among other issues, cite breach of revenue marketshare and spectrum caps in five of the 22 telecom circles. Since its entry in India in 2007, Vodafone has become number two operator in the country, but its journey has been tumultuous as it is locked in a legal battle with the government over a USD 2 billion retrospective tax claim over its acquisition of Vodafone India from Hutchison in 2007. Both the mergers, if it they happen, will further intensify the tariff war, say industry experts. Backed by Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Jio Infocomm is offering free voice calls and data till March and has notched up 74 million users. It has already invested over USD 25 billion and is investing another Rs 30,000 crore (USD 4.8 billion). 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!) Former Trump Manager Corey Lewandowski Greeted By Protesters At UChicago By aaroncynic in News on Feb 16, 2017 3:28PM More than a hundred demonstrators gathered in front of the Quadrangle Club at the University of Chicago Wednesday afternoon to protest an appearance by former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. The protest came after a coalition of groups at the school asked former Obama campaign manager and Institute of Politics Director David Axelrod to rescind Lewandowskis invitation to speak, saying that apperances by Trump surrogates such as him and Sean Spicer, who spoke at the school last month, incite hatred and violence towards the most marginalized members of their community. Nothing about a firm commitment to free expression obliges us open our doors to (much less to provide platforms for) those who incite hatred and violence against refugees, immigrants, and minoritiesthat is, against our students, teachers, co-workers and neighbors, read a letter the groups sent earlier this week. Flanked by a Donald Trump-inspired piAata and carrying signs that read solidarity trumps hate and bigotry is not normal, they chanted shame on U of C, sold out for publicity, and no hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here. A few students said they managed to briefly get inside the speech, where they were quickly ejected for holding up signs in protest. protest organizers argue that Lewandowskis appearance, which was closed to the public and the press, also emboldens white supremacists who have been more active on campus since election season. It would be bad enough for them to be hosting these figures at all, said Anton Ford, an associate professor of philosophy. But to have this event as a private, off-the record conversation means that Lewandowski is even less likely to be challenged and questioned publicly. The U of C has failed to take meaningful action against the presence of white supremacist hate groups on campus, said Kylie Zane, a graduate of the university. When you view that alongside inviting someone like Lewandowski to campus, it sends a clear signal that racists are welcome at this University. Representatives from the IOP told Chicagoist on Monday the institute is non-partisan and hosts speakers from across the political spectrum. In Wednesdays seminar, students will have the opportunity to question Corey Lewandowksi on these and many other topics related to the Trump campaign. Consistent with the values of the University and the IOP, people are free to contest, criticize, and protest views expressed on campus so long as they do not obstruct or interfere with the freedom of others to express their views." Fabindia has started removing the brand name Khadi it uses to promote its cotton products after a legal notice by Khadi India that the use of the word amounted to "unfair trade practice" and misusing its trade name. Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC) had sent a legal notice to Fabindia Overseas Pvt Ltd, a chain of ethnic wear retail outlet, asking it to immediately stop using the word Khadi from all its cotton products and remove display banners from its showrooms. Sources said Fabindia CEO Viney Singh has responded to KVICs notice, saying it was complying with all the directions of the KVIC. Fabindia has stated that "as per the direction issued" by KVIC, it has complied with them, they said. Fabindia, in its reply, has also sought a meeting with KVIC officials to explain its position in order to resolve the matter to the satisfaction of Khadi India. KVIC Chairman V K Saxena, who justified serving the legal notice, referred to the earlier communications with Fabindia by which the private firms application for Khadi mark was treated as closed. He cited a September 29, 2016 letter which stated that "upon the request of Fabindia, several meetings were held with KVIC and the last meeting was held on August 2, 2016, with Chairman of KVIC at New Delhi. During the meeting, it was assured that Fabindia will communicate their consent shortly. "Since two months have passed and KVIC has not yet received any response from your end, it is presumed that you are not interested to obtain Khadi mark certificate for sales and promotion of Khadi products. "Hence in the present circumstances, your application for Khadi mark certificate may please be treated as closed. Henceforth, no correspondence on this subject will be entertained," the communication said. Saxena also drew attention to a February 16 letter of KVIC in which it was decided to issue Khadi mark certificate in favour of Fabindia to carry out trading/selling of genuine Khadi and Khadi products attaching Khadi mark tags/labels, subject to several conditions which were also mentioned. KVIC, which is an autonomous body under the Ministry of KVIC, which is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, had accused Fabindia of misleading and confusing the consumers by promoting its goods under its registered trade mark Khadi. In the February 8 legal notice addressed to Fabindias New Delhi-based CEO, KVIC had said "You are called upon to explain your position in the above matter within 15 days from the date of receipt of this notice, failing which the KVIC will be constrained to proceed against your company as per law for the violation of Khadi Mark Regulation and payment or incidental damages for the losses caused to KVIC by Fabindia." It also said Fabindia was denied the certificate to use the brand name as it did not adhere to the procedural formalities for Khadi mark certification which was discussed with its representatives. The notice to Fabindia said that as per the Khadi Mark Regulations, 2003 and Khadi & Village Industries Commission Act, 1956 in order to regulate the production, sale or trading of Khadi and Khadi products in India, "no textile shall be sold or otherwise trade by any person or certified Khadi institution as Khadr or Khadi products, in any form or manner without it bearing a Khadi Mark tag or label issued by KVIC". With a subscriber base of 72.16 million, Reliance Jio has grabbed a lion's share, close to one-third market share of broadband service providers, as per the latest data released by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for the month of December 2016. This translates into a gain of 6.6 percentage points in its market share to 30.56 per cent, as compared to 23.9 per cent in the previous month. {blurb} This came hard on Bharti Airtel, which was a market leader in wireless broadband services till October with 22.05 per cent market share --- but has seen a drop of over 3 percentage points since then. Its market share currently stands at 18.45 per cent in this category. Vodafone equally bears the brunt with 3.6 percentage points decline in its market share since October. Reliance Jio Infocomm commenced its wireless service in September 2016 with a market share of 8.7 per cent in broadband services and a subscriber base of 16.62 million. Its market share jumped to 16.45 per cent in October, followed by significant jumps of 23.9 per cent in November and 30.56 per cent in December 2016. All thanks to the company's welcome offer' early September last year which gave users an access to free unlimited 4G data for the first three months. It further extended the free call and data offer till March 31 2017 after the promotional 90-day period expired on December 04, 2016. With a subscriber base of 16.62 million in September, Reliance Jio saw a net addition of 19.6 million in October followed by net additions of 16.26 million in November and 20.28 million in December 2016. The free data offer of Reliance Jio will end next month and with Vodafone-Idea merger on the cards, it remains to be seen how the market share dynamics will change. It was announced today that more than 3,000 people will attend business events in Cork from Monday 6th to Friday 10th March as part of Local Enterprise Week. The Local Enterprise Offices of South Cork, Cork North and West and Cork City today announced their programme of events for Local Enterprise Week, a national event which runs across all 31 LEOs that is aimed at anyone thinking of starting a business, new start-ups and growing SMEs. Among the events being hosted throughout Local Enterprise Week will be a female entrepreneurship conference which will feature a panel of Ireland's leading upcoming and established female entrepreneurs, a Taste Cork event for Cork's budding food businesses, and a Digital Conference focused on trading online on Wednesday March 8th with key industry experts in Rochestown Park. It is estimated that Cork's Local Enterprise Offices who take over 9,000 calls each year from businesses throughout the county provided almost 1.8 million of financial supports in 2016 for manufacturing and internationally-traded micro-enterprises throughout the city and county with a further 423,975 of funding awarded to aid micro-enterprises to improve their e-commerce capability. Furthermore, Cork's LEOs also hosted more than 250 business training courses and events in 2016 including Start Your Own Business programmes, Management Development courses, Kickstart Your Food Business, Women in Business, Ireland's Best Young Entrepreneur programme and online and social media courses. More than 1,000 business owners also availed of free business advice clinics in their offices, with over 2,500 hours of one-to-one mentoring with a business adviser approved for micro-enterprises. Add to this the creation of over 400 jobs by Cork Micro Enterprise Businesses which were supported by the LEOs in 2016. The offices also engage with 50 schools and more than 3,500 students who participate in their Schools Enterprise Programme. Speaking of the upcoming Local Enterprise Week, Kevin Curran, Head of Enterprise, Cork North and West said, "2016 was one of our most successful in terms of aiding so many emerging businesses. Weeks like this are proof that the future of business in Cork is very bright. The Local Enterprise Offices are there throughout the year but Local Enterprise Week helps us to celebrate the diversity of businesses we work with and encourages more budding entrepreneurs to speak with us about how we can open more doors for their business and really take advantage of the huge level of supports that we offer." Source: www.businessworld.ie The Bank of Ireland Startup Awards 2017 have been launched today and will be sponsored by Blueface. This year is the 5th edition of the awards which have seen over 2,500 businesses enter since their establishment across a broad range of categories, from service and export to food, digital and beyond. The Awards aim to recognise the success of the startup sector in Ireland and the significant contribution in terms of revenue and employment it makes to the economy. Entries to the awards are now open until March 27th to organisations up to three years old. Entries will be reviewed across a number of criteria before a shortlist of finalists is announced in April. This year, the Startup Awards has also partnered with the Startup Europe Awards, an initiative supported by the European Commission which pits the best startups from across the continent against each other. All category winners of the 2017 BOI Startup Awards will be eligible to progress and represent Ireland. Commenting on the awards, Head of Marketing at Blueface, Neil Doyle said, "There is a definite and valuable entrepreneurial ethos across the island of Ireland. At Blueface we are aware of how important that is and were proud to be involved with an awards programme which promotes this and celebrates the excellence of those who contribute to it." He added, "If your business is eligible, I would sincerely encourage you to enter. Aside from a not insignificant prize pool for the grand prix winner there are plenty of benefits for all of the entrants. The awards and their finalists garner national exposure through media partners Irish Independent. There are also offers available from each sponsor, including 3 months of free Blueface service for each entrant." Source: www.businessworld.ie It was announced today that SIPTU members working in Trinity College Dublin are to ballot for industrial and strike action in a dispute concerning the failure of management to offer permanent contracts to staff. SIPTU organises 700 support staff in Trinity College Dublin. In a statement today, the trade union said a consultation process involving SIPTU members in the university is now underway. This process will continue for the next two weeks during which a ballot will also be conducted on industrial and strike action. Speaking today, SIPTU Sector Organiser, Karl Byrne said, "Our workplace representatives are dismayed and frustrated about the lack of any tangible progress with regard to a number of outstanding issues at the college. The management position of offering no permanent contracts to workers and replacing permanent positions with staff on fixed term contracts of varying lengths is unacceptable to our members." He added, "It is the view of our members that the management of the university is using the granting of fixed term contracts as a means to avoid offering workers proper contracts of employment that would provide them with permanent and pensionable jobs." Source: www.businessworld.ie LOGAN A 17-year-old Logan girl, who had been missing since January, was found and reunited with her family over the weekend. Law enforcement authorities in Venice, California found Sarah Dunsey on Friday. She was taken to a local hospital for treatment and later released. A Facebook post on Sunday, from Terri Dunsey, Sarahs step-mother, showed her and Sarahs father Michael Dunsey, hugging Sarah. The post said it feels amazing to hold their daughter again and thanked everyone for their help. According to her family, Dunsey was last seen at the MGM in Las Vegas on January 15, where they believe she was abducted. The search for her gained national attention after her mother and others put together a video asking for help and urging her to fight. A day after Dunsey was found, friends and family gathered in Logan to hold a candle light vigil for her. Logan City Police Capt. Curtis Hooley said officers were originally contacted by Dunseys family after she failed to return home in January. The case was later picked up by FBI agents because it stretched across at least three states.

will@cvradio.com Home at 67 S. 200 W. in Preston, Idaho where police found four dead, Sunday afternoon. PRESTON, Idaho Multiple law enforcement agencies are investigating after four people were found dead inside a Preston home Sunday night Cuyler Stoker with the Preston City Police Department, said officers were called to the home, near 67 W 200 S., on report of a possible shooting around 5 p.m. Inside they found the four victims, all dead from apparent gunshot wounds. The identities of the victims has not been released yet. Stoker explained that officers are still attempting to notify family and next of kin. Preston City Police Chief Ken Geddes said in a news release, investigators believe the shooting was an isolated incident and that there is no threat to the public. Officers along with others from the Franklin County Sheriffs Office, Idaho State Police and Idaho State Forensics, spent most of the night and early morning gathering evidence inside the home. Stoker called the shooting a tragic incident. Chief Geddes is expected to release further details of the shooting later today.

will@cvradio.com Ex-Dusek's Employee Fired For Missing Shift On 'A Day Without Immigrants' Rejects Reinstatement Offer By Stephen Gossett in Food on Feb 20, 2017 9:00PM Photo via Facebook. A popular Pilsen restaurant has apologized and offered an employee his job back after he was terminated for missing his shift without giving notice in order to attend the "Day Without Immigrants" protest on Thursday. But the former employer said he will not return. Ricardo Gamboa on Sunday afternoon called for a boycott of Dusek's Board and Beer (1227 W 18th St.) because one of his students, Eliseo Real, who worked at Dusek's as a dishwasher, was terminated after he missed his scheduled shift on the day of nationwide protestwhich intended to spotlight immigrants' significant role in American life and its economy, and also protest President Donald Trump's self-described "crackdown" against undocumented immigrants. But owner Bruce Finkelman said in a statement on Monday that the restaurant management and the chef are in agreement that the situation ought to have been an exception to the restaurant's no-call/no-show policy, and Dusek's offered is offering the employee his position. Finkelman told Chicagoist in a statement: "This employee was initially terminated by our chef, not because of his decision to participate in #ADayWithoutImmigrants, but because he no-called/no-showed for his job without allowing us the opportunity to cover his shift. However, we appreciate the elevated conversation that this isolated incident has brought to light. We had the chance to sit down with our entire management team this morning and review the details on a closer level. Along with our chef, we are all now in full agreement that the particular circumstance deserved to be an exception to the no call/no show policyimmigrant rights are a core value of our institution. Our chef has reached out to the employee directly to let him know that were trying to right this wrong, and he has also offered him his job back." Along with the policy exception, Finkelman also emphasized that Dusek's has worked to support the predominantly Hispanic neighborhood it calls home. "Since day one, Duseks has diligently worked side by side with the Pilsen community to not only stand in full support of immigration rights, but to also celebrate the cultural fabric of our neighborhood," Finkelman said. "Were thankful to employ many of the hard-working people who live in Pilsen, and without them, our restaurant simply would not exist." "Weve always been proud to show our support to all immigrants and recognize they are an essential part of our business and our country," he added. "Id like to personally apologize if this circumstance has made you believe anything but." The owner also noted thatamong other community contributions, including its Cause Beer program and curation of the "Shapes & Areas" art exhibitDusek's announced last week it would donate a portion of proceeds on Presidents Day to the ACLU. Still, Real, a 21-year-old Little Village resident, said the apology he received was insufficient and he will not be returning to work at Dusek's. Real, who said he worked at Dusek's for approximately one month, told Chicagoist that he felt the apology did not satisfactorily address one comment in particular made by the chef after he returned to work the following daywhen, according to Real, the chef replied to Real's reason for missing work by saying, "Thats great for Mexicans and all, but you can't do that shit here." Dusek's was closed during brunch hours, but Real said there was no discussion with employees regarding operations regarding "A Day Without Immigrants." Real said that in order to make things right, Dusek's should either commit to hiring more people of color and longtime community residents for the restaurant's higher-paying positions or give a quarter of monthly profits to a Mexican-American/Mexican household in the community. This post has been updated. A newly unearthed essay by Winston Churchill shows Britain's wartime leader was uncannily prescient about the possibility of alien life on planets orbiting stars other than the sun. A statue of late British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in London. [Photo/Agencies] The 11-page article was drafted on the eve of World War II in 1939 and updated in the 1950s, decades before astronomers discovered the first extrasolar planets in the 1990s. Yet Churchill pinpointed issues dominating today's debate about extraterrestrial life, proving that the former prime minister "reasoned like a scientist", according to an analysis of his work published in the journal Nature on Wednesday. The hunt for life on other worlds has taken off in the last 20 years as observations have suggested the Milky Way alone may contain more than a billion Earth-size planets that could be habitable. Churchill was already thinking along similar lines nearly 80 years ago, writing that "with hundreds of thousands of nebulae, each containing thousands of millions of suns, the odds are enormous that there must be immense numbers which possess planets whose circumstances would not render life impossible". He also honed in on the importance of liquid water for life, saying that a suitable planet would have to be "between a few degrees of frost and the boiling point of water". Modern scientists are busier than ever looking for signs of life in such environments, both in our own solar system and in the wider universe. So far they have found nothing. Churchill's essay was probably intended as a popular-science piece for a newspaper, although it never appeared in print. The famous polymath had already written similar science articles for newspapers and magazines, including one on fusion power in 1931. The typewritten essay, entitled Are We Alone in the Universe?, was uncovered last year in the archives of the US National Churchill Museum in Fulton, Missouri, and passed to astrophysicist Mario Livio for expert examination. In his analysis in Nature, Livio praised Churchill's clear thinking, as well as his support for science as a tool of government policy. Churchill was the first prime minister to employ a science adviser. Churchill's vision of life on Earth in the first half of the 20th century, however, was far from rosy. "I, for one, am not so immensely impressed by the success we are making of our civilization here that I am prepared to think we are the only spot in this immense universe which contains living, thinking creatures, or that we are the highest type of mental and physical development which has ever appeared in the vast compass of space and time." Vincent Ndumu, Government Delegate Bamenda City Council Wilson MUSA The Government Delegate to the Bamenda City Council, Vincent Ndum Nji has spat fire on some South West elites who spoke lengthily in Buea a forth night ago on the disastrous role of North West population on the ongoing strike. The South West barons including former PM Peter Mafany Musonge, UB Vice Chancellor Dr Nalova Lyonga among others had said the ongoing strike action especially the ghost towns is being spearheaded by North Westerners and that the people of North West are fast and will double cross South Westerners if the struggle yields fruits. But the weekender edition of The Guardian Post quotes Vincent Ndumu as saying that those preaching national unity are the same persons championing xenophobia against North Westerners. He adds that contrary to allegations by some South west Elites about Consortium leaders, all leaders secessionist groups hail from SW and not NW region, he also reminded the South West Elites that it was a North West Prime Minister who created the Cameroon General Certificate of Education ,GCE Board with headquarters in Buea. The Bamenda Government Delegate to the City Council also said the same Graffis accused of championing disorder in the SW voted overwhelmingly for reunification. Vincent NDUMU reminded South West Elites that NW had the chance to change the capital of West Cameroon from Buea to Bamenda but did not despite the fact that they had Prime Ministers from 1961 to 1972; he added that these claims are just a way to give a dog bad name to hang it. Reacting on school resumption, the Government Delegate said efforts made government are good enough for school resumption and that Mission and Private colleges have the key to school resumption in the two regions. According to him, advocating for school boycott is sacrificing the future of the next generation. | BY Lynchy | Last weeks Gruen Transfer pitch topic which challenged Melbourne based agency Loud&Clear Creative and Sydneys Play Communications to sell the idea of banning all religion in Australia has prompted the largest response from the public in The Gruen Transfers four year history with over 160,000 views (and growing) on YouTube. The shows typically controversial topics in the past have included legalising child labour and lowering the legal drinking age to 16, but have never received such a reaction. In fact the next closest number of YouTube views for a pitch was to ban swearing in Australia, which received around 30,000 hits. What has been the more astonishing than the number of views however is the debate and the discussion that has been raised between Atheists and various religious groups. Literally thousands of passionate posts and responses have been posted on various forums and Youtube. Its amazing that what is supposed to be an innocuous tongue in cheek pitch at selling the un-sellable has sparked debate in the community about religion said Loud&Clear Director Cade Witnish, whose team was responsible for one of the pitches. | BY Ricki Green | Flying Fish director Niki Caro has been confirmed to direct Disneys live action remake of Mulan. Caro will be the second only woman to direct a Disney project with a budget more than $100m and the 5th ever woman to direct a movie over that budget benchmark. The original Mulan grossed USD$304m worldwide when it was released in 1998. It tells the story of a young Chinese girl who who learns that her weak father is to be called upon to join the army. Worrying that he would never survive the hardship of war, she disguises herself and joins in his place. Caro is very quickly climbing the Hollywood ladder, having directed films such as Whale Rider (2002), North Country with Charlize Theron (2005), A Heavenly Vintage (2009) McFarland USA with Kevin Costner (2015), Anne of Green Gables for Netflix (2017) and soon-to-be released The Zookeepers Wife starring Oscar nominated Jessica Chastain and Golden Globe nominated Daniel Bruhl. Caros most recent commercial work for HBF Australia collected Cannes Lion awards amongst others. | BY Lynchy | The annual CB AgencyCreativity/Billings Index (or Hot+Cold Chart) is a must for all agency CEOs and ECDs plus marketers on the look-out for a new agency or to see where their agency is placed in the industry. There is a chart for Melbourne/Sydney, plus Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth, as well as New Zealand. Request your FREE hi-res PDF , which you can print out and pin on your wall or blow up to A2 or A1 and frame. About the CB Hot+Cold Chart: While size may be important to some big clients (Ive got a bigger agency than you), it is by no means the only measure of an agencys worth. Which is why Campaign Brief introduced in 1997 a new way of measuring our agencies: by relating their size to their creative product. That way, clients seeking a big, creative agency know where to look. Some may prefer a small, creative shop. Others may seek a big, conservative operation. Or a small shop that pumps out what they want, when they want it, at the right price. Whatever their tastes, CB make it easier to see where a selection of agencies in Australia and New Zealand sit in our 21st Annual Big vs Small Hot vs Cold cross-analysis. | BY Lynchy | Damisa Ongsiriwattana (Lek), the former Creative Director at Ogilvy & Mather Bangkok and Saharath Sawasathikom (Chy) of CJ Worx, have teamed up to launch new agency SOUR Bangkok. The first of its kind, SOUR is an advertising agency specializing in campaigns and content for women. Under the leadership of Ongsiriwattana and Sawasathikom, the agencys unique positioning is inspired by their foresight in an emerging and ever-growing economic trend, an economy driven by women. Global statistics reveal that up to 80% of buying power belongs to women. They are the purchase decision makers of products such as cosmetics, drinking water, cars, houses, and even mens razors. Furthermore, a growing number of women are representing companies upper management. Womens policy making and buying power is therefore expected to grow exponentially in the future. Yet, most consumers feel that advertising targeting this demographic is underwhelming. And thus, SOUR Bangkok was founded to fill this void within the Thai advertising scene, crafting ads of the new era where selling products alone can be seen as uninspiring. There needs to be content that understands women, created by women for women on every platform. Ongsiriwattana is a veteran creative with over ten years in the industry. Her body of work exclusively involves womens brands to national and international acclaim, garnering awards from Cannes Lions, London International Award, AdFest, etc. She has also served as a judge at Cannes Lions. Sawasathikom and Jinn Paoprapai are founding directors of CJ Worx, a digital agency that recently won the Independent Agency of the Year and Digital Agency of the Year awards in 2016. Also part of the senior group is Pimmard Leenutaphong was Group Account Director at J. Walter Thompson with over twelve years of experience managing accounts in cosmetics and real estate. Her most recent position was Marketing Manager at LINE Company Thailand where she led the LINE TV marketing campaign that generated over five million app downloads to date. Ongsiriwattana explains the origin of the name SOUR: Our goal is to tastefully harmonize sensibilities between the brand and the consumer by cooking up campaigns that not only benefit the brand but simultaneously represent women as well. We want to exhilarate consumers with our fresh new flavor of advertising thats bold enough to cut through the noise and leave the brand message on the tips of their tongues. Because after all, consumers are now the most powerful media channel we have. As a consumer and member of the womens community, I often find that Thai ads dont actually understand women, and many times we found that they were written by men. For example, one ad preached that women should reallocate the time they spend on beauty to make themselves smarter instead; that really bothers me. Is there no such thing as beauty with brains? Were a multi-tasking gender. Simultaneously, it doesnt mean that our work cannot send positive messages. Women do listen but only when its demonstrated that were on their side. Only when this has been established will an empowering message have its effect. The Chinese economy is on the threshold of a new era of consumption-led growth that will be driven by increased foreign direct investment or FDI in strategic sectors, according to business leaders and industry experts. Thanks to governmental resolve to attract more FDI, segments newly identified as key to sustained growthautomation, digitalization, financial services, railway equipment, environmental technology and renewable energyare expected to benefit. In January, the central government released a document outlining 20 measures to spur investment activities that have been sluggish. Among the measures are opening up of manufacturing, services and financial industries to FDI. Foreign businesses will be encouraged to bid for infrastructure projects through local franchises. Eager to enhance the country's profile as an FDI destination, the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planner, recently took an unprecedented step. It delegated power to provincial governments to approve proposals for foreign investment up to $300 million in areas not in the negative list, which specifies sectors where foreign investors are barred. Foreign companies will also be entitled to participate in bidding for government procurement contracts, as long as their products are made in China. The government will also allow them to go public and issue bonds in local markets to diversify financing channels. These measures suggest the government is not content with steady FDI growth in 2016 on the back of strong investment in services. FDI rose 4.1 percent year-on-year to reach $118 billion, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce, the government branch in charge of the country's outbound and inbound investment. "Pushed by rising labor costs and weak global market demand, China is planning to have its growth depend more on domestic consumption and less on exports," said Zhang Yunling, director of International Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing. Zhang said companies from Europe, Japan and the United States have already discovered that it is time to invest more in China's research and development or R&D, design, science and technology or S&T businesses. New growth points will present themselves as the economy becomes more sophisticated. Under government policies, foreign companies will be encouraged to invest in high-end, smart and green manufacturing; set up R&D centers; and strengthen cooperation with domestic peers. They will also be allowed to join national S&T programs. Things have already started happening on this front. For instance, Germany's Siemens AG opened an industrial facility at its Wuhan Innovation Center in Hubei province last month. It will work together with local companies to build digitalization laboratories, intelligent water-testing laboratories, industrial hardware and software platforms, and expert networks from a long-term perspective. "The Wuhan facility will be geared to the situation and needs of local industries to provide such services as innovation project incubation, professional training and technical consulting for small and medium-sized enterprises," said Zhu Xiaoxun, senior vice-president of Siemens China. The company kicked off the Siemens China Innovation Center initiative in China last year, focusing on research in the field of digitalization. Under the program, Siemens has opened innovation centers in Qingdao, Wuhan and Wuxi to develop digitalization technologies in the country. China is now intent on persuading global corporate majors to emulate companies such as Siemens. "The government had noticed that the country's capacity to attract FDI had in recent years been challenged by a number of elements, including the monopoly of State-owned enterprises and disappearing cost advantages of domestic production," said Ma Yu, a researcher at Beijing-based Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation. Worse, changing global political scapethe Trump administration is keen to restore health of the manufacturing sector in the US; many countries in Europe will go to polls later this yearand slower economic growth in both Africa and South America, can affect global capital flows. So, China must further revise its negative list to better protect investment from developed markets, as well as offer their companies the right to acquire or merge with domestic companies, instead of building only Chinese-dominated joint ventures, Ma said. Industries not on the negative list are expected to treat overseas and Chinese companies equally. Such measures have acquired a competitive dimension of late. "Neighboring countries such as Vietnam and Thailand have been initiating their own moves to entice more foreign investment to their shores," said Huo Jianguo, former president of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation. China believes any drop in FDI due to competition from the neighborhood may prove temporary. The Ministry of Commerce has repeatedly said that "because of its huge market size, industrial infrastructure foundation and logistics network, China is, in the long term, the most attractive market for global companies." Such confidence stems from the effectiveness of measures adopted so far. Johnson Controls Inc, the US-based manufacturer of energy storage, building equipment and control systems, will open its second global headquarters with a capacity for 1,200 employees in Shanghai in April. "The Chinese government is seeking new solutions to improve energy efficiency and cut carbon emissions to design healthier environments in its cities," said Trent Nevill, vice-president of Johnson Controls and president for the company in the Asia-Pacific region. "With incentives put in place and high demand from the market, we can experience fast growth in our energy efficiency solutions." The US company experienced fast growth in its battery business in China over the past five years, thanks to surging demand for replacement and original equipment manufacturing. It invested $200 million to build a plant in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning province, to produce batteries for start-stop vehicles. This type of vehicle battery can help automakers meet increasingly strict fuel economy and emissions regulations. It will be a primary focus for the new facility. The Shenyang plant is scheduled to launch in late 2018 and will produce 6 million batteries annually, with the majority for start-stop vehicles. "But it fits in so well with what we are doing at the university, which is to stigmatise bad behaviour so it doesn't happen. "When you undertake content creation/brand ambassador style contracts with clients, once the content is created, it becomes the property of the client. Hence, you may still see some video content rolling around on social media channels that was created by me, or features me, but it's not indicative of an ongoing arrangement. Likewise there are still radio commercials running that were voiced by me, but they were created well before October." You are here: Home Lyu Xiwen, former deputy Party chief of Beijing, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for taking bribes on Monday. According to the court, Lyu was also fined 2 million yuan (290,816 U.S. dollars), and her illegal gains shall be recovered and turned over to the state treasury. Lyu was found to have taken advantage of various official posts from 2001 to 2015 to seek benefits for others. She accepted bribes worth 18.79 million yuan. The Intermediate People's Court of Jilin City in northeast China's Jilin Province said it showed leniency as Lyu confessed to her crimes, expressed remorse and voluntarily returned illegal gains. Lyu accepted the verdict, according to the court. 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 ... Protesters hold placards to demonstrate against U.S. President Donald Trump outside Trump Tower in Chicago, the United States, on Feb. 19, 2017. (Xinhua/Jim Young) On Jan. 27 President Trump issued an executive order that bans entry into the U.S. by individuals from seven countries - namely Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen - for 90 days. It also suspends indefinitely the entry of all Syrian refugees into the country. The order has resulted in chaos at airports, mass protests at home and abroad, very negative media coverage and highly visible court cases. The states of Washington and Minnesota challenged the executive order in a federal district court in Washington State. Their main objection was that professors employed by and students enrolled at state universities coming from these seven countries were no longer able to travel, while some were already stranded outside the U.S. The states claimed that the executive order violates the Constitution for two reasons. First, it restricts the ability of individuals to travel although they have neither received prior notification nor a hearing. Second, the intention of the order was to disfavor Muslims, which is contrary to the freedom of religion and equal protection clauses. Since it will take some time before the court reviews the merits of the case, the states asked it to issue a temporary restraining order. This would suspend the enforcement of the order until a decision is taken. The court granted the temporary restraining order, and this was then challenged by the President before the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Consequently, the appeal case only dealt with this temporary injunction, and not with the merits. However, in order to decide whether the restraining order should remain in place, the court had to determine whether the President's order is likely to succeed based on its merits. In this way the main issues did play a role in the proceedings, but only indirectly. The court came to the conclusion that the President is likely to lose on the first point, regarding the lack of notice and a hearing prior to restricting the individual right to travel. Since that meant that the President is unlikely to succeed on the merits anyway, the court did not feel the need to tackle the second point, i.e. the complex and sensitive issue of religious discrimination. The court stressed that while the states had demonstrated that reinstatement of the travel prohibitions would harm university professors and students, the President had failed to show that the U.S. would suffer irreparable injury if the injunction were to remain in place. The President claimed that the executive order was necessary to combat terrorism. But the court noted that the President had not succeeded in presenting any evidence that any alien from any of the countries named in the order has prepared a terrorist attack in the U.S. The President might take the case to the Supreme Court. At first sight this looks like an attractive option, since the Supreme Court overturns 80 percent of the judgments of the Ninth Circuit, which has a very liberal reputation. However, at the moment, the Supreme Court is split 4:4 between conservatives and liberals, after conservative Justice Antonin Scalia died suddenly last year. If the court were to be divided on this case, the decision of the Ninth Circuit would stand. It is true that the President has nominated a conservative, Neil Gorsuch, to fill Scalia's seat, but the nomination will have to be approved by the Senate and that will take quite some time. Therefore, the President is considering alternative options, such as redrafting the order. President Trump has been heavily criticized for issuing the order. But a lot of that criticism is political hyperbole: the restrictions regarding individuals from the seven countries actually builds on similar measures taken by the Obama administration that at the time nobody objected. Some are offended by the fact that the President called the district court judge a "so-called judge" and that he blamed the judges for jeopardizing national security. However, these comments are mild in comparison to the blunt criticism expressed by President Obama towards a judgment of the Supreme Court called Citizens United in 2010. Nobody will deny that the President has the right and even the duty to protect the nation against terrorist attacks. However, he should do so without singling out or targeting Muslims. Muslims suffer a lot already from Islamophobia and the President of the U.S. should tackle rather than encourage it. Although the executive order is cast in neutral terms, during his campaign then Republican nominee Donald Trump referred to it as a "Muslim" ban. The Ninth Circuit rightly indicated that despite the neutral wording of the order the statements made by then candidate Trump may play a role in determining its meaning. If they do, the order is unlikely to survive. Tom Zwart is a professor of cross-cultural law and human rights at Utrecht University. Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors only, not necessarily those of China.org.cn Flash Malaysian police are working on a DNA profiling of Kim Jong Nam, the elder half-brother of the top leader of Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), a senior police officer said on Friday. Abdul Samah Mat, the police chief of Selangor state told Xinhua that they will ask the DPRK embassy in Malaysia to provide the DNA samples from Kim Jong Nam's next-of-kin, which will be used for a positive identification to prove the relationship. Kim died at the Kuala Lumpur airport on Monday. Next-of-kin may include brothers, sisters and maybe kids, said Abdul, who is leading the criminal investigation in the case. DNA samples may include blood, saliva and other body fluids in criminal investigation. Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi confirmed Kim's identity on Thursday, telling reporters at the briefing that Malaysian authorities will, per international laws, ask the next-of-kin of the deceased to claim the remains after the investigation procedures. Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact. Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here. Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing. You are our people. You Care. We Care2. UK-based University of Southampton's Business School, which has a global reputation for educating tomorrow's business leaders, will be holding on-spot admissions and career counseling sessions in multiple cities of India from 20th to 28th February 2017. These cities include Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Pune. These sessions will be undertaken by Mr. Saf Jeevanjee, who is the Senior International Officer at Southampton Business School. Mr. Jeevanjee will have an in-depth discussion with students about the courses offered by the Business School, the eligibility criteria, fee structure and scholarship opportunities as well as the admission procedure. Students who would meet the School's entry requirements will also be given provisional offers during the counseling and on-spot admission sessions. Following is the schedule for the on-spot admission and student counseling sessions: 20, February (Monday): Mumbai Venue 1: SI-UK, Bandra Timings: 11:00 A.M. - 12:30 P.M. Contact: 022-62368555, 74-00-45-82-82 Email: mumbai@studyin-uk.com Venue 2: Edwise, Santacruz Timings: 1:30 P.M. - 3:00 P.M. Contact: 022 4276 4444, 022 2660 3075 Email: sw_mumbai@edwiseinternational.com Venue 3: Study Overseas, Vile Parle Timings: 3:30 P.M. - 5:00 P.M. Contact: 022 6613 7373, 98193 27373 Email: Mumbai@StudyOverseasGlobal.com 21, February, (Tuesday): Mumbai Venue 1: IDP, Churchgate Timings: 12:00 P.M. - 1:00 P.M. Contact: 022 4411 8888 Email: info.mumbai@idp.com Venue 2: Geebee, Churchgate Timings: 2:00 P.M. - 3:00 P.M. Contact: 022 - 4322 2333 / 2282 6667 Email: info@geebeeworld.com Venue 3: The Chopras, Churchgate Timings: 3:30 P.M. - 5:00 P.M. Contact: 022 49332000 Email: mumbai@thechopras.com 22, February (Wednesday): Pune Venue 1: The Chopras, JM Road Timings: 10:30 A.M. - 12:00 P.M. Contact: 020-49026700/49026767 Email: pune@thechopras.com Venue 2: Study Overseas, Off Bhandarkar Road, Near Kamla Nehru Park Timings: 12:30 P.M. - 2:00 P.M. Contact: 020 4146 2121 Email: Pune@StudyOverseasGlobal.com Venue 3: Edwise, FC Road Timings: 2:30 P.M. - 4:30 P.M. Contact: 020 4902 2222 Email: punefc@edwiseinternational.com 23, February (Thursday): Delhi Venue 1: CombineCo, Prithviraj Road Timings: 12:15 P.M. - 1:30 P.M. Contact: 011 43001725, 011 24602683 Email: info@combineco.com Venue 2: SI-UK, Connaught Place Timings: 3 P.M. - 5 P.M. Contact: 011 4202-8200 Email: delhi@studyin-uk.com 24, February (Friday): Delhi Venue 1: Aspire, Defence Colony Timings: 12 P.M. - 1 P.M. Contact: 011 24109844/5, 011 49000113, 011 46054595/6 Email: mail@aspirebig.com Venue 2: Edwise, South Extension Part-1 Timings: 1:30 P.M. - 3 P.M. Contact: 011 4700 5333, 8826288670 Email: delhi@edwiseinternational.com Venue 3: International Placewell Consultants, Bhikaji Cama Place Timings: 3:30 P.M. - 5 P.M. Contact: 011 46784678 Email: delhi@educationoverseas.com 25, February (Saturday): Delhi Venue 1: Study Overseas, Nehru Place Timings: 10:20 A.M. - 10:50 A.M. Contact: 011 4079 8700 Email: Delhi@StudyOverseasGlobal.com Venue 2: IDP, Nehru Place Timings: 11 A.M. - 12:30 P.M. Contact: 011 4411 8888 Email: info.newdelhi@idp.com Venue 3: The Chopras, Nehru Place Timings: 1:30 P.M. - 3 P.M. Contact: 011 43810000 Email: delhi@thechopras.com Venue 4: AEC, Nehru Place Timings: 3:30 P.M. - 5 P.M. Contact: 011 43334444 27, February (Monday): Chennai Venue 1: SI-UK, Cathedral Road Timings: 11 A.M. - 12:30 P.M. Contact: 044 4510 8282 Email: chennai@studyin-uk.com Venue 2: The Chopras, Apex Plaza, Nungambakkam High Road Timings: 1 P.M. - 2:30 P.M. Contact: 044 42148123/24/26, 40149100, 4213 0035 Email: chennai@thechopras.com Venue 3: Edwise, Kumaramangalam Street Timings: 3 P.M. - 5 P.M. Contact: 044 4292 8200, 044 4206 8985 Email: chennai@edwiseinternational.com February 28, (Tuesday): Chennai Venue 1: IDP, College Road, Nungambakkam Timings: 1:30 P.M. - 2:30 P.M. Contact: 044 3301 8888 Email: info.chennai@idp.com Venue 2: Study Overseas, Rain Tree Place 7 McNichols Road, Chetpet Timings: 3 P.M. - 4:30 P.M. Contact: 044 2836 5424 Email: chennai@StudyOverseasGlobal.com Southampton Business School offers a wide range of programs that provide students with the knowledge and skills required in today's dynamic and changing business environment. The School offers specially designed Undergraduate, Post Graduate and Research Degree programs through its six major departments of accounting, banking and finance, decision analytics and risk, digital and data driven marketing, human resource management and organisational behaviour as well as strategy, innovation and entrepreneurship. These programs include BSc International Marketing, BSc Business Analytics, MSc Business Risk and Security Management, MSc Knowledge and Information Systems Management and a flagship MBA. Moreover, Southampton Business School's MBA program is accredited by the Association of MBAs (AMBA), the global standard in MBAs. University of Southampton's Business School has links with many of the world's leading companies such as Microsoft, J.P Morgan, Rolls-Royce, the National Health Service and Carnival and have an extremely stable placement record. The School has an excellent reputation for its research work and 75% of its research has been rated as being of internationally excellent or world-leading quality in the 2014 REF. Furthermore, the Business School offers a number of scholarships to reward academic and professional merit. The School is currently offering several scholarships to international students, including up to 5000 for Master's students who perform well in their undergraduate studies and up to 35% off from the tuition fees, for their full-time MBA program for students starting in 2017 for students with a strong academic and professional record. To seek an appointment with Mr. Jeevanjee, please contact the respective agents as per the above schedule. For further information on the Southampton Business School and its various programs, please visit: www.southampton.ac.uk/business-school/. Flash Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday met his Mexican counterpart Luis Videgaray Caso to discuss further cooperation between the two countries. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the G20 ministerial meeting in Germany's western city of Bonn. Wang said that Mexico is an emerging market country with world influence and that the relationship between China and Mexico has entered a fast lane and achieved new results through cooperation. China-Mexico cooperation has great potential, Wang said, adding that China is willing to implement the consensuses achieved by the leaders of the two countries and to expand cooperation in investment, trade and direct flights with Mexico. Both sides should strengthen communication on international affairs, safeguard the common interests of both countries and developing countries and lift South-South cooperation to a new level, Wang said. Videgaray said that his country cherishes the friendship between Mexico and China and that Mexico is happy to see China's growing investment in Mexico and the continuous growth of bilateral trade. "The two countries have same or similar positions on many international affairs," Videgaray said. He also stressed that Mexico is fully confident about the prospect of cooperation between the two countries and is looking forward to more fruitful results. We are not alone Lessons from the Heart When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What... One weird dude Lessons from the Heart There are not a lot of places where someones personal style gets mentioned in the New Testament, so this one... The prototypes that currently compete in the top tier of endurance racing are among the most technologically-advanced vehicles ever conceived but they do lack some of the mystic of their predecessors. Perhaps its just our warped perception and that in fact in 50 years, the likes of the Audi R18 and Porsche 919 Hybrid will be considered as the sports greatest legends. Whatever the case is, its hard not to yearn for the years when manufacturers could produce such manic machines that they could leave many modern-day racers for dust. Among the finest of them all is the Porsche 917K. Porsche claimed its first two Le Mans 24 Hour titles with different versions of the 917 and to this day, few stun quite like the 917Ks painted with Gulf Racing liveries. The example in question, chassis 917 004 is currently for sale from Canepa via James Edition in the U.S. and has an illustrious history. It first raced at the Nurburgring 1000 km in 1969 where it finished 8th and subsequently raced at the Brands Hatch 1000 km. The car was originally purchased by Alan Hamilton of Australia from Porsche in 1975. It remained in his collection of classic race cars for almost three decades when in 2004, it was purchased by Gregor Fisken. It later found its way into the possession of a man named Miguel Amaral of Portugal who had it sent to California for a comprehensive restoration at Porsche Motorsport North America. Canepa ultimately purchased 917 004 in 2011 where the restoration was completed. Now in impeccable condition, its hard to imagine it not selling for over $10 million. PHOTO GALLERY Flash China and Britain held their second high-level security dialogue on Friday, with both sides agreeing to strengthen cooperation in security and law enforcement. The dialogue was co-chaired by Wang Yongqing, secretary-general of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, and Mark Lyall Grant, national security advisor to the British prime minister. During the dialogue, the two sides exchanged views on the fight against terrorism, extremism, organized crime and the protection of cyber security. Chinese and British delegates also discussed international and regional security issues of common concern, and have reached important consensus on cooperation in fields such as fighting terrorist threats, cyber terrorism, human trafficking, telecommunication fraud, financial crimes and pursuing escapees. The two sides fully recognized the cooperative achievements since the first security dialogue, which was held last June. They agreed that facing the grim and complicated international security situation, China and Britain should further implement the important consensus reached by the Chinese and British leaders on deepening cooperation in security and law enforcement. China and Britain should expand their cooperative areas and enrich their cooperative style, so as to build a "golden age" for law enforcement and security cooperation, the delegates said. The dialogue was an implementation of the China-UK Joint Declaration on Building a Global Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for the 21st Century issued in October 2015 and is of great significance for mutual security cooperation. With exactly two weeks to go until the 2017 Geneva Motor Show welcomes journalists from all over the world, SsangYong has now revealed a new concept car. Named the XAVL (eXciting Authentic Vehicle Long), this Swiss-bound concept builds upon the XAV study that was presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2015. Its also inspired by the classic Korando of the 1990s, as the South Korean company states, and judging by the teaser images released, it boasts an aggressive design, with angular lines. The overall look is carried inside, where the cabin has a minimalist layout with futuristic lines. An infotainment system is taking center stage, a rotary dial sits on the center console for gearshift usage, and the concept even features a few jet-styled controls. Additionally, SsangYong says that the new XAVL also carries a suite of safety aids for pedestrians, driver and passengers, and takes power from both petrol and new clean-burning diesel engines. While this latest study from the Korean company could indeed make it into production, slotting between the Korando and Rexton, an official decision has yet to be taken. PHOTO GALLERY Various automakers are selling SUV models off in the United States with generous rebates as the supply of such vehicles surge. In the last few years, particularly in 2015, SUV and crossover models have swelled in popularity so much that automakers have been producing them in record numbers. However, inventories are now expanding and firms have been forced to offer generous incentives to sell them. According to Bloomberg Technology, incentives on SUV models hit $3,663 last month, a $704 increase over the previous year. Last year, SUV sales in the United States rose by 8 per cent over 2015. However, the percentage sales growth was almost half the 16 per cent rise recorded in 2015 compared to 2014, suggesting that the growth in the market is losing steam. According to LMC Automotive analyst Jeff Schuster, The competition in the SUV segment is fierce and is going to heat up even further as you have more new entries and redesigns. If youre in the market for an SUV, now could be the time to buy. Certain Jeep dealerships are offering up to $4,500 off the 2017 Cherokee while Chevrolet has created no-interest 72 month loans for the Tahoe and Suburban. Discounts on the Honda CR-V have also increased by $700 while those for the Toyota RAV4 have soared by about $1,000. LMC Automotive suggests that by February 1, automakers had over 1.6 million SUVs in their inventories, an incredible 34 per cent more than a year prior. There was an overbuild of SUVs. The manufacturers wanted to make sure theyre not caught without SUVs to sell, Schuster said. PHOTO GALLERY Photo: PlaceSpeak A group in Lavington is urging Coldstream council to take the noise issue seriously and implement a progressive bylaw. Noise is a definite issue in the Lavington area, says Lavington LIFE in a letter to council, adding that it was also a seasonal issue. Over the last five years industry has expanded in our community, and commercial cherry orchards significantly expanded. The group says Coral Beach Farms uses helicopters and powered dryers from spring through to autumn that cause significant noise impairment, not only to adjacent properties but across a large area of the valley. While the Tolko sawmill is also said to be a source of noise in the valley, the group concedes the company recently adopted noiseless back-up awareness devices on its machinery to alleviate the problem. But there is still significant noise occurring, largely in the 8 p.m. to midnight time frame. In the summer months this mechanical banging noise adversely affects enjoyment of residents properties. Surely the source of this noise could be properly identified and mitigated. The group applauds Pinnacle Renewable Energy, which runs the pellet plant, for its proactive approach in addressing noise complaints. Coldstream council has chosen the winter months to consider this noise bylaw but the noise issue is most prominent during the spring, summer and fall.... We note that other municipalities in British Columbia and elsewhere have adopted scientifically measurable and objective noise standards. The City of Richmond has been a leader in this regard. We strongly urge council to adopt such standards, based on zoning, land use, proximity to residences and appropriate noise levels. The group also urges public consultation on a noise bylaw. Photo: Kate Bouey It's the hottest ticket in town. Tickets for the popular Bollywood Bang charity event in Vernon sold out in just over one hour last week, according to organizer Dalvir Nahal. We are expecting 900 people and we sold out in an hour and 15 minutes, said Nahal on Saturday, adding that sponsors had been given the chance to pre-book some tables. This is only the fourth time the event is taking place but it has become so popular that double the number of tickets have been sold this time. Nahal is not daunted by the task. No, I mean it's the typical Indian reception for me so we're prepared, she laughed. It just started out as a small idea and it is amazing just how much it has grown. It's something so unique and different, something Vernon didn't have. The colourful gala takes place Apr. 29 at Kal Tire Place in support the NONA Child Development Centre. The North Okanagan Neurological Association is fundraising $1.6 million towards its 9,800-square-foot clubhouse on 28th Avenue. The East meets West gala celebrates diversity and attracts people from all over the Valley, while raising money for charity. The event has been franchised to Kelowna where a Bollywood Bang night is set to take place May 20. For those hoping to still get a ticket to the Vernon event, you can put your name on a waiting list. Photo: Contributed Teams are being sought for the Investors Group Walk for Alzheimer's in Vernon this spring. The event is Canada's largest fundraiser for Alzheimer's disease and other dementias and takes place in 22 B.C. communities on May 7. Each walk is dedicated to an honouree someone who has been affected by dementia. This year, Vernon is honouring all Vernon volunteers. Teams are incredibly important to this event, says Jennifer Cameron, with the Alzheimer Society of B.C. Many walk teams include people living with dementia, care partners, or those with a personal connection to the disease. "Walking on a team with friends and family is a very powerful and meaningful experience. It helps all of us who have been touched by dementia feel, in a very tangible way, that we are not alone and that we can make a difference. To create or join a team, go online, select Vernon from the pull down menu and follow the prompts. Teams that raise more than $250 between Feb. 1 and Mar. 14 will be entered to win $500 in Air Canada gift cards. Funds raised by the walk in May support programs, education and services in Vernon and across B.C. They also contribute toward awareness activities and research into the causes of and cure for dementia. Last year in B.C. the event raised more than $813,000. Photo: The Canadian Press Quebec, the world's largest producer of maple syrup, is ramping up output as it fends off rising competition from the U.S. and neighbouring provinces as well as a farmer rebellion from within. The province is adding five million taps over the next two years to its existing 43 million spigots. Simon Trepanier, executive director of the Quebec Maple Syrup Federation, says that is intended to satisfy a growing appetite for the natural sugar, which is increasingly being used as an ingredient in food and drinks. "We allowed those new taps to fulfil the demand and make sure that Quebec is still producing and being part of the expansion of the market right now," Trepanier says. More than 90 per cent of the record 73 million kilograms of maple syrup made in Canada last year was tapped in Quebec, according to Statistics Canada. Yet the province's near-monopoly over the maple syrup market is loosening. Despite a 30 per cent increase in production over the last decade, Quebec's share of global output has fallen from a high of about 82 per cent in 2003 to nearly 71 per cent last year, according to data from Statistics Canada and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The problem, some say, lies with the tight grip that the Quebec Maple Syrup Federation has over the province's maple syrup producers. The group sets quotas and prices that Quebec sugar shacks have to abide by, requires they sell to authorized buyers and pay an administrative fee on their output. Faced with no such restrictions, Quebec's competitors have been tapping trees at a rapid pace. Tony VanGlad, president of the New York State Maple Producers Association, says production in the state has grown five to 10 per cent annually over the last few years. Angele Grenier, a maple syrup producer in Sainte-Clotilde-de-Beauce, has spent $150,000 in legal fees to fight $400,000 in fines for bypassing the federation to sell her syrup to a buyer in New Brunswick. The Supreme Court of Canada has to decide whether to hear an appeal in her case. A lot is riding on the court's decision in Grenier's case, says Nicole Varin, a farmer facing about $500,000 in fines for selling maple butter, candy and other products outside the purview of the federation to sugar shacks and small fruit stands. There is plenty of money at stake. Last year's record maple syrup harvest in Canada yielded nearly $487 million. The price of syrup runs at about $2.88 per pound, according to the Quebec Maple Syrup Federation, making it 10 times more valuable than crude oil. Photo: The Canadian Press Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever Shares in Unilever, the owner of brands like Hellman's, Lipton, and Knorr, are down sharply after rival Kraft Heinz withdrew a $143 billion takeover offer. The companies said Sunday in a joint press release that Kraft Heinz has "amicably" abandoned the offer. Shares in Unilever slumped 6.5 per cent on Monday to 41.91 euros in Amsterdam, one of the places they're listed. They'd jumped 14 per cent on Friday. The deal would have combined Kraft Heinz products such as Oscar Mayer, Jell-O and Velveeta with Unilever's stable of brands, which include food as well as other consumer goods like Dove soap and Vaseline. The merged company would have rivaled Nestle as the world's biggest packaged food maker by sales. Analysts say Kraft Heinz, co-headquartered in Chicago and Pittsburgh, is still in the market for acquisitions. The fact that it bid for all of Unilever and not just its food business indicates that Kraft Heinz is potentially open to acquiring other packaged consumer goods, one analyst said. Unilever, which has a head office in London and multiple stock listings, rejected the offer on Friday, but despite that, Kraft Heinz said at the time that it was still interested in the deal. Photo: The Canadian Press The Acropolis and other ancient sites in Greece are closed to the public after state guards called a 24-hour strike over a pay and contract dispute with the government. Monday's protest was not directly related to Greece's bailout measures, but the country's left-wing government is under renewed international pressure to limit spending and agree with lenders on new austerity measures and reforms. A union representing the striking workers is seeking additional staff and overtime pay. A statement said: "We hope these problems that have no fiscal impact can be dealt with so that the Easter holidays and tourism season can start without any problems at museums and ancient sites." The hilltop buildings of the Acropolis overlooking Athens include the Parthenon and the Temple of Athena Nike. Photo: The Canadian Press Self-driving vehicles could begin tooling down a bustling Atlanta street full of cars, buses, bicyclists and college students, as the city vies with other communities nationwide to test the emerging technology. Atlanta would become one of the largest urban areas for testing self-driving vehicles if plans come together for a demonstration as early as September. Nationwide, 10 sites were designated last month as "proving grounds" for automated vehicles by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Backers of driverless cars say they could be part of a broader effort to rebuild the nation's infrastructure, something President Donald Trump has pledged to do. As roads and highways are rebuilt, "we think it would be very, very wise to build modern infrastructure with 21st-century capability in mind," said Paul Brubaker, president and CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based Alliance for Transportation Innovation. Self-driving vehicles, he said, "should be a national priority." The 10 "proving grounds" are: Photo: Google Maps Atlantic Canada's premiers are meeting today in Newfoundland to discuss the Atlantic Growth Strategy and trade. Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Dwight Ball is hosting the two-day gathering in Steady Brook, just outside Corner Brook. New Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant and P.E.I. Premier Wade MacLauchlan are at the meeting, but Nova Scotia's Stephen McNeil decided to remain in Halifax as his government deals with legislation aimed at ending a contract impasse with the province's 9,300 teachers. Gallant says they will look at how to strengthen trade relations between Atlantic Canada, the U.S. and the European Union. He says they will also talk about ways to improve the regional economy by co-ordinating training opportunities, harmonizing regulations and getting more women in the workforce. In a statement, he says the premiers are expected to discuss regulatory alignment, infrastructure development, clean growth and innovation in health care. Flash China will strengthen coordination with BRICS members including South Africa to prepare for the BRICS leaders' summit. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets with his South African counterpart Maite Nkoana-Mashabane Sunday in Beijing. [Photo/fmprc.gov.cn] Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made the remarks during a meeting with his South African counterpart Maite Nkoana-Mashabane Sunday in Beijing. The summit, to be held in southeast China's coastal city of Xiamen in September, will not only contribute to common development of BRICS countries, but also promote more inclusive and balanced economic globalization, allowing the BRICS mechanism to play its role of rebalancing globalization, Wang said. Wang also lauded the close ties between China and South Africa, featuring "profound" political mutual trust and "fruitful results" of mutually beneficial cooperation. "Particularly on issues of major concerns and concerning their core interests, the two countries understand and firmly support each other, incessantly deepening their strategic partnership," Wang said. The two countries will hold the first meeting of the China-South Africa High-Level People-to-People Exchange Mechanism, according to Wang. China stands ready to work with South Africa to push forward the implementation of the agreements reached during the 2015 Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, so as to better benefit the two countries and the people, he said. Nkoana-Mashabane said that South Africa regarded China as an important strategic partner and is ready to deepen political and strategic mutual trust, strengthen coordination in regional and international cooperation mechanisms including the BRICS, and further lift bilateral ties to a new high. The BRICS groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Flash Iraqi security forces on Sunday announced the commencement of a new phase of offensive to drive out the extremist militants of Islamic State (IS) group from its major stronghold in the western side of Mosul, the Iraqi military said. Iraqi forces's BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles, supported by the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) paramilitaries, advance towards the village of Sheikh Younis, south of Mosul, after the offensive to retake the western side of the city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters commenced on February 19, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua] The Iraqi army, federal police and some paramilitary units of the Hashd Shaabi have started their advance in the early morning from south and west of the Mosul. The troops, so far, have managed to retake control of a total of 17 villages as they are marching closer to the fringes of the western side of the city, according to a statement by the Iraqi Joint Operations Command. In south of Mosul, the federal police forces and Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) fought sporadic clashes with IS militants as the troops recaptured nine villages and the power station that provide electricity to the western side of Mosul, The troops killed many extremist militants and destroyed 14 booby-trapped vehicles along with a vehicle carrying IS militants, the statement said, adding that the troops have seized a total of 60 square kilometers in south of the city during the day. In west of Mosul, the army's 9th armored Division recaptured six more villages as they advanced to Attshana Hills, some 10 km west of Mosul, after sporadic clashes with IS militants, the statement said. The troops killed many IS militants and destroyed two of their booby-trapped vehicles, a shovel truck and a vehicle carrying extremist militants, the statement said, adding that the troops have seized a total of 63 square kilometers in west of Mosul during the day. Also in west of the city, a paramilitary unit of Hashd Shaabi teamed up with a Brigade of the 9th Division and advanced in vast open area in west of Mosul, recapturing the villages of Hamza and Gaisoum Hill, destroying three car bombs and a vehicle carrying heavy machine gun, according to the statement. The troops' advance toward Mosul came after the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the start of an offensive to drive the extremist militants out of the western side of Mosul, locally known as the right bank of Tigris River which bisects the city. "We announce the start of a new phase in the operation (We Are Coming Nineveh) to liberate the western side of Mosul," Abadi said in a brief televised address, referring to the province of Nineveh, of which Mosul is the capital city. "Our main task is to liberate the people before liberating the land," Abadi, who is also the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi forces, said in his address. Late in January, Abadi declared the liberation of the eastern side of Mosul, or the left bank of Tigris, after more than 100 days of fighting against the extremist IS militants. However, the western side of Mosul appears to be a bigger challenge to the Iraqi forces with its narrow streets and heavy population of between 750,000 and 800,000 people, according to the United Nations (UN) estimates. Mosul, 400 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, has been under IS control since June 2014, when Iraqi government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling IS militants to take control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions. Cemtech MEA 2017 provides GCC focus for an international audience ICR Newsroom By 20 February 2017 Delegates from over 30 countries, including all of the Gulf Cooperation Council's member states, gathered at the Grand Hyatt Dubai, in UAE, for this year's Cemtech Middle East and Africa conference and exhibition. Thomas Armstrong, managing editor of International Cement Review, welcomed guest of honour, His Excellency Sheikh Yasir Bin Ahmed Bin Humaid Al Qassemi, General Manager of Union Cement Company and Chairman of Cement Producers Association of the UAE, and over 200 delegates. In his opening presentation he set the scene for the conferences 25 presentations by providing a review of global markets and expectations for 2017. He anticipated market growth ex-China to accelerate in 2017, driven by developed economies. The conference went on to provide delegates with the latest market trends in the region and beyond. Hettish Karmani of Ubhar Capital (Oman) focussed on the latest developments in the Gulf cement sector. Matthias Herles, IHS Markit (Germany), delivered a presentation on he GCC construction markets while Santhosh Balakrishnan of Riyad Capital (Saudi Arabia) considered the demand drivers and outlook for the Saudi cement industry. Dr Lotfali Bakshi of Iran Cement and Mehr Machine Co highlighted new trends in the Iranian Cement Industry. Moving further afield to Africa as Tony Hadley of Baobab Advisory (France) considered whether the continents cement industry is experiencing a calm after the storm. Birla Corporations Alok Agarwal, focussed on industry consolidation in the Indian cement sector and the market outlook for the worlds second-largest cement producer. A business perspective was pursued by UK independent consultant Peter Hoddinott as he highlighted working capital reduction strategies to optimise cement businesses. Jim OBrien of Jim OBrien CSR Consulting (Ireland) explained how a cement producers efforts in sustainable development benefit the bottomline. A more technical slant was given to the last part of the day as Dr Suchismita Bhattacharya, Ercom Engineers (India) highlighted the role of slag and fly ash cements in the Middle East. Fernando Duenas of Cemengal, Spain, provided ways to quickly penetrate booming cement markets while Jawad Baidari of Beumer (Germany) presented two case studies of alternative fuel handling systems. In addition to numerous presentations, delegates were also able to get first-hand information from some 25 equipment suppliers in the accompanying exhibition. Cemtech runs until 22 February, bringing the latest trends driving the industry and providing a window to the short- and long-term expectations for the cement sector. Published under Flash The possibility of improving the strained Russia-West relations during the U.S. presidency of Donald Trump dimmed after the United States re-calibrated its NATO policy this week. James Mattis, U.S. Secretary of Defence speaks during the 53rd Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, Germany, on Feb. 17, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua] The latest move came amid a flurry of mixed, if not self-contradicting, messages about the prospect for the improvement in the soured U.S.-Russia relations as Trump showed willingness to normalize the bilateral relations and bombarded NATO as "outdated." However, senior U.S. officials have recently dismissed policy uncertainties, confirming that their country has been devoted to the transatlantic alliance and a reformed NATO. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told European leaders at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) that his country will "strongly support NATO" and remain "unwavering" to its commitment to the transatlantic bond. "The U.S. is and will always be your greatest ally," he told the audience in the first major foreign policy address for the Trump administration. It was also at the annual flagship international security meeting which focuses on the transatlantic alliance that the U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis reassured European leaders that the transatlantic bond is "the strongest bulwark against instability and violence," stressing that his country's security is tied to Europe. Mattis also warned of the "threat on multiple fronts" in Europe and urged NATO allies to contribute their fair share to the collective defense. America's closeness with its entrenched ally is in sharp contrast to its suddenly tough posture toward Moscow. Pence pledged that Washington will "continue hold Russia accountable" even as the Trump administration is searching for new common ground with Kremlin. The United States is also deploying its troops to the Baltic states as part of NATO's operation to support its eastern European allies. At the MSC, German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen stressed that NATO must pursue to find a reliable coexistence with Russia together, "instead of going over our partner's head to pursue bilateral relations," an obvious warning to U.S. unilateral move to develop its Russia ties. Europe's hostility toward and vigilance against Russia, long deemed a strategic rival and threat, is not difficult to find at the MSC. The Munich Security Report 2017, which was published ahead of MSC and serves as as a companion and conversation starter for the discussions and background reading for participants, provides an easy glimpse of that mood. The report highlights Russia threats to the West, ranging from Russia's violation of several key principles governing European security and its airstrike in Syria, to Russia's potential missile capability in Kaliningrad and the budget and social media performance of its public international broadcaster Russia Today. At the MSC, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko warned of Russia's ambition and European leaders' appeasement, which was warmly responded by UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson. The UK, Germany and France have all insisted the link of EU economic sanctions on Russia to the implementation of the Minsk agreement, a deal reached on a cease-fire and political settlement of the conflict between government forces and rebels in eastern Ukraine. Russia, on its part, has shown willingness to seek a "pragmatic and mutual-respect" Russia-U.S. relations. But it has also insisted that the expansion of NATO, a cold-war institution, has led to an unprecedented level of tension over the last three decades in Europe. The latest U.S. policy shift regarding the transatlantic alliance and Russia came as the "Flynn resignation" storm continues fermentation, plaguing the Trump administration. Michael Flynn, a U.S. national security adviser, quitted after only over three weeks in the job amid revelations that he misled Pence about his phone calls with the Russian ambassador. Flynn maintained for weeks that he had not talked about U.S. sanctions in his contacts with the Russian ambassador. He later admitted that the topic may have come up. Analysts believe that the incident has displayed the conflicting and competing policy strands within the new U.S. administration and highlighted the "structural conflicts" which have been hindering the improvement of the relations between the United States and Russia. Ruan Zongze, Vice President of the China Institute of International Studies, said the entrenched vested interest groups in areas such as oil and war industries have been opposing the improvement of the thaw in the U.S.-Russia relations. He believed that the bipartisan system has also made the adoption of any concrete pro-Russia policy difficult in the United States. "To sum up, the Trump presidency does not automatically guarantee the improvement of the U.S.-Russia ties," Ruan said. Gu Xuewu, head of the Center for Global Studies at the University of Bonn, told Xinhua that the importance the United States attaches to NATO would not change because the organization is the "major handle" that Washington applies to dominate the European and Mideast affairs. Feng Zhongping, President of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told Xinhua that it is very difficult for the U.S.-EU relations to turn sour, but even more difficult for the U.S.-Russia relations to turn good. "The United States and Russia has too few common interests and too many structural conflicts," he said, "As long as the NATO exists, it would be difficult for the West-Russia relations to improve significantly." Flash Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that he and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to set up a team to discuss settlements in the occupied West Bank. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on February 19, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua] Netanyahu told his weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem that during his recent visit to Washington, he and Trump agreed to establish teams on many areas, "even in areas we did not previously agree on. I mean, of course, the settlements in Judea and Samaria," Netanyahu said, with Judea and Samaria being the Israeli government term for the West Bank. The team will be formed as part of an "upgrade" in U.S.-Israel relations, Netanyahu said. "We agreed to create joint teams to upgrade relations between Israel and the U.S. in all of the main areas," he said. These fields include security, intelligence, cyber, technology, and economy. According to Netanyahu, the firm alliance between Israel and the U.S. has become even stronger following his meeting with Trump. Netanyahu and Trump met in the White House on Wednesday, making their debut as friendly partners in a press conference before their meeting. Trump backed off the U.S. long-held two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying he is open to either a one-state or two-state solution. "I'm looking at two-state, one-state, and I like the one that both parties like. I can live with either one," Trump said. The previous U.S. administrations have pushed for the two-state solution to the Middle East peace process, an idea of establishing an independent Palestinian state that lives side-by-side with Israel. However, Trump said he expects Israel to temporarily halt the expansion of the settlements, Jewish communities built on Palestinian lands. I'd like to see you hold back on settlements for a little bit. We'll work something out, but I would like to see a deal be made," Trump said. Israel's settlement-building in disputed territory is a major dispute between the Israelis and Palestinians. The settlements are illegal under international law because they are built on lands seized by Israel in the 1967 Mideast War, where the Palestinians wish to form their future state. The former U.S. administration criticized Israel's continuous expansion of the settlements, which it considered as a major obstacle to peace. The precise control of electron transport in microelectronics makes complex logic circuits possible that are in daily use in smartphones and laptops. Heat transport is of similar fundamental importance and its control is for instance necessary to efficiently cool the ever smaller chips. An international team including theoretical physicists from Konstanz, Junior Professor Fabian Pauly and Professor Peter Nielaba and their staff, has achieved a real breakthrough in better understanding heat transport at the nanoscale. The team used a system that experimentalists in nanoscience can nowadays realize quite routinely and keeps serving as the fruit fly for breakthrough discoveries: a chain of gold atoms. They used it to demonstrate the quantization of the electronic part of the thermal conductance. The study also shows that the Wiedemann-Franz law, a relation from classical physics, remains valid down to the atomic level. To begin with, the test object is a microscopic gold wire. This wire is pulled until its cross section is only one atom wide and a chain of gold atoms forms, before it finally breaks. The physicists send electric current through this atomic chain, that is through the thinnest wire conceivable. With the help of different theoretical models the researchers can predict the conductance value of the electric transport, and also confirm it by experiment. This electric conductance value indicates how much charge current flows when an electrical voltage is applied. The thermal conductance, that indicates the amount of heat flow for a difference in temperature, could not yet be measured for such atomic wires. Now the question was whether the Wiedemann-Franz law, that states that the electric conductance and the thermal conductance are proportional to each other, remains valid also at the atomic scale. Generally, electrons as well as atomic oscillations (also called vibrations or phonons) contribute to heat transport. Quantum mechanics has to be used, at the atomic level, to describe both the electron and the phonon transport. The Wiedemann-Franz law, however, only describes the relation between macroscopic electronic properties. Therefore, initially the researchers had to find out how high the contribution of the phonons is to the thermal conductance. The doctoral researchers Jan Klockner and Manuel Matt did complementary theoretical calculations, which showed that usually the contribution of phonons to the heat transport in atomically thin gold wires is less than ten percent, and thus is not decisive. At the same time, the simulations confirm the applicability of the Wiedemann-Franz law. Manuel Matt used an efficient, albeit less accurate method that provided statistical results for many gold wire stretching events to calculate the electronic part of the thermal conductance value, while Jan Klockner applied density functional theory to estimate the electronic and phononic contributions in individual contact geometries. The quantization of the thermal conductance in gold chains, as proven by experiment, ultimately results from the combination of three factors: the quantization of the electrical conductance value in units of the so-called conductance quantum (twice the inverse Klitzing constant 2e2/h), the negligible role of phonons in heat transport and the validity of the Wiedemann-Franz law. For quite some time it has been possible to theoretically calculate, with the help of computer models as developed in the teams of Fabian Pauly and Peter Nielaba, how charges and heat flow through nanostructures. A highly precise experimental setup, as created by the experimental colleagues Professor Edgar Meyhofer and Professor Pramod Reddy from the University of Michigan (USA), was required to be able to compare the theoretical predictions with measurements. In previous experiments the signals from the heat flow through single atom contacts were too small. The Michigan group succeeded in improving the experiment: Now the actual signal can be filtered out and measured. The results of the research team make it possible to study heat transport not only in atomic gold contacts but many other nanosystems. They offer opportunities to experimentally and theoretically explore numerous fundamental quantum heat transport phenomenona that might help to use energy more efficiently, for example by exploiting thermoelectricity. When is an internal combustion engine not an internal combustion engine? When it's been transformed into a modular reforming reactor that could make hydrogen available to power fuel cells wherever there's a natural gas supply available. By adding a catalyst, a hydrogen separating membrane and carbon dioxide sorbent to the century-old four-stroke engine cycle, researchers have demonstrated a laboratory-scale hydrogen reforming system that produces the green fuel at relatively low temperature in a process that can be scaled up or down to meet specific needs. The process could provide hydrogen at the point of use for residential fuel cells or neighborhood power plants, electricity and power production in natural-gas powered vehicles, fueling of municipal buses or other hydrogen-based vehicles, and supplementing intermittent renewable energy sources such as photovoltaics. Known as the CO2/H2 Active Membrane Piston (CHAMP) reactor, the device operates at temperatures much lower than conventional steam reforming processes, consumes substantially less water and could also operate on other fuels such as methanol or bio-derived feedstock. It also captures and concentrates carbon dioxide emissions, a by-product that now lacks a secondary use -- though that could change in the future. Unlike conventional engines that run at thousands of revolutions per minute, the reactor operates at only a few cycles per minute -- or more slowly -- depending on the reactor scale and required rate of hydrogen production. And there are no spark plugs because there's no fuel combusted. "We already have a nationwide natural gas distribution infrastructure, so it's much better to produce hydrogen at the point of use rather than trying to distribute it," said Andrei Fedorov, a Georgia Institute of Technology professor who's been working on CHAMP since 2008. "Our technology could produce this fuel of choice wherever natural gas is available, which could resolve one of the major challenges with the hydrogen economy." A paper describes the operating model of the CHAMP process, including a critical step of internally adsorbing carbon dioxide, a byproduct of the methane reforming process, so it can be concentrated and expelled from the reactor for capture, storage or utilization. Other implementations of the system have been reported as thesis work by three Georgia Tech Ph.D. graduates since the project began in 2008. The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense through NDSEG fellowships, and the U.S. Civilian Research & Development Foundation (CRDF Global). Key to the reaction process is the variable volume provided by a piston rising and falling in a cylinder. As with a conventional engine, a valve controls the flow of gases into and out of the reactor as the piston moves up and down. The four-stroke system works like this: Natural gas (methane) and steam are drawn into the reaction cylinder through a valve as the piston inside is lowered. The valve closes once the piston reaches the bottom of the cylinder. The piston rises into the cylinder, compressing the steam and methane as the reactor is heated. Once it reaches approximately 400 degrees Celsius, catalytic reactions take place inside the reactor, forming hydrogen and carbon dioxide. The hydrogen exits through a selective membrane, and the pressurized carbon dioxide is adsorbed by the sorbent material, which is mixed with the catalyst. Once the hydrogen has exited the reactor and carbon dioxide is tied up in the sorbent, the piston is lowered, reducing the volume (and pressure) in the cylinder. The carbon dioxide is released from the sorbent into the cylinder. The piston is again moved up into the chamber and the valve opens, expelling the concentrated carbon dioxide and clearing the reactor for the start of a new cycle. "All of the pieces of the puzzle have come together," said Fedorov, a professor in Georgia Tech's George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. "The challenges ahead are primarily economic in nature. Our next step would be to build a pilot-scale CHAMP reactor." The project was begun to address some of the challenges to the use of hydrogen in fuel cells. Most hydrogen used today is produced in a high-temperature reforming process in which methane is combined with steam at about 900 degrees Celsius. The industrial-scale process requires as many as three water molecules for every molecule of hydrogen, and the resulting low density gas must be transported to where it will be used. Fedorov's lab first carried out thermodynamic calculations suggesting that the four-stroke process could be modified to produce hydrogen in relatively small amounts where it would be used. The goals of the research were to create a modular reforming process that could operate at between 400 and 500 degrees Celsius, use just two molecules of water for every molecule of methane to produce four hydrogen molecules, be able to scale down to meet the specific needs, and capture the resulting carbon dioxide for potential utilization or sequestration. "We wanted to completely rethink how we designed reactor systems," said Fedorov. "To gain the kind of efficiency we needed, we realized we'd need to dynamically change the volume of the reactor vessel. We looked at existing mechanical systems that could do this, and realized that this capability could be found in a system that has had more than a century of improvements: the internal combustion engine." The CHAMP system could be scaled up or down to produce the hundreds of kilograms of hydrogen per day required for a typical automotive refueling station -- or a few kilograms for an individual vehicle or residential fuel cell, Fedorov said. The volume and piston speed in the CHAMP reactor can be adjusted to meet hydrogen demands while matching the requirements for the carbon dioxide sorbent regeneration and separation efficiency of the hydrogen membrane. In practical use, multiple reactors would likely be operated together to produce a continuous stream of hydrogen at a desired production level. "We took the conventional chemical processing plant and created an analog using the magnificent machinery of the internal combustion engine," Fedorov said. "The reactor is scalable and modular, so you could have one module or a hundred of modules depending on how much hydrogen you needed. The processes for reforming fuel, purifying hydrogen and capturing carbon dioxide emission are all combined into one compact system." A new automated system developed at Purdue University detects cracks in the steel components of nuclear power plants. Here, the system accurately distinguishes between cracks and other features, outlined in red-colored boxes. A new automated system detects cracks in the steel components of nuclear power plants and has been shown to be more accurate than other automated systems. "Periodic inspection of the components of nuclear power plants is important to avoid accidents and ensure safe operation," said Mohammad R. Jahanshahi, an assistant professor in Purdue University's Lyles School of Civil Engineering. "However, current inspection practices are time consuming, tedious and subjective because they involve an operator manually locating cracks in metallic surfaces." Other automatic crack detection algorithms under development often do not detect cracks in metallic surfaces because the cracks are usually small, have low contrast and are difficult to distinguish from welds, scratches and grind marks. The new system, called CRAQ, for crack recognition and quantification, overcomes this limitation by using an advanced algorithm and a powerful "machine learning" technique to detect cracks based on the changing texture surrounding cracks on steel surfaces.. The automated approach could help improve the state of the nation's infrastructure, recently given an overall grade of D+ by the American Society of Civil Engineers, he said. "One reason we have a grade of D+ for the infrastructure is insufficient inspection," said Jahanshahi, director of Purdue's Smart Informatix Laboratory. "So we want to have more frequent inspection using robotic systems to collect data." The nation operates 99 commercial nuclear power plants, which account for about 20 percent of total U.S. electricity generation. Aging can result in cracking, fatigue, embrittlement of metal components, wear, erosion, corrosion and oxidation. "Cracking is an important factor in aging degradation that may cause leaking and result in hazardous incidents," Jahanshahi said. "For instance, the Millstone nuclear power station in Connecticut had an accident in 1996 that was caused by a leaking valve, and the accident cost $254 million. In 2010, the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant had an accident where deteriorating underground pipes leaked radioactive tritium into groundwater supplies, resulting in $700 million in damage." Complicating the inspection process is that nuclear reactors are submerged in water to maintain cooling. "Consequently, direct manual inspection of reactor internals is not feasible due to high temperatures and radiation hazards," Jahanshahi said. "So remotely recorded videos at the underwater reactor surface are used for inspection. However, recent testing has identi?ed a need for increased reliability associated with identifying cracks from reviews of live and recorded data. The results indicate that this capability is degraded by human involvement in identifying cracks, even when identi?cation should be easy." Other automated crack-detection systems under development are designed for processing single images, whereas the new method processes multiple video frames, providing more robust results. Findings show the system outperformed two others under development. "In contrast to other methods that only focus on detecting cracks in one image, we propose a method called Bayesian data fusion that tracks detected cracks in video frames and fuses the information obtained from multiple frames," Jahanshahi said. "Moreover, we can ?lter out falsely detected cracks and increase the reliability and robustness of crack detection by using Bayesian decision theory," which determines the probability that an object is a crack or a false alarm. The system assigns "con?dence levels" automatically assessing whether the detected cracks are real, outlining the cracks with color-coded boxes that correspond to these confidence levels. For example, if the algorithm assigns a high confidence level to a crack, the box outline is red. The processing procedure takes about a minute. "Then, a technician could do a manual inspection to confirm that there is a crack," Jahanshahi said. The research paper was authored by doctoral student Fu-Chen Chen; Jahanshahi; doctoral student Rih-Teng Wu; and Chris Joffe, technical leader for Non-destructive Evaluation at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), a nonprofit organization funded by the electric utility industry. Researchers recorded videos using an underwater camera system scanning 304 stainless steel specimens containing cracks and also features such as welds, grinding marks and scratches. Future research will include work to develop a more accurate and more fully automated system using advanced simulations and computational software. "We are currently working on the second version of the software by developing deep learning algorithms to detect cracks for this application where we have significantly improved the performance of the system using Constitutional Neural Networks," Jahanshahi said. The researchers have filed a patent application through the Office of Technology Commercialization of the Purdue Research Foundation. Lightbank, the Chicago-based venture capital firm founded by serial entrepreneur duo Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell , has a new managing partner, the firm announced Monday. Victor Pascucci III is the new full-time head of the nearly seven-year-old firm. He was most recently a partner at Munich Re, a German reinsurance company. He previously ran the $330 million corporate venture program at USAA, he said. Advertisement Pascucci moved to Chicago from San Francisco and started the job earlier this month. The move signals a step back for Lefkofsky and Keywell, who are each working on their own fast-growing companies. Lefkofsky is CEO of Tempus Labs, the cancer-fighting startup he launched in 2015, and Keywell is CEO of Uptake, the $2 billion data analytics for industry startup started in 2014. Advertisement Lefkofsky had previously served as CEO of Groupon, the best-known of several companies he and Keywell started together. When he stepped down from Groupon in 2015, Lefkofsky retook the reins as Lightbank managing partner. Keywell also shared the title of managing partner at the firm. Lightbank is based at 600 W. Chicago Ave., which is also home to Groupon and several other of the pair's companies. They will stay on as founding partners of Lightbank and advisers to Pascucci on investment decisions, the firm said. Lefkofsky and Keywell were not made available for comment. Pascucci said he met Keywell in 2012 when USAA invested in Snapsheet, a Chicago company that counts Lightbank as an investor. He said he had reached a point in his career when he was setting new goals for the type of impact he wanted to make. "It just turned out to be the same time that Lightbank was like, 'This is the time to really grow and build this company,'" he said, adding that his conversations with Lightbank grew more serious in the past several months. Pascucci said he will execute plans to grow Lightbank's team, portfolio and fund. He declined to share details but said Lightbank has available capital and plans to raise more from limited partners. Lightbank has traditionally participated in early stage seed and series A investments. Pascucci sees an opportunity to double down on what's working best. Pascucci said he thinks Lightbank can be a leader in the Chicago market by writing larger series A or seed checks to spur growth in local companies. He said the firm will focus more on the sectors where he thinks it can add the most value and have the highest opportunity for success, including fintech, marketplaces, consumer and software. "Where Lightbank has had the biggest wins for themselves, it's when they've written the larger checks and leaned in with their network, with their support and actively engaged," he said. Advertisement Bill Pescatello, a partner at Lightbank, agreed that the companies in which the firm has invested more and been more involved have exhibited the best performance. Examples of current winners include social media tools company Sprout Social and corporate catering company Fooda, both based in Chicago, as well as Udemy, a San Francisco-based platform for online learning, he said. "We've had a clear correlation between our involvement, taking larger stakes in companies that have superior returns," he said. Lightbank has typically invested about $20 million in 10 to 20 deals a year, he said. Given its home base in Chicago, the two said Lightbank will continue to invest locally and across the Midwest. They said they would continue to pursue deals nationwide, as they have in the past, as well. The firm has a nearly $200 million fund, it said. It has made 109 investments, 75 of which are active, a spokeswoman said. Lightbank made 16 new and 18 follow-on investments in 2016, she said. Advertisement aelahi@chicagotribune.com Twitter @aminamania Barista Kendall Sax-Stevens uses the pour over rack to maximize extraction of oils from the coffee for customer George Coyne, right, at Asado Coffee Roasters, (Antonio Perez, Chicago Tribune) The loud slurping noises were coming from a room toward the back of the coffeehouse as Miro Lomeli lifted cup after cup of brown liquid to his lips. "I'm aerating the coffee as it goes in," he explained, taking another slurp from one of five cups lined up on a table to be assessed for aroma, fragrance and taste. Behind him, across from the large windows looking out onto Milwaukee Avenue in Logan Square, was the large black machine in which he roasts the beans in the way he thinks best suits each particular coffee. Advertisement "I think what we really focus on is trying to bring out the inherent qualities of the coffees, letting the coffees express themselves," Lomeli said. Gaslight Coffee Roasters where Lomeli was doing his work while the baristas up front served single-cup pour-overs of coffees from Colombia (menu taste notes: "lemongrass, chocolate"), Guatemala ("bright, honey, raisin") and Ethiopia ("blueberry, sweet tobacco") is one of an ever-rising number of Chicago specialty coffeehouses that devote much energy and know-how to extracting flavors from coffee beans and presenting them to an increasingly discerning public. Advertisement Gone are the days when your default cup of Joe was brewed from canned grounds in an industrial machine before lingering on a warmer. That's a remnant of coffee's First Wave. The Second Wave, as explained by Ric Rhinehart, executive director of Specialty Coffee Association of America, was marked by the rise of Starbucks and fellow chains such as Caribou and Peet's, which emphasized freshness and taste and raised customers' expectations. The Third Wave is where we are now, a period in which coffee is not about uniformity but a diversity of tastes and experiences, whether offered by such thriving local roasting/retail businesses as Intelligentsia and Metropolis or the many smaller shops and roasters popping up across the city. Rhinehart likened coffee's evolution to that of cheese, which used to be more a matter of choosing between white and yellow but now is an artisan product from which you may learn much about the particular cheesemaker and farm, the aging and ripening processes and the particular animals involved. Coffee is traveling a similar path as shops develop close relationships with farms and importers, and pursue individual aesthetics regarding roasting and brewing. "We're learning more and more about what it is that makes coffee smell good and taste good and feel good in our mouths," Rhinehart said. "And because we have so much focus on making it smell, taste and feel great, we're experimenting more, taking more risks, paying more attention to the details." Said Richard Park, owner of Ch'ava Cafe on North Clark in the Ravenswood neighborhood: "There's a little bit of science and a little bit of art, but we don't like to call it that. We approach it like a chef would food. There's more than one way to make a great steak." There's certainly more than one way to make a great cup of coffee or to roast a great batch of beans so any consensus on the city's best coffee is unlikely to be reached. It's a matter of taste, whether we're discussing the type and origin of beans or how lightly they're roasted or how the flavor is drawn from them via a proliferation of brewing methods. Let's set aside the wide world of espresso drinks and look at what's commonly called coffee, which for years tended to be made in a drip pot (if not a percolator) or, if you wanted to get fancy, steeped in a French press. Now far more attention is being paid on a cup-by-cup basis, with customers ponying up $2 to $5-plus for the enhanced experience. The Wormhole Coffee on Milwaukee Avenue in Wicker Park prepares its international array of beans (roasted by its sister company HalfWit) in a variety of methods: a single-cup V60 dripper, a larger Chemex dripper, an AeroPress and a Fetco brewing machine. The theories driving the V60 and Chemex are relatively similar: In both cases, beans that have been precisely measured and ground are placed into a cone that contains a freshly dampened paper filter, and hot water is poured over the grounds until the proper amount of liquid has passed through. Advertisement The Chemex may deal in higher volumes, but a key difference is that the Chemex filter tends to be slightly thicker than the V60's, thus removing more of the heavier materials and resulting in "a cleaner, lighter-bodied, juicier cup," said Devin Conathan, a barista at Bow Truss Coffee Roasters on Broadway in Lakeview. Still, Wormhole general manager Stevie Baka said, "a Chemex and a V60 are going to be relatively similar. An AeroPress is an immersion brewing method, similar to a French press. It will have a silky body and mouth feel." With an AeroPress, the ground coffee is immersed in the hot water for 60 to 120 seconds before being pushed out through a paper filter via air pressure, a process some tout as extracting more flavor than a traditional French press while still producing a full-bodied cup. Park, who works mostly with Intelligentsia coffees at Ch'ava instead of roasting his own, said he uses the V60 or Chemex for coffees in which he wants to bring out more complex flavors, while the AeroPress is better suited for highlighting one or two flavors with a "fuller, more marshmallowy" texture. One morning he was preparing a floral, delicate Colombian coffee on the V60 while spotlighting the blunter, pearlike sweetness of a Bolivian coffee in the AeroPress. Upon serving the drinks, Park noted that he prefers the Colombian one hot and the Bolivian one on the cooler side. "It can't just be a good cup of coffee," he said. "There has to be something we're trying to convey, something we're trying to express." Intelligentsia, launched in a Lakeview storefront in 1995 and now boasting locations in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles, typically offers up three coffees in three preparations: V60, Chemex and Cafe Solo, the last of which is another steeping method except this one holds the coffee and water in a neoprene-jacked glass carafe until, after four minutes, it is poured through the lid's mesh filter. Advertisement On one morning at the recently remodeled Lakeview Intelligentsia, a barista was preparing a Zambian coffee ("grapefruit, green apple, Champagne") on the Chemex and the darker Persephone Seasonal blend ("apricot jam, supple, ginger") on the Cafe Solo. The Zambian one came out brighter, tangier around the edges, engaging more areas of the tongue while the Persephone was more reddish, cloudier and with a denser flavor. A couple of weeks later, when a barista at the Intelligentsia near Millennium Park prepared the Persephone on the Chemex, it was lighter and zippier. Big Shoulders, which has its green roaster in the window of its small corner storefront at Chicago and Milwaukee avenues, offers coffees prepared not only in a drip pot, a French press and a Chemex but also via a single-cup Clever dripper, which looks like a V60 except it has a stopper on the bottom, so the coffee steeps for 31/2 minutes before it is released. "The method really pulls everything out of the bean," said barista Ian McDuffie. "It's a way to get the full flavor." The Asado Coffee Company on Irving Park Road keeps things simple by offering three of its own roasted coffees as single-cup pour-overs prepared in yet another device: a Bee House dripper, which is a ceramic cone with a paper filter. Not only does this intimate storefront not brew pots (though it does offer espresso drinks), but it doesn't carry decaf or artificial sweeteners, and it doesn't set out cream or a sweetener (in this case simple syrup made from raw sugar), so if you'd like anything in your coffee, you ask. "We usually do it for them," said Kevin Ashtari, Asado's self-proclaimed "coffeeist," noting that his roasting method brings out an unparalleled "sweetness in the bean." Advertisement Asado opened the Irving Park location in 2009 and a sleeker shop on Chicago Avenue in West Town in December, with a downtown location on Jackson Boulevard due in August. Ashtari said he's feeling financial pressure to serve pots of coffee when Asado opens downtown, but "we don't want to do that. We want to continue to serve (single-cup) drip style. So it's going to be that constant battle between business and art." That battle can get personal. One Ch'ava customer flamed Park on Yelp in 2012 as she complained about his refusal to serve espresso drinks to go; he'd told her she might try Starbucks instead. "Please step off what you think is your coffee high horse and serve me my coffee the way I would like," she wrote. Park responded with an impassioned defense of his craft, concluding, "As a business I have a right, I believe, to create a product the way I feel it is best. As a consumer, your right is not to do as you wish but to patronize another business instead." Specialty shops may walk a fine line as they take their coffee connoisseurship seriously while trying not to appear snobby. Ch'ava and Wormhole, among other shops, require baristas to go through extensive training and testing before they're allowed to prepare drinks for customers call it the coffee world's bar exam. Baka said Wormhole's goal is "quality, consistency and fun," and she stressed, "We want to make it accessible without being pretentious." Bridgeport Coffee Company general manager Michael Pilkington pointedly noted that at his roaster/retailer's original, homey South Side location, "no one's going to turn their nose up at you when you walk in the door." Advertisement He also said the shop, which has two sister locations in the city, is moving away from single-cup pour-overs in favor of more traditionally brewed coffee. "The brewers that we use right now are so fantastic; it makes a terrific cup of coffee just like that," he said. "I think a lot of these coffeehouses get a little carried away with it, honestly." Jesse Diaz, who owns the Ukrainian Village-based Dark Matter roaster/retail shop and the nearby Star Lounge, said the upcoming Dark Matter location in Lakeview won't be doing pour-overs at all and instead will use drip machines while also highlighting six different espressos. Much of Diaz's energy goes into such envelope-pushing efforts as aging beans in bourbon and cognac barrels and collaborating with the Indiana-based 3 Floyds beer-maker on various products. Although many baristas say they enjoy checking out the other shops' coffees, Diaz said this community has a cutthroat streak, especially when it comes to selling beans to wholesale clients such as restaurants and other coffeehouses. "They all get along on the surface, but no one gets along," he said. Yet even as Diaz dismisses one of his competitors as making "coffee for my dad," he and his fellow coffee specialists brighten up when describing what makes their own coffees stand out. Passing along the knowledge and passion is part of the fun. Advertisement "We want people to know we're really dedicated to this here," Bow Truss barista Brian Ensminger said. "Now we're talking about farms. Now we're talking about microclimates. But that's geeky barista stuff." Brewing methods: Here are three brewing methods you may encounter in local coffee shops: Single-cup pour-over drip How it's done: Precisely measured grounds are placed into a damp paper filter inside a cone-shaped dripper, and hot water is poured slowly into the grounds until the proper amount of liquid has passed through. Result: An often clean, bright cup of coffee that, through the filtering process, is thought to highlight complex flavors. Advertisement Examples: V60, Chemex, Bee House dripper. Press pot How it's done: Grounds are immersed in hot water for a set amount of time, then passed through a filter with or without a boost of manual pressure. Result: A relatively full-bodied cup that contains more sediment and oils than a more heavily filtered drip coffee. Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. > Examples: French press, AeroPress, Cafe Solo. (The Clever dripper, used by Big Shoulders, combines the above two, both immersing the grounds and passing them through a cone-shaped filter.) Drip coffee machine Advertisement How it's done: As in the single-cup pour-over, your standard drip coffee machine passes water through coffee grounds and a filter, but the volumes are greater and less precisely controlled, and the process is faster overall. Result: Coffee that may not pull out as many distinct flavors as a single-cup pour-over but also may offer a fuller, more pleasing mouth feel to those who prefer this traditional approach. Examples: Many drip coffee makers are used in coffee shops, restaurants and homes. mcaro@tribune.com Twitter @MarkCaro Pinot grape varieties come in a range of colors, called black (noir), white (blanc) and gray (gris), even though the true hues don't quite match the names. These pinot gris grapes, for example, have more of a coppery tinge. (John Elk III, Getty Images/Lonely Planet Images) Like many people, I had long thought that the various varieties of pinot grapes (and their wines), such as pinot grigio or pinot blanc, were mutations of a parent grape, pinot noir. They are not; all pinots, including pinot noir, are clonal offspring of a vine called simply "pinot," as Jancis Robinson points out in her extraordinary tome, "Wine Grapes." Advertisement There are more than 1,000 registered clones of pinot, according to Robinson. Why so many pinots? Clonal diversity is always explained by time; pinot has been with us for more than 2,000 years. The "black, white, gray" declension of pinot into, respectively, pinot noir, pinot blanc, pinot gris (to use just the French; the names appear of course in other languages) is helpful, but it is possible to find all three colors on a single vine. Striped grapes have been observed! Advertisement Funny, pinot blanc isn't actually white when ripe (it's a golden green); pinot gris isn't gray at all (but decidedly pink); and pinot noir isn't black but rather resolutely blue-black. Why use "black" at all? Because winemakers all over the world call dark grapes "black" and lighter grapes "white." Grapes that are neither very dark nor quite light-colored, be they orangish, coppery or pink, such as pinot gris or sauvignon gris, get called "gray." Even given pinot's clonal diversity, individual pinots nonetheless mutate. For example, pinot blanc is a mutation of pinot gris; pinot gris itself a mutation of pinot noir. Pinot meunier, famed in Champagne, apparently is a free-standing clone, which may explain why the French often call it simply "meunier." It gets its cool name from the French word for "miller," the person who grinds grain, because of the way the underside of its leaves looks dusted with flour when the grapes are ripe. (When you cook sole a la meuniere, you cook it as would the miller's wife, dredged in flour before sauteing it in butter.) I decided to compound all these oddities by finding for you some even odder pinots to recommend as well-made and delicious wines. We know pinot blanc, for example, as a still wine, but there are fine examples of sparkling pinot blanc too. Pinot meunier rarely shows up outside of Champagne, and even more rarely as a nonsparkling, or still, red wine. But California has some winemakers doing well by it in that fashion. Pinot grigio (the Italian for "pinot gris") has been bastardized so badly by Italian winemakers that it's odd to find actually good examples of it from there; they happily happen. And pinot noir exists without the "noir," when made as a white wine. All the winemakers had to do was quickly remove the grape skins on crushing them. Some wonderful white pinot noir is being made. And as for fine European pinot noir, it need not come from only the Cote d'Or of Burgundy nor always cost in the three digits. Southern Burgundy makes some delicious red pinot, as do, oddly enough, other places in Europe. So, some pinot blanc first; good Italian pinot grigio second; then some white pinot noir; and finally a couple of delish pinot noirs and fine red pinot meunier. Advertisement Recommended NV Helfrich Cremant d'Alsace, Alsace, France: All pinot blanc, from superior vineyards in Alsace's north; traditional method for a fine mousse. $22 2012 Wagner Stempel Weissburgunder, Siefersheim, Rhinehessen, Germany: The Germans revere pinot blanc; here's all that almond-and-apple deliciousness juicily rendered. $28-$30 2011 Alois Lageder Pinot Blanc Haberle, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy: From Lageder's best vineyard; cooked pear, super-soft texture; zesty yet opulent. $20-$25 2013 Cantina Tramin Pinot Grigio Unterebner, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy: For the same price as some PGs from a blend of vineyards, you can have this single-vineyard version that's way more delicious; different fermentation techniques and less stirring give it real character. $30 2012 Elena Walch Pinot Grigio Castel Ringberg, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy: Again, another single vineyard PG and from one of northern Italy's great winemakers; ripe pear and apple flavors, creamy texture and true pinot gris spice. $26 Advertisement 2013 Attems Pinot Grigio, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy: Here's a PG at a great price with memorable earthy/minerally tones and good flesh. $20 2013 Angel Camp Vineyard Pinot Noir Blanc, Anderson Valley, Mendocino, Calif.: What a delicious white wine for the table! Stone fruit aromas and flavors with fun notes of citrus and minerals, sleekly delivered. $35 Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. > 2013 Tolosa Winery Pinot Noir Blanc, Edna Valley, Calif.: Particularly plush for a white wine (lots of lees aging) but with some spring to its step aroma- and flavor-wise. $28 2012 Podere Monastero La Pineta Pinot Nero, Tuscany, Italy: I know, a Tuscan pinot noir? 'Twill blow your mind, this one 'twill: like a villages-level Gevrey, pitch perfect pinot. $60 2012 Domaine Faiveley Mercurey Clos des Myglands, Burgundy, France: The great vintage helps turn this best-buy Burg into a richly layered (aroma, texture, flavor all three) red from a place to find good value Burgundy. $45 2013 Domaine Chandon Pinot Meunier, Carneros, Calif.: Bright, open, generous in aromas and flavors of red fruits, red apple skin and spice; a terrific table topper and talk-about wine. $35 Advertisement If your wine store does not carry these wines, ask for one similar in style and price. Bill St John has been writing and teaching about wine for more than 40 years. bsjtrib@gmail.com MommyCon, a nationwide natural parenting convention series, and Wear: A Babywearing Conference will combine their programs March 3-5 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont. (Melissa Chamberlain / MommyCon) Getting out of the house with your baby is one of the first milestones for parents. (Successfully getting your toddler out of the house and somewhere on time will be another milestone down the road.) New parents who filled their baby registries with car seats, carriers, slings and wraps will find they have many options for taking their precious cargo out and about, and many of those options include baby wearing that is, strapping a baby to an adult's chest or back. The Baby Carrier Industry Alliance reports that baby carriers are now the fifth most popular item on baby registries, said Xza Higgins, founder and program director of Wear: A Babywearing Conference. Advertisement "Out of 3.9 million live births in the United States, over 70 percent of caregivers are purchasing or being gifted carriers," she said. Baby wearing is certainly not a new practice, but it has steadily become commonplace in the United States, perhaps due, in part, to attachment parenting, said Beth Leistensnider, who started her own carrier brand, Catbird Baby, in Chicago. Advertisement "Baby carrying is a centuries-old tradition," she said. The Wear conference was established to provide educators, parents and clinicians with comprehensive information on the benefits of baby wearing, Higgins said. The conference, in its second year, will be March 3-5 in Rosemont. The following are some of parents' top concerns about baby wearing. Baby wearing is only for those who practice attachment parenting. "You don't have to be part of the attachment-parenting circle," said Kathy Low, vice president of the board of directors for Babywearing International. "It can just be for convenience. And it doesn't have to be all the time. You also don't have to not like a stroller." The Wear conference will feature a baby-wearing lounge with experts and 75 carrier options on hand. (Melissa Chamberlain / MommyCon) Wearing your child will make him want to be held all the time. "A lot of times, parents are afraid their child will never want to be put down," Leistensnider said. "For babies, they expect to be held, and we really need to meet that need. When needs are met like that, they don't become issues." Other benefits of baby wearing include happier, healthier babies and more confident, loving parents and caregivers, according to Babywearing International's website, which includes references to academic journals that have published relevant academic studies. Advertisement Leistensnider added, "You can't spoil a child by holding him." Baby wearing will hurt my back. "If your carrier is hurting you, it shouldn't be," Higgins said. Higgins, who is a certified baby-wearing educator through the Center for Babywearing Studies, added, "Normally, the carrier just needs an adjustment." Most carriers are weighted for up to 30 or 45 pounds, allowing for baby wearing into toddlerhood. But carrying that much weight or even a 10-pound infant can sound like a heavy load for parents. Leistensnider said many of the popular carriers today, such as Ergobaby, are inspired by a traditional Chinese carrier, which incorporates a wide base and allows the baby to sit in a spread-squat position. Advertisement "That positioning is more ergonomic for the baby and also helps distribute the weight for the (adult)," she said. If parents are concerned about fit or safety, she recommends consulting with an expert. "Working with someone hands-on is better than reading an instruction booklet or looking at YouTube videos," Leistensnider said. Leistensnider offers in-store consultations in Chicago, and the Wear conference will feature a baby-wearing lounge with experts and 75 carrier options on hand. A dad hikes with his toddler on his back. (Frank Gaglione / Taxi) Real men don't baby wear. "Dads are a crucial part of the family dynamic. They can't breast-feed their child, but they can wear them and provide great comfort," Higgins said. Babywearing International has seen an increase in male baby wearers and educators at their meetings, Low said. She also noted a national trend of fathers being more involved in raising children. Advertisement Not to mention, as Higgins said, "I don't know a single woman who has seen a father or a man wearing a child that doesn't think: 'That's a good-looking man,' It's instantly attractive to see a man as a father figure." Emily Perschbacher is a freelancer. Wear: A Babywearing Conference March 3-5, Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, 5555 N. River Road, Rosemont; tickets $45-$500; wearconference.com RELATED STORIES: Trump health pick Seema Verma says maternity coverage should be optional Advertisement Retreats offer moms a respite from day-to-day grind Each time Sheri Hurdle sends her 12-year-old daughter, Imanni, off to school, the mother worries that her child's severe asthma will act up in her absence. Even with daily medication, a slight change in weather or exposure to dust can leave the child wheezing, hoarse or with uncomfortable chest tightening that requires an inhaler, nebulizer or other treatment. For years, it was up to Hurdle to make sure school staff had the medication and training needed to keep her daughter safe while she attended Walter S. Christopher Elementary School in Chicago. Advertisement But after a new state law went into effect Jan. 1, school staff is required to provide Hurdle and other parents the necessary help to control childhood asthma the leading cause of absence due to illness in schools. "It can be overwhelming and scary," said Hurdle, an administrative assistant who attended numerous workshops and classes to learn about her daughter's condition. "Now that she's older and stronger, managing her asthma has become less intense, but nevertheless it remains a daily priority." Advertisement Under the new legislation signed by Gov. Bruce Rauner in August, all school personnel who work with students must be trained to handle asthma emergencies. School districts must adopt an emergency response protocol for asthma similar to those used in the case of anaphylaxis or fire. And every child with asthma must have a written "asthma action plan" on file at the school to allow the most efficient and helpful treatment when needed. "Asthma has been a chronic problem for a long time; it did not just rear its ugly head," said Maureen Damitz, spokeswoman for the Illinois Asthma Consortium which lobbied to get the law passed. "But I think people are more aware that we need to change something." Some school districts including Barrington 220, Naperville 203, and Chicago Public Schools already had policies mirroring the new state law. But until now, there was no way to know which school districts were making such efforts. The new law also promises to provide health advocates with data on how many students across the state are reported to have asthma on medical forms required for admission, Damitz said. In Illinois, nearly 14 percent of children have asthma, but more than 76 percent of those children do not have their asthma under control, Damitz said. The asthma rates are even higher in areas with high populations of Latino or African-American students. About 20 percent of each population is estimated to have asthma, she said. Without measures to require parents to report asthma to school administration, the condition which is treatable through medication is grossly underreported. Parents hesitate to report asthma for a variety of reasons: ignorance, reluctance to deal with paperwork, fear of being labeled, Damitz said. In turn, the lack of awareness about asthma's presence in schools can lead to larger problems. Health care costs rise when children with asthma are only treated through emergency visits; students with asthma miss an average of eight days of school per year. And, while rare, extreme asthma attacks can be fatal, Damitz said. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > At Barrington 220, teachers began receiving training last week on asthma emergencies. New signs spelling out the protocol for recognizing an asthma attack and treating it are also posted in hallways at each of the district's schools, said Eva Detloff, nursing coordinator for the district. Advertisement "I think it's something that school districts have been aware of but I don't think it's ever been approached in this coordinated statewide manner before," said Dr. Edward Pont, chairman of the government affairs committee for the state chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. "Now you've really got everybody on the same page, and it should do a lot of good for the children." The state chapter of the academy was among a list of 17 groups, which also included the American Lung Association, the Illinois State Medical Society and the Chicago Department of Public Health, which supported the law. Illinois is now one of 24 states that require schools to have emergency protocols for asthma. With the new legislation, asthma awareness advocates hope to now move on to lobbying for further safeguards for children with asthma at schools, such as a state-wide policy that requires all school nurse offices to stock albuterol, the drug most often used in inhalers, Damitz said. All of the efforts are a relief to Chicago mother Rashidat Akinbiyi, whose 11-year-old son, Elijah, has carried an inhaler in his backpack since he began kindergarten. While she has made sure to meet with school health officials each year to explain that Elijah has a form of asthma that leads to extreme coughing, it will be comforting to know other adults will be prepared to deal with complications, she said. "If a child has an attack in the classroom, the teacher won't be surprised and say, "What's going on? How can I help?'" Akinbiyi said. vortiz@chicagotribune.com Three people, including a firefighter, were injured late Sunday in a Far South Side house fire in the Fernwood neighborhood, officials said. The fire started about 11 p.m. in a home on LaSalle Street near 101st Street, according to the Chicago Fire Department. Advertisement Two people were injured, and both were taken to Roseland Community Hospital, according to the Fire Department. A firefighter was taken to Mercy Hospital to be treated for minor injuries. The fire was contained to the home, and it was struck out within 30 minutes. Shawnquail Minnis, 22, is charged with murder in the Nov. 5, 2014, death of her son, Jashawn McBride, who the Cook County medical examiner's office determined died at 54 days old of starvation in a homicide by neglect. (Cook County sheriff's photo / ) A Chicago woman has been charged with starving her 2-month-old son to death, allowing the baby to become so emaciated that medical personnel could make out his facial bones and see individual ribs through his skin, according to court records. In charging her with first-degree murder, prosecutors say Shawnquail Minnis, now 22, gave birth to a healthy, full-term baby on Sept. 13, 2014. The baby, Jashawn McBride, weighed 8 pounds, 2 ounces, records show. Advertisement The infant weighed about the same when he was treated at a local hospital for a fungal infection in his mouth in early October 2014, according to Cook County assistant state's attorney Bryan Grissman. Prosecutors say the baby remained in his mother's sole care until Nov. 4, 2014, when Jashawn was found unresponsive and not breathing by his mother and her friend. Paramedics took the infant to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead. Advertisement Jashawn weighed 4 pounds, 13 ounces at the time of his death, prosecutors said. The Cook County medical examiner's officer determined Jashawn died of starvation. The death was ruled a neglect homicide. "The victim's face was sunken in, showing his facial bones, and the victim's ribs were visible through his skin," Grissman said at Minnis' bond hearing Sunday. Her uncle, Tyrone Jordan, who was a frequent visitor at the Roseland neighborhood home where Minnis lived with her grandmother and baby, disputed the description of Jashawn's skeletal frame. Jordan said he saw the baby about a week before his death and he appeared healthy. "He was smiling and laughing," Jordan said. "He didn't look sick. If he was that skinny, I would have said, 'Shawnquail, go feed this baby.'" Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > Minnis, who is seven months pregnant, is being held on $2 million bail at the Cook County Jail. She has two other children, both of whom are currently in foster care, prosecutors said. Assistant public defender Toya Harvey called the two-year span between the baby's death and the charges "unusual." Harvey said her client was not questioned about Jashawn after his death and her family was not aware that authorities considered the death a murder until a few days ago. "It just fell from the sky," Jordan said. "It doesn't make any sense. She is not a murderer. She might have been neglectful. ... She doesn't know how to raise a child. She was a baby raising a baby, but my niece is not a murderer." Advertisement Prosecutors did not say why it took more than two years before charges were brought. Minnis, who works as a department store cashier and attends community college, showed no emotion during her brief bond hearing. She was convicted of aggravated robbery in 2012 and was on probation for the offense when Jashawn was born, according to court records. sstclair@tribpub.com Twitter @stacystclair Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders gathered Monday to protest President Donald Trump's immigration policies, which they said target the weakest and most vulnerable while doing little to protect the nation from terrorists. Speaker after speaker told stories of students too afraid to enroll in college, of immigrants living in the U.S. without legal permission cowering in their basements and of one such woman too afraid to ask for an order of protection against an allegedly abusive partner perhaps aware that federal immigration agents earlier this month detained an transgender woman at a Texas courthouse after she had sought similar help. Advertisement The Rev. Chuck Dahm, of St. Pius V Roman Catholic Church in Pilsen, said that Trump's proposed immigration ban and deportation policies have terrified families and that fear was rampant. "This week, I had a woman come to me, fleeing the violence of her partner with her four children," Dahm said. "And I put her up for the night in a special apartment that we have at our parish. She was afraid to go to court and seek an order of protection because of all the threats coming from the Trump administration." Advertisement Religious leaders have been holding interfaith vigils since Trump's election last fall, and they, and others, gathered Monday at the Downtown Islamic Center in anticipation of a revised Trump executive order on immigration. Trump has said his executive order, which could be finalized this week, is needed to protect the country from terrorists. A draft of Trump's revised ban reportedly singles out the same seven majority-Muslim countries as from his original executive order Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Libya. However, the Associated Press reported that green-card holders and dual citizens of the U.S. and any of those countries are exempt. The AP also reported that the working draft no longer singles out Syrian refugees for automatic rejection when officials process new visa applications. Dr. Zaher Sahloul of the Syrian American Medical Society said Trump's policies tear at the fabric of the United States. He said the immigration policies create divisions, fear and hatred. "Yes, these are dangerous policies," Sahloul said. "We are expecting the next Muslim ban to cause more harm to our country. The image of our country has suffered." Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > The Rev. Eric Biddy, of St. Christopher's Episcopal Church in Oak Park, said God calls upon religious leaders to protect the most vulnerable. He said that Jesus was a refugee, having fled the tyrannical king Herod. "We are all children of God Muslim, Jews and Christians, Americans, Syrians and Latin Americans. And nothing can stop us from standing together and loving each other," Biddy said. The Rev. Corey Brost, co-founder of the Children of Abraham Coalition, said the U.S. made mistakes in the 1930s when it turned away Jews fleeing Nazi Germany and in the 1940s with the internment of thousands of Japanese Americans. Trump is on the "verge of making another profound national mistake, for which we will be apologizing in the future," Brost said. "People of faith will not be part of this national mistake. We will not victimize the weak. We will not stigmatize our brothers and sisters who are Muslim. We will not tear apart families." Advertisement The Rev. Brendan Curran, on staff at Dominican University in River Forest, said some students have stopped attending classes, while others have chosen not to enroll this semester because of the "national policies in this country." "We recognize that millions of our immigrant families are in very real danger today," Curran said. "Mass deportations, Muslim registrations and internment may have seemed impossible before, but we are facing this true nightmare today." tlighty@chicagotribune.com WASHINGTON U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos announced Monday she will not run for Illinois governor next year, leaving the Democratic field without a major Downstate candidate. The 55-year-old, three-term congresswoman from East Moline said after several months of considering a bid that she was calling supporters to say she instead will seek re-election to the House in 2018. Advertisement In an interview, Bustos called Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner "entirely beatable." She said despite big promises, Rauner had been a "disaster" with respect to job creation and had shown disregard for "people who need a little help" such as domestic-violence victims and autistic children. A campaign for governor would have been challenging for Bustos, who is not well-known outside her district, has never run statewide and faced having to raise a sizable amount of campaign cash. On the other hand, as a Democrat from outside of Chicago, she had the potential to capture Downstate votes. That second base of support in a statewide race is part of the formula used by one of her mentors, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Springfield. Advertisement Bustos has not endorsed a Democrat in the still-developing governor field but said she wants someone who will be a "fighter" for people all over the state, naming cities as diverse as Chicago, Moline and Carbondale. Her decision leaves three declared Democratic candidates and several others mentioned as potentially running. Earlier this month, Chris Kennedy, a former University of Illinois board chairman and Merchandise Mart president, kicked off his campaign with a web video and media interviews. He is the son of the late Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 while running for the Democratic nomination for the White House, so he brings a big political family name to the race and could have considerable fundraising muscle. Chicago Ald. Ameya Pawar, 47th, has announced he'll give the race a go. And Bob Daiber, a regional schools superintendent in Downstate Madison County who has little name recognition statewide, said last week that he'll run. Chicago billionaire businessman J.B. Pritzker has been touring Illinois as he mulls entering the Democratic primary for governor. A handful of other Democrats haven't said whether they'll get in, including U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly of Matteson, and state Sens. Daniel Biss of Evanston, Kwame Raoul of Chicago and Andy Manar of Bunker Hill. The winner of the Democratic primary is likely to square off against Rauner, who has said he's running for a second term as his state budget battle with Democrats has dominated his first so far. The lack of a full spending plan has left the governor without many bumper-sticker-style accomplishments to tout, but he found some political success last year as the state Republican Party he largely finances helped win a handful of seats at the Capitol from Democrats. Late last year, the governor parked $50 million in his campaign account, a deposit that GOP operatives called a "first installment" on a 2018 campaign. Bustos won re-election in November with more than 60 percent of the vote in a district that narrowly favored Republican Donald Trump for the White House. She represents the 17th Congressional District, which takes in the Quad Cities, parts of Rockford and Peoria, and stretches of northern, central and western Illinois. The district's western border is the Mississippi River. Advertisement After the win, she was one of three lawmakers elected co-chairs of the House Democratic Policy & Communications Committee, which helps with strategy and communications. Bustos said the post makes her the "voice of the heartland" on a leadership team otherwise drawn "entirely from the coasts." She sits on the Agriculture Committee and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Bustos is a former reporter for the Quad-City Times, a former hospital communications executive and a former East Moline city councilwoman. Her husband, Gerry Bustos, is Rock Island County sheriff. kskiba@chicagotribune.com Twitter @KatherineSkiba NEW YORK Demonstrations were held in cities around the U.S. this weekend to support Muslim Americans and to protest President Donald Trump's immigration policies. More than a thousand people of various faiths rallied in New York City on Sunday. Advertisement The "I Am A Muslim Too" event was held in Times Square and was organized by several groups, including the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding. Some protesters waved American flags, while others held signs saying "No Muslim Ban." Advertisement Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio spoke at the peaceful rally, saying "we have to dispel the stereotypes" and that America is "a country founded to protect all faiths and all beliefs." Trump has initiated a crackdown on illegal immigration. He also has called for a temporary ban on people entering the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries. Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons headlined the event. He said the Muslim community was being used as a scapegoat, but that "diversity will prevail." In Oregon, hundreds of people demonstrated on Sunday in front of the Oregon State Capitol to voice their support for immigration rights. Yesica Navarro spoke about growing up as an immigrant. She said she came to the U.S. as a child with her family, and they managed to succeed despite the odds, The Statesman Journal reported. "We love this country, and we want to be accepted. This is our home," Navarro said. The crowd, which organizers said neared 1,000, cheered and clapped as cars honked their horns, the newspaper said. The rally was part of a national effort called Immigrants' March Presidents Day 2017. In Dallas on Saturday, police estimated about 1,700 people rallied downtown in a peaceful show of support for immigrants and refugees. Advertisement The Dallas Morning News reported that religious and civic leaders were among those protesting President Donald Trump's immigration policies. Some marchers carried U.S. flags or banners from other nations and chanted: "Say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here." No arrests were made. About a dozen counter-protesters stood nearby in support of Trump. Israel's prime minister turned down a regional peace initiative last year that was brokered by then-U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, former American officials confirmed Sunday, in apparent contradiction to Benjamin Netanyahu's stated goal of involving regional Arab powers in resolving Israel's conflict with the Palestinians. Netanyahu took part in a secret summit that Kerry organized in the southern Jordanian port city of Aqaba last February and included Jordan's King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi. The secret meeting was first reported by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz1 According to two former Obama administration officials, Kerry proposed regional recognition of Israel as a Jewish state a key Netanyahu demand alongside a renewal of peace talks with the Palestinians with the support of the Arab countries. Netanyahu rejected the offer, which would have required a significant pullout from occupied land, saying he would not be able to garner enough support for it in his hard-line coalition government. The initiative also appeared to be the basis of short-lived talks with moderate opposition leader Isaac Herzog to join the government, a plan that quickly unraveled when Netanyahu chose to bring in nationalist leader Avigdor Lieberman instead and appoint him defense minister. Herzog tweeted Sunday that "history will definitely judge the magnitude of the opportunity as well as the magnitude of the missed opportunity." Two former top aides to Kerry confirmed that the meeting took place secretly on Feb. 21, 2016. According to the officials, Kerry tried to sweeten the 15-year-old "Arab Peace Initiative," a Saudi-led plan that offered Israel peace with dozens of Arab and Muslim nations in return for a pullout from territories captured in the 1967 Mideast war to make way for an independent Palestine. Among the proposed changes were Arab recognition of Israel as the Jewish state, recognition of Jerusalem as a shared capital for Israelis and Palestinians, and softened language on the "right of return" of Palestinian refugees to lost properties in what is now Israel, the former officials said. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were still not authorized to discuss the secret meeting publicly, said the Egyptian and Jordanian leaders reacted positively to the proposal, while Netanyahu refused to commit to anything beyond meetings with the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. One of the officials said the main purpose of the meeting was to start a regional peace process that Netanyahu said he wanted. However, he said it was not clear if the Arab states would have gone along with it either. He said it appeared that Netanyahu was not interested in more than meeting Abbas and some Arab leaders and promising unspecified confidence building steps. This was not enough for anyone at the meeting and would not have been enough to get other Arab states to even express willingness to pursue a regional approach, the former official said. "We saw it as building on, or updating, but certainly not superseding" the 2002 Arab initiative, one of the officials said. A second former official said other Gulf Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, along with the Palestinians, the Europeans and the Russians, were also consulted as part of the process. The officials said opposition inside Netanyahu's hard-line government, which is dominated by nationalists opposed to Palestinian independence, presented a formidable obstacle. But he said the Arab partners also showed varying degrees of enthusiasm, with the Palestinians most concerned about concessions forced on them. In Cairo, el-Sissi's office issued a statement late Sunday that appeared to implicitly confirm that the meeting took place. It said Egypt been working toward a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "It is in this framework that Egypt has sought to bring closer the positions of the relevant parties and supported any meetings or initiatives aimed at discussing Practical ideas that would revive the peace process," said the statement without directly mentioning the Aqaba meeting. Netanyahu himself did not address the newspaper report in his weekly Cabinet meeting and his office refused to comment. Instead, the prime minister focused on last week's visit to Washington to meet new President Donald Trump. At that meeting, both Trump and Netanyahu talked of searching for new ways forward with the Palestinians and raised the possibility of involving the broader Arab world in a new peace process. Netanyahu called the meeting "historic" and one that strengthened the two countries' longtime alliance. He said at the end of meeting, Trump shook his hand and told him it was a "new day" in Israeli-American relations. After eight years of testy ties with Barack Obama, Netanyahu seems to be relishing Trump's warm embrace. The new president has broken from his predecessor in adopting friendlier positions to the Israeli government regarding a tough line on Iran, a vaguer stance on Palestinian statehood and a more lenient approach to West Bank settlements. Netanyahu said the two leaders see "eye to eye" on Iran and a host of other issues. "There is a new day and it is a good day," he said. But in a joint press conference last week, behind the warm smiles there were signs of trouble ahead. Trump asked Netanyahu to "hold off" on Jewish settlement construction in occupied territories the Palestinians claim for a future state. Netanyahu said Sunday that the sides have formed joint teams to coordinate settlement construction. In a striking departure from longtime American policy, Trump also refrained from supporting a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While this pleased Netanyahu's hard line coalition partners, Trump still said whatever solution is reached would have to be acceptable to both sides. That has raised questions about what kind of agreement could be reached. The alternative, a single binational state, could require Israel to grant citizenship to millions Palestinians under its control, threatening its status as a Jewish-majority democracy. Lieberman, the Israeli defense minister, said that for him a Palestinian state remains the preferred outcome and it should come through the type of regional structure Netanyahu reportedly rejected. The Senate Intelligence Committee has sent formal requests to more than a dozen organizations, agencies and individuals, asking them to preserve all materials related to the committee's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and related issues, according to a congressional aide. The committee chairman, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and its vice chairman, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., sent letters Friday, the same day committee members received a classified briefing from FBI Director James Comey. Committee members declined to comment on what was discussed after the more than hourlong briefing. The aide was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly and spoke only on condition of anonymity. "I think they're going to do their job. And they have to do that. Those are things that Richard Burr and that team have to do," White House chief of staff Reince Priebus said Sunday, a day after the disclosure by the congressional aide. "That doesn't mean that there's anything there. It just means they need to do some things that satisfy their committee, that they've looked into something. And then they can have meetings behind closed doors that they always do in the Intel Committee, and then they'll issue a report," Priebus told NBC's "Meet the Press." On Thursday, Senate Democrats wrote the White House and law enforcement agencies seeking assurances that they were preserving all materials related to contacts individuals associated with President Donald Trump had with Russians. Those letters asked for confirmation that the White House, FBI and Justice Department had instructed their employees to preserve all materials related to any contacts Trump's administration, campaign, transition team or anyone acting on their behalf have had with Russian government officials or its associates. Priebus said that as long as committee members "do their job, and we cooperate with them, they'll issue a report, and the report will say there's nothing there." The letter to the White House counsel said the executive branch and Congress have been investigating Russia's efforts to interfere with the 2016 election. As a part of these investigations, there have been ongoing inquiries into communications or contacts between the Trump campaign or Trump transition team and associates or officials of the Russian government, including communications involving ousted national security adviser Mike Flynn. President Donald Trump's personal lawyer and a former business associate met privately in New York City last month with a member of the Ukrainian parliament to discuss a peace plan for that country that could give Russia long-term control over territory it seized in 2014 and lead to the lifting of sanctions against Moscow. The meeting with Andrii Artemenko, the Ukrainian politician, involved Michael Cohen, a Trump Organization lawyer since 2007, and Felix Sater, a Russian emigre to the United States who worked on real estate projects with Trump's company. Advertisement The occurrence of the meeting, first reported Sunday by the New York Times, suggests that some in the region aligned with Russia have been seeking to use Trump business associates as an informal conduit to a new president who has signaled a desire to forge warmer relations with Russia. The discussion took place amid increasingly intense scrutiny of the ties between Trump's team and Russia, as well as escalating investigations on Capitol Hill of the determination by U.S. intelligence agencies that the Kremlin intervened in last year's election to help Trump. The Times reported that Cohen said he left the proposal in a sealed envelope in the office of then-national security adviser Michael Flynn while visiting Trump in the White House. The meeting took place days before Flynn's resignation last week following a report in The Washington Post that he had misled Vice President Mike Pence about his discussions in December of election-related sanctions with the Russian ambassador to the United States. Advertisement Cohen, speaking with The Post on Sunday, acknowledged that the meeting took place and that he had left with the peace proposal in hand. But Cohen said he did not take the envelope to the White House and did not discuss it with anyone. He called suggestions to the contrary "fake news." "I acknowledge that the brief meeting took place, but emphatically deny discussing this topic or delivering any documents to the White House and/or General Flynn," Cohen said. He said he told the Ukrainian official that he could send the proposal to Flynn by writing him at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. The Times stood by its story Sunday. "Mr. Cohen told The Times in no uncertain terms that he delivered the Ukraine proposal to Michael Flynn's office at the White House. Mr Sater told the Times that Mr. Cohen had told him the same thing," Matt Purdy, a deputy managing editor, said in a statement to The Post. The Times reported that the proposal discussed at last month's meeting included a plan to require the withdrawal of Russian forces from Eastern Ukraine. Then, Ukrainian voters would decide in a referendum whether Crimea, the territory Russia seized in 2014, would be leased to Russia for a 50-year or a 100-year term. Artemenko said Russian leaders supported his proposal, the Times reported. In Ukraine, Artemenko belongs to a bloc that opposes the nation's current president, Petro Poroshenko. It is a group whose efforts were previously aided by Paul Manafort, Trump's campaign manager, who had advised Ukraine's previous pro-Vladimir Putin president until his ouster amid public protests in 2014 - a development that sparked the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Manafort told The Post that he had "no role" in Artemenko's initiative. The back-channel discussions could disrupt delicate diplomacy between the new Trump administration and Poroshenko. Artemenko told the Times that he hopes evidence of corruption by Poroshenko could be used to effect his ouster, a necessary first step to pushing his peace proposal. Advertisement Cohen said the meeting between the Ukrainian politician, Cohen and Sater lasted less than 15 minutes and took place at a New York hotel. He said he received the proposal and took it with him from the hotel meeting out of politeness, but never relayed its contents to anyone in the administration. He said he attended the meeting as a courtesy to Sater, a former business colleague. Cohen has been in the public spotlight since his name was mentioned in a dossier prepared by a former British spy hired by Trump's political opponents suggesting he had once served as a liaison between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign, an allegation he has emphatically denied. Cohen said no federal investigators have contacted him about the dossier, which was widely distributed to Washington journalists and published by Buzzfeed, and he called the ongoing suggestion of federal interest in the case infuriating. "It has to stop," he said. Cohen had worked for a decade for the Trump Organization, where he earned a reputation as a trusted and aggressive defender of the celebrity mogul. He left the company in January to assume a more amorphous role as Trump's personal counsel. The role holds no public policy portfolio. Sater pleaded guilty in 1998 to participating in a Mafia-related stock fraud. His sentencing was delayed while he secretly cooperated with the government on criminal and natural security investigations. Law enforcement officials have praised him for his participation. Advertisement Working out of an office just below Trump's in Trump Tower with a development company called Bayrock Group, Sater had worked on several licensed Trump projects, including the Trump SoHo in New York. He also worked on proposals to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, a decade ago and again in 2015. He has said he met with Trump's children Ivanka and Donald Jr. in the foreign capital in 2006 at Trump's request. In 2010, Trump allowed Sater to use a business card identifying himself as a senior adviser to the Trump Organization while he prospected deals. Still, when Sater's criminal past, which had long been sealed because of his government cooperation, emerged, Trump claimed to barely know the Russian immigrant. In sworn testimony in 2013 in litigation related to a failed project with which Sater had been involved, Trump said he would not recognize Sater if they were in the same room. Sater confirmed that the meeting at the New York hotel took place at his request after he heard about the peace plan from Artemenko. "I got excited about trying to stop a war," he said. "I thought if this could improve conditions in three countries, good, so be it." Sater said he held the recent meeting out of honorable intent only. He said he had no business deals in Ukraine and without thought of any business deal or inappropriate relationship with a foreign power. "I was not practicing diplomacy and I was not having clandestine meetings," Sater said. He said he called Cohen because his Ukrainian lawmaker acquaintance "was emphatic that he wants the war to end." He said the conversations with Cohen and Artemenko were not "a back channel to the Kremlin or anything like that." Advertisement Sater said he thought Cohen intended to give the document to Flynn but was unable to do so because Flynn was embroiled in a crisis over his own job and resigned days later. "He had other things on his mind," Sater said. President Donald Trump caused confusion during a Saturday rally in Florida when he said: "You look at what's happening last night in Sweden. Sweden, who would believe this?" Trump then mentioned the French cities of Nice and Paris and the Belgian capital, Brussels. The three European cities were all attacked by terrorists over the past two years. Although Trump did not explicitly say it, his remarks were widely perceived in the United States and abroad as suggesting that an attack had occurred Friday night in Sweden. Advertisement Trump himself attempted to clarify the remarks, tweeting on Sunday: "My statement as to what's happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden." On Monday, Trump elaborated a bit with another tweet: Advertisement "Give the public a break - The FAKE NEWS media is trying to say that large scale immigration in Sweden is working out just beautifully. NOT!" Trump was likely referring to an interview with filmmaker Ami Horowitz on Fox's "Tucker Carlson Tonight," which started circulating on social media shortly after Trump's speech in Florida. Horowitz has blamed refugees for what he says is a crime wave in Sweden. The filmmaker's claims have since come under scrutiny, as Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter reported Monday. Two Swedish police officers who were interviewed by Horowitz said that their comments had been taken out of context. One of them, Anders Goranzon, accused the filmmaker of being a "madman." Such claims by Horowitz have driven up Google search traffic for information on Swedish crime statistics in recent weeks. In fact, interest in the issue has never been higher over the last four years. Trump's references to Sweden seemed to suggest that the country's welcoming approach to refugees and its alleged effects on crime rates should be a warning sign. But were the president's remarks justified? "Absolutely not," said Felipe Estrada Dorner, a criminology professor at Stockholm University. His response was echoed by multiple other experts on Monday who are familiar with Swedish crime statistics. Overall, Sweden's average crime rate has fallen in recent years, according to Dorner. That drop has been observed for cases of lethal violence and for sexual assaults, two of the most serious categories of crime. Moreover, an analysis by Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, conducted between October 2015 and January 2016, came to the conclusion that refugees were responsible for only one percent of all incidents. Researchers caution, however, that segregation and long-term unemployment of refugees could have a negative impact on crime rates in Sweden in the future. The other European country that took in similar numbers of refugees per capita in 2015, Germany, has also refuted claims that the influx led to an increase in crimes. "Immigrants are not more criminal than Germans," an interior ministry spokesman said in June. Overall, crime levels in Germany declined over the first quarter of 2016, officials said last year. Advertisement Nevertheless, skepticism has persisted in Germany, Sweden and elsewhere. A Pew Research study conducted in early 2016 indicated that 46 percent of Swedes believed that "refugees in our country are more to blame for crime than other groups." Reports about alleged police coverups of refugee crimes might have contributed to distrust in official statistics. Criminologists also say that a handful of cases have received disproportionate public attention, creating a distorted perception among Swedes. "What we're hearing is a very, very extreme exaggeration based on a few isolated events," Jerzy Sarnecki, a criminologist at Stockholm University, told the Globe and Mail newspaper last May, when coverage of refugee-related crimes reached a peak. There is one statistic in which Sweden does indeed lead international crime statistics, though: reported cases of rape. When three men raped a woman on Facebook Live, the incident made headlines worldwide. But criminologists say refugees are not the reason Sweden has such an extraordinarily high number of rape cases. "The (definitions) of rape differ between countries," said Dorner. "In Sweden several changes in legislation have been made to include more cases of sexual crimes as rape cases." Sweden's definition of what constitutes rape is now one of the world's most expansive. Varying figures, as well as other Swedish measures to facilitate rape complaints, might have affected statistics, as well. Swedish crime experts also do not agree that immigrants have created so-called no-go areas inside Sweden - areas that allegedly are too dangerous for native Swedes to enter and are effectively run by criminals. "This perception is fabricated," said Dorner. But he and others also pointed out that the refugee influx poses challenges to Sweden, just not in the way it is being portrayed by some. Advertisement "Even [though] there are no 'no-go zones' as alleged in the propaganda, there are problems around crimes and disturbances in several suburbs of Swedish cities, where immigrant groups tend to be overrepresented," said Henrik Selin, a senior researcher at the Swedish Institute. "Sweden definitely, like other countries, (faces) challenges when it comes to integration of immigrants into Swedish society, with lower levels of employment, tendencies of exclusion, and also crimes related problems," said Selin. So far, there is little evidence, however, that Sweden has turned into the lawless country it is at times being described as abroad. President Donald Trump's speech Saturday at a campaign-style rally in Melbourne, Florida, was filled with a number of dubious claims. Here's a quick round-up of his rhetoric - and the facts. We will examine these statements in the order in which he made them. 1. "The dishonest media, which has published one false story after another, with no sources, even though they pretend they have them. They make them up in many cases." Advertisement It is unclear what stories Trump is referring to here, but mainstream news organizations do not publish articles with "no sources" and certainly do not "make them up in most cases." That is grounds for firing. Certainly, sources can be misinformed, and respected new organizations strive to correct or update stories if a mistake has been made. It is worth noting that the Trump White House is often very slow to respond to requests for comment. 2. "When Thomas Jefferson said 'nothing can be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself,' he said, 'becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle.' That was June 14 - my birthday - 1807." Advertisement Trump selectively quotes from Jefferson here, who, for most of his life, was a fierce defender of the need for a free press. When Jefferson wrote to 17-year-old John Novell, urging him to avoid a career in journalism, he was embittered by reports spread by his political opponents that he had slept with Sally Hemings, one of his slaves. Today, most historians believe she was the mother of six of his children. So this is a case where "fake news" turned out to be true. 3. "For those people, the people that are put into rooms where Republicans are talking about the plan and it wouldn't matter what they say. For those people, just so you understand, our plan will be much better health care at a much lower cost." Trump appears to be referring to a tape obtained by The Washington Post and other news organizations of GOP lawmakers expressing fears about how they would accomplish the goal of both repealing the Affordable Care Act and covering the estimated 20 million people who have gained heath insurance under the law. The president sets himself a very high bar of "better health care at much lower cost." Most health-care experts believe that will be very difficult to accomplish. 4. "Jobs are already starting to pour back in. They're coming back in like you haven't seen in a long time. Ford, General Motors, Fiat Chrysler are bringing in and bringing back thousands of jobs, investing billions of dollars because of the new business climate that we are creating in our country." As we have repeatedly noted, Trump keeps giving himself credit for business decisions made before he became president. For instance, Ford's decision has more to do with the company's long-term goal - particularly its plans to invest in electric vehicles - than with the administration. Here's what Ford chief executive Mark Fields said about the company's decision to abandon plans to open a factory in Mexico: "The reason that we are not building the new plant, the primary reason, is just demand has gone down for small cars." Meanwhile, the January jobs report, showing 230,000 jobs were created, reflects the last month of the Obama administration. The data was collected in early January, when Obama was still president. 5. "Within a few days of taking the oath of office, I've taken steps to begin the construction of Keystone and the Dakota Access pipeline. Anywhere from 30,000 to 40,000 jobs." Trump appears to be combining two disputed figures - 28,000 jobs for Keystone XL and 12,000 for the Dakota Access pipeline. We have looked closely at the Keystone numbers, and the same methodological issues appear to apply to the Dakota estimates. The actual number of Keystone construction jobs, for instance, is 3,900 on an annualized basis - and other jobs have already been created (such as for building high-strength line pipe.) In the context of the U.S. economy, which just in January added 230,000 jobs, these are not many jobs. Advertisement 6. "They were close to signing a $4.2 billion deal to have a new Air Force One. Can you believe this? I said no way. I said I refuse to fly in a $4.2 billion airplane. I refuse." Trump is exaggerating here. Boeing had only a $170 million contract to begin designing a replacement for Air Force One, and the cost of the project had not been set. The Defense Department's five-year plan indicated a cost of $2.9 billion over the next five years for design and development. It's logical to assume at least $1 billion more in additional expenses to complete and procure the aircraft. An estimate of $4 billion - for design, testing and manufacture of at least two jets - was not completely out of line. But the budget was subject to approval by Congress and the actual design of the aircraft. So Trump is taking credit for cutting a price that had not been negotiated yet. 7. "We've gotten hundreds of millions of dollars off the price of a plane that was going to be ordered." Trump is referring to the Lockheed F-35 program. Again, he is taking credit for something that had already been negotiated, a claim that had previously earned him Four Pinocchios. The Pentagon had already announced cost reductions of about $600 million before Trump met with Lockheed's chief executive. 8. "We've directed the creation of a task force for reducing violent crime in America, including our inner cities. We're going to make our inner cities safe again. Look at what's going on. Look at what's happening in Chicago. Hundreds of shootings. Hundreds of deaths. I'll tell you what's happening in Chicago and many other places." Advertisement "Inner cities" is not a category by which crime is measured, and Trump often uses this term to refer to large, urban cities. In 2016, there was an uptick in the homicide rate in the 30 largest cities in the country. One outlier city - Chicago - was responsible for 43.7 percent of the total increase in homicide rates in 2016. Overall, violent crime is on a decades-long decline, since the height of the crack cocaine epidemic in the early 1990s. The homicide rate in the 30 largest cities also increased in 2015, but the two-year trend does not indicate the return of a crime wave in "inner cities." Crime trends can randomly fluctuate year to year, and criminologists consider the data over much longer periods - at least 10 to 15 years - to draw conclusions about trends. 9. "Now you know the countries we're talking about. And these were countries picked by Obama." Trump is referring to Syria, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia, all of which were subject to the executive order that ordered a travel ban on residents of those countries. Four of the countries were identified by Congress, in a bill signed by Obama, and then the Obama administration included three more. But Obama - and Democrats in Congress - wanted greater visa scrutiny of people who had traveled to those countries. When given a chance, the Obama administration specifically rejected the citizenship-based restrictions that Trump ordered. So there were significant differences in the approach. 10. You look at what's happening last night in Sweden. Sweden. Who would believe this? Sweden. They took in large numbers. They're having problems like they never thought possible." Advertisement This was a very strange comment. Nothing had happened the night before in Sweden, as Swedes (including former prime minister Carl Bildt) quickly noted. 11. "We've allowed thousands and thousands of people into our country. And there was no way to vet those people. There was no documentation. There was no nothing." This is false. The vetting of refugees is careful and takes about two years, including FBI screening, Department of Homeland Security interviews and extensive security and background checks. 12. "You look at some states, (health insurance premiums in) Arizona up 116 percent." Trump cherry-picks data from Arizona, the state hit the hardest by 2017 premium increases under the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. The average increase for the second-lowest-cost silver plan (which is used as the benchmark to calculate government subsidies) is 25 percent. A few states, such as Indiana, will actually see a decrease. But the majority of enrollees in the marketplace receive government premium subsidies and, in theory, are protected from such premium increases. So who is affected? The people who do not qualify for the tax subsidy. Advertisement 13. "Obamacare doesn't work. It's become totally unaffordable. Remember they said the health care, it's unaffordable. It doesn't work." Trump is exploiting general public confusion about the Affordable Care Act. The law mandated some broad changes to the health-care market, including cost savings in Medicare. But, according to the Congressional Budget Office, most Americans (155 million) get their insurance through their employer and would have noticed little, if any, change, except that their benefit package may have gotten better. Premiums in those plans have increased year after year, as they always have, but at a slower rate than in the 10-year period before 2010. The premium increases cited by Trump relate to the 22 million individual and small-business policies sold on the exchanges or directly to consumers. That's significantly smaller than the employment-based market - one-seventh the size. As noted before, about half receive tax subsidies, which help make the premium affordable. To put it in context, the number of people affected by premium increases is just one-fourteenth the size of the employment-based health-insurance market. Still, the individual marketplace exchanges have been under pressure because the mix of people signing up for health care under plans offered on the exchanges has been unhealthier than expected. The feared individual mandate has not had the expected result of persuading people to buy insurance, with younger and healthier Americans apparently more willing to pay a $695-per-person fine than sign up for health care that they think is too costly. So the mix of people in the insurance pools have tended to be people who have chronic illnesses and thus require more care and frequent doctor or hospital visits. The risk pools are also why insurance companies have sought higher premiums and the bigger deductibles. Some of the initial steps taken by the Trump administration have helped worsen the problems in the individual insurance market - allowing Trump to create a self-fulfilling prophecy. The issue with the ouster of Michael Flynn as national security adviser is not the mishandling of classified information, despite some of President Donald Trump's tweets about it. It's about Flynn's detractors selectively disclosing to the public the communications of U.S. officials, and how this represents a chilling abuse of power. The backdrop to this is all the open questions about how Russia influenced the last election, and whether Trump's associates colluded in this operation. That is a necessary investigation. If Trump and his advisers had anything to do with that, it's a high crime. Advertisement The good news is that the FBI, in conjunction with the intelligence community, is now probing the matter. So is the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. There is also renewed momentum for a more formal independent commission to examine all of this as well. That's important. But it's worth asking what any of this has to do with Flynn. He failed to give all the details of some December phone calls with the Russian ambassador but at no point has been accused of working with Russia in its campaign to hack leading Democrats, distribute their e-mails on the internet or sabotage the election in less grotesque ways. While others in Trump's orbit, including his former campaign manager Paul Manafort, are allegedly being investigated for this, The Washington Post has reported that Flynn is not now a target of an FBI probe. Advertisement So what law did Flynn violate? According to the New York Times, he may have violated the Logan Act, an antiquated statute that prohibits private citizens from negotiating with foreign adversaries. The Times reported that Obama administration advisers believed Flynn may have negotiated a deal with Russia just after Obama had imposed new sanctions and expelled Russian spies as punishment for Moscow's interference in the election. On Thursday, the Post reported that Flynn may have misled FBI agents investigating the phone calls. There are a few important points here. To start, there is no indication that Flynn made any quid pro quo with the Russians. The Times reports this, and I have confirmed it with my own sources. Second, the Logan Act, which dates to 1799, is likely unconstitutional. The Justice Department does not prosecute Americans violating it. And in this case, the private citizen was about to become the national security adviser. If it's illegal for incoming U.S. officials to discuss policy with foreign adversaries, then the hard work of preparing the transition of a foreign policy agenda for an incoming administration will be outlawed. The FBI investigation is more serious, but so is disclosing the bureau's ongoing investigations to the press. It's also been reported that Flynn had contacts with Russians before the election. That's a bit more troubling but means very little in and of itself. It's also not unprecedented. In 2008, an Obama foreign policy adviser, Daniel Kurtzer, traveled to Damascus to offer the government there his views on the Syria-Israeli peace talks. Many Democrats, including former Secretary of State John Kerry, met with Iran's ambassador to the United Nations during George W. Bush's final years as president at a moment when our military leaders accused Iran of killing U.S. soldiers in Iraq by providing militias with improvised explosive devices. If Bush's FBI had launched Logan Act investigations in that period, would Democrats have cheered on the leaks of the investigations? Flynn may have concealed his contacts with Russian nationals in the last year. He did attend a 2015 conference in Moscow put on by the Russian propaganda network RT, for which he was paid by his speaker's bureau. Some reporters have raised the prospect that Flynn's receipt of money that initially came from Russia violated the Pentagon's guidelines for retired members of the military. The weakest reed in all of this is the charge that Flynn would be susceptible to Russian blackmail because he did not tell Vice President Mike Pence the full story about his phone call. According to the Post, then-acting Attorney General Sally Yates felt compelled to take this information to the White House at the end of January because she was so concerned that Flynn was compromised. This sounds like concern-trolling to me. If Flynn forgot the brief discussion of sanctions in his phone call with the Russian ambassador, as he claimed in his resignation letter, it's far-fetched to think the Russians could coerce him to betray his country to not expose the "lie." This is why it's so important to release the transcripts of these phone calls to the public, as former U.S. attorney Andrew McCarthy argues in his National Review column. Nonetheless, the damage is now done. Republicans are saying that Flynn should be asked to testify before Congress. His security clearance has been suspended. He has retained a lawyer. Flynn likely will spend months and possibly years defending himself because he briefly talked to the Russian ambassador about sanctions a few weeks before he was about to become Trump's national security adviser. Advertisement If that's all there is to this, then the Democrats and the FBI should be ashamed of themselves. There is a far more important matter to investigate: the Russian influence operation against the U.S. election and whether Trump and any associates aided and abetted it. So far, no one has alleged that Flynn had anything to do with that. This hasn't stopped his accusers though from trying and convicting him in the press. Flynn's enemies waged this campaign by disclosing communications that we should be able to trust the government to monitor with proper discretion. Thanks to these leaks, that trust has eroded. Bloomberg Eli Lake is a Bloomberg View columnist. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI. e Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI. For more columns from Bloomberg View, visit http://www.bloomberg.com/view. Aurora mayor candidates, left to right, Rick Guzman, Richard Irvin and Michael Saville, at a forum this week at the Eola Community Center. The other candidate for mayor, Linda Chapa LaVia, was not able to attend because of another commitment. (Steve Lord / The Beacon-News) A five-way primary race for the mayor of Evanston has been called as contentious as politics in neighboring Chicago. In west suburban Aurora, several mayoral candidates have criticized an opponent's ties to Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, accusing the powerful lawmaker of trying to "buy control of the next Aurora mayor." Advertisement And in south suburban Dolton, an incumbent mayor who survived a recall effort last year will face off against two challengers. The Feb. 28 primary could bring new leadership to some suburbs where the race essentially serves as the de facto election. In some others, the results will spur a run-off, with the top two candidates facing off in the April 4 general election. Advertisement Here are some of next week's high-profile contests from across the region: Aurora The second-largest city in the state will be getting its first new elected mayor in roughly 12 years, after longtime mayor Tom Weisner stepped down in the fall. Nine candidates are campaigning to lead this west suburb of roughly 200,000 residents. State Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia, Ald. Richard Irvin, Ald. Michael Saville and Rick Guzman, assistant chief of staff in the mayor's office, will officially be named on the ballot. They'll also face five write-in opponents: Daniel Hoffman, Jeffrey Houghtaling, Thomas Benedetto, Eva Rodgers and David J. Howard. The top two finishers in the primary will then compete against one another in the April general election. Controversy ensued over the summer when House Speaker Madigan threw a $1,000-a-plate fundraiser for Chapa LaVia. In a joint statement, the three other candidates named on the ballot called the dinner a "blatant attempt by Speaker Madigan to buy control of the next Aurora mayor." Chapa LaVia in turn accused the three of them of "taking the easy way out." Advertisement "They would rather run a campaign on fear right now," Chapa LaVia has said. Berwyn Mayor Robert Lovero faces challenger Theodore "Ted" Polashek, a firefighter in Cicero who has served as an alderman in this west suburb since 2009. Lovero elected as an alderman in 2000 and mayor in 2009 has touted improving the suburb's finances and overseeing a revival in local business development. "The commercial corridors have improved quite a bit since I've been mayor," he said in an email. "We've brought in some major businesses, especially what residents have asked for (like Starbucks)." Polashek is running at the top of the Berwyn United slate of candidates, which has pledged to appoint an inspector general and conduct an audit of all contracts, vendors and equipment in this suburb of about 56,000 residents. Advertisement "I'm running to make sure that the books are balanced, our city services are great and public funds are responsibly utilized," Polashek said in an email. "I will ensure that our public funds go to what the residents of Berwyn want and need. Period." The Democratic race is the only primary in Berwyn, so the winner is expected to be the next mayor. Dolton First Dolton Mayor Riley Rogers waged a campaign to recall three village trustees last year, then the trustees began collecting signatures in a separate bid to recall Rogers. But both efforts were stymied when a local electoral board ruled there weren't enough valid signatures to prompt a recall referendum. Now Rogers will face two challengers in the primary, village trustee Stanley "Stan" Brown one of the three trustees involved in the recall attempts and village trustee Duane Muhammad. The winner of the primary will be the next mayor in this south suburb of about 23,000 residents. Advertisement Evanston Five candidates are vying for an open mayoral seat in a heated primary in this north suburb of about 75,500 residents. Candidate Jeff Smith in December had filed challenges to remove from the ballot his opponents Ald. Brian Miller, Ald. Mark Tendam, Steve Hagerty and Gary Gaspard. Prior to that, a supporter of Miller's had also attempted to disqualify candidates Tendam, Hagerty and Gaspard, before Smith had filed his candidacy. The challenges had cited confusion and inconsistency over the candidate filing period, but both were unsuccessful. Alderman and electoral board member Ann Rainey has indicated that politics here have become even more rancorous than in Chicago. Advertisement "Lately I've found it to be unpleasant, unkind, and really, even Chicago hasn't risen to this," Rainey has said. If a candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote, the primary results will be final. If not, the two top vote-getters in the primary will face off in the general election in April. Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl who has led Evanston since 2009 is stepping down after two terms. Waukegan Mayor Wayne Motley will face challenger Ald. Sam Cunningham in this north suburb of roughly 89,000 residents. Motley has also worked as a Waukegan police officer, city clerk, chairman of the local housing authority and a commissioner on the Waukegan Park District board. Advertisement Cunningham has served as an alderman since 1999, and this is his fourth bid for mayor; he most recently lost to Motley by just 156 votes in 2013. The winner will take on Ald. Lisa May, who is running as an independent, in the April general election. May is a former mortgage banker who founded the volunteer organization Friends of Waukegan Beach. Reporters Genevieve Bookwalter, Dan Moran and Steve Lord contributed. eleventis@chicagotribune.com Twitter: @angie_leventis Dean Gullickson sees little downside to Leland Christensons latest proposal to swap land with Chippewa County. Christenson, who completed a land trade with the county last year, is proposing to swap 400 acres adjacent to the Chippewa County Forest he is negotiating to buy along another 400 acres he owns that is next to the countys Kemper Woods and the state owned Hallie Marsh Wildlife Area. In return, Christenson would receive 677 acres from the county, 100 acres of which he says is isolated, and another 100 acres that was clear cut of trees last fall. Those acres would be adjacent to property he now owns. Gullickson, chairman of the countys Land Conservation and Forest Management Committee, said the 677 acres in the town of Birch Creek the county owns is appraised at about $1,000 an acre. The 800 acres the county would receive in a swap is worth about $2 million. All I could say was Wow, $2 million worth of land, Gullickson said. Added Ron Bakken, president of the Chippewa Rod and Gun Club: It would be a straight land swap at no cost to the county. But Benjamin Lane, who is an attorney in Chippewa Falls, is concerned the land swap would set precedent. He said it is a slippery slope if public land would be used as a bargaining chip. Its like a Monopoly board gone bad where each parcel is up for the bidding, Lane said. Christenson, who owns in a business in Strum and has restored several properties to their natural state, made the land swap proposal during a public comments portion of the Feb. 15 meeting of the Land Conservation committee. Another committee meeting, which will take up Christensons proposal along with a possible ATV trail expansion, will be held at 4 p.m. Wednesday in room 302 of the Chippewa County Courthouse, 711 N. Bridge St., Chippewa Falls. Pearlman deal Last month the committee voted 4-2 against buying land in the town of Sampson belonging to Jordan Pearlman. The land would have allowed the county to expand the county forest. But the committee was concerned that the county buying the land would take it off the tax roll, hurting both the Lake Holcombe and New Auburn School Districts. Christenson said he was contacted by Pearlman about his property, and that Pearlman expressed his desire the land eventually become the countys. Out of that Christenson has a purchase agreement with Pearlman to buy 400 acres, which includes the 35-acre Foster Lake. The lake has a very healthy population of musky and northern that get up into the 40-inch plus range, Christenson said in an email to the Herald. And he is proposing he would put in a road so the public has access to Foster Lake. Its the Pearlman property, along with the Hallie Marsh land Christenson owns, that he is proposing go to the county in the swap. This trade should address the tax base concerns Chippewa County had during the negotiations(for) the Foster Lake property, Christenson said. Bakken said the county would come out ahead in such a swap. He said the county would get much more land that is useful for outdoor recreation. Were talking way better, Bakken said. No swaps Lane said no matter who comes out best in a land swap, the county would be giving up undeveloped land. Were still losing the piece that we no longer have, he said. Lane on Friday also said his other concern is that Christensons proposal wasnt in writing. If this is his plan, why dont we see this in writing? he asked. Christenson on Saturday emailed details of his proposal to the Herald. Lane also questioned Gullicksons role in the Land Conservation Committees rejection of buying the Pearlman property. If the property was not good for the county in October when Gullickson closed the door on a potential purchase, why is there interest in current request? During the first land swap, Mr. Gullickson engaged in a public relations campaign for Mr. Christenson, prior to Gullickson being elected to the Chippewa County Board, Lane wrote in email to the Herald. Gullickson flatly rejected Lanes assertions and well as another that he steered the committee into voting against buying the Pearlman property. He added: In all of the (land) trades we have done, we have gained land. Editor's Note: The time of the Land Conservation meeting has been moved to 4 p.m., and that is reflected in this updated article. An explosion rocked a vacant house in Dolton Sunday, sparking a two-alarm fire that spread to the homes on both sides, fire officials said. No one was injured in the blaze, which occurred on February 19, 2017. (Zak Koeske / Daily Southtown) An explosion rocked a vacant house in Dolton Sunday afternoon, sparking a two-alarm fire that spread to the homes on both sides, fire officials said. By the time firefighters arrived on scene at 2:23 p.m., three homes on the 300 block of Riverside Drive were ablaze, Dolton Fire Chief Pete McCain said. Advertisement The home where the explosion occurred, 324 Riverside Drive, is vacant neighbors said its previous occupant abandoned it about a week ago but the homes on either side were occupied when the fire started. A woman who lives alone in one of the adjacent homes evacuated after calling 911, and the three residents in the other adjacent home also got out before firefighters arrived on the scene, McCain said. No one was injured in the blaze, but two of the homes sustained extensive damage, he said. Advertisement "You heard a boom, and my house shook," said Janice Foster, who lives at the corner of Riverside and Princeton Avenue, one door down from the affected homes. The fire did not touch Foster's home, but she came outside to assist neighbors once she heard the explosion and saw the flames. "You could see smoke, fire," she said. "It was really scary. Just standing there watching it and waiting on help to arrive." Foster and her next door neighbor, Rosilene Roper, said the fire department's response time was "inadequate." "It was a long time. I don't know how long it was, but it was a long time," said Roper, who called 911 and evacuated her home before it caught fire. "I got out of the house, I had to put on some clothes, and I came out and I moved down there and I watched the house catch on fire, and then once it caught on fire it just went up. And then they finally pulled up." McCain said crews from Dolton, Riverdale and South Holland arrived on scene within six minutes of the initial 911 call, which is "pretty good for the west side of town." Crews from Calumet City, Calumet Park, Markham and Phoenix later joined them, for a total of approximately 75 firefighters, he said. They had the blaze under control within about 45 minutes, he said. Advertisement By the time the fire was extinguished, the vacant home had been reduced to rubble and Roper's home had sustained "extensive damage, McCain said. The other affected home sustained only minor damage on one side, and is still habitable, he said. McCain attributed any delay in response to the volume of 911 calls coming in to the dispatch center neighbors estimated dozens of people called in the fire. Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday > "The dispatch must have gotten tied up with a bunch of 911 calls and there may have been a delay in them hitting the button to page us out to go to the call," he said. "I'm assuming that they were getting bombarded." Still, McCain said, "They're well within their NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) compliance as far as response times." Roper, who had lived in the home for more than 30 years, will now be forced to stay with family, as her residence is uninhabitable. "Everything is gone," she said, seated on a chair across the street from her smoking home. "All the contents are gone. I don't know about the rebuilding." Advertisement The cause of the explosion and fire is under investigation by South Suburban MABAS Division 24, but it does not appear to be suspicious, McCain said. zkoeske@tribpub.com Twitter @ZakKoeske The village of Franklin Park is in the early planning stages as it prepares to celebrate the 125th anniversary of its founding. "There are a number of different events we can do. I know there were a large number of events at the 100th anniversary. I think the 125th may be slightly lower key," said Village President Barrett Pedersen. Advertisement In the 1840s, German farmers came to settle the area, and about 30 years later, the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad had laid tracks and built a station on Elm Street, according to information from the Chicago Historical Society. By the 1890s, a man named Lesser Franklin, a real-estate broker, started buying farmland at the intersection of all these railroad lines, and once he had about 600 acres he christened the town Franklin Park and began trying to attract buyers to his town with parades along LaSalle Street in Chicago, according to the historical society. According to the Chicago Historical Society, the village was incorporated in 1892. Advertisement "Back in 1992 we had quite the [100th anniversary] celebration. We had had a big event over at East Leyden. We actually did a re-enactment of early years, with people wearing costumes," said Pedersen. Village officials in 1992 also buried a time capsule next to the village hall at 9500 Belmont Ave. The stone plaque marking the spot it was buried reads, "Centennial Time Capsule. August 1992. To be opened in the year 2017 by village of Franklin Park Centennial Committee." Three names are also inscribed on the plaque: Jack B. Williams, a former village president; Steve S. Kopera, a former trustee; and Clyde H. Dawson, the general chairman of the committee. "The time capsule in the village is one of the things I'm most looking forward to. I want to see what's in there, and it'll be interesting to see what we end putting in there now," said Pedersen. Since the anniversary isn't going to happen until August, the village has yet to host its first planning meeting. However, Pedersen said the village has already started getting together photos from the 1992 event for reference. "And we're getting together to talk with some of the people who have been here for generations and figure out what kinds of these activities they'd like to see," said Pedersen. Alex V. Hernandez is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press. Former Lake County assistant state's attorney Rod Drobinski stepped aside from the office earlier this year to set up a private practice. (Jim Newton / Lake County News-Sun) Capping his career as an assistant state's attorney, Rod Drobinski has opened a private practice in Waukegan after retiring as a prosecutor Jan. 31. Drobinski had been with the Lake County State's Attorney's Office for nearly 15 years and now will work primarily as a criminal defense and civil attorney, he said. Advertisement The switch is "bittersweet," Drobinski said. "I loved working for that office. The work I did there was really rewarding and such a great experience," he said on Feb. 17. Advertisement Drobinski, a Republican, is also known locally for taking a run at politics, running twice unsuccessfully against incumbent Democratic State Rep. Sam Yingling of Grayslake in tightly-contested and contentious races. Drobinski said the time he took off to run those campaigns helped him reconnect with the Polish community in Lake County, and with Polish being his first language, he expects to attract clients from that community. State's Attorney Mike Nerheim said Drobinski, who worked with the State's Attorney's Gang and Narcotics unit, was "a very dedicated public servant." "He handled some really significant cases and I wish him well in private practice," Nerheim said. Drobinski was one of the lead prosecutors in a 2013 multi-agency operation against street gang drug dealing in the Waukegan area with connections to a Mexican drug cartel. Among those convicted through that operation was Alfonso Gallardo of Waukegan, who officials said was known as "Grande." Gallardo was the first defendant in Lake County history to be convicted by a jury on the charge of street gang criminal drug conspiracy. He was sentenced to 24 years in prison earlier this year. Drobinski also prosecuted numerous attempted murder cases and was one of the prosecutors in the ongoing case against three defendants, one of whom has pleaded guilty to murder, in the shooting death of 20-year-old Colin Nutter of Highland Park. Drobinski said that over time, his experience as a prosecutor showed him the importance of having both qualified prosecutors and defense attorneys in hearing and trial situations. Advertisement "The system works best when there are good aggressive attorneys working on both sides," he said. jrnewton@tribpub.com Twitter @jimnewton5 John Price, the incoming superintendent for North Chicago School District 187, is scheduled to be introduced to the community at an upcoming meet-and-greet reception next week. (District 187) The incoming superintendent for North Chicago School District 187 will be introduced to the community at an upcoming meet-and-greet reception next week. John Price, currently the assistant superintendent for Evanston/Skokie School District 65, will be taking over the top job at North Chicago Unit School District 187 this summer when North Chicago's current chief education officer steps down. Advertisement District 187's governing bodies unanimously approved the hiring of Price last month to replace Chief Education Officer Ben Martindale, who has spent 47 years in education and the last five in North Chicago leading the district's turnaround efforts after a state takeover in 2012. The meet and greet is planned for 5 to 7 p.m. March 1 in the cafeteria of North Chicago Community High School, 1717 17th St. Advertisement A California native, Price began his career as a teacher on Chicago's near West Side at a Catholic school, according to a biography provided by the district. He served as an assistant principal and then principal at Chicago Public Schools' Audubon Elementary School before becoming a regional superintendent for CPS, supervising elementary and high schools. He has spent the last two-and-a-half years as the assistant superintendent in Evanston/Skokie School District 65, a 7,800-student elementary district with a diverse makeup, according to the biography. emcoleman@tribpub.com Twitter @mekcoleman Mara Reyes of North Chicago was surprised only a handful of people attended a "Know Your Rights" information session last week at Miguel Juarez Middle School in Waukegan. About 15 people attended the meeting, even though Reyes said many families are concerned and afraid about the future. Advertisement The Wednesday session, one of three hosted by Waukegan School District 60, is among a growing number of informational forums popping up across the country in the wake of President Donald Trump's inauguration. A Jan. 27 executive order banning citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US, and the following unanimous ruling to halt that order by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, has prompted for many an atmosphere of confusion and fear for what other bans or rulings might come. Advertisement Reyes, who heard about the session at her English class at the College of Lake County, said she worries that what she sees as volatile actions from the new administration could mean challenges for a family member who is currently in the process of becoming a U.S. citizen. "It's difficult to navigate through all the details of what is happening with immigration laws; sometimes they seem to contradict," Reyes said. According to Gurnee-based lawyer Jackie Herrera Giron, who led the Juarez School discussion, the goal of the information session was to dispel rumors and misinformation and provide families with general guidance on matters of immigration laws and how they apply in different situations, such as domestic violence and being the victim of criminal activity. "There's a lot going on with immigration right now and it's all happening very fast; there's information to understand in order to know your rights," Herrera Giron said. Superintendent Theresa Plascencia suggested the forums after attending one at the Father Gary Graf Center in Waukegan, said Carolina Fabian, the district's new manager of family and community engagement, who will be looking to host more information sessions on topics beyond immigration. The district wanted to provide a more intimate setting where people could ask questions and get answers, spokesman Nick Alajakis said. The session, which was hosted in Spanish and English, was provided by the Prairie State Legal Services in partnership with Waukegan School District 60. Fabian, who was a dual language teacher at Oakdale Elementary School before starting her new job three weeks ago, said they hope the forums will help parents and other community members feel more secure in Waukegan. Advertisement "The kids albeit they were 6 years old they were very aware of the election and what was going on," she said. "When Trump won, I heard similar comments where they were very afraid, where they didn't know if they were going to be deported. We want to make sure parents understand what the law is and what the rights they have regardless of citizenship status. Mark Shaw, chairman of the Lake County Republican Party, said more information is generally a good thing as long as that information accurate. He wondered, though, whether if the assumption underlying the district's decision to host the forums was driven by the students or by what the students were hearing from teachers and, if the rationale is based on good assumptions, whether the school district is the best entity to provide that service. "[The] Waukegan School District has historically had a lot of financial problems," Shaw said. "If they have limited resources to do things, I would think they would want to focus teaching instead of becoming a social service provider in the community." Shaw noted that there are many immigration-focused nonprofits and social service agencies that may be better positioned to provide these types of forums. These types of forums are nothing new for Julie Contreras, the president of the Lake County chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, also known as LULAC. Advertisement The "Know Your Rights" workshops led by Contreras are designed to teach people "how to exercise their civil rights," she said. They teach attendees the appropriate legal jargon, the different law enforcement agencies and what information to ask for if someone is arrested, and then participants role play different scenarios. About 60 people making up about 20 families attended a recent workshop in Waukegan, Contreras said. She plans on holding a few more sessions than she normally would and has been fielding more phone calls from immigrants with misdemeanor criminal infractions on their record. The rhetoric being used by Trump is "very intimidating to a community that has already been living for decades in instability," Contreras said, pointing to the record-setting number of deportations undertaken by the Obama administration. "The current political climate and our current president's anti-immigrant attitude ... has put wood on the fire," she said. Herrera Giron said this is a time when people need to continuously stay informed on updates and changes. She advised those who attended the school district's event not to discuss details of pending immigration cases with anyone except an attorney, and, if taken into custody, not to sign any documents without legal representation. She added that green-card holders should not surrender their green card. Advertisement "You have a right to a hearing. You have a right to an attorney," Herrera Giron said. In light of recent incidents reported from different parts of the country, where people have been arrested while at work or on the street, Herrera Giron recommended that families have a plan of action in case someone is detained as a result of their immigration status to cover situations, like who would pick up children from school if a parent doesn't make it home one day. Amber Sanchez of Waukegan said she attended the immigration workshop because she wants to share the information with others. Sanchez said there needs to be a "stand together" sentiment when it comes to protecting families in the community. Emily K. Coleman is a Lake County News-Sun reporter, and Yadira Sanchez Olson is a freelance reporter for the Lake County News-Sun. Driving on Route 132 west of Gurnee, I hit a pothole. I cursed and blamed Bruce Rauner. I went to the Illinois Secretary of State's driver's license facility in Libertyville. It moved to Lake Zurich. I cursed and blamed Bruce Rauner. Advertisement The warm spell we've been in must be caused by climate change. I didn't curse. Who doesn't like spring in February? I just blamed Bruce Rauner. To hear Democrats in the Land of Lincoln, everything that has gone wrong, is going wrong or will go wrong in Illinois is Bruce Rauner's fault. Advertisement The latest indication of that is the Chicago Board of Education suing Rauner over the state's school funding formula. Last week, Chicago schools filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court contending the funding formula and pension systems are biased in favor of wealthy school districts and against districts with predominantly minority students. In that case, Waukegan, North Chicago, Round Lake, among other Lake County school districts, might want to piggyback on the Chicago action. And, blame the governor. The Chicago Urban League filed a similar suit in 2008, long before Republican Rauner was elected. Democrat Rod Blagojevich was governor back then. At that time, the Urban League sued the Illinois State Board of Education alleging state aid cuts hurt disadvantaged school districts more than rich ones. The group claimed that is discriminatory. The Chicago Tribune reported two days after the Chicago schools' filing that the state and the Urban League have come to agreement over the suit. The state board is scheduled to vote on the settlement this week. According to the Tribune, the agreement requires the state to set up new methods to distribute state aid in the event Illinois doesn't allocate enough money to cover its full share of pay for teachers, school maintenance, bus transportation and other school expenses. The Illinois school funding formula has been the subject of various attempts at reform. The State Legislature, lead by Democrats, has had plenty of time to figure out how to make state school aid packages fairer. Instead, they've spent their time and energy battling Rauner and, in the state Senate, working on a "grand bargain" budget bundle. I look to Target for grand bargains, not elected leaders. I can get bundles with Comcast or AT&T. If everything was hunky-dory in Illinois, Pat Quinn would still be hunkered down in the Governor's Mansion. Rauner was elected to change Springfield. We've seen how that has worked as the governor and Chicago Democrat Michael Madigan, speaker of the House for life, remain at loggerheads, pitting reform versus status quo. In 2018, Rauner will lose after spending millions and millions of dollars to be re-elected, and a new millionaire governor, this one a Democrat, takes his place. Then, Illinois taxpayers get hit with yet another tax increase to bail out the Venezuela of the Midwest after years of profligate spending. Advertisement Lake County News Sun Twice-weekly News updates from Lake County delivered every Monday and Wednesday > Or, millionaire Rauner wins re-election, and in the process, a Republican Legislature comes along on his coattails. An income tax hike still remains waiting for us down the hard road. The school funding formula might get some attention, finally. Yet, for all the talk of lopsided funding for Illinois schools, students across the state have been learning something, and it is dismal. The Associated Press said last month that 45 percent of Prairie State high school graduates future Illinois taxpayers enrolled in 2015 at out-of-state four-year colleges and universities, a figure up 29 percent from 2002. That must be Bruce Rauner's fault, too. Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor. sellenews@gmail.com. Advertisement Twitter: @sellenews Five cars collectively valued at more than $205,000 were stolen from a Libertyville dealership Sunday night and later were involved in a high-speed chase in Wisconsin, according to Libertyville police officials. Dispatchers received tips at 11:20 p.m. from motorists who reported seeing cars leaving a dealership in the 900 block of South Milwaukee Avenue at dangerous speeds and without headlights, according to a Libertyville police news release. Advertisement Lt. Bill Kinast said Libertyville officers could not locate the five cars before they entered Interstate 94. A short time later, the Racine County Sheriff's office called saying a vehicle owned by Gregory Infiniti dealership was involved in a police chase. The chase resulted in a crash and the individuals fled on foot but have not been apprehended, Kinast said. Advertisement The stolen cars include a 2016 Infiniti QX60 valued at $47,058, a 2016 Infiniti Q70 valued at $50,357, a 2016 Infiniti Q50 valued at $47,058, a 2015 Infiniti Q50 valued at $42,425, and a 2013 Infiniti G37 valued at $18,551, according to the release. Four of the cars displayed dealer license plates and one displayed a temporary Wisconsin license plate, Kinast said. Sunday's heist comes after six cars were stolen on Feb. 13 from an Infinity dealership in Clarendon Hills four BMWs and a Porsche were stolen Feb. 3 from the Autobarn Mazda in Evanston and five luxury cars were stolen in late January from a Mercedes dealership in Glencoe. "Ours is very similar in that this happened very late at night and they broke into the service area and took cars from the service area," Kinast said. However, Kinast said Libertyville has not reached out to the other police agencies yet. He said investigators are still collecting evidence. So far, police do not have video footage from the Libertyville dealership. Kinast said his team is examining the camera system with company employees. He said employees did not report any suspicious activity at any point prior to the burglary. Aside from the cars, the only other damage was the broken door at the service department entrance, Kinast said. rkambic@pioneerlocal.com Advertisement Twitter @Rick_Kambic Dr. Esmail Koushanpour, a leader in the Chicago-area interfaith, medical and peace and justice communities, died Feb. 12 at the age of 82. "He was a very respected and beloved faith leader in the northern suburbs, when faith groups and labor unions began working together to build a base in the suburbs for the working poor," said Joshua Hoyt, who founded, in 1997, of United Power for Action and Justice. "He brought not only himself, but the Muslim community into the struggle." Advertisement Dr. Koushanpour had been executive director of the Islamic Cultural Center of Greater Chicago, a mosque at 1800 Pfingsten Road in Northbrook, from 2000 to 2008, and headed its interfaith efforts for 18 years. He had been a researcher and physician in the field of renal disease, retiring in 1999 after 36 years on the faculty of the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, according to the Graduate Theological Foundation, where he served until recently as adviser to the Foundation on Islamic Affairs and distinguished service professor of American Muslim Relations. Advertisement A native of Iran, he emigrated alone at the age of 16 to England, where he studied at Oxford University, leaving for Columbia University in New York two years later, his wife said. He was a resident of Mundelein. Dr. Koushanpour was the author of dozens of papers on the subject of renal disease and high blood pressure, and the co-author of a text on kidney science called, "Renal Physiology: Principles, Structure and Function." He had, as a graduate-school student at Michigan State University, designed a blood-pressure cuff for NASA that was placed on the tails of primates in the early days of space travel, according to his wife, Jenny Koushanpour. "The concept was later used for a lot of other things, like the little thing they put on your finger to measure blood pressure," the pulse oximeter, she said. "I think he sold that invention for $500." Hoyt said Dr. Koushanpour helped get Muslim leaders involved in the fight for health care for the poor in Illinois, leading to the formation of the Illinois Family Care program. "He was a respected medical professional, and also a Muslim leader, who for two and a half years fought to get health care expanded for 180,000 people," said Hoyt, now the national executive director for the National Partnership for New Americans, an organization tasked with integrating immigrants into society. "He was my kind of interfaith person, who reached out personally to people," said Debbie De Palma, another leader of the Northbrook Muslim community and local interfaith efforts. "He would literally walk up to people's doors who lived around the mosque to invite them in for an open house, and a lot of people came," she said. "He was a socially skilled person and culturally astute." Advertisement Dr. Koushanpour helped create interfaith programs for the mosque and several churches and synagogues, including Northbrook's Beth Shalom and Glenview's B'nai Jehoshua Beth Elohim, now in Deerfield. He arranged for members of the then-new Northbrook Community Synagogue to use a mosque space for some of their services in 1995 and 1996. "People of the Jewish faith and of the Muslim faith are cousins," he said in 2002. "We really need to believe in that, and we need to explain that to people." Dr. John Paul McGee, a retired Glenview anesthesiologist, was a graduate student of Dr. Koushanpour's almost 50 years ago. "He was a valuable friend and mentor, someone who probably kept me from having many depressive thoughts about myself," McGee said. "Working with him, I came out of it being a much stronger person." Dr. Koushanpour's view of interfaith relations was that it was useless to blame the bad behavior of individuals on their religions. Advertisement In speaking of the conflicts on Israel's West Bank, he said in 2002, "That violence is terrible. My religion it's not part of it. The Jewish religion it's not part of it. "If we can sit down and talk to each other, we can go places." He was active in the Northbrook Rotary Club and served on boards of the North Suburban YMCA, the International Center on Deafness and the Arts, the Gilead Outreach and Referral Center of Chicago, the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago and on the state of Illinois' new Americans immigrant policy council. He received the Bridge Builder Award from the Glenview Community Church and the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation's Faith in Community Award. Survivors include his wife, daughter, Kathryn Limon, and sons David, Philip and Stephen. Services were held the day of his death at The Islamic Foundation North in Libertyville, where donations in lieu of flowers may be sent. Listen to Dr. Koushnapour speak here. Advertisement ileavitt@pioneerlocal.com Twitter @IrvLeavitt At least one official on the Park Ridge-Niles School District 64 Board of Education is torn over whether to add additional language to the board's conflict of interest policy that would encourage anyone with a familial connection to a district employee to recuse themselves from decisions that may benefit their family and, by extension, themselves. Board President Anthony Borrelli brought the issue up for discussion at a special board meeting on Feb. 13. He said the impetus for the proposed language stems from the fact that three individuals running for four open seats on the board this April are married to District 64 teachers. Advertisement The board is slated to vote on a proposed addition to the body's conflict of interest policy at its Feb. 21 meeting. Candidate Michael Schaab is married to Caroline Schaab, a fourth-grade teacher at Field School; candidate Norman Dziedzic is the husband of Emerson Middle School art teacher Sonja Dziedzic; and candidate Greg Bublitz is married to a special education teacher at Carpenter School, Kristen Bublitz. The salaries and benefits of all three teachers are covered under a contract that is negotiated by board members, administrators and the teachers union, and salary costs comprise the largest portion of the district's expenses. Advertisement A board member's marriage to a district employee is not in and of itself a conflict of interest, Borrelli said, but elected officials are generally advised to abstain from discussing or voting on any contracts that may affect their spouses or other relatives to avoid even the appearance of impropriety. Borrelli said the district's attorney suggested further clarifying the board's policies by adding a sentence that stipulates that even when permitted by state law to vote on or participate in discussions of an issue that may affect their spouses or family members, officials are "strongly encouraged" to recuse themselves from those deliberations. Board Vice President Scott Zimmerman said he understood "all the logic" of the recommended addition, but worried a future board could be rendered useless on a matter if a majority of its members are married to district employees. If the public elects a board member who is married to a teacher and are fully apprised of that fact, then the public must believe that this official is capable of making a good judgment call, he said. Board member Tom Sotos said he is "super torn by this." He said he'd have a hard time believing that an elected official with a spouse working in the district wouldn't "have some sort of softness in their heart" for their employment contract leaning one way or another "because it's going to, no matter how you cut it, benefit their lives." "If the public knows the individuals who may be running have a spouse that's a teacher in district and they vote for them, then who are we to say," said board secretary Vicki Lee. She noted that the recommended language had "no teeth" to actually force a board member to recuse themselves from a discussion or vote. Borelli said the proposed addition is a reminder to board members to voluntarily analyze situations for potential conflicts of interest. No board member can force another to pull out of a discussion, he said. "There is no teeth in it, and it's that way for a purpose," he said. "This board is intended to function on consensus and consensus only." Sotos said he hadn't made up his mind which way he'd vote on the issue by the time the board ended their discussion Feb. 13. Advertisement "I need every minute from now until the day you need us to vote on this to really sit with myself in a quiet place and try to figure out how to move forward," he said. Lee V. Gaines is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press. 2022 election guide: Here are Pueblo County's top races, ballot issues Here's what you need to know about the local candidates and ballot questions in the 2022 election, as well as how to vote in Pueblo, Colorado. home Tech Microsoft Surface Phone release date, rumors, latest news: Microsoft to delay launch until 2018? Although Microsoft has yet to confirm the existence of the rumored Surface Phone, many still believe speculations that there is, indeed, one in the works. Among those who believe the rumors, there are those who are under the assumption that the device is likely to be launched by the company at the upcoming Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2017. However, recent reports now indicate that the Microsoft Surface Phone won't be making an appearance at the aforementioned event and that the tech giant won't be releasing the Surface Phone at least until 2018. According to NokiaPowerUser, there are several prototypes being tested at Microsoft for the rumored Surface Phone. These prototypes will reportedly run on Snapdragon 835 and support Quick charging 4.0. They feature a 64-bit Windows 10 mobile structure, and one of them is equipped with a 6 GB RAM. These Surface Phone prototypes will also be sporting a 5.5-inch, QHD display. The Surface Phone, according to rumors, will arrive in three variants, and these will reportedly be classified as Consumer, Business, and Enthusiast Editions. The first one (Consumer) will have 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage. The next variant (Business) will sport 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. The final Surface Phone version (Enthusiast) will come with 8 GB RAM and 500 GB storage. All three variants are reported to run with a Windows 10 Mobile Redstone 3, and they will reportedly be powered by at least a Snapdragon 830. Since these variants have different features, they may correspond to three different price tiers as well. All these reported speculations are further strengthened by a previous report that Microsoft has forged a partnership with Qualcomm to adapt the Windows 10 desktop experience to smartphones with the help of Qualcomm's Snapdragon processor chips. The partnership between the two tech giants was announced at the WinHEC event in Shenzhen China last December 2016. The Microsoft Surface Phone is rumored to be released sometime in 2018. home World Suspected ISIS militants gun down Coptic teacher in Egypt A Coptic Christian teacher was killed by suspected Islamic State militants on Thursday while he was on his way to school in northern Sinai. According to a report from The Associated Press, 50-year-old Gamal Tawfiq was shot in the head by two men on a motorbike who followed him from his home while he was walking on his way to work at El-Samran School in the coastal city of El-Arish. No group has claimed responsibility for the killing, but security officials have said that the prime suspect was the ISIS affiliate in Sinai. It was the second murder of a Christian in the same region in less than a week. A local veterinarian named Bahgat Zakher, a Coptic Christian, was killed by suspected militants in El-Arish last week. In January, five Coptic Christians were murdered in Egypt in four separate incidents over a two-week time span. One of the victims was a 37-year-old father of two, Ishak Ibrahim Fayez Younan, who was found dead in his apartment by his brother on Jan. 16 with his throat slashed. The police believe that robbery was the motive for the crime, but no valuables were taken from the victim. Coptic Christians, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt's 92 million population, have long complained that they have been frequent targets of Islamic militants. Since the 2011 uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak, Islamic militants have gained a strong foothold in northern Sinai. The insurgency became worse after the military's 2013 ouster of Egypt's Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi. Many Christian supported the ouster, which prompted the militants to retaliate against them. "For long, incidents of shooting and killing Christians were sporadic, but recently we are witnessing an increase that I think will turn into a repetitive pattern in el-Arish," said Ishaq Ibrahim, a researcher at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. In December, ISIS claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing inside Cairo's largest Coptic cathedral. At least 25 people, including women and children, were killed in what was considered to be one of the deadliest attacks against Christians in Egypt in years. International Christian Concern (ICC), an organization that monitors attacks against Christians across the globe, said that the attack must serve as a "wakeup call to the Egyptian government and the international community that the Christian population in Egypt is in grave danger from religious attacks." A generic targeted drug to treat cancer manufactured by a Chinese pharmaceutical company hit market over the weekend. The new gefitinib cancer-treating drug, whose Chinese commercial name is Yiruike, was produced by Qilu Pharmaceutical (Qilu). Its release ends an almost decade-long monopoly by Iressa, developed by British multinational biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and introduced to China in 2005. A generic drug is a pharmaceutical drug that is equivalent in dosage, strength, quality, and intended use to a brand-name product manufactured by its original developer. Generic drugs often become available after the patent protection on the original drug expires. Yiruike was approved for marketing by China's State Food and Drug Administration after Iressa's patent protection expired in April 2016, Qilu sources said. A panel of Chinese pharmacists, headed by professor Yang Guoping with Central South University, have endorsed Yiruike. The drug is a much-needed first line medicine used in targeted therapies against non-small-cell lung cancer, which accounts for about 80 percent of lung cancer cases in China. Gefitinib specifically works against the epidermal growth factor receptor EGFR, whose function is to put the brakes on cell growth. In non-small-cell lung cancer, the mutation of EGFR leads to a proliferation of cells, forming fatal tumors. Lung cancer kills more people than any other cancer in China. About 591,000 people die from lung cancer in China every year, according to the national cancer center. There are about 733,000 new cases every year. Targeted therapy has emerged over the past decade as a promising treatment for advanced lung cancer patients, those who do not respond well to chemotherapy. The price of targeted therapy drugs are exorbitant for most working class families. The gefitinib targeted therapy proved so popular that in 2014 a Chinese charity began helping lung cancer patients who could not afford to buy the drug. The cost for a week's dosage exceeds 10,000 yuan (1,470 U.S. dollars). Qilu's general manager Li Yan said Yiruike, at less than 2,000 yuan a pack, is a fraction of the price of the previously available drug, meaning more people in need can be helped. Arxan, a small city of Hinggan League, north China's Inner Mongolia, has begun developing a sustainable tourism industry following the "Tourism Plus" program proposed by the China National Tourism Administration in 2015. "Arxan is beautiful in all seasons," said President Xi Jinping on his first visit to Arxan on Jan. 26, 2014. "Arxan will become a popular tourist destination." Linsu Village, tourists resort in Bailang Village, Arxan, north China's Inner Mongolia. [Photo provided to China.org.cn by Pei Xiaoge] Natural Charm Arxan has one of the world's largest functional hot springs. The Haishen Hot Spring Resort is a 4A national scenic spot with 48 springs that are said to be able to cure eight types of disease. Its long winter lasts from early October to April, making it the best destination to enjoy winter scenery. You can even ski from the slopes directly to the front door of some hotels. Chaihe Scenic Spot in Arxan has the best-preserved volcanic landforms in Asia. Due to the area's geothermal conditions, Budong River or "never-frozen river" flows year round. Arxan sits at the junction of four grasslands, which cover 95 percent of the area with vegetation. This makes Arxan an ideal destination to escape the summer heat and enjoy the beauty of the natural foliage. You also have to try the local food, but brace yourself for some unusual local dishes. One specialty dish here is fried eggs with ants. File photo of a Chinese frigate. China urged Japan last week to respect facts and instill in Japanese children the correct knowledge of history. The exhortation came in response to Japan's new draft guideline for school curriculum, which was released last Tuesday, for the first time requires elementary and junior high schools to teach students that China's Diaoyu Islands, and other islands that Japan has disputes with the Republic of Korea, are "inherent" Japanese territory. The ROK too has formally protested these claims by Japan. This is not the first time that the content of Japan's government-censored textbooks have caused controversy and enraged China, the ROK and other Asian countries. Three years ago similar documents were issued by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, instructing teachers to "prepare" their classes for doctored history. Earlier, the decision to adopt a government-approved textbook or not was made by local school boards, and in some cases citizens also had a say in that decision. The controversial textbooks recommended by the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform, also known as Tsukurukai, in 2005 were given a cold shoulder by the schools and other organizations, and eventually had to be disowned by the publisher. But the latest draft is legally binding and, reportedly, will be implemented for elementary and junior high schools from fiscal 2020 and 2021, respectively. The new education guideline came just four days after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with US President Donald Trump in Washington. At their meeting, the two leaders affirmed the bilateral defense treaty that included talks on the Diaoyu Islands, and the US' commitment to further strengthen the "very crucial alliance". It is thus not difficult to establish a connection between Washington's endorsement and Tokyo's release of the new education guideline, which urges teachers to assert Japan's sovereignty over the disputed islands so that Japan's younger generation does not think otherwise. The Abe administration's gimmick could backfire in the long run as it risks undermining the hard-won China-Japan relationship. This year marks the 45th anniversary of normalization of diplomatic ties between China and Japan, which are based on shared respect for the importance of bilateral relations. Beijing-Tokyo ties suffered a major blow after Japan sought to "nationalize" the Diaoyu Islands in 2012 in total disregard to four political documents signed by the two neighbors. It's time, therefore, that Tokyo learned a lesson from the souring bilateral ties, and realized that extra discretion is needed when it comes to its sensitive territorial dispute with Beijing, and stopped playing with fire. Rejecting China's irrefutable sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands will cost Japan dear, because China stands firm on its territorial claims and is determined to fight for them, if need be. As President Xi Jinping said at his meeting with Abe on the sidelines of the G20 Leaders Summit in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, last September, China-Japan ties have reached a point where there is no room for further deterioration. So, to put bilateral ties back on the right track, Japan should avoid complicating matters further. Trying China's patience over the sovereignty of the Diaoyu Islands, over which the textbook guideline says there is "no dispute", signals a dangerous move of Japan. The author is an associate researcher at the Japan Studies Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. File photo of Marine Le Pen, leader of France's National Front (FN) party. U.S. elections, the longest in the Western world went down to soul sucking lows last year after blistering campaigns from Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. But all that seems history now, as the French election race heats up. If you think U.S. elections were jarring and toxic, you'd be surprised at the amount of scandals France is churning out now. Francoise Fillon who was supposed to be a shoo-in in a two way contest between him and Marine Le Pen was embroiled in his own controversy, where his Irish born wife was accused of having avoided tax in family earnings paid by him, in lieu of her work as an assistant in his campaign. Nothing shocking, given European corruption levels, but enough to derail his momentum. On the center left the more reasonable candidate Emmanuelle Macron is battling his own sordid sensual rumors, most of which don't seem to be true, but enough to take the wind out of his campaign. Fillon apologized for what he claimed was an error of judgment with regards to his wife's employment, and vowed to carry on. He said it was a mistake in good faith, and that doesn't question his competence to lead. Fillon, who believes that the recipe for France's way forward is a mix between Gaullist populism and Thatcherite free markets, is planning a big cut in public spending and tax cuts if he wins. Macron on the other hand, wants all the companies suffering after Brexit and Trump's win in the U.S. to set up shop in Paris. To be fair both the solutions are childlike and impossible to follow through, given French work culture, and existing laws. But the bigger issue is the fact that polls show Marine Le Pen is leading the election ahead of both Macron and Fillon. The polls predict that far-right Marine Le Pen will meet centrist independent Macron in the May 7 runoff. While the poll also suggests that Macron will eventually beat Le Pen, given 2016, and the potential of terror attacks in France, a one on one battle with Le Pen is a hard gamble. The key to Le Pen's popularity is similar to Brexit and Trump. Le Pen has positioned herself as an outsider, and seems to imitate the campaign tactics of Brexit and Trump, making French greatness, nostalgia for the past and xenophobia lite to be official positions. Le Pen is also comparatively a lot more hardcore than either the Brexiteers or Trump, given her extreme antagonism to Muslims, Jews, migrants, foreigners, and the EU. Le Pen also highlighted the deep polarization within French society, the rising populist tide within France. She also wants France to get out of NATO, get out of any intervention and nation building, and bring out borderline xenophobic law of registration based on nationality, and cancel dual citizenship of French people. Surprisingly, the support for Le Pen is strong with the youth, unlike both Brexit and Trump, which were mostly a phenomena mobilized by the older generations and baby boomers. French bonds fell to their lowest level in two years, as the markets react in fear the chance of a Le Pen victory. It is not difficult to anticipate, if one major terror attack happens in France, before the elections, like Bataclan, then it is almost inevitable that Le Pen is the French president. Le Pen, who comes from a privileged background, complains that she was being discriminated against when she was a child, as her father was considered a neo-fascist and their home was bombed. She's definitely enjoying what seems to be the best time ever for Front National. Unfortunately there's a sense of truth in her words. For years she had complained about broken societies, drug addictions, burning and riot infested French cities, prostitution, crime and terrorism. French people have taken heart to her portrayal of France as a declining but once proud nation, and in a sense, she is more similar in that regard to Duterte than Trump, as she wants to clean up France rather than change it. It is unclear how the EU will survive her clean up job, if she wins. Sumantra Maitra is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/SumantraMaitra.htm Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors only, not necessarily those of China.org.cn. You are here: Home Flash Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called on Sunday at the 53rd Munich Security Conference for the abolition of nuclear weapons worldwide. "It is time to abolish nuclear weapons worldwide," said Zarif during his speech, adding that his country will never build a nuclear weapon. Zarif told the audience that it is easy to make all Muslims "the culprit for our problems", but it does not help solve anything. Instead, he suggested the problems should be redefined for a collective solution in a "neutrally acceptable way." In addition, Zarif also proposed a new modest regional dialogue forum based on generally recognized principles which could promote understandings, encourage practical cooperation and lead to a security agreement for the region. Flash The Malaysian police said on Sunday that four suspects from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) related to the death of a DPRK man had fled the country. A postmortem on the DPRK man had been conducted but the cause of death remained unknown as the police were waiting for the pathology and toxicology results, Deputy Inspector-General of Police Noor Rashid Ibrahim told a press conference. The 46-year-old man, who was found dead on Monday at the Kuala Lumpur airport, is believed to be Kim Jong Nam, the elder half-brother of DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Un. But the deputy police chief said they still needed DNA samples from the next-of-kin of Kim to help identify the dead man. Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had earlier confirmed that the dead man was Kim Jong Nam. Kim's family members would be given a priority to claim the body, but so far no one had made such requests, Rashid added. He said the police were seeking four more suspects from the DPRK, whom they believed had fled the country on the same day of the killing. Police were also seeking three men who might assist the investigation, including a DPRK male. "Our job is to reveal the truth, to get facts and evidence, and bring the perpetrators to justice," he said. The Malaysian police have arrested four suspects, the latest being a 47-year-old man from the DPRK, who worked as an IT engineer at a company in Kuala Lumpur. It is yet to know the connection between him and two female suspects, one with Vietnamese travel document and the other an Indonesian, A Malaysian local male has also been detained to assist investigation. The DPRK ambassador to Malaysia had said his country would "categorically reject the postmortem results," blaming Malaysia for delaying the release of the body and conducting the autopsy unilaterally. In response to the allegations, Rashid said the police were following the Malaysian law and legal requirements. "Every death in a suspicious manner must be investigated, which we have to put a report and submit a report to the court. In this case we are investigating a sudden and suspicious death," he said. Flash The ambassador of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to Malaysia on Monday denied telling Malaysian authorities that a DPRK diplomatic passport holder, who died at Kuala Lumpur last week, was Kim Jong Nam, the elder half-brother of DPRK top leader Kim Jong Un. At a news conference in the front of the DPRK embassy, Kang Chol, the ambassador, said an official document has been submitted to the Malaysian side, pointing out that "we did not know any other name except Kim Chol as written in the passport" of the deceased. The DPRK embassy called the press conference after Kang was summoned in the morning by the Malaysian Foreign Ministry. The Malaysian Foreign Ministry defended its investigation on the deceased man, saying in a statement that the investigation has been conducted in a manner prescribed by Malaysian law. Malaysia has also recalled its ambassador in Pyongyang for consultation. Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said on Thursday that the deceased DPRK man was Kim Jong Nam. At a press conference, when asked if the man was confirmed to be Kim Jong Nam, Zahid relied, "yes, certainly yes." He said he was briefed by the police that the DPRK embassy had confirmed Kim's identity. Malaysian police had earlier also identified the deceased man as Kim Chol, according to his passport. Agile Cigar Reviews replace what we termed Assessment Updates. The concept is the same, but the name is different. Agile Cigar Reviews use a lightweight, shorter format. These will never take the place of our comprehensive reviews. They are only used on blends we have previously assessed. This might be a blend we are re-scoring or providing a score for a first time. It might be a blend we are looking at in a different size. Today we look at the Davidoff Escurio Robusto in the Gran Perfecto size. This is a cigar we last assessed in the Robusto size in March 2016. Wrapper: Habano Ecuador Binder: Brazilian Cubra Filler: Dominican (San Vicente, Piloto andOlor/Piloto Seco), Brazilian (Cubra and Mata Fina) Country of Origin: Dominican Republic. Perfecto: 5 x 50/61 In 2015, Davidoff released the Escurio as the second installment under its Discovery Pillar (or Black Label). The Discovery Pillar is a brand has allowed Davidoff to execute on its strategy of innovation. The first installment of the Discovery Pillar was Davidoff Nicaragua, Davidoffs Nicaragua puro. For the Escurio, Davidoff set its sights on another country Brazil. However, while Davidoff Nicaragua contains 100 percent Nicaraguan tobacco, the Davidoff Escurio builds a multi-national blend that has a significant Brazilian component. The Escurio was originally released in three sizes, but in 2016 two line extensions were added in the form of a Corona Gorda and Gran Perfecto. Today, we take a closer look at the Gran Perfecto. The name Escurio is a derivative of two words Escuro (which means dark in Portuguese, Brazils language and in this case the cigars wrapper falls into this category) and Rio (short for the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro which was an inspiration for this cigar). As for the blend, it has a dark Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, a Brazilian Cubra wrapper, and filler consisting of Brazilian and Dominican tobaccos. The Gran Perfecto is a plump looking vitola measuring 5 x 50/61. The Davidoff Escurio Gran Perfecto is going to deliver notes of leather, cocoa, cedar, exotic spice, and a slight grass note. The leather note was one noticeable difference from the Robusto size, which I found had more of an earthy profile. During the second half there was a noticeable spike in the spices. During this stage, not only did the spices take over, but I found them to get somewhat harsh and pungent. The Escurio Gran Perfecto started out as a medium strength, medium-bodied cigar. By the second half, the flavors had moved into medium to full-bodied territory while maintaining its strength. The burn and draw wee excellent. One important philosophy we follow on Cigar Coop is size matters. While Ive found the Davidoff Escurio Robusto to perform at a very high level over several months, the Gran Perfecto was fell a little short. In particular, it was the second half that disappointed me. This might be a size you want to try, but Im more inclined to go with the Robusto. Summary Burn: Excellent Draw: Excellent Complexity: Medium Strength: Medium Body: Medium (1st Half), Medium to Full (2nd Half) Finish: Good Rating Assessment: 2.5 Try One Score: 88 References Previous Assessment: Davidoff Escurio Robusto News: Davidoff Escurio Adds Corona Gorda and Gran Perfecto Line Extensions Price: $16.90 Source: Purchased Brand Reference: Davidoff Photo Credit: Cigar Coop You are here: Home Flash A Taliban key commander in the eastern Ghazni province, Qari Salim alias Sabawon, has been confirmed dead after a drone attacked a Taliban hideout in Nawa district, Ghazni province on Sunday, an army spokesman in the province said Monday. In secret, behind locked gates, our Nation's Oldest City dumped a landfill in a lake (Old City Reservoir), while emitting sewage in our rivers and salt marsh. Organized citizens exposed and defeated pollution, racism and cronyism. We elected a new Mayor. We're transforming our City -- advanced citizenship. Ask questions. Make disclosures. Demand answers. Be involved. Expect democracy. Report and expose corruption. Smile! Help enact a St. Augustine National Park and Seashore. We shall overcome! China Aviation Daily | Feb. 20, 2017 Virgin Australia Friday announced details of its alliance agreement with HNA Aviation, Hong Kong Airlines and HK Express, with the airlines submitting an application for authorisation of the proposed alliance to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Subject to authorisation, the airlines plan to: Introduce new direct services between Australia and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (Hong Kong), as well as Australia and The People's Republic of China (mainland China) operated by Virgin Australia; Codeshare on each other's flights between Australia and Hong Kong, between Australia and mainland China and on each other's domestic networks; and Co-operate in relation to route planning, sales, distribution and marketing, frequent flyer programs, lounge access and other activities. As part of the first stage of the alliance, Virgin Australia plans to introduce flights between Australia and Hong Kong in mid-2017. The airlines are seeking interim authorisation of the proposed alliance to enable the introduction of these services as well as the commencement of codeshare arrangements. Virgin Australia Group CEO John Borghetti said: "This new alliance will be a game changer for travel between Australia and China, providing significantly more competition and choice for travellers. "We are excited about introducing direct Virgin Australia flights -- and our famous customer service -- to Hong Kong, together with access to destinations across China. "The alliance will accelerate and support our access to the Chinese market, which is Australia's fastest growing and most valuable inbound travel market. "HNA Aviation fly nearly 100 million passengers each year and we look forward to working collaboratively with them to drive inbound visitation to Australia, resulting in significant benefits for the Australian tourism industry and broader economy. "Importantly, this strategic alliance with HNA Aviation, Hong Kong Airlines and HK Express is a key plank in Virgin Australia's International strategy and will help our business deliver long-term growth and success." Direct services Virgin Australia services to Hong Kong will be operated using Airbus A330 aircraft, which feature the airline's award-winning Business Class, "The Business". The alliance will offer guests on these services onward connections to destinations in mainland China on services operated by Hong Kong Airlines. Further details, including departure port/s in Australia, schedule and pricing, will be released in coming months, and the flights are subject to regulatory approvals. Virgin Australia also plans to introduce direct flights between Australia and mainland China in further stages of the agreement. Codeshare Services Subject to regulatory approval, Virgin Australia will implement codeshare (VA) on services operated by Hong Kong Airlines, Hainan Airlines and other HNA Aviation airlines on journeys between Australia and mainland China and between Australia and Hong Kong. Customers of Beijing Capital Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Hong Kong Airlines and Tianjin Airlines will be able to book travel on Virgin Australia's domestic and trans-Tasman network. Loyalty Program Benefits Velocity Frequent Flyer's 7 million members will enjoy a frequent flyer partnership with Fortune Wings Club, including: The opportunity to earn Points and Status Credits on alliance routes; and Reciprocal access to tier status benefits including lounge access, priority check-in, priority boarding and additional baggage allowances. Further details of the frequent flyer partnership will be released in coming months. Contributed by Virgin Australia By Zhu Wenqian, China Daily | Feb. 20, 2017 The International Air Transport Association said on Friday that it is bullish on the growth potential of China's aviation market and believed the new airport in Beijing, which will start operations in 2019, would ensure sufficient airport capacity to meet expected traffic growth. By 2024, China will overtake the United States as the world's biggest passenger market, and in 2035, China will be a market of 1.3 billion passengers, forecast the Montreal-based trade association of the world's airlines. "China's aviation development is impressive," said Alexandre de Juniac, the newly-appointed director general and CEO of the IATA. "Today, Chinese airlines and airports rank among the top 10 by passenger numbers," de Juniac told a news conference in Beijing on Friday. Meanwhile, the on-time performance of Chinese airlines was 76.48 percent between January and November last year, a 9 percentage point improvement over the same period the previous year, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China. "I recognize the authorities have taken steps to improve the situation," de Juniac said. "Still more needs to be done to address the delay situation. That includes a restructuring of the air route network and closer civil and military air traffic control cooperation to allow rerouting flexibility, especially during bad weather," de Juniac added. The IATA said the northern Asian region, including China, had the lowest accident rate for the first half year of 2016 and the lowest five-year average between 2011 and 2015. In 2016, the global airline industry's profits reached $35.6 billion with a net profit margin of 5.1 percent, the highest-ever absolute profit generated by the sector and the highest net profit margin. This year, with expected rising oil prices, the IATA forecast the global airline industry will make a net profit of US$29.8 billion, with a 4.1 percent net profit margin. "Airlines continue to deliver strong results. Even though the conditions in 2017 will be more difficult with rising oil prices, we see the industry earning US$29.8 billion," the IATA chief said. "That's a very soft landing which is safely in profitable territory. These last three years were the best performance in the industry's history - irrespective of the many uncertainties we face," he said. MA XUEJING and SU JINGBO / CHINA DAILY In: opening up of some sectors and contracts; new powers for provinces to okay proposals, and for foreign firms to issue bonds The Chinese economy is on the threshold of a new era of consumption-led growth that will be driven by increased foreign direct investment or FDI in strategic sectors, according to business leaders and industry experts. Thanks to governmental resolve to attract more FDI, segments newly identified as key to sustained growthautomation, digitalization, financial services, railway equipment, environmental technology and renewable energyare expected to benefit. In January, the central government released a document outlining 20 measures to spur investment activities that have been sluggish. Among the measures are opening up of manufacturing, services and financial industries to FDI. Foreign businesses will be encouraged to bid for infrastructure projects through local franchises. Eager to enhance the country's profile as an FDI destination, the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planner, recently took an unprecedented step. It delegated power to provincial governments to approve proposals for foreign investment up to $300 million in areas not in the negative list, which specifies sectors where foreign investors are barred. Foreign companies will also be entitled to participate in bidding for government procurement contracts, as long as their products are made in China. The government will also allow them to go public and issue bonds in local markets to diversify financing channels. These measures suggest the government is not content with steady FDI growth in 2016 on the back of strong investment in services. FDI rose 4.1 percent year-on-year to reach $118 billion, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce, the government branch in charge of the country's outbound and inbound investment. "Pushed by rising labor costs and weak global market demand, China is planning to have its growth depend more on domestic consumption and less on exports," said Zhang Yunling, director of International Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing. Zhang said companies from Europe, Japan and the United States have already discovered that it is time to invest more in China's research and development or R&D, design, science and technology or S&T businesses. New growth points will present themselves as the economy becomes more sophisticated. Under government policies, foreign companies will be encouraged to invest in high-end, smart and green manufacturing; set up R&D centers; and strengthen cooperation with domestic peers. They will also be allowed to join national S&T programs. Things have already started happening on this front. For instance, Germany's Siemens AG opened an industrial facility at its Wuhan Innovation Center in Hubei province last month. It will work together with local companies to build digitalization laboratories, intelligent water-testing laboratories, industrial hardware and software platforms, and expert networks from a long-term perspective. "The Wuhan facility will be geared to the situation and needs of local industries to provide such services as innovation project incubation, professional training and technical consulting for small and medium-sized enterprises," said Zhu Xiaoxun, senior vice-president of Siemens China. The company kicked off the Siemens China Innovation Center initiative in China last year, focusing on research in the field of digitalization. Under the program, Siemens has opened innovation centers in Qingdao, Wuhan and Wuxi to develop digitalization technologies in the country. China is now intent on persuading global corporate majors to emulate companies such as Siemens. "The government had noticed that the country's capacity to attract FDI had in recent years been challenged by a number of elements, including the monopoly of State-owned enterprises and disappearing cost advantages of domestic production," said Ma Yu, a researcher at Beijing-based Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation. Worse, changing global political scapethe Trump administration is keen to restore health of the manufacturing sector in the US; many countries in Europe will go to polls later this yearand slower economic growth in both Africa and South America, can affect global capital flows. So, China must further revise its negative list to better protect investment from developed markets, as well as offer their companies the right to acquire or merge with domestic companies, instead of building only Chinese-dominated joint ventures, Ma said. Industries not on the negative list are expected to treat overseas and Chinese companies equally. Such measures have acquired a competitive dimension of late. "Neighboring countries such as Vietnam and Thailand have been initiating their own moves to entice more foreign investment to their shores," said Huo Jianguo, former president of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation. China believes any drop in FDI due to competition from the neighborhood may prove temporary. The Ministry of Commerce has repeatedly said that "because of its huge market size, industrial infrastructure foundation and logistics network, China is, in the long term, the most attractive market for global companies." Such confidence stems from the effectiveness of measures adopted so far. Johnson Controls Inc, the US-based manufacturer of energy storage, building equipment and control systems, will open its second global headquarters with a capacity for 1,200 employees in Shanghai in April. "The Chinese government is seeking new solutions to improve energy efficiency and cut carbon emissions to design healthier environments in its cities," said Trent Nevill, vice-president of Johnson Controls and president for the company in the Asia-Pacific region. "With incentives put in place and high demand from the market, we can experience fast growth in our energy efficiency solutions." The US company experienced fast growth in its battery business in China over the past five years, thanks to surging demand for replacement and original equipment manufacturing. It invested $200 million to build a plant in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning province, to produce batteries for start-stop vehicles. This type of vehicle battery can help automakers meet increasingly strict fuel economy and emissions regulations. It will be a primary focus for the new facility. The Shenyang plant is scheduled to launch in late 2018 and will produce 6 million batteries annually, with the majority for start-stop vehicles. A girl watches locomotive models made of Lego chips in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province. LONG WEI / FOR CHINA DAILY Whether or not foreign investors will continue to bet on China as its economic growth slows will likely become clear in a 160,000-square meter new plant in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, East China. At November-end, world famous toy producer Lego Group opened its first Asian plant in Jiaxing. Six months earlier, Lego Group had just opened its largest flagship store in Shanghai Disneyland, which is also the first one in Asia. Behind these moves, Lego has a bigger plan to open chain stores in 40 Chinese cities in the next four years, aiming to expand the market from first-tier to second- and third-tier cities by 2020 through a combination of online and offline sales, according to the company. Lego appears optimistic about the Chinese market, if its course since 2015 is an indication. Its sales revenue in China rose more than 30 percent, almost doubling its global sales growth in the same year. "We are very optimistic about the future of the Chinese market," said Wang Li, vice-president of Lego China. "Lego has seen the fastest growth in China. With easing birth control and upgrading of consumption structure, the number of consumers in China would keep increasing and the toy industry sees great potential in China, the world's largest toy manufacturing and exporting country." The Lego story reflects a big change happening in China: consumption and some other industries are becoming new engines for GDP growth and have created unprecedented opportunities for foreign enterprises. In the first three quarters of 2016, terminal consumption in China contributed more than 70 percent to its GDP growth, and the added value of the tertiary industry weighed more than half in GDP. Meanwhile, the high-tech industry, the internet economy and strategic emerging industries grew fast. Opportunities in the internet economy brought by Chinese economic transformation and rapid internet development have also attracted LinkedIn, a US career social platform. Before LinkedIn entered the Chinese market in 2014, there were only 4 million registered users of LinkedIn in China. Now, the number has hit 28 million. The Internet Plus policy has vigorously facilitated cross-border and regional movement of talent and knowledge with innovation emerging everywhere, said Yu Zhiwei, vice-president of LinkedIn China. CA Technologies China, an information technology management software and solutions provider, believes that digital transformation is becoming a trend in China. About 92 percent of Chinese enterprises surveyed are embracing digital technologies, remodeling their business and interactive mode with clients. According to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce, the actual use of foreign investment in the high-tech service industry surged 98 percent year-on-year in the first 11 months of 2016, and that in the computer application service industry recorded a year-on-year growth of 123 percent. "The market of applied economy in China is very big as operating performance of Chinese enterprises nowadays is closely related to the application of digital technology," said He Jinpei, chief director with CA Technologies China. Besides, transformation of the traditional industrial sector in China does not seem to have dampened foreign companies' enthusiasm for the Chinese market. World leading construction and mining equipment manufacturer Caterpillar has set up its largest R&D center outside the US market in China. It is also vigorously promoting application of its smart machines in China, making clearer its strategy to base its global manufacturing business in the country. "China's Made-in-China 2025 plan and the Belt and Road Initiative have created good opportunities for the development of global companies like Caterpillar," said Chen Qihua, vice-president of Caterpillar. "China's economic development would play an important role in the synergetic development of the world economy." German industrial giant Thyssenkrupp sees huge market opportunities in China's urbanization, smart cities construction, and the development of China's western region. Gao Yan, CEO of Thyssenkrupp China, believes that China has incomparable growth and potential in mechanical components and elevator technologies than any other markets in the world. Home Credit Consumer Finance Co, the Czech Republic-based international consumer finance provider, will expand and add two call centers in China with more than 10,000 employees as the country is seeing a boom in consumption upgrading, said a senior executive. Petr Krumphanzl, chief operations officer of Home Credit Consumer Finance Co, said that after the trial operation proved to be a success in Tianjin, "enlarging our Tianjin facility is urgent for our business strategy in China". Home Credit plans to boost the size of its employees from 2,000 to 3,500 at its Tianjin call center by the end of June. Established in 2010 and 2014 respectively, its call centers in Wuhan and Changsha currently are supported by more than 6,000 employees. However, Krumphanzl didn't disclose the locations for another two call centers planned to be built in the country sooner or later. The company had 63,725 employees in China covering 312 cities with 140,216 sales outlets by the end of 2016. Consumption has accounted for 64.6 percent of China's GDP in 2016, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. This trend has suggested bright prospects for consumer finance in China. Home Credit provided 49 billion yuan ($7 billion) of loans in 2016, with 1 million of contracts being approved each month. Lured by the huge potential, the group is planning to have five call centers by the end of 2017. It entered China as the first foreign consumer finance lender in 2010. The centers are designed to serve different regions across the country. As China is offering foreign capital more access to its financial services sector that includes accounting and auditing firms, financial institutions and stock brokerages, Krumphanzl said the call centers will provide more accessible, efficient and convenient 24-hour customer services. They will also focus on the development of both online and offline businesses. Assisted by flexible government policies released in January to further attract foreign capital, Home Credit, which particularly specializes in emerging markets such as China and India, is expected to stimulate consumption, especially outside the first-tier cities. Home Credit found that the first-time users of its loan service have made up a dominating majority of its total clients, who live across various small and medium cities, towns and counties and are not usually targeted by traditional bank loan services. "Foreign companies have discovered that market demand in China is changing as consumers and companies want to buy more high-value-added products, and that there is surging demand for the service industry in the country," said Wang Zhile, a senior researcher at the Beijing-based Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation. The Guangzhou skyline at night, Guangdong province, July 16, 2016. [Photo/VCG] Guangdong province reported highest public budget revenue of 1.04 trillion yuan ($151.4 billion) in the country in 2016, while three provinces suffered declines. Shanxi, Xinjiang and Heilongjiang province registered negative growth in fiscal revenue, dragged down by the soft commodity price and capacity reduction, according to the 21st Century Business Herald. The contract comes as modern services play a vital role in leading provinces. Tertiary industry accounted for 61.3 percent of Guangdong's GDP growth in 2016, up from the national average of 51.4 percent. About 49.3 percent of above-scale industrial output in Guangdong came from advanced manufacturing, according to the newspaper. Research and development expenditure rose to 2.58 percent of the GDP in 2016, which led to a 21 percent increase in effective patents. Guangdong's gross fiscal revenue rose 9 percent to 2.28 trillion yuan last year, while public budget revenue attributable at provincial level jumped 10.3 percent in comparable terms to 1.04 trillion yuan. Jiangsu province and Shanghai followed with last year's budget revenue of 812 billion and 640 billion yuan respectively. Beside the third place in absolute figure, Shanghai also reported the fastest growth in budget revenue, a year-on-year increase of 16.1 percent, according to the newspaper. The growth is boosted by tax revenues from innovation and technology sectors. The revenue surge even outran Shanghai's GDP growth of 6.8 percent. Tertiary industry accounted for the city's 70.5 percent of GDP. Despite an expanding revenue gap between the eastern regions and the rest, most of the central and western provinces saw stable fiscal expenditures thanks to the transfer payment from the central government, said the newspaper. In the work report by Shanxi government, officials attributed the reasons behind budget revenue decline to the structural problem of its economy which centered on mining and State-owned enterprises. Xinjiang reported a 2.4 percent in budget revenue, as dragged by the price cut of crude oil and natural gas. The province vows to optimize fiscal expenditures and win over more subsidies from the central government to upgrade the economy, said the newspaper. According to the Ministry of Finance, the country's fiscal revenue stood at 15.96 trillion yuan in 2016, increasing 4.5 percent year-on-year. Automakers enjoying lucrative sales of trucks and sport utility vehicles are hoping United States President Donald Trump makes good on his vows to deregulate. Environmental groups are saying fuel efficiency standards won't be watered down without a legal challenge. "We'll see him in court," Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Campaign, said of the group's planned response if the rules are revisited. "There are a lot of reasons to keep the standards in place and there will be a fight." Eighteen auto industry executives sent a letter to Trump on Friday, asking him to reinstate an Environmental Protection Agency review of fuel economy regulations through 2025 that they say was unfairly cut short during the final days of the Obama administration. That letter could be the opening act in a potential drawn-out battle in Washington and in US courts as environmental groups consider suing to stall or derail any effort to lower the targets. "The primary issue here is we do not see any kind of technical basis for weakening the standards," said Roland Hwang, director of the energy and transportation program at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "We're looking at our options," he said, declining to say definitively whether the environmental advocacy group would file litigation. The issue auto executives raised in their letter recently was the review process for the nation's fuel efficiency standards. The companies and then-president Barack Obama struck a deal in 2011 to double average fuel economy of vehicles to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025, with the caveat that a midterm review would determine whether the standards for the final years of the program were feasible. Automakers say falling gasoline prices have squelched demand for the most fuel-efficient vehicles, making it more difficult to achieve the standards. Just a week before Trump took office, the EPA said it had concluded its review more than a year ahead of schedule and the rules didn't need to be changed. Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, Trump's nominee to lead the EPA, told a Senate panel in January he planned to review the EPA's final determination that the 2025 auto rules should remain intact. If the EPA revisits the midterm review, it won't necessarily come to a different conclusion than the one reached in Obama's final days in office. That decision was the culmination of a rules evaluation that began last summer with the publication of a more than 1,200-page Technical Assessment Report that examined costs, technology effectiveness and other aspects of the standards. Hwang called the review "one of the most thorough decision-making processes I've seen by an agency". The NRDC views automakers' request to reopen the review as a move to "politically meddle with what should be a science-based decision". "I don't know what information they could bring to the table that hasn't been brought to the table already," he said. Trump's push to ease regulatory burdens may create a window of opportunity for carmakers. The letter, signed by chief executives including Mary Barra of General Motors, Mark Fields of Ford Motor and Sergio Marchionne of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, said that "ignoring consumer preferences and market realities will drive up costs for buyers and threaten future production levels." Automakers have only asked for the mid-term review to be reinstated. It's possible that Trump's EPA could seek major changes, such as weaker federal rules, so that carmakers have more cash to invest in the zero-emission cars they're required to sell in California. Enacting new rules altogether would be a lengthy process. If Trump does initiate a new round of rule-making on the EPA's 2022-2025 greenhouse gas standards, he's likely to do so as a joint exercise with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which will then be writing fuel economy standards for those same years, said Jeff Holmstead, a former assistant administrator at the EPA and now a partner at Bracewell LLP in Washington. "I don't think they'd completely eviscerate those regulations," Holmstead said. "But there are probably ways to make them more flexible and reduce the cost." A formal rule-making process, complete with public notices and comment periods, would probably take at least a year. To change the rules, Pruitt would also need to provide a formal explanation on why he's scrapping Obama's so-called final determination. Bloomberg One of the Benz Smart cars available for rent in Shanghai. [Photo/VCG] Vehicle-sharing businesses in China's major cities are booming with authorities looking to ease the way for them, The Beijing News reports. Although detailed regulations have not yet been issued by public transport authorities, some have shown an encouraging attitude to the emerging industry. Beijing's state-owned infrastructure development enterprise, Beijing Municipal Road & Bridge Group, plans to build rental sites by transforming 40 unoccupied spaces under the 2nd and 3rd ring roads. Head of the Beijing Lawyers Association traffic and transportation committee, Huang Haibo, said that compared with bike-sharing schemes, cars used more spaces and road resources. "City managers should take active measures to study related issues, such as whether they need to control the market's scale, establish market access standards, define automobiles' properties and regulate security and insurance of the industry," Huang said. Other legal experts also noted that shifting car-use rights to the individuals have placed a greater reliance on personal manners and social credibility. They suggested issuing guidance and laws covering users' behavior. Jin Caier, director of an organization that specializes in China's transportation, energy and urbanization, said that city governors should consider how to form system integrating rail, buses, taxis, time-sharing automobiles and bicycles. Currently, most of the sharing-cars on the market are electric-powered vehicles, which are believed to be an effective approach to reduce air pollution in some cities. "Regulations, such as license-plate lottery and traffic restrictions based on the last digit of license plate numbers, have increased the cost to be a private car owner in Beijing," Liu Xiaoqian, an early adoptor of the car-sharing sector, said. "The service will meet my commute demands and the car that I rent looks cool." Similar to the ongoing bike-sharing fervor kindled in many of the major cities, the car-sharing market has started to boom last year. During this year's Valentine's Day, Gofun Chuxing, a company that provides car-sharing services in Beijing, placed a random 100 cars in the street to offer free use for singles. Gofun was launched in February 2016 by one of the leading domestic auto leasing companies, Beijing Shouqi Group, and it has deployed 1100 cars and more than 100 offline leasing counters. Car2go, a car-sharing service provider under automotive giant Daimler AG, was launched last April, in Southwest China's Chongqing municipality, the first city that Car2go chose to enter in the Asian market. More than 400 Benz Smart cars were put into major urban areas in Chongqing, covering 60 square kilometers, the company said. By now, Car2go has more than 118,000 registered members and has offered over 115,000 cars in Chongqing. Other companies, such as LeEco Holdings' car-sharing arm -- LeShare, EVCARD, who joined hands with SAIC Motor, BYD, ZTE and United Journey, have also launched similar services in first-tier cities. Chinese automotive industry witnessed nearly 9.2 million sport utility vehicles sold last year, up 45.7 percent compared to 2015, according to China Passenger Car Association's statistic. Great Wall Motors' Haval series topped the rank for a six consecutive year since 2011, and with two models listed among the 10 best selling SUVs in 2016. Let's take a look at the most popular SUVs in China: No 10, Dongfeng Nissan Passenger Vehicle Co's Nissan X-Trail Sales: 180,202 A Lakala Group employee shows a visitor how to use online payment functions on mobile devices at an expo in Beijing.[Photo/China Daily] BEIJING - Lakala, a third-party payment service, wants to go public on the Shanghai bourse, the company's board chairman Sun Taoran, revealed. The company plans to improve its corporate structure after it is listed, Sun was recently quoted by a Chinese media outlet as saying. Third-party payment services have come a long way since they emerged more than ten years ago. It is natural that they are now exploring the capital market, Sun said. Analysts expect the sector will see a wave of new listings in 2017 and 2018. By the end of the third quarter of 2016, China's top three third-party payment service providers, namely Alipay, Tenpay and Lakala, accounted for more than 90 percent of market share, according to Analysis International, a Beijing-based Internet information consulting firm. Law courts nationwide have been ordered to boost security to protect legal professionals and other employees after a judge was attacked in Jiangsu province. Zhou Long, a judge in Shuyang county, was run down by a car and then stabbed multiple times as he walked to work on Friday. He was taken to a hospital and is out of danger, according to local authorities. Police have detained a man identified as Hu Xiaogan, a disgruntled defendant in a case handled by Zhou who had failed to comply with the judge's ruling, according to the county court. In response to the attack, the Supreme People's Court and the China Judges Association released a notice on Saturday calling for greater protection for judicial employees. A list of proposed improvements include installing court buildings with quick-response alarms and rooms fitted with recording devices where judges can safely meet with litigants. In addition, desk phones used by judges and judicial assistants should have recording devices, so that any threats can be recorded and used as evidence in court, the notice said. Judicial authorities at all levels were also told to set up associations to handle complaints from judges and provide help to those who suffer physically or economically as a result of their work. "Maintaining the dignity of judges is in line with the rule of law," the Supreme People's Court said, adding that those who threaten or harm judges or other judicial employees face penalties under a guideline issued on Feb 7. The guideline states that a litigant can be ordered to leave the courtroom, fined or detained if he or she disturbs the court process. The assault on Zhou was the latest in a series of attacks on judges. On Jan 26, Fu Mingsheng, a retired judge in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, was stabbed to death in his home by a man whose divorce he had handled in 1994. Last year, Ma Caiyun, a 38-year-old judge in Beijing, was shot in the stomach and face at home by an attacker who said he had been unhappy with the division of property in his divorce. Guo Jie, a judge specializing in divorce cases in Fujian province, said security for legal professionals is insufficient. "I do feel unsafe," she said. "I don't know who can protect me when I'm off work. And what about my family?" Xu Songling, a law professor at South China University of Technology, agreed that security should be improved, saying, "Security checks must be increased before people are allowed to enter a court building." However, he also suggested judges better protect themselves by clearly explaining verdicts and rulings to plaintiffs and defendants, to avoid potential conflicts. "It's important that people involved in a case know that a ruling has been made based on evidence, not depending on who the judge is," Xu added. A draft law amendment that would lower the minimum age of those who can be detained for noncriminal offenses to 14 has drawn a mixed response from experts. The Ministry of Public Security released a list of proposed revisions to the Law on Penalties for Administrative Detention last month to seek public opinion. The list included changing an article that states juveniles aged 14 to 16 cannot receive administrative detention, which is generally used for offenders who commit noncriminal offenses and lasts for about 20 days. The ministry said the amendment would keep the measure in place only for first-time offenders, which means juveniles as young as 14 could be detained if they reoffend. Dai Qiuying, an assistant researcher with the Supreme People's Court, told China National Radio that the amendment is understandable, as society has been frustrated with the lack of practical and applicable corrective measures for juvenile offenders. China has seen a rise in crime involving minors in recent years. A study by the Chinese Society for Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Research estimated that more than 50 percent of juvenile crime is committed by young people age 14 to 16. According to Criminal Law, only residents who are 16 or above can take full criminal liability. However, legal experts have argued that putting minors in detention should be a last resort. "There is no detailed research that supports the necessity of lowering the minimum age for administrative detention," said Yao Jianlong, a professor at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law. He cited an item in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child that states "the arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child shall be in conformity with the law and shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time". The Law on Penalties for Administrative Detention is designed to punish offenders whose violations do not fall under Criminal Law but are still considered to harm society. Wang Ying, a district prosecutor who regularly handles cases involving minors in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, warned that detaining juveniles could result in long-term psychological damage. "Minors who are deprived of their personal freedom during age 14 to 16 tend to be more aggressive after they have completed their detention," she told China National Radio. "The ages 14 to 16 is a period in which a person develops empathy. Forced detention and fear could damage that brain function, which is difficult to recover," she added. Two human cases of H7N9 virus have been reported in the capital this year Four kinds of vaccine for the H7N9 strain of bird flu virus have been approved for clinical trials by China's top drug regulator, according to the Beijing Food and Drug Administration. The administration will continue to provide assistance and guidance for clinical trials of the vaccines so they can enter the market as soon as possible, it said in a statement last week. Beijing Tiantan Biological Products Co, a State-owned enterprise in Beijing, which developed the vaccines, announced on Wednesday that the China Food and Drug Administration had approved clinical trials. The company added that it must conduct other procedures after the completion of clinical trials before the vaccines can be sold on the market, including applying for registration of the drugs and acquiring certificates for their manufacture from the CFDA. There are currently no vaccines for the H7N9 strain of bird fluwhich is most active in winter and springavailable on the market in China or overseas, although several other domestic companies have also acquired approval from CFDA for clinical trials for similar products, Beijing Tiantan said. Two human cases of H7N9 have been reported in Beijing this year, with both patients suspected of having been exposed to live poultry markets. Both are in critical condition, the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention said last week. A 41-year-old woman infected with the H7N9 strain of bird flu in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, died on Sunday, the regional Health and Family Planning Commission said. The central government has intensified measures to control the spread of H7N9, including shutting down live poultry markets, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission. The commission called on the public to take precautionary measures such as avoiding contact with live poultry and cooking chicken meat thoroughly. Human cases of H7N9 have been reported in 16 provinces in China since October, including in Yunnan, Fujian, Hubei and Hunan provinces, with most of them involving exposure to live poultry markets, according to the commission. In January alone, 192 human cases of H7N9 were reported on the Chinese mainland, including 79 deaths, making it the worst period since the virus first appeared in China in 2013, the commission said. There is no evidence to support sustained human-to-human transmission of the virus, which was first reported in the spring of 2013, according to the World Health Organization. The Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention said last week that more sporadic cases are expected in the city. Sporadic cases of the bird flu may last until late April, said Ni Daxin, deputy director of emergency response at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Zhi Yueying gives a Chinese lesson to students at the primary school in Baiyang, Fengxin county, in Jiangxi province. [Photo by Wang Jian/China Daily] Celebrated educator has worked in remote village schools for almost four decades Few teachers are as devoted to their profession as 55-year-old Zhi Yueying, who has spent the best part of four decades educating children in remote villages in Jiangxi province. On Feb 8, she was honored for her contribution to society at the China Central Television's annual "Touching China" awards. Standing on stage with her trademark long braid and pink cheeks, she played down the 36 years she has spent teaching, describing herself as "just an ordinary person doing ordinary things". Zhi began teaching at age 19 at a primary school in her home county of Jinxian in Jiangxi. A little while later, she received a letter from her old classmate Cai Jiangning, informing her of a new school in Niyang village, Zaoxia township, where he was working. The village, deep in the mountains of Fengxin county at an altitude of about 1,000 meters, is 45 km from the nearest town. Zhi had feelings for Cai, so she applied for a position at the school, passing the entrance exam with the second highest score. The school was more than 200 km away and her family did not want her to go, but Zhi had made up her mind. To get to Niyang, she had to walk along rugged mountain trails for more than 2 hours after a two-hour bus ride from the nearest town. Unlike her former school in Jinxian, her new place of work in Niyang lacked all but the most basic teaching resources. The village was short of food, so Zhi grew vegetables in her own plot of land and because there were no roads, she and her colleagues had to carry their textbooks, chalk and other supplies into the mountains on their backs. "Children in the mountains have no idea about the outside world, so knowledge is their only hope of leaving," she said. Zhi's care for her students was not limited to the classroom. When she noticed that some girls had stopped attending school, she visited their families' homes and convinced the parents of the importance of education. She also helped poorer parents pay for tuition fees, even though she could barely make ends meet herself. Police check a pangolin seized in a smuggling case in Jiangmen, Guangdong province.[Cai Yanhong/For China Daily] When social media posts about endangered pangolin being eaten at banquets triggered public fury in China last week, a wildlife protection specialist saw a ray of hope. "I hope the scandal will become a turning point in our search and rescue of the critically endangered animal," said Zhou Canying, head of the Wildlife Protection Association in Changsha, Hunan province. Zhou and her team have trekked the mountains of Hunan for more than a year, but not spotted a single pangolin. Earlier this month, a screen-shot of a micro blog post went viral that allegedly showed officials in southern China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region inviting investors from Hong Kong to eat pangolin at a banquet. "The public rarely pays so much attention to pangolins, and I hope the incident will lead to new breakthroughs in its protection," Zhou said on Saturday, which was World Pangolin Day. The species, which has evolved over 80 million years, was once abundant in tropical and subtropical areas of Asia, including Hunan. But things changed drastically in the past two decades: People used excessive pesticides; trees were replaced with different varieties that produced more profitable lumber; and the remaining pangolins were caught and sold to dealers. A survey by the provincial forestry department in 2001 confirmed that the wild pangolin population in Hunan was zero. Pangolins are the most illegally traded mammal worldwide, with about 1 million being sold over the past decade. In China, the animal's scaly skin is used as an ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine, and is believed to ease swelling and promote lactation. Their meat is also considered a delicacy by many. Wu Shibao, a wildlife conservation specialist and professor at South China Normal University, said that about 300,000 pangolins are consumed in China each year. Zhou said she has seen only one living pangolin outside a lab. "It was at the end of 2015. Someone had saved the animal from illegal dealers and left it at a temple in Changsha. It was dying and had blood-stains on its mouth," she said. Despite Zhou's efforts to save it, the animal died in less than two weeks. When researchers dissected it, they found gypsum in its stomach, a material used by dealers to make it heavier so it can be sold for more money. "It was pregnant, too," Zhou said. "I hope more people will join us to protect pangolins from such a miserable fate," she said. Four new subway lines will be built to link Beijing and neighboring Hebei province by 2021, as part of the region's integrated development, Hebei's top economic planner said. The subway lines, together with other means of transportation, will cut the transfer time between the capital and cities in Hebei to less than 1 hour, according to a transportation plan released by the Hebei Development and Reform Commission for the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20) period. According to the plan, one of the four subwaysthe Pinggu Linewill link Beijing's Pinggu and Tongzhou districts with Sanhe in Langfang, Hebei. Preparatory work for the Pinggu Line has already started and is expected to be completed by 2021, according to the National Development and Reform Commission. The other three lines, which are in the planning phase, would link Yizhuang in Beijing with downtown Langfang; Daxing in Beijing with Gu'an in Langfang; and Fangshan in Beijing with Zhuozhou in Baoding. Development of the urban rail transportation system in the Beijng-Tianjin-Hebei region must be accelerated as there is significant demand for transportation services for short- and medium-distance journeys in the region, according to the plan. By 2015, five cities in HebeiLangfang, Cangzhou, Shijiazhuang, Baoding and Tangshanhad become part of a "one-hour traffic circle" connecting them to the capital. However, large volumes of commuters traveling to and from Beijing every day require bus, subway or intercity railway services that provide faster and more frequent modes of transport. To better meet demand, a 58-billion-yuan ($8.4 billion) investment will see the total length of the urban rail transportation system in Hebei, including lines connecting Beijing, reach 80 kilometers by 2020. Intercity railway lines that connect Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, not including subway lines, will be extended to a total of more than 400 km. Intercity railway stations will be established mainly around Beijing's new airport in Daxing district and Chongli in Zhangjiakou, a co-host of the 2022 Winter Olympics. Construction of the stations is expected to guarantee convenient routes for passengers traveling between the new airport and Winter Olympics venues. The upgrade of the transportation system will aid in moving Beijing's noncapital functions, and the transfer of industries and people to Hebei, the plan said, adding that it will also create job opportunities and help develop the local economy. "The system will make life more convenient for residents of the capital's neighboring cities, which will attract more investment," said Wang Yuling, an official at the Hebei Development and Reform Commission. Job seekers read leaflets at a fair in Huaying, Sichuan province, earlier this month. Most attendees were seeking local work rather than migrating to bigger cities.[Zhou Songlin/For China Daily] As China transfers industries from coastal regions to inland locations, large numbers of migrant workers are being presented with more choices of where to work. Yangxin in Hubei province has been designated a national-level poverty-stricken county. At its peak, the county produced 256,000 migrant workers, mostly for shoe factories in major manufacturing bases. However, shoe factories are now moving to the central region. Zhelian Shoes used to have a factory in Wenzhou, in prosperous Zhejiang province, but it moved to Yangxin in 2014. The factory now has 500 workers and last year received orders for 5 million pairs of shoes, according to human resources manager Liu Zhiyong. The company, which plans to recruit another 1,200 workers this year, is one of at least seven similarly sized shoe factories in Yangxin. Liu said 90 percent of his company's employees are locals who used to travel far away for work, including himself. "I worked out of town for 13 years. I have a 3-year-old daughter and my son was born last yearI don't want them to be left-behind children. I could have taken my children to Wenzhou, but then I would have had to hire someone to care of them," the 35-year-old said. Liu added that although he made 10,000 yuan ($1,460) per month, double his current salary, in Wenzhou, he decided to return to Yangxin. Zhelian Shoes only requires its employees to be under 50 years old, he said, adding that 130 of the 200 workers his company wants to recruit in the short-term are skilled, with a monthly wage of more than 6,000 yuan. Fang Youcheng, a man in his 40s from Hubei, has worked in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, for more than 20 years as a decorator. He visited a job fair in Nanning, capital of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, on Feb 7 and plans to settle down in the city. "In general, migrant workers are treated better now. My salary is not my main concern. I care more about my working and living conditions," Fang said. "Salaries are high in Guangdong, but so is the cost of living, which makes me feel like I don't belong there." "There are a lot of ways to find jobs now. Many companies at the job fair were offering decent salaries and living conditions, including free food and accommodation. I want to take my time to compare the offers and choose carefully," he said. Zhang Li contributed to this story. Yang Guoxing, a farmer who helps protect the Great Wall, points to inscriptions on a Great Wall entrance in Tongxin county, Ningxia Hui automous region, earlier this month.[Photo/Xinhua] Strange as it sounds, Yang Guoxing, a farmer in Northwest China, has lived inside the Great Wall all his life. Yang's father grew up in a tiny village in Tongxin county in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region. When he married in 1950, he carried his new wife over the threshold of a cave house - dug through a section of the Great Wall. Such houses can be found across hillsides in northwestern China. Unexpectedly, the presence of the cave houses has meant better preservation of parts of the ancient wall, because sections of it are enclosed and protected by a family's courtyard and kept intact. Old bricks from the wall sections outside the courtyards were often taken to sell or to use as building material. Great Wall Pass, where Yang's home is located, was built in 1577 during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). When one enters the courtyard, the arch door of the cave house in the wall's gray stone comes into view. On one side is a fortified tower, with lush wild grass beneath. Yang Guoxing was born in this house in 1974, the ninth of 10 children. He recalled that in the 1980s, many residents sold bricks they had taken from the Great Wall. One brick could be sold for 0.5 yuan ($0.07). Although under pressure to raise his family, Yang's father, who was working at the township's grain depot, did not sell any bricks from their courtyard. "He always told us that we should protect our home and never let others steal our bricks," Yang said. Gradually, the younger Yang developed a passion to protect the Great Wall. He has searched for information in books and online to better understand the history of the area where his father made their home. "Some tourists ask to visit our home, and I am happy to show them around and answer their questions," he said. Most of the time, however, Yang works in the city. In 2014, Yang and his siblings built a three-room brick house about 100 meters away. Though they have moved out, family members still look after their Great Wall house. "I will always protect that part of the Great Wall and try my best to maintain its original appearance," Yang said, adding that this Great Wall section is in dire need of restoration. Gu Yongcun, head of Tongxin county's cultural relics bureau, said the family dwelling under the Great Wall did, in fact, help to maintain the original site. Living beneath the wall violates modern laws and regulations, but those were not in place when the house was built, Gu said. Great Wall Pass was listed as a provincial-level protected site in 2010. However, the local government has not adopted any restoration measures because of a lack of funding. It would cost about 40,000 yuan to restore just 1 meter of the wall. "But the good news is that the regional government will allocate some funds to help the restoration this year, and we are doing the budget," Gu said. Residents and tourists pay their respects to former leader Deng Xiaoping, chief architect of China's modernization, in front a portrait of him in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, on Sunday, the 20th anniversary of the leader's death.Xu Wenge / For China Daily Deng Xiaoping's vision made development of the city possible Deng Zhibiao has always regretted letting his son leave Shenzhen. "I should have stopped my second son from going to Hong Kong 40 years ago," said Deng, 75, at his home in Shenzhen, a business metropolis in South China's Guangdong province. The city has served Deng's eldest and youngest sons well. Both have more than one apartment in the city, as well as incomes of several hundred thousand yuan a year. Deng was once head of Yumin village, a hamlet of fishermen, in Shenzhen. In many ways, his family life has run hand-in-hand with the life of Shenzhen, which has developed greatly over the past few decades. As one of China's first special economic zones, Shenzhen has evolved from a tiny fishing village into a vast metropolis. The city has a population of nearly 12 million, and its GDP ranks fourth behind Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. There is another Deng whose relationship with Shenzhen is better known. Former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping was known as the chief architect of China's economic reform, opening-up and modernization, and it was his landmark speeches during his famous "Southern Tour" of China in 1992 that further inspired the fast-developing city to continue on its path. The city became free to reform and pursue wealth. Deng Zhibiao venerates his namesake: "Without his policies, such development would be unimaginable," he said. Change of policies Deng Zhibiao often recalls the poverty of the 1970s and being offered bread and soda water that had come from neighboring Hong Kong. "I dared not eat them," he said. "They were products of capitalism." Shenzhen's poverty led to many of the residents attempting to sneak into Hong Kong. "We fished in the Shenzhen River. Many fishermen didn't come back," Deng Zhibiao said. "Among more than 70 households, about 30 left." Deng Xiaoping visited Guangdong in 1977. Three years later, Shenzhen became a special economic zone, an area where special business policies were experimented with. Deng Zhibiao started buying secondhand cars in Hong Kong to sell in Shenzhen. "Before the reform, I couldn't do that. It was called capitalism." By 1980, many people in Yumin village had televisions, fridges, stereos and electric cookers - all luxuries at that time. While other Chinese citizens earned less than 100 yuan ($15) per month, the average annual household income in the Shenzhen exceeded 10,000 yuan. By 1985, the residents had started factories making clothes, watches and jewelry. Businesses in Hong Kong were soon investing. Heated debate Huaqiangbei, a subdistrict of Shenzhen's center, used to be a collection of manufacturers. "At first they made electronic devices. Shenzhen Electronics Group came into being in 1986 when they needed a market to buy components," said Hu Jianping, deputy general manager of SEG. Following SEG, more companies were founded and Shenzhen started to take shape as a manufacturing hub. "What was then the Ministry of the Electronics Industry provided experts; the city government of Shenzhen gave us land and exempted our taxes," Hu said. However, the development was not all smooth sailing. "From a planned economy to a market economy, the model for SEG invited dispute," Hu said. Chen Xitian, 76, former deputy editor-in-chief at Shenzhen Special Zone Daily, said that reform and opening-up were stagnating at the beginning of the 1990s when the world saw serious setbacks in the socialist movement in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. "In China, there were heated discussions about socialism or capitalism," Chen said. Deng Xiaoping's Southern Tour brought the debates to an end. "A planned economy is not just about socialism, as there is also planning under capitalism; a market economy is not just about capitalism, as there are also markets under socialism," he said. After that, Deng Zhibiao's village was converted into a joint stock company. Hu Jianping, then 30, quit his job as a teacher in Northwest China's Shaanxi province and went to Shenzhen. SEG started manufacturing cellphones. "At the height of its prosperity, about 70 percent of the world's cellphones were made in China, while 80 percent of China's cellphones were from Huaqiangbei," Hu said. Innovation revolution Years later, Shenzhen faced a new set of challenges. In 2012, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, conducted an inspection tour of Guangdong. Xi said that China's reform had come to a juncture where it would be more complicated to tackle difficult issues, and the CPC had to exercise political courage and deepen reform in important areas. SEG began cooperating with internet and technology giants, such as Tencent, Huawei and Alibaba, shifting its focus to chuangke - hands-on technology enthusiasts who use 3D printers, robotics and other advanced tools to create products. Since then, an innovation revolution has been underway, and Shenzhen's transformation has been nothing short of miraculous. Chen Xitian remembers Deng Xiaoping standing beside the Shenzhen River in 1992 in the cold wind, gazing at Hong Kong on the other side. Deng Xiaoping died on Feb 19, 1997, about four months before Hong Kong's return to the motherland. On Jan 3 this year, a memorandum was signed between Shenzhen and Hong Kong. The land Deng looked at 25 years ago will soon become a technology park. It was a long and winding road, and few people knew exactly where the constant changes in Shenzhen would lead. However, some things are more inflexible. A huge portrait of Deng Xiaoping in the city is emblazoned with large red Chinese characters reading: "Stick to the Party's basic line unwaveringly for 100 years." Electric bike sharing is mirroring the boom in regular bike sharing services. [Photo/Xinhua] A Beijing based electric bicycle-sharing service has been ordered to stop trading just four days into operation. The company was offering 50 electric bicycles to customers, mainly along the route of subway Line 10. Beijing Traffic Management Bureau said the bikes didn't meet the required standards as they didn't have license plates. Local regulations stipulate that it is illegal to ride such vehicles on the open road without a license plate. The service also aroused public safety concerns as electric bicycles travel at much faster speeds than regular bicycles. Responding to the ruling, the electric bicycle-sharing company involved said their service was still being tested, and that their service would come into official operation after the bikes are equipped with license plates. There are currently around 10 companies providing an electric bicycle-sharing service in China. One of the leading companies, ZBJ.com, has nearly 30,000 registered users nationwide and around half of them are active users. Electric bicycle-sharing services have been growing in popularity in the wake of the boom in the regular bicycle-sharing industry in the Chinese market. Companies like ofo and Mobike, allow users to register via an app, and pick up bicycles wherever they find them, and then leave them at their destination without the need to find a docking station. Market leader ofo has been active in 35 cities in China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Chongqing and Chengdu. Photo by Liang Luwen/China Daily More than 30 percent of university students were pressured by their families to attend blind date or matchmaking when they returned home during the recent winter holiday, a survey has found, according to a report by China Youth Daily. Out of the 927 students polled by China University Media Union across the country, 27 percent of them said their families had urged them to consider a blind date or matchmaking as they were worried about their single status. While 6 percent said their families had planned blind date or matchmaking for them. Matchmaking is a traditional way for single Chinese men and women in their 20s and 30s to meet. It has become especially popular amid the rising number of so-called "leftover" people well-educated, highly paid young professionals who find it increasingly hard to find a mate. Zhao Ming, a senior at a university in Tianjin, said his parents had arranged three potential partners to meet him during the holiday. He added that this was a good way to find or meet his Mrs Right because his family knows him and would find "proper" girls. Zhao said he's anxious as his peers are getting married. However, not everyone shares Zhao's view. The survey shows that 28 percent of the students said they reject the idea of matchmaking or blind date. Wang Lin, a student at a university in Beijing, said she believes matchmaking would make her feel no "passion for love" at all. She said she would rather find her true love in a way she likes and not by the standards of her parents. The reason why some students do not like matchmaking and blind date is that they hope two persons should start as friends and get to know each other before they commit to a relationship, said Zhou Jun, a psychology teacher with China Youth University of Political Studies. Liao Zhengtao, a psychology teacher with Southwest University for Nationalities, said it's normal for the younger generation to marry late, which was rarely seen in their parents' generation. When the society's economy and wealth developed to a higher level, young people would naturally be nurtured for a longer time by their family , he said. The carcass of a well-preserved baby mammoth on display in Hong Kong in 2012. [Photo/Agencies] Though no longer just a pipe dream, resurrecting the long-extinct mammoth is still a long way off, a Chinese scientist says. China National GeneBank chief executive, Xu Xun, told Science and Technology Daily on Sunday that to reproduce a mammoth, a relative of the modern elephant that disappeared 4,000 years ago, would involve three steps. First, the cell of a mammoth would need to be revived, then developed into an embryonic cell which could be inserted into a surrogate to deliver. The Shenzhen-based CNGB is a government-supported institute devoted to the collection of biological resources and information sharing. "The scientists first extracted the cell nucleus from an intact mammoth found in the Siberian permafrost in 2013 and injected it into the cell of an Asian elephant. In this way, they revived the cell of the mammoth. Then they reproduced the embryonic cell of the mammoth through clone and stem cell technology," Xu said. Xu said surrogacy is the most difficult part in bringing back the mammoth as putting the embryo into the womb of a surrogate female elephant will likely lead to miscarraige due to the gene differences. "Creating a man-made uterus is a choice. It will take around five to 10 years," he said. According to a Feb 17 Telegraph report, a team at Harvard University said they can recreate a mammoth-elephant hybrid within two years by splicing the mammoth genes into the genome of an elephant embryo. The hybrid would have recognizable traits of a mammoth such as shaggy coat, big ears, and anti-freeze blood. The revival of extinct animals is a controversial issue. Proponents believe it can help save the endangered species while opponents argue it goes against nature. The "resurrected" mammoth would only have some traits of the mammoth and would not be able to live in the wild, Yuan Xun, a paleontology researcher at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said. Yuan said that the extinction of species is a natural phenomenon. In a larger context, a species disappears in the world after existing for an average of 2 to 3 million years. Xu Xun said reviving extinct species is important for protecting biodiversity, but it should not be used in large scale. Xiao Huixuan rubs the feet of her mother at a hospital. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn] An 8-year-old girl in Shouguang, Shandong province, has gained more than 5 kg in less than two months so that she can donate bone marrow to her ailing mother. Ba Lili was diagnosed with leukemia in 2015. After undergoing various different treatments, doctors suggested that she have a bone-marrow transplant in November. Of all her relatives, only her daughter Xiao Huixuan had bone marrow that matched, but she could not donate until she put on an extra 5 kg. Now she weighs 29 kg. After two months of bulking up, Xiao underwent bone marrow extraction for the first time on Feb 14 at Peking University People's Hospital in Beijing. Because of her age, she could not have any anesthetic."It's painful, but I tried my best not to cry because my mother would be sad if she heard me crying," said Xiao.Ba said her daughter had encouraged her to be brave and would often tell her how much she loves her.Next week, Ba will receive her first transplant and Xiao will undergo another bone marrow extraction."I will endure all of the agonies as long as my mum can survive," said Xiao. LANZHOU -- The Dunhuang airport, located near the Mogao Caves, which contain some of China's finest ancient Buddhist art, will be closed between March 15 and May 25 for an expansion project aimed at coping with a growing tourist influx. The 976-million-yuan ($142 million) expansion project, which began in 2016, will enable the airport to handle an annual capacity of 960,000 passengers and 1,700 tonnes of cargo. The airport will close to allow for revamping of the runway and enlarging airport aprons, said the airport on Monday. The 1,600-year-old Mogao Caves are home to more than 2,000 colored sculptures and 45,000 square meters of frescoes. They are located in a series of 735 caves carved along a cliff in Northwest China's Gansu province along the ancient Silk Road route. In 1987, the site became China's first UNESCO World Heritage Site. In recent years, tourist numbers to the caves have soared thanks to their growing fame both at home and abroad. The Buddhist site received more than 8 million domestic and foreign visitors in 2016, up 21.37 percent year on year. Since 2014, the Mogao Caves have set a daily limit of 6,000 reserved tickets plus an extra 12,000 emergency tickets to cater to the growing number of tourists during the peak travel season. Transportation infrastructure has been built to cope with the large passenger flow. In addition to the airport expansion, easier transport links to Dunhuang were launched last year, including new trains from Beijing, and Yinchuan, capital of Ningxia Hui autonomous region. Tang Junwen accompanies his wife, Liu Xianrui, at her bedside at a hospital in Chengdu, on Feb 18, 2017. [Photo/VCG] What's the expiry date on love? Different couples may give you different answers. But a 90-year-old man in Southwest China's Sichuan province shows that not only he believes in love, but can still love. Tang Junwen wrote his wife who was ill a letter thanking her for loving him for more than 60 years and encouraged her to fight her illness. The letter has moved many internet users who say they have started believing in love again. Tang's wife, Liu Xianrui, fell ill at home in Meishan, Sichuan province, at night on Feb 11. When Liu did not get better the next day, Tang contacted their children and sent Liu to a local hospital. The diagnosis showed that Liu was in a serious condition, so Liu was transferred to a hospital in Chengdu, about 70 kilometers away from Meishan. Fearing the diagnoses would worry Tang, his children did not inform him about the transfer. When Tang went to the local hospital to see Liu in the afternoon of Feb 13, he found his wife gone. Even though he had a problem in his right leg, he anxiously searched every ward of the hospital and even went to parks and vegetable market his wife used to go to. When all his efforts proved futile, Tang went back to the hospital and called one of his sons. "I want to know how is my wife", Tang demanded, and refused to eat anything after coming back home. Unable to persuade Tang, his children told him where Liu was and arranged a video call for him to speak to her. "He burst into tears when he saw my mother", said Tang's youngest son. "He told her to take good care of herself, and he will wait for her at home." But in the afternoon of Feb 14, Tang showed up in the intensive care unit where Liu was hospitalized in Chengdu. Holding Liu's hand, Tang couldn't help crying again. Later, he remembered that it was Valentine's Day and said apologetically to Liu, "Sorry, I forgot to buy flowers for you." CHANGCHUN -- Lyu Xiwen, former deputy Party chief of Beijing, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for taking bribes on Monday. According to the court, Lyu was also fined 2 million yuan ($290,816), and her illegal gains shall be recovered and turned over to the state treasury. Lyu was found to have taken advantage of various official posts from 2001 to 2015 to seek benefits for others. She accepted bribes worth 18.79 million yuan. The Intermediate People's Court of Jilin city in Northeast China's Jilin province said it showed leniency as Lyu confessed to her crimes, expressed remorse and voluntarily returned illegal gains. Lyu accepted the verdict, according to the court. BEIJING -- The central authorities have issued a document calling for improved public services at the township level. The document was issued by the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council. Township governments should provide quality education in rural areas with suitable teaching environments, safe campuses and support for under privileged students, according to the document. It called on township governments to offer better training and vocational opportunities to rural residents, and ensure basic social services for special groups including the disabled, migrant workers, and children living in poverty. Governments at the township level should implement national insurance policies and improve public health services, said the document. It stressed that ancient villages of great historical and cultural value should be properly protected and developed, adding that township governments should also improve their service in areas such as environmental protection, food safety and juvenile protection. The document urged governments of county-level and above to provide financial support for infrastructure, public services and other social undertakings in townships, and to encourage loans and investment to small towns and villages. Township government budgets and spending should be strictly regulated to fend off local debt risks and guarantee fiscal balance, it said. The document also called for preferential policies for township officials, such as easier promotions and subsidies, to attract talent to work in townships. Most mothers in China feel they are happier after having a second child, according to a survey report released a year after the country relaxed its family planning policy. The report, released on Sunday, was based on an online survey of about 4,200 mothers with two children. The survey found that about 63 percent of the respondents said they were happier after the birth of their second child, and 67 percent said they did not regret having another baby. The survey of parents conducted this month was led by mama.cn, a website for Chinese mothers, and Muruai, a voluntary group based in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, that promotes breast-feeding. Of the 4,182 respondents, 4,151 were mothers. The major reasons given for the increase in happiness after a second child included seeing their children play together and the fact that some couples now had both a boy and a girl, according to the report. Nearly half of the mothers also said their husbands were more willing to help take care of the children after the second child, according to the report. The survey also found some factors that caused unhappiness after a second child, such as the economic burden and the extra pressure resulting from the need to devote more time and energy. About 72 percent of those surveyed said they may face heavier burdens to take care of their parents while having to raise two children, while less than 7 percent of mothers with a second child felt they had better career opportunities after having a second child. More than 70 percent said they would not consider having a third child, even if they are allowed to do so in the future. It was generally believed that many people would not choose to have another baby due to the increased expenditure, said Zhu Yuzi, who worked on the survey for Muruai. "But the result of the survey shows that the spiritual joy brought by having a second child can greatly offset the increased economic burdens for many Chinese," she said. "That is why so many people feel happier after having a second child, even with more economic burdens." Cai Lina, content supervisor at mama.cn, said that while bringing joy, having a second child can also bring many problems for couples. "We expect more supportive measures, such as reducing taxes for families with a second child, so the second-child policy can be better carried out." Yang Jun, a 36-year-old media employee in Beijing who already has a child, said he will not consider having a second child even if it might bring him more joy. "Both my wife and I are very busy, so who will take care of the second child if I have one? Besides, having a second child means we have to buy a bigger apartment, which is so expensive in Beijing," he said. China adopted the second-child policy at the beginning of last year, encouraging all couples to have two children. The number of newborns in China reached 18.7 million last year, an increase of 11 percent over 2015, and about 45 percent of them were a second child, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission. A Sichuan museum offers a lantern show and a chance to explore ancient Egypt with high-tech guidance, Mei Jia reports. To most residents of Chengdu, Spring Festival is often linked with large-scale lantern shows. Jinsha Site Museum is one of the country's first museums that also hosts a lantern show - this year with an Egyptian twist. The pyramids and other symbolic images from ancient Egypt have been turned into large-scale lantern installations made of bamboo, cloth and paper. Some are more than 15 meters tall. By day, they are outdoor decorations; at night, they lighten up the sky over the museum and echo the lanterns of ancient Sichuan culture. Three souvenirs based on Xiao You, an ancient bronze wine vessel from Shang Dynasty, in the shape of "angry birds" characters. [Photo/Chinanews.com] Shanxi has released a series of new creative cultural products on Sunday. Money boxes based on the Xiao You, an ancient bronze wine vessel from Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 BC), in the shape of "angry birds" characters, and blue and white porcelain plate paintings of four ancient literary figures were unveiled at the Taiyuan Art Museum in Shanxi. The most popular cultural creative product in 2016 was also announced. The event aims to promote new cultural products, showcase cultural achievements and seek an outlet for the development of creative cultural products in Shanxi. Museum curator Wang Ding said that the relics, artworks that were once only displayed in museums and exhibition halls, are reaching common people's lives through creative design and uses. Shanxi has made much effort to develop its creative cultural industry, and a cultural product exhibition will be held each year in the future during the Spring Festival and Lantern Festival to promote its cultural industry. The following dishes, labeled Chinese food, are very popular in some western Chinese restaurants, but ask anyone in China and you'll get a blank look, unless they've studied or worked outside the country. Beef and broccoli Chinese eat beef, Chinese eat broccoli, but they never eat beef and broccoli together. On the other hand, we love fried broccoli -- just the flowering green vegetable fried in soybean oil, sometimes with an added hit of chili. As for beef, we Chinese would prefer it stewed with potatoes or tomatoes. General Tso's chicken Whenever non-Chinese try to discuss Chinese cuisine, they can't avoid this dish. General Tso's chicken is beloved by many of our western friends, but it really has nothing to do with Chinese food. By "Chinese food" here, I mean the food popular at least in one part of China. After all, it's often difficult for a food to be loved across China thanks to its vast land and food variety. The sweet chicken dish's origins have been frequently discussed online and I won't bother to detail it here. What I can assure you is that natives in Hunan, General Tso's hometown, have never heard of and will never be interested in this so-called Hunan dish. The pipe 'doctors' use a stethoscope-like instrument to listen for water leaking from underground pipes in Qingdao, Shandong province, Feb 10, 2017. [Photo/VCG] They are protectors who work in the middle of night to maintain the water supply system in cities and reduce water waste. Wang Meng and Liu Xiaoshuang are maintenance workers at a water company in Qingdao, Shandong province. Just like doctors use a stethoscope to examine patients, they use listening devices to check for water leaking from underground pipes. In order to avoid noises that disturb their work, they listen for the sound of leaks from 10 pm to 2 am. Wang and Liu inspect about 10 kilometers of pipes every night. Acute hearing is, of course, necessary and they also very knowledgeable about hydromechanics and electricity. The job requires extensive experience. While high-tech devices give them support, Wang Meng said they rely on that experience. A senior inventor shows his official patent certificates for his innovations in boilers. Facing a growing number of patent filings, the State Intellectual Property Office is working to speed up its processing process.[Photo provided for China Daily] Some recent headlines claim Chinese companies overwhelmingly "don't innovate", "lack creativity" and with the help of the Chinese authorities are "thieving" US intellectual property. They also claim the new administration in the United States has vowed to tackle this "massive theft". But other headlines state China is a "top innovator" because it receives the most patent applications of any country and that the Chinese government strongly supports this growth through strategic planning. These disparate narratives suggest that China's patent policy has either failed to make China an innovative country, or it is already an innovation powerhouse. The fact is, China is not yet a top global innovator, although it is innovating, is serious about protecting IP and is strategically advancing in these areas. As such, the new US administration should look beyond misleading headlines and develop a nuanced policy response to these shifting dynamics. China is the world's leading filer of domestic patent applications and it has significantly contributed to this accomplishment by providing various incentives for patenting. However, the quality of many of China's patents, and therefore the extent to which they represent true innovation, has come under scrutiny in recent years. In response, the Chinese government has proposed a series of important guidelines and plans in the last three years to better incentivize quality patents. These include the recently issued National Intellectual Property Development Strategy which sets ambitious targets to stimulate valuable patents (alongside its target for every 10,000 people to own 14 invention patents by 2020). It says, for example, 2 trillion yuan ($291.4 billion) in technology contracts should be registered and $8 billion in export income from royalties and franchising fees should be accrued from Chinese IP by 2020. China has also developed a range of initiatives attempting to better encourage usage of inventions, recognizing the significant gap between patenting and commercialization. For example, the latest draft revision to the patent law adds an entirely new chapter of instruments to facilitate patent commercialization. Although China experiences many IP rights infringements, IP laws are generally enforced in the country and the government is seriously improving IP protection. China is home to more patent lawsuits than any other country but also has relatively strong institutions for reasonably adjudicating these disputes. And not only foreign companies enforce IP protection in China. In fact, in part because their innovation capabilities, many Chinese enterprises have grown to a critical level where they need IP protection as much as foreign companies. Most of the IP lawsuits in China (more than 98 percent) are between domestic companies, not between foreign and domestic enterprises. Moreover, in the last few years, the Chinese leadership has made improving IP protection a national priority. In 2014 and 2015, the first specialized IP courts in China were established in three major cities (in addition to the many IP "tribunals" already in place throughout the country), making China part of a limited number of countries to have such a mechanism. Plus, there have been an incredible number of recent legislative changes improving IP protection, including dramatically increasing statutory damages that courts can award for IP infringement. And foreign companies today generally win their IP cases in Chinese courts. Also, in the last three years, the Chinese authorities have significantly strengthened regulation of abuse of patent monopolies and proactively enforced these new rules. What does this mean for the US? Supported at least partially by the State, the likely increase in the quality of Chinese patents should better foster innovation, which will create collaborative opportunities and a wealthier consumer base from which foreign companies can profit. At the same time, these developments will increase competition. Also, stronger IP institutions and new IP laws will enable some Chinese enterprises to better litigate against their foreign counterparts. And new regulations will restrict certain IP monopolies. These dynamics show that China's IP and innovation capabilities, and the State's role in building them, cannot be distilled into the simplistic media headlines currently dominating some discourses. Instead, they present more nuanced challenges and opportunities. Of course, the US authorities should continue their productive work engaging China on IP protection. But the sooner the new US administration realizes that China in fact can innovate, the faster American policymakers can respond to reality. That will allow the US to craft the type of foreign and domestic policy needed to keep America competitive in a changing world where China, too, may eventually be an IP and innovation powerhouse. The author is a research collaborator at the GLORAD Center for Global R&D and Innovation, Tongji University, Shanghai. Red flags on the Tian'anmen Square and atop the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. [Photo/Xinhua] Sunday marked the first anniversary of the remarks on the publicity work of the Communist Party of China made by General Secretary Xi Jinping during his visit to some major media outlets. In his remarks, he expounded profoundly on the important role of the media, its responsibilities and mission, giving a powerful stimulus to both the domestic and international significance of journalism. Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, Xi has attached great importance to the publicity work and has delivered important guidance to enrich and develop it. Under his direction, the country's media are making unremitting efforts to advance reform and innovation in line with the trends of the times, and adhering to the mission of transmitting positive energy to the public and strengthening people's confidence in their ability to jointly realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Reform and innovation are a source of vitality for the CPC's media work. With the rapid development of new media, its publicity work has entered a new social arena. And, whether through the promotion of specific themes or in the coverage of hot issues, the media are focused on telling Chinese stories and spreading the Chinese voice. Practice tells us that to better communicate with the public and the outside world, the media must adhere to the correct orientation of enriching people's spiritual world and building up their spiritual strength. All media outlets should stay true to their mission and continuously make the CPC's voice heard, so as to consolidate the ideological foundation for unity and the struggle to achieve the Chinese Dream. Chinese media also have to strengthen the building of China's international communication capacity to make the nation's voice better heard in the international arena and enhance the power of its international discourse.--Xinhua News Agency A file photo of Chinas Supreme People's Court (SPC). [Photo: Xinhua] A recent assault on a judge in a county in East China's Jiangsu province by a discontented litigant once again highlighted the urgent need for better protection of judges. CCTV.com commented on Sunday: The judge of a court in Shuyang county was hit by a car on his way to work on Friday afternoon, and was then continually stabbed by the driver, a litigant who was dissatisfied with the judge's verdict in a court case. This was the latest in a series of attacks against judges nationwide. On Jan 26, a retired judge in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region was stabbed to death at his home by the defendant in a divorce case he handled 22 years ago. In early 2016, a Beijing judge was shot at home by a man who was discontent with the verdict she handed down in his divorce case. The frequent violent assaults on judges have made it imperative to find ways to protect them. Such bloody incidents mean that there should be no delay in establishing an effective mechanism to guarantee they can fulfill their responsibilities without worrying about their personal safety. Judges are not only the mediators but also the final referees in disputes, so their rulings should be respected and observed by the parties involved, even if either party is dissatisfied with the outcome. The Supreme People's Court issued a guideline on Feb 7, specifying concrete measures for judges' protection and vowing to punish those who disturb the work of the courts or assault judges and court employees. This is a much-needed move. More workable follow-up measures should be taken so that the judiciary can work in an environment free from fear, and the authority and dignity of the law are maintained. The Zubao Coal Mine where a blast occurred is seen in Lianyuan city, Central China's Hunan province, Feb 14, 2017.[Photo/Xinhua] On Tuesday, a gas explosion in a coal mine in Lianyuan county in Hunan province, Central China, killed nine people according to the local authorities. However, there were actually 10 victims and the Lianyuan officials sought to hide the fact. Xinhuanet comments: Why did the Lianyuan officials try to hide the death of one victim? The answer lies in the classification of accidents. According to a regulation of the State Council, China's Cabinet, an accident that involves less than 10 deaths is called a "serious" accident and one that involves 10 to 30 deaths is called a "major" accident. The latter will be investigated by the higher authorities and the officials responsible face greater penalties. That's why the officials in the county tried to report fewer casualties in the accident, as they hoped to escape serious punishment. Such an act violates the law about government transparency, and is a kind of corruption because the officials are using their power in hand to protect their interests. When accidents happen, accurate information is important for the rescue efforts because the rescuers need it to decide what to do and how to save any people that may be alive but trapped. If such key information as the numbers of people involved and the deaths is concealed, the rescuers might make the wrong decisions, which in turn might lead to more casualties. The practice of officials deliberately announcing a false death toll in an accident has been disappearing with the improvement of rule of law. However, there are still some, such as the officials in Lianyuan county, who dare to try and hide the true number of deaths in an accident. A higher level of government, namely Loudi city, uncovered the lie of the county officials and it should be praised for defending the law. Those officials in Lianyuan who were responsible for trying to cover up the true number of victims in the coal mine explosion should now be held accountable for their action. LUO JIE/CHINA DAILY US warships have begun a fresh round of "freedom of navigation" patrols in the South China Sea. Despite China's strong opposition, the USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group began what are described by the US navy as "routine operations" in the waters on Saturday. They are the US Navy's first such operations since US President Donald Trump was sworn in, and sent a message that the new administration in the United States might be continuing with the strategy of rebalancing to the Asia-Pacific initiated by the previous administration. However, as has been shown by previous patrols, such maneuvers only raise tensions in the waters. And the new patrols will only add more uncertainty to the regional security situation. After becoming highly volatile, the regional situation had become calmer after Rodrigo Duterte took office as president of the Philippines and adopted a different approach to the territorial disputes with China compared with his predecessor Benigno Aquino III. That Duterte has invited both Chinese and US navies to clamp down on piracy by Abu Sayyaf, an Islamic State-linked group known for kidnapping and extortion, was widely viewed as a positive move for the two navies to cooperate to safeguard a major sea lane against the constant attacks by the Islamic militants based in southern Philippines, as they pose a threat to international shipping. The Philippines is also considering inviting Japan, which reportedly offered to send patrol ships to help it deal with surging piracy in the important sea lane. Short of patrol vessels and aircraft, the current anti-piracy operations being jointly conducted by the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia face many problems. For example, despite their efforts, maritime kidnappings increased to a 10-year high last year. As such, assistance by the US and China to curb piracy could make a difference to the situation. Collaborating with Beijing and Washington to provide public goods in the South China Sea is also in the diplomatic interests of Manila, and should smooth the ruffled feathers of the US, because despite his harsh, sometimes hostile, comments against its superpower ally, the Philippines remains open to the US' military presence in the region and committed to their bilateral defense agreements. But like the other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Philippines values the bloc's role in balancing the geopolitical competition in the region and may be not willing to take sides between the major players. As Singapore's Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said on Sunday : "If US foreign policy, de facto is predominantly anti-China, I think it will be a frustrating decade for many of us in ASEAN and in Asia. Similarly for China, if its efforts are viewed as means to usurp US as the resident Pacific power. Countries will de facto have to choose sides and be put into lose-win situations." That Trump's security advisers are conservative, hawkish on China, and lack experience in dealing with Asian affairs therefore does not bode well. In all likelihood, Trump will not ignore his advisers' suggestions on Asia. As a result, the rebalancing to Asia-Pacific strategy, which Trump had shown little interest in carrying forward on the campaign trail, could be back in the geopolitical game. The Asia-Pacific is a vast region, and there is room for both China and the US. But there is a risk that tensions between Beijing and Washington will escalate if Trump persists with his predecessor's divisive legacy. The author is a researcher at the National Institute of International Strategy at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. People sing the US national anthem as they take part in an "I am Muslim Too" rally in Times Square Manhattan, New York, US February 19, 2017. [Photo/Agencies] NEW YORK - About 1000 New Yorkers rallied in Times Square, dubbed as the Crossroads of the World on Sunday, to show solidarity with New York City's Muslim community, protesting US President Donald Trump's immigration policy. "We are here today to show middle America our beautiful signs and, through our beautiful actions and intention, that they have been misled," Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, co-host of the "Today, I Am A Muslim Too" rally, told protesters on a stage set up on the corner of 48th Street and Broadway, against the backdrop of an American flag. "We are here unified because of Donald Trump," Simmons said. "We want to thank him for bringing us together." Another of the event's organizers, Imam Shamsi Ali, a prominent Muslim Scholar, said the rally was not just for the Muslim faith. "This rally today is for America. Do you know why? Because any harm that happens to the Muslim community, which is an integral part of this nation, is harm to all Americans." Linda Sarsour, Director of the Arab American Association of New York, urged fellow residents to commit to never allowing history repeat itself. Trump signed an executive order on January 27, temporarily banning all people from seven majority-Muslim countries and nearly all refugees from entering the United States. The order has been put on hold as judges around the country have questioned its constitutionality. Despite the legal challenges to the travel ban, Trump administration has promised a revised version as early as this week. The protesters, holding signs including "I AM A MUSLIM TOO", "We the people" and "Ban the wall not immigrants", chanted "not my president" and "hey hey, ho ho, Donald Trump has got to go." "I'm an immigrant myself, I'm here to support the cause. My families are immigrants, I'm here to support all Muslims, every immigrant around in America," Beatrize Ramirez, a white lady in her 20s, told Xinhua. Savria Symist, who is black and also in her 20s, could agreed no more. "America is built on immigrants, we are all immigrants. My families are immigrants too. I feel that all these need to stop." "We want the whole world to know that America isn't a country full of racist people," Joe Ronson, a white Musician, said. "Still a lot of people are here to support each other, and to support what America is really about, that is more equality, tolerance, you know, (symbolized by )the statue of liberty." JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu turned down a regional peace plan pitched to him by then US Secretary of States John Kerry last year, Israeli media reported Sunday. Netanyahu participated in a meeting to discuss the plan in the Jordanian city of Aqaba in February 2016, which also included Jordan's King Abdullah II and Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, Ha'aretz newspaper reported. Kerry offered a regional Arab recognition of Israel as a Jewish state -- a key demand of Netanyahu -- with a resumption of the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians with the support of Arab countries. According to Ha'aretz, which cited an unnamed former official in the Barack Obama administration, Netanyahu refused the proposal. A spokesman for Netanyahu declined to comment on the report. Israel's Ynet news site reported that in a meeting of ministers from his Likud party, also on Sunday, Netanyahu confirmed he participated in the secret meeting. The last round of peace talks between Israel and Palestine reached an impasse in April 2014 over Israel's continuous expansion of the West Bank settlements and the unity government between Fatah and Hamas. The US-sponsored talks that lasted for nine months achieved no tangible results. Iraqi security forces on Sunday announced the commencement of a new phase of offensive to drive out the extremist militants of Islamic State (IS) group from its major stronghold in the western side of Mosul, the Iraqi military said. [Photo/Agencies] BAGHDAD - Iraqi security forces on Sunday announced the commencement of a new phase of offensive to drive out the extremist militants of Islamic State (IS) group from its major stronghold in the western side of Mosul, the Iraqi military said. The Iraqi army, federal police and some paramilitary units of the Hashd Shaabi have started their advance in the early morning from south and west of the Mosul. The troops, so far, have managed to retake control of a total of 17 villages as they are marching closer to the fringes of the western side of the city, according to a statement by the Iraqi Joint Operations Command. In south of Mosul, the federal police forces and Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) fought sporadic clashes with IS militants as the troops recaptured nine villages and the power station that provide electricity to the western side of Mosul. The troops killed many extremist militants and destroyed 14 booby-trapped vehicles along with a vehicle carrying IS militants, the statement said, adding that the troops have seized a total of 60 square kilometers in south of the city during the day. In west of Mosul, the army's 9th armored Division recaptured six more villages as they advanced to Attshana Hills, some 10 km west of Mosul, after sporadic clashes with IS militants, the statement said. The troops killed many IS militants and destroyed two of their booby-trapped vehicles, a shovel truck and a vehicle carrying extremist militants, the statement said, adding that the troops have seized a total of 63 square kilometers in west of Mosul during the day. Also in west of the city, a paramilitary unit of Hashd Shaabi teamed up with a Brigade of the 9th Division and advanced in vast open area in west of Mosul, recapturing the villages of Hamza and Gaisoum Hill, destroying three car bombs and a vehicle carrying heavy machine gun, according to the statement. The troops' advance toward Mosul came after the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the start of an offensive to drive the extremist militants out of the western side of Mosul, locally known as the right bank of Tigris River which bisects the city. "We announce the start of a new phase in the operation (We Are Coming Nineveh) to liberate the western side of Mosul," Abadi said in a brief televised address, referring to the province of Nineveh, of which Mosul is the capital city. "Our main task is to liberate the people before liberating the land," Abadi, who is also the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi forces, said in his address. Late in January, Abadi declared the liberation of the eastern side of Mosul, or the left bank of Tigris, after more than 100 days of fighting against the extremist IS militants. However, the western side of Mosul appears to be a bigger challenge to the Iraqi forces with its narrow streets and heavy population of between 750,000 and 800,000 people, according to the United Nations (UN) estimates. Mosul, 400 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, has been under IS control since June 2014, when Iraqi government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling IS militants to take control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions. BRUSSELS - Discord over the Greek debt negotiations are set to overshadow a meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels on Monday. The Eurogroup is due to meet on Monday, during which it will discuss a range of issues, including the ongoing second review of Greece's economic adjustment program. Finance ministers are expected to focus on the second review of the economic adjustment program for Greece and the approval of further financial support consisting of 86 billion euros (91 billion US dollars). The meeting comes with Greece due to make a 7.2 billion euros repayment in July, and key national elections just around the corner in the Netherlands, France and Germany. The Greek review has been carried out by the European Commission, the European Central Bank, the European Stability Mechanism and the International Monetary Fund. Ahead of the ministerial, European lawmakers have been taking turns to offer advice to Eurogroup members. The Greens/European Free Alliance group in the European Parliament has called for negotiations with Greece, which has an estimated 44 percent youth unemployment, to be "swiftly concluded". A spokesman said, "Financial support for Greece must not be made conditional on further cuts to pensions, or other austerity measures." Elsewhere, GUE/NGL's Greek MEPs have said it is time for the "uncertainty" over Greece's debt to end. Dimitrios Papadimoulis, Vice-President of the European Parliament, said, "On 20 February, we need some white smoke coming out of the meeting so that we're not wasting any more time. We need to bring an end to this wretched ping-pong match. It's time for creditors to respect their commitments." Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. License for publishing multimedia online 0108263 Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 JAKARTA -- Indonesia's resort island of Bali has earned the Best Island title awarded by Singapore-based influential travel website DestinAsian through its recent 2017 Readers Choice Award (RCA). It was the 12th of such a title received by the island from the media consecutively. The award was resulted from the readers' picks on best Asian prominent destination islands asked by the website. Natural beauties, cultural and culinary richness, commendable hospitality accommodation and local people's friendliness were accounted as reasons to pick Bali as the best Asian destination island. "This is a praiseworthy title. Bali now has earned it in 12 consecutive years as the best island picked by DestinAsian Readers Choice Awards (RCA)," Tourism Deputy Minister for Foreign Marketing I Gde Pitana said recently to welcome the award. Bali outclassed Phuket, Maldives and Langkawi in DestinAsian RCA's 10 best Asian destinations with Indonesia's Lombok picked at the tenth. In hospitality category, the DestinAsian readers picked Bali's Alila Villas Uluwatu as the Best boutique hotel. Meanwhile in hotel spa category, Bali won the readers' pick with Ayana Spa and Bali Four Season Resort's The Spa secured the third rank. Apart from those categories, Destinasian readers ranked state-run airline Garuda Indonesia as the third in best economy class for airline category. In airline frequent flier program category, Garuda was ranked the fifth. Indonesian Tourism Minister Arief Yahya hailed such an appreciation from the reputable travel review website, saying that it would encourage the efforts to further boost the tourism sector which has been declared as the nation's core business. "We should go further in pursuing world class reputation so as to place our Wonderful Indonesia brand exists in any competition," the minister said in a statement. DETROIT When it comes to getting stuck in traffic on the way to and from work, Los Angeles leads the world. Drivers in the car-crazy California metropolis spent 104 hours each driving in congestion during peak travel periods last year. That topped second-place Moscow at 91 hours and third-place New York at 89, according to a traffic scorecard compiled by Inrix, a transportation analytics firm. The US had half the cities on Inrix's list of the top 10 most congested areas in the world and was the most congested developed country on the planet, Inrix found. US drivers averaged 42 hours per year in traffic during peak times, the study found. San Francisco was the fourth-most congested city, while Bogota, Colombia, was fifth, Sao Paulo ranked sixth and London, Atlanta, Paris and Miami rounded out the top 10. Being stuck in traffic cost the average US driver $1,400 last year and nearly $300 billion for all drivers nationwide, Inrix said. Study authors said a stable US economy, continued urbanization of big cities, employment growth and low gas prices all contributed to increased traffic and congestion worldwide in 2016, lowering the quality of life. It's not likely to get better anytime soon, wrote Bob Pishue, senior economist at Inrix. "The demand for driving is expected to continue to rise, while the supply of roadway will remain flat," he said in a statement. Pishue suggests that governments use traffic data and technology to make traffic move more smoothly while they consider additional road projects. Of 240 US cities studied by Inrix, drivers in Parkersburg, West Virginia., spent the least about of time stuck in traffic during peak hours at three hours per year. Inrix said it analyzed 1,064 cities worldwide across 38 countries to come up with its rankings. Since Inrix doesn't gather its own data in either China or Japan, cities in those countries were not ranked. SYDNEY -- A Greek-Australian family of four faces deportation after incorrectly filling out a visa application form. Nina Christidi and Stefanos Stefanoglou, who have lived in Melbourne with their two children for five years, could be forced to leave Australia due to a simple administrative error. Christidi said that when she was filling out the online visa application she mistakenly answered "no" to a question asking whether she, or anyone in the family, was planning to study in Australia, believing the question only applied to her. "It was an honest mistake, I genuinely thought the question referred to whether I intended to study or not," Christidi told News Limited in comments published on Monday. However, since the couples' children attend school in Melbourne, the Department of Immigration has said that it was provided with misleading information, which is grounds for cancelling a visa. If the family, who live in Oakleigh in Melboure's south-east, withdraw the incorrect application they face the prospect of their visa being cancelled and would have to spend up to 7500 US dollars on an application re-lodgement. "I can't afford to spend the money on another application... I just wanted to fix my mistake," Christidi said. "My children have never been to school in Greece. Melbourne is our home." The children were 11 months and four years old when the family moved to Melbourne in 2012. Christidi's son, Erotokriti, has Global Developmental Delay (GDD) and attends a special school. "Until he's ready for a mainstream school, Erotokriti goes to a special school to help and guide him," she said. "He wouldn't stand a chance in Athens." Christidi said the prospect of having to leave Australia "worried her sick." "Australia is our home, we came here to give our children a better life and more ?opportunities," she said. "My husband and I work very hard and want to give back to this beautiful country." The organizers of a UK-based charity are urging people to donate books and supplies to help with the provision of libraries in schools and orphanages in poor regions of China. The Books for Kids project was put together by charity Mothers' Bridge of Love. One of the charity's aims is to help bridge China's poverty gap. Since MBL was set up in 2004, the group has built 22 school libraries in rural areas of China and supported children from Tibetan, Muslim and migrant communities, as well as those impacted by earthquakes in 2008 and 2012 in mountainous parts of Sichuan province. Julie Zhu, volunteer and activity manager for MBL said: "When we give these books to the children in poorer areas of China, we see their desire for knowledge and reading. Many tell us they would like their parents to buy them books as gifts, rather than new clothes." But Zhu said the group needs more donations to continue its efforts. "We need textbooks for teaching, as well as literature books, in both Chinese and in English," she said. Another aim of MBL is to help Chinese children who have been adopted into Western families connect with their birth culture and history. "The families which we have supported, in turn help us in our causes by donating books and also we've reached out to publishing companies to donate the books," Zhu said. "We will continue to try our best to improve the living conditions in impoverished regions of China." MBL volunteers travel to China, taking with them books, desks, chairs, bookcases, heaters, maps and globes for libraries. Volunteers also carry out research to learn about how the charity can make a difference to children's lives. "This project provides our volunteers with a learning experience. It is about interacting with a different culture," Zhu said. "We want to give the children hope after they see these books and our various donations. I would like to see schoolchildren from other backgrounds take the time to learn about those less fortunate than them as a way of developing self-understanding and compassion." The charitable organization has provided assistance, advice and educational support to families around the world that includes medical treatment for disabled orphans, and a number of disaster relief and educational projects in China. Thailand will pay close attention to the two sessions as this year's meetings are especially timely and important, said Karntimon Ruksakiati, Charge dAffaires ad interim of the Royal Thai Embassy in China. Karntimon Ruksakiati, Charge dAffaires ad interim of the Royal Thai Embassy in China. The annual two sessions of the NPC, the top legislative body, and the CPPCC, the top advisory body, will be held in March, and as a longstanding friend and comprehensive strategic partner of China, Thailand conveys its best wishes for the upcoming event, she said. Ruksakiati told China Daily that this year's two sessions are important because they will be held against the backdrop of ongoing reforms in China, which continue to make substantial progress, while some approach key junctures, such as economic reforms. Ruksakiati said she will follow the discussions of all the key topics, but one of particular interest to Thailand is economic development. "The growing discourse of trade protectionism and anti-globalization in some parts of the world, amid sluggish global economic growth, is a common concern for many developing countries, including Thailand," she said. "Thailand and China are key trade and investment partners at the bilateral level and beyond. Our key economic development policies are also complementary to each other, especially the One Belt, One Road Initiative and Thailand 4.0," she said. "Therefore, we will certainly study specific economic initiatives from this years meetings as we look to further enhance our economic cooperation." She said she is confident that under the able guidance of the Chinese leadership, this year's two sessions will continue to achieve tangible outcomes, and play a key role in charting the future direction for development. China, she added, will continue its proactive and responsible role in promoting regional and international cooperation for common development, peace and stability. STOCKHOLM -- Global arms trade in the last five years has reached its highest point since the end of the Cold War, with the United States remaining the world's largest weapons exporter, a study said on Monday. The volume of international transfers of major weapons has grown continuously since 2004 and increased by 8.4 percent between 2007-2011 and 2012-2016, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in Sweden. As the top arms exporter during the five years through 2016, the United States accounted for a one-third share of all weapon exports worldwide, the study said. "The USA supplies major arms to at least 100 countries around the world -- significantly more than any other supplier state," said Aude Fleurant, director of the SIPRI Arms and Military Expenditure Program. Most of the weapons were very expensive and strategically important, she added. Of all the US exported weapons in the last five years, 47 percent ended up in the Middle East, with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey becoming the top three major buyers. Saudi Arabia, which launches a military intervention in Yemen in early 2015, was the world's second largest arms importer after India. It increased its intake by 212 percent compared with 2007-2011, mainly from the Untied States and Britain. US Vice President Mike Pence and European Council President Donald Tusk hold a joint news conference in Brussels, Belgium, February 20, 2017. [Photo/Agencies] BRUSSELS - US Vice President Mike Pence sought to reassure the European Union in Brussels on Monday that the Trump administration will maintain and develop decades of partnership in trade and security. Donald Tusk, who chairs the European Council of EU leaders, told reporters that Pence gave him affirmative answers when asked about his view on three key issues - the importance of the international order based on international law, security based on NATO and the idea of a united Europe. "After such a positive declaration, both Europeans and Americans must simply practise what they preach," he said in a statement after the two men met. President Donald Trump alarmed EU leaders by endorsing Britain's decision to leave the bloc and by suggesting last month that other states might follow. Pence spent the weekend in Germany seeking to reassure Europeans that Trump was committed to the NATO defence pact, but left some unconvinced. Pence said Trump had asked him to come to Brussels, the home of the European Union, with an additional message. "Today is my privilege on behalf of President Trump to express the strong commitment of the United States to continue cooperation and partnership with the European Union," he said. "Whatever our differences, our two continents share the same heritage, the same values and above all, the same purpose to promote peace and prosperity through freedom, democracy and the rule of law. And to those objectives we will remain committed." BEIJING -- Mongolia reaffirmed its commitment to the one-China policy on Monday during the visit by the country's foreign minister, after bilateral relations were disrupted by the Dalai Lama's visit to the landlocked country in November. A long-standing, stable, mutually beneficial and equal relationship with China is Mongolia's primary foreign policy goal, Mongolian Foreign Minister Tsend Munkh-Orgil said in Beijing. Speaking at a joint press conference with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi after their two-hour-long talks, Munkh-Orgil said Tibet is an inseparable part of China and Tibet-related issues are China's internal affairs. Mongolia made efforts to repair ties with China and promised it would never allow future visits by the Dalai Lama, a political exile with ambitions to split Tibet from China under the guise of religion. Hailing the Mongolian foreign minister's statement, Wang said it was important for the two countries to boost ties from a new beginning. The two countries should outline high-level communication, synergize China's Belt and Road Initiative with Mongolia's Prairie Road program and promote cooperation in various fields, Wang said. Munkh-Orgil said the Belt and Road Initiative would bring great opportunities for Mongolia's development, adding that Mongolian Prime Minister Jargaltulga Erdenebat will visit China and attend the Belt and Road forum for international cooperation in May. He also thanked China for its support during Mongolia's financial difficulties. Vice President Li Yuanchao also met with Munkh-Orgil on Monday, during which both sides agreed to protect the political foundation for bilateral relations. LONDON London's mayor says that President Donald Trump shouldn't receive a state visit in Britain because of his "cruel" policies on immigration. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan speaks at an event to turn on Oxford Street's Christmas lights in London, Britain November 6, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] Sadiq Khan said Sunday the US president should not get VIP treatment when he comes to Britain later this year because of his "ban on people from seven Muslim-majorities countries" and his decision to block refugees from entering the United States. Khan said that "in those circumstances we shouldn't be rolling out the red carpet."He spoke one day before British legislators are expected to debate a proposal to downgrade the planned state visit. The debate was scheduled in response to an online petition calling for the honor to be rescinded. A state visit usually includes extensive pomp and a stay at Buckingham Palace. US President Donald Trump said on Monday that Lieutenant General Herbert Raymond McMaster would be his new national security adviser, again turning to the US military to play a central role on his foreign policy team. Trump also named Keith Kellogg, a retired US Army General who has been serving as the acting national security adviser, as chief of staff to the National Security Council. Speaking to reporters in West Palm Beach where he spent the weekend, Trump said John Bolton, a former US ambassador to the United Nations, would serve the administration in another capacity. McMaster is a highly regarded military tactician and strategic thinker, but his selection surprised some observers who wondered how McMaster, who is known for questioning authority, would deal with a White House that has not welcomed criticism. He replaces a Trump loyalist. Michael Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general, was fired as national security adviser on Feb. 13 after reports emerged that he had misled Vice President Mike Pence about speaking to Russia's ambassador about US sanctions before Trump's inauguration. The ouster, coming so early in Trump's administration, was another upset for a White House that has been hit by miscues, including the controversial rollout of a travel ban on people from seven Muslim-majority countries, since the Republican president took office on Jan. 20. Trump spent the weekend considering his options for replacing Flynn. His first choice, retired Vice Admiral Robert Harward, turned down the job last week. The national security adviser is an independent aide to the president and does not require confirmation by the US Senate. The role has varied from administration to administration, but the adviser attends National Security Council meetings along with the heads of the State Department, the Department of Defense and key security agencies. McMaster, 54, is a West Point graduate known as "H.R.," with a PhD in US history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was listed as one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in 2014, partly because of his willingness to buck the system. A combat veteran, he gained renown in the first Gulf War - and was awarded a Silver Star - after he commanded a small troop of the US 2nd Army Cavalry Regiment that destroyed a much larger Iraqi Republican Guard force in 1991 in a place called 73 Easting, for its map coordinates, in what many consider the biggest tank battle since World War Two. As one fellow officer put it, referring to Trump's inner circle of aides and speaking on condition of anonymity, the Trump White House "has its own Republican Guard, which may be harder for him to deal with than the Iraqis were." The Iraqi Republican Guard was ousted dictator Saddam Hussein's elite military force. McMaster's fame grew after his 1997 book "Dereliction of Duty" criticized the country's military and political leadership for poor leadership during the Vietnam War. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets with Mongolian Foreign Minister Munkh-Orgil (L) ahead of a meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China, February 20, 2017. [Photo/VCG] Beijing will expand economic aid as ties 'ready for another start' China extended its support to Mongolia on Monday for overcoming economic difficulties, as Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced a number of measures to help the debt-ridden neighbor. Observers said that since the bilateral ties are emerging from a time of political frustration, Beijing's latest help is a sincere move to assist the landlocked neighbor to diversify its economy. The measures include providing assistance and favorable loan terms to Mongolia and extending a bilateral currency swap deal that is vital to Mongolia's foreign trade and currency stability, according to a joint news conference after Wang's talks with his visiting Mongolian counterpart Tsend Munkh-Orgil on Monday. The International Monetary Fund said on Sunday that the country has agreed to implement an economic rescue package proposed by the IMF and refinance bond loans, easing concerns that Mongolia might default on a loan in March. China supports the aid by international financial institutions to Mongolia, and it will also consider Mongolia's hope to expand exports of mineral, agriculture and husbandry products to China, Wang said. Since Mongolia is trying to avoid missing a $580 million sovereign-guaranteed debt repayment due in March, the IMF said in its statement on Sunday that the Asian Development Bank, World Bank and bilateral partners, including Japan and South Korea, will provide up to $3 billion in aid. People's Bank of China, the central Bank of China, will extend a currency swap line to Mongolia worth 15 billion yuan ($2.18 billion), while the IMF said it will offer three-year loans worth about $440 million, Agence France-Presse reported. Mongolia angered China in November by allowing a visit by the 14th Dalai Lama, who has pushed for separating Tibet from China. In January, during a phone call between Wang and his Mongolian counterpart, Mongolia said it had reflected deeply on the visit and promised to not allow the Dalai Lama to visit again. On Monday, Wang said the bilateral relationship "is ready for another start". Munkh-Orgil, the Mongolian foreign minister, said his country remains true to the one-China policy and Tibet is part of China. Additionally, Mongolia appreciates China's help in addressing economic problems, he said. He added that Mongolia's prime minister expects to visit China in May to attend the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. Xing Guangcheng, a senior researcher on Russian and Central Asian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the helping hand was offered at a time when Mongolia has fixed the trouble brought by allowing the Dalai Lama's entry, which "pushed on China's bottom line". Zhang Jingquan, a professor on Northeast Asian studies at Jilin University in Changchun, said the measures announced by Wang on Monday "are meeting the desperate need" of Mongolia. The country could take the improvement in bilateral ties as an opportunity to diversify its conomy and change its inefficient development pattern, Zhang noted. A child holds a sign as people denounce policies of President Trump on Presidents Day at the Not My President's Day Rally in Los Angeles, California February 20, 2017. [Photo/Agencies] Thousands of demonstrators turned out Monday across the US to challenge Donald Trump in a Presidents' Day protest dubbed Not My President's Day. The numbers weren't close to the million-plus who thronged the streets following Trump's inauguration a month earlier, but the message was similar. Thousands of flag-waving protesters lined up outside Central Park in Manhattan. Many in the crowd chanted "No ban, no wall. The Trump regime has got to fall." They held aloft signs saying "Uphold the Constitution Now" and "Impeach the Liar." In Chicago, several hundred rallied across the river from the Trump Tower, shouting "Hey, hey, ho, ho, Donald Trump has got to go." Rebecca Wolfram of Chicago, who's in her 60s, said concerns about climate change and immigrant rights under Trump prompted her to start attending rallies. "I'm trying to demonstrate as much as possible until I figure out what else to do," said Wolfram, who held a sign that said "Old white ladies are really displeased." Several hundred demonstrated in Washington, D.C. Dozens gathered around the fountain in Dupont Circle chanting "Dump Trump" and "Love, not hate: That's what makes America great." Dozens marched through midtown Atlanta for a rally named with a Georgia flavor: "ImPEACH NOW! (Not My) President's Day March." Hundreds of protesters chanting "This is what democracy looks like" marched through Salt Lake City. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that the crowd marched to push back against Trump and his administration's stance on such issues as the environment, immigration, free speech and Russia. Some people raised signs that said "Not My President," while others held up a large American flag. Protester Reg Brookings warned the crowd that Trump is trying to divide the country by making such groups as immigrants the enemy. (Photo : Getty Images) As a counter-terrorism measure, China has decided to seal the Sino-Pakistan border to curb terrorism in Muslim-dominated Xinjiang province. Advertisement The security along the Sino-Pakistan border would be further tightened in a desperate bid to curb terrorist activities in China's Muslim-dominated Xinjiang province, according to Chinese state media. The decision comes barely weeks after a terrorist attack occurred in the region that left five people dead. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The state media reported that Xinjiang's Chairman Shohrat Zakir made a pledge during a public speech that security along the China-Pakistan border would be beefed up "to prevent terrorists from entering or leaving the region illegally in 2017." Zakir claimed that local officials have already stepped up its efforts at entry-exit level to stop illegal movements of people across the border. Pakistan so far has not issued any statement over the report. Several local officials including the Communist Party head of Kashgar prefecture, which borders Pakistan, have been raising concerns over laxed border security following the terrorist attack on Dec. 28. These concerns in a way openly signify displeasure towards Pakistan, whom China considers as its strategic ally in South Asia. China has been continuously pressurising Islamabad to curb the inflow of terrorists through its border region in Xinjiang province. However, China and Pakistan have not gone public over the sensitive issue, especially due to their immensely close friendship that is mainly driven by their geo-political interest. But Pakistan officially maintains that it is ready to address Beijing's concerns on terrorism. It must be noted that last year, China and Pakistan armies had also conducted a joint military operation in Xinjiang province. The aim of the operation was to enhance both armies counter terrorism skills. Xinjiang province over the years has become a major security headache for China, with Uighur Muslim separatists fighting low intensity insurgency war against Chinese government. The government fears that this low insurgency may get a further push due to Xinjiang's proximity with terrorism porn regions like Pakistan and Afghanistan. Advertisement Tagschina, China and Pakistan, Xinjiang Province, Pakistan, Xinjiang, China terrorism, China Muslism (Photo : Xinhua) China's People's Armed Police strike fear in Xinjiang. Advertisement China has the largest budget for suppressing internal dissent in the world -- far exceeding the money it spends on the People's Liberation Army (PLA) that defends it from external threats -- and a massive military rally yesterday in Muslim dominated Xinjiang province shows where that money is being spent. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement China's People's Armed Police (PAP) and soldiers of the People's Liberation Army Ground Force (PLAGF) trained to fight the United States staged a huge military parade at Urumqi, Xinjiang's capital. The parade showcased black clad PAP policemen with PLA assault rifles; black painted armored cars mounting machine guns and armed PLA infantry in camouflage uniforms in a renewed effort to cow Xinjiang's Muslims into submission. This noisy show of force also showed these armed police shouting anti-terror slogans and promising to defeat terror while police armored cars rumbled through the streets. Hundreds of ethnic Muslim Uyghurs have been killed by PAP over the past years in what Beijing routinely labels as terrorist attacks by Islamist militants. Only last week, three Uyghur men described as "thugs" by state-owned media stabbed five people dead before being shot dead by the PAP. Analysts say the increase in the number of anti-terror rallies held by the PAP in several cities of Xinjiang are a response to increased in violence in the region where Muslim Uyghurs are fighting for independence from China. Zhu Hailun, deputy secretary of the Communist Party in Xinjiang, said the Urumqi rally was a sign of "real action" to deepen the fight against terror. The rally followed others at Kashgar and Hotan in the Uyghur heartland. He said pro-independence militants and extremists will be "smashed and destroyed." "With guns by our bodies, knives unsheathed, fists out and hands extended, we must use thunderous power to strike hard against terrorist activities," said a boisterous Zhu. The Communist Party of China (CPC), which rules China through a combination of internal repression, censorship of dissent and police brutality, routinely denies any repression in Xinjiang. What isn't talked about a lot is that the CPC spends more money defending itself from the Chinese people than it does protecting China against its enemies such as the U.S. and Japan. In 2013, the CPC spent more on public security ($112 billion) than on the PLA ($108 billion). After this revelation, the CPC stopped issuing comparative figures for public security and military spending. Advertisement Tagschina, People's Liberation Army, Xinjiang, Muslims, People's Armed Police, PAP, People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Uyghurs, Communist Party of China (Photo : Getty Images. ) Chinas state owned oil and petroleum giant The China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) has picked up 8 percent stake in oil concession operated by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC). Advertisement China's state owned oil and petroleum giant The China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) on Sunday snapped an 8 percent stake in Abu Dhabi's largest oil concession in a deal that is worth estimated to be $1.77 billion, the emirates company said. CNPC is the third Asian oil company to get a stake in the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) alongside Japanese and South Korean oil companies, while two other major European oil companies also own a stake in the oil concession. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement "This will be a mutually beneficial partnership that will enable us to maintain strong production levels," ADNOC chief executive, Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, said on the deal. CNPC chairman Wang Yilin said that he is hopeful that this multibillion dollar deal would "lead to further opportunities to participate in the UAE's energy sector." Analysts claim that ADNOC's latest deal with CNPC clearly demonstrates its tilt towards Asian companies in a bid to tap into Asia's growing oil market. China's hunger for oil propelled by its enormous population and economic growth makes it an even more lucrative market for all the gulf based oil companies. The Asian oil companies, on other hand, consider gulf region as the major source to meet the overwhelming demand of oil and natural gas existing in their respective countries, analysts say. CNPC has also invested in other oil refineries in the region, including a joint venture project with British Petroleum to develop Iraq's biggest oil field and also a stake in Saudi Arabia refinery. Besides, the Chinese oil giant has invested in over 30 oil projects spanning across Central Asia, Russia, America and, Africa and the Asia Pacific. The Chinese oil giant is responsible for solely meeting the more than half of the oil and natural gas demands of its country. According to a rough estimate, the company produces more than 50 percent of China's oil output and nearly 71 percent of its natural gas production. Meanwhile, the ADNOC would be still hunting for a partner for the remainder of the concession, the statement said. Advertisement Tagschina, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), cnpc, Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi National Oil Co, ADNOC (Photo : Getty Images) China for long has been waging a war against insurgency in the Xinjiang's Muslim Uygur community. Advertisement Chinese security forces staged another mass anti-terror rally in the insurgency-prone Xinjiang Province in response to the recent rise in the violence in the region. Nearly 10 people were killed and scores injured in China's only Muslim-dominated province in two separate violent incidents over the past two months. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Several photos uploaded on Xinjiang government's news website's on Saturday shows policemen clad with guns running through the capital city of capital Urumqi accompanied by lines of armored vehicles. The pictures also showed policemen and soldiers standing in front of the government buildings where they reportedly shouted anti-terror slogans. Xinjiang Deputy Party Secretary Zhu Hailun said the Urumqi rally, which previously passed through Kashgar and Hotan towns, is a sign of "real action" to deepen the fight against terror. Militants and extremists would be "smashed and destroyed," he added. China for long has been waging war against insurgency in the Xinjiang's Muslim Uygur community. There have been reports that scores of young people from Uygur community have crossed to Pakistan and Syria to seeking training in terrorist camps. These disturbing reports have prompted the Chinese government to seal the Xinjiang borders and to seek closer cooperation with Pakistan, Afghanistan, Russia, and other countries to fight terrorism. The restive peace in the Muslim-dominated region was broken in December last year, when terrorist's vehicle slammed into a government building, killing five people and leaving several injured. This was followed by a knife attack earlier this week that led to the death of five people and left many others injured. Advertisement Tagschina, Xinjiang Province, China Muslims, China terrorism, Xinjiang (Photo : Getty Images) Coast guard officials from Philippines and China are meeting in Subic, Zambles for the second organizational meeting of the Joint Coast Guard Committee between Feb. 20 and 23, 2017. Advertisement China and the Philippines have agreed to establish a direct communication line between the two nations' coast guards, Commander Armand Balilo, spokesperson of the Philippine Coast Guard, said. "An interim agreement will be discussed to establish the proposed Hotline Communication and Point of Contact between the two coast guards," Balilo said. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The agreement was made on Monday as officials of the China Ministry of Foreign Affairs and China Coast Guards are in the Philippines from Feb. 20 to 23 to discuss future activities in the areas of search and rescue, marine pollution prevention, suppression of unlawful acts at sea, and counter-narcotics. The two parties will also tackle port visitations for ships, training, and human resource development assistance for the Philippine Coast Guard. Balilo said that Philippine Coast Guard Officer-in-Charge Commodore Joel Garcia is looking forward to the establishment of the Joint Coast Guard Committee not only to enhance capabilities but also strengthen confidence and trust between the two nations. The second organizational meeting in Subic, Zambales for the Joint Coast Guard Committee was organized after both countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding last October during President Rodrigo Duterte's state visit to China. The first meeting was held in Manila last December. Balilo also revealed that Nikolai Patrushev, Russian Secretary of the Security Council, said that the Russian Coast Guard want to forge a similar activity with the Philippine Coast Guard. So far, there has been no mention if China would cater Duterte's request to dispatch sea patrols to help stop Islamic State militants from abducting sailors and attacking vessels. It could be noted that the tough-talking president asked for China's help last month to help safeguard trade routes in Southeast Asia. Advertisement Tagsphilippine coast guard, China Coast Guard, Joint Coast Guard Committee, South China Sea (Photo : Getty Images. ) Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari has clarified is not in competition with China in winning over foreign allies.His comments came on enroute journey to five day tour to African countries Rwanda and Uganda. Advertisement India is not in competition with China in pursuing cooperation with foreign nations, Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari told Indian reporters on enroute to five day tour to African countries Rwanda and Uganda. "We are not in competition with China or anyone else, as far as our development cooperation with foreign countries is concerned, particularly in Africa," Ansari said. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The Indian Vice President said that India's cooperation with African nations was purely for the sake of development, but claimed that decision is entirely left on them if they want to use "Indian knowledge and expertise." Without making any direct comparison with China, he lamented that India's diplomacy faces "financial constrains." He added that his visit to Rwanda and Uganda was "part of the conscious effort of the [Indian] government to strengthen our interaction with the countries of the African continent." Notably, this is the first high-level visit from India to Rwanda and first to Uganda since 1997. India over the years has shored up its efforts to reach out to the African continent, a region which was presumably ignored by India foreign ministry for a very long time. However, now New Delhi is more than making up for it, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently visiting four African nations while Indian President Pranab Mukherjee visiting three African countries lately. Indian vice president's comment of not being in competition with China is most likely to be shrugged off by most foreign analysts, who have repeatedly claimed that both Asian giants are locked in a sort of cold war to increase their clout across strategic regions in the world. These arguments get credence from the fact that both countries have been openly trying to seek footprint in each other's traditional region. China has been aggressively pursuing policy to warm up relation with all the major South Asian countries including India's close allies like Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh. India, on other hand, has been trying forge economic and military relation with China's neighbours Vietnam and Philippines, both of whom are claimants in South China Sea. Advertisement TagsIndia, china, India and China, Indian Vice President, Hamid Ansari (Photo : Getty Images) Switzerland's latest immigration policy that denies the recognition of 'Tibetan' nationality is a major blow to separatists, according to Global Times. Advertisement Switzerland has 'revised' its immigration policy for Tibetan refugees, requiring them to change their nationality to Chinese, a move to improve Bern's relationship with China. The recent initiative made it difficult for Switzerland's "Tibetans-in-exile" community to acquire official identification after the new immigration policy took effect last July, state-run Global Times reported. As a result, approval rate for asylum seekers from Tibet plunged to 50.2 percent in November, down from the 65 to 85 percent rate in 2015. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Before the rule, Tibetans were allowed to identify themselves as the citizens of "Tibet" or "Stateless." Switzerland has over 4,000 Tibets and hosts the biggest "Tibetans-in-exile" group in Europe. It is also the major base of Tibetan separatists on the continent. Having a high profile as a human right advocate, Switzerland has been accepting "Tibetans-in-exile" after China seized Tibet in 1951. However, some European nations including Switzerland have recently been reviewing their human right defenders role on the refugee crisis. According to the Global Times, Switzerland's denial to recognize the "Tibet" nationality has "no doubt dealt a blow" not only to Tibetan separatists but also to the "government-in-exile" spearheaded by the 14th Dalai Lama. The move also comes as a result of the positive Sino-Swiss diplomatic cooperation, with the report saying that Switzerland must have realized that cooperating with China, instead of supporting Tibetan separatists, would gain a strong bilateral relationship. Meanwhile, the report also urged China to seek other solutions while making efforts to integrate China's minority groups better, noting that Tibet question would not disappear together with the Dalai Lama's demise. Advertisement TagsSwitzerland, china, Tibet refugees, Dalai Lama (Photo : RSN) Houthi drone boat about the explode against the Royal Saudi Navy frigate, Al Madinah. Advertisement The U.S. Navy confirms it was a new Houthi weapon -- an unmanned, remote controlled suicide boat packed with explosives -- that blasted and heavily damaged the Royal Saudi Navy (RSN) guided missile frigate RSN Al Madinah (F702) last Jan. 30 in the Red Sea, and not a ballistic missile as claimed by the Houthis. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement New video footage released by the RSN shows a speeding drone boat about to smash into the port stern quarter of the Al Madinah. The blast killed two Saudi sailors. The U.S. Navy also said the technology to build the boat was supplied by Iran aided by "others," an indirect reference to China that has supplied Iran with many of its missiles and weapons. Shiite Iran is the main military backer of the Shiite Houthis, who are fighting to conquer all of Yemen and turn it into a Shia state after ousting its duly elected president supported by a coalition of Arab states led by Saudi Arabia. The attack on the Al Madinah is the first confirmed use of a remote controlled suicide boat by the Houthis, or by any other Islamist terrorist group for that matter. "Our assessment is that it was an unmanned, remote-controlled boat of some kind," said Vice Admiral Kevin Donegan, commander of the United States Fifth Fleet and head of United States Naval Forces Central Command based in Bahrain. Admiral Donegan also said the Houthis are the first to have deployed this new weapon in the field. He also believes the suicide boat was supplied by Iran. "I don't know that it's Iranian-built, but I believe that its production in some way was supported by Iran," said Admiral Donegan. He also pointed out a remote controlled suicide boat "is not an easy thing to develop." "There have been many terrorist groups that have tried to develop that, it's not something that was just invented by the Houthis. There's clearly support there coming from others, so that's problematic." "Here's how I connect those dots. About a year ago we began and were successful in interdicting about four weapons shipments of things going to Yemen." He said the U.S. gave the United Nations access to all the weapons it got from one of the interdictions, which wrote a report about it. "They said specifically that the weapons came from Iran and were destined for Yemen in violation of UN Security Council resolutions. That's not my assessment. That's the United Nations' assessment. Admiral Donegan said "others" might be supporting both the Houthis and Iran, which seems to be a veiled reference to China. "Maybe there's others supporting them, I don't know. But for certain these things aren't indigenous. There are parts and components that need to be coming from other places to make them effective like this." Immediately after the attack, Iranian state media claimed Houthi militants used a guided missile against the RSN warship. Iranian media quoted an analyst as claiming the warship was indeed struck by an anti-ship missile. Advertisement TagsU.S. Navy, Royal Saudi Navy, Unmanned, remote controlled suicide boat, RSN Al Madinah (F702), Iran, china, Vice Admiral Kevin Donegan, United States Fifth Fleet (Photo : YouTube) China's nuclear strategic long-range strike bomber, dubbed as H-20, will likely be announced by 2020, according to report. Advertisement China is poised to develop its home-grown, new generation long range strike bomber (LRSB) by the end of the decade. According to Chinamil, a Japanese scholar last July wrote an article entitled "China to develop new type of long-range strategic bomber," referring to the H-20. The report noted that the repeated occurrence of China's 20 series suggested that the new LRSB will be developed by 2020. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The report also suggested that China's aviation industry has entered the "Age 20" as its "20 series," ranging from J-20 to Y-20 and to Z-20," has shown the Chinese Air Force's cutting edge discoveries in weapon and equipment development. The number "20" has also been used as a code for the country's new generation aviation equipment. With China poised to develop the new LRSB and given the "20" connotations, Chinamil noted that the name H-20 would likely suit the new long-range bomber, although the official name is yet to be announced. Meanwhile, China has already gained first-hand experience from developing the Y-20 military aircraft and has overcome several technical hurdles such as air inlet, engine, material, and stealth technology. That being said, the new generation LRSB is expected to have a better stealth performance, adopting likely the flying wing layout of American and Russian bombers. The new LRSB is also anticipated to have an intercontinental flying range of over 10,000 kilometers and combat radius of more than 5,000 kilometers. In terms of payloads, the new bomber will have a smaller bomb load than the B-2A but bigger than the H-6K. The H-20 will also possess both nuclear and regular strike capabilities and could disturb and destroy incoming missiles and other air and ground targets using a range of equipment like electronic confrontation platform, high power microwave, radar, among others. It could also serve as a C4ISR node and could interact with large platforms such as UAV and early warning aircraft. "We are developing the new-generation long range strike bomber (LRSB). You will see it in the future," PLA Air Force commander Ma Xiaotian was quoted saying last September. Advertisement Tagslong range strike bomber, china, China H-20, stealth bomber (Photo : Getty Images) Taiwan's foreign ministry said that it "deeply regrets" the decision by the Spanish government, adding that the decision has "infringed upon the rights and interests of our people and ignored the tradition of the EU countries' emphasis on human rights." Advertisement Taiwan on Saturday described the Spanish government's decision to deport 200 Taiwanese citizens to Mainland China as "deeply regretful." This is the latest deportation saga in the multi-billion dollar telephone ring scandal that forced several countries to deport dozens of Taiwanese citizens to China last year. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Taiwan's foreign ministry said that it "deeply regrets" the decision by the Spanish government, adding that the decision has "infringed upon the rights and interests of our people and ignored the tradition of the EU countries' emphasis on human rights." The ministry claims that all the deportees are still in Spain and said that its representatives would work round the clock with Taiwan's judicial authorities and police to fight for the legal rights of the suspects. Earlier on Friday, Spain confirmed that it has given approval for the extradition of 269 "Chinese citizens" after a thorough investigation into the high-profile telephone ring scandal that was allegedly being conducted in several Spanish cities, including Madrid and Barcelona. Spain now joins countries like Kenya, Cambodia, and Malaysia who have deported Taiwanese citizens to China. It has also become the first European country to deport suspects to China in connection with the telephone ring scandal. The telephone ring scandal became the main bone of contention in cross-strait relations last year. The scandal was also the first big crisis for Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen, after she was sworn as the first female president of the self-ruled island nation in July last year. The Chinese government claims that the Taiwanese criminal syndicate based on foreign soil have swindled millions of dollars from Chinese citizens. Advertisement TagsTaiwan, Taiwan and China, Taiwan and Spain, Spain, Taiwan Deporation, China Telephone ring Scandal (Photo : Alex Wong/Getty Images) A poster of the Chinese blind self-taught lawyer Chen Guangcheng is displayed during a hearing before the Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights Subcommittee of House Foreign Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Advertisement A draft Chinese law that aims to lower the minimum detention age for citizens who have been held for non-criminal offenses has received mixed reactions from experts regarding its provisions. In a bid to gauge public opinion on the proposed law, the Ministry of Public Security released a list of proposed revisions to the Law on Penalties for Administrative Detention, China Daily reported. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Among the proposed changes in the list is a recommendation that seeks to nullify a provision in the law which states that youth offenders aged 14 to 16 cannot be administratively detained. This provision in the draft Chinese law, which seeks to lower the minimum detention age of juvenile delinquents charged with non-criminal offenses, carries with it a penalty of 20 days of imprisonment. Ministry officials explained that the proposed measure will keep the provision that protects first-time offenders. Once passed, the law will now penalize 14-year-old law breakers who will commit the same offense. According to Dai Qiuying, an assistant researcher with the Supreme People's Court, it is not surprising that such amendments to the Chinese law on minimum detention age have been made. He explained that this is mainly due to the lack of practical measure to help juvenile offenders who would like to turn a new leaf. In recent years, China has seen a rise in the number of juvenile-related crimes. What has made things more alarming is that most of these crimes were committed by youth aged 14 to 16. "The opinion-soliciting draft's lowering of the minimum age of administrative detention to 14 years old is to meet people's dissatisfaction of not controlling the issues of low-age minors' crimes," noted Yao Jianlong, Dean of Criminal Justice School of Shanghai University of Political Science and Law. Currently, Chinese residents who are younger than 16 and who break administrative laws. will not shoulder the legal consequences, China Radio International reported. On the other hand, teens aged 14 to 15 will normally not be penalized with detention depending on the severity of their crimes, while teens from 16 to 18 years old are usually given light punishment. This has prompted the government to review the Chinese law on minimum detention age and find ways to improve it to better serve the interests of law-abiding citizens and help reform youth offenders. Advertisement Tagschina, Chinese law, Chinese Law Minimum Detention Age Pro-life demonstrators gathered outside of at least 225 Planned Parenthood facilities in 45 states on Feb. 11 to call on lawmakers to strip the abortion giant of its federal funding. The nationally orchestrated rallies, dubbed #ProtestPP by organizers, sought to draw attention to the hundreds of thousands of abortions Planned Parenthood performs each year and its involvement with the sale of aborted fetal tissue. New Orleans resident Catherine Cowart, 26, had been wanting to get more involved in the pro-life movement when she came across #ProtestPP. Two weeks ago, I felt the conviction to make a stand and use my voice to try to make a difference, Cowart told me. I know that this is what God wants me to do. Cowart said she suffers from abortion, but not because she had one: Several members of her family have aborted children. I often wonder about what my life would be like if my aborted family members had survived and were here today, she said. Cowart fired off at least 100 emails to churches and media outlets in the New Orleans area to promote Saturdays rally, and on an overcast, steamy morning, close to 50 people showed up to hold signs and pray in front of the New Orleans Planned Parenthood facility. Some walked up and down the sidewalk praying together, holding signs that read, Abortion Hurts Women, Defund Planned Parenthood, and Adoption: The loving option. Two young women stood together holding a blue sign: Women deserve better than abortion. They had driven from their homes Thibodaux, La., more than an hour away. Emily Albert said she had come specifically today just to join with people around the country that are standing with our leaders to defund Planned Parenthood and to allocate all of our resources to the other healthcare centers that offer better resources than abortions, that have the other options. Some attendees came out of habit: Every second Saturday of the month, volunteers from a Catholic-run sidewalk counseling ministry arrive at the New Orleans Planned Parenthood to pray, distribute literature, and offer counseling to women arriving at the center. Planned Parenthood points out that it cannot perform abortions in Louisiana, but the New Orleans facility does provide birth control and will refer women to centers that do offer abortions. A New Orleans Planned Parenthood phone operator told me the nearest Planned Parenthood offering abortions is about 350 miles away in Houston. Donna Scheuermann, one of the Catholic ministry volunteers, told me her group stands on the sidewalk handing out information about other womens health issues, and giving them options for other places to go for free help. She added, Were a prayerful ministry. We pray the rosary and pray for an end to abortion. Across the street, some protesters used a more vivid approach, displaying signs with images of bloodied, aborted babies. Occasionally, drivers passing by honked their horns and waved, while others shouted from their vehicles. One man in a white Jeep slowed, blasted his horn, and made an obscene gesture at the protesters desiring the defunding of the abortion giant. Planned Parenthood receives about $60 million through federal Title X funding and $390 million through Medicaid. Direct federal funding of abortion, as well as funding for facilities that perform abortion, is not allowed under U.S. law. But Planned Parenthood claims to use its federal funding for services other than abortion. The defunding of Planned Parenthood is a matter of moral principle, said Monica Migliorino Miller, director of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, one of the sponsors of Saturdays rallies. Not a single cent of American tax dollars should go to an organization that kills innocent human life. Other sponsors of Saturdays #ProtestPP rallies included Created Equal, the Pro-Life Action League, 40 Days for Life, and the Susan B. Anthony List. Some of Saturdays rallies attracted a large number of protesters. In St. Paul, Minn., an estimated 250 to 500 pro-life advocates gathered at a rally that attracted several thousand pro-abortion counter-protesters. Another rally in Elmira, N.Y., attracted only a dozen or so pro-lifer protesters. In addition to protests in 45 states, a rally was scheduled to take place at the headquarters of the International Planned Parenthood Federation in London. Courtesy: WORLD News Service Photo courtesy: Flickr.com Publication date: February 19, 2017 The state of Georgia settled a discrimination lawsuit brought against it by a physician-preacher who accused the state of firing him for his religious speech outside the workplace. The state, which had demanded Eric Walsh turn over his sermons as evidence, awarded the former employee $225,000 in damages. Walsh, a public health physician and former lay pastor at a Seventh Day Adventist church, was fired in 2014 from his new job as district health director of northwest Georgia. He sued the Department of Public Health (DPH) for unlawful termination. His employers requested copies of his sermons right after he was hired, and the Georgia attorney general asked for them again during the lawsuit. Walsh refused, and the state withdrew the demand and requested mediation. The settlement is not an admission of guilt but a win nevertheless for free speech and exercise of religion, said one of Walshs attorneys, Jeremy Dys, senior counsel for First Liberty. This is a clear and resounding victory for religious freedom, Dys said in a press release. The state of Georgia was right to settle this case and acknowledge the right of their employees to express their religious beliefs. Walsh told me being fired by DPH blemished his resume and sidelined him from his career in public healthwork he believes God called him to do. Georgia DPH officials called him, too. Impressed by his work in California as a physician and advocate for the healthcare needs of HIV and AIDS patients and the poor, agency officials lauded Walsh as their favorite candidate and even recommended offering him a higher salary than originally proposed. But one week after Walsh accepted the job in May 2014, state officials asked him for copies of his sermons. Lee Rudd, DPH director of human resources, emailed department employees assigning each of them the task of listening to additional sermons posted online. The next day, Walsh received a voicemail telling him, without explanation, he had been fired. That call did not disconnect, and continued to record an incriminating group conversation among DPH officials. The recording, plus the email, added to the 800 pages of documents Walshs attorneys amassed to prove their client was fired for his religious speech outside of work. We have never seen an instance as egregious as this of the state government intruding upon the sanctity of the pulpit. That is a gross violation of the First Amendment, Dys said during an October press conference announcing Walsh would not submit his sermons. Walshs case is not unique to Georgia. Former Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran is still awaiting adjudication of his case against the city. In February 2015, he sued Atlanta, claiming the city retaliated against him for the content of a book he wrote, which included six pages detailing Gods design for human sexuality. A fire department employee who disagreed with Cochrans published views complained to city administrators. Mayor Mohammad Kasim Reed and gay councilman Alex Wan publicly upbraided Cochrans Biblical views on sex. In firing Cochran, Reed charged the chiefs views on sex were discriminatory, but he could find no evidence his treatment of employees violated city policy. In December 2015, a judge ruled Cochrans case could move forward. Dys told me the two cases, though distinct, share a troubling common thread that pits a state employees public expression of faith against government nondiscrimination policies. He said, so far, the employees have been vindicated. With his name cleared, Walsh told me he hopes to be back in a public health job soon. That is my passion, he said. Other than an 11-month medical mission trip, Walsh has spent the past two years working in the medical profession, but not in public health. The ordeal took a professional as well as personal toll on Walsh. But instead of focusing on myself and my woes and all I had lost, Walsh said he looked to the faith of those who came before him. He said while in Pharaohs prison, Joseph, betrayed by his brothers and falsely accused by Potiphars wife, was looking out for the best interest of the prisoners. I dont see myself as a victim but as someone God wanted to redirect, Walsh told me. I hope thats what people get from this. Courtesy: WORLD News Service Photo courtesy: Thinkstockphotos.com Publication date: February 19, 2017 By the eve of the Civil War, Christianity had pervaded the slave community. Not all slaves were Christian, nor were all those who accepted Christianity members of a church, but the doctrines, symbols, and vision of life preached by Christianity were familiar to most. The religion of the slaves was both visible and invisible, formally organized and spontaneously adapted. Regular Sunday worship in the local church was paralleled by illicit, or at least informal, prayer meetings on weeknights in the slave cabins. Preachers licensed by the church and hired by the master were supplemented by slave preachers licensed only by the spirit. Texts from the Bible, which most slaves could not read, were explicated by verses from the spirituals. Slaves forbidden by masters to attend church or, in some cases, even to pray, risked floggings to attend secret gatherings to worship God. His own experience of the invisible institution was recalled by former slave Wash Wilson: When de niggers go round singin Steal Away to Jesus, dat mean dere gwine be a ligious meetin dat night. De masters didnt like dem ligious meetins so us natcherly slips off at night, down in de bottoms or somewhere. Sometimes us sing and pray all night. Masters Preachin, Real Preachin Slaves frequently were moved to hold their own religious meetings out of disgust for the vitiated gospel preached by their masters preachers. Lucretia Alexander explained what slaves did when they grew tired of the white folks preacher: The preacher came and hed just say, Serve your masters. Dont steal your masters turkey. Dont ... Samuel Ajayi Crowther's consecration as the first African Anglican bishop looked like a great leap forward for the church. But the talented ex-slave collided with the roadblock of racism "And he never saw his family again." For the millions of Africans taken as slaves between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, this sad statement is their story. But not so with Ajayi. In 1821, the 13-year-old member of the Yoruba tribe, from what is now western Nigeria, was eating breakfast when word came that Muslim slave raiders from another tribe were attacking his town. "The most sorrowful scene imaginable was to be witnessed," Ajayi would later recall. "Women, some with three, four, and six children clinging to their arms, with the infants on their backs, running as fast as they could through prickly shrubs. While trying to disentangle themselves from the ropy shrubs, they were overtaken and caught by the enemies, by a rope noose thrown over the neck of every individual, to be led in the manner of goats tied together." Many families were separated this way, Ajayi wrote. But he, his mother, two sisters, and other family members ended up roped together. (He never again saw his father, who survived the raid but later died in a similar battle.) But as Ajayi was bought and sold six separate times, he did become separated from his family. Despondent and suicidal, he was placed (with about 190 other captives) on a Portuguese slave ship near Lagos, bound for the transatlantic market. The slavers, however, did not control the seas. Great Britain, which had abolished the slave trade the year Ajayi was born, was now feverishly atoning for its national sin through international abolitionist activities, including steaming its navy along the African coast. The Portuguese slave ship, the Esperanza Felix, hadn't even traveled a day when the Myrmidon and Iphigenia began their attack. More than ... Norma McCorvey Promoted Adoption and Supported 'Choose Life' License Plates In Memory of Norma McCorvey Get a "Choose Life" License Plate NEW YORK, Feb. 20, 2017 / Christian Newswire / -- Dr. Elizabeth Rex (on left in photo with Norma McCorvey), President of The Children First Foundation, releases the following: I had the honor of meeting Norma McCorvey back on November 17, 2001, during a benefit cruise around the island of Manhattan. Norma promoted the adoption option for unplanned pregnancies and supported the approval of the pro-adoption "Choose Life" License Plate in New York where it is still censored today even though it has been approved in 31 other states. Norma travelled from Texas to help raise funds for Expectant Mother Care, a pregnancy care center located in the same building as an active abortion clinic in the Bronx. I attended the benefit to support EMC and to thank Norma for her tireless efforts to reverse Roe v. Wade. On the cruise, I told Norma about the popular, pro-adoption "Choose Life" License Plate that was just approved in Florida with bi-partisan support in 2000. The plate had already raised over one million dollars to help support the life-saving efforts of pregnancy care centers and adoption agencies that promote adoption as a positive choice for women facing unplanned pregnancies. I also told Norma that my husband and I had just started a pro-adoption, charitable organization, The Children First Foundation, in order to apply for a pro-adoption "Choose Life" License Plate in New York. Norma was very pleased with the news and told me always to stay in touch with her. Unfortunately, fourteen years later on May 22, 2015, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that our pro-adoption New York "Choose Life" License Plate was "patently offensive" and could be "censored" by the NYS DMV. Dr. Betsy McCaughey, a renowned constitutional scholar, reported on the split decision in a scathing article entitled, " The DMV's Lunatic Speech Dictatorship ." The New York Post even changed the title to: "DMV acts as if we live in Pyongyang." In New York, Illinois, and California where pro-life speech is still censored, please visit www.TheChildrenFirst.org and order a "Choose Life USA" Half Plate that can be easily bolted to the top or bottom of your standard state plate. In the 31 states where they have been approved, please visit www.choose-life.org and order your state's official "Choose Life" License Plate. In memory of Norma, please "Take a Stand for Life" and get your "Choose Life" Plate or Half Plate. Adoption is a pro-life choice that everyone can support. Boko Haram Has Murdered 100,000, Displaced 2 Million In War To Wipe Out Christianity In Nigeria The figures are mind-boggling. Since the Islamic militant group Boko Haram began its campaign of terror in 2009, about 100,000 people have been killed, consisting of both Christians and Muslims. Moreover, the jihadist group has displaced over two million people in Nigeria in its ongoing mission to eradicate Christianity in the region, Premium Times Nigeria reported. The figures were released on Monday by Borno state Governor Kashim Shettima, apparently the first time such accounting of Boko Haram's atrocities was officially declared. Boko Haram has been waging a relentless campaign of death and destruction in Nigeria since 2009, attacking government buildings, churches, and entire towns and communities, with the ultimate objective of driving Christians out of the country. Christians make up roughly half of Nigeria's population of over 173 million people. Although Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari claimed that government troops dealt Boko Haram major losses in 2016, the jihadist group continues to launch sporadic attacks on both military and civilian targets. In fact, last month, Boko Haram made it more difficult for government authorities to stop its suicide bombers by reportedly using babies cradled by female jihadists to attack civilian and military targets. One such attack took place on Jan. 13 when two women suicide bombers disguised as mothers cradling babies were able to pass through a vigilante checkpoint before detonating the bombs they carried on their suicide vests, instantly killing themselves, the babies, and four other people, officials said. Boko Haram has also been carrying out terrorist attacks using kidnapped girls as suicide bombers. In December, Boko Haram reportedly used two young teenage girls to carry out a suicide bombing that left 56 people dead. A previous report also noted that the jihadist group has destroyed at least 900 churches since its emergence. Adding more miseries on the lives of Christians in Nigeria are the Fulani herdsmen who compose a radical group that is also waging a violent campaign against Christians. This year alone, the herdsmen have reportedly killed dozens of believers over alleged land disputes. Broadcaster Defends Use Of 'Haunted Bread' To Describe Body Of Christ In Eucharist A broadcaster has rejected a complaint from a Catholic parish priest that it was sacrilegious to describe the consecrated 'host' used in Holy Communion as 'haunted bread'. Father Kevin McNamara, parish priest of Moyvane in County Kerry, Ireland, has responded angrily and is complaining that the comment made in a show on public broadcaster RTE was 'blasphemous'. A guest on the radio station would not have been allowed to insult the core values of 'another faith', he suggests. He is now pledging to pursue his complaint with the Broadcasting Authority. Writing in the Moyvane church newsletter, McNamara says: 'I am disappointed with the response from The Late Late Show to my complaint referring to the blasphemous treatment of 'Holy Eucharist' on the recent show.' During the show, the presenter, Ryan Tubridy, endorsed the term 'Haunted Bread' when it was used by a guest on the show. McNamara says: 'I would expect any presenter to display an unbiased view, and not to endorse any personal views expressed by guests on the show. Such an example of unbiased treatment was excellently portrayed on Tuesday's RTE 1 Late Debate Show when, during a lively and robust discussion, one of the guests called the Taoiseach a 'liar'. 'The presenter rushed in and very promptly said, "You can't say that you must withdraw that remark". Do not the same standards apply to all presenters on our National Radio and TV Channels? 'I am very disappointed that in [producer] Larry Masterson's email response to my complaint he did not deal with presenter Ryan Tubridy's handling of the issue in question. 'Did the presenter's endorsement of the "blasphemous comment" justify the applause and laughter from the audience, while also offending so many viewers?' McNamara also publishes Masterson's email where he says: 'As part of the conversation, the presenter, Ryan Tubridy, brought up a theory advanced on his radio show earlier that week that some people in their thirties are returning to the Catholic Church after a period of difficulty and scandal for the Church and asked the panel for their views. 'As someone from that age group, Blindboy Boatclub was first to reply, and he did so in the language of his generation and his satirical character. 'The point he was making, to put the language to one side for a moment, was that in his view, people of his generation are not returning to the Church and that attendance at Christmas Eve midnight Mass is not an accurate barometer of religious conviction, as there are many other reasons to attend that particular ceremony.' Masterson admitted: 'The phrase "haunted bread" was certainly provocative. He used it to get a reaction, and indeed it did. I do not believe however that it was sacrilegious.' He concluded: In attempting to hear new voices on The Late Late Show, it is inevitable that some will not like what they hear. Uncomfortable or unpopular opinions are part of debate as are views that clash or disagree with mainstream consensus. 'Nonetheless, I accept that the phrase "haunted bread" has caused offence to some viewers and has been seen by some as disrespectful or mocking and for that I apologise. Thank you once again for taking the time to send your views, they are appreciated.' Christian Leaders Protest Franklin Graham Visit: He 'Compromises Jesus's Mission Of Justice And Love For All Christian leaders in Vancouver are meeting to protest an upcoming rally by Franklin Graham, the controversial evangelist and Trump supporter. Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson met with Catholic, evangelical and other mainstream Protestant figures over concerns about Graham's visit after his provocative comments about Muslims, gay people, Democrats and atheists. Graham recently defended his judgemental rhetoric by pointing to Jesus' harsh words. He justified calling transgender people 'weirdos' by saying: 'Jesus wasn't real loving sometimes. He called the Pharisees vipers, snakes, whitewashed tombs.' The upcoming rally, which is expected to draw in more than 25,000 people from March 3-5, has divided Vancouver's Christian population. Several evangelical clergy such as NormFunk, Wayne Lo, Sandro DiSabatino, Daniel Chung, David Koop, Cheryl Koop, Darin Latham and Yani Lim continue to promote the event. But several also met with city rulers to voice their concerns over Graham's divisive rhetoric. 'The mayor is concerned about safety. The kind of statements Graham makes about Muslims and gays can really inflame the situation,' said city councillor Tim Stevenson, who coordinated the meeting and is also the first openly homosexual person ordained by the United Church of Canada. As many as 14 Christian leaders attended the meeting on February 10 including the Catholic Archbishop Michael Miller, Regent College academic dean Paul Spilsbury, Richard Topping, president of Vancouver School of Theology, Jonathan Bird, president of the evangelical organization City Gate Leadership Forum and Peter Elliot, Dean of Christ Church (Anglican) Cathedral. The others wanted to remain anonymous and similar privacy concerns surround a petition sent around many clergy calling for the event to find a replacement for Graham. 'Franklin Graham's recent public comments compromise Jesus's mission of justice and love for all,' the petition reads. 'For instance, he has said that all Muslims should be banned from the United States because Islam is a 'very evil and wicked religion' at war with the Christian West. 'He dehumanises the LGBTQ+ community, urging that gays not be allowed to enter churches or even come as guests into Christian homes.' Christians In Mideast Reject Trump Plan To Prioritise U.S. Resettlement Of Christian Refugees: 'Wrong Message, Wrong Policy' Thanks, but no thanks. That was essentially the blunt response of at least two Christian leaders in the Middle East to the recent pronouncement of U.S. President Donald Trump that his administration will give priority to persecuted Christian refugees seeking to resettle in the U.S. "We don't want him to take us," Habib Ephrem, secretary general of the Gathering of Christians in the Middle East, told CBN News. "That's the wrong message and the wrong policy." Ephrem said prioritising Christian refugees would only help the Islamic State (ISIS) terror group in attaining its goal of purging the region of Christians. "ISIS expels people from their homeland and then you take them to the West," he said. "So what? You are doing the policy of ISIS?" CBN News also spoke with a Lebanese pastor who requested for anonymity for security reason. The pastor agreed with Ephrem, saying that instead of attracting Christians in the region to resettle in foreign lands, they should be encouraged to stay where they are. "How could the Church have a great future if the Christians are leaving? Of course living in the West or anywhere else would be better than living in Lebanon and the Middle East, but if we leave, who's going to be the salt and light?" he asked. If the West truly wants to help Christians in the Middle East, the pastor said Western governments should invest in creating jobs in the region so that these Christians would have a good reason to stay and provide for their families. However, Trump said he wants to help the persecuted Christians so that they will not suffer anymore. "They've been horribly treated," he told CBN News last month, referring to the persecuted Christians in Syria and Iraq. . "Do you know if you were a Christian in Syria it was impossible, at least very tough to get into the United States?" Trump said. "If you were a Muslim you could come in, but if you were a Christian, it was almost impossible and the reason that was so unfaireverybody was persecuted, in all fairnessbut they were chopping off the heads of everybody but more so the Christians. And I thought it was very, very unfair." Data gathered by the non-partisan Pew Research Center supports Trump's contention. It says 99 percent of the nearly 12,600 Syrians granted refugee status in the U.S. last year were Muslim and less than 1 percent were Christian. The disparity is still evident even though Syria's population is 87 percent Muslim and 10 percent Christian, according to the CIA World Fact Book. Congregation In Tears As Popular Catholic Priest Confesses He Has Fallen In Love And Wants To Marry 'I am your father,' says the caption on the tweet about Father David Grea posted by the Lyon Catholic church centre on Twitter. It echoes Darth Vader's comment to Luke Skywalker in Star Wars. Now Grea, who with his youthful good looks and approachable demeanour, has become something of a poster boy for the French Catholic Church, is leaving his post as priest of Saint Blandine in Lyon in order to marry. He had been at the church for six years. Grea has been discharged from his priestly functions by Cardinal Barbarin and a dispensation from his vow of celibacy will now be sought from the Vatican. Some parishioners wept as the Lyon diocese's Vicar General Patrick Rollin read a letter from the 40-year-old priest at mass on Sunday, outlining his reasons for going that he has met a woman and wants to get married. The Lyon diocese said that the priest had left the parish for a time of 'discernment and retreat'. Cardinal Barbarin himself is to attend the church and take services at the start of March and a new priest will be appointed soon. 'The diocese wants this beautiful community to pursue its journey according to its charism and its vocation. Cardinal Barbarin invites everyone to pray for Father David and for the parishioners of Sainte Blandine,' the diocese said. Grea is one of the priests behind the 'new look' Masses with the praise team Glorious that are criticised by some conservatives for not being traditional enough. This video shows Glorious at Grea's church in Lyon. Grea's thesis at seminary was on the theology on Cardinal Newman, the High Church Anglican who converted to Catholicism. In his resignation letter, published by his church, he wrote: 'For nearly six years now, I have lived with you. Together, we patiently sought to live and proclaim faith according to what God expected of us, for this place and for this time. We have praised God at the heart of our church, seeking to adopt an accessible and relevant language to transform our hearts and our weeks. 'Thus, we have allowed many people to return to the Church and be well, to hear the Gospel freshly and to be renewed. We have developed a lively praise, Alpha tracks and many initiatives, especially a beautiful welcome and wonderful fraternal ties. I have lived with you my finest years of ministry and I thank God for all these beautiful moments, at the same time that I thank you from the bottom of my heart.' He said he had been happy as a priest and was convinced he was called by God 'for this beautiful ministry'. But some time ago, he began building a relationship with a woman he believes God is calling him to live with. 'I discover an unexpected joy that seems to me in the continuity of what I have lived until then, by giving my body and soul to your service. 'I wished to be in truth with the Church by speaking of both my joy of being a priest and my desire to marry. 'So I told the cardinal and we talked about the idea of a dialogue with the Pope. This one-on-one meeting could take place. He listened to me with kindness and honoured my approach to integrity. Then the Pope and Bishop Barbarin exchanged and our bishop asked me to take a moment of discernment and retreat. 'It's a sadness for me not to be able to finish the year with you and I imagine you are sharing it. I would have liked to speak to you today orally, as I did every Sunday. 'I am witness to your love for God and I know that you are seeking to put Jesus at the centre of your life. I have seen our community grow in numbers, but above all in faith, change our attitude and become involved in prayer and service. I have seen Christians become truly adult in the faith. That is why I want to express my admiration and gratitude, especially for the faithful engagement of many of you. 'I thank God for the work he has been doing for many years with Saint Blandine. I trust that God will accompany the team leading the church, and Father Arnaud, a friend who is dear to me, and who has agreed with his superior to be more available until the summer. 'I pray for our church, remembering these words that we hear at every Mass: "Truly it is right and good to give you glory, to offer you our thanksgiving, always and everywhere."' Conservative commentator Chris Gillibrand told Christian Today: 'In the attempt to imitate modern culture, the Church is eventually dissolved in it. The Church is there to save souls, not to make people feel good. Christ was counter-cultural. Christians continue his mission when they are as well.' How Christian Men Should Respond To Getting 'Friend Zoned' You meet a girl at church. You start noticing things about her that you really like. And since you're of age and you're ready to settle down, you start considering that maybe she's the one for you. But then when you ask her out, she turns you down because she really just wants to be your friend. This situation is called "friend zone"when a friendship exists between two people, one of whom has an unreciprocated romantic or sexual interest in the other. The friend zone is like a dating purgatory that puts you in a limbo of confusion and doubt. It may sound like a joke, but many Christian men and even women have had serious questions about how to respond when faced with this situation. What is the Christian response to getting friend zoned? Here are four tips for the friend-zoned Christian dating hopeful. 1. Consider Whether It's A Necessary Season We live in a world that promises so many instant things instant gratification, instant relationships, instant marriages, instant noodles, and so on. But the best things in life will often come with a season of waiting. Have you ever asked whether the friend zone is just a phase that Christian dating hopefuls need to go through? Friendship in fact is a safe place for Christian men and women to get to know each other better. If you're really serious about someone, you will be willing to wait. 1 Corinthians 13:4 says, "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant." 2. If It's In Your Heart, Persevere If you really do come into a season of waiting, we only really have two optionsstick through it or give up. And maybe you might have to give up on the person, but you don't necessarily have to give up on your hopes of marriage. Galatians 6:9 says, "And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up." Perseverance is the key to achieving anything great, even a wonderful relationship. 3. Refuse To Harbour Bitterness Just because someone rejects you, it doesn't have to be a reason to harbour bitterness in your heart. One of the lies the enemy wants Christian bachelors to believe is that when rejected, you also have to reject them. That's not always the case. In God's kingdom there is very little reason to burn bridges. God is a God of thriving friendships and church community, thus giving room for forgiveness to happen. 4. Don't See Rejection As A Question Of Your Worth But maybe sometimes the friend zone is really not a step towards courtship. Maybe it's really just a polite way of someone turning you down. If someone turns you down romantically, it's not the end of the world. It just means the person just might really not be for you. Even when we are rejected in the natural, it doesn't mean we're worthless because God has not rejected us. Romans 11:2 says, "God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel?" Don't find your worth in anyone else. Anchor it firmly on Christ. Iraq Poised For Disaster As 750,000 Civilians Remain Trapped In ISIS-Held Mosul Humanitarian charities are poised for disaster as Iraqi forces close in on ISIS-held western Mosul, which still contains an estimated 750,000 civilians. US-backed Iraqi forces engaged Islamic State fighters on Monday clearing the way to Mosul's airport, as the ground offensive on the jihadists' remaining stronghold entered its second day. Islamic State militants are essentially under siege in western Mosul, along with three-quarters of a million civilians, after they were forced out of the eastern part of the city, after 100 days of fighting finished last month. Ian Dawes, response manager for World Vision Iraq, said: 'We know that conditions in western Mosul are dire with food and water shortages, and that hundreds of thousands may soon flee. 'We're preparing for new arrivals in the camps where we're already supporting thousands of children who have lived through unimaginable violence in the past two years. Many of the arriving children have survived extremely distressing experiences, some even to the point of being unable to speak. Our specialist staff have been providing psychological and emotional support in our child friendly spaces, which is just as important as the immediate physical needs that people have. Many have lost everything they owned after fleeing Mosul,' he added. Up to 400,000 civilians could be displaced by the offensive as residents of western Mosul suffer food and fuel shortages and markets are closed, United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Iraq Lise Grande told Reuters on Saturday. About 160,000 civilians have been displaced since the start of the offensive in October, UN officials say. Medical and humanitarian agencies estimate the total number of dead and wounded - both civilian and military - at several thousand. 'This is the grim choice for children in western Mosul right now: bombs, crossfire and hunger if they stay or execution and snipers if they try to run,' Save the Children said, adding that children make up about half the population trapped in the city. The involvement of many local and foreign players with diverging interests in the war, heightens the risk that they could clash between themselves after Islamic State is defeated. Influential Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who is openly hostile to Washington's policies in the Middle East, on Monday said US troops should leave as soon as Mosul is captured. ''The Iraqi government has to demand that all occupying and so-called friendly forces leave Iraq in order to preserve the prestige and the sovereignty of the state," he said. Commanders expect the battle to be more difficult than in the east of the city, which Iraqi forces took control of last month after three months of fighting. Tanks and armored vehicles cannot pass through its narrow alleyways. The militants have developed a network of passageways and tunnels to enable them to hide and fight among civilians, disappear after hit-and-run operations and track government troop movements, according to residents. Western Mosul contains the old city center, with its ancient souks, government administrative buildings, and the mosque from which Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared his self-styled caliphate over parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014. The city is the largest urban center captured by Islamic State in both countries. The US commander in Iraq, Army Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend, has said he believes US-backed forces will recapture both of Islamic State's major strongholds - Mosul and the city of Raqqa in Syria - within the next six months. Islamic State was thought to have up to 6,000 fighters in Mosul when the government's offensive started in mid-October. Of those, more than 1,000 have been killed, according to Iraqi estimates. The remainder now face a 100,000-strong force made up of Iraqi armed forces, including elite paratroopers and police, Kurdish forces and Iranian-trained Shi'ite paramilitary groups. Additional reporting from Reuters. ISIS Drowns 13 Civilians, Execute 8 Others In Mosul, Kirkuk On Charges of Collaborating With The Enemy The Islamic State (ISIS) has numerous execution methods to choose from. On Wednesday, it selected one where there's no flesh or burn wounds but brutally efficient just the same: drowning. That day, 13 civilians in central Mosul met watery deaths after an ISIS court condemned them to die by drowning on charges of collaborating with enemy forces, Iraqi News reported. Eight other condemned prisoners were executed on the same day in Kirkuk. The report did not specify the execution method used there but said they were also sentenced to die for collaborating with the enemy. "Daesh (ISIS) today drowned 13 civilians to death inside metal cages in Dawasah, central Mosul, over charges of collaboration with government and Peshmerga forces," the source said, referring to Kurdistan region's defence force. The terrorist group even filmed the execution in Mosul, the source said. The last time ISIS was reported to have resorted to mass execution by drowning was in October last year, also in Mosul. Nearly 60 people were drowned after the jihadist group suspected them of attempting to organise a rebellion, The Independent reported. That same month, 58 people were killed following the ISIS discovery of three weapons caches hidden in homes around Mosul, according to Reuters reported, citing numerous sources inside the city. Earlier this February, 15 civilians, including children, were covered in tar and publicly burnt alive in Kirkuk after ISIS militants caught them while trying to escape from ISIS territory. While the burning victims cried extreme pain, the ISIS militants warned the people watching the execution that they would face a similar fate if they tried to escape from ISIS. Last January, ISIS executed a mother and her four children by burning as well. They were also caught trying to flee Kirkuk. A source said the militants tied up the mother and her children, poured oil on their bodies, and then set them on fire, according to Iraqi News. Norma McCorvey: A Tragic Tale Of Putting Politics Above People Norma McCorvey was never the feminist activist she was touted to be. As the 'Roe' in 'Roe Vs Wade', McCorvey's life is a tragic tale of abuse by people happy to use her as a pawn. Born to a deprived family in Texas, her brother was mentally unwell and her father left shortly after she was born. Identifying as bisexual but mainly lesbian from an early age she was sent to live with a relative in her teens who raped her for weeks before at 16, she married a local man Elwood McCorvey, who beat her. She left him while pregnant with their daughter, Melissa, who was raised by McCorvey's mother. But it was her third pregnancy, aged 22, that changed her life. At the time Linda Coffey and Sarah Weddington, two campaigning lawyers also in theirs 20s, were looking for a very specific plaintiff to challenge Texas' abortion restrictions. 'It had to be a pregnant woman wanting to get an abortion. She couldn't have the funds to travel to California or New York for a legal abortion. And we had to have someone who could take the publicity. We weren't able to guarantee her anonymity,' Coffee later told a reporter according to Vanity Fair. Norma McCorvey fitted the bill and unwittingly became 'Jane Roe' in a case that would shape America's history. Already six months pregnant when the case was filed, McCorvey never had the procedure she became a spokeswoman for. Her child was born and immediately put up for adoption before the ruling was made. But McCorvey's life was never the same. Although she never appeared in court and was not identified during the case, she later became a pawn in the campaign for women's rights, receiving public speaking training, and living off profits from press appearances and her first autobiography I Am Roe. But in 1995 the provocative evangelical anti-abortion Operation Rescue moved next door to where McCorvey was working at a women's clinic in Dallas. Despite the aggressive move, McCorvey became friends with national director Flip Benham and months later was baptised a born-again Christian. The exultant pro-life campaigners quickly set about using McCorvey to work against everything she had previously stood for. She continued to be used as a publicity tool. Just now it was for the other side. She switched from poster-girl of the pro-choice movement to the evangelical pin-up, despite still living with her long term lesbian partner. In 1998 she converted again, this time to Catholicism, after meeting outspoken priest Father Frank Pavone, head of Priests for Life. But she ended her life in obscurity, described as a 'little bit of an orphan', used by both sides. As her biographer Joshua Prager noted in a 2013 article, she was more comfortable with foes than allies, firing and rehiring her lawyer multiple times even though he worked for her pro bono. 'Roe has been her life, but it's no longer much of a living', he wrote. She was neither the pro-choice activist that won her fame, nor the pro-life campaigner she would become. Should Donald Trump Be Given A State Visit To Britain? MPs will debate two e-petitions relating to a state visit by US President Donald Trump later on Monday. Led by the redoubtable 82-year-old Labour MP Paul Flynn, it will be dominated by cries for Trump to be denied the honour of a state visit. It is a mark of how much the world has changed that a year ago Flynn led a similar debate to completely ban Donald Trump from even entering the UK. Just over 13 months later the fight is reduced to an ultimately futile move to stop a wholesale state visit, complete with dinner at Buckingham Palace and tea with the Prime Minister. But other than showing the rapid shift in western democracy, Flynn's two debates mark a more fundamental question on how to deal with rulers, even allies, who strongly disagree with the our principles. Flynn's position is one of protest. Make a stand. Stand up for what you believe in. And don't allow Trump anyway near the UK, let alone a full state visit, in retaliation for his views on refugees, Muslims, women and disabled people. But there is a more mature and ultimately more productive response, which for all Flynn's years of experience he has failed to learn. The Archbishop of Canterbury was questioned recently whether he would accept his invitation to a state banquet for Trump at Buckingham Palace should the visit go ahead. His response, born out of years of leading conflict resolution in Nigeria, deserves praise. In an interview on LBC Welby said he would be 'very glad' to meet Trump and try and 'persuade him to change' his views. 'You engage with people in order to persuade them of different views and change their views,' he said. 'If I had the opportunity to engage with him and to debate with him I would consider it a great privilege to try and persuade him to change his views.' Despite nearly 30 years as an MP Flynn has failed to grasp the diplomatic maturity shown by Welby 21 years his junior. Meeting someone offers you the change to engage. It brings conversation and hopefully relationship. But it does not mean you endorse or subscribe to their views. Theresa May quite rightly faced heavy criticism for failing to immediately condemn Trump's suspension of the entire US refugee programme. She misunderstood that relationship does not mean uniformity. Welby is in no doubt what he thinks of Trump. In the same radio interview he lambasted the executive order that bans anyone from seven Muslim majority countries from entering the US. 'Policies based in fear rather than confidence and courage and the Christian values of hospitality, of love, of grace, of embrace rather than exclusion, are policies that will lead to terrible results,' he said. 'We have to say when you start dissing whole communities, when you start excluding them, when you start mixing up genuine threats to security with a dismissal of a whole range of communities out of fear, that is not good.' But he unequivocal stance, similar to that of Flynn's, is worked out very differently. Welby sees a state visit as an opportunity, not an embarrassment. He sees the chance to engage. To flatter and subsequently to persuade. Ultimately it comes down to whether you want to actually achieve some good or just talk about achieving good. Flynn's principled stance will earn him headlines and praise for standing up to a bully. But Welby's approach is the only one that will actually make a difference to the bully's mind. Whispering in somebody's ear will always be more effective than throwing stones at their windows. Flynn and all the other MPs calling for the state visit to be abandoned should take heed. Spain Church Makes History in Ordaining First Married Priest A former Anglican pastor who is married with two children has just become Spains first married priest after being ordained by the Roman Catholic Church. Evans David Gliwitzki, a 64-year-old former Anglican pastor, was ordained by the Bishop of Tenerife in the small town of La Laguna on the Canary Island. The ceremony on Saturday was held in the Church of Notre-Dame de la Concepcion and was also attended by his wife, two grown-up daughters, son-in-law and granddaughter. The promotion of the bishop to pastor comes despite Catholicisms strong dogmatic tradition which insists that priest be celibate. The spokesman to the Zimbabwe-born Gliwitzki, Bishop Felipe Fernandez, confirmed to hundreds of well-wishers from Britain and the US outside the Church that Friar Evans would continue being married to his wife, Patricia. Bishop Fernandez denied, however, that Gliwitzkis promotion to priesthood was a sign a radical new shift in church policy. He said that the ordination of Friar Evans was a very singular exception and denied any possibility that the move indicated the abolition of the rule of celibacy for Catholic priests. The episcopal spokesman said that the ordination of the former Church of England minister was a gesture of respect to the Anglican Church, which permits married priests and said that the move was the result of ecumenical meetings in the Vatican between Anglicans and Catholics. The meetings were co-ordinated by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger prior to his election as pope and also attended by Friar Evans. Friar Evans case for priesthood had received the approval of Pope John Paul II prior to his death, as well as the Archbishop of Canterbury, according to the spokesman. Gliwitzkis succession to priesthood is the end of a process beginning more than two years ago, which involved his being ordained as a deacon last June. The new priest will lead his first Mass today in the parish of Our Lady of Carmen, in La Laguna. This Alabama Church Wants To Set Up Its Own Police Force A church in Alabama has applied to have its own police force, arguing it's the best way of protecting its members. It's the second time Briarwood Presbyterian Church, which has two large campuses including a school and a seminary, has attempted to set up the force, according to AL.com. A previous attempt was passed last year by the state's House Public Safety committee but was not signed into law by the governor. The church's attorney Eric Johnston said: 'We've got over 30,000 events a year that take place at Briarwood going on all day, all night, at the school, at the church, at the seminary. 'We have to hire policemen all the time. It would be so much easier to have someone on staff.' Many US colleges and universities have their own police forces, but there are no others in churches in Alabama. Johnston said the officer would patrol the campuses and that if an arrest needed to be made local police would be called in. Briarwood's move, though apparently driven by practical considerations, may also reflect increasing security consciousness among large churches, where armed security guards are a growing presence. While church police forces may be rare or non-existent as yet in the US, there is an unexpected parallel in the UK York Minster has its own police force, the Minster Police. Its eight members provide security, help tourists and are the custodians of more than 380 sets of keys. Trump Criticism Costs Southern Baptists Dear As Megachurch Withholds Funds The row in the US Southern Baptist Convention over its Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission has deepened with the decision by a Texas megachurch to withhold contributions of around $1 million a year to the denomination. Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas has decided to set aside or 'escrow' the money, it said in a statement to the Louisana Baptist Message. The church's pastor Jack Graham had previously complained about ERLC president Russell Moore's 'disrespectfulness' toward supporters of Donald Trump during his election campaign. Graham is a member of Trump's Evangelical Executive Advisory Board. Moore has also faced criticism for the ERLC's decision to jon an action in support of the New Jersey Islamic Society's application to build a mosque on religious liberty grounds. Graham told Baptist Press Prestonwood is engaging in 'an internal evaluation' of its giving and its desire was 'not to seek publicity so we can make the right decision for our church and Southern Baptists'. Moore told Baptist Press in a statement: 'I love and respect Jack Graham and Prestonwood Baptist Church. This is a faithful church with gifted leaders and a long history of vibrant ministry working and witnessing for Christ.' The SBC's International Mission Board also came in for criticism after supporting the mosque application and one trustee, Rev Dean Haun, pastor of First Baptist Church in Morristown, Tennessee, resigned over the issue. Haun told the Tennessee Baptist and Reflector: 'If we defend the rights of people to construct places of false worship are we not helping them speed down the highway to hell? I want no part in supporting a false religion even if it is in the name of religious freedom.' What I Learned At Soul Survivor's #NaturallySupernatural Conference What does it mean to be Naturally Supernatural? Last week Soul Survivor, a charismatic church and ministry based in the United Kingdom but now with connections across the world, hosted its 'Naturally Supernatural' winter conference. Christian Today had a chance to attend. This conference, held in Watford, England, aims to help people 'encounter the life-changing presence of Jesus' and aims that 'we would leave...more in love with him, more aware of his presence and better equipped to carry that love and presence to others'. As you might guess from the title, this conference aims to balance the 'supernatural' relying on the power of God, particularly displayed through the gifts of the Spirit such as healing and prophecy with the 'natural', emphasising how this is a call for all Christians in their ordinary, everyday lives. Here are five things I learned from my visit to Naturally Supernatural. Word and Spirit 'If we're going to live naturally supernatural lives, we need the ongoing experience of God's word, and God's Spirit. We need Scripture, and the presence and power of God.' So said Bishop Graham Cray, laying out the theological groundwork for the thinking behind Naturally Supernatural. Cray was keen to emphasise the crucial balance of both 'word' and 'Spirit'. To ignore the supernatural, experiential aspects of God's work misses out on the complete ministry of God, and seeks to live independent of his power. Conversely, to rely only on 'charismatic' experiences of the Spirit whilst ignoring the Bible is to venture inwards while rejecting God's written testimony. 'If it's not scriptural, then no matter how "charismatic" it is, then it's not of the Holy Spirit,' Cray said. Scripture tests our experiences, while simultaneously the Spirit helps us understand Scripture both work together. In the Gospels, Jesus chastises the Sadducees, asking: 'Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?' (Mark 12:24) Both word and Spirit point to Jesus, together, and in different ways. The Bible tells us about Jesus Christ, narrating the story of salvation in which Christians find their identity and security. The Spirit comes as a gift from and a promise of the future, addressing the world and present in which we live, by working through us. 'The Spirit doesn't come to make the Church relevant, or contemporary, but to make it prophetic,' Cray said. As he summarised it: 'Stay rooted in God's word, and always always always do what the Holy Spirit says.' How to grow up The conference emphasised that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is not simply about having spectacular experiences, but about growing deeply in relationship with God. Andy Croft, pastor of Soul Survivor spoke about what it means to grow in faith. Faith is necessary to the Christian life, Croft said, but so often we try and live without it. We resist faith because it's scary, and we fear dependency and the loss of our own security. And yet the Bible so often calls us to it. True faith, Croft said, is both trust and action together. It is something that is lived out, a belief that results in certain risks and concrete life choices we wouldn't otherwise make. 'What's the next step in trusting God with our lives?' Croft invited us to consider. 'When was the last time it got scary?' Croft explored the radical faith of James Hudson Taylor, whose missionary life in China involved much risk and sacrifice, trusting in the power and provision of God. Taylor's opportunities to see the miraculous and supernatural only came because he was willing to step out and put himself into those risky, challenging situations. Likewise, Croft invited people to consider how they might be able to step out and expect the supernatural gifts of God in their own lives, being willing to practise gifts such as words of knowledge, prophecy and healing. Taking the risk of approaching a stranger with what you believe God may be saying to that person is difficult, but it is also only through taking that risk that someone might get to witness the power and grace of God. As Croft put it: 'If we get it wrong, nobody dies. If we get it right, somebody could come alive.' Reality and community I was grateful for the way in which the conference emphasised that the 'supernatural' life has far more to do with the ordinary than the spectacular, and is to be found not as individuals, but in community. A criticism of 'charismatic' ministries is that through their emphasis on the ecstatic and miraculous they merely manipulate 'hype' to feign experiences for the masses. For critics such gatherings may be at best deceptive, and at worst dangerously manipulative. Mike Pilavachi, who began Soul Survivor ministries in the early 90s is well aware of this, and always makes an effort to play down any sense of 'hype'. He has no interest in theatrics (though he is very good at making people laugh), and instead invites people to have authentic, unforced encounters with God. He emphasises that people's 'experiences', whether they be laughing, shaking, crying or silence are not about those people being 'special' but about an experience of healing and meeting with God specific to each individual. His self-deprecating style means you know you're not in the presence of a showman but someone who is humbly seeking and expecting God. He also doesn't wear a shiny white suit, or as far as I could see slap anyone around the head. Which is always promising. Lastly, a sense of community pervaded the conference. Obviously, it was a community about 600 people gathered for each meeting, with delegates from all over the world attending but in its ethos it emphasised the supernatural life as one to be lived together, as a whole church. 'Loneliness is the curse of our age,' Pilavachi said, 'We need each other.' This is a ministry clearly concerned with equipping the whole Church with what it perceives as the whole ministry of God. Some do not believe in the contemporary practice of the gifts of the Spirit. Others do believe, but still make little space for such ministry in their churches. If the team at Naturally Supernatural are right, then there's a whole aspect of ministry that many churches ignore, and people will be missing out as a result. I'm always challenged by attending Soul Survivor meetings, which is probably a good thing. It seems right that God should make us a little uncomfortable, and that he himself shouldn't be entirely predictable. I believe what the Bible teaches about the 'supernatural' but I tend to make little space for it in my life; pretending you're in control is much easier. I have many questions and personal struggles with such ministries too, but I'm grateful that Soul Survivor are keen to 'demystify ministry', engaging with theology, people's questions, whilst dialling down the hype and looking to God. The next step for Naturally Supernatural is its new summer conference, which will run from July 22-27 at Staffordshire Showground. More details can be found here. You can follow @JosephHartropp on Twitter Why I'm Uneasy About IKEA's Apology Over Catalogue For Ultra-Orthodox Jews IKEA has apologised for what it says was an 'error' by its Israeli branch. Israeli IKEA had produced a catalogue containing no images of women in deference to the country's large and influential ultra-Orthodox community. This went down like the proverbial lead balloon at the company's headquarters in ultra-liberal Sweden, where a spokeswoman said, 'We have been very clear that this is not what the IKEA brand stands for'. To be fair, IKEA has form in this area. In 2012 it was forced to make a similar apology for removing images of women from its Saudi Arabian catalogue. At the time it said: 'We are now reviewing our routines to safeguard a correct content presentation from a values point of view in the different versions of the Ikea catalogue worldwide.' It's hard to be sure from the language, but I think this means they promised they wouldn't do it again. Clearly after five years the message still hasn't got through. Also to be fair, the ultra-Orthodox movement in Israel is pretty touchy. Just last week a group of them caused 'absolute bedlam' on an EasyJet flight from Tel Aviv to Luton because they refused to sit next to women. Aeroplane stories aren't uncommon; a female Holocaust survivor who was told to move seats on an El Al flight because an ultra-Orthodox man wouldn't sit next to her is suing the airline for discrimination. So, are there really two opinions about this? Surely, surely IKEA Israel and IKEA Saudi Arabia, come to that got it catastrophically wrong? Doesn't ultra-Orthodox theology and practice Jewish or Muslim discriminate horribly against women, seeing them as vessels of sin and occasions of temptation, limiting them in every sphere of life, frustrating their ambitions and denying their God-given right to flourish? Well: no argument there from me. I'm a thorough-going egalitarian. As a Christian, I think what's become known as 'complementarianism' in whatever religion is nonsense. It's a weasel word for a weirdly twisted way of reading Scripture that consigns women to subordinate roles when the gospel is about liberation, for women and men. Women preachers? I'm all for them. Women pastors? Bring 'em on. But, but. I'm deeply uncomfortable with the attitude behind this apology and the storm of protest that provoked it. It seems to me that it's a kind of ideological imperialism, a sort of secular totalitarianism. It's profoundly illiberal liberalism. It's saying, not just to male ultra-Orthodox Jews but to female ones as well, 'We will not respect your culture and your choices; we will not serve you or engage with you; we so abhor and abominate your lifestyle that we will make no concessions to it whatsoever.' I'm troubled by that, for two reasons. First, because it fails to understand the rationale behind religious exclusivity. Male ultra-Orthodox Jews and Muslims, and complementarian Christians don't treat women like this because they hate women; they do it because they love God, and they believe this how that love works its way out in practice. There are strong arguments for classifying every such theology as inherently abusive. But in practice, that doesn't do justice to the real lives and real relationships of those who are part of such communities. It is possible for men and women to be happy and fulfilled within cultural frameworks that, on the face of it, ought to drive them up the wall. Egalitarians like me and IKEA need to understand that. But second, when we accept the logic that says to a religious group or any other group 'You must conform to the majority view, and there are no exceptions,' we're on a very slippery slope. We're saying the way forward for such groups is either submission or increased isolation from the mainstream. A truly liberal approach would be to say, 'We don't believe what you believe, but we will respect your views as far as we're able and accommodate them as far as we can.' The truth is that religiously exclusive groups that want to interact with the wider world can't do so entirely on their own terms. They have to learn to give a little, and perhaps that discussion is being held in the ultra-Orthodox community about rules for kosher flying. But in a world where the non-religious hold the purse-strings and the power levers, it's more important than ever to argue for the rights of people to do what they like, as far as possible, and live as they please. Follow Mark Woods on Twitter: @RevMarkWoods This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate In the world of literary figures, Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald stand in a class above the rest. Hunter S. Thompson, an ardent admirer of both men, stood in a class by himself. The famed "Gonzo journalist" who chronicled Houston's 1974 Super Bowl for Rolling Stone, died Feb. 20, 2005, - 12 years ago - at his Owl Farm home in Woody Creek, Colo., where he took his own life. Fans remember Thompson for his books, including "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," and his wild persona, that of a heavy drinking, drug swilling writer with an acid wit. SMOKE 'EM: Hunter S. Thompson's widow to clone writer's pot strain And, that he was, to a degree. Thompson certainly lived hard, played harder and wrote wild (mostly true) tales of his adventures in books and for Rolling Stone and other publications. His story, "The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved," is still discussed and studied among writers. But, Thompson was also a big fan of Fitzgerald, Hemingway and other writers. He loved Hemingway so much, Thompson even took a pair of antlers from an Idaho bar where the iconic writer once hung out. (Those have since been returned by Thompson's wife.) And, Thompson, who claimed a doctorate in divinity from a mail-order church, was as sharp political mind and loud critic of President Richard Nixon and, later, George W. Bush. ODD LUCK: Houston has had some strange happenings during Super Bowls And, he lived life on his terms. Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride! Thompson said in a letter to a friend in the 1950s. Thompson certainly lived up to those words. >>>Scroll through the above gallery to see images from Hunter S. Thompson's life, as well as photos from the 1974 Super Bowl in Houston, which Thompson wrote about. Houston ISD kicked off a district-wide voter registration drive at Sam Houston Math, Science and Technology Center on Monday in an effort to teach students about civics and the voting process. The Voter Registration Week will run through Friday across dozens of Houston ISD's high schools. Teachers will help students register and, according to Texas law, all HISD high school principals will be designated to serve as high school deputy voter registrars. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate This story ran in the Houston Chronicle on July 18, 1975. The headlines and words are reprinted as they appeared then Astronauts and cosmonauts today shuttled between their linked spacecraft, sharing meals, cabin tours and scientific experiments as part of their historic space journey. The first crew transfer began at 4:10 a.m. (Houston time) as astronaut Vance D. Brand left Apollo and, after passing through the docking module that serves as an air lock between the two ships, entered Soyuz. Soyuz commander Alexei Leonov then made his way to Apollo for a visit. The American Apollo and Russian Soyuz hooked up in flight Thursday in the first space meeting between two nations. The linked vehicles traveling at a speed of more than 17,000 miles per hour, were orbiting about 123 miles above the Earth this morning. After today's first transfer, which lasted until 10 a.m., Leonov headed back to Soyuz accompanied by American spacecraft commander Thomas P. Stafford. Astronaut Brand then returned to Apollo, taking Cosmonaut Valeri Kubasov with him. Shortly after the transfer was completed, Kubasov, speaking in English, conducted a brief tour of the Soyuz spacecraft for Brand. Stafford then took Leonov on a quick Russian-language excursion around Apollo. Kubasov, aboard Soyuz, pointed out such features as food storage lockers desks, water supply pipes and control panels. Stafford on Apollo, said that similar American vehicles had flown to the moon and the Skylab space station. He pointed out the kitchen area of Apollo, where astronauts prepare their meals, saying, "There is very little room in here, but after all, no one has to do any dishes." The tours were more for the benefit of TV audiences than for the crewmen, since the astronauts and cosmonauts spent hours in each other's vehicle during training for the mission. The crew members also had lunch during the first visit to each other's ship. Brand dined in Soyuz on soup, pureed meat, strawberries, plums and coffee. Leonov, on Apollo, had potato soup, steak, strawberries, bread and tea. Late today, the Russian and American crews will make their farewells. At about 7 a.m. Saturday, the two spacecraft will separate for about 30 minutes. Then they will redock about 7:30 a.m., but the astronauts and cosmonauts will not visit each other until their final separation at about 10:30 a.m. During the 30-minute separation, the two spacecraft will conduct a joint experiment in which Apollo will block out the sun, creating an artificial eclipse, while the cosmonauts take pictures of the sun's corona. The historic flight, which began Tuesday, ends with the scheduled landing of Soyuz in Russia Monday and the splashdown of Apollo in the Pacific Ocean Thursday. Meanwhile, American and Russian flight controllers agreed that a suspected leak in the docking module tunnel was caused by gases expanding and heating rather than escaping from the three-part space cocoon. The Soviets reported the problem Thursday night. The docking module is an airlock between Apollo and Soyuz that changes air pressure and mixtures during crew transfers. Apollo has an atmosphere of pure oxygen at a pressure of five pounds per square inch. Soyuz, during the joint phrase of the flight, has an environment of oxygen and nitrogen at a pressure of 10 pounds per square inch. "We feel the trouble was due to the expansion of gases as they heated up after depressurization of the docking module," said U.S. flight director Don Puddy. "The Russians agree with us on that." Pressure in the docking module tunnel did not change during the night while the American crew slept, Puddy said. The astronauts were awakened on schedule at 2 this morning by a recording of the song "Moscow Nights" played by flight controllers at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) here. The first crew visit Thursday between Leonov and American Commander Thomas P. Stafford was marred only by a problem in communication systems that blocked reception of the cosmonauts' voices at JSC. The astronauts, however, reported they could hear their Russian counterparts "loud and clear." Glynn Lunney, U.S. technical director for the mission, said the problem with receiving the cosmonauts' voices here had been caused by flight controllers' activating the wrong controls during the conversation. As the crewmen first swung open the last two hatches separating them, Stafford said to Leonov in Russian, "Alexei, it's good to see you. How are you?" Stafford invited Leonov twice to join him in the docking module before the Russian commander finally crawled through the tunnel for a symbolic handshake. That handshake took place 141 miles above Amsterdam. Stafford and astronaut Donald K. "Deke" Slayton then joined Leonov and Soviet flight engineer Valeri Kubasov in Soyuz for a two-hour visit which included gift exchanges, ceremonies, experiments and a meal. The astronauts presented the cosmonauts with five U.S flags "in the name of the American people." Among the gifts from the cosmonauts was a sketch of Stafford, Slayton and Brand done by Leonov, an accomplished artist. The menu included borscht (beet soup), turkey, cranberry sauce, apple juice, bread, cheese and strawberries. Apollo had chased Soyuz according to plan for two days before the craft got together Thursday morning over the Atlantic Ocean west of Portugal. As the astronauts moved into the docking module for the first crew transfer, they reported a peculiar odor to mission controllers. Officials at JSC speculated that the odor, which has since disappeared, was caused by either vaporation of solvents in the module or by small electric furnace scorching some plastic connectors. The complaints come every year: People who've had a flu shot still get sick, and then they wonder why they bothered. It'll be no different this season, according to the Centers for Disease Control, which released data last week showing this year's flu vaccine has been effective in about 48 percent of patients. That's not far off from past years, the agency said. Now, as influenza spreads rapidly in Houston and throughout Texas, doctors are urging patients not to get hung up on the numbers. "Is it a perfect vaccine? No," said Dr. Pedro Piedra, professor of molecular virology and pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine. "But getting the vaccine is still the best way to protect yourself and those who are close to you against the flu." If you haven't been vaccinated, now would be a good time to do so, Piedra said. Reports of influenza-like illnesses have doubled across Texas since the beginning of February, according to data from the State Department of Health Services. Last week, the first pediatric flu death was reported in Texas. The flu presents special challenges for vaccine makers. Unlike other viruses, like measles, a new vaccine must be developed each year based on strains of flu that are expected to circulate. Those predictions are not perfect. This year's flu shot is about as effective as last year's and far better than two years ago, when the vaccine was effective in less than a quarter of patients. Flu season peaked in March last year and killed seven children statewide. Think of it like this, Piedra said: The vaccine essentially cuts your odds of contracting the flu in half, and it protects against the most severe strains of the virus, potentially keeping you out of the hospital. Another upside, said Dr. Michael Chang, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital: The shot is effective against all four strains of influenza circulating this year. "It's important to remember what flu vaccine is for," said Chang, a professor at UTHealth's McGovern Medical School. "Even if we have a very good match season, people will still get the flu. What we're hoping to prevent is patients needing to be hospitalized." By the way, Chang said, if you've already had the flu, that doesn't mean you won't become infected with a different strain, especially now that the virus is spreading rapidly. Even if you've already been sick, he said, it's not too late to get the shot. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A genetically engineered virus is easier to make and could kill more people than nuclear weapons - and yet no country on Earth is ready for the threat, Bill Gates warned world leaders Saturday. No one on his panel at the Munich Security Conference argued with him. "The next epidemic has a good chance of originating on a computer screen," said Gates, who made a fortune at Microsoft, then spent much of it fighting disease through his global foundation. Whether "by the work of nature or the hands of a terrorist," Gates said, an outbreak could kill tens of millions in the near future unless governments begin "to prepare for these epidemics the same way we prepare for war." FUTURE OUTBREAKS: Scientists bet on these three little-known diseases to cause next global epidemic His co-panelists shared some of the same fears. "Disease and violence are killing fewer people than ever before, but it's spreading more quickly," said Erna Solberg, the prime minister of Norway. "We have forgotten how catastrophic those epidemics have been." She recalled the Black Death, which she said killed more than half her country's population and created a 200-year recession in Europe. "It's not if, but when these events are going to occur again," said Peter Salama, executive director of the World Health Organization. "We need to ramp up our preparedness." Gates, who founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with his wife in 2000, has been worrying about the world's ability to stop a deadly pandemic since Ebola killed thousands two years ago, while governments and militaries struggled to stop it from spreading through West Africa. "NATO countries participate in joint exercises in which they work out logistics such as how fuel and food will be provided, what language they will speak, and what radio frequencies will be used," Gates wrote in 2015 in the New England Journal of Medicine. "Few, if any, such measures are in place for response to an epidemic." BIG BUCKS: Bill Gates could be the world's first trillionaire by 2042 He took the same message to Reddit a year later, when a commenter asked which technologies the world was better off without. '"I am concerned about biological tools that could be used by a bioterrorist," Gates wrote. "However the same tools can be used for good things as well." Before his panel on Saturday, Gates told the Telegraph: "It would be relatively easy to engineer a new flu strain" by combining a version that spreads quickly with one that kills quickly. Unlike a nuclear war, such a disease would not stop killing once released. At Munich, Gates ran down all the way that the world's great powers were unprepared: governments out of touch with the companies that make vaccines, international health departments out of touch with each other, and militaries that may not have considered responding to a biological threat. "Who's this alternate group that's going to deal with the panic?" Gates said. "Who's got the planes and the budget? Maybe the fire department?" While some others on the panel - "Small Bugs. Big Bombs" - focused on the threat of natural diseases, Gates called for "germ games" simulations, better monitoring to spot outbreaks early, and systems to develop vaccines within weeks - rather than the 10-year lead time he said was more common. DOUBLE TAKE: One question from Warren Buffett made Bill Gates completely rethink Microsoft "We need a new arsenal of weapons. antiviral drugs, antibodies, vaccines and new diagnostics," he said. The Centers for Disease Control's website lists seven agents - including anthrax, plague and bleeding fevers such as Ebola - as potential ingredients in a bioterrorist's cookbook. The center's sections on surveillance and "planning for all bioterrorism" cite research papers that are mostly more than a decade old. In his New England Journal of Medicine article, Gates said the United States's last epidemic simulation took place in 2001. At the end of President George W. Bush's administration, a bipartisan report accused the U.S. government of doing too little to address the threat of bioterrorism. Two years into Barack Obama's presidency, a congressional panel gave the government an 'F' in preparedness. On Saturday, the Munich panelists named only a handful of countries working fast enough to identify and address the threat. "Rwanda is a leader," Gates said. "If an epidemic started there, we'd see it quickly." UNLIKELY TREATMENT: Parkinson's patients fight disease with boxing Click through above to see the most panic-inducing disease in human history. The A.D. Players, a Christian-based theatre company, has a new home. The Jeannette and L.M. George Theatre, located at 5420 Westheimer Road, opened for the first time last week for the production of "To Kill a Mockingbird." Everything about the new theatre is bigger and better than the company's old place, The Grace Theatre. The previous theatre was 7,000 square feet and now they will perform in about 35,000 square feet. New features and upgrades from the previous theatre include a conference room, laundry facilities, a green room, larger concession stand, and larger restrooms, going from two to 16 stalls, which is just as exciting as the other features. The audience used to have to go across the street to use the restroom during intermissions. A welcoming feature of the lobby is a wall of windows. "We wanted to look open to the community," said Kevin Dean, associate artistic director. "There is a picture of Jeanette where she has her arms outstretched like that, and that was the inspiration." According to Dean, this theatre was a long time in the making. The late Lorraine George was in a meeting near the top floor in the Williams Tower (previously known as the Transco Tower) and saw the property that was an empty lot at the time. He looked down, saw it there and said, "We should build our theatre there." It was owned by a company in California but wasn't for sale. The owner of the property actually knew Mrs. George, and he was willing to sell it to her in 2003. The Jeannette and L.M. George Theatre seats 440 people, upgrading from 220 seats, in a round-shaped theatre. The design of the theatre helps the larger size still feel intimate. The Grace Theatre had no wing space, and now the new theatre has about 90 feet. And the stage goes back double the size too. The stage ceiling at the Grace Theatre capped out at 18 feet, and now they have 75 feet to work with. "Now we are able to build the sets on site. We would have to build it, deconstruct it, rent a truck, take the truck to the theatre, unload and then reconstruct. And then we would have to do the process all over again when the play was over," Dean said. Dean notes that the performers are learning during rehearsals that there is a challenge to playing a bigger room. "We've been telling them, 'make sure, don't forget about the balcony.' You have to talk to everybody," Dean said. The audience is also in for a treat, because they are going to see sets and art on a much bigger scale than what they saw at Grace Theatre. "We have the most loyal group of subscribers who come see the productions year after year. It is going to be a gift to them, to be able to bring them into this space," said Leigh McLeroy, PR and marketing director. Just who are Jeannette and L.M. George, the namesakes of the theatre? Jeannette Clift George, the founder of the A.D. Players, and the artistic director, has had a long line of theatre history. Jeannette, originally from Houston, started out with the New York Shakespeare Company. She ended up moving back to Houston and got involved with the Alley Theatre. Lorraine's first wife was a director at the Alley Theatre, so he worked with Jeanette. His wife died and then a few years later they got married. A few years into their marriage, she played the role of Corrie Ten Boom in the movie "The Hiding Place" in 1975. She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award. "There were a lot of people who tried to get her to come to L.A. to have a film career but she wanted to stay with her passion, which was Christian theatre. At the time no one had thought to put those two words together," Dean said. "Her and Lorraine ... this theatre was their vision. I started with the company back in 1999, and I remember even then they were talking about finding a property to build a theatre." The A.D. Players were founded in 1967 by Jeannette, and in the early part of their history they were called the After Dinner Players. Jeannette wanted to make sure that the actors were fed, so they would perform after dinner. The A.D. Players were a touring unit in the beginning, and Jeannette wrote a lot of the shows. Grace Theatre was acquired in 1977. That is when the shift started from being a touring company to having a season of plays. In the mid-1980s the A.D. Players started its Children's Theatre. "Currently, the Alley Theatre and the A.D. Players are the only theatre companies in Houston that maintain a group of resident company actors," McLeroy said. In addition to a new theatre, this year is the A.D. Players 50th Anniversary. "It just worked out that way. Our plans were different than God's plans. I think he had it planned out this way from the get go. It's amazing that we are able to open this up on our 50th anniversary," Dean said. The first performance in the theatre was Saturday, Feb. 11. Those interested can still see more performances of "To Kill a Mockingbird" on Thursdays through Sundays until March 5. This year's main stage season also includes "John, His Story," a play written by Jeannette; "You Can't Take It With You"; and "Godspell." The Children's Theatre performances will include "Charlotte's Web" and "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe." Visit www.adplayers.org for more information. Starting this week, Luby's fans can buy fried fish in the freezer section of 270 H-E-B stores across Texas, the company announced Monday. The Houston-based chain, which celebrates its 70th birthday this year, partnered with H-E-B late last year when it began selling frozen macaroni and cheese there. H-E-B, based in San Antonio, prides itself on bringing local products to its shelves. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The best way to boost the number of manufacturing jobs in the United States is to create new, high-paying jobs, not to bring back jobs from poor countries. That may sound like a subtle difference from what President Donald Trump promised on the campaign trail, but it is a distinction that makes a big difference. The United States shouldn't want low-paying, low-skilled jobs using 20th century technology. To boost the economy we need the latest technology operated by the most highly skilled workers. Your browser does not support the iframe HTML tag. Try viewing this in a modern browser like Chrome, Safari, Firefox or Internet Explorer 9 or later. "Manufacturing today is very different from manufacturing that existed 10, 20 or 30 years ago. It is technology-driven, it is efficient, it is very focused on a different type of production," said Jay Timmons, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, which represents 14,000 companies. The only reason many companies found it economical to move manufacturing overseas was that the jobs didn't require a lot of education. Almost anyone can do basic assembly work, which is repetitive and boring. Bringing that work home makes no sense if lower-cost labor in another country is willing to do it for us. RELATED: Build on NAFTA to spread benefits The real challenge comes when a company wants to invest in a new plant using new technology that requires more highly-skilled workers. Timmons said U.S. taxes and regulations discourage American companies from investing here. "In my mind, it's not about moving jobs from one country to another," Timmons said in an interview. "Our goal is for investments in the jobs of the future to be made here." The new administration and Congress are ready to do their part by overhauling the tax code and regulations, he added. But the United States also needs to invest in better roads, bridges, ports and other infrastructure. What's missing from the policy debate, though, is talk of investing more in education. And that's a problem, since American workers aren't prepared for the jobs currently available, let alone the jobs of the future. RELATED: It's going to take work to end the skilled labor shortage "We've literally got hundreds of thousands of jobs right now in manufacturing in the United States that remain unfilled because we don't have folks with the right skill set or the right technology background," Timmons said. Manufacturers would like to see more investment in education, but they aren't waiting for lawmakers to wake up to the problem. They are explaining to high schools, community colleges and universities what kind of workers they need, Timmons said. "Yes, the government has a role in providing training dollars, block grants and those types of things, but ultimately, manufacturers have a role themselves to make sure we are building the programs locally to address the need," he added. The National Association of Manufacturers will launch their State of Manufacturing Tour on Wednesday at a $70 million Emerson plant in Round Rock. The plant develops automation process for oil and gas companies. The tour will then go to Austin to visit the General Motors IT Innovation Center and the HELM Boots factory. Hopefully, lawmakers across the country will pay attention to what American manufacturers say they need, rather than simply responding to voter anger. For example, many American plants buy parts and inputs from overseas factories, and a border tax adjustment could make those parts more expensive. As Texas lawmakers consider cutting billions from education, they should recognize that employers need students with more education, not less. RELATED: Border tax is part of a plan we've seen before How the Republicans in control of Washington and Austin translate political slogans into policies that actually achieve the intended consequences will not be easy. But they should start by listening to what businesses say they need, not what may sound good in a fundraising letter. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate East Texas catfish restaurant Flying Fish, popular in the Dallas area, is set to put down roots in Houston. Launched by the group that owns Flying Saucer and Rodeo Goat, this new outpost will debut in the Heights, at the intersection of North Durham and West 19th Street. The 4,000-square-foot space will seat up to 150 customers and will include a screened-in porch and outdoor patio. "Everyone wants to know why we decided to come to Houston," Shannon Wynne, co-founder of Flying Fish, said in a prepared statement. "The building spoke to me." CHEFS NAME THEIR GO-TO DISHES: Houston chefs pick their favorite dishes on their own restaurant menus Wynne said they're in the process of acquiring a license from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to harvest catfish from Buffalo Bayou. That permit is still pending. "They say 'local grown' is better for the environment, so those bureaucrats in Washington ought to let us sell mud-cat right out of the bayou. Quit blocking free enterprise," Wynne jokes. "We have no doubt that Houston fishermen can catch fish bigger than other towns in the Lone Star State." The no-frills seafood establishment is known for its low-key atmosphere and a menu of Gulf oysters, fish and some Cajun staples. It has a large following in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and also has locations in other Texas cities: Garland, Arlington and Addison. Houston's Flying Fish will be the 10th outpost of the popular, chain. It's expected to open later this fall in the space that once housed Houston Tire Shop. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Sara Fitzgerald came to the Heights from Bellaire in 1975 because she heard a rumor: Someone was offering home loans to single women without a male cosigner - an uncommon practice then. She met with Marcella Perry at Heights Savings Association, one of the only banking institutions in Houston headed by a woman in the 1970s. Perry granted her the home loan and the 30-year-old moved to the neighborhood where she soon fell in love with an old crumbling building built in 1918 by Polish immigrants on White Oak Drive. She eventually turned that locale into the landmark venue Fitzgerald's, helping crown her the matriarch of local music. But now, at 68, she's being talked about not for her business acumen, but for what some are calling racist comments she made in an email conversation Feb. 7 with music producer Garrett Brown, who also performs as Trakksounds. The controversy has sparked calls to boycott Fitzgerald's, or Fitz to locals, threatening the standing of one of Houston's music institutions where thousands of artists have performed for countless fans since 1977. Brown contacted the club owner to inquire about booking successful hip-hop act Starlito and Don Trip. Fitzgerald listened to a song they sent her and replied to Brown saying she didn't approve of lyrics she considered misogynistic and that contained offensive racial expletives. She said some of the language in her email that people are offended by are direct quotes from the artist's songs, while others have expressed anger about her comments regarding hip-hop audiences. "Music fans that wear their pants under their a-- with 18 inches of underwear showing, buy little, tip little and create big disharmony - no thanks," read a portion of her email. Since then, local musicians, producers and bookers have scrambled to find alternate venues in the city for shows originally scheduled at Fitz. The public departure of artists is surprising to Fitzgerald. For decades little-known bands have sought out gigs at the club as a rite of passage. She takes pride in being the venue that will give an upcoming artist a chance, and always hopes to see them break into mainstream music. Fitz hosted R.E.M. in the early 1980s while they were still a college radio band. She paid them $100 and lost money on the show. And her roster of Blues acts includes B.B. King, Lightning Hopkins, Bo Didley and Etta James. Fitzgerald said this week she's had some artists cancel on her, but others have called to take their slots almost immediately. Still, the last-minute cancelers have caused her to shut the doors on a few recent nights. Despite the early dip in business and the deluge of social media backlash, the 68-year-old isn't exactly taking her words back. But she does think she could have expressed herself better when she declined to book the act, saying she was exhausted and had just come off working "100 hours" in the club the night before. "The language has been hurtful and that's not who I am," she said. "After my breadth of work for 40 years, being branded like this is hurtful." However, a number of promoters aren't backing down from boycotting the venue. "Every show I've played there was a rap show with an audience that did not fit the description in that email," said Roosh Williams, a Houston rapper who played his first show at Fitz in 2008. "I have no sympathy for any backlash she is receiving from her comments. How can you bash people who spend their money at your establishment?" The conversation Brown made public on social media prompted Chris Wise to cancel four shows he had booked there. Wise is a talent buyer with Margin Walker Presents, who grew up in Houston going to shows at the wooden two-story building. "It's certainly unfortunate, but I don't hold any place so sanctimoniously with what was said," Wise said. "It wasn't a bartender. It's the owner of the club." Fitzgerald maintains her stance that declining to book the show wasn't racially motived, and the "feminist in me came out," she said regarding some of the lyrics she found to be offensive to women. "It's not a color issue. It's in rock 'n' roll too, and it's hard to filter," she said. Drew Brown, a visiting scholar in African American studies in The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at University of Houston, has studied race and popular culture. He said the type of language used in rap and hip-hop is, indeed, heard in all popular music. Yet in rap as a genre, it comes from a group of people who have been marginalized and carry an attitude of resistance, and that rejection of hip-hop by older generations is not a new phenomenon. "There's no looking past it (offensive language). There's just understanding the message and the culture," Brown said. "People enjoy that music because it speaks to some of their realties. If you don't understand what those are in that music, then you're just not a fan of that music. That doesn't mean it's not good music." He said it's unfortunate when people in positions of power criticize the genre because it affects how the music is perceived by those who don't understand it. Still, some have stood by Fitzgerald through the controversy. Mandy Parker, a former promoter who booked with Fitz and continues to do business through an alcohol brand she represents, said "I can only speak for me, as an African American female, that she's never come off as someone who is racist, I don't believe it was a racial attack." Parker has known the club owner for three years and said she was disheartened by the words, but has talked with Fitzgerald over the years about different social issues. "There's a mural on the back patio, and Sara's only request to the artist is that it included people of all backgrounds because that's what she felt Fitz is," Parker said. The outspoken club owner said she will continue to book hip-hop artists without any qualms, but is concerned about the future of her club. "They were concerned I was being discriminatory towards kids with pants that hang low. ... The grandma in me came out. Did it hurt my business? Yes," she said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A study that will reveal what type of flood prevention projects could benefit the city of Katy began recently, and representatives from the engineering company working with the city are going to present an update on the study at an upcoming city council meeting. Once finished, the study will explain the scope of catastrophic flooding that impacted Katy about a year ago in the so-called Tax Day floods, and it will also demonstrate what kind of developments could aid the area in mitigating future floods. Since the floods, city officials have been working to find solutions for flood prevention. "We had a historical event something that hadn't been seen in (a long time)," City Administrator Byron Hebert said. "We want to make sure we capture that data and understand A: why the water came to us and B: how it came to us." On April 18 of last year, about 12 to 17 inches of rain pounded the Katy area as downpours throughout Houston caused waterways to flood out of their banks. Federal emergency declarations were announced for several counties around the Houston area. Eight people died as a result of the floods. In the 11-square-mile city of Katy, about 110 homes and 25 businesses were damaged. Soon after the floods, city of Katy officials got to work. They discussed short-term solutions and hired Stephen Wilcox with the engineering company Costello Inc. to lead a study that would examine flood prevention in the Katy area. Costello began the study about two months ago, Hebert said, and the group plans to provide an update either at the March 27 city council meeting or the April 10 one. The update will include short-term solutions that the city could implement for flood prevention, such as installing better drainage around the city. The entire study, which will take about a year to complete, is expected to provide mid-term and long-term solutions such as plans for retention ponds, according to Hebert. Once completed, the study will be shown to county leaders from Katy's three counties: Harris, Fort Bend and Waller. City officials are hoping that the plan will lead county officials to work with the city on long-term flood prevention developments. The city is paying Costello about $100,000 for the study. Wilcox could not be reached for comment. Since the flood, the city has implemented some short-term flood prevention solutions. Workers have cleaned ditches around the city and are improving drainage on Morton Road and in the Hunters Terrace neighborhood both areas of the city that have been flood prone. Anas Garfaoui, city planning technician, said the study's results will be important because they will help explain the impact that last year's flood had on the Katy area. "The ultimate goal is to quantify the storm," Garfaoui said. "We take this very seriously here. It's part of our continuing service that we provide to our citizens. We need to understand something like this so that we can prepare for another one should one come up. You have to do a study to do that." Houston professors plan to protest the so-called sanctuary cities bill, which passed the state Senate earlier this month, at the University of Houston-Downtown on Wednesday. The bill would require local law enforcement including campus police departments to honor every request from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to keep immigrants here illegally until officials take them into custody or give further instructions. Texas made a strong showing in a recent ranking of the best public high schools in America, with five Lone Star State campuses landing in the top 25. Website The Best Schools compiled the ranking, which features campuses from Houston, Dallas and Austin. As districts across the state deal with flu outbreaks, two Texas school districts closed its campuses Friday after a spike in reported illnesses. Carlisle Independent School District and Ingram Independent School District each closed Friday after the number of students out sick became too high, though each district did not specify whether or not it was the flu. In his quest to be elected mayor of Pasadena, attorney Robert Talton touts experience ranging from working as a Pasadena police officer to 16 years spent as a state lawmaker. He served as a municipal court judge in Pasadena and as a city attorney for the city of Pearland. "There's not much about the cities that I haven't been involved with," said Talton, one of five candidates in Pasadena's mayoral race. "So, I've got a tremendous amount of experience and knowledge about cities and urban planning." Talton was the District 144 state representative until 2009. As the two-term chairman of the Committee on Urban Affairs, the Republican oversaw legislation dealing with municipalities, police personnel and fire departments. Talton said the experience gave him an understanding of how successful cities are managed. "When I was chairman, I had a close-up view of that process and how other cities managed growth," he said. "I learned a lot and think I can use that knowledge to benefit the city of Pasadena." If elected, Talton said his priorities include ensuring the police and fire departments have the resources and training they need. He also wants the city to better maintain infrastructure, and he emphasizes continuing strong senior community service programs. "My goal is to keep the city's economy vibrant and growing and to keep our infrastructure sound," he said. A Pasadena resident since 1949, Talton said he has a deep understanding of the challenges and needs of Pasadena's historic neighborhoods, its industrial areas and the newer areas on the south side. "Currently, I live in south Pasadena, but I was raised in Sunset Terrace (a west Pasadena neighborhood) and attended the Richey St. Baptist Church there for over 50 years," he said. "So, I've seen the neighborhoods change over the years. "Can you do better for it? Sure, you can," he said. "But you've got to work at it and you've got to have a plan. You've got to execute your plan. "People within the communities are the one who are going to make a lot of those decisions," he said. "And the City Council also has to agree on the plan as well. But I want to keep the city vibrant and the economy growing." A graduate of Pasadena High School, Talton earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Houston and a law degree from the South Texas College of Law. He works in private practice. For more information, visit www.TaltonforMayor.com. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Sugar Land city council members and Fort Bend ISD trustees are teaming up so their voices will be heard during the current state legislative session. The city council and school board met Feb. 13 at Fort Bend ISD's administration building to discuss two possible joint resolutions related to property taxes and school accountability. It was the first joint city-school board meeting concerning legislation in recent years. "Passing these joint resolutions ... part of that is to make a statement particularly to our local legislators that this is not just a Fort Bend ISD or education community issue, this is broader than that," Fort Bend ISD school board president Kristin Tassin said. "This is a city issue. This affects everyone." The first resolution calls for the Legislature to advance principles of local control and oppose legislation that limits the authority of local governments or residents to make decisions about their cities or school districts. Specifically, the resolution calls for the Legislature to stop passing unfunded mandates, unless the state reimburses cities or school districts for related costs, and not to lower the appraisal cap. The second resolution calls on the Legislature to repeal the A-F accountability system, which, after releasing preliminary ratings earlier this year, will be put into effect in August of 2018. "It's critically important that Fort Bend ISD and the city of Sugar Land work together to make sure that the proposed state legislation that's before us - the tax, the grading - does not adversely impact the lives of our students and that of our community," Sugar Land Mayor Joe Zimmerman said. Sugar Land has not yet scheduled when city council will vote to approve the two discussed resolutions. Fort Bend ISD's school board is scheduled to discuss and possible vote on the resolutions in March. In addition to the joint resolutions, Sugar Land City Council approved Oct. 18 a handful of legislative priorities. They include asking for legislation that would create a management district for the upcoming Telfair development and that would authorize cities to build and operate hike and bike trails on land owned and occupied by an electric utility. The city also carried over previous positions regarding issues such as transportation, water resources, public safety and open meetings and open records. Fort Bend ISD's school board approved Oct. 17 legislative priorities that, in addition to calling for a repeal of the A-F accountability system and an end to unfunded mandates, called for legislators to streamline course curriculum requirements, to oppose school vouchers and to reform the school finance system. Fort Bend ISD is also in the process of forming a coalition with other Houston-area districts to collectively lobby the Legislature on behalf of their students. Fort Bend ISD encompasses Sugar Land, Missouri City and unincorporated master-planned communities including Sienna Plantation. As such, the trustees have plans to meet with Missouri City representatives in the coming weeks. Fort Bend ISD trustees and Missouri City city council members are scheduled to have a joint meeting on March 21. A man was wounded Saturday after a stabbing on West Gulf Bank. Around 8:30 p.m., a suspect - who police did not identify - flagged down officers to say he stabbed a man in self-defense. The victim, 42-year-old Adrian Dickey, was rushed to the hospital in critical but stable condition. He was taken into surgery and not immediately able to give a statement. Dickey later told officers that he and the suspect got into an argument at an apartment complex, Houston police said Monday. Dickey attacked the suspect, who then told police that he stabbed Dickey in self-defense. The district attorney declined to press charges pending further investigation. Lindsay Ellis contributed reporting. A non-credible bomb threat called into Houston's Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center jolted staff and students on Monday morning. The call was part of the fourth wave of threats targeting these schools and gathering places this year, a disturbing trend that has disrupted planned events and evacuated classrooms. Community centers from Orlando to a Boston suburb received calls in January, and reports of threats in St. Paul, Minn., and Buffalo, N.Y., emerged Monday. Parents drove to the center, located at 5601 South Braeswood Blvd., to pick up their preschoolers after the threat on Monday morning. Staff and students were evacuated from the building as police and dogs swept the center. They found nothing suspicious. FBI QUESTIONS: Texas Muslim group says feds quizzed members in 12 states "We've practiced our emergency protocol in light of those calls," Evelyn Rubenstein JCC chief marketing officer Jason Dobrolecki said. "We were prepared to implement them as soon as we got the call." Officers were still on scene on Monday afternoon, directing visitors away from the center. Programs will resume at 2:30 p.m., the center said on Facebook. Dobrolecki said the call was "jarring" but that the center's leaders were prepared. The center said it had worked with on-site security, local law enforcement and national security agencies in advance of Monday's threat. "In a sense," he said, "we were expecting to be on that list eventually." Across three days in January, many dozens of JCCs received bomb threats, according to the Jewish Community Center Association. The group said it was "concerned" about the anti-Semitism behind the calls. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate CROWLEY, Texas In a parking lot on Main Street in this nondescript town of 14,000, Wal-Mart is testing out what it hopes could be its next small thing a genuine convenience store. Walk into the 2,500-square-foot store, and the surroundings feel familiar. There's the multi-colored ICEE machine, hot dogs sizzling on a roller, and beer stacked in a walk-in refrigerator. It's one of two convenience stores Wal-Mart opened last month. The other is in Rogers, Ark., near Wal-Mart's Bentonville headquarters. Both stores are in the parking lots of Wal-Mart Supercenters. Wal-Mart continues to test small store formats even though it abandoned its 12,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Express stores last year. Crowley was picked for being located "on the outskirts of Dallas-Fort Worth, a very important market to us," said Wal-Mart spokeswoman Anne Hatfield. And because it's just off Interstate-35, a major north-south highway in the central U.S. Wal-Mart's strategy seems to be not reinventing the convenience store concept but rather tweaking it. The store's hot food section sells pizza, whole and by the slice, and on another bank of hot rollers are the "tornadoes," a knockoff of 7-Eleven's taquitos. Community coffee brand is sold from six taps, regular, decaf and flavored. There's a healthy selection with fruit cups, yogurt and "Market Side" branded salads and wraps, but no calorie counts on the labels. The rectangle-shaped building sits in front of a row of 16 gasoline pumps, all under cover. It's a far cry from Amazon Go, a self-service food store that Amazon recently opened on the street level of one of its corporate buildings in Seattle. Amazon hasn't said much about another store under construction in Seattle with a drive-up canopy area in front of a building that locals speculate is for online grocery pick-ups. Wal-Mart is also working on a convenience store concept for its online grocery shoppers. In December, one of these 4,000-square-foot stores with gasoline pumps opened in Thornton, Colo. It's similar to one Wal-Mart opened a year ago in Huntsville, Ala. Inside, the standard coffee, soda and snacks are sold, but these stores include a drive-through for picking up online grocery orders. Both convenience store concepts are tests, Hatfield said. "We're eager for feedback from customers. We want to know what's working," she said in an interview. The convenience store business is not huge for a company Wal-Mart's size, but as a major seller of gasoline, its 100-and 200-square foot payment kiosks may not offer enough for many of its customers. Wal-Mart operates a To-Go store in Bentonville, Ark., down the street from its headquarters, and it created a lot of buzz when it opened in 2014. There are no plans to build more of the single 5,000-square-foot To Go store, said Hatfield, which also has a deli section with some warm foods like rotisserie chickens. -- 2017 The Dallas Morning News Visit The Dallas Morning News at www.dallasnews.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. One month into President Donald Trump's first term, not only are more Texans viewing him favorably, but they also say they're feeling more upbeat about the economy and the Lone Star State. According to a new poll by the University of Texas/Texas Tribune, 27 percent of respondents said their opinion of the new president in February is "very favorable," up from just 13 percent in October. Some of the results are discussed in this Texas Tribune article. Another 18 percent voiced a "somewhat favorable" opinion in February, unchanged from the response in October. PARTY SPLIT: Republicans, Democrats have polar opposite approval ratings of Trump Assessments of the controversial leader remain polarized, with 41 percent claiming to have a "very unfavorable" opinion in February. Nonetheless, that's down from 49 percent in October. The percentage of Texans who say they think Trump will be a "great" president has risen from 12 percent in June to 24 percent in February. That's still less than the 36 percent who think he will make a "terrible" president, but their numbers have shrunk from 49 percent in October to 36 percent this month. The online survey of 1,200 registered Texas voters was conducted from Feb. 3 to Feb. 10. NOSTALGIA WAVE: Many long for 'god old days' of President George W. Bush The percentage of respondents who say they think the country is on the right track stands at 39 percent this month, the highest point since the first such survey in October 2009. Conversely, the percentage who see the country as being on the wrong track is at 49 percent, the lowest point since October 2009 (when it was 59 percent) and markedly lower than the 70 percent just four months ago in October 2016. Regarding money matters, only 6 percent of Texans say they and their families are "a lot better off" than a year ago, but it's also at the highest level since October 2009. The one deviation from the rosier trend is seen among the 21 percent who say they are "somewhat better off" economically than a year ago. That has slipped 1 percentage point from the 22 percent recorded in October. But the percentages saying they are "worse off" and "a lot worse off" have fallen slightly. Asked how the Texas economy is faring, the percentage of respondents who see it as "somewhat better off" has stayed at 22 percent since February 2016. That is down from 32 percent in October 2014 and 28 percent in June 2015. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A Mission man was arrested Thursday morning after a video showing him dragging his German Shepard behind his motorized scooter surfaced on Facebook. Mario Cardona, 59, was charged with animal cruelty just 15 hours after the disturbing video surfaced online. Melissa Janelle Torrez, who was on her way to the store, spotted her neighbor dragging the dog across the street. She quickly parked and pulled out her phone to record the incident. The profanity-laced video captured the man's actions. WARNING: The video contains graphic content and language that can shock, offend and upset - view the video with caution. In the video, Cardona is heard saying, "Call 'em [the cops]! It's my dog!" Torrez did exactly that and waited for the police at her house. Just 15 hours after Torrez's complaint was filed, Cardona was arrested, KVEO reports. "You know something like this is great because somebody actually provided us with video evidence," Mission Police Lt. Jody Tittle told KVEO. "Sometimes animal cruelty is hard to prove, you know, as bad as that may sound." Though the experience was an emotional one, Torrez is glad her recorded and reported Cardona. "When I found out he was arrested not even 24 hours later, I felt relieved and when I found out later all his dogs and been removed I felt a sense of accomplishment knowing that I helped save these dogs from a monster," Torrez told Chron.com. "My intent was never to go viral I was just trying to bring awareness to animal abuse." The dog, a German Shepard mix named G2, was cleared by Mission Animal Control and is said to be in good health and remains in their custody, according to KGBT. By Ross Ramsey, The Texas Tribune February 20, 2017 In his second month in office, President Donald Trump is getting overwhelmingly good grades on his job performance from the state's Republicans, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll. Graphic by Emily Albracht Trump is popular enough to cast positive light on Russian President Vladimir Putin, a world figure who turns out to be markedly more unpopular with Texas Democrats than with Texas Republicans. Overall, 46 percent of Texans approve of the job Trump been doing and 44 percent disapprove. But Republicans are crazy about him: 81 percent approve of Trump's work so far, and only 10 percent disapprove. Moreover, 60 percent of Republicans said they "strongly" approve; another 21 percent approve "somewhat" of the president. Graphic by Emily Albracht "He looks good," said Jim Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin and co-director of the poll. "Republicans as a group were tentative in their embrace of Donald Trump during the election campaign. They are hugging him now. His favorability rating among Texas Republicans increased 21 points between October and February." Likewise, 81 percent of Texas Republicans have a favorable opinion of Trump, while 12 percent have an unfavorable impression of the president. As you might expect, Texas Democrats fiercely disagree in what amounts to an almost equal but opposite reaction to the Republicans: 83 percent of Texas Democrats disapprove of the job Trump has done as president, 76 percent of them "strongly." And 85 percent of Democrats said they have an unfavorable opinion of the new chief executive. "If you're a Republican, even if you don't like the guy, well, there's the Supreme Court and the repudiation of a bunch of smug ideologues [on the left]; this isn't the worst thing in the world," said Daron Shaw, co-director of the poll and a professor at UT-Austin. "The reaction of the left the resistance probably reinforces that." Independents were split almost evenly on both questions in the poll, with 39 percent approving and 36 disapproving of the job Trump is doing; 42 percent saying they have a favorable impression of the president, while 45 percent have an unfavorable one. Overall, 45 percent of Texans have a favorable impression of Trump and 46 percent have an unfavorable one. Graphic by Emily Albracht Putin seems to be benefiting from Trump's attention and from the American president's popularity. "On the surface, the topline number looks like you would expect: Vladimir Putin is not a popular figure with Texans," Henson said. "But the details testify to the powerful influence of presidential signaling on his partisans. The president of Russia's negatives are 28 points higher among Democrats than they are among Republicans, full stop." Overall, Putin is clearly unpopular, but while only 10 percent of Texans have a favorable impression of the Russian president and 62 percent have an unfavorable view of him, the disdain is much stronger among Democrats than Republicans. While 79 percent of Democrats have unfavorable opinions of Putin, 51 percent of Republicans do a 28-percentage-point difference of opinion. Few Texans have favorable opinions of Putin 7 percent of Democrats and 14 percent of Republicans but while 7 percent of Democrats had neutral view of the Russian, more than a quarter of Republicans said they had neither positive nor negative opinions of him. "It's not like they're loving Putin," Shaw said. "You're basically getting 50 percent of Republicans saying, 'No, the guy is a thug.' Which means 50 percent are saying he's not a thug. "This speaks to the Trump halo effect," he added. "Putin seems to prefer Trump, and I prefer Trump, therefore Putin can't be all bad. But the notion that there's an openness to cozy up to Russia, I don't think so." Graphic by Emily Albracht Texans' views of Vice President Mike Pence more or less mirror their opinions of Trump: 42 percent view him favorably, 40 percent unfavorably. Among Republicans, 79 percent have favorable views of Pence. Among Democrats, 74 percent have unfavorable views of him. Independents were more negative than positive about the Veep: 29 percent have favorable views, while 44 percent said their opinions were negative. About half of the respondents said Donald Trump does not have the temperament to be president and do not think he is honest and trustworthy. That's an improvement over what they said in the October 2016 UT/TT Poll, when only a third of Texans said he was honest, trustworthy and had the temperament to be the country's top elected official. "I don't think that people's impression of Donald Trump has changed all that much," Henson said. "But these numbers are a testament to the role of the president as a figurehead and the power of partisanship." Graphic by Emily Albracht Again, the Republicans and Democrats among the respondents acted as political reciprocals: 68 percent of Republicans think Trump's got the temperament for the job and 84 percent of Democrats think he does not. Among Republicans, 70 percent said Trump is honest and trustworthy; only 6 percent of Democrats agree. The University of Texas/Texas Tribune internet survey of 1,200 registered voters was conducted from Feb. 3 to Feb. 10 and has an overall margin of error of +/- 2.83 percentage points. Numbers in charts might not add up to 100 percent because of rounding. This is one of several stories on the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll. Also today: Texans on the economy and the direction of the country and state. Coming Tuesday: Texans' views on immigration, cultural issues and health care. Disclosure: The University of Texas at Austin has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed here. This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2017/02/20/uttt-poll-new-president-popular-texas-republicans/. The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans and engages with them about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues. The summers final Live on the Waterfront concert was held Wednesday evening at Prince Arthurs Landing. The popular series in Thunder Bay has completed nine weekly shows that began on July 13. Wednesdays concert was unique as it was held one hour later in the evening to mesh with the 10 p. We attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message. Hyderabad Feb 20 : Amyra Dastur is leaving no leaf unturned to raise oomph factor. In a hot and spicy photoshoot, Amyra is turning heads. Clad in a designer tight gown, Amyra jumps into air and sets the screens ablaze. As wind blows off her gown, she looked pretty hot. Recently seen in Hollywood film Kung Fu Yoga that has marshal arts legend Jackie Chan in the lead, Amyra is now on a roll.Made her debut with Hindi film Isaaq opposite Prateik Babbar, Amyra shot to fame in South with her second film Anekudu (Anegan in Tamil). She was paired up with Dhanush and it was her claim to fame. Hyderabad Feb 20 : Megastar Chiranjeevi is riding high on the success of his latest flick Khadi.No.150 it was his comeback movie after nine years and he had generated a lot of positive buzz among the audience with his mind blowing performance on the silver screen. Sources informed that Chiranjeevi has lent his voice for Rana's Latest movie Ghazi Attack in Telugu where the movie revolves around the submarine ship.According to the latest development in the story that Chiranjeevi even dubbed his own voice for Manchu Manoj's upcoming flick Gunturodu'. Actor Manoj himself took to his twitter account to express his gratitude towards Mega Star Chiranjeevi for helping him with his voice. Meanwhile, Manchu Manjo upcoming project Gunturodu will set to arrive in theaters on March 3rd. Watch the space for more updates. BNM anunta concurs pentru postul vacant de expert coordonator (durata determinata) responsabil de control pe teren si din oficiu a sistemelor de plati Not Yo' Daddy's Hot Sauce.jpg Launch League Executive Director Courtney Gras (left) helps Not Yo' Daddy's Hot Sauce owners Cristina Gonzalez Alcala and Richelle Wardell perfect their pitch at the OSC Tech Lab Feb. 19 as part of the two-day SparkAK entrepreneurship bootcamp. AKRON, Ohio - What do a bookstore, hot sauce and a pair programming app have in common? All are among the newest additions to Akron's emerging startup scene, thanks to SparkAK, a two-day entrepreneurship weekend hosted by Launch League Feb. 18-19. Five Akron-based startups competed in the event, which brought together teams of developers, designers, marketers and finance pros to develop an existing startup or create a new one. With guidance from mentors, 20 entrepreneurs worked in teams nearly around the clock to create, prototype and market their startups and pitch their ideas to a panel of judges. "We want to make Akron the place to build a startup community," said Launch League Executive Director Courtney Gras. "The immersive format of SparkAK offers entrepreneurs the opportunity to test an idea in some cases, and in other cases, take an existing startup to the next level." Teams worked all day Saturday and most of Sunday to generate ideas, refine them, and in some cases, generate more ideas. All teams worked in the OSC Tech Lab - an open design concept workspace designed to facilitate collaboration. "You wouldn't think there would be much idea sharing between a hot sauce company and an app startup in the same room, but there is," said Gras. On Sunday afternoon, the teams traveled to the Nightlight Cinema to pitch their ideas to a panel of judges, who awarded the teams "prizes" in the form of assistance to help the startups get off the ground or scale up. SparkAK participants included: Not Yo' Daddy's Hot Sauce Cristina Gonzalez Alcala and Richelle Wardell started "Not Yo' Daddy's," making a premium hot sauce with equal amounts of heat and flavor. The hot sauce, currently being produced at Sweet Mary's Bakery, is based on a 30-year-old family recipe handed down from Gonzalez's father. "We named our product 'Not Yo' Daddy's' because it's not your daddy's, it's my daddy's," said Gonzalez. The judges awarded Not Yo' Daddy's Hot Sauce a two-hour minimum viable product workshop and consultation with Magnet to help the team scale its business. Sensei Team members Carlton Ramsey, Nico Lindsey, Jocelyn Grant and Andrew Thornborough settled on Sensei, an online marketplace for technical trainers, after brainstorming several ideas and working with OSC Tech Lab mentors. The tool, which virtually connects information seekers to experts in a variety of fields was selected by the team for its potential to provide a fast and cost-effective solution, said Grant. The judges awarded Sensei one month of co-working at OSC Tech Lab to give the team more time to work together. Shoebox team member Edward Baus makes his pitch to the judges at Nightlight Cinema Feb. 19. Shoebox For team members Edward Baus, Marc Wolbert and Ben Lippincot the idea of creating an online "shoebox" tool to organize product information, warranties, receipts and even tax information seemed like an obvious solution to the missing warranty/receipt conundrum. "Let's say I drive to Lowe's because I need a belt for my lawn mower," said Wolbert. "After I arrive, I realize I don't remember which model of mower I have, and therefore have no idea which belt to buy. Shoebox would solve that problem by facilitating the real-time accessibility of information, in this case, accessing my lawn-mower model so I know which belt to buy." The judges awarded Shoebox a technical consulting session with Coffee and Code to help get the tool off the ground. Maker Duet team members (left to right) Brandyn Costa, Ethan Schweinsberg and Rachel Wilkins Patel prepare for their pitch at the OSC Tech Lab Feb. 19. Maker Duet Maker Duet, the brainchild of Rachel Wilkins Patel, is a real-time collaboration software solution that allows senior and junior software developers to "pair program," which allows team members to collaborate, share knowledge and get work done faster. "We know there are communication and collaboration obstacles in the tech field," said Patel. "With Maker Duet, we hope to break those barriers by providing an infrastructure that improves efficiency and gives junior developers a chance to learn and grow." The judges awarded Maker Duet mentor-guided training from the University of Akron's iCorps program. Rubber City Tales According to Jessica Kaisk, establishing an Akron-based bookstore that would serve as a hub for writers, readers, students and families should be the next chapter in the city's ever-evolving story. Kaisk notes that while physical book stores have struggled creating a place artists and writers can mingle over coffee, or where immigrants can take language classes, would set her proposed store apart from traditional book stores. The judges awarded Rubber City Tales a pitch consultation from Design Flux Technology. Save Save Save An over-the-counter product for treating warts and shingles is coming from an unusual place: lobsters. A Maine lobster researcher is hoping to harvest the sea critter's blood and put it to new uses. "We have tissue culture experiments that demonstrate that it's antiviral," said Robert Bayer, one of the researchers behind the venture. Bayer, the executive director of the Lobster Institute at the University of Maine in Orono, has a patent filing that details the use "crustacean hemolymph... for a pharmaceutical and/or cosmetic treatment of viral and other neoplastic or pre-neoplastic mammalian tissue legions." To put this patent to use, Bayer has teamed with Cathy Billings, associate director of the Lobster Institute, as well as a retired New York ad exec, among others. The university isn't part of the venture, known as Lobster Unlimited LLC. (It was first reported by the Bangor Daily News.) The start-up's first product is expected to be a cream that will be known as LobsteRx, according to Billings. She wouldn't divulge how much lobster serum is needed for each container, although she indicated that the serum is "the major active ingredient" and added that shea butter also might be added as an ingredient. The serum is harvested from the lobsters using a syringe technique that enters the lobster's soft tissue. The company also has been testing a type of vacuum pressure to assist in the process. The good news is the lobster is still edible after the serum is extracted. The group plans to work with lobsters used in the meat-processing market or for frozen tails. "One of the things that happens during the processing is they bleed out," said Bayer. "So it's not that different than the normal process. There are massive amounts of blood you're (processors) paying sewer charges on." The end of the Affordable Care Act could mean the rise of a new kind of tax-advantaged investment plan: the Roth health savings account (HSA). Republican Senators Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Susan Collins of Maine have drafted a bill to create the Roth HSAs to help people pay health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs, as part of a plan to replace Obamacare. However, critics worry that Roth HSAs don't go far enough to provide health care to the uninsured. Sframephoto | Getty Images "It is being proposed as an Obamacare replacement, but it's really providing tax-sheltering opportunities rather than increasing health care coverage," said Edwin Park, vice president for health care policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal think tank. Pros and cons of a Roth HSA To understand the trade-offs of a Roth HSA, you have to know how regular HSAs work. HSAs, introduced in 2003, offer you triple tax advantages: First, contributions are tax-deductible. Second, those contributions can be invested and grow tax-free. Third, withdrawals aren't taxed as long as you use them for qualified medical expenses. If you use an HSA to pay for unqualified medical expenses, the tax penalty is 20 percent, unless you are 65 or older. That is when you can take money out for whatever you want, but the withdrawals will still be subject to regular income taxes. A drawback of HSAs is that they are paired with a high-deductible health plan. Such a plan means you'll have to pay a deductible of at least $1,300 for individual coverage and $2,600 for families. The maximum annual out-of-pocket costs for these plans are $6,550 for individuals and $13,100 for families. In 2017, you (and your employer) can contribute up to $3,400 to an HSA for individuals and $6,750 for families. Account holders age 55 and older can contribute an extra $1,000. You also can use your HSA to pay for Medicare premiums and out-of-pocket expenses including deductibles, co-pays and coinsurance (except Medigap). Under the Cassidy-Collins plan, Roth HSA contributions would not be tax-deductible, cutting off one leg of the triple advantage. However, unlike regular HSAs, you wouldn't need a high-deductible health plan to qualify for a Roth HSA and you could pay health-insurance premiums with the account. "Using a Roth HSA to pay premiums sounds good, but since the average HSA has a balance of $2,000 you would quickly exhaust the account," said Eric Remjeske, president and founder of Devenir, an HSA consulting firm in Minneapolis. Remjeske, who favors expanding HSAs as part of health care reform, prefer Congress would focus on options that "are a little more realistic and doable." Other HSA proposals on the table The Cassidy-Collins plan that includes Roth HSAs is just one of many Republican options to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Calls for comment to the senators' offices were not returned. President Donald Trump proposed that HSAs "would become part of the estate of the individual and could be passed on to heirs without fear of any death penalty" during the presidential campaign. Currently, there is no tax penalty for HSAs inherited from a spouse, but those inherited from someone other than a spouse are included in an heir's income. House Speaker Paul Ryan and fellow Republicans want to increase the HSA contribution limits to the maximum out-of-pocket limits for high-deductible health plans. So if those rules were in effect next year, the individual HSA limit would rise to $6,550 from $3,400, and the family contribution limit would grow to $13,100 from $6,750. House Republicans also want to allow spouses to make catch-up contributions to the same HSA account, and permit qualified medical expenses incurred before HSA-qualified coverage begins to be reimbursed from an HSA as long as the account is established within 60 days. How to pick an HSA As eurozone finance ministers head to Brussels on Monday in an attempt to break the standstill on Greece's debt crisis, the best outcome of the meeting would simply be an agreement to continue meeting, experts said. Many observers have commented that breaking the deadlock during the Feb. 20 meeting is a long shot a sentiment shared by Gabriel Stein, managing director for developed markets research at 4CAST-RGE. "This is a complicated issue. There are strong feelings on all sides, there are politics involved and crucially, no decision is necessary until July and I think the best we can hope for is no breakdown in talks and an agreement to continue talking," Stein told CNBC's "Rundown." Greece's debt crisis returned to the limelight after another impasse with its European creditors and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Creditors demanded further reforms but further austerity is a difficult sell in economically-ravaged Greece. To complicate matters, the creditors said there will be no bailout deal unless the IMF participates. The IMF, however, has said it wants to see more debt relief and easier targets for Athens before committing requests that do not appeal to the European creditors. China will suspend all imports of coal from North Korea starting Feb. 19, the country's commerce ministry said in a notice posted on its website on Saturday, as part of its efforts to implement United Nations sanctions against the country. The Ministry of Commerce said in a short statement that the ban would be effective until Dec. 31. The ministry did not say why all shipments would be suspended, but South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported last week that a shipment of North Korean coal worth around $1 million was rejected at Wenzhou port on China's eastern coast. The rejection came a day after Pyongyang's test of an intermediate-range ballistic missile, its first direct challenge to the international community since U.S. President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20. watch now Alongside recovering Chinese demand, Citi Research projected supply to move into deficit in 2017 for the first time in six years. "Copper supply set to under-perform demand for much of the next half decade. As the global economy departs from several years of stagnation, so too does the outlook for copper pricing. The combination of stronger than expected Chinese demand, a clear lack of visible copper inventory build, an end to cost deflation, and the U.S.-centric reflation story after the Trump election victory sparked positive price momentum through the latter stages of 2016," wrote Citi analysts. After hitting historic highs in February 2011 at over $10,000 a metric ton, copper prices went on a prolonged slide, reaching seven-year lows around $4,330 a ton in January 2015 due to slowing Chinese demand growth and burgeoning supply as producers ramped up output in expectations of the demand growth witnessed from 2006-2011. However, Chinese demand growth slowed. A copper factory in Nantong, China. VCG | Getty Images And it's not all lounge gear: he's just introduced the brand's first cotton dress. So five years ago, Winthrop shipped his first American Giant sweatshirt, made in the U.S.A. from domestic cotton. Now he's producing thousands of shirts, sweatshirts, jackets, and sweatpants for men and women every month. Bayard Winthrop got his inspiration from Silicon Valley. If the U.S. could put a touch-screen computer in the palm of everyone's hand, why couldn't we actually make the next great American clothing brand in America? These days, there's a lot of talk about bringing manufacturing jobs back to America, but American Giant is actually doing it, and doing it the hard way. The company owns its factories in North Carolina, where Winthrop employs hundreds of workers sewing clothes. Winthrop has a distance to travel to achieve his goal of becoming an iconic American brand, but he seems to have touched a nerve at this unique cultural moment. Here are some lessons from how he's built American Giant into a contender: People, Not Robots Before he founded American Giant, Winthrop ran other companies that used offshore labor. He knew that to make this brand work, he would have to deliver a different level of quality. To keep product quality on the path where he wants it, over the past year and a half Winthrop has changed the way his workers make clothes. Rather than do things assembly-line style, with one person specializing in a narrow piece of a garment say, the sleeve he is moving to a "team sew" model where each worker is more broadly responsible for product quality. "Our perspective is, it is all good. It means that an operator can make more money because they have control over their own throughput," he told Fortt Knox in a recent interview. "One of the best parts for me, just personally, is being able to walk into a factory in Middlesex, N.C. and talk to men and women that have jobs now, that are working," he said. "To be able to talk to women that have been sewing for 30 years, and walk me through changes to a sweatshirt that are going to make it better because of the knowledge that she has." The moment of clarity came when Winthrop explained that he got better-quality clothes more efficiently when people acted more like old-fashioned craftsmen, and less like robots. A robot might be pretty good at laying down the same stitch over and over again to sew on a sleeve. However, it's not so good at making sure each garment is put together exactly the way it should be in every proportion and at figuring out ways to do it better. A New Kind of Retail Winthrop knew that if he was going to make clothes in America, he would have to approach the business differently. Worker salaries would cost more, so he would have to save money by doing away with splashy marketing. "There's a really fundamental shift going on in the marketplace, driven by consumers there's this increasing awareness among consumers, and a desire to support brands that have values that they share, that reflect their own values," he said. If you can tap into that, "you're less reliant on massive marketing budgets, huge store roll outs." Know How to Leave Winthrop learned plenty along the way about management of the business, and of himself. One key lesson was how to leave one job to start another. "The guy who got me the job at the bank my first summer job he gave me two pieces of advice that I've kept with me my whole life," Winthrop told CNBC. The first? Winthrop's first boss was a former Marine, tough guy. The first thing his boss would say to him every day was, "Hey: Go get me a coffee and a bagel." Eventually, the routine bothered Winthrop so much that he complained to his mentor about it. "Make it the best cup of coffee he's ever had," was his mentor's advice. The second? "When I decided to leave, he said to me, 'Good endings, good beginnings.'" Whether you're quitting to start the next great American brand, or just getting a promotion to another department, it's sound advice. Fortt Knox is a weekly podcast from CNBC anchor Jon Fortt. Previous episodes of the program can be found here. A worker stands in front of a ball mill at Freeport McMoRan Inc.'s Grasberg copper and gold mining complex in Papua province, Indonesia, on Wednesday, April 22, 2015. Chappy Hakim, chief executive of miner Freeport-McMoran 's Indonesian unit, has resigned, the company said on Saturday, after the parent firm declared force majeure on copper concentrate shipments from its Grasberg mine in Papua. Freeport, which has been negotiating with the Indonesian government after halting exports due to new mining rules, said on Friday it could not meet contractual obligations for copper concentrate shipments from the giant mine following a five-week export stoppage. All work has stopped at the mine, the world's second largest for copper, a union leader said. Hakim, a former air force chief, had only been in the job for a few months. Freeport Indonesia hoped he would be able to use his political connections to help the firm navigate its way through a period of regulatory uncertainty. "I have decided it is in the best interests of PTFI (Freeport Indonesia) and my family to step down from my duties as president director while continuing to support the company in an advisory role," Hakim said in a company statement. A Freeport Indonesia spokesman said he could not confirm who Hakim's successor would be. Japan Airlines Co. (JAL) group companies' new employees line up on Tuesday, April 1, 2014. Japan's efforts to put the kibosh on karoshi, or "death by overwork," by addressing excessive overtime could weigh heavily on economic growth, Deutsche Bank said. "Cuts in overtime hours lead to lower household income, corporate earnings, and the economy's potential output. Labor intensive industries that depend on domestic demand and have a greater weight of part-time workers in their work force are likely to suffer more," the bank said in a note dated Friday. "Unclaimed overtime, negative publicity and the fallacy of composition all reinforce the 'shorter work hours shock.'" Deutsche Bank cut its economic growth forecasts for Japan to 1.0 percent in 2017 and 1.1 percent in 2018, from 1.1 percent and 1.4 percent respectively. While the bank expected fresh legislation limiting overtime, potentially to 45-60 hours a month, it said it was cutting its forecast because the government was already intensifying monitoring of overtime levels, dragging on companies. "Japanese employees often work longer than their reported hours in what is known as 'unclaimed overtime,' which does not show up in official data," it noted. "As such, the actual extent of the cut in overtime work is likely to exceed the published data, which cannot be fully countered by the rise in labor productivity." Deutsche Bank said it expected companies across the board would slash overtime to avoid negative publicity. The working-hours decline across the economy would hurt household income and spending, spurring a negative feedback loop as corporate sales and profits also fall, the bank said. It added that it didn't expect going home early would give employees more time to consume as the low household savings rate means households can't really afford additional spending. Structural reforms to Japan's labor market were considered a crucial part of Abenomics, or Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plan to boost growth in the country's long moribund economy. The Japanese workforce has a long-running reputation for long hours with their noses at the grindstone. The country even has a word, karoshi, or death by overwork. Police statistics have reportedly indicated that more than 2,000 people committed suicide in 2015, with work stress cited as a contributing cause. In the year to end-March 2015, the country saw a record number of claims for compensation for karoshi at 1,456, Reuters reported, noting that the requirement was monthly overtime of 80-100 hours followed by either death by cardiovascular illness tied to overwork or suicide following work-related stress. The effort to push companies to end long overtime hours got a fillip about a year ago, amid an outcry after an employee at advertising agency Dentsu committed suicide after working more than 100 hours of overtime every month for around nine months. In October, the government released its first study on karoshi, finding that workers at 12 percent of companies work more than 100 hours of overtime monthly and 23 percent of companies have workers putting in more than 80 hours of overtime monthly. Abenomics has targeted getting companies to stop requiring excessive overtime in part to increase women's participation in the workforce. Faced with discriminatory barriers, including tax penalties, women are often squeezed out of Japan's workforce. The workforce participation rate for Japan's women rose to a record of 66 percent last year, but with women still saddled with the "unpaid work" of elder and child care, excessive overtime remains a key barrier to bringing more women into labor markets. At the same time women are being squeezed out, much of the population is also aging out, making boosting participation a necessity. One in four Japanese or 31.86 million people is aged 65 or older. By CNBC.Com's Leslie Shaffer; Follow her on Twitter @LeslieShaffer1 Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook. China's state owned enterprise (SOE) reform is facing fresh questioning as a state controlled company is almost certain to post the greatest financial loss among the country's nearly 2,800 A-share listed firms in 2016. Sinopec Oilfield Service Corp, a Shanghai-listed unit of state-owned Sinopec , the top Asian crude refiner, is now the forerunner with an estimated loss of 16 billion yuan (US$2.3 billion). The preliminary result, released in its exchange filing on January 20, is very close to the record high 16.3 billion yuan loss registered by Chalco, the listed unit of China's second largest aluminium producer Chinalco, in 2014. More from the South China Morning Post: Could SOE reform in China usher in the next economic revolution? Tensions set to rise as China stops buying North Korean coal Hong Kong insurance giant tightens reimbursement approvals The Sinopec background of its major executives, a workforce of more than 78,000 and heavy reliance on orders from the parent company indicates its inheritance of a typical SOE bureaucracy, where there is less motivation and capacity to adjust to a fast changing business environment than at private firms or foreign peers. Although a severe fall in oil prices has also been a key factor in the losses, the turn of events has greatly exposed the weakness of China's "national champions", including rigid management, high debt ratios, redundancy and making social responsibility a higher priority than profitability. The fact that all the biggest losers in the past decade were large state firms, including Wuhan Iron & Steel Co in 2015, shipper COSCO in 2011 -2012 and China Eastern Airlines in 2008, is an awkward matter for top leaders and presents a pessimistic outlook for the country's reform drive. China has launched a series of reforms since 2014, including experiments with mixed ownership, state asset investment holding groups, salary controls and merging SOEs in similar industries. Companies hoping to adopt new technologies for long-term growth should embrace cloud computing, according to a top Microsoft executive. Ralph Haupter, president of Asia at Microsoft, told CNBC on Monday that decision-makers in the region were looking for ways to digitally transform their businesses to tap into new technologies like artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, mixed reality and wearable devices. "Cloud is the how in 'how to do it,'" Haupter said. Nicolas McComber | Getty Images In a study released by Microsoft on Monday, 78 percent of Asia Pacific decision-makers surveyed said cloud computing was crucial in their digital transformation strategy. The findings of the company's Asia Digital Transformation Study also showed 80 percent of the 1,494 respondents across the region saw the need for digital transformation as a long-term growth strategy but only 29 percent have thorough plans in place to do it. The demand for public cloud services in Asia Pacific is expected to grow 17.7 percent in 2017 to $10 billion, according to research from Gartner. By 2020, total public cloud services spending in the region will rise to $15.8 billion. Microsoft underwent its own business transformation from a desktop focus to more emphasis on cloud and mobile, and now has data centers in 13 regions across Asia Pacific to cater to the growing demand in public cloud services in local markets. These centers support Microsoft's public cloud, Azure, which grew revenue by 93 percent on-year in 2016 and saw compute usage more than double. To navigate the complexities of regulatory compliance and data privacy laws around the region, Microsoft also partners with other data center providers already established in local markets. In China, that partnership is done with U.S.-listed 21Vianet , with data centers running in Beijing and Shanghai. "China obviously is a huge opportunity that's defined by size (and) acceleration of innovation...you have, by definition, high demand and digitization," Haupter said, adding that many government initiatives were betting heavily on technology. watch now Since the Affordable Care Act became law in 2010, making the math work has been a real challenge. For Obamacare to be sustainable, the insurance "risk pool" equation has to work. Premiums from young, healthy consumers have to exceed medical care costs for older people. Was there a problem with the formula? "I think it was flawed," former Aetna CEO Ronald Williams told CNBC's On The Money in an interview. "In health care you really need a balance of people who need health care today, tomorrow and in the future," he said. "And the rate structure was set in a way that those who needed health care today got the most affordable premiums. That means typically older citizens got a much better deal." While the Affordable Care Act was being created, Williams often met with President Obama or his staff, and testified before Congress as Aetna CEO from 2006 to 2010. Obamacare has a "structural imbalance" that resulted in higher costs for healthier, younger people, Williams said, but lower costs for those who are "older and more likely to need care." As a result, "Younger participants in the exchanges and who purchase individual insurance paid more and they just didn't see the value, and therefore they did not come forward and sign up," he said. Williams said that because young adults chose not to sign up for ACA, the insurance industry is "missing their premiums and that's causing the overall rate of increase to be greater." That, in turn, is helping "make the insurance pool unsustainable financially," he said. Since stepping down as Aetna's chief executive in 2010, Williams has been CEO of his own consultancy, RW2 Enterprises. He's also a director of American Express , Boeing , and Johnson & Johnson . With President Trump vowing to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, the public doesn't yet know what will replace it. Williams said what is needed is "much more competition" and lower cost, more flexible plans so that consumers have "a range of options as opposed to a 'one-size-fits-all' approach." While we hear a lot about repealing ACA, the jury is still out on what comes next. The process of getting Obamacare created took years of negotiating and planning from various and multiple parts of the health care system. Is the same thing going to have to take place again to remake the Affordable Care act? "I think it does," Williams said. "We need to make changes in a thoughtful way. We need the input of hospitals, physicians, pharmaceutical companies, health insurers and consumers." "On the Money" airs on CNBC Sundays at 5:30 a.m.ET, or check listings for air times in local markets. President Donald Trump and his advisors were loud in their threats of a trade war with China but the Shanghai Index charts shows China is shrugging off this rhetoric. The strong Shanghai Index rally suggests they believe Trump is a paper tiger. The Shanghai Index uptrend breakout moved quickly and developed good strength. Investors now watch for a consolidation period to develop around temporary resistance near 3,230. The consolidation often precedes a continuation of the uptrend with a breakout towards a long term target of 3,400. The recent temporary resistance level that developed near 3,175 has been broken. This level is potentially a support level for any reaction retreat in the index. The move above 3,175 was bullish and achieved the upside target near 3,210. This confirmed that a trend change has developed and that the downtrend pressure has weakened. This means the current activity is part of a trend change and not just a short time rally. The long term Guppy Multiple Moving Averages (GMMA) indicator has compressed and turned up. The lower edge of the long term GMMA is above the level of the upper edge of the trading consolidation band near 3,140 and this is bullish. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble denied on Sunday that he had said Greece would have to leave the euro zone if it failed to implement economic reforms. Schaeuble said in an ARD television interview that Greece would not have problems if it implemented agreed reforms, but would if it fails to carry these out. "I never made any ('Grexit') threats," Schaeuble told ARD's Bericht aus Berlin programme just before the network played recent comments in which he said Greece was "not yet over the hill" and the "pressure needed to stay on" Greece or it "couldn't stay in the currency union". Schaeuble said he was giving Greece the same message that it has received throughout its crisis from institutions such as the International Monetary Fund. "If Greece carries out the reforms, there won't be any problems. If they don't, then there will be problems." Schaeuble added: "I'm confident. Greece is on the right path." As numerous restaurant employees were given leave on Thursday to march in "A Day Without Immigrants" protests, others returned to their posts Friday to discover that they were out of a job. Across the U.S. employers fired hundreds of protesters who skipped work to participate in rallies. Eighteen employees at Bradley Coatings, a company specializing in industrial coatings, were let go after not showing up for work, according to an NBC affiliate. The company noted in a statement that the employees were not terminated for attending the protests but for being absent. "This past Wednesday night, certain employees of BCI informed their leadership that they would not be at work the following day," the company said in a statement. "Because of the time-sensitive nature of the jobs these employees were assigned to, all employees were told that they would need to show up for work or they would be terminated. On Thursday, the majority of BCI's employees fulfilled their obligations to our clients, but eighteen employees did not. Regretfully, and consistent with its prior communication to all its employees, BCI had no choice but to terminate these individuals." Twenty-one people were fired for missing work at Encore Boat Builders in Lexington, South Carolina. At least 31 workers were let go from Colorado-based JVS Masonry for not showing up Thursday. A dozen employees at I Don't Care Bar and Grill in Oklahoma were also fired for not notifying their employer that they would be taking the day off. Twenty-five workers at Ben's Kosher Delicatessen Restaurant and Caterers in Long Island, New York were fired, according to Telemundo 47. In a statement to CNBC, the restaurant disputed the claim, noting in a statement that the employers let workers go who were threatening other employees who had opted not to walk out. People took to Twitter in the following days to comment about the series of firings. Tweet 1 Tweet 2 Tweet 3 Tweet 4 Tweet 5 Tweet 6 Tweet 7 Tweet 8 European markets finished Monday trade mostly higher, after investors digested a raft of earnings and economic data, while remaining watchful for any more details from U.S. President Donald Trump regarding his economic policies. The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed up 0.22 percent, after wavering during afternoon trade. When it came to major bourses, Germany's DAX led the gains, closing up 0.6 percent, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 finished little changed and France's CAC 40 was off 0.05 percent. Telecoms were one of the best performers in Europe, closing up 1.14 percent as a sector on Monday. The sector was lifted following reports that Softbank was ready to cede control of Sprint to Deutsche Telecom's T-Mobile US. Deutsche Telecom closed up 2.5 percent. RBS , however, took the crown for the STOXX 600's best performing stock, jumping 6.8 percent by the close after it scrapped plans to sell Williams and Glyn, Reuters reported. On the other hand, Unilever slumped to the bottom of the STOXX 600, ending the day down 6.56 percent, after news Sunday that Kraft Heinz had withdrawn its bid. Earnings season continued to deliver results on Monday, with Bovis Homes revealing that its full-year pre-tax profit had dropped last year, adding that it would build fewer homes in 2017. Its shares dropped almost 11 percent, before paring some losses to close down 10.2 percent. Other U.K. property stocks also under-performed during the session, with Berkeley Group , Barratt Development and Taylor Wimpey all finishing in negative territory. Plastics maker Covestro said Monday it intended to divest, after reporting bigger-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter. Shares dropped to close down more than 4 percent. Italy poses the greatest threat to stability of the euro area in spite of the impending presidential elections in France, according to analysts at Deutsche Bank. Italy's former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi resigned as leader from the ruling Democratic Party (PD) on Sunday which appears to have sounded the alarm that a formal party split could be in the offing. "Italy represents, in our view, the main risk to euro-area stability," Marco Stringa, senior economist at Deutsche Bank , said in a note. The increased likelihood of a PD party split, which has now become Deutsche Bank's base case scenario, has resulted in the yield spread between Italy and Germany's 10-year bonds widening by the most since February 2014. Analysts at Deutsche Bank projected that September would now be the most likely time for elections to be held in Italy as they argued Renzi would wish to hold the vote before he is required to send the 2018 budget draft to the European Commission in October. Meanwhile, in France, elections for the new French President are due to take place in a two round process beginning in April and ending in May. Marine Le Pen, leader of the anti-establishment National Front party, has promised to renegotiate the terms of France's membership of the European Union if elected president, though her chances of success appear limited. "We think that the probability of a negative development in Italy in the short- or medium-term is greater than a victory of the leader of the National Front, Le Pen, in the forthcoming French presidential election," Stringa added. From innovation and new toys to theatrical releases, the more than 80-year-old toy company Lego is fun, profitable and continues to be relevant in an ever increasing digital age. Lego which comes from an abbreviation of the Danish words "leg godt", meaning "play well" has a mission to help kids build development through play. "We're fortunate that our brand, and the construction play pattern that the Lego brick is most famous for, is so timeless and gives us the opportunity to do so many different things," Skip Kodak, senior vice president for Lego Americas, told CNBC's "On the Money." watch now The brand is one of the world's largest toymakers, second only to Mattel . It dominates the construction toy category, holding nearly two thirds of the global market share, according to market research firm EuroMonitor. The company has been growing its revenue at a rapid rate. In 2010, Lego reported annual sales of $2.3 billion. Five years later, that number increased to $5.2 billion. While Mattel had $5.7 billion in revenue in 2015, the Barbie maker has been on a downward trend, falling 5 percent from the previous year. Lego goes Hollywood Part of fueling that growth is Lego's venture into Hollywood. The toy-maker came out with its first theatrical release "The Lego Movie" in 2014. This year audiences have the opportunity to see two new movies: "The Lego Batman Movie," which is out now, and "The Lego Ninjago Movie," which will be released in September. A sequel to "The Lego Movie" is slated to come out in 2018. A close-up view of the Lego Star Wars death star at Hamleys Christmas toy photocall. Bethany Clarke | Getty Images "The movies are bringing in the appeal from the story line and giving kids an immersive universe to play in," Kodak said . He's hoping to bring in a whole new audience to the toy line. "Maybe those kids didn't always love Lego and then they get attracted in." he said. "And then in the other themes," such as toy lines like Duplo and Creator 3 -in-1, "we're able to help them find their potential and find their inner joy of creating." Tech Check Its yet to be seen just how much of a crisis Pennsylvanias seemingly never-ending budget crisis will be this year. A lot of this depends on politics, as much as actual math. But this years proposal, from early feedback, is shaping up to be one of the most palatable yet. You have to give credit to Wolf where its due, said Andrew Ritter, a consultant with Capital Associates and a former strategist under the Corbett administration. Despite the things that Republicans will likely object to, this is a well thought-out proposal, Ritter said. Its clearly an attempt to streamline the debate versus previous years. Like many public budgets, Pennsylvanias financial ledger suffers from revenues that come in under projections, and expenses which continue to grow from year to year. Most recent estimates indicate that Pennsylvania will close out the 2016-2017 fiscal year around $700 million in the red, with revenues failing to meet their current budget line items. Further, the state faces a $2 billion structural deficit, beyond any day-to-day revenue or expense mismatches. This deficit is the result of growing health care, pension, and other fixed expenses many of which can be booked to future years in order to improve the math, but will continue to create a growing background deficit, so to speak. To address this, Wolf is pitching a plan that involves no new broad-based tax increases. This is a sharp departure from last year, when Wolf pressed for a hike in Pennsylvanias base income tax rate. Instead, the new budget relies mostly on changes to the corporate tax code, as well as a new severance tax on Marcellus Shale gas drilling. Wolfs budget also estimates a considerable amount of savings from combining functions within state government, cutting down on overhead while, ostensibly, not compromising services. Thats the big thing that people are going to be tuned in to when the Department of Revenue goes in for their hearings, Ritter said. The General Assembly is going to have to dig deep to figure out the validity of some of these cost-saving projections. Out of the entire budget, Ritter identified three strategies employed by Wolf that Republicans will likely try to take off the table during the coming legislative hearings. Minimum wage Wolfs budget proposes enacting a $12 state minimum wage, superseding the current federal $7.25 mandate. This proposes to fix two problems. First, increased income for citizens means increased income tax revenue for the state, to the tune of an extra $95 million per year, according to Wolfs outline. Secondly, higher wages mean less dependence on public assistance a single parent with two children working full time at the federal minimum wage makes about $14,000 per year, but is eligible for up to $30,000 in state benefits, according to 2015 numbers from the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee. Wage stagnation is arguably one of Pennsylvanias biggest issues. 2015 was the first year in which median household incomes fully recovered to the level they were at in 2001, but for significant parts of the population, these numbers are still down. White men without a college degree are making $4,500 less per year, working full time, than they were in 1979, according to a study by the Keystone Research Institute. Black working-class men are making a whopping $8,100 less for the same hours since 1979. But Republican lawmakers typically push the supply-side economics approach, viewing any reduction of inputs such as higher labor costs as inherently bad and inhibiting business growth. Increased costs will cause employers to cut hours and make low-wage workers no better off, they posit. Most likely to come off the table first would be a minimum wage increase, Ritter said. That has been and will be the biggest bargaining chip. Corporate taxes Wolfs budget also proposes to clamp down on corporate tax rules in several ways. But the one with the most far-reaching implications is what is commonly called combined reporting. This requires any company doing business in Pennsylvania to report not just its own revenue, but also its transactions with affiliated companies or parent organizations based in other states. In the same way that the federal government is currently grappling with offshoring by multi-national corporations, Pennsylvania lawmakers have long complained about the Delaware loophole. This typically refers to the practice of large companies establishing holding entities in tax-free states, like Delaware. Such entities dont actually do anything per se, but license their name and operations to subsidiaries in different states. These subsidiaries are then able to show no net profitsrather, they will zero out their revenues via equal expenses back to the parent company, ostensibly to pay for intellectual property and management services. Returns from the PA Department of Revenue show that, through 2013, roughly 75 percent of business entities in the state report their net tax liability as zero. Toys R Us, for example, is a multistate corporation that does business in PA but has a passive investment company that registers the logo, explained Kathy Benton, Chief of Staff for Senator Christine Tartaglione. The investment company in Delaware then charges the Pennsylvania company for its intellectual property in this case, the Geoffrey the Giraffe logo so that the Pennsylvania company can have zero net income for tax purposes, Benton said. Tartaglione is the lead sponsor of Senate Bill 164, which would enable combined reporting in a way similar to what Wolf is seeking. Under a combined reporting system, the Department of Revenue would look at the operating income of a company and all of its subsidiaries, even if it is based in Delaware and operates in multiple jurisdictions. Depending on how much business the company did in Pennsylvania, a fractional factor would be assigned to the companys net profits, and that portion of the profits subject to Pennsylvania tax. Wolfs proposal would also cap the ability of companies to carry losses over from year to year to reduce their tax liability, with no more than 30 percent of total losses being transferrable. Combined reporting, however, is a considerable administrative hurdle, and is subject to legal action. It is often portrayed as more trouble than its worth, Ritter said. California still has disputes in court from when it first implemented combined reporting. Combined reporting is staunchly opposed by corporate lobbies. Compete PA, a group which represents most of the states largest industrial companies, has fought against it, saying the measure creates uncertainty in revenue forecasts and collection and will result in increased administration and litigation costs for the Commonwealth. Combined reporting has never been received well by Republicans, mainly because of the impact it would have on some major manufacturers in the state, Ritter said. I would expect that to be fought again. But combined reporting, under Wolfs proposal, would also come with phased-in reduction in the net corporate tax rate, from the current 9.99 percent to 6.49 percent in 2022. The argument is that those companies who are already paying their fair share would actually see a tax reduction, although the change to combined reporting and limited loss carryovers is estimated to bring in an extra $81 million per year. The governors budget assumes combined reporting starting a year from now, and a schedule of corporate tax rate decreases starting in 2019 and continuing until 2022, noted Wolf spokesman J.J. Abbott. Abbott also pointed out that Wolf had pitched the combined reporting solution in 2015, with the corporate tax rate reduced by half. The measure did not make it through to the budget eventually passed by the legislature. Development bonds Wolfs budget also takes roughly $110 million in economic development funding including health research grants, environmental improvement grants, and others and pulls it from the general fund, instead issuing bonds to come up with the money. Of course, this means that the state will need to devote revenues in coming years to making debt payments on that borrowing. But the idea, Abbott said, is to relieve pressure on the general fund while looking into ways to fund economic development with dedicated revenue streams that would pay for debt financing. Basically it takes economic development off the general funds plate for three years, Abbott said. The idea is to look longer-term at how to make that sustainableto work with the General Assembly to find a way to make those grants sustainable long-term outside of just year-to-year funding from the general fund. But with fixed expenses particularly pension fund contributions going up year to year, there will almost certainly be reluctance to create additional fixed expenses in the form of debt payments. With the debt-conscious mindset that the legislature has right now, I cannot see them going along with that easily, Ritter said. The voluntary agreement was brokered by the U.K. Intellectual Property Office (IPO), the government department that deals with patents and copyright issues, who called it a "landmark" deal. In what is being called a first of its kind agreement, Google and Microsoft's Bing will demote U.K. search results of copyright infringing websites. Under the "code of practice", Bing and Google have agreed to remove links to infringing content from the first page of results. Google and Microsoft pledged on Monday to crack down on sites hosting pirated content that show up on their search engines. Search engines, in particular Google, have clashed in recent times with organizations that represent rights holders about how best to tackle pirated content. Even Google's YouTube has come under fire from the music industry over copyright in the past. "Consumers are increasingly heading online for music, films, e-books, and a wide variety of other content. It is essential that they are presented with links to legitimate websites and services, not provided with links to pirate sites," Jo Johnson, U.K. minister of state for universities, science, research and innovation, said in a press release on Monday. The BPI (British Phonographic Industry), which represents the U.K.'s recorded music industry, and the Motion Picture Association are also part of the agreement. Both Bing and Google currently allow copyright owners across the globe to make a request for the removal of a link. In the past 12 months, Google has taken down 915 million links following requests from copyright holders. Bing took down over 91 million links between January and June 2016, according to a Microsoft transparency report. The code was agreed on February 9 and will come into force immediately. It sets targets for reducing the visibility of infringing content in search results by June 1, 2017. Klaus Regling told German newspaper Bild that at the end of Greece's money-for-reforms package in August 2018, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) will "probably have paid out far less than the agreed maximum amount of 86 billion euros" because the Greek budget was developing better than expected. Greece will need less in emergency loans from international lenders than originally agreed in its third bailout programme due to a better-than-expected budgetary developments, the head of the euro zone bailout fund was reported on Monday as saying. The comments came shortly before euro zone finance ministers will meet in Brussels to assess Greece's progress in fulfilling the conditions of its bailout. Bavarian Finance Minister Markus Soeder called for a tougher stance in negotiations with Greece, suggesting Athens should only get fresh aid from its lenders against additional collateral such as cash, gold or real estate. "We need a plan B," Soeder told Bild newspaper.The review of the Greek bailout programme has been beset by delays and The review of the Greek bailout programme has been beset by delays and disputes between Athens and its European Union and International Monetary Fund creditors. As disagreement has arisen over Greece's fiscal targets, debt relief and promised reforms, fears have grown that Europe could face a new financial crisis. Greece has said it cannot cut pensions any further as demanded by the International Monetary Fund while some of its European lenders, led by Germany, have rejected the IMF's demand to grant it debt relief of some sort - perhaps on payments and maturity - now. The Fund has insisted on debt relief and precautionary fiscal measures to ensure that Athens can meet its fiscal targets before it will consider participating in the bailout. The German government, gearing up for election in September, opposes debt relief for Greece as demanded by the IMF, and says the current programme can only continue if the Fund joins in. The IMF's participation remains unclear and this question is likely to be one of the main talking points when German Chancellor Angela Merkel and IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde meet on Wednesday. The IMF declined to comment on a German magazine report on Friday that it was likely to contribute up to 5 billion euros ($5.3 billion) to a third bailout package for Greece, saying its views on the deal had not shifted. The German magazine Der Spiegel said in an unsourced report that European lenders were now expecting the IMF to contribute a sum of this size after first having hoped for 16 billion euros. Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook. Jeroen Dijsselbloem, president of the Eurogroup. Jasper Juinen | Bloomberg | Getty Images Greece is on the path to recovery and anyone who thinks otherwise can talk to someone else, the euro zone's leading finance minister has insisted. Speaking to CNBC in Brussels ahead of Eurogroup's meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Greece, the group's president, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said that everyone was committed to strengthening the recovery efforts of Greece, adding that it is in the joint interests of the "whole euro zone." His comments come amid speculation that the embattled Greek economy could soon default on its debts and be forced out of the single currency union in what commentators have termed 'Grexit'. The country has struggled with escalating debt in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008 and has been heavily reliant on international bailouts from the European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank. "I think it's in our joint interests for the Greeks, the whole euro zone and the Netherlands that we have a stable recovery in Greece," said Dijsselbloem. "That's what we're doing and anyone who wants to talk about crisis can talk to someone else because the Greek economy is gradually recovering and what we need to do is to strengthen that and give that more opportunity and that is what I'm trying to do." Dijsselbloem said that Monday's meeting in the Belgium capital would focus on agreeing further reforms for the country, something that the International Monetary Fund has insisted on before further recovery fund can be released. In 2015, Greece became the first developed country to fail to make an IMF loan repayment. "The IMF has been clear right from the beginning that for (Greece) to become a part of the program again they would need serious reforms in the tax system, the pension system, the labour market, and the sustainable debt outlook. While the decision to leave the European Union may not yet have shown its full wrath on the U.K. economy, fashion designers remain relatively optimistic, believing the industry will weather the storm. "I'm not worried at all. I think London and British fashion is growing and I think that London is a great city for creativity and I think it'll be absolutely fine," fashion designer Anya Hindmarch told CNBC's Tania Bryer at London Fashion Week. As the U.K. prepares to trigger Article 50, many companies are still in wait-and-see mode to see how the entire process will impact the U.K.'s economy. "I think ultimately Brexit is affecting everybody, in one way or another," said Topshop's creative director Kate Phelan. "I think it's going to pan out and we're going to see what the results are, but I think in some ways it's an unknown quantity at this point. No one seems to really know what the impact is going to actually be," she added. Over the course of this month's London Fashion Week currently in full swing more than 5,000 guests are set to attend the five-day event, which has over 50 catwalk shows and 32 presentations. Yet while new designs should be the main takeaway, Brexit remains a key topic. Like many other industries, Brexit has delivered both benefits and dilemmas for fashion in recent months. The weaker pound has helped draw in more tourists and spending to the U.K., and made companies like Mulberry more competitive, its CEO Thierry Andretta told CNBC. Meanwhile, for businesses that produce and source outside of the U.K. - particularly smaller businesses that haven't hedged their currency - companies are starting to see squeezes on margins, the chief executive of the British Fashion Council (BFC) Caroline Rush told CNBC on Friday. In the first visit to Singapore by an Israeli head of state in 30 years, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday issued a call for greater diversity and tolerance. Netanyahu gave a roughly 10-minute speech to Jewish community members gathered at the tightly guarded Maghain Aboth Synagogue, built in Singapore in the late 1800s. Netanyahu spoke of his recent visits to Muslim-majority countries Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, noting that he visited a synagogue in the latter. "Jewish children in Kazakhstan were singing Hebrew songs as they sang here, in a Muslim state and that reflects the kind of world we like to see: a world of tolerance, a world of diversity as opposed to the world that is being challenged today by the forces of barbarism and intolerance," he said. "This is a battle for the future of humanity." Netanyahu added that the relationship between Singapore and Israel had expanded beyond the defence ties which were set in the mid-1960s, when Singapore became independent of Malaysia. "It's not only that we're both innovation nations. It's not only that we're small people that have defied the limitations of our size. It is that we're committed to a better world. A world of diversity, a world that follows the values that we as a people have held for so many years," he said. Netanyahu said he had held talks with Singapore's government earlier in the day and that the talks would continue later. His speech at the synagogue coincided with the reading of Singapore's budget in Parliament. Netanyahu's visit to Singapore comes hard on the heels of the Israeli prime minister's meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in the U.S. last week, but that visit went unmentioned. Netanyahu's visit to Singapore on Monday was quieter than the last visit of an Israeli head of state to the island-nation. In 1986, Israel's then-President Chaim Herzog became the first Israeli head of state to visit Singapore. But when the Israeli embassy in Singapore announced the visit about a month ahead of time, protests erupted across Muslim-majority countries Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei, and Singapore faced diplomatic ire and pressure to cancel the visit. By CNBC.Com's Leslie Shaffer; Follow her on Twitter @LeslieShaffer1 Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook. Automation will lead to unemployment and the world needs to prepare for it, business mogul Mark Cuban urged on Monday, following warnings from technology leaders on the impact of robots and artificial intelligence (AI). The Dallas Mavericks owner did not elaborate or offer recommendations but tweeted his message followed by a link. TWEET Cuban's tweet follows an interview with CNBC on Friday in which he said President Donald Trump and his administration do not understand technology advancements. "I'm willing to bet that these companies building new plants ... this will lead to fewer people being employed," Cuban told CNBC, adding that "people aren't going to have jobs." "How does [Trump] deal with displaced workers?" Cuban asked. The "Shark Tank" judge is an investor in large technology companies including Amazon and Netflix. Cuban's comments come after major technology chief executives have warned about the impact of automation and AI on jobs. Oxford University has refuted claims that it could soon break with its centuries-old tradition and launch its first overseas campus in a bid to hedge against Brexit pressures. The British university, which is currently ranked number one in the world, told CNBC Monday that it had received several "constructive and helpful proposals" from colleagues since the Brexit vote, but added "we are not, however, pursuing the model of a campus overseas". The response follows media reports over the weekend that the university was in talks with French officials about the prospect of creating a so-called 'Oxford-sur-Seine' in Paris. The Universite of Paris Seine, a network of ten French universities, last week launched an open call for British universities to apply for a satellite office in the capital as part of its wider expansion plans. It comes amid France's on-going charm offensive on Britain, aimed at luring business across the Channel following the U.K.'s vote to leave the EU. The Universite of Paris Seine hopes to attract British higher education institutions with the promise of security of funding and EU research collaboration at a time when Britain stands to lose EU funding once it repeals its membership of the 28-country bloc. It is estimated that British Universities currently receive about 1.2 billion ($1.5 billion) a year from the EU in research funding, as well as gaining access to international networks of researchers, according to research by Times Higher Education. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told senior European Union officials in Brussels on Monday that the Trump administration was looking at ways to "deepen our relationship" with the EU. President Donald Trump alarmed EU leaders by endorsing Britain's decision to leave the bloc and by suggesting last month that other states might follow. Pence spent the weekend in Germany seeking to reassure Europeans that Trump was committed to the NATO defense pact, but left some unconvinced. Speaking to EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini before meetings with the heads of the European Council, European Commission and NATO, Pence said he was "very grateful to have the opportunity to visit with you and explore ways that we can deepen our relationship with the European Union". He met Mogherini at the U.S. mission to the EU. The last U.S. ambassador, who was dismissed by Trump as he took office, warned the new administration against reversing decades of postwar U.S. encouragement of European integration and said supporting Brexit was "the height of folly". Mogherini told Pence that Europeans and the United States had much to work on and that discussions were already under way. Despite officials high hopes for the Carlisle Circulator demonstration project, the bus routes never took hold in the community. There is some disagreement over what led to the low ridership levels, but, ultimately, that lack of support led to the loss of funding and an end to the project. Capital Area Transit officials announced last week that the circulator program would end on April 28 due to a failure to meet performance standards. The move followed a January meeting of the Carlisle Circulator Project Stakeholder Committee at which the stakeholders agreed to end local funding. Stakeholders in the project, coordinated by Cumberland County, included Carlisle Borough, Middlesex Township, Dickinson College, South Middleton Township, Partnership for Better Health, Carlisle Regional Medical Center and Carlisle Events. An analysis of the project available on the CAT website shows that ridership on the circulator peaked in September 2015 with 2,525 passengers per month, and fluctuated in the following months with ridership in December 2016 listed at 1,806 passengers. The partners in the project had hoped to see eight passengers use the circulator per hour, but the actual numbers came in closer to four riders per hour. In response to the announcement, Cumberland County commissioners issued a press release in which they expressed disappointment that the project failed to meet expectations, but called prospect of continuing the service an entirely unrealistic expense. The circulator not only failed to meet ridership goals, but also failed to meet goals related to fares collected and operating costs per passenger. The only goal it met concerned expenses related to keeping the circulator in operation during any given hour. But, according to the commissioners, even that goal was met only because CAT bus drivers agreed to reduce their hourly rate from $28 per hour to $14.55 during the pilot period. Pennsylvania prohibits using state public transit operating funds to continue funding for pilot projects that fail to meet performance measures during the pilot period. County Commissioner Jim Hertzler said that means county and municipal taxpayers would have had to foot the entire bill for the circulator had it continued. This would be a huge cost for county and municipal taxpayers, Hertzler said. The pilot project started with an annual cost of $364,000 with local entities contributing $28,000 of that amount. Commissioners said that, after the pilot project ended, costs were estimated to reach $450,000 per year. High costs combined with early reports of low ridership raised red flags for Rep. Stephen Bloom, who said he was troubled at seeing the empty bus drive around town all day. The circulator project was an unwise use of taxpayer dollars from the start, especially when we so desperately needed those dollars to fix highways and bridges in our community, Bloom said. He added that he was relieved the demonstration project is ending, but that its sad that the wasted expenses couldnt have been used on lifesaving safety improvements for I-81 or repairing closed bridges instead. CAT officials cited four contributing factors to the low ridership numbers in their analysis. The first factor is an auto-centric environment in Carlisle in which walking and driving have emerged as the primary forms of transportation. Drivers needed an incentive beyond availability of public transit to use the circulator over using their private cars, according to the analysis. Related to the first factor, the analysis says inexpensive parking downtown makes it cheaper to drive and park than to purchase a round-trip fare on the circulator to go downtown. Mayor Tim Scott said arguments could be made both ways on whether the cost of downtown parking played a role in reducing ridership numbers. What is apparent, however, is that the ridership projections did not materialize, particularly among college students and warehouse workers. However, Im happy that the borough and our partners participated in the demonstration project, Scott said. We now know that Carlisle is not ready for a bus system at this point in time, but, perhaps down the road in the future, we might visit it again given the right set of circumstances. CATs analysis included two factors directly related to Dickinson College. The analysis indicates the college has no restrictions on personal vehicles on campus, which effectively means the entire student population can use a personal vehicle to drive to any destination within Carlisle Borough. However, Dickinson College spokesperson Christine Baksi said the college does have restrictions on student vehicles. First-year students are not permitted to park or operate vehicles on campus unless there are extenuating circumstances. Plus, only a quarter of the student population has a car on campus. The analysis also cited shuttle services offered by Dickinson College as a direct competitor to the circulator route, presuming that students would have used the circulator had the ride share services been scaled back. Baksi said the college had offered shuttles and Zip Cars for transportation even before the launch of the circulator project. They match the college student lifestyle in terms of reliability, convenience and hours of operation, she said. Dickinson Colleges Student Senate supported the project financially by committing $14,000 annually to the local funding of the operation, Baksi said. The college also promoted and encouraged usage. In the end, though, there may be a simpler reason for the students lack of interest in using the circulator. Its important to note that downtown Carlisle is very walkable and bike-friendly, and many students simply prefer those free and sustainable ways to get around, Baksi said. Carlisle Events, which also contributed to the pilot project, found the timing of the routes wasnt compatible with the car show schedules. With our unusual schedule for the car shows, the bus did not get much ridership from us. During the concept of the bus plan, we thought it would get more use but learned otherwise as it rolled out, said Bill Miller of Carlisle Events. County commissioners said the Central Pennsylvania Transportation Authority will attend a CAT-sponsored meeting planned for March 30 at a location to be announced in the borough. The time of the meeting has yet to be announced, but CPTA will be there to assist riders in finding new transportation options. CPTA is the shared-ride transportation provider for a 10-county area including Cumberland, Perry, Franklin, Adams and York counties. Senior citizens, people with disabilities, medical assistance trips and clients of mental health and intellectual developmental disabilities agencies are eligible to use shared ride transportation at reduced or no cost. The circulator termination will have no impact on the regular CAT Harrisburg to Carlisle service, nor on the warehouse employee service from Dauphin County to the warehouses on Allen Road in Carlisle. The changing global landscape, underpinned by protectionist politics and advances in technology, presents both challenges and opportunities for Singapore, and the city state's firms and workers must enhance capabilities to thrive, according to the country's finance minister. Presenting the annual budget statement in Parliament on Monday, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat said Singapore must take "decisive action" to position the country amid such "deep shifts" in the global economic environment. Outlining the government's revenue and expenditure for the financial year 2017-2018, Heng said Singapore is expected to see an overall surplus of S$1.9 billion ($1.3 billion). The city state, an economy that has long hung its hat on its openness, is particularly vulnerable to any slowdown in global trade. Its maturing economy and aging population also threaten to stall growth. "Many developed economies going through this same experience have seen their annual GDP growth decelerate to 1 percent or lower. We can aim for quality growth of 2 to 3 percent, if we press on in our drive for higher productivity and work hard to help everyone who wishes to workfind a place in the labour force," Heng said. The release of Singapore's budget statement came hot on the heels of better-than-expected growth figures that showed a 12.3 percent quarter-on-quarter economic expansion in the last quarter of 2016 on improved manufacturing performance. This was up from the government's initial estimate of 9.1 per cent. Despite that, the government has kept official growth estimates for 2017 at between 1 and 3 percent. To help businesses handle the current challenging climate, Heng said Singapore will extend assistance to troubled sectors such as marine, offshore energy and construction through targeted reliefs. Companies will also enjoy increased corporate tax rebates. While experts welcomed the decision to increase those rebates, some said the government could do more to help companies manage rising costs. "Whilst the government's decision to increase the corporate tax rebate will certainly be welcomed by corporates in Singapore, this gesture may not sufficiently help businesses, as many are currently still grappling with rising business costs on all fronts," Alan Lau, tax partner at KPMG in Singapore, said in a statement posted on Twitter. The finance minister emphasized, however, the need to focus on the medium to long term and said the government will set aside S$2.4 billion ($1.7 billion) over the next four years to implement strategies such as helping businesses expand overseas, supporting entrepreneurship and encouraging more research and development work. For workers, Heng said there will financial support and work attachment programs to help them gain new skills and stay nimble amid today's digital disruption that has altered the nature of many jobs. Those are strategies were outlined by the Committee on the Future Economy (CFE) earlier this month in a report, which would help Singapore to achieve growth of 2 to 3 percent over the next decade. That committee was set up to come up with suggestions to prepare Singapore for social and economic challenges. Heng also announced the introduction of a carbon tax rate between S$10 ($7.05) and S$20 ($14.10) per tonne of greenhouse gas emissions from 2019. Singapore joins an increasing number of countries such as Denmark, Finland and Japan that have enacted a similar tax in an attempt to reduce pollution. The move to tax greenhouse gas emissions will help Singapore meet its commitments under the Paris climate change pact that it ratified last September. Soon after the Budget announcement, some questioned the economic impact of the carbon tax. PwC Singapore's tax markets leader Abhijit Ghosh, for example, tweeted: Abhijit Ghosh tweet: Carbon tax for low energy use will lead to low economic output - this could be challenging #SGBudget2017@PwC_Singapore Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook. A survey from Ireland's Small Firms Association has found that 82 percent of small businesses provide or support formal training or education for their employees, while 60 percent are set to offer a pay increase averaging two percent in 2017. The SFA's Survey on Pay and Conditions also found that the average rates of basic pay ranged from 429 euros ($455) per week for a care assistant to 767 euros per week for an electrician. "Over half the private sector workforce, some 800,000 people, are employed in small firms," Patricia Callan, director of the SFA, said in a statement on Monday. "Our survey shows that they are offering attractive pay and conditions of employment and in 60% of companies, workers will receive on average a 2% pay increase this year," Callan went on to add. The SFA defined small firms as companies employing less than fifty people. Small to medium sized enterprises or SMEs, businesses which employ less than 250 people are a crucial part of the European Union's economy. According to the European Commission, SMEs account for 99 percent of all businesses in the EU. Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook. "That's the million dollar question and we won't find out for some time," said one potential backer on his way out from the hour-long event where Spiegel ditched his usual casual wear and wore a suit with no tie. Investors attending Monday's event said Snap's 26-year-old Chief Executive Evan Spiegel gave a sleek presentation. However, they were disappointed there were no projections on the company's future revenues or advertising share an indication of how quickly Snap thinks it can make money from its huge user base. The U.S. company, which has yet to make a profit, aims to raise between $19.5 billion and $22.3 billion from listing on the New York Stock Exchange, after cutting its initial target of $20-$25 billion last week following investor feedback. Snap , owner of popular messaging app Snapchat, kicked off its first investor roadshow on Monday, looking to persuade London money managers to back its initial public offering in the face of concerns about its growth prospects, valuation and corporate governance. Some were disappointed that it was just a question-and-answer session with no demonstration of Snapchat's spectacles, launched in the United States late last year, which come with a built-in camera. One attendee, however, said it made sense not to push the hardware angle too much at this stage. Few U.S. firms aside from Apple have made big profits on hardware, and camera and wearable gadget makers have much lower valuations than Snap is seeking. Most of the questions related to how the company plans to manage its engagement with advertisers and users, and monetize that better, according to people who were in the room. Its responses won over some potential investors. "Management did a good show, they were very convincing," said one attendee. Los Angeles-based Snap also plans roadshows in New York, Boston and San Francisco. It expects to price its IPO after the U.S. market closes on March 1, according to a confidential document seen by Reuters. GOVERNANCE CONCERNS Some fund managers have said they will stay away from Snap given its decision to adopt a three class share structure the first of its kind that will mean shareholders who buy in through the IPO will not have any voting rights. Instead Spiegel and his co-founder Bobby Murphy will have the right to 10 votes for every share, and existing investors one vote for each of their shares. "My view would be investors should tread with caution here, the fact the shares will carry no voting rights would be a major concern for me from a governance perspective," Richard Saldanha, global equities fund manager at Aviva Investors, said ahead of the roadshow. Aviva manages 318 billion pounds across a range of asset classes. Mike Fox, head of sustainable investments at Royal London Asset Management, said the inability to vote against a company at its annual general meeting was a "major red flag" and he would not be taking part in the IPO. "It is worth noting that while many U.S. tech firms have delivered tremendous returns for investors following their listing, performance of firms in this sector has not always matched investor expectations following an IPO," he said, also before the meeting. Others were less worried, though. "Snapchat offers a cocktail of hype, insane valuations, dubious fundamentals and weak governance. However, the same was said about companies like Google and Facebook when they listed," said Geir Lode, head of global equities at Hermes Investment Management. "For tech companies early in their lifecycle the weak governance structure is fairly typical, and even with those concerns subsequent shareholder returns have often been stellar." With tech-savvy millennial users of Snap's products able and willing to quickly jump ship to the next Big Thing, there were also concerns about its competitive position versus industry rivals such as Facebook. "Barriers for entry would appear low here as well, and you could see their demographic 18-34 year olds easily shift to another service," Aviva Investors' Saldanha said. U.S. President Donald Trump's former national security advisor, Michael Flynn, was sent a hand-delivered sealed proposal detailing a way for the new administration to lift sanctions against Russia just a week before he resigned, the New York Times reported on Sunday. The proposal, which included a peace plan for Ukraine and Russia, was delivered to Flynn by Michael Cohen, the president's personal lawyer, the report said. The sealed plans were reported to have had the support of Felix Sater, a business associate known to have aided Trump in previous dealings with Russia and Andrii Artemenko, a Ukrainian lawmaker. Flynn resigned on February 13, after communications regarding sanctions against Russia were alleged to have taken place between him and Russia's ambassador. Trump accused Flynn of misleading Vice President Mike Pence and said on Thursday that he "fired" him because of what was said to Pence and not because of the conversations with Russia's ambassador. The White House, Michael Cohen, Felix Sater and Andrii Artemenko were not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC on Monday. Read the full New York Times' full article here. At the Munich security conference over the weekend, onlookers had noted a visible absence of warmth towards the EU from both Pence and U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. The U.S. Vice President Mike Pence has told senior officials in Brussels that the U.S. wants "deeper ties" with the European Union. However in a series of meetings in Brussels Monday, the vice president appeared to up the charm, telling reporters that Donald Trump expressed "the strong commitment of the United States to continue cooperation and partnership with the European Union." Trump has publically backed Britain's exit from the European Union, leading some to fear that Washington is no fan of the Brussels elite. Speaking after a morning meeting with EU foreign policy boss Federica Mogherini, Pence said he was "very grateful to have the opportunity to visit with you and explore ways that we can deepen our relationship with the European Union". Pence then met with European Council President Donald Tusk who said the U.S. envoy had reassured him of the shared values between Europe and North America. In a statement Monday, Tusk said the words from Pence encouraged him that "reports of the death of West have been greatly exaggerated". Tusk told reporters that he had asked Pence if he agreed with him on key matters regarding international order, security, and the attitude of the Trump administration towards Europe. "In reply to these three matters, I heard today from Vice President Pence three times "yes"! After such a positive declaration, both Europeans and Americans must simply practice what they preach," Tusk said. The merry-go-round of diplomacy continued for Pence who sat in private for an hour with the European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker. Prior to the meeting, Juncker told the gathered press that the U.S. needs a strong EU and that "now is not the time for the EU to divide itself." U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis speaks at the opening of the 53rd Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, February 17, 2017. The U.S. military is not in Iraq "to seize anybody's oil", Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said, distancing himself from remarks by President Donald Trump before arriving on an unannounced visit to Baghdad on Monday. Mattis, on his first trip to Iraq as Pentagon chief, is hoping to get a first-hand assessment of the war effort as U.S.-backed Iraqi forces launch a new push to evict Islamic State militants from their remaining stronghold in the city of Mosul. But he is likely to face questions about Trump's remarks and actions, including a temporary ban on travel to the United States and for saying America should have seized Iraq's oil after toppling Saddam Hussein in 2003. Trump told CIA staff in a January speech: "We should have kept the oil. But okay. Maybe you'll have another chance." Mattis, however, flatly ruled out any such intent. "We're not in Iraq to seize anybody's oil," he told reporters travelling with him. Mattis's remarks are the latest example of his policy differences with Trump. Trump has acknowledged that Mattis did not agree with him about the usefulness of torture as an interrogation tactic but, in a sign of Mattis' influence, said he would defer the matter to his defense secretary. Mattis has also taken a dimmer view of Russia and President Vladimir Putin than Trump, saying Moscow sought to break the NATO alliance. On Sunday, Mattis distanced himself from Trump's labeling of the media as "the enemy of the American people," saying he had no problems with the press. A retired Marine general who previously led American troops in Iraq, Mattis has also sought an exemption from Trump's travel ban for Iraqis who served with U.S. troops, including translators. He said he had not seen a new executive order which the administration is considering. "But I right now am assured that we will take steps to allow those who have fought alongside us, for example, to be allowed into the United States," Mattis said. President Donald Trump shakes hands with Army Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster (L), whom he named as National Security Adviser at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on February 20, 2017. The White House announced Monday that Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster will become new National Security Adviser, replacing Michael Flynn, who was dismissed last week. President Trump announced the pick at his Palm Beach club, Mar-a-Lago, saying McMaster is "a man of tremendous talent and tremendous experience." The White House also said retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, who had been his acting adviser, will now serve as the National Security Council chief of staff. The New York Times reported that President Trump interviewed four candidates on Sunday, McMaster being one of them. The Times described McMaster as "a highly decorated Army officer," and "one of the military's leading intellectuals." Tapper Tweet McMaster, 54, is a West Point graduate known as "H.R.," with a PhD in U.S. history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was listed as one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in 2014, partly because of his willingness to buck the system. Lower Allen Township police are asking for the publics help to find a missing 15-year-old girl. Isabella Pace was last seen on Jan. 28. Pace is 5-feet, 7-inches tall and weighs about 115 pounds. Investigators dont know what she might have been wearing at the time of her disappearance. Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to call Lower Allen police at 717-238-9676 or Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers at 1-800-472-8477. For a curious mind, inspiration can come from unexpected places. Consider how Carlisle High School senior Mayce Van described the way her interest in Shakespeare and Latin developed. Van said that when she was in fourth grade, she was spending time with her aunt, or more accurately, annoying her aunt. So her aunt threw a book at her. I just started reading it to leave her alone, Van said. The book happened to be an anthology of the works of William Shakespeare. Van laughed as she told the story, and assured that she was fine and not to worry about her as she described a love of Latin that grew out of her reading. Shakespeares works are peppered with phrases in French and Latin. Van wanted to know exactly what those phrases meant. I kept getting so angry that I didnt understand any of those phrases, and Google translate was just unreliable, she said. So by the time she was in sixth grade, Van set out to find someone who would tutor her in Latin, and has spent Saturdays and Sundays over the past five years studying. Those years paid off when Van earned a Britton Scholarship, which allows three students at Carlisle High School to attend two classes at Dickinson College during their senior year. Because she had done so well in her private Latin lessons, Van was able to enroll in the second-year college courses, Introduction to Latin Prose and Introduction to Latin Poetry. During high school, Van has also continued to pursue her love of Shakespeare as part of the Page-to-Stage Club and class in which she performed as Renee in "Mandy Dear," the lead witch in "Macbeth" and Lady Capulet in "Romeo and Juliet." She has also performed in scenes from "The Tempest," "Macbeth," "As You Like It," "Othello" and "Romeo and Juliet" at the Carlisle Theatre alongside Carlisle Cantate for multiple programs. Van was the junior reveler leader and director of King Lear and the senior reveler leader, senior troupe director and director of "Loves Labours Lost" in the high schools Shakespeare Troupe. She was also part of the EtCetera acting troupe. In addition, Van participated in the Model UN Club and Poetry Out Loud competitions. Van has also earned medals at the Academic Decathlon, which she described as a grand tournament of quizzes and tests covering math, social studies, art and literature among other subjects. Its the nerdiest event you ever saw, she said. I love it. In addition to helping at her familys businesses, Quys Vietnamese and Vans Nails, Van has volunteered at Project SHARE, the Carlisle Summer Program for Youth, Carlisle CARES at St. Johns, and the St. Johns nursery program. Van is the daughter of Hoa Van and Tam Van. Volunteering at Agia Sophia Harrisburg has been a highlight for Van. The non-profit coffee shop, operated by Orthodox Christian Charities of Greater Harrisburg Inc., runs almost exclusively with volunteers, and the profits are given to Harrisburg charities. Van has cleaned, cooked and served as a cashier in what she described as a quaint brown and tan coffee shop. In the background, you hear the chants of Greek churchmen. Its so beautiful, she said. 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. - : , What did Eli Drinkwitz say after Missouri's game vs. Kentucky? For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Here are the instructions how to enable JavaScript in your web browser First a HUGE Friday win! SB 224 Register Voters 3 Days Before Elections, sponsored by Sen. Jeff Steinborn, passed the Senate Rules Committee. This bill will extend the Voter Registration Deadline by allowing registration through the Saturday before Election Day. Democracy works best when the highest number of people participate in the process. Low voter turnout has been a problem in New Mexico, and registering through early voting is an effective way to boost voter turnout. Our election officials currently have the technology to process voter registration forms in real time thus allowing registration through the Saturday before Election Day. Whats Happening on Monday February 20? Student Advocacy Day at the Roundhouse! Share Your Voice! Monday February 20th, 2017 at 8 a.m. PERA Building, (Old Santa Fe Trail across from Capitol) Apodaca Hall 2nd Floor (1 flight down) Interested Middle school, high school, and college students are invited to participate in the 2017 Student Advocacy Day during the legislative session. Talk to your state legislature and urge them to support policies that are important and will benefit you and your community! 16 year olds voting in school board elections Immigrant rights Dental Therapy LGBTQI Rights (Banning of Conversion therapy) The Santa Fe Pick Up van will meet students at the Santa Fe Rail Runner station. We will gather at the old PERA building for a short training then go to the roundhouse to speak with our legislatures. Please know your districts Senator and Representative beforehand! We also encourage you to bring a small notepad and writing utensil. Lunch will be provided. HB 174 Local Election Act, sponsored by Rep. James Smith and Sen. Ivey-Soto is scheduled for a hearing Monday February 20 at 1:30 p.m. in the House Judiciary Committee. The bill would streamline the included local elections by consolidating their procedures. The elections named in the act would be conducted on the same date, with the same dates and processes for filings, campaign finance reports, and declarations of candidacy, thus potentially reducing costs and administrative burdens associated with conducting several different elections with related procedures and timelines. This is an important bill for democracy. Low turn-out elections are a problem for democracy and elections which are not held at the same time as either the general election or a municipal election have poor turn out, which can tend to skew things in one direction or another. SENATE BILL 97, sponsored by Senator Peter Wirth will fix New Mexicos existing system of public campaign financing. New Mexico currently has three systems for public financing of campaigns: the Public Regulation Commission, Court of Appeals and the NM Supreme Court. On June 27, 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed the constitutionality of public campaign financing in the Arizona Free Enterprise v. Bennett decision. The ruling, however, struck down one mechanism used in some public financing programs, including New Mexicos Voter Action Act. While the current bill does not address what was struck down as far as matching funds, it does prohibit candidates who run unopposed from receiving more than 10% of the public funding available to them, and also prohibits the use of campaign funds for living expenses or compensation to the candidate or candidates family. SB 42 Agreement to Elect President by Popular Vote sponsored by Sen. Mimi Stewart is also on the Senate floor on Monday. 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. Thursday February 23 HJR3 Independent Redistricting Commission, sponsored by Rep. Carl Trujillo, Sen. Bill ONeill and Sen. Mark Moores, is scheduled for a hearing next Thursday, February 23 at 1:30 p.m. in the House Local Government, Elections, Land Grants and Cultural Affairs Committee. Common Cause New Mexico supports the creation of an independent commission to conduct redistricting. This will establish written criteria for re-drawing district boundaries and require a fair and transparent process for conducting redistricting. The drawing of electoral districts is not transparent and all too often, there is no public participation. The resulting districts can often serve the political interests of the people who draw them, rather than the interests of the people being represented. When voters feel that their input doesnt matter, they stop participating. Seeing incumbents win time and again because districts are rigged to stifle competition creates a sense of incumbent inevitability and creates a disconnection between citizens and their elected officials. This combination of disenfranchisement and low voter participation is toxic to our democracy. Please check in for an update from the Common Cause New Mexico team tomorrow so see what bills may be added to the committee calendar on the Democracy Wire page of our website! Follow us on Twitter @commoncausenm & like us on Facebook for mid-day updates and remember to CALL YOUR LEGISLATORS! A De Soto woman was seriously injured Sunday at 2:35 a.m. on Route Y in St. Francois County. According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol report, Jamie Thompson, 32, was driving eastbound on Route Y a mile and a half west of Route D in her 2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee when it went off the left side of the road, struck a fence and overturned. Thompson was not wearing her seat belt and was taken to Mercy Hospital Jefferson by St. Francois County Ambulance with serious injuries. Thompson was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. Earlier that same morning at 12:50 a.m. in Washington County a De Soto man was seriously injured in a motorcycle crash. The report said Patrick Fierce, 26, was riding his 2001 Honda CBR600 eastbound on Route E at Jolly Road at a high rate of speed when he went off the right side of the road. The motorcycle overturned, struck a tree and he was ejected. Fierce was wearing his safety gear and was taken to St. Anthonys Medical Center by Washington County Ambulance with serious injuries. On Saturday evening an Ironton woman was moderately injured in a two-vehicle crash in St. Francois County on Highway 221. According to the patrol, Dorothy Winkeler, 67, of Ironton, was on southbound Highway 221 attempting to make a left turn onto a private drive in her 1999 Chevrolet S-10 when Tashia Will, 25, of Winona, driving a 1993 Ford F-150 also southbound, she rear-ended Winkeler's truck. Winkeler was wearing her seat belt and was taken to Parkland Health Center in Farmington by St. Francois County Ambulance with moderate injuries. Will was not wearing her seat belt and was not injured. A Cedar Hill woman was seriously injured Saturday morning at 9:20 a.m. on Highway 47 in Washington County. The report said Rita Mitchell, 61, was driving southbound on Highway 47 in her 2010 Nissan Versa when she lost control of her car on the wet roadway, and the car went off the west side of the road and overturned. Mitchell was not wearing her seat belt and was airlifted by Air Evac to Mercy Hospital St. Louis with serious injuries. On Friday morning at 7:25 a.m. a French Village woman was moderately injured in a crash on Route K in St. Francois County. The patrol reported 18-year-old Chelby Carron was driving her 2001 Chrysler PT Cruiser westbound on Route K east of Davis Road when it went off the left side of the road, struck an embankment and overturned. Carron was not wearing her seat belt and was taken to Mercy Hospital Jefferson by St. Francois County Ambulance with moderate injuries. Cllr Allan Wright is the Convener on Moray Council. Conservatives in Moray are going from strength to strength. At the elections to the Scottish Parliament last May, Councillor Douglas Ross became a list MSP after slashing the SNP majority in Moray from 11,000 to less than 3,000. At the same time, Moray resident, Edward Mountain, became the second of three Conservative MSPs for the Highlands and Islands. The Moray results were symptomatic of the resurgence of Conservative support under Ruth Davidson which now sees us as the biggest opposition group at Holyrood. And that opposition was seen to full effect on January 18 when the SNP government was defeated on its proposal to emasculate Highlands and Islands Enterprise. Now, Brexit issues aside, the attention turns to the local government elections on May 4th. In Moray, Conservatives have stolen a march on both the SNP and Labour by having candidates announced in seven of the eight wards. The final ward, Keith and Cullen, will see a Tory candidate selected in the next couple of weeks. There has been extensive press coverage of the candidates. The important thing this time is that we have no paper candidates. Every one of those selected has a really good chance of being elected. We have a first-class team and I would anticipate that we will have at least six Conservative councillors after May 4th. We have election leaflets written and printed and already being delivered in some wards. The enthusiasm extends beyond the candidates to a growing army of supporters who will play a major role in getting our people elected. Regular campaign meetings are being held and all those involved are acting as a team, led by the Moray associations vice chairman, Alan Tissiman. The challenge must not be underestimated. The SNP will probably field two candidates in each ward. They did that the last time and came unstuck. A strange quirk saw the SNP candidate who appeared first alphabetically get elected in three cases at the expense of a sitting councillor. There will also be a goodly number of independent hopefuls and there has to be a real possibility that a coalition of Conservatives and Independents will continue to be the Moray Council administration BUT with a much stronger Conservative power base than currently. However, it could be argued that it would be a good time to be in opposition as the SNP government continues to squeeze local authority funding. The cut in the central grant for the coming financial year in Moray is 6m which is equivalent to a council tax rise of 18 per cent. We will be allowed to raise council tax by three per cent and will probably do that. But current estimates are that we will need to take almost 10m from our reserves to balance the books on budget day. If the current squeeze continues into 2018/19, the council will face bankruptcy. So, the challenges are great and thorny issues like rationalising the schools estate, and reducing leisure facilities such as town halls, community centres and libraries will have to be visited with a strong degree of purpose. However, cometh the hour cometh the man (or person) and Conservatives in Moray have a superbly strong team of candidates who are up for the challenge. As Matthew Elliott has reminded us, writing about his role in the Vote Leave campaign (see here and here), its a year since David Camerons renegotiation: time travels fast. Heres what we wrote about it exactly a year ago today. Our take was not unusual among Conservative MPs and Party members. In retrospect, the renegotiation which scarcely featured in the referendum campaigns on either side was, as Elliott says, decisive in framing the result. In puffing this hollow deal, Cameron is treating voters like fools Theres a case for remaining in the EU. And a case for leaving. But there is no case for staying based on this shrunken and slippery negotiation. To understand yesterdays EU deal, one has to begin at the beginning with ten renegotiation aims that David Cameron began to set out in opposition and develop in government. These were: Taking back control over social and employment laws . A complete opt-out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Stopping the ECJ overruling our criminal law. Stopping EU migrants coming to the UK without a job offer . Removing EU jobseekers after six months . Reforming the Working Time Directive . Stopping the European Parliament meeting in two places . Reforming the Common Agricultural Policy . Reforming the EUs Structural Funds . Changing the EU treaties before a referendum . Some of these aims fell by the wayside before the last election (such as taking back control of social and employment laws) and others made it into last Mays Conservative Manifesto. The most important one was the last changing the EU treaties before a referendum, since only treaty change can guarantee any agreement binding effect. I have previously set out on this site how these were cut back, post-election, for the actual negotiation that concluded yesterday. In January, Cameron set out his aims for it in the Commons as follows: I have set out the four areas where Britain is seeking significant and far-reaching reforms: on sovereignty and subsidiarity, where Britain must not be part of an ever-closer union and where we want a greater role for national Parliaments; on competitiveness, where the EU must add to our competitiveness, rather than detract from it, by signing new trade deals, cutting regulation and completing the single market; on fairness for countries inside and outside the eurozone, where the EU must protect the integrity of the single market and ensure there is no disadvantage, discrimination or additional costs for a country like Britain, which is not in the euro and which in my view is never going to join the euro; and on migration, where we need to tackle abuses of the right to free movement, and deliver changes that ensure that our welfare system is not an artificial draw for people to come to Britain. In practice, this boiled down to four main items: An emergency brake on welfare. Child benefit. Protection for non-Eurozone countries. The red card system. So lets turn, with the help of the useful Daily Telegraph and Guardian snap guides see here and here to what the Prime Minister originally demanded and what he actually got. For a detailed analysis, see Christopher Howarths magisterial article on this site this morning. The emergency brake This was originally to be a brake on migration itself, not access to benefits. So that it became one on access to benefits only (based on the popular but misconceived view that they are a major draw for migrants) was a climbdown. Furthermore, the control of the brake will be in the hands of the European Commission, not the British Government a second climbdown. The Conservative Manifesto said that we will insist that EU migrants who want to claim tax credits and child benefit must live here and contribute to our country for a minimum of four years. But the deal struck agrees a gradual reduction in benefits a third climbdown. The brake itself will be able to last, if used, for a maximum of seven years. This is longer than the five years that the Visigrad group of EU leaders pushed for but shorter than Camerons original bid of 13 years. Child benefit The manifesto said that If an EU migrants child is living abroad, then they should receive no child benefit, no matter how long they have worked in the UK and no matter how much tax they have paid. However, the terms of the draft deal said that child benefit should be paid to the children of EU migrants living abroad, though at local rates unquestionably a climbdown. And the deal itself says that it should be paid at these rates only to new claims (a second climbdown) and, furthermore, these new rates for new claims will not apply until 2020 a third climbdown under this heading. Protection for non-Eurozone countries The manifesto said that We will protect our economy from any further integration of the Eurozonewe will not let the integration of the Eurozone jeopardise the integrity of the Single Market or in any way disadvantage the UK. The draft deal proposed that an unspecified number of non-euro states could take objections to measures proposed by Eurozone states to the Council of Ministers, which would do all in its power to engineer a satisfactory solution and seek to facilitate a wider basis of agreement in the Council. The deal itself says that a single non-euro state can take objections to the council an advance for the Prime Minister. However, there is, as in the draft deal, no guarantee that objections will be sustained, or indeed what will happen if there is deadlock on the council. The Red Card system The manifesto said that we want national parliaments to be able to work together to block unwanted European legislation. The deal proposes that a minimum of 14 parliaments within the EU can raise a red card against a new law if each does so within a three month period. So the Prime Minister has his red card plan written into it. However, the yellow card system, on which the red card one is based, has only been used twice. In opposition, William Hague dismissed the idea, saying that even if the European Commission proposed the slaughter of the first-born it would be difficult to achieve such a remarkable conjunction of parliamentary votes. There is much else in the deal, but three points stand out clearly. First, the tale of both Camerons original renegotiation idea and his recent proposals, resulting in yesterdays deal, is essentially a story of many steps backwards over time, including at the summit, and a few forward at the latter, too. If a man takes more steps backwards than forward, in which direction has he moved? Second, as has been conceded, the European Parliament has the capacity to unpick the deal. In the vivid phrase of an EU official, MEPs can be like monkeys with guns. Third, any aspect of the deal can be overturned by the European Court, since it is not enshrined in Treaty Change. Ominously, the Guardians Brussels correspondent tweeted post-deal: EU negotiator confident Camerons terms will be challenged in court. So what does the tale of this negotiation and this summit tell us? ConHome believes as follows. There is a case for Britain leaving the EU, which this site holds and which has been put on it many times. There is also a case for Britain staying in the EU, which the Prime Minister made towards the end of his summit press conference, and put rather well. What there is not is a case for Britain staying in the EU on the basis of this deal. When Cameron sought to suggest otherwise yesterday evening, his claims collapsed as fast as he made them. Lets consider three examples from that post-summit statement. He said that the deal has given Britain special status within the EU, because today we have permanently carved Britain out of [ever-closer union], so that we can never be forced into political integration with the rest of Europe. But the Council said less than two years ago that the concept of ever-closer union allows for different paths of integration for different countriesrespecting the wish of those who do not want further integration. This was attested to by the Prime Minister himself, who told the Commons afterwards that we broke new ground, with the Council conclusions stating explicitly that ever-closer union must allow for different paths of integration for different countries and, crucially, respect the wishes fo those such as Britain that do not want further integration. He said that we have permanently protected the pound and our right to keep it. But he has previously acknowledged that Britain already has an opt-out from the single currency. He said that we will be out of the parts of Europe that dont work for us, he proclaimed, out of the open borders. This is simply untrue. There is more. But the Prime Minister is relying on most voters being turned off by the detail, and there is little point in giving more when a few words will serve. They are those of the stupendously indiscreet Dalia Grybauskaite, Lithuanias President, who tweeted before the deal yesterday that it would be a face saving and face lifting exercise. When Leader of the Opposition, Cameron had a phrase that he hurled at Gordon Brown, and which stuck. Hes treating people like fools, he would say. But in puffing this hollow negotiation, it is the Prime Minister himself who now is treating people like fools. Many Conservative MPs told their voters and Associations at the last election that Britains relationship with the EU cannot go on as it is. They are fully entitled to say now that they have changed their minds. That they have been persuaded that Britains future is brighter as an EU member state. That they will swallow any misgivings they have about the deal, and back their Party leader who, after all, is on some measures the most successful Conservative leader of modern times bar Margaret Thatcher. That this is no time to campaign for a referendum result that would turn an election-winning Prime Minister out of office, and destroy the reforming work of the first majority Tory Government in over 20 years. What they cannot say, if they have declared that Britains relationship with the EU must see real reform, is that this deal makes a difference. And if they want to see such change, the lesson of this summit is that it isnt on offer. Which leaves only one option open to them, and to Party members of the same mind to back Brexit. Nadhim Zahawi is a member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee and MP for Stratford On Avon. The triggering of Article 50 gives us an historic opportunity to redefine our place in the world. Before the referendum I argued on this website that in leaving the EU we can become an increasingly agile, pro-business country, leading the world in innovation and technology while remaining a political and moral power. This is the bright future I believe in: ambitious, creative, influential. Where we can forge new relationships shaped by our values. This is not a time to retreat from the world, but to recalibrate. In her recent speech in Philadelphia, the Prime Minister set out her determination to restore our parliamentary sovereignty and national self-determination, and to become even more global and internationalist in action and in spirit. She talked about her pledge to renew the UKs nuclear deterrent and our commitment to NATO as a vital guarantor of British and allies security. And, as she highlighted, just as we spend two per cent of GDP on defence, so too our 0.7 per cent foreign aid commitment is a vital plank of our engagement abroad, promoting and protecting British values and interests, and generating tremendous goodwill towards our nation. Our aid helping the worlds poorest people will always have its critics, and Priti Patel has worked hard to get the best value out of what we give money to, as her predecessors, Justine Greening and Andrew Mitchell, did before her. I agree that it is right we spend British taxpayers money in the most efficient and effective way possible. In doing so, we should make sure we tell the good-news stories of how this aid is making a difference. In few areas is this more apparent than in the fight against malaria. Why malaria? Its the worlds oldest killer disease, infecting hundreds of millions of sufferers and leading to hundreds of thousands of deaths each year. Its also entirely preventable and treatable and thanks to cooperation between governments, business leaders, civil society and philanthropists we are are within sight of a malaria-free world. The global health agenda builds consensus among voters and policy makers in a way that few other causes can. The recent Ebola and Zika crises underline this. Put plainly, healthier people lead to healthier economies: more robust, productive countries that we can visit and trade with. There is both a virtue and a value in aid that is making the world safer and healthier for everyone. Recent YouGov polling shows public opinion is firmly on side. 53 per cent of Conservative voters agree that it is right that the UK plays its part in leading the fight to end malaria within a generation and 52 per cent of Conservative voters want to see this achieved in their lifetime. Just over a year ago, the UK Government pledged to maintain the UKs annual 500 million commitment to 2020. With this kind of investment in insecticide-treated bed nets, faster diagnosis and effective drugs, phenomenal progress has been made to halt and begin to reverse the spread of malaria. Malaria deaths are down by more than 62 per cent (30 per cent in just the past five years)- saving 6.8 million lives, mainly those of children. Seventeen countries have eliminated malaria and a further ten are on course to do so by 2020. But we mustnt stop here. Sustaining our efforts now is vital to ensure that the work undertaken and resource invested in recent years is not undone. As Patel has pointed out, allowing efforts to slip risks losing all the gains that were made. Its taken over 30 years to recover the ground lost when malaria control activities ended in the 1970s. Since 2000, Commonwealth countries have seen a marked change in their fortunes: Malawi has 1.5 million fewer malaria cases and 55 per cent fewer malaria deaths and, last September, Sri Lanka became the most recent state to be declared malaria-free thus boosting its tourism industry. This matters because malaria has a material as well as a human cost. Its burden traps families in poverty, keeping adults out of work and young people out of school. Because of this, targeted intervention reaps significant rewards. As the Nobel laureates of the Copenhagen Consensus recently assessed every $1 spent against malaria generates social and economic benefits worth around $36. The World Health Organisation estimates that since 2000, the reductions in malaria deaths can be valued at around $2040 billion which, in context, is about 3.6% of the combined GDP of malaria-affected countries in 2015. The difference tackling malaria in developing countries can make to their ability to stand on their own two feet is profound. As the second largest national donor, behind the USA, the UK is playing its part in making these strides forward. Our innovation too, both business-led and within our universities, is helping to find new and cheaper ways to tackle this disease and save lives. British organisations, from GSK developing the worlds first malaria vaccine to Liverpools IVCC (Innovative Vector Control Consortium), working on new insecticides, represent the very best in cutting-edge R&D that we can offer to the world. And as recent news reports of anti-malarial drug resistance highlighted, malaria presents an evolving challenge that requires the scientific community to be agile and inventive. The London School of Tropical Medicines research on this area is a timely reminder that we cannot be complacent. May is right to say that others should step up and pull their weight: despite commitments, it remains the case that we are only one of five EU countries who have met the 0.7 per cent pledge. But as she indicates, we should be levelling up, not levelling down to the lowest common denominator. We can make an evidence-led case for ending malaria once and for all. The bold, ambitious Britain I believe in should be leading that charge. A Mineral Point man is being charged after he was caught burglarizing a home in Mineral Point on Jan. 23 in Washington County. David Wayne Smith, 45, is being charged with burglary in the second degree, resisting arrest, property damage and stealing. According to a probable cause statement, Smith forced entry into a home in the 10,000 block of Hopewell Rd. by prying open the front door of the home. He did cause property damage to the door frame and once inside he opened closets, cabinets and drawers looking for items of value to steal. Smith placed several items in his pockets and began loading items into a laundry basket he intended to take with them. While he was in the home he activated the motion sensor camera which alerted and streamed live footage to the homeowner. The homeowner, who was away from her home, immediately called the police when she saw the man in her house. When the Washington County deputy arrived at the house he saw movement inside. The deputy then went around to the front of the house and saw Smith running from the front door toward the wood line. The deputy ran after Smith into an open field, at which point he deployed his Taser. The deputy reported the Taser was effective and Smith fell to the ground, but refused to comply with orders to show his hand that was tucked underneath his body holding a silver object. The deputy activated his Taser a second time and Smith then complied with the orders to show both hands and place them behind his back. Smith was taken into custody without further incident. During a search of Smith the deputy located a large amount of property including several coins, lighters, pocket knives, miscellaneous jewelry and pins, eyeglasses, a harmonica, a Motorola Razor cell phone, small electronics, guitar picks, arrowheads and several other small personal items. The deputy reported Smith admitted that he entered the house with the intention of stealing items from the home. Smith also stated he did not know the homeowner and he had no right to be on the property. The deputy spoke with the homeowner over the phone and she confirmed she did not know who Smith was. Smith was being held in the Washington County Jail on a $45,000 bond. Close A marriage counsellor shared a strategy that people can use in the office to effectively deal with the boss. A good relationship with the supervisor can have a huge impact in one's career. The boss wants to feel that they are heard, just like a spouse. Gary Stollman, marriage counsellor and psychotherapist, emphasize the importance of improving the dynamic relationship between an employee and his manager. Stollman said that employees need to look more than in the eye of the boss when he is talking. The employee needs to follow through on what he tells him to do. A lot of people look and listen. However, nodding without following is one of the biggest mistake a worker can do, according to Stollman in a report by CNBC. The same case goes in a marriage. Spouses should not just listen but also act. One can show respect to the boss by listening to what he says. A CEO of a company worth $16 billion said that some employees underrate the importance of improving communication skills. If one want to progress in his career, he should learn how to listen. On the other hand, working with a boss who is much younger can be a challenge just like dealing with a spouse which is years younger or older than the other. A study published in the Journal of Organizational Behaviour shared some tips on how to deal with this kind of relationship. Managing one's attitude is a must for a harmonious relationship. Respect is very important as well and must be treated as a two way street. Boss loves enthusiastic employees. One needs to ask for new assignments or responsibilities. Getting some new skills apt for the job would come in handy. Once the boss will see the employees being proactive, he will be more likely to open career doors in the future. See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare Close Existing data reviewed by Age UK says that almost 1.2 million people aged at least 65 didn't get the care that they need, a 48 percent rise since 2010. Out of these people, 487,400 get help but not enough for their needs. Around 696,500 people didn't get any help all and 53,000 of them have trouble performing at least three daily tasks like eating, dressing and washing. And according to The Guardian, social care in England is in jeopardy of a possible collapse in the worst affected areas. It could be prevented if the government takes immediate action to avoid this crisis. Social care is funded by either councils or individuals but growing numbers are also depending on friends and family to support them. But Age UK's latest report suggests that the healthcare for older people needs cash injection into the adult social care system in the spring budget. A long-term solution should also be developed because healthcare for the elderly people might become more acute in the coming years. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt pledged to take action on social care, which covers help in the home and care homes. That has provoked a growing anticipation that a rescue package will be announced in the Budget by around March. Caroline Abrahams, Age UK's charity director, said that this crisis will deepen in the coming years unless something changes. She also said that if the social care in the worst affected areas will collapse, it will threaten the health of older people. It would also stir up the pressure on England's hospitals. In 2016, the councils have spent around 16 billion for the healthcare of disabled and elderly people. It comes after funding from the central government was reduced by one-third in real time during the last Parliament. Councils tried to protect social care by making budget reduction elsewhere. But still, they lessen the social care budget by 6 percent, as per BBC. And LGA predicted that there will be a 2.6 billion shortfall for social care services. See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare Close Oxford University research blamed 'relentless cuts' to the health service were responsible for 30,000 deaths in 2015. The two articles were published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. The Government had refuted the claims and called the research bias. Researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the University of Oxford and Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council said in the report that 2015 had the greatest rise in mortality for almost 50 years in England and Wales. The report showed the largest spike was in January. According to Daily Mail researchers examined data from the Office for National Statistics. They looked into the cause of deaths, including data inaccuracies, major epidemics and environmental shock such as war, weather or a natural disaster. They concluded that evidence showed a major failure of the health system and social care that lead to longer waits for operations, ambulances and in A&E. The cuts had a great impact said Professor Martin McKee, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Belfast Telegraph reported that the researchers have warned that without urgent intervention from the government, the mortality rates could continue to increase. However, a spokesperson for the Department of Health in England dismissed the reported and said variation in excess death rates was normal. "This report is a triumph of personal bias over research - for two reasons," the spokesperson said. "Every year there is significant variation in reported excess deaths, and in the year following this study they fell by nearly 20,000, undermining any link between pressure on the NHS and the number of deaths. They said the NHS budget rose by almost 15 billion between 2009-10 and 2014-15. But the researchers said in January 2015 all marker for NHS performance worsened markedly. They pointed out ambulance call out times being below target, no rise in A&E attendance, increased waiting times and operations cancelled for non-clinical reasons. Waiting times hit record levels in December, it had the lowest percentage of patients seen within four hours. Doctors said conditions worsened due to overwhelming demand and bed shortages. See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare Close President Donald Trump's mental state has recently been the subject of public debates. At least three Democrat officials have questioned the president's mental health. Oregon Representative Earl Blumenauer has also called a review on the constitutional procedures to remove Trump from office. Minnesota Senator Al Franken said a few Republican colleagues had also expressed their concern as to whether Trump is mentally fit to hold office. California Rep. Ted Lieu has announced plans to propose a bill that would require the White House to have a psychiatrist on staff. A petition on Change.org has accused Trump of mental illnes and asking for his removal from office. The petition has been signed by nearly 25,000 health professionals. Lieu said "Anyone who can launch 4,000 nuclear weapons in minutes absolutely should be questioned on any matter related to their physical and mental health." According to Independent, the debate on Trump's mental health has been divided into three opinions, public, professional and political. Many have suggested Trump could be suffering from narcissistic personality disorder. The New Republic had published a story last week that speculated Trump may have an untreated sexually transmitted disease that has led to neurosyphilis. It can be characterized by irritability, loss of ability to concentrate, delusional thinking and grandiosity. The New York Times published a letter on Tuesday that was signed by 35 psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers. It had accused Trump of grave emotional deeming him incapable of serving safely as a president. Los Angeles Times reported in response, Allen Frances, a renowned psychiatrist from the Duke University School of Medicine, sent his own letter to the New York Times said Trump "may be a world-class narcissist, but this doesn't make him mentally ill" Frances said most mentally ill people are nice, well-mannered and decent, which Trump is not. He added "When you lump someone who is bad with people who have mental illness, it stigmatizes the mentally ill population. Less an insult to him and more an insult to them." According to the American Psychiatric Association protocol medical professionals should not diagnose individuals they have not personally treated. See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare Close Parents from Berea, Ohio have been charged with felony after their 8-year-old son overdosed on heroin. Danielle Simko and Charles Dowdy appeared in a Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court on Friday. The grand jury handed out felony charges of drug possession and endangering children. Dowdy and Simko have been held on $150,000 bond. They first appeared on January 11 and their next hearing is set for 9 a.m. Feb. 22 before Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Peter Corrigan. Ohio and the nation struggle to battle the growing issue of fentanyl and heroin overdose. Charles Dowdy said he found his son unresponsive on his bed at their home in Miltion Street in Berea at around 10:30 p.m. Dowdy immediately called 911 when he saw his son was not breathing and his lips had turned blue. Simko met with the responding police officer outside their home. When the police entered they found Dowdy frantically attempting to resuscitate his son according to CDA News. The officer took over and found a weak pulse, the ambulance arrived and the boy was rushed to the Southwest General Medical Center. According to WSB-TV Altanta, the police found drugs and needles at their home. The medical staff discovered a small bag of heroin and prescription pills hidden inside a toy watch kept inside the boy's socks. They took a urine test and the boy showed positive for heroin in his system. Dowdy admitted he had used drugs earlier in the day. Dowdy and Simko were both arrested at the hospital. Both Dowdy and Simko have their own attorneys. The Public Defender's Office of Cuyahoga County is representing Dowdy. Simko is being represented by Gary Seewald. The boy is now in the care of relatives and has recovered well said a spokesperson for the police department. He is the youngest overdose victim in Berea. The death rate for heroin, fentanyl and other types of opiates had increased from 64 deaths in 2011 to 517 deaths in 2016 according to the Cuyahoga County Medical Examier's Office. In January there were 46 fentanyl and heroin overdoses reported. See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare Close Children, as young as five, call the counselors at the National Association for Children of Alcoholics (NACOA) so regularly that their favorite story books are kept by the phones. Alcoholic parents are too drunk or wasted to put them to bed that they turn to the helpline for a good night's sleep. According to Daily Mail there are 2.5 million children of alcoholics in the UK, MP's are branding it as a 'secret scandal'. NOCOA had received 32,000 calls and emails from children last year. Chief executive, Hilary Henriques said on one occasion a counselor had to help a five-year-old girl call 999 emergency. Her drug and alcohol addicted mother had locked herself in the bathroom overnight. The woman was found dead when the paramedics arrived. Another case was with a seven-year-old girl who called while hiding from her drunk parents under her bed on Christmas day. The little girl was cold, scared andhad receive no presents. She just wanted to hear a story abhout her imaginary friend, a dog called Bruce. NACOA regular callers often request classic Disney tales. Henriques said Horrid Henry books and Roald Dahl are also popular with these children. She added "The children like to hear a made-up story because this helps to get across the message that things can be different from the life they live at the moment, which is really the cornerstone of what we do - keep hope alive." Belfast Telegraph reported that members of the Parliament have called on the government to take action. NACOA has marked Children of Alcoholics week after the MP's launched their manifesto. The all-parliamentary group is supported by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Their research uncovered a shocking picture of support for children of alcoholics said the Archbishop. It has revealed an apparent absence of strategies to deal with the issue and a sever lack of funding in many areas. See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare Close Even if there are still people who believe that climate change is not real, a number of studies have already proven that climate change is real and its effects are being felt sooner than expected. One of the devastating effects brought upon by climate change is the rapid melting of ice in both Antarctica and the Arctic. In order to help prevent climate change, scientists are proposing an outrageous 500-billion-dollar project that aims to refreeze the melting ice in the Arctic. Various experts from the field of science have confirmed that the Earth is feeling the effects of climate change brought upon by the increasing amounts of greenhouse gasses present in the atmosphere. One of the most visible effects of climate change is the increasing temperature of the planet causing the melting of the ice sheets in both Antarctica and the Artic. In order to stop the rapid melting of the ice in the Arctic, scientists from Arizona State University proposed a plan to refreeze the ice. Refreezing the ice, in an effort to slow down climate change, takes technological innovation and so-called "geodesign" to make it successful. The proposed plan involving the sea ice generation in the Artic is aimed at preventing the further loss of the ice. This is based on an alarming report that with the continuous possibility of increasing global temperature, the current remaining ice in Arctic could all vanish by the year 2030 or earlier. So in order to prevent further loss and regenerate sea ice in the Arctic, the scientists developed a method that will help enhance the natural process already present in the Arctic. The proposed method involves the use of around 10 million buoy-mounted wind pump system covering at least ten percent of the area of the Arctic ocean. The system pumps seawater and spraying it on the surface of the remaining ice during Arctic winter. The timing is important as during winter, the sprayed water can easily freeze. The scientists are claiming that using this simple method, the thickness of the ice can increase by a meter during one period. In addition, by implementing the proposed method over the course of ten years, the scientists are expecting the successful prevention of sea ice in the Arctic and thus preventing climate change. Further details of the Arctic ice management method is reported in the journal Earth's Future. However, the proposed method would cost around 50 billion dollars a year with over 500 billion dollars spent during the entire duration of the project. But the scientists are adamant that the outrageous cost is worth it to prevent the further devastation caused by the melting of the ice and climate change. In fact, if the sea ice in the Arctic completely disappears, not only will it affect the ecosystem present in the Arctic, but also release a huge store of greenhouse gasses trapped in the ice thus speeding up climate change and weather patterns. See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare A benefit is being held on March 4 at the Farmington VFW Post #5896 to help raise money for a St. Francois County Sheriffs Department employee who has been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer on Dec. 19, which has since spread to her brain. Sheriffs Department employee Tina Tenholder said they are trying to raise money for Rhonda Roney, who has been an employee of the department for some time now. She also worked at the recorder of deeds office in earlier years. We are having a $6 dinner from noon to 6 p.m. at the VFW and they will be serving pizza and salad, said Tenholder. There will also be an auction and we are still in need of donations. We will accept anything we can auction off to help raise money. So far we have some baskets to raffle off, gift certificates donated by businesses, I think someone is donating alcohol and someone is donating a pulled pork dinner. Tenholder added the sheriffs department is selling raffle tickets at $1 a piece or 6 for $5, for a pistol, deer rifle, Yeti cooler and a Giant brand bicycle. We area selling the raffle tickets here at the sheriffs department now and will also be selling them during the event, said Tenholder. There will also be a 50/50 raffle during the event." Roney, a wife and mother of two, has been through chemotherapy, radiation and surgeries. She is currently in a clinical trial at Barnes Jewish Hospital for immunotherapy. Roney is the third sheriffs department employee to be diagnosed with cancer recently. The other two are in remission. To make a donation or for more information contact Cleta Cash at 573-660-0161. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Connecticut State Police photo Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Connecticut State Police photo Show More Show Less 3 of 3 Eight years after Connecticuts Move Over law required motorists to slow down and give emergency and law enforcement vehicles an extra lane of safety, AAA Northeast wants to see the law expanded after several recent accidents. A crash on Interstate 95 in Guilford last weekend that destroyed a state police cruiser is the latest example of more than six collisions or near-misses on the states roads since the start of the year, according to AAA Northeast. 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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 This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate DANBURY Paul Enos 47-year career studying the paranormal has allowed him to investigate ghosts, UFOs and exorcism cases around the world, but the most frightening thing that ever happened to him, he said, was here in Connecticut. Eno, along with his son and fellow paranormal researcher, Ben, described the story of the Bridgeport poltergeist of 1974 at a lecture Saturday at the Danbury Library. At the time, Paul was working with Ed and Lorraine Warren, the Bridgeport natives and paranormal investigators famous for their involvement in the Amityville Horror case, among others. At the Bridgeport poltergeist house, Paul said, he watched a refrigerator float off the ground, was hit by a flying television set and encountered four parasitical entities. I did not know what to do or what to think, he said. I kind of panicked. The library lecture promoted the fathers and sons latest book, Behind the Paranormal: Everything You Know is Wrong. Several Connecticut haunting stories, including the Bridgeport poltergeist, can be found in the book, which discusses the afterlife, parallel worlds and even cases of animals and paranormal activity. The Enos, who live in Rhode Island, told the crowd about how they got their start in paranormal research. Paul, who was studying for the priesthood when he was expelled for studying paranormal activity, said his interest in the subject started when his father committed suicide when he was 7 years old. That stayed with me, he said. I encountered a need to know what happens after you die. That was really the genesis of my interest in the paranormal. His first case was at a cemetery in New Britain, where he said a figure appeared in a tree. Litchfield County is the site of one of the Enos more recent cases. The father and son described what they call a triangle of activity enclosed by three locations of paranormal cases, including a farm in Goshen. Ben began studying the paranormal alongside his father, helping in his first cases when he was around 13 years old. Those in the audience asked questions after the lecture and met Paul and Ben during a book signing. Stacey Ramsey, of Oxford, said she came to the lecture because she has always wanted to learn more about the paranormal. Its always something Im curious about, said Ramsey, who has attended lectures by the Warrens. Its just always one of those things you want to have proof to believe, and so you look for that proof. After he left the seminary, Paul was a newspaper and magazine reporter and editor. Ben took up journalism, becoming the countrys youngest syndicated talk-show host at the age of 16. In addition to Pauls own books, the duo has contributed to other paranormal books, host a radio show and both speak on the subject at events and talk shows. Paul said after going public with their experiences, they were surprised by the reaction of people who started contacting them, many of whom said they had similar paranormal experiences. We thought the world would be laughing at us, he said. But we received almost 3,000 emails, and only about two were negative. Aside from specific cases, the lecture focused on the Enos belief in a multiverse, or the idea countless parallel worlds exist. This theory, Paul said, can explain the connections between all the different types of paranormal activity, like alien or UFO sightings, ghosts, the afterlife and more. Its really the idea that everything we think and know is wrong, he said. And this really is just the first day of school. 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 ... We must rethink the U.S. response to infectious disease. Here's why. During a visit to the Orkney Islands in 2014, Jeremy Paxman travelled to Marwick Head, a dramatic clifftop spot with a wild, elemental feel to it. It was one of those rare days in Orkney when the sun was shining, and Mr Paxman later wrote about this glorious spot, where fulmars, kittiwakes, guillemots and puffins swirl over the sea below. Standing next to him, similarly captivated by the scenery, was an attractive blonde, very much younger than him. Jeremy Paxman pictured left in 2002 with then partner Elizabeth Clough and right with Jillian Taylor who is 30 years his junior Paxman was in Orkney to research an article about the sinking of the HMS Hampshire in June 1916. There was much to be done, archives and records to go through, local experts to speak to. What any meticulous historian needs on a project like this is a first-class researcher. And Jillian Taylor, whose abilities Mr Paxman had acknowledged as amazing in his most recent book, was as good as they got. That type of ferociously competent individual, perhaps a little irritating to less agile minds, who, if they dont know the answer to something already, is able to locate it in a matter of minutes. Naturally, she should accompany TVs great inquisitor on this trip, which involved an overnight stay, and assist him in his research. Presumably Paxmans long-time partner, Elizabeth Clough, had no qualms about him spending a couple of days away with Miss Taylor. A close friend of Ms Clough, left, told the Mail yesterday: His family are devastated. They feel that Jeremy has behaved dreadfully in all sorts of ways' After all, she was on very cordial terms with the younger woman, so much so that Jillian, 36, would come to stay at the family home in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, to assist 66-year-old Paxman when he was working on one of his books. Today Ms Clough, 64, would be less than human if she didnt look back at that visit to Orkney and wonder if there was anything else going on when the pair were not poring earnestly over historical documents. For it has been confirmed that Paxman and his researcher are in a romantic relationship. As the Mails Sebastian Shakespeare Diary revealed on Saturday, Ms Clough and Paxman one of the most formidable and respected broadcasters of his generation have parted after more than 35 years. The former Newsnight presenter is now believed to be living with Miss Taylor at his 1.5 million flat in Londons Notting Hill. The fact that Ms Taylor is not a nameless, faceless lover, but someone who was warmly welcomed into the family home, must make the betrayal harder to bear for Ms Clough. Perhaps its not surprising that she no longer refers to her love rival as Jillian, Jeremys researcher but simply that b***h. A close friend of Ms Clough told the Mail yesterday: His family are devastated. They feel that Jeremy has behaved dreadfully in all sorts of ways. Elizabeth welcomed Jillian to their family home. When Jeremy was writing his books, he would work from home and Jillian would come to stay. Elizabeth treated Jillian in a friendly way and she got to know their children. This is how she repaid them. Having an affair with your young assistant is such a cliche. Elizabeth jokes that it is, at least, one up on a nanny or au pair, because Jeremy can speak to her as an equal. As a TV personality, Jeremy became used to unstinting adulation and, clearly, Jillian is giving him what he wants. A newspaper report yesterday suggested that Paxman and Ms Clough separated last November. The family friend says, however, that any inference that the relationship started around this time is incorrect the romance started a long time before. He [Paxman] has told Elizabeth and friends that it has been going on much longer than that. [Jillian] was previously married, but its not clear if her relationship with Jeremy was the reason for the breakdown of her marriage. Inevitably, it is devastating for Ms Clough. Hugely well liked among her circle of friends, she is regarded as a devoted mother. In 2011, she gave up her highly paid job as a producer on the BBCs faith and ethics programme, The Big Questions, after the Corporation relocated it to Glasgow. Uprooting her family was unthinkable. She and the presenter have three grown-up children, Jessica, 26, and 19-year-old twins, Jack and Victoria. In 2011, Paxman and Ms Taylor, a Canadian-born book editor were photographed in London Elizabeth Clough was one of 25 girls who made history by ending the all-male tradition at the 35,280-per-year Marlborough College and joining 800 boys. After leaving Marlborough, she read history at Somerville College, Oxford, then joined the BBC as a trainee. She worked on Panorama, Watchdog and Newsnight, where she met Jeremy Paxman, who was to become the BBCs star inquisitor. Women liked him, and he was nicknamed the thinking womans crumpet. Rumours surfaced in 1990 that Paxman was considering getting married, but it didnt happen then or anytime afterwards. The couple decided rather late on to have children. Elizabeth was 38 when she had Jessica and 45 when she gave birth to the twins. And what of the bright young woman who has turned Jeremy Paxmans head? According to the friend, Jillian Taylor began working for Paxman 12 years ago. It was her first job after leaving university. Ms Taylor was employed as a researcher and editorial assistant at Penguin books and living in a flat in North London. Little is known about her early life. According to one report, she was born in Canada. In 2010, Ms Taylor assisted Jeremy Paxman with the research for his best-selling work, Empire: What Ruling The World Did To The British. Paxman was lavish in his praise of her in the acknowledgment section of the book. SAD ECHOES OF JEREMY'S OWN FRACTURED FAMILY Jeremy Paxman, right, with his father Keith and brothers As he goes through the trauma of his family splitting up, Jeremy Paxman may be experiencing sad echoes of his childhood. On his own admission, the home he grew up in was pretty dysfunctional, and his parents marriage fell apart when his father, Keith, walked out to start a new life (and family) in Australia. In the personal memoir he published four months ago, Paxman let rip at a father with whom he could never get on. My feelings [for him] ranged from resentment to passionate hatred, he wrote. He confessed to still being troubled in his late 60s by what had gone on all those years ago. Keith Paxman was a brute of a dad and there is no suggestion that Jeremy was, or is, in any way like him as a father. But as a role model, Keith was a disaster. A bluff chap who propped up the golf-club bar, a monocle in his eye to match the brass buttons on his blazer, he had been a naval officer and expected instant obedience. The merest suggestion of insubordination would send him into a fury, during which he would grab the nearest hard object with which to beat whoever had provoked him, Jeremy recalled. I was thrashed with sticks, shoes, cricket stumps, cricket bats or the flat of his hand. Keith clearly couldnt stand the precocious Jeremy, his eldest son. All they seem to have had in common was their embarrassment at each other Jeremy that his father was, as he saw it, a mere salesman, Keith that his son was, as he once voiced it in public to his gin-swilling cronies, one of those homosexual communists from the BBC. It seems Keith couldnt settle to a Britain that, in the postwar years, didnt live up to his expectations and dreams, and for which his wife Joan, three sons and a daughter were insufficient compensation. He was by no stretch of the imagination a family man, says Paxman Jr. In 1974 Keith left home and never came back. Jeremy was 24 and working as a trainee at the BBC. Of his own feelings when this happened he has said nothing, but he eventually came to see his father as a damaged man. We are left to wonder if the damage stopped there. Advertisement I have been very fortunate indeed in the people who have helped me: I no sooner asked a question than had it answered, wherever she happened to be in the world at that moment. Jillian Taylor is the best researcher a writer could wish for conscientious, imaginative and astonish-ingly industrious. In 2011, Paxman and Ms Taylor were photographed in a London street. Paxmans praise for Jillian was just as gushing in the acknowledgements of his next historical work, Great Britains Great War, published in 2013. Most of all I thank Jillian Taylor, whose Stakhanovite capacity for research continues to amaze. I had no soon asked a question than she had answered it. A Stakhanovite, of course, is someone who works exceptionally hard a description which evolved in the former Soviet Union in the Thirties after a man of that name mined a prodigious amount of coal in a single day. Ms Taylor perhaps appreciated this neat historical reference. Paxman wasnt finished. She is probably the perfect researcher bright, resourceful, cheerful and indefatigable. Just the sort of person you need around for a visit to a remote island at the tip of Scotland to unlock the secrets of a wartime tragedy. Mr Paxman was investigating the sinking of HMS Hampshire and the death on board of the most famous soldier of World War I, Lord Kitchener, for an article for the Financial Times. He and Ms Taylor painstakingly went through the records at the Orkney Archive and the pair travelled to Marwick Head, where a memorial to Kitchener was erected, overlooking the sea. She is probably the perfect researcher bright, resourceful, cheerful and indefatigable - Paxman describing Ms Taylor in 2011 The next day, the pair met a couple of locals for lunch at Julias Cafe & Bistro in Stromness, where specialities include roast Orkney beef and Orkney salmon fish cakes. It must have been refreshing to unwind after all the vigours of research. One of those who dined with the pair, who declined to be named, told the Mail: We had a lovely lunch, a lovely chat. He [Paxman] was nothing like he used to be on Newsnight where he could appear a bit unkind in real life. As far as we could see at that point they were just in a professional relationship. Jillian is an attractive woman quite a bit younger than him. She arranged to get two signed copies of his book sent to us. The following year, in May 2015, Ms Taylor was promoted to the position of editor at the Penguin offshoot, Michael Joseph, which specialises in womens fiction, crime, thrillers, cookery, memoirs and lifestyle books. Jeremy Paxman, of course, became one of the BBCs highest paid presenters, signing a four-year deal with the broadcaster in 2010, worth 3.2 million. In 2014, he announced he was to leave Newsnight. As well as his more high-profile career as a presenter, he was writing prolifically, and this is, of course, how his friendship blossomed with Ms Taylor. Now they are officially a couple. On Friday evening, Paxmans agent confirmed: Jeremy Paxman and his partner separated last year. They retain a mutual respect for each other and a deep love for their children. Many might assume that women in their nineties spend their leisure time playing Bingo or knitting a scarf. But one woman in China is smashing stereotypes and proving that elderly women can be just as active and fast-paced as anybody else. 94-year-old grandma, Zhang Hexian, is wowing people the world over with her impressive Kung Fu skills. Kung Fu granny: 94-year-old grandma, Zhang Hexian, is wowing people the world over with her impressive Kung Fu skills Impressive: Despite being well into her nineties, the Kung Fu master, based in Dongyuan village, is still actively teaching the craft and is described as 'wing-footed' by her students Despite being well into her nineties, the Kung Fu master, based in Dongyuan village, is still actively teaching the craft and is described as 'wing-footed' by her students. According to China.org.cn, Mrs Hexian keeps a regular daily routine and is famed for her 'fist kick and cudgel - a think stick used as a weapon. Mrs Hexian has been practicing Kung Fu since she was just four-years-old and teaches it to students in Liyang town in Ningbo city, east China's Zhejiang province. Skilled: Mrs Hexian has been practicing Kung Fu since she was just four-years-old and teaches it to students in Liyang town in Ningbo city, east China's Zhejiang province Practicing with the family: The dedicated martial arts pro has been regularly keeping up her practice for 90 years and excels in using fists, legs and sticks Impressive: Mrs Hexian is still very healthy to this day and says her skills 'enabled her to challenge the local bully and put other rascals in their place' from a young age The dedicated martial arts pro has been regularly keeping up her practice for 90 years and excels in using fists, legs and sticks. Our ancestors instructed that we learn Kung Fu for defense and to help others, not to bully others. Mrs Hexian is still very healthy to this day and says her skills 'enabled her to challenge the local bully and put other rascals in their place' from a young age. Photographs of the martial arts master show her demonstrating her moves with her son, laughing and instructing her great-granddaughter at their home. In her hometown, Mrs Hexian is also said to be known as a 'chivalrous woman' because 'she fights injustice.' Facing off: Photographs of the martial arts master show her demonstrating her moves with her son, laughing and instructing her great-granddaughter at their home Model citizen: In her hometown, Mrs Hexian is also said to be known as a 'chivalrous woman' because 'she fights injustice' Passing down her skills: Mrs Hexian is pictured instructinf Kung Fu and martial arts to her great-granddaughter Speaking to China.org.cn, she recalled a time she came across a man beating his wife. 'I was so angry that I rushed to them and hit the man on his chest,' she said, demonstrating the move. But Mrs Hexian is anything but violent, and believes her skills are to be used only for protection. 'Our ancestors instructed that we learn Kung Fu for defense and to help others, not to bully others,' she said. A woman from Waikato, New Zealand, is warning about the dangers of using potting mix without a face mask, after she went into a two-week coma and nearly lost her life. Susan Dromgool, 53, said she contracted what was subsequently diagnosed as Legionnaires' Disease, an atypical form of pneumonia, on December 15 when she was out planting succulents at her home. 'I was wearing gloves, but no face mask,' Ms Dromgool told Daily Mail Australia. Susan Dromgool (pictured, from Waikato, New Zealand, is warning about the dangers of using potting mix without a face mask, after she went into a two-week coma and nearly lost her life Susan Dromgool, 53, said she contracted what was subsequently diagnosed as Legionnaires' Disease, an atypical form of pneumonia, while out planting succulents at her home Ms Dromgool explained that because she was wearing gloves and working in a well-ventilated area, she thought she would be alright. 'I now don't want others to make the same mistake,' she added. The evening after planting the succulents, Ms Dromgool said she felt 'chilled' but dismissed it as a reaction to a foot treatment she had received earlier that day. 'The next day I had chronic back pain,' she continued. Ms Dromgool explained that because she was wearing gloves and in a well-ventilated area, she thought she would be alright (stock photo) However, she slipped into a life-threatening coma, experienced intense nightmares for two weeks, and nearly had her life support switched off (pictured in hospital) How does potting mix cause Legionnaires'? Legionnaires' Disease is a severe form of pneumonia caused by bacteria called Legionella that occur naturally in the environment. The time between exposure and getting sick is usually between five to six days. The most common way that people can be infected with Legionella bacteria is by breathing in bacteria-contaminated dust or liquid droplets. This can include working with soil, compost or potting mix products that generate dust or mist. Source: Work Safe New Zealand Advertisement Ms Dromgool got through the weekend, before suffering sweats and a fever on Monday. Doctors diagnosed it as pneumonia - which she had had frequently - but on the Thursday, when she struggled to breathe, an ambulance was called. 'I don't remember much from that point,' she said. 'They tried to give me oxygen, but it wasn't enough. They put me into a forced coma and I spent the next two weeks having really vivid nightmares.' They kept saying they might have to switch her life support off Ms Dromgool's best friend, Debbie Hume, spent the entirety of Ms Dromgool's two-week coma by her side in the hospital. 'It was horrible, I thought I was going to lose my best friend,' she told FEMAIL. 'They kept saying they might have to switch her life support off.' Ms Hume added that it took the doctors some four days to diagnose what Ms Dromgool was suffering from as Legionnaires' Disease because it was so confusing: 'During that time I was talking to them about her hobbies and allergies. Anything that might help them to diagnose what was wrong.' 'The doctors told me if I'd been ten years older, I would have died for sure,' Ms Dromgool said (pictured with friends) 'People need to know it's not enough to just wear the gloves and no mask - there are warnings on all of the packets of potting mix, but perhaps the mask should come with them,' she said By the time she woke up, Ms Dromgool explained that she had little to no memory of what had befallen her. 'I had no voice for about a week, my body had wasted away quite a lot and I couldn't walk. 'The doctors told me if I'd been ten years older, I would have died for sure,' she said. Right now, Ms Dromgool is nearly back to her old self. Despite having to walk with a frame sometimes and feeling as though her memory has suffered somewhat, she said she feels much better: 'People need to know that it's not enough to just wear the gloves and no mask - there are warnings on all of the packets of potting mix, but perhaps the mask should come with the mix. 'I guess I was lucky, but it was an incredibly scary experience. I don't want others to go through the same thing.' A plus-sized pole dancer has hit back at cruel bullies who utter taunts about her weight while watching her perform. Curvy Jamie Hines, 36, from Champaigne, Illinois, says her 40-inch waist doesn't stop her from enjoying the racy sport - and hopes that she can inspire other plus-sized women to take it up. The glamorous university worker wears a size 20 to 22 (22 to 24 UK size) but hasn't looked back since burlesque led her to the pole, even if that means she's had to ensure cruel whispers about her weight. Scroll down for video If you don't like it, jog on! Jamie Hines, 36, from Illinois discovered pole dancing after trying burlesque. The plus-size dancer, who wears a US dress size 20 to 22, says she's often noticed cruel jibes when she's performing on stage Beauty: The glamorous dancer has never been trolled online though and is adored by her Instagram fans Jamie, who refuses to be dictated to by her weight and doesn't own a pair of scales, first took up pole dancing around 18 months ago and says it's transformed her self-esteem. The dancer says she's now proud of her body and as yet, hasn't been targeted on her popular Instagram page. She says: 'Thankfully I've never been trolled online, but I feel like it's only a matter of time.' 'Friends have told me that they've overheard audience members make comments when I've been on stage, though. I'd be feeling awesome, then hearing that would bring me down. 'People are attracted to different things, and if I'm not your flavour you don't have to watch me but you don't have to turn to your buddy and talk about how fat and disgusting I am, either. What does it gain?' Burlesque led to the pole: Hines says it's harder for her to do pole dancing than an average sized person but that she's reaped the rewards, with improved upper body strength Curvy Hines is now so in love with the sport - and inspiring others - that she's started her own class for plus-sized students called the Floppy Kittens. Right, Hines during a practice session Agile: Hines shows off her flexibility with splits on the mat 'It's also okay to love yourself for exactly who you are:' Hines says she's happy to be a role model for plus sized women getting fit Her first attempts at the sport saw her struggle to hold her body up while dancing, but she has slowly grown stronger as she's increased her sessions. She explains: 'I've gone from someone who couldn't do anything to someone who can haul their giant body up a pole. It's empowering feeling so strong. 'Being plus-sized does make pole more of a challenge compared to smaller sized people, though, because we have more weight to carry. An instructor I know uses the analogy that it's easier to lift up a six-pack of beers than a keg.' 'I've gone from someone who couldn't do anything to someone who can haul their giant body up a pole. It's empowering feeling so strong. Jamie Hines Since taking up dancing, Jamie has developed impressive arm and shoulder muscles. And though she said she already had a 'base level' of confidence through burlesque, she added that it's hugely improved her self esteem. 'The size of my body hasn't changed much, but I can do a lot more. I feel like I can take on the world,' she said. Strength, both inner and physical: The dancer says the pole makes her feel like she can take on the world Getting to grips with the art of pole dancing has been a huge self-esteem boost, says the 36-year-old dancer Now, Jamie documents her gravity-defying pole tricks on Instagram, where she's built up an army of followers. She has also started teaching a plus-size pole class of her own, which she dubs the Floppy Kitties. She hopes that, by sharing her own story, she can spread her remarkable message of body positivity. 'It's awesome to have body goals for yourself, but it's also okay to love yourself for exactly who you are, and to embrace your body for all the things it can, can't and will do,' she said. Each year, London Fashion Week sees models parading down the runway in a series of eye-wateringly low necklines and short hemlines. But a more demure look took centre stage this weekend with the capital's first ever Modest Fashion Week (MFW) at the Saatchi Gallery. More than 40 designers from around the world showcased scarves, hijabs and loose-fitting maxi dresses at the two-day event organised by Haute Elan, who claim 'modest fashion' is one of the fastest-growing consumer markets. According to the UK e-commerce retailer, the event, described as a 'new and exciting addition to London's fashion calendar', is the first of its kind and aims to give a platform to brands that cater for religious women and those who prefer to dress modestly. Members of the Muslim community along with fashion fans praised the show for 'sending a positive message'. Twitter user @siagalal wrote: 'It's great and inspires so many muslimahs & shows them that they can be both fashionable and modest.' The event, which charged up to 100 for tickets, featured shopping, runway shows, talks and workshops, as well as networking and trade discussions. A model showcases an elaborate green design with a gold trim during a runway show at London's first Modest Fashion Week (MWF) at the Saatchi Gallery this weekend Ruffles, ruching and bows galore: While the designs were varied in colour and style, they all focused on modesty with minimal skin on show A hijab-wearing model carries a colourful clutch bag. More than 40 designers from around the world showcased outfits at the two-day event in London this weekend Shows featured designs from labels such as Nottingham-based Amirab, which launched just last year and produces 'modest, modern and fashion-forward Muslim clothing'. Their flowing jumpsuits and maxi dresses retail at between 200 and 350. Describing Amirab's look in Africa Fashion, founder Roda Abdi described modest fashion as: 'Making sure length of the clothes is appropriate, not sheer, and no slits or cuts which would make the clothes unsuitable for modest wear'. Most of the designs featured high necklines and low hemlines. On Twitter, members of the Muslim community and fashion fans praised the show for 'sending a positive message' Speaking backstage, hijabi blogger Dina Tokio, who has more than 1 million Instagram followers, praised the event as 'revolutionary' and 'pretty fabulous' A guest speaks backstage at MFW. Modest clothing is described as 'appropriate [in length], not sheer, and no slits or cuts which would make the clothes unsuitable for modest wear' The woman behind the 'UK's first luxury hijab' also praised high street stores like Debenhams for stocking modest designs, adding: 'I believe in the next four to five years this will be norm.' Meanwhile hijabi blogger Dina Tokio, who has more than 1 million Instagram followers, praised the event as 'revolutionary'. In an interview with Blogosphere magazine, she said: 'I feel like brands are coming on board with diversity now and I think that its down to social media and how much talent there is out there. Fashion fans took to Twitter to praise the two-day event for 'sending a positive message' 'I want to show that you can coincide faith with fashion and that there are Muslim women who actually represent that.' MFW comes after Kanye West made headlines by sending a hijabi-wearing model down the runway at his Yeezy Season 5 show in New York last week. Halima Aden, a 19-year-old Somali-American from Minnesota, signed with IMG Models before strutting down the runway at Kanye's latest presentation. The budding model, who was born in a Kenyan refugee camp, donned a hijab and a long fur coat for her first trip down the catwalk. Helen Skelton felt the wrath of some of Lorraine Kelly's most loyal viewers this morning, after she stepped in to replace the show's eponymous host. Former Blue Peter presenter Skelton, who's eight months' pregnant with her second child, drew criticism for her 'painful' presenting style from those tuning in. One viewer suggested that the blonde mother-of-one didn't let her guests, who included Kim Kardashian BFF Jonathan Cheban, get a word in edgeways during the chat show. Scroll down for video Tricky heels to fill: Helen Skelton hosted this morning's episode of Lorraine...but the 33-year-old star's presenting style didn't go down too well with viewers 'Painful': One viewer described Skelton, who's expecting her second child next month, as 'talking over' her guests on the eponymous Lorraine show Harsh critics: Some viewers took to social media to express their disdain for Skelton's presenting style Cheban was appearing to talk about his new reality show Celebs Go Dating and he alluded to his own love life - which is where the most awkward moment of the show came for many viewers. Skelton asked Cheban how his very high standards in a relationship would fare against the realities of life, saying: 'What happens if you have diarrhoea, or if you lose a friend?' Fans of Cheban, clearly not big fans of Olympic swimming, which Skelton anchored last summer in Rio, took to Twitter in their droves to express their surprise at the questioning, with many asking "who is she?"' Kim K's bestie, Jonathan Cheban, found himself on the receiving end of some interesting questions as Skelton poured scorn on his demanding expectations of a future girlfriend Skelton is expecting her second child with her rugby player husband Richie Myler. Alongside Christine Bleakley, she's providing holiday cover for Lorraine, who has jetted off with her husband Steve in the footsteps of explorer Ernest Shackleton on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. Skelton, who is already mother to 20-month-old son Ernie, took to Twitter before an appearance at London Fashion Week yesterday to reveal she was wearing a pair of staggering heels as they are 'all that fits' at her late stage of pregnancy. She posted an image of the shoes while adding a caption reading: 'What to wear to a fashion show when 8 months pregnant..... the only thing that fits #LFW #heels #fashionscout'. High heels: She posted an image of the shoes while adding a hilarious caption reading: 'What to wear to a fashion show when 8 months pregnant..... the only thing that fits #LFW #heels #fashionscout' Replaced: The 33-year-old star is currently filling in for Lorraine Kelly on her eponymous chat show, on which she revealed news of her injury on Monday morning Her fashion tip came shortly before she fell over, as she explained her dos and donts of fashion week while chatting to Lorraine's fashion correspondent Mark Heyes. She said: 'Dont ask for the goodie bag before you sit down... Dont fall down the stairs I dont think I will be invited back My knees been bleeding for 12 hours! Helen is clearly feeling the hormones which accompany pregnancy as she later chatted to showbiz correspondent Dan Wooton about a romantic story. A couple were engaged on stage at a Leann Rimes concert over the weekend and while Dan told the story the blonde beauty grew emotional as she said: 'I could cry, Im feeling that hormonal High emotions: A couple were engaged on stage at a Leann Rimes concert and while Dan told the story the blonde beauty grew emotional as she said: 'I could cry, Im feeling that hormonal' Helen is delightedly awaiting the arrival of her second child, as sources revealed the couple say they're 'excited' to welcome the bundle of joy in a month's time. Last month the star gave an insight into her life as a parent as she admitted to having the 'worst day of parenting life' when she claimed she was asked to leave a playgroup with her 'screaming' son. Taking to Twitter to share her story, the pregnant former Blue Peter presenter revealed she was forced to abandon her hopes of finding the right playgroup for her 19-month-old son Ernie after he suffered a screaming meltdown. She later described the playgroup staff as being 'superb' and said that it was her fault. Helen tweeted: 'Wow storm in a tea cup: we love the French creche. Staff are superb! Can't account for a toddler mood sometimes! My fault not theirs xx' The BBC presenter initially shared a sweet picture of her darling son walking into his new French playgroup, admitting she was 'nervous' for his first day. Captioning the photo, she wrote: 'French play group . lets do this . why do I feel sick .. #nervousparent #family #mum #toddler #childcare #school #family.' But later she revealed she was 'asked to leave after 20 mins'. It seems Helen had every right to be anxious about his big first step, as they were asked to leave 20 minutes later after he wouldn't stop screaming. Sharing a selfie from her car of the pair, she explained: 'Worst day of my parenting life. Asked to leave after 20 mins. Screamed the place down screaming his version of "mama let's go!" constantly. #parentfail #kidswinning #mumfail #childcare.' It took three months to plan and cost 100,000, so it's no wonder Faryal Khan is eager to keep reliving her daughter Lamaisah's second birthday party. The wife of boxer Amir Khan shared a video of the lavish bash for 250 guests, held at Bolton Wanderers' Macron Stadium in June 2016 with Snapchat followers today. But it appears there was more behind her decision than the desire to reminisce, as it was the perfect opportunity for Faryal to put on a united front with her husband after months of drama. The make-up artist has had a tumultuous few months in which she became embroiled in a huge row with her husband's family claiming they accused her of being a gold digger and dressing in an un-Islamic fashion. Amir Khan and his wife Faryal, 25, at their daughter's second birthday party in June 2016 at Bolton Wanderers' Macron Stadium Doting dad Amir shows his daughter the lavish birthday cake which looked more like it belonged at a wedding The couple were hit by further drama when a sex tape of Khan performing a sex act on a webcam while chatting with a model was leaked to a US porn site. So the sharing of Lamaisah's birthday video was the perfect opportunity for Faryal to sidestep the drama and show off her happy family. The extravagant party took place at the Amir's beloved Bolton Wanderers' Macron Stadium, with 250 guests invited. Graduate Faryal spent three months planning the party and hired Disney princesses, Peppa Pig and a ballerina to entertain guests. The couple have been through a tumultuous few months after a huge family feud and a leak of a sex tape featuring the boxer to a US porn site Lamaisah can be seen on the dancefloor with a ballerina who was hired to entertain the guests The proud parents were happy to splash out 100,000 on their daughter's big day Speaking about the party to Hello! magazine, Amir said: 'When I walked in, the first thing I said was, 'Wow!' My wife did an amazing job.' 'I was busy training when she was planning this, but every day I was getting crazy bills and thinking, 'What's this for?' 'Every penny spent on my daughter is worth it, though. After all, all this hard work I do is for her, for my kid.' Admitting it was extravagant, Faryal insisted she wouldn't be repeating the grand gesture every year. She explained: 'I wanted it to be something really grand. Now I'm not doing anything until she's 16.' Earlier this year, Faryal gave her sports-star hubby an ultimatum to choose between her or his family after months of infighting and rows. Faryal banned the boxer from attending his younger brother Haroon's wedding because she still can't forgive him for comparing her to Michael Jackson. And she also harbours fears that more sex tapes of her husband could emerge, putting further pressure on their relationship. A snap of the room shows it decked out and ready for the toddler's big party The recent sex tape, which was reportedly been leaked to a major US porn site, featured the former world champion boxer carrying out a sex act while speaking to a female model on Skype. The Khans appeared on This Morning last month to claim that the webcam footage of Khan was made before they met. The couple, who live in Bolton, Greater Manchester and married in the US 2013, also suggested it was leaked out of spite by someone once 'close' to them. But now beauty blogger Faryal, who became engaged to the star five years ago on Sunday, fears another tape could soon be unveiled. The couple have been hit by family dramas in recent months, so it's no surprise Faryal is eager to portray them as a solid trio with their daughter 'She's paranoid about another sex tape being leaked. She's controlling and bossy and now wants to be with her husband all the time,' said a source close to the couple. 'She wants to be with Amir at every moment and in everything he does to keep tabs on him and ensure he remains on track,' a source close to the family revealed. The source said: 'It caused a huge problem when it was leaked last week and although Faryal was aware of it they still had a big row and they've been arguing endlessly about the family rift and Haroon. Meanwhile, Haroon said he was 'bitterly disappointed' at the boxer not attending the wedding and said he was upset that his famous brother 'didn't even send a message of congratulations.' 'Amir told Faryal that would cause an outcry if they didn't go.' 'She said if he went it would be alone which would show he had disowned her in favour of pleasing Haroon. She can't forget about those remarks, they really hurt her. And to add a further blow, Amir's father revealed he would never talk to Faryal ever again after he was 'humiliated' following his sacking as the boxer's manager. Mr Khan has always managed his son's professional career, seeing him through the ups and down of the 30-year-old champion boxer's life. 'He feels humiliated in his community, in my own homes, and globally,' a family friend told MailOnline. 'Credit for that goes to Faryal who got Amir to do it.' The former partner of Jeremy Paxman has spoken of her turmoil after it was revealed the broadcaster left her for a woman almost 30 years her junior. Elizabeth Clough has remained at the family home in Oxfordshire following Paxman's relationship with 36 year old Jillian Taylor becoming public knowledge. The 64-year-old is said to be devastated and told friends: ' I've had a shi**ty last couple of days. 'It has been pretty s***'. Elizabeth Clough, left, has remained at the family home in Oxfordshire following Paxman's relationship with 36 year old Jillian Taylor becoming public knowledge. She told friends it had been 'a s****y couple of days' In 2011, Paxman and Jillian Taylor, a Canadian-born book editor were photographed in London Clough, who was with the former Newsnight presenter for 34 years, refused to comment when approached by Mail Online. 'I'm sorry but I have nothing to say other than no comment,' said Miss Clough as she pulled into the gravel driveway of the family home near Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire. Over the weekend when asked to comment about the end of her relationship she said: 'What's the point'. There was no sign of the couple's three grown up children Jessica, 26, Jack and Victoria,aged 19 at the sprawling property. Paxman and his new girlfriend are believed to be staying at his 1.5m home in Notting Hill. Jeremy Paxman pictured left in 2002 with then partner Elizabeth Clough and right with Jillian Taylor who is 30 years his junior His agent confirmed over the weekend that he had split with Miss Clough. Friends of 66-year-old Paxman have said his relationship with the mother of his three children ended months ago. The closest neighbours to the Paxman's 1.3m farmhouse confirmed that he has not been living in the property since well before Christmas. 'I haven't seen him in the village for months,' said the neighbour who asked not to be named. 'People liked having him around here as he was always very lively and took an interest in the place. I think there is a lot of sympathy for Elizabeth. I feel a bit sorry for her.' As the Mail's Sebastian Shakespeare Diary revealed on Saturday, Ms Clough and Paxman one of the most formidable and respected broadcasters of his generation have parted after more than 35 years. The former Newsnight presenter is now believed to be living with Miss Taylor at his 1.5 million flat in London's Notting Hill. SAD ECHOES OF JEREMY'S OWN FRACTURED FAMILY Jeremy Paxman, right, with his father Keith and brothers As he goes through the trauma of his family splitting up, Jeremy Paxman may be experiencing sad echoes of his childhood. On his own admission, the home he grew up in was pretty dysfunctional, and his parents' marriage fell apart when his father, Keith, walked out to start a new life (and family) in Australia. In the personal memoir he published four months ago, Paxman let rip at a father with whom he could never get on. 'My feelings [for him] ranged from resentment to passionate hatred,' he wrote. He confessed to still being troubled in his late 60s by what had gone on all those years ago. Keith Paxman was a brute of a dad and there is no suggestion that Jeremy was, or is, in any way like him as a father. But as a role model, Keith was a disaster. A bluff chap who propped up the golf-club bar, a monocle in his eye to match the brass buttons on his blazer, he had been a naval officer and expected instant obedience. 'The merest suggestion of insubordination would send him into a fury, during which he would grab the nearest hard object with which to beat whoever had provoked him,' Jeremy recalled. 'I was thrashed with sticks, shoes, cricket stumps, cricket bats or the flat of his hand.' Keith clearly couldn't stand the precocious Jeremy, his eldest son. All they seem to have had in common was their embarrassment at each other Jeremy that his father was, as he saw it, a mere salesman, Keith that his son was, as he once voiced it in public to his gin-swilling cronies, 'one of those homosexual communists from the BBC'. It seems Keith couldn't settle to a Britain that, in the postwar years, didn't live up to his expectations and dreams, and for which his wife Joan, three sons and a daughter were insufficient compensation. 'He was by no stretch of the imagination a family man,' says Paxman Jr. In 1974 Keith left home and never came back. Jeremy was 24 and working as a trainee at the BBC. Of his own feelings when this happened he has said nothing, but he eventually came to see his father as 'a damaged man'. We are left to wonder if the damage stopped there. Advertisement The fact that Ms Taylor is not a nameless, faceless lover, but someone who was warmly welcomed into the family home, must make the betrayal harder to bear for Ms Clough. Perhaps it's not surprising that she no longer refers to her love rival as Jillian, Jeremy's researcher but simply 'that b***h'. A close friend of Ms Clough told the Mail yesterday: 'His family are devastated. They feel that Jeremy has behaved dreadfully in all sorts of ways. 'Elizabeth welcomed Jillian to their family home. When Jeremy was writing his books, he would work from home and Jillian would come to stay. Elizabeth treated Jillian in a friendly way and she got to know their children. This is how she repaid them. 'Having an affair with your young assistant is such a cliche. Elizabeth jokes that it is, at least, one up on a nanny or au pair, because Jeremy can speak to her as an equal. 'As a TV personality, Jeremy became used to unstinting adulation and, clearly, Jillian is giving him what he wants.' 'She is probably the perfect researcher bright, resourceful, cheerful and indefatigable' - Paxman describing Ms Taylor in 2011 A newspaper report yesterday suggested that Paxman and Ms Clough separated last November. The family friend says, however, that any inference that the relationship started around this time is incorrect the romance started a long time before. 'He [Paxman] has told Elizabeth and friends that it has been going on much longer than that. '[Jillian] was previously married, but it's not clear if her relationship with Jeremy was the reason for the breakdown of her marriage.' Inevitably, it is devastating for Ms Clough. Hugely well liked among her circle of friends, she is regarded as a devoted mother. In 2011, she gave up her highly paid job as a producer on the BBC's faith and ethics programme, The Big Questions, after the Corporation relocated it to Glasgow. Uprooting her family was unthinkable. She and the presenter have three grown-up children, Jessica, 26, and 19-year-old twins, Jack and Victoria. Elizabeth Clough was one of 25 girls who made history by ending the all-male tradition at the 35,280-per-year Marlborough College and joining 800 boys. After leaving Marlborough, she read history at Somerville College, Oxford, then joined the BBC as a trainee. She worked on Panorama, Watchdog and Newsnight, where she met Jeremy Paxman, who was to become the BBC's star inquisitor. Women liked him, and he was nicknamed the 'thinking woman's crumpet'. Rumours surfaced in 1990 that Paxman was considering getting married, but it didn't happen then or anytime afterwards. The couple decided rather late on to have children. Elizabeth was 38 when she had Jessica and 45 when she gave birth to the twins. And what of the bright young woman who has turned Jeremy Paxman's head? According to the friend, Jillian Taylor began working for Paxman 12 years ago. It was her first job after leaving university. Ms Taylor was employed as a researcher and editorial assistant at Penguin books and living in a flat in North London. Little is known about her early life. According to one report, she was born in Canada. In 2010, Ms Taylor assisted Jeremy Paxman with the research for his best-selling work, Empire: What Ruling The World Did To The British. Paxman was lavish in his praise of her in the acknowledgment section of the book. 'I have been very fortunate indeed in the people who have helped me: I no sooner asked a question than had it answered, wherever she happened to be in the world at that moment. 'Jillian Taylor is the best researcher a writer could wish for conscientious, imaginative and astonish-ingly industrious.' In 2011, Paxman and Ms Taylor were photographed in a London street. Paxman's praise for Jillian was just as gushing in the acknowledgements of his next historical work, Great Britain's Great War, published in 2013. 'Most of all I thank Jillian Taylor, whose Stakhanovite capacity for research continues to amaze. I had no soon asked a question than she had answered it.' A Stakhanovite, of course, is someone who works exceptionally hard a description which evolved in the former Soviet Union in the Thirties after a man of that name mined a prodigious amount of coal in a single day. Ms Taylor perhaps appreciated this neat historical reference. Paxman wasn't finished. 'She is probably the perfect researcher bright, resourceful, cheerful and indefatigable.' Just the sort of person you need around for a visit to a remote island at the tip of Scotland to unlock the secrets of a wartime tragedy. Mr Paxman was investigating the sinking of HMS Hampshire and the death on board of the most famous soldier of World War I, Lord Kitchener, for an article for the Financial Times. Mr Paxman's relationship with Ms Clough, pictured left, foundered last year but friends have told the Mail the family are devastated by the split He and Ms Taylor painstakingly went through the records at the Orkney Archive and the pair travelled to Marwick Head, where a memorial to Kitchener was erected, overlooking the sea. The next day, the pair met a couple of locals for lunch at Julia's Cafe & Bistro in Stromness, where specialities include roast Orkney beef and Orkney salmon fish cakes. It must have been refreshing to unwind after all the vigours of research. One of those who dined with the pair, who declined to be named, told the Mail: 'We had a lovely lunch, a lovely chat. He [Paxman] was nothing like he used to be on Newsnight where he could appear a bit unkind in real life. As far as we could see at that point they were just in a professional relationship. 'Jillian is an attractive woman quite a bit younger than him. She arranged to get two signed copies of his book sent to us.' The following year, in May 2015, Ms Taylor was promoted to the position of editor at the Penguin offshoot, Michael Joseph, which specialises in women's fiction, crime, thrillers, cookery, memoirs and lifestyle books. Jeremy Paxman, of course, became one of the BBC's highest paid presenters, signing a four-year deal with the broadcaster in 2010, worth 3.2 million. In 2014, he announced he was to leave Newsnight. As well as his more high-profile career as a presenter, he was writing prolifically, and this is, of course, how his friendship blossomed with Ms Taylor. Now they are officially a couple. On Friday evening, Paxman's agent confirmed: 'Jeremy Paxman and his partner separated last year. 'They retain a mutual respect for each other and a deep love for their children.' An Oklahoman mother is being lauded for her bravery and selflessness after deciding to carry her baby to term despite a terminal defect so that she may donate the little one's organs. Keri and Royce Young were thrilled to learn they were expecting a second child, but that elation soon turned to heartbreak when the couple discovered that the little girl Keri was carrying would not survive. But though they learned this news at just 20 weeks leaving another 20 until the due date Keri made the decision to carry their daughter to term anyway, in the hopes of saving other people's lives. Selfless: Keri and Royce Young learned at the 20-week ultrasound that their second child, a daughter, has a terminal birth defect, but Keri decided to carry her to term anyway The couple learned about their daughter's problems at the 20-week ultrasound, and soon after Keri decided to share the news on Facebook, along with her latest ultrasound picture. 'She has perfect feet and perfect hands. She has perfect kidneys, perfect lungs and a perfect liver. Sadly, she doesn't have a perfect brain,' she wrote. 'We found out recently she has anencephaly and is terminal.' According to the CDC, anencephaly is a birth defect in which a baby is born without parts of the brain and skull. It is rare, and only occurs in about three in every 10,000 pregnancies. Despite being told that the little girl, whom they have named Eva, would not survive, Keri made the incredibly difficult decision to continue to carry Eva to full term, so that her organs might be donated to save other people. The baby, whom they named Eva, has terminal anencephaly, which leads to a brain and skull that aren't fully-formed 'This was not an easy decision,' she explained in December. 'For the next 20 weeks I will feel her kick, [I'll] have the hiccups, and we'll be able to hear her perfect heart beating all while knowing we'll only get a few short hours with her when she's born.' She and her husband quickly saw an outpouring of support, and she shared more thoughts on the matter a few days later. She explained that she is pro-life at any stage of pregnancy and for any reason, and remains so in the face of her current ordeal though she admitted that she and her husband considered inducing early when they received the news. 'Those first 24 hours were the hardest of our lives. I couldn't eat and when I finally did I didn't keep it down. We were exhausted but couldn't sleep and when we thought we had no tears left we cried and cried again,' she wrote. The couple had been excited about having a second child and deciding to finish the pregnancy was not an easy decision At a follow-up meeting with Keri's doctor, they learned they'd be able to donate their unborn daughter's heart valves, kidneys, liver, and maybe pancreas if she was carried to turn. Her lungs could be donated to research. 'At this point I knew what we had to do, I just didn't want to do it,' she went on. 'The reality of feeling her kick for 20 weeks was very much settling in. Strangers excitedly asking me about my stomach and friends not knowing how to treat us was devastating to think about. 'I told some of my friends I thought it sounded like my own personal hell and why in the world would I want to bring that upon myself?' Ultimately, the couple realized that their daughter could save a lot of lives, something they couldn't say for themselves. And they decided to go for it. They've continued to share updates, and last week Royce took to Facebook to praise his wife for her bravery and selflessness. Royce called his wife a 'superhero' for making the choice and still going through the pregnancy Staying positive: They confirmed that they will be able to donate several of Eva's organs after she is delivered 'The other night,' he wrote, 'I was watching my beautiful wife sleep peacefully on the couch. I looked at her laying there, her belly big with our daughter kicking away, a daughter that won't live more than a few days, and it just overwhelmed me of how incredible this woman is.' He talked about how Keri's determination to donate Eva's organs lifted him up, and it was like 'watching a superhero find her superpowers'. 'In literally the worst moment of her life, finding out her baby was going to die, it took her less than a minute to think of someone else and how her selflessness could help,' he wrote. 'It's one of the most powerful things I've ever experienced. 'In the eight years we've been married (and 15 years together) I've had a lot of moments stop me in my tracks where I thought, "holy c**p, this woman I'm married to, lucky me." But this one was different. It hit me that not only am I married to my very best friend, but to a truly remarkable, special human being.' The couple has found support online, and both Royce and Keri have updated friends and family on Facebook with thoughts and pictures He said how much he admired her for dealing with everything both emotionally and physically. 'We're getting closer to the finish line, and while it's going to be amazing to run through that tape and meet Eva, it comes at a cost. We'll go to the hospital for a birth, and go home without a baby,' he said. 'A lot of people say things like, "I wouldn't change anything" after a trying circumstance, but I'm not about to say that. I would definitely change this if I could. 'I want my daughter to be perfect. I want her to blow out her candles on her first birthday. I want to watch her bang her head on our coffee table trying to learn to walk. I want her to run up a cell phone bill texting boys. I want to walk her down an aisle. I want to change it all so, so badly. But I can't. This is our reality. And there's no stopping it.' Jenna Bush Hager may have had to work on President's Day, but the mother-of-two still had her adorable daughters on her mind when she appeared on the Today show on Monday morning. The 35-year-old Today correspondent couldn't help but smile as she told her co-host Kathie Lee Gifford that her three-year-old daughter Mila loves jumping into muddy puddles. Jenna even shared a precious video of her daughters playing outside, explaining that Mila was covered in dirt because of her newfound hobby. Scroll down for video Working mom: Jenna Bush Hager revealed on Monday's Today show that her daughter Mila loves jumping in the mud Too cute: The 35-year-old shared a video of Mila covered in dirt thanks to her new hobby 'I thank Peppa Pig for this. She likes to jump into puddles. Well, they love it,' she said of the British animated series. 'Her thing is jumping into muddy puddles.' In the adorable clip, Mila is wearing a white and aqua plaid button-down, black leggings, and furry black boots. However, the cuffs of her sleeves are covered with dirt and she has splashes of mud all over her face. Mila is clearly pleased with herself, and she can be seen jumping up and down, happily yelling: 'Dirt don't hurt!' Jenna eventually turns the camera on her one-year-old daughter Poppy and asks what she has to say. What's a mom to do? Jenna joked that she blames the British animated series Peppa Pig for her daughter's newfound hobby Adorable: In the video, Jenna asked her one-year-old daughter Poppy what she thought, and the tot replied: 'Happy daddy' 'Happy daddy,' the tot replies before giving a toothy grin. After watching the footage, Jenna said it just makes her want to cry, and Kathie asked what she was doing working on the holiday. 'I dunno, I got to go!' she joked. Luckily, Jenna got to spend time with her girls over the weekend, and on Sunday she took to Instagram to share a Boomerang video of Mila jumping up in down outside. Enjoying the weather: Jenna also shared an Instagram video of three-year-old Mila playing in the mud puddles on Sunday Bonding time: Jenna, who is pictured with Poppy in December, often shares stories about her girls when she is on the Today show Although there is snow in the background, Mila is thrilled to be playing in the mud where the snow had melted. '65 degree muddy puddles!' Jenna wrote of the usually warm February weather. As a correspondent for the Today show, Jenna recently got weighed and measured on air before starting a fitness challenge that helped her explore new exercises, healthy meals, and ways to reduce her stress levels. Jenna told the Los Angeles Times that her hope was to 'encourage women to measure themselves and to be happy in the skin they're in'. Daddy's girl: Jenna recently shared this picture of her husband Henry Hager with Mila All together: Jenna is pictured with her parents, George W. and Laura Bush, her sister Barbara, her daughters, and Henry 'I don't always feel that way but Im trying to do it more,' she admitted, adding that it was her husband Henry Hager who inspired her to be more positive about her appearance. 'Over the holidays, I was looking through old photographs and saw a picture of myself in college. I remember thinking at the time, "I dont look great,"' she explained. 'I said to my husband, "I wish I had appreciated my college figure it was pretty good." And he said, "Why aren't you doing that now, because at 70 youre going to look back and think, I looked pretty good at 35." 'So, I'm trying to focus on feeling good and being strong, and not just the number on my scale.' Layla, now two, was diagnosed with the aggressive disease at just 14 weeks. Doctors told her parents she had run out of options after chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant failed A dying baby whose life was saved by a pioneering designer gene technique has remained cancer-free more than a year on, prompting hopes of a potential cure. Doctors treating one-year-old Layla for leukaemia had warned her parents she had run out of options after chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant failed to halt the aggressive disease. But a ground-breaking technique allowed scientists to create designer immune cells to help her own body to fight back, and 20 months later she is still healthy and leukaemia-free. Experts hope that Layla, now two, will prove to be the first person in the world to be saved by the gene editing technique. Those behind her treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in London now hope the breakthrough could pave the way for future cures for other diseases. It comes after scientists announced last week that techniques to edit human genetic code could cure all inherited diseases within a generation, with two major US research institutions recommending that gene editing of human eggs, sperm and embryos should be allowed in medical research. Layla was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia the most common form of cancer in children when she was just 14 weeks old. Doctors described her case as one of the most aggressive we have ever seen and began chemotherapy, but both it and a subsequent bone marrow transplant failed. Her parents were warned she was dying, but GOSH consultants began working with scientists from University College London to try the experimental gene therapy. Scientists created designer immune cells to help her own body to fight back, and 20 months later she is still healthy and leukaemia-free. Pictured, Layla at 18 months It had only been trialled on mice, but Laylas family was adamant doctors should try the treatment, and the team received special approval to use it on a human patient for the first time. They took immune system cells, known as T-cells, from a healthy donor and added new genes to them to help them seek out and destroy the leukaemia. Unlike conventional gene therapy, they also used molecular scissors to snip away bits of the T-cells DNA that would have attacked Laylas other, healthy cells. Gene editing also meant they could strip out elements which would have caused Laylas body to reject the donor cells. Just weeks after she was given a single 1ml infusion of the edited T-cells, doctors saw test results that showed the treatment was working. Now, 20 months after the procedure, tests have shown no sign of the leukaemia. The treatment has since been used on a 15-month-old girl with the same form of cancer, who is now in recovery. Laylas mother Lisa told the Sunday Times: We were so worried that it wouldnt work and when the doctors told us her cancer had gone we couldnt believe it. Were so grateful to all the doctors and nurses at GOSH for everything theyve done for us. We wish we could give them a Nobel prize. Waseem Qasim, a professor of cell and gene therapy at UCL and a consultant immunologist at GOSH, said the T-cell treatment was still undergoing trials, but could be used in the future against other blood cancers in adults and children. He said Laylas recovery could prove to be a landmark for gene engineering, adding: The success of this treatment demonstrates the potential of these tools. Sepsis affects 70 per cent more patients than NHS bosses think, a major report will warn today. Doctors say the findings, which suggest up to 65,000 patients die from sepsis each year, reveal the gravity and sheer scale of the problem. Research by the York Health Economics Consortium suggests 260,000 Britons develop the condition every year. This figure is 110,000 higher than previous estimates, which put the number of affected patients at 150,000. William Mead from Cornwall, died aged 12 months in 2014 after a catalogue of errors, misdiagnoses and missed opportunities by doctors and NHS helpline staff Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, medical director of NHS England, said far more can be done to combat the illnesss terrible toll. Sepsis, known as the silent killer, strikes when a bacterial infection such as septicaemia or blood poisoning sparks a violent immune response, in which the body attacks its own organs. If antibiotics are given quickly it can be effectively treated. But sepsis is notoriously difficult to diagnose until it is too late, and kills at least 44,000 patients a year more than breast, bowel and prostate cancer combined. The latest report suggests deaths may be far higher but a second study will be launched to clarify this. Dr Ron Daniels, chief executive of the UK Sepsis Trust, said deaths may be as high as 65,000. The Daily Mail launched its End the Sepsis Scandal campaign last year to raise awareness of symptoms among patients and staff. It followed the tragic case of William Mead from Cornwall, who died aged 12 months in 2014 after a catalogue of errors, misdiagnoses and missed opportunities by doctors and NHS helpline staff. In a victory for the campaign in December, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced a major drive to eradicate sepsis. He promised every new mother would be told about the signs of the condition, announced extra training for doctors and nurses, and said millions of leaflets and posters would be distributed to GP surgeries and A&E units. Hospitals which do not do proper sepsis checks in A&E will lose up to 2million of NHS funds, he said. The Daily Mail launched its End the Sepsis Scandal campaign last year after the death of William Mead Dr Daniels, whose charity commissioned the York report, said Mr Hunts actions would save lives. But he added: It is likely that even in the face of these improvements we will still see an increase in the number of deaths compared to previous projections. York Health Economics Consortium is an independent think-tank owned by the University of York. Its report said sepsis costs the UK economy 15.6billion a year, adding that earlier diagnosis and treatment could save more than 14,000 lives annually. Dr Daniels said: Weve long been aware that sepsis causes thousands of unnecessary deaths every year and presents an unmanageable economic burden. A crippling paucity of data has thus far confined us to conservative estimates, but the figures reported in YHECs study are a shocking new indication of the gravity and sheer scale of the problem. Its sobering to learn that the issue is so much greater than previously estimated. Sir Bruce, who will today host an event in Parliament where the findings will be presented, said: Health professionals are spotting and treating more cases of sepsis than ever before, but there is still more we can do to reduce the terrible toll that this severe and life-threatening condition has on patients and their families. Thats why we are working closely with the UK Sepsis Trust and medical leaders on awareness-raising to ensure that the signs of sepsis are spotted as soon as possible, as well as introducing more measures than ever before to support and equip organisations and health professionals to improve the chances of survival and reduce complications. Hospitals have axed 15,000 beds in just six years, leaving wards at breaking point, a shock report reveals today. The dramatic reduction equivalent to closing 24 hospitals amounts to a 10 per cent fall in NHS beds at a time when the health service is under unprecedented pressure. There are now just 129,458 hospital beds available for patients at night, down from 144,455 in 2010/11. Critics say patients safety is at risk and blame the cuts on an NHS obsession with shifting care out of hospitals and closer to home. The dramatic reduction equivalent to closing 24 hospitals amounts to a 10 per cent fall in NHS beds at a time when the health service is under unprecedented pressure Health officials say patients recover more quickly if they are looked after in their own homes by GPs, district nurses and carers, but many surgeries and councils do not have the resources to care for people who would previously have stayed longer in hospital. At the same time, demand for beds is soaring due to the pressures of a social care crisis, immigration and an ageing population, with many more patients succumbing to long-term illnesses and frailty. New figures today will suggest the problem is likely to get worse. Regulator NHS Improvement will warn that despite being given a 1.8 billion cash injection from the Government last year, hospitals are on course for a 1 billion deficit by the end of this year. The figures will spark a fresh debate about whether the NHS is contributing to its problems by squandering precious resources. One report yesterday said hospitals had blown 2 billion by overpaying for items such as toilet roll, blinds and wet wipes, with items that could have been sent in one hospitals internal mail being sent by Royal Mail instead. The British Medical Association (BMA) warned that the loss of 15,000 beds risked patient safety because nothing had been done to improve the level of care at home. The lack of beds means hospitals are having to cancel operations at the last minute including cancer and heart surgery or send patients home before they have properly recovered. Hospitals have axed 15,000 beds in just six years, leaving wards at breaking point, a shock report reveals today The BMA report also highlights how the NHS has fewer beds per head than nearly every country in Europe The BMA report also highlights how the NHS has fewer beds per head than nearly every country in Europe. The UK has an average of 2.4 beds per 1,000 population, compared to Germany (8), Austria (7.5) and France (6). And it raises concerns over occupancy rates on wards. Hospitals are not meant to be more than 85 per cent occupied, but the report highlights figures showing that nine out of ten exceeded this over the winter. Several hospitals are 99 or even 100 per cent occupied with patients at much higher risk of infections and neglect. Last week an inquest heard that grandmother Mary Muldowney, 57, from Crawley, West Sussex, died from a brain haemorrhage after three hospitals refused to admit her because they had no beds. Dr Mark Porter, chairman of the BMAs council, said: These figures paint an even bleaker picture of an NHS that is at breaking point. Dr Mark Porter, chairman of the BMAs council, said: These figures paint an even bleaker picture of an NHS that is at breaking point' High bed occupancy is a symptom of wider pressure and demand on an overstretched and underfunded system. It causes delays in admissions, operations being cancelled and patients being unfairly and sometimes repeatedly let down. 'The delays that vulnerable patients are facing, particularly those with mental health issues, have almost become the norm and this is unacceptable. The bed shortage is being exacerbated by the bed-blocking crisis, caused by the problems in the social care sector. With a shortage of home help and places at residential care homes, elderly and vulnerable patients are staying in hospital longer than they should. Former health minister, Lib Dem MP Norman Lamb, said: The situation is getting intolerable, with more cancelled operations, longer delays and those with mental health issues being systematically let down. The Government is failing to properly fund the NHS and patients are paying the price. Todays figures cover all hospital beds, including those on general and maternity wards, as well as in mental health and learning disability centres. An average hospital has 634 beds, so a loss of 15,000 beds is equivalent to almost 24 hospitals. Fiona Johnson, of the Nuffield Trust think-tank, said: The extremely high level of bed occupancy in Englands hospitals creates pressure-cooker conditions for the NHS. The drive to achieve efficiencies by reducing bed numbers has become counterproductive, as there is no slack in the system to accommodate surges in demand and as a result procedures and operations get delayed. Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: The shameful reality is this overcrowding puts patients at risk and blows apart ministers claims to be prioritising safety. FAMILY DOCTORS ARE OFFERING FIVE-MINUTE APPOINTMENTS Family doctors are offering patients urgent appointments lasting only five minutes in a bid to meet soaring demand. A snapshot survey found several surgeries offering the same-day slots for anyone who thinks they need to be seen immediately. This includes parents worried about sick children or patients with chest pain or breathing difficulties. GP appointments in England usually last ten minutes and are already among the shortest in Europe. Dr Chaand Nagpaul, of the British Medical Association, said: Five minutes is woefully too short. 'Nine out of ten GPs say they cannot manage in ten-minute appointments. Advertisement An NHS England spokesman said: Modern treatment advances such as minimally invasive surgery, fast-acting anaesthetics and medicines taken at home mean that the length of time patients spend in hospital has been falling in all Western countries. The NHS is highly efficient overall, but there are still meaningful differences in discharge practices and community support across England. The Department of Health said: Our hospitals are busier than ever but thanks to the hard work of staff, our performances are still among the best in the world. We have backed the NHSs own plan for the future with an extra 10 billion by 2020. For postmenopausal women with early breast cancer where the tumour hasn't spread beyond the breast and lymph nodes in the armpit there are new 'wonder' drugs that could prevent their disease going any further. And unlike other wonder drugs, they're not expensive: they cost just 43p a day. It's estimated that if given routinely to all eligible patients, the drugs, known as bisphosphonates, would prevent one in six breast cancer deaths. Yet an estimated 22,500 patients in England are missing out on the life-saving medication due to an NHS 'bureaucratic quirk' over the question of who should pay for the cheap drug. For postmenopausal women with early breast cancer, there are new 'wonder' drugs that could prevent their disease going any further As a result while some health authorities have decided to bear the (minimal) cost, others have refused. This means while patients living in Kent and Sheffield are prescribed bisphosphonates, for instance, those in Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire usually are not. The problem was highlighted last September and again in November, when 41 NHS breast cancer consultants from all over England called on Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Health, to clarify who is responsible for funding bisphosphonates for their use in breast cancer. The doctors are yet to receive a satisfactory response, and experts fear that too many women are missing out or facing delays in getting the treatment, which must be given within six months of diagnosis to be effective. Women such as Caralyn Duignan, 53, a senior account manager from Crewe, who was diagnosed with breast cancer after a routine mammogram detected a small tumour in her left breast. Caralyn had a lumpectomy in December 2016 and started tamoxifen (a drug to lower oestrogen levels) last month as well as beginning a three-week course of radiotherapy last Wednesday. But she wasn't told about bisphosphonates, and learned about them only when a friend sent her a medical article. 'I was really shocked to discover there's a treatment my doctors haven't told me about,' she says. Caralyn Duignan (pictured), 53, a senior account manager from Crewe, was diagnosed with breast cancer after a routine mammogram detected a small tumour in her left breast 'There's always that niggle that, despite all the treatments, there could be cancer cells floating round your body that they haven't picked up. 'When my life is at stake, I want the complete belt-and-braces approach.' Bisphosphonates were originally licensed as a treatment for osteo-porosis and work by strengthening bone. Their benefit in early breast cancer was established by a study led by Professor Robert Coleman at the University of Sheffield. Published in The Lancet in 2015, this involved data on nearly 19,000 women with early breast cancer, and showed that ten years after diagnosis, one in six deaths from breast cancer would be prevented if post-menopausal women were given bisphosphonates. Caralyn (pictured) was not told by her GP about bisphosphonates, but instead learned about the drugs from a friend Professor Coleman believes bisphosphonates are most effective when given to women in the first six months after diagnosis, the time when the bone is most at risk of circulating cancer cells. The drugs are thought to help by changing the chemical environment in the bone so it produces fewer chemicals (known as growth factors) that encourage cancer cells from other parts of the body to 'seed' in bone. Before the menopause, women do not make these chemicals, so bisphosphonates are, therefore, not necessary. Charity Breast Cancer Now has estimated that if all postmenopausal women with early breast cancer were given bisphosphonates (either as an infusion or tablet), it would save 1,180 lives in the UK over the next ten years. In the Breast Clinical Reference Group Draft Guidelines, commissioned by the NHS to advise how best services should be provided for breast cancer patients, 20 experts underlined bisphosphonates as being of particular importance. 'In fact, it was in the top three or four of all our recommendations (including losing weight and taking exercise) and the only treatment we highlighted, which emphasises the importance we placed on it,' says Professor Ian Smith, chairman of the Breast Cancer Clinical Reference Group, from the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. However, he says the Department of Health has been sitting on these recommendations since February 2015 rather than publishing them. In a UK Breast Cancer Group (UKBCG) survey, published in September, only a quarter of oncologists reported being able to prescribe bisphosphonates to early breast cancer patients. Charity Breast Cancer Now has estimated that if all postmenopausal women with early breast cancer were given bisphosphonates, it would save 1,180 lives in the UK over the next ten years 'Doctors feel they're failing patients,' says Dr Catherine Harper-Wynne, a consultant medical oncologist from the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, and secretary of the UK Breast Cancer Group. 'They're faced with real ethical dilemmas about trying to give women the full picture about current treatments, but not wanting to worry them by mentioning drugs they can't get funded.' A number of factors have converged to prevent women having bisphosphonates, explains Professor Coleman. First, they are drugs licensed for the treatment of osteoporosis that have been 'repurposed' for early breast cancer. Without a licence for preventing the spread of cancer, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) won't undertake a formal assessment to consider whether they work and are cost-effective. So bisphosphonates miss out on getting the approval of NICE for breast cancer patients which, in turn, would have meant local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and the Cancer Drugs Fund have to fund them. An estimated 22,500 breast cancer patients in England are missing out on the life-saving drug due to an NHS 'bureaucratic quirk' over the question of who should pay for the cheap pills In the absence of official guidelines, CCGs are left to make their own funding decisions. 'The reality is that although bisphosphonates are cheap, with large numbers of women involved this adds up to considerable sums of money,' says Dr Harper-Wynne. 'Since the NHS is so stretched, the CCGs are often saying 'no'.' Professor Coleman adds: 'We have shown that the costs are more than offset by avoiding the need to monitor thousands of breast cancer patients for osteoporosis and avoiding expensive treatments for secondary breast cancer in years to come.' While doctors could, in theory, write private prescriptions and prescribe them off-licence, Professor Coleman adds, many are reluctant to do so because they would be personally liable if anything went wrong. Gill Hogarth, 63, who was diagnosed with breast cancer last June, found out about bisphosphonates in November when she read a tiny paragraph in a breast cancer information sheet. At her next hospital appointment, Gill, a retired civil servant from Aylesbury, raised the subject with her consultant. 'He told me he couldn't fund the drugs, but promised to write to my GP. 'He did, and I was delighted when my GP agreed to write me an NHS prescription,' Gill says. 'I just sneaked into the six-month time frame when bisphosphonates are thought to have their most beneficial effects.' Caralyn also wants to maximise her chances of being alive in ten years' time. 'It seem so unfair that this depends on where I live in the UK,' she says. For information on Breast Cancer Now's campaign for bisphosphonates, go to breastcancernow.org/43paday The working practices of the Foreigner Regional Registration Office (FRRO) in west Delhi have again been called into question. The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) sent the FRRO a notice for deporting an Afghan woman and her children back to Kabul despite clearly stating that she was under grave threat from the Taliban. The woman had stated while seeking asylum from UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) that her husband had been killed by the Islamic fighters, her son abducted and the remaining family had been forced to flee. UNHCR had granted her a written asylum in Delhi and this was not due to expire before April 2017. After the DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal visited the women's detention centre of FRRO, 'Nirmal Chhaya' near Tihar Jail in west Delhi, she had also promised to help the woman. However, the commission was 'shocked' to find out on Friday that the FRRO had 'silently' deported her on 9 February. Even the UNHCR was not informed, a DCW officer said. Maliwal immediately shot off a letter to Kiren Rijiju, MoS, ministry of Home Affairs, under which the FRRO functions. Prabhakar, DCP, FRRO Delhi branch, did not return calls for his reaction to the allegations despite several attempts. Maliwal immediately shot off a letter to Kiren Rijiju, MoS, ministry of Home Affairs (pictured), under which the FRRO functions Foreigners have been kept safe at the FRRO centre in west Delhi's Harinagar since 1991. The centre falls under the Bureau of Immigration, Intelligence Bureau and MHA. The vulnerable are detained for the purpose of immediate deportation/repatriation wherever necessary, but they are flown back to their native countries as soon as their travel documents are ready. The working practices of the Foreigner Regional Registration Office (FRRO) in west Delhi have again been called into question DCW chief Maliwal conducted a surprise inspection at the facility in January and reported poor of hygiene, lack of clothes and good food at the centre. The Commission also said that it received a complaint from an Uzbek national having been molested by an FRRO officer. DCW said that despite the Commission having sought the intervention of the erstwhile Delhi Police Commissioner in the matter, an FIR was yet to be registered despite the incident having occurred over a month ago. On Saturday, she wrote to MHA MoS Kiren Rijiju, 'A girl from South Africa who was detained by FRRO since December 2016 has died. 'She was ill and was urgently released yesterday by FRRO after having detained her for 2.5 months when her medical condition became critical. 'The release of the girl by FRRO at a time when she was critically ill amounted to abandoning the girl in time of need and reveals the arbitrary functioning of the FRRO.' Further, she complained, 'I again visited the home on 8 February and recorded the statements of a woman from Afghanistan. 'She informed me that her husband was killed in Afghanistan in 2009 by the Taliban. 'Afterwards her son was abducted and she just managed a permit from UNHCR to stay in India till April 2017. 'Her children were also enrolled in a school in east Delhi.' 'However, in a shocking development, the FRRO informed us on 17 February that the lady and her sons had been deported back on 9 February itself. 'The fact that a family registered as asylum seekers with UNHCR and whose lives are allegedly in great peril in their native countries (are sent back abruptly) raises questions on FRRO's functioning,' Maliwal wrote. The Haryana government will hold a fresh round of talks on Monday with Jat leaders who are demanding a quota of jobs and places in educational institutions. Despite Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar saying that their demands will be fulfilled within the scope of law, Jats threatened to step up the agitation and passed resolutions asking community members not to pay power and water bills. Haryana remained on high alert with maximum deployment of forces to prevent any untoward incident as the All-India Jat Aarakshan Sangarsh Samiti (AIJASS) observed Balidan Divas (day of sacrifice) in the memory of those who lost their lives in last year's agitation. Yashpal Malik, who addressed sit-ins in Joli-Lath and Jassia in Sonipat and Rohtak, said eight resolutions were passed on Sunday by protesters asking community members to stop paying power and water bills till their demands are met (file pic) As a precautionary measure, the state roadways suspended its bus services on Sunday on some routes in sensitive districts such as Hisar, Rohtak, Kaithal and Sonipat. Khattar said Jat leaders have assured of conducting agitations in a peaceful manner and hoped that the issue will be resolved soon. The AIJASS also agreed to participate in the second round of talks with the government in Panipat on Monday. The Haryana government will hold a fresh round of talks on Monday with Jat leaders who are demanding quota in jobs and educational institutions However, President Yashpal Malik, who addressed sit-ins in Joli-Lath and Jassia in Sonipat and Rohtak, said eight resolutions were passed on Sunday by protesters asking community members to stop paying power and water bills till their demands are met. 'From March 1, we will not cooperate with the government. No one will pay power, water bills and installment of loans that they owe to the government,' he said and threatened that the stir will be intensified in Bhiwani, Jind, Kaithal, Panipat, Hisar, Karnal, Dadri, Kurukshetra, Mewat and Panchkula from March 1. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar saying that their demands will be fulfilled within the scope of law Malik said Jats from Delhi and UP will protest in the national Capital on March 2 and submit a memorandum to the President. They also plan to gherao the Parliament, the date for which will be announced on March 2. Malik said February 26 will be observed as Black Day by Jats and to protest against the state government's policies, community members will wear black turbans and ties, ribbons and arm bands. He also appealed to people to stop the supply of milk to Delhi and a date in this regard will be announced later. Jat community members perform a ritual to pay tributes to people who died during Jat agitation last year in Gurugram 'I appeal to my brothers and sisters not to sell milk on that day. Prepare ghee, khoya and kheer from it but do not sell it,' he said, adding that though the government had announced compensation for those injured in the stir last year, many are yet to receive it. The issue will be raised at the meeting on Monday. Harvard graduate, a former associate of Prashant Kishor and a television journalist make the core team that is managing Irom Sharmila's political campaign in Manipur. Mostly in their 30s, these young men and women have taken up an enormous social experiment - to bring about change in the stagnant political discourse of strife-torn Manipur. During her 16-year long hunger strike demanding repealing of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), Sharmila has gained an iconic status across the globe revered almost as a deity in her homeland. Indian women look at a wall painting of Manipur's 'Iron Lady', Irom Chanu Sharmila Sharmila's cause - Irom Sharmila started her fast after the killing of 10 civilians in a village near Imphal, allegedly by an Assam Rifles battalion. The Armed Forces Special Powers Act was brought in to help states dealing with separatist insurgencies. The law gives security forces the right to shoot and kill suspected rebels without fear of possible prosecution, and to arrest suspected militants without warrants. It also gives police wide-ranging powers of search and seizure. The act prohibits soldiers from being prosecuted for alleged rights violations except with express permission from the federal government. The act has been criticized by Human Rights Watch as a 'tool of state abuse, oppression and discrimination'. Advertisement But things took a dramatic change in August 2016 when she decided to change her course. She broke her fast only to continue her struggle against AFSPA through a new strategy by entering politics. For 33-year-old Erendro Leichombam, time is ripe to shakeup the political system in Manipur. Convener of Sharmila's People's Resurgence and Justice Alliance (PRJA), Erendro returned to Manipur to help her bring about that very change. For close to a decade, Erendro has worked in the US, raising awareness about issues such as AFSPA though an advocacy group the Manipur International Centre. With barely any financial or logistical backing, the task is cut out for PRJA which is completely dependent on volunteers for its campaign. To provide the much needed expertise, two former aides of master poll strategist Prashant Kishor has come on board to help Sharmila. Anand Mangnale (29) from Maharashtra has been camping in Imphal for team PRJA for the past few months. After completing his masters in media campaigning and social change from England, Anand had worked extensively with Kishor's IPAC planning the Congress' strategy in the Punjab assembly polls. However, he quit IPAC over differences with Kishor and manages the campaign for Sharmila. India's hunger-striking activist Irom Sharmila addresses a press conference after a court appearance in Imphal in the north-eastern state of Manipur, India 'I wanted to run a campaign focusing on the drug menace in Punjab but that did not happen. I got disillusioned and left,' he says. For him, Sharmila is unique because she has been consistent in her attempt to change something for 16 long years. 'She has changed just her strategy and with my expertise, I feel I can contribute to her campaign,' he said. For 30-year old Geetika Sehmay, a journalist from New Delhi, the motivation was personal. 'My mother was born and raised in Manipur. I knew about the state of affairs here for long. Sharmila's trying to change that and I felt it was important for me to support her,' she says. Geetika is using her network with journalists across the country to help provide media coverage for Sharmila's campaign. After acquiring tanks, combat aircrafts and howitzers to counter the numerous hardships that come with manning India's border with China, Indian soldiers are now working on overcoming the biggest barrier: language. Indian and Chinese soldiers cross each other's path very frequently while patrolling the 3,400km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC), and the Indian side is often at a disadvantageous position when it comes to monitoring and keeping a tab on communication of Chinese troops. 'The Army's Eastern Command has set up its advanced Chinese language training laboratory at Panagarh to impart Chinese language training to its soldiers deployed along the LAC,' senior Army officials told Mail Today here. Tug of border war: Indian and Chinese soldiers cross each other's path very frequently while patrolling the 3,400km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC), and the Indian side is often at a disadvantageous position when it comes to monitoring and keeping a tab on communication of Chinese troops Until recently, Chinese language courses were imparted by the School of Foreign Languages (SFL) in Delhi but the number of students trained were very few due to a lack of infrastructure. Officials said it was felt that a solution was needed quickly as the language barrier can cause misunderstandings between troops at the local level. The new establishment will be able to teach Mandarin to a large number of soldiers. The ancient Nathu La border crossing between India and China The officials said the new facility can train 125 students annually and has been designed to teach standard Chinese or Putonghua to troops deployed in Eastern Command sector which looks after the LAC from Sikkim to Arunachal Pradesh. The Army officials said faculty strength at the School of Foreign Languages was inadequate and, 'Too often, soldiers who had learnt the language earlier forgot by the time they were posted along the LAC as regular practice is required to learn Chinese, which is considered to be the toughest language to pick up.' The Army has also roped in renowned institutions such as Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan to explain the nuances of Chinese language including various dialects. A Chinese soldier stands guard on the Chinese side of the ancient Nathu La border crossing between India and China. When the two Asian giants opened the 4,500-metre-high pass in 2006 to improve ties dogged by a bitter war in 1962 that saw the route closed for 44 years, many on both sides hoped it would boost trade. 'In addition, a state-of-the-art 'CALL LAB' with world class Chinese learning SANAKO software, a well-stocked library and Chinese TV Channels is being provided to complement the formal learning with the practical,' an army official said. This multi-dimensional approach combined with a well-researched and scientific syllabus will be certified by the Jawahar Lal Nehru University, New Delhi and subsequently by Visva-Bharati University. 'The level of training is designed to impart confidence in carrying out routine conversation in Chinese language during border personnel meets, flag meetings and border talks. Selected soldiers will also act as interpreters during visit of high-level delegations,' the sources said. Army officials said the as the Chinese Language Training Laboratory evolves, in a few years it will become a Centre of Excellence for Chinese language learning and cater to the needs of the entire Eastern Theatre. 'The Chinese language establishment which is the location for the headquarters of the 17 Mountain Strike Corps will also help us in long term to counter the rising military threat from China,' the official said. Chopping and changing investments for the sake of it can eat away at your returns. Although engaging with your investment portfolio should be applauded, changing tack on regular occasion isn't such a good plan. To achieve your investing goals, long-term thinking is essential - and that means giving your investments time to work, rather than expecting them to immediately pay off. Here are four reasons why. Slow and steady wins the race: You need to give investments time to work Investments take time to work If you have spotted what you believe is a good investment opportunity, you must allow time for it to work. Investors are encouraged to think about their investments with a medium to long-term horizon, for example, a minimum period of five years. Yet, in reality, many can be much quicker to pull the trigger when it comes to trading in and out of shares and funds. If you have weighed up a proper investment case for buying a certain company or fund and you believe that still holds, then you should give your idea time to work. Support for this comes from an annual study by US investment firm Dalbar, which highlights how investors often tend to underperform the market and their own investments. In its 2016 Quantitative Analysis of Investor Behaviour, it said that the leading cause of 20 years of diminished returns was investors own behaviour, as they indulged in panic selling, excessively exuberant buying and attempts at market timing. The FTSE All-Share's total return including dividends has far outstripped the pure share-price based index itself You should avoid chasing the market up and down When the market slumps, it is tempting to try to dive out. Meanwhile, when certain investments soar it can be equally tempting to chase gains. Patient investing and long-term thinking stops you from getting distracted by any temporary blips. However bad the short-term forecast may look, evidence shows stock markets increase in value over the long-term and dividends compound up. Even major events such as the 2008 financial crisis look far less seismic if you look at a total return stock market chart over a 20-year view. The chart above shows the FTSE All-Share total return, including dividends paid and compounded, against the FTSE All-Share's pure share price-based index value. It's very difficult even for experts to predict which asset classes will be short-term winners - so it's much safer to aim for 'time in the market' rather than 'market timing'. The oldest rule in the book is to 'buy low, sell high'. Investors often manage to do the opposite. If there is some bad news and almost all of the stock market goes down at once, this is rarely a good reason to sell your investments - and often a bad time to do so. Look on the bright side: Long term investing means you can ignore bumps in the road No fund does well all the time While hopefully the value of your investments will increase over time, they are unlikely to move up in a straight line. Instead, prices will fluctuate in the short-term so the important thing is not to panic and sell out as a knee-jerk reaction. As long as a fund is staying true to its original objective - and the reason that you bought it still holds - then short-term underperformance should not be a trigger to sell. If you do and the fund then recovers, you will have sold the investment for less than it is now worth, and will be more expensive if you want to buy back in. Instead you should consider whether there is an underlying reason why the fund is underperforming your expectations. You should ask yourself if it is staying true to its objectives, whether it is taking more or less risk than it should, and whether your original investment idea stands up to scrutiny? You can take advantage of compound interest Described by Albert Einstein as the eighth wonder of the world, compounding is a mathematical phenomenon that is great news for those who reinvest dividends. Some shares and funds pay out dividends, which investors can choose to either receive as a payment, or automatically put back into buying more shares or units of the fund. If you choose the latter, then it will add to your original investment, meaning you will earn greater dividends next time. When reinvested, this will bolster your investment pot again, and so on. Over time, this magnifying effect is incredibly powerful. If a 10,000 investment in a fund benefits from annual share price gains of 3 per cent over a decade, it would rise to 13,490. But if a 3 per cent dividend is also paid each year to deliver a total return of 6 per cent and this is reinvested, the 10,000 investment will rise to 18,190. To really reap the benefits of compounding, your money needs to stay invested for an extended period of time. This is Money's long-term saving calculator shows that 10,000 invested over 20 years with a 5 per cent annual return would rise to 27,130, but over 30 years it would rise to 44,700 - some 65 per cent more. A graduate of an elite New Hampshire prep school convicted of using a computer to lure an underage student for sex - requiring him to register as a sex offender for life - is asking for a new trial. In 2015, Owen Labrie, of Tunbridge, Vermont, was acquitted of raping a 15-year-old classmate a year earlier as part of 'Senior Salute,' a game of sexual conquest, at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. But he was found guilty of the felony computer charge and several misdemeanor counts of sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child. He was sentenced to a year in jail but only served two months. Now 21, he is out on appeal but still follows a strict curfew requiring him to be at home between 5 p.m. and 8 a.m. Hearings on his request for a new trial will begin on Tuesday. Former St Pauls student Owen Labrie, 21, was convicted for using a computer to lure an underage student for sex - requiring him to register as a sex offender in 2015. He served only two months in jail and has asked for a new trial 'He is committed to pursuing his studies and justice in his case,' his current lawyer, Robin Melone, said in a statement Friday. Melone said his trial lawyers were ineffective because they failed to challenge the computer charge and question the girl further, among other arguments. 'The question now is whether those mistakes were so significant that he was deprived the quality of representation every defendant is entitled to,' Melone said. Prosecutors say the defense hasn't proved its case, and they've asked a judge to rule on a number of claims before a four-day hearing is scheduled to start Tuesday. If the judge orders a new trial, Labrie could face the charges he was convicted of, but not the ones he was acquitted of. It is also possible the prosecution could bring additional charges or alternative theories that were not presented previously. After Labrie was convicted, his lead trial lawyer, J.W. Carney Jr. - who once defended Boston gangster James 'Whitey' Bulger - asked the judge to set aside the guilty verdict on the computer charge. The attack occurred in 2014 and was part of a game of sexual conquest called Senior Salute at the prep school in Concord, New Hampshire. He was acquitted of raping the 15-year-old freshman In court documents, Carney said the law establishing that charge was part of a nationwide effort to prosecute people who 'would troll the internet, trying to entrap children into committing sexual acts with them,' not two teenagers who were flirting with each other through email and Facebook. Carney said he couldn't have known that his argument had merit until after the jury returned not-guilty verdicts on the rape charges. The judge disagreed with his arguments and found his request untimely. Melone said his late challenge is an example of ineffective counsel. The law targets a person who 'knowingly utilizes a computer on-line service, internet service, or local bulletin board service' to lure a child for sex. Melone said the charge against Labrie is unsupported because emails he exchanged with the student never left the school's intranet server, which is not an online or internet service. In her response, prosecutor Catherine Ruffle said Melone's interpretation is without merit. She said the law was enacted in 1998, at the start of wider public use and acceptance of internet and online services as a mode of communication, and it's unreasonable to think intranet communications were exempt. Last summer, the girl, Chessy Prout, went public, saying she's no longer ashamed or afraid and hopes to be a voice for others Carney wrote that he isn't knowledgeable about internet communications: 'I did not hire an expert to investigate this subject because it never occurred to me that it was an issue to explore.' Melone also argued that the defense didn't investigate the girl's social media accounts and statements she made to her dorm adviser, or further question her testimony. Carney wrote that 'there is no template' for handling such a witness, saying he needed to raise serious concerns for the jury about her credibility, 'but not come across as a bully and engender sympathy for her.' He also said he was careful on cross-examination not to open the doors for the prosecution to introduce evidence. Last summer, the girl, Chessy Prout, went public, saying she's no longer ashamed or afraid and hopes to be a voice for others. Her parents have since sued St Paul's, arguing it should have done more to protect her. The school has denied it could have prevented the assault; both sides indicated they are open to mediation. Prout and her family are expected to attend the hearing. Steven Avery begged the lead prosecutor of his trial, who many Making a Murderer viewers believe had him wrongly convicted of murder, to represent him in an appeal - and bragged that they could 'get money together' from the case. In a chilling prison letter, shown exclusively to DailyMail.com, Avery then tries to pin the blame for the murder of Teresa Halbach on an innocent family member. In the letter, which did not appear in the hit Netflix series, Avery writes: 'You don't work for the State no more so why don't you take my appeal? 'You know the case and you got Candy Avery. 'See we can all get money together. 'This would be the truth that she Candy did it good. 'See you can call up here a [sic] talk to me as a [sic] Attorney on my case!!! action right?' In scrawled handwriting he adds: 'You and another attorney can take it right? Let me know soon.' Ken Kratz (left), who many Making a Murderer viewers believe had Steven Avery (right) wrongly convicted of murder, was begged by Avery to represent him in an appeal In the letter (above), which did not appear in the hit Netflix series, Avery writes: 'You don't work for the State no more so why don't you take my appeal?' He adds: 'You know the case and you got Candy Avery. 'See we can all get money together' Kratz, who was the lead prosecutor in Avery's murder trial, reveals the letter in his new book Avery: The Case Against Steven Avery and What 'Making a Murderer' Gets Wrong, due to be released on February 21. In the book, Kratz accuses the filmmakers of fabricating, shuffling and omitting key evidence to wrongly portray Avery as an innocent man. A jury found Avery guilty of murdering Halbach in October 2005 after hearing a swathe of compelling evidence against him, including how investigators found her burnt and mutilated body parts on his property and Avery's DNA inside her vehicle. Kratz is portrayed as one of the 'central villains' in Making a Murderer, along with two police officers who were accused of planting evidence to frame Avery. A jury found Avery guilty of murdering Teresa Halbach (above) after hearing how police found her burnt and mutilated body on his property and his DNA inside her car Yet just months before the documentary was released in December 2015, Avery was writing to Kratz from behind bars. Kratz told DailyMail.com: 'It's clear to me that it was Avery's intention to profit financially by involving me in his case. Of course for me I had no financial motives at all. 'Most people don't realize it was Avery who asked me to come visit him and asked me to represent him. 'There were six letters altogether in Steven Avery's correspondence with me and in one letter he asked me to be his appellate lawyer. 'That was before he hired his current attorney Kathleen Zellner. I declined of course, I said I want nothing to do with that. 'It became clear that he was using me to advance his agenda and I told him I didn't want to correspond with him again.' Kratz said it came as no surprise that Avery tried to pin the murder on his family members - and revealed how he had even sent him a list of relatives he wanted Kratz to investigate - including Candy Avery, his sister-in-law. 'This is clearly something he has done before and I suspect this won't be the last time Steven Avery blames somebody else for his behavior in the Halbach murder,' Kratz added. 'Other than Brendan Dassey and Steven Avery we have no evidence that any other persons were involved either in the murder itself or the disposal of evidence.' Altogether Avery wrote six letters to Kratz - in which he asked for a face-to-face meeting with the former district attorney. Kratz initiated contact with Avery six years after the trial - in a bid to get him to finally tell the truth about what happened to Teresa Halbach on the night of 31st October 2005. He attempted to visit Avery at the prison in Boscobel, Wisconsin, but his request was denied by authorities who were worried Kratz's visit may harm Avery's rehabilitative efforts. Kratz, who was the lead prosecutor in Avery's murder trial, reveals the letter in his explosive new book due to be released on February 21 (right). In the book, Kratz accuses the filmmakers of fabricating, shuffling and omitting evidence to wrongly portray Avery as an innocent man Now Kratz has ceased all communications as he believes Avery will never tell the truth about what happened. 'I sent him correspondence when his appeals ended and he was no longer represented by an attorney - so the prohibition for me to contact him had gone away,' Kratz said. 'I sent a very brief letter asking if he wanted to communicate with me and of course he sent me a letter almost immediately saying: 'Yes I do and I want you to come and meet me'. 'I was no longer working for the State so I was curious about what he intended to say about the Halbach murder and if he did have something to say I wanted to give him the chance to - especially after all his appeals were done. 'His appeals had been rejected and he knew he was going to be spending the rest of his life in prison so I hoped that he was finally ready to make a truthful statement about what happened on October 31st 2005. 'Now it is obvious to me that he will never tell the truth about what really happened on that date and because of this I don't want to have any involvement with him.' DailyMail.com attempted to reach filmmakers Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi for comment. Netflix has no comment. Avery: The Case Against Steven Avery and What 'Making a Murderer' Gets Wrong will be released on February 21. Advertisement This incredible set of antique glass negatives gives a rare glimpse into the everyday life of early 20th century African Americans and immigrants in the Midwest. The photographic negatives are part of a wider collection of 280 photographs that capture the dignity of Lincoln, Nebraskas minority communities from 1910-1925, with wedding and family photos, individual portraits and pictures of pets. During that time, the New Negro Movement was moving across the country, giving African Americans a voice and an opportunity to speak for themselves in an otherwise stifled and segregated time in American history. Jim Crow laws prevented African Americans from using the same facilities or having the same opportunities that other Americans had, like jobs and housing. The New Negro Movement, which preceded the Harlem Renaissance, was mostly documented in big cities, with portraits being taken in more professional studios. But in Lincoln, African American photographer John Johnson did something different with his photographs. Instead of taking people to professional studios, Johnson met them where they were, taking portraits on front porches and inside homes. Johnson worked as a janitor at Lincoln's post office and courthouse, but even as an amateur, Johnson took beautiful photos that dignified and respected his family, friends and community. Today, Johnsons photography gives a rare view into the empowerment of African Americans and immigrants across the country, not just in large cities. From 1910-1925 amateur photographer John Johnson (right) took hundreds of photographs of the African American and immigrant communities in Lincoln, Nebraska. Johnson married Odessa Price (left) on August 20, 1918. She was 27 and he was 39. This is believed to be their wedding portrait and someone would have helped Johnson trigger his camera's shutter. John went to Lincoln High School and was a member of the track team. He graduated in 1899 and briefly attended the University of Nebraska where he played football. He worked as a janitor at the post office and courthouse in Lincoln, but also did work as a laborer and drayman (someone who delivers beer for a brewery). Johnson and his wife died within months of each other in 1953 Johnson is known to have taken at least 500 photographs. Among those portraits, Johnson captured images of his friends and family, including his mother, Margaret Johnson, pictured. Margaret was born in Mississippi in 1854, probably in slavery, and died in Lincoln in 1926. She is pictured in front of Johnson's house Doug Keister, pictured, discovered the box of 280 glass negatives when he was 17 in 1965. He bought them from a friend because he was just learning photography and he needed practice making prints. Today he is 68 and is still trying to identify Johnson's photographs Budding photographer and high school student Doug Keister, then 17, found those glass negatives in 1965. He bought the box of negatives from a friend so he could practice making prints. There are currently 60 of those negatives on display at the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of African American History and Culture, which they acquired in 2012 and which DailyMail.com is publishing. Today Doug is 68 and a professional photographer and writer. For years and with the help of Nebraska historians, he has been trying to identify the people in the portraits. These are images of great dignity and great hope, Doug told DailyMail.com. Theyre so important because they are showing there was a time of great hope. As African Americans moved out of the South after the Civil War, Lincoln, Nebraska became home to a small community of African Americans. By 1900 Lincoln had a population of 40,000, with about 1,000 African Americans. At the time there was also a significant community of Russian-German immigrants who came to Lincoln. Despite its distance from the South, Jim Crow laws, stereotypes and segregation were still present in Nebraska. African Americans were limited in their housing options and their job opportunities and interracial marriage was illegal. There was even a significant KKK presence in Lincoln. Undeterred by those obstacles, Johnson took hundreds of photographs of the African American and immigrant neighborhoods from 1910-1925. He documented the everyday life of those communities and took photographs that showed the subjects as dignified and ennobled citizens. Its a glimpse of a small community within a small city in the Midwest... Its hard to match, said Lincoln Nebraskas Historic Preservation Planner Ed Zimmer. Doug added: To have these photographs in Lincoln, Nebraska, that are ennobling environmental portraits is extraordinary. Sometimes youll find pictures from that era, but theyre usually places like New York or Washington, D.C., maybe Chicago, maybe some other places, but usually big cities. You do not see things like this from Americas heartland. Its wonderful. This is a period of - I used to say this is African American history. No, this is American history. I think thats one of the things we need to say. That this is not just African American, this is the history of America. And the inclusion and people uplifting themselves - its an American story. Margaret moved in with her son after her husband Harrison died in 1900. She was a prim and proper lady, according to 95-year-old Ruth Folley in 2001. Ruth was photographed by Johnson in 1914 and knew some of the subjects of Johnson's rediscovered negatives. Margaret is pictured in front of Johnson's home When Doug bought the prints from a friend in 1965 they cost $15 (about $115 today), which he paid in monthly installments. His friend found them through a want-ad in the newspaper and gave them to Doug because he was just learning photography. He used the 5x7 negatives to make his first-ever prints in a makeshift darkroom in his parents basement, but didnt do much else with them. As he got older he kept the heavy box of negatives, even taking them with him when he moved to California. Years later at Lincolns Planning Department, Ed Zimmer had a graduate student intern, Kathy Colwell, now Kathy Colwell Hill, who was interested in doing her masters work on historic African American sites in Lincoln. Near the end of her research in 1999, Colwell had a lead for a box of 36 glass negatives that were found in a womans closet. Though she didnt have time to include the photographs in her research, Colwell passed the lead onto the photo historian at the Nebraska State Historical Society. Later that year, Doug received a letter from his mother with a newspaper clipping from the Lincoln Journal Star. The article was about the negatives that had been found through Colwells research. When Doug saw the pictures in the newspaper clipping, he realized the style and locations of those photographs were the same as the ones he had found in 1965 and quickly got in touch with Zimmer and his new intern, Abigail Anderson, who still collaborates on the research today. At the time, the photographer was still unknown, though they believed the pictures were taken by Earl McWilliams. In 2001 they discovered the photographer was actually John Johnson after they spoke with a 95-year-old woman named Ruth Talbert Greene Folley who was actually in one of the photographs as a young girl with her family in 1914. She knew both McWilliams and Johnson and remembered sitting for Johnson to do the portrait. In an interview with Zimmer and Anderson, Mrs Folley confirmed: 'Mr Johnny Johnson took our picture.' Johnson's wife Odessa was from Kansas City, Kansas. She is pictured on their porch swing in Lincoln wearing what could be her wedding ensemble and reading the Ladies Home Journal from August of 1918, when she was married. Odessa worked at Lincoln's Hardy Furniture Company With this picture, Johnson experimented with exposure, capturing the three subjects of the picture twice each, making it look like there are six people. Though two of the people in this photograph are unknown, Johnson's wife Odessa is the woman who standing on the farthest left and sitting in the middle of the image Once Zimmer knew the photographer, identifying the people and places in the pictures got a bit easier because the knowledge keeps building on itself. What is essential for Zimmer in sharing the photographs is being able to tell the stories behind them. Im trying to make sure we know as much about the individual as we can, he said. Without knowing more of the context, you could get the story wrong. You need a historical piece to go with it to understand Johnson its a much richer and more important story Even the beauty of the picture can distract you from whats the true story of the picture. But Zimmer added that photographs can trick people and give the wrong impression simply because of when we live today. You look with 21st century eyes, not with 1910 eyes. For example, even John Johnsons life is important in telling the story of the photographs and the New Negro Movement. Zimmer doesnt think Johnson was specifically trying to be a part of the movement, but instead was simply trying to dignify his neighbors and friends. The son of a Civil War veteran and a hotel cook, Johnson was a janitor and an amateur photographer with an excellent eye for pictures in environmental settings. Unlike many studio portraits during the New Negro Movement, Johnson photographed the African American and immigrant communities in Lincoln on their front porches, in their yards and even inside their homes. Aside from their unique locations, Zimmer said Johnson used excellent technique for his photographs. The composition and poses also show how comfortable people were with Johnson who was carefully arranging the subjects to show their strength and dignity in an artistic form, Zimmer said. Johnson photographed Luther and Ida Allen, center, on their wedding day in 1912. Luther (1885-1969) was a prominent member of Lincoln's Prince Hall Masons and worked as a chauffeur for the Lincoln Star newspaper publisher. Luther was also among the black leaders from Omaha and Lincoln in 1929 who met with the governor to alleviate tensions after a racial incident in North Platte. His wife Ida (1887-1983) was the daughter of Reverend George Maston and worked as a maid at the Miller and Paine store. The newlyweds are pictured at their home, 828 B Street, in Lincoln In their years of research, Zimmer and Doug have found information about many of the photographs and their subjects, but there is still so much they don't know. So far, Zimmer knows of 500 of Johnsons photographs, whether negatives or prints. but Zimmer said theres no reason to think thats the total. And as they discover more information about the photographs, sometimes more prints or negatives will come forward. Doug said: Its like a treasure hunt. And any treasure hunt theres moments of great frustration because you go, oh, just one more little piece This has been a 50 year journey for me. Its been pretty incredible. Its kind of like the antiques roadshow except it takes 50 years. Doug also compared the project to putting together a jigsaw puzzle. And Zimmer agreed. It doesnt stop, Zimmer said. It feels like it has significance Its been very satisfying to work with. As the two men continue to find the stories behind the negatives, they each have different hopes for the message that the photographs will bring. As Lincoln becomes more diverse, Zimmer hopes the photographs will remind residents of Lincolns deep history of accepting immigrants and African Americans. And Doug hopes that in a time of political turmoil, the photographs will remind Americans of a more uplifting time. With the way the country is going now, its like going backwards again because theres all this divisiveness Im hoping people will get energized by seeing these images. Thats my hope. The Talbert family, pictured, came to Lincoln in 1913 from Guthrie, Oklahoma. Reverend Albert W. Talbert, far left, served as a minister until 1920. His wife Mildred, or Millie, far right, worked as a hairdresser to help Ruth, front center, as she went through Lincoln High School and went on to earn a two-year teaching certification from the University of Nebraska in 1926. The family, including Ruth's brother Dakota, rear center, is pictured in front of the Newman Methodist Episcopal Church at 733 J Street in 1914. Albert was 55, Millie was 40, Dakota was 16 and Ruth was 8. Though this glass negative was a part of Doug Keister's discovered collection, Ruth Talbert, who went on to become Ruth Folley, kept an original print of the portrait. She is the one who, at 95, identified John Johnson as the photographer of the pictures Ruth's brother, Dakota Talbert was born in Fort Scott, Kansas, in 1898. When he was 15 his family moved to Lincoln. During World War I, Dakota served in the army in France. He is pictured sitting on a concrete wall that may have been part of a bridge in Lincoln Dakota, pictured, worked several other jobs including as an elevator operator, shoe shiner, driver and cook for restaurants in Lincoln and Omaha Dakota, left, is pictured sitting on a concrete wall with one of his friends, right. Dakota's sister Ruth identified the friend as most likely being Vernon Howard Leona Dean was a hairdresser in downtown Lincoln, working for Minnie Davis, a white woman. Leona and her husband James (Jim) Dean are still remembered as leading members of their community. Leona is photographed reading a small book in the shade of this porch, which may have been at the house of William Cotton, who lived near Johnson and worked with him as a letter carrier at the post office This is one of several portraits of Leona Dean with differing poses and accessories. In this image Leona is wearing a plumed hat and carrying a purse but in others she goes without. Leona's husband Jim worked at the Lincoln Country Club and provided part-time work waiting tables at the club, for African American men in Lincoln This man is sitting on a stool in front of a backdrop, wearing a Masonic emblem attached to his lapel. He is believed to be Arthur Williams, who was listed as a laborer at the Oliver Theater in 1915. In 1920 he worked as a porter for the Lincoln Photo Supply Co. and in 1924 he worked as a laborer. He was married to a woman named Bona These children are standing outside 715 C Street, the home of Cora and Alonzo 'Lon' Thomas. The couple had five children and ran a small grocery store out of the front room of this house. The four children on the left are Cora and Lon's children: Agnes, standing on the far left, Herschel sitting in the chair, baby Lonnie sitting in Herschel's lap and eldest son Wendell, standing behind. The boy on the right is most likely Lucius Knight, Cora's half brother. When Wendell got older, he worked various jobs in Lincoln as a waiter, a clerk, a porter, a laborer and a janitor. He eventually went on to found the Thomas Funeral Home in Omaha. At the far right of the frame, a small blonde girl is sitting on the steps Though historians have done years of research, many of the people in the photographs are still unknown. The woman and boy pictured here in front of a backdrop are unidentified Manitoba 'Toby' James is pictured with three of his five children: his eldest son Mauranee, on the far right and his daughters Myrtha, left, and Edna, center. Toby later had another daughter and another son. He worked as a waiter and porter in the 1900s and a cleaner in the 1910s and 1920s. He and his family moved around Nebraska for several years, but in the 1930s they moved to Oakland, California, where Toby owned Owl Cleaners. Toby died in 1951 in Oakland Johnson sometimes included pets in family portraits. This baby and pet dog are unknown, but the baby's jacket suggests it was a chilly day when the portrait was taken Eva O'Donnell was the daughter of James and Susan O'Donnell and was in a circle of card-playing friends who circulated to different homes to play canasta. The daughter of one of Eva's friends, Pamona Banks James, identified this portrait. Johnson chose to photograph Eva inside a home, instead of on a porch or in front of a backdrop Historian Ed Zimmer said that discovering the history behind each of the photographs is incredibly important because by simply looking at a picture, viewers can get the story wrong. This unidentified, yet adorable baby is sitting in a woven chair and wearing a completely-knit outfit The house pictured is 623 C Street in the neighborhood of Lincoln known as the South Bottoms. This area was primarily populated by German immigrants from Russia, but many African American families lived there as well, like the O'Donnells who lived at this house. James O'Donnell (1872-1930) was the owner of a lunch counter in downtown Lincoln This photograph of a military encampment was most likely taken at the Nebraska State Fairgrounds in Lincoln because of the bleachers that can be seen in the background between the tents. Hundreds of men from Lincoln, and even some women, enlisted in the military during World War I. African American women in a Lincoln chapter of the Red Cross rolled bandages for wounded soldiers. Dozens of Lincoln volunteers died, including two women nurses. Several men in Lincoln's African American community enlisted into the military including Dakota Talbert. Two other African American soldiers from Lincoln, Horace Colley and Clinton Ross served as lieutenants Manilla Jewett was a Lincoln High School graduate who worked as a theater usher. She is photographed wearing a modern shirtdress as she poses for her portrait The three children with dark hair are siblings, children of Lebanese-born Alexander and Anise Zakem. James is holding the bike on the far left beside his younger sister Lillian. Their older sister Adeline is standing on the far left and the boy with blond hair in the middle was one of their playmates. The children were identified by James's son Jim in 1999 after he saw the photograph in Newsweek magazine. Jim's grandfather Alexander immigrated to Nebraska in the 1890s and moved to Nebraska around 1900 and married Anise. When she died, Alexander went back to Lebanon, remarried and came back to Nebraska in 1918 to join relatives who had settled there. Alexander operated restaurants in Lincoln and other small Nebraska communities This house, 1821 South 16th Street, was the home of Julius and Tillie Miller in 1912 to 1913. Julius was listed as a glazier with a glass company and a laborer Mamie Griffin was a cook married to Edward Griffin, a waiter at the Lincoln Hotel. They lived at 915 U Street in Lincoln, a house on a dirt street north of downtown and near railroad tracks. Mamie is pictured standing on her porch reading The Wife of Monte Cristo. It was a sequel, by a different author, to the Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas Mamie Griffin is pictured sitting in a chair outside in front of a backdrop. She is posed with a copy of the romance novel, The Wife of Monte Cristo The man and five women have not been identified, but Johnson chose a green background for this photograph. While the man's stance seems to be more formal, the women are standing and kneeling casually This man in uniform has not been officially identified, though he may be Edward Shipman (1863-1921). The house number is 851, which correlates with the home of Edward and Clara Shipman at 851 University Avenue in Lincoln. Edward Shipman worked as a porter and stockman at different Lincoln paint companies. This man is standing outside 851 with a tuba and music attached. There were at least two African American bands in Lincoln around that time This woman wearing a sheepskin jacket is also standing in front of the same house marked 851. It is possible she is Edward's wife Clara Shipman (1868-1919), who was born in West Virginia In this picture, Johnson captures a picnic from someone's backyard. Johnson was sure to pose the ten picnickers and the pitbull terrier so that everyone can be seen. The benches have been angled out and it is suspected that the couple standing at the head of the table are the hosts Johnson photographed these two women from the picnic, either before or after, with the pitbull terrier standing on the table The identity of these two men have not been confirmed, though the address '2001' correlates with the home of George and Fronia Butcher at 2001 U Street. George is believed to be the man on the left. George worked as a porter for Chicago & Rock Island and as a laborer for Burlington Railroad in the Havelock Shops. George was born in Philadelphia in 1874 and died at the V.A. Hospital in Lincoln in 1958. His wife Fronia (1879-1979) lived to be 100 years old Johnson photographed these schoolchildren in front of Lincoln High School, though the children in the front rows do not appear to be high school age, though some of the girls in the front row are holding piano music. The University of Nebraska and Lincoln's public schools were integrated, though the public schools did not hire an African American teacher until the 1950s Johnson photographed Frances Hill (1904-1932) inside the home where she lived with John and Mabel Galbreath for most of the 1920s. Frances married Bert Taylor in 1929 or 1930 and they moved to New York City where Frances died in 1932 Frances is pictured inside the same house, but dressed to go out. Johnson took various pictures of subjects in several poses This negative shows that Johnson was able to expose two different images on one plate, though Johnson rarely used that technique. The woman in the portraits is believed to be Dorothy Loving. Dorothy married Clayton Lewis around 1924. They both graduated from Lincoln High School and Dorothy was an active member of Quinn Chapel Though this young man had his portrait done on the same porch as the woman believed to be Dorothy Loving, he is not her husband Clayton Lewis. This young man's identity is still unknown Leon, left, and Brevy Hill Lillie, right, are pictured in front of a backdrop. Brevy was one of the oldest children of P.M.E. and Eliza Hill. Brevy's father gave an oral history of his family to an interviewer with the Works Progress Administration program in the 1930s. He could trace his family ancestry to the Yuruban people of Africa and he gave several of his children, Brevy's siblings, African names. Two of Brevy's brothers were names Pahio and Tazonia and two of her sisters were names Zanzye and XaCadene. Zanzye earned a law degree from the University of Nebraska in 1929 and was Nebraska's first African American female law graduate. She went on to serve as chief counsel for an Arkansas insurance company before she died in the 1930s. XaCadene went on to become a physician The three women in the portrait are believed to be Florence Jones, left, Elenora 'Kit' Carriger (1893-1981), right, and Kit's mother Alice Carriger, center. Kit married George Evans (1874-1945) around 1919 and they were very active in Newman Methodist Episcopal Church. George worked as a chauffeur and houseman for manufacturer C.B. Towle. George was also a charter member of Lincoln's black Masonic lodge. After George died, widowed Kit cooked for a fraternity Florence Jones is pictured on the bicycle with her mother Kate Constellawaii Wilson in front of the Griswold Seed Company elevator at the corner of 8th and N streets. Florence was known to ride her bicycle everywhere. She lived with her mother on South Seventh Street near an industrial area Florence Jones, right, is pictured with an unidentified friend sitting on a hammock. Florence went to Park and McKinley elementary schools and went on to graduate from Lincoln High School in 1923 Johnson took hundreds of photographs of his neighbors and friends in the African American and immigrant communities, including children. This little boy is unknown, but he is holding two dogs on top of what looks like a dog house A smiling, unidentified little girl stands on a chair beside a brand new Edison C-150 Sheraton design phonograph. The machine was introduced in June 1915 and was very popular. It became Edison's second-best seller in 1917 and was manufactured until 1918 This unknown baby sits in a chair for a portrait. On the left of the frame the hem of a woman's dress can be seen It is believed this boy is standing in front of a wall of the Mount Zion Baptist Church, Lincoln's second African American church founded in 1879. A stone 'basement church' was built in 1892 on a building site given to the congregation by the Nebraska legislature in 1883, but the stuccoed main story of the church was not added until years later This couple has been identified as Vashti Agnes Knight, left, and her husband Bartel King Mosby, right. They were identified by Ed Zimmer and Vashti's great granddaughter Cherise L. Addison in 2014. They were married in the early 1920s and lived at 1030 Rose Street. Vashti lived from 1891-1981 and Bartel lived from 1888-1964 This man has not yet been identified. He is sitting relaxed in a rocking chair holding a piece of paper These two children are also still unidentified, but they are posing together in front of a backdrop in what appears to be something of an 'open-air studio' where Johnson sometimes did portraits This unknown couple are standing in front of a backdrop set up outside against a clapboard house. Because the side of the house, a chair to the left and a child on the right edge of the frame are all visible, it is believed that Johnson intended to crop some of his portraits to include only the subjects While this baseball player has not been identified, his team was likely sponsored by Frank Gillen, the president of Gillen and Boney Candy Company of Lincoln. Based on his mitt, this player was a catcher on the team This woman in a feathered hat has not been identified, but she is standing in one of Johnson's makeshift 'studios'. She is standing on a rug between two plants and has a backdrop set up behind her This unidentified woman is also standing in an 'open-air studio' beside a screen door to a house. The back of a fence is visible to the right of the backdrop This woman has not been identified yet, but Johnson has her posed similarly to other portraits in front of a house and porch. Historian Ed Zimmer said that the composition of Johnson's portraits show that the subjects were comfortable with his direction, possibly even deciding for themselves how they wanted to be posed in a dignified way Millard, left, and Delmar Woods, right, were the sons of William and Elizabeth Woods. The boys attended Lincoln High School and Millard went on to the University of Nebraska. He got his degree in pharmacy in 1928 followed by graduate study in school administration. Millard headed the science department of Paul Quinn College in Waco, Texas, from 1928 to 1930 and was the principal of the Phoenix Union Colored High School from 1930 to 1932. He was the founding executive of the Lincoln Urban League when he returned to Nebraska. He received the Medal of Freedom after serving with the Red Cross in Italy and North Africa from 1942 to 1945. Millard moved to Michigan and worked there after the war and from 1954 to 1966 he did various things in welfare services in Chicago. Millard died in 1966 at the age of 62. Delmar, Millard's younger brother by three years died in 1978 Johnson took many photographs on this porch, though none of the pictures give any clues as to whose porch it is. This baby is getting a portrait in a spring suspension baby carriage This is the same unknown porch where the baby carriage portrait was taken. This child and woman have not been identified, though Johnson took several pictures of this child with other children and a different woman Johnson did several portraits of different friends. The seated woman to the right also has an individual portrait. Where the backdrop doesn't cover on the right, the side of a building can be seen This unknown woman stands in front of a backdrop wearing a winter coat, a fur muff and a collar. Though it is not confirmed, it is possible the furs were made by Horace Colley. He worked as a furrier in Lincoln before and after serving as a lieutenant in the US Army during World War I. Horace was the son of Walter and Lulu Colley This unidentified woman wears an elegant hat and gloves and is sitting in front of a backdrop. The exterior of a house can be seen to the left of the frame If you recognize any of these photographs and have information to add to what is currently known, please contact Douglas Keister at doug@keisterphoto.com. In the wake of President Donald Trump's decision to ask for the resignation of his national security adviser, Michael Flynn, larger questions are being asked about the leaks and the investigations swirling around the retired military official. The Hill reports that Flynn's dismissal is inspiring a fresh debate over a controversial law on foreign surveillance, which likely captured the conversations that Flynn had with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, where Flynn reportedly discussed sanctions. Over at the National Review, Andrew McCarthy wrote a piece asking the very basic question: 'Why Was the FBI Investigating General Flynn?' Scroll down for video The forced resignation of Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who was serving as President Donald Trump's national security adviser, is prompting bigger questions Michael Flynn's dismissal from the administration over conversations he had with Russia's ambassador is leading some to ask why the FBI was looking into the official to begin with - and whether the U.S. needs such broad surveillance of foreign agents McCarthy pointed to a New York Times piece charting the quick rise and fall of Flynn, which said in the opening paragraph that agents had sat down with Flynn just days into the Trump administration. Flynn, the piece said, was 'grilled' by the agents over the phone call, but didn't articulate specifically what the investigation was about. That conversation led them to believe that he was withholding information, which prompted then acting Attorney General Sally Yates to reach out to the White House and warn President Trump. When CNN reported that Flynn wouldn't be charged for misleading the agents, as it didn't seem intentional, the network pointed out that there was still an ongoing FBI probe of 'Flynn and Russia-related dealings.' But McCarthy, a conservative columnist, argued that there was likely no basis for an investigation into Flynn to begin with. The general wasn't a foreign agent, nor could he have likely been prosecuted under the Logan Act, which says unauthorized citizens can't negotiate with foreign government. The conversation in question occurred on December 29, 2016, when President Obama was still in office. If an American possesses foreign intelligence the FBI might bring the individual in for questioning, but it wouldn't be a 'grilling' as the New York Times described. McCarthy suggested that the FBI was playing politics to benefit the Democrats, a complaint made often by Democrats last year, after Director James Comey made several public pronouncements about Hillary Clinton in the waning days of the campaign. Democrats suggested that Comey notified members of Congress about new Clinton emails being discovered, on a laptop that belonged to disgraced Rep. Anthony Weiner and his wife, Clinton aide Huma Abedin, in an effort to aid Trump's election prospects. McCarthy wrote that he thought Comey and the FBI were more interested in helping Democrats than Republicans. 'It is easy to see why Democrats would want to portray Flynn's contact with the Russian ambassador as worthy of an FBI investigation,' McCarthy wrote, alluding to the broader storyline of the Russians tampering with the election. 'But why did the FBI and the Justice Department investigate Flynn and why did "officials" make sure the press found out about it?' he mused. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes had a similar question as he pledged to investigate the leaks that led to Flynn's resignation. 'I expect for the FBI to tell me what is going on, and they better have a good answer,' he told the Washington Post. 'The big problem I see here is that you have an American citizen who had his phone calls recorded.' Nunes is usually on the other side of this issue, arguing for robust surveillance laws, but in the aftermath of the Flynn resignation lawmakers may take another look at the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act's Section 702, a 2008 provision that sets up procedures to target non-citizens residing outside the United States. The Russian ambassador, Kislyak, was the likely target, with Flynn's comments swept up with the call. This particular section will expire at the end of this year without congressional action. 'The idea that Americans' communications are incidentally collected in foreign intelligence when there are foreign targets, that's foreign intelligence 101,' Jake Laperruque, a senior counsel at the Constitution Project, told The Hill. 'These are issues that have been very clear for years. It seems to have at least for a moment caused a change of heart for surveillance reform's biggest opponents,' he told the newspaper. An Iranian asylum seeker granted refugee status in Australia could face life in prison after he was arrested at Sydney Airport allegedly trying to smuggle methamphetamine into the country. Vahid Reza Azadpour Saleh, 31, was given refugee protection under the former Labor government's policy, after he claimed he would be killed if he returned to Iran. However, according to immigration records, Saleh spent more time in his home country than Australia, and even went back to Iran to get married, the Daily Telegraph reported. An Iranian asylum seeker granted refugee status in Australia could face life in prison after he was arrested at Sydney Airport allegedly trying to smuggle ice (file photo) On New Year's Eve 2015, the refugee was arrested at Sydney Airport after customs officials searched his bag and allegedly found 1.5 kilograms of ice. He had been returning from Iran via Dubai on an Emirates flight, and authorities reportedly found the substance in a white towel. The 31-year-old was carrying an Australian travel document, but also had an Islamic Republic of Iran passport. Last week Saleh had his bail application denied in Sydney's District Court, as he awaits trial. There was a hung jury during his initial trial last year. Vahid Reza Azadpour Saleh, 31, is accused of trying to smuggle 1.5 kilograms of ice into Australia (file photo) The court heard he had travelled back to Iran multiple times, and spent seven months in his home country on one occasion despite telling immigration officers in Australia the Iranian authorities were 'looking for him'. On another trip he got married, and when he was arrested argued that he should be freed on bail so he could organise for his wife to come to Australia. Saleh arrived by boat at Christmas Island on April 12, 2011, according to the Daily Telegraph. A manic driver who ploughed his car into oncoming traffic while smiling and wearing aviators instantly killed a beloved 61-year-old mother named Jenni Pratt. Tributes flowed for Ms Pratt, a woman who was described online as an 'irreplaceable beautiful soul' with an amazing outlook on life and infectious smile. Dylan Mateljan, who filmed the moment the 45-year-old driver collided head-on with a car, said the man tried to swerve into 'at least 25 vehicles' before the fatal crash. Eventually his green Toyota Landcruiser slammed into a white Toyota Rav4, killing Ms Pratt on impact and leaving her 54-year-old female passenger fighting for her life. 'I'm still in disbelief, I feel so sorry for the family that has lost that poor innocent woman,' Mr Mateljan told Nine Network's Today Show on Monday morning. Scroll down for video Horrific aftermath: Witnesses claim a man that allegedly sped into oncoming traffic on purpose and killed a woman was 'jumping around' and smiling in his car before the fatal crash Bindi Pratt, a 61-year-old mother from Geographe, was instantly killed after her white Toyota Rav4 collided head-on with the green Landcruiser travelling on the wrong side of the road Another witness, who narrowly avoided a collision with the Landcruiser, said the driver was 'jumping around' in his seat and wearing aviators before the crash. 'The guy's face man, I just remember it. It was just unbelievable, like I've never seen before,' the man told Sky News. 'He was just jumping around in his car and just going nuts, you know, like he was happy about what he'd actually done.' Police say the Landcruiser was travelling north in the south bound lanes of Bussell Highway, south of Perth, when it collided head-on with the white Toyota Rav4 at around 4.45 pm on Saturday. Ms Pratt died at the scene, but her passenger, a 54-year-old woman from Busselton, suffered life-threatening injuries in the crash and was airlifted to Royal Perth Hospital. Her condition has improved overnight from critical to serious but stable. The Landcruiser rolled over and the driver, its sole occupant, was thrown from the vehicle before it came to rest right side up and caught on fire. The driver, from Bunbury, sustained critical injuries in the crash and was airlifted to Royal Perth Hospital where he remains in a critical condition on Monday. Dylan Mateljan, who filmed the moment the 45-year-old driver collided head-on with a car, said the man tried to swerve into 'at least 25 vehicles' Devastating rampage: Two onlookers embrace after the crash. The driver of the Rav4, a 61-year-old woman, died at the scene. Her female passenger is in a serious but stable condition Terrified witnesses attempted to tow the damaged car away from the inferno, but were unable to save the victim's life Mr Mateljan told Nine News that the driver's behaviour was 'completely erratic.' 'There was no explanation for it. He was physically driving his vehicle off-road to take out signs and then veering into the oncoming traffic to then deliberately have a head-on collision,' he said. 'He went through the windscreen of the Landcruiser. He obviously mustn't have been wearing a seat belt, and he was laying right in the middle of the road.' Other witnesses reportedly told Nine News they had seen the same driver at a nearby beach campsite the morning of the crash. They claimed he left the site in a hurry, leaving behind chairs and cooking utensils. Investigators would like to speak to anyone who may have seen the crash or the Toyota Landcruiser prior to the crash travelling on Wonnerup Beach, Layman Road and Bussell Highway in Busselton. Anyone with any information is asked to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or make a report online at www.crimestopperswa.com.au The driver, who is now in critical condition in hospital, was captured on camera driving erratically along the Western Australia highway Staff at the tax office have refused to work an extra nine minutes a day to 5pm, despite management acknowledging the office hours don't meet community expectations. Australian Tax Office (ATO) staff successfully rejected a push to extend working hours from 4.51pm to 5pm, a freedom of information request by the ABC reveals. Management said the working hours don't meet broader community expectations, but dropped the proposal after a backlash from staff. Australian Tax Office (ATO stock image) staff successfully rejected a push to extend working hours from 4.51pm to 5pm Management said the working hours don't meet broader community expectations (stock image of an office) The documents obtained by the ABC acknowledge many workers, particularly those in senior roles, already work past 4.51pm. Staff have now rejected three enterprise agreement (EA) packages and have not had a raise since 2013 and will not be given back pay. Documents said the additional nine minutes of work would justify a pay rise. 'The majority of feedback from our employees has indicated a willingness to work an additional nine minutes a day as they already work at or more than 7.5 hours and also quite appropriately to underpin a pay rise,' the documents said. An extra nine minutes of work would account for a 2 per cent increase in productivity, management said, but a pay rise was capped at 1.5 per cent by former employment minister Eric Abetz. Documents said the agreement would have been 'highly contentions, especially if there is not financial compensation'. In a statement provided to Daily Mail Australia, a spokesperson said the ATO is seeking feedback from staff. The documents obtained by the ABC acknowledge many workers, particularly those in senior roles, already work past 4.51pm (stock image) 'We are currently seeking feedback from staff to inform the Enterprise Agreement process and ensure our engagement and communication approaches meet our employee's needs. 'We remain committed to reaching an agreement that provides a good outcome for staff, the ATO, the Government and the Australian taxpayer. This includes ensuring that we can meet our service commitments to the community,' the spokesperson said. The ATO enterprise agreement expired in June 2014, with standard hours from 8.30am to 12.30pm and 1.30 to 4.51pm - or seven hours and 21 minutes of work. 'However, many staff work outside of these hours,' the spokesperson said. National Secretary of the CPSU (Community and Public Service Union) Nadine Flood said the idea ATO staff go home at 4.51pm is 'ludicrous'. 'Our members are working longer hours than ever, including unpaid overtime, because of over 4,000 jobs that have been slashed from the ATO in recent years. Ms Flood said staff were voting against dozens of cuts on the table, and the additional nine minutes of work 'was never the only issue for our members'. 'They were understandably upset at a cut to their hourly pay rate via changing working hours at the same time as they were being told to accept a measly pay offer at that stage of 0.8% a year,' Ms Flood told Daily Mail Australia in a statement. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop captured the attention of North Korean soldiers during a visit to one of the most dangerous front lines over the weekend. Soldiers with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea were seen taking pictures of their blonde guest as she toured Panmunjom, a truce village in the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea, on Saturday. Taking shelter from the cold as temperatures dipped below 5C, Ms Bishop posed briefly for a soldier as he peered through a frosted window at her with his camera in hand. Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop captured the attention of North Korean soldiers (pictured behind the window) during a visit to the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea on Saturday (South Korean soldier is pictured far left) Taking shelter from the cold as temperatures dipped below 5C, Ms Bishop posed briefly for North Korean a soldier (right) as he peered through a frosted window at her with his camera in hand (South Korean soldier pictured far left) Ms Bishop's travelled to South Korea for two days to meet with senior government officials and discuss North Korea's nuclear program Ms Bishop's travelled to South Korea for two days to meet with senior government officials and discuss North Korea's nuclear program. She is said to have met with former president Lee Myeong-bak and national security director Kim Kwan-jin during the tour, according to the Herald Sun. South Korea, or the Republic of Korea, is Australia's fourth largest trading partner. A North Korean solider is seen snapping pictures of Ms Bishop (pictured) She is said to have met with former president Lee Myeong-bak and national security director Kim Kwan-jin during the tour South Korea, or the Republic of Korea, is Australia's fourth largest trading partner Ms Bishop said Australia 'stands in solidarity' with South Korea in a Tweet after her visit After her trip, the foreign minister said on Twitter there had been a 'high level on interest' in her trip to the demilitarised zone. 'After six decades still dangerous "armed truce".' Ms Bishop said Australia 'stands in solidarity' with South Korea. Rhino Lightning arrived at the Humane Society of Utah with a spiral notepad filled with a child's 'dream' for their dog. Addressed to Rhino Lightning's new family, the handwritten instructions note that the three-year-old male boxer should have his brindle fur washed monthly, even though he doesn't like water. Rhino Lightning is also not too fond of snow or cats, but he 'loves to run around' and to sleep under blankets. Scroll down for video A child left a notebook filled with handwritten instructions for his dog's new family One page warns that Rhino Lightning's 'cheeks make a lot of slobber', but he's 'a good dog and he loves cuddles'. On another page, the child expresses his hope that Rhino Lightning will find a good home and be able to keep his name. Most importantly, though, the child wants the dog's new owner to 'make sure he is in a safe house', where every night, he is told that 'I love and miss him'. 'He was my puppy. I really hope he is in a good environment. I really miss him. I wish he knew that he was a pretty puppy.' Rhino Lightning (pictured) was given up for adoption at the Humane Society of Utah The child's family, who has three small children, told the shelter that they were giving him up for adoption because he's too energetic when he plays and 'is unaware of his size. He wasn't a great fit for the youngest children in the house'. DeAnn Shepherd of the Humane Society of Utah told Fox 13 that this is the first time an animal has been left at the shelter with a list of handwritten instructions from a child. 'It's the first time that a child has done this, and it was very heartbreaking to see from his perspective his relationship and friendship with this dog, but we hope that he sees the story and knows that his best friend is going to find a new home', Shepherd said. The three-year-old male boxer (pictured) was placed there for being too energetic The Humane Society of Utah is looking for a new home for Rhino Lightning, preferably one with children at least eight years old 'who won't get knocked over when he zooms through the yard', spokeswoman Guinnevere Shuster told Today in an email. Rhino Lightning is house-trained and smart, Shuster noted. 'Please remember, surrendering a pet is never an easy decision', the shelter wrote on its Facebook page. 'But, they are doing what is in the best interest of the pet'. Norma McCorvey, the woman immortalized as plaintiff Jane Roe in the landmark Roe v Wade ruling that legalized abortion in the U.S, died on Saturday. The 69-year-old, who had been ill for some time, passed away from heart failure at an assisted living center in Katy, Texas where she was surrounded by her family. But one person who would not have been there to say goodbye was the girl McCorvey gave up for adoption in 1970, who became the basis of the legal case that changed American's political landscape. The baby girl, who would now be a 47-year-old woman, was adopted immediately after McCorvey gave birth in June 1970. Scroll down for video Norma McCorvey, the woman immortalized as plaintiff Jane Roe in the landmark Roe v Wade ruling that legalized abortion in the U.S, died on Saturday aged 69 The family who adopted the girl has kept their identity private all these years. It is not clear whether the woman was ever told she was the Roe baby, or whether her adoptive family even knew she was McCorvey's daughter. Her death was confirmed by New York journalist Joshua Prager who is writing a book about McCorvey and spent months interviewing her. McCorvey won fame as an abortion-rights icon and as the pro-life activist she would eventually become when she sought to abort her third pregnancy in Texas when she was 22. The unmarried and unemployed woman told her doctor she did not want to bring the pregnancy to term, which had been the result of a gang rape. She said at the time she couldn't afford to travel to the six U.S. states where abortion was legal: Alaska, California, Hawaii, New York, Oregon, and Washington. McCorvey's (pictured in 2011) lawsuit, filed under the pseudonym Jane Roe, resulted in the Supreme Court's 1973 landmark decision that established a woman's right to an abortion McCorvey (right) and attorney Gloria Allred (left) demonstrate during a pro-choice rally in Burbank, California, on July 4, 1989 Her adoption attorney put her in touch with Texas lawyers Linda Coffee and Sarah Weddington, who were seeking a woman to represent in a legal case to challenge Texas' anti-abortion statute. The subsequent lawsuit, known as Roe v Wade, led to the Supreme Court's 1973 landmark ruling that established abortion rights. McCorvey won fame as an abortion-rights icon and as the pro-life activist she would eventually become when she sought to abort her third pregnancy in Texas when she was 22 By that time, McCorney had already given birth to her daughter and given her up for adoption. After the court's ruling, McCorvey lived quietly for several years before revealing herself as Jane Roe in the 1980s. She also confessed to lying when she said the pregnancy was the result of rape. Throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, she remained an ardent supporter of abortion rights and worked for a time at a Dallas women's clinic where abortions were performed. But she did an about-face and later spoke out on behalf of anti-abortion campaigners after befriending The Rev. Philip 'Flip' Benham when his anti-abortion group moved next door to the clinic where she was working. She was baptized an evangelical Christian before network TV cameras by Benham, who was the leader of Operation Rescue, now known as Operation Save America. Her religious conversion led her to give up her female lover, Connie Gonzales. She said the relationship turned platonic in the early 1990s and that once she became a Christian she believed homosexuality was wrong. She did an about-face and later spoke out on behalf of anti-abortion campaigners. She was baptized (above) an evangelical Christian The Rev. Philip 'Flip' Benham In later years, McCorvey became a born-again Christian who opposed abortion. She is seen above in this January 22, 1997, file photo with her friend, Meredith Champion, during an anti-abortion protest in Dallas A short time later, she underwent another religious conversion and became a Roman Catholic and left Operation Rescue. Though she was still against abortion, she said she had reservations about the group's confrontational style. McCorvey formed her own group, Roe No More Ministry, in 1997 and traveled around the U.S. speaking out against abortion. In testimony for a Senate subcommittee in 1998, McCorvey said: 'I am dedicated to spending the rest of my life undoing the law that bears my name.' In 2005, the Supreme Court rejected a challenge by McCorvey to the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling. McCorvey had written two autobiographies in her lifetime - one about pro-abortion and later about her change in stance. The first, 'I Am Roe' in 1994, included abortion-rights sentiments along with details of her early life of dysfunctional parents, reform school, petty crime, drug abuse, alcoholism, an abusive husband, an attempted suicide and lesbianism. Norma McCorvey (middle) joined Rev. Philip 'Flip' Benham's (right) anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, now known as Operation Save America Norma McCorvey and her attorney Gloria Allred leave the Supreme Court in Washington after sitting in while the court listened to arguments in a Missouri abortion case in 1989 McCorvey was born in Louisiana in 1947 and spent part of her childhood there until her family moved to Dallas. In her book, she recounted stealing money at the age of 10 from the gas station where she worked afternoons and weekends and running away to Oklahoma City before being returned home by police. She was eventually sent to a state reform school for girls in the northern Texas town of Gainesville, living there from the age of 11 to 15. She married Elwood McCorvey at the age of 16, but separated shortly after while she was pregnant. With her drug and alcohol problems, she gave custody of her daughter Melissa to her mother who eventually adopted the girl. McCorvey fell pregnant to a different man and gave the baby up for adoption in 1967. It was her third pregnancy that catapulted her into the abortion rights struggle. Her first child Melissa was the only one of her three children who was a part of her mother's life. Melissa was with McCorvey when she died. As many as four million men from Afghanistan could travel to Britain and other European nations along migrant routes if the West abandons the war-ravaged country, the Defence Secretary has warned. Sir Michael Fallon admitted the UK and Nato cannot pull troops out of Afghanistan because the terrorist groups that existed there when soldiers deployed in 2001 remain and still pose a threat. As the Ministry of Defence considers sending more troops to the country, Sir Michael warned that if Afghanistan collapses, Europe will feel the consequences, very directly. Men carry the coffin of a victim a day after a suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan last year The Cabinet minister also raised the prospect of UK servicemen remaining in the country for years, declaring that we should stay until the job is done. His stark comments mark a dramatic shift from those of former prime minister David Cameron, who in 2013 declared that the mission in Afghanistan was accomplished. They could be viewed as Sir Michael paving the way for the Government to step up its role in the region again. Just over a week ago, Armed Forces minister Mike Penning revealed that the Government is considering sending more UK troops back to the country. Speaking alongside other defence ministers at the Munich Security Conference, Sir Michael said: If it was right to go in, it has to be not right to leave before the job is done as well as we can do it. He admitted Afghan forces were struggling to defeat the Taliban without Western soldiers, saying: We are asking the government of Afghanistan and their military to deal with the same situation we had ten times as many troops to deal with. UK ground troops pulled out of the country at the end of 2014 and at the time Sir Michael said no combat soldiers would be deployed there again under any circumstances. Defence minister Sir Michael Fallon MP There are, however, 500 UK training troops and security personnel providing assistance in the countrys capital, Kabul. MoD officials are discussing sending more. Sources said last night this referred to trainers and that there were no plans to send combat troops. Mr Penning told an inquiry earlier this month: We have no plans to draw down actually, there is a possibility that we might uplift because of what we are being asked to do. He then quipped that he was probably going to get shot for admitting more troops could be sent. Sir Michael told diplomats and military figures at the weekend that he believed the UK and Nato had to keep supporting the country for three reasons. First, there are transnational terrorist groups in Afghanistan that wish us harm at home and here in our democracies, he said. That is why we went in and those transnational terrorist groups are still there and they still pose a threat. Second, he added: If this country collapses, we here will feel the consequences, very directly. 'There could be three to four million young Afghan men sent out by their villages to migrate westwards, and they are heading here. They are heading to Germany or Britain and that could be the consequence if this entire country collapses. Third, he said: There are Nato values here, this is a democracy that we helped to establish. That government has asked for our help and my view is we should stay with it as long as we can until that job is done. Sir Michael Fallon hits out at Europe Sir Michael Fallon has criticised European countries for blaming austerity for not hitting Nato military spending targets. The Defence Secretary said the UK had also faced austerity but was still hitting the Nato target of 2 per cent of spending of national income on defence. His comments in Munich came after US defence secretary General Jim Mattis warned last week that countries must spend more on defence or risk losing support from Washington. Sir Michael also criticised European governments for fretting more about the new US President than Russia. He said: In my view there ought to be far more worrying about [Vladimir] Putin. Advertisement President Trump said Gulf States would pay for the safe zones on Saturday At President Donald Trump's campaign-style rally Saturday, he brought up his plan to create 'safe zones' in Syria in lieu of admitting more refugees. He also said the Gulf States would pay for the safe zones since the US is in '$20 trillion' of debt at the Melbourne rally. These types of speeches usually focus on job creation and national security. Trump has brought up the plan before, but it isn't something he usually touches on when speaking about his immigration restrictions. About Syrian refugees, Trump said: 'And we all have heart, by the way. And what I want to do is build safe zones in Syria and other places so they can stay there and live safely until their cities and their country, that mess that I was left by Obama and everybody else folks, we were left a mess like you wouldn't believe, but we're going to build safe zones. We're going to have those safe zones. 'We do owe $20 trillion. Okay. So we're going to have the Gulf States pay for those safe zones. They've got nothing, but money.' The safe zones were not included in the January 27 executive order banning Syrian refugees and immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries. President Donald Trump and his wife, First Lady Melania Trump wave to the crowd at the Melbourne rally. Trump reiterated his plan to build 'safe zones' in Syria In previous speeches, the President has said he wants to take the Gulf States' oil as payment (Trump, pictured on stage at a Melbourne campaign rally yesterday) The executive order received immediate backlash, many labeling it cruel to reject Syrians who have already started the migration process. There have been protests nationwide since the ban's proposal even though it has been struck down in court. The line about having a 'heart' was a unique shift in tone for these speeches, many which mainly focus on 'America first.' These safe zones would be places where civilians would be protected by the international community. Whether or not they would actually be safe from terrorism is controversial. Trump said the seven Arab countries which border the Persian Gulf would be responsible for paying for these zones. Along a similar vein, he has said Mexico will pay for the southern border wall because they are in debt to the US. In previous speeches, the President has said he wants to take the Gulf States' oil as payment. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also proposed a 2,000 square mile 'terror free zone' for refugees to keep them in Syria. Several people have criticized this plan saying safe zones are not a feasible solution. In a press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in April last year, President Barack Obama said: 'As a practical matter, sadly, it is very difficult to see how it would operate short of us being willing to militarily take over a chunk of that country. 'And that requires a big military commitment [to protect refugees from attacks].' Al Jazeera said the approach is similar to how the businessman treated his real estate transactions. In the past Trump has said he plans to buy land and build a safe zone that he says will make the refugees 'happier'. Trump also brought up a point about how he would help back in January. He told ABC News: 'I'm gonna be the president of a safe country. We have enough problems. Now I'll absolutely do safe zones in Syria for the people.' People take part in a rally called 'I Am A Muslim Too' in a show of solidarity with American Muslims in Times Square. There have been protests against Trump's travel ban, which has been suspended, every weekend since January 27 'I think that Europe has made a tremendous mistake by allowing these millions of people to go into Germany and various other countries. And all you have to do is take a look. It's it's a disaster what's happening over there.' Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has voiced concerns about the proposal saying safe zones will not protect civilians from terrorism. President Assad told Syrian Arab News Agency, a state run news agency: 'Safe zones for the Syrians could only happen when you have stability and security, where you dont have terrorists, where you dont have flow and support of those terrorists by the neighboring countries or by Western countries.' Filippo Grandi, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, has also said he does not believe safe zones are viable options for refugees. The Insurance giant Aviva has threatened to terminate deals with firms that do not promote women to senior roles. Sarah Morris, human resources boss at the company, issued the warning to more than a dozen subcontractors. In a letter, she said her firms suppliers were critically placed to drive the change that is needed in future talent pipelines, and publicly backing initiatives to get women in more senior roles would give them a competitive edge. The Insurance giant Aviva has threatened to terminate deals with firms that do not promote women to senior roles (file photo) These subcontractors are thought to include recruitment firms and specialist providers of insurance services. The warning was aimed at those that have not joined gender equality initiatives such as the 30 per cent Club campaign, which Miss Morris spearheaded. She told The Sunday Times Aviva had had some positive responses to the letter but it would consider ending our ongoing relationship if our partner firms dont share our values on this. Her warning was sent with the blessing of Aviva chief executive Mark Wilson. These subcontractors are thought to include recruitment firms and specialist providers of insurance services (file photo) He has said: Its just good business sense to have strong capable women leaders throughout Aviva, not least on the Group Executive, where we have already hit the 30% goal. The insurer was the first British company to pledge women would comprise 30% of its executive committee by 2020. Mrs Morris said: Our ambition is that our workforce at all levels reflects our increasingly diverse customers and communities around the world. A divorced dad's social media post about co-parenting with his ex-wife has gone viral after he reminded people that they need to put their differences aside and 'be an example' for their children. In a heartfelt Facebook post, Billy Flynn Gadbois, 36, encouraged divorced parents to 'show each other respect and care' in front of their children. The Boston dad wrote the post in October after he woke up early to buy flowers, cards and breakfast so his kids could surprise their mom, his ex-wife, on her birthday. Divorced dad, Billy Flynn Gadbois's (pictured) post on co-parenting with his ex-wife has gone viral after he reminded people that they need to put their differences aside as they raise their children Gadbois wrote on Facebook that he's 'raising two little men'. 'The example I set for how I treat their mom is going to significantly shape how they see and treat women and affect their perception of relationships,' he added His post went viral after it was shared by the Love What Matters Facebook page last week. It has been shared nearly 700,000 times since. 'Per usual someone asked me why the hell I still do things for her all the time. This annoys me. So I'ma break it down for you all,' Gadbois, who is a lawyer and model, wrote. 'I'm raising two little men. The example I set for how I treat their mom is going to significantly shape how they see and treat women and affect their perception of relationships. 'So if you aren't modeling good relationship behavior for your kids, get your sh** together. Rise above it and be an example. This is bigger than you.' The father-of-two told TODAY that he wanted to make it clear that divorced parents shouldn't let negative feelings about each other affect the growth of their children. 'We decided early on that we were going to put the effort into co-parenting,' he told Today. 'We just think it's really important to show each other respect and care in front of the kids. 'Kids want to take care of their parents, and they can't do it alone. So if it's Mother's Day and the kid doesn't have anything to give to his mom... that doesn't feel so great,' he added. His ex-wife also puts forth the effort and on Father's Day she makes sure their sons, ages four and eight, have a present for him as well. But it's not easy as Gadbois points out. 'Divorce can really bring out the worst in people, and it takes work to get the relationship to a point where you can co-parent like this,' he said. Police are hunting for a gunman in Queensland after an Uber driver was carjacked. The driver was stopped in Brisbane's city centre at around 9.20pm on Sunday when the man approached and ordered him out at gunpoint, officers say. The carjacker then took off at speed while being chased by police, who broke off their pursuit over safety fears after he side-swiped two vehicles. Queensland police are hunting for a Caucasian man in his 40s after they say he stole a car matching this description at gunpoint on Sunday night in Brisbane Nobody was injured during the crash, and the 40-year-old Uber driver was also uninjured. Police believe the crime was opportunistic, and say there is no indication the Uber driver was targeted. The suspect is described as being Caucasian in appearance, aged in his forties with short brown hair, a stubble beard and wearing a black jacket. The vehicle is a white 2014 Toyota Aurion with Queensland registration 163VWP. Officers say it appears the crime was opportunistic and there is no indication that the Uber driver was targeted by the suspect (file image) If you have information for police, contact Policelink on 131 444 or provide information using the online form 24hrs per day. You can report information about crime anonymously to Crime Stoppers by calling 1800 333 000 or via crimestoppersqld.com.au 24hrs per day. Like an 18th Century aristocrat planning a last stand against the peasantry, Labours Lord Mandelson calls on his fellow ermined Peers to join him in sabotaging the Brexit Bill when it comes before the Upper House this week. Disingenuously, this snake-tongued ex-minister twice sacked for dishonesty claims he is not trying to overturn the referendum result or interfere with the decision of the Commons, which has voted overwhelmingly to trigger withdrawal without delay. In silken tones, he protests he just wants to introduce safeguards, guaranteeing the future of EU nationals living in the UK and ensuring Parliaments right to demand further talks if the agreed terms of Brexit are unsatisfactory. Like an 18th Century aristocrat planning a last stand against the peasantry, Labours Lord Mandelson calls on his fellow ermined Peers to join him in sabotaging the Brexit Bill when it comes before the Upper House this week Yet Lord Mandelson knows full well any premature promises to EU citizens would rob ministers of a powerful negotiating card, while letting MPs block any deal could scupper withdrawal altogether. Isnt this precisely what he and Tony Blair, his comrade-in-arms and fellow money-grubber, hope to achieve? Meanwhile, lets not forget that Lord Mandelson like more than 20 other Remainer Peers has his snout buried deep in the Brussels trough. Indeed, as a former European Commissioner he has an EU pension pot estimated at 672,868 while Lord and Lady Kinnock have pots valued at more than 2million between them. Whats more, Commissioners swear a lifelong oath of loyalty to the EU, or risk losing their pensions. In the Lords, shouldnt Remainers with such personal financial interests be forced to declare them? But then it will be an affront to democracy if this unelected House of cronies, dodgy donors and washed-up members of the political class (including, outrageously, more than 100 Lib Dems, but only three Ukip members) conspires to frustrate Brexit. If Peers value the survival of their House, they will ignore Lord Mandelson and Mr Blair and respect the will of the people. An indefensible tax Another day, another grotesque injustice over business rates, as it emerges that out-of-town hypermarkets are in line for a 200million tax cut, while small firms face crippling increases that could drive many to the wall. To his credit, Chancellor Philip Hammond is looking urgently at ways to soften the blow for the worst affected enterprises Indeed, with online retail giants also set to benefit from Aprils revaluation, this ancient property tax which takes no account of ability to pay seems almost calculated to destroy the High Street by favouring its mightiest competitors. Further illustrating the madness of the system, fluctuations in property values mean the biggest supermarkets would have had to pay 1.3billion extra if the revaluation had been carried out two years ago, when it was due. How can any tax so arbitrary be deemed fair or fit for the 21st Century? To his credit, Chancellor Philip Hammond is looking urgently at ways to soften the blow for the worst affected enterprises. Yet isnt the only truly effective answer to freeze business rates until a fairer system can be devised? Instead of defending the indefensible, this is what Local Government Secretary Sajid Javid should be urging. It's great news for British competitors in the space race that the Government will allow satellites to be launched from the UK, with the first commercial flight clear for lift-off within three years. But with rail unions planning more strikes and British roads today labelled among the most gridlocked in the world the Mail has a plea on behalf of earthbound travellers. Will ministers turn their attention to getting trains and cars moving again, when theyre not too busy gazing at the stars? Police say they knew of plans by two youth gangs to cause havoc at Melbourne's White Night event weeks in advance. Officers used pepper spray to break up a rowdy confrontation between two groups shouting out 'f*** the police' at Federation Square about 1am on Sunday. Assistant Commissioner Stephen Leane said those involved were aged between 14 and 19 and had been discussing the face-off for weeks via social media. Asked if he thought the trouble was linked to the Apex gang which disrupted last year's Moomba parade, he said, 'I'm not sure if Apex even still exists'. Police say they knew for weeks of plans by two youth gangs to cause havoc at Melbourne's White Night event Officers used pepper spray to break up a rowdy confrontation between two youth groups at Federation Square about 1am on Sunday Mr Leane said said officers had intelligence the groups would meet in the city and cause trouble well before the night. In turn, police had formulated a 'well planned' response to any threat of violence. 'A lot of (social media) sites aren't locked so police have become adept at (monitoring them),' Mr Leane said. 'As far as we can see it's the United Nations of groups. They merge but they take a dislike to each other and for some reason the groups were deciding last night they'd have a go.' Hundreds of police swarmed the area, including members of the mounted branch and public response order unit, standing between the opposing groups who 'looked like they were going to flare up,' according to Mr Leane. More than 20 arrests were made over the course of the night, including at Footscray train station where police found youths in possession of a can of OC spray. Other weapons including knives and knuckle dusters were also seized. About 500, 000 people attended the annual White Night event and authorities say they were pleased overall with behaviour on the night. Assistant Commissioner Stephen Leane said he wasn't sure if the notorious Apex gang even existed anymore when asked if the trouble had links to the street gang A group of women who say Sir Edward Heath abused them as children have also accused their parents of being involved in up to 16 murders. The farce came as police probe incredible claims that the former prime minister was linked to a paedophile ring that killed as many as 16 children which would make them the worst child murderers in British history. The seemingly far-fetched allegations have been made by a family who allege that the politician was part of a satanic sex cult run by their own parents. A group of women who say Sir Edward Heath abused them as children have also accused their parents of being involved in up to 16 murders Police are probing incredible claims that the former prime minister was linked to a paedophile ring that killed as many as 16 children They say that the cult regularly slaughtered children as ritual sacrifices in churches and forests around southern England and also participated in similar ceremonies in Africa. They claim their mother and father who is said to have known the former Conservative leader were responsible for slaughtering children ranging from babies to teenagers yet they evaded justice. The paedophile ring which they say Sir Edward was part of stabbed, tortured and maimed youngsters in churches and burnt babies in satanic orgies before men, women and children gorged themselves on blood and body parts, police have been told. But there is no suggestion that Sir Edward killed any children himself in the womens accounts If the bizarre allegations were to be proved, the parents who allegedly led the killings would be responsible for murdering more children than Fred and Rose West. They would also be on a par with Thomas Hamilton, who shot dead 16 children in the 1996 Dunblane school massacre. The womens lurid claims were dismissed by police in 1989 when they came forward. Sir Edwards name was never mentioned to police at the time. It was only last year that he was named for the first time after one of the claimants said she had remembered a man called Ed was a prime mover in a network of paedophile abusers. But there is no suggestion that Sir Edward killed any children himself in the womens accounts. Wiltshire Police have spent more than a year investigating the allegations as part of an inquiry that has cost taxpayers over 883,431 and irretrievably tarnished the reputation of the unmarried politician, who died in 2005, aged 89. Last night Sir Edwards godson, Lincoln Seligman, said: I understand that these claims from the 1980s were at the time dismissed as complete fantasy by police. It is disappointing that these wild allegations have been reheated and randomly attached to Edward Heaths name. A Wiltshire Police spokesman said: We are not prepared to discuss this as this is an on-going investigation. Sajid Javid risked enraging small firms after he wrote an extraordinary letter insisting the row over business rates was based on myths Sajid Javid has risked enraging small firms after he wrote an extraordinary letter insisting the row over business rates was based on 'distortions and half truths'. In a five-page missive to MPs, Communities Secretary Mr Javid and Chief Secretary David Gauke said anger over the shake-up was unfounded and that firms had 'nothing to worry about'. Fearing a revolt from Tory backbenchers and peers over the controversial revaluation, the ministers claimed the row had been the result of campaigners' misleading claims about a reform that is not intended to raise money. Official figures have warned 500,000 firms face higher bills and campaigners believe hike will be of up to 300 per cent over the next five years. Giants like Amazon and the big supermarkets are set to save money while small shopkeepers face bigger bills. In sending the letter, the ministers will face accusations that the Government is in the grip of panic. NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT? TORY SEATS FACING RATE HIKES Sajid Javid's letter to MPs includes an annex detailing Tory seats where rates will go up. They include: Theresa May Maidenhead (10.1 per cent) Philip Hammond Runnymede & Weybridge (13.3 per cent) Adam Afriyie Windsor (8.3 per cent) Chris Grayling Epsom & Ewell (10.1 per cent) Greg Hands Chelsea & Fulham (22.8 per cent) Ian Liddell-Grainger Bridgwater & West Somerset (65.8 per cent) Dominic Raab Esher & Walton (10.2 per cent) Iain Duncan Smith Chingford & Woodford Green (13.8 per cent) Advertisement An attachment to the letter even admits that in some areas - including the Prime Minister's Maidenhead constituency - rates will be higher. Mr Javid has already been under fire for staying away on holiday in the week that the row exploded. The Communities Secretary was also adamant that his reform of the appeals system for business rates was fair. This is despite the fact that business groups have complained it gives the Government power to block appeals if it falls within a margin of error. It came as it emerged that Chancellor Philip Hammond is considering ways to soften the revaluation to head off a potential Tory rebellion. No 10 stood by the plans today, insisting the revaluation would leave 73 per cent of businesses on the same or lower rates, with a 3.6billion transition fund available to help those facing the steepest hikes. Grant Shapps, the former local government minister, said at the weekend that ministers should 'quietly drop' the revaluation, and said he was concerned that the changes 'may undo progress' on reviving high streets. The ministers have told MPs it was time to 'set the record straight' and laud the 'biggest ever cut' to the rates. Mr Javid wrote: 'Unfortunately, this year's revaluation has been preceded by a series of reports claiming that rates are going to soar, that appeals are being banned and that hundreds of thousands of businesses will be forced to close. Chancellor Philip Hammond is considering ways to soften the revaluation to head off a potential Tory rebellion 'Such claims are simply untrue.' He said the first 'myth' was that the Government was 'imposing across-the-board rate rises'. This is despite the fact that campaigners have pointed out that 500,000 firms not all have faced increases. The letter added: 'The revaluation is fiscally neutral. It is emphatically not being used to hide a stealth rise in taxes.' Mr Javid said the 'second myth' was that firms would be 'illegally blocked' from appealing against the revaluation. He went on: 'This has no basis in fact.' Grant Shapps, the former local government minister, said that ministers should 'quietly drop' the revaluation The ministers blame delays in the appeals system on 'the business rate equivalent ambulance chasing lawyers' clogging up the system. The letter added: 'We would never do anything to jeopardise the future of businesses ... The forthcoming changes are not something to be afraid of. 'Most businesses will benefit, and it will make the system fairer.' The Treasury and No10 insist there will be no U-turn on the revaluation, which they say is generally fair. It is understood, however, that the Chancellor is considering reforms. One option is that, rather than properties being revalued every few years, changes could be implemented more smoothly, perhaps annually. Mr Javid is thought to have flown back from holiday on Saturday. A close source said it was the Commons recess and he was 'still working'. But he faced criticism for having disappeared 'Where's Wally' style, leaving it up to others to explain the policy. Alan Hawkins, of the British Independent Retailers Association, said: We are hearing horror stories of rates going up 40 per cent. 'It could put people out of business. The problem is they cant just shut up shop because they are tied to leases they cant walk away from. The rates system isnt working. We need radical reform or the decline of high streets will only continue. Ministers are facing a revolt from Tory MPs, peers and business groups over the rates revaluation. More than 500,000 small firms, including shops, cafes, restaurants, nurseries and B&Bs will be hit with increases of up to 300 per cent. Mike Cherry, of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: The revaluation is only now revealing a mountain of anomalies. Small businesses with premises and low profits are being unfairly targeted, while large firms nearby pay less per square metre. This distortion affects small firms right across the economy. British spies helped uncover Russian backing for a plot to assassinate the leader of a European nation and plunge his country into bloodshed. The would-be killers aimed to overthrow Montenegros government to sabotage its plan to join Nato, Whitehall sources claim. The attack on the countrys parliament was meant to take place on election day last year and was directed by Russian intelligence officers with the support of Moscow, the sources said. It was foiled only hours before it was due to be carried out when an informant revealed the plan to murder the prime minister and trigger a bloody coup. Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic (pictured, right) with his wife Lidija (left) Britain and US intelligence agencies were called in to help the authorities unravel the conspiracy and are thought to have gathered evidence of high-level Russian complicity. The plot, scheduled for October 16, was one of the most blatant examples of aggressive interference in Western affairs, sources told the Sunday Telegraph. Details came as Sergei Lavrov, Russias foreign minister, criticised Nato as a Cold War institution whose growth had created unprecedented tensions in Europe for 30 years. He told the Munich Security Conference in Germany that Moscow wanted to establish a post-West world order and mutual respect as he repeatedly hit out at the 68-year-old transatlantic military alliance. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and his American counterpart, Rex Tillerson, are understood to have discussed the issue of Montenegro last week at their first meeting. The new prime minister of Montenegro, which expects to become Natos 29th member, revealed details of the chilling plot just days ago. Dusko Markovic said: This scenario entailed shooting citizens, taking over the parliament and the possible assassination of the prime minister. But he told Time magazine it was thwarted when an informant hired by Russians handed himself in, adding: He let us know that two Russian citizens were backing him. It turned out they belong to the Russian military intelligence service. The attempted coup would have killed the then pro-West prime minister, Milo Djukanovic, and replaced him with a pro-Russian government. Predrag Bogicevic and Nemanja Ristic (left and second left) were arrested in January over the alleged plot. Russians Vladimir Popov (second from right) and Eduard Shirokov (far right) remain on Interpol's wanted list Hatched as Moscow was accused of trying to sway the US elections, it followed years of warnings from the Kremlin that Montenegro should not join Nato. However, Russia has categorically denied the possibility of official involvement in any attempts to organise illegal actions. But UK and US spy agencies called in for high-tech assistance to crack encrypted calls and emails between plotters are thought to have found evidence of high-level backing. Revealing how Western security agencies helped Montenegro, Mr Markovic said: The security services of Nato countries confirmed and corroborated our information. They helped us put these pieces together, because these operations involved the interference of a third party. Encrypted phone calls, emails and testimony from plotters-turned-informants are part of a criminal investigation into 21 conspirators accused of terrorism. They are said to have prepared acts against the constitutional order of Montenegro. The Kremlin, opposed to further NATO expansion in Europe, has denied involvement in the alleged coup plot. But Whitehall sources said the planned coup demonstrated Russia's increasingly aggressive international policy Sources said the plot appeared to have been constructed so that it was deniable and could be blamed on rogue Russian agents. A source told the newspaper: You are talking about a plot to disrupt or take over a government in some way. You cant imagine that there wasnt some kind of approval process. Interpol is now hunting Vladimir Popov and Eduard Shirokov, the Russian intelligence officers believed to be behind the plot. They are thought to have been flown back to Moscow by Nikolai Patrushev, former head of Russias intelligence service. BALKAN PAWN IN GLOBAL POWER GAME Moscow has warned Montenegro repeatedly to abandon plans to join Nato this year. The tiny Balkan nation which has a population of just 650,000 also hopes to join the EU. However, its increasing closeness with the West has provoked anger at the Kremlin. Moscow sees Nato expansion as a major threat to its security, and Montenegros largest opposition bloc is believed to have received millions of dollars from Russia to help turn the tables in its favour. The alleged assassination plot is said to have involved Serb nationalists. Montenegro only gained independence from Serbia in 2006, and almost a third of its citizens are ethnic Serbs. Advertisement They spent months overseeing the recruitment and equipping of a small force of Serbians, run by nationalist leader Aleksandar Sindjelic, to attack the parliament building as the election results were announced. Disguised as local police, they would have opened fire on the crowd so citizens would think real officers were shooting them, and would have killed the prime minister at the same time. They had recruited 45-year-old Mirko Velimirovic to buy weapons and rent a safe house. But he exposed the plot when he had second thoughts and told officials he was hired to buy weapons and rent a hideout for the Serbian gang. Special prosecutor Milivoje Katnic warned: Had it been executed, such a scenario would have had an unforseeable consequence. Another alleged plotter, Nemanja Ristic, was recently pictured standing next to Mr Lavrov during a visit to Belgrade, Serbias capital. The Foreign Office said: The Montenegrin investigation pointed to the involvement of two Russian nationals. Montenegro must deliver a transparent trial of the suspects. Yassmin Abdel-Magied turned to a hardline Islamist group for advice days after she clashed with Jacqui Lambie over Sharia Law, as it is revealed the ABC will not fire the Muslim youth activist. The 25-year-old Sudanese-born writer and founder of Youth Without Borders sparked controversy last week when she told ABC's Q&A program she observed Islam as 'the most feminist religion'. Just three days after the heated television debate, Ms Abdel-Magied asked Hizb ut-Tahrir spokesman Wassim Doureihi on social media how she could have better presented her opinion. Support for a petition calling for her to be sacked from the ABC as a presenter, over her remarks about Sharia, has also almost doubled during the past 19 hours, from 10,635 signatures late on Sunday night to 20,068 late on Monday afternoon. Scroll down for video Muslim activist Yassmin Abdel-Magied (pictured) turned to hardline Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir for advice Ms Abdel-Magied sparked controversy last week when she told ABC's Q&A program Islam is a 'feminist religion' Just three days after the heated television debate, Ms Abdel-Magied asked Hizb ut-Tahrir spokesman Wassim Doureihi (pictured) on social media how she could have better presented her opinion Ms Abdel-Magied talked to Mr Doureihi on social media (pictured) three days after her appearance on Q&A Hizb ut-Tahrir, which operates in 50 countries including Australia, is campaigning for a pan-Islamic superstate that implements Sharia and has a constitution which calls for the killing of ex-Muslims, known as apostates. 'Salams! Well, I am always happy to take feedback. What specifically was problematic and how can I do better in the future inshallah?,' Ms Abdel-Magied posted on Mr Doureihi's Facebook after he called her arguments 'indeed problematic.' Mr Doureihi responded: 'First of all, may Allah reward you for your tireless efforts. Not an easy task, but you consistently do so with grace, humility and courage. 'In a nutshell, you've ended up framing Islam through a secular lens, aimed at a secular people and conscious of the presence of a secular government. The end result was always going to be ugly.' Ms Abdel-Magied agreed, saying 'it was always going to be a tricky one' before offering to privately message him. It comes as a petition calling for Ms Abdel-Magied to be sacked from her role as an ABC television presenter reached 13,544 signatures by 12pm on Monday, surging to 20,068 signatures by 6pm. Late on Sunday night, the petition had 10,635 signatures after four days. An ABC spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia the 25-year-old writer will not be fired. Ms Abdel-Magied, who hosts Saturday morning program Australia Wide on ABC News 24, was responding to Senator Lambie's call to deport all Muslims who support 'Sharia law' when the fiery debate between the pair began. In a heated clash with Senator Jacqui Lambie (pictured), Ms Abdel-Magied said her Sharia faith meant obeying the laws of the land on which she was on Hizb ut-Tahrir, which operates in 50 countries including Australia, is campaigning for a pan-Islamic superstate that implements Sharia (pictured right is Mr Doureihi at a rally in 2014) Right-wing AltCon News group has called for Ms Abdel-Magied (pictured) to be sacked as the host of the ABC's Australia Wide program Sharia is practised as a legal system imposed by faith courts across much of the Muslim world, including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Nigeria, Yemen and the Indonesian province of Aceh. The Sharia system is controversial because it includes harsh punishments, known as 'hudud, where thieves have had their hands amputated in Saudi Arabia, Somalia and in Islamic State-controlled areas of northern Iraq and Syria. In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Theresa May last year ordered a review into the 'harm' caused by Sharia courts operating in Britain, when she was home secretary. The change.org petition calling on the ABC to 'publicly condemn and fire Yassmin Abdel-Magied over pro-Sharia law comments' was posted by a right-wing group called AltCon News. They argued that while she hasn't called for a new legal system in Australia, her support for Sharia means she is advocating for Islamic faith courts. An ABC spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia the 25-year-old will not be fired, despite a petition calling for her removal (pictured) 'As Yassmin Abdel-Magied made these comments on the taxpayer-funded Q&A program, and as she is a regularly paid commentator on the taxpayer-funded network, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, needs to reassure the taxpaying public that they condemn her rhetoric and that Australians obey one set of laws, that no religious law is higher than the law of the land and that her blatant lies about this law will not be tolerated or funded by the Australian taxpayers,' the petition said. In the heated clash with Senator Lambie, Ms Abdel Magied said her Muslim faith obliged her to 'follow the law of the land on which you are on.' The current petition, with more than 20,000 signatures, is seven times greater than another change.org petition last week calling on the ABC to 'apologise' to the Muslim community for allowing Senator Lambie to have a heated clash with Ms Abdel-Magied. This petition, backed by 49 Muslim activists and community leaders, has attracted a more modest 2,792 signatures since it went live on Wednesday. The writers of the petition calling on Ms Abdel-Magied to be sacked condemned her for 'lying to the public about the merits of Sharia law and the oppressive impact it has on non-Muslim groups, homosexuals and women'. Ms Abdel-Magied (right) with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (centre), The Project host Waleed Aly (left) and his wife academic Susan Carland at Sydney's Kirribilli House last year They also criticised her for posting a follow-up video arguing the ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia was cultural and not due to Islam, as other Muslim nations didn't have such sexist restrictions. 'I'm not going to deny it: some countries run by Muslims are violent, sexist and do oppress their citizens,' Ms Abdel-Magied said. 'But again that's not down to Sharia, that's down to the culture, and the patriarchy and the politics of those particular countries.' Ms Abdel-Magied last year went on a taxypayer-funded trip to Sudan, Saudia Arabia and the United Arabic Emirates to promote a book she had written, but has made no mention of female genital mutilation across the Muslim world or stoning for adultery. Hardline Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir criticised Ms Abdel-Magied for presenting Islam in a 'secular' way yet she has reached out to this group Somali-born writer and Islamic critic Ayaan Hirsi Ali has criticised Yassmin Abdel-Magied's appearance on Q&A Hizb ut-Tahrir's other Sydney-based spokesman, Uthman Badar, has also condemned her on Facebook for presenting Sharia 'in the image of secular liberalism'. He said she had failed to acknowledge Sharia is a set of laws and not just a personal relationship with a God. Somali-born writer and former Dutch lawmaker Ayaan Hirsi Ali, an internationally-prominent critic of Islam now based in the United States, has criticised Ms Abdel-Magied's assertion on Q&A last week that 'Islam is the most feminist religion' and how culture, and not Islam, were to blame for the oppression of women. 'That is absurd. Abdel-Magied fits into a familiar pattern, where the government of a free society such as Australia invests a considerable sum in an individual or a group in the hope that the person is a 'moderate' Muslim and will advance the assimilation of their Muslim minority through constructive engagement,' Ms Hirsi Ali, a former refugee, said in a column for The Weekend Australian on Saturday. 'Then the supposed moderate the government has invested in is exposed as a closet Islamist, in this case sympathetic to Sharia law.' Daily Mail Australia has contacted Ms Abdel-Magied for comment. Mercedes Corby has told a New South Wales court she intends to oppose an apprehended violence order being taken out against her. The sister of convicted Bali drug smuggler Schapelle made an appearance at Tweed Heads Local Court on Monday, where she asked for the matter to be adjourned. Corby said she'd only received written statements from the applicant after arriving at court, adding: 'There's a lot I disagree with.' Mercedes Corby (left) appeared in court to challenge an AVO order brought by police to protect her former business partner Trudy Todd (right) Ms Corby told Tweed Heads Local Court that there is 'a lot I disagree with' included in the AVO before asking for the case to be adjourned so she could read it further Trudy Todd, Ms Corby's former business partner and an ex-professional surfer, said outside court that the dispute didn't relate to their business. 'I can't comment at the moment because I'm too scared,' Ms Todd said as she entered the courthouse. The AVO has been sought by police after an alleged dispute between Ms Corby and long-time friend Trudy Todd. The pair opened a tapas bar on the southern end of the Gold Coast last year, which is believed to have since gone out of business. The matter has been adjourned until March 13 when it will be set down for a hearing if Ms Corby still opposes the order. Ms Corby looked to be in good spirits as she let the courthouse in New South Wales on Monday, smiling at waiting cameras while escorted by a man who appeared to be her bodyguard. Ms Todd refused to speak with reporters outside court after the hearing, saying she is 'too scared' to make a comment Ms Todd, a former professional surfer, opened a restaurant with Ms Corby last year before it closed down. She claims the AVO is unrelated to the business Meanwhile Ms Todd looked tense and downcast, avoiding making eye-contact with the cameras and walking with her arms folded across her midriff. The pair owned tapas restaurant Laneway Bar and Dining in Coolangatta which is believed to have shuttered last year. Ms Corby was in tears as furniture was taken away from the business, according to The Gold Coast Bulletin. She told the publication that she hated letting her family down, and would be in debt for a long time after the venture collapsed. Local bookmaker Robert Tidy, who is thought to be acting as a mediator for the women, said it was unfortunate the bar was shutting down after all her hard work. Liz Truss yesterday said she would never dictate what newspapers could write on their front pages as she defended her response to the reporting of the legal challenge to Brexit. The Lord Chancellor spoke out after Supreme Court President Lord Neuberger complained that some of the Press coverage of the case risked undermining the rule of law. He also claimed politicians could have been quicker and clearer in defending the judiciary after the High Court ruling that Theresa May did not have the power to start the Brexit process without the consent of Parliament. The Lord Chancellor spoke out after Supreme Court President Lord Neuberger complained that some of the Press coverage of the case risked undermining the rule of law. But Miss Truss told the BBCs Andrew Marr show: I will never say to the media what they should be printing on their headlines. I think it would be totally wrong for a Government minister to go around saying, This is acceptable, this isnt acceptable. She added: Of course, its incredibly important that we have an independent judiciary and the rule of law in this country its been in operation for hundreds of years. Freedom of the Press is another really important part of our democracy, just like independence of the judiciary. The Supreme Court rejected the Governments appeal against the ruling. Oxford University students could soon be switching their studies from the city of dreaming spires to the banks of the River Seine. French officials met with senior staff at Oxford University last week to discuss proposals to open a new campus in Paris. The University is reportedly considering opening a satellite campus in the French capital in order to guarantee that it continues to receive European Union funding post-Brexit. Oxford University students could soon be switching their studies from the city of dreaming spires to the banks of the River Seine Oxford has been told that any campus it opens in France could have French legal status and therefore continue to be eligible for EU funding. The move would see Oxford break with 700 years of tradition and follow in the footsteps of other UK universities which have established overseas campuses. Jean-Michel Blanquer, former director-general of the French ministry for education, confirmed to The Telegraph that France has launched a charm offensive to lure Britains best universities to the country. Mr Blanquer said plans to build a new international campus were underway at Universite Paris Sienne - an association of ten universities in the French capital, and that he had already met with officials from Oxford and the University of Warwick to discuss the proposals. The plans would see British universities relocate degree courses and study programmes across the channel and create joint degrees and research laboratories. If Oxford and other leading institutions agree to the French proposals, construction of the new international Parisian campus would begin in 2018. Speaking to The Telegraph, Mr Blanquer said he hoped the campus would attract the highest calibre universities to preserve the relations built with their partners in Europe. It is for this reason that we have chosen to act very concretely in order to offer them the possibility to pursue their development alongside us, he added. Oxford has been told that any campus it opens in France could have French legal status and therefore continue to be eligible for EU funding The idea is symbolic, to say after Brexit: we want to build bridges and that academic life is not totally dependent on political problems. We want to say to British universities: it can be a win-win game for you. To have high quality institutions from the UK working in our territory, interacting together in terms of research and collaboration. A spokesman for Oxford said the university had not yet made a decision on the proposals. He said: Oxford has been an international university throughout its history and it is determined to remain open to the world whatever the future political landscape looks like. Oxford University have recently appointed a head of Brexit strategy, Professor Alastair Buchan. Speaking at an Education Select Committee hearing last month, Mr Buchan said that continued access to Europe was crucial to maintaining the universitys place in the top league. Universite Paris Sienne sits on the banks of the Parisian river from which it takes its name. A four-year-old boy who was pricked by a used needle while playing in a parkland will have to wait three months to find out if he has contracted any diseases. Little John Williams was playing with his family at a parkland in Barney Point in Queensland's Gladstone on Friday afternoon when he stumbled across syringes. His mother Angela Moore, 29, said her son and daughter were just metres from him when he jabbed himself in the stomach with the needle. John Williams (pictured) was playing in a parkland with his family when he was pricked by a used needle on Friday afternoon The four-year-old boy was playing with his sister when he stumbled across the syringes 'He was with his sister when he picked up the needle and stabbed himself in the belly with it,' Ms Moore told Daily Mail Australia. 'John wasn't crying at first but once we found out, he started crying and told us what happened. 'I don't know how he went about... He hasn't seen anyone doing it so we don't know where he got the idea from.' The mother-of-four said she was watching her other children ride their motorbikes while John was playing with his eight-year-old sister. The mother said her son jabbed himself with the needle when he found it at the parkland 'We always tell our children to watch out for snakes because it's the only thing you would think of to be careful about in our area,' she said. 'You wouldn't think we'd have to tell them to be careful of needles.' Ms Moore said she found six needles among the rubbish at the vacant block of land where her son had been playing - an area her family has been visiting for nearly three years. 'We jumped straight into the car and headed to the hospital,' she said. 'I took the six needles with us and handed them to the nurses so they could send away for testings. 'My partner John actually went back to the area and counted another 20 needles. We also found an empty plastic water bottle with fresh needles inside their packet. His mother Angela (pictured) said the family are hoping John hasn't contracted any diseases The mother was watching her children ride their motorbike when little John ran off with his sister to play by the tree (picture of rubbish at the parkland where the needles were found) The 29-year-old said her partner went back to the parkland to discover another 20 needles 'We've been going here for years. We've got outdoor kids. The kids use the area to ride their motorbike because we don't have space in our backyard.' Ms Moore said she contacted her local police station and authorities acted quickly to clean the area up. The family will have to wait up to three months for the blood test results to return to confirm whether or not John is completely free of any diseases, including hepatitis C or HIV. 'Fingers crossed that it's all clear for John,' Ms Moore said. 'We are hoping he doesn't have anything. But there will be big changes if he does contract anything.' A Sydney schoolteacher was allegedly caught driving drunk from a parent-teacher night. Kelly Littlejohn, 40, allegedly swerved through the southern suburb of Kareela after leaving the meeting at Como Public School, where she is a year one teacher. A witness watched as the teacher allegedly 'clipped a gutter' on Bates Drive around 6.40pm on February 8, police said. When Mrs Littlejohn stopped the car at the intersection at Princes Highway, the witness removed the keys from the ignition, police said. A Sydney schoolteacher was allegedly caught driving drunk home from a parent-teacher night Cops allege the teacher returned a breath analysis of 0.306 - more than six times over the legal limit. According to the Daily Telegraph, the teacher was on her way from a meeting at school. The newspaper reported that radio host Ray Hadley revealed the woman's identity on his morning show on Monday. A law enforcement source confirmed the woman's identity. According to a school newsletter published online the day before her alleged offence, Mrs Littlejohn teaches Year 1 students at Como Public School. The Caringbah resident had her driver's license immediately suspended and appeared in Sutherland Local Court on February 16. She is due back in court on March 9, records show. Mrs Littlejohn could not be reached for a comment. In a statement, the NSW Department of Education said it would not comment since the matter is before the courts. The statement said the Department will decide 'what action is appropriate' following the outcome of the legal proceedings. 'The teacher is on leave from school duties and will not return to work without appropriate clearance,' the statement added. For Norma McCorvey, it was just a minor setback in an existence plagued by tragedy, but for millions more it was a defining moment, not only in their lives, but in U.S. history. She was 22, unmarried and five months pregnant with her third child in 1970. She simply wanted a quick abortion, but her two female lawyers had other ideas: they were intent on using her to establish a constitutional right to have an abortion, challenging Texas laws that prohibited terminations except when a mothers life was at risk. In the process, with Norma maintaining her anonymity under the pseudonym of Jane Roe, they ushered in the landmark 1973 court decision of Roe vs Wade that legalised abortion in America. Campaigning for abortion: Pictured in April 1989, Norma McCorvey (left) with attorney Gloria Allred (right) in front of the US Supreme Court in Washington,DC On Saturday, the woman who set in train the most famous and contentious Supreme Court decision in its history died, aged 69, in Katy, Texas. Norma was living at an assisted living home when she died of heart failure. Depending on where you stand on abortion, Norma McCorvey either saved generations of women from lives blighted by unwanted offspring, or she paved the way for the legal destruction of perhaps 58 million children. That brutally polarised view of Roe vs Wade is, astonishingly, mirrored in her own confused, contradictory life one that saw her go from being a pro-abortion crusader to being a born-again Christian and anti-abortion firebrand who fiercely preached the exact opposite of what shed helped create a few years earlier. For that reason, Ms McCorvey became a pawn for both sides in a battle so ferocious in the U.S. (which legalised abortion six years after the UK did in 1967) that doctors are still sometimes killed for providing late-term terminations. In a 1994 book, I Am Roe: My Life, Roe v. Wade, And Freedom Of Choice, she wrote: I wasnt the wrong person to become Jane Roe. I wasnt the right person to become Jane Roe. I was just the person who became Jane Roe, of Roe v. Wade. And my life story, warts and all, was a little piece of history. Hers was actually a large piece of history. In disallowing many state and federal restrictions on abortion, the case sparked a national debate that is never likely to die down. Even more than 40 years after her court case, any threat to the Roe vs Wade decision is enough to provoke fury from pro-choice campaigners across the U.S. as it did when Donald Trump was elected president. And later campaigning against abortion: Norma pictured in 1997 standing with nine-year-old Meredith Champion Anxious to win the Bible Belt vote, in his campaign Mr Trump rowed back on his previous liberal New York values and declared his opposition to abortion. The huge significance of his view became clear when he was able to nominate a conservative judge to fill the vacant ninth seat in the U.S. Supreme Court. If, as expected, he is able to nominate more judges, a conservative majority in the court could, in theory, overturn Roe vs Wade. Her case has gone into popular mythology, but the woman at its centre was deeply troubled. Born Norma Nelson in a small town in Louisiana, Normas father, a TV repairman, walked out on the family when she was young. She and her older brother were raised by her mother, Mildred, a violent alcoholic. Aged ten, Norma stole money from a petrol station cash register and absconded with a female friend to Oklahoma, where they tricked hotel staff into renting them a room. Handed in to the police, she was declared a ward of the Texas state and sent to a reform school for troubled girls. Released at 15, she lived with her mothers cousin, whom she claimed raped her every night for three weeks. By 16, shed married a sheet-metal worker named Woody McCorvey, who beat her. She left him within months and their baby, Melissa, was adopted by her mother. Norma descended into drugs and drink addictions which she said lasted for the next 30 years. She had another daughter, Paige, in 1967, who was also adopted. Norma and her attorney Gloria Allred hold hands as they leave the Supreme Court building in Washington after sitting in while the court listened to arguments in a Missouri abortion case A casual fling two years later produced her third, and by far most momentous, pregnancy. At the time, Ms McCorvey was working in a circus. She spent part of the time living with her father, and the rest living on the streets. Even after she later became an ardent anti-abortionist, she always defended her reason for wanting to terminate her third pregnancy. I didnt want to bring a baby into the world I was living in, she said years later. I never knew where I was going to sleep at night. I never knew if I was going to eat. Abortion was illegal in Texas but the idea of a visit to a back-street abortion clinic horrified her. Too poor to travel to a state where abortion was legal, she was the perfect client for the young, idealistic lawyers, Sarah Weddingtion and Linda Coffee, who wanted to challenge the Texas abortion ban on the grounds it violated a womans constitutional right to privacy in her reproductive choices. Ms McCorvey claimed the pregnancy was the result of a gang rape, but later admitted she had lied to strengthen her case for an abortion the rape claim wasnt mentioned in her lawsuit. In one of many ironies about her life, her victory by a seven to two vote in the Supreme Court came too late for her. Shed had the baby three years earlier. Gloria and Norma (right) during a Pro Choice Rally on July 4, 1989 in Burbank, California She claimed the epic legal battle went right over her head. Drifting back to the bottle, she sank into deep depression. It took her around seven years to start embracing her new-found fame and notoriety. From 1980, she began to attend pro-abortion rallies and working in abortion clinics. Happy to reveal she was Jane Roe, she started to get hate mail calling her a baby killer. Body parts of ripped up baby dolls were scattered on her lawn. One night, a man fired a shotgun from a passing lorry, shattering her windows. But more subtle tactics were what turned her against abortion. Operation Rescue, an anti-abortion group trying to reverse Roe vs Wade, rented a house next door to the abortion clinic where Ms McCorvey worked. On Saturday Norma McCorvey died, aged 69, in Katy, Texas Its members befriended her, buying her lunch and slowly turning her to their point of view. She described her conversion as she sat looking at a poster showing foetal development in their office. The [babys] progression was so obvious, the eyes were so sweet, she said. It hurt my heart, just looking at them. I ran outside and finally it dawned on me. Norma, I said to myself, Theyre right. Then in 1995, she was baptised and in one of the most dramatic U-turns imaginable, moved out of the clinic and into the anti-abortion HQ next door. She spent the last years of her life gathering testimonies from women who say that having an abortion ruined their life. Ms McCorvey who never had one herself wanted the evidence to be presented to the Supreme Court when it was needed. Just as she once led pro-choice rallies, she became a stalwart at pro-life ones. In 2009, she was arrested in a Catholic university in Indiana, protesting against a visit by President Obama, whom she described as a child killer over his support for abortion rights. Even with Roe vs Wade in place, pro-choice activists claim the battle is far from won. Conservative states have introduced restrictions, such as banning abortion in cases where the babys heartbeat can be heard, or forcing mothers to undergo an ultrasound. In 2009, a late-abortion doctor, George Tiller, was shot dead by an anti-abortion extremist. Norma McCorvey insisted the killer went too far, even though Dr Tiller was a monster. What an irony that the woman who gave others control of their bodies should depart this world just as a president who is now vociferously pro-life could re-open one of the most contentious debates in American society. One of President Donald Trump's most vocal critics in the GOP slammed the commander-in-chief's vitriolic hatred towards mainstream media. Senator John McCain said in an interview he considers a free and 'adversarial' press vital to American democracy. The senator said on Meet the Press: 'We need a free press. We must have it. It's vital.' Scroll down for video Senator John McCain said in an interview: 'We need a free press. We must have it. It's vital' McCain said he disagrees with Trump's characterization of the press as the 'enemy' 'If you want to preserve I'm very serious now if you want to preserve democracy as we know it, you have to have a free and many times adversarial press' 'And without it, I am afraid that we would lose so much of our individual liberties over time. That's how dictators get started.' However, McCain clarified he was not calling Trump a future dictator. He was referencing the history of dictators in the context of World War II according to NBC. Much of Trump's speech in Melbourne was about media coverage he deemed unfair. He said despite reports, things in the White House were running well He continued: '[Dictators] get started by suppressing free press. In other words, a consolidation of power when you look at history, the first thing that dictators do is shut down the press. And I'm not saying that President Trump is trying to be a dictator. I'm just saying we need to learn the lessons of history.' McCain has criticized Trump in the past and famously rescinded his support for the Republican nominee after the tapes of the 'locker-room talk' surfaced. Since the election, the senator has criticized the travel ban and Trump's Yemen raid where an American Navy SEAL was killed. However, McCain has voted to approve every one of Trump's cabinet picks with the exception of EPA administrator. He abstained from voting for Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt for the position. Few days pass without President Trump taking to Twitter to lash out at outlets that run less than flattering stories about his administration. At Trump's rally in Melbourne Saturday, he continued his tirade against mainstream media outlets he labels 'fake'. Trump said the purpose of the campaign-style rally four weeks into his presidency was so he could speak to supporters 'without the filter of the fake news'. The day before, he tweeted about some of America's largest news outlets: 'The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!' Preparations are believed to be underway to bring senior North Korean delegates to the United States for talks with former US officials, the first such meeting in more than five years. The talks would be the clearest indication yet that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wants to communicate with the new Trump administration. Planning for the 'Track 1.5 talks' is still in a preparatory stage, according to The Washington Post. The 'Track 1.5 talks' would be the clearest indication yet that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wants to communicate with the Trump administration The name, reflecting planned contact between former US officials and current North Korean ones, is a reference to what are known as 'Track 2' talks involving former officials on both sides. Organizing a meeting will have been complicated as relations have become strained between the two states, following an 'aggressive' ballistic missile test by North Korea and the alleged state-sanctioned assassination of Kim's half-brother by North Korean agents. Pyongyang has demanded it be recognized as a nuclear state and it is believed they are working on a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the US. Last week's testing of the intermediate-range ballistic weapon drew international condemnation last week. And President Donald Trump told a news conference after the test: 'Obviously North Korea is a big, big problem and we will deal with that very strongly.' It is believed Donald S. Zagoria, pictured during talks in 2007, is leading preparations for the meeting Just a day later, on February 13, Kim Jong Nam, the estranged sibling of North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un, died after apparently being poisoned in a Kuala Lumpur airport. Malaysia's probe has put five North Koreans in the frame for the airport assassination but Pyongyang said it had no faith in the investigation and claimed Kuala Lumpur was in cahoots with 'hostile forces'. At the forefront of organizing the Track 1.5 talks is Donald S. Zagoria, who sits on the National Committee on American Foreign Policy and has organized similar meetings in the past. It is understood the US State Department has not yet approved the North Koreans' visas for the talks. Kim Jong Nam, the North Korean leader's half-brother, died at Kuala Lumpur airport last week. Many suspect he was assassinated on Pyongyang's orders A State Department spokesman said Track 2 meetings 'routinely' take place on a variety of topics around the world and occur independent of the US government. And a White House official insisted that the government had no plans to meet with North Korea. However, if visas for the North Korean officials are granted it could be perceived as a seal of approval from the Trump administration and an indication that official talks between the states could take place. People involved in planning the meetings have told the Post that Pyongyang officials are very interested in what the President might do in the near future. If they go ahead, these will be the first Track 1.5 talks to take place on US soil since before Kim took power, following the death of his father Kim Jong Il in 2011. A White House spokesperson said the US Government had no plans to meet with North Korea Leading the North Korean delegation is most likely to be Pyongyang's director of the US affairs department, Choe Son Hui, who has been involved in similar meetings in the past. North Korea has been notably less aggressive towards the US since Trump took over. In a speech following the February 12 missile launch Kim did not express the country's need to deter the hostile policies of the United States - rhetoric that was common throughout the Obama administration. Likewise, Mr Trump has so far not distinctly criticized Pyongyang since the missile launch and has merely said his administration will 'take care of it'. His vague promise has invoked murmurings in Washington that the businessman may be looking to strike a deal with North Korea. North Korea expert Adam Cathcart, at the University of Leeds, commented that US foreign policy is 'hanging in the balance'. He said: 'I think the North Koreans ought to be pretty happy, because the Americans have laid off criticizing them too much and have, in fact, been making things quite easy for them. 'But at some point, they are going to have to decide whether to pick up the cudgel.' Actor Shia LaBeouf has brought his performance-art piece protesting President Donald Trump to New Mexico's largest city. LaBeouf, along with two other artists, Nastja Sade Ronkko and Luke Turner, set up their 24-hour live-streaming camera in Albuquerque on Saturday, according to the Albuquerque Journal. The camera was mounted to a wall with the message in block letters: 'He will not divide us,' referring to Trump. LaBeouf and the artists' idea for the project is for people to go up to the camera and repeat the phrase. Scroll down for video Actor Shia LaBeouf (pictured in New York during a similar demonstration) has brought his performance-art piece protesting President Donald Trump to New Mexico's largest city Just last week, LaBeouf's art project (pictured) was shut down from the Museum of Moving Images after it became a 'flashpoint for violence' LaBeouf, along with two other artists, set up their 24-hour live-streaming camera in Albuquerque on Saturday. The camera was mounted to a wall as several protesters (pictured in New Mexico) came up to it and repeated the message: 'He will not divide us' Dozens of people walked up to the camera, which was still streaming Sunday evening, and said the message into the camera. Some protesters (pictured) also chanted the phrase The 30-year-old actor told the Journal: 'We are anti the normalization of division. That's it. The rest of the info is right there, chief, I got nothing else to say to you.' Dozens of people walked up to the camera, which was still streaming Sunday evening, and said the message into the camera. Some protesters also chanted the phrase. Nearby police officers said they didnt plan on intervening in the event as the demonstration was peaceful. LaBeouf's anti-Trump exhibit - set to run for four years - was shut down three weeks into its launch after officials at the Museum of Moving Images in Queens, New York, said the installation had become a 'flashpoint for violence'. The webcam was mounted on the wall outside of the museum in January and began running 24/7 after Inauguration Day. It was set to run until the end of the president's term. LaBeouf himself appeared in front of the camera throughout January and several times clashed with protesters opposing the project. The actor was also arrested last month in New York after an alleged altercation with another man during the performance art project. According to local reports, the protester had said something to the camera that LaBeouf did not agree with. The actor was taken to the 114th Precinct in Queens. LaBeouf also tried to punch a man who was holding a 'Pepe 2020' sign in front of the camera. Footage showed LaBeouf shouting: 'He will not divide us' in response to one protester who said: 'We must secure the existence of white people.' LaBeouf faces a misdemeanor assault charge and is due in court April 4. Physical violence: During the protests last month, a man appeared on camera flashing a sign that said 'Pepe 2020,' which caused LaBeouf to try and punch him in the face Lashing out: LaBeouf screamed at a man who came to his Trump protest and said into a camera: 'We must secure the existence of white people' (above) The actor (pictured on the day of his arrest) allegedly grabbed a fellow protester outside the museum in Queens, and now faces a misdemeanor assault charge The NYPD eventually had to monitor the exhibit around the clock after multiple violent incidents and 'numerous arrests' even after LaBeouf stopped appearing. On Friday, announcing its closure, the museum said the participatory performance was 'disrupted from its original intent.' 'The installation created a serious and ongoing public safety hazard for the Museum, its visitors, staff, local residents, and businesses,' the museum said in a statement. 'While the installation began constructively, it deteriorated markedly after one of the artists was arrested on the site of the installation and ultimately necessitated this action.' A New Zealand judge has upheld an earlier court ruling that flamboyant internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom and three of his colleagues can be extradited to the US to face criminal charges. The decision comes five years after American authorities shut down Dotcom's file-sharing website Megaupload and filed charges of conspiracy, racketeering and money laundering against the men. If found guilty, they could face decades in prison. Scroll down for video Kim Dotcom arrives at Auckland District Court in 2014. A High Court judge on Monday upheld the rule that the internet entrepreneur should be extradited to the US for trial Dotcom, who lives in New Zealand, has been fighting extradition in a case which has moved slowly. And Monday's decision won't be the last, with the case likely to be appealed up to New Zealand's Supreme Court, a process that could take another year or two. In addition to Dotcom, who founded Megaupload and was its biggest shareholder, the US is also seeking to extradite former Megaupload officers Mathias Ortmann, Bram van der Kolk and Finn Batato. American prosecutors say that Megaupload raked in at least $175million, mainly from people using it to illegally download songs, television shows and movies. The New Zealand district court ruled in 2015 that Dotcom and the others were eligible for extradition on the charges. High Court judge Justice Murray Gilbert found on Monday that the district court made mistakes in its ruling but that those didn't alter the big picture. US prosecutors argue that Dotcom's file-sharing site Megaupload fleeced copyright holders out of more than $500million Dotcom tweeted on Monday: 'We won but we lost anyway.' Dotcom's lawyer Ron Mansfield said the High Court agreed with a major part of their appeal - that copyright infringement on its own isn't an offense that warrants extradition - but had erred in finding the men could be extradited on conspiracy grounds. 'Look, we're disappointed it's not all over in the high court,' Mansfield said. 'But we're one step away, as far as we're concerned, from winning outright.' Mansfield said they are determined to keep fighting. Megaupload allegedly raked in at least $175million from people using it to illegally download songs, television shows and movies He added: 'There are substantial legal issues in play.' The US argues that the site cost copyright holders, which included Hollywood's major movie studios, more than $500million. Prosecutors say intercepted communications show the men talking about being 'modern-day pirates' and 'evil' and that they were part of a conspiracy to profit from copyright infringement. Dotcom argues that he can't be held responsible for others who chose to use his site for illegal purposes, and that any case against him should have been heard in civil court. Born in Germany as Kim Schmitz, Dotcom has long enjoyed a flamboyant lifestyle. He was arrested in New Zealand in 2012 after a dramatic police raid on his mansion. Out on bail soon after, he released a music album, started another internet file-sharing company called Mega, and launched a political party which unsuccessfully contested the nation's 2014 election. The owner of David Jones has delivered a brazen assessment of Australian shoppers at a banking analyst function. The Scottish titan, owner of David Jones and fashion icon Country Road, labelled Australian shoppers as 'a bit of a miserable bunch'. Mr Moir owns South African chain Woolworths Holdings, not related to the Australian supermarket chain, and offered a blunt assessment of the Australian market at a talk about the department stores profit updates. Scotsman Ian Moir owns South African company Woolworths Holdings, which owns Australian department chain David Jones (Stock Image) David Jones is undergoing a major transformation with $170 million going to be invested into the Sydney flagship store He said the Australian economy was a mixed bag at the moment but he went one step further and said the nation's shoppers are too quick to jump on bad news. This news was anything from the world economy or the messages coming from the U.S. President Donald Trump. 'Australians are by nature a bit of a miserable bunch,' he said at his profit update in Johannesburg last week, according to The Herald Sun. David Jones' operating earnings was up 1.9 per cent from the same time last year (Stock Image) 'The things that are affecting that are global concerns and it's more the world economy, concerns about Trump it's affecting confidence.' Recently Mr Moir issued a warning to Australia retail fashion groups that more brands would go bust after hard times. He said the damp consumer confidence would affect specialist retailers. Coupled with the rise of online shopping and more international brands flooding the market Mr Moir said he sees more of of his competitors collapsing. 'We have talked about how the market was going to change, how there was going to be consolidation, more internationals would come in, online would increase, a lot of the specialty apparel retails would go and only the people with scale would survive that is exactly what is happening right now,' he said at the Woolworths investor update. Owner of David Jones Ian Moir called Australian shoppers 'a bit of a miserable bunch' at a profits update meeting With a water park, drama theatre, food exploration laboratory and relaxation retreats, it could be mistaken for the ultimate resort. But this state-of-the-art haven is Queensland's newest early education facility Springwood Kids Early Learning Centre, set to open its doors on Friday. Located on Springwood Road, the Logan facility comes complete with a learn to swim, a frog-shaped mist archway, outdoor chill-out zones, art atelier, cafeteria, and reading nooks. Operations manager Cassie Hobbs said the centre was inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach - an Italian-based world leading educational philosophy that focuses on each child's needs and interests. Queensland's childcare facility Springwood Kids Early Learning Centre, set to open on Friday The state-of-the-art facility offers a range of activities, including a food exploration laboratory The Logan comes complete with a swimming pool, cafeteria and outdoor chill-out zones 'All of our vision and planning with our architects are finally coming to life,' Ms Hobbs told Daily Mail Australia. 'To see our service provide this philosophy to Australia is a very exciting time for all of us. This has been in the making for four to five years. 'It feels really rewarding to know that we'll be opening our doors this Friday. We're excited about sharing our passion we have for this approach.' The daily rate fees for the boutique-style facility costs $92 a day for children under the age of three and $90 for four years old and older. The centre caters for 103 children a day and operates five days a week. The centre has more centres set to roll out in the next six to 24 months. The centre, set to open on Friday, can hold 103 children a day and operates five days a week There are relaxation retreats within the centre so children could take a break from activities The boutique-style facility offers art programs, including painting, sewing and clay work 'We are one of the cheapest childcare centres in the area,' Ms Hobbs said. 'We want to ensure that every child gets access to the facility. We are providing services that are in reach of all families, not just working parents as all children deserve a quality facility.' The centre offers several activities to choose from, including art programs, sewing classes and swimming lessons run by accredited instructors. 'We have educators supporting programs in all areas,' she said. 'There is also a relaxation zone for the children so they can rest as they please.' There are relaxation retreats and reading nooks within the centre so children could take rests The Logan facility comes complete with a swimming pool and outdoor chill-out zones Children are able to sit down and eat their meals at the centre's cafeteria There are relaxation retreats and reading nooks within the centre so children could take rests The water park features a swimming pool for lessons and a frog-shaped mist archway The centre offers a several activities such as swimming lessons run by accredited instructors Dozens of families attended an open day at the centre earlier this month - with 515 places on offer across the week nearly filling up. 'We've had such great feedback from the public,' Ms Hobbs said. 'It's a very exciting time for us. Not only for us, but for early childhood in Australia.' For more information, please visit Kids ELC website. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said on Sunday evening that the company will launch an investigation into serious accusations of sexual harassment and discrimination made by a former engineer for the ride-sharing service. In a lengthy blog post, former Uber employee and best-selling author Susan Fowler Rigetti details a number of concerning incidents she experienced during her year with the company. Kalanick called the accusations 'abhorrent and against everything we believe in,' and said he's instructed a new chief human resources officer to conduct an 'urgent' investigation into Fowler's claims. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, left, said on Sunday evening that the company will launch an investigation into the serious accusations of former employee Susan Fowler Rigetti, right, who detailed a number of concerning incidents she experienced during her year with the company He continued: 'There can be absolutely no place for this kind of behavior at Uber. 'Anyone who behaves this way or thinks this is OK will be fired.' Huffington Post creator and Uber board member Ariana Huffington has promised to aide the human resources officer in the investigation. In Fowler's post, titled 'Reflecting on One Very Strange Year at Uber,' the author recounts being propositioned sexually by a manager on her first day at the office. Using the company chat system, she said that the unnamed manager told her that he and his girlfriend had an open relationship, but that his girlfriend was having an easier time finding sexual partners than he was. Kalanick called the accusations 'abhorrent and against everything we believe in,' and said he's instructed a new chief human resources officer to conduct an 'urgent' investigation into Fowler's claims He continued, saying that he wanted to stay out of trouble at work, but that it was difficult because he was trying to find women to have sex with, Fowler said. 'It was clear that he was trying to get me to have sex with him, and it was so clearly out of line that I immediately took screenshots of these chat messages and reported him to HR,' she continued. According to her account, she joined the company as a site reliability engineer in November 2015. At that time, she says, about 20 per cent of the employees in her field there were women - compared to just three per cent on her last day. Despite her reporting the incident to management, the manager received no repercussions from his actions apart from a 'stern talking-to', she was told, because he was a 'high performer', meaning he had positive reviews from superiors. In Fowler's post , titled 'Reflecting on One Very Strange Year at Uber,' the author recounts being propositioned sexually by a manager on her first day at the office She said that both HR and upper management officials didn't feel comfortable punishing him for what was 'probably just an innocent mistake on his part', and was a 'first offense'. It was not, however, this manager's first offense, Fowler discovered after discussing the matter further with fellow female employees. She said many women had experienced similar sexual harassment in the office, and some even from the same manager. In response to Fowler's report of the incident, Uber HR reportedly told her that she could choose to either move to another team and not have to interact with the problematic manager, or remain on the same team - but to be aware that the manager would probably rate her poorly when it came time for performance reviews. Fowler said that one HR representative explicitly told her that a negative performance review 'wouldn't be retaliation' because she'd been given a choice whether to remain on the team. Uber HR reportedly told her that she could choose to either move to another team and not have to interact with the problematic manager, or remain on the same team - but be aware that the manager would probably rate her poorly when it came time for performance reviews Following another incident in which she claims Uber reportedly refused to purchase leather jackets for the six women on the engineer team despite buying them for the over 100 men in the company, Fowler again found herself in a terse meeting with human resources. Although she had at this point expressed countless concerns via chat and email to the HR team, the representative allegedly told her there was 'absolutely no record' of the incidents she claimed to have reported. A breaking point for Fowler came shortly after, during a one-on-one meeting with her new manager. She says he told her that she was on 'very thin ice' for her continued convergence with to human resources, and threatened to fire her if she did so again. She alerted him that such action would be illegal - and again reported the threat to HR and upper management - though no action was taken, she later found out, because of her manager's status as a 'high performer'. A breaking point for Fowler came shortly after, during a one-on-one meeting with her new manager. She says he told her that she was on 'very thin ice' for her continued convergence with to human resources, and threatened to fire her if she did so again (stock image) The ramifications for Fowler were substantial during her year with the company, and affected her professionally by having two transfer attempts blocked and rendering her ineligible for the Stanford University computer science graduate program she was enrolled in. In the post, she claims to have overheard her manager bragging that although the company was losing women, he still had some on his team. The only explanation she says she received for having her transfer attempts blocked were that she was not showing signs of an 'upward career trajectory'. Fowler has moved on to write a best-selling book on computing theory and has been invited to speak at major technology conferences. The family of Nadine Haag is still pleading for questions almost eight years after she was found with her wrists slashed next to a hand written note saying 'he did it'. The mother-of-one's body was found in the shower of her Castly Hill apartment in Sydney on December 4, 2009. Her wrists were slashed and a note written in her own hand writing was found. But a separate note which said 'he did it' was also found. Nadine Haag's body was found in the shower of her Castly Hill apartment in Sydney on December 4, 2009 Police concluded the 33-year-old former Dunedin woman committed suicide, a ruling her family never accepted, Stuff report. Nadine's family believe her ex-partner and father of her child, Nestore Guizzon, was responsible for her death, forcing her to write the suicide note before killing her himself. Nadine and Mr Guizzon were locked in a messy custody battle over their two-year-old child when Nadine was found dead. The family commissioned an independent investigation into Nadine's death which ultimately led to the coroner overturning the police ruling in August 2013. Police ruled the 33-year-old former Dunedin woman committed suicide, a ruling her family never accepted Her wrists were slashed and a suicide note was found. But a separate note which said 'he did it' was also found (pictured) Now four years after the coronial finding and no new discoveries, Nadine's sister Tasia Haag is again pleading for answers. 'We still strongly believe that Nadine died at the hands of another, or the result of foul play,' she told Stuff. 'I believe she died at the hands of somebody, I believe she didn't do it.' Tasia said the devastated family had heard nothing from the police since 2013. The New South Wales police have not released any new statements. The family said Nadine had a volatile relationship with her ex-partner Mr Guizzon, which they believe was an incentive to kill her. The family commissioned an independent investigation into Nadine's (pictured) death which ultimately led to the coroner overturning the police ruling in August 2013 Nadine's family (pictured) is pleading for answers almost eight years after she was discovered dead in her Sydney apartment in 2009 According to Stuff, a dress Nadine was wearing the day she died was never found, further adding to the mystery. A second message etched on a bathroom tile saying 'he did it' was found by new residents of the apartment Nadine was found dead in. Nadine's former partner Mr Guizzon has denied any responsibility for Nadine's death. Police confirmed there was no evidence placing Mr Guizzon anywhere near Nadine's apartment the day she died. But the coroner found Mr Guizzon 'lied about his whereabouts', claiming he was home all day when he was not. A second message etched on a bathroom tile saying 'he did it' was found by new residents of the apartment Nadine was found dead in Police concluded the mother-of-one committed suicide, but that conclusion sparked her siblings to embark upon an extraordinary investigation of their own 'On the one hand, at the time of her death there was nothing to suggest that she would act to end her life, whilst on the other hand, on the evidence available there are serious difficulties in characterising her death as a homicide,' Deputy state coroner Paul MacMahon said. Tasia Haag and her family have appealed for any information which could assist in the investigation. Anyone with information is urged to phone the police or contact New Zealand Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or in Australia on 1800 333 000. Furious students and politicians have rallied against plans to expand an immigrant detention centre to house 'high and extreme risk' inmates. Federal government plans call for the Melbourne Immigrant Transit Accommodation (MITA) centre to be redeveloped to house 140 inmates deemed high risk - meaning they have criminal convictions or are involved in gangs. But the plans are being opposed by local councilors, residents, activist groups, and detainees who say they were not properly consulted and fear for their safety. Dozens of students, activists and politicians have protested the expansion of an immigration centre in Melbourne in order to house 'high and extreme risk' detainees Councillors and residents say they were not consulted on the plans, while activists say the proposals are unfair to low-risk detainees already housed in the centre MP Frank McGuire, the State Member for Broadmeadows, joined dozens of students and locals to protest the expansion in Melbourne's north on Monday. Government plans, drawn up by the Standing Committee on Public Works, say that the number of low-risk immigrants held in such centres is decreasing, while the number of high-risk detainees is going up. The proposals point to this and the closure of nearby Maribyrnong Immigrant Detention Center as justification for expanding the centre in Melbourne. The proposals include new accommodation for 140 inmates, a behavioural management unit for troubled inmates, a new high-security visitor centre, and new security measures including movement restrictions and 'sterile' border-zone. According to plans seen by Daily Mail Australia, the new inmates would be those who 'had their visas cancelled on character grounds, due to criminal convictions and links to organised crime or outlaw motorcycle gangs. MP Frank McGuire joined demonstrators outside the centre to protest the $29million expansion, which would see rooms built for 140 high risk or extreme detainees Councillors have fumed at federal government officials who claimed there was local support for the centre, when they say they have never supported it Locals fear for their safety if criminals or those associated with gangs are brought to the centre, as it is located just 450m away from homes 'Others are not able to be released into the community for security reasons, or because of behavioural concerns while residing in an immigration detention facility.' The government plans claim to have the support of locals, stating: 'The City of Hume supports the presence of the MITA within its local authority.' But Hume Council has hit back, saying they have never supported having the centre and want the land to be used for business purposes instead. In a letter submitted to government officials, councillors blast the plans, saying there has been 'a complete lack of consultation with the council and local community.' Councillors also accused the government of sneaking the plans out over the Christmas period while many people were away. They say the plans are particularly concerning as residents live just 450m from the site, raising fears that escaped detainees could get into the local community. Their concerns are backed by the Craigieburn Residents' Association who say they were not consulted over the plans either. Meanwhile advocacy groups - such as the Refugee council of Australia, the Bayside Refugee Advocacy and Support Association, the Broadmeadows Progress Association, and Foundation House say the proposals will be harmful to those currently being held at MITA. Rights groups say moving high-risk detainees to the centre will mean introducing a 'jail culture' where those who have committed no crime will be treated like criminals Activists say there is evidence that moving criminals into detention centres creates and atmosphere of intimidation and brings other problems such as drug use They say introducing criminals into a centre which is used to house those seeking asylum who have committed no crime is unethical and dangerous. They point to studies which have shown an increase in 'jail culture' such as threats and intimidation and the introduction of drugs in such mixed facilities. The organizations also say that increased security measures will affect all detainees, meaning those who have committed no crime will still be treated like criminals. This will increase stress and harm to low-risk detainees, they argue, while also depriving them of facilities such as outdoor areas that will be turned over to the high-risk detainees. A spokesman for the Department of Immigration and Border Protection said: 'Whilst the upgraded compounds will provide for a more difficult caseload, the internal security will be improved so as to reduce risk to good order. 'This includes separating the higher security compounds from the lower security areas. 'The public can be assured that community safety is an important consideration in the operation of Australias immigration detention network.' A public hearing into the MITA expansion plans has been scheduled for February 20 in Broadmeadows. Hundreds of scientists, environmental advocates and their supporters gathered in Boston on Sunday to voice opposition to the Trump administration's stance on climate change. Geoffrey Supran, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who studies renewable energy solutions to climate change, said scientists are responding to the Trump administration's 'anti-science rhetoric'. 'We're really trying to send a message today to Mr Trump that America runs on science, science is the backbone of our prosperity and progress,' Supran said. Members of the scientific community, environmental advocates and supporters demonstrate on Sunday in Boston's Copley Square to call attention to what they say are the increasing threats to science and scientific research under the administration of President Donald Trump Geoffrey Supran, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who studies renewable energy solutions to climate change, said scientists are responding to the Trump administration's 'anti-science rhetoric' The 'Rally to Stand Up for Science' in Boston's Copley Square was held outside of the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting, one of the first major gatherings of scientists since Trump was elected in November. Among those present, were elementary teachers, professors and scientists, many chanting 'Stand up for science', and holding signs that read 'Science Matters', 'Scientists Pursuing Truth, Saving the World' and 'Make America Smart Again'. 'We did not politicize science', said Naomi Oreskes, a Harvard science historian who spoke at the rally. 'We did not start this fight. 'Our colleagues who have been attacked have not been attacked because they did something wrong. They have been attacked because they did something right'. Neuroscientist Shruti Muralidhar (front left) and microbiologist Abhishek Chari (front right) hold placards and chant during Sunday's rally in Boston Johanna Klein, of Brookline, Massachusetts, an internal medical doctor (center), holds a placard and chants during Sunday's rally in Boston Glenn McDonald, 49, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, brought his nine-year-old daughter, Lyra Ericson, to the protest to fight the government becoming 'a force for ignorance'. 'Without science, theres no America', McDonald told The Boston Globe. 'Without science, we dont have anything'. Some of those who turned out criticized Trump's appointment of Scott Pruitt as head of the Environmental Protection Agency over the objections of environmental groups. During six years as the attorney general of Oklahoma, Pruitt filed 14 lawsuits challenging EPA regulations. He previously expressed skepticism about scientific evidence showing the planet is heating up and that humans are to blame. However, during his Senate confirmation hearing last month, Pruitt said he disagreed with Trump's past statements that global warming is a hoax. Pruitt and Trump have vowed to roll back many of former President Obama's major environmental regulations. Women have revealed the horrors they endured at the hands of ISIS sex slaves - despite being Sunni Muslims just like their captors. Abuses against Yazidi women have been well documented under the terror group's brutal rein in parts of Iraq and Syria. But according to Human Rights Watch there is now evidence that Sunni Arab women are now being targeted too with one victim telling the group how she was raped everyday for a month in front of her children. Displaced Iraqi families from Hawijah rest 20 miles from Kirkuk in Iraq after fleeing their homes due to ongoing fighting between government forces and ISIS jihadists, in 2016 ISIS, which proclaimed a 'caliphate' straddling Iraq and Syria in June 2014, claims to follow a pure brand of Sunni Islam as it was practised in the time of Prophet Mohammed. But Human Right Watch has now documented cases of arbitrary detentions, beatings, forced marriages and rape by the jihadists on Sunni women who have fled the town of Hawijah, which is still under ISIS control. HRW recounted the story of Hanan, a 26-year-old whose husband had already fled Hawijah, who was captured by ISIS fighters along with 50 other women when they also attempted to escape the town in April 2016. ISIS fighters told the mother-of-three that her husband's flight made her an apostate and that she should marry the local jihadist leader. She refused, telling her ISIS captors 'Kill me, because I refuse to do that'. But she was blindfolded, beaten with plastic cables, suspended by her arms for some time and then raped. 'The same guy raped me every day for the next month without a blindfold, always in front of my children,' Hanan told HRW. 'My daughter suffers from an intellectual disability so she doesnt really understand what she saw, but my older son brings it up often. I dont know what to do.' A month after she was captured, Hanans father was able to locate her and gave ISIS a car and paid $500 for her release, she said. Abuses against Yazidi women have been well documented under the terror group's brutal rein in parts of Iraq and Syria He was forced to sign a document stating that if she escaped ISIS-controlled territory, he would be killed. The ISIS fighter who had been raping her said he wanted to marry her, but she and her father refused, she said. In January 2017, she said, she escaped with the rest of her family to Kirkuk. She said she did not know what happened to the other women, but heard from the woman from another captive's family that she had been forced to marry her rapist. Another woman, 25, said she was captured while waiting to escape in October 2016 when ISIS fighters opened fire on her group and shot her son, six, in the back. She was hit in the shoulder with a gun butt and locked up with the other women in an abandoned house. Three female guards came and lashed each woman 65 times with a thin cane, she said. They were told that if they winced, they would get more lashes. Eventually her family paid for her release and found her son had survived after having four operations. Fawzia, 45, from Daquq said her house was occupied by three fighters after her husband fled to avoid being used as an ISIS spy. She said the men would bring girls aged about 16 into a room 'for about an hour' and that she could hear them crying. HRW said the issue was not given enough attention and that too little was being done to tackle the stigma that prevents many more victims from coming forward. 'Little is known about sexual abuse against Sunni Arab women living under ISIS rule,' said Lama Fakih, deputy Middle East director at HRW. 'We hope that the international community and local authorities will do all they can to give this group of victims the support they need,' she said. ISIS fanatics have justified the mass rape and sexual enslavement of women from the Yazidi minority - who are neither Arab nor Muslim - on the grounds that they are polytheists. The accounts collected by HRW often refer to ISIS fighters accusing the women of apostasy, or abandoning their faith, before abusing them. A man who followed a manic driver on a deadly rampage has revealed he had to choose which of the injured to help in the aftermath of a head-on collision. Larz Erikssen, from Perth, was the first person on the scene after a Toyota Landcruiser ploughed into oncoming traffic on the Bussell Highway in Capel, killing 61-year-old mother Jenni Pratt instantly. Witnesses said the 45-year-old driver of the Landcruiser was smiling as he tried to swerve into at least 25 cars before the fatal crash with a Toyota Rav4. Scroll down for video Horrific aftermath: Witnesses claim a man that allegedly sped into oncoming traffic on purpose and killed a woman was 'jumping around' and smiling in his car before the fatal crash Jenni Pratt, a 61-year-old mother from Geographe, was instantly killed after her white Toyota Rav4 collided head-on with the green Landcruiser travelling on the wrong side of the road. Larz Erikssen (right), from Perth, was the first person on the scene Mr Erikssen said he followed the driver as he ran people off the road and crashed into road signs before being thrown from his vehicle, which caught fire, about 4.45pm on Saturday. After the collision, Mr Erikssen said he decided to bypass the driver of the Landcruiser and rushed to help the two women in the Rav4. 'He was on the floor and not moving so I know this is very mean, but my thought process was "I'm going to help the people in the Rav4 before anyone else",' he told 6PR Radio. 'So obviously I was helping the other girl and the other people that came before they started helping him. 'I didn't really see his face or what he looked like, I didn't want to go anywhere near him to be honest.' Mr Erikssen said it seemed to be too late to help Ms Pratt who died at the scene. He tried to find a way to get her out of her car, but was unable to do so until emergency crews arrived to cut her body out of the vehicle. Tributes have been left for Ms Pratt, a woman who was described as an 'irreplaceable beautiful soul' with an amazing outlook on life and infectious smile. Dylan Mateljan, who filmed the moment the 45-year-old driver collided head-on with a car, said the man tried to swerve into 'at least 25 vehicles' Dylan Mateljan, who also filmed the crash, told Nine Network's Today Show: 'I'm still in disbelief, I feel so sorry for the family that has lost that poor innocent woman.' Another witness, who narrowly avoided a collision with the Landcruiser, said the driver was 'jumping around' in his seat and wearing aviators before the crash. 'The guy's face man, I just remember it. It was just unbelievable, like I've never seen before,' the man told Sky News. 'He was just jumping around in his car and just going nuts, you know, like he was happy about what he'd actually done.' Mr Mateljan told Nine News that the driver's behaviour was 'completely erratic.' Devastating rampage: Two onlookers embrace after the crash. The driver of the Rav4, a 61-year-old woman, died at the scene. Her female passenger is in a serious but stable condition Terrified witnesses attempted to tow the damaged car away from the inferno, but were unable to save the victim's life 'There was no explanation for it. He was physically driving his vehicle off-road to take out signs and then veering into the oncoming traffic to then deliberately have a head-on collision,' he said. 'He went through the windscreen of the Landcruiser. He obviously mustn't have been wearing a seat belt, and he was laying right in the middle of the road.' Other witnesses reportedly told Nine News they had seen the same driver at a nearby beach campsite the morning of the crash. They claimed he left the site in a hurry, leaving behind chairs and cooking utensils. Police say the Landcruiser was travelling north in the south bound lanes of Bussell Highway, south of Perth, when it collided head-on with the white Toyota Rav4. Ms Pratt died at the scene, but her passenger, a 54-year-old woman from Busselton, suffered life-threatening injuries in the crash and was airlifted to Royal Perth Hospital. The driver, who is now in critical condition in hospital, was captured on camera driving erratically along the Western Australia highway The vehicle collided head-on with a Toyota Rav4, killing the driver and sending a passenger to hospital with life-threatening injuries She was said to be in a serious, but stable condition. The Landcruiser rolled over and the driver was thrown from the vehicle before it came to rest right side up and caught on fire. The driver, from Bunbury, sustained critical injuries in the crash and was airlifted to Royal Perth Hospital where he remains in a critical condition on Monday. Investigators would like to speak to anyone who may have seen the crash or the Toyota Landcruiser prior to the crash travelling on Wonnerup Beach, Layman Road and Bussell Highway in Busselton. Anyone with any information is asked to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or make a report online at www.crimestopperswa.com.au The family of Karen Ristevski has been told a badly decomposing body found in bushland could be the missing mother. Ms Ristevski's family has been contacted by police and told to prepare for the worst, The Australian reported. The human remains were discovered at 12.30pm on Monday in Mt Macedon, north-west of Melbourne. A bushwalker found the body under a large log and contacted police, A Current Affair reported. A friend of Ms Ristevski told The Australian the news has been 'absolutely traumatic' for the family. Police at the scene where a 'badly decomposed' body was found in Mount Macedon, north of Melbourne, on Monday afternoon Police are working to identify the remains of the body found in bushland near a Victorian town The family of Karen Ristevski (pictured here with husband Borce) has been told a badly decomposing body found in bushland could be the missing mother The human remains were discovered at 12.30pm The body was reportedly found by a bushwalker under a 'large log' A Victoria Police spokeswoman said the remains were being taken for forensic tests to determine the identity and the cause of death. The discovery site is about 25 kilometres from the Toolern Vale area where police were searching for Ms Ristevski last December. It is not known if the cases are linked. Ms Ristevski, 47, was last seen on June 29 leaving her home Oakley Drive in Avondale Heights in Melbourne's north-west following an argument with her husband Borce Ristevski. It has been reported that Ms Ristevski's phone pinged a tower in Gisborne - about 11 kilometres from the site - on the day she went missing. The discovery site is about 25 kilometres from the Toolern Vale area where police were searching for missing Melbourne mother Karen Ristevski last December Victoria Police are taking the remains for forensic testing Council health and safety workers have torn down traffic calming scarecrows near the site of a fatal crash over concerns they were 'distracting' to drivers. Officials in Coupar Angus, Perthshire, have objected to the two life-size police dummies, despite locals saying they had a 'remarkable impact' on speeding in the area. The scarecrows, wearing reflective yellow jackets with 'police-slow down' scrawled on them in felt-tip pen, were installed where toddler Harlow Edwards, two, was knocked down and killed by a car in October. Pictured: The scarecrows (left) have been installed at the site of a fatal crash that killed toddler Harlow Edwards (right) in October last year Perth and Kinross Council said the signage was illegal and 'dangerous' to drivers. John Kellas from the council said: 'While the council appreciates that this had been done with the best of intentions, it is illegal for any unauthorised signage to be erected at the side of the road as they may distract drivers and could jeopardise any enforcement action taken by Police Scotland.' Locals report since the mannequins were removed the problem of speeding has returned. Sara Edwards, Harlow's mother, has been campaigning for safety measures on local roads and claimed Police Scotland had not said the scarecrows were illegal. She told the Evening Telegraph: 'I have seen the good Samaritans at the end of my street, and while I dont know where they came from, Im really pleased with the effect theyre having. 'Having spoken to some neighbours, I think we are all in agreement that these new additions highlight the need for change.' Perth and Kinross Council said that the signage was illegal and 'dangerous' to drivers but local residents have claimed they have had a 'remarkable impact' on speeding Another local resident, Jimmy Harris, said: 'The idea that two scarecrows are more dangerous than speeding cars shows the council have no common sense..' He added: 'I think we need to have a strong word with the council.' Perth and Kinross Council has proposed official measures for tackling speeding cars in the town, including an extension of a school-time 20mph limit on the town's Forfar Road and an extension of a 30mph limit on one of the entrances to the town. Those proposals will go before a meeting next month. First-home buyers in Sydney on an average salary of less than $80,000 a year are fast running out of options to own their piece of the great Australian dream. There are now more Sydney postcodes with median price tags of $2 million than there are suburbs with houses selling for less than $600,000. Sydney already has a median house price of $1.1 million, making it the second most expensive city in the world after Hong Kong and out of reach for Australians earning less than $80,000 a year. This three-bedroom brick house on Burwood Road at Concord is selling for $2 million This fibro, three-bedroom house on Archer Street at Mount Druitt is selling for between $580,000 and $630,000 The news is only getting worse for first home buyers with about 10 per cent of Sydney suburbs having a median house prices of between $400,000 and $600,000, data from CoreLogic shows. That kind of money would barely buy a three-bedroom fibro house at Mount Druitt, 43 kilometres west of Sydney's city centre, or a similar-sized brick house in nearby Rooty Hill. A unit in Hornsby, 25km north of Sydney, can also be snapped up for $600,000. By comparison, about 15 per cent of Sydney suburbs had median house prices of more than $2 million. This three-bedroom brick house at Rooty Hill, in Sydney's west, is selling $575,000 and $625,000 This two-bedroom unit at Hornsby, in northern Sydney, is selling for more than $600,000 A three-bedroom unit at Rider Boulevard at Rhodes, overlooking the Parramatta River, is under contract for $2 million That kind of money would buy a three-bedroom house at Concord, in Sydney's inner-west or a brand-new three-bedroom water-view apartment, overlooking Homebush Bay and the Parramatta River, a few suburbs away at Rhodes. For someone on an average $78,832 full-time salary, a $600,000 property is 7.6 times their income. A bank, however, would be unlikely to lend someone funds for a $2 million house, which would be more than 25 times an average salary, unless they were in a relationship with someone wealthy. Housing affordabilty in Sydney has deteriorated severely since the end of 2015, when one in five suburbs had a median price of between $400,000 and $600,000. Back then, only 10 per cent of suburbs had a median price of more than $2 million. A Melbourne woman has been forced to bite a 'feral' dog that was attacking her smaller pooches. Sharon Fish sustained a broken finger in the frightening ordeal which occurred in a Broadmeadow park as she walked her two dogs. 'I don't know why I thought of doing it I just bit it,' Ms Fish told Ten News. Scroll down for video Sharon Fish demonstrating on her own puppy Kayla, how she bit the dog that was attacking her two canines in a Melbourne park 'I didn't bite it hard enough to draw blood, just hard enough to hold it.' The 52-year-old said it was the the only way she could stop the dog from killing her pups Snuggles and Kayla. 'I couldn't stop it, it was feral,' Ms Fish told Newscorp. 'I've seen many aggressive dogs - this one was the worst I've seen. It would not have stopped until my dogs were dead.' Ms Fish said she had to plunge her hands into the mouth of the dog that looked like a Staffordshire terrier as it had her Jack Russell-cross named Kayla in its mouth. Ms Fish sustained a broken finger in the frightening ordeal while Snuggles a maltese terriercross sustained puncture wounds to his legs, neck and stomach while Kayla suffered a leg injury which resulted in a $1000 vet bill The 52-year-old said that it was the the only way she could stop the dog from killing her pups Snuggles and Kayla (pictured) But as she did the dog clamped down on her hand, breaking her finger. 'It actually snapped my finger in half,' Ms Fish told Ten News. That's when she decided to fight fire with fire and bit the dog on the scruff of the neck. This somewhat subdued the dog and Ms Fish was able to place a rope around its neck and tie it to a railing. The vicious dog that attacked her animals was being walked by a man that Ms Fish claimed didn't even attempt to stop the ordeal. Ms Fish has since underwent surgery on her hand from the January 29 attack while her dogs also needed treatment. Snuggles a Maltese terrier-cross sustained puncture wounds to his legs, neck and stomach while Kayla suffered a leg injury which resulted in a $1000 vet bill. Police are now searching for the staffy and its owner. Kerrville, TX (78028) Today Plenty of sunshine. High near 85F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Mostly clear skies early then increasing clouds with some scattered thunderstorms late. Low 62F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%. This is the nail-biting moment an elderly woman tumbles headfirst down an escalator after losing her footing. CCTV footage shows the pensioner riding on the moving walkway in the city of Nanning in southern China, with a shopping cart by her side. But somehow, she suddenly loses her balance and plummets down back the way she came at high speed. CCTV footage shows the pensioner riding on the moving walkway in the city of Nanning in southern China, with a shopping cart by her side Somehow, she suddenly loses her balance and plummets down back the way she came at high speed It looks as if she takes quite a beating during the fall, with her head seemingly hitting a metal step with her legs in the air. Luckily a quick-thinking passerby stepped in to help. The video shows a young woman rushing to push an emergency stop button at the bottom of the escalator. An eye witness commended her for remedying the situation. Talking to a local news channel, the man said: 'The girl was so great. 'She reacted very quickly, much quicker than us. She had already pressed the stop button just after we heard the woman fall.' According to CGTN, the woman was more than seventy years old. It is not known what injuries she sustained. Police in the subway praised the young woman who helped were, and warned that elderly, children, and pregnant women should stand steadily in the yellow area while taking the escalator. It looks as if she takes quite a beating during the fall, with her head seemingly hitting a metal step with her legs in the air In love: Britain's most violent prisoner Charles Bronson, 64, proposed to Paula Williamson by serenading her with a personalised version of the Frank Sinatra classic My Way from a HMP Wakefield pay phone Charles Bronson's fiancee today revealed she will marry her 'gentle giant' inside jail as soon as possible despite the 'huge risk' of only having met him four times. Britain's most violent prisoner, 64, proposed to Paula Williamson by serenading her with a personalised version of the Frank Sinatra classic My Way from a HMP Wakefield pay phone. They are getting married even though though they met for the first time last September - and only three times since then. Their only physical contact has been 'kissing through bars' and she now has a 'ritual' of seductively eating a banana in front of Bronson 'for his viewing pleasure.' The former Coronation Street actress, 36, denies that she is marrying Bronson as a publicity stunt to relaunch her career. She told ITV's Good Morning Britain: 'He's a gentle giant and he is a gentleman. He's very, very caring. He's never hurt a woman, he's never hurt a child. 'He's the first to admit his crimes, but he has served his time for those crimes. He's served fourteen years over his time for those crimes.' She added: 'I do know Charlie and this is the real deal. I'm very excited to be his fiancee because I'm in love with the man. That's the god's honest truth.' The dangerous inmate proposed to his girlfriend by serenading her with a personalised version of the Frank Sinatra classic My Way. Couple: The former Coronation Street actress, 36, denies that she is marrying Bronson as a publicity stunt to relaunch her career. Paula said she completely understands why people would question why she's marrying Britain's most notorious prisoner - but says it is the 'real deal' Campaign: In 2014 Bronson changed his surname to Salvador in honour of artist Salvador Dali - he is up for parole later this year and Miss Wiliamson wore a supportive wristband today Bronson popped the question to his former Coronation Street actress on Valentine's Day in a telephone call from HMP Wakefield to her home in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. Sparkler: Bronson, who has been married twice and engaged three times, is believed to have saved up for the ring he gave his fiancee He had a diamond cluster ring delivered before asking her 'Do you want to be my missus?'. The 64-year-old sang 'Our Way', altering some of the lyrics, and sang: 'We've lived a crazy life and travelled in and out of darkness. But more, much more than this, we did it our way.' Paula said she completely understands why people would question why she's marrying Britain's most notorious prisoner. Paula said: 'Yes, Charlie's the first to admit that he's done a lot of terrifying things and I'm aware of those things. 'However, the Charlie that I know is not the same person that's committed all those offences while he's been incarcerated. 'He is that person, he's committed these offences and he's made these mistakes, but he's a different character now. He's 64-years-old and he's 14 years over the tariff he should be. He's up for parole this year anyway.' Paula - an actress who has had small parts in Emmerdale and Coronation Street - insists the engagement is not a publicity stunt: 'No, not at all, not at all. I can [have a normal marriage with him] when he's released. We don't know yet [when that will be] - he's got a parole hearing later this year. If I was doing it for any kind of publicity reasons, I wouldn't get married to Britain's most notorious prisoner, it would make no sense. 'I can understand that they [the public] would think that [this is complete madness]. This is going to brand me now. I'm branded now. I love him. 'I've not deliberately sought him for that [publicity] reason. I wrote to him because I connected with him with a book I read that he'd written called Broadmoor. It was about his time and I found his spirit phenomenal and very inspiring.' Lifer: Bronson (left the last time he was freed) has spent much of his time in jail in solitary confinement due to his history of violence - he may never be released from jail (right in 2004) Quizzed on why she'd choose this relationship over one with someone not in prison, Paula said: 'If only I could have met him outside of this situation how wonderful that would be. However, he is where he is and I've met him and I can't deny chemistry, I can't deny when you fall in love with somebody, I cannot deny that. I'm taking a huge risk here - I've been sacked from one of my jobs already [because of this relationship]. I'm promoting Charlie's cause.' Britain's 'most violent prisoner' Charles Bronson is said to have proposed to his actress girlfriend Paula Williamson when she visited him at HMP Wakefield last week, pictured Of the lack of intimacy, Paula insisted: 'Not every couple are intimate for a long time. We can't kind of comment on that as an entirety. It's the real deal. I left drama school in 2005 and I've been working as a jobbing actress, a lot of my work isn't just TV it's other things, but now because I'm known as Charlie Bronson's fiancee that's going to tarnish certain things.' Speaking of the wedding itself, Paula said: We'll get married in prison, within the prison chapel, depending on where he is at that point. 'We've spoken about [who will be there]. I believe there's about ten guests allowed and there'll be a selection of Charlie and I's family friends.' The couple exchanged letters while Bronson was engaged to his former partner Lorraine Etherington, secretary of the Charles Bronson Art Foundation which raises money for charity by promoting his drawings. He proposed to her in 2015 but the couple later split and it is believed he did not meet Miss Williamson until after the end of that relationship. Bronson, who has been married twice and engaged three times, is believed to have saved up for the ring despite previously getting 'knock-off versions' for his partners. The notorious prisoner and former bare-knuckle boxer was first jailed in 1974 and has spent a total of 41 years in prison, having had his sentence increased previously for attacking fellow inmates and taking people hostage. The actress has appeared in several British soaps and said they are a 'perfect match' Miss Williamson, pictured appearing as a stripper on Emmerdale, said she had been in relationships with 'both men and women' in the past but 'none come close to her love for Charlie' The pair are said to have been together for five months and are 'determined to make the relationship work' despite him being in prison. Bronson whose life was made into a 2009 film starring Tom Hardy as the prisoner - has been married twice before, first to Irene Bronson, whom he divorced in 1977 after a five-year marriage. The couple had one child - Michael - who was born in 1970. Bronson then married Fatema Saira Rehman, a Bangladeshi-born divorcee, in 2001 after the pair had corresponded after she saw a picture of him in a newspaper. He briefly converted to Islam during the second marriage, which ended after four years. Asked about whether their marriage would go the same way Paula said: 'I am a different person to what she is'. A great grandmother has married a homeless man who she first met more than 40 years ago when he was rifling through bins. In a heartwarming tale reminiscent of the Lady and the Tramp, Joan Neininger and Ken Selway, both 89, tied the knot on Saturday in front of family and friends. The pair originally met in 1975 when Ms Neininger spotted Mr Selway from the window of her bookshop, searching for scraps among the rubbish from a nearby chippy. Joan Neininger and Ken Selway, both 89, have tied the knot (left) 40 years after they first met when he was rifling through bins outside her bookshop. They are pictured together right at Ms Neininger's sister's wedding, some time during their 40-year friendship The pair (pictured at their wedding) met in 1975 when Ms Neininger spotted Mr Selway from the window of her bookshop, searching for scraps among the rubbish from a nearby chippy But, despite forming an extraordinary friendship, it was only in 2016, when the pair moved into the same care home, that Ms Neininger and Mr Selway decided to get married. Ms Neininger said: 'It is lovely for everyone to have come today and everyone has made such a fuss of us. 'When I saw him ferreting through the bins outside a fish and chip shop near my bookshop in Gloucester, I never thought for a minute it would end like this. 'But although he was living on the streets, I knew straight away that Ken was lovely man with a beautiful soul.' The couple's wedding took place at the Cinderford registry office, where Ms Neininger carried a traditional bouquet and was accompanied by bridesmaids. After tying the knot, the happy couple returned to Hanover Court residential home - where they both live - for the reception. The couple's wedding took place at the Cinderford registry office (pictured), where Ms Neininger carried a traditional bouquet and was accompanied by bridesmaids The bride is pictured in her wedding dress arriving at the registry office with one of her bridesmaids The happy couple were joined by family and friends as they signed the register on Saturday There, they were met by fellow residents, who showered the couple with confetti and sung Mr Selway's favourite song, Amazing Grace. Regional Manager for Hanover Housing Rowena Hindle said: 'The wedding was beautiful. Joan and Ken were both nervous but full of humour and giggles. 'This really shows a positive side of people growing older and being in a residential setting with extra care and still being able to make these important decisions and do what they want to do. After tying the knot, the happy couple returned to Hanover Court residential home (pictured) - where they both live - for the reception There, they were met by fellow residents, who showered the couple with confetti (spictured) and sung Mr Selway's favourite song, Amazing Grace Staff at the care home also put on a wedding breakfast for the couple and fellow residents 'It has been wonderful to be here to share with them this special day.' When Ms Neininger met Mr Selway, he was sleeping rough in stations and shop doorways. But Ms Neininger noticed he was different, neatly dressed in a grey belted gabardine mac and drinking only milk. Mr Selway is pictured with his wedding ring after the registry office service At the time, she was a married mother. But after reading Down and Out in Britain, by Jeremy Sandford, she realised Mr Selway could be one of the many ordinary people slipping through the welfare state safety net. Ms Neininger then asked advice from the local church minister and her family and her daughter who suggested leaving sandwiches in the bin because he would not take any money. The binmen took the first package but Ms Neininger made more and eventually, with the blessing of her husband Norman - to whom she was married for 30 years - she invited Ken in for a meal. For a long time he refused all offers of help and money, telling her: 'You'll get into trouble'. But her father finally convinced Mr Selway it was the whole family who were concerned about his welfare. Ms Neininger eventually left her husband to live in a caravan with Mr SElway, who suffered from schizophrenia. But their unusual relationship was never sexual and eventually all three - Norman, Joan and Ken - lived together happily for many years before Norman died from a heart attack. When Ms Neininger met Mr Selway, he was sleeping rough in stations and shop doorways. They are pictured years ago during their friendship Ms Neininger noticed Mr Selway (right, as a young man) was different, neatly dressed in a grey belted gabardine mac and drinking only milk. They are pictured together left Ms Neininger and Mr Selway (right) are pictured with Ms Neininger's first husband Norman in The Cannon pub, Gloucester. The three lived together before Mr Neininger died Mr Selway then developed health problems and moved into Hanover Court residential home in Cinderford, Gloucester, where Ms Neininger later arrived. Their love blossomed and in 2016, during the leap year, Ms Neininger proposed. Ms Neininger said: 'People say I saved Ken, but it was actually Jeremy Sandford's book that made me look twice at the men sleeping rough and see him as the person he was. 'The sad thing is that it's still happening today, in fact it's getting worse. There are people like Ken sleeping in shop doorways all over the country.' Mr Selway added: 'When I met Joan I was sleeping rough and wanted to kill myself. I probably would not be here now if wasn't for her leaving those sandwiches in the bin. She's a really kind person.' Estate Manager Helen Lee added: 'The wedding has been absolutely fabulous. Lovely that Ken and Joan are finally married after all this time. 'They are really pleased to have had such a good day with their family here with them.' The Project has debuted in New Zealand without Waleed Aly and Carrie Bickmore. Instead of the recognisable faces, the first international version of Network Ten's popular current affairs program aired on the Three network at 7pm local time on Monday with fresh new faces. To replace Aly, Bickmore and Pete Helliar, the show has enlisted Kanoa Lloyd, Jessie Mulligan and comedian Josh Thomson. The Project has debuted in New Zealand (pictured from right) Kanoa Lloyd, Jessie Mulligan and comedian Josh Thomson as hosts In place of Gold Logie winner Bickmore, Lloyd comes to the show from a stint as a weather reporter. She has insisted the show would not be too light and will deal with a wide range of topics from the Kardashians to global politics. 'I'm still going to care about health and education and the state of global politics,' she told the NZ Herald. 'It's treating the audience as smart enough that they can consume both of those things.' New Zealand's answer to Aly is Mulligan - a lawyer turned comedian who hosts his own music radio show, which he will continue alongside The Project. His co-hosts are a 'dream team', he said according to News Corp. The New Zealand version of the popular news program debuted with Aussie stars Waleed Aly and Carrie Bickmore (pictured) The Kiwi hosts appeared on the original show, with Lloyd (right) joking: 'We really appreciate you guys letting us steal something off you for once, rather than the other way round' 'Kanoa brings brilliant and diverse broadcast experience, with an undeniable star quality,' he said. 'Josh might be the funniest person in New Zealand, but he's also pure chaos.' Thompson, an actor as well as a comedian, is excited to be able to say what he likes live on air. 'It's a daily live show where I can say stupid things to the nation and it'll be too late for the editors to cut it out,' he told Newshub. The trio appeared on Monday night's episode of the Aussie original after making their debut, with Lloyd telling Aly and Bickmore: 'Well, no one has told us we're fired yet, we're very grateful for that.' She also joked: 'We really appreciate you guys letting us steal something off you for once, rather than the other way round.' The New Zealand show sticks close to the original unlike other Aussie exports Pete Helliar (left) was interviewed by his Kiwi counterpart on New Zealand's The Project According to Vincent O'Donnell, an expert on TV formats at Melbourne's RMIT University, the show sticks close to the original unlike other Aussie exports that adapt themselves. 'The Project NZ will succeed or fail on the strength of the personalities, not the appearance of the show,' he told News Corp. But it appears that some critics have given it the seal of approval. The NZ Herald's Calum Henderson said he headed to the studio to watch a rehearsal expecting to hate it but was pleasantly surprised. Instead of the scathing opening line he had planned on using 'The Project? More like The Reject' he wrote: 'Now that I've seen the future, I can't do it. 'Instead, all I have is a prophecy: in the future, Three's 7pm current affairs show is actually bloody good.' But critic Jane Bowron was less impressed. 'Really, it was Rove [McManus] and news presenter Kanoa Lloyd's show on the night, with Jesse Mulligan ceding camera rights to Lloyd's lion's-share of it, and funny guy Josh Thomson so far failing to fire,' she wrote on stuff. 'Anything's better than The Hosk over on the other side, but The Project has to quickly show it's more than a cheap Aussie import propped up by 7 Days front row props.' A wheelchair user was left crying at the gate after Ryanair staff told her she had to walk up stairs to board her plane. Student Niamh Herbert was at Dublin Airport when she said crew from the budget airline told her they did not have time to help her board the flight to London. Having been asked to wait 15 minutes for assistance by cabin crew, she was then asked if she could climb the stairs to the aircraft herself 'for easiness sake', she claims. Wheelchair user Niamh Herbert says she was left crying at the gate after Ryanair staff told her she had to walk up stairs to board her plane Student Niamh Herbert was at Dublin Airport when she said crew from the budget airline told her they did not have time to help her board the flight to London Niamh Herbert sent a series of tweets about her ordeal at the airport as it was unfolding The wheelchair user said she was asked to climb the stairs to the flight herself But while Ms Herbert told her friends to board the flight without her and continue their planned trip to London Fashion Week, she was left at the terminal in floods of tears. She then threatened legal action and was allowed to catch the next flight, she claims. Ryanair says it 'regrets any inconvenience' but insists the passenger 'arrived at the boarding gate 13 minutes before the flight was due to depart and had not booked any wheelchair services.' Ms Herbert sent a series of tweets about her ordeal at the airport as it was unfolding. In a Facebook post about the incident, Ms Herbert, a fashion student at Trinity College, Dublin, wrote: 'We arrived at the boarding gate, at which point I was told I would have to wait 15+ minutes to be assisted on with my wheelchair - I was annoyed, but I understand delays. While Ms Herbert told her friends to board the flight without her and continue their planned trip to London Fashion Week, she was left at the terminal (file picture) in floods of tears Ms Herbert was left in tears when the flight took off from Dublin Airport without her The wheelchair user, a student at Trinity College in Dublin, threatened legal action before she was allowed to catch the next flight She described Ryanair staff as 'v uncaring' and told her Twitter followers she was left at gate 104 'crying my eyes out' Ms Herbert was able to catch the next flight to London, claiming she had threatened legal action 'I got very angry then when the air host asked me would I be able to climb the stairs instead of waiting "for easiness sake". I kind of hear these stupid things every day, but nothing prepared me for the shocking ableism I was about to experience. 'The captain called the boarding desk and said he understood the situation, but he was about to take off, no exceptions.' She said she told her two friends to go on without her before 'Ryanair air hostesses let me sitting in the middle of gate 104 crying my eyes out. According to Irish Central, Ms Herbert has yet to receive an apology. Ryanair acknowledged the incident with a tweet at the time saying: 'Hi Niamh, Our crew at Dublin Airport are providing assistance. Please advise if you need any further information. LR' Ryanair told MailOnline this morning: 'While we regret any inconvenience, this customer arrived at the boarding gate 13 minutes before the flight was due to depart and had not booked any wheelchair services. 'Our crew provided full assistance and as a gesture of goodwill, transferred this customer on to the next available flight, free of charge, and the customer flew to London Stansted. 'Thousands of passengers of reduced mobility travel with Ryanair on a weekly basis without issue and any customers who require wheelchair assistance are asked to book it in advance.' 'Had this customer booked wheelchair assistance and arrived at the boarding gate on time, there would have been no issue. Every effort was made to accommodate this customer onto their flight and they were then transferred to the next available flight.' Two senior Ukip officials in Liverpool have resigned over Paul Nuttall's handling of his false claim about the Hillsborough disaster. The resignations add to pressure over Mr Nuttall's disastrous campaign to win the Stoke by-election on Thursday, where he hopes to seize the seat from Labour. In a joint statement today, Ukip's Liverpool chairman Stuart Monkcom and Merseyside spokesman Adam Heatherington blasted Mr Nuttall for an 'upsetting and intolerable' approach. Polls in Stoke open at 7am on Thursday and Mr Nuttall remains the bookies' favourite to take the seat, which was left vacant by the resignation of Labour's Tristram Hunt to take a new job at the Victoria and Albert museum. Two senior Ukip officials in Liverpool have resigned over Paul Nuttall's handling of his false claim about the Hillsborough disaster Mr Nuttall was last week forced to admit claims on his website that he lost 'close personal friends' in the 1989 disaster were not true. He also failed to condemn Ukip donor Arron Banks for accusing Hillsborough survivors of 'milking' the tragedy. The embattled Ukip leader has angrily denied claims he was not at Hillsborough at all on the day 96 Liverpool fans were killed, insisting there is a smear campaign against him. In a statement, Mr Monkcom said: 'Although the timing of our resignations is unfortunate in light of upcoming elections, both Adam and I wish to make it clear, where the painful subject of Hillsborough is concerned, with closure not yet in sight, this unprofessional approach and crass insensitivity from high profile people closely within and without Ukip is upsetting and intolerable. 'We identify most strongly with all the good people of Liverpool and most importantly the families of the Hillsborough victims who have fought so hard and long for justice, in their condemnation of the way Ukip has handled these issues and have resigned our positions and membership of Ukip forthwith.' Mr Nuttall finally appeared in public on Friday at Ukip's spring conference, fighting back tears as he described 'smears' against him. Mr Nuttall finally appeared in public on Friday at Ukip's spring conference, fighting back tears as he described 'smears' against him He admitted he had suffered 'a difficult week' after being forced to make a humiliating confession that a blog post on his website claiming he lost 'close personal friends' at the stadium tragedy was incorrect. But he hit out at the 'evil smear campaign' waged against him over accusations he lied about being at Hillsborough, insisting he was 'witness statements' to prove he was there. And as he addressed the Ukip spring conference in Bolton, Mr Nuttall pleaded his party to get behind him and help beat Labour in the Stoke by-election. After receiving a standing ovation, he removed his glasses to wipe a tear from his eye, before announcing his vision to woo Labour voters to return Britain to the days 'when things were cheap as chips'. Last week Paul Nuttall was forced into making a humiliating confession that he did not lost 'close personal friends' in the 1989 stadium tragedy - despite claiming he did in a blog post on his website The row over Hillsborough exploded last week when Mr Nuttall was asked on live radio about the claim he lost 'close personal friends. The claim was made in several blog posts on Mr Nuttall's official website. As the row grew, the website was taken down entirely. The 2011 post demanded the release of memos written for Margaret Thatcher and said: 'Without them being made public, we will never get to the bottom of that appalling tragedy when 96 Liverpool fans including close personal friends of mine lost their lives.' A 2012 post, which appears to have been deleted, used the same words. Mr Nuttall was 12 at the time of the 1989 disaster. He has said he was at the match with his father and two uncles. US Vice President Mike Pence has insisted Washington will continue to forge close ties with the EU amid fears about the new administration's comments on Russia and NATO. In a series of meetings in Brussels where he was met by mass protests, Pence said he was acting on behalf of President Donald Trump to express the 'strong commitment of the United States to continued co-operation and partnership with the European Union.' After talks with EU Council President Donald Tusk, he told reporters: 'Whatever our differences, our two continents share the same heritage, the same values and above all the same purpose: to promote peace and prosperity through freedom, democracy and the rule of law.' Trump's controversial rhetoric - branding NATO 'obsolete', vowing to undo a series of multinational trade deals, his attitude towards Vladimir Putin and support of Brexit - have unnerved many European countries. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker called Trump's campaign 'absolutely disgusting' and told TIME magazine last week that Trump's remarks on the EU were 'highly unfriendly and not helpful at all.' US vice president Mike Pence has reassured European Union officials about the Trump administration's stance towards the EU, according to European Council president Donald Tusk Tusk said he and Mr Pence held 'open and frank talks' aimed in part at allaying concerns about President Donald Trump's support of the EU But Tusk, who chairs meetings of the 28 EU member states, said he had been reassured after 'open and frank talks' with Trump's right-hand man. He said: 'Today I heard words which are promising for the future, words which explain a lot about the approach of the new administration in Washington.' He underlined that 'too many new and sometimes surprising opinions have been voiced over this time about our relations - and our common security - for us to pretend that everything is as it used to be.' He said he had asked Pence directly if he shared his opinions on three key points. Firstly, in a thinly veiled attack on Trump, he expressed the belief that 'maintaining order based on the rules of international law, where brute force and egoism do not determine everything, lies in the interest of the West.' Pence's visit to Brussels saw thousands of protesters gather outside the EU headquarters Protesters in Brussels marched against Trump's views on climate change and Pence's attitude towards gays A protester shows her support for women's rights during the gathering outside the EU headquarters in Brussels today One female protester had the words saying 'Pence get out of our pants' scrawled on her body He added: 'For millions of people around the world, the predictability and stability of our approach provide a guarantee or - at the very least - hope that chaos, violence and arrogance will not triumph in a global dimension.' In his second point, he insisted: 'The idea of NATO is not obsolete, just like the values which lay at its foundation are not obsolete.' And lastly, he said: 'We are counting as always in the past on the United States' wholehearted and unequivocal - let me repeat, unequivocal - support for the idea of a united Europe,' Tusk said. 'The world would be a decidedly worse place if Europe were not united.' Referring to those three points, Tusk said Pence had agreed with him on all three matters. Pence voiced the administration's strong support for NATO over the weekend and was due to visit the alliance's headquarters later today. He said US commitment to transatlantic ties remained 'steadfast and enduring' after decades of working together on security and economic issues. Pence's visit to Brussels saw thousands of protesters gather outside the EU headquarters to express their disgust to Trump's attitude toward women, gays and climate change. Irene Donadio, who works for the International Planned Parenthood Federation, told AFP: 'We are here to protest against the visit of Pence because we are revolted by the decision of the US administration to undermine women's rights worldwide.' Two female protesters went topless and carried banners saying 'Pence get out of our pants' while another placard read 'Love Trumps Hate'. Tight security surrounded the EU quarter of the Belgian capital during his trip. Pence's visit comes two days after Trump referred during a rally in Florida to a non-existent Swedish terror incident and urged people to 'look at what's happening in Brussels' as he listed a series of European cities struck by deadly terror attacks. United States Vice President Mike Pence, left, shakes hands with European Union High Representative Federica Mogherini during a meeting in Brussels Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has abandoned a plan mooted by Donald Trump to seize Iraq's oil fields in order to pay for the US military's role in defeating ISIS. President Trump suggested Iraqi oil revenue could be used to pay for the long-running conflict which caused considerable concern among political leaders in Baghdad. However, speaking today, Mattis ruled out any such grab as Iraqi troops continued their advance on western Mosul - with the support of US and coalition air power. Scroll down for video US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, pictured today in Baghdad, made an unannounced visit to Iraq to meet with local political leaders to discuss the ongoing battle against ISIS in Mosul Mattis, left, was greeted on the ground by Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend before meeting Iraqi leaders to assure them that the US has no intention of seizing their oil fields Mattis told reporters: 'I think all of us here in this room, all of us in America have generally paid for our gas and oil all along, and I'm sure that we will continue to do that in the future' Mattis, pictured, made the unannounced visit to Baghdad earlier today to meet Iraqi leaders Mattis - a renowned former general known as 'Mad Dog' - arrived on an unannounced visit in Iraq as the battle to oust ISIS militants from western Mosul moved into its second day, and as the Pentagon considers ways to accelerate the campaign against the terror group. Those efforts could be complicated by Trump's oil threat and his inclusion of Iraq in the administration's travel ban - twin blows that have roiled the nation and spurred local politicians to pressure Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to reduce co-operation with Washington. Mattis said today: 'I think all of us here in this room, all of us in America have generally paid for our gas and oil all along, and I'm sure that we will continue to do that in the future. We're not in Iraq to seize anybody's oil.' His comments may provide some reassurance to the Iraqis. But the tensions come at a critical point in the war against ISIS, with two key battles in the works: the fight to take control of west Mosul, and the start of a campaign in Syria to oust ISIS from Raqqa, the capital of its self-declared caliphate. Al-Abadi has taken a measured approach, but the issues can complicate already difficult internal politics. Under the president's deadline, Mattis has just a week to send Trump a strategy to accelerate the fight and defeat Islamic State . And any plan is likely to depend on US and coalition troops working with and through the local forces in both countries. Mattis continued: 'We're going to make certain that we've got good situational awareness of what we face as we work together and fight alongside each other.' Iraqi troops began their assault on western Mosul yesterday to oust ISIS from their stronghold Heavily armed Iraqi troops are currently taking outlying villages surrounding the city Trump mentioned the issue of oil during his campaign as well as during a visit to the CIA His key goal during the visit is to speak about the military operations with political leaders and commanders on the ground, including his top commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend. Asked about the tensions, Mattis said he has been assured that the travel ban - currently stalled by a legal challenge - would not affect Iraqis who have fought alongside US forces. The oil issue, however, may be more difficult. Trump brought it up during the campaign, and he mentioned it again late last month during a visit to the CIA. Trump claimed: 'To the victor belong the spoils.' He said he first argued this case for 'economic reasons', but added it made sense as a counter-terrorism approach to defeating ISIS 'because that's where they made their money in the first place'. He said: 'So we should have kept the oil. But, OK, maybe you'll have another chance.' Trump, however, has also been clear that defeating ISIS is a top priority. In his inauguration address, he pledged to eradicate radical Islamic terrorism 'completely from the face of the Earth'. And he talked during the campaign about greatly increasing the number of U.S. troops in order to 'knock out' ISIS. He signed an order on January 28 that gives Mattis and senior military leaders 30 days to come up with a new plan to beef up the fight. Mattis would not discuss specifics, saying he wants to gather information first. But he has been talking with military leaders about the possible options, and has largely supported the US strategy of fighting ISIS with and through local forces. The military options range from putting more troops in Iraq and Syria to boosting military aid to Kurdish fighters backed by the US-led coalition. More specifically, officials have talked about expanding efforts to train, advise and enable local Iraqi and Syrian forces, increasing intelligence and surveillance, and allowing US troops to move forward more frequently with Iraqi soldiers nearer the front lines. In Syria, a possible option would be sending more US forces, including combat troops, there as the Raqqa fight heats up. Another move would be to provide heavy weapons and vehicles to the U.S.-backed Syrian Kurds, known as the YPG, and boost training. They have been the most effective force against ISIS in northern and eastern Syria, but the proposal is sensitive. There are more than 5,100 US forces in Iraq, and up to about 500 in Syria. A former police officer has been accused of killing four homeless people and attempting to resurrect them as zombies during occult rituals in a Russian forest. Arsen Bairambekov allegedly lured the vagrants with free alcohol to a makeshift altar and bonfire in woodlands in Verkhnyaya Pyshma at night-time. He sacrificed his victims then attempted to turn them into zombies a Russian court heard. Originally a police officer based in Dagestan in southern Russia, Mr Bairambekov moved to Verkhnyaya Pyshma, 900 miles east of Moscow, where the killings took place in 2014 (file image) After the sacrificial killings Mr Bairambekov buried the four bodies and is said to have returned some time later in a bid to unleash his occult powers through further rituals. Investigators told The Times: He tried to bring the dead back to life then turn them into zombies. However, all his attempts were futile. Originally a police officer based in Dagestan in southern Russia, Mr Bairambekov moved to Verkhnyaya Pyshma, 900 miles east of Moscow, where the killings took place in 2014. The former officer is also facing charges for two contact killings carried out on businessmen in 2002 and 2010 and for the illegal circulation of firearms. According to the Investigative Committee of Russia, Mr Bairambekov underwent three psychiatric evaluations and was deemed fit to stand trial. Arsen Bairambekov allegedly lured the vagrants with free alcohol to a makeshift altar and bonfire in woodlands in Verkhnyaya Pyshma at night-time In unconfirmed reports from Russian media outlets, Mr Bairambekov had a female accomplice who is being investigated separately, according to The Times. The newspaper also reveals he has struck a plea deal with police officers to serve no more than 12 years if found guilty. The rise of Satanism in Russia is deemed 'a greater threat to national security than Islamist extremism' by the Russian interior ministry, who made the claim in 2008 according to The Times. The newspaper also reveals that in 2010 a 'satanic cult' in Saransk allegedly encouraged members to join the police force. Birds of prey are being trained to prevent terror attacks in France, after being recruited by the country's air force. A team of four eagles is being trained to bring down remote-controlled drones when they stray into unauthorised airspace. It is feared that terror groups could use drones - types of which can be bought from toy stores - packed with explosives to target civilians or military landmarks. The birds of prey are being trained to take down drones, amid fears they could be used by terrorists to carry out attacks Incredible footage shows an eagle catching a drone, which it has been trained to swoop on as if it was a smaller bird Experts believe training eagles to deal with threatening drones is far safer than using bullets to shoot them down. Air force general Jean-Christophe Zimmerman told Reuters: 'These eagles can spot the drones several thousand metres away and neutralize them.' He said the idea came from police trials in the Netherlands. The birds are being trained to grab or halt the drones. Before they hatched, they were placed on top of drones before being kept there during their early feeding period. French authorities are concerned that drones are a 'credible' threat as they could be used by terrorists to kill civilians Impressive: An eagle catches hold of a drone in a training exercise amid fears terror groups could use explosive-laden devices Drones have been branded a 'credible threat' by security experts in France, and prompted alarm when they were flown over the Elysee Palace and other Paris landmarks two years ago. A military source told The Telegraph: 'We taught them to feed off the carcasses of the drones. 'Now, when they see one of these craft, they think it has food coming off it and they intercept it. Were teaching them not just to attack but to detect them.' Eagles have a grip 10 times more powerful than a human, making them ideal to deal with large unmanned drones. Eagles have a grip 10 times more powerful than a human, making them ideal to deal with large unmanned drones Advertisement Rare images of 'Britain's worst wartime disaster' where the UK surrendered Singapore to the Japanese have been published in a new book. The fall of Singapore was perhaps Britain's greatest military defeat since General Cornwallis surrendered to the Americans at Yorktown in 1781. It ended with 140,000 troops and citizens in Singapore captured, wounded or killed. Around 80,000 British, Indian and Australian troops based in Singapore became Prisoners of War as a result. Winston Churchill even called the capture of Singapore the 'worst disaster' and 'largest capitulation' in British military history. As immortalised in the cult 1980's BBC historical drama Tenko about Brits under Japanese occupation, images from the forgotten WW2 conflict in the Far East show the British troops surrendering. Around 80,000 British, Indian and Australian troops based in Singapore became Prisoners of War after the country fell to Japan, perhaps Britain's greatest military defeat since the 1781 Battle of Yorktown. Images from the World War II conflict in the Far East show British troops surrendering Singapore to the Japanese on 15 February, 1942 (pictured above) Singapore's days as a British colony were numbered when Japanese troops started to move swiftly down the Malay Peninsula in early 1942. The British greatly underestimated the fighting prowess of their enemy, and Japanese forces controlled the air and surrounding seas. British Lieutenant-General Percival was eventually forced to surrender 136,000 men in Singapore to the Japanese army. Pictured above, Percival and colleagues on their way to surrender In a series of black and white photos newly released in a book entitled The Surrender of Singapore by Stephen Wynn, Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival (bottom right, not facing camera) who was the General Officer Commanding Malaya in WW2, can be seen signing the surrender document handing Singapore over to the Japanese on 15 February 1942 The photographs have been released in a book entitled The Surrender of Singapore by Stephen Wynn. In a series of black and white photos Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival who was the General Officer Commanding Malaya in WW2, can be seen signing the surrender document handing Singapore over to the Japanese on 15 February 1942. Britain began building a naval base in Singapore in 1923. The base was finally completed in 1939, costing approximately 60 million. Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival was the General Officer Commanding Malaya in World War II and the man who had to turn Singapore over to the Japanese 'Britain realised the potential threat which Japan posed to her Empire in the Far East,' Wynn said. 'As early as 1923 Britain began building a massive naval base as Japan's naval power in the area became more apparent.' Singapore's days as a British colony were numbered when Japanese troops started to move swiftly down the Malay Peninsula in early 1942. The British greatly underestimated the fighting prowess of their enemy, and Japanese forces controlled the air and surrounding seas as well. The naval base and resources available were not enough and just two months after the Pacific War began, British Lieutenant-General Percival was forced to surrender 136,000 men in Singapore to the Japanese army. It was on 15 February, 1942, after a week of fierce, last-ditch fighting, that Percival surrendered Singapore and hostilities ceased. The occupation would prove to be a rough one, causing hardship and suffering for Singaporeans and prisoners of war alike. An arsenal of guns fell into the hands of the Japanese, some of whom celebrated by bayoneting their captives to death. They slaughtered captured gunners from an anti-aircraft battery, as well as patients in a medical station and the nurses and staff of 2/13 General Hospital. Thousands of men were forced into Prisoner of War camps following the surrender. The men stayed imprisoned until 1945, when Japan finally surrendered the country. Pictured above, Japanese prisoners of war working on the Padang, which sits opposite the Old Supreme Court Building in Singapore Britain surrendered Singapore to the Japanese on 15 February, 1942, after a week of fierce, last-ditch fighting. The occupation would prove to be a rough one, causing hardship and suffering for Singaporeans and prisoners of war alike. Pictured above, Japanese soldiers in Singapore More than 200 Indians and Australians who had fought for the Allies in Malaya and who were too badly wounded to be moved, were kicked, beaten, tied with telephone wire and machine-gunned - and then, dead or alive, doused in petrol and set alight. It was episodes like these which tempted British troops not to take Japanese prisoners. The push north was part of Japan's game plan. By doing so, they could cut the Burma Road which carried vital fuel and ammunition supplies to its enemy, China. It would be years - and cost the lives of thousands who died in appalling circumstances - before the Japanese announced its own surrender. 'There was no one thing that led to the surrender of Singapore, rather a combination,' Wynn said. 'A British arrogance which saw them refuse to accept that Japan posed a serious military threat. It would be years - and cost the lives of thousands who died in appalling circumstances - before the Japanese announced its own surrender. Meanwhile, Japan's game plan was to push north. By doing so, they could cut the Burma Road which carried vital fuel and ammunition supplies to its enemy, China. Pictured above is Changi prison after the Japanese surrendered A Chinese resistance fighter named Lim Bo Seng was based in Singapore and is regarded as a war hero in the country. When the war broke out in 1937, he and other Chinese in Singapore boycotted Japanese goods and raised funds to support the war effort in China. He and other volunteers put up a fierce fight against the Japanese during the Battle of Singapore. Pictured right, is a memorial built in Singapore in Seng's honor Lim Bo Seng was captured by the Kempeitai in Gopeng, Perak around March or April 1944. He refused to provide the Japanese with any information, despite being tortured. In May 1944, he fell ill with dysentery. He died in June, and was buried behind the Batu Gajah prison in Malaysia in an unmarked spot. After Singapore was liberated in 1945, his remains were taken to the country, where British officers held a funeral and memorial service (pictured above) 'Britain also did not believe that Japan would ever be bold enough to fight both Britain and America at the same time. 'Winning the war in Europe and defeating Hitler was seen as the main Allied priority, it was a case of Singapore can wait until we are ready.' The war between Japan and the Allied countries officially began on 7 December 1941 when hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked an American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. By standing up to the likes of Germany and Japan in the Second World War, the Allied countries paid a huge price as thousands of military personnel and civilians were killed. It is estimated just under 400,000 British people were killed in WW2 and over 60million people killed worldwide. Japan officially surrendered Singapore on 12 September 1945 after the US military dropped two Atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August. Pictured above, military officers arrive at Singapore's Old Supreme Court Building to discuss the surrender. Pictured right, Japanese officers sign documents surrendering the country It is estimated just under 400,000 British people were killed in World War II and over 60million people killed worldwide. Pictured above, Commonwealth and Japanese officers are seen leaving the surrender ceremony on 12 September, 1945 Days earlier, the Japanese surrendered to US General Douglas MacArthur on board an American battleship, Missouri, at Tokyo Bay, on 5 September, 1942. Pictured above, MacArthur is seen signing documents that officially ended World War II that day Japan officially surrendered Singapore on 12 September 1945 after the US military dropped two Atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August. When Americans finally liberated the POW camps, they were greeted by skeletal men who'd been imprisoned for years. 'Certain things in life should never be forgotten if as a global society we are to truly learn from past mistakes,' said Wynn. 'The Pacific War undoubtedly began with the attack on Pearl Harbour by the Japanese on 7 December 1941 and effectively ended on 9 August 1945 when the second Atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. 'Japan announced its surrender on 15 August. To fully understand and appreciate what we have today, and how far we have advanced, a look back through history can be an extremely useful barometer.' The Surrender of Singapore by Wynn Wynn can be purchased on Amazon for 19.99. A 14-year-old girl was beaten and detained by Iran's 'morality police' for wearing ripped jeans. The girl, who has not been named, was celebrating her birthday with friends when they were hauled into a police van in the city of Shiraz, in south-west Iran. Male officers forced the girls into the vehicle having threatened them with pepper spray. Once inside, female officers attacked them and pulled their hair. The girls were only set free after signing written pledges saying they would not wear the ripped trousers again and follow the country's strict dress code. A 14-year-old girl in the city of Shiraz, in Iran, was beaten by the country's 'morality' police for wearing ripped jeans Recalling the incident, the teenage girl told the Independent: 'There were two women and two men in a huge van and they pushed us into it with the force of their beatings. 'Their objection was to the ripped jeans that we were wearing. There were really no other issues concerning my friends and I.' The girl's mother told the website: 'It was unbelievable. When I entered the room, they were saying that these girls are not children any more and should wear proper clothes. 'Signs of bruises are still visible all over her body. My daughter and her friends were wearing ordinary clothes...it was just that they were wearing ripped jeans.' Iran enforces a strict dress code. Since the Islamic revolution of 1979, women have been required the wear the headscarf in public places. Rules are enforced by thousands of undercover 'morality police', who patrol the streets looking for offenders. Last year, it was revealed women in Iran were cutting their hair short and dressing as men to avoid the harsh morality police. At the same time, police arrested eight models as part of a crackdown that targeted 'un-Islamic acts' such as women exposing their hair. Iranians attempting to resist the patrols created a phone app called 'Gershad' to report their locations last year, but authorities in Tehran responded by deploying a new unit of 7,000 officers. Homosexuality, adultery and sex outside of marriage are also against Iranian law and can carry the death penalty, while access to Western women's magazines and films is strictly controlled. Alcohol is also strictly forbidden, with exceptions covering religious minorities but not foreigners. Two German fighter jets intercepted a London-bound airliner after air traffic control lost radio contact with the pilot. Jet Airways flight 9W 118, carrying 330 passengers and a crew of 15 from Mumbai to London Heathrow, was over Cologne when radio contact abruptly stopped. The German Air Force scrambled two Eurofighter Typhoons to escort the Boeing 777-300, which is thought to have tuned in at the wrong radio frequency. Footage captured from a British Airways plane flying 2,000 feet above 9W 118 shows the fighters flying alongside the Indian passenger jet The German Air Force scrambled two Eurofighter Typhoons to escort the Boeing 777-300, which is thought to have tuned in at the wrong radio frequency Jet Airways flight 9W 118, carrying 330 passengers and a crew of 15 from Mumbai to London Heathrow, was over Germany when radio contact abruptly stopped Footage captured from a British Airways plane flying 2,000 feet above 9W 118 shows the fighters flying alongside the Indian passenger jet. The plane continued along its planned flight path and the fighter pilots managed to restore radio contact just north of Nuremberg using emergency channels. As a precaution, the two Typhoons continued to escort the plane until it made a safe landing at London Heathrow. Two men filming from the British Airways plane behind can be heard saying, 'There they are', when they spot the planes. But that is not the end of the story, if some online commenters are to be believed. They have pointed out that at around one minute and 30 seconds into the video you can see a small dark object moving faster than the other aeroplanes. It is first spotted to the left of the Eurofighter Typhoons before moving into the top right corner of the screen. Sceptics said the blip is merely the shadow of another aircraft, but some UFO enthusiasts are not convinced. Eurofighter Typhoons are used by the RAF as well as the German Air Force. CirrusPilot wrote on his Facebook page: 'This incredible footage shows the German Air Force intercepting a Jet Airways 777-300ER bound for London (from Mumbai) yesterday after it failed to respond on the appropriate ATC frequencies. 'The trailing British Airways plane captured the footage near Cologne, Germany.' The fighters soon managed to establish contact with the Jet Airways plane, which had set off from Mumbai, and soon returned to base UFO enthusiasts have pointed out that at around one minute and 30 seconds into the video you can see a small dark object (circled) moving faster than the other aeroplanes File photo of a Jet Airways Boeing 777 coming in to land. Jet Airways confirmed in a statement that radio contact had been briefly lost while flight 9W 118 was over German airspace Speaking about the sighting of what some people think it a UFO, he said: 'Many commenters have noted that at the 1min 30sec mark of the video there is a small dark object. 'The object is moving faster than the other traffic. 'It originates far to the left of the Euro Fighter and takes a 45 degree angle direction towards the North East of the video shot. 'Perhaps a shadow of another aircraft crossing above.' Jet Airways said in a statement: 'Contact between Jet Airways flight 9W 118, from Mumbai to London's Heathrow Airport and the local ATC, was briefly lost while flying over German airspace. NOW THAT'S ONE VERY FAST JET: TYPHOON SPECIFICATIONS With a top speed of 1,320mph and a powerful 27mm Mauser cannon on board, the Eurofighter Typhoon can certainly pack a punch. The Typhoon is a multi-role combat aircraft used by the German Air Force and RAF. It is deployed in a range of operations, including high intensity conflict. The jet, which can break the sound barrier with ease, is extremely agile and is also used in air policing operations as well as peace support missions. The planes can break the sound barrier with ease. Pictured: Stock photo of a German Air Force Typhoon En gines: 2 Eurojet EJ200 turbojets Thrust: 20,000lbs each Max speed: 1.8Mach (1,381mph) Length: 15.96m (52.36ft) Cost: 87m Max altitude: 65,000 feet Max altitude: 55,000ft Wing span: 11.09m (36.38ft) Max altitude: 65,000 feet Aircrew: 1 or 2 Weaponry: Sidewinder air-to-air missiles Brimstone and Maverick air-to-surface missiles for piercing enemy armour Paveway laser-guided bombs 27mm Mauser cannon Advertisement 'Communication was safely restored within a few minutes. 'As a precaution, the German Air Force deployed its aircraft to ensure the safety of the flight and its guests. 'The flight with 330 guests and 15 crew subsequently landed at London.' Typhoons are regularly scrambled by the RAF in British airspace. On February 7, two jets were dispatched to meet Pakistan International Airlines flight PK757. The plane was accompanied by Typhoons to the Essex airport, with photos posted on Twitter showing several fire engines and a number of ambulances waiting on the ground. An airline spokesman said UK authorities had 'received some vague security threat through an anonymous phone call'. Passenger Naz Amin said the flight landed 'in the middle of nowhere' and was quickly surrounded by police. 'I realised it was surrounded by police and the police came on the plane about 45 minutes to an hour later and they took a gentleman off the plane,' he told LBC Radio. This photo, taken in 2001, shows a test model of a German Eurofighter Typhoon taking off at Manching in Bavaria A German Typhoon flies over Mosnov Airport in Russia. Picture taken in September 2016 Typhoons are regularly scrambled by the RAF in British airspace. On February 7, two jets were dispatched to meet Pakistan International Airlines flight PK757(pictured) 'He wasn't being disruptive at all, he was just sitting down... there was no-one being disruptive on the plane.' Essex Police said the incident is 'not believed to be a hijack situation or terror matter'. Stansted is a designated airport for dealing with hijacks and major security alerts. Incidents are dealt with in a remote part of the airfield to the north west of the terminal building. Britons are fighting on both sides in the battle for the ISIS-held city of Mosul, it has emerged. Elite SAS troops are spearheading the attack today alongside US commandos and Iraqi forces who have been backed by jets and helicopters. But as Iraqi soldiers battled their way to Mosul airport on the second day of a new push to recapture the western part of the city, it emerged that a British ISIS fanatic had carried out a suicide bombing in retaliation. The fresh push in the four-month-old operation to retake Mosul has sparked fears for 750,000 trapped civilians who risk getting killed trying to flee and face starvation if they stay. The UN warned that civilians trapped inside their houses were at 'extreme risk', with dwindling fuel and food supplies and scarce drinking water and electricity. Members of the Iraqi rapid response forces fire a missile toward ISIS militants during a battle in the south of Mosul, Iraq A masked fighter of the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) paramilitaries poses for a picture carrying a Kalashnikov assault rifle Iraqi security forces evacuate comrades, wounded in an explosives-laden vehicle attack claimed by ISIS ISIS fighters have control of west Mosul, while the coalition backed Iraqi Army has control of east Mosul and the south of the city. Iraqi troops, including British SAS fighters, are moving in from the south. On Monday, a British suicide bomber blew himself up in Tal Kisum and ISIS fighters are concentrating defences on a hill at Albu Saif It comes as ISIS claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing which it said was carried out by a British terrorist close to the city. The attack targeted a military facility to the southwest of the war-torn city, and the group claims it resulted in multiple casualties. ISIS named the bomber, who was driving an explosives laden vehicle, as Abu Zakariya al-Britani. The morning, Maurizio Crivallero, Save the Children's Iraq director, warned of a fresh crisis in the war torn city He said: 'This is the grim choice for children in western Mosul right now: bombs, crossfire and hunger if they stay - or execution and snipers if they try to run.' Iraqi forces, supported by the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) paramilitaries, advance near the village of Sheikh Younis, south of Mosul, on Sunday There was fierce fighter today as Iraqi troops launched an offensive on western Mosul SAS troops, along with US Green Beret and Delta Force commandos, are embedded with Iraqi and Kurdish fighters in western Mosul. Elite soldiers from Britain and the US are supposed to be limited to advisory roles, but have been dragged into the battle, which is expected to last several months. On the second day of the renewed offensive to liberate Iraq's last remaining city under ISIS control, they pushed northwards towards Mosul airport. The airport lies on the southern approach to the city, on the east bank of the Tigris. Federal police chief Raed Shaker Jawdat said in a statement: 'The federal police has resumed its advance...our cannons are targeting Daesh defence lines with heavy fire.' An estimated 2,000 ISIS fighters are left in west Mosul to defend their bastion against the massive offensive, according to a senior US intelligence official. The first day of the rekindled offensive saw forces advance in sparsely populated areas just south of the city itself. Elite units trained for urban warfare are expected to move into west Mosul at a later stage Iraqi forces have reached the southern outskirts of Mosul on the second day of a new push to drive Islamic State militants from the western half of the city Police forces in armoured vehicles were moving towards the sprawling Ghazlani military base on the south-western outskirts of the city Tens of thousands of Iraqi ground forces, receiving air support from the US-led coalition as well as from its own aircraft, are involved in the operation, seen as the culmination of efforts to retake the land the government lost to the jihadist organisation in 2014 Iraqi helicopters were seen firing rockets at the village of Abu Saif, mainly at a hill that overlooks the city's airport and provides the militants with a natural defence line on the southern approaches to Mosul The assault marks a new phase in the broad operation launched on October 17 to retake Mosul, Iraq's second city. ISIS is increasingly ordering its fighters - including a British militant - to carry out suicide bomb attack with their forces surrounded. A statement released by the terror group today said: 'The martyrdom-seeking brother Abu Zakariya al-Britani - may Allah accept him - detonated his explosives-laden vehicle on a headquarters of the Rafidhi army and its militias in Tal Kisum village, southwest of Mosul.' It did not reveal when the bombing took place. 'Rafidha' is a derogatory term used to refer to Shiite Muslims, who ISIS fanatics consider to be heretics. Iraqi forces pass the body of an ISIS militant fighter next to the road on a hill outside Abu Saif Treatment: There were a number of casualties as fierce fighting continued outside Mosul today The recapture of Mosul would deal a death blow to the 'caliphate' which ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed in the city in June 2014 but has been shrinking steadily for two years as anti-IS forces advanced. But it took the Iraq's most seasoned forces, the elite Counter-Terrorism Service, two months to retake east Mosul, where ISIS put up stiffer than expected resistance. MATTIS: US DOES NOT WANT IRAQ'S OIL The new Pentagon chief, James Mattis, arrived in Baghdad on Monday to show support for the Iraqi security forces, more than 80,000 of whom have also received training from the coalition since 2014. Before landing in the Iraqi capital, he insisted the US was not about to plunder Iraq's oil reserves. US President Donald Trump repeatedly said both while campaigning and since his election that America, whose troops occupied Iraqi for years, should have 'taken' the oil. But Mattis, a retired Marine general who commanded troops during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, appeared to nix the idea. He said: 'All of us in America have generally paid for gas and oil all along, and I am sure that we will continue to do so in the future. We are not in Iraq to seize anybody's oil.' Advertisement Commanders and experts believe the city's west bank could prove even harder to retake, with the narrow streets of the Old City forcing Iraqi forces to undertake perilous dismounted raids. ISIS also 'likely has stronger support within western Mosul, and the ISF (Iraqi security forces) are more likely to encounter populations that are wary or hostile,' said Patrick Martin, Iraq analyst at the Institute for the Study of War. Yet after a lull in the four-month-old operation, optimism was high on the front lines. Hakem Gassem Mohammed, an officer with the interior ministry's Rapid Response force told AFP: 'I don't expect a very difficult fight: their end has arrived.' The first day of the rekindled offensive saw forces advance in sparsely populated areas just south of the city itself. According to a top army commander coordinating the operation, Abdulamir Yarallah, Iraqi forces yesterday retook 15 villages on three different fronts converging towards the airport. The jihadists defending Mosul's west bank have no choice but to defend their bastion. Bridges across the Tigris in the city have been destroyed and Iraqi forces have cut off escape routes. The forces were receiving support from a US-led coalition that has delivered more than 10,000 munitions on ISIS targets since the start of the Mosul operation. An Iraqi army helicopter fires at ISIS militant positions outside the town of Abu Saif Fighters of the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitaries take up defensive position raising a flag bearing the image of Prophet Mohammed's grandson, Imam Hussein, near the frontline village of Ayn al-Hisan, on the outskirts of Tal Afar west of Mosul There are 750,000 civilians trapped with dwindling food supplies in west Mosul. More than half a million residents stayed home when Iraqi forces entered east Mosul to battle ISIS there, leading to smaller displacement than initially feared. But the aid community said the assault on west Mosul could cause a bigger exodus. Lise Grande, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, said: 'We are hearing reports of parents struggling to feed their children and to heat their homes. We are racing against the clock to prepare emergency sites south of Mosul to receive displaced families.' The UN said nearly half of all food shops were closed and bakeries had shut down. Peter Hawkins, of the UN agency for children, said: 'Three out of five people depend on untreated water for cooking and drinking.' Mr Kaba (left), 24, was allegedly part of a group of five men who went to a Notting Hill Carnival after-party (inset) in east London in the early hours of August 30. They are suspected of conspiring to murder a 23-year-old rival who was shot on the dance floor at the Oval Space nightclub in Cambridge Heath. The victim was chased out of the nightclub and shot twice by a gunman before being taken to the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel. He was treated for gunshot wounds to both legs, but survived the attack. The four men appeared at Thames Magistrates Court on October 28 charged with conspiracy to murder. The newspaper reported that the prosecution will allege Mr Kaba helped plot the attack and was present at the incident. Mr Kaba, who died in Streatham Hill (right), south London, on September 5, was being followed by an unmarked police car with no lights or sirens turned on in the minutes before the shooting, Inner South London Coroner's Court was told last month. Karen Matthews (pictured this month) is said to have taken to Tinder to look for love but is so cash-strapped she can only afford to use the dating app on free wifi in McDonald's Karen Matthews is said to have taken to Tinder to look for love but is so cash-strapped she can only afford to use the dating app on free wifi in McDonald's. The 41-year-old was branded 'Britain's most hated mother' in 2008 after kidnapping her nine-year-old daughter Shannon, drugging her and tying her to a bed. Matthews staged the kidnap in order to claim a 50,000 reward for her return. She was jailed for eight years but released in 2012 after serving half of her sentence. Since her release, she is said to have had two short flings but has now taken to Tinder in search of love, according to the Daily Star. A source told the paper: 'She's seen a couple of fellas very briefly over the last few years but they were a lot older than her and a bit down-market even for Karen. 'Now shes trawling the internet looking for love, or sex or anything. 'But shes so short of cash because she cant get a job that she has to rely on logging onto the internet where the wi-fi is free.' Matthews' story has received renewed interest after the airing of a two-part BBC drama called The Moorside, which details Shannon's disappearance and discovery. She was reportedly attacked in recent weeks at a fish and chip shop by someone who recognised her and threw a plate of mushy peas over her head. Matthews is said to fear for her life and often covers her face with a scarf when walking in the street. The 41-year-old was branded 'Britain's most hated mother' in 2008 after kidnapping her nine-year-old daughter Shannon, drugging her and tying her to a bed She has reportedly given up drinking and began volunteering in the charity shop after finding it impossible to find a job due to her notoriety. She has claimed that she is struggling to survive on benefits of just 25 a week, and prays every day in order to find the strength to carry on. Her new name, Kate, is thought to be inspired by one of her Hollywood idols. The renewed interest in the Matthews case was prompted by a BBC drama, The Moorside, featuring Sheridan Smith as family friend Julie Bushby. Matthews staged the kidnap of Shannon (pictured) in order to claim a 50,000 reward for her return Since the first episode was broadcast, it emerged that Matthews is alleged to have written explicit letters to admirers for money while serving time in prison and planned to win over a guard to try to become pregnant. There has also been speculation that at least three other people may have been involved in the crime after Bushby claimed that the Dewsbury mother was 'not intelligent enough' to come up with the plot on her own. She claimed that her daughter Shannon had been kidnapped in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, in February 2008. Shannon was found, following a police search costing 5million, 24 days later less than a mile from her home in a house belonging to the uncle of Craig Meehan, Matthews' boyfriend. She had been tied up, drugged and hidden in the base of a divan bed. It is thought that Matthews staged the kidnap in order to claim the 50,000 reward for her return. She was convicted of kidnapping, false imprisonment, and perverting the course of justice and was sentenced to eight years along with Michael Donovan, Meehan's uncle. Matthews was released after serving four years at New Hall prison in West Yorkshire and Foston Hall prison in Derbyshire. Robert Prudham (pictured today outside court), the former husband of benefits mother-of-12 Cheryl Prudham, is facing jail after stealing money from parking meters The former husband of benefits mother-of-12 Cheryl Prudham is facing jail after admitting stealing money from parking meters. Robert Prudham, who is the father of Ms Prudham's six youngest children, stole 4,766 from machines across south east London and Kent while working as a meter collector. Prudham only got the job because he lied to a recruitment company, telling them he was of good character and had no previous convictions. His former partner Cheryl - who has announced she is pregnant with her 13th child - has also pleaded guilty to her part in the scam. The court heard how Prudham, 32 - who is illiterate - took the cash from car parks across south east London, including Woolwich Arsenal, Bromley, Eltham and Mottingham, over a six-week period. He also stole from meters at Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford, Kent, Fremlin Walk shopping mall in Maidstone, Kent, and other Kent car parks, including Borough Green, Chatham, Hildenborough, Longfield, Maidstone, Meopham, Rainham, Sevenoaks and Staplehurst. Prudham, who initially denied the charges, also admitted fraud for telling Eagle recruitment agency - through whom he got the job - that he was of good character with no criminal convictions. Today, Judge Richard Polden told Prudham that prison was a likely outcome. He said: 'This is a serious matter. It involves a breach of trust. I'm going to renew your unconditional bail but custody will be at the forefront of the court's mind when you are sentenced in due course.' Prudham (pictured), who is the father of Ms Prudham's six youngest children, stole 4,766 from machines across south east London and Kent while working as a meter collector The 32-year-old (left and right) only got the job because he lied to a recruitment company, telling them he was of good character and had no previous convictions He and Cheryl will be sentenced after the trial of Jacob Underdown, who denies the same offences. Cheryl, who lives with her family in Warrington, Cheshire, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to handling stolen goods from Meteor Parking Ltd. She is said to rake in more than 40,000 a year in state benefits, which is spent on lavish gifts and holidays for her brood. Cheryl Prudham pictured with her former husband when she had 11 children. He was father to six of them Cheryl dumped her husband when she found out he had been cheating on her. They are pictured above with ten of Cheryl's children The birth of her 13th child, believed to be due in the summer with her new partner Lee Ball, will boost her 'income'. Cheryl and her family have previously lived in the Kent town of Gravesend and the village of Teynham, near Faversham, but now live in Warrington. When the 34-year-old pleaded guilty, her barrister, Fiona Dunkley, told the court she has previous convictions dating back to 2004 and asked for a pre-sentence report. Details of the convictions were not given and a request for a probation report was granted. However, the judge on that occasion, Judge Adele Williams, also warned that jail was a possibility. Max Hill has been named as the UK's new terror laws watchdog by Home Secretary Amber Rudd. The barrister will take over from David Anderson as Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation at the start of next month. Mr Hill has been a QC for nine years and worked on a number of high-profile terrorism cases. He successfully prosecuted the failed 21/7 bombers, and appeared in the inquest into the 7/7 attacks. Mr Anderson left his powerful post with a call for the Government to overhaul its controversial 'Prevent' programme aimed at stopping people becoming extremists. Max Hill QC has been named as the UK's new terror laws watchdog by Home Secretary Amber Rudd The Home Office said Mr Hill has 'extensive experience' both defending and prosecuting complex cases involving terrorism, homicide, violent crime, high value fraud and corporate crime. A profile on the website of his chambers said he is an 'an effective multi-talented barrister who maintains a heavyweight crime practice'. Mr Hill said: 'I am very pleased to have this opportunity, which comes at a time of heightened concern about the risk from terrorism which we all face in the UK. 'As a practising barrister with experience in both counter-terrorism and the rights of citizens facing allegations of serious crime, I look forward to working with participants at all levels and from all sides.' Announcing the appointment, Home Secretary Amber Rudd said: 'With the threat from terrorism continuing to evolve and diversify, it is vital we have robust oversight to ensure our counter-terrorism laws are fair, necessary and proportionate. 'Mr Hill brings a wealth of experience and legal expertise to help deliver this.' The independent reviewer scrutinises the operation of the UK's laws on terrorism and produces reports. David Anderson QC left his post as the independent reviewer of terror legislation with a blast at the Government's Prevent programme In his final interview, Mr Anderson renewed his criticism of the Government's Prevent programme. He told ITV's Peston on Sunday: 'It's supposed to be the easy bit, it's supposed to be about stopping all our young people being drawn into terrorism. 'But for one reason or another it is actually the most controversial bit and the problem is that although there are admirable people doing the job on the ground locally, this is a programme that is simply not trusted by a very large number of decent British Muslims. 'I can only indicate directions of travel because I don't review the programme, but I think one thing they need to do is do a much better job of explaining what they are doing, what the basis is for the interventions they are making, what the training materials say, what is their metric for success. 'I think they also have to do a better job, particularly nationally, of engaging with a wider range of Muslims.' ISIS has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing which it said was carried out by a British terrorist close to the Iraqi city of Mosul. The attack targeted a military facility to the southwest of the war-torn city, and the group claims it resulted in multiple casualties. ISIS named the bomber, who was driving an explosives laden vehicle, as Abu Zakariya al-Britani. An ISIS statement claimed British suicide bomber Zakariya al-Britani had carried out a deadly attack in Mosul A statement released by the terror group today said: 'The martyrdom-seeking brother Abu Zakariya al-Britani - may Allah accept him - detonated his explosives-laden vehicle on a headquarters of the Rafidhi army and its militias in Tal Kisum village, southwest of Mosul.' It did not reveal when the bombing took place. 'Rafidha' is a derogatory term used to refer to Shiite Muslims, who Islamic State fanatics consider to be heretics. The bombing targeted Shiite Muslim troops, the statement claimed (Stock picture) Forces from the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation), a paramilitary umbrella dominated by Shiite militias backed by Tehran, are active in the area mentioned in the statement. They are fighting alongside other Iraqi forces - including the army and the federal police - as part of a push that started on Sunday to retake the west bank of Mosul. Tens of thousands of Iraqi forces launched a massive offensive on October 17 to retake the city, which is Iraq's second largest and the only remaining major stronghold of the jihadists in the country. They retook control of the eastern side of Mosul last month. ISIS fighters of a variety of nationalities, including Britons, have carried out suicide attacks on many occasions in Iraq and Syria in the past three years. The ISIS statement said that the British fighter's attack, and that of another suicide bomber of Iraqi nationality, caused many casualties. This claim has yet to be independently verified. A furious reality TV star claims his 'flat-stomached' five-year-old daughter was wrongly branded borderline obese by school nurses - despite weighing just three stone. Great British Benefits Handout father-of-four Scott Gavin, 32, said he was appalled to receive the 'cold' letter after daughter Ellie Mai Gavin was measured at school earlier this month. The test placed the youngster at 3st 4lbs and 3ft 5in tall - which according the NHS figures places Ellie Mai in the 96th percentile of the 'overweight' band - almost in the obese category. Mr Gavin, from Kirkby, Merseyside, claims the letter - which tells him his daughter is at risk of future health complications due to her weight - is fundamentally wrong. Great British Benefits Handout star Scott Gavin, right, 32, is furious after a school health test branded his daughter Ellie Mai, left, five, borderline obese The 'flat-stomached' girl, left and right, was placed in the 'overweight band' despite weighing just 3st 4lbs The father, who also has children Jake, 11, Robert, nine, Chloe, eight, and with wife Leanne expecting their fifth child, said: 'There's nothing wrong with Ellie Mai. She's flat-stomached. 'I think the test was completely wrong. There's no weight on her at all. I don't understand it. The tests must be completely wrong to start with. 'The way the word 'overweight' is just highlighted in bold as well. It's upsetting. 'It needs sorting out. That should not be going on. It's not acceptable, is it? It really upset me to be honest. 'We haven't told Ellie Mai about the letter and what it said, we don't want it upsetting her. 'She already has it in her head that she is ugly, she comes home from school saying other children have said she is.' Mr Gavin said he signed off on the test as he thought it would be a good thing, but is now furious and is refusing to tell his daughter the results in case it upsets her The father-of-four, who is expecting his fifth child, added his daughter, pictured, already believes she is 'ugly' because of taunts from other children at school Ellie Mai was weighed as part of a National Child Measurement Programme assessment at her school on February 7. The test was conducted by the Five Boroughs Partnership's Children's Community Nursing Service. The National Child Measurement Programme is a Department of Health scheme aims to record the height and weight of children aged between four and five (reception year) and ten and 11 (year six) to pinpoint child obesity trends. Mr Gavin says parents at his daughter's school, Northwood Community Primary School in Kirkby, received a letter before the assessment to ask for permission for the children to be tested. But the soon-to-be father-of-five, who owns a large collection of exotic animals, said he is concerned about the long-term psychological effects of telling young children they are overweight. Though Mr Gavin admits that he is overweight, he is adamant his little girl is a healthy size. And since he shared pictures of Ellie Mai on social media to prove his point, he said he has received a flood of messages from parents who have had similar experiences. Mr Gavin's is also father to Jake (far left), 11, Robert (second left), nine, Chloe (second right), eight. Also pictured is Ellie Mai, far right The father, pictured on holiday with his children, admits he is overweight but says his daughter is a 'healthy size' Mr Gavin added: 'It's very dangerous. If a child overheard then it could do a lot of damage. 'They aren't thinking about the impact that could have on a child, and if there are any other issues that might be going on. 'We'd signed the consent form and agreed for Ellie Mai to have the test because we thought it's a health test, it's a good thing. 'But by sending that letter they are pushing the blame onto us too. My wife is heavily pregnant as well, she doesn't need the stress of it 'It's the same for other families as well. When I posted the picture to social media I was shocked at how many people responded to it and said they had been through the same thing. 'One mum told me that her ten-year-old daughter had overheard that she was 'overweight' and would eat nothing but rice for weeks. 'I'm more upset than angry. It's something that needs addressing.' Monday's night Q&A audience erupted into laughter when an out-of-touch George Brandis suggested a disabled woman should call Centrelink about her pension being reviewed. Fred Thorpe asked the first question of the show, directed at the Attorney-General who sat on the panel alongside deputy opposition leader Tanya Plibersek, barrister Julian Burnside, political commentator Piers Ackerman and Roy Morgan Research CEO Michele Levine. 'Can George Brandis explain why politicians' expenses are extravagant and go unchecked while I'm having my disability support pension reviewed despite a 28-year exemplary career as a schoolteacher then having to resign because of ill health?' she asked. Monday's night Q&A audience erupted into laughter when George Brandis (pictured) suggested a disabled woman should call Centrelink about her pension being reviewed 'My $22,000 a year pension, which I am raising three exceptional children with, would be less than what most politicians would spend in a month.' Ms Thorpe explained she was informed of the review into her pension two weeks ago. The following morning, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull dined with Rupert Murdoch at Kirribilli House. 'I'm glad they ate well that weekend because I spent most of that weekend throwing up from absolute fear, Mr Brandis, that if my pension is removed, what will become of us? I have no family,' Ms Thorpe said. Fred Thorpe pictured asked why her disability pension was being reviewed when politicians have extravagant expenses She laughed at Mr Bandis' suggestion to call Centrelink to sort out notices that had been sent by mistake Mr Brandis later said if a notice appears to have been issued by mistake, 'they can contact Centrelink and sort out the problem'. The audience burst into laughter and moderator Tony Jones observed: 'I will just point out that Fred almost fell over laughing at that one.' 'The idea that you can just ring Centrelink and have a chat to them,' Sydney MP Tanya Plibersek, who was part of Monday's panel, said before directing a question at Ms Thorpe. 'How long did you wait on the phone the last time you called Centrelink?' she asked Ms Thorpe. The pensioner replied she had spent an hour and a half every day for a fortnight trying to get through to Centrelink. She's not the first to complain about how difficult it is to get a Centrelink representative on the phone. ABC host Leigh Sales recently savaged Centrelink in a bizarre Twitter tirade, demanding to know why she had been left on hold for two hours twice in a week. Others jumped on the bandwagon with their own experiences - and slammed the welfare provider's claim that the average wait time was only 16 minutes. 'This is absolutely not your fault - Centrelink is so desperately underfunded - but 12/16 mins is just not true,' one user tweeted. Hearing: Kane 'Kano' Robinson (right) leaves Wood Green Crown Court with his fellow defendant Christopher Brown (left) today A Mobo Award-winning rapper today denied attacking a couple in a dispute over whether they should be in a booth at a private members club. Kane Robinson, 31, known as Kano, allegedly assaulted Henry Kinman and wounded Suzzan Atala at Shoreditch House in East London. The grime star from Buckhurst Hill, Essex, has also been on TV in Channel 4's Top Boy and on the big screen when he starred in the 2012 film Tower Block. He appeared at Wood Green Crown Court today alongside Christopher Brown, 29, who is said to joined in with the assault against Mr Kinman. Wearing a white shirt and black cardigan, Robinson denied assault causing actual bodily harm, unlawful wounding and affray following the incident on December 16 last year. Brown, wearing a white shirt and dark grey suit, denied one count of assault causing actual bodily harm. The Mobo Award-winning rapper denied attacking a couple in a dispute over a club booth Kano performs on stage at The Nokia Urban Music Festival at Earl's Court in April 2005 Judge Robert Morrison bailed them ahead of a trial on September 4. Alice Cole Roberts, prosecuting, told an earlier hearing the alleged attack took place in a row over a booth. She said: 'The defendants had gone with a group, and they were sat in a booth where the victims in this case were sitting. 'An argument then broke out as to whether the couple should be in the booth, Ms Atala and Mr Kinman.' Robinson denied assault causing actual bodily harm, unlawful wounding and affray following the incident on December 16 last year at Shoreditch House (pictured) in East London The grime star from Buckhurst Hill, Essex, has also been on TV in Channel 4's Top Boy (above) The star has collaborated with a litany of famous Brit stars, ranging from Craig David to Blur's Damon Albarn. Robinson won best newcomer at the Mobo Awards in 2005, and that same year was announced as one of 'London's Heroes of 2005' by then mayor Ken Livingstone. More recently, his latest album 'Made in the Manor' won best album at the 2016 Mobo Awards, and was also nominated for the Mercury Prize. Robinson denies assault causing actual bodily harm, unlawful wounding and affray. Brown, of Hackney, denies one count of ABH. CCTV footage from minutes before Kim Jong-un's half-brother dropped dead at a Malaysian Airport, he sought help at a customer service desk and appeared to explain that he had been attacked by two women. Kim Jong-nam died en route to a hospital following a seizure at Kuala Lumpur International Airport after two women allegedly sprayed him in the face with poison. Minutes after the women confronted him, he told officials at a customer service that 'two unidentified women had swabbed or had wiped his face with a liquid and that he felt dizzy', the Deputy National Police Chief of Malaysia, Noor Rashid Ibrahim, said. He can be seen on video pointing to his face, as if he was telling the security guards that he had been grabbed by the face. Meanwhile, North Korea's ambassador to Malaysia on Monday said he would not accept local autopsy results for Kim Jong-nam, and claimed that the older Kim died of 'natural causes'. Another CCTV video released over the weekend allegedly shows the moment which led to the assassination of Kim Jong-nam. CCTV footage from Kuala Lumpur International Airport shows Kim Jong Un's half brother, Kim Jong-nam, speaking to security guards and officials after apparently being poisoned He can be seen on video pointing to his face, as if he was telling the security guards that he had been grabbed by the face. Kim Jong-nam died en route to a hospital following a seizure after two women allegedly sprayed him in the face with poison Minutes after the women confronted him, Kim Jong-nam (second from right, walking through the airport) found a customer service desk and told them what happened. Police said that he told officials that 'two unidentified women had swabbed or had wiped his face with a liquid and that he felt dizzy' A woman in a white top and jeans is seen grabbing the man and holding him back, while another woman sprays a toxic substance in his face. Jong-nam, who often spoke out against his brother's regime, died on the way to hospital. Since the incident, police have so far arrested four people carrying identity documents from North Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam. Those arrested include two women who were allegedly seen approaching Kim on February 13 as he stood at a ticketing kiosk at the budget terminal of the Kuala Lumpur airport. North Korea's ambassador to Malaysia Kang Chol also called an investigation into the man's death politically motivated and demanded a joint probe amid increasingly bitter exchanges between the once-friendly nations. A woman in a while top and jeans is seen grabbing the man and holding him back, while another woman is sprays a toxic substance in his face Kim Jong-nam, pictured, died shortly after the hit squad administered the poison on Monday Malaysia responded with its own accusations, with a foreign ministry statement saying the ambassador's comments were 'culled from delusions, lies and half-truths'. The attack spiraled into diplomatic fury when Malaysia refused to hand over Kim's corpse to North Korean diplomats and proceeded with at least one autopsy over the diplomats' objections. 'The investigation by the Malaysian police is not for the clarification of the cause of the death and search for the suspect, but it is out of the political aim,' Kang told reporters Monday, saying Malaysia was in collusion with South Korea, as Seoul tries to deflect attention from its own months-long political crisis. Police 'pinned the suspicion on us, and targeted the investigation against us', Kang said, calling on Malaysia to work with North Korea in a joint investigation. Malaysian police have arrested Ri Jong-chol, centre, who is believed to be a North Korean chemistry expert in connection with the murder of Kim Jong-un's half brother Kim Jong-nam Jong-chol was arrested following a dramatic raid by Malaysian police hunting the killers Kang referred to the dead man as 'Kim Chol,' the name on the passport found with Kim Jong Nam. Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak told reporters later Monday that he had confidence in the objectivity of his country's police and doctors. Malaysia had no reason to 'paint the North Koreans in a bad light,' he said, adding, 'We expect them to understand that we apply the rule of law in Malaysia.' Autopsy results on Kim Jong Nam could be released as early as Wednesday, said Health Minister S Subramaniam. The Malaysian foreign ministry said the government has kept the North Korean Embassy informed, telling them that because 'the death occurred in Malaysian soil under mysterious circumstances, it is the responsibility of the Malaysian government to conduct an investigation to identify the cause of death.' Meanwhile, Malaysian police have arrested a North Korean chemistry expert in connection with his murder. Malaysia's National Police Deputy Inspector-General Noor Rashid Ibrahim, left, said his officers have identified four North Korean men who flew out of Kualar Lumpur on the day of the murder Kim Jong-nam, pictured, is believed to have been murdered using a fast-acting poison in Kuala Lumpur airport on February 13 on the orders of his half-brother Kim Jong-un Ri Jong-chol, 47, who studied medicine and chemistry in Pyongjang was detained in Kuala Lumpur in connection with the murder. Police are also hunting four North Korean men who flew out of Kuala Lumpur the same day Jong-nam was assassinated. The four suspects are believed to have been part of a hit squad sent to murder the despotic leader's half brother on the tyrant's orders. Malaysian police have so far arrested four people - including the chemistry expert - in connection with the murder probe. Pyongyang, however, said it had no faith in the investigation and claimed Kuala Lumpur was in cahoots with 'hostile forces'. One of the suspects, North Korean Hong Song Hac, left Malaysia on the day of the murder Ri Jae Nam arrived in Malaysia on February 1 and left the country on February 13 O Jong Gil was only in Malaysia for a week before escaping on the day of the murder Ri Ji U is also one of the suspects who Malaysian police are looking for following the murder Police have released CCTV image in the search for three more men over the murder Over the weekend, Malaysia recalled its envoy to North Korea and summoned Pyongyang's ambassador Kang for a dressing down. But an unbowed Kang hit back. 'It has been seven days since the incident, but there is no clear evidence on the cause of death and at the moment we cannot trust the investigation by the Malaysian police', he told reporters in the Malaysian capital. Pyongyang also criticised Malaysia for carrying out a post-mortem examination without North Korean permission - a complaint Kuala Lumpur said was groundless. 'The ministry emphasised that as the death occurred on Malaysian soil under mysterious circumstances, it is the responsibility of the Malaysian government to conduct an investigation to identify the cause of death,' the foreign ministry said. 'The Malaysian government takes very seriously any unfounded attempt to tarnish its reputation. The Malaysian Government views the criticism... as baseless'. Doan Thi Huong from Vietnam and Siti Aisyah, right from Indonesia have both been arrested North Korean Ri Jong chol, left is believed to be a chemistry expert while Malaysian Muhammad Farid Bin Jallaludin, right, has also been detained in connection with the murder Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak backed those running the probe, saying it would be 'very professional'. 'I have absolute confidence that they are very objective in whatever they do,' he said in his first comments since news of the killing broke. 'We have no reason why we want to do something that would paint the North Koreans in a bad light. But we would be objective and we expect them to understand that we apply the rule of law in Malaysia.' Kim Jong-nam is believed to have been murdered in a plot using a fast-acting liquid poison. One of those arrested has been named by Malaysian police as Ri Jong-chol, 47, from Pyongyang. It is understood Jong-chol graduated in chemistry and medicine from a North Korean university in 2000, later working in chemistry research in India. Police also released a photograph of Vietnamese suspect Doan Thi Huong A diplomatic row has deepened in the wake of the death of North Korean Kim Jong-nam A police source said it was too soon to conclude that Jong-chol was behind the liquid poison believed to have been used to kill Kim Jong-nam. 'He is being quizzed on this and he is also being questioned about the whereabouts of three accomplices who are still at large,' the police source said. Police fear, however, that three other men - said to be part of a gang of four men working with two women in Kim's murder - might have already escaped from Malaysia. Special branch officers studying CCTV footage from Kuala Lumpur Airport, where Kim was attacked last week, have allegedly pinpointed three men aged between 30 and 50 who boarded a flight to another Southeast Asian country immediately after the incident. CCTV footage shows that the suspects changed their clothes before heading to the departure hall to board their flight. 'The suspects wore grey, purple and green clothing respectively prior to the attack,' said a police source. The 'LOL assasin' (left) who allegedly murdered Kim Jong-nan, right, by wiping poison on his face may have been 'duped into killing him' by 'friends who told her it was a harmless prank' It is believed one of the attackers distracted him in the check-in queue while another 'came from behind, locked in a chokehold and administered poison'. Pictured is one of the suspects on CCTV, wearing a white top branded with LOL A second woman named as Siti Aishah (pictured in the passport profile image), 25, from Indonesia and her Malaysian boyfriend were arrested over the death How the chillingly audacious murder of North Korean tyrant's brother in a major airport may have involved a poisonous handkerchief and fountain pen 'However, after the attack, they went to a restroom and changed before heading to the departure hall to board their flight.' Police are convinced this was a preconceived plan as the two women allegedly involved in the attack - and who have claimed they were tricked into believing they were taking part in a TV prank - have told officers there was no sign of their male accomplices after the event. If the arrested North Korean man, Jong-chol, was part of the assassination team, either directly or indirectly, police believe he would know the names of the three men who remain at large. This would enable Malaysian police to alert authorities in neighbouring countries to watch for them and detain them. On Sunday, the Deputy National Police Chief of Malaysia, Noor Rashid Ibrahim, said four other suspects were on the run. He said the men were North Korean and had flown out of the country last Monday, when Kim died. 'I am not going disclose where they are,' he told a room packed with journalists. Interpol was helping with the investigation, he said. Former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il (bottom left) poses with his first-born son Kim Jong-nam (bottom right), in this 1981 family photo in Pyongyang, North Korea Noor Rashid showed photographs of the four North Korean men police were trying to track down. They were travelling on regular - not diplomatic - passports and are aged 33, 34, 55 and 57. He also said there was a fifth North Korean man whom authorities wanted to question. Noor Rashid said Sunday that he expected autopsy results to be released within days. 'We have to send a sample to the chemistry department, we have to send a sample for toxicology tests,' he said. Investigators also want to speak to Kim Jong-nam's next of kin to identify the body. He is believed to have two sons and a daughter with two women living in Beijing and Macau. 'We haven't met the next of kin,' Noor Rashid said. 'We are working, we are trying very hard to get the next of kin to come and to assist us in the investigation.' Mamun Islam (pictured), 19, bombarded his teenage ex-girlfriend with chilling messages including a threat that he would kill her father A jilted boyfriend who bombarded his teenage ex-girlfriend with chilling messages including a threat that he would kill her father has been jailed for two years. Mamun Islam, 19, started sending terrifying messages to the girl over Snapchat when she ended their two-year relationship. His messages included threats such as 'I want to make a war happen' and 'I just want to kill your dad'. Another harrowing message read: 'Kill, kill, kill your stupid mother f****** dad'. In another, he told the girl he would kill himself in jail after he had targeted her parents. Islam, of Swansea, has now been jailed for two years after admitted making threats to kill. Sentencing him at Swansea Crown Court, Judge Geraint Walters said Islam's conduct had been 'hugely worrying'. 'You threatened to kill this family,' he said. 'You became obsessed with them, and your conduct has been hugely worrying, and no doubt an ordeal for the family. 'These were no idle threats, they were repeated, they were detailed and they were chilling. 'You intended you would make your victims' family know you forever in terms of notoriety and you would be a name on their lips. Islam, of Swansea, has now been jailed for two years after admitted making threats to kill. He admitted the offence at Swansea Crown Court (pictured) 'You have to sort this out. It is not normal behaviour, and it is truly troubling.' The court heard how Islam's campaign of terror lasted for six months after their split. The teenager was angry because the girl's parents had attempted to stop them seeing one another. Even after he apologised to her parents, Islam continued to send the messages. Lee Davies, defending, said: 'He is sorry for the threats and realises the gravity of his behaviour. 'He accepts he has significant anger issues'. He was also put under a restraining order for 10 years to stay away from the family. Advertisement Thousands of people took to the streets on Monday to take part in 'not my Presidents' Day' protests against Donald Trump. Planned marches took place in New York, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Chicago and Salt Lake City while unofficial demonstrations with the same theme cropped up elsewhere. Tens of thousands of people were expected at the Los Angeles event and nearly 50,000 are due to turn out in New York City. Exact turnout figures aren't yet clear but the largest appeared to have been in New York City where chunks of Central Park West were taken up by the crowds by early afternoon. It fell short of the 50,000 expected from earlier estimates. Protesters even greeted the president on the route from his Mar-a-Lago home to Palm Beach Airport where he boarded Air Force One to return to Washington DC in the afternoon. Scroll down for video Protesters occupy Central Park West on Monday as part of a 'Not My Presidents' Day' demonstration against Donald Trump New York: The activists held signs slamming Trump and Vice President Mike Pence as they marched New York: A protester joins crowds at Central Park West, a stone's throw from Trump's Manhattan bolthole on 5th Avenue for the protest New York: The crowds waved American flags as they marched from noon into the late afternoon for the Presidents' Day protest Organizers said they had the support of the NYPD but pleaded with anyone thinking of joining to keep the event peaceful. Police couldn't confirm whether any arrests had been made on Monday afternoon but it is thought to have been peaceful. Announcing the march on Facebook, organizers said: 'Donald Trump is literally our President, but figuratively, he has attacked every value New Yorkers embody and does not represent our interests. 'We will be staging a rally at Columbus Circle to protest the un-American policies of the current White House. 'He governs as if there's no resistance but there is and on February 20th, we will honor previous presidents by exercising our constitutional right to assemble and peacefully protest everything Donald Trump stands for,' a Facebook announcement of the rally said. Among their grievances is Trump's plan to cut federal funding to the state to 'turn us against our immigrant population'. The Los Angeles event was the first to be organized. Its organizers are demanding that Trump face impeachment for his 'Islamophobic' and 'unethical' policies. New York: activists held a banner to advocate women's rights. In signs they branded Trump a 'fascist' as they marched at Columbus Circle New York: Activists used some of the president's favorite complaints against him in their signs. One deemed him 'fake', a description he often gives the mainstream media New York: School children joined the crowds at Columbus Circle bearing signs which read 'Not my president' and 'you re a good president - not!' New York: Protesters with their homemade signs in New York City. Some labeled the president a 'dump'. One protester dressed up as a beauty queen with hands grabbing at her in a nod to Trump's run in with former pageant winners during the election New York: The New York City protest was at on the doorstep of the president's Manhattan hotel New York: The event was organized on Facebook and drew crowds including young children who joined in with their own signs New York: A common theme among protesters was anger over Trump's immigration ban and threats against undocumented workers New York: The were expected to gather tens of thousands of people across the country on Monday. It's not yet clear how many turned out though big crowds had gathered by the late afternoon New York: Protesters wore 'dump' underwear with Trump's face on the behind in another gesture of protest New York: Street sellers cashed in on the occasion in New York City by selling t-shirts with the slogan 'not my president' PORTLAND POLICE CLASH WITH PROTESTERS Police in Portland, Oregon, clashed with a small group of protesters who failed to obtain a permit for their Not My Presidents' Day demonstration on Monday. While a larger group who did gain permission from the city marched peacefully, a handful in another area were dispersed by police. Their protest was organized by Don't Shoot PDX, an anti-police brutality group which works closely with Black Lives Matters. Portland Police couldn't confirm the number of people arrested on Monday afternoon. At least one woman was shot with 'non lethal projectiles', KATU reported, and another was seen getting assistance from police with a bloody nose. Another, organized protest took place without incident elsewhere. Portland has seen a flare of protests since President Trump's election victory in November. The city erupted into protests immediately after the election. Polie in Portland clashed with protesters taking part in an unofficial march to mark Presidents' Day on Monday. Among them was a middle-aged woman who was seen with a bloody nose (left). Some of the protesters wore gas masks for the event Advertisement In New York, protesters stretching at least eight blocks chanted: 'He cheats, he lies, open up your eyes' near the Trump International Hotel on the edge of Central Park. 'I think he's got a mean personality,' said marcher Edith Cresmer, a 78-year-old urban planner. 'But the worst thing about him is how he incited peoples' fears and pits them against each other.' Luis Llobera, 38, and his wife and baby took a train from Westchester County north of the city attend the Trump protest. 'We are not American citizens but our son is,' he said as his wife cradled their 7-month-old, Atlas. 'We want to make sure our son has a government that is right and good.' Los Angeles was the first protest organized under the hashtag. Activists there showed off their commitment to the cause by dressing up in costume to mock the president. There were no arrests at the L.A. protest. In downtown Chicago, about 1,200 people gathered across the Chicago River from the Trump International Hotel and Tower. Los Angeles: Crowds gathered outside City Hall in Los Angeles on Monday morning for a West Coast effort against the president Los Angeles: protesters carried enormous signs outside City Hall which bore unflattering portraits of the president Los Angeles: In California, protesters carrying signs demanding that the president face impeachment Los Angeles: Protesters in California were in high spirits. Many came dressed in costume while others painted themselves orange to mock the president's skin tone Los Angeles: Three protesters painted themselves orange to illustrate the imaginary condition they believe has overcome the president Los Angeles: Activists in California poked fun at the president's hair and also demanded he reveal his tax returns Los Angeles: A child holds up a sign reading 'defend the constitution' with a badge in the corner reading 'not my president' Signs spotted in the crowd included My body My Choice and 'Jesus was a refugee,' references to Trump's anti-abortion stance and his efforts to stop admission of refugees. As people gathered, a group of 25 local musicians called themselves #SAHBRA, 'Sousaphones Against Hate, Baritones Resisting Aggression,' played songs to lighten the mood. With Monday being a day off for many schools, many parents brought their children to the protest. Eileen Molony, a photographer from Oak Park, had her 12-year-old son and 9-year old daughter in tow. 'As an immigrant family we feel strongly against the ban,' she said. 'We feel America is about inclusion, but everything Trump has shown is that hes about division.' Chicago police reported no arrests in the protest, the latest in a series since Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration. Palm Beach, Florida: Protesters even turned out to line the route the president's motorcade traveled from his Palm Beach home to the airport on Monday Palm Beach, Florida: The protesters held up signs labeling Trump a 'total meltdown' on the route to the airport President Trump boarded Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport on Monday afternoon to return to Washington DC Chicago: A female protester hedl up a bright pink 'not mine' sign while others demanded to see what the president was 'hiding' by not releasing his tax returns Chicago: A man holds up a sign calling for protesters to say 'Nyet' - the Russian word for no - to treason in a jab at the president's ties with Putin Chicago: Women hold signs demanding Trump's impeachment as they take part in a rally in Chicago Chicago: A young Muslim girl holds up a sign reading 'we need extreme vetting for presidents not refugees!' at the protest in downtown Chicago Chicago: Protesters hold up signs in Spanish and English protesting against Trump's 'fascist' America There are three official Not My President's Day protests. They are in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. They have inspired a wave of other protests with the same name. The protests come after another weekend of outrage against the Republican president which drove activists in the US and abroad to the streets in protest. Celebrities including Susan Sarandon and Russell Simmons joined a Muslim protest in Times Square on Sunday where crowds admonished the 'fascist USA' Trump has created. Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo were also in attendance. Simmons, a one-time friend of the billionaire, gave him credit for unifying crowds in protest. 'We are here, unified, because of Donald Trump, so we wont speak too harshly of him tonight today. We want to thank him for bringing us together,' he said. Washington DC: Protesters filled the streets in Washington DC as they marched past the White House in a Presidents' Day protest Washington DC: Protesters flocked to DuPont Circle in the nation's capital to protest against the president on Monday Washington DC: Protesters wore clownish mass to resemble the president and carried bags of Cheeto puffs - a mocking reference to his bright tan Washington DC: Other groups took on Trump's campaign slogan and twisted it to 'F*** Trump, Keep America Great Again' Washington DC: 10-year-old Marcel Ast from New Jersey holds up a sign reading 'impeach now' as he's hoisted up on someone's shoulders Austin, Texas: In Texas there were unofficial protests against Trump in honor of Presidents' Day Austin, Texas: Jane Shimkus, a resident of Austin, Texas, used Trump's 'bad hombres' quip against him to demand that he be 'deported' from the White House Salt Lake City, Utah: Residents in Salt Lake City, Utah, also turned out to share their anger over Trump's administration Salt Lake City, Utah: A protester holds up a sign slamming Trump's immigration policies at the protest in Salt Lake City There were also protests in Chicago, Los Angeles and Boston where activists lashed out against the 'threat to science' they say Trump's administration is harboring. Environmental groups and scientists came together for the protest against what they described as an 'anti-science rhetoric' coming from the White House. The president is due to arrive back in Washington DC on Monday from Florida where he greeted crowds of fans at a rally of his own on Saturday. Thousands of his supporters packed an air hangar in Melbourne to hear him continue his assault on the mainstream media in a fired up speech. First Lady Melania Trump also delivered some rare public remarks at the campaign-style rally. President Trump was in Florida over the weekend where he gave a fired-up speech to fans at a campaign-like rally in the town of Melbourne on Saturday A stalker today admitted harassing socialite Jemima Goldsmith and told the court she was a 'silly woman who doth protest too much'. Conor O'Mahony, 60, of Deal, Kent, bombarded the 42-year-old with messages on social media, sending her five messages a day on Twitter. He turned up outside her home and attended events where Ms Goldsmith - also known as Jemima Khan - was speaking, asking her out for dinner. Harrassment: Conor O'Mahony (left), 60, of Deal, Kent, bombarded socialite Jemima Goldsmith (right) with messages on social media, sending her five messages a day on Twitter O'Mahony also sent an unwanted Addison Lee taxi to her home address with instructions to meet him in a hotel. His actions caused Ms Goldsmith 'serious harm or distress', Hammersmith Magistrates Court heard. It emerged today that O'Mahony had received a caution in November 2015 for harassing the journalist and campaigner. O'Mahony stood in the dock brandishing a letter he claimed was written by the Queen, when asked to enter a plea. He declared himself 'an innocent man' and said the world now knew him as an 'Irish stalker' who could not get a fair trial in this country. O'Mahony said: 'As I stand here I am an innocent man. I have a letter here from the Queen, her Majesty.' O'Mahony also complained about reporters in court and said: '28 days ago these people took my name and my image, my mother in South Africa and my sister in Australia now know me as an Irish stalker.' Holding the letter he said: 'This is from Buckingham Palace, can I pass it up, you don't know the truth now. Twelve angry men good and true.' O'Mahony (right) turned up outside the socialite's home and attended events where Ms Goldsmith - also known as Jemima Khan - was speaking asking her out for dinner O'Mahony said he could not get a fair trial as 'an Irishman in this country'. After being taken from court for a short time by his lawyer Davis Freedman, O'Mahony returned to plead guilty to one count of harassment. O'Mahoney's actions caused Ms Goldsmith 'serious harm or distress', the court heard Prosecutor Emily Maunders said: 'There is a background to this offending, the complainant reported to police that this defendant had contacted her five times a day via Twitter. 'Between February and March 2015 the defendant travelled to her home address outside London, she wasn't present but it was a concern he knew where it was. 'In April 2015 he attended an event where she was speaking, approached her and asked where he was taking her for dinner.' In October 2015 O'Mahony turned up at her house and asked for her over the telephone system and sent her a message saying: 'I am knocking, your lights are on but no one is home. 'Try smelling the coffee or contacting the Met.' O'Mahony received a caution in November 2015 for harassing Ms Goldsmith but continued to pursue her. 'Between January and June 2016 he sent her letters to her home address,' she said. 'All bar one were hand delivered and signed so easily identified.' O'Mahony did not give up his campaign sending numerous messages to Ms Goldsmith and her friend via Twitter and Instagram, said Ms Maunders. Jemima Goldsmith, the billionaire's daughter Jemima Goldsmith is the older sister of former Tory MP Zac Goldsmith. Her father was the late billionaire tycoon Sir James Goldsmith, while her mother, Lady Annabel, is the daughter of the Marquess of Londonderry. She is an associate editor of New Statesman and European editor-at-large for Vanity Fair. She is still known by Khan following her marriage to former cricketer and politician Imran Khan and tweets under that name. Ms Goldsmith has also had high profile relationships with Hugh Grant and Russell Brand. She also has a close association with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Advertisement 'On 27 September the defendant ordered a taxi to go to the victims home address,' she said. 'It was instructed to pick her up and take her to a hotel, this was accompanied by a message asking her to meet him at that hotel.' O'Mahony, who has previous convictions for drink driving in 2002 and being drunk and disorderly in 2004 has been treated for skin cancer and was diagnosed as a bipolar sufferer in 1999. Mr Freedman suggested the medication he had been on for treatment of his cancer had 'interfered' with O'Mahony's 'balance'. He said that Ms Goldsmith had made statements saying she did not want O'Mahony prosecuted did not support it. Ms Goldsmith previously tweeted about a man following her and her children in September 2014. District Judge Kwame Inyundo bailed O'Mahony and ordered pre-sentence reports. The Irishman replied: 'I have been very helpful with this trivial matter with this silly woman who doth protest too much.' O'Mahony admitted one count of harassment involving serious alarm and distress. He will return to court for sentencing on March 13. Britain should use its security prowess as a bargaining chip in Brexit negotiations, a former counter-terrorism chief has declared. Richard Walton said the UK would be in a stronger negotiating position if it withdraws from Europol, the EU law enforcement agency. The former head of the Met's Counter Terrorism Command said it would have 'little or no effect' on Britain's ability to maintain security. In a report for Veterans for Britain, he said the heightened threat of terror across Europe would mean the EU will continue to seek access to the UK's intelligence post Brexit. Former counter terror chief at the Metropolitan Police Richard Walton said the UK would be in a stronger negotiating position if it withdraws from Europol, the EU law enforcement agency He said the most important security measures for Britain were outside the UK, whereas Britain's withdrawal from the EU 'represents a risk to the safety' of other member states. This put it in a 'strong negotiating position', he said in a new report on the implications of Brexit on security and counter-terrorism. The report came as Rear Admiral Lane-Nott, a retired former commander of the UKs submarine fleet, said the Government must also cut off defence ties with Europe and oppose 'EU meddling'. And former commander of British forces in Iraq, Colonel Richard Kemp, said EU member states were 'freeloading' on the UK and US when it came to Nato. He accused EU chief Jean-Claude Juncker for 'breathtaking double standards' as he called for funds for his own defence schemes but not for Nato. In his report, Mr Walton said the EU had more to lose if it proposed to reduce information sharing with the UK. Mr Walton added that the EU would place a 'high priority' on collaboration with the UK in EU security and justice members if Britain withdraws from both the EU and Europol. He said the UK's superior handling of terrorism was shown by the fact there had not been a single Islamic terrorist attack in the UK over the past three years - compared to multiple in EU nations. Britain has significant expertise in countering terrorism and has a wide range of tactical options available to respond to incidents, including highly specialised officers (pictured) In the report, published yesterday, he writes: 'The UK has the most proficient counter-terrorism operational capability of any state in Europe. 'EU members states will continue to seek access.... following the UK's exit of the EU to avoid increasing the risk of terrorism in Europe.' Europol currently has 1065 staff, including 201 foreign liaison officers - 67 of which are from the UK. The former commander said Europol had a 'limited and somewhat embyronic' capability in relation to countering terrorism. In terms of countering terror, he said Europol had 'relatively limited experience'. He pointed out that the UK has the 'most effective intelligence agencies and the most proficient police counter terrorism units'. 'Evidence of this is manifest in the number of terrorist attacks that had occurred in the UK compared to other EU states, the number of attack plots that have been disrupted or prevented, and the number of suspects convicted for terrorist offences', he said. He added: 'The UK had a proven track record of successfully preventing terrorist attacks. The UK has also been successful in disrupting terrorist attacks in other EU states.' Armed police are a regular sight on streets of London as part of a wider network of security that includes high profile visible patrols paired with detailed intelligence gathering Mr Walton warned that meanwhile, EU member states had discovered their domestic legislation was 'inadequate for the threats posed by a globally networked terrorist group such as ISIS'. Rear Admiral Lane-Nott added that the country must also withdraw from the Common Security and Defence Policy. Speaking for Veterans for Britain, he said the CSDP was a rolling programme of military integration which was designed to lead to a military union. He said: 'As a result, CSDP creates bureaucratic impositions and a level of integration that we would not enter even with our closest ally, the United States. 'There is no reason why the UK as an autonomous, self-governing nation would have anything to gain from throwing away control over defence, the most significant aspect of statehood.' He said the UK's defence was Nato and 'any hint of a loss of autonomy in defence to the EU would be intolerable to the nation.' He added that this would boost Nato, saying: 'This would create much-needed certainty for Nato which at present is stuck between unwilling member states who are misled by an EU Commission that somehow thinks it can spite the US and make its own plans.' A man who was once Australia's youngest ever federal MP now has a job working alongside Princess Beatrice. Wyatt Roy was elected to the House of Representatives at the age of 20 in 2010 but he lost his seat of Longman, north of Brisbane, at last year's election. Now he has a job with Washington DC-based artificial intelligence firm Afiniti, which is planning to list on the New York Stock Exchange. Former federal MP Wyatt Roy has a new job with an American tech firm as its Australian boss Princess Beatrice has a business consultancy and is doing work for U.S. tech firm Afiniti The 26-year-old former Liberal MP, who served as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's assistant minister for innovation until July 2016, will be based in Sydney as the head of the company's Australian operations, Afinti said. The job will also see him come into contact with Princess Beatrice, the daughter of the Duke of York Prince Andrew, who counts Afiniti as a client of her business consultancy. Mr Roy, who is a member of the Australian Republican Movement, met with Princess Beatrice several times before he was appointed to Afiniti in January, The Courier-Mail said. The seventh-in-line to the throne, who is the Queen's granddaughter, is pursuing a business career. Princess Beatrice (left) and her sister Princess Eugenie (right) wave at crowds in London Wyatt Roy may be a member of the Australian Republican Movement but he's happy to be working alongside Princess Beatrice The company makes software for call centres and is exploring a $US2 billion listing in New York. It counts Vodafone and Virgin among its customers. In a media release, the company said Mr Roy met Afiniti founder, chairman and chief executive Zia Chishti during an extended holiday after he had lost his seat in parliament. Afinti has previously recruited former conservative Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar and former U.S. senator John Sununu to its board of directors. More than half of the women dragged into the desperate world of sex trafficking in Las Vegas were never reported as missing, a study found. Arizona State University conducted a report on the nearly 200 young women who were brought to Sin City as part of a sex trafficking operation and found a majority were never reported missing to police. The victims went unnoticed because they were girls 'nobody even cares enough about to report missing' and 'throwaway kids', officials said about the mostly underage women. More than half of the women dragged into the dangerous world of sex trafficking in Las Vegas were never reported as missing, Arizona State University found The study looked at 190 identified victims of sex trafficking in 2014 and found the average age was 16 years old and the youngest was only 12 years old. A victim's advocate for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department explained that several were never reported because they were the 'products of the foster care system'. A third of the girls were forced into the life from a boyfriend that turned into a 'violent, fear-based abuser' and around 20 per cent were imported to the city from another area. Recently a 17-year-old from Utah was reunited with her family after she was snatched in Las Vegas in January to be 'sexually trafficked'. Sarah Dunsey was believed to have been sexually trafficked after she disappeared during a trip to Las Vegas in January. The 17-year-old was reunited with her family on Friday after she was found with two men in Venice, California The teenager from Logan, Utah, went missing from the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, on January 15 Sarah Dunsey, from Logan, Utah, was found in Venice, California, on Friday with two men who are now being questioned by the FBI. The teenager had disappeared from the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas during a trip with her friends. She was first reported to have run away with the men but fears arose she had been sexually trafficked when she stopped replying to text messages from loved ones. Additional details about Sarah's month-long disappearance weren't immediately released, but her aunt said she had a 'long' recovery ahead of her. Advertisement California is bracing for severe floods and landslides as another storm is forecast to hit the storm-battered state on Monday following last weekend's Storm Lucifer that left five dead. Flood and high wind warnings have been issued across North California, while residents near the ailing Oroville Dam have been warned they may be forced to evacuate again as the coming storm is predicted to dump between two and four inches of rain today. Some areas could even get a downpour of up to ten inches, while winds of up to 65mph will whip across the state this evening. 'Landslides and mudslides are certainly a possibility,' Kevin Roth, a senior meteorologist with The Weather Channel, told NBC. At least five people died during recent storms, as authorities up and down the state dealt with overflowing creeks, mudslide threats in foothill areas blackened by fires, road collapses and hundreds of toppled trees in neighborhoods. Now California is bracing itself for further storms and dangerous flooding. The San Joaquin River, near Tracy, was at a 'danger stage' yesterday as the water level approached the top of levees - and with more rainfall predicted, authorities are concerned the river could break its banks and flood the surrounding area. Flood water blocked part of the Interstate 5 near Williams backing up traffic in both north and southbound lanes for hours on Saturday A tractor trailer fell from the southbound Interstate 15 after part of the freeway collapsed due to heavy rain in the Cajon Pass, California (pictured on Saturday) An abandoned Kia sedan is seen stuck in heavy mud in Lone Pine Canyon Road near Highway 138 in Phelan on Saturday after flooding in California A huge Pacific storm parked itself over Southern California over the weekend, ravaging roads and opening sinkholes (pictured a damaged road in Studio City north of LA on Saturday - where two vehicles fell into the open pit) Flood and high wind warnings have been issued across North California, while residents near the ailing Oroville Dam (pictured on Saturday) have been put on evacuation alert The California Department of Transportation repair a section of Interstate 15 on Sunday that washed away during the weekend's storms 'When the water gets that high and more water is coming, there is just too much pressure and levees can break,' said Tim Daly, a spokesman with San Joaquin County Office of Emergency Services. 'They can be topped.' Just over 60 miles away, officials warned that the Don Pedro reservoir was at 98 percent capacity on Sunday. The reservoir captures water from the Tuolumne River, a key tributary of the San Joaquin. Northern California residents have been preparing for the powerful Pacific storm by filling hundreds of sand bags and packing 'bug-out' bags ready to evacuate their homes as the entire Sacramento Valley was placed under a flood warning through early Tuesday, the National Weather Service said. Meanwhile the Lake Oroville dam, where almost 200,000 people were forced to evacuate last week after the emergency spillway threatened to collapse, is on the brink of another potential evacuation warning. Officials have been racing against time to lower water levels at the lake after part of its main spillway collapsed, forcing its closure. Repairs were underway when the lake reached capacity and water began to flow down the emergency spillway - only for authorities to realize it was also damaged and at risk of collapsing completely, flooding the area below. The amount of water flowing down the repaired main spillway was increased from 55,000 cubic feet a second to 60,000 cubic feet a second Sunday afternoon in anticipation of the storm, the California Department of Water Resources said. On Sunday afternoon, the water level at the damn was around 50ft below its maximum 901ft capacity. The Weather Channel predicts heavy rainfall across Northern California later today and tomorrow Flood warnings are in place for most of Northern and Central California as the state braces for another storm today While the East Coast basks in early winter sunshine, the West Coast, particularly Northern California, is battered by storms Widespread flooding will be likely as an atmospheric river (of moisture) takes aim somewhere along the central California coast, the National Weather Service said But with heavy rainfall over the weekend, and another 10 inches forecast for the area, residents of the surrounding areas are preparing in case of another evacuation order. The National Weather Service has reportedly urged California residents to be ready to leave their homes on a moment's notice. 'Widespread flooding will be likely as an atmospheric river (of moisture) takes aim somewhere along the central California coast,' the National Weather Service said. A discussion post said: 'If you were given less than 15 minutes to evacuate your home would you have everything you need and gas in your vehicle?' It continued: 'Northern California has become very vulnerable since being hit continuously with storms since early January and we want all residents in our region to plan ahead and be prepared.' One resident near Tracy, which is 80 miles east of San Francisco, said that though the levees appear in good shape, they decided take charge after the San Joaquin River started rising. Bill Bernstein and his son Will, lay sandbags around at the door of his home as they prepare for another storm on Sunday in Maxwell, California Members of the Maxwell Fire Department fill sandbags as the town prepares for another storm, Sunday, when the first outer rain bands from a powerful Pacific storm headed to Northern California An aerial photo, shows major flooding in Maxwell, Colusa County, California on Saturday. Water has begun receding but residents are bracing themselves for a new storm on Monday Barr Torrens, 5, plays in flooded neighborhood streets after a deluge of rain and water-runoff flooded much of Maxwell on Saturday Jesse Troughton sits inside his family cafe and diner, Kim's Country Cafe, after area storms brought flood-level water to the Colusa County town of Maxwell 'We have a levee response team, a sand bagging team, teams to check on what walkers checking on the levees find,' said San Joaquin River Club resident Paula Martin, who is helping coordinate emergency plans for the private neighborhood of 800 homes. Martin said the neighborhood has sirens in the clubhouse and at a church that can warn residents of impending flooding. ATMOSPHERIC RIVERS Atmospheric rivers are relatively long, narrow regions in the atmosphere like rivers in the sky that transport most of the water vapor outside of the tropics. These columns of vapor move with the weather, carrying an amount of water vapor roughly equivalent to the average flow of water at the mouth of the Mississippi River. When the atmospheric rivers make landfall, they often release this water vapor in the form of rain or snow. Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Advertisement 'Our community is pulling together like real champs,' she said, adding that volunteers have been patrolling the levees every two hours. The area saw rain and wind Sunday afternoon but forecasters said a storm packing a bigger punch will reach the San Francisco Bay Area overnight before moving to the Central Valley. The San Joaquin River at a measuring station near Vernalis - about 10 miles southeast of Tracy - remained Sunday Meanwhile, water was receding in the farm community of Maxwell, about 70 miles north of Sacramento, where dozens of people sought higher ground Friday after creeks topped their banks and inundated houses. Crews used boats to rescue residents from the low-lying neighborhood. But officials advised residents to be ready to evacuate again. 'We're telling those people to keep a bag close by and get ready to leave again,' said Colusa County Assistant Sheriff Jim Saso Saso. 'If the water comes back up, it's going to be those areas affected.' High elevations in the east are expected to receive some snowfall which could result in delayed flooding when it melts. At least five people died over the weekend due to the storms and flooding in the state. In the desert town of Victorville, several cars were washed down a flooded street and one man was found dead in a submerged vehicle after others were rescued, authorities said. The victim was later identified as 41-year-old Michael Douglas Williams of Victorville. Almost 200,000 people were ordered to evacuate the northern California town of Oroville after a hole opened up (pictured) in the main spillway - meaning water began to flow down the emergency spillway This photo taken last Monday shows the erosion caused when overflow water cascaded down the emergency spillway. Engineers determined the hillside was eroding faster then expected, undermining the concrete wall The victim's wife Joel Williams told Victor Valley News: 'He was new to the area and would have never known how dangerous these streets can get. 'I just wish they would have closed the road, but it was still open.' She told the newspaper: 'He's leaving behind two children, an 11-year-old and a 16-year-old, it's going to be a tough to tell them.' The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said in a release that Williams had been 'inside an almost completely submerged vehicle'. In the Sherman Oaks area of Los Angeles, a man was electrocuted when a tree falling in heavy rain downed power lines that hit his car. On Saturday, searchers found the body of a man in his 20s who was swept down a rain-swollen gully in Thousand Oaks a day earlier. Two people died later that evening following a traffic accident in San Diego due to the wet conditions on Interstate 15. This is the man accused of deliberately driving his car into a 61-year-old mother's vehicle and killing her instantly. Shaun Southern, a 45-year-old divorced father-of-two, was the man allegedly behind the wheel of a green Toyota Landcruiser that collided head-on with a Toyota Rav4 on the Bussell Highway in Capel, killing Jenni Pratt, according to 7 News. Southern was reportedly living in a caravan park in Bunbury and had been experiencing financial difficulties for some time. Scroll down for video The man who caused the death of a 61-year-old mother after deliberately causing a head-on collision has been identified as 45-year-old Shaun Southern Southern was reportedly living in a caravan park in Bunbury and had been experiencing financial difficulties for some time Witnesses said Southern was smiling as he tried to swerve into at least 25 cars before the fatal crash with a Toyota Rav4. Larz Erikssen, from Perth, was the first person on the scene after the deadly crash. Mr Erikssen said he followed the driver as he ran people off the road and crashed into road signs before being thrown from his vehicle, which caught fire, about 4.45pm on Saturday. After the collision, Mr Erikssen said he decided to bypass the driver of the Landcruiser and rushed to help the two women in the Rav4. 'He was on the floor and not moving so I know this is very mean, but my thought process was "I'm going to help the people in the Rav4 before anyone else",' he told 6PR Radio. 'So obviously I was helping the other girl and the other people that came before they started helping him. Horrific aftermath: Witnesses claim a man that allegedly sped into oncoming traffic on purpose and killed a woman was 'jumping around' and smiling in his car before the fatal crash Jenni Pratt, a 61-year-old mother from Geographe, was instantly killed after her white Toyota Rav4 collided head-on with the green Landcruiser travelling on the wrong side of the road. Larz Erikssen (right), from Perth, was the first person on the scene 'I didn't really see his face or what he looked like, I didn't want to go anywhere near him to be honest.' Mr Erikssen said it seemed to be too late to help Ms Pratt who died at the scene. He tried to find a way to get her out of her car, but was unable to do so until emergency crews arrived to cut her body out of the vehicle. Tributes have been left for Ms Pratt, a woman who was described as an 'irreplaceable beautiful soul' with an amazing outlook on life and infectious smile. Dylan Mateljan, who filmed the moment the 45-year-old driver collided head-on with a car, said the man tried to swerve into 'at least 25 vehicles' Dylan Mateljan, who also filmed the crash, told Nine Network's Today Show: 'I'm still in disbelief, I feel so sorry for the family that has lost that poor innocent woman.' Another witness, who narrowly avoided a collision with the Landcruiser, said the driver was 'jumping around' in his seat and wearing aviators before the crash. 'The guy's face man, I just remember it. It was just unbelievable, like I've never seen before,' the man told Sky News. 'He was just jumping around in his car and just going nuts, you know, like he was happy about what he'd actually done.' Mr Mateljan told Nine News that the driver's behaviour was 'completely erratic.' Devastating rampage: Two onlookers embrace after the crash. The driver of the Rav4, a 61-year-old woman, died at the scene. Her female passenger is in a serious but stable condition Terrified witnesses attempted to tow the damaged car away from the inferno, but were unable to save the victim's life 'There was no explanation for it. He was physically driving his vehicle off-road to take out signs and then veering into the oncoming traffic to then deliberately have a head-on collision,' he said. 'He went through the windscreen of the Landcruiser. He obviously mustn't have been wearing a seat belt, and he was laying right in the middle of the road.' Other witnesses reportedly told Nine News they had seen the same driver at a nearby beach campsite the morning of the crash. They claimed he left the site in a hurry, leaving behind chairs and cooking utensils. Police say the Landcruiser was travelling north in the south bound lanes of Bussell Highway, south of Perth, when it collided head-on with the white Toyota Rav4. Ms Pratt died at the scene, but her passenger, a 54-year-old woman from Busselton, suffered life-threatening injuries in the crash and was airlifted to Royal Perth Hospital. The driver, who is now in critical condition in hospital, was captured on camera driving erratically along the Western Australia highway The vehicle collided head-on with a Toyota Rav4, killing the driver and sending a passenger to hospital with life-threatening injuries She was said to be in a serious, but stable condition. The Landcruiser rolled over and the driver was thrown from the vehicle before it came to rest right side up and caught on fire. The driver, from Bunbury, sustained critical injuries in the crash and was airlifted to Royal Perth Hospital where he remains in a critical condition on Monday. Investigators would like to speak to anyone who may have seen the crash or the Toyota Landcruiser prior to the crash travelling on Wonnerup Beach, Layman Road and Bussell Highway in Busselton. Anyone with any information is asked to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or make a report online at www.crimestopperswa.com.au Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg appears to be taking cues from Forrest Gump with his new US tour. The billionaire CEO started his journey across every state in America with the town where the famed movie character lived and worked as a shrimp boat captain. He and wife Priscilla Chan began with visits to two Alabama spots: Bayou La Batre, which is featured in the Tom Hanks movie, and the city of Mobile. In a post on Sunday he said the pair met local fishermen, oyster farmers, worshipers and members of a women's organization. He also spent some time on a shrimping boat and enjoyed some of the local seafood. The message inspired acclaim, cynicism and invitations to visit from thousands of his followers. On tour: Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan visit a shrimp warehouse during the start of their US tour. The pair plan to visit every US state to see how regular people live Lunch time: Zuckerberg has lunch with local people in Bayou La Batre. He also visited Mobile on a trip that he said made him reflect on 'community' Zuckerberg wrote about how he had lunch with a fourth generation shrimper and workers from local fisheries. 'They shared stories of their community's perseverance through Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf oil spill five years later,' he wrote. 'They shared the challenges of low-priced foreign imports and not having enough workers to meet their labor needs.' He slipped in a reference to the importance of social media when recounting his meeting with an oyster-farming family called the Zirlotts, who 'are succeeding by using Facebook and Instagram to show their product directly to chefs.' 'I'm looking at more of the world through the lens of building community these days,' he continued. 'In Mobile, we joined a baptist church for services this morning and saw how the church provides an important social structure for the community. 'We saw a Mardi Gras parade and met folks at a bar who were part of a women's organization that has created a float for the parade every year for decades. 'We met musicians in the local music community, and restaurateurs in the local culinary community.' He concluded: 'We are all part of many communities. The strength of these local communities is what makes up our social fabric and that's what enables us to come together as a global community as well.' Out to sea: Zuckerberg saw first-hand how fouth generation shrimper Dominick Ficarino (pictured right) lives. Comments were a mix of enthusiasm, cynicism and invitations to visit Hanks for the memories: Zuckerberg's trip is reminiscent of the movie Forrest Gump, in which Tom Hanks's titular character lives in Bayou La Batre and goes on to run across the US Bayou La Batre is featured in the 1994 film when Gump returns from the war in Vietnam. He moves to the Alabama town - dubbed the state's 'Seafood Capital' - to fulfill his friend Bubba's dream to captain a shrimping boat. Zuckerberg's quest is part of his new year's resolution to travel the US, which he announced on January 3. He wrote that technology and globalization have 'created many benefits, but for a lot of people it has also made life more challenging. 'This has contributed to a greater sense of division than I have felt in my lifetime. We need to find a way to change the game so it works for everyone.' Zuckerberg's trip around the US may re-ignite rumors that he is planning a big for president in 2020 or beyond. In January Vanity Fair asked 'Will Mark Zuckerberg Be Our Next President?' citing a series of factors. They included his Christmas Day comment in which he said that despite 'a period where I questioned things', he is not an atheist - instead, he said, he was raised Jewish and believes 'religion is important'. He has hired former White House photographer Charles Ommanney and ex-Obama presidential campaign manager David Plouffe. And his Facebook contract has been rewritten to allow him to serve two years in government without losing control of Facebook. But Zuckerberg shot down those rumors in late January, when he said he was 'focused on building our community at Facebook and working on the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative,' which funds science and education. Community thinking: Zuckerberg said his trip had inspired him to think about community - his buzzword at the moment - and managed to slip in a mention of Facebook too Zuckerberg's first grand tour post received 3,300 comments in its first 12 hours, including a worshiper at Aimwell Baptist Church who thanked Zuckerberg for attending. Others commended Zuckerberg for being 'in touch' with the common man. 'So cool,' one user wrote. 'The guy's app has fundamentally changed the course of human history. And he just walks into your church. Love it.' But many were inviting the billionaire to come to their charities, businesses and communities in the hope of publicity, or perhaps a hand-out. And one user took Zuckerberg to task for his post, his website, and 'the data mining practices you allow'. 'What concerns me Mark is you make these old discoveries as if they are something new,' wrote Penelope Becker. '"Community" is not a Facebook theme and if you were at all concerned with the well-being of your internet community you would not allow anonymous sign-ups nor a Facebook app that totally corners browsers within your own.' She added: 'Without a conscience, ethics, morals and the will to do what is right based on thorough scientific investigation of the effects "social media" has on the human mind - no community will last - not even yours Mark.' Thieves have stolen a laptop containing pictures of murdered schoolgirl Sarah Payne (pictured) from her family's Surrey home Burglars have stolen a computer filled with pictures of murdered schoolgirl Sarah Payne from her mother's home. Dr Sara Payne said thieves targeted the property in Hersham, Surrey, on Friday night and ransacked the shed. Among the items taken was her computer, which contained photographs of her daughter and files relating her charity work, Sarah's Law. Writing about the incident on Twitter, Dr Payne, 47, 'implored' the thieves to return her laptop, adding: 'I'm lost without it.' She wrote: '#Burgled, Please, whoever you are, I implore you to return my laptop, it has all of my Phoenix/SarahsLaw/book work on it, I'm lost without it. 'If anyone handles or publishes my laptop content, they will be charged with handling stolen goods. 'The police are here, the shed has been burgled, all of our Phoenix equipment stolen!' She then said she 'wanted to cry', writing: 'Nothing I can do but start again.' She then added: 'By the way you idiot that thought it clever to break in last night and steal my laptop you wont put me down you wont stop me doing what i do end of (sic).' After her series of tweets, Dr Payne was inundated with support. Suzanne Fernandes tweeted: 'I hope your laptop is returned very soon.' Sarah Henstock said: 'People can be vile. I hope you get it back and carry on with your great work.' Dr Sara Payne (right) said thieves broke targeted the property in Hersham, Surrey, on Friday night and ransacked the shed. She is pictured with Sarah's father Michael and their three children, Luke (left), Lee and Charlotte in 2000 Writing about the incident on Twitter, Dr Payne 'implored' the thieves to return her laptop, adding: 'I'm lost without it'. She then wrote that the thieves 'wont stop me doing what I do' Jo Rose added: 'I really hope they see that it's not just a laptop to you and return it somehow.' Dr Payne works with child sex abuse survivor Shy Keenan on The Phoenix Post, an NGO which represents victims of paedophiles. She was granted an Honorary Doctorate by the Open University in 2012 in recognition of her charity work. Her daughter Sarah, eight, was abducted and murdered by known paedophile Roy Whiting in July 2000. The youngster was playing hide and seek with her brothers and sister among near her grandparents' home in West Sussex when she was abducted. Her mother has since campaigned for Sarah's Law, which allows parents to check if someone with regular unsupervised access to their children has a criminal record for abuse. Surrey Police have been approached for a comment. Milo Yiannopoulos has been disinvited from the he Conservative Political Action Committee conference because of his comments on gay relationships between boys and older men. The conservative firebrand was told he will not be able to attend the event this weekend by Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union. He released a statement on Monday saying his invite was 'rescinded' after the 'offensive' video surfaced. 'We realize that Mr. Yiannopoulos has responded on Facebook, but it is insufficient, he added. 'It is up to him to answer the tough questions and we urge him to immediately further address these disturbing comments.' Their move comes just hours after Yiannopoulos strongly denied that he was defending pedophilia with his comments. On Monday, he wrote on Facebook: 'I'm partly to blame. My own experiences as a victim led me to believe I could say anything I wanted to on this subject, no matter how outrageous. 'But I understand that my usual blend of British sarcasm, provocation and gallows humor might have come across as flippancy, a lack of care for other victims or, worse, "advocacy." I deeply regret that. People deal with things from their past in different ways.' Milo Yiannopoulos claimed he was not defending pedophilia when he said some younger boys could benefit by coming involved in a consensual relationship with an older man. He has now been banned from speaking at the Conservative Political Action Committee conference The conservative-leaning Reagan Battalion released footage of the online discussion The conservative firebrand was told he will not be able to attend the event this weekend by Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union. He released a statement on Monday saying his invite was 'rescinded' after the 'offensive' video surfaced Beitbart's News Editor was taking part in a debate between several American men, one of whom was wearing a superhero-style mask, when he defended 'coming of age' relationships. A five-minute edited tape of the discussion was posted online forcing the controversial media star to clarify his comments. Yiannopoulos was due to address the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington this weekend. After the footage was released, conservatives called for him to be banned. During the online discussion, Yiannopoulos said: 'This is a controversial view, I accept. But we get caught up in this whole child abuse thing even to the extent we are policing consensual relationships between consenting adults, such as grad students and professors at universities. 'The whole consent thing is not as black and white as people try and paint it.' Yiannopoulos agreed that the age of consent was 'roughly' at the right age. Yiannopoulos wrote a second apology on Facebook on Monday. He said that he was abused as a child and felt he could speak freely on the topic Yiannopulos is due to address the Conservative Political Action Conference 2017 The controversial columnist is often greeted by protests, such as this one earlier this month in Berkeley, California where he was forced to cancel a planned speech due to the demonstration He continued: 'There are certainly people who are capable of giving consent at a younger age. I would certainly consider myself to be one of them, people who are sexually active younger. 'I think it particularly happens in the gay world, by the way. In many cases actually, those relationships this is one of the reasons I hate the left. This one-size-fits-all policing of culture. This arbitrary and oppressive idea of consent, which totally destroys, you know, the understanding that many of us have, of the complexities, subtleties and complicated nature of many relationships. People are messy and complex, particularly in the homosexual world. Some of those relationships between younger boys and older men, the sort of coming of age relationships, the relationships in which those older men help those young boys to discover who they are, and give them security and safety and provide them with love and a reliable rock where they cant speak to their parents.' Yiannopoulos said: 'Pedophilia is not a sexual attraction to somebody 13 years old who is sexually mature. Pedophilia is attraction to children who have not reached puberty. Pedophilia is an attraction to people who dont have functioning sex organs yet, who have not gone through puberty, who are too young to understand about the bodies. That is not what we are talking about. You dont understand what pedophilia is if you think Im defending it, because Im certainly not.' Yiannopoulos suggested a relationship between 'younger boys and older men' can be 'hugely positive experiences for the young boys' saving them from possible 'suicide and drugs' Yiannopouloswrote an 'apology' titled a 'note for idiots' on Sunday. He insisted he does not support pedophilia and mentioned sex criminals he had 'outed' during his career Yiannopoulos claimed some teenagers could find a relationship with an older man quite beneficial. He added: 'In the gay world, some of the most enriching and incredibly life-affirming and shaping relationships, very often between younger boys and older men, can be hugely positive experiences for those young boys. They can save those young boys from desolation, suicide and drug addiction, all sorts of things, providing theyre consensual.' Later, Yiannopoulos wrote on Facebook blaming deceptive editing and his own 'sloppy phrasing' for any indication he supported pedophilia. He said he spoke of his own relationship when he was 17 with a man who was 29. The age of consent in the UK is 16. It's unclear who edited the videos. The video was published by the Reagan Battalion, a blog that describes itself as 'news, information, commentary, from a conservative perspective'. According to a Facebook post, Yiannopoulos insisted he should have used the term young men as opposed to young boys. According to a statement on The Daily Caller, Yiannopoulos attempted to defuse the scandal. He said: 'I do not support pedophilia. Period. It is a vile and disgusting crime, perhaps the very worst. There are selectively edited videos doing the rounds, as part of a co-ordinated effort to discredit me from establishment Republicans, that suggest I am soft on the subject.' He added: 'I did say that there are relationships between younger men and older men that can help a young gay man escape from a lack of support or understanding at home. Thats perfectly true and every gay man knows it. But I was not talking about anything illegal and I was not referring to pre-pubescent boys. 'I shouldnt have used the word "boy" when I talked about those relationships between older men and younger gay men.' Yiannopoulos suggested there may be an ulterior motive in trying to ban him from the event this weekend. He added: 'This rush to judgment from establishment conservatives who hate Trump as much as they hate me, before I have had any chance to provide context or a response, is one of the big reasons gays vote Democrat.' Advertisement Three Texas twisters are partially to blame for the devastating destruction that occurred overnight in San Antonio and Austin before hitting Houston on Monday morning. Over 40,000 people were left without power and at least 150 homes have been damaged in San Antonio, where winds reaching 80mph blew in on Sunday night. Those powerful gusts resulted in tornado warnings for the areas around the city and nearby Austin, where winds grew so strong that a train was pushed off its tracks. And early Monday morning, ground stops were put into effect at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, halting the descent of incoming flights for the first few hours of the day. Other areas in the state are now bracing for the storm as it heads east, bringing not only strong winds but also thunder and rain. The rainfall was so heavy at times overnight in San Antonio that 0.43 inches fell in the span of just 30 minutes, just after 10pm on Sunday. Despite these conditions, only a handful of minor injuries have been reported in the area San Antonio Fire Department public information officer Joe Arrington said early Monday. Scroll down for video Bent out of shape: A transmitter in San Antonio was hit hard during the overnight storms, and could still be seen doubled over in pain on Monday morning (above) Winter weather warning: A powerful storm ripped through Texas beginning late Sunday, moving through San Antonio and Austin before making its way to Houston on Monday morning (San Antonio home destroyed in the storm) Lights out: In San Antonio (above), a tornado warning was put in affect around 10pm for some areas of the city Raging rains: Over 40,000 are without power and at least 150 homes damaged in the wake of the storm, during which 0.43inches of rain fell in less than 30 minutes The bulk of the devastation seems to have resulted from the strong winds, which ripped the roofs off homes and trees out of the ground while even managing to flatten some structures. Power lines were also hit hard by the storm, resulting in the power outages which occurred across San Antonio. A transmission tower was badly damaged overnight as well, with the winds dragging the top half of the structure to the ground as its power lines were ripped out and bending the tower in half. Among the areas that were most impacted by the storm was the Alamo Heights section of San Antonio, where the National Weather Center says there were multiple reports of a tornado touching at around 10:30pm on Sunday. At least 43 homes were damaged in just that area according to the San Antonio Fire department, where officials later confirmed a tornado did indeed touch down, causing three homes and eight apartment buildings to collapse. Storm-related fires were also a source of major damage overnight, and early Monday fire fighters were still putting out blazes in the city from overnight. ABC 13 and KSAT both provided a look at some of the damaged structures and uprooted trees in the city after the storm passed on Monday, which warning residents of a wet day ahead. The thin red line: There were multiple reports of a tornado touching down in the Alamo Heights section of San Antonio (above) Go east: The storm was making its way to Houston on Monday morning, with more rain and high winds Taro time: Two brothers gets to work covering up their home in Northeast Bexar County after their roof was carried off by the high winds Forceful gusts: The apartment of a woman in Live Oak was left in complete disarray after the storm passed overhead It was those same winds that blew a Union Pacific train in Williamson County off its track, derailing 20 of its cars. No passengers were on the train at the time, and it is not clear what it was carrying as it traveled through the state. Flash flood warnings are also being put into affect for most areas as the storm passes through. Overnight flooding in those areas in the wake of the weather is now wrecking havoc on the morning commute for many, and officials are advising residents to avoid all high-water locations on Monday. Downed power lines are also a proving to be a problem and resulting in road closures while crews work to clear the streets of any possible live wires. Wind speeds have managed to slow somewhat as the storm moves on, and on Monday morning reports coming out of Houston said that gusts were at around 30mph on average, though still strong enough at times to result in ground stops at Bush. Up and out: Tress were ripped from the ground in San Antonio (above) and roofs torn off multiple houses Busy night: Storm-related fires were also a source of major damage overnight, and early Monday fire fighters were still putting out blazes in the city from overnight Flattened: Debris lines a street in Texas after severe storms hit the area overnight Unpredictable path: A woman stands outside her brother's house in San Antonio the morning after a tornado narrowly missed the dweeling That lasted just a few hours however, and by noon things were back to normal at the major hub. Flights departing Bush were operating on a 15 minute delay the Federal Aviation Administration reported on their website at around 8am local time, and continued to have slightly later departure times throughout the morning and early afternoon. The nearby William P. Hobby Airport, which receives regional flights and almost all private planes coming into the city, was also on a ground stop Monday morning. Louisiana is next up in the storm's path, with Shreveport already dealing with the wind and rain by 8am on Monday. The teenager was arrested by police in a counterterrorism operation in September (stock picture) A 16-year-old Syrian refugee branded a 'serious threat' by police, has gone on trial in Germany accused of planning a bombing inspired by ISIS. The youngster was arrested at an asylum shelter in the western city of Cologne in September after refugee camp and local mosque officials reported to police that he had been radicalised. At the time police said his mobile phone showed he had been in touch with an ISIS contact abroad, and had expressed willingness to carry out an attack. Online chat messages on the phone included 'concrete instructions' for building an explosive device, prosecutors added. Officers searching his accommodation discovered a battery pack, 70 sewing needles and several butane gas cartridges - items that could be used to prepare a bomb, DPA national news agency reported, citing the charge sheet. The trial at the district court in Cologne, scheduled to last until March 20, is being held behind closed doors because the accused is a legal minor. A court spokesman said he had to answer charges of planning 'a serious act of violence threatening state security'. If found guilty, the teenager faces a maximum sentence of five years' detention under the juvenile penal code. He and his family were among the nearly 900,000 migrants and refugees who arrived in Germany in 2015. The youngster was brought to police attention after residents and employees at the refugee shelter where he was staying voiced concerns that he had been radicalised, as did a local mosque. Germany is on high alert following a series of attacks claimed by ISIS, the deadliest of which was a truck rampage through a Berlin Christmas market which killed 12 people in December. French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has gained ground on her main election rivals, it has emerged. Support for Le Pen, head of the anti-immigration National Front, has surged with frontrunner Emmanuel Macron's lead evaporating according to the Opinionway poll of voting intentions. But the 48-year-old, who wants to take France out of the European Union, would still lose to Macron and conservative Francois Fillon in the May 7 run-off for the presidency, the poll showed. French far-right leader Marine Le Pen (pictured) has gained ground on her main election rivals, it has emerged Opinionway had Le Pen easily beating her four main rivals and winning the April 23 first round with a score of 27 percent to move through to the two-way run-off against either Macron or Fillon. In a straight fight with Macron she would go down by 42 percent against his 58, while against Fillon she would lose with 44 percent to his 56, the poll showed. French government bond yields rose sharply on news of the poll, reflecting investors' apprehension over Le Pen's proposals to quit the euro zone, hold a referendum on EU membership, and slap taxes on imports and on the job contracts of foreigners. Her improvement in ratings was most notable against Macron, with whom she was seen a week ago as polling 36-37 percent to his 63-64 percent in the second round. With nine weeks to go to the first round, it was still not clear whether Macron, a centrist, or Fillon, a former conservative prime minister, would go through to the knock-out against Le Pen. But the 48-year-old, who wants to take France out of the European Union, would still lose to Macron and conservative Francois Fillon (pictured) in the May 7 run-off for the presidency, the poll showed The two men are tied on 20 percent each in the first round, according to Monday's poll. Fillon, who preaches radical cost-cutting policies in the public sector to launch a recovery, was the clear frontrunner until a scandal broke over salaries paid to his wife and two children from public funds for questionable amounts of work. He has denied they were paid for 'fake jobs'. He has vowed to fight on, despite plunging ratings and the threat of being placed under formal investigation by the financial police, who have launched a probe into the scandal. Macron, a political novice who has never held elected office, has pulled in huge crowds at rallies, saying he seeks to transcend the classic left-right divide in French politics. Macron (pictured), a political novice who has never held elected office, has pulled in huge crowds at rallies, saying he seeks to transcend the classic left-right divide in French politics But he sparked an outcry at home last week, which may have dented his support, when he said during a trip to Algeria that France's colonial past - still a divisive issue 50 years after the war in Algeria - represented 'a crime against humanity'. Le Pen, who wants to take France out of the European Union, was on a trip to Lebanon on Monday where she spoke out against French policy on Syria. Police raid Le Pen's HQ French police were searching the headquarters of Marine Le Pen's National Front party west of Paris on Monday in relation to a probe into alleged misuse of European Union funds to pay parliamentary assistants, an official said. 'It looks on the face of it like a media operation whose goal is to disturb the course of the presidential campaign,' the National Front said in a statement. The European parliament has said that, in her role as French National Front leader, Le Pen had during the 2011-12 legislature paid party staff with EU funds, which EU rules say should be used only to pay EU lawmakers' assistants. Advertisement After meeting Prime Minister Saad Hariri in Beirut, she described Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as the 'only viable solution' for preventing Islamic State from taking power in Syria. 'I explained clearly that ... Bashar al-Assad was obviously today a much more reassuring solution for France than Islamic State would be if it came to power in Syria, as it has partially taken power in Libya after the disappearance of (Muammar) Gaddafi,' she told journalists. The election run-up has produced a series of surprises, with several big names falling off the radar. Polls see little chance of a Socialist revival in time for the election given the poor record of President Francois Hollande's five years in office and his decision not to run again. Moves late last week to form an election deal between the Socialists, who have elected left-winger Benoit Hamon as their candidate, and the far-left veteran campaigner Jean-Luc Melenchon, appear to have fizzled. Melenchon, who is standing as an independent, said: 'I have no intention of going and hitching myself to a hearse.' Hamon hit back at the weekend, telling journalists: 'I won't run after Jean-Luc Melenchon. I don't run after anyone.' A 76-year-old Bostonian has been hit with a $200 fine for not clearing the snow off the path in front of her home in last week's winter storm. On Tuesday Lorraine Walsh, a retired organist and choir director at a local church, found a citation addressed to her sister, who owns the house, for failing to clear the sidewalk. Because her brother Thomas Walsh owns an insurance business in the home, the citation was for $200, instead of the typical $50 fine for residences. Walsh, who said photo evidence in the ticket illustrated that half the work was done, could not imagine what would happen if the fine had been $1,500 - due to a new law that makes penalizing businesses up to that amount a possibility. Scroll down for video Lorraine Walsh, a retired organist and choir director at a local church, found a citation addressed to her sister, who owns the house, for failing to clear the sidewalk The retired church organist, pictured clearing her path after receiving the fine, felt unable to clear it earlier in the week when it was frozen solid Lorraine Walsh mailed an appeal on Thursday against a fine for not clearing snow from her path. She has received an outpouring of support from her local community Walsh told the Boston Herald: 'I've lived here 75 years and I've never gotten a ticket before. At first, I couldn't believe it.' She said last weekend's additional storms, which added new snow to the already icy sidewalk, made it particularly difficult to crack the ice. She added that she even 'enjoys' shoveling and that she cannot afford the ticket. Walsh mailed an appeal on Thursday and received an outpouring of support from her local community. One man even offered to pay her fine if the city government does not waive it. Mayor Martin Walsh, no relation, said she would most likely win her appeal and that the point of the fines is to promote public safety. Icy storms have made it difficult for many elderly residents to shovel outside their home. Pictured: The sidewalk in front of Lorraine Walsh's home in South Boston once it was cleared He told the Herald: 'I feel bad. She can appeal the ticket. Shes an elderly person, so I want to make sure that were not putting a burden on an elderly person that cant do it.' A new Massachusetts law increased the maximum potential fine for businesses that fail to shovel walkways to $1,500. Following the latest storm during the February 10-12 weekend, the Boston government collected nearly $35,000 in fines from businesses and residents. Dear Mr President, Slow down. Tone down. Calm down. I know why youre so angry. It enrages you that the same media who blew so much collective smoke up your backside in the first few months of your campaign are now blowing so much collective fire and brimstone. Theyre behaving like Dr Frankenstein when he lost control of his creature, and displaying much of the same fevered hysteria. Its made some of them rankly hypocritical, demanding rightly that every word that comes from your presidential mouth is 100% accurate, whilst failing that simple test themselves through laziness or commercial greed. Scroll down for video Donald Trump gestures during his news conference at the White House on Friday. Piers says: 'Its ridiculous to describe, as you did on Friday, all of Americas main news networks, in their entirety, as "FAKE NEWS!"' When Buzzfeed published completely unverified claims that you had cavorted with urinating prostitutes in a Russian hotel, I despaired of my industry. It was a disgraceful piece of opportunist click-baiting, and abrogated every basic rule of journalism. I was similarly appalled when Times White House pool reporter informed the world you had removed the bust of Martin Luther King from the Oval Office. The optics and implication of that report became instantly clear as it blazed around the world for 40 uncorrected minutes as hard evidence youre a racist. To quote Churchill again: A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on. This report was untrue, the MLK bust was still there. Time apologised within the hour but much of the damage was already done. I had someone the other day citing it to me on Twitter as proof youre a racist. I was similarly appalled when Times White House pool reporter informed the world you had removed the bust of Martin Luther King from the Oval Office. The report was untrue Oh but that was a genuine mistake! bellowed the media, racing to offer their colleague far more latitude over mistakes than they ever afford this Trump administration. Youve also had to put up with CNN anchor, Carmen Aristegui, raising two fingers to her upper lip to compare you to Adolf Hitler, an evil genocidal monster who directly murdered 12 million people and started a world war that killed many, many millions more. That should surely have been a firing offence for a network that prides itself on impartiality? Oh, and the New Republic shamefully published an essay last week suggesting your bizarre, volatile, behaviour may be down to the sexually transmitted infection, syphilis. These are just some of the numerous examples of dreadful media behaviour that fully justify some of your fury. Frankly, I have never seen such a concerted campaign of vicious personal vilification against a newly elected president. However, it would also be true to say I have never seen a newly elected president mount such a concerted campaign of vicious vilification against the media. I dont have a problem with you describing specific stories as FAKE NEWS! if they are indeed fake, like the ones I referred to. But its ridiculous to describe, as you did on Friday, all of Americas main news networks, in their entirety, as FAKE NEWS! And even more ridiculous to say they are now the enemy of the People. Theyre not. They, like you, are servants of the People. You described Judge James Robart as a so-called judge because he blocked your controversial travel ban. Hes not. Hes a federal judge appointed by the last Republican president, George W. Bush Nor does it help your FAKE NEWS! cause if a lot of statements from you and your team since Inauguration Day have been demonstrably inaccurate. Truth matters from the media. It matters even more from the President. Speaking as a professional journalist for the past three decades, let me offer some perspective. First, freedom of the press is an absolutely essential tool of any true democracy. As Sir Winston Churchill, a man you admire so much you have restored a bust of him to the Oval Office, said: A free Press is the unsleeping guardian of every other right that free men prize; it is the most dangerous foe of tyranny. Where men have the habit of liberty, the Press will continue to be the vigilant guardian of the rights of the ordinary citizen. Its OK to criticise the media, of course it is. But if that criticism descends into a deliberate attempt to delegitimize, as it did on Friday, then it crosses a worrying red line that leads, as Senator John McCain correctly observed, into dictatorship. The only thing more serious would be for a leader to try to delegitimize the judiciary, which you have also done during your breathless first four weeks in office. You described Judge James Robart as a so-called judge because he blocked your controversial travel ban. Hes not. Hes a federal judge appointed by the last Republican president, George W. Bush. You may not like his decisions, and you are free to challenge them. But as President of the United States, you cant question Judge Robarts validity to administer justice without serious evidence to suggest he is unfit to serve. None of which has been forthcoming. Youve also had to put up with CNN anchor, Carmen Aristegui, raising two fingers to her upper lip to compare you to Adolf Hitler, an evil genocidal monster who directly murdered 12 million people and started a world war that killed many, many millions more. That should surely have been a firing offence for a network that prides itself on impartiality? As if your war with the media and judiciary wasnt enough, you have also been engaged in a ferocious battle with your own intelligence agencies. This has already led to the premature departure of your National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn (pictured), after just three weeks And anyway, he was right about the travel ban. It was poorly drawn up and badly executed, which is why you are now preparing an entirely new version. As if your war with the media and judiciary wasnt enough, you have also been engaged in a ferocious battle with your own intelligence agencies. This has already led to the premature departure of your National Security Advisor, General Michael Flynn, after just three weeks. Im still not sure if he did anything seriously wrong, other than and this is not an insignificant offence - mislead the Vice-President. But Flynn was tossed on the political bonfire by your vengeful spooks in collusion with the media, because they were all fed up with the abusive way youve been talking about them. Those spooks own behaviour has also been lamentable and possibly criminally so. Its appears some of them have been deliberately leaking classified information to damage you and your administration. Even worse, were told they may have been withholding vital intelligence from you because they dont trust you. If true, this is shocking and unacceptable, and you must punish the culprits. But you must also work quickly to restore mutual trust with your intelligence agencies. You need them on your side. Just as I also urge you to restore some mutual respect with the media and the judiciary. They must be free to do their jobs. Its perfectly legitimate for reporters to properly investigate any links that may exist between your administration and Vladimir Putins Russia. After all, you fired General Flynn, not the media. Theyre entitled to get to the bottom of why, particularly given the whirlwind of rumours surrounding Russians alleged attempt to rig and hack the US election to your benefit. That is the whole point of the 1st Amendment, which is the bedrock of the Constitution that I know you love. As for the media, Churchill had a valuable message for my profession too: Everyone is in favour of free speech. Hardly a day goes by without its being extolled. But some peoples idea of it is that they are free to say what they like but if anyone says anything back, that is an outrage. In other words, stop throwing indignant, over-sensitive temper tantrums every time President Trump says anything about you. Hes entitled to criticise you, just as youre entitled to criticise him. Both sides just need to do it with a little more respect, and a little less rage. Speaking as a professional journalist for the past three decades, let me offer some perspective. Freedom of the press is an essential tool of any true democracy Bottom line, Mr President, is that you cant keep expending all this time and energy waging war on the media, judiciary and intelligence agencies. Youve made your points, loud and clear. Now you must dial down the aggressive rhetoric and move to delivering on what you promised the American people. Thats jobs, a healthy economy, security, improved education, better health, new infrastructure and the obliteration of Islamic State. The frustration for people like me who know you well, Mr President, and who do not think youre a monster, is that your more incendiary rhetoric sometimes suggests to your critics that you might be. Theres enough pathetically over-the-top, and for the most part completely unwarranted hysteria sweeping the Planet about you as it is without you fuelling the fire. Youve got so many exciting plans, but the good stuffs getting drowned out in the noise of your squabbles with the messengers. Your announcement about US coal on Friday should have provided great feel-good headlines. Instead, all the attention moved to your latest attack on the media. Thats just bad politics. Mr President, you won the battle for the White House in the greatest political coup America has ever seen. Now you must win the real war - to Make America Great Again. Court loss: Moors Murderer Ian Brady has been refused permission to launch a 'totally unique' High Court fight for the right to have the lawyer of his choice representing him at a tribunal Moors Murderer Ian Brady hasn't left his bed for two years but is still trying to move from his high security psychiatric hospital in a taxpayer-funded High Court case. The serial killer is terminally ill and suffering from emphysema and requires constant oxygen but is still demanding to leave Ashworth Hospital on Merseyside, where he has been since 1985. Two years ago the Glaswegian demanded to be moved to a Scottish prison where he wants to die - but it was rejected on the grounds his mental illness requires hospital care. In a new blow yesterday the murderer was refused permission to get legal aid for the lawyer of his choice to try again. He was challenging a bar on solicitor-advocate Robin Makin, who has represented him for more than 25 years, getting legal aid. His legal team say Brady has been bedridden for the last couple of years. 'It is probably fair to say that his physical condition will not improve and he is terminally ill. He is in very poor physical health - he suffers from emphysema and has constant oxygen and a nebuliser four times a day,' the court heard. The judge was told that Brady was reluctant to engage with the latest review, believing it was biased against him. But he was persuaded to take part by Mr Makin after 'making it clear that the only legal representative he would have was Robin Makin'. Mr Justice Morris considered the application for permission to seek judicial review at a hearing in London last week and ruled yesterday that the ban remains. Mr Makin is currently barred from acting as Brady's publicly funded legal representative because his solicitors' firm, E Rex Makin & Co, is not a member of the Law Society's mental health panel. Under legal aid rules, only members are entitled to a publicly funded contract in the mental health law category. Serial killers: Ian Brady, left in 2013, is said to be bed-bound - he tortured and murdered five children in the 1960s with lover Myra Hindley, who died in 2002 Brady's legal team told the court the Lord Chancellor, Liz Truss, has power to intervene and protect his human rights and ensure he is represented by the lawyer of his choice. His barrister Philip Engelman argued she had unlawfully fettered her discretion by failing to act in what the tribunal itself had described as a 'totally unique' case. Lawyers for the Lord Chancellor told the judge it would not be a 'lawful and proper use of her power' for her to intervene. The serial killer, 79, who now uses the name Ian Stewart-Brady, is a patient at Ashworth Hospital on Merseyside. He last went before the Mental Health Review Tribunal (MHRT) in 2013 and asked for a move to a Scottish prison so he cannot be force-fed - as he can in hospital - and where he could be allowed to die if he wishes. His request was rejected after Ashworth medical experts said he had chronic mental illness and needed continued care in hospital. A further review was due in September last year, but Brady refused to take part without Mr Makin. Brady and Myra Hindley, who died in prison in 2002, tortured and murdered five children in the 1960s. Four of the victims were buried on Saddleworth Moor in the south Pennines. He was jailed for three murders in 1966 and has been at Ashworth since 1985. He and Hindley later confessed to another two murders. President Donald Trump took to Twitter again to defend comments he made Saturday about Sweden. 'Give the public a break - The FAKE NEWS media is trying to say that large scale immigration in Sweden is working out just beautifully. NOT!' the president wrote Monday morning, before wishing his Twitter audience a Happy Presidents' Day. Trump was ridiculed by many for suggesting that there was a terror attack, or a widespread crime spike, in the Nordic country though there are some testimonials of an 'upward spiral of violence,' according to one Swedish police chief, in a city where 32 percent of the population is made up of migrants. On Sunday, Trump sent out a tweet explaining that he was citing Fox News report when he made a reference to a security incident in Sweden during a rally in Florida. 'My statement as to what's happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden,' Trump said. The president had addressed supporters during his Florida rally Saturday night saying: 'You look at what's happening in Germany, you look at what's happening last night in Sweden,' he said. 'Sweden. Who would believe this? Sweden,' he added. 'They took in large numbers. They're having problems like they never thought possible.' The Swedish embassy in Washington immediately asked the US State Department for an explanation of Trump's comments suggesting there been some sort of attack in Sweden on Friday. They later tweeted: 'We look forward to informing the US administration about Swedish immigration and integration policies.' President Donald Trump continued to defend his stance on Sweden, by suggesting that the news media was covering up a widespread crime problem thanks to migrants President Donald Trump whacked the news media this morning for suggesting that Sweden hasn't had any problems with its migrant population President Donald Trump sent out a tweet on Sunday saying he was citing a Fox News report when he made reference to a security incident in Sweden The Swedish embassy in Washington had asked the US State Department for an explanation of Trump's comments suggesting there been some sort of attack in Sweden on Friday. He responded with the tweet above The Swedish embassy in Washington later tweeted: 'We look forward to informing the US administration about Swedish immigration and integration policies.' The White House responded saying Trump was referring to 'rising crime and recent incidents, in general,' and not 'a specific incident' in Sweden, according to ABC. The president made reference to a security incident in Sweden that apparently occurred on the previous night, leaving many Swedes baffled. 'We have asked the question today to the state department. We are trying to get clarity,' said Swedish foreign ministry spokeswoman Catarina Axelsson. Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom apparently responded on Twitter with the remark 'owing to certain circumstances', followed by a passage from her speech in parliament last week on Sweden's foreign policy. The excerpt said: 'In 2016, 'post-truth' was named Word of the Year by Oxford Dictionaries. Both functioning democracy and constructive cooperation between states require us to speak with, and not about, each other, to honor agreements and to allow ideas to compete. They also require us to respect science, facts and the media, and to acknowledge each others wisdom.' Trump's remarks came as he vowed to protect the US borders while addressing supporters at his campaign-style rally in an aircraft hangar at Orlando-Melbourne International Airport. But social media users were left puzzled after the president's comments, including Former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt, who quickly pointed out there was no such attack. 'Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking? Questions abound,' Bildt said in a tweet. Axelsson told The Associated Press that 'the government wasn't aware of any 'terror-linked major incidents'. Sweden's Security Police also said it had no reason to change the terror threat level. Former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt sent out a tweet questioning Trump's remark Trump alluded to an apparent nonexistent attack on Sweden as he addressed supporters during a campaign-style rally at Orlando-Melbourne International Airport on Saturday. Bildt is pictured left August 2016 It was also suggested that Trump's remark were likely based on the Fox News interview between host Tucker Carlson (left) and documentary filmmaker Ami Horowitz which aired the night before Trump's rally Trump went on to allude to previous attacks in Europe. 'You look at what's happening in Brussels. You look at what's happening all over the world,' he said. 'Take a look at Nice. Take a look at Paris,' he said as he promised to keep the 'country safe'. Trump's remarks were quickly ridiculed by Twitter users including Chelsea Clinton. 'What happened in Sweden Friday night? Did they catch the Bowling Green Massacre perpetrators?' she said while also mocking Kellyanne Conway's interview gaff last month. The former first daughter had previously slammed the president's adviser after Conway referred to the nonexistent massacre. A Swedish librarian, who was using Sweden's official Twitter account sent out a tweet saying: 'No. Nothing has happened here in Sweden. There has not [been] any terrorist attacks here. At all. The main news right now is about Melfest.' The woman suggested Trump's remark was likely to have been based on a Fox News interview between host Tucker Carlson and documentary filmmaker Ami Horowitz which aired the night before. Trump's remarks were quickly ridiculed by Twitter users including Chelsea Clinton, who previously slammed Kellyanne Conway Thousands of people listened as Trump spoke during the rally at the AeroMod International hangar at Orlando Melbourne International Airport A Swedish librarian, who was using Sweden's official Twitter account sent out a tweet debunking Trump's comments Horowitz spoke about his recent film which explores the seemingly increasing crime rates in Sweden as a result of the country's open-door policy. The country let in 200,000 refugees as migrants fled their war-torn countries during the summer in 2015, Huffington Post reported. This would be the third time the Trump administration has been accused of referencing fictitious terror attacks. Senior adviser Conway infamously made note of the nonexistent 'Bowling Green Massacre' during an interview with Chris Matthews last month. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer referred to an 'Atlanta attack' earlier this month, but later corrected himself saying he had meant to say Orlando. Other Twitter users were quick to mock Trump's comments, tweeting a manual on how to build a border wall from popular Swedish furniture store IKEA This is the emotional reunion of a 17-year-old girl who was rescued by the FBI on Friday a month after she was 'sexually trafficked' from a Las Vegas hotel. Sarah Dunsey was found in Venice, California, on Friday after disappearing from the MGM Grand Hotel during a trip to Las Vegas with friends. In a photograph shared on Sunday, the teenager from Logan, Utah, appeared smiling and without any facial injuries as she was reunited with her father and stepmother. 'Feels so amazing to hold this beautiful young lady in our arms again!! Thanks again to everyone,' Terri Dunsey, the teenager's stepmother, told Facebook friends. The teenager's mother Amie Ellis believes she was the victim of sexual trafficking. On Monday, her stepfather told DailyMail.com it was a 'miracle' she had been brought back to them alive. Scroll down for video Sarah Dunsey, 17, was reunited with her father Michael and stepmother Terri (above) on Saturday after being rescued from 'human traffickers' 'No parent or child should have to experience what we have been through. We are thankful for all the good people that helped in the recover of Sarah. 'This was truly a miracle,' Todd Ellis said, adding that both Sarah and the rest of the family were 'exhausted'. Two men her family said she was found with on Friday were questioned by police over the weekend but authorities are refusing to comment on whether any arrests have been made in relation to her disappearance. On Sunday Sarah's mother returned to the public Facebook missing person's page to share a video of the moment her daughter was reunited with her brothers and sisters. The youngsters wept as they hugged and kissed in the short clip. 'Sibling love. It was an emotional reunion last night!', said an accompanying message. Despite publicly campaigning for help to find the teenager, Sarah's family has remained tight lipped over the circumstances surrounding her return. They have thanked supporters profusely for helping get the teenager back home but have not revealed exactly how she was found or why she vanished in the first place. Sarah's stepbrothers wept as they were reunited at home in St George, Utah, on Saturday Sarah's mother Amie said more details would be shared 'in the coming week' after receiving questions over her daughter's disappearance and return. 'Many people are curious about what happened and are anxious to hear more details. 'We will share a little bit more in the coming week. We appreciate your continued support and kindness.' Sarah was found on Friday a month after going missing Sarah has a four stepbrothers and a full brother and sister. She lives with her mother and her stepfather Todd Ellis in St George, Utah. Her father Michael lives in Logan with his wife Terri and her two children. The family launched a widely-shared social media campaign to find Sarah last week. At its center was a seamlessly produced video during which her mother Amy, who is a personal trainer and model, begged her to 'fight' her captors. In the footage, the family revealed the last text message sent by Sarah before she went off-grid. 'If I die tonight it's a guy named...' she said. The family redacted his name from the video, explaining later that they did not want to alert him to their search for her. On Friday, within days of the appeal, the family returned to social media to announce Sarah had been found. The teenager disappeared from the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, on January 15 'We found our Sarah Bearah!!! Thank you all for sharing, getting Sarah's face out there, and helping us to find her. 'Thank you to the people that sent us the tips that found her. 'We ask to please give our family a little space and privacy. We are going to retreat into our safe place and heal.' The FBI is refusing to disclose whether the two men who were found with Sarah at the weekend are facing charges. The teenager's aunts said she had a 'long' recovery ahead of her as they attended a vigil in her hometown that went ahead on Saturday despite her return. They dedicated it to other victims of human trafficking who haven't ever been found. Sarah's mother Amie (above with her stepfather Todd) appeared in the video to urge her daughter to 'fight' her kidnappers In her final text message to her loved ones, she said: 'If I die tonight it's a guy named'. The family shared the message in a video plea for her return but redacted the man's name Trina McCulloch, another aunt, pleaded for privacy for the family on Facebook and asked people not to speculate over what had happened while police continued investigating the circumstances of Sarah's disappearance. Amie was reunited with her daughter at a California hospital this weekend. The two are pictured before her alleged abuduction 'There is still an investigation going, and to all the people who don't understand I hope you never in your lifetime go through what our family has for the past month. 'We would love to be able to give specifics but that would not help authorities in this investigation. 'Sarah's story is not over I'm sure with time and healing we will be able to release more details. Police are yet to make any suggestion over the circumstances surrounding the case but Sarah's family are adamant in their belief she was trafficked for sex work. Her mother definitively said as much in her video appeal. 'On January 15th our daughter Sarah Dunsey was abducted from Las Vegas, Nevada. She is being held against her will and Sarah is a victim of sex trafficking.' During the search for the girl, authorities said they believed she was 'in danger'. Veronica Fleming had her teaching job reassigned after she made a Facebook status supporting mass deportation on Thursday A Florida elementary teacher at a predominately Latino school had her job reassigned after she made a Facebook post during school hours that supported mass deportation. Veronica Fleming had her classroom taken away after she made a status that said she was 'glad about massive deportation' and there would be 'less mouths to feed' on Thursday. The teacher at Parkside Elementary School, where 96 per cent of students are a minority, thanked President Trump after sharing an article about immigrant protests. The demographic of the school in Naples, Florida, is a majority of non-white pupils, with 70 per cent Latino and 20 per cent Haitian, causing outrage among parents. The principal was alerted to the status when parents began calling the school in complaint a few hours after it posted, NBC 2 reported. Fleming taught a computer class at Parkside Elementary in Naples, Florida. She said she was 'glad about massive deportation' and thanked President Trump The situation was then turned over to the deputy superintendent and human resources, and they made the joint decision to reassign the teacher and have an investigation. Fleming's post read: 'The funny part about immigrants staying home is the rest of us who pay for them are here at work like weve always been. 'Looks like less mouths to feed today. Have fun while you still can. 'So glad to hear about massive deportation. Lets make America great again. Thanks Donald Trump!' Fleming was sharing an article the Chicago Tribune wrote centering around immigrants protesting Donald Trump and his statements around deportation. Fleming's school has a student population that is 96 per cent minority, with 70 per cent Latino. She was sharing an article about immigration protests and said there would be 'less mouths to feed' Video courtesy of WBBH NBC 2 Demonstrators across the country participated in the Day Without Immigrants boycott by not showing up work or class, in an effort to show how much they contribute to American society. Fleming is believed to have posted the status during school hours, teaching the very students who could be directly affected by deportation. A petition calling for her firing was launched online and has reached more than 3,000 signatures. Principal Tamie Stewart said: 'We greatly appreciate our parents who have communicated to the school to share concerns so that we can address this issue. 'I want to ensure our families that this persons individual post is not at all reflective of our school staff in any way.' President Donald Trump's lawyer is denying a report that claimed he's under investigation by the FBI over his contacts with the Russian government that also said he pitched a back channel to the White House to resolve the Crimea crisis. The New York Times said that Michael Cohen, Trump's personal lawyer, hand-delivered a report to Michael Flynn before his resignation as national security advisor that accused the Ukrainian president of corruption. The document reportedly suggested a smear campaign to force the Russian hardliner's ejection from office. It was part of secret plot to lift U.S. sanctions on Russia if the country agreed to remove troops from eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian government would subsequently hold a referendum on leasing Crimea to Russia. Cohen told LawNewz.com that the allegations against him are '100 percent untrue,' however. 'I have not been contacted by anyone from the FBI or any government organization,' he said. President Donald Trump's lawyer, Michael Cohen, is denying a report that claimed he's under investigation by the FBI over his contacts with the Russian government that also said he pitched a back channel to the White House to resolve the Crimea crisis 'I acknowledge that the brief meeting took place (about Russia and Ukraine referenced in the NY Times article), but emphatically deny discussing this topic or delivering any documents to the White House and/or General Flynn,' his statement said. The Times article claims that Cohen is being probed by the FBI over an allegation in the so-called dirty dossier that was compiled against Trump. The document says he met with a Russian official in Prague to discuss election hacking. Except Cohen says he wasn't in the foreign country at the time, and the Russian official he supposedly met with told Times that he had never even met the Trump associate. 'It would take any half decent, unbiased journalist 10 minutes to verify the inaccuracies in the dossier,' Cohen said in his statement. According to the Times, Cohen also offered to deliver a peace plan between Russia and Ukraine to the White House. It was part of secret plot to lift U.S. sanctions on Russia if the country agreed to remove troops from eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian government would subsequently hold a referendum on leasing Crimea to Russia. The document allegedly contained proof of corruption by Ukrainian president Petro O. Poroshenko that could be used against him. Andrii V. Artemenko, a Ukrainian lawmaker involved in its creation, told the Times he has 'names of companies, wire transfers' that prove the corruption. 'A lot of people will call me a Russian agent, a U.S. agent, a C.I.A. agent. But how can you find a good solution between our countries if we do not talk?' Artemenko told the newspaper. Cohen is said to have given the envelope to Flynn during a trip to the White House earlier this month to meet with Trump. He did not speak to the president himself about the proposal. Neither did Felix Sater, a former business associate of Trump's who the Times says is also involved in the plot. The New York Times reports that the proposal includes damning information about Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko who met with Vice President Mike Pence on Saturday in Munich, Germany Before Michael Flynn was fired, the Times says that Cohen, businessman Felix Sater (left) and Ukrainian lawmaker Andrii Artemenko (right) hatched a proposal to bring about peace between Russia and Ukraine Last week Trump cut Flynn out of the administration as suspicion about the content of his talks with Russia grew. Trump said he could no longer trust the adviser because he misled the vice president about a conversation he had with a Kremlin representative about sanctions. The incident alongside other 'instances' or 'questionable behavior prompted the president to ask for his resignation. The FBI had already questioned Flynn about the call - touching off a White House investigation into his initial claim that the subject didn't come up. He acknowledged later that it might have. The White House says he was dismissed because of his false statements, not his contacts with the foreign government before Trump's January inauguration. Last week Trump cut Michael Flynn out of the administration as suspicion about the content of his talks with Russia grew 'We got to a point not based on a legal issue but based on a trust issue where the level of trust between the president and General Flynn had eroded to the point where he felt he had to make a change,' press secretary Sean Spicer said during a press briefing last week. Before Flynn was fired, the Times says that Cohen, Sater and Artemenko hatched a proposal at Manhattan's Loews Regency, a luxury hotel on Park Avenue, to bring about peace between Russia and Ukraine. 'Who doesnt want to help bring about peace?' Cohen told the Times. He confirmed the meeting to LawNewz.com. Barack Obama issued sanctions against Russian individuals and companies in 2014 for the countries' annexation of Crimea. He piled even more on to the list in January as retaliation for the country's meddling in the November election. Thirty-five Russian diplomats were ordered out of the country and two Russian compounds were to close as a result. Seven days before his swearing-in ceremony, President Trump said he wasn't opposed to lifting some sanctions once in charge. 'If you get along and if Russia is really helping us, why would anybody have sanctions if somebodys doing some really great things?' he said. His administration says it won't back down from punishing actions for the invasion of Crimea, though, until Russia removes its forces from Ukraine. Hundreds of Boston's brightest minds rallied together, armed with funny and clever signs, to protest Trump's 'anti-science administration'. Scientists, environmental advocates and their supporters gathered in Copley Square on Sunday in a show of force against Trump's administration refuting claims of climate change. Protesters used geeky puns to declare their opposition while others listed inventions and cures society has today, all because of scientific findings. Certain demonstrators took the day as a chance to flex their brain muscles, as witty signs left some onlookers scratching their heads to decipher meanings. Hundreds of Boston's brightest minds came armed with clever signs to protest Trump's 'anti-science administration' on Sunday. Several puns included science references More than 1,000 people gathered in Copley Square with signs geeky enough to leave other scientists perplexed. This sign declared 'alternative facts' were the 'square root of -1' and started a debate on Twitter to find its true meaning This man holds an illustration depicting fear fueling ignorance and producing hate. It seemingly is a reference to claims that the president's policies are dividing the country, not uniting it One sign declared that 'alternative facts are -1', sparking a Twitter discussion to find out its meaning. Some decided it meant alternative facts were imaginary and rooted in negativity. Others said it meant alternative facts were impossible to find. A man had an illustration of Bunsen Burner of 'fear' heating up a concoction of 'ignorance' which then produced 'hate', seemingly a reference to Trump. Another sign had a direct jab at Trump, saying without science there would be no Rogaine, mocking the president over his hair. Some of those who turned out criticized Trump's appointment of Scott Pruitt as head of the Environmental Protection Agency, who is a climate-science denier. In the spirit of science, many protesters proudly carried signs with puns referencing the field Another sign had a direct jab at Trump and said without science there would be no Rogaine, mocking the president over his hair Some of those who turned out criticized Trump's appointment of Scott Pruitt as head of the Environmental Protection Agency, who is a climate-science denier The rally was sponsored by ClimateTruth.org and The Natural History Museum. It happened as the annual convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) took place in Boston Geoffrey Supran, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who studies renewable energy solutions to climate change, said scientists are responding to the Trump administration's 'anti-science rhetoric'. 'We're really trying to send a message today to Mr Trump that America runs on science, science is the backbone of our prosperity and progress,' Supran said. The 'Rally to Stand Up for Science' in Boston's Copley Square was held outside of the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting, one of the first major gatherings of scientists since Trump was elected in November. Among those present, were elementary teachers, professors and scientists, many chanting 'Stand up for science', and holding signs that read 'Science Matters', 'Scientists Pursuing Truth, Saving the World' and 'Make America Smart Again'. 'We did not politicize science', said Naomi Oreskes, a Harvard science historian who spoke at the rally. 'We did not start this fight. 'Our colleagues who have been attacked have not been attacked because they did something wrong. They have been attacked because they did something right'. Among those present, were elementary teachers, professors and scientists, many chanting 'Stand up for science', and holding signs that read 'So severe even the nerds are here' A sign played on the slogan of Dunkin' Donuts and declared that America 'runs on science' One of the biggest outcries from the science community is over the Trump administration refuting claims of climate change A woman holds up a sign that says science is for everyone but should be more inclusive Geoffrey Supran, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who studies renewable energy solutions to climate change, said scientists are responding to the Trump administration's 'anti-science rhetoric' Glenn McDonald, 49, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, brought his nine-year-old daughter, Lyra Ericson, to the protest to fight the government becoming 'a force for ignorance'. 'Without science, theres no America', McDonald told The Boston Globe. 'Without science, we dont have anything'. Some of those who turned out criticized Trump's appointment of Scott Pruitt as head of the Environmental Protection Agency over the objections of environmental groups. During six years as the attorney general of Oklahoma, Pruitt filed 14 lawsuits challenging EPA regulations. He previously expressed skepticism about scientific evidence showing the planet is heating up and that humans are to blame. However, during his Senate confirmation hearing last month, Pruitt said he disagreed with Trump's past statements that global warming is a hoax. Pruitt and Trump have vowed to roll back many of former President Obama's major environmental regulations. These men used beer and coffee to reason why the world needs science Neuroscientist Shruti Muralidhar (front left) and microbiologist Abhishek Chari (front right) hold placards and chant during Sunday's rally in Boston Russia has compiled a psychological dossier on the 'naive, risk taker' Trump for Russian President Vladimir Putin as a senior Kremlin admits they are concerned about his 'constant battle with the mass media'. Putin's staff and retired Russian diplomats are putting the dossier together ahead of a meeting between the two leaders, according to former Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Fedorov. Fedorov says that Moscow has become increasingly concerned about Trump's moves since taking office last month, adding that his 'constant battle with the mass media' was 'worrying us.' He 'is dancing on thin ice,' he said. 'It's a risky game.' Russia has compiled a psychological dossier on the 'risk-taking and naive' Donald Trump (right), for Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) Federov described the US president as a 'tough guy' but someone who 'doesn't understand fully who is Mr. Putin' to NBC. He added that Trump should 'listen to the people around him especially in the areas where he is weak.' Former prime minister under Putin, Mikhail Kasyanov, added that Putin's team were 'not laughing' at Trump's struggles since becoming president, including his recent decision to fire national security adviser Michael Flynn over his ties with Russia. 'The situation is very serious and the whole of [Putin's] team, they are nervous.' They are concerned that, unless Trump is careful, he will lose the political sway required to improve relations with Russia. A date has not yet been set for the meeting between Putin and Trump. But Federov said that the dossier, which found Trump was naive and a risk taker, was being updated constantly. It is fairly normal practice for a president to be briefed on a rival leader before such a meeting, but the compilation of a seven-page psychological portrait of Trump is an unusual step. Trump often spoke positively of Putin during the campaign trail and spoke of his hopes of improving relations between their countries. But the issue of Russia has become an explosive one for the Donald, Federov said, adding that they did not want to do anything that could damage the president. 'Trump cannot come to a meeting with Putin as a loser he must sort out his domestic problems first.' President Donald Trump (L-R), joined by Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, Vice President Mike Pence, senior advisor Steve Bannon, Communications Director Sean Spicer and former national security advisor Michael Flynn, speaks by phone with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in the Oval Office at the White House on January 28 Serious questions remain over Trump and the White House's ties to Russia. U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Moscow carried out a series of hacks to try and sway the election in favor of Trump. Robby Mook, Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign manager, said Russia 'could have' cost the Democrat the presidential election and suggested more questions needed to be asked of President Donald Trump and his team. 'This is incredibly scary,' Mook said today on CBS This Morning, noting that there were still two big missing pieces to unearth. 'We need to know more about what these conversations were with the Russians and Trump's staff and we've got to see Donald Trump's taxes.' Last week, the New York Times reported that Trump's top aides had repeated contact with senior Russian intelligence officials throughout the campaign though there's no evidence of collusion between the two. Mikhail Kasyanov said that Putin and his team were 'not laughing' at Trump's struggles since becoming president, including being forced to fire his national security adviser Michael Flynn over his ties with Russia At last Thursday's press conference, Trump denied campaign aides were having conversations with Russians. 'Russia is fake news,' the president proclaimed. Yesterday, during an interview on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, Trump's Chief of Staff Reince Priebus firmly pushed back on the report, calling it 'garbage,' and saying his own intelligence sources said the story is 'not only inaccurate, but it's grossly overstated and it is wrong.' Flynn resigned last week after admitting to misleading Vice President Mike Pence and other officials about his talks with a Russian ambassador, other members of Trump's administration retain close ties with Moscow. Today, Pence said he was 'disappointed' to find out that Flynn had lied to him about the substance of his talks with Russia's ambassador. 'I was disappointed to learn that the facts that have been conveyed to me by General Flynn were inaccurate,' Pence said at a news avail in Brussels on Monday. 'I fully support the president's decision to ask for his resignation. It was the proper decision.' Trump officially gave Flynn the boot after concluding that an 'eroding level of trust' had made it impossible for him to continue on working for the administration. Questions over the Trump administration's ties to Russia have promoted calls from both parties for 9/11 style commission to investigate. Terrifying footage of a young girl being dug out from rubble after her home was bombed has emerged from Syria today. Rescuers repeated 'God is great' as the child, named Aya, is lifted from the debris, after miraculously surviving the ordeal. It was taken after Syrian forces bombarded two neighbourhoods in Damascas today. Horrifying: The young girl is seen buried beneath rubble as rescuers desperately dig to free her A rescue exclaimed 'God is great, God is great' in Arabic as the girl was taken to safety after the building collapsed The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 10 people were wounded in today's assault. A video, uploaded by the Syria Civil Defence, a volunteer group also known as the White Helmets, shows the girl being taken alive from the city's Tishreen neighbourhood. One rescue worker is told telling the terrified child in Arabic: 'We're coming. Don't be afraid. We're coming.' A woman holds two children after today's airstrike in Damascus, carried out by Syrian forces A young child is treated following the bombing in Syrian capital Damascus, carried out by Syrian forces The same worker proclaimed 'God is great, God is great' as the young girl was taken to safety. The extent of her injuries were unclear. Today it was announced that four Russian servicemen were killed last week in Syria when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb. It takes the total Russian combat casualties so far in Syria's war to 27. The four died when they were travelling as part of a Syrian military convoy to the central city of Homs on Thursday from the Tiyas air base, which is close to the ancient town of Palmyra held by ISIS. A young boy is treated by medics after he was hurt during today's bombing in the Syrian capital The Russian Defense Ministry said the bomb was detonated by remote control. Two other servicemen were wounded in the blast. Moscow launched its military operations in support of President Bashar Assad's forces in September 2015. The Russian military has touted its air power as the backbone of its intervention, but its technicians, military advisers, and police forces have helped to clear and secure territory as well. Russian media estimate that more than 4,000 servicemen have been deployed in Syria based on voter rolls from Russia's September 2016 parliamentary elections. A Paris police officer has been accused of anally raping a man during an arrest - just days after a similar allegation sparked mass protests across the country. It is claimed that a young man was molested with a baton in October 2015 while he was being arrested. The allegation has come to light just over two weeks after a 22-year-old man named Theo was left with horrific injuries after allegedly being violated with a truncheon. The new allegation has come to light just over two weeks after a 22-year-old man was allegedly raped with a baton in Paris The case shocked the country, and prompted days of protests which have seen more than 200 people arrested across the country. Four police officers involved in the February 4 arrest have been charged. It is claimed that the latest case to come to light happened when a man named Alexandre was being taken into custody in the suburb of Drancy. Alexandre, who was 27 at the time, was left with an injury caused by anal penetration,Le Parisien reports. The 33-year-old officer involved is currently suspended, and has been placed in custody, according to reports in France. The second case has surfaced at a time when French police are under intense pressure over the alleged rape with a baton of a man named Theo on February 4 A doctor found Alexandre had suffered a 1.5cm wound to his anus, and he was told to rest for 10 days, according to prosecutors. The officer reportedly stated his baton had slipped as he tried to control the drunk man. It was not initially accepted that the use of the baton had been sexual in nature, The Local reports, but the officer now face a trial for rape. The case has surfaced days after alleged baton rape victim Theo was released from hospital. He said he was sodomised with a truncheon, as well as being racially abused, spat at and beaten in the suburb ofAulnay-sous-Bois. It sent shockwaves across the country, with clashes between protesters and police in cities as far afield as Brittany, Calais and Normandy, as well as districts across Paris. A Utah dance teacher charged with raping one of her male students at her home has been accused of having sex with another 17-year-old pupil. Sarah Lindsay Lewis, 27, from Payson, Utah, who teaches social studies and dance at Landmark High School in Spanish Fork, was charged last month with rape, tampering with a witness and two counts of supplying alcohol to a minor. She has now been accused of having sex with another boy at the school where she worked. Sarah Lindsay Lewis, 27, from Payson, Utah, was charged with raping a male student and has now been accused of having sex with another 17-year-old boy Because the pupils were under the age of 18 and Lewis 'occupied a position of special trust' as their teacher, prosecutors said the two boys could not legally consent to any sexual contact. The most recent charging documents claimed Lewis had sex with the 17-year-old boy in late December, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. The boy told investigators Lewis picked him up in a truck on December 28 and took him to a liquor store, where she bought whiskey. They then went to her home and drank the booze until they were 'very drunk.' They then had sex in the teacher's bedroom, the teenager told investigators. The second allegation comes after the teacher was charged with having sex with another 17-year-old boy. The first alleged victim told police Lewis gave him vodka at some point in January and that he filmed them kissing on the couch on his cellphone before they went into a bedroom. The student reportedly told the teacher he wanted to have sex with her about two weeks before they met at her house, according to charging documents. Lewis, who teaches social studies and dance at Landmark High School in Spanish Fork, has been charged with rape, tampering with a witness and two counts of supplying alcohol to a minor. The teacher is accused of telling the teenager to deny their alleged relationship. Lewis is also accused of buying the boy beer from a convenience store on a separate occasion. Lewis teaches social studies and dance at Landmark High School (pictured) in Spanish Fork She first met the student when he was in her class in 2015. She taught him again in her class in 2016. The woman was arrested on January 24, and is currently being held in the Utah County jail in lieu of $20,000 cash bail. She is expected to appear in court again on February 27. Nebo School District confirmed the teacher was put on leave after the allegations came to light. Mark Greenlaw, 37, and Jennifer O'Connor, 39, were murdered at their home in Peabody, Massachusetts, on Saturday An engaged couple have named as the victims of a gruesome double murder that was so grisly state police had to use an x-ray machine to work out how many bodies were at the crime scene. Mark Greenlaw, 37, a construction worker with a 'white power' chest tattoo and Jennifer O'Connor, 39, were slaughtered inside their basement in Peabody, Massachusetts, on Saturday night. The couple's mutilated bodies were found wrapped up in plastic and rugs by Massachusetts State Police after being shot. Michael Hebb, 45, was arrested at his home in the town on Monday. He is due to be arraigned in Peabody on Tuesday morning. Police are still hunting another suspect who has not been named. They have not revealed how he knows the victims. He was arrested without incident at a home five miles from where the bodies were found. Forensics teams had to use x-ray machines to work out just how many corpses were at the scene because there were so many body parts at the house when they arrived on Saturday night. They were called to it after a woman staying at the home found the corpses in the basement and ran outside to flag down a passing motorist. They then drove together to a police station to inform officers of the grim discovery. Michael Hebb, 45, (right) was arrested for the couple's murder on Monday afternoon at his home in the town Police previously went to the house for drug and gun related incidents. It's not clear whether Jennifer worked or how long the couple had been together. They regularly shared public declarations of love for each other on social media where friends and family left tributes for them on Monday. Among them was Jennifer's aunt Dorothy who described her as 'beautiful'. 'I know she is at peace and with God. Please say a prayer for her,' she said. Friends of Mark, who described himself as a construction worker, said he was 'one of the good guys'. Hebb will be arraigned in Peabody on Tuesday morning Police said they believe at least two people are responsible for the gruesome killings. The house is rented in the name of a 67-year-old disabled man, Fox News reports. Neighbors told the network while they were saddened by the discovery of the couple's body, they were not surprised. The bodies were found when a woman, apparently staying at the house, ran in to a police station to report the crime. She had been able to flag down a motorist after finding the bodies in the basement and was driven to the precinct. It's not clear whether she was at home at the time of the killing or even when they exactly took place. Police found the couple's bodies in the basement of their home in Peabody, Massachusetts, on Saturday night State police had to use an X-ray machine to work out how many corpses were at the 'messy' crime scene Two hunters have been charged over a shooting on a remote Texas ranch near the Mexican border - despite claiming that they were attacked by illegal immigrants. Walker Daugherty and Michael Bryant said they had come under fire during the incident on January 6, with Daugherty suffering life threatening-injuries. However an investigation led by Presidio County Sheriff Danny Dominguez could not find any evidence of the involvement of immigrants. Walker Daugherty, second left and Michael Bryant, second right, have been indicted by a grand jury in Presidio County in Texas following a shooting incident on January 6 Instead, a grand jury decided to indict the pair on charges of using deadly conduct by discharging a firearm in the direction of others. Paramedics found Daugherty and another man, Edwin Roberts (above), suffering from gunshot wounds. Police believe Daugherty shot Roberts The incident happened at a ranch near Candelaria in the early hours of January 6. Paramedics found Daugherty and another man, Edwin Roberts, suffering from gunshot wounds. They were all part of a group of hunters in the area. The group told police they had been attacked by illegal immigrants who tried to steal their RV. The claims were followed up by Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, who claimed the attack was another reason to build a wall along the southern border to halt 'violent criminals and members of drug cartels coming in'. However, police believe Daugherty shot Roberts and Bryant shot Daugherty. Daugherty, left, was shot and seriously wounded during the incident, although police believe he shot fellow hunter Edwin Roberts before Byrant shot Daugherty. He is pictured with Ashley Boggs who he is engaged to, according to his Facebook A GoFundMe page was launched for Daugherty's medical expenses raising $26,000. The page has since been taken down Sid Miller wrote about the shooting and said Daughtery had been shot by 'illegal aliens' during a hunting trip near the Mexican border He was gunned down on a sprawling ranch in Texas (pictured above) Video courtesy CBS 7 & DeAnn Lopez Dominguez at the time suggested the agriculture commissioner 'needs to do his job and stick to that, and I'll do my job'. Miller has attracted attention for his social media posts, and his comments about the West Texas shooting were shared more than 6,500 times before being deleted. Authorities say about 30 law enforcement officers searched the perimeter of the ranch where the hunters were staying, didn't find signs of people approaching the camp that night and that investigators found no evidence of 'cross-border violence'. A GofFundMe page was established to raise funds for Daugherty's medical bills. The campaign raised more than $26,000 before it was ended. John McCain is criticizing President Donald Trump's immigration ban, statements on torture, and attacks on the press while also pledging to investigate any possible ties the commander-in-chief and his administration may have to Russia and Vladmir Putin. In an interview with New York Magazine, Senator McCain reveals that after President Trump defeated Hillary Clinton back in November he was fully prepared to back his fellow party member, despite the pair's contentious relationship in the past. However he quickly found himself at odds with the billionaire businessman. The 80-year-old war hero saves his harshest words however for Russia and leader Vladmir Putin, and says that their decision to hack the recent election was a greater threat to the United States than any recent terror attack. 'The severity of this issue, the gravity of it, is so consequential because if you succeed in corrupting an election, then youve destroyed the foundation of democracy,' says McCain of the hacking. 'So I view it with the utmost seriousness. I view it more seriously than a physical attack. I view it more seriously than Orlando, or San Bernardino.' He then added: 'As tragic as that was, the far-reaching consequences of an election hack are certainly far in excess of a single terrorist attack.' Senator McCain later explains that this is why the United States must confront Russia, and why the Senate must put together a bipartisan select committee to probe President Trump's possible involvement with any members of the foreign government or their leader. Scroll down for video Anti-Trump tour: Senator John McCain (above on Friday) is criticizing President Donald Trump in a new interview, calling out his immigrant ban, views on torture, and recent speech at the CIA Investigation: He also reveals his plans to do all in his power to have a probe launched into any possible ties between President Trump (above on the phone with Putin last month) and the Russian government Senator McCain also uses the interview to talk about the infamous dossier he received last November, which was published in full this past January and included a number of unsubstantiated claims about President Trump and the Kremlin. I didnt know what to make of it, but everyone knows the Russians do use women and sex when people go to Russia. Its an old KGB honeypot. -John McCain on Trump dossier The most salacious of those claims was that Putin had obtained footage taken from the Ritz in Moscow that showed the billionaire businessman in a hotel room with a prostitute who he ordered to pee on the bed in the hotel room because the Obamas had slept there on a previous visit. Both Putin and President Trump denied this claim, and the existence of any damaging information that might be used by the Kremlin to blackmail the newly elected leader of the free world. McCain admits that he found the story to potentially be plausible at the time. 'I didnt know what to make of it, but everyone knows the Russians do use women and sex when people go to Russia. Its an old KGB honeypot,' he explained. The severity of this issue, the gravity of it, is so consequential because if you succeed in corrupting an election, then youve destroyed the foundation of democracy. So I view it with the utmost seriousness. I view it more seriously than a physical attack. I view it more seriously than Orlando, or San Bernardino. As tragic as that was, the far-reaching consequences of an election hack are certainly far in excess of a single terrorist attack. - McCain on Russian hacking That is why he passed it directly to James Comey, the head of the FBI, when he returned to Washington DC, telling him: 'Its very important. Youre the person I want to give this to.' McCain believes that Comey already had some knowledge of the dossier before the hand off, which also alleged that member of Trump's team has worked with the Kremlin during the election. President Trump and his staff dismissed those claims, along with everything else in the dossier, when pressed in January about ties between Russian and the campaign. Then, earlier this month, it was revealed that President Trump's National Security Advisor Michael Flynn had in fact spoke with the Russian ambassador about how some sanctions might be handled when the new administration moved into the White House. This has now lead to even more questions, and concern, from Senator McCain, who says that he 'liked' Flynn. 'When did Flynn know about anything to do with Russian interference? Why was there a gap of X number of days between the president being told and no action taken? What is the extent of the relationship between Flynn and the Russians?' asks Senator McCain. Dedicated: McCain also wants to have more information about Michael Flynn He is even more flabbergasted by the fact that the Senate does not want to launch a probe into this matter, which he views as 'dysfunction' at the very least, and something much more treasonous depending on the full story. When asked why no one else is coming forward and calling for a thorough investigation into the matter, McCain says: 'I frankly dont know. Its not a chapter of Profiles in Courage.' Senator McCain states earlier in the article that the voices coming out against President Trump in the Republican party may start to grow in number however, especially if his approval rating continues to decline from its already historic low. And that is something Senator McCain very much expects to happen in the coming months. 'One thing politicians look at are ratings, and his ratings are going to continue to decline,' says Senator McCain. 'That means members of Congress will be more likely to resist things they do not agree with rather than roll over.' Criticisms: Senator McCain says of the Russian president: 'Putin wont stop until the cost of going forward is too high' That did not stop McCain from reportedly lashing out at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell when he learned that a special committee would not be put together to investigate the situation in Russia. After Senator McCain was told by Senator McConnell that his request to form a committee had been denied, McCain is said to have told friend 'f***ing Mitch aint gonna do it.' Senator McCain denies that claim, but did not dispute having recently commented to one advisor: 'I keep looking behind me, and theres no one there.' I dont know what hes going to do. Look at his stance on torture. Or everything. Hes been on all sides. He said intelligence groups are like Nazis, but then he said theyre the greatest in the world. So I have to judge him on what he does. -McCain on Trump and his policies Two days after Flynn resigned Senator McCain again tried to lobby the Senate Majority Leader to get a committee put in place, and once again was shut down. That committee, depending on its findings, could lead to the appointment of a special prosecutor by the judicial department and possible even articles of impeachment depending on what it discovers about President Trump. 'Were clearly not there yet,' says McCain. Another major concern with McCain in the wake of Flynn's ousting from office is the safety and security of the country. 'The national-security aspect isnt functioning. Nobody knows whos making the decisions,' says McCain. 'The Iranians are testing. The Russians are testing. Theyre testing this administration. Who is making the decisions when we dont have a national-security adviser?' Russia is Senator McCain's key concern for a number of reasons, the biggest of which being Putin. Senator McCain makes it clear that is his mind Putin will go to great lengths to achieve his goals of having Russia displace the United States as the world's superpower. 'Putin wont stop until the cost of going forward is too high,' says Senator McCain of the man that president trump has publicly praised on multiple occasions. More information: Senator McCain calls on the press to try and discover details of the events leading to Michael Flynn's (above on Feb. 10) resignation from the Trump administration Later in the interview, Senator McCain reveals that his disdain for Putin is also personal. Senator McCain at one point in the piece speaks about the photo he keeps on his desk of a friend who he believes paid the ultimate price for criticizing Putin and the Russian government. Senator McCain also speaks about the loss if his friend Boris Nemtsov (above), a critic of Putin who was shot dead in Russia 'This here is Boris Nemtsov,' McCain tells the writer while showing him the photo of the liberal politician who became one of Putin's most vocal critics. Senator McCain goes on to recount the last time he saw Nemtsov two years ago, just before he left for Russia. 'He sat on that seat there, and I said, "Boris, I dont think you should go back because theyll try and kill you." And he said, I have to go back. I love my country,' says McCain. He was gunned down as he crossed a bridge in Moscow soon after, or as McCain says: 'He was murdered in the shadow of the Kremlin.' There have long been reports and rumors of Putin and the Kremlin making their detractors disappear in order to silence them, something Putin also managed to do with the press by dismantling it soon after he took office. That is something many believe President Trump may also try to do, having launched a number of attacks on outlets whose coverage and stories he does not approve of over the past month. He sat on that seat there, and I said, 'Boris, I dont think you should go back because theyll try and kill you.' And he said, 'I have to go back. I love my country.' -McCain on his last conversation with vocal Putin critic Boris Nemtsov before he was shot dead in Russia Senator McCain on the other hand believes the press is what will save this country and get people answers when politicians refuse to do their jobs. And he hopes this will be the case with Flynn's resignation given the resistance in the Senate for a probe. 'Theres just too many people out there who have this information. How did this Flynn thing happen?' says Senator McCain. The House meanwhile will be investigating how the information about Flynn got leaked to news outlets, something Senator McCain seems to have mixed feelings about and says can hurt security but also do much good. 'In democracies, information should be provided to the American people,' explains McCain. 'How else are the American people going to be informed?' Hitting out: President Trump has frequently gone after Senator McCain, calling him 'foul mouthed' after he refused to endorse the businessman in the wake of his 'p****' tape This is just the beginning of what could be a two-term presidency for Trump of course, and Senator McCain explains that based on how things have gone thus far he has no idea what to expect. 'I dont know what hes going to do,' says Senator McCain. 'Look at his stance on torture. Or everything. Hes been on all sides. He said intelligence groups are like Nazis, but then he said theyre the greatest in the world. So I have to judge him on what he does.' Senator McCain also calls out President Trump for his speech at the CIA the day after the inauguration, where he spoke at length about the crowd size at his ceremony the day prior and hi disdain for the media. 'I mean, most observers, whether theyre supporters or opponents, believe he should have gone and praised the CIA,' says Senator McCain. 'Instead, he wandered off into areas that are just not appropriate.' The national-security aspect isnt functioning. Nobody knows whos making the decisions. The Iranians are testing. The Russians are testing. Theyre testing this administration. Who is making the decisions when we dont have a national-security adviser? -McCain on problems with trump's administration The New York cover story comes after a weekend that saw Senator McCain being highly critical of President Trump at a conference in Germany on Friday and then on Meet the Press on Sunday. Senator McCain told a number of high-ranking foreign officials, diplomats and leaders gathered at the Munich Security Council: 'In many respects, this administration is in disarray, and theyve got a lot of work to do.' Two days later on Meet the Press he criticized President Trump's recent wave of attacks on the media and press, stating: 'The first thing that dictators do is shut down the press.' Senator McCain, like members of the media, is no stranger to being on the receiving end of one of President Trump's frequently deployed spiteful remarks. Those remarks at one point included President Trump going so far as to criticize Senator McCain's military accomplishments. 'Hes not a war hero,' President Trump said one month into his primary campaign back in 2015. 'He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who werent captured.' McCain spent five years as a prisoner of war after his plane went down in Vietnam, where he was kept in a cage that limited his movement and left him unable to fully raise his arms. Senator McCain has often said that it was those years that made him love his country and want to run for office. And now he finds himself at odds with the president and his party. 'These are challenging times, and I have to go my own way,' says McCain. 'Its not disloyalty to the party.' Senator McCain, who said in October he would not vote for President Trump after the release of his 'p****' tape, has found an ally in Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. The two men joined forces to release a joint statement after President Trump's immigrant ban last month, sating: 'Ultimately, we fear this executive order will become a self-inflicted wound in the fight against terrorism.' President Trump responded by tweeeting: 'The joint statement of former presidential candidates John McCain & Lindsey Graham is wrong - they are sadly weak on immigration. The two... Senators should focus their energies on ISIS, illegal immigration and border security instead of always looking to start World War III.' Vice President Mike Pence says he was 'disappointed' to find out that Michael Flynn had lied to him about the substance of his talks with Russia's ambassador. Pence said he appreciates the former national security advisor and retired general's service to the nation but agreed with President Donald Trump that Flynn should be let go. 'I was disappointed to learn that the facts that have been conveyed to me by General Flynn were inaccurate,' Pence said at a media avail in Brussels on Monday. 'I fully support the president's decision to ask for his resignation. It was the proper decision.' SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO Vice President Mike Pence says he was 'disappointed' to find out that Michael Flynn had lied to him about the substance of his talks with Russia's ambassador The VP was wrapping up a four-day trip to Munich, Germany and Brussels, Belgium. Pence addressed the controversy with Flynn at his last stop before his return to Washington - NATO's headquarters. Trump fired Flynn last Monday after determining that he'd misled the vice president about his December conversations with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak regarding the incoming administration's position on sanctions. President Trump fired Michael Flynn last Monday after determining that he'd misled the vice president Flynn told Pence and other senior White House officials that the topic never came up, only to backtrack weeks later and say it may have, after the VP told the nation they hadn't. Trump officially gave Flynn the boot after concluding that an 'eroding level of trust' had made it impossible for him to continue on working for the White House. Pence said today, after a meeting with NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg, that Trump handled the matter 'properly and in a timely way.' He also expressed gratitude for the 'close working relationship' he has with the president. Yet, Pence was kept in the dark by Trump and White House staff for two weeks about Flynn's deceit. The FBI told the White House's counsel on Jan. 26 that Flynn may not have been entirely up front about his talks with Kislyak. The White House lawyer, Don McGhan, immediately informed President Trump and some of his senior aides . A legal team spent two weeks researching the allegations against Flynn before they got back to the vice president. Pence read about it in a news report, his spokesman confirmed. Pence said he appreciates the former national security advisor and retired general's service to the nation but agreed with President Donald Trump (pictured at a rally in Florida on Saturday) that Flynn should be let go The vice president became of the incomplete information that he had received on Feb. 9 last Thursday night based on media accounts, and he did an inquiry based on those media accounts,' Lotter told reporters last week. Flynn's resignation letter acknowledged that he 'inadvertently briefed the Vice President Elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the Russian Ambassador. 'I have sincerely apologized to the President and the Vice President, and they have accepted my apology,' he wrote. He told a news outlet earlier in the day, before he knew he was going to be fired, that he felt 'terrible' about making a liar out of the vice president. 'He's a man of incredible integrity. I think the world of him. He is so good for our country,' he said. 'I should have said, "I don't know. I can't recall," which is the truth. Looking back, that's what I should have done.' Pence's office suggested that the apology had been accepted, but it was too little too late. 'The vice president has tremendous respect for the fact that General Flynn tendered his resignation last night and that the president accepted that resignation,' Lotter said last Tuesday. He is very grateful for General Flynns service to our nation in uniform and his service to this administration, and he wishes him very well. In Brussels, Pence echoed his spokesman on Monday. 'We honor General Flynn's long service to the United States of America,' he said, before agreeing that Trump had arrived at the 'proper' determination. Pence also pressured NATO member nations in his comments to the press to meet their minimum annual commitment, two percent of the gross domestic product, to the defense organization. 'If youre a nation that meets the two percent target, we need your help encouraging other nations to do likewise. If you have a plan to get there...our alliance needs you to accelerate it,' Pence said. 'And if you dont yet have a plan...get one. It is time for actions, not words.' The VP couldn't say what Trump meant when he told NATO allies to pay up 'or else.' 'But I know that the patience of the American people will not endure forever,' he said. 'Questions about the future, we'll just leave in the future as hypothetical.' In response to a question on the president's characterization of the press at the peoples' enemy, Pence insisted that he and Trump 'strongly support a free and independent press. 'But you can anticipate that the president and all of us will continue to call out the media when play fast and loose with the facts,' he stated. 'When the media gets it wrong, I promise you, President Trump will take his case straight to the American people to set the record straight.' This is the moment one of Britain's leading horse trainers took her ponies to meet their relatives on the Shetland Islands - on a tiny boat. Emma Massingale, 34, accompanied Albert and Ernie back to their native roots as part of her latest equestrian challenge. During the month-long adventure the ponies travelled around the rugged islands with Emma, running free with local herds. This is the moment one of Britain's leading horse trainers took her ponies to meet their relatives on the Shetland Islands - on a tiny boat And they also took a trip out on the water to mirror the historic way Shetlands were moved from one island to another by boat. Emma was pictured loading them on to a little motor boat before they sailed to the islands northeast of mainland Scotland - battling high winds and large pods of orca. Emma, who lives in Holsworthy, Devon, said: 'We had practised on a local lake beforehand to see what they made of it. 'The first time we tried, Albert got his front feet on the boat but left his back feet off, but they were really good by the end - Ernie had a little look but then hopped straight on. Emma Massinggale, 34, accompanied Albert and Ernie back to their native roots as part of her latest equestrian challenge During the month-long adventure the ponies travelled around the rugged islands with Emma, running free with local herd 'It's a wildlife haven out there with dolphins and orcas, quite weird alongside the ponies.' Once in the Shetland Islands, Emma used her relationship and trust with Albert and Ernie, and no equipment, to interact with local wild ponies. Ernie, who Emma has owned for four years and rescued from Bodmin Moor, is related to one of the first Shetland ponies on the islands. 'It's a wildlife haven out there with dolphins and orcas, quite weird alongside the ponies,' she said' Ernie, who Emma has owned for four years and rescued from Bodmin Moor, is related to one of the first Shetland ponies on the islands Emma camped on the islands and between liberty work, Albert and Ernie were able to mix with the local herd Family sized: Emma made sure she bought an extra big tent for her and her ponies Emma camped on the islands and between liberty work, Albert and Ernie were able to mix with the local herd. She also met the Shetland Pony Society and traced the ancestry of her diminutive companions. In the past, working Shetlands on the islands were used to carry peat and seaweed. Albert tried out traditional baskets, which ponies wore to transport goods. Emma said: 'They're the strongest of all our native breeds and are incredibly tough.' In the past, working Shetlands on the islands were used to carry peat and seaweed Horse whisperer Emma says she's developed a 'language that is so well understood by horses that she can communicate with herds of horses at anyone time' Emma's latest adventures will be shown on BBC's the One Show on Wednesday Emma was pictured loading them onto a little motor boat before they sailed to the islands northeast of mainland Scotland Emma said that Shetland Ponies are 'the strongest of all our native breeds and are incredibly tough.' They also wore their very own knitted Fair Isle jumpers. Emma is a specialist and professional horse trainer, having developed her own unique way of communicating with herds of horses. In addition to working with horses, Emma is an adventurer with a passion for climbing, she has traversed the French and Swiss Alps and the cliffs of the UK. Her latest adventures will be shown on BBC's the One Show on Wednesday. In addition to working with horses, Emma (right) is an adventurer with a passion for climbing, she has traversed the French and Swiss Alps and the cliffs of the UK Emma said she practised putting the animals on a boat on a local lake beforehand to see what they made of it Steve Hewlett, 58, died in the company of his family at London's Royal Marsden Hospital He fought a very public battle with cancer, moving the country on air with his wit and bravery. BBC Radio 4 host Steve Hewlett helped shine a light on what its like to live with the disease. And yesterday listeners were devastated to learn he had died, surrounded by family as Bob Dylan played in the background. Mr Hewlett, 58, shared his frustrations and fears with millions in a series of frank and raw interviews. The presenter, who was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus last March, married the love of his life Rachel Crellin less than a month ago, after being told he had only weeks to live. He had hosted Radio 4s The Media Show for nearly a decade, but he found a wider audience with his discussions about cancer with PM presenter Eddie Mair. The interviews examined issues such as drug trials and his reaction to treatment. Yesterday, cancer charities praised the journalist for his bravery in sharing his story. Tragic: The broadcaster, 58, was told by his consultant that they would have to halt treatment after the cancer spread to his liver Surrounded by his partner Rachel (pictured) and his three children, the presenter got married in his hospital bedroom earlier this month HIS WIT AND WISDOM ON HIS LAST MINUTE WEDDING IN HOSPITAL So my kids are all there, the person who is going to be my wife is there, the person who has been the closest thing Ive had to a wife is there [his ex-partner]. The whole thing is organised within an hour, just in case. The staff amazingly produced a cake. The nurses produced flowers. A couple of bottles of Prosecco appeared from goodness knows where, and then this ceremony begins, like something from The Vicar of Dibley. The idea that Britain doesnt have people who really care about others is nonsense. In this little room here, this was Britain at its best. on being accepted on a drugs trial As soon as I put the phone down, all I could do was cry. I was so overwhelmed by it. ... HIS FINAL INTERVIEW He said living each day as if it is your last to him meant being able to relax, to watch the TV, to spend time with friends. He also said he planned to celebrate Valentines by getting real wedding rings as in hospital he and Rachel Crellin had used old ones. When Eddie Mair chided him for sending his new wife to fix it, he laughed: Come on, there arent many upsides to this. Advertisement John Newlands, senior cancer nurse at Macmillan Cancer Support said: We hope that by shining a light on what its like to live with cancer, Steve has encouraged more people and particularly men to see a doctor early if they have worrying symptoms and to feel more confident when telling family and friends that they have cancer. Nick Robinson, the Today presenter who has himself had lung cancer shared a poem he wrote after visiting Mr Hewlett a few days ago, realising that he would almost certainly never see him again. It began with the lines: You chose to confront your sickness, your pain, your fear in public / Your decision made thousands realise they were not alone. The father-of-three pictured in 2015 before his diagnosis celebrating his son's Bertie's 18th birthday The journalist - who has worked in print and was editor of Panorama - said his experience of the healthcare system had been 'Britain at its best' Cancer of the oesophagus is the eighth most common cancer, and one of the most aggressive. Fewer than 15 per cent of people who are diagnosed with the disease survive after five years. Mr Hewlett had three grown-up sons with his former partner Karole Lange. It was she who suggested he marry Miss Crellin, an executive at a TV production company. Their wedding took place on his ward at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London. The presenter who was adopted as a baby has said previously that telling his sons he was suffering from cancer was the hardest thing he ever had to do in his life. But despite the emotional ordeal of the disease, Mr Hewlett was working until the end. He was still hosting the Media Show last month. Mr Hewlett knew the media trade inside and out. Having begun as a researcher for BBCs Nationwide, he scaled the ranks to become editor of Panorama. In 1995 he oversaw its explosive interview with Princes Diana. He went on to become director of programmes at Carlton TV before later returning to journalism. Like no President before him, Donald Trump has threatened to change forever the way in which politics is done. His barnstorming speeches and Twitter tirades frequently grab column inches while more measured political debate is ignored. New analysis of his political rhetoric may explain why - it is markedly more repetitive and simple than those of eight other candidates he beat to the White House. Donald Trump's rhetoric is markedly more repetitive and simple than those of eight other candidates he beat to the White House, according to Swiss researchers Aptly for a man who made his name telling candidates on The Apprentice Youre fired, Trumps sentences are shorter and more easy to understand than those of career politicians. While Hillary Clintons most frequently used words during television debates include comprehensive and affordable, his are tremendous and deal. His showmanship is apparent from his frequent use of the word I when people with a history of public service, like Jeb Bush, are more likely to say we. While Hillary Clintons most frequently used words during television debates include comprehensive and affordable, Trump's are tremendous and deal The studys authors, from the University of Neuachtel in Switzerland, claim Trumps speaking style is similar to his 140-character Twitter pronouncements, which he continues to use even as the new leader of the free world. Lead author Jacques Savoy said: As Trump won the primaries and the general election, does that mean that efficient communication must be based on tweet-like rhetoric and this form will dominate the future elections? Clearly the rhetoric evolution goes towards to short communication messages, but this also implies simplistic analysis and solutions? If the answer is affirmative, I see a real risk of the democracy. Trumps confrontational approach began on the campaign trail. Among his top 10 words in the television debates analysed by the Swiss researchers was Mexico, and he now plans to build the wall he promised between that country and the US. The researchers who analysed the television debates from last years Presidential race found politicians largely share a common language. They like to talk, for instance, about the people and what they have to say. 'Mexico' was among Trump's top 10 most used words during the television debates. He now plans to build the wall he promised between that country and the US But Trump was atypical in keeping things simpler than anyone else. Those who became sick of his America first catchphrase, repeated at his inauguration, will be unsurprised to hear he reused the same phrases more than eight other candidates. The percentage of long and potentially confusing words he used in debates was 18.3 per cent compared to 26.4 per cent for Bernie Sanders. His top 10 words were compared with Clinton, who lost the Presidency to him, as well as another member of an American political dynasty, Jeb Bush. The researchers also looked at Democrat Party frontrunner Sanders, Democrat Martin OMalley and Republicans Ted Cruz (pictured), whose wife Trump famously insulted, John Kasich, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio The researchers also looked at Democrat Party frontrunner Sanders, Democrat Martin OMalley and Republicans Ted Cruz, whose wife Trump famously insulted, John Kasich, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio. The top terms used by Jeb Bush, brother of former President George W Bush, included proven, status and brother, where Sanders preferred Wall Street, wealth and class. Trump instead used words for emphasis, such as tremendous and very. Long sentences were preferred by OMalley, Clinton, and Sanders. Bernie Sanders (pictured) used long and complicated words 26.4 per cent of the time in the debates, compared to 18.3 for Trump A relatively high lexical density percentage indicates a more complex text, containing more information. But using the transcripts of the TV debates, Trump had the lowest percentage, at just 36.6 per cent, compared to 44.6 per cent for Cruz. He was also one of the few Presidential candidates to regularly swear, it was noted in other debates. The paper, published in the journal Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, found Trumps distinct communication style was far more direct than any of the other candidates. His victory has been described by critics as proof that dumbed down politics is in the ascendancy. A two-year-old boy who disappeared from bed in the middle of the night before miraculously being found cold and shivering in a bush hours later has been taken into care. River Schomaker was reported as missing from his Northeast Portland home, in Oregon, after his mother discovered he was not in his bed at 6am on Saturday morning. Police launched a massive manhunt for the missing boy with local officers, FBI agents and around 50 volunteers as well as a canine unit. He was found by K9 Ava and handler Becky Irving, of Mountain Wave, in a blackberry bush just two blocks from his parents' home almost six hours later and taken to hospital for his scratches and exposure to the cold. Now authorities told Oregeon Live that River has been released into protective care as a court hearing is scheduled for his parent Hollian Markusen, 27, and Aaron Schomaker, 28 on Tuesday. Scroll down for video This is the moment missing two-year-old boy, River (right) was rescued from bushes by police (left) Markusen said she had been 'beside myself' when she awoke to find her son missing. 'My son was lost,' she told Oregon Live. 'My beautiful, 2-year-old boy who've I've never been away from for more than a couple of hours his entire life.' River's father Schomaker, 28, said he said that he had arrived home from his bar tending job at just before 5am on Saturday, only to be woken up at hour later by Markusen's screams that their son was missing from his bed. He believes his son may have got out through a ground floor door from their condominium and says he is planning to child-proof the door immediately. An officer with the Portland Police Bureau, background left, carries the two-year-old boy to an ambulance River was reported as missing from his Northeast Portland home, in Oregon, after his mother discovered he was not in his bed at 6am on Saturday morning (pictured is the rescue) Police believe the toddler escaped outside through an unlocked door. 'This is a great reminder for all parents,' said Portland Police Sgt. Jeff Helfrich. 'Make sure you have child safety locks on your doors and if you have adventurous kids, make sure you take care of those.' Video shot from a police helicopter above captured the heroic moment that a police officer was able to pull the boy from the brush and took him in his arms. 'He was very distraught during the ordeal,' said Portland Police Sgt. Jeff Helfrich who described River cold and shaking. 'It brought a tear to my eye because he was alive, we found him, that's a very big deal to find a child alive like that, because the more these go on, the more things can take different turns.' Schomaker said he was incredibly grateful to all the police officers and volunteers who helped look for their son on Saturday. Both parents claimed they did not know why the FBI had joined the search for the young child. After River was taken to hospital, they were not sure if they would be allowed to visit him. Police launched a manhunt for the missing boy with a canine unit and police helicopter captured the moment he was rescued and carried out by an officer River was cold and shaking by the time police found him, several hours after he went missing The Star-Spangled Banner looked more starry than usual during one of U.S. Vice President Mike Pence's appearances in Brussels. A background picture of the American flag that went up alongside the European Union flag as Pence and EU leader Donald Tusk spoke on Monday had 51 stars. The Brussels version of the flag added one white star to the iconic flag, instead of the usual 50 representing each state of the nation. It displayed three rows of nine stars and three rows with eight stars each. American flags typically feature a total of nine alternating rows of five or six stars. Vice President Mike Pence (left) had a particularly starry flag greet him when he visited EU Council President Donald Tusk (right) in Brussels on Monday. The American flag had 51 stars instead of its usual 50 The Brussels version of the flag had three rows of nine stars and three rows with eight stars each. American flags typically feature a total of nine alternating rows of five or six stars The EU Council did not immediately respond when asked about the error with the misplaced star-state. The current American flag boasts of 50 stars, each representing the United States' 50 states and has been on display since 1960. It was designed by high school student Robert G. Heft who gave the then-48 star flag an update for a history class assignment, TIME reported. President Eisenhower selected the 16-year-old's flag design after he mailed in his prototype to the White House. The flag has been updated every time a new state was added, a stark contrast from the original flag showcasing a circular ring of 13 stars. As President Donald Trump continues his attacks on the media by calling everything 'fake news' and championing 'alternative facts,' numbers experts are worried about doctored data coming from the administration. Bloomberg News first reported these concerns, with economic experts pointing to the president's propensity to play fast and loose with facts. He's also shown disdain for economists in the past. 'My biggest concern right now is about the unemployment statistics, just because the White House has been attacking them,' noted Brent Moulton, who spent 32 years at the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis. Scroll down for video Economic experts fear that President Donald Trump's administration - which bashes 'fake news' and has championed 'alternative facts' - will doctor government data so the president looks good Donald Trump (left), with wife Melania (right) at a rally on Saturday, has suggested that the unemployment rate is far higher than the Bureau of Labor Statistics says it is Moulton, who is now retired, talked to Bloomberg last month about his fears, while also articulating them in a blog post. Pushing back on the storyline that President Obama's economy was doing well, Trump has repeatedly said the 'real' unemployment rate was far higher than the 4.7 percent the Bureau of Labor Statistics charted in December. 'Don't believe these phony numbers,' Trump advised to his supporters. 'The number is probably 28, 29, as high as 35 ... in fact, I even heard recently 42 percent.' Trump's treasury secretary pick, Steven Mnuchin repeated these kinds of claims during his Senate hearing, saying the 'unemployment rate is not real.' There are some rules in place to protect data, but they're not a catch-all. 'For example, a Cabinet secretary could still order the statistical agency to drop certain statistics or to change methodologies in ways that seem politically expedient,' Moulton pointed out. With Republicans eager to slash the federal budget, there are concerns that agencies generating official numbers could be cut. 'What I worry about is funding to make sure that we have money to actually gather the data, and make sure that its reliable and durable,' President Barack Obama's former Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker told Bloomberg in an interview. University of Oregon professor Mark Thoma, also cited by Bloomberg, said Trump's 'alternative facts' mantra could spread to the data needed to keep the economy in check. 'The worst thing he could do and I see this as a real danger would be to politicize the agencies that produce government economic data, to put people in place that will skew the numbers in his favor,' Thoma said on CBS MoneyWatch. 'If it happens, the data will be useless, and we'll essentially be flying blind when it comes to the true state of the economy,' Thoma added. There could be generational issues too, stemming from this one administration alone. Moulton worried that Trump's rhetoric could drive away potential talent from government agencies and thus produce a government-wide brain drain. 'I know how demoralizing that can be to employees when your statistics are being attacked and when you don't have anyone at an agency level who can speak up for you and defend you,' Moulton told Bloomberg. 'I could view a situation, if that were to persist, where you could get employees leaving, finding other jobs and that sort of thing just because they find it demoralizing,' he added. A heartbroken husband who lost the mother of his child as she battled a vicious disease has told of his pain. Colin Diss, 35, shared the news of his wife Claire's passing in a touching Facebook post. On the Support Claire's Battle Facebook page, set up by friends of Claire to help raise money for specialist treatment, he wrote: 'It is with a broken heart that I write Claire's final update. Claire Diss, 34 (left) died last Monday leaving behind her husband Colin, 34, and daughter Emilie, three (right) 'It pains me to have to say that our beautiful Claire died on Monday 13 February. 'Claire had become so very ill and was admitted to hospital on Sunday 5 February with a chest infection and subsequently pneumonia. WHAT IS LYME DISEASE? Lyme disease, or Lyme borreliosis, is a bacterial infection spread to humans by infected ticks. Early signs of the disease include distinctive circular rashes, tiredness and flu-like symptoms. Later the disease can affect your nervous system with patients experiencing numbness and pain in their limbs, paralysis of their facial muscles, memory problems and difficulty concentrating. Advertisement 'Claire was able to be transferred to Farleigh Hospice and left us peacefully on Monday morning.' Lyme disease, or Lyme borreliosis, is a bacterial infection spread to humans by infected ticks. If not treated quickly severe and long-lasting symptoms can occur - especially affecting the nervous system meaning suffers can lose movement in their face and limbs. Colin, who lives in Chelmsford with his three-year-old daughter Emilie, said: 'I don't know where to begin to thank all the amazing people who have helped Claire with her battle. 'Wherever you are imagining Claire is right now, she is able to run, jump and show us that wonderful smile. 'She will be hugging Emilie and dancing around us all, finally able to move her body again. Friends had been raising money to fund specialist treatment for Claire using social media Claire had Lyme disease, or Lyme borreliosis, is a bacterial infection spread to humans by infected ticks 'Sadly it was not possible to save Claire but if love and kindness could have saved her she would still be with us,' wrote husband Colin 'Sadly it was not possible to save Claire but if love and kindness could have saved her she would still be with us.' Claire, who died aged 34, was diagnosed with a form of Motor Neurone Disease in 2015. Her friend then suggested she may have Lyme disease so Claire went for tests. At the specialist clinic she was told she did have Lyme disease as well as other infections. The mum-of-one then went to the US for specialist treatment where a doctor suggested antibiotic therapy at a cost of 100,000. Family and friends rallied to raise around 60,000 of the total and managed an amazing 50,000. However, she passed away on Monday, February 13, after contracting pneumonia linked to her various illnesses. A Welsh Muslim teacher filmed the moment he was made to feel like a 'criminal' when he was hauled off a US-bound flight in front of his students. Juhel Miah, 25, was due to fly to New York from Reykjavik with students from Llangatwg Comprehensive in Aberdulais, Neath Port Talbot, South Wales, when a US official escorted him off the plane in an 'unjustified act of discrimination'. The maths teacher - who has a British passport and a valid visa for travel - was not given a reason, but was forced to stay in a 'horrendous' hotel until school officials could book him another flight home. Welsh Muslim teacher Juhel Miah (left and right) filmed the moment he was made to feel like a 'criminal' when he was hauled off a US-bound flight in front of his students In footage which Mr Miah posted to Snapchat, the teacher was seen walking through the airport, following an official who had told him he could not board the plane. He then filmed himself sat on a pile of boxes as he waited to see what would happen next. He told the camera: 'Just been off the plane, not going to New York. Everyone else is on the plane. 'I can't believe this is happening. Honestly I feel like a criminal.' The incident unfolded when Mr Miah was refused permission by the US authorities after being selected for a 'random security check.' The maths teacher (left) filmed himself being escorted off the plane by this woman (right) who he says was from US Homeland Security Just one week before the incident, a US appeals court upheld a decision to suspend an executive order by Donald Trump that banned Muslims from seven countries entering the country. Describing his ordeal, Mr Miah said he was already in his seat when the official approached him. Maths teacher Juhel Miah (pictured) was denied entry to the US while on a school trip to New York with students 'Everyone was looking at me,' he said. 'The teachers and kids were confused. I couldnt believe this was happening. 'I was being escorted out. It made me feel like a criminal. I couldnt speak, I was lost for words. 'My colleagues on the plane and all my kids were looking at me, they were all gobsmacked and all upset.' He later told the BBC: I knew everyone was looking at me thinking Im something Im not.' Mr Miah said that, as soon as he had arrived at the airport, a woman at the check-in desk told the teacher, who is from Swansea, that he had been selected for a 'random security check'. He was then taken to a room where two people carried out a thorough search, before giving him the all-clear to board his onward flight. But, when he was already on the plane, an official - who he says was American - approached Mr Miah and told him: 'I've just been informed that you can't board this plane.' The teacher - who has a British passport and a valid visa for travel - told the BBC that he felt 'uncomfortable', adding: I knew everyone was looking at me thinking Im something Im not The 25-year-old (pictured) was heading for New York, US, when he was kicked off the plane The teacher said he was then escorted to an area of the airport where he was reunited with his luggage. Officials then took him to a hotel, where he waited for two hours for a room. 'There were holes in the sheets, a dirty bag under the bed, the light wasn't working and only the lamp was working,' he said. 'I was so paranoid. My phone battery was dying so I went to my suitcase, and that's when I realised the padlock was missing. 'I was so paranoid, I was scared, I didn't sleep or eat for two days.' Mr Miah said he visited both the US and British embassies in Reykjavik but claimed the phone numbers he was given did not work. He returned on a flight back to the UK a day later. Speaking about his ordeal today, Mr Miah said he believes he was kicked off the plane because of his religion in wake President Mr Trump's 'travel ban'. He said: 'I was born in the UK and I've never been to the seven countries on the banned list - and my family has no connection to any of them. Just one week before the incident, a US appeals court upheld a decision to suspend an executive order by Donald Trump (pictured) that banned Muslims from seven countries entering the country 'The only reason I can think why they wouldn't let me fly is my religion, because I'm a Muslim. I do not have dual citizenship and I do not have a criminal record - I am a teacher.' A spokesman for Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council said the trip continued as planned but the 39 pupils and colleagues were left 'shocked and distressed'. The council has now written to the US Embassy in London to express its dismay at Mr Miah being banned from travelling to the US for 'no satisfactory reason'. They said Mr Miah attempted to speak to officials in Reykjavik after the incident but was also denied entry to the US Embassy building. The spokesman said: 'We are appalled by the treatment of Mr Miah and are demanding an explanation. 'The matter has also been raised with our local member of parliament. 'No satisfactory reason has been provided for refusing entry to the United States - either at the airport in Iceland or subsequently at the US Embassy in Reykjavik. 'Mr Miah attempted to visit the embassy but was denied access to the building. Mr Miah works at Llangatwg Comprehensive, pictured, where he is a respected teacher 'Understandably he feels belittled and upset at what appears to be an unjustified act of discrimination.' The school group had already been to Iceland and were heading on the second leg of their trip when the incident took place on February 16. The rest of the trip was due to return from New York last night. Neath Labour AM Jeremy Miles said he was 'appalled' to hear about the incident and said he would be raising the issue with the Welsh Government to ask them to make representations to Central Government. Neath MP Christina Rees said: 'Mr Miah was subjected to a humiliating and distressing experience, not only preventing him from boarding his plane to New York or entering the US Embassy in Iceland, but also stranding him in a foreign country whilst his fellow travellers continued on their journey. 'This also led to a potentially serious situation where a risk assessed trip was left with one teacher down, raising questions about the effect on the safeguarding of the children.' A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: 'We are providing support to a British man who was prevented from boarding a flight in Reykjavik.' The US embassy has been approached for comment. Mr Trump's executive order was hastily unveiled at the end of his first week in office. While the White House boasted that he was fulfilling a campaign promise to toughen vetting procedures for people coming from countries with terror ties, the order caused chaos at airports in the US and sparked protests across the country. The president has cast the order as crucial for national security. In its original form, the order temporarily suspended all travel to the US for citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days. The order was put on hold by the courts and a revised version has not yet been signed though it is understood from a draft that the same seven countries - Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Libya - will be targeted in it. Vice President Mike Pence said Monday that he and President Donald Trump support a 'free and independent' press but that doesn't mean they're going to rest on their laurels while the media 'plays fast and loose with the facts.' Trump said that the media 'is the enemy of the American people' in a tweet last Friday. The shot at the main stream press prompted comparisons of Trump's tone to dictators. Pence was asked today at a Belgian news conference to assure America's allies that freedom of the press is not under threat in America. 'Rest assured that both the President and I strongly support a free and independent press,' he stated. 'But you can anticipate that the President and all of us will continue to call out the media when they play fast and loose with the facts.' SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO Vice President Mike Pence said Monday that he and President Donald Trump support a 'free and independent' press but that doesn't mean they're going to rest on their laurels while the media 'plays fast and loose with the facts' Pence was asked today at a Belgian news conference to assure America's allies that freedom of the press is not under threat in America The VP mentioned Trump's 'unique ability' to communicate directly with his citizenry - he has 25.3 million Twitter followers - and warned that the president would not back down from his war with national new networks and media outlets. 'When the media gets it wrong, I promise you President Trump will take his case straight to the American people to set the record straight.' The White House chief of staff said Sunday that 'the American people suffer' because of what's being reported about the administration by the media. 'I think you should take it seriously,' Reince Priebus said in a combative interview with CBS that was taped on Saturday. The president had slammed the 'Big Three' TV networks, plus the New York Times and CNN, as 'fake news,' in his Friday tweet. 'The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!' Trump said. Republican Senator John McCain said in response that's how dictators get started 'by suppressing free press.' 'In other words, a consolidation of power. When you look at history, the first thing that dictators do is shut down the press,' McCain said. 'And I'm not saying that President Trump is trying to be a dictator. I'm just saying we need to learn the lessons of history.' Trump said Friday that the media was the enemy of the people in a tweet that has since been deleted and replaced with one taking shots at specific networks Reince Priebus, shown with Trump in a file photo from January, said Sunday that Americans should 'take it seriously' when Trump calls the free press 'the enemy of the American people' Trump's chief strategist, Steve Bannon, has repeatedly called the press 'the opposition party.' The president himself spent a Thursday afternoon news conference shouting down reporters asking him about 'fake news.' The president's latest attack on the press, which he amplified at a campaign rally in Florida on Saturday, followed a week of difficult news for his administration. First, the revelation that National Security Advisor Michael Flynn had lied about his conversations with the Russian ambassador led to the White House official's resignation. Then, Trump's nominee for labor secretary, Andrew Puzder, withdrew his name from consideration after reporters found a tape of his ex-wife sharing domestic abuse allegations with Oprah Winfrey in 1990. Priebus, speaking with CBS's John Dickerson, singled out two other recent news reports for condemnation, including the one on Russia. 'I think that the problem we've got is that we're talking about bogus stories like the one in the New York Times, that we've had constant contact with Russian officials,' referring to a report citing four current and former U.S. officials. 'The next day, the Wall Street Journal had a story that the intel community was not giving the president a full intelligence briefing,' Priebus continued, referring to a report that intelligence officials have withheld certain sensitive information from Trump over concerns that it could be leaked or compromised. 'Both stories grossly inaccurate, overstated, overblown, and it's total garbage,' Priebus said. Priebus defended Trump's remarks in an interview with CBS' 'Face The Nation' taped Saturday Trump has lambasted the reports as 'fake news' sourced from 'illegal leaks,' but confusingly conceded at his news conference that 'the leaks are absolutely real.' Priebus called on the press to 'stop with this unnamed source stuff,' adding 'put names on a piece of paper and print it.' Both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal stories relied on anonymous sources, a routine practice in national security and intelligence reporting. The White House chief of staff appeared to suggest that journalists should only get information from the 'heads' of agencies, saying that 'intelligence reporting that is based on facts that's not coming out of the actual heads of these intelligence agencies' is 'stupidity.' Dickerson asked Priebus how he'd respond to anyone who decided to 'act on that declaration by the president' that the press is an enemy. 'I don't know what you mean by act on it,' Priebus said. 'I mean, certainly we would never condone violence. But I do think that we condone critical thought.' A father-of-three who disappeared without a trace sparking a desperate search had abandoned his family to run away with someone he met online. Walter Lee Arms was reported missing on February 5 after his wife got a call saying that her husband had never shown up for work that day. His car was later found dumped at the roadside near San Antonio, Texas. The 44-year-old's disappearance sparked a huge search effort as his family were left wondering if he'd been run over, killed or kidnapped. But police have since discovered Arms 'safe and unharmed' living hundreds of miles away in Ohio, News 4 San Antonio reports. Walter Lee Arms (center, in hat) who disappeared without a trace sparking a desperate search had abandoned his family to run away with someone he met online. He is pictured with his family including wife Kathy (front left), their daughter Braylin (on her lap), 16-year-old Brendon and 19-year-old Bracen (standing either side of their father) They say decided to abandon his wife Kathy and their children, and leave home after meeting someone online. 'He wanted to escape his life out there and his situation,' Bath Township Police Chief Michael McNeely said Monday. Janet Moy, Arms's sister-in-law, branded him 'sad' and 'disgusting' for what he had done to his family. 'We actually found out thru US Marshalls he left of his own accord with another women(sic),' she wrote on Facebook. 'He was not kidnapped. Yes there are two sides to every story but if he wanted out he should have asked for a divorce.' The ordeal began earlier this month when Arms set out for the hour-and-a-half drive from his home in Falls City to his job at USPS off Foster Road on February 5. But the 44-year-old never made it. His Ford Fusion was found abandoned off 1604 between I-10 and St. Hedwig, with the engine still running and driver's door still open. Walter Lee Arms was reported missing on February 5 when his devastated wife got the call that her husband had failed to turn up for work (pictured is a missing poster) Arm's belongings, including his wallet and cellphone, were still inside. Two boots, one by the car door, the other nearly 50 feet in front of the vehicle, as well as a flashlight were also recovered. There was no blood at the scene. Moy said shortly after his disappearance that the family had no idea what had happened to the father-of-three. 'We don't know if somebody hit him and picked him up and threw him in the car or just picked him up and took him. We don't know anything,' she said. His last sighting was at a San Antonio gas station before he was reported missing. Arms' family were distraught. 'His 8-year-old daughter (Braylin) is just beside herself,' Moy added. Arms also has two sons, 16-year-old Brendon and 19-year-old Bracen, that he left behind. His wife Kathy had issued an emotional plea for information about her husband's whereabouts. Arms was also seen on video surveillance at a gas station (pictured) in the San Antonio area before he disappeared Police have since discovered Arms (left and right) 'safe and unharmed' living hundreds of miles away in Ohio 'If somebody knows anything or has any information, please call,' she said, according to Kens 5. Friends and family also scoured the Falls City area looking for the missing father. 'We looked around a little for our own peace and comfort [Monday], but by then it was getting dark,' said Valerie Farris, Arms's sister-in-law. 'He wouldn't have just left that day and not come back,' a family friend added at the time. The Heidi Search Center and the police also dedicated their resources and hours of manpower to finding the family man. 'I've worked human trafficking and missing persons for 14 years and this is a very rare incident. This is the first time I've actually had it happen,' said Dottie Laster, Executive Director of the Center. Laster says that after the search went national, she was contacted by a law enforcement agency from out of state who identified Lee as being in Ohio. 'If you're a taxpayer you may have questions where, he should pay for the expense of the county and to the Heidi Search Center,' added Laster. So far, no charges have been filed against Arms. A relative told News 4 San Antonio the family are now trying to heal. New news! Our National Health Service is clearly in the rudest of financial health and our elderly have so much social care they need a Buddhist retreat just to find some personal space. Southern Rail is running more efficiently than Mo Farah after a nourishing plate of tofu mince, and the Lords have finally realised we don't actually care what any of them have to say because most of them should be tucked away in a nursing home with waterproof flooring. All these things must be true. Because that's the only feasible explanation for why our MPs have just spent three hours in Westminster Hall in the House of Commons debating the state visit to the UK by President Trump. Our MPs have just spent three hours in Westminster Hall in the House of Commons debating the state visit to the UK by President Trump Demonstrators attend a rally in Westminster protesting against Donald Trump on the day that the state visit by the US president is debated in Parliament Newport West MP Paul Flynn speaks as MPs debate in Westminster Hall, central London Caroline Lucas speaks at an anti-Donald Trump protest in Parliament Square in London A state visit promised to the President and reconfirmed by our very own Prime Minister. The country must be running like an even better fine-tuned machine than the White House if they are quite happy to spend three hours debating a visit they have no power to overturn. Three hours, paid for by the taxpayer, for no purpose other than to see who can signal their Muslim / feminist / LBGT credentials the loudest. Predictably, this debate was 'heavily oversubscribed'. Curious, given the empty debating chambers that routinely greet matters of vital importance to our country such as veterans care. Paul Flynn MP said the very reason for the debate was because no one would wish to be seen to be insensitive to democratic decisions. Peculiar, given that this bunch of cretins seemed to be hugely insensitive to the will of the 63 million Americans who voted for President Trump and are delighted they finally have a businessman for a president. This was a debate with no legal force and no vote. A debate contrived purely as a form of protest. To pat on the head the 1.9 million sad individuals who believed they were empowered when they clicked on a petition. (If clicking online makes your manhood feel bigger, why not do your Sainsbury's shop online instead? You'll be straddling a giant sequoia by the time you get to the frozen aisle.) Protesters poured into Parliament Square tonight for a rally condemning President Trump ahead of his state visit to Britain later this year As night fell over Westminster, the debate continued inside Parliament and a noisy rally began outside on Parliament Square The Stop Trump Coalition even organised a National Day of Action to coincide with it, enabling the great unwashed to protest once again. Some people even bothered to make new rude signs about Trump or their steel vaginas. And loudly they protested, right outside the protest debate being held as a result of the protest petition that they had all clicked on earlier in protest. A beautiful circle of protest-life, cannibalising itself right there outside Parliament. Alex Salmond asked if desperation was behind the state visit. I suspect desperation for attention played a large part in his wish to take up two seats in the crowded debating chamber. He demanded that the invite for a state visit be rescinded, knowing full well it was already set in stone. Thousands of people were due to attend the protest on Parliament Square tonight Protesters accused Donald Trump of 'racism' and urged the Prime Minister to cancel his state visit to Britain Happily, Caroline Lucas was on hand to speak for Vegan Matters and the lesbians of Brighton. She wished to deny Trump a visit to the UK because of his denial of basic climate science. I suspect she is also cross he loves a good cheeseburger, but she didn't have time to vocalise this important political point. Curiously, I found myself warming to Nigel Evans, despite him being Welsh. He advised the room of gathered narcissists that Trump was voted as president and it was time for us to get over it. He will go down in history as the only man in history condemned for delivering on his promises. I have seen no evidence of him being racist. When we attack Donald Trump, we are attacking the American people, and the decisions they made. It was a brave speech, and a good one, too. Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott joined the protesters outside the Palace of Westminster and addressed the crowd on Parliament Square Protesters against Donald Trump arrived for a massive rally outside Parliament today as MPs prepared to debate petitions on his state visit Suddenly David Lammy was on his feet to talk about the fact his dad was buried in the United States and he had spent more time in America than in France. Fascinating as this insight into his travel history was, we all wished he would get to the point. He was there to speak for African Americans, presumably on the basis that he is himself black. This is my least favourite type of political argument, akin to me asserting I speak for all women purely because I used to sport a perky pair of 36Bs in my prime. Inspired, Naz Shah (back from suspension from the Labour Party for suggesting Israel should be relocated to the US) jumped up to speak for Muslims everywhere again, because she is one. Sadly, reading her own writing is a challenge for her. Or reading at all. She tried to remind us what jolly good sorts Muslims are, and of the endless value they bring to Bradford. The Metropolitan Police are braced for angry protests on Parliament Square as MPs respond to a huge petition against the visit going ahead (I wondered if she was going to mention Bradford drugs kingpin Mohammed Yassar Yaqub, previously acquitted of attempted murder and killed by police marksmen on Monday in a pre-planned operation; curiously, she gave him a wide birth.) One after another they read their nonsense, pegged on any hook they could find. A mother with mixed-race kids, a Green Party vegan, a black man, a Muslim, a Clinton campaigner, a daughter of an asylum-seeker, a woman (I think). All with their own agendas, their own causes, their own issues, tenuously linked to minorities or those desperate to be victims, just as Clinton did. Losing sight of the actual debate, blinded by their adherence to a muddled cause. This is the state of our democracy today. These men and women committing three hours to a futile debate to signal they are on the side of the liberals, ignoring the democratic decision of 63 million Americans and the majority of the British people who are still in favour of a state visit for the 45th President of the United States. They are deaf to the will of the people, preferring to listen to the voice of protest instead. This is the state of British politics. It is an unfortunate sight. Pathetic, truly. Peter Springaire, a police investigator in Sweden, says that most of his city's cases are the result of 'criminal immigrants' - but he says he doesn't blame all immigrants Donald Trump's confusing remarks about immigration in Sweden at his Florida rally on Saturday may have a grain of truth in them after all. Trump was initially thought to be talking about terrorism when he warned of 'what's happening last night in Sweden'. But he later claimed he was talking about an edition of Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tonight about immigrant crime in the Scandinavian country. And if the experiences of a veteran officer in the Swedish city of Orebro are any guide there is indeed problem there, Fox News has reported. Trump was mocked widely for his Florida speech, in which he said: 'You look at what's happening in Germany, you look at what's happening last night in Sweden. 'Sweden. Who would believe this? Sweden. They took in large numbers. They're having problems like they never thought possible.' He later clarified on Twitter that he was denying 'fake news' claims that 'large scale immigration in Sweden is working out just beautifully.' That's an opinion Peter Springaire - an investigator in Orebro's Serious Crimes Squad who says he has 47 years' experience on the force - might agree with, Fox News said. Scroll down for video On Saturday Trump confused many when he talked of 'what's happening last night in Sweden'. Some thought he meant a fake terrorist attack, but he said he meant a Fox News report Trump said he believed the report's claim that 'large scale immigration; is not working out in Sweden. Pictured: A Swedish police officer guides new immigrants in Sweden in September On February 3, Springaire posted a rant against criminal immigrants that began 'I'm so f**king tired.' Warning that his words were 'not politically correct,' he went on to list the crimes his team had faced that week. They were five rapes, three counts of assault - including one against police - two drug offenses, multiple threats, extortion and attempted murder. Then he offered a list of 'suspected perpetrators': 'Ali Mohamad Mahmod, Mohammed, Mohammed Ali, again, again, again... 'Christoffer ... huh, it is true. Yes a Swedish name crept into the outskirts of a drug offense, Mohammed Mahmod Ali, again and again.' Springaire said with the exception of the lone Swede, those criminals either had no documentation or came from a series of Islam-majority countries, naming Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia. 'Now we are only talking about Orebro,' he added. 'And these crimes occupy our investigative capacity to 100%. This is how it looks and has looked for the last 10-15 years.' Sweden has taken in 650,000 asylum-seekers in the past 15 years, 163,000 of whom entered in 2015 alone, according to The Spectator. Of that figure, 35,000 were 'unaccompanied children' - but anyone can be classed as a child if they look young enough, as proof of age is only asked for if they are 'obviously' older than their stated age. The Spectator spoke to a number of immigrants who claimed to be younger than they are to minimize risk of deportation. Springaire is a police investigator in this city of Orebro. He wrote on Feb 3 that all but one of a weeks' crimes were by individuals from Syria, Iran, Iraq or Somalia - or undocumented people Springaire says he is in favor of immigration, but is worried that a lack of controls was resulting in a 'wave of immigrant criminals', threatening Swedes and immigrants alike Springaire's post landed the officer - who says he is to retire shortly - in hot water as he was briefly investigated for incitement to racial hatred. The next day he expanded on his thoughts, saying that he was 'for immigration and the reception of asylum seekers in an orderly and structured manner.' However, he said, he was concerned about a wave of immigrant criminals entering the country and overwhelming the justice system. He asked 'why no one wants to see the obvious about immigrant crime and the introduction of a completely different human and legal values of immigrant criminals,' and demanded empirical research and a solution for 'the problem'. In that post, and a third, he emphasized that he was only referring to 'immigrant criminals' and not blaming the wider immigrant or asylum seeker communities. 'This is not to hang out immigrants and asylum seekers as criminals,' he said. 'This is to safeguard these groups and all other non-criminals who live and work in this country.' Sweden has accepted 650,000 asylum-seekers in the past 15 years, 163,000 of whom entered in 2015 alone. Police say at least 300 Swedes have gone to Syria and Iraq for training as jihadis Elsewhere in Sweden, there are issues not just with ordinary crime, but with terrorism - resulting in a terror level currently set at 'elevated'. Police say at least 300 Swedes have gone to Syria and Iraq for training as jihadis. They include Mohammed Tofik Saleh, 34, an Iraqi-born Swiss citizen who was arrested on February 11, authorities say. It's believed that he and Mahamad Laban, 45, a Lebanon-born Danish citizen, were plotting an attack in Europe when they were arrested in Turkey. Officials say they had both been training with ISIS since 2014. And on February 3 a Swedish court turned over evidence found in the country that was believed to be connected to the 2016 Brussels attacks. That evidence was found in Malmo - a city whose police chief, Stefan Sinteus, asked locals in an open letter this month to help cops stem the 'upward spiral of violence.' Fox and Friends implies that this city is also a victim of criminal immigrants, noting that 32 per cent of the city's population are immigrants or refugees. However, it notes, there is no direct evidence of a connection. Advertisement Dashcam footage has captured the final moments of a doomed charter plane before it plunged into a shopping centre next to Melbourne's Essendon Airport. Five people were on board the Beechcraft charter plane bound for King Island, Tasmania, when the aircraft crashed on Tuesday about 9am. Max Quartermain, 63, a pilot from Melbourne who owns Corporate and Leisure Aviation with his wife Cilla, is believed to have been flying the aircraft at the time. Greg De Haven, 70, a retired FBI agent from Texas, is also thought to have died in the crash along with two friends during a 'once in a lifetime trip' to Australia, according to posts on social media. Russell Munsch, 62, who was also from Texas and a founding partner of Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr law firm, has been named among the dead by relatives. Scroll down for video Max Quartermain, 63, is believed to have been flying when the plane crashed. He owns charter company Corporate and Leisure Aviation alongside wife Cilla Greg De Haven, 70 (left), a retired FBI agent from Texas, was also killed in the crash alongside two friends as the trio flew to King Island, in Tasmania, to play golf on an exclusive course It is believed successful entrepreneur Glenn Garland (pictured), from Austin, Texas, was among those killed in the crash Russell Munsch, a Texas lawyer and founding member of Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr law firm, also died in the crash The plane crashed into the Direct Factory Outlet shopping centre and caused explosions of fireballs, witnesses said The plane suffered 'catastrophic engine failure' shortly after takeoff, according to emergency workers, and the pilot put in mayday calls before crashing into the Direct Factory Outlet (DFO) shopping centre Firefighters have been battling the blaze next to Essendon Airport in Melbourne's north 'There is constant explosions going off, there is black smoke billowing into the sky,' one caller told 3AW on Tuesday Dashcam footage from a motorist on Melbourne's Tullamarine Freeway has captured the the Beechcraft charter plane with five on board before it crashed into a discount shopping centre from Essendon Airport The charter plane crashed off the runway into DFO at Essendon Airport. The intended flight path is pictured inset It is believed successful entrepreneur Glenn Garland, from Austin, Texas, was among those killed in the crash, the Herald Sun reported. Mr Garland posted to Facebook regularly about his golfing trip. His wife was also on the trip, but not on the plane, and is believed to still be in Melbourne. Mr Garland was the former CEO of energy consulting company CLEAResult. It is thought the two men lived in the exclusive gated community of Spicewood, close to Austin in Texas, which is home to a number of golf and country clubs. Their wives were travelling with them and are understood to have planned a trip to Great Ocean Road while their husbands went to King Island to play golf. Tullamarine Freeway was closed to traffic while investigators collected debris as evidence from the lanes A tyre is pictured on Tullamarine Freeway, believed to be from the chartered plane The group had already played Kingston Heath and Royal Melbourne golf courses on Sunday and Monday. Before Australia, they had visited New Zealand where they played the countrys most expensive and premier golf course, Tara Iti, the Herald Sun reports. Denelle Wicht, Mr De Haven's sister, wrote: 'Dear friends and family, my handsome athletic big brother was killed today in a plane accident while on his "once in a lifetime " trip to Australia. 'It was a charter flight with two of his friends flying to another island to play golf.' Mr Garland's company CLEAResult said staff were 'heartbroken' to hear of his death. 'Glenn was an inspirational leader who co-founded our company with a unique vision for the vast potential of the energy efficiency industry. Our deepest sympathies and thoughts are with his family during this difficult time,' CLEAResult told Daily Mail Austrlia in a statement. Co-Founder & Board Member Jim Stimmel said Mr Garland was 'more than a colleague'. 'He was a visionary and a close friend. I am devastated to hear of his passing and my heart and thoughts are with his family. We have all lost an incredible man. I am blessed to have known and worked closely with Glenn for many years,' he said in a statement. The other passengers have yet to be identified, though nobody on board survived the crash. No one else is believed to have been injured. Unconfirmed reports say two bodies have been retrieved. In a statement, a U.S. embassy spokesman said: 'We extend our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those who died in today's tragic crash. Firefighters are pictured at the scene of the DFO shopping centre in Melbourne's north Scene pictured on Tuesday morning as firefighters battle the blaze at the DFO shopping centre 'We can confirm four U.S. citizens were on board the flight. The U.S. Embassy in Canberra and U.S. Consulate in Melbourne are working closely with local authorities. We stand ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance to the families of the victims.' Repeated explosions, plumes of flame and a pall of thick black smoke could be seen billowing from the airport in Melbourne's north as dozens of firefighters battled the blaze on Tuesday, closing off the busy Tullamarine Freeway. The plane suffered 'catastrophic engine failure' shortly after takeoff, according to emergency workers, and the pilot put in mayday calls before crashing into the Direct Factory Outlet (DFO) shopping centre. King Island is a popular destination for golfers, with two of its courses ranked in the top two in Australia. Cape Wickham Links, one of three golf courses on the island, said everyone it had been expecting on Tuesday had already turned up. 'Corporate and Leisure Travel were using that planewe do own it but we were not involved in that flight this morning,' Mr Nikolovski said. Spotlight store has done a head count and all 20 staff have reportedly been accounted for The shopping centre was not due to open until 10am and only skeletal staff were there at the time Daily Mail Australia has contacted Corporate and Leisure Travel and the U.S. Embassy in Canberra. The shopping centre was not due to open until 10am and only skeletal staff were there at the time. Spotlight store has done a head count and all 20 staff have been accounted for, Nine News reported. 'It hit the warehouse dispatch area at the back of the store. We can't confirm if anyone was in that area at the time but no staff were injured. They were taken away for counselling,' the Spotlight manager said. Passerby Peter Scullin told The Age the scenes were like 'special effects' in a movie. 'The ball of flame went 30 or 40 feet into the air. We got out to see whether the outside of the car had had any paint blistering,' he told the paper. 'And we thought "My God, how lucky are we that we are still here?". We both looked at each other and thought that was the closest to death we are going to come.' A wheel ended up on the Tullamarine Freeway, and the lanes were closed so investigators could preserve debris that landed on the road. Fire crews are pictured at the crash site on Tuesday after a charter plane smashed into the DFO shopping centre about 9am The Tullamarine Freeway has been closed to traffic, though outbound lanes have reopened Explosions of fireballs and huge plumes of smoke could be seen billowing from the airport in the city's north on Tuesday morning after a charter plane crashed about 9am Smoke can be seen billowing from the site shortly after 9am on Tuesday CityLink said inbound roads between M80 Ring Road and Moreland Road remained closed but outbound lanes had reopened about 11am. At a press conference on Tuesday, Premier Daniel Andrews said it was the worst civil aviation accident Victoria has seen in 30 years. Authorities are reaching out to families of those killed in the accident. Premier Andrews thanked the emergency crews that responded to the incident, and extended sympathy and best wishes to all those affected. Assistant Police Commissioner Stephen Leane said: 'At this stage it looks like nobody has survived the crash.' A fire crew of 90 people hosed down the side of the DFO building and the charred remains of the plane. A large exclusion zone was in place keeping media and the public away from the DFO. ABC radio caller Jason was in a taxi when he looked out the window and saw what he thought was a twin-propeller plane. 'I saw this plane coming in really low and fast. It went just behind the barriers so I couldn't see the impact but when it hit the building there was a massive fireball,' he told ABC 774. An aircraft has crashed near a runway at Melbourne's Essendon Airport, reports say The charter flight was a five-seater heading to Essendon Airport 'I could feel the heat through the window of the taxi, and then a wheel, it looked like a plane wheel, bounced on the road and hit the front of the taxi as we were driving along. 'We kept driving and there was big fireball behind us.' Witness Carmel Brown told AAP there was a huge explosion when the plane went down. 'There was a big crash and then a big red fireball, like a mushroom,' she said. On Instagram, a worker at Essendon Airport said she was 'shaken'. 'I'm feeling very human, vulnerable and contemplative. I took this pic on my regular lunchtime walk and DFO is at the end of the runway,' the woman wrote on Instagram. 'If the plane had taken off in the other direction my office could have been hit.' Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten tweeted the scenes from Essendon were 'horrific'. Witnesses reported seeing fireballs at the shopping centre. Firefighters are on site Tullamarine Freeway is closed both ways as firefighters battle the blaze About 20 Spotlight staff were in the store at the time of the crash. They have all been accounted for Spotlight staff are pictured at the scene after a charter plane crashed into the shopping centre A State Government spokesperson said that a Beechcraft five-person charter flight to King Island crashed soon after take-off about 9:00am 'Hard to fathom [how] such an ordinary morning could turn so tragic,' he said. Another said there were constant explosions. 'There is constant explosions going off, there is black smoke billowing into the sky,' one caller told 3AW. Police superintendent Mick Frewen said the fire was still burning so investigators had been unable to get inside to determine the damage. The plane hit a storage area at the back of a JB Hi-Fi and a Focus on Furniture store, he told reporters. 'I could feel the heat through the window of the taxi, and then a wheel, it looked like a plane wheel, bounced on the road and hit the front of the taxi as we were driving along Melbourne Fire Brigade's Air Operations Unit preparing to launch RPAS (drone) to assist crews on the ground at DFO incident near Firefighters are pictured at the scene on Tuesday morning after a five-seater charter plane crashed into a shopping centre Emergency services are pictured at the wreckage after a plane crashed into the DFO shopping centre Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating the incident and is urging witnesses to call 1800 020 616. The ATSB is investigating the collision with terrain involving B200 King Air registered VH-ZCR, a statement said. Four ATSB investigators have been deployed and are expected to arrive on site this afternoon. The investigators will assume responsibility for the secured site, once it has been made safe. EYEWITNESS RECOUNTS THE INCIDENT Ash Mayer, 27, who works at Good Guys, said: 'We've always commented on the fact sometimes those planes come right over the top of buildings - you know, one day it's going to come down. 'Sadly, unfortunately, that's happened.' Describing the crash, Mr Mayer added: 'We were coming up the off-ramp and we just felt this massive explosion, like the whole car shook and everything. 'The guys in the warehouse felt it as well Everything just shook. We saw this fireball go up into the air and we jumped out of the car. 'It was something you have never felt before, the explosion was so loud. One guy described it as an atomic bomb going off - it felt like that at the time. 'If you hadn't told me what it was then I would have said it was a bomb.' Ash Mayer, 27, who works at Good Guys, said: 'We've always commented on the fact sometimes those planes come right over the top of buildings - you know, one day it's going to come down' Advertisement A firefighter is pictured on Tuesday morning as crews fight the blaze. Damage has not yet been assessed Tullamarine Freeway has been closed off to preserve debris for investigation Smoke can be seen at the DFO outlet shopping centre in north Melbourne A burnt insulation blanket is pictured at a park, across a freeway about 100 metres from the DFO shopping centre where the charter plane crashed DFO Essendon posted to Facebook to confirm the shopping centre would be closed until further notice. 'Vicinity Centres is working with Essendon Fields and Victorian emergency services who are currently coordinating and managing the immediate response to this incident, and the centre is currently closed until further notice,' the Facebook post said about 10.30am on Tuesday. 'The thoughts of all at Vicinity Centres are first and foremost for the safety and welfare of those impacted in this incident.' Essendon Airport said the incident occurred on departure from Runway 17. 'Emergency Services have taken control of the situation and Essendon Airport is supporting their response,' a spokesperson for the airport said in a statement. Earlier reports said the plane was an Air Ambulance aircraft, but Ambulance Victoria confirmed it was not one of its aircraft. Firefighters are pictured at the scene of the crash site where at least five people are believed to be dead Debris is pictured at the scene of the accident at Essendon Airport in Melbourne's north Fire crews are pictured at the scene of the incident on Tuesday There were 90 firefighters responding to the blaze, Premier Daniel Andrews said in a press conference about 12.15pm Tuesday All 20 Spotlight staff there at the time have been accounted for The Direct Factory Outlet shopping centre went up in flames when the chartered flight smashed into it Outbound lanes on the Tullamarine Freeway were reopened according to a CityLink update at 11am. Lanes were closed so investigators could preserve debris that landed on the road Fire crew are pictured at the scene where a charter plane crashed into the back of the DFO shopping centre The DFO building next to Essendon Airport in Melbourne's north is pictured A helicopter is pictured as smoke billowed from the crash site Tullamarine Freeway was closed off as investigators took debris as evidence A stock photo of the plane that crashed into the DFO shopping centre is pictured on a separate occasion A stock photo of the Direct Factory Outlet (DFO) shopping centre next to the Essendon Airport in north Melbourne Spotlight employees comfort one another after the plane crashed into their store at DFO shopping centre Spotlight employees comfort each other at the scene of the crash on Tuesday All 20 Spotlight employees at the store at the time have been accounted for and are safe Employees of a local business embrace at the scene on Tuesday DFO Essendon posted to Facebook to confirm the incident The crash appears to have caused a fire with smoke billowing from the site in Melbourne Firefighters are pictured at the scene of the accident on Tuesday morning The site is pictured on Tuesday morning after a charter plane crashed into the DFO shopping centre Police, firefighters and paramedics are at the scene on Tuesday Emergency crews are pictured at the scene at Essendon shops in Melbourne's north on Tuesday Police have arrested five teenagers in London on suspicion of planning a trip to join a banned terror group. The group, ranging in age from 15 to 19, were detained at an addresses across the capital on suspicion of travelling to join a suspected terror group. Scotland Yard did not elaborate on which organisation the teenagers were attempting to join, but confirmed the arrests came following raids at four different homes last month. Scotland Yard did not elaborate on which organisation the teenagers were attempting to join A Met Police spokesman said: 'Officers from the MPS Counter Terrorism Command have today, Monday, February 20, arrested five males under 20-years-old on suspicion of Preparation of Terrorist Acts, Contrary to Section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006. 'The arrests follow searches at four residential addresses in London on Tuesday, 14 January. 'This morning a 17-year-old male and a 16-year-old male were arrested at separate residential addresses in south London. 'Two other teenagers - 17-year-old male and a 19-year-old male - were arrested at a residential address in west London. 'A further residential address was searched in Lambeth earlier today in connection with the investigation. 'Officers have since made a further arrest. 'A 15-year-old boy was arrested this evening in east London and officers are presently searching the residential address where he was arrested. 'All five have been detained under TACT and are at present in a central London police station pending further enquiries. 'The arrests relate to plans to travel to join a proscribed organisation.' A man has been charged with rape after allegedly assaulting a retail store worker. The alleged sexual assault happened at a retail store in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley neighbourhood on February 16, police said. The 30-year-old man entered the store on Warner Street around 3.55pm and spoke with a female staff member aged in her twenties, police said. Queensland police arrested a 30-year-old man and charged him with raping a female store worker He then allegedly sexually assaulted the woman before leaving the store when asked to. The woman was transported to Royal Brisbane and Womens Hospital for treatment. The man was arrested on Monday thanks to a tip from a member of the public, police said. The Woodridge resident was charged with two counts of rape, and one of sexual assault, a police spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia. He is due in Brisbane Magistrates Court on March 7. Milo Yiannopoulos lost his $250,000 book deal on Monday in light of his comments that appear to defend pedofiles Milo Yiannopoulos lost his $250,000 book deal on Monday after video was leaked that showed the alt-right poster boy appearing to defend pedophilia. Publisher Simon & Schuster said: 'After careful consideration, Simon & Schuster and its Threshold Editions imprint have canceled publication of Dangerous by Milo Yiannopoulos.' 'Dangerous' was set to be published under Threshold Editions, the conservative branch of the publisher according to USA Today. The book deal received backlash since the announcement in January, with many on social media threatening to boycott the publisher. Yiannopoulos's lewd comments saying relationships in which 'older men help those young boys to discover who they are' seemed to have pushed the company to back out. After the announcement, the 33-year-old speaker posted on Facebook: 'They canceled my book.' Scroll down for video Milo Yiannopoulos reacted to publisher Simon & Schuster cancelling his book deal The 'Dangerous' author would have been paid $250,000 for the book And minutes later: 'I've gone through worse. This will not defeat me.' On Tuesday, the Breitbart Technology Editor is slated to hold a press conference about the comments at 3pm in New York City. The 'Dangerous' author also published and deleted a 10 minute Facebook video emphasizing he wished he had used the term young men as opposed to young boys during 'The Drunken Peasants' clip. The video of the comments resurfaced after he was slated to speak at the Conservative Political Action Committee. Just six days ago, Yiannopoulos wrote on Instagram: 'I asked my publisher, Threshold Editions, for more time to submit the manuscript for DANGEROUS so I could include material about the craziness and rioting at UC Berkeley, UC Davis and UW Seattle.' Milo Yiannopoulos claimed he was not defending pedophilia when he said some younger boys could benefit by coming involved in a consensual relationship with an older man. He has now been banned from speaking at the Conservative Political Action Committee conference 'Dangerous' was set to be released on March 14 but was pushed back to June 13. When the book hit number one on Amazon's best sellers last month, Yiannopoulos posted on Instagram: 'I only know how to win.' Earlier, Yiannopoulos has been uninvited from the the Conservative Political Action Committee conference because of his comments on gay relationships between boys and older men. The conservative firebrand was told he will not be able to attend the event this weekend by Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union. He released a statement on Monday saying his invite was 'rescinded' after the 'offensive' video surfaced. 'We realize that Mr Yiannopoulos has responded on Facebook, but it is insufficient, he added. 'It is up to him to answer the tough questions and we urge him to immediately further address these disturbing comments.' The move comes just hours after Yiannopoulos strongly denied that he was defending pedophilia with his comments. On Monday, he wrote on Facebook: 'I'm partly to blame. My own experiences as a victim led me to believe I could say anything I wanted to on this subject, no matter how outrageous. 'But I understand that my usual blend of British sarcasm, provocation and gallows humor might have come across as flippancy, a lack of care for other victims or, worse, "advocacy." I deeply regret that. People deal with things from their past in different ways.' The conservative-leaning Reagan Battalion released footage of the online discussion The conservative firebrand was told he will not be able to attend the event this weekend by Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union. He released a statement on Monday saying his invite was 'rescinded' after the 'offensive' video surfaced Beitbart's Technology Editor was taking part in a debate between several American men, one of whom was wearing a superhero-style mask, when he defended 'coming of age' relationships. A five-minute edited tape of the discussion was posted online forcing the controversial media star to clarify his comments. Yiannopoulos was due to address the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington this weekend. After the footage was released, conservatives called for him to be banned. During the online discussion, Yiannopoulos said: 'This is a controversial view, I accept. But we get caught up in this whole child abuse thing even to the extent we are policing consensual relationships between consenting adults, such as grad students and professors at universities. 'The whole consent thing is not as black and white as people try and paint it.' Yiannopoulos agreed that the age of consent was 'roughly' at the right age. Yiannopoulos wrote a second apology on Facebook on Monday. He said that he was abused as a child and felt he could speak freely on the topic Yiannopulos is due to address the Conservative Political Action Conference 2017 The controversial columnist is often greeted by protests, such as this one earlier this month in Berkeley, California where he was forced to cancel a planned speech due to the demonstration He continued: 'There are certainly people who are capable of giving consent at a younger age. I would certainly consider myself to be one of them, people who are sexually active younger. 'I think it particularly happens in the gay world, by the way. In many cases actually, those relationships this is one of the reasons I hate the left. This one-size-fits-all policing of culture. This arbitrary and oppressive idea of consent, which totally destroys, you know, the understanding that many of us have, of the complexities, subtleties and complicated nature of many relationships. People are messy and complex, particularly in the homosexual world. Some of those relationships between younger boys and older men, the sort of coming of age relationships, the relationships in which those older men help those young boys to discover who they are, and give them security and safety and provide them with love and a reliable rock where they cant speak to their parents.' Yiannopoulos said: 'Pedophilia is not a sexual attraction to somebody 13 years old who is sexually mature. Pedophilia is attraction to children who have not reached puberty. Pedophilia is an attraction to people who dont have functioning sex organs yet, who have not gone through puberty, who are too young to understand about the bodies. That is not what we are talking about. You dont understand what pedophilia is if you thing Im defending it, because Im certainly not.' Yiannopoulos suggested a relationship between 'younger boys and older men' can be 'hugely positive experiences for the young boys' saving them from possible 'suicide and drugs' Yiannopouloswrote an 'apology' titled a 'note for idiots' on Sunday. He insisted he does not support pedophilia and mentioned sex criminals he had 'outed' during his career Yiannopoulos claimed some teenagers could find a relationship with an older man quite beneficial. He added: 'In the gay world, some of the most enriching and incredibly life-affirming and shaping relationships, very often between younger boys and older men, can be hugely positive experiences for those young boys. They can save those young boys from desolation, suicide and drug addiction, all sorts of things, providing theyre consensual.' Later, Yiannopoulos wrote on Facebook blaming deceptive editing and his own 'sloppy phrasing' for any indication he supported pedophilia. He said he spoke of his own relationship when he was 17 with a man who was 29. The age of consent in the UK is 16. It's unclear who edited the videos. The video was published by the Reagan Battalion, a blog that describes itself as 'news, information, commentary, from a conservative perspective'. According to a Facebook post, Yiannopoulos insisted he should have used the term young men as opposed to young boys. According to a statement on The Daily Caller, Yiannopoulos attempted to defuse the scandal. He said: 'I do not support pedophilia. Period. It is a vile and disgusting crime, perhaps the very worst. There are selectively edited videos doing the rounds, as part of a co-ordinated effort to discredit me from establishment Republicans, that suggest I am soft on the subject.' He added: 'I did say that there are relationships between younger men and older men that can help a young gay man escape from a lack of support or understanding at home. Thats perfectly true and every gay man knows it. But I was not talking about anything illegal and I was not referring to pre-pubescent boys. 'I shouldnt have used the word "boy" when I talked about those relationships between older men and younger gay men.' Yiannopoulos suggested there may be an ulterior motive in trying to ban him from the event this weekend. He added: 'This rush to judgment from establishment conservatives who hate Trump as much as they hate me, before I have had any chance to provide context or a response, is one of the big reasons gays vote Democrat.' A restaurateur from China has been brutally decapitated after an outraged customer accused him of overcharging by 3 yuan (36 pence) on a meal. The 42-year-old victim from Hubei province, surnamed Yao, was attacked by a 22-year-old patron who said he was wrongly charged for three bowls of noodles on February 18. The diner was sent into such a rage that he beheaded Yao with a cleaver and coldly disposed his head in a nearby bucket. Restaurant owner Yao was beheaded by his customer, his body lying on the road in Wuhan His head was thrown in a dish-washing bucket along with unwashed bowls and chopsticks Thanks to quick-acting witnesses, the suspect was arrested at the scene and charged with murder. The horrific act took place at a small village near Wuchang Railway Station, in central China. The suspect, surnamed Hu, from Sichuan province ordered three lots of noodles and later found out he was charged one yuan (12 pence) more than the price stated on the menu for one bowl of noodle. Restaurant owner Yao allegedly told him: 'If you can't pay for it, don't eat and get out!' The horrific act took place in a small village near Wuchang Railway Station two days ago The 22-year-old suspect, Hu, was arrested right on scene when the police arrived. The butcher knife is believed to be his weapon for killing restaurant owner Yao The two started a brawl while other customers were still eating. According to People's Daily, Hu grabbed a butcher knife from the kitchen and started stabbing Yao's body. He then chopped off his head and threw it in a dish-washing bucket. Over 50 people witnessed the incident and the police were quickly alerted. Restaurant owner, Yao, was decapitated by the diner who got enraged by the price of noodles Police arrived the crime scene and collected evidence while the public gathered to watch Gruesome pictures and videos of the act are circulating around Weibo, a Chinese social media in the past two days. Wuhan Police department appealed to members of the public not to distribute the distressing pictures on social media. People's Daily reporters visited suspect Hu's house and found a grade two disability registration card from Xuanhan Disabled Person's Federation. Hu is said to be suffered from a mental illness. It is reported that the 42-year-old victim, Yao, was living with his 11-year-old son following a divorce five years ago. The case is under further investigation by Wuchang police. Photos have emerged of a woman from China being publicly shamed in the streets for being a thief. The alleged criminal was seen in an apparent state of distress as she crouched wearing a sign emblazoned with text stating: 'I'm a thief.' As of yet, the police have not released a statement regarding the issue but Chinese lawyers have said that the incident is unacceptable as it causes insult and humiliation, ruining the woman's reputation. 'I am a thief': The woman was caught stealing motorbikes from a bike logistics company The woman was reportedly accused of stealing motorbikes in southwest China three days ago. Residents from Shunqing district, Nanchong city, told reporters at Huanqui.com, an affiliation to People's Daily Online, that she was busted by a security guard. Images show the alleged bike thief, who is in her 40s , wearing a black outfit and a cardboard sign around her neck. It's not known where the sign came from or why she was wearing it. Chinese lawyers said public shaming is not acceptable as it can ruin the woman's reputation There are no detailed information released by the police to confirm she is the bike thief She was apparently forced to kneel down before being publicly harassed by the crowd. Soon after, she was taken away by the police for investigation. A security guard working at a bike logistics told the reporters that his colleague caught the middle-aged woman stealing bikes on the afternoon of February 15. However, he did not know any other details around the incident. Residents of a Chinese village were shocked to find a crying toddler who had been abandoned in a graveyard, according to Chinese media. The child, reported to be two years old, was tied to bamboo canes when villagers saw her. The girl's parents have apparently divorced. And it's been suggested that her father had deserted her on purpose so that the girl's mother would pay attention to him and consider remarrying him. Cruel: The Chinese girl, reportedly two years old, was deserted by her family in a graveyard The girl was found in the graveyard of Lifu Town in Qu County, Sichuan Province, on the morning of January 28, according to Huanqiu.com, an affiliation of People's Daily Online. According to eyewitnesses, they heard someone crying in the direction of the graveyard and later found the child shivering in the cold, claimed the Huanqiu report, which cited the Chengdu Business Daily. Her face had apparently turned purple due to the coldness. January 28 was the Lunar New Year's Day, and villagers were shocked to think that the girl had spent the Lunar New Year alone in the graveyard. A signboard was found attached to her back. The signboard claimed that the girl's name is Dian Dian and she is the daughter of a woman surnamed Wang. Villagers suspected that Dian Dian had been abandoned by her father who had left her here around midnight. They alerted the police immediately. A villager pointed at the scene where the girl had been left abandoned to a reporter According to the police, the girl's father, surnamed Luo, lives in the Qubei Township and her mother, Wang, lives in Lifu Town. The police also confirmed that the girl had been left next to her grandmother's cemetery. Police officers contacted Dian Dian's mother, Wang, who went to the police station to pick up Dian Dian. Wang said that she and Dian Dian's father had divorced. She lives with their elder daughter and her ex-husband lives with their younger daughter, Dian Dian. The man later married another woman, but the woman left him a few days before the Lunar New Year. The child, named Dian Dian, was tied to bamboo canes next to her grandmother's cemetery The woman claimed that her ex-husband had wanted to get back with him, but she didn't agree. She said it was likely that her ex-husband had abandoned Dian Dian in the graveyard in order to attract her attention and get her agree to his proposal. Dian Dian's father is said to be unemployed. Local reporters and police failed to track him down due to the lack of contact information. It's unclear whether or not Dian Dian will carry on living with her father. Private companies will be able to launch their own rockets into space from UK spaceports under new laws unveiled today (Mon). The powers will allow the launch of satellites, vertical rockets and horizontal flights from the UK for the first time. Currently satellites can only be launched into orbit from space stations in countries such as the US and India. But under a new SpaceFlight bill, space ports will be established in regions across the UK. Spaceports, like this artist's rendition, could soon be operational all around the UK They will be operational as soon as 2020 and will allow Britain to surge ahead of other countries in the global space race. Announcing the bill, ministers said the UK space sector is the future of the British economy and the Government wants the UK to remain at the forefront of a new commercial space age for the next forty years. New powers will mean British scientists will be able to conduct vital experiments in zero gravity which could help develop vaccines and medicines. Antibiotics grow differently where there is no gravity and so the move has the potential to help scientists conduct revolutionary research. The flights could also carry out hundreds of vital scientific experiments on medical issues such as ageing and the human body. Once launched, the space satellites could also help provide broadband to rural communities and monitor weather systems as they move around the earth. They could even help rural health workers who use satellite communications to diagnose and assist patients situated far from specialist health services. Aviation Minister Lord Ahmad said: The UKs space sector is the future of the British economy. He said it already employs thousands of people and supports industries worth more than 250million to the economy, and he wants it to grow it further. He added: Forty years ago, meteorologists couldnt have imagined the importance of satellites for predicting the weather. Up until now UK companies have been reliant on space ports in other countries, such as this one in French Guiana Today over 90 per cent of data used in every forecast comes from a satellite, with hundreds of other applications used in GPS, telecommunications and broadband. We have never launched a spaceflight before from this country. Our ambition is to allow for safe and competitive access to space from the UK, so we remain at the forefront of a new commercial space age, for the next forty years. The new laws give powers to commercial companies to apply to send rockets into space. A bill will be introduced later this year which will set out specific rules and regulations for operators - such as safety and insurance measures. The Government is calling for businesses and industries to come forward with specific proposals for space launches. In addition, the Government is inviting commercial space businesses to bid for funding to help create a space launch market in the UK. The space sector already employs thousands in the UK and supports industries worth 250 billion to the economy The Department for Transport said the sector is vital to the future of the UK economy. A spokesman added: It creates high-value jobs and generates wealth across the country. Our regions will benefit from direct access to space as the building of local space ports will lead to more demand in hospitality and tourism services, creating jobs and opportunities. Businesses currently have to rely on launch services located in other countries such as the US, Japan, or India, and often have to share launch vehicles, which can lead to delays and restrictions on where satellites can go. The Bill builds on 10 million of grant funding announced by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy earlier this month which will deliver an early boost to the UKs commercial spaceflight market. Universities and Science Minister Jo Johnson said: From the launch of Rosetta, the first spacecraft to orbit a comet, to Tim Peakes six months on the International Space Station, the UKs space sector has achieved phenomenal things in orbit and beyond. With this weeks Spaceflight Bill launch, we will cement the UKs position as a world-leader in this emerging market, giving us an opportunity to build on existing strengths in research and innovation. New launch technology for small satellites will provide low cost, reliable access to space, the department added. Forecasts suggest the global market for commercial space flights will be worth 25 billion over the next twenty years. Alien bugs could hitch a lift on spaceships to Earth and attack humans, researchers warn. These extraterrestrial viruses may be a 'danger' to our immune systems, potentially killing large numbers of people. Scientists say rock and ice samples brought back from Mars or Jupiters moon Europa should be isolated forever to mitigate the threat. Scroll down for video Alien bugs could hitch a lift on spaceships to Earth and attack humans, researchers warn. These extraterrestrial viruses may be a 'danger' to our immune systems, potentially killing large numbers of people Dr John Rummel, a senior scientist at the Seti Institute in Mountain View, California spoke about his fears of space contamination at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting in Boston. Dr Rummel said it was 'pretty easy' for alien pathogens to survive space journeys because they are shielded from the sun's ultraviolet radiation. He said it was therefore hugely important to isolate material that comes from other planets. 'If we bring samples back from either Europa or Mars, we will contain them until hazard testing demonstrates that there is no danger and no life, or continue the containment indefinitely while we study the material', he said. Scientists believe Europa has a salty ocean beneath its crust which may harbour simple life. Extraterrestrial viruses could be a 'danger' to our immune systems and top scientists have said samples from other planets might have to be contained forever for public safety (stock image) A patch of land in an ancient valley on Mars may once have been home to salty groundwater and it could now be a prime target in the search for past life. 'Introduced to the intense radiation around Europa, exposed microbes should die off in hours to days to weeks, but organisms protected inside the spacecraft would still be alive as long as the silicon chips are functioning.' 'Microbial life, as a whole, is pretty immune to cold, dry conditions,' he said. 'It is assumed that such life would be hardy to survive the trip to Earth; not easy and precautions taken would provide a very high degree of containment.' A 'COSMIC ZOO' OF ALIEN LIFE In a recent paper published to the journal Life, researchers from Washington State University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology describe how the evolution of life on Earth could predict what we find on other planets. The researchers argue that the universe may be a cosmic zoo of plant and animal life with functions similar to those seen on our planet though with the possibility of different anatomy and chemistry. In the study, they examined the key innovations that drove the development of life on Earth. This includes the transition from single cell life to multicellular life, the rise of photosynthesis, the evolution of macroscopic beings, and the rise of intelligent life. The team determined that these innovations were invented several times, originating independently at different points of history. They say this suggests that once life originates, it will likely follow a natural evolutionary path toward complexity, given enough time and the proper environment. If life has arisen on an alien world and a sufficient energy flux exists, the researchers say animal-like life could develop. Advertisement Scientists say rock and ice samples brought back from Mars or Jupiters moon Europa (pictured) should be isolated forever to mitigate the threat of alien life invading Earth The scientist also raised concerns about space equipment from Earth contaminated these foreign worlds. Dr Rummel said it was essential that there were systems in place to prevent contamination of pristine planets with microbes from earth. If organisms from Earth contaminated Europa it would make it much harder to find out the origins of the planet. 'Earth organisms in the Europan ocean could hide the origin of Europan life from science, forever,' said Dr Rummel. Mars has such harsh conditions that it was less likely to be affected by bugs carried on spacecrafts. They were one of the most advanced societies of the sixteenth century. But the Aztecs were left devastated by a mysterious disease after Spanish forces arrived in 1519. A century after soldiers arrived in Mexico, the Aztec population had dropped from 25 million to just one million. Now, scientists have discovered that the epidemic may have been caused by a deadly wave of food poisoning. Researchers from Germany have discovered that the downfall of the Aztecs may have been caused by a deadly wave of food poisoning HOW DID THEY DO IT? The researchers extracted the teeth of 29 people buried in the Oaxacan highlands of southern Mexico. They sequenced the DNA from teeth and found traces of ancient bacteria. The scientists found that the recovered bacterial DNA matched that of Salmonella after consulting a database of modern bacteria. They identified the ancient DNA as a strain called Salmonella enterica - which causes Paratyphi C. Advertisement Researchers from Germany studied teeth from the remains of Aztec people and found traces of 500-year-old salmonella DNA. The particular strain of salmonella discovered by the researchers causes Paratyphi C - a typhoid-like disease that causes high fever and rose-coloured blotches. The disease, which is passed on by contaminated food, water and faeces, kills 10 per cent of people that catch it if it is left untreated. 'Well-characterized Old World diseases such as smallpox, measles, mumps, and influenza have been accepted as the causes of later contact era outbreaks,' said the researchers from Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in a research paper. The researchers extracted the teeth from 29 people buried in the Oaxacan highlands of southern Mexico, pictured, and found traces of 500-year-old salmonella DNA The ancient bacteria is believed to have originated in Europe and arrived in Mexico after Spanish soldiers conquered South America. Above: Aztec ruins in Mexico 'However, the diseases responsible for many early contact period New World epidemics remain unknown, and have been the subject of scientific debate for over a century.' The disease outbreak that sparked the downfall of the Aztecs was known as 'cocoliztli' - which translates as 'pestilence' in Nahuatl, the Aztec language. To understand what caused the deadly cocoliztli, the researchers extracted the teeth of 29 people buried in the Oaxacan highlands of southern Mexico. They sequenced the DNA from teeth and found traces of ancient bacteria. Traces of salmonella enterica, pictured, were found on the teeth of Aztec people. The bug causes Paratyphi C, a typhoid-like disease that causes high fever and rose-coloured blotches The scientists found that the recovered bacterial DNA matched that of Salmonella after consulting a database of modern bacteria. They identified the ancient DNA as a strain called Salmonella enterica - which causes Paratyphi C. The strain is believed to have originated in Europe and arrived in Mexico after Spanish soldiers arrived in South America. 'Our study represents a first step towards a molecular understanding of disease exchange in contact era Mexico,' the researchers said. The research has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal. With a strange tubular body, eyes on the end of stalks and teeth at the end of a long narrow trunk, the 'Tully Monster' is perhaps the strangest creature to have ever lived. The monster, which lived 300 million years ago, has baffled scientists since fossils were first discovered 58 years ago. Last year, two groups of scientists claimed that the creature, which had defied classification for decades, was in fact a vertebrate, resembling a type of fish called a lamprey. But according to new research, this classification is wrong, re-opening the Tully Monster mystery. Scroll down for video With a strange tube-shaped body, eyes on stalks and a long, trunk-like mouth, the Tully Monster (artist's impression pictured) had baffled scientists for decades until two groups of scientists claimed they had classified it last year WHAT WAS THE TULLY MONSTER? The Tully Monster, or Tullimonstrum gregarium, is thought to have been a soft-bodied sea creature that lived in muddy coastal waters in what is now Illinois. They would have grown to be around 30cm (one foot) long with a slender segmented body. Its eyes sat at each end of a long rigid bar across the top of its head and it had a caudal fin. Most strangely it had jaws at the end of a long proboscis, suggesting it perhaps ate food hidden deep in the silt of the estuary or within rocky nooks and crannies. Inside its body it had a stiff rod of cartilage, known as a notochord, which helped to give it structure. Advertisement 'This animal doesn't fit easy classification because it's so weird,' said lead-researcher Professor Sallan, a paleontologist at the University of Pennsylvania. 'It has these eyes that are on stalks and it has this pincer at the end of a long proboscis and there's even disagreement about which way is up. 'But the last thing that the Tully monster could be is a fish.' The Tully monster, known to scientists as 'Tullimonstrum gregarium', has been known since the 1950s when the first fossils were found in Mazon Creek fossil beds in central Illinois. Since then thousands of specimens have been identified from the area. The species is the state fossil of Illinois and even graces the side of local UHauls. But none of the attempts to classify it to an animal group over the last half century had stuck. Researchers think that the ancient animal was a soft-bodied sea creature that lived in muddy coastal waters in what is now Illinois. They would have grown to be around 30cm (one foot) long with a slender segmented body. Its eyes sat at each end of a long rigid bar across the top of its head and it had a caudal fin. The Tully Monster (artist's impression) had eyes on either end of a stiff bar that sat across the top of its head while its jaws were at the end of a long proboscis. New research claims that two papers that classified the animal as a vertebrate fish last year were wrong Thousands of fossils of the creature have been unearthed in hard rocks dug out of coal mining pits in Mazon Creek, Grundy County, Illinois WHAT WAS WRONG WITH LAST YEAR'S STUDIES? The scientific community was taken by surprise when in 2016 two studies came out in close succession both claiming they had firm evidence that the Tully monster was in fact a vertebrate. Professor Sallan and colleagues argue that the two papers that seemingly settled the Tully monster debate are flawed, failing to reach a definitive classification. The first examined more than 1,200 Tully monster fossils. In some, the researchers observed a light band running down the creature's midline, which they determined was a notochord, a kind of primitive backbone. They also claimed it contained other internal organ structures, such as gill sacs, that identified it as a vertebrate, and that the animal's teeth resembled those of lamprey. Scientists say the Tully Monster could be related to the lamprey (pictured), a strange looking species fish that does not have jaws but instead has circular rows of teeth it uses to rasp and suck onto prey so they can suck blood But Professor Sallan and colleagues noted that these conclusions are based on a misunderstanding of how fossils in Mazon Creek are preserved. The other 2016 study reported that scanning electron microscope images of the Tully monsters' eyes had revealed structures called melanosomes, which produce and store melanin. That paper's authors argued that the complex tissue structure they saw in the animals' eyes indicated it was likely a vertebrate. Yet species besides vertebrates, such as arthropods and cephalopods like octopuses, also have complex eyes, the new study wrote. Advertisement Most strangely it had jaws at the end of a long proboscis, suggesting it perhaps ate food hidden deep in the silt of the estuary or within rocky nooks and crannies. Inside its body it had a stiff rod of cartilage, known as a notochord, which helped to give it structure. 'Initially it was published as a worm,' Professor Sallan said. 'There is a well-constructed argument that it is some kind of mollusc, like a sea cucumber. 'And there's another very strong argument that it's some kind of arthropod, similar to a lobster.' The scientific community was taken by surprise when in 2016 two studies came out in close succession both claiming they had firm evidence that the Tully monster was in fact a vertebrate. An illustration depicts what Mazon Creek may have looked like 300 million years ago, complete with Tully monsters (the two small swimming creatures), a large shark and a salamander relative. The new study claims that the identity of the monsters is still up in the air Professor Sallan and colleagues argue that the two papers that seemingly settled the Tully monster debate are flawed, failing to reach a definitive classification. The first examined more than 1,200 Tully monster fossils. In some, the researchers observed a light band running down the creature's midline, which they determined was a notochord, a kind of primitive backbone. They also claimed it contained other internal organ structures, such as gill sacs, that identified it as a vertebrate, and that the animal's teeth resembled those of lamprey. But Professor Sallan and colleagues noted that these conclusions are based on a misunderstanding of how fossils in Mazon Creek are preserved. The Tully monster samples come from what was once a marine area. 'In the marine rocks you just see soft tissues, you don't see much internal structure preserved,' Professor Sallan said. The Penn-led team further noted that there have been lampreys found in this area of Mazon Creek, and that these animals don't resemble the Tully monster. The other 2016 study reported that scanning electron microscope images of the Tully monsters' eyes had revealed structures called melanosomes, which produce and store melanin. That paper's authors argued that the complex tissue structure they saw in the animals' eyes indicated it was likely a vertebrate. Yet species besides vertebrates, such as arthropods and cephalopods like octopuses, also have complex eyes, the new study wrote. 'Eyes have evolved dozens of times,' Professor Sallan said. Fossils of the Tully Monster (pictured) have baffled researchers since they were first found in 1958 as they have been unable to determine if the animal was a mollusc or related to fish 'It's not too much of a leap to imagine Tully monsters could have evolved an eye that resembled a vertebrate eye.' Based on Professor Sallan's and her colleagues' examination of Tullimonstrum eyes, these creatures in fact possess what is known as a cup eye, a relatively simpler structure that lacks a lens. 'So the problem is, if it does have cup eyes, then it can't be a vertebrate because all vertebrates either have more complex eyes than that or they secondarily lost them,' Professor Sallan said. 'But lots of other things have cup eyes, like primitive chordates, molluscs and certain types of worms.' Their Palaeontology report noted that none of the more than 1,000 examined Tully specimens appeared to possess structures that are believed to be universal in aquatic vertebrates. Otic capsules, components of the ear that allow animals to balance, and a lateral line, a sensory structure that enables fishes to orient themselves in space, are notable examples. 'You would expect at least a handful of the specimens to have preserved these structures,' Professor Sallan said. 'Not only does this creature have things that should not be preserved in vertebrates, it doesn't have things that absolutely should be preserved.' The researchers said that an improper classification of such an unusual species has ripple effects on the larger field of evolution. 'Having this kind of mis-assignment really affects our understanding of vertebrate evolution and vertebrate diversity at this given time,' Professor Sallan said. 'It makes it harder to get at how things are changing in response to an ecosystem if you have this outlier. And though of course there are outliers in the fossil record - there are plenty of weird things and that's great - if you're going to make extraordinary claims, you need extraordinary evidence.' As for the true identity of the Tully monster, the Penn-led team said that's still up in the air. Nasa is to host a major press conference on Wednesday to reveal a 'discovery beyond our solar system'. The space agency says the secretive event, will 'present new findings on planets that orbit stars other than our sun, known as exoplanets'. It raises hopes that NASA could reveal details of exoplanets capable of holding life. Scroll down for video The space agency says the event, will 'present new findings on planets that orbit stars other than our sun, known as exoplanets' at the event - but all other details have been kept secret ahead of the announcement happening at 1pm ET on Wednesday. The event will take place on 22 February at 1pm New York time, and will be streamed live on NASA'S television station and on its website. Although NASA has given no clue of the announcement, it has confirmed scientists from the Spitzer telescope will be present. NASAs Spitzer Space Telescope observes transiting exoplanets in infrared wavelengths, and has helped to chart and characterize many, including puzzling out details of planetary atmospheres. Spitzer often works in conjunction with ground-based telescopes, including OGLEs Warsaw Telescope at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. In 2015, a collaboration between Spitzer and Italys 3.6 meter Galileo National Telescope in the Canary Islands revealed the closest known rocky planet: HD 219134b, only 21 light-years away from Earth. Disappointingly, however, the planet orbits its star too closely to make it suitable for life. Researchers recently gave an incredible glimpse of a nearby system with a mesmerising new animation revealing four alien worlds orbiting a star 129 light years away. The planets, each more massive than Jupiter, are circling a bright young star that lies in the constellation Pegasus. It comes as the result of seven years of observations at the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii, providing a captivating glimpse at four planets whose orbital periods are in nearly precise ratio with each other. These objects have vastly different orbital periods, from 40 years to more than 400. But, researchers believe they are in a one-two-four-eight resonance with each other. This means their individual orbital periods are in nearly precise ratio with the others THE EXOPLANETS Each star is larger than Jupiter, and thus lie far away from each other. As researchers continue to observe this system, they will watch to see if it is stable, or if some of the planets will be ejected. Their star, HR 8799, is less than 60 million years old and is nearly five times brighter than the sun. Their orbital periods vary from 40 years to more than 400, but researchers suspect they are in a one-two-four-eight resonance with each other. This means their individual orbital periods are in nearly precise ratio with the others. Advertisement The animation was created by Jason Wang, an astronomy graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley based on eight observations of the four planets, dating back to 2009. Their star, HR 8799, is less than 60 million years old and is nearly five times brighter than the sun, according to Many Worlds. These objects have vastly different orbital periods, from 40 years to more than 400. But, researchers believe they are in a one-two-four-eight resonance with each other. This means their individual orbital periods are in nearly precise ratio with the others. Given how long it takes each planet to complete its orbit, only a snippet of this journey is shown in the animation. Astronomers discovered three of the HR 8799 planets in 2008, using direct imaging for the first time. The researcher previously created a similar animation of a planet orbiting the star Beta Pictoris. In the animation, our perspective is almost edge-on with the orbit The team included Christian Marois of the National Research Council of Canada's Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, who analyzed the data, according to Many Worlds. At the time scientists first imaged the HR 8799 planets, a separate team also announced the direct imaging of a planet orbiting the star Fomalhaut. The Arc of Discovery artistic concept features NASA's astrophysics missions searching for signs of life beyond Earth After additional observations in 2009-2010, researchers discovered the fourth planet around HR 8799. Wang used a motion interpolation algorithm to plot their orbits, and the animation shows these four stars as they make their way around HR 8799. The researcher previously created a similar animation of a planet orbiting the star Beta Pictoris. At the time scientists first imaged the HR 8799 planets, a separate team also announced the direct imaging of a planet orbiting the star Fomalhaut According to Wang, the new technique 'allows us to use artifacts of the data reduction process which we used to consider nuisances to better constrain the position of the planet.' In order to make them visible, the researchers have had to block out the star's light, giving rise to the black circle at the center. Each star is larger than Jupiter, and thus lie far away from each other. As researchers continue to observe this system, they will watch to see if it is stable, or if some of the planets will be ejected. Wang and Maoris are part of a team operating the Gemini Planet Imager, an addition to the Gemini South telescope in Chile. Earlier this year, SpaceX chief, Elon Musk, announced that he was 'planning to send Dragon to Mars as soon as 2018.' Now, the firm has admitted it won't make that date - but is aiming for 2020. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell revealed the new timeline at a press briegfing for the company's recent launch from NASA's historic launch pad 39A. Scroll down for video A Dragon on Mars: The mission would grab samples collected by Nasa's 2020 rover and return them to Earth. A SOFT LANDING The Dragon 2 capsule is designed to land on any surface in the solar system, SpaceX says. It uses jets to land itself, the same system SpaceX is developing for its booster rockets. Once the rockets bring the craft close to Earth, four extendable legs allow it to land. Advertisement 'We were focused on 2018, but we felt like we needed to put more resources and focus more heavily on our crew program and our Falcon Heavy program,' she said. 'So we're looking more in the 2020 timeframe for that.' Red Dragon is a precursor for SpaceX's ambitious Mars plans, which company founder Elon Musk unveiled at the International Astronautical Congress in Mexico in September. Those involve the development of giant reusable launch vehicles and spacecraft to carry up to 100 people at a time from Earth to Mars. Shotwell said work on those concepts has been a lower priority as it works on near-term programs such as its commercial lunches, and plans to launch manned versions of the Dragon, also from Pad 39A, carrying astronauts to the ISS. 'We need to finish the work that we're doing right now,' she said, referring to development of commercial crew and Falcon Heavy. 'Then you'll start to see a shift in development teams at SpaceX.' 'A year or so is when we'll start to shift focus, that's my guess,' she said. The adapted Red Dragon would include a robotic arm, extra fuel tanks and a central tube that houses a rocket-powered Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) and an Earth Return Vehicle (ERV). In a series of posts Musk showed the mission - here, the craft can be seen approaching the surface Musk says the unmanned spaceship to the red planet could become a regular cargo route running every 26 months. It will be followed by his 'interplanetary transport system' to take man to Mars in 80 days and build a sustainable human colony of a million people there. 'What I want to achieve is make Mars seem possible, to show that we can do it in our lifetimes, and you could go,' he said at the International Astronautical Congress in Mexico. Touchdown! Once the rockets bring the craft close to Earth, four extendable legs allow it to land. However, he warned the trip was likely to be dangerous - and said candidates for the first missions 'must be prepared to die'. The Interplanetary Transport System will use a giant rocket booster with a 12m diameter and 49 engines, and a special shuttle with a 17m diameter, making the entire rocket stack 122 m high. They will launch with empty fuel tanks and refuel in orbit. Once on Mars, they would make more methane fuel for the return journey. Speaking about his plans, Elon Musk said: 'This is going to be mind blowing. I'm so tempted to talk more about the details of it. But I have to restrain myself' Speaking to The Washington Post, Mr Musk, who is the chief executive of SpaceX, drew parallels between people crossing the oceans in centuries past to unknown worlds. He said that the journey to Mars was going to be 'hard, risky, dangerous and difficult', however he was confident people would still sign up to go because 'just as with the establishment of the English colonies, there are people who love that. They want to be the pioneers.' However, before SpaceX can begin to send people to the red planet, unmanned travel and a supply chain must be developed successfully. Mr Musk said: 'Essentially what we're saying is we're establishing a cargo route to Mars. 'It's a regular cargo route. You can count on it. It's going to happen every 26 months. Like a train leaving the station. 'And if scientists around the world know that they can count on that, and it's going to be inexpensive, relatively speaking compared to anything in the past, then they will plan accordingly and come up with a lot of great experiments.' The mission is private and will not be funded by the US government or Nasa. However, Nasa has previously said it would provide 'technical support' for the 2018 mission. Separately, Nasa is also studying the effects of long-term space flight on the human body, and has announced plans to send people to Mars by the 2030s. Elon Musk appeared to be referring to an upgraded version of the California-based company's Dragon cargo capsule, which is currently used as an unmanned spacecraft to shuttle food and supplies to and from the International Space Station SpaceX plans to make that launch in 2018, although the Falcon Heavy rocket that will carry the company's Dragon capsule to will not have its first test flight until later in 2016. Nasa, which is aiming for a human mission to Mars in the 2030s, said it will provide technical support for SpaceX's first foray, known as Red Dragon It is currently unclear how people would survive the long journey of a year or more in space, needing adequate food and water and protection from space radiation during the trip. Mr Musk has previously spoken of his vision of creating a colony of a million earthlings on Mars, in order to make humanity 'multi-planetary' and avoid the risk of extinction on Earth. ELON MUSK'S 'INTERPLANETARY TRANSPORT SYSTEM' Last month, Elon Musk unveiled his most ambitious project yet - an 'Interplanetary Transport System' to take mankind to Mars in 80 days and build a sustainable human colony of a million people there. 'What I want to achieve is make Mars seem possible, to show that we can do it in our lifetimes, and you could go,' he said at the International Astronautical Congress in Mexico. Elon Musk said the Interplanetary Transport System (ITS) would be powerful enough to fly between Mars and Earth outside of its orbital period of 26 months if there was an emergency (artist's impression) However, he warned the trip was likely to be dangerous - and said candidates for the first missions 'must be prepared to die'. The Interplanetary Transport System will use a giant rocket booster with a 39 foot (12m) diameter and 49 engines, and a special shuttle with a 56 foot (17m) diameter, making the entire rocket stack 400 feet (122m) high. They will launch with empty fuel tanks and refuel in orbit. Once on Mars, they would make more methane fuel for the return journey. Advertisement His most recent feats include managing to return the first stage of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets to an upright landing on water and on solid ground, as part of his effort to make rockets that are as reusable as airplanes. Speaking about his plans, he said: 'This is going to be mind blowing. I'm so tempted to talk more about the details of it. But I have to restrain myself.' 'It's dangerous and probably people will dieand they'll know that,' he continued. 'And then they'll pave the way, and ultimately it will be very safe to go to Mars, and it will very comfortable. But that will be many years in the future.' THE RACE TO BUILD REUSABLE ROCKETS Reusable rockets would cut costs and waste in the space industry, which currently loses millions of dollars in jettisoned machinery after each launch. Russia, Japan and the European Space Agency are also developing similar technology and are in testing stages. Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com and owner of The Washington Post newspaper, said last month that Blue Origin expects to begin crewed test flights of the New Shepard, the company's flagship rocket, next year and begin flying paying passengers as early as 2018. SpaceX has managed to land four rockets from space back on Earth, three on sea and one on land, while Blue Origin's New Shepard successfully completed a third launch and vertical landing in April this year. The Indian space agency also hopes to develop its own frugal shuttle, as it seeks to cash in on a huge and lucrative demand from other countries to send up their satellites, after a successful test launch last month. Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com and owner of The Washington Post newspaper, said last month that Blue Origin expects to begin crewed test flights of the New Shepard, the company's flagship rocket (pictured) next year and begin flying paying passengers as early as 2018 Advertisement Flight passengers who are forced to put hand luggage in the hold last-minute on jam-packed journeys might not have their valuables covered by insurance, a consumer watchdog is warning. Which? found that the big five travel insurance companies - Aviva, Axa, Churchill, Direct Line and LV - exclude valuables placed in the hold from their policies in the case of loss, theft or damage. The investigative body is now warning travellers to remove any precious items from baggage before it is taken away by airline crew - a trend which is sky-rocketing especially among budget airlines. Flight passengers who are forced to put hand luggage in the hold last-minute on jam-packed journeys might not have their valuables covered by insurance Indeed, as part of the research, Which? asked more than 7,000 passengers about the 11,000 flights they had been on in the last year. More than a quarter (26 per cent) of Ryanair passengers, and nearly one in seven (15 per cent) easyJet customers revealed that they unexpectedly had to check their cabin bags in at the gate on their most recent flights. Which? highlights that there are a range of hidden problems that people may not be aware of when they put carry-on luggage into the hold. For one, it could mean delays on the other side as passengers have to wait for their luggage on the baggage carousel. While customers have for years been encouraged to travel with hand luggage only, most plane cabins simply dont have room for everyone to bring cases on board This could potentially result in a missed onward connection. With this type of delay, airlines are not required to pay compensation for consequential loss. Which? also heard from travellers whose cabin bags were damaged in the hold, or didnt arrive at the destination at all. While customers have for years been encouraged to travel with hand luggage only, most plane cabins simply dont have room for everyone to bring cases onboard. For example, Ryanairs Boeing 737 planes, have 189 seats, but its overhead bins fit just 90 cabin cases. BAGS IN THE HOLD The airlines most likely to put your hand luggage in the hold on short-haul flights, according to the Which? survey: Ryanair: 26 % EasyJet: 15% Aer Lingus: 11% KLM: 10% Monarch: 7% Jet2: 6% British Airways: 4% Flybe: 3% Advertisement So even if the plane is just over half full, some passengers could be left with no option but to hand over their cabin bag. Offering some pearls of wisdom to flyers, Rory Boland, Which?'s Travel Editor, said: 'Plane cabins are not designed to hold a large number of small suitcases so you should be prepared to part with your carry-on bag. 'If you have to put a bag in the hold at the last minute, try to remove wallets, keys, laptops and other valuables. 'If items do go missing from your hand luggage that you had intended to keep with you, do make clear to the airline that you expect compensation.' MailOnline Travel contacted the 'big five' travel insurance companies highlighted in the Which? investigation and they confirmed that hand luggage unexpectedly checked into the hold is not covered. Commenting on the matter, a spokesperson from Aviva said: 'While airlines do sometimes ask passengers to put larger items of hand baggage - like a small suitcase - in the hold, most will still let you take on a small piece of hand baggage, like a handbag or holdall. 'Before putting any luggage in the hold remove all cash and valuables, like jewellery, camera, phones or tablets, and put them in a handbag or pocket of a coat for the flight. 'Once youve collected your baggage from the collection point, check it there and then. 'If your belongings are lost or damaged while in the hold, the airline would be responsible for reimbursing passengers. Your clothes and toiletries might be covered by insurance. 'Our advice would be to report the details to the airline in writing and request written confirmation. Also keep all travel tickets and luggage tags to help support your claim.' If you are afraid of flying or can't afford a ticket, you can still enjoy a taste of the jet-set lifestyle inside a passenger plane transformed into a luxury restaurant. Hawai Adda, a grounded Airbus A320, has recently been converted into a vegetarian restaurant, bakery, kitty hall and cafe. Parked at the Verka Milk Bar premises in Ludhiana, India, the aircraft has retained many of its original features to transport patrons on a culinary journey. Mile fry club: Hawai Adda, a grounded Airbus A320, has recently been converted into a vegetarian restaurant Diners don't have to worry about leg room as there is space for 72 guests seated on lavish benches and sofas The passenger jet, which previously belonged to Air India, took over a year to convert with the team re-designing the fuselage and keeping much of its original wiring. Diners at Hawai Adda don't have to worry about leg room as there is space for 72 guests seated on lavish benches and sofas. Up to 40 diners can also be seated in the kitty hall, with all guests at the restaurant selecting meals from a vegetarian menu. The luxurious interior was inspired by the Maharaja Express, director of Hands Hospitality, the company behind the ambitious project, Parampreet Singh Luthra told Mashable India. The luxurious interior was inspired by the Maharaja Express, according to the team behind the project The restaurant took a year to develop and there is also a cafe, kitty hall and bakery on site Up to 40 diners can also be seated in the kitty hall, with all guests at the restaurant selecting meals from a vegetarian menu Mr Luthra said: 'We wanted to retain most of the original bits of the aircraft including its one million wires. 'So, we had to hire experienced engineers and airline support staff who knew the drill.' The aviation-themed eatery had a turbulent opening in December, with Indian news outlets alleging that it didn't have adequate fire safety clearances and there were reports that the wings of the plane jutted out into Ludhiana-Ferozepur national highway. These are claims the company has always denied, stating that it has all the required 'clearances from government'. The aircraft-cum-restaurant is thought to be the first of its kind in Punjab and joins a fleet of other converted aircraft welcoming diners across the world. They're the reality stars who went on Married At First Sight to find a soulmate. But for one particular bride, their stint on the reality show could also bring an extra bundle of joy, with rumours of a secret pregnancy said to be rocking the set. As reported by NW and Woman's Day magazines, producers of the Channel Nine show are on high alert after a contestant discovered that she was 'late' and demanded to take a pregnancy test. Scroll down for video Scandal! Producers of Married At First Sight are said to be on high alert as pregnancy rumours surround one of its contestants And according to NW's source, the mystery bride was said to be 'hysterical' during filming, claiming: 'She kept pacing around, saying she was late!'. 'She demanded a producer run down to the chemist and pick up a pregnancy test immediately,' the source added. Drama: It's been claimed an unidentified contestant told a producer she was 'late' and 'demanded' to take a pregnancy test 'She locked herself in a room and wouldn't come out until they returned.' Daily Mail Australia have approached a Channel Nine representative for comment. Meanwhile, Woman's Day also claims the pregnancy scandal is 'just one of the rumours that won't go away.' The third installment of the highly-rated reality show has been full of drama, with a partner-swap as well as a cheating scandal rocking the couples so far. Controversial: The third season of the controversial dating show has so far included a partner swap as well as a cheating scandal Unlucky in love: Scarlett and her match Michael opted to leave the show last week, as it was also revealed she'd been secretly texting other contestant Jonathan Cheryl's interest shifted towards Andrew after she discovered that her 'husband' Jonathan had secretly been texting fellow contestant Scarlett. Following Scarlett and Jonathan's exit from the experiment, remaining contestants were shocked to see Cheryl return with Andrew on her arm. Anthony in particular, had his doubts about the new union between 'good guy' Andrew and Cheryl. Sceptical: Cheryl's return to the show with new partner Andrew were questioned by Anthony, who said: 'It's hard to be convinced that Cheryl's relationship with Andrew will work based on on what I've seen already with her and Jonathan last week' 'It's hard to be convinced that Cheryl's relationship with Andrew will work based on on what I've seen already with her and Jonathan last week,' Anthony said to the cameras. 'She didn't really give Jonathan an opportunity. And I'll keep prodding. I'll keep prodding to see whether she really has the right intentions.' Outside of the show, Cheryl's past as a topless waitress and party girl has unraveled. Wild past: Meanwhile, Cheryl's party girl past has been revealed, with video footage of the brunette snorting a white powder off her breast surfacing late last week The brunette starred in a video uncovered by Woman's Day last week, in which she appeared to be snorting a white powder off her breast using a $50 note. Confirming it was her in the footage, Cheryl said in a statement: 'I posted this video as a joke on my Instagram account several years ago. Looking back I now realise what an extremely naive thing it was to have done, and I seriously regret it.' Meanwhile, photos of the 25-year-old working as a topless waitress at a bucks party has also surfaced. Racy: It's also been revealed that the former glamour model worked as a topless waitress before her foray into reality TV (pictured at a bucks party) Flaunting her ample assets in the photo, the reality TV star wore just a skimpy pair of lingerie bottoms and matching black garters. Speaking about her past profession, Cheryl insisted she no longer works in that industry. 'For a brief time I was a topless waitress but that's now well and truly in my past,' she previously told the Herald Sun. She 'married' Adelaide fruit and veg retailer Jesse Konstantinoff on screen for Married at First Sight in November. But it appears that twin Michelle Marsh may have her eye elsewhere after she was spotted getting cosy with Sam Barnett, the son of Premier Colin Barnett. The Perth property investor is seen with his arm around the tanned beauty, who is wearing a skimpy black bikini top and sarong, in a photo posted to her Instagram. Scroll down for video Coupled? Michelle Marsh may have her eye elsewhere after she was spotted getting cosy with Sam Barnett, the son of Premier Colin Barnett The 27-year-old has his hand tenderly clutching the beauty's waist as they eat fresh fruit by the ocean. Michelle, who has her ample cleavage and taut tummy on display, sits close to Sam, their thighs meeting, and they seem very comfortable with one another. The friendly image doesn't bode well for Michelle's marriage to Jesse, with whom she married live during December for the show. Did it work out? Michelle 'married' Adelaide fruit and veg retailer Jesse Konstantinoff on screen for Married at First Sight in November Twinsies: Michelle appeared on MAFS with her twin sister Sharon The pair are said to have spent January apart to decide if they wanted to stay married, but it appears that Michele's eyes may have wandered elsewhere. Daily Mail reached out to Michelle for comment. Meanwhile, Perth locals Michelle and her twin Sharon have complained that they were misrepresented on the marriage themed reality show. They accused the show of pasting together separate conversations to make it seem as if they'd said things they had not. Edited? Perth locals Michelle and her twin Sharon have complained that they were misrepresented on the marriage themed reality show Sharon was also shown on the program, and 'married' 29-year-old Victorian carpenter Nick. 'I didn't know they could get two different conversations, and it could be months apart, to string a sentence together,' Sharon told Perth Now. She added, 'I think the production was making out as if Michelle was comparing her relationship to mine on the day of the wedding. Whereas in actual fact she didn't.' She is known for playing the feisty Demelza in BBC period drama Poldark. But Eleanor Tomlinson looked worlds away from her 18th century character on Sunday night as she made a stunning arrival at the Temperley LFW catwalk show. The actress, 24, dazzled in a sexy but sophisticated plunging gown, decorated with shimmering pink sequins all over, as she took her place on the FROW. Scroll down for video Elegant: Eleanor Tomlinson looked worlds away from her 18th century character in Poldark on Sunday night as she made a stunning arrival at the Temperley LFW catwalk show The British beauty looked truly stunning in her floor-length pink gown, which gorgeously cinched in at her petite waist and skimmed her figure from head to toe. Falling into elegant short sleeves, the show-stopping dress then upped the sex appeal with its plunging V neckline, which teased a glimpse of her ample bust. Adding only a black clutch bag and sweeping her hair into a stylish side braid, Eleanor let both her glittering dress and natural beauty do the talking as she posed at the bash. Wow factor: Falling into elegant short sleeves, the show-stopping dress upped the sex appeal with its plunging V neckline, which teased a glimpse of her ample bust The redhead appears to be enjoying a week off at the fashionable event in London - after several months of filming for the third series of Poldark. Eleanor and co-star Aidan Turner have been relentlessly filming new scenes for the beloved BBC show - flitting between Somerset, Gloucestershire and the Welsh countryside in recent weeks. Despite the success of the last series, Poldark recently lost out to Call The Midwife at the National Television Awards in the Period Drama category - a defeat Eleanor owes to its time slot, which clashed with fellow historical ITV drama Victoria. Gorgeous: Adding only a black clutch bag and sweeping her hair into a stylish braid, Eleanor let her glittering dress do the talking as she posed with Alice Temperley herself at the bash (R) Time off: The redhead appears to be enjoying a week off at the fashionable event in London - after several months of filming for the third series of Poldark with Aidan Turner (above) Speaking at the Radio Times Covers Party in January, she revealed: 'I think its a real shame that they came out at the same time. It doesnt make any sense to me!' 'I think it did split the audience. At the end we were equal and thats really good. I think Poldark pulled through,' she continued. The Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging actress was joined by a whole host of stylish celebrities at the catwalk event - including model Amber Le Bon. Think pink: The Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging actress was joined by a whole host of stylish celebrities at the catwalk event - including model Amber Le Bon (above) Retro: Styled into the shape of shirt, the midi frock cinched in at her slim waist with a tie belt, before flowing out into chunky pleats to its demure hem The daughter of iconic supermodel Yasmin co-ordinated with Eleanor in a matching baby pink dress - which she jazzed up with an array of embroidered stitching. Styled into the shape of shirt, the midi frock cinched in at her slim waist with a tie belt, before flowing out into chunky pleats to its demure hem. Adding a touch of glamour to her patterned ensemble, she accessorised with a clutch bag studded with chunky gems and a pair of trendy clear court shoes as she headed to the FROW to view Alice Temperley's show, entitled 'Painted Dreams'. The AW17 line from the British designer was much more muted than the colourful SS17 collection - featuring her signature embroidery and ruffles against more neutral tones of black and navy as well as pastels. Leading lady: Adding a touch of glamour, she accessorised with a bejewelled clutch bag and a pair of trendy clear court shoes as she headed to view Alice Temperley's new collection Next up: The AW17 line from the British designer was much more muted than the colourful SS17 collection VIPs: Zara Martin arrived in a vibrant purple maxi dress complete with cold shoulders (L) while Corinne Bailey-Rae opted for a printed gown of mint green Advertisement She is one of television's biggest stars. And Kerry Washington commanded attention as she rocked the Writers Guild Awards red carpet in Beverly Hills on Sunday. The Scandal actress, 40, looked incredibly sophisticated in a sleeveless black dress with a sexy leather waist. Scroll down for video Stylish and sophisticated! Kerry Washington commanded attention as she rocked the Writers Guild Awards red carpet in Beverly Hills on Sunday Kerry was the picture of perfection with her shoulder-length locks styled in loose and effortlessly stylish waves. A bold and deep red lip color injected some major of glamour. She had plenty of mascara applied on to length her long lashes, while adding a bit of drama with a smoky eye shadow. Kerry wasn't the only star to flock to the Beverly Hilton Hotel for the awards show, which will see comedian Patton Oswalt hosting. Ooh la la! Washington's backless dress flashed some skin Hello gorgeous! Kerry was the picture of perfection with her shoulder-length locks styled in loose and effortlessly stylish waves Picture perfect: The actress was a stylish sight to behold, as usual Chelsea Handler attended the show in a chic black dress with a sheer sleeves and asymmetrical skirt. Wendi McLendon-Covey brought a golden touch to the red carpet with her gorgeous floral print gown that flashed some of her cleavage. Chelsey Crisp wore an elegant blue and black dress that showed off her leg and featured an elegant floral print. Showtime! Washington injected some major glamour into her look with bold red lip color A who's who! Chelsea Handler took the red carpet by storm in an effortlessly stylish black dress with sheer sleeves and skirt Host Patton kept things sharp yet casual in a black suit, orange tie, and lace-up shoes. Aside from it being a who's who on the red carpet, some of the year's biggest films will be feted this evening. Oscar favorites Moonlight, La La Land and Manchester by the Sea landed Writers Guild Award nominations as well as the R-rated X-Men spinoff Deadpool. The glam factor! Wendi McLendon-Covey and Chelsey Crisp brought some serious style to the red carpet The host with the host! Patton Oswalt kept things casual yet sophisticated in his black suit with lace-up shoes The Writers Guild of America announced its nominees in January for the best screenplays of the year with selections that largely stuck to awards season regulars. The best original screenplay nominees were: Kenneth Lonergan's script for Manchester by the Sea, Barry Jenkins' Moonlight, Damien Chazelle's' La La Land, Taylor Sheridan's Hell or High Water and Jeff Nichols' Loving. While the WGA Awards can be strong predictors of the Academy Award screenplay nominees, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has already deemed Loving (inspired by Nancy Buirski's documentary) and Moonlight (based on Tarell Alvini McCraney's play) adapted scripts. Suits them! Jeff Goldblum, William H. Macy, and Tom Ford wore their dapper best for a night out in LA Oh brother! Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer - The Duffer Brothers - wore identical black suits and footwear Writer/director Richard Curtis, best known for films such as Four Weddings and a Funeral and Bridget Jones Diary, will receive the WGAs Valentine Davies Award for Humanitarian Service, recognizing his work including the co-founding of the Comic Relief anti-poverty crusade. The late Iranian writer/director Abbas Kiarostami will be awarded the 2017 Jean Renoir Award for International Screenwriting Achievement for a career that includes the films Taste of Cherry, The Wind Will Carry Us and Close-Up. Veteran television writer Dan Wilcox, best known for his work on the classic series MASH, will receive the 2017 Morgan Cox Award in recognition of his exemplary service to the union. On his arm! David Koechner was accompanied by his extra stylish wife, Leigh Koechner Look who's here! Jill Soloway rocked a patterned maroon jacket and black trousers Top of the crops! Laura Albert flashed her toned torso in a see-through ensemble with crop top Looking good! Shohreh Aghdashloo and her husband Houshang Touzie were certain to stand out on the red carpet with their stylish and simple ensembles Screenwriter Susannah Grant, known for Erin Brockovich and In Her Shoes, will receive the Paul Selvin Award in honor for her script for HBOs Confirmation, which best embodies the spirit of constitutional rights and civil liberties. Writer/director Oliver Stone will receive the Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement, honoring a career that includes films such as Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, JFK and Wall Street. Mike Judge, best known for King of the Hill, Beavis and Butt- head and Silicon Valley, will receive the Animation Writing Award for lifetime achievement. Lights, camera, action! Oswalt grew animated as he hosted the show from behind the podium Taking the stage! Macy and Michaela Watkins were among the night's speakers Teamwork! James Woods joined Oswalt at the podium to make some remarks It's an honor! Sheila Callaghan accepted the award for Episodic Drama for the Shameless episode I Am a Storm Group shot! Soloway took a snap with the team behind the show of which she executive produces, Transparent The West Wing and The Newsroom creator Aaron Sorkin will be honored with the Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television Writing Achievement. Meanwhile, in New York City, the Writer's Guild of America, East was honoring the nominees with a ceremony concurrent with the one in Los Angeles. Tina Fey, Danielle Brooks, and John Waters were just some of the big stars to come out in support of the show. Meanwhile: In New York City on Sunday, Tina Fey attended the Writers Guild Awards, presented by the Writers Guild of America, East Polar opposites! John Waters made a splash in his funky suit, while David Harbour opted for a black leather jacket with button-up shirt Stunning in silver! Danielle Brooks showed off her gorgeous physique in a clingy number which fit her like a glove Suited for the occasion! Stephen Henderson and Seth Meyers were dressed in their best for the red carpet event She officially has 15 million followers on Instagram. And Bella Thorne celebrated the milestone by thanking her fans for all their support with a photo of herself, laying underneath a bouquet of red roses and wearing pimple cream. The 19-year-old took to Twitter on Sunday to share the photo, which she captioned, '15 mill on insta:) I love you guys. Thank you for supporting me and my pimple creme (heart emoticon) hehe.' Scroll down for video Flower power! Bella Thorne celebrated the milestone by thanking her fans for all their support with a photo of herself, laying underneath a bouquet of red roses and wearing pimple cream, on Sunday The teen shared a second snap of herself, sans the skin cream as she sat cross-legged, holding the bouquet of colorful flowers. '15 mil and I love every single one of you,' she captioned the image, including the hashtags '#weekendvibes #sundayfunday'. It's safe to say Bella has been thoroughly enjoying her current getaway, if her relaxed composure on her latest social media shares are anything to go by. The Blended star is currently enjoying her enviable island hopping trip around the Caribbean Sea, courtesy of Celebrity Cruises. 'I love every single one of you': The teen shared a second snap of herself, sans the skin cream as she sat cross-legged, holding the bouquet of colorful flowers Hello petal: Thorne showed off multiple angles of her bouquets Kick back and relax! The Disney star has been sharing with her fans countless Snapchats and photos on Instagram of her relaxing trip to Cancun The Disney star has been sharing with her fans countless Snapchats and photos on Instagram of her relaxing trip to Cancun. From the club to the beach, Bella has been savoring a well-deserved vacation from work. The actress may have set tongues wagging as she shared a photo of all her bouquets along with the caption, 'When he knows you love flowers.' She followed that up by sharing another photo of all the roses, which she wrote, 'Seriously I have a problem with how much I love roses.' Everything's coming up roses! The star laid out her many bouquets He has been enjoying a family vacation with his wife Emma Heming and their two young girls. And on Sunday, Bruce Willis' wife took to her Instagram story to reveal that her Die Hard honey is also a doting daddy. In the social media post, the 61-year-old actor was hands on as he bonded with his four-year-old daughter in the pool. Scroll down for video Hands on: Bruce Willis' wife, Emma Heming, took to her Instagram story to reveal that her Die Hard honey is also a doting daddy on Sunday during their family holiday While submerged in the water, Bruce played with Mabel lifting her up and down. In the social media story, it looked like the actor also tried to teach Mabel how to dive head first into the pool. From the looks of the clip, Mabel jumped in feet first, while her famous daddy did a dive. Devoted dad: In the social media post, the 61-year-old actor was hands on as he bonded with his four-year-old daughter in the pool Diving lessons? In the social media story, it looked like the actor also tried to teach Mabel how to dive Belly flop! From the looks of the clip, Mabel jumped in feet first, while her famous daddy did more of a belly flop than a dive Splish-splash! The cute pair appeared to enjoy their father and daughter bonding time as they splashed around in the pool The little girl wore a colorful leopard printed swimsuit while her action star dad donned swim trunks and a white t-shirt. The cute pair appeared to enjoy their father and daughter time as they both had huge smiles on their faces as they splashed around in the pool. Later after they dried off, the social media post revealed their bonding time continued with a game of pool or 'Tangerine bowl.' Inside fun: Later after they dried off, the social media post revealed their bonding time continued with a game of pool or 'Tangerine bowl' 'Tangerine bowl': While Bruce tried to play pocket billiards, his little girl thought it would be fun to substitute the balls with her fruit While Bruce tried to play pocket billiards, his little girl thought it would be fun to substitute the balls with her tangerine fruit. Earlier in the weekend, the father of five took charge of his two youngest children during their family holiday. Skipping the stormy weather back home in California, Bruce and wife Emma headed off to paradise for some sunshine on Friday. Action dad! Bruce took charge as he enjoyed a beach day with his young daughter on Friday Daddy day care: Beneath the action hero frame, he is a soft-hearted father of five And former model Emma, 38, shared highlights of the trip to social media. Bruce was pictured walking hand in hand with each of his daughters, as they explored a white sandy beach. Emma took some 'mommy time' to drink tea, while her husband ensured Mabel and two-year-old Evelyn had fun. Paradise found: Skipping the stormy weather back home in California, Bruce and wife Emma Heming headed off for some sunshine Plenty of experience: Along with his two youngest girls, Bruce also has three adult daughters with ex-wife Demi Moore - Rumer, 28, Tallulah, 22 and Scout, 25 He even got down on his hands and knees to join the girls in some art work, as they coloured in a giant poster together. Along with his two youngest girls, Bruce also has three adult daughters with ex-wife Demi Moore - Rumer, 28, Tallulah, 22 and Scout, 25. With such a large family Bruce is still working hard. He is slated to appear in three films in 2017: Once Upon A Time In Venice, First Kill and Death Wish. 'Overcast beach day': Mom Emma shared snaps of her daughters as they played Angelina Jolie has opened up for the first time in public about the 'difficult' breakup of her marriage to Brad Pitt and the effect it has had on their six children. The Hollywood star is in Cambodia with the kids promoting her new film and appeared to tear up when asked about her personal life during an interview with BBC News. 'I dont want to say very much about that, except to say it was a very difficult time and we are a family, and we will always be a family,' she said, visibly emotional. Scroll down for video Emotional interview: Angelina Jolie has spoken publicly for the first time about her split from Brad Pitt telling the BBC: 'It was a very difficult time.... and we will always be a family' 'It was very difficult,' the actress, 41, added. 'Many people find themselves in this situation. My whole family have all been through a difficult time.' A bitter custody battle initially played out in the media after Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt last September and sought full custody of their children following an alleged incident on board a private jet as the family returned to Los Angeles from France. But the celebrity couple eventually reached an agreement in early January to seal the custody documents as they endeavor to resolve their issues and reach a divorce settlement. 'My focus is my children, our children,' she explained to the BBC. 'We are and forever will be a family and so that is how I am coping. I am coping with finding a way through to make sure that this somehow makes us stronger and closer,' she said. 'Many people find themselves in this situation. My whole family have all been through a difficult time,' the actress, 41, said about the weeks since she filed for divorce in September Family affair: Jolie, 41, is in Cambodia for the premiere of her new film and brought along her children with Pitt - pictured Saturday with Maddox, 15, Pax, 13, Zahara, 12, and Shiloh, 10 Focused: Jolie, with Vivienne and Knox, eight, Maddox and Pax on Sunday, said: 'I am coping with finding a way through to make sure that this somehow makes us stronger and closer A family affair: Angelina was accompanied by daughter Shiloh at the Cambodian premiere of her film First They Killed My Father Special occasion: It was a very special occasion for the actress and director On Saturday, Jolie made her first official appearance in Siem Reap, Cambodia, for the premiere of First They Killed My Father, about life in Cambodia under Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge as seen through the eyes of a child. She was joined by her children Maddox, 15, Pax, 13, Zahara, 12, Shiloh, 10 and eight-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne. Maddox was adopted in 2002 from an orphanage in Cambodia, where Jolie filmed the Tomb Raider movie. Full circle: Asked where she sees herself in five years time, she said she hopes to be 'traveling around the world visiting my children' and hoping they're 'doing really interesting things' Big honor: Jolie and all six of her kids including eight-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne (far left) attended an audience with Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni She acknowledged that in a way she has come full circle since first traveling to Cambodia 17 years ago for Tomb Raider and where she first became a mother with the adoption of her oldest son. She went on to adopt Zahara from Ethiopia and Pax from Vietnam. She also gave birth to three biological children with Pitt - Shiloh, who was born in Namibia, and Vivienne and Knox who were born in France. Split: Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt last September and the former couple are in the midst of a custody battle over their children Jolie has embraced a role as a humanitarian and UNICEF ambassador traveling to visit refugees and touring some of the most impoverished areas of the globe. She has often taken one or more of her children with her. Asked where she sees herself being in five years time, she replied: 'I would like to be traveling around the world visiting my children, hoping that theyre just happy and doing really interesting things and I imagine in many different parts of the world and Ill be supporting them.' She added: 'Everything I do I hope ... I represent the right things to my children and give them the right sense of what theyre capable of and the world as it should be seen. Not through the prism of Hollywood or through a certain kind of life but really take them into the world where they have a really good sense and become rounded people.' She recently moved to the US in pursuit of an international modelling career. And Natalie Roser appears to be enjoying her new lifestyle overseas, with the blonde beauty spotted heading out for breakfast in South Beach, Miami, on Saturday. Going makeup-free for the outing, the 26-year-old showed off her natural beauty while sporting a black lace playsuit. Scroll down for video Leggy and lacy! Model Natalie Roser was spotted cutting a stylish figure in a black playsuit as she headed out in South Beach, Miami The leggy blonde cut a stylish figure in the flirty ensemble, showing off her model pins and slender waist. The Newcastle-born stunner kept her eyes shielded from the sun with a pair of leopard-print sunglasses. Opting for comfort over glamour, Natalie sported a pair of white sneakers as she strolled through the Miami streets. Model off duty: The 26-year-old showed off her natural beauty and went makeup-free as she stepped out with a friend on Saturday The former Miss Universe Australia's outing comes after she announced her move to Los Angeles. Sharing a photo to Instagram of herself cuddling her younger brother, Natalie wrote: 'Saying goodbye to my little brother and family today because I'm moving to L.A. next week!' The news all but confirms the model's split from her long-term partner Dan Adair. Beauty abroad: The former Miss Universe Australia recently relocated to Los Angeles to pursue an international modelling career The pair, who became engaged during a romantic getaway to the Bahamas in 2015, had not featured on each other's social media pages in months. And alluding to the heartbreak in her New Year post, Natalie told her 741,000 followers she was 'ready to move past 2016 and start 2017 with a bang!' Their wedding date was set for October, but the nuptials were unexpectedly postponed last year, with the pair's representative denying they'd split. 'Their wedding has been moved not due to a third person in the relationship,' a spokesperson previously told Daily Mail Australia. Split? Natalie's move all but confirms her split from personal trainer fiance Dan Adair 'It was moved because the reception venue ended up closing down and they haven't yet found a replacement place to have the reception at. 'That's the only reason why it's been moved. There is no third person and there is nothing wrong with their relationship.' Meanwhile, Dan works in Sydney as a trainer to celebrities, including Home And Away's Pia Miller and Jesinta Franklin (nee Campbell). He has also been credited for PR maven Roxy Jacenko's recent 10kgs weight loss. She's currently in the South African jungle competing on the current season of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! But Natalie Bassingthwaighte may soon be returning to Ramsay Street. The star, who played super-villain Izzy Hoyland on Neighbours from 2003 until 2006, discussed reprising her role on the show, telling TV Week: You never know! But why not?' Nightmare on Ramsay Street! Natalie Bassingthwaite said 'Why not?' about a return to Neighbours to reprise her role as villain Izzy Hoyland, whose affair with Dr Karl created one of the soap's most memorable story lines Izzy was one of the most infamous characters in the soap's thirty-two year history, and her reappearance on the show wouldn't be the first shock return of the year, with Madeleine West reprising her role as Dee Bliss. 'Everyone keeps saying 'Come back!' so maybe', Nat told the magazine. Known for being manipulative and a man-eater, Nat's character Izzy had bombshell affairs with both Paul Robinson and Dr Karl Kennedy, creating some of the soap's juiciest story lines. 'There's only one Izzy!' Nat Bassingthwaite talked about her infamous soap star character with TV Week Izzy was the arch-enemy of Karl's estranged wife Susan, but with Karl and Susan now back together, Izzy's return would no doubt cause more fireworks. TV Week reports that Nat feels 'protective of her alter ego', with Delta Goodrem now playing 'an 'Izzy'' character on Channel Nine's drama, House Husbands. 'That's just weird,' Nat joked to the publication. 'There's only one Izzy!' Bad news for Susan! Izzy's nemesis was Susan Kennedy, and with Susan now back with Dr Karl, Izzy's return would cause a bombshell Super villain: Nat's character Izzy had an affair with Paul Robinson However, the star also claimed, 'I don't know if I would even remember how to play her.' Since she left the show over a decade ago, Natalie has been busy in both her personal and professional life. The 41-year-old was the front woman of successful band Rogue Traders, whose songs 'Voodoo Child' and 'Someday Soon' shot up the charts. She also appeared as a judge on The X-Factor for several seasons. Reality star: Nat may go from the South African jungle to Ramsay Street if she returns to Neighbours In 2011, Nat married her bandmate Cameron McGlinchey, and is mum to Harper and Hendrix. Now with Nat back on Channel Ten, the home of Neighbours, for her appearance on I'm A Celebrity, a transition to Ramsay Street would not come as a surprise. Tina Fey was a style queen as she arrived at the Writers Guild Awards in New York on Sunday. The 46-year-old stepped out in a tailored black jumpsuit with a frilly low-cut neckline. The number had short sleeves and was tied at the waist with a black sash. Style queen: Tina Fey, 46, stepped out in a tailored black jumpsuit with short sleeves and a frilly low-cut neckline at the WGA Awards in new York on Sunday night The outfit had very wide-legged pants that pooled on the floor around her feet as she posed for photos. The SNL alum and 30 Rock star wore her brunette hair loose with a center parting and slightly curled at the ends. She accentuated her brown eyes with black eye-liner and penciled in arched brows. She completed her look with a touch of blush and some rosy lip color. Gala night: The outfit had wide-legged pants that pooled on the floor around her feet as she posed for photos and the SNL alum and 30 Rock star wore her brunette hair loose In addition to her work in front of the camera, Fey is an accomplished comedy writer. She has worked on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Mean Girls and Golden Globes telecasts as well as writing for SNL and 30 Rock. The Writers Guild Awards honor outstanding writing in film, television, new media, video games, news, radio, promotional, and graphic animation categories. They were handed out Sunday in two simultaneous ceremonies, one in New York and one In Los Angeles. Found friends: Fey posed with Triumphant The Insult Comic Dog and comedian Robert Smigel at the red carpet event Karl Stefanovic's new love Jasmine Yarbrough appears to be a bit of a free spirit after it was discovered that the shoe designer attended last year's Burning Man festival. The week-long American arts and dance music event is held in the isolated Black Rock Desert, Nevada, and is known an (almost) anything goes atmosphere. Jasmine appeared in a video which documents the journey she and her friends took to the festival in August last year. Party time: Karl Stefanovic's new love Jasmine Yarbrough appears to be a bit of a free spirit after it was discovered that the shoe designer attended last year's Burning Man festival She is seen briefly, wearing a floral tea dress and twirling a lace parasol, her hair in a bun and wire rimmed sunnnies on her face. Jasmine's look is quite retro and conservative compared to her friends in the video, who don revealing bralets, swimwear and barely there short-shorts. The video, posted by Alvin Nguyen to his YouTube channel, was shared by Jasmine's mother Cheryl on her Facebook page. Cheryl wrote in the comments: 'Our Jasmine & friends arriving at 'Burning Man' in Nevada Desert in dust storms ..as u do.. Interesting concept for arteeeeests..' Desert bound: Jasmine appeared in a video which documents the journey she and her friends took to the festival in August last year Retro babe: She is seen briefly, wearing a floral tea dress and twirling a lace parasol, her hair in a bun and wire rimmed sunnnies on her face A little more daring: Jasmine's look is quite retro and conservative compared to her friends in the video, who don revealing bralets, swimwear and barely there short-shorts In another post, Cheryl pointed out that the festival is attended by many well-to-do people including two family friends who work as an architect and a surgeon. While Burning Man has gained a more upmarket vibe in recent years with many well-known personalities 'glamping' at the event, it does have a wild reputation. Public nudity is commonly seen at the desert locale and group sex takes place at venues on site like the Orgy Dome, the Group Sex Bus, the Sex Libido Lounge. Festival fun: While Burning Man has gained a more upmarket vibe in recent years with many well-known personalities 'glamping' at the event, it does have a wild reputation NSFW? Public nudity is commonly seen at the desert locale and group sex takes place at venues on site like the Orgy Dome, the Group Sex Bus, the Sex Libido Lounge Meanwhile: Karl and Jasmine's romance seems to be cruising along smoothly after the pair were spotted for the first time together getting cosy while at a boat party on the Harbour There is no suggestion Jasmine Yarbrough participated in sexual activities at the festival. Meanwhile, Karl and Jasmine's romance seems to be cruising along smoothly after the pair were spotted for the first time together at a Harbour boat party on Saturday. The 33-year-old shoe designer arrived in Sydney last week to visit her 42-year-old love interest and the pair were rumoured to have visited the Northern Beaches. On Monday's episode of I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, comedian Nazeem Hussain tearfully recounted the fear his sister felt wearing her hijab home after the Sydney siege,news.com.au reports. 'My sister texted me [that day] and said, "Nazeem, I'm scared to wear the hijab home, because I'm afraid someone's going to attack me," he told his camp mates during Steve Price's Jungle Radio segment. Nazeem told the story in reference to the 2014 siege by gunman Man Haron Monis at the Lindt Cafe in Sydney, NSW, during which three people lost their lives. Scroll down for video Tearful: On Monday's episode of I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, Muslim comedian Nazeem Hussain tearfully recounted the fear his sister felt wearing her hijab home after the Sydney siege, news.com.au reports The 30-year-old went on to praise the community for coming together after the tragedy. The #Illridewithyou' hashtag began trending on social media after the siege, with Australians offering to accompany Muslims who were afraid of retribution attacks. '(My sister) messaged me later on saying, "You know what? I now feel comfortable and safe knowing my fellow Australians are willing to stand up and support me," the comedian said, becoming emotional. I'll ride with you: When #Illridewithyou' hashtag began trending on social media after the siege, 'It made me cry when that happened, because we don't see that enough. We don't see Australians coming together for each other' he said Not a fan: While that made him 'feel positive about Australia going forward', the Legally Brown star also blasted One Nation leader Pauline Hanson for her 'divisive' rhetoric He added, 'It made me cry when that happened, because we don't see that enough. We don't see Australians coming together for each other. '(Man Haron Monis) wanted to divide Australia he wanted us to turn on each other. But what he did instead is make us come together'. While that made him 'feel positive about Australia going forward', the Legally Brown star also blasted One Nation leader Pauline Hanson for her 'divisive' rhetoric. Irresponsible politics? The Melbourne born funnyman told the camp, 'When Pauline Hanson says things irresponsibly, shes doing what ISIS is doing' The Melbourne born funnyman told the camp, 'When Pauline Hanson says things irresponsibly, shes doing what ISIS is doing splitting up Muslim and non-Muslim'. He worried that, 'we just going to become what ISIS wants us to become a world where theres Muslim and non-Muslim'. Besides his comedy career, Nazeem is a youth outreach worker, executive of the Islamic Council of Victoria and a patron of refugee group RISE. Last week she was seen sitting front row at the Michael Kors show at New York Fashion Week. But on Sunday, Jessica Gomes was in a far less glamorous setting, getting caught in the rain whilst out shopping with boyfriend Xavier Samuel. The stylish pair were in the upmarket Los Angeles suburb of Beverly Hills, but did not accessorise with an umbrella, instead making a quick dash for cover as the biggest storm in half a decade battered Southern California. Scroll down for video Running for cover: Australian model Jessica Gomes still managed to look stylish, despite getting saturated by heavy rain in Beverly Hills on Sunday, as Los Angeles was battered by severe storms Appearing unimpressed by the pouring rain, Jessica's facial expressions matched the gloomy weather. However, the Australian model, who is an ambassador for David Jones, was fashionably dressed for her foray out into the celebrity-filled suburb. The 32-year-old wore a black turtleneck sweater beneath a gold-coloured blazer. Gloomy but glamorous: Xavier didn't look too happy to be caught out in the downpour, sporting a dreary look that matched the weather The Perth born beauty also rocked ripped blue jeans and pair of leather biker boots, whilst accessorising with a large wristwatch and an Yves Saint Laurent handbag. Meanwhile, her actor beau, who is also from Down Under, cut a casual figure in a loose long-sleeved shirt and olive coloured trousers. It appeared the pair only did a little shopping with Twilight star Xavier carrying a single brown bag as he made his way to shelter. Loved up: While in New York last week, Jessica shared this couple snap of her and Xavier looking loved up whilst sitting on the stoop of a brownstone Los Angeles is a significant city for the genetically blessed pair, who were first spotted kissing there in October of last year. The public display of affection confirmed the couple's relationship, having been loved-up ever since. Genetically blessed couple: Jessica and Xavier are both Australian stars who are known for their model good looks Last week Jessica took to Instagram to share a snap of her and her beau gazing lovingly at one another whilst sitting on the stoop of a New York brownstone. At the David Jones Autumn/ Winter launch earlier this month, Jessica stunned on the runway in a white bridal gown, sparking marriage rumours. Tongues started wagging that Xavier was set to propose, however Jess insisted that the couple are enjoying things as they are, stating, 'We're happy. We're having fun.' She spied her eldest son on the front page of a newspaper over the weekend. And Jenny Stefanovic was seen spending time with the Today show host outside his home in Sydney on Monday after he spent time with his new 'girlfriend' Jasmine Yarbrough on Saturday. Jenny, who was visiting the Channel Nine star for the weekend, appeared to have her bags packed as she stood on the sidewalk. Scroll down for video Out and about: Karl Stefanovic and his mother Jenny were seen in Sydney together on Monday Sporting a blue suit, the 42-year-old proceeded to load his mother's luggage into his white Mercedes-Benz. The father-of-three appears to still be sporting the red bracelet given to him by his daughter. On Sunday, Jenny was pictured visiting a Double Bay supermarket when she stumbled across a newspaper featuring her son and his rumoured girlfriend Jasmine Yarbrough. Pride and joy: Jenny has been visiting her son over the last few days Farewell: Jenny appeared to be heading back to Queensland and the Today show host looked to be bidding farewell to his mother After picking up publication to have a look, the mother of the TV host appeared a little less than impressed. She also appeared to leave it on the rack as she was not carrying it when she walked down the street afterwards. Usually based in Queensland, Jenny's visit comes as rumours of her son's new relationship is all but confirmed. Helping hand: Sporting a blue suit, the 42-year-old proceeded to load his mother's bags into his white Mercedes-Benz Short stay: Jenny had been in Sydney to visit the Channel Nine star, whose rumoured relationship with 33-year-old model Jasmine was all but confirmed on Sunday Moved on? Karl was spotted canoodling with his rumoured new girlfriend at a boat party in Sydney, with the photos surfacing on The Daily Telegraph's front page The Channel Nine star was spotted putting on an amorous display with 33-year-old model and shoe designer Jasmine during a boat party in Sydney. The images published by The Daily Telegraph showed Jasmine, a shoe designer, sitting next to Karl with her arms across him as he tried to take a selfie of the pair. In another snap, the duo were later seen laying together on the bow of the luxury yacht, sipping champagne as they shared a conversation alone together. Good son: Karl was seen helping his mother cross the road The rumoured couple didn't appear to try to hide their romance, laughing and holding hands as they enjoyed each other's company. According to the newspaper, a friend claims the TV presenter is 'smitten' with the beauty and sees her 'as a legitimate long-term love prospect'. It comes after Woman's Day first reported that Karl had moved on from his split with estranged wife Cassandra Thorburn. Sentimental: Cutting a smart figure in a blue suit, Karl was also seen sporting the red bracelet his daughter gave him years ago New couple alert? Karl and his younger love interest was said to have met during a Christmas party on a boat in December, and have been dating ever since The publication claimed Karl met Jasmine for the first time during a boat party that took place in December, and have been dating since. It's also alleged the pair are 'so committed to each other' that they are 'looking for a place to rent together in Sydney.' And things are getting serious enough that the pair have 'pressed fast forward' on plans to introduce the blonde beauty to family and friends. Getting serious? It's claimed that Karl is 'smitten' with the model and shoe designer, and the pair allegedly have plans to move in together to a property in Sydney A source told the publication: 'Jasmine plans to meet Karl's family and get closer to them over the next month while she's in Australia.' 'Families from both side have been very supporting and accepting of their relationship,' the source added. Meanwhile, Karl shares three children with his estranged wife Cassandra, from whom he split in September after 21 years of marriage. He was ruthless with his critiques of his rivals dishes, in a bid to stay in the My Kitchen Rules competition. And on Monday, the elimination twist was revealed, which gives seafood king Josh and wife Amy their last shot to escape elimination. The pair will go head-to-head with rivals Alyse and Matt, with Amy vowing to win, saying to camera: 'There's no other team I'd like to annihilate more!' Scroll down for video It's on! On Monday's MKR, the elimination twist was revealed, which gives seafood king Josh and wife Amy (pictured) their last shot to escape elimination and verse Alyse and Matt in the sudden death cook-off The comment came after it was revealed they would be battling one another, after Alyse and Matt scored a measly 52 points out of 110 for their instant restaurant. Amy and Josh were bottom of the leader board, on an embarrassing 43 points. 'I could not be any happier right now, I'm not even hiding it from Alyse and Matt,' Josh said to camera, as he could be seen smiling at the dinner table. Who will win? The pair will go head-to-head with rivals Alyse and Matt, with Amy vowing to win, saying to camera: 'There's no other team I'd like to annihilate more!' Alyse however, wasn't backing down, saying: 'I don't think Josh and Amy stand much of a chance against us and the skills we know we have.' Josh and Amy decided to score the pair a low one point for their three-course meal, after Josh admitted to strategic scoring. 'As I pull my spoon through the panna cotta and taste it, I find our hopes of getting off the bottom of the leader board diminishing. And I'm not too happy about that.' 'I'm really going to enjoy giving them a low score if that's going to put us on top.' On the evening, Alyse and Matt served an entree of pork san choy bau, a main of beef satay with pumpkin and coconut rice and a dessert of vanilla panna cotta with mandarin and biscotti. A good start: On the evening, Alyse and Matt served an entree of pork san choy bau Miss: The pair served beef satay with too little sauce It was a hit: They served a dessert of vanilla panna cotta with mandarin and biscotti They came crashing down after their main, when Pete Evans slammed them for using red curry paste straight out of a jar. The confident newlyweds were later accused of 'cheating' by Josh, saying he thinks they should be 'instantly disqualified'. 'Store brought, why?,' Pete said. 'You've delivered your entree and main much quicker than anyone at this table, but what they have done is cook from scratch. Sure a lot of people use that at home, that's fine, but this is a cooking competition and we expect you to cook basic elements from scratch,' he said, leaving the other contestants shocked. 'The rice is subtle, a little inconsistent, the beef is overcooked,' he added. 'We're looking from cooking from the heat and not from a jar.' She's the stunning Australian model known for her trademark eyebrows. But on Sunday, all eyes were on the fabulous physique of Bambi Northwood-Blyth as she flaunted her figure in a racy black dress. The 25-year-old stunner was at the London launch for Charlotte Olympia's Autumn/ Winter collection. A beauty in a black dress: Australian model Bambi Northwood-Blyth turned heads in a quilted velvet frock at the Charlotte Olympia launch in London on Sunday night The Melbourne-born stunner sizzled in a racy black dress that featured a full-body front zip. The strapless, quilted dress appeared to be velvet and cut off just below the thigh, allowing Bambi to show off her trim pins. The brunette beauty wore a pair of black heels from the Charlotte Olympia brand, and gave her look an added pop with a bold red lip. Fabulous figure: The short dress showed off Bambi's trim pins Upmarket label Charlotte Olympia are known for their shoes and accessories, with the new collection an homage to the noir film genre from the 1940s and 50s. The collection was presented through a short mystery film titled 'An Accessory To Murder', in which Bambi had a starring part. The model quickly slipped out of her black dress and into her 40s-inspired outfit for the occasion. A timeless beauty: Bambi channelled Lauren Bacall in her 1944 film To Have and Have Not Hollywood beauty: It appeared as if Bambi took inspiration for Lauren Bacall who is pictured with husband Humphrey Bogart Posing with the brand's designer Charlotte Dellal, Bambi channeled silver screen icon Lauren Bacall in a checkered skirt suit. Looking every inch a timeless beauty, Bambi also wore a pair of leather gloves and a black beret. It was an almost-exact replica of an ensemble worn by Bacall in the 1944 film To Have and Have Not, which she starred in opposite her husband Humphrey Bogart. Lovely in London: Bambi looked every inch a top model at the fashion launch Bambi recently celebrated her third wedding anniversary with Ksubi designer Dan Single. The fashionable pair tied the knot in Byron Bay in January 2014, with Bambi becoming a step-mother at the age of 22. Dan has 10-year-old son Justice from a previous relationship. It was being one in a crowd that set a fire for her to change things. Reese Witherspoon talked about what motivated her to produce HBO's new show, Big Little Lies, in an interview with People magazine published Sunday. 'So often Im the only woman on a set full of men,' the 40-year-old star said. That bothered her, and she decided to do something about it. Standing out: Reese Witherspoon talked about what motivated her to produce HBO's new show, Big Little Lies, in an interview with People magazine published Sunday; Witherspoon is seen here in a still from episode one On the cast that came together to make this limited series comedic drama come to life, the Walk the Line star said that 'every day was a pleasure.' Her co-stars include Hollywood heavy hitters Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern, Shailene Woodley and Zoe Kravitz. 'It became this really interesting group of women whose work Id always loved,' she shared. 'I learned so much from each of them.' Standing her ground: Being the 'only woman on a set full of men' bothered her, and she decided to do something about it; the star is seen here in Hollywood on February 7 Female-driven television: The seven-episode series is based on a book by the same name, written by Liane Moriarty and published in 2014; Witherspoon is seen here in a set still Dern, 50, echoed Witherspoon's sentiments in an interview she gave to Haute Living magazine in January. 'We would say, 'I think theyve kept us separate for this long by telling the story of how tricky it will be to get a group of women together,'' she said, of how the women joked around on set of the show. 'Honestly, it was the easiest time weve ever had,' she added. Cast of characters: Her co-stars include Hollywood heavy hitters Nicole Kidman (pictured here, in a set still), Laura Dern, Shailene Woodley and Zoe Kravitz The seven-episode series is based on a book by the same name, written by Liane Moriarty and published in 2014. Witherspoon brought the project to the small screen through her production company, Pacific Standard. Kidman, 49, is also a producer on the project. Big Little Lies premiered Sunday at 9.00pm Eastern on HBO. Ruby Rose shared an emotional tribute following the passing of her friend Natalie Hall, admitting the news has left her 'defeated.' The 30-year-old's touching Instagram post recalled the memories she had of her late friend, who she credits for her 'sobriety.' The Australian actress accompanied the post with an image of Natalie reclining against the railing of a balcony. Rest in peace: Ruby Rose shared an emotional tribute following the passing of her friend Natalie Hall, sharing an image of her late friend, whom she labelled 'one of a kind' on Monday The dark-haired friend looked at something in the distance as blue water blended into the pink-hue of the sunset behind her. Also sharing a similar tribute to the mutual friend was Paris Jackson - the daughter of pop icon Michael Jackson. 'Natalie... you were one of a kind,' Ruby began her tribute, before recounting a memory the pair had shared. 'To wake to the news that to won't be lighting up my phone with ridiculous texts and I won't be laughing and pointing at you when you drop the trolley and erewhon (sic) in front of everyone and try to walk away like it wasn't you...' Memories: Alongside the photo of Natalie, Ruby recounted a memory the pair shared 'I'm defeated,' she added. Ruby directly addressed her late friend throughout the post, telling her she still had all of their recent texts and conversations. 'I adored you and I hope you know how much,' Ruby continued. 'I only knew you 5 years but you were one of my strengths in staying sober.' Reflections: The 30-year-old then credited her friend for her sobriety, saying: 'I only knew you 5 years but you were one of my strengths in staying sober' The extent of the personality's heartbreak poured out during the post's closing remarks. 'I am hurting that you have been taken too soon,' she revealed. 'I am hurting that you were so up to date and proud on how far I've come and yet I don't think you knew how much I owe that to sobriety and friends I met like you along the way.' Not her usual smiling self: The Australian actress revealed the extent of her heartbreak, writing: 'I am hurting that you have been taken too soon,' before telling her friend that she was 'more loved' than she could fathom The star told her friend - who she referred to as her 'lil sis', she was 'more loved' than she could fathom. In a sad turn of events, Ruby shared another image shortly after that pictured Natalie holding an unknown man in her arms. 'May both these angels find each other in heaven and look down at all of us missing them,' she captioned the picture. More tragedy: In a sad turn of events, Ruby shared another image shortly after that pictured Natalie holding an unknown man in her arms. 'May both these angels find each other in heaven and look down at all of us missing them,' she captioned the picture Joining the chorus of mourners was Paris Jackson who got a new tattoo to commemorate the tragic event. On her Instagram story, the personality shared images of the new tattoo she had inked behind her ear. 'Stay north,' the tattoo read, as she captioned one of the snaps 'this is for you nat.' More support: Joining the chorus of mourners was Paris Jackson who got a new tattoo to commemorate the tragic event 'Stay north': On her Instagram story, Paris - who is the daughter of the late Michael Jackson - shared an image of the new ink, which read 'stay north' 'For you': Another image was captioned 'this is for you nat' in memory of her friend. Posting a lengthier tribute to her page, the daughter of the late Michael Jackson thanked her friend for her 'brutal honesty,' in the post. 'It hurts me immensely to know that you're gone but with relief knowing you are in a better place and are now free of the troubles this crap world gave you.' 'Rest in peace nat i love and miss you so much. please visit me in my dreams,' she concluded. Hurting: In a lengthier tribute on her page, Paris thanked her friend for her 'brutal honesty.' 'Rest in peace nat i love and miss you so much. please visit me in my dreams,' she concluded Rain or shine, fashion always comes first when you're a Hollywood A-lister and designer power couple. Pregnant Rosie Huntington-Whiteley stepped out with fiance Jason Statham in Los Angeles on Sunday, just a few days after the launch of her new line, Rosie HW & Paige, and the announcement that the couple are expecting a baby. Jason, 49, wore solid, dark neutrals, while Rosie, 29, looked effortlessly chic in a long, beige overcoat and high, black stiletto boots. Fashion first: Rosie Huntington-Whiteley stepped out with fiance Jason Statham in Los Angeles on Sunday, just a few days after the launch of her new line, Rosie HW & Paige, and the announcement that the couple are expecting a baby Earlier in the day, the Fast & Furious franchise star was spotted hopping out of his car in West Hollywood, wallet in hand and rocking sweats and slip-on shoes. His soon-to-be wife and first time mother has been very busy, with a clothing line that just debuted on Wednesday. The former Victoria's Secret Angel held her Rosie HW & Paige collection launch party at Ysabel in West Hollywood on Wednesday, where she made her first public appearance after sharing the news of their pregnancy. The 'Paige' in the line refers to brand founder Paige Adams-Geller. Casual style: Earlier in the day, the Fast & Furious franchise star was spotted hopping out of his car in West Hollywood, wallet in hand and rocking sweats and slip-on shoes This collaboration with the denim brand will be her first fashion foray outside the realm of her lingerie line, Autograph by Rosie. 'I think for me, it was all about building and making this versatile, easy, on-the-go, everyday collection, where the pieces could be mixed in and worn in different ways,' she said in an interview with Vogue published on February 8. 'Everything feels like it should be something thats a part of a basic wardrobe, but with a little twist.' So chic: Jason, 49, wore solid, dark neutrals, while Rosie, 29, looked effortlessly chic in a long, beige overcoat and high, black stiletto boots Rosie and Jason joined the ranks of many celebrities who have announced their pregnancies on social media, when she shared a photo with the news on February 9. 'Very happy to share that Jason and I are expecting!!' she wrote with the image. She signed off on the message with, 'Lots of love, Rosie x' and made sure to give photo credit to her Expendables star fiance. Big announcement! Rosie and Jason joined the ranks of many celebrities who have announced their pregnancies on social media, when she shared a photo with the news on February 9 Both Lauren Conrad and Whitney Port, former co-stars on MTV's The Hills, opted to announce their big news via social media, with posts to their Instagram accounts. Lauren, who is married to guitarist and vocalist William Tell, shared her story with a sonogram photo posted on New Year's Day, while Whitney, wife of producer Tim Rosenman, let the world know on same day as Rosie. The latter shared a photo revealing her baby bump, taken by professional photographer Cole Moser. She's the champion athlete determined to win I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here. And Lisa Curry's fiance Mark Tabone has revealed his partner 'won't let anything get her down' as she vies for the $250,000 prize to assist the Aussie Helpers charity. The 54-year-old, who is dedicated to enriching the lives of agriculturalists, 'thrives on the unknown, challenge and adventure,' Mark told New Idea. Scroll down for video Tough: Lisa Curry's fiance Mark Tabone has revealed his partner 'won't let anything get her down' as she vies for the $250,000 prize to assist the Aussie Helpers charity 'She is tough, she can handle it,' the Elvis impersonator described the Olympian. He explained how the blonde beauty took a two-year road trips across rural and regional areas of Australia, learning firsthand how farmers are struggling. She connected with Aussie Helpers, a non-profit ensuring the well-being and survival of farmers in Australia, and is determined to win the reality TV show for them. Inspiring: The 54-year-old 'thrives on the unknown, challenge and adventure' described Mark of his partner 'After Lisa heard from some farmers that they were selling milk for less than it cost to make, she was shocked,' Mark described. He said Lisa's commitment to the cause 'lifts their spirits with donations and luxuries they can't afford.' The soon-to-be-married couple devised a secret code for her to communicate with him while she's filming the show. Shocked: 'After Lisa heard from some farmers that they were selling milk for less than it cost to make, she was shocked,' Mark described 'I've got a couple cryptic messages with her playing with her necklace and her ring,' he said. During Monday night's episode, Lisa offered her observations on Steve Price's personality to her fellow participant, Tziporah Malkah. 'How can you live your life so grumpy?' she said about the TV personality. Opening up: During Monday night's episode, Lisa offered her observations on Steve Price's personality to her fellow participant, Tziporah Malkah He wasn't shy to boast about his past life as a male model during My Kitchen Rules. Now, images of Josh Meeuwissen, 25, modelling in a 2013 fashion editorial have emerged. The smouldering photo set pictures the self-proclaimed Seafood King posing in front of a stark white backdrop while showcasing an array of quirky ensembles. Cooking up some style! Images have emerged picturing MKR star Josh Meeuwissen, 25, modelling in a 2013 fashion editorial In several images, he is seen posing with his bare chest revealed beneath a sleeveless hooded jacket. This look was completed with the addition of a long silver chain. His hair was sculpted into a wavy style with a slight fringe that curled to one side. Former life: The relaity TV star wasn't shy to boast about his past life as a male model during My Kitchen Rules Daring to bare! In several images, he is seen posing with his bare chest revealed beneath a sleeveless hooded jacket Bling: This look was completed with the addition of a long silver chain Broome-based deckhand Josh was also seen pulling a rather bizarre pose- leaning back onto a white cube with his hands hanging loosely by his side and his hips thrust in the air. He also wore an equally unusual ensemble, consisting of a blazer, tuxedo vest, business shirt, two-tone shorts and matching leggings. He also wore a pair of black socks paired with open-toed sandals. Why not? Broome-based deckhand Josh was also seen pulling a rather bizarre pose- leaning back onto a white cube with his hands hanging loosely by his side and his hips thrust in the air At one stage, he was seen crouching toward the camera with his hands cupped together. Wearing a thoughtful expression, he revealed a glimpse of chest by unbuttoning his white shirt. He later was pictured wearing a black bowler hat while facing directly to the side with an intense expression on his face. Sleek: His hair was sculpted into a wavy style with a slight fringe that curled to one side Hats off to him! He later was pictured wearing a black bowler hat while facing directly to the side with an intense expression on his face Earlier in this series of My Kitchen Rules, Josh revealed that he decided not to pursue modelling because his wife Amy didn't want to move overseas. His fellow contestants didn't hold back making fun of Josh behind-the-scenes by pulling Zoolander-inspired expressions. In a subsequent episode, Josh and Amy were left reeling after they scored a measly 43 points out of 110 after a disastrous instant restaurant. White out: Josh also posed in a simple white T-shirt and leather trousers The career that never was: Earlier in this series of My Kitchen Rules, Josh revealed that he decided not to pursue modelling because his wife Amy didn't want to move overseas The butt of the joke: His fellow contestants didn't hold back making fun of Josh behind-the-scenes by pulling Zoolander-inspired expressions Josh and Amy had prepared an entree of chorizo stuffed squid, a main of beer battered barramundi with shoestring fries and tartar sauce, and a dessert of cape brandy pudding. Fellow contestant Alyse fell ill immediately after eating their food and was seen rushing to the bathroom to vomit. 'That's the worst cooking I've ever done in my life, and that's being honest,' said Josh. Disaster in the kitchen! In a subsequent episode, Josh and Amy were left reeling after they scored a measly 43 points out of 110 after a disastrous instant restaurant Cooking to impress: Josh and Amy had prepared an entree of chorizo stuffed squid, a main of beer battered barramundi with shoestring fries and tartar sauce, and a dessert of cape brandy pudding Not the response they were hoping for! Fellow contestant Alyse fell ill immediately after eating their food and was seen rushing to the bathroom to vomit Judge Pete Evans did not hold back in his blunt criticism of the entree. 'The sauce guys, the sauce is not worthy of this competition sorry, it's lacking in flavour and tastes like tin diced tomatoes,' he said. Judge Manu said the fish and chip sauce couldn't even be called a 'tartare sauce' and Pete also complained that their chips were soggy. Soggy situation: Judge Manu said the fish and chip sauce couldn't even be called a 'tartare sauce' and Pete also complained that their chips were soggy 'I think the squid was well executed': However, Pete commended how their squid was cooked, saying they've 'delivered on the seafood front' However, Pete commended how their squid was cooked, saying they've 'delivered on the seafood front.' 'I think the squid was well executed, quite tender, so full ticks for that.' Pete explained he wanted the squid to have been caramelised and the chorizo 'more prominent.' Judge Manu Feildel agreed, and said a sauce of garlic, olive oil and fresh herbs, would have worked 'beautifully.' Critique: Pete explained he wanted the squid to have been caramelised and the chorizo 'more prominent' She treated her two-year-old daughter Belle to a trip to Disneyland Paris last week. And Katie Piper ensured the fun was never-ending for her little tot as they stopped off at Eric Cowell's lavish third birthday party on Sunday. The 33-year-old philanthropist beamed as she cradled her daughter at the exotic-themed bash for X factor judge Simon's son, which featured a guest appearance from a seriously life-like dinosaur. Scroll down for video Having a great time: Katie Piper, 33, and her two-year-old daughter Belle stopped off at Eric Cowell's lavish third birthday party on Sunday Katie shared a sweet collage snap from the night, in which she held Belle in her arms - while a second image showed a laughing Simon gesturing at the dinosaur. The mum-of-one shared the photo on Instagram and captioned it: 'Surprise guest at Eric's birthday- First time Belle has seen a real dinosaur!!!' Eric's birthday - which was on February 14 - was no doubt an impressive affair this year judging by last year's star-studded party at prestigious Arts Club. X Factor judge Simon, 56, and girlfriend Lauren Silverman, 38, hosted a second birthday party for their son at the plush members-only Mayfair venue. Doting parents: Eric's birthday - which was on February 14 - was no doubt an impressive affair judging by last year's star-studded party at prestigious Arts Club Happy families: X Factor judge Simon, 56, and girlfriend Lauren Silverman, 38, hosted a second birthday party for their son at the plush members-only Mayfair venue (pictured in Barbados in January) Showcasing Simon's extensive black book, guests like Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon, David Walliams and Louis Walsh attended the swanky bash. Meanwhile Katie and her husband Richard Sutton jetted off to Paris with adorable Belle on Tuesday. The trio clearly had a whale of a time in Disneyland Paris, with Katie sharing a sweet snap of her and Belle in her buggy posing against a castle backdrop. 'And here is the out take,' she captioned it. 'I quote "mama oh my gosh it's Mickeys house please please let's go in" and tried to climb out of her buggy with excitement! Magical time: Meanwhile Katie and her husband Richard Sutton jetted off to Paris with adorable Belle on Tuesday Playing dress up: Katie also treated Belle to a 'princess makeover' full of face painting and costumes 'Someone is not going to want to leave this place!!! #memories #happybaby #DisneylandParis.' Katie also treated Belle to a 'princess makeover' full of face painting and costumes during the fun-filled trip. Katie suffered horrific and life-changing burns at the hands of her convicted ex-boyfriend Daniel Lynch in 2008. Daniel had organised an assailant - Stefan Sylvestre - to throw sulphuric acid in her face after a falling out in March 2008. The brave mother, who gave birth to Belle in March 2014, previously revealed she wasn't sure when she would share the story of her horrific acid attack. Diva daughter: Katie teased her daughter, who she gave birth to in March 2014, as being a 'bossy boots' during the trip Loved-up: She cosied up to her carpenter husband Richard, who she married in 2015, on the Eurostar on the way over - while Belle amused herself with cartoons 'It's difficult for a number of reasons because I don't want to frighten her and I don't want her to think there's people like this in society because it's so few and far between,' she told ITV's Lorraine. 'I don't want her to feel that I am really different because I don't think I am really different anymore I feel accepted and normal whatever that is.' And she recently credited her husband Richard with helping her feel better. 'I always talk about my husband giving me confidence and it wasn't that I needed a man to feel good about myself,' she explained during an appearance on Loose Women in January. 'I always see men as a luxury not a necessity. I was confident without him but he enhanced my life and gave me certainty and stability.' Priscilla Presley has broken her silence to thank fans in the midst of daughter Lisa Marie's messy custody battle for eight-year-old daughters Finley and Harper. Sharing a picture of her twin granddaughters at the centre of the storm, Elvis' 71-year-old ex confirmed that she has been taking sole care of the youngsters. The girls were taken by Child and Family Services while their father Michael Lockwood is being investigated for disturbing videos of children that Lisa Marie claims she found on his computer. Scroll down for video Thanking the fans: Grandmother Priscilla Presley posted a picture of eight-year-twins Finley and Harper on Monday morning, thanking fans for their support amid daughter Lisa Marie's custody battle Priscilla began: 'There is lots of confusion, commotion and concern from all the talk circulating. Let me put this to rest... 'The girls have not been in foster care and never will be. The girls have been with me and will be until all this is sorted out.' Adding a second picture of the duo on Monday morning, she wrote: 'Thank you from the bottom of my heart for "all" your positive support.' Protective: Priscilla (right) broke her silence to protect Lisa Marie (left, together in 2015) and confirm that she is currently looking after the twin girls A message of thanks: Priscilla wrote a thank you from her Official Facebook account Confusion: Priscilla confirmed that the children have not and will not be in foster care Confirmation: With a second picture post, Priscilla confirmed that the girls are staying with her and not in foster care It is not the first time that the Presley side of the family has spoken out on the court battle because last week, Lisa Marie was chastised for breaking court rules to make claims that her estranged husband was being investigated. Lisa Marie claimed she founded hundreds of disturbing pictures and videos of children on Lockwood's computer, it was revealed exclusively by DailyMail.com on Friday. I am disgusted that (she) described unproven allegations about me,' Lockwood said in papers filed in the latest round of their bitter divorce battle, DailyMail.com also reported. Lisa made the claims in a declaration that she filed in this courts publicly accessible records. Keeping busy: Priscilla is shown on Saturday visiting a school in Los Angeles Fighting: The girls' father Michael Lockwood (left, with Lisa Marie) is fighting back against his estranged wife's claims she found inappropriate pictures of children on his computer As I experienced during our more than 10-year marriage and as I believe this court will learn (Presley) has great difficulty being honest and she rarely, if ever, accepts personal responsibility for her own wrongdoing, he added. It is particularly distasteful that (she) has placed more value on trying to damage my reputation than on the fact that her false statements may be brought to our daughters attention. In turn, Lockwood revealed that there are also allegations against his wife. For the time being I will not say anything else about such statements in (Presleys) declaration other than that the allegations against both of us have not been unproven. Daughters: The shocking allegations are laid out in court papers filed as part of their divorce and concern Finley and Harper Lockwood Lockwood, who was married to Elvis only child for 10 years made the claims in court papers filed on Valentines Day in Los Angeles Superior Court. Previously on Friday, it was claimed that the couples eight-year-old twins were taken into care by California Child Protective Services after Lockwoods computer was searched. At the time, it was claimed that a court hearing was scheduled for next month to determine their fate, though Priscilla now insists they have been in her care. Lisa Marie, 49, said police seized 80 of Lockwoods devices and are still going through them to find exactly what is on them. I have no idea what else may be on those devices and fear that there are more and worse images and evidence in these unanalayzed devices, she said in her filing. But Lockwood said she broke the rules by revealing the unproven allegations and that she is out to destroy his reputation. And his lawyer, Jeff Sturman, said that Presleys attorney Mark Gross called his office with a threat that he would go public unless Lockwood abandoned his bid to get $40,000 a month in spousal support and $100,000 towards his legal fees from The Kings daughter. He said he needs the money to pay his legal fees as it is the only way he would be able to afford to protect his rights against a very wealth (sic) and vindictive person like Lisa Marie. Beatrice Fung, another of Lockwoods lawyers, said a judge made an order in September last year that prohibits both parents from discussing the allegations. Taking over: Priscilla was seen for the first time on February 17 and now confirms that she is looking after the duo Presley and Lockwood, 55, a musician who has worked with Fiona Apple and Aimee Mann among others, were married in a lavish $340,000 ceremony in Kyoto, Japan in 2006. Her first husband, Danny Keough was best man. They separated last June. Lisa is also mother to daughter Riley, 27, and Benjamin, 24, from her previous marriage to Danny Keough between 1988 and 1994. Presley, who claims nearly all of her $300 million fortune is gone, said that she has to pay for two nannies to go along as monitors when her husband visits the children. DailyMail.com reported exclusively last month that Lockwood was demanding that a post-nuptial agreement that the two had signed in 2007 should be torn up. That document said neither party should have a claim on the assets of the other in the event of the marriage breaking down. In the Valentines Day papers, Lockwood said Presley is hiding a vast fortune by pretending to be broke. At one time she was said to be worth $300 million. He claimed she still receives $466,000 a month $5.6 million a year from the trust Elvis set up for her before his death in 1977. He said her tax returns showed that from 2013-2015 she also got more than $4.5 million a year in dividends and capital gains and she receives way more than the $100,000 a month that she claims. He said in the same three-year period he earned an average of just $55,017 less than one percent of her income. Presley (above with her parents Elvis and Priscilla) claims in court papers filed as part of her divorce that nearly all of her $300 million fortune is gone Now he said he cannot find work because Presley insisted he concentrate on her career throughout their marriage. The music industry changed during that time and I lost most or all of my professional connections, he said. Further, I believe (Presleys) allegations in her declaration will ruin my reputation and it will be difficult or impossible for me to get a job. Lockwood even slammed his wife over her claim that he had bought the twins an expensive, fully-stocked saltwater fish tank. He said there were just two goldfish in the small tank. He said the cell phones she claimed he had bought them cost $18 each from Target. They play with them, he said. I continue to live a below poverty line existence and need financial assistance to pay my expenses, and my fees and costs, Lockwood added. Presley had claimed she was broke and has been forced to move in with her actress daughter Riley. She said she hadnt been on a plane in 18 months and couldnt remember the last time she bought clothes and shoes of any value. I am disgusted that (she) described unproven allegations about mein a declaration that she filed in this courts publicly accessible records, Michael Lockwood said in papers filed in the latest round of their bitter divorce battle She said Lockwood and a business manager had defrauded her of millions of dollars and she now owes $7.3 million in back taxes and has another $655,000 of other debt, including $212,000 owed on credit cards. Presley listed 11 bank accounts, mainly held in banks in Jacksonville, Florida. One has just $6.50 in it and another has $9.88. The amounts total nearly $105,000. In her filing, Presley mentioned only Coes Hall, her home in Sussex, England, saying it was worth just $2 million, while she owes more than $5 million on it. But Lockwood said she failed to disclose material information and attempted to mislead the Court. He said she has been paying for five other homes, three in California, one in Tennessee and one in Hawaii. Daily Mail.com has reached out to Lisa Maries representatives and her lawyer Mark Gross. Neither returned the calls. In opposing Lockwood's petition for spousal support, Lisa Marie asks the court to deny his request In her declaration in court papers, Lisa Marie reveals that her twin daughters are under the care of child services A trial is set in March regarding allegations of sexual abuse and neglect by Lockwood. Lisa Marie alleges in the papers that she discovered hundred of inappropriate photos and video on his computer She is eight months pregnant with her second child with her rugby player husband Richie Myler. So Helen Skelton was undoubtedly horrified when she suffered a rather embarrassing fall while attending a London Fashion Week show over the weekend - after stumbling down a flight of stairs and badly injuring her knee. The 33-year-old star is currently filling in for Lorraine Kelly on her eponymous chat show, on which she revealed news of her injury on Monday morning. Helen, who is already mother to 20-month-old son Ernie, took to Twitter before Sunday's fashion show to reveal she was wearing a pair of staggering heels as they are 'all that fits' at her late stage of pregnancy. She posted an image of the shoes while adding a hilarious caption reading: 'What to wear to a fashion show when 8 months pregnant..... the only thing that fits #LFW #heels #fashionscout'. Her fashion tip came shortly before she fell over, as she explained her dos and donts of fashion week while chatting to Lorraine's fashion correspondent Mark Heyes. She said: 'Dont ask for the goodie bag before you sit down... Dont fall down the stairs I dont think I will be invited back My knees been bleeding for 12 hours! Oh no! Helen Skelton was undoubtedly horrified when she suffered a rather embarrassing fall while attending a London Fashion Week show over the weekend - after stumbling down a flight of stairs and badly injuring her knee High heels: She posted an image of the shoes while adding a hilarious caption reading: 'What to wear to a fashion show when 8 months pregnant..... the only thing that fits #LFW #heels #fashionscout' Replaced: The 33-year-old star is currently filling in for Lorraine Kelly on her eponymous chat show, on which she revealed news of her injury on Monday morning Helen is clearly feeling the hormones which accompany pregnancy as she later chatted to showbiz correspondent Dan Wooton about a romantic story. A couple were engaged on stage at a Leann Rimes concert over the weekend and while Dan told the story the blonde beauty grew emotional as she said: 'I could cry, Im feeling that hormonal Helen is delightedly awaiting the arrival of her second child, as sources revealed the couple say they're 'excited' to welcome the bundle of joy in a month's time. Last month the star gave an insight into her life as a parent as she admitted to having the 'worst day of parenting life' when she claimed she was asked to leave a playgroup with her 'screaming' son. At the show: Her fashion tip came shortly after she fell over, as she explained her dos and donts of fashion week while chatting to Lorraine's fashion correspondent Mark Heyes Snapping away: Despite her injury, the star was still quick to take pictures at the show Taking to Twitter to share her story, the pregnant former Blue Peter presenter revealed she was forced to abandon her hopes of finding the right playgroup for her 19-month-old son Ernie after he suffered a screaming meltdown. She later described the playgroup staff as being 'superb' and said that it was her fault. Helen tweeted: 'Wow storm in a tea cup: we love the French creche. Staff are superb! Can't account for a toddler mood sometimes! My fault not theirs xx' The BBC presenter initially shared a sweet picture of her darling son walking into his new French playgroup, admitting she was 'nervous' for his first day. High emotions: A couple were engaged on stage at a Leann Rimes concert and while Dan told the story the blonde beauty grew emotional as she said: 'I could cry, Im feeling that hormonal' Captioning the photo, she wrote: 'French play group . lets do this . why do I feel sick .. #nervousparent #family #mum #toddler #childcare #school #family.' But later she revealed she was 'asked to leave after 20 mins'. It seems Helen had every right to be anxious about his big first step, as they were asked to leave 20 minutes later after he wouldn't stop screaming. Sharing a selfie from her car of the pair, she explained: 'Worst day of my parenting life. Asked to leave after 20 mins. Screamed the place down screaming his version of "mama let's go!" constantly. #parentfail #kidswinning #mumfail #childcare.' Back in October, Kim Kardashian's world was turned upside down when she was held at gunpoint in Paris as $10million worth of her jewellery was stolen. And, after taking an extended social media hiatus and retreating from the spotlight, her pal Jonathan Cheben has declared that the reality TV star has bounced back. During an interview on ITV's Lorraine on Monday, he said of Kim: 'Shes definitely a lot better,' before going on to praise the Paris police force responsible for tracking down her alleged assailants. Scroll down for video Bouncing back: Jonathan Cheban has said that his pal Kim Kardashian is doing 'a lot better' after the trauma of her Paris armed robbery 'Im so happy they caught those animals,' he added. 'Im pleased the French police kept it on the DL and nailed them.' However, a recent trip to the French capital proved 'awkward' for Jonathan, whose friend Kim has yet to return since her harrowing experience. 'For me, it was a little bit awkward being there (for Fashion Week) and thinking what happened there,' he admitted. Interview: He spoke about his famous pal during an appearance on ITV's Lorraine on Monday Captured: He also praised authorities in Paris for capturing Kim's alleged assailants Astonishing footage has been released showing the scene of the hotel room where Kim Kardashian was the victim of a violent 8.5million robbery. A French television network screened images of the crime scene in the Hotel de Pourtales, alongside a video of the robbers sitting outside the A Mon Cafe, some three miles from the hotel. The reality television star had a life-altering experience when she was robbed at gunpoint of some 8.5million ($10m) worth of jewels - including her 20 Carat, 3.5million engagement ring - in central Paris on October 3 last year. Chat: He was interviewed by Helen Skelton during his appearance on the morning show Black to basics: He stepped out in style for the appearance, wearing an all-black ensemble New show: Jonathan was interviewed about his role on new dating show Celebs Go Dating Chilling pictures show the gaffer tape used to gag the star and the Serflex cable ties used to bind her hands as armed men disguised as police officers carried out the terrifying raid. Five gunmen disguised as police officers and wearing ski masks to hide their faces bound and gagged Kim in the luxury Hotel de Pourtales. The mother-of-two had been left alone in the suite while bodyguard Pascal Duvier went to high-end nightclub L'Arc with her sisters Kourtney and Kendall Jenner. She was put in the hotel bathroom as the robbers took several pieces of her diamond jewellery. None of the items have ever been recovered. Scene of the crime: Chilling images from the hotel bedroom where Kim was robbed in October show an unmade bed alongside a host of items used in the terrifying raid Evidence: This piece of evidence shows a tie reportedly used to gag the star's mouth as she was put in the bathroom and robbed of millions of pounds worth of jewellery Tape: Gaffer tape is understood to have been used to bind Kim's hands as the gang carried out the robbery The images obtained by broadcaster TF1 feature those responsible for the 8.5m heist. Eight men and a woman are currently in high-security prisons after being caught thanks to a combination of DNA and CCTV evidence. Gems: Several of her diamonds were taken In one film, two are seen desperately searching for a 30,000 Jacob and Co platinum-mounted diamond cross belonging to the 36-year-old reality TV star that they dropped as they made their getaway. It fell between parked motor scooters, and was not found by a nearby office worker until the next morning. Other remarkable footage is of the gang sitting on the terrace of a cafe in Pariss third arrondissement as they plan their next job apparently completely oblivious to watching police. Also shown were the first images of black tape used to gag Ms Kardashian and the Serflex ties used to bind her hands inside the so-called Hotel de Pourtales luxury apartment complex that is also known as the No Address hotel. Detectives originally said they had no video footage whatsoever connected with the raid, and kept up the bluff until releasing grainy black and white images of some of the robbers escaping by bicycles. Robbed: Kim was robbed at gunpoint of some 8million ($10m) worth of jewels while in Paris in October. She is pictured here the day before the incident Footage: Remarkable footage of the gang sitting on the terrace of a cafe in Pariss third arrondissement as they plan their next job apparently oblivious to watching police Ring: Shortly before the robbery, Kim posted this image of Instagram of her 3.5million engagement ring which was stolen in the heist Now it is clear that they had colour close-ups all along including two shots of one of the alleged gangsters wheeling his Velib hire bike away. Those shown include Aomar Ait Khedache, a 60-year-old Frenchman who was thought to be the ringleader. His DNA was found on the Serflex, and it was cross-referenced with samples linked to his early crimes as an armed robber. After being identified him, police studied CCTV footage in which Khedache was seen getting out of a car near St Lazare station on the night of the Kardashian job. Distinctive: Khedache said they had not sold the 20-carat, emerald-cut ring seen on Kim because it was too easily identifiable It was just around the corner from the crime scene, and the driver was his 29-year-old son, Harminy Ait Khedache. Khedache junior has now been charged with being the getaway driver of the gang led by his father. Aomar Ait Khedache has also told police the gang melted down and sold off most of the stolen jewellery, but kept Ms Kardashians diamond engagement ring because it was too difficult to re-sell. In police statements, Khedache said his team had planned to rob Ms Kardashian during a previous visit to Paris, but got cold feet because she was always surrounded by people. Footage: Images from within the crime scene show the open door leading to the bathroom - where the star was bound and gagged Stills: Chilling CCTV stills released by the network show aliases plotting with one another Plans: The gang hid around Paris for a few days after the robbery and then some of them travelled to Antwerp, Belgiums diamond capital, to try and sell their haul The gang hid around Paris for a few days after the robbery and then some of them travelled to Antwerp, Belgiums diamond capital, to try and sell their haul. Khedache said: So that the jewels would not be recognised, we took a joint decision to melt them down. Khedache said they had not sold the 20-carat, emerald-cut ring that Ms Khardashian had shown off in a photo she posted on social media just hours before the robbery because it was too easily identifiable. Kim said in leaked police testimony that the robbers had pointed a gun at her when they asked her to hand over the ring. Search: In one film, two are seen desperately searching for a 30,000 Jacob and Co platinum-mounted diamond cross belonging to the 36-year-old reality TV star that they dropped as they made their getaway Two French examining magistrates are now due to travel to the USA to interview Ms Kardashian at length about the video evidence. She may also be called to return to France to identify the attackers, and to give evidence at their trial. It is due to be held later this year, and could see all of the gang members jailed for more than 10 years each for a range of charges including armed robbery within a criminal gang. The new videos and photos were broadcast on TF1s main news bulletin on Sunday night, with extracts posted online. Dropped: The cross fell between parked motor scooters, and was not found by a nearby office worker until the next morning Grainy: Detectives originally said they had no video footage, and kept up the bluff until releasing grainy black and white images of some of the robbers escaping by bicycles Broadcast: The new videos and photos were broadcast on TF1s main news bulletin on Sunday night, with extracts posted online Kim has not been in Paris since the robbery. Last Thursday it was reported the 36-year-old may return to the City Of Lights to attend Paris Fashion Week, which runs February 28 until March 8. But the next day her rep told People the Keeping Up With The Kardashians star had 'no plans' to fly to Paris. The Paris ordeal will be explored on the next season of Keeping Up With The Kardashians. Kim is seen in teasers for the reality show breaking down in tears as she says she could have been 'shot in the back' and killed. This year the reality star also spoke for the first time of her fears she would die in the robbery. Kim addressed her horrific ordeal in Paris and her husband Kanye West's struggles. In a preview for Keeping Up With The Kardashians - to be aired in March - the 30 second clip lays bare just how harrowing Kim's ordeal was with the 36-year-old visibly distressed. As sisters Khloe and Kourtney listen, a distressed Kim sits curled up in a ball on the couch as she recounts what happened that October night when armed gunmen burst into her hotel and robbed her. Crying, the star - who was bound and thrown in a bathtub - tells her sisters: 'They're going to shoot me in the back. There's no way out.' Standing guard: Police officers stand guard at the entrance to the hotel residence at the Rue Tronchet, near Madeleine, central Paris after the violent raid So shaken is the mother of two, she said she struggles to even speak about what happened. 'It makes me so upset to think about it.' Kim famously lost her prized new 20-carat diamond engagement ring after being held up at gunpoint in herParis abode. Just days before the ordeal, Kim Kardashian shared the story of how her husband Kanye West surprised her in the middle of the night by leaving the bauble on her pillow. The rapper had the $4 million Lorraine Schwartz band engraved with the word, 'Adidas.' He's taking the reins as Top Gear's lead presenter since Chris Evans quit the show last year. And it seems Matt Le Blanc is willing to go to stomach-churning lengths to boost ratings, as it's claimed he ate a horse's penis in the revamped upcoming series. The former Friends star, 49, was reportedly forced to eat the 'reproductive part' of the animal while filming in Kazakhstan - but gave up very early on. Scroll down for video Horrifying: Matt Le Blanc reportedly ate a horse's penis in the upcoming series of Top Gear 'The weirdest thing I saw?' his horrified co-host Chris Harris told The Daily Star. 'I saw Matt try and eat part of a horse that was used in some sort of reproductive process and give up quite early on. Chris added: 'I ate a half cooked sheep's ear with a bit of mould on it. I thought I was going to be sick.' And fellow presenter Rory Reid admitted: 'The strangest thing I ate was a pig's face. And brain. And ears.' Stomach churning: Matt allegedly ate the penis, while his co-hosts Chris Harris and Rory Reid ate sheep's ear and pig's brain during filming in Kazakhstan Oh dear: The former Friends star, 49, was reportedly forced to eat the 'reproductive part' of the animal - but gave up very early on The trio were encouraged to try the wince-inducing 'delicacies' during a trip to Kazakhstan to drive a London taxi around. MailOnline has contacted a representative for Matt Le Blanc for comment. Despite some of the gruesome tasks, Matt emphasized that the new hosts were getting on well - despite it taking a while for them to warm up. 'This is now the first season for the three of us and it does take a little while,' he told The Sun. 'You take the three people, put them together in a room and say, "It's in your interest to get along" and everyone is open to getting along. But it takes a little while to speed up the shorthand. Man of the hour: He is taking the reins as Top Gear's lead presenter since Chris Evans quit the show last year Episodes success: In 2012, Matt won an Emmy for playing a fictionalised version of himself on the sitcom Episodes 'What's great is we are now getting to a point where we are really starting to click. We are having so much fun together.' And it seems things are about to get even weirder - if the 90-second teaser for the BBC1 series is anything to go by. In the clip, the former Friends star rescues a group of naked ramblers on the Isle of Man in his enormous Avtoros Shaman. The first trailer for the latest series of Top Gear also 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. Meanwhile, Reid is seen crashing his taxi in Kazakhstan and Harris drifts the Ferrari FXX K in Daytona, Florida. Rescue attempt: Matt rescues a group of naked ramblers on the Isle of Man in new Top Gear trailer The 2million track-only hyper hybrid car will go froms 0-62mph in under three seconds, and tops out at 217mph - so it's safe to say there's some content for serious petrol heads. In early 2016, the actor was announced as one of the new hosts of BBC's revamped Top Gear, alongside Chris Evans who has since left the show. Matt, an avid car enthusiast, revealed that he actually didn't audition for the part. 'I was a guest on the show and they just kept asking me back, then asked me to host. So here I am. And it's an honour,' he said. It seems Matt Le Blanc got a little more than he bargained for in the new series of Top Gear. The new series, which will have appearances from Strictly champ Ore Oduba and jockey Frankie Dettori, starts on March 5 on BBC Two at 8pm. Awkward: Matt LeBlanc, Chris Harris and Rory Reid endure an awkward BBC car insurance interview in the new Top Gear trailer Tegan Martin's fans might get a kick out of the raunchy photos the model regularly shares on Instagram. But on Monday's episode of I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! the 24-year-old on the receiving end of a kick, delivered curtesy of an angry zebra. The former Miss Universe Australia required medical treatment after getting bucked twice by an errant Zebra, as a challenge saw Tegan and Casey Donovan trying to count its stripes. Scroll Down For Video Didn't COUNT on that happening: During a chest challenge, Tegan Martin was bucked twice by an errant Zebra, joined by Casey Donovan as they were tasked with counting its stripes 'Meet Georgina, a sprightly Zebra with a playful demeanor,' a voice-over said as the pair trudged through the jungle. From the get-go, the duo were perplexed as to how they'd be able to accurately work out how many stripes the wild animal had - and that was before they learned it could buck. 'How the hell are we going to count the stripes on a bloody Zebra?' Tegan asked. Seconds later, Georgina turned away from the model and kicked hard, causing the model to wince in pain and grab her wrist. Calm down Georgina: The cameras showed the animal - who was named Georgina - having to be calmed down by its trainer '10 minutes later she came at me even harder and got me good,' the beauty told cameras. The camera showed the personality copping yet another blow as the animal's trainer tried to calm it down. Tegan began to cry through the pain as a medic rushed to her aid, informing her that she had soft tissue damage and would have to ice the areas to ease the swelling. Ouch! The 24-year-old began to cry through the pain as a medic rushed to her aid, informing her that she had soft tissue damage and would have to ice the areas to ease the swelling 'I'm not going to let that get me down, I want the chest!' She resolved, before rejoining the challenge. Former Australian Idol winner Casey then theorised it was their high-pitched, feminine voices that was distressing Georgina. As they attempted to count the stripes, they spoke in hilariously deep voices, as if trying to impersonate the typical stereotype of a bloke in a pub. Resolve! 'I'm not going to let that get me down, I want the chest!' She resolved, before rejoining the challenge The golden voice: Former Australian Idol winner Casey then theorised it was their high-pitched, feminine voices that was distressing Georgina, as the pair then began to spoke in hilariously deep voices That worked! 'So far, the only thing that keeps her calm is stropping a couple testosterone pills,' Tegan joked 'So far, the only thing that keeps her calm is stropping a couple testosterone pills,' Tegan joked. Amazingly, despite the injury, the pair managed to count 176 stripes on the creature, which corresponded correctly to the chest's padlock code. After hauling the chest back to camp, they joined the rest of the cast and told of their rather violent encounter. She is often lauded as one of the luckiest girls in the world. And Tamara Ecclestone's daughter Sophia yet again proved to be the envy of adults and children alike as she enjoyed yet another sun-drenched holiday, this time a Bahamas break over the weekend. The 32-year-old Formula One heiress looked sensational in a barely-there bikini as she carried her adorable tot, who turns three next month, while playing with pigs in the idyllic Caribbean shores. Scroll down for video The cool couple: Tamara Ecclestone's daughter Sophia yet again proved to be the envy of adults and children alike as she enjoyed yet another sun-drenched holiday, this time a Barbados break over the weekend Tamara flaunted every inch of her stunning figure as she slipped into the sexy bikini which boosted her eye-popping cleavage. The bottoms of the two-piece boasted gold adornments on the hip, which coordinated with that on the top of the halterneck. She injected a typical touch of superstar cool into the look with her oversized mirrored aviator sunglasses which glistened in the sun. Her brunette tresses were styled into French plaits falling over her shoulders and tightly styled from a centre parting. Inseparable: The 32-year-old Formula One heiress looked sensational in a barely-there bikini as she carried her adorable tot, two, while playing with pigs in the idyllic Caribbean shores Look mummy! Little Sophia appeared fascinated by the animals, as a giggly Tamara carried her on her hip while showing her the various creatures on the beach My mermaid: Tamara shared a sweet snap of Sophia taking a dunk underwater Little Sophia appeared fascinated by the animals, as a giggly Tamara carried her on her hip while showing her the various creatures on the beach. The duo's day out was in fact on the iconic Pig Beach, also known as Pig Island yet officially dubbed Big Major Cay. Located in Exuma, the appeal of the beach is the large colony of feral pigs that live on the island, also known as 'swimming pigs'. Tamara was also seen playing with what appeared to be an Endangered Bahamian Rock Iguanas, as she went to feed the animal with a stick. As ever Tamara intricately documented her time spent with her daughter as she shared a bevy of snaps on Instagram with the captions: 'It's better in the Bahamas... Little mermaid... Bahama mama... Water baby... Beach time... Off to see the swimming pigs.' Lashing out: The holiday comes shortly after Tamara launched another impassioned defence of her decision to nurse Sofia at almost three, despite receiving a backlash from critics Like a pig in the sea: Tamara presented the pigs to Sophia who seemed enthralled by the animal On the way! Tamara shared an image of the boat journey over to the island The holiday comes shortly after Tamara launched another impassioned defence of her decision to nurse Sofia at almost three, despite receiving a backlash from critics. The mother-of-one spoke to Good Morning Britain's Kate Garraway last week and defiantly claimed she would 'never feel uncomfortable' about breastfeeding. She said: 'I gave it so much thought and thought that it was something so important and I want mums in the future - and my daughter one day - to not have so much negativity or people questioning breastfeeding or making such big deal out of it. 'I really feel that my decision to let her wean herself and breastfeed until she no longer wants it is the right choice for me and for her. Taking the bait: The duo's day out was in fact on the iconic Pig Beach, also known as Pig Island yet officially known as Big Major Cay. Located in Exuma, the appeal of the beach is the large colony of feral pigs that live on the island, also known as 'swimming pigs' Her baby: Tamara is seldom seen without her little girl, who she makes no secret of adoring 'There are so many children that still have bottles, dummies, comforters and no-one questions that and I wouldnt dream of it. 'If someone wants to give their baby a bottle at night then thats entirely their decision so I just dont understand, when you are trying to do the best for your baby, why people are just trying to pick holes in it and look for the bad.' Tamara reiterated that she was against depriving her daughter of something that she craved, with the youngster's development being very much on her own terms. She continued: 'Its really hard when everyone has an opinion and sometimes you just dont need to hear those opinions.' On her merry way: Sophie sweetly ambled along as she toted a handbag Happy families: The duo's day out was in fact on the iconic Pig Beach, also known as Pig Island yet officially known as Big Major Cay. Located in Exuma, the appeal of the beach is the large colony of feral pigs that live on the island, also known as 'swimming pigs' She was branded a 'gold-digger' after racking up a 175 dinner bill and expecting her date to pay during Celebs Go Dating. But Ferne McCann brushed the controversy aside on Sunday, as she stepped out with former TOWIE co-star Sam Faiers for dinner at celebrity hotspot Cecconi's in West Hollywood. The 26-year-old reality star stole the show in a plunging crochet minidress, while mum-of-one Sam kept it casual in a dazzling white ensemble. Scroll down for video Looking good: Ferne McCann, 26, stepped out with former TOWIE co-star Sam Faiers for dinner at celebrity hotspot Cecconi's in West Hollywood on Sunday Ferne, who is in Los Angeles to film a segment for This Morning, certainly caught the eye in her LBD, which featured a cold-shoulder neckline and racy lattice detail. Showcasing her tanned legs, the brunette beauty added height with a pair of nude multi-strap heels. Meanwhile, Sam flaunted her enviably lean figure in skintight white trousers and a matching cropped jacket. Sticking to a muted palette, she layered a figure-hugging nude bodysuit underneath, and rocked some barely-there heels. Chic: The reality star stole the show in a plunging crochet minidress, while mum-of-one Sam kept it casual in a dazzling white ensemble Having a whale of a time! The pair giggled and larked around in Ferne's Snapchat video Ferne has certainly been setting West Hollywood alight with her sartorial choices, and stunned once again on Sunday while on a visit to the Hollywood Walk of Fame The former I'm A Celebrity! contestant looked the height of summery chic in vibrant floral-print co-ords. She wore her brown extensions in tousled waves and framed her eyes with a slick of winged eyeliner and iridescent shimmer. She took to Instagram to share a snap of her outfit, captioning it: 'Laaaaaving filming out in LA with @thismorning - the jet lag is getting to me though been up since 3am.' Budding beauty: The former I'm A Celebrity! contestant looked the height of summery chic in vibrant floral-print co-ords 'Been up since 3am': She took to Instagram to share a snap of her outfit Ready for her close-up: She wore her brown extensions in tousled waves and framed her eyes with a slick of winged eyeliner and iridescent shimmer Social media star: Ferne made sure to giver her 1.5 million followers a good look at her ensemble before she got on the plane And an excited Ferne took to Instagram on Friday before getting on her flight to show off her outfit and reveal that she was heading out to the celebrity capital of the world for This Morning. She wrote: 'LA LA Land here I come @thismorning I love you! Thankyou for flying me out to LA. I have the best job.' With the Oscars a mere ten days away, it looks as though the ITV daytime show's celebrity correspondent could be set to interview some of the world's biggest stars on the red carpet. Cute: Sam Faiers paid a sweet tribute to her boyfriend Paul Knightley with a personalised marble phone case that had his initials emblazoned across it in a candid Instagram snap on Sunday Happy families: Sam's affection displays comes as she enjoys a family break away to California with her partner and 14-month-old son Paul Picture perfect: Later in the day, the Essex beauty exhibited her pout as she posed with former Apprentice star Luisa Zissman in another social snap Meanwhile Sam has been enjoying a family break away to California with her partner and 14-month-old son Paul. The Essex beauty exhibited her pout as she posed with former Apprentice star Luisa Zissman in another social snap. Posing together, the Celebrity Big Brother alum wrote: 'Fun day filming in Lala land with this one @samanthafaiers #la #losangeles'. Earlier this week, Ferne was slammed by Celebs Go Dating viewers and labelled a 'gold digger' after she 'forgot her wallet' while on romantic first date with a handsome hunk. Hitting back: Ferne defended herself against claims she was a 'gold-digger' after racking up a 175 dinner bill and expecting her date to pay during Celebs Go Dating Unlucky in love: Earlier this week, Ferne was slammed by Celebs Go Dating viewers as a 'gold digger' after she 'forgot her wallet' while on romantic first date with a handsome hunk On Wednesday night's show, Ferne told viewers she sometimes forgets her purse while on a date. She appeared to not even offer to pay following a 175 night out with city banker Ciran Pearce. Some viewers weren't too happy about Ferne's behaviour either on Twitter, with one saying: 'Really trying to root for @fernemccann but she's making it so clear it's all about the money #Obvs #CelebsGoDating.' Another wrote: 'HATE to say it but Ferne McCann is coming across as a bit of a gold digger! You can't only want to date a man as he's rich! #CelebsGoDating.' But Ferne hit back at her critics, later tweeting: 'Im not a gold digger. Just traditional and think the guy should pay for a 1st date. I ALWAYS offer clearly didnt make the edit.' Poor Ferne didn't have much luck on her second date either on Thursday night's show, and she was left bemused after her date tried to gift her with a stuffed cuddly toy at the dinner table. Learning curve: Ferne was told she needs to realise that not everyone has the same lifestyle and budget as her She's an award-winning British actress. And Thandie Newton once again proved her star quality as she attended the Erdem London Fashion Week show on Monday. The Westworld star, 44, wowed in a plunging trouser suit, while Daisy Lowe, 28, joined her in the floral trend, rocking a kimono-inspired dress. Scroll down for video Turning heads! Thandie Newton once again proved her star quality as she attended the Erdem London Fashion Week show on Monday Flashing her enviable curves, Thandie braved the cold in the powder blue and black low-cut blazer. Teaming it with coordinating trousers, she added a splash of colour with purple reflective court shoes. And showcasing her enviable bone structure, she pulled her hair off her face in an array of delicate braids. Spring chic: The Westworld star, 44, wowed in a plunging jumpsuit, while Daisy Lowe, 28, joined her in the floral trend, rocking a kimono-inspired dress Highlighting her almond shaped eyes with heavy eyeliner and accessorising with a drop necklace locket, her ensemble was complete. The mother-of-two posed alongside Clemence Poesy, who looked chic in a pussybow embellished shirt and striped cardigan. Also sitting alongside the star in the FROW was Ellie Bamber, who continued the floral theme in a semi-sheer blouse dress. Chic duo: The mother-of-two posed alongside Clemence Poesy, who looked chic in a pussybow embellished shirt and striped cardigan Baby blues: Also sitting alongside the star in the FROW was Ellie Bamber, who continued the floral theme in a semi-sheer blouse dress Thandie, who is a proud vegan and studied Anthropology at Cambridge, narrowly missed out after being nominated for Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe her role in HBO series Westworld. Starring as Maeve Milly, a prostitute in a wild west theme park, she opened up about her nude scenes to The Guardian last month. 'Its so ironic that here I was, utterly, utterly naked and I felt completely liberated. Model behaviour: Daisy flaunted her model credentials in a black wrap dress embellished with white flowers Geisha-inspired: Continuing the Kimono-inspired theme, she wore her hair piled on top of her head in a high bun, framing her pretty face with her trademark heavy fringe Boasting a model posse: Daisy sat alongside Alexa Chung who wrapped up in a shearling aviator jacket 'Not because I was naked but because it was my choice. Totally my choice.' Westworld, which co-stars Anthony Hopkins and Ben Barnes, was nominated for several Golden Globes including Best Drama TV Series and Best Actress in A Drama TV Series. Meanwhile Daisy flaunted her model credentials in a black wrap dress embellished with white flowers. A LFW gift: Ellie Bamber added a splash of colour with a red satin bow around her neck while Alexa worked biker chic and sported a racy nude graphic emblazoned on her top Casual chic: Caroline Sieber went understated in gold embellished pumps and a wrap dress Denim delight! Clemence Poesy teamed jeans with her pussybow shirt while Ellie put on a leggy display FROW pals: Alexa Chung (L) and Caroline Sieber put on a stylish display as they posed together Judge and jury: Vogue legend Anna Wintour rocked a geometric skirt and plush jacket The piece was cinched in at the waist, showcasing her slender midriff. Continuing the Kimono-inspired theme, she wore her hair piled on top of her head in a high bun, framing her pretty face with her trademark heavy fringe. Boasting a model posse, she sat alongside Alexa Chung who wrapped up in a shearling aviator jacket. Last but certainly not least, Vogue legend Anna Wintour joined the fashionistas, rocking a geometric skirt and plush jacket. Chic: The Erdem show at the Old Selfridges Hotel showed a remarkable unity of vision despite a wide range of colors, fabrics and mood (L-R) Alexa Chung, Daisy Lowe, Hikari Yokoyama, Olivia Palermo and Veronika Heilbrunner Detail: Most of the outfits featured high necks and long sleeves with elaborate detailing, intricate beadwork and delicate embroidery Meanwhile Olivia Palermo rocked a full length floral black shirt dress with chic shoe boots. And Laura Bailey added a splash of colour in a pink silk two piece as she posed alongside Thandie. Virginia Bates upped the colour ante, layering a clash of materials and patterns. Clashing: Despite their differences, the pieces complemented each other, making the entire collection come alive Bright duo: Laura Bailey (L) and Thandie Newton made great adverts for the brand Standing out! Laura Bailey added a splash of colour in a pink silk two piece She has an impeccable sense of style and is on the front row at the world's biggest fashion shows. And Olivia Palermo brought her sartorial A-game to the fourth day of London Fashion Week as she attended three different shows in three striking outfits on Monday. The socialite, 30, first rocked a bright orange turtle neck jumper with a sparkling dark brown skirt at the Pringle of Scotland showcase at One Marylebone. Scroll down for video Fashionista: Olivia Palermo brought her sartorial A-game to the fourth day of London Fashion Week as she attended three different shows in three striking outfits on Monday Showing off her effortlessly chic style, the former The City star threw a brown jumper on top to complement her preppy look. As the day progressed, Olivia decided to tone her outfit down by throwing on a black dress with floral patterns as she headed to the ERDEM show. And to make sure the cold weather didn't tamper with her style, the wife of German male model Johannes Huebl laid a comfy black fur neck warmer on top of her frock. Olivia added height to her frame with a pair of black patent shoe boots, and wore her light brunette locks tousled around her shoulders. A dream in tangerine: The socialite, 30, rocked a bright orange turtle neck jumper with a sparkling dark brown skirt at the Pringle of Scotland showcase at One Marylebone Flower power: As the day progressed, Olivia decided to tone her outfit down by throwing on a black dress with floral patterns as she headed to the ERDEM show Busy bee: The former The City star later joined Sophia Webster (pictured) at her autumn/winter 2017 presentation Ice ice baby: The latest collection from Sophia Webster followed fairytale-ice palace theme, with models clad in ethereal looks and sparkling headdresses FROW crew: Olivia joined (L-R) Alexa Chung, Daisy Lowe, Hikari Yokoyama and Veronika Heilbrunner at the Old Selfridge's Hotel for the ERDEM show The fashionista completed her look with natural make-up to showcase her striking features to perfection. Olivia was spotted at the ERDEM show at the Old Selfridge's Hotel alongside the likes of Alexa Chung, Daisy Lowe, Hikari Yokoyama and Veronika Heilbrunner. Award-winning actress Thandie Newton was also at the show, wowing in a plunging trouser suit, while Daisy Lowe, 28, joined her in the floral trend, rocking a kimono-inspired dress. Last but certainly not least, Vogue legend Anna Wintour joined the fashionistas, rocking a geometric skirt and plush jacket. Au natural: The fashionista completed her look with natural make-up to showcase her striking features to perfection Style queen: As if that was not enough, the famous fashionista then changed for a third and final time as she took yet another place on the FROW at Christopher Kane (above) As if that was not enough, the famous fashionista then changed for a third and final time as she took yet another place on the FROW at Christopher Kane. The Connecticut native toned things down for her last appearance of the day in a chic all-black ensemble by PAIGE, showing off her enviably slim figure. She opted for a smart but sexy semi-sheer shirt, paired with tight-fitting leather trousers which hugged her incredibly long and slender pins as she headed to the show. All black everything: The Connecticut native toned things down for her last appearance of the day in a chic all-black ensemble, showing off her enviably slim figure Model material: The beauty added a pair of pointed black ankle boots with a stiletto heel to lengthen her already leggy frame The beauty added a pair of pointed black ankle boots with a stiletto heel to lengthen her already leggy frame, and layered a smart coat with a ruffle frill on top, in a sophisticated touch. Keeping her outfit trendy as well as classic, Olivia accessorised with a ribbon choker and a slick of dark rouge lipstick, to tie her look together in vampy fashion. Olivia constantly takes pride in her appearance and she isn't ashamed to admit it. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph newspaper, she said: 'My mother taught me at a very young age to look your best at all times.' Vixen: Keeping her outfit trendy as well as classic, Olivia accessorised with a ribbon choker and a slick of dark rouge lipstick, to tie her look together in vampy fashion Natural beauty: Olivia opted for glowing dewy make-up to show off her clear skin as she made her way inside Olivia met husband Johannes, 39, through mutual friends nine years ago, before tying the knot in June 2014 in a low-key ceremony in Bedford, upstate New York. Discussing the secret to the couple's happy marriage, Olivia told Harper's Bazaar Australia: 'We try not to ever be separated more than seven days. Its just something we have always done.' But it doesn't look as though the couple will be hearing the pitter-patter of tiny feet any time soon, with the socialite admitting she is 'very focused on work' at present. She added in an interview with the Daily Mail's YOU magazine: 'Im really focused on work. I have my hands full and I have to prioritise.' Monochrome magic: The socialite dazzled in a chic cream and black ensemble for the Topshop show on Sunday - one of her many London Fashion Week appearances She recently admitted to becoming a constant worrier as she grew older. But Denise Van Outen looked like she didn't have a care in the world as she strolled out of the Siddharta Lounge at the Grosvenor House Hotel in Dubai on Saturday night. The actress and TV presenter, 42, flashed her long, toned legs in a black lace minidress as she strutted out of the upmarket venue. Scroll down for video Fun in the sun: Denise Van Outen dressed to impress as she strolled out of the Siddharta Lounge at the Grosvenor House Hotel in Dubai on Saturday night The mother-of-one paired the alluring dress with nude high heels, making her pins look even longer. Denise slung a Gucci chain strap handbag across one shoulder and decorated her fingers with lots of rings. The TV personality's platinum blonde hair fell loose across her shoulders and she highlighted her eyes with a flick of winged eyeliner. The star, who narrates The Only Way Is Essex, was in the exotic city with her six-year-old daughter Betsy. Leggy lady: The actress and TV presenter, 42, flashed her long, toned legs in a black lace minidress as she strutted out of the upmarket venue Memories: Denise and her daughter Betsy, six, posed for a fun holiday snap, clambering onto a window sill and staring down at the harbour while wearing their swimsuits The pair posed for an adorable picture as they looked out at the stunning Dubai Marina, which Denise later posted on Instagram. In the cute snap, Betsy and Denise took it in turns to pose on a window sill and admire an incredible view of the harbour. Betsy donned a pink floral swimsuit while Denise sported a white one-piece. Denise captioned the image: 'Fabulous stay @grosvenorhouse thank you @pamwilby13 and your amazing team. Always the best service and lovely memories made #dubs2017' The presenter recently admitted in an interview with MailOnline that she has become more of a worrier as she grew older. Sun-kissed: The mother-of-one paired the alluring dress with nude high heels, making her pins look even longer 'Most people say as they get older they worry less but I think I worry more,' she said. 'I think that's the other thing that comes with being a parent. 'Because I do worry. I worry about my daughter. I worry about my health. Everything. 'I worry a lot more as I get older and I shouldn't do really as when you get older you should be more relaxed.' Denise raises Betsy with her ex-husband, musical theatre star Lee Mead, 35. The couple started dating in 2007 when they met while filming BBC reality show, Any Dream Will Do, which Denise sat on the judging panel for and Lee eventually won. Lee and Denise tied the knot in the Seychelles in April 2009, before welcoming Betsy into the world in May 2010. The pair parted ways in 2013, and Denise went public with her new man, stockbroker Eddie Boxshall, in July 2014. She plays the outwardly prim and proper Queen Elizabeth II on The Crown. But Claire Foy broke the stiff British reserve required of her character for one fleeting moment, as she scoffed a puff pastry during filming in London for the second series of the hit Netflix series on Monday. Meanwhile, her co-star Matt Smith returned as Prince Philip, looking dapper in a navy blazer as he clambered into a sleek 1956 Lagonda Coupe to take it for a spin. Scroll down for video Peckish, are we? Claire Foy broke the stiff British reserve required of her character for one fleeting moment, as she scoffed a puff pastry during filming in London for the second series of the hit Netflix series on Monday Embodying the spirit of haughty Fifties chic, Claire was dressed in a terracotta-hued dress with a pleated skirt and a green coat complete with a brooch. The only signifiers of the modern era were the Ugg boots the actress, 32, wore underneath and black fur-trim puffa jacket she carried in her hand. Matt, meanwhile, looked suitably dapper in his double-breasted jacket and beige slacks as he walked alongside co-star Daniel Ings, of Channel Four's Lovesick fame. Taking it for a spin: Meanwhile, her co-star Matt Smith returned as Prince Philip, looking dapper in a navy blazer as he clambered into a sleek 1956 Lagonda Coupe Retro: Embodying the spirit of haughty Fifties chic, Claire was dressed in a terracotta-hued dress with a pleated skirt and a green coat complete with a brooch Chic: The only signifiers of the modern era were the Ugg boots the actress, 32, wore underneath and black fur-trim puffa jacket she carried in her hand Meanwhile, with the success of the first season of Netflix's royal drama The Crown, it would seem the writers are thinking beyond the commissioned season two, to what will happen next. As it stands, Matt Smith and Claire Foy portray Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh as their younger selves, between the years 1947 and 1955. But as their tale progresses, so does time - and the characters of the series will naturally age. And using make-up, or even CGI, to make the actors look older is not something show creator Peter Morgan is interested in doing. Suited and booted: Matt, meanwhile, looked suitably dapper in his double-breasted jacket and beige slacks as he walked alongside co-star Daniel Ings, of Channel Four's Lovesick fame Pleased with your ride? He beamed when he saw his Lagonda Coupe and prepared to clamber in Come here, you! He greeted one of the crew with an affectionate bear hug 'I feel that when we reach 1963-64 weve gone as far as we can go with Claire Foy without having to do silly things in terms of makeup to make her look older,' he said of the actress, who is currently 32 (Matt is 34). Referring to what happens if a third season is commissioned (which it's likely it will be seeing as there is a six season arc planned) Peter told ScreenDaily: 'Wed probably need to think about the issue of recasting everybody and so those conversations are happening now. 'I couldnt tell you where well come out. Its a big thing to go on again. Everybody needs to look at one another and [ask] under which circumstances and what terms would we do it.' Series two of The Crown started shooting last October, with Michael C. Hall and Jodi Balfour recruited this month to portray President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jackie Kennedy. Massive budget: Matt looked impressive against the setting, as bosses worked hard to mock up a replica of Buckingham Palace in London's Greenwich The look of concentration: He appeared to be trying to get into character as the crew milled around him Quite the rapport: Matt and Daniel chatted away happily as they walked along The plot arc in which the Dexter actor and Final Destination 5 actress feature concerns a visit the Kennedys made to London in June, 1961. Set against the backdrop of a Great Britain still recovering from the aftermath of World War II, The Crown follows a young Queen Elizabeth (Foy) facing enormous responsibilities to Crown and country. The drama promises a look at the intrigue, love lives and machinations behind the most notable events, after it was billed as the 'the inside story of two of the most famous addresses in the world Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street.' Long process: Series two of The Crown started shooting last October Thrilling: Set against the backdrop of a Great Britain still recovering from the aftermath of World War II, The Crown follows a young Queen Elizabeth facing enormous responsibilities to Crown and country The first series, which begins before Elizabeth's ascension in 1952 and runs until 1955, made its debut on Netflix last year - and was immediately met with rave reviews from fans and critics alike. Christopher Stephens for the Daily Mail called the first episode 'a sumptuous display of small-screen splendour' and deemed the series 'so breathtaking that youll want to wolf it all down in a weekend, and then return to savour every moment.' The Guardian then confirmed that the staggering budget had been more than worth it, with leading lady Foy 'managing to register every layer of misery and frustration as Elizabeth' while the remaining cast were 'uniformly excellent'. She recently got 3D liposuction on her inner thighs at a Blackpool salon as part of her quest to perfect her curvaceous physique. And on Monday, Lisa Appleton appeared eager to show off the results of her hard work, as she sauntered around in the Mexican sunshine in a skimpy pink bikini. The 48-year-old brunette, who found fame on Big Brother back in 2008, made a beeline for the pool in her patterned two-piece, which featured a bandeau top and barely there, G-string style bottoms. Scroll down for video Loco for Mexico: Lisa Appleton was spotted soaking up the sunshine in Mexico on Monday With masses hair extensions resting in piles down her back and across her bosom, she was seen struggling to remove a pair of colourful leggings as she unveiled her swimwear. And while it was a leisurely day of basking in the sunshine, she appeared eager to keep things glam, with glittering earrings and a matching pendant among her accessories of choice. She also sported a full face of makeup - albeit from the more natural end of the palette - which included a heavy dose of mascara. Skimpy: She wore a patterned bikini, which included a bandeau top and barely-there bottoms Lisa made her trip a family affair, jetting off to Mexico with her daughter Sophia Marie in tow. On Sunday, pictures were unveiled of a beaming Lisa showing off her newly-toned legs at the Beautique Salon in Blackpool. The former reality star showed off the efforts of her surgical self-improvement as she posed with her legs apart. She looked casual in a black Bardot blouse with folk-style embroidery and pom poms and leather trousers. Taking it off: She fought to get her newly slimmed-down legs out of a pair of colourful leggings The mum-of-one was typically glamorous in her styling, wearing her hair in glossy waves and rocking heavy make-up. She later pulled up her top to expose a nude lace bra and thankfully covered her modesty with a strategically placed towel. Lisa recently defended her over-the-top antics, which are thought main reason behind her split from partner Paul in December. However, the star said her audaciousness is the result of 'coming out of severe depression.' Oh dear: On Sunday, the 48-year-old revealed that she'd had free liposuction on her thighs at the Beautique Salon in Blackpool She told The Sun: 'My behaviour has been over the top and Ive also had a blow out Ive ate and drunk too much. I feel like I have been let out of a cage.' 'I am just starting to live again. I know I have upset a lot of people by rolling around on the beach. Intimate: Suction caps were placed on her inner thighs 'Loads of people are saying I am having a mid life crises, or its embarrassing, Paul has said it is embarrassing, my daughter said it was embarrassing.' However, the mother-of-one - who refers to herself as the UK's answer to Kim Kardashian - revealed she hasn't had any problem attracting new men, particularly younger suitors. 'I've had a few toy boys, I attract them all in,' she said on Lizzie Cundy's Fubar Radio. 'I think they like the older, experienced woman who can put them in their place.' Lisa, who has recently thrust herself back into the limelight thanks to a series of scantily clad outfits, shot to fame on the 2008 series of Big Brother. In the series, she entered the infamous house with boyfriend Mario Marconi. The couple went on to make history as the first couple to get engaged on the show, before tying the knot on Channel 4 series The Wedding House. But in 2013 they called time on their eight-and-a-half year romance, with Lisa claiming that whilst they had been 'unhappy for a while'. And clearly reflecting on her own experiences, Lisa has been unafraid to voice her opinions on the recently finished series of Celebrity Big Brother. Chic: She looked casual in a black Bardot blouse with folk-style embroidery and pom poms and leather trousers Speaking to OK! Online, she revealed that she thought controversial presenter Kim Woodburn 'needed a spanking' and should 'wash her mouth out'' 'I just don't get it,' Lisa admitted. 'She's rude and she's ruthless in that house. She's coming across very rude and she's really going over the top with her words. 'She's acting like a bully and then crying when the other housemates argue back at her. Don't get me wrong, it's entertaining and she's got balls, but she doesn't know where to draw the line.' She returned from a lavish getaway in Dubai two weeks ago. But Lucy Mecklenburgh managed to retain that holiday glow as she attended the Aspinal of London press day in London on Sunday. The former TOWIE star, 25, teased a peek of her cleavage in a plunging red trouser suit as she joined Nicole Scherzinger, 38, who looked laid-back in a cropped jumper and skintight jeans. Scroll down for video Stunning: Lucy Mecklenburgh, 25, managed to retain that holiday glow as she attended the Aspinal of London press day in London on Sunday Lucy showcased her lean, gym-honed figure in the red blazer, which cinched in her waist thanks to a tie-belt detail. She rocked a pair of matching scarlet trousers that hugged her legs thanks to their slimline shape. Adding a dose of edge to the look, Lucy rocked a zebra-print box clutch bag and elegant drop earrings. She wore her raven tresses in a sleek side-parting and framed her eyes with lashings of mascara. Also in attendance was Nicole, who flaunted her svelte physique in a cropped jumper with an artfully frayed hem and racy Perspex trim heels. Chic: Lucy showcased her lean, gym-honed figure in the red blazer, which cinched in her waist thanks to a tie-belt detail Body goals: Nicole Scherzinger, 38, flaunted her svelte physique in a cropped jumper with an artfully frayed hem and racy Perspex trim heels Who knew they were pals? She cosied up to made In Chelsea star Hugo Taylor Meanwhile, Lucy returned from Dubai just two weeks ago, but was already reminiscing about her trip as she shared a stunning throwback snap on Instagram on Sunday. Clad in a tiny red bikini, the former TOWIE star showed off her enviable figure as she enjoyed a cocktail on the beach. The reality starlet turned fitness guru captioned the shot: 'Summer bodies are made in winter girlies!!!' While Lucy has moved on to her exercise empire, her former fiance Mario Falcone is said to be going back in time and returning to TOWIE. Quite the social butterfly: Nicole enjoyed a chat with Mariya Dykalo at the event Preened to perfection: She wore her raven tresses in glossy, perfectly tousled waves Step to it! Nicole sashayed to the venue in her stylish pointed pumps Tummy teaser: She sported a distressed wool jumper for the outing Wave: Nicole left her glossy brunette locks cascade down her shoulder in a chic wave Uh oh: Nicole accidentally showcased a bit too much of her peachy derriere as she left the event and got into her waiting car Settling in! The American beauty elegantly made her way into her luxury car Glowing mother-to-be! Binky Felstead showcased her growing baby bump in a striped shirt Beautiful in Belstaff: Made In Chelsea star and pal of Nicole Sophie Hermann attended the event in a stunning navy jumpsuit by Belstaff with a delicate floral pattern; she carried a red Gucci bag to complete the look Two years after his dismissal for touting slimming pills - a banned act for castmembers - sources tell The Sun that the hunky star has been vying for a comeback on the ITVBe reality show, leading to interest from producers in bringing him back in 'cameos' where storylines permit. Despite reports, the 28-year-old tailor previously lashed out at producers for trying to 'dumb him down' by restricting his vocabulary - after which he claimed he had 'sold his soul to the devil'. Mario has reportedly been attempting a comeback, meaning insiders claims will no doubt delight fans, particularly with his new girlfriend Becky Miesner. Keeping good company: Rosie Fortescue rocked a belted white shirt while model David Gandy kept it cool in leather Double trouble: Union J star Josh Cuthbert posed with his stunning model girlfriend Chloe Lloyd A source said: 'Mario has been quite keen to come back for a while and 'TOWIE' have invited him back to film the odd cameo and will use him where story permits.' Mario, who proposed to his ex-girlfriend Lucy Mecklenburgh on the show - a decision he later lamented, recently hinted about a return to the show but admitted his girlfriend Becky isn't interested in the limelight. Of his return, he said: 'There may be a development on that front but I can't actually say anything about it. I love that Becky isn't interested in the public eye. It's nice to keep one thing to yourself that you really enjoy and cherish.' Check her out! Lady Victoria Hervey looked chic in a houndstooth midi dress and red bag Quirky look: Blogger Andreea Cristea wore a slogan T-shirt and tasselled trousers It's still three months before the release of Johnny Depp's Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. And fans went wild when three unofficial posters for the swashbuckler hit the internet on Monday, according to Trends International. The darkly brooding images feature Johnny as Captain Jack Sparrow with franchise newbies Kaya Scodelario as Carina Smyth and Brenton Thwaites as Henry. Scroll down for videos Splash down: On Monday, three unofficial posters emerged for Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, the fifth movie in the Johnny Depp-fronted franchise Two of the posters also include Geoffrey Rush, who reprises his role as as rival Captain Hector Barbossa, and another newcomer Javier Bardem as the undead Capitan Salazer, who escapes from the Devil's Triangle and is hell bent on killing Jack and every other pirate who sails the seven seas. The fan-created posters - which have no affiliated with Disney - follow the short teaser trailer released during the Super Bowl in January. In that, a mud-covered Jack is seen heading straight for the nearest tavern, where the boozy buccaneer slams down some coins for a tankard of ale. Haunted by ghosts: Jack is being pursued by old rival Capitan Salazar, played by Javier Bardem, and his crew of ghost pirates, who are determined to kill every other pirate at sea He teasingly says, 'Pirates life,' before chugging down his beer. In the fifth film in the franchise, Jack is being pursued by old rival Capitan Salazar and his crew of ghost pirates, who are determined to kill every other pirate at sea. To save his sorry hide, Jack has to find the Trident of Poseidon, a powerful artifact that grants total control over the seas. On the hush hush: The 53-year-old star reprises his role as the boozy buccaneer in the fifth film in the blockbuster franchise that kicked off in 2003 But to do that he must forge an uneasy alliance with Carina, a brilliant and beautiful astronomer, and Henry, a headstrong young sailor in the Royal Navy. Orlando Bloom is also due to return as Will Turner, captain of the Flying Dutchman, along with Kevin R. McNally as Joshamee Gibbs, Golshifteh Farahani as the sea-witch Shansa, David Wenham as Scarfield and Stephen Graham as Scrum, Directed by Norwegian filmmakers Espen Sandberg and Joachim Rnning, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales will debut in theaters on May 26. She's still dealing with the aftermath of her Paris robbery incident. And Kris Jenner, 61, says the whole family is having a hard time watching Kim Kardashian, 36, recount the terrifying ordeal on her Monday appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. In the first promo for season 13 of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Kim cries as she recounts the October robbery incident in Paris, in which masked men held up her room at gunpoint and stole millions of dollars worth of jewelry. Scroll down for video 'No one can get through the first few minutes': Kris Jenner, 61, tells Ellen DeGeneres during an appearance on her show Monday that Kim recounting her story on her reality show was tough 'No one can get through the first few minutes without getting hysterical,' the 61-year-old reality star told Ellen. 'Like, I get choked up just thinking about it and talking about it. But its remarkable to listen to her tell the story and she does that. moment by moment.' She admits she has seen some of it, but couldn't get through the entire episode. 'I was watching it and I was balling balling when I saw it,' she admitted. 'And I just saw some of it. I couldn't even watch the whole thing it was so upsetting.' She continued: 'It was such an upsetting time and something so awful happened to somebody you love so much. And it's just like ugh it chokes me up every time to think about it.' 'I was balling': The matriarch admits the whole family is having a hard time watching Kim Kardashian recount the terrifying ordeal The entrepreneur says filming season 13 of their hit show was 'therapeutic' for Kim and speaking about the incident on camera helped her work through her feelings. Terrifying ordeal: Kris says Kim found talking about her October gunpoint robbery 'therapeutic' 'When we started filming again and getting up and running, you know obviously Kim was around because we all practically live together on the street,' she told Ellen. 'And we started filming and what was coming out of that was very therapeutic for her, I think. To just explain to us and walk us through.' Because of what happened to Kim - who has children North, three, and Saint, 14 months, with husband Kanye West - Kris admitted the entire family have made huge changes to their lives and grown more security-conscious. 'You know, it's changed the way we live our lives and just the way we take care of our kids and our grandchildren. So it's been a process.' Since the October incident, Kim had kept a fairly low profile and limited her public appearances, but she has since started to return to the limelight, doing more public events and posting intimate family snapshots on her social media accounts. She even went overseas to Dubai for her first public appearance hosting a makeup tutorial class. Empty nest: The matriarch admits she is now in her big house alone, as second-oldest daughter Kim recently moved out and into her own Bel-Air mansion Kris also admits, her second-oldest daughter recently moved out of her house and into her own Bel-Air home, which had been going through extensive remodeling over the past few months. 'I locked all the doors and changed the locks cause I'm afraid are they coming back?' Jenner joked about her large brood. 'They moved to their home in Bel-Air. I said to her, 'I kind of forgot you had a house across town. You should have been living there the whole time!' But Jenner admits her house is always busy and her kids, including Kourtney and Khloe and Rob Kardashian as well as Kendall and Kylie Jenner are always coming in and out. Loving grandma! Kris admits her kids are always coming and going and she loves spending time with her grandkids (pictured here with Dream Kardashian) 'They're always there coming over. We go on long walks and it's really fun,' she gushed about spending time with her grandchildren. Kris also did her best to explain son-in-law, Kanye West's relationship with Donald Trump. When asked if the Famous rapper was 'friends' with the President, the momager laughed, saying: 'I don't think so.' Real Friends? The 39-year-old rapper turned heads when he meet with the 45th President at Trump Tower back on December 13 The Yeezus artist definitely made waves when he was spotted visiting President Donald J. Trump at New York's Trump Tower in New York back on December 13. But in the weeks since the inauguration, Kanye seemed to have a change of heart when he deleted any and all mentions of the 45th President from his social media. So it was the job of Kris to breakdown the facts after Ellen asked the mom-of-six if her son-in-law is 'really friends with Trump'. Talking things out: The 61-year-old super manager told Ellen that the Life Of Pablo rapper met with Trump to talk about some issues and 'that was the extent of it' 'I don't think so,' Kris laughed before explaining how the 21-time Grammy winner came to speak with the businessman-turned-politician. She told Ellen, '[Kanye] went and [my boyfriend] Corey Gamble went with him and they went because I think he had some, you know, issue that he might have wanted to talk about and I think that was the extent of it. 'I think he was lucky enough to be able to get you know, an audience and talk about whatever they talked about, but I think that, you know, it wasn't for any special intention,' she continued. A bit of luck: The reality star said that Kanye 'was lucky enough... to get an audience' with the president and there was no 'special intention' behind the meeting The Keeping Up With The Kardashian's star has been busy around town. In addition to her Ellen interview, which will air on Monday, the Calabasas local spent last Sunday as one of E! News' red carpet reporters at the Grammy's. This could be the start of a new career for the PR wizard, Kris also worked the red carpet at January's Golden Globes. She's always been passionate about fashion and even has her own clothing line. So Binky Felstead wasn't going to let her blossoming baby bump get in the way of attending a stylish bash in London on Monday. Looking effortlessly chic, the yummy mummy-to-be, 26, was a vision of beauty as she attended the Aspinal of London press day with boyfriend Josh 'JP' Patterson. Scroll down for video Cute couple: Binky Felstead didn't let her blossoming baby bump get in the way of attending the Aspinal of London press day with boyfriend Josh 'JP' Patterson in London on Monday Showing off her pregnancy curves, the Made In Chelsea star donned a cream blouse with black stripes that flared out over her bump. She teamed the garment with cropped black trousers, whilst perforated mules gave her petite frame an extra boost. Layering up, the reality starlet donned a chic tan trench coat, whilst she grasped a large monochrome tote in her perfectly manicured hands. Yummy mummy-to-be! Showing off her pregnancy curves, the Made In Chelsea star donned a cream blouse with black stripes that flared out over her bump Binky announced her pregnancy last month, which came as a shock to her fans as she as in an on/off relationship with the baby's father JP. During the last series of Made In Chelsea, viewers saw Binky and JP split for a second time after 18 months together in emotional TV scenes. The couple announced they are expecting their first child, a girl, together last month in a magazine shoot. Chic and cheerful! She teamed her flattering cream and black blouse with cropped black trousers, whilst perforated mules gave her petite frame an extra boost She then told heat magazine: 'Weve never said we are going to get back together just because theres a baby involved, that would be wrong. But I will say that where we are now is the happiest weve been in a very long time. I feel like things are going in the right direction, which is really exciting. The brunette also admitted her unborn child will have a double-barrelled surname unless the couple make the bold decision to take their stop-start relationship to the next level. 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. She is known for her sensational figure and womanly curves as one of the UK's top models. And Daisy Lowe was certainly not afraid to show off her killer body on Monday, as she put on a particularly eye-popping display at Christopher Kane's London Fashion Week show. The model, 28, gave a seriously saucy flash of her bust as she arrived at the event in a daring plunging midi dress, complete with a sexy thigh-high slit. Scroll down for video Fit to bust! Daisy Lowe was certainly not afraid to show off her killer body on Monday, as she put on a particularly eye-popping display at Christopher Kane's London Fashion Week show The brunette beauty set pulses racing in the retro button-up frock - which she left mostly undone to reveal her famously plentiful cleavage and enviable assets beneath. Styled like a vintage jacket and shirt, the dress cinched in at her petite waist, before skimming her slender figure all the way to its sophisticated calf-hem. Adding further sex appeal to the look, the slinky skirt then cut into a daring thigh high split at one side, to display her famously long and lean legs to all as she posed up a storm for the cameras. Hot stuff! The brunette beauty set pulses racing in the daring button-up frock - which she left undone to reveal a large glimpse of her famous assets beneath Gorgeous: Cinching in at her enviably petite waist, the dress then skimmed her womanly figure all the way down to its sophisticated calf hem Confidence is key: Clearly feeling fierce in her sexy look, Daisy later took to her social media to further show the outfit off (above) She accessorised with a simple pair of black pointed court shoes to keep all eyes on her show-stopping look - before layering a selection of bejewelled necklaces around her neck to tease further at her bust. Proving herself to be every inch a natural beauty, the former Strictly star swept her brunette locks into a loose ponytail to showcase her pretty features to all - which she accentuated with minimal make-up. Despite her sexy outfit, the stunner swapped a smoulder for her winning smile as she made her way in to take her place on the FROW, alongside the likes of Katy Perry and Alexa Chung. Finishing touches: She accessorised with black pointed court shoes and a selection of bejewelled necklaces, to tease further at her bust Star-studded: She was joined by the likes of Katy Perry, who dazzled in a shimmering bardot ensemble (L), and Alexa Chung, who looked typically grungy-chic for the event (R) Say cheese! Daisy and Alexa happily cuddled up to one another as they took their places on the FROW to view the designer's latest collection The look marks yet another stylish ensemble for the British beauty, who has attended a whole host of high-profile catwalk shows during this year's London Fashion Week, including House of Holland, Astley Clarke and Versus Versace. The hectic week sees Daisy getting back to her fashion duties after spending the last few months touring the country with her Strictly Come Dancing co-stars. As the tour came to an end on Sunday night, the beauty took to Instagram to pay tribute to her partner Aljaz Skorjanec, who she has formed a close friendship with since first appearing on the beloved BBC show in September. Sharing a photo of the pair onstage together, she wrote to fans: 'For the last time last night.... our waltz- thank you @aljazskorjanec for truly being the greatest partner I could have ever wished for... it was such an honour. 'I love you with all my heart. @strictlycomedancinglive thanks for the best adventure to date! What a company.' Catching up: The glamorous star caught up with her fellow guests at the bash - including designer Jonathan Saunders (R) She openly spoke about the difficulties of finding time to spend with her hubby Mark Wright, prior to her debut in Our Girl back in September. And Michelle Keegan is now said to be gearing up for another lengthy stint away from her husband, as she prepares to film the third series of the BBC show in South Africa for a whopping eight months. Speaking to Hello! magazine, the actress, 29, confessed that she will be filming the drama over the spring and summer period - leaving her and her 30-year-old beau with little time for a holiday together. Scroll down for video Jet-setter: Michelle Keegan is reportedly preparing to film the third series of BBC show Our Girl in South Africa for a whopping eight months With the second series of the BBC show being met with rave reviews last year, it is no wonder Michelle was asked to reprise her role as Lance Corporal Georgie Lane. However with filming taking place in South Africa, the gig means Michelle will spend an extended time away from her TOWIE star husband - with the Mirror reporting it could be as long as eight months. Talking to Hello! earlier this week, the brunette herself had confessed of her busy spring and summer career schedule: 'I'll be filming 'Our Girl' [soon], which is so exciting. But no holidays planned yet.' Missing you: The actress , 29, confessed she will be filming the drama over the spring/summer period - leaving her and her 30-year-old beau with little time for a holiday together The former Coronation Street star had spent six months abroad filming the last series of the show last year, which aired in September. During her time away, rumours began to swirl that she and Mark had split after their conflicting schedules kept them apart - although both parties vehemently denied these claims. MailOnline have contacted representatives of Michelle for confirmation. In July last year shortly after her return to the UK, the Manchester native had spoken to Look magazine about the difficulties of balancing her working and romantic life. 'I don't see him as much as I'd like': In July last year shortly after her return to the UK, Michelle had spoken about the difficulties of balancing her working and romantic life She confessed: 'I don't see Mark as much as I'd like. 'I have to plan. Mark's always looking at his diary and I'm looking at mine and my friends are all in a group message trying to arrange their time.' However the pair have since documented a number of romantic getaways together on their social media pages, and have been seen cosying up on a number of dates and high-profile events, including the National Television Awards last month. While she may have to endure another long period of time away from Mark, who she married in 2015, her reprised role in Our Girl proves her career is going from strength to strength. Success story: While she may have to endure another period of time away from Mark, her reprised role in Our Girl proves her career is going from strength to strength Leading lady: Michelle bagged rave reviews for her role as Georgie Lane on the second series of the show, which aired last September (above) Having bagged rave reviews after the second series' finale in October, the British beauty then swiftly moved on to her next project Tina and Bobby - which was met with equally excitable reviews from fans. A woman of many trades however, Michelle has once again turned her hand to designing in recent weeks as she anticipates the release of her latest collection for Lipsy. No stranger to travelling, the brunette explained to the magazine that she had shot the new range over in Los Angeles to add a glamorous feel to the clothes. She said of her choice to shoot in the celebrity hotspot: 'It is one of my favourite places to go. There's just something in the air out there, you literally feel like you're in a movie.' It's the third glimpse of the medieval legend, which unveiled its first sneak peak at San Diego Comic-Con last summer, Warner Bros. dropped the latest action-packed trailer for King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword, starring 36-year-old Brit Charlie Hunnam, on Monday. And it gives more background on director Guy Ritchie's very different and very bloody take on the tale. Scroll down for video Sword play: Charlie Hunnam as King Arthur pulls Excalibur from the stone in the latest trailer for King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword, released on Monday Robbed of his birthright and with no idea who he truly is, Arthur comes up the hard way in the back alleys of the city of Londinium. The two minute and 16 second trailer opens with him as a young man having a nightmare about the death of his father, who turns out to be King Uther Pendragon, and his mother, the queen. The dark vision has been conjured up for him by an unseen woman, whose voice is heard asking: 'Did you see what you wanted to see?' to which Arthur replies, 'I saw enough.' Ready for his destiny: The young Arthur gets set to try his hand Can't trust family: Jude Law as Arthur's treacherous uncle, King Vortigen Cut to King Vortigen, Arthur's evil and treacherous uncle, played by Jude Law, overseeing his hordes of troops from the ramparts of his castle. His voice plays over the scene, asking: 'Why has the water dropped? Why does the sword reveal itself now?' A women's whispered voice reveals: 'As your powers increase so will the forces who will oppose you.' Rally cry: Vortigen is troubled by the prophecy that reveals, 'As your powers increase so will the forces who will oppose you' The voice continues over a scene of a very shabby Arthur riding into Londinium, saying: 'The born king will come. It is inevitable.' Fast edited images show Arthur pulling the sword Excalibur from the stone after the water level of the lake in which it had been thrown falls; and the knight Sir Bedivere, played by Djimon Hounsou, trying to convince the reluctant man that he is the true king. Another scene shows Astrid Berges-Frisbey as Mage/Guinevere riding around the very cocky Arthur, saying: 'Are you scared,' to which he replies, 'I think I can handle it.' You're the man: Arthur isn't convinced when Sir Bedivere, played by Djimon Hounsou, tries to persuade him that he is the true king Brave in battle: Sir Bedivere leads Authur's troops against the evil King Vortigen 'You should be scared': Astrid Berges-Frisbey as Mage/Guinevere warns the very cocky Arthur Her voice continues: 'You should be scared' as he pulls himself out of the mud in the teeming rain. His long trail to acceptance comes amid terrifying escapes, including leaping over a waterfall, as his uncle tries to track him down, and a series of terrible hand-to-hand battles. Meanwhile, fans will have to wait a few months yet to see the epic. King Arthur: The Legend Of The Sword is due in theaters on May 12. Massing his soldiers: King Vortigen addresses his hoardes of fighters It appeared Marina Rakovskaia's mother Natalia would never accept her Indian fiance Donny but on the couple's wedding day, there was a Bride and Prejudice miracle. Despite shooting the pair dark looks through their wedding ceremony on Monday's episode, once Marina and Donny were legally wed, Natalia had a spectacular cave in. 'Donny, I want to welcome you to our Russian family,' she told the shocked groom, adding, 'Now you have two mums'. She caved! Despite shooting the pair dark looks through their wedding ceremony, once Marina and Donny were legally wed, Natalia said, 'Donny, I want to welcome you to our Russian family' Donny was touched, saying, 'Those words have given me goosebumps.' Natalia said of her family, which now includes Donny, 'It is small family. It is crazy family. But it is a very tight family. And now it's a Russian Indian family, in Australia.' The stern mother said her change of heart was motivated by the fear of losing her only daughter. She started tentatively by complimenting the pair as 'The most beautiful couple I've ever seen' before the emotion was truly flowing. 'Now you have two mums!' Donny was touched by Natalia's words, saying, 'Those words have given me goosebumps.' Changed her mind: The turnaround was doubly a shock as last week, Natalia claimed Indian husbands treated their wives as 'servants' and worried her grand kids would not be white The turnaround was doubly a shock as last week, Natalia claimed Indian husbands treated their wives as 'servants' and worried her grand kids would not be white. The comments were enough to shake Donny into wondering if he and Marina truly had a future with such a hostile mother-in-law to contend with. 'Marina told me about this concern about your grandchildren...it was at that moment I certainly doubted my relationship with Marina,' he admitted. Shaky: Donny began wondering if he and Marina truly had a future with such a hostile mother-in-law to contend with. 'Marina told me about this concern about your grandchildren...it was at that moment I certainly doubted my relationship with Marina,' he admitted Loved up: Marina, 31, met her partner Donny, 33, on holiday in Koh Samui, Thailand and hoped the show would help her Russian mum to accept him He added, 'I don't really want my kids coming into an atmosphere like that. Being concerned or being worried about things.' Marina, 31, met her partner Donny, 33, on holiday in Koh Samui, Thailand and hoped the show would help her Russian mum to accept him. 'I saw Bride and Prejudice as an opportunity to help address the issues and concerns that were affecting all our lives,' the 31-year-old told The Daily Telegraph. Hoping for acceptance: 'I don't want to choose between mum and Donny,' the brunette said when she began the show, and now she's gotten her wish 'I don't want to choose between mum and Donny,' the brunette said when she began the show, and now she's gotten her wish. Marina first appeared on our screens in 2014 as the Big Brother intruder who just loved dishing the dirt on her fellow contestants She is known for showing off her enviably slender figure in an array of skimpy ensembles. But Lady Victoria Hervey opted for one of her most daring ensembles yet on Monday night, as she dared to bare almost all at the gala screening of Bitter Harvest. The 40-year-old model certainly turned heads as she arrived at London's Ham Yard Hotel in an almost completely sheer maxi dress - which openly displayed her bust and knickers to all. Scroll down for video Lady and the pants! Lady Victoria Hervey opted for one of her most daring ensembles yet on Monday night, as she dared to bare almost all at the gala screening of Bitter Harvest The blonde left hardly anything to the imagination in the see-through frock, which showed off her bare body beneath, concealed only by a pair of black briefs. Clinging tightly to her toned stomach, the sheer dress then openly revealed her plentiful cleavage to all - with just a pair of nipple tassels protecting her modesty. Attempting to detract from the ample amounts of skin on show, the gown featured statement sleeves on each side, which were embellished with hundreds of chunky gold sequins. Nipping out for the night: Clinging tightly to her toned stomach, the sheer dress then openly revealed her plentiful cleavage to all - with just a pair of nipple tassels protecting her modesty The former 'It' girl simply swept her curled blonde locks to one side and added dewy, bronzed make-up her face to keep all eyes on her incredibly daring look. Despite the efforts with her ensemble, the blonde beauty recently told the Daily Mail's Sebastian Shakespeare that she thinks English women struggle to be sexy. 'Women in London are too conservative and dont have the courage to wear sexy outfits. Its an English thing,' she said. 'I grew up in the South of France so I have a much more international approach.' Show-stopping: The former 'It' girl simply swept her curled blonde locks to one side and added dewy, bronzed make-up her face to keep all eyes on her incredibly daring look The socialite had headed to the event to view new drama Bitter Harvest, which follows two lovers and their families struggling to survive the Ukraine famine. Samantha Barks and Max Irons, who play the two leads Yuri and Natalka in the flick, looked incredibly excited about their new project as they posed together inside the hotel. The Les Miserables star dazzled in a slinky pink silk frock, which skimmed her enviably slender figure from head to toe. Leading roles: Samantha Barks and Max Irons, who play Yuri and Natalka in the flick, looked incredibly excited about their new project as they posed together inside the hotel Think pink: The Les Miserables star dazzled in a slinky pink silk frock, which skimmed her enviably slender figure from head to toe Stunning: Sweeping her brown hair into a chic up do, the theatre star displayed her naturally pretty features and clear, glowing skin Cutting into a simple round neck, the vibrant gown subtly teased at her ample cleavage before cinching in at her incredibly petite waist and clinging to her long legs to its floor-length hem. Sweeping her brown hair into a chic up do, the theatre star displayed her naturally pretty features and clear, glowing skin - which she highlighted with perfectly contoured make-up. Meanwhile co-star Max looked typically handsome in a crisp white shirt, layered beneath a clean-cut black suit, as he cuddled up to his co-star before the screening. Other guests at the event included Lizzie Cundy, who added a vibrant splash of colour to the bash in a bright yellow gown. Cutting the mustard! Other guests at the event included Lizzie Cundy, who added a vibrant splash of colour to the bash in a bright yellow gown Shaking things up: The TV presenter stood out from the crowds in a simple fit and flare gown of bright canary yellow, made more trendy by a black choker adorned with a gold hoop The TV presenter stood out from the crowds in a simple fit and flare gown of bright canary yellow, made more trendy by a black choker adorned with a gold hoop at her neck. Recently discussing the new flick, leading man Max expressed his hopes that it will widen people's knowledge of the traumatic 1930s event - admitting he knew little about it himself. He told Vogue: 'Im afraid to say I didnt know about it. I knew a little about this fractious relationship between Russia and Ukraine but, no, not about this. Hopefully were playing a very small part in getting the story out there.' City chic: Made In Chelsea's Mark-Francis Vandelli made a statement at the bash in a traditional suit, with a fluffy grey coat draped casually on top Monochrome dream: Angie Best showed off her slender figure in a slinky black gown (L) while Katheryn Winnick dazzled in delicate white lace (R) He's tried convince his homophobic parents to attend his wedding to his fiance, Grant next month in the US. And on Monday night, viewers of Bride & Prejudice tuned in to watch Chris try again to give it another shot after the heartbreak of his last attempt. The 39-year-old almost had cold feet going back to his parents, who are devout Jehovah's Witness', but bravely returned for a second time to try and bring up his partner and their impending nuptials. Love up: Viewer's of Bride & Prejudice tuned in to watch Chris bravely return to his parents home for a second time to try and bring up his partner Grant and their wedding in the US He spent time with his father Geoff playing Pool and having a beer, and seemed to enjoy each others company, but said that he really could not be himself around them. Chris later took to the beach and surfed with his mother Yvonne to try reconnect. He tried to drop hints about his wedding to Grant, but again could not pluck up the enough courage. Challenges: He spent time playing Pool with his dad and surfing with his mum but could not pluck up the enough courage to talk about his impending nuptials Reactions: Riled up viewers of the show took to Twitter to air their feelings over Chris' homophobic parents After their day out in the sea his mother said that their relationship is strained and has been for a while. She didn't want to further elaborate saying it hurt her deeply and conflicted with her beliefs, a stark contrast from Grant's parents who are very supportive of their love for each other. Meanwhile Twitter erupted with viewers getting riled up and airing their feelings about Chris' homophobic parents. Everyone's hurting: Fans of the show were upset that Chris' parents were too stubborn to want to be there for their only son's special day Speaking up: Twitter erupted with viewers getting riled up and airing their feelings about Chris' homophobic parents Grant's parents: Unlike Chris' parents, Grant's mother and father have been supportive of their relationship Heartless: Many of the tweets about the couple from viewers were supportive of their relationship One user said: 'For someone who cannot have children I would be so honoured to have a son like he is a beautiful man. Twitter user Sammie Wilson wrote: 'Approval for being gay? His parents should be ashamed. Love for a child is/should be unconditional #BrideAndPrejudice.' Frankie Gabrido took to the social media to say: '#brideandprejudice @Channel7 Aww, Grant and Chris' situation is hurting all parties involved.' While Jaydee said: 'Is his mum serious? He has tried so hard with her #brideandprejudice.' She made a colorful debut at the 63rd Miss Universe pageant in 2015. And Tegan Martin, 24, has recalled how her animated representation of Australia garnered mockery among her friends. The statuesque blonde famously wore a vibrant costume inspired by the Aboriginal Dreamtime sunset during the national costume round and she said her stage presence made her a laughing stock. Embarrassed: Tegan Martin, 24, recently recalled how her animated representation of Australia during the 2014 Miss Universe pageant garnered mockery among her friends 'I had an Aboriginal-inspired like nappy thing on with like shimmery beads coming over it,' she said during Monday night's episode of I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!. '[It had] cork screws and a big giant sun attached to my back and I was trying to come out looking half cool and I was like 'how am I gona tackle this?' She added: 'My friends have never let me live it down, everytime I see my gay friend he's like 'Auuussstraaaliaaaa' ... social sucicide at its best.' Ridicule: 'I had an Aboriginal-inspired like nappy thing on with like shimmery beads coming over it ... My friends have never let me live it down,' she said during Monday night's episode of I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! Not proud: Miss Universe hopefuls were required to wearan outfit to represent a key element of the culture in their home country Miss Universe hopefuls were required to wear an outfit that represents a key element of the culture in their home country. She finished at 6th place in the competition, which was held at Florida International University in Miami. Her comments come after she required medical treatment after being kicked by a Zebra while trying to count its stripes with costar Casey Donovan. 'Meet Georgina, a sprightly Zebra with a playful demeanor,' a voiceover said as the pair trudged through the jungle. Outcome: She finished at 6th place in the competition, which was held at Florida International University in Miami From the get-go, the duo were perplexed as to how they'd be able to accurately work out how many stripes the wild animal had - and that was before they learned it could buck. 'How the hell are we going to count the stripes on a bloody Zebra?' Tegan asked. Seconds later, Georgina turned away from the model and kicked hard, causing the model to wince in pain and grab her wrist. Didn't COUNT on that happening: During a chest challenge, Tegan was bucked twice by an errant Zebra, joined by Casey Donovan as they were tasked with counting its stripes Calm down Georgina: The cameras showed the animal - who was named Georgina - having to be calmed down by its trainer '10 minutes later she came at me even harder and got me good,' the beauty told cameras. The camera showed the personality copping yet another blow as the animal's trainer tried to calm it down. Tegan began to cry through the pain as a medic rushed to her aid, informing her that she had soft tissue damage and would have to ice the areas to ease the swelling. Ouch! The 24-year-old began to cry through the pain as a medic rushed to her aid, informing her that she had soft tissue damage and would have to ice the areas to ease the swelling 'I'm not going to let that get me down, I want the chest!' She resolved, before rejoining the challenge. Former Australian Idol winner Casey then theorised it was their high-pitched, feminine voices that was distressing Georgina. As they attempted to count the stripes, they spoke in hilariously deep voices, as if trying to impersonate the typical stereotype of a bloke in a pub. Resolve! 'I'm not going to let that get me down, I want the chest!' She resolved, before rejoining the challenge The golden voice: Former Australian Idol winner Casey then theorised it was their high-pitched, feminine voices that was distressing Georgina, as the pair then began to spoke in hilariously deep voices That worked! 'So far, the only thing that keeps her calm is stropping a couple testosterone pills,' Tegan joked 'So far, the only thing that keeps her calm is stropping a couple testosterone pills,' Tegan joked. Amazingly, despite the injury, the pair managed to count 176 stripes on the creature, which corresponded correctly to the chest's padlock code. After hauling the chest back to camp, they joined the rest of the cast and told of their rather violent encounter. Malaysia has summoned the North Korean ambassador for accusations he made over the investigation into the killing of Kim Jong-Nam Malaysia summoned the North Korean ambassador on Monday for a dressing-down over Pyongyang's attack on its investigation into the assassination of leader Kim Jong-Nam's brother, deepening a diplomatic row. Five North Koreans are in the frame for last week's airport killing, drawing a furious response from Pyongyang which has accused Kuala Lumpur of conspiring with "hostile forces" to damage its reputation. Malaysia recalled its envoy to Pyongyang and summoned the North Korean ambassador to Kuala Lumpur, who was told his accusation was "baseless", the foreign ministry said in a statement. Assassination mystery of North Korean leader's half-brother "The ministry emphasised that as the death occurred on Malaysian soil under mysterious circumstances, it is the responsibility of the Malaysian government to conduct an investigation to identify the cause of death," it said. The row erupted when Malaysian police rejected North Korean diplomats' demands to hand over the body of Kim Jong-Nam after he was apparently poisoned at Kuala Lumpur's international airport. Ambassador Kang Chol last week told reporters outside the morgue where Jong-Nam's body is being held that Malaysia was being pressured by South Korea in a bid to defame its northern neighbour. Malaysian police release CCTV and passport style photos of suspects in the killing of Kim Jong-Nam: (top to bottom) Hong Song Hac, Ri Ji Hyon, O Jong Gil and Ri Jae Nam, all from North Korea Seoul has pointed the finger of blame for the attack at the North, citing a "standing order" from Kim Jong-Un to kill his elder sibling and a failed assassination bid in 2012 after he criticised the regime. "The Malaysian government takes very seriously any unfounded attempt to tarnish its reputation," the statement said, after the ambassador's meeting with Deputy Secretary General for Bilateral Affairs Raja Nushirwan Zainal Abidin. Chol spent around 90 minutes at the ministry. The Malaysian ambassador in Pyongyang has also been recalled to Kuala Lumpur for consultations, the statement said. - Slumped in a chair - Police said Sunday they believed five North Koreans were involved in the killing, with four having fled the country on the day of the murder. Officers have already arrested one North Korean living in Kuala Lumpur, an Indonesian woman and her Malaysian boyfriend, as well as a Vietnamese woman. Five North Koreans are in the frame in Malaysia for last week's killing of Kim Jong-Nam, drawing a furious response from Pyongyang Three other North Koreans were wanted for questioning, police said. At least three of four North Korean men at large took a flight from Jakarta to Dubai on the evening of the murder, an Indonesian immigration official said. They had travelled from Malaysia to Jakarta and after Dubai returned to Pyongyang via Russia, Malaysian media quoted official sources as saying. The drama erupted last week as Jong-Nam waited in the check-in area of Kuala Lumpur International Airport to board a plane to Macau, where he has been living in recent years. Footage broadcast on Japanese television, apparently from airport CCTV cameras showed two women approaching a portly man dressed in light trousers and a jacket, with one of them grabbing him from behind. The man is then seen approaching airport staff and apparently explaining to them what had happened, gesturing to his head. The staff then lead him to the airport clinic. Photographs showing a man slumped in a chair at the clinic, consistent with the CCTV images of the attack, were published in the Malaysian press over the weekend. Malaysian police have rejected North Korean diplomats' demands to hand over the body of Kim Jong-Nam after he was apparently poisoned at Kuala Lumpur's international airport Jong-Nam suffered a seizure and was rushed to hospital but was dead before he arrived, police said. He was once thought to be the natural successor to his father, the then-North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il. But after Jong-Il's death in 2011 the succession went instead to his younger half-brother Kim Jong-Un. Reports of purges and executions have emerged from the current regime as Jong-Un tries to strengthen his grip on power in the face of international pressure over his nuclear and missile programmes. Pro-government forces advance in the western Yemeni coastal town of Mokha as they try to drive the Shiite Huthi rebels away from the Red Sea coast Four Yemenis working with the Norwegian Refugee Council have been detained in a rebel-held part of the country, the NGO said Monday, after they distributed aid insurgents allege is linked to Saudi Arabia. In a statement, the NRC said authorities in the rebel-controlled Red Sea district of Hodeida detained three Yemeni staff and a contracted driver on Tuesday last week. "Due to the security sensitivities regarding our staff, we cannot comment any further on the matter at this time," said the Oslo-based non-governmental organisation. In a statement carried by Yemen's pro-government sabanew.net news website, Local Affairs Minister Abdul Raqib Fattah had said earlier a dozen staff had been "abducted" from the aid group's offices in the Hali district of Hodeida last week. Local sources told AFP the employees were accused of having accepted and distributed aid from a Saudi-led coalition, which has been battling the Huthis since March 2015. The NRC said it did not take funding from Saudi Arabia in any of its operations but had been using recycled boxes to distribute hygiene kits in Yemen. The group said when staff had opened the boxes to distribute the aid, the inside read "The campaign of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques for emergency response," a reference to the Saudi king. The boxes were dated January 2015 and had originally been used for food, according to the NRC. Yemen's conflict pits a Saudi-led Arab coalition supportive of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi against Iran-backed Huthis, who currently control the port of Hodeida along with the capital Sanaa and large parts of northern Yemen. Monday's news comes amid a push by forces loyal to Hadi, backed by the Arab coalition, to close in on Hodeida, located on Yemen's western coast. The loyalist forces took full control of Mokha, south of Hodeida, earlier in February as part of a major offensive to oust the Huthis and their allies from Yemen's southwestern coast. The conflict escalated in March 2015 when the Saudi-led coalition began air strikes to help pro-Hadi forces to take large parts of the country back from the rebels. More than 7,400 people have been killed and nearly 40,000 wounded in two years of fighting in Yemen, according to the World Health Organization. UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen James McGoldrick in January said more than 10,000 civilians had been killed since 2015. burs-ny/ras/dv The majority of America LOVES him. Get over your gay stupidity you imbecile!The majority also believe President Trump over the lying media that only promotes fake news."A recent Fox News poll showed people think President Trump has an advantage with truthfulness over the media.48% of those surveyed trust President Trump, which is 6% points higher than the people who think reporters have the facts straight..."So much for your bogus libtard links and idiotic babble. Face it you idiot, you are a LOSER and you will never be anything other than a ******* LOSER!! You are PATHETIC!!! I don't blame your slutty mother for abandoning your stupid *** at ALL. She did the right thing. If I was her, I would have taken your sorry *** out of existence Migrants celebrate outside the Center for Temporary Stay of Immigrants (CETI) after forcing their way through fence between Morocco and Spanish enclave of Ceuta, on February 17, 2017 Some 300 migrants stormed the border between Morocco and Spain at Ceuta on Monday, authorities said, days after hundreds more forced their way over the frontier. The young migrants climbed over the high border fence into the Spanish North African territory, ecstatic to have finally crossed into a European Union state. Their arrival comes just days after nearly 500 migrants made it over the fence on Friday, one of the biggest entries since the border barrier was reinforced in 2005. Ceuta and Melilla, also a Spanish territory in North Africa, have the EU's only land borders with Africa, so are entry points for migrants who either climb the border fence, swim along the coast or hide in vehicles. The enclave has been ringed by a double wire fence eight kilometres (five miles) long. The six-metre high fence also has rolls of barbed wire. North Korean female agents are believed to have killed Kim Jong-Nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un by spraying poison in his face North Korea locked horns with Malaysia on Monday over the investigation into the killing of leader Kim Jong-Un's brother, as footage emerged of the moment he was fatally attacked in a Kuala Lumpur airport. Malaysia's probe has put five North Koreans in the frame for the airport assassination of Kim Jong-Nam, but Pyongyang said it had no faith in the investigation and claimed Kuala Lumpur was in cahoots with "hostile forces". The diplomatic confrontation gathered pace Monday when Malaysia recalled its envoy to North Korea and summoned Pyongyang's ambassador Kang Chol for a dressing down. But an unbowed Kang hit back. "It has been seven days since the incident, but there is no clear evidence on the cause of death and at the moment we cannot trust the investigation by the Malaysian police", he told reporters in the Malaysian capital. A convoy of four unmarked vehicles entered the hospital compound where the body of Kim Jong-Nam was being held in the early hours of Tuesday morning, with around 30 Malaysian special forces securing the area before most of them left. Two vehicles and a handful of officers remained in the compound, while a white police van was seen leaving at 4:00 am (2000 GMT Monday). Earlier, the Malaysian response to the ambassador's press conference had been equally blunt, with Foreign Minister Anifah Aman saying North Korea's complaints were based on "delusions, lies and half-truths". Any suggestion that the investigation had a political motive was "deeply insulting to Malaysia", he said. Pyongyang has also criticised Malaysia for carrying out a post-mortem examination without North Korean permission -- a complaint Kuala Lumpur said was groundless. The killing of Kim Jong-Nam "The ministry emphasised that as the death occurred on Malaysian soil under mysterious circumstances, it is the responsibility of the Malaysian government to conduct an investigation to identify the cause of death," the foreign ministry said. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak backed those running the probe, saying it was "very professional". "I have absolute confidence that they are very objective in whatever they do," he said, in his first comments since news of the killing broke. "We have no reason why we want to do something that would paint the North Koreans in a bad light. But we would be objective and we expect them to understand that we apply the rule of law in Malaysia." - Dramatic film - CCTV footage aired on Japanese television on Monday gave the first public glimpse of the apparent moment Jong-Nam was attacked at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The dramatic film shows two women approaching a portly man -- identified as Jong-Nam -- with one of them grabbing him from behind and appearing to push a cloth in his face. The man is then seen talking to airport staff and apparently explaining to them what had happened, gesturing to his head. The staff then lead him to the airport clinic. Photographs showing a man slumped in a chair at the clinic, consistent with the CCTV images of the attack, were published in the Malaysian press over the weekend. Seoul has pointed the finger of blame at Pyongyang for the attack last Monday, citing a "standing order" from the leader to kill his elder sibling and a failed assassination bid in 2012 after he criticised the regime. The claim was bolstered over the weekend, with Malaysian police saying they believed five North Koreans were involved in the killing. One of them was already in custody, and four are believed to have fled the country on the day of the murder. Detectives are also holding an Indonesian woman and her Malaysian boyfriend, as well as a Vietnamese woman. Kang Chol, North Korea's ambassador to Malaysia addresses journalists in Kuala Lumpur Three other North Koreans were wanted for questioning, police said. At least three of the wanted North Koreans took a flight from Jakarta to Dubai on the evening of the murder, an Indonesian immigration official said. They had travelled from Malaysia to Jakarta and after Dubai returned to Pyongyang via Russia, Malaysian media quoted official sources as saying. South Korea's Unification Minister Hong Yong-Pyo said Monday it was becoming even more clear that the North Korean government was behind the killing of Kim Jong-Nam. "The Malaysian government is prudently investigating the case and we think it's significant that it officially announced North Korean suspects were involved," Hong told reporters. Kim Jong-Nam was once thought to be the natural successor to his father, the then-North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il. But after Jong-Il's death in 2011 the succession went instead to his younger son Kim Jong-Un. Reports of purges and executions have emerged from the current regime as Jong-Un tries to strengthen his grip on power in the face of international pressure over his nuclear and missile programmes. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi Iran on Monday criticised what it said was coordination between Israel and regional rival Saudi Arabia, describing attempts to create an "international atmosphere" against Tehran. Foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said the two countries "imagine they can compensate for their numerous defeats and failures in the region by creating an international atmosphere against our country." The alignment is "not accidental", he was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency. Israel and Saudi Arabia accuse Iran of fuelling regional conflicts by supporting armed Shiite movements in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Bahrain. Iran rejects the accusations and says Riyadh must stop its support for Sunni "terrorists" like the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Washington last week and said there were now "broader conditions for broad peace in the Middle East between Israel and the Arab countries". Gulf states like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar do not have diplomatic relations with Israel -- although that does not prevent them from sharing informal links. US President Donald Trump's pick for ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, has gone on record pushing for cooperation between the Jewish state and Sunni Arab nations to oppose Iran. "It's unfortunate that this occupying regime (of Israel) is counting on the coordination and collaboration of an Islamic country to further its perpetual anti-Iranian policies," Ghasemi said. A police helicopter flies overhead as defendants are escorted towards the courthouse in Mugla, western Turkey, on February 20, 2017 The trial opened on Monday of almost 50 suspects accused of plotting to assassinate Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a luxury Aegean hotel on the night of the botched July 15 coup. Forty-four suspects, mainly soldiers, are under arrest, while three others still on the run are being tried in absentia at the court in the southern city of Mugla. The suspects, several smartly dressed in suits and ties, were led into the court by security forces in front of television cameras, AFP correspondents said. Onlookers heckled them as they stepped out of the buses that took them from prison, shouting "we want the death penalty!" and "Allahu Akbar" ("God is Greatest"). Erdogan, who was holidaying at a hotel in the upmarket Aegean resort of Marmaris with his family on the night of the coup, has said the plot left him 15 minutes from death. Turkish protestors chant slogans against the 47 suspects whose trial for plotting to assassinate President Recep Tayyip Erdogan starts February 20, 2017 Prosecutors have sought multiple life sentences for each of the suspects, who include an alleged hit squad of 37 soldiers suspected of seeking to carry out the plan. The trial was taking place under the highest security with snipers posted on rooftops and helicopters circling overhead. It is being held in a conference centre rather than a standard courtroom to accommodate the high number of suspects. - 'Game over!' - Turkish officials say the plot to kill Erdogan was a key part of the plan to depose the elected government, a scheme they say was masterminded by the US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen and his so-called Fethullah Terror Organisation (FETO). The plan was to "neutralise the president," Erdogan's lawyer Huseyin Aydin told AFP outside the court. "If our president was neutralised as planned, the course of the coup would have been different. We would have been faced with a different Turkey," he said. Ankara has repeatedly demanded that the United States extradite Gulen, who lives in a secluded compound in the US state of Pennsylvania. The preacher, who is on trial in several cases in Turkey, is one of the three suspects still at large in the assassination plot trial. A defendant is led into court in Mugla Onlookers waving Turkish flags chanted slogans against the accused and Gulen, including "Execution!" and "Game Over, FETO". After the coup, there have been calls to reimpose the death penalty in Turkey, which was abolished in 2004. Its reinstatement would spell the end of Turkey's embattled bid to join the European Union. Despite this, Erdogan has repeatedly told crowds at rallies he would approve legislation reimposing the death penalty if it was approved by parliament. Getting the trial underway, judge Emirsah Bastog said the initial phase would last until March 15, with more hearings in April and then in June. Inside the tense court, suspects were placed at the centre surrounded by dozens of soldiers with batons. - '15 minutes from death' - Accompanied by close family members including his son-in-law, Energy Minister Berat Albayrak, Erdogan managed to flee Marmaris and fly to Istanbul where he oversaw the suppression of the coup. Forty-four suspects are under arrest, while three others still on the run are being tried in absentia "If I had stayed 10 or 15 additional minutes there, I would have been killed or I would have been taken," Erdogan told CNN in an interview on July 18. Two Turkish policemen who were helping to guard Erdogan at the hotel were killed, according to the indictment. Some 43,000 people have been arrested following the coup attempt in a massive crackdown on followers of Gulen that has raised international concerns. Gulen vehemently denies being behind the plot. The Mugla trial is one of many now getting underway across the country to judge the coup suspects, the biggest legal process in the country's modern history. A mother breastfeeds her child who suffers acute malnutrition, at the clinic run by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Aweil, northern Bahr al-Ghazal, South Sudan South Sudan on Monday declared famine in some parts of the country, with more than three years of war leaving nearly five million hungry in what aid groups called a "man-made" tragedy. Isaiah Chol Aruai, chairman of South Sudan's National Bureau of Statistics, said some parts of the northern Greater Unity region "are classified in famine, or... risk of famine". Aid agencies said 100,000 people were affected by the famine, which threaten to affect a further one million people in the coming months. "A formal famine declaration means people have already started dying of hunger. The situation is the worst hunger catastrophe since fighting erupted more than three years ago," said a statement by the World Food Programme (WFP), UN children's agency UNICEF and the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO). South Sudan, the world's youngest nation, was engulfed by civil war in 2013 after President Salva Kiir accused his rival and former deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup against him. An August 2015 peace deal was left in tatters when fighting broke out in Juba in July last year. Violence -- initially between ethnic Dinka supporters of Kiir and ethnic Nuer supporters of Machar -- has since spread to other parts of the country, engulfing other ethnic groups and grievances. The United Nations has warned of potential genocide and ethnic cleansing and there is no prospect of peace in sight. - Humanitarians under attack - Oil-rich Unity State, a traditional Nuer homeland and Machar's birthplace, has been one of the flashpoints in the conflict and has flipped several times between government and rebel forces. Famine in South Sudan "The convergence of evidence shows that the long-term effects of the conflict coupled with high food prices, economic crisis, low agricultural production and depleted livelihood options" have resulted in 4.9 million people going hungry, Aruai said. That figure represents 42 percent of the country's population. The famine classification is made according to an internationally recognised sliding scale of hunger in which an extreme lack of food has led to starvation and death. "The main tragedy of the report that has been launched today... is that the problem is man-made," said Eugene Owusu, the United Nation's Humanitarian Coordinator for South Sudan. "The underlining drivers have been there for some time and we have all known that we have a major food crisis." He said conflict and insecurity for humanitarian workers, who had suffered attacks while carrying out their work, and the looting of "humanitarian assets" had exacerbated the crisis. In September last year, several aid agencies had to pull out of the famine-hit area of Leer because of escalating fighting between the two forces. "I would like to use this opportunity to call on the government, the warring parties and all actors to support humanitarians to provide the necessary access so we can continue to bring lifesaving services to those in need," Owusu said. - Agriculture disrupted - According to aid groups, the number of people facing hunger is expected to rise to 5.5 million at the height of the lean season in July if nothing is done to curb the spread of the food crisis. "Many families have exhausted every means they have to survive," said the FAO's representative in South Sudan, Serge Tissot. South Sudan, the world's youngest nation, was engulfed by civil war in 2013 after President Salva Kiir accused his rival and former deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup against him "The people are predominantly farmers and war has disrupted agriculture. They've lost their livestock, even their farming tools. For months there has been a total reliance on whatever plants they can find and fish they can catch." The famine declaration comes as millions across the Horn of Africa are going hungry due to a devastating drought following two failed rainy seasons. The UN said Monday it is "scaling up assistance and protection" in Somalia, as about 6.2 million Somalis, or half the country's population, is in need of humanitarian assistance. Nearly 1 million children will be acutely malnourished. "The drought situation is deteriorating rapidly," said Peter de Clercq, the humanitarian coordinator for Somalia. "Accelerated scale-up...assistance is required to avoid a dramatic rise in the number of malnourished children and a spike in mortality." Famine last hit the region six years ago, killing an estimated 260,000 people in Somalia. The drought has also affected food security in South Sudan, however the biggest contributor to the famine is the inability of aid agencies to reach areas where the economy has collapsed due to the war. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks in Singapore on February 20, 2017 Benjamin Netanyahu will become the first Israeli Prime Minister to visit Australia on Wednesday on a historic Asia trip that also includes Singapore, but faces protests Down Under. The right-wing Israeli leader will meet with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in Sydney. But a group of 60 business leaders, academics, members of the clergy and former politicians signed a letter released Monday saying that Australia should not welcome Netanyahu, claiming his policies "provoke, intimidate and oppress" the Palestinians. "Israel continues to defy all United Nations calls for it to comply with international law in respect of its illegal settlement building, and its treatment of the indigenous Palestinian population," the letter reads. Demonstrations are planned in Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney during the visit. The letter also calls on the Australian government to reassess its "one-sided" backing of Netanyahu's government. Israel passed a new law this month that legalises dozens of Jewish outposts and thousands of settler homes built on private Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank. The international community sees the settlements as illegal and a major obstacle to peace in the region. Netanyahu has also long wavered on his support for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, that has been on the table for years backed by the US and other major powers, though President Donald Trump recently appeared to put Washington's commitment in doubt. Opposition Labor leader Bill Shorten said he would tell Netanyahu when they meet on Friday "that where settlement building is an obstacle to a two-state solution, it should be stopped". Australia and Israel have traditionally enjoyed friendly ties but this is the first time that a serving Israeli prime minister has visited the country since the establishment of the Jewish state in 1948. Netanyahu on Monday met with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in the city-state, also on a first-time visit. Israel played a key role in Singapore's history after the city-state became independent from Malaysia in 1965, helping to set up its armed forces after other countries declined. Netanyahu said both countries were "kindred spirits" being "small nations that have become in many areas global powers". He is set to arrive in Australia on Wednesday for four days. A former police officer has admitted killing two of his own brothers out of what he described as blind loyalty to the Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Arthur Lascanas broke down in tears as he listed a series of murders in Davao city where Duterte was a mayor ordered by the now President either to eliminate critics or fight crime, which included a journalist and a pregnant woman. Lascanas said he even killed his two brothers, who were involved in drug trafficking, due to 'blind loyalty' to Duterte as well as cash rewards. An emotional retired police officer Arthur Lascanas tells a news conference at the Philippine Senate in suburban Pasay city, south of Manila, Philippines Lascanas said President Rodrigo Duterte, when he was a city mayor, ordered and paid him and other members of a so-called liquidation squad to kill criminals and opponents, including a kidnapping suspect and his entire family and a critical radio commentator Retired police officer Arthur Lascanas, right, leaves after a news conference at the Philippine Senate in suburban Pasay city, south of Manila, Philippines 'Whether we buried them (bodies) or dumped them at sea, we were always paid by Mayor Rody Duterte,' Lascanas said. Duterte has been repeatedly accused of running death squads during more than two decades as Davao mayor, and expanding on those tactics as president in waging a war on drugs that has claimed thousands of lives. Duterte has over the years variously denied and confirmed the existence of a Davao death squad, and claimed to have personally killed people to set an example for police. However presidential spokesman Martin Anadanar on Monday rejected all of Lascanas's claims. 'The press conference of self-confessed hitman Arthur Lascanas is part of a protracted political drama aimed to destroy the president and to topple his administration,' Andanar said in a statement. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gestures during a briefing with the military after his visit at Camp General Basilio Navarro in Zamboanga City, Philippines, last year A member of a Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) team investigating the crime scene where two alleged robbers were killed after a gun fight with police in Manila Shadowy assassins have killed scores of victims in the Philippines after President Rodrigo Duterte officially ordered police to withdraw from his deadly drug war, a rights monitor said The dead body of a man killed by unidentified gunman lying in a street in Manila In one of the most chilling accounts, Lascanas said he and other policemen abducted a suspected kidnapper but also took his seven-month pregnant wife, his four or five-year-old son, his son-in-law and two house helpers. 'Mayor Rody Duterte gave us the signal: 'go ahead, clean them up,' he said. 'In this case, evil prevailed. They killed the entire family in front of me, using a calibre .22 with silencer.' He said Duterte also paid him and other policemen three million pesos ($60,000) for killing in 2003 prominent radio broadcaster Jun Pala, a critic of the then-mayor. A self-confessed hitman last year told a Senate inquiry that Lascanas was a leader of the Davao death squad that killed more than 1,000 people. Lascanas, when he was still a policeman, initially denied to the Senate inquiry that he was involved. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has been repeatedly accused of running death squads during his two decades as Davao mayor and expanding on those tactics in a national war on drugs But, after retiring from the police force in December, Lascanas said his conscience dictated he should now tell the truth and confess to being part of the death squads. Duterte, 71, won presidential elections last year after promising during the campaign to eradicate drugs in society by killing tens of thousands of people. He immediately launched the drug war after taking office on June 30, and more than 6,500 people have died in the crackdown in what Amnesty International has said may amount to crimes against humanity. An Iraqi special forces Counter Terrorism Service member shoots at a drone flown by Islamic State group jihadists in Mosul's al-Rifaq neighbourhood on January 8, 2017 The Islamic State group on Monday claimed responsibility for a suicide attack near Mosul it said was carried out by a British suicide bomber, the SITE Intelligence Group reported. "The martyrdom-seeking brother Abu Zakariya al-Britani -- may Allah accept him -- detonated his explosives-laden vehicle on a headquarters of the Rafidhi army and its militias in Tal Kisum village, southwest of Mosul," the claim quoted by SITE said. The IS statement did not say when the bombing occurred. The jihadist group uses the word "rafidha", which means "rejectionists", to refer to Shiite Muslims in a derogatory way because it considers them heretics. Forces from the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation), a paramilitary umbrella dominated by Shiite militias backed by Tehran, are active in the area mentioned in the statement. They are fighting alongside other Iraqi forces -- including the army and the federal police -- as part of a push that started on Sunday to retake the west bank of Mosul. Tens of thousands of Iraqi forces launched a massive offensive on October 17 to retake the city, which is Iraq's second largest and the only remaining major stronghold of the jihadists in the country. They retook control of the eastern side of Mosul last month. IS fighters of a variety of nationalities, including Britons, have carried out suicide attacks on many occasions in Iraq and Syria in the past three years. The IS statement said that the British fighter's attack, and that of another suicide bomber of Iraqi nationality, caused many casualties but AFP could not immediately verify the claim. France's far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen discussed the refugee crisis during her visit to Lebanon, on February 20, 2017 France's far-right leader and presidential candidate Marine Le Pen on Monday met a foreign head of state for the first time, holding talks in Beirut with Lebanon's President Michel Aoun. "We discussed the long and fruitful friendship between our two countries," the National Front (FN) leader said after her 30-minute encounter at the presidential palace in the hilltop suburb of Baabda with Aoun, the Middle East's only Christian president. Le Pen, who is leading polls of voters' intentions for the first round of France's presidential election on April 23, said they also discussed the refugee crisis in Lebanon, where more than one million Syrians have fled their country's conflict and now make up one in four of the population. "We raised... the concerns we share over the very serious refugee crisis," she said. "These difficulties are being overcome by the courage and generosity of Lebanon but this cannot go on for ever." The FN leader, whose party takes an anti-immigrant stance, called Sunday for the international community to step up humanitarian aid to keep the refugees in Lebanon. France's far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen (L) is greeted by Lebanese President Michel Aoun ahead of talks at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, on February 20, 2017 Le Pen also met Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, a Sunni Muslim, who cautioned against associating his religion with the terrorist attacks of the jihadists who have repeatedly targeted France. "The worst mistake would be the amalgam between Islam and Muslims on one hand and terrorism on the other hand," Hariri said, in a statement issued by his office. "The Lebanese and Arabs, like the majority of the world, consider France to be the homeland of human rights and of the republican state that makes no ethnic, religious or class distinction between its citizens," he said. On the refugee crisis, Hariri called on the international community "to assume its responsibilities". Le Pen later had talks with Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil. Emerging from that meeting, she told reporters asking her about the best ways of protecting the Christians of the Middle East: "Eradicating radical Islam." "Protecting Christians means that they must be able to continue to live on their lands," she added. On Tuesday, Le Pen is to meet Lebanon's grand mufti, the leader of its Sunni community, the Maronite Christian patriarch and rightist Christian party leader Samir Geagea. Shunned by European leaders over her party's stance on immigration and its anti-EU message, Le Pen's meeting with Aoun aimed to boost her international credibility. France had mandate power over both Lebanon and Syria during the first half of the 20th century. Rival presidential hopeful and former French economy minister Emmanuel Macron visited Beirut on January 24, where he met both Aoun and Hariri. Le Pen has met few top foreign officials since taking control of the FN in 2011. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has refused to meet with her. And Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy told AFP last week that "a victory of the populists would be the end of Europe", a clear reference to Le Pen's call for a referendum on France's EU membership. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is hoping for partnerships with Maghreb countries and Egypt to prevent a new wave of migrants making the dangerous sea crossing to the EU German Chancellor Angela Merkel visits Algeria from Monday to press efforts to get North African countries to reduce the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean into Europe. Merkel, who last week hosted Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef Chahed, is hoping for partnerships with Maghreb countries and Egypt to prevent a new wave of migrants making the dangerous sea crossing to the EU. Merkel arrives in Algiers at 1700 GMT before holding meetings with Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal and, on Tuesday, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Algeria is a key actor in seeking to stabilise neighbouring Libya, which has lacked a functioning government since the 2011 overthrow of Moamer Kadhafi and has become the main gateway for African migrants bound for Italy. But elsewhere in the region too, desperate people, many from sub-Saharan Africa, are trying to cross into the EU -- an influx the 28-nation bloc fears will rise again with the onset of warmer weather in spring. Some 300 migrants Monday stormed the double wire fence between Morocco and the Spanish North African territory of Ceuta, after nearly 500 made it over on Friday, one of the largest groups in more than a decade. Merkel's North Africa diplomacy comes after she spearheaded a controversial EU deal with Ankara a year ago that helped sharply reduce the influx of migrants who passed through Turkey and western Balkan countries into the bloc. - Public backlash - Merkel, confronted with the rise of the anti-immigration AfD party ahead of elections in September, has been under intense pressure to reduce the number of asylum seekers in Germany, which has taken in over one million migrants and refugees since 2015. Public fears have been heightened by a number of jihadist attacks last year, especially the Berlin Christmas market truck rampage in December that claimed 12 lives, blamed on Tunisian rejected asylum seeker Anis Amri. Previously, popular anger was fanned on New Year's Eve 2015-16, when large groups of mostly North African men sexually assaulted and robbed hundreds of women in the western German city of Cologne. Merkel, as a sweetener to the North African countries, has pledged closer economic ties and more security cooperation in fighting jihadists, billed as efforts to discourage people from fleeing their countries in the first place. During her visit to Algeria, an oil-rich major client for German defence exports, she will on Tuesday attend a meeting of the German-Algerian economic forum. She promoted similar cooperation efforts last October during visits to major migrant transit countries Mali and Niger, which border Algeria. Desperate people, many from sub-Saharan Africa, are trying to cross into the EU Ultimately, Berlin has indicated it is hoping for some North African countries to set up holding facilities for African migrants rescued at sea, though no country has so far publicly voiced enthusiasm for the proposal. - Rights concerns - At home, Merkel is facing growing criticism from human rights groups for seeking to strike deals with Turkey and the Maghreb countries, given concerns over the rights records of their governments and security forces. This concern has held up another policy goal of Merkel -- to officially designate Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia "safe countries of origin", as it has done with most Balkan countries -- to further raise the bar for asylum requests. A bill to place the three countries in this category has been held up in Germany's upper house of parliament since mid-2016. While most refugees from war-torn Syria have qualified for temporary safe haven in Germany, applicants from Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco already have mostly failed because their countries are considered stable. Last year, the success rate of asylum requests was 3.5 percent for Moroccans, 2.7 percent for Algerians and just 0.8 percent for Tunisians. German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere last year visited all three Maghreb countries to urge better cooperation on repatriations. Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj has struggled to impose its authority, particularly in eastern Libya where a rival administration holds sway A convoy carrying Libya's contested unity government chief, Fayez al-Sarraj, and other top officials came under heavy gunfire Monday in Tripoli, but they survived unharmed, spokesmen for his administration said. "The convoy of GNA (Government of National Accord) chief Fayez al-Sarraj... came under fire as it passed near the Abu Slim sector of Tripoli," said spokesman Ashraf al-Thulthi. "All the cars were armoured-plated, and there were no injuries," he told AFP, adding an investigation was underway to identify the assailants. Mohamed Salem, a spokesman for the supreme state council, said its head, Abdel Rahman al-Swehli, was also in the convoy as well as presidential guards chief, Najmi al-Nakou. The convoy came under "intensive gunfire" in eastern Tripoli and two guards were wounded, according to Salem. Libya has been submerged in chaos since the fall and slaying of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in a NATO-backed 2011 armed uprising. Sarraj's fragile GNA, formed under a UN-backed deal signed in late 2015, has struggled to impose its authority, particularly in eastern Libya where a rival administration holds sway. Women have been named to head Saudi Arabia's stock exchange and a major bank Women have been named to head Saudi Arabia's stock exchange and a major bank, the institutions announced, despite the kingdom's social restrictions on females. Samba Financial Group on Sunday said Rania Mahmoud Nashar had begun work as chief executive officer. The announcement came three days after the Saudi stock exchange, known as Tadawul, named Sarah al-Suhaimi as chairman of its board. While other Saudi women have already assumed corporate leadership positions, their rise comes against some of the world's tightest restrictions on women. The kingdom is the only country in the world where women cannot drive. Under the "guardianship" system a male family member, normally the father, husband or brother, must grant permission for a woman's study, travel and other activities. Although the government no longer requires guardian permission for women to work, activists have said many employers still demand guardian consent in order to hire a woman. In a notice to the Saudi stock exchange, Samba said Nashar had almost 20 year's experience in banking and had followed an "executive career" programme at Samba. Samba also said that Nashar was the first Saudi woman certified as an anti-money laundering specialist by a respected American association of experts who combat financial crime. Her appointment as CEO followed the resignation of general manager Sajjad Razvi for personal reasons. Tadawul's Sarah al-Suhaimi is the CEO of NCB Capital, the investment banking arm of National Commercial Bank. She was the first female head of a Saudi investment bank when named to that post in 2014, according to Bloomberg News. It said she is expected to remain at the bank while leading Tadawul, the Arab world's largest bourse. As part of a wideranging social and economic reform drive to cope with fallen oil revenues, Saudi Arabia is trying to get more women working. In the third quarter of last year the unemployment rate for Saudi females was 34.5 percent, compared with 5.7 percent for Saudi males, according to figures cited by the firm Jadwa Investment. By 2020 the Islamic kingdom wants to boost the proportion of women in the job market to 28 percent from 23 percent last year. Bangladesh has been reeling from a wave of attacks by Islamist extremists who have killed some 80 people, including around a dozen secular bloggers and writers Bangladesh police on Monday detained an Islamist who had been sentenced to death in his absence in 2015 for planning the gruesome murder of a secular blogger. Police said they had caught Rezwanul Azad Rana, a 34-year-old former student at one of the country's top universities, and one other man when they raided a house in a suburb of Dhaka. Rana had been on the run since the start of his trial for the murder of blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider, who was hacked to death with machetes in February 2013 in the first of a string of attacks targeting secular writers in Bangladesh. "The counter-terrorism and transnational crime unit of police has arrested Rana along with an assistant militant named Ashraf during a raid from a house at Uttara suburb in the capital Dhaka," said a statement on the Dhaka police website. It gave no further details of Ashraf's identity. Rana was convicted and sentenced to death in December 2015 along with another former student at North South University, Faisal bin Nayem, who is in custody. Police said Haider had angered his attackers by writing against Islam and allegedly mocking the Prophet Mohammed on blog sites. Bangladesh has suffered a spate of attacks on secular activists, foreigners and religious minorities in recent years. Last year 22 people were killed, most of them foreigners, when Islamist attackers besieged a popular Dhaka cafe. Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have claimed responsibility for several of the attacks, but Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's secular government has pinned the blame on local extremists. Since the cafe attack security forces have launched a deadly crackdown on Islamist extremists, killing around 50. Russian soldiers in the Syrian city of Aleppo Four Russian military personnel were killed and two injured when their vehicle was targeted with explosives in central Syria last week, a defence ministry statement quoted by Russian agencies said Monday. "Four Russian servicemen died when their car exploded on a radio-controlled IED on February 16, 2017, in Syria," the statement said. "Two more were injured. Russian military medics are trying to save their lives." "The convoy of Syrian army cars, in which the vehicle with Russian military advisers was travelling, was en route from the Tiyas airfield area toward the city of Homs," it said. "After they travelled four kilometres, a radio-controlled explosive was activated under the car with Russian servicemen." The four deaths raise the number of Russian military officially reported killed in Syria to 26 since it started its campaign in Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad on September 30, 2015. Another soldier committed suicide. Angela Merkel with Abdelaziz Bouteflika in Berlin in 2010 Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika had acute bronchitis on Monday, causing German Chancellor Angela Merkel to call off a visit to Algeria at the last minute, the presidency said. Bouteflika, Algeria's longest-serving leader, suffered a mini-stroke in 2013 that affected his mobility and speech. The 79-year-old has since appeared in public on only a handful of occasions and has travelled several times to France for medical treatment. "Algerian and German authorities have today mutually agreed to postpone the official visit" by Merkel, Algeria's presidency said in a statement. "This postponement is due to the fact that Mr Bouteflika, who is at his residence in Algiers, is temporarily unavailable due to acute bronchitis," it said. In Berlin, the chancellor's office said: "The Algerian government asked at the last minute that the visit be called off" and Merkel had accepted this. Algerians had expected Bouteflika -- the North African country's longest-serving leader -- to step down at the end of his third term, but instead he won re-election in 2014, despite his frail health. Bouteflika has been confined to a wheelchair since his stroke, entertaining foreign guests at his home in Zeralda west of the capital and making few public appearances. Bouteflika travelled to France in November for "periodic medical checks", but in recent months National Liberation Front chief Djamel Ould Abbes had said his health was improving -- even mentioning a possible fifth term in 2019. - 'Serious problems' - "It's the first time in Algerian diplomacy that such a visit has been cancelled," political analyst Rachid Tlemcani said. The last-minute cancellation of Merkel's trip showed "the Algerian government was tackling serious problems", he said, and reignited a debate about Bouteflika's capacity to act as head of state. "The situation in the country has become unmanageable due to the president's state of health," Tlemcani said. "After the cancellation of this visit for a medical reason, it will be difficult for his supporters to defend the idea of a fifth term." Bouteflika's opponents had spoken of a "power vacuum" since his stroke. Elected for the first time in 1999, Bouteflika turns 80 on March 2. The infirm leader made a rare public appearance in September, attending the opening of a new international conference centre in Algiers. Flanked by his younger brother Said, a wheelchair-bound Bouteflika unveiled a plaque at the site before touring parts of the new complex, state television showed. - African migrants - Merkel had been due to arrive in the capital at 1700 GMT Monday as part of efforts to get North African countries to reduce the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean into Europe. The German leader, who last week hosted Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef Chahed, hopes for partnerships with Maghreb countries and Egypt to prevent a new wave of migrants making the dangerous sea crossing to the European Union. Algeria is a key actor in seeking to stabilise neighbouring Libya, which has lacked a functioning government since the 2011 overthrow of Moamer Kadhafi and has become the main gateway for African migrants bound for Italy. But elsewhere in the region too, desperate people, many from sub-Saharan Africa, are trying to cross into the European Union -- an influx the 28-nation bloc fears will rise again with the onset of warmer weather in spring. Some 300 migrants on Monday stormed the double wire fence between Morocco and the Spanish North African territory of Ceuta, after nearly 500 made it over on Friday, one of the largest groups to do so in more than a decade. Merkel's North Africa diplomacy comes after she spearheaded a controversial EU deal with Ankara a year ago that helped sharply reduce the influx of migrants who passed through Turkey and western Balkan countries into the bloc. Merkel, confronted with the rise of the anti-immigration AfD party ahead of elections in September, has been under intense pressure to reduce the number of asylum seekers in Germany, which has taken in more than one million migrants and refugees since 2015. Saudi police secure a neighbourhood Prosecutors in Saudi Arabia are seeking the death penalty for a suspect accused of opening fire on German diplomats, a newspaper reported on Monday. The two envoys escaped unharmed when bullets hit their car in the Shiite-dominated Awamiya area three years ago, police said at the time. Awamiya, on the Gulf Coast near Dammam, has been a centre of unrest among the minority Shiite community since protests began there in 2011 and developed into a call for equality. A trial began on Sunday in Riyadh for the suspect, who was not named but could face the death penalty, Okaz newspaper reported. Almost a year after the shooting the interior ministry said it had arrested a suspect, Salem bin Abdullah bin Hussein, who was wanted for a number of violent crimes. Okaz reported that the man on trial before a court specialising in "terrorist" cases is accused of several offences. These include attacking a diplomatic vehicle, attempting to kill police, participating in demonstrations, inciting sedition and causing sectarian strife, the newspaper said. The Germans' car was hit by fire from an automatic weapon which caused the vehicle to burn, it said. Okaz said the accused asked the court for one month to prepare his defence. German media reports after the shooting said the two Germans worked for their country's BND foreign intelligence service, something Berlin's foreign ministry declined to comment directly on at the time. Awamiya was the home of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, who was convicted of terrorism and executed one year ago. Nimr was a driving force behind protests by Shiite residents that began in 2011 and developed into a call for equality. Most of Saudi Arabia's Shiites live in the east and have long complained of marginalisation in the Sunni-dominated kingdom. Data from activists late last year showed 25 Shiites were on death row allegedly related to incidents since 2012 in Qatif, the Shiite-dominated area that includes Awamiya. Maria Guadalupe Guereca visits the grave of her murdered son Sergio Hernandez in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico Guadalupe Guereca wants just one thing: "Justice." In a choked voice, the 59-year-old woman recounts the death of her teenage son, fatally shot on Mexican soil by an American policeman standing on the US side of the border. "He was taken away from me forever," the gray-haired mother said, sitting on the bed in her small home. The killing of Sergio Hernandez Guerece will be examined by the US Supreme Court on Tuesday, coming at a time when President Donald Trump has called for building a border wall to keep out Mexican undesirables. The shooting occurred June 7, 2010. The 15-year-old Hernandez was playing around with three friends in the dry riverbed of the Rio Grande that separates the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez from its Texan neighbor El Paso. The four friends were racing up the concrete embankment to touch the barbed-wire fence on the US side, and racing back down. The unmarked border line runs through the middle of the culvert. Maria Guadalupe Guereca's shrine at her house for her murdered son Sergio Hernandez Their game bothered Border Patrol agent Jesus Mesa, who managed to grab one of the troublemakers. He aimed his gun and fired, striking Hernandez in the head. The teen died in Mexican territory, and the US justice system has so far prevented his family from suing the border agent in American courts. Guereca described her son as a "very good" boy, saying he was extremely attached to her as the youngest of her seven sons. "We were always very close," she explained, as her pale eyes filled with tears. Two photographs of Hernandez, taken shortly before he was killed, are displayed on a dresser. They are the only photos that remain, she said, because her other children slowly removed the other ones so she's not constantly reminded of him. But even now, more than six years after his death, she still takes out all of her son's clothes once a month and washes them. Each week she visits his grave in the local cemetery, where brightly colored flowers stand out amid the drab desert landscape. - 'Viva Keko' - She speaks to her son there, and asks him to take care of his brothers as well as two sisters who are living as illegal immigrants in the United States. "That's your assignment," she said. Maria Guadalupe Guereca cries during an interview with AFP at her house in Ciudad Juarez Guereco worries about the impact of Trump's hardening immigration policies. "I hope he has a change of heart and will let them stay there," she said. "I am fighting for my son but also for other people who have suffered in similar cases," she said. Hernandez's death is by no means the only one to have happened under similar circumstances. According to Bob Hilliard, an attorney with Hilliard, Munoz, & Gonzales, the firm representing the Hernandez family before the Supreme Court, US border patrols have fatally shot at least eight Mexicans between 2006 and 2016 in cross-border incidents. Maria Guadalupe Guereca wants just one thing: "Justice" "Losing in the Supreme Court and denying legal rights to Sergio's parents is practically giving the green light to massacre Mexicans," said Richard Boren, a volunteer from the Border Patrol Victims Network, based in the border city of Nogales, which supports the relatives of victims in similar incidents. Under the bridge where trains pass between Cuidad Juarez and El Paso, a memorial to Hernandez is painted on a column. "Your mom and brother remember you," says a message inscribed on a blue cross marked with the date of his death. Another message refers to the teen by his nickname: "Viva Keko!" Israeli soldier Elor Azaria (centre) is flanked by his parents during his manslaughter trial at a military court in Tel Aviv, on January 31, 2017 An Israeli court is expected on Tuesday to sentence Elor Azaria, a soldier convicted of manslaughter for shooting dead a wounded Palestinian attacker as he lay on the ground. Who is Azaria and why does the case matter? What did Azaria do? On March 24, 2016 French-Israeli Azaria, 21, was on a tour of duty in the southern West Bank, which Israel has occupied for 50 years. Two Palestinians stabbed another soldier in the city of Hebron. One was shot dead and the other, Abdul Fatah al-Sharif, was wounded. Several minutes after the attack Azaria, who was not present during the incident, arrived at the scene and shot Sharif in the head without any apparent provocation. The incident was caught on video by a rights group and widely shared, with Palestinian leaders labelling it an "execution." The Israeli military arrested Azaria and opened prosecutions. What happened at trial? Over the course of the eight-month trial, Azaria's legal team argued he thought Sharif, 21, still posed a threat to the soldiers as he may have been wearing a suicide vest. Conversely, they also argued he may already have been dead when he was shot by Azaria. The prosecution said Azaria had shot Sharif on purpose without orders from his superiors and without provocation. "I have read thousands of pages without ever finding in Israel or the world a single legal document that declares it legal to shoot at a person who has been shot and wounded for many minutes," prosecutor Nadav Weissman said in his summing up in November. What did the court find? On January 4 the court found Azaria guilty of manslaughter, concluding there was no justification for his actions. Judge Colonel Maya Heller called his testimony "evolving and evasive." "His motive for shooting was that he felt the terrorist deserved to die," she said. Later that month the prosecution asked for a sentence of three to five years. His family, however, pleaded for leniency, saying he had suffered enough during 10 months detained at a military base. How has it affected Israel? The trial has deeply divided the Jewish state, with right-wing politicians defending his actions despite top army brass condemning them. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu initially condemned the killing but later, under pressure from rightwing ministers, called Azaria's father in an act of support. After the January conviction, Netanyahu controversially announced he supported pardoning Azaria. Any decision on a pardon would be made not by Netanyahu but President Reuven Rivlin. The army leadership, however, has argued it is important for the institution's reputation to punish those who transgress. Iraqi forces, supported by the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) paramilitaries, advance near the village of Husseinyah, south of Mosul on February 20, 2017 Iraqi forces backed by jets and helicopters battled their way towards southern Mosul on Monday and prepared to take on the Islamic State group's stronghold in the city's west bank. The fresh push in the four-month-old operation to retake Mosul has sparked fears for 750,000 trapped civilians who risk being killed if they try to flee and starvation if they stay. Federal police forces reached the Aqrab checkpoint on the highway from Baghdad, a spot that marks the southern entrance to Mosul and from which the city is clearly visible. "Today we are standing in Aqrab. It is very important because it is considered to be Mosul's southern gate," Lieutenant General Haider al-Mtoury, of the federal police, told an AFP reporter. He said his forces faced many IS car bombs and suicide bombers as they advanced to within barely two kilometres (just over a mile) of the city limits. Iraq forces launch operation to retake west Mosul Iraqi forces also secured a strategic area known as the Al-Buseif hills near Mosul airport, which lies on the southern approach to the city. Meanwhile, Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) paramilitaries pushed north on their desert front further west and reached the road linking Mosul to Tal Afar, a town to the west which is still under IS control. That will further isolate what senior US officials said Monday were the 2,000 IS fighters still left inside Mosul. The assault launched on Sunday marks a new phase in the broad operation that began on October 17 to retake Mosul, Iraq's second city and the jihadists' last major stronghold in the country. Its recapture would deal a death blow to the "caliphate" IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed in the city in June 2014 but which has been shrinking steadily for two years as anti-IS forces advanced. - Mattis in Baghdad - But it took Iraq's most seasoned forces, the elite Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), two months to retake east Mosul, where IS put up stiffer than expected resistance. Iraqi forces, supported by the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) paramilitaries, advance near the village of Husseinyah, south of Mosul on February 20, 2017 Commanders and experts believe the city's west bank of the Tigris river could prove even harder to retake, with the Old City's narrow streets necessitating perilous dismounted raids. IS also "likely has stronger support within western Mosul, and the ISF (Iraqi security forces) are more likely to encounter populations that are wary or hostile", said Patrick Martin, Iraq analyst at the Institute for the Study of War. CTS forces, who have urban warfare experience, were seen heading across the desert to the western side of Mosul on Monday. They are expected to breach west Mosul once other forces have moved up to the city limits. Iraqi forces were receiving support from a US-led coalition that has delivered more than 10,000 munitions on IS targets since the start of the Mosul operation. Iraqi security forces evacuate a comrade, wounded in an explosives-laden vehicle attack claimed by Islamic State group, as the troops advance towards the village of Husseinyah, south of Mosul on February 20, 2017 The new Pentagon chief, James Mattis, made a brief visit to Baghdad Monday to show support for the Iraqi security forces, more than 80,000 of whom have also received training from the coalition since 2014. Confident that the Iraqi forces, with increased support from US and other coalition advisers on the ground, had the upper hand, he said the jihadists were "going to be shown exactly what they are, which is a bunch of murderous relics". Before landing in Baghdad, he told reporters the United States was not about to plunder Iraq's oil reserves. US President Donald Trump repeatedly said both while campaigning and since his election that America, whose troops occupied Iraq for years, should have "taken" the oil. "All of us in America have generally paid for gas and oil all along, and I am sure that we will continue to do so in the future," Mattis said. "We are not in Iraq to seize anybody's oil." - Coalition staying - He also said he was confident Iraq's people and leadership "recognise what they are up against and the value of the coalition". The commander of the 60-nation US-led coalition, which has more than 9,000 forces deployed in Iraq, was more explicit and said he expected the coalition to stay in the country after Mosul is retaken. "I don't anticipate that we will be asked to leave by the government of Iraq immediately after Mosul," Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend told reporters. As Iraqi forces advanced on besieged jihadists in Mosul, fears grew for the estimated 750,000 civilian also trapped there with dwindling food supplies. Save the Children said on Sunday that all parties should protect the estimated 350,000 children among them. "This is the grim choice for children in western Mosul right now: bombs, crossfire and hunger if they stay -- or execution and snipers if they try to run," said the charity's Iraq director, Maurizio Crivallero. More than half a million residents stayed home when Iraqi forces entered east Mosul to battle IS there, leading to smaller displacement than initially feared. But the aid community said the assault on west Mosul could cause a bigger exodus, and the UN said it was building more camps around the city. A migrant after hundreds of migrants storm the border between Morocco and Spain at Ceuta on February 18, 2017 The Spanish outposts of Ceuta and Melilla in northern Morocco, which have the European Union's only land borders with Africa, are tempting launch pads for clandestine immigration to continental Europe. - Reinforced borders - Ceuta, a former Roman colony of 85,000 people, measures about 18 square kilometres (seven square miles) and lies just across the Strait of Gibraltar from Spain. It was captured by the Arabs and the Portuguese and has been under Spanish sovereignty since 1640. Melilla, measuring about 200 square kilometres, is perched on the eastern edge of Morocco's Mediterranean coast, and has been under Spanish control since 1497. It has a diverse population of about 85,000, of which around half are Muslims, and thousands of Moroccans go there to work and shop every day. Thousands of migrants have attempted to cross the 12-kilometre (7.5 mile) frontier between Melilla and Morocco, or the eight-kilometre border at Ceuta, by climbing the border fences, swimming along the coast or hiding in vehicles. More than 350 migrants stormed the six-metre-high double fence at Ceuta on Monday, just days after nearly 500 migrants made it over, one of the biggest entries since the barrier was reinforced in 2005. The two territories are protected by fences fortified with barbed wire, video cameras and watchtowers. Migrants have died or been injured trying to breach the barriers. On January 1 more than 1,000 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa tried to scale the fence at Ceuta during a violent assault in which one officer lost an eye. - Disputed territory - Both exclaves were conquered as part of a strategy by Catholic kings of establishing advance posts of Christendom on the African continent following the expulsion of Moors and Jews from Spain in 1492. Claimed by Morocco, the two cities have long been a flashpoint in diplomatic relations between Madrid and Rabat, with Madrid insisting that both are integral parts of Spain. Both port cities have developed as military and trade centres linking Africa to Europe, and since the 1990s have enjoyed a status similar to other autonomous areas such as the Basque region and Catalonia. Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. Judicial decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heartless. A right delayed is a right denied.Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true. Martin Luther King Jr. No one is born hating another person People must learn to hate and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite. Nelson Mandela We can disagree and still love each other, unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist James Baldwin There is a fine line between free speech and hate speech. Free speech encourages debate whereas hate speech incites violence. Newton Lee The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything. Albert Einstein South African Police attend a protest outside Parliament in Cape Town Nigeria on Monday urged the African Union to step in to stop what it said were "xenophobic attacks" on its citizens and other Africans in South Africa. The presidency said there was a need for the continental body to "intervene urgently," claiming that in the last two years "about 116" Nigerians had been killed, including 20 last year. "This is unacceptable to the people and government of Nigeria," a senior presidential aide on foreign affairs, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said in an emailed statement. There was no independent verification of the claimed number of deaths, which may have been the result of wider criminal activities rather than anti-immigrant sentiment. According to the Nigerian Union in South Africa, there are about 800,000 Nigerians in South Africa, many of them living in Johannesburg. The community was hit badly by the wave of xenophobic violence that hit the country in April 2015 but South African police said only seven Nigerians died. An independent watchdog has said 640 people died from police brutality or in custody in South Africa. Dabiri-Erewa renewed Abuja's call on the government in Pretoria to take "decisive and definite measures" to protect Nigerian citizens and other Africans in South Africa. She said there was credible information that more attacks were being planned for Wednesday and Thursday. Nigeria has met senior South African officials, including the resident high commissioner to protest against the attacks on its citizens. South Africans police and government officials were not immediately available to comment. Islamic State activists wanted an Arab Israeli to plan an attack on a Tel Aviv bus, Shin Bet says Israel's Shin Bet security service said on Monday it had arrested an Arab Israeli on suspicion of aiding the jihadist Islamic State (IS) group and plotting attacks in the Jewish state. Its agents and police had arrested Anas Haj Yahya, 35, from the northern town of Taibe, on January 29 "in the wake of intelligence information which pointed to him as someone working to promote terror within the state of Israel". He was formally charged on Monday in a court in Lod, central Israel, Shin Bet said in a statement, without detailing the charges. "During interrogation by the Shin Bet, it became clear that he was in contact with 'Islamic State' activists" through internet forums, the Hebrew-language statement said. He had been asked by IS contacts abroad to plan an attack on a Tel Aviv bus and on Israeli soldiers "but the plan was never carried out". "Among items seized at his home were pictures of military material and explosive charges," the statement added. Several Arabs from northern Israel have been arrested for alleged links with IS and around 50 Arab Israelis are currently believed to be among its ranks in Syria and Iraq. Israel added IS to its list of terrorist organisations in October 2015. Arab Israelis are the descendants of Palestinians who remained on their land after the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. Saudi Minister of Energy, Industrial and Mineral Resources, Khaled al-Falih, said the kingdom will begin its plan to wean itself off oil The world's biggest oil exporter on Monday took the first step towards a goal of generating 9.5 GW of energy through solar and other renewable means. It invited local and international firms to try to qualify for bidding on two projects. One is for 300 MW of solar energy to be built in Al-Jouf province, in the kingdom's north. The second is for a 400 MW wind power development in Tabuk, northwestern Saudi Arabia, the energy ministry said in a statement. Government estimates say Saudi peak energy demand is expected to exceed 120 gigawatts by 2032. Virtually all of the kingdom's power currently comes from crude, refined oil or natural gas. But as part of the Vision 2030 economic reform plan to wean the kingdom off oil, it has set a target of 9.5 GW of renewable energy by 2023. "This marks the starting point of a long and sustained program of renewable energy deployment in Saudi Arabia," Khaled al-Falih, Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources, said in the statement. He said this will not only diversify the kingdom's power mix but will also catalyse economic development. Reaching the 9.5 GW target will cost between $30 billion and $50 billion, Falih said last month. Companies will have until March 20 to file documents for bidding pre-qualification. Those which are successful will be announced by April 10. Formal proposals can then be presented until July, the ministry said. Rebel fighters, part of the Turkey-backed Euphrates Shield alliance, advance on February 20, 2017, towards the city of Al-Bab, some 30 kilometres from the Syrian city of Aleppo Eleven members of the same family were killed on Monday as Turkey-backed Syrian rebels advanced on the town of Al-Bab held by Islamic State jihadists, a monitoring group said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said four couples and three children were killed in their homes in the centre of town as it came under heavy bombardment and Turkish air strikes aimed at clearing the way for a rebel advance. The rebels gained ground, dodging snipers and deadly roadside bombs planted across the jihadist bastion. With help from Turkish soldiers, artillery fire and air strikes, the "Euphrates Shield" rebel alliance launched a major push into the northern town. "Euphrates Shield fighters gathered last night and divided up the town into three axes to facilitate the storming of Al-Bab," said local field commander Abu Jaafar, speaking to AFP inside the town. The rebels began their offensive at midnight, seizing control of a hospital building, a key roundabout and a school complex in the town's western half, Abu Jaafar said. Some rebels could be seen taking a short break on the western edges of the city after having spent around 12 hours in fierce street fighting. "We've faced some difficulty with Daesh snipers -- there were more than 10 snipers last night that surprised our troops," Abu Jaafar said, using the Arabic acronym for IS. "More than 10 of our forces were killed (Monday), and dozens wounded, because of the mines planted by this treacherous organisation," he added. He said roadside bombs that could be detonated remotely had been particularly deadly. Al-Bab is IS's final stronghold in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo -- second only in importance to the jihadist group's de facto capital in neighbouring Raqa. Turkey began military operations in Syria in August, crossing south into the war-ravaged country to fight both IS and Kurdish forces that it regards as terrorists. Euphrates Shield forces initially swept across swathes of border territory easily, but they stalled around Al-Bab in December. According to the Syrian Observatory, the rebel advance into Al-Bab on Monday was relatively modest -- 200 metres (yards) into the town's west. "There is fierce bombardment from Turkish forces on IS positions in Al-Bab," the Britain-based monitor said. It has said that more than 110 civilians have been killed in just two weeks of Turkish shelling on the town, but Ankara has said it does its best to avoid civilian casualties. Dozens of civilians have been fleeing Al-Bab every day, according to the monitor, leaving newly liberated areas as well as escaping territory still under IS control. On Monday, Abu Jaafar told AFP that at least 10 families had been evacuated out of battleground districts in Al-Bab. One fleeing resident, Jaafar Ahmad, spoke with a quaking voice as he recounted what he had seen. "I saw destruction -- the artillery and the airplanes shelling. There's destruction everywhere," Ahmad said. "We got out safe and sound, thank God, and the town is now encircled." General Mike Flynn's resignation as national security adviser was accepted on February 13, 2017 US Vice President Mike Pence said Monday he was disappointed that Michael Flynn gave him "inaccurate" information about his contacts with Russia before he resigned as national security adviser. But Pence defended President Donald Trump's handling of the resignation as proper and timely and said he had "great confidence" in the administration's security plans. "I would tell you that I was disappointed that .. the facts that had been conveyed to me by General Flynn were inaccurate," Pence told a press conference in Brussels. On February 13, the White House said Trump had accepted Flynn's resignation amid allegations the retired three-star general discussed US sanctions strategy with Russia's ambassador to Washington before Trump's inauguration. Pence had publicly defended Flynn, saying he did not discuss sanctions, putting his own credibility at risk. In his resignation letter, Flynn -- who once headed US military intelligence -- admitted to "inadvertently" misleading Pence about the substance of the call. US Vice-President Mike Pence defended President Donald Trump's handling of Michael Flynn's resignation as proper and timely "I fully support the president's decision to ask for his resignation," Pence said when asked if the administration kept him out of the loop on Flynn's contacts. "It was the proper decision, it was handled properly and in a timely way. I have great confidence in the national security team of this administration going forward," Pence said. Flynn's unprecedented early departure poured fuel on demands for a full independent investigation into alleged collusion between Trump's inner circle and the Kremlin. US media reported that the Justice Department had warned the White House that Flynn had misled senior administration officials about the contents of his talks with ambassador Sergey Kislyak, and that it could make him vulnerable to Russian blackmail. The Kremlin has previously denied that Flynn and Kislyak discussed the lifting of US sanctions. Flynn -- who has previously met Russian President Vladimir Putin -- was a vocal supporter of a softer policy on Russia after ties plunged over Moscow's meddling in Ukraine and allegations of interference in the US election. The Kremlin is hoping that Trump will follow through on his pledge to improve relations with Russia and may eventually wind back damaging sanctions that have battered its economy. EU and NATO leaders who have been meeting Pence on his European trip have expressed concern the Trump administration is less committed to transatlantic ties and is taking a softer line on Russia. Protestors march down Central Park West in New York City during a "Not My President Day" rally on February 20, 2017 About 10,000 anti-Trump protesters marched in New York to shouts of "not my president!" Monday, joined by others in cities across the United States on its Presidents' Day holiday. After a raucous first month in office, President Donald Trump returned to Washington after spending a weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Miami Beach, Florida, which he calls the "Winter White House." The "Not My Presidents Day" protests aim to show grassroots opposition to the Republican president remains fervent one month after his January 20 inauguration. Controversies over the property tycoon's unprecedented approach to running the world's remaining superpower are at full-pitch amid investigations into ties between Trump and his associates with Russia. The 70-year-old political novice has raised eyebrows in Twitter postings, his preferred method of public communication that bypasses the nation's media, which he calls "the enemy of the American people." He tweeted an all-caps message to celebrate the holiday, writing: "HAPPY PRESIDENTS DAY - MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!" Demonstrators rally in Dupont Circle prior to marching to the White House during a "Not My President Day" protest in Washington, DC, February 20, 2017 With his job approval rating at a historically low 40 percent, according to a Gallup poll published Friday, the 45th US president is expected this week to work on filling out his administration's top spots and rejigging his controversial immigration restrictions order that was blocked by the courts. On Monday, he named counterinsurgency strategist US Army Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster as his new national security advisor. McMaster takes over the post left vacant after Michael Flynn was ousted on February 13 after giving misleading statements about his contacts with Russia to Vice President Mike Pence. Earlier in the day, the president played 18 holes of golf with Irish golf superstar Rory McIlroy at Trump International Golf Club, according to media reports. - Trump won't listen to us - Anti-Trump activists took advantage of the federal public holiday, dedicated to US presidents, to organize rallies in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington and other cities. On the streets of New York, Trump's home base, demonstrators of various ages and backgrounds gathered in Columbus Circle, in front of Trump International Hotel and near Central Park, to voice their dismay. Protesters carry anti-Trump signs during a "Not My President Day" demonstration outside City Hall in Los Angeles, California, on February 20, 2017 The mood was festive, and the crowd grew to 10,000, according to an unofficial police estimate. One of the protesters, retired psychotherapist Rima Strauss, wore a denim jacket with a button that read "Not my president" and another one showing a picture of Russian President Vladimir Putin holding a baby Trump in diapers. "He's hurting our country. We're losing our country if we don't do something," Strauss said. "Trump won't listen to us, but if ordinary people march in the streets, maybe we'll have some kind of revolution against Trump, I hope." Qamar Khan, a 26-year-old medical school student from Pakistan, said that as a Muslim he wanted to voice disagreement with Trump. "We are Muslims. We want to spread the message of peace and love, true Islam," he said, adding, "I do obey President Trump as our president, but I don't have to agree with his policies." Demonstrators protest US President Donald Trump outside Trump International Hotel & Tower on February 20, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois In Los Angeles, protesters carried anti-Trump signs outside City hall, some reading "1. Resist 2. Impeach" and "Trump is Mentally Ill," with the "u" in his name replaced by the Russian Communist symbol of a hammer and sickle. Meanwhile, Trump's daughter Ivanka, a convert to Judaism, denounced bomb threats and vandalism reported against Jewish sites. "America is a nation built on the principle of religious tolerance. We must protect our houses of worship & religious centers. #JCC," tweeted Ivanka Trump, who has played a prominent role in her father's administration. Her comments came after at least 10 Jewish community centers nationwide were reported to have received bomb threats -- in the latest wave of such incidents and graves were said to have been vandalized at a Jewish cemetery in St Louis, Missouri. Similar threats have been on the rise since Trump came to power a month ago. US President Donald Trump shakes hands with H.R. McMaster (L) as his national security adviser at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on February 20, 2017 Donald Trump tapped respected Army lieutenant general H.R. McMaster as his national security advisor, hoping to course correct after his first pick resigned and his second turned down the vital post. Trump announced the counterinsurgency strategist's appointment at his Florida estate Mar-a-Lago, ending a one-week search to replace Michael Flynn, who lasted less than a month on the job. Flynn was forced to resign on February 13, after questionable contacts with the Russian government and revelations that he lied about them to the vice president and the FBI. Trump scrambled to replace Flynn after retired vice admiral Robert Harward turned down the post, amid a wrangling over lower-level National Security Council appointments and a meandering Trump press conference. The White House said that Trump "gave full authority for McMaster to hire whatever staff he sees fit." The 54-year-old McMaster is know for his criticism of the US military's handling of Vietnam War and his own service as a commander in northern Iraq in 2005. A 1997 book he authored is pointedly titled "Dereliction of Duty: Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Lies That Led to Vietnam." House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes was prompt to praise McMaster's "history of questioning the status quo and infusing fresh thinking and new approaches into military affairs." His experience in Iraq's Tal Afar is likely to come in useful as US and allied forces attempt to retake nearby Mosul from the Islamic State group. McMaster, still dressed in uniform, appeared with Trump on a sofa in the glitzy living room of Mar-a-Lago as music played overhead. Trump described McMaster as "man of tremendous talent and tremendous experience." "He is highly respected by everyone in the military and we're very honored to have him." McMaster is another name on the long list of Trump advisors who have been plucked from the military. Among others, Trump has named retired officers as his defense secretary and homeland security secretary. McMaster was most recently the deputy commanding general of the Futures Center at US Army Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Eustis. Trump said McMaster would work in a "very, very special" collaboration with Keith Kellogg, a retired three-star general who had served as acting national security advisor since Flynn resigned a week ago. Kellogg will act as NSC chief of staff. Former president Barack Obama's last national security advisor, Susan Rice, congratulated McMaster on his appointment. "I wish you every success," she said. - In the path of Kissinger - The post of national security advisor is a crucial, if discreet, engine for White House power and the smooth functioning of government. Henry Kissinger and Colin Powell are among those who previously held the post. The national security advisor manages hundreds of staff members, arbitrates between sometimes feuding government departments, balances foreign policy and military policy and ensures the president's national security agenda gets implemented. Current and former staffers fear that under Trump the council is currently being bypassed as political aides like strategist Steve Bannon seize the agenda. They point to an ill-conceived ban on travelers from seven majority-Muslim nations that further complicated counterterrorism partnerships in the Middle East and sullied America's image abroad, but was ultimately struck down by US courts. If policy is "being done over dinner with the president, or in Steve Bannon's office or haphazardly via email or phone calls" said Loren DeJonge Schulman -- a veteran of Barack Obama's NSC -- then "they are shooting themselves in the foot because you can't implement foreign policy from the White House." "This is something that President Obama learned, this is something that every administration goes through," she told AFP. "Being on Fox News and announcing a policy doesn't mean that policy is going to be executed." Current NSC spokesman Michael Anton said that although the full NSC -- chaired by Trump -- had not met since he became president, the deputies and principals committee had. Peter Feaver, a veteran of George W. Bush's national security council, said that under current circumstances the administration could struggle to handle crises that have both diplomatic and military components. "Some kind of crisis will be more challenging for this team until they fix their process," he said. The more difficult potential problems "that would stress them would be (those where) you have to integration across cabinet, departments and agencies," Feaver added. According to an AP report, a draft of President Donald Trump's revised immigration ban targets the same seven countries listed in his original executive order and exempts travelers who already have a visa to travel to the U.S., even if they haven't used it yet. A senior administration official said the order, which Trump revised after federal courts held up his original immigration and refugee ban, will target only those same seven Muslim-majority countries - Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Libya. The official said that green-card holders and dual citizens of the U.S. and any of those countries are exempt. The new draft also no longer directs authorities to single out - and reject - Syrian refugees when processing new visa applications. President Donald Trump's revised immigration ban targets the same seven countries listed in his original executive order The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the order before it's made public. The official noted that the draft is subject to change ahead of its signing, which Trump said could come sometime this week. Asked about the revised order, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the document circulating was a draft and that a final version should be released soon. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Wall Street Journal also reported that the current draft of the revised order focused on the seven countries but excluded those with green cards. Trump's original executive order triggered chaos at airports around the world, as travelers were detained when the order rapidly went into effect, U.S. permanent residents known as green-card holders among them. Attorneys provided legal assistance to those held and protesters descended on the airports as news of the order's implementation spread. In its original form, the order temporarily suspended all travel to the U.S. for citizens of those seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days. The original order also called for Homeland Security and State department officials, along with the director of national intelligence, to review what information the government needs to fully vet would-be visitors and come up with a list of countries that can't or won't make the information available. Shortly after the decision was announced on February 9, President Donald Trump announced the government would be repealing the decision in a tweet using all caps It said the government will give countries 60 days to start providing the information or citizens from those countries will be barred from traveling to the United States. Even if Syrian refugees are no longer automatically rejected under the new order, the pace of refugees entering the U.S. from all countries is likely to slow significantly. That's because even when the courts put Trump's original ban on hold, they left untouched Trump's 50,000-per-year refugee cap, a cut of more than half from the cap under the Obama administration. The U.S. has already taken in more than 35,000 refugees this year, leaving less than 15,000 spots before hitting Trump's cap, according to a U.S. official. That means that for the rest of this fiscal year, the number of refugees being let in per week will likely fall to a fraction of what it had been under the Obama administration's cap of 110,000. Earlier this month, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco refused to reinstate Trump's ban, unanimously rejecting the administration's claim of presidential authority, questioning its motives and concluding that the order was unlikely to survive legal challenges. The pushback prompted Trump to tweet 'SEE YOU IN COURT!' and he has since lashed out at the judicial branch, accusing it of issuing a politically motivated decision. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said Saturday that Trump is working on a 'streamlined' version of his executive order banning travel from the seven nations to iron out the difficulties that landed his first order in the courts. SEE YOU IN COURT! TRUMP'S TRAVEL BAN LEGAL TIMELINE In just a few weeks' time, the immigration ban executive order has been on quite the legal roller coaster. A new report from AP indicates President Trump may be softening the conditions of the ban in a new draft of the order. Here is what has happened in the courts so far: JANUARY 27 President Trump signed the executive order blocking migration from seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days while suspending the refugee program for 120 days. Protests immediately erupt as visa holders are detaining at airports across the country. JANUARY 28 Brooklyn Federal District Court Judge Ann M. Donnelly issues a stay saying the government cannot remove green card holders from the airport because of the ban. JANUARY 29 United States District Court Judge Allison D. Burroughs issued a temporary restraining order saying the government could not detain or remove people who legally entered the US from the seven countries. JANUARY 30 President Trump fires Attorney General Sally Yates after her refusal to defend the travel ban. FEBRUARY 3 US District Court Judge James Robart blocked the ban nationwide in the first court decision that affected the entire country regarding the ban. Robart said the states that filed the lawsuit: 'have met their burden of demonstrating that they face immediate and irreparable injury as a result of the signing and implementation of the executive order.' FEBRUARY 5 The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the government's emergency request to reinstate the ban. Trump tweets: 'Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. If something happens blame him and court system. People pouring in. Bad!' FEBRUARY 9 After two days, The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against reinstating the travel ban in a 30 page ruling. After the ruling, Trump tweets: 'SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!' Timeline information from CNN. Advertisement People carry posters during a rally in support of Muslim Americans and protest of President Donald Trump's immigration policies in Times Square, New York, on Sunday Speaking at the Munich Security Conference about combating terrorism, Kelly said Trump's original order was designed as a 'temporary pause' to allow him to 'see where our immigration and vetting system has gaps - and gaps it has - that could be exploited.' He said the Trump administration was surprised when U.S. courts blocked the executive order and now 'the president is contemplating releasing a tighter, more streamlined version' of the travel ban. Kelly said this next time he will be able to 'make sure that there's no one caught in the system of moving from overseas to our airports.' Kelly mentioned 'seven nations' again on Saturday, leading to speculation they will all be included in Trump's next executive order. Trump's order sparked an immediate backlash and sowed chaos and outrage, with travelers detained at airports, panicked families searching for relatives and protesters marching against the sweeping measure - parts of which were blocked by several federal courts. The Pro Trump Naked Cowboy crashes the pro Muslim rally in New York, New York New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio speaks during a rally in support of Muslim Americans People carry posters during a rally in support of Muslim Americans and protest of President Donald Trump's immigration policies in Times Square Protests were held across the country, including in sight of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in New York City, and at international airports where travelers were temporarily detained. Today in Times Square, New Yorkers gathered for an 'I Am A Muslim Too' protest. Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio spoke at the peaceful rally, saying 'we have to dispel the stereotypes' and that America is 'a country founded to protect all faiths and all beliefs.' Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons headlined the rally. He said the Muslim community was being used as a scapegoat, but that 'diversity will prevail.' PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) - Plug your noses and ready your "Juche fertilizer." It's time to prep the frozen fields in North Korea. North Korea relies on its farmers to squeeze absolutely all they can out of every harvest. It's a tall order in a country with 25 million mouths to feed that is mostly mountains, hamstrung by international trade sanctions and, beyond a handful of showcase cooperatives, hard-pressed to modernize its agricultural sector. Without doubt, life as a farmer in North Korea is harsh. But there are some signs of change in how North Korea is treating its fields and its farmers. In typically propagandist fashion, the North's state media are already reporting that workers inspired by leader Kim Jong Un's New Year's address are heroically churning out "117 percent" of their production quotas of what they call "Juche fertilizer." A grain of salt is certainly in order. What exactly the patriotic-sounding Juche fertilizer is isn't all that clear, though it's likely a mix of largely organic components augmented with some chemicals. Because of the general lack of livestock, human feces are a key ingredient. Juche refers to the North's longstanding but mostly aspirational policy of self-reliance. The battle in the fields, however, has certainly begun. With the ground still frozen as the North waits out its notoriously cold winters, farmers, joined by workers and students mobilized from the cities, are in the process of transporting truckloads of pungent fertilizer to fields across the country for the planting season ahead. Kim Song Ryong, head technician at the Migok Cooperative Farm in Sariwon, south of Pyongyang, said it takes about 20 to 25 days to distribute the compost. In March, it will be spread over the fields in an even layer and then ploughed in below the surface. "Our respected supreme leader comrade Kim Jong Un instructed us that agriculture is the main approach to building a strong economy and country," he said in an interview with AP Television News. "To get the best harvest with scientific farming, all our farmers and workers are out in the fields to improve the quality of the soil." In the past, the country's over-reliance on scientific magic bullets has had tragic results. Overuse of chemical fertilizers that began in the 1950s devastated the natural microbiotic soil environment and fueled a cycle in which its fields grew increasingly dependent on ever-more-artificial fertilization. In the 1990s, the fall of the Soviet Union and Pyongyang's other communist benefactors disrupted the supply of that fertilizer - which, coupled with other factors, led to widespread famine. But Pyongyang appears to have learned some lessons since. According to Randall Ireson, a private consultant and former nongovernmental program director in the North, farmers have shifted their emphasis since about 2000 to adding compost and organic fertilizers to rebuild the organic content in the soil and revivify microorganisms. "What I've seen and heard of is the use of effective rapid aerobic composting of plant residue and, where available, animal and human manure, with the composted material further augmented with some chemical fertilizer," he said. "The addition of chemical fertilizer to the mix makes it "non-organic" by a strict definition, but the other aspects are generally sound and sustainable, if managed correctly." Ireson noted that the depressed economy, lack of foreign exchange and weak industrial sector combine to make the acquisition of foreign chemical fertilizer difficult. But he said the push in the North for composting, while poorly designed at first, has gradually improved so that farms have started to produce fertilizer using local, low-energy methods. "Buying more would be the easy, if not environmentally or economically sustainable, way to boost farm production," Ireson said. "Lacking that resource, the push has been to find local resources, which I think is quite appropriate." More importantly, policy revisions under Kim Jong Un have since 2012 given farmers more incentive to produce above the state quota and to take more of a personal stake in field outcomes. Though details are scant, farmers can sell excess produce for a profit and smaller, essentially family-sized, work units have been established to make the rewards more direct. Outside experts generally agree the changes are a step in the right direction - China and Vietnam had success with similar agricultural reforms. But they also quickly warn it remains unclear how widely and fully implemented the revisions have been. "It's always hard to know what the ag situation really is," said Ireson. "There's a tendency to concentrate on technical aspects of farming (in the North), but the farmers are pretty clever and know how to do things. The main constraint is limited resources and, at least until recently, little personal incentive to produce beyond the quota." BANGKOK (AP) - A look at recent developments in the South China Sea, where China is pitted against smaller neighbors in multiple disputes over islands, coral reefs and lagoons in waters crucial for global commerce and rich in fish and potential oil and gas reserves: ___ EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a weekly look at the latest developments in the South China Sea, home to several territorial conflicts that have raised tensions in the region. FILE - In this Aug. 22, 2014 file photo, the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson sails out of San Diego Harbor leaving for a nine month deployment in San Diego. The U.S. Navy is planning a fresh freedom of navigation operation around China's man-made islands, the first under President Donald Trump, Navy Times reported, citing defense officials. The operation would most likely be carried out by the San Diego-based USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group, which began patrolling the South China Sea. It would involve sailing within 12-mile territorial waters of the island features China claims as its own, the report said. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi, File) ___ U.S. REPORTEDLY PLANNING FRESH FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION MISSION The U.S. Navy is planning a fresh freedom of navigation operation around China's man-made islands, the first under President Donald Trump, the Navy Times reported, citing defense officials. The operation would most likely be carried out by the San Diego-based USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group, which began patrolling the South China Sea on the weekend. It would involve sailing within 12-mile territorial waters of the island features China claims as its own, the report said. According to newspaper, the plans are awaiting Trump's approval. China's Foreign Affairs spokesman Geng Shuang said he was aware of the reports. He said that while China respects freedom of navigation under international law, "we have firm objections to any country that impairs China's sovereignty and security interests in the name of freedom of navigation and overflight." "We urge the U.S. side not to take any actions that challenge China's sovereignty and security, and respect the effort made by regional countries in safeguarding peace and stability in the South China Sea," he told reporters. Navy warships have deliberately sailed close to Chinese-occupied features four times since October 2015, ignoring Beijing's sovereignty claims. The first three missions challenged China's requirement for ships to obtain permission prior to transit, while the last one challenged China's sovereignty over waters encompassing the Paracels. Some criticized the Obama administration for curtailing freedom of navigation operations and allowing China to build military installations on seven artificial islands in the disputed waters. Trump's Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said recently that such operations will continue while also ruling out any military escalation. "Any miscalculation from either side may escalate tensions, which could spin out of control," Zhiqun Zhu, who heads The China Institute at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, told the Navy Times. "China is unlikely to cave in no matter what the U.S. military does in the South China Sea. Cooler heads are needed from both sides, not moves to unnecessarily provoke the other side."?? ___ CHINA, U.S. FLEETS IN SOUTH CHINA SEA Just as the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier strike group begins its deployment in the South China Sea and the Western Pacific, China dispatched its own fleet for scheduled drills. The missile destroyers Changsha and Haikou and the supply ship Luomahu wrapped up weeklong exercises on Friday. The fleet includes three helicopters and marines on board. According to the official Xinhua News Agency, the drills involved naval aviation forces and military garrisons from both the Spratlys and the Paracels, as well as elements of the Beihai and Donghai fleets. They practiced air defense, escorting, anti-terror, anti-piracy and defensive operations under real combat conditions, Xinhua said. ___ REVISIONS IN MARITIME LAW MAY ALLOW BEIJING TO BAR FOREIGN SHIPS China is considering revisions in its 1984 maritime law that could bar foreign ships from passing through what it considers Chinese waters and require submersibles to travel on the surface, display national flags and report to Chinese authorities. According to a draft that was published to solicit public opinion, foreign ships that violate Chinese laws would be expelled, state-run media reported. The proposed changes are in line with international maritime law, Beijing media said, but they could also set China up for conflict with Washington, which insists on freedom of navigation. The draft doesn't mention the South China Sea specifically, but China claims the area almost in its entirety. Late last year, China seized an underwater glider that was launched by the USS Bowditch in international waters off the Philippines and returned it after the U.S. protested. "Beijing is seeking to improve its management of maritime security by adding new operational details into law, especially details related to growing threats from foreign close-in surveillance," Lin Yongxin, a senior researcher from the government-affiliated National Institute on South China Sea Studies, told the South China Morning Post. ___ CHINA PLANS HOME-MADE AIRCRAFT CARRIER LAUNCH THIS YEAR China plans to launch its second and first home-made aircraft carrier this year, military consultants told state-run media. China's military spokesman in January confirmed that the 50,000-ton carrier is being built in the northern port of Dalian and will be conventionally rather than nuclear powered. According to Xu Guangyu, a retired Chinese military officer and consultant to the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, the carrier will launched later this year and is expected to enter service by 2020. China currently operates one aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, that was purchased as an incomplete hull from Ukraine more than a decade ago and commissioned in 2012. ___ PARACELS OUTPOST STARTS GROWING OWN VEGETABLES Some 1,000 military and civilian residents of the Chinese-controlled Paracels used to get their tomatoes and spinach delivered by ship. State-run media reported they've now started growing their own vegetables in a greenhouse, ending reliance on the mainland. People's Daily reported a greenhouse covering 567 square meters (6,100 square feet) was built on Drummond Island, known in Chinese as Jinqing Dao. The goal for a weekly yield: 200 kilograms (440 pounds). Recent satellite images of the islands suggest China has upgraded its military facilities in the Paracels, which are also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan. ___ Follow Hrvoje Hranjski at www.twitter.com/hatbangkok TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) - Taiwan's foreign ministry has protested Spain's decision to deport more than 200 Taiwanese telecom fraud suspects to China. The action by Spain is the latest instance of a government moving to deport Taiwanese to the self-governing island's rival. Beijing views Taiwan as its own territory without sovereign legal status. The Taiwanese ministry said in a statement Sunday that it "deeply regrets" a decision by the Spanish government to agree to a request by Beijing to extradite 269 Taiwanese and Chinese nationals arrested in December in Spain. Taiwanese media reports said more than 200 of the suspects are Taiwanese. Chinese authorities say they should try the cases because their citizens have been swindled out of millions of dollars. TANAY, Philippines (AP) - The death toll has risen to 15 from a bus crash in the Philippines, officials said Tuesday, and could climb further as many of the nearly 50 others who were hurt in the accident are in serious condition. Most of the dead and injured were college students on the way to a camping trip on Monday when the brakes on their chartered bus apparently failed on a steep downhill road. The out-of-control bus then smashed into an electric post, shearing off most of its roof. Berlito Bati Jr., a disaster-response officer in Tanay town in Rizal province east of Manila, where the accident happened, said the dead included the driver and a professor. Police investigators stand beside the wreckage of a bus that crashed on a downhill road in Tanay, Rizal province, east of Manila, Philippines, Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. More than a dozen mostly college students on a camping trip were killed when their rented bus lost its brakes on the downhill road slammed into a post, town officials said. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) He said the latest victim died late Monday. There were 62 people on board, although bus manifest listed only 58, Bati said. The impact of the crash was so strong it ripped off a large chunk of the roof of the bus and scattered the victims' belongings, including a stuffed toy and shoes. The students, mostly taking computer courses, were less than 30 minutes from their destination when the crash occurred, he said. Some of the survivors said they smelled burning rubber before the brakes of the bus apparently failed. Some students screamed in panic as the bus went out of control. On Tuesday morning, a priest blessed the bus and the site of the accident and led relatives of the dead in prayers. The bus was one of several vehicles transporting hundreds of college students to a camping resort when the accident happened in Tanay, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Manila. Police investigators walks beside the wreckage of a bus that crashed on a downhill road in Tanay, Rizal province, east of Manila, Philippines, Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. More than a dozen mostly college students on a camping trip were killed when their rented bus lost its brakes on the downhill road slammed into a post. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) WASHINGTON (AP) - One month after the inauguration, the stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of Donald Trump's White House still is a hard-hat zone. Skeletal remains of the inaugural reviewing stands poke skyward. Random piles of plywood and cables are heaped on the ground inside crooked lines of metal fencing. The disarray outside the president's front door, though not his fault, serves as a metaphor for the tumult still unfolding inside. Four weeks in, the man who says he inherited "a mess" at home and abroad is presiding over a White House that is widely described as itself being a mess. In this photo taken Feb. 17, 2017, pedestrians walk through Lafayette Park, across from the White House in Washington, as work continues with the dismantling of the presidential inauguration reviewing stand. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) At a stunning pace, Trump has riled world leaders and frustrated allies. He was dealt a bruising legal blow on one of his signature policies. He lost his national security adviser and his pick for labor secretary to scandal. He's seen forces within his government push back against his policies and leak confidential information. All of this has played out amid a steady drip of revelations about an FBI investigation into his campaign's contacts with Russian intelligence officials. Trump says his administration is running like a "fine-tuned machine." He points to the rising stock market and the devotion of his still-loyal supporters as evidence that all is well, although his job approval rating is much lower than that for prior presidents in their first weeks in office. Stung by the unrelenting criticism coming his way, Trump dismisses much of it as "fake news" delivered by "the enemy of the people" - aka the press. Daily denunciations of the media are just one of the new White House fixtures Americans are adjusting to. Most days start (and end) with presidential tweets riffing off of whatever's on TV talk shows or teasing coming events or hurling insults at the media. At some point in the day, count on Trump to cast back to the marvels of his upset of Democrat Hillary Clinton in the November election and quite possibly overstate his margins of support. Expect more denunciations of the "dishonest" press and its "fake news." From there, things can veer in unexpected directions as Trump offers up policy pronouncements or offhand remarks that leave even White House aides struggling to interpret them. The long-standing U.S. policy of seeking a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Trump this past week offered this cryptic pronouncement: "I'm looking at two-state and one-state, and I like the one that both parties like. I can live with either one." His U.N. ambassador, Nikki Haley, the next day insisted, "We absolutely support a two-state solution." Trump's days are busy. Outside groups troop in for "listening sessions." Foreign leaders call or come to visit. (Or, in the case of Mexico's president, cancel out in pique over Trump's talk about the planned border wall.) After the president signed two dozen executive actions, the White House was awaiting a rush order of more of the gold-plated Cross pens that Trump prefers to the chrome-plated ones used by his predecessor. Trump hands them out as souvenirs at the signing ceremonies that he points to as evidence of his ambitious pace. "This last month has represented an unprecedented degree of action on behalf of the great citizens of our country," Trump said at a Thursday news conference. "Again, I say it. There has never been a presidency that's done so much in such a short period of time." That's all music to the ears of his followers, who sent him to Washington to upend the established order and play the role of disrupter. "I can't believe there's actually a politician doing what he says he would do," says an approving Scott Hiltgen, a 66-year-old office furniture sales broker from River Falls, Wisconsin. "That never happens." Disrupt Trump has. But there may be more sound and fury than substance to many of his early actions. Trump did select Judge Neil Gorsuch to replace the late Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court, a nomination that has drawn strong reviews from conservatives. But the president is regrouping on immigration after federal judges blocked his order to suspend the United States' refugee program and ban visitors from seven Muslim-majority countries, which had caused chaos for travelers around the globe. Some other orders on issues such as the U.S.-Mexico border wall and former President Barack Obama's health care law are of limited effect. Trump says his early actions show he means to deliver on the promises he made during the campaign. "A lot of people say, 'Oh, oh, Trump was only kidding with the wall,'" the president told a group of police chiefs recently. "I wasn't kidding. I don't kid." But the Republican-led Congress is still waiting to see specifics on how Trump wants to proceed legislatively on top initiatives such as replacing the health care law, enacting tax cuts and revising trade deals. The messy rollout of the travel ban and tumult over the ouster of national security adviser Michael Flynn for misrepresenting his contacts with Russia are part of a broader state of disarray as different figures in Trump's White House jockey for power and leaks reveal internal discord in the machinations of the presidency. "I thought by now you'd at least hear the outlines of domestic legislation like tax cuts," says Princeton historian Julian Zelizer. "But a lot of that has slowed. Trump shouldn't mistake the fact that some of his supporters like his style with the fact that a lot of Republicans just want the policies he promised them. He has to deliver that." Put Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in the camp of those more interested in substance than style. "I'm not a great fan of daily tweets," McConnell said Friday, referring to the "extra discussion" that Trump likes to engage in. But McConnell was quick to add: "What I am a fan of is what he's been actually doing." He credits Trump with assembling a conservative Cabinet and taking steps to reduce government regulation, and promised: "We like his positions and we're going to pursue them as vigorously as we can." The challenge may be to tease out exactly what Trump wants in the way of a health care plan, tax changes and trade policy. At his long and defiant news conference on Thursday, Trump tried to dispel the impression of a White House in crisis, squarely blaming the press for keeping him from moving forward more decisively on his agenda. Pointing to his chief of staff, Reince Priebus, Trump said, "You take a look at Reince, he's working so hard just putting out fires that are fake fires. I mean, they're fake. They're not true. And isn't that a shame because he'd rather be working on health care, he'd rather be working on tax reform." For all the frustrations of his early days as president, Trump still seems tickled by the trappings of his office. When New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie visited the White House last week to discuss the national opioid epidemic over lunch, the governor said Trump informed him: "Chris, you and I are going to have the meatloaf.'" Trump added: "I'm telling you, the meatloaf is fabulous." ___ Follow Nancy Benac on Twitter at http://twitter.com/nbenac In this photo taken Feb. 17, 2017, pedestrians walk along fencing erected in Lafayette Park, across from the White House in Washington, as work continues with the dismantling of the presidential inauguration reviewing stand. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) President Donald Trump speaks at the Boeing South Carolina facility in North Charleston, S.C., Friday, Feb. 17, 2017, where he went to see the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Trump visited the plant before heading to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla. for the weekend. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) WASHINGTON (AP) - Republicans control Congress so President Donald Trump's pledge to boost the Pentagon budget by tens of billions of dollars should be a sure bet. It's not. Trump faces skeptical Democrats whose support he'll need and resistance from fiscal conservatives opposed to repealing a 2011 law that set firm limits on military and domestic spending. Unless the president figures out a way to mollify the disparate camps, he'll have a tough time delivering on a signature campaign promise to rescue the armed forces from a festering financial crisis. In this Jan. 27, 2017 photo, President Donald Trump, left, listens as Defense Secretary James Mattis, right, speaks at the Pentagon in Washington. With Republicans in charge of Congress, President Donald Trump's pledge to boost the Pentagon's budget by tens of billions of dollars should be a sure bet. It's not. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) Senior U.S. commanders have flatly warned that the spending caps set by the Budget Control Act are squeezing the armed forces so hard that the number of ready-to-fight units is dwindling. That means beating powers such as Russia or China is tougher than it used to be as aging equipment stacks up, waiting to be repaired, and troops don't get enough training. Gen. Daniel Allyn, the Army's vice chief of staff, startled many lawmakers when he testified recently that just three of the service's 58 active-duty and reserve brigade combat teams are ready to fight at a moment's notice. Allyn and other four-star officers pleaded during separate hearings in the House and Senate for the spending limits to be repealed, clearing the way for the bigger budgets they say are needed to stop the military's readiness for combat from decaying further. "We need to act now before it's too late," said Gen. Stephen Wilson, the Air Force's vice chief of staff. The average age of Air Force aircraft is 27 years, according to Wilson, who added that more than half of the service's inventory would qualify for antique vehicle license plates in Virginia. On top of that, the Air Force is short 1,500 pilots and 3,400 aircraft maintainers, he said. The Navy and Marine Corps are experiencing the same turbulence. Trump, speaking at a White House news conference Thursday, said he's ordered a plan for a "massive rebuilding" of the armed forces. He didn't disclose how much he expected his blueprint to cost. National security hawks in Congress have suggested a defense budget of $700 billion in 2018 - more than at any point during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The total, which includes $60 billion for overseas combat operations, is $91 billion over the mandatory spending cap. That's just a down payment to begin digging out of a readiness problem the Pentagon's top brass says will take years to fix. GOP Sen. John McCain of Arizona, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has envisioned annual increases of between 3 percent and 4 percent, culminating with an $800 billion budget for the armed forces in 2022. Securing these sizable and sustained increases will require repealing the Budget Control Act. Trump, however, has proposed to eliminate only the budget limit on defense. That's a nonstarter for Democrats, who have long demanded parity between the two broad categories of federal spending. They've argued that Trump's approach will continue to restrict the budgets of the departments of State, Treasury and Justice, all of which play essential national security roles. "We've always insisted, on our side of the aisle, that as long as the caps are in place, there should be equal relief," said Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services readiness subcommittee. Trump will need at least a handful of Democrats on his side: It'll take 60 votes in the Senate to undo the budget law and Republicans hold 52 seats. Republicans hold a larger majority in the House, but the party's deficit hawks are a significant obstacle. They see the caps as blunt yet effective tools to curb federal spending and prevent the national debt from spiraling further out of control. "We're walking into a financial train wreck that is going to have implications not just in terms of national security but in terms of everyone's financial security," said Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C. "It would be disastrous to simply abandon the caps with no other alternative in place." But not everyone is convinced that the Pentagon is struggling so mightily. Lawmakers such as Rep. Jackie Speier, a liberal California Democrat and a member of the House Armed Services Committee, contend the current defense budget of $611 billion is already more than China and Russia spend on their militaries combined. On top of that, money is being wasted on bases and installations that are no longer needed but remain open because the GOP-led Congress has so far refused to allow a new round of base closures. "No one wants to see bases close," Speier said. "But we have a certain pot of money and we've got to use it smartly." ___ Contact Richard Lardner on Twitter: http://twitter.com/rplardner ___ This story has been corrected to reflect that Trump's news conference was Thursday, not Wednesday. ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called off a trip to Algeria at the last minute because long-ailing Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is too sick to meet her. The APS state news agency, citing a presidential statement, says German and Algerian authorities agreed Monday to delay the visit because of Bouteflika's "temporary unavailability" due to severe bronchitis. No date for a further visit was announced. The surprise announcement came just an hour before Merkel's plane was due to take off from Berlin, and as German flags lined the Algiers airport for her arrival. German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks during the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 18, 2017. The annual weekend gathering is known for providing an open and informal platform to meet in close quarters. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader) Bouteflika, 79, has rarely been seen in public since a 2013 stroke that left him confined to a wheelchair. He had invited Merkel to discuss regional security and economic issues. Both sides had seen it as an important visit. Merkel had also been scheduled to meet the prime minister and business leaders, and tour a girls' school during the visit Monday and Tuesday. Key concerns for Merkel are better cooperation in limiting migration from Africa to Europe and the extremist violence that has hit Europe in recent years, such as the December attack on Berlin by a Tunisian migrant claimed by the Islamic State group. MADRID (AP) - The Red Cross says 350 migrants crossed the fence into a Spanish territory in North Africa early Monday, three days after 500 more managed to break the gates. A spokeswoman for the Red Cross in Ceuta, the Spanish enclave on the Moroccan coast, said that 11 of the Sub-Saharan African migrants were sent to a hospital to be treated for cuts, bone fractures and other injuries. She declined to be identified by name, following internal policy. Fleeing poverty, violence or both, hundreds of sub-Saharan African migrants attempt to cross from Morocco into Ceuta and Melilla, the other Spanish enclave in North Africa. Some also choose to cross the Strait of Gibraltar by boat. Migrants sit on the ground next to Spanish police officers after storming a fence to enter the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, Spain, Friday, Feb. 17, 2017. An emergency team in Ceuta is assisting more than 300 migrants who crossed the fence surrounding Spain's enclave in North Africa early Friday, a spokesman for the local Red Cross said. (AP Photo/Jesus Moron) The office of the central government's envoy in Ceuta said the migrants crossed at around 3 a.m. local time (0200GMT) crossing a gate that was damaged last Friday, when more than 500 smashed their way through with cubs and sticks. Officials said two agents of the Civil Guard were hospitalized with bone fractures. More than 1,300 people are now crammed into the CETI center for temporary accommodation of immigrants, designed to house 512 people. Migrants are usually sent from Ceuta to different centers run by NGOs across Spain, where they receive accommodation and food. Most find informal jobs or continue north to other European nations. Migrants sit on the ground after storming a fence to enter the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, Spain, Friday, Feb. 17, 2017. An emergency team in Ceuta is assisting more than 300 migrants who crossed the fence surrounding Spain's enclave in North Africa early Friday, a spokesman for the local Red Cross said. (AP Photo/Jesus Moron) SOUTH OF MOSUL, Iraq (AP) - Iraqi forces advanced Monday into the southern outskirts of Mosul on the second day of a push to drive Islamic State militants from the city's western half, as the visiting U.S. defense secretary met with officials to discuss the fight against the extremists. With aerial support from the U.S.-led coalition, Iraqi police and army troops launched the offensive Sunday, part of a 100-day-old campaign that has already driven the militants from the eastern half of the city. Iraqi helicopters fired rockets at the village of Abu Saif early Monday, targeting a hill that overlooks the city's airport. By noon, the forces entered the village and gained control over much of the strategic hill as fighting was still raging. Iraqi police forces fire from a humvee at Islamic State positions from a hillside outside the town of Abu Saif, Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. Iraqi Federal Police forces have pushed into the southern outskirts of Mosul on the second day of a new push to drive Islamic State militants from the city's western half. Iraqi helicopters were seen firing rockets on Monday at the village of Abu Saif, mainly at a hill that overlooks the city's airport and provides the militants with a natural defense line on the southern approaches to Mosul. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen) Separately, militarized police in armored vehicles were moving toward the sprawling Ghazlani military base on the southwestern outskirts of the city. A U.S.-led coalition has been providing close air support throughout the campaign to retake Iraq's second-largest city. U.S. special operations forces are embedded with some Iraqi units and thousands of U.S. troops are in Iraq providing logistical and other support. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis was holding discussions with U.S. and Iraqi officials, a week before he is expected to present a new strategy to President Donald Trump for defeating the Islamic State group. "We're going to make certain that we've got good situational awareness of what we face as we work together and fight alongside each other," Mattis told reporters traveling with him. Trump has repeatedly vowed to eliminate the extremist group but has provided few details about how his approach might differ from that of the Obama administration, which had partnered with Syrian and Iraqi forces to drive IS out of several towns and cities. The battle for western Mosul, the extremist group's last major urban bastion in Iraq, is expected to be the most daunting yet. The streets are older and narrower in that sector of the city, which stretches west from the Tigris River, forcing Iraqi soldiers to leave the relative safety of their armored vehicles. The presence of up to 750,000 civilians also poses a challenge. Two suicide car bombers struck army and paramilitary forces west of Mosul on Monday, killing and wounding a number of troops, two army officers said, without specifying the number of casualties. A third suicide car bomber was blown up before reaching the troops, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media. IS claimed responsibility for two attacks in an online statement, saying the attackers were British and Iraqi. ___ Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor and Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad and Maamoun Youssef in Cairo contributed to this report. ___ This story has been corrected to show that Mattis is U.S. secretary of defense, not secretary of state. U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, center, is greeted by U.S. Ambassador Douglas Silliman as he arrives at Baghdad International Airport on an unannounced trip Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. Mattis said Monday the United States does not intend to seize Iraqi oil, shifting away from an idea proposed by President Donald Trump that has rattled Iraq's leaders. (AP Photo/Lolita Baldor) An Iraqi police force member aims a rocket-propelled grenade at an Islamic State position from a hillside outside the town of Abu Saif, Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. Iraqi Federal Police forces have pushed into the southern outskirts of Mosul on the second day of a new push to drive Islamic State militants from the city's western half. Iraqi helicopters were seen firing rockets on Monday at the village of Abu Saif, mainly at a hill that overlooks the city's airport and provides the militants with a natural defense line on the southern approaches to Mosul. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen) Iraqi police forces fire shots at Islamic State militant positions from a hillside outside the town of Abu Saif, Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. Iraqi Federal Police forces have pushed into the southern outskirts of Mosul on the second day of a new push to drive Islamic State militants from the city's western half. Iraqi helicopters were seen firing rockets on Monday at the village of Abu Saif, mainly at a hill that overlooks the city's airport and provides the militants with a natural defense line on the southern approaches to Mosul. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen) Iraqi police forces fire from a humvee at Islamic State positions from a hillside outside the town of Abu Saif, Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. Iraqi Federal Police forces have pushed into the southern outskirts of Mosul on the second day of a new push to drive Islamic State militants from the city's western half. Iraqi helicopters were seen firing rockets on Monday at the village of Abu Saif, mainly at a hill that overlooks the city's airport and provides the militants with a natural defense line on the southern approaches to Mosul. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen) U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, second from left, is greeted by U.S. Ambassador Douglas Silliman as he arrives at Baghdad International Airport, Iraq, on an unannounced trip Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. Mattis said Monday the United States does not intend to seize Iraqi oil, shifting away from an idea proposed by President Donald Trump that has rattled Iraq's leaders. (AP Photo/Lolita Baldor) Iraqi forces take a break from fighting on a hillside outside the town of Abu Saif, Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. Iraqi federal police units continued their advance towards western Mosul on Monday, battling Islamic State militants at a strategic hill south of the city's airport. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen) EDS NOTE GRAPHIC CONTENT -Iraqi forces pass the body of an Islamic State militant fighter next to the road on a hill outside Abu Saif, Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. Iraqi Federal Police forces have pushed into the southern outskirts of Mosul on the second day of a new push to drive Islamic State militants from the city's western half. Iraqi helicopters were seen firing rockets on Monday at the village of Abu Saif, mainly at a hill that overlooks the city's airport and provides the militants with a natural defense line on the southern approaches to Mosul. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen) Smoke rises from the town of Abu Saif after air strikes hit Islamic State militant positions, Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. Iraqi federal police units continued their advance towards western Mosul on Monday, battling Islamic State militants at a strategic hill south of the city's airport. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen) An Iraqi army helicopter fires at Islamic State militant positions outside the town of Abu Saif, Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. Iraqi forces continued their advance towards western Mosul on Monday, battling Islamic State militants at a strategic hill south of the city's airport. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen) MANILA, Philippines (AP) - Gunmen attacked a Vietnamese cargo ship off the Philippines' southern tip, killing a Vietnamese crewman and abducting six others including the vessel's captain, the Philippine coast guard and the ship's owner said Monday. Coast guard spokesman Armand Balilo said the Vietnamese coast guard reported that the MV Giang Hai, with 17 crewmen on board, was attacked by pirates Sunday night about 20 miles (31 kilometers) north of Pearl Bank in Tawi-Tawi, the Philippines' southernmost province. Personnel of the Philippine coast guard, police and marines found the ship had drifted near the province's Baguan Island. Upon boarding the vessel, they found 10 Vietnamese sailors alive and one dead. Pham Van Hien, head of the safety department of Pham Hai shipping company, the owner of the cargo ship based in Vietnam's northern port city of Hai Phong, said the captain was among those abducted. The attack occurred while the vessel was transporting 4,500 tons of cement from Indonesia to the Philippines, he said. The gunmen destroyed some of the ship's equipment, but the 10 remaining crew members managed to sail the ship, Hien said. He said the company had informed the IMB Piracy Reporting Center in Malaysia to seek its help in securing the return of the kidnapped crew members. Balilo said pursuit operations are underway, but the location of the abducted crewmen and the identity of the attackers remain unknown. Abu Sayyaf militants and allied gunmen are suspected of being behind previous sea assaults in the area, including an attack last November on another Vietnamese cargo ship whose captain and five crewmen were also kidnapped. They are believed to be held by the militants in the southern province of Sulu, where the kidnappers are holding at least 20 foreign and local hostages in different jungle locations. An Abu Sayyaf commander known as Albhasy Misaya has been suspected of leading the kidnapping of the Vietnamese crewmen last year, but the military has not monitored any sign so far indicating the Vietnamese abducted late Sunday were also targeted by the Sulu-based militants. Ransom kidnappings of Malaysian, Indonesian and Vietnamese crewmen have continued despite heightened coastal and border security. ___ Associated Press writer Tran Van Minh in Hanoi, Vietnam, contributed to this report. BEIRUT (AP) - French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen tried to raise her international profile and press her pro-Syria, pro-Christian stance with a visit to Lebanon on Monday, holding her first campaign meeting with a head of state. On the first day of her two-day visit, Le Pen, head of the anti-immigration National Front, called Syrian President Bashar Assad "the most reassuring solution for France" and said the best way to protect minority Christians is to "eradicate" the Islamic State group preying on them - not turn them into refugees. Lebanon, a former French protectorate, shares a large border with Syria, and has taken in some 1.2 million Syrian refugees - the equivalent of one-fourth of its own population - including Christians targeted by IS. Lebanese Foreign Minister Gibran Bassil, left, meets with far-right French leader and presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, right, in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. Le Pen has arrived in Beirut to meet with the Lebanese head of state and leading Christian figures. The National Front leader is hoping to burnish her credentials as a defender of Christians in the Middle East, ahead of France's April 23 presidential elections. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla) The trip represents the first major foray into foreign policy for Le Pen, a leading candidate in France's April 23 and May 7 election. She is hoping to burnish her credentials as a defender of Christians in the Middle East, looking to win votes of the thousands of French citizens in Lebanon and have an impact on the international scene. Le Pen has worked to clean up the racist and anti-Semitic image of her party. She is running on an anti-immigration and anti-European Union platform; critics say that is a cover for anti-Islamic and anti-foreigner views. She said she told Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri that there is "no viable and workable solution" to the Syrian civil war beyond choosing between Assad and IS. "I clearly explained that in the political picture the least bad option is the politically realistic. It appears that Bashar al Assad is evidently today the most reassuring solution for France." Le Pen has made known her pro-Assad position in the past, but it took on extra weight in the context of her high-profile foreign visit. Her stance represents a major divergence from official French policy and that of Hariri, who is allied with Saudi Arabia against the Syrian leader. In the fractious politics of Lebanon, President Michel Aoun, whom Le Pen also met, supports Assad and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah working to topple him. An official readout of the meeting suggests that Hariri took umbrage at what is widely seen as Le Pen's stigmatization of Muslims, who her followers claim are changing the Christian face of France. "Muslims are the first victims" of terrorism, Hariri was quoted as saying in the summary of the meeting, and moderate Muslims are "the first bulwark against extremism." "The worst mistake would be the amalgam between Islam and Muslims on one hand and terrorism on the other hand." Before meeting with the prime minister, Le Pen met with Aoun, saying they agreed during the meeting that the two countries should be "pillars" in organizing the fight against Islamic fundamentalism. During her two-day visit, Le Pen was also to meet the Christian Maronite patriarch. Like other French politicians, she spoke out in favor of protecting the Christian minority - but stressed this should be done by annihilating the enemy - the Islamic State group. "The way to protect the Christian minority is to eradicate those who have a vision of destroying all the minorities." "For me to protect Christians is to make sure the Christians stay in their countries," not become refugees, she said. Le Pen said she and the prime minister, who has longstanding ties to France, agreed on "the absolute necessity" for nations wanting to fight IS to come "to the table," an apparent reference to formal talks. She noted the threat to France of IS, which has claimed deadly attacks in Paris, Nice and elsewhere, and has lured hundreds of French youths to the war zones in Syria and Iraq. Two top themes of Le Pen's platform are drastically reducing immigration, and the refugee population, and fighting Islamic extremism. Her National Front party claims Muslim immigration to France boosts terror risks, costs jobs, drains the nation's treasury and poses a threat to French civilization. Lebanon's Christians have long looked to France for security against the Middle East's turmoil, and President Aoun spent years in exile in France. Le Pen is not the first presidential candidate to travel to Lebanon. She was preceded in January by Emmanuel Macron, a centrist who has moved alongside Le Pen to the top of the polls after conservative candidate Francois Fillon took a dive due to a corruption scandal. ___ Ganley reported from Paris. In this photo released by Lebanon's official government photographer Dalati Nohra, French far-right leader and presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, left, shakes hands with Lebanese President Michel Aoun, at the presidential palace, in Baabda, east Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. Le Pen has arrived in Beirut to meet with the Lebanese head of state and leading Christian figures. The National Front leader is hoping to burnish her credentials as a defender of Christians in the Middle East, ahead of France's April 23 presidential elections. (Dalati Nohra via AP) Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri, right, meets with far right leader and presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, left, at the government palace, in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. Le Pen has arrived in Beirut to meet with the Lebanese head of state and leading Christian figures. The National Front leader is hoping to burnish her credentials as a defender of Christians in the Middle East, ahead of France's April 23 presidential elections. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla) Lebanese president Michel Aoun, right, meets with far right leader and presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, center left, and French lawmaker Gilbert Collard, left, at the presidential palace, in Baabda east Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. Le Pen has arrived in Beirut to meet with the Lebanese head of state and leading Christian figures. The National Front leader is hoping to burnish her credentials as a defender of Christians in the Middle East, ahead of France's April 23 presidential elections. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla) Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri, right, meets with far right leader and presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, center, and French lawmaker Gilbert Collard, left, at the government palace, in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. Le Pen has arrived in Beirut to meet with the Lebanese head of state and leading Christian figures. The National Front leader is hoping to burnish her credentials as a defender of Christians in the Middle East, ahead of France's April 23 presidential elections. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla) Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri, right, meets with far right leader and presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, left, at the government palace, in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. Le Pen has arrived in Beirut to meet with the Lebanese head of state and leading Christian figures. The National Front leader is hoping to burnish her credentials as a defender of Christians in the Middle East, ahead of France's April 23 presidential elections. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla) BRUSSELS (AP) - Greece and its European creditors agreed Monday to resume talks on what economic reforms the country must make next in order to get the money it needs to avoid bankruptcy and a potential exit from the euro this summer. The creditors also hinted that they would temper their demands for budget cuts - a welcome thought for austerity-weary Greeks who have seen poverty and unemployment spike as their economy shrank by a quarter over the recent crisis-ridden years. "There will be a change in the policy mix, if you will, moving perhaps away from austerity and putting more emphasis on deep reforms," said Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the eurozone's top official. A street vendor carries baskets as other pedestrians walk at a market area in Athens, Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. Greece remains dependent on bailout loans from its partners in the eurozone to pay its debts and protect it from bankruptcy and a potential exit from the euro. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis) At face value, that means fewer tax rises and spending cuts and deep reforms to the country's tax system, pensions and labor laws. Such reforms could help the economy and generate income that the Greek government can use to push for further growth - such as through tax cuts or even spending increases. "There could be fiscal space for growth-enhancing measures," Dijsselbloem said. Easing up on austerity has been a key demand of Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos. Greece's left-wing government has lost a lot of support as it legislated for more austerity in return for the bailout cash - it's about 15 percentage points behind the main opposition conservatives according to opinion polls. Energy Minister George Stathakis said Monday's agreement will mean that there will be no net increase in austerity, as any tax increases from 2019 will be offset by reductions in other forms of taxation. "We have not agreed specific measures," he told Skai TV. "But we agreed that whatever changes are made at one level, for example tax increases for some categories of Greeks, there will be equivalent measures to reduce taxation. ... Every measure that carries a tax burden of one euro will have a counter-measure that eases one euro in tax." This has also been one of the demands of the International Monetary Fund and could help persuade it to contribute to the latest Greek bailout program, which was agreed on in July 2015. The IMF's involvement was envisioned in that bailout deal, Greece's third, and Dijsselbloem said Monday's agreement could help to get it on board financially. Still, there are other potential hurdles to be cleared before the IMF does get involved. One key issue relates to Greece's debt profile over the coming decades. The IMF forecasts Greece's debt will, as things stand, swell to a staggering 275 percent by 2060 from around 180 percent now. As a result, it's urging the Europeans to come up with a substantive package of debt relief measures. The eurozone countries, notably Germany, have ruled out an outright debt reduction but are open to other kinds of debt relief, such as extending Greece's repayment periods or capping the interest rates at relatively low levels. Debt relief discussions will recommence once agreement on the next batch of Greek reforms is concluded. IMF spokesperson Gerry Rice said on Twitter that the Fund welcomed the progress made Monday but that more "will be needed to bridge differences on other important issues." Despite that caution, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has seemingly no doubt that the IMF will get involved. "I think it's very much a theoretical discussion," he said. "The IMF will take part." Disagreement between the eurozone and the IMF over the sustainability of Greece's debts and the scale of austerity demanded of Athens was one of the main reasons why concerns over another bout of Greek jitters flared in markets in the past few weeks. Greece has a payment hump in July with around 7 billion euros ($7.4 billion) due, and without the bailout cash it would face a potential exit from the euro - so-called Grexit, a scenario it has faced repeatedly over the past seven years. "There is no need for disbursement in March, April or May," Dijsselbloem said. "I'm not saying we should use all that time ... but don't create deadlines where there are none." By a variety of economic metrics, including growth and the budget, Greece is performing relatively well - certainly when compared with the last few years. Growth has returned not least because of a tourism boom partly linked to the turmoil gripping other Mediterranean getaways such as Tunisia and Turkey, while a tight control on costs has helped push the government finances into surplus once debt and interest payments are stripped out. "It is evident that Greece has significantly over-performed its 2016 targets," said Pierre Moscovici, the top economy official at the European Commission, the EU's executive arm. Because of its improved performance, Greece has borrowed less from its bailout fund than originally envisaged in the 2015 rescue, which provided for around 86 billion euros ($91 billion) in loans over a three-year period. "We all feel a sense of urgency because of the key issue of confidence," Dijsselbloem said. "If we want economic growth to continue and start picking up, confidence is the key factor. That will be a strong motivator to do the work as soon as possible." Confidence is fragile not least in a country that has experienced so much turmoil - and economic misery - over recent years. ___ Pylas contributed from London. David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany, and Nicholas Paphitis in Athens, Greece, also contributed. A man checks bags at a kiosk behind a Greek and an European Union flag at a market area in Athens, Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. Greece remains dependent on bailout loans from its partners in the eurozone to pay its debts and protect it from bankruptcy and a potential exit from the euro.(AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis) Chinese tourists take photographs behind a fence of the ancient Temple of Zeus as state guards called a 24-hour strike over a pay and contract dispute with the government in Athens, Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. Monday's protest was not directly related to Greece's bailout measures, but the country's left-wing government is under renewed international pressure to limit spending and agree with lenders on new austerity measures and reforms. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis) A Chinese tourist takes a photograph behind a fence of the ancient Temple of Zeus as state guards called a 24-hour strike over a pay and contract dispute with the government in Athens, Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. Monday's protest was not directly related to Greece's bailout measures, but the country's left-wing government is under renewed international pressure to limit spending and agree with lenders on new austerity measures and reforms. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis) Tourists stand on a hill under ancient Acropolis hill during a 24-hour strike by archaeological guards demanding unpaid wages and the recruitment of additional employees in Athens, Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. Greece has been struggling for months to conclude negotiations with its creditors on spending cuts and reforms demanded by European creditors and the International Monetary Fund as part of its third bailout program. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis) A tourist uses his binoculars as the ancient Acropolis hill is seen in the background during a 24-hour strike by archaeological guards demanding unpaid wages and the recruitment of additional employees in Athens, Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. Greece has been struggling for months to conclude negotiations with its creditors on spending cuts and reforms demanded by European creditors and the International Monetary Fund as part of its third bailout program. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis) Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, Left, shakes hand with the Dutch Minister of Finance and President of the Council Jeroen Dijsselbloem prior to a round table meeting of Eurogroup finance ministers at the EU Council building in Brussels on Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. The eurozone's 19 finance ministers will be looking to defuse the risk of another Greek crisis as they try to agree Monday on what reforms Greece must still take to qualify for more loans. (AP Photo/Thierry Monasse) Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos arrives prior to a round table meeting of Eurogroup finance ministers at the EU Council building in Brussels on Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. The eurozone's 19 finance ministers will be looking to defuse the risk of another Greek crisis as they try to agree Monday on what reforms Greece must still take to qualify for more loans. (AP Photo/Thierry Monasse) Dutch Minister of Finance, President of the Council Jeroen Dijsselbloem, left, is talking with the German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, center, and the Italian Minister for Economy & Finance Pier Carlo Padoan prior to a round table meeting of Eurogroup finance ministers at the EU Council building in Brussels on Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. The eurozone's 19 finance ministers will be looking to defuse the risk of another Greek crisis as they try to agree Monday on what reforms Greece must still take to qualify for more loans. (AP Photo/Thierry Monasse) View of the round table meeting of Eurogroup finance ministers at the EU Council building in Brussels on Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. The eurozone's 19 finance ministers will be looking to defuse the risk of another Greek crisis as they try to agree Monday on what reforms Greece must still take to qualify for more loans. (AP Photo/Thierry Monasse) Dutch Minister of Finance and President of the Council Jeroen Dijsselbloem calls his colleagues to the table prior to a round table meeting of eurogroup finance ministers at the EU Council building in Brussels on Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. The eurozone's 19 finance ministers will be looking to defuse the risk of another Greek crisis as they try to agree Monday on what reforms Greece must still take to qualify for more loans. (AP Photo/Thierry Monasse) BERLIN (AP) - Germany's economy minister plans to discuss the future of General Motors' Opel subsidiary during a visit to Paris on Thursday. A spokesman for Brigitte Zypries said Monday the issue of a possible takeover by France's PSA Group would play a "big role" in talks with her French counterpart. Andreas Audretsch said the German government's priorities are to safeguard jobs, factories, development centers and past labor commitments. He said the German government wouldn't allow itself to be played off against Britain, where Opel's twin brand Vauxhall is based. The German government was caught off guard last week by news about a possible sale of Opel. Audretsch said Germany now expects "transparency toward the workers and the union." Government spokesman Steffen Seibert said Chancellor Angela Merkel's office is involved in the talks. CAIRO (AP) - A Norwegian relief group says six of its staffers and a driver have been detained in the Red Sea port city of Hodeida by Houthi rebels. Norway Refugee Council says in a statement that the rebels suspected the workers were distributing aid that originated from Saudi Arabia. In the statement emailed to The Associated Press on Monday, the NRC says the arrest took place Feb. 14 when staffers opened hygiene kit boxes that were originally used for food sent by Saudi Arabia in January 2015, before the beginning of the air campaign by the Saudi-led coalition against the Houthis. The statement says: "NRC does not take any funding from sources in Saudi Arabia due to the nature of the specific context and conflict." BERLIN (AP) - Germany's foreign ministry says the case of a newspaper correspondent detained in Turkey is of "greatest importance" for Berlin. Spokesman Martin Schaefer said Monday that the ministry is in contact with the Welt daily and its correspondent Deniz Yucel. Yucel, who has both Turkish and German citizenship, was taken into custody last week after presenting himself at a police station in Istanbul for questioning in connection with his reporting on a hacking case . Schaefer said Germany will do "everything in our power to support press freedom." But he said the case shouldn't affect rallies that Turkish officials are holding in Germany to campaign for an upcoming referendum on reforming Turkey's constitution. Schaefer said linking the two issues would be like comparing "apples and oranges." MADRID (AP) - Neymar has lost his final appeal and will stand trial on corruption charges related to his transfer to Barcelona four years ago. Barcelona, Brazilian club Santos, and the company run by his parents also lost their appeals and will stand trial after a complaint brought by a Brazilian investment group which said it received a smaller compensation because part of the transfer fee was concealed by those involved. Prosecutors are seeking a two-year prison sentence and a fine of nearly $10 million for Neymar and his father on corruption charges, although they are not likely to face any jail time if found guilty because they would be first-time offenders. FC Barcelona's Neymar, right, duels for the ball against Leganes' Roberto Tito Roman during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between FC Barcelona and Leganes at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, Feb. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez) Prosecutors are also seeking a fine of about $9 million from Barcelona and $7 million from Santos. BERLIN (AP) - The German government is appealing a court order requiring it to provide information about any background briefings that Chancellor Angela Merkel has with journalists. A Berlin court ruled in favor of a newspaper reporter who had demanded details about the time, place, participants and topics of Merkel's off-the-record chats, though not the precise contents. The German weekly Der Spiegel first reported the ruling over the weekend. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, shakes hands with the Prime Minister of Iraq Haider al-Abadi for the media ahead of bilateral talks during the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 18, 2017. The annual weekend gathering is known for providing an open and informal platform to meet in close quarters. (Christof Stache/Pool via AP) Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said Monday the government has "a very clear legal stance which it will present during the further course of the case." The head of Germany's journalists association DJV criticized the court's decision. Frank Ueberall said the wording of the ruling could result in all conversations between journalists and officials being publicized. HELSINKI (AP) - Norwegian Nobel officials say the head of Norwegian Nobel Committee, Kaci Kullmann Five, has died at age 65. Olav Njolstad, director of The Nobel Institute, says Five, who had been a member of the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize awarding committee since 2003, died Sunday after being treated for a recurrence of cancer. Five was elected chairwoman of the committee in 2015. She announced the winner of last year's prize in October - Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos - but was unable to attend the December ceremony due to illness. FILE - This is a Wednesday Dec. 10. 2015 file photo of Chair of the Nobel Committee, Kaci Kullmann Five, as she speaks at the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony in Oslo, Norway. Norwegian Nobel officials said Monday Feb. 20, 2017 that the head of Norwegian Nobel Committee, Kaci Kullmann Five, has died at age 65. Five died Sunday after being treated for a recurrence of cancer. (Cornelius Poppe / NTB scanpix via AP) NORWAY OUT She was also known as a political pioneer, who provided an important role model for many women. Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg described her as "a strong and good person." She is survived by a husband and two adult children. PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - A disagreement over the right to fish for scallops off New England is pitting small boats against big ones in one of the most lucrative fisheries in the U.S. The federal government maintains different rules for the small- and big-boat scallop fisheries, though they work some of the same areas. Small boat fishermen say the conflict has arisen in the northern Gulf of Maine, a critically important fishing area stretching roughly from Boston to the border of Maine and Canada. At issue is the fact that the northern Gulf of Maine is fertile ground for scallops right now, and rules allow the bigger boats to harvest more of them. The smaller boats have a possession limit of 200 pounds, while the largest boats have no such limit, because they are regulated instead by a limited number of days at sea. FILE - In this Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011, file photo, scallop meat is shucked at sea off Harpswell, Maine. A disagreement over the right to fish for scallops off New England is pitting small boats against big ones in the scallop-rich northern Gulf of Maine in 2017. Smaller boats are limited in the number of pounds on board, while the largest boats have no such limit but are regulated instead by a limited number of days at sea. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File) Smaller boat fishermen said the bigger boats have been gobbling up the scallops in one of the most important areas where they fish. Without changes, the current arrangement could "wipe out a resource that would sustain a small boat fishery for years and years and years," said Kristan Porter, a small-boat fisherman in the area who sits on a federal scallop advisory panel. Federal regulators have identified solving the problem as a key goal in the U.S. sea scallop fishery, which has been worth more than $400 million every year since 2010. Scallops are also one of the priciest kinds of seafood that is familiar to many consumers, who often pay more than $20 per pound for them. Mary Beth Tooley, the chair of a federal scallop committee, also works in government affairs for O'Hara Corp., a major player in the big-boat fishery. The big and small boats can coexist, she said, and regulators will work to make it happen. "There's a perspective that this is a battle - we need to go to war with these big boats," she said, adding, "I don't think that's necessary." The scuffle has attracted the attention of Conservation Law Foundation, an environmental advocacy group based in New England. The group is advocating for the playing field to be leveled for both groups of boats, said Peter Shelley, an attorney with the foundation. "It's an inequity that could be corrected very easily and no one wants to do it," Shelley said. "I just find that to be offensive with a public resource." The U.S. scallop fishery's most important state is Massachusetts, with New Bedford serving as the home base. They're also brought to shore in other states from Maine to Virginia, with the second-largest amount of shellfish coming ashore in New Jersey. WASHINGTON (AP) - The National Zoo is packing up its American-born panda cub Bao Bao for a one-way flight to China, where the 3-year-old will eventually join a panda breeding program. The cub won't have to worry about finding overhead bin space or dealing with a talkative seatmate on the 16-hour, nonstop flight Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday. She'll be the only panda on the plane, traveling with a keeper and a veterinarian. Her accommodations are first class, too: a special metal crate the size of a double bed she can stretch out in. A sticker on its outside announces its contents: "one panda." In preparation for the trip, keepers have a packing list of Bao Bao's favorite foods including: 55 pounds of bamboo, 5 pounds of apples and 2 pounds of sweet potatoes. FILE - In this Sept. 25, 2015, file photo, panda cub Bao Bao, roams in an enclosure at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington. Bao Bao is scheduled to depart the zoo Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2017 for a one-way flight to China, where the 3-year-old will eventually join a panda breeding program. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File) "Most of the flight, we hope she's going to eat," said panda keeper Marty Dearie, who will travel with Bao Bao to China and says pandas spend 13 to 16 hours a day eating. Bao Bao is scheduled to depart the zoo Tuesday morning and travel to Washington Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia, where she'll board a special FedEx plane. Fans will be able to watch her departure from the zoo and airport on the zoo's Facebook page. Once Bao Bao arrives in Chengdu, China, she'll be driven to her new home, one of the bases run by the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda. Dearie will briefly remain with her while she gets adjusted. In time, when she reaches sexual maturity, between 5 and 6 years old, she'll become part of a panda breeding program. The National Zoo says Bao Bao is traveling now because it's better for pandas to travel in the winter months when it is cool. Bao Bao delighted the zoo and panda fans when she was born Aug. 23, 2013. Her mother, Mei Xiang, gave birth to her first cub, Tai Shan, in 2005, but then failed to get pregnant for years. Then, a cub born in 2012 didn't survive. Brandie Smith, the zoo's associate director of animal care sciences, said that when Bao Bao was born a year later she remembers "five minutes of pure joy" followed by "weeks of sleeplessness and worry." Since then, Bao Bao, whose name means "precious treasure" in Chinese, has grown from about the size of a stick of butter to more than 200 pounds. Her keepers describe her personality as "very independent," sort of like a household cat. Laurie Thompson, the assistant curator of giant pandas, said keepers have been preparing Bao Bao to leave for China since she was born, teaching her behaviors that will allow her Chinese keepers to do things like draw blood and perform ultrasounds. Thompson said Bao Bao's departure is "definitely bittersweet," but her keepers "know she's ready" to leave. "We're ready. We've done our part, and we're ready to send her to China so she can have her own babies someday," Thompson said. With Bao Bao's departure, the National Zoo will have three remaining pandas. The zoo's two adult pandas, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, arrived on loan in 2000 but belong to China, as do any cubs they have. The pair's first cub, Tai Shan, returned to China in 2010. Their third cub, Bao Bao's younger brother Bei Bei, was born in 2015 and will remain at the zoo for now. A total of four U.S. zoos have pandas that are on loan from China. Pandas born in the United States return to China, generally by age 4. With Bao Bao's departure, there will be a dozen pandas remaining in the United States: four in Atlanta, three in Washington, three in San Diego and two in Memphis, Tennessee. The National Zoo and Washington residents have a special relationship with the creatures, however. The zoo's first pair of pandas, Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing, were a gift from China and arrived at the zoo in 1972 following President Richard Nixon's historic visit to the country. The pair had five cubs while living at the zoo, but none survived. Mei Xiang and Tian Tian are the zoo's second panda pair. ___ Follow Jessica Gresko on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jessicagresko. Her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/jessica-gresko. JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel's domestic security agency says it arrested an Arab citizen suspected of activities linked to the Islamic State group. The Shin Bet agency says Anas Haj Yehiye, 35, was in contact with IS operatives and attempted to recruit others to carry out attacks in Israel. He was arrested last month. It says Haj Yehiye was asked to initiate a bus attack in Tel Aviv but the plans were not carried out. The agency said Monday he disseminated training material to IS operatives online about making explosive devices, sarin gas and other lethal substances. Arab citizens make up a fifth of Israel's population. The Shin Bet says at least 50 Arab citizens of Israel have traveled to Syria or Iraq to join IS in recent years. BERLIN (AP) - A court in Germany has convicted five South Korean citizens over the death of a relative in an exorcism ritual at a Frankfurt hotel in 2015. The Frankfurt regional court found the main defendant, a 44-year-old cousin of the victim, guilty Monday of serious bodily harm resulting in death. The dpa news agency reported that she was sentenced to six years in prison. Four other defendants, including the victim's 16-year-old son, were given suspended sentences of between 18 months and two years. A 16-year-old South Korean covers his face as he is led into a court room in Frankfurt, Germany, Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. He is the main suspect accused of murder following the death a 41-year-old woman in an apparent exorcism ritual in a room in a Frankfurt hotel. (AP Photo/Michael Probst) The sentences were lower than prosecutors had demanded. The court concluded that the defendants had genuinely believed they were driving a demon out of the 41-year-old woman's body and that reports of "gruesome torture" weren't proven. A 16-year-old South Korean covers his face as he is led into a court room by a lawyer in Frankfurt, Germany, Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. He is the main suspect accused of murder following the death a 41-year-old woman in an apparent exorcism ritual in a room in a Frankfurt hotel. (AP Photo/Michael Probst) A 16-year-old South Korean covers his face as he is led into a court room in Frankfurt, Germany, Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. He is the main suspect accused of murder following the death a 41-year-old woman in an apparent exorcism ritual in a room in a Frankfurt hotel. (AP Photo/Michael Probst) BERLIN (AP) - Germany's most prominent nationalist politician held talks with Russian lawmakers over the weekend, including senior members of President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party, her office said Monday. Frauke Petry, the co-leader of Alternative for Germany, traveled to Moscow at the invitation of the Russian capital's city administration to discuss "cooperation" with the legislative assemblies of Germany's 16 states, according to a statement. Petry also met with State Duma speaker and Putin confidant Vyacheslav Volodin, and a deputy speaker, Pyotr Tolstoy, "on the sidelines," the statement said. FILE - In this file photo dated Friday, Dec. 16, 2016, AfD (Alternative for Germany) chairwoman Frauke Petry attends a news conference of the party in Berlin. Germany's most prominent nationalist politician Frauke Petry has held talks with Russian lawmakers, including senior members of President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party, to discuss cooperation between German and Russian regional assemblies, according to a party statement issued Monday Feb. 20, 2017. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, FILE) Her office didn't immediately respond to questions about whether anyone accompanied Petry on the trip, who paid for it and what was discussed at the meeting with Volodin and Tolstoy. But a separate statement by the Duma said the talks covered "interparty cooperation, as well as the development of contacts of youth organizations." It added that the meeting also was attended by Vladimir Zhirinovsky and Leonid Slutsky of the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. The meeting comes at a sensitive time in German-Russian relations. German officials have repeatedly warned that Moscow could try to influence Germany's general election this September and destabilize the country by supporting extremist groups. The Kremlin has already established ties with France's National Front, whose leader, Marine Le Pen, is polling strongly ahead of presidential elections on a platform that includes better relations with Russia. In the United States, lawmakers are examining intelligence agency findings that Russia hacked Democratic Party emails and tried to influence the U.S. election to help President Donald Trump win. Petry's visit to Moscow seemed to take some in her party by surprise. One of her deputies, Alexander Gauland, told the dpa news agency that he only learned of the trip on Monday. Along with backing closer ties with Russia, Alternative for Germany strongly opposes Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to let hundreds of thousands of refugees into the country. Recent opinion polls showed support for the party falling below 10 percent. ____ Jim Heintz in Moscow contributed to this report. Here's a look at stories The Associated Press plans to cover in Europe on Tuesday, Feb. 21. Questions about coverage plans can be directed to the Europe Desk at eurdesk@ap.org. AUSTRIA-FIRTASH - A court decides on the extradition of Ukrainian oligarch Dimitry Firtash to the United States, where he is sought in connection with a multimillion-dollar bribery scandal. UPCOMING: Developing from decision, timing uncertain. MOROCCO-FRENCH PRISONER - A 37-year-old Frenchman is trying to appeal a terrorism conviction that has put him in a Moroccan jail for a year and that international rights groups call an egregious example of unfair justice in Morocco. UPCOMING: 500 words by 1000 GMT. ITALY-OLIVE OIL - From specialty stores in Rome to supermarkets in Paris, vendors of Italian olive oil are reckoning with the impact of higher olive oil prices this year. The combination of bad weather and a pair of pests halved the production of prized Italian extra-virgin olive oil from last fall's harvest, pushing up prices on the benchmark olive oil exchange by 64 percent in mid-February compared to a year earlier. That is translating into shelf prices up by 15 to 20 percent. By Colleen Barry and Maria Grazia Murru. UPCOMING: 800 words by 1200 GMT, photos. CYPRUS-PEACE TALKS - Turkey's foreign minister meets with the Turkish Cypriot leader in the breakaway north of ethnically divided Cyprus, amid a feud over Cyprus' troubled history that has reunification talks on hold. UPCOMING: Developing from news conference scheduled for 1300 GMT; photos. CHILDREN OF WAR - UNICEF and France's president host a conference involving 80 countries on protecting children in war. UPCOMING: 130 words by 0900 GMT, developing; photos. SERBIA-MINORS AWAY FROM HOME-PHOTO GALLERY - A gallery of photos showing migrants, some as young as 12, who have made it into Europe unaccompanied and are living in an abandoned warehouse in Serbia. By Muhammed Muheisen. UPCOMING: 500 words by 1100 GMT, photo gallery. LIFE EXPECTANCY - While most people born in rich countries will be living longer by 2030 - with women in South Korea estimated to reach an average of 91 - Americans will probably have the lowest life expectancy of any developed country, a new study says. By Medical Writer Maria Cheng. UPCOMING: 350 words embargoed until 2330 GMT. POLAND-EU - Poland faces a deadline to reply to concerns of the European Union on what it sees as rule-of-law violations in the Central European member state. UPCOMING: On merits. FRANCE-VERMEER LOUVRE - The Louvre unveils a major Vermeer exhibit which reinterprets the Flemish master painter in the context of his society and shows how his contemporaries influenced him. By Thomas Adamson. UPCOMING: 300 words by 1700 GMT, photos. DELPHI, Ind. (AP) - Authorities said Monday they are expanding the search for a suspect in the killings of two girls who were found dead near a northern Indiana trail last week. Indiana State Police are looking beyond the town of Delphi for a man photographed near the trail Feb. 13 around the time a relative dropped the girls off, Sgt. Kim Riley told WLFI-TV in Lafayette (http://bit.ly/2l0oatA ). Police said Sunday that the unidentified man is the "main suspect" in the deaths of 14-year-old Liberty German and 13-year-old Abigail Williams. This Feb. 13, 2017, photo released by the Indiana State Police shows a man walking along the trail system in Delphi, Ind. Indiana authorities want to talk to the man in connection with the killings of two teenage girls. He was photographed on the trail system around the time Liberty German and Abigail Williams were dropped off Monday to go hiking. (Indiana State Police via AP) "We are actually expanding out," Riley said Monday. "We want people who may have seen somebody walking, that may have picked up a hitchhiker, that may have seen a hitchhiker around that afternoon." Authorities have not detailed the evidence that led them to consider the man a suspect or how they obtained the grainy photograph. Police had previously said they considered him a person they wanted to speak with as part of the investigation. The girls' bodies were found Tuesday, one day after they went missing, about a quarter-mile from an abandoned railroad bridge that's part of a trail system. The teens had planned to go hiking on the trails during a day off school in Delphi, a community of about 3,000 people some 60 miles northwest of Indianapolis. Their deaths have been ruled a double-homicide, but authorities have not disclosed how the girls died. Private funeral services were held Sunday. A task force made up of FBI agents, state police and local law enforcement is investigating. ___ Information from: WLFI-TV, http://www.wlfi.com/ LONDON (AP) - Thousands of protesters against U.S. President Donald Trump rallied outside Britain's Parliament on Monday, while lawmakers inside urged the government to rescind its offer to the president of a state visit stamped with pomp, pageantry and royal approval. In a passionate debate that's unlikely to change the British government's position, Trump was labeled a misogynist, a bigot and a "petulant child" by opposition legislators. They argued that a state visit planned for later this year will demean the U.K. and Queen Elizabeth II, the president's official host. Conservative lawmakers, however, said revoking the invitation would do far more harm. Tory lawmaker Edward Leigh said canceling the state visit would be "catastrophic" to the trans-Atlantic relationship. Demonstrators hold placards as they listen to speeches in London, Monday Feb. 20, 2017, during a rally in Parliament Square opposing U.S. President Donald Trump as Members of Parliament debate his planned state visit to the United Kingdom. (AP Photo/Tim Ireland) "He is the duly elected president of the United States. ... It would be a disaster if this invitation is rescinded," Leigh said. Monday's debate was called after more than 1.8 million people signed an online petition calling for the state visit to be downgraded. All petitions on the government's website that receive more than 100,000 signatures are eligible for debate in Parliament, though not a binding vote. Lawmakers on Monday also considered an opposing petition, with more than 300,000 signatures, backing the state visit. No formal vote was held at the end of the three-hour debate, which took place in a side-room of Parliament rather than the House of Commons chamber. The chants of protesters outside could be heard as lawmakers spoke. Labour Party legislator Tulip Siddiq said Trump should not be allowed to spread "his bigotry, his misogyny, his division" in Britain. Another Labour lawmaker, Daniel Zeichner, called the president "a disgusting, immoral man." "We do not welcome bigots," he said. Labour's Paul Flynn pointed out that a state visit was a "rare privilege" given to only two other U.S. presidents since the 1950s - George W. Bush and Barack Obama. State visits are distinct from official visits, and see foreign leaders welcomed with royal pomp and military ceremony. Most stay at Buckingham Palace as guests of the monarch, and Flynn said a state visit would make it appear as if the queen were "approving the acts of Donald J. Trump" - a man Flynn said had behaved "like a petulant child." Both Bush and Obama made their state visits several years into their tenures. Prime Minister Theresa May invited Trump a week after his Jan. 20 inauguration. Some lawmakers said May's haste to bolster the trans-Atlantic "special relationship" as the U.K. prepares to leave the European Union had an edge of desperation. "We didn't do this for Kennedy," Labour lawmaker David Lammy said. "We didn't do this for Truman. We didn't do this for Reagan. But for this man, after seven days, we say 'Please come and we will lay on everything because we are so desperate for your company?'... I am ashamed that it has come to this." During her 65-year reign, Elizabeth has welcomed many leaders with less-than-spotless records, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and the late Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. A 2015 state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping drew protests from Tibetan groups and human rights activists. Conservative lawmaker Jacob Rees-Mogg said critics of Trump's pending visit were being hypocritical. "What complaint did the honorable member make when Emperor Hirohito came here?" he asked Flynn. The Japanese emperor's 1971 state visit was highly controversial at the time. But Trump's invitation has sparked unprecedented opposition, especially after he issued an executive order temporarily barring citizens of seven majority-Muslim nations from entering the United States. The order has since been suspended by U.S. courts. Thousands of people demonstrated against the order in British towns and cities, and London Mayor Sadiq Khan urged the government to reconsider its invitation in light of Trump's "cruel" migrant ban. House of Commons Speaker John Bercow set aside his customary political neutrality to say that Trump should not be invited to address Parliament when he comes to Britain. The government insists Trump's visit will take place, though dates have not been announced. "We believe it is absolutely right that we should use all the tools at our disposal to build common ground with President Trump," Foreign Office Minister Alan Duncan told lawmakers. "The visit should happen, the visit will happen," he added. "And when it does I trust the United Kingdom will extend a polite and generous welcome to President Donald Trump." FILE - In this file photo dated Friday, Jan. 27, 2017, US President Donald Trump and Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May walk along the colonnades of the White House in Washington. British lawmakers are set to hold a debate on Monday in London to consider a call for U.S. President Donald Trump to be denied an official state visit to the U.K., but the Conservative government insists the invitation remains firmly in place. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, FILE) Demonstrators hold placards as they listen to speeches in London, Monday Feb. 20, 2017, during a rally in Parliament Square opposing U.S. President Donald Trump as Members of Parliament debate his planned state visit to the United Kingdom. (AP Photo/Tim Ireland) Demonstrators hold placards as they listen to speeches in London, Monday Feb. 20, 2017, during a rally in Parliament Square opposing U.S. President Donald Trump as Members of Parliament debate his planned state visit to the United Kingdom. (AP Photo/Tim Ireland) Demonstrators hold placards as they listen to speeches Monday Feb. 20, 2017, in London, during a rally in Parliament Square opposing U.S. President Donald Trump as MPs debate his planned state visit to the United Kingdom. (AP Photo/Tim Ireland) PARIS (AP) - An agile thief nicknamed "Spiderman," an antiques dealer and an art expert were sentenced to prison Monday and ordered to pay Paris for stealing five masterpieces from the city's Modern Art Museum worth 104 million euros ($110 million.) The paintings - by Picasso, Matisse, Modigliani, Braque and Fernand Leger - have not been seen since the dramatic 2010 heist. The Paris court convicted "Spiderman" Vjeran Tomic of stealing the paintings and sentenced him to eight years in prison. Jean-Michel Corvez, the antiques dealer who orchestrated the theft, was sentenced to seven years. Chief suspect Vjeran Tomic faces the media at court for his trial in Paris, Monday Feb. 20, 2017, accused of involvement in one of the world's biggest art heists. Three people, including Vieran are accused of being involved in a dramatic 2010 theft of more than $100 million worth of artworks from the Paris Museum of Modern Art, including a Picasso, a Matisse and other masterpieces. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) Yonathan Birn, who stored the paintings and told the court he destroyed them out of fear of getting caught, screamed at the judge who sentenced him to six years in prison. His lawyer, Caroline Toby, called Birn's sentence "particularly severe." The court also jointly fined the men an eye-popping 104 million euros for the loss of the paintings, but the verdict did not detail how they might go about raising even a fraction of the fine. Birn, a 40-year-old expert and dealer in luxury watches, previously told the court he threw the masterpieces in the trash and "made the worst mistake of my existence." Investigators think the paintings were smuggled out of France, although they were not able to prove that, court documents showed. Birn's co-defendants testified he was "too smart" to destroy the masterpieces. Tomic, a thief with 14 previous convictions, said before sentencing that he got a buzz from the May 20, 2010, overnight break-in. He took advantage of failures in the security, alarm and video-surveillance systems to move around the high-ceilinged museum near the Eiffel Tower. "It's quite spectacular. There is an adrenaline rush the moment you enter the space," he said. "The sounds resonate from one side to the other." Authorities found climbing gear at his home: gloves, ropes, climbing shoes and suction cups. He removed the glass from a bay window without breaking it and cut the padlock of the metal grid behind it, allowing him to move from one room to another without raising the security alarm. Tomic was there to steal a painting by Fernand Leger and possibly a Modigliani ordered by Corvez, the 61-year-old antiques dealer who confessed to being a receiver of stolen goods. Tomic said when he came across the Picasso, the Matisse and the Braque paintings, he decided to take them as well. Several hours after the headline-making burglary, Tomic said he offered the five paintings to Corvez, who said he was "totally stunned" by them. Corvez said he initially gave Tomic a plastic bag containing 40,000 euros ($43,000) in small denominations just for the Leger, because he was unsure he would get buyers for the other paintings. Corvez then became worried about keeping the artworks in his shop after several months and showed them to his friend Birn, who agreed to buy the Modigliani for 80,000 euros ($86,000) and to store the others in his studio. The Modigliani was hidden in a bank safe, he said. Birn said he panicked when police began investigating. He says one day in May 2011 he retrieved the Modigliani from the safe, returned to his workshop to break the stretcher bars on all the canvasses with fierce kicks and then threw them all into the building's trash. Receiver Yonathan Birn arrives at his trial in Paris, Monday Feb. 20, 2017, accused of involvement in one of the world's biggest art heists. Three people, including Birn are accused of involvement in a dramatic 2010 theft of more than $100 million worth of artworks from the Paris Museum of Modern Art, including a Picasso, a Matisse and other masterpieces. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) MEXICO CITY (AP) - The towering U.S. television host Conan O'Brien is drawing stares in Mexico, where he's taping an episode of his show in a bid to "do something positive" about the tensions in U.S.-Mexico relations. O'Brien, who is 6-feet-4, arrived late last week and has spent part of his time in Mexico City strolling the streets, greeting people and trying the food. On Monday he stopped by one of the city's fancier taco restaurants and wound up trying hot sauce straight out of the bowl as restaurant patrons taped the scene on their phones. Some gasped, "No!" Television host Conan O'Brien eats hot sauce straight out of a bowl as he tapes a segment at an upscale taco restaurant in Paseo de la Reforma boulevard in Mexico City, Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. O'Brien is drawing stares in Mexico, where he's taping an episode of his show in a bid to "do something positive" after the tensing of U.S.-Mexico relations. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell) O'Brien said: "Now, I am Mexican. I am also dying." He doesn't think his outreach marks a turning point in bilateral relations, but said, "Everyone has to do their part." North Koreas top envoy in Kuala Lumpur has denounced Malaysias investigation into the apparent killing of the exiled half-brother of the countrys ruler. Ambassador Kang Chol called the investigation politically motivated and demanded a joint probe into the death. The comments from Mr Kang came amid rising tensions between North Korea and Malaysia over the death, with Malaysia recalling its ambassador to Pyongyang over what it called baseless allegations. Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un, died last week after apparently being poisoned in a Kuala Lumpur airport. Security camera footage obtained by Japanese television appeared to show a careful and deliberate attack in which a woman comes up from behind him and holds something over his mouth. Kim Jong Nam, left, the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (Shizuo Kambayashi, Wong Maye-E/AP) Pyongyang demanded custody of Mr Kims body and strongly objected to an autopsy. The Malaysians not only went ahead but also conducted a second autopsy, saying the results of the first were inconclusive. Malaysian authorities said they were simply following procedures, but Mr Kang questioned their motives. The investigation by the Malaysian police is not for the clarification of the cause of the death and search for the suspect, but it is out of the political aim, the ambassador said. He referred to the dead man as Kim Chol, the name on the passport found with Kim Jong Nam. Police had pinned the suspicion on us, Mr Kang said, calling on Malaysia and the international community to work with North Korea on a joint investigation. Police officers guard the main gate of forensic department at Kuala Lumpur Hospital (Daniel Chan/AP) Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak told reporters later on Monday that he has absolute confidence that police and doctors have been very objective in their work. Mr Najib said Malaysia had no reason to paint the North Koreans in a bad light but added: We expect them to understand that we apply the rule of law in Malaysia. Mr Kang previously said Malaysia may be trying to conceal something. On Monday, the Malaysian foreign ministry said it had recalled its ambassador to Pyongyang for consultations and had summoned Mr Kang to a meeting to seek an explanation on the accusations he made. The statement called Mr Kangs comments baseless and said it takes very seriously any unfounded attempt to tarnish its reputation. Police investigating the killing have so far arrested four people carrying identity documents from North Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam. Those arrested include two women who were allegedly seen approaching Mr Kim on February 13 as he stood in the terminal of the airport. The UK economy would take a 328 million hit if all migrant workers downed tools for a single day, new research suggests The nations GDP would fall 4% if all non-Brits stopped working for 24 hours, according to the research by the New Economics Foundation (NEF). Migrants put in more than we take out, and help keep society running. Today's the day we recognise that #1DayWithoutUs pic.twitter.com/SQjDR6ZinD Migrant Voice (@MigrantVoiceUK) February 20, 2017 It also said institutions like the NHS, which employ large numbers of immigrant workers, would be unable to function. Protesters on the day of action It comes as thousands of people are due to take part in 1 Day Without Us, a pro-migrant day of action showing how much immigrants contribute to the country. We wouldn't have much of a team without freedom of movement. Proud to support #1DayWithoutUs pic.twitter.com/gPNqQNZioz Amnesty UK (@AmnestyUK) February 20, 2017 Monday will also see MPs debate a 1.85 million-signature petition against US President Donald Trumps planned state visit to the UK. It will be followed by a demonstration planned for outside Parliament over his attempt to ban travellers from seven Muslim countries entering the US. #1DayWithoutUs solidarity demo at Belfast City Hall with Amnesty & trade union activists. #righttostay pic.twitter.com/gWIFePSvq9 Patrick Corrigan (@PatrickCorrigan) February 20, 2017 Marc Stears, the NEF chief executive, said: Britain has a long and proud tradition of openness to people from overseas and our research conclusively shows that migrants have more than repaid for the welcome they have received. Our future as a country depends on the economic, cultural and social contribution that migrants make. As countries all around the world succumb to the siren call of populism, we need to remember that contribution and to celebrate it. Events are planned for 1 Day Without Us in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, at university campuses, town centres and private businesses. According to NEF, migrant workers in the UK make up 10.9% of the total workforce. But citing Migration Observatory figures, it said that number increases dramatically in some jobs, including cleaning and household staff (31%), food preparation and hospitality workers (30%) and health professionals (26%). Rachel Taylor-Beales, one of the organisers of 1 Day without Us, said the event was about celebrating the many diverse ways in which migrants have contributed to Britain. She added: These extend well beyond the economy. But it is striking to see just how much migrants do add to economic output in a single day and what this country would lose if they werent here. Millions more refugees could head for Europe if Britain and other Nato nations pull their troops out of Afghanistan too soon and the country collapses into disorder, Sir Michael Fallon has warned. The Defence Secretary told an audience at the Munich Security Conference that if Afghanistans fragile democracy failed we here will feel the consequences, very directly. He added if it was right to go in, it has to be not right to leave before the job is done during a discussion about whether Natos 15-year mission in the war-torn nation had been a success or a failure. Sir Michael said: If this country collapsed we here will feel the consequences, very directly. There could be three, four million young Afghan men sent out by their villages to migrate westwards. And they are heading here, they are heading for Germany or Britain. That could be the consequence if this entire country collapses. In total 456 British forces personnel or MoD civilians were killed while serving in Afghanistan. (Peter Byrne/PA) Troops lowered the flag at Camp Bastion in October 2015, ending combat operations in the country after 13 years, though some remain in training and support roles. During the Munich event, Sir Michael was flanked by his French, Dutch, Canadian and Turkish counterparts, as well as retired US admiral Jim Stavridis, the former Nato supreme allied commander Europe. As well as a risk of a migrant influx Sir Michael warned there was still a risk from transnational terrorist groups, adding: That is why we went in in the first place those transnational terrorist groups are still there and they still pose a threat. He also said Nato should also act to protect its values, saying: This is a democracy that we helped to establish. Seven million people voted in elections for a new future for Afghanistan, voted to choose a government, however fragile it is at the moment. That government has asked for our help and my view is we should stay with it until, as long as we can, until that job is done. US vice president Mike Pence has reassured European Union officials about the Trump administrations stance towards the EU, according to European Council president Donald Tusk. Mr Tusk said he and Mr Pence held open and frank talks aimed in part at allaying concerns about President Donald Trumps support of the EU and of European security through the Nato military alliance. I heard words which are promising for the future, words which explain a lot about the new approach in Washington, Mr Tusk said. United States Vice President Mike Pence, left, gestures after shaking hands with EU Council President Donald Tusk as he arrives at the European Council building in Brussels, Belgium (Thierry Monasse/AP) I asked @mike_pence if he shared my opinions on 3 key matters: international order, security & new US administration attitude towards EU. Charles Michel (@eucopresident) February 20, 2017 In reply @mike_pence said "yes" 3 times. Now Europeans and Americans must simply practise what they preach. Charles Michel (@eucopresident) February 20, 2017 Mr Tusk said that too many new and sometimes surprising opinions have been voiced for us to pretend that everything is as it used to be. Mr Pence said he was looking to explore ways to deepen our relationship with the European Union and the European community as he opened a day of meetings on the EU and Nato with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini in Brussels. Mr Pence was facing deep scepticism among European leaders over the foreign policy direction of his boss. Mr Trump was supportive of Britains vote last year to leave the EU, and he has suggested that the EU itself could soon fall apart. The reports @MunSecConf of the death of the West have been greatly exaggerated. #MSC2017 pic.twitter.com/TajxoQkpxe Charles Michel (@eucopresident) February 20, 2017 Mr Pence voiced the administrations strong support for Nato over the weekend. Mr Pence said he was acting on behalf of Mr Trump to express the strong commitment of the United States to continued cooperation and partnership with the European Union. He added: Whatever our differences, our two continents share the same heritage, the same values and above all the same purpose: To promote peace and prosperity through freedom, democracy and the rule of law. "I don't think the moment has come to divide the USA and the EU" - @JunckerEU at joint press statement with @VP Mike Pence pic.twitter.com/S34RLSc0jp European Commission (@EU_Commission) February 20, 2017 Mr Trumps election campaign rhetoric branding Nato obsolete and vowing to undo a series of multinational trade deals and his benevolence towards Russian President Vladimir Putin sparked anxiety across the Atlantic. Mr Tusk said: We are counting as always in the past on the United States wholehearted and unequivocal let me repeat, unequivocal support for the idea of a united Europe. The world would be a decidedly worse place if Europe were not united. He added: The idea of Nato is not obsolete, just like the values which lie at its foundation are not obsolete. Manchester United take on Southampton in the EFL Cup final on Sunday. Here, we look at Uniteds route to Wembley. Third round (September 21) Northampton 1 Man Utd 3 Where did that come from? Nice to score, even better to win. Great to hear the fans in full voice. Thanks again. Safe trip home pic.twitter.com/fH5SAEeh5v Michael Carrick (@carras16) September 21, 2016 Jose Mourinhos men ended a shock three-match losing streak at Sixfields but it was not without a scare. Michael Carricks sumptuous strike was cancelled out when Alex Revell drew the Sky Bet League One hosts level but Ander Herreras thumping strike and a simple Marcus Rashford effort wrapped up victory. Picture Fourth round (October 26) Man Utd 1 Man City 0 We lose together, we win together! Perdemos juntos, ganamos juntos! @ManUtd pic.twitter.com/BWZfDQWlXT Juan Mata Garcia (@juanmata8) October 26, 2016 Juan Mata scored the only goal as United edged a tight derby, extending Manchester Citys alarming winless streak to a sixth match. The Spaniard struck in the 54th minute at Old Trafford, moments after Willy Caballero had tipped a Paul Pogba drive onto a post in a rare spell of dominance from either side. Quarter-final (November 30) Man Utd 4 West Ham 1 Mourinho stayed out of sight for this comfortable quarter-final having accepted a touchline ban earlier that day. Anthony Martial secured victory with two goals early in the second half after former United academy player Ashley Fletcher had cancelled out Zlatan Ibrahimovics early opener. Ibrahimovic added gloss to the scoreline with his second of the night in injury time. Semi-final, first leg (January 10) Man Utd 2 Hull 0 9 wins in a row, 15 games unbeaten #MUFC pic.twitter.com/AMmd8hrtAP Marouane Fellaini (@Fellaini) January 10, 2017 Marouane Fellaini repaid Mourinhos faith with a late header that gave United a two-goal advantage against injury-ravaged Hull. The Belgium midfielder had been jeered by pockets of home fans in previous weeks but repaid his managers backing by nodding home a late goal to add to Matas close-range opener. Semi-final, second leg (January 26) Hull 2 Man Utd 1 (Man Utd win 3-2 on aggregate) Manchester United reached the EFL Cup final despite making a meal of a straightforward-looking second leg, losing their 17-match unbeaten run in the process. Tom Huddlestones penalty was cancelled out by Pogba, only for Oumar Niasse to give much-changed Hull a shock win at the sparsely-filled KCOM Stadium, albeit United progressed 3-2 on aggregate. Thousands of people have been taking part in a day of action to support migrants to the UK. Events were held for 1 Day Without Us in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, at university campuses and in town centres, with some private businesses that rely on migrant workforces closing for the day. The day of action aimed to show how much immigrants contribute to the UK (Yui Mok/PA) Families protested in central London (Yui Mok/PA) One rally was held outside City Hall in Belfast (Niall Carson/PA) 200+ people turn out in Bath to celebrate the role immigrants play in our society. #1DayWithoutUs pic.twitter.com/taUppQDUaa Graham Kehily (@gra99) February 20, 2017 Protesters gather in Parliament Square (Yui Mok/PA) Members of Amnesty joined in the Northern Ireland protests (Niall Carson/PA) It really goes to show the diversity in our little group of Plymouth dwellers. Top is everyone, bottom is UK citizens only. #1DayWithoutUs pic.twitter.com/UzRLhXSkVs Lee de Mora (@LeedeMora) February 20, 2017 Marc Stears, the NEF chief executive, said: Britain has a long and proud tradition of openness to people from overseas and our research conclusively shows that migrants have more than repaid for the welcome they have received. Our future as a country depends on the economic, cultural and social contribution that migrants make. As countries all around the world succumb to the siren call of populism, we need to remember that contribution and to celebrate it. According to NEF, migrant workers in the UK make up 10.9% of the total workforce. But citing Migration Observatory figures, it said that number increases dramatically in some jobs, including cleaning and household staff (31%), food preparation and hospitality workers (30%) and health professionals (26%). Ireland expect Johnny Sexton, Rob Kearney and Conor Murray all to prove their fitness for Saturdays RBS 6 Nations clash with France by training fully on Tuesday. Sexton has missed the first two matches with calf trouble while Kearney has nursed a biceps injury and Murray sat out training on Friday with a slight adductor issue. Ireland refused to give up hope that Sexton could have been fit to face first Scotland and then Italy in the opening fortnight and again find themselves in a similar situation. Picture But team manager Paul Dean tipped the British and Irish Lions fly-half to confirm his readiness for Saturdays Dublin clash with France, with flanker Peter OMahony also expected back after hamstring concerns. Everybody looks good to fully train [on Tuesday], said Dean. Johnny Sexton will play a part in training [on Monday] but will fully train [on Tuesday]. Hopefully when he comes through that, hell be fine for the weekend. Rob Kearney continues to make progress. Hell do some contact work and hell fully train. If you talk to Johnny and Rob theyll both say that theyre 100 per cent fit and ready to go, so we just need the medics to pass them and they need to prove to us that they are. Conor Murrays workload was managed in Monaghan last week. It was a difficult week for the players last week but Im happy to report that the outlook is positive. Conor was tight so we thought it prudent to call up Kieran Marmion. He trained with Connacht on Thursday, with us on Friday and he was rested at the weekend. .@IrishRugby's Josh van der Flier will be absent from Round 3 after suffering an injury... More details https://t.co/veWP5ZlIfc pic.twitter.com/uJLlfMtzsp Guinness Six Nations (@SixNationsRugby) February 20, 2017 Josh van der Flier could miss the rest of the Six Nations after suffering a shoulder injury, though the Leinster flankers absence should be offset by Munster back-rower OMahonys return to fitness. Reports in France claim Ian Madigan will seek to cut his stay in Bordeaux short - but in a bid to join an Aviva Premiership club rather than return to Ireland. Ireland have again overlooked the former Leinster fly-half for their squad to prepare to face France, continuing their policy of preferring to select home-based stars. "He's hitting all his markers" - Joe Schmidt is confident Jonathan Sexton will be back for #RBS6Nations Round 3 https://t.co/8wCjn7xP56 pic.twitter.com/EMFKIHITmE Guinness Six Nations (@SixNationsRugby) February 17, 2017 Dean admitted his personal wish would be for Madigan to return to one of the Irish provinces should he opt out of his Bordeaux deal. Id personally love to see him back in Ireland, said Dean. Wed be able to invite him to the sessions, keep an eye on him and watch his progress. Its difficult when youre abroad, as we all know. I think the Premiership, hed be better off coming home in my book, lets say. Pep Guardiola is relishing the intensity of the Champions League spotlight and hopes his Manchester City players can do the same. City resume their European challenge on Tuesday as they host Monaco in the first leg of their last-16 tie. Guardiola won the competition twice with Barcelona and took Bayern Munich to three successive semi-finals, thriving on the knife-edge pressure it brings along the way. Picture Speaking at his pre-match press conference, City boss Guardiola said: A lot of big clubs are not here, they are not living that situation. We are lucky guys. I know how difficult it is as a manager, as a player, to be selected to be here. The recent history is quite good but in the long history, Manchester City were not here for a long time. I would like to convince the players to enjoy that moment. It is beautiful. All of Europe will watch us, to analyse us, to kill us if we dont win or say how good we are if we do win. That is the huge experience. It is beautiful to me. One to watch? Kylian Mbappe has had a hand in 18 goals in 25 outings for Monaco this season (11 goals, 7 assists). #UCL pic.twitter.com/HBr1FLu2fb UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) February 20, 2017 He added: It is one of the most beautiful competitions to play. Maybe not the most important but the most beautiful. City reached the quarter-finals for the first time last season and went on to make the last four but their opponents in the first knockout stage this time are in formidable form. Monaco are top of Ligue 1, three points ahead of a Paris St Germain side that thrashed Barcelona last week, having scored 76 goals in their 26 games. A number of their players have been linked with big-money summer moves with 18-year-old winger Kylian Mbappe, especially, earning rave reviews. Guardiola on Monaco: "I am really impressed by how good they are. The full-backs play like wingers - they are killers in the box." #UCL pic.twitter.com/8rg2bOi8oi UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) February 20, 2017 Guardiola said: Like a spectator it is so nice to see them. I am really impressed how good they are. They are physically strong, the full-backs play like wingers, the wingers play like attacking midfielders. The two strikers are fighters in the box - (Radamel) Falcao, (Valere) Germain. They are killers in the box. We are looking forward to playing against them. Just compliments (to them) because they are a really good team. Kevin De Bruyne now taking questions #mcfc pic.twitter.com/HAY4YUI1wi Andy Hampson (@andyhampson) February 20, 2017 Citys run to the semi-finals last season was a landmark achievement for the club and the challenge is now to replicate that on a regular basis. Forward Kevin De Bruyne said: This team is building on that but we need time to do that year after year. Last year was a great step for the team but we know it is going to be a tough test to play against an in-form team in France. We have to do our job and win this round and stay in the Champions League. It is very important for people who look at us, evaluate us and criticise us to see we are going in the right direction. A 23-year-old man who killed a primary school teacher with an unprovoked and senseless act of violence in a bar has been jailed for eight years. Lewis Siddall, 24, a teacher at Copley Junior School, Sprotborough, died after he was punched by Blue Horrobin at the VDKA bar, in Doncaster town centre, in August 2015, South Yorkshire Police said. NEWS: #Doncaster man jailed for killing man with one punch https://t.co/JXpBjEOKQa pic.twitter.com/bP98wWmLxE South Yorkshire Police (@syptweet) February 20, 2017 In a statement issued after the sentencing, Mr Siddalls family said: As a family we will never come to terms with the loss of our beautiful son Lewis. We speak on behalf of everyone who knew and loved him, including his friends, colleagues and pupils, but especially his brothers Karl, Blake and twin brother Russell and their partners. This senseless and unprovoked attack has taken the light of our lives and our hearts will never truly heal. We have found the whole experience of sitting through a trial, just to prove our sons innocence, to be truly traumatic. Lewis Siddall, who died after being punched in a bar The complete and utter devastation we feel at losing someone who was and still is the centre of our world, has truly destroyed our family unit. We will never completely come to terms with our loss resulting from such an unnecessary and evil act. Today we have some justice for Lewis and we now have to find the strength to move forward without him. Detective Chief Inspector Steve Handley, who led the investigation, said: This was a thoughtless act that robbed a popular young man of his life, and his loving family of someone they loved so dearly. No prison sentence will bring Lewis back and they will undoubtedly feel a sense of great loss, sadness and anger for the rest of their lives. I do however hope this sentence will offer some sort of comfort and allow them to begin to heal. A police spokesman said Horrobin, of Askern, Doncaster, was sentenced to eight years in prison and given an additional three years to serve on licence. He was found guilty of manslaughter last month. Lucas Perez is unhappy with his limited first-team opportunities at Arsenal but is not angling for a move in the summer, according to his agent. The 28-year-old has started just eight games in all competitions for the Gunners this season having signed from Deportivo La Coruna in August. Perez was originally offered to Arsenal earlier in the off-season but manager Arsene Wenger resisted as he was hopeful of landing Leicester and England man Jamie Vardy instead. Vardy opted to remain at the King Power Stadium so a move for Perez, who registered 17 LaLiga goals last term, was resurrected. (Adam Davy/Empics) But despite spending a reported 17million, Wenger has limited Perezs appearances and the Spaniard has played a largely peripheral role in the squad. Reports he will therefore look to leave the Emirates Stadium at the end of the campaign are wide of the mark, however, according to agent Rodrigo Fernandez Lovelle, who had been quoted on an Italian website declaring Perezs intention to stay. Like any professional, he wants to play, Lovelle told Press Association Sport when asked about Perezs future. When one does not play he is not happy but we knew it would be difficult and it is a long contract. Sutton pulling out all the stops for Arsenal today #FACup pic.twitter.com/kDZ9C9LSEE PA Dugout (@PAdugout) February 20, 2017 Lucas has this contract with Arsenal and he wants to succeed there. No-one has spoken of a move. Perez, nursing a minor hamstring injury of late, has been a victim of the fine early season form of Alexis Sanchez, who was shifted into a central role at the start of the campaign. Olivier Giroud was also enjoying a purple patch when reinstated to the side, meaning Perez was limited to largely cameo appearances. He did, however, hit a Champions League hat-trick in Basle and has impressed a large section of Arsenal fans when afforded time on the pitch. TOKYO, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Japan's exports rose 1.3 percent in January from a year earlier, government data showed on Monday, a slowdown from the previous month due to a decline in U.S. exports and the Chinese New Year holidays. The rise was less than a 4.7 percent increase expected by economists in a Reuters poll. It followed a 5.4 percent year-on-year rise in December. Imports rose 8.5 percent, versus the median estimate for a 4.7 percent increase. The trade balance came to a deficit of 1.09 trillion yen ($9.66 billion), versus the median estimate for a 636.8 billion yen deficit. To view full tables, go to the website of the Ministry of Finance at: http://www.customs.go.jp/toukei/info/index_e.htm ($1 = 112.8300 yen) (Reporting by Stanley White; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim) SEOUL, Feb 20 (Reuters) - The killing of North Korea leader Kim Jong Un's estranged half- brother in Malaysia last week shows the brutality of isolated North Korea and its "terrorism tactics are getting bolder", South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn said on Monday. South Korean and U.S. officials believe Kim Jong Nam was killed by agents from the reclusive North, whose diplomats in Kuala Lumpur have sought to prevent an autopsy on the 46-year-old's body and demanded it be handed over. Malaysian police said on Sunday they had arrested a North Korean man in connection with the murder of Kim Jong Nam, and that four other North Korean suspects had fled Malaysia on the day of the attack at Kuala Lumpur airport. Hwang told a meeting of South Korea's National Security Council that it was nearly certain that North Korea was behind the killing of Kim Jong Nam, the eldest son of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. "The murder carried out in public at an international airport of a third country is an unforgivable and inhumane criminal act and clearly demonstrates the recklessness and brutality of the North Korean regime that will spare no avenues when it comes to perpetuating itself," Hwang said. "As was seen in this case, the North Korean regime's terrorism tactics are getting bolder so we must be more vigilant about the possibility of terror by the North Korean regime against our government and people," Hwang said. Kim Jong Nam had spoken out publicly against his family's dynastic control of the isolated, nuclear-armed nation. Aside from the North Korean man, Malaysian authorities have also arrested a Vietnamese woman and an Indonesian woman in connection with the killing last Monday. Malaysia's determination to carry out an autopsy and refusal to hand over the body directly to North Korean officials has strained diplomatic ties. Malaysia had been one of the few countries to maintain friendly relations with North Korea. There is also speculation that China's patience with North Korea could be tested by the killing, as Kim Jong Nam had been living in the Chinese controlled territory of Macau. Beijing, which is seen to be irritated by the North's repeated aggressive behaviour including two nuclear tests since the start of last year and a series of missile tests including a intermediate-range ballistic missile shot on Feb. 12, said on Saturday it had suspended all imports of coal from the North. Coal exports to China are a vital source of revenues for the impoverished North. (Reporting by Jack Kim; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore) MELBOURNE, Feb 20 (Reuters) - London copper rose on Monday, returning to the $6,000 per tonne mark, as near-term supply disruptions intensified after the world's second-biggest mine said it could not fulfil its promised shipments due to export permit issues. FUNDAMENTALS * Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose by 0.7 percent to $6,000 a tonne by 0210 GMT, paring losses from the previous session. Prices hit $6,204 a week ago, after top mine Escondida also declared it could not fulfil contracted shipments because of a strike, but industry sources said that smelters and fabricators were still amply supplied with metal. * Shanghai Futures Exchange copper was steady at 48590 yuan ($7,079) a tonne. * The chief executive of miner Freeport-McMoran Inc's Indonesian unit, resigned, the company said on Saturday, after the parent firm declared force majeure on copper concentrate shipments from its Grasberg mine in Papua. * The positions of BHP Billiton, and the striking union at its Escondida copper mine in Chile, the world's largest, remain distant even as the two parties agreed last week to return to the table. * Anglo American PLC will temporarily suspend operations at its El Soldado copper mine in Chile after failing to receive regulatory approval for a redesign that would have helped keep output flowing, the company said on Friday. * Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he will review his minister's order to close more than half the country's mines for environmental violations, following an outcry from affected producers. * Turnover was light with U.S. markets closed for the Presidents Day holiday. * China's central bank said on Friday it plans to tighten up oversight in a range of areas including corporate debt and bank assets, as policymakers fret over fast-rising leverage and the risk of asset bubbles in the economy. * President Donald Trump's pledge to bring massive investments in U.S. infrastructure projects showed new signs of life on Friday, as leading Republican lawmakers said proposals from the administration could be in the offing. * For the top stories in metals and other news, click or MARKETS NEWS * Asian share markets got off to a subdued start on Monday as political uncertainty kept the mood cautious, while the U.S. dollar softened a touch ahead of a busy week for Federal Reserve speakers. DATA/EVENTS 0700 Germany Producer prices for Jan 1500 Euro zone Consumer confidence flash at Feb PRICES Three month LME copper Most active ShFE copper Three month LME aluminium Most active ShFE aluminium Three month LME zinc Most active ShFE zinc Three month LME lead Most active ShFE lead Three month LME nickel Most active ShFE nickel Three month LME tin Most active ShFE tin ($1 = 6.8640 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Melanie Burton; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell) By Aaron Sheldrick TOKYO, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Monday but the gains were limited as investors gauged whether an increase in U.S. drilling rigs and record stockpiles would undermine efforts by producers to cut output and bring the market into balance. Brent futures were up 23 cents at $56.04 a barrel at 0750 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up 19 cents at $53.59. Both contracts earlier fell slightly in quiet trading. "Sustained gains above $55 a barrel, and a hoped for rally to $60 a barrel, (are) both proving incredibly tough nuts to crack," said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at futures brokerage OANDA in Singapore. "At the crux of the matter is that 90 percent OPEC compliance is being balanced by ever increasing U.S. shale production," he added. U.S. energy companies added oil rigs for a fifth consecutive week, Baker Hughes said on Friday, extending a nine-month recovery with producers encouraged by higher prices, which have traded mostly over $50 a barrel since late November. "Assuming the US oil rig count stays at the current level, we estimate U.S. oil production would increase by 405,000 (barrels per day, or bpd) between 4Q17 and 4Q16 across the Permian, Eagle Ford, Bakken and Niobrara shale plays," Goldman Sachs said in a research note. Overall, 2017 U.S. production will rise by an average 130,000 bpd from a year ago, the note said. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other producers, including Russia, agreed last year to cut output by almost 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) during the first half of 2017. Estimates indicate compliance with the cuts is at around 90 percent, while Reuters reported last week that OPEC could extend the pact or apply deeper cuts from July if global crude inventories fail to drop enough. But rising U.S. output helped boost crude and gasoline inventories to record highs last week, amid faltering demand growth for the motor fuel. Saudi Arabia's crude oil exports in December fell to 8.014 million bpd from 8.258 million bpd in November, official data showed on Monday. The U.S. market will be closed on Monday for the Presidents Day holiday. (Additional reporting by Henning Gloystein.; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Biju Dwarakanath) BERLIN, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Greece will need less in emergency loans from international lenders than originally agreed in its third bailout programme due to a better-than-expected budgetary development, the head of the euro zone bailout fund said in comments published on Monday. Klaus Regling told German newspaper Bild that at the end of Greece's money-against-reforms package in August 2018, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) will "probably have paid out far less than the agreed maximum amount of 86 billion euros" because the Greek budget was developing better than expected. The comments came shortly before euro zone finance ministers will meet in Brussels to assess Greece's progress in fulfilling the conditions of its bailout. (Editing by Alison Williams) TAIPEI, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Taiwan's export orders for January, released by the Ministry of Economic Affairs on Monday. The data is an indication of the strength of Asian exports and of global demand for technology. JAN 2017 REUTERS DEC 2016 POLL Export orders (y/y pct) +5.2 +6.65 +6.3 Export orders from China +5.5 +11.2 Export orders from U.S. +4.8 +8.7 Export orders from Europe +8.3 +7.9 Export orders from Japan +5.3 -2.6 * revised figure The ministry's website is http://www.moea.gov.tw/ (Reporting by Jeanny Kao and Faith Hung; Editing by Kim Coghill) By TJ Strydom and Tiisetso Motsoeneng JOHANNESBURG, Feb 20 (Reuters) - South Africa's Steinhoff and grocery retailer Shoprite called off a deal on Monday to create an African shopping giant, preventing leading investor Christo Wiese from bringing more of his retail assets under one roof. Billionaire Wiese, a shareholder in both companies and the architect of the deal, and other investors including state-owned pension fund the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) could not agree on the value of a share exchange. The deal's collapse will test Wiese's determination to place more and more of his assets in one basket. At least three of Shoprite's minority shareholders told Reuters last week the commercial and strategic logic did not stand up to scrutiny. Bankers estimated the combination would have a value of more than 180 billion rand ($14 billion). Wiese told Reuters in a telephone interview that he still saw opportunities for Shoprite, an $8 billion grocery retailer, and Steinhoff, the owner of Conforama in France and Poundland in the UK, to work together. "There are quite a number of things that we noticed and that we will explore in due course to see whether there are things where we can get the two groups to work together, but for me it is impossible to sketch out the way forward," Wiese said. In a joint statement, the firms said "the fact that the relevant parties could not reach an agreement in respect of the share exchange resulted in the negotiations being terminated." Complaints by Shoprite minorities -- that the deal was sparse on details, lacked obvious cost-savings overlaps and would mean exchanging a stock with bigger potential for what they called inferior businesses -- had depressed both companies' share prices. "There were no real synergies between the two," said 36One Asset Management fund manager Evan Walker. "We own shares in both, (and) kept shares in both hoping the deal would fail and sanity would prevail." Shares in Shoprite traded 7.5 percent higher at 1435 GMT. Steinhoff jumped 5 percent in Frankfurt and 4.8 percent in Johannesburg, where it has a secondary listing. AFRICA'S IKEA Under the deal, Steinhoff would have sold its African assets to Shoprite in return for a controlling stake in the grocery chain. Steinhoff would have exchanged its shares for those of Shoprite's top two shareholders -- Wiese and the PIC, which like Wiese owns shares in both companies. The deal would have given Steinhoff, dubbed Africa's IKEA and vying with the Swedish firm for global market share, a major interest in Shoprite, a 110 billion rand company operating in countries including Ghana, Nigeria and Angola. It would have also ensured Wiese, who owns 16 percent of Shoprite, moved more of his assets into Steinhoff, in which he owns a 23 percent stake bulked up in 2014 through the cash and share sale of his Pepkor chain to the furniture retailer. For Shoprite the termination of the deal allows it to focus on growing its store network elsewhere on the continent. It could also reassure Steinhoff's shareholders who might have had concerns about a major deviation from its stated strategy of selling low-cost furniture and household goods. "In my view, the deal was not crucial to either Shoprite or Steinhoff and its failing should not detract from the investment case of either company," said Unathi Loos, an analyst at Investec Asset Management. Steinhoff also owns retailers Poundland in Britain and Conforama in France. PLAN B? However, the collapse of the tie-up might not deter Steinhoff from buying control of Shoprite if food retail is the cornerstone of its new strategy. The company could buy out a controlling stake from Wiese, who told Reuters last year he was looking for ways to consolidate his assets. "It's not the first time Wiese has tried to take out Shoprite. I don't think will be the last," Gryphon Asset Management's Chief Investment Officer Abri du Plessis. Wiese, through his investment vehicle Brait SE, tried and failed in 2007 to buy Shoprite in a $2 billion deal because Shoprite and Brait could not agree on the price. Besides his direct Shoprite holding, Wiese owns another 35 percent in deferred shares, which carry the same voting rights, through his investment vehicle, Thibault Square, meaning he controls about 50 percent of Shoprite. (Additional reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Writing by James Macharia and Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Editing by Keith Weir/Ruth Pitchford) WARSAW, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Poland's defence ministry has started on Monday tender negotiations with three firms to buy eight helicopters for special forces and a further eight anti-submarine choppers, the ministry said in a statement. Earlier, Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz said that Poland is considering buying the helicopters from Airbus, Lockheed Martin's Sikorsky subsidiary or Leonardo-Finmeccanica this year. The ministry also said in the statement on its website that it has sent an "invitation" letters to Boeing as well as Lufthansa and Glomex to submit supply offers of three medium-range aircraft for the transportation of top government officials. (Reporting by Pawel Sobczak and Marcin Goettig; Writing by Lidia Kelly) By Humeyra Pamuk MUGLA, Turkey, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Prosecutors called for life sentences for more than 40 Turkish soldiers on Monday at the start of their trial for attempting to assassinate President Tayyip Erdogan during last year's failed coup, according to the indictment obtained by Reuters. Under tight security, the defendants were bussed in to a courthouse in the southwestern city of Mugla, not far from the luxury resort where Erdogan and his family narrowly escaped the soldiers, fleeing in a helicopter shortly before their hotel was attacked. More than 240 people were killed during the failed coup on July 15, when a group of rogue soldiers commandeered tanks, warplanes and helicopters, attacking parliament and attempting to overthrow the government. On Monday, prosecutors in Mugla charged 47 suspects, almost all of them soldiers, with offences including attempting to assassinate the president, breaching the constitution and belonging to an armed terrorist organisation. It was not immediately clear how all the suspects would plead. Erdogan, named as a co-plaintiff in the case, was represented by lawyer Huseyin Aydin, who told Reuters he expected the heaviest sentences to be handed down. One of the first defendants to testify admitted to accepting a mission to seize, but not kill, Erdogan. "My mission was to take the president and bring him to Akinci air base safe and sound," Gokhan Sonmezates told the court, referring to a base outside Ankara that briefly functioned as a command centre for the coup plotters. Turkey says the coup was orchestrated by a U.S.-based Muslim cleric, Fethullah Gulen. The cleric, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, has denied the charges and condemned the coup. Since the failed coup, more than 40,000 people have been arrested and more than 100,000 have been sacked or suspended from the military, civil service and private sector. Turkey launched its first criminal trial related to the coup in December, and more trials are expected. SNIPERS, SPECIAL FORCES Sonmezates, a former brigadier general, was described in the indictment as a leader of the mission, something he denied in court. He also denied charges that he was a member of Gulen's network. "It was for the country, for the nation, to stop the decay domestically, to put an end to the bribery, to protect my country from the PKK," he told the court, referring to the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Another defendant, Sukru Seymen, also denied a link to Gulen, but showed no remorse about playing a role in the coup. "Yes I carried out a coup. I followed the order I was given and I am not going to sit and cry like a child over that," the former major told the court. The suspects, who include Erdogan's former aide-de-camp, were wearing suits when they were brought from prison to the courthouse. They were met by a crowd of some 200 people waving flags and calling for their execution. "We want the death penalty. Let the hand that tried to harm our chief be broken," said one of the protesters, 61-year-old Zuhal Ayhan, referring to Erdogan. "I'd give my life for him." Turkey formally abolished the death penalty as part of its 2002 European Union accession talks. Since the coup, crowds have repeatedly called for it to be restored, a move that would likely spell the end of Turkey's bid to join the EU. The area around the courthouse was cordoned off and patrolled by dozens of security force members, including police and special forces. Snipers stood on nearby rooftops. Forty-four defendants were brought in, while three remain at large and are being tried in absentia. The courthouse in Mugla was too small to handle the number of defendants and authorities said the trial was being heard at the conference room of the chamber of commerce next door. According to the indictment, 37 soldiers were charged with a having a direct role in the storming of the luxury Grand Yazici Club Turban, where Erdogan had been staying, while others were accused of providing assistance to the operation. The soldiers descended on the hotel in Marmaris on ropes thrown from helicopters, firing shots, just after Erdogan had left. In an interview with Reuters after the coup, Erdogan said his faith as a Muslim helped him and his family escape unscathed. (Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Dominic Evans and Mark Trevelyan) By Jan Strupczewski and Francesco Guarascio BRUSSELS, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Greece and its international lenders agreed on Monday to let teams of experts work out new reforms to Greek pensions, income tax and labour market that would allow Athens to eventually qualify for more cheap loans, euro zone officials said. Greece needs a new tranche of financial aid under its 86 billion euro bailout by the third quarter of the year to meet debt repayments, but the last mission to Athens broke down in acrimony late last year. A Greek government official said extra reforms were to be fiscally neutral and take effect from the start of 2019, after the latest bailout ends in 2018. Experts from the European Commission, the European Central Bank, the euro zone bailout fund ESM and the International Monetary Fund are to travel to Athens very soon, the head of euro zone finance ministers Jeroen Dijsselbloem said. "There will be a change in the policy mix, moving away from austerity and putting more emphasis on deep reforms which is also a key element for the IMF," he said. The agreement is a compromise between conflicting views of the IMF, the euro zone and Greece as to how to make the economy more efficient and public finances sustainable. The IMF believes that the pension system in Greece should undergo a deeper overhaul than so far, while Greece has flatly refused to have the reform reopened. The euro zone has said that the reforms agreed so far were enough for Greece to meet and maintain its target of a surplus before debt costs of 3.5 percent of GDP from 2018 onwards. The IMF, however, has said the current reforms would only produce a 1.5 percent surplus and that income and labour market reforms were needed too. The agreement on Monday left open how big a saving the new reforms would produce. "I cannot put a number on it because the figures are still moving and some discussions on the figures are still ongoing, so the final figure of the size of this will have to be established during the review," Dijsselbloem said. "But what we have agreed now is to the liking of the IMF." Once the reforms were agreed between Athens and the lenders' experts, the Fund would then make a new debt sustainability assessment for Greece to see how much debt relief was still needed, if at all. The IMF now believes Greece needs substantial debt relief, while the euro zone thinks it does not. "The issue of sustainable debt will come back when the whole package of reforms is agreed," Dijsselbloem said. "If the IMF can then say the budget will be sustainably on track on this basis and these reforms will support further recovery, then the whole analysis of the debt in the coming years will look a lot more positive," he said. The talks now appear set to continue during election campaigns in the Netherlands and France, which euro zone officials have said may make a final deal more difficult. But euro zone officials said there was no rush because Greece had enough cash to see it through to July - when a 7.2 billion euro debt repayment with which it needs lenders' help is due. "There is no need for a disbursement in March, April or May," Dijsselbloem said. "There is no liquidity issue in the short-run in Greece but we all feel the sense of urgency because of the key issue of confidence," he said. Dijsselbloem said that if the extra reforms agreed by the expert mission were to make Greece over-perform its fiscal targets, Athens would be able to put the excess back into the economy in economic growth enhancing measures. (Additional reporting by Waverly Coleville, Robert-Jan Bartunek, Tom Koerkemeier and Renee Maltezou; Editing by Toby Chopra) FRANKFURT, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Germany imported 3.0 percent less natural gas last year compared with 2015 and paid 27.3 percent less as oil-linked gas prices fell with cheaper crude, data from trade statistics office BAFA showed on Monday. The import bill in the twelve months came to 17.8 billion euros ($18.9 billion), the data showed. Many continental European long-term gas supply contracts still track crude oil prices with a time lag of about six months, though the importance of virtual gas trading points for spot supplies is increasing. Russia, Norway, the Netherlands, Britain and Denmark are Germany's leading suppliers. BAFA no longer provides a breakdown of supply from each country, but Russia remains Germany's top supplier. Russia's Gazprom, for its part, said last month its full-year gas exports to Germany hit a record high of 49.8 billion cubic metres (bcm). This number would be equivalent to 1,751,466 terajoules, in which BAFA expresses German imports. That volume would constitute 42.1 percent of the German total, up from a share of 34.7 percent in 2015, when this was reported by BAFA under its old regime. BAFA gave the following details: Dec 2016 Dec 2015 Pct change Gas border price **4,889.25 5,087.61 - 3.9 (in euros/TJ)* Gas imports (TJ) 409,833 397,552 + 3.1 Jan-Dec 2016 Jan-Dec 2015 Pct change Gas imports 4,156,376 4,283,360 - 3.0 volume (TJ) Avg gas border 4,278.62 5,718.16 - 25.2 price (in euros/TJ) Total value of 17.8 24.5 - 27.3 imports (bln euros) * 1 terajoule = 278,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh), 1 bcm = 35,170 TJ ** equivalent to 1.76 cents/kWh ($1 = 0.9414 euros) (Reporting by Vera Eckert; Editing by Mark Potter) By Simon Jessop and Sophie Sassard LONDON, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Snap Inc, owner of popular messaging app Snapchat, kicked off its first investor roadshow on Monday, looking to persuade London money managers to back its initial public offering in the face of concerns about its growth prospects, valuation and corporate governance. The U.S. company, which has yet to make a profit, is targeting a valuation of between $19.5 billion and $22.3 billion from listing on the New York Stock Exchange, after cutting its initial target of $20 billion-$25 billion last week following investor feedback. Investors attending Monday's event said Snap's 26-year-old Chief Executive Evan Spiegel gave a sleek presentation. However, they were disappointed there were no projections on the company's future revenues or advertising share - an indication of how quickly Snap thinks it can make money from its huge user base. "That's the million dollar question and we won't find out for some time," said one potential backer on his way out from the hour-long event where Spiegel ditched his usual casual wear and wore a suit with no tie. Some were disappointed that it was just a question-and-answer session with no demonstration of Snapchat's spectacles, launched in the United States late last year, which come with a built-in camera. One attendee, however, said it made sense not to push the hardware angle too much at this stage. Few U.S. firms aside from Apple have made big profits on hardware, and camera and wearable gadget makers have much lower valuations than Snap is seeking. Most of the questions related to how the company plans to manage its engagement with advertisers and users, and monetise that better, according to people who were in the room. Its responses won over some potential investors. "Management did a good show, they were very convincing," said one attendee. Los Angeles-based Snap also plans roadshows in New York, Boston and San Francisco. It expects to price its IPO after the U.S. market closes on March 1, according to a confidential document seen by Reuters. GOVERNANCE CONCERNS Some fund managers have said they will stay away from Snap given its decision to adopt a three class share structure - the first of its kind - that will mean shareholders who buy in through the IPO will not have any voting rights. Instead Spiegel and his co-founder Bobby Murphy will have the right to 10 votes for every share, and existing investors one vote for each of their shares. "My view would be investors should tread with caution here, the fact the shares will carry no voting rights would be a major concern for me from a governance perspective," Richard Saldanha, global equities fund manager at Aviva Investors, said ahead of the roadshow. Aviva manages 318 billion pounds across a range of asset classes. Mike Fox, head of sustainable investments at Royal London Asset Management, said the inability to vote against a company at its annual general meeting was a "major red flag" and he would not be taking part in the IPO. "It is worth noting that while many U.S. tech firms have delivered tremendous returns for investors following their listing, performance of firms in this sector has not always matched investor expectations following an IPO," he said, also before the meeting. Others were less worried, though. "Snapchat offers a cocktail of hype, insane valuations, dubious fundamentals and weak governance. However, the same was said about companies like Google and Facebook when they listed," said Geir Lode, head of global equities at Hermes Investment Management. "For tech companies early in their lifecycle the weak governance structure is fairly typical, and even with those concerns subsequent shareholder returns have often been stellar." With tech-savvy millennial users of Snap's products able and willing to quickly jump ship to the next Big Thing, there were also concerns about its competitive position versus industry rivals such as Facebook. "Barriers for entry would appear low here as well, and you could see their demographic - 18-34 year olds - easily shift to another service," Aviva Investors' Saldanha said. (Reporting by Simon Jessop; Editing by Susan Fenton) MADRID, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Spain could miss last year's public deficit target of 4.6 percent of economic output, Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said on Monday. Spain's government said in November it would hit its 2016 target after it outstripped its 2015 target by a wide margin. In 2015, its public deficit was 5.1 percent of economic output against the EU-agreed target of 4.2 percent. "We will have to wait and see how we end 2016 and we will send the data to the European Commission at the end of March. There may be some variation, but I hope that it will be as close as possible to our commitment," he told journalists in Brussels. Spain has agreed with Brussels a deficit target of 3.1 percent for 2017. The European Commission said in January that Spain's budget for this year was "broadly" in line with EU targets and no additional fiscal measures would be required - a new, positive sign for the country's expanding economy. (Reporting By Andres Gonzalez; Writing by Jesus Aguado; Editing by Tom Heneghan) Minister S.B. Nawinna said the Government hoped to issue nearly 25,000 dual citizenships to expatriate Sri Lankans on the basis that it would give an opportunity to Sri Lankans domiciled in foreign countries to contribute to the development of their Motherland. He said this at a ceremony held today at the Smart Tower to distribute 500 dual citizenships to expatriate Sri Lankans. For several decades you may have lived in a foreign country without an opportunity to give back something to your Motherland. Therefore, I appeal to you to do your utmost to introduce Sri Lanka to your friends and colleagues as it will be big a boost to our tourist industry, the minister said. He said Sri Lnkans living abroad may have fled the country because of the ethnic conflict, suppression of their rights by the then government or scared of the State-sponsored terrorism. B "But Sri Lanka under the Unity Government has become one of the most peaceful and fast developing country in Asia. That is why the Government decided to issue dual citizenships to expatriate Sri Lankans and their siblings who may have not stepped on their Motherland before," the minister said. A Sri Lankan adults must pay Rs.300,000 and Rs.50,000 by children under 18 to obtain a dual citizenship. The Emigration and Immigration Department has issued more than 15,000 dual citizenships since it was introduced in March 2015. (Sandun A Jayasekera) Head of Sustainability of Aitken Spence, Azam Bakeer Markar was named among the 100 Most Impactful CSR Leaders [Global Listing] at the 6th edition of the World CSR Congress held in Mumbais Taj Lands recently. The annual listing is decided by qualified pool of researchers under a globally convened CSR Advisory Council consisting of CSR and Sustainability senior experts and professionals. Azam was a founding Director of the United Nations Global Compact Network Sri Lanka, which advocates the adoption of corporate sustainability practices and alignment with global development goals amongst the countrys corporate sector. In addition, to being responsible for the Sustainability function of Aitken Spence for a decade, Bakeer Markar manages the new ventures, corporate communication and branding functions of the conglomerate. Aitken Spence is the only company in Sri Lanka to be recognized as a Best Corporate Citizen by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce for ten consecutive years. The diversified groups sustainability framework is rated Platinum continually by the STING Corporate Accountability Index, while repeatedly recognizing it as Best in Class for Policy Coverage. Aitken Spence is amongst the first companies in the world to endorse the Womens Empowerment Principles, a joint initiative of UN Women and UN Global Compact to promote gender equality in business, and the first company to do so in Sri Lanka. Aitken Spence is also one of the first companies in Sri Lanka to pledge its support to the Caring for Climate initiative, which is a joint effort by UNEP, UNFCCC and UNGC to promote positive climate action in business. Azam Bakeer Markar is a member of the Board of Management of the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute for International Relations & Strategic Studies. He holds leadership positions in several civil society organisations focused on youth, community relations and civic mobilisation. Azam holds BSc (Hons) in International Economics from Loughborough University (UK) and a Diploma in International Relations. Chinese e-commerce sensation and Alibaba Founder Jack Ma will likely be visiting Sri Lanka this year, Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake claimed last week. I got a call from the Chinese ambassador recently that he (Ma) had expressed his interest following the discussion he had with me and coincidentally he called yesterday, Karunanayake said. Karunanayake met Ma on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos last month. I extended our invitation saying that we are willing to have him anytime in Colombo and we are willing to meet them the next time we are in China, Karunanayake said. However, he said that the government would try to get Ma to visit Sri Lanka by September or October. We need players like that. Theyre revolutionary, Karunanayake said. From left: Japanese Foreign Affairs Ministry Southeast and Southwest Asian Affairs Department Deputy Director General Noriyuki Shikata, Eastern Province Governor Austin Fernando, Pathfinder Foundation Chairman Bernard Goonetilleke, Indian External Affairs Ministry Policy Planning Joint Secretary Santosh Jha and Carnegie India Director Dr. Raja Mohan Pic by Waruna Wanniarachchi Global geopolitical powers should attempt to be apolitical when developing the Trincomalee port and the area around the Bay of Bengal, in order to ensure maritime security for all stakeholders, the Eastern Province Governor advocated last week. We cannot divest politics from maritime issues, but I urge the stakeholders to be apolitical, Austin Fernando said. Speaking at the first Trincomalee Consultations organised by the Pathfinder Foundation and Carnagie India, he said that the stakeholders should cooperate to ensure internal and external biases and threats in the region are managed through information sharing, joint operations and cooperation with non-governmental organisations. He added that the development of the region could be blurred if economic and security issues are not addressed, noting how even with infrastructure development in Trincomalees rival Hambantota, investment attraction has been slow. Fernando noted that Indian investments in the oil tank farms would bring visible changes to Trincomalee, while the port and airport developments in the city would ensure smooth logistical interconnectivity between Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmmar. Delegations from South Asian nations, as well as from Japan were in attendance at the meeting, with an absence of a delegation from China, which is increasingly getting involved with the economy of Sri Lanka and the region. Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Yi Xianliang has repeatedly said that China should be considered part of South Asia as well, given that it shares borders with many South Asian nations and has contributed towards the development of the region. The Indian and Japanese delegates in attendance at the Trincomalee Consultations tried to downplay any possible Chinese involvement in the Bay of Bengal. The primary responsibility for peace, security and prosperity in the region must rest with those who are residents in the region, Indian External Affairs Ministry Policy Planning Joint Secretary Santosh Jha said. However, he noted that support from likeminded partners such as the US and Japan would be encouraging. Sitting here in Sri Lanka, just north of major crossroads of global maritime trade, we have to agree that these waters remain relevant not just to countries resident in the region, but others too who may be dependent on peace on these waters for trade and transit, he added. Perhaps due to such requirements, China has launched an ambitious plan to construct a string of ports and industrial zones, which would be under Chinese influence, between Middle East and mainland China. Japanese Foreign Affairs Ministry Southeast and Southwest Asian Affairs Department Deputy Director General Noriyuki Shikata too pushed for an Asia Pacific agenda led by Japan and the US, by noting the renewed ties between the two allies following a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe last week. Im certain that Prime Minister Abe and President Trump would be interested in working with us all for ensuring peace and prosperity of the Bay of Bengal, he said, after denouncing attempts of certain actors to intimidate, coerce or force resource ownership and militarize real estate in the Asia Pacific region. Sri Lanka has allocated the Hambantota port, which is located closest to the international shipping highways, to China, while Trincomalee has been entrusted to Japan and India, with a master plan currently being formulated by Singapores Subarna Jurong. However, Indian media reports recently said that the Indian government is not interested in Sri Lankas gift of Trincomalee as a balancing act. The current government, which came into power with a notion of depending on wide scale economic support from India and the Western World, has now turned towards China, which is using its authoritarian government to realize investments in Sri Lanka. Carnegie India Director Dr. Raja Mohan said that observers should not be surprised of the geopolitics currently unfolding in Sri Lanka and the Bay of Bengal, since the same stakeholders had been active in the region during World War II, while the Maritime Silk Road had drawn colonial powers to the region in the early modern era. (CW) A bride had eloped with another young man when the bridegroom stepped into a wayside grocery to buy a bottle of soft drink, while on their way to spend their honeymoon. The bride is from Seenigoda, Watugedara in the Ambalangoda police area and the bridegroom is from Kandy They had met while they were employed abroad and had decided to get married. After the wedding reception at a hotel in Aluthgama, they had left for Colombo to spend their honeymoon. However, when the bridegroom had entered a wayside grocery on the way, another car had halted behind theirs. The bride had lost no time in getting into this car which sped away. Everything happened in a flash and the bridegroom was left in utter bewilderment by the roadside for a moment before giving chase to locate the car, to no avail. Later he called over at the Ambalangoda police and made a complaint. The Ambalangoda police are conducting further investigations to trace the whereabouts of the bride.(Hemantha De Silva) Once the electronic government procurement (e-GP) system is introduced, it would help the government to make the public procurement more efficient and transparent, said Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake. The minister was addressing the inaugural session of a four-day conference titled Electronic Government Procurement (e-GP) in South Asia: Achievements, Opportunities and Challenges, held under the patronage of President Maithripala Sirisena at Cinnamon Grand in Colombo, yesterday. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and several top-level local and foreign speakers are scheduled to address the conference. This annual learning, knowledge and experience-sharing event is organised under the auspices of the South Asia Region Public Procurement Network, which comprises senior public procurement officials from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Speaking further, Karunanayake said that this conference is also hosted at the right time as the World Bank indicated its support to introduce an e-GP system to the public sector. He said that the discussion to be held in this conference and the subsequent recommendations would help tremendously for all participants countries in implementing a better public procurement system thereby facing the existing challenges and improving the efficiency and transparency in the system. Finance Ministry Secretary Dr. R.H.S. Samaratunga, Public Finance Department Director General P. Algama, World Bank Country Director for Sri Lanka and the Maldives Idah Pswarayi-Riddihough and Asian Development Bank Country Director Sri Widowati were among the participants. (rt.com), 18.02.2017 - A Gallup poll has revealed that citizens of four NATO nations would sooner count on Russia to defend them rather than the United States, Bloomberg reported on Friday, reflecting the changing perceptions of the USs role in global security. Between October and December 2016, WIN/Gallup International asked around a thousand people in 66 countries who would be their go-to ally if attacked. While the military might of the US was still the first choice for most of the respondents polled, people from Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria and Slovenia - all members of the transatlantic NATO alliance - opted for Russia when asked whom they felt they could count on if they felt under threat. Other countries which preferred Russian over American protection included China, Iran, and Serbia. Russia itself chose China as their main ally, while Americans voted for the UK. Ernest Rwamucyo is the High Commissioner of Rwanda to India. He is also accredited to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Prior to his appointment to India, he was the High Commissioner of Rwanda to the United Kingdom and the non-resident ambassador to Ireland and was awarded 2012 diplomat of the year from Africa by the Diplomat Magazine in London. The Daily Mirror was able to speak to High Commissioner Rwamucyo during his recent visit for the Independence Day celebrations on a few aspects that Sri Lanka and Asia as a whole can learn from Rwanda. He shared the following:- Diplomatic relations between Rwanda and Sri Lanka were established in 2011. Do you see any notable highlights over the last 5 years? It is a vibrant and fast growing relationship. Over the last few years, there has been an increased exchange in trade, education and the sharing of water management and irrigation skills. We have conducted trade activities with the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, exchange programmes, and Sri Lanka also has an Honorary Consul. Quite a number of MOUs are now being signed in relation to defence and broader education and technology exchange such as the mining, cutting and polishing of gems. We need to learn these technologies that Sri Lanka is skilled in. Rwanda has a friendly business environment and is open to Sri Lanka to invest and partner with. We can see some of the big Sri Lankan companies establishing their businesses in Rwanda. Rwanda is growing but we have a big skills gap so we are open to Sri Lankans who want to explore opportunities and bring skills to help our growth. We have also just joined the Commonwealth and with countries like India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka also part of it we are looking at areas such as trade, business, investment, education and health. We have been building upon these with Sri Lanka for a while and we can boast of a healthy partnership in the education sector with 32 Rwandan students studying in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is growing very strongly and as such there is much collaboration in the tea sector as well. There is a lot that can be done as I have seen in the last three and a half years. In the period right after the 1990s genocide, countries such as the US and the UK were heavily involved in helping Rwanda rebuild itself and recover. With such close links to major powers, does Rwanda have an independent foreign policy or does it reflect the interests of these countries? Our foreign policy is influenced by experience we went through which was one of conflict and genocide. For us post-genocide reconciliation centred around opening up the country to the global community since part of the challenge we faced was being closed and inward looking. Therefore we decided to open and link up with other countries in order to be an active member in the international community. This is the reason why we joined the East African Community and then eventually the Commonwealth. In addition we reached out to other countries that we saw a mutual interest in, in the areas of tourism, trade, investment, and business. This has been a major driving factor in our post genocide policy. Yes, we have good relationships with the UK and the USA but we also receive benefits from our links with countries like Sri Lanka so it is all about opening up the country. Rwanda has seen a digital revolution with the use of e-Book readers and smartphones in libraries. Why is this so important keeping in mind the disparity between Rwanda and other countries that are constantly involved in the development of technology? It is because it is crucial for development. We started about a decade ago by rolling out fibre optic cables for high speed internet. Many of our economic partners did not approve of this move as a solution for a poor country and advised that we should use these resources for social protection and health. But we firmly believed that IT works for the poor and IT works for better delivery of health, education and social protection and the investment was necessary to build it into to an economic and social hub in the region. Now everyone understands the benefits. Everyone has access to 4G internet. Costs have come down and it delivers essential services to citizens. We can deliver education and the quality of education improves. We have a one laptop per child plan for this. IT is used to deliver healthcare by connecting villages with mobile phones so that they can call health services. This has a high impact in reducing child and maternal mortality. It also helped in the roll out of phones in the country and for people to access bank accounts. We are also a tourist country. People want to be connected and when people visit our country due to the access to connectivity they stay longer. "Within Sri Lanka, there are some values and traditions that should inspire the country. Sri Lanka has done very well in the immediate aftermath and to be where you are right now, and it is incredible so see the growth and the will of the people. We are very impressed with what the country has achieved and I see the future is very bright" Rwanda has made great strides in gender equality. Recently the Women and Equality Committee ranked it number one in parliamentary equality. How important are representation and quotas and would this work in Asia which is by nature a patriarchal society? We had the realization that women are half of the population so we cant leave one half out. One strategy was to increase the participation of women in decision making. This was achieved through constitutional reform which involved quotas. This increased the quota of women in parliament; they now make up 64% of parliament. This has translated into judiciary, the Cabinet and local levels as well. This also involves the rolling out of education. Sri Lanka has done very well with free education since this offers opportunity to both genders without having to pay. Each society is unique and can be inspired but gender empowerment is very important. Moving onto more controversial issues such as allegations that have been levelled by both Burundi and Congo against Rwanda. The US Senate FR Committee and UN Reports detail how the Burundi refugees are recruited from Rwandan camps to fight the Burundi Government, the expulsion of 1,500 refugees in 2016 and Burundi themselves expelling a Rwandan diplomat in 2015. With regards to DRC, the allegation is that Rwanda is paying ex M23 fighters to topple the Government. What are your views on these allegations, especially being the High Commissioner to a region that has border issues among themselves? These are merely allegations and have no basis for them at all. We are looking at internal security and our own growth agenda. This is the preoccupation for us and and we have no issues with our neighbours. The region we find ourselves in is challenging since it is prone to conflict. Therefore our approach is that they should be addressed internally if they dont affect Rwanda. We have had challenges because of our history and remnants of genocide forces were roaming in from DRC but we worked with DRC to address that and to contain and minimise the problem. The country is stable now. We remain vigilant to secure borders and internal cohesion but we dont interfere in others politics. We are all members of the East African community and we are working towards regional integration. "It is a vibrant and fast growing relationship. Over the last few years, there has been an increased exchange in trade, education and the sharing of water management and irrigation skills" But doesnt the spillover of refugees from Burundi make an issue for Rwanda as well? This is a point of concern. The region should be stable because if one part is not it has an impact on the other. We have to deal with many refugees from Burundi and we have had to divert resources to resettle them, for the education of their children and for shelter and water. This is because we have been refugees ourselves so we make sure they are received well. This is a point of concern as it is a drain on the economy. Why I said it was internal was because the problem is internal in the governing dispute Burundi has. Our wish is that Burundi solves their problems quickly. Similar to post-conflict Sri Lanka, there are allegations of Human Rights violation in Rwanda. The US State Department has said they were concerned about the disappearances occurring, Reporters Without Borders ranks Rwanda as 161 in 2016 due to the risks the journalists face. Human Rights Watch has reported that the Government did not tolerate dissent and Amnesty International states that members of the opposition face a repressive environment. What are your thoughts on these allegations? Rwanda went through a devastating genocide. What we have done over the last few years was to rebuild our country to benefit all Rwandans. We had a huge refugee crisis so we have had to focus on returning and reintegrating refugees. We worked on reconciliation to work out a peaceful process of life for our people to overcome the torment of their past. We had to build institutions for democracy. We have a new constitution guaranteeing rights and the per capita income has almost doubled. Allegations for a country in post conflict with an opposition abroad is not a new story to us. But it contradicts the reality of the country. It is a peaceful country that benefits every Rwandan. It is highly rated in governing reforms hence donors pour money into the country. They do this since we respect human rights, have democracy and have good governance. We have the least instances of corruption and have zero tolerance for pollution. For a small economy like ours to attract investment of the nature we do details of the positive story of Rwanda. Once again like Sri Lanka saw in 2015, the President of Rwanda has implemented constitutional changes, albeit through a referendum, that effectively allow him to stay in power till 2034 by running for a third term. Allies such as the US have asked him to step down to foster a new generation of leaders. President Kagame has said however that Rwanda did not need an eternal leader. How do these two facts coexist? I dont know where 2034 comes from because there is no intention like that. The new constitution that has been adopted guarantees time limits. The reason for this change was not by the president at all but because a majority of Rwandans felt that this was the first time we had a leader who had a very clear vision where the country had to go. Rwanda is at a point where people feel that there is much more that can be done over the years and they want the pending programmes to be executed. So until they have total confidence that a new leader can come in and not take the country down the drain they want President Kagame. They demanded constitutional change and time limits would be maintained but there is a transitional period to maintain the current pace of development. The people did not want a sudden change as we have seen sudden changes retarding the development in neighbouring countries. This shows the maturity of the judgement of the people where you are not going to gamble with the future of a country by all of a sudden changing things. This had unanimous support and this was done democratically which involved a big debate around the country. "For us post-genocide reconciliation centred around opening up the country to the global community since part of the challenge we faced was being closed and inward looking. Therefore we decided to open and link up with other countries in order to be an active member in the international community" Moving on to more positive aspects; in 1994, the growth rate was -11.4 but in 2015 it was +6.9. What is the success behind this? It all started with leadership. The President in 2000 started with a brave vision and a timeline of 2020 to make Rwanda a mid-income country. We invested heavily in infrastructure, health, education, and IT and his plan was laid down very concretely. This gave us a clear sense of how public investment should be made. He also laid down the reforms for the country to be conducive for foreign investment. Poverty has reduced and overall productivity of the country has risen. This is all because of a clear vision which was rigorously pursued. Another important aspect was the fight against corruption. Corruption drains the country so that public resources are not used properly. This ensured confidence to foreigners. This has also helped us. One of the biggest lessons the post conflict Sri Lanka can learn from Rwanda is reconciliation. We appreciate your advice? For us reconciliation was very essential. It was an existential matter for us since Rwandans killed fellow Rwandans and they were neighbours and would continue to live together. We cant build a country like that without bridging the gap. One idea to solve this was was Gacaca which was the communal way of justice through dialogue truth and punishment and forgiveness. We could do this based on the history of the country and traditional practices. This worked for us since it was built from a traditional model. Sri Lanka has a very long history and each society is unique in its own way. Therefore we could only get inspiration from one another. The South African Reconciliation Commission could not be used for Rwanda due to the differences. Within Sri Lanka, there are some values and traditions that should inspire the country. Sri Lanka has done very well in the immediate aftermath and to be where you are right now, and it is incredible so see the growth and the will of the people. We are very impressed with what the country has achieved and I see the future is very bright. "It is a peaceful country that benefits every Rwandan. It is highly rated in governing reforms hence donors pour money into the country. They do this since we respect human rights, have democracy and have good governance. We have the least instances of corruption and have zero tolerance for pollution" The Government had turned down all proposals made to the Subcommittee on Centre-Peripheral Relations by the Joint Opposition (JO), depriving the opportunity to establish the unitary nature of the State in the process of making the countrys new Constitution, the JO claimed today. Addressing a press briefing the JOs subcommittee representative Parliamentarian Vidura Wickramanayake said that on behalf of the group he produced 14 suggestions with the support of MP Sanath Nishantha, which had been rejected by the government. Not a single suggestion, we made, was considered while setting this up. The Steering Committee with six subcommittees has been assigned to this responsibility under the patronage of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, he said. He said that though the Government though utters continuously that it would not breach the unitary state of the country, the content of the new constitution was not consistent. The facts in the new Constitution report could divide the country. Today the President has the authority to pressurise the Provincial Councils and control the wrongdoings through the Governor. So far Parliament has the sole power in law making. But it could be loosened if the Government enacts this new Constitution, he said. Mr. Wickramanayake also said that they suspected the intention of producing such a constitutional report might be a step to push the country back to the dark ages. No one could save the country becoming the next Israel or Lebanon, he said. Meantime, he said that a Constitution was a document that used for decades for the purpose of securing the peoples privileges. The MP warned that the Constitution report government had introduced was preplanned and not fulfilled the countrys true needs. Mr. Wickramanayake said that discussions were under way to withdraw their membership from the subcommittee as there was no room for the Joint Oppositions voice. The Constitution the Government is trying to implement only pose unhealthy results to the country as it will only serve a few politicians, he said. (Thilanka Kanakarathna) Video by Sanjeewa Transcription 1 Millennium Development Goals: introduced with case studies from Sierra Leone Age Range KS 2, 3 & 4 Introduction This assembly explores the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and explains how they aim to reduce poverty and suffering. Case studies from Sierra Leone are used to contextualize each MDG to give pupils an understanding of the changes that can be made. See script below. Timing The assembly should take approximately 15 minutes (longer with learner participation). Preparation Below is a script that can be followed and adapted to suit. There are twenty-one PowerPoint slides. These can be copied onto OHP transparencies if preferred. Assembly Follow Up To help pupils continue their journey of engaging with the MDGs, teachers can find more resources on Oxfam s education website. Each MDG is explored with an activity and poster resource. Information and indices are taken from: Global Humanitarian Forum 2009 Tower Hamlets: Children, Schools and Families Financial Data Collection UNESCO: World Bank: UNICEF: United Nations: low%20res% %20-.pdf#page=42 World Health Organization: Copyright Oxfam GB. You may reproduce this document for educational purposes only. Page 1 2 Assembly Script Slide 1: When we think about development and reducing poverty in the 21st century we re thinking about what are called the Millennium Development Goals, or MDGs. This presentation introduces the MDGs and follows some of Oxfam s work. Slide 2: The aim of this presentation is to understand what the Millennium Development Goals are and how they work towards reducing poverty. You will follow the journey of an Oxfam staff member in Sierra Leone exploring progress that has been made to reduce poverty and suffering. Slide 3: These statistics give an insight to the scale, size and dimensions of world poverty. What kind of world do we live in? 1.2bn people in extreme poverty (1 in 6 of the world s population) measured by the $1.25/day yardstick 67m children not in primary education In m children died before the age of 5 years mainly from preventable causes 1 in 22 mothers in Sub-Saharan Africa die during pregnancy or childbirth 4bn people are vulnerable to the impact of climate change 98% of them live in LEDCs 33.4m people live with HIV/AIDS 2.1m are children Slide 4: Some people say being poor is the result of a person s laziness, or of bad luck, or that the poor are always with us Copyright Oxfam GB. You may reproduce this document for educational purposes only. Page 2 3 However this is not true. As Nelson Mandela reminded us poverty is man-made: the result of human actions like unfair trade, social injustice, climate change, weak governments, the debt and financial crises and conflict. And something that is man-made can be fixed by human actions too. This is where the Millennium Development Goals come in. Slide 5: The MDGs aim to greatly reduce world poverty. They are 8 international development goals agreed by all 192 countries of the United Nations in The MDGs set targets for each of the 8 goals and 2015 is the date these goals aim to be met. Let s look at the 8 goals one by one. Slides 6-7: Read through the goals. Later in the presentation are examples of development projects taking place; you ll see that each project is linked to one of the MDGs. Slide 8: We are already two thirds through the 15 years we ve set ourselves to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. There are only four years left. John McLaverty from Oxfam visited Sierra Leone to see how well we re doing. Slide 9: It s about the size of Wales and 6 hours away by direct flight from London. Sierra Leone suffered a destructive civil war between 1991 and It is now a peaceful and democratic country. However it is also one of the poorest countries in the world. footnote Sierra Leone s GDP per capita for 2010 in PPP is US$ th out of 183 countries listed (IMF) The value of using US$PPP instead of US$ nominal is debatable, particularly if large sections of the population consume imports. Whichever measure is used Sierra Leone is one of the world s 8 poorest countries. Think about this the average GDP is less than US$1 per day per person. Slide 10: MDG 1 End poverty and hunger John visited a village in eastern Sierra Leone. This is what he said: Copyright Oxfam GB. You may reproduce this document for educational purposes only. Page 3 4 Shorter and more unpredictable rains are making farming difficult. Less rain means some crops can t grow as well and sometimes certain crops don t grow at all. When rains are unpredictable farmers don t know when is best to plant their seeds. This can cause hunger. Traditionally people have depended on growing rice. Farmers from different communities have come together here to practice improved farming techniques: They have learnt about many different crops to use as alternatives to rice They have learnt about and business and selling goods They will return to their villages and put what they learn into practice. This will help make small farmers more productive and less vulnerable to changing rain patterns. This is Watta Joseph, the chairlady of the group, examining her new aubergine crop. Slide 11: MDG2 Universal Education John visited Pamaronkor School to find out about the progress made in education. This is what he found: This is a Year 6 class at a Primary School in a slum area of Eastern Freetown. The school has 1,000 students studying in 2 shifts, where half the school attends in the morning, and half in the afternoon. There are between 60 and 70 students in each class which makes the classrooms very cramped. The whole school shares 2 overflowing toilets. Free primary education was introduced in Sierra Leone in 2003 and enrolment (the number of children on the register) has increased. However, in 2008 only 13% of children passed primary school exams. Things that stop children going to school are a lack of school resources, hidden costs (eg: uniform) for parents and children working (child labour). These are big challenges in achieving MDG2 in the country. Slide 12: MDG3 Gender Equality PACER is an Oxfam project, which stands for Promoting a Culture of Equal Representation. It supports women aspiring to be elected to public office. John visited the PACER project to find out about achievements in gender equality ensuring women have the same opportunities as men and they are not discriminated against. In the Copyright Oxfam GB. You may reproduce this document for educational purposes only. Page 4 5 past girls and women have been treated unfairly and not given the same rights as men. This can make it harder for women to carry out normal tasks. This is what John found: PACER s belief is that having more women involved in parliament and local government will directly lead to a positive change in the lives of poor men and women. The photo shows Haja on the right, elected the local council of her area in She is now in charge of the council s finance committee. Haja told me about the barriers facing women first girls fall behind in school and this leads to adult women not having the confidence to speak up in public. Six women supported and trained by Oxfam are now part of Koinadugu Council. Throughout the country, 14.5% of the places in the Sierra Leone parliament are held by women the national target is 30%. Slide 13: MDG4 Child Health What John said about child health: In the past Sierra Leone had among the largest number of child deaths in the world. To make this better, Sierra Leone made health care free for children under 5. This plan was partly paid for by the UK government. An important part of Oxfam s work is to persuade the UK government to continue supporting free health care in poor countries like Sierra Leone. What may seem like a small cost to us in the UK can be too much for people to afford in Sierra Leone. One Mum I spoke with told me her market business made 4.70 on a good day. This money had to support the whole family and buy new stock to sell the next day. So a hospital bill for 1.60 for her baby s medicine was very expensive. Since health care was made free the number of children being brought to hospital has increased. In the photo above a nurse gives 6-month-old Zainab a vaccination so she doesn t catch dangerous diseases. Slide 14: MDG5 Maternal Health What John said about meeting new Mothers: In the past, Sierra Leone had one of the highest numbers of deaths of mothers giving birth in the world, so having a baby was very dangerous. To make this better, free health care for pregnant mothers was introduced in Copyright Oxfam GB. You may reproduce this document for educational purposes only. Page 5 6 This is Zainab and she s just given birth to her son Hasan at hospital the day before. She told me that until recently she d have had to pay 6.25 to have her baby in hospital. This would have been too much for her to afford. The fact that giving birth is now free persuaded her to come to hospital. Women who can t have their babies in hospital because of they don t have enough money usually give birth with the help of a traditional birth attendant (or TBA). This is a risky process. In Zainab s case her skin tore while giving birth, causing bleeding. It was quickly treated by the doctor and you can see she s healthy and happy. However, if Zainab was not in hospital the bleeding may not have been stopped which would have placed her life at risk. Slide 15: MDG6 Combat Diseases What John found about combating diseases: Malaria is spread through mosquitoes carrying the malaria parasite and is transmitted when mosquitoes bite humans. Malaria makes people very ill and can cause people to die. In the hospitals John visited he was told malaria was one of the main reasons for children being brought to hospital, particularly during the rainy season. The two main strategies for reducing infections and deaths from malaria are: providing insecticide (a chemical that repels mosquitos) treated nets for people to sleep under (mosquitoes mostly come out at night) providing medicine to treat those who ve caught the disease Children under five with malaria benefit from free health care.the number of people sleeping under nets has risen from 5% in 2005 to 26% in Slide 16: MDG 7 Environmental Sustainability John s visit to an Oxfam water facility project: In 2008 only half of the people in Sierra Leone had access to clean water. Not many people had a toilet in their area. Drinking water from the wrong places is a massive cause of sickness, particularly diarrhea. To make this better, Oxfam is working with people to provide water pumps and toilets for more people to use. When the taps and toilets are built Oxfam works with council and community members in Sierra Leone to make sure the new facilities are properly looked after so that they can last a long time. Copyright Oxfam GB. You may reproduce this document for educational purposes only. Page 6 7 This photo shows a new water pump recently built by Oxfam in eastern Sierra Leone. Slide 17: So far we ve looked at the MDGs one-by-one. But this isn t how they work in real life. Maybe there s someone here who has malaria, someone else who s pregnant, a child who can t read, a victim of domestic violence, a farmer who s crop has failed because of late rains, a woman who takes water from a polluted stream and so on. Maybe people who can t read are also ill and their crop has failed and so on. So the MDGs are all joined together because people experience life in a joined up way. Slide 18: All the countries in the world share responsibility for paying for the MDGs and ensuring they are met. Poor countries are required to set aside enough money from their budgets to ensure they can pay for basic services for their people. However many poor countries can collect only a small amount of tax from their citizens. This means that, for example, the whole education budget of Mali in West Africa is only 300m. By comparison the education budget for just one London borough (Tower Hamlets) is a little more than 300m. Therefore rich countries have pledged to make up the gap by providing overseas development aid. As long ago as 1970 rich countries pledged to provide 0.7% of their GDPs as aid. So far only a few have achieved this and the UK is not one of them. So there are funding gaps. Getting every child into school would cost the world an extra $9bn per year, which is not yet on the table. This looks like a lot of money, but it s small change compared with the $68 trillion used to bail out the banks. Slides 19-20: This has led campaigners, many economists and some governments to suggest new ways of raising the money needed to meet the MDGs. A Financial Transaction Tax, popularly called the Robin Hood Tax, would make a very small tax charge of 0.05% on international financial transactions made by the banks and financial institutions. It is estimated that this could raise hundreds of billions of pounds every year that could be used to pay for the effects of climate change, the MDGs and cuts in public services in the rich countries. Oxfam has joined 50 other organisations to ask for the Robin Hood Tax to be introduced. Slide 21 24: Copyright Oxfam GB. You may reproduce this document for educational purposes only. Page 7 8 Ordinary citizens, including school students like yourselves, have an incredibly important role to play in making sure the MDGs are met. People all over the world are working together to ensure these changes happen. Oxfam would like you to stay in the loop, get active and play your part in the longer term. You could campaign with a politician, fundraise, or form a Youth Action Group. Oxfam wants you to get involved! Copyright Oxfam GB. You may reproduce this document for educational purposes only. Page 8 Iraqi forces captured several villages on Sunday, as they advanced from the south toward the western side of Mosul that is still under control of Islamic State, Iraqi military said. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi earlier on Sunday announced the formal start of the ground offensive on western Mosul, asking the Iraqi forces to respect human rights during the battle. The Islamic State militants are essentially under siege in western Mosul, along with an estimated 650,000 civilians, after U.S.-backed forces surrounding the city forced them from the east in the first phase of an offensive that concluded last month. Mosul would be a tough fight for any army in the world, the commander of the U.S.-led coalitions forces, Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, said in a statement. Iraqi planes dropped millions of leaflets on the western side of Mosul warning residents that the battle to dislodge Islamic State was imminent as troops began moving in their direction, the Iraqi Defence Ministry said on Saturday. CNN reported as many as 800,000 civilians live in western Mosul, according to the United Nations. It said UN humanitarian agencies would assist civilians caught in the fighting.The report added the offensive to retake Mosul from ISISs began in October with a push by the Iraqi army, counter-terrorism forces, federal police and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters. ISIS seized Mosul, Iraqs second-largest city, in 2014. It is the militant groups last major stronghold in the country. BAGHDAD REUTERS Feb 19 Nine years later, in two separate incidents five army personnel were arrested during the past few days for the inhuman assault on former Daily Mirror Deputy Editor and The Nation Newspaper Associate Editor Keith Noyahr on May 11, 2008. This follows similar arrests of Army intelligence officers after the defeat of the former regime at the presidential election on January 8, 2015 for the brutal killing of former Sunday Leader Editor Lasantha Wickramatunga, the disappearance of Lanka e-news journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda and the attempt on the life of former Divaina and Rivira Editor Upali Tennakoon among others. Noyahr and Tennakoon are still living whereas Ekneligodas fate is still unknown. Hence, only the two of the four former senior journalists can throw some light as eyewitnesses in identifying the assailants, who had attacked them in case they are among those arrested. Tennakoon and his wife have already identified several of those arrested as being among those who attempted to kill him. Noyahr, who is domiciled in Australia is yet to identify any of his assailants whether they are among those arrested. When Ekneligoda went missing in 2009 many pointed fingers at an individual who was a minister in the previous regime as well as in the present. Breaking his silence after more than five years, even a former close buddy of that minister, after breaking ranks with him soon after the present government assumed office, called for an investigation into the fate of the web journalist for obvious reasons. But when the CID tracked several Army intelligence officers in connection with the case, the Opposition including that the former buddy of the said minister suddenly found the stripes of an LTTE cadre in the journalist. Some of those who accused the minister had also described the turn of events as a conspiracy against the war heroes who fought the LTTE in defence of the Motherland. Upali Tennakoon cannot be described as a LTTE sympathizer, just because he had identified security forces personnel who made an attempt on his life. Throughout his journalistic career, he has been a Sinhala nationalist and a strong adversary of separatist forces. Nobody can justify the assault on Tennakoon just because the suspects are Army personnel, who may have personally dedicated and sacrificed their youth in the battlefront. For than matter even Noyahr was also a respected journalist who had never sided with or sympathized with the LTTE or any other secessionist elements. There clearly seems to have been a far cry between the collective efforts of the security forces in fighting the separatist forces and some of the illegal actions of individual soldiers which had been carried out either for personal gains or on orders of higher ups with vested interest. During the well-known Chemmani case or Krishanthi Kumaraswamy rape and murder case nobody was able to justify the crime merely because the culprits were Army personnel with the entire country standing against them. Validating our point further, during the previous regime 12 STF personnel were arrested in connection with the famous Trincomalee five case or the cold blooded killing of five students on the Trincomalle beach on January 6, 2006. Besides, the leaders of the Mahinda Rajapaksa government said the service rendered by former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka in defeating the LTTE cannot be offset by his personal actions and he was cashiered without even his pension and his medals, when he politically challenged President Rajapaksa as the then common oppositions presidential candidate. Needless to say that the security forces including the police and the Civil Security Department must be respected and given the due credit for their unparalleled dedication and sacrifice during the war against the dreaded LTTE. However, those arrested for attacks on the journalists including former Daily Mirror Deputy Editor and The Nation Newspaper Associate Editor Keith Noyahr should be brought to book. Marina Foods (Pvt) Ltd, the biggest manufacturer of coconut oil in Sri Lanka, outlined its processes of producing safe and hygienic coconut oil, using state-of-the-art technology in compliance with internationally accepted quality standards to the participants, including school children, at the CHEMEX 4 exhibition and trade fair. The three-day unique chemical educational event organized by the Institute of Chemistry was held at the Sri Lanka Exhibition and Convention Centre in Colombo recently. Marina Foods (Pvt) Ltd is a subsidiary of NMK Group of Companies. Expressing his views, Manjula Narayana, Chairman - NMK Group of Companies, said: Certain companies which concentrate solely on making hefty profits without reaching out to help the community at large, through corporate responsibility initiatives, are propagating a myth that coconut oil contains cholesterol. It is important to bear in mind that coconut oil manufactured in a scientific manner using modern technology, which ensures high quality, goodness and hygienic standards in no way jeopardizes the health of the consumer. We have scientifically established this fact through international expert certification. For two decades, we have been battling against this myth which is being spread in society that coconut oil is laden with cholesterol. We have stood strong against these unfounded, baseless claims and pointed out that natural coconut oil manufactured in adherence with due processes in line with globally accepted standards does not contain any properties that are harmful to human health. As a result of our campaign aimed at reflecting the reality of the situation, many consumers have understood the truth, and now opt to use high quality and hygienic coconut oil with natural goodness. Marina Foods (Pvt) Ltd actively participated in the CHEMEX 4 with the core objective of further educating the people on this subject. The good health of the masses in the long-term is more important to us than short-term commercial profits. Therefore, as a company with a social responsibility, we will always accord top priority to our mission of educating the people and help to raise a healthy nation. Marina is equipped with the largest coconut oil manufacturing plant in Sri Lanka and is certified by globally accepted and benchmarked product standard. In addition, the company also has under its wing a modern, international standard laboratory complex which has the capacity to monitor the quality, safety and hygienic standards of coconut oil. In addition, Marina is the only business enterprise in Sri Lanka equipped with the specialized Rancimat instrument, an ultra-modern technology which evaluates the effects of antioxidants in edible oils and food products. Members of the public and school children attending the CHEMEX 4 Exhibition were educated on the importance of having such modern technology and the pragmatic role it plays in producing edible oil absolutely safe for human consumption. When producing coconut oil in the traditional way, active properties found in coconut oil which are beneficial to human health are destroyed. It results in the accumulation of chemicals in coconut oil, which are deleterious to human health. But in the manufacture of Marina coconut oil products, none of these reactions adverse to human health occur. The Marina sales team lucidly explained these key factors in the production process to the participants of the CHEMEX 4 Exhibition. In addition, the sales team also educated these participants on the quality, safety, hygienic standards and natural goodness of Marina in comparison to other coconut oil products in the market. They also drove home the point that Marina coconut oil can be reused many times in cooking without a change in colour or a drop in quality. At these sessions, consumers were able to grasp the real value and long-term health benefits of Marina coconut oil and clearly understand the importance of opting for the brand despite the availability of many coconut oil products in the marketplace. SEOUL AFP Feb19, 2017- Malaysias investigation into the murder of the North Korean leaders half-brother shows that the Pyongyang government was behind the assassination, South Korea said Sunday. Malaysian police have arrested one North Korean suspect and are seeking four more North Koreans who left the country last Monday, the day Kim Jong-Nam was poisoned at Kuala Lumpurs main airport. Based on various factors, our government is certain that the dead man is Kim Jong-Nam, and considering that the five suspects are North Korean nationals, we view that the North Korean government is behind the incident, said Seouls unification ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-Hee. Jeong declined to provide further details, citing the continuing probe in Malaysia. Jong-Nam, the half-brother of leader Kim Jong-Un, died after an unidentified liquid was sprayed in his face at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Seoul says the attack was carried out by female agents on Pyongyangs orders. Former Minister Wimal Weerawansa is seen being taken to the prison today after he was ordered to be re-remanded till March 6 by Colombo Fort Magistrate on charges of misusing 40 State vehicles. Pix by Pradeep Dilrukshana A retired Sri Lanka Army Major attached to the Disaster Management Center (DMC) which was sent for a training programme in Hawaii, was deported last week after he was charged with allegedly sexually abusing a female employee at the hotel he was staying in, the Daily Mirror learns. The victim, a mechanical maintenance worker, was called to fix the air conditioning system in the suspects room on February 9. The suspect had locked the door, when she entered the room and allegedly sexually abused her, sources said. Official sources confirmed the suspect was part of a group sent by the Sri Lankan Government to Hawaii for a course on disaster management rescue and operations. The Hawaiian Court which remanded the suspect, later directed he be deported to Sri Lanka and decided to take up the case again in April. The suspect returned to the country on Friday, February 17. Meanwhile, officials at the Disaster Management Center (DMC) said the official had been sacked with immediate effect. The US Embassy has also taken measures to inform the relevant authorities of the incident. (Darshana Sanjeewa) Sri Lanka would overcome its foreign currency payment, which will reach a staggering USD 4.08 bn (About Rs.560 bn) by end of this year, USD 5.7 bn (Rs.570 bn) by end 2018, through Samurai Bonds and by swapping of debts, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said yesterday. A samurai bond is a yen-denominated bond issued in Tokyo by non-Japanese companies, and is subject to Japanese regulations. Speaking at the opening of 20 housing units for the landslide victims of Aranayake yesterday morning the Prime Minister said revenue from Samurai bonds and swapping of Hambantota Port debt against a stake would help the country to reduce the debt services by end 2017. "Some have filed court cases against the signing of Hambantota Port Agreement without considering the country's situation," Mr. Wickremesinghe said. "If we do not pay our loans, the foreign debt services alone will rise by trillions of dollars by the year 2025," he added. He said the country would face this situation irrespective of domestic debt services. Domestic debt services by end 2017 would rise to Rs. 794 bn and to Rs 959 bn by end 2018. "We will have to put the economy on the right track, while concentrating on reconciliation and power sharing," he said. He said only reconciliation and a stable economy would help the Government to create employment. "We have to generate employment especially in the North. The original grievance of the Northern and Eastern youth was unemployment and the failure of the respective Governments resulted in the war. This war pushed Sri Lanka back so much that only Laos and Cambodia were lagging behind Sri Lanka. If we fail to generate employment now both Cambodia and Laos would also will beat us," he further said. Mr. Wickremesinghe also stressed the importance of reconstructing disaster affected areas. "The Unity Government of the two main political parties helped quick reconstruction of Aranayake. Lack of unity among the political parties made the post-tsunami reconstruction lag for many years," he said. Minister of Power and Renewable Energy Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said there was much to be done when it came landslide reconstruction in Kegalle. He said government was faced with a task of finding land for 2,000 families. Minister of State Enterprises Development Kabir Hashim said the Government had done much when it came to reconstruction of the landslide areas, though no publicity was given. He said all these work was done with the joint effort of all politicians, government officials and religious leaders in the area. (Yohan Perera) The deluxe Sri Lankan-themed resort in the heart of the cultural triangle, Sigiriya Jungles, hosted a training session on 19th December 2016 by Service Excellence Specialist, Mr. Dhammika Kalapuge, at the regal resort. The two-day motivational and service excellence programme was organized by Sigiriya Jungles as testimony of its commitment to develop the talent pipeline for the hospitality industry by uplifting knowledge and focusing on continuous service improvement. The highly informative training session by Mr. Dhammika Kalapuge touched upon the important elements that go into offering service excellence and offered insights to all the participants on how to achieve impeccable service standards. Since it was launched, Sigiriya Jungles has distinguished itself on the basis of its unique positioning that echoes regal splendour of Sri Lankan royalty coupled with unmatched service standards. Sigiriya Jungles is the ideal destination for both business and pleasure. It has exclusive conference and banquet halls to cater for upto 150 people along with state-of-the-art conference facilities. Sigiriya Jungles offers 60 lavishly furnished rooms overlooking the Sigiriya Rock Fortress. Each room is designed to serve as a sanctuary with tranquil indoor and outdoor living spaces, intimate artistic touches and luxury service. The strategically located resort offers guests the facility to embark on exciting cultural, religious or adventure excursions, which is facilitated by the hotel staff. Guests looking for authentic Sri Lanka hospitality in a luxury setting with a difference, or for a business conference that will prove memorable, or even those celebrating a wedding or another special personal occasion, Sigiriya Jungles is a jewel in the crown of the emerald isle. By Zahara Zuhair Sri Lanka Institute of Architects (SLIA) President Architect Harsha Fernando highlighted that there were a few issues that are casting a gloomy shadow on his profession, which need to be addressed in going forward. Addressing the SLIA annual sessions held last week, he said SLIA has voiced its concerns on the setbacks and dangers in the awarding of projects in design and build method, which involves just two partiesthe client and the contractor. It leaves out the consultant, who is often the architect who would ensure that all requirements are adhered to. In most instances the architect provides his or her services without meeting the client. The client loses the service of the architect, which is the traditional role where the architect serves as an advisor to help the client make decisions, he said. As a result, he said this has led to uncertainties in projects. When specifications and standards are not met, project timelines are violated, the clients, who are often large-scale state institutions, incur heavy losses, and consequently become a burden to the country, he pointed out. However, in the interest of the country and the profession, he appealed to the policy makers to safeguard the value and worth of the funds spent on these projects so that they served the purpose for which they were meant. To ensure proper delivery the design built procurement system must give proper weightage to the value and input of the architect and the consultants, he said. Meanwhile, he said the proposed Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) and free trade agreements with countries in the region, which have large populations and vast unemployment, has caused great consternation among professionals due to the likelihood of a tsunami type wave of foreign professionals into the country. The recess given to the professional bodies to strengthen their regulatory framework to counter such threats was made use of by SLIA to make amendments to its act. We are clear about our intentions; we are clear about our approach. We do not contemplate traversing a collision course with the government, we need to adapt to new conditions and grab the opportunities to strengthen ourselves and move onto next levels of development of the profession, he said. He requested the authorities to ensure that the services sector was secured from the invasion of foreign professionals and would not be liberalized. He also said the architects of this island from the ancient periods were known to have championed the cause of sustainability in their endeavours of shaping the built environment. Thus, I have no doubt that our current architects who have mastered the craft of sustainable architecture would readily rise to the challenges of the nations needs, he said. Minister of Special Assignments Dr. Sarath Amunugama said that in designing the new Colombo that was emerging, one must not look only at the requirements of the business community and the affluent classes, but also into the interests of the city poor, many of whom had migrated from the villages decades ago, seeking greener pastures. He said that the poor had catered to various needs of city life over the years and they must share in the benefits of upgrading the city. City Planning and Water Supply Minister Rauff Hakeem said that the development of the country was not measured by how many cars an individual owns, but measured by how many rich people travel by public transport. Keeping that in mind, he said that the government was looking at investing in developing highways, to improve city infrastructure particularly, transport. He said that the architects have to play a key part in this development process. In the meantime, he said that the Prime Minister has appointed a task force headed by Minister Amunugama to look at the development in the Kandy area. We have got some donors including Japan to give us money to improve the city. The initial project will be to convert the historic Bogamabra prison to a living space where everyone can enjoy, he said. A day after falsely suggesting there was an immigration-related security incident in Sweden, President Donald Trump said on Sunday his comment was based on a television report he had seen. Trump told a rally on Saturday that Sweden was having serious problems with immigrants. You look at whats happening last night in Sweden, Trump said. Sweden. Who would believe this? Sweden. They took in large numbers. Theyre having problems like they never thought possible. No incident occurred in Sweden and the countrys baffled government asked the U.S. State Department to explain. Swedens crime rate has fallen since 2005, official statistics show, even as it has taken in hundreds of thousands of immigrants from war-torn countries like Syria and Iraq. Trumps comment confounded Stockholm. We are trying to get clarity, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Catarina Axelsson said. Carl Bildt (former Swedish prime minister), wrote on TwitterSweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking? Questions abound, Transcription 1 Green Scenery The Country s Natural Resources Are Natures Gift To Us What We Make Of Them Are Our Gift To Posterity Factsheet on Large-Scale Agri-Investments in Pujehun District, Sierra Leone Pujehun district Published by Green Scenery, Freetown, Sierra Leone, April 2013 Contact: Green Scenery, 31 John Street, P.O. Box 278, Freetown, Sierra Leone Tel/Fax: , Cell: , Web: 2 Pujehun District at a glance: Land area: 410,500 hectares (ha) Arable land: 304,181 ha Population: 228,392 (2004) Farming households: 35,159 (2004) Fallow period upland crops: 4.1 years (2004) Affected Chiefdoms 124 Sowa 126 Barri 127 Makpele 128 Sorogbema 129 Galiness Peri 130 Kpaka 134 Malen 132 Panga Kabonde Land leased based on registered lease agreements: 60,48 % of total area of Pujehun District, 81,64 % of arable land of Pujehun District Leases vary in size from 6,575 ha to 47,567.7 ha Total area leased: 248, ha (excluding 38,704 ha in Sowa chiefdom) Investors: African Oil Palm Limited, Aristeus Palm Oil Limited, Biopalm Energy Limited/SIVA Group, Agricultural Company (S.L.) Limited (SAC), Redbunch Ventures (SL), Redtree Agriculture Limited, West Africa Agriculture Limited, West Africa Agriculture Number 2 Limited Chiefdoms: 8 of 12 chiefdoms in Pujehun District: Chiefdom Size (ha) Investor Lease registered? Barri 44, Redbunch Ventures (SL) yes Galiness Peri 39, Biopalm Energy Limited (SIVA Group) yes Kpaka 19, Biopalm Energy Limited (SIVA Group) yes Makpele 30, West Africa Agriculture Number 2 Limited yes Malen 6, Socfin Agricultural Company (S.L) Limited (SAC) yes Panga Kabonde 39, African Oil Palm Limited yes Sorogbema 20, West Africa Agriculture Limited yes Sorogbema 47, Aristeus Palm Oil Limited yes Sowa 38, Redtree Agriculture Limited No. Status not clear Total 286, 3 Registered lease agreements and accessibility: Registered and accessible: Large land leases for chiefdoms of: Barri, Galiness Peri, Kpaka, Makpele, Malen, Panga Kabonde, Sorogbema (2) Registered, but not accessible: Original Redbunch lease agreements appeared in the Index [Lease No. 30, Vol. 105, p 127, 11/3/2011 and Lease No. 31, Vol. 105, p 128, 11/3/2011]. But the documents were not found. Not registered: In Malen Chiefdom, the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security, on behalf of the Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL), leased 16, acres [ ha] of land directly from Malen Chiefdom Council. That lease agreement was originally ratified to commence on 5 th March 2011, but it was not officially registered until 15 th October The sub-lease, between the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security and Socfin Agricultural (S.L.) Company Limited (SAC), was signed on 5 th March 2011, but it was not found at the Registrar General s Office in Freetown, where leases should all be registered. Since SAC is already operating the investment has been taken into account in this overview. 3 4 Despite an investment flyer advertising land available with Redtree Agriculture Limited for 38,704 ha in Sowa Chiefdom and the information that the company offers shares to potential investors, no lease agreement was located in the Index at the Registrar General s office. Terms of lease agreements (selection): Length of leases: 50 years up to 100 years 50 years with possible extension from 21 years up to years (99 yrs). GoSL and Malen chiefdom lease 50 years with extensions for yrs (100 yrs). (According to SL law Land Act, Cap 122/4: 50 years. Second or further terms not exceeding twenty-one years) Lease rent: USD 0.23 up to USD 12 (50% going to landowners) Leones (SLL) 1000 per ha/per year (Redbunch/Barri chiefdom) to USD per ha/year (Socfin, Malen chiefdom with 50% going to landowner) Reviewed: Mainly after 7 years. Redbunch first review after 2 years. SAC lease review not exceeding 17.5% increase of lease rent when signed. (According to SL law Land Act Cap 122/5: Revision every 7 years). Payment procedures as stipulated in the lease agreements: In Makpele and Sorogbema Chiefdoms the rent must be paid in advance into the office of the District Officer / Chief Administrative Officer of Pujehun District (article 2.1). In Gallines Peri and Kpaka Chiefdoms the yearly rent should be paid to a designated account of the District Council for disbursement among those persons and entities entitled to share in the same as prescribed for the time being by the competent authorities (article 3.1). In Panga Kabonde Chiefdom the annual rent has to be paid in advance (article1 i) in the manner aforesaid (article 2.i). In Malen Chiefdom the yearly rent should be paid in advance on or before the execution of these presents (the receipt of which sum the Lessors hereby acknowledge and confirm) and the remaining rents for the unpaid term shall be payable every other one year (1) in advance In Barri Chiefdom the annual rent has to be paid into a bank account named as Barri chiefdom land owners account. It needs three signatories, two landowners and the Paramount Chief. (article 2.1). It is also mentioned that payments or investment in development projects related to Corporate Social Responsibilities will be publicized throughout the region (article 3.5). Other benefits included in leases: 5% royalty from net profit yearly to be paid into community development fund in Makpele, Panga Kabonde, Sorogbema Chiefdoms. Managed by: Paramount Chief, 1 Member of Parliament, local district councilors within the chiefdom, 3 other chiefdom councilors, 2 representatives of the company with no veto option but should be allowed to raise concerns with the chiefdom council over the manner in which such funds are utilized. USD 2 per ha planted area for social welfare program fund in Galliness Peri and Kpaka chiefdoms. Managed by: Board of Trustees which is appointed by the Lessee on the recommendation of the Paramount chief. Purposes: Vague terms dominate Mainly oil palm but not limited to this. In some of the leases it is also mentioned that existing oil palm plantations shall be rehabilitated rather than being destroyed. 4 5 The use of the land in corresponding articles is defined as such: for farming and any agro-industrial development and any other purpose the Lessee may deem fit (article 2.2 Malen chiefdom)..for agricultural purposes for the growing of oil palm and other agriculture and ancillary industries, including but not limited to agri-processing and logistics (article 2.4 Barri chiefdom).. for agriculture, agro-industry and other related purposes (article 2 (iv) Panga Kabonde chiefdom) for commercial agriculture and ancillary industries, including but not limited to agri-processing and logistics (article 2.4 Makpele and Sorogbema chiefdoms) for the purposes of agriculture and agro-industry including but not limited to planting oil palms (Whereas: 3. Gallines Peri and Kpaka chiefdoms) How under such vague terms the free, prior and informed consent of communities can be achieved, as stipulated by international standards, is highly questionable. An Environmental, Social, Health Impact Assessment has to be carried out in Sierra Leone and a license has to be issued. This should be the basis of any informed decision making. But what if companies change their original intention of planting oil palm or rubber in a time span of 50 years? Does it require a new assessment and again the consent of communities? Sublease, sublet or part: Consent of the Lessee is required In all agreements the consent of the Lessor is required to assign, to sublet or part leased land. Articles in the documents vary whether the consent has to be prior, which authority the District officer, the Chief Administrative officer, the Provincial Secretary if at all has to approve such consent and if such approval has to be made in writing. In the leases of Panga Kabonde [article 2 (xvi)] and Barri [article 2.12] the condition is added that in the case of a subsidiary or parent company of the LESSEE such consent shall be granted. Arbitration: Disputes must be solved mainly in Sierra Leone but also in London According to articles in five of eight lease agreements disputes shall be solved according to the Arbitration Act, Chapter 25 of the Laws of Sierra Leone from 1960 or any statutory re-enactment or replacement thereof. This applies for the leases with Sorogbema chiefdom [article 4.8], Makpele [article 4.8], Panga Kabonde [article 4. (vii)] and Barri chiefdoms [article 4.7]. In the lease agreements with Biopalm Energy and Gallines Peri and Kpaka chiefdoms disputes shall be settled by arbitration conducted to the London Court of International Arbitration under ICC Arbitration Rules. (articles i) In the agreement between the Sierra Leonean government and the Malen chiefdom council no special reference is made to dispute settlement. Leases approved All the accessible lease agreements were approved by the Chief Administrative Officer of the Pujehun District Council. Biggest lease holders: With intention to implement Biopalm Energy Limited/SIVA Group African Oil Palm Limited, Aristeus Palm Oil Limited, West Africa Agriculture Limited, West Africa Agriculture Number 2 Limited, Redtree Agriculture Limited seem to be run by the same small group of Sierra Leoneans and foreigners from the UK. This group holds under different company names land leases or options for leases in four chiefdoms with a total area of 176, ha (incl. 38,704 ha in Sowa chiefdom) which is 43% of the total area of Pujehun district or 58% of arable land in the district. The same actors appear in Port Loko. 5 6 Redbunch Ventures (SL) Limited held a lease in Panga Kabonde but later African Oil Palm Limited succeeded in getting the lease hold which was then transferred to Biopalm Energy Ltd. Agriterra announced on 1 st of December 2011 that the company is broadening its portfolio of agricultural products through the acquisition of Shawford Investments Inc ('Shawford'), which in turn owns Red Bunch Ventures (SL) Limited ('Red Bunch'). In the announcement a 50-year lease (with an option to renew for a further 21 years) over approximately 45,000 hectares of brownfield agricultural land in the Pujehun District is mentioned ( It is highly probable that the lease agreement for Barri Chiefdom was transferred to Agriterra. This needs to be still confirmed by Agriterra. These transactions to transfer land leases to other investors (primarily multinational companies) when the company that leased the land was sold for profit indicates speculation. The same trend of land acquisition (to sell the companies with the leases) is also known from another district. Taking the company purchases / lease transfers into account, Biopalm Energy Limited, which is registered in Singapore and part of Indian SIVA Group, has apparently now become the biggest land investor in Pujehun District, with the intention of establishing oil palm plantations. The company holds three leases in three chiefdoms, for a total of 98, ha which is 23.9 % of the total area of Pujehun District. Companies purchased by other companies: African Oil Palm Ltd, now under Biopalm Energy Ltd in Panga Kabonde Chiefdom. Confirmed. Alleged price paid: USD 1.5 million Redbunch Ventures (SL), apparently now under Agriterra in Barri Chiefdom. Price: not known. (Waiting for Agriterra confirmation on transfer of Barri lease) It was alleged that West Africa Agriculture Limited with its lease in Sorogbema Chiefdom had been taken over by Sime Darby, a company with a very large concession in Liberia. But Sime Darby responded to an inquiry to refute this allegation: Sime Darby Berhad has not acquired any land in Sierra Leone. We are always on the lookout for opportunities to expand and if we do make any acquisitions, we will be transparent and make the relevant disclosures. ( ). West Africa Agriculture Limited confirmed no intention to transfer leases but to implement their agribusiness ( ). Companies and Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil: Geoff Palm Limited, approved member. Parent companies Biopalm Energy Limited and African Oil Palm Limited, Socfin Agriculture Company SL Limited, part of Socfin group, approved member, West Africa Agriculture Limited, applied, not yet a member, Why the Government must put a moratorium on large-scale land deals It is no gainsay that there are a lot of dynamics in the sector and that it must be properly understood. There is need for the government to commission studies on the many issues Green Scenery and other international organizations raised. A moratorium will give space and time to the government to design policies, regulations, monitoring mechanisms and structures that will ensure safeguards for the communities and protect the state from unsecured revenue generation. 6 7 The National Land Owners and Land Users Conference In April 2012, Green Scenery and the Sierra Leonean Network on the Right to Food, with support from the Oakland Institute, organized the first-ever National Conference of Landowners and Land-users affected by Large-scale Agricultural Investments in Sierra Leone. Participants issued the following communique. COMMUNIQUE FROM THE CONFERENCE OF LAND OWNERS AND LAND USERS We the delegates from eight districts and twenty chiefdoms either affected or about to be affected by large scale land acquisition for agribusiness in Sierra Leone at a conference of land owners and land users at the Saint Edwards Pre-school hall in Freetown from 2 3 April, 2012, while: Acknowledging that there is need for investment in agriculture to ensure food security and sustainable development; Being aware of government s priority in agriculture, particularly with smallholder commercialization and attracting large scale investors in agriculture; Being mindful of the right and access to land to support farming, access to traditional medicines, energy and water sources, cultural and social purposes, and further mindful of farming as a way of life and source of livelihood for the majority of Sierra Leoneans; Recognizing the dire need for women to have secure access and rights to land and the challenges of land availability, given climate change and population growth, and further recognizing the need for sustainable and diverse ways of food production to reduce poverty; Hereby wish to state our serious concerns about large scale land acquisition for agribusiness in Sierra Leone. MAJOR CONCERNS We are concerned that: there is a glaring absence of free, prior and informed consent in all the communities, and there is no transparency in the land deals; consultations on land acquisitions are poor, excluding women and other stakeholders; there are no binding regulations for large scale agro-investments and monitoring mechanisms in place; there is no national watchdog body to monitor large scale land deals and industrial investments in agriculture; there is no effective environmental management of land, water and vegetation in lease areas to prevent destruction of resources, water sources, native herbs and wildlife and to protect the livelihoods of those that depend on these; community understanding of negotiating for large scale land deals is weak or non-existent and farmers have no access to independent 7 RECOMMENDATIONS in the absence of free, prior and informed consent in all the communities, we call for a review of all the agreements relating to the land investments, and education of all stakeholders of the content of all the agreements; there must be full involvement of all stakeholders in the communities in all the consultations and negotiations on land deals, especially women; a system of monitoring mechanisms must be put in place, and the government should establish regulations to safeguard rural populations in the face of large scale land acquisitions and industrial plantations; appropriate environmental management systems must be put in place to protect land, water and vegetation in lease areas to prevent destruction of these resources, to protect the livelihoods of those that depend on these; support is needed to help communities build their capacity in negotiation for compensation 8 legal representation to help them negotiate for their own interests, and to ensure fair compensation and content in the agreements; traditional leaders, especially paramount chiefs, are serving as poor gatekeepers and some prevent direct community negotiations with the investors; women that have lost their land and thus their livelihoods have no viable or safe alternative livelihood, and thus are the most vulnerable; the investors do not provide relevant assistance and support to affected communities Thus, we call on the Government of Sierra Leone and all decision-makers at all levels(international, national, district, chiefdom and local), to implement the following recommendations: and content of the agreements, and they should be provided with independent legal counsel; traditional rulers, especially paramount chiefs, should allow the full participation of their constituents, especially land owners and users, in the consultation and negotiation processes; women that are affected by loss of their farmland and thus their livelihoods must be provided with safe and healthy alternative livelihoods; the land investors should provide relevant assistance and support to affected communities; land investment for agro-business should be designed to increase food security, not decrease it. 8 (Daily Mail, London), 19.02.2017 - At least they will never have a problem remembering each others birthdays. For sisters Erin, Leah, Charlotte and Isabelle Sullivan were all born on the same date. The two sets of twins - the elder girls are nine years old while the younger girls have just celebrated their first birthday - have defied odds of 4.5 million to one to arrive in the world on January 25. But despite the twins double-double of birthdays, the girls parents still face a struggle to organise everybodys parties and gifts - as they have five other children, and another one on the way. It was the start of 2016 when full-time mum Zoe was rushed to from the family home in Lossiemouth, Moray, to Raigmore hospital in Inverness for an emergency c-section. Tiny Erin and Leah were brought into the world on January 25 - exactly the same date that Charlotte and Isabelle were born in 2008. A bipartisan delegation from the US House of Representatives arrived in Colombo today for three days of meetings as part of the House Democracy Partnership (HDP), the US Embassy today said. Issuing a statement, the Embassy said the delegation is pleased to continue the partnership begun with the signing of a Collaboration Agreement between the US House of Representatives and Sri Lankan Parliament on September 14, 2016 in Washington D.C. The visit serves to underscore the strong bipartisan support for Sri Lanka in the US Congress. This visit by our nations elected representatives in Congress shows that bipartisan support for strong US-Sri Lankan ties is robust across the branches of the US government, said US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Atul Keshap. During the visit, the delegation is scheduled to meet the President, Prime Minister, Foreign Affairs Minister and Speaker. The delegation in Sri Lanka is led by HDP Chairman, Congressman Peter Roskam and includes Ranking Member Congressman David Price, Congressman Gerry Connolly and Congressman Adrian Smith. The HDP is a bipartisan, twenty-member commission of the US House of Representatives that works directly with partner countries around the world to support the development of effective, independent, and responsive legislative institutions. REUTERS, 19th FEBRUARY, 2017 U.S. Republican senators plan to introduce legislation to impose further sanction on Iran, accusing it of violating U.N. Security Council resolutions by testing ballistic missiles and acting to destabilize the Middle East, a U.S. senator said Sunday. I think it is now time for the Congress to take Iran on directly in terms of what theyve done outside the nuclear programme, Senator Lindsey Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told the Munich Security Conference. Graham said he and other Republicans would introduce measures to hold Iran accountable for its actions. Tensions between Tehran and Washington have risen since a Iranian ballistic missile test which prompted U.S. President Donald Trumps administration to impose sanctions on individuals and entities linked to the countrys Revolutionary Guards. Iran is a bad actor in the greatest sense of the word when it comes to the region. To Iran, I say, if you want us to treat you differently then stop building missiles, test-firing them in defiance of U.N. resolution and writing Death to Israel on the missile. Thats a mixed message, Graham said. Senator Christopher Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told the same panel there was nothing preventing Congress from imposing sanctions beyond those that were lifted as a result of the 2016 nuclear agreement with Iran. (Daily Mail, London), 20.02.2017 - India never asked Britain for hundreds of millions of pounds in foreign aid and doesnt even need it, the countrys new High Commissioner to the UK Y.K. Sinha told the Sunday Express. Britain sent India 279 million in 2014 alone despite the fact the country has its own space programme and is planning to spend 10 billion on a fleet of warships.Plans are in place to give India a further 130million in technical assistance by 2018. But Y.K. Sinha said the foreign aid deal is becoming a thing of the past and that the future priority should be getting a good trade deal sorted out. Mr Sinha added: While I dont want to prejudge British aid that has been given, or will be given, easier access to British markets, easier movement of people and the transfer of technology are more important he told the Sunday Express. We are grateful for any assistance we received in the past or will get in the future. But if it suddenly stopped would it make a huge difference? No. Did anyone in the government of India ask for assistance? No. February 20th marked the anniversary of the World Day of Social Justice. This commitment, made by the UN in 2007, is rooted in the ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalisation and focuses on guaranteeing fair outcomes for all through employment, social protection, social dialogue, and fundamental principles and rights at work. Unsurprisingly, an important focus of this commitment is the economic empowerment of women and girls. According to the United Nations: Observance of World Day of Social Justice supports efforts of the international community in poverty eradication, the promotion of full employment and decent work, gender equity and access to social well-being for all It is in this context that this article chooses to examine the status of female labour force participation (LFP) in Sri Lanka.In doing so, it recognises the enduring positive impact of female LFP on broader economic outcomes and, more importantly, on poverty alleviation and social protection among women. Labour force participation, as defined by the ILO, is a measure of the proportion of a countrys working-age population that engages actively in the labour market, either by working or actively looking for work. According to 2015 estimates, the rate of labour force participation among women in Sri Lanka is 35.9. This means that a disproportionate majority of women remain outside the labour market, with no access to wages, pensions and other benefits tied to gainful employment. Pervasive constraints While evidence points to several pervasive constraints on womens participation in the labour force ranging from protectionist legislature to the lack of access to vocational training it has become increasingly evident that social and culturalfactors play a defining role in determining womens inclusion in the labour market. These cultural constraints primarily stem from negative attitudes towards womens work as well as societal perceptionsof womens roles and responsibilities in the household. These cultural norms, which are often internalised by women, negatively influence a womansdecision to pursue gainful employment opportunities and limither occupational choice and earning capacity in the long run. If Sri Lanka is serious about transitioning from its status as a lower-middle income country, it must address these key constraints in order to ensure that women become an engine of sustained economic growth. Why increasing female LFP important for Sri Lanka? While female LFP is an important social goal in itself, it is also crucial from an economic growth perspective. Empirical evidence on the negative outcomes of gender asymmetries in the labour market is extensive and underscores the positive nexus between female LFP and economic development. For instance, studies such as Cuberes and Tiegner (2015) demonstrate the extent to which gender gaps negatively affect per-capita income and productivity; according to their findings, gender inequality creates an average income loss of 16 percent in the short-run and 17.5 percent in the long-run for developing countries. In Asia alone, UNESCAP estimates that restrictions on womens access to employment opportunities result in a loss of US$42 - US$47 billion per year. Other studies also highlight significant losses to GDP that occur due to gender asymmetries in the labour market; an IMF staff noteestimates an average loss of 20% to the Sri Lankan economy stemming from lower participation rates among women (Figure 1). Beyond macroeconomic impacts, labour force participation is also fundamentally important for poverty alleviation. Providing wage employment to poor women, who constitute the majority of those in poverty, is crucial to providinglow-income women with the tools to overcome persistent poverty. Sociocultural constraints to female LFP Evidence from studies on female LFP in Sri Lanka revealsthat household income and status of wealth plays a significant role in determining a womans decision to seek employment. Studies such as Guntalika (2013) show that receipt of remittances and earnings of male household members deter labour force participation among married women and female heads of household. While it is hard to locate the precise driving force behind this trend, it is safe to posit that these trends are largely reflective of traditional views onmale and female income earners. Although women are considered to be economic actors, their income is regarded as supplementary to that of male income earners who, traditionally, play the role of primary breadwinner. Therefore, women who receive income from other sources such as remittances,or live with the high-earning male family members, do not feel the need to seek gainful employment opportunities in the market. The study further finds that having children below the age of five is also a significant deterrent to labour force participation. While this trend is also undeniably reflective of pervasive attitude towards womens roles as mothers and caretakers, it is also indicative of the disproportionate burden of unpaid care work that women continue to shoulder. The opportunity cost that results from cutting back on work hours or dropping out of paid labour force is well documented. Nancy Folbre, a leading economist at the University of Massachusetts calls this opportunity cost the care penaltyand argues: unpaid work, by definition, carries a pecuniary penalty: one forgoes the potential earnings from working the same hours in a paid job. In addition, because pay is affected by how much job experience one has, women who leave employment to rear children suffer wage penalties for years after they re-enter the job market While socio-cultural perceptions and attitudes impact a womens decisions to enter the labour force, these factors also influence hiring practices. A recent study conducted by the ILO titled Factors Affecting Womens Labour Force Participation in Sri Lanka (2016) reveals the extent to which socio-cultural norms and perceptions hinder womens access to employment opportunities. Although the study did not find evidence of overt discrimination, it found that gender stereotyping led to indirect discrimination in the hiring process. For example, Key Person Interviews in the study revealed that managers were more likely to hire men due to extraneous considerations such as higher probability of women having family responsibilities. Policy recommendations and conclusion While theGovernment of Sri Lanka has recognised the need to address the low rate of participation among women in the country, its focus has not been on addressing these cultural norms and practices that continue to hold women back. If Sri Lanka hopes to tap into the productive potential that women hold to stimulate growth, it must work to change the pervasive perceptions around womens work. It must also work to develop greater support systems for women who continue to operate within current socio-cultural frameworks. For example, the state should consider the provision of affordable (perhaps publicly financed) care services that would reduce the burden of unpaid care work on women. This is particularly important in the context of Sri Lanka, where low fertility rates and an increasingly ageing population is likely to increase the dependency burden on women in the future. Introducing day-care options at places of employment is another alternative worth considering. Similarly, the introduction of flexible work options such as part-time work and working from home could also support a womans ability to achieve a work-life balance. A survey of more than 1,000 workers in Australia, a country where over a 50 percent of Australian organisations have a workplace flexibility policy in place, revealed that women were 10 percentage points more likely to work flexible or alternate hours. In addition, 38 percent of women also claimed to be working night-shifts or part-time to juggle professional and personal obligations. It is evident that with the right systems in place, women have the willingness and ability to economically empower themselves. Finally, Sri Lanka should promote policies that support the more equitable distribution of family responsibilities in the household. For example, the expansion of paternity leave benefits could encourage men to take up greater responsibility in child-careactivities. In addition to sharing the costs of family care, Nancy Folbre argues that the impact of such policies could also have a positive effect on re-engineering gender roles in societyby validating the value of care work. As a result, they could have a large cumulative and ripple effects on society as a whole. (Anarkalee Perera is a Research Assistant at the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka) Hello comrade, I insist on addressing you like that - not only because you and many amazing young minds before you in JNU have been my comrades for more than two decades now - but also because the word comes from the root "camaraderie", the idea that defines student politics in general, and the strong bonds that JNU and AMU students have built for a progressive polity in particular. Despite what has happened, those bonds must endure. Let me, therefore, at the outset, express my deep sense of shock and disgust over a first information report (FIR) filed against you in Aligarh by the AMU Students Union, which claims you insulted Prophet Mohammad in a Facebook post - a 1000-word statement that those students, in the age of 140-word tweets and emoticonned Whatsapp conversations, were too ignorant to understand. The other possibility is they are deliberately misreading the post and claiming being hurt to "fix" you for speaking your mind. The men in Aligarh are not used to women speaking their minds, let alone having one. With you, it becomes worse. It's not only your gender that they despise, it's your left-liberal political persuasion too. Aligarh in general has never been comfortable with liberal and progressive forces, despite being one of the major centres of progressive writers and academics in the country. That the police complaint against you came only two days after you and other comrades from JNU, Delhi University, and Allahabad University were invited by the same AMU Students Union for a symposium on the role of student leaders in "building contemporary society" is one of the many unfortunate ironies that AMU has long been used to revel in. In the horribly misinterpreted January 9 post on Facebook, you had attempted a more nuanced understanding of hate speech by asserting a rational minds democratic right to ask questions and raise doubts, even if they involve religious figures like Ram or Mohammad. There is difference between inquiry and incitement, you argued in that post, with considerable sensibility and success. Zia Nomani in youthkiawaaz.com was right. The post quoted some controversial phrases like "Ram was an asshole" and "Mohammad was a paedophile" to distinguish between hate speech and "hateful" speech. Its a paradox that the ex-JNUSU vice-president Shehla was accused of hate speech in her Facebook post, which was meant to condemn it in the first place, he wrote. Shehla Rashid with Kanhaiya Kumar. (Photo: India Today) However, allow me to put this controversy in some context. Far from being an isolated hounding of a Muslim woman studying in another university, it actually fits into a long trope of myopia, misogyny and mindset that defines not only AMU, but even the average Muslim man. Student politics in Aligarh, unlike your university or most others, is ad-hoc and devoid of affiliations from the mainstream political parties. That emptying of politics from politics per se ends up creating student leaders, whose only claim to electoral positions is the most banal slogan you can ever hear in a university: "tempo high hai". Please don't ask me what it means. I don't know either and have remained intrigued for long. But it is this singular slogan that has set the agenda and decided student elections in Aligarh for nearly a century now. It is "tempo high hai" that has created leaders from Aligarh, whatever little it has produced. It is this political and intellectual bankruptcy that has marked student politics in AMU. In the absence of political education and atmosphere that an institution of higher education is supposed to provide, more so in a campus like Aligarh, student leaders are left to fend for themselves. Teachers either don't mentor or are too scared to do it. The administration run by former Army generals or senior bureaucrats does all it can to ensure the campus remains depoliticised. I don't know if you have noticed, but AMU and Jamia Millia Islamia are the only two central universities in India often run by non-academics. While that trend is set to hopefully stop soon, it's appalling why nobody within the community or outside questioned and resisted it for decades. Such administrators despise progressive politics, victimise teachers or students who dare to do it, and end up undermining the legitimate and democratic right of students to call elections or form political alliances. What happens in such a depoliticised campus is that student leaders end up pandering to populist notions of religion, tradition or victimhood. Easy and regressive slogans take over more pressing issues like the recent University Grants Commission gazette notification you also questioned AMU about. Politics of emotion takes over politics of consequence. The FIR against you over alleged disrespect to the Prophet explains that. "I doubt if AMUSU has any sentiments left, let alone religious!" you said in another angry Facebook post after the police case was filed. I have to agree with you on that. Moreover, religious sentiments have no place in an academic insitution. If AMU or its student leaders claim a religious right over their campus and dictate who gets to enter it, they are failing the very idea of Aligarh and its long history of liberal and alternate politics. As you so aptly put it in the same Facebook post: "Pehle insaan baniye, phir musalman banne ka dawa kariye." For me, as long as you are a student, insaaniyat (humanism) is all that matters. Transcription 1 Bhutan Festival Tour March 8 th to 17th 2014 With Jim Cramer and Tshering Jamtsho 10 Days Cultural Tour (Including the Punakha Tsechu Festival) $ 2 Located high in the majestic Himalayas and nestled between Tibet and India is the small Kingdom of Bhutan. The local inhabitants call this Druk Yul, the land of the peaceful dragon For years, Bhutan deliberately isolated itself from the outside world and has only recently opened its borders to visitors. In Bhutan, the Buddhist culture is integrated into every aspect of daily life, and those fortunate enough to visit describe it as a unique, deeply spiritual, and mystical experience. Day 1: March 8 Depart for Bangkok Day 2: March 9 Arrive Bangkok, afternoon tour of the city Day 3: March 10 Arrive Bhutan and drive to Paro The flight from Bangkok into Bhutan will take you over the vast plains of the Indian subcontinent and then over the dense green vegetation of the Kingdom s sub Himalayan ranges. You will get breathtaking views of the worlds highest and most majestic peaks as the plane approaches the Dragon Kingdom s cloud scraping airstrip at the Paro International airport at an altitude of 7330 ft. Moments before the landing you can catch glimpses of the fertile valley of Paro and the winding Paro Chu (river) and the historical Rimpung Dzong (fortress) more popularly known as Paro Dzong. As you step out of the aircraft, you can catch your first breath of the fresh crisp Himalayan air. Tshering, our Bhutanese guide, will be there to receive you after you have completed the necessary immigration and visa formalities. We will then have lunch in Paro and we will take a beautiful drive to a remote hotel Ugyen Pendeyling Resort and meditation center. This hotel is surrounded by fields and small country farmhouses. We will stay here our first night in Bhutan. Day 4: March 10 Drive from Paro to Thimphu 2 3 We will follow the Paro river and provide plenty of photo opportunities. After about half an hour's drive you will reach the confluence of two rivers, one flowing from Thimphu and the other from Paro. From the confluence we will follow the Thimphu river for another hour. As you enter into Thimphu you will see the traffic being controlled by traffic men as there are no traffic lights in the Kingdom. After lunch at the hotel we will visit the Thimphu Memorial Stupa, a beautiful landmark built in memory of our late King Jigme Dorji Wangchuck Thimphu.(7,600ft). Day 5 March 11 Visit a local Monastery, the Big Buddha and Thimphu Dzong Today we will take early morning pilgrimage to local Changangkha Lhakhang monastery and chant with the monks. This temple is an old fortress-like temple and monastic school perched on a ridge above the capital, Thimphu. It was established in the 12th century on a site chosen by Lama Phajo Drukgom Shigpo, who came from Ralung in Tibet. Afterward we will visit the Buddha Dordenma is a bronze statue, a 'Vajra Throne' Buddha overlooking Thimphu city, about 100 metres (330 ft) above the Wang Chuu river. We will string prayer flags as is the custom in Bhutan. After lunch we will visit the Thimpu Dzong, a Buddhist monastery and fortress on the northern edge of the city, on the western bank of the Wang Chu river. In the afternoon we will visit a local fruit vegetable and handicraft market Thimphu. (7,600ft) 3 4 Day 6: March 12 Drive to Punakha Today we will start early for Punakha, the old capital of Bhutan. The journey will take about three hours. It will take you across the Dochula Pass (3050M) with a spectacular view of the eastern Himalayas. The pass is also marked by 108 stupas dedicated to world peace by Her Majesty the Queen of Bhutan, Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck. The descent will take us through sub tropical vegetation and into Punakha. Visit the festival at the Punakha Dzong in the afternoon. Something about this place commands our reverence. The rivers that flank the monastery are called the Mo Chu (Mother) and Po Chu (Father), and indeed, Punakha is where modern Bhutan was born. This has been considered a deeply auspicious site since the 14th century, and all seems timeless and serene. We will have late afternoon Qigong at the Sangchen Liendrup Choling nummery. March 13 : Punakha Tsechu Festival Early this morning we will journey to the Sangchen Liendrup Choling nunnery for a morning meditation and afterwards do Qigong with Jessica. This nunnery was built by the King s maternal Grandmother in After breakfast we will visit the Punakha Dzong and witness masked dance performances called Tshechus. Morality plays choreographed to music, these dances meld spiritual instruction, theater, and comic relief into a single, highly anticipated social event. The Punakha Dzong, built in 1637, was once the old capital of Bhutan and is today the winter residence of the Central Monastic Body. The Dzong occupies an important place in the history of monarchy in Bhutan as the first King of Bhutan, King Ugyen Wangchuck was crowned here in The Dzong also houses Bhutan's 4 5 most sacred relic, the Ranjung Kharsapani (the self created image of Avolokitesvara). The inner-most sanctum of the temple houses the Marchen Lhakhang, containing the embalmed body of the Shabdrung, the first secular leader of Bhutan A booklet containing a detailed program will be provided to all the group members. The Tshechu is a festival in honor of Padmasambhava (one born from the lotus flower) and popularly known as Guru Rinpoche the precious teacher. Religious festivals, or Tsechus, are held annually in Dzongs (fortress monasteries) throughout the country. Many outstanding Buddhist saints like Guru Rinpoche in the 8th century, and Pemalingpa, Shabdrung and Dorjilingpa in the 14th to 16th centuries resorted to dances to subdue demons and evil spirits, and to overcome obstacles that were preventing the spread of Buddhism in the high Himalayan valleys. From the roof of the Dzong, monks blow on a pair of long horns, and the sound of cymbals, drums and trumpets fill the air. These dance festivals revive the people spiritually and in many ways refine them culturally because the dances communicate moral lessons, and both the performer and the observer benefit from the exchange. The Bardo dances, the main event of the Tsechu festival, serve as a reminder to Bhutanese of their future destiny depending on their past and present deeds. The dance of Noblemen and Ladies tells the story of flirting princesses who are punished for their indiscretions. The dance of the Stag enacts the tale of a hunter who was converted to Buddhism and gave up hunting. After lunch, we will visit Chorten Nebu monastery high in the hills above Punakha. Built in the 18 th century it is a little know treasure. This is an educational institution where young monks can both study traditional Buddhist texts and learn Western subjects. 5 6 Day 8: March 14 Punakha-Paro Today we will drive through Thimphu, en route to Paro, and stop for lunch at the Swiss Bakery. After lunch we will visit the National Museum, located in the Ta Dzong originally built in This is the only museum in Paro and has the country's best collection of ancient Thangkas (religious wall hangings), religious paintings and artefacts, fine textiles, weapons and stamps. It also houses the unique temple of the tree of life, representing the four different sects of Buddhism, as practiced in the country Day 9 March 15 Local sightseeing in Paro We will visit Kichu Lhakang Temple which was built in 659 (7th century) by the Tibetan King Tshongtsen Gampo. It is believed he built 108 temples across the Himalayas and Kichu happens to be one of the last remaining ones. The Jowo Temple of Kyichu is one of the oldest temples in Bhutan, originally built in the 7th century by the Tibetan Emperor Songsten Gampo. It is considered to be one of the 108 temples he built. In the 8th century the temple was visited by Guru Rinpoche and it is believed he concealed many spiritual treasures here. Pilgrims turn the many prayer wheels along the walls as they circumnambulate the temple. The fine statues of Boshisattvas and the Buddha are national treasures. The wooden floor of the sanctum is inlaid with turquoise and coral gemstones offered by pilgrims. There is also a chorten that contains the ashes of the great Tibetan Lama Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. The teacher of the Dalai On a clear day, one can see the 24,000-ft domed majestic Jumolhari in the background of the fortress, blessing the Paro valley. It is believed that the goddess Jumo resides on this sacred mountain. Further up the valley you will see the majestic Taktsang (Tigers Lair), clinging onto bare rock face. 6 7 Day 10: March 16 After breakfast, hike to Taktsang (Tiger's Nest) Monastery, which is the most famous monastery in Bhutan. Guru Rinpoche, an Indian saint is said to have flown on the back of a tigress from Singye Dzong in Lhuntse to meditate in a cave where Taktsang Monastery now stands. It is perched on the edge of a steep cliff, about 900 meters above Paro Valley. The hike to reach the viewpoint to the monastery makes for a nice halfday excursion. Hike back to Paro. In the evening you can explore Paro town. Overnight hotel in Paro. Day 11: March 17 Our guide will help you with the departure formalities at the airport and bid you good bye with traditional Tashi Khadhar. ABOUT OUR GUIDE Tshering Jamtsho Tshering Jamtsho can be rated among the first welltrained tour leaders in the country. He has extensive knowledge in the field of tourism in Bhutan. His knowledge of Buddhism, Bhutanese culture, history, and environment has earned him many friends around the globe. 7 8 For years, Bhutan deliberately isolated itself from the outside world and has only recently opened its borders to visitors. In Bhutan the Buddhist culture is integrated into every aspect of daily life, and those fortunate enough to visit describe it as a unique, deeply spiritual and mystical experience. Spirit of Bhutan TRIP INCLUDES : 9 Nights Hotels and all meals Round Trip Air from Bangkok to Bhutan Guide Services provided by Tshering Jamtsho Punakha Tshechu Festival All meals Hike to Tiger s nest monastery Includes Daily tourist fee All Tours and Transportation $ Spirit Tours 5018 Buckthorn Ct. Santa Rosa, Ca The deadly blasts of February 16 in the Shia shrine of the renowned Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan, Sindh, killed nearly 100 devotees and have rocked Pakistan as perhaps never before. Shias and non-Sunnis have been the target of terror violence more as a routine than exception. What's significant in the Sehwan terror attack is the Islamic State (IS) taking responsibility for it, leaving its footprint on the holy site with the loud and clear message that the IS is very much at Pakistan's doorstep and can cause devastation of grave magnitude in the future as well. The immediate impact of the terror act has been to rattle the Pakistani military and security machinery, exposing their hollow intelligence system and unpreparedness to deal with any terror-linked exigency and measures to safeguard minority Shia interests. This is evident by the instantaneous action of the security forces in killing more than 100 terror suspects. Eliminating such a large number of "terrorists" in less than 24 hours of the incident shows the response was possibly out of panic or a knee-jerk attempt to instill confidence among the public that the country's forces have avenged the act. However, the question that remains unanswered is that if the killed terror suspects were already around and the list was available, then why weren't they picked up or eliminated earlier to pre-empt the mayhem? It also creates the doubt that if so many suspects have been killed, some innocent lives must have been sacrificed as well. The debate will continue to rage but at this very moment, the Pakistan polity and establishment are being questioned about the existence of an anti-terror structure to deal with the terrorism menace. Prominent daily Dawn, in an editorial on February 18, asks why the recent bombings were allowed to happen? Whether they were deliberately coordinated or opportunistically coincidental. This is indeed a strong indictment. Questions are also being raised about the existence of the national action plan. It's being described as something of a "running joke". People are also demanding answers from the Nawaz Sharif government as the country has been waiting impatiently for long for an end to incidents of terror. All assurances and cosmetic operations hitherto launched by the military and security forces have unfortunately yielded nothing except killings, and more killings. The Pakistan military has started pointing its fingers towards Afghanistan-based terror groups for striking at Pakistani targets. According to insiders who wish to remain anonymous, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) is under the lens as it's considered the epicentre of terrorism. The IS took responsibility for the attack at the shrine. (Photo: Reuters) It's well known that terror outfits like the al-Qaeda, Haqqani network, the Taliban and their affiliates are sheltered here. FATA is severely backward and there doesn't seem to be any visible move by Islamabad to improve the conditions of the region. Out of an estimated population of nearly 6 million, only 16 per cent is literate and, lamentably, only less than 1 per cent of women are literate. The backward lot needs uplift in education and development, as any progressive measure to ameliorate their living conditions may see a reduction in terror cases. Further, there are umpteen instances of human rights violations in the region. Instead of strengthening human rights safeguards, the Pakistan government is applying laws, including the Actions (in Aid of Civil Power) Regulations, that are not germane and counterproductive. Any worthwhile progress in FATA may help end the production of wholesale terror. In all likelihood, Pakistan will now mount pressure on Afghanistan to hit out at terrorists whom the former suspects to be masterminding the terror attacks. Pakistani suspicion also stems from the fact that Afghanistan is getting close to India to jointly combat terror. The two nations' growing ties are an eyesore for Pakistan and it will do anything to wean one neighbour away from the other. This needs a close watch. Indian facilities in Afghanistan may be vulnerable due to the misplaced notion of quid pro quo. Being pushed against the wall by a slew of terror attacks, the most recent ones occurring in Lahore and Sehwan, the Pakistani ISI and military may embark upon a blueprint to pinprick India by intensifying subversive actions in Kashmir. The move may also help Pakistan to divert public attention from the real issues the country is afflicted with. Transcription 1 ANNALS OF CLINICAL AND LABORATORY SCIENCE, Vol. 26, No. 1 Copyright 1996, Institute for Clinical Science, Inc. Coenzyme Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide New Therapeutic Approach for Improving Dementia of the Alzheimer Type* JORG G. D. BIRKMAYER, M.D., Ph.D. Forschungs-und Lehreinrichtung des Birkmayer Instituts fu r Parkinsontherapie Vienna, Austria ABSTRACT The Coenzyme nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) has been used as medication in 17 patients suffering from dementia of the Alzheimer type in an open label trial. In all patients evaluated so far, an improvement in their cognitive dysfunction was observed. Based on the minimental state examination, the minimum improvement was 6 points and the maximum improvement 14 points with a mean value of 8.35 points. The improvement on the basis of the global deterioration scale (GDS) was a minimum of 1 point and a maximum of 2 points with a mean value of The duration of therapy was between 8 and 12 weeks. No side effects or adverse effects have been reported from the patients or their caregivers during the observation period which is, in some patients, more than a year. This open label trial represents a pilot study from which no definitive conclusion can be drawn. A double-blind placebo controlled study is necessary to demonstrate the clinical efficacy of NADH. The planning and the fulfillment of all requirements for such a study are in progress. Introduction physical conditions or diseases. The cause and rate of progression of dementia Dementia can be defined as loss of varies. The most well-known disease intellectual functions such as thinking, accompanied with progressing dementia remembering, and reasoning of sufficient j.s Alzheimer s disease. However, there severity to interfere with the person s are other diseases which are accompadaily functioning. It cannot be defined as nied with dementia, such as Huntington a disease itself but rather a variety of disease; Pick s disease, Parkinson dissymptoms which may accompany the ease an^j multi-infarct dementia. Further conditions which may induce dementia are head injuries, hydrocephalus, men- * Address repnnt reqtieste to: Jorg G. D. Birk- fngitis, brain tumours, nutritional defimayer, M.D., Ph.D., Professor oi M edicine and., Clinical Pathology, Schwarzspanierstr. 15, A-1090 ciencies, and drug reactions. The most Vienna, Austria. common of the dementing disorders is /96/ $01.50 Institute for Clinical Science, Inc. 2 2 BIRKMAYER Alzheimer disease affecting as many as four million Americans. Approximately 5 percent of the population over 65 years is affected. The symptoms begin slowly, then progress until the patient is completely dependent on his or her family or care giver.1 This dependence becomes an emo tional, physical, and financial burden. These burdens have generated tre mendous interest in the definition of the etiological, biochem ical, pathological, diagnostic, and treatm ent possibilities associated with this condition. Many labels have been attached to the clinical profile of dementia. The clinical profile of dementia consists of (1) loss of mem ory, (2) deterioration of intellectual func tioning, and (3) impairment in the activi ties of daily living.2 Symptoms of this disease include a gradual memory loss, decline in ability to perform routine tasks, disorientation in time and space, im pairm ent of ju d g em en t, personal change, difficulty in learning, and loss of communication skills. A Work G roup established by the National Institute of Neurological and Comm unicative Disorders and Stroke (NINCDS) and the Alzheimer s Disease and R elated D isorders A ssociation (ADRDA) published clinical criteria for the diagnosis of Alzheimer s disease, a brain disorder marked by progressive d em en tia, in T he N IN C D SADRDA Work Group s diagnostic criteria have become the criteria most univer sally accepted. There is general agree ment on the pathology and biochemistry of Alzheimer s disease.3 Unfortunately, the pathology can be determ ined only after death by means of a brain autopsy. A brain autopsy of an Alzheimer s patient will show the presence of (1) cortical atrophy, (2) neuron loss, and (3) senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. A definitive diagnosis of Alzheimer disease is therefore possible only through histopathological examination of the brain tis sue. As this cannot be done during the treatment period when patients are still alive, the term senile dem entia of the Alzheimer type (SDAT) will be used in the following. The major biochemical changes identi fied in SDAT is a deficiency of cholin ergic neurotransmitters owing to the pro gressive loss of cholinergic presynaptic neurons located in the basal forebrain.4 There are similarities between the bio chemical changes found in normal age and in SDAT. However, there are also functional disturbancies of the catecholaminergic system. It has been shown that catecholamine activity in the aged rat brain is reduced.5,6,7 The enzym atic activity of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) as well as dopade-carboxylase (DOD) has been found significantly decreased in post-mortem samples of humans.8 Other post-mortem studies in hum ans have shown reduced levels of dopamine (DA) and noradrenaline (NA) related to age.9,10 These observations indicate that there is a decrease of the concentrations of cate cholamine in the normal aged brain. In senile dementia of the Alzheimer type (SDAT), it was well shown already in 1969 that the metabolites of dopamine (DA) hom ovanilinic acid (HVA) was decreased in the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) of the patients.11 Furthermore, a study in Sweden revealed that the dopa mine concentration was significantly reduced in the caudatus nucleus and in the hypothalamus. Noradrenaline was reduced in the hypothalamus, caudatus hippocam pus, and gyri cinguli. Even more significantly reduced was 5-hydroxy-tryptam ine (5-HT), also called serotonine in the same brain regions.12 These findings w ere confirm ed and extended in showing that dopamine and noradrenaline deficiency do not only occur in nucleus caudatus, hypothala mus, and gyri cinguli, but also in other brain regions such as globus pallidus, putamen, nucleus amygdale, substantia nigra, and basal ganglia.13 The levels of 3 THERAPEUTIC APPROACH FOR IMPROVING DEMENTIA OF THE ALZHEIMER TYPE 3 serotonine (5-HT) were reduced in nucleus caudatus, putam en, globus pallidus, substantia nigra, raphe and nucleus amygdale. Reinikainnen14 and coworkers found noradrenaline deficits in locus coeruleus, frontal cortex, temple cortex, hippocampus, and putamen. Dopamine deficits were found by Allard et al15 in thalamus, hippothalamus, nucleus caudatus, and putamen in ponds. Deficit of 5-HT could be detected in putamen, cingular cortex, and raphe by Marcusson et al.16 All these findings provide evidence that the biochemical cause of cognitive dysfunction and dementia in SDAT is not only confined to the acetylcholinergic system but also to the catecholaminergic system. This view is further supported by the clinical observation that in SDAT not only intellectual but also emotional and motoric impairments are observed. In particular, the motoric impairments accompanied with other Parkinsonianlike symptoms are observed in 50 percent of the Alzheimer patients.17 On the other hand, Parkinsonian patients develop symptoms of dementia.18 These similarities between Parkinson and Alzheimer disease instigated us to apply nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) with patients suffering from senile dementia of the Alzheimer type. As shown by us in various clinical trials with more than 2000 Parkinsonian patients, NADH does not only alleviate the motoric impairment but also the cognitive dysfunction of these patients.19,20,21 Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, in its reduced form abbreviated NADH, is also known as Coenzyme I. This coenzyme is present in all living cells and plays a central role in the cellular energy production. The NADH itself is a very energy rich compound. The reactive hydrogene atoms of NADH are oxidized to water yielding energy. In mammalian cells, this process takes place in the energy producing compartments, the mitochondria, and is performed by a mixture of enzym es called Com plex I, NADH ubiquinon reductase, Complex II (Succinat. Dehydrogenase), Complex III (Ubiquinone cytochrome C-reductase), and Complex IV (cytochrome C-oxidase). The driving force in this energy production cascade is NADH. The more NADH a cell has available, the more energy it can produce, presupposing that all the enzymes of Complex I, II, III and IV are working properly. If one of th ese enzymes of Complex I, II, IV does not reach full activity, energy production in the mitochondria decreases. According to Corbisier and Remade,22 alterations of mitochondria lead to their uncoupling which is harmful to the cells and can induce degeneration and cell death. In 1934 NADH was first extensively described by Kaplan and has been used in pure form as diagnostic tool in clinical laboratories for the last 30 years. No therapeutical application had ever been considered until With the new concept of stimulating the endogenous L-Dopa biosynthesis, it has been successfully applied to Parkinsonian patients.13,19,23 In 90 percent of 161 patients, an improvement in their disability was observed. Concommitantly, with the clinical approvement of the disability, the urine HVA-level increased significantly indicating a stimulation of the endogenous L-Dopa biosynthesis. These first observations were confirmed and extended in 1990 with 415 Parkinsonian patients.24,25 More extensive clinical studies compared the effect of the oral form of NADH with intravenously applied NADH. A total of 885 Parkinsonian patients were included in an open label trial, 415 received NADH intravenously, to 470 NADH was given orally. In 80 percent of the patients, a beneficial clinical effect was observed.21 This new therapeutic concept was based on the assumption that NADH stimulates the endogenous 4 4 BIRKMAYER dopamine biosynthesis. This assumption was first proved in tissue culture by showing that the dopamine production in pheochromocytomacells (PC 12) could be increased up to six times by adding NADH to the medium.26 Furthermore, it was found in this study that the rate limiting enzyme of dopamine biosynthesis tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) is stimulated by NADH. In addition to this in vitro study, further evidence on the stimulatory effect of NADH on the biosynthesis of dopamine and noradrenaline was obtained in animal studies. It was found that NADH stimulates the biosynthesis of dopamine in the striatum of rat brain by more than 40 percent after 14 days of intraperitoneal injection of NADH. On the basis of our new therapeutic concept of stimulating the endogenous catecholamine biosynthesis by NADH, patients with dementia of the Alzheimer type are being treated. Subjects and Methods In an open label trial, 17 patients were studied, all of whom have been diagnosed at various neurological clinics as presenile and with senile dementia of the Alzheimer type. Before they were included into the study, the severity of the cognitive and functional impairment was assessed at our institute using the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE)27 and the Global Deterioration Scale (GDS).28,29,30 In addition, all the subjects underwent physical, neurological, and psychiatric examinations performed before and after the treatment period; NADH (Synonyms: (3-NADH, reduced DPN, Coenzyme I reduced form) was given in oral form as a tablet containing 5 mg NADH. The total dosage was 10 mg NADH per day, which was given in the morning 30 minutes before the first meal. Material Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, reduced form (NADH) was obtained as disodium salt.* It is produced of NAD by enzymatic reduction. NAD is extracted from yeast. The yeast extract is purified by ion exchange chromatography and preparative high performance liquid chromatography. The separation of (3-NAD and a-nad is performed by chromatography. The reference standard is NADH-NA2, grade 1, with a purity of over 99.5 percent. Results Results from all the patients who have been evaluated are given in table I. In this table, each patient s initial, sex, age result of the MMSE and the GDS before and after treatm ent as w ell as the improvement are listed. The minimum im provem ent after NADH treatment was 1 point in three patients, the maximum 2 points in 14 patients. This yielded a mean value of The duration of therapy lasted from a minimum of eight weeks to a maximum of 12 weeks, with a mean value of The statistical analysis of the results as listed in table I, and the evaluations are given in table II. The age of the patients ranged from 33 to 84 years, with a mean value of and a medium of 68. The MMSE before NADH treatment revealed a minimum value of 16 was observed in one patient and a maximum value of 24 in six patients yielding a mean value of After treatment with NADH in the MMSE score a minimum value of 16 was observed in one patient, and a maximum score of 30 was found in six patients with a mean value of Considering the * Boehringer Mannheim GesmbH, D Mannheim, Germany. 5 THERAPEUTIC APPROACH FOR IMPROVING DEMENTIA OF THE ALZHEIMER TYPE 5 TABLE I List of Patients with the Examination Parameter Before and After Treatment with Coenzyme Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide Patient No. Initials Sex Age MMSE M/F (Years) Before MMSE After Improvement GDS Before GDS After Improve- Weeks of ment Therapy 1 FP F SD F ML M BW M LW M GE F LT F AG M KA F PR M GA F W M NR F PD M FR M PG M RW M MMSE = mini mental state examination (minimum of 6; maximum of 14). GDS = global deterioration scale (minimum of 1 ; maximum of 2). improvement after NADH treatment based on the MMSE, the minimum was 6 and the maximum 14 with a mean value of In addition to the MMSE, the GDS was used to examine the dementia patients. The minimum in the GDS was 2 in one patient, the maximum 6 in six patients yielding a mean value of After application of NADH, the minimum in the GDS rating was 1 in seven patients, the maximum 4 in seven patients. The mean value of all patients was All the patients exam ined by the MMSE and the global deterioration scale showed a distinct improvement after NADH therapy. This holds not only for patients with mild symptoms of cognitive decline (MMSE = 24 and GDS = 3) but also for patients with moderately severe or severe dementia (MMSE = 4 20, GDS = 5-6). Discussion Using NADH as therapeutic regimen for demented patients is based on the hypothesis that the stimulation of the endogenous biosynthesis of certain neurotransmitters, in particular dopamine and noradrenaline, should improve the mental performance o f patients w ith cogn itive dysfunction and/or dementia as these neurotransmitters are reduced in certain brain areas of Alzheimer patients.12,13,14 As shown in in vitro studies using p h eo ch ro m ocy tom a c e lls, N A D H increases the biosynthesis of dopamine up to sixfold.26 Furthermore, it has been shown that NADH increases the level of dopamine in the striatum of the rat brain after peritoneal injection of NADH. These observations provide possible explanations for the mechanism of the 6 6 BIRKMAYER TABLE II Summary Statistics of Evaluated Parameters Variable Number Mean St.E St.D Minimum Maximam Median Age MMSE before NADH MMSE after NADH MMSE improvement after NADH GDS before NADH GDS after NADH GDS improvement after NADH Weeks of therapy MMSE = mini mental state examination (minimum of 6; maximum of 14). GDS = global deterioration scale (minimum of 1 ; maximum of 2). NADH = coenzyme nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide. St.E = standard error of the mean. St.D = standard deviation. action of NADH. From the studies with more than 800 patients with Parkinson disease, it was learned that the dopamine concentration increases in the serum after NADH treatment.20 As the short term memory as well as certain other cognitive functions of Parkinsonian patients improved simultaneously, it was tempting to use NADH with patients suffering from dementia of the Alzheimer type. In a number of our patients, it was possible to measure dopamine and noradrenaline concentration in the plasma before and after treatment with NADH. Both of th ese neurotransm itters show ed an increase after the NADH treatment period in these patients. Furthermore, measurement was made of the enzyme NADH Ubiquinone reductase (Complex I of the respiratory chain) in platelets before and after treatment with NADH. Before therapy, the values of the enzymatic activity were between 30 and 60 percent lower than that of age matched controls. After NADH treatment, the activity of Complex I increased. These preliminary findings indicate that NADH stimulates not only the endogenous biosynthesis of dopamine and noradrenaline, but also the energy production in the cells, at least in the platelets. Whether or not this positive effect on the cellular energy production is one of the molecular mechanisms by which NADH improves the dementious systems remains to be elucidated. However, it seems reasonable to assume that cells which have more energy available can perform processes more efficiently. They may also survive longer because the state of energy of the mitochondria does play a role in the life time of a cell. Cells injected with mitochondria from very young cells live longer than cells injected with mitochondria from older cells.22 For the time being, two main strategies are followed in the treatment of dementia. One approach is to increase the concentration of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, a substance which is assumed to play an important role in cognitive processes and which is reduced in certain brain areas of dementia patients. As ace 7 THERAPEUTIC APPROACH FOR IMPROVING DEMENTIA OF THE ALZHEIMER TYPE 7 tylcholine is degraded by the enzyme acetylcholinesterase, it is assumed that inhibitors of these enzymes may lead to an increase in acetylcholine concentration in the brain. All acetylcholinesterase inhibitors in therapeutic trials, such as Tacrine, follow this strategy. However, as the enzyme itself is reduced in the brain of Alzheimer patients,12 the question is whether or not a further inhibition may have a beneficial effect. As already outlined, not only acetylcholine but also other neurotransmitters, such as dopamine and noradrenaline, are considerably reduced in the brain of dementia patients. Therefore, only the inhibition of acetylcholine degradation may not be sufficient to alleviate the symptoms of dementia. A different therapeutic approach is to stabilize the membrane of nerve cells in order to prevent its breakdown and, owing to this, the degeneration of certain brain areas. This concept seems reasonable in terms of preserving certain brain regions and may stop the progression of the dementia. Substances used in that direction are the phospholipids phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylserine. Phospholipids are involved in the transport of biological information across membranes as well as in the production and release of locally acting messenger molecules.31 The concept of using NADH as an antidementia agent follows a strategy which differs from the approaches mentioned previously. The NADH seems to act in two ways. One is the stimulation of the endogenous biosynthesis of dopamine and noradrenaline.26 The other is an increase in energy production of cells in the brain and in the periphery. This effect may lead to a higher capacity in the metabolic performance. In addition, NADH can be regarded as an energy substitute. It is itself a very energy rich compound. One mol of NADH will form 3 moles of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) which is equivalent to an energy of 36 kilocalories. In order to provide the cell with additional energy, NADH has to enter the cell and the mitochondria to reach the target of its actions. Preliminary experiment with radiolabeled NADH indicates that this seems to be the case. It should be noted that NADH, known also as Coenzyme I, in its reduced form is a physiological substance which not only occurs in all cells of the human body but in all living cells whatsoever. For example, human red blood cells contain 3.5 xg/g skeletal muscles and brain tissue contain 50 jxg/g of tissue. Our patients were treated with 10 mg of NADH daily. This is only a very low percentage of the total NADH content of the body. Nevertheless, the safety of NADH should be considered with priority. In this regard, extensive toxicology studies performed at the Corning Hazelton laboratories in England before starting this clinical pilot study revealed that the maximum tolerated dosage of NADH is 500 mg/kg bodyweight per day. Dogs were treated with a intravenous dose of 500 mg/kg for 14 days. There were no deaths. Some of the treated animals were frequently subdued and had pale gums. Some of them had warm ears and dry noses. In some animals the blood pressure was lower than before dosing which indicated that at this high dose level the cardiovascular system is influenced. The dosage given to our patient is 10 mg per patient per day. With an average weight of 70 kg per patient, a dosage level of 0.14 mg NADH per kg of bodyweight is obtained, which is our therapeutic dosage. Hence, the maximum tolerated dose in dogs is a more than 7,000 times higher than the dose being given to our patients. In a further subacute toxicity study, beagle dogs received 150 mg NADH per kg bodyweight in oral form. In other words, a 10 kg heavy beagle dog received 1500 mg of the oral form of NADH or 300 tablets containing 5 mg 8 8 BIRKMAYER NADH. The results of this study showed there were no deaths. Body weight and food consumption were considered to be unaffected by the treatment with NADH. The electrocardiography traces did not show any treatment-related changes. The haematology and the clinical chemistry parameters measured were not affected by the treatment, and there were no gross or microscopic findings suggestive of toxicity in the organs or tissues examined. In a further study, rats received 1 tablet of 5 mg NADH per os every day for six months. This corresponds to 25 mg/kg bodyweight, an amount which is about 180 times higher than the therapeutic dose used in our patients. All parameter examined, such as food uptake, body weight, and laboratory parameters, were not affected by the NADH treatment. There were no microscopic findings suggestive of organ or tissue toxicity. The 17 patients evaluated in our study make up a rather low number, and no definitive conclusion may be drawn. This first trial can be regarded as a pilot study without placebo controls. Pharmacokinetic and other preclinical data are now being collected in order to fulfill the requirements for a double blind placebo controlled study in the United States. References 1. 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Acta Neurol Scand 1989;26: Birkmayer W, Birkmayer JGD, Vrecko C, Paletta B, Reschenhofer E, Ott E. Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide (NADH) as Medication for Parkinson s disease experience with 415 patients. New Trends Clin Neuropharmacol 1990;4: Birkmayer JGD, Vrecko C, Vole D, Birkmayer W. N ic o tin a m id e a d e n in e d in u c le o tid e (NADH). a new therapeutic approach to Parkinson s disease. Comparison of oral and parenteral application. Acta Neurol Scand 1993;87: Suppl. 146: Corbisier P, Remade J. Involvement of mitochondria in cell degeneration. Europ J Cell Biol 1990;51: Birkmayer W. Birkmayer JGD. Nicotinamidadenindinucleotide (NADH): The new approach in the therapy of Parkinson s disease. Ann Clin Lab Sei 1989;19: Birkmayer W, Birkmayer JDG, Vrecko C, Paletta B, Reschenhofer E, Ott E. Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) as medication for Parkinson s disease. Experience with 415 Patients. New Trends Clin Neuropharmacol 1990;4: Birkmayer W, Birkmayer JGD, Vrecko K, Paletta B. The clinical benefit of NADH as stimulator of Endogenous L-dopa biosynthesis in Parkinsonian patients. In: Streifler MB, Korczyn AD, M elam ed E, Youdim MBH, eds. Advances in Neurology. Parkinson s Disease: Anatomy, Pathology, and Therapy New York: Raven Press, 1990;53: Vrecko K, Birkmayer JGD, Krainz J. Stimulation of dopamine biosynthesis in cultured PC 12 phaeochromocytoma cells by the coenzyme nicotinamide adeninedinucleotide (NADH). J Neural Transm 1993;5: Folstein MF, Folstein SE, McHugh PR. Minimental state: a practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. J PsychiatrRes 1975;12: Reisberg B, Ferris SH, De Leon MJ, Crook T. The Global Deterioration Scale (GDS). Psychopharmacol Bull 1988;24: Reisberg B, Ferris SH, Kluger A, Franssen E, De Leon MJ, M ittelm an M, B orenstein J, Rameshwar K, ALBA?. Symptomatic changes in CNS aging and dementia of the Alzheimer Type: cross-sectional, temporal, and remediable goncomitants. In: Bergener?, Reisberg B, eds. D iagnosis and T reatm ent of S enile Dementia. Berlin, Springer-Verlag, 1989: Reisberg B, Ferris SH, De Leon MJ. Senile dementia of the Alzheimer type: diagnostic and differential diagnostic features with special reference to functional assessment staging. In: Traber J, GISPEN WH, eds. Senile dementia of the Alzheimer type, vol. 2. Berlin, Springer- Verlag, 1985;2: Samson JC. The biological basis of phosphatidylserine pharmacology. Clin Trials J 1987;24: 1-8. Continuing to make America great HuffPo about the campaign of one of the GOP sociopaths running for Tom Price's abandoned seat in the Atlanta suburbs, Karen Handel. Handel, best known as an unhinged anti-Choice fanatic sent out a fundraising e-mail promising "to build a wall on the border and end Muslim immigration." David Perdue, another Georgia racist and vicious modern day Know Nothing--joined by Arkansas' bigoted kook Tom Cotton-- have let the GOP anti-immigrant mask slip by authoring a bill to The dark strain of American Know Nothing hatred towards immigrants is hardly new. German, Irish , Chinese, Jewish, Italian, Polish, Japanese families... have all felt its ugly sting-- and their progeny have then gone on to inflict it on those who came after them. So horrible! Saturday there was a report by Sam Levine inabout the campaign of one of the GOP sociopaths running for Tom Price's abandoned seat in the Atlanta suburbs, Karen Handel. Handel, best known as an unhinged anti-Choice fanatic sent out a fundraising e-mail promising "to build a wall on the border and end Muslim immigration." David Perdue, another Georgia racist and vicious modern day Know Nothing--joined by Arkansas' bigoted kook Tom Cotton-- have let the GOP anti-immigrant mask slip by authoring a bill to drastically cut back on legal immigration . Perdue, Cotton, Handel have long ugly records as racists and hate mongers and there are plenty of "conservatives" who buy their vitriol. Did you notice the chart up top? I hope so. And a report last week from ABC News reinforced it by explaining the disaster the U.S. economy would become without immigrants "If all immigrants were just to disappear from the U.S. workforce tomorrow, that would have a tremendous negative impact on the economy," said Daniel Costa, the director of immigration law and policy research at the Economic Policy Institute, an economic research think tank based in Washington, D.C. "Immigrants are overrepresented in a lot of occupations in both low- and high-skilled jobs," he explained. "You'd feel an impact and loss in many, many different occupations and industries, from construction and landscape to finance and IT." Though some U.S.-born workers could fill some of those jobs, large gaps in several sectors would remain and cause a decline in the economy, Costa said. Immigrants earned $1.3 trillion and contributed $105 billion in state and local taxes and nearly $224 billion in federal taxes in 2014, according to the Partnership for a New American Economy, based on an analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau's latest American Community Survey. The partnership is a group of 500 Republican, Democratic and independent mayors and business leaders who support immigration reforms that create jobs for Americans, according to its site. In 2014 immigrants had almost $927 billion in consumer spending power, an analysis of the survey showed. "Immigrants are a very vital part of what makes the U.S. economy work," said Jeremy Robbins, the executive director of the Partnership for a New American Economy. "They help drive every single sector and industry in this economy." He added that without immigrants, there would be fewer businesses and inventions. "If you look at the great companies driving the U.S. as an innovation hub, you'll see that a lot of companies were started by immigrants or the child of immigrants, like Apple and Google," he said. Apple was co-founded by Steve Jobs, whose biological father was a Syrian refugee, and Google (now Alphabet) was co-founded by Sergey Brin, who was born in Moscow. Though immigrants make up about 13 percent of the U.S. population, they contribute nearly 15 percent of the country's economic output, according to a 2014 report from the Economic Policy Institute. The report contains the institute's latest data on immigration and the U.S. economy. "Immigrants have an outsized role in U.S. economic output because they are disproportionately likely to be working and are concentrated among prime working ages," the EPI report says. "Moreover, many immigrants are business owners. In fact, the share of immigrant workers who own small businesses is slightly higher than the comparable share among U.S.-born workers." David Kallick, the director of the Immigration Research Initiative at the Fiscal Policy Institute, said Americans should not be fearful that immigrants are stealing jobs from them. "It may seem surprising, but study after study has shown that immigration actually improves wages to U.S.-born workers and provides more job opportunities for U.S.-born workers," he told ABC News. "The fact is that immigrants often push U.S.-born workers up in the labor market rather than out of it. "Kallick added that studies he has done found that "where there's economic growth, there's immigration, and where there's not much economic growth, there's not much immigration." According to Meg Wiehe, the director of programs for the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, "Undocumented immigrants contributed more than $11.6 billion in state and local taxes each year. And if the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants here were given a pathway to citizenship or legal residential status, those tax contributions could rise by nearly $2 billion." Despite their status, unauthorized immigrants still contribute "so much in taxes" because they, just like U.S. citizens, have to pay property taxes for their homes or apartments they own or rent, and they also often pay sales taxes for purchases they make, Wiehe explained. "Researchers have also found that the vast majority of unauthorized immigrants also pay income tax using something called an I-10 income tax return form," she said. Wiehe added that it is "critical to remember that we are talking about real people here-- mothers, fathers and families who are contributing to our society through their work and the taxes they're paying." This ugly strain in the American psyche pre-dated Trumpism, of course, but Trump certainly incorporates it as part of his morbid appeal to the worst among us, part of what the NY Times editorial board referred to over the weekend as his regime's "malevolent incompetence." Trump is having a very negative impact on the mental health of Americans. People, wrote the Times editors "lie awake, thinking about losing their families, jobs and homes. They have been vilified by the president as criminals, though they are not. They have tried to build honest lives here and suddenly are as fearful as fugitives. They await the fists pounding on the door, the agents in black, the cuffs, the van ride, the cell. They are terrified that the United States government will find them, or their parents or their children, demand their papers, and take them away." About 11 million people are living in this country outside the law. Suddenly, by presidential decree, all are deportation priorities, all are supposed criminals, all are threatened with broken lives, along with members of their families. The end could come for them any time. This is not an abstract or fanciful depiction. It is not fake news. Its the United States of today, this month, this morning. In El Paso, a woman is picked up at a courthouse where she had been seeking an order of protection; immigration agents were apparently tipped off by the man she said abused her. Near Seattle, a 23-year-old man who was protected from deportation and allowed to work lawfully under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is picked up anyway, accused of being a gang member. He furiously denies this, and his lawyer presents paperwork suggesting that agents altered his words to falsely implicate him. Another DACA recipient, Daniela Vargas of Jackson, Miss., barricades herself in her home after agents detain her father and brother. A mother of four, Jeanette Vizguerra, seeks refuge, alone, in a Denver church basement. A group of Latino men leaving a church-run homeless shelter in Alexandria, Va., are surrounded by a dozen immigration agents who question them, scan their fingerprints and arrest at least two of them. President Trumps defenders say the arrest numbers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement are comparable to those under President Barack Obama, an energetic deporter-in-chief. That may be true, for the moment, but the context is vastly different. Mr. Trumps campaign pledges, his flurry of immigration-related executive orders, including his ban on certain travelers from Muslim countries, have a common thread. They reflect his abandonment of discretion, of common sense, his rejection of sound law-enforcement priorities that stress public safety and respect for the Constitution. They prioritize fear instead. ICE and the Border Patrol under Mr. Obama were ordered to focus on arresting serious criminals and national-security risks. Mr. Trump has removed those restraints in the name of bolstering his deportation force. He wants to triple the number of ICE agents. He wants to revive federal agreements to deputize state and local police officers as immigration officers. He wants to increase the number of detention beds and spur the boom in private prisons. This vision is the one Donald Trump began outlining at the start of his campaign, when he slandered an entire country, Mexico, as an exporter of rapists and drug criminals, and an entire faith, Islam, as a global nest of murderers. This is the currency of the Trump aides Stephen Bannon and Stephen Miller, who have brought the world of the alt-right, with its white nationalist strain, into the White House. Where could the demonizing and dehumanizing of the foreign born lead but to a whiter America? You have heard the lies from Mr. Trump: that immigrants pose a threat, when they are a boon. That murders are up, when they are down. That refugees flow unimpeded into the country, when they are the most meticulously vetted people to cross our borders. That immigrants and refugees are terrorists, when they are the ones being terrorized. For those who would resist the administration, there is much to do, and not a lot of time. Congress is not a check. Democrats there are outnumbered, speaking out but waging symbolic resistance for now. Republicans are mostly split between avoiding the subject and cheering on Mr. Trump. States and cities are freer to act. Many recognize the dangerously anti-American mood and are striving to protect their immigrant populations. They are refusing to allow their police officers to join deportation dragnets, and are readying legal representation and other aid for immigrants. The Trump administration falsely calls these places sanctuary city lawbreakers and threatens to withhold federal funding as punishment. Its not yet clear what actions the administration can take, or who will win the legal battles that are bound to ensue. And anti-sanctuary, anti-immigrant, anti-refugee sentiment is hardly confined to the federal executive branch. Governors and legislatures in red states will be blocking money to blue, pro-immigrant cities, rolling back in-state tuition and other immigrant-friendly policies, and jumping onto Mr. Trumps all-out-enforcement bandwagon. This battle has many fronts. The other best lever available, besides the courts and the Constitution, is people power. Protesting and public actions will embolden others to join in, and hearten the vulnerable. If senators and representatives cant show courage, then churches, universities, schools, philanthropies, health systems, corporations, farmers and artists can. The days of protests at airports over the Muslim ban were a magnificent surprise, a spontaneous uprising of Americans who said: This is not who we are. Think of the power in that. Think of the message sent if the day without immigrants , in which foreign-born workers stayed home, became a week or a month. NY Times asserted that "What America has seen so far is Friday, the editorial board of theasserted that "What America has seen so far is an inept White House led by a celebrity apprentice ", pointing out that Senor Trumpanzee "did not inherit 'a mess' from Barack Obama, as he likes to say, but a nation recovered from recession and with strong alliances abroad. Mr. Trump is well on his way to creating a mess of his own, weakening national security and even risking the delivery of basic government services. Most of the top thousand jobs in the administration remain vacant. Career public servants are clashing with inexperienced 'beachhead' teams appointed by the White House to run federal agencies until permanent staff members arrive." That same night, filmmaker Jon Favreau tweeted that he doesn't get angry at Trump when he sees these tweets; "I get angry at Republicans in Congress. Their cowardice is why we're dealing with this." I think there are a lot of people-- an increasing number of people-- feeling that way across the country. Trump isn't up for reelection until 2020-- if he makes it that long-- but Paul Ryan and every single member of the House will face the voters in 2018. Right now there are 5 special elections for open House seats coming up-- starting in about 2 months-- in Los Angeles Montana, South Carolina, Kansas and the suburbs north of Atlanta . These will be opportunities for American voters to send a message. Trump did worse than Romney in 3 and slightly better than Romney in two. CA-34- Romney- 14.1%, Trump- 10.7% GA-06- Romney- 60.8%, Trump- 48.3% KS-04- Romney- 61.6%, Trump- 60.2% MT-AL- Romney- 55.4%, Trump- 56.5% SC-05- Romney- 55.1%, Trump- 57.3% The potential for the biggest headlines would come from the race in GA-06-- to replace the new Medicare slashing Health Secretary, Tom Price-- a district which Trump barely managed to keep red and where Democrat Jon Ossoff could well displace whichever Republican manages to make it into the June 20th runoff after the April 18th jungle primary. The GOP establishment is praying for ex-state Sen Judson Hill but may get stuck with anti-Choice kook and controversial ex-Secretary of State Karen Handel or one of the two unhinged Trumpists, businessman Bruce LeVell or Johns Creek ex-Councilman Bob Gray. (Price's wife, state Rep. Betty Price, dropped out at the last minute.) are ready though, Trump's approval rating Or, perhaps, Trump and his cohorts in Congress haven't gone far enough yet, haven't convinced enough voters-- including Republican votes, who, after all, dominate 4 of the 5 districts-- that a loud, ringing message is necessary or even desirable. (Polls indicate most Americansready though, Trump's approval rating sinking by the day NationalMemo, noted that the relationship between Trump and GOP leaders in Congress started as Yesterday Lisa Mascaro, in an article picked up by, noted that the relationship between Trump and GOP leaders in Congress started as a marriage of convenience , "thrown together by necessity and sustained on the promise of pushing a Republican agenda into law." Ryan and McConnell "tolerated Trump's turbulent debut because they agreed with the direction the White House was heading-- or were confident they could nudge it in the desired one... But the newfound partnership is showing signs of serious strain. Growing discomfort about the Trump team's ties to Russia, daily dramas at the White House and the increasing unrest at town hall meetings with constituents back home have prompted many in Congress to express second thoughts about the alliance." Mark Sanford (R-SC) went out of his way to savage Trump and separate himself from the White House sociopath the day before and the day after he visited Sanford's district in Charleston, a city (and county) Trump lost in both the primary and against Hillary. As the first 100 days tick away, and rank-and-file Republicans head home for a weeklong recess, there is a growing worry that Congress will face a drip-drip-drip of new revelations about the Trump White House that will overshadow the rest of the Republican agenda, such as repealing Obamacare, enacting tax reform and cutting government spending. "That's what the fear is," said one Republican senator, granted anonymity to frankly discuss the outlook. "It's not a good situation. You can't let this go and not look at it." ...One former GOP leadership aide said "there's not a single Republican anywhere" who's not stunned by some of Trump's comments. But they focus instead on the GOP priorities they see taking shape, he said. "In the end, we're still talking about tax reform, Supreme Court-- all the stuff is getting done," the aide said. "Most of the stuff is sort of within the lines of what Republicans want anyway. People by and large think progress has been made." Trump has already started signing into law bills sent by Congress to roll back President Barack Obama's regulatory clampdown on coal pollution and overseas corporate bribes. More are on the way to his desk. Republicans have put their trust in Vice President Mike Pence, the Cabinet secretaries and a legislative team culled from the halls of Congress-- even though it is unclear how much sway those voices ultimately have with the occupant of the Oval Office. And areas of significant disagreement with Trump lie ahead, such as his $1-trillion infrastructure plan, having Congress pony up funds for the border wall with Mexico, and a massive military buildup. But the questions about Russia are threatening to overshadow Republican goals. Emboldened Democrats are calling for independent inquiries into alleged contacts between Trump's campaign team and Russian intelligence officials, and demanding the release of a transcript of a wiretapped conversation between Flynn and a Russian diplomat. The Republican leadership has tried to contain the congressional investigations to the House and Senate intelligence committees, where hearings are often conducted in secret because of the classified nature. ...But a growing number of top Republicans, including Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, are calling for a deeper and more transparent dive into Russia's role in the November election. That could take weeks, or more likely months. "What the hell went on? That's what's on my mind," McCain said. "We know they tried to affect the outcome of the election... Now we've got all these other issues." And, with lack of cohesive-- let alone coherent-- leadership from the White House, naturally-fractious House Republicans from the party's various wings have been fighting each other. One top-ranking Republican staffer told me that "the only thing everyone agrees on is dismantling Dodd-Frank... The rest is completely up in the air and the parameters shift with every one of his early morning tweet storms." Sail Kapur, reporting this week for Bloomberg, pointed out that "some conservative House Republicans are objecting to a major part of the Obamacare replacement outline presented to them by party leaders, underscoring the partys continuing inability to agree on an alternative health plan." The proposal would allow Americans who lack insurance to buy coverage with refundable tax credits they can receive before the end of a tax year. House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady said he and other leaders presented the idea during Thursdays private conference of the House GOP. Some conservatives say they oppose the idea because it could amount to a new government subsidy by allowing people to receive a larger credit than they pay in taxes. They prefer a mechanism that would preclude people from getting any more money than they paid in taxes. "I dont like the refundable tax credit," says Representative Ted Yoho of Florida. "I dont want people getting money back." "This is Obamacare light," Yoho said, adding that he told Brady about his views. Representative Trent Franks of Arizona said tax credits "should be predicated on those taxes paid in, not a refundable tax credit, because it can so easily become a major and unstoppable entitlement." The dispute over tax credits is one of many issues facing Republican leaders as they seek agreement on how to fulfill their promise to repeal and replace Obamacare. Also discussed Thursday were a proposal to cap the tax break for employer-provided health insurance, and efforts to restructure Medicaid. Republicans are set to face their constituents during a week-long congressional recess next week. Saturday, Tom Reed's town halls in Ashville and Cherry Creek, New York-- he was way too scared to accept an invitation from Mayor Svante Myrick to hold one in Ithaca, the biggest city in NY-23-- drew large raucous crowds. When Reed tried selling the crowds on Ryan's health care replacement (bogus health savings accounts) people were furious and started yelling "We want your health care! We want your health care!" Reed was also peppered with uncomfortable questions about Trump's embrace of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and about Trump's failure to pay income taxes-- Reed was sounded boo-ed for voting in committee against a proposal that would have forced Trump to release his tax returns-- and the crowd wound up chanting "What are you covering up?" When Reed tried to avoid fighting about Putin, he pivoted back to Medicare, that had his constituents yelling at him that they like it the way it is and weren't going to accept Ryan's tax credits and voucher bullshit instead of actual health care. People in Cherry Creek, where he held his second town hall of the day, were shouting that rather than repeal Obamacare, Congress should turn it into a single-payer system (as Bernie Sanders has been advocating). In 2012, the DCCC viciously sabotaged progressive Democrat Nate Shinagawa when he ran against Reed. Because of DCCC hostility Reed managed to eke out a 52-48% win and never faced a serious competitor again. In the 2018 cycle it will be the responsibility of Joe Kennedy III, the new DCCC vice-chair for the region to make sure a progressive like Shinagawa is the recruit and that he gets support, not shade. Next door in Syracuse-based NY-24, where, once again DCCC incompetence and a craving for an inoffensive, unelectable Republican-lite crap-candidate-- and fear and loathing for the Berniecrat-- resulted in the inevitable, reelection of John Katko in a solidly blue district Obama won with 57% and even Hillary managed to win against Trump 48.9% to 45.3%. Katko announced Friday that he wont attend any town hall meetings with his constituents and wont let outside groups "hijack service to my district or disrupt meaningful engagement with my constituents." If Joe Kennedy recruits a real Democrat and not another vapid New Dem or Blue Dog, Katko will be wiped off the face of the political map in 2018, along with Reed. NY Times also noted Thealso noted how angry grassroots constituents are at Republican members of Congress right now. Regardless of what fools like Katko try to say "national organizers concede they are playing catch-up to a 'dam-bursting level' of grass-roots activism that has bubbled up from street protests and the small groups that have swelled into crowds outside local congressional offices." Several Republicans, including Mr. Trump, have dismissed the pro-health care act crowds as paid protesters, not constituents. Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, without offering evidence, called the protests a very paid, AstroTurf-type movement, unlike the Tea Party demonstrations against the drafting of the health care law in 2009, which he characterized as very organic. In fact, some of the most formidable and well-established organizing groups on the left have found themselves scrambling to track all of the local groups sprouting up through social media channels like Facebook and Slack, or in local huddles that grew out of the womens marches across the country the day after the inauguration. ...The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is keeping track of Republican lawmakers who do not hold town-hall-style meetings. Some events have been canceled, and Representative Tom MacArthur of New Jersey said he had done so because the meetings have been hijacked by groups hostile to Mr. Trump. The committee plans to run internet ads trying to shame lawmakers for not facing their constituents in public since voting last month on a procedural motion aimed at repealing the health law. Some of the most creative activity is coming from people who are new to political activism. In Plymouth, Minn., Kelly Guncheon, a financial planner who described himself as an independent, has organized a With Him or Without Him meeting for Representative Erik Paulsen, a Republican who has not scheduled any of his own. A volunteer offered to make 400 cupcakes decorated with a Wheres Waldo? picture of Mr. Paulsens face, and Mr. Guncheon said he planned to project onto screens legislation that Mr. Paulsen had supported. Participants will be asked to write down questions, which will be delivered, along with a recording of the event, to Mr. Paulsens congressional office after the recess. Mr. Guncheon, like other new activists, said he was not looking to traditional political groups for guidance. In this new culture, this new era, we have to figure out new ways to do things, he said. Theres certainly no leadership at the head of the Democratic Party, or the state party. Not that Im a Democrat anyway, but that seems to be the opposition party. Other new groups organizing on Facebook have arranged similar events, calling them no-show or empty-chair meetings, for Senators Cory Gardner of Colorado and Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania, as well as for Republican lawmakers from California, New Jersey and New York. In response to Mr. Gardners complaints that the people showing up at his office to request town-hall-style meetings were paid protesters from other states, one group showed up at his office with a banner on which members had written their Colorado ZIP codes. Crackpot wing nut Dana Rohrabacher-- whose Orange County district Trump lost to Hillary-- claimed that constituents asking for town hall meetings are "enemies" of democracy and political "thugs." He's literally talking about the voters in Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley, Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Laguna Niguel and Aliso Viejo. He's one of scores of aloof, unaccountable Republican congressmembers hiding from their own voters (unlike less dishonest Members like Justin Amash and Jim Sensenbrenner who have scheduled and gone to numerous town halls). Among the shadiest and most dismissive congressmembers have been Peter Roskam (R-IL), Chris Collins (R-NY), Darrell Issa (R-CA), Lamar Smith (R-TX), Ed Royce (R-CA), Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ), Roger Williams (R-TX), Paul Cook (R-CA), Lee Zeldin (R-NY), Mike McCaul (R-TX), Bill Flores (R-TX), Steve Knight (R-CA), Devin Nunes (R-CA), Duncan Hunter (R-CA), David Valadao (R-CA) and Rodney Davis (R-IL). Times column this weekend dealt with Nick Kristoffcolumn this weekend dealt with how to get rid of Trump and his Nazi regime before they do some existential damage to America. "[F]or now," he wrote, "its hard to imagine a majority of the House voting to impeach, and even less conceivable that two-thirds of the Senate would vote to convict so that Trump would be removed. Moreover, impeachment and trial in the Senate would drag on for months, paralyzing America and leaving Trump in office with his finger on the nuclear trigger... [I]tll be up to Republicans to decide whether to force Trump out. And that wont happen unless they see him as ruining their party as well as the nation." The only incentive for Republicans to act-- with or without the cabinet-- is the same incentive Republicans had in 1974 to insist on Nixons resignation, Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia told me. The incentive is survival. Trump does have one weakness, and its parallel to Nixons. Republicans in Congress were willing to oust Nixon partly because they vastly preferred his vice president, Gerald Ford-- just as congressional Republicans prefer Mike Pence today. If I were betting, Id say were stuck with Trump for four years. But as Sabato says: Lots of things about Donald Trumps election and early presidency have been shocking. Why should it stop now? And what does it say about a presidency that, just one month into it, were already discussing whether it can be ended early? Wednesday there'll be a big rally in front of Paul Ryan's house in Janesville, Wisconsin, since he adamantly refuses to meet with his constituents. They'll meet at Parker Park at the corner of Harrison Street and East Court Street (53545) at 10:30 AM. The following companies are subsidiares of Ecolab: AO Ecolab, Abednego Environmental Services, Abednego Environmental Services LLC, Abednego Mexico Holdings LLC, Abednego de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Alcide Corp., Anios America S.A., Anios Diffusion SAS, Anios Manufacturing SAS, Aqua Environmental Limited, Bioquell, Bioquell Asia Pacific Pte. 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Ltd., Ecolab Pty Ltd., Ecolab Quimica Ltda., Ecolab S. de R.L. de C.V., Ecolab S.A., Ecolab S.A. de C.V., Ecolab SAS, Ecolab SIA, Ecolab SNC, Ecolab SRL, Ecolab Sdn Bhd, Ecolab Services Argentina S.R.L., Ecolab Services Malaysia SDN. BHD., Ecolab Services Poland Sp. z o, Ecolab Sociedad Anonima, Ecolab Sp. z o, Ecolab Spain Services S.L.U., Ecolab Temizleme Sistemleri Limited Sirketi, Ecolab U.S. 2 Inc., Ecolab U.S. 6 LLC, Ecolab U.S. 7 LLC, Ecolab US 1 GP, Ecolab USA Inc., Ecolab Viet Nam Company Limited, Ecolab Water Holding LImited, Ecolab a.s., Ecolab d.o.o., Ecolab s.r.l., Ecolab s.r.o., Ecolab y Compania Colectiva de Responsabilidad Limitada, Ecolab-Importacao E. Exportacao Limitada, Ecolabone B.V., Ecolabtwo B.V., Endoclear Equipamentos Medicos Hospitalares Ltda., Enviroflo Engineering Limited, Food Protection Services, GCS Service, Gallay Medical & Scientific Pty Ltd, Gallay Medical & Scientific Pty Ltd., GallayTrac Pty. Ltd., Georgia-Pacific - Paper Chemicals Business, Gibson Chemical Industries, Green Harbour Mainland Holdings Ltd, Henkel-Ecolab, Hicopla SL, Holchem Laboratories, Huntington Laboratories, Hydenet SAS, INTERNATIONAL WATER CONSULTANT B.V., Immobiliare R.E.O.P.A. SRL, Instrunet Hospital SLU, Jianghai Environmental Protection Co., Jianghai Environmental Protection Co. Ltd., KATAYAMA NALCO INC., Kay BV, Kay Chemical Company, LHS (UK) Limited, Laboratoires Anios, Laboratoires Anios S.A.S., Laboratoires Anios-Distribution SAS, Les Produits Chimiques ERPAC Inc., Lobster Ink, Lobster Ink Africa (Pty.) Ltd., Lobster International S.A., MOBOTEC AB LLC, Master Chemicals OOO, Meratech Rus Group LLC, Microtek Dominicana S.A., Microtek Italy S.R.L., Microtek Medical B.V., Microtek Medical Holdings, Microtek Medical Holdings Inc., Microtek Medical Inc., Microtek Medical Malta Holding Limited, Microtek Medical Malta Limited, Midland Research Laboratories, NALCO (SHANGHAI) TRADING CO. LTD., NALCO AB, NALCO ACQUISITION ONE, NALCO ACQUISITION TWO LIMITED, NALCO AFRICA (PTY.) LTD., NALCO ASIA HOLDING COMPANY PTE. LTD., NALCO BELGIUM B.V., NALCO CHINA HOLDINGS LLC, NALCO COMPANY OOO, NALCO DANMARK APS, NALCO DE MEXICO S. de R. L. de C.V., NALCO DELAWARE COMPANY, NALCO DEUTSCHLAND GMBH, NALCO DUTCH HOLDINGS B.V., NALCO EGYPT LTD., NALCO EGYPT TRADING, NALCO ESPANOLA MANUFACTURING S.L.U., NALCO ESPANOLA S.L., NALCO EUROPE B.V., NALCO FINLAND MANUFACTURING OY, NALCO FINLAND OY, NALCO FRANCE SAS, NALCO FRANCE SNC, NALCO GLOBAL HOLDINGS B.V., NALCO GLOBAL HOLDINGS LLC, NALCO HOLDING B.V., NALCO HOLDING COMPANY, NALCO HOLDINGS G.m.b.H., NALCO HOLDINGS UK LIMITED, NALCO HONG KONG LIMITED, NALCO INDUSTRIAL OUTSOURCING COMPANY, NALCO INDUSTRIAL SERVICES (NANJING) CO. LTD., NALCO INDUSTRIAL SERVICES (SUZHOU) CO. LTD., NALCO INDUSTRIAL SERVICES (THAILAND) CO. LTD., NALCO INDUSTRIAL SERVICES CHILE LIMITADA, NALCO INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS B.V., NALCO INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS LLC, NALCO INVESTMENTS U.K. LIMITED, NALCO ISRAEL INDUSTRIAL SERVICES LTD, NALCO ITALIANA HOLDINGS S.R.L., NALCO ITALIANA MANUFACTURING S.R.L., NALCO ITALIANA SrL, NALCO KOREA LIMITED, NALCO LIMITED, NALCO MANUFACTURING BETEILIGUNGS GMBH, NALCO MANUFACTURING LTD., NALCO NETHERLANDS B.V., NALCO OSTERREICH Ges m.b.H., NALCO OVERSEAS HOLDING B.V., NALCO PAKISTAN (PRIVATE) LIMITED, NALCO PHILIPPINES INC., NALCO PORTUGUESA (QUIMICA INDUSTRIAL) UNIPESSOAL LDA, NALCO PWS INC., NALCO SAUDI CO. LTD., NALCO TAIWAN CO. LTD., NALCO TWO INC., NALCO U.S. HOLDINGS LLC, NALCO UNIVERSAL HOLDINGS BV, NALCO WORLDWIDE HOLDINGS LLC, NALTECH INC., NANOSPECIALTIES LLC, NLC PROCESS AND WATER SERVICES SARL, Nalco (BN) SDN BHD, Nalco (China) Environmental Solution Co. Ltd., Nalco Anadolu Kimya Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Nalco Canada ULC, Nalco Company LLC (1), Nalco Contract Operations LLC, Nalco Deutschland Manufacturing GmbH, Nalco Japan G.K., Nalco Libya, Nalco Middle East FZE, Nalco Polska Sp. z o. o., Nalco Production LLC, Nalco Real Estate GmbH, Nalco Schweiz GmbH, Nalco US 1 LLC, Nalco Wastewater Contract Operations Inc., Nalco Water India Private Limited, Nalco Water Pretreatment Solutions LLC, Nalco Worldwide Holdings S.a.r.l./B.V., National Wiper Alliance Inc., Nigiko, Nuova Farmec S.r.l., Oksa Kimya Sanayi A.S., Oy Ecolab AB, PT Ecolab International Indonesia, PT Ecolab Technologies and Services, Purate business - AkzoNobel, Purolite, Purolite (China) Co. Ltd., Purolite (Int.) Ltd, Purolite (Pty) Ltd, Purolite AG, Purolite GmbH, Purolite Ileri Kimyasal Ticaret Ltd, Purolite KK, Purolite LLC, Purolite Ltd, Purolite NZ Limited, Purolite Private Limited, Purolite Pte. Ltd., Purolite Pty Ltd, Purolite S. de R.L. de C.V., Purolite SAS, Purolite SRL, Purolite do Brasil Ltda, Purolite s.r.o., Purolite sp. z o.o., Purolite C Corporation, QazSorbent LLP, Quantum Technical Services LLC, Quimicas Ecolab S.A. de C.V., Quimiproductos S.A. de C.V, RP Adam Ltd, Research Fumigation Co., Royal Pest Solutions, Shield Holdings Limited, Shield Medicare Limited, Soluscope International Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Soluscope SAS, Swisher Hygiene, TechTex Holdings Limited, Technical Textile Services Limited, Terminix, Ultrafab, VanBaele Hygiene AG, Wabasha Leasing LLC, Zhe Jiang Purosoft Home Appliances Sale Co Ltd, and vanBaerle Hygiene AG. Read More Ag Growth International Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and distributes grain and rice handling, storage, and conditioning equipment in Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company offers storage equipment comprising grain and bolted bins, hopper bins, smooth wall bins, temporary storage equipment, unloads and sweeps, water tanks, fuel tanks; and conditioning equipment, such as mixed flow dryers, fans and heaters, aerations, airaugers, aeration floors, vents and exhausters, stirrings, and accessories. It also provides portable handling equipment, such as portable augers, conveyors, grain vacs, post pounders, seed treaters, and accessories; and permanent handling equipment, including bucket elevators, chain and belt conveyors, enclosed belt conveyors, distributors, feed handling equipment, screw feeders and conveyors, and spouts and connections. In addition, the company offers towers, catwalks, ladders, all-steel buildings, flat storage buildings; batch blenders, bulk scales, declining weight blenders, vertical blenders, micro-dosing systems, mixers, milling equipment; and controllers, hazard monitoring equipment, monitoring and automation equipment, sampling solutions. Further, it provides cleaning and destoners, rice milling and processing equipment, bin unloads, blending and control systems, Liquid and dry fertilizer blending and conveying equipment, turnkey design and build construction solutions for seed and fertilizer facilities, and farm management software. The company markets its products under the AGI, Airlanco, Batco, Brownie, CMC, Compass, Danmare, Ezee-dry, Frame, Grain Guard, Grainmaxx, Hi Roller, Hutchinson, Improtech, Junge, Keho, Mayrath, Milltec, MMS, Neco, PTM, REM, Sabe, Sentinel, Storm, Suretrack, Tramco, Twister, Westeel, Westfield, Wheatheart, and Yargus brand names. It provides its equipment for agricultural commodities. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Winnipeg, Canada. Today is Presidents Day in the United States, when Americans pause to honor their national leaders, beginning with the first president, George Washington. From the time of his death in 1799, his birthday, February 22, was marked unofficially. It formally became a national holiday in 1885. Over time, Americans also began honoring another great leader, Abraham Lincoln, whose February 12 birthday falls near Washington's. Official recognition of the two began in 1971, with a day honoring all presidents every year on the third Monday of the month. Washington won lasting fame for leading Americans to victory in the war for independence from Britain. His popularity was such that he could have made himself a king if he'd so chosen. Some of the officers in his army, impatient with the democratic process, urged him to do just that. "Banish these thoughts from your mind," Washington said, and issued a stern reprimand to those who made the suggestion. He ordered the army disbanded, resigned his commission as commander-in-chief and retired to private life. At the time, America was a loose confederation of thirteen states. Over the next six years, Americans struggled to devise an effective federal government, but one that left important powers to the states. Many Americans distrusted the idea of a central government and feared abuses of power by federal officials, especially the president. At this critical time, Washington was the one person who most Americans were willing to trust. He was the unopposed choice to be the nations first president. When he took office, the United States had a constitution, but its government was not yet organized. When he stepped down, the U.S. was recognized by the world's major powers. Washington put the nation on a sound financial footing and created an effective military to protect America's expanding frontiers. In revolutionary France, democratic ideals gave way to turmoil, terror and repression. But in the United States, under Washington's leadership, revolution produced stable, democratic, and lawful government. By leaving office voluntarily after two four-year terms, he set an important precedent for all future presidents. He also oversaw a peaceful transfer of power from one elected leader to another, a principle vital to democracy and an example for peoples around the world. On Sunday, President Donald Trump, in what can be described in an unusually measured and subdued tweet, pushed back against the false claims he made up a terrorist attack in Sweden. The president used his twitter account to clarify that he had not been referencing an actual attack but a segment on Fox News. Get Warning: Undefined variable $CompanyName in /home/acctdp/public_html/wp-content/themes/responsalambre/single.php on line 65 alerts: Through Twitter the president said that his statement of what is happening in Sweden had been in reference to a report that Fox News broadcast concerning Sweden and immigrants. The tweet lacked Trumps usual characterizations, denunciations and above all exclamation marks. During a speech in Florida, Trump appeared as if he referenced a Friday interview that Tucker Carlson held with a filmmaker of documentaries who claimed the rising rape and gun violence in Sweden had correlated with it allowing in over 100,000 refugees. That segment had been illustrated through the use of video of a fire and broken windows and said that just 600 of the migrants found jobs in the country. A spokesperson for the White House said on Sunday that Trump had been talking about increased crime and incidents in general that had happened recently not one specific incident. Trump had been discussing the travel ban he implemented and refugees at the rally in Florida on Saturday when he had said the U.S. had to keep its country safe. He referred to what was happening in Germany and what happened the night before in Sweden. Media outlets quickly called his Sweden remark a gaffe, by writing that Trump appeared to have made up a story of a terror attack in Sweden. That comment caused a huge reaction on social media with hundreds of different tweets and one newspaper publishing a number of events that took place Friday that appeared not to have any connection to any activity that was terror-like. Former Foreign Minister of Sweden Carl Bildt in a tweet asked what the president of the U.S. had been smoking. A strategist with the GOP said the incident reflected the unhealthy relationship that Trump has with the media The strategist said the situation will be happening more often as the media looks for Trump to say something wrong and he looks for them to report something wrong. Sweden has had a reputation for years for welcoming migrants and refugees and had a new record of 163,000 applications for asylum during 2015. The country since then has cut back how many it accepts annually. The United States Constitution, the Law of the Land since its ratification in 1789, established a national government, provided a structure for the relationship between the central government and the states, and limited the governments power by instituting a separation of powers, as well as a system of checks and balances. The framers of the constitution also made provisions that allowed for it to be changed, or amended, to reflect changes within society itself. To protect individual rightsand guarantee ratification of the Constitutionten amendments were added to the document before it was even ratified. These are collectively named the Bill of Rights. Of these, the first amendment may arguably be the most important. It stipulates that every citizen has the right to practice his or her own religion without government interference. That they have the right to express their own opinion without fear of government suppression or reprisal. That citizens may assemble in a group without government interference. That they may protest unfair treatment by the government, and then petition to address those injustices. And that the press is free to write about controversial topics without the threat of government censorship. The first clause of the first amendment is meant to promote religious freedom by prohibiting the government from imposing a national religion. But it also means that no religious sect may use the government or its assets at any level to promote itself, or to force its tenets on those who do not observe that particular set of beliefs. The freedom to speak or publish ones opinion prevents government censorship. But it also puts the onus of responsibility for ones actions on the individual. This means that if one spreads malicious lies or incites violence, he or she will be held responsible for the consequences. Likewise, the right to assembly does not mean one is free to riot. The first amendment prevents the government from limiting the freedom of expression, and therefore the freedom of thought and the dissemination of ideas. It is indeed the law that guarantees individual freedom. In the words of mid- 20th century Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us." The two remaining ABC officers being sued by University of Virginia graduate Martese Johnson are asking a federal court to order Johnsons compliance in turning over documents and answering their questions. Its been two months since a court ruled that the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control and one of its agents should be removed from the lawsuit filed by Johnson, the man bloodied in a controversial arrest by three enforcement agents in March 2015. The two agents still embroiled in the lawsuit allege that Johnsons counsel has not been forthcoming with documents relevant to the case. A 20-year-old, third-year UVa student at the time of his arrest, Johnson was apprehended by the agents after being turned away from a Corner bar by a bouncer nearly two years ago. The interaction quickly escalated, and resulted in Johnson being taken to the ground, arrested and charged with public intoxication and obstruction of justice. Photos of the arrest, depicting Johnson on the ground with a bloodied face and the agents over top of him, quickly circulated online, drawing calls of police brutality and discrimination, as Johnson is black and the officers are white. A passerby also captured video of the incident, which showed Johnson calling the officers racist and shouting that he was a student at UVa. The incident incited protests and calls for reform of the ABC, and prosecutors eventually dropped Johnsons charges. Then in October 2015, Johnson filed a $3 million suit against the agents, the ABC and its law enforcement director, Shawn P. Walker, claiming the agents were liable for false arrest, excessive force, gross negligence and assault and battery; that the ABC and Walker were liable for failing to train and supervise the agents; and that Walker was liable for negligent supervision of the agents. In December, a judges ruling dramatically altered the suit, agreed to dismiss the ABC and one of the agents as defendants, as well as the charges of excessive force and negligence. The judge wrote in a memorandum opinion that given the circumstances surrounding the encounter, a reasonable ABC agent would believe that they had probable cause, albeit possibly incorrectly. He further wrote that as a department, the ABC was protected under the 11th Amendment as an arm of the state, and that agent John Cielakies lesser role in the arrest exculpated his inclusion in the suit. The remaining two enforcement agents in the suit, Thomas Custer and Jared Miller, filed a motion on Feb. 14 stating that Johnson has not been answering questions relevant to their case. According to the filing, the agents sent two requests to Johnsons attorneys in early December, asking for responses to a series of questions, as well as documents related to the case. On Jan. 20, the agents and Walker produced over 2,100 pages of paper documents and multiple flash-drives and discs containing voluminous records from subpoenas, but claim that on the same day, Johnson returned responses to only a limited number of the defendants requests while objecting to all Interrogatories and [Requests for Production of Documents], producing zero documents and furnishing inadequate answers to what limited Interrogatories for which a written response was offered. The defendants responded on Feb. 3 with a letter to Johnsons counsel seeking full and complete responses to their requests in an attempt to resolve the deficiencies and vast omissions without involving the court. Four days later, Johnson produced 112 pages of documents, but the defendants claim the documents failed to describe any of the materials or reference a single document in response to their requests. Indeed, [Johnsons] initial production containing copies of multiple photographs and speaking engagement contracts omits critical materials requested by the defendants to which the defendants are entitled in this case, the filing reads. The defendants followed up on Feb. 10 with a conference call in an attempt to resolve the dispute, asking that the requests be fulfilled by Feb. 13. They were not, the defendants say instead, Johnsons attorneys sent an email stating that they plan to supplement certain responses to the defendants requests but without providing those [responses] or a date on which they plan to provide them. With the suits discovery phase coming to a close on June 9, defense counsel is claiming the lack of responses is impeding their ability to meet the courts deadlines, and is asking that Johnson be ordered to immediately provide full responses to their discovery requests. Among the defendants unanswered interrogatories, they say, are questions about Johnsons previous addresses, the nature of any expense or loss claimed in the case, and his consumption of any alcoholic beverage, sedative, tranquilizer, or other drug, medicine, or pill, whether such substance was legal or illegal or prescription or over-the-counter, during the 24 hours immediately preceding your arrest. They further allege that Johnson has not produced a variety of documents pertinent to the case, including emails and text messages about the incident, emails and text messages from the days directly surrounding the date of his arrest, and communications between Johnson and individuals associated with Trinity Irish Pub, the bar from which he was turned away just before his arrest. The defendants also are seeking credit card statements and receipts from Johnson from the three-day period leading up to his arrest, despite Johnsons attorneys claiming those documents are irrelevant. In their filing, the defendants contend that Johnson had been consuming a significant amount of alcohol and was drunk at the time of the incident, and that his receipts will confirm that allegation. Attorneys for Johnson did not respond to requests for comment on the latest filing. When Lawrence Levine pulled in large outside investments in SecurePipe, the information security firm he founded in Charlottesville in 1996, the financial windfall came with a price. Levine, now a member of the Charlottesville Angel Network investment group, spent the next few years bouncing around the country, as new investments had him heading to new towns. After the 2015 sale of SecurePipe, now called Trustwave, to Singapore Telephone, Levine has returned to Charlottesville and wants to give local companies reasons to stay in town. Updated at 8:34 p.m. A Charlottesville native and highly decorated U.S Marine Corps general who fought in the battle of Iwo Jima and later led reconciliation reunions to the Pacific island died Saturday, one day before the 72nd anniversary of the famous fight. Lt. Gen. Lawrence F. Snowden, 95, died at a hospice center in Florida. Snowden was assistant commandant of the Marine Corps before his retirement in 1979 and was instrumental in the Reunion of Honor missions in which U.S. servicemen met with Japanese veterans on Iwo Jima. Snowden was born in Charlottesville on April 14, 1921, as Lawrence F. Snoddy Jr., and legally changed his last name to Snowden in 1972. His son, John S. Snowden, also served in the Marine Corps during Vietnam. The elder Snowden joined the Marine Corps in February 1942, two months after Pearl Harbor, and entered the service after his May graduation from the University of Virginia, where he earned a bachelors degree in commerce. As a 23-year-old captain, he led a company of 230 Marines ashore in the second-wave assault on Iwo Jima, a 36-day battle in which half of his company was killed and he was wounded. He was evacuated but rejoined his unit by hitching a ride with three other officers on a plane taking mail and blood to the island as the battle raged. Snowden maintained a home in Charlottesville into the 1970s, with his family often moving to wherever the Marine Corps stationed him as he continued to serve in the Korean War and Vietnam. He was awarded a host of decorations during his service, including two Navy Distinguished Service Medals, five Legion of Merit awards (including two for combat) and two Purple Hearts. In 1950 Snowden helped to create the Marine Corps Development Center in Quantico, which examined changes the Corps would face in the future. He served as a major and battalion executive in the Korean War, and in Vietnam he commanded the 7th Marine Regiment, which engaged in a number of search-and-destroy anti-Viet Cong missions. Funeral services will be held Tuesday in Tallahassee, Florida, where Snowden was a longtime resident. I am deeply disappointed in the actions on Feb. 14 of Virginia Dels. Les Adams, Mark Cole, Buddy Fowler, Chris Jones, and Margaret Ransone, who voted to pass indefinitely on SJ 290 an electoral redistricting amendment that had already passed the Virginia Senate with strong bipartisan support. These delegates' votes in subcommittee prevented SJ 290 from receiving a vote in the full Virginia House, obstructing redistricting reform in our state. Virginia is heavily gerrymandered, and as a result we as citizens are not represented fairly. This should not be a partisan issue: Again, the Virginia Senate supported these reforms in bipartisan fashion. Politically motivated districting is a fundamental threat to the functionality of our democratic republic, and it affects each and every one of us. Whether drawn to favor Republicans or Democrats, gerrymandering impedes the ability of government to represent accurately the will of the people or, put more simply, the ability to do its job. By opposing nonpartisan redistricting reform, these delegates are alienating voters from our government, contributing to political polarization via poorly contested races, pushing government approval ratings even lower, and angering the majority of Virginians from across the political spectrum who support these common-sense repairs to the system. Gerrymandering is not a problem that will simply go away. Virginia voters deserve better, and we are watching closely our state government's lack of attention to this issue. Alex Keller, Charlottesville References: It would be naive to imagine that politics would play no part in the selection of the FBIs new headquarters location, a decision which is now imminent in a three-way competition involving two sites in suburban Maryland and one in Northern Virginia. Still, the process, terms and criteria by which the new campus is chosen matter, and there are right and wrong ways of going about it. Moving the FBI from the hulking, brutalist J. Edgar Hoover building on Pennsylvania Avenueobsolete after four decades in use, crumbling and able to accommodate fewer than half the bureaus 11,000 employeeshas been in the works for a decade. A sagging shelfs-worth of studies has been devoted to the selection of a new, more than $2 billion headquarters, which has major implications not only for the bureau, but also for the region. The winning locality may expect a windfall in economic development and tax revenues; it may also grapple with a traffic headache whose mitigation will require major state and local spending. The jockeying and lobbying to land the new facilitybetween Maryland and Virginia and, more specifically, between suburban Prince Georges and Fairfax countiesis healthy and normal. So is the back and forth over which site would provide the best access to mass transit, road and rail; which would offer cost savings or come freighted with foreseeable higher expenses; which would best withstand the environmental impact; which would be more secure and convenient for FBI employees; and which would make sense in regional terms. Those are the right questions for consideration by the General Services Administration, which will manage the selection and development of the new campus, and for members of Congress and the administration overseeing the choice. There are also toxic and irrelevant questions, including one posed by some conservatives who would make the decision a litmus test for the current culture war over immigrationnamely, whether to blacklist the two sites in Prince Georges because of the countys policy not to hold prisoners specifically at the request of federal immigration officials. Never mind that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has not issued any detainer requests to Prince Georges law enforcement agencies since the policy was adopted in 2014, according to the Washington Times. Never mind that one of the sites in Prince Georges, in Greenbelt, has excellent connections to Marc, Metro and Amtrak, or that the other, in Landover, is the largest of the three competing sites, shovel-ready and convenient to both to the District and major highways. It is enough, for a couple of people quoted in the Times article, that Prince Georges is considered by some as a sanctuary jurisdiction, while Fairfax is not. It would be a milestone of bad government and rash decision-making if the political passions of the day overtook cool-headed deliberation of what would be best for the FBI, its workers and the region. The contours of the current debate over immigration will certainly change during the coming decades. Those of the FBIs new headquarters will not. These new job opportunities are for people with all types of experience, education and skill levels, from software developers, engineers and technicians. London: US tech and retail giant Amazon on Monday said it would create 5,000 British jobs this year, in a show of confidence in the UK economy ahead of Brexit. "Amazon UK today announced plans to create more than 5,000 full-time jobs this year, taking the company's total UK workforce to over 24,000," a statement said. "These new job opportunities are for people with all types of experience, education and skill levels, from software developers, engineers and technicians, to those seeking entry-level positions and on-the-job training," it added. Amazon separately said it was creating 1,500 positions in France under plans to have 15,000 new posts across Europe in 2017. The company is meanwhile in the process of providing 100,000 new positions in the United States by the middle of next year. Bengaluru: India is probably one of the places in the world where the entrepreneurial energy is able to scale up, not just start, Microsofts India-born chief Satya Nadella today said. He said the entrepreneurial energy in the country is "tremendous" and Microsoft is "enthused about it. "Every time I come back to India, the thing that grabs you is the entrepreneurial spirit of the place. There are a whole bunch of startups doing really exiting work," Nadella said. Center of entrepreneurial energy at least for us right now in India is all around our cloud. It is fantastic, the quality of the entrepreneurs, the ideas... the Indian market itself is huge, but also going beyond that, it is amazing to see (the growth)", he said in response to Nilekani s question regarding entrepreneurial energy in India. Nadella today kick-started his three-day visit to India here, where he participated in a discussion organised by Microsoft on cloud-first, mobile-first world along with Indian IT veteran Nandan Nilekani. Stating that India has some brands that have already well established, Nadella said there were stunning cross section of starts ups in the country. He said building on India Stack, the transaction analytics, the very idea of a presence where a payments infrastructure getting built on top of Aadhar by using the cloud, the diagnostic applications that are getting built, world class AI. It was very fascinating to come here and learn about. "I think that the entrepreneurial energy of the place is just tremendous," he said. Pointing out that in the last twelve months there were about 2000 startups in the Microsoft Accelerator programme that the company runs out of Bengaluru, Nadella said 2000 startups using our cloud, it is fantastic. The funding they are getting locally as well as foreign capital and the number of people joining the Microsoft Accelerator, we are very very enthused. The tenure of each panel will be for a period of three years from 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2020. (Representational image) New Delhi: General and life insurance companies will be able to engage actuaries as the regulator Irdai will soon form panel of such analysts. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) has invited bids from actuaries and firms employing such analysts to form a 'Panel of Actuaries'. Separate panels will be formed for life and general insurance(including health insurance). The tenure of each panel will be for a period of three years from 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2020, said the bid document. The panel would be required to give an opinion on products filed by an insurer. Further, the regulator may ask any actuary panel to investigate financial position of any insurer or to give an opinion on valuation. "If the insurers are not able to appoint Appointed Actuary...they can use services of any actuary from the panel of actuaries for estimation of reserves, solvency margins and preparation of reports... as well as vetting of products to be filed by the insurer," Irdai said. Appointed Actuaries (AAs) are entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining solvency position of the company. There are other jobs such as new product approval, which need inputs and certification from Appointed Actuaries. The panel will be engaged in estimation of reserves and solvency margin at the end of financial year as well as preparation of reports which are normally required under the current regulations and guidelines in respect of one or more insurance companies. Unilever, which has a head office in London, earlier had spurned the offer, saying the price was too low. New York: Kraft Heinz has decided to withdraw its USD 143 billion offer to buy mayonnaise, tea and seasonings maker Unilever. The companies announced the decision today in a joint press release. Unilever, which has a head office in London, earlier had spurned the offer, saying the price was too low. Despite rejection, ketchup, cheese and lunch meat maker Kraft Heinz said last week it was still interested in the deal. Analysts say Kraft Heinz, co-headquartered in Chicago and Pittsburgh, is still in the market for acquisitions. The deal would have brought together Kraft Heinz brands such as Oscar Mayer, Jell-O and Velveeta and Unilever's Hellman's, Lipton and Knorr. The combined company would have rivaled Nestle as the world's biggest packaged food maker by sales. The Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal said that Flipkarts strategic partnership with Microsoft will help his company to scale up in the coming days. Bengaluru: Binny and I have an exciting announcement to make. Flipkart has chosen Microsoft Azure as its exclusive public cloud platform, said the India-born CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, at the Microsoft AI event on Monday. Mr Nadella aims to empower entrepreneurship in India by building partnerships with companies such as Flipkart. The Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal said that Flipkarts strategic partnership with Microsoft will help his company to scale up in the coming days. Microsoft Azure and Artificial Intelligence as a platform can help us scale up our e-commerce business, said Mr Bansal. This partnership allows us to leverage our combined strength and knowledge of technology, e-commerce and markets to make online shopping more relevant and enriching for customers. Mr Nadella, who is in India to attend Microsofts technology and business conference, shared the stage with Nandan Nilekani and spoke about the importance of technology in the public sector. He also spoke about IndiaStack, a set of APIs that provide unique digital infrastructure aimed at eliminating problems related to presence-less, paper-less and cash less service delivery. Mumbai: The need to revise the code of conduct and prescribe new guidelines following the issues of corporate governance at the Tata Group and Infosys considered the epitome of adhering to best corporate governance practices was necessary. Keki Mistry, vice-chairman and CEO, HDFC and chairman, CII National Council on corporate governance said there was need for effectiveness of board processes; independence and quality of independent directors; risk management as key guidelines for effectiveness of what he calls the nerve centres of corporate governance the Board. Varun Dhawan, Arjun Kapoor, Mohanlal and Prithviraj were some of the stars who took to social media regarding the incident. Mumbai: The recent incident of a Malayalam actress' abduction and molestation has sent shock waves across the country. The police have got cracking in the case, having made breakthroughs and getting the accused arrested. Several South stars have conveyed their disgust at the incident in various interviews to the media. Actors from the Malayalam film industry like Mammootty, Manju Warrier among others attended a rally in Kochi protesting the incident and several other stars from the South film industry had also expressed their anger towards the incident with posts on social media. Now, Bollywood stars have also come out in support of the actress. Several of our Bollywood stars like Varun Dhawan, Farhan Akhtar, Arjun Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, among others took to Twitter to express their feelings over the incident. Mumbai: Kangana Ranaut is known for her candour and never has one seen her shy away from bluntly expressing her thoughts. The actress, for the precise same reason, was the best possible guest on a show as maverick as Koffee With Karan. And disappoint, she didnt! The actress also spoke about the time she had been down-rated by Aditya Chopra. A year ago, I remember Aditya Chopra called me to his studio, we sat across the table and he told me 10 years ago when you came to my office with Rikku Rakesh Nath, iss ladki ka kuch nhi hone wala. Today I am so glad to tell you that I was so wrong. You have made it and you have made it on your own. I am very happy about it,' she said. The actress was on the couch alongside Saif Ali Khan, who stars alongside her in Vishal Bhardwajs upcoming film, Rangoon. Kangana also spoke about Karan, who apparently had similar thoughts about her. The actress will be seen as a yesteryears actress in the Casablancaesque love triangle, set to the backdrop of the second World War. Rangoon, also starring Shahid Kapoor, releases on February 24. The film also stars Shahid Kapoor and Kangana Ranaut in the lead roles. Mumbai: Vishal Bhardwaj's highly ambitious 'Rangoon' has been among the most anticipated films in recent memory, thanks to its tremendously sensational casting coup and unique theme. The film, which stars Shahid Kapoor, Kangana Ranaut and Saif Ali Khan in the lead roles, was supposed to be a Casablancaesque love triangle, set to the backdrop of the second World War. However, with each new video, it became more and more evident that Saif had a strikingly grey character in the film. And now, Kareena Kapoor Khan has pretty much validated the strong doubts that audiences had. While interacting with the media prior to the special screening of the film, the actress, who along with Saif had been blessed with a baby boy, let out the well-guarded secret. When asked about Saif's role in the film, Kareena said, "In Vishal Bhardwaj's films, the negative character is very striking most of the times. Besides, there are three stellar actors in the film, Shahid, Kangana and Saif. I like the competition, there should be competition between all three only then they'll give their best." Elaborating on Saif's role, she tried to play it safe, saying, "His (Saif's) character in the film is going to be very striking because for the first time he will be seen in a role like this. We are very excited." So are we! The film is set to hit the theatres on February 24. Mumbai: Perhaps being one of the most awaited movies of this year, 'Jagga Jasoos' does not seem to get out of problems. Director Anurag Basu took to twitter and shared the news of a possible delay in the release of the movie, again. "#JaggaJasoos is a Family Holiday film. Since exams r pushed at most of the places. We r contemplating the delay. Only IF v get a better Date," he tweeted. But, he later tweeted that since nothing is final, the whole team is gearing up for April 7 release. There were reports that not all of the songs have been shot and a temple set is being constructed in the Film City, where a song will be picturised on the lead pair and that is what is causing the delay. Many also believed the cold war between the ex-couple Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif was the reason behind multiple delays. Co-produced by Anurag Basu, Siddharth Roy Kapur and Ranbir, 'Jagga Jasoos' also stars Sayani Gupta and Adah Sharma. Emma Watson and Dan Stevens at the Paris premiere of 'Beauty and the Beast'. Mumbai: Emma Watson is one of the actresses who always raises her voice against important issues like gender inequality in Hollywood or against important people as was evident when she recently participated in the rally against the election of Donald Trump. The actress has now started a movement to promote the use of ethically sourced and made clothes. Emma has started an Instagram account named The Press Tour where she intends to reveal the source of the clothes that she wears on the press tour of her recent film Beauty and the Beast. Emma made the announcement at the Paris premiere of the film as well as on her official Instagram account. She shared a picture on her new account The Press Tour, where she is dressed in a black and white plaid oversized coat, white sneakers, and a jumper and has shared the exact details of the products used for the outfit, stressing on the fact that no leather, skins, feathers or fur were used. With Beauty and the Beast releasing on 17 March there is no doubt that this movement would have sufficient amount of time to get popular among the masses. Actor Manju Warrier, chairman of the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy Kamal, director Siby Malayil, and Innocent, MP, at a meeting organised by the film fraternity in Kochi on Sunday to show support to the film actor subjected to assault. (Photo: SUNOJ NINAN MATHEW) KOCHI: Members of the Malayalam film industry came together in one voice on Sunday to declare their solidarity with the actor subjected to abduction and alleged sexual assault near Athani on Friday night. Actors, directors and others associated with the film industry assembled at the Durbar Hall Ground on Sunday evening and pledged their support to the actor. Masculinity is not something that should be imposed on women, said actor Mammooty promising his full support for getting justice to the victim. The abduction and the assault is part of a criminal conspiracy, said actor Manju Warrier, addressing the gathering. The law should be able to nab those who are behind it. Actor Dileep promised his full support to bring the culprits to the book. Addressing the gathering director and Kerala Chalachitra Academy chairman Kamal cautioned about the criminal elements gaining access to the world of films. Actors Innocent, MP, Siddique, Jayasurya, Manoj K. Jayan, KPAC Lalitha, directors Johsi and Renjith, CPM district secretary P. Rajeev, MLAs Hibi Eden and P.T. Thomas and several others attended the function. Speaking at the occasion Actor-director Lal said that fiance of the actor fully supported the decision to make the incident public and seek justice. Lal said the actor, traumatised by the incident, was initially reluctant to make the event public. She came home completely scared and collapsed in my arms and started sobbing uncontrollably. By early morning her fiance and family members reached home. They extended full support and that gave her the courage to lodge the complaint, Lal said. Police said some persons had been taken into custody for allegedly helping Suni. Mumbai: The manhunt to nab the suspected mastermind Pulsar Suni and others involved in the abduction and harassment of a noted south Indian actress continued today with police intensifying probe to solve the sensational case. Police said some persons had been taken into custody for allegedly helping Suni, but the rest remain at large even three days after the crime that evoked condemnation from various quarters. However, they remained tight lipped on reports that two associates of Suni who were part of gang that attacked the actress have been taken into custody by police. Martin, driver of the actress' car, had been arrested earlier for allegedly conspiring with the gang which executed the crime. The actress was harassed for two hours by the gang members who forced their way into her car before fleeing in a busy city area here on the night of February. Spreading its net, police conducted searches in many parts of Alappuzha district following inputs that Suni and his three associates had reached the residences of their friends seeking financial help to escape, but could not achieve any breakthrough so far. Congress MLA P T Thomas claimed that Suni was in Kochi city area even hours after the incident and it was revealed from a mobile phone call made to him in the presence of police official by a film producer. On hearing about the incident, Thomas had reached the house of actor director Lal after the actress reached there on being let off by the gang. Lal had yesterday claimed he has been informed by the state police chief that three incidents similar to the harassment of the popular Malayalam actress had taken place in the state recently. But these earlier incidents went unreported. Lal told a galaxy of film stars assembled here last night to attend a protest meet against the incident. HYDERABAD: To ensure that the benefits of technology reach people, the Asian Institute of Gastroenterology is introducing newly designed vans for use in rural areas where the diagnostics of gastro diseases can be carried out at the base level. Explained Dr D Nageshwar Reddy, chairman of the Asian Institute of Gastroenterology: The changes in endoscopy are helping diagnose diseases early. We are working towards developing rural vans where these diagnostics can be carried out at the base level to benefit the people. In the World Congress of GI Endoscopy, doctors deliberated on the increasing incidence of GI diseases and found most patients were coming too late to the specialised centres, due to which their condition often deteriorated. Dr Reddy said, We are looking at the means wherein we can identify a patient early and give them the required treatment which will entail minimal cost rather than coming later with complications. The outreach programme of mobile vans is found to be of help and we are collaborating with the government on the same. Human trafficking and women being pushed into prostitution is becoming a major concern across the world as crimes against women continue to rise. There are several heartbreaking stories of women being sexually assaulted and having to go through an ordeal after falling prey to traffickers. One of many victims is an 18-year-old from West Bengal who was raped for months and left to die after being trafficked. She was fighting for her life in a hospital in Delhi in December 2015, as she was left unable to sit or walk due to her ordeal. Fourteen months later she is back in West Bengal and is fighting back in order to save other girls from the fate she had to suffer. She goes to schools and raises awareness about trafficking among young students as part of a police initiative called Swayamsiddha which means self-empowerment. She still has to visit the hospital and is on medication as she admits that she is scared to go out, but she keeps going forward in order to ensure that no one else has to go through what she faced. Her father too fears that she will remain unmarried, but is more focused on fighting against traffickers who still pose a threat for many girls. She was assaulted 10 times a day for four to six months by different people and doctors said repeated sexual assault had led to deteriorating health as she had gag wounds on her mouth and was at risk of infection when she was left to die, as she said she was beaten up when she refused. An amount was sanctioned by the home ministry so that she can get better treatment. But she is just one of thousands other falling prey to traffickers. The family presumed he was dead after no movement in his body (Photo: YouTube) Bengaluru: People rising back from the dead might sound like something right out of a horror movie script or a daily soap on Indian television. But at times it might be a series of human errors that might lead to shocking situations. Such is the tale of a 17-year-old from Managundi village in Karnataka, who was presumed dead a month after being bitten by a dog but woke up in the middle of his funeral. The teen named Kumar Marewad is a construction labourer and is now critical as he receives treatment in a private hospital. After he was bitten by a stray dog, Kumar was down with high fever last week and was admitted to a hospital. He was then put on ventilator support, as doctors told his family that he had less chances of survival as infection had spread in his body. The family lost hope and took him home, where they presumed that he was dead after noticing that he had no body movement at all. They prepared for the funeral and took him to be cremated, but Kumar opened his eyes and started moving his hands and legs during his funeral. He was later taken to a hospital where he has again been put on ventilator. The United Nations cultural agency UNESCO has declared Tuesday as International Mother Language Day. But the increased usage of Hinglish phrases such as light le lo or even Tenglish (Telugu+English) idioms like chaala thanks in the recent past has led to crises of sorts for local languages, even in the two Telugu speaking states. While the changing culture has been attributed to the rise in diluted and diversified vocabulary, its long term impact of local languages themselves are evident from lyrics with more than one language used in songs, to the inability of speaking one language perfectly. Better schooling? Many believe that one of the main reasons for Indian regional languages being lost is the rise in English medium schools. Says Gitanjali Chatterjee, deputy secretary of the Sahitya Akademi in New Delhi, Parents are increasingly turning to English medium schools; the mindset is that unless you know English, you have no future. Protection of the mother tongue is necessary to enhance and retain culture. Some of the best literary works have been written by authors in their mother tongue, because they even think in that language. Telugu writer P. Lalitha Kumari, who goes by the pen name Volga, says, The medium of instruction plays an important role in developing the students knowledge accumulation, thinking power and questioning power... it depends on the language children are familiar with, the language in which they can think. Youre killing the intellectual capacity of the student. How can they think in a language thats not their own? In the media This lack of ability to understand one language completely is mirrored in mainstream media today, with multi-lingual movies, web series and songs dominating screens and playlists. Tollywood lyricist Ramajogayya Sastry, who has written songs such as Apple Beauty from Jr NTRs Janata Garage, says that the rise of such content is purely because of how relatable it is to audiences. We should look at it from the context of the place. The two Telugu states are filled with commercial cinema. Most of the genres are youth and love oriented films, and because they have to sell, they are crafted in such a way that people relate to it. The moment you lift your phone, have you ever heard anyone saying bagunnara? You say hello. People may not be comfortable with their children calling them mummy or daddy in public, but they unmindfully promote it at home. Weve just become accustomed to it. Tech, no solution Learning the basics of these languages is no doubt easier now, thanks to various online apps and sites. But Gitanjali says that they just dont match up to good teaching standards. Charu Nivedita, a post-modern Tamil writer, says, In the west, it is necessary for a student in France or Germany to study and clear certain levels of French and German respectively, whereas in our country, we always have the option of choosing not to study our mother tongues, but taking up foreign languages. Our education system is killing our mother languages, and we need to change the way we look at our language policy. With inputs from Bhavana Akella Chennai: A pall of gloom descended in a tsunami resettlement in the North Chennai after a 3-year-old girl was reportedly murdered after being sexually assaulted and her neighbour, who is suspected of having committed the offence, is being interrogated. The gruesome incident came to light after the corpse, with its mouth gagged by rags, was found in a garbage yard in Tiruvottiyur, on Sunday afternoon. The child was playing with her 5-year-old brother while their mother was down with fever and their father was at work on Saturday afternoon. The child's mother who woke up at 3 pm realised her daughter was missing and the family lodged a complaint with Ernavur police. Efforts to locate the child did not fructify. Finally, conservancy workers who were unloading garbage spotted the child and alerted Tiruvottiyur police. The child's identity was established as that of the missing girl reported in Ernavur Police limits, with the child's parents identifying her. The body was subsequently moved to Government Stanley hospital and the presence of a male body fluid was confirmed in preliminary autopsy findings. The needle of suspicion fell on the child's neighbour who reportedly lured the girl to his house after buying her ice cream. Upset over the incident, the locals laid siege to Ernavur police station and resorted to a flash road roko demanding stringent action against the culprit. If alive, the girl would have made it to kindergarten later this year in the school where her brother is studying. It may be recalled a 7-year-old girl was sexually assaulted and murdered by her neighbour Tashvanth, in Moulivakkam recently. New Delhi: A 24-year-old woman from the northeast was allegedly raped by a man near Delhi's Hauz Khas village, police said on Sunday. The incident happened last night when the woman, who belongs to Manipur, was returning from a party in Hauz Khas village along with her friends and cousins, said a senior police officer. The woman told police that around 11.30 PM she was offered a drop home by an unknown person. He apparently told her that his vehicle was parked at some distance near Deer Park. The accused, thereafter, on the pretext of guiding the woman, led her to an isolated stretch in the adjoining park area and allegedly raped her. The woman somehow managed to escape from the spot and later informed the police. A case under IPC section 376 (rape) has been registered and efforts are being made to ascertain the identity of the accused with the help of local intelligence and electronic surveillance, said the officer. We have gathered vital clues in preliminary investigation and the accused will be nabbed soon, he added. "We are in touch with the woman, and she is being counselled to help her recover from the trauma," the officer said. New Delhi: With hands and feet bound in telephone wire, the decomposed body of a 33-year-old man was found inside his house in outer Delhi's Dichaon Kalan village on Sunday morning, police said. The body of Bhim Singh, a labourer, was found in the house after the neighbours complained of a foul smell from one of the houses in the area, they said. Family members of Singh said that he was missing since February 7. His family earlier used to live in that house and had moved to a new house a few metres away some months ago, a senior police officer said. It is suspected that the murder may have been committed by a family member since they knew that Singh was a homosexual and it could have been a matter of family reputation, the officer said. Singh's mobile phone was found lying near his body and the main door of the house was locked form outside, police said. A case has been registered at Baba Haridass Nagar Police Station and a man has been detained for questioning. The body has been sent for post-mortem, they said. "During the probe, we have come across a private number from which Singh had received 24 calls on a single day," an officer said. The actress' driver was arrested earlier for consipiring with the gang involved in the crime. Kochi: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan spoke to the noted Malayalam actress who was allegedly abducted and molested on Monday and assured stern action against the perpetrators. Search operations continued for the third day today to apprehend those involved in the case, an incident which has sparked nation-wide outrage. In a related development, three persons, including the suspected mastermind, moved the Kerala High Court seeking anticipatory bail. Vijayan called up the actress and promised her all support amid widespread condemnation of the incident and growing calls for immediate action against the culprits, including from the apex south Indian actors' body. He promised stern action against those responsible for the February 17 incident in which the actress was allegedly harassed inside her car for two hours by her tormentors, who had forced their way into the vehicle, before vanishing in a busy area in Kochi. Ruling CPI(M) state Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan also spoke to the actress over phone, an official release said in Thiruvananthapuram. The Chennai-based South Artistes Association (SIAA) expressed shock and urged Vijayan to ensure the culprits were brought to book without any further loss of time. Police said some people have been taken into custody for allegedly helping the suspected mastermind Pulser Suni, who remained at large even three days after the crime which has caused nation-wide outrage and raised questions about the safety of women. Police, however, remained tight-lipped about reports that two associates of Suni, members of the gang which assaulted the actress, have been picked up from Coimbatore. With police launching a hunt for them, Sunil, commonly known as Pulser Suni, and his two alleged associates Manikandan and V P Vigeesh moved the court, claiming the allegations that they had attempted to kidnap and rape the filmstar as "wrong". They claimed they have been "falsely implicated" on the basis of confessional statement of Martin, the driver of the actress' car, who has already been arrested for alleged criminal conspiracy. The anticipatory bail pleas are likely to come up for hearing tomorrow. Meanwhile, a group of women activists took out a procession in front of the state Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram to protest the incident. In a letter to Vijayan, the SIAA said the incident showed "there is no safety even for a popular woman celebrity" in the country. "It is hereby requested that you intervene in the issue without any further delay and speed up the investigation to book the culprits and put them behind bars," it said. SIAA general secretary and popular actor Vishal Krishna lauded the actress for her "courage" to speak out. "Most people would have been embarrassed to speak out if they had undergone such trauma. I laud her courage. Such an incident should not have happened," he told reporters. He said if a well-known actress could undergo such an experience, "think of the situation of the common people." "We are in complete solidarity with the actress," he said. Elko District Court Dept. I Jan. 24 Koby J. Alegria, 20, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit battery and was sentenced to 180 days in jail with credit for 52 days served. He was given a suspended sentence and ordered to pay a $2,000 fine. - Adasha Rafael Garcia, 45, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess a controlled substance and was sentenced to 180 days in jail with credit for 70 days served. He was given a suspended sentence and ordered to complete a drug treatment program within 180 days. - Helen Freida Tanner, 22, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess a debit/credit card without cardholders consent and was sentenced to six months in jail with credit for 11 days served. She was placed on probation for three years and ordered to submit to electronic monitoring, abstain from alcohol, marijuana and gambling and pay a fine of $500. Jan. 25 Kaleen Patricia Ballard, 26, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess a controlled substance and was sentenced to 180 days in jail with credit for 39 days served. She was placed on probation for three years and ordered to submit to electronic monitoring, abstain from alcohol, marijuana and gambling and complete Family Preservation Court. Jan. 30 Anne Monique Sharlow, 40, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit possession of a controlled substance and was sentenced to nine months in jail with credit for five days served. She was placed on probation for three years and ordered to submit to electronic monitoring, and abstain from alcohol, marijuana and gambling. Jan. 31 Jose de Jesus Chavez, 29, pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking in a controlled substance and was sentenced to 84 months in prison and credited with 248 days served and ordered to pay a fine of $1,000. - Joshua Thomas Greenly, 37, pleaded guilty to one count of a sex offender failing to notify law enforcement within 48 hours of changing address and was sentenced to 133 days in jail with credit for 133 days served and ordered to pay $158.67 restitution to the Nevada Attorney Generals Office. Elko District Court Dept. II Jan. 25 Christopher Edward Dolan, 32, pleaded no contest to one count of possession of a firearm by a person previously convicted of a felony and was sentenced to 36 months in prison with credit for one day served in jail. - Michael Aaron Sellers, 30, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a controlled substance and was sentenced to 34 months in prison. His sentence was suspended and he was placed on probation for five years, ordered to serve 62 days in jail with credit for 62 days served, abstain from alcohol and gambling and complete a rehab program. - Christopher Paul Wilkins, 48, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess a controlled substance and was sentenced to 82 days in jail with credit for 82 days served. Jan. 27 Thomas William Mooney, 26, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a controlled substance and was sentenced to 34 months in prison. He was placed on probation and ordered to abstain from alcohol and gambling. Jan. 31 Ashley Nicole Funk, 31, pleaded guilty to one count of attempted burglary and was sentenced to 36 months in prison with credit for two days served. She was also ordered to pay $514.59 in restitution to the victim. - Everett Blaine Travis Jones, 33, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a stolen vehicle and was sentenced to 48 months in prison with credit for 108 days served. - Brandon Kurtiss Seippel, 23, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess a controlled substance and was sentenced to 364 days in jail. His sentence was suspended and he was ordered to serve 106 days in jail with credit for 106 days served and ordered abstain from alcohol and gambling. Bengaluru: In yet another shocking case of molestation from Bengaluru, it has emerged that a three-year-old was allegedly molested by a staff in her play-school. According to reports, the parents of the child had filed a police complaint on Friday and the man was swiftly arrested. While the accused is in police custody right now, the incident has shaken the parents of other children in the school. I almost cried when I got to know about the incident. Our children are not safe here, what do they take fees for? a disturbed mother of a student at the school said. Parents are demanding a probe into the matter and are worried that it may not have been an isolated incident. One parent alleged that the school did not take the incident seriously. The school took the matter lightly. We want an investigation because we think there could be more such cases, said Vikas, a parent of another school student. According to a report in The News Minute, the accused has been identified as Manjunath, who worked as a helper in the school. He was booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POSCO). Manjunath was fired by the school on Saturday, a day after the victims parents had filed a police complaint. The principal of the school claimed that they had done a thorough background check on Manjunath before hiring him. Hyderabad: A horse ridden by a local TRS leader's son killed a motorist and injured his friend at Mailardevpally on Sunday night. The 16-year-old intermediate student was on a joy ride accompanied by his pals on bikes when the horse stomped on a bike passing by the main road near Indian function hall at Mailardevpally. The horse reared up and kicked both motorists injuring them critically. 42-year-old Hameed and his friend Khazam Khan fell off the motorcycle and were rushed to a local hospital by the locals. Hameed, who sustained grievous injuries on his chest, head and cheeks succumbed to his injuries in a few minutes, while Khazam is undergoing treatment with fractures on his shoulder and hands. The Mailardevpally police registered a case under Section 304 (A) and 337 of Indian Penal Code against the teenager. According to police, local TRS leader named Farooq had purchased the horse to rent it for marriages in the locality, and had allowed his son to ride it. Police is yet to frame charges against Farooq for his negligence. Locals say the teenager and his friends had been putting on quite a show in the locality with the horse for many days now. At the time of mishap, the boy was riding the horse so fast and was entering to the main road from a by-lane. His friends, who were on bikes, were shouting and whipping the horse from behind. The animal seemed to be maddened by the torture. It showed its aggression and reared up before kicking the motorists, a police official said. The announcement was part of late AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa's promise to usher in prohibition in the state in a phased manner. (Photo: Representational/PTI) Chennai: Assuming the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister post formally, Edapadi K Palanisamy signed five schemes on Monday that included subsidised scooters for working women and increased maternity benefits for poor women. The new Tamil Nadu CM first signed the file that granted a subsidy of 50 percent to working women to buy scooters, according to a report in OneIndia Tamil. The scheme would cost the state around Rs 200 crore, said media reports. Palanisamy also signed a scheme that will increase maternity benefits for six lakh women from Rs 12,000 to Rs 18,000; the total cost coming around Rs 360 crores. Palaniswami also announced the closure of 500 more Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) retail outlets operated by state-owned TASMAC. The announcement was part of late AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa's promise to usher in prohibition in the state in a phased manner, Palaniswami said in his first formal press conference since his elevation as Chief Minister last week. Other schemes included doubling monthly financial assistance to 55,228 youths who are registered with the employment exchange and a housing scheme for fishermen at the cost of Rs 85 crore. New Delhi: Senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Monday took aim at former Finance Minister P Chidambarams son Karti and accused him of holding at least 21 secret foreign bank accounts. According to a report in Indian Express, Swamy has also accused the current Finance Ministry of not taking any action in the matter, despite being provided with the details of the foreign account. He has sought Prime Minister Narendra Modis intervention in the issue. It is shocking that the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate having been provided details of 21 undeclared foreign accounts of Mr Karti Chidambaram and of the companies that he control, have failed to proceed against Mr Karti Chidambaram to its logical end. Mr Karti has also refused to obey three Summon Orders of the Enforcement Directorate, Swamy said in a press release. Swami furnished details of the accounts and further claimed that Chidambaram had been exerting pressure on the Finance Ministry to keep the matter under wraps. These foreign bank accounts were not declared to Income Tax authorities by Karti or his parent Indian companies. These accounts are at various foreign banks like Barclays Bank in Monaco, Metro Bank in UK, Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore, OCBC in Singapore, HSBC in UK, Deutsche Bank in France, UBS in Switzerland, Wells Fargo Bank in California etc, Swamy said. Its easy to find fault with the Prime Minister that he promised of bringing black money from abroad but co-operation of bureaucracy isn't there. It is clear that Congress's 65-70 year rule has placed so many of their people in the bureaucracy, that it is blocked, he said. Caught in the eye of the storm, Karti Chidambaram rubbished the allegations made by Swamy and claimed innocence. Some outrageous claims have been made about me. My filings are up to date and completely in compliance with regulatory/statutory requirements, he tweeted. My companies have made all declarations as required by statutory requirements, he said in another tweet. New Delhi: After the unfortunate incident of a leading actor from Malayalam film industry being allegedly molested, many celebrities and dignitaries have rallied in support and the latest to join the list is Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who has minced no words to condemn the incident. Tharoor on Monday rued the fact that the incident took place in Kerala, inarguably the state with the most educated populace. "This is an India-wide problem and that it is now happening in Kerala too is very sad. Somehow we have become a cultural state, an educated state but we are losing our values, we are losing our capacity," he said. Tharoor also slammed the mentality of people wherein they shame the victim, while the culprit remains almost scot-free. "The horrible thing about this kind of crime in this country is that the people make the victim feel ashamed. That's why so many women don't come forward. They don't file their case. We must applaud this actress who has come forward. She had the courage to say that this wrong must be corrected," he said. Tharoor also heaped on praises for the actress who showed the courage to come forward and report the misdoing to the police. "What's incredibly impressive on the part of the lady is despite the trauma that she has gone through, she has had the courage to demand action. She has gone to the police. And I am hoping that the perpetrators of this criminal action are arrested, punished and prosecuted to the fullest extent of law," he said. Tharoor further emphasised upon the importance of teaching children, especially the boys, to respect women. "There are two things that we need to do. The law and order machinery of the state must improve. They have to ask whether they have done anything in terms of street-lighting, police patrolling. Secondly, we have to definitely educate our children, particularly our boys. There has to be a sustained information campaign. We can get the top actors and actresses of the state, actors in particular. We need to teach our children how important it is to respect the girls and women and not to behave in this way. Nothing justifies this," he said. A case of attempted rape was filed after a popular Malayalam actress was allegedly abducted and molested on Friday night in the Ernakulam district of Kerala. The incident, reportedly, took place while the victim was returning from a shoot. According to police, the actress was held in the car for an hour, after which, she was dropped near her residence at around 10.30 pm. Chennai: Finally, I had a day of complete peace. After the Assembly trust vote, I figured politicians would stop haunting me. But no, Opposition leader MK Stalin had to have his protest here, on my shores, and also get detained along with other DMK leaders. Sigh! tough times. Puzzled as to who I am? I am sure you all know me. You would have either walked on my sands, or have seen it ravaged on national television. If you still havent found your answer I am Marina Beach, one of Chennais landmark destinations. Until a few months ago, I was known for peace and harmony. However, now people troll me for being haunted. Can anyone blame them after that dramatic night? For forty minutes, O Panneerselvam had sat in my view and meditated at the late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaas memorial. Later, I was puzzled when he claimed that her atma had urged him to tell the truth. Was Amma here? However, I got some clarity when Jayalalithaas close aide Sasikala Natarajan also claimed she felt a magnetic pull when she visited the former chief ministers memorial. It was a pleasant surprise. I hope she is still here; we can have some very interesting conversations. Nonetheless, OPS, Sasikala and other ADMK leaders became frequent visitors. I became their pit-stop before and after any important decision or meeting. All this drama was fun to watch, but also incredibly exhausting. With so many policemen around most of the time, you cant blame me or my visitors for feeling stifled. Also, thank you for stealing my thunder on Valentines Day. I lost another celebration this year, Republic day. The celebrations were dull and the crowds were lean compared to the previous years. They say it is a tradition in a few Indian communities to not celebrate festivals for a year if a family member had died. I felt the same way, with the imprint of the Jallikattu violence fresh in everyones mind. The peaceful demeanour of the protests was admirable. The way it ended though, was disappointing. In addition to being littered with garbage, now I had blood on my hands. There were prohibitory orders clamped on my shores until February 12. Was it really my fault that people chose to protest here? Even during the political tussle, the police had increased their presence on my shores as a precautionary measure. Further adding to my woes, the traces of violence from the protests were washed away with oil; oil from a collision that happened at the Ennore port that slowly crept up my shores. After being battered by Cyclone Vardah earlier, here came another blow to my system. They say most of the sludge has been cleaned up, but my ecosystem might take a long time to repair itself completely. After an exasperating stretch, there is finally an uneasy sense of peace on my waters. Give me a break Chennai, I think I have had enough for now. A section of IPS officers faulted the senior officers of having violated the service rules which bar the IPS officials from wearing any other uniform except khakhis at all the times Chennai: The deployment of senior IPS officers as House Marshals in Watch and Ward (all-whites) uniform to evict the DMK legislators causing ruckus during the trust vote in the Assembly is termed as a legislative privilege of the Speaker by political commentators. A section of IPS officers faulted the senior officers of having violated the service rules which bars the IPS officials from wearing any other uniform except khakhis at all the times, though. When the Inspector level officers could not execute the orders of the Speaker to evict the DMK MLAs, the Speaker held a meeting with COP S. George and DGP T.K. Rajendran, and the orders were issued in concurrence. Therefore, obedience to the order promulgated by the Legislative Assembly Secretariat would supersede the service rules. The permission will be deemed as special duty requiring them to wear Watch & Ward uniform. The legislative privilege is invoked in allowing senior IPS officers into the Assembly in House Marshals uniform. The Watch and Ward duty is usually awarded upto the rank of Inspector who has experience and training. The moment he enters the house, the official will cease to be a policeman and will be at the discretion of the Speaker for the conduct of the Assembly, said a senior police official requesting anonymity. On Saturday, the Assembly Secretariat had requested the City Police to double the number of House Marshals. The only precedent of IPS officers entering the Assembly took place 3 decades ago during the floor test of the then CM Janaki. It is Walter Isaac Devaram, the then COP of Chennai City in 1988, and he also became the first person to enter the Assembly in Khakhis. The then bureaucrats present discouraged me from going inside as they stated it would disrupt the sanctity of the Assembly. I was more Police. I heard the then Speaker PH. Pandian calling for help repeatedly. I saw the charged-up atmosphere going out of hands. I entered the Assembly, and my constables followed me. We took control of the situation, Devaram told DC. Devaram was taken to Court, which dropped breach of privilege action initiated against him, and upheld his intentions as legitimate to enter the Assembly. Chennai: In a week of political turmoil in Tamil Nadu, particularly after the Supreme Courts 570-page emphatic verdict in the disproportionate assets (DA) case involving the late Chief Minister, J Jayalalithaa, her confidante and now AIADMK general secretary, V.K. Sasikala and two of her kin, endearing terms of social bonding like Annan, Thambi and Akka, the hallmark of Dravidian politics, may be redrawing their semantic boundaries. Popular consciousness is now quick to debunk all the good work of Jayalalithaa as Chief Minister for three long terms. Her pithy one-liner, Makkalal Naan, Makkalukaga Naan (I am by the people, I am for the people), is now seen as far from being an I-Thou doctrine that defined the once unassailable AIADMK leader, since the Apex courts orders. However, given the intensity of the blow that the judgment imparted and the enormity of its implications for the polity on issues like corruption and governance, a subtle, legal line drawn by the Apex court yet bestowed a saving grace to late Jayalalithaa. This is borne out by legal experts split over whether the Apex court actually convicted Ms. Jayalalithaa or not, while affirming and restoring the judgment of the Trial court in Karnataka in toto, vis-a-vis the four persons accused in the DA case. Some senior Supreme court lawyers say only the sentences against Jayalalithaa have abated as the person is no more, while other legal pundits contend that as the appeals against Jayalalithaa have abated with the sole public servant and first accused in the case having expired in December last year after the conclusion of arguments earlier, the Apex court upholding the conviction covers only Ms. Sasikala and the two others. Notwithstanding these open-ended readings that flow from the Apex Courts resounding verdict, they have, albeit unwittingly, saved Jayalalithaa from what may be termed Calvinist predilections of eternal damnation. As per the view of predestination in Calvinism, God is believed to have assigned salvation only to a select few, while the rest receive eternal damnation, a tenet challenged by Church reformers later. Significantly, as the Supreme Court verdict says, reference to her (Ms Jayalalithaas) role and involvement, based thereon in collaboration with other respondents would have to be essentially examined. Yet, her death prior to the verdict, removed the referent corresponding to the first accused, thereby assuring her an honoured metaphysical space. This wonder-paradox in fact harks back to one of the toughest problems in modern analytical philosophy of sense and reference. How is something meaningful/truthful even if the person to whom it refers to no longer exists? From Bertrand Russell, W.V. O. Quine, to Peter Strawson, Daya Krishna, Ramchandra Gandhi and Saul Kripke, some of our most distinguished 20th century philosophers, it is still a raging debate; no wonder great human civilizations with loads of wisdom say, we dont speak ill of the dead. Aside from these philosophical underpinnings, what is of immediate relevance to the socio-political context here, is that a larger and fuller assessment of Ms Jayalalithaa as a woman political leader and Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu would have to await a more rigorous, fuller and balanced study by reasonably objective historians at a later date. The Supreme Courts posthumous indictment of Ms Jayalalithaa, as some descriptions in the National media put it, is only regarding the reference period of the DA case (1991-96), coinciding with her first term as Chief Minister. Though she took several steps for the rapid, long-term development of Tamil Nadu even then like catalysing the first big ticket industrial investments under the new Economic reforms, the major legal step by her regime to secure Constitutional protection for the 69 per cent reservation for the OBCs and Dalits in Tamil Nadu, and steps for womens empowerment including the launching of the first All Women Police Stations-, several of her Governments far-reaching welfare measures like the temple Annadaanam scheme and the Amma canteens, took effect during her two subsequent tenures amid the legal interruptions in between. There may be other areas like prohibition for instance, where failure to take decisive action, or the legal overdrive in river-water sharing issues that may have socially cost Tamil Nadu heavily. But history is no halfway house, and the sociology of any society is a continuously evolving one. The dismal vulnerability of family rule in a society where caste and forces of economic production are so tightly knit, are better countered by viable, alternate models, something that a great leader like Mahatma Gandhi showed all his life through disinterested social action. And again, the spirit of the Karma Yogi, as in the Bhagavad Gita, that Gandhi spoke about is totally different from the Hindutva that is politically touted today as the panacea for all social ills including corruption in the public sphere. It is in this backdrop that the demand by some political parties in Tamil Nadu and some activist groups to remove all portraits of former Chief Minister Ms. Jayalalithaa from all government offices and even shift her Samadhi from the Marina sands in Chennai in the wake of the Supreme court verdict in the DA case, looks highly misplaced and unwarranted. Rushing to the pulpit to make hypercritical moral judgments just to score political brownie points amid a growing impatient youth constituency would only amount to denying our own collective history. As Mahatma Gandhi himself said in another context, ultimate judgments should be left to God! New Delhi: Reacting to the listing of terrorist Hafiz Saeed under the Anti-Terrorism Act in Pakistan by authorities there, India on Monday said action against him is a logical first step in bringing him to justice. New Delhi seems to be waiting and watching whether Pakistan this time is really serious about action against Saeed or whether Islamabad is once again trying to deceive the world. Foreign policy watchers believe that American pressure on Islamabad to act against terrorists sponsored for long by the Pakistan Army seems to be bearing fruit despite suspicions that Pakistan is only carrying out symbolic acts to relieve the pressure on its dubious record. Islamabad is running scared that the new Trump Administration will ban Pakistani citizens from entering the country. Nevertheless, there is a possibility that India and Pakistan could move closer once again to resuming the composite dialogue and peace process if New Delhi is convinced that the Nawaz Sharif government is taking firm action against terrorists like Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar. Hafiz Saeed is an international terrorist, the mastermind of Mumbai terrorist attack and responsible for unleashing wave of terrorism against Pakistans neighbours through LeT/ JuD and their affiliates. Effective action mandated internationally against him and his terrorist organisations and colleagues is a logical first step in bringing them to justice, and in ridding our region of the twin menaces of terrorism and violent extremism, the ministry of external affairs said on Monday. According to news agency reports, Saeed, the Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief, is currently under house arrest in Pakistan. The Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 empowers the Pakistan government to mark a person as proscribed and to place that person on the fourth schedule on an ex-parte basis. Chennai: Taking the populist route to overcome palpable public anger against the ruling party, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palanisami on Monday announced implementation of high-cost welfare measures promised by J Jayalalithaa during her 2016 election campaign 50 per cent subsidy to working women to buy mopeds and rise in maternity assistance from Rs 12,000 to Rs 18,000. Besides, the new Chief Minister, immediately after taking over on Monday morning, announced closure of another 500 Tasmac liqour shops in line with the AIADMKs poll promise of implementing prohibition in a staggered manner. Late Jayalalithaa had announced closure of 500 Tasmac shops on May 23 after she took over as Chief Minister for the sixth time. The Chief Minister signed two other files construction of houses for fishermen and increasing the assistance given to unemployed youth. The five new schemes now announced would cost the exchequer an additional Rs 676 crore per year. The petition is likely to come up for hearing on February 21. Narrating the sequence of events including manhandling and eviction of DMK MLAs that happened on February 18, Stalin said the Speaker ought not have to have conducted the floor test on the confidence motion moved by Palanisami, with the captured MLAs, without giving them the full freedom to exercise their franchise, in order to reflect the mind of the public in their respective assembly constituency. But, the Speaker of the assembly totally with a biased mind influenced by Palanisami's party to retain power in one way or other held the floor test in undemocratic way by total misuse and abuse of his self-declared power, ignoring the well-established parliamentary procedures, in present situation, he added. He said the Speaker ought not to have conducted the voting process by forcibly evicting the members of all the opposition parties from the assembly, with support of the outside police force. A letter of the Assembly secretary was later purposely disclosed, as if he wrote the said letter to the Commissioner of Police permitting nine named police officials specifically to enter into the assembly premises, in watch and ward uniform to evict DMK members. This itself was sufficient to show the malafide action of the Speaker, that when the said police force were used, the Speaker was not in his seat, in such situation, the police cannot be used inside the assembly hall. More so, the said letter itself should be an after thought and should have created thereafter when the news broke out in the media that outsiders were allowed inside the house to illegally evict the members. All things have been pre-planned by the Speaker and the assembly secretary much earlier in connivance of the Chief Minister. In the use of such highhanded muscle power of the police, all DMK MLAs have sustained injuries. Hence, absolutely, the entire process was arbitrary, perverse, whimsical and capricious, liable for judicial review by this court, he added. He said he has submitted two representations to the Governor, requesting him to intervene in this issue, to nullify the illegal decision of the Speaker and to take appropriate action by exercising his Constitutional power. But, no action was taken so far, he added. With so much turmoil in Washington and around the country these days, its easy to get caught up in the crises of the moment. These are, indeed, worth our attention but so are longer-running developments that threaten the health of our representative democracy. I want to lay them out in one place, so that the most serious problems confronting our system dont slip from our attention. First, it has become very hard to make our system work. Our country is so large, so complex and, at the moment, so polarized and divided that its tough to make progress on the challenges that beset us. In more ways than not, Congress reflects the country that elected its members; all the contrary sentiments and manifold cross-currents that characterize our communities come to rest on Capitol Hill. Ideally, that is where they should be reconciled where discerning key facts, negotiating, and consensus-building lead to a common way forward. Congress has failed us repeatedly in this regard, but we need at least to recognize the magnitude of its challenge. Still, this does not excuse what I consider to be Congresss chief failing: in the face of difficult problems, it has become timid. Its members dont like to make hard choices. So they dont come close to living up to their responsibility to be a co-equal branch with the presidency. They may criticize the President, but they also defer to him to set the agenda and to make policy. From national security and foreign affairs to the nations mounting debt to entitlement reform to the long-term economic dislocation that has led so many Americans to feel forgotten, Congress has had little impact. Which is why its not surprising that we face a third long-term crisis: people have lost confidence in the institutions of government. This has been building for at least two generations, from the war in Vietnam and the turmoil it engendered back home, through Watergate, Iran-Contra, the war in Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, and the inability of Congress and presidents of both parties to enact comprehensive budgets and significant domestic reforms. Yet no matter how understandable this lack of trust might be, it is a serious problem for our government and for the democratic system it embodies. Restoring public confidence will take hard, sustained work, starting with high standards of conduct at all levels. Once public confidence is lost, it cant be regained through rhetoric, only through exemplary performance. But this wont happen unless we address the fourth challenge: our elections system needs thoroughgoing reform. At pretty much every level, its throwing democracy off-kilter. House districts have been gerrymandered to create so many safe seats that many members need only be responsive to their base. Our voting system is fragile and in disrepair, with its patchwork of procedures, obsolete machinery, and legislative attempts to limit access to the franchise in the name of ballot security. We need to ensure the fairness, integrity and efficiency of our voting infrastructure and procedures or risk undermining one of the cornerstones of our democracy. Which is also threatened by our fifth challenge: the powerful and pervasive influence of money on the political process. Our system is awash in money, which is spent to influence elections and gain favorable results. Many Americans feel money is what really runs Washington as opposed to the ideas and principles we were taught in civics class. Despite efforts at reform, the money problem is worse than ever too many Americans feel theyve become an afterthought in the political process. Yet if they have, its not just money thats to blame. My final concern is that too many of us have become disengaged from and indifferent to the political process. That may be changing at this particular moment, but as a historical trend, its unarguable. As citizens, we have to learn how to solve problems in a representative democracy. We have to learn to work with people who hold different views, forge common ground with them, and hold our representatives to account not alone for their political views, but for their ability to get things done. To make representative democracy work, we, as citizens, have to up our game, too. Chennai: Indian National League Party, a Muslim outfit, petitioned the city police, on Monday, to act against veteran actor Kamal Haasan accusing him of inciting violence against AIADMK legislators. The actor in his tweet on February 18 had extolled the twitterattis as follows: People of Tamizhnadu, Welcome your respective MLAs with the respect they deserve back home. The outfit stated Kamals remark would mislead the public and would lead to violence. It is illegal to incite violence by extolling people since the government of his choice was not formed by the democratically elected MLAs. The inflammatory remark can be used as a guise by anti-social elements to target the legislators and the actor should be held responsible for the same. The actor had two other tweets on the same day. Both tweets expressed his anguish over Edappadi K. Palanisami winning the trust vote in the Assembly that day. There you go. Seems like we have another CM. Jai de-mockcrazy, one of the tweets read. The other tweet appealed the public to direct their grievances (apparently over Palanisamis victory) to Rajbhavan@gmail.com. Chennai: DMK working president M.K. Stalin on Monday accused the state police of focusing on protection to the ruling party MLAs and suppressing the Opposition instead of concentrating on maintenance of law and order. The leader of Opposition who visited Ennore and met the parents of three-year-old girl child, who was murdered, said girl children are facing several atrocities under the AIADMK government. A girl was raped and murdered in Ariyalur and a 7-year-old girl was sexually assaulted and murdered in Porur, he said. But, the police guarded the ruling party MLAs in Koovathur resort, he said and alleged that the government had used police personnel to assault and throw away the DMK members in the Assembly. It is a shame that the police are not in a position to provide protection to women and maintain law and order, he said. When he was asked about the closure of 500 Tasmac shops announced by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palanisami, Stalin said let him sign any number of schemes, but he should prevent the rape and murder of girl children. Echoing the view of Stalin, CPI state secretary R. Muitharasan said the police had spent most of their time in giving protection to political leaders, ministers, MLAs and MPs, besides their offices and residences. A large number of police is needed to prevent the MLAs from indulging in violence inside the Assembly and to safeguard them from violence, he noted. Despite strong deployment of police were not able to protect Speaker P. Dhanapal, he said and added that several crimes are occurring while the parties are indulging in power struggle. The government should come forward to maintain law and order and ensure protection for people, Mutharasan said. Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Monday asked the TJAC to decide and inform the court on Tuesday if it was amenable to suggestions to postpone the proposed unemployment rally from February 22 to Sunday, February 26, and also to shift the venue. Justice A. Ramalingeswara Rao was hearing a petition by Telangana Vidhyavantula Vedika, one of the wings of the TJAC, represented by Prof. M. Kodandaram, seeking permission for the rally in the city. The judge asked B. Rachana Reddy, counsel for the petitioner, to get instructions from her client to the courts suggestions to postpone the rally to Sunday it would cause less inconvenience to the people. The judge told the petitioner not to allow ego take precedence and consider alternatives suggested by the court and the police. Ms Reddy submitted that the city police had rejected permission for the rally citing various reasons, including participation of extremists and law and order problems. She said denying permission would amount to suppression of democratic right of expression and speech. Citing various judgments of the Supreme Court, Ms Reddy said that reasonable restrictions on taking out a rally would be understandable, but the police was putting exclusionary conditions. She said that earlier rallies taken out by TJAC had been peaceful. TS advocate-general K. Ramakrishna Reddy, arguing on behalf of the police, submitted that the police had information that the TJAC was trying to mobilise large gathering, on the lines of recent Jallikattu agitation in Tamil Nadu. He told the court that the TJAC had initially sought permission for a gathering of 1,000 to 1,500 youth, but after applying for permission, TJAC activists have toured the state, covering 138 places, including universities and important colleges to mobilise a large number of people. He said several of earlier agitations by TJAC witnessed vandalism, arson and violence which led to destruction of public and private property, besides causing injuries to police personnel and large-scale inconvenience to the public. The A-G said that since the petitioner was not willing to specify the number of likely participants, there appeared to be an ulterior motive. He said the police had reliable information that organisations owing allegiance to Left wing extremists groups were supporting the proposed rally. Whenever such outfits had extended support to an agitation, they had infiltrated the agitating groups and created violence leading to use of force by the police, the A-G said. Besides, the route sought by the petitioners organisation -- from Sundaraiah Vignan Kendram of Baghlingampally to Indira Park via RTC Cross Roads -- is not a notified route and has high traffic density, the A-G said. He said it would be extremely difficult for the police to monitor public order all along the 3.1 km-long route. Indira Park is situated in the heart of the city and there are important establishments, educational institutions, Secretariat and Assembly in and around the Dharna Chowk at Indira Park which has a very limited capacity of 1,500 to 2,000 people and mobilising such huge crowds in the heart of the city will lead to chaos and affect public safety and security, the A-G said. He said that the police had advised the petitioner to choose either the open grounds near SS Convention of Shamshabad, Nagole Metro Rail, Miyapur, Abdullapurmet, Cherial village in Keesara mandal and open grounds at WALAMTARI of Rajendranagar to hold the public meeting without taking out a rally. Reacting to the arguments, Justice Ramalingeswara said that since Dharna Chowk was small as claimed by the police, the petitioner can look into the option of holding a public meeting at Nizam College Grounds and the NTR stadium could be for parking of vehicles of the participants, which can lessen the public inconvenience. The judge also suggested the police to look into the possibility of allowing the petitioner to hold the meeting at Nizam College Grounds. The judge pointed out that gathering of huge crowds in city during working days will certainly cause inconvenience to the public, if the rally is held on Sunday, it will have a lesser impact. Hyderabad: The TS Legislature Committee on Illegal Sale/ Occupation of Government Lands has directed the authorities to provide state-wide details on the extent of land under encroachments under various categories. Speaker S. Madhusudana Chary had constituted the House Committee during the course of debate in the TS Assembly in 2015 on alleged illegal buying of assigned lands for the hatcheries owned. According to BJP MLA N.V.S.S. Prabhakar, one of the members of the Committee, though the panel had sought details of government lands, officials have not provided any. However, according to a senior official working with House Committee, there are no records or information available with the Chief Commissioner of Land Administration or with any other agency of the government on the total extent of government land in the state, extent of assigned lands, Endowments lands and Bhoodhan lands. The Committee has asked officials to provide the total information on extend of land in these four categories. The officials response is that they are on the job, collecting information from the districts, said the official. Meanwhile, the Committee, after going through various aspects and chronological information on lands in Industrial Park, Rampur in Jangaon district, finally decided to visit the site on February 27 before submitting its recommendations to the Assembly Speaker. Hyderabad: The TRS on Monday lashed out at AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh and other Congress leaders for uncalled for criticism of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and the state government. The party also attacked TJAC chairman Prof. M. Kodandaram, accusing him of trying to whip up emotions among the youth and create disturbance in the name of rally against unemployment. Irrigation minister T Harish Rao, TRS MPs K. Kavitha and Malla Reddy, MLCs Palla Rajeswar Reddy, B. Venkateshwarulu and others targeted Congress and TJAC. Since the past fortnight, TJAC chairman Prof. Kodandaram, in the name of unemployment rally for youth is trying to whip up emotions and create disturbances. He is telling lies and spreading falsehoods. Anti-Telangana forces are behind him, Mr Rajeshwar Reddy alleged. Mr Harish Rao said Congress leaders were unable to understand what development is and are indulging in criticism. We are doing everything to help farmers in distress. We have purchased nine lakh quintals of red gram. People laugh at Digvijay Singhs comments, he said. The TRS MLC called Mr Digvijay Singh a faded leader and recalled he had once patted TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao and was now criticising him. Former Union minister Jaipal Reddy too has stooped to uncalled for criticism of TRS government. If they continue to level these kinds of allegations, they will not even get Opposition status in next polls, mr Venkateswarulu said. Kolkata: A Communist Party of India (Marxist) parliamentarian faced severe flak recently after a photograph of him possessing a Mont Blanc pen and an Apple watch went viral on social media. According to an NDTV report, Ritabrata Banerjee was photographed at a match between Mohun Bagan and East Bengal on February 12. Soon after, the photos surfaced on Facebook with the Mont Blanc pen and Apple watch encircled, questioning how a CPM MP can afford such expensive items. After the post went viral, the MP made things worse for him by tracking the uploader down and writing a mail to his employer. "An employee in your company is making hate speeches against me," he was quoted as writing. The MP also reportedly threatened a police complaint. The move has garnered further criticism for Banerjee on social media. He was even compared with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who had earlier sent a professor to jail for forwarding a satire cartoon about her. The CPM, for which austerity is a core value, has not commented yet. However, the party's Lok Sabha MP and Politburo member Md Salim was quoted as saying, "Social is a public platform where anyone can post any opinion; to threaten anyone for that is not acceptable. This is definitely not expected of a Left MP." The report also suggested that the issue might be discussed after the partys politburo meeting in Delhi. The party might also take action against the MP. When he approached the Indian Embassy in Qatar, the company forcibly sent him back to India in January 2017. Hyderabad: Vilasagarapu Satish, 30, is not able to walk, stand or relieve himself on his own and is bedridden most of the time. Satish, who belongs to Karimnagar district, suffered a serious injury on his back and fractured his ribs in an accident in Qatar in February 2016 where he was working as a helper. After the accident his employer Al-Mustal admitted him to hospital but did not pay for his treatment. When he approached the Indian Embassy in Qatar, the company forcibly sent him back to India in January 2017. After returning home, he is now going from one office to another for help as his finances does not allow him to go for treatment. He filed a complaint with the TS NRI Cell requesting action against the Qatar firm. Satish, hailing from Mylaram village in Karimnagar, was working as a farm labourer in his village. He is married to Kanakalakshmi and has two kids, Pranay, 10, and Sahitya, 8. When his son was around six years old he developed severe stomach pain. As he was not well off he had to borrow money for his sons treatment. A year later, the problem was diagnosed and the boy underwent surgery. This landed Satish in a debt of Rs 10 lakh. Satish decided to go abroad. He went to Qatar to work for Al-Mustal company for a salary of 1200 Riyals per month. Things went well for one and a half months. After that he was handed over to company named QTA. One day while working in the main lift on the third floor there was a jolt. I got stuck between the lift and the wall and suffered injuries on the back and fractured my ribs. I had surgery, and they placed four steel rods in my back which I should carry for a lifetime, Satish said. He was admitted to hospital and survived with the help of Indians. After discharge, he approached the Indian embassy in Qatar and complained against his company. Coming to know this they forcibly sent me back to India without clearing my salary claims. I also filed a case in a local court. I am now unable to pay for my treatment, he said. Satishs wife is now working as a labourer and his children are studying in local government schools. Chennai: The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) on Monday approached the Madras High Court demanding that Chief Minister E.K. Palanisamy's trust vote in the State Assembly be declared null and void. The Madras High Court is set to hear the petition against the Chief Minister on Tuesday. Earlier, DMK working president MK Stalin also announced that his party would launch a state-wide hunger strike to protest against the "illegal" trust vote. AIADMK's Palanisamy won a dramatic floor test two days ago, with the speaker throwing out opposition DMK members for violence and Congress legislators walking out of the House. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Governor Vidyasagar Rao has sought a detailed report on the happenings in the state Assembly on the day of trust vote on Saturday. The development comes in the backdrop of the ruckus in the House before the voting on the confidence motion moved by chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswamy in which opposition DMK MLAs were evicted en masse and the Congress and the Indian Union Muslim League members staged a walk out. Earlier, a team of DMK leaders led by Rajya Sabha member Trichy Siva met Governor at Raj Bhavan and submitted a memorandum seeking to nullify the trust vote saying it was held in contravention of House rules. Former chief minister and leader of the rival faction in the AIADMK O Panneerselvam also met the Governor and sought rejection of the trust vote. In the confidence motion held on Saturday, the Edappadi Palaniswamy cabinet won by 122 votes in favour and 11 against. Mr Palaniswamy is considered a loyalist of VK Sasikala, a former aide of J Jayalalithaa. Ms Sasikala is now serving a four year jail term in the Bengaluru prison after her conviction in a disproportionate assets case. Allahabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday exuded confidence that the BJP-Apna Dal alliance would form the next government in Uttar Pradesh while the ruling Samajwadi Party, the Congress and the BSP were "merely trying to salvage their face." Addressing a rally in Andhawa, 40 km from the city, Modi also mocked at the SP-Congress alliance, recalling the "27 saal, UP behaal.." slogan saying that "those who were lamenting about the state's plight have ended up joining hands with the ones who they blamed for the current state of affairs." Seeking to strike a personal rapport, the Prime Minister said, "I am a Member of Parliament from UP but all my efforts to serve the state have been negated by the SP government." In a region having a substantial Kurmi population, Modi referred to its ally Apna Dal more than twice and signed off his 45-minute speech saying "the country would have been different, had Sardar Patel been its first Prime Minister." New Delhi: The Congress on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of vitiating the atmosphere in Uttar Pradesh to polarise the society and asked the Election Commission to take appropriate action. Congress' senior spokesperson Anand Sharma told reporters here that Modi has been making objectionable remarks at election rallies and his statement on Sunday that if there was a 'kabaristaan' (graveyard), there should be a 'shamshaan' (cremation ground) too was aimed at creating polarisation. "Our Constitution does not allow anyone to divide the nation, be it on caste or religion basis. The Prime Minister is not above the Constitution or the law. We expect the Election Commission to take appropriate action on this," he said. He said that the Election Commission has given strict directions not to evoke passion and divide the society on the basis of religion or caste, and it is expected of the EC that it issues a notice to the Prime Minister and the BJP. The Congress leader said the Prime Minister was making such statements as his party was staring at an imminent defeat in the state. "In doing do, he is disrespecting the Constitution and violating the oath of his office," he said. Sharma accused the BJP of polarising the society to reap political benefits. "They wear masks and in a hurry, this mask seems to have fallen. Prime Minister Modi, true to his form, is vitiating the atmosphere during another election time. He has tried to stir communal tension and to polarise the society. The Prime Minister's speech where he spoke of graveyards and crematoriums shows his mindset," he said. Asked if the Congress would take it up with the poll body, Sharma said, "The Election Commission should do its own work. It has a Constitutional mandate... The Election Commission had said earlier that it would not allow such kind of campaign, which is divisive." Addressing an election rally in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday, Modi had said there should be "no discrimination on the basis of caste and religion". "If there is electricity during Ramzan, it must also be available during Diwali, there should be no discrimination," he had said. Modi also said if there was a 'kabaristaan' (graveyard), there should be a 'shamshaan' (cremation ground) too. The Congress leader said the Prime Minister, instead of creating division among people, should tell them how many of his promises he has fulfilled. "He should actually reflect and go in for atonement and course correction, which he won't as he is arrogant," Sharma said. Chennai: DMK on Monday said it would soon move a no-confidence motion against Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal as it accused him of "deliberately harping on his community to malign" the party. Addressing a press conference here, DMK working president and leader of opposition in the Assembly M K Stalin indicated at a possible trial of strength for the AIADMK government, which only on Saturday won the trust vote by a 122-11 margin. Stalin was responding to Dhanapal's charge that he was perhaps targeted by the DMK on Saturday during the ruckus for hailing from a particular community after the confidence vote faced by Chief Minister E K Palanisamy. "When we see that the Speaker is deliberately harping on his community to malign us, it is very regrettable. It is a matter of shame, according to us, for Tamil Nadu," Stalin said. "Therefore we will move a no-confidence motion (against Dhanapal). Signatures of 34 of our MLAs are enough for that and the (Assembly) rules mandate that it (motion) should be taken up within 15 days. On that basis, we will be soon giving it," he added. DMK has 89 MLAs in the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly. On Saturday, amidst chaotic scenes involving DMK which eventually led to the eviction of its members en masse, the Palaniswami government won the trust vote by the huge margin. The 11 votes were cast by rebel AIADMK leader and former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and his supporters. DMK and Panneerselvam camp had pressed for a secret ballot on the motion of confidence, but it was rejected by the Speaker. Stalin repeatedly claimed Palaniswami would have lost the trust vote if secret voting was held or if the floor test was conducted a week later, the two demands put forth by the opposition party and rejected outright by the Speaker. He also denied any wrongdoing by his party MLAs as alleged by Dhanapal and said while he had expressed regret with the Speaker in person at his chamber, he was even ready to apologise if there was any mistake on the part of his colleagues. Asked about the visuals purportedly showing his MLAs creating a ruckus, Stalin shot back saying "the video is in government control and so they can edit accordingly." "That's why we have been stressing for a live broadcast of the Assembly proceedings," he said, refuting the charge of violence by his party legislators. Staling asserted that DMK members only protested "peacefully". Asked if he was "injured" following the eviction, he said he was feeling some internal pain, especially in the shoulder, and that he would go for a scan to determine the nature of it. Steadfastly opposing the 'benami government' headed by Palaniswami, indicating that jailed AIADMK chief V K Sasikala was pulling the strings, Stalin said it lacked people's support. He sought the support of people, youth and like-minded citizens to back the DMK in its struggle against the government and to ensure its removal, a plea he had made earlier. The party's 'hunger strike' on February 22, in which seniors including himself would be participating across the state, is the first step in this direction, he added. On Sasikala taking a vow at the memorial of late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa before going to jail last week, he said it seemed to be an expression of her "anger and anguish" as she was on the verge of becoming Chief Minister but could not do so because of her getting convicted in the assets case. Stalin refused to comment on her nephew TTV Dinakaran's elevation as AIADMK deputy general secretary, saying it was that party's internal affair. Stalin recalled the political events since the hospitalisation of Jayalalithaa in September last and once again pointed out that ministers never issued any bulletin on her health status unlike the times of the late CMs CN Annadurai or M G Ramachandran. "There are a lot of mysteries around Jayalalithaa's death," he said. New Delhi: Samajwadi Party spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary courted controversy by branding Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah as 'terrorists', adding that they are spreading fear and trying to mislead voters in Uttar Pradesh to gather support for the party. Speaking to the press on Sunday, Chaudhary stated that misleading voters is a political crime, a crime which is being committed by Shah and Prime Minister Modi, adding that the two 'magicians' from Gujarat are trying their level best to change the face of politics in UP. "The people of UP will not disrespect politics at any cost. Nobody should take UP voters for granted; they know everything about politics," claimed Chaudhary. The UP assembly polls has turned into a battleground of words, added Chaudhary, further claiming that the State has seen a wave of development under Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, adding that Prime Minister Modi's blame-game has no base. "Our Prime Minister feels that holding a top position nationally has a lot of impact on states. This is not true. I feel he has no regrets in lying," added Chaudhary. Speaking of communal harmony, Chaudhary assured that UP is a state which has always been free from religious divide, adding that the public is well aware of BJP's agenda. "UP locals very well understand the BJP ideology and will not fall for it. There is no place for Hindu-Muslim clashes in UP," explained Chaudhary, adding that it would be a miracle if BJP gets even a few seats in the assembly. Results of the assembly polls will be declared on March 11, 2017. To this effect, Chaudhary questioned Prime Minister Modi on his intentions post this. "If BJP does not win, I would like to know if Prime Minister Modi will step down from his position," concluded Chaudhary. Earlier today, the Congress decided to file a complaint against Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his controversial remarks made during his rally in Fatehpur district in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday. The secretary of the Legal and Human Rights Department of the Congress party K.C. Mittal confirmed the development to ANI, stating that a complaint will be filed over the Prime Minister's 'deplorable' statement during his address. Bhopal: Yoga guru Baba Ramdev on Monday said he was not yet disillusioned with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he has two more years to work on the issues he had promised to resolve during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. He ruled out the possibility of forming a new political outfit. "Everything in the world is based on faith and trust. The action against black money has been taken in the country and the government needs to adopt an effective mechanism to repatriate the black money stashed in other countries. It is peoples' money," Ramdev told reporters. He was in Bhopal en route to Alirajpur where he will take part in ongoing "Namami Devi Narmade -Sewa Yatra" campaign to spread awareness about conservation of the river. "I am not yet disillusioned with the prime minister. Modi enjoys a track record of keeping promises. About three years of his government have been completed and two more years are remaining, he said responding to a query. The post of Prime Minister is very powerful and he can fulfil huge expectations of the people in two years," he further added. However, Ramdev also said he was "impartial and neutral" and he would even welcome the Congress if it seeks help in any work concerning the national interests. The seer recalled how Modi, then the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP, had promised him to change the system and eradicate corruption and black money. "There was a political crisis and a widespread scepticism prevailing in the country during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. In such a situation, Modi had said he was agreed with the issues raised by me and promised to change the system, fight against corruption and eliminate black money. I believed in him and supported him in the polls," he added. Ramdev, however, refused to comment on the outcome of the ongoing Assembly polls, especially in high-stake Uttar Pradesh. "I am impartial and neutral. I am neither in favour of anyone nor in opposition," he said. Jalaun: Hitting campaign trail in water scarce Bundelkhand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today blamed SP, BSP and Congress for backwardness of the region and promised to transform it like Kutch in Gujarat. Mineral-rich Bundelkhand, he said, can change the "fate" of Uttar Pradesh and satellites can help keep a check on illegal mining. "SP and BSP have ignored Bundelkhand over the years and these elections are crucial for Bundelkhand...it has to decide whether it has to get rid of SP-BSP," Modi said at an election rally in Orai region of Jalaun in Bundelkhand region. "In five years, we will transform Bundelkhand, which has not seen any development in the last 70 years...mineral-rich Bundelkhand can change the fate of Uttar Pradesh, illegal mining has to be stopped and the satellite launched by India can be used to check the clandestine activities," Modi said. BJP has promised that if voted to power, an autonomous development board will be set up for the region and its working will be monitored on a weekly basis, he said. Explaining his vision for the region, Modi cited the example of Kutch district of Gujarat. "Some believe nothing can be done in Bundelkhand...it can be made No.1 in the state...there is Kutch district in Gujarat ...20 years ago if any government staff was posted there, it was considered 'kala pani' (Andaman's Cellular Jail)," he said. The Prime Minister said population was dwindling there with no farming and water and people were migrating in search of greener pastures. "But after the earthquake there, we stared working on it and today it is the most developing district in the country. This can be done here too if the intention is right and if one has the resolve," he stressed. The prime minister also said, "If Bundelkhand has to flourish, it will need two engines to pull it out of the mess -- the BJP government in UP and at the Centre." On the law and order front, the prime minister charged that police stations were converted into SP and BSP offices during their governments and musclemen grabbed land of the poor and innocent people. "It is BJP's promise that a campaign will be started if its government comes to power in the state and a special cell will also be set up and all such encroached land will be returned to rightful owners and the grabbers be sent behind bars," he said, adding those involved in illegal mining will also face stern action. He pulled up the government for the state of primary education in UP and said it does not figure in the list of first 20 states in admissions in primary schools and similarly the state is nowhere among the first 20 states as far as per capita income is concerned. The main reason is corruption and bad governance. Stressing that the first three phases of polling has made it clear that BJP is coming to power with full majority, Modi stressed that migration needed to be stopped and youth should get jobs in Bundelkhand. Recalling that Rajiv Gandhi had inaugurated a glass factory in Chitrakoot, he said even after passage of 30 years the factory or employment is nowhere in sight. "Will you trust such people," he asked. Flaying the SP, BSP and Congress governments for "failing to even provide water to the region", he said a massive exercise of interlinking Ken-Betwa rivers has been undertaken. Hubballi: Lambasting State BJP president B.S. Yeddyurappa for the allegation that he had given kickbacks to the Congress high command to remain in his post, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said he will expose all those who try to hatch a conspiracy against him. Addressing the media during inauguration of various development works in Haveri and Dharwad districts on Sunday, Mr Siddaramaiah claimed that there is not a single case lodged against him during his Chief Minister tenure of nearly four years and he is leading a life based on the principles of Dr Ambedkar. Stating that the habit of levelling false allegations is inborn in BJP leaders, he said they have been trained in this regard by the RSS. Reacting to the agitation being launched by Bharatiya Janata Party leaders over alleged kickbacks paid to central Congress leaders, Siddaramaiah said the Congress is ready to stage a counter-protest. Several cases of corruption are lodged against the former Chief Minister of the Bharatiya Janata Party. But, I am not facing any complaint. Yeddyurappa has not yet released any dairy to support his charge on payment of `1,000 crore kickback to Congress leaders, Siddaramaiah said. Asserting that he is pro-Ahinda, the Chief Minister said power and wealth should be equally distributed among all sections of society. Urging the Union government to waive loans taken by farmers from nationalized banks, he claimed that he did not get any response from Prime Minister Narendra Modi despite several appeals made to him. He stated that his government is ready to waive farmer loans taken from co-operative societies if the Centre fulfills its demand. The Chief Minister said that the decision to restore conservation reserve status of Kappattagudda forest will be taken at a meeting of Karnataka Wildlife Board on Monday. New Delhi: Union information and broadcasting minister M. Venkaiah Naidu on Monday attacked Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav for his alleged remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also castigated Akhilesh for his gadha remark against Gujarat BJP leaders and said that the UP CM is disturbed and hence is making such derogatory statements. Mr Naidu alleged that the new Samajwadi Party chief had done noting to improve the condition of bimaru UP and had in fact turned over the cycle (SPs electoral symbol) to the Congress. In fact, it is due to the fear of losing that the UP CM is attacking the PM and the BJP chief, he said. Also targeting the SP over its alliance with the Congress, Mr Naidu stated that the sole reason that this tie up happened as they are not confident of winning. On the repeated jibe that Mr Modi was an outsider for Uttar Pradesh, Mr Naidu said, Gujarat is in India not in Italy as far as I know. Mr Naidu alleged that the SP has not done anything to help common people. The state lives under a constant fear and a situation of lawlessness and goondaraaj prevails, he added. By winning his Pariwar war Mr Akhilesh seems to believe that he has already won the Assembly polls, he said. The fate of the Samajwadi Party and the entire opposition will be sealed on the evening of March 8 and the BJP is set to emerge victorious, he said. The I&B minister also did not find anything wrong with the PMs comments at an election rally on Sunday in which he had said, Agar Ramzan mein bijli aati hai, to Diwali me bhi aani chahiye, bhedbhav nahi hona chahiye (If there is electricity during Ramzan, it must also be available during Diwali, there should be no discrimination). Is demanding power for all without any discrimination wrong, Naidu asked. A series of unfortunate events is fast propelling Afghanistan towards yet another flashpoint. This time, conflicting global interests, uninhibited foreign intervention and a worsening humanitarian crisis could combine to tear Afghanistan apart and open up a maelstrom populated by terrorists, heroin kings and death-dealing warlords. The bells started tolling ever since Pakistan Army guns and rockets opened up along Afghanistans eastern borders over the weekend. As the shelling commenced, in an apparent retaliation to the terrorist carnage at a Sufi shrine in Pakistan, thousands of Afghans fled their homes, leaving uncounted dead behind. Despite repeated warnings from the feeble government in Kabul, the Pakistan Army has continued its shelling into eastern Afghanistan and claimed it had a right to retaliate given Kabuls refusal to act against the terrorists and their foreign masterminds who had carried out the shrine attack. Islamabad also closed the crucial Torkham and Spin Boldak border ports and summoned the Afghan ambassador, who was handed a list of 76 terrorists to target. Pakistan Army chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa threatened military action against the terrorists in Afghan territory, prompting Kabul to declare that no country and no power will be allowed to intervene militarily in Afghanistan. The gathering war clouds are only one part of the gloomy portents. Already, 2017 has been a year of utter mayhem. Horrendous terrorist attacks and the forcible repatriation of thousands of Afghan refugees from Pakistan has made life even worse for Afghanistans suffering millions. In January, a Taliban bomb attack in Kandahar left 11 people, including five diplomats from the United Arab Emirates, dead. The UAE ambassador, injured in that blast, succumbed to his wounds last week. A few days later in the same province, the Taliban gunned down 43 Afghans, including 16 police officers. This month, at least 22 people were killed and 41 wounded in a suicide blast at Afghanistans Supreme Court in Kabul. The fingers all pointed towards Pakistan but the only response Kabul received were denials. Things will get worse this year. A spokesperson for the US-led Resolute Support (RS) mission in Afghanistan last week warned that the war will intensify next fighting season as the Taliban have already started preparing for it. The RS mission believes that 20 out of 98 world terrorist groups are active along the Afghanistan-Pakistan de facto border. Afghan security experts believe Daesh, as the Islamic State is often referred to, will increasingly infiltrate Afghanistan since they are on the verge of being defeated in Syria and Iraq. Pakistan also will provide more support for Taliban to intensify the war in Afghanistan. Four factors are set to complicate matters in Afghanistan, the first of which is increased Pakistani support for the Taliban. As terrorist incidents rise within Pakistan and the Pakistan Army, the guardian of the nation, fails to stop it, there will be increased pressure on Rawalpindi to bring about a quick and decisive resolution of the lingering Afghan problem. The Pakistan Armys only Afghanistan card is the Taliban, which could now be used with greater efficacy given the new dynamics with Russia and increased desperation in Washington. Pakistans decades long effort to legitimise the Taliban received a boost following Russia, China and Irans formal recognition of the Taliban as a party in the Afghan dispute. The Taliban, in turn, supported the trilateral meeting in Moscow between Russia, Pakistan and China, where the three nations agreed to negotiate with the Taliban leadership, which desperately wants to clear itself from the United Nations sanctions list. Recent Russian manoeuvres cosying up to Pakistan and the Taliban could completely upset regional equations. While Moscow claims that accommodation with the Taliban is necessary to counter the rise of Daesh, which could threaten Central Asia and southern Russia, its real motive is to challenge Washingtons writ in the region. At the same time, uncertainties in Washington arising out of President Donald Trumps lack of clarity on Afghanistan and his larger policy aimed at distancing the United States from myriad global crises could further undermine the Kabul regime. It is also far from clear how the Trump administration will deal with Moscows bid to rope in the Taliban, Pakistan, Iran and China to create a powerful, new lobby for Afghanistan. Rahmatullah Nabil, former head of the National Directorate of Security, recently claimed that Pakistan has stepped up its intervention within Afghanistan to show the world, and the US in particular, that it has legitimate security concerns vis-a-vis that country. Nabil claimed that Rawalpindi is trying to show that it is itself vulnerable to terrorist attacks even while it continues to train, arm and fund terrorist groups for its own ends. The Afghan situation is all the more fragile given the ineffectual leadership provided by its President, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai. President Ghani had initially cold-shouldered New Delhi, assuming that such a stance would please the generals in Rawalpindi. That this was naivete in the extreme was proved by the continuing Taliban assaults on regime forces and, in the end, the stream of reports implicating Pakistans generals in the mounting conflict compelled President Ghani to dump his pro-Pakistan policy and reach out to New Delhi. But India is constrained by geography and geopolitical equations even though a flashpoint in Afghanistan cannot but be bad news for India. The Afghan vortex is too near home; it will invariably suck in world powers, render them more proactive and trigger a series of events that could perhaps forever destroy peace in the region. And the pity of it all is that Pakistan, whose unrelenting quest for regional domination has spawned the Afghan tragedy, would once again be cajoled, bribed and rewarded by world powers seeking its assistance in defusing the latest crisis. Some recent events indicate how unsafe India has become for women. An actress was abducted in her car and molested and raped by a gang of men while her luxury vehicle was driven around a couple of hours. A woman seeking a lift in an upmarket New Delhi locality was taken to a park and raped. An air hostess was molested in public view on a busy Bengaluru road while very young children were victims of rape and murder in Chennai. All this in just the past few days is a dire warning all over again that no female is immune from being defiled by this national disease, be the victim a famous actresses or a working woman, while housewives and children are becoming silent victims of this horror. The 2012 Nirbhaya case highlighted the bestiality of man and woke us from our slumber on how much we had regressed as a society, which cannot guarantee the safety of women at home, at work, in taxis or in public places. The laws were tightened after the Justice Verma panel painstakingly went through the process of drafting the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2013, on amendment of major codes on sexual offences laws. Courts were told to fast track cases and many started delivering exemplary punishment to offenders. The legal process has, however, tended to slow after the initial vigour and it appears we are back to square one, with the government still talking of bringing a bill to speed up trials. The Nirbhaya fund, created to support measures for womens safety, doesnt seem to have reached the intended beneficiaries. The Supreme Court was told this month that the money allocated was hardly being utilised to aid victims, or for witness protection or crisis centres. There seems an attitudinal problem in dealing with this major menace of assaults on women that has given India a very poor image abroad. While our male-dominated society seems to offer only lip sympathy to victims, what is truly surprising about a couple of incidents in Kerala, including one where a law student was raped and killed, is that these crimes took place in what is still largely a matriarchal society. Beyond everything, we are being challenged by this civilisational problem of relationships with women, where the fairer sex is treated as the weaker half. Womens empowerment has been talked about for a long time, but sadly, if the streets are still not safe for them, it reflects badly on the Indian male as a whole. While some women are bold enough to come out and complain, many endure such assaults as over 90 per cent of sexual crimes are committed by a person close to the victim. That again is an indictment of the Indian male. It was rainy and foggy in New Delhi, with overcast skies alternating with bright sunshine in other parts of the country. The traditional enthusiasm and pride were still there among the spectators, but this time around so too was an undercurrent of dissatisfaction and unease at the state of the nation, somewhat disturbing on the nations 68th Republic Day. The ever-magnificent spectacle of the parade was beamed countrywide from Rajpath. This time a military marching contingent from the UAE led the spectacular show, which also featured weapons systems Made in India, the Dhanush a 155- millimetre medium gun and the Tejas light fighter aircraft, taking to the skies on public display for the very first time. The dull grey weather reflected the mood of the nation on other issues as well, morose and irritated with the hypocrisy and chicanery rampant amongst the political classes of the country, and demonstrated on an almost daily basis on almost any and every matter, ranging from civil disturbances whipped up against a Supreme Court ruling banning the traditional animal-baiting sport of Jalikattu; mob violence and police firing at a rural electrification project being undertaken by the Power Grid Corporation; vandalism in a hospital by gangs of politically-connected street lumpen; and the sorry spectacle of a sordid, multicornered political steeplechase to select an acceptable replacement for the deceased chief minister of a state, bogged down in a morass of utter legislative anarchy. The instances of public folly across the country seemed to be unending. Superimposed on all this, the demon of demonetisation played its own role in raising the collective blood pressure, while elsewhere, an admonition in unvarnished words by the Chief of Army Staff speaking to reporters at the multiple funerals of an officer and three rank and file killed during encounters with militants in Kulgam, Badgam and Shopian districts in Kashmir, warning wrongdoers of the possible consequences of their folly should they continue to provide crowd cover to militants attempting to escape from Army patrols on their trail. His blunt remarks touched off a cacophony of indignation by Indias human rights circus, their chorus in tandem with the remarks of separatist proxy soldiers of Pakistan hiding within the woodwork of the Hurriyat and other political syndicates operating in the Kashmir Valley. By contrast, few in India really noted the harsh tone and tenor of the Pakistani Army Chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa after an explosion at the tomb of the Sufi saint Lal Shahbaz Qalandar at Sehwan in Sindh, which killed 80 worshippers and for which the Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility. A message from the Inter-Services Public Relations of that country was immediately issued Each drop of Pakistani blood shall be revenged [sic], and revenged immediately. No mercy to anyone. India is not Pakistan, but the core of the message from the Chief of the Indian Army, though immeasurably more moderate , was essentially the same the Indian Army has a task to perform in Kashmir and shall carry it out. Those who bear ill will towards this country and interfere in any way with the operations of the Army should be prepared for whatever consequences that they would call down upon themselves. It is a fair warning. Indeed even as the COAS was speaking to the Indian media, buglers in the brilliant crimson turbans of the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry, played the poignant notes of the Last Post at the military ceremonial. All in all, the mood of the nation on Republic Day was mixed. There was something for every palate, pure spectator sport, the Great Indian Tamasha, so dear to the Indian heart, as in the electoral drama being played out in various states as they go to the polls for Assembly elections this year. But behind the tumult and the shouting at the hustings, the hydra-headed guardians of the Indian State have to remain eternally vigilant, prepared to simultaneously strike in multiple directions. Kashmir is witnessing an uptick in militant and criminal activity, as in the recent spate of bank robberies in the Valley; in the North East NagaMeitei conflict is again brewing in Manipur, a corner of India which is truly forgotten; and the Chhattisgarh-Andhra Pradesh-Odisha region, a perennial inflammation in the innermost guts of the country. Tension of any kind in the southern India is always cause for apprehension memories of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) remain branded permanently into the national consciousness. Perhaps as a result, various investigative and intelligence departments of various state police forces have become semi-permanent participants in almost every criminal investigation in the country, a plethora of which are operating across the country as Special Investigation Teams (SITs), or Anti-Terrorist Squads (ATS). The same villages in the Kashmir Valley that produce radically-indoctrinated militants are also home to the hardy Gujjar and Bakarwal soldiers of the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry who serve in the Indian Army with bravery and distinction on the Siachen Glacier and in Kargil. Surely this distinguished regiment highlights another of the paradoxes of Kashmir, and may possibly even indicate a way forward? Employment troubles in most leading nations are on a rise. Imagine having to save your jobs from robots in this scenario. A chinese factory in Dongguan City recently replaced 90 per cent of its human workforce with machines. According to a report published Next Shark, the Changying Precision Technology Company which focuses on the production of mobile phones and automated production lines used to employ around 650 employees. However, in a recent turn of events, the factory has replaced approximately 90 per cent of its human workforce with machines, thereby employing a total of 60 people. This has not caused any negative impact on the factory. In fact, the factory is now producing more equipment (250 per cent increase) and is also ensuring better quality. According to Luo Weiqiang, general manager of the factory, the number of people employed could drop to just 20, and given the level of efficiency achieved by automation, it wont be long before other factories follow in their footsteps. The company has undertaken a robot replace human program and the president of the company Chen Qixing envisions that in the next two years, the number of robots will be increased to 1,000 and 80 per cent process will be conducted by robots. The latest move can be observed as a threat to the human employment. Oxford University and the Oxford Martin School conducted a joint study recently which suggested that 47 per cent of jobs in US are at risk of being automated in the next 20 years. This is not limited to just factory jobs. Robotics and artificial intelligence have the ability to take over a variety of other tasks. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. At least 160,000 people flooded the streets of Barcelona on Saturday to urge the Spanish government to fulfill its promise to take in refugees from Syria and other war zones. Under an agreement adopted 18 months ago by EU states, Spain should have taken in 17,000 people fleeing conflict, but so far has accepted just over 700. The organizers said up to 300,000 people took part in the demonstration. Massimiliano Minocri Representatives from all political parties, except the conservative Popular Party, along with labor unions, civic organizations, as well as journalists and leading figures from the arts, took part in the march, as well as Barcelonas mayor, Ada Colau. The Archbishop of Barcelona, Joan Josep Omella, released a statement lending his support. Barcelona is once again not just the capital of Catalonia, but of solidarity, commitment and the defense of human rights and peace, said Colau. The people have spoken until now the politicians have only done so to justify themselves Oscar Camps, Proactiva Open Arms Enough excuses, lets take them in now, read a banner carried by a group of refugees who led the march. The people have spoken today, until now the politicians have only done so to justify themselves, said Oscar Camps, the head of Proactiva Open Arms, a Barcelona-based NGO that helps rescue migrants at sea. The organizers said up to 300,000 took part in the march, which ended on Barcelonas seafront. This was the biggest demonstration in Europe in support of refugees, said Ruben Wagensberg, one of the organizers, pointing out that more than 100 people had disappeared in the Mediterranean during the course of the march. At least 5,000 people are known to have drowned trying to cross the Mediterranean last year, while 215 have disappeared so far this year. Wagensberg called on the European Union to sanction states that do not meet their commitments to take in refugees, like Spain. According to the European Commissions latest data, at the beginning of February, EU members states had shared out just 7% of the 160,000 asylum requests made from Italy and Greece. The organizers of the march met with Carles Puigdemont, Catalonias regional premier on Saturday to call for a grand social pact to support taking in refugees. But Wagensberg said despite widespread consensus in Catalonia, the regions government and local councils still have a lot of work to do to make Catalonia a truly welcoming place for refugees. English version by Nick Lyne. Google and Microsoft have reportedly agreed to a new code of conduct that is designed to prevent piracy of content online. The companies, as reported by The Telegraph, have signed up to a crackdown on internet piracy. This is a result of months of negotiations between Intellectual Property Office (IPO), the tech companies and TV, film and music industries. The companies together, have made a commitment to stop search engines from driving traffic to illegal websites. Under the code signed by the two companies, both Google and Microsofts Bing must relegate websites that have been served with copyright infringement notices. This way, the pages wont appear on the first page for common searches. All throughout, the IPO will be monitoring how Google and Bing act over a span of the next few months. Matt Hancock, the minister for digital and culture, said: "We are one of the world's leading digital nations, and we have a responsibility to make sure that consumers have easy access to legal content online. Pirate sites deprive artists and rights holders of hard-earned income and I'm delighted to see industry led solutions like this landmark agreement which will be instrumental in driving change. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Apples iOS 10 already offers users with facial recognition software for photos. However, it appears as if the Cupertino tech-giant is planning on adding the facial recognition feature as an authentication tool. The company has reportedly acquired Israeli face recognition start-up called RealFace earlier this week. According to a report published by Calcalist, this is the fourth acquisition made by Apple in Israel. The company will pay millions of dollars for start-up, to develop technology that replaces passwords with a facial recognition tool, the report read. Apple hasnt confirmed the news yet. However, Start-up Nation Central (database for Israeli tech companies) suggests that Apple acquired RealFace earlier this month. Back in December 2011, Apple acquired the Herzliya-based Anobit a company that develops chip that specialises in optimising flash memory using a unique technology for signal processing for $400 million. After which, the company acquired a start-up called Friimsns in November 2013 for $345 million. Friimsns is known to develop a system that translates body motions into instructions. The third acquisition of Apple was of camera manufacturing company Lynx. Several reports in the past have suggested that the upcoming iPhone 8 could come equipped with an embedded iris scanner that would let users unlock the device just by looking at it. Hence, there is a high possibility that Apple might just use RealFaces technology as an alternative feature in the 2017 iPhone. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. The pricing details of any these upgraded smartphones is not confirmed yet. Samsung is planning to launch updated Galaxy A series models of A7, A5 and A3 smartphones in India in the upcoming weeks, a report by pricebaba claimed. In a bid to accelerate mid-segment segment, Samsung will revamp all these year-old models to release in India. To recall, Samsung Galaxy A3 features a 4.7-inch display, powered by Exynos 7870, has 2GB RAM, 16GB memory storage, 13MP rear and 8MP front camera, 2350mAh battery, and operates on Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Samsung Galaxy A5 features a 5.2-inch full HD display, powered by Exynos 7880, 3GB RAM, 32GB memory storage, 16MP rear and front camera, 3000mAh battery, and operates on Android 6.0 Marshmallow Samsung Galaxy A7 features a 5.7-inch full HD display, powered by Exynos 7880, 3GB RAM, 32GB memory storage, 16MP rear and front camera, 3600mAh battery, and operates on Android 6.0 Marshmallow The pricing details of any these upgraded smartphones is not yet confirmed. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Helsinki: Swedes have been scratching their heads and ridiculing President Donald Trump's remarks that suggested a major incident had happened in the Scandinavian country. The American president now says he was referring to something he saw on television. During a rally in Florida on Saturday, Trump said "look what's happening last night in Sweden" as he alluded to past terror attacks in Europe. It wasn't clear what he was referring to and there were no high-profile situations reported in Sweden on Friday night. The comment prompted a barrage of social media reaction on Sunday, with hundreds of tweets, and a local newspaper published a list of events that happened on Friday that appeared to have no connections to any terror-like activity. On Sunday, Trump took to Twitter to explain: "My statement as to what's happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden." A White House spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, says that Trump was talking about rising crime and recent incidents in general, not referring to a specific issue. The president may be referring to a segment aired Friday night on the Fox News Channel show "Tucker Carlson Tonight" that reported Sweden had accepted more than 160,000 asylum-seekers last year but that only 500 of the migrants had found jobs in Sweden. The report, which was illustrated with video of broken windows and fires, went on to say that a surge in gun violence and rape had followed the influx of immigrants. Reacting to Trump's original remarks, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Catarina Axelsson said that the government wasn't aware of any "terror-linked major incidents." Sweden's Security Police said it had no reason to change the terror threat level. "Nothing has occurred which would cause us to raise that level," agency spokesman Karl Melin said. Former Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt tweeted , "Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking? Questions abound." Addressing Trump in an article on Sunday, the Aftonbladet tabloid wrote, "This happened in Sweden Friday night, Mr President," and then listed in English some events that included a man being treated for severe burns, an avalanche warning and police chasing a drunken driver. One Twitter user said, "After the terrible events #lastnightinSweden, IKEA have sold out of this" and posted a mock Ikea instruction manual on how to build a "Border Wall." Sweden, which has a long reputation for welcoming refugees and migrants, had a record 163,000 asylum applications in 2015. The country has since cut back on the number it annually accepts. Its most recent attack linked to extremism happened in the capital, Stockholm, in December 2010. An Iraqi-born Swede detonated two explosive devices, including one that killed him but no one else. In the month he has been president, Trump's remarks and those of his staff have fueled numerous news media "fact checks" pointing out inaccuracies and falsehoods. On the subject of terrorism, Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway referred to a "Bowling Green Massacre" that never occurred. Former foreign minister Bildt told Swedish Radio after his initial confounded tweet Sunday that he sees danger in how Trump relates to facts. "If we are in a situation where there is tension in the world, we stand between war and peace," he said. "If we then have a president who spreads lots of false rumors, it can be truly dangerous." Baghdad: The United States is not about to plunder Iraq's petroleum reserves, said US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, who arrived in Baghdad on Monday, said as he sought to soothe partners rattled by President Donald Trump. During his campaigns and since his election, Trump said that Americas troops have been in Iraq for eight years and should have grabbed Iraqi oil to fund its war effort. This would also deprive the Islamic State group of a vital revenue source. But Mattis, a retired Marine general who commanded troops during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, appeared to reject the idea. "All of us in America have generally paid for gas and oil all along, and I am sure that we will continue to do so in the future," Mattis told reporters at the start of a visit to Iraq. "We are not in Iraq to seize anybody's oil," he said. While speaking at the CIA headquarters in January, Trump cited the adage, "To the victor belong the spoils," and said America 'should have kept the oil' after pulling most of its troops out of the country under his predecessor Barack Obama. The president then added, without elaborating, that "maybe we'll have another chance". Iraq on Sunday reported a total 153 billion barrels in proven oil reserves, the fifth largest in the world behind Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Canada and Iran. Mattis has emerged as a vital statesman for the Trump administration and has spent the past week in Europe and the Gulf on a mission to reassure allies that America is not about to abandon old military alliances. Trump also despatched Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Vice President Mike Pence to Europe in a bid to show "unwavering" US support to NATO. As a candidate, Trump spoke disparagingly of NATO, calling it "obsolete", and he espoused the use of waterboarding and torture to deal with detained Islamic State members. Mattis has repeatedly pushed back against such views, saying that if NATO had not already existed it would need to be created, and talking Trump down from his torture comments. The Pentagon chief was due to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Defence Minister Irfan al-Hayali, and his visit comes as the battle to recapture west Mosul from IS gets under way. Adding to the friction from Trump's oil comments is his executive order blocking Iraqis from travelling to the United States, part of a decision to stop people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering America for at least 90 days. The move drew immediate international condemnation and prompted the Pentagon to lobby for special consideration of Iraqis who had supported US troops, such as translators and support staff. After a federal judge blocked Trump's travel ban, the White House is planning a new order this week that would tweak it to circumvent the court. Mattis said he had not seen the new executive order but was confident it would cater to the Iraqis who had served alongside US forces. "I right now am assured that we will take steps, allow those who have fought alongside us for example to be allowed into the United States," he said. "They will have been vetted obviously by their performance on the battlefield and by normal procedures and I am sure we will work our way through this quickly." People carry posters during a rally in support of Muslim Americans and protest of President Donald Trump's immigration policies in Times Square, New York. (Photo: AP) Washington: A draft of President Donald Trump's revised immigration ban targets the same seven countries listed in his original executive order and exempts travelers who already have a visa to travel to the US, even if they haven't used it yet. A senior administration official said the order, which Trump revised after federal courts held up his original immigration and refugee ban, will target only those same seven Muslim-majority countries - Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Libya. The official said that green-card holders and dual citizens of the U.S. and any of those countries are exempt. The new draft also no longer directs authorities to single out - and reject - Syrian refugees when processing new visa applications. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the order before it's made public. The official noted that the draft is subject to change ahead of its signing, which Trump said could come sometime this week. Asked about the revised order, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the document circulating was a draft and that a final version should be released soon. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Wall Street Journal also reported that the current draft of the revised order focused on the seven countries but excluded those with green cards. Trump's original executive order triggered chaos at airports around the world, as travelers were detained when the order rapidly went into effect, US permanent residents known as green-card holders among them. Attorneys to provide legal assistance those held and protesters descended on the airports as news of the order's implementation spread. In its original form, the order temporarily suspended all travel to the US for citizens of those seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days. The original order also called for Homeland Security and State department officials, along with the director of national intelligence, to review what information the government needs to fully vet would-be visitors and come up with a list of countries that can't or won't make the information available. It said the government will give countries 60 days to start providing the information or citizens from those countries will be barred from traveling to the United States. Even if Syrian refugees are no longer automatically rejected under the new order, the pace of refugees entering the U.S. from all countries is likely to slow significantly. That's because even when the courts put Trump's original ban on hold, they left untouched Trump's 50,000-per-year refugee cap, a cut of more than half from the cap under the Obama administration. The U.S. has already taken in more than 35,000 refugees this year, leaving less than 15,000 spots before hitting Trump's cap, according to a U.S. official. That means that for the rest of this fiscal year, the number of refugees being let in per week will likely fall to a fraction of what it had been under the Obama administration's cap of 110,000. Earlier this month, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco refused to reinstate Trump's ban, unanimously rejecting the administration's claim of presidential authority, questioning its motives and concluding that the order was unlikely to survive legal challenges. The pushback prompted Trump to tweet "SEE YOU IN COURT!" and he has since lashed out at the judicial branch, accusing it of issuing a politically motivated decision. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said Saturday that Trump is working on a "streamlined" version of his executive order banning travel from the seven nations to iron out the difficulties that landed his first order in the courts. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference about combating terrorism, Kelly said Trump's original order was designed as a "temporary pause" to allow him to "see where our immigration and vetting system has gaps - and gaps it has - that could be exploited." He said the Trump administration was surprised when U.S. courts blocked the executive order and now "the president is contemplating releasing a tighter, more streamlined version" of the travel ban. Kelly said this next time he will be able to "make sure that there's no one caught in the system of moving from overseas to our airports." Kelly mentioned "seven nations" again on Saturday, leading to speculation they will all be included in Trump's next executive order. Trump's order sparked an immediate backlash and sowed chaos and outrage, with travelers detained at airports, panicked families searching for relatives and protesters marching against the sweeping measure - parts of which were blocked by several federal courts. Protests were held across the country, including in sight of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in New York City, and at international airports where travelers were temporarily detained. White House chief of staff Reince Priebus hit the Sunday television talk shows to push back at reports of disarray at the National Security Council. (Photo: AP) Washington: A top aide denied Sunday that President Donald Trump is having difficulty filling the key post of national security advisor because of White House moves to politicize the office. Trump, at his Mar-a-Lago getaway in Florida, was set to interview four candidates to replace Mike Flynn, the retired general who was ousted as national security advisor for deceiving Vice President Mike Pence about his contacts with Russia's ambassador to Washington. Meanwhile, White House chief of staff Reince Priebus hit the Sunday television talk shows to push back at reports of disarray at the National Security Council, the president's main forum for decision-making about issues of national security and foreign affairs. On Fox News Sunday, Priebus was asked whether Trump was insisting that his controversial chief strategist Steve Bannon play a major role in the NSC, reportedly a source of concern to candidates for the national security advisor position. "The answer to that is no," Priebus said. Job Search Trump's search for a replacement has narrowed to acting national security advisor Keith Kellogg, a retired three star general; former US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton; Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, an expert on counter-insurgency warfare; and Lieutenant General Robert Caslen, the superintendent of West Point, the White House said. Another leading candidate, retired general and former CIA chief David Petraeus, is no longer in the running. The president told reporters on Saturday that he would make a decision over his new national security advisor "over the next couple of days." Robert Harward, a retired vice admiral and former Navy SEAL, turned down Trump's offer of the national security advisor job earlier in the week, citing financial and family reasons. Media reports said he was concerned he wouldn't be able to bring in his own team to staff the NSC. Priebus said the issue was never raised in the talks with Harward. "The president has said very clearly that the new (national security advisor) will have total and complete say over the makeup of the NSC and all of the components of the NSC, and there is no demand made by President Trump on any candidate," Priebus said. Set to appear on the ABC's Sunday talk show "This Week," Harward dropped out at the last minute. With the National Security Council reeling from Flynn's ouster, the White House delivered another shock on Friday when it abruptly dismissed the senior director for Western Hemisphere affairs, Craig Deare, for criticizing Trump and his top aides, Politico reported. Priebus told "Fox News Sunday" any implication that the White House wants the national security council under the control of political operatives is "fake news." He also dismissed a New York Times report this week that members of the Trump campaign had repeated contacts with Russian operatives during the campaign as "garbage." "The top levels of the intelligence community have assured me that that story is not only inaccurate, but it is grossly overstated," he said, declining to say who had given those assurances. Beijing: China has said this year's BRICS summit will promote more inclusive and balanced economic globalisation. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi yesterday said the summit, to be held in southeast China's coastal city of Xiamen in September, will not only contribute to common development of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries, but also promote more inclusive and balanced economic globalisation. Wang met his South African counterpart Maite Nkoana-Mashabane yesterday in Beijing. Wang also lauded the close ties between China and South Africa, featuring "profound" political mutual trust and "fruitful results" of mutually beneficial cooperation, state-run Xinhua news agency reported today. "Particularly on issues of major concerns and concerning their core interests, the two countries understand and firmly support each other, incessantly deepening their strategic partnership," he said. Manila, Philippines: A retired Philippine police officer said Monday that President Rodrigo Duterte, when he was a mayor, ordered and paid him and other members of a so-called liquidation squad to kill criminals and opponents, including a kidnapping suspect, his family and a critical radio commentator. Human rights lawyers who presented Arthur Lascanas at a news conference said the allegations could be grounds for impeaching Duterte, adding that his alleged role in the killings may not be covered by his presidential immunity. Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, who helped the lawyers from the private Free Legal Assistance Group present Lascanas in a news conference at the Senate, said he would ask his colleagues to immediately investigate the explosive allegations. Duterte's communications secretary, Martin Andanar, dismissed the claims as a "demolition job" by unspecified people affected by Duterte's reforms and aimed at forcing Duterte from power. He did not respond to Lascanas's detailed claims. "The press conference of self-confessed hitman SPO3 Arthur Lascanas is part of a protracted political drama aimed to destroy the president and to topple his administration," Andanar said, without elaborating or offering any evidence. Duterte has denied his administration backs unlawful killings of suspects in his crackdown on illegal drugs that is feared to have killed more than 7,000 mostly poor drug users and petty drug pushers since he took office last June. The killings under the crackdown, an expansion of his anti-drug campaign when he was the longtime mayor of southern Davao city, have alarmed the United States, other Western governments and U.N. human rights officials. In many public speeches, Duterte has ordered policemen to defend themselves if drug suspects fight back and has openly threatened drug lords and dealers with death. Lascanas's comments came after he denied to a Senate hearing last year that he had been involved in any extrajudicial killings in Davao, Duterte's hometown. He testified at the inquiry last October after he was implicated by another witness, Edgar Matobato, a former militiaman who said Duterte ordered him and others to kill criminals in gangland-style assaults that left hundreds of people dead. Breaking into tears at one point, Lascanas said Monday he was speaking up now because he was bothered by his conscience, including his role in the deaths of his two brothers, whom he ordered killed because they were drug users. "I had my own two brothers killed. Even if I end up dead, I'm content because I've fulfilled my promise to the Lord to make a public confession," he said. Lascanas described several killings and attacks that he said Duterte had ordered, permitted or financed as mayor of Davao, including the 1993 bombing of mosques as retaliation after Muslim rebels were blamed for bombing a Roman Catholic cathedral. One of their first victims, a suspected drug lord, was gunned down and left with a message that warned others: "Don't emulate." Lascanas said he and other killers identified their group in the message as "Davao Death Squad," which spread and sparked fear in the sprawling city. Lascanas said he and his group shot dead a kidnapping suspect along with the man's pregnant wife, young son, father-in-law and two others in another attack with Duterte's approval. After his group informed Duterte about the capture of the suspected mastermind of a kidnapping in Davao, Lascanas quoted the mayor as saying, "All right, make it clean." Another target was radio commentator Jun Pala, who had angered Duterte with critical commentaries. He was killed in 2003 by gunmen, who Lascanas said included him. They twice failed to kill him but succeeded in the third attempt, Lascanas said, adding that he personally received a financial reward from the then mayor. "I'm one of those who killed Jun Pala," Lascanas said. Another criminal suspect, an ex-soldier, was captured and presented to the mayor, who ordered his men to "kill him," Lascanas said. Killing the suspect was problematic, he said, because policemen from another town knew he was alive when he was arrested. Lascanas said he and his companions convinced a police official to sign a logbook stating that the suspect was arrested but later escaped. Lascanas said he and his companions later killed the suspect and dumped his body in a nearby province. Melbourne: Male Muslim students at a public school in Australia can refuse to shake hands with women to adhere to their faith. The Hurstville Boys Campus of Georges River College in Sydney recently hosted an awards ceremony. Female presenters were told by the principal that some students would not shake their hands because of their Muslim faith, according to The Australian newspaper. The New South Wales (NSW) Education Department has confirmed the school had an "agreed protocol" regarding handshaking. "At the school's 2016 presentation day, the principal explained to invited guests making awards that some Muslim students may place their hand across their chest instead of shaking hands," a NSW Department of Education spokesman said. "Department of Education requires its schools to recognise and respect the cultural, linguistic and religious backgrounds of all students, with the intent to promote an open and tolerant attitude towards a diverse Australian community," he said. "Principals are best placed to know the needs of their local school communities when implementing this requirement," he said. The Catalan government on Sunday said it is ready to negotiate with central authorities in Spain in order to take the political situation in the northeastern region in a new direction. But Catalan officials are waiting to see what kind of proposals come out of the conservative administration of Mariano Rajoy, of the Popular Party (PP), who has repeatedly said in the past that full sovereignty for Catalonia is not an option. Catalan premier Carles Puigdemont said he is willing to sit down with Mariano Rajoy. Alberto Estevez (EFE) Regional premier Carles Puigdemont has expressed skepticism at Madrids plans for talks, but nevertheless asserted that he would like to sit down to discuss the future of a region where separatism has taken on new force ever since Spain fell victim to a major economic crisis. Puigdemont has denied involvement in any type of negotiation with Madrid so far, either in a private or official capacity. But he expressed a willingness to do so in future: Believe me, we would like that. He also joked about the alleged offer from Rajoy, which he likened to the Holy Ghost: everybody talks about it, but nobody has seen it. To think that we are going to give up on the referendum is to understand nothing Anonymous pro-independence leader During their one and only official meeting, on April 20, 2016, Puigdemont handed Rajoy a list of 46 demands for Catalonia. Rajoy now wants to reply to 45 of these points, which cover issues ranging from tax policy to social relief and power sharing. The 46th point, however, is the one demanding a binding referendum on independence for the region, and that is a non-negotiable issue for Madrid. Puigdemonts deputy, Neus Munte, added that she hoped the conversations will be clear and frank. However, both officials underscored that they are not giving up on a referendum on self-rule that is planned for later this year. Their Democratic Party of Catalonia (PDECat), formerly known as Convergencia, has made a public pledge to hold the vote regardless of opposition from Madrid. The 9N vote An earlier, informal vote held on November 9, 2014 yielded a majority support for independence but was widely rejected as biased. This vote also landed the former Catalan premier Artur Mas and two top aides in court, accused of disobeying orders from the Constitutional Court to refrain from holding the ballot. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy wants to put Madrid-Barcelona talks back in the spotlight. GERARD JULIEN (AFP) This trial and other cases initiated by the government are being viewed by separatists as a direct attack against them, and as evidence of Madrids unwillingness to deal with Catalan demands without resorting to the courts. The Mas trial also illustrates how relations between Madrid and Barcelona soured throughout Rajoys first term in office. Now, from a much weaker position in Congress, where he leads a minority government, the PP appears willing to come up with a political proposal for Catalonia. The governments delegate in the region, Enric Millo, said there have been contacts at all levels between the executives of Rajoy and Puigdemont, and noted that these encounters are not always made public. We are very keen to find a way out, said Millo in an interview on the Catalan station TV3, where he underscored the need to design between all of us an alternative path to the collision course represented by the call for a referendum. There are many things that can be done without changing the Constitution, he added. Too little, too late On Thursday of last week, former premier Artur Mas, under whose tenure the informal ballot of 2014 was held, brought back the old idea of a third way out of the Catalan conundrum. But many proponents of independence feel that whatever Madrid offers now, it will be too little, too late. Although a negotiated way out would have presumably been easier under Mas, the new regional government now includes the hardcore separatists of the Catalan Republican Left (ERC), while the old Convergencia has morphed into PDECat in an effort to clean its image of corruption, and has embraced separatism much more whole-heartedly than ever before. And last September, Puigdemont secured the backing of the regional assembly for his project to hold a binding referendum within a year. This promise gained him the support of the radical anticapitalist CUP party, which keeps reminding Puigdemont about his pledge on a daily basis. All of which makes it unlikely that Puigdemont is either willing or able to backtrack on the referendum. To think that we are going to give up on that is to understand nothing, said one pro-independence leader in the region. English version by Susana Urra. Brussels: Tony Blair wants fellow Britons to "rise up" and block or soften Brexit, but it may now be out of their hands. After their June referendum vote to quit the EU, stunned European leaders insisted Britons were welcome to change their minds. This may have encouraged those like ex-premier Blair who last week challenged Prime Minister Theresa May's plan to launch the process in March and exit in two years. Yet whatever are their hopes of legal obstacles or of an electoral backlash, the mood across the rest of the bloc has shifted away. While officially the door remains open to Britain to stay, many on the continent would not welcome a U-turn now. "This bus has left," said one senior EU diplomat. "No one is happy about it. But we have moved on and the last thing anyone wants now is to reopen the whole issue." To be sure, with close-fought elections in core EU members France and Germany this year and upstart populist movements shaking up politics across the region, few would want to predict with any confidence the final outcome of the Brexit process. Ye that view shared by diplomats from a range of the other 27 EU states, and by some EU officials: "It's going to happen," one of the latter said. "It's bureaucratically embedded." Even among allies with most to lose from Brexit, there is little talk of a reprieve: "We have to accept the decision that Brexit will happen," Irish Europe Minister Dara Murphy told a Dublin forum where many voiced fears for Ireland's economy. From the European Commission, Brussels executive Michel Barnier will negotiate Brexit for the Union. Some also detect harder tone, warning against those in Britain who want to pull back from a hard Brexit or the clean break with the EU market that May spelled out in January. "'I'm a bit in, I'm a bit out, maybe tomorrow I'll be back' ... -- this isn't on," Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker chided last week. "You're either in, or you're out." "The mood in Brussels ... has hardened really over the last few weeks," said Giles Merritt, chairman of Brussels think-tank Friends of Europe. Some still talk of hope: "Despite the hard rhetoric and threats by the British government ... the European Union remains a project of mending," said German lawmaker Terry Reintke, who speaks on Brexit for the Greens in the European Parliament. "If the UK was to decide to stay a member of the European Union, the Greens will fight against closing the door." But Germany, France and other big powers worry that being soft on London could lead to a further unravelling of the EU. So even if May were to seek a soft Brexit -- under which it would notably retain full access to the EU's single market in return for accepting its rules -- many have lost patience with a Britain that has long secured special favours. "Tempers are now so frayed, it would require a huge volte face from Downing Street for them to be able to accept that without a massive loss of face," said Friends of Europe's Merritt. Once May formally notifies the Union, in March, of Britain's intent to withdraw under Article 50 of the EU treaty, turning back would run into a political a nd legal minefield. May argues her letter will be legally irrevocable. Many EU officials believe the process could be halted -- as long as most, or perhaps all, the other 27 states agreed to that. But it is that political will which now seems to be in question. In October, Donald Tusk, the former Polish prime minister who chairs the Council of EU national leaders, told Britons that a U-turn would be legal and, crucially, that the 27 would welcome it. But, he warned them, "soft Brexit" was not an option -- the choice for London would be "hard Brexit or no Brexit". And there seems little willingness to offer favours of the kind that might help British voters change their minds. May's predecessor David Cameron got a deal he hoped would win him the referendum by letting Britain curb EU immigration. Now, not only is that off the table but some might use a Brexit U-turn to push London to give up other privileges, such as its roughly 50-percent rebate on EU dues, if it wanted to remain. One long-time senior EU official said few would ultimately want to snub Britain if it had a change of heart: "But," the person said, "The EU could want to impose some conditions, limiting the special status it has enjoyed in so many areas." London: Britain's House of Lords begins debating a bill Monday empowering Prime Minister Theresa May to kickstart Brexit -- a potentially tricky test given her Conservatives do not hold a majority there. Discussions in the unelected upper house of parliament get underway after the lower House of Commons overwhelmingly approved the draft legislation earlier this month. The bill gives May the right to trigger Article 50 of the European Union's Lisbon Treaty, the formal procedure to start negotiations on leaving the bloc. The government presented the short bill after losing a high-profile court battle in which judges ruled May must consult parliament before beginning divorce proceedings with Brussels. The legislation sailed through the Commons this month by 494 votes to 122. But the government could face greater challenges in the Lords, where only 252 of the more than 800 members are Conservatives. Peers are proposing changes to the bill that include measures to guarantee the rights of EU nationals in Britain, and defining how parliament votes on a final Brexit deal. Peter Mandelson, a peer with the opposition Labour party and former European commissioner, said there was a "strong body of opinion" on the seriousness of the two issues. But he doubted the unelected chamber -- whose members are appointees, many of them career politicians -- would seek to derail the Brexit bill entirely. "At the end of the day, the House of Commons must prevail because it is the elected chamber," Mandelson told BBC television on Sunday. "But I hope the House of Lords will not throw in the towel early." March deadline Ahead of the debate, Justice Minister Liz Truss said the upper house should support the outcome of the June referendum in which 52 percent of voters opted to leave the EU, sending shockwaves around Europe. "The British people voted for that, they were clear in the referendum and the House of Lords now needs to get on with it," Truss told the BBC. Her view was echoed by Conservative MP Dominic Raab, who warned that voters would not look kindly on unelected peers seeking to block the Brexit bill. "Peers would be wise to consider this clear democratic mandate, and their own futures, when debating the Article 50 Bill this week," he said. The Lords will debate the bill on Monday and Tuesday, before two further days of discussions next week and the final reading scheduled for March 7. If they vote to amend the bill it will pass back to the Commons for further debate, drawing the process out further. But Brexit minister David Davis said he expects the government to meet its self-imposed deadline of triggering Article 50 by the end of next month. "I expect it to be resolved in good time before the end of March," Davis told a news conference in Stockholm on Tuesday. "So I'm confident we'll do it before our timetable." Brussels: US Vice President Mike Pence sought to reassure nervous Europeans Monday of Donald Trump's strong commitment to transatlantic ties as he met EU chiefs amid anti-Trump protests. Capping a European trip aimed at allaying EU fears the new US president might abandon them, Pence said Washington's support remained "steadfast and enduring". "Today it is my privilege on behalf of President Trump to express the strong commitment of the United States to continued cooperation and partnership with the European Union," Pence said after talks with EU president Donald Tusk in Brussels. Pence pledged the United States would keep working with Europe to boost the world's two biggest economies, fight terrorism and defend eastern EU states against Russian encroachment. Trump's criticism of NATO as "obsolete", his praise for Britain's decision to leave the EU and prediction that others would follow, plus his apparent tilt to Russian President Vladimir Putin have all unnerved US allies. Tusk, a former Polish premier, said that Europeans "truly needed" the meeting with Pence and that the 28-nation bloc counted on "wholehearted and unequivocal" US support. "Too much has happened over the past month in your country and in the EU ... for us to pretend that everything is as it used to be," Tusk said. Topless protest Pence also met European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker, a former Luxembourg premier, who stressed that the United States "needs a strong united Europe." Juncker also urged stronger EU unity, adding: "This is not a moment for Europe to divide itself in former national, provincial categories." Scores of protesters gathered outside EU headquarters during Pence's visit, criticising the Trump administration's attitude toward women, gays and climate change. "We are here to protest against the visit of Pence because we are revolted by the decision of the US administration to undermine women's rights worldwide," Irene Donadio, who works for the International Planned Parenthood Federation, told AFP. Two female protesters went topless and carried banners saying "Pence get out of our pants" while another placard read "Love Trumps Hate". Tight security surrounded the EU quarter of the Belgian capital during his visit. Pence's visit comes two days after Trump referred during a rally in Florida to a non-existent Swedish terror incident and urged people to "look at what's happening in Brussels" as he listed a series of European cities struck by deadly terror attacks. Pence said the United States would remain "full partners" with the EU in fighting terrorism, a key Trump policy. He also pledged the US "must stand strong in defence of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations in Europe" including in the Baltics, through recent NATO deployments of troop reinforcements to these countries. As he did during the Munich Security Conference at the weekend, Pence said the Trump administration will "continue to hold Russia accountable" for the violence in eastern Ukraine and demand that Moscow honour the Minsk agreements for a ceasefire due to begin Monday. 'Unwavering' support Tusk meanwhile took a swipe at Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's call in Munich for an end to a world order dominated by the West. "The reports of the death of the West have been greatly exaggerated," Tusk said. Pence also met EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, saying with her that he wanted to "explore ways we can deepen our relationship." He will later meet NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. During his trip to Munich, Pence said that the US commitment to the military alliance formed in the depths of the Cold War was "unwavering" despite Trump's previous comments. After the vice president's arrival in Brussels on Sunday, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel urged Pence to support the EU's preservation. Pence, US Defence Secretary James Mattis and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson have stuck close to established policy during their first foray into Europe despite Trump's previous pronouncements. Trump welcomed Brexit and appeared to voice hope that other EU states would follow suit. In return, Juncker and Tusk have previously expressed concerns about Trump. Juncker has called Trump's campaign "absolutely disgusting" and told TIME magazine last week that Trump's remarks on the EU were "highly unfriendly and not helpful at all." London: The British government has no intention of revoking its withdrawal from the European Union once the formal exit process has been triggered, Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman said on Monday. May plans to trigger Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty by the end of March, beginning up to two years of divorce talks. Lawyers for the government have said that, once started, the process is irrevocable, but some EU leaders say Britain can change its mind and a legal challenge to determine whether it can be reversed has been filed with an Irish court. "We have no intention of revoking Article 50," the spokesman told reporters. "The British people were very clear (that) they want us to leave the European Union. Article 50 is the mechanism by which we start that process, so this government is very clear that it will deliver on the result of that referendum." Her Majesty's government recognises the strong views expressed by the many signatories of this petition, but does not support this petition. (Photo: File) London: British Lawmakers will debate US President Donald Trump's proposed state visit to the UK after a petition opposing the tour amassed nearly two million signatures. The House of Commons will debate an online petition with more than 1.8 million signatures saying a formal state visit by President Trump "would cause embarrassment to Her Majesty the Queen." A second petition in support of such a state visit had attracted over 300,000 signatures. It will also be debated in line with UK parliamentary rules requiring petitions receiving more than the 100,000 signatures to be considered for a Commons debate. The debate in Westminster Hall of the House of Commons will be opened by petitions committee member MP Paul Flynn. A response by UK Foreign Office minister Alan Duncan will be delivered, on behalf of the government. British Prime Minister Theresa May has already officially rejected the 'Prevent Donald Trump from making state visit to the United Kingdom' petition. A Downing Street statement earlier in February said: "We look forward to welcoming President Trump once dates and arrangements are finalised. Her Majesty's government recognises the strong views expressed by the many signatories of this petition, but does not support this petition. "During her visit to the US on January 27, 2017, the Prime Minister, on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen, invited President Trump for a state visit to the UK later in 2017. The invitation was accepted." "This invitation reflects the importance of the relationship between the United States of America and the United Kingdom. At this stage, final dates have not yet been agreed for the state visit." The state visit, expected around August/September in 2017, has been at the centre of a lot of protests and controversy. This also includes Commons Speaker John Bercow's impartiality coming into question after saying that Trump should be barred from addressing Parliament during any such visit to the UK. Thousands of protesters are expected to gather for rallies outside Parliament in London and across other UK cities to coincide with the Commons debate on Monday. According to the Stop Trump coalition website, protests against the US President and in support of migrants will also be held in Manchester, Liverpool, Nottingham, Leicester, Brighton, Bristol, Leeds, Newcastle, Glasgow and Edinburgh. The group has called a nationwide day of action and dozens of protests have been coordinated by the "One Day Without Us" movement, celebrating the contribution immigrants make to British society. London: Around 350,000 children are trapped in western Mosul, Save the Children warned on Sunday as Iraqi forces launched a fresh offensive on jihadists defending the strategic city. "Iraqi forces and their allies, including the US and UK, must do everything in their power to protect children and their families from harm, and avoid civilian buildings like schools and hospitals as they push deeper into the city," said the London-based charity's Iraq country director, Maurizio Crivallero. He warned that escape is not an option for most families, who risk summary execution by fighters from the ISIS group, sniper fire and landmines - but they are also running out of food, water and medicine. "This is the grim choice for children in western Mosul right now: bombs, crossfire and hunger if they stay -- or execution and snipers if they try to run," Crivallero said in a statement. "Safe escape routes for civilians must also be established as soon as possible," he added. The offensive to retake Mosul's west bank that began on Sunday could be the most brutal fighting yet in a four-month-old operation on Iraq's second city, where the leader of the ISIS group declared a "caliphate" in 2014. The Iraqi government launched an offensive to reconquer Mosul on October 17, and declared east Mosul "fully liberated" on January 24. Federal forces now face what was always one of the toughest challenges -- the narrow streets of the Old City in Mosul's west bank, which are impassable for many military vehicles. Save the Children warned that "the impact of artillery and other explosive weaponry in those narrow, densely-populated streets is likely to be more deadly and indiscriminate than anything we have seen in the conflict so far". The 350,000 figure relates to people under the age of 18, a charity spokeswoman confirmed. Many members of the security forces who fled when the ISIS overran the area have now returned, joining government-backed Sunni militia and seeking revenge. (Photo: AP) Rfaila, Iraq: The mood was festive as seven men each carried a bomb into a house on the edge of a village in northern Iraq. Dozens of residents of Rfaila, young and old, had flocked to watch the house of their former neighbour Abu Maitham be blown up, filming the spectacle on phones to the sound of patriotic music blaring from a parked car. They said Abu Maitham joined the ISIS terrorists, who ruled over hundreds of towns and villages like Rfaila for more than two years, subjecting the local population to a life of violence and privation. Abu Maitham had already fled when Iraqi forces drove the militants from the area last year as they advanced north towards Mosul, the ISIS's largest urban stronghold. The city's eastern half was cleared by January and the start of an assault on the western side was declared on Sunday. In their wake, local people are purging every last vestige of the ISIS's presence: demolishing terrorists' homes and even digging up their graves. The campaign points to a wider reckoning within Iraq's Sunni Muslim community, part of which sided with the ISIS terrorists who overran around one third of Iraq in 2014. Inside the house in Rfaila, about 45 km (30 miles) south of Mosul, Ayad Jasim arranged the tubs of explosives in a circle on the floor and connected them to a wire leading out to a battery pack. "It soothes the soul," said Mr Jasim, as he prepared to detonate the house - his 79th since security forces regained control of the area. "There are still many left". Jasim's motives are both patriotic and personal. His own home in another village nearby was blown up by the ISIS, and 27 members of his extended family have disappeared or been killed by the group including a 10-year-old boy. Jasim has the US forces to thank for his skills: they taught him and other select soldiers how to handle explosives after invading Iraq in 2003. As for the bombs - tubs of C4 weighing about 2 kg (4-1/2 pounds) each - they were made by the ISIS and designed to kill or maim Iraqi security forces, but have been dug up for reuse by the militants' enemies. The first blast destroyed only the back of the house, so two more bombs were brought to finish the job. The second explosion ripped down the rest of the building with a flash followed by a shock wave. The audience surged towards the pile of concrete where a house had stood moments before, clambering onto the collapsed roof and firing celebratory shots into the air as the dust settled. "Purifying the land" Almost everyone in the area has friends and family members who were killed by the ISIS, many of them in the security forces. In Rfaila alone, seven officers were executed by the ISIS and several dozen policemen and soldiers were taken away, presumably to their deaths, according to residents. Many members of the security forces who fled when the ISIS overran the area have now returned, joining government-backed Sunni militia and seeking revenge. "This village suffered a lot," said 26-year-old resident Ammar Ibrahim, who used to be in the security forces, but is now in a Sunni militia. "They (ISIS) blew up our houses so we are blowing up theirs. No trace of them will remain." "Everyone cleans their own village," said another resident. In some cases, local people have dug up the graves of the ISIS terrorists who were buried locally. One resident of Rfaila described how the remains of a terrorist known as Abu Taha had recently been exhumed, attached to the back of a vehicle and dragged through the streets until the bones flew apart, leaving nothing behind. Several children listening to him laughed gleefully. Photographs of the episode are posted on the Facebook page of another Rfaila resident, a member of the elite Counter Terrorism Service, urging anyone with information about other militants' grave sites to contact him "so we can purify the land from these filthy germs". In a picture of a separate incident, the skull of another militant whose corpse was dug up in the same area sits on the bonnet of a car with a cigarette wedged between the jaw for comic effect. All but one tooth has been knocked out. "Blood of martyrs" Abu Maitham was an employee of the Iraqi oil ministry before the ISIS took over, and had been involved in the insurgency against US forces since 2003 along with his brother, whose house close by has also been demolished. Residents of Rfaila said Abu Maitham and other militants from the village had left with their families as security forces closed in last year, heading north towards Mosul. But some individuals who helped the ISIS maintain control by informing on those who broke the group's rules are still present. Those people must go, residents said, but it is difficult to prove their guilt in a court because they did not formally swear allegiance to the ISIS, take up arms, or wear the group's uniform. "There is no evidence so the court releases them," said Ammar Abu Rami, a brother and bodyguard of the mayor of Mosul, who is from Rfaila. Instead, some residents are taking matters into their own hands, throwing grenades at the homes of people they accuse of supporting the ISIS. "They don't kill them: just frighten them," Mr Abu Rami said. Another resident said: "Their (the ISIS's) procedures are slow and emotions are high. They (the authorities) say wait a bit, but people can't." Abu Maitham's house had already been torched from the inside before it was blown up. Scratched onto the charred wall of one room that would soon cease to exist were the words: "No bargaining with the blood of our martyrs. The time for dialogue is over." Baghdad: The Islamic State group on Monday claimed responsibility for a suicide attack near Mosul it said was carried out by a British suicide bomber, the SITE Intelligence Group reported. "The martyrdom-seeking brother Abu Zakariya al-Britani -- may Allah accept him -- detonated his explosives-laden vehicle on a headquarters of the Rafidhi army and its militias in Tal Kisum village, southwest of Mosul," the claim quoted by SITE said. The IS statement did not say when the bombing occurred. The jihadist group uses the word "rafidha", which means "rejectionists", to refer to Shiite Muslims in a derogatory way because it considers them heretics. Forces from the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation), a paramilitary umbrella dominated by Shiite militias backed by Tehran, are active in the area mentioned in the statement. They are fighting alongside other Iraqi forces -- including the army and the federal police -- as part of a push that started on Sunday to retake the west bank of Mosul. Tens of thousands of Iraqi forces launched a massive offensive on October 17 to retake the city, which is Iraq's second largest, and the only remaining major stronghold of the jihadists in the country. They regained control over the eastern side of Mosul in January. IS fighters of a variety of nationalities, including Britons, have carried out suicide attacks on many occasions in Iraq and Syria in the past three years. The IS statement said that the British fighter's attack, and that of another suicide bomber of Iraqi nationality, caused many casualties but AFP could not immediately verify the claim. US-backed Iraqi forces launched a large-scale military operation to dislodge Islamic State militants from the western half of Mosul city. (Photo: File/AP) Oreij: Iraqi forces, backed by jets and helicopters, battled their way to Mosul airport on Monday as they prepared to take on the ISIS' stronghold in the city's west bank. The fresh push in the four-month-old operation to retake Mosul has sparked fears for 750,000 trapped civilians who risk getting killed trying to flee and face starvation if they stay. "The federal police have resumed its advance... Our cannons are targeting ISIS defence lines with heavy fire," federal police chief Raed Shaker Jawdat said in a statement. Federal police forces, as well as elite units from the interior ministry, army soldiers and Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) paramilitary fighters, launched a major assault on Sunday. On the second day of the renewed offensive, they pushed northwards towards Mosul airport, which lies on the southern approach to the city, on the east bank of the Tigris. The assault marks a new phase in the broad operation launched on October 17 to retake Mosul, Iraq's second city and the terrorists' last major stronghold in the country. The recapture of Mosul would deal a death blow to the "caliphate" which ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed in the city in June 2014, but has been shrinking steadily for two years as anti-ISIS forces advanced. But it took the Iraq's most seasoned forces, the elite Counter-Terrorism Service, and two months to retake east Mosul, where ISIS put up stiffer than expected resistance. Commanders and experts believe the city's west bank could prove even harder to retake, with the narrow streets of the Old City forcing Iraqi forces to undertake perilous dismounted raids. ISIS also "likely has stronger support within western Mosul, and the ISF (Iraqi security forces) are more likely to encounter populations that are wary or hostile," said Patrick Martin, Iraq analyst at the Institute for the Study of War. Yet after a slowdown in the four-month-old operation, optimism was high on the front lines. "I don't expect a very difficult fight: their end has arrived," Hakem Gassem Mohammed, an officer with the interior ministry's Rapid Response force told an AFP reporter south of Mosul. The first day of the rekindled offensive, saw forces advance in sparsely populated areas on the south of the city. Elite units trained for urban warfare are expected to move into west Mosul at a later stage. According to a top army commander coordinating the operation, Abdulamir Yarallah, Iraqi forces on Sunday retook 15 villages on three different fronts converging towards the airport. The terrorists defending Mosul's west bank have no choice but to defend their bastion. Bridges across the Tigris in the city have been destroyed and Iraqi forces have cut off escape routes. The forces were receiving support from a US-led coalition that has delivered more than 10,000 munitions on ISIS targets since the start of the Mosul operation. The new Pentagon chief, James Mattis, arrived in Baghdad on Monday to show support for the Iraqi security forces, more than 80,000 of whom have also received training from the coalition since 2014. As Iraqi forces advanced on besieged terrorists in Mosul, fears grew for the estimated 750,000 civilian also trapped there with dwindling food supplies. Save the Children said on Sunday that all parties should protect the estimated 350,000 children among them. "This is the grim choice for children in western Mosul right now: bombs, crossfire and hunger if they stay - or execution and snipers if they try to run," said the charity's Iraq director, Maurizio Crivallero. More than half a million residents stayed home when Iraqi forces entered east Mosul to battle ISIS there, leading to smaller displacement than initially feared. But the aid community said the assault on west Mosul could cause a bigger exodus. "We are racing against the clock to prepare emergency sites south of Mosul to receive displaced families," the UN's humanitarian coordinator in Iraq, Lise Grande, said in a statement. Baghdad: Fighters from the Islamic State group, whose abuses against Yazidi women have been well documented, are raping and torturing Sunni Arab women too, Human Rights Watch said Monday. The watchdog documented cases of arbitrary detentions, beatings, forced marriages and rape by the jihadists on women who have fled the town of Hawijah, which is still under IS control. HRW recounted the story of Hanan, a 26-year-old whose husband had already fled Hawijah, who was captured by IS fighters along with other women when they also attempted to escape the town. IS fighters told her that her husband's flight made her an apostate and that she should marry the local jihadist leader. When she refused, she was blindfolded, beaten with plastic cables, suspended by her arms for some time and then raped. "The same guy raped me every day for the next month without a blindfold, always in front of my children," Hanan told HRW. The organisation said that too little was being done to tackle the stigma that prevents many more victims from coming forward. "Little is known about sexual abuse against Sunni Arab women living under ISIS rule," said Lama Fakih, deputy Middle East director at HRW. "We hope that the international community and local authorities will do all they can to give this group of victims the support they need," she said. The Islamic State group, which proclaimed a "caliphate" straddling Iraq and Syria in June 2014, claims to follow a pure brand of Sunni Islam as it was practised in the time of Prophet Mohammed. But its fighters have justified the mass rape and sexual enslavement of women from the Yazidi minority -- who are neither Arab nor Muslim -- on the grounds that they are polytheists. The accounts collected by HRW often refer to IS fighters accusing the women of abandoning their faith, before abusing them. President Donald Trump on Saturday in Florida. KEVIN LAMARQUE Donald Trumps first month as president of the United States has confirmed that he is prepared to fulfill the pledges he made during his election campaign, regardless of how controversial, irrational, illegal, or dangerous they might be. But these first four weeks in the Oval Office have also shown that firmness works and that although he might redouble his efforts when faced with an obstacle, the president doesnt always get his own way. This first month has been a disaster. There is confusion over roles and responsibilities among a team that reflects a worrying tendency toward nepotism, illustrated by the presence in the presidents close circle of chief strategist Steve Bannon, who in a break with tradition has also been appointed to the National Security Council; and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is a senior advisor. His daughter Ivanka, meanwhile, is taking on the unprecedented role of second first lady. Trump has shown he is a man who will take advantage of those he considers weaker than him Trump has shown little care in choosing other members of his Cabinet: Michael Flynn lasted less than three weeks in his role as national security advisor after it emerged he had had contacts with Moscow. The presidents response to these revelations has been to demonstrate his authoritarian tendencies by ordering a purge of the security services and to accuse the media of being out of control. Disruption has become the hallmark of the Trump administration. His controversial presidential decrees among which the temporary travel ban on refugees and citizens from seven majority Muslim nations stands out reflect both a lack of forethought, as illustrated by the sacking of the State Attorney, along with a view of power as something personal that ignores Congress, the courts, the business world and civil society. This approach has been applied to international relations, with Trump changing US policy toward Israel without thinking of the consequences or putting Mexico in the spotlight. But as Trump has already seen, his aggressive approach in trying to intimidate the media and his opponents might please those who voted for him, but wont work with those who arent afraid of him. With China and North Korea, and partly with Iran, the new president has had to back down to prevent public opinion from realizing that he is not all powerful. There is confusion over roles and responsibilities among a team that reflects a worrying tendency toward nepotism When it comes down to it, there is little detail in his threats. Exiting the free trade deal with the Pacific Rim nations, leaving China the main player in the region, has been the only transparent and public decision. But Trump also promised to lower taxes, which the markets are eagerly awaiting. At the same time, we have heard nothing specific about his much-vaunted infrastructure plan, one of the main drivers in boosting domestic demand. In the absence of any specific measures it is not surprising that Janet Yellen, the Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, has expressed concerns. Without economic information based on real decisions, it is not possible to decide on monetary policy. The most serious economic threat comes from his already-announced and probably well-advanced plans to de-regulate the financial sector. Yellen has been warned that she should not sign any new regulatory agreements such as Basel, as well as about the presidents opposition to membership of organizations such as Financial Stability Oversight Council or the International Association of Insurance Supervisors. If Trump carries out his threat to return to the days when there was no separation between investment and commercial banking, he will only increase international financial disorder in the short term and banking imbalances between different currency zones in the longer term. Given that protectionism and deregulation will lead to global chaos, even if in the first instance they favor protected markets, Europe needs to stand firm against Trump, a man who has shown he will take advantage of those he considers weaker than him, but who takes a more conciliatory line when confronted with a tougher attitude. It is worth learning Trumps language and understanding that the only way to deal with him is with firmness. English version by Nick Lyne. Mattis, 66, is a Marine Corps general who retired in 2013 after serving as commander of the U.S. Central Command, responsible for directing America's wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan. (Photo: AP) Baghdad: The U.S. military is not in Iraq "to seize anybody's oil", Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said, distancing himself from remarks by President Donald Trump at the start of a visit to Iraq on Monday. Mattis, on his first trip to Iraq as Pentagon chief, is hoping to assess the war effort as U.S.-backed Iraqi forces launch a new push to evict Islamic State militants from their remaining stronghold in the city of Mosul. But he is likely to face questions about Trump's remarks and actions, including a temporary ban on travel to the United States and for saying America should have seized Iraq's oil after toppling Saddam Hussein in 2003. Trump told CIA staff in January: "We should have kept the oil. But okay. Maybe you'll have another chance." Mattis, however, flatly ruled out any such intent. "We're not in Iraq to seize anybody's oil," he told reporters travelling with him. His remarks are the latest example of his policy differences with Trump. Trump has acknowledged that Mattis did not agree with him about the usefulness of torture as an interrogation tactic but, in a sign of Mattis' influence, said he would defer the matter to his defense secretary. Mattis has also been more critical than Trump of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and distanced himself from Trump's labeling of the media as "the enemy of the American people," saying he had no problems with the press. A retired Marine general who led American troops in Iraq, Mattis has also sought an exemption from Trump's travel ban for Iraqis who served with U.S. troops, including translators. He said he had not seen a new executive order which the administration is considering. "But I right now am assured that we will take steps to allow those who have fought alongside us, for example, to be allowed into the United States," Mattis said. Mosul Campaign Mattis is finalizing plans at Trump's request to accelerate the defeat of Islamic State and is expected to meet senior U.S. and Iraqi officials in Iraq. His visit comes a day after Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the start of the ground offensive on western Mosul, where Islamic State militants are essentially under siege along with an estimated 650,000 civilians. The insurgents were forced out of the east of the city last month after 100 days of fighting. The U.S. commander in Iraq, Army Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend, has said he believes U.S.-backed forces will recapture both of Islamic State's major strongholds - Mosul and the city of Raqqa in Syria - within the next six months. The defense secretary's strategy review could lead to additional deployment of U.S. forces, beyond the less than 6,000 American troops deployed to both Iraq and Syria today. Experts say the Pentagon may also look at increasing the number of attack helicopters and air strikes and bringing in more artillery, as well as granting greater authority to battlefield commanders fighting Islamic State. The future for U.S. forces in Iraq, and for Iraq's fragmented society, is unclear once the hardline Sunni group has been expelled from Mosul. Mattis told the Senate last month that the top U.S. goal in Iraq should be "to ensure that it does not become a rump state of the regime in Tehran", which has close ties with the Shi'ite political elite ruling Iraq. A power struggle appears to be taking root between Iraq's Shi'ite leaders. Influential cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who is openly hostile to Washington's policies in the Middle East, has begun mobilizing supporters ahead of parliamentary and provincial elections. Sadr on Monday said the government should demand the withdrawal of U.S. and allied forces after the battle of Mosul. "The Iraqi government has to demand that all occupying and so-called friendly forces leave Iraq in order to preserve the prestige and the sovereignty of the state," he said. Sadr's main rival is former prime minister Nuri al-Maliki, a pro-Iranian politician re-emerging as a possible kingmaker or even for a return to the premiership itself. The victim added that she was also put in solitary confinement, before she was released in exchange for prisoners in a deal between the government and rebels. (Representational Image) Geneva: According to a report by the centre for women, peace and security at the London School of Economics, women imprisoned in Syrian prisons are tortured and raped daily. These findings were published before talks in Geneva, where world powers hope to reach a political settlement with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. The assaults are punishment for minor offences such as having a picture of the revolutionary flag on their phone. The violence is so frequent and systematic that contraceptive pills are passed out to the imprisoned women. The Syrian regime has denied normalising rape and abuse as a way of interrogation procedure and punishment for men and women. In a report released earlier in February, Amnesty International found that up to 13,000 men were hanged in just one prison. A lawyer from the port city of Latakia identified only as Basima, was arrested on suspicion for helping terrorist groups. She claims she was educating civilians on first aid with skills she learned as a Red Crescent volunteer. She added that she was also put in solitary confinement, before she was released in exchange for prisoners in a deal between the government and rebels. She was pulled out everyday for torture. Many such stories have surfaced. The United Nations said on Friday that it is no longer using the phrase 'political transition' to describe the goals of next week's Syria peace talks, in a potentially major concession to negotiators representing al-Assad. 'Political transition' is a phrase understood by the opposition to mean a removal of Assad or at least an erosion of his powers. At previous peace talks in Geneva, the governments negotiators have tried to digress from discussing anything about political transition. A spokeswoman for UN envoy Staffan de Mistura, told the media, I think, yes, you can use the word 'political transition'. It is going to be a focus I guess as it has been in the past. However, she later sent a mail to clarify her comment. The last set of U.N.-led Syria talks in Geneva ended in April 2016, with UN envoy Staffan de Mistura setting out a summary of what had been agreed so far and what next steps were needed. Peking: The Chinese government has claimed the country no longer harvests organs from prisoners. But recent revelations about two leading Chinese researchers indicate this may not be true. In 2005, China publicly stated what many already believed: that its transplant system was built on harvesting organs from criminals sentenced to death (executed prisoners). According to declarations by officials, this practice has been banned since January 2015, with organs now sourced from volunteer citizen donors. Based on these claims of reform, Chinese transplant doctors hoped to participate in international conferences and high-level meetings, publish in prestigious English-language journals and engage in academic collaborations. But recent events challenge this somewhat rosy picture of organ donation and transplantation reform in China. Contradictory accounts: First, the Vatican was widely condemned for inviting Chinese transplant officials to participate in the Pontifical Academy of Sciences summit on organ trafficking and transplant tourism. The complaints centred on the involvement of Huang Jiefu, the current chair of the National Organ Donation and Transplantation Committee, ex-vice minister of health, a member of the Chinese Communist Partys Peoples Political Consultative Conference, and deputy director of the secretive party committee that looks after the health of top cadres. There were doubts that Huang would present an accurate or complete picture of organ procurement in China. He has given contradictory accounts of organ sources in China for many years. The media coverage caused embarrassment to the Vatican and apparently led to the cancellation of the Popes planned address to the summit. After persistent questions, Huang admitted organ transplants from prisoners still occur. He cited the vast size of his country as an impediment to reform. Several articles have drawn attention to the double meaning of the term executed prisoner. And independent investigators have identified that they include prisoners of conscience, who are executed for their organs without due process, as well as death-sentence prisoners whose organs are harvested after judicial execution. In 2005, Huang ordered two spare livers as back-up for a technically difficult procedure. It is hard to imagine how this order could have been met in a system that relied solely on organs from prisoners sentenced to death. Prisoners must be executed within seven days of being sentenced to death, according to Chinese law, and are often not healthy enough to donate organs. But the order is consistent with a system in which prisoners organs are plentiful, immediately available and blood-matched in advance. That is, prisoners who are waiting for death at the surgeons convenience. Prolific transplanter: Huang is not the only senior figure in Chinas transplant system who came under fire last week. Professor Mario Mondelli, editor of the journal Liver International, announced the retraction of a paper by Chinese authors on the grounds that they could not provide evidence that the organs used in their research were from volunteer donors. The authors claimed that no organs from executed prisoners were used, but when challenged by three academics (including me, as part of my work with the International Coalition to End Organ Pillaging in China), they were unable to provide any such proof. The senior author on this paper is Zheng Shusen, one of the most prominent transplant surgeons in China. He is an academician in the Chinese Academy of Engineering and president of Zhejiang Medical Universitys First Affiliated Hospital, where he is a chief surgeon specialising in liver transplantation. Since 2001, he has been the founding director of the hospitals multi-organ transplant centre, affiliated with the Chinese Ministry of Health. In addition, Zheng is vice-president of the China Medical Association, editor-in-chief of the Chinese Journal of Organ Transplantation, and former president of the Chinese Society of Transplantation. As an architect of Chinas transplant system, Zhengs accomplishments in liver transplantation are impressive. On January 28 2005, Zheng and his surgical group performed five liver transplants in a single day and a total of 11 that week. Zheng has also written a paper about performing 46 emergency liver transplants, between January 2000 and December 2004. Rather than spending time on a waiting list, these patients received their new livers within one to three days of arriving at the hospital. That again suggests a plentiful supply of organs at short notice. Zhengs own hospital website notes that he has been the leading surgeon in 1,957 liver transplant surgeries. Reputational damage: Zhengs prolific transplant activity reflects a system with plenty of available livers. In contrast, doctors in the West struggle with a shortage of donated organs. One clue about this abundant supply of livers may lie in one of Zhengs less-known roles. Since 2007, he has been chairman of the Zhejiang Anti-Cult Association. The association is the provincial branch of the national agency, known as the China Anti-Cult Association (CACA). This was established in 2000 by the Chinese Communist Party to create propaganda vilifying Falun Gong, a Buddha-school spiritual practice. CACA devises methods of forcible ideological conversion of Falun Gong practitioners. As the head of the provincial Anti-Cult Association, Zheng is responsible for agitation, incitement and propaganda against Falun Gong in Zhejiang, a province of 54 million people. References online show him heading political study sessions inciting hatred against Falun Gong and training Communist Party members in anti-cult work. These activities seem to go hand in hand with Zhengs successes in the transplant field. His 2008 Hangzhou Criteria revised patients eligibility for liver transplant based on carcinoma size. The new criteria expanded the pool of potential liver recipients in China by 52%. This was in spite of recent judicial reform that caused death row sentences to plummet in the country, and suggests theres an abundant source of non-death-row organs available. Now, the reputations of two of Chinas most senior figures in transplantation are under question: Zheng for his false claims that no organs from executed prisoners were used in his research, and the revelation of his anti-cult alter ego. And Huang for again showing that there is no genuine change in organ harvesting and transplantation practice in the country. International authorities should demand a full account of the real sources of organs in China before believing any more claims about reform. (This article first appeared on The Conversation Global) Beijing: Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar will arrive in Beijing tomorrow for crucial talks with top Chinese officials amid differences over issues like India's NSG bid and China's blocking of efforts to get JeM chief Masood Azhar banned by the UN. Jaishankar, who served as the Indian envoy to China from 2009 to 2013, the longest tenure by an Indian diplomat in Beijing, will begin his visit tomorrow by meeting State Councillor Yang Jiechi, Beijing's Special Representative for India-China border talks, official sources told PTI. In the Chinese official hierarchy, the State Councillor of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) is regarded as the top diplomat functioning directly under the country's leadership. Besides attending an upgraded strategic dialogue with China's Executive Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui on February 22, Jaishankar is also expected to meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Underlining the significance of the strategic dialogue, which was upgraded during Wang's visit to New Delhi last year, Chinese side has deputed Zhang, who is also the head of the influential CPC committee of the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Zhang, a former Chinese envoy to the US, mostly deals with issues related to China's tenuous ties with America as well as Taiwan related affairs -- both key areas of concern to Beijing. Ahead of the talks, China appeared unrelenting in its opposition to efforts to get Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Azhar banned by the UN and ambivalent on India's membership to the 48-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). Putting the onus on India to prove Azhar's involvement in the Pathankot terrorist attack, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters here last week that China will back the move to designate him as a terrorist only if there is "solid evidence" against him. China last year put a technical hold twice on India's application to get Azhar banned by the UN. This year, the US moved the proposal in the UNSC to designate Azhar as a terrorist. China once again has put a technical hold on the move. Also, another issue weighing on the bilateral relationship is the USD 46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) over which India has protested as it passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). China defends the project, saying that it is a development oriented project aimed at improving lives of the local people and it makes no difference to its stand that the Kashmir issue should be resolved by India and Pakistan bilaterally. The CPEC which is part of Chinese President Xi Jinping's One Belt and One Road project assumes significance this year as Xi has called for a world leaders summit on the initiative in May this year. Chinese officials say that Beijing is keen on Prime Minister Narendra Modi attending the summit, notwithstanding differences. Over 20 leaders, including Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe have so far confirmed their participation. Officials say China may raise this during Jaishankar's visit as Beijing plans to make it one of its biggest summit meetings considering it is Xi's personal initiative. India's ties with the US and Chinese investments in India were also expected to figure in talks during Jaishankar's visit. The two sides have been stressing that they are holding talks at various levels to iron out differences, stressing that dialogue is the best way forward. Commenting on reports of "friction points" in the bilateral relationship, including the Azhar issue and India's admission into the NSG, Geng said "differences are only natural". Officials say Jaishankar's talks here in the next two days were expected to set the tone for bilateral ties this year. Islamabad: After days of silence, Pakistan army on Monday dismissed a media report as disinformation that said army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa urged officers to read a book about how India succeeded in keeping the military out of politics. The Nation newspaper reported on February 12 that Bajwa addressed a gathering of senior army officers of Rawalpindi Garrison in the General Headquarters in December and recommended 'Army and Nation: The Military and Indian Democracy Since Independence' written by Steven Wilkinson. The book provides details of changes made in the structure and recruitment pattern of the Indian Army to suit the fledgling democracy in the new country. Army Spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor issued a brief statement to reject the contents of the report. "News/comments quoting COAS' address to officers at Rawalpindi regarding book 'Army and Nation' is a disinformation," he said in the statement posted on Facebook. It had been reported that Bajwa in the address dwelt on the thorny issue of civil-military equation in the country where the army has ruled for almost half of the history since independence in 1947. The report said the new army chief in a poised manner communicated it to his officers in unequivocal terms that there should be cooperation and not competition between army and civilian leadership of the country. "The army has no business trying to run the government. The army must remain within its constitutionally defined role," Bajwa was quoted as saying. He also urged officers to read Wilkinson's book, according to the report. People mourn the death of a family member who was killed in a deadly bomb blast Monday, during a funeral in Lahore, Pakistan. (Photo: AP) Lahore: Pakistan will seek the help of a paramilitary border-security force to crack down on Islamist militants in Punjab province, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's power base, after attacks that killed more than 100 people last week, a government spokesman said on Monday. On Sunday, days after a suicide bomber killed 13 people in the Punjabi city of Lahore, the provincial government said the security force, called the Rangers, would carry out "indiscriminate action" against all militants and their facilitators. For the Rangers to conduct a full-scale operation in Punjab would represent the civilian government once again granting special powers to the military to fight Islamist militants. "Rangers-police joint operations will start in a week or two," the Punjab government's spokesman, Malik Muhammad Ahmad, told Reuters on Monday. It was unclear whether the new crackdown would target groups like the Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba, which are aligned against Pakistan's archrival, India. Critics have accused Pakistan in past crackdowns of sparing militant groups that do not attack on Pakistani soil. The Pakistani state denies this. A government statement did not specify which groups would be targeted. The army's media wing did not respond to requests for comment. Rangers have been called in for special security operations in much of the country, but the issue is politically sensitive for Sharif's home province, where local officials have expressed reluctance. A crackdown by the Rangers in the port city of Karachi in 2013 drew accusations of rights abuses and the targeting of opposition politicians, though the rate of violence has dropped sharply since. The Rangers deny any wrongdoing. A member of the Punjab government's task force on law and order said Rangers' help would be sought in counter-terrorism operations but a full-scale paramilitary operation like the one in Karachi was "out of the question." He declined to be named. The Punjab government has promised "indiscriminate" action against all militants in the past, including after an Easter Day bombing in Lahore that killed 70 people. Last month, after years of pressure, Pakistani police arrested Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed, accused by the U.S. and India of masterminding the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people. Just days after last week's Lahore bombing, an attack at a shrine in the southern Sindh province killed 90 people in the country's deadliest attack in two years, shaking a nascent sense that the worst of Pakistan's militant violence may be behind it. The attack was claimed by Middle East-based Islamic State, which has a small but increasingly prominent presence in Pakistan. Protested erupted after private news channels showed officials retrieving some body parts of the victims from garbage and taking them for proper burial. (Photo: AP) Karachi: Pakistan authorities on Saturday were left embarrassed after body parts of some of the victims of the suicide bombing at a Sufi shrine which claimed 88 lives were found dumped in a garbage, sparking protests from relatives. Chief Minister of Sindh province Syed Murad Ali Shah vowed to take strict action against those responsible for desecrating the bodies of the people who were killed in a suicide bombing at the famed Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine in Sehwan area of southern Sindh province on Thursday night. "I am already aggrieved and do not increase my agony. Those responsible will be dealt severely. Whoever is responsible for behaving inhumanely and desecrating body parts will be dealt with very strongly. I have ordered an inquiry into the matter," he said. He ordered Directing Commissioner Hyderabad Qazi Shahid Pervez to launch an inquiry into the incident and find out the people responsible for the negligence. Protested erupted after private news channels showed officials retrieving some body parts of the victims from garbage and taking them for proper burial. The news spread on the social media. The ruling Pakistan Peoples Party came under severe criticism for its handling of the tragic incident as angry relatives and friends complained of inadequate medical treatment to the injured. At least 88 people were killed and over 200 injured in the deadly suicide attack claimed by the ISIS. Two sanitary officials were suspended and further investigations are on, said Syed Asif Shah, Municipal official Sehwan. Angry protesters forced Deputy commissioner of Jamshoro who had come to the town on Saturday to inquire about the injured people to leave without doing any work. Qadir Jatoi, Senior Superintendent of police in Jamshoro who had reached the spot to control the situation, said the initial investigations confirmed that there had been security lapses at the shrine when the attack took place. "We are yet to identify or locate the facilitators with the suicide bomber but body parts found at the site confirm he was a man and he entered the shrine wearing a burqa," Qadir Jatoi said. Pakistan has been hit by a series of terrorist attacks since Afghanistan-based terrorist group Jamat-ul-Ahrar (JuA) announced its 'Operation Ghazi'. On February 13, a suicide bomber had struck a protest in Lahore, killing 13 and injuring 85. The attack had happened outside Punjab's Provincial Assembly and was claimed by JuA. Pakistan: Pakistani airstrikes killed "dozens" of militants on Monday in a tribal region along the Afghan border, the military said. Pakistan had vowed to fight back after a series of suicide bombings last week killed more than 100 people, including 88 worshippers gathered at a famed Sufi shrine. The attacks were claimed by various Islamic militant groups, which have long operated in the porous border region. The warplanes targeted militant hideouts in the Wucha Bibi area of North Waziristan, the Pakistani army said in a statement. The information could not be independently confirmed, as media access to the region is heavily restricted. Pakistan carried out a blistering artillery assault on suspected terrorist camps in Afghanistan on Friday and Saturday after giving the Afghan government a list of 76 alleged Pakistani terrorists it said where sheltering there. The artillery assault displaced nearly 200 families, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council. On Monday, the Afghan ambassador to Pakistan handed Islamabad a list of 85 suspected terrorist leaders that Kabul says have found refuge in Pakistan as well as the locations of 32 insurgent centers it wants Pakistan to destroy, an Afghan Foreign Ministry statement said. "The initial response of the Pakistani authorities (to) the list this morning was positive and we are hopeful that practical measures should be taken," it said. In a meeting with fellow officers on Monday, Pakistan's army chief, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, ordered his troops to cooperate with their Afghan counterparts in preventing militants from crossing the border. Afghanistan and Pakistan have long accused each other of turning a blind eye to insurgents operating along the border. Pakistan says the latest wave of attacks was orchestrated by militants who fled its military operations in North Waziristan, and has closed two border crossings. Pakistani authorities have also rounded up nearly 100 Afghan refugees in the southwestern city of Quetta, saying they were residing in the country illegally. Police spokesman Shahzada Farhat said at least 35 people were in custody. Another 75 were picked up by a paramilitary force, said another official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to brief the media. Pakistan is home to an estimated 2.5 million Afghan refugees who have fled decades of conflict in their country. Malaysia summoned the North Korean ambassador today for a dressing-down over Pyongyang's attack on its investigation into the assassination of Kim Jong-Nam, deepening a diplomatic row. Five North Koreans are in the frame for last week's airport killing, drawing a furious response from Pyongyang which has accused Kuala Lumpur of conspiring with "hostile forces" to damage its reputation. Malaysia recalled its envoy to Pyongyang and also summoned the North Korean ambassador to Kuala Lumpur, who was told his accusation was "baseless", the foreign ministry said in a statement. "The ministry emphasised that as the death occurred on Malaysian soil under mysterious circumstances, it is the responsibility of the Malaysian government to conduct an investigation to identify the cause of death," it said. The row erupted when Malaysian police rejected North Korean diplomats' demands to hand over the body of Kim Jong-Nam after he was apparently poisoned at Kuala Lumpur's international airport. Ambassador Kang Chol last week told reporters outside the morgue where Jong-Nam's body is being held that Malaysia was being pressured by South Korea in a bid to defame its northern neighbour. Seoul has pointed the finger of blame for the attack at the North, citing a "standing order" from Kim Jong-Un to kill his elder sibling and a failed assassination bid in 2012 after he criticised the regime. "The Malaysian government takes very seriously any unfounded attempt to tarnish its reputation," the statement said, after the ambassador's meeting with Deputy Secretary General for Bilateral Affairs Raja Nushirwan Zainal Abidin. The Malaysian ambassador in Pyongyang has also been recalled to Kuala Lumpur for consultations, the statement said. Police said yesterday they believed five North Koreans were involved in the killing, with four having fled the country on the day of the murder. Officers have already arrested one North Korean living in Kuala Lumpur, an Indonesian woman and her Malaysian boyfriend, as well as a Vietnamese woman. Three more North Koreans were wanted for questioning, police said. The drama erupted last week as Jong-Nam prepared to board a plane to Macau, where he has been living in recent years. Malaysian police say the 45-year-old was jumped by two women who squirted liquid in his face. Jong-Nam suffered a seizure and died before arriving at hospital. He was once thought to be the natural successor to his father, the then-North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il. But after Jong-Il's death in 2011 the succession went instead to his younger half-brother Kim Jong-Un. Hitting campaign trail in water scarce Bundelkhand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today blamed SP, BSP and Congress for backwardness of the region and promised to transform it like Kutch in Gujarat. Mineral-rich Bundelkhand, he said, can change the "fate" of Uttar Pradesh and satellites can help keep a check on illegal mining. "SP and BSP have ignored Bundelkhand over the years and these elections are crucial for Bundelkhand...it has to decide whether it has to get rid of SP-BSP," Modi said at an election rally in Orai region of Jalaun in Bundelkhand region. "In five years, we will transform Bundelkhand, which has not seen any development in the last 70 years...mineral-rich Bundelkhand can change the fate of Uttar Pradesh, illegal mining has to be stopped and the satellite launched by India can be used to check the clandestine activities," Modi said. BJP has promised that if voted to power, an autonomous development board will be set up for the region and its working will be monitored on a weekly basis, he said. Explaining his vision for the region, Modi cited the example of Kutch district of Gujarat. "Some believe nothing can be done in Bundelkhand...it can be made No.1 in the state...there is Kutch district in Gujarat ...20 years ago if any government staff was posted there, it was considered 'kala pani' (Andaman's Cellular Jail)," he said. The Prime Minister said population was dwindling there with no farming and water and people were migrating in search of greener pastures. "But after the earthquake there, we stared working on it and today it is the most developing district in the country. This can be done here too if the intention is right and if one has the resolve," he stressed. The prime minister also said, "If Bundelkhand has to flourish, it will need two engines to pull it out of the mess -- the BJP government in UP and at the Centre." On January 26, Carlos Gimenez, the mayor of Miami-Dade, ordered correctional facilities to comply with federal immigration requests, and to detain people that were being sought for up to 48 hours. The move brought to an end the countys position as a sanctuary city for immigrants in the country illegally, something that dated back to 2013. Under Gimenez, a Cuban-born immigrant , Miami-Dade had refused to detain such immigrants, not on principle, but because the federal government didnt fully reimburse the county for the expense. Carlos Gimenez, Mayor of Miami-Dade, during the interview. KAKO ABRAHAM Now, fearing a cut in federal grants from the Trump administration, Gimenez has been forced to make his most controversial decision since taking office in 2011, laying him open to the charge of betraying Miamis long-standing tradition of welcoming Latino migrants. Speaking from his office in the city, the 63-year-old Republican defends his decision on pragmatic grounds, insisting that his police officers will never take part in rounding up undocumented migrants. Question. Youve been labeled the first mayor to obey Trump. Answer. That isnt true. All Ive done is to give the order that we dont have to have the governments guarantee that it will pay us for those 48 hours. I am not in favor or against what Trump did. Furthermore, he has simply followed the course set by the Obama administration, which classified Miami-Dade as a sanctuary, saying that we were in danger of losing federal funds for not doing what he wanted. We accept more immigrants and refugees than anywhere else in the world Q. But you gave the order after Trumps warning. A. We were already working with the previous administration to try to get out of that situation, knowing that this would get serious when Trump took over. And Miami-Dade has never wanted to be a sanctuary county. From now on, immigration will tell us if it is interested in people we have detained, for committing a crime in the county, not for being undocumented, and well hold them for 48 hours. I dont see anything extraordinary in this. Q. Could this lead to people who have been arrested for minor offenses being deported? A. The effect will be limited. The list of people arrested in Miami-Dade in recent weeks that Immigration is interested in suggests that these are people who have committed serious crimes and were not first-time offenders. Theyve been on the federal governments radar for some time. Q. What is your message to undocumented immigrants? A. Undocumented immigrants have nothing to fear in Miami if they have not broken the law. And in the case of minor offenses, we dont arrest, we issue fines. But if they commit a crime, then they will be arrested, like anybody else. But were not talking about arresting people for walking down the street. Q. Will local police be taking part in round-ups of undocumented migrants? A. Trumps executive order talks about wanting a deal between the federal and state governments to turn the police into immigration officers, but were not going to do that. Our police are not going to be immigration officers. We have never done that and were not going to in the future. But I cant tell you what the federal government might do because nobody knows. Miami-Dade has never wanted to be a sanctuary county Q. How do you feel when people say youve turned your back on immigrants? A. What bothers me is when they try to trick people so as to agitate a section of the community, to create chaos, to create fear for political reasons. They know very well what has happened, and that it isnt much. Q. Are you talking about people from the Democratic Party? A. There are people from the Democratic Party, as well as anarchists and activists who want to turn Miami-Dade into something it never was, which is a sanctuary county. I issued that directive because I dont want to lose hundreds of millions of federal dollars that held the 2.7 million people in our county. There will always be a 20% to 30% who are not happy with what you do. Thats politics. But I dont regret the decision and would make it again. Q. What do you remember about arriving in Miami as a child? A. I didnt come here by plane from Cuba. There were more than 20 of us living in the same house. My father started working in Miami Beach carrying suitcases and my mother as a secretary, because she spoke English. Thats how we started out here. Q. Do you think the idea of the United States as somewhere that offers refuge to people looking for freedom and the chance to make a new life is in danger? A. No. We are a nation that accepts more immigrants and refugees than anywhere else in the world. More than a million each year. That isnt being dismantled. English version by Nick Lyne. BSP supremo Mayawati today hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, terming him as "Mr Negative Dalit Man". "Perturbed at the rising popularity of the BSP, the prime minister is indulging in cheap things and indulging in petty talk about its supreme leader and has termed BSP as 'Behenji Sampatti Party' (Behenji Assets Party)," she said at an election rally here. Mayawati is popularly known as 'Behenji'. "He (Modi) is an expert in jumlebaazi (rhetoric) but when he will get a tit-for-tat reply he will forget all about it and today I have been compelled to do the same for him," she said. "Narendra Damodardas Modi means Mr Negative Dalit Man, he is anti-dalit... This negative dalit man does not like that common people give small contributions in running the movement which is also run through donations," Mayawati said. Her retort came soon after Modi, at an election rally in Orai region of Jalaun in Bundelkhand region, noted that BSP is no longer Bahujan Samaj Party. "...bahujan toh Mayawati me simat gaya hai...it is Behenji Sampatti Party now. Those who deposit wealth for themselves, can they solve your problem?" Modi asked. Hitting back, Mayawati said, "He (Modi) does not know that BSP is a movement first and then a political party....I have dedicated my entire life for making members of dalit, deprived and weaker sections and Muslims stand on their feet." Launching a personal attack on the prime minister, Mayawati said, "Unlike him I have not got married...he had got married and later left his wife, which is another thing....and I have only worked for the deprived sections of society." "It is because of this dedication that people among the weaker sections do not consider me only as a leader but a big 'sampatti' (asset) for the movement," Mayawati said. "He is giving a wrong definition of BSP...he does not know that deprived and weaker sections consider me as a big wealth of bahujan samaj who has given up her entire life for their progress," she said. "This dalit ke beti does not lack in anything and if he defined the BSP wrongfully, she is two steps ahead of him," she said. Explaining the money deposited in her party's bank account, the BSP supremo said, "Three months ago, a membership drive was run in the country when there was no ban on Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. Party men converted small donations into big notes for bringing it to Delhi for depositing in banks. It was that money which was deposited in the bank." "BJP did not know that Rs 100 crore collected from all over the country was deposited and suddenly their eyes popped out and they asked from where it has come. Had it been black money, why would it have been deposited in banks?" she asked. "They (BJP) do not like that BSP is fighting the elections with the help of small donations. They do not like that Dalit ke beti campaigns in helicopter. Their intention was to make BSP turn bankrupt," Mayawati said. "You consider me as your leader, devi, bhagwan, asset... there is no difference between devi and asset," she said. "In Orai, what the prime minister said was very sad. He said that there is Rs 100 crore in BSP account. But, before saying so, they should introspect as to how much money was deposited in their accounts earlier, before pointing fingers at others," she said. "But, Mr Dalit Negative Man is not ready to do so," she said. "I have given the definition of the prime minister of my country taking into consideration his work, behaviour and policy," a visibly agitated Mayawati said. She said that the polling of three phases have made Modi so nervous that he was making all sorts of allegations against the political opponents. Earlier, Modi said in Orai, "Where has BSP reached today ...when I announced note ban on November 8 last year, arch rivals SP and BSP who never see eye to eye came together ...I was amazed when I launched war against corruption and asked for the details of back money. They came together and all including the Congress started speaking same language." "Behenji (Mayawati) alleges that government was ill-prepared. Was it the government or was it you, who was not prepared?" Modi asked. Tata Consultancy Services, Indias top software exporter, decided on Monday to buy back 5.61 crore shares for about Rs 16,000 crore. That makes it the biggest buyback in the history of Indian capital markets. Earlier, the record was held by Reliance Industries, which had bought back shares for about Rs 10,000 crore in 2012. TCS is facing the prospect of losing revenue from its US clients as the Donald Trump government introduces protectionist measures. Its board of directors approved the buyback of 2.85% of the total paid-up equity at Rs 2,850 a share, TCS told the exchanges. In response to the announcement, its shares rose 4.08% (Rs 98.35) to end at Rs 2,506.50 on the BSE, with volumes of 1.98 lakh. On the NSE, the shares rose 4.03% (Rs 97.10) to end at Rs 2,505, with volumes of 19.86 lakh. TCS has never traded at the price at which the buyback was announced on Monday. The company had net cash of about Rs 43,100 crore at the end of December 2016.The decision will step up pressure on TCS peers such as Infosys and Wipro to announce similar buybacks. Recent reports had suggested Infosys might go in for a buyback, but the company had said it would decide on it at an appropriate time. Wipro completed a buyback for nearly Rs 2,500 crore last year, while Cognizant recently announced it would give back $3.4 billion to its investors via buybacks and dividends. Nagaland People's Front president Shurhozelie Liezitsu will be sworn in as the new Chief Minister on February 22. He was today invited by Governor P B Acharya to form the next government after he emerged as the unanimous choice for the post and formally staked his claim. Accompanied by the outgoing Chief Minister T R Zeliang, Liezitsu met the Governor at the Raj Bhavan where he staked claim to form the next government. Earlier in the day, Liezitsu was chosen to replace Zeliang at a meeting of the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) legislators 59 of whom attended, the Naga People's Front (NPF) sources said. Zeliang had resigned yesterday against the backdrop of widespread protests in the state triggered by his government's decision to reserve 33 per cent seats for women in urban local bodies. The Governor had accepted his resignation and asked him to continue till alternative arrangements were made. 81-year-old Liezietsu lauded Zeliangs "supreme sacrifice" of vacating his chair to save Naga people from further turmoil. "He has done this with a big heart and I want all to recognize this sacrifice," Liezitsu said in his address to DAN legislators after his unanimous election. He called upon the MLAs to forgive each other, if there were differences among them, and move ahead together in the interest of the Naga society. Outgoing Chief Minister Zeliang, while congratulating Liezietsu on his election as the leader of the DAN Legislature Party, expressed confidence that the state will benefit immensely from his experience and statesmanship. Zeliang narrated how attempts to destabilise his government had failed. He said some individuals and organisations that had supported election to the ULBs with 33 per cent reservation for women a few months back took U-turns and opposed it. "What was supposed to be a social movement took strange directions when politically vested interests started spearheading the movement resulting in loss of lives and injuries to some, razing of several government properties and innocent public held to ransom as bandhs and restrictions on movement were imposed," Zeliang said. Zeliang said, "While our main objective was to safeguard the interest of women through the reservation of seats for them in the ULBs, the irony is that women were on the streets as bandh volunteers called tribal organisations to topple my government." Zeliang also lauded the role Neiphiu Rio, MP and former Chief Minister, played to bring normalcy in the Naga society when various organisations had brought the functioning of the government to a grinding halt. Zeliang had gone to Delhi on February 16 after seeking two-three days time to step down and ensure a smooth transition of power. Nagaland has been rocked by widespread protests since last month after the state government announced 33 per cent reservation for women in the ULBs. The January 31 firing incident, which claimed the lives of two protestors in Dimapur, prompted the demands by powerful tribal organisations for declaring the ongoing polls null and void and suspension of senior officials. Though the election process was called off and officials shifted, the tribal bodies continued to insist on Zeliang's resignation and even set February 17 as the deadline for it. Most of the wood in mainland Southeast Asia has been logged to support the regions rapid economic growth. Efforts are on to document the rare plant life found in Cambodias limestone karsts that are next in line, writes Julia Wallace. Millions of years ago, a cluster of coral reefs stood firm at Kampong Trach mountain in Cambodia, as the water receded, leaving them surrounded by the marshy, mangrove-studded Mekong Delta. Today, these reefs have been carved by the wind and rain into spiky limestone cliffs known as karsts that stand stark against the Cambodian landscape, even as the lowland rain forest around them has been denuded by centuries of intensive rice cultivation and logging. The karsts are full of nooks and crannies that have nurtured highly specialised plants and animals found nowhere else. They are also important to humans, studded with small altars and temples that are thought to be homes to neak ta, landscape spirits in the local animist pantheon. Soon, they will be gone. A small group of scientists are now racing to document rare plant life in these limestone karsts before local companies quarry them to dust and grind them up for production of the cement that is fueling this countrys building boom. Sanctuaries of rare species Most of the wood in mainland Southeast Asia has already been logged to support the regions rapid economic growth and its relentless appetite for luxury hardwood. Cement and concrete are also in high demand, so the karsts are next in line. They are the last refuges of what made it to the Mekong Delta, natural harbours for a specialised kind of vegetation that has very little timber value, sanctuaries of rare species, said J Andrew McDonald, a botany professor at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, USA, who is spearheading the plant collection project with support from the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Switzerland. The limestone habitats can act as arks of biodiversity that replenish surrounding areas after ecological damage. But they are so complex that, once destroyed, they can never themselves be recreated. They have scant access to water for six months of the year, creating a harsh, alkaline environment that has led to the evolution of desert-like flora in the middle of a hot, wet country. Andrew calls them Dr Seuss-type plants, ones that look and behave like cactuses and succulent desert flora, but are related to the local tropical foliage. There are fat, succulent grapevines, fig trees with thick, waxy leaves, and false cactuses as spiky and segmented as those that grow in the American desert, but actually members of the poinsettia family that evolved independently. The toughest and most determined plants nestle themselves into the fissures and cracks atop the karsts, or cling to the razor-sharp outcroppings exposed to the wind and sun. More delicate tropical flowers make homes in the grottoes within, sucking up the water that drips through the limestone. At the bottom, the karsts are like Swiss cheese, full of water-carved pockets that open up into large underground lakes where rare bats feed and mushrooms grow. Over four days in January, armed with rice sacks and pruning shears, Andrew and several colleagues and students poured over two linked karsts, Phnom Kampong Trach and Phnom Domrei. Over the course of two botanical excursions, the group found more than 130 species of vascular plants native to this patch of limestone, a comparatively rich assortment, including some thought to be new to science: a new type of jasmine, and a member of the coffee family. Along with discovering these rare species, the scientists wanted to document the karsts biodiversity and the ways in which different parts of the habitat work together before it is gone. Ultimately, they hope to persuade the government to make these two karsts a protected area and declare them off-limits to future cement quarrying. The team was accompanied by a representative of the Ministry of Environment who was to report back to his superiors on the merits of the protection proposal. The ministry is bereft of plant experts, so they sent Neang Thy, the countrys leading herpetologist, instead. The vegetation you see here, you may not see anywhere else, he said. If it is destroyed, that is a problem. In Kampot, the scientists were led through some of the more treacherous cave networks by Ken Sam An, a 61-year-old native of a village just below the Phnom Kampong Trach karst. He knows more about these caves than just about anyone else. As a teenager, he watched as the Viet Cong hid in the caves, resulting in retaliatory bombing campaigns by the United States that drove the population to flee. Soon, ultra-Communist rebels swept into the area and he was conscripted into a Khmer Rouge youth unit. Whatever scientific research apparatus still existed was totally dismantled by the victorious Khmer Rouge government. After the fall of the Khmer Rouge in 1979, Ken spent years working for a limestone quarrying company, but now he serves on a local committee that tries to preserve the karsts, urging local residents to stop stripping them and chopping off rocks to sell. I tell them, If you break the mountain, its not good for the environment, and if you work in tourism you can come and sell things to the tourists instead of breaking rocks. Bigger risks A far bigger risk is large-scale limestone quarrying by companies producing cement. The cement firms have also spawned a mini-land boom in Kampot, where prices have risen thirtyfold in the last decade, according to locals. In interviews, the inhabitants complained that rocks being blasted off the mountains were falling on their homes and angering the local neak ta, who had to be propitiated with offerings of roast pigs. Tony Whitten, the international regional director for Fauna and Flora Internationals Asia-Pacific division, said he had tried for years, fruitlessly, to determine whether environmental impact assessments had been carried out before cement companies were given permission to dynamite the karsts. The Ministry of Mines and Energy, which is responsible for granting and regulating concessions for limestone quarrying, declined to comment. Even when environmental assessments are conducted, they often focus on large mammals, overlooking plants and small species that are highly endemic to certain caves. The slimy, squishy invertebrates and strange plants that live in karsts can be a hard sell to donors, who prefer what are known as charismatic megafauna" cute, easy-to-anthropomorphise animals like elephants, tigers and dolphins that appeal to the public. It takes a botanist to appreciate the charisma of a plant, Andrew said. The karsts his group wants to protect have the advantage of already being a minor tourist attraction, with a Buddhist pagoda sprawling out at their feet, small shrines nestled into the caves and a set of stone steps leading down to an underground pond where monks bathe. Most planets live their lives tethered to the star that created them. But some renegade worlds wander across the Milky Way without a host. Two new analyses suggest that Jupiter-sized rogue planets are a lot less common than scientists thought. The galaxy is likely home to about 100 billion of these planets, one study shows, instead of the 200 billion proposed in 2011. Two teams of researchers presented their findings on February 2, 2017 at a conference in Pasadena, California: one based on a recent statistical analysis and the other on observations of more than 2,600 microlensing events. These occur when a planet passes between Earth and a distant star at just the right angle to temporarily act like a cosmic magnifying glass. It can briefly brighten the light from the star and provide researchers with information about the size of the lens, or planet, which might not reflect any light. This technique is currently the only way to spot these giant rogues. Previous estimates of the number of free-floating planets stemmed from a 2011 analysis of 10 microlensing events suggestive of renegade worlds. The authors hypothesised that there could be as many as two rogue worlds for every main-sequence star one of the most common categories, which includes the Sun. The 2011 finding flew in the face of how many astronomers thought rogue planets formed. In a binary system where each star hosts its own planets, the gravitational force of one of the stars could disrupt the orbit of a planet and fling it out of the system. There could be similar effects in a crowded cluster of stars, where one star could eject its neighbours outer planet. These and other scenarios could produce some free-floating planets, but probably not hundreds of billions of them, says Sarah Dodson-Robinson, an astronomer at the University of Delaware in Newark, USA. The reduced estimates have reassured astronomers that their ideas of rogue planet formation arent so far off the mark. More data needed Many of the suspected rogue planets from the 2011 analysis do actually orbit a star, says Christian Clanton, an astronomer at NASA Ames Research Centre in Moffett Field, California, USA, who was one of the conference presenters. His statistical analysis showed that they probably circle their star at a distance of 1.5 billion kilometres or more farther than Saturn is from the Sun. There are perhaps only half as many genuinely rogue worlds as the 2011 analysis estimates, says Christian, although the planets could still number in the billions. The 2011 paper looked at data from the Microlensing Observations in Astrophysics project, which uses a telescope in New Zealand. The authors examined 474 detections of giant planets more massive than Jupiter, of which 10 seemed to be observations of planets that werent bound to stars. The teams statistical analysis suggested that the galaxy is home to roughly 200 billion free-floating worlds. Some researchers took issue with that interpretation because it was based on so few sightings of potential rogue planets, says Jennifer Yee, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. But the field had to wait for more data from better-situated telescopes to narrow down the true number. Those observations came from the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment, which uses a telescope in northern Chile a site with better weather and atmospheric conditions for astronomy than New Zealand. When Przemek Mroz, an astronomer at Warsaw University Observatory in Poland, and his colleagues analysed the data, they didnt find evidence for a large population of rogue planets. Przemek whose team is in the process of publishing its findings points out that flaring stars, or stars whose brightness fluctuates, could mimic the microlensing effects of a renegade world. Astronomers are looking forward to even better estimates when NASAs Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope launches in the mid-2020s. Once WFIRST settles into position, it will collect much more sensitive microlensing observations of planets. It will even be able to detect worlds that are smaller than Mars. The truth about rogue planets is out there, and WFIRST will help astronomers find it. During President Donald Trumps transition to power, his team reached out to Elliott Abrams for help building a new administration. Abrams, a seasoned Republican foreign policy official, sent lists of possible candidates for national security jobs. One by one, the answer from the Trump team came back no. The reason was consistent: This one had said disparaging things about Trump during the campaign; that one had signed a letter opposing him. Finally, the White House asked Abrams himself to meet with the president about becoming deputy secretary of state, only to have the same thing happen vetoed because of the past criticism. Abrams experience has become a case study in the challenges Trump still faces in filling the top positions a month into his presidency. Trump remains fixated on the campaign as he applies a loyalty test to some prospective officials. Many Republicans reacted to what happened to Abrams with dismay, leaving them increasingly leery about joining an administration that cannot get past the past. As Trump brings candidates for national security adviser to meet with him in Florida this weekend, he presides over a government where the upper echelons remain sparsely populated. Six of the 15 statutory cabinet secretaries are still awaiting Senate confirmation as Democrats nearly uniformly oppose almost all of the presidents choices. Even some of the cabinet secretaries who are in place may feel they are home alone. It is not just Secretary of State Rex W Tillerson who has no deputy secretary, much less Trump-appointed undersecretaries or assistant secretaries. Neither do the heads of the Treasury Department, the Education Department or any of the other cabinet departments. Only three of 15 nominees have been named for deputy secretary positions. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has a deputy only because he kept the one left over from President Barack Obamas administration. That does not even begin to cover the rest of the more than 4,000 appointments that a president typically makes. In some cases, the Trump administration is even going in reverse. A senior political appointee at the housing department, who had started the job, was fired this past week and marched out of the building when someone discovered his previous statements critical of Trump. The presidents top Latin America official at the National Security Council was likewise fired after just weeks on the job for complaining about internal dysfunction at an off-the-record discussion at a Washington research organisation, according to officials, who confirmed a Politico report. The State Department has laid off six top career officials in recent days, apparently out of questions about their loyalty to Trump. Many tough things were said about him and by him before the last years election, Abrams, who served as President Ronald Reagans assistant secretary of state and President George W Bushs deputy national security adviser, said in an interview. I would have hoped he would have turned toward just hiring the most effective people to help him govern rather than looking back to what we said in that race. Trump faces other hurdles, too. With no cadre ready to go from past political service, he has been starting from scratch. His team has been slow to vet candidates, and in some cases his choices have had troubles with their business backgrounds or other matters. And Democrats have mounted a wall of resistance to his nominations, slowing the process down. The White House did not respond to requests for comment, but Trump has disputed reports of troubles. The White House is running so smoothly, so smoothly, he told a rally of supporters in Melbourne, Florida, on Saturday. And believe me, we inherited one big mess, that I can tell you. The ill will between Trump and much of the Republican establishment works both ways. Many Republicans who might have agreed to work for the president have been turned off by what they consider his sometimes erratic behaviour and the competing power centres inside his White House. After firing his first national security adviser, Michael T Flynn, Trump found that his initial choice for a replacement, Robert S Harward, a retired vice admiral, would not take the job. The problem is that with each successive episode, it raises the stakes for the next one, said Peter D Feaver, a Duke University professor who was a strategic planning adviser to Bush. Its going to be hard for the next outsider to accept the national security job and not request the ability to make personnel changes. Richard N Haass, a former Republican official and now president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said Trump had ruled out much of an entire generation of Republican public policy types and alarmed others with his empowerment of Stephen Bannon, his chief strategist, to shape national security. Even some cabinet secretaries appear unable to pick their own staff. This is unprecedented, its untraditional, its outside the mainstream, said Haass, whose own name had been floated for a position. And so its just that youd be signing on for, at a minimum, tremendous uncertainty, and quite possibly for being associated with a set of policies you deeply disagree with. Stuart Holliday, an ambassador under Bush, said many Republicans would want to work for Tillerson or Mattis. However, the Republican foreign policy bench is not that deep at senior levels, he said, especially if you factor in people who took themselves off the field. Former Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., said the business veterans that Trump had enlisted for his cabinet were the most positive thing about his administration so far. But he added that the presidents disregard for advice could complicate his efforts to fill posts. You get the feeling that hes still flying by his own experiences, he said, and thats got to concern anyone who cares about these issues. For Trump, the challenge is more pronounced because he and his advisers feel they cannot trust some of the senior career professionals still working at the White House or cabinet departments. Opposition within Leaks about Flynn and Trumps phone calls with foreign leaders have convinced White House officials that they face an opposition within. You have a new administration that also has a fewer people familiar with the processes and systems of government, including the importance of the vetting process, said Max Stier, chief executive of the Center for Presidential Transition at the Partnership for Public Service. You cant operate as they did in the campaign context, with a smaller than usual group it doesnt work. Trumps failure to vet candidates in advance has led to some stumbles. A White House scheduler was fired this past week because of an issue that surfaced in her background check, something that normally would have been completed weeks ago. It is too early to say whether the recent encounters in Kulgam in the Kashmir Valley mark the revival of the clashes and violence that followed the killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani in July last year. The cycle of violence had abated after November but the occurrence of three encounters in the last one week, in which 16 people died, is ominous. The dead included eight militants, two civilians and six army personnel. The civilians were killed when they tried to protect militants and the army personnel lost their lives when mobs threw stones at them or prevented their being taken to hospital. The rising trend of people coming to the aid of militants caught in clashes with the army or security forces shows increasing public sympathy for the militants. That has provoked the army, with Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat issuing a controversial warning to the people that those who aided the militants or even raised Pakistan flags would be considered anti-nationals and that the forces would go helter-skelter for them. Loss of personnel, growth of or lack of abatement of militancy, the need to extend action to more areas and increase in resistance might put more pressure on the armed forces. But the response should not be in anger and the army should not react as if it is in a battlefield fighting the enemy. It should not lose sense of the environment it is in where cooperation of the people is essential for success, and has no reason to abandon standard operating procedures even in the face of extreme provocation. To equate stone-pelting youth and the mobs that shield militants and to deal with them as enemies is to create more militants. The armys role in a civilian conflict zone is very difficult. Public pronouncement of a threat by the army chief will send out wrong messages about that role both to the people and the personnel. Such an aggressive policy will only confirm the impression that it is the army which is in command in Kashmir and not the civil administration. That will not help in moving towards redress of even common grievances, let alone bringing down the levels of hostility and militancy. No political initiative was taken during the peaking of disaffection and militancy, and its waning in the last few weeks, to relate to the people and to initiate a peace process. Civil authorities should find a solution to the problem of crowds obstructing security operations. It should be a part of a bigger outreach to the people. The army chiefs prescription can only worsen the problem. The Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) is all set to intensify its campaign to make the city posters-free. The authorities would file criminal cases against the people defacing the public places with posters and banners under Karnataka Open Places (Prevention of Disfigurement) Act, 1981. Addressing press persons, here, Mayor M J Ravikumar said that the MCC has been trying hard to retain the clean city tag and thus has launched several initiatives and campaigns. Henceforth, the provisions of Karnataka Open Places (Prevention of Disfigurement) Act, 1981, will be enforced effectively. There is a provision under the said Act to file criminal case against the people who deface public places by affixing banners, posters or writing on the walls, he said. The MCC has already filed six cases under the Act in the last one month and the drive to check the menace will be intensified. Film distributors have asked for a space to paste film posters in the city. The authorities have issued warning not to fix posters on public walls, the Mayor said. Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) (Crime and Traffic) N Rudramuni said, the police department will take strict action against the violators and the police will also file suo moto cases. Poster Hatao campaign Resource person for Anti-Defacement under Swachh Bharat Mission Colonel Shivraj Kumar from Delhi is in the city to spread awareness about the Karnataka Open Places (Prevention of Disfigurement) Act, 1981. Shivraj Kumar, who is spearheading a campaign Poster Hatao since 2009 in parts of the country, said, penality for violation in Karnataka is less compared to Delhi. Under the Karnataka Open Places (Prevention of Disfigurement) Act, 1981, offenders of disfigurement could be punished with an imprisonment up to six months or a fine up to Rs 1,000 or both. But in Delhi, penality for the same violation, is up to Rs 50,000 or one year imprisonment or both. He said, citizens should be aware of the Act. He suggested the people to adopt a slogan Each one remove one. Earlier, Kumar conducted an anti-defacement session for MCC authorities to create awareness on legal aspects of anti-defacement, and public participation to complain and remove posters pasted in public places. Deputy Commissioner D Randeep said, government employees should never mix or allow work stress and personal problems affect each other. He was delivering a valedictory speech at a training programme on transformational leadership for senior government officials of Mysuru district, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), in association with the district administration, at a private hotel here recently. The programme was sponsored by Automotive Axles and Meritor India. Everyone faces trouble and pressure, both at home and work. Also, pressure is more on government officials, in particular, due to various obstacles. However, unlike employees associated with the private sector, who are motivated and re-oriented on several occasions, government officials are often left neglected, and are left to fend for themselves, which is unfortunate, he said. He called upon the officials to make use of their leaves instead of working endlessly as it affects ones productivity and state of mind. Sadly, many think, without their contribution at office, no work will progress and continue to work without taking even a single days leave. This should not be done as it affects ones mind and every one should make use of their leaves, he said. Every government employee is an asset to the government. So, all should concentrate on ones health and sanity to perform better. One should ensure that one maintains good work-life balance, he added. The event, which included talks by motivational speakers, including V Aswatha Ramaiah from Unique Consultants, Bengaluru, and M S Raghu, certified master trainer, Neuro Linguistic Programme, aimed at aiding the participants improve upon their personality, maintain work life balance, to develop positive attitude, to develop self-motivation, public service motive, time and stress management and brain development skills. Senior government officials from departments like City Police, Zilla Panchayat, Mysuru City Corporation, MUDA, taluk office, RTO, Animal Husbandry, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, Revenue department, Health and Family Welfare department, PWD, Treasury department, and assistant commissioners participated in the day-long programme. CII-Mysuru chairman N Muthukumar was present. The dawn-to-dusk Chamarajanagar bandh call bandh call, given by various organisations, condemning the burning of the chariot of Sri Chamrajeshwaraswami Temple, evoked good response here on Monday. Business transactions came to a halt in the city. Schools and colleges were declared a holiday. Petrol bunks, theatres and banks were closed, causing inconvenience to the people. However, there was no disruption in the KSRTC and private bus services. The Doddangadi Beedhi, Chikkangadi Beedhi, B Rachaiah Double Road and Gundlupet Road, that are usually abuzz with activities, wore a deserted look on Monday, with traders voluntarily downing the shutters of their establishments. Members of various organisations took out a protest march in the town and demanded stern punishment for the perpetrators. They also submitted a memorandum to Deputy Commissioner B Ramu, seeking Rs 5 crore for the renovation of the temple, a new chariot by next Ashada month and banning public programme on the temple premises. They urged the DC to step up security around the park near the temple and control illegal activities. SP Kuldeep Kumar R Jain said, three special teams have been constituted to nab the culprits. The police have begun the probe and a few suspects have been subjected to questioning. Meanwhile, District in-charge Minister U T Khader, who is on a pilgrimage to Mecca, has condemned the incident. He has directed the deputy commissioner and SP to constitute a special team to probe the issue, and has appealed to the people to maintain peace. No new chariot DC B Ramu clarified that there was no major damage to the chariot and it is not possible to construct a new chariot within three months. He, however, said the damaged portion of the temple car would be repaired. The temple is being renovated at a cost of Rs 2 crore and the miscreants have set fire to the chariot so that a new one would be built. Stern action will be taken against those, who have hurt the sentiments of the people. A proposal would be submitted to the state, seeking funds for the new chariot. If philanthropists come forward and donate liberally, a new chariot can be made before 2018 jatre, he said. According to documents of the temple, the Brahma Ratha is 179-year-old and is made of teak and honne wood. It may be mentioned that this was the second time attempts have been made to torch the chariot. Miscreants had made a vain bid in the year 2015, but only the coconut fronds, covering the chariot, was burnt. The anguish felt by hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants in the United States will last at least another week. On Friday, a federal judge in Seattle refused to release Daniel Ramirez Medina, who was detained by immigration officers a week earlier despite having a work permit and no criminal record. Protests in front of a federal court in Seattle on Friday. AFP More information El juez rechaza poner en libertad al dreamer detenido por inmigracion en Seattle Ramirez Medina is a recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which Obama created in 2012 to allow people who were brought into the US illegally as children to study and work, provided certain requirements are met. These beneficiaries are often referred to as dreamers. Despite meeting the requirements, the 23-year-old now faces deportation, raising questions about the fate of other people in federal protection programs under the new Trump administration, which has promised to crack down on illegal immigration. On Friday, after lawyers for Ramirez went to federal court to demand his immediate release, Magistrate Judge James P. Donohue instead referred the case to a immigration court, where a bond hearing will take place within a week. Ramirez was arrested on February 10 during a raid in which his own father was being targeted In the meantime, Donohue has also asked the parties for further information to decide whether his court has jurisdiction to consider the case. This is the first known instance of a dreamer being arrested just like any other undocumented migrant. The outcome of the case could have far-reaching repercussions for around 750,000 people who have enjoyed DACA protection since 2012. These individuals were brought to the US as children, and many of them have no memories outside the country. Thanks to DACA, a program that does not grant them legal status but makes them immune to deportation as long as they do not commit any crimes, recipients are able to study, work and lead normal lives without fear of the police. According to briefs filed by his lawyers, Ramirez arrived in the US in 2001, at the age of seven. He was granted DACA protection in 2014, and his status was renewed in 2016. He now has a three-year-old son of his own. Daniel Ramirez in a picture released by his lawyers. AP The defense claims that the federal judge should release Ramirez because there was no basis for his arrest, and that whether he can or cannot be deported should not even be under consideration. The mere fact that an immigration court is going to be involved is in itself a legal blow to the DACA program, which is now being challenged. The Justice Department, on the other hand, insists that deportation proceedings must begin, just like with any other illegal immigrant. During the campaign, Donald Trump promised to throw out undocumented migrants, who number an estimated 11 million people. But on several occasions he has suggested that he would focus on those with criminal records. Recently, the White House and the Republican Party seemed to suggest that DACA recipients had nothing to fear. These individuals are particularly concerned, because in order to apply for membership they were forced to hand over a wealth of personal information, and cannot hide from the police. In an improvised press conference on Thursday, Trump said that we're going to show great heart with DACA. DACA a very difficult subject for me. To me, it's one of the most difficult subjects. You have incredible kids, in many cases, not all cases. In some of the cases, they are gang members and drug dealers, too, he said in response to a question. Gang affiliation Ramirez was arrested on February 10 during a raid in which his own father was being targeted. He was reportedly asked if he was a US citizen, and he replied that he had a work permit. Immigration officers arrested him on the spot, according to his lawyers. The defense department has since claimed that Ramirez admitted gang affiliation, one of the causes to rescind DACA protection. But his lawyers say this is a deliberate smear campaign to justify the arrest, and have even accused authorities of tampering with their clients statement to detention officials, in which a few words in the opening sentence have been erased. According to his lawyers, Ramirezs statement originally read: I came in and the officers said I have gang affiliation ... so I wear an orange uniform. I do not have a criminal history and I do not have gang affiliation. But the first seven words have been erased, so that the note begins halfway down the line with I have gang affiliation. His lawyers also note that the Department of Homeland Security has a large database of gang member suspects, and that these lists are consulted before granting DACA protection to applicants. English version by Susana Urra. The Dakshina Kannada district unit of the BJP staged a protest against the failure of the state government on all fronts, outside the deputy commissioners office here on Monday. Addressing the protesters, MP Nalin Kumar Kateel said the Congress government has failed to take action against the KPCC womens wing president Lakshmi Hebbalkar and Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi even after disproportionate assets and cash were found during the Income Tax Department raids on their houses recently. Siddaramaiah, who had promised of corruption-free administration, has failed fulfill his promise, he charged. He predicted, Siddaramaiah will finish off the Congress. About 15 MLAs will tender resignation to Congress within two months and will bring an end to the Congress-led government in the state. The Congress leaders are involved in sand and land mafia. When B S Yeddyurappa was the chief minister, he had sanctioned funds for the development of the district. But now, the Congress leaders are thinking only of their personal benefit, he criticised. He accused the chief minister of receiving kickbacks for the construction of a steel flyover in Bengaluru and Yettinahole project. The BJP will expose all the corruption of the Congress and will create awareness among the people, so that they will decide their fate in the next Assembly election. Former minister Nagaraj Shetty, former MLA Yogish Bhat and others were present on the occasion. The Supreme Court on Monday granted two weeks time to the Karnataka government to explain why a CBI probe should not be ordered into the suicide of deputy superintendent of police M K Ganapathi on July 7 last year. A bench of Justices Adarsh Kumar Goel and U U Lalit refused a plea for four weeks time made by Additional Advocate General Devadutt Kamat and states standing counsel Joseph Aristotle to file their response on a petition filed by M K Kushalappa, father of the deceased. They wanted four weeks time to place relevant records, including the CID report. The apex court had, on January 5, given six weeks time to the state government to file an affidavit while admitting the petition for consideration. The petitioner has challenged the Karnataka High Court order of October 19, refusing to entertain a plea for a CBI probe. According to the petitioner, the officer, posted in the office of the Inspector General of Police, Mangaluru, was being hounded by then Minister K J George and other senior officers. A division bench of the High Court had said all steps were taken for ensuring a fair investigation in the instant matter as superior officers other than the two accused police officers were appointed by the investigating agency and the DGP oversaw the investigation throughout. The HC had noted that George had resigned to facilitate proper investigation at the relevant time. The high court had declined to look into the closure report filed by the CID in the case. The forest, ecology and environment department has placed a proposal for allocation of Rs 406.75 crore before the state government at its pre-budget meeting. This is less than last years Rs 498 crore. A forest department official on condition of anonymity told DH that the demands have been cut owing to the financial burden on the state. Also, this year, there is no proposal to declare any forest as reserve or sanctuary. 50 tree parks The department has proposed to create 50 tree parks in the city and state, create sandalwood estates and encourage farmers to grow the state tree. The department has also proposed to build 100 ponds and solar-powered borewells in wildlife areas, work on which has already begun in Bandipur and Nagarahole tiger reserves. The forest department is concentrating in Jogimatti, where there is severe power crisis. The department has also planned to create a nursery society to raise funds to grow and distribute saplings across the state. While the department wants to set it up with various government departments, the government has proposed that this be done by the Karnataka State Forest Development Corporation or Karnataka State Forest Industries Corporation. The state government has also agreed to the proposal of the forest department to keep aside one percent of the road development fund for planting roadside saplings on the lines of the National Highways Authority of India. The Cabinet, a month ago, had already approved the proposal to plant saplings along a 1,000-km stretch of all major roads. The department is also promoting the Krishi Arogya Protsahana Yojana, where compensation to farmers will be increased for sapling plantation from Rs 40 to Rs 100 and increase the overall budget from Rs 27 crore to Rs 60 crore. The department has also proposed to set up a Poornachandra Prathishtana at a cost of Rs 5 crore, for research and development along with an information centre at a cost of Rs 12 crore. This is proposed at Ramanagaram, where the forest department already has a nursery. The official said that the government in principle has agreed to all their proposals, unlike before where it used to be a hard bargain. The High Court of Karnataka on Monday wondered whether any BBMP commissioner in the last five years had gathered courage to suspend subordinates for dereliction of duty. Censuring BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad, who was present before the court for a hearing, Justice Raghvendra S Chauhan said that if the Palike chief was unable to take action against erring officials, it was better to close down the civic body. The commissioner disagreed and submitted that action had been taken against non-performing officials and criminal procedures started in works related to stormwater drains. The judge was hearing a petition filed by Palladium Constructions Pvt Ltd against the BBMP for not granting it partial occupancy certificate. Justice Chauhan asked why the commissioner didnt take stringent action against officials who failed to do their duty. He said there was no need of officials who sit and get paid but do not discharge their duty. He condemned the way the BBMP is carrying out eviction drives without giving enough time to encroachers. We are living in a democratic way of administration and not in the British era of colonisation (sic), the judge remarked. Referring to a large number of cases pertaining to the BBMP pending before the high court, Justice Chauhan advised the civic body to strengthen its legal team by hiring young lawyers. He suggested that the BBMP devise a mechanism to settle cases out of court by establishing a settlement committee in three months. The BBMP should try to prevent such cases from reaching the high court, he added. The commissioner replied that the BBMP was in the process of developing software to handle matters of illegal construction, khata distribution, illegal advertisements and sanctioning building plan. The software is expected to be launched in four months, he said. Four elephants from Mathigodu elephant camp in Kodagu district left for Uttarakhand on Monday. The elephants have been sent to Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve as per the MoU signed between the Karnataka and Uttarakhand governments. The elephants that left for the north Indian state are Thunga (15), her two-year-three-month-old calf Karna (7) and Bheeshma (7). Mahouts Gopal, Rama and Lingappa, are accompanying the pachyderms. The elephants halted at Kallabettu forest in Hunsur on Monday evening and will resume their journey on Tuesday morning, said Mathigodu RFO Kiran Kumar. He said the elephants will travel by lorry. The mahouts will be with the elephants till they get accustomed to the new environment, said the RFO. Elephant Thunga is the daughter of Varalakshmi, who is at the elephant camp. Karna is the son of Chamundi who was captured at Dandeli. Bheeshma is an orphaned elephant who was found on the periphery of Veeranahosahalli. He was separated from his mother and was reared by mahouts at the camp. A Congress leader, who unsuccessfully contested the last Assembly election from CV Raman Nagar, is accused of taking sexual favours from a high school teacher in Chikkamagaluru who was desperate for transfer to Bengaluru. P Ramesh, believed to be close to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, reportedly got intimate with the woman on several occasions at a five-star hotel in the city. The teacher claimed that she approached the police, but her complaint was not entertained on the grounds that the sexual activity took place by mutual consent. Left with no other option, she approached a Kannada channel on Monday and narrated what had happened. According to her, she first met Ramesh at a job fair organised by him in CV Raman Nagar in 2013. She requested him to facilitate her transfer from Chikkamagaluru to a school in Domlur. The two exchanged phone numbers and remained in regular touch, she said. Ramesh asked her to meet him in his Bengaluru office. When she came for the appointment, he reportedly asked sexual favours from her. The woman said she decided to oblige him as she was helpless. Ramesh took her to a five-star hotel in Halasuru where the two got intimate. The Congressman didnt stop at that. He often called her out to Bengaluru on the pretext of helping her but got intimate with her on each occasion. The woman said she decided to put an end to the ordeal as she was doing something against her will and decided to approach the police. DCP (East) Ajay Hilori, however, denied that the woman had approached the police to make a complaint of sexual assault by Ramesh. We will register a case against him if the teacher files a complaint. There is no question of police refusing to entertain such a complaint, Hilori told journalists. A woman said to be an air hostess with Jet Airways was reportedly molested by a motorcyclist when she was walking back from a fast food restaurant along with a friend in HRBR Layout, east Bengaluru. The 22-year-old woman and her friend had decided to take a walk after eating at 99 Dose restaurant on the night of February 12, 2017. Around 10 pm, as they reached 3rd A Main, 4th B Cross, a man wearing a full-face helmet rode on a bike and brushed against her. The man pulled at her top and tried to molest her. Before she and her friend could react, he rode off. They raised an alarm and called the police. A Hoysala patrol car also arrived but it was too late. Police tried to persuade the woman and her friend to lodge a complaint immediately, but they chose to leave the place. She filed the complaint on February 14. We have registered a case under IPC Section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and are checking the CCTV footage, a senior police officer said. DCP (East) Ajay Hilori, however, told DH it could be a case of attempted chain-snatching. The man laid his hand around her neck and tried to grab the chain. She was not molested as has been claimed. Still, the investigation is going on, he said. Police detained a few people on Monday evening. Their questioning revealed the suspect wanted to rob her. Ameriabank: At the Vanguard of Armenia's Banking Sector STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARTSAKH SUBSCRIBERS OF UCOMS ALL TIME BEST OFFER TO ENJOY ADDITIONAL BENEFITS Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders Google Ad PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox UCOMS SPECIAL OFFER OF THE UNLIMITED INTERNET IS NOW TERMLESS There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol Armenia and Azerbaijan to do so without delay An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan". UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT Google Ad The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022 Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces LEVEL UP ONLY FOR STUDENTS: UCOM OFFERS X2 AND X3 MORE INTERNET STATEMENT BY SECRETARY ANTONY J. BLINKEN This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments Delegation by Nancy Pelosi Accompanied by Alen Simonyan Visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi Arrives in Yerevan Armenian Revytech, global technology leader SAP and financial services software specialist SAP Fioneer sign a cooperation agreement With 120 million drams donated by Mikael Vardanyan, the defenders of the homeland will be treated in a new building OSCE Chairman-in-Office and OSCE Secretary General call for immediate cessation of hostilities along Armenia-Azerbaijan border Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh After coining the acronym SCAM Samajwadi Party, Congress, Akhilesh and Mayawati for his rivals, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said the BSP has now turned into the Behenji Sampatti Party. It alludes to BSP supremo Mayawatis sampatti or assets, allegedly ill-gotten. Addressing election meetings at Orai in Uttar Pradeshs Jalaun district, about 200 kilometres from here, and Phulpur in Allahabad district, Modi rejected Mayawatis charge that her brother was being harassed for political gain. The prime minister also rubbished Mayawatis allegation that the Union government had not made adequate preparations before announcing the note ban. In fact, we did not give them (rivals) enough time to prepare. That is why they are complaining, Modi said. He said all corrupt people had joined hands after the note ban. The prime minister referred to the problems in Bundelkhand and said successive non-BJP governments had only looted the region, and not done anything to provide succor to its people. We will set up a Bundelkhand Development Board to ensure the development of the area, he added. He said the government would formulate laws to effectively deal with illegal mining, which was rampant in the region. We will make use of satellites to develop Bundelkhand. We will use technology to save our resources, he said. At the Phulpur rally, Modi said earlier India was known for scams, but it was now known for skill. Toying with names Within hours of her party being labelled the Behenji Sampatti Party, Mayawati retaliated, toying with the prime ministers full name Narendra Damodardas Modi. She called Modi Mr Negative Dalit Man and also made a personal attack, by raking up his marriage.Narendra Damodardas Modi stands for Negative (N), Dalit (Damodardas) and Man (M), Mayawati said at an election meeting in Sultanpur, about 125 km from here.Narendra Modi is anti-Dalit, she charged. Upset over Modis jibe, Mayawati said the BJP should first reveal how much money was deposited in its accounts before the decision to demonetise Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes was announced. She said her entire life was dedicated to the upliftment of the Dalits, Muslims and other weaker sections of the society. Unlike Modi, I did not get married. It is another matter that Modi has abandoned his wife, she said. Mayawati said people across the country considered her not merely a leader, but also their dharohar (precious property). The BSP supremo said her party would henceforth reply to the jumlebazi (epithet-making or sloganeering) by the BJP. The BJP will forget its jumlas, she added. The Congress on Monday dropped plans to move the Election Commission against Prime Minister Narendra Modis reported use of religion while campaigning in Uttar Pradesh. Congress leaders saw red in Modis assertions that a village having a kabristan (graveyard) should also have a shamsaan (cremation ground) and, sought an appointment with the poll commission to lodge a formal protest and seek action. However, Congress leaders had second thoughts, with a section arguing that their move could be used by Modi to further polarise the electorate in Uttar Pradesh, which is known to have voted on caste and religious lines. Congress leaders pointed out that the BJPs stupendous performance in Uttar Pradesh in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections when it won 71 of the 80 seats was mainly due to the polarisation of the electorate in the aftermath of the Muzaffarnagar riots. The Election Commission should do its own work. It has a Constitutional mandate... The Election Commission had said earlier that it would not allow such kind of campaign, which is divisive, Congress senior spokesperson Anand Sharma told reporters here. Earlier, K C Mittal, AICC secretary, Legal and Human Rights Department, said that a Congress delegation would meet Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi and seek appropriate action against Modi. But later Mittal conveyed to the commission that the Congress delegation had decided otherwise. These are challenging times for the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation. The civic body goes to polls on Tuesday, amid acute power shortage and a bitter rivalry between two parties that ruled the corporation together for two decades. Tuesdays polls to the largest civic body in Asia would have a serious impact on the political future of Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtras BJP Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, which explains the mud slinging and war of words between the allies-turned-rivals in the run-up to the polls. The Sena is not only a partner in the BJP-led state government, but is also a constituent of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre. Mumbai aside, nine other big corporations Thane, Ulhasnagar, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Solapur, Nashik, Akola, Amravati and Nagpur also go to polls on Tuesday, along with 11 zilla parishads and 118 panchayat samitis. BMC is divided into 24 administrative wards and 227 seats. The Sena currently holds 75 seats and has a solid hold over the civic body with its partner BJP, which has 31 seats. The snapping of the ties between the partners has created fault lines in the state government, besides raising doubts over their dominance in the local body for the past 20 years. The Congress, the second largest party with 52 seats, has been witnessing bitter infighting among its top leaders like AICC general secretary Gurudas Kamat, former chief minister Narayan Rane and former ministers Kripashankar Singh and Naseem Khan, who are restricting their campaign to a few pockets owing to their resentment for Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam. The polls will also decide the fate of NCP, which has seven seats in the civic body, MNS 27, SP nine and others (32). BJP MP Subramanian Swamy on Monday claimed that former finance minister P Chidambarams son Karti is maintaining 21 accounts in foreign banks without informing the authorities concerned. Karti, has however, denied the claim. Swamy also sought to put the BJP on the backfoot by claiming that his party was trying to amend the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) in the Rajya Sabha, which could help Karti and his father go scot-free. While Swamy has shot off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi claiming that investigating agencies are not looking into these claims, Karti denied any wrongdoing. Some outrageous claims have been made about me. My filings are up to date and completely in compliance with regulatory/ statutory requirements. My familys and my assets are duly reflected in our I-T filings. My companies have made all declarations as required by statutory requirements, Karti tweeted. In his letter to the prime minister, Swamy accused the Ministry of Finance and I-T Department of not acting on the inputs against Karti, which were unearthed during a probe by the director general (investigation) of IT Department in Chennai, a few months ago. In a statement released at Swamys press conference, he said he has brought to the notice of the prime minister the move to amend the PCA, which is a brazen disregard of our partys (BJPs) commitment to fight against corruption. Swamy also said the foreign bank accounts in the name of Karti and his companies were not declared to the I-T authorities. He claimed the details were provided to him by a whistle-blower officer in Chennai. He also said that Karti did not provide details about these accounts in the affidavit to the Election Commission when he contested for the Lok Sabha in 2014. India on Monday stopped short of lauding Pakistans move to designate LeT founder Hafiz Saeed a terrorist, but noted that the effective action against him was the logical first step to combat the menace of terrorism. New Delhis reaction signalled that while it took note of Islamabads recent acts of putting Saeed under detention and designating him a terrorist, it would expect the neighbouring countrys government to do more to stop anti-India terror emanating from territories under the control of Pakistan. Hafiz Saeed is an international terrorist, the mastermind of the Mumbai terrorist attack and responsible for unleashing a wave of terrorism against Pakistans neighbours through LeT/JuD and their affiliates, Vikas Swarup, external affairs ministry spokesperson, told journalists here. He was reacting to Islamabads move on Saturday to list Saeed as a terrorist under the Anti-Terrorism Act of Pakistan. On January 30, Saeed and four aides Abdullah Ubaid, Zafar Iqbal, Abdur Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Niaz were detained and placed under house arrest at Lahore. Effective action mandated internationally against him and his terrorist organisations and colleagues is a logical first step in bringing them to justice, and in ridding our region of the twin menaces of terrorism and violent extremism, Swarup said. The US designated Saeed a terrorist with links to international terror networks back in May 2008, just a few months before LeT militants carried out the November 26-28 terror strikes in Mumbai, killing over 170 people and injuring many others. He was also designated a terrorist by the United Nations in December 2008 and brought under international sanctions. In April 2012, the US also declared a bounty of $10 million on the radical cleric. Saeed, however, has been living free in Pakistan. Former IPS officer A P Singh on Monday became the second retired CBI director to face a probe by the agency on charges of illegally favouring controversial meat exporter Moin Qureshi. Qureshi has also been booked in the case. Singh entered the hall of shame almost a month after the Supreme Court directed the probe agency to investigate his successor Ranjit Sinha for his controversial meetings with Qureshi. The fresh case against Qureshi came as a follow up to the probe by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against him on charges of money laundering. The ED had referred to the CBI to probe the corruption angle after it emerged that Qureshi had links with public servants, including Singh with whom he shared coded messages on a Blackberry phone. Searches were carried out in four cities New Delhi, Ghaziabad, Chennai and Hyderabad including at the premises of Singh, Qureshi and businessman Pradeep Koneru, whose name figured in the disproportionate assets case against YSR Congress chief Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy. Officials said the CBI has based its FIR on the complaint forwarded by ED Director Karnal Singh. The complaint said while the ED was investigating a Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) case against AMQ Group owned by Qureshi, it learnt that the meat exporter was acting as a middleman for some public servants. The ED also decoded Blackberry chat messages exchanged between Singh and Qureshi to claim that cognisable offences were committed by the duo. Infosys on Monday refuted a whistleblowers allegation that it had bought Israeli firm Panaya at an inflated price. Infosys favoured the software firm only because CEO Vishal Sikka was earlier connected with it, the anonymous whistleblower has complained to markets regulator Sebi. We categorically state that no member of the Infosys management team was involved in any prior investments in Panaya, a statement from Infosys said. It dismissed the whistleblowers complaint as misleading and slanderous. Infosys acquired Panaya for $200 million in February 2015. By the whistleblowers reckoning, Sikka unduly favoured it because he was earlier connected with it in his capacity as CTO of SAP, the whistleblower has said. Panaya helped automate SAP upgrades, and Hasso Plattner, former chairman of SAP, invested in Panaya. Infosys on Monday said the management was well aware of the rationale for the acquisition, and Deutsche Bank had provided the valuation. It is wrong to say the cash balance in Panaya came down from Rs 127 crore in 2014 to Rs 1.37 crore in 2015, it averred. These balances represent only one entity of Panaya. Panaya has four legal entities, Panaya Inc., Panaya Limited, Panaya GmBH and Panaya Japan. The financials for all of these entities are available on our website, the company said. Earlier in the day, Sikka wrote to his staff, describing the complaint as an attack orchestrated by people who are hell-bent on harming the reputation of the company, and its employees. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella kicked off his three-day visit to India by interacting with startups here on Monday. He said Indian entrepreneurs were in a position to achieve great things by solving the countrys unique problems with the power of technology. Participating in a Microsoft event to promote a cloud-first, mobile-first world, he said, Every time I come back to India, the thing that grabs you is the entrepreneurial spirit of the place. There are a whole bunch of startups doing really exciting work. An alumnus of Manipal Institute of Technology, Nadella said, The centre of entrepreneurial energy at least for us right now in India is all around our cloud. It is fantastic, the quality of the entrepreneurs, the ideas... In the last 12 months, about 2,000 startups have participated in the Microsoft Accelerator programme in Bengaluru, he said. Appreciates IndiaStack He also appreciated the government and Nandan Nilekani, who also participated in the interaction, for taking the initiative to build IndiaStack, the transaction analytics platform based on Aadhaar. IndiaStack helps governments, businesses, startups and developers to create paperless, cashless solutions. It is pretty tremendous, how it got started. But now with the speed at which you are able to scale it, it is comparable to any other Internet-scale ramp up, Nadella said. The supervisor of a private nursery school in Bellandur in Bengaluru East was arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a three-year-old girl on the school premises on Friday. The situation turned ugly on Monday when a large number of parents gathered on the school campus, seeking action against the suspect and enhance security for their children. Bellandur police rushed to the school and arrested the suspect, identified as Manjunath, under the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. A holiday was declared at the school. Manjunath lured the victim into accompanying him to the toilet where he sexually assaulted her, according to the complaint. When the girl came home, she was extremely upset. She started weeping when her parents asked her the reason. Later, she told them that Manjunath had tortured her in the toilet and hurt her private parts. The parents were shocked to hear the childs ordeal. They took her to a nearby hospital for treatment. The medical report is yet to come. The situation turned tense as hundreds of parents gathered at the school on Monday when the news spread. They said that the school management was trying to protect Manjunath by hushing up the matter. They also said that school principal Veena had prevented parents from approaching the police. They charged that the assault took place due to Veenas negligence. A group of parents approached Bellandur police and lodged a complaint. The police summoned Veena to the police station for questioning. She was grilled over the delay in lodging a complaint. The police also sought to know why she prevented the parents from lodging a complaint. Some parents suspect that Manjunath might have molested many children. Hence, he should be interrogated thoroughly. The police said Manjunath was working with the school for the last three years. It is not known if the school management had verified Manjunaths antecedents. The police have directed the school management to ensure the childrens safety and thoroughly verify the staffs antecedents to prevent such incidents in future. Russia to Continue MTA Airlifter Program without India The page you requested is only available to subscribers. 1. If you are a Premium Service subscriber, please log in here to access this story: Log-in : Password : 2. If you are not a subcriber, you can: -- buy access to this page: unlimited access for seven days costs 3.00 EUR + VAT (at 20%) if applicable. Clicking on the "Ok" button below will place the item in your shopping cart and return you to our home page, where you will be able to select additional stories. -- select additional stories and services from our home page and pay for them at the same time. -- see your shopping cart. You can also see the contents of your shopping cart at any time by clicking on the "Order" tab on the navigation bar at the top of any page, or by clicking on the "Your order" light blue link in the top right-hand corner of our home page, immediately under the log-on box. Kiraki: Authorities can be reproduced even without rigging the votes (video) This issue of Kiraki (Sunday) program touched upon the elections of local self-government bodies in 10 communities in the republic. On February 12 local elections were held in 10 communities of Aragatsotn, Ararat, Armavir, Gegharkunik, Kotayk, Shirak marzes. In 7 communities elections of heads of communities and in 3 communities elections of members of the council of elders were held. At the initiative of the RA Central Electoral Commission, in Semyonovka community of Gegharkunik marz and Vardanashen community of Armavir marz, the equipments carrying out electronic registration, which will be used during April 2 parliamentary elections, were tested. According to Davit Harutyunyan, Minister-Chief of the Government Staff of Armenia, it was the imitation of April 2 parliamentary elections, though, these elections were held by the old electoral code. These technologies will be used also during the upcoming elections, in particular, installation of cameras in precincts. In the end, the EU allocated EUR 7 million for these reforms. Which are the advantages and disadvantages of usage of new technologies? Why are people so indifferent and dont trust any reforms? Tsayg and Sosi TV companies prepared materials for the program. The program hosted Daniel Ioannisyan, projects coordinator of Union of Informed Citizens NGO and Gagik Baghdasaryan, Head of Barev Yerevan faction of Yerevan Council of Elders. Russia Says Signs LOIs with UAE for Su-35S, New 5th Gen Fighter The page you requested is only available to subscribers. 1. If you are a Premium Service subscriber, please log in here to access this story: Log-in : Password : 2. If you are not a subcriber, you can: -- buy access to this page: unlimited access for seven days costs 3.00 EUR + VAT (at 20%) if applicable. Clicking on the "Ok" button below will place the item in your shopping cart and return you to our home page, where you will be able to select additional stories. -- select additional stories and services from our home page and pay for them at the same time. -- see your shopping cart. You can also see the contents of your shopping cart at any time by clicking on the "Order" tab on the navigation bar at the top of any page, or by clicking on the "Your order" light blue link in the top right-hand corner of our home page, immediately under the log-on box. Ameriabank: At the Vanguard of Armenia's Banking Sector STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARTSAKH SUBSCRIBERS OF UCOMS ALL TIME BEST OFFER TO ENJOY ADDITIONAL BENEFITS Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox UCOMS SPECIAL OFFER OF THE UNLIMITED INTERNET IS NOW TERMLESS There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol Armenia and Azerbaijan to do so without delay An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan". UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT Google Ad The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022 Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces LEVEL UP ONLY FOR STUDENTS: UCOM OFFERS X2 AND X3 MORE INTERNET STATEMENT BY SECRETARY ANTONY J. BLINKEN This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments Delegation by Nancy Pelosi Accompanied by Alen Simonyan Visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi Arrives in Yerevan Armenian Revytech, global technology leader SAP and financial services software specialist SAP Fioneer sign a cooperation agreement With 120 million drams donated by Mikael Vardanyan, the defenders of the homeland will be treated in a new building OSCE Chairman-in-Office and OSCE Secretary General call for immediate cessation of hostilities along Armenia-Azerbaijan border Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh Lists mislead the voters (video) There would be generation change in the authorities in Armenia only in case when the authorities decide to change logic of the countrys government, political expert Armen Baghdasaryan told the journalists. He says that if everything remains unchanged, there is no meaning in bringing new people. Touching upon parties and alliances, the political analyst expressed his concerns. He says that they mislead the voters, First 10-20 people of the list of the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) are normal people, arent they? But the Electoral Code states that Arakel Movsisyan, who is on the 160th place, has greater chances to appear in the parliament than the person on the 20th place. Can you feel deception? Or the list of Armenian National Congress (HAK). It is obvious that Levon Ter-Petrosyan will not go to the NA, will not hold a mandate. The NA former Vice Speaker, former member of HHSh Board Karapet Rubinyan noted that the changes promised by the authorities are simply for misleading the society, The majority of the persons acting werent simply aware of the intentions of the arbiter. Members of the leading party were approaching the oppositionists and asked about the intentions of Serzh Sargsyan. Thats why at first there was big mess, he noted. Political expert Hakob Badalyan added that there will be no generation change inside the authorities as long as there is no fight between generations inside the parties, If new generation comes, it comes to defend their fathers, continue their line. According to the words of political expert Armen Baghdasaryan, the role of force structures will be increased during these elections, For example, the police. They will be directed the places, where they can see danger. We can already feel it. For example, Oskanians son has been suddenly detained for locking someone in the car and threatening him to cut off his ears. Can you image that all the persons raising such threats were detained in Armenia? Not Arjun Kapoor But This Bollywood Celeb Will Be Hosting Khatron Ke Khiladis Next Season! Reliance Communications has opened discussions regarding a potential merger with Tata Teleservices in order to strengthen its presence in India, where increased competition is driving a trend towards consolidation. Talks are reportedly in their incipience after Reliance chairman Anil Ambani reached out to Tata Group regarding a possible merger. RCom is on track to complete a 50-50 merger with Aircel this year, and is also acquiring MTS, with the long-running deal set for resolution in March. Once these deals have closed, the addition of Tata Teleservices to RComs offering would make it the third largest player in the market. However, there are potential stumbling blocks, including Tata Teleservices debt load and an ongoing legal dispute concerning NTT Docomos withdrawal from the operator, which was originally a joint venture between the Indian and Japanese groups. Current market leader Bharti Airtel could soon lose out on the top spot, as number two Vodafone India is looking to close a merger with number three Idea Cellular. If this deal closes, it would push the combined entity into first place. The trend towards consolidation in India has been prompted by the entry of Reliance Jio to the market. The newcomer has offered voice and data services at a very low cost, triggering price wars and spurring rival operators to shore up their offerings against the threat. The technique has proven successful, with Jio accruing 100 million subscribers within five months. Rumours abound that Norwegian group Telenor is looking to pull out of India, with suggestions that it could be acquired by either Airtel or the RCom-Aircel entity. Microsoft East Africa and Liquid Telecom have joined forces to improve and accelerate the use of cloud services across Africa. The joint project will help boost the continents access to world-class software, and will focus on the delivery of cloud services, small-and-medium business development and the enablement of a television white space technology and partner ecosystem to provide further connectivity across the continent. Cloud-based operations provide many tangible benefits for businesses, including reduced costs with greater levels of scalability and the ability to deliver new products and services to market faster than traditional IT solutions. However, businesses across Africa have traditionally been slower adopters of cloud services, particularly in areas with limited ICT infrastructure. The partnership will address this by combining Liquid Telecoms extensive network reach with Microsofts innovative business solutions that bring the cloud closer to the end user. Liquid Telecom boasts Africas largest independent fibre network, which spans over 40,000km across 12 countries. We believe in the power and potential of businesses in Africa and we look forward to providing the best that cloud computing has to offer. In the age of digital transformation, we want to provide not only secure data storage, but the efficiency and scalability that businesses need to achieve more, says Frank McCosker, General Manager of Affordable Access and Smart Financing at Microsoft 4Afrika. Through fast and more affordable connectivity, Microsofts extensive cloud-based software offerings, such as Azure and Office 365, will become more accessible through Liquid Telecom. This will enhance business potential and enable startups and home-grown operations to be more productive and efficient. As part of the project, Microsoft and Liquid Telecom will also be creating Business in a Box, which will offer small-and-medium businesses a cloud-based toolkit of relevant applications, cloud services and connectivity. Cloud computing is still gaining momentum on the continent, but we believe it has the potential to transform the way businesses of all sizes operate. Through better connectivity, faster internet and secure cloud offerings, businesses will have the platforms and tools they need to grow and succeed. We have the infrastructure to enable locally and regionally hosted cloud solutions keeping African data in Africa, says Ben Roberts, Group CTO of Liquid Telecom. Armenias economy was affected as a result of closure of Russian-Georgian border (video) Moscow and Tbilisi have decided to cooperate over the reoperation of roads and trade, thats the revival of Commercial corridors agreement signed between Russia and Georgia still in 2011. Economist Tatul Manaseryan thinks that Armenia must move forward its interests in this issue, Armenias economy has also been affected as a result of closure of Russian-Georgian border. In this sense Armenia should look for cooperation prospects both with Georgia, Russia and Iran, lead such an active economic policy, which will attract everybody. I think that all the countries must be integrated in the region and find ways of cooperation. On the other hand, Russian and Georgia should develop such mechanisms, which will attract other players. Stepan Grigoryan, Head of Analytical Centre on Globalization and Regional Cooperation, noted that Russia and Georgia have agreed to cooperate in the economic issues, putting aside political disagreements, They have agreed to separate economic issue from political ones. They stress the development of economy. If in case of Karabakh issue, the parties agree to cooperate in terms of economy, the Georgian example will be very appropriate. Azerbaijan must follow the example of Georgia in this issue, he noted. The death of a teenage boy who went missing without his diabetes medication is to be officially investigated. A police watchdog has been called in to look at how the police dealt with the case and Edinburgh Council has also announced it will be launching an independent review into what happened to Blake Ross, who disappeared on Saturday. The 13-year-old, who had been in care in Howdenhall, South Edinburgh, was found unwell on a Lothian bus in Edinburgh two days after he went missing. He was admitted to Sick Kids Hospital, where he died. His death, which is thought to be linked to his type 1 diabetes, is being treated as unexplained. However, a relative has suggested he died from a heart attack. This may have been brought on by very high blood sugars and a lack of insulin, but the report will need to confirm this. The Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) has been ordered by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal to investigate the police. Speaking to the BBC, Police Scotland Superintendent Lesley Clark said: The matter has now been referred to PIRC. As in all matters concerning police contact before death, we will provide any necessary assistance to the PIRC as they conduct their investigation and we await the outcome of their report. This is a tragic set of circumstances and thoughts and condolences are with Blakes family and friends. The City of Edinburgh Council said it was standard practice to launch an investigation when a child, who had been in care, had passed away. A council spokesperson said: The Care Inspectorate have been informed and there will be a multi-agency significant case review, commissioned by the chair of the Edinburgh Child Protection Committee, in accordance with our procedures. We are deeply shocked at Blakes sudden death and our thoughts are with his family. We will continue to liaise closely with Police Scotland as they carry out their inquiries. Tributes have been pouring in for the teenage boy and a JustGiving page, which was set up to pay for his funeral, has so far raised nearly 2,000. A message posted on the page said: Blake Ross was 13 and suffered a cardiac arrest he was also a diabetic. Please help to give him the send-off he deserves. He was a much-loved so, brother/triplet, grandso, nephew and great friend to many. Blake was such a lovely little boy and I feel us, the community, should do our bit to help give him the send-off he deserves, no matter how big or how small. The six people allegedly used to sell pre-activated Reliance Jio SIM cards without taking any documentation The Indore Police has arrested six people for allegedly duping customers by selling them Reliance Jio SIM cards. These cards are available for free. According to a report by PTI, the group used to collect multiple thumb impressions of genuine customers and use that data, as well as their Aadhar card details to activate another SIM. This second SIM would be sold for anywhere between Rs. 100 and Rs. 1,000 without the need for the buyer to furnish documents. Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP), Amrendra Singh told PTI that the police has seized 346 Reliance Jio SIM cards. This included 14 pre-activated SIMs and four thumb impression machines. Singh also noted that the role of Reliance Jios local representatives are also being investigated. It was noted that investigations are underway to find out if the any of the sold SIM card were used for criminal activities. Reliance Jio became very popular thanks to its free voice call offers and cheap data rates. This had originally lead to a chaotic few weeks following launch of the company's services, with long queues outside Reliances stores. There were also reports of stores running out of Reliance Jio SIM cards. Some users said that some sellers were asking for anything between Rs. 500 to Rs. 1,500 for fast-tracking registrations. AIM-listed provider of satellite data communications Avanti Communications has announced a new contract with Telkom Kenya (TKL) to provide connectivity for the Kenyan government initiative Constituency Incubation Hubs. The project, awarded by the Ministry of ICT of Kenya, will see TKL install 1160 CIHs across the country using capacity on Avanti's HYLAS 2 Ka-band satellite. The multi-million US dollar contract will provide an incubation hub facility for young adults and entrepreneurs to develop their ICT skills and applications, bringing them into the digital world and enabling them to grow and start new businesses. There are a total of 290 constituencies as part of the project in Kenya, with four CIHs being installed per constituency. Each hub will have a VSAT system, Wi-Fi router and 40 tablet devices, provided by BRCK Kenya, which users will be able to use to connect online and discover new business opportunities. Avanti chief executive David Williams said: "We are pleased to extend our partnership with Telkom Kenya. The project is a great example of how our technology is positively impacting ICT development across Africa. Avanti's proven Ka-band technology continues to consistently deliver high-speed high quality connectivity to meet the needs of the most demanding operators and governments." At 0842 GMT, the shares were up 4.2% to 20.84p. Responding to rumours on social media, USA- and Egypt-focused oil minnow Nostra Terra confirmed that it would not be raising new funds in the immediate future, though it had contemplated a fundraising. The AIM-listed company said in a short statement that a placing of new stock was "in contemplation" on 17 February but the board has since decided not to proceed. Last month, the oil and gas exploration and production company tied up an additional 7.5% working interest in the Pine Mills oil field in Texas for $200,000, taking its total interest in Pine Mills to 87.5%. Pan African Resources reported a fatal mining accident at the Evander 7 shaft complex on Monday, confirming it occurred on 15 February 2017. The AIM-traded company said Velile Chaplin Kapa, an engineering assistant employed by the operation, sustained a fatal head injury when a section of the main shaft pump column failed whilst he was working in the shaft bottom area. Pan Africans management and board express their sincere condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Mr Kapa, it said in a statement. The company also updated the market on the shaft refurbishment programme it announced for Evanders 7A shaft on 5 December. In conjunction with the 7A shaft refurbishment programme, the companys management initiated a number of independent and internal engineering studies to assess the condition of Evanders underground mining infrastructure at both the Evander 7 and 8 shafts. These studies identified critical infrastructure issues requiring remedial action, to ensure safe and sustainable operation of these shafts, the board said. The nature of these refurbishments require a suspension of Evanders underground mining operations for a period of up to 55 days, during which critical infrastructure issues will be addressed. Evanders tailings and surface operations will be unaffected by the underground mining suspension. Pan African said the cost of the shaft refurbishment programmes was expected to be approximately R40m, which will be funded from the companys existing banking facilities. In light of these recent developments, Pan African has revised its gold production guidance for the financial year ending 30 June 2017 from 195 000 ounces to approximately 181,000 ounces. Pan Africans interim results for the period ended 31 December will be released on 22 February, the board confirmed. Further detail on the Evander underground refurbishment programme would be made available as part of that interim presentation. Goldman Sachs has upgraded aerospace and defence group Rolls-Royce to buy from 'neutral', lifting the price target to 1,030p from 743p and adding the stock to its Conviction list, saying the company has the potential to substantially increase free cash flow between now and 2020. The bank noted cash performance at Rolls-Royce has been disappointing as underlying earnings performance has fallen and the investment burden has risen. It argued that the diversified nature of the group and the impending accounting changes warrant a cash flow based valuation approach. GS said it expects company-defined free cash flow to improve from 120m this year to 495m in 2018, 1.02bn in 2019 and 1.55bn in 2020. Goldman said key risks to its price target and view include a weakening of the pound versus the US dollar through this year which would put downward pressure on sales estimates. In terms of earnings, the impact would be of a lesser magnitude as a result of the substantial hedge book Rolls-Royce has in place, although large moves in $/ will still affect the share price. It also pointed to negative momentum in defence spending in the core markets of the UK and the US, as well as major export markets such as Saudi Arabia, as these markets are driving the growth in newer programs which offsets declines in older products. Continued declines in sanctioned offshore capex would pressure future revenues in the Marine division from the Offshore exposed business lines. At 0806 GMT, the shares were up 4.6% to 696.50p. Ride-hailing company Uber Technologies was rocked at the weekend by a series of allegations of sexual harassment and gender bias, leading CEO Travis Kalanick to call for an investigation into the claims. Author and engineer Susan Fowler, who worked for the California-based company until January of this year, wrote an account of her time there in which she detailed a variety of mismanagement and harassment allegations. The claims have not yet been verified. Kalanick responded to Fowler's account on Twitter, vowing to fully review the accusations and deal with them appropriately. "What she describes is abhorrent and against everything Uber stands for and believes in," Kalanick wrote. "It's the first time this has come to my attention so I have instructed Liane Hornsey our new Chief Human Resources Officer to conduct an urgent investigation into these allegations." "We seek to make Uber a just workplace and there can be absolutely no place for this kind of behavior at Uber and anyone who behaves this way or thinks this is OK will be fired," the CEO added. Fowler's fiery claims included being propositioned for sex by a manager on her first day working for the company, and encountering resistance from those in HR when she reported the incident. "On my first official day rotating on the team, my new manager sent me a string of messages over company chat," Fowler wrote in her blog post. "He was in an open relationship, he said, and his girlfriend was having an easy time finding new partners but he wasn't. He was trying to stay out of trouble at work, he said, but he couldn't help getting in trouble, because he was looking for women to have sex with." "When I reported the situation, I was told by both HR and upper management that even though this was clearly sexual harassment and he was propositioning me, it was this man's first offense, and that they wouldn't feel comfortable giving him anything other than a warning and a stern talking-to." The engineer also described the company as "an organisation in complete, unrelenting chaos" due to executives constantly competing with and against each other. "It seemed like every manager was fighting their peers and attempting to undermine their direct supervisor so that they could have their direct supervisor's job. No attempts were made by these managers to hide what they were doing," she wrote. Greeces lenders reached a common position at the start of the week on what needed to be done in order to finish the countrys second bailout review and avoid new tensions in its financial system. "I believe the institutions have a common position and that we will get to a point today where there technical mission can go to Athens so we can get a result," German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Monday. Schaeuble also believed the International Monetary Fund, which was as of yet undecided on whether to participate, would in the end do so. "The IMF will be a part of this," Schaeuble said. Euro area group finance chiefs were due to meet later in the day to discuss the situation. Alberto Gallo, Head of Macro Strategies at Algebris, said: "Greece stands again, alone, at the centre of a large chessboard. If negotiations were only about Greece, a country of 10m people and an economy the size of Milan or Dusseldorf, then these would have already been completed a long time ago. But it is clear to everyone that the approach to dealing with Greece entangles a much wider array of interests than solving the Greek crisis itself and can be seen as a blueprint for future crises. Understanding the next steps can reveal insights on Europe's next steps towards, or against integration." Gallo believed Greeces debt pile was sustainable if one took European solidarity into account, in the form of economic reforms today in exchange for debt relief tomorrow. "There could be a quicker agreement on the conclusion of the second review and a plan to restructure Greece's debt through extension/interest reduction later on. An election of a Merkel-Schulz coalition would favour this outcome, with Schauble becoming less stringent on conditionality." US Vice President Mike Pence has promised that the new administration will continue to cooperate with the European Union, despite Donald Trump's previous support for Brexit and branding its institutions as a "vehicle for Germany". Pence visited Brussels on Monday for the first time since his election victory alongside Trump in November and he expressed a "strong commitment" to aiding the EU and its members. "It is my privilege on behalf of President Trump to express the strong commitment of the United States to continued cooperation and partnership with the European Union," Pence said. "Whatever our differences, our two continents share the same heritage, the same values and above all the same purpose, to promote peace and prosperity through freedom, democracy and the rule of law, and to those objectives we will remain committed." Pence appeared alongside the head of the European Council, Donald Tusk, who said that the Vice President's words were welcome but urged the US administration to put them into practice. "The reports of the death of the west have been greatly exaggerated. Whoever wants to demolish that order, anticipating a post-west order, must know that in its defence we will remain determined," Tusk said. "Americans and Europeans must ... practise what they preach," Tusk added. The relationship between the US and Europe had become somewhat strained due to overriding political factors in 2016, including Brexit and Trump's victory against Hillary Clinton. Trump had suggested on previous occasions that more countries could follow Britain out of the bloc. Significant elections in 2017 could see further gains from right wing parties in Holland, Germany and France, putting further pressure on Brussels, some political experts believed. The Kremlin has rubbished claims that Russia was involved in an attempt to oust the former president and prime minister of Montenegro during the country's elections last October. Attempts were made to assassinate Milo ukanovic, as well as a takeover of the country's parliament. There had been accusations previously that Russian citizens were involved in the coup, but Sunday's claims from a Montenegrin prosecutor were the first against "Russian state bodies". The claims were detailed in the Sunday Telegraph, citing "senior Whitehall sources". "It is on a par with other baseless accusations toward us and our country, including hacker attacks against the entire West, meddling in the election campaigns of the majority of Western countries, the Trump administration's contacts with the Russian special services and much more," said Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov. Government spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also brushed off any accusations of meddling from Russian authorities, referring to them as "absurd". "Day in and day out we register absurd accusations against Russia, day in and day out we deny the allegations. Among other things, we say with conviction that there cannot be any talk about official Moscow's or official Russia's involvement in some internal events in Montenegro," Peskov told the press. The Kremlin has faced increasing allegations about its wielding of influence in other regions, most notably in the US in recent months where suspicion has been rife of secret links between US President Donald Trump and Russia. Markets in Asia finished mostly higher on Monday, with investors still turning their direction stateside, awaiting further information from President Trump on his economic and tax reform plans. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 finished almost flat, adding 0.09% to 19,251.08, with the yen weakening against the greenback. It was last 0.25% weaker at JPY 113.12 per $1. That weaker currency made it a green day for the some of the countrys major exporters, with Toyota up 0.5%. Others didnt fare so well, however, with Canon down 0.3%, Honda off 0.33% and Sony dipping 1.1%. SoftBank shares were 3.18% firmer after it emerged the company was keen to give up control of US mobile carrier Sprint to competitor T-Mobile US in order to see the two networks merge. Fresh official data showed exports rose 1.3% in Japan year-on-year in January, which was well off the Reuters-polled forecast for a 4.7% rise. Exports to the US fell 6.6% in the month, and imports were up 11.9%. Overall, Japans trade balance stood at a deficit of JPY 1.09trn, much larger than the estimate for a JPY 636.8bn deficit. On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite was up 1.23% at 3,241.45, while the Shenzhen Composite was 0.89% higher at 1,962.52. In South Korea, the Kospi was up 0.18% at 2,084.39, with Samsung Electronics adding 2.11%. Samsung chief Jay Lee, who was arrested on Friday in connection with the cash-for-influence scandal surrounding impeached President Park Geun-hye, was reportedly questioned by authorities on Saturday. Hong Kongs Hang Seng Index finished 0.47% higher at 24,146.08. It was a day of modest movements in Asian markets, which reflected performance in the US on Friday as investors awaited more details from the Trump administration. President Trump promised a 'phenomenal' tax announcement in 2-3 weeks, so as the clock ticks down to some form of announcement, market inertia is set to reign, noted National Australia Bank global co-head of foreign exchange strategy Ray Attrill. Oil prices were slightly higher during Asian trading, with Brent crude last up 0.69% at $56.20 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate advancing 0.54% to $54.07. Australias S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.18% to 5,795.09, with most sub-indexes in the red. Shares in WorleyParsons plummeted 12.78% after the firm swung to a first-half net loss of AUD 2.4m, compared to the AUD 23.1m profit it recorded at the same time last year. New Zealands S&P/NZX 50 added 0.08% to finish at 7,099.49, led higher by airport operator AIAL, which rose 2.3%. Investors prepared for a week of surprises on the telecoms front, with the Commerce Commission regulator set to release its decision on the proposed merger between Vodafones New Zealand operation and subscription broadcaster Sky - no relation to the London-listed namesake - on Thursday. There were serious competition concerns surrounding the merger, as Sky and Vodafone operate the only satellite and cable subscription television services in the country, respectively. The pair had indicated their intention to go ahead with the merger immediately should the regulator approve it, ignoring the usual convention to give other interested parties time to consider their legal options. Broadband and mobile provider Spark, which is Vodafones primary competitor in New Zealand, was seeking a court order for a 36-hour waiting period after the Commerce Commission decision, allowing it time to review its legal options to further oppose the merger. In trading on Monday, Spark shares were 0.3% higher, while Sky was down 0.9%. The down under dollars were marginally stronger, with the Aussie last ahead 0.06% at AUD 1.3037 against the greenback and the Kiwi advancing 0.04% to NZD 1.3917 per $1. Stocks in London were for a slightly firmer open on Monday, tracking a positive session in Asia, with US markets due to be closed for Presidents Day. The FTSE 100 was called to open nine points higher than Fridays close at 7,309. Investors will be digesting the latest figures from property website Rightmove, which showed growth in house prices slowed to the lowest rate in nearly four years this month. Prices were up 2.3%, marking the slowest rate since April 2013. On the economic calendar, the CBI industrial trends survey is at 1100 GMT. CMC Markets Michael Hewson said: In the absence of US markets due to Presidents Day, markets in Europe are likely to be quieter than usual today, with the FTSE100 likely to be in focus after Kraft Heinz announced it was withdrawing its interest in Unilever after the backlash against it at the weekend. The pound could come under further pressure after last weeks disappointing retail sales numbers, as the unelected upper chamber of the House of Lords begins its deliberations on the Article 50 bill, with a number of lawmakers determined to try and force through some of the amendments the House of Commons wasnt able to. Any delays here could derail the timetable set out by the UK government to trigger Article 50 by the end of March. In corporate news, Kraft Heinz said on Sunday that it has ditched its plans to take over Unilever, just two days after it emerged the London-listed consumer goods giant had rejected a $143bn offer. Royal Bank of Scotland will abandon plans to sell its Williams & Glyn business and instead provide funds to help challenger banks, if a Treasury proposal is accepted by the European Commission. The bank had put out a statement late on Friday that it has already taken a 750m provision within its 2016 annual results as a consequence of the new proposal. Retail property group Hammerson said full year adjusted profits rose 9.4% to 230.7m on a jump in net rental income to 346.5m from 318.6m. The final dividend was lifted 8.6% to 13.9p a share. AstraZeneca announced that it entered into an agreement with TerSera Therapeutics for the commercial rights to the Zoladex goserelin acetate implant in the US and Canada. The FTSE 100 firm said Zoladex is an injectable luteinising hormone-releasing hormone agonist, used to treat prostate cancer, breast cancer and certain benign gynaecological disorders, first approved in the US and Canada in 1989. Hardide s chairman updated shareholders on the companys progress on Monday, as they gathered late in the morning for its annual general meeting. The AIM-traded company was starting to see an upturn in activity from its oil and gas customers, Robert Goddard claimed, following the recent OPEC deal on cutting output, which raised the oil price and resulted in an increasing number of North American drilling rigs being brought back into production. Our new development with a major producer of hydraulic fracturing tools is progressing well and we have seen a recent increase in demand from this customer as well as from our more established customers, he explained. We are also seeing regular demand from the manufacturer of advanced baggage-scanners where our components are integral to the machine's functionality. Goddard said the companys aerospace developments were progressing to plan, with multiple applications now in test programmes across a range of customers. A number of high-volume components were currently in discussion with Airbus, and the board expected to be able to provide more news on that over the coming months. The new Hardide facility in the US is producing consistently-excellent product and for our high-volume North American customers. The board is monitoring closely developments in its target markets and remains confident about the medium- and long-term prospects for the company. Half year results were expected to be published on 16 May, Goddard said, when there would be a further update on trading. Dual listed international oil and gas production company Zenith Energy announced the sale of its operations in Argentina to a group of local energy investors on Monday. The London and Toronto-traded firm acquired the Don Ernesto and Don Alberto fields in July 2010 and, following a systematic programme of operational improvements and cost reductions, was successful in achieving substantial increases in oil production and profitability. Zenith also demonstrated that there was significant potential for further field development, according to the board. In August 2015, due to a series of circumstances the board said were beyond the company's control, production at Zenith's Argentine operations was suspended. It said that was caused by the collapse of a major storage tank owned by Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales, Argentina's national oil company. The circumstances meant that Zenith's production of oil could no longer be transported through YPF pipelines, resulting in the suspension of production in the Comodoro Rivadavia area where the fields are located. To date, the issues affecting the transportation of oil had not been fully resolved and a persisting uncertainty on the recommencement of operations led Zenith to reconsider its operational involvement in Argentina. The sale of the Argentina subsidiary was fixed at a nominal sum in recognition of the costs the new owner was expected to incur to return the fields to production. In addition, Zenith will no longer be liable for any environmental responsibilities or future well abandonment obligations for the Don Alberto and Don Ernesto fields. Termination of activities in Argentina will enable Zenith's management to more effectively direct its focus on its Italian operations and especially towards Azerbaijan, where the company's most important assets are located, and where a systematic programme of field rehabilitation has begun, the board explained. The re-alignment reportedly reflected the board's aversion to operational overstretch, and the company's preference for a strong, concentrated focus towards the achievement of its production objectives in Azerbaijan. The disposal of our activities in Argentina is a strategic move, said CEO Andrea Cattaneo. This will enable the company to positively recalibrate its operational footprint in a way that coherently reaffirms our Italian energy production interests and specifically the primary importance of our transformational opportunity in Azerbaijan. The risk of overstretching where the management team is active on too many fronts is now reduced. Londons FTSE 100 was down 0.1% to 7,293.13 in afternoon trade, with volumes lighter than usual as US markets are closed for Presidents Day. Royal Bank of Scotland rallied after saying it will abandon plans to sell its Williams & Glyn business and instead provide funds to help challenger banks, if a Treasury proposal is accepted by the European Commission. Aerospace and defence group Rolls-Royce advanced after Goldman Sachs upgraded it to buy from neutral, lifting the price target to 1,030p from 743p and adding the stock to its Conviction list, saying the company has the potential to substantially increase free cash flow between now and 2020. Shares in Direct Line got a boost as the insurer said a change in the way lump-sum payouts are calculated will have less of an impact on the business than it previously thought. The Lord Chancellor, Elizabeth Truss, is due to announce this month a review of the Ogden discount rate, used by courts to calculate lump sum compensation. The rate has been set at 2.5% since 2001 and analysts are expecting it to be reduced to 1% or 1.5%. On the downside, Unilever sank as Kraft Heinz ditched its plans to take over the Marmite owner, just two days after it emerged the London-listed consumer goods giant had rejected a $143bn offer. Education publisher Pearson was under the cosh as Liberum highlighted concerns about the companys cash flow. Pearson, which is due to report full-year 2016 results on Friday, has already stated its headline results and given guidance for 2017, so Liberum said there shouldnt be any major surprises. However, we expect the details of its 2016 results to concern the market particularly around cash flow. We also do not see further major cost savings as a risk to our sell case. Barratt Developments was weaker after FTSE 250 peer Bovis Homes reported a 3% drop in pre-tax profit as the company was forced to compensate customers for poorly built homes, and said it had begun a strategic review. Risers Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 258.50p 6.64% Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 703.00p 5.56% Hammerson (HMSO) 586.50p 3.90% Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 363.30p 2.66% BT Group (BT.A) 322.75p 2.10% Merlin Entertainments (MERL) 500.00p 2.08% Glencore (GLEN) 326.05p 2.07% Standard Life (SL.) 373.90p 1.82% Prudential (PRU) 1,638.00p 1.49% St James's Place (STJ) 1,106.00p 1.47% Fallers Unilever (ULVR) 3,514.50p -7.44% Pearson (PSON) 645.00p -3.52% Mediclinic International (MDC) 803.50p -2.96% Imperial Brands (IMB) 3,729.00p -1.38% Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,576.00p -1.26% Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,965.00p -1.21% Barratt Developments (BDEV) 515.00p -1.06% Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 7,028.00p -1.01% Capita (CPI) 517.00p -0.96% AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,555.00p -0.87% Unilever dragged on the Personal Goods sector and the broader market after Chicago-based Kraft Heinz dropped plans for a hostile takeover over the weekend, emphasising that it had done so in "amicable" fashion. On Sunday, Unilever released a statement saying: "Unilever and Kraft Heinz hereby announce that Kraft Heinz has amicably agreed to withdraw its proposal for a combination of the two companies. "Unilever and Kraft Heinz hold each other in high regard. Kraft Heinz has the utmost respect for the culture, strategy and leadership of Unilever." Under UK Takeover Panel rules Kraft would now need to wait at least six months before it could table a new offer. Kraft had offered Unilever $50.00 per share in a mix of $30.23 per share in cash payable in US dollars and 0.222 new enlarged entity shares per existing Unilever share. Jefferies said it expected Unilever's shares to revert to something closer to where they were on Thursday. "But we expect the seismic shock to reverberate for a while yet: not least in terms of what it means for value perceptions of Unilever and whether KHC might yet offer a welcome home for some or all of Unilever's Foods assets." To take note of, reports over the weekend also indicated that Heinzs bid may have been leaked to the press sooner than the American company may have wished for. As well, analysts at Berenberg reportedly said the initial offer from Heinz was too low. For its part, housebuilder Bovis Homes reported a 3% drop in pre-tax profit on Monday as the company was forced to compensate customers for poorly built homes, and said it had begun a strategic review. The announcement prompted ShoreCaps Robin Hardy to say: "Some of the risk must drop out of the valuation and any new fair value would not be that much lower but it does become harder to see fair value above 700p. Is there still a chance of take over? This statement suggests a business with more problems than were anticipated so the attraction of this business has reduced, in our view. "We have a HOLD recommendation at present but have always been at the soft end of this and nervous on the valuation and we see a reasonable chance that we may have to re-assess this position." Gains for telecoms giant BT Group and Rolls Royce saw their respective sectors top the leaderboard amid lacklustre trading conditions given that US markets were closed in observance of Presidents Day. Shares in the former appeared continued to bounce back following the late-January news of accounting blounders at its Italian arm which saw the stock crash. Stock in BT was likely also being pulled higher towards the 330p price level, which marked the intra-day high reached on 24 January, the same day the above news broke, that marked a level of technical resistance. In parallel, shares of Rolls Royce gained altitude after Goldman Sachs upgraded its recommendation on the shares from 'neutral' to 'buy'. Goldman also lifted its target price for Rolls from 743.0p to 1,030p as it added the companys shares to its 'Conviction' list. The company has the potential to substantially increase free cash flow between now and 2020, the investment bank told clients in a research note. Nonetheless, the shares had yet to break convincingly above their 200-day moving average. Top performing sectors so far today Fixed Line Telecommunications 3,695.10 +1.90% Aerospace and Defence 4,640.18 +1.79% Life Insurance 8,077.15 +1.25% Real Estate Investment Trusts 2,925.75 +0.94% Insurance (non-life) 2,802.33 +0.93% Bottom performing sectors so far today Personal Goods 31,319.88 -6.26% Household Goods & Home Construction 16,840.39 -1.06% Food Producers & Processors 7,787.30 -0.86% Health Care Equipment & Services 7,357.91 -0.80% Tobacco 56,549.52 -0.71% Responding to rumours on social media, US and Egypt-focused oil minnow Nostra Terra confirmed that it would not be raising new funds in the immediate future, though it had contemplated a fundraising. The AIM-listed company said in a short statement that a placing of new stock was "in contemplation" on 17 February but the board has since decided not to proceed. Fishing Republic Shares in Fishing Republic climbed on Monday as it said that 2016 results are anticipated to be inline with expectations with a rise in revenue as the fishing tackle retailer moves away from sales from third party platforms to its own website. For calendar 2016, revenue is expected increase about 40% year-on-year, due to new store openings, organic growth across existing stores, and own website sales. Edenville Energy Edenville Energy, which is developing a coal-to-power project in Tanzania, has raised 2m to advance its progress to full coal mining operations. The funds raised will be used to buy a wash plant and crusher, buy other mining equipment for an initial planned production of up to 10,000 tonnes of coal per month, complete land compensation requirements, build supporting infrastructure, and to provide working capital as Edenville moves towards full production. StratMin Global Resources AIM-listed miner StratMin Global Resources has appointed corporate lawyer Sam Quinn as an executive director with immediate effect. Quinn, who has served as the company secretary of StratMin since June 2015, was legal counsel for and part of the executive management team of several listed and non-listed miners including the Dragon Group, a London-based mining venture capital firm. Atlantis Tidal power developer Atlantis announced on Monday that the first AR1500 tidal stream turbine has been deployed and energised at the MeyGenproject site in the Pentland Firth, Scotland. The AIM-traded company confirmed the Atlantis AR1500 tidal stream turbine was successfully deployed in less than 60 minutes following the earlier connection of its proprietary wet mate connection management system, which allowed for rapid deployment and retrieval of the tidal stream turbine. Sareum Holdings Specialist cancer drug discovery and development business Sareum Holdings announced its half-yearly results for the six months to 31 December on Monday, a period in which it made good progress with its cancer and autoimmune disease research programmes. The AIM-traded firm said its share of income from associates, relating to the Chk1 programme, was 1.52m - improving from nil at the same time last year - delivering a share of profit of 1.3m, compared to a share of loss 0.17m in 2015, after costs. President Energy Shares in President Energy are up almost 6% after it said the work-over rig has been mobilised to the first well location at the Puesto Guardian Concession, and that operations have already begun. The company maintained its target of 1,200 barrels of oil per day production from Argentina by end-summer 2017, and was fully funded for its well workover programme. Sound Energy Africa and Europe-focussed upstream gas company Sound Energy announced on Monday that, further to its announcement on 19 January that it has entered into binding agreements with Oil & Gas Investment Fund for the conditional acquisition of a further 20% interest in the company's Tendrara exploration permits, rights to apply for a 75% operated interest in an exploration permit for the Meridja area and an application for a 75% position in certain relinquished areas of the Tendrara exploration permit areas. The AIM-traded firm said the consideration for the acquisition will be the issue, on completion, of 272 million new ordinary shares in the company, subject to Sound Energy shareholder approval at a general meeting. Tlou Energy Shares in Tlou Energy have soared more than 15% after it turned in a narrower first-half loss ahead of what it is billing as a transformational 2017 for the company. Pre-tax loss for the six-month period was $1.15m, from a loss of $1.99m. During the period it completed an oversubscribed equity placement. Feedback Shares in Feedback have slumped more than 11% after the medical imaging specialist posted a reduced first-half pre-tax loss of 130,00, from a prior loss of 160,00. Revenue had fallen to 200,000, from 230,000. The company said it had received a significant number of purchase orders for TexRAD research versions during the period, most of which were installed shortly before the period end. Save my User ID and Password Some subscribers prefer to save their log-in information so they do not have to enter their User ID and Password each time they visit the site. To activate this function, check the 'Save my User ID and Password' box in the log-in section. This will save the password on the computer you're using to access the site. Note: If you choose to use the log-out feature, you will lose your saved information. This means you will be required to log-in the next time you visit our site. Serzh Sargsyan: Our internal failings are not created by the Turks of Azeris (video) Serzh Sargsyan today at the administrative compound of the RA Ministry of Defense met with the participants of the operative meeting of the leadership of the RA Armed Forces. The purpose of the meeting was through the meetings and lectures to familiarize the officials of the Republic with the priorities of Armenias domestic and foreign policy, tendencies of development within the Army, to discuss issues related to the cooperation between the Ministry of Defense and RA law enforcement structures, to exchange experience as well as through the specialized seminars to enhance knowledge and skills of the generals, officers, and special civil servants in the areas of tactics, operative expertise, army management, and functional duties, to form a collective perspective and viewpoints among the officials related to the combat readiness of the Army and continued enhancement of the state defense capabilities. At the meeting with the leadership of the RA Armed Forces President Sargsyan spoke about the Republics public and national security agenda issues and answered the questions raised by the participants of the meeting. *** Serzh Sargsyans remarks at the operative meeting of the leadership of the RA Armed Forces Good afternoon, distinguished representatives of the highest command of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia. Once, I had the opportunity to work directly with many of you. For that very reason, I am very glad for this opportunity and would like together with you to underscore confidently that we made our choice and we have to remain true to that choice and to our uniform. I would like to talk about the issues related to the public and national security agenda. These issues are necessary to organize properly the national defense of the Republic of Armenia. After my remarks, I certainly anticipate your questions. Issues related to the public security in the Republic of Armenia do not belong directly to the realm of responsibilities of the leadership of the Armed Forces. However, you all are citizens of the Republic of Armenia and from that very point of view, I see as important clarification of that issues with you. Our immediate external milieu is complex, intricate, often very contentious and inexplicable. However, it doesnt mean that we have simply to adjust to all that and sit on our hands, wait and see what surprises are coming our way. Ive said it before and I repeat it now: the mindset that we are doomed to failure as long as the Karabakh issue remains unresolved and the blockade imposed by Turkey is not lifted, is unacceptable. Our internal failings are not created by the Turks of Azeris. They have nothing to do with the flaws in our state governance and they are not their faults. The organization of our public life and good governance are issues of national security. Flawed governance has a direct impact on the national security and defense capability of the country. For that very reason, we initiated the process of constitutional reforms. With that, our country has entered a stage of critical changes which should become immediately discernable for you and your families. I know that many of you are concerned with the fact that as a result of the changes to the Constitution, in the absence of the state of martial law, there will be no Commander-in-Chief. Yes, starting from 2018, when the new Constitution will enter fully into law, that position will be reserved for the wartime period only. In France, which also a semi-presidential republic, the cohabitation term has been formed historically. It represents a situation when the president of the country represents one political party, while the prime minister and majority at the National Assembly another political force. After long deliberations, we came to the conclusion that for us to form such a cohabitation would be a rather lengthy process, and I am sorry to say, but unfortunately, is still unattainable. You all know that semi-solutions are usually imposed and the worst possible solutions, thus it was necessary to find and present a comprehensive solution. In accordance with the new Constitution, our country makes a transition to the parliamentary model of governance. The authorities and capabilities of the prime minister with regard to national security and defense will become much broader than those assigned to the current president Commander-in-Chief by the current semi-presidential system. The objective is this: to concentrate in one place responsibilities and the authority. Should it become necessary to elaborate, since this issue interests you a lot, I am ready to speak in a greater detail. Thus, we have eliminated the possibility of an unhealthy competition between the president and prime minister created by the cohabitation. I believe this is extremely important. I want you to fully understand and appreciate the very meaning of these changes. These changes will not impact your work in any way, even if they do, only positively. With this regard you will feel no negative changes. From the view point of the organization of the national defense and governance this change, as I have already said, will have only a positive impact. The Armenian state will continue to cherish and relish its indispensable and beloved child the Armenian Army. Generals and Officers, Now, about the upcoming events for the next two to three months. We have entered the phase of the National Assembly elections. Yes, there will be heated discussions in our country in the pre-election period, sometimes there can be even exaggerated and inflated speeches. Certainly, there will be promises which will never be realized. I am sure many of you know and heard the well-known saying that people never lie so much as after a hunt, or before an election. However, its not important. The important thing is that we know from the experience of previous years that in times such as these Azerbaijan intensifies its anti-Armenian handlings in the international organizations, and even tries to make provocations at the frontline. Some indications of such attitude on their behalf become visible already. First and foremost, I would like to underscore that I have full confidence in the stability of the political structure of Armenia. Regardless of how heated the discussions are, they will not disrupt our civil accord. Sharp exchanges and discussions prove our strength, the high-level quality and self-organization of the Armenian society. I would like to stress that the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia are non-partisan and apolitical. It is true that the Minister of Defense Vigen Sarkissian heads the electoral roll of the Republican Party but there will be no overlap of his official duties and pre-election campaign. There will be no partisan discussions in the Army, and we are not going to introduce such. Moreover, I warn you all that any such attempt is punishable. We, as a state, are able to self-organize and conduct elections which will have the trust of our public and our people. Moreover, I am confident that the invited representatives of the international observer organizations will registered such outcome. Some in Azerbaijan live under the illusion that Armenia preoccupied with the elections will be very busy and in their wretched minds vulnerable. For that very reason, in this period of time I require you to be exceptionally alert. I am confident that our troops from the privates to the highest-ranking officers, in the period of the upcoming elections will be alert and watchful, ready to thwart any of treacherous designs of the foe. Now, about our regional problems. At this moment, I see no reason to believe that there can be a breakthrough in the negotiations aimed at the peaceful resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh issue. Under such circumstances, the military balance between Armenia and Azerbaijan is the only way to maintain stability and fragile peace. The official Baku is trying incessantly to accuse us of trying to prolong the established status-quo. It is not true. I would like to assure you all, that we really want the problem to be solved however the reality is like this: the Azeris propose solutions which are unacceptable for us, thats the reason the issue is not solved. When they finally understand what kind of solution can become a reality, that very moment the problem will be solved. Thats the reason Azerbaijan every now and then resorts to minor and major provocations, escalating the situation at the frontline, to remind us and the international community of their existence. Such propaganda devises are useless and are doomed to failure. Our position is the following: the existing ceasefire cannot be substituted with a ceasefire which will have worse conditions. We need to negotiate and create a solid base for the normal contacts between our two peoples and for peace. Yes, the parties to the conflict should negotiate over a durable, reliable peace based on the checkable mechanisms. The first true step in that direction might be a diligent implementation of the agreements reached during the Vienna and Saint Petersburg meetings last year. But unfortunately, the leadership of Azerbaijan is not averse to assuming responsibilities at the highest level and rejecting them on the next day. It is necessary to transform the ceasefire into peace but it will never take place as a result of unilateral concessions. We assess the situation realistically and do not expect unilateral concessions from Azerbaijan. We demand in return that the leadership of Azerbaijan understands that simple, rather to say very primitive issue. Thus, we will spare no effort to maintain the balance of forces; we have no reason to enter into an arms race with Azerbaijan. Let Azerbaijan compete with its own ambitions. However, we will continue to build capabilities which will allow the efficient organization of defense as well as a pronounced response to the foes possible aggression. For the vital activities of the two peoples, under the existing conditions the military balance is simply indispensable. Based on this balance, it is possible to negotiate over the peace. Attempts to tip the scales is simply pregnant with the danger of provoking new military actions. Generals and Officers, On the global scale, Armenia will continue to bring her input to the security, stability and formation of the positive agenda in the international relations. It is testified to by Armenias participation to a number of peace-keeping missions. I am filled with pride when I meet with my foreign colleagues, as well as ministers of foreign affairs and defense who commend the Armenian peace-keepers. I am thankful to the Armenian servicemen, first of all to those who train those regiments and of course to those who are members of these regiments for holding high Armenias repute and honor. The military alliance of Armenia and Russia is one of the most important elements of Armenias security. It has a very rich history and traditions because the Armenian and Russian soldiers never stood against each other in the trenches. Nevertheless, no military alliance can be based on the emotions only. This alliance is based on the mutually realized common interests and necessity. It is indispensable for maintaining stability in this region. Armenia will continue to carry out diligently all her responsibilities with regard to the Armenian-Russian alliance as well as in the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. I want you all to understand clearly that yes, there take place developments in the framework of the CSTO, activities, statements which are not to our liking, but actions of this or that leader or representative of the CSTO member state or statements or their demeanor in general can never become a reason for us to say that Armenias membership to the CSTO has lost its necessity. It is simply unacceptable. At the same time, we will continue to form a vibrant positive agenda with the NATO and its member states aimed at the strengthening of the international peace and security. These are all important factors to thwart the unfriendly, not to say hostile policy of our another neighbor Turkey towards Armenia. Among recent good news has been the agreement reached over Irans nuclear program. We need to follow developments on this direction with the utmost attention. Without overestimating our capabilities, we need to consistently encourage the parties of this agreement to implement truthfully their responsibilities. Within her abilities, Armenia should bring her contribution to the strengthening of the regime of the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction. With this regard, I believe we are all concerned with the developments going on at the Korean peninsula. I have tried to present briefly our external and internal environments and also to allocate time for questions and answers. Please be active. Now, I am ready to take your questions. The United States on Saturday deployed aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson to patrol the South China Sea amidst growing tension between the United States and an assertive China, which claims sovereignty over the entire South China Sea despite the United Nations court rejecting its claim. The US Navy described it as part of a ''routine operations'' even as Beijing warned the US not to challenge its sovereignty in the resource-rich sea. China claims most of the South China Sea as its own, despite overlapping territorial and jurisdictional claims from the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei. The 97,000-tonne Vinson, which carries a flight group of more than 60 aircraft, including F/A-18 jet fighters, is accompanied by guided-missile destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer, the Navy said in a statement. The US Navy is planning a fresh freedom of navigation operation around China's man-made islands, as a more assertive America under President Ronald Trump takes the US challenge closer to the disputed area. The San Diego-based USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group, which began patrolling the South China Sea, would be sailing within 12-mile territorial waters of the island features China claims as its own, reports said. The operation comes amid growing tensions between the United States and China over territory and trade under the Trump administration, which looks set to take a more confrontational stance toward China than the previous Obama predecessor. The new US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also said during his confirmation hearing that China should be blocked from accessing the artificial islands it's built, setting the stage for a potential showdown. China has been creating artificial islands on all seven islets and reefs in the Spartley Islands in the South China Sea ever since 2013 and it is equipping many of these with military-grade airfields and weapon systems despite objections by states like the Phillipines and Vietnam who share the South China Sea with other littoral states. Philippines had moved the International Court of Arbitration in The Hague and an international tribunal had last year issued a sweeping condemnation of China's claims and conduct in the disputed waters. China said it did not recognise the ruling, which it described as "null and void." Without taking a position on rival claims to the South China Sea islands, the United States has conducted periodic freedom of navigation operations near the Chinese holdings, which have triggered heated warnings from Beijing. In July last year, a senior Chinese admiral said such operations could end ''in disaster.'' China has now denounced the US move to deploy its naval fleet in the South China Sea. ''China has indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and their adjacent waters,'' he said. ''China respects and upholds the freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea which countries enjoy under international law, but firmly opposes any country's attempt to undermine China's sovereignty and security in the name of the freedom of navigation and overflight,'' China's foreign ministry spokesman Gang Shuang stated on Wednesday. China urged the US to ''refrain from challenging China's sovereignty and security'' in the sea, he added. But, with some 30 per cent of global maritime trade worth $5.3 trillion passing through the South China Sea each year, the whole world has a stake in the disputed seas. Besides, the waters are also key fishing resources and are rich in oil and natural gas reserves. The new Trump administration, however, continues to redefine US policies and priorities towards the South China Sea. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson has taken a hard line on Beijing's activities in the area, telling the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, ''We're going to have to send China a clear signal that, first, the island-building stops and, second, your access to those islands is also not going to be allowed.'' Mass protests force Thailand to order fresh impact assessment of Krabi coal-fired plant The Thai government has accepted demands from protesters and ordered a fresh Environmental and Health Impact Assessment (EHIA) of the Krabi coal-fired power plant. However, officials of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) voiced concerns over the power stability in the south being affected by the delay. Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha approved the controversial coal plant on Friday, after a confrontation between protesters opposed to the plant, and officials. The government agreed to protesters' demands to the restart of the public participation process within the EHIA. Five prominent leaders of the protest were also released. They had been arrested and detained at the 11th Military Circle in Bangkok on Saturday. Prayut said work on the coal-fired power plant would not go ahead until the project passed the EHIA. ''If a specialist committee states that the entire EHIA study has to be restarted, Egat and the Energy Ministry must follow [that advice]. This is linked to the Energy Policy Planning Office committee's conclusion that the project must follow proper guidelines under the law, especially the EHIA consideration,'' Prayut said. One of the protest leaders, Prasitchai Nu-nuan, told reporters after his release that he was treated well in custody and very happy with the decision to scrap the current EHIA. According to commentators, the delay to the plant even as an Environmental and Health Impact Assessment (EHIA) was underway marked a rare decision by the junta to bow to protesters, who had largely been silenced since a 2014 coup. "We informed the prime minister and he ordered the entire EHIA process to be improved and the public participation to be reset," government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd was quoted as saying by The Nation newspaper. The news has been welcomed by the protesters. Flame-throwing drone zaps debris off power lines A power company in China has created a drone that zaps rubbish off power lines using a fire throwing drone. The drone in use is a DJIS1000+ model costs 1,500 alone without the addition of a fire stick. The drone which carries 11 Kg is ground-controlled using a 440-Futaba 14SG 14-channel radio controller. Although rubbish on wires had reportedly caused power outages, such incidents had not been reported in Xiangyang where the drone had been deployed. Similar but more sophisticated methods had been used in the US for different purposes. A fire-starting drone was created by Nebraska-Lincoln University to ignite 'control fires' which cleared 25 acres of grass for the Homestead National Monument of America in Nebraska. A video of the Chinese flame throwing drone showed the eight-bladed drone flying to the line and blasting a huge plume of fire at the trash. While this could damage the very power lines it was trying to preserve, the method also minimised the risk of human injury. The drones could also take care of trash in areas where it would not be possible to send a human. This was not the first time drones had been used by power companies. According to a 2015 report in the Wall Street Journal utility companies in Atlanta, Chicago, and San Diego received permission to use drones to inspect infrastructure and check for gas leaks. Vodafone-Idea merger may be less than a month away The UK's Vodafone Group and Aditya Birla Group firm Idea Cellular are likely to finalise within a month the mega merger deal that will create India's largest telecom firm, according to a PTI report. ''The companies are likely to announce a definitive signing agreement by 24-25 February,'' said the agency's source. ''They are almost ready to sign the agreement and should not take more than a month to announce it,'' according to another source. Both Vodafone and Idea declined to comment on the matter. The British telecom major has brought in its former India unit chief Marten Pieters to work on the proposed merger. Vodafone Group chief executive Vittorio Colao is also likely to brief all business heads of the Indian arm in a conference call next week about the proposed merger. If the deal is successful, the combined entity will create India's largest telecom firm with a revenue share of around 40 per cent and a subscriber base of over 380 million, according to India Ratings and Research. The proposed merger of Vodafone India and Idea will create an entity with a revenue of around Rs77,500-80,000 crore, besides eliminating duplication of spectrum and infrastructure capital expenditure, the rating agency said in its report. Further, the spectrum of Vodafone India in seven circles and of Idea in two, whose permits are expiring in 2021-22, is together valued at around Rs12,000 crore as per the last auction price. These permits are not in common circles, and hence there could be potential spectrum capex synergies between the two companies, the report said. However, given the present spectrum holding, revenue and subscriber base, both the companies need to work on synergy to comply with rules. According to the merger and acquisition rules, an entity should not hold more than 25 per cent spectrum allocated in a telecom circle and 50 per cent on spectrum allocated in a particular band in a service area. The merged entity should also not have more than 50 per cent revenue and subscriber market share. As per a CLSA report, the merged entity would breach revenue market share, subscriber and spectrum caps in five markets. The combined entity as per present scenario will breach spectrum cap in 900 Mhz band in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala, Haryana and UP West and in 2,500 Mhz band in Maharashtra and Gujarat, it said. The Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) is planning to close St Marys High School Brollagh, County Fermanagh by August 31 next year, the Donegal Democrat has learned. But the proposal has been greeted with fury by parents who are determined to fight tooth and nail to make sure the school, which caters for pupils from Belleek/Garrison Derrygonnelly and Belcoo, will stay open. We fought before and we were successful and we will fight again, said one irate parent. In a letter seen by this paper, the CCMS said it had explored the cross border options as, advocated by former Education Minister John ODowd together with other options. And having reviewed the position of the school, CCMS is now consulting on the proposal to close the school with effect from August 31 2018. On this occasion, CCMS has decided to carry out this consultation in writing. Officers from CCMS will meet with stakeholders, if required. I can assure you that in undertaking this exercise, CCMS endeavours to ensure that the best educational interests of the children remain the focus of our attention. The CCMS letter added that the school, which currently has an enrolment of 84 pupils which is well below the thresholds for admittance . It added: The number of children attending a school is the main factor in calculating a schools budget for the year. As pupil numbers decline, the schools defecit grows. The school is now in a position where its defecit is now irrecoverable. But an angry parent strongly rejected the CCMS views. St Marys is an excellent place to be educated and it was rated 10th out of 60 Non Selected Schools in Northern Ireland for GCSEs That is an outstanding achievement by any standards but those in authority just dont want to listen. They are determined to close the school and we are equally determined to keep it open. A few years ago we were told that there would be a cross/border dimension to the school and that substantial funding was to be made available to the school. Where has that money gone? And we were told relatively nothing about this cross border dimension with schools in neighbouring Ballyshannon, Bundoran and Manorhamilton. We dont believe the authorities had the will to properly examine this cross border dimension. And the current Education Minister Peter Weir has said this consultation was not viable. But this just seems more of the old DUP undoing what Sinn Fein decided. The parent added, The parents have fought off challenges to our school before and we will do so again. In its letter the CCMS said all responses should be returned by post or e-mail by March 10. Sensitive Issue This is a difficult and sensitive issue, but CCMS is confident of your co-operation in this consultation exercise. Ultimately, we all wish to ensure that where a change does occur, it will be in he best educational interests of the pupils attending St Marys High School. The parent added: And we literally will go to the end of the earth to save a school that has provided excellent education in West Fermanagh since 1965. Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. A review of veterinary services by the Department of Agriculture and Food could see the regional veterinary laboratory in Sligo closed leaving farmers in the north west with a possible journey of hundreds of kilometres. The proposals would see services centralised with the closure of laboratories in Sligo, Kilkenny and Limerick. The laboratories provide a disease diagnostic service for the farming communities. The closure of the Sligo facility at Doonally would mean farmers in north Donegal would have a round trip of almost 600 km to the laboratory in Athlone. The Sligo laboratory services farming communities in Donegal Sligo, Leitrim Mayo Roscommon. The review of the facilities would see the number of laboratories reduced to three - a headquarters in Celbridge in Co. Kildare and two more in Athlone and Co Cork. Although many samples could be sent by post to Athlone there are concerns in the farming community that such a proposed lorry collection service would pose serious risks in spreading diseases as lorries drive across the country collecting dead and potentially seriously infected animal carcasses. A protest at the planned closure of the regional veterinary laboratory at Doonally has been planned for Wednesday. Independent MEP Marian Harkin has described the proposed closure of the Sligo laboratory as as flying in the face of good animal health practice and being in contravention of recent government policies to stimulate development in rural areas. We have seen successive lip service plans to supposedly bring long overdue balanced regional development and the latest Ireland 2040 plans strategy is to ensure that the enormous potential of the rural parts of our country are maximised , she said. The regional veterinary laboratory in Sligo has been a vital service for the farmers of the north west region in helping them to identify and remedy animal health problems which adversely affected their incomes, she added. The Sligo laboratory also plays a significant role in helping to protect Irelands animal health status which is a major positive marketing tool in promoting the countrys food products on a worldwide basis, the MEP said. Talks for Parents on new Junior Cert A talk takes place in the school on 29th March on the New Junior Cert programme. This talk is open to all interested parents. Ms Jacqui Dillon Director of the Donegal Education Centre, Ms Geraldine Diver Principal and JCT school coordinator Mr Shane O Neill will deliver the talk. Talk from Dr Fergus Heffernan on Family Dynamics and Wellbeing: March 22nd at 7.00pm People travel the length and breadth of the country to hear this very special speaker. We are honored to have Dr Fergus Heffernan visit us here in the Abbey Vocational School. Known for his inspirational talks, Dr. Heffernan holds qualifications as a psychologist, a psychotherapist, a family therapist, a scientist and a biologist, but says in reality, he is an educationalist. Whether you are a parent trying to cope with young children, a parent struggling with teenagers or a parent whose children have left the nest, this talk is particularly suited to you It helps us to make sense of the many life challenging situations that are facing families now and offers simple strategies that can be implemented to create greater balance and contentment in our families. Dr. Heffernan employs a wonderfully honest, heartfelt, practical and often times humorous approach to the subject of mental health and family issues. He provides his listeners with plenty of material for ongoing reflection for family dynamics and emotional well-being. This is an evening presentation of about two hours duration, which is suitable for any community or organisation with an interest in family. All welcome. Our leaving cert students will have a presentation from Dr Heffernan in the afternoon and the staff will also attend a workshop after school on the same day. Open night for first year students Our open evening was held in the school on Wednesday 15th February from 5pm to 8pm. It was a wonderful opportunity for our staff and our students to showcase our excellent school. Our incoming first year students attended on the night accompanied by their parents. Each department had textbooks, demonstrations and student work on display. Teachers were on hand to speak about their subject area and answer any questions that parents may have. The principal Mrs Diver addressed the parents throughout the course of the evening. Parents heard about the implementation of the new JCT and the schools approach to it. The introduction of our new subject coding was outlined as was all of the excellent school initiatives that are in place, the assembly area was alive with music on the night with many fine performances from our present students. We would like to thank staff and students who contributed to the success of the evening. We are now looking forward to welcoming our incoming students back to us on Tuesday March 14th for a day in the life of the Abbey Vocational School where they will spend the day taking classes in the school. Incoming first years - IMPORTANT DATES FOR YOUR DIARY Enrolment Deadline Friday, 24th February 2017 Induction Day for 6th class pupils Tuesday, 14th March (Approx. 9.30 am to 2.30 pm) Information Evening for 6th class parents Wednesday, 15th March (7.00pm 8.00pm) Mock exams Students in Junior Certificate and Leaving Certificate began their mock examinations this week. We wish all of our students well in preparation for these exams in the coming weeks. Following the completion of mock exams leaving cert students will attend a session of review and support in moving ahead from Michael Bond on Tuesday March 7th. This Co. Galway man is known to many for his exploits on the side-line of hurling pitches the length and breadth of the country, success. However his skills extend far beyond the GAA grounds of the nation, he is also widely acknowledged for his skills of communicating with young People. The various seminars held for both sixth year students focused on motivating students on timetabling study for maximum results. All those who had the pleasure on these seminars emerged energised and motivated. We are looking forward to having him back after the mock exams. JCT Training Day Closure The staff will take part in a Junior Cert Training day on Monday March 6th. The school will close to students on that day. LCVP Interviews LCVP interviews took place in school on Monday 14th and Tuesday 15th of February. The interview is an opportunity to prepare students for the world of work. Students must communicate their LCVP activities, experiences and skills gained throughout the two years. The interview is submitted as part of their portfolio. (www.pdst.ie) Irish aural Leaving Certificate students completed their Irish aural this week on Wednesday 16th December. Breaking the Mould, DARE and HEAR Applications The deadline for Breaking the Mould, DARE and HEAR closes on Wednesday March 1st. DARE and HEAR are completed on the CAO application. Disability Access Route to Education (DARE) is a third level alternative admissions scheme for school-leavers whose disabilities have had an impact on their second level education. DARE offers reduced points places to school leavers who, as a result of having a disability, have experienced additional educational challenges in second level education. Higher Education Access Route (HEAR) The Higher Education Access Route (HEAR) is a college and university scheme which offers places on reduced points and extra college support to school leavers from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. (www.qualifax.ie) However, Breaking the Mould is specific to Sligo I.T. For further information on Breaking the Mould you can contact: breakingthemould@itsligo.ie. World Book Day World Book Day takes place on Thursday 2nd March. In preparation for this special day we are asking students and teachers to bring in any books they no longer want or need for a book drive. Students and staff will be given tokens which will allow them to pick another book in exchange for the text they donated. In addition, we are requesting that all students have a reading book in their bag on World Book Day which will be read in their English class on the day. #SchoolsGoOrange On Friday 17th, the AVS participated in the #SchoolsGoOrange campaign along with a number of other schools around Ireland. Schools turned orange to spread the message that Its OK not to feel Ok; and its absolutely OK to ask for help.(www.scoilnet.net). This was to help raise awareness to break the cycle of suicide in Ireland. A number of students donned the colour orange on Friday and took to the school track on the day. Art Competition Jigsaw Donegal are currently holding an art competition for T.Y., 5th year and 6th year students to promote positive mental health. The theme of the competition is sometimes we need to take time to appreciate the beauty in the world around us. The deadline for entries is Thursday 16th March. Students should see Mr Daly or Mrs Mc Callig for further details. Healthy Living Photography Competition Aoibhin Woods, Maria Harris and Laura Taylor ran a photography competition under the guidance of Mr Daly and Mr Murrin to promote Healthy Living. The theme Healthy Living was selected due to its connection with the Healthy Schools project. Congratulations to our winners: 1st place Emily Erskine, 2nd place Shane Breslin, 3rd place Eleanor Mitchell and Hannah Crawford. The winners took some excellent shots that linked to the chosen theme well. Chess Club Chess club takes place every Wednesday at lunchtime in Ms Mc Loughlins room. The numbers taking part in this club are growing. It is great to see so many students participating in this problem solving activity which is also fun. Texaco Art Competition Entries are due for the Texaco Art competition on Tuesday 28th February which is also the closing date for the competition. TYs - Alan Devine Public Speaking Workshop Alan Devine will complete a full day workshop with each TY group in March on Tuesday 7th, Thursday 9th, Thursday 16th and Friday 24th. Alan Devine is an actor who has performed in Glenroe, King Arthur, Hamlet, Veronica Guerin, The Tudors, Vikings and Fair City, Alan has over twenty years experience working as an actor in Ireland. (www.dramaclub.ie) Drama club is a programme established to encourage public speaking. The aim of the workshop is to help students: Find confidence in their voice Connect with their audience Understand how to create and deliver short speeches The workshop teaches students that anyone can speak publically confidently. Interior Design A one-day Interior Design course was arranged by the Home Economics Department for T.Y. students on Friday 17th February. The students found this to be an interesting workshop and gave individuals interested in this area an excellent taster of what is involved in interior design as a career. Law Course Transition year students attended a Law Course delivered by Barrister James Fahy, from Galway. He presented his 'Law Education for Schools' course to our students over a two-day period. The students learned a variety of definitions used in the legal system and how the legal system works in Ireland. They were also given information on a sample legal case and were set the challenge of settling the problem outside of court. On the second day, the students received transcripts of a murder trial. The students spent the afternoon in the Donegal Town Court House and acted out the trial. Students assumed defense and prosecution roles in the court. All involved found this a beneficial and interesting experience. Work Experience All TY students after mid-term break will be on their work experience. This will take place from Monday 27th to Friday 3rd March. Thanks so much to all businesses and establishments in the areas for taking on our students and giving them this excellent opportunity. Pilgrimage Five TY students are part of a youth group who will be travelling on a pilgrimage to Lourdes with 56 other young people from all over the Raphoe diocese. We wish Philip Myers, Jamie Crawford, Aidan Mc Hugh, Shaun Campbell and Grace Mc Callig well on this venture. U14s Boy Gaelic The U14 boys played Loreto, Milford in the County Semi Final last Friday and won which now leaves them in the happy position of being in the County Final. The boys will play in the final after the mid term. Soccer The 1st year boys played Buncrana College on Thursday 16th February. They beat Buncrana 3-0 with an excellent display of work from the boys. There were two goals on the day from Conor Campbell and one from Mark Jordan. Basketball On Tuesday 14th, 1st and 2nd year girls played Colaiste Cholmcille in a challenge game. The 1st years were victorious on the day putting in a great game winning 43-36. The 2nd years were unfortunately not as successful in their game on the day and lost their match against Colaiste Cholmcille. All the girls thoroughly enjoyed the day and well done to all of the players involved. Eufaula will host Arbor Day on Tuesday, Feb. 21, at 10 a.m. at the Farmers Market. The City of Eufaula will be celebrating its 32nd year as a Tree City USA. Come early for the refreshments and music by Bailing Twine. Eufaula will be giving away 200 one-gallon trees, and Alabama Power will be giving away more than 1,000 seedlings. The Alabama Forestry Commission and Alabama Cooperative Extension will also be there with valuable information for caring for the trees. Dr. Gary Keever of Auburn University Horticulture Department will be the guest speaker. The City of Eufaula hopes people arrive by 9:30 a.m. for a cup of hot chocolate, a doughnut and to plant a tree. A number of Dothan neighbors already participate, but the Dothan Police Community Services Division is seeking to increase the number of local participants in the departments Community Watch Program. This is a great program, Dothan Police Officer John Chesser said. This program is designed to be a crime prevention program. Communities that participate are taught techniques to reduce the risk of being victimized in their home or in public, such as ways to recognize suspicious activities and how to report those activities. Tips are also given on how to make homes more secure and to properly identify a residents property. This program helps put the neighbor back in neighborhood. It allows neighbors to work together to benefit their entire neighborhood. At this time approximately 40 areas actively participate in the Community Watch Program. According to Jemmie Watford Jr., the Community Watch coordinator for the Ford Country area of Dothan, participating in this program has not only helped the residents in the subdivision take a stand against crime, but it has also allowed the neighbors to be neighbors. This program has allowed us to show those who are up to no good, we take a stand to protect our neighborhood, Watford said. It has also allowed us to show them we will not tolerate any criminal activity. This program has actually allowed us to get to know each another in our community. You may be someones neighbor, but do you actually know them? By participating in this program we have all taken the time to get to know one other. We are all dedicated to protecting our homes and our families. Several different protection methods are used daily in helping support our Community Watch Program. One method is I and two or three others walk the area every day and every night. We do whatever we can to protect our neighbors. If we see something suspicious, there are no questions asked, we report it. Residents of Ford Country are invited to attend the Community Watch Program for more information. Meetings are held twice a month at the Park Chapel Church on Selma Street. There is no fee to participate in the program. For more information on meeting times and dates, call 685-4541. This is something that every area can benefit from, Chesser said. Once a community agrees to be a part of the Community Watch Program, we will set up a time to meet with the neighbors and give them material on how to set up the program in their area. We assist them any way we can. If a community wants the police to be an active part of the watch program, we will. All we ask is, the community watch leader keep us informed on the meetings. We would love to attend the meetings and address any issues or concerns that community may be having. It is all about us working together to make each community a safer place to live. The Dothan Police Department Community Services Division can provide training to active groups on the following topics: Home security Reporting suspicious activity Operation identification Sexual assault prevention Child safety programs Fraud and con prevention Auto theft prevention Robbery prevention and defense Identity theft prevention Rural crime prevention Internet safety This program is about educating, Chesser said. The main fact we try to stress to everyone is learning how to report any suspicious activity. Get to know your neighbors. Look out for one another and if something out of the ordinary happens, call the police and report it. Reporting a problem helps to solve the problem. Remember, observe it and report it. According to Chesser, an additional benefit of the program is allowing neighbors to address certain issues that may be causing a conflict between neighbors. For a community that wants the department to be involved, we can also assist when trouble may arise between neighbors, Chesser said. Having an officer attend a meeting allows neighbors to confront one another without any trouble taking place. We make sure the neighbors talk about issues and get everything out in the open. This helps to prevent a small problem from turning into a larger problem. Chesser encourages all communities to take a stand and be the eyes and ears of your community. The police cant be everywhere all the time, Chesser said. That is why this program is so important. We provide the training a community needs to reduce or eliminate the crime rate in their area. For more information on participating in the Community Watch Program, call 793-0230, or email jchesser@dothan.org. Cora Washington couldnt get into nursing school when she finished high school in 1961. She did factory and secretarial work for more than 20 years, but getting a job in the medical field was still on her mind. My younger sister had always done CNA (certified nursing assistant) work, patient care, she said. Her sister talked her into applying for a job. Washington began working at Wesley Manor in the mid-1980s. She eventually went to nursing school and became a licensed practical nurse in 1995. She was hired as a nurse at Westside Terrace and worked some at Wesley Manor before starting at Flowers Hospital as a patient care representative in 2007. Next month will be 10 years, she said. The work suits Washington. Her job in the Emergency Department revolves around patient intake and care. Her tasks range from dealing with patients and family members to handling complaints and doing follow-ups on people who come to the emergency room. She loves all people, but babies and older people hold a special place in her heart. My biggest thing is I enjoy talking to senior citizens, she said. When I call, sometimes I stay on the phone longer with them. Washington tries to help them with prescriptions or provide anything they feel they didnt get when they were at the hospital. Some older patients dont have family and feel isolated. Washington said sometimes its providing the little things that makes them feel better. Its caring for them, period, she said. When she was going to nursing school, students talked about where they wanted to work. I told them I was going to work at a nursing home, Washington said. Some of the students thought she was crazy, but Washington likes associating with older people. You enjoy talking to people who have reached the age of 90, Washington said. Thats a blessing in itself. She said all patients need to know the hospital staff is there to help. Washington schedules appointments around employees work days because some patients want certain employees doing their procedures. The goal of patient care is to be sure we care for them in any way, to make them comfortable, she said. For Washington, that means making sure the patient is satisfied. She said caring for others comes down to treating them like you would family. Ive always had the support of my family, Washington said. Thats what I believe in, nothing but love. And when you can spread it, you do. She also draws strength from her faith. I put God first in my life, she said. When she comes to work, she leaves her own problems outside so she can concentrate on the patients. I love doing my job, she said. Home Two wheelers Honda CB Twister 250 Unveiled; An Ideal Yamaha FZ25 Rival oi-Sreejith Japanese two-wheeler manufacturer Honda has officially launched the CB Twister 250 in Brazil. Before the launch of the quarter-litre offering from Honda, Yamaha unveiled the FZ25 in India that gets a 250cc single-cylinder air-cooled engine. {photo-feature} Most Viewed Bike Photo Gallery The business landscape is constantly evolving due to the emergence of new technologies and trends as well as changes in consumer behaviour. Against this backdrop, the challenge for SME marketing teams is to remain both relevant and competitive, and so attract new customers while retaining existing ones. Here are five strategies marketers cannot afford to overlook in the pursuit of customer growth: 1. Mobile apps At the end of 2016, mobile marketing research produced by comScore showed that a prediction back in 2008 by Mary Meeker, which stated that mobiles would overtake the use of fixed internet by 2014, had come true. Globally the number of mobile users, as opposed to desktop users, went past what was called the mobile tipping point in 2014. Fixed Internet global user rates started to flatten out in 2015 but the mobile user rate went on an upward trajectory to nearly 2,000 million users. The rate of mobile technology development is having to keep up with the demands of global consumers. Businesses should now be way past the point of just having a mobile friendly website when it comes to mobile devices and marketing. Getting a mobile app is going to be the one thing that a business needs to invest in if they are going to do anything mobile related in 2017. In the past this has been restrictive, especially for the small to medium enterprises (SME), due to the cost, but there are a number of reasonably priced and appropriate options to get your company mobile centric this year. Ensure that you are offering mobile payment options because consumers want to tap and order, and tap and pay, and if you can advertise this as an option, you will not be losing out on much needed revenue. Plus its a great marketing tool as well. One of the up and coming trends is the rise in mobile-only apps. Looking at the increase in downloads of apps these are certainly in the forefront so a mobile app, not available on desktop computers, like for example Facebook is, can be a really great way for an SME to market themselves. If you can offer support, trialling or development opportunities to an app developer, it could be even more cost effective in the long run. 2. Understand and use segmentation A customer can be anyone and anywhere on todays global marketing platform. Having a small consumer base means a business knows its customer base very well and is quick to react if there is a problem. As customer numbers increase it is not realistic to expect customer relationship managers to monitor all events and interactions in order to ensure a positive experience for all. As the consumer base grows a marketing team has to use customer segmentation to manage customers at scale. Ensure that segmentation is part of the marketing strategy, by dividing consumer base into separate segments based on their characteristics. These can be by size, by industry sector, geographical area, consumer activity and so on. Use this information to scale and target your marketing message by sending out to one whole segment rather than separate individuals, leading to economy of scale. 3. Invest in good SEO content and ROI Google have upped their content algorithms, searching out poor and badly written content as well as plagiarised articles. This means they are checking regularly over a period of weeks and months, and their preference is for the longer 800-1000 word articles. This will demonstrate that a business is prepared to look at topics or blogs and articles in more depth. Newsworthy items, high quality information and relevant links, in fact anything that is going to provide a service or go to page for the consumer and that will enable a business to grow their online audience is a must for 2017. Google have also announced that they are making their search index mobile first, so keep an eye out for some big changes. Build in an evaluation of your businesss content marketing and understand the return of investment or ROI in this area. As there is going to be more focus on rich content it is important to know that the company is getting a good return for its investment, and hitting the spot as far as getting consumers onboard is concerned. 4. Behavioural email marketing and spam There are still a number of companies who are not taking a strategic approach to email marketing and this is tantamount to leaving a lot of untouched revenue out there. As David Newman remarked, Email has the ability many other channels dont; creating valuable, personal touches of scale. The ongoing battle for attention when it comes to the customer means that if you have an email contact for them, you should use it appropriately. Improve the design and layout of emails (link to the brand as always) and personalise your approach. Use emails to deploy an invitation or link to the next big marketing campaign youre running in 2017. Combine this with a link to larger channels such as social media to supplement your efforts and use creative visual graphics and animations. More importantly, as 2017 is the year of clamping down on junk email and spam, make sure you have a marketing tool that will help break through the blocks. 5. Hands free search Finally, voice activated search optimisation such as Amazon Echo, or Windows Cortana, is really taking off for 2017. Along with Google Home, these home connected devices are bringing something very new to the table and as yet there is not very much data or analysis out there to review. Keep in the loop as more information comes out because your marketing department will need to think about voice driven search functions as we get further into the New Year. About the Author Sal Salvatore is the Director of Minipack, a specialist in packaging machines and the original inventor of the Hooded Shrink Wrapping Machine. As one of Australias longest trading companies, Minipack certainly understands the importance of innovation and keeping abreast of trends when it comes to marketing strategies. The days of the CFO sitting in the corner office counting beans are long gone. No longer just the most senior accountant, today we look to our finance leaders to embrace digital technologies and use data analytics to drive consistent and measurable growth for our business. Modern CFOs are increasingly expected to be key drivers of business innovation, but to successfully innovate, failure, not initial success is the key again and again. It was Albert Einstein that said If youve never failed, youve never tried something new. And he was right. The thought of failure keeps senior business leaders awake at night, when really, failure should be looked upon as a long-term positive. Ultimately, success teaches us very little. When we succeed, we continue to do things in exactly the same way. Its human instinct. If it isnt broken, why would you fix it? To breed an entrepreneurial spirit and ultimately business success, youve got to embrace failure. Its easy to say, but how do you do it? Make risky hires In order to innovate, youve got to take risks. Those unafraid of failure are those likeliest to innovate. Filling your employee base with risk takers is, in itself, a risk (risk-ception). However, it will give you a workforce that is most comfortable pushing itself to think differently. A workforce that will set your business apart from your competitors, and give you a chance for success. Dont shame failure When people fail, they have two options. They can run from their mistake or they can approach it head on and learn from it. Employees will do the former if they work in an environment where they know a mistake will land them in hot water. Dont let it happen. Removing the stigma attached to failure will ensure you create a workforce of innovators and people willing to take a risk on something a little bit different. If you punish someone for not succeeding, theyll dwell on it and let the shame affect their next business decisions. At the end of the day it will be business innovation that will suffer. Showcase failure Dont just accept failure, showcase it! This isnt to say Im promoting businesses to enact public shamings. What I mean is to allow your employees who make mistakes to share what theyve learnt and what theyd do differently next time. By showcasing failure, you allow everyone in the business to fail (and learn) together. Showcasing failure will also ensure that a one-time mistake doesnt become a frequent issue for your business. This all starts at the top. If an employee sees someone from their C-Suite make a mistake and talk candidly about what theyd change next time, youll begin to engender a culture where failure isnt all that bad. While traditional CFOs are risk-averse and failure-fearing, the new breed of CFO, capable of driving innovation and fostering it throughout their business needs to be the champion of failing, trying new ways of doing things and getting out of their comfort zone. The new CFO is the Chief Failure Officer. see also: Dont let a fear of failure stifle innovation mine mistakes to strengthen your business, failure isnt fatal, nor is it defining it can equip you for success: Beanstalk Factory CEO, Dont sweep failure under the rug, confront it, and The power of sharing failure stories. | One thing you should know about Vladimir Putin: he gives a good speech. Probably you dont know that he does. Here are three brief excerpts, from occasions that presumably every Russian remembers, more vividly than snippets in translation can convey. In September 2004, after the Beslan massacre, in which 334 hostages were killed by Chechen terrorists, 186 of them children: Today we are living in conditions formed after the disintegration of a huge great country, the country which unfortunately turned out to be nonviable in the conditions of a rapidly changing world. [D]espite all the difficulties, we managed to preserve the nucleus of that giant, the Soviet Union. We called the new country the Russian Federation. We all expected changes, changes for the better, but found ourselves absolutely unprepared for much that changed in our lives. We live in conditions of aggravated internal conflicts and ethnic conflicts that before were harshly suppressed by the governing ideology. We stopped paying attention to issues of defense and security. [O]ur country which once had one of the mightiest systems of protecting its borders, suddenly found itself unprotected from either West or East. In February 2007, at the Munich Security Conference, after the American invasion of Iraq (which he, the Germans, and French had opposed) erupted in sectarian violence, sending an estimated 2 million Iraqis out of the country: The unipolar world that had been proposed after the Cold War did not take placeHowever one might embellish this term, at the end of the day it refers to one type of situation, namely one center of authority, one center of force, one center of decision-making. It is a world in which there is one master, one sovereign. And at the end of the day this is pernicious not only for all those within this system, but also for the sovereign itself because it destroys itself from within. Today we are witnessing an almost uncontained hyper use of force military force in international relations, force that is plunging the world into an abyss of permanent conflicts. [I]ndependent legal norms are, as a matter of fact, coming increasingly close to one states legal system.First and foremost, the United States has overstepped its national borders in every way. This is visible in the economic, political, cultural, and educational policies it imposes on other nations. Well, who likes that? In 2008, Russia briefly went to war with Georgia, in order to discourage Georgian ambitions to join the NATO alliance. In 2011, NATO launched airstrikes in Libya to prevent Muammar Qaddafi from attacking insurgents in eastern Libya, greatly irritating the Russian government. In 2013, the US nearly went to war with Syria, before Putin persuaded Bashar al-Assad to surrender Syrias stocks of chemical weapons. And in March 2014, after Russia annexed Crimea, not long after the flight to Moscow of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, following three months of demonstrations joined by, among others, US Assistant Secretary of State for Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland and Sen. John McCain: They are constantly trying to sweep us into a corner because we have an independent position, because we maintain it and because we call things like they are and do not engage in hypocrisy. But there is a limit to everything. And with Ukraine, our western partners have crossed the line, playing the bear and acting irresponsibly and unprofessionally. After all, they were fully aware that there are millions of Russians living in Ukraine and in Crimea. They must have really lacked political instinct and common sense not to foresee all the consequences of their actions. Russia found itself in a position it could not retreat from. If you compress the spring all the way to its limit, it will snap back hard. What do we know about Putin? I spent the week re-reading The New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin (Knopf, 2015), by Steven Lee Myers, New York Times correspondent in Moscow for seven years during the period that the Russian president consolidated his power. It is a superb book, knowledgeable, thorough, candid, readable, and well-organized. It provides an incisive account of Putins youth in Leningrad; his years as a young officer in the KGB, the Soviet security service; his rise to power as a junior member of reform clique that Boris Yeltsin recruited from the re-christened St. Petersburg. It treats all the familiar domestic stories of the Putin years: his fierce conduct of the second Chechen War; his surprising elevation by Yeltsin; his gradual suppression of private media; the loss of the nuclear submarine Kursk; the Khodorkovsky trials; the Orange and Rose Revolutions in Ukraine and Georgia; the Alexandr Litvinenko, Anna Politkovskaya, and Boris Nemtsov murders; the Sochi Olympics and the trial of the Pussy Riot punk rock band. It gives a brief but even-handed account of Putins successful economic reforms. Like all good books, it has a narrative structure and a point of view, and that view is conveyed by the cover photograph, Putin looking haughty, powerful, and sinister. As Putin prepares to run for a Rooseveltian fourth term next year, Myers concludes: After returning to power in 2012 with no clear purpose other than the exercise of power for its own sake, Putin now found the unifying factor for a large, diverse nation still in search of one. He found a millenarian purpose for the power that he held one that shaped his country greater than any other leader had thus far in the twenty-first century. He had restored neither the Soviet Union nor the tsarist empire, but a new Russia with the characteristics and instincts of both, with himself as secretary general and sovereign, as indispensable as the country was exceptional. He had unified the country behind the only leader anyone could now imagine because he was, as in 2008 and 2012, unwilling to allow any alternative to emerge. There is only a fleeting examination of the fundamental issue that has shaped Putins view of the US over the past twenty-five years not American interventions abroad, not its arms placements, not even its enthusiasm for regime change in Russia, but rather the enlargement of NATO over increasingly strong Russian objections, undertaken by the Clinton administration in 1993, and pursued under presidents Bush and Obama. Myers writes, axiomatically, Most American and European officials accepted as an article of faith that NATOs expansion would strengthen the security of the continent by forging a defensive collective of democracies, just as the European Union had buried many of the nationalistic urges that had caused so much conflict in previous centuries. Why is this The New Tsars default view? The Times has habitually viewed itself as an extension of the US State Department in matters large and small, and in this case, the logic of NATO enlargement has been asserted by three presidents whose service has spanned 24 years. Of course, US foreign policy hasnt always worked out well. The Times supported US intervention in South Vietnam in the early 1960s, and, with aggressive reporting, the invasion of Iraq in 2003. In each case, subsequent events provoked editors to undertake an extensive retracing of their steps. No such soul-searching has yet begun in the matter of NATO enlargement. Which brings us to the current situation. The Trump-Putin equivalence that is currently all the rage it was the cover story in The Economist earlier this month is profoundly misleading. Putin, with consistently high approval ratings, is headed for a fourth term as president. Despite having overplayed his hand in the hacking business, he has a case to make: the US has treated Russia much too casually in the years since the Soviet empire collapsed. Like it or not, we live in a multi-polar world. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is back on the campaign trail, hoping to regain a measure of self-control and halt the alarming skid with which his presidency has begun. He has a case for better relations to make, too, but, for reasons of temperament, intellect, and his business interests, he is profoundly unsuited to make it. The US debate about US-Russian relations should go forward without equating the leaders of the two countries. DHAKA - The current labour unrest in Bangladesh has cost the country's textile industry US$100m in lost orders and associated disruption costs according to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA). The influential trade body has finally broken its silence about what some are claiming to be the "biggest crackdowns on workers' rights ever seen in the country's garment industry." Earthquakes in Pennsylvania are usually rare but fracking operations triggered a series of small temblors in Lawrence County last year, officials at the states Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced in a Feb. 17 report. Hilcorp Energy Co., a Texas-based oil and gas company, was fracking a pair of wells in the Utica Shale when seismic monitors detected five earthquakes measuring between 1.8 and 2.3 on the Richter scale between April 25-26, 2016. Our analysis after doing the review is that these events are correlated with the activity of the operator, DEP Acting Secretary Patrick McDonnell told Penn Live. While the tremors were too small to be felt by humans or cause any damage, they are the first quakes in the state to be blamed on fracking. Pennsylvania happens to be the second largest natural gas-producing state in the country. Pennsylvania Fracking Water Contamination Much Higher Than Reported EcoWatch: EcoWatchPennsylvania Fracking https://t.co/Ev1NoxURhK PA Against Fracking (@PAAgainstFrack) February 4, 2016 At least within Pennsylvania, this is the first time that we have seen that sort of spatial and temporal correlation with [oil and gas] operator activity, Seth Pelepko, chief of well-plugging and subsurface activities for DEPs oil and gas management program, told Allegheny Front, a western Pennsylvania public radio program. No faults identified along portions of the well bore where these seismic events were detected, Pelepko continued. Hilcorp spokesman Justin Furnace said operations were immediately suspended after learning about the tremors. Fracking and stimulation operations have since been discontinued at the well pad indefinitely. The DEP said that Hilcorp was using a technique known as zipper fracturing at the time, which involves the concurrent fracking of two horizontal wellbores that are parallel and adjacent to each other. So how did the earthquakes happen? As Penn Live explains: Four wells were drilled to depth of about 7,900 feet in that location. Evidence indicates that induced earthquakes occur when the separation between Utica Shale and basement rocks is lessened during drilling operations. That means, when someone drills too close to basement rocks, there can be earthquakes. Pelepko said that seems to have been the case in Lawrence County, where the basement rock is shallow compared to other areas in the state. The distance between Utica Shale and basement rocks were between 2,500 to 3,000 feet at the fracking site. The DEP has since given a number of recommendations to Hilcorp, including the discontinuation of zipper fracturing near gas wells in North Beaver, Union and Mahoning Townships where the earthquakes occurred. Additionally, the company must shut down operations and notify the DEP should any earthquake larger than 2.0 or three successive quakes between 1.5 and 1.9 in magnitude occur within a three-mile distance of a wellbore path. Earthquakes caused by fracking a well are uncommon. However, the notorious spate of earthquakes in Oklahoma, which were caused by the disposal of large quantities of fracking wastewater into underground wells, are rampant. The disposal of wastewater produced from fracking, has led to the alarming increase of earthquakes with magnitude-3 or larger by nearly 300 times, or 30,000 percent in north-central Oklahoma alone. In 2014, more than 5,000 earthquakes were reported. But a 4.8-magnitude frack-quake that struck Alberta, Canada in Jan. 2016 set a world record for the largest earthquake triggered by the controversial drilling process. For years, Republican lawmakers have tried to scrap NASAs climate change research in favor of space exploration, but with President Trump and his cabinet of climate skeptics now in control, the space agencys earth sciences budget could finally be on the chopping block. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the notoriously science-averse chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, told E&E News he wants a rebalancing of NASAs mission. https://twitter.com/NASAClimate/status/832299719544016897 By rebalancing, Id like for more funds to go into space exploration; were not going to zero out earth sciences, he said. Our weather satellites have been an immense help, for example, and thats from NASA, but Id like for us to remember what our priorities are, and there are another dozen agencies that study earth science and climate change, and they can continue to do that. Meanwhile, we only have one agency that engages in space exploration, and they need every dollar they can muster for space exploration. That means NASAs work on climate change could go to another agency, with or without funding, or possibly get cut, E&E News explained. Smith and other Republicans acknowledged that significant changes to NASAs earth sciences program could be introduced in the near future. Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.), who is running for NASA administrator, told E&E News that he was not committed to keeping climate research at NASA but may be open to transferring the program to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/status/802129772671332352 But ProPublica senior reporter Andrew Revkin in an interview with NPR said that NOAA might not be as well equipped to study climate change. If they saywell, were just going to shift [climate science] over to, lets say, NOAA, the oceanic and atmospheric administration, that doesnt really work well because NOAA doesnt necessarily have the skill sets to do some of the work that would be easier done at NASA, he added. Additionally, he highlighted how one of biggest proponents of scrapping NASAs climate science program is actually a lobbyist for rocket companies. There was someone who was part of the Trump campaign who was pushing for, you know, moving all this climate science out of NASAthat doesnt need to happen thereand making sure NASAs focused on its missions to other planets and back to the moon or that kind of thing, Revkin said. And of course, he is a lobbyist for companies that build rockets and stuff then. The GOP has previously waged war with NASAs research on our home planet. In 2015 and in 2016, Congressional Republicans sought deep cuts to climate research while favoring space exploration instead. Former Republican Rep. Bob Walker, who is a senior Trump advisor has been actively involved in deliberating the administrations space policy. Walker told the Guardian in November that NASAs earth science program amounts to politically correct environmental monitoring. We see NASA in an exploration role, in deep space research, he added. Earth-centric science is better placed at other agencies where it is their prime mission. There are many reasons why de-funding NASAs climate change science would be a major mistake. As James Dyke at The Conversation pointed out, NASA organizations such as the Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Jet Propulsion Laboratory have made significant contributions to our understanding of how humans are changing the Earths climate. https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/status/803294278499717121 NASA also has more than a dozen satellites that orbit the Earth and remotely sense ocean, land and atmospheric conditions. Its research encompasses solar activity, sea level rise, the temperature of the atmosphere and the oceans, the ozone layer, air pollution, and changes in sea and land ice. Despite the Republicans and the Trump administrations seemingly hostile feelings about the established science of climate change, NASA has been frequently posting tweets about the topic on its Twitter page. [facebook https://facebook.com/EcoWatch/videos/1460041177342148/ expand=1] By Steve Horn At his Feb. 16 press conference, President Trump discussed his executive orders calling for U.S. federal agencies to grant TransCanada and Energy Transfer Partners the permits needed to build the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipeline projects. Trump also cited a different executive order signed that same day, highlighting the Buy American measures which he said were in place to require American steel for American pipelines. But like Keystone XL, as DeSmog previously reported, much of the steel for the Dakota Access project appears to have been manufactured in Canada by Evraz North America, a subsidiary of the Russian steel giant Evraz. Evraz is owned in part by Roman Abramovich, a Russian multi-billionaire credited for bringing Russian President Vladimir Putin into office in the late 1990s. DeSmogs finding comes on the heels of Trumps former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn resigning for potentially having discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with Russian diplomats before Trump took office, apparently without the knowledge of Trump or now-Vice President Mike Pence. https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/status/831526834026188805 pipe, as is stated on our website, Christian Messmacher, vice president of Investor Relations and Strategy for Evraz North America, told DeSmog. Phony Claims Similar to Keystone XL, the steel production for the Dakota Access pipeline was a done deal long ago, well before the pipeline got all the permits it needed. Energy Transfer Partners was so eager to build the pipeline that it began staging mountainous piles of steel pipe across the four-state route before it had gotten all necessary easements and regulatory approval from federal regulators, as well as those in North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois, a local Fox affiliate explained. In the case of Dakota Access, nearly all of the pipeline already sits underground, other than the most contentious segment, which could soon go under Lake Oahe and the Missouri River located near the Standing Rock Sioux Tribes land in North Dakota. That segment consists of 0.02 percent of the line, according to Energy Transfer Partners. Though many in leaders of the U.S. labor movement, including professional pipeliners, have praised Trumps jobs initiatives, some within labor arent as elated and are more critical of Trumps claims about creating U.S. steel jobs. American workers need jobs, Jeremy Brecher, co-founder of the Labor Network for Sustainability, told DeSmog. It is unconscionable that fossil fuel companies and Donald Trump exploit that need by making phony claims to be creating jobsall to persuade us to support projects that will poison our air and water and make our planet unlivable for our kids. Its time to get serious about creating jobs that protect our environment rather than destroying it. Reposted with permission from our media associate DeSmogBlog. Neskantaga First Nation in Ontario has had to boil water since 1995. Were over 20 years already where our people havent been able to get the water they need to drink from their taps or to bathe themselves without getting any rashes, Neskantaga Chief Wayne Moonias told CBC News in 2015. Their water issues have yet to be resolved. Theyre not alone. In fall last year, 156 drinking water advisories were in place in First Nations in Canada. More than 100 are routinely in effectsome for years or decades. According to a 2015 CBC investigation, Two-thirds of all First Nation communities in Canada have been under at least one drinking water advisory at some time in the last decade. Water advisories vary in severity. A boil water advisory means residents must boil water before using it for drinking or bathing. Do not consume means water is not safe to drink or consume and a do not use advisory means water is unsafe for any human use. Water on First Nations reserves is a federal responsibility, but severe underfunding (in the governments own words) for water treatment plants, infrastructure, operations, maintenance and training has led to this deplorable situation. Canada has no federal standards or binding regulations governing First Nations drinking water. After years of pressure from First Nations and Indigenous and social justice organizations, the Liberal party promised in its 2015 election campaign to end all First Nations long-term drinking water advisories within five years of being elected. In 2016, the new governments budget included $1.8 billion over five years, on top of core funding for First Nations water infrastructure, operations and management. Funds have gone to help Neskantaga and other communities, but moneys not enough. If the federal government is to fulfill its commitment to ending advisories in five years, it must reform its system. The David Suzuki Foundation and Council of Canadians have published a report card rating governments progress on meeting its commitment in nine First Nations in Ontario, which has the highest number of water advisories in Canada. The Glass half empty? report found advisories in three communities have been lifted or will likely be lifted within five years. Efforts are underway in three other communities, but uncertainty lingers about whether theyll succeed within the five-year period. Three others are unlikely to have advisories lifted within five years without reformed processes and procedures. And in one community that had its advisory lifted, new drinking water problems emerged, illustrating the need for sustainable, long-term solutions. Its unacceptable that so many First Nations lack clean water and face serious water-related health risksespecially for children and the elderlyin a country where many people take abundant fresh water for granted. The United Nations recognizes access to clean water and sanitation as a human right and Canada has further obligations under the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The report card concludes that the system for addressing unsafe drinking water is overly cumbersome and must be streamlined, First Nations must be have more decision-making power to address community-specific drinking water issues and government must increase transparency around progress and budgetary allocations. It calls on government to redouble its efforts to advance First Nations-led initiatives, fulfill its fiduciary responsibility to First Nations, respect the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and ensure the human right to safe and clean drinking water. The federally funded Safe Water Project is one example of a First Nationsled approach. The Keewaytinook Okimakanak Tribal Council started the initiative in 2014 in response to long-term advisories in four of six member nations. The project keeps management at the community level and includes training and certification of local water operators, operational support while local water operators pursue certification and remote water quality monitoring technology. The projects success illustrates the benefits of a local approach. Community-specific, traditional and cultural knowledge are integral to developing lasting solutions. Because the federal government holds the purse strings, it calls most of the shots and often overlooks knowledge held by community members. This needs to change. Clean drinking water on reserves is not just an Indigenous issue. Its a human right and it should concern all of us. On the morning of Feb. 12, wind power provided 52.1 percent of the electricity for the 14-state grid known as the Southwest Power Pool (SPP). This is a significant milestone for wind, which has never before provided a majority of power for any U.S. grid, according to SPP. SPP is responsible for 60,000 miles of power lines running from North Dakota and Montana to Texas, New Mexico and Louisiana. Wind generates about 15 percent of the electricity in the SPP region and is third behind coal and natural gas. The February 52.1 percent wind-penetration beat the April 2016 record of 49.2 percent. Wind-penetration is a measure of the grids electrical total load served by wind. Ten years ago, we thought hitting even a 25 percent wind-penetration level would be extremely challenging and any more than that would pose serious threats to reliability, Vice President of Operations Bruce Rew said in an SPP statement. Rew explained SPP can now reliably manage more than 50 percent wind-penetration and that they have not yet reached their ceiling. American Wind Energy Associations Greg Alvarez celebrated the news in a blog post. Records like these resonate, because they demonstrate wind energy can play a key role in an affordable, reliable, diversified energy mix, he said. That creates a stronger system, and helps keep more money in the pockets of families and businesses. In the early 2000s, SPP wind power provided less than 400 megawatts (MW) and now provides 16,000 MW. A single MW is usually able to power around 1,000 homes, Climate Central explained. SPP has achieved this wind power milestone because of its enormous power generation footprint, which covers nearly 550,000 square miles. If the upper Great Plains is not windy one day, SPP can deploy resources waiting in the Midwest and Southwest to make up any sudden deficits, Rew said. Since 2007, SPP has spent more than $10 billion on high-voltage transmission infrastructure with a focus on connecting rural, isolated wind farms to population centers hundreds of miles away, the organization said. In 2015, 39 states harnessed electricity from utility-scale wind projects, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Kansas and California produced the most wind energy and about 50 percent of the total for U.S. wind production. In 2016, wind power was the largest U.S. source of renewable electric capacity and is now the countrys fourth-largest energy source. https://facebook.com/EcoWatch/videos/1446200265392906/ (Reuters/Johnathan Ernst)President-elect Donald Trump is blessed by Christian leaders. U.S. President Donald Trump continues to bewilder and alarm those trying to make sense of his utterances. Many Christians are wary of the president's proclivity to swerve away from keeping the Commandments that guide behavior. They see him as having given up totally on the eighth and ninth the ones regarding truthfulness rather joining a choir of mockery on truth and those who expose matters untrue he has been caught stating. It is relation to his disregard for the commandments on truthfulness that some Jews see a disconnect to the president's cozying up to Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu and his having a daughter who converted to Judaism and her husband who is part of his inner circle. American Jewish leaders on Feb. 20 called on Israel's Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and his government to convey to the Trump administration the urgency of condemning and combating a rise in anti-Semitism in the United States, The Times of Israel reported. Addressing the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations in Jerusalem, Shaked asked members of the audience whether they felt a rising tide of anti-Jewish sentiment, and how they thought Israel should respond, in one of the first acknowledgements from an Israeli minister of the trend. JCC Association of North America chair Stephen Seiden told the minister that 56 Jewish community centers had received bomb threats over a three-week period, including some that had "received multiple threats." "Anything Israel can do to convince our new president to address the issue head-on, that anti-Semitism is a problem, to acknowledge it, I think would go a long way," he said. The bomb threats have "created fear in many of our members." The AJC Global Jewish Advocacy group said it was "dismayed" after Trump's outburst. "The purveyors of anti-Semitism are many, including, it must be said, some who claim to be your supporters, but others as well with entirely different political agendas. We need the help of the government to combat this cancer, which violates every value for which our nation stands. 'USE YOUR BULLY PULPIT' "Respectfully, Mr. President, please use your bully pulpit not to bully reporters asking questions potentially affecting millions of fellow Americans, but rather to help solve a problem that, for many, is real and menacing." Sarah Wildman writing in Vox echoed those words, "President Donald Trump could have used his bully pulpit this week to reassure Jews who are fearful of rising anti-Semitism in America. He took two chances for targeted messaging to talk, instead, about himself." Vox said he skirted an easy opening to assure concerned American Jews that their president is behind them. Instead he roughly pushed back the Orthodox Jewish reporter whose questions were about he might be doing pro-actively, to address those who are attacking the community. "This request was a long time coming. "For many Jews, the moment brought home a concern that has rankled for many months. By halfway through 2016, there was a persistent, palpable, even terrifying, sense within the community that we had suddenly entered into a new era of popular anti-Semitic permissiveness, one where what was once fringe thought and speech had been mainstreamed and magnified by social media." It cited tweets that brought in anti-Semitic imagery during the U.S. presidential campaign such as a six-pointed Jewish star, superimposed upon a pile of money that was later sworn to be a "sheriff's star," and surrogates who tweeted images of Pepe the frog, a favorite of the so-called alt-right. Vox also noted deep concern about the stories published by Breitbart news, former news home of Steve Bannon, a leading campaign advisor turned White House right-hand man, which didn't shy away from speaking negatively about Jews. "What will it take for Donald Trump to condemn Anti-Semitism," began an op-ed in the Jewish daily Forward by Kenneth Stern, executive director of the Justus and Karin Rosenberg foundation that fights anti-Semitism and hate crimes. He called the president a "serial enabler" of anti-Semitism and white supremacists, and noted an incredible lack of empathy conveyed over 48 hours. The Jewish Orthodox reporter had said to Trump, "Forty-eight bomb threats have been made against Jewish centers all across the country in the last couple of weeks," a reporter from an Orthodox magazine said. "There are people who are committing anti-Semitic acts, or are threatening to " Trump interrupted. "Okay, sit down," he said before going on to call himself the "least anti-Semitic person you have ever seen in your entire life." Josh Nathan-Kazis wrote in the Forward on Feb. 17, "What Trump did not do was condemn anti-Semitism." Forward carried a piece headlined: "Neo-Nazis Cheer Trump For Bullying Jewish Reporter Blacks And Mexicans Too," written by Allison Kaplan Sommer in Haaretz on the same day. A reporter for Ben, a small ultra-Orthodox publication, had a dream turn into a nightmare when President Trump called on him during a rare solo press conference and then slammed him. Reporter Jake Turx was said by the Forward to have long wanted to participate in such a high-level event, even publicly pleading with Trump's spokesman Sean Spicer to call on him. SURGE IN ANTI-SEMITISM He asked Trump about the surge in anti-Semitism in the United States but only after carefully and at length reassuring the president that nobody in his own community, or on staff at Ami magazine, felt Trump personally was anti-Semitic The much-discussed interchange took place at the president's extended and world-wide watched press conference Feb. 16. Sommer reported it was unclear whether Trump was angry at Turx because, as he said, he had requested an "easy question," or intentionally misunderstood Turx to be accusing him of being an anti-Semite. The mere suggestion of personal anti-Semitism was all that Trump seemed to hear from Turx and he unleashed a characteristic response. "Number one, I am the least anti-Semitic person you have ever seen in your entire life," he said. "Number two, racism. I am the least racist person... [Turx] said he was going to ask a straightforward question," Trump harrumphed. "Well, welcome to the land of the media. I hate the charge." "You heard Netanyahu, Bibi," Trump continued, alluding to the previous day's joint press conference with the Israeli prime minister. "He said, 'I've known Donald a long time,' and he said 'Forget it,'" Trump concluded, referring to the change of anti-Semitism. Forward said a different suggestion has been offered by Bradley Burston in Haaretz. "Donald Trump IS an anti-Semite," he wrote. "A man who initiates, fuels, and fans anti-Semitism, a man who is in a direct position to combat it and does not, is, in my view, an anti-Semite." The worlds first hover-taxi able to travel up to 60 mph at 1,000 feet. Dubai state transport authority officials tested a Chinese prototype autonomous hover-taxi, with intentions of publically introducing it by July 2017. The Ehang 184, able to carry passengers at an altitude of 1,000 feet and speeds of 60 mph, merges two big tech advancements: hovering and self-driving. The concept involves passengers programming their destination at the beginning of the ride and the hover-taxi getting them to the end with no driver required. The UAV, created by Chinese manufacturer Ehang, recharges in two hours and has the power to make trips up to 30 minutes. Passengers don't need to learn how to fly it; they don't need get to a pilot's license, EHang co-founder Derrick Xiong said. They just need to press a button and then it vertically takes off, flies from point A to point B, and lands. The Ehang 184 makes use of a fail-safe system that automatically lands the vehicle if it senses that any component is damaged or not properly functioning. It also has a command center that ensures users that everything is safe, similar to an air traffic controller in an airport. While the vehicle has been in development since 2013, it was recently on display at the World Government Summit 2017 in Dubai. The Ehang 184 was tested in the United Arab Emirates to guarantee that a quarter of the states transport abilities are self-driving by 2030. Powered by eight propellers, the quadcopter has exceptionally accurate sensors and can resist extreme temperatures; UAE is notorious for its scorching summers. Additionally, the vehicle is approximately five feet tall and weighs 440 pounds. In November 2016, Dubai signed a deal with the United States Hyperloop One to examine the construction of a nearby supersonic transport link to Abu Dhabi. The Dubai Transport Authority is making every effort to begin operating the Ehang 184 in July 2017, in response to the significant traffic congestion issues. Dubai is home to the Burj Khalifa, the worlds tallest tower, making it a leading tourist destination in the Gulf with an attraction record of 14.9 million visitors in 2016. Source: Phys.org and Science Alert Learn more about Electronic Products Magazine Beaver County preparing for robust Election Day turnout As the Nov. 8 midterm election approaches, nearly 114,000 people are registered to vote in Beaver County. Health Minister to be asked about mental health of doctors, nurses The mental health of the Island's medical staff will be discussed in Tynwald this week. Douglas North MHK David Ashford is asking for statistics about the number of doctors and nurses signed off with stress, anxiety or depression during the 2015-16 period. Mr Ashford also wants to know how many of those who missed work with one of these conditions were absent for four months or longer. Health and Social Care Minister Kate Beecroft will provide the details tomorrow. MHK to ask about Victoria Road prison site Victoria Road prison closed in 2008. The future of the Victoria Road prison site will be discussed in this month's sitting of Tynwald. Douglas North MHK David Ashford is seeking details about the Government's plans for the plot. The site has been vacant since the old prison was demolished in 2012, having closed in 2008. Treasury Minister Alfred Cannan will provide the update tomorrow. "Grimm" Season 6 is inching its way to its finale but the viewers were definitely not prepared for the events that transpired in the previous episode and will spill over "Grimm" Season 6 Episode 8. In the last aired episode, the characters were brought to an unplanned excursion to Columbia Gorge Hotel which showed the viewers a lighter side of the characters. According to Oregon Live, the Columbia Gorge Hotel excursion was a wacky and delightful trip for the characters. The presence of a Wesen love potion also sent the relationships of the characters in the wrong tracks which pretty much summed up the title of the "Grimm" Season 6 Episode 7 episode, "Blind Love." The upcoming "Grimm" Season 6 Episode 8 with the working title "The Son Also Rises" brings "Chuck" alum, Vik Sahay on the show. According to Carter Matt, no specific details about the role of Vik Sahay on the upcoming episode of "Grimm" Season 6 has been released except for the fact that he will be playing the role of a doctor named Sanji Raju. "Grimm" Season 6 Episode 8 spoilers reveal that something big might happen in the upcoming episode with the appearance of Vik Sahay. He has graced a lot of TV series in the past playing really cool and pivotal roles including "NCIS" and the recent edition of "The X-Files." Setting aside the mysterious role that Vik Sahay has to play in "Grimm" Season 6 Episode 8, Nick, Hank and Wu find themselves investigating deadly attacks on a team of scientists. The said investigation of the trio is reportedly very different from their past experiences. Meanwhile, the quest to find the origin of the mysterious cloth also continues in "Grimm" Season 6 episode 8. Monroe and Rosalee also uncover a secret that Eve is actually feeling the after effects of the death grip. Capt. Renard, on the other hand, is on to something very interesting as he seeks the help of an old friend who might know the origins of the symbols drawn by Diana. Stay tuned to Enstars for more "Grimm" Season 6 Episode 8 spoilers, news and updates! The surfacing of the deep state"?? By Daniel M. Ryan Ever since Gen Michael T. Flynns resignation more than a week ago, theres been a lot of talk about the so-called deep state. His resignation was triggered by the leaking of a private phone call he had with the Russian ambassador to the U.S.; in his resignation letter, he confessed to telling Vice-President Pence an untruth. He going was a good idea, as keeping him on would have set a bad example. The leak was only one of two thats been endured by the Trump administration. As for the one that torpedoed Gen. Flynn, Glenn Greenwald said that there were several major crimes several felonies committed by the entire chain of leakage. He, being the sponsor/guardian of Edward Snowdon, naturally said these crimes were justified. Even though he was not naive enough to ascribe the leakers hero status he freely stipulated that it was probably a hatchet job he still said that this was a case in which the People deserved to know. Other commentators, more focused on the infighting aspect, said that the leaking was a job undertaken by the so-called shadow state, or Deep State. A government-within-a-government, now visible because of President Trumps anti-Establishment cred, it can upset or even derail a new Administration. Some of the more excited commentators, the ones that are implying that President Trump will be gone well before his first term is over, are implying that this Deep State can even shaft an elected President if it gins up the will to. Had these times been more normal, which they definitely are not, the Deep-State theory would have been pegged as yet another conspiracy theory. It certainly has the earmarks, most notably the transference of the history of a completely different country to American politics. The factual origin of the Deep State is post-Ataturk Turkey. Ataturk and his Young Turks, when they took over Turkey and brought an end to the doddering Ottoman regime, launched a program of modernization. At the heart of this moderation was secularization. Ataturk decided that an Islamist government was a dead weight that would hold the country backwards, so the government he put in place was explicitly secular. From his rule onward, Turkish Islam would be the house-broken"? Islam that neoconservatives and secularists are wishing for. (As a cautionary note, Ataturks rule also featured the worst genocide of the pre-totalitarian age: the genocide of the Armenians. Sad to say, nation-building democratization has all-too-often been a blood-drenched affair. Even the success stories"? of Japan and Germany required the A-bomb or the equivalent in TNT tonnage, if not in deaths.) Since Ataturk became Turkeys first President, there have been three successful military coups. Each coup ensconced a military dictatorship, albeit temporarily. The failed one of last summer, which Erdogan beat back, was launched to checkmate his Islamization of the government. Its this kind of country for which the Deep State"? label was coined: a country wherein the military, paramilitary organizations, and so on, make up a State within a State. In this context, as applied to a country with a history like Turkeys, the concept makes sense. After all particularly in the case of fighting Islamization the Deep-State actors can claim truthfully that theyre acting in the name of Ataturk, Turkeys Founding Father. When applied to the United States, that sensibleness vanishes. Even during all-out war, Americas elections have never been cancelled or even postponed. Even when Abraham Lincoln assumed martial-law powers during the Civil War, he did not interfere with the elections. In this regard, Americas Constitutional Republic has a more resilient democracy than a typical Parliamentary democracy: the custom of the latter during war is to suspend elections for the duration and assemble a National Government in which all major parties have at least one Cabinet post. So, to put it unobtrusively, claiming that America has a Deep State is a bit of a stretch. Unlike Turkey, there is no customary basis for one in the United States. George Washington served his two terms, did not assume dictatorial powers, and gracefully retired when his second term was up. He handed over power to John Adams peaceably and without a fuss. His example being followed, including by Abraham Lincoln with respect to unmolested elections, means that there is no fertile ground in the American soil of custom for a Deep State to arise (let alone function.) When viewed from this perspective, the claim of an American Deep State is up there with the Red-Scare claim that Bolsheviks were poised to take over the U.S. government just like Lenin took over Russia."? It would, that is, if it took the standard conspiracy-theory form of alarmism. If it did, it could be dismissed as the political answer to silly Saturday. If we were reading angry claims that a Deep State was wrecking American democracy, then we could safely ignore it. How would you react to an old guy who insisted that a cabal of senior bureaucrats bumped off Nixon in 1973-4 as revenge against him winning his landslide in 1972? A fellow who insists that the Deep State treats American elected officials like puppets on strings? But weirdly, though consistent with the counter-revolution against the Trump Revolution, a lot of the folks who mention the Deep State want one! Imagine bumping into a character who avers that Washington is controlled by a cabal of rich and powerful Jews and ends with, Im glad theyre doing it."? Myself, Id find that creepy. And yet, the foregoing is not unlike Sarah Silverman publicly wishing for a military coup to oust President Trump. Much Ado About Weirdness Unnerving as that talk is, it is similar to a conspiracy theory: its a lot of hot air signifying little. Exciting but wild talk aside, were seeing nothing more than the growing pains of a new kind of Administration. Were just seeing the initial bumps along the next railway route of the Trump Train. If youre a Trump supporter, you already know whats going on. You already know that Donald Trump, as an entrepreneur, has made some mistakes along the way; you also know that making the occasional mistake is an indissoluble part of the learning process of the practical-minded person. You know too that Trump has a solid track record in learning from his mistakes. Thats really all were seeing right now. A new President made a mistake with one of his picks: hes rectified it by accepting Gen. Flynns resignation, and you can bet money that hes learned from it. Just like he learned from his mistakes in his business career. Youll see so with his next National Security Advisor. Theres really nothing to last weeks wild blasts of hot air. The only disquieting part is the fact that some progs and at least one Never-Trump die-hard - seem willing to egg on appointed bureaucrats to do something that has never, ever been done in the two-hundred and forty years of the United States: rip up the duly-certified result of a Presidential election. Now, thats something to worry about. Daniel M. Ryan, as Nxtblg, is shepherding the independently-run Open Audi Initiative Prediction Market Shadowing Project. He has stubbornly assumed all the responsibility and blame for the workings and outcome of the project. Home Liberal pawns By Walter Williams Ordinary black people cannot afford to go along with the liberal agenda that calls for undermining police authority. That agenda makes for more black crime victims. Let's look at what works and what doesn't work. In 1990, New York City adopted the practice in which its police officers might stop and question a pedestrian. If there was suspicion, they would frisk the person for weapons and other contraband. This practice, well within the law, is known as a Terry stop. After two decades of this proactive police program, New York City's homicides fell from over 2,200 per year to about 300. Blacks were the major beneficiaries of proactive policing. According to Manhattan Institute scholar Heather Mac Donald author of "The War on Cops" seeing as black males are the majority of New York City's homicide victims, more than 10,000 blacks are alive today who would not be had it not been for proactive policing. The American Civil Liberties Union and other leftist groups brought suit against proactive policing. A U.S. District Court judge ruled that New York City's "stop and frisk" policy violated the 14th Amendment's promise of equal protection because black and Hispanic people were subject to stops and searches at a higher rate than whites. But the higher rate was justified. Mac Donald points out that while blacks are 23 percent of New York City's population, they are responsible for 75 percent of shootings and 70 percent of robberies. Whites are 34 percent of the population of New York City. They are responsible for less than 2 percent of shootings and 4 percent of robberies. If you're trying to prevent shootings and robberies, whom are you going to focus most attention on, blacks or whites? In 2015, 986 people were shot and killed by police. Of that number, 495 were white (50 percent), and 258 were black (26 percent). Liberals portray shootings by police as racist attacks on blacks. To solve this problem, they want police departments to hire more black police officers. It turns out that the U.S. Justice Department has found that black police officers in San Francisco and Philadelphia are likelier than whites to shoot and use force against black suspects. That finding is consistent with a study of 2,699 fatal police killings between 2013 and 2015, conducted by John R. Lott Jr. and Carlisle E. Moody of the Crime Prevention Research Center, showing that the odds of a black suspect's being killed by a black police officer were consistently greater than the odds of a black suspect's being killed by a white officer. And little is said about cops killed. Mac Donald reports that in 2013, 42 percent of cop killers were black. Academic liberals and civil rights spokespeople make the claim that the disproportionate number of blacks in prison is a result of racism. They ignore the fact that black criminal activity is many multiples of that of other racial groups. They argue that differential imprisonment of blacks is a result of the racist war on drugs. Mac Donald says that state prisons contain 88 percent of the nation's prison population. Just 4 percent of state prisoners are incarcerated for drug possession. She argues that if drug offenders were removed from the nation's prisons, the black incarceration rate would go down from about 37.6 percent to 37.4 percent. The vast majority of blacks in prison are there because of violent crime and mostly against black people. That brings us to the most tragic aspect of black crime. The primary victims are law-abiding black people who must conduct their lives in fear. Some parents serve their children meals on the floor and sometimes put them to sleep in bathtubs so as to avoid stray bullets. The average American does not live this way and would not tolerate it. And that includes the white liberals who support and make excuses for criminals. Plain decency mandates that we come to the aid of millions of law-abiding people under siege. For their part, black people should stop being pawns for white liberals and support the police who are trying to protect them. Walter Edward Williams is an American economist, commentator, and academic. He is also the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics at George Mason University. Home My pilgrimage: Chapter One By Michael Moriarty I suppose it was the Rachmaninoff piano concertos that gave me my first glimpse of a pilgrimage. Not knowing one from the other I assumed, at the receptive ages of four and five years old, that these separate concertos were all one, big, long piece of music. Id sit there in front of the big RCA Victrola and, without having noticed how many records my father would have placed on its spindle, just listen and sometimes cry at the unrelenting beauty of it all. It was a divine childhood. Those piercingly beautiful sounds in the air had a godlike quality in them. It was music that I hoped and prayed would never stop! Or, at least, sounds that seemed like they never had to end. I, of course, didnt want them to end. I wanted them to go on and on and on forever! Then school came and homework and everything began to be too long and too huge, with too many words and too many pages. Simple songs and breathtaking melodies became my next obsession. Cole Porter and album covers with the images of Manhattan on them! Then jazz and, it would seem, the more I learned about Miles Davis, the sheer naked loneliness and anger in the sound of his trumpet and his sometimes bitter attitude? The more I listened, the more I somehow sympathized with Mr. Davis and his music. With divorcing parents, one tends to feel loneliness and anger quite quickly. Of course, I had no idea where this was all leading. Images of the days I live now and my blissful struggles with creating an entire Ring of operas yes, like those of Richard Wagner and his Ring des Nibelungen? That could not possibly have crossed my mind for at least two thirds of my life. I was certainly writing plays and numerous songs by then, but operas?! They were all too long and too easily made fun of for me to consider creating one of my own. Perhaps a musical comedy but that was about it. I had no idea of the pilgrimage I was on and not a notion of where it was going. I was simply grateful for a mildly famous life as an actor and entertainer. Those portions of fame that embarrassed me and demanded pure, competitive selfishness? They just kept me, as I say, mildly famous. Life has been exceptionally good to me. Retirement, however, has become the best part of it! Plenty of time to not only review ones own, increasingly long life but the lives of others and the enormously dramatic history of the human race. A still relatively modern but painfully major corner of that history for me has become Germany and its tragic destiny of provoking not one but two world wars. I was born at the beginning of Americas initial involvement in the Second World War. I dont remember much, if anything, about having lived through a war since the reality of that nightmare never really entered my early childhood. We lived on a street near the big avenue of Grand River in Detroit, Michigan and life was pretty much kindergarten and listening to the music of Sergei Rachmaninoff, Cole Porter and the genius of Art Tatums piano. Plus, the distinctive scents of cigarette smoke, high-balls, Martinis and cigars. Musically, I was a fairly sophisticated kid at five years of age. Emotionally? I wasnt prepared for the hard knocks that we all face at some time in our lives. Music certainly helped get me through mine! What has made me stand up boldly in my seventies and challenge not only the legacy of Richard Wagner but inevitably that of Bertolt Brecht as well?! The answer to that question is the profoundest part of my entire pilgrimage through life. Wagner and Brecht, though they could not possibly have met one another, were born each others enemies. The fruits of Wagners music?! A raging anti-Semitism in Germany that, with the invaluable help of Wagners daughter-in-law, Winifred, elevated Adolf Hitler into the sheer personification of Wagners most shameless hero, Siegfried! Meanwhile, Brecht, seeing what was inevitable from the likes of a Siegfried-like Fuhrer, created a satire of Hitler that lumped him into another corner of life that Brecht hated: America and American capitalism. Capitalists, for Brecht, were no better than Chicago-style gangsters who used every means possible to achieve greater and greater power. Yet I find them both, Wagner and Brecht, after spending a few unforgettable moments of my life as an actor and entertainer, performing the plays and music of Bertolt Brecht and his colleague, Kurt Weill, I consider both Wagner and Brecht enemies of everything that I hold dear. Two of what I consider sacred virtues are simple decency and a fondness for measured amounts of pure sentimentality! The genius of both Wagner and Brecht would dismiss my rules of behavior as not only bourgeois but utterly blind to the harshest realities of life! For them, Americans are raised deluded by the fairy-tale and fictional precepts contained in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and its Bill of Rights. Whereas I believe that those three documents that laid the very foundation for the United States of America are, after the Holy Bible, the greatest governing principles of the entire human race. It is also an undeniable fact that without the Holy Bible?! The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution could not have been even conceived of! The fact that, for over twenty years and the announcement by one of the most shamelessly treasonous Presidents of the United States, George H. W. Bush, that America must surrender to the inevitability of a New World Order run by the United Nations. As it is described beneath this youtube.com entry: The New World Order is an unofficial name for certain types of organizations, globalists, and people in and out of our government that want to destroy our US Sovereignty and get rid of our constitutional rights. Like both Wagner and Brecht! The Bush family, the Clintons, the Obama Nation and its major contributor, George Soros, hold traditional America in absolute contempt!! They are all profoundly certain that their concept of a New World Order, run by the United Nations, will happen! What is left of an authentically American, Republican Party is now represented by President Donald Trump. As you are well aware, they of The New World Order, both Republicans and Democrats, are doing their best to destroy the Presidency of Donald Trump. Once theyve succeeded in impeaching or, in some other way, eliminating President Donald Trump, they would most certainly destroy Trumps Vice-President, Mike Pence. Why is it so important for me to create at least four operas placing both Richard Wagner and Bertolt Brecht in their proper places historically? The nightmare of The New World Order cannot possibly be understood or combatted unless you realize how close the human race has come to being destroyed under the tyrannies of Nazism, Fascism and the still, terrifyingly triumphant dictatorships of Communism. Only America, restored to its Constitutional greatness, can possibly save and continue to protect the individual freedom of a healthy human race. Michael Moriarty is a Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning actor who starred in the landmark television series Law and Order from 1990 to 1994. His recent film and TV credits include The Yellow Wallpaper, 12 Hours to Live, Santa Baby and Deadly Skies. Contact Michael at rainbowfamily2008@yahoo.com. He can be found on Twitter at https://twitter.com/@MGMoriarty. Home The past, present, and future of Quebec (Part Eight) By Mark Wegierski The October 30, 1995 referendum in Quebec could be seen as "a turning point that failed to turn". In a remarkably close result, with only a fraction of a percentage between them, the federalists won. (It might be pointed out that there were two other extremely close results in 1995 -- the striking down of the anti-divorce law in Ireland -- which has been interpreted as a signal for massive secularization of that society; and the election of the former Communist Aleksander Kwasniewski, over former Solidarity hero Lech Walesa, in Poland.) In an unbelievably quick development attesting to the prevalent left-liberal climate of Canada, Jacques Parizeau was forced to resign in ignominy a day after his speech on the evening of October 30, where he had said that "60% of us [i.e. French-speakers] voted Yes", and that the defeat was due to "money and the ethnic vote". For this, he was called a "fascist", an "Adolf Hitler", and an "ethnic nationalist", in a massive wave of denunciation that swept the media countrywide, and was attacked even by some members of his own party. Another casualty of the referendum defeat was Bernard Landry, Quebec's Deputy Premier, and Minister responsible for Immigration. He was forced to resign from his immigration duties after railing in private against immigrants on the night of the defeat -- which was apparently reported to the media by two immigrant hotel-workers. Bloc Quebecois leader Lucien Bouchard, who was widely acknowledged to be Quebec's most popular politician, then headed for the Premiership of Quebec (and leadership of the Parti Quebecois). Because of the tightness of the race in the last few weeks of the campaign, Jean Chretien had hastily promised, five days before the vote, to try again to push through the constitutional recognition of "Quebec's distinctiveness" -- the issue on which two previous constitutional agreements, the Meech Lake Accord (signed 1987; failed 1990) and the Charlottetown Agreements (1992), had foundered. After appearing to simply renege on his promise, he indeed brought down, in the Parliament of Canada, a recognition of this distinctiveness. However, the Parliament of Canada is no longer a sovereign body -- all its acts are referred to and interpreted by the Canadian Supreme Court in light of the 1982 Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which means that such a measure means substantially less than some might imagine. Some rather jaundiced and exasperated English-Canadian traditionalists might well have thought that the "No" vote (i.e., No to Quebec sovereignty) was probably actually worse for English-speaking Canada, as a "Yes" vote might well have begun a process of salutary shock-therapy in this country. To wipe that perennial self-satisfied smirk off Chretien's and Liberal party-hacks' faces, the next day after a "Yes" victory, would have been hugely satisfying. Whatever else it was, the "No" victory was implicitly a vindication of the last thirty years of Canadian history, and of the Liberal vision which has so thoroughly dominated it. Chretien did indeed coast to another majority in 1997, in the afterglow of the "No" win. (Although that was certainly not the only element that contributed to his comparatively easy victory.) From a more broadly world-historical perspective, some might argue that a "Yes" win could have been the catalyst for the restarting of true history in North America -- for the resumption of some kind of movement in history in North America, which was certainly preferable to the status-quo. The success of Quebec separatism might have had some unexpected impacts on the U.S. While on the one hand, it might well have strengthened Hispanic separatism in the U.S. South-West, on the other, it might have led to a questioning by the long-marginalized hinterlands of the U.S. just what kind of benefits they derive from being under the control of the centralizing, bicoastal elites. Quebec's possible re-association with France and Europe might also have strengthened Europe as a whole, in its perennial attempts to resist North Americanization. At that time, it was not as clear as today in which direction the European Community (as I believe it was called then) was heading. Perhaps such a triumph for the EC might have positively altered the whole trajectory of Europes future development. To be continued. Mark Wegierski is a Canadian writer and historical researcher. Home The two-state solution: What does it really mean? By Amb. Alan Baker The phrase two-state solution is repeated daily by international leaders and organizations. It has become the catch-phrase for anyone advocating resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. However, the phrase is repeated without a full awareness of its history or of the practical aspects of its implementation in the realities of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. Following are the pertinent points clarifying the real meaning of the two-state solution: The formal peace process documentation, including UN Security Council Resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973), as well as the Oslo Accords and related documents signed by Israel and the PLO (1993-9), make no reference to a two-state solution and leave the issue of the final, permanent status of the territories to be negotiated between them. By the same token, PLO Chairman Arafat committed the Palestinians, in his letter to Israel Prime Minister Rabin dated 9 September 1993 according to which all outstanding issues relating to permanent status will be resolved through negotiation. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabins vision of the permanent status, as stated in his last speech to the Knesset in October 1995, referred to the establishment of a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. He added that the entity would be less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority. The Clinton Parameters (2000), in referring to a two-state approach, specifically referred to a demilitarized Palestinian state with limited sovereignty, as the homeland of the Palestinian people together with the state of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people. This was never taken up by the two sides. The UN Security Council, in the preamble to its Resolution 1397 (2002) reaffirmed the necessity, set out in its previous Resolution 242 (1967), for secure and recognized boundaries. In referring to its vision of a region where two states, Israel and Palestine, live side-by-side within secure and recognized boundaries, the assumption was that borders need to be negotiated, and the 1967 lines cannot be considered international borders. U.S. President George W. Bush in his 2002 vision of two states, living side-by-side in peace and security also stressed the necessity for a Palestinian state to fight terror and form a new and different Palestinian leadership. The 2003 Performance-Based Roadmap to a Permanent Two-State Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict referred to an independent, democratic and viable Palestinian state living side-by-side in peace and security with Israel and its other neighbors. It envisioned such a state with provisional borders and attributes of sovereignty, practicing democracy based on tolerance and liberty, and ending all acts of violence and incitement. It stressed the need for a negotiated resolution on the status of Jerusalem and Arab state acceptance of full normal relations with Israel. Israels acceptance of the 2003 Roadmap was on the premise that the provisional [Palestinian] state will have provisional borders and certain aspects of sovereignty; be fully demilitarized with no military forces but only with police and internal security forces of limited scope and armaments; be without the authority to undertake defense alliances and military cooperation; and Israeli control over the entry and exit of all persons and cargo as well as of its airspace and electromagnetic spectrum. The years-old assumptions include the premise that a Palestinian state will only emanate from direct negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel, will be demilitarized and limited in its military and security capabilities and other sovereign prerogatives, and the border between it and Israel will be the result of negotiation between them and will not be the 1967 lines. President Bushs letter to Prime Minister Sharon of April 2004, affirming his two-states vision, stressed that secure and recognized borders should emerge from negotiations, and not involve a return to the 1949 armistice lines. In his 2009 speech at Bar-Ilan University, Prime Minister Netanyahu reiterated a vision of two peoples living freely, side-by-side, in amity and mutual respect, each with its own flag, its own national anthem, its own government, and neither threatening the security or survival of the other. This vision includes: Palestinian recognition of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people. A demilitarized Palestinian state, including a prohibition on importing missiles, maintaining an army, making pacts and alliances with terror elements, and effective security measures to prevent weapons smuggling into the territory. Resolution of the Palestinian refugee problem outside Israels borders. Limited use of airspace. It is clear that all the major, substantive international references to the two-state solution are based on a series of specific assumptions that have developed over the years and that are cognizant of the inherent realities of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. These assumptions include the premise that a Palestinian state will only emanate from direct negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel, will be demilitarized and limited in its military and security capabilities and other sovereign prerogatives, and the border between it and Israel will be the result of negotiation between them and will not be the 1967 lines. Any such state must be based on principles of democracy, liberty and good governance, and must prevent terror and incitement. Any such state must recognize Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people, in the same manner in which Israel would recognize a Palestinian state as the nation state of the Palestinian people. Discussion The term two-state solution seems to have become a form of lingua franca within the international community, the magic panacea for all the ills of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute and the wider problems of the Middle East. Not a day goes by without some leading politician, journal, or international body mentioning it as the buzz-word for the ultimate outcome, while at the same time usually accusing Israel and only Israel of undermining the two-state solution. The two-state solution is presently considered by all the major international actors associated with the Israeli-Palestinian dispute to be the only way to achieve enduring peace that meets Israeli security needs and Palestinian aspirations for statehood and sovereignty. Perusing the most recent spate of formal documentation emanating from international bodies and other sources, one can see that the expression is repeated 15 times in the 1 July 2016 Quartet statement, 7 times in Security Council Resolution 2334 of 23 December 2016, 12 times in the explanation of the U.S. vote to abstain, by the U.S. representative to the UN, Samantha Power, 24 times in the speech on Middle East peace dated 28 December 2016 by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, 4 and 9 references in the Paris Peace Conference Joint Declaration of 15 January 2017. The question arises whether the massive, liberal, effusive, and generally off-the-cuff usage of the term two-state solution by all and sundry has any relation to its historic and substantive context in the Israeli-Palestinian realities, and whether it takes into account the complex and practical aspects of its realization. Or are these calls merely expressing an idealized and generalized slogan for what is visualized as a simple, easy, straightforward, and symmetrical peaceful outcome of the dispute better described perhaps as wishful thinking? Clearly, any such idealistic, simplistic, and repetitive use of the concept cannot be viewed in isolation from the historic evolution and development of the idea of some kind of Palestinian political entity. It cannot be viewed apart from present realities in the region. Peace Process Documentation Analyzing the documentation surrounding the peace negotiation process, the concept of a two-state solution did not figure in the original documentation and agreements that constitute the basic framework of the Middle East peace process, and principally UN Security Council Resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973), which make no mention of it. While Resolution 242 (1967) pointed to a general need for a just and lasting peace in which every state in the area can live in security and called, inter alia, for acknowledgement of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area and their right to live at peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force, the resolution did not visualize a specific outcome and is logically interpreted as referring to the states existing at the time of its adoption. Similarly, Resolution 338 (1973) called for negotiations between the parties concerned under appropriate auspices aimed at establishing a just and durable peace in the Middle East. It did not prejudge the outcome of the negotiations, nor did it make any reference to a one, two, or a three state solution. Furthermore, while Resolutions 242 and 338 were accepted in all the negotiated documents and agreements of the peace process by both the Palestinians and Israel (as well as by Egypt and Jordan) as the basis for the peace negotiation process, the two-state solution has never been specifically mentioned or agreed to in the various bilateral peace process agreements and documentation. The concept of permanent status of the territories was however specifically referred to by the parties as one of the core issues for the final status negotiations between them. This in itself did not rule out the possibility of an outcome that could include the establishment of a Palestinian state. However, the concept of two states as an ultimate outcome of the negotiating process was not specifically referred to. In his statement to the Knesset on 5 October 1995, Prime Minister Rabin, in presenting his vision of a permanent solution, stated: We view the permanent solution in the framework of the State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority. The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines. References to Palestinian Statehood in UN Documentation Since 1969 and almost annually from then, the Palestinians have initiated non-binding resolutions in the UN General Assembly, supported and sponsored by the Arab and Muslim states, and adopted by an automatic, political majority, repeatedly referring to the rights of the Palestinians to self-determination, national independence or sovereignty. By 1980, this trend had evolved into specific calls by the General Assembly for the establishment of a Palestinian state, in Resolutions 35/207 (1980) and 36/226 (1981), as well as a General Assembly acknowledgment of the 1988 proclamation by PLO Chairman Arafat of a state of Palestine in Resolution 43/177 (1988). General Assembly Resolution 66/146 of 19 December 2011, reaffirmed the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including the right to their independent State of Palestine. A year later, the General Assembly adopted Resolution 67/19 which repeated the reference to a Palestinian right of independence in their State of Palestine. This resolution upgraded the Palestinian observer delegation in the UN to the status of non-member observer state, while reaffirming the commitment to the two-state solution of an independent, sovereign, democratic, viable and contiguous State of Palestine living side-by-side with Israel in peace and security While this non-binding attempt by the UN General Assembly sought to prejudge the agreed-upon negotiating issue of the permanent status of the territories, it nevertheless contradicted itself by calling for the resumption of the peace negotiations and resolution of all the outstanding core issues. Evolution of the Two-State Vision in International Documentation United Nations The vision of a region where two states, Israel and Palestine, live side-by-side within secure and recognized boundaries figured in a preambular provision of Security Council Resolution 1397 (2002) adopted on 12 March 2002, calling for an end to the violence during the second Palestinian intifada. The reaffirmation of the 1967 call by the Security Council for secure and recognized boundaries clearly implies that borders have to be negotiated, and the 1967 lines cannot be considered to be international borders. General Assembly resolution 57/110 dated 3 December 2002 welcomed this Security Council reaffirmation of the two-states vision. President George W. Bush The two-state vision received formalization in a speech by U.S. President George W. Bush dated 24 June 2002, when he stated: My vision is two states, living side-by-side in peace and security. There is simply no way to achieve that peace until all parties fight terror. Yet, at this critical moment, if all parties will break with the past and set out on a new path, we can overcome the darkness with the light of hope. Peace requires a new and different Palestinian leadership so that a Palestinian state can be born. Bushs vision was premised on a number of basic preconditions: The requirement to live in peace and security; the requirement to fight terror; and the necessity for a new and different Palestinian leadership. 2003 Roadmap After consultation with the Israeli and Palestinian leaderships, the two-state vision was placed in a more formal, international context by the April 2003 Performance-Based Roadmap to a Permanent Two-State Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict devised by the Quartet the United States, the European Union, the UN, and Russia. The declared aim of the Roadmap was inter-alia to assist the parties in achieving an independent, democratic and viable Palestinian state living side-by-side in peace and security with Israel and its other neighbors. It envisioned such an independent state with provisional borders and attributes of sovereignty, a Palestinian leadership acting decisively against terror and incitement, and a practicing democracy based on tolerance and liberty. In referring to attributes of sovereignty, the Roadmap clearly indicates some form of limited sovereignty, subject to the various elements set out in the Roadmap. Despite having been drawn up by the International Quartet, the Roadmap was not considered to be a formal agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Each side accepted it with certain reservations and comments. Israels comment, dated 25 May 2003, regarding the character of the Palestinian state, included the following: The character of the provisional Palestinian state will be determined through negotiations between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. The provisional state will have provisional borders and certain aspects of sovereignty, be fully demilitarized with no military forces, but only with police and internal security forces of limited scope and armaments, be without the authority to undertake defense alliances or military cooperation, and Israeli control over the entry and exit of all persons and cargo, as well as of its air space and electromagnetic spectrum. Since the adoption in 2003 of the Roadmap, the call for a two-state solution has become commonplace, or lingua franca, in international documentation, Quartet reports, conferences, resolutions, and general parlance. Security Council Resolution 1515 dated 19 November 2003 reaffirmed its vision of a region where two states, Israel and Palestine, live side-by-side within secure and recognized borders. Bush-Sharon Exchange of Letters 2004 In his letter to President Bush dated 14 April 2004, informing him of Israels intention to disengage its forces from the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Sharon stated the following: The vision that you articulated in your 24 June 2002 address constitutes one of the most significant contributions toward ensuring a bright future for the Middle East. Accordingly, the State of Israel has accepted the Roadmap, as adopted by our government. For the first time, a practical and just formula was presented for the achievement of peace, opening a genuine window of opportunity for progress toward a settlement between Israel and the Palestinians, involving two states living side-by-side in peace and security. In his response of the same day, President Bush added an important clarification regarding the issues of borders and settlements: As part of a final peace settlement, Israel must have secure and recognized borders, which should emerge from negotiations between the parties in accordance with UNSC Resolutions 242 and 338. In light of new realities on the ground, including already existing major Israeli populations centers, it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949, and all previous efforts to negotiate a two-state solution have reached the same conclusion. It is realistic to expect that any final status agreement will only be achieved on the basis of mutually agreed changes that reflect these realities. Annapolis Joint Statement The joint statement issued after the Annapolis Conference, attended by the Israeli and Palestinian leadership, President Bush and other leaders, dated 27 November 2007, included the following: In furtherance of the goal of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side-by-side in peace and security, we agree to immediately launch good-faith bilateral negotiations in order to conclude a peace treaty, resolving all outstanding issues, including all core issues without exception, as specified in previous agreements. Netanyahus Bar-Ilan Speech 2009 In his 2009 speech at Bar-Ilan University, Prime Minister Netanyahu set out a vision of two peoples living freely, side-by-side, in amity and mutual respect, each with its own flag, its own national anthem, its own government, and neither threatening the security or survival of the other. This vision included: A public, binding and unequivocal Palestinian recognition of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people as a fundamental prerequisite for ending the conflict. A clear understanding that the Palestinian refugee problem will be resolved outside Israels borders. Demilitarization of the territory under Palestinian control with ironclad security provisions for Israel. Inability to import missiles into their territory, to field an army, to limit Israels use of the airspace or to make pacts with the likes of Hizbullah and Iran. Conclusion The term two-state solution has become a useful slogan and political declaration by leaders in the international community, often the result of political correctness and lip-service to a growing international trend. This liberal and glib usage of the term indicates a lack of understanding of its meaning and historical evolvement in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. The major, substantive international references to the two-state solution have evolved from a series of specific assumptions over the years that are cognizant of the inherent realities of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. It is accepted that a situation in which a neighboring Palestinian state would be politically and economically unstable and open to manipulation by terror elements could never be acceptable to Israel and would constitute a threat to Israels security. It is accepted that a unified Palestinian leadership must be able to speak in the name of the entire Palestinian people and capable of entering into and fulfilling commitments. Such a situation does not exist at present. On the basis of experience gained with the existing agreements, any permanent status agreement between the sides will need to include solid guarantees legal, political, and security that a Palestinian state will not abuse its sovereign prerogatives and international standing in order to violate or void the agreements. It is clear that a Palestinian state will only emanate from direct negotiations between Israel and a unified Palestinian leadership. Issues such as borders, Jerusalem, refugees, and settlements will only be resolved by negotiation and not by partisan political resolutions emanating from the UN or any other source. It is accepted that any Palestinian state will be demilitarized and limited in its military and security capabilities and other sovereign prerogatives. Any such state must be based on principles of democracy, liberty and good governance, and must prevent terror and incitement. Any such state must recognize Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people, in the same manner in which Israel would recognize a Palestinian state as the nation state of the Palestinian people. Amb. Alan Baker is Director of the Institute for Contemporary Affairs at the Jerusalem Center and the head of the Global Law Forum. He participated in the negotiation and drafting of the Oslo Accords with the Palestinians, as well as agreements and peace treaties with Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon. He served as legal adviser and deputy director-general of Israels Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as Israels ambassador to Canada. Home In the framework of the UNESCO International Day of Women and Girls in Science, the ESRF has talked to six women scientists who decided, not too long ago, that science was their passion. I've always been an outdoor person. Being in nature made me ask myself questions such as when and how different kinds of rocks have formed. I wanted to understand and learn about our planet. These are the words of Angelika Rosa, a post-doctoral geologist specialised in Earth chemistry. Her attraction to science stemmed from her curiosity of the world around her. Equally, Silvia Boccato, a PhD student, feels that with physics you can explain everything that happens in the world. It is not just this almost poetical approach to science that pushes young women to do science. Sometimes, the influence of a passionate science teacher or a thrilling science course in high school can be the trigger. Virginia Monteseguro, a post-doctoral physicist, was a member of her high school astronomy club, as astronomy is big in her native Canary Islands. Debora Meira, a chemical engineer post-doc, discovered her vocation through a chemistry course in secondary school. The six scientists on the beamline ID24. Credits: c. Argoud. So what is the reality of life as a scientist? Is science still their passion or has the enthusiasm faded with time? The six women interviewed are mostly in their early 30s and have already experienced what it is like to work in a scientific environment. They work together on the same beamlines dedicated to extreme matter, ID24 and BM23, but their backgrounds go from physicist to engineer and geologist. They all report to the scientist in charge of these beamlines, another woman, Sakura Pascarelli. An unconventional job The scientific challenges present in a place like the ESRF have made them, if anything, even keener in their research. For me the first months were very intense, but in a good way, because you face many new situations, like aligning a beamline, interacting with many researchers of different fields and learning about new techniques and experimental approaches. I really like the fact that you learn something new almost every day, explains Angelika Rosa. ANGELIKA ROSA (left) 33 years old German PhD in mineral physics Post-doctoral researcher at ID24 and BM23. She studies deep Earth chemistry and how important elements for industry or for Earth Sciences, like nickel, for example, get transported inside the deep Earth. I like to optimize experimental setups including beamline optics, face new experimental and scientific challenges and I put a lot of effort into an experiment until it works out. SILVIA BOCCATO (right) 27 years old Italian PhD student at the ESRF and University Grenoble Alpes (Grenoble, France). She studies the local structure of liquid 3d metals under extreme conditions of pressure and temperature. Everything is governed by the laws of physics and that's the reason I am doing this job. Experiments can be completely successful, or partially or even sometimes they don't work out. There are a lot of variables that can determine the outcome of an experiment: preparing the scientific case, sorting out the instrumental part of it, then carrying out the experiment, looking at the data and being able to make sense of it. I easily get excited, explains Angelika Rosa, but sometimes you also have to deal with frustrations when things don't work, but this is science: you put a lot of yourself into it. The euphoric state experienced when things go well is Monteseguros best part of the job: When everything goes well and you get good results, it feels like an adrenaline shot. The user aspect of the facility is also very different from any previous institute where the scientists may have worked before. At the ESRF scientists assist researchers from all over the world in their experiments. I like the fact that we help them to find answers to their scientific problems. Answers that cannot be solved in any other way, explains Debora Meira. Raffaella Torchio, scientist, agrees that their role is crucial in the experiments: I find it very interesting that when we work as local contact we are the experts that help the users make their experiments be successful. V. MONTESEGURO (bottom left) 31 years old Spanish PhD in Physics Post-doctoral researcher at ID24 and BM23. She studies the structural, electronic, elastic and vibrational properties of rare earth doped materials and nano-materials at extreme conditions of pressure and temperature for optical applications. When everything goes well it feels like an adrenaline shot. R. TORCHIO (bottom right) 38 years old Italian PhD in Physics Scientist on ID24 and BM23. She started working in the field of magnetism at high pressure, but is now developing dynamic high pressure experiments using lasers. We have a great responsibility towards the users. We are the experts at the ESRF and we need to make everything possible so that their experiment is successful. V. CUARTERO (top left) 32 years old Spanish PhD in Physics Post-doctoral researcher at ID24 and BM23. She studies magnetic materials with electrical properties coupled with the magnetism of the material itself, with potential applications of storage and spintronics. After the effort of preparing the scientific case, etc. before an experiment, when you finish it and look at the data and you are able to understand it it is very satisfying. D. MEIRA (top right) 32 years old Brazilian PhD in Chemical Engineering Post-doctoral researcher at ID24 and BM23. She specialises in heterogeneous catalysis (synthesis, characterization and catalytic testing of catalysts), in situ X-ray techniques, and instrumentation development for catalysts characterization using synchrotron radiation. I want to work for science, to do something that is useful to improve our lives. Does being a woman change anything in the workplace? Not for these researchers so far. Silvia Boccato states I never had any problem in being a woman and doing science. As a matter of fact, for me it has always been natural (in my family even my grandmother graduated in mathematics) and I think that it shouldn't be an issue. However, Vera Cuartero, post doctoral physicist, points out that the reality is that if you look at the heads of group and heads of beamline, they are mostly men. Today half of physics students are women, so I am curious to see what happens in 10 or 20 years time. Raffaella Torchio adds, that this group is special. In the group, the proportion men/women is 50/50. It turns out that our supervisor, Sakura Pascarelli, is a woman, so it might not be like that elsewhere. Sakura Pascarelli is not only a supervisor but also a role model for the scientists: To see how she manages her job, two kids, and does a lot of sport on top of that, is actually very encouraging, states Angelika Rosa. Text by Montserrat Capellas Espuny All EU nationals and citizens of third countries entering or leaving the EU will be systematically checked against a number of databases, such as of lost and stolen documents or the Schengen Information System (SIS), under a new regulation that was voted on last week (16 February). Securing our external borders means building up a strong shield against terrorism in Europe and preserving the right to life, which is the corollary of all rights, stressed rapporteur Monica Macovei. Every life that we save by unveiling a potential foreign fighter is worth the journey, and systematic checks against databases are a mandatory step towards this minimum protection that we have a duty to ensure for our citizens, Ms. Macovei added. The new regulation amends the Schengen Borders Code (SBC) and it was presented for the first time by the European Commission in December 2015. It makes it obligatory for the Member States to carry out systematic checks on all individuals crossing EU external borders against various databases. The checks will be mandatory at all air, sea and land borders, on both entry and exit. However, if these checks slow land and sea traffic too much, EU countries may opt out for targeted checks only provided that a risk assessment has shown that this would not lead to threats to internal security. The rule change naturally seeks to address the threat of terrorism in Europe, following a series of recent terror attacks in Brussels, Paris and Berlin. It particularly focuses on the phenomenon of the so-called foreign fighters, which basically refers to EU citizens joining terrorist organizations and groups in conflict zones, such as the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, US Vice President Mike Pence said his country would remain committed to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization but demanded that the European Union countries increase their military spending. Addressing scores of European and other world leaders, Mr. Pence said that he was bringing a message from President Donald Trump about the significance of the trans-Atlantic bond. He promised Europe that the United States would be your greatest ally adding that we will stand with Europe. In the most comprehensive speech on foreign policy that the Trump administration has delivered abroad since taking the office, Vice President Pence also reassured that the US would keep Russia accountable for its military intervention in Crimea but failed to address broader issues such as how the new administration sees the EU itself. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was speaking before Mr. Pence, said that Germany would be gradually increasing its military spending until it reaches the NATO standard of 2% of gross domestic product. However, she also pointed out that security was not ensured by higher military spending. She also took the opportunity to support the need for multilateral institutions including NATO, the United Nations and the EU. European officials generally avoided any criticism of Mr. Trump in Munich as many preferred to be searching for common ground, reminding of the comparisons between European and US foreign policy. We are linked across the Atlantic with our friends in the United States, Federica Mogherini, the EUs foreign-policy chief, said. When we see that it is Europe that needs America, it is also America that needs Europe. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was also speaking at the conference and urged all sides to abandon confrontation and turn to dialogue. By working together, the EU, the US and Russia can overcome the post-truth period and abandon the hysteric information warsLet it be a post-fake era. At the same time, he also criticized Western support for Ukraine as well as NATOs build-up in Eastern Europe. POSTED BY: THE CORNER 19TH FEBRUARY 2017 Yiannis Mouzakis via Macropolis | In a recent presentation of his book, Laid Low, which examines the International Monetary Funds role in the eurozone crisis, author and journalist Paul Blustein disclosed a memo dated May 4, 2010, from the IMFs then head of research Olivier Blanchard, to Poul Thomsen, who headed the Greek mission at the time. In his missive, Blanchard warned that the cumulative fiscal adjustment of 16 percentage points being demanded of Greece in such a short period of time and with such a high level of frontloading had never been achieved before. . :thecorner.eu 20 Santiago Pena, Paraguays minister of finance Paraguays minister of finance, Santiago Pena, says that he expects the recent shift to the right in the politics of Mercosurs two largest member countries to lead the organization to refocus on its economic mission at the expense of broader political negotiations. Speaking to Euromoney ahead of the annual Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Meeting in Asuncion at the end of March, Pena says that he is confident the countrys model of opening to free trade will be increasingly adopted by other countries in the region. Pena says: Mercosur just like the EU and Nafta was originally an economic treaty, but over the past decade we have seen all of these become politicized and they have deviated from their original intention. When I took this position [in January 2015] I developed very close relationships with my peers in the region, with Danilo Astori in Uruguay and [Alfonso] Prat-Gay in Argentina, and less so [with his counterpart] in Brazil because they have their issues. I said that if we didnt take leadership of the Mercosur agenda it would be hijacked by political debate. Since Horacio Cartes became Paraguays president in 2013 he has been pushing a free trade agenda, with low business taxes and incentives for investors to establish export-driven operations in the country. The low income and corporate tax rates and business-friendly regulatory environment have been part of an attempt to diversify the economy away from its staples of agriculture and food production. However, even within these traditional industries the government has sponsored the development of technology and innovation and the country has expanded within these sectors to export different categories of produce. There is absolutely no conflict in our ambition to become a full member of the Pacific Alliance with our membership of Mercosur - Santiago Pena Paraguay now exports to more than 80 global markets and is growing trade particularly quickly in Asia and the Middle East. Mercosur no longer accounts for the majority of Paraguays exports. In the last three years, Paraguay has decoupled its economy from its neighbours, says Pena. Between 2003 and 2012 the country averaged annual GDP growth of about 5% the same as the regional average. However, since 2013 the regions economic growth rate has collapsed, largely thanks to substantial negative growth in Brazil and static rates in Argentina, while Paraguay has averaged 4.2%. For the first time in the history of Paraguay we havent been dragged along by Brazil and Argentina, says Pena. The growth differential with Brazil and Argentina used to be zero now were plus six percentage points above Brazil and seven above Argentina. The country has also been expanding its free trade network it currently has free trade deals with Chile, Colombia and Peru and hopes to conclude a deal with the remaining Pacific Alliance member in order to apply for full membership of the trade bloc. Maybe Mr Trump is giving us a hand to speed up that process, says Pena of the timetable to secure a free trade agreement with Mexico. However, despite the diminishing importance of the Mercosur economies for Paraguays economic growth, Pena says Paraguay remains committed to the association, which was founded in the Paraguayan capital of Asuncion in 1991. There is absolutely no conflict in our ambition to become a full member of the Pacific Alliance with our membership of Mercosur, says Pena. Paraguay is already the most open economy in the region and while we remain close to Brazil and Argentina and will trade with these countries there is only opportunity to continue to expand its international trade. Pena says that some of these opportunities can be explored through Mercosur and that he has been hearing that Brazilian companies have recently begun to exert pressure on politicians to restart free trade talks with the European Union. 'Treat with caution' However, Neil Shearing of Capital Economics says positive noises from Brasilia should be treated with caution. While Brazils government is talking a good game on trade, the reality remains that the economy is among the most closed in the world, he says, pointing to structural problems such as poor infrastructure that make a shift to open trade policies problematic. For example, China has 10 ports that are capable of handing 100 million tonnes of cargo a year, while Brazil has none. Road networks are also of low quality. Other issues, such as a legacy of protectionism, create substantial barriers both tariff and non-tariff based. Given that the current government is likely to have to expend most of its political capital on pushing through fiscal reforms, hopes for a major progress on trade are likely to be disappointed, says Shearing. Pena remains upbeat. The Brazilians have said there is a huge demand from their companies, he says. Ultimately it wont be the government [that leads the push for more open trade] but the companies. I think there is a change in the mindset of the region. Brazil is a very large country it produces close to two million cars but how many do they sell outside of Brazil? Thats because they are not competitive. It needs to compete and to open to other markets. I think that will be very positive, and its the same with the Pacific Alliance. The e-commerce firm Flipkart sold stake to Times of India publisher Bennett Coleman and Co. for cash & advertising space in the latters media properties. According to recent media reports, e-commerce company Flipkart Internet has sold a small stake to media firm Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd (BCCL) for cash and advertising space in the latters media properties. BCCL made a private placement offer of about Rs 260 crore to buy a warrant for Class B equity shares in Flipkart, according to documents filed with the Registrar of Companies and Tofler, a company research platform. BCCL invested Rs 26 crore in Flipkart in December; the remaining amount will be paid when it converts the warrant into equity shares of Flipkart, said reports. The Flipkart deal further burnishes BCCLs already strong connections with the booming start-up business, said reports. It was also reported earlier that Flipkart was seeking to raise $500 million-$1 billion in fresh capital. Since February 2016, as many as 5 mutual fund investors of Flipkart have marked down its valuation by up to 60%. These markdowns have hurt its valuation demands in the ongoing funding talks, but Flipkarts budding recovery is expected to improve its bargaining power during the talks, reports further said. Read more news about (marketing news, latest marketing news,internet marketing, marketing India, digital marketing India, media marketing India, advertising news) The video will auto-play soon 8 Cancel We have more newsletters Something went wrong, please try again later. Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. Get the pick of the week's best stories and fascinating features direct to your inbox every Saturday and Sunday morning in our exclusive Weekender newsletter A "haunted" house on the North Devon coast has been broken into. Seafield House in Westward Ho! , owned by local business man Robert Braddick, was broken into on Saturday night. Mr Braddick took to the Facebook group Westward Ho! Community to warn locals. "Someone broke into Seafield House last night," said Mr Braddick. "Not kids, big boot marks... climbed the old scaffolding and kicked in a boarded up window, then later let themselves out the front door!" "Just be vigilant." Local businessman Rob Braddick bought Seafield House in May last year for 414,000 at an auction held at The Pier House in Westward Ho! - a bar and restaurant neighbouring the house also owned by Mr Braddick. Since the auction last year Mr Braddick has been conducting extensive surveys on the property and has kept plans for the building close to his chest . Mr Braddick also bought a car park next to Seafield House and made parking free for all . Seafield House was built around 1885 as a summer residence for Brinsley De Courcey Nixon, a London banker. During World War II the home was used by the Ministry Of Defence as officer's quarters with Italian prisoners of war accommodated in nearby fields. The property was then purchased in the 1950s and has been in the same family since then. It became a bed and breakfast establishment for a number of years and then was used as a residential property. Hi experts, need ur help. It is mentioned on CIC website that if the applicant is self-employed, articles of incorporation or other evidence of business ownership, evidence of self-employment income and documentation from third-party individuals indicating the service provided along with payment details (self-declared main duties or affidavits are not acceptable proof of self-employed work experience). We are showing experience of about 5 years of my own business. But we have left working in the business and sold off the entire stuff of our manufacturing unit. From past, 3.5 years I am into a job. For job, I have all the documents but totally confused about what all to showcase for self employment work. Pls help. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A year seems long ago and far away for the oil and gas industry, which enters 2017 upbeat a mood as different from last years doldrums as oil and water. This time in 2016, the price of oil hit its dismal bottom of $26 per barrel as companies shed more workers and parked idle equipment in storage yards. Since May, companies have been hauling that equipment from the storage yards and putting it back to work, nearly doubling the number of active drilling rigs that punctuate the sky like exclamation marks. Oil has been recovering too, and since early December has stayed above $50 per barrel a price that while not robust, is enough to send more crews back to work in the oil field. Texas energy industry groups have declared the bust, which started mid-2014, a thing of the past. This is the moment weve been waiting for, says Karr Ingham, an economist who tracks an index for the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers. The recovery has helped fuel a flurry of deals, mergers and acquisitions in U.S. shale fields, where horizontal drilling is combined with hydraulic fracturing, the process of using massive amounts of water, sand and chemicals pumped at high pressure to crack open tight rocks. Shale boomed for years, but it busted in 2014, and deals slowed to a trickle. Accounting and consulting firm PwC tracked $21 billion in shale deals last year, a 166 percent increase over the prior year. The Permian Basin in West Texas and eastern New Mexico led the way, with 24 deals worth $13.8 billion. West Texas is clearly the area thats drawing the most attention, said Doug Meier, who heads PwCs deals practice in Houston. It was followed by the Marcellus, a vast natural gas field centered in Pennsylvania, where there were 13 deals worth $6.8 billion. In South Texas Eagle Ford Shale, a 400-mile oil field, there were nine deals worth $2.4 billion, according to the PwC report. The Haynesville, a shale gas field in Louisiana and East Texas, had been nearly silent in terms of deals no transactions in 2012 and one each in 2013 and 2014. But interest picked up in 2015, with three deals, and in 2016, with six, Meier said. Confidence is much higher in the marketplace, Meier said. Were entering 2017 in a much better environment for the industry. But the pain hasnt quite ended. The law firm Haynes and Boone has tracked 114 bankruptcies filed by North American oil and gas companies since 2015 and 110 bankruptcies by oil field service companies since the same year. Meier said the pace of bankruptcy and restructuring has declined but isnt done. Are we out of the woods yet? Meier asked. There still will be restructuring and bankruptcies occurring. Basil Karampelas, managing director in consulting firm BDO USAs restructuring and turnaround practice, said large companies with access to lenders and the latest technology will thrive but that smaller, privately managed companies may still face financial distress. For them, the outlook is not as rosy, Karampelas said. Brad Ross, transaction advisory services managing director at BDO, said most lenders have been willing to restructure debt. The banks just dont want to own these assets, Ross said. They had tremendous exposure to (exploration and production companies). They were looking for a friendly exit. Karampelas said one looming issue is that many operators hedged oil at higher prices they get paid that amount no matter the fluctuations of daily oil prices. By June 30, most of the hedges will roll off. Your air cover is then gone, Karampelas said. There are unknowns, too. Oil rallied after OPEC agreed in late November to cut its production by 1.2 million barrels a day, the first reduction by the cartel since 2008, but both Ross and Karampelas noted that the cartel has a history of out-producing its quotas. Still, the mood is optimistic. A BDO report called 2016 the toughest year of the downturn, with oil prices reaching their lowest point since 2003, but said confidence has returned to the industry this year. A survey of energy company financial officers said they expect a healthy level of deals in 2017, which may taper toward the end of the year. So far this year, deals in the Eagle Ford include Denver-based SM Energy selling some of its Eagle Ford assets for $800 million to privately held Venado Oil and Gas of Austin, an affiliate of private equity firm KKR. Anadarko Petroleum announced that it would exit the Eagle Ford and sell its acreage to Houstons Sanchez Energy and Blackstone Group in a 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. $2.3 billion deal. The sale covers 318,000 total acres in Dimmit, Webb, La Salle and Maverick counties, which Sanchez has nicknamed Comanche. In the Permian Basin, Noble Energy announced that it would acquire Permian Basin workhorse Clayton Williams Energy for $2.7 billion. Parsley Energy said it had added 23,000 acres in the Permian Basin at a price of $607 million. In addition to dealmaking, companies are starting to spend more on things such as drilling and fracking to bring new wells into production and on well service and maintenance of their existing wells. Consulting firm Wood Mackenzie expects companies to spend $61 billion in U.S. shale fields this year, which would be an increase of 23 percent over last year. Theyre starting to put cash back to work, Clay Lightfoot, a Houston-based analyst at the firm. Its mostly flowing to the Permian Basin, but theres still opportunity in the Eagle Ford. Last week, the number of drilling rigs at work in the Eagle Ford reached 61, more than doubling its low of 29 in May, according to a count by service giant Baker Hughes. In the Permian Basin, there were 303 rigs at work, up from a low of 134 last April. The number of active drilling rigs hunting for oil or gas in the U.S. bottomed in May at 404 but reached 751 last week the highest number since November 2015. Ken Medlock at Rice Universitys Baker Institute expects to see prices moving toward $65 per barrel. That price forecast and the return of drilling rigs has trickled down to recent and soon-to-be graduates hunting for corporate jobs. We see this with our students, too, Medlock said. Companies are starting to post jobs again. jhiller@express-news.net Twitter: @Jennifer_Hiller HOUSTON Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan was in town last week to meet with clients, investors and employees from some of the companys 113 Houston-area branches. His visit came at a time when the future of traditional bank branches is very much on the minds of industry executives as they respond to dramatic changes in technology and consumer banking habits. Moynihan took half an hour to discuss those issues, and to give his early impressions of the new presidential administration. Following are excerpts, condensed and edited. Q: What new things can we expect? A: Over the next three or four years, all the branches will get redone (nationwide). Q: What should we expect at these redone branches? A: You go from what would look more like a traditional bank branch to a place where you have Merrill Lynch, U.S. Trust and business banking all around the same location. You have mortgage loan officers and small-business bankers there, too. The teller lines are one or two positions, and theres a ton more technology, tablets to interface with. It just looks very different. Theyre destination centers as opposed to convenient transaction centers. Thats the major thing. So when people come to see us, theyll come longer distances for very important matters. What they wont do is come long distances to deposit checks. Q: Why is it important that Bank of America invests in mobile banking? A: If I took your phone away from you, youd be lost, right? You conduct your life through your phone or through your digital interfaces, maybe a computer or an iPad; and our goal is to really be there for the clients. And the amount of activity represented by the mobile platform today is the same, if you think about it in terms of depositing checks, that 900 branches do. Its had a big impact. Q: How is Bank of Americas energy exposure? A: The credit quality has improved over the four quarters of 2016. Late 15, prices fell. The issues started to emerge. By the end of first quarter of 16, we peaked in terms of charge-offs, and it has been coming down ever since. That being said, the exposure and the nonperformers in that area are still higher than we want, so we expect that to keep improving during 2017. Q: Would you say the banking industry is undergoing a period of change driven by technology and President Donald Trumps administration? A: It will always be changing because customers change. Customer behaviors change, customer needs change, the markets change, the competitive sets change. Is it a particularly changing time? Id say maybe, but frankly well figure that out 10 years from now when the next changing time will be. We are not standing still. We are driving this company to be the best it can be across eight lines of business and the products and capabilities they have. 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. Q: How does Bank of America feel about Trumps executive order to begin rolling back Dodd-Frank regulations? A: After the economic crisis and financial crisis, there were a lot of things put in. You had a series of choices that were made that regulated different activities that we believe were the right things, brought everybody under the tent. Everybody was regulated who made mortgage loans as opposed to just the banks, etc. And then theres a fair debate on: Are some of the things more than might be needed? Q: How do you feel about the Trump administration overall? A: If you look at the statistics about consumer confidence or business confidence, theyve risen since the election. That enthusiasm is just a good thing because consumers are doing more. We saw consumers in January 2017 spend 5 percent plus more than they did in January 2016. Were seeing that continue into February. In the early part of this quarter, the companies are borrowing more. Were seeing good activity. And the markets theres just very strong activity. Largely because people are optimistic that there will be pro-growth, lower-tax, low-regulation policies. At the end of the day, whats good for America is going to be good for Bank of America. We benefit from the same trends. andrea.rumbaugh@chron.com This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate There were a little more hats than usual at church this Sunday morning. Wide-brimmed cowboy hats of all shapes and sizes rested securely on the heads of the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo churchgoers. This to me represents the fabric of the state of Texas and of San Antonio in particular. Its just grass-roots, said Bill Moore, a rodeo volunteer who attended the Cowboy Church service. The service was led by Rich Garza, co-chaplain of the San Antonio Spurs known to them as Big Daddy Rich, he said who spoke about prioritizing Christian religion above all others. Some might say How about all those billions of people in the Middle East, and Africa, Australia? How about all those people who sincerely believe in what they believe? he said at the podium, a wooden cross and a platform of hay behind him. Ladies and gentlemen, its not about sincerity, its about fact. More than 6,000 volunteers came together to put on this years rodeo show, which last year had more than 2 million attendees. At least a hundred of these attendees went to this church service, and some like Ardis Geurts said she was glad Garza pulled no punches when it came to comparing her religion to others. The Cowboy Church service will be held one more time this year, at 9 a.m. Sunday at the rodeos Auction Barn. A lot of churches today try so hard not to be offensive to people, so this was refreshing, she said. Moore, a San Antonio resident, has been volunteering for the rodeo for the past 15 years, the same amount of time his friend Thomas Winston has been visiting the rodeo all the way from Oxford, North Carolina. Winston said he liked the rodeo because it brings out all the real people. Its good to do good for the common man, looking out for ya fella, Winston said. A farmer, at different points hes owned 10,000 chickens and 100 acres of tobacco, and now has 100 cattle. Moore agreed. Its just common people. They are just folks who are here for the same reason we are the rodeo and the church. It kind of kicks off the week the right way, he said. Outside the church, there were food stands with names like Big Bubbas Bad BBQ or named after what they sold, like the seemingly popular Hot Beef Sundaes. Couples and families walked around carrying plates of sticky funnel cakes, corn dogs or fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Some wore shirts with cowboy expressions like Put on your big girl boots or Sissy, get in the truck a reference to the movie Urban Cowboy. Large buildings housed a multitude of shops selling knives and cutting boards, cowboy boots and horny toad jewelry. Outside the shops, kids sat in seats called Footsie Wootsie that give foot massages for 25 cents. In the calf-roping building, parents on bleachers hooted and hollered for the cowboys, rapt, while their kids scrambled behind the bleachers, lassoing each others feet. At the livestock show, Justine Valadez, 10, from Pearsall, squirted water on her pet pig, Spot. Shes owned the pig since last June, and has trained it for the stock show using its favorite treats as rewards: vanilla wafers and raw eggs. She picked Spot out because of its black and white spotting similar to zebras, her favorite animal. Justines mother, Jessica Salaiz, said it has taught her daughter a lot about responsibility. You know when you get older and you have to take care of someone? Well, same thing, she said. I think its good life- skills. They learn how to take care of it, and the money that goes into it. sfosterfrau@express-news.net This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate When a military jury begins hearing his case today, Tech. Sgt. Anthony Lizana will face a long list of sex charges stemming from his work at an Air Force medical logistics squadron here and a daunting potential sentence 87 years in prison. Prosecutors say he had improper sexual contact with eight women, all of them lower-ranking Air Force personnel, sometimes against their will. Taken together, the seven charges and 17 specifications of misconduct rival some of the worst of the instructor misconduct scandal at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland that began in 2011. The scandal triggered congressional hearings and led to a makeover of Air Force basic and technical training. Lizana, however, worked for the bases 59th Medical Logistics and Readiness Squadron, not the wing that oversees the instruction of recruits and airmen. Besides the prison time, he could get a dishonorable discharge, fines, forfeitures of pay and reduction in rank. His trial, set for Monday, got off to a rocky start. A juror fell ill and was hospitalized, prompting the judge, Lt. Col. Andrew Kalavanos, to call a recess. New potential jurors will be brought in to replace the sickened airman today. Lizana is charged with failing to maintain professional relationships and being derelict in performing his duties with three women identified as Airman 1, Senior Airman 2 and Senior Airman 3 between Sept. 1, 2014, and Dec. 1, 2015. He is accused of maltreating a woman identified as Airman 1st Class 4 by repeatedly rubbing her back and shoulders with his hand. Two women in this case were subject to Lizanas orders. He is accused of providing alcohol to two airmen who were under 21. Lizana also is charged with unlawfully kissing a woman on the forehead, identified as Airman 1st Class 7, around April 1, 2014, and Aug. 1, 2015. Hes charged with touching another woman, Airman 1st Class 1, on her stomach and waist with his hand without her consent around June 26, 2015. That, prosecutors suggest in their charge sheet, was a pattern. Lizana is accused of having sexual contact without the consent of Senior Airman 5 by kissing her neck and touching her crotch around Feb. 28, 2015. While in Alaska between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31, 2013, he is accused of touching the crotch of a woman identified as Staff Sergeant 6, also without her consent. Though married, prosecutors say, he had consensual sex with two airmen, identified on the charging document as Senior Airman 3 on or about Sept. 1, 2014, and around Dec. 1, 2015, and Senior Airman 2 around Sept. 1, 2014, and about a month later. Adultery is illegal in the armed forces. The Lackland scandal saw 35 basic training instructors investigated for misconduct involving 69 recruits and technical training students since 2011, but the bulk of those cases were settled. Just one resulted in an acquittal. Such misconduct trials have been rare in the two years since the last of those defendants, Master Sgt. Michael Silva, a former training instructor, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for raping a recruit in 1995 and his then-wife in 2007. The Air Force has overhauled basic training to include a week of character development to raise awareness about sexual misconduct and help recruits cope with the stresses of life as fledgling airmen. The number of accusers could complicate Lizanas defense, said Jeff Addicott, a St. Marys University School of Law professor. If it was one or two, it would be a case of perhaps he said, she said, but when youve got eight different individuals its going to be difficult for him to explain away that type of misconduct, he said. Its hard to get five or six people together to agree that misconduct has occurred, added Addicott, a retired Army lieutenant colonel. This spells a very difficult time for the defendant. In addition, in todays Air Force, this type of misconduct has zero tolerance attached to it and if hes convicted, he can expect zero mercy. sigc@express-news.net This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Mikela Kinnison, seven months pregnant, was watching TV with her dog Sunday night when the wind outside her Northside home got louder and an electrical outlet cover popped off the wall. As the lights flickered, Kinnison heard what sounded like a tree fall, a noise loud enough to make her wonder if the skylight in her kitchen had broken. She walked down a hall to investigate and saw the roof was gone from her master bedroom and office. It was raining inside the house, Kinnison said. It was insane. Kinnison and her husband, Baines Kinnison, had narrowly escaped a major storm that spawned at least four tornadoes in the San Antonio area. It was one of the citys worst clusters of twisters in recent years and caused extensive damage but no serious injuries, which many people considered miraculous. The most important thing is our lives, said Hazel Carson as she worked to clean up damaged trees at her home at her home on Greenham Street near Montgomery Elementary School on the Northeast Side. Ive got a smile on my face because I'm still here. By the grace of God we're still here. The National Weather Service reported a preliminary rating of EF-1 on the Enhanced Fujita scale for two of the tornadoes, one that hit in a neighborhood north of Olmos Basin, along Linda Drive and into the Alamo Quarry Market area, at 10:36 p.m. with winds up to 105 mph, and one that struck minutes later northeast of it near Thousand Oaks and Nacogdoches, with winds of up to 100 mph. The third one, which traveled from Windcrest to Converse, hitting the Glen and Camelot subdivisions in the area where Carson lives, had a preliminary rating of EF-0 with winds up to 70 mph. A fourth, also an EF-0, popped up in Comal Countys Garden Ridge area about 15 minutes later. These kinds of tornadoes form very quickly along squall lines, run a short distance and then theyre gone, said National Weather Service meteorologist Brett Williams said. Thankfully, EF-1 is on the lower end and they didnt last long. Kinnison said after her roof blew off, she and her husband tried to salvage what clothes and valuables they could before they fled. Like Carson, they were grateful to be alive. If we had gone to bed when we usually go to bed, we probably would not be OK, Kinnison said. The beams from the roof came through the roof and would have impaled us and stabbed us. When they got outside, they found a tree had fallen in the driveway, blocking their cars and partially crushing one. Mikela Kinnisons boss picked them up, and the couple plans to stay with her for the next few days as they figure out their next move. We only have 10 weeks to figure it out, Mikela Kinnison said, referring to her due date. In a news release Monday evening, Mayor Ivy Taylor said she had issued a disaster declaration, calling it "a first step in potentially securing state and federal resources." "I spent several hours today surveying the damage in different neighborhoods near the Quarry and was amazed to see roofs ripped off homes only to be found mangled in branches several doors down and 50-year old trees uprooted and toppled on tops of cars," she said. Residents and city crews were still cleaning up debris and working to restore power Monday night. CPS Energy officials said about 3,600 customers still were without power at the height of the storm, about 84,000 people lost power at least briefly. At one point, two nursing homes in the Northeast Side were on auxiliary power. (Its) all hands on deck, CPS Energy spokeswoman Nora Castro said, cautioning residents to stay away from downed power lines and damaged equipment. Two large-scale transmission towers were destroyed in the storm, Castro said, the first time that has happened in the city-owned utilitys history. City Councilman Roberto Trevino said firefighters and city and utility crews had worked since midnight Sunday to help people affected by the first tornado, clearing tree limbs and dangerous debris and repairing downed power lines on Linda Drive, in Shearer Hills-Ridgeview. It was a war zone here, Trevino said. Firefighters were cutting down limbs so they could get to people. A lot of people were frightened and didnt know if they would be able to get out. Trevino, who lives near Linda Drive, said he heard an eerie whistling noise late Sunday, shortly before he got a call about the damage. It sounded like the air was being sucked out of the house, he said. The Chateau Dijon condominiums in the 7700 block of Broadway, near the east end of the path to the Linda/Quarry twister, sustained major roof damage. Fences were ripped out of concrete and some air conditioning units were ripped from the building, resident Susan Yerkes said. But no one was seriously hurt, she said. Some residents are staying with relatives or in hotels. It appears that the tornado kind of bounced going northeast from the southwest. There are pockets of devastation, Yerkes said. The scene was similar about eight miles east, in the Glen and Camelot subdivisions. Roofs had been stripped off houses and littered the streets along with toppled mailboxes, street signs and twisted metal. Parked cars had shattered windows; some were pinned under fallen trees. There were reports of winds moving parked cars. At least one motorcycle went airborne and still had not been found as of late Monday. Neighbors milled around outside Monday morning, many pitching in to help those who hadnt fared as well. Some cried and comforted each another. Many spoke in disbelief. Others echoed Carson, talking about the good fortune of still being alive. Several doors down from Carsons home, Frank Chavez, 58, stood in front of his house, checking for damage with his brother. It wasn't as bad as he expected, considering how the winds shook the place. When power went out, he used a candle and the glow of his cell phone to see. Chavez told his brother he had an inkling something bad was coming when his poodle, Claudio, began panting and pacing, then hid under a bed. I should have listened to my dog, he said. Another neighbor, David Gonzalez, 43, saw a tornado alert on his cell phone Sunday night and rushed his wife and son to a middle bathroom. There was a loud noise, like a freight train rumbling above, then silence. It only took about five seconds, Gonzalez said. When he looked outside, he saw a neighbor's downed 50-foot tree lying curb to curb, blocking the middle of Greenham Street. It took firefighters and emergency responders from midnight to 5:30 a.m. to cut it up and reopen the street. That brief encounter with the fury of nature will have a lasting impact on the neighborhood, Gonzalez said. But he told his son not to dwell on it. It's a new beginning, Gonzalez said. Out with the old, in with the new. In the Northwood area near Alamo Heights, Ed McCormick said he was awakened by the tornado warning on his phone about 11 p.m. Sunday. I usually ignore those. For some reason I didnt ignore that one, he said. He heard the howl of the twister, then ran to help his wife and son when a beam from his carport flew through the master bedroom. Thats what saved me from the beam coming through and skewering me, McCormick said. By noon Monday, three volunteer emergency crews had assessed 67 homes in the Glen and Camelot areas as damaged and more were expected, Bexar County spokeswoman Monica Ramos said. In the Linda Drive and Alamo Quarry Market area, more than 45 homes and buildings were damaged. There were no immediate estimates on the amount of damage where the other EF-1 tornado hit near Putting Green Road, just north of Thousand Oaks and Nacogdoches. H-E-B spokeswoman Dya Campos said the San Antonio-based supermarket chains stores at 415 N. New Braunfels Ave. and 999 E. Basse Road lost power Sunday when the storm hit and had to use backup generators and refrigerated trailers to protect frozen and refrigerated food products. H-E-B is still assessing how much inventory was lost as a result, Campos said. The H-E-B on Basse reopened Monday morning, the one on New Braunfels Avenue reopened Monday evening. San Antonians reached out Monday to help their neighbors. District 10 City Councilman Mike Gallagher offered help at his district office via Twitter: Please come in to charge your phones, grab coffee and bottled water, etc. In the Northwood area, St. Andrews United Methodist Church held a spaghetti dinner Monday night and invited storm victims, rescuers and caretakers to eat, rest, recharge their phones and let their kids play in the gym on the church campus. Staff Writers Brittney Martin, John MacCormack, Joshua Fechter, Edward Ornelas, Rye Druzin and Richard Webner contributed to this report. vtdavis@express-news.net shuddleston@express-news.net This weeks Texas Medal of the Arts Awards will have a distinctly San Antonio flavor, despite its Austin setting and, if youre attending, the inherent risk of overhearing someone describe what Austin calls a breakfast taco as a national culinary treasure. The prestigious medal will go to the Tobin Endowment and CBS newsman and San Antonio native Scott Pelley. The honorary chairs are philanthropists and businessmen Peter Holt of the Spurs and Guillermo Nicolas, whose family is rooted in Spanish-language TV history. These honors, by the way, were the idea of San Antonian Jocelyn Straus. But for me, another award winner public intellectual John Phillip Santos will underscore the power of San Antonios influence on arts. Its not easy to offer a simple biography of the 59-year-old Renaissance man whose day job is university distinguished scholar in mestizo cultural studies at the UTSA Honors College. Santos was the nations first Latino Rhodes Scholar. Hes a poet, author, opera librettist, documentary filmmaker and television producer. Some of his words, like those given to Moses on Mount Sinai, will be committed to stone to tell the story of the citys origins on San Pedro Creek. For a man who has been thinking big all his life, all those descriptors fail to fill the wide canvas that his work requires. Santos, the descendant of campesinos and mineros, whose roots are both indigenous and Spanish, has lived several lives, it seems. His formal education came from the Northeast Independent School District, the University of Notre Dame, St. Catherines College at the University of Oxford and Yale University, where a Ph.D. remains incomplete. He counts a stay at Mount Sacred Heart School, which he left by agreement, he says. You could say his education also included a stint at the San Antonio Express-News. Another part of his life was New York, where he made documentaries at CBS News, some 40 films that aired before Sunday morning programming. When he sold his first book, Places Left Unfinished at the Time of Creation, a memoir about his indigenous, mestizo ancestors that was nominated for a National Book Award, Santos was working at THIRTEEN, PBS flagship station. He produced a nightly live news program and some of Charlie Roses early specials. In New York, he also worked for the Ford Foundation, helping build public interest media in the Third World. At some point, he says, the gravity in my life began to shift, and eventually it would pull him back to San Antonio. He married and had a child. Shes now 6. To hear him speak of her, she may be the real reason Santos resides on planet Earth. Santos second memoir, The Farthest Home is in an Empire of Fire, traces his maternal ancestry back to the 1600s in Mexico and Spain. His writing has been described as hallucinated autobiography, a cosmic, time-traveling search for roots. He once said his work grew out of a family in which the conquest ran like a fault line right through the living room in the suburban house I grew up in in San Antonio. More recently, he has undertaken a libretto of an opera, Las Fundaciones de Bejar, that honors the origins of the city. Itll debut in 2018 for the citys tricentennial. Amid all this, he and Harvard University scholar David Carrasco are studying the Rosetta stone of the Mesoamerican world, the Mapa de Cuauhtinchan No. 2. Its a 16th-century pictorial document about the journey of Aztecs from the 12th century to their contact with the Spanish. The two got a Corporation for Public Broadcasting grant and want to make a documentary. In all he does, Santos is telling and retelling a story America has to hear the story of Americas becoming, he says. The Mesoamerican project tells the story of an immigrant people and how migration is essential to how we reveal ourselves to the world, he says. That mestizaje is about transforming into something new. His papers are already in UTSAs archives, 32 boxes measuring 28 linear feet of his records, notebooks, manuscripts, reviews, videotapes and audio recordings. Work by Santos and poet Carmen Tafolla. went into a cantata, Ballads of the Borderland, that will debut in San Antonio on Feb. 27. A writer needs to have a considerable audacity in a literary world, Santos says. He tells those who aspire to it, to regard yourself in that way. You have to save everything you write and produce. Cold call your literary heroes, begin conversations, engage in correspondence, he says. Imagine yourself at the very center of that world. Because, he adds, you could be the voice weve been waiting to hear. Santos gravitated to his old hometown, in part, because he sees as a literary place. San Antonio is the capital of what the nation will be, he says. San Antonio is at the crossroads of histories, creating a literary culture unlike any other in the United States. His ancestors bequeathed him the stories he has told, so this award in Austin is really for them. The future of Fauquier Times now depends on community support. Your donation will help us continue to improve our journalism through in-depth local news coverage and expanded reader engagement. Support Fayetteville woman says anti-abortion laws hurt her mom, then herself Judy Pittard said her and her mother's pregnancy complications that required abortions were made worse by the decisions of "old men in big buildings." Tom Holland burned his 'Avengers: Infinity War' script to keep details of the movie from being leaked. Tom Holland The 20-year-old actor took to Instagram to share a video of himself chucking the script in the fire after he admitted he forgot to hand it into producers before he left set. In the video, he shared: ""Rule number one ... hand in your script ... Marvel like to keep everything a secret. So, to all the producers who are probably freaking out because I forgot to hand in my script, here is evidence that I am destroying it." Meanwhile, Tom - who plays Spider-Man in the hotly anticipated movie - previously revealed how he went undercover at a school to prepare for his role in 'Spider-Man: Homecoming'. He confessed: "No one knew who I was or what I was doing. I had a fake name and a fake accent. "[When I revealed who I was] no one believed me. It makes me think that if Peter Parker went up in his school and was like, 'I'm Spider-Man,' everyone would be like, 'Nah, dude, no you're not.'" And Tom was understandably thrilled when he found out he had been cast as Spider-Man and revealed he found out he had got the job through a post on Instagram. He said: "I was in my bed scrolling through Instagram. It had been about a month since my audition. And Marvel just posted a photo saying go to our website and find out who the next Spider-Man is. I went on the Marvel website on my computer and there it was: The new Spider-Man is Tom Holland. I went ballistic, like absolutely nuts." Meanwhile, the 'Captain America: Civil War' actor has praised Marvel for giving him a chance to work on other films at the same time. He added: "I do know I have three Spider-Man movies and three solo movies contracted. But if you have another movie, Marvel is so good at working around it. They're very respectful of your life, really. They understand that you have to work on other movies, and they try and fix it up so you can work around each other." There are now just a few weeks until the second instalment of Marvels big screen Guardians of the Galaxy series hits cinemas, with the iconic team of crime-fighting, space-travelling superheroes we met in the first flick coming back for this follow-up movie. Dave Bautista as Drax Two of those characters are Drax, played by Dave Bautista, and Groot, voiced by Vin Diesel. In a new report from ComicBook.com, Dave Bautista opened up a little more about Drax and baby Groot, explaining why their relationship is one that will forever be tinged with rivalry. He said: I dont think Drax and The Tree are ever going to get along. Just always going to be at odds with each other. Its like that sibling rivalry, its what if feels like to me. The comments come after the films director James Gunn said Drax is one of the funniest parts of the new movie, so his relationship with Groot should prove to be one that sets up some brilliant scenes. Character touches like this along with the development weve seen from Gunn and his impressive roster of actors is exactly why the first Guardians release did so well. We cant wait to see where everybody goes next. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 comes to cinemas in the UK and Ireland on April 28. by Daniel Falconer for www.femalefirst.co.uk find me on and follow me on Fans of The Walking Dead have known for some time now that the character Jesus is homosexual within the confines of the comic books universe. On the TV series however, weve not seen that addressed just yet. Credit: AMC ComicBook.com recently spoke to actor Tom Payne who plays Jesus on screen, and asked whether or not his sexuality will play a part in the show moving forward. Payne replied: Yeah, [he] will be [gay on the show as well]. I cant tell you how that might be addressed in the show or how it would come across, but yeah. Essentially he is the same as he is [in] the comic books in that regard. Despite that, Paynes unsure as to whether or not his pre-apocalypse life will be explored on the show. He said: Im not sure there are [talks about doing it] right now, but I would obviously love that in the same way that Morgan had his episode. Kirkman talked about that in the last comic book as well, because someone brought it up and then they were talking how Negan had his one, and how it would be cool to give Jesus his own one. But at the same time, I kind of like the mystery behind it and I like people coming up with their own theories and their own reasoning for how he became the guy that he is. I think its a very interesting story, but theyre probably not [going] to explore it for a while. The Walking Dead continues Sundays in the US on AMC and Mondays in the UK on FOX. by Daniel Falconer for www.femalefirst.co.uk find me on and follow me on A new modeling study has determined that painting your roofs white can help reduce the effects of global warming in the city. According to a report in Live Science, the study simulated the effects of painting roofs white to reflect incoming solar rays and found that it could help cool cities and reduce the effects of global warming. "Our research demonstrates that white roofs, at least in theory, can be an effective method for reducing urban heat," said Keith Oleson, the lead author of the study and a researcher at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado. "It remains to be seen if it's actually feasible for cities to paint their roofs white, but the idea certainly warrants further investigation," he added. Cities are particularly vulnerable to climate change because of a phenomenon known as the urban heat island effect. The asphalt roads, tar roofs and other artificial surfaces that permeate cities absorb heat from the sun, making temperatures in urban areas on average 2 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit (1 to 3 degrees Celsius) higher than in rural areas. "It's critical to understand how climate change will affect vulnerable urban areas, which are home to most of the world's population," said NCAR scientist Gordon Bonan, a co-author of the study. White roofs could reflect some of that heat back to space and cool temperatures, because white surfaces reflect most of the light that hits them, while black surfaces absorb most of that light. Oleson and his team used a newly developed computer model to simulate the amount of solar radiation absorbed or reflected by urban surfaces. The model simulations, which are idealized representations of cities, suggest that, if every roof were entirely painted white, the urban heat island effect could be reduced by about a third. Such a reduction would cool the world's cities by an average of about 0.7 degrees F (0.4 degrees C), with the cooling influence more noticeable during the day, especially in the summer. White roofs could also cool temperatures inside buildings, which could change the amount of energy used for space heating and air conditioning. This in turn could affect the consumption of fossil fuels, which generate many of the greenhouse gases responsible for Earth's warming. Next Story : Not Your Average Gift: Our Handpicked Thoughtful Diwali Gifts Green Initiatives, a non-government institution, has launched Re:Form, an all encompassing new programme designed to educate consumers on the impact of clothing consumption habits and how the public can help end it. Re:Form has been launched in partnership with Community Centre Shanghai and Crown Relocations at Green Initiatives' 71film screening. Re:Form will serve as a platform to end textile waste by tackling waste across different points in the value chain, through information sharing, launch of creative campaigns to encourage individual action, engage with corporations and schools to educate their staff and students, as well as provide a transparent, easy, and reliable way to reuse and recycle clothing purchases. "Most people know that the use-and-throw culture is not sustainable but few people are taking the time to help solve it," said Nitin Dani, founder and director, Green Initiatives. "Thats the main mission for Re:Formto change attitudes through information and inspiration, and to promote action by providing a quick convenient way for organisations and individuals to contribute to the solution." Re:Form aims at raising awareness on the environmental and social impact of clothing consumption. Public events, community campaigns, customised awareness workshops and other activities will be conducted to grow the conversation on eco-responsible textiles and encourage behavioural change. Further, through partnerships with companies, schools, and retailers, Re:Form collection boxes will be placed at various locations across the city for community members to conveniently drop off used clothing, thus ensuring that collected items are used to their maximum potential. China produces more than 26 million tons of textile waste every year (about 70,000 tons each day), reportedly a 400 per cent increase from 20 years ago. Greenpeace has reported that three quarters end up in landfills after only a few uses, when in fact, 99 per cent of discarded items could be recycled The production and disposal of textiles present a growing threat to the environment. (RR) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India The exports of apparel and textiles from the UK have increased by 7.05 per cent to 9.1 billion in 2016, compared to exports of 8.5 billion in 2015, figures released by the UK Fashion & Textile Association (UKFT) show. The European Union was the biggest market for UK's textiles and apparel, accounting for 74 per cent of all UK textile and apparel exports. UK's textile and apparel exports have grown over the last five years. During 2012-2016, apparel exports alone have risen by 41 per cent to 6.2 billion, up 1.8 billion, UKFT data revealed. This rise in exports is due to a number of effects including an increased interest in heritage UK manufacturing, the creativity of British fashion designers as well as the importance of the UK as a key apparel trading hub. UK apparel and textile exports to the EU rose from 4.9 million in 2012 to 6.7 billion in 2016, representing an increase of 1.8 billion or 36 per cent. The exports of apparel and textiles from the UK have increased by 7.05 per cent to 9.1 billion in 2016, compared to exports of 8.5 billion in 2015, figures released by the UK Fashion & Textile Association (UKFT) show. The European Union was the biggest market for UK's textiles and apparel, accounting for 74 per cent of all UK textile and apparel exports.# Meanwhile, the UK trade deficit, which reflects the difference between imports and exports, increased to 15.4 billion in 2016, up from 15 billion in 2015. This figure represents an increase in the value of imports from 23.4 billion in 2015 to 24.5 billion in 2016. Export is a fundamental part of UKFTs activities, utilising the largest amount of Department for International Trade TAP grants of any industrial sector. In the fashion and textiles industry, for every 1 the government invests in trade show support, almost 70 comes back to the UK in export revenue. This season UKFT has taken 650 British companies to international shows including Pitti Uomo, Berlin Fashion Week, Paris Fashion Week, New York Fashion Week and Premiere Vision. (RKS) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India At the meeting, the Prime Minister discussed Fijis preparatory work for his Presidency of COP 23, the United Nations negotiations on climate change, and Australias support for Fijis presidential agenda. Following the National Multi-Faith Service of Remembrance and Thanksgiving for the Anniversary of Cyclone Winston, Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama met with Australian Minister for International Development and the Pacific Hon. Concetta Fierravanti-Wells to discuss the the progress of Cyclone Winston rebuilding efforts.The Prime Minister also thanked Minister Fierravanti-Wells for attending the national service and for Australias assistance since Cyclone Winston struck Fiji last year. To date, the Australian Government has provided $35 million in Winston-related assistance to repair and rebuild schools, health facilities, damaged markets and restore water and sanitation services.Minister Fierravanti-Wells was accompanied by the Australian High Commissioner to Fiji Margaret Twomey. The Minister said she will also meet with non-government organisations in Fiji who assisted in the distribution of Australian assistance after the cyclone. H.E THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS AT THE NATIONAL SERVICE OF REMEMBRANCE AND THANKSGIVING ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF TROPICAL CYCLONE WINSTON The Honourable Prime Minister, Rear Admiral (Retd) J.V. Bainimarama and Mrs. Bainimarama, The Chief Justice, The Honourable Anthony Gates Madam Speaker, Honourable Dr. Jiko Luveni Honourable Cabinet Ministers, The Honourable Leader of the Opposition, Honourable Members of Parliament, The Australian Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Honourable Ms. Concetta Fierranti-Wells, Your Excellencies, members of the Diplomatic Corps, Our religious leaders and other distinguished Guests, My fellow Fijians,Ni sa Bula Vinaka, Namaste, Asalaam Alaykum, Ni Hao, Noaia e Mauri and a very Good Morning to you all.We come together as a nation today in a solemn act of faith a service of remembrance and thanksgiving to commemorate the first anniversary of one of the most traumatic days in Fijian history.A year ago today, Tropical Cyclone Winston bore down on our islands with unprecedented fury. And no Fijian who witnessed its impact will ever forget the experience.It was the biggest storm ever to make landfall in the southern hemisphere. And at its peak on February 20, 2016, winds gusting to more than 300 kilometres an hour ravaged much of our nation. Slamming first into the northern Lau Group, then making its way across the Koro Sea - devastating the islands in its path - before lashing northern Viti Levu and southern Vanua Levu and finally the Yasawas as it moved away from Fiji.It is hard to imagine being in the direct path of Winston at its height. But those who were, tell of the most frightening experience of their lives. The gradually building roar of the storm. The lethal debris. Leaves and branches at first, then whole trees and all manner of objects flying through the air. And the terrifying sensation of homes, schools and other places of shelter giving way, of roofs peeling off and leaving large numbers of our people at the mercy of the elements. Exposed, soaked to the bone and staring death in the face.Just over three years before, Cyclone Evan had spared us any deaths at all. But not Winston. It was simply too intense. And for far too many families, the pain of losing their homes and places of learning and worship was matched by the pain of losing a loved one. Killed by falling roofs and walls, flying debris or the raging torrent that accompanied the roaring winds.When the skies finally cleared, we counted the material cost. 40,000 homes damaged or destroyed and hundreds of schools and other public infrastructure laid waste. Winston left us with a total damage bill of close to US two-billion dollars or nearly a third of our Gross Domestic Product. And 12 months on, we are still as a nation dealing with the aftermath.But while things can be rebuilt or replaced, our loved ones are gone forever. Names and faces unknown to many Fijians but not to those they left behind. And today we gather in the presence of many of their families and friends to remember those who Winston took from us. A roll call of the fallen in one of the worst disasters perhaps the worst - that nature has ever inflicted on our people.They were mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, aunties, uncles, cousins and friends. Ordinary Fijians who are the backbone of our nation. Now gone but who we are determined never to forget.You have already heard their names and where they perished. And today, as your head of state, I welcome their families and friends to our capital, in the name of every Fijian. Along with many others from the affected areas, some of whom were injured, many of whom were left homeless. Plus hundreds of our school children who also join us for this commemoration. And are living symbols of our future and the continuity of Fijian life.We have people here from as far away as Koro, Vanuabalavu and Ra. Vinaka vakalevu for making the journey to Suva and for being with us on this very special day.For the families of those who died, I have a simple message for each of you on behalf of the entire nation a message of sympathy and love. As one, we embrace you. As one, we extend to you our hand of comfort. And as well as our deepest condolences, we also salute you for your own courage, fortitude and resilience.You have all heard the name of your loved one read out in this historic place the ceremonial heart of our beloved nation. They are no longer unknown. We have all been privileged today to hear their names. And to stand shoulder to shoulder with you in your own grief and sense of loss on this most painful of anniversaries.Of one thing you can be certain. The person you loved is known to Almighty God. They rest in his loving arms. In his eternal care. And together, we also ask God to grant you his blessing and comfort.As your President, I also make the following undertaking on behalf of our nation to you and to every Fijian.Fiji intends to do everything in its power to persuade the global community to tackle the root cause of the extreme weather events such as Winston that are causing so much pain for our own people and the citizens of other vulnerable nations around the world.We must get the community of nations to continue reducing the carbon emissions that are causing global warming. This is a fight that we must win. Our entire way of life is at stake. And that is why Fiji is taking a leadership role in the world to persuade the industrial nations to act decisively before it is too late.As you know, our Honourable Prime Minister has been given the task of moving the current global climate negotiations forward. As incoming President of COP 23, the Prime Minister will preside over the deliberations of nearly 200 countries when they again gather in Bonn, Germany, in November. His job is to keep them committed to the carbon emission reduction targets contained in the Paris Agreement of 2015.My Fellow Fijians, let there be no doubt about the magnitude of the task that Fiji has been given. It is easily the biggest responsibility the world has ever asked us to take on as a people. The prayers and best wishes of every Fijian go with the Honourable Prime Minister as he embarks on this mission.And none more so than the prayers and best wishes of every Fijian who was affected by Cyclone Winston, and especially the families of those who died.Friends, today is a day of remembrance. A day of great emotion. But it is also a day of thanksgiving. Of expressing our gratitude to Almighty God for sparing much of our nation and especially those areas on which our economy depends. As you all know, we were extremely fortunate that our main tourism areas were out of Winstons direct path. Along with many areas of industrial activity and, of course, some of our biggest population centres.Today is also a day of celebration a celebration of the Fijian spirit of caring and the many friends we have in the world. It is a wonderful reflection on our nation that in their hour of need, those who suffered were not alone. Their fellow Fijians were there to extend a helping hand.Many ordinary people outside the cyclone zone loaded up their cars with relief supplies and drove to the affected areas. Our disciplined forces, disaster management teams, civil society and the business community quickly swung into action. And every arm of government was mobilised to deal with the crisis, including the Help for Homes and Adopt a School Initiatives that continue to this day.As a nation, we also found that we were not alone, as ships and aircraft bearing relief supplies and personnel descended on Fiji from near and far. HMAS Canberra from Australia. HMNZS Canterbury from New Zealand. Other naval vessels from New Caledonia and Tonga. Planes from China, India, the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere. The world showing that it also cared. Not only governments but countless numbers of ordinary people. Children sending their pocket money. Corporations contributing in cash or in kind.Hundreds of foreign military personnel and aid workers poured into the affected areas to assist Fijians in the effort to clean up and rebuild. And in the process, many thousands of friendships were forged. The friendly smiles and can do attitude of these wonderful men and women lifting our spirits and strengthening Fijis engagement with the world.To the diplomatic representatives who are with us today, please again convey to your governments the gratitude of the Fijian people for coming to our assistance in our hour of need. Just as the families of those who died know they are not alone, we as a nation know we are not alone. And the solidarity with Fiji that the world demonstrated in the wake of Winston is something that we will always treasure.And so, my fellow Fijians, let us rededicate ourselves today before Almighty God to the Fijian ideal of being a caring, loving nation. Of reaching out to each other and especially the vulnerable, the very young, the elderly, the sick and the disadvantaged. Of reaching out to the world to assist others in need through our UN Peacekeeping and civilian volunteers. Of leading the fight against climate change on behalf of all 7.5 billion of our fellow citizens on the planet. Of preserving our pristine surroundings not only for ourselves but the entire world and for future generations. And of continuing to welcome the world to Fiji to enjoy our hospitality and the unique Fijian spirit.May Almighty God continue to bless the families and friends of those who died from Winston, the injured and the homeless. May he continue to bless each and every one of us. And may he continue to bless our beloved Fiji.Vinaka Vakalevu, Dhanyavaad, Sukria, Xie-Xie, Faieksia and Thank You. In recent times, Irrfan, Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone have made their presence felt in Hollywood. And now another powerhouse performer, Manoj Bajpayee is ready to make his debut in West. Manoj Bajpayee has signed an international film. Yes, you read that right. In an exclusive chat with Filmfare, the actor confirmed saying, I have said yes to two films. But those are independent films. Those are not the kind of films Deepika Padukone or Priyanka Chopra are doing. They are doing mainstream films there, which is great thing. They are doing well. They are showing the world that we are as professional as anyone else in the West. Its a matter of pride. Good offer, great role Im always on. But yes, Im not trying for it. They are coming to me. Manoj gives credit to late Om Puri for opening the doors for Indian talents in west. He says, Om Puri was the first person who started it. He is the person who crossed over in a real sense. Then Irrfan has been accepted there. Now Priyanka is accepted in a big way. Deepika started with a bang. It will open doors to so many other talents. Way to go, sir! Ileana D'Cruz is currently working on Milan Luthria's Baadshaho co-starring Ajay Devgn, Emraan Hashmi and Esha Gupta. The film is said to be inspired by true events which transpired during th Emergency. SAY WHAT! A Biopic On Yo Yo Honey Singh On The Cards? The film has Ileana sharing screen space with Ajay for the first time. She had earlier worked with Akshay Kumar in Rustom.When a leading daily quizzed her about who is a bigger prankster, she revealed that Ajay is more of a prankster than Akshay. She was quoted saying to Bombay Times, "He is a far bigger prankster than Akshay. He is unbelievable and puts in a lot of effort in order to execute a prank. But he does it only to maintain a light atmosphere on the sets. But when I was working with Akshay on Rustom, he sent a message to Milan Luthria from my phone. I was yet to start working with him at that point. I had to do some damage control and explain to Milan that it wasn't me, but Akshay who sent the message. In Ajay's case, you're not even left with any room for damage control. So, you can imagine!" Now, that's quite surprising, isn't it? Meanwhile, the actress will also be seen in Arjun Kapoor starrer Mubarakan. BLAST FROM THE PAST: When Divya Bharti CRIED Because Of Aamir Khan & Salman Came To Her Rescue! Celebrated Hollywood Actress Lindsay Lohan has dared to swim against the tide and expressed her support for the US President Donald Trump. The actress urged people to accept Donald Trump as the US President and collaborate with him for the overall benefit of the nation. "Look, I think always in the public eye you're going to be scrutinised, and he is the President, so you have to - you have to join him. If you can't beat him, join him," Lindsay Lohan said in a statement during a Facebook live interview. Lindsay Lohan, who had a talk with the Turkish President recently, said: "Turkey really is doing a lot, and that's why I want to try and get the word out to Donald Trump to bring him over there, and have him see all the positive things that they're doing and how America can help as well." "And I think it would be a positive thing for America to show their care and support, and for him to experience what it's like for these people and experience how giving Turkey has been to the refugees." Further, Lindsay Lohan also added that she would like to stand with the US President Donald Trump and requested people to do the same. "I wish him all the best. We live in a world of societies that consistently find fault in people. I think it's a really scary factor. Taking someone else down is never the answer, and I think we all know that." Said the actress. Mohanlal's Facebook Post Mohanlal, who extended support to the actress through his Facebook page, stated that it is high time we stop sympathising, and it is the time to react. Manju Warrier's Facebook Post Manju Warrier, who is a close friend of the actress, opened up about meeting her after the incident through her Facebook post. Prithviraj's Facebook Post Prithviraj expressed his deep anger over the issue through his Facebook post, revealed the actress's decision to stay away from the film industry and withdraw from an upcoming film in which she co-stars with him. Dulquer Salmaan's Facebook Post Dulquer Salmaan, who reacted to the shocking incident through a Facebook page, revealed that he was initially reluctant to speak about the incident, out of respect for the actress. He feels that expressing support through social media is totally pointless. Kunchacko Boban's Facebook Post Kunchacko Boban vented out his anger over the attack on his dear friend, through an emotional Facebook post. He also appreciated the actress for her exceptional courage. Indrajith's Facebook Post Indrajith expressed his shock over the incident through a Facebook post. He also harshly criticized the media for the misleading reports on the issue. Nivin Pauly's Facebook Post Nivin Pauly, who reacted to the incident, appreciated Bhavana for her courage and stated that she stood up for the entire women in our country. BARCELONA, SPAIN -- (Marketwired) -- 02/19/17 -- Comba Telecom Systems Holdings Limited ("Comba Telecom" or "the Group") (HKSE: 2342), a global leading wireless solutions provider, will be participating in Mobile World Congress 2017 in Barcelona from February 27 to March 2, 2017. Tying in with this year's event theme 'The Next Element,' Comba Telecom will be showcasing for the first time its innovations which are elemental for smart city development. Mr. Simon Yeung, Executive Director and Senior Vice President of Comba Telecom and the President of Comba Telecom International, said, "Policymakers are increasingly looking towards smart city systems to improve the quality of life in urban areas, and we want to ensure them that we place service providers at the forefront of the smart city landscape. Comba Telecom is committed to delivering innovative solutions that will transform the Internet of Things (IoT) as we know it today, which will in turn play a key role in building smart cities of tomorrow." At Mobile World Congress 2017, Comba Telecom will be presenting its latest solutions for smart city development. These include: Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) Comba Telecom's V2X demo system architecture relies on virtualized mobile edge computing (MEC) platforms to achieve low latency vehicle monitoring and facilitate road safety. The LTE small cells and in-car gateways are used to connect emulated vehicle control systems wirelessly, and facilitate the transmission of real-time alarms and driving suggestions to the vehicles. The demonstration, developed in collaboration with Comba's R&D partner, will feature a real use case, which highlights the significance of V2X technologies in smart mobility and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). Video Orchestration / Live Streaming By tapping video orchestration over MEC platforms, the solution enables video streams to be locally stored, processed and delivered directly to users' mobile devices with close to zero latency, as the video streams do not require backhaul to core networks. Video feeds will be placed at different parts of the booth to allow users to tailor their views according to their needs. This simulates a real use case, whereby users can choose their preferred viewing angle from the many video cameras located within the stadium's vicinity during live sporting events. By enabling tailored viewing, event planners can enrich the fan experience and introduce new services. Location Tracking Location Tracking solution uses Wi-Fi to monitor the movements of individuals indoors, providing enterprises with deeper insight into customer behaviors that can be used to enhance existing services. At the booth, visitors can see first-hand the device distribution and heat map analysis generated by the Location Tracking solution. Facial Recognition Leveraging cutting-edge facial tracking and recognition technology, Comba Telecom and its partner introduce a new facial recognition solution that offers customer traffic flow monitoring capability based on facial analytics. It is specially designed for shopping malls and conferences, providing analytics about customer traffic, customer demographics, and potential and target customer visit notifications, so that organizations can make data-driven business decisions. Comba Telecom will continue to deliver innovative IoT technologies that empower service providers, enabling them to better address the increasing connectivity requirements of enterprises and emerging consumer experiences -- from process automation systems to augmented reality -- and ultimately pave the way for the development of smart cities. Visit Comba Telecom at booth 5A31, Fira Gran Via, during Mobile World Congress 2017 to learn more about its industry leading wireless solutions. About Comba Telecom Systems Holdings Limited Comba Telecom is a global leading wireless solutions provider with its own R&D facilities, manufacturing base, and sales and service teams. The Company offers a comprehensive suite of products and services including wireless access, wireless enhancement, antenna and subsystems and wireless transmission to its global customers. Headquartered in Hong Kong, Comba Telecom's global operations include manufacturing bases in China, R&D centers in China and the USA and more than 40 offices worldwide. Comba Telecom has been included into several indexes including the MSCI China Small Cap Index, Hang Seng Composite Index (Information Technology Industry Index, MidCap & SmallCap Index and SmallCap Index), Hang Seng Global Composite Index, Hang Seng Internet & Information Technology Index, as well as Hang Seng Corporate Sustainability Benchmark Index. For further information, please visit: www.comba-telecom.com. WE Communications Ms. Annie Ho Tel: +852 2578 2205 Email: Email Contact Comba Telecom Ms. Charmaine Chan Tel: +852 2116 6072 Email: Email Contact PUNE, India, February 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Centrifugal Chiller Industry 2017 Research Report initially provides a basic overview of the industry that covers definition, applications and manufacturing technology, post which the report explores into the international players in the market. Browse 113 tables and figures, 14 company profiles spread across 137 pages at http://www.reportsnreports.com/reports/868799-global-centrifugal-chiller-market-research-report-2017.html . Global Centrifugal Chiller Market Report 2017 is a professional and in-depth survey on the current state of the Centrifugal Chiller industry. The report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Centrifugal Chiller market analysis is provided for the international market including development history, competitive landscape analysis, and major regions' development status. Market Segment by Regions, this report splits Global into several key Region, with production, consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate of Centrifugal Chiller in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), like North America, China, Europe, Japan, India, Southeast Asia split by product type, with production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type Split by application, this report focuses on consumption, market share and growth rate of Centrifugal Chiller in each application. This report studies Centrifugal Chiller in global market, focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with sales, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, covering Johnson Controls, Carrier, TRANE, DAIKIN, Hitachi, Mitsubishi, LG, Midea, Haier, GREE, DunAn, GRAD, STARS(GUANGZHOU) and Dunham Bush. Order a copy at http://www.reportsnreports.com/purchase.aspx?name=868799 . Related Reports: Global Industrial Chiller Market Research Report 2017 The Global Industrial Chiller Industry, 2016 Market Research Report' is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the global Centrifugal Chiller industry with a focus on the global market. The report provides key statistics on the market status of the Industrial Chiller manufacturers and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the industry. Firstly, the report provides a basic overview of the industry including its definition, applications and manufacturing technology. Then, the report explores the international major industry players in detail. In this part, the report presents the company profile, product specifications, capacity, production value, and 2011-2016 market shares for each company. Through the statistical analysis, the report depicts the global total market of Industrial Chiller industry including capacity, production, production value, cost/profit, supply/demand. The total market is further divided by company, by country, and by application/type for the competitive landscape analysis. The report then estimates 2016-2021 market development trends of Industrial Chiller industry. Analysis of upstream raw materials, downstream demand, and current market dynamics is also carried out. In the end, the report makes some important proposals for a new project of Centrifugal Chiller Industry before evaluating its feasibility. Overall, the report provides an in-depth insight of 2011-2021 global Industrial Chiller industry covering all important parameters. United States Chiller Industry 2016 Market Research Report This report studies Chiller in United States market, focuses on price, sales, revenue of each type in Global. This report also focuses on the sales (consumption), production, import and export of Centrifugal Chiller in United States, forecast to 2021, from 2016. Firstly, this report focuses on price, sales, revenue and growth rate of each type, as well as the types and each type price of key manufacturers, through interviewing key manufacturers. Second on basis of segments by manufacturers, this report focuses on the sales, price of each type, average price of Centrifugal Chiller, revenue and market share, for key manufacturers. The Chiller industry development trends and marketing channels are also analyzed and the feasibility of new investment projects are assessed and overall research conclusions offered. With the tables and figures the report provides key statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals. Global and Chinese LiBr Absorption Chiller Industry, 2016 Market Research Report The 'Global and Chinese LiBr Absorption Chiller Industry, 2011-2021 Market Research Report' is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the global LiBr Absorption Chiller industry with a focus on the Chinese market. The report provides key statistics on the market status of the LiBr Absorption Chiller manufacturers and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the industry. Firstly, the report provides a basic overview of the industry including its definition, applications and manufacturing technology. Then, the report explores the international and Chinese major industry players in detail. In this part, the report presents the company profile, product specifications, capacity, production value, and 2011-2016 market shares for each company. Through the statistical analysis, the report depicts the global and Chinese total market of LiBr Absorption Chiller industry including capacity, production, production value, cost/profit, supply/demand and Chinese import/export. Analysis of upstream raw materials, downstream demand, and current market dynamics is also carried out. In the end, the report makes some important proposals for a new project of LiBr Absorption Chiller Industry before evaluating its feasibility. Overall, the report provides an in-depth insight of 2011-2021 global and Chinese LiBr Absorption Chiller industry covering all important parameters. About Us: ReportsnReports.com is your single source for all market research needs. Our database includes 500,000+ market research reports from over 95 leading global publishers & in-depth market research studies of over 5000 micro markets. With comprehensive information about the publishers and the industries for which they publish market research reports, we help you in your purchase decision by mapping your information needs with our huge collection of reports. We provide 24/7 online and offline support to our customers. Contact: Ritesh Tiwari UNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZ Magarpatta city, Hadapsar Pune- 411013 Maharashtra,India. + 1 888 391 5441 sales@reportsandreports.com Connect With Us On: LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/reportsnreports NEUSTADT AN DER AISCH, Germany, February 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- New products added to Large Format Printing (LFP) offering Just in time for the start of the exhibition season, Onlineprinters has reduced the prices for various large format print products. Customers benefit from up to 25 percent lower prices enabled by further streamlined production processes. "Our business strategy is based on continuously optimizing our production. As we want our customers to benefit from these process improvements as well, we regularly adjust the prices in their favour," says Dr. Michael Fries, CEO of Onlineprinters GmbH. (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/469831/Online_printers.jpg ) All price cuts at a glance The prices for plots have been reduced by 25 percent. Corrugated plastic sheets and flags with and without arm have been lowered by 20 percent. The prices for large format advertising signs have decreased by about 20 percent. The price reductions are permanent and effective as of now. Onlineprinters runs its own LFP production facilities. New product: City-Light poster and pop-up tower Already in 2016, Onlineprinters not only accelerated delivery times and upgraded the service, the company also added 80 new items to their product range to afford customers a one-stop shopping experience. A strategy to be continued in 2017: Since January, the new City-Light posters have been listed in the shop. Customers can choose from three paper stocks: 120gsm poster paper, 210m backlit film and 140gsm indoor paper. Very soon the pop-up towers will also be available in the online shop. These mobile advertising towers are set up quickly without any tools. They look like advertising pillars and are efficient indoor advertising tools. "The focus of exhibition systems is to offer advertising systems to our customers that are both quick to set up and take down and draw a lot of attention. In light of this, both the pop-up towers and the stretch fabric displays, added to our product line in late 2016, are great solutions for presentations at exhibitions and similar events," Dr. Michael Fries explains. About the company Onlineprinters GmbH is one of Europe's leading online print providers. In line with the motto "Print simply online!" the company sells printed products to 600,000 customers in 30 European countries through its 16 web shops. Internationally, the company is known under the brand name "Onlineprinters"; in Germany it operates under the name "diedruckerei.de". The product range comprises 1,400 printed products from business cards, stationery and flyers to catalogues, brochures and large-format advertising systems. The formula to successfully produce customised prints in terms of Industry 4.0 rests on three pillars: online sales, fully integrated production from ordering to shipping and gang run printing. The latter uses so-called combined forms to collectively produce print jobs, therefore minimising costs and reducing the environmental impact. Selected products allow customers to choose the option of same day printing (produced on the same working day), overnight delivery, climate neutral production and custom size specification. Onlineprinters GmbH employs a staff of 650 and produces over two billion printings per year. The video "A look behind the scenes of Onlineprinters": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uIQE_QFYIs&list=PLEriQeICU0iuXDVlzuMg8mXs75QhR8tGa Press contact: Onlineprinters GmbH Patrick Piecha Head of Press & Public Relations Rudolf-Diesel-Strae 10 91413 Neustadt an der Aisch Germany Phone: +49-9161-6209807 +49-174-3077250 press@onlineprinters.com http://www.onlineprinters.com Pacifica Labs, a San Francisco, CA-based creator of the mental health app Pacifica, received an early stage funding round of undisclosed amount. The round was led by LEO Innovation Lab, the innovation unit of LEO Pharma, HealthX Ventures, and Personal Health Solutions (PHS) Capital. Founded in 2014 by Dale Beermann, CEO, Pacifica Labs is a mental health technology innovator that provides a mobile and web application that empowers people to manage their stress, anxiety and depression using cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and mindfulness techniques. In addition to its iOS and Android consumer apps, the company is launching Pacifica for Clinicians, a dashboard tool designed to help mental health care providers leverage the app with their patients and improve treatment effectiveness. With Pacifica for Clinicians, clinicians can use the dashboard to bring measurement-based care to their practice. They can monitor their patients progress as they use the mobile app and assign assessments, which in turn allows patients to feel more engaged and involved in their treatment. Pacifica is also releasing an updated version of its mobile and web application, which include Paths, a new guided self-help learning program that allows users to manage their stress, anxiety and depression using techniques based on cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and mindfulness. FinSMEs 20/02/2017 BharatQR, another e-payment medium which has been termed the world's first interoperable and low cost acceptance solution, was launched by the National Payments Corporation of India, MasterCard and Visa on Monday. This is another step in the direction of making India a less-cash economy, said a joint press release by the companies. BharatQR is based on the RBI's Payments Vision 2018, which outlines innovation, interoperability and security as the three pillars to transition the country into cashless economy, the release said. Launching the solution, R Gandhi, RBI deputy governor, termed the occasion as 'momentus' and said that with the latest solution, the country "is setting yet another standard in the payment arena for others to adopt". The government has been pushing traders and general public to adopt cashless payment modes ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the surprise demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. The move that sucked out about 86 percent of the cash in the system resulted in severe cash crunch and even job losses. For the masses, the only way out of the cash crunch has been digital payment. The government is also forcing common man to adapt. However, small traders, who have been mostly dealing in cash, have largely been reluctant. For one, swipe or PoS machines involve high capital investment (about Rs 7,000 for per piece). Secondly, there has been a severe shortage of these machines as there are no incentives for companies to increase the manufacture so as to meet the demand. Seen is in this context, BharatQR has the potential to overcome these hurdles in the road to becoming a less-cash society. However, net connectivity could continue to play spoil sport. Given below are all the details about the BharatQR as given in the press release: What is BharatQR? BharatQR is the worlds first standardised Quick Response (QR) code payment solution developed by Mastercard, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and Visa, to expedite Indias transition to a less-cash society. What are the benefits of BharatQR? Consumers will not need to scan different QR codes at the same merchant provided by the different payment networks. Merchants will only need to display one QR code at the storefront or through the acquiring banks mobile application. The underlying specification for BharatQR can be implemented in other countries to deliver a globally interoperable solution. How is BharatQR different from BHIM? BHIM is an aggregator app that interoperably works across the UPI platform services launched by the various banks. BharatQR is integrated within the banks payment or mobile banking app. BharatQR simplifies merchant payments from the linked card in the banking app. It provides notifications to merchants on payment receipt. How is BharatQR different from any wallet? BharatQR is not a wallet. It is a different form factor of the POS machine. For example, a merchant with an HDFC Bank account can accept a payment from an SBI Cardholder be it a Visa card, Mastercard, or Rupay card. On the other hand, to use a wallet, both the customer and the merchant to whom the payment is made need to have the same wallet. This is often referred to within the industry as a closed loop system. For example, an Ola wallet cannot be used to make a payment to a payTM or Freecharge wallet. Payments made or received using BharatQR are backed by strong operational rules for dispute management provided for by the four networks Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Rupay. Banks follow KYC norms for customer and merchant acquisition, which makes this a secure, safe and robust payment method. BharatQR transactions are processed by well-established payment networks that have processed billions of payment transactions. Will it work for users without a smartphone? A deployment option via USSD is being worked on to support non-smartphone users. The companies are in discussions with the government to allow banks and payment networks to have their own short codes like *99 and hope they will be granted access soon. Countries like Kenya, Pakistan, Tanzania, Uganda and Ghana process as many as 7 million to 10 million USSD transactions per day, and have achieved financial inclusion at scale. With about 700 million feature phone users in India, and over 750 million debit cardholders this technology together with financial literacy programs could significantly help address the last mile problem particularly in semiurban and rural areas, feel the companies. Does a customer need to register before using BharatQR for payments? The customer has to opt-in for the service once using their bank app. Can I use more than one BharatQR bank application on the same mobile? Yes. The mobile app of multiple banks supporting BharatQR can be used in the customers smartphone. Does the merchant/recipient also need to register for BharatQR? The merchants will be onboarded by their acquiring institution after due diligence in accordance with applicable regulations. Many of the acquirers are working on instant merchant onboarding process in order to enable easy sign up. This is a one-time process after which the merchant begins to receive notifications against transactions performed on the QR Code provided by its acquirer. What happens if my mobile phone is lost? If the mobile device is lost or stolen, account holders can have their payment account immediately deactivated by contacting their financial institution. Also no customer data is retained on the mobile phone. All bank payment apps supporting BharatQR have authentication controls in place for identifying users. Can I map multiple cards/accounts in one app? Yes, it is possible to map multiple cards/ accounts within the same bank for this service within the banks mobile app. What if my account is debited but the transaction does not go through? The customers bank will arrange to refund the transaction after due reconciliation of the transaction. What is the limit of each transaction on BharatQR? The transaction limits are defined by the customers bank based on the account / card profile. Will I be able to use BharatQR after I change my mobile or mobile number? Yes. The bank may optionally require additional registration on the new device depending on its own policy. In case another person uses my mobile, is there any security risk? For any BharatQR transaction to be successfully completed there is authentication - using MPIN. This makes the transaction safe and secure, and is in keeping with the norms prescribed by RBI. Is BharatQR available across multiple mobile platforms? BharatQR is available presently on smartphones that are deployed on Android and iOS operating systems. Even as broad market sentiment remained marginally positive in the afternoon trades, Lloyd Electric & Engineering shares witnessed frenzied selling since early trades amid reports the company is likely to sell its consumer durable business to Havells India for Rs 1,600 crore. After opening marginally positive at the opening bell, Lloyd Electric shares plunged deep into the red to touch a low of Rs 278.15, down 15 percent from previous close. At 1.05 PM, Lloyd Electric shares was trading at Rs 283.40, down nearly 14 pecent from previous close of Rs 327.85. Nearly 10 lakh shares have changed on BSE so far as against two week average volume of just 69,000 shares traded. Similarly, shares of Havells India, too, exhibited negative sentiment, but the fall was limited as compared with Lloyd Electric shares. Havells India shares was down 2.8 percent at Rs 414 after touching a low of Rs 410.75. Over 2 lakh shares changed hands on BSE. The electrical goods company Havells on Sunday said it will acquire consumer durable business of Lloyd Electric & Engineering for about Rs 1,600 crore. "...(Havells)board has approved the acquisition of Lloyd Consumer Durable Business Division (Lloyd Consumer). The acquisition is proposed to be executed at an enterprise value of Rs 1,600 crores on a debt free, cash free basis subject to closing adjustments," the company said in a statement. This acquisition, when completed, will mark Havells foray into consumer durables industry. The transaction is subject to confirmatory due diligence and is expected to close in next eight weeks. The company plans to finance the transaction through a mix of debt and internal accruals, the statement said. " The proposed acquisition is in line with Havells objective of Deeper into Homes, driving domestic expansion and owning a brand and distribution-oriented asset. "We would leverage and extend the trust associated with brand Havells to consumers, dealers, vendors of Lloyd and create a similar recognition in consumer durables segment," Havells India Chairman & Managing Director Anil Rai Gupta said. The company said that it will completely acquire the consumer business of Lloyd. The company has signed an agreement with Lloyd Electrical and Engineering Limited and Fedders Lloyd Corporation Limited for acquiring Lloyd brand and the consumer durable business. The consumer business of Lloyd is engaged in sourcing, assembling, marketing and distribution of consumer durables including air-conditioners, TVs, washing machines and other household appliances, it added. Havells will acquire the consumer business infrastructure, people, distribution network including and not limited to absolute, exclusive ownership and right to all intellectual property of brand Lloyd, logo, trademark, goodwill and attendant rights. The proforma revenues of consumer durable arm, Lloyd Consumer for 9-months ended 31 December, 2016 stood at Rs 1,242 crores and EBDITA of Rs 75 crores. Based on its run rate and past performance, full year revenue is estimated at Rs 1,850 crores with proforma EBDITA of Rs 110 crores, the statement said. "Through this acquisition, Havells would mark a foray into consumer durables industry currently estimated at US dollar five billion and growing in double digits with low penetration levels, increasing urbanisation, aspirational and expanding middle class," the statement said. Lloyd, which is among the top three brands in air-conditioner category, has expanded into TVs and Washing machines as well. Standard Chartered Bank was the financial advisor and AZB & Partners were the legal advisors to the transaction. EY represented sellers as their financial advisor, the statement said. P With PTI inputs While differences between Infosys board and its founders came out in public last week over the marked rise in salary and severance packages given to select executives, the company said it had in fact reduced the gross salary of around 45 percent of its senior executives in 2015-16. These set of employees have been earning an average salary in excess of Rs 5 lakh per month and worked with the company throughout the previous financial year, a report in The Indian Express said. Of the 195 senior executives that earned a salary of over Rs 5 lakh per month, 88 of them witnessed fall in their gross remuneration by 0.45 percent to 47.31 percent in 2015-16 compared with the previous financial year, the report said. Infosys had disclosed this information to its shareholders in its annual reports. This fall in remuneration to senior executives in 2015-16 was mainly due to long-term bonuses being paid to them in the previous financial year. However, founders of the company were not convinced about this data and said a clear picture will emerge only after analysing the salaries of senior executives. V Balakrishnan, one of the founding members of Infosys, has told the newspaper that the data provided is incomplete for the reason that several people, who joined the company at senior levels, were working on site, and full data is not provided. Sharp differences between the founders and board came to the fore last week, after Infosys founder N R Narayana Murthy and others raised an alarm over a sharp rise in salary given to non-founder CEO Vishal Sikka. Also, the founders were unhappy over the severance packages given to former senior executives, Rajiv Bansal and David Kennedy. Founders flagged concerns about governance lapses at Infosys and raised issues like Sikka's compensation being hiked to $11 million and the board okaying a 30-month severange package for former CFO Rajiv Bansal. Coming back to senior executives' salary, the disclosure made by Infosys to its shareholders showed that seven executives had joined the company in 2015-16, while number of people in the category with higher salary bracket that quit the company in the same financial year stood at 62. One of the less discussed figures in the Union Budget 2017 is the substantial increase in the tax revenues raised but not realised. Look at last four years, this figure has more than doubled, to be precise by about 147.6 percent. It stood at Rs 7,76,916 crore in 2015-16 compared with Rs 3,13,755 crore in 2011-12. If one compares the 2015-16 figure with that of 2014-15, the figure has increased by about 11 percent. Why is the number important? For any government that seeks to broaden the tax base and increase both direct and indirect tax revenues, finding a way to effectively address the dispute resolution mechanism and reduce the portion of unrealised revenues is critical to boost the revenue base. In India, these figures tell us that governments (both UPA and NDA) have largely failed to crack this puzzle. Remember, these are tax collections government should rightfully get but not availed for various reasons some are disputed, others are simply not paid even without any dispute. To be sure, it is not that the current and previous governments have not taken note of this widening gap. There have been efforts starting with the UPA time to address the disputes and increase tax realisation. But, the data shows that none of those measures have really worked well. If one looks closer, of the total chunk, the tax revenues under dispute has shown a dramatic rise of 167 percent over the 4-year periodfrom Rs 2.56 lakh crore to Rs 6.83 lakh crore. Of the disputed category, the two major components are corporate tax (Rs 2.92 lakh crore) and personal income tax (Rs 2.86 lakh crore). Even in the category of tax dues not under dispute there has been a 63 percent increase over 4 years. Here too, corporate tax dominates the chart with Rs 52,005 crore pending followed by personal income tax, Rs 29,401 crore. If the government manages to realise at least a fraction of these pending dues, this can significantly boost the tax revenues. The 2017 budget, announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, acknowledges the problem of major disparity between the number of taxpayers and those who actually pay the taxes to the state. But, the Budget doesnt say much on how to deal with this issue. Indias tax to GDP ratio is very low, and the proportion of direct tax to indirect tax is not optimal from the view point of social justice. I place before you certain data to indicate that our direct tax collection is not commensurate with the income and consumption pattern of Indian economy, Jaitley said. Further elaborating this, the FM said as against estimated 4.2 crore persons engaged in organised sector employment, the number of individuals filing return for salary income are only 1.74 crore. As against 5.6 crore informal sector individual enterprises and firms doing small business in India, the number of returns filed by this category are only 1.81 crore. Out of the 13.94 lakh companies registered in India upto 31st March, 2014, 5.97 lakh companies have filed their returns for Assessment Year 2016-17. Going by the Budget, of the 5.97 lakh companies which have filed their returns for assessment year 2016-17 so far, as many as 2.76 lakh companies have shown losses or zero income. 2.85 lakh companies have shown profit before tax of less than Rs 1 crore. 28,667 companies have shown profit between Rs 1 crore to Rs 10 crore, and only 7,781 companies have profit before tax of more than Rs 10 crore. Jaitley argued that situation is not different even for the individual taxpayers. Among the 3.7 crore individuals who filed the tax returns in 2015-16, 99 lakh show income below the exemption limit of Rs 2.5 lakh p.a., 1.95 crore show income between Rs 2.5 to Rs 5 lakh, 52 lakh show income between Rs 5 to Rs 10 lakhs and only 24 lakh people show income above Rs 10 lakhs, the FM said in the Budget speech. Of the 76 lakh individual assessees who declare income above Rs 5 lakh, 56 lakh are in the salaried class. The number of people showing income more than Rs 50 lakh in the entire country is only 1.72 lakh. We can contrast this with the fact that in the last five years, more than 1.25 crore cars have been sold, and number of Indian citizens who flew abroad, either for business or tourism, is 2 crore in the year 2015. From all these figures we can conclude that we are largely a tax non-compliant society. Unleashing the taxmen on corporate and individual taxpayers to harass them and force them pay may not be a successful option, economists have argued, saying this will only encourage further tax evasion. The unrealised tax figures quoted in the table offers evidence. Instead, the government would do well to improve the dispute resolution and incentivise tax payments. The 2017 budget failed to offer any major relief to both individual and corporate tax payers, belying expectations. The reduction in corporate tax rates to 25 percent for those firms with turnover of less than Rs 50 crore wouldnt help bigger firmsfew in number but huge in terms of revenue size. Similarly, one could argue that there wasnt much for individual taxpayers in the higher income bracket in the Budget. The widening gap in the unrealised tax revenue numbers should be wake-up call to the government to urgently bring about mechanisms to engage with the taxpayer, resolve the disputes and encourage them pay their dues to the state. Harassing the taxpayer, surely, isnt the way. What is needed is constructive, friendly engagement by offering tax incentives and making the laws simpler and easy for all to comply. HDFC Bank shares maintained upward bias in the noon trades with the stock rising over 1 percent to trade at Rs 1,391 on BSE. However, according to reports, few traders made a killing in the HDFC Bank counter on Friday, sensing in advance the RBI notification that banned further purchase of shares by the FIIs in the scrip. On Friday, HDFC Bank stock fell from the level of Rs 1,423 to the day's low of 1,368 between 1pm and 1.35 pm. However, RBI notification, which banned further FII purchases in the HDFC Bank counter, came in at 1:39 pm. Post the notification announcement, HDFC Bank stock started moving up and rose to Rs 1,382 in next half an hour's time. According to Moneycontrol report, brokers attributed the rise in share price to short covering of positions by few informed traders. "Most likely, informed traders who had sold just before the RBI notification becoming public, would have covered their positions," Moneycontrol report said. However, custodians of FIIs have been informed by the stock exchanges that purchases made post 1.40 pm on Friday will not be settled. On Friday, FIIs bought shares to the tune of Rs 8,000 crore while DIIs sold shares worth Rs 5,200 crore, with most of the deals taking place in the HDCC Bank scrip, according to market players. "A day before on 16 February, the RBI had withdrawn the limit for purchase of HDFC Bank shares by FIIs when their shareholding had gone below the prescribed limit stipulated under the extant FDI Policy. This change happened after employees converted their ESOPs into shares. Experts had said this was nothing but a technical adjustment that would not last long," Moneycontrol said. Berlin: Rajkummar Rao and Anjali Patil starrer political satire Newton, which had its world premiere at the 67th Berlin Film Festival, has won the International Federation of Art Cinemas (CICAE) award in its Forum segment. Directed by Amit Masurkar, the film received a standing ovation at the festival, with a long and engaging Q and A post the screening. The jury, consisting of Spanish film composer Pedro Barbadillo, Croatian director and Pula Film Festival producer, Tanja Milicic, and French producer Rainer Wothe labelled Newton as a "wonderful" and "exceptional" film. "This exceptional film deals with the various issues of democracy and the fight for it during the elections in India. Its modular portrayal of Indian culture, the dark humour and ironic approach as well as positive use of typical cliches in Indian society gives Newton a unique form and style which will delight audiences in art house cinemas all over the world," the Jury said in a statement. The award was received by film curator Meenakshi Shedde on behalf of the director. Taking to Twitter, Rao congratulated the entire team of the film. "So happy to share Newton has won the Art Cinema award for the Forum section at Berlinale. Congratulations team," he wrote. So happy to share #Newton has won the Art Cinema award for the Forum section at #Berlinale. Congratulations team @ManMundra @Amit_Masurkar Raj Kummar Rao (@RajkummarRao) February 18, 2017 There were total 43 films screened in the segment at the festival. Amit, who rose to fame after helming the 2014 film Sulemani Keeda said, "Newton is the result of so many people coming together with a common intention of telling a story that was waiting to be told. He added, "Im stoked to see how well it connected with an international audience despite the rootedness and regional nuances. We are very touched by the love showered upon us by the Berlin International Film Festival and we feel honoured to accept this award." Masurkar had earlier said that the movie will release in mid-2017. The movie revolves around the story of a rookie clerk on election duty in a conflict-ridden jungle of Central India, who tries his best to conduct free and fair voting. Kangana Ranaut is on fire. Her allegations of nepotism on filmmaker Karan Johar on his chat show, Koffee with Karan Season 5, bear testimony to her recent spate of no-holds-barred comments on members of the Hindi film industry, including her contemporaries and co-stars. Her public spat with Hrithik Roshan dominated headlines for the majority of last year. She confessed that it was a conscious decision on her part not to remain guarded as she did not have any emotional pressure to remain quiet. However, some of that heat also finds itself directed towards her co-star in Vishal Bhardwaj's upcoming period war drama Rangoon, Shahid Kapoor. From narrating anecdotes of her unpleasant working experience with Shahid to comparing him to Hrithik, she has chosen not to mince even a single word. NDTV reports that she also described the experience of kissing Shahid as a 'tragedy', owing to his cold and her general discomfort of doing personal scenes with professional peers. "You have a formal equation with someone and suddenly you are into each other's mouth. That big moustache of Shahid is horrible. It was such a ... not a turn-off but a tragedy of different level," said Ranaut. In his defense, Shahid dubbed Ranaut's statement as a product of her 'vivid imagination', to which she retorted rather spitefully. She compared him to Hrithik, referring to her spat with her Krrish 3 co-star from last year. She also clarified that she described the kissing experience as a 'tragedy', only in the capacity of an artiste. She said that she does not like to make personal comments on her co-stars and added that her statement was at least better than saying that she loves Shahid's boxers. Ranaut was referring to Deepika Padukone's statement in Koffee with Karan Season 3 when she confessed her love for Ranbir Kapoor's boxers, days after splitting with him. She also passed an indirect comment on Padukone and Priyanka Chopra, by stating in an interview that it was a stupid move for Hindi film celebrities to turn to Hollywood at this juncture, as reported by Hindustan Times. She went on to say that she does not want to offer herself 'on a platter' to the USA and wants to focus on the domestic industry instead. She does not need a hunter in a hand. As fearless as Julia is, she oozes confidence with her blonde curls and blood red lipstick. She stings and emits hot smoke with her quick, sharp words, like a dragon with a dictionary. Then she smiles a faint smile as if saying peace. But the man at the receiving end is squirming away, putting up a brave, sporting front as he giggles at being called a movie mafia don who encourages nepotism. Even more amusing, is the onlooker the dashing Nawab, who can never be anything but politically correct, constantly changing expressions from gaping to whispering a wow of disbelief to raising his brows in every possible direction. All throughout, he seems ready to fall off the famous coffee couch of Koffee With Karan. The recent episode with Kangana Ranaut and Saif Alia Khan has been, by far, the most hilarious, entertaining, cut-throat honest conversation dominated entirely by a female star. She continues to prove that she is indeed nothing but a Queen who will not allow the most powerful filmmaker to hold court or be frivolous as she bluntly puts it. Kangana Ranaut is ready to take on Bollywood nepotism by its horns, and how. Every time a man in the past has tried to malign her, she has stood her ground with unfailing courage. With three national awards under her belt of talent and limitless passion, she chooses the right time and platform to give it back to those who dare make fun of her, not just in their private drawing rooms but on national television. When she reminds the subject of her rightful attack Karan Johar how he and those sitting on his famous Koffee couch have made fun of her English or dismissed her as someone who cannot make it, she also adds most rationally how it has only pushed her to improve herself. This is the stuff every Bollywood outsider faces but dare not voice. In fact, the contrast between insiders and outsiders could not be starker with both other guests on the show Shahid and Saif, belonging to families who have been well established for a generation or so. Normally, Karans show is dominated by banter surrounding his Dharma universe, and lots of sex details. So, it is fascinating to watch how the show turned around, this time. With due credit to Karan Johar, who accepts the charges graciously and apologises, one hopes that this candid interview will give courage to the larger talent out there, ignored or silenced with the snobbery that exists. A sight most common on the show is that of two men going nudge-nudge, wink-wink when it comes to a woman as a subject of ridicule. So, it was only natural when Kangana reacted to Karans wink at Shahid, when he asked about their passionate lovemaking scene in their upcoming film, Rangoon. She immediately reprimanded Karan on belittling an artists hard work on sets and the effort that goes into creating an impactful lovemaking scene. A frivolous talk show hath no fury like a serious, national award winning artist, indeed. Beware Bollywood. Here comes a pretty, badass lady who wears her unabashed intelligence on her sleeves, much like the most refreshing and heady perfume, stronger than a whip. Bloody Hell! A noted Malayalam actress was abducted by unidentified men and molested on Friday night in Kochi. As of now, one man has been arrested and the police are on the hunt for the remaining culprits, reports ANI. According to Malayalam news website IEmalayalam.com, a group of men forced themselves into the victim's car at 10:30 pm on 17 February and pushed aside her driver. It is reported that the men, keeping the actress hostage in the car, drove around for an hour and half in the city during which they took photos and videos of the actress. The gang dropped her at Palarivattom junction and fled after which the actress drove her car to the home of a film producer who stayed nearby. The actor reported that her former driver was a part of the gang that molested her. Manorama news also reported that the actresss driver might be a part of the plot. Police suspect the act was planned in advance by him and his associates. Another man called Sunilkumar, the driver who was previously employed by the actress earlier, is suspected to be the main conspirator and is still absconding. The actress for a while was not having the best of relations with a group in the Malayalam film industry, and the group had scuttled a few good roles that she was offered, according to reports. The police are looking into all aspects of the incident and will probe if this was a planned move against the actress. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is currently in Delhi, told reporters there that the police is doing its job and will certainly arrest those responsible. Lok Sabha member Innocent, President of Association of Malayalam Movie Artists, told reporters that he had tried to get in touch with Vijayan over the incident. He said police chief Behra had assured him that all behind the incident would be arrested. Leader of opposition Ramesh Chennithala, currently on a day-long protest at his home constituency near Alappuzha over the "sudden deterioration" of the law and order situation in the state, expressed shock over the incident. "If this is the plight of a celebrity, what can one say about ordinary people. This is really shocking," said Chennithala, a former state Home Minister. Compiled with agency inputs Note: A previous version of this article had mentioned the actress' identity since early reports indicated a case of kidnapping. However, the article was been amended as charges of assault have been included against the accused. The abduction and molestation of a popular actor in Keralas commercial capital of Kochi on Friday night is believed to be the result of the growing nexus between the criminals and the Malayalam film industry. While the police probing the incident say that the 30-year-old actor was abducted by a seven-member gang based at Kochi for the purpose of extorting money, many in the industry feels that there could be more to it than meets the eye. Vinayan, director and founder president of Malayalam Cine Technicians Association (MACTA), alleges connection between the incident and the unofficial ban imposed on the actor in Malayalam. He told a television channel that those who tried to keep the actor away from Malayalm films might be behind the abduction. The actress was forced to seek opportunities in Tamil and Kannada because of the tiff with the star. The abduction has come after she has tried to stage a comeback to Malayalam. Nobody can be blamed if they see a connection between the two, says Vinayan, who has a running feud with one of the leading organisations of the Malalayalam film industry. Vinayans allegation is not an isolated one. Many in the industry and outside have also aired similar charge. A senior leader of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is among those who have backed Vinayan. Supporting the film director, former BJP state president V Muraleedharan said that the actor had started missing films in Malayalm after she had differences with a star. He has urged the police to include this aspect in their investigation. One of the names that figured in connection with the row was that of Dileep, who has big influence over the industry not only as an actor but also as a producer and leader of film exhibitors. Also read: Tamil actress Varalaxmi Sarathkumar speaks out about sexual harassment, exploitation in film industry Media reports said that trouble had started for the actress after she intervened in the marital dispute between Dileep and his ex-wife Manju Warrier, which resulted in a divorce last year. It is alleged that the relation between the actress and the star had soured after the former sounded to Manju about an alleged illicit affair her husband had with fellow actress Kavya Madhavan, whom he married a year after his separation from Manju Warrier. Without making a direct reference to the allegation, Dileep said that a section of the media was trying to twist the facts in the incident. What has happened in the state is shocking. The police investigation is going on in the right direction and they have asked media not to fabricate stories, Dileep said. The police team investigating the incident has refused to comment on the charge. A senior member of the team led by Ernakulam Rural Superintendent of Police (SP) AV George told Firstpost that they will investigate all aspects. There are also allegations that the abduction was aimed at disrupting the film in which she is working or spooling her personal life. Incidentally, the abduction came after the actress announced her marriage with a Kannada producer. Whatever be the case, none disputes the involvement of criminal elements in the case. Preliminary investigation revealed that a seven-member gang led by Sunilkumar alias Pulsar Sunil, a history sheeter from Perumbavur in Ernakulam, was behind the crime. The gang followed the actor in a van while she was returning from a shoot at Thrissur and intercepted her near the Nedumbaserry International Airport and took her hostage. Two of the gang members got into the actors car and shot her pictures and videos after allegedly molesting her. Martin Antony, who drove the actor from Thrissur, was also found to be part of the conspiracy to kidnap her. The police have arrested him and two others. A look out notice has been issued for the main accused and the other remaining three, who include two members of a quotation gang. The Nedumbassery police have registered a first information report (FIR) against the accused for abduction, rape, criminal conspiracy and criminal intimidation, apart from section 66 E of IT Act for taking the picture of the actor using mobile phones. The investigation team has veered round to extortion as the main motive behind the abduction based on the statement of the arrested that Pulsar Suni had promised to pay them Rs.30 lakh after the incident. They were given to understand that the actress could be blackmailed. However, the police do not rule out the possibility of Sunil getting support from the industry since he has been actively involved with its key members for several years. The investigating team suspects that some in the industry may have helped him escape after the crime. His mobile phone call records revealed that some actors had called him soon after the incident. The police have refused to divulge the names of these actors. However, a source said that Sunil had strong connections with several key people in the industry. This is the reason why he has been able to survive in the industry even after he was found involved in several criminal cases, including a similar case of abduction that involved actor Menaka Suresh five years ago. Even though a complaint was lodged against him then the police did not even file an FIR against him. Sunil, who came to the industry as a driver ten years ago, had worked with several senior artistes, including Dileep and Mukesh, who was recently elected to the State Assembly. He had also worked for the abducted actor for about six months. She removed him after his criminal activities came to her notice. Many believe that Sunil has connection with the drug mafia, which also have strong links with the film industry. The industrys connection with the drug world had come to light following the arrest of an actor along with four women in January 2015. MACTA Federation general secretary Baiju Kottarakkara said Sunil was a seasoned criminal, who could not have continued in the industry without support from powerful quarters. He said that the accused would not have found place in the industry if any organisation had notified his involvement in the criminal cases. The abduction of the artist is not an isolated case. The film industry has become home for criminals and drug addicts. The Film Employees Federation should stop giving membership to everyone who pays fees, without checking their background, he said. Writer N S Madhavan has openly criticised the underworld connections of Malayalam cinema. He said that many in the industry were deeply entrenched in the underworld. Read on Firstpost: Malayalam actress molestation case update Film fraternity unites, main accused still at large Meanwhile, womens activists have down heavily on the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government for not taking a serious view of the incident. They have pointed out the failure of Chief Minister to condemn the incident and the description of the incident as an isolated one by Communist Party of India (Marxist) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan as a clear sign of the lax manner in which the government is dealing with the case. Popular dubbing artist and activist Bhagyalakshmi has viewed the incident as a clear sign of break down of law and order state. She said that the incidents of sexual abuse against women were on the increase in the state because of failure by the government to take strong action against the culprits. Kochi: Two more persons who were involved in the kidnapping of a popular Malayalam film actress have been arrested, Kerala Police said on Sunday. The two were arrested in Coimbatore on Saturday night. The popular actress was abducted for a while on her way from Thrissur to Kochi on Friday night by some people, who reportedly took pictures of her to blackmail her. Her former driver is a suspect in the case and has been taken into custody, soon after the actress told about her harrowing experience to actor-cum-director Lal, who informed the police after hearing her tale of the abduction. While the victim's statement has now been recorded before a magistrate, the police probe team has zeroed down on six others who were in the gang, of which three have been already identified, while three others are yet to be identified. Police chief Loknath Behra on Saturday claimed that they have identified those behind the "kidnap" of the actress and it is a matter of time before the entire gang is arrested. Veteran producer Suresh Kumar whose wife, Maneka, a yesteryear actress, said that his wife too had a similar experience a few years ago at Kochi, when the prime suspect in the present case - Sunil, a driver in the film industry, chased her vehicle for some time. "I did raise a complaint, but nothing happened," said Kumar to the media. New Delhi: Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi will host a special screening of the Oscar-nominated film Lion here. The invite list includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the distributor of the film has said. Cabinet ministers and other dignitaries will be invited for the screening later this week before the film releases on Friday, read a statement. "We are glad that a person of such repute such as Maneka Gandhi has expressed her desire to host a screening of Lion. It's for a wise cause and thought and currently we are in the process of setting up the screening in the coming week in Delhi," Avinaash Jumani, CEO at Pictureworks (distributor of the film in India), said in a statement. Gandhi, an animal rights activist and environmentalist, recently achieved success in tracking down 100 children and she is going to reunite them with their parents next month. The fact that it finds resonance with the story of Lion -about an Indian boy who when separated from his biological family, is adopted by an Australian couple in Australia and then years later, finds his lost family using Google Earth - makes it apt for Gandhi to host the screening. Even the makers of Lion had started The #LIONHEART Campaign for helping street children, by joining hands with India-based NGO Magic Bus, Childline and Railway Children. Directed by Garth Davis, the movie is based on Saroo Brierley's best-selling autobiography A Long Way Home. It features child actor Sunny Pawar, with Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman in pivotal roles. Its not just Akshay Kumar, but the female characters in the satirical dark comedy drama, Jolly LLB 2, were also applauded. One such character was the wonderfully-nuanced cameo by Sayani Gupta, who played Hina Siddiqui, a young Muslim woman driven to despair. Its a small but pivotal and deeply impactful role, so much so that Sayani was lauded for her performance by some of the veterans from the industry. Twitterati in large numbers also poured their love for her. Gupta has so far been doing a balancing act between commercial and art cinema. She has received critical acclaim for her offbeat and distinctive roles in films like her debut Margarita With A Straw (played the role of Kalki's love interest) and most recently Fan (as Shah Rukh Khan's secretary), however, Sayani doesnt take compliments or criticism seriously. I have never sat down to ponder over what others have to say because ultimately you know what you have done. Piyush Mishra (theatre and film actor, NSD alumni) called me few days back when I was shooting for Jagga Jasoos, and said while referring to Jolly LLB 2, I didnt know you acted so well. Lot of people are complimenting me on social media as well. Somebody told me that they went to watch the film thrice because of me. There are lot of people who said I made them feel for the part and I made them cry," says Sayani. She continues, My performance really moved my mother, and she is far too detached about the industry and not at all excited about the film world or what I am doing. She is not in favour of me acting and it was quite a struggle to convince her when I went to FTII (Film and Television Institute of India). Little by little, she is coming to terms with it but she would have rather seen me as an IAS officer or in a regular job." "We are from middle class family and they didnt want their only daughter to get into films. Obviously there are certain perceptions about the film industry. My close friends never say nice things, they are always critiquing my work, but finally they felt that I was brilliant in Jolly LLB 2." Strangely enough, Sayani has been getting offers for horror movies for last few years and she, too, fails to understand the reason for it. Maybe they think I am a Bengali, I have big eyes... she laughs. While Sayani so far has rejected two offers post Jolly LLB 2 (as she is choosy, instinctive, and not ready for it), she is certainly excited about her first international project, The Hungry, which is an Indo-British production starring Naseeruddin Shah and Tisca Chopra. The film, for which the actors were very selectively chosen, is directed by debutante filmmaker Bornila Chatterjee, who is an alumnus from New Yorks Tisch School of the Arts. The Hungry is an adaptation of William Shakespeare tragedy Titus Androcinus, which is believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593. "This year marks the 400th death anniversary of Shakespeare. His stories could seem a tad hyper-real for this era, but this film is a realistic take. The script won at a collaborative cine-lab," says Sayani, further adding, The film has a bunch of deadly actors. We shot for it in Delhi and Agra. The ambience on set was stimulating and since we all got along so well, it turned out to be a great shoot." Recently, Sayani earned an honourable mention for the Best Actress award for her short film, Leeches, at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA). In just two years of her career, she's also bagged one of the lead roles opposite Naseeruddin Shah with The Hungry. The actress considers it her privilege to act alongside 'Naseer', who was her teacher at the FTII. "Naseer was very excited about his role after decades. He plays my father. He has been my teacher and lot of my understanding about acting and the craft is because of him. It was almost like reassurance of sorts when he would come to take our class. I adore him as a human being. He is fun to be around. He has always taught us how acting is all about reacting. He is a keen listener, which adds to the performance," she says, adding: There are two of the coolest men I have worked with Shah Rukh Khan and Naseeruddin Shah. They are sensitive, they are aware, they dont take themselves too seriously. They are normal dudes. So did Sayani take any advice from the two coolest men? Some of the things Naseer told me is: Learn your lines till you bump into a furniture. Know your lines backwards. Study the script well. Be relaxed and don't take things too seriously. Make it fun and light. On the other hand, there's much to learn just by the way Shah Rukh carries himself. He is the most technically sound actor, I feel. His understanding, the cleanliness with which he does everything, his craft is solid. He doesnt show it. He is persistently hardworking and also the humility. He doesnt take his stardom seriously," she reveals. Two of Sayanis friends from the industry are the erstwhile directors Rajkumar Hirani and Vishal Bhardwaj. She may not have offers from them yet but she certainly takes their advice. I dont talk work with them. Hirani often tells me that I should give people time after they have seen my film. I did audition for a part in Rangoon but Vishal told me that it wont be good enough for me. I would never ask them to cast me because that could hamper our relationship. Whenever they want to cast me, they will. Sayani is currently shooting for Ranbir Kapoor-Katrina Kaif- starrer Jagga Jasoos which has been in the making for a long time. When I signed the film I was playing the only narrator in the film. I had a separate track of my own. But since there is no script Dada (Director Anurag Basu) doesnt work with scripts, he writes as he goes along my role has changed. I will know what my part is only after I see the film. Also, it is a very difficult film when it comes to format. It is musical, its a childrens film, and it is not a normal narrative. I play a 14-year-old girl and that is all I know (laughs), she says. After Chief Minister Edappadi Palanisamy, a proxy of VK Sasikala, won the confidence vote in the Tamil Nadu assembly, Kollywood has turned cautious. It was only a couple of days earlier that we saw Tamil actors and industry patrons express their views openly on the Jalikattu agitation. Leading the pack was Kamal Haasan, who made national headlines with his open support to the O Panneerselvam group in the tussle for supremacy within the AIADMK. The tweets of Kamal Haasan, Arvind Swamy, Siddharth, Raghava Lawrence and to a certain extent Suriya, were bitter about the Sasikala group's aggressive ways to capture power. Kamal Haasan, in an interview to NDTV, described the State government as a criminal conglomerate. He also said in the interview People were angry and would revolt if there was an 'orchestrated lathi charge'. Kamals tweets also became popular on social media There you go. Seems like we have another CM. Jai de-mockcrazy. People of Tamizhnadu, Welcome your respective MLAs with the respect they deserve back home. Kamal Haasan tweeted the official mail id of Tamil Nadu governor and asked people to write their dissatisfaction with proper respect. Kamal also tweeted: You should write with respect, its Governors mail and not legislative assembly. There you go. Seems like we have another CM. Jai de-mockcrazy Kamal Haasan (@ikamalhaasan) February 18, 2017 People of Tamizhnadu, Welcome your respective MLAs with the respect they desrve back home Kamal Haasan (@ikamalhaasan) February 18, 2017 Tweets from Arvind Swamy and Siddharth also were anti state government. Arvind Swami said, None will accept a vote of confidence if the MLAs don't represent the ppl's views. For that they have to meet people, not party in a resort. Without exaggeration, I have not come across a single person in all my interactions in the last one week who supports this administration. None will accept a vote of confidence if the MLAs don't represent the ppl's views. For that they have to meet people, not party in a resort arvind swami (@thearvindswami) February 18, 2017 It's a pity that there is a media blackout of the assembly sessions and only selective footage is released. Ppl have a right 2 c proceedings arvind swami (@thearvindswami) February 18, 2017 If true democracy can be protected in an undemocratic manner, are we to feel happy or sad? Is the million $ question. Opinions pl - arvind swami (@thearvindswami) February 18, 2017 In my opinion, The only solution that is acceptable under the circumstances is a re- election. This is not the people's mandate. arvind swami (@thearvindswami) February 18, 2017 Without exaggeration, I have not come across a single person in all my interactions in the last one week who supports this administration. arvind swami (@thearvindswami) February 18, 2017 Siddharth also tweeted about the matter, "Let even children see, hear and learn what is happening in the assembly in TN. Make them understand. Shameful days for democracy! Let even children see, hear and learn what is happening in the assembly in #TN. Make them understand. Shameful days for democracy! Siddharth (@Actor_Siddharth) February 18, 2017 An actor like Suriya, who keeps away from politics, tweeted in Tamil - Friends, its us who are eating mixture now. .... Suriya Sivakumar (@Suriya_offl) February 18, 2017 It is obviously a reference to the defeat of OPS in the trust vote. Earlier, meme creators trolled CM Paneerselvam for being silent during the Jallikattu issue and compared him to the mixture eating guy in the famous Nattamai comedy. But other top actors and industry veterans are keeping away from making any sarcastic remarks about VK Sasikala or her proxy chief minister EPS. A top producer said told Firstpost, Why should you get into unnecessary trouble. The Sasikala family still controls the key distribution and exhibition business. She may be in jail, but it looks like the Palanisamy government would last for some time. At the moment box-office is at an all time low, and its better we play safe without rubbing the family the wrong way. Meanwhile, a little known political outfit called India Thesiya League has filed a police complaint stating that Kamal Haasans recent tweets provoke general public against AIADMK MLAS. They want the EPS government to take action against Kamal Haasan for provoking violence. During the Jayalalithaa regime it was small unknown fringe parties which caused maximum damage to Kollywood. They were able to stop the release of Kamal Haasans Viswaroopam and Vijays Thalaiva. Both these films released in Tamil Nadu two weeks after their worldwide release. The current AIADMK government feels Kamal Haasan and few actors are trying to fish in troubled waters. Some months ago, the Rajasthan government changed the tagline of its tourism department from welcome to our land to 'Jaane kya dikh jaaye.' When the tagline was changed, critics joked that Rajasthan was metamorphosing from a land that once welcomed guests Padharo Mhare Des to a cornucopia of spooks and surprises waiting at every corner. Turns out, the joke was bang on target. A series of incidents over the past few months has shown a dangerous closing of the Rajasthani mind, known both for its trading acumen and chivalry, to reveal a place that springs surprises that are both comical and scary. First, there was the despicable incident involving film director Sanjay Bhansali, who was bullied and manhandled for reportedly planning a dream sequence on an allegory penned 800 years ago by poet Malik Mohammad Jayasi. Then, carrying forward its fascination with fantasy masquerading as fact, an influential legislator of the ruling BJP government coaxed the University of Rajasthan into considering a proposal to rewrite and declare Maharana Pratap winner of the Battle of Haldighati, which he had actually lost. And now they want reputed public intellectual and feminist Nivedita Menon tried for reportedly making seditious remarks on Kashmir and soldiers, and a teacher in the Jodhpur varsity sacked for allowing Menon to make the alleged remarks that nobody except one person seems to have heard. Could it get more farcical than this? Violent protests over filming an allegory, assault on a famous director for a reported dream sequence? Attempts to distort history by declaring Pratap victor of a war he didn't win? Taking words out of context and hounding teachers and academics over remarks they didn't make? Both these incidents, if not linked to violence and academia, would have been comical, a farcical manifestation of the new tagline Jaane kya dikh jaaye. In Bhansali's case, his assailants saw fact where none exists. First, they confused Jayasi's fictitious parable of Alauddin Khilji's obsession with Rani Padmini (Padmavati) of Chittorgarh. Then, they resorted to violence to protest a dream sequence in a film that the director denied being part of the script. (Even if it is, what is so shocking about an obsessed lover dreaming of his muse, a la Shahrukh Khan in Darr?) In Pratap's case, it was an egregious distortion of history, reducing the former Mewar ruler's heroic struggle, resistance and refusal to surrender to Akbar when Rajputs all around were falling into the Mughal basket like ripe mangoes to a victory that was never achieved. Menon's case is even more farcical. She is being hounded for a statement that appears to be mere imagination like Padmavati and Pratap's victory in Haldighati of her detractors. The Jodhpur cops have registered a complaint that alleges Menon said "India is illegally occupying Kashmir." And that soldiers join the army for livelihood. Menon has said this is untrue and the words attributed to her were wrongly reported in two local newspapers. "I did not at this event, ever make the statement India is illegally occupying Kashmir, as one of the headlines claims. When Rajshree Ranawat (the organiser who is now facing enquiry and termination) was introducing me, she began by saying that this is the scholar who became well known for her statement during the JNU nationalism lectures, and then she quoted verbatim what she had said in JNU a year ago, including the phrase above. She said this scholar was hounded by the media on the basis of a decontextualised clip from the JNU lecture, which included this statement. Now this is eerily similar to the incident involving JNU student leader Kanhaiyya Kumar last year, when he was arrested for sedition on the basis of remarks he had not made. But, in that case, the ABVP students who had lodged the complaint had at least taken the trouble of proffering a doctored video. But, in Menon's case, even doctored videos and morphed pictures are missing. The trail seems to be taking place purely on the basis of rumours and hearsay, like the frenzied rush to temples for feeding milk to Lord Ganesha's statue, an incident that remains the marker of Indian gullibility. The problem, in this case, is not what Menon said or implied. (Though it is her Constitutional right to do so). The genesis of the farce is in the complete puppetisation of varsity administrations across the country. Across India, academicians who genuflect to the rightwing and its alma mater, the RSS, are being offered important positions in centres of academic excellence. Case in point being former VC of Rajasthan university JP Singhal who quit when his appointment was challenged in the Rajasthan high court. Since most of them are coming up through sycophancy and political manipulation, they lack the spine and academic heft to take on the ABVP bullies. Thus, universities have turned into centres for flexing the rightwing muscles. Otherwise, where on earth would a professor be threatened with termination for inviting an academic who made a remark that nobody seems to have heard! And even if it was, freedom of speech, critical thinking and enquiry are the founding principles of academic debate, concepts that nurture the intellect, raise the horizon of the human mind. But, when the closing of human minds begins, nothing comes as a surprise. Rajasthan's transformation from the land of Padharo Mhare Des to get beaten up and booked these days to a land of farce seems to have begun. The tagline, as it turns out, was not hilarious but prophetic. Kolkata: The family of a minor whose arm had to be amputated following an infection, on Monday protested at a primary healthcare centre in West Bengal, accusing the authorities of medical negligence. Farzana was brought to the Muradih Block Primary Healthcare Centre in Purulia district on 30 January with a stomach ache. "The doctor didn't even properly examine her. He gave an injection and prescribed a medication. Later on, the arm turned black. We went to consult experts from Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai, and were told that nothing could be done as the infection had spread," Farzana's father said. Her left arm was eventually operated upon and amputated below the elbow at a hospital in Chennai. The girl's father demanded strict punishment for the doctor and the nurse, as the rest of his family and neighbours staged a demonstration outside the healthcare centre. In a gruesome incident, a body of a three-year-old girl was found in a dumpyard in North Chennai's Tiruvottiyur area on Sunday, the Deccan Chronicle reported. The daily added that the girl's corpse, which was found by municipal workers while they were dumping garbage, bore signs of torture, with her mouth stuffed with rags. "The body was severely battered with injuries on the face and torso," N Paruthi, an eyewitness was quoted by Times of India as saying. The girl had reportedly gone missing while she was playing near her house on Saturday morning. However, the parents only realised that the child was missing at about 2 pm, The New Indian Express reported. The daily added that the parents of the deceased filed a missing persons complaint at 8 pm on Saturday. After the body was discovered by municipal workers, the body was brought to a government hospital where the police asked the parents to identify the body. The police pointed to a possible sexual assault against the deceased. There were injury marks in her genitalia, The New Indian Express quoted a police officer as saying. While the police said that investigations into the case is on, neighbours believe that the culprit may be someone from the neighbourhood, The Times of India reported. Media reports noted that the locals believe a neighbour, who had lured the girl with an ice-cream before she disappeared, could be the prime suspect. Meanwhile, angry at the cold-blooded murder, relatives of the girl staged a road roko in the area, while locals laid siege to Ernavur police station seeking strict action against the culprits on Sunday, media reports added. Reacting to Pakistan's listing of Jamaat ud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), India on Monday sought internationally mandated action against the Pakistan-based terror mastermind. However, the Ministry of External Affairs added that Islamabad's action was the first logical step in getting the region rid of the twin menaces of terrorism and violent extremism. "Saeed is an international terrorist, the mastermind of the Mumbai attack and responsible for unleashing a wave of terrorism against Pakistan's neighbours," MEA spokesperson Vikas Swaroop said. MEA's statement comes after Islamabad placed the Mumbai attack mastermind under its Anti-terrorism Act on Saturday. The move had been interpreted as Pakistan's tacit acknowledgement of his links to militancy. Dawn News reported that the Punjab government had included names of Saeed and one of his close aides, Qazi Kashif, in the fourth schedule of the Anti-terrorism Act. Three other men were also added to the list Abdullah Obaid from Faisalabad, and Zafar Iqbal and Abdur Rehman Abid from the Markaz-i-Taiba, Muridke. Saeed and the four men, who have been added to the fourth schedule of the ATA, were also placed under house arrest on 30 January in Lahore amid an angry uproar from his party and political allies. The five men were identified by the Interior Ministry as "active members of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-i-Insaniyat (FIF)," the daily said. The ministry directed the Counter Terrorism Department to "move and take necessary action" against them. The names of Saeed and 37 other JuD and FIF leaders had earlier also been placed on the Exit Control List (ECL), barring them from leaving the country. The Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 empowers the government to mark a person as "proscribed" and to place that person on the fourth schedule on an ex-parte basis. The mere listing of a person in the fourth schedule of the ATA shows that he is linked with militancy in some way, the daily noted. Those listed face a barrage of legal consequences like travel bans and scrutiny of assets etc. Any violation of provision of the fourth schedule may result in imprisonment of up to three years and fine or both. The action against Saeed was taken after the country was hit by at least eight terror attacks which killed more than 100 people. "Detention of Saeed shows that army supported the step by the civilian government, and it was viewed by many as a sign of changing security priorities," the daily said. Saeed was also put under house arrest after Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008 but he was freed by court in 2009. Saeed also carries a reward of $10 million announced by the US for his role in terror activities. (With inputs from PTI) Beijing: India has done a better job than China in promoting satellite launch technology which could prompt Beijing to fast-track commercialisation of its rocket launches to vie for the world's small satellite market, Chinese officials said on Monday. "The launch indicated that India can send commercial satellites into space at lower costs, giving the country's competitiveness in the global race for the burgeoning commercial space businesses," Zhang Yonghe, director with the new technology department of the Shanghai Engineering Centre for Microsatellites, said. China may fast-track the commercialisation of its rocket launches after India's success, Chinese-state run media quoted Chinese officials as saying in a report titled 'India's satellite launch ramps up space race'. Zhang believes that India did a better job promoting its launch services internationally than China, the report said. Acknowledging that after reaching Mars ahead of China, India stole the march last week by putting 104 satellites into orbit from a single rocket, Zhang said, "China will likely fast-track the commercialisation of its rocket launches to vie for the worlds burgeoning small satellite launch market." "The Wednesday's launch is India's latest triumph for its space programme"," a Global Times report said. "In 2014, India became the fourth country to successfully send a spacecraft to orbit Mars, signalling a regional rivalry with China which suffered a failure in its Mars mission in 2012," it said. "Nearly all of its 103 smaller satellites are from other countries including Israel, Kazakhstan, Switzerland and the US," it said. After Indian Space Research Organisation's successful feat, the daily, part of the ruling Communist Party of China publications, had said the achievement made Indians proud but it sought to belittle the significance saying that its impact is "limited". While praising the record launch as "India's triumph", today's report also said "with respect to the research and development of both military and commercial rocket launch services, India lags behind China, the US and Russia". "India cannot match them yet unless it has enough rockets types to fulfil all satellites launches," it quoted Zhang as saying. Xue Lijun, general manager assistant of Shenzhen Aerospace Dongfanghong Development Ltd said that India's launch on Wednesday is a breakthrough in terms of numbers, but not in technology. "Technologically speaking, the launch did not have any big difficulties what [Indian engineers] need to do is to avoid the conflicts among satellites, which involves lots of calculation and data analysis, but is not a tough task," Xue told the daily. "The 104 satellites are mostly in the same orbit, indicating that India still lacks capabilities of sending multiple satellites into various orbits," the report quoted the "experts" as saying. Mumbai: A reported communication failure on board a Jet Airways aircraft while flying in the German skies gave a scare to German authorities who feared a hijack and scrambled their fighter jets. The incident happened three days back when the Mumbai-London flight 9W-118, with 330 passengers and 15 crew members, lost contact with the Air Traffic Control (ATC) for a "brief period" while flying over Cologne. The pilots of the Boeing-777 lost contact due to a reported communication failure, the Jet Airways said in a statement in Mumbai on Sunday. However, the communication was safely restored within minutes and the flight landed at its destination without any hitch, the statement said. The airline has de-rostered the pilots of the flight pending investigation and reported the matter to the civil aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). "Contact between Jet Airways flight 9W-118 from Mumbai to London Heathrow, of 16 February 2017, and the local ATC, was briefly lost while flying over German airspace," the airline statement said. "As a precaution, the German Air Force (GAF) scrambled its fighter jets to ensure the safety of the flight and its passengers," it said. The communication was, however, safely restored within a few minutes, the statement said. Kathmandu: India's Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhu announced here that it would soon link Kathmandu to New Delhi and Kolkata using direct railway lines, in a bid to strengthen cross-border connectivity and facilitate movement of people between the two countries. Prabhu, who is here to address the Nepal Infrastructure Summit, said that this could happen as soon as Nepal signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for engineering surveys. He added that India was ready to share its drone technology and experience with Nepal for monitoring the project. According to experts, this move a counter to China's bid to expand its rail network towards Lumbini via Kathmandu. Prabhu held separate meetings with Nepal President Bidhya Devi Bhandari,Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Minister of Physical Infrastructure and Transport Ramesh Lekhak, Civil Aviation, Culture and Tourism Minister Jiwan Bahadur Shahi and Energy Minister Janardan Sharma. He also met Nepalese business leaders, political leaders, industry heads, with whom discussed a wide range of infrastructure development issues. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday reserved its order on whether to refer the matter pertaining to ban on the entry of women at Kerala's Sabrimala temple to a constitution bench. A three-judge bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra asked the parties, including the amicus curiae, to furnish the questions which are likely to be referred to the larger bench. "Judgement reserved on the question whether the matter should go to a larger bench or not," the bench said. "Counsel for the parties shall file written submissions/ questions which should fall under the constitutional framework, that is likely to be referred to the larger bench," the bench said. The apex court also allowed several applications, filed in support as well as against the ban on entry of women in the temple, seeking impleadment in the matter. On 7 November last year, the Kerala government informed the apex court that it favoured the entry of women of all age groups in the historic Sabarimala temple. Initially, the LDF government had taken a progressive stand in 2007 by favouring women's entry in the temple, which was over-turned by the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) dispensation later. The UDF, before losing power to the LDF this year, had taken a view that it was against the entry of women of the age group of 10-to-50 years into the temple as such a practice was being followed since time immemorial. The apex court had on 11 July 2016, indicated that it may refer to a five-judge constitution bench the issue of the centuries-old practice of barring entry of women between 10 and 50 years of age in the historic Sabarimala temple, saying it pertains to violation of fundamental rights. It had observed that women are conferred with constitutional rights and it would pass a detailed order in case the matter is referred to such a constitution bench. The apex court had earlier questioned the practice of barring entry of women to Sabarimala temple, saying it would test whether "faith and belief" can differentiate among persons of the same denomination. The management of the Sabarimala temple, located on a hilltop in the Western Ghats of Pathanamthitta district, had earlier told the court that the ban on entry of women aged between 10 and 50 years was because they cannot maintain "purity" on account of menstruation. Raebareli: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav had a piece of advice for superstar Amitabh Bachchan, telling him not to "advertise for the donkeys of Gujarat". Without taking any name, he referred to the advertisement in which Bachchan, the brand ambassador of Gujarat Tourism, is seen inviting tourists to visit the Wild Ass Sanctuary located in Little Rann of Kutch in the state. "Ek gadhe ka vigyapan aata hai. Main iss sadi ke sabse bade mahanayak se kahunga ke ab aap Gujarat ke gadhon ka prachar mat kariye (There's an ad on TV which shows donkeys. I appeal to the century's biggest star, please stop endorsing the donkeys of Gujarat)," Akhilesh said, giving an interesting twist to the no-holds-barred election campaign. "What will happen if the donkeys also start getting advertised?" the UP CM asked the audience. The bitter remarks came at a time when parties are racing to the finish line of the state polls described by many as the semi-final before the 2019 Union election. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday directed the West Bengal environment secretary to appear in court on Wednesday along with a status report on the critically and severely polluted areas in the state. A bench of Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Sanjay Kishnan Kaul asked the official to be present as it noted that even after a lapse of five weeks the state has not filed its response. The court in its last hearing on 16 January, asked all the states to file affidavits stating the position of their critically and severely polluted areas. The court then said that in the event of a failure to do so, the environment secretary would have to be present in the court personally. However, all but West Bengal complied with the apex court's order. The bench was irked when counsel for West Bengal sought two more weeks' time to file the affidavit. "You are a wonderful lawyer. You will not file affidavit in five weeks. You want two more weeks' time. And you will also not bring the man as ordered last time," the bench observed. New Delhi: Islamic preacher Zakir Naik's Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) on Monday opposed the government's plea for holding in-camera proceedings in the tribunal which is scrutinising whether the immediate ban on IRF was justified. IRF contended before Delhi High Court's Justice Sangita Dhingra Seghal, who is presiding over the tribunal set up under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), that the government's plea for in-camera proceedings was a "garb" to deny them the material relied upon to ban the organisation. The lawyer for IRF also said the material relied upon for imposing the immediate ban on it had to be disclosed in the notification and added that none of the material has been provided to them as yet. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Sanjay Jain pressed for in-camera hearing claiming the "subject matter was sensitive" and there was a possibility that it could be disclosed during the proceedings before the tribunal. He said he would claim confidentiality with regard to certain documents during proceedings before the tribunal and added that when chargesheet has not been filed, the material regarding ongoing probe into IRF cannot be provided to it. "The material given to the tribunal regarding ongoing probe cannot be disclosed to him," the ASG said. After hearing arguments of both sides, the tribunal said it would pass order on the government's application for in- camera hearing on 23 February 23. It also fixed 17, 18 and 20 March for recording of evidence in the matter. The government had on 6 February placed before the tribunal three affidavits on behalf of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) containing documents in a sealed cover regarding the material relied upon and the investigation carried out by the agency based on which the government decided to impose an immediate ban on IRF. IRF had earlier moved the tribunal against the 17 November, 2016 notification of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) imposing the ban on it. However, since the tribunal declined to hear the matter before 6 February, the foundation had moved the High Court challenging the immediate ban. Defending its decision before the high court, the government had claimed that the organisation was banned as there was an apprehension that youths could be "radicalised" to join terror groups. IRF had opposed the contention, saying no reasons were given for the ban. The Centre had also said that Mumbai Police had lodged an FIR against six other members of IRF on a complaint by the father of a Kerala-based youth who had joined ISIS. Mumbai: The Shiv Sena on Monday said its support to the BJP-led government in Maharashtra was "temporary" in nature and that the future of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis "remains uncertain". The fresh attack on the chief minister came a day ahead of the crucial civic polls, campaign for which was marred by mudslinging by the state's ruling coalition partners. "The Chief Minister is going around giving assurances about Mumbai everyday at a time when his chair depends on the support of the Sena. His own future remains uncertain, yet he wants to change the future of Mumbai. He should not forget that temporary support has been given by Sena only to let Maharashtra remain stable," an editorial in the party mouthpiece 'Saamana' said. It said the fact that the Chief Minister is being forced to "beg for votes" in the city bylanes points to the fact that the BJP has already lost the race. "If developmental works have been done in the last two-and-a-half years (since the government came to power), he would not have been forced to go begging for votes," it said. "The chief minister talks of removing the intestines of the corrupt. In that case, his own corrupt cabinet ministers should be cautious because he may go after them in an uncontrollable manner," it said. Meanwhile, Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray, in a veiled attack on the BJP, said some candidates of a particular party had been indulging in a misinformation campaign by running a fake exit poll and through trolls on social media as a desperate attempt. "Desperate measures. Shame. I hope Election Commission takes action on those candidates spreading fake exit poll lies," he tweeted. "Some have even stooped so low to forging a letterhead and signature of an MP with another exit poll. Such jumlas are an absolute shame," he added. The high-voltage campaign for civic polls in Mumbai and nine other cities across Maharashtra sharpened the BJP-Shiv Sena rift, casting a shadow over the stability of the Fadnavis government. Dubbed as a mini Assembly election, over 1.94 crore voters across the state are entitled to exercise their franchise to choose representatives for 10 city corporations on 21 February. On the same day, 11 Zilla Parishads will go to the polls. The first phase of the polls in 15 Zilla Parishads was held on 16 February. The electioneering assumed an unusually shrill pitch in the final phases largely due to the no-holds-barred attack on each other by the BJP and the Sena, fighting the civic polls separately for the first time in over two decades. The Congress, NCP and the MNS are also in the fray. For live updates on BMC Election 2017, click here. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections are turning out to be a big family affair. Political parties are nominating the wives, sons, daughters and even nieces of their local leaders to contest seats. Take for example the Congress corporator from Kalina, Brian Miranda. His wife, Tulip, will contest the elections in his place; as will Swapna, wife of MNS corporator Sandeep Deshpande. BJP corporator Mohan Mithbavkars wife Shilpa will contest in Borivali. What sounds like a philanthropic act is, in fact, a conceited attempt at hoarding power within the family. Electoral politics in India has a big fat blemish: Reservations. Constituencies are categorised as Open, SC, ST, women, etc. While this was done to ensure diverse participation, it also has major negative side-effects on governance. First, politicians are majorly concerned with re-elections to prolong their careers, and in the absence of this stimulus, they do not work to impress the electorate. One must also observe the dramatic rise in assets of one-term corporators. Second, politicians with muscle and money enjoy the benefits of reservation by fielding, what can be called, the 'great Indian family'. Maharashtra Navnirman Senas (MNS) corporator Sudhir Jadhav's case serves well to explain this phenomena. When the corporator from Dadar West found that his constituency seat was going to be reserved for women, he put his entire family into the fray. He told Mumbai Mirror, I am an OBC candidate, while my wife belongs to the SC category. My daughter Shweta is very qualified too. So, we have all combinations in our family. Regardless of any reservation, one of us can contest. My wife was a corporator in 2007, so there is no problem. What the corporator casually admitted is one of the biggest flaws in our democracy. If the idea behind reservations was to promote inclusion and create a fair-playing ground, it has fallen far short of achieving this noble intention because politicians are always one step ahead stocked with candidates from different castes and genders. The lever of control, however, as seen in the past, continues to be in the male bastions hand, while the relative turns out to be a namesake elected representative. Not just corporators, Mumbais figurehead position of mayor has also been subject to a rather tough-to-meet criteria: A SC/woman. With the expense involved in campaigning and acquiring a political ticket, it seems that reservations are only creating barriers for quality. Politics in India is a deep-set, rigorous old wives tale based on the narrative of politicians as masters, not servants. Why, otherwise, does no politician indulge the public in a concrete action plan to solve the problem of say, broken roads, water supply, sewage, or sanitation? Politicians may be subject to the litmus test of voting but why is the electorate only worthy of word-fencing among politicians and not a blueprint of policy? The run-up to the BMC elections has been completely bereft of ideas. Mumbai has received a copy-pasted manifesto of previous elections and a cursory promise of transparency. When neither Mr nor Mrs Corporator builds pressure on local governance reforms, its not just a battle between proxy politicians but is, in fact, a proxy election. Of course, eliminating reservation alone will not lead to major improvements in governance, but it will at least stop the funnelling of an already narrow pool of competent candidates. It will also create an environment of incentives through re-election that will attract serious politicians. Eliminating reservations must also be coupled with long-term changes that must begin with more power for the elected representatives. A corporators role mustnt be limited to asking questions and marking attendance. Enough power must be decentralised to the corporator so that he/she can autonomously work for the betterment of their area and not be stuck in a bureaucratic mess. There also must be enough power so that the public knows whose throat to choke if work isnt done. Voters will fail till the corporator, or his relative, continue to blame the municipal corporation for the mess in their locality. The author works with Free A Billion, an NGO that aims to empower Indians by creating a popular demand for a new set of rules The BMC goes to polls on Tuesday after a high decibel campaign during which the voices of opposition parties were inundated in the acrimony between the saffron allies turned rivals: the Shiv Sena and the BJP. The allegations and counter-allegations are flying thick and fast between the two Hindutva pariwar partners, who continue to share power in the state as well as the Centre, apparently to create an impression that only the two saffron parties are the frontrunners. It could be a shrewd calculation of initiating a Congress-NCP Mukt era in politics of Maharashtra and Mumbai. What the Shiv Sena has been doing in state politics through its belligerent activities against BJP policies, the BJP has done during the poll campaign for the BMC where the Shiv Sena is the big brother. Ever since the BJP came to power in the state in 2014 Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, it has kept the Shiv Sena on a leash, giving controlled leeway for calculated dissent. For instance, in 2015, Shiv Sena workers blackened the face of Sudheendra Kulkarni, a former journalist and aide of LK Advani, for organising a function for the release of a book written by Pakistans former minister Khurshid Kasuri. The Shiv Sena men also threatened to disrupt the book release function but Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was able to smoothen things out and the Shiv Sena relented. In the process, the Shiv Sena continued to maintain its identity of a militant organization, albeit raising emotive issues, while the BJP, as the party ruling the country, maintained its sober, dignified stance. Since 2014, the BJP has emerged as the big brother for the Shiv Sena in state politics, unlike in the past, when the Shiv Sena used to win more seats than the BJP in the Assembly. Over the past over two years, BJP leaders have been raising voices against irregularities and lack of transparency in the BMC governed by the Sena. Considering the anti-incumbency factor, the Sena is jittery over retaining power, while the BJP is nursing dreams of wresting power in the BMC on its own, or at least emerge as the single-largest party to become Shiv Senas big brother. However, the BJPs campaign against Senas misgovernance in the civic body has been well calculated and at times, confusing. If the BMC was being misgoverned, the BJP government could have superseded it, or at least come up with specific instances of corruption for legal action. Instead, the BJPs campaign lacked exposure of scams, or followup of irregularities pointed out before the announcement of polls. Ironically, the Finance Ministry released a document, stating that the BMCs governance has been transparent, giving scope for chest thumping by boisterous Sena leaders. Likewise, when some local BJP leaders came up with the bizarre idea of banning the printing of the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna for three days, senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu opposed it. The media attention, especially by news channels, remained largely focused on the diatribes of leaders of the saffron partners, relegating the opposition parties to the fringes. The Congress, as usual, remained divided with infighting between its city chief Sanjay Nirupam (a former Shiv Sainik) and former Union minister Gurudas Kamat coming out in the open over managing the elections. The party is already on the backfoot after losing power in the state in 2014 and some of its leaders under scanner for misusing power. The NCP, which had shared power with the Congress in the state, is also on the defensive after Chhagan Bhujbal was indicted for corruption and its other leaders came under the scanner. The traditional votebank of the Congress and the NCP has been scattered. Muslims have other options: the Samajwadi Party and the AIMIM, which is poised for a debut. The MNS is in miserable shape. The party had offered its support to the Shiv Sena, but was rebuffed. At best, the MNS may emerge as a prop for the Shiv Sena in case of a fragmented mandate. Dalits, on the other hand, have continued to remain divided into various factions across the metropolis. Of the 227 constituencies, there are around 50 where the Dalit vote could determine the winner, but in areas where Dalits live, there are far too many Dalit candidates competing against one another. The induction of Ramdas Athawale into the Modi cabinet and the promise to create a national memorial for Dr BR Ambedkar is more of an emotional support for Dalits rather than a political gamechanger. Athawales party was promised 25 seats, but given 17, including six constituencies in which BJP candidates are also in the fray. The tactical tussle between the Shiv Sena and the BJP appears to be to prevent opposition parties such as the Congress from occupying the opposition space. In the event of either the Shiv Sena or the BJP getting a clear majority, the other can always be the main opposition party, with the saffron alliance still intact in the state as well as the Centre for Hindutva. It would also ensure that parties such as the Congress are further marginalised. With campaigning for 10 municipal corporations including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) over, and voting set to take place on 21 February, it will be interesting to see how majority of the Mumbaikars cast their vote. The voting will begin at 7.30 am and conclude at 5.30 pm. Most Mumbaikars tend to shy away from voting With civic issues continuing to affect the life of average Mumbaikars despite the fact that the BMC is the richest municipal body in the country (and as this Firstpost article shows an equally expensive budget as well), it would be interesting whether or not Mumbai will exercise its right on Tuesday or sit at home and enjoy the polling day as a holiday. Unfortunately, data from previous elections show a poor voter turnout in Mumbai with the percentage of voting marginally below in the last two elections. In fact, in the 2007 municipal elections, only 42 percent voters exercised their right whereas in 2012 the voter turnout was marginally higher at 44 percent. Besides, the State Election Commission has spent Rs 95 crore towards voting arrangements for the 2017 BMC election. So, Tuesday will also show whether or not Mumbaikars consider the money worth more than 50 percent participation in the election. How community lines divide Mumbaikars In a multicultural society like Mumbai, leanings of different communities has often set the course of the result. A look at the demographics of the 227 wards, and an analysis of the 91.8 lakh voters registered for the civic election bring out some interesting insights on how voting may take place on Tuesday. There are 50 lakhs male voters and 41 lakhs female voters. On an average, there are 42,000 voters per ward. In terms of community, there are 112 wards with Marathi and Dalit voters whereas there 115 wards with North Indian, Gujarati and Muslim voters. Till 2012, the Marathi votebank played a crucial role, but in this election, the non-Marathi voters percentage is higher than Marathi voters, and that may change the equation. Marathi voters make 30 percent of the electorate size, whereas Dalits form just 10 percent of the total voters. The North Indians on the other hand make for 32 percent (the highest in the electorate), followed by Gujarati voters at 12 percent and Muslim voters at 10 percent. Christians, South Indians, Bengalis and Punjabi make for 4 percent of the electorate size. Data available with Firstpost shows that out of the 91.8 lakhs, two third voters live in slums, most of whom are North Indians. And knowing that, development and civic issues should ideally play a key role, but the concentration of certain communities in certain areas, could offset that. Pockets like Malad Malvani, Bandra, Mankhurd, Govandi, Byculla, Bhendibazar, Kurla, Jogeshwari and Oshiwara are the areas with Muslim dominated wards. There are more than 36 wards in which minority voters can change the results. And that includes Gujaratis too, who dominate wards in Mulund, Bhandup, Powai, Mumbadevi, Borivali, Kandivali, Malad, Vile Parle, Juhu, Girgaon, Peddar Road and Kanjurmarg. Historically, their voting choices have always reflected in the results. As for the North Indians voters, they live across Mumbai and mostly in slums. So, in every ward, the North Indian vote bank plays a crucial role in the results, especially where the elections are tight. As for the Marathi voters, they form the majority in 112 wards with an average size of 20,000 voters related to Marathi and Dalit communities. So, the current BMC election is not only going to be an out-on-out battle between Marathi and North Indian voters but will include Gujarati and Muslim voters too. More parties in fray Another interesting development that is likely to affect poll results in the BMC election is that for the first time all the political parties are contesting solo. There are seven parties Shiv Sena, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Indian National Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), Samajwadi party (SP) and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) are in the fray with more than 2,275 candidates contesting elections in 227 wards. With Marathi and the non-Marathi voters equally spread across the city and the North Indians exceeding Marathi voters, the voting choices on Tuesday will also show whether or not Mumbaikars have managed to move out of regionalism and religion politics. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc shakes hand with the Moroccan Ambassador. (Source: VNA) Receiving newly appointed Moroccan Ambassador to Vietnam Azzeddiine Farhane in Hanoi on February 20th, the Government leader spoke highly of Moroccos socio-economic development achievements, especially in tourism and renewable energy. He suggested the two countries boost economic cooperation to improve their trade, increase exchanges of all-level delegations and maintain close coordination at regional and international forums. Vietnam wants Morocco to continue providing scholarships for Vietnamese students to pursue their study in the African country, the PM said. For his part, Ambassador Azzediine Farhane stressed that Morocco treasures its ties with Vietnam - a gateway for the country to promote collaboration with Southeast Asia, adding that Morocco is willing to act as a bridge for boosting the relations between Vietnam and African countries. He agreed with the PM that the two countries need to enhance cooperation in tourism and education and aquatic farming./. In the political circles of Kashmir valley, it has been spoken in whispers for a long time, like an attack that may or may not happen. But the drama unfolding in Jammu and Kashmir since last Friday is slowly cementing the belief that the regional People Democratic Party is dragging itself into a situation where the tension will be too much to bear for divergent ideologies of individuals held together by nothing more than the lust for power and the party will fragment into sub-regional groups. On Friday, two ministers, Imran Raza Ansari and Basharat Bukhari, resigned after getting news of the reshuffle in the state cabinet by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on their cell phones. The moment they arrived at Srinagar airport both were on the same flight travelling from Jammu to Srinagar they went straight to their homes and announced their resignation. Bukhari, a former radio journalist, was shifted from Revenue Ministry to the insignificant Horticulture Ministry. He sent resignation to the Chief Minister office immediately while Imran Raza Ansaris resignation, who was Minister for Information Technology and Youth Services & Sports, is yet to reach the office of the Chief Minister. Both were cabinet ministers right from the day the PDP-BJP led coalition came into existence in March 2015 and frontrunners in recently defending the PDP-BJP coalition government during the budget session of the state assembly in Jammu. Ansari, an influential Shia cleric, is reportedly upset over the portfolio allotted to him with which he has not been able to serve his people over the last two years. He had been, according to people close to him, pressing for a more powerful ministry for a long time. He was not satisfied because he failed to deliver on the promise he had made to his people and his constituents, a close aide to Ansari told Firstpost. Two leaders close to Mehbooba are trying to motivate Ansari to change his decision but Ansari has reportedly told them if the Chief Minister does not change her mind in two days, he will consider the resignation accepted. The fresh trouble for the party began when Mehbooba re-inducted Altaf Bukhari, the former R&B minister, again in the state cabinet and allotted him with the portfolio of Education Ministry, which was earlier held by Naeem Akhtar. Altaf, after the death of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, was reportedly trying to explore the possibility of stitching an alliance with BJP after the news of a late night meeting with BJP general secretary Ram Madhav appeared in news when Mehbooba, fresh from the grief of her fathers death, was showing reluctance in stepping into Muftis shoes. Altaf was dropped from the cabinet headed by Mehbooba. In such a scenario rumour sometimes becomes truth. There was a perception here that leaders from north of Kashmir were trying to come up with an own block in the state. This includes people like Sajad Lone, Muzaffar Beg, Rashid Engineer, Basharat Bukhari and Imran Ansari. This rumour now seems quite a possibility, Gul Mohammad Wani, a political analyst, told Firstpost. If that is the likely future, then it leaves PDP with few seats from south Kashmir, which was originally its base. PDP, for the first time, had won five seats in Srinagar, a bastion of National Conference, apart from few from north Kashmir, making it a pan Kashmir party. But that win is distant for the party now as one of its founder leader, Tariq Hameed Karra, an MP from Srinagar constituency, who resigned last year in protest over the civilian killings, joined Congress party in New Delhi on Saturday. Karra had opposed the PDPs alliance with the BJP from time to time after the death of Sayeed. His resignation dealt a big blow to the PDP. But now Karras entry into Congress will be a shot in the arm for the Congress in Kashmir Valley where it had over the years ceded political space to the NC and PDP. Altaf Bukhari, the re-inducted minister who blasted the state government recently in the budget session of the state assembly on different issues, said on Saturday that the tension in the party is just a small issue in the family. It is a family issue. Members of a family do have small issues, Bukhari told reporters. But many MLAs in the PDP Firstpost spoke with blame few leaders, including Mehboobas uncle Sartaj Madni and Peer Mansoor, for sowing the seeds of discord in the party. They say that except for these two people, no one else has access to the Chief Minister. Mehbooba had motivated her brother Tasaduq Hussain to join the party, party sources say, just to rely on him for advice but that does not seem to be happening for the moment. Though the party may have weathered the present crisis, when the next storm hits, it is very likely to fall like a proverbial pack of cards. How soon will that happen, no one can be sure. But happen it will. Nagaland Chief Minister TR Zeliang resigned on Sunday against the backdrop of widespread protests in the state triggered by the government's decision to reserve 33 percent seats for women in urban local bodies. Neiphiu Rio, a former chief minister and Lok Sabha member from the state, and Naga People's Front chief Shurhozelie Liezietsu are in the race for the top seat. A statement from the Chief Minister's Office said Zeliang was stepping down and a new leader will be chosen on Monday morning at the Naga People's Front (NPF) Legislature Party meeting. Governor PB Acharya accepted Zeliang's resignation, but asked him to continue till further arrangements were made, official sources said. The NPF meeting on Monday will be followed by a meeting of Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) at 11 am in Kohima. On Wednesday, 42 of the 49 legislators had unanimously supported Shurhozelie as their new legislature party leader to break the deadlock between the agitating tribal groups and the government. However, a group of nearly 20 legislators, including some Cabinet ministers, were against 81-year-old Shurhozelie as their legislature party leader, and threw their weight behind three-time Chief Minister Rio. On Saturday, 49 NPF and Independent legislators met Rio at Borgoch Resort, close to Assam's Kaziranga National Park. The legislators extended their support to Rio. In the 60-member Assembly, the ruling Democratic Alliance of Nagaland coalition government comprises 48 NPF legislators, including suspended legislator Imkong Imchen, four Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs and eight Independents. NPF sources said both Rio and Zeliang had met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi on Saturday. Zeliang had gone to Delhi on 16 February after seeking some time to step down from the Chief Minister's post and ensure a "smooth transition" of power. Nagaland has been rocked by widespread protests since last month after the state government announced that 33 percent of seats in the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) election would be reserved for women. Tribal bodies have been demanding the resignation of Zeliang, who headed the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) government, and had set last Friday as the deadline. Different organisations in the state had demanded that the state government declare ULB elections null and void, suspend the police and security personnel involved in 31 January firing on the protesters leading to the death of two youths in Dimapur, and that Zeliang steps down. The Nagaland government had fulfilled the demand of Nagaland Tribes Action Committee (NTAC) Kohima and Joint Coordination Committee (JCC), declaring the entire process of Urban Local Bodies election with 33 percent reservation for women as null and void. Its second demand of suspending the personnel involved in 31 January police firing on the protesters leading to the killing of two youths in Dimapur has been partially fulfilled as they have been transferred. The government continued to shut down internet and mobile data service to stop the spread of rumours through social networking sites. With inputs from agencies By any reasonable yardstick, the fact that the North Eastern state of Nagaland does not have a single member of the Opposition is insane. No, a single party or coalition did not win all of the 60 seats in the Legislative Assembly Elections. The mind-boggling fact is that every elected member joined the ruling coalition, the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN). It is the antithesis of just the very basis of democracy. An opposition is as much the desired result of an election process as a ruling party. It is the other half, the check and balance of the legislative. So, when the state erupted in demonstrations and violence not because of the cancer of militancy that has plagued it for decades, but of a conflict between differences in ideology, it surprised many. Especially because of what the fight was all about, the demand for the rollback of a 33 percent reservation for women in municipal and town councils. No sooner had the fight for it by various womens groups taken on a genuine tone, than many traditional and groups of the establishment opposed it with vigour. In the violence that has raged since the fight spilt to the narrow and dilapidated streets of its towns and villages, many people have been seriously injured, and at least three have died. Buildings, most belonging to the state have been firebombed, and cars set on fire. There are two primary questions that need to be asked here. For the sake of argument, lets call the perpetration of the violence that has been witnessed so far the worst of patriarchy. So, is it just plain sexism and misogyny that are at play here? J Sema (name changed), an engineer who works at a state department but did not want her details disclosed, calls it hypocrisy. We pretend like we are progressive when it comes to how women are treated because we get to wear what we want, she explains. But when it comes down to the bare basics of it, men control everything, and sons are still so much preferable to daughters. If it is pure and simple sexism the belief that women should not be elected representatives, then the remedy is simpler. Because laws can be enacted, and before one knows it, people start becoming comfortable with a civic or a municipal body where one in three is a woman. It is a problem with a solution, no matter how long that solution takes to materialise. But the problem here is one of the law, too. In the midst of the violence and confusion, what has been lost is the fact that the law should actually be on the side of the people who are fighting for the implementation of the reservation for women rather than on those who oppose it in the civic and municipal bodies. In 1992, the constitution was amended to provided 33 percent reservation for women in municipalities, and the Nagaland government in 2005 included the provision in the amendment of its Municipal Act after the Guwahati High Court directed the state government to enact it. But activism led by a prominent womens group called the Naga Mother Association eventually reached a dead end when in September 2012, a resolution was passed in the Nagaland Legislative Assembly which concluded that the constitutional Amendment providing for 33 percent reservation for women in Municipal bodies infringed on the special status of the state as conferred to it by Article 371 A. Article 371 A of the Constitution confers special rights on the state of Nagaland and protects the religious or social practices of the Nagas, Naga customary law and procedure, and administration of civil and criminal justice involving decisions according to Naga customary law. Civic polls should have included the provision for the reservation of women when they were last conducted in 2004, but have been put on hold ever since because of continued opposition by tribal bodies, and on 2 February, this issue simmered over to unreasonable levels. And the chief Minister of the state, TR Zeilang, had to step down after the withdrawal of support from the 49 legislators who opposed him. Speculations are rife that he will be replaced by former Chief Minister and Lok Sabha MP Neiphiu Rio. Auto refresh feeds While many are looking forward to the DA case verdict, the Tamil Nadu state government machinery is thinking back to the Jallikattu protests. Law and order backlash is something they are preparing for not just for today but for the entire week. Police presence has been upped across the city at the start of the week and screws tightened across the five locations which are likely to see disturbance after the DA verdict Jayalalithaas residence at Poes Garden, OPS residence on Greenways Road, AIADMK headquarters, Golden Bay Resorts and Marina Beach Road. Cops are on alert for crowds that may expand to become larger groups. The general line of thinking among government insiders is that the Jallikattu protests were much more about a lack of state government preparation and a lag in police intelligence and a tad less about spontaneous uprising. Since Monday night, theres a growing buzz and its coming from New Delhi about the DA case possibly heading for a split verdict. If Justice Amitava Roy and Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose have written separate judgments, a split verdict is well within the realm of possibility until it's declared at 10.30 am. The three simpler outcomes are Sasikalas conviction, acquittal or the case being dialled back to the Karnataka High Court. In case of a split verdict, a fourth flank opens up: the Chief Justice of India could refer the case to another judge or bench and we all know what that means a 20-year-old case will drag some more and the inmates of Golden Bay Resorts will erupt in wild celebration. Now, if the case heads for a split verdict and is referred back to a bench rather than a single judge, it could mean an awfully long wait. Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi has already advised Governor Rao that he must go with the choice of the AIADMK legislature party - despite allegations of foul play by the OPS camp, swear in Sasikala and call for a floor test immediately. History and precedent were all too familiar for the Governor to rush in last week Jayalalithaa was disqualified as Chief Minister after she was convicted under the Prevention of Corruption Act in 2001 and again in September 2014. Governor C Vidyasagar Rao got back from Mumbai last Thursday and it was fairly clear that he would wait it out until the DA case verdict. When Jayalalithaa was alive, a case verdict day for her especially one of this magnitude would mean thousands of coconuts and white pumpkins being smashed at temples across the state, women cadre lining up in droves, many of them fasting until the verdict is out, raw and unrelenting wave upon wave of loyalty, affection and support. Tuesday has dawned cool and clear, the crowds are in predictable photo op spots and they will have their moment in some camera frame or the other as the sun climbs higher. Corner shops around politico hotspots selling tea and biscuits are all enjoying a spike in walk-ins. The former, who is a PWD minister could have his nose ahead in the race. But will majority stay on in the faction led by a tainted Sasikala or jump ship to O Panneerselvam? Plan B for Sasikala if she is convicted would mean to convene an emergency AIADMK legislature meeting and elect either E Palanisamy or Sengottaiyan as new leader of legislature party. B Kumar, S Senthil: These two led 25 lawyers from Tamil Nadu defending Jaya; strengthened the hands of more famous lawyers pushing for bail, played a leading role in the Karnataka High Court acquittal. Senior Advocate L Nageswara Rao: Appeared for Jayalalithaa as defence counsel in Supreme Court, argued that appeals by DMK and Subramaian Swamy had no locus. Justices PC Ghose, Amitava Roy: Heard the appeal against the High Court Judgment delivered by Kumaraswamy J, and reserved the verdict June 2016 after 20 days of court arguments. Justice HL Dattu: Former Chief Justice of India Dattu heard Jayalalithaas petition in the Supreme Court against Karnataka High Courts rejection of her bail plea in the DA case. Fali S Nariman: After Jayalalithaa was jailed, her team leaned on this eminent jurist to get bail for the AIADMK chief. Justice CR Kumaraswamy: The judge who acquitted Jayalalithaa of all charges in the Disproportionate Assets case. Was his judgement a tragedy of arithmetic errors as Subramanian Swamy calls it? The last word on that comes up this week. Justice John Michael DCunha: Special Court judge who delivered the September 2014 verdict that sent Tamil Nadu into a tizzy - he convicted and jailed the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 for holding disproportionate assets. In November 2016, he was appointed judge of the Karnataka High Court. As we wait for the Supreme Court verdict, le's take a a look at the A-list of legal minds whose names will remain associated with the disproportionate case that has its roots in a gaudy million dollar wedding that pockmarked both Tamil Nadu and Jayalalithaas legacy and continues to haunt Sasikala. Everytime Jayalalithaa went in and out of courts for 19 years, these are the folks behind those headlines. Of the 135 AIADMK legislators (plus Jayalalithaa) who were elected in 2016, sources say at least 90-odd are firm Sasikala loyalists, having got their ticket thanks to the woman from Mannargudi. That is why they say, they are staying put in her camp. Anyone underestimating the hold of the Sasikala family over the MLAs, is making a grave mistake. Why it is only MPs and not MLAs who are joining OPS' cause But both sides are making desperate moves to be one-up on the other. The AIADMK sacked its IT wing secretary G Ramachandran because he had crossed over to the Panneerselvam camp, after having retweeted many tweets that were supportive of the OPS. Team Sasikala is already upset that they have not been able to effectively counter the anti-Sasikala narrative and hashtags like #NotMyCM on Twitter. Panneerselvam is playing mind-games with the Sasikala camp which has learnt one important lesson in the last 24 hours loyalty to Amma is not a fixed deposit to be transferred to Chinnamma, now that Jayalalithaa is no more. News18 reports that Sasikala is mulling picking a new successor as the Supreme Court pronounces its verdict. According to the report, Sasikala might pick Jayalalithaa's nephew for the post. A back of the envelope calculation puts the bill for boarding and lodging these free as birds MLAs for a week at about Rs 50 lakh plus. Add to this fuel costs for the plus-size-only vehicles that Sasikalas brood prefers and sundry exprenses for the thuggish men in starched white veshtis guarding the outer walls of the resort and youre looking at a cool Rs 1 crore and thats a conservative estimate. Public servants, did they say? "For tomorrow, we will surely have rooms available, Madam," says the sleep deprived front office manager at the suddenly famous beach resort on Chennais outer edge. It is costing Rs 3,50,000 for 119 members of the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly "living like a large, happy family" in 56 rooms at Golden Bay Resorts in Koovathur, Tamil Nadu. Thats the room rent for a single day minus all the frills, service tax, Swachh Bharat cess and that sort of petty cash detailing. So, is it a good thing for the democracy and the judiciary? Looks like it is although it could further delay the already sluggish judicial processes. Its indeed gladdening that we are going to witness today is something thats getting rarer. Can we expect some new useful addition to our jurisprudence? Lets wait and see. The LiveLaw study also has found out that in the benches of the Chief Justice of India (CJI), the rate of decline in dissent is more than in other benches. Between 2011 and 2014, there hadnt been a single case of dissent. Could it be because the persona of the CJI or the indirect influence of his authority on a subordinate judge? One of the judges in the bench that heard the DA case is quite senior. Still, that the judges chose to write separate verdicts on the DA case, that has already taken 20 years and a lot of the courts time, shows that theres something special about this case. Would it make some legal breakthrough? In case the verdicts are dissenting, the opportunity costs are going to be much higher because the hearing might start all over again which would entail more time of the SC judges, lawyers and even the final delivery of justice. But another important question is if its good for the development and practice of Law? According to this analysis by LiveLaw that looked at there verdicts from 1950 to 2014, the phenomenon of dissenting opinions by judges has declined since 2011 after steadily rising from 1980. The increasing number of two judge-benches and the heavy workload are cited as the possible reasons. Since both the names of the judges appear in the listing of the DA case, its expected that the judges are going to give separate judgments. If they dissent in their verdicts, the outcome for Sasikala and Tami Nadu politics can be be dramatically different. If it's dissenting verdicts, what we are going to see today is a phenomenon thats getting rarer Elaborate security arrangements have been made outside Sasikala's residence in Poes Garden as precaution ahead of Supreme Court's verdict in the corruption case against VK Sasikala. Apex court is expected to pronounce its verdict today. A small crowd is gathered outside the residence of O Panneerselvam on Greenways Road in Chennai. The mood is tense and the crowd is anxious. They all realise that even though the Supreme Court verdict is about a corruption case involving Sasikala, Supreme Court's judgment will affect all of Tamil Nadu. In a two-judge bench, as in the DA case, there cannot be majority and minority views and if the judges are dissenting, it will have to go to a bigger bench so that there will be a conclusive verdict later. In accordance with the majority opinion the challenge to the constitutionality of Section 302 of the Penal Code in so far as it provides for the death sentence as also the challenge to the constitutionality of Section 354(3) of the CrPC, 1973 fails and is rejected. The Writ Petitions and other connected matters may now be placed for hearing, in the usual course, before the Division Bench for consideration of the individual cases on merits, in the light of the principles enunciated in the majority judgment. And this is how the final order, that referred to the minority view, read: I have had the advantage of reading the careful judgment prepared by my learned brother Sarkaria. but I find myself unable to agree with the conclusions reached by him. I am of the (view that Section 302 of the Indian |Penal Code in so far as it provides for imposition of death penalty as an alternative to life sentence is ultra vires and void as being violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution since it does not provide any legislative guidelines as to when life should be permitted to be extinguished by imposition of death sentence. I would therefore strike down Section 302 as unconstitutional and void in so far as it provides for imposition of death penalty as an alternative to imprisonment for life. I shall give my reasons for this view on the day on which the Court reopens after the summer vacation. An important verdict in which the former Chief Justice of India PN Bhagwati made a dissenting note was the Bachan Singh vs State Of Punjab on 9 May, 1980, which is held up as a significant example in law schools. While four judges of the bench that heard the case were together in their verdict with their majority view, Justice Bhagwati had a minority view which was rejected. If the judges are of the opinion that the case raises substantial questions of constitutional law (which is highly unlikely at this stage i.e that of final verdict), then they may refer those questions to a Constitution Bench (A five judge bench) under Article 145(3) of the Constitution who will hear arguments on those particular questions and then send the opinions back so the case can be disposed by the Division Bench. However, divisions between judges in Division Bench have been growing rarer and rarer in recent years as most judgements are delivered either Per Curiam (in the name of the Court) and signed off by both judges or contain a leading opinion seconded by a shorter opinion. A dissenting opinion today will be quite rare. A two judge bench is known as a Division Bench. If the judges of Division Bench disagree on a particular point of law, then they refer that particular point to a third judge for adjudication. The entire case will not go automatically to another bench. Unless however, they disagree on all issues of all, in which case a third judge will hear arguments on all the issues afresh and pass a separate verdict to resolve the division. In his counter-move, OPS changed the state police intelligence chief on Monday evening and appointed S Davidson Devasirvatham, who had been shunted out in 2015. This would ensure that the police strategy would change and Sasikala would lose the alleged patronage. In such case, what else can she do other than going there herself? If there is an adverse verdict, the MLAs need more control so that they just dont run away. OPS biggest weakness, since his break with Sasikala, has been the lack of police support and his inability to reach the MLAs to seek their endorsement. There had been reports that the police had provided tacit support to the Sasikala camp in guarding the resort and in ensuring that nobody from outside gained access. Reportedly there was ring of security provided by private men OPS had that alleged there were four "goondas" per MLA and the police also seemed to have supported them by preventing the media or others from entering the resort. Sasikalas dramatic move of shifting to the resort on Monday where about 119 MLAs are housed may not be a premeditated master-stroke, but a move necessitated by O Panneerselvams counter strategy to break her gridlock over the MLAs. Sasikala decamping to Golden Bay Resorts has little to do with her "deep commitment" to her AIADMK family and everything to do with the unforgettable memories of Jayalalithaa on her favourite balcony after victories big and small. Sasikala does not dare try that before the verdict. If she goes scot free, expect an 'SRK at Mannat' kinda moment. In real estate litigation, they call it squatting. Poes Garden is the mansion Sasikala 'occupies' but it is Jayalalithaas property and we have no idea whether theres a will. All we know is that a camp other than OPS flew in a top doctor from the UK in a tearing hurry last week to say that Jayalalithaa was conscious when she put her thumb impression on certain documents. What about Jayalalithaas will? Deafening silence. Just for the record, this is where Sasikala can live without any question marks but she chooses not to her address as in the DA case pending since 1996: #18, Third Cross Street, East Abhirampuram, Chennai - 600018. The simplest questions are the most awkward to answer if you lock yourself into a web of secrecy and intrigue as Sasikala (just like Jayalalithaa) has done for the last two decades. Whats your address? Imagine you ask Sasikala that, what would she say? A pamphlet which lists out ten points explaining why O Panneerselvam was always former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's first choice. Among other things mentioned, the pamphlet says that OPS was trustworthy and loyal. Interestingly, the pamphlets were distributed by Jayalalithaa's niece Deepa Jayaraman followers. The judgment in the two-decade-old corruption case will be pronounced by a bench of Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Justice Amitava Roy in Court Room 6 at 10.30 am. Interestingly, it is a two-judge bench which is known as a Division Bench. If the judges of Division Bench disagree on a particular point of law, then they refer that particular point to a third judge for adjudication. The entire case will not go automatically to another bench. Unless however, they disagree on all issues of all, in which case a third judge will hear arguments on all the issues afresh and pass a separate verdict to resolve the division. Once the verdict on Sasikala is out, government will implement the judgment. It is now upto Governor C Vidyasagar Rao to call either Sasikala or O Panneerselvam Another MLA Semmalai extended his support to O Panneerselvam. Panneerselvam now has 12 MPs and 9 MLAs in his camp. TS Sudhir reports that Semmalai was in the resort till Monday. Such last minute decisions and desertion indicates nervousnes. Reports also said that Sasikala will not be able to contest any election for the next ten years. The Supreme Court bench has ordered the acting general secretary of the party to pay a fine of Rs 10 crore. However, Sasikala can take the case further and refer it to a larger bench, even though her political career has effectively ended. Two-judge bench convicts AIADMK General Secretary VK Sasikala in the 20-year-old corruption case. The embattled leader has been sentenced to 4 years in prison and has been told to surrender immediately. "AIADMK still has the majority. They should immediately nominate another person to lead the government in the state, and Governor should swear this person in immediately. Any further delay in swearing-in could lead to another case, Subramanian Swamy told News18. A little more than a week later, Supreme Court's verdict convicting Sasikala and Jayalalithaa comes as a shock and a huge setback for the Sasikala camp who had the numbers to prove their majority on the floor of the state Assembly. Supreme Court bench has also ordered immediate arrest of Sasikala and said that soon to be former AIADMK general secretary will be out of active politics for next ten years. A fine of Rs 10 crore has been slapped on the leader too. Merely a week ago, the drama in Tamil Nadu escalated without warning and there were two close confidantes of the late Jayalalithaa who were at each other for the Chief Minister's post. While O Panneerselvam went to Jaya's memorial and claimed "Amma spoke" to him, Sasikala said she was the one who stood by Amma for 33 years when the former chief minister was ridiculed by everyone. Speaking to News18, Soli Sorabjee said, "There is no split verdict by the Supreme Court. She can't possibly be the chief minister. She will have to serve the sentence. However, Sasikala camp has the majority. Someone else can be nominated for the post of chief minister who is loyal to her. Her conviction doesn't debar her from running the party." Latest reports say that 22 MLAs have jumped to O Panneerselvam camps, which effectively means that the Sasikala camp does not even enjoy majority anymore. "The Supreme Courts verdict in DA case is out today. Need of the hour is to enable an able and stable government in Tamil Nadu as per the wishes of the people of state:" Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu tweet on Sasikalas verdict If she has served any time in prison already, she would be given credit for that time that has already been served. She can also apply for probation as any normal prisoner may be entitled to under the Probation of Offenders Act, 1958 based on the report of her Probation Officer as to her conduct and the prospects of her rehabilitation. She may make an application for review of the judgment. This application will have to be preferred within thirty days. There will be no oral arguments and a review will only be admitted if there is an error apparent on the face of the record. The chances of a review petition being admitted are slim. If that fails she can prefer a curative petition stating that natural justice was violated in her case. The chances of that being admitted are even more slim. "Whenever there had been burden for Amma (Jayalalithaa) she (Sasikala) had taken it on her. She is doing the same now also. #Chinnamma," the party's official Twitter handle, @AIADMKOfficial said. Minutes after the Supreme Court convicted VK Sasikala, the AIADMK on Tuesday threw its weight behind the party general secretary, saying she has always carried the "burden" of Jayalalithaa. "Justice done after a long time, after about two decades. It is a historic judgment," Stalin said, adding that the verdict showed how politicians should conduct themselves in public life. DMK working president MK Stalin on Tuesday described as "historic", the disproportionate assets case judgment convicting VK Sasikala, and called on Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao to take steps for forming a stable government in Tamil Nadu. For all the heat being piled on him, governor Rao showed admirable patience in holding his counsel and not taking a decision that could trigger another crisis in the state later. READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE But politics in India is a 24x7 reality show, driven by TV ratings. To the breathless media and its many pundits, the governor's "delay" was a sure sign that somebody was conducting a backroom operation from somewhere, dictating his actions. No evidence was offered for such a conjecture, but what's the point in waiting for facts when journalism can be conducted through speculation? Throughout the political turmoil, the governor had been targeted for his use of "delaying tactics". There were elaborate conspiracy theories drawn and endless sound bites given on why his office had taken the wait-and-watch approach. With the apex court indicating that it would deliver the verdict within a week, it made little sense for Rao to call Sasikala for swearing-in and usher in a Constitutional crisis should there be an unfavourable verdict (as it turned out to be the case). Considered legal opinion was of the view that he was right in not rushing into a hasty decision. No less than former Attorney-General of India Soli Sorabjee had come out in his favour. The Supreme Court verdict convicting AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikala in a 19-year-old disproportionate assets case, effectively ending her chances of ever taking office as Tamil Nadu chief minister, is a vindication for Governor Vidyasagar Rao. Three more SPs from Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri and Tiruvannamalai too are given alert as the convicts would be taken to Bengaluru through these districts, sources told News Today correspondent Santhosh Mathevan. Five district SPs and IGs from two zones have been brought to the resort. SPs of Cuddalore, Kanchipuram, Thiruvallur, Villupuram and Vellore along with North and Central zone IGs are at the Golden Bay resort in Kovathur. From revenue department, only Seiyyur Tahsildar has arrived. No other government official has come here to the Golden Bay Resort. "Thank you all for your support. The golden rule of Amma will continue. Amma's soul will protect the state. I express my heartfelt thanks. Ideals of Amma will continue." "We have the numbers and therefore we have written a letter to the Governor C Vidyasagar Rao to invite us to form the government. As soon as governor calls we will submit letter to him to prove out majority to form the government," Palanisamy says. VK Sasikala camp wrote a letter to the Governor mentioning that O Panneerselvan has been expelled and Edapadi K Palanisamy was appointed as the new leader of legislator. The letter further reads the Governor should invite them to form the government. E Palanisamy has written a letter to Governor C Vidyasagar Rao and staked claim to form the government. AIADMK presidium chairman Sengottaiyan will also meet the Governor carrying MLAs support letter which says that the MLAs have unanimously elected Edapadi K Palanisamy as Legislative Leader of the party. E Palanisamy on his way to Raj Bhavan to stake claim to form government: 'I have sent a letter to Governor with details about MLAs' Incidentally, the politician had then chosen not to function from the chair on which his 'revered' leader sat while he performed the role of night watchman. He duly vacated the post after Jayalalithaa was acquitted in the case. From humble origins as a farmer and tea shop owner to Fort St George, the seat of power in Tamil Nadu, he has travelled a path of unexpected twists and turns. Jayalalithaa had sprung a surprise by handpicking him to fill her shoes in 2001 when she had to step down due to her conviction in TANSI land scam case. But this time, following her conviction, it was more or less clear he was leading the race among his colleagues, considering his unflinching loyalty to Jayalalithaa that even earned him the sobriquet 'Mr Faithful.' After filling in as the interim chief minister twice, O Panneerselvam is back at the helm of things. After the Supreme Court verdict which convicted VK Sasikala in the 20-year-old disproportionate assets case, OPS (even though expelled from AIADMK), is in a stronger position than his competition. Leaders from Panneerselvam's camp said, "Decision taken by Sasikala regarding his suspension is illegal as the court judgment says she has to surrender forthwith and hence it's a contempt of court. Amma's spirit is still alive. It will protect our state and its people and show us the right way." "The case was investigated by ACB. So Karnataka police has no role. The directive needs to come from Tamil Nadu home department. If she surrenders before trial court, prison department will take charge," says Karnataka DGP. In the May 2001 Assembly elections, AIADMK secures absolute majority and Jayalalithaa becomes the chief minister. Her appointment is challenged due to her conviction in October, 2000 in the Tansi (Tamil Nadu Small Industries Corporation) case. The Supreme Court nullifies the appointment. READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE 1 October 1997: Madras High Court dismisses three petitions by Jayalalithaa including one challenging the sanction granted by then Governor M Fathima Beevi for prosecuting her. 4 Jun 1997: They are charge-sheeted for offences under sections 120-B IPC, 13(2) read with 13(1)(e) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. 1997: Prosecution launched in sessions court in Chennai against Jayalalithaa and three others for having assets 'disproportionate' to their known income. 1996: Subramanian Swamy, then Janata Party chief, files a case against Jayalalithaa alleging that during her tenure as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister from 1991 to 1996, she amassed properties worth Rs 66.65 crore disproportionate to her known sources of income. Following is the chronology of events in the disproportionate assets (DA) case in which the Supreme Court on Tuesday convicted AIADMK General Secretary VK Sasikala that also involved the late chief minister J Jayalalithaa. The humble O Panneerselvam will now rise as the new star of Dravidian politics. His popularity, that has been rising since his late night revolt against Sasikala at Marina a week ago, will skyrocket now. No proxy that Sasikala will leave behind to take care of her interests can match OPSs image. By the end of Tuesday, he will achieve cult status. The fastest rise to political stardom in India, perhaps after Arvind Kejriwal. In fact, he even rose faster than Kejriwal, who took nearly two years to reach this status. With Sasikala gone and OPS on the rise, AIADMK will be an altered party Palaniswami, a known Sasikala loyalist and a five-time MLA, is the party's strongman from Salem district and currently holds the portfolios of Highways, Public Works and Minor Ports. He was a minister in the previous Jayalalithaa-led Cabinet, and also continued with the same portfolios. He was retained in 2016, both by Jayalalithaa and later by her successor Panneerselvam, who has since raised a banner of revolt against Sasikala for allegedly forcing him to step down from chief ministership. To this, the second judge, Amitava Roy, said, "We are setting aside the high court judgement and restoring the trial court judgement in full. Case against A1 (Jayalalithaa) is abated. All convicted and surrender forthwith." It took just eight minutes for the Supreme Court to announce its decision that abruptly cut short the political career of VK Sasikala, a long-time companion of former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa, according to a report in NDTV . "You can understand too much of fatty judgement. We have taken the burden on us...we will read out the conclusion," said Justice Pinaki Chandra Bose. "Every citizen has to be a partner in this sacrosanct mission, if we aspire for a stable, just and ideal social order as envisioned by our forefathers and fondly cherished by the numerous self-effacing crusaders of a free and independent Bharat, pledging their countless sacrifices and selfless commitments for such cause," he said. Clearly there are two judgements because Justice Amitava Roy wanted to make a forceful extra point on corruption in the country. Those five pages have deepen the value of this judgement. "The attendant facts and circumstances encountered as above, demonstrate a deep rooted conspiratorial design to amass vast assets without any compunction and hold the same through shell entities to cover up the sinister trail of such illicit acquisitions and deceive and delude the process of law. Novelty in the outrages and the magnitude of the nefarious gains as demonstrated by the revelations in the case are, to say the least, startling," Roy noted. 4. Governor recommends Presidents rule and elections in less than a year. The most improbable possibility is that the Sasikala faction doesnt suffer any more erosion and still keep asking for their turn which the Governor may not entertain because the equations and numbers that Sasikala originally claimed have been altered. 3. Even after a reasonable time, either of the factions doesn't get a majority and DMKs MK Stalin comes up with his claim with the support of the Congress. The Governor may or may not entertain him because numbers are still not enough. 1. More MLAs shift to the OPS camp, but may not be sufficient to prove majority in the Assembly. In such a case, the rump of the Sasikala faction also doesnt get a chance to form a government. Palaniswami was elected at a meeting of party MLAs chaired by Sasikala held at a resort, where the legislators have been staying for last few days following the revolt by Panneerselvam. "Nobody has the authority to elect anybody," was the terse response from School Education Minister K Pandiarajan, a supporter of Panneerselvam. He was responding to reporters' queries to Palaniswami being elected the legislature party leader, hours after the Supreme Court upheld a trial court verdict against AIADMK general secretary Sasikala in a disproportionate assets case. 'Honourable Amma's spirit has saved and directed our state and the people of the state in the right direction. I am thankful for all party members and all who have supported and backed me. It was the people of Tamil Nadu who brought Amma's government to power for the second time. I know that what happened after that. But we know that Amma's spirit is alive and she is leading us in the right direction. The verdict from the Supreme Court has come some time back. My request to everyone is that you remain calm and peaceful.' Soon after the Sasikala faction elected Edappadi Palanisamy to the new legislature party leader, the staunch Sasikala loyalist sought an appointment with Governor Vidyasagar Rao to prove his majority. According to CNN-News18, Palanisamy is all set to meet the governor at 5.30 pm today. Though BJP has not made any official comment on the power struggle between caretaker chief minister O Panneerselvam and Palanisamy. If the new AIADMK leader is not able to create confidence among the people and cadres and is like a "puppet" and a "yes man", then the party should "know that the verdict is a blow to all kinds of manipulation", he said. The state needs a clean and effective government, he said. "Sasikala has the advantage of being at the top of the party but she does not have the advantage that Jayalalithaa had, which was having people's endorsement. That is a very important factor. By appointing a proxy you can never win people's trust, which is essential," said P Muralidhar Rao, BJP's general secretary and Tamil Nadu in-charge . Soon after VK Sasikala and her supporters appointed Edappadi Palanisamy as the new legislature party chief, the Bharatiya Janata Party warned Sasikala that picking a proxy won't help her win people's trust. This is at variance with the strategy adopted by police in 2014, when J Jayalalithaa (the other accused in the disproportionate assets case) was taken into custody soon after a special court in Bengaluru found both Jayalalithaa and Sasikala guilty. Meanwhile, police sources told Firstpost that security arrangements have been stepped up in anticipation of violence breaking out when Sasikala is taken into custody. Given the fact that Sasikala is now a convict, she cannot be allowed to stay on at the Golden Bay Resort. However, there were no immediate indications that she would be taken into custody today even though a full six hours have passed since the Supreme Court passed its order. Sasikala's legal team attempted to buy time by filing a petition before the Supreme Court on Tuesday seeking four weeks' time to surrender on "health grounds". Why did the governor have to wait for the Supreme Court verdict? Even if there was only a day you cannot second guess justice. She (Sasikala) was innocent till proven guilty? What if this verdict was three weeks away or forty days or any other time frame, where and when does the clock start ticking? Governors cannot make decisions predicated to what might happen in court. There is no statute of limitations in the sense that it is okay if there is a decent gap since no one defines the decent gap in days, hours and minutes. Though Shakespeare himself would have wept in frustration at the intrigues that pretzel the Tamil Nadu political situation and in recent months give rise to suspicions that between the Centre and this southern state and the apathy of the north, situations have been approached and treated in what can best be called a clumsy and oafish manner. More than the Supreme Court verdict, Sasikala and company face an unassailable charge from which no court or fort can extricate them: the popular belief among party cadre and Jayalalithaa admirers that it was this grisly gang that caused their "dear Amma" much bad name all through. So, Jayalalithaa, though convicted, is now a martyr, a trusting victim of crooked caretakers. And that is the most potent weapon that OPS possesses against Sasikala and company in his fight against the inevitable post-verdict mischief that the family has already started unleashing. Digging into those 75 days of Jayalalithaa's "captivity" in the hospital as also that of the MLAs in the last few days would put the schemers now without the support of Sasikala who will cool her heels in jail even more on the back foot. "Who's Edappadi Palanisamy?" is the question locals who switched off after the DA case verdict this morning are asking as the sun goes down on a cathartic Valentine's Day in Chennai. Riot police in wait for Sasikala at Golden Bay Resort in Kuvathur and a new player called E Palanisamy at Raj Bhavan mean the Sasikala camp will drag this thing out as long as they possibly can. What's a week or two when 20 years have passed? After he was elected the new legislature party chief, Edappadi Palanisamy met Tamil Nadu Governor Vidyasagar Rao. According to some reports, he claimed to have the support of 126 AIADMK MLAs. According to CNN-News 18, O Panneerselvam has sought time to prove majority and wants to have a meeting with Governor Vidyasagar Rao. This is the verdict the DMK has waited for 20 years, their patriarch M Karunanidhi was in his mid seventies at the time the DA case was filed, hes now on the edge of life and career, his son is battling illness and trying to put on a brave face, their headquarters at Anna Arivalayam is where the fireworks should be blasting into the night sky but its eerily quiet there. Instead, wild celebrations are on within the AIADMK at OPS residence while police who once fell at Sasikalas feet are now waiting to ferry her to prison. If DMK and AIADMK come together to keep Sasikalas proxies out, its not a bad thing at all. We will be relieved, we don't want this chaos to continue, we have had enough, say Chennaiites. Eight hours have passed since the verdict and the same Sasikala who said shes a lion is now saying she needs to see a physician these are all pills shes popped during the Jaya years. In criminal matters, review petitions are not entertained, say legal experts. How does the common man see this latest delay tactic by Sasikala? "Fairly simple. There's obviously some big money they need to transfer, stuff they need to hide away, that's why she needs the time. How come she did not need a doctor till now when she was threatening OPS and sacking people left right and centre," is the loudest soundbite on Chennai's streets. Sasikala, because of her proximity to Jayalalithaa, is no stranger to Jayas doggedness. Her leaving Poes Garden last night, her being ready with the alibi of health condition and asking for four weeks time, the absurd sight of police guarding every inch of Golden Bay Resorts and Sasikala refusing to surface is the special education shes gotten by just watching Jayalalithaa navigate two decades free as a bird after that outsize wedding in the September of 1995. As of this moment, Sasikala is still inside and the police outside Golden Bay Resorts. Whats the upside of a court case that goes on for 20 years? You can live almost half a life, for one. > He was elected elected as the new legislature party head at an emergency meeting called by Sasikala at the Golden Bay Resort on Tuesday within hours of the Supreme Court upholding a Bengaluru trial court order convicting Sasikala in the disproportionate assets case. But who's the new head of the AIADMK party? > Palanisamy was retained in 2016, both by Jayalalithaa and later by her successor Panneerselvam, who has since revolted against Sasikala for allegedly forcing him to step down from chief ministership. > He comes from a region that is known for its powerful representation of Gounder community and a stronghold of the AIADMK. > Palanisamy was close to late J Jayalalithaa. According to The News Minute, Palanisamy was a member of Amma's close coterie of the 'Four Man Army' or Nalvar Ani. > MLA from Salem's Edappadi constituency, Edappadi Palanisamy currently holds the portfolios of Highways, Public Works and Minor Ports. Was elected in 1989, 1991, 2011 and 2016. Who is Edappadi Palanisamy: All you need to know about the new AIADMK chief A 570 page verdict by the Supreme Court has to be followed by a process it does not mean the cops in Chennai can act immediately. The visuals we are seeing of police swarming around the backwater resort is a preparation for whats to follow: arrest and transport to jail. But for that to happen, theres a certain protocol. First, the order has to reach the trial court in Karnataka and then the cops here in Chennai have to have a warrant in hand. Thats what the wait is about. Sasikalas request for extra time via a sound bite by some random MLA will not hold in the face of a warrant. And, if Sasikala wants more time, her lawyers will have to appeal to the Supreme Court. Has that happened? "Not that we know of," says OPS campers. The Supreme Court verdict on the disproportionate assets case was out at 10.30 am. The skies have stained black since then but Sasikala is still at Golden Bay Resort. Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu Police is out there in full force, and theres a parallel show going on with the politicos zipping in and out of the state's Raj Bhavan. So, is Sasikala is going to spend a sleepless night at Golden Bay Resorts or will she be taken to the jail? It is obvious she (Sasikala) has caught the illness that inflicts every politician the moment they are caught on the wrong side of the law. The spectre of punishment descends on them like a dreaded ghost, turning them pale, breathless and with a dull pain in the chest. Maybe, someday it will be diagnosed as 'post-punishment depression' or 'pre-incarceration syndrome'. The Supreme Court directed Sasikala and her two relatives V N Sudhakaran, Jayalalithaa's foster son, and Elavarasi, widow of Sasikala's elder brother, to "forthwith surrender" before the Bengaluru's trial court which will "take immediate steps" to ensure that all the three "serve out the remainder of sentence awarded to them and take further steps in compliance of this judgement, in accordance with law." The fact the Supreme Court convicted former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa along with other accused in the case, it is being said that a memorial in her name seems unlikely, CNN-News18 said. Not just that eve her photos have to be removed from the Tamil Nadu Assembly since she has been convicted in the case, it said. "Emboldened by the lucrative yields of such malignant materialism, the perpetrators of this malady have tightened their noose on the societal psyche. Individual and collective pursuits with curative interventions at all levels are thus indispensable to deliver the civil order from the asphyxiating snare of this escalating venality. "A growing impression in contemporary existence seems to acknowledge, the all-pervading pestilent presence of corruption almost in every walk of life as if to rest reconciled to the octopoid stranglehold of this malaise with helpless awe. The common day experiences indeed do introduce one with unfailing regularity, the variegated cancerous concoctions of corruption with fearless impunity gnawing into the frame and fabric of the nations essentia. "The attendant facts and circumstances encountered as above, demonstrate a deep-rooted conspiratorial design to amass vast assets without any compunction and hold the same through shell entities to cover up the sinister trail of such illicit acquisitions and deceive and delude the process of law. Novelty in the outrages and the magnitude of the nefarious gains as demonstrated by the revelations in the case are, to say the least, startling. "The Mannargudi mafia is not that simple to understand. You can do a PhD on it," says TR Jawahar, group editor, News Today, who has covered Tamil Nadu politics and Jayalalithaas reign in great depth. This palpable sense of distaste for the disproportionate assets case accused also finds mention in the tail end of the 570-page judgement in the Supreme Court. Here is an excerpt: The floor is the best platform to judge the majority of any leader. Let's leave it to the governor's judgement to take a call. But it's very fluid situation in Tamil Nadu. There are enough precedents, politically speaking and of courts. 'What is the governor waiting for?' You should ask the governor. In politics, you go by constitutional propriety. The norm usually is that the chief minister personally handles his resignation to the governor. Did Panneerselvam go to Governor Vidyasagar Rao to handle his resignation? In fact, he later claimed that he was forced to tender the resignation. "Although A2 to A4 claims to have independent sources of income but the fact of constitution of firms and acquisition of large tracts of land out of the funds provided by A1 indicate that, all the accused congregated in the house of A1 neither for social living nor A1 allowed them free accommodation out of humanitarian concern, rather the facts and circumstances proved in evidence undoubtedly point out that A2 to A4 were accommodated in the house of A1 pursuant to the criminal conspiracy hatched by them to hold the assets of A1." The damning Supreme Court judgement against Sasikala and troupe certainly helps the OPS cause. Sample this from page 561 of the 570-page ruling (A1 is Jayalalithaa, A2 is Sasikala; A3 is Ilavarasi and A4 is Sudhakaran): Now, with Sasikala trying the old health reasons trick to delay her trip to jail and a new player Edappadi Palanisamy turning up to claim the chief minister's post, OPS remains firm that he will win the floor test. Its entirely likely that the OPS camp is banking on Governor Vidyasagar Rao to give them some time, now that the Supreme Court verdict has validated the governors waiting game in round one of the political drama in Tamil Nadu. The man on the street does not have a problem with that. "They kept Amma in hospital for 75 days, they were in no hurry to tell us whats going on. Whats the big hurry to swear in a new government? Let the governor take his time," they say. Even when MLAs hastened slowly, even though his MP crossovers were more and they dont really matter in the local Assembly, even when Sasikala kept threatening him and calling his a "zero" mocking the "O" in OPS, he stayed smiling and relaxed, although tired. After the Sasikala verdict, all that poise makes total sense. A week ago, Tamil Nadu watched with astonishment the transformation of the soft-spoken O Panneerselvam into a rebel who could stand Sasikalas meddling no more. Where did he get his confidence from when he did not even have the numbers? Even today, he has 11 or 12 MLAs with him. Did he know something about how the case verdict may turn out? "The DA case was filed by DMK and I will handle this. You (MLAs) have to remain resolute and make sure people question DMK's existence." In her first address to party members and supporters since Supreme Court convicted her in the 20-year-old disproportionate assets case, Sasikala broke down and vowed that no one will be able to separate her from AIADMK. A signature campaign to turn 'Veda Nilayam', the official residence of late AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa into a memorial, has elicited a huge response from party cadres and the public. Sasikala's loyalist Edappady K Palanisamy was elected the Legislature Party Leader, a move apparently aimed at projecting him as the next chief minister, while O Panneerselvam, the caretaker chief minister, was sacked from the party's primary membership, the latest in a series of tit-for-tat moves that the two factions have been making. Sources told NDTV that 61-year-old Sasikala is unlikely to surrender or make herself available on Tuesday for imprisonment because she has not yet received a copy of the lengthy court verdict. The Supreme Court pronounced its verdict on Tuesday morning sentencing VK Sasikala to prison for the next four years. In a 570-page judgement in the 19-year-old case that also involved J Jayalalithaa, the apex court ordered that Sasikala, 60, a close aide of the late chief minister, surrender forthwith and serve the remaining part of her four-year jail term. The week-old political drama in Tamil Nadu got some level of closure with the Supreme Court dashing all hopes of Sasikala's political ambitions through its verdict. Here is a look at the key highlights of the day. "In view of these developments, the impugned interim order of the High Court in putting Shri Kalyan Singh in position as Chief Minister should be and is, hereby, made absolute subject of-course to Democratic process," the Supreme Court had observed on the floor test in 1998. The term "composite floor test" came into existence when Jagdambika Pal and Kalyan Singh in Uttar Pradesh were asked to go for it by Allahabad High Court. This is an innovation by the court which does not find any constitutional validity. In fact, the appointment of the CM is sole prerogative of Governor as per the constitutional provision. After almost a week of high optics guard duty at Golden Bay resorts, 30 private guards brought from Mannargudi by Sasikalas clique have been kicked out by Tamil Nadus top police officers clearly relieved at the cloud lifting over the DA case and a semblance of order coming back to the still chaotic administrative arrangements as the AIADMK crisis lurches into its second week. All 56 rooms at the Golden Bay resort are still occupied by Sasikalas MLAs while Sasikala left late night Tuesday to Poes Garden to deliver a tearful speech before she is ferried to jail in neighbouring Karnataka. No additional crossovers to OPS camp since Tuesday despite the damning Supreme Court verdict. Known for the way they rule a parallel economy in Tamil Nadu via fear tactics, the Mannargudi mafia will certainly be weakened with Sasikala in jail but its clear that Accused # 2 in the DA case is unable to let go, considering the legacy of ill-gotten wealth she has been accused of laundering. Theres a lot of debris left behind, her (Sasikala) going to jail will not end the mafia but will weaken it enough so that it will not remain the brute force it is today, say Tamil Nadu politicos. They can jail me but they cant jail my heart, I will continue to monitor problems, said Sasikala, the pivot of the Mannargudi clan manipulating Tamil Nadus politics and pelf throughout the most successful years of Jayalalithaas years. "You can take me away from AIADMK but you cant take AIADMK away from me, she said at Poes Garden late Tuesday night, sending chills down Tamil Nadu voters who were just beginning to relax after the verdict, hoping they dont have to worry about law and order in the state capital and the rest of Tamil Nadu. In March 2014, Judge D'Cunha slapped a Rs 60,000 fine on Special Public Prosecutor in the case, G Bhavani Singh for repeatedly seeking adjournments since January 27, 2014, without justifiable cause. In less then a year from then, he delivered his verdict holding Jayalalithaa, Sasikala and Ilavarasi guilty of holding disproportionate assets upwards of Rs 66 crore. This is not the first time D'Cunha's style of swift action has found its way to the headlines - in 2004, as a Judicial Magistrate First Class at Hubli, Karnataka, D'Cunha issued a non-bailable warrant against then Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti in connection with her role in the 1994 Hubli riots. The DA case filed in 1996 slowed almost to a complete halt until 2013 when it picked up pace and hammered away at Jayalalithaas health too. That was the same year in which DCunha was appointed as Special Judge to dispose of the case. While news media are pouring over the latest 570-page tome, its logical genesis starts way back in 2013-2014. The aftermath of the DA case verdict has many heroes but in legal circles, its a standing ovation for Karnataka High Court additional judge John Michael DCunha. There they go again. This is what Sasikala means when she says she'll continue to monitor the party her nephew TTV Dinakaran is back in the AIADMK as deputy general secretary which is just code for a further elevation soon. He made a special appearance when Sasikala met the Governor last week and is said to have coached her to say the only three words she spoke in English, "I stake claim." Yet, when you point out that he is looked upon as a "hero" as this message suggests, Acharya laughs in the most embarrassed fashion to say, "No, no. I dont want to take all that. I sincerely worked as a public prosecutor should do." And, sections of social media are agog with this line: "This is the time to remember the courage and integrity of (Special Public Prosecutor BV) Acharya and Special Judge Michael D'Cunha but for whom the accused would have got away". The case lasted 19 years in various courts from Chennai to Delhi (Supreme Court), to Puducherry and Karnataka. Acharya worked for nine-and-a-half years in a case that has taken almost 21 years to reach some form of finality before the Supreme Court right from the trial court stage. BV Acharya is the one who has served as the special public prosecutor (SPP) in the disproportionate assets case against late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa and the closest anyone could have come to the post of chief ministership in Tamil Nadu, VK Sasikala, among other accused. For those of you who want to cut the chase, below is an excerpt from Page 95 of the 570-page verdict which is the fairly straightforward, non-legalese version of why the main star cast in the DA case is finally heading to jail: that to prove conspiracy it is not possible to have direct evidence. The same has to be proved by drawing inferences from the proved circumstances. It is fundamental that the ultimate decision has to be by considering cumulative effect of all the circumstances taken together. Jayalalitha did time at this prison for 21 days from September to October 2014, after which her health went into a tailspin, her sugar levels shot up to dangerous levels and she all but disappeared from public gaze. Unless theres a meteor strike, VK Sasikala, self-appointed protector of the AIADMK legacy, will leave sometime today from her plush 24,000-square feet mansion in the heart of Chennais Mylapore for a cell in the overcrowded Central Prison in Bengaluru also called Parappana Agrahara Central Prison. As of October 2016, this prison is spread over 40 acres and has more than 4,400 inmates despite its official capacity being only 2,200. "I think people should respect the decision of the Supreme Court. This will however strengthen the roots of democracy and somewhere will bring an end to corruption. Now, the AIADMK will have to decide who will be their party leader and how will their party run. And what face they will show to the people of Tamil Nadu," ANI quoted JD(U) leader Ajay Alok as saying. Immovable properties Cash paid over and above consideration New or additional construction buildings Gold and diamond jewellery Silver wares Fixed deposits and shares Cash balance in bank accounts Vehicles Machinery Footwear Sarees Wrist watches Money, dough, cheques, land, loot, cash, houses, cars, diamonds, debt, blings it covers a lot of ground in 20 years, especially when there are 4 people rolling in it. Even the judges who finally delivered the verdict on the 20-year-old DA case found their heads spinning. So, for convenience, they settled on these below listed 11 broad divisions to figure out the final calculation of disproportionate assets of the accused detailed in Page 98 of the order: Meanwhile, Sasikala's advocate KTS Tulsi told PTI that she wanted some time to surrender to manage her affairs before going to jail. The Supreme Court said: "We do not intend to pass any order on this. We are not going to change anything in the judgement." According to sources, Sasikala has not been arrested yet. She is likely to surrender before Bengaluru court this evening. Sasikala's lawyers had already reached the court. Judge Ashwath Narayana yet to reach. Next up expect to hear very soon from the people who were on duty at Veda Nilayam on the day Jayalalithaa was rushed to Apollo Hospital in September 2016. For the OPS camp, that's a sure way to make the Mannargudi mafia tag even more reviled while its kingpin is away. J Ilavarasi, Sudhakaran, Sasikala will bid goodbye to Veda Nilayam for a longish spell and we are sure to hear soon how they need urgent medical care for their fragile bodies not used to the rigours of a hard life in jail, minus chicken curry and booze. By the time they return to Chennai, Tamil Nadu will be bracing for another Assembly election and the cops outside Jayalalithaas home will be there not to welcome them but to shoo them away. Remember Jayalalithaas final journey before the burial on 6 December, 2016? Remember those no-locus freeloaders who climbed on the army vehicle which held Jayalalithaas body? Youll see them again today, stepping out of a house thats not theirs and into a crowd that doesnt want them here. AIADMK is paying the price for the fact that Jayalalithaa left behind no political successor and neither did she get the chance to appoint one. To counter this problem, personality cult parties often fall back to the formula or succession. Therefore, we find Lalu Yadav try desperately to prop up his sons and Mulayam Singh Yadav stage an elaborate Punch and Judy show to "properly" launch son Akhilesh. A progeny of the Dravidian movement, AIADMK was from the start a party based on personality cult. It was identified with founder MG Ramachandran who broke away from DMK due to internal differences. His death saw the cult baton being passed to J Jayalalitha after a short but intense battle of succession. Jayalalithaa's death now has created a vacuum because the successors be it O Panneerselvam, VK Sasikala or Edappadi K Palaniswami neither have her political acumen or charisma. While all players try desperately to hold on to and claim Jayalalithaa's political legacy, Tamil Nadu's largest political outfit is facing a vertical split and may soon face an existential crisis. The crisis facing AIADMK is indicative of the fate that awaits political parties built on personality cults instead of an ideological base. The problem is, personality cults never endure, ideas do. Tamil Nadus voters are not particularly keen, though. Sample actor Siddharth's tweet: "Why ask for 4 weeks, why not 4 years time?" in reaction to Sasikala's futile delay tactics citing ill health. Yet, because of Jaya's political aura and success, her admirers had a totally different equation with her - they see Sasikala as the schemer who misled Jaya. Never in Jayalalithaas reign would you have seen her Land Cruiser slow to almost a halt on Poes Garden Road; what we saw today is proof that Sasikalas alleged authority over the police has been busted. Gritting her teeth and muttering something under her breath, Sasikala banged her right hand hard on the soft and fragrant flowers atop Jayalalithaas memorial, it seemed like she promised to fight on. The crush at Poes Garden when Sasikala finally decided to leave for her appointment in jail is less about her loyalists and grip over the party - its a long pending revenge of the cameras on a street that has been the ultimate stonewall for hacks. You can't ask questions, can't take pictures, you'd have to stand in line but half a kilometre away, tender ads would be cancelled if you wrote a line out of place, the list of no-nos at TN's seat of political power was endless. What does it take to gather two bus loads of cronies and get them to shout slogans in praise? Packed mutton biryani, moonshine and the vague promise of political stakes in the hazy future. Not a big deal for a party, although in crisis, which won big in the Assembly elections less than a year ago. During the brief hearing today, the bench said that the word 'immediately' has been used in the judgement with regard to the surrender of the convict. The bench, instead of listing the plea, made clear to the lawyer that it would not consider the plea. Senior advocate KTS Tulsi, appearing for Sasikala, said that the leader wanted some time to surrender as she has to manage her affairs. "Sorry. We have already written everything in the fatty judgement and it says forthwith. I am not going to change even a word," the bench said. "We do not intend to pass any order on this. We are not going to change anything in the judgement," a bench headed by Justice PC Ghose said. Half the time, we, the petitioners or defendants, do not understand what our lawyers are saying and we just nod in miserable surrender and helplessness. In this case, with Sasikala facing several years behind bars and Tamil Nadu in political turmoil, just to offer an example (not to mention another 100,000 cases) to illustrate the point, would it not be more sensible to reinvent the English language in the judicial system and use it for maximum benefit as a vehicle for educating the public? While there is no absence of respect for the right of the judiciary to exercise its writing skills, a germane question would be how important it believes it is to get the message across to the public. He was arrested in a land grab case in 2012, has been accused of land grabbing, assault and cheating in a whole bunch of cases in 2011 but is out and thriving at his Chennai den. Oddly (and predictably) enough, he was hospitalised in Chennai with a certain breathing problem on the same day Sasikala allegedly pressurised OPS to step down as Chief Minister. Expect more in the Sasikala family to develop chest pain and breathing problems in the coming weeks. Sometimes spotted on flights to New Delhi, known to travel overseas often, seen on the rare television interview but more often known as the person who has exerted outsize clout over Poes Garden insiders, hes next on the radar of the anti-Sasikala group. He showed up suddenly to lay a wreath on Jayalalithaas body on 6 December last year and then faded into the shadows as quickly as he surfaced. BJP leader L Ganesan tried to introduce him to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Later, during the last rites, Natarajan, Rahul Gandhi, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Tamil Nadu Congress chief Thirunavukkarasu with far from sombre faces made for quite a photo op. So, where is this man, known to be all powerful behind the scenes? He features early on in the DA case files: Tmt. Sasikala Natarajan is the wife of one Mr. M. Natarajan who had joined Government service as a Publicity Assistant in the Department of Information and Public Relation, Government of Tamil Nadu, in the year 1970 and thereafter promoted in succession eventually as Deputy Director in the year 1986 in the same department. He tendered his resignation from Government service on 1st November, 1988 which was accepted by the Government of Tamil Nadu with retrospective effect on 3rd April, 1991. Cold, hard facts in the black and white of court judgments have that welcome quality of stripping popular myths constructed around shadowy people. One such is Sasikalas husband - M Natarajan. This development comes after AIADMK MLA Saravanan alleged that he was kidnapped at the resort. There were many other lines as well, none charitable to Sasi, reflecting the popular mood of the State. News Today There was one saying 'Ongi adicha ondra tonnu weightu da' (a reference to the iconic dialogue from Suriya's Singam, roughly translating to mean: If I bend and thump you, you'll feel the weight of one and a half tonne). Sasikala arrived at the Jaya memorial all solemn (and also sore-looking) and as she bent down in silent prayer, everything looked normal. And then, when she leaned forward and thumped the flower-bedecked tomb of Jayalalithaa with her open palm three times, things became typically Tamil Nadu. As if there was dearth of drama all along, VK Sasikala provided more moments of theatre at the Jaya Memorial at the Marina, which she visited en route to Bengaluru where she is expected to give herself up in a court. Suspense has been quelled as Sasikala's whereabouts have been ascertained. But a couple of hours ago things weren't so clear. Anything but, in fact..." People whove been operating from dark alleys of Tamil Nadu are now on the main street, openly daring OPS. Edappadi Palaniswamy is just a front and he's on his way to Raj Bhavan the AIADMK's favourite evening haunt for coffee, biscuits and to belt out their favorite opening line: "I stake claim." Natarajans landing up in Bengaluru has sent a loud message to the OPS camp and Tamil Nadu's voters who may have been lulled into thinking it's game up for the Mannargudi mafia, but Sasikalas rule by proxy is a real and present threat. Its Barrack Number 20 at Parappana Agraharam Central Prison for VK Sasikala. Shes inside while her husband Natarajan and her large extended family with its long and murky history of cases pending against them are all out there roaming free. There are stories that end and there are stories that are mere beginnings. Exactly 10 days ago, when O Panneerselvam checked in at Jayalalithaas memorial on Marina beach, sat in silence for 40 minutes and then lambasted Sasikala, Tamil Nadu was stunned and elated. Numbers did not matter at that moment. The rebellion was enough. Ten days later, Sasikala is in jail and still on the brink of power. Her side led by proxy Edappadi Palanisamy has the numbers, OPS has all of 11 MLAs where 117 is the minimum magic number to win control of the state legislature. Sasikalas nephew Dhinakaran is back as an AIADMK power broker so that all instructions from the Bengaluru prison become his official business. Likewise, Sasikalas husband M Natarajan, after years in the wilderness, is back on the prowl, now that Jayalalithaa is out of the way. These are all people who would not dare show up anywhere in Jayalalithaas range of vision, todays theyre crawling all over. As Sasikala settled in at Bengaluru's Parappana Agrahara central jail day after the Supreme Court convicted her in a corruption case, her loyalist Edappadi Palaniswami called on Governor Vidayasagar Rao for the second time. His challenger to the post of the chief minister, O Panneerselvam, followed soon after. Speaking to CNN-News18, sources said that the governor, who has been conspicuous by his silence so far, may call for a floor test on Friday. It was not immediately clear whether the floor test would be a composite one, as advised by Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi. Sources indicate that Raj Bhavan's invite could go out to Palanisamy by Thursday noon and the swearing-in ceremony could even take place the same day. Sources say Rao himself is keen to put an end to this stalemate that has lasted ten days now. Personally he is in favour of inviting Palanisamy to form the government and ask him to prove his majority on the floor of the House within 24 to 48 hours. But the pitch has been queered by Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi who has suggested a composite floor test to be conducted between Panneerselvam and Palanisamy even though it is only the Supreme court that can order it. The governor reportedly is not convinced that the situation in Chennai warrants a composite floor test. Edapadi Palanisamy has conveyed to Rao that he has the support of 124 MLAs, which is seven above the half way mark of 117. O Panneerselvam has not presented any numbers but it is obvious he has only ten legislators on his side. The fact that Raj Bhavan is still engaging with Panneerselvam is proof that a political farce is being played out in Chennai. Is 124 greater than 10 or is it the other way round? All of Wednesday night, Governor Vidyasagar Rao sought the answer to this question in the land of Ramanujam. On it hinges how soon Tamil Nadu will get its new government. A prison official told journalists that the long-time confidante of the late J Jayalalithaa will make candles in jail. Sasikala surrendered to the trial court set up in the prison along with her sister-in-law Elavarasi and nephew VN Sudhakaran, all of whom were held guilty along with the late Jayalalithaa by the apex court on Tuesday of having assets disproportionate to their known sources of income. Former AIADMK General Secretary Sasikala, convicted in the disproportionate assets case by the Supreme Court, on Wednesday returned to the Bengaluru jail as the battle for supremacy in the AIADMK continued in Tamil Nadu. Sasikala, 59, was sent to a women's cell in the Central Jail soon after she reached Bengaluru in a convoy from Chennai after her plea for more time to surrender was rejected by the Supreme Court. Bangalore Central Jail, also known as Parappana Agrahara central jail, is the largest and the most crowded in Karnataka. It is spread over an area of 40 acres and houses 4,400 inmates, twice its capacity. Established in 1997, the Bangalore Central jail is located in a suburb called 'Parappana Agrahara' in south-east Bengaluru. Soon after her surrender, Sasikala was registered as qaidi number 9235, while Ilavarasi, her niece, was given the number 9236. Sasikala, who almost became the chief minister of Tamil Nadu last week, will be put up in cell number 2, which she will share with other inmates. News18 reported that male prisoners in the jail dress in white coarse cotton shirts and pyjamas, while the women wear sarees. Sasikala and Ilavarasi will be given three saris each, the channel further said. Even at the prison, where police and AIADMK activists scuffled on Wednesday, Sasikala sought more time to serve the jail term but the judge rejected her request and told her to undergo a health check-up. All four were lodged in the same prison for three weeks from September 27, 2014 after the trial court sentenced them. They later got bail from the Karnataka High Court. In 2014, Sasikala, with her nephew V N Sudhakaran and sister-in-law Ilavarasi, had spent 21 days in Parappana Agrahara central jail. Sudhakaran and Ilavarasi are the co-convicts in the disproportionate assets case. At the time, the jail played host to J Jayalalithaa too, who was serving a term at the same place after being sentenced to four years by a special court that tried all four of them. Sasikala and Ilavarasi would share a small cell in women's block in the jail, Rao said. He said Sasikala would get normal food, not home food, but it would be according to the doctor's advice. Sudhakaran would also be sharing the cell with other inmates, he said. Sasikala will be in jail for three years and about 11 months out of the four years sentence awarded by the trial court, DG (Prisons) Sathyanarayana Rao told PTI. She had earlier spent 21 days in Parappana Agrahara jail after conviction by the trial court in September 2014. Yasin Bhatkal co-founder of terror group Indian Mujahideen is scheduled to be brought to the same jail in connection with the Chinnaswamy Stadium blast, reports said. E Palanisami has conveyed to Rao that he has the support of 124 MLAs, on the other hand, Team O Panneerselvam is confident of winning the floor test. "Panneerselvam will also be given a chance, most of the MLAs are not interested in supporting Sasikala, they are supporting Panneerselvam," says Durai Pandian, AIADMK, Panneerselvams camp. Tamil Nadu Governor C Vidyasagar Rao has assured supporters of Sasikala that he will announce his decision today (Thursday). "If Governor invites us, swearing in can happen today itself," Sasikala camp sources were quoted as saying by News18. In fact, the channel confirmed that the governor will meet Palanisami at 11.30 today morning. According to AIAMDK leader in the Panneerselvam camp, the appointment of TTV Dinakaran as the party's Deputy General Secretary by Sasikala is void. "As per party bylaw only a person who is a party member for five continuous years can hold any party post. Dinakaran was not a member of the party for the past several years. He was dismissed from the party by Jayalalithaa," he added. On Wednesday evening, AIADMK's leader of the legislature party Palanisamy and Panneerselvam met Rao separately. After the meeting AIADMK Presidium Chairman KA Sengottaiyan expressed confidence that the Governor would soon invite Palanisamy to form the government. Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar too echoed similar views post Rao's meeting. Soon after the death of Jayalalithaa, thousands of AIADMK cadres rallied behind Jayakumar and wanted her to enter politics. According to the AIADMK leader, who spoke to IANS on the condition of anonymity, the political impasse in the state may end in a couple of day's time. "Yesterday (Wednesday) when we met the Governor, we reiterated the point that majority of AIADMK legislators are held in captivity at the beach resort and if they are freed then support for our leader would swell," he said. Tamil Nadu Governor Rao will meet Edappadi Palanisamy and five other ministers at Raj Bhavan at 11.30 am today. "E Palanisamy will be next the chief minister. It is a great news," Apsara Reddy, AIADMK spokesperson told CNN-News18. Speaking to News18 , BJP leader Subramanian Swamy said, "First Sasikala, and now Palanisami have produced the list. Panneerselvam has not been able to produce a list even now. It has become a national disgrace that Vidyasagar Rao took so much time to do what should have been done earlier. His friends played on his emotions. I have no doubt about his integrity, but he is a bit sentimental about friendships. The Centre said they wouldnt take an official stand. It is between the governor and the President, and the Constitution." Playing down the meeting between Edappadi Palanisamy and Governor C Vidyasagar Rao, a minister from the O Panneerselvam camp said that it is not a big deal. "We anticipated this," Durai Pandian told CNN-News18. Meanwhile, the channel claimed that the swearing-in of the new chief minister will likely take place on Thursday evening in Raj Bhavan. Hailing it as the victory for Amma, the Sasikala and/or the Palanisamy camp of AIADMK celebrated after Governor Vidyasagar Rao formally invited Edappadi Palanisamy to form the government. Rao, however, gave Palanisamy time of 15 days to prove majority on the floor of the Tamil Nadu Assembly. The law was added via the 52nd Amendment Act, 1985, soon after the Rajiv government came to power with a thumping majority in the wake of the assassination of former prime minister Indira Gandhi. The Congress had won 401 seats in the Lok Sabha. "The Tenth Schedule popularly known as the Anti-Defection Act was included in the Constitution in 1985 by the Rajiv Gandhi ministry and sets the provisions for disqualification of elected members on the grounds of defection to another political party." But it is over for OPS. The only way OPS comes out on top after this debacle id if the defected leader is able to prove a two-thirds majority on the floor of the House in a floor test 15 days later. If he fails and abstains from appearing in Assembly after the dealine is over, OPS and supporting MLAs will be disqualified under the anti-defection law. After Governor C Vidyasagar Rao formally invited Edappadi Palaniswami to form the government in Tamil Nadu effectively making him the new chief minister of the state supporters of O Panneerselvam, who heads the losing faction of AIADMK, said that it's not over yet. ANI tweeted that V Maitreyan from OPS camp is going to meet the Election Commission in Delhi this afternoon. - Sasikala Pushpa had told the Commission that the elevation of Sasikala as the general secretary of the party was carried out in an "undemocratic manner". - VK 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. - The full bench of Election Commission of India will conduct enquiry today at 2.45 pm on the validity of appointment of VK Sasikala as General Secretary of AIADMK based on the complaint of Sasikala Pushpa RS MP and Mathusoothanan. This outcome will decide the validity of Sasikala's actions as general secretary. - On 8 February, EC had sent a communication to AIADMK asking them to explain what rules of their constitution were followed to appoint the general secretary after certain complaints were raised to EC. However, no deadline has been given to them to explain the matter. OPS can still bring the current government down by poaching MLAs, which leaves the governor with only one choice: Impose President's Rule in Tamil Nadu and hold fresh elections in six months or a year. But this option is highly unlikely. It will require big political players to show their clout and convince the eight MLAs to leave the EPS camp which will be in power for the next four years and bring down the government just to go for fresh elections. OPS could still try to win it back, but it will be a tough one. OPS needs eight more MLAs to bring down Palaniswami's newly-formed government (EPS has 124 MLAs, if OPS can coax 8 out of them to defect, the count goes down to 116, which is one less than the majority of 117). However, it is an uphill task for OPS as MLAs will not defect unless there is a sure chance of winning. It seems unlikely, but there's still a window of hope for Panneerselvam. The law on elected legislators is clear: They can't break away unless they new faction has the support of at least two-third of the elected members. So, in Panneerselvam's case, he can trigger a rebellion only if he has at least 100 legislators. Given that he has just around a dozen MLAs in his camp, a split in the AIADMK looks unlikely. The governor's decision ensures that either Panneerselvam goes out and breaks the AIADMK with the support of at least two-third legislators or loses his Assembly seat. His third option is, of course, to go back to the AIADMK and become its loyal servant again, provided the powers that control the party forgive and forget. With the governor's decision to invite Palanisamy a proxy nominated by VK Sasikala's camp after Chinnamma's incarceration to form the next government, the acting chief minister faces a dark future that may end into oblivion. Unless a miracle saves him or his supporters spill out on the streets, this looks like the end of O Panneerselvam the courtier who wanted to be the king. On Thursday, Tamil Nadu Governor C Vidyasagar Rao ended the stalemate and power games in the state by inviting E Palaniswami to form the government. He has been given 15 days to prove his majority in the Assembly. In many ways, the denouement appears rational and justified. Panneerselvam was a proxy for J Jayalalithaa. After her demise, he had staked claim to her legacy citing his loyalty to the late CM. But, his current innings seems to have ended with the former CM. Courtiers and proxies often meet this end. This means if Panneerselvam and his supporters violate the AIADMK whip to support Palaniswami's government in case of a floor test, they could be expelled from the Assembly. So, if Panneerselvam wishes to remain a member of the legislature, he would have to obey the diktat of the new high command. "However, if there is any overt act of either joining any other political party voluntarily or defies any whip of any political party then he will attract the provision of the 10th Schedule and action can be taken against him by the Speaker," the government clarified. Though Panneerselvam has been expelled from the party, he will continue to remain under the control of the party. In 2016, the government had clarified in the Supreme Court that upon expulsion from a political party, there is no automatic disqualification under the 10th Schedule of the Constitution from legislative assembly or Parliament and that member will continue as an unattached member as per the direction of the Speaker. Perhaps the road to Jayalalithaa's legacy was jinxed. Everybody who tried to claim got scalded: Sasikala went to jail, the BJP got checkmated and Panneerselvam might disappear into oblivion. If Sasikala decides to avenge her humiliation by the Centre and decides to join the anti-BJP camp, it would turn out to be a lose-lose situation for everybody who supported Panneerselvam and thwarted Chinnamma's dream. With Palaniswami in the driver's seat and the remote firmly in Sasikala's hand, it would be interesting to see how the new government deals with the BJP-led Centre. The Centre needs the government's support for getting its candidate elected as the next President of India. The AIADMK numbers are crucial also in the Rajya Sabha, where the government is currently outnumbered by the Opposition. O Panneerselvam story is temporarily over. He managed to tap into the anti-Sasikala sentiment but could not convince enough MLAs to jump ship. But with Mannargudi family still well entrenched in party and maybe even in the government, it gives OPS hope to rally AIADMK cadre around himself and position as an anti-AIADMK voice. All AIADMK MLAs are ready, and governor C Vidyasagar Rao has reached Raj Bhavan to administer the oath of office to new Chief Minister E Palaniswami and 30 ministers part of his new Cabinet. Newly sworn in Tamil Nadu chief minister E Palaniswamy and his 30 Cabinet members to visit 'Amma' memorial at Marina Beach, and may even visit VK Sasikala, lodged in a prison in Bangalore. Media is reporting that other than new chief minister E Palaniswami and his Cabinet, who are heading to 'Amma' memorial, the remainder of the 100-odd MLAs may be heading back to the Golden Bay resort, which is where they will stay until the date for the floor test is announced by the Assembly. AIADMK General Secretary VK Sasikala spent a tough first night in jail, as she was unable to sleep and was restless at night. As the trial court denied Sasikala's demand for some privileges, including home food, she refused to have supper on Wednesday night though she was served two rotis, one ragi ball, 200 gms of rice and 150 gm of sambar, like all other inmates. "When Saskiala's sister-in-law and co-convict Elavarasi cajoled her to have food in view of her weak health, she took rice with sambar and butter milk," a jail source said. The judge also rejected Sasikala's request for a special room for prayers and yoga and an attached toilet-cum-bathroom. Media analysts and experts believe the big mistake caretaker chief minister O Panneerselvam made was to trust that the rebel MLAs would back him after VK Sasikala's conviction came through. But considering almost half of them were first-time MLAs who didn't fancy the prospect of facing another round of elections, they chose to go with safety in numbers. And that may have helped keep the AIADMK party together, and send E Palaniswami to the chief minister's chair. Within 24 hours of VK Sasikala going behind bars, her proxies are front and centre in Tamil Nadu as state's voters struggle to come to terms with this bitter harvest. Cartoonists for Tamil rags are having a busy day, every headline screams: "Sasikala's cunning strategy pays off, she rules from jail". DMK leader, MK Stalin has congratulated the Edappadi Palaniswami government, however, he reminded the new chief minister of Tamil Nadu to remember his oath while carrying out his official duties. After the oath ceremony, the AIADMK MLAs headed to the Golden Bay Resort, ANI said. Meanwhile, according to the news agency, the Tamil Nadu Assembly will convene on 18 February and a floor test will take place on the same day. The news report also said that the MLA has pledged to join the OPS camp. AIADMK's MLA from Mylapore M Natarajan has reportedly refused to vote for the newly appointed Chief Minister E Palaniswami ahead of the Saturday's floor test, according to India Today TV. Madusudanan also announced the "expulsion" of TTV Dinakaran and S Venkatesh. He said Jayalalithaa had earlier (in 2011) expelled them from the party for "betraying" her. "Their re-induction, done without any authority, is being cancelled," he said. "VK Sasikala is being removed from the party's primary membership for going against the party principles and ideals, and having violated her promise to Amma (Jayalalithaa), besides facing criminal cases. She has brought disrepute to the party," he said in a statement. In his statement, E Madusudhanan alleged that Sasikala "violated" her promise to Jayalalithaa that she will not enter politics and that she had no inclination to be a part of the party or government. But the EPS camp is confident as all its MLAs are still at the resort. The OPS camp claims several of them have been threatened with dire consequences if they defy Sasikala. Everything will then depend on how they vote on Saturday. Interestingly, state BJP leaders have been in touch with Panneerselvam since Thursday. On Friday, Union minister Pon Radhakrishnan said it is unlikely that Palaniswami will stay CM after Saturday's floor test. It may be a touch and go with Mylapore MLA R Natraj, former DGP saying he will go with what the people want. The story clearly isn't over yet in Tamil Nadu. The effort of the OPS camp is now to somehow ensure E Palaniswami (EPS) loses the trust vote on Saturday. Reacting to that, Panneerselvam had said smiling at another human being is one of the qualities that differentiates humans from animals. The strange advice came just a few days after AIADMK General Secretary V.K. Sasikala had noted that former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam had smiled at Stalin and cited that as one of the reasons for asking him to step down. The assembly has been convened on Saturday where Palaniswami with 125 legislators in his camp will seek the confidence of the house for his government. After holding hectic discussions at Panneerselvam's residence on Friday morning, a small group of AIADMK leaders met the Speaker in the Secretariat and demanded secret ballot on Saturday. Panneerselvam's camp has demanded secret ballot on Saturday when the motion of confidence is moved in the assembly, leaders said. One, It has a razor thin majority now. Any conflict and Palaniswami will have to ensure that he keeps the entire flock happy. Apart from cabinet berths, he will have to ensure the MLAs are rewarded with plum posts of chairmen of corporations. Will the AIADMK survive the next four years and stay in power? It looks extremely difficult because there are too many factors that are not in its control. Following Nataraj's about turn at the last minute, Palaniswami's support base is down to 124 legislators. AIADMK legislator representing Mylapore constituency and former Director General of Police (DGP) R Nataraj on Friday said he would vote against Palaniswami. There is immense chaos in the House at the moment. The speaker has denied the request to defer the floor test to another day. The Tamil Nadu Assembly has been adjourned till 1 pm. According to CNN News18, chairs were thrown at Speakers podium and complete pandemonium persisted in the Assembly. The voting has been postponed in this light. After the House was reconvened at 1 pm, the DMK MLAs were expelled by the Speaker for their earlier unruly and violent behaviour. The DMK MLAs protesting this expulsion and are refusing to leave. This is the second time the Assembly has been adjourned during the special session that was called to conduct a floor test. Earlier, the House was adjourned till 1 pm after a violent outburst by the DMK MLAs who demanded a secret ballot and deferment of the floor-test. However, these requests were denied. The chief minister won the motion, but the voting was conducted without the DMK which was seeking secret ballot in the first place. An FIR has been filed against DMK working president MK Stalin, 63 party MLAs, 3 MPs and cadres for holding a protest at Marina beach against the alleged attack on him and his MLAs during the trust vote in the Assembly. DMK leaders met with the governor on Sunday and submitted a memorandum on Saturday's floor test. Speaking to media, DMK Rajya Sabha MP T Siva said, "We've submitted a memorandum on the issue to TN Governor; He has promised to look into the matter. Sans participation of Opposition in Assembly, the trust vote moved by CM was passed; It's illegal." AIADMK Deputy General Secretary TTV Dinakaran has reached the Bengaluru Central Jail and will be meeting VK Sasikala, who has been jailed in the disproportionate assets case for four years, reports NDTV. Earlier in the day, Palaniswami 'did a J Jayalalithaa' by deciding to close down 500 more Tasmac liquor shops just like his leader had done when she returned to power in May 2016.Among his other decisions was to announce a housing scheme to build 5,000 independent homes for fisherfolk, implementation of an election promise to give working women a 50 percent subsidy to buy a vehicle and an in emolument for pregnant women from Rs 12,000 to Rs 18,000, which will benefit six lakh women. AIADMK Deputy General Secretary TTV Dinakaran has reached the Bengaluru Central Jail and will be meeting VK Sasikala, who has been jailed in the disproportionate assets case for four years, reports NDTV. Earlier in the day, Palaniswami 'did a J Jayalalithaa' by deciding to close down 500 more Tasmac liquor shops just like his leader had done when she returned to power in May 2016.Among his other decisions was to announce a housing scheme to build 5,000 independent homes for fisherfolk, implementation of an election promise to give working women a 50 percent subsidy to buy a vehicle and an in emolument for pregnant women from Rs 12,000 to Rs 18,000, which will benefit six lakh women. There is no secret ballot in parliament and assembly, only during elections it is followed: Panrutti Ramachandran, Senior AIADMK leader pic.twitter.com/4xUQfZYXVR Panrutti Ramachandran said that there is no secret ballot in the Parliament or Assembly, it is used only during elections. The reason it is not used in the Parliament and Assembly is to prevent defection. The DMK cadre observed hunger strike in all district offices across Tamil Nadu protesting eviction of DMK MLAs from the state Assembly on Saturday, 18 February. When we see that the Speaker is deliberately harping on his community to maligns us, it is very regrettable. It is a matter of shame, according to us, for Tamil Nadu, Stalin had said. On Tuesday, MK Stalin had said that the DMK would move a no confidence motion against P Dhanapal. This response came after P Dhanapal claimed that he was specifically targetted by the DMK for hailing for a particular community. Have proof that AIADMK MLAs were kept at Golden Bay resort for 11 days& also that many filed complaint about being caged: Advocate K. Balu pic.twitter.com/auese3hvGi Advocate K Balu said that AIADMK MLAs were kept at Golden Bay resort for 11 days and that many had filed a complaint about being caged. The DMK has moved the Madras High Court challenging the floor test that took place in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Saturday. AIADMK leader E Palaniswami had won the trust vote after proving he had the support of 122 MLAs, but the proceedings were marred by violence. According to a report in The Times of India, former DMK Rajya Sabha member R Shanmugasundaram mentioned the matter before the first bench on Monday and sought an urgent hearing. The bench of acting Chief Justice Huluvadi G Ramesh and Justice R Mahadevan asked him to file a petition. The report said it could be heard on Tuesday. This comes a day after the DMK called for a state-wide hunger strike on 22 February, to protest the fracas that took place inside the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Saturday while a floor test was taking place to determine the confidence enjoyed by chief minister E Palaniswami. DMK working president MK Stalin called the floor test a "murder of democracy", and appealed to governor C Vidyasagar Rao to nullify the vote of confidence won by Palaniswami. According to a separate report in The Times of India, violent protests were being held throughout Monday in various parts of Tamil Nadu. A DMK worker from Pudukottai, Thangam, attempted to immolate himself, while a group of cadres in Tiruvarur staged a daylong hunger strike, the report said. In Trichy, police arrested 19 persons for burning an effigy of speaker P Dhanapal, while in Pudokottai, a DMK worker attempted self-immolation but was rescued by party cadres. Meanwhile in Karur, 26 persons, including the district secretary, were arrested for forcing traders to down their shutters during a protest march. Palaniswami had won the trust vote by a 122-11 margin on Saturday, after the eviction of DMK members and walkout by its allies, amid stormy scenes during which mikes were uprooted, chairs toppled and sheets of papers torn and hurled around. Immediately after the eviction of DMK, Stalin had met Governor Vidyasagar Rao and urged him to postpone the trust vote. Recalling his demand for secret voting on the motion of confidence moved by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and Speaker P Dhanapal's rejection of it, he said, "Finding no other way to register our protest, we resorted to peaceful dharna inside the House. However, the Speaker ordered expulsion of all the members of the DMK without following the procedure." "The Assembly guards forcibly evicted us and many of us sustained injuries. Other opposition parties staged a walkout strongly protesting the action of speaker," he said. The DMK leader claimed that the speaker "ignored the rule that if the House is adjourned after moving a motion, it lapses". He said it was "a mockery of democracy and a severe blow to the Constitution". He cited a 1988 precedence, "when voting on a Confidence Motion was held by the Speaker with only two factions of the ruling party present in the House. (It was) later declared as invalid and void by the then governor". He also appealed to the Governor to weigh the proceedings in the state Assembly, focusing on the Speaker's declaration that the Confidence Motion moved by Palanisami was adopted in absence of members of all the opposition parties. It urged him to invoke his Constitutional powers to nullify the proceedings to protect the spirit of democracy and Constitution. With inputs from PTI After the success of Narendra Modi in the 2014 Lok Sabha Election, few political scholars and analysts were of the opinion that the BJP would move forward marginalising the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), similar to what he had done during his chief ministership in Gujarat. We do not have enough facts to prove that the BJP was, in fact, independent of RSS while Modi was in power in Gujarat, but contrary to the speculations of these political analysts, the RSS after the 2014 General Election has been strengthening the BJP government under Modi's leadership in many ways. This writer strongly feels that the RSS is the lifeline of the BJP and it is quite difficult to imagine the party's influential identity without the RSS. Even BJP leaders who were in the Sangh previously do not feel hesitant in revealing their relationship with the RSS. The RSS played a crucial role in BJPs success during the 2014 election. Their victory can be called a joint victory of Modi, BJP and the RSS. The writer studied the activities of RSS with a team during the 2014 election and found that the RSS activists were associated with organising meetings (sabhas) of Modi, collecting feedback from people on the impact of these meetings and also undertaking the task of booth management. Indubitably, the RSS is going to play an important and big role in the ongoing state Assembly elections too. According to media reports, an annual meeting of the regional propagators of RSS was held in Kanpur from 11-15 July 2016, in which RSS supremo Mohan Bhagwat gave guidance and instructions to the participants for the ongoing UP Assembly election. A meeting was also organised with senior BJP leaders on 14 and 15 July where the RSS propagators were given advice and instructions for the UP election. The RSS considers the UP election as the semi-final of the 2019 election and does not want to leave any loopholes. RSS officials were also involved in the selection of candidates in the Assembly election for the BJP. It is true that their say is given importance at many places, but many times their opinions are ignored too. For the ongoing election, the RSS officials were neither in favour of providing tickets to BJP officials nor in favour of providing tickets to the family members of big BJP leaders, the BJP didn't pay any heed to their say and gave tickets to these people as well. Many contestants were aspiring for Assembly seats but the BJP organisation and its cadres have been left with a sense of dissatisfaction because of being devoid of tickets. Looking at this situation, the RSS is constantly negotiating with BJP activists and supporters to wipe out their dissatisfaction. The RSS has also activated 40-42 organisations in the UP elections and has already begun the task of appointing the main head of the booth in all its six regional departments of Uttar Pradesh i.e., Kashi, Goraksha, Awadh, Kanpur, Braj and Meerut. The Sangh has appointed 24,000 booth heads in Kashi region alone. For a better execution during the election, the RSS has already made a three-level strategic organisation. Similar to the 2014 election, an arrangement has been made for appointing the booth head, sector head and panna head. The panna head is a very interesting arrangement. A panna head is the head of voters mentioned in a page of the voting list. He has to remain in contact with the 50 voters mentioned in the voter list and escort them to the voting booth on the election date. There would be four panna heads of the RSS at one booth. Then there will be the booth head who will be guided by the sector head. Apart from all this, the RSS has also made committees at the colony level for widening its social contact by associating with mentors of allied organisations like Shishu Mandir, Bhartiya Labour Sangh and the propagators of Pragya Pravah. The work of this committee is to create a dialogue with various social groups and inspire them to vote for the BJP. In this manner, the RSS is not only electorally organising a mass base for the BJP but is also undertaking the task of converting the influence of Modis rallies into votes. The RSS, by associating its team of propagators with the activists of BJPs IT cell has also created a "contact and dialogue team" who are constantly maintaining a dialogue about these rallies with other BJP organisations. The Sangh is also organising the electoral propagators of the BJP at the grassroots level in order to soothe the level of dissatisfaction that has emerged in the party. It is collecting peoples opinion on various electoral issues and sharing them with the BJP and big officials of the Sangh. The activeness of RSS at the grassroots level has provided a strong organisational base to the BJP in spite of being organisationally weak in UP. It is evident that the RSS as an organisation is far stronger in UP as compared to other Indian states. And their activeness in the state will influence the result of the forthcoming elections too. "So, whos winning in Uttar Pradesh?" That is the inevitable question you are confronted with on your return from a tour of the state. And, you are expected to offer a clear answer. Say that the picture is hazy and a hung assembly is likely, and you invite disappointed faces. The best way out in this scenario is, to be honest, and express your helplessness at answering the question. Bhai, I can tell you why Katappa killed Bahubali, but dont ask me about UP. It is just too complicated should be your answer. Its complicated indeed! No surprise then that all the political parties in the fray have been claiming victory at the end of each phase of polling while election watchers have been throwing up different winning tallies to parties in private. So far, a trend is not discernible. In a society divided along caste lines and where parties are closely identified with castes, the movement of "plus" votes votes from other castes apart from the core caste vote bank would have been a good indicator of the prospects of a particular party. For example, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) commands a steady vote base of Dalits. A good chunk of upper caste votes, particularly of Brahmins, and those of Muslims would be good enough to see it cross the finishing line with around 30 percent of vote share. The same goes for Akhilesh Yadavs Samajwadi Party with its core base among Yadavs and Muslims. A small shift in votes from non-Yadav OBCs and upper castes would fetch it a vote share of 30 percent, which is roughly the average share for any party forming a government in the state. The number of seats could vary wildly, though. Back to the past It was the pre-2014 scenario. The massive Narendra Modi wave in the 16th General Election to Lok Sabha saw the BJP, which had received only 15 percent of vote share and 47 Assembly seats in 2012, leap frog to the pole position with an unprecedented 43 percent vote share and number one position in 328 of the 403 assembly segments (the BJP won 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats) in the state. The wave appeared to have flattened several caste barriers and made traditional caste equations less than relevant. Nearly three years on, the question was whether the party would be able to retain the 2014 vote share, and if there is a decline how low would it go. A 10 percent dip would still be good for the BJP because 33 percent of vote share is significant in the context of Uttar Pradesh. But the dip could be sharper as the situation is far different as compared to pre-2014. To begin with its a state election and not a national one; second, the Modi wave has disappeared; third, the activities of the fringe Hindutva groups have alienated several groups from the party; fourth, certain measures of the central government such as demonetisation have hurt people; and fifth, the support from some social and caste groups that the party enjoyed in 2014 is waning. That brings down the BJP on a par with the Samajwadi Party and the BSP, if not lower, and leaves it with no distinct advantage over others. Now, assuming that the BJP is set for a big loss in vote share, who is going to gain from it? Again, it is back to the old caste and community calculus, with a dash of new confusion. "You say the entire Jat community wont vote for the BJP; they would vote for the RLD (Rashtriya Lok Dal) instead. I dont agree. Maybe a section of Jats would vote for the RLD," says Ashok Baliyan, a leader of the Jat community. He contests the suggestion that the RLD would win around 20 seats. "Can Jat votes alone give the party that many seats? Where are others?" he asks. What Baliyan means is that without the support of Muslims and other caste groups the RLD cannot score big. He has a point. "In fact, the BJP could be at an advantage in western UP if the Muslim votes get divided between the SP and the BSP and the Dalit votes go to the later," says Satish Prakash, a Dalit activist. In the 67 seats that went to polls in the second phase, Muslim voters hold the sway. The BSP has had a head start by announcing its candidates early and cultivating constituencies. The SP-Congress alliance may gain from the Muslim votes of each other, but still, the division of votes of the whole community cannot be ruled out. The general view among political observers is that Muslims vote to defeat the BJP candidate. In case there are two Muslim candidates from the BSP and the SP-Congress alliance, Muslims voters would go for the candidate who is best placed to defeat the BJP candidate in the constituency. In that scenario, it is possible that their votes would go to different candidates from the alliance or the BSP in different seats. That makes finding a pattern in voting cumbersome. In the 69 seats in phase three, Yadav voters play a big role. The strike rate of the SP in this region was around 80 percent in 2012. But in 2014, a good number of Yadavs and non-Yadav OBCs had voted for the BJP. The same is the case with a section of non-Jatav Dalits. How many of them are going to shift away from the party this time? Besides, Akhileshs party is likely to face some sabotage from party workers who were denied tickets and members of the Shivpal camp. It wont be comforting for the SP that the BSP had come close runner-up in as many as 44 seats. And this time it is focussing hard on booth-level mobilisation. Too many factors are at play in the UP Assembly election this time. The interplay of these would decide whether there would be a clear winner. Till it is deciphered with clarity, the results would continue to be a guessing game. One of the most fascinating segments of voters who will be going to the polls over the seven phases of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election is the millenial voter. Parth MN, who is travelling through Uttar Pradesh, will file a series of ground reports on millennial voters in the state, with a special focus on the concerns of young voters. This, the first part of the series, will focus on first-voters of Lucknow. After she passed her Class 12 exams with respectable marks, Nazia Khan, 24, wanted to pursue her graduation. However, hailing from a conservative Muslim family in Lucknow, she could not find any takers for her desire to study further. But in 2014, after applying for the Kanya Vidya Dhan scholarship scheme, she received Rs 30,000 and enrolled herself in a BA programme. The scholarship scheme was first launched during the regime of Mulayam Singh Yadav in 2004 to help girl students from economically backward families, but there were questions raised about its implementation. When Mayawati came to power, she shelved it. In 2012, Akhilesh Yadav revived it after assuming chief ministership, and it has been a catalyst in sustaining his popularity among the youth here in Lucknow. With the scheme aiding economically backward families, it automatically ends up consolidating his Muslim vote share and cajoling Dalit colonies. Even though teachers at the Lucknow University say that the enforcement of the scheme has room for improvement considering its irregularities, it has been significantly better than what it was like during Mulayam's tenure. "I would not have been able to graduate without the state government scheme," says Nazia, adding, "Akhilesh deserves another chance to consolidate the good work he started a couple of years ago." Lucknows nine constituencies went to the polls on Sunday, and the popularity of the incumbent chief minister among the first-time voters here is undisputed. Even the ones inclined towards the BJP are not overly critical of Akhilesh. They cite the examples of the Metro and express highway while speaking of his developmental work. He is young, they say, and he speaks "our language". We can easily identify with him, Nazias words were echoed by almost every first-time voter. Sudhir Kumar Yadav, 22, a philosophy student at Lucknow University put it more colorfully. "Jis taraf jawani chalti hai, usi taraf zamana chalta hai (Whichever way the youth go, that's the way the generation goes)," he says. Sudhir adds that the Samajwadi Party MLA in his constituency has been "useless", but "We do not vote for the MLA," he said. "We vote for the chief minister. His move to provide laptops has helped youngsters a great deal. Another scheme that is being hailed by the electorate is the nutrition mission program in alliance with Unicef, with which the state ensures the deprived are fed an all-round meal. It is monitored under the stewardship of Dimple Yadav, who has propelled the party's face as a party of the young. With close to 25 lakh first-time voters across the state, parties have understandably made their moves accordingly to clinch the pivotal vote share, and the Samajwadi Party seems to have an edge courtesy Akhilesh. Nonetheless, Lucknow is a place with its fair share of problems. One of the biggest challenges gnawing at the youth is unemployment. Nazia, who is currently in the middle of a vocational training program at Sanaktada NGO in the city, has been looking for a job for over a year. Living in a joint family of 11 in a cramped, dim-lit 500 square-foot apartment of Dali Ganj, Nazias conservative family would not allow her to move out of Lucknow for a better opportunity. However, most of the others plan to migrate to Delhi or Mumbai. Teachers at the Lucknow University complain they are not able to retain sharp students either. However, the drawbacks of Lucknow, and of Uttar Pradesh, are largely blamed on the old guard by the electorate. Lucknow-based historian Saleem Kidwai said it reflects how astute Akhilesh is. "He smartly turned the anti-incumbency, at least perceptibly, on his uncles and father during the family feud," he says. Along with unemployment, healthcare and security of women are the issues raised by the youth. This, and not religion or caste, is what influences their vote, insist everyone. Senior journalist Sharat Pradhan says caste identities are being blurred in urban Lucknow and Akhilesh stands to gain from it. "If youngsters move beyond caste and religion, it means some of the upper caste Hindus may move towards Akhilesh," he says, "But the Muslims won't vote against Samajwadi Party." However, a teacher at the Lucknow University, requesting anonymity, says the students are merely being politically correct. "They won't divulge that caste or religion plays a role if not the role. But behind closed doors, if you scratch the surface, it all comes out," she says. Indeed, the hints are there for those with a keen ear. Aksa Hasan, 20, living in the same colony as Nazia, praised Akhilesh for the reasons mentioned earlier. But unwittingly says, "We would obviously vote for the party that would protect us." Upon being probed further, she adds that the Hindutva narrative does make her nervous, and apart from the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance, she does not have an option. Interestingly, a significant chunk of the Shia vote in Lucknow traditionally went with the BJP. Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his protege Lalji Tondon, enjoyed respect among the Shias. However, with the increasing paranoia under the Narendra Modi government, Shia Muslims are drifting away from the BJP. But with the Shia and Sunni Ulemas being at loggerheads with each other, Kidwai says the Shias are not likely to shift en masse towards the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance. "The Shia Ulema has declared its support to Mayawati," he says, "The devout Shias will listen to him. But the moderate ones and especially young, who are in larger numbers, will move towards Akhilesh." Amidst the interactions, the name of Rahul Gandhi hardly comes up. When specifically mentioned, youngsters say they hope he does not interfere with Akhilesh's work. The sentiment within Akhilesh supporters regarding the alliance is similar to what avid Nitish Kumar followers said in Bihar. They did not like the idea of collaborating with Lalu Prasad Yadav, but were not angry enough to desert him. Mayawati, on the other hand, is lagging behind in spite of a sizable 20 percent Dalit population in Lucknow because the urban Dalit, especially the youth, is not exactly homogeneous. While even the quintessential voters of Samajwadi Party saying the law and order had been better under Mayawati, they believe voting for her in the urban region would benefit the BJP considering the manner in which the elections appear to be panning out. In rural Lucknow, however, the Dalits, including youngsters, say their preferred choice is "hathi in the state and kamal at the Centre". With Shia votes and around 30 perct of the upper caste population, BJP has always done well in Lucknow. The party has held the Lok Sabha seat since 1991, and in 2014, the BJP won it hands down. The Shias might be moving away, but the majority of upper castes side with the BJP. Their loyalty has been fortified after the arrival of Modi, who remains a charismatic personality among a section of the youth. Prerna Shrivastava, a 20-year-old commerce student, says it does not matter if the BJP has not revealed its chief ministerial candidate. "Whoever Modiji appoints, it will be for the best of Uttar Pradesh," she says, "He is a gutsy leader. The way he took on the black money is commendable." Prerna says she is most impressed with BJPs social media campaign that has played a role in influencing her. She adds that her family has been supporting BJP for generations. Mohit Trivedi, a cabbie in his mid-20s, is less cagey. After praising Akhilesh for around 15 minutes, he says he favours the BJP. Upon being asked why, he simply says, "Hum Pandit hain." Read the other reports in this series: II. In Sonia Gandhi's adopted Udwa village, millennials are impressed with Modi's 'audaciousness' III. In VIP constituency of Raebareli, millennial voters vexed with Congress, inclined to vote for Akhilesh IV. In Amethi, millennial voters are looking beyond Rahul Gandhi New Delhi: The Congress on Monday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his controversial "graveyard and cremation ground", remark alleging him of "vitiating" the atmosphere during the state polls. "The prime minister, true to his form, is vitiating the atmosphere during election time," Congress leader Anand Sharma told reporters here. "He has tried to stir communal tensions and polarise the society. His speech on graveyard and crematoria, shows his mindset," the Congress leader said. Sharma's remarks came a day after Modi addressed a rally in Uttar Pradesh's Fatehpur and accused the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party government of playing politics of discrimination. He said that this was while his flagship schemes were benefiting, all irrespective of their caste and religion. Modi had said, "If a village receives funds for a graveyard, then it should also get for cremation ground. If you provide uninterrupted power supply for Eid, then you should also do it for Holi." However, Sharma said these remarks highlight Modi's frustration. "It is clear BJP is heading towards a big defeat. Flustered and frustrated, Modiji has lost all sense of balance in his speeches," he added. The Congress leader added that India is a multi-cultural nation. "Our Constitution doesn't allow anyone to divide the nation, be it on caste or religion. The prime minister is not above the Constitution or the law. He would be better served to tell the people how many of his promises he has kept," Sharma added. The Congress leader accused Modi of not fulfilling his promises to the farmers made in 2014. Banda (UP): Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Monday claimed that the coming together of Samajwadi Party and Congress for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls has wiped the smile off Prime Minister Narendra Modi's face. Rahul, who is contesting the crucial state polls from Amethi, also took a dig at Modi's "adopted son of Uttar Pradesh" remark. "In 2014 Modi said 'Ganga maiya has called her son to Varanasi'. He said Varanasi was his mother and he was the son of Varanasi...Modiji, relations are nurtured and not claimed," he said at an election meeting in Banda. "Modiji if you have made relations with the people of UP you will also have to maintain them," he said. The Congress leader also alleged that the Prime Minister had been rattled by the SP-Congress alliance. "Earlier Prime Minister used to be in a good mood but ever since Congress and SP have formed an alliance, he has lost the smile on his face," he said. Referring to waiving of farmers' loans worth Rs 7,000 crores by the UPA government led by Manmohan Singh, Rahul said, "If Modi has to take a similar step, he should convene a Cabinet meeting and can do it in five minutes. But his intentions are not clean." By Saumya Tewari For 16 years, Kailash Rai (not his real name), 49, has been commuting six hours every working day between his home in the state capital Lucknow and the government degree college where he teaches in Pihani, 135 km to the northwest. A political-science lecturer, Rai cannot move with his family to Pihani, a cluster of over 100 villages (called a kasba) in Hardoi district, with less than 40,000 families as per Census 2011. When he started working there in 2000, it lacked the basic public facilitiesregular power supply, good roads, public transport and good medical services. Pihani remains an economic backwater. In the ongoing Assembly elections, Uttar Pradesh's incumbent and contesting politicians are still promising the basic facilities they did 16 years ago: Electricity, buses and jobs, along with laptops and free data for poor youth. Uttar Pradesh's story parallels that of Pihani. The kasbas population of 206,743 is serviced by four collegesa government degree college, a state-run industrial training institute (ITI) and two private degree collegesmore than the Indian average of 27 colleges per 100,000 youth in the 18-23 age group, according to the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2014-15. But it has been unable to produce talent to run local educational institutions, banks and medical centres. Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of colleges in any Indian state (6,026), according to AISHE 2014-15, but it has been unable to produce qualified workforce to drive development, as IndiaSpend reported on February 11, 2017. Uttar Pradesh is Indias most populous and youngest stateits median age is 23and the flaws in its development model typified by Pihani explain why its towns and village clusters (blocks with a population of less than 250,000 in 2011) cannot cope with the aspirations of its people, especially with regard to education and employment. Pihanis dropout rate of 36 percent at elementary school level exceeds Uttar Pradesh's overall rate of 21 percent. Like other village clusters in the state, connections to bigger cities are limited because there are few railway links, hardly any feeder roads to highways or efficient public transport services. Less than half the houses in the villages have electricity. Uttar Pradesh has made higher education available everywhere, so why hasnt the state become a hub for learning? Why doesnt the state with the highest college enrollment in India 25 percent of men and women in the 18-23 age groupmanage to create a pool of employable youth? Some answers can be found in Pihani. The primary factor is the states disinterest in developing the basic infrastructure in its towns and villages that are now flush with schools and colleges. Institutes have spread, so why hasnt education? Despite the large number of colleges in the district, Hardois school education system is a mess. Only 64 percent of children in the district progress from primary to upper levels in school, according to data from the District Information for School Education surveys 2014-15. The all-India rate of transition from primary to upper primary level was 90 percent. In a drive to push higher education in its backward pockets, many of Uttar Pradesh's colleges were set up in villages and kasbas. This growth was fuelled by both the government and private entrepreneurs. Hardoi district itself has 132 colleges, eight of them are government institutionsPihanis government degree college is one suchand 124 are private. Over the years, the government degree college has acquired projectors, computers and generators but Pihani remains a backwater. This, according to Rai, is why the teachers at his college and most employees in local banks, schools and hospitals opt for long commutes from larger cities. They are what Rai describes as reverse migrants, working in villages and living in cities. Pihanis residents, it would appear, are not educated or skilled enough to fill in these jobs. The reason could lie in the quality of education. Government colleges are understaffed; usually, they work with one-third the required strength. This means that teachers are overworked, said PC Joshi, a retired principal from a government degree college in Uttar Pradesh. However, he pointed out, private colleges have an even bigger problem. Government colleges appoint qualified staff and the recruitment processes is fair and transparent. But privately-owned or funded colleges are often under-resourced in terms of physical infrastructure. And their recruitments are mostly on paper; in practice, there is hardly any teaching. There isnt enough assessment of whether students are being taught regularly and adequately, he told IndiaSpend. Also, 17 less-populous states and union territories have better enrollment rates in higher education than Uttar Pradesh: The union territory of Chandigarh reports Indias highest enrollment at 56 percent, followed by Puducherry at 46 percent. Manipur, among the north eastern states has a 36 percent enrolment ratio in colleges. Among larger states, Tamil Nadu has Indias highest student enrollment in higher education at 45 percent. There are other problems. The quality of education offered in colleges across Uttar Pradesh varies widely because of lack of infrastructure. It is not rare in Uttar Pradesh to see a college with two rooms, a clerk, an odd-jobs man and two teachers. Second, colleges do not offer functional education geared to employment. The Pihani government college offers 10 subjects and degrees in undergraduate courses that include humanities and commerce. "Most students come from poor families and also work in farms so they are not able to fulfil college attendance requirements, said Rai. Life is hard for these youngsters and the curriculum does not provide much functional education." Other than the proliferation of colleges, little has improved in Pihani, keeping its cluster of villages poor, badly connected and with scanty power supply. A Uttar Pradesh kasba: 100 percent rural, 83 percent farm workers A community development block in Hardoi district, north-west of Lucknow, Pihani is an agglomeration of over 100 small villages. This rural administrative division is called a taluk or tehsil in other states. UP has 901 such blocks administered by a block development officer. Source: Census 2011 A third of Pihanis population consists of people belonging to scheduled castes and tribes. Its literacy rate is 51 percent, and less than half its women (41 percent) are literate. Women in Pihani form about 14 percent of the workforce, nine percentage points less than the national average of 27 percent as IndiaSpend reported in April 2016. The kasbas child sex ratio is 905 females per 1,000 male children under age sixbetter than its overall sex ratio of 873, according to Census 2011. UPs child sex ratio of 902 is lower than Pihanis. The overall sex ratio of Uttar Pradesh at 912 females per 1,000 males shows poorer health indicators for women in Pihani. Agriculture employs 83 percent of Pihanis working population but 41 percent of these farm workers are labourers on the fieldmirroring the 59 percent of Uttar Pradesh's population that works on farms, 51 percent of them farm labour, according to Census 2011. Others work as small traders, bank employees and government servants such as teachers, medical and administrative staff. Electricity still elusive: 53 percent of Uttar Pradesh homes without power Only 47 percent of homes are electrified in Uttar Pradesh's villages. This puts the state fourth on the rural electrification list from across Indiaonly Jharkhand (39 percent), Bihar (45 percent) and Nagaland (45 percent) are worse off, according to data from the power ministry. A third of voters in Uttar Pradesh cited power cuts as the biggest election issue, according to a survey conducted by FourthLion Technologies, a data analytics and public opinion polling firm, for IndiaSpend. Less than half the rural households (46 percent) in Hardoi district have electricity in their homes. And those who do get power supply only for six to eight hours a day. Running a diesel generator is the only alternative. It costs Rs 50 to run a generator to run for an hour to power just the essential requirements on the college, says Rai. State roads: 9 percent of national highways in Uttar Pradesh, but few links to these Pihanis nearest railway station is at the district headquarter in Hardoi, 28 km away. And it takes a two-hour bus ride to get there with many short halts along the way. Often, you can see passengers making the dash from their home as the bus waits. A one-way railway ticket from Lucknow to Hardoi costs Rs 65. There are 29 trains between Hardoi and Lucknow and they run through the day. But unpredictable delays cause a lot of inconvenience to daily commuters, said Rai. All the buses are private, and they charge Rs 25 from Pihani to Hardoi. Uttar Pradesh has the largest share (9 percent) of Indias national highways which run for 8,483 km. And it is ranked seventh when it comes to state highways, with 7,543 km of constructed length, according to data from the ministry of road transport and highways. No national highway passes through Hardoi district. Only state highways connect it to the bigger road networks. NH-24, or the Delhi-Bareilly-Lucknow highway, is the closest to Pihani, 40 km to its North East. Road connectivity is an impediment for the farmers as it limits their access to markets. It also affects Rai and others who commute to smaller towns and villages. The education-job gap: Why Pihani needs more employment-oriented courses Seema Gupta (not her real name), 19, is a student at the Pihani government degree college. It helps her that the college is easily accessible from her village, but her bachelor in arts degree is unlikely to get her a job. She would like to work to work in a cyber cafethese are still popular in mofussil areas. But she needs additional computer training for this that is not available in Pihani. Gupta would have preferred the college in Hardoi which offers technical courses but her parents did not want her to travel that far. Safety is a big concern for women in Pihani, said Gupta. Parents allow boys to study in better colleges outside the village, but girls cant travel that far. Despite these factors, girls form 60-65 percent of the students enrolled in the Pihani government degree college, according to Rai. The government offers scholarship to students from economically weaker sections and backward castes, and for Gupta and many others like her, the Rs 6,000 per annum is a big help. But I hope my students can be offered better technical courses so that they have greater employability, said Rai. The author is a PhD Scholar at the School of Development Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, and an IndiaSpend contributor. Ms. Sandra Scagliotti, Vietnams Honorary Consul in Turin, speaking at the meeting (Photo: VNA) Speaking at the ceremony, Ms. Sandra Scagliotti, Vietnams Honorary Consul in the city of Turin, praised the beauty of the country of Vietnam, with rich cultural traditions and the traditional Lunar New Year Festival as a good tradition for a long time. She reiterated the deep impressions of Vietnamese people that she and many other Italian friends have. On this occasion, Ms. Sandra Scagliotti called upon Italian friends and the Vietnamese community to make relentless efforts to strengthen the friendship and ties between the two countries. For his part, Vietnamese Ambassador to Italy Cao Chinh Thien introduced the achievements Vietnam has made in recent years in foreign relations, economic development and society - culture. He said that Vietnam continues to maintain economic growth rate of 6% per year, achieving a high growth rate in Asia in the context of the world economy facing various difficulties. Free trade agreements that Vietnam has signed with key partners such as ASEAN, China, the Republic of Korea and India, have helped Vietnamese enterprises as well as foreign companies investing in Vietnam seek more new opportunities and markets for export. The Ambassador emphasized that the good relations between Vietnam and Italy have been confirmed by the leaders of the two countries and strengthened during the recent high-level visits, including the official visit to Italy by President Tran Dai Quang in November 2016. The high-level visits have shown great political will from the both sides to take the Vietnam-Italy strategic partnership go in-depth, substantively and effectively. He expressed his confidence that in the future, the two sides would have more practical cooperation activities commensurate with this relationship. Regarding Vietnam-Italy economic relations, Ambassador Cao Chinh Thien said the bilateral trade turnover has grown rapidly in recent years, especially since the two countries established strategic partnership in 2013. In 2016, the bilateral trade revenue reached USD4.6 billion. Italy is Vietnams fifth largest trade partner in the European Union (EU), while Vietnam is Italys largest trade partner in ASEAN. At the meeting, the participants enjoyed traditional dishes of Vietnam and Italy, as well as art programs to welcome the Spring of the Rooster. Turin is a major city located in northwestern Italy and is a centre of the mechanical and manufacturing industry of the boot-shaped country. Having a long cooperation tradition with Vietnam, so far Turin is the only city which has an Honorary Consulate Office of Vietnam./. "The social media campaign is voluntarily conducted by our supporters. They are doing it on their own and they would not speak to the media," said an office bearer of a regional political party. "Please take a look around our social media centre," said one affiliated with another regional political party. "I will explain how our team works." For anyone who is following the high profile, tempestuous Uttar Pradesh elections, it is not difficult to figure out the two political parties in question here. At the Samajwadi Party office in Lucknows Vikramaditya Marg, a section in the vicinity is dedicated to the social media team. Secluded from the bustling main campus of the party office, the social media team operates with their building being a good two minutes by foot. In four rooms on the first floor of the building, more than 50 people spend 18 hours of their day gazing at TVs or computer screens with earphones plugged in. "The idea is to run a synchronised campaign, to drive home the message to the voters," said Aashish Yadav, a former BBC employee, who is running the show. He is joined by Manoj Yadav, songwriter of films like Raees, Piku and Azhar, who has penned campaign songs. Gozoop CEO Ahmed Aftab Naqvi is the chief digital strategist and Anshuman Sharma, fellow from Harvard University, is handling research. We reach around 25-30 lakh people in Uttar Pradesh on a daily basis through WhatsApp, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. WhatsApp gets most traction. It is the easiest to operate. Twitter is least penetrating." There are close to 10 people monitoring the news and social media to keep an eye on the prominent handles. "We counter the critical commentary with facts, depending on the stature of the leader," said Aashish. "If Modi or Amit Shah say something, we respond. In case of Ravi Shankar Prasad, or say Shahnawaz Hussain, we let it go." On the other hand, Mayawatis OSD Pawan Sagar was unwilling to accept the importance of social media. "Ours is a cadre based party and we believe in direct communication," he said. "We do not need social media to form the government." When BSP workers first ran a seemingly synchronised campaign in November, it attracted a lot of eyeballs. Tweeting party statements, doing Facebook live on the speeches made by party leaders, propping pages on Facebook of the prominent members of the partyit seemed to indicate Mayawati is moving with time. Behen ji ko aane do, a slogan was made viral on social media along with Mayawatis photograph. The slogans highlighted the problems of law and order, education and so on. The party even recorded a campaign song, which Kailash Kher sang. After the first phase of polling on 11 February, the party workers upped their game further. "Chor-chor mausere bhai", a jibe at the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance, "phisal gaye to har har gange", highlighting the BJP's return to Hindutva, and a few such attractive slogans went viral. Newspaper reports quoted Afzal Siddiqui, son of a senior BSP leader Naseemuddin Siddiqui, as the mind behind the social media campaign. "We realised our mistake and after discussing it with behenji, we turned our focus to it, he told The Times of India. However, Sagar said the volunteers are doing their thing without Mayawatis directives. It is no secret that Mayawati did not believe in social media, and if they are using it now, it suggests she has been forced to move on with times. But acknowledging that would mean conceding an error in judgment, perhaps the reason behind the BSPs line of narrative. Rajya Sabha member Ashok Siddharth, for example, reportedly said he does not operate his Facebook page with over 11,000 likes and it could be started and run by party supporters. Aashish Yadav, on the contrary, did not fail to mention that Akhilesh Yadav operates his Twitter and Facebook accounts himself, clearly indicating the difference in approach of the two regional parties towards social media. There are close to 25 lakh first-time voters in Uttar Pradesh this time. With commentators saying the caste identities among the youth are being gradually blurred with education, the first-time voter could potentially swing the election. Social media is a very effective tool to tap youngsters, Aashish said. We have managed to reach 90 percent of those with access to social media across the state. The BJP first used social media extremely effectively in 2014 general elections. It was a catalyst in the young voter gravitating towards Narendra Modi. The Samajwadi Partys strategy seems to be inspired by the BJPs success. However, Aashish denied it. It is true the BJP used it efficiently in 2014, he said. But in 2012, Akhilesh Yadav had made umeed ki cycle viral on social media. Therefore, BJP could have been inspired by him. Then why did their campaign come alive only in late 2016? "When we thought we had done enough work to show for, we decided to go full-fledged. We do not indulge in negativity," said Aashish, as he showed around their social media centre, or as they call it, war room. The team most of which, Aashish said, is not charging a rupee including him hardly looked up or moved their eyes away from the screen as the two of us engaged in a conversation. "Yeh ek tarah ka Yuddh hi hai. Sabki aahuti lag rahi hai yaha," he said. The outcome of the ongoing Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls still hangs in a delicate balance. There is no clear winner in sight even at the mid-way mark of this gruelling month-long seven-phase electoral battle across India's by far most populous state. Indeed, none of the three main contenders BJP, Samajwadi PartyCongress alliance and the BSP can boast yet of a tail wind let alone a wave to propel them towards decisive victory. For the BJP, despite its surface triumphalism party insiders are jittery about it securing a clear majority or even emerging as the number one party in a possible hung assembly scenario. In fact, there is a touch of hysteria about BJP president Amit Shahs ludicrous claim that his party was on the crest of a popular wave bigger than that witnessed in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls considering that it won virtually every single seat leaving just a handful for members of the Gandhi dynasty and the Yadav clan. Shah is far too politically savvy not to realise that there is a dramatic difference between the present fractured poll landscape and the time when the Modi juggernaut trampled everything in its way. His boast betrays insecurity not confidence. In the changed scenario, the BJP is still searching for the right slogan to galvanise voters. Modis great gamble with just a few months left for the elections to use demonetisation as an electoral ploy to rally the poor against the rich appears to have misfired. A tentative return to the traditional Sanghi strategy of polarising voters on religious lines has so far met with limited success. To compound BJPs woes it is no longer assured of support from its traditional vote banks among the influential Baniya and Brahmin communities across the state and is facing in western Uttar Pradesh the hostility of Jats who voted en bloc for the party in 2014 in the communally charged aftermath of the Muzaffarnagar riots the year before. The harsh blow to the cash economy is one of the reasons for this disenchantment particularly evident among Baniya traders and Jat farmers. But there is also a larger disquiet among constituencies that were considered close to the BJP about whether the party was changing its colours and still represented their interests. Yet it would be imprudent to underestimate the BJP. Cleverly exploiting the image of Modi, the humble chaiwala, as its icon the party has managed to acquire the loyalty of a new vote bank an entire slew of backward castes that together form a sizeable chunk of the electorate. Shrugging off the rigours of demonetisation and happy to embrace the politics of religious polarisation, it is these myriad sub-castes who are flocking to the BJP which in return has given them more than a third of party tickets. On the other hand, this drastic restructuring of the BJPs social base is causing considerable unease among local leaders of the party mostly from upper castes not least because it has also meant denying quite a few of them election tickets to accommodate backward caste aspirants many of them acquired recently from other parties. However, despite losing momentum from its spectacular 2014 high, the BJP remains in contention in virtually every seat across Uttar Pradesh largely because Samajwadi Party which both pollsters and pundits had billed as its main challenger is also struggling to pick up speed. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's ingenious sleight of hand using a potentially damaging feud in the Yadav clan to boost his personal image and a last minute electoral pact with the Congress to consolidate the Muslim vote had earlier led to speculation about the alliance gaining the upper hand. Yet the negative aspects of the Yadav family feud, as well, and the hasty coalition with the Congress appear to be outweighing their positive side as the elections have proceeded. Although vanquished in the battle to control the party and wrest the electoral symbol uncle Shivpal still retains enough nuisance value to harm Akhilesh particularly since party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav continues to lean towards his brother rather than his son. More importantly, the absence this time from the Samajwadi party war room of these two senior leaders who had for so long navigated it through elections at the ground level is a huge handicap. Brand Akhilesh crafted by spin doctors imported from Harvard and huge resources spent in its media outreach may have worked if this was a presidential style poll but is finding it difficult to get off the ground in a scrappy constituency level battle. Making matters worse is the ruling partys uneasy and unfamiliar alliance with the Congress. It may have been welcomed by the Muslim minority but this positive perception has not been backed up by coordinated effort to integrate and mobilise the support bases of two parties who have never worked together before. Instead the Samajwadi Party and the Congress are competing in as many as 22 seats including several in the Gandhi stronghold of Raebareili and Amethi and reports suggest that even in many other seats the two are working at cross purposes. This handicap is aggravated by the lack of a working relationship between Akhilesh and Rahul Gandhi beyond public embraces and candidates have been largely left to fend for themselves in their own constituencies. Meanwhile, the third contender in the polls, Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party, is struggling to gather steam in a poll that one year ago seemed a cake walk. Unfortunately, for behenji the successive public dramas from late last year of the Yadav clan feud and Modis demonetisation gambit has pushed back her claim to bring back law and order wrecked jointly by poor administration of the Samajwadi Party and communal tensions fomented by the BJP. Her largely arithmetical alliance with the Muslim minority is not giving her the kind of electoral dividend she had hoped because it is not accompanied by the expected public outcry for stable administration. Yet it would be premature as many pollsters and pundits have done to rule out of the race the Dalit supremo who has often snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in the past. The BSP elephant is showing signs of moving forward. A master tactician who knows each constituency like the back of her hand, Mayawati is twisting and turning to stitch up alliances that could make the vital difference from seat to seat. Indeed if the polls ultimately turn out to be an aggregation of 403 mini-seat wise battles she may well be the best equipped to fight such a guerrilla war. By Ruma Paul | DHAKA DHAKA Bangladesh's foreign minister called on the international community on Monday to address Myanmar's treatment of its Rohingya Muslim minority, tens of thousands of whom have fled in recent months to Bangladesh from its mainly Buddhist neighbour.Speaking at a meeting with Yanghee Lee, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, who is in Dhaka on a three-day visit, A. H. Mahmood Ali said a peaceful resolution must be found, a Foreign Ministry statement said.Ali also described efforts by Dhaka to engage with Myanmar bilaterally by establishing border liaison offices and talks on security cooperation, the statement said.Lee is visiting the Cox's Bazar area on the border with Myanmar, where the foreign minister said the influx of Rohingya was having an adverse impact on the local population and undermining security. In a separate meeting, Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende, in Dhaka on a two-day visit, urged the international community to put more pressure on Myanmar to stop maltreatment of the Rohingya. "The Buddhist majority country has to treat minorities with dignity and inclusiveness," Brende said.Nearly 70,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar's Rakhine State to Bangladesh to escape a crackdown launched after nine policemen were killed in attacks on border posts on Oct. 9 that Myanmar blamed on Rohingya militants. They have joined more than 200,000 Rohingya already in Bangladesh, many living in official and makeshift camps, straining resources in one of Asia's poorest regions. Rohingya have faced discrimination in Myanmar for generations. They are not classified as a distinct group under Myanmar's citizenship laws and are regarded instead as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, entitled only to limited rights.The authorities in Dhaka meanwhile say they are Myanmar nationals and must ultimately go back. The U.N. human rights office said in a report this month that Myanmar's security forces had committed mass killings and gang rapes of Rohingya Muslims and burned their villages.U.N. officials working with refugees in Bangladesh have told Reuters the death toll from the security sweep could be more than 1,000.Myanmar has denied almost all allegations of human rights abuses and says a lawful counterinsurgency campaign has been underway since the October attacks on the security posts.The violence has dismayed and outraged some of Myanmar's neighbours, with mostly Muslim Malaysia being particularly vociferous in its criticism. About 1.1 million Rohingya live in northwestern Myanmar.Bangladesh is seeking funds for a plan to relocate refugees from Myanmar to an isolated and undeveloped island in the Bay of Bengal called Thengar Char. The plan was criticised by humanitarian workers when it was first proposed in 2015, not least because Thengar Char often floods in the monsoon.Following her visit to Bangladesh, Special Rapporteur Lee will share her findings in a report to the UN Human Rights Council which will be available online on March 13, the Foreign Ministry statement said. (Additional reporting by Serajul Quadir; Editing by Catherine Evans and Janet Lawrence) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Dhaka: Bangladesh police on Monday arrested an absconding death row convict for the gruesome murder of a secular blogger in 2013, that set off a chain of attacks targeting liberal writers in the Muslim-majority country. Dhaka Metropolitan Police's (DMP) counter-terrorism unit arrested 34-year-old Redwanul Azad Rana, a former student at the country's top North South University, and one other man during a raid at the capital's Uttara suburb. "The counter-terrorism and transnational crime unit of police has arrested Rana along with an assistant militant named Ashraf during a raid," the police said in a statement. Rana was absconding since the start of his trial in the murder of secular blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider, who was hacked to death with machetes in February 2013, and was sentenced to death in his absence in December 2015, along with another former student at the same university, Faisal bin Nayem, who is in custody. Rana could not challenge the conviction as he was on the run. The gruesome day-light murder also set off a chain of similar Islamist attacks on secular writers, civil activists, foreigners and religious minorities in the country. In 2015, five secular bloggers were killed in separate attacks, including Bangladeshi-American blogger Avijit Roy, who was killed on a Dhaka street by a group of assailants in February 2015. His wife was also grievously injured in the attack. Haider had also started a movement demanding the highest punishment to the 1971 war criminals just days ahead of his murder, the BDnews reported. Helsinki: Swedes have been scratching their heads and ridiculing President Donald Trump's remarks that suggested a major incident had happened in the Scandinavian country. The American president now says he was referring to something he saw on television. During a rally in Florida on Saturday, Trump said "look what's happening last night in Sweden" as he alluded to past terror attacks in Europe. It wasn't clear what he was referring to and there were no high-profile situations reported in Sweden on Friday night. The comment prompted a barrage of social media reaction on Sunday, with hundreds of tweets, and a local newspaper published a list of events that happened on Friday that appeared to have no connections to any terror-like activity. On Sunday, Trump took to Twitter to explain: "My statement as to what's happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden." A White House spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, says that Trump was talking about rising crime and recent incidents in general, not referring to a specific issue. My statement as to what's happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 19, 2017 The president may be referring to a segment aired Friday night on the Fox News Channel show Tucker Carlson Tonight that reported Sweden had accepted more than 1,60,000 asylum-seekers last year but that only 500 of the migrants had found jobs in Sweden. The report, which was illustrated with video of broken windows and fires, went on to say that a surge in gun violence and rape had followed the influx of immigrants. Reacting to Trump's original remarks, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Catarina Axelsson said that the government wasn't aware of any "terror-linked major incidents." Sweden's Security Police said it had no reason to change the terror threat level. "Nothing has occurred which would cause us to raise that level," agency spokesman Karl Melin said. Former Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt tweeted, "Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking? Questions abound." Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking? Questions abound. https://t.co/XWgw8Fz7tj Carl Bildt (@carlbildt) February 19, 2017 Addressing Trump in an article on Sunday, the Aftonbladet tabloid wrote, "This happened in Sweden Friday night, Mr President," and then listed in English some events that included a man being treated for severe burns, an avalanche warning and police chasing a drunken driver. One Twitter user said, "After the terrible events #lastnightinSweden, IKEA have sold out of this" and posted a mock Ikea instruction manual on how to build a "Border Wall." Sweden, which has a long reputation for welcoming refugees and migrants, had a record 1,63,000 asylum applications in 2015. The country has since cut back on the number it annually accepts. Its most recent attack linked to extremism happened in the capital, Stockholm, in December 2010. An Iraqi-born Swede detonated two explosive devices, including one that killed him but no one else. In the month he has been president, Trump's remarks and those of his staff have fueled numerous news media "fact checks" pointing out inaccuracies and falsehoods. On the subject of terrorism, Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway referred to a "Bowling Green Massacre" that never occurred. Former foreign minister Bildt told Swedish Radio after his initial confounded tweet Sunday that he sees danger in how Trump relates to facts. "If we are in a situation where there is tension in the world, we stand between war and peace," he said. "If we then have a president who spreads lots of false rumors, it can be truly dangerous." By Alexandra Ulmer and Alexandra Valencia | QUITO QUITO Ecuador's leftist government candidate Lenin Moreno looked set for victory on Monday in a presidential election, but slow results meant it may take days to know if he will face a runoff with former banker Guillermo Lasso.In a nail-biter vote with eight candidates at the weekend, Moreno was close to the threshold needed to avoid a second round on April 2 and continue a decade-long period of leftist rule, just as South America is moving to the right.While Ecuadoreans are angry over an economic downturn and corruption scandals, the opposition split its votes among candidates and the ruling Country Alliance remains popular with many poor voters thanks to social welfare programs.As results trickled in from Ecuador's Andes, jungle, and Pacific coast, Moreno, a disabled former vice president, was just short of the 40 percent of votes and a 10-percentage-point difference over his nearest rival to win outright.He had 39.12 percent of valid votes versus 28.30 percent for Lasso, with 88.5 percent of votes counted, the official preliminary election count showed on Monday morning. The electoral council said final results would only be ready in three days as votes trickle in from isolated areas and Ecuadoreans abroad, bureaucratic delays and "inconsistencies" in some ballots. "How can they take three days to count 12 percent?" said Lasso, 61, who already celebrated reaching the second round in his humid hometown of Guayaquil under a stream of confetti on Sunday night."We're not going to allow fraud... If they toy with the results, we'll take to the streets," he added.A couple of hundred opposition supporters have already congregated in front of the electoral council headquarters in Quito to demand a speedier and more transparent count. "We don't trust the electoral council, it's obviously pro-Country Alliance," said Maribel Cevallos, a 34-year-old psychologist. "We're here watching that they don't cheat us."Protesters waving yellow, blue and red Ecuadorean flags chanted slogans including "We're not Cuba or Venezuela, out with Correa!"Outgoing President Rafael Correa was one of the key figures in Latin America's leftist axis that includes Caracas and Havana. He brought stability to the politically turbulent OPEC country but has aggravated many with his confrontational style.Government supporters said votes from pro-government rural provinces and Ecuadoreans abroad, many of whom left after a deep financial crisis under a center-right government, would propel Moreno, 63, past the crucial 40 percent mark.Moreno said in a Monday interview he does not see why the opposition would cry fraud, adding his party was abiding by the constitution and would await final results. POLARIZED NATION The next president faces strong pressure to create jobs and crack down on graft, amid corruption scandals at state-run oil company Petroecuador and Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht.Lasso has campaigned on a platform to revive the economy, which is dependent on exports of oil, flowers and shrimp, by slashing taxes, fostering foreign investment and creating a million jobs in four years.He has also vowed to remove Wikileaks founder Julian Assange from the Ecuadorean embassy in London and denounce Venezuela's Socialist government. But Lasso has also alienated some voters who deem him a stuffy elitist linked to the 1999 financial crisis when hundreds of thousands lost their savings. Moreno, who lost the use of his legs two decades ago after being shot during a robbery, has a more conciliatory style than the pugnacious Correa and has promised benefits for the disabled, single mothers and the elderly."In the last few years there have been radical changes in the country, like the end of extreme poverty," said Moreno supporter Ramiro Flores, a 60-year-old civil engineer in the mountainous capital Quito.Critics say Moreno is woefully ill-equipped to overhaul an ailing economy hit by low oil prices, steep debts, and a stronger U.S. dollar that has hurt exports.His running mate, Jorge Glas, who as strategic sectors minister oversaw the oil and infrastructure industries, has also been accused by a fugitive oil minister of corruption in the Petroecuador case. Glas has denied wrongdoing.Moreno has said Assange can stay in the London embassy, but warned in a Monday interview with Latin American broadcaster Telesur he would ask him "not to intervene in the politics of countries that are friends of Ecuador."The new president takes office on May 24 for a four-year term. (Additional reporting by Jose Llangari, Yury Garcia, Cristina Munoz, and Yolanda Proano; Writing by Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by James Dalgleish and Alan Crosby) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. PARIS French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has gained some ground on her main election rivals, independent Emmanuel Macron and conservative Francois Fillon, but would still lose to either of them in the May 7 runoff for the presidency, a poll showed on Monday.The Opinionway poll of voting intentions had Le Pen easily beating her four main rivals and winning the April 23 first round with a score of 27 percent to move through to the two-way runoff against either Macron or Fillon.In a straight fight with Macron she would go down by 42 percent against his 58, while against Fillon she would lose with 44 percent to his 56, the poll showed.French government bond yields rose sharply on news of the poll, reflecting investors' apprehension over Le Pen's proposals to quit the euro zone, hold a referendum on EU membership, and slap taxes on imports and on the job contracts of foreigners.Her improvement in ratings was most notable against Macron, with whom she was seen a week ago as polling 36-37 percent to his 63-64 percent in the second round. With nine weeks to go to the first round, it was still not clear whether Macron, a centrist, or Fillon, a former conservative prime minister, would go through to the knockout against Le Pen.The two men are tied on 20 percent each in the first round, according to Monday's poll. Fillon, who preaches radical cost-cutting policies in the public sector to launch a recovery, was the clear frontrunner until a scandal broke over salaries paid to his wife and two children from public funds for questionable amounts of work. He has denied they were paid for 'fake jobs'.He has vowed to fight on, despite plunging ratings and the threat of being placed under formal investigation by the financial police, who have launched a probe into the scandal.Macron, a political novice who has never held elected office, has pulled in huge crowds at rallies, saying he seeks to transcend the classic left-right divide in French politics.But he sparked an outcry at home last week, which may have dented his support, when he said during a trip to Algeria that France's colonial past -- still a divisive issue 50 years after the war in Algeria -- represented "a crime against humanity". Le Pen, who wants to take France out of the European Union, was on a trip to Lebanon on Monday where she spoke out against French policy on Syria.After meeting Prime Minister Saad Hariri in Beirut, she described Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as the "only viable solution" for preventing Islamic State from taking power in Syria."I explained clearly that ... Bashar al-Assad was obviously today a much more reassuring solution for France than Islamic State would be if it came to power in Syria, as it has partially taken power in Libya after the disappearance of (Muammar) Gaddafi," she told journalists. The election run-up has produced a series of surprises, with several big names falling off the radar.Polls see little chance of a Socialist revival in time for the election given the poor record of President Francois Hollande's five years in office and his decision not to run again.Moves late last week to form an election deal between the Socialists, who have elected left-winger Benoit Hamon as their candidate, and the far-left veteran campaigner Jean-Luc Melenchon, appear to have fizzled.Melenchon, who is standing as an independent, said: "I have no intention of going and hitching myself to a hearse." Hamon hit back at the weekend, telling journalists: "I won't run after Jean-Luc Melenchon. I don't run after anyone." (Additional reporting by Simon Carraud in Beirut and Yann Le Guerigou in Paris; Writing by Richard Balmforth; Editing by Mark Trevelyan) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. India recently asked the United States more than a hundred questions on its trade policy, H-1B visas, intellectual property rights (IPR) policies, and enquired whether the US Special 301 report that places India under a priority watch list is international trade rules-compliant, a document has revealed. India asked 152 questions and six additional queries to the US during its trade policy review (TPR) held in December last year, the room document of the review accessed by Firstpost reveals. TPRs are an exercise, mandated in World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreements, in which member countries' trade and related policies are examined and evaluated at regular intervals. This was the US 13th TPR at the world trade body. The first nine questions were on US policy, specifically on L-1 and H-1B visas: If the US has trade commitments for intra-corporate transferees and speciality occupations under WTO rules then it was asked to to confirm whether L-1 and H-1B visa holders in these occupations fall into these two categories of employees mentioned and to explain the legislative objective and purpose of the two types of visas. It was then asked to explain categories of temporary, non-immigrant visas other than L-1 and H-1B visas given and the rationale behind the visa fee hike for L-1 and H-1B visa types and whether the fee hike was supported by any research, survey, data, study, analyses or other document. India then asked how the limit of 50 employees or more as regards to the increased fees was decided upon and why it didnt apply to other categories of temporary, non-immigrant visas. The US did not answer any of the above-mentioned queries and merely said that the matter is under consultation at the WTO and directed New Delhi to look up the websites of the US Department of State and US Department of Homeland Security for more information on US visa categories. Washington revealed that it had procured $10.2 billion of IT services in the year 2010, when India asked a question on the total value of IT services procured during 2014 and 2015, and the percentage procured from foreign suppliers. New Delhi then asked if by imposing an internal tax or charge on imported products only, was the US violating the GATT 1994 rules. This situation was described by the US as hypothetical. The questions, that run into about 33 pages, also focus quite a bit on intellectual property (IP) rights and patent issues. IP was present in some 52 percent of US goods exports, Washingtons response revealed. IP-intensive industries accounted for $6.6 trillion in value added in 2014, up more than $1.5 trillion (30 percent) from $5.06 trillion in 2010. Accordingly, the share of total US GDP attributable to IP-intensive industries increased from 34.8 percent in 2010 to 38.2 percent in 2014. This does not even cover the industries that heavily rely on other forms of IP protection, such as trade secrets, which also contribute substantially to the economy, the US said. The stock of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the US totalled $3.1 trillion in 2015, up from $2.3 trillion in 2010, the responses reveal. In manufacturing, this stock increased from $757 billion to $1.2 trillion, roughly 55 percent of the overall increase. The chemical industry mostly pharmaceuticals accounted for more than two-thirds of the manufacturing increase. What is the procedure for issue of these compulsory/mandatory licenses? Do they apply irrespective of the field of technology? India asked. Compulsory licensing is when a government allows someone else to produce the patented product or process without the consent of the patent owner. It is one of the flexibilities on patent protection included in the WTOs Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement. The United States does not accept the characterisation of the legal provisions referenced in this question, the US replied. In the chapeau text of another question, India said that the American government has remedies beyond legal provisions, to ensure that an action which is beneficial to the larger interest of the US economy and its consumers is taken and that Executive Orders of the President can be issued to address specific situations and to overturn determinations made by judicial bodies. Can the concern that forms the basis of the decision go beyond health urgency and public safety? India asked. The question has inaccurate assertions the US replied. The enactment of the Trade Facilitation Act by the US early last year can lead to imposition of sanctions if the countries categorised under "priority watch list (PWL), under the Special 301 report, do not provide "adequate and effective" protection of IP rights or "fair and equitable market access to US persons that rely upon intellectual property rights," India stated. India along with China, Russia and eight other countries continue to be PWL countries in the US Special 301 report a Congressionally mandated annual report that has been issued every year, beginning in 1989, that identifies trade barriers to US companies and products in foreign shores due the host countrys intellectual property laws, including trademarks, patents, copyright, trade secrets etc. Since under World Trade Organisation jurisprudence, legality of unilateral actions over sovereign countries is questionable, does this domestic legislation of the US not go beyond the provisions of WTO? India asked. To this, the US, without referencing the WTO-compliance question, simply said that enforcement of IP rights supports high-paying jobs and provides global solutions, including providing new and improved medicines and health treatments. The US invokes the Special 301 provisions to try and influence other countries' IP laws, which are TRIPS (Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) compliant and are domestic in application, New Delhi said. Referencing the many recommendations of the United Nations Secretary-General's High-Level Panel (HLP) on Access to Medicines report issued in September 2016, India stated that one of the recommendations specifies that countries "must refrain from explicit or implicit threats, tactics or strategies that undermine the right of WTO members to use TRIPS flexibilities." Under such circumstances, is the Special 301 report TRIPS compliant? India asked. The assessments in the report where relevant are based on the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health and that the US respects a trading partner's right to protect public health and, in particular, to promote access to medicines for all, the US replied. Persisting on its questions on patents, India asked the US on its views on evergreening of patents any legal, business and technological strategy through which producers extend their patents over products that are about to expire considering that the US itself restricts or invalidates patents on the basis of "secondary considerations". This question was also posed in the context of the UNHLP report that recommends countries use methods to prevent evergreening of patents. The US said that there is no common understanding of the concept of evergreening. Certain countries, including India, have applied patentability criteria, including through the application of India's Section 3(d) "enhanced efficacy" standard, in a way that has led to rejections of patent applications for innovative pharmaceutical products that have received patents in other countries, the US complained. Section 3(d) of the Indian Patent Act 1970, amended in 2005, does not allow a patent to be granted to inventions involving new forms of a known substances unless it differs significantly in properties with regard to efficacy. This has been a major cause of concern for powerful American pharmaceutical companies. Additionally, Washington is deeply disappointed with the UNHLP and its recommendations and said that the narrowly-focused mandate of the panel was flawed and did not produce outcomes that adequately address the complex issue of access to medicines. Citing a recent German court verdict of granting a compulsory licensing (CL) to an American company, India asked the US if such a CL was justified and how the US differentiates such CLs issued in in favour of US companies from those issued in other countries to non-US companies. There is no contextual information provided in this question, and it appears is more appropriate for Germany or the European Union, the US retorted. The US not only wants a double standard on compulsory licensing, they want everyone to agree that the double standard does not exist. It is a form of lying, justified by the US power. It's embarrassing, Jamie Love, an expert in compulsory licensing cases and founder of the well-known American NGO Knowledge Ecology International told Firstpost. India also asked the US how it proposes to impose high duties on Chinese goods, when its average bound rate of duties is less than 5 percent. The US replied that the TPR is a retrospective review and that it will keep the WTO members informed when the new administration comes in place. The US TPR was held on 19 and 21 December at the WTO headquarters in Geneva, with more than 60 delegations taking the floor to comment or provide written statements on US trade measures. India, along with China, the EU, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan were some of the trading partners most affected by the US anti-dumping measures, the TPR documents reveal. By Stephen Kalin and Maher Chmaytelli | SOUTH OF MOSUL/BAGHDAD, Iraq SOUTH OF MOSUL/BAGHDAD, Iraq U.S.-backed Iraqi forces battling Islamic State fighters have fought their way close to Mosul's airport on the second day of a ground offensive on the jihadists' remaining stronghold in the western side of the city, military statements said on Monday.Federal police and elite interior ministry units known as Rapid Response are leading the charge toward the airport on the southern outskirts of Mosul and plan to turn it into a close support base for the push into western Mosul, commanders have said. They dislodged Islamic State fighters from the hilltop village of Albu Saif which overlooks the airport, reaching its "vicinity," an Iraqi military statement said. The militants are essentially under siege in western Mosul, along with an estimated 750,000 civilians, after they were forced out of the eastern part of the city in the first phase of the campaign that ended last month, after 100 days of fighting. "They are striking and engaging our forces and pulling back towards Mosul," Major Mortada Ali Abd of the Rapid Response units told a Reuters correspondent south of Mosul. "God willing Albu Saif will be fully liberated today."Elite Counter-Terrorism Service units headed to frontlines around the western side of Mosul, a city divided in two by the Tigris River.Helicopters were seen strafing the Albu Saif hill during the day to clear it of snipers, while machinegun fire and rocket propelled grenades could be heard. The advancing forces also disabled a car bomb, used by militants to obstruct attacking forces.The Iraqi forces have been advancing so far in sparsely populated areas and there were no families seen escaping. The fighting will get tougher as they get nearer to the city itself and the risk greater for civilians.Up to 400,000 civilians could be displaced by the offensive as residents of western Mosul suffer food and fuel shortages and markets are closed, United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq Lise Grande told Reuters on Saturday.Commanders expect the battle to be more difficult than in the east of the city, which Iraqi forces took control of last month after three months of fighting. Tanks and armoured vehicles cannot pass through its narrow alleyways.The militants have developed a network of passageways and tunnels to enable them to hide and fight among civilians, disappear after hit-and-run operations and track government troop movements, according to residents.Western Mosul contains the old city centre, with its ancient souks, government administrative buildings, and the mosque from which Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared his self-styled caliphate over parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014. The city is the largest urban centre captured by Islamic State in both countries.The U.S. commander in Iraq, Army Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend, told a news conference in Baghdad on Monday he had been putting U.S. military advisers closer to front lines in Mosul."We adjusted our posture during the east Mosul fight and we embedded advisers a bit further down into the formation," he said, speaking during an unannounced visit of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to Baghdad.Townsend has said he believes U.S.-backed forces will recapture both of Islamic State's major strongholds - Mosul and the city of Raqqa in Syria - within the next six months.Islamic State was thought to have up to 6,000 fighters in Mosul when the government's offensive started in mid-October. Of those, more than 1,000 have been killed, according to Iraqi estimates.The remainder now face a 100,000-strong force made up of Iraqi armed forces, including elite paratroopers and police, Kurdish forces and Iranian-trained Shi'ite paramilitary groups.The westward road that links the city to Syria was cut in November by the Shi'ite paramilitary known as Popular Mobilization forces. The militants are in charge of the road that links Mosul to Tal Afar, a town they control 60 km (40 miles) to the west. CIVILIAN LIVES Coalition aircraft and artillery have continued to bombard targets in the west during the break that followed the taking of eastern Mosul. The United States, which has deployed more than 5,000 troops in the fighting, leads an international coalition providing air and ground support to the Iraqi and Kurdish forces.Mattis told reporters before arriving in Baghdad the U.S. military was not in Iraq to seize the country's oil, distancing himself from remarks by President Donald Trump. A U.S. serviceman died on Monday in a non-combat related incident outside the Iraqi city of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, the U.S.-led coalition said, giving no further details. Islamic State imposed a radical version of Islam in Mosul, banning cigarettes, televisions and radios, and forcing men to grow beards and women to cover from head to toe. Citizens who failed to comply risked death.Capturing Mosul would effectively end the Sunni group's ambitions for territorial rule in Iraq. The militants are expected to continue to wage an insurgency, however, carrying out suicide bombings and inspiring lone-wolf actions abroad.About 160,000 civilians have been displaced since the start of the offensive in October, U.N. officials say. Medical and humanitarian agencies estimate the total number of dead and wounded - both civilian and military - at several thousand."This is the grim choice for children in western Mosul right now: bombs, crossfire and hunger if they stay or execution and snipers if they try to run," Save the Children said, adding children make up about half the population trapped in the city.The involvement of many local and foreign players with diverging interests in the war heightens the risk that they could clash between themselves after Islamic State is defeated. Influential Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who is openly hostile to Washington's policies in the Middle East, on Monday said U.S. troops should leave as soon as Mosul is captured. Mattis declined to address Sadr's remarks directly, describing them as an internal political matter, but he said he was reassured after his talks in Baghdad that Iraq's leaders recognised the value of its relationship with the United States."I imagine well be in this fight for a while and well stand by each other," he said. (Additional reporting by Phil Stewart in Baghdad and Isabel Coles in Erbil; Editing by Dominic Evans and Janet Lawrence) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Rozanna Latiff and Joseph Sipalan | KUALA LUMPUR KUALA LUMPUR Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Monday his government's investigation of the killing of the North Korean leader's half-brother, Kim Jong Nam, will be "objective", as tensions rose between the countries.Earlier on Monday, Malaysia said it had recalled its envoy from Pyongyang and summoned North Korea's ambassador in Kuala Lumpur, who again cast doubt on the impartiality of Malaysia's investigation into the murder and said the victim was not Kim Jong Nam."We have no reason why we want to do something to paint North Korea in a bad light, but we will be objective," Najib told reporters in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.The son of Kim Jong Nam, 22-year-old Kim Han Sol, was expected to arrive in the Malaysian capital from Macau late on Monday, according to an airline source and a media report.Malaysian authorities have said they will release the body of the victim, believed to have been killed by North Korean agents, to the next of kin.CCTV footage, released by Japanese broadcaster Fuji TV, appeared to show Kim Jong Nam being attacked at Kuala Lumpur International Airport last Monday by a woman believed to have wiped a fast-acting poison on his face.Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity of the video, and police officials were not immediately available for comment.Kim Jong Nam, 46, who had been living in the Chinese territory of Macau under Beijing's protection, had spoken out publicly against his family's dynastic control of isolated, nuclear-armed North Korea.South Korean legislators last week cited their spy agency as saying the young and unpredictable North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, had issued a "standing order" for his half-brother's assassination, and that there had been a failed attempt in 2012.CHASING SUSPECTS Malaysian police said they were hunting four North Koreans who fled from the country on the day of the attack, having already detained one North Korean man, a Vietnamese woman, an Indonesian woman, and a Malaysian man.At least three of the wanted North Koreans caught an Emirates flight to Dubai from Jakarta late on the day of the attack, an immigration official in Indonesia told Reuters. Malaysia's Star newspaper reported that all four had returned to North Korea.North Korea had sought to prevent Malaysia from conducting an autopsy, insisting the body be handed over. Its envoy in Kuala Lumpur criticised Malaysian authorities for "delaying" the release of the body."At the moment we cannot trust the investigation by the Malaysian police," ambassador Kang Chol told reporters after talks at the foreign ministry.He said the embassy had only identified the victim as Kim Chol, based on the passport found on the dead man, and suggested a joint investigation with Malaysian authorities. Kim Jong Nam had been caught using fake travel documents in the past.Malaysia's foreign ministry said it had recalled its ambassador to North Korea "for consultations", and said investigations were being carried out in compliance with the law."Any suggestion to the contrary is deeply insulting to Malaysia, as is the suggestion that Malaysia is in collusion with any foreign government," Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said in a statement.Malaysia's health minister said autopsy results could be released by Wednesday. Malaysia is one of the few countries that maintains ties with reclusive North Korea, and the dispute could further isolate the impoverished state. "GETTING BOLDER" South Korea, acutely sensitive to events in its volatile neighbour, convened a meeting of its National Security Council.Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn told the meeting that it was nearly certain that North Korea was behind the killing."The murder carried out in public at an international airport of a third country is an unforgivable and inhumane criminal act and clearly demonstrates the recklessness and brutality of the North Korean regime that will spare no avenues when it comes to perpetuating itself," Hwang said."The North Korean regime's terrorism tactics are getting bolder so we must be more vigilant." South Korean and U.S. officials had earlier said the killing was probably carried out by North Korean agents. Grainy CCTV images showed Kim, wearing a light-coloured jacket and trousers and with a backpack on one shoulder, heading for an automatic check-in counter in the airport departure hall.A woman approached Kim from behind on the left and another - identified by Fuji as the Vietnamese woman, wearing a white shirt - walks rapidly up behind him from his right, before what appears to be a scuffle takes place.In footage taken from another angle, the woman in the white shirt appears to lunge from behind and throw something over his head, locking her arms around him briefly.As the woman in white quickly walks away, the second woman also moves off rapidly in another direction.Later footage shows the portly, balding middle-aged man stumbling, wiping his face, and seeking help from people while gesturing to his eyes before being escorted to a clinic.The mother of the detained Indonesian woman told Reuters that her daughter, Siti Aishah, had been duped into believing she was part of a television show or advertisement.According to Malaysian media, the Vietnamese suspect, Doan Thi Huong, told police she had been tricked into taking part in what she thought was a practical joke.There is speculation that China's patience with North Korea could be tested by the killing, because Kim Jong Nam had been living in Macau, where he was headed when he was attacked.China said on Saturday it had suspended all coal imports from the North, a vital source of revenue.China is seen to be irritated by the North's repeated aggression, including two nuclear tests since early 2016 and a Feb. 12 intermediate-range ballistic missile launch, the latest in a series of missile tests. (Additional reporting by Jack Kim in Seoul and Elaine Lies in TOKYO; Writing by Praveen Menon and Kanupriya Kapoor; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore, Robert Birsel and Mike Collett-White) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Get involved through our competitions - Road to Mardi Gras, an online story-telling contest and Colours of Mardi Gras, a costume contest for members of LGBT communities in Vietnam - which will run from February 18th to March 24th. Two lucky entrants will win tickets to the 2018 Sydney Mardi Gras Festival! The best stories and costumes will be on display at the main event. The main celebration will be held on March 24th at the Australian Embassy in Hanoi (No. 8 Dao Tan street, Ba Dinh district). As well as the story exhibition and fashion show, the event will showcase memorable moments of the 2017 Sydney Mardi Gras Festival, with lively musical performances by both Vietnamese and Australian artists. A colorful Mardi Gras Festival (Source: australia.com) Promoting gender equality is a top priority for both the Vietnamese and Australian Governments and we are proud to support Vietnams efforts, including through our development cooperation program here. Through this event, we hope to bring the spirit of Sydneys famous Mardi Gras to Vietnam, helping to raise awareness about the rights of LGBT people, said Mr Craig Chittick, Australian Ambassador to Vietnam. This is a wonderful opportunity for my organization and other NGOs to cooperate with the Australian Embassy on gender equality. Hanoi Mardi Gras Festival is not simply a fun celebration but also a very meaningful event of diversity and self-expression for the LGBT community, said Vu Kieu Oanh, founder of LGBT Community Development Center 6+ and a representative of LGBT community in Vietnam. Sydneys Mardi Gras is among the most famous and well-loved annual celebrations of LGBT communities across the globe. Running since 1978, it has achieved an iconic status as a statement of pride and a platform to promote the broad message of diversity and acceptance. With this years theme of Creating Equality, the Mardi Gras promises to bring not only colourful and dazzling performances, but also promote a world where everyone is treated fairly regardless of their sexuality, gender identity, race, belief, age, ability and social status./. By Mubasher Bukhari | LAHORE, Pakistan LAHORE, Pakistan Pakistan will seek the help of a paramilitary border-security force to crack down on Islamist militants in Punjab province, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's power base, after attacks that killed more than 100 people last week, a government spokesman said on Monday. On Sunday, days after a suicide bomber killed 13 people in the Punjabi city of Lahore, the provincial government said the security force, called the Rangers, would carry out "indiscriminate action" against all militants and their facilitators. For the Rangers to conduct a full-scale operation in Punjab would represent the civilian government once again granting special powers to the military to fight Islamist militants. "Rangers-police joint operations will start in a week or two," the Punjab government's spokesman, Malik Muhammad Ahmad, told Reuters on Monday.It was unclear whether the new crackdown would target groups like the Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba, which are aligned against Pakistan's archrival, India. Critics have accused Pakistan in past crackdowns of sparing militant groups that do not attack on Pakistani soil. The Pakistani state denies this. A government statement did not specify which groups would be targeted. The army's media wing did not respond to requests for comment.Rangers have been called in for special security operations in much of the country, but the issue is politically sensitive for Sharif's home province, where local officials have expressed reluctance.A crackdown by the Rangers in the port city of Karachi in 2013 drew accusations of rights abuses and the targeting of opposition politicians, though the rate of violence has dropped sharply since. The Rangers deny any wrongdoing. A member of the Punjab government's task force on law and order said Rangers' help would be sought in counter-terrorism operations but a full-scale paramilitary operation like the one in Karachi was "out of the question." He declined to be named. The Punjab government has promised "indiscriminate" action against all militants in the past, including after an Easter Day bombing in Lahore that killed 70 people. Last month, after years of pressure, Pakistani police arrested Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed, accused by the U.S. and India of masterminding the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people. Just days after last week's Lahore bombing, an attack at a shrine in the southern Sindh province killed 90 people in the country's deadliest attack in two years, shaking a nascent sense that the worst of Pakistan's militant violence may be behind it. The attack was claimed by Middle East-based Islamic State, which has a small but increasingly prominent presence in Pakistan. (Writing by Mehreen Zahra-Malik, editing by Larry King) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Manila: A former Filipino police official has accused Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte of heading death squads to kill off detractors during his tenure as mayor of Davao city, a media report said. In a news conference in the Senate, Arturo Lascanas, who served as an officer in the National Police until December 2016, admitted the Davao death squad was real, Efe news reported. Lascanas said Duterte used to pay them "20,000 pesos ($400) for each kill", and sometimes even 50,000 or 100,000 pesos. However, in October, Lascanas, one of the policemen closest to Duterte in his over 20 years as Davao mayor in the period between 1988-2016, had denied the existence of death squads. The former policeman regretted his earlier statement and called it "all lies" and confessed to his role in some of the killings allegedly ordered by Duterte. He added Duterte gave him 3 million pesos to hire a hitman to kill radio commentator Jun Pala in 2003. Lascanas added in 1993 he had direct orders from Duterte to kill religious leader Jun Barsabal for land-grabbing in Davao, and also submitted an affidavit saying he was ready to testify before any government agency, including the Senate. Last year, the upper house of Parliament conducted a probe into the Davao death squads said to be responsible for killing over a thousand people but did not find sufficient evidence to prove their existence. By Jack Stubbs | MOSCOW MOSCOW Russia's combative ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, died suddenly in New York on Monday after being taken ill at work, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.The ministry gave no details on the circumstances of his death but offered condolences to his relatives and said the diplomat had died one day before his 65th birthday.It declined to comment on reports that Churkin had been taken to hospital shortly before his death.President Vladimir Putin was "deeply upset" by the news and had greatly valued Churkin's professionalism and diplomatic talent, Russian news agencies quoted the Kremlin as saying. The New York Post quoted unnamed sources as saying Churkin had been rushed to a Manhattan hospital from the Russian embassy after falling ill with a cardiac condition.Tass news agency quoted Churkin's deputy Pyotr Ilyichev as saying: "The loss sustained by Russia is grave and irreplaceable. "Ambassador Churkin remained at his work post until the last minute. He devoted his whole life to defending the interests of Russia and was to be found on the very front lines and in the most stressful posts."Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Facebook: "Great diplomat. Extraordinary personality. Colourful man."Churkin was a pugnacious defender of Russian policy, notably its intensive bombing of the Syrian city of Aleppo last year to crush rebels opposed to President Bashar al-Assad. MOTHER THERESA When then-U.S. envoy to the United Nations, Samantha Power, accused Syria, Russia and Iran last year of bearing responsibility for atrocities there, Churkin said she was forgetting the United States' own track record in the Middle East. "The weirdest speech to me was the one by the U.S. representative who built her statement as if she is Mother Teresa herself. Please, remember which country you represent. Please, remember the track record of your country," he said.Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general's office, said: "He has been such a regular presence here that I am actually quite stunned. Our thoughts go to his family, to his friends and to his government."Churkin first came to prominence as foreign ministry spokesman for the Soviet Union from 1990 until the collapse of the superpower the following year. Despite the pressure of events, he appeared to revel in the attention of the Western correspondents who mobbed him at briefings, and was happy to respond to them at length in fluent English.He went on to serve as deputy Russian foreign minister and ambassador to Belgium and then to Canada, eventually moving to the U.N. in 2006. (Reporting by Jack Stubbs and Ned Parker; writing by Mark Trevelyan; editing by Gareth Jones) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Phil Stewart | BAGHDAD BAGHDAD The U.S. military is "not in Iraq to seize anybody's oil", Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said as he arrived for talks with Iraqi leaders on Monday, distancing himself from remarks by President Donald Trump. Mattis was the highest-ranking Trump administration official to visit Iraq since Trump irked Iraqis with a temporary ban ontravel to the United States and for saying America should haveseized Iraq's oil after toppling Saddam Hussein in 2003. Trump told CIA staff in January: "We should have kept theoil. But okay. Maybe you'll have another chance." Mattis, however, flatly ruled out any such intent. "We'renot in Iraq to seize anybody's oil," he told reporterstravelling with him late on Sunday, ahead of his arrival. "All of us in America have generally paid for our gas andoil all along and I'm sure that we will continue to do so in thefuture," said Mattis, a retired Marine general who once ledforces in Iraq.His remarks are the latest sign of differences with Trump. Trump has acknowledged that Mattis disagrees with him about the usefulness of torture in interrogation and said he would defer to his defense secretary on the issue.Mattis has been more critical than Trump of RussianPresident Vladimir Putin, and distanced himself from Trump'slabelling of the media as "the enemy of the American people",saying he had no problems with the press.A retired Marine general who led American troops in Iraq,Mattis has sought an exemption from Trump's travel ban forIraqis who have served with U.S. troops, including translators. He said he had not seen a new executive order which theadministration is considering. "But I right now am assured thatwe will take steps to allow those who have fought alongside us,for example, to be allowed into the United States," Mattis said. Mattis' visit came a day after Iraqi Prime Minister Haideral-Abadi announced the start of a ground offensive on westernMosul, where Islamic State militants are under siegealong with an estimated 650,000 civilians. It was unclear whether Trump's remarks on oil had come up during Mattis' with Abadi, who has told Washington that Iraq's oil is the property of Iraqis.Mattis also met Iraq's defense minister and top U.S. officials in Iraq. WILL US FORCES STAY AFTER MOSUL? Influential Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Monday called on Iraq's government to order the withdrawal of U.S. and alliedforces after the battle of Mosul is over. "The Iraqi government has to demand that all occupying andso-called friendly forces leave Iraq in order to preserve theprestige and the sovereignty of the state," Sadr said. Mattis declined to address Sadr's remarks directly,describing them as an internal political matter. But he said he was reassured after his talks in Baghdad that Iraq's leaders recognised the value of its relationship with the United States. "I imagine well be in this fight for a while and wellstand by each other," he said. The U.S. commander in Iraq, Army Lieutenant General StephenTownsend, has said he believes U.S.-backed forces will recaptureboth of Islamic State's major strongholds - Mosul and the cityof Raqqa in Syria - within the next six months. Trump is looking for a plan to accelerate the campaign against Islamic State, which could lead to an additional deployment of U.S. forces, who currently number less than 6,000 in Iraq and Syria. The Pentagon may also look at increasing the number ofattack helicopters and air strikes and bringing in moreartillery, as well as granting greater authority to battlefieldcommanders fighting Islamic State. Townsend told a news conference in Baghdad he had been putting U.S. military advisers closer to front lines in Mosul. "We adjusted our posture during the east Mosul fight and weembedded advisers a bit further down into the formation," he said. Townsend added he was certain victory in Mosul was withinsight. "The Iraqi security forces are going to take that city back. No doubt about it," he said. (With reporting by Maher Chmaytelli in Baghdad; Editing by Alison Williams and Andrew Roche) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Phil Stewart | BAGHDAD BAGHDAD The U.S. military is "not in Iraq to seize anybody's oil", Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said, distancing himself from remarks by President Donald Trump, as he held talks with Iraqi leaders on Monday.Mattis was the highest-ranking Trump administration official to visit Iraq since Trump irked Iraqis with a temporary ban ontravel to the United States and for saying America should haveseized Iraq's oil after toppling Saddam Hussein in 2003. Trump told CIA staff in January: "We should have kept the oil. But okay. Maybe you'll have another chance." Mattis, however, flatly ruled out any such intent. "We'renot in Iraq to seize anybody's oil," he told reporterstravelling with him late on Sunday, ahead of his arrival. "All of us in America have generally paid for our gas andoil all along and I'm sure that we will continue to do so in thefuture," said Mattis, a retired Marine general who once ledforces in Iraq.His remarks are the latest sign of differences with Trump. Trump has acknowledged that Mattis disagrees with him about the usefulness of torture in interrogation and said he would defer to his defense secretary on the issue.Mattis has been more critical than Trump of RussianPresident Vladimir Putin, and distanced himself from Trump'slabelling of the media as "the enemy of the American people",saying he had no problems with the press.A retired Marine general who led American troops in Iraq, Mattis has sought an exemption from Trump's travel ban forIraqis who have served with U.S. troops, including translators. He said he had not seen a new executive order which theadministration is considering. "But I right now am assured thatwe will take steps to allow those who have fought alongside us,for example, to be allowed into the United States," Mattis said. Mattis' visit came a day after Iraqi Prime Minister Haideral-Abadi announced the start of a ground offensive on westernMosul, where Islamic State militants are under siegealong with an estimated 650,000 civilians. It was unclear whether Trump's remarks on oil had come up during Mattis' with Abadi, who has told Washington that Iraq's oil is the property of Iraqis.Mattis also met Iraq's defense minister and top U.S. officials in Iraq. WILL US FORCES STAY AFTER MOSUL? Influential Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Monday called on Iraq's government to order the withdrawal of U.S. and alliedforces after the battle of Mosul is over. "The Iraqi government has to demand that all occupying andso-called friendly forces leave Iraq in order to preserve theprestige and the sovereignty of the state," Sadr said. Mattis declined to address Sadr's remarks directly,describing them as an internal political matter. But he said he was reassured after his talks in Baghdad that Iraq's leaders recognised the value of its relationship with the United States. "I imagine well be in this fight for a while and wellstand by each other," he said, repeatedly praising the resilience of Iraqi forces. The U.S. commander in Iraq, Army Lieutenant General StephenTownsend, has said he believes U.S.-backed forces will recaptureboth of Islamic State's major strongholds - Mosul and the cityof Raqqa in Syria - within the next six months. Trump is looking for a plan to accelerate the campaign against Islamic State, which could lead to an additional deployment of U.S. forces, who currently number less than 6,000 in Iraq and Syria. The Pentagon may also look at increasing the number ofattack helicopters and air strikes and bringing in moreartillery, as well as granting greater authority to battlefieldcommanders fighting Islamic State. Townsend told a news conference in Baghdad he had been putting U.S. military advisers closer to front lines in Mosul than before, a move that would increase risk but bolster their ability to aid Iraqis, including by directing air strikes. "We adjusted our posture during the east Mosul fight and weembedded advisers a bit further down into the formation," he said. Townsend added he was certain victory in Mosul was withinsight. "The Iraqi security forces are going to take that city back. No doubt about it," he said. (With reporting by Maher Chmaytelli in Baghdad; Editing by Alison Williams and Andrew Roche) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Ankara: A Turkish court on Monday began the trial of 47 people over their alleged involvement in plotting president Recep Tayyip Erdogan's assassination during a coup attempt in July 2016. The defendants, among them 37 soldiers who formed an alleged hit squad, are mainly accused of attempting to kill the president, remove the constitutional order and kill intentionally, Xinhua news agency reported. Six life sentences have been demanded for each of the defendants, three of whom are still on the run, court sources said. The defendants are accused of joining efforts to raid a hotel in Turkey's Aegean resort town of Marmaris, where Erdogan and his family were on holiday, after some in the Turkish military launched a coup attempt on the night of 15 July, Xinhua reported. The overthrow bid was crushed hours later but left nearly 250 people dead. Erdogan said the hotel was bombed 15 minutes after he left. Two police officers in charge of the president's security were killed during the raid. Outside of the courthouse, a group of people staged a protest demanding a reinstated death sentence for it to be applied to the coup plotters, the state-run Anadolu Agency said. Ankara believes the coup attempt was masterminded by Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish cleric living in the US, and has been pushing for his extradition. By Humeyra Pamuk | MUGLA, Turkey MUGLA, Turkey Prosecutors called for life sentences for more than 40 Turkish soldiers on Monday at the start of their trial for attempting to assassinate President Tayyip Erdogan during last year's failed coup, according to the indictment obtained by Reuters.Under tight security, the defendants were bussed in to a courthouse in the southwestern city of Mugla, not far from the luxury resort where Erdogan and his family narrowly escaped the soldiers, fleeing in a helicopter shortly before their hotel was attacked.More than 240 people were killed during the failed coup on July 15, when a group of rogue soldiers commandeered tanks, warplanes and helicopters, attacking parliament and attempting to overthrow the government.On Monday, prosecutors in Mugla charged 47 suspects, almost all of them soldiers, with offences including attempting to assassinate the president, breaching the constitution and belonging to an armed terrorist organisation.It was not immediately clear how all the suspects would plead. Erdogan, named as a co-plaintiff in the case, was represented by lawyer Huseyin Aydin, who told Reuters he expected the heaviest sentences to be handed down. One of the first defendants to testify admitted to accepting a mission to seize, but not kill, Erdogan."My mission was to take the president and bring him to Akinci air base safe and sound," Gokhan Sonmezates told the court, referring to a base outside Ankara that briefly functioned as a command centre for the coup plotters.Turkey says the coup was orchestrated by a U.S.-based Muslim cleric, Fethullah Gulen. The cleric, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, has denied the charges and condemned the coup. Since the failed coup, more than 40,000 people have been arrested and more than 100,000 have been sacked or suspended from the military, civil service and private sector.Turkey launched its first criminal trial related to the coup in December, and more trials are expected.SNIPERS, SPECIAL FORCES Sonmezates, a former brigadier general, was described in the indictment as a leader of the mission, something he denied in court. He also denied charges that he was a member of Gulen's network. "It was for the country, for the nation, to stop the decay domestically, to put an end to the bribery, to protect my country from the PKK," he told the court, referring to the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).Another defendant, Sukru Seymen, also denied a link to Gulen, but showed no remorse about playing a role in the coup. "Yes I carried out a coup. I followed the order I was given and I am not going to sit and cry like a child over that," the former major told the court.The suspects, who include Erdogan's former aide-de-camp, were wearing suits when they were brought from prison to the courthouse. They were met by a crowd of some 200 people waving flags and calling for their execution."We want the death penalty. Let the hand that tried to harm our chief be broken," said one of the protesters, 61-year-old Zuhal Ayhan, referring to Erdogan. "I'd give my life for him." Turkey formally abolished the death penalty as part of its 2002 European Union accession talks. Since the coup, crowds have repeatedly called for it to be restored, a move that would likely spell the end of Turkey's bid to join the EU.The area around the courthouse was cordoned off and patrolled by dozens of security force members, including police and special forces. Snipers stood on nearby rooftops.Forty-four defendants were brought in, while three remain at large and are being tried in absentia. The courthouse in Mugla was too small to handle the number of defendants and authorities said the trial was being heard at the conference room of the chamber of commerce next door.According to the indictment, 37 soldiers were charged with a having a direct role in the storming of the luxury Grand Yazici Club Turban, where Erdogan had been staying, while others were accused of providing assistance to the operation.The soldiers descended on the hotel in Marmaris on ropes thrown from helicopters, firing shots, just after Erdogan had left.In an interview with Reuters after the coup, Erdogan said his faith as a Muslim helped him and his family escape unscathed. (Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Dominic Evans and Mark Trevelyan) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Washington: US Senator John McCain has slammed US President Donald Trump's attacks on the media, saying dictators "get started by suppressing free press". It was a startling observation from a sitting member of the Congress against the President, especially considering John McCain is a member of Trump's Republican Party. McCain, who has broken with Trump on several issues, made the statement in an interview with NBC News after the president in a tweet condemned several media organisations as "fake news" and "an enemy of the American people". "I hate the press. I hate you especially," McCain said on Saturday. "But the fact is we need you. We need a free press. We must have it. It's vital." "If you want to preserve the democracy... you have to have a free and many times adversarial press," he said. "And without it, I am afraid that we would lose so much of our individual liberties over time. That's how dictators get started." The Republican cautioned that he was not accusing Trump of trying to be a dictator. He made the comments during a discussion of the post-World War II world and America's role in it. McCain at the Munich Security Conference on Friday warned "of an increasing turn away from universal values and toward old ties of blood, race and sectarianism" in the West as well "the growing inability and even unwillingness to separate truth from lies". The Senator said the European leaders he has spoken to have been reassured by speeches by Defense Secretary James Mattis and Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly. "They have a lot of trust in these individuals," McCain said. "We've just got to have a consistent message to these people who are seriously threatened, particularly our friends in the Baltics." McCain reiterated his confidence in the President's national security team. When asked how much confidence he has in Trump as commander-in-chief, McCain expressed some doubts pointing to the chaotic implementation of his travel restrictions on citizens from seven predominantly Muslim nations. "I worry about the president's understanding of some of these issues and his contradictory articulations. And I think the rollout of the, quote, immigration reform was an example of a need for an orderly decision-making process in the White House," McCain said. The 2008 Republican presidential nominee was troubled by Trump's response to a recent challenge in a Fox News interview that Russian President Vladimir Putin was "a killer" in which Trump said "What, do you think our country's so innocent?" "I guess it was Bill O'Reilly who said, 'But Putin is a killer.' And he basically said, 'So are we'," McCain said. "That moral equivalency is a contradiction of everything the US has ever stood for in the 20th and 21st century." "I think we should give the president the benefit of doubt. But at the same time, we have our responsibilities of advise and consent," he said. Ottawa: At least 22 migrants fled the United States for Canada over the weekend, sneaking across the border in Manitoba province to request asylum, authorities said on Monday. Twenty-two people, mostly from Africa, crossed the border on foot overnight Saturday into Sunday, said Greg Janzen, a local official in the city of Emerson. Eight others had arrived on Friday. Emerson, 120 kilometers south of Winnipeg and close to the US states of North Dakota and Minnesota, has seen the porous border in many areas with no official crossings drawing greater numbers of asylum seekers since US President Donald Trump's travel ban. The Republican took office in January and promptly signed an order to temporarily ban US entry for nationals of seven Muslim-majority countries, and for all refugees. Under a bilateral agreement, asylum-seekers from the United States are usually turned back at Canada's border crossings. But this does not apply to those crossing the border illegally in other places. Migrants who crossed into Canada in early February faced harsh, frigid conditions: two had their hands frozen and needed to have several fingers amputated. But temperatures were much milder this past weekend. Migrant arrivals, mostly people who are undocumented in the United States, are rising sharply in Manitoba. Ninety-nine people crossed the border since the beginning of the year to seek asylum, local authorities say. The trend has officials in Emerson fretting. They have asked federal and provincial authorities to increase resources to address the situation. "Illegal crossings are dangerous and a burden on our local communities, and our laws must be enforced," Tony Clement, a Conservative spokesman for public safety issues, said on Twitter. Moto today announced Moto Days Sale on 20th and 21st Feb to celebrate 3 year anniversary of its presence in India and association with Flipkart. It is offering attractive discounts, special exchange offers and instant discounts on its entire range of smartphones, exclusively on Flipkart. It will also offer 10% instant discount for IndusInd Bank credit card users. [HTML1] Offers on the smartphones include, Moto Z, Moto Z Play, Moto M, Moto G Turbo Edition, Moto E Power, Moto E and Moto G (2nd Generation). Offers on Moto smartphones on Flipkart Offers on Moto 360 and Accesssories on Flipkart This limited period offers are only available on February 20th and 21st, which is Monday and Tuesday or till stocks last. Commenting on the new sale and anniversary, Sudhin Mathur, Executive Director, Lenovo Mobile Business Group India said: We are very delighted to celebrate our three years of successful presence in India and association with Flipkart. In these years, Flipkart and Motos relationship has grown several folds. With the Moto Days, we want to celebrate this successful association and provide our consumers attractive discounts and cashback on select Moto devices. Our commitment is to make the most differentiated smartphone technology accessible to our customers and that has helped us emerge as the no. 2 brand both by volume and value in CY 2016 as per IDC report. Last week a WSJ report said that Xiaomi is working on its own Pinecone processor confirming earlier rumors. It also said that it is planning to move away from Qualcomm processors as its primary chip provider. Now the company has scheduled an event on February 28th to introduce the processor. With this move, Xiaomi will join other smartphone majors like Apple, Samsung and Huawei who also make their own chips. According to earlier rumors, Pinecone could be the processor used in the Xiaomi Mi 6, which is expected to release next month. The SoC from Xiaomi is said to be the product of Beijing Pinecone Electronics, a company tied to Xiaomi that resulted from a $15 million technology buy from Datang subsidiary Leadcore Technology Ltd. The Xiaomi Pinecone SoC announcement is set for next Tuesday, February 28th, takes place at Beijing National Convention Center and starts at 2PM China Time (11:30 AM IST). We should know all the details about Xiaomis first processor next week. Source Foodie Quine I have so much that I want to share about our amazing five day trip to Iceland that I really don't know where to start. My head is buzzing with recipe development ideas (mostly involving Lamb and Skyr) but I'm going to kick off by sharing a selection of what we ate in Reykjavik, the island's capital and where we stayed on our trip. Suffice to say we had an absolutely amazing holiday and totally fell in love with Iceland. The p rice of everything is eye-wateringly expensive (15 for a cheese and ham sandwich!) but the f ood throughout our entire stay was absolutely wonderful no matter where we ate. Cafes at motorway service stations and tourist attractions in the UK could learn a lot from those in Iceland. We spent the first night in Keflavik which is where the airport is situated. Our accommodation was at Hotel Keflavik and was absolutely ideal for a one night stay. Breakfast there was particularly good and we soon learned to eat as much as we could to fill us up for the day ahead! For our first Icelandic meal we headed to Kaffi Duss at the opposite end of the town where I had the most amazing Grilled Icelandic Lambchops with red cabbage, rhubarb jam, baked potato, and brown sauce (thankfully not of the HP variety!) Boy had Lobster Soup with Whipped Cream, Foodie Loon had Bacon wrapped monkfish with glazed vegetables, potatoes and house specialty lobster sauce. Girl had Pizza. You can bring a horse to (Icelandic) water but you can't make it drink. For the following four nights of our stay we were in a luxury 2 bedroom apartment at the Grimsborgir Hotel . This was absolutely perfect for us with terrace, bbq and a private hot tub plus a buffet breakfast served in the main hotel itself. It is located just off the 'Golden Circle' route close to Pingvellir National Park. We had optimistically hoped to spot the northern lights from our hot tub but unfortunately cloud throughout our stay put paid to that. Our travel agent Kate at Travel Counsellors had organised wine and mini deserts for our arrival which was much appreciated. So glad we chose to stay outwith Reykjavik and hire a car, it was definitely the best option for us and provided much more freedom than being tied to tour buses. I had a checklist of both sights and food to tick off in Reyjjavik. First stop was Harpa, the capital's twinkling concert hall with seemingly ever changing glass panels overlooking the harbour. Much fun was had by both little and big people building towers on the beach with black volcanic rocks before heading along the waterfront to Jon Arnason's ship like Sun Voyager sculpture. Hot Dogs are a huge thing in Iceland and the place to go in Reykjavik is Bjarins Beztu Pylsur which translates to 'the best hot dog in town'. We ordered one with the works - ketchup, sweet mustard, fried onion, raw onion and remolai, a mayonnaise-based sauce with sweet relish. If truth be told I was rather underwhelmed although I did like the raw and crispy onion combo. Bitafiskur - pieces of dried fish - were an absolute must try. These are best served with lashings of Icelandic butter. Perhaps not for everyone but I got a real taste for them. The perfect snack with a tipple, much like pork scratchings. Reykjavik Chips was recommended to me by a number of people and most definitely did not disappoint. We went for a family box to share which unfortunately meant that we didn't have a cone to insert into the holes in the table. The chips themselves were amazing, skin on, twice cooked served with your sauce of a dozen different sauces. A Gull beer on the side finished them off perfectly. Probably the most iconic building in Reykjavic is Hallgrimskirkja (as also cleverly seen in the the Reykjavic Chips logo - go back and look!) The silhouette of this immense white concrete church is stunning whilst the interior is very simple bar a huge pipe organ. We took the opportunity to light a candle in the church in memory of my cousin Valerie. She had traveled to Iceland and had hoped to do so again but sadly passed away last year. We used the money she bequeathed to fund our holiday. Well worth taking the elevator trip to the top of the 73m high tower for fantastic views. The sun came out at this point and we had a fantastic vantage point over the multicoloured houses of the capital. Time for a wander around the Old Harbour in search of further sustenance. Saegreiffin - The Seabarron was our destination located in a turquoise harbourside shed. The interior is far from salubrious with communal benches and plastic barrel seats. We tried their famous lobster soup and a grilled fish kebab. The kebab was fantastic but I found the soup rather wishy washy. Whilst in the vicinity of Hallgrimskirkja I'd been told to look out for Braud & Co Bakery. The smell of their warm cinnamon buns baking was amazing and the taste more than lived up to the enticing aroma. Eaten so quickly I never even got a photo but well worth following your nose to their highly graffitied building. Lunch on our final day in Iceland was at Kaffivagninn . A slightly confusing self service system of ordering but we got there. Main meals come with a portion of their soup of the day and a coffee. A selection of traditional scandanavian and Icelandic dishes were on the menu and the cold Danish Smrrebrd looked tempting but we all opted for hot fish dishes quirkily served in frying pans. Fishpan Cod Loin au gratin with shrimp and bernaise for me, Panfried Fish Balls with onion butter and remoulade for boy and Fish Stew with rye bread and butter for Foodie Loon. Girl went to Subway for her lunch but joined us for desert of apple cake. Baby steps. Lamb and Fish are most definitely the most prevalent items on menus in Iceland although there was also chicken, pork, pizza, pasta and vegetarian options available. We really didn't see much at all in the way of beef. We did see both Puffin & Whale on menus but chose to avoid both for ecological reasons. Even without that concern I think fermented whale would be a step too far for my palate and no way would girl have let me eat Puffin as they are just too cute. My only souvenir from Reykjavik? Yup you've guessed it. Gin. As healthy indulgence trends continue to gain traction, a new report reveals that 85% of chocolate and candy sold today in the US comes in packaging that contains 200... Read More This blog covers software patent news and issues with a particular focus on wireless, mobile devices (smartphones, tablet computers, connected cars) as well as select antitrust matters surrounding those devices. Japan's SoftBank Group Corp is prepared to give up control of Sprint Corp (NYSE:S) to Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile (NASDAQ:TMUS) to clinch a merger of the two U.S. wireless carriers, according to people familiar with the matter. SoftBank has not yet approached Deutsche Telekom to discuss any deal because the U.S. Federal Communications Commission has imposed strict anti-collusion rules that ban discussions between rivals during an ongoing auction of airwaves. Ticker Security Last Change Change % TMUS T-MOBILE US INC. 148.83 +0.66 +0.45% S SENTINELONE INC 17.64 -2.34 -11.71% After the auction ends in April, the two parties are expected to begin negotiations, the sources told Reuters this week. Two and a half years ago, SoftBank abandoned talks to acquire T-Mobile for Sprint amid opposition from U.S. antitrust regulators. That deal would have put SoftBank in control of the merged company, with Deutsche Telekom becoming a minority shareholder. T-Mobile was worth around $30 billion at the time, but its market value has since risen to more than $50 billion as it overtook Sprint as the No. 3 wireless carrier by subscribers. Sprint's market value is around $36 billion, roughly the same as in 2014. Deutsche Telekom Chief Executive Tim Hoettges has said in recent months that the German company is no longer willing to part with T-Mobile, prompting SoftBank to explore a new strategy towards a potential combination, the people said. Deutsche Telekom owns about 65 percent of T-Mobile. SoftBank, which owns about 83 percent of Sprint, has been frustrated with its inability to grow significantly on its own in the U.S market, which is dominated by Verizon Communications Inc and AT&T Inc, the two largest U.S. carriers. While SoftBank is still open to discussing other options, it is now willing to surrender control of Sprint and retain a minority stake in a merger with T-Mobile, the sources said. They asked not to be identified because the deliberations are confidential. The Reuters report sent shares of T-Mobile surging as much as 7.9 percent before they eased back to close up 5.5 percent at $63.92. Shares of Sprint ended 3.3 percent higher at $9.30. Investors have said a merger between T-Mobile and Sprint, ranked third and fourth respectively, would still face antitrust challenges, but made strategic sense as the industry moves to fifth-generation wireless technology. Carriers will need to spend billions of dollars to upgrade to 5G networks that promise to be 10 times to 100 times faster than current speeds. SoftBank, Sprint, Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile all declined to comment. "We may buy, we may sell. Maybe a simple merger, we may be dealing with T-Mobile, we may be dealing with totally different people, different company," SoftBank Chief Executive Masayoshi Son told analysts on the company's latest quarterly earnings call earlier this month. With the advent of 5G, Deutsche Telekom may receive offers for T-Mobile from other U.S. companies, such as DISH Network Corp and Comcast Corp. Sprint could also be an acquisition target for other companies, the sources said. Dish declined to comment and Comcast did not immediately respond to a request for comment. DISCOUNTING PLANS Under CEO John Legere, T-Mobile has rolled out unlimited data plans and international roaming packages. Combined with aggressive marketing, this has boosted T-Mobile customer base at the expense of its rivals. T-Mobile said it had 71.5 million total customers while Sprint had 59.5 million at the end of 2016. T-Mobile is now almost as big as Deutsche Telekom's German business. "We are not in the mood of selling the business," Hoettges told investors last November. While Sprint's customer base has also grown under CEO Marcelo Claure and financials have improved, the growth was primarily driven by heavy price discounts. Despite new investment, the company's network is still viewed by many consumers as weaker than its rivals. Reuters could not determine how much of a premium SoftBank may want Deutsche Telekom to pay for control of Sprint. Barclays analysts wrote in a note in December that a merger of T-Mobile and Sprint could result in $25 billion to $30 billion in synergies but said, "it is not imminently clear to us that the various regulatory agencies would reverse course having already blessed the outcome of a four-player market." The FCC and the U.S. Department of Justice sent strong messages in 2014 that they did not want Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile to merge among themselves. Since then, AT&T acquired satellite television provider DirecTV and signed an agreement to buy media giant Time Warner Inc, though that deal is still under regulatory review and has attracted criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump. Verizon has also been exploring other acquisitions. Antitrust experts said it was difficult to predict how the Trump administration would view a T-Mobile-Sprint merger since key antitrust appointments at the Justice Department have not been made. It is also not clear how such a combination would be viewed by the FCC, whose new chairman Ajit Pai is viewed as more business-friendly than his predecessor. "I am of the camp that that will not happen even in a Trump administration," Christopher Marangi, co-chief investment officer at GAMCO Investors Inc, said on the prospects of a T-Mobile-Sprint combination. "That kind of merger means lots of job cuts in the U.S." Craig Moffett, an analyst at MoffettNathanson, said price wars between Sprint and T-Mobile have driven down overall wireless prices for consumers. "Antitrust regulators could well argue that this is precisely the dynamic they would want to preserve," Moffett added. Son has said he expects his company to benefit from Trump's promised deregulation of the U.S. economy. After meeting Trump in early December, Son pledged to invest $50 billion and create 50,000 jobs in the United States. (Reporting by Liana B. Baker in New York; Additional reporting by Sophie Sassard in London, Harro Ten Wolde and Arno Schuetze in Frankfurt, Anjali Athavaley in New York and Diane Bartz in Washington; Editing by Greg Roumeliotis and Tiffany Wu) The U.S. was once again the biggest supplier of global arms exports over the last five years, topping Russia at no. 2, while China quickly climbed the ranks to make the top 3. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released a new study Monday showing that America was the largest arms exporter from 2012 to 2016, controlling a third of all exports. U.S. exports of major weapons grew 21%, compared to the prior five-year period, widely exceeding the arms trades overall growth of 8.4% worldwide. Overall, weapons were exported in 2016 at the highest rate since the Cold War, based on SIPRI data. Nearly half of the nations arms exports were destined for the Middle East. Weapons made in the U.S. are exported to at least 100 countries, according to SIPRI. Thats far more than any other supplier. Both advanced strike aircraft with cruise missiles and other precision-guided munitions and the latest generation air and missile [defense] systems account for a significant share of U.S. arms exports, Dr. Aude Fleurant, director of the SIPRI Arms and Military Expenditure Programme, said in a statement. The U.S. is home to Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT), the worlds largest defense contractor by sales. The F-35 builder reported net sales of $47.2 billion in 2016, a 16.5% increase year-over-year. SIPRIs most recent data estimated that Lockheed Martin sold $36.44 billion worth of weapons in 2015. U.S.-based Boeing (NYSE:BA), Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) and Raytheon (NYSE:RTN) were also among the top five sellers of weaponry in the world as of 2015. The U.K.s BAE Systems ranked third worldwide. SIPRI said Russia was the second-largest state supplier of arms, accounting for a 23% share. An estimated 70% of Russian arms went to India, Vietnam, China and Algeria. China arms exports grew over the last five years from a 3.8% share to a 6.2% share, as sales jumped 74%. The increase puts China among the top suppliers, as France and Germany held 6% and 5.6% shares of the market, respectively. Germanys exports fell sharply, even though arms sales spiked in 2016. France saw a lower rate of exports as well, although new contracts will likely reverse that trend. The U.S. military is "not in Iraq to seize anybody's oil", Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said as he arrived for talks with Iraqi leaders on Monday, distancing himself from remarks by President Donald Trump. Mattis was the highest-ranking Trump administration official to visit Iraq since Trump irked Iraqis with a temporary ban on travel to the United States and for saying America should have seized Iraq's oil after toppling Saddam Hussein in 2003. Trump told CIA staff in January: "We should have kept the oil. But okay. Maybe you'll have another chance." Mattis, however, flatly ruled out any such intent. "We're not in Iraq to seize anybody's oil," he told reporters travelling with him late on Sunday, ahead of his arrival. "All of us in America have generally paid for our gas and oil all along and I'm sure that we will continue to do so in the future," said Mattis, a retired Marine general who once led forces in Iraq. His remarks are the latest sign of differences with Trump. Trump has acknowledged that Mattis disagrees with him about the usefulness of torture in interrogation and said he would defer to his defense secretary on the issue. Mattis has been more critical than Trump of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and distanced himself from Trump's labelling of the media as "the enemy of the American people", saying he had no problems with the press. A retired Marine general who led American troops in Iraq, Mattis has sought an exemption from Trump's travel ban for Iraqis who have served with U.S. troops, including translators. He said he had not seen a new executive order which the administration is considering. "But I right now am assured that we will take steps to allow those who have fought alongside us, for example, to be allowed into the United States," Mattis said. Mattis' visit came a day after Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the start of a ground offensive on western Mosul, where Islamic State militants are under siege along with an estimated 650,000 civilians. It was unclear whether Trump's remarks on oil had come up during Mattis' with Abadi, who has told Washington that Iraq's oil is the property of Iraqis. Mattis also met Iraq's defense minister and top U.S. officials in Iraq. WILL US FORCES STAY AFTER MOSUL? Influential Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Monday called on Iraq's government to order the withdrawal of U.S. and allied forces after the battle of Mosul is over. "The Iraqi government has to demand that all occupying and so-called friendly forces leave Iraq in order to preserve the prestige and the sovereignty of the state," Sadr said. Mattis declined to address Sadr's remarks directly, describing them as an internal political matter. But he said he was reassured after his talks in Baghdad that Iraq's leaders recognised the value of its relationship with the United States. "I imagine well be in this fight for a while and well stand by each other," he said. The U.S. commander in Iraq, Army Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend, has said he believes U.S.-backed forces will recapture both of Islamic State's major strongholds - Mosul and the city of Raqqa in Syria - within the next six months. Trump is looking for a plan to accelerate the campaign against Islamic State, which could lead to an additional deployment of U.S. forces, who currently number less than 6,000 in Iraq and Syria. The Pentagon may also look at increasing the number of attack helicopters and air strikes and bringing in more artillery, as well as granting greater authority to battlefield commanders fighting Islamic State. Townsend told a news conference in Baghdad he had been putting U.S. military advisers closer to front lines in Mosul. "We adjusted our posture during the east Mosul fight and we embedded advisers a bit further down into the formation," he said. Townsend added he was certain victory in Mosul was within sight. "The Iraqi security forces are going to take that city back. No doubt about it," he said. (By Phil Stewart, With reporting by Maher Chmaytelli in Baghdad; Editing by Alison Williams and Andrew Roche) When the producers of "Fury" planned to make a technically correct film about an American World War II tank crews exploits, they ran into a problem. The type of tank they wanted to use was nowhere to be found, the result of heavy casualties on the battlefield. So they had to use the wrong tank. And thats a problem that a lot of collectors, or rather would-be collectors, of certain World War militaria can encounter. Many of the most desirable collectibles, like early tanks, airplanes and certain armaments, no longer exist except in photographs, old newsreels and the occasional museum. In fact, when trying to find an original Voisin airplane, which had become the worlds most common type of aircraft in the years leading up to World War I, one noted collector, Peter Mullin, found there were none left. I searched the world, Mullin recalled. I found one, in Switzerland, but it turned out to be a replica. The Smithsonians National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., claims to have the oldest surviving Voisin bomber, a Type 8 manufactured in 1916. Tens of thousands of Voisin airplanes were manufactured, Mullin said. It seems almost unimaginable that theyre all gone. The same could be said about certain early models of the once-ubiquitous Sherman tank, which were also manufactured in the tens of thousands. In "Fury", the 2014 film starring Brad Pitt and Shia LaBeouf, a five-man crew in the storied 66th Armored Regiment, part of the U.S. Armys 2ndArmored Division, pushes into the heart of Germany in April 1945 just days before the Nazi surrender. In the films telling, the crew was really attached to this particular tank enough to bestow the name "Fury" on it and theyd been fighting together in it since the North Africa campaign in 1942. With that provenance, "Fury" likely would have been a Sherman M2 or M4A3, each of which went into production in 1942. But heres the rub: It would have been unlikely for an early-model M2 or M4 to have survived all that time. Tank battles in that part of the war, you see, had a 50 percent casualty rate. In fact, only one Sherman tank a Canadian one is known to have survived all the way from the D-Day landing in June 1944 to V-E Day in May 1945. One! So the filmmakers used a later model, which went into production in late 1944. A number of those examples still exist, as they were produced through the Korean War and even later. Those enjoyed a better survival rate, if for no other reason than they were no longer up against the German juggernauts. The American Sherman tanks in the movie 10 were used all came from the Tank Museum in Bovington, in southern England, which boasts one of the finest and most complete collections of historic tanks. Thats also where the filmmakers got the movies nearly indestructible German Tiger I tank, known as a Panzer, a relic whose production ended with the demise of the Third Reich. The Panzer at the Tank Museum is reputed to be the only surviving Tiger 131 tank still in working order. That brings up another obstacle facing would-be American collectors who might want a World War II tank: The few that exist are generally over there. They were seldom judged to be worth the trouble to ship back to the U.S. I heard of a guy in Texas who was supposed to be building an exact replica of a Tiger I, said Leigh Miller, a collector of tank memorabilia and an authority on tank trivia. But Ill believe that when I see it. Theres another interesting aspect of appeal for military vehicles like the Sherman tank. Production notes from "Fury" mention that that tank was designed and built by Henry Ford, while the German tanks were masterminded by Ferdinand Porsche. In truth, Ford Motor Company didnt design the Sherman, but it did build a small number of them. General Motors and Chrysler built the vast majority. Regardless of who built them, a key reason why so few Shermans have survived is that the early models had a reputation for being death traps. British soldiers called them Ronsons like the lighter for how easily they burst into flame. Angelina Jolie spoke out for the first time since her shocking split from Brad Pitt last year. The actress said it has been a "difficult" time for her family in an interview with the BBC released Sunday. "I don't want to say very much about that, except to say it was a very difficult time," Jolie shared. "We are a family and we will always be a family, and we will get through this time and hopefully be a stronger family for it." Jolie said she is coping by focusing on her six children: Maddox, 15, Pax, 13, Zahara, 11, Shiloh, 10, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 8. PITT: JOLIE EXPOSED OUR KIDS "Many, many people find themselves in this situation," she said while in Cambodia to promote her new film "First They Killed My Father," which she directed. She continued, "My whole, my family weve all being through a difficult time. My focus is my children, our children and my focus is finding this way through. We are and forever will be a family. I am coping with finding a way through to make sure that this somehow makes us stronger and closer." When asked where the 41-year-old sees herself in five years, she said she hopes to be "just standing." JOLIE: PITT TERRIFIED PUBLIC WILL LEARN TRUTH Aside from traveling around the world with her children, Jolie said she hopes in five years her children will be happy and "doing really interesting things." "I hope...I represent the right things to my children, and give them the right sense of what theyre capable of," Jolie said. "Not through the prism of Hollywood or through a certain kind of life, but really take them into the world, where they have a really good sense and become rounded people." Jolie and Pitt announced their separation in September 2016. They married in 2014 after first getting together in 2005 while Pitt was married to actress Jennifer Aniston. David Cassidy appeared to slur his words and fall off the stage during a southern California show on Saturday. In a video obtained by TMZ, the former teen heartthrob delivered a strange performance, taking several long pauses and falling backwards off the right of the stage. The 66-year-old also told the crowd that he is retiring and his final show would be Sunday night, but his tour schedule has him playing dates into June. "I love being able to come back to the place that, despite the fact I wasn't born here, for the most part this is my home, he told the crowd while swaying and taking long breaks between his words. "And this is where I became a television star, a rock and roll star." Audience members were concerned over the "Partridge Family" star's performance. A rep for Cassidy did not return Fox News' request for comment. Cassidy, who rose to fame in the 1970s sitcom "The Partridge Family," has suffered from alcohol problems in the past. He was arrested for DUIs in 2010, 2013 and 2014. Leah Remini thinks Tom Cruise could single-handedly end Scientology. The 46-year-old actress and former Scientologist told Bill Maher on Friday about some of the strict practices that believers of the controversial religion have to reportedly follow, including hours-long sessions she described as self-brainwashing. LEAH REMINI: WHERE IS SCIENTOLOGY LEADER'S WIFE? I didnt realize that because we were required to study two-and-a-half hours daily, like minimum, she said as reported by Us Weekly. We are looking up the words, we are being checking out on the policies of Scientology. Youre telling me Tom Cruise does this? questioned the 61-year-old Real Time host. Yes, responded Remini. Not only does Tom Cruise do exactly that... Now, I dont want you to get the idea that hes not, that certain policies are not being bent for him because they are and that is the truth, and that is part of the hypocrisy. LEAH REMINI OPENS UP ABOUT EXPOSING SCIENTOLOGY He could end this, she added when Maher suggested the 54-year-old actor could possibly put an end to the religion, then adding that his fame within the church holds major weight. She also claimed the church reveres Cruise so much that it is pushing the idea he is single-handedly clearing the planet, is changing the planet. Last fall, Cruise broke his customary public silence about his involvement with Scientology while promoting his film Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, calling it a beautiful religion. Its something that has helped me incredibly in my life, said the Mission Impossible star. Its something, you know, without it, I wouldnt be where I amIm incredibly proud." Remini grew up as a Scientologist, but left the church in 2013. She had since hinted her relationship with Cruise has been rocky. In 2016, she released a memoir, titled Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology and an A&E docuseries, Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath where she spoke up against the church. LEAH REMINI SAYS TOM CRUISE THINKS SHE IS 'THE DEVIL' The Church of Scientology has repeatedly denied Reminis allegations. Leah Remini is doing this show for the money, just as she profited from her book, said the organization in a statement to Us Weekly. In addition, she attempted to extort the Church by first demanding $500,000, followed by an additional $1 million, because the Church invoked its First Amendment right to respond to her false claims with the truth. This shows the extent Leah Remini is willing to go to in order to distort the truth about Scientology, the organization added. For the Churchs perspective and the truth about the bullies she now supports, go to www.leahreminiaftermath.com. This Illinois woman opened her McDonalds order to find a nugget that wont go well with honey mustard. Karsyn Long is such a fan of the fast food giant that her boyfriend, Kristian Helton, decided to propose with a ring in a box of chicken nuggets. She has devoted her life to chicken nuggets, so that had to be part of the engagement. I mean, it was just given, Helton told news station WAND. For a proposal fitting of his McDonalds-obsessed sweetheart, Helton stuck the diamond ring in a chicken nugget and wrote Will you McMarry me?? inside the box. She said yes even though Helton is the first to admit she probably would choose McDonalds over him. This Illinois woman opened her McDonalds order to find a nugget that wont go well with honey mustard https://t.co/e6EXYCbVWm New York Post (@nypost) February 19, 2017 Her love for chicken nuggets is Im sure more than she loves me, he said. FOR THE LATEST FOOD FEATURES FOLLOW FOX LIFESTYLE ON FACEBOOK The couple, who has been together two years, plan to get married next year and they already have a venue in mind McDonalds offered to cater the wedding. This story originally appeared on NYPost.com. Scottish craft beer maker BrewDog is known for its full-flavored ales and lagers. Its also known for its offbeat marketing techniques like using a dead squirrel as a beer container. Now, BrewDog is set to invade the U.S. market and will start serving food and beer just outside Columbus, Ohio. According to The Columbus Dispatch, the brewers first stateside pub it set to open this month in Canal Winchester and will include a 10,00-square-foot taproom plus a sit-down restaurant. WALMART IN HOT WATER OFFER CRAFT BEER LINE In addition to serving Brewdog's signature beers, the pub-- called DogTap- will also serve food and artisanal coffee. But the craft brewer isn't just being recognized for its beverages. BrewDog is offering employees a full week of paid-time off after adopting a new dog because dog parents need some time to next their young, too. Its the companys version of parental leave for dogs. Or, as BrewDog labels it, Paw-ternity Leave. One of our aims as a business is to be the best company to work for. Ever, BrewDog co-founder James Watt told Vice. Puppy Parental Leave is just one small step towards making that a reality, as we launched it as a direct response to staff members who were taking holiday days to settle in new dogs, or worrying about their new best friend at home when they were at work, Watt continued. The benefit is available at all 44 of BrewDogs U.K. pubs and will be available at the Ohio location, too. All full-time employees are eligible to take advantage of the perk. FOR THE LATEST FOOD FEATURES FOLLOW FOX LIFESTYLE ON FACEBOOK According to the company, since announcing the program, job applications have increased. And the paw-ternity is in addition to the enhanced maternity and paternity leave and pay policy BrewDog provides employees. As it looks to enter the rapidly growing and hyper competitive craft beer market, BrewDog is also making a $30 million investment in its U.S. development which includes a 100,000-square-foot brewery in Canal Winchester. And, yes, dogs will be allowed at the new location. If you live in America or have any exposure to social media, youve witnessed the juggernaut that is LaCroix sparkling water. Youve heard its praises sung by paleo bloggers, #Whole30 devotees, fashion designers, and late-night TV hosts. Maybe youve even bought a LaCroix-themed needlepoint, designed your own LaCroix meme, or dressed up as a can of Pamplemousse for Halloween. Like it or not, LaCroixs flashy, splashy, Zubaz-hued packaging is burned into our collective consciousness. But where, exactly, did that electro-shock design come from? Who is the mad genius behind it? LaCroix was founded in 1981 by Wisconsins G. Heileman Brewing Company and eventually acquired by National Beverage Corp. in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in 2002. What we do know is that 2002 was also the year Lyle Zimmerman, head of branding and design firm Alchemy Brand Group, was tasked with re-imagining LaCroixs zigzagging, color-blocked look. In the early aughts, National Beverage had a limited advertising budget. And because the campaign predated social media, the company was relying solely on packaging and shelf presence to attract consumers. Alchemy aimed to make LaCroix stand out in the crowded fizzy-water market. At one end of the spectrum, generic brands bulk-packaged in one- and two-liter pop bottles were mostly used for cocktail mixers. At the other end was Perrier and Pellegrino, all fancy-huh in their green glass bottles. LaCroixs new look needed to convey an air of casual sophistication, per Zimmerman, while still remaining approachable. Zimmermanwho had led branding campaigns for Coca-Cola, P&G, MillerCoors, and General Millsand his team began with a discovery phase. They studied the LaCroix competition, stocked the office coolers with LaCroix sparkling water for inspiration, and generated dozens of design options, which they then tested and refined. The logo, for example, started out black but they changed it to blue to connote water. In a sea of logos that were more sedate, precious in size, and often sans serif, the script denoted movement, energy, and fluidityall traits applicable to water and especially the effervescence of LaCroix, says Zimmerman. The swirly background also suggested flowing water, while the multicolor layers gave it depth and allowed the company to code the design according to flavor. After weeks of experimentation, Alchemy invited over the honchos at National Beverage for a big reveal. Zimmerman presented around 20 options. The National Beverage reps chose three to move on to the next phase: consumer research. According to a marketing report from consulting firm Meridianai Associates Inc., the label design least favored by National Beverages management team was the one target consumers liked the best. Zimmerman had a hunch that the research might go this way. The strong color-blocking was impossible to miss on the shelf, he says. We werent surprised that it was consumers preferred option, but we were surprised by how overwhelmingly it was preferred. It was a landslide. The voters won. National Beverage decided to go with the consumers favorite. Alchemy applied the design concept across the full line of LaCroix products, modifying it based on flavor and sales unit (bottles, cans, and cardboard cases). The design of the 12-ounce can won a Gold Global Design Award for packaging in 2003 and quickly cemented its place in popular culture. Douglas Riccardi, owner and creative director at Memo NY, a graphic design studio specializing in restaurant branding, is both fascinated and dumbfounded by LaCroixs success. It goes against everything I stand for as a branding expert and designer, says Riccardi, who counts Mario Batalis restaurants among his clients. The logotype is not especially well-crafted. The pattern on the cans looks like the love child of Monet and Grandma Moses. But he admits that he understands the appeal. Most waters try to sell the idea of clean, with clear bottles and simple typography. LaCroix, on the other hand, is marketed as an alternative to soda. Taking design cues from that mass-market swamp of design, we get a crass, bold, colorful, populist package that delivers all the energy, pop, and fizz without the sugar and calories, Riccardi says. Zimmerman has heard consumers refer to the waves on the LaCroix cases as Picasso-esquea comparison he likes. It speaks to the self-expression and informal yet sophisticated elements that we intended to be key attributes for the brand, he says. That O.G. can and case design has been tweaked throughout the yearsmostly to update text (0 Calorie became Calorie Free, for example). But Alchemys work wasnt over yet. In 2014, National Beverage came knocking again. The company needed a fresh approach for Curate, its new spin-off line. Curates taller, slimmer can was the most noticeable difference. That, combined with a more saturated color palette and fruit illustrations, cued a flavor profile that spoke to a new generation, says Zimmerman. The strategy worked. So well, in fact, LaCroix tripled its sales within one year of Curates unveiling. But some designers still talk about LaCroix with open disdain. The only compliment I can make to [LaCroixs] packaging is that it defies all the rules of design, given that the logo is barely legible over that swirling hangover puke, says Matteo Bologna, president/creative director of Mucca Design, whose clients include Whole Foods, Gray Goose, and Sephora. Compliments to them for playing all the wrong cards and still beating the house. Debbie Millman, Chair of the Masters in Branding program at the School of Visual Arts in New York, doesnt believe that the packaging, which she describes as an optimistic color-fest with a faux-French name, is the biggest driver of LaCroixs success. Millman, who has worked on campaigns for Burger King, Star Wars, Hersheys, and Campbells Soup, attributes LaCroixs blockbuster return largely to the very modern relationship the brand has built with its fans. LaCroix is deftly devoted to its zealots, and this is a classic case study of how lavishly loving your constituents is the best way to get them to buy more, says Millman. Reflecting on his long-term relationship with National Beverage and what a giant cultural phenomenon LaCroix has become (collectively, the #lacroix and #livelacroix hashtags pull up nearly 100,000 hits on Instagram), Zimmerman says that he saw it coming. Senior management at LaCroix would ask me, Whats the next big thing in beverages? recalls Zimmerman. I told them, Youre sitting on it! LaCroix is a sleeping giant. At one point, he even offered to buy out the brand. National Beverage turned him down. More: Rejected LaCroix Flavors You Won't Find In Stores A call to boycott an East Coast grocery store because it carries Trump wine has now backfired. Over the weekend, 300 members of the Prince William County chapter of the National Organization for Women called on locals to boycott Wegmans Food Markets unless the Rochester, N.Y.-based company agreed to remove Trump Winery wines at its 10 stores in Virginia. The Trump vineyard is located in Charlottesville, Va. "Certainly if Wegmans is carrying Trump wines, I personally will not shop there," Terry ONeill, president of the National Organization for Women, told the Washington Post. O'Neill's call for a boycott doubles down on a digital campaign that sprung up just after the election calling on shoppers to #StopTrumpWine. "Let's demonstrate through economic action that the residents and business owners of Charlottesville will not stand for the hatred espoused by Eric Trump and those like him," a statement on the group's website reads. Despite a wave of support for many retail stores which have dropped Trump-branded products (Nordstrom announced it was dropping Ivanka Trumps line of shoes and clothing amid a 32 percent decline in sales), the president's supporters in Virginia fought back against the proposed boycott by heading to Wegmans and buying up as much wine as they could get their hands on. Many turned to social media to proclaim their right to shop-- and applauded the store for not caving to anti-Trump sentiments. @JVER1 @Wegmans hahahaha I Love it!!! Love Wegmans!! And Now I'm gonna buy a case of Trump wine and have a toast for all the left crybabys! joey fallacaro (@jfall31) February 15, 2017 Good for @Wegmans for not caving to a ridiculous request to drop Trump wine or face a boycott. This new phase of consumerism is asinine Carl Couchtamer (@kkirchgraber) February 15, 2017 I support @Wegmans for keeping Trump Wine on the shelves, because banning products is stupid and it doesn't work. Don't give IN! Kate Todd (@KateToddPhoto) February 15, 2017 TRUMP WINERY UNDER FIRE AFTER APPLYING FOR VISAS SEEKING FOREIGN WORKERS Five of the wine varieties have sold out at two Richmond-area Wegmans stores, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Jo Natale, Wegmans' vice president of media relations, told Fox News via email that as a business, their role is to offer choices to customers but their decision to sell the wine is not a political endorsement. For various reasons, we are sometimes asked to stop selling a product. Our response is always the same, no matter the product: How a product performs is our single measure for what stays on our shelves and what goes, Natale said. She says that when sales of a product drop precipitously, they stop selling it. Natale added that the Charlottesville store had approximately 100 remaining bottles of the Trump Winery Meritage and 20 bottles of the Cru as of 4 p.m. Friday. But all other Virginia Wegmans stores are now out of stock of Trump wines. It may be three or four weeks before the wine is available again, Wegmans says. Currently, the grocer carries 237 Virginia wines from 58 wineries. Among those are five varieties from the Trump Winery, including Trump Blanc de Blanc and Trump Winery Chardonnay. LADY GAGA GETTING INTO THE BEVERAGE BUSINESS WITH 'GRIGIO GIRLS' WINES According to the Washington Post, Wegmans has been selling wines from the Trump vineyard (formally the Kluge Estate Winery) since 2008, years before it was associated with the Trump family. Trump bought the property and winemaking operation, owned by Patricia Kluge, for $6.2 million in a 2011 foreclosure auction. The president's son Eric Trump now runs Trump Winery. The companys wines are sold at a number of stores including Giant, Harris Teeter, Safeway, Kroger and Whole Foods, according to its website. Firefighters in Ohio got a shock last week when they were called to the home of a 550-pound woman who was stuck in a chair in her house, the Toledo Blade reports. Barbara Foster, 75, was "molded" to the chair and surrounded by excrement when firefighters wearing Hazmat suits entered the Springfield Township house, WTOL reports. The 5-foot, 5 inch-woman apparently hadn't moved from the chair since July, a sheriff's department report says. She "was so physically weak that bones in her body were breaking" during the rescue, per the police report. A man from Foster's church called 911 after he thought she was acting out of sorts. He had delivered food to Foster for 10 years and says he had become accustomed to the stench, which EMS workers said was overwhelming. While neighbors said they watched out for one another, nobody apparently noticed that anything was amiss at the Foster home. Her next-door neighbor of 10 years says he used to wave to Foster while he mowed his grass. "Its been years since Ive physically seen her," he tells the Blade. Another tells WTOL that Foster was a "hoarder" and that she wanted to call the Fire Department "for years" to report the house as a fire hazard. "I should have done it," she says. Foster was taken to a hospital where her condition was not released. Meanwhile, health authorities planned to visit her home to determine if it was safe for her to return. (The world's heaviest woman was recently moved to India by cargo plane and crane.) This article originally appeared on Newser: Firefighters Rescue Ohio Woman 'Molded' to Chair A 12-year-old Georgia boy who has spent more than half of his life battling leukemia was transformed into a superhero for a day thanks to a non-profit and a local gym that specializes in stunt work. Robert Hart, who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in 2010, learned how to fly and fight off villains while donning a Superman outfit and cape, Fox 5 Atlanta reported. Harts wish became a reality after his mother reached out to Brandy Angel, a social media photographer who created the non-profit Be the Change. Angel reached out to Elizabeth Davidovich who owns SMASH Gym in Atlanta and arranged for Hart to train with other stuntmen. When someone like Robert wants to come by and says, I want to be just like you, We all look at him and say, We all want to have your kind of strength, Davidovich told the news outlet. To us, hes a hero. Harts mother said a day spent away from chemotherapy and radiation treatments helped her son enjoy being a kid again, especially since a recent treatment in Seattle did not produce the results the family had hoped for, Fox 5 Atlanta reported. Angel was on-hand to photograph the event and superimposed Hart flying over the city. If you have $10 and are near a grocery store, you can look like Kate Middleton. Maybe kind of. The Sun reported that Deborah Mitchell, a beauty guru to the royals, recently appeared on ITVs This Morning and suggested that someone in the British monarchy uses Nutella as part of their skincare regimen. Although she didnt divulge exactly who, Mitchell pointed out that the person had really good skin, suggesting it could be the Duchess of Cambridge. While we wouldnt put it past another celebrity to try such a wacky wellness trend, Dr. Gary Goldenberg, medical director of the Dermatology Faculty Practice at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, told Womens Health magazine that Nutella may actually have the opposite of its desired effect. With several oil-based ingredients, he said, Nutella may clog rather than clean pores. It may work for her as part of her overall beauty regimen, but we dont know what else shes using and what procedures she has done, Goldenberg told the website. AS IF KATE MIDDLETON WOULD SLAP NUTELLA ON HER MUSH #ThisMorning #RoyalFamily Molly Shepherd-Boden (@MollyShep) February 15, 2017 chocolate spread is for eating not for putting on your bloody face #thismorning Charlie Watts (@charliewxyz) February 15, 2017 Fans also expressed their skepticism on Twitter. What do you think? Would you try a Nutella mask for a better complexion? To reduce the harsh noise level surrounding his fledgling administration, President Trump needs to do something difficult: not squelch his critics but focus like a laser on staffing the upper reaches of his federal bureaucracy. A good place to start might well be the vetting and personnel teams inside the White House. Given the enormity of the executive establishment, it is not surprising that there are different responses to the new president, and that some of them get aired. Employees in Immigration and Customs Enforcement were obviously delighted by his election. The response in the State Department, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Park Service was decidedly less enthusiastic. To date, however, Trump has only nominated a tiny fraction -- 2 percent -- of the 1,200 most senior executives that will run more than 200 agencies of the federal government. Even fewer -- 1 percent -- have been confirmed. Without his team in place the president obviously lacks the ability to effectively manage the 2.8 million federal employees scattered across the nation and globe. Surprisingly enough, just doing that hiring could well put a lot of the bureaucracy at ease. It is true that ideology plays a role in this bureaucratic friction, but human nature also plays an important part. Federal employees are like everyone else. They have views about what government should and should not do. Prospective government employees often choose government work because they support what government is doing. Environmentalists are more likely to work and stay in the Environmental Protection Agency and law and order types are more likely to run the Drug Enforcement Administration, for example. When the views of the new president and continuing government professionals clash, career civil servants respond in predictable ways. They have often put the policies of previous administrations into place -- the regulations, the budget requests, and the enforcement priorities. While civil servants pride themselves on being able to serve Republicans and Democrats equally well, many have very human responses when a new president takes office with a vow to shake things up. But at the moment, the vast majority of government workers have no one speaking to them on behalf of the president with the authority that comes from confirmation in office. No one has explained the vision of the new administration for their agency. Their boss has not yet told them that they are valued and that the new administration can work productively with them. No one has expressed to them the administrations confidence that all the career civil servants will do their professional duty to support the new president. And, no appointed leadership team is in place to take control of the levers of administration such as communications, budgeting, personnel and legal affairs. The result is predictable: fear, uncertainty and higher levels of resistance. We fixate on getting Cabinet secretaries nominated and confirmed, but this hardly matters at all in the broader scheme of things. People forget that the Cabinet agencies are enormous and complex organizations, with many more leaders below the top individual. Consider, for example, the Department of Health and Human Services. It employs more than 80,000 people across a dozen agencies. While President Trump was pleased to tweet about the confirmation of Tom Price as the new secretary, there are 17 other Senate-confirmed positions in the department. No one has yet been confirmed to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency most responsible for implementing the Affordable Care Act (and Medicare and Medicaid). Similarly, the president needs to select heads of the Food and Drug Administration and National Institutes of Health. There are also 55 to 60 independent agencies outside the Cabinet structure waiting for leadership from the new president. These include agencies as important and diverse as the Office of Personnel Management, (the governments human resources agency), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Social Security Administration. In all of these places, civil servants worry about what the new administration wants without the help of new bosses who can separate fact from fiction. The confirmation process has not been easy so far, but the contentiousness of the top nominees should not be an excuse for delay for less visible nominees. The president can still ramp up the selection and vetting at the White House and set ambitious targets for filling out his senior team. In addition, the Senate historically has been more deferential to nominees below the Cabinet level. With a Republican Senate and no filibuster threat, the president should have an easier time than earlier presidents at doing this. And if the political opposition insists on digging in against every single appointment, public opinion is liable to become weary -- of them. Atop that, the president and his team have 2,200 additional lower level political appointees that do not require Senate confirmation. One reason for the chaos of the first month has been a thinly staffed transition and White House. This has contributed to delay in staffing the administration and the results have been predictable -- chaos and confusion. It can, however be fixed: just do it. On this Presidents Day, one of many American traditions we owe to George Washington, lets reflect on another tradition he established the farewell address. Washingtons Farewell Address first appeared it was written, not spoken in a Philadelphia newspaper, the American Daily Advertiser, in 1796. In those days, Philadelphia served as the nations capital. Today, Washington has morphed from a towering person of character into a tumultuous seat of political power, where Donald Trump has replaced Barack Obama in the White House. Although Presidents Day, first observed in honor of Washington, is on the third Monday in February, his birthday is Feb. 22. About that time each year, a member of the U.S. Senate reads Washingtons Farewell Address. More than 6,000 words long, it warns against excessive partisanship, foreign entanglements and regional differences. In a text that has been essentially forgotten by Americans, despite a recent book and news stories about it, one omission from the national memory is particularly glaring. Washington believed that Judeo-Christian values formed the foundation for Americas future success. Washington had previously written that America could never hope to be a happy nation unless it humbly imitated the Divine Author of Christianity. In his Farewell Address, he restated this theme, Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. If Washingtons spiritual legacy from his last words to the nation is heeded, according to our Founding Father, we may be well on the way to political prosperity as a happy nation. These spiritual values were not evident in Obamas Farewell Address. But they were accented in the inauguration of Americas 45th president. The Trump era commenced with a record number of Inaugural prayers three more than the official number of Inaugural Balls. In his Inaugural Address, the newly sworn in president spoke of righteousness and declared America would be protected by God, echoing themes of virtue and providential care extolled by Washington in his First Inaugural Address. Trump quoted the Bible, citing Psalm 133:1, a text celebrating unity often heard at the beginning of religious assemblies. For many from Judeo-Christian faith traditions, this likely came as a welcome change. The Obama administration often seemed to lecture Christians about historical failures, diminish Americas commitment to Israel and even describe some voters as those who cling to their guns and to their Bibles. Obamas Farewell Address ended an era. An epoch began with Trumps unexpected electoral victory. But will the values and virtues celebrated at the Inauguration soon be forgotten by one whose religion and morality were severely scrutinized throughout the presidential race? If Washingtons spiritual legacy from his last words to the nation is heeded, according to our Founding Father, we may be well on the way to political prosperity as a happy nation. So heres my prayer for the new president: When he finally bids farewell to the nation, may he have been as successful in emulating the spiritual values of Washington as he has been in the art of the deal. Seema Verma is a bold pick by President Trump to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. She should be approved without further delay. During a hearing by the Senate Finance Committee this week she appeared confident and informed, refusing to take positions on raising Medicares eligibility age, price negotiation with drug companies, or caps on Medicaid allotments to the states. She stated that these decisions are up to Congress, showing an understanding of her roles limits. At the same time, she wouldnt support converting Medicare to a private voucher program, a change which Speaker Paul Ryan has supported and could undermine the longtime concept of Medicare as a reward for years of work and taxes. Verma also said that Medicaid needs an overhaul, something that physicians have known for a long time. In fact, almost one-third of physicians nationwide do not accept new Medicaid patients. She also took a courageous and defining stand against mandatory maternity benefits part of the Essential Benefits package of ObamaCare. As crucial as these benefits often are for child-bearing women, sharing them across all policies increases premiums for those who will never have children, which isnt equitable. Vermas opposition, though unpopular among most Democrats, reflects a serious commitment to flexibility, choice and overall cost savings in health insurance. Verma received a master's in Public Health from Johns Hopkins and is the founder and CEO of SVC Inc., a health policy consulting firm that was instrumental in guiding the Medicaid expansion under then-Gov. Mike Pence in Indiana. Verma and her firm helped create and oversee the implementation of Healthy Indiana Plan 2, which includes catastrophic coverage, high deductibles and Health Savings Account contributions. It introduces an innovative strategy of participation into a program that has always been viewed exclusively as an entitlement. HIP 2 includes pathways to jobs and increased reimbursements for physicians, designed to encourage physician participation. Verma also has been advising Kentucky on adding a work activity requirement for their Medicaid expansion program. Focusing on patient participation and pay-for-service as part of a Medicaid expansion may seem austere and cold when dealing with poor people who are already struggling to survive, until you consider the vast numbers of Medicaid patients who are afraid to take a job for fear of losing their coverage. Entitlements are job killers. Medicaid, though it has saved countless lives, can also be a disincentive to work. Vermas approach, by contrast, can provide a bridge to employment without risking health coverage. Medicare and Medicaid recipients do not always think about their coverage the same way that we physicians do. When it comes to Medicare, for example, primary care doctors like me tend to consider how long it will take to see a patient, how long his problem list is, and whether his tests, treatments, or my specialist of choice (for a colonoscopy, surgery etc.) will accept his Medicare. Whereas the patient is understandably thinking of his pressing health needs and how to get them taken care of. This frequently leads to a clash between my patients expectation and what I can reasonably deliver. The same is true for Medicaid, which provides a large array of services. I am not the only internist, for example, who has had a Medicaid patient hospitalized with a life-threatening infection ask for a new pair of eyeglasses (covered by Medicaid) before discharge. Dont get me wrong, I completely understand that for many, Medicare and Medicaid represent the only buffer they have against illness and death. As a doctor I must take this extremely seriously and never be dismissive. Medicaid and Medicare are an enormous part of our health care system. It isnt an accident that more of the National Health Expenditure is due to these two insurances combined (37 percent or $1.2 trillion in 2015) than to private insurance (33 percent or $1 trillion in 2015). If Seema Verma, once confirmed, manages to add more choice, incentives, participation and bridge-to-jobs to Medicaid while supporting congressional attempts to make Medicare more efficient and user-friendly while preserving its integral purpose, her skills and leadership will be welcomed and even applauded. President Trump on Sunday attempted to clarify his remark at a weekend rally that suggested a terror attack had taken place Friday night in Sweden. My statement as to what's happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden, the president tweeted. Friday night's edition of "Tucker Carlson Tonight" featured an interview with documentary filmmaker Ami Horowitz about a surge in violent crime in Sweden. Some have traced the crime increase in Sweden to a surge in the number of refugees entering from Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Trump said at a campaign-style rally Saturday outside Melbourne, Fla.: Weve got to keep our country safe. You look at whats happening in Germany, you look at whats happening last night in Sweden. Sweden, who would believe this? Trump has made securing the United States from outsiders, particularly radical Islamic terrorists, a major part of presidential campaign and now his administration. The president's mention of Sweden along with Germany resulted in Trump critics saying he had mistakenly referred to a terror attack. Among the recent terror attacks in Germany was a December 2016 incident in which a terrorist drove a truck through a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring roughly 50 others. The Islamic State terror group took responsibility for the attack. Trumps comment at the rally Saturday follows White House special counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway mistakenly citing a massacre in Bowling Green, Ky. Trumps Sweden comment was questioned by Swedish officials, the news media and Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee whom Trump defeated. Clinton tweeted: What happened in Sweden Friday night? Did they catch the Bowling Green Massacre perpetrators? Unclear to us what President Trump was referring to, have asked US officials for explanation, the Swedish embassy in Washington tweeted. Fox News producer Jennifer Bowman and the Associated Press contributed to this report. An Arizona gubernatorial candidate is going to extreme lengths to back up his calls for honesty and openness in politics, by spilling the details of his colorful personal history on his campaign page a past which includes group sex, sexting and periods of homelessness. Noah Noe Dyer, running a longshot campaign to grab the Democratic nomination and unseat sitting Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, is positioning himself as a pragmatic moderate who has only recently switched his affiliation to the Democrats. A former teacher and marketing entrepreneur, Dyer says he believes in rapidly paying down state debt, equal education opportunities for Arizonas children, he supports gun rights and calls for wide-ranging electoral reform. However, he raised eyebrows last week when, in announcing his candidacy, he spilled details of his private life on his campaign website. In doing so, he says he believes cleverly disclosed scandals that come out of the woodwork in the midst of campaigns mainly serve to divert and distract away from meaningful dialogue. Instead, Dyer says he wants to have a real conversation. Under the heading of Scandals and controversy, Dyer laid out everything from his student loan debt, his divorce, a period of homelessness, his use of credit card cash advances to pay tens of thousands of dollars in child support, and a colorful sexual history. Noah has had both deep and casual sexual experiences with all kinds of women. He is an advocate of open relationships, his campaign website says. Hes had group sex and sex with married women. He has sent and received intimate texts and pictures, and occasionally recorded video during sex. Noah has always been forthright with his partners. After noting that all his relationships have been legal and consensual, he adds that he is unapologetic about his sexual choices, and wishes others the same safety and confidence as they express themselves. He has also released an extensive list of the books he has read, which, along with weighty tomes by writers such as Thomas Piketty, Stephen Hawking, and Francis Fukuyama, also includes titles such as The Ethical Slut: A Practical Guide to Polyamory, Open Relationships and Other Adventures and the kinky bestseller 50 Shades of Grey. Dyer told Fox News that Americas political dialogue is broken, and that he hopes his openness is an example of the honesty the public is looking for from their politicians. I think people want honesty from their politicians, and Im willing to give it to them, he said. I dont think most things are relevant to my platform and my ability, but to the degree people think they are relevant, that is a choice for them to make, not for me to make it for them. He said that while he was not particularly nervous in disclosing his personal life to the public, he admitted that everyone on his campaign team was dead against it. Everybody on my campaign, not a single person agreed with it, he said. But I was personally passionate about it and Im pleased about it. Dyer told Fox News that he has received a mixed reaction to his rollout, although he says the reaction has been more positive than negative, and that he hopes by moving past his personal life he can move on to an issues-based campaign which can appeal to both Democrats and Republicans. Our political dialogue is broken. People, for the most part, arent crazy blue or crazy red. Most people want to judge politicians and the issues on the merits, but our dialogue is so crazy, everyones a villain and everyone who disagrees with you is stupid, he said. Dyer faces a tough fight. The Arizona Republic reports that Dyer has no name recognition and no significant support from within the state Democratic Party. Even if he were to pick up the Democratic nomination, Arizona is typically considered a solid red state, and current Gov. Ducey would appear to be a safe bet. But Dyer notes that Trumps ascension to the White House has energized grassroots progressives, who may be able to spark an upset in 2018. Arizonans are not anti-immigrant and theyre not anti-LGBTQ, but our people dont turn out. Things Trump has said have activated the Democratic base, so you could get a historic turnout, which would bode well. U.S. pharmaceutical company MSD, known as Merck&Co in the United States and Canada, plans to supply a first immuno-oncological medicine to Ukraine by late April. Head of the innovative medicine department at MSD Ukraine Marharyta Ohnivenko said at a press conference in Kyiv on Thursday that this medicine was registered in the United States in 2014 and in Ukraine in October 2016. "We hope that at the end of April this medicine will be available in Ukraine," she said. She said that immuno-oncological medicines are newest medicines to treat cancer. They show good efficiency to treat late stages of cancer. She said that the medicine was registered in Ukraine using the relaxed registration procedure. She said that the cost of the medicine is high. The price of one 100 mg vial will be around $4,000. Two vials are required for one introduction of the preparation. Ohnivenko said that there is no data when the treatment can be stopped. "Trials are underway [the medicine was registered in 2013]. There are results showing that even several doses permit organism to fight cancer. There is no exact answer if the introduction of preparation can be stopped after five or ten injections. There are results showing that even the stoppage of the injections does not stop fight against cancer," she said. She said that the high cost of the medicine puts its placing to the public procurement list under doubt. However, MSD Ukraine is ready to hold a dialog with the state to increase access of more patients to the therapy. The medicine will be available in the specialized pharmacies in each region of Ukraine. The price in Ukraine will be lower than in Europe and neighbor countries, including Russia. The medicine is protected by patent and in next ten years no generics will be made. He was at the center of Ukraine peace plan that came amid the troubling allegations that Russia tried to influence the presidential election to help elect Donald Trump. In an exclusive Fox News interview, Felix Sater strongly denies any wrong doing by trying to push the plan, and says that he was never a connection between the Trump campaign and Moscow. "What could be wrong in helping stop a war and trying to achieve peace? I have done so much for my country and thought that promoting peace was a good thing, he told Fox News. People are getting killed, it's a war." Sater is a long time New York real estate developer who had worked for years with the Trump organization and the now-president on various real estate projects. The New York Times reported that the Ukraine peace plan was drawn up by Sater, Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen, and a Ukraine opposition lawmaker, Andrii Artemenko. Cohen is alleged to have left the proposal on the desk of then National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, though the White House says that it has no record of that and that the envelope was never presented to the president. Sater, who is 50 years old and was born in Moscow, also insists that he was not a link between the Trump campaign and the Russians. Reports have claimed that there was "repeated contact" between top campaign officials and Russian intelligence operatives throughout presidential race. The charges have been denied by both President Trump and White House officials. The allegations of Russian influence are being investigated by the F.B.I. and a variety of congressional committees. "I was absolutely not a link between the Trump campaign and the Russian government, he said. I have no contact with anyone in the Russian government." As for Moscow's intentions, he says "I have no idea. I don't have the foggiest notion of what the Russians were or were not doing. I have no business interests in Russia or business interests in the Ukraine. I just hoped that I could help stop a war. I didn't do anything wrong." He also says that he is being portrayed unfairly in the media, because of his heritage. "The press refers to me as 'a Russian businessman.' I came here when I was 7 years old, he said. I am an American businessman of Russian descent, who happens to have been born in Russia." Sater bristles at the mentions of his 1998 guilty plea in what was described as "a major Mafia-linked stock-fraud scheme." He was also sentenced to prison for slashing a man in a 1991 bar fight. 'It feels horrible and terrible to be dragged through the mud for no reason whatsoever," he said. Sater said what largely goes unnoticed is that for more than a decade, in the 1990s, he helped federal prosecutors who went after fraud cases in the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn, and elsewhere. The former Eastern District U.S. Attorney who went on to become President Obama's Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, wrote a letter to Utah Senator Orrin Hatch praising Sater during her confirmation hearings two years ago. Lynch wrote in part, "Felix Sater, provided valuable and sensitive information to the government during the course of his cooperation, which began in or about December 1998. For more than 10 years he worked with prosecutors in my office, the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York and law enforcement agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement agencies, providing information crucial to national security and the conviction of over 20 individuals, including those responsible for committing massive financial fraud and members of La Cosa Nostra." Sater said that so far, he has not been contacted by law enforcement. Senior North Korean officials are reportedly preparing to come to the U.S. to talk with former government officials, the first time a meeting has happened on U.S. soil since 2011. The officials representing the U.S. usually take part in Track 2 or unofficial talks with North Korea, The Washington Post reported Sunday. North Korean government officials were still preparing for the talks. The State Department has not yet approved visas for the Pyongyang officials, according to the paper. The North Koreans have expressed an interest in engagement, but nothings been approved yet, a person familiar with the planned talks told The Post. Should the talks go on, some might see it as an indication that North Korean Dictator Kim Jong-Un is willing to open up a dialogue with the Trump administration, despite Kims hopes to develop a nuclear weapon and recent missile tests. So-called Track 1.5 talks have previously taken place in Kuala Lumpur, Geneva, Berlin and Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, but havent taken place in the U.S. since July 2011 before Kim took over power in North Korea. The newspaper reported that the meeting was being organized by Donald S. Zagoria of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy. He worked as a consultant on Asia during President Carters administration and organized previous talks. The talks are planned to be ran independently of the State Department. However, if the visas are approved, it would be seen as approval from the State Department. Choe Son Hui is expected to lead the Pyongyang delegation. Choe is director of the U.S. affairs department in North Koreas Foreign Ministry. She previously participated in six-party talks on North Koreas denuclearization and other Track 1.5 talks. Aside from recent rhetoric from the Trump administration on North Koreas missile tests and Kims insistence his missile launches are for protection, upcoming U.S.-South Korea military drills could put a damper on talks before the visas are even considered. Click for more from The Washington Post. The Kremlin said Monday that the Russian government does not know anything about a Ukraine peace plan crafted by an opposition Ukrainian lawmaker and two of President Donald Trump's associates. Russia President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, shrugged off the plan that the lawmaker in Ukraine reportedly tried to peddle to the Trump administration, dismissing it as "absurd." The draft plan, first reported by The New York Times, calls for all Russian forces to withdraw from eastern Ukraine. It also calls for a referendum to let Ukrainian voters decide whether the Crimea, which was seized by Russia, should be leased to Moscow for 50 or 100 years. Russia isn't going "to rent its own region," Peskov said. Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, and Russian-speaking separatists in Ukraine began protests that escalated into a war. More than 9,800 people have died since April 2014 in fighting in eastern Ukraine between government forces and Russia-backed separatists. A deal two years ago known as the Minsk agreement was intended to end the conflict, but skirmishes have continued. The newspaper said the peace plan was the work of Felix Sater, a business associate who has helped Trump try to find business in Russia, and Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen. They worked with Andrii Artemenko, who is running a pro-Russian political opposition movement in Ukraine, which was aided by Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort. Cohen told the newspaper that he had delivered the draft peace plan to the White House, leaving it in the office of Michael Flynn before he was fired as Trump's national security adviser. But Cohen told The Washington Post he did not give it to anyone in the White House. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov echoed the comments of Putin's spokesman. "It is difficult for me to comment because it is not possible to lease something from oneself," Lavrov said, according to state news agency RIA Novosti." President Trumps former campaign manager on Monday took a swipe at the presidents inner circle, blaming their inexperience for some of Trumps most recent public missteps. The staff has probably not prepared him as well as they could have or should have as it related to some of those executive orders and the implementation and what that would mean, Corey Lewandowski said in an interview on David Axelrods The Axe Files. Lewandowski took aim at the rocky rollout of Trumps controversial immigration executive order, which wound up in federal court. You have a president who wants to move very quickly, who has a grand vision of what he wants to accomplish and is leaving the details to the staff to implement and (hoping) that the staff understands what that means, Lewandowski said. Much of the miscommunication lies with Trumps closest comrades, he claimed. As I look at the totality of senior staff and if thats Kellyanne Conway, Steve Bannon, Reince Priebus, Jared Kushner - the senior staff inside of the building, none of them have ever worked inside the government and I think its both a plus and a minus, Lewandowski said. You dont know what you dont know. Lewandowski spent 18 months as Trumps campaign manager. He was key in helping score multiple primary wins but was fired in June after a protracted turf war. Enough people had told him that I didnt have the core competency or capability to get him any further than I had gotten him, which at that point was the Republican nomination, Lewandowski said. They believed that they needed a more seasoned professional who was going to come in and run the campaign and at that juncture they believed that Paul Manafort - who candidly had never run a campaign in his life has been a delegate counter was that person. Its no secret that Manafort and Lewandowski at times have been at odds with one another. They were both considered rival powerhouses jockeying for Trumps attention during the campaign. Manafort took over operational control after Lewandowski left. Manafort resigned two months later after stories surfaced about his ties in Ukraine. Despite his lack of confidence in Trumps inner circle, Lewandowski says hes remained friendly with Trump and continues to support his former bosss broad outlook for the country. He also says the Trump White House can reset and move past its first unsteady month. What I think youll see moving forward hopefully is a measured approach, Lewandowski said. Not to scale back on fulfilling the promises of the campaign but making sure that you have vetted it properly not only with the right legal entities but also giving a heads up to those people in congress so you dont have backlash from your own party. Trump has been dealing with the roughest stretch of his young presidency so far. During a press conference where he was supposed to nominate former federal prosecutor Alexander Acosta for labor secretary after his first nominee, fast food chain CEO Andrew Puzder bowed out, Trump unleashed a battery of accusations against the media. His lengthy presser came on the heels of Michael Flynn resigning as national security adviser over a controversy regarding his past contact with Russias ambassador. At the press conference, Trump staunchly defended his administrations work on everything from the economy to security. This administration is running like a fine-tuned machine, Trump said. The White House did not immediately return a request for comment. Protesters held demonstrations on Presidents Day Monday in cities across the country in opposition to Donald Trumps presidency, questioning the legitimacy of his White House victory and opposing him on a variety of issues including immigration and climate science. At least nine events were held under the social media-driven Not My Presidents Day movement. "Donald Trump is not my president. What president has been?" activist Gray Michael Parson told a crowd of about 100 people in Dupont Circle, in Washington, D.C. "I implore you to please get involved." The events Monday follow a weekend of rallies, including one in New Yorks Times Square against Trumps temporary travel ban on several mostly-Muslim nations that drew hundreds of demonstrators. Trumps presidency and his policies -- particularly his aggressive efforts to secure U.S. borders from terror attacks -- have sparked protests since election night, when he won the White House through the Electoral College vote but lost the popular vote by roughly 2 million ballots. The late-afternoon event in Washington was focused on the issues of race and gender equality. An earlier, midday rally was scheduled in front of the Supreme Court to make the case that Russia invaded the 2016 primary and general election. So the results are invalid, unconstitutional and should be made null and void, according to organizer Revote Coalition. The New York rally took place on Columbus Circle, just blocks south of Trump International Hotel, in Manhattan Organizers expect 14,000 demonstrators, but the numbers appeared only in the hundreds. There was no reports of major arrests or property damage, like that associated with Inauguration Day protests last month. Other cities in which rallies were held Monday included Atlanta, Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver, Milwaukee and Kansas City, Missouri. While some of the rallies had a particular theme, like Atlantas call to impeach Trump, others, like the one in Chicago, was a call for unity, organizers said. President Trumps revised travel ban targets the same seven countries listed in his original executive order and exempts travelers who already have a visa to travel to the U.S., even if they havent used it yet. A senior White House official said the order will target only those same seven Muslim-majority nations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, Sudan and Libya. Trump was forced to come up with a second order after federal courts held up his original immigration and refugee ban. The official said the order could come sometime this week. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the order before it's made public, said that green-card holders and dual citizens of the U.S. and any of those countries are exempt. The new draft also no longer directs authorities to single out -- and reject -- Syrian refugees when processing new visa applications. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the version being circulated was a draft and the final version should be released soon. The Wall Street Journal also reported that the current draft of the revised order focused on the seven countries but excluded those with green cards. Trump's original executive order triggered chaos at airports around the world, as travelers were detained when the order rapidly went into effect, U.S. permanent residents known as green-card holders among them. Attorneys provided legal assistance to those held and protesters descended on the airports as news of the order's implementation spread. In its original form, the order temporarily suspended all travel to the U.S. for citizens of those seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days. The original order also called for Homeland Security and State department officials, along with the director of national intelligence, to review what information the government needs to fully vet would-be visitors and come up with a list of countries that can't or won't make the information available. It said the government will give countries 60 days to start providing the information or citizens from those countries will be barred from traveling to the United States. KELLY: TRUMP IS WORKING ON A STREAMLINED TRAVE L BAN Even if Syrian refugees are no longer automatically rejected under the new order, the pace of refugees entering the U.S. from all countries is likely to slow significantly. That's because even when the courts put Trump's original ban on hold, they left untouched Trump's 50,000-per-year refugee cap, a cut of more than half from the cap under the Obama administration. The U.S. has already taken in more than 35,000 refugees this year, leaving less than 15,000 spots before hitting Trump's cap, according to a U.S. official. That means that for the rest of this fiscal year, the number of refugees being let in per week will likely fall to a fraction of what it had been under the Obama administration's cap of 110,000. The travel ban again came under attack when the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco refused to reinstate the ban, unanimously rejecting the administrations claim of presidential authority, questioning its motives and ability to survive legal challenges. The pushback prompted Trump to tweet "SEE YOU IN COURT!" and he has since lashed out at the judicial branch, accusing it of issuing a politically motivated decision. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, speaking at the Munich Security Conference about combating terrorism, said Trump was working on a streamlined version of the initial executive order. Kelly said Trump's original order was designed as a "temporary pause" to allow him to "see where our immigration and vetting system has gaps -- and gaps it has -- that could be exploited." He said the Trump administration was surprised when U.S. courts blocked the executive order and now "the president is contemplating releasing a tighter, more streamlined version" of the travel ban. Kelly said this next time he will be able to "make sure that there's no one caught in the system of moving from overseas to our airports." Kelly mentioned "seven nations" again on Saturday, leading to speculation they will all be included in Trump's next executive order. Trump's order sparked an immediate backlash and sowed chaos and outrage, with travelers detained at airports, panicked families searching for relatives and protesters marching against the sweeping measure -- parts of which were blocked by several federal courts. Protests were held across the country, including in sight of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in New York City, and at international airports where travelers were temporarily detained. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Police investigator Peter Springare isnt likely to be among those mocking President Trump for his remarks about refugees in Sweden. Trumps comments during a Florida campaign rally on Saturday which some took as a misstatement about a supposed terror attack dovetail with what Springare has been seeing during a typical week in Orebro, Sweden. Five rapes, three assaults, a pair of extortions, blackmail, an attempted murder, violence against police and a robbery made up Springares caseload for a five-day period earlier this month, according to a Feb. 3 Facebook post he wrote. The suspects were all from Muslim-majority countries Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia and Turkey save for one Swedish man nabbed in a drug-related case. Mohammed, Mahmod, Ali, again and again, Springare wrote of those arrested. Springare, who was briefly investigated for possible hate crime incitement based on his post, managed to elucidate what Trump only hinted at during a Florida campaign speech somewhat opaquely. You look at whats happening last night in Sweden, Trump said. Sweden. Who would believe this? Sweden. They took in large numbers. Theyre having problems like they never thought possible. Many analysts took issue with Trumps last night framing, and immediately compared the line to recent misstatements by Trump spokespeople, such as counselor Kellyanne Conways infamous Bowling Green Massacre blunder. But Trump explained on Twitter late Sunday that he was only referring to a Fox News segment that aired on Friday nights Tucker Carlson Tonight dealing with the Swedish refugee crime. My statement as to what's happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 19, 2017 It seems like we may be missing the point of the story, which is there has been a massive social cost associated with the refugee policies and the immigration policies of Western Europe, Carlson said on Fox & Friends on Monday morning. He added: Fifty years of immigration policy is coming to flower in Europe. Were not paying any attention. Were not drawing any of the obvious lessons from it. It's not working. That's the real point here. Trump tweeted again on Monday morning, blasting media outlets that failed to report on Sweden's migrant crime epidemic. "Give the public a break - The FAKE NEWS media is trying to say that large scale immigration in Sweden is working out just beautifully. NOT!" Trump wrote. Fox News reached out to the Swedish Embassy for comment, however, the building was closed for President's Day. The embassy did tweet back to Trump on Sunday: "We look forward to informing the US administration about Swedish immigration and integration policies." We look forward to informing the US administration about Swedish immigration and integration policies. https://t.co/x5G3euOWRh Embassy of Sweden US (@SwedeninUSA) February 19, 2017 Last month, the police chief for the southern Swedish city of Malmo issued a desperate plea for help curtailing a plague of attempted murders, beatings and rapes. About 32 percent of Malmos occupants are migrants, although it is not clear what role migrants play in the crime wave. We cannot do it on our own, Chief Stefan Sinteus wrote in an open letter about the upward spiral of violence. And Sinteus is not merely dealing with typical crimes that any modern city would witness. Malmo had 52 hand grenade attacks in 2016 alone, a jump from 48 attacks in 2015, according to figures provided by the Swedish Police Authority. Nationwide, the terror threat level is at elevated and police believe at least 300 Swedish nationals have travelled to Syria and Iraq for jihadi training. On Feb. 11, a Swedish man and a Danish man were arrested in Turkey, suspected of plotting to carry out attacks in Europe. Tofik Saleh, a 38-year-old Swedish citizen of Iraqi origin, had been training with ISIS since 2014, officials said. On the same day Springare posted his screed, a Swedish court turned over to Belgium evidence seized in Malmo in connection with the 2016 Brussels terror attacks, prosecutors said. Sweden has taken in 650,000 asylum-seekers during the past 15 years including 163,000 in 2015 alone, The Spectator reported. Of those refugees, 35,000 were unaccompanied children or at least claimed to be. The children mostly males from Afghanistan and Somalia are only identified as minors by the age the applicant gives. The only time an applicant-provided age is rejected is if its obviously untrue, though theres no clear definition of obviously. The Spectator interviewed asylum-seekers who admitted to lying about their age to improve their chances of avoiding deportation. Carlson warned this mass influx of migrants, many of whom are uneducated and jobless, has begun to alter the face and crime rates of countries such as Sweden. [The integration policy] hasnt worked very well, at all, Carlson said. And its in the process of totally changing these ancient cultures into something different and much more volatile and much more threatening, so what are the lessons we should draw from this? Thats the conversation we should have. President Trump on Monday tapped Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, a warrior-scholar deemed an expert in counter insurgency, to be the director of the White House's National Security Council. The 54-year-old McMaster replaces retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn as the presidents national security adviser. Flynn was forced to resign after lying about talking to Russia, before he officially took the NSA post, about recently imposed sanctions. He is a man of tremendous talent and experience, Trump said in announcing McMasters appointment. Hes highly respected in the military, and we're lucky to have him. Trump also announced that Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg will remain as the NSCs chief of staff. Im proud to continue my service to the nation, said McMaster, sitting next to Trump inside the presidents Florida resort home Mar-a-Lago. Trump on Sunday interviewed several NSC candidates, in an attempt to solidify the intelligence team, days after calling for Flynns resignation. McMaster is a Philadelphia native and West Point graduate who fought in the Persian Gulf War and served in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is a great team, Trump said. The country is honored to have two people like this, and after having met so many people in the military, we're lucky to have all of them. Said Kellogg: "I'm honored and privileged to serve alongside Gen. McMaster. He's a great statesman." Trump also thanked the others he interviewed this past weekend including former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton. The president said Bolton has a good number of ideas that I agree with very much" and that he will work for him in a different capacity. McMaster is currently director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center. He joined the Army in 1984 and distinguished himself seven years later during the Gulf War in what would become known as the Battle of 73 Easting. As captain of the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment's Eagle Troop, McMaster led a force of just nine tanks that took out more than 80 Iraqi Republican Guard tanks and armored vehicles. He is the author of the 1997 book, "Dereliction of Duty," which criticized the U.S. government's handling of the Vietnam War. In his latest role, McMaster was tasked with gauging the U.S, military capability against future threats. When he addressed lawmakers in April of last year, he warned that years of military cuts have left the U.S. vulnerable. We are outranged and outgunned by many potential adversaries, McMaster said. [And] our army in the future risks being too small to secure the nation. UK Members of Parliament clashed Monday in a heated debate over President Trumps state visit as left-wing MPs called for the invitation to be withdrawn -- while some Conservative Party MPs accused their opponents of hypocrisy and insulting the American people. Prime Minister Theresa May extended a state visit invitation to Trump when she visited the White House in January a move that angered some segments of the UK population and left-leaning lawmakers, who have pointed to Trumps language about women and his hardline stance on refugees and immigrants as reasons to oppose such a visit. The debate in Parliaments Westminster Hall was triggered after an online parliamentary petition seeking to prevent Trump from making a state visit to the U.K. picked up 1.8 million signatures. A counter-petition picked up over 300,000 signatures. The debate coincided with anti-Trump demonstrations in major UK cities. While a visit to the U.K. was always likely, a state visit differs from an official visit as it is hosted by Queen Elizabeth II, and therefore is filled with pomp and ceremony, often involving a carriage ride with the Queen, a state banquet and an address to both Houses of Parliament. Only two presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama have been afforded state visits during Elizabeths reign. The petition claims that Trumps misogyny and vulgarity would mean the visit would embarrass the monarch. During the debate, left-wing MPs from the Labour Party, Green Party and Scottish National Party tore into the Republican president, accusing him of racism, sexism and xenophobia, and blasted May for extending the invitation in the first place. It is difficult to know whether to be appalled at the morality of this invitation or just astonished at the stupidity of the invitation, said SNP MP Alex Salmond, who called Mays outreach stomach-churning. UK SPEAKER BERCOW MOCKED, CALLED A HYPOCRITE OVER TRUMP SNUB Green Party MP Caroline Lucas added that Trump had shown such effrontery to basic climate science in his views on climate change. Its extraordinary that Trump, from the cavernous depths of his scientific ignorance, is prepared to challenge the conclusions of 97 percent of the worlds experts on this matter, agreed Labour Party MP Paul Flynn, who later described Trump as a petulant child for his behavior. However, Conservative Party MPs were united in the fact that the visit should go ahead, despite some of their own personal misgivings about some of the things he has said or done. Nigel Evans, in a passionate speech, compared Trumps election to the British vote to leave the European Union, and argued that the American voter should be respected. Just like we had the forgotten people in the United Kingdom, there are the forgotten people of the United States of America. Theyre the ones who packed that stadium on Saturday to cheer Donald Trump after his month in the presidency because actually they like what he says, he said. There are 61 million people who voted for Donald Trump and when we stand up in this country and then condemn him for being racist and Ive seen no evidence of that or they attack him an unseemly way, were actually attacking the American people, he said. Other Tories accused their opposition colleagues of hypocrisy, considering that leaders with sketchy human rights records have been afforded state visits. When Flynn mentioned Trumps infamous 2005 grab them by the p***y remark, Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg took him to task. I am grateful to the honorable gentleman for giving way and for his response to Mr. Trumps perhaps ill-considered phraseology, but what complaint did the honorable gentleman make when [Japanese] Emperor Hirohito came here, who was responsible for the Rape of Nanking? he asked. [Chinese President] Xi Jinping was here last year, where were the demonstrations then? How many votes did Xi Jinping get? We had a state visit from a Chinese leader 10 years after Tiananmen square, added Evans. Its double standards. James Cartlidge, meanwhile, warned that rescinding the invitation would make Britain a laughing stock and would only benefit Russia. There will be smiles all around in the Kremlin if we follow this petition because what they want in the Kremlin above all else is to divide the West, he warned. There was no vote at the end of the debate, and ultimately it is up to the British Government whether to withdraw the invitation, or downgrade the visit. It seems highly unlikely that, now extended, the government would retract the invitation. The government had responded to the petition saying HM Government believes the President of the United States should be extended the full courtesy of a state visit. We look forward to welcoming President Trump once dates and arrangements are finalized, the statement said. House of Commons Speaker John Bercow caused controversy earlier this month when he broke with a tradition of neutrality by saying that he was opposed to Trump addressing both Houses of Parliament during his visit. The comments sparked a backlash, as well as a motion of no-confidence tabled against him. After three years of being told they could not go to the front lines, U.S. troops advising Iraqi forces as they evict ISIS from Mosul no longer face those tight restrictions, according to the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, as the new defense secretary stood by his side in Baghdad. "It is true that we are operating closer and deeper into the Iraqi formation," Townsend told reporters travelling with Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis. "We adjusted our posture during the east Mosul fight and embedded advisers a bit further down into the formation." MATTIS REBUFFS RUSSIAN COOPERATION CALL Townsend, who began his career in Baghdad as a Colonel leading a Struyker brigade during the surge in 2007, commands more than 6,000 U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria. "I have all the authorities I need to prosecute our fight and I am confident that if I were to need more that my leadership would provide those," Townsend said. Mattis, a former Marine four-star general who served several tours in Iraq, is on his first visit to Iraq in his new civilian role. He is tasked with presenting President Trump a new plan to defeat ISIS -- a plan due on Feb. 27. Mattis suggested the former restrictions could be further loosened as he weighs whether to send more troops, and the Coalition prepares to expand the fight to Raqqa, the ISIS capital in Syria. "We owe some degree of confidentiality so we don't expose to the enemy what we have in mind as to the timing of operations," Mattis said. Call it the Trump effect, but U.S. commanders began loosening the restrictions on forward deployed troops back in November as Iraqi forces pushed into Mosul, a tough fight that began in October and is now entering a second phase in western Mosul. When the U.S. military returned to Iraq three years ago, the Obama administration refused to say U.S. troops were in combat or refer to them as "boots on the ground." The White House refused to allow these "advisers" to go to the front lines. On the campaign trail Trump said if he were commander in chief he would loosen the overly restrictive rules of engagement. "I would knock the hell out of ISIS...[and] when you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families," Trump said on "Fox & Friends" in December 2015. The western Mosul operation was launched by the Iraqi Prime Minister just one day before Mattis arrived in Baghdad, a move welcomed by U.S. commanders and the new defense secretary. "The Iraqi army has fought very well, they've lost troops and kept fighting, they've been very brave," Mattis said while meeting Iraq's defense minister. "And I'm just here to tell the minister that I admire what his troops are continuing to do today in west Mosul." Townsend added: "If you look back a little over two years ago, this army was broken and defeated, barely able to hold their capital. This army has done this remarkable turnaround in just two years. It is an incredible turn around. They've liberated half their lost territory. They are about to liberate their second largest city center held by ISIS. Iraqi security forces are going to take that city back. No doubt about it." Asked whether he thought U.S. troops will be asked to leave Iraq after the military clears Mosul of ISIS fighters, the top U.S. commander and the defense secretary said U.S. troops will be in Iraq for some time. "I don't anticipate that we'll be asked to leave by the government of Iraq after Mosul," Townsend said. "The government recognizes this is a complex fight. I wouldn't want to put a timeline on it." Mattis added: "This is a partnership. There have been a lot of rocky times out here. I imagine we'll be in this fight for a while and we'll stand by each other." Radical Shia cleric Moqtada Al Sadr has called for U.S. troops to leave Iraq in the wake of the White House's proposed travel ban temporarily halting visas for Iraqis and repeated threats from President Trump that he would have taken Iraqi oil to pay for the war, an idea Mattis squashed before landing in Baghdad. Said Mattis: "We're not in Iraq to seize anyone's oil." The Ukroboronprom State Concern has proposed to begin a broad international political dialog and revise the principles of organizing global defense system based on newest means of restrain. The press service of the concern reported last week that the initiative was presented by Ukroboronprom Head Roman Romanov at the European Defence Procurement 2017 Summit held on February 15 through February 17 in Amsterdam (the Netherlands). Romanov who headed the Ukrainian delegation to the summit shared Ukrainian experience of Ukraines participation in the hybrid war in Crimea and Donbas. "Ukraine will continue to concentrate its efforts on ensuring its defense capability," he said. He said that modern conflicts, such as hybrid warfare in Ukraine, still lead to huge losses among military and civilian populations. "Fundamentally new defense system will allow avoiding losses. We call on initiating of a political dialogue on changing global defense system," he said. "We see a need for formulating objectives for global defense corporations on developing new non-lethal and non-destructive means of restrain and blocking of misconducting military-minded groups and individuals. Todays modern technology provides effective means using new conceptual principles and can implement this idea," he said. Ukraine and its defense industry are ready to participate in this global research project, Romanov said. 130,000 young specialists receive engineering education in Ukraine every year. This is a huge scientific potential that can solve problems of any complexity, including development of non-lethal restraint systems, he said. "We believe that each country can find a similar potential, combining efforts in close international cooperation to create new means of defense to prevent conflicts. Of course, this problem takes time, but the sooner we start moving in this direction, the sooner it is solved. We believe that the decisions made today will affect all of us tomorrow," he said. A painted red telephone that belonged to Hitler described as arguably the most destructive weapon of all time" sold at an auction on Sunday for $243,000. The phone, which carries the words Adolph Hitler on it in capital letters below a swastika and an eagle, was used to send million to their deaths around the world, according to Alexander Historical Auctions in Chesapeake City, Md. With a 40-inch braided cord, the phone had a rotary dial and was just 6 inches wide and tall and shows its age with chipped red paint on the handset. The phone, made by Siemens out of a Bakelite (a type of plastic) body, was designed to be mobile-- the handset needed to be rotated to be removed, to keep it securely on the phone during train travel, for example. This was not a staid office telephone used to solicit contributions to the party, or to answer polite calls at the Berghof...this was Hitler's mobile device of destruction, the auction house said in its description of the item, used in vehicles, trains, his field headquarters, at the Wolf's Lair...and in the last desperate days deep beneath Berlin. The fascinating relic comes originally from a British officer, Brigadier Sir Ralph Rayner, who died in 1977. Rayner came into possession of the phone in 1945, during a tour of Hitlers bunker. On entering Hitler's private quarters, Rayner was first offered Eva Braun's telephone, but politely declined claiming that his favorite color was red, the auction house said. His Russian hosts were pleased to hand him a red telephone The phone sold for $200,000, with a buyers premium of 26.5 percent. HITLER'S 'DEVICE OF DESTRUCTION' COULD FETCH $300,000 Hitlers phone was not the only item out of his bunker that sold at the auction that day. The same British officer, Rayner, also took a Porcelain model of an Alsatian dog with its paws crossed with him. The dog model, which was made by slave labor in Dachau, according to the auction house, sold for $24,300, including buyers premium, to a different person than the buyer who purchased the phone. The dwarf planet Ceres keeps looking better and better as a possible home for alien life. NASA's Dawn spacecraft has spotted organic molecules the carbon-containing building blocks of life as we know it on Ceres for the first time, a study published Feb. 16 in the journal Science reports. And these organics appear to be native, likely forming on Ceres rather than arriving via asteroid or comet strikes, study team members said. [Photos: Dwarf Planet Ceres, the Solar System's Largest Asteroid] "Because Ceres is a dwarf planet that may still preserve internal heat from its formation period and may even contain a subsurface ocean, this opens the possibility that primitive life could have developed on Ceres itself," Michael Kuppers, a planetary scientist based at the European Space Astronomy Centre just outside Madrid, said in an accompanying "News and Views" article in the same issue of Science. "It joins Mars and several satellites of the giant planets in the list of locations in the solar system that may harbor life," added Kuppers, who was not involved in the organics discovery. Ceres finds keep rolling in The $467 million Dawn mission launched in September 2007 to study Vesta and Ceres, the two largest objects in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Dawn circled the 330-mile-wide Vesta from July 2011 through September 2012, when it departed for Ceres , which is 590 miles across. Dawn arrived at the dwarf planet in March 2015, becoming the first spacecraft ever to orbit two different bodies beyond the Earth-moon system. During its time at Ceres, Dawn has found bizarre bright spots on crater floors, discovered a likely ice volcano 2.5 miles tall and helped scientists determine that water ice is common just beneath the surface , especially near the dwarf planet's poles. The newly announced organics discovery adds to this list of achievements. The carbon-containing molecules which Dawn spotted using its visible and infrared mapping spectrometer instrument are concentrated in a 385-square-mile area near Ceres' 33-mile-wide Ernutet crater, though there's also a much smaller patch about 250 miles away, in a crater called Inamahari. And there could be more such areas; the team surveyed only Ceres' middle latitudes, between 60 degrees north and 60 degrees south. "We cannot exclude that there are other locations rich in organics not sampled by the survey, or below the detection limit," study lead author Maria Cristina De Sanctis, of the Institute for Space Astrophysics and Space Planetology in Rome, told Space.com via email. Dawn's measurements aren't precise enough to nail down exactly what the newfound organics are, but their signatures are consistent with tar-like substances such as kerite and asphaltite, study team members said. Organics probably native "The organic-rich areas include carbonate and ammoniated species, which are clearly Ceres' endogenous material, making it unlikely that the organics arrived via an external impactor," co-author Simone Marchi, a senior research scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, said in a statement . In addition, the intense heat generated by an asteroid or comet strike likely would have destroyed the organics, further suggesting that the molecules are native to Ceres, study team members said. The organics might have formed via reactions involving hot water, De Sanctis and her colleagues said. Indeed, "Ceres shows clear signatures of pervasive hydrothermal activity and aqueous alteration," they wrote in the new study . Such activity likely would have taken place underground. Dawn mission scientists aren't sure yet how organics generated in the interior could make it up to the surface and leave the signatures observed by the spacecraft. "The geological and morphological settings of Ernutet are still under investigation with the high-resolution data acquired in the last months, and we do not have a definitive answer for why Ernutet is so special," De Sanctis said. It's already clear, however, that Ceres is a complex and intriguing world one that astrobiologists are getting more and more excited about. "In some ways, it is very similar to Europa and Enceladus," De Sanctis said, referring to ocean-harboring moons of Jupiter and Saturn, respectively. "We see compounds on the surface of Ceres like the ones detected in the plume of Enceladus," she added. "Ceres' surface can be considered warmer with respect to the Saturnian and Jovian satellites, due to [its] distance from the sun. However, we do not have evidence of a subsurface ocean now on Ceres, but there are hints of subsurface recent fluids." Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+ . Follow us @Spacedotcom , Facebook or Google+ . Originally published on Space.com . A giant flying reptile the size of a plane may have been the largest and most feared predator in ancient Transylvania. After examining the enormous neck vertebrae of a creature called Hatzegopteryx a pterosaur with a 32foot wingspan and giant beak researchers now believe it was a fierce carnivore that preyed on dinosaurs and other animals in Romania during the Cretaceous period. We've suspected that some giant pterosaurs were terrestrial foragers for a while now, but the idea that one could be a stocky, powerful apex predator is not something anyone would have predicted even a few years ago, study author Dr. Mark Witton of the University of Portsmouth told Fox News. Indeed, it wasn't that long ago that the idea of a pterosaur occupying a dominant ecological role would have been laughable! THE DINOSAURS DIED A COLD, DARK DEATH, NEW STUDY SHOWS The toothless Haptzegopteryx belonged to a flying reptile group known as Azhdarchidae. Usually reptiles in this group have very long necks, some of which can measure over eight feet in length. The neck of Hatzegopteryx, however, is shorter and much stronger, with considerable muscle mass. This was one of the clues that helped Witton and co-author Dr. Darren Naish get a clearer understanding of the mysterious creatures behavior. We compared the structural properties of its bones to those of other giant pterosaurs using the same principles that engineers use to design buildings and vehicles, Witton explained. Hatzegopteryx was consistently stronger in all our tests. The team also looked at the degree of scarring of muscle attachment on its bones and found they were very well developed much bigger than previously realized and deduced that this strong skeleton was under the control of extensive muscle power. It had reinforced limb bones and a foot and a half-wide skull. Combining these stats with what is known of Hatzegopteryxs close relatives, it soon became clear the pterosaur was unlike any other in its group and was a serious force to be reckoned with. FEATHERED DINOSAUR TAIL FRAGMENT TRAPPED IN AMBER AMAZES SCIENTISTS Its theorized that one reason Hatzegopteryx was able to become the dominant predator in ancient Romania is due to the dynamic of the area itself. At the time, it had a strange island ecosystem where few predators could compare in size to the winged reptile. The rocks yielding Hatzegopteryx fossils have been studied for hundreds of years and to date no evidence of a large predator (other than Hatzegopteryx) has been found, Witton said. There are no giant predatory dinosaurs, no enormous crocodylians not even a single tooth from one of these guys. According to Witton, they have lots of other fossils from these sites including small predators so it stands to reason that, after generations of fieldwork, someone would have found some evidence of these animals if they were there. This led the team to conclude that, without any other large predators to compete with, Hatzegopteryx was Romanias head honcho. One thing is for sure: Cretaceousage Transylvania was a scary place to be if you were a dinosaur or some other prehistoric critter who found itself in Hatzegopteryxs crosshairs. With its huge beak, solid build and massive wingspan, this reptile was fast and lethal. These animals were huge, and their cruising speeds were impressive (40-60 mph depending on the model), Witton said. If in a rush, and they weren't concerned about energy consumption, they might have been pushing over 100 mph. Using a mix of powered and soaring flight, transcontinental travel would have been very easy for these giants. FCA announced a technology that will enhance safety for police officers working in parked vehicles. The Officer Protection Package detects movement behind police vehicles using cameras and radar and warns the driver. The plan is to implement the module in all 2017 Dodge Charger Pursuit law enforcement vehicles, which are the best-selling high-performance police vehicles in the U.S. The new feature comes from a collaboration between FCA US and InterMotive Inc. of California. It will be provided at no cost to law enforcement agencies. "This technology is designed to prevent an officer from being ambushed from the rear while parked," Jeff Kommor, Vice President of U.S. Sales Operations, Fleet, and Small Business Sales, said in the press release. "While it does not replace vigilance, this technology acts as a second set of eyes and provides police officers with added peace of mind when they are in a parked Charger Pursuit." More: Dodge marks Mopar parts brand's 80th year with special-edition Challenger Ambushes of police officers last year pushed agencies to seek technology of this sort, according to Intermotive. The Officer Protection Package comes into play when an officer is pulled over and working inside his or her vehicle. While focused on the task at hand, the officer may not sense somebody coming up behind their vehicle. The package uses the Charger Pursuit's existing rear park assist system and rear backup camera to alert the officer of movement. It is a simple installation to attach the module, which can be secured under the dash and plugged into the OBDII port. To activate it, officers press the Aux 1 button. Activating the Officer Protection Package also turns on the reverse sensors, which sound a chime when tripped. Upon alert, the officer can see what's behind the vehicle via the camera display. The doors also lock, the front windows roll up, and the taillights flash. If leaked drafts are any indication, the Trump administration's forthcoming cyber policy will likely be similar to those of previous presidents, a former Homeland Security official said at the RSA Conference in San Francisco last week. "I actually think we have some decent clues. We've seen a couple of different leaked drafts of a cyber order," said Stewart Baker, former Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Policy under George W. Bush. "Compared to the [other executive] orders that were actually signed, they are remarkably boring and responsible." Assuming something like the leaked draft orders are eventually signed by the president, the new policy will build on those from the Obama and Bush administrations, Baker speculated. The first leak was "very procedural very respectful of cabinet ... responsibilities and not a know-it-all kinda document," Baker said. Specifically, it calls for a series of reports about various areas of cyber-security policy. The second leaked draft document called for more action, but still very measured action in the form of plans to harden security measures. Both were "very thoughtful and pretty consistent with past practices and with an orderly process," Baker said. That might come as a relief to security experts watching an administration that has, at times, seemed to move faster than Washington might have expected. President Trump's travel ban executive order sparked protests across the country, and drew criticism from the tech industry. It's also a departure from other aggressive policies introduced by the new administration. The new head of the FCC, for example, has been a critic of the agency's net neutrality rules. But issues of cyber security have taken an increasingly large role on the world stage. In 2015, Chinese state-sponsored hackers were accused of stealing data from the US Office of Personnel Management, which contained information on millions of current and former government employees. More recently, the Obama administration levied sanctions against Russia in response to reports from US intelligence that the country tampered in the 2016 presidential election. This article originally appeared on PCMag.com. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has ordered an urgent investigation into the sexual harassment claim made by a female former engineer at the ride sharing app who alleged her career prospects suffered after she complained about advances from her manager. In a blog post titled Reflecting on one very, very, strange year at Uber the engineer, Susan Fowler Rigetti, said she joined Uber as a site reliability engineer in November 2015 in San Francisco. On her first official day with the ride-sharing app, Rigetti says her boss propositioned her in a string of messages on the company chat. As it was "clearly out of line," she took screen shots of the remarks and contacted the firms human resources department. When I reported the situation, I was told by both HR and upper management that even though this was clearly sexual harassment and he was propositioning me, it was this man's first offense, and that they wouldn't feel comfortable giving him anything other than a warning and a stern talking-to, she wrote. Upper management told me that he was a high performer (i.e. had stellar performance reviews from his superiors) and they wouldn't feel comfortable punishing him for what was probably just an innocent mistake on his part. The manager is not named in the blog post, which has garnered widespread attention since it was published Sunday. UBER ALLEGEDLY SPIED ON USERS, INCLUDING CELEBRITIES LIKE BEYONCE Rigetti says that she left the team. But she said as she tried to progress in Uber, she found her way blocked. She alleged that sexism was rampant in the company, and that when she pointed that out at a company meeting, she was rebuffed. Uber chief Kalanick responded quickly to the claims. What's described here is abhorrent & against everything we believe in, he tweeted Sunday. Anyone who behaves this way or thinks this is OK will be fired. 1/ What's described here is abhorrent & against everything we believe in. Anyone who behaves this way or thinks this is OK will be fired. https://t.co/6q29N7AL6E travis kalanick (@travisk) February 20, 2017 In a subsequent tweet Kalanick wrote that he has instructed Ubers Chief Human Resources Officer Liane Hornsey to conduct an urgent investigation into the allegation. There can be absolutely no place for this kind of behavior at Uber, he tweeted. Rigetti left Uber in December, according to her blog post. TECH TITANS SLAM TRUMP'S CONTROVERSIAL IMMIGRATION MOVE The engineers blog post also describes a bizarre alleged incident involving leather jackets. She said the director of engineering ordered leather jackets for the site's reliability engineers, but later decided it would only give the jackets to male engineers because there were too few women in the company to qualify for a bulk purchase discount. "The director replied back, saying that if we women really wanted equality, then we should realize we were getting equality by not getting the leather jackets," she wrote. "He said that because there were so many men in the org, they had gotten a significant discount on the men's jackets but not on the women's jackets, and it wouldn't be equal or fair, he argued, to give the women leather jackets that cost a little more." Rigettis remarks will strike a nerve among those trying to bolster the number of women in science and engineering, who have long argued that male-dominated atmospheres are discouraging the talented from seeking careers in the sector. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Duck boats, the popular sightseeing vehicles in cities around the country, have lost some of their appeal because of a string of recent accidents. In Boston, new safety regulations will go into effect in April after a duck boat ran over and killed a 28-year-old woman on a motor scooter last spring. In Philadelphia, a duck boat operator suspended its tours indefinitely after three people were killed in two separate crashes. FOR THE LATEST TRAVEL FEATURES FOLLOW FOX LIFESTYLE ON FACEBOOK In Seattle, 10 duck boats were taken out of service after five college students were killed in 2015 when a duck boat collided with a bus. The new Massachusetts law requires duck boat operators to install blind spot cameras and proximity sensors, and to have a second employee on the boat to narrate tours. Royal Caribbean has canceled all scheduled stops in Turkey for the 2017 season, becoming the latest cruise line to do so following Carnival Corporations Cunard Line and P&O Cruises December decisions to stop sailing to the Mediteranean nation. Disney Cruise Line, Crystal Cruises and MSC Cruises are among other cruise lines that cancelled all ports of call to Turkey in 2016. Royal Caribbean says it made the decision due to the current unpredictability of events happening in the country, and that they are keeping the safety and wellbeing of both guests and crew members in mind after numerous terrorist attacks in the country in last year. "We truly regret having to take this action and thank you for your understanding and cooperation. Any decision we make is made in an abundance of caution and safety, as your clients experience in our ports of call is always our utmost priority," Royal Caribbean said in a statement. Royal Caribbean will replace all calls in Ephesus, Kusadasi with alternate ports-of-call for the 2017 Europe season. The ships affected include the Brilliance of the Seas which will now sail to Mykonos, Greece, Jewel of the Seas which will travel to Rhodes, Greece and Rhapsody of the Seas which will visit Kotor, Montenegro, Chania, Greece or Mykonos, Greece-- depending on the date. FOR THE LATEST TRAVEL FEATURES FOLLOW FOX LIFESTYLE ON FACEBOOK The U.S. State Department continues to warn Americans of increased terror threats from terrorist groups in Turkey in the latest travel warning issued Jan., 25. Carefully consider the need to travel to Turkey at this time, and avoid travel to southeast Turkey due to the persistent threat of terrorism. The Department of State has placed restrictions on official travel by U.S. government personnel to Istanbul and to certain areas in southeast Turkey, the department said on Oct. 29. The news may come as a disappointment for guests hoping to see Turkey's ancient wonders but customers who purchased a Royal Caribbean Shore Excursion for a day in Kusadasi will receive a full refund. A 76-year-old Boston woman received an outpouring of support after she was fined $200 for failing to shovel her sidewalk. Lorraine Walsh was one of 500 residents in the city who received citations in the last week, the Boston Herald reported Saturday. Walsh failed to clear a path two weeks ago from her steps to the street and couldnt get to the rest of it before the snow froze up. Walsh was hit with the $200 penalty for businesses instead of the $50 penalty for residents because her brother operates an insurance office out of their home. Christian Galvin, a fellow Boston resident, offered to pay for Walshs fine if she does not win her appeal. I flat out cant imagine a 76-year-old trying to break up that ice, and then to read that she received a $200 ticket didnt sit well with me, Galvin told the Boston Herald on Sunday. Walsh said shes on a fixed income and would appreciate it if the city dismissed the appeal. She added that the entire process could take up to two weeks. Mayor Martin J. Walsh, who is not related to Lorraine, told the newspaper that the snow shoveling fines were in place for the publics safety. But he admitted that he felt bad for the woman. Im sure theyll take into account all the circumstances around that, the mayor said. I feel bad. She can appeal the ticket. Shes an elderly person, so I want to make sure that were not putting a burden on an elderly person that cant do it. The city handed out 243 tickets for failing to clear the sidewalks on Tuesday, 135 on Monday and 133 on Friday. The fines totaled to $34,650. Click for more from the Boston Herald. Former deputy head of the National Bank of Ukraine Vladyslav Rashkovan has been appointed new Alternate Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for Ukraine. The NBU said on its website that the Executive Directors of the IMF Dutch Constituency led by Belgium and the Netherlands made the decision. Rashkovan will take office as the Alternate Executive Director from February 27, 2017. The Alternate Executive Director of the IMF is appointed for a four-year term. Earlier Oleksandr Petryk ran the post. NBU Governor and Executive Director of the IMF for Ukraine is Valeriya Gontareva. In April 2014, Rashkovantook charge of the NBU banking system strategy and reforming department. From April 2014, Rashkovan served as a member of the NBU Board, and from November 2014 to 1 August 2016 as NBU Deputy Governor responsible for reforms and transformation of the regulator. Investigators with the University City Police Department are working to determine who knocked over or damaged several headstones at a local Jewish cemetery. Police would not say if they considered the vandalism at Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery to be a hate crime or not. It is believed there was some organization behind the crime, meaning this was not the act of one individual. Police said they're reviewing security camera footage from the area. More than 100 headstones were damaged. The investigation coincides with yet another round of bomb threats at Jewish community centers across the nation. Read more at FOX2Now.com. The Day Without Immigrants protest shut down businesses nationwide last week, but it didnt come without some consequences for a handful of workers who decided to take part in the demonstrations. Dozens of workers said they lost their jobs after taking part in Thursdays protest. The boycott was aimed squarely at President Trump's efforts to step up deportations, build a wall at the Mexican border and close the nation's doors to many travelers. It was unclear how many participated. Twelve Latino employees from the I Dont Care Bar and Grill in Tulsa, Okla. told Fox 23 News they were fired over text message because they didnt show up for their shift and failed to let their employers know about their absence. The employees told the station they expected to be reprimanded, but not dismissed. The firings led to an outcry in the community. If you have 12 people who feel strongly and want to make a stand, I think management should have taken a look at that and at least stood by them or give them some time, Catherine Bishop, of Broken Arrow, told Fox 23 News. The restaurant had already posted on Facebook seeking employees for its open positions. Meanwhile, Carmen Guerrero, an immigration activist told the Philadelphia Inquirer that six people were fired from their jobs at a Bahama Breeze in King of Prussia for taking part in the protest. Guerrero said when the workers heard of the protest, they decided to join in and when they showed up Friday for work they allegedly were told they couldnt enter the building. Bahama Breeze spokesman Rich Jeffers told the paper that no one was ever fired. Guerrero said the workers told her that they were all rehired to make it look like nothing happened. According to News Channel 5, 18 workers from Bradley Coatings Inc. were let go. The workers told the station they told their employer they would be joining in the nationwide protest on Wednesday and when they returned to work Thursday they were informed they had been fired. "We are the team leaders directly under the supervisors and they informed us last night that we could not go back to work and the boss said we were fired," one employee told the station. An attorney for Bradley Coatings said in a statement that the employees were told they would need to show up for work (on Thursday) or they would be terminated because of the time-sensitive job they were assigned to. The statement contended that the firings had nothing to do with politics. Encore Boat Builders LLC, based out of Lexington, S.C., had 21 workers who didnt show up for work Thursday. WLTX-TV reported they were told not to participate in the demonstrations or face termination and when they failed to show up, the company followed through on its threat. Six staff members at a Bonita Springs, Fla. daycare quit, Rev. Jeremy Walker, who runs the day care, told NBC 2. However, two workers said they were fired for wanting to join the protest, while four others claim they resigned after the others two were fired. Several students also participated in Thursdays protest. There were no immediate estimates of how many students stayed home in many cities. Many student absences may not be excused, and some people who skipped work will lose a day's pay or perhaps even their jobs. But organizers and participants argued the cause was worth it. Marcela Ardaya-Vargas, who is from Bolivia and now lives in Falls Church, Virginia, pulled her son out of school to take him to a march in Washington. "When he asked why he wasn't going to school, I told him because today he was going to learn about immigration," she said, adding: "Our job as citizens is to unite with our brothers and sisters." Carmen Solis, a Mexico-born U.S. citizen, took the day off from work as a project manager and brought her two children to a rally in Chicago. "I feel like our community is going to be racially profiled and harassed," she said of Trump's immigration policies. "It's very upsetting. People like to take out their anger on the immigrants, but employers are making profits off of them. " The Associated Press contributed to this report. Click for more from the Sac Bee. One teenager is helping with the grieving process for local law enforcement in a very special way here in Central Florida. Megan O'Grady, a 14-year-old girl who created the non-profit organization Blue Line Bears, delivered a very special gift Monday morning. Blue Line Bears was created to help the children of fallen officers as they specialize in creating a teddy bear wearing the uniform of the fallen officer. OFFICER RESPONDING TO CAR CRASH IS SHOT DEAD; 2ND OFFICER WOUNDED At 10 a.m. O'Grady paid a visit to the Orlando Police Department where she presented a bear to a fallen officer's son. Lieutenant Debra Clayton was killed in the line of duty back on January 9th. On Monday, her son Johnny Brinson received the special bear from O'Grady. READ MORE FROM FOX35. A graduate of an elite New Hampshire prep school convicted of using a computer to lure an underage student for sex requiring him to register as a sex offender for life is asking for a new trial. In 2015, Owen Labrie, of Tunbridge, Vermont, was acquitted of raping a 15-year-old classmate a year earlier as part of "Senior Salute," a game of sexual conquest, at St. Paul's School in Concord. But he was found guilty of the felony computer charge and several misdemeanor counts of sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child. He was sentenced to a year in jail. Now 21, he is out on appeal but still follows a strict curfew requiring him to be at home between 5 p.m. and 8 a.m. "He is committed to pursuing his studies and justice in his case," his current lawyer, Robin Melone, said in a statement Friday. Melone said his trial lawyers were ineffective because they failed to challenge the computer charge and question the girl further, among other arguments. "The question now is whether those mistakes were so significant that he was deprived the quality of representation every defendant is entitled to," Melone said. Prosecutors say the defense hasn't proved its case, and they've asked a judge to rule on a number of claims before a four-day hearing is scheduled to start Tuesday. If the judge orders a new trial, Labrie could face the charges he was convicted of, but not the ones he was acquitted of. It is also possible the prosecution could bring additional charges or alternative theories that were not presented previously. After Labrie was convicted, his lead trial lawyer, J.W. Carney Jr. who once defended Boston gangster James "Whitey" Bulger asked the judge to set aside the guilty verdict on the computer charge. In court documents, Carney said the law establishing that charge was part of a nationwide effort to prosecute people who "would troll the internet, trying to entrap children into committing sexual acts with them," not two teenagers who were flirting with each other through email and Facebook. Carney said he couldn't have known that his argument had merit until after the jury returned not-guilty verdicts on the rape charges. The judge disagreed with his arguments and found his request untimely. Melone said his late challenge is an example of ineffective counsel. The law targets a person who "knowingly utilizes a computer on-line service, internet service, or local bulletin board service" to lure a child for sex. Melone said the charge against Labrie is unsupported because emails he exchanged with the student never left the school's intranet server, which is not an online or internet service. In her response, prosecutor Catherine Ruffle said Melone's interpretation is without merit. She said the law was enacted in 1998, at the start of wider public use and acceptance of internet and online services as a mode of communication, and it's unreasonable to think intranet communications were exempt. Carney wrote that he isn't knowledgeable about internet communications: "I did not hire an expert to investigate this subject because it never occurred to me that it was an issue to explore." Melone also argued that the defense didn't investigate the girl's social media accounts and statements she made to her dorm adviser, or further question her testimony. Carney wrote that "there is no template" for handling such a witness, saying he needed to raise serious concerns for the jury about her credibility, "but not come across as a bully and engender sympathy for her." He also said he was careful on cross-examination not to open the doors for the prosecution to introduce evidence. Last summer, the girl, Chessy Prout, went public, saying she's no longer ashamed or afraid and hopes to be a voice for others. The Associated Press typically does not identify victims of sexual assault unless they come forward publicly. Her parents have since sued St. Paul's, arguing it should have done more to protect her. The school has denied it could have prevented the assault; both sides indicated they are open to mediation. Prout and her family are expected to attend the hearing. One of two wanted suspects in the gruesome murders of a couple in Massachusetts was under arrest Monday afternoon, police said, adding that a second suspect was still on the loose. MAN IN PHOTOGRAPH DESCRIBED AS SUSPECT IN DEATHS OF INDIANA TEENS Police called the murder scene at a home in Peabody "messy and cluttered," and had to use a special X-ray machine to figure out how many victims there were, Fox 25 reported. The bodies reportedly turned up in the basement, wrapped in rugs and plastic. The man and woman killed were dating and lived together in the house, according to the news station. They were identified as 37-year-old Mark Greenlaw and 39-year-old Jennifer O'Connor. AMTRAK OFFICER FACES MURDER CHARGE IN DEADLY CHICAGO SHOOTING Cops arrested 45-year-old Michael Hebb shortly after noon, according to the news station. Police did not disclose how he may have known the couple. Earlier, police said the suspects apparently were driving a 1992 Acura and could be armed, WBZ added. The murders werent a random act -- and officers had been to the home "for all kinds of incidents," Police Chief Thomas Griffin said. Neighbors told Fox 25 the home was rented out by a 67-year-old permanently disabled man named David Moise. The bodies turned up Sunday -- hours after a woman ran out of the home and flagged down a car that brought her to the state police barracks in Danvers late Saturday, according to a spokeswoman for the Essex District Attorney's Office. The crime scene is very difficult right now, its quite messy, Essex District Attorney Jon Blodgett added. Were doing our best to sift through this. It takes time. The medical examiners office is on the way, and were using all those resources to ascertain exactly what happened at this property. Rachel Hrubes, a neighbor, told the station she wasnt surprised something gruesome occurred. "I'm not in shock definitely not. I'm very sad but not in shock," she said. State police, Peabody police and the district attorney's office are investigating. Peabody is about 20 miles northeast of Boston. Click for more from Fox 25. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Three people were rushed to the hospital after a sprint car crashed into the crowd at the Volusia Speedway Park Sunday evening. The grandstands were filled with fans watching the 2017 World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series Sunday night, but on turn two of the race three cars became entangled, causing one of the cars to flip multiple times and travel over the fence-- into the crowd. The car, driven by Dale Blaney, struck three people who were in the pit area at the time. The Volusia County Sheriff's Office says all three individuals were rushed to the hospital, two under trauma alerts. Blaney and the other drivers involved in the crash were uninjured. This is the second time in a week that a car has cleared the fence at Volusia Speedway. On Wednesday, another car crashed into a set of wooden bleachers, however no one was hurt in that incident. The race was stopped for an hour-and-a-half after the incident, then continued. It is part of the DIRTcar Nationals event, which runs through February 25 and attracts drivers from across the country. The DIRTcar Nationals released a statement shortly after the incident, saying "First and foremost, our thoughts and prayers are with the race fans." Click for more from FOX13News.com. One of the suspects accused of killing a man at a Denver light rail station was in custody in Denver and wanted for possible deportation by federal authorities when he was released from jail weeks before the murder. Ever Valles is currently in jail in Denver along with another man for the killing of Tim Cruz, 32, on February 7. He and Nathan Valdez were formally charged Friday for murder. The two also are accused of trying to rob Cruz. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had placed a detainer on Valles after Denver police arrested him in October 2016 for car theft and other charges. That means ICE wanted to be notified of any pending release because he was suspected of being in the United States illegally. Ever Andres Valles, 19, a citizen of Mexico, was encountered by ICE via the Criminal Alien Program following his arrest on local charges in October 2016," ICE told FOX31 in a statement Friday night. "At the time of his arrest, ICE placed a detainer with the Denver County Jail. The detainer wasnt honored, and he was released by the jail Dec. 20, 2016, without notification to ICE. Valles is a known gang member whose gang history is documented in the Colorado gang database. Due to his criminal history and gang affiliation, Valles is an ICE immigration enforcement priority." A Denver Sheriff Department spokesman responded Friday night, saying ICE was told about Valles' release before it happened. He was released once he posted $5,000 bond. "In the case of Ever Valles, ICE was notified by fax that Mr. Valles was being released prior to his release," the spokesman said in a statement. "Denver has never and will never advocate for felons to remain on our streets -- immigrants or not." You can see the fax and time and date of transmission to ICE here. "We are part of the criminal justice system and do not hold people on civil matters," the Sheriff Department spokesman said. Read more at KDVR.com. The U.S. Navy sent an aircraft carrier and guided-missile destroyer to patrol the South China Sea over the weekend, for the first time since President Trump took office, military officials confirmed. TILLERSON HOLDS FIRST SET OF TALKS WITH CHINESE COUNTERPART The USS Carl Vinson carrier was joined by the USS Wayne E. Meyer and aircraft from Carrier Air Wing 2. Navy officials said the previously scheduled operations, which got underway Saturday, were routine. In January, during his confirmation hearing for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson said China should be denied access to its man-made islands in the South China Sea, where China has installed runways on three islands and bunkers to house fighter jets and bombers. The Pentagon is closely monitoring to see if China deploys surface-to-air missiles next, which could affect U.S. Navy flight operations in the region. VIDEO SHOWING APPARENT POISONING OF KIM JONG UN'S HALF-BROTHER SURFACES China has issued stark warnings to the U.S. and other nations to tread carefully. China respects and upholds the freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea, which countries enjoy under international law, but firmly opposes any countrys attempt to undermine Chinas sovereignty and security in the name of the freedom of navigation and overflight, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said. The ships were likely to sail within the 12 nautical miles of Chinas artificial islands, the Navy Times reported last week. Navy warships have deliberately sailed close to Chinese-occupied features four times since October 2015. The first three missions challenged China's requirement for ships to obtain permission prior to transit, while the last one challenged China's sovereignty over waters encompassing the Paracels. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said recently that such operations would continue while also ruling out any military escalation. "Any miscalculation from either side may escalate tensions, which could spin out of control," Zhiqun Zhu, who heads The China Institute at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, told the Navy Times. "China is unlikely to cave in no matter what the U.S. military does in the South China Sea. Cooler heads are needed from both sides, not moves to unnecessarily provoke the other side." China dispatched its own fleet for scheduled drills. The missile destroyers Changsha and Haikou and the supply ship Luomahu wrapped up weeklong exercises on Friday. The fleet includes three helicopters and marines on board. According to the official Xinhua News Agency, the drills involved naval aviation forces and military garrisons from the Spratlys and the Paracels, as well as elements of the Beihai and Donghai fleets. They practiced air defense, escorting, anti-terror, anti-piracy and defensive operations under real combat conditions, Xinhua said. Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report. A Virginia city's Parks and Recreation Department has canceled a planned trip to The Ark Encounter and Creation Museum for families after an atheist group claimed it would violate the Constitution due to the exhibit's "Christian and proselytizing nature." VIDEO: RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND SAME-SEX MARRIAGE The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation claimed that it was informed by a "concerned local resident" about the planned visit in early April to the museum in Kentucky and therefore it "urged" the city to "refrain from organizing an outing to such overtly religious sites." "Advertising and organizing a trip to a Christian ministry constitutes government endorsement of religion and alienates those Christiansburg residents who are not Christian and are nonreligious," FFRF Attorney Andrew Seidel wrote to Brad Epperley, director of the Christiansburg Parks and Recreation Department. "It is a fundamental principle of Establishment Clause jurisprudence that the government can in no way advance, promote or otherwise endorse religion. Advertising and organizing such an event sends a message that residents are expected to endorse such events." FFRF boasted that the city's legal counsel responded within a couple of days, saying, "Please be advised that the trip has been cancelled and will be removed from the town of Christiansburg's website." Creation Museum President Ken Ham refuted the atheists' argument that the trip would violate the Constitution. Click Here to Read the Full Story at ChristianPost.com An Islamic State affiliate released a video Monday vowing that Egyptian Christians are their "favorite prey," showing images of a suicide bomber who killed nearly 30 people inside a packed Cairo church in December. "God gave orders to kill every infidel," one of the militants carrying an AK-47 assault rifle says in the 20-minute video. BOMBING OF COPTIC CHURCH IN EGYPT UNDERSCORES LONG HISTORY OF OPPRESSION OF CHRISTIANS The video shows footage of Egypt's Coptic Christian Pope, Christian businessmen, judges and priests who either speak of the need to protect the minority or use derogatory terms to refer to Egypt's Muslim majority. The narrator says Christians were no longer "dhimmis," a reference to non-Muslims in Islam who enjoy a degree of state protection. Instead, the group describes the Christians as "infidels" who are empowering the West against Muslim nations. The video shows footage of Abu Abdullah al-Masri, a masked militant who blew himself up at the central Cairo church in December, killing 28 people, most of which were women and children. The attack, says a narrator, was "only the beginning. AMERICAN TROOPS IN IRAQ OPERATING CLOSER TO FRONT LINES "Oh worshippers of the cross ... the soldiers of the state are watching you," another masked militant identified as Abu Zubair al-Masri says. ISIS claimed responsibility for the church bombing, which was its deadliest attack in Egypt outside the Sinai Peninsula, according to Reuters. Prior to the attack, Abu Abdullah al-Masri had been detained for two months in 2014 before joining Wilayat Sinai, the name of the ISIS branch in Sinai, the Egyptian government said. Wilayat Sinai has claimed responsibility for dozens of suicide bombings and attacks, mainly targeting security forces and military across the country but primarily in Sinai Peninsula, where the army has been leading an anti-terrorism operation for years. Egypt's Coptic Christians, who make up around 10 percent of the population, have been always a favorite target of Islamic extremists. Attacks on churches by Muslim mobs increased since the 2013 military overthrow of an Islamist president. Christians overwhelmingly supported the army chief-turned-president, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, and extremists have used such support as a pretext to increase attacks against them. The video carries the logo "Egypt" instead of the normal "Wilayat Sinai" or the state of Sinai. It suggests the terrorists are trying to expand their operations to the rest of the country, Reuters reported. The message comes at a time when attacks on Coptic Christians have escalated in Sinai. In the past month, at least three Christians were gunned down in separate drive-by shooting attacks in the city of el-Arish. El-Sissi has repeatedly assured Egypt's Christians of his goodwill toward the community, visiting the seat of the Coptic Orthodox church in Cairo on major holidays, but many in the ancient community complain that very little has changed in their lives since el-Sissi took office in 2014, especially in rural areas where Muslim radicals frequently attack Christian homes and businesses over a range of issues, including the construction or restoration of churches, land disputes or sexual affairs between members of each community. The Associated Press contributed to this report. State-run enterprise Ukrainian Sea Port Authority is to meet leading regional and global engineering and construction companies involved in reconstruction of berth infrastructure. The press service of the enterprise gave this information, referring to its head Raivis Veckagans. "We have a short-term seaport engineer infrastructure development plan. We are ready to present it to potential contractors and leading constructors, discuss it with them and receive constructive proposals of market players," he said at a meeting with heads of authority branches. According to specialists of the authority, over 80% of berths require current repair and overhaul, and around 20% of them require repair in the near term. Only one berth was reconstructed at Odesa port. In general, tentatively UAH 5 billion is required to repair berth infrastructure. "For example, Odesa port has berth seven built in 1965. We are to urgently look for opportunities to restore it. The berth infrastructure must work, providing for the balance of the interests of business and the state. Of course, restoration and development of port infrastructure must be predictable, professional and transparent. We want to attract not only Ukrainian companies as it was before, but contractors from other countries: Turkey, Bulgaria, Poland, China and other countries," Veckagans said. He also said that the authority is holding talks with Ukrainian representatives of the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) on cooperation. It is planned that cooperation in applying the blue book for dredging works and the red book for engineering works will be established. Donald Trump has promised to make America great again, but one Italian mayoral candidate is hoping that the U.S. president -- or at least his iconic last name -- can also make Italy, not to mention his own political career, great. Gianni Musetti, a 31-year-old political hopeful from the Tuscan town of Carrara, recently launched the Trump Party in what he calls an attempt to enliven Italys center-right political movement and speak directly to the countrys disillusioned voters. [Trump] speaks directly, the way the ordinary people do, without resorting to the so-called 'language of the politicians'," Musetti said, according to the local media. "When two politicians are talking to each other on a talk show it is hard to understand what they are talking about, as not many people keep their eyes on the politics. Musetti said that he first became aware of Trump by watching the moguls professional wrestling appearances on WWE, but became captivated with the U.S. leaders brand of populism during last years U.S. presidential election. The budding politician added that Trump reminds him of Italys last conservative leader, Silvio Berlusconi -- an extremely popular prime minster who won re-election four times before accusations of bribery and paying for sex with a minor led to his ouster in 2011. "They are both successful businessmen who gave up a comfortable life to get into politics at the service of the people," Musetti said of Trump and Berlusconi. "And they are both attacked by the media and the judiciary, who don't like their politically incorrect way of doing things." Musetti sees a number of parallels between issues facing the U.S. and those in Italy especially when it comes to immigration. The mayoral candidate speaks highly of Trumps plan for a wall along America's southern border with Mexico and his controversial executive order barring entry to the U.S. for citizens of seven Muslim-majority nations. The Trump Partys platform, Musetti said, is based on a hard-line stance toward immigration and economic protectionism for industries in Tuscany that have been hard hit by globalization. "We have been invaded by migrants in the past few years, and our government has been incapable of dealing with it, Musetti said. We can't build a wall with North Africa, obviously, because there's a sea between us, but it's time to stop them from coming in one way or another." Musetti is running for mayor of Carrara, a town of just over 63,000 people that is known for its marble, in an election set for this spring. But the politicians plans for his Trump Party extend far beyond Tuscanys rolling hills. He added that Trumps election in the U.S. has spurred interest across the Italian peninsula for a political leader who speaks to the interests of the people. "With the election of Trump I have seen a new impetus for right-wing voters," he said. "We want to unite all center-right candidates around our Trump Party. I receive calls from all over Italy and my Facebook page is full of comments from those wishing to represent our party. With widespread malnutrition and rats scampering through cells made for 20 men but crammed with 80 to 100, inmates in Haitis prisons find it hard to focus on anything but survival. The mortality rate behind bars is reaching alarming levels, with 21 inmates dead at the Port-au-Prince penitentiary just last month. "Only the strong can make it in here," said Ronel Michel, a prisoner in one of the crumbling cellblocks where exterior walls are stained with dried feces because the men have to drop their excrement out of barred windows. About 80 percent of those incarcerated have not been convicted of a crime and are held in prolonged pretrial detention. Some have been waiting up to eight years to see a judge. CANADA ANNOUNCES $70M IN DEVELOPMENT AID FOR HAITI "I'm really scared I won't get to see a judge until I'm an old man," said Paul Stenlove, a 21-year-old murder suspect who was put in the prison 11 months ago. Those who monitor the country's lockups are sounding an alarm about collapsing conditions. "It's a permanent struggle just to keep them (Haitian prisoners) alive," said Thomas Ess, chief of delegation for Haiti's Red Cross office. Severe overcrowding is partly due to rampant corruption, as judges, prosecutors and lawyers join in creating a market for bribes, said Brian Concannon, director of the nonprofit Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. "If nine in 10 prisoners is in pretrial detention, and a person has no prospect of getting a fair trial for years, his family will find some way of raising the funds to bribe him out, regardless of guilt," Concannon said. Some foreign officials who have seen the system up close are exasperated by a lack of political will to solve problems of corruption, sluggish justice and prison conditions. HAITI HOLDS FINAL ROUND OF ELECTION CYCLE STARTED IN 2015 "It is unconscionable that despite hundreds of millions of dollars in international aid the situation is even worse today, with inmates suffering from severe malnutrition and dying of preventable diseases," U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, who toured the National Penitentiary in 2012, said in an email. Prisons are overcrowded in any number of countries. But Haiti's penal system is by far the globe's most congested, with a staggering 454 percent occupancy level, according to the most recent ranking by the University of London's Institute for Criminal Policy Research. The Philippines comes second with 316 percent occupancy. Prisoners at the crumbling Port-au-Prince penitentiary flocked around a team of Associated Press journalists on a recent morning, eager to discuss their cases and complain of being all but forgotten at the foul-smelling furnace. Some 40 percent of the country's 11,000 inmates are housed there in appalling squalor, a block away from government headquarters, and many are tormented by the prospect of indefinite detention. "Straight up: This is hell. Getting locked up in Haiti will drive you crazy if it doesn't kill you first," said Vangeliste Bazile, a homicide suspect. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Montenegro's special prosecutor has accused Russia and its secret service operatives of plotting an election-day coup attempt that included plans to kill the small Balkan country's former prime minister. Prosecutor Milivoje Katnic said an investigation into the alleged plot last October to overthrow Montenegro's government and prevent it from joining NATO has shown "that Russian state bodies were involved at a certain level." Speaking in a conference call on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, denied the claim as "absurd" and "irresponsible." "There can't be even talk about any sort of Russian officials' interference into Montenegro's internal affairs," Peskov said. "Russia hasn't interfered and isn't going to interfere into domestic affairs of other countries, and in particular Montenegro with which we have very good relations." Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also denied what he described as "unfounded accusations," adding that they "haven't been backed by a single fact." The Kremlin, opposed to further NATO expansion in Europe, has repeatedly denied involvement in the alleged plot. But it has actively supported nationalist groups and parties opposed to Montenegro's NATO membership. Some 20 people, mostly Serbian citizens, have been arrested in Montenegro over the alleged election-day plot. "The meddling by Russia into our electoral process was obvious from different levels," Montenegro's foreign minister, Srdjan Darmanovic, said on Monday. "In today's world, such interference is not specific only for Montenegro," he added, apparently referring to allegations that Moscow influenced presidential elections in the U.S. when Donald Trump was elected. Katanic, the Montenegrin prosecutor, told Prva TV late Sunday that Eduard Shishmakov, an alleged Russian military spy, was the main coordinator of the plot that included taking over of the parliament in the capital, Podgorica, and the killing of then-Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic, who brought the small Adriatic nation to the threshold of NATO membership. Shishmakov and another Russian operative reportedly coordinated the action from neighboring Serbia using encrypted mobile phones and other sophisticated spy equipment. They were allowed to return to Russia despite Serbian officials' acknowledgment of their activities. Shishmakov was deputy Russian military attache in Poland before being expelled for espionage in 2014, Katnic said. In 2014 there were several tit-for-tat expulsions involving Russia and Poland but the people expelled were never publicly named. Katnic said that Shishmakov traveled to Serbia on a passport with another name, Eduard Shirokov. "So, the passport was given to him by certain Russian state bodies under another name, and he is a member of the Russian military structures," Katnic said. "It is clear that the passport on another name could not have been issued, as well as everything else ... without the involvement of certain (Russian state) structures." "It is up to the Russian state institutions to investigate in order to identify which were those (state) bodies and launch criminal proceedings for such acts," Katnic said. U.S. President Donald Trump's stand on NATO, which he has described as an "obsolete" organization, and his warming of relations with Putin, has worried many in Montenegro and the rest of the war-torn Balkans. Russian ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin died Monday in New York, Russian officials said. His death was also announced inside the UN Trusteeship Council Chamber. He died one day before his 65th birthday. #RIP Vitaly Churkin, @RussiaUN envoy, died at the age of 64 in New York https://t.co/XIgKRh20q0 Tremendous loss for Russian diplomacy pic.twitter.com/7yXRcgQ5L3 Russia in USA (@RusEmbUSA) February 20, 2017 Churkin was at the Russian embassy on East 67th Street on Monday when he experienced a cardiac condition, The New York Post reported. He was rushed to New York Presbyterian Hospital at around 9:30 a.m. unconscious and in need of CPR. "In my short time at the United Nations, Ambassador Vitaly Churkin showed himself to be a gracious colleague," U.S. ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said in a statement. "We did not always see things the same way, but he unquestionably advocated his country's positions with great skill. We send our prayers and heartfelt condolences to lift up his family and to the Russian people." Churkin had been Russia's envoy at the United Nations since 2006 and was considered Moscow's great champion at the U.N. He had a reputation for an acute wit and sharp repartee, especially with his American and Western counterparts. He was currently the longest-serving member of the Security Council, the U.N.'s most powerful body. Among many other issues, he had recently made Russia's views heard on the conflict in close ally Syria, sparring with diplomats from the U.S. and other Western countries over whether to impose sanctions or take action to end the conflict in Syria. President Vladimir Putin had been notified of the death, according to the state news agency TASS. "The president was grieved to learn about the death of Vitaly Churkin. The head of state highly estimated Churkin's professionalism and diplomatic talents," spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the agency. Russia's foreign ministry called Churkin an "outstanding" diplomat and expressed condolences to his friends and family. Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a Facebook post that Churkin was "an extraordinary person. A bright man. We have lost a dear one." His death stunned officials at the U.N.'s headquarters. "Our thoughts go to his family, to his friends and to his government," said U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq, who heard the news from reporters as it circulated during a daily briefing. Diplomatic colleagues mourned Churkin as a powerful and passionate voice for his nation, with both a deep knowledge of diplomacy and a large and colorful personality. Calling Churkin a "diplomatic maestro and deeply caring man," former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power said on Twitter that Churkin had done all he could to bridge differences between the U.S. and Russia. French U.N. Ambassador Francois Delattre, too, said he and Churkin had "always worked together in a spirit of mutual respect and personal friendship," despite their divides. One of Delattre's predecessors, Gerard Araud, now French ambassador to the U.S., recalled Churkin as "abrasive, funny and technically impeccable." Britain's U.N. ambassador, Matthew Rycroft, tweeted that he was "absolutely devastated" to hear of the death of Churkin, "a diplomatic giant and wonderful character." Churkin was previously ambassador at large and earlier served as the foreign ministry spokesman. Churkin had a doctorate in history and was a graduate of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. And he was a child actor in what was then the Soviet Union. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Despite a growing list of potential conflicts between Russia and the U.S., Russian people hold the new U.S president in high regard and entertain strong hopes the two countries will function not only as friends, but joint world leaders. The list of conflicts that might have estranged Russians from President Trump is lengthy: The ousting of Gen. Michael Flynn as NSA director for lying about his talks with Russian officials over sanctions; Russian fighter jets buzzing a U.S Navy ship in the Black Sea; Trump demanding the return of annexed Crimea to the Ukraine; and investigations into his team's ties to Russian intelligence. But none of these have apparently dimmed Russian enthusiasm for Trump. "Russia and America are special, and very much the same. They are not perfect, they both have some corruption," one Russian foreign ministry official, not authorized to speak on-record, told Fox News this week. "But we want many of the same things. I hope we can cooperate. That would be a win-win. Before, there was no cooperation." The U.S-Russia association has been one of antagonism since the beginning of the Cold War in 1947, with Russia routinely regarded as a top enemy. But from the Russian side, at least, times have changed. Across the country, from Moscow to Saint Petersburg, Trump souvenirs adorned with American flags can still be spotted in numerous shops. President Trump is featured as a matryoshka, or Russian nesting doll. He is also respectfully portrayed on shirts and alongside their own revered leader, Vladimir Putin, on mugs. The official explained that following the Soviet Unions fall in 1991, "the American Dream was the Russian Dream." However, many were left poor and helpless, eventually giving up on the U.S. hope for help. "People have lost everything. We were starving. We realized that we must do things our own way, and people stopped believing in western democracy," the source said. "We had to fight very hard to survive and become a country of opportunity. Maybe Russians had a more aggressive mentality in the nineties, but we are past it now. Friendly relations are the only way forward." Efforts to promote friendly relations are increasing. For the first time, the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. Mary in Moscow is set to hold an "Easter Friendship" event in April, featuring western classics sung half in English and half in Russian. "We want to send a message of hope and standing together," event organizer Joshua Levy said. There is also a growing enthusiasm to expand Russia-U.S relations in the higher education exchange sector. Ivan Kusov, dean of Moscow State Universitys branch in Sevastopol, Crimea, told Fox News that while they had no exchange program, students and faculty hold video conferences with California Institute of Technology. Also, last December, Moscow State University students were learning English online with professors from Oklahoma East Central University. Several Russians insisted that while President Reagans view of Russia as the "evil empire" is still prevalent in certain areas, younger generations in particular are much more open-minded. The positive regard of Russians for the U.S., however, is not reciprocated by Americans, who appear to be treading more carefully when it comes to a fresh Russian embrace. In a YouGov poll conducted across the U.S earlier this month, entitled "America's Friends and Enemies," 22 percent deemed the Russian Federation an enemy, and a further 33 percent called it an unfriendly state. Just 16 percent ticked the friend box, and three called it an ally, with the remainder having "no opinion" on the matter. For many Russian civilians the notion of still being branded the villain -- even in Hollywood movies like "X-Men" and FX's "The Americans" -- is perplexing, especially given the spike of globalism jihadism. Putin has stated repeatedly that the U.S and Russia share a mutual interest in squashing Islamic terrorism abroad. That sentiment is reflected by a popular tourist shirt featuring caricatures of Obama, Germany's Angela Merkel and France's Francois Hollande looking meek and childish while Putin towers over them exclaiming, "You will understand now! Look what you've done now!" The issue of the Syrian Civil War, too, is viewed differently in the two countries. Much of the U.S media, along with the former Obama administration and human rights groups, routinely shed light on alleged horrific war crimes and the bombing campaign of Syrias Assad regime with allied Russian air support -- a depiction that surprises Russian civilians. "It is war. There is nothing nice about war. But there are more than enough reasons why Russia must be involved," a ministry official said. "If the terrorists take over, the caliphate will have the money to fund jihadists in the Caucasus [mountain region] and spread here. We must protect our Orthodox churches. We are fighting the bad guys." Many also say that the feverish Trump support leading up to the November election was less about Trump love and more about hating Hillary Clinton. "She was stressful to us, and was speaking about Russians as enemies," Sergey Nesvitsky, a 34-year-old product marketing professional, said. "So when Mr. Trump won, I was out with friends and we all matched our drinks. We see a good future." Anna Sorokina, contributing editor for popular news outlet Russia Beyond the Headlines also expressed confidence that most people in Russia are optimistic. She also said "things should be better, not only because of Mr. Trump, but because we are people -- not politicians -- and people should talk with each other." Another prominent Moscow-based businessman said that the mere notion of Trump attempting rapprochement with Russia was a positive, especially in view of the fact that a Clinton administration would not be expected to make a similar effort. But just how long the Trump cheering from the ground level lasts remains uncertain. Russias tightly controlled media has mostly downplayed tensions with the U.S. political developments, framing the Flynn firing as another U.S intelligence effort to frame Russia as the ultimate adversary. But how much longer Russian people are willing to give the U.S. the benefit of the doubt is uncertain. Last week, there were reports -- dismissed by Russian officials -- that the Kremlin had ordered state media to ease off on the Trump cheering as controversies and divergences mount. "Don't forget Russia always needs an external enemy to focus on the foreign affairs of another country," added one U.S official with close ties to the Kremlin. "It portrays a sense of strength, and it takes the focus off the domestic problems." 9 Images A look inside Haitis horrifying prisons, where most end up dead or insane The mortality rate behind bars in Haiti is reaching alarming levels, with 21 inmates dead at the Port-au-Prince penitentiary just last month. The European Commission has allocated EUR 18 million more of immediate assistance to victims of armed conflict in eastern Ukraine, the European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides has said. He said that the recent escalation of violence in the east of Ukraine and its impact on the civilian population raise concern. Stylianides told Ukrainian people in Bakhmut that they are not alone and that all civilians in need should be helped on both sides of the line of contact, the press service of the European Commission quoted Stylianides on Monday. In addition, it is reported that the EU's support will be provided through partner humanitarian organizations that provide humanitarian assistance to the people most vulnerable and the most affected by the conflict in eastern Ukraine. In particular, the funds will be allocated to cover the provision of emergency medical care expenditures, the provision of temporary shelter, water and sanitation needs. According to the European Commission, the EU and its member states have provided EUR 399 million of humanitarian assistance from the beginning of the crisis in April 2014. Participants of the rail traffic blockade in Donbas are set to extend it on the rail communication between Ukraine and Russia, participant of the blockade, Ukrainian people's deputy Semen Semenchenko said. Asked about possible barring of the highways, Semenchenko said: "We plan to extend it [the blockade] on the railway lines, along which the produce from Russia is being delivered to us. It will be more difficult to do it with the highways. More people are needed there and provocations are highly likely to be staged." The blockade currently does not involve only one rail direction, which is running via Stanytsia Luhanska in the Luhansk region, he said. "One railway line remained operational - it is entering our territory in Stanytsia Luhanska and is going out of it in Valuiky. As of today, we have blocked everything, except for this railway line," Semenchenko said. Participants of the blockade have obstructed the passage of nearly 16,000 train cars since the beginning of the action, the parliamentarian said. "Since the start of the blockade 16,000 train cars have not reached their destination in both directions. We plan to halt all the trade with Russia, the so-called DPR/LPR," he told Interfax-Ukraine. About 100 people are currently involved in the blockade, Semenchenko said. New U.K. Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt has reversed most of an economic package announced by the government just weeks ago, including a planned cut in income taxes. Hunt said Monday he was scrapping almost all the tax cuts announced last month by the Conservative government of Prime Minister Liz Truss, and also signaled that public spending cuts are on the way. It was a bid to soothe turbulent financial markets spooked by fears of excessive government borrowing. The move raises questions about how long the beleaguered prime minister can stay in office, though Truss insisted she has no plans to quit. She vowed to lead the Conservatives into the next general election, but many in the party want her gone. E.A. Clore Sons, a 187-year-old furniture manufacturer in Madison County, will not be closing after all. The family business confirmed recently that it will continue taking orders indefinitely, citing the overwhelming response to its announcement last May that it would close within a year. A message on the companys website said orders poured into the office after the announcement. Company President Troy Coppage told The Free LanceStar he could not say how much longer the business will remain open. He said it will take up to eight months just to clear the current backlog of orders. Any prediction weve had for the last eight to 10 months has been off, he said with a laugh. Were just kind of blessed with the response weve gotten, and people have kind of spoken and said they want us to hang around. Were gonna hang on us long as we can. Customers can call 540/ 948-5821 to order furniture. The company will provide an estimated delivery date at the time of the order. Customers reacted positively to the news on the companys Facebook page, though one woman said she recently bought furniture from a Fredericksburg chain because she thought Clore had closed. Another Facebook user thanked customers for helping keep this landmark alive. The business dates to 1830, when Moses Clore started making chairs with his two sons, James Osborne and Joel, according to E.A. Clores website. In 1921, Edward Ashby Clore built a shop at the current site of the companys plant. Clore, now in its sixth generation of ownership, has shipped furniture to all 50 states, in addition to Australia, Italy, England, Guam and Germany, according to the companys website. Before he lived in Orange and before he owned a business there, Hugh Wright knew the town by its coffee cup. An eight-foot metal sculpture of a coffee cup perched atop the towns Old Livery Building lit up the night skya green cup with orange rising steam. Id drive through at night from my home in Lynchburg to work in Northern Virginia and it was always there, so nice and all lit up, he said. But the cup has lost its glow over time. When the sculpture was created by Jim Bosket about 20 years ago, locals congregated at his coffee shop, Not The Same Old Grind, in the Old Livery Building. The shop was not on a main thoroughfare and needed something to draw people in, so Bosket came up with the giant cup idea. He spent days sitting on a five-gallon bucket in the center and welded it from the inside. He traded a local man 100 cups of coffee to mount it on the building. Now, residents get their morning cup of coffee at a kiosk off Madison Street at The Light Well restaurant, and Orange County Roasters sells coffee beans. Bosket now owns Charlottesville-based Stellar Remodeling and Design and teaches pottery classes in Orange. Two decades after its installation, a movement has started to restore and replace the sculpture so it continues to be a local landmark. Its being led by Jeff Curtis, director of the Orange Downtown Alliance, the towns Main Street program. Its a shame to let something so unique go to waste, he said. Restoring this sculpture is an easy way to market the town. The better it looks, the better it is received. And we hope the project will restore some of the pride people have in the town. A few weeks ago, Curtis got the idea to work on the sculpture to spruce up the building, which is available for lease by owner David Purdue. Curtis called around and got some initial support from locals and local businesses. Among those he talked to was Hugh Wright of Wright Iron Works, who agreed to clean the piece and rework the structure. Hugh Wright Jr., who is taking over the business from his father, called a friend at Dominion Virginia Power, and a bucket truck and crew arrived to take the sculpture down within an hour. Its a really fun thing to do for the community, Hugh Wright Jr. said. Its something we dont get to do every day. He called the sculpture a landmark and topic of conversation and said hes excited to see it lit up again. You wont be able to miss it, Hugh Wright Jr. said. The sculpture is at Wrights shop for work and will be shipped to Manassas for painting. When it returns to Orange, Wright will add some final touches and attach LED lights that will once again make the sculpture glow at night. Curtis said the next challenge is securing the chimney the sculpture sits atop. Hes looking for a brick mason to do some work, as well as funds to buy LED lights. He expects the sculpture will be back up in early summer. Its nice to see someone appreciating something from the past that is quirky, and embracing something lighthearted and fun, Bosket said. I just assumed it was going to end up scrap metal somewhere. It really makes you smile. Friends Sherry Lis and Laura Silvent were thrilled Saturday that their meet halfway rendezvous led them to the Port Royal Museum of American History. The warm response wasnt just from seeing the museums growing collection of presidential china, learning about John Wilkes Booths last days alive or seeing a diorama of historic Camden being shelled by Union gunboats. Lis, whod traveled from Clifton, and Silvent, whod come from Newport News, said that they were also thrilled to see unique collections of decorative tin kitchenware and artifacts from both world wars and to be served a delightful presidential tea by museum volunteers. Theres such a variety of history in here, said Lis. We didnt know this museum was here but were so glad we stopped in, said Lis. The tea they were providing on this presidents weekend was just the icing on the cake. Actually, cookies were provided, along with some nice raspberry tea served with spoons adorned with etchings of American presidents. The museum, which opened in November 2012, is the project of Historic Port Royal. Herbert R. Collins is one of the young institutions main benefactors, having provided many of the items on display. The Caroline County native worked at the Pentagon and the Smithsonian, retiring as curator emeritus of the latter in 1990. HPR president Carolyn Cookie Davis wore a Colonial-era dress Saturday as she interpreted different parts of the museum, which was previously a bank building. We like to think that when a visitor takes a turn through the museum theyre seeing the history of Caroline County come alive, said Davis, noting that the displays range from an extensive collection of arrowheads to information about the Triple Crown-winning racehorse Secretariat. Davis took special care to point out the historical paintings of Caroline-born and nationally known painter Sydney E. King and information on the first black-owned businesses and churches in the county. She was especially proud of family connections in items shed donated: pictures of a relatives troop ship and a soldiers kit still fully equipped, from tooth paste to a supply of needles and thread. Kerri Holland, another museum volunteer, shared details about the room full of White House china and other presidential items. Presidents from all eras are represented, with plates ranging from highly decorated turkey platters to fine china in rich hues of deep red, green, blue and the purplish tone favored by Mary Todd Lincoln. Presidents represented in the collection stretch from James Madison to Bill Clinton, with presidents Lincoln, Eisenhower and Taft represented as well. Holland gave special attention to the plates and platters of Lucy Hayes, the wife of President Rutherford B. Hayes. Lucy Lemonade Hayes, who didnt tolerate spirits in The White House, wanted guests at her table to see images of this country, said Holland, pointing to plates decorated with images of oysters, turkeys, a Maine lobster and more. The Port Royal Museum of American History is open Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, go online to historicportroyal.net. George Washingtons birthplace celebrated its namesakes 285th birthday Sunday with living history, period music and two birthday cakes. Scott Hill, chief of visitor services at George Washington Birthplace National Monument, told guests who picked between vanilla and chocolate cake at the log house on Popes Creek that there is no Presidents Weekend at the park. Here, its simply George Washingtons Birthday, said Hill on a crackerjack of a day that had families out hiking the parks trails in shorts and T-shirts. Thats Virginia weather for you, said Hill of the delightful Sunday. Last year we had to cancel because of the ice. Roger Styron of Locust Grove brought 10-year-old son Noah and 7-year-old daughter Leah to the park to soak up some history. We home-school our children and take any opportunity we can to expose them to history, said Styron. Because its such a nice day, well also do some hiking while were here. Styron said his wife was battling the flu so she couldnt attend. A similar ailment kept one living historian who portrays George Washington from attending the Westmoreland County event. But the other half of the living history presentationJames A. Cameron Jr., who portrays Williamsburg shoemaker and tavern-owner James Rollisoncarried the day. In two sessions in the parks auditorium and in spontaneous conversations with park guests, Camerons portrayal of the mulatto businessman sparked interesting questions. Many questioned how a mixed-race merchant could and would own nine slaves in the Colonial era. The short answer, said Cameron, dressed as Rollison in a black tri-corner hat, tan greatcoat and knee-length black breeches, is that the economics of the day dictated it. Using the more formal speech of the day, the 67-year-old living historian stayed in character as Rollison to note that slavery was legal and the best way merchants were able control labor costs. But he quickly added that it was clear there must eventually be a reconciliation of the use of slavery as a labor force and the abhorrent nature of the practice. I say there are no true pros for a system that involves the ownership of a human being, he said. In reference to the other members of Rollisons own family, the historian noted that in the Colonial era, class and stature determined as much about a persons status in the community as race. Speaking as Rollison, he noted that his second wife was white, Irish and Catholic, and by marrying a successful businessman she raised her social standing, despite his race. Its never as simple as you might think when youre dealing with race and class, he noted. Before they departed Sunday, many of the several hundred visitors took in a concert of Early American tunes from the group Colonial Fare and then headed for cake. Ryleigh Quill, whod come with her parents and brother from Severna Park, Md., said she enjoyed the history but also seeing pigs, goats, a bull, squirrels and a dead skunk on their touring. Like the warmer day, the emergence of skunks, who in Washingtons day were known as polecats, surely indicates that spring must be just around the corner. Foreign Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin and his Canadian counterpart Chrystia Freeland have discussed the prospects of trade between the two countries after the free trade area (FTA) agreement comes into force. According to the press service of the foreign ministry of Ukraine, the parties in the framework of the Munich Security Conference discussed the issues of Ukrainian-Canadian bilateral cooperation, in particular, the prospects of intensification of Ukrainian-Canadian trade after the entry into force of the FTA agreement between the two countries. "Chrystia Freeland assured of Canada's full support for Ukraine in the context of Russia's aggression against our country," the press service said. Klimkin, in turn, informed the interlocutor in detail on the situation in Donbas, in particular, about the recent escalation of violence in Avdiyivka and numerous human rights violations in the territory of Crimea and Sevastopol temporarily occupied by Russia. Despite surgery, an insidious tumor presses on the nerves wrapped around Thomas Hundleys spine. The condition has nearly crippled him. Hundley believes the tumors roots formed decades ago in Vietnam where he was exposed to Agent Orange. So he filed a disability claim with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Nine years and several tumors later, Hundleys case remains unresolved as he waits for the Veterans Benefits Administrations Roanoke Regional Office to send the claim to the Board of Veterans Appeals in Washington, D.C. VA will take all the time they want regardless of our conditions out here in the real world, he said. We can do nothing but wait and, of course, die while waiting. Hundley, 73, is among the growing ranks of 470,000 veterans caught in the bureaucratic purgatory of the VAs benefits appeals process. On average, a veteran who has appealed will wait about five years for a decision, as his case gets passed back and forth between the regional office and the appeals board. About half the time, if the case goes to the appeals board, it gets kicked back to the regional office for more information. As old cases like Hundleys linger, newer appeals filed by veterans wounded in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are swamping an inefficient, overburdened system. The biggest problem is the backlog of appeals, said Tom Herthel, director of benefits for the Virginia Department of Veterans Services, the state agency that helps veterans navigate the federal process. This is a national crisis. Eleven percent to 12 percent of veterans who apply for disability benefits for service-connected illnesses or injuries appeal the VAs decision to deny them benefits or to award them only a partial payment. Herthel said he was at a recent VA training session and was told appeals are mounting at such a brisk pace that if nothing changes within 10 years, veterans will wait 25 years for their appeals to be decided. We all agree the appeals process takes way too long, said Kevin Thompson, a spokesman at the Roanoke office. But we dont do anything without congressional authority. We dont make the laws. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who sponsored a reform bill that died in the last session of Congress, said the VA needs more people to process appeals. President Donald Trump, however, has instituted a hiring freeze. And Kaine said the VA needs a new structure to handle appeals going forward so that simple claims can be resolved quickly. If I sit down with the VA [secretary] nominee, Im going to ask him about technology, personnel and managing the system, Kaine said. But reforms would affect only future claims. Veterans like Hundley would remain in the legacy system. I dont know if there is a procedural improvement you could wave and cut through the morass, Kaine said. I dont have one to suggest right now. The VA hasnt offered one, either. More staff seems to help. Thompson said when the Roanoke office last year hired a dozen more workers to handle appeals, they nearly eliminated the backlog of claims older than five years, and cut from four to two the number of years that claims linger in one stage of the process. State of the system Earlier this decade, the VA weathered scandals for failing to schedule veterans for timely medical appointments and for making veterans wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan wait years for disability payments. Congress and the public demanded changes. To address the disability benefits side of the house, the VA hired more claims handlers, switched from paper to electronic records and began balancing caseloads across the country every week. Reforms reduced the backlog of new claims from 600,000 to 95,000, and the average wait time fell from a couple years to a few months. As the VA focused on clearing the clog at the entrance to the benefits system, it pushed the blockage further along an already sluggish pipeline. The Board of Veterans Appeals, which is only one part of the complicated system, predicted in its 2015 fiscal year report that its case load would grow from the 52,509 appeals it received that year from the regional offices to 359,807 by this fiscal year. The board has yet to file its 2016 report but said it had 130,503 cases pending at years end, about 50,000 more than the previous year. Unlike most judicial and administrative systems, the VAs appeal process does not follow a linear progression. It allows veterans to keep adding evidence to their files, while each addition sends the case back through a loop. Meanwhile, simple cases with small errors that require just a higher level of review at the regional office are funneled into the same first-in, first-served pipeline. Its just a complicated area of the law. Its like the tax code. Its complicated even for lawyers, said Herthel, an attorney who spent 26 years in the Air Force. The VAs reform proposal, which Kaine supported, would create three lanes. Veterans with simple claims needing a higher local review would be segregated from those wishing to supplement their files and from those whose cases are complex and require review by the appeals board or by a federal court. Reform requires congressional action. The goal of this legislation is to process all appeals within one year, Thompson said. Without major changes to the current legal framework or significant increases in resources, the current number of pending appeals nationally could increase from the current number of approximately 400,000 to well over 2 million by 2027. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said he favors reform but wants to make sure veterans arent sacrificing any rights through a simplified system. Board officials said during a recent interview that veterans could switch lanes and still would maintain the right to a higher-level review. They said they were in the process of determining how long it would take for an appeal to move through each lane, and added they did not have a projection for how long appeals would take if nothing changes. Though the volume is increasing, officials said it is not affecting the time they take to decide claims. The boards annual reports show the number of years required to decide pending cases steadily has increased. Cases also can spend four to six years in the Roanoke office before they even reach the appeals board. The current process The fastest way through an appeal is to avoid it altogether, and the best way to do that is for veterans to contact the Virginia Department of Veterans Services or another veteran service organization for help with initial claims. Herthel said his agency helped 28,000 Virginia veterans last year. At each initial appointment, the agency files a notice with the VA that a claim is coming. This sets the date from which any disability payment would be calculated. Veterans then have a year to gather military and medical records to show that their illness or injury was caused or aggravated by their service. We review the veterans record to determine if it is enough evidence. We dont want to file when we think it will be denied, he said. Then comes the first wait. Right now, its an average of four to six months for a decision, said Herthel. When I filed in 2012, it was 14 months to get a decision. So its a huge improvement. The Roanoke Regional Office processes claims for veterans living in Virginia and Washington, D.C., and assigns 215 of its 333 employees to handle initial claims, Thompson said. In 2016, 35,862 veterans filed initial claims through the local office. About 4,000 veterans would be expected to then enter the appeals process. Veterans doing so are advised that by having a complete file they will encounter fewer delays. Hundley spent his career working for the U.S. Treasury, hunting down forgers so that people entitled to their government checks received the money. The North Carolina resident was living in Northern Virginia when he became ill, so the Roanoke office has jurisdiction over his case. Hundley said he was trained well in making complete cases, and thats what he did with his initial claim. Still, the government turned him down, saying he wasnt a boots-on-the-ground Vietnam veteran. Hundley presented the VA with a packet of air-mailed letters he sent in 1966 from Vietnam to his wife while serving in the U.S. Air Force. The VA then said his tumor type isnt specifically mentioned in the list of illnesses presumed to have been caused by chemical toxins. Malignant schwannoma is specified; his is benign, though Hundley said the painful, crippling effects are malevolent. Benign schwannomas are soft tissue tumors, a category broadly listed on the VAs presumptive list, and Hundley said hes included in his appeal decisions by the Board of Veterans Appeals approving similar claims. They could Google it. Its all over the internet, he said. Thompson said none of that matters. The regional office has to stick with the exact list, which can be altered only by Congress or by court decisions that come from outside the VAs system. Hundley is hoping for either course, but for his case to get outside the VA to either the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims or another federal court, it must first make it through the internal process. Hes only halfway there. Hundley said he filed his initial claim in 2008, although Thompson said Hundleys electronic file shows his appeal is only five years old. Until a year ago, the VA was still using paper files. The confusion could be due to a subsequent claim. In 2013, Hundley was diagnosed with prostate cancer and submitted a new claim. Since that disease is on the chemical exposure list, he was awarded 100 percent disability. That payment could be temporary, though. Should the cancer be removed or cured, compensation would stop. I choose to live with it until hopefully I will die from something other than the prostate cancer. The two surgeries to remove tumors from my sciatic nerve in my pelvis region made me fearful of any further surgeries, he said. Hundley also has coronary artery disease, which was added to the Agent Orange list in 2011. Since his medical records showed evidence of this in his initial 2008 tumor claim, the VA in 2013 awarded him a partial disability rating and paid him a lump sum to cover all the years he should have had a monthly benefit. Meanwhile, he still wants his tumor recognized. I figure they owe me back payment, but Im not so much after the money. I want it recognized that what I have was caused by Agent Orange, he said. Eventually Ill be crippled. It drives you nuts with a tumor wrapped around nerves. Hes also concerned about his future. If I lose my mobility or need a wheelchair or nursing home, being service-connected will certainly make it much easier for my family to take care of me or have someone else care for me, he said. A truly terrible process Appeals begin when veterans file a Notice of Disagreement and ask for an independent review within the regional office or request that the appeal go to the board in Washington. Neither path is quicker than the other, Thompson said, because unless a veteran is homeless or dying, the claim goes to the bottom of the pile. In 2015, the latest year for which national data are available, an average of 419 days passed before the VA issued what it calls a Statement of the Case, which basically reiterates information contained in the letter of denial. The time to move through that process took much longer in the Roanoke office. In 2016, cases were on average 780 days old before they reached this point. Veterans then submit a Form 9, which again goes into a stack at the regional office. On average nationally, it took another year and a half before the regional office certified the appeal to the board. In Roanoke in 2016, it took four years and two months. With the addition of staff, that time lag has now dropped to two years and five months. Roanoke was authorized to increase its appeals staff from 21 to 32 employees following a 2016 inspector generals report. The regional officers were under a national directive to reduce the appeals backlog by 50 percent. Roanoke tried to meet the target by inappropriately working newer appeals with few issues and leaving untouched the appeals of 3,350 veterans whose cases dated from 2008, according to the report. Investigators found that some cases remained untouched for years even when the office had all the information it needed. Hundley read the news story about the Roanoke office and wondered if his claim was one of the untouched files. He said he had not heard anything on his appeal in years. Then in October, Hundley received notice that his case finally had been certified; the news came right after he signed a consent form permitting the VA to talk with a reporter about his case. Thompson said during an interview that he could not explain why Hundley has waited so long. Later, in an email, Thompson said Hundleys formalized appeal was received in April 2014. The VAs new electronic records dont match Hundleys recollection or records. Hundley still doesnt have a docket number and will most likely wait another two or three years before the board offers a decision. In 2015, nearly one-third of the cases decided by the Board of Veterans Appeals were approved, 18 percent were denied and nearly half were remanded to the regional office for additional information. The board counts remands as decisions. Herthel said remands are a truly terrible process. The vet may consider it a victory because its not a denial, and its saying something wasnt done right at the regional office. But it also means the case is not resolved. Remand after remand Frank Kingrey knows all about remands his case was recently remanded for a fifth time, he said. Each time, the Board of Veterans Appeals has wanted a different medical exam. At 78, Kingrey believes hed have been spared a decades-long battle if the VA had gotten his first exam right. Kingrey was in the Army National Guard in 1960 and was helping to unload a heavy box of ammunition when the other soldier dropped his end. Kingreys left arm jerked awkwardly. It wasnt until decades later that he learned an X-ray taken at Fort Bragg at the time of the incident showed his arm was broken. He said he was given ointment. When Kingrey returned home with his arm still hurting, he went to see a doctor at LewisGale Medical Center who had performed surgery on the limb when he was 11 and fell out of a hammock. The doctor noted that the old injury had healed just fine, but the new injury interfered with Kingreys ability to continue soldiering. He was given an honorable discharge for medical reasons. Kingrey lives in the national forest between Daleville and New Castle. He was born left-handed but said hes had to learn to use his right hand. For a man who made his income doing manual work, the damage to his arm curtailed his ability to make a living, he said. In the early 1990s, a friend suggested he apply for disability through the VA. He first had to reconstruct his records, as he was told his had been consumed in a 1973 fire near St. Louis that destroyed military records for more than 16 million veterans. Once he reconstructed his service and the injury sustained during it, Kingrey reported for his first exam by the VA. He was denied benefits, as the examiner reported he could use his arm. They say I got rotation, my arm says I dont, he said. Kingrey has stacks of records piling up from his battle for full disability. This here is 24 years of remands all over the issue of the error thats been made plain and clear, he said. Over the years, hes had rulings from the board go in his favor, awarding him partial disability for his shoulder and elbow. He now has a 70 percent rating, but he wants the VA to admit that his arm is in a fixed position, raise him to 100 percent and grant him back pay. Thompson said different types of injuries are awarded various percentages that affect the amount of monthly payment a veteran receives. While Kingreys arm injury wouldnt qualify for a 100 percent rating, Thompson said, veterans can qualify for a full benefit if their service connected injury or illness prevents them from working. All vets unable to secure and hold gainful employment because of a service-connected disability either service caused it or further damaged an existing condition can apply whether the veteran is 20 or 90, he said. You can only deny if you absolutely have to. The Roanoke office annually pays out $160 million in benefits, and staff is obligated to help veterans get favorable ratings. Under the current schedule, a veteran with a 100 percent rating and no dependents receives $2,915 a month. A 50 percent disability rating does not mean half of the full benefit, as it is worth $838 a month. The waiting game Though Kingreys case is extreme, Herthel said his agency has 10,000 to 15,000 case that are five or six years old. Our policy until two years ago was if vets want to appeal it, we appealed, he said. That changed when he joined the agency. As a lawyer I looked at it as practicing law. If theres an adequate basis to support it, well appeal it. If not, its bad for the veteran, who stresses over it. The anxiety comes with it, and these are the cases that then do not to get resolved. Sometimes veterans die before their cases are resolved. Salem attorney Ross Hart served as the guardian for a World War II veteran who waited so long that he became too feeble to pursue his claim. The veteran had appealed a 30 percent rating before 2010 and asked to testify at his hearing. That hearing wasnt held until 2015. By then, the man was 92 and unable to appear. The board bumped his disability rating to 50 percent and remanded the case to the regional office to determine if the award should be greater. Over five years to handle a veterans claim is grossly incompetent and shows a callous disregard for the needs of those who put their lives on the line for our freedoms, Hart said. The hell of it is, Congress is well aware of the issues and problems facing the VA and is too damn incompetent to do anything about it. ITS not often that you get two presidents in the same room. Usually, that happens only at the White House, or some national memorial or international summit meeting. But tonight, that will occur on the University of Mary Washingtons Fredericksburg campus, and you are invited to attend. The presidents in question were born in vastly different eras, so a bit of imagination and quasi-time travel may be required. Yet James Monroe, fifth U.S. president, and Troy Paino, UMWs 10th president, share a spirit of civic engagement in common. Tonight, theyll share a stage inside, appropriately, the universitys Monroe Hall as well as their thoughts about education, democracy and responsibility. Turns out that their views on various pressing issues of their day are remarkably alike. Scott H. Harris, director of the James Monroe Museum, noticed this straight away when Paino spoke at a reception last February. Paino told his audience that a liberal arts education is essential to shaping students who will be good citizens and servants of society, Harris recalled. Wow, that sounds really Monroe-ish to me, the museum chief recalled. They are saying the same thing, 200 years apart. So, thinking ahead to this Presidents Day and the bicentennial of the start of Monroes administration, the museum invited Paino to give a presidential press conference with James Monroe, namesake of UMWs oldest buildingnot to mention the 19th centurys still-influential Monroe Doctrine on foreign relations. Monroe, wearing a new suit, will be portrayed by historical interpreter James G. Harrison III, who knows the man inside and out. Monroe, of course, practiced law in Fredericksburg starting in 1786 after serving in the Continental Congress. He was 28, disillusioned with politics, and newly wed to the former Elizabeth Kortright, a New York socialite. Many decades later, Monroes great-granddaughter rescued his Charles Street offices site from oblivion and founded the museum that still occupies it, beside the Masonic Cemetery. It is administered by UMW, as is artist Gari Melchers home in Falmouth. Back in his time here, Monroe could scarcely have imagined he would one day become president of the United States. But he did, and his presidency mattered. Recently, many U.S. communities and historic sites have begun honoring the bicentennial of his two terms in office, which an admiring Boston newspaper dubbed the Era of Good Feelings. Thats not news to Paino, a historian by trade before he became a university administrator. But consider the accord between these two mens ideas. One example: In providing for the prosperity and happiness of a country, a careful attention to literary institutions, and the education of youth ought ever to occupy a high place, James Monroe told people at Washington College (now Washington & Jefferson College) in Washington, Pa., as they welcomed him in September 1817. To the youth we must look with an eye of deep interestthey are the hope of our country. And Paino, on Feb. 19, 2016, when he was introduced to the UMW community: What excites me about Mary Washington is that it represents hope. When I look out and I see the young students, I become hopeful about the future of our democracy. Its inspiring to read Monroe and Paino on representative democracy, a love of truth and duty, the social harmony of the state and a moral community. Thats why, in short, why we suggest hearing what these two men have to say tonight. Bring your questions to their 6 p.m. press conference in Room 116 of the universitys Monroe Hall. The public is invited; a reception will follow; UMW will also livestream the event on the internet. Free Freightnet Membership List your company in the Freightnet directory. It's Free, it's Easy and your company can be displayed in front of potential freight buyers within 24 hours. Criminal inquiry launched into police casualties incurred as result of clashes with protesters in Kyiv center A criminal inquiry has been launched into the police casualties incurred in the line of duty, the Ukrainian National Police said in a report. The inquiry was launched in accordance with Article 345 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code (threat to or violence against a police officer). Two officers suffered injuries in clashes between the police and protesters in the center of Kyiv on Sunday evening, and one of them, a patrolwoman, had her fingers broken. The situation on Independence Square in the Kyiv center has stabilized since then. Parliament deputy Yehor Sobolev told Hromadske.ua he had tried to stop the brawl between the protesters and the police and reported casualties. Hromadske.ua said that Sobolev had also used force against a policeman. Two Ukrainian soldiers die in fire at military base in Sumy region A fire that broke out on the base of the 16th Separate Motorized Infantry Battalion in Sumy region on Saturday has left two soldiers dead and one injured, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said on its website. "Two servicemen have died and another one have been traumatized as a result of a fire that broke out at the premises of the 16th separate motorized infantry battalion in the Sumy region at 12:44 p.m. on February 18," the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said. Currently, the fire has been localized, the ministry said. "The injured serviceman has been admitted to a medical clinic where he received qualified treatment," it said. NOTE: this is an archived page and the content is likely to be out of date. Fujitsu Limited and Fujitsu Kyushu Network Technologies Limited have been recognized at the Japan Nature Conservation Awards for an initiative that provides software in support of habitat surveys for the Blakiston's fish owl, an endangered species. In the initiative, the two companies have since 2012 provided the Wild Bird Society of Japan with a software program that automatically extracts the owl's calls with high accuracy. Using this program greatly reduces the number of people and the amount of time required to analyze the audio data, which enabled the survey to cover a larger area, and to be conducted at more frequent intervals. As a result, it has contributed to the confirmation of the owl living in areas beyond those that were known habitats. This initiative was recently appraised by the Nature Conservation Society of Japan(1), and received a Special Award 2016 in the Japan Nature Conservation Awards for 2016. The Fujitsu Group will continue to promote preservation of biodiversity using ICT in order to bring about a sustainable and flourishing society going forward. Photo courtesy of the Wild Bird Society of Japan About the Japan Nature Conservation Awards The Japan Nature Conservation Awards, hosted by the Nature Conservation Society of Japan, recognize outstanding initiatives by individuals, groups, corporations, and local governments that contribute to the conservation of nature and the preservation of biodiversity throughout Japan, with the goal of promoting the creation of regions and societies where people live in harmony with nature. Reason for Receiving the Award (Evaluation Comment) Fujitsu has provided the Wild Bird Society of Japan, which is carrying out habitat surveys in order to protect the Blakiston's fish owl, with an owl-call recognition program that automatically recognizes and accurately extracts the owl's calls. This technology improved the efficiency of the survey and its detection accuracy, in part by greatly reducing the time required for audio-data analysis, enabling both the area of the survey and frequency to be expanded. This also led to confirmation that the owl is living in areas other than those that were known habitats, contributing to biodiversity management and expansion. Effects of Using ICT to Survey the Habitat of the Blakiston's Fish Owl The Blakiston's fish owl, which lives in Hokkaido, has been designated as an endangered species on the Ministry of the Environment's Red Data Book. The Wild Bird Society of Japan established a wild bird sanctuary for preserving the Blakiston's fish owl, and is carrying out surveys to understand the habitat and population of the owl. Previously, the society placed digital recorders in the area thought to be the habitat of the Blakiston's fish owl, and then relied on people listening to the recorded audio data to check for the owl's calls. With this method, it took about one hour to analyze three hours of recorded audio data. In 2012, Fujitsu offered the Wild Bird Society of Japan a software program developed by Fujitsu Kyushu Network Technologies Limited that automatically and accurately extracts only the sounds of the Blakiston's fish owl from recorded audio data, using voice-recognition technology developed for mobile phones. As a result, it became possible to analyze three hours of recorded audio data in two or three minutes. This shortened analysis time made it easier to increase the number of survey locations, expanding the survey area and frequency, which has contributed to the confirmation that the owl is living in areas other than those that had been previously known habitats. Program for automatically extracting the call of the Blakistons fish owl Related Links Fujitsu Uses ICT to Support Study of Blakiston's Fish Owl Habitat in Eastern Hokkaido (press release, October 15, 2012) Blakiston's Fish Owl Call Recognition Project Ukraine's Ministry of Internal Affairs no longer works with a Russian company providing gun forensic services based on database of cartridges identification, Internal Affairs Minister Arsen Avakov has said. "Fortunately, we refused the services of the Russian company providing us with this service. We cannot allow Russia to continue providing this service in the current situation. We are compiling our own database with foreign specialists on all firearms," Avakov said during an interview with the Kyiv-based Interfax-Ukraine news agency. Avakov said currently about 1 million firearms are owned by Ukrainians. "I think the proliferation of illegal weapons with a battle front 450 kilometers long, unfortunately, has become a reality. And this is an additional instability factor," the minister said. Avakov said law-enforcement officials are taking measures, attempting to ensure full control over firearms possession, both legally-owned firearms and keeping track of so-called written off weapons from the frontlines. "The proliferation of firearms is a huge problem, just like rehabilitating individuals who have returned traumatized from the frontlines," Avakov said. Six demonstration farms and a yield competition are being launched in a bid to help sugar beet growers raise their yields closer to the magic 100t/ha level. The two initiatives, being rolled out by the British Beet Research Organisation (BBRO), are designed to get growers and researchers working together in addressing key challenges holding back yields by improving agronomic practices. As Simon Bowen of BBRO explains, UK sugar beet crops are achieving 50-80% of their full potential. See also: Ropa Maus shifts a million tonnes of beet for Suffolk contractors The average yield is 75t/ha, but in variety trials we are getting 100-110t/ha, he says. The biological potential of the crop, given perfect conditions, is 153t/ha. These initiatives will also complement existing BBRO activities, such as the harvester testing programme and cover crop research, which have provided valuable data in their initial years. Yield competition The Beet Yield Competition, which remains open for entries ahead of drilling, aims to help growers get sugar beet crops to reach their maximum yield potential. The competition provides a way to assess which crops can achieve the highest percentage of their potential and to recognise the agronomic and management regimes that can help, he adds. Its a learning exercise as much as a competition, he notes. We will be able to compare actual and potential performance, understand whats causing yield loss and provide comparisons between sites. Growers enter a whole field, including the headlands, of a minimum size of 2ha, he explains. Four winners one from each factory area will take part in a fully funded study trip to Spain. Demo farms The new BBRO demonstration farm network will put sugar beet in the spotlight at a planned series of farm walks and meetings during 2017. Six commercial farming businesses have agreed to open their gates to other growers with locations including Rougham, Newborough, Morley, Bracebridge, Snelland and Long Sutton. These farms are situated throughout the sugar beet growing area, and have very different soil types and growing challenges, says BBRO head, Colin MacEwan. As such, there is a chance to question and learn from the host farmer, as well as other interested growers and our researchers. New approaches can be tested on the farms, providing an opportunity to discuss successes and failures in a regional context, he adds. Harvester testing A pilot harvester testing programme carried out in 2016 showed that root breakage was the greatest source of yield loss at the crop recovery stage. While the average yield loss at harvesting was 2.6t/ha (or 3.7% of a 70t/ha crop), most of this occurred from root breakage at the clamp, rather than from surface losses associated with leaving small beet behind. From 130 tests completed, surface losses were low at just 0.3t/ha. That may have been a seasonal effect from the kind conditions in 2016, as these are usually higher, remarks Dr Bowen. However, root breakage was responsible for losses of up to 10.7t/ha. July 10, 1950 Dec. 23, 2016 David C. Holloway of Scio passed away suddenly from heart failure on Dec. 23, 2016, at Samaritan Albany General Hospital. He was 66. He was born at Tinker Air Force Base near Midwest City, Oklahoma, to Chief Warrant Officer Donald E. Holloway and Ruth H. Holloway (Zothman). As a child he lived in Oklahoma, Georgia, England and California as his father transferred to new Air Force duty stations during his career. While living on Burtonwood Air Force Base in England Dave, his brother, Bill, and the neighborhood boys enjoyed climbing oak trees, catching frogs in abandoned World War II bomb shelters and snow sledding down the slopes of the shelters during the winter. The family returned to Sacramento, California, in 1956 and moved to the suburb of Fair Oaks, California, in 1960. He graduated from Del Campo High School in 1968 in Carmichael, California, and began working in the construction industry in several western states before settling in Oregon in 1975. He and Kathie Fanning were married in 1977 and together had three children: Michael, Amanda and Justin. Professionally he was a highly regarded lead equipment operator for Sullivan Construction, L & H Grading and James W. Fawler in Oregon for many years before his retirement. Dave loved NASCAR racing and was an avid fan of Dale Earnhardt Jr. He and his brother, Bill, attended races at Sonoma Raceway in California and Phoenix International Raceway in Arizona and they frequently called each other after watching televised races to review the winning passes, wrecks and pit lane dramas. He also enjoyed camping, fishing and hunting and was most proud of the four point buck he bagged. In his later years, accompanied by his faithful dog, Kallie, he supported local wildlife by feeding the wild pheasants and hummingbirds that lived near his home in Scio. David, or Charlie as his mother liked to call him, will be remembered for his sense of humor, his work ethic, his love of Southern Rock and Blues music and his love of family. He was preceded in death by his father, Donald Holloway. He leaves behind his mother, Ruth; brother Bill (Pam); son Michael; daughter Amanda Fransen (Dane); son Justin (Charlotte); stepdaughter Denise and husband Josh; five grandchildren: Samuel, Eric, Collin, Justin and Paige; and nieces Larissa and Anne. Also surviving him are his former wives, Kathie Singletary and Susan Holloway; close friends Chuck and Cindy McBeth; and his longtime neighbor and friend, Ms. Sally Buganski. A celebration of his life will be from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, at the ZCBJ Hall, 38704 N. Main St., Scio. He will be interred in the Miller Cemetery in Scio at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that remembrances be sent to the Miller Cemetery, P.O. Box 224, Scio, OR 97374 for the upkeep and maintenance of the property. Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada deputy Serhiy Taruta (independent), former head of the Donetsk regional administration, discussed his participation over the weekend at the Munich Security Conference (MSC). Taruta said the chairman of the conference Wolfgang Ischinger opened the conference with a speech, titled "Post-order," calling the current situation an international challenge for ensuring security in the world following the refusal of the U.S. "to pay for all." "The answer that we heard is that NATO is not a panacea and each [country] should depend on its own resources. This is why many EU countries, including those in Eastern Europe, are building up their armies, developing their defense production industries and are no longer counting on miracles from NATO. We need to conduct economic reforms in order to ensure Ukraine's prosperity," Taruta said. He said Ischinger also suggested the U.S. join in the Normandy Four talks on ending Russian occupation of eastern Ukraine. "I think this initiative is a good one. I discussed with Ischinger my plan on peacefully ending Russian occupation of eastern Donbas, the "Three Principles" plan, which I brought with me to the conference. On Saturday there was extensive discussion of the situation of Ukraine," Taruta said. Taruta said U.S. participation in talks to end Russian occupation in eastern Ukraine will likely not begin in the near future. He said consultations are underway. The MSC is an annual conference which is held in Munich (Germany) since 1962. It had been called the Conference on Military Affairs until 1993 and was held under the auspices of the Christian Social Union. It is financed by the government of Germany since 1998. July 11, 1939 Feb 15, 2017 John Rocky Conser, of Corvallis, passed away peacefully on Feb. 15, 2017. Born in Portland, he was the second of five children born to John and Margaret Conser. His early years were spent in Cheshire and then Junction City, graduating from high school in 1957. Rocky worked in the family sand and gravel business before moving to Corvallis where he attended Oregon State College for one year majoring in business administration. He worked as a sales estimator for Morse Brothers until November 1964. Obtaining his Real Estate license in 1963, at only 23, he began full time in real estate on Jan. 1, 1965, with Corvallis Realty where he met and made some lifelong friends. He moved into commercial real estate and development, opening his own business in 1970. Beginning in 1972, he developed and built the first storage units in Oregon, completing 10 to 12 sites throughout the state. Rocky liked problem solving and used to say The bigger or tougher the challenge, the better I like it. Married the first time at only 17 (and a parent before 18), he married a total of three times. Though his marriages didnt last, from those he stepped into his favorite role that of daddy and grandpa, at times as a single father. He truly loved the outdoors camping, fishing for trout and salmon, crabbing and hunting deer, elk, duck and pheasant. At heart, he was a cowboy, a quarter horse man his favorite steed, Sundance. His favorite color was red right down to his red sheets. He had a fierce sweet tooth and everyone knew the corner piece of cake was his, with extra frosting if there was any. He had a big glass of chocolate milk every day, loved cherry malts, butterscotch milkshakes and skillet pineapple upside-down cake. He could be charming, easily made lifelong friends; he had a quirky sense of humor and a tough exterior with a soft sentimental heart. Rocky is survived by his brothers, Jim (Mary Kay), Neal (Mary Lee) and Doug; brother-in-law Gary Nelson; four daughters and spouses, Roxann and Jeff Weger, Robin and Jeff Grove, Rhonda and Bob Buston, and Amanda and Jermaine Washington; grandchildren Rachel and Nicolaus Schenk, Jamie Olsund, Jacob, Andrea and Eric Weger, Tara and Ashley Porter, and Elliana, Logan and Juliet Hernandez; great-grandchildren Corbin and Kylie Schenk, Kyra Strong and Jordan Thomas with one more on the way; and numerous nieces and nephews. Preceding him in death and are his parents; sister Beverly Nelson; nephew Paul Conser; and his only son, John Rocky Conser II. His celebration of life and sharing of stories will be from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb 25, at the First Presbyterian Church, 114 S.W. Eighth St., Corvallis. Donations in his name can be made to Samaritan Evergreen Hospice House in care of Fisher Funeral Home, 306 Washington St. S.W., Albany, OR 97321. Online condolences for the family may be posted at www.fisherfuneralhome.com. Aug. 26, 1927 Feb. 15, 2017 Lee E. Wood, 89, of Lebanon passed away peacefully in his sleep with his family by his side on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017, at the Lebanon Veterans Home. Lee was born August 26, 1927, in Charter Oak, Iowa, the son of Leonard and Ella (Ulven) Wood. In 1941 he moved to Lebanon where he attended high school, graduating from Lebanon Union High School in the Class of 1946. After high school, he served in the US Navy for a short time at the end of World War II. He then returned to Lebanon and began working at the plywood mill for a short time. He then worked for Starr Builders (later became CPS Construction) for several years until he was involved in a plane crash with his boss Lee Roy Starr, which left him paraplegic. After the accident, he needed to find another occupation so he went to OSU where he studied accounting earning his bachelors degree in just three years. Always being good with math, he went to work as an accountant and office manager for Linn Gear Company of Lebanon for 25 years until retiring in 1992. Lee was a member and past Exalted Ruler of the Lebanon Elks Lodge 1663 and a member of the American Legion Post 51. Before his accident he enjoyed bowling and square dancing. Through his adversities he formed a few mottos which he instilled in his family: If theres a will, theres a way and If you focus on what you cant do youll never accomplish anything. He wouldnt quit trying and found new ways to accomplish the tasks at hand, inspiring family and friends. Lee and Bonita square danced their way into love, marrying on Aug. 31, 1951, in Lebanon. He is survived by his devoted wife of 65 years, Bonita of Lebanon; sons Micheal of Lebanon and Mark of Albany; daughters Patricia Johnson of Springfield and Cheryl Otta of Lebanon; sister Norma J. Goldsby of Vancouver, Washington; four grandchildren, Shayla and Robbie Johnson, and Kala and Kendra Otta; and one great-grandchild, Kaebba Johnson. He was preceded in death by his parents, Leonard and Ella Wood; and brother, Harry. A memorial service will be at 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017, at the Lebanon Veterans Home Activity Center, 600 N. Fifth St., Lebanon. Family suggests memorial donations to the Lebanon Veterans Home in care of Huston-Jost Funeral Home, 86 W. Grant St., Lebanon, OR 97355. The Legislature is considering a proposal that would require presidential candidates to release their tax returns before they could qualify for a place on the Oregon ballot. As legislation goes, this at least has the benefit of being simple: If youre a candidate who hasnt released your tax records, you cant be on the ballot. The proposal would require presidential candidates appearing on Oregons ballot (or, for that matter, in the states voters pamphlet) to provide the Secretary of State with copies of their federal income tax returns for the previous five years. In addition, Oregon electors in the Electoral College would have to sign a pledge that they will not cast their votes for presidential and vice presidential candidates who havent released their tax returns. The Oregon proposal, House Bill 2909, is similar to legislation being floated in other state legislatures. See if you can identify the common link between some of these other states: California, New York, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maine and New Mexico. Give yourself a gold star if you identified all of these as states that voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. Lets be blunt here: All these laws essentially are meant to target one candidate, Donald Trump, who flouted convention (but not the law) by declining to release his tax returns. Trump pointed to an ongoing federal audit as the reason why he didnt release his tax returns and suggested that once the audit was finished, hed make the returns public. Lets be blunt again: Its not likely that Trump will do that. After all, Trump famously told an interviewer during the campaign that he didnt think most Americans cared about this. He may be right: After all, every single one of his opponents, both Republicans and Democrats, released their tax returns. They all lost. Which brings us to a couple of other points: Although it may be true that most Americans dont care about Trumps tax returns, many Americans do. The president should release the returns. If Trump wants Americans to believe that he doesnt have any sort of business deals in Russia, as he said during his press conference last week, releasing the returns would be a good place to start. It could be, as Trump has said in the past, the returns might not shed much light on his complicated web of business dealings. But so what? Surely any light might help reassure Americans that the president is governing with the best interests of the country, and not his own interests, in mind. Which brings us to another point: Regardless of the good reasons why the president should release his tax returns, this is not a fight for the Oregon Legislature. This is a battle to be fought on the federal level, in the halls of Congress. In fact, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden has proposed legislation that would make sitting presidents release three years worth of federal income tax returns to the Office of Governmental Ethics. (Seeing how Republicans control both houses of Congress, the legislation would appear to have little immediate chance of passing, but our hunch is that Wyden will doggedly pursue the idea regardless.) The first few weeks of the Oregon legislative session typically are clogged with hundreds of bills on smaller issues; some of these are valuable, but they all run the risk of serving as distractions from the difficult work that legislators must tackle this session. This bill, which doesnt realistically aim to do much more than poke a political stick into Trumps eye, is one of those distractions. (mm) BROWNSVILLE Born on March 1, 1833 in Virginia, Cora Ann Cox came to the mid-valley at age 17 as slave. But Cox would gain her freedom, marry, become a well-respected landowner who also loaned money to others, and left a bequest to Willamette University upon her death in March 1875. Her story and the stories of other African-American settlers in Linn County will be told starting Feb. 24 at the Linn County Historical Museum, which is part of the Linn County Parks Department. The story of Oregons settlement has usually been told from the perspective of white Europeans, museum coordinator Many Cole said. Cole said the exhibit folds the stories of African-American pioneers into the existing displays, illustrating the contributions black pioneers made to the economy and culture of area communities. The exhibit has been funded primarily by grants from the Oregon Heritage Commission and the Linn County Historical Museum Trust. Volunteer Joni Nelson said the project began a couple years ago when members of the Oregon Black Pioneers contacted the museum seeking information about Coxs home, which still stands on Lake Creek Drive south of town. We arranged for them to visit the museum and to tour the house, Nelson said. "It also got us thinking about doing something like this. What museum researchers found is that although in 1844 slavery was declared illegal in Oregon Country Oregon did not become a state until 1859 a thick layer of racism permeated the culture of daily life. It was a hostile territory, Cole said. For a short time, it was legal to whip blacks twice a year until he or she shall quit the territory and although in 1850, Oregons Donation Land Act granted free land to whites and half-breed Indians, the law excluded blacks. Upon arriving in Oregon, Coxs owner Emeline Johnson, sold her 36 acres of land for $10 for the consideration of faithful services rendered by my faithful colored servant. Slave Amanda Deckard arrived in the mid-valley in 1853. At the age of 7, she had been given away as a wedding present by her owner. When she was 88 years old, she told a reporter, I had five brothers and six sisters. None of them was sold like common Negroes. They were all given as wedding presents to relatives of the family when the young folks got married. She was 19 when her owners moved to what is now Linn County and settled in the Peoria area. Her owners offered to give her freedom so she could remain in the Midwest, but she recounted that remaining in her home area was fraught with danger. She said the word of a Negro had no value in a court of law, so whites often would claim that free Negroes had been stolen from them and would then buy their services after they had been jailed. On April 12, 1870, Deckard married fellow former slave Ben Johnson at the home of her employer, James Foster, founder of Magnolia Mills. She was paid $3.50 per week to work for Foster, and since men earned 50 to 75 cents per day, she felt like she had come to the land of promise, a land that was flowing with milk and honey. Her husband opened a blacksmith shop in Albany, where the couple lived. She remained close with the Deckard family and noted that whenever any of their children were sick, I always go to nurse them and take care of them, for you see, they are my people and the only Ive got. In addition to informational wall graphics, the exhibit includes a mock-up of a shoeshine shop in Albany that was owned and operated by Bessie and Rufus Hale. The tiny shop, barely wide enough for two people to pass, operated in Albany from the 1930s to 1991. You got to clean your leather real good before you try to put polish on it, Bessie was quoted as saying. Nelson and Oscar Hult of Albany built the shoeshine shop facade, which includes an original shop sign. African-American Minor Jackson was a successful Brownsville barber for many years. Although his shop was destroyed by the towns fire of 1919, a checkerboard used in the shop is included in the museums display. Nelson and Cole say they hope to continue the exhibit theme, telling the stories of Chinese and Hispanic immigrants as well as women and children. The museums Feb. 24 exhibit opening will include remarks by Brian Carroll, Linn County Parks Department supervisor; Todd Mayberry, coordinator of the Oregon Heritage Commission; and Gwen Carr, Oregon Black Pioneers. Light refreshments will be served, and there is no admission charge. Justice ministry to focus on law aid to Ukrainians, minimization of corruption risks in 2017 Top priorities in the operation of the Justice Ministry of Ukraine in 2017 would be informing Ukrainians about their rights, proper law protection, business support and minimization of corruption risks, Ukrainian Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko has said. The minister presented the top priorities of the ministry at a meeting in the ministry in Kyiv on February 17. "The rule of law. These words should become a real sense," he said. Petrenko said that the good work of the free-of-payment law assistance system. "Each Ukrainian should realize his or her right to be protected, irrespective of the status," the minister said. He said that the parliament enlarged the list of persons who can receive free-of-payment law assistance. Now internally displaced persons (IDPs), ATO participants and members of their families, people who do not have funds to receive law advises and pay for a lawyer are on the list. The second important direction of the ministry's work is minimization of corruption risks and business support. "We continue deregulation We will do everything not to allow registration of acts making obstacles to business," the minister said. "The third priority is that each Ukrainian receives a real weapon knowledge of own rights," he said. He said that the project "I have right" should become nation-wide. It will be implemented in blocks concerning rights of Ukrainians. The minister hopes that each person would receive knowledge required to avoid manipulations by officials and use their rights in the judicial sphere. "The fourth priority is the further institutional building of justice agencies A strategic vision for the introduction of reforms for at least one, two or three years should be," the minister said. He also pointed out the penal system reform. It aims at militarization of its structure and improvement of the conditions for servicing sentences. Cologne regional court : 16 year-old in terrorism trial Cologne A Syrian youth is standing trial in Cologne accused of preparing a terror attack. IS supposedly incited the refugee to carry out the attack. Teilen Teilen Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Tweeten Tweeten Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Drucken A young Syrian asylum seeker is to appear before the Cologne regional court from this Monday to answer charges of preparing a terrorist attack. The 16-year-old was captured by a special unit last September. The public prosecutors office is proceeding on the assumption he was planning an explosives attack. The youth is alleged to have obtained specific instructions on bomb building from a foreign chatroom partner with connections to IS. During a search of his accommodation in September 2016, police found a battery carrier with wires hanging out, a packet with 70 sewing needles and a butane gas cartridge. State prosecutors say he was therefore in possession of materials from which he could have made explosive devices at any time. He is charged with preparing a serious act of violence against the state. Four days have been allocated to the trial. The accused could face up to five years in youth custody. His lawyer said the youth had been staying in a psychiatric clinic for the last few weeks, although it is unclear whether he really is mentally ill. The youth fled from the war in Syria with his parents and his sister and came to a refugee home in Cologne after being temporarily housed in Dulmen. Police were given vital information about him by local mosques. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence met today in Munich with. "The Vice President expressed U.S. support for the full implementation of the Minsk agreements to bring peace to eastern Ukraine, and the leaders discussed how the United States can support negotiations," reads a White House press release on the results of the two officials' talks on Saturday posted on the Facebook page of the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv. "The Vice President underscored U.S. support for Ukraine's sovereignty, territorial integrity, and self-determination and underlined that the United States does not recognize Russia's occupation and attempted annexation of the Crimean peninsula," the press release reads. Pence also commended Ukraine's progress on reforms, and the leaders affirmed the importance of further reforms to transform Ukraine into a secure, prosperous, European country for all its citizens. Article Protecting the worlds oceans an important goal of Germanys climate diplomacy The worlds oceans are vital to our survival. They regulate the global climate and are a source of food and income for billions of people. Only a very small part of the seas enjoys legal protection, however. Our diplomats are working in New York right now to change this state of affairs. Motorola observes 3rd Anniversary by launching exchange offers, massive discounts on Moto Z, Z Play Features oi -Harish Kumar Several attractive offers on Moto M, Moto Z, and Moto Z Play. Motorola, under the leadership of Google, re-entered the Indian market in 2014, three years to date. Lot has changed since then. In fact, the company's owner had changed as well. Yes, Motorola is now owned by Lenovo, the Chinese brand under which the company has achieved great success and is still achieving. As a part of their three years completion in the Indian market and meeting a tremendous success, Motorola yesterday announced that the company would be holding a Moto Festival on Flipkart this February 20 and 21. Having said that, there are cashback offers on latest Moto phones and lot of exchange offers to choose. Here are the complete offers from Motorola in Flipkart. Best Mobiles in India Huawei reaches top three spot in global smartphone market share News oi -Samden Sherpa Huawei shipped 139.3 million units in 2016, a 30.2 percent increase from 2015. Post 2016, Huawei has consolidated its position as one of the world's three largest smartphone vendors in the market. According to data released by leading analyst firms Strategy Analytics and Counterpoints Research, Huawei Consumer Business Group (CBG) has become the third largest smartphone manufacturer by market share, commanding 10 percent of the total global market. Meanwhile, total worldwide smartphone shipments have grown by 2.3 percent year-on-year in 2016, totaling 1.47 billion units. It has also been reported that the Chinese market has contributed a large part of this total figure, with 467 million mobile phones shipped for the year. Among the top five vendors, Samsung, Apple, Huawei, OPPO, and Vivo, the three Chinese brands have accounted for almost 20 percent of the global market share. Huawei Honor 8 Pro with dual-rear camera launching on February 26 Notably, while Huawei has been ranked third overall with nearly 10 percent market share, it has maintained a steady growth despite a weaker global market. And in total, Huawei shipped 139.3 million units in 2016, a 30.2 percent increase from 2015. Huawei's annual growth in shipments has shown strong momentum and it looks like the company will continue to perform above the industry average. Shipments have grown from 75 million in 2014 to 108 million in 2015 and approximately140 million in 2016. Thus this industry-defying growth has also consolidated its position as the number three global vendor. Commenting on Huawei's performance, Tina Lu, Senior Analyst at Counterpoint Research said, "Huawei was a rising star in December 2016, an important achievement for Chinese companies." Huawei P10 and P10 Plus leaked images shows dual-curved display Also, Lu added that in order for Huawei to sell more smartphones than Apple in 2017, "Performance in North America and Asian markets will be the key. If it can build on its strong position in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, then it has a chance to accomplish this goal." However, in 2017 the competition between the Chinese smartphone manufacturers is only expected to become more serious. The companies will be launching new products and at the same time will be developing better strategies to outdo each other in the smartphone market. It will be interesting to see if Huawei retains its spot or some other player will snatch it from the company. 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 Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 leaked user manual confirms support for various accessories News oi -Samden Sherpa The Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 will be launched at the MWC 2017. Earlier rumors have suggested that the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 could come with an S Pen stylus. And the rumor might just prove to be right as the user manual for the Tab S3 has just been leaked online. The manual hints that the tablet will feature an optional S-Pen as an accessory. So if the Galaxy Tab S3 does come with the S Pen then it will certainly provide more functionality and users will be able to do so much more on their tablets. While this may be good news, however, as per the manual the Samsung Tab S3 won't have a dedicated slot to house the stylus in. Meaning you'll need to carry it around separately. As for the availability, it has been reported that the Galaxy Tab S3 will be shipped with the stylus. Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro S2 spotted, launch set for MWC 2017 In addition to the S Pen, the leaked manual also reveals a keyboard dock port, which looks similar to those found on the iPad Pro and Surface tablets. Looks like Samsung will also be offering a keyboard that can connect to the tablet to turn it into a 2-in-1 device. Further, the manual indicates that you will not have to rely on a Bluetooth connection to connect which can be a good feature to increase battery life. This is the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 with S Pen https://t.co/xoUaCP1IkW pic.twitter.com/J5xEqjhwaG Roland Quandt (@rquandt) February 13, 2017 Apart from the accessories, the manual also confirms that the Galaxy Tab S3 will retain a 3.5mm headphone port alongside a USB Type-C for charging and front-mounted home button with a fingerprint scanner. Now, this is something that Samsung teased in the official MWC invite. Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 now pays a visit to FCC All in all, it looks like Samsung is filling the shoes for its flagship smartphone the Galaxy S8 which will be missing the MWC event this time. But on the flipside, we can be certain that the Galaxy Tab S3 will come with exciting features that might even have the potential to take on Apple's premium tablets. 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 India, ASEAN countries to discuss digital connectivity today News oi -Priyanka The Telecom Equipment and Services Export Promotion Council (TEPC) is organising an inter-ministerial meeting between telecom ministers of ASEAN countries and India To strengten digital connectivity, telecom minister Manoj Sinha will hold discussions with his counterparts from ASEAN countries, official statement said. The Telecom Equipment and Services Export Promotion Council (TEPC) is organising an inter-ministerial meeting between telecom ministers of ASEAN countries and India today, to commemorate the 25th year of the ASEAN-India relations, according to a statement. "Minister of State for Communications (Independent Charge), Manoj Sinha will lead the discussions from Indian side with telecom ministers, senior government officials and industry leaders from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos PDR, Indonesia and Bhutan," the statement added. Telephone subscribers grew 2.48% in December: TRAI "Indian Government has expressed keen interest to partner with ASEAN countries in enabling Digital Connectivity between India and ASEAN region and also for enabling broadband within ASEAN countries. These digital connectivity projects are of strategic importance and can have a transformative impact on the economy and cooperation between ASEAN and India," it added. "India has committed to provide financial as well as technological support for projects that could include-high-speed fiber optic networks, digital villages, rural broadband, national knowledge network, secured communication networks and telecom training and skill development," the statement further said. TEPC is organizing its flagship event "India Telecom 2017: An Exclusive International Business Expo" on 21-22 February 2017 at New Delhi to provide opportunities to Indian telecom exporters including SMEs and Startups to meet qualified overseas buyers. "This event provides one to one meeting opportunities between buyers from different countries and Indian exporters who can enlighten them about their products and technology solutions," it further added. Click Here for New Smartphones Best Online Deals Best Mobiles in India Having issued the decree on recognition of passports and other documents of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic (LPR/DPR), the Russian president has legally recognized the quasi-public groups and left the Minsk process, Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) secretary Oleksandr Turchynov said. "This step by Kremlin completely destroys the Minsk process and is equal to Russia's statement about an exit from that," the NSDC press service quoted Turchynov as saying late on Saturday. The Minsk process "envisages de-occupation of the east of Ukraine and its return to the legal framework of the country" and having signed this executive order, the Russian president "has legally recognized the quasi-public terrorist groups," which "were used in the Russian occupation of a part of Donbas", Turchynov said. Iryna Gerashchenko, first deputy speaker of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada and the country's representative in the Trilateral Contact Group's humanitarian subgroup, said, for her part, that the Russian decree is aimed at building a foundation for a frozen conflict in Donbas and at destabilization in Ukraine. "This is not yet a recognition of the republics themselves, only that of their puny papers, but we should not be misled by all these words from Putin's about its temporary nature until the political settlement etc. The purpose of this decree is destabilization of the Ukrainian situation, the first step toward nationalization and possible recognition...; laying the groundwork for a frozen conflict," Gerashchenko wrote on her Facebook page on Saturday. Six held for selling Reliance Jio SIM News oi -Priyanka The police have seized 346 Reliance Jio SIM cards, including 14 pre-activated SIMs, and four thumb impression machines Reliance Jio has been in the news eversince their launch of free data, and it still is actively being covered in the News. Now, yet another piece of story has brought the same telecom sevice provider up in the news. Indore police has arrested six persons for cheating customers by selling them the company's SIM cards, which are available free of cost. The police have seized 346 Reliance Jio SIM cards, including 14 pre-activated SIMs, and four thumb impression machines, said Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Amrendra Singh. "The accused used to collect more than one thumb impression of the customer on the impression machine and give him/her one free SIM. At the same time, they would get second SIM activated using the same persons thumb impression which they have taken deceptively," Singh added. SEE ALSO:Airtel, Idea Cellular, RCom may face loss in Q4 2016, says experts They were selling the second SIM card to other person without asking for any documentation and thumb impression. Menawhile, the police is also investigating that if the sold SIM cards were used for any criminal act. "The role of local representatives of Reliance Jio is also being investigated," the officer said. The arrested accused were identified as Ram Hemnani (27) of Prajapati Nagar, Neerj Nandwal (23) of Gautampura, Deep Wadhwani (26) of LIG Colony, Sunil Chouhan (28) of Palda, Ranjeet Singh Bhati (24) of Nagin Nagar and Praveen Rathore (22) a resident of Rajnagar. All the accused are being questioned further. Best Mobiles in India German Spy Scandal Triggered by Broken Connection Between Gov't, Intel Agencies Sputnik News 15:07 19.02.2017(updated 19:11 19.02.2017) On Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was invited to the Bundestag parliamentary committee to testify on the NSA and BND espionage scandal that shocked German residents in 2015. During her speech Merkel stuck to her old position, saying that she knew nothing about the spying activities of German intelligence. In an interview with Sputnik Germany, German politician Patrick Schiffer noted that he was surprised by the lack of coordination between the BND and the German government and stressed that insufficient control was the main reason behind the unprecedented spy scandal that has shaken the country. "I was surprised, amazed and shocked about the fact that there was so little communication between the BND and the German government and that the activities that took place in the period from 2013 to 2015 and even before that were ignored. In my opinion, it indicates the lack of sufficient control that actually should have been exerted. The trust, that many were talking about, was lost in many respects," the member of the German Pirate Party told Sputnik Germany. As result of the spy scandal, German authorities passed stricter legislation and made a series of organizational changes. However, according to the politician, the new law has not brought any significant changes. "The reaction came too late. How can we control the intelligence, even if the federal government has no idea what they actually do?" he added. The politician also criticized Merkel's statement in which she said that "spying among friends is unacceptable." "I don't want to use the word 'lies', but I believe that at that time she did not have the necessary information that would allow her to say this sentence at all. So she unconsciously misled the public, and the questioning in the investigatory committee has proved that," the politician said. The investigatory committee into the German Bundestag was established in 2014 and was tasked with finding out how and to what extent foreign intelligence had been spying on European citizens, including high-ranking German politicians and top-officials. Later, a series of documents also revealed that not only the NSA, but also the BND was actively involved in espionage against German citizens. Thus, in 2015 media reports said that the BND had systematically spied on its friends and allies worldwide. According to Spiegel Online magazine, in many cases the BND carried out this policy on its initiative and not at the request of US intelligence. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Robotic arm tool poised to save costly inspection time By Holly Jordan, Air Force Research Laboratory / Published February 19, 2017 WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio (AFNS) -- A common problem for aircraft maintainers may soon be a thing of the past, thanks to an Air Force Research Laboratory advanced inspection robotics research effort. AFRL researchers recently traveled to Hill Air Force Base, Utah, to demonstrate the Remote Access Nondestructive Evaluation (RANDE) system. Developed through a contracted effort with OC Robotics of Bristol, United Kingdom, RANDE is a flexible, robotic snake-arm tool that can reach into confined areas to perform required inspections, or simply look into tight spaces. Typically, when military depot or field personnel perform routine inspections on hard-to-reach components such as the interior of aircraft wings, they first have to remove the wing, then remove additional structure within the wing so that inspectors can reach in with specialized equipment. With RANDE, the need to remove the wing for inspection can be eliminated. Instead, maintainers only need to remove the necessary external access panels and maneuver the snake arm through an access hole as small as three inches in diameter. This simplified process results in reduced maintenance hours -- due to quicker inspection preparation -- and eliminates the possibility of maintenance-induced damage from the pre-inspection processes. At the end of the snake arm is a multi-axis maneuverable head that includes multiple lights, small cameras, and a port to which inspectors can easily attach a variety of interchangeable nondestructive inspection tools, including eddy current probes. The system is easily portable and can be wheeled to the inspection area for quick setup and use. A laptop computer records the full robotic motion, video camera images, and inspection data; as the robotic arm is easily maneuvered with the use of a familiar joystick game controller. In January, AFRL demonstrated the RANDE Snake Arm tool at Hill AFB to engineers in the NDI laboratory and wing shop, allowing them to experience its capabilities, range of motion, and ease of operation. RANDE is poised to become an important tool for maintainers performing nondestructive eddy current testing. The testing method, which employs the principle of electromagnetic induction to detect flaws in materials, is one of the most effective means by which inspectors can assess the state of aircraft structural materials. Typically, inspectors manually run handheld eddy current probes over a material surface to search for defects or surface cracks. However, these handheld inspection probes can be tedious to use, and the inspections subject to human factors. When used with conformal eddy current probes developed in an earlier AFRL program, RANDE fully automates the positioning and surface contact, increasing the inspection reliability and probability of detection. RANDE can be used in many hard-to-reach spaces and can be fitted with a variety of probes to inspect flat areas as well as raised head fasteners and edges, comparable to traditional eddy current inspection procedures. "With RANDE, we're offering a new and better depot and deployable field solution to the NDI engineers and inspectors that we depend upon so heavily to keep our aircraft safe and in service. This capability will enable them to look forward with labor- and cost-efficient possibilities in their toolbox" said Charles Buynak, the AFRL Materials and Manufacturing Directorate senior program manager. In addition to reducing the time required to complete inspections, RANDE greatly reduces labor and aircraft downtime, which equates to substantial cost savings. Additionally, due to decreased aircraft disassembly needs, potential aircraft damage is reduced. Maintainer health and safety is also increased since inspections no longer require climbing onto an aircraft or wedging into tight spaces. Following the successful demonstration at Hill AFB, the RANDE Snake Arm system will be closely examined by the 809th Maintenance Support Squadron engineering staff to gain experience with the snake arm system and identify its breadth of application for access-challenged inspections across various weapon systems. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Armenian Defense Minister: Security, defensive ties with Tehran priority of Yerevan IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Moscow, Feb 19, IRNA -- Armenian Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan said in Munich Security Conference that establishment and deepening ties with Iran and Georgia in Armenian security approach and military doctrine is very important. He said on Sunday that Armenia has long back history of relations with Iran and Georgia and large population of Armenians are living in the two countries. Sargsyan added that Iran had always been a friend of Armenia as Yerevan and Tehran have been able to maintain good neighboring relations upon reciprocal respect. He said that Iran has a balanced approach in Karabakh dispute and is continuing its efforts to settle the problem justly. Sargsyan said that Islamic Republic of Iran has shown a lot of respect for Armenian cultural heritage and accompany with Armenian Apostles Church is offering a wide range of efforts to register four churches in the UNESCO List. Iran, Armenia relations is a model for religious restraint, reciprocal respect and civilization dialogue, he added. In 3-day Munich Security Conference , which kicked off Friday, internationally important issues such as future of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), global order, human security, terrorism, extremism, regional issues including southeast Asia, Korea peninsula , Arab world, Syria and Ukraine were considered and discussed in the presence of hundreds of senior officials and characters from world different countries. Armenia has common border with Iran, Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan Republic. 1391**2050 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UAE arms show heightens militarism as Yemen war rages on Iran Press TV Sun Feb 19, 2017 7:7PM The United Arab Emirates, a partner to Saudi-led coalition waging a destructive war in Yemen, is eyeing billion-dollar arms deals with local and international companies as an arms show in Abu Dhabi gets underway. The UAE announced 4.5 billion dirhams ($1.2 billion) worth of military procurement deals on Sunday at the opening of the biennial International Defense Exhibition and Conference (IDEX) in Abu Dhabi, which is attended by over 1,200 companies. Brigadier General Rashid al-Shamsi, an IDEX spokesman, said the figure was part of a total of 20-billion-dirham worth of purchases the UAE expects to make at the arms fair this week, AFP reported. He said most of the figure will be spent on buying 400 armored personnel carriers worth $544 million from a local manufacturer, adding, "We expect (to award) more than 20 billion dirhams in contracts by the end of Idex." Australia and the UAE have agreed to consider a 10-year defense plan that could include more than one billion Australian dollars ($767 million) in sales to the UAE. The announcement was made following a meeting on Sunday between Australia's Defense Industry Minister Christopher Pyne and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, who is also deputy supreme commander of the UAE armed forces. "What the Crown Prince is talking about is a more mature long-term relationship built around security and procurement," Pyne said in Abu Dhabi, adding, "They are looking for genuine partners, not just foreign military sales, and that suits Australia's attitude extremely well." Pyne stated that Australian companies could finalize hundreds of millions of dollars in defense sales to the UAE at IDEX this week. "We have very significant capabilities, particularly around coastal protection and surveillance, which I think we should be sharing with our Middle Eastern partners," Pyne said, noting, "I think potential here for defense procurement partnerships as well as security partnerships is very significant." Informed sources said buoyed by rising oil prices, the UAE and some other Persian Gulf nations may spend even more on selling military hardware the weeks and months ahead. Charles Forrester, a senior defense industry analyst at IHS Jane's, said as some Persian Gulf "countries are beginning to deploy their own operations in ... Iraq and Yemen," their need for new equipment "is increasing." Media reports indicate that Kuwait has also announced a plan to purchase naval equipment and ships as the region's largest expo is underway in Abu Dhabi. "In Yemen, ... it's a conventional war, of course, but it is one where you have to deal with armored vehicles and airpower as well," Forrester said. The UK-based IHS Jane's had already reported that Saudi Arabia and several other Western-backed Arab countries in the Middle East were purchasing weapons suited for a more offensive military program in distant locations. IHS Jane's analyst, Reed Foster, said in the report that the Western-backed Middle Eastern states are purchasing military equipment that will allow them to build "the kind of capabilities required to conduct operations beyond their borders." Saudi Arabia had the fourth-biggest military budget in 2016, behind the United States, China, and India. Saudi Arabia has deployed military forces and equipment to neighboring Bahrain to help the despotic Manama regime's crackdown on pro-democracy protests. Both the UAE and Kuwait are part of the Saudi Arabia-led military campaign against Yemen. The United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick, has said that the Saudi campaign has claimed the lives of 10,000 Yemenis and left 40,000 others wounded. McGoldrick told reporters in Sana'a last month that the figure was based on casualty counts given by health facilities and that the actual number might be higher. Meanwhile, local sources say the Saudi war, which was launched in March 2015 in an attempt to bring back the country's former government to power, has so far claimed the lives of at least 11,400 Yemenis. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address The recognition by Russia of identification and other documents of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics (DPR and LPR) is contrary to the goals of the Minsk process aimed at resolving the situation in eastern Ukraine, the United States Embassy in Ukraine said. "Russian recognition of documents from separatist "republics" troubling and inconsistent with agreed goals of Minsk," the embassy wrote on Twitter on Sunday. The embassy also expressed concern over the recent spike in hostilities and use of BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launchers and urged the removal of heavy weaponry to secure sustainable ceasefire in Donbas. Last Saturday Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree "On the recognition in the Russian Federation of documents and vehicle registration numbers, issued to the Ukrainian citizens and non-citizens permanently residing in the separate districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine." The decision "aims to protect the human rights and civic freedoms in accordance with the generally accepted principles of international humanitarian law," according to the document. Car bomb blast kills 39, wounds about 50 in Somali capital Iran Press TV Sun Feb 19, 2017 2:13PM At least 38 people have lost their lives and about 50 others have been wounded in a car bomb explosion in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, officials and witnesses say. Ahmed Abdulle Afrax, the mayor of Wadajir, the district in the city of Mogadishu that was bombed, said that the deadly incident took place on Sunday when an explosive-laden car exploded near a busy market in the capital city. "We carried 39 dead bodies and there were many others injured," Dr. Abdikadir Abdirahman, director of the Aamin Ambulance Service, told Reuters. Meanwhile, manager of Madina hospital, Dr. Mohamed Yusuf, said his facility had taken in 47 injured people. Witnesses said the bombing happened in an area where soldiers, civilians and traders were present. The death toll is expected to rise as many of the injured are said to be in critical condition. No group or individual has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, but the al-Shabab Takfiri militant group has been blamed for such attacks in the past. The explosion is the first big attack in the Somali capital since the election of President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo last week. The latest attack comes days before the African country is due to inaugurate a new president. On February 8, hours before the election, a terrorist attack by the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab militants on a hotel in Somalia's port city of Bosasso left four guards and two assailants dead. Somalia has not seen a powerful central government since former dictator, Mohamed Siad Barre, was toppled by warlords in 1991. Since 2007, nearly 22,000 African Union peacekeeping forces have been deployed to the impoverished country in a bid to assist the government's battle against al-Shabab. The group continues to wage terror attacks in Mogadishu despite having been flushed out of the capital and other major cities by the joint forces of the government and the African Union. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Over two dozen civilians killed in DR Congo rebel attack Iran Press TV Sun Feb 19, 2017 9:34AM More than two dozen civilians have been killed by militiamen in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's volatile east. Local officials said the massacre occurred in the early hours of Saturday when Mai Mai Mazembe militiamen from the Nande ethnic group attacked civilians with machetes in a village in the country's violence-torn eastern province of North Kivu. "In total, 25 people were killed, decapitated by machete, by the Mai Mai Mazembe in and around the village of Kyaghala," said Francis Bakundakabo, the local representative of the provincial governor. "All of these people were Hutu civilians." The Nande and Hutu groups have been divided along ethnic lines, and relations between the two have been tense for more than a year, with civilians often falling victims to the clashes that occur every now and then. The last major attack in the DR Congo's troubled east happened in November last year, when 35 civilians were killed in clashes between the two groups. Dozens of armed groups have been active in the eastern DR Congo ever since a war there in 1998, and the Congolese army, joined by United Nations troops, is on the offensive against rebel groups. The latest development comes amid an escalating political crisis in the African country as President Joseph Kabila refuses to step down even as his mandate came to an end in December last year. In September, a wave of deadly clashes pitting the police against anti-government demonstrators rocked the capital, Kinshasa. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US aircraft carrier strike group begins patrols in South China Sea Iran Press TV Sun Feb 19, 2017 5:48AM A United States aircraft carrier strike group has begun what the US Navy called "routine patrols" in the South China Sea days after China warned Washington against challenging its sovereignty in the disputes waters. The US Navy said the strike group, including Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, began patrolling operations in the South China Sea on Saturday. The group's commander, Rear Admiral James Kilby, said the effectiveness and readiness of his force had been improved following weeks of training in the Pacific. "We are looking forward to demonstrating those capabilities while building upon existing strong relationships with our allies, partners and friends in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region," Kilby was quoted as saying by the Navy News Service. China claims most of the strategic waterway, through which $5 trillion in trade passes annually. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei also have overlapping claims with Beijing. US Navy officials announced a week ago that they were considering sailing more warships near China's man-made islands in the contested waters. Tensions between the US and China over trade and territory have increased since President Donald Trump took office, raising concerns that the tense South China Sea could become a flashpoint. Responding to reports of more US naval patrols, China's Foreign Ministry warned Washington on Wednesday against any military activities in the area. "We urge the US not to take any actions that challenge China's sovereignty and security," Geng Shuang, the ministry's spokesman, said at a press conference. The US last conducted what it called a "freedom of navigation" operation in the South China Sea in October, which included patrols by the guided-missile destroyer USS Decatur, near the Paracel Islands and in waters claimed by Beijing. China says Washington is meddling in the regional issues and is deliberately escalating the situation in the waters. China wrapped up its own war games in the South China Sea on Friday. Naval exercises involving an aircraft carrier further rattled neighbors that have been embroiled in long-running territorial disputes with Beijing. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US reports exodus of Daesh terrorists from Syria's Raqqah after airstrikes Iran Press TV Sun Feb 19, 2017 3:23AM The US Defense Department claims that its bombing campaign in the Daesh-held Syrian city of Raqqah is leading to an exodus of the terrorist group's top leaders. ISIL (Daesh) leaders "are beginning the process of leaving Raqqah and moving their operations farther downriver," said Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis, adding that an unspecified number of ISIL "bureaucrats" are heading east along the northern bank of the Euphrates River toward the eastern city of Dayr al-Zawr, since they see "the end is near in Raqqah." Davis further asserted that "We are seeing now an exodus of their leadership," describing it as "a very organized, orderly withdrawal of a lot of their non-combatant support people." The US Central Command, meanwhile, announced that the US-led coalition forces conducted 17 strikes near Raqqah on Thursday and also launched 11 airstrikes near Dayr al-Zawr, destroying 20 oil tanker trucks, six oil wellheads, as well as numerous tunnels and military staging areas. According to local reports, while President Barack Obama's strategy in Syria was to recruit, organize and enable local Syrian Kurdish and Arab militants to recapture Raqqah rather than using US combat forces, the Trump administration is now reevaluating that approach and considering options that could include a more direct American combat role. 'Libya strike bore key intelligence' Meanwhile, senior US military authorities have stated that the massive American airstrikes that killed more than 80 ISIL terrorists in southern Libya last month have produced critical computer data, documents and information from interrogation of captives which the US can use to track down and target more militants. Chief of US Africa Command Marine General Thomas Waldhauser told AP on Friday that the US obtained "significant intelligence" from the camps after the bombings, adding that "there's some things we're working on," without elaborating. The report, however, cited a senior US military official as saying that the intelligence came after interrogation of several ISIL militants that survived the January 18th strikes. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, further stated that the intelligence collected at the Daesh camp confirmed that the militants "had direct communication" with the core ISIL group in Syria and provided information about how they move through tunnels in the country. The report also quoted Waldhauser as saying that there are still "a couple hundred" ISIL militants left in Libya, noting that there were over 5,000 of them in the country last year. Their numbers began to decline as Libyan forces, backed by US airstrikes, began to flush the terror elements out of the central coastal city of Sirte. The new US defense secretary, James Mattis, is tasked with submitting a plan to President Donald Trump on ways to defeat ISIL forces in Iraq and Syria. Daesh Takfiris were among the militants initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Report: U.K. Officials See Russia Behind October Montenegro Plot RFE/RL February 19, 2017 A U.K. newspaper reports that senior British officials believe Russia was behind a plot last October to assassinate Montenegro's pro-Western prime minister and overthrow the government. The Sunday Telegraph, in an article to be published February 19, cited senior British government sources as saying Russian intelligence officers, "with the support and blessing of Moscow," attempted to sabotage Podgorica's plan to join NATO. Montenegro's NATO membership is opposed by Russia and has been the source of tension following the alleged foiled election-day coup. Montenegro in October arrested about 20 people -- including two Russian citizens -- suspected of aiding the plot. Montenegro's parliament on February 15 voted to strip two opposition leaders of the pro-Russian Democratic Front of immunity over their suspected involvement. A prosecutor issued an arrest warrant for two lawmakers, Andrija Mandic and Milan Knezevic, but Montenegro's state prosecutor overruled the warrant and said there was no need to hold the pair in jail as suspects. U.K. government sources told The Sunday Telegraph "the planned coup was one of the most blatant recent examples of an increasingly aggressive campaign of interference in Western affairs." It said Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson discussed the issue at their recent meeting. Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/uk-russia-montenegro- coup-election-plot/28318082.html Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Trump Renews Attack On Media In Florida Speech RFE/RL February 19, 2017 U.S. President Donald Trump renewed his attack on the media and said he would decide "over the next couple of days" on a new national security adviser as he conducted what he called a "campaign" rally in Florida. Trump also reiterated in the February 18 speech that he wants safe zones to be established in Syria and elsewhere for refugees, to be paid for by Arab countries in the Persian Gulf region. Speaking at an airplane hangar in the Florida city of Melbourne, the president returned to many of the subjects he touched on during last year's presidential campaign. His most passionate theme appeared to be an attack on the media. Trump told cheering supporters he wanted to speak to them without the filter of the "fake news." He accused the "dishonest media" of publishing one false story after another about his administration. He said when media outlets lie to the people, he will "never, ever let them get away with it." On specific policy matters, Trump said he would be making a decision "over the next couple of days" on a new national security adviser, adding he was leaning toward one of the candidates he would be interviewing the next day. White House spokesman Sean Spicer earlier said those to be interviewed during Trump's weekend trip to Florida are: Retired Army Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg; a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton; Army Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster; and the superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Lieutenant General Robert Caslen. The former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was forced out on February 13 after revelations he misled Vice President Mike Pence about discussing sanctions with Russia's ambassador to the United States during the Trump transition period. On Syria, Trump said specially created zones would allow refugees to safely remain in the region. He said this would keep potential terrorists out of the United States. "We want people that are going to be great for our country," he said. "We don't want people with bad, bad ideas." With reporting by AP, dpa, Reuters, and AFP Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/trump-rally-media- syria-flynn-security/28318038.html Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S. Senator Lauds Role Of Free Media In Democracy RFE/RL February 19, 2017 A key Republican U.S. senator pushed back against President Donald Trump's criticism of the media, saying the post-World War II global order was built in part on a free press. John McCain's comments February 19 followed a Twitter posting by U.S. President Donald Trump, who accused the media of being an "enemy of the American people." Trump later repeated that criticism in a campaign-rally speech in Florida. "If you want to preserve democracy as we know it, you have to have a free -- and many times adversarial -- press," McCain said in an interview with NBC TV from the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. He added that "the first thing that dictators do is shut down the press." "I'm not saying that President Trump is trying to be a dictator," McCain said. "I'm just saying we need to learn the lessons of history." Speaking to the Munich conference on February 18, German Chancellor Angela Merkel also noted the importance of a free press. "I have high respect for journalists" and that freedom of the press is "a very significant pillar of democracy," she said. Meanwhile, Trump's defense secretary distanced himself from Trump's remarks saying he had no problem with the media. "I've had some rather contentious times with the press. But no, the press, as far as I'm concerned, are a constituency that we deal with," Jim Mattis said, speaking in Abu Dhabi, during his first trip to the Middle East since becoming the Pentagon's chief. "And I don't have any issues with the press, myself," he said. With reporting by NBC, Reuters, and dpa Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/mccain-lauds- role-of-free-press/28318238.html Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S. Senator Vows To Punish Russia For Alleged Election Meddling Steve Gutterman February 19, 2017 MUNICH, Germany -- A leading Republican senator has vowed to seek increased punishments against Russia for its alleged interference in the U.S. presidential election, saying that "2017 is going to be the year of kicking Russia in the ass in Congress." Lindsey Graham (Republican-South Carolina) spoke on a panel on U.S. foreign policy at the Munich Security Conference on February 19 along with two Democratic senators, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Chris Murphy of Connecticut. U.S. intelligence agencies released a report in January saying they had assessed that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an "influence campaign" seeking to undermine faith in the U.S. electoral system and denigrate Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. It said that Russia developed a clear preference for Donald Trump, who won the November 8 election and was sworn in on January 20. "My biggest concern with President Trumpis that he's never really looked a camera in the eye and said that even though it was the Democratic Party that suffered from Russian interference, I am now the leader of the free worldand I can assure you that [Russia is] going to pay the price on my watch for trying to interfere in our election," Graham said. "You have to say that." Graham, a longtime critic of Russia who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that when U.S. political infighting in the wake of the election dies down, Congress "will move on to other things, and top of the list will be sanctions against Russia." He said his hope is to win strong bipartisan support for a bill that would impose additional sanctions on Russia "for interference in our election" and to "put it on Trump's desk," adding "I hope he can embrace the idea...that he should be working with us to punish Russia." He said that "2017 is going to be the year of kicking Russia in the ass in Congress." Murphy also said that U.S. lawmakers were "not doing enough" to respond to the alleged meddling. "The fact of the matter is that Russia attempted to swing the United States election for one candidate," Murphy said. "They have thus far paid a very low price for that interference." He said that Congress can play an investigatory role to "once and for all get to the bottom of the scope of that interference" and has the power to levy sanctions against Russia beyond those imposed by former President Barack Obama. But Murphy said that Congress ultimately has "a much bigger role to play, which is to give the executive branch the real tools to use to combat the asymmetric warfare that Russia uses throughout the region." "We'd be fooling ourselves to think that the only response to Russian aggression is to just dramatically plus up the defense budget," he said, referring to the Trump administration's plans for more military spending. "Russia uses its energy power, its ability to bully and bribe and intimidate" and other methods including "propaganda and information distribution" to wield influence in other nations, Murphy said. He said that the United States spends 20 times more on the military than on "tools that push back against those other means Russia uses to project power" and that if that does not change, "We're just never going to be in that game." "We have to step back and think about whether every American president is going to fail in trying to combat Russian expansionism, if we don't [provide] some other non-defense, non-military tools," Murphy said. Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/us-senator-vows -to-punish/28318347.html Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address AP: Senate Committee Requests Russia-Related Material Be Saved February 19, 2017 The Associated Press reports the Senate Intelligence Committee has formally requested that more than a dozen organizations, agencies, and individuals preserve all material related to Russian interference in the 2016 election. AP on February 18 cited information from a congressional aide who was not authorized to discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity. AP said committee chairman Senator Richard Burr, a Republican from North Carolina, and vice chairman Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia, sent out the letters making the request on February 17. Committee members that same day received a classified briefing from FBI chief James Comey. Committee members declined to comment on what was discussed in the briefing. On February 17, Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida expressed confidence in the Senate's ability to investigate Russia's hacking of U.S. organizations during the campaign. "I am now very confident Senate Intel Comm I serve on will conduct thorough bipartisan investigation of #Putin interference and influence," Rubio tweeted. Based on reporting by AP and The Washington Examiner Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/us-senate-intelligence -committee-russia-hackng/28318087.html Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Albanian Protesters Converge On Tirana, Demand Resignation Of Prime Minister RFE/RL February 19, 2017 Thousands of demonstrators converged in Tirana to demand the resignation of Albania's Socialist prime minister. The protesters, led by the opposition Democratic Party, pitched tents on February 18 outside Prime Minister Edi Rama's office to demand his resignation and for a caretaker government to take power and guarantee free elections. "Rama's government must go, the time has come to overthrow it!" Lulzim Basha of the center-right Democratic Party told the crowd. "He has plunged the country into poverty and corruption, has led it into an impasse, forcing many Albanians to leave their country," Basha said. "I invite you all to stay together to achieve holding of free and fair elections that will come only after the replacement of this government of crime with a caretaker government to the free polls," he added. No official estimates of crowd size were immediately available. Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri told local TV the protesters would not be stopped from raising tents. "We care for the protesters. We don't kill them," he said. The demonstration harkens back to seven years ago, when Rama put up tents outside his predecessor's office to demand a vote recount after a disputed parliamentary election. Albania is a NATO member and candidate to join the European Union. Brussels has urged Tirana to conduct free elections and revamp the judiciary to tackle corruption before it begins membership talks. Albania said it hopes to begin talks for joining the EU near the end of this year. Albanian parliamentary elections are scheduled for June 18. Rama's leftist coalition defeated the Democrats four years ago and has won all local elections since. But the Democrats have complained they were cheated out of victory and are pressing for reforms to guarantee fair elections. With reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/albania-socialists-opposition- democrats-basha-rama/28318037.html Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S. and EU officials understand Ukraine's need for defensive weapons because of Russia's aggression in Donbas, Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko has said. "We in Ukraine are defending Europe from Russian aggression. We all know that after Ukraine [Russian aggression] may be directed at other countries. Russia is testing its most advanced weapons systems in Donetsk You know that I am for peace, but we are talking about the defense of our country and our people. We urgently need defense weapons. I am convinced the U.S. and Europe know this," Poroshenko told the German Bild newspaper. According to Poroshenko, there are currently 700 tanks in occupied eastern Ukraine and 1,250 artillery systems, which are being used against Ukraine. Poroshenko said Ukraine is doing everything to ensure peace. It has changed some laws and is abiding by the Minsk agreements. However, Russia continues its aggression. "The promises made by the Russian government are broken on a daily basis. The situation in certain areas of eastern Ukraine is dramatic. There is incontrovertible proof civilian areas are being targeted deliberately," Ukraine's head of state said, adding that Russia has not once abided by peace agreements during the past three years. Poroshenko said Crimea remains a part of Ukraine and pledged to do everything in his power to make Russians leave the peninsula. "There are enormous problems in Crimea now," Poroshenko said. US Deploys Warships to Patrol S China Sea, Heating Up Tensions With Beijing Sputnik News 19:28 19.02.2017(updated 03:05 20.02.2017) US aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, along with the guided-missile destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer began to patrol the South China Sea amid possible escalation of a conflict between the US and China over the region's disputed territories. US officials have called the maneuvers a "routine operation." The operation came a few days after the Chinese Foreign Ministry warned Washington against undermining China's sovereignty in the region. "We urge the US not to take any actions that challenge China's sovereignty and security," Geng Shuang, spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, said earlier during a press briefing. In his turn, new US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson even before taking office said the United States should send to China a "clear signal" about the inadmissibility of its actions on the disputed islands in the South China Sea. In particular, he called the construction of artificial islands by China as well as Beijing's claims to almost all of the resource-rich territories in the region as illegal. China and other countries, in particular Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines, have long had disputes over maritime borders in the South China Sea. Now Beijing believes that the Philippines and Vietnam have deliberately used US support for the escalation of tensions in the region. According to Chinese state media outlets, officials in Beijing have announced plans to revise a 34-year-old maritime safety law which would permit relevant authorities to "bar some foreign ships from passing through Chinese territorial waters." China and the US have maintained consistent tensions over US ships transiting the South China Sea under the banner of "freedom of navigation" patrols and the revised law could provide China with the legal firepower to restrict access to waters it claims as its own. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Attack in Somali capital a reminder of extremists' indifference towards human life - UN envoy 19 February 2017 Strongly condemning today's terrorist attack at a marketplace in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, which reportedly killed at least 25 people and injured dozens more, the United Nations envoy in the country stressed that incident is a brutal reminder of the retrograde tactics employed by violent extremists. "Killing civilians is despicable and achieves nothing except to remind Somalia of the indifference of extremists to human life and suffering," underscored Michael Keating, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia and the head of the UN mission in the country (UNSOM), in a statement. "The perpetrators need to be brought to justice swiftly," he added. Earlier today, at about 13:00 local time, a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonated at the Abagedo market near Kawa Guudey in the Dharkenley district of Mogadishu, claiming the lives of pedestrians and shopkeepers in the vicinity. According to UNSOM, no group has yet claimed responsibility. The attack comes at a time when Somalia is preparing for the inaugural celebrations of its newly elected Federal President, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed 'Farmajo', who came to office earlier this month amid an "extraordinary public outpouring of euphoria marking the beginning of a new chapter in Somali history that is ripe with opportunity and promise," noted the statement. In the statement, Mr. Keating also praised the work of the country's security forces and first responders in the aftermath of the attack, and offered his condolences to the families and friends of those who were killed. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Car Bomb in Somali Capital Kills 30 By Abdulaziz Osman February 19, 2017 Somali officials say at least 30 people were killed and dozens others wounded when a massive car bomb exploded in a busy market in the capital Mogadishu on Sunday. The blast ripped through a busy market in Kawo-Goday in Wadajir district on Sunday afternoon. Security officials and witnesses said the blast occurred as the people were going about their daily business activities. They said the victims included civilians, shopkeepers and government soldiers. No one has yet claimed the responsibility for the blast, but officials blamed al-Shabab militants. Somalia's new president Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo vowed to defeat al-Shabab in a Twitter message following the attack. He condemned the bombing in the strongest terms, saying it indicates al-Shabab's "barbarism." He called on Somalis and government's army to unite against the group. Earlier in the day the president stressed there is an urgent need to fight and defeat the group as quickly as possible. "My vision is to defeat al-Shabab in the next two years, hopefully if we work very closely together, we will be able to defeat them" he said during a meeting in Mogadishu with African Union leadership and representatives of troop-contributing countries. "If Somalia is to achieve prosperity, than there is an urgent need to root out the group" he said.. Ambassador Francisco Madiera, the African Union envoy to Somalia, assured the president that AU troops operating in Somalia are committed to working towards a peaceful Somalia. "We can cooperate with one another and harmonize our efforts to do exactly that (defeat Al-Shabab)," Madiera said. In a newly released audio message, a senior al-Shabab leader, Sheikh Hassan Yaqub, called the new Somali president an "apostate" and warned Somalis against supporting him. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address White House: Next Security Advisor to Control Security Council Staffing By Ken Bredemeier February 19, 2017 The person U.S. President Donald Trump selects to be his next national security advisor will have full authority over staffing decisions for the National Security Council (NSC), Trump's chief of staff said Sunday. That issue over control was reportedly one reason former Navy admiral Robert Harward turned down the job last week. "The president has said very clearly that the new director will have total and complete say over the makeup of the NSC and all of the components of the NSC," White House chief of staff Reince Priebus said on FOX News Sunday. Harward was Trump's first choice to replace Michael Flynn, who was ousted after just 24 days on the job. Trump asked Flynn, a former Army general, to resign because he misled Vice President Mike Pence about phone conversations he had with the Russian ambassador to Washington before the new administration assumed power, the White House said. Candidates interviewed Sunday Trump planned to interview four candidates for the position Sunday as he spent the weekend at his lavish oceanfront Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. He was reportedly discussing the job, in person or on the phone, with acting national security adviser Keith Kellogg, a retired Army general; John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations; Army General H.R. McMaster; and the superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, General Robert Caslen. The White House said Sunday the president may interview additional candidates for the post Monday. Trump told reporters on Air Force One Saturday, "many, many that want the job.'' Trump said, "I've been thinking about someone for the last three or four days. We'll see what happens. I'm meeting with that person. They're all good, they're all great people.'' Turmoil Former U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday that the turmoil surrounding the key position has made U.S. national security operations "dysfunctional." "What happens if there's a major crisis that faces this country?" Panetta said. "If Russia engages in a provocation, if Iran does something stupid, if North Korea does something stupid and we have to respond, where is the structure to be able to evaluate that threat, consider it, and provide options to the president?" "Right now, that's dysfunctional, and that's what worries me a great deal," said Panetta, who also once served as director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Trump's Attacks on News Media Provoke Backlash By Michael Bowman February 19, 2017 U.S. President Donald Trump's increasingly ferocious attacks on America's news media sparked equally fierce commentary Sunday in Washington and beyond. "If you want to preserve democracy as we know it, you have to have a free and, many times, adversarial press," said Republican Senator John McCain on NBC's Meet The Press program. "And without it, I am afraid that we would lose so much of our individual liberties over time. That's how dictators get started." One day after taking to Twitter to brand top news outlets "the enemy of the American people", Trump continued savaging the news media at a Florida rally. "They become a big part of the problem, they are part of the corrupt system," Trump told thousands of supporters Saturday. "When the media lies to people I will never ever let them get away with it, I will do whatever I can that they don't get away with it, they have their own agenda and their agenda is not your agenda." Lawmakers of both parties routinely complain about news coverage, but defend a free press. Many recoiled from Trump's words. "This is something that you hear tin-pot dictators say when they want to control all of the information," said Representative Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, on ABC's This Week program. "Of all the things he has said since he became president or since the election, this to me was the most devastating and the most alarming. That he essentially views the First Amendment [to the Constitution], because that is what these organizations represent, as an enemy of the people. Republican Senator Ben Sasse weighed in by tweeting portions of the Bill of Rights guaranteeing free speech and freedom of the press. Others sought to downplay the controversy. "I see President Trump expressing his opinion, rather forceful in his own distinct way," Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky said on This Week. "But I see no evidence that anybody is putting forward any kind of legislation to limit the press." "I am not a great fan of [Trump's] daily tweets," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell late last week. "What I am a fan of is what he has been actually doing." Some closest to Trump are distancing them from the president's remarks. "I have had some contentious times with the press," Defense Secretary James Mattis told reporters during a visit to Abu Dhabi. "But no, the press as far as I am concerned are a constituency that we deal with, and I do not have any issues with the press myself. While sporadic anti-Trump protests continued across the country, the president's fiercest backers echoed his message. "He is right on point because, unfortunately, most of the news media distorts it and twists it [the news] to their benefit," said Hamilton Campos, who attended Trump's rally Saturday. "You know, they were hoping that Hillary [Clinton] was going to win and she did not." While rallying supporters, Trump also appears to be bolstering groups eager to challenge his administration in court. U.S. civil rights organizations report a surge in donations since last month's inauguration. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Two Senior US Senators Question Trump's Grasp of Foreign Affairs Issues By Ken Bredemeier February 19, 2017 Two key Republican U.S. senators on Sunday questioned President Donald Trump's competency in handling foreign affairs, especially White House turmoil over national security operations and his seeming reluctance to confront Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election. Senator John McCain of Arizona, the losing 2008 Republican presidential contender, told NBC's Meet the Press that he is worried about Trump's "understanding of some" foreign affairs issues and "contradictory articulations. I think the rollout of the ... immigration reform was an example of a need for an orderly decision-making process in the White House. And that, I think, is probably what's plaguing them more than anything else right now." He said Trump, a billionaire real estate mogul turned Republican politician, has left European allies confused about his rhetoric and commitment to the NATO military alliance, even as Vice President Mike Pence on Saturday told the Munich Security Conference the United States would "hold Russia accountable" and was steadfast in its support of NATO. "They are puzzled and they are concerned," McCain said of European leaders. "They realize that the linchpin of the Western alliance is the United States of America. They worry particularly when they see increased testings of this union that's being conducted by (Russian President) Vladimir Putin as we speak." McCain has called for a broad congressional investigation into the conclusion of the U.S. intelligence community, rejected by Moscow, that Russia hacked into the computer of the campaign chief of Democrat Hillary Clinton, the one-time U.S. secretary of state Trump defeated in the November election. The anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks subsequently released thousands of emails from the account, revealing sometimes embarrassing behind-the-scenes efforts by Democratic operatives to help Clinton secure the Democratic presidential nomination. Trump has repeatedly said he wants to improve relations with Russia, only reluctantly acknowledging the Russian hacking. Senator Graham on Russia But Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, speaking at the Munich conference, said the new American leader should be working with lawmakers to punish Moscow. "2017 is going to be a year of kicking Russia in the ass in Congress," Graham declared. He added, "My biggest concern with President Trump .., is that he's never really looked the camera in the eye" and then say, "'Even though it was the Democratic Party that suffered from Russian interference, I am now the leader of the free world and I can assure you they're going to pay a price on my watch for trying to interfere in our election.'" Trump last week fired national security adviser Michael Flynn, a retired Army general, after 24 days on the job for lying to Vice President Mike Pence about his discussions with the Russian ambassador to Washington before Trump took office a month ago. Trump then had his replacement choice turn down the strategic White House post, but was interviewing new candidates for the job on Sunday. Trump has also promised to issue a new travel ban this week covering seven Muslim-majority countries where there has been terrorist activity to replace an earlier edict blocked by court rulings. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US-based blind Egyptian cleric, accused terrorist Omar Abdel-Rahman dies in NC prison Iran Press TV Sun Feb 19, 2017 1:4AM Blind Egyptian cleric Omar Abdel-Rahman accused of "plotting" large-scale bombing of major landmarks across New York City and delivering "radical sermons" and sentenced to life imprisonment has died in a US federal prison in North Carolina. Known in the US as "The Blind Sheikh," Abdel-Rahman died Saturday at the age of 78 in the Butner Federal Correctional Complex near the city of Raleigh due to "complications from diabetes and coronary artery disease," according to the prison spokesman, Greg Norton. Abdel-Rahman, who was an influential activist cleric that opposed the Israeli regime and long-time Egyptian dictators Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak, was jailed and tortured in his native country before immigrating in 1990 to the US, where he led a congregation in Brooklyn neighborhood in New York, home to a sizable population of Zionist Jews with close ties to the Israel and militant settlers in illegal settlements in occupied Palestinian territories. On October 1, 1995, Abdel Rahman was convicted of conspiracy in an alleged and highly controversial 1993 plot to conduct multiple bombings of major New York landmarks, including the World Trade Center, huge Lincoln and Holland Tunnels, the UN headquarters and the enormous George Washington Bridge. The blind cleric and his alleged co-conspirators were not directly charged with the 1993 truck bombing of the World Trade Center, which killed six and injured more than 1,000 others, but were ruled guilty by the Federal District Court in Manhattan after a nine-month trial on sedition charges and conspiring with the perpetrators. In the trial highly influenced by pro-Israeli groups and lawmakers in New York -- Abdel-Rahman was further accused of urging the overthrow of US allies in the Middle East and "convicted" of plotting to kill Mubarak, as well as planning further attacks as part of a "war of urban terrorism" in the US. He was also accused of issuing a fatwa that led to the 1986 assassination of Sadat. Prosecutors in the case argued that although the bombings he was accused of plotting never materialized, "the intent of the conspiracy was to destroy New York landmarks, kill hundreds of people and force the US to abandon its support for Israel and Egypt," according to The New York Times. This is while the sheikh consistently maintained his total innocence and at his sentencing he insisted that he had committed no crime "except telling people about Islam." Among the prominent people calling for immediate release of Abdel-Rahman was Egypt's first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, who was ousted by the country's former army chief and current President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi. Abdel-Rahman's defense lawyer, prominent US attorney Lynn Irene Stewart, who fervently argued for his innocence and insisted that he had been framed in the case, was eventually accused of helping pass messages from Abdel-Rahman to his followers and convicted on charges of "conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists" in 2005 and sentenced to 28 months in prison. Stuart, who was automatically disbarred as the result of her conviction, was re-sentenced on July 15, 2010 to 10 years in prison on allegation of "perjury at trial" but was released from prison on December 31, 2013 because of her terminal breast cancer diagnosis. US prosecutors later also linked Abdel-Rahman's alleged followers to the 1990 assassination of radical New York Rabbi Meir Kahane as well as attacks on tourists in Egypt. When the sheik was found guilty, Lynne Stewart wept in court, saying, "I believed, and I believe today, that he is wrongfully convicted." Kahane, who was also politically active in Israel where he led the fervently anti-Arab Kahane Chai Party, led the notorious US-based Jewish Defense League organization, which has conducted numerous acts of terror against Arab and Palestinian activists and academics across the US. Today, the Kahane group is regarded as a terrorist organization by the European Union, Canada, the US and even the Israeli regime. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US to expand deportation of undocumented immigrants: Report Iran Press TV Sun Feb 19, 2017 4:11PM US Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly has signed sweeping new deportation guidelines that will authorize more aggressive operations to deport undocumented immigrants, according to a new report. Kelly signed a pair of memos on Saturday, allowing his department to hire thousands of new enforcement agents, The Washington Post reported Saturday. Kelly's new guidelines also included widening the classification of immigrants who should be prioritized for removal, using local law enforcement for the arrests and speeding up deportation hearings. "The surge of immigration at the southern border has overwhelmed federal agencies and resources and has created a significant national security vulnerability to the United States," the DHS head said in the documents. "Criminal aliens have demonstrated their disregard for the rule of law and pose a threat to persons residing in the United States," he added. "As such, criminal aliens are a priority for removal." According to Kelly, the new guidelines would replace almost all of the deportation policies adopted by Barack Obama, Trump's predecessor. The policy shift will see the scope of enforcement operations dramatically expand, allowing authorities to arrest immigrants who have been in the US for up to two years. The current time-limit is two weeks or less. Under the new guidelines, Mexican immigrants apprehended at the border will be immediately deported, instead of being housed on US soil as they wait for the outcome of their deportation hearings. Parents of unaccompanied Mexican children who pay to have their child smuggled over the border would also be prone to prosecution, the report added. A Trump administration official told the Post that the memos were drafts under review by White House Counsel's Office. A DHS spokesperson did not dispute the authenticity of the documents. The documents did not discuss using the National Guard to accelerate the deportation raids in 11 states, an issue the White House denied after another draft memo leaked on Friday. Earlier this week, the DHS announced that it had arrested nearly 700 people in its immigration raids, claiming that around 75 percent of them were onvicted felons. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Trump's Border Chief Promises 'Streamlined' New Travel Ban By VOA News February 19, 2017 President Donald Trump will soon release a "more streamlined version" of a presidential order banning immigrants from seven Muslim-majority nations, but it will be better implemented and avoid the chaos that resulted from an earlier attempt to restrict foreign travelers arriving in the U.S., Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said. Speaking at the annual Munich Security Conference in Germany, during a panel discussion on combating terrorism, Kelly said the new version of the travel order will not prevent foreign nationals with either work visas or "green card" permanent residency permits from re-entering the United States. Nor will it affect foreign travelers already flying to U.S. ports of entry when the order takes effect, he added. Trump will "make sure that there's no one caught in the system of moving from overseas to our airports" during the travel ban, Kelly said. The new immigration order could come as early as Tuesday, U.S. news reports suggested, and Trump himself has confirmed it will be issued during the coming week. Courts blocked original travel ban The original travel ban, which has now been set aside by U.S. courts, was issued January 27. It was a security measure meant to prevent attacks by Islamist militants, White House officials said. Trump's executive order barred entry to the United States for at least 90 days by people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen; it also excluded all refugees seeking resettlement in the U.S. for 120 days, except those from Syria, who were banned indefinitely. The abrupt implementation of the ban, which was enforced just hours after it was signed, caught many officials and travelers unawares, leading to chaos and protests at international airports in the U.S. and abroad. Some people from the targeted countries were detained, and others were sent back to their home countries. Federal judges who suspended the ban earlier this month ruled it illegally targeted Muslims on the grounds and had been put into effect without due care or preparation. The president said on Thursday he would announce a new, revised executive order on immigration during the coming week. 'Temporary pause' Kelly, a retired Marine Corps general, said the original order was designed as a "temporary pause" to allow him to "see where our immigration and vetting system has gaps" that potentially could be exploited by attackers. The new order will seek to iron out some of the difficulties in the version currently held up by the courts, he added. The homeland security chief is in charge of one of the largest government departments, supervising all customs, immigration and border patrol agencies the government operates, as well as the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Coast Guard, the U.S. Secret Service, which protects the president, and other security agencies that protect federal property and foreign dignitaries. "The president is contemplating releasing a tighter, more streamlined version of the first (order)," Kelly said Saturday in Munich. "And I will have opportunity to work (on) a rollout plan, in particular to make sure that there's no one, in a sense, caught in the system of moving from overseas to our airports." He said "it's a good assumption" that green-card residency permit holders would be allowed in, as they eventually were a few days after the original order. Accelerated deportation hearings The new order also aims to speed up deportations by denying asylum claims earlier in the process. The order will instruct immigration officials to only pass those asylum seekers who have a good chance of ultimately being granted haven in the U.S. The order outlines plans for greatly expanding the categories of people that immigration agents target for deportation, and gives them wide discretion in deciding who to deport. Previously, recent arrivals and convicted criminals were the prime targets. The new plan would include migrants who have been charged, but not convicted, of crimes, and would also apply to undocumented immigrants who have been in the country for many years. Kelly is also calling for 10,000 additional Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and 5,000 new hires at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency. Same Muslim-majority states affected For foreign nationals from the countries in question who already hold valid U.S. entry visas, Kelly said, "if they're in motion from some distant land to the United States, when they arrive they will be allowed in." The agency chief added, however, that there would be a "short phase-in period" to ensure affected travelers in other countries are not allowed to board airliners prematurely, to evade the travel ban. A draft of the replacement executive order shows the administration aims to put restrictions on citizens of the same seven Muslim-majority countries covered by the initial order, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited an internal State Department memo. Kelly also mentioned "seven nations" during his discussions in Europe. The replacement order could be issued as early as Tuesday, the Journal reported, citing a U.S. government official. Separately, the Trump administration also has asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to withdraw its earlier ruling that temporarily suspended the travel ban, because a new, superseding order is about to be issued. Focus on protecting the US "In so doing, the president will clear the way for immediately protecting the country rather than pursuing further potentially time-consuming litigation," the Justice Department said in its filing. Government attorneys have stated the Trump administration has the authority to institute a travel ban to protect the nation's security, and they have rejected criticism that restricting travelers only from majority-Muslim countries amounts to a ban on Muslims entering the U.S. The U.S. Constitution forbids the government from establishing an official religion or taking actions that promote or inhibit religion. Trump's order specified that refugees who are a religious minority in their country and facing persecution would still be eligible for admission to the U.S. This would apply to non-Muslims from the seven targeted countries. While campaigning for the presidency last year, Trump originally banning all Muslims worldwide from entering the U.S., but he later altered his plan to target countries with links to terrorism. Some material in this report came from Reuters. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China reiterates opposition to THAAD deployment in S. Korea People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 08:33, February 19, 2017 China on Saturday voiced its opposition to the U.S. deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), a high-end U.S. missile defense system, in the Republic of Korea (ROK), urging respect from the ROK. The move came as Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with his ROK counterpart Yun Byung-se on the sidelines of the ongoing Munich Security Conference. Wang stressed that the security of a nation should not be achieved at the expense of others' security, urging both countries to "remove obstacles" to ensure the healthy development of their bilateral relations. Regarding the Korean Peninsula issue, Wang said although the situation on the peninsula is getting complicated and severe, efforts to seek peace should not be abandoned. All related sides, while strictly carrying out the UN resolutions, should also actively explore the resumption of negotiation, he said. "We should end the negative self-reinforcing cycle of the nuclear issue on the peninsula." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address A march under the flags of the Unified Union of Patriots of Ukraine, a non-governmental organization, is taking place in central Kyiv. Some 500 people formed a column in Khreschatyk Street at around noon on Monday, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent reported from the scene. To the tunes of patriotic music, members of the organization moved towards Independence Square and then proceeded down the Alley of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes towards the presidential office in Bankova Street. Some activists have been occasionally chanting slogans: "Glory to Ukraine to Heroes the Glory!" and "Glory to the Nation - Death to Enemies!" There is a heavy police presence to maintain public order. Meanwhile, events commemorating the Heavenly Hundred Heroes continue in the center of Kyiv. Memorial services are being held at the sites where protesters were shot dead, and people keep bringing flowers. Overall, the situation in the city center is quiet, the Interfax-Ukraine correspondent said. China Holds Massive Military Rallies in Xinjiang After Spate of Violence Sputnik News 00:57 20.02.2017(updated 03:05 20.02.2017) China has again sent hundreds of troops to its far-west Xinjiang region, the restive heartland of its Uygur minority, this time for oath-taking rallies and a general show of force against terrorism. In a mass anti-terror rally in Xinjiang's capital, Urumqi, hundreds of armed Chinese troops and police accompanied by armored vehicles marched through the streets. Ranked in front of a government building, they shouted pledges to fight terrorism. Xinjiang deputy party secretary Zhu Hailun called the rally a sign of "real action" to ramp up the fight against terror, and said extremists would be "smashed and destroyed," the South China Morning Post reports. "With guns by our bodies, knives unsheathed, fists out and hands extended, we must use thunderous power to strike hard against terrorist activities," Zhu said. Before the rally in the capital, there had been displays in Kashgar and Hotan, in the south of the region. In Hotan, thousands of armed police and paramilitary officers marched to "show strength and intimidate," according to Reuters. The state-run Global Times called it an "oath-taking" rally, as soldiers pledged to fight terrorism and tighten security. Hundreds have been killed in clashes between between the Muslim Uygur people of Xinjiang, who consider themselves native to the region, and the Han Chinese majority in the past few years. Language barriers (Uygurs speak a Turkic language) and curbs on religious and cultural activities important to the Muslim minority only aggravate tensions. Five were killed in December when attackers rammed a vehicle with an explosive into a government building, and police killed what authorities call three armed terror suspects who had detonated an explosive last month. Earlier this week, five were killed in a knife attack in Hotan prefecture, Pishan County, with police shooting the three attackers, the China Daily reported. Authorities are calling the incident a terror attack, though they have not identified the perpetrators or victims. Pishan County has been referred to as a "hotbed of terrorism" since four people from the county took part in a suicide bombing in Urumqi in May 2014 that killed 39, according to the South China Morning Post. China denies that its Uygur population faces discrimination and blames Islamist separatists for the violence. However, over the last two years, local governments have made regional officials promise not to fast for Ramadan and have forced Uygur village shops to sell alcohol and cigarettes despite religious objections. In November, the government ordered all residents of Xinjiang to turn in their passports for "inspection," on pain of being forbidden to travel in the future. On Friday, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for efforts to improve "national security" across the country at a Beijing national security seminar. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China suspends coal imports from DPRK People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 10:22, February 19, 2017 China will suspend coal imports from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) for the rest of 2017, the Ministry of Commerce said Saturday. The ministry said in a statement on its website that the suspension, in line with UN Security Council Resolution 2321, will be effective from Feb. 19 to Dec. 31 this year. The UN Security Council adopted the resolution on Nov. 30 that tightened sanctions on the DPRK in response to its fifth nuclear test on Sept. 9 last year. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Four DPRK suspects related to death of DPRK man fled Malaysia People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 16:07, February 19, 2017 The Malaysian police said on Sunday that four suspects from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) related to the death of a DPRK man had fled the country. The cause of death of the DPRK man still remained unknown, Deputy Inspector-General of Police Noor Rashid Ibrahim told a press conference. The 46-year-old man, who was found dead on Monday at the Kuala Lumpur airport, is believed to be Kim Jong Nam, the elder brother of DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Un. But Ibrahim said they still need DNA samples from the next-of-kin of Kim to identify the dead man. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China targets North Korea with rare trade measure Iran Press TV Sun Feb 19, 2017 6:24AM China has stepped up its own pressure on North Korea over its missile and nuclear programs, suspending imports of North Korean coal, a major source of revenue for the government in Pyongyang. China's Ministry of Commerce said in a notice posted on its website on Saturday that, starting February 19, all coal imports from North Korea would be suspended for the rest of the year. The ministry said the measure was in line with the punitive sanctions imposed last year by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) against North Korea over earlier missile and nuclear tests. Invoking the Dragon's wrath? China, itself a permanent member of the UNSC, has been North Korea's major supporter and largest trade partner. But there are indications that Pyongyang's advancing missile and nuclear programs are also finding opposition in Beijing. While Chinese officials had said in April last year that they would ban North Korean coal imports in order to comply with UN sanctions against Pyongyang, they never actually halted the imports until now that is. What seems to have triggered that decision now was a more recent North Korean missile test. On Monday, a day after Pyongyang tested an intermediate-range ballistic missile, a shipment of North Korean coal worth around one million dollars had reportedly been rejected at Wenzhou port on China's eastern coast. North Korea, already under a raft of sanctions for its missile and nuclear programs, says it is developing arms as deterrence against the United States. It says it will not abandon the missile and nuclear programs unless the US ends its hostility toward Pyongyang. In another sign of Beijing's frustration at Pyongyang, the Chinese foreign minister has told his South Korean counterpart that his country understood Seoul's need to protect itself against perceived threats from North Korea. South Korea has been seeking to have an advanced American missile system deployed on its soil to counter potential aggression from the North. But the installment of the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea, near Chinese territory, has been strongly opposed by Beijing. Chinese officials have long complained that the US system would interfere with their radars and could pose a threat to Chinese security. But in rare remarks made in a Saturday meeting on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his South Korean counterpart Yun Byung-se that Beijing understood Seoul's security needs. Wang said, however, that South Korea still needed to respect Beijing's concerns about the planned deployment of the THAAD. Wang "stressed that one country's security should not be founded on the basis of harming another country's security," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday. Chinese-backed North Korea and the US-allied South are technically still at war because their 1950-1953 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China Suspends Import of Coal From North Korea Until End of the Year Sputnik News 05:16 19.02.2017(updated 10:18 19.02.2017) China's Commerce Ministry announced that it has suspended all imports of coal from North Korea. The news comes in the wake of North Korea's successful ballistic missile test last week and the alleged assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un's half-brother Kim Jong-Nam. Coal is said to be the main export of North Korea. China has suspended all imports of coal from North Korea through December 31, 2017, the ministry said. While the ministry did not disclose the formal reason for the import suspension, the recent developments surrounding North Korean ballistic missile test and the alleged assassination of Kim Jong-Nam could both be the reason behind the Chinese decision. Some experts speculate that Chinese leadership could have taken the assassination of Kim Jong-Nam, who lived in Chinese Macau under Beijing's protection, as an insult. No official conclusion on his murder has been made by the investigators so far. This is not the first time China has cut coal imports. In 2016, China banned North Korean coal to formally comply with the United Nations policy, but left a room for some exceptions; that time, China allowed trade of some goods if they were crucial to the survival of North Korean people, and if the revenue would not go to North Korea's ballistic missile program. This time, though, the ban is stricter. South Korean news agency Yonhap reports that China has already rejected a shipment of $1 million worth of North Korean coal delivered to Wenzhou port. Coal is said to be the main export of North Korea, with its share estimated to take up to 35% of North Korean economy. China's ban on coal imports stands to cost North Korea dearly. China has not often been so harsh on its eastern neighbor. While some experts speculate that China realizes the threat from a de facto nuclear state driven to a point of desperation, other say a deep economic recession could result in millions of refugees rushing across the border into already densely populated China. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran rejects 'unconstructive' claims by Turkish FM Iran Press TV Sun Feb 19, 2017 6:18PM Iran's Foreign Ministry has dismissed as unconstructive Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu's recent anti-Iran claims, saying Turkey and certain other "delusional" countries are responsible for instability and insecurity in the Middle East. "Those who have carried out meddlesome, illegal and illegitimate measures, supported terrorist groups and caused bloodshed and escalation of tensions and instability in the region cannot evade liability for such moves by playing a blame game," Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Sunday. They cannot free themselves from their self-imposed quagmire by leveling accusations against others, he added. "The Islamic Republic of Iran's regional policy has always been and will be based on maintaining the stability and security of all countries and neighbors," the Iranian spokesperson said. Qassemi emphasized that many fair governments and nations in the region and across the world have acknowledged such a policy pursued by Iran and welcome it. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Sunday, the Turkish foreign minister criticized what he called an Iranian "sectarian policy" aimed at undermining Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, saying, "Turkey is very much against any kind of division, religious or sectarian." Turkish minister's remarks came despite the fact that his country is widely known as a staunch supporter of militants wreaking havoc in Syria, providing them with money and arms as well as free passage through Turkish soil to Syria. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran will fully restore nuclear program if JCPOA scrapped: Larijani Iran Press TV Sun Feb 19, 2017 4:17PM Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani says the Islamic Republic will restore its nuclear program to where it was prior to the signing of the 2015 nuclear agreement between Tehran and the P5+1 group of countries if the US scraps the agreement. In case of the revocation of the nuclear deal - known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) - by the US, everything will go back to square one, Larijani was quoted by IRNA as saying in an interview with the Lebanon-based al-Mayadeen TV channel. The top Iranian parliamentarian made the comments amid a number of indications that the administration of US President Donald Trump may want to stop implementing its commitments under the JCPOA. Trump had previously threatened to rip up the deal and called it "the worst accord ever" and "one of the dumbest" ones he had come across. Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council - the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China - plus Germany signed the JCPOA on July 14, 2015 and started implementing it on January 16, 2016. Under the nuclear agreement, Iran undertook to put limitations on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions imposed against Tehran. Iran, Russia on course for strategic alliance Elsewhere in his interview, Larijani touched on the relations between Iran and Russia and said the two countries are moving toward forming a strategic alliance in the region. Iran has been providing military advisory support to both Iraq and Syria in their campaign against terrorism at the requests of the two countries' governments. The Islamic Republic was among the first countries to help Iraq when the Daesh terrorist group unleashed a campaign of death and destruction in the northern and western parts of the Arab country in 2014. Russia has also been carrying out an aerial campaign against the militants in Syria on a request from the Damascus government. Larijani further said Iran welcomes negotiations with Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, emphasizing that the Islamic Republic sets and accepts no preconditions in this regard. His remarks came after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani paid a day-long visit to Oman and Kuwait on Wednesday to boost cordial relations. "The visits, which took place at a time when the region is in special and sensitive circumstances, indicate the countries' common will to expand friendly ties across the strategic waters of the Persian Gulf," Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Thursday. The visits came after Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sabah al-Khalid al-Sabah traveled to Tehran on January 25, bearing a letter from the Kuwaiti emir on behalf of the Persian Gulf littoral states seeking to fix ties with Tehran, which began to deteriorate last year amid the confrontational approach taken by the new Saudi rulers to Tehran. Saudi Arabia unilaterally severed its diplomatic ties with Iran last January. It made the move after protests in front of its diplomatic premises in the Islamic Republic against its earlier execution of top Saudi Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. Subsequently, many of the kingdom's allies either downgraded or cut their Iran ties. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran announces major shale oil discovery Iran Press TV Sun Feb 19, 2017 9:5AM Iran says it has discovered major reserves of shale oil in the western parts of the country with a top official saying that the reserves are the first that have a feasible potential for production. Bahman Soleymani, the deputy director of the Exploration Department of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), was quoted by the domestic media as saying that the reserves that had been discovered in Lorestan province - could hold as much as 2 billion barrels of light in-place shale oil. Soleymani added that NIOC studies showed that the shale oil that existed in Lorestan could be brought into industrial production. He said that certain seismic studies were also underway for shale gas reserves in the same area, and the studies were expected to be completed by October. Iran had already reported the discovery of another shale oil reserve in Lorestan. In 2015, reports said the Garoo formation in the province contained huge reserves of shale oil but no exact figure was provided to determine its exact capacity. Other similar discoveries were also announced to have been made in other provinces such as Khouzestan, Kerman and Semnan. However, there were no further significant developments to determine how much shale oil they were holding or whether producing oil from those reserves would be economically feasible. It is still not clear how the NIOC can produce oil from Lorestan shale reserves given that the exclusive technology to do so is in the hands of US companies that are banned from Iran's oil projects. Besides, there are already speculations on whether producing oil from shale reserves would be economical for Iran given the high costs involved. Previous reports showed that Iran had the world's fifth lowest costs for producing each barrel of crude oil. An estimate by global energy consulting enterprise Rystad Energy showed that the costs for producing each barrel of oil in Iran stood at $12.6. The highest and the lowest costs belonged to Britain and Kuwait at $52.5 and $8.5, respectively. Based on figures provided by the International Energy Agency (IEA), the costs for producing each barrel of shale oil ranges from as high as $95 to as low as $25. Iran holds the world's fourth largest proven oil reserves of about 160 billion barrels which amount to almost 10 percent of the world's total. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US senators consider new sanctions against Iran over its missile program Iran Press TV Sun Feb 19, 2017 1:33PM US Republican senators in Congress plan to introduce legislation to impose new sanctions against Iran over its missile program and for seeking to "destabilize" the Middle East. "I think it is now time for the Congress to take Iran on directly in terms of what they've done outside the nuclear program," Senator Lindsey Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told the Munich Security Conference on Sunday. Graham, who supports an interventionist foreign policy, said he and other Republican lawmakers would introduce measures to hold Iran accountable for its actions. "Iran is a bad actor in the greatest sense of the word when it comes to the region. To Iran, I say, if you want us to treat you differently then stop building missiles, test-firing them in defiance of UN resolution and writing 'Death to Israel' on the missile. That's a mixed message," Graham said. The United States claims that Iran's recent missile test violated Resolution 2231 that endorsed the Iran nuclear agreement. Tehran insists its missile tests do not breach any UN resolution because they are solely for defense purposes and not designed to carry nuclear warheads. Earlier this month, the US Treasury Department said Washington had imposed sanctions on 13 individuals and 12 entities as part of an effort to ratchet up pressure on Iran over its missile program. Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif told the Munich conference earlier on Sunday that Tehran did not respond well to sanctions or threat. "Iran doesn't respond well to threats. We don't respond well to coercion. We don't respond well to sanctions, but we respond very well to mutual respect. We respond very well to arrangements to reach mutually acceptable scenarios," Zarif said. "Iran is unmoved by threats. Everybody tested us for many years all threats and coercions were imposed on us," Zarif added. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran to Stage Military Drills in Defiance of US Sanctions Sputnik News 03:20 19.02.2017 Iran's Revolutionary Guard is to conduct military drills with use of missiles next week, according to an announcement from Iranian senior command. The announcement comes after a new set of sanctions was imposed on the country by US President Donald Trump. Iran will stage military maneuvers called "Grand Prophet 11" next week, Iranian General Mohammad Pakpour said. "The maneuvers [] will start Monday and last three days," he said during a press conference. Pakpour noted that missiles will be used during the drills but did not specify what type of missiles. This will be the second Iranian military exercise in February. Earlier this month, Iran conducted military exercises aimed to "showcase the power of Iran's revolution and to dismiss the sanctions," according to the Revolutionary Guard's website. "If we see [the] smallest misstep from the enemies, our roaring missiles will fall on their heads," General Amir Ali Haijazadeh said that during that exercise. The news come in the wake of the Trump administration's imposition of a new set of sanctions on Iran as a response to a ballistic missile test conducted earlier in January, and following vague and threatening statements that Iran had been put "on notice." "Iran would do well to look at the calendar and realize there's a new president in the Oval Office. And Iran would do well not to test the resolve of this new president," Vice President Mike Pence said earlier this month, referring to what the Trump administration characterizes as a too-soft position stance on Iran taken by former president Barack Obama. According to various media reports, Trump's sanctions targeted Iranian, Lebanese, Emirati and Chinese individuals and firms involved in procuring ballistic missile technology for Iran; or several individuals allegedly involved in laundering money for Hezbollah in Lebanon. Iran claims that its ballistic missiles are designed for defensive purposes only and are not designed to carry a nuclear warhead. Tehran insists that its January missile test violates neither the nuclear deal, officially known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), reached in 2015 nor the UN resolution calling on Iran to refrain from testing weapons systems designed to be nuclear-capable The media assumes that the January missile test was in fact Iran's test of how far Trump's administration was ready to go, and how fast. The Washington Post cites an anonymous source in the administration saying the sanctions were an "initial" step in a plan of measures intended to influence Iranian policies. When asked whether the US would consider using military action in response to escalating tensions with Tehran in early February, Trump told reporters that "nothing is off the table." Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address The gunfire has somewhat subsided in the anti-terrorist operation zone in eastern Ukraine, and 15 attacks have been seen since Monday morning without any heavy weapons involved, Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzianyk said. The intensity of hostilities has markedly reduced, he said. "We observed 15 attacks by the hostiles as of this noon, yet no heavy weapons have been fired so far," Motuzianyk said at a press briefing in Kyiv on Monday. Ambassador Martin Sajdik, Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office to the Trilateral Contact Group, said on February 15 that the sides had agreed to withdraw weapons and hardware banned by the Minsk Agreements from the Donbas contact line by February 20. One Ukrainian serviceman was killed and another one suffered injuries in Donbas over the past day, Motuzianyk said. "One Ukrainian serviceman has been killed and other one has suffered injuries in the hostilities in the past 24 hours. The death of a serviceman who got missing the day before yesterday has also been established. The Ukrainian army has incurred all those casualties in Avdiyivka," he said. A Ukrainian soldier who was heavily injured in Zaitseve on February 16 died at a hospital in the rear on February 19, Motuzianyk said. Iraq: UN aid agencies preparing for 'all scenarios' as western Mosul military operations set to begin 18 February 2017 With military operations to retake western Mosul starting, United Nations humanitarian agencies in Iraq are rushing to prepare for the humanitarian impact of the fighting amid grave concerns that tens of thousands of families are at extreme risks. According to the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the country, food and fuel supplies are dwindling, markets and shops have closed, running water is scarce and electricity in many neighborhoods is either intermittent or cut off. "The situation is distressing. People, right now, are in trouble. We are hearing reports of parents struggling to feed their children and to heat their homes," said Lise Grande, the Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq. According to estimates, between 750,000 and 800,000 civilians reside in the western section of Mosul. However, few if any commercial supplies have reached the city in the past three months since the main road to Syria was cut-off. Sources in the city also reported that nearly half of all food shops have closed and bakeries throughout the area have run out of fuel and many can no longer afford to purchase costly flour. Prices of fuel such as kerosene and cooking gas have skyrocketed and many of the most destitute families are burning wood, furniture, plastic or garbage for cooking and heating. Families, children face critical shortage of drinking water, do not have enough to eat According to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) there are critical shortages of food and safe drinking water. "Three out of five people now depend on untreated water from wells for cooking and drinking as water systems and treatment plants have been damaged by fighting or run out of chlorine," said Peter Hawkins, the UNICEF Representative in Iraq. "Food prices in western Mosul are almost double than in eastern Mosul," added Sally Haydock, the WFP Representative in the country, noting that many families do not have enough to eat. Preparing to aid as many as 400,000 fleeing civilians According to OCHA, UN and humanitarian partners are rushing to prepare for the humanitarian impact of the military operation. "We don't know what will happen during the military campaign but we have to be ready for all scenarios. Tens of thousands of people may flee or be forced to leave the city. Hundreds of thousands of civilians might be trapped maybe for weeks, maybe for months," said Ms. Grande. Emergency sites are being constructed south of the city and stocks of life-saving supplies are being pre-positioned for the 250,000-400,000 civilians who may flee. "Protecting civilians is the highest priority in a situation like this nothing is more important [...] The battle hasn't started but already there is a humanitarian crisis," the UN humanitarian official added. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iraqi forces make territorial gains against Daesh around Mosul Iran Press TV Sun Feb 19, 2017 3:6PM Iraqi government forces, backed by volunteer fighters from Popular Mobilization Units, have made new territorial gains on the outskirts of the city of Mosul as they have launched a new phase of joint operations to flush Daesh Takfiri terrorists out of their last urban stronghold in the Arab country. Commander of Nineveh Liberation Operation Lieutenant General Abdul Amir Yarallah said on Sunday that security personnel had regained control over Kantirah and Abyadh villages south of Albu Seif village on the outskirts of Mosul, located some 400 kilometers north of the capital, Baghdad, hoisting the national flag over several buildings there. The Iraqi military commander added that government forces had inflicted heavy losses on Daesh ranks and military equipment during the operation. Earlier, pro-government fighters from Popular Mobilization Units, better known by the Arabic name Hashd al-Sha'abi, had established complete control over Burnt Hills near Bakhirah village in the western suburb of Mosul. Iraq's Joint Operations Command (JOC) also announced that federal police forces had retaken the villages of al-Kafour, al-Jamasah and al-Bajwari and regained control over a section of the road linking New Mosul district to Baghdad. Lieutenant General Yarallah said in a statement that Iraqi forces had liberated the villages of Azbah and al-Lazzakah from the grip of Daesh. Iraqi government forces have also recaptured a major power plant in Lazzakah district. The Iraqi Defense Ministry, in a statement released on Sunday, said scores of Daesh terrorists were killed as Iraqi F-16 fighter jets launched precision strikes against a number of militant hideouts in the western flank of Mosul. The ministry also published video footage that showed several Daesh positions being struck in the area. Late in January, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared the liberation of the eastern side of Mosul, after more than 100 days of fighting against Daesh. 350,000 children trapped in western Mosul: Charity An estimated 350,000 children are trapped in the western part of Mosul as Iraqi forces and their allies launch a fresh offensive on Daesh in the strategic city, Save the Children has warned. Save the Children's Iraq Country Director Maurizio Crivallero said on Sunday that escape was not an option for most families, who would have to risk summary execution by Daesh militants, sniper fire and landmines, but they are also running out of food, water and medicine. "This is the grim choice for children in western Mosul right now: bombs, crossfire and hunger if they stay, or execution and snipers if they try to run," Crivallero said, adding, "Safe escape routes for civilians must also be established as soon as possible." Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, fell into the hands of Daesh terrorists in the summer of 2014. Iraqi army soldiers, supported by Hashd al-Sha'abi fighters and Kurdish Peshmerga forces, launched a joint operation on October 17, 2016 to retake Mosul from Daesh. Suspected Daesh bombings leave five dead in eastern Mosul In another development, five people, including three Iraqi soldiers, lost their lives on Sunday, when bomb explosions ripped through two districts recently retaken from Daesh in eastern Mosul. Security sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the first attack occurred when an assailant blew up his explosive vest at an army checkpoint in Mosul's eastern neighborhood of Nabi Younis, leaving three soldiers killed and several others wounded. Another blast was carried out when an attacker detonated his explosive vest near a popular restaurant at a commercial area, known as My Fair Lady, in the al-Zuhour neighborhood of eastern Mosul. The blast left two civilians dead and several others wounded. The bombings came as Iraq's prime minister announced earlier on Sunday the start of a new phase of a major offensive to free the western side of Mosul from Daesh terrorists. "We announce the start of a new phase in the operation to liberate the western side of Mosul [known as We Are Coming Nineveh]. Our main task is to liberate the people before liberating the land," Abadi said in a brief televised address. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iraq Says Military Assault On Western Mosul Has Begun RFE/RL February 19, 2017 Iraq's prime minister said military operations have begun to retake the western half of Mosul, once Iraq's second largest city, from Islamic State militants. Haider al-Abadi's announcement February 19 signaled the next phase of the operation to rout the militants from their stronghold, an effort that began four months ago. "We are comingto liberate the western side of Mosul," Abadi said in a televised address. "Our forces are beginning the liberation of the citizens from the terror of Daesh," Abadi said, using the Arabic acronym for the group that captured the city in 2014. Backed by U.S. airpower, and bolstered by Shi'ite militias and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, Iraqi forces launched their assault to retake the city in October. But resistance from Islamic State fighters was stiffer than expected, and the forces succeeded in taking the eastern side of the Tigris River only after weeks of pitched urban combat. The city's western side remains under militant control, with as many as 800,000 civilians estimated to be in the part of that city. Ahead of Abadi's announcement, the Iraqi military announced that its forces had captured the villages of Athbah and Al-Lazzagah and were advancing toward the Mosul airport. Earlier February 19, Iraqi planes dropped millions of leaflets to warn Mosul residents that the long planned assault imminent. "Your armed forcesare advancing in the direction of the right side, relying on God," one of the leaflets said. "Get ready to welcome the sons of your armed forces and to cooperate with them, as your brothers on the left side have done, in order to reduce losses and speed up the conclusion," it added. Other leaflets warned IS members to "lay down their weapons and surrender." The New York Times reported on February 18 that food, water, and fuel for cooking and heating are unavailable or are being sold at exorbitant prices in densely packed western neighborhoods. The U.S.-led coalition carried out nine air strikes near Mosul on February 18, U.S. Central Command said in a statement. U.S. special operations forces have been embedded with some Iraqi units, and thousands of American soldiers are in Iraq to provide logistical and other support. "We are very close to it, if not already engaged in that fight," U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told reporters in Abu Dhabi. Islamic State militants seized large portions of northern Iraq and Syria in an offensive in 2014, stunning the Iraqi government and showcasing deep weaknesses in the armed forces. It is accused of numerous atrocities, and has claimed responsibility for major terrorist attacks in Europe and elsewhere. Islamic State considers the Syrian city of Raqqa as its capital, and it too is also under siege by U.S.-backed forces and others. With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and The New York Times Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/iraq-mosul-islamic- raqqa-syria/28318039.html Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iraqi Forces Launch Push to Retake Western Mosul From IS By VOA News February 19, 2017 U.S.-backed Iraqi forces have begun a military offensive aimed at dislodging Islamic State militants from the western part of Mosul, the latest phase in a four-month old operation to retake the country's second largest city. "Our forces are beginning the liberation of the citizens from the terror of Daesh," Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Sunday, using an Arabic acronym for IS. "We announce the start of a new phase in the operation." He urged security forces to respect human rights as they continue the military operation. Iraqi forces retook several villages as part of the new offensive and are now aiming for the Mosul airport. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Sunday the U.S. role in the fight will remain the same. "The attack into the city is something I don't want to go into details about because I owe confidentiality to the troops who are actually making the attack. At the same time we are very close to it if not already engaged in that, in that fight," he said. "The U.S. forces continue in the same role that they were in East Mosul and the coalition forces are in support of this operation, and we will continue as you know with the accelerated effort to destroy ISIS." Civilians at risk The United Nations is warning that hundreds of thousands of civilians are at risk in Mosul. "The situation is distressing. People, right now, are in trouble,'' Lise Grande, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, said in a statement. "We are hearing reports of parents struggling to feed their children and to heat their homes,'' Grande said. Iraqi security forces took control of eastern Mosul from IS last month, more than 100 days after the offensive to retake the city began. U.S. military officials have warned the fight for the western part of the city will likely be much tougher. Iraqi special operations forces, regular army and federal police units are taking part in the offensive along with government-approved paramilitary forces. Islamic State militants took control of Mosul in 2014, when the group captured large areas of northern and western Iraq. Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Libyan general slams Europe, US for backing terror Iran Press TV Sun Feb 19, 2017 11:27AM Libyan General Khalifa Haftar has accused several European countries and the United States of supporting terrorist groups in Libya by secretly providing them weapons and training. In an interview aired on the Egyptian ON LIVE radio channel on Saturday, Haftar described France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, and the United States as "partners" to the terrorists in Libya. He said those countries had to reconsider their positions. The Libyan general also said Turkey used to back terrorists but "we sent back in coffins the terrorists that Turkey had dispatched" to Libya. Turkey will pay dearly for the harm it did to the Libyan nation, he said, without elaborating further. Haftar was an ally of Libya's long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi but joined the Libyan revolution against Gaddafi in 2011. Libya has been dominated by violence since a NATO military intervention that followed the 2011 uprising and that led to the overthrow and death of Gaddafi. Rival governments were set up in Tripoli and eastern Libya back in 2014. General Haftar is linked to the government based in the east, in the port city of Tobruk, and has refused to profess allegiance to the United Nations (UN)-recognized government in Tripoli. His forces have been fighting militias loyal to the Tripoli government since 2014. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address South Korea Participates in Military Exercise in Thailand Sputnik News 09:43 19.02.2017 South Korea has joined the annual Cobra Gold maritime military exercise in Thailand, local media reported on Sunday, citing a Marine Corps official. MOSCOW (Sputnik) South Korea sent a combined 57 Navy and Marine Corps service members to the multinational US-Thailand-led Cobra Gold drills, including eight warships, 52 aircraft and 23 assault amphibious vehicles operated by the United States and Thailand, Yonhap news agency reported, citing the official. South Korea does not take part in the main landing exercise, and therefore sends a small number of servicemen to the drills during odd years. According to the official, however, during even years, the country sends hundreds of troops to Thailand. The multinational drills, led by the US Pacific Command and the Royal Thai Armed Forces, kicked off on Tuesday. According to the Marine Corps official, around 7,500 troops from nine countries, including Singapore, Malaysia and Japan, are participating in the maneuvers, and a further 10 are present as observers, for the 10-day exercise. The exercise reportedly involved combined forces conducting a mock landing and a field training exercise. Cobra Gold, the largest Asia-Pacific military exercise held annually, was launched in 1981. It seeks to improve coordination between the armed forces in military and humanitarian efforts. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Northbound: Russia to Form New Arctic Air Defense Division in 2018 Sputnik News 00:38 20.02.2017(updated 00:40 20.02.2017) As Russia has set a priority of developing its Arctic territories, Russia's Aerospace Forces announced on Sunday that a new air defense division will be formed in the region to strengthen security there. MOSCOW (Sputnik) A new air defense division will be formed in the Russian Arctic next year, military sources with Russia's Aerospace Forces told a local newspaper on Sunday. "A decision has been taken in principle to create a new division. Concrete measures to set up and staff it will begin next year. The division will be formed from both new units and those on combat missions in the Arctic," sources told the Izvestiya newspaper. There is one division covering the Kola Peninsula in Russia's northwest, the White Sea, Arkhangelsk and Nenets regions beyond the North Pole. It is reportedly equipped with S-400 Triumf (NATO reporting name SA-21 Growler) and S-300 Favorit (SA-20B Gargoyle) missile systems as well as Pantsir (SA-22 Greyhound) anti-aircraft missiles. On Thursday, President Putin ordered to reinforce Russia's borders in the Far East and the Arctic regions and to accelerate creation of infrastructure there. Russia has recently identified the development of the country's Arctic areas as a top priority. In July 2016, President Vladimir Putin unveiled a new strategy to strengthen Russia's civil and military capabilities in the region. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Syrian forces foil Daesh infiltration attempt in Dayr al-Zawr: Report Iran Press TV Sun Feb 19, 2017 6:53PM Syrian government soldiers have reportedly thwarted an attempt by Takfiri Daesh militants to establish a foothold in the Arab country's beleaguered eastern city of Dayr al-Zawr, killing a large number of the terrorists in the process. Army troops managed to push the extremists back as the latter mounted an offensive against Panorama neighborhood on the southern outskirts of the city, located 450 kilometers northeast of the capital, Damascus, on Sunday, Syria's official news agency SANA reported. Syrian fighter jets also carried out a string of aerial attacks against terrorist positions in the districts of Maqabir, al-Hamidia and al-Sina'a in Dayr al-Zawr. The development came a day after Syrian forces intercepted and shot down a Daesh drone as it was flying in the skies over Dayr al-Zawr airport. Elsewhere in the western province of Homs, Syrian army units could establish control over much of al-Bayarat area in the western suburbs of the ancient Semitic city of Palmyra on Sunday. Syrian army soldiers, supported by fighters from allied popular defense groups, conducted a major operation in Turfah al-Gharbia village, purging a vast expanse of land from foreign-sponsored militants. Moreover, Syrian army troops targeted a number of pickup trucks equipped with heavy machine guns in Kafr Zeitta town of the country's west-central province of Hama, destroying the vehicles and eliminating dozens of terrorists. Scores of Daesh terrorists were killed in Wadi al-Azib district of the same province, when fighters from popular defense groups staged a surprise attacks against the terrorists. Separately, five terrorists were killed and their munitions destroyed when Syrian army soldiers struck militant outposts in al-Dahr al-Aswad Hill on the western outskirts of Damascus. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN envoy to Syria questions US role in resolving Syria crisis Iran Press TV Sun Feb 19, 2017 2:44PM United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura has questioned the role of the United States and its so-called military engagement against terrorist groups in the Middle Eastern country, saying Washington's new administration is still working on its conflicting priorities in tackling the six-year-long crisis. De Mistura made the remarks in the 53rd Munich Security Conference, an annual gathering of top diplomats and defense officials, on Sunday, the last day of the summit and just four days ahead of crucial peace negotiations on Syria in Geneva, Switzerland. He further said that US President Donald Trump's administration is stuck among three incompatible priorities in tackling the conflict, which include its so-called war against Daesh Takfiri terrorists, "how to limit the influence of some major regional players, and how not to damage one of their major allies in the region." De Mistura added that Trump needed to decide whether he was interested in just fighting Daesh or defeating the Takfiri group. The UN special envoy also wondered how the White House was going to "square this circle," adding that Washington was practically absent in all efforts devoted to settle the crisis politically. "Where is the US in all this? I can't tell you because I don't know," he said. Under former US President Barack Obama, the White House insisted that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had to be ousted, making it at odds with Russia, which firmly supported the Syrian leader and launched its military campaign against Daesh and other terror outfits in Syria at the Syrian government's request in September 2015. Moscow has also called for an end to demands for the removal of Assad. De Mistura also stressed that the ultimate resolution of the deadly conflict could be achieved only through an "inclusive" political solution. A fresh round of UN-led negotiations is scheduled to be held in Geneva on Thursday, involving the Syrian government and representatives from armed opposition groups. Furthermore, Iran, Russia, and Turkey in late last year proposed to mediate new talks in Kazakh capital, Astana, between the Syrian government and opposition groups. The talks were organized and held in Astana in January this year. They were followed by technical talks attended by experts from Tehran, Moscow, and Ankara in the same city earlier in February. Elsewhere in his remarks, De Mistura said that the Astana talks and the truce agreed created an opening that should be explored, but he warned that "even a ceasefire with two guarantors can't hold too long if there is no political horizon." He said any political solution had to be comprehensive to be credible The UN envoy stated that Astana talks focused on cessation of hostilities, while Geneva negotiations must see if there is any window for political talks. Syrian army troops and allied fighters have been fighting different foreign-backed terrorist groups wreaking havoc in the Arab country since 2011. Damascus blames the six-year-old militancy on some Western states and their regional allies, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia. De Mistura estimated in August last year that more than 400,000 people had been killed in the crisis until then. The UN stopped its official casualty count in the war-torn country, citing its inability to verify the figures it received from various sources. Over the past few months, government troops have made sweeping gains against Takfiri terrorists, who have lately increased their acts of violence across the country following a series of defeats in Aleppo and elsewhere. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkey presents Raqqah occupation plan to US Iran Press TV Sun Feb 19, 2017 7:31AM Turkey has presented the United States with two plans for an alleged potential operation to "liberate" the northern Syrian city of Raqqah from Daesh. Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reported on Saturday that the Turkish military chief Hulusi Akar had submitted the proposals to American counterpart Joseph Dunford a day earlier. Turkey began a major military intervention in Syria in August last year, sending tanks and warplanes across the border in a purported mission to fight the Takfiri terror group. Ankara has, for long, been demanding creation of a buffer zone in the periphery of its border inside Syria, which holds great concentrations of Kurdish forces. The fighters have seized considerable territory there from Daesh either directly or by contributing to counterterrorism operations. Turkish leaders, however, consider the Kurds to be associated with the outlawed anti-Ankara Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The PKK has been fighting for decades towards creating an independent state for itself in southeastern Turkey. Underway exclusively in the Kurdish-liberated areas, the Turkish military presence in Syria has been denounced as a masqueraded push against the anti-Daesh Kurdish fighters. Damascus has also spurned the incursion as a breach of its sovereignty. The Kurdish fighters, whom Ankara links to the PKK, are known as the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG). They dominate the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance, which also comprises Arab fighters. The SDF launched a campaign to encircle Raqqah in November. Turkey recently said it had almost captured the nearby city of al-Bab, and was about to approach Manbij, another city in the general geographic whereabouts. SDF Commander Adnan Abu Amjad has said his fighters would defend Manbij if Turkey tried to lay siege to the city. "If [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan wants to come to Manbij, it's his business, but we will defend our city with all the strength we can find. As Syrian people, we'll resist any interference in our internal affairs," he said, according to the UPI. The Turkish plans for Raqqah envision Turkish and US forces either approaching the city via al-Bab or the border town of Tel Abyad. Both courses of action bifurcates the Kurdish turf close to the frontier. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Cookies used for analytics help us improve our website by collecting the information on how you use it. This information is collected in a way that doesn't allow to directly identify anyone. For more information on how these cookies work, please see our Syrian Army Freed 53 Towns From Islamists Over 7 Weeks Russian MoD Sputnik News 19:57 19.02.2017(updated 20:01 19.02.2017) Syrian government troops have freed 53 residential areas from Islamist militants since the start of this year, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on Sunday. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Syrian government troops have freed 53 residential areas from Islamist militants since the start of this year, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on Sunday. "The number of inhabited areas, which had been liberated by the Syrian troops from Daesh armed formations since January 1, 2017 has reached 53," the ministry's reconciliation center said in a daily bulletin. The Latakia-based center said army forces had recaptured an almost 20-quare-mile area from Daesh a terrorist group outlawed in Syria, Russia and many other countries in the past 24 hours, freeing some 687 square miles of land since January 1,2017. Moreover, Russian representatives in the Russian-Turkish commission on the Syrian ceasefire have registered eight violations of the ceasefire regime over the past 24 hours, the Russian Defense Ministry added. "The Russian part of the joint Russian-Turkish commission on issues related to violations of the Joint Agreement has registered eight violations over the past 24 hours in Latakia [4] and in Hama [4] provinces," the ministry's Center for Syrian reconciliation said in a daily bulletin. "The Turkish side has registered 13 cases of ceasefire violations: three in Damascus, two in Daraa, two in Latakia, two in Hama, three in Homs and one in Idlib provinces," the bulletin added. According to the document, the Russian side can confirm only two violations registered by Turkey. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Trump Wants to Build 'Safe Zones' in Syria, Make Gulf States Pay for It Sputnik News 05:56 19.02.2017(updated 05:57 19.02.2017) Speaking before a rally in Florida on Saturday, US President Donald Trump claimed that only safe zones in Syria and other war-plagued countries can stop the migrant crisis, stressing that the Gulf states should pay for those zones. MOSCOW (Sputnik) It is necessary to create safe zones in conflict torn countries like Syria instead of taking people into the United States and the Gulf states should pay for those safe zones, Trump said. "What I want to do is build safe zones in Syria and other places, so they can stay there and live safely we are going to have the Gulf states pay for these safe zones. They have nothing but money. And we are going to do that way instead of taking tens of thousands people into our country we want people that love us we want people that are going to be great for our country, we do not want people with bad ideas," Trump said at a campaign rally in Florida on Saturday. The US president also expressed the intention to keep the United States "safe." Since taking the presidential office on January 20, Trump has made controversial decisions aimed at curbing migration flows into the United States. Trump's recent executive order, entitled 'Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States,' bars travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the United States for 90 days. In addition, the order prohibits entry into the United States for all refugees for 120 days, while barring Syrian asylum-seekers indefinitely. While its goal is to boost the country's security, the travel ban has sparked controversy around the world, and has even led to multiple protests in the United States. On January 25, Trump issued an executive order aimed at facilitating the construction of the wall along the US southern border to prevent illegal immigration from Mexico. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN Syria Envoy Optimistic on Upcoming Geneva Talks By VOA News February 19, 2017 The U.N. Syria envoy says he hopes to take advantage of a new momentum during the upcoming round of U.N.-led talks involving the al-Assad government and rebel representatives this week in Geneva. Staffan de Mistura said the outcome of the conversation will essentially depend on the U.S. position. "The big question mark is where is the U.S. in all this?" he asked during a forum at the Munich Security Conference in Germany. World leaders, diplomats and defense officials have been meeting at the Munich Security Conference during the weekend. Mistura said any political solution has to be inclusive to be credible to end the six-year conflict in Syria. "We have to push for momentum. ... Even a cease-fire with two guarantors can't hold too long if there is no political horizon," he said referring to the truce mediated by Turkey and Russia in December. While Mistura questioned U.S. President Donald Trump's engagement in solving the Syrian war, Brett McGurk, a State Department diplomat said "people will be disappointed" if they envision the U.S. abruptly choosing a new "tool in the toolkit." "I don't think the U.S. will come in with a one-size-fits-all solution, because there isn't one," McGurk said. Syrian National Coalition President Anas al-Abdah said the opposition is "fully committed and prepared to negotiate a political solution ... we have a glimmer of hope.'' McGurk said the Trump's administration is "re-looking at everything, which is a very healthy process from top to bottom." "We will be very selfish about protecting and advancing our interests," he said. Before Trump became president, the previous administration insisted President Bashar al-Assad had to leave power, a position contrary to what Russia believes as Moscow backs the Syrian leader. Trump, however, has called for a more engaging cooperation with Russia to fight IS in Syria and Iraq, which leaves the Assad question open. Anas al-Abdeh, head of the opposition National Coalition, said the question over Assad's future is a clear barrier for long-standing peace talks. "As long as Assad remains in power," no solution can be found, he told at the Munich forum. Previous efforts, which have involved indirect negotiations mediated by the U.N. envoy for Syria, resulted in little progress to resolve a war that began as peaceful protests against Assad before spiraling into a multi-party conflict. Hundreds of thousands of people have died since March 2011, and according to the United Nations nearly five million people have fled the country while another six million are displaced within Syria. Some material for this report came from AP, AFP and Reuters. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Taiwan reiterates concern over Spain's deportation decision ROC Central News Agency 2017/02/19 16:42:48 Taipei, Feb. 19 (CNA) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) reiterated Sunday that it is gravely concerned over what it describes as an "unfriendly" decision by Spain to deport a group of Taiwanese telecom fraud suspects to China. The ministry said it will again summon Spain's representative to Taiwan, to whom it will reiterate its stance on the issue and inform the representative of its intention "to review the existing bilateral cooperation and interaction in a strict manner." The Spanish government decided to accept a demand from Beijing for the extradition to China of 269 Taiwanese and Chinese nationals recently arrested in the European country for their involvement in telecom fraud, according to the MOFA. The decision has infringed upon the rights of the Republic of China (Taiwan) nationals and defies the European tradition of humanism, the ministry said in a statement released the previous day. On Sunday, Taipei further criticized the Spanish administration for ignoring the Nationality Principle, which recognizes that a sovereign nation can adopt criminal laws that govern the conduct of that sovereign's nationals even while outside of the sovereign's borders. The MOFA regrets that the Spanish authorities decided to deport the Taiwanese suspects to mainland China and strongly condemns the decision, the ministry said. The suspects were arrested in December in a joint operation between Spain and China, and more than 200 out of the 269 are ROC nationals, according to the MOFA. Over the past two months, the government has been negotiating with Spain in the hope that the Taiwanese suspects can be brought back to Taiwan for investigation and trial, but the request has apparently not received any affirmative response from the Spanish authorities. The MOFA last month summoned Spain's representative to Taiwan, Jose Luis Echaniz Cobas, to whom it elaborated the government's stance on the issue, asking for the deportation of the Taiwanese nationals to Taiwan based on the Nationality Principle. (By Scarlett Chai and Elizabeth Hsu) ENDITEM/J NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Taiwan confident of stronger ties with Philippines ROC Central News Agency 2017/02/19 23:08:49 Manila, Feb. 19 (CNA) Taiwan is optimistic that its bilateral relationship with the Philippines will remain strong as economic links continue to grow, Taiwan's representative to the Philippines Gary Song-huann Lin () said Sunday. Bilateral trade between the two countries increased from US$9.7 billion (NT$300 billion) in 2015 to US$10.8 billion last year, Lin said, noting that Taiwanese exports to the Philippines increased 15 percent year-on-year. Furthermore, cooperation between both sides in such areas as technology, agriculture, and fishery also grew, Lin continued. "Our relationship with the Philippines will be even stronger this year," he said, citing a number of new projects between the two countries in the pipeline for the coming year. According to Lin, the Philippines is one of the fastest growing economies in ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations), and it is also Taiwan's sixth largest trading partner. A reception was held in Manila for Taiwanese expatriates living in the Philippines, where Lin extended his well wishes for the beginning of spring. (By Emerson T. Lin and Ko Lin) Enditem/sc NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Interview: OSCE Says Russian Move Undermines Ukraine Peace Efforts Steve Gutterman February 19, 2017 MUNICH, Germany -- Russia's decision to recognize identification documents issued by separatists in eastern Ukraine will hurt the chances for a cease-fire to take hold, the head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) told RFE/RL on February 19. The abrupt Russian move is also a setback for efforts to end the war that has killed more than 9,750 people since April 2014, a goal that already seems "a long way" off, OSCE Secretary-General Lamberto Zannier said in an interview on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. Meeting in Munich on February 18, the foreign ministers of Russia, Ukraine, and mediators Germany and France agreed to a new push to implement a cease-fire in eastern Ukraine, where Russia-backed separatists hold parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, to begin on February 20. At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an order authorizing the recognition of documents issued by the separatist-led, self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic. "The steps taken last night by Russia to recognize these documents are making implementation more difficult," Zannier said of the agreement known as Minsk II, a much-violated February 2015 accord that imposed a cease-fire and set out a plan for resolving the conflict. The Russian move "impliesrecognition of those who issue the documents, of course," Zannier said. "This makes us think of Abkhazia-like situations," he said, referring to one of two breakaway Georgian regions that Russia recognized as independent countries after fighting a brief war against Georgia in 2008. Russia has not formally recognized the self-proclaimed separatist entities in Ukraine as independent, and Moscow's stated position is that they should be part of Ukraine. Analysts say Russia hopes to continue to use them as long as it can to destabilize Ukraine and maintain pressure on its pro-Western government. Strained Ties With West Speaking to reporters in Munich after meeting with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on February 18, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Putin's order was "more evidence of the Russian occupation and Russia's violation of international law." In a post on Twitter on February 19, the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv said the Russian decision was "alarming and incompatible with the agreed-on goals of the Minsk peace process." After a Moscow-friendly Ukrainian president was pushed from power by protests in February 2014, Russia seized the Crimean Peninsula from Kyiv's control and fomented separatism in the country's east and south, where many people speak Russian. Russia denies involvement in the war in eastern Ukraine, despite what Kyiv and Western nations say is overwhelming evidence that it has sent substantial numbers of troops and weapons across the border to support separatist forces. Russia's interference in Ukraine has badly strained its ties with the West, prompting the United States, the European Union, and other nations to impose sanctions. Speaking at the Munich conference on February 18, hours before Putin's order was announced, Pence said that the United States would "hold Russia accountable" for its actions even as the administration of President Donald Trump seeks "common ground" with Moscow. Like Western leaders who spoke at the three-day conference, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Zannier said there is no alternative to the Minsk agreements -- the 2015 pact and an initial agreement reached in September 2014 -- for ending the war. "I remain convinced that the Minsk agreements are the best -- and the only, in fact -- path to get out of this." Minsk II was supposed to be implemented in full by the end of 2015. But Zannier said that more than a year later, even elections in the separatist-held areas -- which are just one step in the plan -- seem like a distant prospect. "The concept is not agreed, and the conditions for holding them are not there," he said. "So it's really a long way away." Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/osce-says-russian-move-undermines- ukraine-peace-efforts/28318525.html Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address New Cease-Fire Agreed For Ukraine, But Tensions Still High RFE/RL February 19, 2017 MUNICH -- A new cease-fire has been agreed to for eastern Ukraine, but some Russia-backed separatists could not say if they would respect the fighting halt, and a Ukrainian leader said he was not pleased with the results of a four-party meeting in Munich. The cease-fire was announced on February 18 by Russia and was brokered together with the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Germany, and France after talks at the Munich Security Conference. The cease-fire is scheduled to go into effect on February 20. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the agreement a "positive" development, but he also acknowledged the lack of "major progress" at the meeting. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel told reporters the aim was "to do what has long been agreed but never implemented: To withdraw the heavy weapons from the region, to secure them, and enable the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) monitors to control where they are kept." Russian-backed separatists on the ground would not confirm they were planning to respect the cease-fire. Some of them said it was not feasible for it to come into force so soon. "There has been artillery fire all day," Eduard Basurin, a senior separatist, told AFP on February 18. "What truce are they talking about? I don't see the point in declaring a truce." Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin confirmed the cease-fire agreement but warned it must become more than a "political slogan." He told reporters he was "not at all" pleased with the meeting. "This has to be the real situation -- and if that's not the case, we will have to have fresh negotiations," he told Ukrainian reporters in Munich. He added that no "powerful results" where achieved at the Munich meeting of the so-called Normandy Format, consisting of Russia, Ukraine, Germany, and France. Russia-backed separatists control areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in Ukraine's east nearly three years after the start of their war against Kyiv's forces that has killed more than 9,750. Fighting has intensified this month, resulting in the deaths of about 30 people. Russia also annexed Ukraine's Black Sea region of Crimea in 2014. With reporting by RFE/RL correspondent Steve Gutterman, AFP, and Reuters Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/cease-fire-ukraine- russia-donbass/28318043.html Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address I am living in a Potemkin Village of spread sheet mysteries of massive proportions. If you dont know what a Potemkin Village is, let me help you recall your Russian history. In 1787, supposedly, Russian Empress Catherine II floated down a Russian river to peruse her kingdom. One of her favorite boyfriends, Grigory Potemkin, wanted to impress Russias allies, for various reasons that dont matter now, so he set up a mobile village, a Potemkin Village, on the shore and populated it with his people along her journey. Then he would pull up the village and move on down the river to the next place, deceiving her that his region was in better shape than it really was. Thus, a Potemkin Village came to mean any literal or figurative construction built to deceive others into thinking a situation is better than it really is. You have been taught (by Wikipedia). Go rest. Im living a Potemkin Village of budgeting. For years my husband, David, has kept track of all our finances on a complicated set of Excel spreadsheets. Hes an engineer. He does Excel and spreadsheets. I write. I do Microsoft Word, not numbers. I mostly spend our money, wisely I might add, and he tracks it. I ask every few days, Hows the budget? He says, Fine and I say, Good. If he says, Were doing really well, I go to the mall. Then he retired and the next 30 years scared me. I decided I needed to understand the budget tracking. David proved willing, but not able to teach me the spreadsheet system. The details are painful. Suffice it to say, I sat down in front of his computer one day and decided to test myself. I turned on his computer why does he turn it off every time? and clicked on what I thought was the right spreadsheet. Everything disappeared. I was sure I lost the last 19 years of our finances. I hadnt, but Ive never been the same. My enlightenment was over in 20 seconds. If I had tried to invent the printing press, we would still be in the Dark Ages. So I decided we would do one of the online budgeting systems I had been reading about. One was free for a month and had been invented by a Brigham Young University grad. My kids went there, so why not? Go, Cougar budgeting! My daughter who is a CPA uses that. Numbers are her friends. One budget was free. My other daughter uses that. She has a degree in special ed and decorates cakes for money, but her husband works for a start-up in Utah that has invented something supposedly better than spread sheets. All I know is that he has a cool T-shirt with the song Hey, Jude by the Beatles diagrammed on it and it looks almost like an English grammar T-shirt. Maybe I could understand something he could understand. Hah! I went to a work-party-celebration-contest meeting of his out in Utah and all I understood were the burritos. Thank goodness there was a fussy baby to walk. Well, David and I tried the Cougar budget and couldnt figure it out. It was like we missed the 101 class and had signed up for the 400-level class. So we tried the other one, hoping, in the words of Hey, Jude, we could start to make it better. We kind of, sort of, eventually got it. However ... and this is where the Potemkin Village comes in. David still lives by his spreadsheet. I think he just keeps me happy by posting to the online budget, but the real budget is still a mystery to me. Ill say, Why is this line red? Where is the extra money to pay where we went over this line item? How can we afford for the next 30 years to pay $5 more a month at Burger King on Wednesday nights before church than we budgeted? Thats $1,800! Ill die penniless because of french fries. He replies, But my spreadsheet says we have extra money, its OK. I say, But I want to see it. Where is it? I can show you, he says, heading toward his computer. I dont follow. Just pull up that cottage and plop down a villager, I say. Im no better off than before. Yep, he just keeps moving that Potemkin Village spreadsheet along. I guess its good that hes humoring me. If Im left a widow, I have enough kids with MBAs to figure out the spread sheet, right? Maybe its actually brilliant and I can sell it and make enough money for the rest of my life. Hey, and I can offer my son-in-law enough money for that really cool Beatles T-shirt. I doubt he even knows their names... Providing credits for water customers with water leaks, money for salary and benefits for a crime analyst, and other items are on the agenda for Danville City Councils upcoming meeting Tuesday night. Danville may offer credits for residents whose waters lines leak and cause excessively high consumption charges on their utility bills. City Council will vote whether to revise city code to allow for the credits. The Danville Utility Commission unanimously approved the idea during its December meeting. Danville Utilities receives reports of about 100-150 customer water leaks every year because of unknown underground leaks on the customers side of the water meter. The leaks are not found until the customer receives their bill with a huge increase in their monthly water consumption. The new policy would apply to the customers pipe between the house and the meter. If council approves the idea, the customer would be eligible for one credit in a 12-month period and would be required to repair the damaged piping. The work would have to be inspected by the citys inspection division. The credit would be for the amount determined to be for the excessive flow of water through a meter due to a leak in, or a rupture of, a water pipe caused by a severe weather conditions; an undetected leak in, or rupture of, an underground water pipe; or because of an undetected leak or rupture of water pipe where the city has made changes or improvements to the water system to improve water pressure and/or other construction. The change would not apply to leaking faucets, toilets or other customer-owned water devices. Cost adjustments would have to be requested within 60 days of the billing period that the leak occurred. Danville currently allows a similar credit for wastewater, Grey said. In another matter, council will hold a first reading on amending its 2017 budget to anticipate $125,000 from Virginias Office of the Attorney General. The grant money would pay the annual salary and benefits for a new crime analyst position, directed patrol overtime, travel and training, equipment and supplies. It would further the mission of the Department of Criminal Justice Services and violent crime reduction strategy by providing support to localities to reduce gun and gang-related violent crime. The grant would require no matching funds from the city. The grant award is the second of an anticipated three-year program. Council would approve the budget amendment at a later date. Other agenda items under consideration at Tuesdays meeting include: A resolution approving submission of Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy Priority Projects for maintaining Danvilles status as a redevelopment area under the Economic Development Administrations program; A resolution authorizing the city manager to sign a performance agreement along with the Danville-Pittsylvania Regional Industrial Facility Authority and Pittsylvania County to accept money from the Virginia Business Ready Sites program for the Berry Hill industrial mega park. The grant would enable the property to be eligible for money related to property improvements. City council will hold a work session following the meeting. GREENSBORO, N.C. Over nearly two decades, trade agreements meant to revive industry and supply jobs to America brought many industries to their knees, displacing millions of workers, including tens of thousands in the Triad. President Donald Trump wants to tear up those agreements, block new ones and slow the flow of cheap goods made by cheap labor in foreign countries. Before he had hardly warmed up his seat in the Oval Office, Trump took the United States out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a new trade agreement that would open up the flow of goods between a dozen countries in Asia and the Americas. Jobs are pouring out of the country, he said last week. You see whats going on with all of the companies leaving our country. Trumps plan sounds as simple as it is nostalgic: He wants to bring back the big factories that once employed legions of workers, reminding voters that those aging buildings can become economic engines again. Ultimately, he wants American workers to make the products we now buy from factories overseas. Only its not that easy. Trade isnt so simple anymore. A car made in America, for example, may have scores of imported parts. Some American jobs depend on foreign operations to provide cheaper goods. In turn, that makes it possible for Ford Motor Co. and hundreds of other businesses to make their products here. Tom Conley, the president and chief executive officer of the High Point Market Authority, said the furniture industry, which depends on global trade for access to big consumer markets, is nervous about trade policy right now. I think a lot of people have good intentions with American jobs, and I think sometimes there are unintended consequences and that has people concerned, Conley said. One concern: the cost of doing business here versus elsewhere. Take Apples popular iPhone, for example. The Marketplace business news webpage reported that some researchers think that an iPhone made in China and sold for $800 might cost up to $2,000 if all the components were made in the United States. Thats because Chinas labor is cheaper. Apple spends about $190 to make the phones components in China, according to the Marketplace website. In America, those same components would cost $600. Bryan Toney, UNC-Greensboros associate vice chancellor for economic engagement, said the first rule of todays global trade is that other countries will adapt to any trade restrictions we offer so our business must be ready to adapt. Were never going to get manufacturing back to where it was in the past, Toney said. Still, Trumps promise to make America great again is a powerful, well-meaning sign of hope for a generation of workers who still remember when jobs were plentiful. Workers who havent forgotten the unfulfilled promises of past administrations. Workers who elected Trump president. Workers right here in the Triad. The Greensboro-High Point region has a big stake in the trade debate. Its economy is changing, but the region is still connected to global trade as a legacy of its textile, tobacco and furniture industries. North Carolinas stake is smaller than it once was because industry has poured out of the state. The state exported only 2 percent of the goods sent overseas by American companies in 2015. That same year, it imported $51 billion in foreign goods. The top products included aircraft engine parts, shirts, sweaters, trousers and raw cotton. The state exported tobacco and $30 billion worth of other products in 2015 as well. The Greensboro-High Point region, which covers Rockingham, Randolph and Guilford counties, is a big part of the states total, exporting $7 billion in goods during 2014. Pharmaceutical company Patheon in High Point and Greensboros Qorvo, a maker of semiconductors, are big players in the local export market. Even as Trump encourages exports, a war on imports could create unintended consequences. The countries that buy those goods would likely retaliate with their own tariffs, making exports more expensive. And thats a big worry for businesses in the Greensboro-High Point region, which depend on exports more than most in the country. A new study by the Brookings Institution, a Washington.-based research group, shows that exports make up 17 percent of this regions economic output, establishing the Greensboro-High Point area as the sixth largest in the nation for percentage of exports in its economy. Klaussner Furniture Industries and tobacco giant ITG Brands lead the way, but smaller companies are growing to fill the void. A company called ERD Ltd. in Kernersville is one of them. ERD has a specialty that businesses and governments around the world need: repairing and overhauling decades-old electronic equipment. Five years ago, executive vice president Tom Robinson and company founder Glenn Flaherty decided to cut out their sales staff and work directly with customers. It was tough, but they learned a lot more about what they do. And we discovered we were accidental exporters, Robinson said. The vintage industrial control modules, electronic gear and machines his company was fixing from the U.S. and around the world had to flow unimpeded across borders just the same as factory-made goods. The 21-person company operates by word-of-mouth and has 6,000 customers, 1,000 of whom are international. Robinson and Flaherty have built their tiny workforce on their own, without any change in national trade policy. ERD was recognized last year by the U.S. Department of Commerce, which awarded it the Presidential Award for Export Achievements. In 2015, the company won the N.C. Exporter of the Year award from the U.S. Small Business Administration. In a digital world, ERD keeps the analog age alive. But a sweeping change by the Trump administration, Robinson and Flaherty said, could upend a complex web of supply partners, manufacturers and product buyers around the world. Were all connected in the supply chain whether we like it or not, Robinson said. Change something and there will be unintended consequences. Economist Joseph Parilla, a fellow at Brookings who wrote the report, agreed. Its important to acknowledge exports are no longer something that can really be done in isolation, Parilla explained. Companies rely on supply chains that stretch far beyond any state or any country. North Carolina economic development officials dont have inside information on future trade policy, so theyre making plans for everything. And the presidents rhetoric may mean more foreign companies will start looking for plant sites in the state. One thing that we are beginning to see in some of the statements that come out of the new presidential administration is if you intend to sell to the U.S. population, we expect you to manufacture your goods here, said Christopher Chung, the chief executive officer of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, the states industrial development contract agency. That may already be happening. Samsung Electronics, for example, said earlier this month that it may build a manufacturing plant in the United States. U.S. companies will likely bring their manufacturing back home as well. If the United States continues to get more of a look from U.S. companies that are bringing more activity over here ... that will certainly impact North Carolina, Chung said. He added that the states economic development representatives around the world will be ready to go to work whichever way Trumps policies play out. Nobody can know whats going to happen, Chung said. If those things are going to come to pass, then those exporters around the nation and including in North Carolina are going to be facing some headwinds. As quickly as Trump has been acting on his checklist, it shouldnt be long before he turns to international trade by beginning to change regulations. At his news conference Thursday, the president praised Ford, which decided to build a factory in the U.S. instead of Mexico. And in his inaugural speech, Trump took an image straight from the devastated textile towns that once knitted fabric and community across North Carolina. He described the rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation. Before those factories became that way, they were lively places where hundreds of thousands of people trooped to work every day and supported their families. Small towns like Liberty in Randolph County, with its empty factories on the main railroad line downtown, hold out hope that one day a big car company will decide to build a plant at the Greensboro-Randolph Megasite just a few miles away. Greensboros White Oak Denim plant, the oldest of its kind in the country, has survived by turning a common product into a fashion item knitting expensive jeans on old looms. Revolution Mill is now offices and apartments. Greensboro-High Point and all the other communities studied in the Brookings report cant be fixed with presidential pressure. Brookings and other experts say changes and improvements must filter deeply into the nations new economy. The business of export is now entwined with imports in a hundred different ways. Small companies are finding they can enter that system without big factories or even lots of employees. As big business copes with billion-dollar trade wars, those small companies may quietly keep products flowing through international channels. How do we create better jobs ... in the U.S. rather than presuppose were going to tax imports and erect trade barriers? asked Larry Chavis, an economist at the UNC-Chapel Hill Kenan-Flagler Business School. No solution is easy, Chavis said. There still is no free lunch no matter what you say, he said. There certainly would be winners from a trade war, but there will be losers and the losers might certainly outnumber the winners. CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwired - Feb 20, 2017) - Mkango Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:MKA)(AIM:MKA) (the "Corporation" or "Mkango") is pleased to announce the results of its annual general meeting of shareholders held on February 16, 2017 (the "Meeting"). All business put forth at the Meeting was approved by the shareholders of the Corporation, including: re-election of Derek Linfield, William Dawes, Alexander Lemon, David Berg, Eugene Chen and Adrian Reynolds as Directors of the Corporation; re-appointment of Meyers Norris Penny LLP as auditors of the Corporation; approval of the stock option plan of the Corporation in accordance with the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange. On behalf of the Board of Mkango Resources Ltd., William Dawes, Chief Executive Officer Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This news release may contain forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are based will occur. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve numerous assumptions, known and unknown risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, that contribute to the possibility that the predictions, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will not occur, which may cause actual performance and results in future periods to differ materially from any estimates or projections of future performance or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors and risks include, without limiting the foregoing, delays in obtaining financing or governmental or stock exchange approvals. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release. Except as required by law, the Company disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. Additionally, the Company undertakes no obligation to comment on the expectations of, or statements made by, third parties in respect of the matters discussed above. The TSX Venture Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any equity or other securities of the Company in the United States. The securities of the Company will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") and may not be offered or sold within the United States to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons except in certain transactions exempt from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act. BEIJING, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- It is full steam ahead for China's railway sector as construction on 35 new railway projects will start in 2017 as the country plans to expand the network, according to a recent report in Xinhua-run Economic Information Daily. Construction will begin on 2,100 km of new rail line, 2,500 km of double-track lines and 4,000 km of electrified railways this year, the report cited unnamed authorities as saying. To achieve the targets, China Railway Corp. (CRC) has been assigned a budget of 800 billion yuan (116.8 billion U.S. dollars) by the central government, the same as in 2016. The vice minister of transport, Yang Yudong, disclosed earlier that China will spend 3.5 trillion yuan on railway construction during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020). By 2020, China will have increased the length of high-speed railways in operation to 30,000 kilometers, connecting more than 80 percent of its big cities. By the end of 2016, China had a 124,000 km railway network, featuring the world's largest high-speed rail network of more than 22,000 km. While the vast network has enhanced connectivity in large swathes of the country, construction lags behind in the less developed western regions. The government wants to address this gap. Much of this year's construction projects will happen in China's central and western regions, to support the wider poverty-relief campaign, according to CRC. VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Feb. 20, 2017) - NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES Rapier Gold Inc. (TSX VENTURE:RPR) (the "Company") is pleased to announce a non-brokered private placement of non-flow through units (the "NFT Units") and flow through units (the "FT Units") on a best efforts basis at a price of $0.10 per Non-Flow Through Unit (the "NFT Units") and $0.115 per Flow Through Unit (the "FT Units") for aggregate proceeds of up to $2,500,000 (the "Offering"). Each of the NFT units and FT Units will include a transferable common share purchase warrant that will entitle the holder to purchase one common share at an exercise price of $0.15 for a period of 24 months. The Company reserves the right to increase the size of the private placement or to modify the type, nature and/or price of the units for any reason. The Offering and any modification to it are subject to compliance with applicable securities laws and approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. The Company may pay finders' fees in accordance with the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange. The shares will be subject to a statutory four-month hold period. Secutor Capital Management Corp., as well as other parties, are acting as finders on this financing. The proceeds from the issuance of the FT Units will be used to incur Canadian Exploration Expenses on the Issuer's Pen Gold Project located in the Province of Ontario, and the proceeds from the NFT Units will be used by the issuer for general working capital. The results of the Company's summer exploration program and winter drilling program were summarized in detail in the Company's news release dated December 6, 2016. Diamond drilling work permits are in place and Rapier has finalized a winter drill program of approx. 3,000 m in three areas of the Pen Gold Project; Area 1 - Nib Yellowknife Area - exploration extensions of anomalous values and determine what the width and possible strike length are, once attitude of mineralization is determined. 3-4 holes Area 2- Broadsword Area - Determine if grade and thickness warrant further work. 2-3 holes Area 3 - Talc Mine Area - 5-7 holes to explore extension of New Vein Zone from hole PG13-108 Follow up for Areas 1 - 3. 10 holes; these will be allocated depending on results from the previous drilling. Targets along the Eastgate-Westgate and Porphyry trends will be investigated during the program and drill holes diverted there if warranted. The three areas are shown in Appendix 1. High resolution aero magnetics will be flown in late winter to early spring over the Pen Gold South and newly staked grounds, totally over 12,000 hectares, to complete the geophysics coverage and to aid in geological interpretation and exploration targeting for the 2017 summer field season. Speaking of the financing, Roger Walsh, the Company's President, stated, "The Company's exploration strategy has been in process since early last year where the summer exploration program, designed to deliver high value drill targets, would be funded by capital raising in late 2016. This is consistent with the corporate presentations and information provided to the market and shareholders. There has been a significant delay in raising this funding which is directly attributable to the Company providing exclusivity to a company that presented a business transaction. In compliance with the conditions of that exclusivity, the Company refrained from raising funds while the Special Committee evaluated a proposal for a potential business transaction." See news release of February 15, 2017. Certain directors and officers of the Company may acquire securities under the private placement. Such participation is considered to be a "related party transaction" as defined under Multilateral Instrument 61-101 ("MI 61-101"). The transaction will be exempt from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 as neither the fair market value of any shares issued to or the consideration paid by such persons will exceed 25% of the Company's market capitalization. Gary Wong, P. Eng., Vice-President Exploration of the Company, and a Qualified Person under the definition in National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical content of this release. Pen Gold Project Summary The Company's activities are exclusively focused on exploring the Pen Gold Project, comprising approximately 19,333 hectares (approximately 193 sq. km.) located on Highway 101, 75 km south west of Timmins, Ontario. (See Appendix 2). The project is approximately 45 km southwest of Tahoe Resources Timmins West Mine and the recently discovered 144 Exploration Area. Tahoe Resources (formerly Lakeshore Gold) are conducting an extensive exploration program on 144 Exploration Area, which is outlined in a very comprehensive section of the company's website: http://www.lsgold.com/Mines-Projects-Properties/Review-of-Properties/Timmins-West-complex/144-Gap-Zone-Discovery/default.aspx The Pen Gold Project is located approximately 85 km northeast of Goldcorp's Borden Gold Project. In March 2015 Goldcorp acquired this project in the takeover of Probe Mines for $526 million. Goldcorp are actively advancing the Borden Gold Project as a source of ore for the 11,000 tpd Dome Mill, located 160 km away in Timmins. The Pen Gold Project appears to be on the western extension of the Porcupine-Destor Fault Zone (PDFZ), one of the most productive gold structures in the world. This fault zone extends east into Quebec and hosts many of the largest and most famous gold mines in Canada. The Timmins Camp has produced approximately 72.5 million ounces of gold to date. Probe Metals acquired the Ivanhoe Project located to the west of Rapier's Pen Gold Project and the West Porcupine and Ross Properties to the east of the Pen Gold Project. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Roger Walsh, President & CEO Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of any securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or the securities laws of any state of the United States and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for the account or the benefit of, any person in the United States unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or pursuant to an exemption from such registration requirements. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements: Certain disclosure in this release constitutes forward-looking statements. In making the forward-looking statements in this release, the Company has applied certain factors and assumptions that are based on the Company's current beliefs as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company, including that the Company is able to procure personnel, equipment and supplies required for its exploration activities in sufficient quantities and on a timely basis and that actual results of exploration activities are consistent with management's expectations. Although the Company considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to it, they may prove to be incorrect, and the forward-looking statements in this release are subject to numerous risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause future results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. Such risk factors include, among others, that actual results of the Company's exploration activities will be different than those expected by management and that the Company will be unable to obtain financing, or will experience delays in obtaining any required government approvals or be unable to procure required equipment and supplies in sufficient quantities and on a timely basis. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to, update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. To view Appendix 1, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1086340Appendix1.jpg. To view Appendix 2, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1086340Appendix2.jpg. [File photo] At the 53rd Munich Security Conference (MSC), a major global forum for the discussion of security policy, Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi gave a keynote speech about adhering to the concept of cooperation and making the right choice. During his speech, Wang talked about the importance of strengthening cooperation between major powers; particularly China and the U.S., saying that bilateral relations between the two countries are one of the most important in the world. Given that importance, the U.S. should do all it can to work with China as a partner on the world stage to build a new model of relations. It is in the interest of the U.S. to embrace a new model of major country relations, and abandon the old model that places fear and competition over trust and cooperation. At a meeting of G20 foreign ministers in Bonn, Germany, shortly before Wang Yis speech at MSC, Wang and his U.S. counterpart Rex Tillerson met on the sidelines, and they both agreed that bilateral relations should be strengthened. At both meetings, China signaled its readiness to work with the new administration on moving the bilateral relationship forward in a new direction that features no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect, and win-win cooperation. There is no strong evidence to support the assumption made by some scholars that the new model is a trap. The new model proposal is a reasonable solution to a difficult problem in international relations. The Trump Administration should reject the argument that Chinas vision for a new model of relations is merely a power play intended to gain position on the international stage. The concept is a rational starting point for major powers including China and the U.S. to build a peaceful and stable world order. In March 2014, Former U.S. President Barack Obama recognized the potential of the concept for future peace and prosperity. President Xi and I are both committed to continuing to strengthen and build a new model of relations between our countries, Obama said. Today, the China-U.S. relationship is at a crossroads, and the Trump Administration must choose between cooperation and competition. It is in Americas national interest to move the bilateral relationship forward in a promising direction by fully embracing the concept of a new model of major power relations. Security should be inclusive, not exclusive. Fu Ying, Chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Peoples Congress, stressed at a sub-forum of the MSC that tension in the Asia-Pacific has been rising over the years in part because there is concern on the U.S. side that China is competing with it for leadership in the region. In fact, the U.S. just recently deployed an aircraft carrier strike group to the South China Sea for routine patrols. At the heart of the debate is the question of exclusive or inclusive security, Fu said. For the U.S., military alliances are the linchpin of security and stability in the region. However, this old-model approach fails to take into consideration the security of all regional partners by making the U.S. and its allies secure at the cost of non-allies. When everybody feels secure, then there is security, Fu said. There is a powerful assumption in international relations that a rising power and an existing power are in some manner destined for conflict, and there are historical cases that support this claim. But it is wrong and dangerous to assume that relations between major countries are based on some immutable law of physics. To avoid the Thucydides Trap and advance the national interest, the U.S. will need to fully embrace the concept of a new model of major country relations, which places cooperation over competition and is the right choice. On Friday, in the morning, His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC and Mrs Kaye de Jersey departed Brisbane for an official visit to the Gold Coast, including a visit to Murwillumbah, New South Wales. Following, at Tweed Regional Gallery, Murwillumbah, the Governor and Mrs de Jersey received a briefing and toured the Margaret Olley Art Centre and Gallery exhibitions. In the afternoon, at Rainbow Bay, Gold Coast, the Governor, with Mrs de Jersey, officially opened the St Georges Defence Holiday Suites and The Garland Apartments and addressed guests, before returning to Brisbane. Earlier in the day, while the Governor was in New South Wales, the Honourable Justice Robert Gotterson AO assumed duty as Acting Governor of Queensland. On Sunday, in the morning, at the Shrine of Remembrance, ANZAC Square, Brisbane, His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC and Mrs Kaye de Jersey attended the 75th Anniversary Service commemorating the Fall of Singapore and laid the first wreath. Description GIS 20 February, 2017: A capacity-building process, aiming to empower the National Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Foundation to deliver efficiently its mandate in offering programmes and designing projects for the benefit of individuals and families registered under the Social Register of Mauritius and of vulnerable groups, will start shortly. As such, the capacity-building process as well as the Charter of the Foundation were among the main topics discussed during the first meeting of the Council of the National CSR Foundation on 8 February 2017. Programmes and projects for the vulnerable will cover the following priority areas: Socio-economic development as a means for poverty alleviation Educational support and training Social housing Supporting people with disabilities Dealing with health problems Family protection including gender-based violence Leisure and sports Environment and sustainable development Peace and nation-building Road safety and Security The Council meeting has taken the following decisions: setting up of an HR sub-Committee to define staffing requirements and recommend relevant procedures; a Finance and Audit sub-Committee to define the procedures for collection and disbursement of funds; and a Project Management sub-Committee to define procedures to establish and update a register of NGOs, request and examine call for proposals and monitor and evaluate CSR programmes. The National CSR Foundation will serve as a platform for coordination and communication among all stakeholders. The next meeting of the Council is scheduled for 23 February 2017. CSR Framework It is recalled that after careful consideration of the representations received and after an assessment of the current system, a new CSR Framework was announced in Budget 2016/17 with a view to ensuring greater transparency and better outcomes in the implementation of CSR programmes. Accordingly, a National CSR Foundation has been set up and is managed jointly by the public and private sectors. Businesses are thus required to contribute at least 50% of their CSR money to that National Foundation, and this contribution will go up to at least 75% the following year. The remaining balance may be used to implement their CSR programmes in accordance with their existing framework. The NGOs will therefore continue to benefit from contributions from the private sector. Any unspent balance from the 50 percent will be channelled to the National CSR Foundation. Description GIS - 20 February, 2017: KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is to introduce a direct flight from Amsterdam to Mauritius in cooperation with Air Mauritius as from end of October 2017. Through this cooperation KLM and Air Mauritius can provide a year-round product for the customers. This was announced on Friday 17 February 2017 by the Ambassador of the Netherlands, Mr Jaap Frederiks, following a courtesy call on the Prime Minister, Mr Pravind Jugnauth, at the New Treasury Building in Port Louis. Mr Frederiks recalled that the bilateral relations between Mauritius and the Netherlands are very strong, while pointing out that the addition of the Amsterdam-Mauritius route to the network opens news prospects for Mauritius and its development objectives not only for the Dutch market but also to the whole of Europe using the extensive network of KLM. The recent developments in the world, especially the consequences of Brexit, were also on the agenda. Discussions also focused on the call from the African Union for Member States to withdraw from the International Criminal Court. The Ambassador of the Netherlands appealed to the Mauritian Prime Minister to speak out in favour of the Court. Description GIS 20 February 2017 : A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) providing for, among others, capacity building of local healthcare professionals, primarily in neuro-intervention surgery, neurosurgery, transplantation, bone marrow transplants, paediatric surgery and cardiac electrophysiology was signed on 17 February 2017 in Port Louis between the Ministry of Health and Quality of Life and Artemis Medicare Services Limited of India, which is engaged in the business of managing and operating multispecialty hospital. The signatories were Mr Girish Gunesh, Senior Chief Executive at the Ministry of Health and Quality of Life, and Dr Devlina Chakravarty, Executive Director and CEO of Artemis Hospitals. The ceremony was held in the presence of the Minister of Health and Quality of Life, Dr Anwar Husnoo. The Minister expressed satisfaction with the signature of the MoU, which he said, is in line with Governments endeavours to give high quality basic and specialised health services to the population. He added that while health care at primary and secondary levels in Mauritius are satisfactory, tertiary health care level can be improved, thus the necessity for cooperation and assistance from multispeciality institutions. According to the MoU, Artemis Hospitals will arrange for the transfer of know-how, through training programmes in India, of medical and paramedical personnel in neurosurgery intervention, neuro intensive care unit or post neurosurgery rehabilitation. The MoU also paves the way for neurosurgery specialists from Artemis Hospitals to attend to any emergency case in Mauritius within 72-hour advance notification. This measure is in linewith the Ministrys endeavour to have international medical experts to come to Mauritius to perform complex surgeries instead of sending patients overseas for treatments not available in the country. According to the MoU, some complex cases will also be referred to Artemis Hospitals in India, under the Overseas Treatment Scheme. In addition, the MoU makes provision for the Ministry of Health and Quality of Life to enlist the support of Artemis Medicare Services Limited for the setting up of an autologous Bone Marrow Transplant Unit in Mauritius so as to facilitate the treatment of a rising number of patients suffering from blood cancer, such as leukaemia, blood related complications, or haemophilia, which for the time being necessitate overseas treatment. Artemis Medicare Services Limited has established a chain of hospitals known as Artemis Hospital in India. The Hospitals have a pool of specialised doctors and provide advanced and comprehensive tertiary medical care services in multiple areas of healthcare including neuro-interventional surgery, neurosurgery, cardiovascular diseases, oncology orthopaedics/musculoskeletal disease, obstetrics, organ and tissue transplantation. The need for increased capacity building of local health professionals through continuous medical education is in line with Governments policy for the local health services to come to the level that maybe commensurate with the vision of making Mauritius a centre of excellence for treatment of patients, both at the local and regional level. ISECOM This was another productive (but exhausting) week at the RSA Conference (RSAC) in San Francisco. Interesting topics ranged from the surprising call from Bruce Schneiers to regulate the Internet of Things (IoT) to new ways ransomware could poison your towns water supply to moving beyond fear to add better security with fewer products. The global cyberextravaganza at RSAC was again broader and more overwhelming than last year if that is even possible.Nevertheless, I was drawn to the back to basics messages being offered on the second floor of Moscone West at the RSA Conferences Cyber Village. The extensive set of displays, presentations (called the RSAC CyberSafety Program), handouts, tutorials, Web links and more, offered a refreshing set of practical guides to help everyone from cybergeeks to worried parents.The Cyber Village was developed in a joint partnership with the RSA Conference and the National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCSA). Besides the descriptions and tips offered in this blog, you can visit www.rsaconference.com/safe to learn more about the overall program. Heres an excerpt from the introduction at the website:The NCSA website at www.staysafeonline.org offers a vast array of fantastic programs, such as Stop.Think.Connect, National Cyber Security Awareness Month and Data Privacy Day. The portal provides many videos, guides, posters and more to help.Here are a few of the new things I learned at this years RSA Conference Cyber Village.One the biggest (positive) surprises in the Cyber Village came from an overview and several discussions surrounding the Hacker Highschool . Heres a brief summary from their website:At the Cyber Village Hacker Highschool display, I was able to meet Pete Herzog, the co-founder and managing director of Hacker Highschool. Pete explained the history of Hacker Highschool, which goes back more than a decade. HHS is a global organization, and the concept is especially popular in Europe. He also said that the biggest difference between HHS and the many different cybercompetitions around the country (and world) is that HHS teaches the concepts much better rather than relying on parents and others who may not have the needed skills to teach those who participate in competitions.Pete acknowledged the urgent need for both HHS and cybercompetitions as well. The one big difference seems to be that HHS teaches offensive as well as defensive hacking techniques, which several other programs do not (only teaching defensive measures.) Petes views on this were that ethics and responsible hacking are central themes in their curriculum, and that teens need to (and will) learn both.You can learn more about Pete, ISECOM.org and the Hacker Highschool in this interview from securityaffairs blog.Other displays within the Cyber Village at RSA offered handouts and links to websites that allow organizations and parents to partner in many ways with NCSA. There were many brief videos with passionate parents pointing to practical ways to help your children be safe in cyberspace.Some of these helpful resources include tip sheets, infographics and recent surveys and studies on how to protect yourself online. There were pleas from many volunteers to become passionate parents that help your children to be safe online. The key messages: get involved, help others and help others in your community. There are many ways to volunteer at schools and with several NCSA partners, so I encourage you to visit the website to see how you can help.NCSA was selected by SC Magazine for the Editors Choice Award this years ceremony . This is a major industry accomplishment, and the picture below shows NCSA Executive Director Michael Kaiser receiving the award.Here is a recent video interview with Kaiser on Data Privacy Day in San Francisco.Overall, this RSAC Cyber Village offered a true highlight at the RSA 2017 Conference. I only wish that the Cyber Village was available to a much wider audience as it required a full conference badge to visit the displays in Moscone West.There were workshops from industry leaders, as well as hands-on demonstrations from passionate parents.If you didnt get to see the Cyber Village this time, I urge you to take the time to visit in 2018. Better yet, visit these online resources now.Whether you are trying help your children, students in your community, your small business or others be safe in cyberspace, you'll be glad you came across these helpful online resources. I certainly am. There has been a great debate about the militarization of law enforcement in the United States. There are two reasons for the "up armoring" of police from all levels of government. One is the types of weapons that are now in the hands of both criminal elements and terrorists. Our police should not be "under" armed when facing armed individuals bent on doing harm to law abiding people. Thus, the old shotgun has been replaced in police cruisers with AR-15 or derivative thereof. A civilian SWAT might look very similar to an Army special operations team.Then there is the availability of military surplus equipment from the two most recent wars. That availability has made the it enticing to departments looking to add equipment to their inventory of capabilities. Even rural departments have taken advantage of this type of equipment.Then I saw an advertisement for Armored Cars inmagazine. Are we about to move from having mobile command posts to needing armored SUVs to perform our emergency management mission? China cannot go it alone in trying to get Pyongyang back to the negotiating table over the nuclear issue, and while it can mediate, both Washington and Pyongyang should think about accommodating each other's positions, experts said. Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said at the 53rd Munich Security Conference in Germany on Friday, in reference to the Korean Peninsula nuclear crisis, "there is still a chance of resuming negotiations; the hope for peace still exists." Wang said that China will uphold the UN Security Council-led sanctions, but also stressed that all parties should not give up the fight to resume negotiations. Since the Six-Party Talks were halted in 2009, the situation has been in a vicious circle with repeated "nuclear tests and sanctions," Wang said. The Chinese foreign ministry said that Wang reiterated this message when he met with South Korean counterpart Yun Byung-se on the sidelines of the Munich conference on Saturday. The Six-Party Talks, involving China, DPRK, the U.S., South Korea, Russia and Japan, were a multilateral mechanism aimed at solving the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue. The talks began in 2003 and stalled in December 2008, with Pyongyang quitting the process in 2009. Jin Canrong, associate dean of the School of International Studies at the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times that "Wang's statement shows China has the will and determination to solve the problem peacefully," adding that it is "also a response to the U.S." U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Friday urged China to "use all available tools" to moderate DPRK's behavior which will further destabilize regional peace after the latest missile test by Pyongyang, when he met Wang in Munich, Tillerson's spokesman Mark Toner said. Since the U.S. urges China to use all available tools, China believes there is no tool better than multilateral negotiations, Jin said. "Unlike the U.S., China doesn't have multiple choices for a solution. Apart from negotiations, the U.S. finds regime change, internal collapse and military strikes all acceptable, but China will not risk other measures which might bring military conflict, especially so close to our borders," Jin noted. Need for compromise "Subjectively, we can see there is the possibility of resuming the Six-Party Talks. New U.S. President Donald Trump wants to change his predecessor's policy [of strategic patience] and has the will to solve the problem, rather than simply ignore DPRK's desire," said Lu Chao, a research fellow at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences. There will be a power shift in South Korea in mid-year, with hard-liners not so popular as before, Lu said. "Pragmatic, dovish political groups and politicians are increasingly popular, such as Moon Jae-in, the Democratic United Party's candidate for president," he said. Jin said he feels that the sanctions will be effective in making Pyongyang think twice about its behavior, especially the coal sanctions, which normally form about 20 percent of the country's exports to China. From Sunday, China banned all imports of coal from DPRK. As for Russia and Japan, their basic claims on the issue have not changed, and they will support a resumption in talks if other parties do, Lu said. Any international response to the recent missile launch should be made jointly within the UN framework or the Six-Party Talks, and "unilateral actions" will only ratchet up the already high tensions, Konstantin Kosachev, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Russian upper house of parliament, was quoted by the RIA Novosti agency as saying on Sunday. "Objectively, the resumption of Six-Party Talks is not very likely now. It needs cooperation and compromise from both the U.S. and DPRK," said Wang Junsheng, a research fellow on Korean studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "DPRK wants everyone to acknowledge it as a nuclear state, but the U.S. needs DPRK to abandon its nuclear program and won't guarantee not to use military options to solve the problem," he noted. Less than three months after the chequered flag in 2016, F1 is set to burst back into life. Images of the new Williams have already been revealed, and 'launch season' will begin in earnest on Monday, beginning with Sauber and then continuing right up until the start of winter testing in Barcelona in one week. "They look pretty cool," Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said, referring to the new generation, much faster breed of 2017 cars. "The cars look spectacular from the front and the rear, and with the fat tyres it's a bit retro, a bit 80s," he is quoted by the German news agency DPA. Looks aside, strong advocates for the switch in emphasis from power to aerodynamics, like Red Bull's Dr Helmut Marko, think the change will be good for F1. "I think we will see spectacular overtaking," he told Auto Motor und Sport. "But to say that it is exactly what we are wanting is difficult. Judging by the simulations, different scenarios are possible so we'll see. "In any case, the value of the driver skill will increase," Marko added. He thinks a lot will depend on Pirelli, the official supplier of F1's new, bigger and grippier tyres. "If the tyres are really high quality, it will allow one driver to chase another finally. Previously this was not possible because it immediately begin to wear the front tyres, breaking the balance of the car," said Marko. (GMM) [File photo] Chinese experts and media outlets have called for the implementation of clear regulations on China's drone industry, as recent incidents stemming from unregulated flights have been deemed by many as a threat to the countrys air safety. The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) industry has been developing at a fast pace in recent years. According to Zhejiang-based Morning Express, there are over 100,000 drones in China in 2015, with the number multiplying each year. China also granted an export license for its CH-5 combat drone, believed to be one of the most powerful drones in the world, in November 2016. But the booming industry has also brought certain hazards to domestic aviation. In January, an amateur aviation enthusiast in Xiaoshan, Zhejiang province was detained by local police after using a drone to record footage of a descending airliner. The footage, which shows the UAV flying near the passenger plane, sparked public condemnation, with many arguing that the countrys lax supervision of UAVs could jeopardize both civil and military aviation. The reality is, many drones in China are owned by individuals, many of whom have no professional license. Without a regulation tailored to the current situation, many of the most severe air security issues cannot be addressed, said Simon Huang, a Beijing-based drone pilot. Unregulated market China accounts for over 70 percent of the worlds civil drone market, Gao Yuanyang, director of aviation industry research at Beihang University, told the Beijing Evening News. A search for the keyword drone yields more than 7,500 results on JD.com, one of Chinas biggest online shopping websites, with prices ranging from 390,000 RMB to just 25 RMB. Buyers are not required to produce any sort of certification before purchasing a drone. Most of our buyers are young people who use the drones to take pictures and videos. Some of them just buy the aircraft for fun, a seller surnamed Chen in Changsha, Hunan province told Peoples Daily Online, adding that buyers can fly the drones without any restrictions. The lacks of specific regulations and easy access to drones have led to plenty of unnerving incidents. In May 2016, a UAV flew into Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport in Sichuan province, which temporarily brought all runway operations to halt and delayed 55 flights. Illegal operation of UAVs has also done damage to wildlife. In 2016, authorities in Qinghai province banned the use of drones to photograph wildlife around Qinghai Lake, after several unauthorized drones disrupted wild birds living environment. A number of airports and nature reserves have declared war on illegal drones flights. In February, Kunming Changshui International Airport in Yunnan province launched a hotline for callers to exchange tips and other intelligence on unauthorized drone pilots for cash, the Global Times reported. But such regional regulations cannot eliminate all the hazards caused by illegal drone flights. A more specific national regulation should be launched to tackle the problem, Huang said. Legal loopholes The soaring popularity of UAVs has been registered by Chinese authorities. In July 2016, the Civil Aviation Administration of China released a new regulation on drones, including requirements for operators and introducing a cloud system on which key flight data will be recorded. But the regulation remains controversial, as it stipulates that drones with a vacant weight of fewer than 4 kilograms and a takeoff weight of no more 7 kilograms do not require a license. According to the regulation, tests of drones in remote and sparsely populated areas also do not require approval from the authorities, though a classification system for such areas has yet to be published. Experts told the Beijing Evening News that such loopholes could allow drones to sneak into no-fly zones, further proving the need for a unified supervision system. A Chinese shipping company has failed to pay the salaries of 25 crew members for over one year. The crew has been stuck on a ship anchored in Peru for nearly two years. The company, Qingdao Enli International Shipping Agency Ltd., also confiscated crew members' passports, claiming that they had to remain on board to ensure the safety of the vessel, Beijing News reported. Wang Xin, a member of the crew since January 2015, told Beijing News that there are currently 35 people working on the ship, including 10 Russians and 25 Chinese. The company owes the Chinese crew members a total of 1.8 million RMB, as payment of their salaries has been withheld for over 13 months. The first few months we were on board, the company regularly deposited our salaries into our bank accounts, but then started withholding the money. We havent received a penny since February 2016, said Wang, who added that the two-year contracts of nine crew members had already expired. The ship, named Da Manzaihao, was reportedly blacklisted by the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization for illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in January 2015. The crew confirmed that the ship has been anchored off the coast of Peru for two years, during which time it has not carried out any maritime operations, Beijing News reported. The report noted that the company has been sending food and supplies to the ship on a monthly basis. In response to the crews accusations, Tian Shude, a representative of the shipping company, told Beijing News that the late payment is due to the companys tight budget. He said the company is working on resolving the issue, and expects to do so soon. Liu Yushuai, a representative of the company's maritime department, claimed that the crew cannot come back to China at the moment, as safety protocol requires a certain number of sailors on board to ensure the vessel's safety. (file photo) The volume of trade between China and Latin America totaled $216.6 billion in 2016, and Latin America's exports to China remained generally stable. The Chinese market is working as an essential "stabilizer" for foreign trade in Latin America, and China will be an important trade partner for Latin America in the future, according to a UN official. Osvaldo Rosales, director of the International Trade and Integration Division of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), spoke with People's Daily about China's role in Latin American development. China-Latin America trade has entered an adjustment period Trade between China and Latin America has seen rapid growth in the new century. The volume of trade in 2016 was 16 times higher than in 2000, accounting for 6 percent of China's total foreign trade volume, a growth of 3.3 percent. China has become the largest trade partner of many countries in Latin America. As the world's second largest economy and a key engine in the global economy, China's development has provided a number of opportunities for Latin America, said Marcelo Fernandez, Ecuador's former deputy minister for foreign affairs. A recent report from China's Ministry of Commerce indicates that China's investment in Latin America has become diversified. Statistics show that China's non-financial direct investment in Latin America is $29.8 billion. With the continued emergence of large-scale mergers and acquisitions, investment has moved beyond the traditional fields of energy, mineral resources and infrastructure to agriculture, manufacturing, information, e-commerce, air transport and more. Inject positive energy into China-Latin America trade In the long run, a variety of factors have injected new impetus into China-Latin American trade. Free trade agreements and cooperation have improved bilateral trade. Since 2006, China has signed free trade agreements with Chile, Peru and Costa Rica. At present, China is promoting free trade agreements with Colombia and Uruguay. China-Latin America forum, bilateral economic and trade consultation and new Chinese policies have all played major roles in boosting bilateral trade. Paulo Wrobel, Brazilian professor of international relations at Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, believes that China's proposal of constructing a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) is also good news for Latin America, as it would strengthen regional economic cooperation and promote "Belt and Road" construction. A report released recently by the UN predicted that Latin America will emerge from its recession and achieve a growth of 1.3 percent in 2017, which would create a favorable environment for trade. The essential importance of the Chinese market China's increasing investment in Latin America directly promotes the expansion of bilateral trade and improved trade structure. It also enhances China's competitiveness in Latin America. Affected by the Brazilian economic crisis, China-Brazil trade has declined in recent years. However, the importance of the Chinese market is still undeniable. Recent data from Brazil's Ministry of Agriculture reveals that China's total imports of Brazilian agricultural products amounted to $20.83 billion, which means that China remains Brazil's largest importer of agricultural products. Official statistics from Brazil indicate that Brazil's investment in China was $19 million in 2016, a slight increase from 2015. Over the same period, Chinese companies increased their investment in Brazil, with annual investment of more than $10 billion and a total investment of more than $30 billion. Xia Xiaoling, economic and commercial ministerial counselor for the Chinese embassy in Brazil, told People's Daily that China has been Brazil's largest trade partner since 2009. There are currently more than 200 Chinese-funded enterprises in Brazil, doing business in the oil, mining, electricity, manufacturing, financial, agricultural, wholesale and retail industries. Mutual investment will become an important driving force for the development of bilateral economic and trade cooperation. According to Wrobel, the Brazilian government attaches great importance to foreign investment--especially Chinese investment--when it comes to pushing forward Brazil's economic development. The Investment Partnership Program promoted by Brazilian President Michel Temer will push bilateral trade between China and Brazil to the next level. Thousands of demonstrators across US say 'Not My President' (Xinhua) 19:07, February 20, 2017 China's civil aviation sector posted strong growth in passenger trips and cargo transportation in 2016, official data showed Monday. Air passenger trips rose 11.8 percent year on year to 487.8 million last year, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). That growth was faster than the 11.3 percent increase recorded in 2015 and the annual average rate of 10.4 percent between 2010 and 2015. Passenger trips made on domestic routes increased 10.7 percent year on year to 436 million in 2016, while those made on international routes surged 22.7 percent to 51.6 million. During the same period, cargo and mail transportation reached 6.7 million tonnes, up 6 percent year on year. China ranks second in the world in terms of passenger and cargo turnover by air, behind the United States. The country aims to build 44 new airports and complete construction of 30 airports in the 2016-2020 period, most in the mid-west regions,according to a plan released by the CAAC last week. Two years after states around the country passed an unprecedented number of police reforms after the killing of George Floyd, some are struggling to make the new policies stick. The momentum for change has slowed from its earlier frenetic pace. Some of the reforms have been rolled back or at least tweaked after police complained that the new policies were hindering their ability to catch criminals. Legal experts say police killings of Black people over the last decade epitomized by Floyds killing have altered the trajectory of policing. But change has come about unevenly in thousands of police departments across the U.S. Generalizations are always wrong. Sure, that's a self-contradictory statement but I put plenty of stock in it. So I cringe whenever I read statements like: "Liberals typically argue with emotional appeals, while conservatives are persuaded by reason and evidence." During the 2016 presidential campaign, the "conservative" candidate depended almost entirely on "emotional appeals," particularly fear. As president, he's still at at. Fear of immigrants, fear of terrorism, fear of crime. Rather than present "reason and evidence" to stir up fear, he and his staff often make up their own "facts." Such as, the U.S. murder rate is the highest in 47 years. Or "bad people" are flooding into our country. Or terrorist attacks like the "Bowling Green massacre" and whatever happened in Sweden the other night are being covered up. If you're not afraid enough, the president says, it's because the "dishonest media" aren't fully reporting all the news that should scare you. But he alone can fix all the problems. He can end crime very quickly, destroy ISIS very quickly, keep out all the terrorists, thanks to his "beautifully written" executive order (which is now being rewritten). Speaking of the executive order, the president's supporters justify it by citing a 1952 law that says: "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 key word is finds. A presidential finding requires more than a whim. In this case, the president could decide it is detrimental to allow entry into the country by men, or Catholics or anyone other than Eastern European supermodels. But he needs to support his finding with "reason and evidence." This is what the judges of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals repeatedly asked government lawyers to produce. But the administration had no "reason and evidence" to show it was necessary for national security to bar entry to everyone from the seven listed countries. In essence, the executive order was an "emotional appeal." If that's characteristic of liberals, perhaps the president's supporters have been fooled. New U.S. Rep. Ted Budd (R-13th District) plans to visit the International Civil Rights Center & Museum in downtown Greensboro this afternoon. Budd will tour the former Woolworth's store where the historic sit-ins occurred 57 years ago with sit-in participant Clarence Henderson, the congressman's office announced today. His visit is scheduled for 2:30 p.m., but it will not be open to the public, Budd's spokeswoman said. Budd recently joined with a fellow North Carolina officeholder, U.S. Rep. Alma Adams (D-12th District), in introducing a resolution honoring the significance of the Greensboro Four sit-in. (I've updated this post below.) My vision of a typical college alumni office is that its generally a happy place. In addition to setting up reunions and other events that remind alums of their halcyon college days, the alumni office also chronicles the lives of graduates: marriages, births, promotions, awards, transitions and other milestone. (Plus obituaries. I guess the alumni office does see its share of sorrow.) In that way, alumni offices play sort of a soft-focus propaganda role. By publishing magazines full of short blurbs and longer features about their accomplished grads, the alumni office implies that Flagship State U or Liberal Arts College played some sort of role in these personal achievements. P.S.: Send money. Every once in a while, however, an alum does something that probably wont show up in the alumni magazine. Davidson College grad Cameron Harris (class of 17) was featured recently in the New York Times for the fake news website he created last fall that carried a story (fake, too) about the discovery (not really discovered) of thousands of ballots for Hillary Clinton in an Ohio warehouse. Harris collected about $5,000 for the 15 minutes it took to write the story, which was shared with something like 6 million people. Harris' story was the poster child of the concept of fake news. Harris boss, a Maryland state lawmaker, didnt like the attention and fired his legislative aide. Davidson College President Carol Quillen didnt like the notoriety, either: She wrote to faculty, Please know that I hear and share your anger. Down in Durham, Duke Universitys most famous alum these days is Steven Miller (class of 07), one of the two Steves who are top aides to President Donald Trump. Most people hadnt really heard of Miller until last weekend, when he made the round of Sunday talk shows. (His performance was generally panned, and the Washington Post awarded him bushels of Pinocchios.) But the N&Os Jane Stancill was paying attention and put together this short profile a week earlier of Millers time at Duke, where he was a conservative columnist for the student newspaper and a staunch defender of the mens lacrosse team during the 2006 unpleasantness. Duke alums, like their brethren at Davidson, arent big fans of their classmate. Several hundred of them signed an open letter to Miller, saying that they see nothing in (his) actions that furthers the values of intellectual honesty, tolerance, diversity, and respect that we seek to promote in the world. I'm sure Duke's alumni office is looking forward to that 10-year reunion, which is set for April. For better or worse, the national media spotlight has found two recent graduates of North Carolina colleges. Just dont expect to read about either in their college alumni magazine. Update, 9:10 a.m. Monday: Speaking of alums who won't be written up in their alumni magazine, the president of Trinity Washington University in D.C. is taking shots at one of that college's alums, Kellyanne Conway, a spokeswoman for President Trump. Inside Higher Ed has the details. Conway, as you'd expect, is shooting back. Because it's D.C., the think tanks are involved. Wow. Want to make sure you see these blog posts? Like me on Facebook, and follow me on Twitter. Have something to say? Email me at john.newsom@greensboro.com. GREENSBORO Jurors found a Greensboro man affiliated with the Bloods gang guilty on Thursday in the 2015 shooting death of a rival gang member. Superior Court Judge Eric Morgan sentenced Juan Antonia Miller, 38, of 4241 Bernau Ave., Apt. G to life in prison after he was found guilty of killing 22-year-old Jamil Reese Jordan-Booker. Court records indicate that Jordan-Booker was a member of the Crips gang and had made threats to kill members of the Bloods. The court record identifies Miller as a member of the Bloods. Chief Assistant District Attorney Howard Neumann said Miller shot Jordan-Booker as they shared a ride home from a party on April 26, 2015. Neumann said the two men were not arguing when Miller fired the shot. It doesnt seem to take much anymore to cause someone to shoot someone else, Neumann said. Court records indicate what followed the shooting. A third man was driving Miller and Jordan-Booker home when the shooting occurred. Miller grabbed a gun that had been lying on Jordan-Bookers lap and ordered the driver to take him to another location to dump Jordan-Bookers body. The driver told Miller that he did not have enough gas, so Miller ordered him to drive to a Sheetz on Wendover Avenue. Greensboro Police viewed surveillance footage from the gas station that shows Jordan-Bookers body still inside the front seat of the vehicle while the witness and Miller pumped and paid for the gas. The court record states Miller told the witness to start driving toward Millers apartment. On the way, Miller dumped Jordan-Bookers body out of the car in front of 1912 Boulevard St. A family that lived on Boulevard Street found Jordan-Bookers body at 5:30 a.m. and called 911. Miller had taken the witness back to the witness own home and threatened to kill his family if he called the police. After taking Miller home, the witness did call police and reported what happened. He served as a key witness for Assistant District Attorney Chris Parrish. Miller was arrested the following day. Miller was represented by High Point attorney John Bryson. Chinese tourists were restricted to a room after they were denied entry to the Jeju Island of South Korea. [File photo: Xinhua] China has lodged a formal representation to the custom authority in Jeju, South Korea over the denial of entry to multiple Chinese tourists. Lately, an increasing number of tourists from China reportedly have been stranded on the Island and have been restricted in rooms after being denied entry into South Korea. A couple from Nantong, Jiangsu province told reporters that they were restricted in rooms at Jeju International Airport on February 16 to wait for a flight back to China and that some Chinese tourists in the rooms had been stranded there for 5 days. The Consulate-general of China in Jeju requested that authorities in South Korea secure the lawful rights of Chinese tourists and arrange for them to return to China as soon as possible. In the meantime, the consulate reminded potential Chinese tourists to Jeju Island to carefully read the requirements set by South Korean officials and to prepare accordingly. When met with unfair treatment or other conflicts, Chinese tourists were advised to collect evidence and contact the consulate for judicial solution. The consulate also promised to closely watch the development of the incidents and provide necessary help for Chinese citizens. This is not the first time that Chinese tourists to the Jeju Island were denied entry and restricted in rooms. During the national day holiday in 2016, hundreds of Chinese tourists met with the same problem. The Foreign Ministry of China in late October then released a statement on the official website of China Consulate Affaires, reminding Chinese tourists to Jeju Island of what was required of them during such a trip. Jeju Island is the only destination in South Korea that doesn't require visas from Chinese tourists. However, customs authorities in South Korea have also other detailed terms that could prevent a Chinese tourist from entering the country, according to South Korean laws. The nations largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group is requesting a federal investigation after death threats were made against the Muslim community during a meeting in Kernersville on Thursday. The meeting, attended by about 20 people at a seafood restaurant, included a focus on a supposed Muslim plot to conquer the United States, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). This allegation apparently incited violent ideas by some participants. My only recommendation is to start killing the hell out them, one Winston-Salem participant said, according to CAIR. Im ready to start taking people out. Shed some blood, too. The moderator at the meeting said people should be more concerned about Muslims who appear to be integrated into American society than other outwardly extremist groups, like ISIS, according to Triad City Beat, which reported on the meeting, saying it took place at Captain Toms Seafood. Members of the Washington, D.C.-based organization CAIR called for the FBI to investigate the meeting, especially on the heels of a terror attack on a mosque in Canada last month that killed six worshipers and wounded 17. A speaker at the meeting asserted that Muslim people had infiltrated high positions of influence, often behind the scenes, in government, academia, medicine, the media and the judiciary, according to the Triad City Beats account of the meeting. In reference to the comment of Muslim masterminds infiltrating the country, Khalid Griggs, imam of the Community Mosque of Winston-Salem, posted on Facebook: It must be emotionally painful to be that paranoid about a non-existent, made up threat. I shudder at the thought of my grandchildren potentially growing up in a hate-filled, xenophobic environment in 21st century America. Anti-Muslim groups have nearly tripled in the U.S. since 2015, according to a Southern Poverty Law Center study. Calls to violence against members of any minority group warrant a criminal investigation by state law enforcement authorities and the FBI, said Ibrahim Hooper, CAIRs national communications director. We call on President Trump to repudiate the growing bigotry in our nation targeting Muslims, Hispanics, immigrants, refugees and other minority groups. I was hung up on after 36 seconds when I called the Washington, D.C., office of my representative, Mark Walker. A woman answered the phone, and I began to politely explain that I have a pre-existing condition and would lose health insurance without the ACA. The phone went click while I was mid-sentence. Im extremely disappointed that Rep. Walkers office has so little respect for his constituents. A pleasant Ill take a note of that and a goodbye is not too much to ask of a staff member paid by the public. Walker was a pastor for 16 years, but he seems to have forgotten the Christian duty to love your neighbor when he went to D.C. Samantha Birchard Pittsboro Revolutionary What was old is new again. The massive Revolution Mill project in northeast Greensboro turns what once was a flannel mill into a place to live, work and play. The sprawling campus is an impressive sight for passing motorists on Yanceyville Street, 230,000 square feet of apartments, offices and restaurants. But the truest measure of its success will come one person at a time more specifically, one tenant at a time, and thats beginning to happen. On Feb. 1, the first residents began to move into Revolution Mill Apartments, and more have followed. Within the next six weeks, more than 60 residents are expected. The property has an impressive heritage. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. More significantly, it breathes new life into a part of town that has needed it for years. To be sure, the rental rates are not exactly cheap, ranging from $750 to $1,700 per month. But a limited number of units also have been set aside at more moderate rates. And the residences will be complemented by other attractions, including a Natty Greenes Kitchen and Market, a pizzeria and a coffee shop, all of which are expected to open this spring. The word transformative probably has been overused to describe new developments in Greensboro. But this one truly has that kind of potential. Its encouraging to see the old mill humming again. Shelter incentive plan If a dog or cat that isnt spayed or neutered is running loose, thats a problem for everyone. It its picked up and brought to the Guilford County Animal Shelter, theres an opportunity to correct the problem. The shelter charges a higher reclamation fee if the animal is not spayed or neutered. Now that fee is going to increase from $40 to $75 for the first offense but with an offer that should not be refused. If the owner fixes his or her pet, the shelter will pay a $50 rebate. This is an incentive program, County Commissioner Justin Conrad says. There should be penalties for letting pets run at large and for letting them add to the overpopulation of unwanted animals. This plan may help advance positive objectives without adding to the countys costs. It is worth a try. Thats a wrap A few years ago, North Carolina hosted many television and movie productions, thanks to a competitive tax break. No more. The legislature eliminated the tax break in favor of a modest grant program. The N.C. Department of Commerce reports that three productions will qualify for a total of about $11 million in grants this year and return about $46 million in benefits to the state. One is the TNT series Good Behavior starring Michelle Dockery. Its second season will be shot in Wilmington. The payback would seem to justify more generous incentives. While its good to see some success, North Carolina is losing business to other states, notably Georgia. We should do better. Sloppy civil servants Clean up after yourselves. If wed had a quarter for every time our mothers told us that when we were growing up, many of us might be millionaires. But the lesson apparently didnt stick with some state workers, who left all types of things in files and drawers when discarding their old desks. Among the items they neglected to remove: boxes of ammunition, a birth certificate, photocopies of obscene jokes, an order form for pornographic movies (with the workers name on it), bank statements and love letters. Fortunately, the people who clean up behind the people who were supposed to clean up appear to have done a good job. Most, if not all, sensitive items were gathered and put in a safe place. But you do have to wonder how so many people could be so careless. The evidence not only exposes horrible housekeeping, but even worse judgment. By the way, the compromising private items were returned to them ... via their bosses. No excuse for violence UNC-Chapel Hill officials are right to take seriously some crudely drawn fliers that advocate violence toward supporters of President Donald Trump. The fliers, which have been circulating on campus, include an image of a club striking a person. The club is labeled with the words Bash the fash as in fascism, we suppose. There should be a place on our campuses for vigorous debates, but not violent ones. These hateful fliers only underscore the hypocrisy of whomever drew them. WENTWORTH During the towns Feb. 7 council meeting, a representative from Novembers Feed Rockingham initiative thanked the Town of Wentworth for putting its money where its mouth is. During last years Feed Rockingham food drive, the town lent a hand, offering up support to the newly expanded annual initiative. I see the county working together and it was a remarkable thing, said Eden Chamber of Commerce President Randy Hunt. I hope that you were able to witness some of it. If not, there will be an opportunity to do it again next year. Feed Rockingham was started by the Western Rockingham Chamber of Commerce with a mission to provide Thanksgiving meals to food insecure families throughout the county. Thanksgivings a time when you reflect, where you bring your neighbors together, and we do have a food desert in this area and there are a lot of people that go hungry, Hunt said. In 2016, The Western Rockingham Chamber of Commerce invited Edens and Reidsvilles chambers as well as the four local Rotary clubs to join forces to make a bigger impact. On Oct. 4, Wentworth Councilmember Dennis Paschal III told others on the council that, because the town does not have a chamber of commerce, he would like to see town hall step up to the plate. The council voted to get involved. In all, the initiative fed more than 1,200 families and raised more than $32,000. We were able to feed every single family in need, Hunt said. We partnered with eight food pantries and churches to make sure that every corner of the county was served. If you paid even the slightest attention to tech media and conferences in 2016, you heard how the Internet of Things (IoT) is the next big thing. While theres hype surrounding the tremendous opportunity the IoT offers, there are still hazards that have yet to be properly addressed. The biggest concern -- safety -- is a thorny topic with which enterprises are still grappling. For example, 2016s DDoS attack on Dyn that took down several major websites such as Twitter was caused by a bot army of unsecured IoT devices. This attack is only the tip of the iceberg, and in 2017 we should expect more of the same, but websites and companies wont be the only targets. Unless manufacturers and users of connected devices get serious about security, we will see these attacks evolve this year. I believe that theres a significant chance these attacks could extend to major government institutions and hospitals. Why these attacks are coming According to a study from HP, 70 percent of IoT devices are currently vulnerable to an attack. While both manufacturers and their customers are certainly working to reduce that, a significant number of IoT devices will still be unprotected in 2017. Additionally, Gartner predicts over 20 billion IoT devices by 2020. Lets say that in the next three years the number of secure IoT devices doubles, which means that only 40 percent will be insecure. According to Gartners estimate that means a total of 8 billion devices by then that are free to be enlisted in a hackers arsenal: roughly equivalent to the population of the Earth. That security risk is beyond anything weve currently seen in the realm of cybersecurity. The risk isnt necessarily coming from the sophistication of attacks but poor security practices of IoT users. Bad practices such as using the default usernames and passwords that are supposed to be used only for setup and then changed, are making it easy for attackers to take those devices and using them as botnets. Companies arent doing much to stop this or other potential sources of breaches. A study showed over 90 percent of corporate executives said they cannot read a cybersecurity report and are not prepared to handle a major attack and a stunning 98 percent of the most vulnerable executives have little confidence that their firms constantly monitor devices and users on their systems. Its clear that most C-Suite executives dont give cybersecurity enough consideration. Even more chilling news came from a report back in April, which ranked the U.S. government (including federal, state and local agencies) as having the worst cybersecurity protocols compared to 17 major private industries, including transportation, retail and health care. As these agencies face pressure to virtualize, move to the cloud and embrace connected devices, this lack of security will leave them greatly exposed. I believe that as a result of these vulnerabilities, there is a 50/50 chance that a significant cyber warfare attack is instrumented against the U.S. government, the U.S. military, U.S. critical infrastructure or the U.S. banking infrastructure. This organization will be ill-prepared and vulnerable; it is also likely that the attack wont originate on IoT devices owned by the government but instead will come from the outside. Can IoT breaches threaten your health? Government infrastructure wont be the only new source of an attack that reaches tomorrows headlines. I also predict that a major hospital will face a HIPAA violation for using an unsecured smart medical device. Hospitals have a lot to gain from deploying the IoT for crucial data/insights to improve patient care, but so do hackers. Theyre already targeting connected MRI machines, CT scanners and dialysis pumps to steal patient medical data, which is worth more than twice as much as financial information on the black market. While the FDA already recognizes that cybersecurity/HIPAA compliance is an important issue, it is not certain they get practices ready in time to prevent a major breach. And more important than data, theres an ever-increasing chance that an IoT attack will put lives at risk if it can cause a shutdown of needed medical services. How will hospitals fight back? The best prepared ones will do so by adopting improved security practices such as: password management, policies to ensure all devices are up to date/passwords get changed, network segmentation, software-defined network overlays with security built in and improved data management policies. Vital to ensuring that these practices get used successfully will be administrators that make them part of the hospitals workplace culture. Change your culture, build your defenses My advice for entrepreneurs and startups is to make IoT security a serious and valued part of company culture. Bake it in while the company is still young and theres no complacency from doing things the way weve always done them. Furthermore, do not make it solely the IT departments responsibility to keep enterprise data safe. Every member of the organization needs to help take responsibility, follow security procedures to the letter and be vigilant for signs of danger. The good news is that there are security solutions out there to help, even with technology as nascent as the IoT. There is also a great deal of advice on the best practices to put in place, from a variety of experts and trusted sources. As Gartner cautioned at last years ITxpo, developing best practices can only prepare you for threats that are already known. Only innovation can prepare you for tomorrows threats that have yet to be discovered. A combination of advanced software and a strong internal culture will create a cybersecurity defense ready to take on potential attacks. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Monday reaffirmed "strong commitments" to the European Union (EU), in a bid to allay the bloc's doubts on the new U.S. administration's stance towards it. "Today is my privilege to be on behalf of President (Donald) Trump, to express strong commitments of the United States to continue cooperation and partnership with the EU," Pence said at a joint press conference with European Council President Donald Tusk after their meeting in Brussels. He stressed that despite differences between the United States and the EU, the two sides "share the same heritage, the same values, above all the same purpose to promote peace, prosperity, freedom, and rule of law." Earlier on Monday Pence met with EU foreign policy chief Fedirica Mogherini, who in her tweeter hailed the "excellent meeting" as "good basis for our cooperation". Pence will meet with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg later on Monday. Pence is on his diplomatic foray to Brussels as U.S. vice president, after attending the Munich Security Conference in Germany. Pence said Saturday at the conference that his country would "strongly support NATO" as European members of the military alliance were worried about security uncertainties arising from possible change in U.S. policy. While seeking to reassure European leaders, Pence also urged NATO members to shoulder their fair share. "NATO requires your commitment as much as ours," he said. 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Advertisement "A Little Makes a Lot: Korean Films with Successful Crowdfunding" There have been a number of South Korean films have been produced thanks to a relatively modern method: crowd sourcing. Appealing to the public and private organizations to produce a film is, as Kim Hyung-jung points out in this post on KoBiz, no stranger to modern Korea's cinema industry; in 2016, for example, the producers of "Spirits' Homecoming" managed to raise over half a million US dollars. The number of crowd-sourced Korean films is becoming more prevalent as more films are finding the funds to create features that would otherwise never reach our screens. ...READ ON KOBIZ "KWAK Tae-yong, the VFX Supervisor of TRAIN TO BUSAN and ASSASSINATION" Kwak Tae-yong was the VFX supervisor behind Jeon Sang-ho's 2016 hit "Train to Busan" (11.5 million admissions) and Choi Dong-hoon's "The Assassination" (12.7 million admissions). In this exclusive interview on KoBiz, Kim Hyung-seok puts a number of great questions to this technical talent, like how he got into film, his thoughts on genres, and what changes have occurred in the VFX space over the past decade. "Creating something to look realistic is a given. However, you also have to consider how the audience is going to accept what is being shown", says Kwak. ...READ ON KOBIZ "Inside South Korea's Battle With a State-Sponsored Censorship Crisis" The Hollywood Reporter delves into the recent scandal in South Korea where thousands of artists were blacklisted by the government, a controversial move which eventually led to the arrest of the country's Culture Minister, Cho Yoon-sun. As the article notes, "Revelations about the blacklist have infuriated the public", but the country is also no stranger to censorship issues on its big screens... ...READ ON THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER "Korea's Star Directors Are Poised for Their Big 2017 Releases" Variety's Sonia Kil's looks ahead to some of the big films Korean cinephiles can expect to enjoy in 2017. Last year was a "banner year" for South Korean cinema, and it looks like 2017 will continue to turn up the heat with exciting films from some of the country's top directing talents and featuring many of the country's top stars. "2017 is likely to see another set of blockbusters from big names", writes Sonia. What films are you looking forward to this year? Let us know in the comment section below... ...READ ON VARIETY Published on 2017/02/19 Find out why you might want to stay paying attention to K-pop (if you aren't already), fashion designer Carolina Herrera reimagines the hanbok, learn more about North Korea's history of foreign assassinations and kidnappings, and 10 Magazine looks at how South Korea celebrates love with various special days throughout the year. Advertisement "If You're Not Paying Attention to Korean Pop Music, You Should Be" Daniel Starkey, writing for Geek, examines Korea's popular music scene (K-pop) and why you should be paying attention to perhaps the most "interesting pop music around". Daniel talks about K-pop's success in countries like America, how the government has help to spread it, and to what extent K-pop has been influenced by other cultures and global trends. Are you a fan of K-pop? Let us know what you love about it in the comment section below... ...READ ON GEEK "Carolina Herrera Creates Three Customized Hanboks for New York and Seoul Installations" The hanbok is a beautiful part of Korea's traditional culture ("Dating back to the Joseon period, the Hanbok is semiformal or formalwear that is donned for traditional festivals and celebrations"), but the garment's design has not remained static over the years. In modern Korean culture, artists and fashion designers have evolved the hanbok far beyond what previous generations had envisioned. Carolina Herrera, for example, recently unveiled her "x Hanbok Collection" at Columbus Circle, and next month her wares can be seen in Korea's capital, Seoul. ...READ ON WWD "North Korea's history of foreign assassinations and kidnappings" Kim Jong-un's half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, was killed recently in Malaysia. Although no evidence has been presented yet, South Korea believes North Korean agents were involved. Interestingly, the DPRK has a long history of dispatching secret agents to do the state's bidding, and in this post on the BBC, you'll learn about five events in North Korea's history where their agents carried out assassinations, kidnappings and other attacks... ...READ ON BBC "VALENTINE'S DAY IN KOREA: THE LOVED, THE SMITTEN AND THE LONELY" Valentine's Day: if you're in a loving relationship it's great, if not, well, don't worry about it, because it Korea you get your own special day, too! It's true, Korea does places a relatively high social status to couples (some even enjoy dressing alike), but the country also acknowledges singles by giving them their own special day. In this post on 10 Magazine by Nnehkai Agbor, you'll find out more about Valentine's Day, Black Day, and White Day in Korea. Chocolates and love for all! ...READ ON 10 MAGAZINE Published on 2017/02/19 | Source Jeju's Teddy Bear Museum is one of the 10 most popular museums worldwide among Chinese tourists, according to a survey by the China National Tourism Administration. It polled 2.5 million people who traveled with Ctrip, one of China's biggest travel agencies. Advertisement The museum's collection of about 3,000 teddy bears includes a Louis Vuitton-themed one priced at W240 million and a gem-encrusted bear weighing 125 carats. Some of the bears are dressed as famous figures and displayed in historical scenes, or featured in recreations of famous paintings and other art works (US$1=W1,141). The museum was ranked eighth overall. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York topped the list, followed by the Louvre Museum in Paris, the Vatican Museums, the British Museum in London, the Bargello National Museum in Florence, the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium in Taiwan and Dubai Museum. The Teddy Bear Museum "appeals to Chinese tourists as it offers visitors exhibits with interesting stories and the chance to learn about the history of the resort island, which is mostly popular for its natural scenery", a museum staffer said. The museum became a must-see destination among Chinese travelers after many of them posted pictures on Weibo and other social media there. Some 150,000 Chinese tourists visited the museum last year, accounting for 30 percent of total visitors. There are four other teddy bear museums in the country, located in Goseong, Yeosu, Gyeongju and Gunsan. In China, a teddy bear museum opened in Chengdu in 2012 and another opened in Hainan in February this year. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 20 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: Trends exclusive interview with Giorgos Stathakis, Minister of nergy and Environment of Greece, on the occasion of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Councils meeting to be held in Baku Feb.23. Q: What are your expectations from the upcoming meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council? A: I believe that the third meeting of the Advisory Council in Baku will deepen further the practical realization of the Southern Gas Corridor. It will send a strong signal that the EU strategic aspiration of diversifying gas supply routes works not only on paper but in real practice. Three years after its initial inception, this priority project promoted the cooperation between gas suppliers and transit countries and led to tangible results. The next step is to consolidate further this cooperation by combining the expansion of the corridor with the gradual creation of what I call a South-Eastern Energy Crossroad. Q: How do you see the significance of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project for Greece and the progress in the projects implementation? A: TAP is the key driver that puts the whole Southern Gas Corridor concept into place. The project is unfolding smoothly and in a timely manner across the 550 km of Greek soil. Already works on the initial 30 km of the pipeline are completed and the operations on the other parts are well underway. The involvement of local companies in the construction processes reinvigorated the economy of Northern Greece. The long-term benefits though are yet to come, since TAP will consolidate the countrys position as a key transfer country of the Southern Gas Corridor, while a future upgrade of the pipelines capacity to 20 billion cubic meters combined with additional infrastructure works of gas storage could lay the ground for transforming Greece into a gas hub. Q: At what stage is the work on privatization of DESFA natural gas grid operator? A: The project of DESFA privatization proved so far a rather adventurous undertaking with many twists and turns coupled with legal uncertainty. Our government opted for a clean start and will launch very soon a new tender process that will abide by the EU requirements and will set qualitative standards, such as investment plans and job creation, for the prospective buyers. Q: Senior officials from Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Israel have agreed to advance talks on a pipeline for exporting gas from Israel to Europe. How do you assess the possibility of Israeli gas export to Europe? A: A direct and intra-EU connection between the Levantine Basin offshore resources should be a top priority project, if one takes into account that current discoveries already adding up to 1.2 Tcm, equal the size of Azerbaijani gas reserves [in Shah Deniz field]. Pre-Feed studies demonstrated that the EastMed Pipeline could be a fully viable export option to the converging dynamics between present and future gas discoveries in the East Med Region and Europes growing import requirements. It also fits well with the EUs target of increasing the security of supply and diversification of routes. I believe that all interested parties should continue in the spirit of the already existing good cooperation to advance the project farther. Q: How do you see the prospects for connection of the Southern Gas Corridor with vertical pipelines such as the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) and Ionian-Adriatic Pipeline (IAP)? A: If EastMed qualifies as the southern part of the South-Eastern Energy Crossroad, I referred to in the beginning, then vertical pipelines such as IGB or IAP form the northern part of it. Our government strongly endorses these projects with particular reference to IGB. The latter is a key project and a stepping stone for the development of the vertical corridor that will further ensure the security of supply of Eastern Europe and the Balkans. We are determined to continue our good cooperation with our Bulgarian friends so as to bring the project to fruition. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn Published on 2017/02/20 | Source Actress Kim Min-hee poses with the Silver Bear for best actress for the movie "On the Beach at Night Alone" at the Berlin International Film Festival in Germany on Sunday. /Reuters-Yonhap Advertisement Harlow is a former New Town in Essex with a population of 86,000. Located in the upper Stort Valley, it was built in the decades after the Second World War to ease overcrowding and London and provide homes for people bombed out during the Blitz. It includes Britain's first pedestrian precinct and first modern residential tower block, The Lawn. Old Harlow, the historic part of the town, was mentioned in the Domesday Book. David and Victoria Beckham's former home, Rowneybury House, nicknamed 'Beckingham Palace', is nearby. 03:14, 6 NOV 2022 The Cost of Public Employment by Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, Feb 19, 2017 County public employees in the state of Hawaii make among the highest wages in the nation, even after adjusted for Hawaiis high cost of living. Where is the money going? Steven Greenhut is the author of Plunder! How public employee unions are raiding treasuries, controlling our lives and bankrupting the nation. He will open the books on police and fire departments across the country, and show that the problems of pension spiking, overtime, and Cadillac benefits are also happening in Hawaii. As Hawaiis public employee unions attempt to boost salaries and benefits this year, Steven Greenhut will show that its in the best interest of all Hawaiis citizens to bring public worker pay in line with what taxpayers can afford. In addition, we will be releasing our study which shows that county workers in the State of Hawaii are among the highest paid in the nation, even after adjusting for cost of living. Register below for Maui or Oahu: Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.20 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: The visit program of the European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic to Azerbaijan has been announced. Maros Sefcovic will deliver a keynote speech at the 3rd Ministerial Meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council to be held in Baku Feb.23, said the message on the website of the European Commission. He is expected to meet with Greek Minister for Environment and Energy Giorgos Stathakis, Italian Minister for Economic Development Carlo Calenda, Turkish Minister for Energy and Natural Resources Berat Albayrak and Montenegrin Minister for Economy Dragica Sekulic. The Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council held its first meeting on Feb. 12, 2015, and the second meeting on Feb. 29, 2016. The Southern Gas Corridor envisages transportation of 10 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas from the Caspian region to Europe via Georgia and Turkey. The gas will be exported through expansion of the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn (HedgeCo.NET) The Securities and Exchange Commission and the North American Securities Administrators Association today signed an information-sharing agreement as new rules to facilitate intrastate crowdfunding offerings and regional offerings take effect. The agreement signed by the SEC and NASAA is intended to facilitate the sharing of information to ensure that the new exemptions are serving their intended purpose of facilitating access to capital for small businesses. Under the memorandum of understanding (MOU), federal and state securities regulators will be better able to monitor the effects of the new rules and also guard against fraud. The MOU was signed by SEC Acting Chairman Michael S. Piwowar and Mike Rothman, Minnesota Commissioner of Commerce and President of NASAA, which represents state securities administrators. The agreement not only builds on an already productive relationship between the SEC and state regulators, it also offers additional insights and protections as we help companies grow and create jobs while providing new opportunities to investors. -Acting Chairman Piwowar The agreement not only builds on an already productive relationship between the SEC and state regulators, it also offers additional insights and protections as we help companies grow and create jobs while providing new opportunities to investors, said Acting Chairman Piwowar. This agreement will strengthen collaboration among state and federal securities regulators to help expand small-business investment opportunities while also protecting investors, said Rothman. Ongoing dialogue is essential to carry out our responsibilities going forward. With this MOU in place, we have an opportunity to share information that will bolster our efforts to support small business capital formation and prevent fraud. Under the new rules, companies will have more flexibility to engage in intrastate offers through websites and social media without having to register their offering with the federal government. Companies now can also raise up to $5 million per year through other amended rules, which could facilitate the development of regional offering exemptions at the state level to permit companies to raise from investors in a specific region. The previous limit was $1 million. Same-sex couples will thus be allowed to marry in Finland as of 1 March, 2017. The Finnish Parliament has turned down a citizens initiative designed to negate the upcoming legislative amendment extending marriage rights to same-sex couples by a vote of 48 in favour and 120 against. The Aito Avioliitto initiative was deemed problematic from a legislative viewpoint by both lawmakers and legal experts because it was launched to negate a citizens initiative already approved by the Parliament. The initiative, they pointed out, could set a dangerous precedent for a cycle of initiatives and counter-initiatives and, thus, undermine the credibility of the citizens initiative as a tool of direct democracy. The rejection of the controversial initiative was met with jubilation and relief by several Members of the Parliament on Friday. Thats it! The Parliament has confirmed that equal marriage [rights] are a 100 per cent certainty from here to eternity, tweeted Ville Niinisto, the chairperson of the Green League. One of his party comrades, Emma Kari, labelled the outcome as a triumph of love. Love was victorious, she tweeted. Our country will be a more equal place as of 1 March. Maria Guzenina (SDP) similarly estimated that the decision to reject the initiative was reason for jubilation. 1 March is a day for jubilation. Equal marriage laws will enter into force, just as they were supposed to, she stated on Twitter. Aleksi Teivainen HT Photo: Antti Aimo-Koivisto Lehtikuva Source: Uusi Suomi THE Oratory Prep School is a school where children are both nurtured and achieve highly. Our Good Schools Guide review describes the Oratory Prep as a vibrant, welcoming community. This was reaffirmed in our Independent Schools Inspectorate inspection, where the pupils overall achievement and personal, spiritual, moral and social development was classed as excellent. Pupils attainment was also judged to be excellent in relation to national age-related expectations. Set in 65 acres of Oxfordshire countryside, there are also plenty of outdoor activities on offer, and as spring is just around the corner were gearing up for pond dipping and bushcraft camps alongside our new Forest School initiative. With bugs, frogs and grubs galore, pond dipping is always a firm favourite with the children in every year group. Preparations are under way for our next open morning on Saturday, February 25, which runs from 10am to 12.30pm. You are most welcome to join us and see what the Oratory Prep has to offer your son or daughter and meet our new headmaster, Mr Rob Stewart, who joined us in January from Eton College. Email office@oratoryprep.co.uk to book your place and we will look forward to welcoming you to the Oratory Preparatory School. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 20 Trend: Over the past 24 hours, Armenias armed forces have 30 times violated the ceasefire in various directions along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry told Trend Feb. 20. The Azerbaijani army positions located in Gushchu Ayrim village and on nameless heights of Azerbaijans Gazakh district underwent fire from the Armenian army positions located in Voskevan village of Armenias Noyemberyan district. Moreover, the Azerbaijani army positions underwent fire from the Armenian army positions located near the Armenian-occupied Bash Gervend and Marzili villages of the Aghdam district, as well as from the positions located on nameless heights of the Goranboy, Terter, Khojavand 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. THE family of a boy who fought a brain tumour say they are delighted with his progress as he marks a year in remission. Charlie Ilsley, nine, has almost doubled in weight in 12 months and his hair has started to grow back. This is in stark contrast to when doctors removed the 4cm by 4cm growth and said that otherwise he would have had only weeks to live. Charlie was in and out of hospital during 2015 and early 2016 and underwent four bouts of chemotherapy. Now his parents, Toni and Mark, of Buckingham Drive, Emmer Green, have been told his latest scan was clear. Mrs Ilsley, 46, said: Im hopeful for the future, although I look more into the long-term effects. You just want your child to be normal. I was sitting on the sofa a little while ago and I could see Charlie out of the corner of my eye and he actually looked like normal Charlie, apart from the hair. Her son is looking forward to celebrating his 10th birthday next month by going go-karting with friends. Mrs Ilsley, a technician at the pharmacy at Tesco in Henley and the Day Lewis chemists in Sonning Common, said: I said to Charlie the other night, what do you want for your birthday? and he said I just want to get through my scans. Hes brilliant, he has been incredibly brave. Hes a strong little boy to go what hes been through. I know it has affected him because he says things like when am I going to be normal? and Im never going to get a girlfriend. I think you just learn to live with it because life goes on. We have to try to make every day normal for Charlie. Its really hard but you cant live everyday as if the cancers back because theres no point in living then. Mr Ilsley, 49, a builder, added: Hes a very strong kid. He has been through more in his nine years than what well ever go through. When Charlie finished his chemotherapy treatment in January last year he weighed just over four stone but he now weighs nearly seven-and-a-half. Since then he has had scans every three months at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. Mrs Ilsley said: We had a clear scan in March and took Charlie to Spain in May and from then on he was starting to improve, putting on weight and improving his balance. I dont think he has ever grasped the seriousness of the situation. I think hes too young, which is a good thing. You get this clear news and thats all good for about four weeks and then you get an appointment for the next scan and it creeps through into your mind what if its coming back? and you start looking for signs. I think in five years maybe I might be able to relax but now, not a chance. I feel like Ive aged 10 years! The family had a scare following a scan in July when Mrs Ilsley received a call from Dr Kate Wheeler, a consultant paediatric oncologist at the hospital. I was at work at the time, she recalled. She said they had found something. The room just closed in on me. It was panic, sheer panic. She said the whole team had looked at it. They all came to the conclusion that they didnt know what it was but they were not worried at that point and they suggested we wait three months and have another scan. She did say that if she was worried she would have Charlie back in that night. Her husband added: I felt it was good news because they didnt think it was a tumour of cancer. I always try to be positive. In October Charlie had another scan under general anaesthetic which showed that a light patch on his brain tissue had grown slightly. Mrs Ilsley said: It was about the size of a little fingernail and consultant paediatric neurosurgeon Jay Jayamohan said he could operate if he needed to but didnt want to because it would be more damaging, especially if it was just scar tissue. Charlie always says to me mum, what if it comes back? and my answer always is it wont because I try to shelter him. Because of this patch I said to him, if it comes back Jay will operate. I think he knew there was a chance he would be having more brain surgery because I didnt want to hide it from him. In November, the family enjoyed a break in Florida organised by the Kids Cancer Charity as they awaited Charlies next scan in mid-January. The family received the results of that scan on Thursday last week. Mrs Ilsley said: I spoke to Kate and all she said was its good news, its clear and everythings fine. I think I told her I loved her! Its a weight lifted you get up Friday morning and you have got nothing to worry about. Charlie has been back at the Hill Primary School in Caversham full-time since May. He has 15 minutes of physiotherapy every morning and has hydrotherapy once a week at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading as well as swimming lessons with his school at Queen Annes School in Caversham and a lesson once a week with a teacher at Highdown sport and leisure centre in Emmer Green. He will have growth hormones to help his development later this year. Charlie first showed signs of being ill in March 2015 when he started being sick in the mornings. After a CT scan, doctors discovered the tumour in the back of his brain. He underwent a 10-hour operation in April that year in which Dr Jayamohan partially removed the tumour. Another tumour was found on his spine. Immediately after the operation Charlie spent three days in intensive care, where his brain activity was monitored, and then almost another three weeks before returning home. He was back in the hospital a few days later, when his stem cells were harvested over several days in preparation for his chemotherapy treatment. He then underwent 31 sessions of radiotherapy to his head and spine at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford. Mrs Ilsley has shared her experiences with other parents online. She said: You feel for all the other kids who havent had that clear scan. I think, like a lot of people say, that you suffer a little bit of post-traumatic stress disorder. You dont want to let good news in. Mr Ilsley said: Im just so grateful for the people at the John Radcliffe Hospital and to Toni for doing what shes done. l The Ilsleys have set up Charlies Fund to pay for revolutionary treatment in case the disease returns. They would want their son to have proton therapy treatment, so that he doesnt have to have radiotherapy again. The treatment would cost between 150,000 and 200,000 but the couple say that if the money raised is not needed it will go to a childrens cancer charity or towards research. To donate, visit www.gofundme.com/p7ns5y74 4 Sergeant Maurice McCabe has claimed former Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan postponed a press conference marking the first anniversary of murdered detective Adrian Donohoe on the day he allegedly briefed a politician on the false abuse claims levelled against the whistleblower. Sgt McCabe said former head of the Garda Press Office Supt David Taylor told him that Mr Callinan asked him to delay the event in Co Louth so he could travel to Dublin to meet Fianna Fail TD John McGuinness. Mr McGuinness, who was then the chair of the Public Account Committee, said the former commissioner made "vile" allegations against the whistleblower when they met in Bewley's Hotel car park on the Naas Road in Dublin on January 24, 2014. The year before, Det Gda Donohoe was shot dead by criminals as he tried to stop a gang holding up a credit union in Dundalk. Speaking in the Dail last year, Mr McGuinness said: "The garda commissioner confided in me in a car park on the Naas Road that Gda McCabe was not to be trusted and there were serious issues about him." Disclosure In a protected disclosure sent to Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald, the whistleblower claims Supt Taylor told him the commissioner got a call from the Fianna Fail TD on the anniversary of Det Gda Donohoe's anniversary. "When Commissioner Callinan finished the call he asked Supt Dave Taylor to postpone the press conference for an-hour-and-a-half," Sgt McCabe stated. The former commissioner was then driving to Dublin where he met Mr McGuinness. He then returned to Dundalk to do the press conference. The alleged secret meeting between Mr Callinan and Mr McGuinness will be investigated by a judge-led commission. Serving Garda Comm- issioner Noirin O'Sullivan has since claimed through her spokesman that she was not aware of the meeting between the two men. Simon Coveney and his wife Ruth at Dublins Intercontinental Hotel after the weekend wedding of former senator Eugene Reagan and Janne Storgaard The Fine Gael leadership race has taken a fresh twist after Housing Minister Simon Cove-ney warned TDs against issuing "threats" and "ultimatums" to under-pressure Taoiseach Enda Kenny. In a clear swipe at his rival, Leo Varadkar, Mr Coveney said Mr Kenny must be "trusted" to step aside on his own terms. "I think the emphasis has been a little bit different from Leo and me. I think he wants to push things, he wants clarity from the Taoiseach on timelines," Mr Coveney told RTE's The Week in Politics. "I've said very clearly that I don't think people in the party should be coming out and putting down ultimatums and making threats of motions of no-confidence and demanding immediate statements from the Taoiseach," he added. Tackled Despite the warning, Mr Coveney then appeared to issue his own ultimatum to Mr Kenny, saying he expects the leadership issue to be tackled after the visit to the White House for St Patrick's Day. "My view is that the Taoiseach should go to Washington for St Patrick's Day, but I expect the leadership within Fine Gael - but ultimately the leadership in the country, the issues around that - will be dealt with very quickly after that," he said. A spokesman for Mr Varadkar later told the Herald that he agreed with the timeline laid out by Mr Coveney. However, sources in the Varadkar camp took a swipe at Mr Coveney, saying he had acted in a bid to "claw back lost ground" in the leadership race. Fine Gael has been in turmoil amid growing fears that the leadership issue could force an early general election. Yesterday's Sunday Indep- endent/Kantar Millward Brown opinion poll shows Fine Gael trailing its main rival Fianna Fail by eight points. Meanwhile, a spokesman for Mr Kenny said he will address the leadership issue this week. "The Taoiseach will address the parliamentary party on Wednesday and won't be making any comment on the issue of leadership before then," he said. In a further development, it has emerged that Jobs Minister Richard Bruton will tonight be asked by supporters to state whether he intends to run for the leadership. Mr Bruton, who led an unsuccessful heave against Mr Kenny in 2010, is due to address his branch's AGM in Dublin Bay North. Health Minister Simon Harris is also weighing up his options. However, he was dragged into a bizarre scenario on the internal Fine Gael WhatsApp group yesterday. Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan posted in the group - made up of dozens of TDs and senators - that Mr Harris "wants out of Health" and is being encouraged by Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald to run for the leadership. Fake However, he told the Herald that the remarks were a "gag" and "tongue in cheek". The full post by Mr Flanagan reads: "Thanks. He hasn't announced yet but Frances is encouraging him. He wants out of Health." He later responded with the message: "Clarity for leakers and fake newshounds. Earlier tongue in cheek re Simon & Frances just that!" Mr Harris responded: "Thanks for clarifying Charlie! Working as hard as I possibly can in my job and not engaging in speculation. Lots to do." Bridget OBrien, whose daughter, Bernadette Cash was killed by her cousin in a brutal assault. The mother of a young woman left to die following a brutal assault has spoken of her anguish after the woman who killed her was jailed for four-and-a-half years. Donna O'Brien (25), of Cherryfield Lawn, Hartstown, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to the manslaughter of her cousin, 20-year-old Bernadette Cash, on October 30, 2013. Bernadette's mother, Bridget O'Brien, said she has struggled with the pain of her daughter's violent death and does not believe justice has been done. "It has affected me very badly. I haven't been the same person since," she said. "Donna O'Brien really took a lot out of me. She took my whole life away from me." Mother-of-one Bernadette was found dead in the living room of her mother's home in Warrenstown Walk, Blanchardstown. Judge Melanie Greally described how Ms Cash "died alone and unaided" after she was punched and kicked in the head by O'Brien. O'Brien sobbed as she was sentenced by the judge, but her aunt did not believe the tears were genuine. Pity "I saw Donna crying to the judge for pity, but the judge didn't look down at me, or think about Bernadette's life," she said. "She never showed one bit of emotion to me, or never said once 'I'm sorry', or apologised to the family." Asked if she believed the killer was remorseful, she said: "No, I know her too well. She has no remorse. She can put on an act. "She'll come over and she'll cry and she'll wipe her eyes, she did the same thing in court." Bridget was angered by the four-and-a-half year sentence and said she wants to appeal it. She has been contacting gardai and wants to get a lawyer to push for such a review of the sentence. "It's not a fair sentence at all and I don't think anybody thinks it," she said "She got no justice, my daughter didn't get any justice. I'd like to see her getting life, because she's after taking my daughter's life. She took my daughter's life at a very young age. "I'm waiting for the gardai to get back on to me," she added about discussing an appeal, the decision on which would ultimately be for the DPP. Bridget feels she has been treated badly by the justice system because she is a member of the Travelling community. "Just because we're Travellers they think that's it, that'll do, work away," she said. "I've been treated very differently. When it happened first, I was waking up and I was drinking bottles of vodka and taking tablets, going back to sleep and doing the same thing, just to cope." The length of time it took O'Brien to come clean and admit what happened has also angered Bridget. "I'm three years saying that she did it. I've been three years telling them who to arrest, that she did it," she said. "And there's what I got after the three years. If she handed herself in at that time, she'd be nearly finished and out." Bridget also hit out at any suggestion that her daughter was violent, an accusation that had arisen during the case. "Bernadette was never violent. I raised Bernadette on my own, without a father, and she was never, ever violent. "She was spoilt right enough, but not a violent child." Bridget described her daughter as "a beautiful person, a very lovely, bubbly girl". "She loved her country and western music. She really liked music. "She liked sport, she was jolly, always a happy-going girl. She was polite with people, and she wasn't cheeky. "She just had her own way of getting on." One thing Bernadette particularly liked was looking after children. "She was very good at helping. She was good with her sister-in-law, helping mind the kids," she added. This was a skill that served her well when she became the mother to a son four years ago. "She was a great mother with her child, she was very close with her baby," she said. "I haven't seen that child since Bernadette died. That's how much Donna's after taking away from me. Jealous "She's after taking my whole family away from me, and then she's going to have another baby in jail. I don't think justice is right in this world." Asked what she would say to her daughter's killer, Bridget said she wanted to know what had really happened. "I'd ask 'why did you do it?'. She's always been jealous of Bernadette," she said. Another tragic element of the case was that there were three others in the house at the time Ms Cash was attacked, but no one called for help. "It's not like years ago, there's mobile phones now," Bridget said. "There's no problem picking up a phone and dialling 999. You don't have to say who you are. It's just to save a person's life." A 53-year-old man was rescued from the Wicklow mountains yesterday following a "very busy weekend" for the Dublin Wicklow Mountain Rescue team. About 30 volunteers from the group, along with Glen of Imaal Mountain Rescue, responded to a call about a man who had fractured his leg on Djouce mountain, located above Lough Tay. An advanced paramedic on site provided pain relief and put the injured man on a stretcher before the rescue team carried him to a waiting ambulance. John Kavanagh, of Dublin Wicklow Mountain Rescue team, told the Herald it was the sixth call-out they had received over the weekend. He said: "It's been a very busy weekend for us. "On Friday night we were sent out to look for a female walker who got disorientated and lost, then on Saturday we helped the Guards look for several suspected missing people. "Yesterday afternoon we also got a call to rescue an 80-year-old hill walker who suffered a fractured leg." Last year the Dublin Wicklow Mountain Rescue received 66 call-outs. So far this year it has attended at 13 incidents. Mr Kavanagh added: "We work right throughout the year and have a very responsible team of volunteers. "No one gets paid for their work and they are all very dedicated. "When we receive a call-out we generally need a minimum of 20 people to carry the injured person off a mountain, which takes a lot of work." This weekend's rescue came shortly after a High Court judge decided to overturn a 40,000 award made to a woman who sued for damages after injuring herself while hiking in the Wicklow mountains. Mr Justice Michael White overturned a decision by the Dublin Circuit Court which found that the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) was negligent for not maintaining a boardwalk on the Wicklow Way. He dismissed Teresa Wall's claim for 40,000 in damages. The man jailed for killing eight people in Ireland's worst ever single road traffic crash is enjoying secret days out from prison. Shaun Kelly was initially jailed for two years when he pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing the deaths in Buncrana, Co Donegal, on July 12, 2010. However, the Appeal Court decided that sentence was too lenient and added another two years to his sentence, originally handed down in December 2014. Kelly (27), from Ballymagan in Buncrana, is not due for release until December 2018, but may be entitled to 25pc remission for good behaviour. Seven of those who died were young men aged between 19 and 23, who were passengers in Kelly's car. The eighth was a 66-year-old man on his way back from bingo. Now relatives of some of those killed in the horror smash have been left shocked after the young truck driver was granted temporary release from jail. Kelly was pictured laughing and joking with two friends while farming at Tooban on the Inishowen Peninsula. He wore a grey hoodie and jeans as he tended to sheep. The men arrived in a VW Passat. Kelly was not driving as he is also serving a ten-year driving ban as part of his sentence. It is understood Kelly spent the rest of the time after his release on Friday in and around his home at Hill Head, Ballymagan. Punish The families of those who were killed in the horrific crash are split on Kelly's future. During his case at Letterkenny Circuit Court, some families appealed to Judge John O'Hagan not to punish Kelly. Others remained silent and did not speak up on his behalf. One family member said they were outraged by Kelly's release. They said they had not been informed by prison authorities but learned about it from another family. "It just doesn't make sense. He's only halfway through his sentence and he's allowed out. We didn't know anything about it until we got a phone call from one of the other families telling us," said the family member. "The Appeal Court knew this was so serious that they doubled his sentence to four years and yet here he is coming and going among us after just two years. "Things are still very raw that the court case dragged on for so long and that he didn't start his sentence until more than five years after he killed all those people. "Some people will say that we have to move on but how would they feel if they saw the man who killed their brother or son back in their town when he was only halfway through his punishment?" The crash resulted in the deaths of eight men: Eamonn McDaid (22); Mark McLaughlin (21); Paul Doherty (19); Ciaran Sweeney (19); PJ McLaughlin (21); James McEleney (23); Damien McLaughlin (21); and Hugh Friel (66). An inquest held in February 2016 returned a verdict of unlawful killing consistent with dangerous driving. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 20 By Seba Aghayeva Trend: Armenian presidents statement, which pushes the South Caucasus region and the Armenian people for a new war, is a characteristic feature of military dictatorship and junta regimes, Hikmat Hajiyev, a spokesman for Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry, told Trend Nov. 20. Hajiyev was commenting on the statement of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan at the 11th congress of a volunteer union in Yerevan. By such speech, the head of the military junta regime of Armenia has once again proved that he still cannot get rid of illusions related to the beginning of the 90s, said Hajiyev. This person, as the head of a state, which is in a deep political and economic, financial and demographic crisis, promises the Armenian people nothing more than another war instead of making pre-election statements on how to overcome the crisis in the country and repair relations with the neighboring countries, he added. Despite the fact that the situation is clear for everyone, the Armenian leadership at the level of president has once again confirmed the occupation and destruction of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the adjoining seven districts of Azerbaijan, Hajiyev noted. At the time when Azerbaijan demonstrates a unique model of post-conflict rehabilitation and ensuring long-term peace in the South Caucasus region by restoring Azerbaijani Jabrayil districts Jojug Marjanli village liberated from the occupation, the Armenian leadership takes pride in its aggressive and destructive policy, he added. There is no doubt that the sooner Armenian leadership understands this, the sooner long-term peace will be ensured in the South Caucasus region and, in particular, the Armenian people will be able to take advantage of regional cooperation, Hajiyev said. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Asebaa Kerry Darcy OBrien shares the hotel room with her mother, Helen, and four-year-old son, Kai A homeless young mum and her four-year-old are having to live in a single hotel room with her 48-year-old mother, who has cancer. Kerry Darcy O'Brien said she has "run out of options" in her quest to find a home and has issued a heartfelt plea to Dublin City Council. The 23-year-old said the family have no cooking or washing facilities in the room at the Travelodge on the Navan Road, and mostly eat take-aways. "We are just so stressed. I haven't been able to sit down and think," she told the Herald. "I just want anything. It's like we're just existing here. I know it's hard out there, I know there are plenty of people in this situation but we would just appeal for a home." She said she and her son Kai had been living in a rented house in Finglas, but had to move out in the summer because the landlord wanted it for himself. Ms Darcy O'Brien, who qualifies for the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP), said she was unable to find alternative accommodation. In the meantime, her mother, Helen, who was living in Liverpool, was diagnosed with cancer. She decided to return to Dublin to be near her family during chemotherapy and moved in with her daughter, who is now her full-time carer. "We were living with family and friends but it became too much. We got in touch with TDs and about two months ago we got this room," she said. Immune Until recently they had no fridge, but one has now been donated by a friend. "My mother is going through chemo and her immune system is down, so everything should be spotless in the room, but that's impossible," she added. "This is not a place for a young child to be living or a woman going through cancer treatment." The living arrangements are taking their toll on the family and Ms Darcy O'Brien has made an appointment for them to see a psychiatrist. "We can't go on living like this," she said. Housing Minister Simon Coveney has promised an end to homeless families being housed in hotels, and last month claimed "we're ahead of schedule". Mr Coveney said the Government exceeded its target of 4,200 social housing solutions last year by almost 1,000 through acquisitions, bringing void units back into use, long-term lease arrangements and new construction. "There's a real acceleration happening here in terms of delivery," he said, pledging that there would be more than 21,000 social housing solutions provided in 2017. However, new figures released last week showed rates of child homelessness increased by 55pc last year. There were 2,505 children registered as homeless across Ireland in December, compared to 1,616 during the same month in 2015. Children's charity Barnardos said children were the invisible victims of the housing crisis. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 20 Trend: It has been just a few weeks, but 2017 is already turning out to be a hugely tumultuous year in global geopolitics, Nasimi Aghayev, Azerbaijans consul general to the Western US, based in Los Angeles, wrote in his article posted on The Hill. The world is watching to see where the new US administration will put its diplomatic resources and energy, the article said. The stakes are particularly high, as new or revived tensions have driven peaceful nations into an era of instability, and for some, hostility and aggression remain unchecked. There are so many important areas that need attention, but the dangerous Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict may offer a great opportunity for this new administration, Aghayev wrote, adding that the resolution of this long-standing conflict in the strategically important South Caucasus region could foster numerous strategic, political, economic and cultural benefits. Nagorno-Karabakh remains the longest running and most dangerous conflict in the former Soviet Union, said the article. The outbreak of deadly violence last April, which was the largest since the ceasefire of 1994, vividly showed the huge vulnerability of the current status quo and the need for the conflicts soonest resolution. All major international organizations, including the UN Security Council, UN General Assembly, Council of Europe, European Parliament, NATO, OIC, NAM and many others have condemned the occupation and expressed support for Azerbaijans territorial integrity, according to the article. The European Court of Human Rights in its ruling from 2015 confirmed the facts of occupation and ethnic cleansing of Azerbaijans territory, the article said. Yet the occupation continues due to lack of international pressure on Armenia to force its compliance with the international law, Aghayev wrote. The US is one of the three co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group alongside Russia and France tasked with mediating the resolution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, reads the article. It is to be hoped that with the new administration in Washington, D.C. the US will intensify its efforts as a conflict mediator to bring about a resolution of this conflict firmly based on international law, ending the occupation and allowing the refugees to return to their homes and lands, the article said. The current status quo is detrimental not only to the development of the South Caucasus region, but also has wider global implications, reads the article. Today Azerbaijan is at the helm of significant geostrategic developments, such as the TANAP/TAP Gas Pipeline that will soon deliver huge amounts of Caspian natural gas to Europe, or the New Silk Road with the construction of transcontinental network of highways, railways, waterways and airports connecting China and India with Europe, Aghayev wrote. Azerbaijan has been a key partner to the US in trade, fighting terror, and securing peace, the author wrote. Azerbaijans role as a rare ally in an unpredictable region offers enormous opportunity for positive change on a global scale and yet the potential success of these many factors is threatened by the continuing occupation of its territory, said the article. It is time for the US and other global powers to act to resolve the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict and finally bring lasting peace to the Caucasus, the author wrote, adding that it should be a priority for the new administration of the US. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 20 By Anakhanum Hidayatova Trend: Norway, like the rest of the international community, does not recognize the independence of the so-called Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, as well as the referendum planned to be held there, the Norwegian Embassy in Baku said in a message. The so-called referendum is being held on Feb. 20 in Azerbaijans Nagorno-Karabakh region, occupied by Armenia. Norway supports the territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group to facilitate a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, reads the message. Earlier, Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry said the illegal referendum constitutes a clear violation of the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the norms and principles of international law, and, therefore, has no legal effect whatsoever. The ministry reiterated that the illegal regime established by Armenia in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan is ultimately nothing other than the product of aggression and occupation. This provocative step, as well as Armenias attempts to change the name of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, the integral part of Azerbaijan, is yet another clear manifestation that Armenia is not genuinely interested in seeking a political settlement of the armed conflict, added the ministry. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 20 Trend: Georgia has said it doesnt recognize the referendum held in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. A referendum is being held Feb. 20 in Azerbaijans Nagorno-Karabakh region, occupied by Armenia, to amend the constitution of the illegal regime created in the occupied lands. Georgia doesnt recognize independence of Nagorno-Karabakh and, consequently, it doesnt recognize the results of the "referendum" held there, reads a message from the Georgian Foreign Ministry. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 20 By Seba Aghayeva Trend: Azerbaijan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will outline further ways of cooperation development both in political and economic spheres during an official visit of the UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan to Azerbaijan, a diplomatic source told Trend Feb. 20. Currently, the work is underway in order to organize the upcoming visit scheduled for May 21, according to the preliminary agreements. Bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and the UAE, particularly, its political component is at a high level: relations between the countries are based on a multidirectional cooperation by considering mutual interests. The UAE is one of Azerbaijans important partners in Persian Gulf and the Middle East region. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan is the most important partner of the UAE in the Caucasus. Both countries have close positions on many international issues. Azerbaijan and the UAE actively cooperate both on the bilateral basis and within the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), United Nations (UN) and other international organizations. The UAE unequivocally supports Azerbaijans fair position in resolutions adopted by the OIC, UN and other international organizations in connection with the Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan and the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Asebaa Details added (first version posted on 10:49) Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 20 Trend: President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev received a delegation led by Minister of Education and Higher Education of the State of Qatar Mohammed bin Abdul Wahed Al-Hammadi Feb. 20. The president pointed out the close partnership between Azerbaijan and Qatar, saying it is important that the relations cover as many areas as possible. President Aliyev underlined the significance of his recent meeting with Qatar`s foreign minister, his own planned visit to Qatar, as well as the visit of the Qatari minister of education and higher education to Baku. The president noted that reciprocal visits are a good sign of partnership between the two countries. President Aliyev emphasized the significance of education to future generations, saying it plays a vital role in developing Azerbaijan-Qatar ties. The president said education is one of the key priority areas both in Azerbaijan and Qatar. The president highlighted the importance of studying practical aspects of partnership in the field of education, expressing his confidence that it will contribute to the elaboration of a long-term cooperation program. The president said that during the official visit of Emir of the State of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to Azerbaijan it was decided to set up Azerbaijan-Qatar Joint Economic, Trade and Technical Commission, expressing his hope that apart from economic issues, this commission will focus on all areas of the bilateral cooperation. Mohammed bin Abdul Wahed Al-Hammadi said they are looking forward to President Aliyev`s visit to Qatar. Saying that Qatari and Azerbaijani educational authorities conduct meetings and fruitful discussions, the minister expressed his hope that the two countries will establish solid cooperation in the field of education. Mohammed bin Abdul Wahed Al-Hammadi said both Azerbaijan and Qatar are moving forward on the path of development. He highlighted huge projects implemented under the patronage of the Emir of the State of Qatar. Qatars education and higher education minister described Azerbaijan as a very beautiful country, saying it has made great strides thanks to efforts of President Aliyev. Tehran, Iran, Feb. 20 By Mehdi Sepahvand, Fatih Karimov Trend: Iran is seeking to boost all-out ties with Azerbaijan, the Islamic Republics Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said. Our view towards Azerbaijan is very clear and precise. Azerbaijan is one of our good neighbors with which we have long-term, firm relations, Qasemi told Trend Feb. 20. We tried to have high-level economic and non-economic ties with Baku, he said, expressing hope that the mutual ties will improve even more in the upcoming high-level meetings. Last week, Iranian Justice Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi visited Baku and discussed boosting bilateral ties between the two countries with President Ilham Aliyev and other Azerbaijani officials. The parties discussed a range of issues, including the fight against terrorism, as well as the causes and consequences of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Pourmohammadi expressed Irans support for Azerbaijans fair position in solving the problem. IU plays three QBs and all struggle in loss to Penn State With Connor Bazelak out, IU played three quarterbacks on Saturday and posted a season-low 196 yards of total offense in a 45-14 loss to Penn State. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 20 Trend: Azerbaijan is proud to become one of the worlds centers of multiculturalism, said President Ilham Aliyev at The Fault Lines of Eurasia panel discussion at the Munich Security Conference. Azerbaijan for centuries was a country, area, where civilizations met and today we preserve our historical heritage, and we are proud to become one of the worlds centers of multiculturalism, noted the president. Geographical location, at the same time, good relations with the neighbors allowed us to become a very reliable partner in the region, which introduces initiatives which serve the best benefit of the peoples who live in our region, said President Aliyev. Our policy is aimed at strengthening the cooperation first of all with our neighbors, at the same time, with Muslim world, we are part of the Muslim world, and with Europe, added the head of state. We are one of the very few countries, which are members of Islamic Cooperation Organization and Council of Europe at the same time. In 2015, we organized the first, inaugural European Games, this year we will host Islamic Solidarity Games. So this actually shows our intentions, noted the president. And we contribute a lot to the dialogue of civilizations and cultures. Fort Sumter National Monument in South Carolina announced that South Caldwell High School students from Maura Schaffers American history class raised more than $100 to help the fort with Hurricane Matthew damages. Over a two-week period in December, students brought in donations to send to the park. Their contribution will be used to help with necessary repairs as a result of the storm. South Caldwell High School is located in Hudson. Schaffers students were learning about the Civil War when they saw the alert on the parks website about the damage to the fort from Hurricane Matthew in October. Schaffer and her students agreed that it would nice to raise money for the fort. One of the main challenges of teaching social studies is making the past relevant to students in the present, Schaffer said. I think this donation helped my students to see how learning social studies is about civic engagement as well as understanding the past. They seemed to enjoy knowing they were doing something that would help others and preserve our nations history. Park Superintendent Tim Stone and park staff were impressed by the generosity of the South Caldwell students. Fort Sumter is the site where the American Civil War started on April 12, 1861. It is also the most heavily bombarded site during the Civil War. For 587 days, Union forces, located on Morris Island and ships, shelled the fort, reducing it to rubble. Today, the fort stands as a symbol to both the North and the South and remains a memorial for all who fought to hold it. Fort Sumter is located in Charleston Harbor and is only accessible by boat. Concession-operated ferry boats depart daily from the Fort Sumter Visitor Education Center at 340 Concord Street in Charleston, and from Patriots Point in Mount Pleasant. For information on ferry departure schedules and prices, call Fort Sumter Tours Inc. at 843-722-2628 or visit them online at www.fortsumtertours.com. After reading Kenyon Kelly's comments in the Feb. 9 issue of the HDR, it seems that a great number of people on the losing side of the presidential election have lost their memory and their sense of citizenship. First, Presidents Clinton, W. Bush and Obama all issued travel/immigration bans. In Trump's order, they are the same countries that were covered in Obama's ban. I urge one and all to find Clinton's comments in his State of the Union address on YouTube and listen carefully to the force of his words. Then find Obama's, which use some of the same phraseology. Hmmm, did he plagiarize? Second, according to my copy of the U.S. Constitution, no person that is not a citizen of the U.S. has a right to come to this country. They may come as a privilege extended by our government, subject to withdrawal of said privilege at the discretion of the government. After reading an article in a recent copy of the HDR concerning the actions of some federal employees (bureaucrats) getting private email addresses to use for work correspondence in order to disrupt the working of the Trump administration, I am somewhat upset. Having worked for the federal government, I remember having to take an oath of uphold the Constitution and defend the U.S. against all enemies domestic and foreign. Nowhere in that oath does it give the right to purposely hinder the operation of the government. These actions seem to me to border on treason and should be subject to dismissal. I would also recommend to those who voted and lost to get over it. I voted in the two previous presidential elections and had to put up with Obama for eight years, so you can put up with Trump. We are all still U.S. citizens and have a great stake in the course of this country. I do not recall any Republican congressmen boycotting the inaugurations nor calling for impeachment of Obama regardless of where he may or may not have been born. And this election is certainly not the first in that the popular vote did not reflect the electoral vote. It is also very unbecoming of Democrat senators to object to the senate rules they themselves put in place. Did they think it would never come back to bite them in the rear? Or did they think they were "entitled" to rule forever? Steve Carrigan Taylorsville Reaction to letter to the editor calling liberals immoral A recent letter to the editor described liberals as "immoral." This is really nothing new from this writer, as he has called liberals a variety of names over the years. Morality appears to be subjective thing for some writers. And, so far, the Trump administration has not shown me much in the way of Christian values. At the recent National Prayer Breakfast, President Trump asked the attendees to pray for The Apprentice ratings to improve. I would ask, "Is this what your God wants you to pray for?" Prayer is nothing to joke about. Trump University has settled a $25 million lawsuit for fraud. Is this presidential? Trump's foundation was shut down, partly because there was little evidence of charitable work. Yet, from foundation funds, Trump received two separate portraits of himself totaling $30,000. One was a six foot portrait. Is this what charities do? Trump also used foundation funds to pay for legal expenses for his for-profit businesses, including his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Trump administration people continue to lie, as evidenced by the Bowling Green Massacre story. Of course, there was no massacre there. But, there was a massacre in Quebec. A mass shooting at a mosque. The president has not tweeted anything about the shooting, nor has he spoken publicly to condemn it. Perhaps because it was Muslims who died? Our church's Chancel Choir recently sang an anthem based on Micah 6:6-8. To paraphrase the ending of the anthem (and the Bible text), "what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with the Lord." Does that reflect this administration's character? The conservative writers frequently quote Bible passages to assail liberals. What passages will they use to defend this administration's words and actions? Robert Kapellusch Newton HICKORY Although Mary Ann Dore has traveled the world, thanks in part to her fathers service in the military, she has found her passion and calling right here in Hickory. Through Dores family life and career choices, she had the opportunity to serve in multiple different roles in several industries. Dore serves as executive director for Outright Youth of Catawba Valley the only LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgendered, queer) advocacy center in the area providing a youth-centered, safe environment for individuals. Dores father served as a meteorologist in the United States Air Force, which caused Dores family to move around the country, and travel the world, she said. When her father eventually left the Air Force, the family settled in a suburb of Chicago where Dore attended high school, and spent a majority of her adult life, she said. After schooling, Dore became involved in the magnetic wire industry, where she was involved in sales. I became the first female in outside sales with the wire industry in the country, Dore said. After moving out of sales, Dore found herself involved in customer service management, which is where she spent the majority of her career, she said. After making the switch from sales to customer service in the wiring industry, Dore began working in the toy industry, which led her to North Carolina. I started in Chicago, and got involved in a merger with three toy companies so I moved to Tarboro, North Carolina it was bit of a culture shock, Dore said. Although her journey had reached North Carolina, Dore still moved several more times before ending up in Hickory. When her father, who had begun to have health problems, retired in Asheville, Dore found a job in Hickory with the furniture industry in 2000, and she fell in love with Hickory, she said. After moving into the consulting industry, a friend told Dore about an opportunity with Outright Youth of Catawba Valley. My passion has always been to make a difference in the lives of children. I dont have kids of my own, but I always wanted to make sure that kids were okay, she said. The topic of bullying was just becoming a more talked about topic around the time she made the change to Outright Youth, she said. Its (bullying) always been going on, but it has become more of a problem recently when I got into Outright Youth and heard the stories of the kids in the groups experience with bullying, it really set my goal on, lets see if we can make them safer. Lets see if we can change some hearts and minds, Dore said. Bullying in the LGBTQ community has serious impacts, and estimates from the Suicide Prevention Resource Center estimate 30-40 percent of LGBTQ youth attempt suicide, Dore said. The numbers of youth who experience bullying in the LGBTQ community is significantly higher than their straight peers, according to Outright Youth. Nine out of 10 LGBT students report being harassed, and they are four times more likely to commit suicide than their peers, according to the groups website. Dore has been with Outright Youth since 2011. She takes care of day-to-day operations, including community outreach and education. When the organization first began, meetings were held in a local coffee shop until a church in the area offered the group meeting space within it, Dore said. The program has since grown, and Outright Youth are finally getting their own building to call their own within the next month. When Outright Youth first started, the group consisted of only two kids, and meetings took place twice a month, Dore said. Now, the group holds weekly youth group meetings for LGBTQ youth focusing on a wide range of topics including interview skills and job readiness, and participants can number in the 20s now, she said. Primarily it is just a space for kids to come out and just be who they are, Dore said. The age for members of Outright Youth range all the way from 12-23. We went to 23 because there is nowhere in the community that someone aged 18-23 can come, Dore said. Over the years, Dore has served in several different roles in several different industries but working with the youth of the Catawba County area has become her passion. I have found my calling and my passion I really wanted to do something different and something more meaningful, I have always had a passion for kids, Dore said. Outright Youth of Catawba Valley can be reached through Facebook or visit www.outrightyouthcv.com . Nominate a notable neighbor: If you know of someone who might make a good person to profile because of their contributions to the community, tell us who they are and why they are special. Email the information to news@hickoryrecord.com with neighboring notable in the subject line. Prime Minister Narendra Modi lambasted the Akhilesh Yadav-led Uttar Pradesh government on Sunday by drawing a parallel between Hindu and Muslim festivals and accusing the administration of practising discrimination on the basis of religion. If you create kabristaan (graveyard) in a village, then a shamshaan (cremation ground) should be created. If electricity is given uninterrupted in Ramzan, then it should be given in Diwali without a break. Bhedbhaav nahin hona chahiye (there should be no discrimination, Modi told a rally in Fatehpur, apparently playing the Hindutva card in the postically crucial state where seven-phase elections are underway. Fatehpur will go to polls on February 23 in the fourth phase of voting in Indias most populous state. The Prime Minister also said the exile of development must end in Uttar Pradesh, appealing the people to cast their vote for a government which ensures safety in the state. Vikas ka vanvaas (exile of development) in Uttar Pradesh must end now. The country is moving ahead at fast pace and so must Uttar Pradesh, he said. If you create kabristaan (graveyard) in a village, then a shamshaan (cremation ground) should be created. If electricity is given uninterrupted in Ramzan, then it should be given in Diwali without a break. Bhedbhaav nahin hona chahiye (there should be no discrimination. The Samajwadi Party is least concerned about improving law and order situation in the state. I urge people to elect a government that would ensure safety of people, he added. He took on the Congress, which is fighting the elections in alliance with the states ruling Samajwadi Party. Two leaders thought we both are drowning why we shouldnt go down together, he said in a veiled reference to Akhilesh and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who have been campaigning together. Modi also said CM Akhileshs body language showed he had lost the plot. I saw him on TV today, strength in his voice was missing, shoulders drooped, he was scared and looking for word. (With ANI inputs) All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his recent statement in which he had said that if a village has a graveyard, it should it should also have a crematorium. Addressing an election meeting in the Muslim-dominated Kareli area of Allahabad on Monday, Owaisi said Modi should first worry about the living and not about the dead. Modis decision of demonetisation had sent many to graveyards and cremation grounds, he said. On triple talaq, he said Modi had no knowledge of Islamic laws and was trying to make it an issue on pretext of providing justice to Muslim women. He should first give justice to his own wife, he remarked. Urging Muslims to make good use of their votes, Owaisi said that Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and Modi were two sides of the same coin. Owaisi dubbed Modi the elder brother of Akhilesh and alleged that both were harming the interests of Muslims. He urged Muslims not to be afraid of BJP. Akhilesh failed in controlling riots in Muzaffarnagar, which claimed several lives, and he did nothing to provide justice to rape victims, the AIMIM chief said. The Samajwadi Party was betraying Muslims by pretending to be secular, he said. The SP did nothing for the state, especially for Muslims in the last five years and failed to fulfil the promises made during the 2012 elections, Owaisi maintained. Read| Rahul Gandhi hits out at PM Modi for kabristan-shamshan comment The VII General Conference of the Federation of the Universities of Islamic World (FUIW) has taken place in the capital of the Kingdom of Morocco, Rabat. UNECs Vice- rector for International Affairs and Program, Associate Professor Shahin Bayramov attended the conference held in the Headquarters of the Islamic Educational, Science and Cultural Organization (ISESCO). The General Director of the ISESCO and at the same time General Secretary of FUIW Dr. Abdulaziz Osman al- Tuveycri delivered detailed information about the performance of the Federation within the years 2014- 2016 during the conference. He noted that the Federation of 345 member higher education institutions implements the function of coordinator to serve to the development of mutual beneficial cooperation among the countries of the Islamic World. Other speakers who brought to attention the invaluable role of the FUIW in the development of ties among the universities representing different higher education systems, also made proposals on improvement efficiency of the operation of Federation. Actively participating in the two- day event, S. Bayramov drew to attention that 2017 was announced a Year of Islamic Solidarity in Azerbaijan by the Head of the State which is one of the centers of Islamic civilization and that Baku will host IV Islamic Solidarity Games in May of 2017. He provided the participants with the information about the numerous events realized in Azerbaijan in the direction of protection of Islamic values and the development of intercultural dialogue. Speaking about the affairs carried out at UNEC to improve the quality of higher education and to develop international relations, S. Bayramov expressed the readiness for conducting bilateral beneficial collaboration on student and teacher exchange, joint scientific activities and common curricula with the member universities of FUIW. Broad exchange of views on expanding exchange of experiences between the members of the Federation, development of the appraisal mechanism of the performances of Islamic World Universities, establishment of the science, technology and innovation platform surrounding the Islamic World, gaining access to new financial sources by the higher education institutions and other topic were made within the conference. The new content of the Executive Board of the FUIW for 2017- 2019 years was elected within the conference where the organizational affaires were debated. UNEC has also been elected a member of the Executive Board among 345 members included 15 uni9versities. Thus, UNEC got a chance of directly participating in the operation and administration of the FUIW, play active role in making decisions within the organization and hosting a series of events held by the Federation within the last three years. At the same time, UNECs representation in the Executive Board of the International organization which promote cooperation in higher education institutions of the Islamic World is important in terms of contributing to the performances of the Federation and further benefitting from the projects realized by. Bilateral meetings among the member universities of the Federation were held and the Memorandum of Understanding between the Utara University of Malaysia and UNEC was signed within the event. The Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Kingdom of Morocco Mr. Tarik Aliyev attended the 7th General Conference of the FUIW. UNEC is the brand of Azerbaijan State University of Economics. The brand of UNEC has been registered and patented by the State Committee on Standardization, Metrology and Patent on January 21 2016. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has a piece of advice for Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan: Dont advertise for the donkeys of Gujarat. Without taking any names, the chief minister referred to the advertisement in which Bachchan, the brand ambassador of Gujarat tourism, is seen inviting people to the states Wild Ass Sanctuary located in Little Rann of Kutch. Ek gadhe ka vigyapan aata hai. Main iss sadi ke sabse bade mahanayak se kahunga ke ab aap Gujarat ke gadhon ka prachar mat kariye (Theres an ad on TV which shows donkeys. I appeal to centurys biggest star, please stop endorsing the donkeys of Gujarat), Akhilesh said. What will happen if the donkeys also start getting advertised?, the UP CM later asked the audience. The bitter remarks came at a time when parties are racing to the finish line of the state polls described by many as the semi-final before the 2019 Union election. For 16 years, Kailash Rai (not his real name), 49, has been commuting six hours every working day between his home in the state capital Lucknow and the government degree college where he teaches in Pihani, 135km to the northwest. A political-science lecturer, Rai cannot move with his family to Pihani, a cluster of over 100 villages (called a kasba) in Hardoi district that have less than 40,000 families, according to Census 2011. When he started working there in 2000, it lacked the basic public facilities regular power supply, good roads, public transport and good medical services. Pihani remains an economic backwater. In the ongoing assembly elections, UPs incumbent and contesting politicians are still promising the basic facilities they did 16 years ago: Electricity, buses and jobs, along with laptops and free data for poor youth. UPs story parallels that of Pihani. The kasbas population of 206,743 is serviced by four colleges a government degree college, a state-run industrial training institute (ITI) and two private degree colleges more than the Indian average of 27 colleges per 100,000 youth in the 18-23 age group, according to the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2014-15. But it has been unable to produce talent to run local educational institutions, banks and medical centres. UP has the highest number of colleges in any Indian state (6,026), according to AISHE 2014-15, but it has been unable to produce qualified workforce to drive development, as IndiaSpend reported on February 11, 2017. UP is also Indias most populous and youngest state its median age is 23 and the flaws in its development model typified by Pihani explain why its towns and village clusters (blocks with a population of less than 250,000 in 2011) cannot cope with the aspirations of its people, especially with regard to education and employment. Pihanis dropout rate of 36% at elementary school level exceeds UPs overall rate of 21%. Like other village clusters in the state, connections to bigger cities are limited because there are few railway links, hardly any feeder roads to highways or efficient public transport services. Less than half the houses in the villages have electricity. UP has made higher education available everywhere, so why hasnt the state become a hub for learning? Why doesnt the state with the highest college enrolment in India 25% of men and women in the 18-23 age group manage to create a pool of employable youth? Some answers can be found in Pihani. The primary factor is the states disinterest in developing the basic infrastructure in its towns and villages that are now flush with schools and colleges. Institutes have spread, so why hasnt education? Despite the large number of colleges in the district, Hardois school education system is a mess. Only 64% of children in the district progress from primary to upper levels in school, according to data from the District Information for School Education surveys 2014-15. The all-India rate of transition from primary to upper primary level was 90%. In a drive to push higher education in its backward pockets, many of UPs colleges were set up in villages and kasbas. This growth was fuelled by both the government and private entrepreneurs. Hardoi district itself has 132 colleges, eight of them are government institutions Pihanis government degree college is one such and 124 are private. Over the years, the government degree college has acquired projectors, computers and generators but Pihani remains a backwater. This, according to Rai, is why the teachers at his college and most employees in local banks, schools and hospitals opt for long commutes from larger cities. They are what Rai describes as reverse migrants, working in villages and living in cities. Pihanis residents, it would appear, are not educated or skilled enough to fill in these jobs. The reason could be the quality of education. Government colleges are understaffed; usually, they work with one-third the required strength. This means that teachers are overworked, said PC Joshi, a retired principal from a government degree college in UP. However, he pointed out, private colleges have an even bigger problem. Government colleges appoint qualified staff and the recruitment processes is fair and transparent. But privately-owned or funded colleges are often under-resourced in terms of physical infrastructure. And their recruitments are mostly on paper; in practice, there is hardly any teaching. There isnt enough assessment of whether students are being taught regularly and adequately, he told IndiaSpend. Students hold up badges urging people to cast their votes, during an election awareness campaign in Allahabad. (AP File Photo) Also, 17 less-populous states and union territories have better enrolment rates in higher education than UP: The Union Territory of Chandigarh reports Indias highest enrolment at 56%, followed by Puducherry at 46%. Manipur, among the north-eastern states has a 36% enrolment ratio in colleges. Among larger states, Tamil Nadu has Indias highest student enrolment in higher education at 45%. There are other problems. The quality of education offered in colleges across UP varies widely because of lack of infrastructure. It is not rare in UP to see a college with two rooms, a clerk, an odd-jobs man and two teachers. Second, colleges do not offer functional education geared to employment. The Pihani government college offers 10 subjects and degrees in undergraduate courses that include humanities and commerce. Most students come from poor families and also work in farms so they are not able to fulfil college attendance requirements, said Rai. Life is hard for these youngsters and the curriculum does not provide much functional education. Other than the proliferation of colleges, little has improved in Pihani, keeping its cluster of villages poor, badly connected and with scanty power supply. A UP kasba: 100% rural, 83% farm workers A community development block in Hardoi district, north-west of Lucknow, Pihani is an agglomeration of over 100 small villages. This rural administrative division is called a taluk or tehsil in other states. UP has 901 such blocks administered by a block development officer. A third of Pihanis population consists of people belonging to scheduled castes and tribes. Its literacy rate is 51%, and less than half its women (41%) are literate. Women in Pihani form about 14% of the workforce, nine percentage points less than the national average of 27% as IndiaSpend reported in April 2016. The kasbas child sex ratio is 905 females per 1,000 male children under age six better than its overall sex ratio of 873, according to Census 2011. UPs child sex ratio of 902 is lower than Pihanis. The overall sex ratio of UP at 912 females per 1,000 males shows poorer health indicators for women in Pihani. Women show their index finger marked with indelible ink after casting their vote at a polling station in Saifai, Etawah, Uttar Pradesh. (AP File Photo) Agriculture employs 83% of Pihanis working population but 41% of these farm workers are labourers on the fieldmirroring the 59% of UPs population that works on farms, 51% of them farm labour, according to Census 2011. Others work as small traders, bank employees and government servants such as teachers, medical and administrative staff. Electricity still elusive: 53% of UP homes without power Only 47% of homes are electrified in UPs villages. This puts the state fourth on the rural electrification list from across India only Jharkhand (39%), Bihar (45%) and Nagaland (45%) are worse off, according to data from the power ministry. A third of voters in UP cited power cuts as the biggest election issue, according to a survey conducted by FourthLion Technologies, a data analytics and public opinion polling firm, for IndiaSpend. Less than half the rural households (46%) in Hardoi district have electricity in their homes. And those who do get power supply only for six to eight hours a day. Running a diesel generator is the only alternative. It costs Rs 50 to run a generator to run for an hour to power just the essential requirements on the college, says Rai. State roads: 9% of national highways in UP, but few links to these Pihanis nearest railway station is at the district headquarter in Hardoi, 28km away. And it takes a two-hour bus ride to get there with many short halts along the way. Often, you can see passengers making the dash from their home as the bus waits. A one-way railway ticket from Lucknow to Hardoi costs Rs 65. There are 29 trains between Hardoi and Lucknow and they run through the day. But unpredictable delays cause a lot of inconvenience to daily commuters, said Rai. All the buses are private, and they charge Rs 25 from Pihani to Hardoi. People stand in a queue to cast their votes at a village near Amroha in Uttar Pradesh. (AP File Photo) UP has the largest share (9%) of Indias national highways which run for 8,483km. And it is ranked seventh when it comes to state highways, with 7,543km of constructed length, according to data from the ministry of road transport and highways. No national highway passes through Hardoi district. Only state highways connect it to the bigger road networks. NH-24, or the Delhi-Bareilly-Lucknow highway, is the closest to Pihani, 40km to its northeast. Road connectivity is an impediment for the farmers as it limits their access to markets. It also affects Rai and others who commute to smaller towns and villages. The education-job gap: Why Pihani needs more employment-oriented courses Seema Gupta (not her real name), 19, is a student at the Pihani government degree college. It helps her that the college is easily accessible from her village, but her bachelor in arts degree is unlikely to get her a job. She would like to work to work in a cyber cafe these are still popular in mofussil areas. But she needs additional computer training for this that is not available in Pihani. Gupta would have preferred the college in Hardoi which offers technical courses but her parents did not want her to travel that far. Safety is a big concern for women in Pihani, said Gupta. Parents allow boys to study in better colleges outside the village, but girls cant travel that far. Despite these factors, girls form 60-65% of the students enrolled in the Pihani government degree college, according to Rai. The government offers scholarship to students from economically weaker sections and backward castes, and for Gupta and many others like her, the Rs 6,000 per annum is a big help. But I hope my students can be offered better technical courses so that they have greater employability, said Rai. Saumya Tewari is a PhD Scholar at the School of Development Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, and an IndiaSpend contributor Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday for the latters kabristan-shamshan comment, saying the divisive remarks betrayed the BJP leaders sense of apprehension and jittery. In an election people are free to vote to anyone of their choice. But they must remain guarded against any attempt to spread hatred and create division in the society, the Congress leader said while addressing a rally at an assembly segment in his Amethi Lok Sabha constituency on Monday. A day earlier Modi in Fatehpur said: If you create kabristaan (graveyard) in a village, then a shamshaan (cremation ground) should also be created. If electricity is given uninterrupted in Ramzan, then it should be given in Diwali without a break. Bhedbhaav nahin hona chahiye (there should be no discrimination. Read| If a kabristan can be constructed, a shamshaan too should be built: PM Modi Reacting to the comment, the Congress vice president said: You must have heard his speech, he (Modi) has started this (spreading hatred) yesterday. The elections come and go. But you must understand all this. If UP is set on fire or a house starts burning, everybodys house will get burnt. Whenever Modi feels jittery, he starts spreading hatred. You can vote for anyone of your choice. But they are trying to put one against the other. Rahul was addressing the rally in Chhatoh area of Salon assembly constituency. The Congress leader said Modi-led NDA governments two-and-a-half year tenure was a retrograde film journey. Modi assured achhe din as was promised in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge but ended up being Gabbar Singh of Sholay, he said. Rahul went on to claim that the Congress-Samajwadi Party alliance wiped the smile off the Prime Ministers face and his mood changed as he realised the BJP is going to get a drubbing in the elections. Once the alliance comes to the power in the state, it will lead to installation of a Congress government at the Centre after 2019 parliamentary elections, he claimed. Stating that Shaktiman Food Park, Hindustan Paper Mills and some railway projects were announced for Rae Bareli and Amethi by the erstwhile UPA government, the Congress leader claimed Modi government scrapped them by resorting to politics of vendetta. This is hurting the people and I feel bad about it, he said, promising to set up a new and a bigger food park in his constituency once a Congress government was installed at the Centre. He said if voted to power the alliances government in the state would provide farmers remunerative price for their produce and local brands would be promoted at the international market. I told chief minister Akhilesh Yadav he would get a made-in Kanpur leather jacket when he next visits the USA, Rahul said, adding products from Rae Bareli and Amethi too would find a place in the global market. Senior Congress Captain Satish Sharma, who also addressed the rally, hinted the alliance would even contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections together. We have joined hands to make Akhilesh Yadav chief minister again and Rahul Gandhi next prime minister, he said. Read| Narendra Modi, Amit Shah are terrorists spreading fear: Uttar Pradesh minister SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the campaign pitch at an election rally in Fatehpur on Sunday, taking an indirect dig at the Samajwadi Party for apparently creating a Diwali-Ramzan and kabristan-shamshaan divide. Modi said: If you create kabristaan (graveyard) in a village, then a shamshaan (cremation ground) should be created. If electricity is given uninterrupted in Ramzan, then it should be given in Diwali without a break. Bhedbhaav nahin hona chahiye (there should be no discrimination. It was obviously meant to underline the ruling Samajwadi Partys alleged minority appeasement policy. Here is why Narendra Modi might have opted to tap into the political faultlines along the two communities: Read: UP elections: Akhilesh flashes facts to counter Modis claims of discrimination 1) A multi-phase election is like a Test match where strategies often need a re-look after every innings. UP is voting in seven phases and three are already over. Ground reports arent giving any party a clear lead. Modis remarks indicated a shift in the partys strategy to engineer counter-polarisation by whipping up apprehensions about the SPs pro-minority image. 2) The first three phases did not see any one issue dominate the campaign. Local factors in each seats reportedly determined the voting preferences. In the next four phases, pockets of central UP and Poorvanchal will vote. The BJP hopes to gain from religious invocations. 3) Poorvanchal has significant Muslim population and elections could get polarised for various factors. The SP is strong and the BSP is trying to gain an edge through Dalit-Muslim consolidation in its favour. The Ansari brothers jailed gangster Mukhtar and Afzal have influence in parts of Mau, Varanasi and Ghazipur. They are helping Mayawati this time. 4) With demonetisation as a poll plank not showing expected results and chief minister Akhilesh Yadav -- in alliance with Rahul Gandhi -- perceived to be appealing to the youth, the BJP has been forced to rake up its old Hindutva rhetoric. 5) The BJP is banking on its traditional supporters among upper castes and consolidation of non-Yadav OBC votes. Appeal to Hindutva sentiments is expected to help the BJP in bringing different castes under a Hindutva umbrella. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A lot is at stake for the BJP in the UP polls, as it seeks to reverse a slide in the Hindi heartland that ironically began immediately after the demolition of Ayodhyas Babri mosque 24 years ago. Today, it seeks to win back a majority by moving away from the hardline Hindutva plank. The new-look party, riding on PM Narendra Modis vikas purush image, anxiously awaits the political impact of the post-note ban sentiment in UPs poll fray where Modi is seeking to counter UP ke ladke (SP-Cong alliance leaders Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi) saying god liya ladka (adopted son) would do so better than the real one. Read | I am UPs adopted son, will do better than real ones, says PM Modi The currency ban is likely to play a part in UP polls with BJP justifying the move in national interest and most non-BJP parties united in opposing the move as cruel, and anti-poor. The first two rounds of polling that included several minority dominated regions has proved that note ban is seen as a move in national interest, says RSS man turned BJP leader Chandramohan. As polls move from west UP to east and central UP, BJP chief Amit Shah appears increasingly confident of his partys win in UP - a win that he claims would justify demonetisation. Despite hardships, the poor are backing Modi as the intentions are honest. Pitted against us is a scared opposition resorting to lies and half-truth. The recent court order directing UP police to register FIR against minister Gayatri Prajapati is enough to expose the UP government, says UP BJP general secretary Vijay Bahadur Pathak. The evolution The BJPs best years in UP - from 1980 to 1991 - were when the mosque was intact, helping the party capitalise the temple sentiment through powerful OBC leaders leaders like Kalyan Singh, Uma Bharti and Vinay Katiyar. Riding on slogans like mandir-wahi-banayenge (temple will be built at the same place) BJP continued to grow - 11 lawmakers in 1980 to 16 in 1985 and 57 in 1989 - before the high point - 221 lawmakers and a majority government under Kalyan Singh in 1991. The demolition in 1992 led to the dismissal of Kalyan government. It has been a downhill journey for the BJP since then; 177 lawmakers in 1993, 174 in 1996, 88 in 2002, 51 in 2007 and to its lowest tally post demolition - 47 MLAs in 2012 with 15% votes. The revival The party for the first time would enter into the forthcoming UP polls under the leadership of Modi and Shah, who have, after the partys phenomenal show in 2014 Lok Sabha, now set their eyes on ending their drought in the most populous state. In terms of votes polled in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, BJP stood first in 328 assembly segments - a statistic that UP BJP chief Keshav Prasad Maurya, who has given the slogan of Mission 265 plus, purposefully points out. Temple talk had started receding in every successive election since the demolition. As BJP expands nationally, it perhaps realises the need to move out of the shadows of its temple past, says Athar Siddiqui from the Centre of Objective Research and Development. The pre-poll build-up hints as much as none of the four Parivartan yatras that were touring the most populous state touched Ayodhya on December 6. The BJP has for a change tried to connect with progressive Muslims by supporting abolition of triple-talaq. The party has also galvanised its minority affairs wing to tell minorities that BJPs philosophy of sabka saath, sabka vikas includes them too. The partys focus is on OBCs and Dalits - who comprise more than 70% of UPs electorate. The party has attracted several high impact defectors like BSPs OBC face Swami Prasad Maurya, who was the leader of the opposition in the UP assembly. However, it has also raised the issue of loyalists vs outsiders. Loyalists suffered as outsiders got picked ahead of polls, says a BJP insider pointing that even RSS has voiced its concern on the issue. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Over the past few weeks, Deepika Padukone has been on a whirlwind tour of the world. It all started with continuous promotional trips for her Hollywood debut, XXX: Return of Xander Cage, and she was spotted attending fashion shows at the New York Fashion Week 2017 last week. But the actor isnt complaining. A source says, Deepika has had a busy time over the past weeks, but she is happy. Not only did the entire team join Deepika for the movies promotions in India, they also travelled to a lot of other cities across the globe too. Deepika Padukone starred alongside Vin Diesel in XXX: Return of Xander Cage. (HT Photo) According to the source, the actor soaked in a variety of cultures right from Mexico City and London to Los Angeles and Beijing. Given her schedule, Deepika doesnt get a lot of free time to travel despite the fact that she loves to explore new places. So, it was a great experience for her when she visited so many places, says the source. Deepika Padukone will be seen in Sanjay Leela Bhansalis next, Padmavati. (HT Photo) Apparently, the actor was also very keen to explore the cities she went to. She learnt a lot by interacting with people from different cultural backgrounds, and feels enriched that she experienced so many cultures, food, habits and local customs, the source added. Deepika Padukone starred alongside Ranbir Kapoor in Tamasha. (HT Photo) Deepika says, We had an extensive promotion schedule, and we travelled to a lot of places, and met and interacted with people from all over the world. All of this has been an enriching experience for me. Deepika is currently busy with Sanjay Leela Bhansalis Padmavati. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices have reportedly initiated talks for joining forces. The union will see Tata Tele join the merged entity of RCom-Aircel and MTS, reported a financial daily. RComs move is in quick succession of British telecom operator Vodafone Group Plc announcing the merger of its local unit with Idea Cellular, to create the countrys largest operator. The report said that Anil has initiated talks with Tata Sons newly appointed chairman N Chandrasekaran, to take on Reliance Jio as a combined entity. RCom has already consolidated its business with Russian owned telecom firm MTS, and has announced a merger with Aircel. The deal with Aircel, however, is in jeopardy as the Supreme Court has said it will auction its spectrum if its owner T Ananda Krishnan does not appear in court. If all goes through, RCom will be a joint entity of four telecom operators, and will become the third largest after Vodafone-Idea and Airtel. The combined entity will have 260 million subscribers and a revenue share of 18%. Vodafone will have 41%, and Airtel will have 32% of revenue market share. However, there will be regulatory hurdles to overcome first RCom will have to solve the merger problems with Aircel, and it will need multiple clearances from the Competition Commission of India. According to a telecom expert, who didnt want to be named, the process can take anywhere between six and 18 months. The other problem is Tata Teleservices debt worth Rs 30,000 crore, and its ongoing legal problems with NTT Docomos exit from the earlier formed joint venture -- Tata Docomo, which was also a bone of contention in Cyrus Mistrys ouster from the Tata Sons board. The Tata Group, as was reported, is considering a Rs 10,000 crore infusion into Tata Teleservices to clean up the records. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Haldirams, a business venture which started with a small shop in Rajasthans Bikaner, is now the biggest snacks maker in India, with an annual turnover of Rs 4,000 crore. The Indian snack major is now twice the size of Hindustan Unilevers packaged food division or Nestle Maggi and larger than the India turnover of the two American fast food rivals Dominos and McDonalds put together, the Economic Times reported on Monday. Haldirams, said to be worth Rs 5000 crore, is the second largest Indian food brand after Parle and the leader in traditional snacks market, dominating five of its rivals Balaji Wafers, Prataap Snacks, Bikanervala, Bikaji Foods and DFM Foods, the report said. A member of the companys founding family attributed the growth to strict quality control and new in-house products. We also understand Indian palate well and that comes handy while launching new products, Kamal Agarwal, 43, was quoted as saying in the report. The company sells its products through three branches, Haldiram Snacks and Ethnic Foods for the northern region, the Nagpur-based Haldiram Foods International for the western and southern markets, and Haldiram Bhujiawala for the eastern market. Infosys Ltds then chief financial officer Rajiv Bansal walked out of a 15 February 2015 meeting where board members of the software services company were asked to approve a proposal to buy Israeli automation technology firm Panaya Ltd, a person close to Bansal said. It was about 30 minutes into the meeting when the proposal was put to the board. Bansal excused himself from the vote, stood up and walked out, this person said. Board members watched in disbelief. Bansal, who was not a board member but attended the meeting in his capacity as the CFO, believed that the Panaya acquisition was ill-thought-out and would not offer much by way of value to Infosys, the person said on condition of anonymity. He thought the company was paying too much money and was also upset that as CFO, he had not been kept in the loop during the due diligence process, the person said. Even so, his reservations did not deter Infosys from eventually agreeing to pay $200 million to buy Panaya; Bansal eventually came around to accepting the decision by Sikka and the board. Two years later, the jury is still out on Infosyss second-largest acquisition. Over the last month, fresh questions have surfaced over the rationale behind the purchase. An email purportedly written by an anonymous whistle-blower, dated 19 February, and sent to this newspaper and copied to senior executives of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), questioned why Infosys paid $200 million in February 2015 for Panaya when, in the previous month, the company had been valued at $162 million by Israel Growth Partners, which made a $20 million investment to pick up a 12.31% stake. The Whistle-blower's Claims About the Panaya deal: The Board of Infosys blindly approved the deal, the email said. The CFO of Infosys at that point of time, Rajiv Bansal, refused to sign off on the deal and, in fact, walked out of the discussion during the board meeting to approve this deal. Mint could not confirm if Bansals objections to Panaya and another investment made through the companys $500 million corporate venture arm were the reasons for him being asked to leave Infosys. Bansal also objected to Infosys investing $2 million in Airviz, a personal air-quality monitoring start-up from Carnegie Mellon University, according to the person cited earlier. Secondly, Infosys has publicly disclosed that SAPs co-founder Hasso Plattner held about a 6% stake in Panaya. Sikka was a member of SAPs executive board before he joined Infosys. According to the whistle-blowers email and the shareholding pattern in Panaya independently accessed by Mint, Plattner held an 8.33% stake. The email states that the Panaya acquisition made Plattner richer by $17 million. Finally, Panaya had Rs1.37 crore at the time of the acquisition in February 2016 as against Rs127.29 crore on 1 January 2015 (it had Rs12.6 crore at the start of January 2014), show financial documents disclosed by Infosys. The email states that Panaya shareholders took out $20 million from the company, leaving Infosys to make a $20 million investment in working capital for Panaya, and eventually spending a higher amount in buying the company. This is reflected in Infosyss profit and loss statement, which pegs the acquisition cost of Panaya at $225 million. The person close to Bansal cited above claimed that Infosys in December 2014, four months after Sikka took charge, replaced Deepak Padaki with Ritika Suri as the head of mergers and acquisitions. Suri, a former colleague of Sikkas at SAP, was also given the additional mandate of overseeing Infosyss $500 million innovation fund, and was to report to Sikka, unlike in the past, where the head of mergers and acquisitions reported to the head of finance. In July last year, Padaki was asked to return to head mergers and acquisitions even as Suri was asked to head the large deals team at Infosys. Emails sent to Israel Growth Partners seeking comment went unanswered. The company takes any whistle-blower complaint seriously and there is due process to investigate any complaint that comes to us, said a spokeswoman for Infosys. If we do receive any query either directly or from the regulator, we will respond to it as per the due process. (Published in arrangement with Mint) Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Jios partnership with Uber, the American cab-hailing company announced on Monday, signals a larger battle in the mobile wallet space where Paytm leads with over 160 million users. In Uber, too, Paytm has been a preferred partner for the longest time. But that might change. Digital payments have become part of our everyday lives and by integrating JioMoney as a payment option, our riders will have the ability to use a familiar and consistent payment experience, said Madhu Kannan, chief business officer, India and Emerging Markets for Uber. In a statement, Reliance Jio said that it will offer exclusive incentives for people who opt to use JioMoney, the mobile wallet app, for Uber payments. It also plans to extend its services. The mobile wallet business has surged after demonetisation which sucked out 86% of Indias currency in circulation. More than five million wallet users were added in the wake of demonetisation. Reliance Jio might have missed that cycle. Airtel could not gather the critical user base while the intent was to do the same (like Paytm). A lot will depend on how Jio incentivises Uber users, said Sanchit Vir Gogia, CEO and chief analyst, Greyhound Research. Jio claims to have 72 million telephony subscribers. It does not give out subscriber details of its JioMoney users, but it said that the mobile wallet will play a critical role for growth. JioMoneys integration with Uber will power the rapid migration of many more Uber transactions to the digital platform, said Anirban S Mukherjee, business head of JioMoney. Ambani wants to build what he calls Jio Life, where Jio users will be able to watch television, listen to music, shop and make payments, make calls, play games, and even book a cab, using one service. But theres competition. Both Paytm and MobiKwik are looking at adding a large number of merchants they already have one million each to make cashless payments ubiquitous. There is also competition from SBI Buddy, government-backed BHIM app, and Snapdeals FreeCharge. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 20 By Azad Hasanli Trend: The Azerbaijan-Italy Business Forum will be held in Baku during Italian Minister of Economic Development Carlo Calendas visit on Feb. 23, the Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO) said. Entrepreneurs representing more than 15 Italian companies will attend the business forum, AZPROMO said. Italy is one of the main economic and trade partners of Azerbaijan. Italys investments in Azerbaijani economy amounted to about $500 million. Azerbaijan and Italy have recently intensified cooperation. Baku Steel Company and Italys Danieli signed an agreement on the construction of a metallurgical complex in Azerbaijani city of Sumgayit in late 2016. Investments in the complex will exceed $1.2 billion. According to the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee, trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Italy amounted to nearly $1.9 billion in 2016, around 84 percent of which accounted for export of Azerbaijani goods to Italy. West Bengals Malda district has reclaimed its dubious distinction of being the nations fake notes hub just about 100 days after the Centre demonetised high-value banknotes to purge the economy of black money and counterfeit bills. The Border Security Force (BSF), guarding the Indo-Bangladesh border, arrested a 32-year old youth, identified as Shariful Shah, with 48 fake notes of Rs 2,000 denomination on Sunday. The BSF has seized counterfeit notes with face value of Rs 2.96 lakh in the north Bengal district since Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the surprise announcement of culling 86% of the currency in circulation on November 8 last year. This figure does not include the seizure made by state police and central agencies such as the National Investigation Agency (NIA). BSF officers said Sundays catch was the highest in Bengal since the demonetisation, and will probably be the highest in the country as well. But the volume of the smuggled notes is not their only concern. The quality of the seized notes is getting better and better. The fake notes Shariful was carrying were far better than those seized by the NIA and the West Bengal police earlier. Almost all the security features are present in the seized FICN, said an officer. According to senior BSF officers posted in the district, the frequent seizure of fake notes junked the theory that demonetisation has affected the counterfeit industry. Malda accounts for almost 80% of the fake currency that comes into India. It shares a border with Bangladesh through which fake currency is smuggled into the country. On January 23, Baishnabnagar police arrested Ziyaul Sheikh, 15, from Bakhrabad village with a counterfeit note of Rs 2000. On February 4, Digambar Mondal (42), a karmadhayaksha of the Congress-run Kaliachak-III panchayat samiti, was arrested by Baishnabnagar police with two counterfeit Rs 2000 notes. On February 8, Islampur police of Murshidabad arrested Azizur Rahaman, a resident of Baishnabnagar in Malda, with fake notes totaling Rs 80,000. Six days later NIA sleuths arrested Umar Faruq from Golapganj in Kaliachak with three counterfeit notes of Rs 2,000. On February 15, BSF personnel seized fakes notes to the tune of Rs 2 lakh near Charianantapur village on the Bangladesh border, but none was arrested as the smugglers managed to escape. Shariful was arrested on Sunday after the BSF was tipped off that he had entered the district from Nadia to collect a big consignment of fake notes, said a BSF official. Accordingly, the BSF laid a trap. He had collected the cash and was moving towards the bus stand to board a Nadia-bound bus when he was nabbed. In 2016, BSF South Bengal Frontier seized fake notes with the face value of Rs 1.47 crore and arrested 19 smugglers. A plumber beats up his wife for 12 hours before beheading her with a saw. A gory crime of this nature is not reported every day, but it could have happened anywhere in India. In a village, where communities are close knit, such an ordeal would require a degree of passive complicity. In a metro such as Delhi, the prolonged torture culminated into beheading because nobody bothered to intervene. The scene of the crime, Madhu Vihar, is an informal settlement in east Delhi where houses are so tightly packed it is difficult to maintain privacy. So, on February 10, when Subodh Kumar beat up his wife all night long, her repeated calls for help reached many. Describing the fights as an everyday affair, a neighbour told HT that he knocked on their door and asked them to keep it low. Kumar told him not to interfere in his private matter. The neighbour called up his landlord and that was that. Confident that nobody was watching, Kumar diabolically planned to cut his wifes body into pieces over the next two days. His crime came to light only when he confessed to a friend. Read: Neighbours heard screams on night of beheading, did little to help victim Not all cases of domestic violence have a murderous end. But the perpetrators are always confident about being in total control behind the closed doors of their home. Our insular urban life, where many dont even know their neighbours, fuels that confidence. Historically, wife beating was a private matter until different countries criminalised it. Since 1983, under section 498-A of the Indian Penal Code, domestic violence is defined as any act of cruelty by a husband, or his family, towards his wife. Ten years ago, India also brought in the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, a separate civil law to protect married women, mothers, daughters and sisters within their homes. According to the last detailed study by the government in 2005-06, 40% of married women between 15-49 years said they had faced some form of domestic violence. Though, only one in four victims ever sought help. Education or wealth did not change the help seeking behaviour. Some women turned to their families, mostly their husbands. Few went to police, medical personnel, or social service organisations. An analysis of the National Crime Records by the BBC in 2014 found that from 50,703 in 2003, the number of reported cases had gone up to 118,866 in 2013 an increase of 134% over 10 years, far outstripping the rise in population over the same period. It is not that homes suddenly became a more violent place. With adequate laws, the reporting improved. But experts say that domestic violence is still the most under recorded crime in India. It takes remarkable courage to report abuse because the victims are often emotionally and financially dependent on their abusers. Also, the threshold for intervention in domestic abuse is usually very high. Many do not consider it a crime. Others think it is too private a matter to interfere. Family, friends and neighbours those closest to the victim should be the first to pick up signs of abuse and intervene. Gender groups prescribe ringing the doorbell, letting victims know that they can take refuge in your home and calling police if the situation is out of hand. Detecting and reporting domestic violence, however, are not enough. Women who show the courage to walk out of an abusive relationship need support to get on with their lives. First, they need a safe, comforting place to stay. In Delhi, there are only 13 shelters and short-stay homes for women. Most are shabby and overcrowded used mainly by the destitute. Together, these can accommodate just 238 women, the Mint reported last November. Once victims find a place to stay, they need help to file reports and fight cases. The law mandates the government provides such help. But Delhi has only one protection officer in each district to do this, the Mint report said. While the state must do a lot more to back the victims, it cannot, and should not, enter our homes. It is really up to each of us to step in every time a domestic quarrel leads to abuse at home and in the neighbourhood. shivani.singh@hindustantimes.com SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Fifteen leopard skins were seized in 50 days in Uttarakhand this year, showing a spike in smuggling of animal body parts during the election period when, forest officers said, the focus was on seizure of cash, liquor and weapons. Wildlife criminals are smart. They knew that during elections, police and other security agencies would be looking for cash, liquor and weapons. So, it would be easier to smuggle skins and animal body parts, Parag Madhukar Dhakate, conservator of Terai West forest division, told Hindustan Times on Monday. Champawat forest division staff with police seized three leopard skins late on February 19 night. After the model code of conduct was enforced on January 4, skins were seized from Chamoli, Pithoragarh, Tehri, Nainital and Rudrprayag districts. Three skins were seized and two people arrested on February 8 in Haldwani forest division. The state went to polls on February 15. The data of the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), a Delhi-based NGO, says the hill state reported 103 leopard mortality incidents, of which 28 skins were seized in 2016 the highest in the country. Odisha reported 16 seizures, Himachal Pradesh 8, and Chhattisgarh and UP 7 each. Skins of nearly 23% of leopards reported dead are seized. In 2015, Uttarakhand reported 63 leopard mortality incidents -- highest in the country -- of which 9 skins were seized. Punjab topped the chart with 11 seizures, followed by Chhattisgarh (10). The Special Task Force (STF) of the police in association with non-government organisations and the forest department seized the skins this year. Department sources claimed that seizures in Haldwani and Badrinath (January 13) exposed an international smuggling nexus. Chamoli shares boundary with Nepal and China. Haldwani acts as a major transit hub for smuggling wildlife parts via Uttar Pradesh. Inter-state and international borders make wildlife smuggling a sprawling business. In both the seizures, we got information about involvement of international groups and are working on it, a forest officer said requesting anonymity. Digvijay Singh Khati, chief wildlife warden, said, We are taking precautions. Its practically impossible to man each leopard. But, in association with police and NGOs, we are keeping tabs on wildlife criminals. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Tariq Ahmed Dar, the sole convict in the 2005 Delhi serial blasts case, will walk out of jail a free man late on Monday after being granted bail in a related money-laundering case. A Delhi court noted Dars prosecution for economic offences was based on the same banking transactions relied upon by the prosecution to charge him under stringent anti-terror law provisions in the main Delhi blasts case. He was cleared of those charges last Thursday while being convicted under minor sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Additional sessions judge Reetesh Singh also noted that Dar had already served more than five years in jail for offences with a maximum sentence of seven years imprisonment. In these facts and circumstancesI admit him to bail subject to him furnishing a personal bond of Rs 25,000 with one surety of the like amount, he said. With this, Dar has either been acquitted or been given bail in all cases against him. Last Thursday, Dar who hails from Srinagar was convicted in Delhis worst terrorist attack that saw three separate blasts rip through the heart of the Capital, killing 67people and wounding 225. He was cleared of major charges such as murder, conspiracy, collecting arms and waging war against the state which carried a maximum sentence of death after the court observed Delhi Police miserably failed to prove the charges. Though the court didnt convict Dar on charges framed by police but said he was found guilty for other offences being a part of a terrorist organisation and providing support to such an outfit under the UAPA. Two other men Mohammed Rafiq Shah and Mohammed Hussain Fazili were acquitted of all charges. Though the court didnt convict Dar on charges framed by police but said he was found guilty for other offences --- being a part of a terrorist organisation and providing support to such an outfit. Dar was working as a sales representative of a multinational firm when he was arrested by Delhi Polices special cell from Srinagar on November 10, 2005. A father of two girls, Dar was returning from work to his pregnant wife when four men in civilian clothes stopped him and whisked him away before formally arresting him. Delhi Police accused the BSc graduate of serving as the spokesperson, finance manager and conspirator of the Lashkar-e-Taiba. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Three days after nine children fell ill at a Delhi government school after consuming a mid-day meal that had a dead rat in it, Delhis food safety department will conduct emergency inspections of all 33 mid-day meal kitchens and transportation facilities for the food. We will finish inspection of all 33 mid-day meal kitchens tomorrow (Tuesday), after which we will move on to MCD and NDMC-run schools and then private schools as a part of the drive, said Dr Mrinalini Darswal, Delhis food commissioner. Twenty-seven samples were picked up from 11 of the 15 schools inspected on Monday. Read more: Dead rat found in mid-day meal served in Delhi govt school, nine hospitalised Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who also holds the education portfolio, issued the order on Sunday, saying all inspections must be completed by February 24. After inspection, if required, improvement notices can be issued and if hygiene is found to be too lacking, the kitchen may be ordered to be shut down, the order signed by Darswal read. During the current drive, surveillance samples will be picked up during this drive and if need be the food safety officers can later collect legal samples. There is a specific process that needs to be followed when picking up legal samples that can be presented in the court of law. However, it is time-consuming. Since, this is an emergency inspection drive, we will be collecting surveillance samples. We can pick up legal samples from places that fail the preliminary tests, said Darswal. The food safety department has also roped in 18 NABL accredited labs to conduct the inspections. All NABL accredited empanelled private labs may be directed to pick up surveillance samples from kitchens allotted... Also, water meant for cooking be lifted and tested. All kitchens to be sampled for full testing including microbiological test, the order read. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A day after a 24-year-old student from Nagaland was allegedly raped inside south Delhis Deer Park around 2 am on Sunday, police claimed to have identified the alleged rapist as well as his friend. The police raided their homes and suspected hideouts on Monday but the suspects remained untraceable at the time of filing of this report. Persons known to the suspects allegedly told the police that the two accused could be minors. But the police said the information would be confirmed only after the suspects are arrested and their identity proofs are checked. A sketch of the alleged rapist, prepared by the police based on the victims description, helped identify him. His friend was identified through CCTV footage from outside a restaurant. Confirming the development, RP Upadhyay, Joint CP (South-Eastern Range), said the accused lives near the crime spot. We hope to nab him soon, he added. Around 25 teams consisting of three-four policemen each were deployed after the woman reported the rape around 2.45 am on Sunday. Since the woman had said she had hit the alleged rapist on his head with a stone, the teams have been told to look out for men with head injuries. Investigators said a man with a bandaged head was questioned for around 30 minutes. He was let off because police could not establish his involvement in the case. The victim, who lives in South Delhi, was visiting Hauz Khas with her cousin on Saturday night. As they walked out of the village around 1.30 am, they looked for a cab, police said. It was then that two men approached them and offered to drive her home in their car. As they were walking towards the car, one of the men asked the victim to accompany him to the Deer Park, saying there was a dry lake he wanted to show her, the joint CP had said. They scaled the wall of the locked park and walked to the lake where the accused tried to pin her down. When she resisted his attempt and hit his head with a stone, the accused allegedly beat her and raped her twice. He then escaped from the spot. The woman walked to the road where she found some policemen manning a picket. She told the police about the incident. The woman was sent for medical examination and her statement was recorded for registering a rape case. The victim is still in shock and is being counselled, said the officer. Read: Lets talk about rape | Do not take the blame on yourself, dont break: Uber rape survivors letter SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Indicating that the Delhi BJP is going to adopt a different approach in selection of candidates for municipal elections scheduled in the national Capital in April, its president Manoj Tiwari said that the two prerequisites to get a party ticket are that they must love Delhi and believe in the policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also warned party leaders against indulging in factionalism saying such acts will not be tolerated at all. Only those 272 individuals will get the tickets, who love the city. Councillors are the ones who work on the ground so they should have an understanding of their city. They should work hard towards making this city the best place to live in the country. And they must also believe in the policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Unless one does not have faith in the schemes and policies of Modiji, how will they convince the citizens to vote for the BJP, he said. Ticket seekers have been asked to submit a one-page note with their brief introduction and vision for the city, he said. The upcoming municipal elections are crucial for the actor-turned-politician as he has been given the partys charge when BJP is facing anti-incumbency wave. It has been in power in Municipal Corporations for 10 years. At present, the party jointly has 153 councillors in three civic bodies. In municipal bypolls in 13 wards held in May last year, the party could won three seats, however, the Congress and AAP managed five seats each. As tickets to sitting councillors arent guaranteed, Tiwari said, all elected members of corporations have been asked to furnish their performance report and an internal party survey is already on to assess their performance. He added he is also scrutinising the performance of sitting councillors and based on a comprehensive report his observation and surveys result incumbent corporates will only be given tickets. When I go for reality check campaign, I dont go to check the work undertaken by the Delhi government particularly. I also seek feedback from locals on their councillors work, he said. Tiwari has launched the campaign soon after taking charge of the Delhi BJP in November. As part of his campaign, he stayed in slums, unauthorised colonies and villages. In a clear message to leaders causing rift in the party, he said his style of functioning is different and he has given freedom to all but that should not be taken for granted. They must understand that I am the party president. No nuisance will be tolerated. Each individual will have to toe the party line, he said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Canadian writer of Pakistani origin and television personality Tarek Fatah got into a verbal argument with other attendees at the Jashn-e-Rekhta festival in Delhi on Sunday. Fatah was at the Indira Gandhi National Centre of Arts, the venue of the event, shooting with his video crew when a group of attendees cornered him and began shouting slogans against him. The group asked Fatah to leave the venue and while replying to them, he entered into a fracas. When attempts by volunteers to resolve the altercation failed, the police came in and provided him security cover. Fatah was then taken out of the venue. An eyewitness said attempts by volunteers to pacify the situation failed as the protesting group became aggressive. One of the visitors, Parvez Alam, who was allegedly leading the protest against Fatah, was detained and taken to the Parliament Street police station. Tarek Fatah, a Pakistani, who keeps spewing venom against Indian Muslims, is a threat to the social fabric and communal harmony of our country. He is an outsider and why should his anti-India and anti-Muslim views be given so much footage? Alam, a resident of Zakir Nagar said. Alam said the police detained him for two hours and later let him go. The organisers of the event distanced themselves from the incident. We did not invite Fatah. More than one lakh visitors have come for the event so far. We do send invites to a few distinguished people. But Fatah was not on our guest list and no invite was sent to him, said Prof. Aneesur Rahman, special advisor to Rekhta Foundation. The Supreme Court-appointed Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) on Monday pulled up two wheeler manufacturers, especially Hero and Honda, for the delay in stopping production of two wheelers that were not BS IV emission standards compliant. In April 2016, it was directed that vehicles that were not BS IV emission standards compliant would not be registered after April 1, 2017. The EPCA alleged that despite being reminded of the deadline and being told to exhaust their stock of non-BS IV vehicles in October 2016, some two wheeler manufacturers were still producing those vehicles. The BS IV emission standards is expected to reduce harmful vehicular emissions by almost 80% as compared to the older BS III standards, and is expected to help improve the air quality in the country. Read: Mathura Road and Dhirpur becoming Delhis new pollution hotspots Though most manufacturers said that they had either already exhausted their stock or that it would be exhausted by the first week of March, representatives from Hero and Honda expressed their doubts. The EPCA has asked the companies to submit detailed inventories on how many vehicles were compliant and how many werent, and details about when they were manufactured, to be submitted in the third week of March. Gas as an alternative to furnace oil The EPCA has proposed a ban on furnace oil and pet coke, and on Monday were informed by various stakeholders that the gas supply network would be able to match the demand, in the event of a ban on furnace oil. These fuels are considered highly polluting. Gas is a better alternative than furnace oil any day, said Sunita Narain, director general of the Centre for Science and Environment and a member of EPCA, while adding that India has become the dumping ground for pet coke from countries like USA, China and Saudi Arabia. Read: 2 years of AAP: Govt high on ideas on Delhi pollution but low on implementation Phase-1 can probably be rolled out as soon as key areas in the NCR are covered, said Narain after representatives from various gas companies including GAIL, GIL, IGL, Adani Gas, Haryana Gas, etc reassured the EPCA that most key areas in the NCR were covered by their network. It was also proposed that VAT on gas may be taken away so that gas can be cheaper, as people still use polluting fuels over gas because it is expensive. The cost of generating power using furnace oil is around Rs 4-5 per unit, while it would cost Rs 7-8 if gas is used. Action plan to combat bad air quality in Delhi-NCR During the meeting, after being informed by the Central Pollution Control Board officials that air quality improved to poor in recent times, the EPCA also proposed lifting the measures that were implemented when air quality was severe on January 20, under the graded action plan. Read:Delhis air quality nosedived in 2016, 5 times over annual safe standards Some of the key pollution issues that were discussed included the problem of open waste burning and dust from Anand Vihar Bus depot. Officials agreed that the air pollution at Anand Vihar cannot be controlled unless the bus depot is paved, and flying dust is controlled. Narain said that she will be presenting field inspection reports from Ghazipur landfill during a meeting with the LG on Tuesday. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON It is hard to recognise Pragati Maidan these days. The Defence and Haryana Pavilions have been razed, hammers are at work at Hall No. 1 and reports say bigger changes are afoot. However, Delhi High Court is likely to decide on February 23 if the famed Hall of Nations - Indias first pillar-less structure - as well as Hall of Industries and the iconic Nehru Memorial Pavillion should also be demolished. Architects and heritage activists across the world have been campaigning to save the buildings that hosted Indias first modern trade fair in 1972. Widely known as the venue for the annual India International Trade Fair, Pragati Maidan is undergoing a historic makeover. The venue is set to get an Integrated Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre (IECC) spread over 123 acres, complete with 500-room hotel, large food and beverages complex, pools, moving floors and helipad, besides exhibition halls. The IECC, a flagship project of India Trade Promotion Organisation under the commerce ministry, is likely to open with the G20 Summit in early 2019, the fate of is yet to be decided. It is expected to compete with worlds best exhibition complexes such as Crystal Palace in London, Biosphere in Montreal and Eiffel Tower in Paris. The Rs 2,254crore project will have a state-of-the-art convention centre with seating capacity of 7,000 five times the capacity of Vigyan Bhavan. After redevelopment, the exhibition space at Pragati Maidan will be doubled to 1.19 lakh sqm as against the present 65,000 sqm. We hope to complete the first phase of construction by early 2019 when IECC may host the G20 summit, Rita Teaotia, secretary department of commerce, ministry of commerce and industry, said recently on the sidelines of curtain raiser event on Global Exhibition on Services. ITPO officials say the IECC will be a signature complex showcasing the technological, scientific, economic, and intellectual prowess of a resurgent India. Nehru Memorial Pavilion at Pragati Maidan. (Arvind Yadav/HT PHOTO) According to the commerce ministry, the project is envisaged to become a high-tech connection between the city, its people and the global community. The centre has been designed to ensure clarity of function and ease of circulation. Once IECC is complete, the visitors will not have to park their cars outside as there is plan for a parking lot for 4,800 cars. The 1.19 lakh sqm exhibition space is in addition to the existing 40,000 sqm in the air conditioned halls that are not being demolished. A total of 27 halls and pavilions, including 23 state pavilions, six ministry pavilions, eight halls (No. 1-6, 14 and 15), are to be razed. The air-conditioned exhibition halls (7A-H, 8,9, 10,11,12,12A &18) will not be demolished and the annual IITF for 2017 and 2018 will be held in these halls, the ITPO officials said. The demolition of the structures will take about six months as the matter related to three pavilions Hall of Nations, Hall of Industries and Nehru Memorial Pavilion is pending in the court. We hope to get clearance on the same soon. We are in the process of finalising a detailed project report, an ITPO official said on condition of anonymity as only the CMD is authorised to speak to the media he said. Whether ITPO will operate the convention centre on its own or bring in a private player to operate and manage it is yet to be decided. Demolished Hall No.1 at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi February 17, 2017. (Arvind Yadav/HT PHOTO) The convention centre will have a seating capacity of 7,000 in single format (3,000 pax Plenary Hall and 4,000 pax Functional Hall) fully equipped with facilities for country-to-country level international conferences and conventions. The convention centre will be on an elevated podium 8m above ground and will have a floating roof, giving it a grand look. The space below the podium will be used for food and beverage outlets, service and storing facilities of furniture for Convention Centre. Other features include amphitheatre and other facilities to showcase Indias culture and heritage. The Crafts Museum and Science Museum will continue to function as it is. ITPO chairman and managing director LC Goyal could not be reached despite repeated attempts. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 20 By Anvar Mammadov Trend: Azerbaijan exported products worth $64.02 million to Georgia in January 2017, according to a report of the Georgian National Statistics Office. Azerbaijan increased export to Georgia by 31.3 percent in January 2017 as compared to January 2016, according to the report. The report says that Azerbaijan with a specific weight of 13.5 percent ranks second among the countries mainly exporting goods to Georgia in January 2017 compared to 11.9 percent in January 2016. Turkey is the leader among the countries mainly exporting goods to Georgia with $70 million (14.8 percent), being followed by China - $46.16 million (9.7 percent). The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Georgia amounted to $73.36 million in January 2017, according to the report. The specific weight of Azerbaijans trade turnover with Georgia is 11.3 percent of the total volume of Georgias foreign trade operations. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Anvar_Mammadov Majid Malekzada, 19, left for India from his home in Afghanistan in September 2015 in search for a job and an opportunity to meet his idol Shah Rukh Khan. Majid told his mother that he would send money so that his paralysed brother could get better medical treatment. A Class 12 dropout, Majid used to work as a cleaning staff at a Kabul restaurant. He reached Delhi airport on September 18 and passed out after complaining of severe stomach pain. The police took him to a hospital where a scan of his abdomen showed some pellets. He was given laxatives and the morning after he excreted 38 big capsules containing heroin worth Rs 2 crore. He had been promised $400 for the job. On January 21 this year, Vietnamese citizen T Hach Thi Thanh arrived at Delhi airport. She had followed a hectic itinerary cutting across Brazil, Vietnam and Addis Ababa, to reach Delhi. As she made her way to a hotel in Paharganj, a team of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) followed her. Later in the day she was arrested along with two others and 3 Kg cocaine. On February 4, a Zambian woman and her female partner from Tanzania were caught with 4 Kg cocaine valued at Rs 30 crore from a hotel in Mahipalpur. She had arrived from Addis Ababa the same day. POPULAR ROUTES The growing number of arrests of dug mules like Majid and T Hach force one to question whether Delhi is becoming a favourite transit hub for international drug smugglers? Alarming trend Narcotics Control Bureaus (NCB) records show that at least one anti-narcotics operation was carried out every week in 2016 in Delhi. They registered 47 cases and arrested 27 persons with 221 Kg narcotics worth over Rs 70 crore that were being smuggled into Delhi from various countries. Delhi Police seized around 6,400 kg of locally and internationally produced drugs. Over 100 Kg of drugs were seized by the CISF at airports across the country. Out of this, 64 Kg was seized at Delhi airport. Among the most smuggled are party drugs such as cocaine, heroin, pseudoephedrine, Mephedrone or Meow Meow. Read: Party drugs are in high demand in Delhi during festive season Despite continued vigil and action against drug traffickers by multiple agencies, the number of seizures in Delhi have only grown. Delhi is certainly becoming a hub and favourite transit point of international drug traffickers. The data says it all and the trend is pretty alarming, Rajendra Pal Singh, deputy director general (DDG) of NCB told HT. Apart from international drug trafficking, the police are also trying to curb local consumption of drugs. A senior police officer said Delhi is among the largest cities of India and has a large population which can afford to buy expensive drugs. Delhis proximity with NCR towns like Gurgaon, Noida, Faridbad where rave parties are organised in farmhouses and other private spaces also attract drug peddlers, the officer said. NCBs statistics show that drug seizures saw a spike of around 31% in 2016 as compared to 2015. Similarly, there was an increase of around 33% in the seizure of party drugs in 2016. However, more drug peddlers were arrested in 2015 over 2016. In 2015, 46 people, including 21 foreigners, were caught with narcotic substances by the NCB. Out of the 21 foreign drug smugglers, seven were Nigerians, two each were from Ghana and Afghanistan, six were South Africans and remaining from other Asian countries. Ten drug couriers were women. Modus operandi NCB sleuths found that a majority of party drugs were smuggled into Delhi-NCR from foreign countries. Heroin is mainly smuggled into India from Pakistan. Once it reaches Delhi, it is supplied to local drug dealers who channel it to rave parties and individuals. Besides, the popular party drug is also shipped to European and American countries concealed in small courier parcels via air, a senior NCB official said. Read: Half of Indias airport narcotic-hauls in Delhi The drugs are mainly concealed in false cavities in books, paintings, machinery parts, combs, designer clothing, shoe soles, decoration items, skipping ropes, artifacts, soft toys, baby clothes, saree falls, ghagras, etc, the officer added. Cocaine is smuggled into India from Latin American countries, especially Brazil. It is mainly brought in through airports by professional carriers in their personal baggage by creating false cavities or by concealing it in food products and milk powder. There are also professional swallowers or mules who are hired and paid handsomely for cocaine trafficking. Cocaine stuffed in small capsules ensheathed in cellophane, rubber or gelatin coverings are swallowed by these mules. The capsules are later retrieved by giving them laxatives. Besides this, cocaine also reaches India from Brazil concealed in courier parcels, explained another NCB official. Other party drugs such as Methaqualone, Methamphetamine and pseudo ephedrine are generally carried personally by the traffickers after concealing them in false cavities created in their registered baggage. They are also shipped through courier parcels. In a number of these cases the handlers are based in India and control the overseas movement of swallowers or transporters. In the case of the Vietnamese and Zambian women caught this year, the handlers were foreign nationals based in Delhi who are still at large. To renew their stir against mobile-based cab aggregators Ola and Uber, a section of drivers will carry a protest march on Tuesday. The march led by Sarvodaya Drivers Association of Delhi (SDAD), which has also led the ongoing strike against these cab companies, will begin from Majnu Ka Tila. The protest march will culminate at the residence of transport minister Satyendar Jain. All drivers will sit on dharna in front of his official residence at Civil Lines, said Kamaljeet Gill, president of the union. Read: Why the Ola-Uber cab model is not good for either drivers or customers A similar cab shortage like last week may reoccur on Tuesday with the union deciding to stage a protest march against the companies. Gill said that the aim would be to try and meet the minister to seek his intervention. The State Transport Authority has convened two meetings so far, but both failed to yield any result. Both the meetings did not have any representative from the SDAD. On Monday, cabs were largely available in Delhi-NCR, but fares continued to be higher than normal. However, during peak hours in the morning and evening, the waiting time was higher, which went up to about 15 minutes. I did get a cab, but I was charged more. I paid R 430 to travel from Vasant Kunj to North Campus. Usually, Ola or Uber charge me R 170-250 or so, said Rajinder Singh, a professor in a Delhi University College. Read: Little money, long hours: Spare a thought for Delhis Ola, Uber cab drivers Last Monday, commuters faced a harrowing time with cabs going off the roads, while auto rickshaw drivers resorted to fleecing them. Even the metro had recorded a six percent increase in its ridership. The striking union of Ola and Uber drivers is refusing to relent. SDAD, who claims to represent 1.5 lakh drivers in Delhi-NCR, said that although around 70% of cabs plied in the morning, a majority of drivers were off the capitals roads in the evening. The convict in the 1996 Lajpat Nagar blast case was denied interim bail or parole in custody to attend his daughters wedding by the Supreme Court, which remarked that those accused of such heinous crimes cannot expect leniency from the courts. This is such a heinous crime. Those who carry out such activities must realise that this is the end of the families. You cant kill citizens indiscriminately and say I have my family, my sons, my daughters etc, a bench headed by Chief Justice JS Khehar told petitioner Mohad Naushads counsel Siddharth Dave. Naushad is facing life sentence in connection with the case. The 1996 blasts had killed 13 persons and left more than 38 injured. He approached the top court with a plea for a months interim bail to attend his daughters wedding. Alternatively, he requested the court for parole in custody. However, Justice Khehar was not impressed and told Dave that Naushad was accused of killing citizens indiscriminately. You cannot have both. Either this or that. If you want to kill discriminately you cannot say family. Once you kill, thats the end of your family, he observed. Dave pointed out his client had already spent over 20 years in custody. Naushad had already undergone a sentence for carrying explosives under the Arms and Explosives Act, the court was told. Dave argued Naushad was only a conspirator and not the main accused. CBI lawyer Lawyer PK Dey resisted the plea on the ground that the agency had challenged the life-term punishment and sought enhancement to death. The CJI agreed with him, and dismissed Naushads bail plea. Dave mentioned the recent Delhi lower courts judgement acquitting the two key accused in the Sarojini Nagar blast case. He claimed there was no direct evidence against him. However, even this order did not cut ice. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Seventeen teams, a jury with years of culinary experience and one common platform to showcase their gastronomical talent this years edition of University Chef at Delhi Universitys Shyam Lal College was all about great food and greater kitchen prowess. Brainchild of principal, Dr Rabi Narayan Kar, University Chef 2017, in its second edition this year, saw students compete in a cutting and chopping round, a cold preparation round and a culinary quiz on the first day, while the second and final day had a master class by chef Jatin Khurana (of Masterchef fame), and a finale round in which chefs had to whip up a three-course meal starters, main course and dessert. When I was first invited for the competition, I did not really expect an event of such a scale and was really impressed when I got here. Each team showed us what real love and passion for food is like and I was happy to see such young and enthusiastic chefs, said Khurana, who was also a jury member, alongside chefs Mukesh Kumar, Veeta Singh and Nita Mehta. Chef Jatin Khurana during his master class with the participants. A total of 12 teams qualified for Day Two, and those from Vivekanand College, Laxmi Bai College, Kirori Mal College, Deen Dayal Upadhyay College, Aurobindo College, Shyam Lal College (morning & evening), and Institute of Hotel Management won praises for a great show of skill, creativity and team spirit. Winners Yatin and Niyamika from Shyam Lal College pose with their trophy. Celebrity chef Nita Mehta, who was also the guest of honour, gave culinary tips to participants. Yatin and Niyamika from Shyam Lal College won the competition. Ruby and Shikha from Laxmibai College were a close second, and Tanika and Barkha from Deen Dayal Upadhyay College followed. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON If the ongoing high decibel Mumbai civic poll battle pitch is anything to go by, on February 21, citizens of the maximum city will have to choose between Shiv Sena, a party of extortionists and BJP, a party of goons. This is not the usual name-calling by the Opposition, but how allies, who share power in Maharashtra and the Centre, describe each other as the campaign for the countrys richest civic body heats up. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has been called a half-baked idiot and Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has won the sobriquet of being the godfather of mafias. In the 25-year history of the saffron alliance in the state, forged under the Hindutva ideology, this is the lowest the parties have sunk to so far in their bid to gain control of Mumbai, a Sena bastion for the last three decades and a source of its resources. And the BJP-led government, which banks on the strongest alliance-186 seats from BJPs 123 and Senas 63-in the last 20 years, faces a crisis. Both the sides have also made tactical breaches, which may make compromise difficult in future. The Sena has flirted with BJPs arch enemies-West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee to oppose demonetisation and Gujarat Patidar leader, Hardik Patel over tie-up. The BJP state unit has retaliated by accusing Mumbais first family of money laundering and hafta vasooli (extortion). So, how did the state of the alliance get so rotten? The Third Wheel for BJP After separately contesting the assembly polls, the results threw up a hung verdict: BJP had 122 seats and the Sena 63. But before the latter could react, Sharad Pawars NCP unexpectedly offered unconditional outside support to the former. With NCPs support, BJP came to power as Sena sat in the Opposition benches and sulked. Pawars support dramatically reduced Senas bargaining power, even when it wanted to join the government later. NCPs role reduced our position in the political scheme. Since then, we have consistently been sidelined at the Centre and the state government by the BJP. For instance, with our 19 MPs, we deserved a better cabinet portfolio than the heavy industries. After all, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), with 15 MPs, did get civil aviation, said a Sena minister. In the state too, Sena had hoped for better deal, but had to settle for five cabinet and minister of state posts, and later, two more junior ministerial posts post BJPs defeat in Bihar polls. In the last two years, the NCP has maintained a perception of being a standby ally that could step in to bolster the BJP government, if the Sena walks out any time. Much of this perception has been created by Pawar and Prime Minister Narendra Modis affable terms-on public display at several occasions. At the state level, the irrigation probe against Pawars nephew Ajit Pawar has made little headway. Sena looked at Maharashtra as their forte and thought they had monopoly on Marathi voters. The 2014 assembly polls results completely reversed the fortunes of the saffron allies and Sena could not come to terms with it, says political analyst Surendra Jondhale. While they had a honeymoon period with leaders like former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pramod Mahajan in the past, it now had to deal with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, he said, adding, NCP further soured the deal for them. Unhappy at playing second fiddle, Sena has retaliated by voicing its displeasure and sarcasm on every issue through its mouthpiece Saamna, whether it was surgical strikes or the demonetisation. Are the Bridges Burnt? Despite the extreme positions taken, a post-poll alliance has not been ruled out by either party (unofficially). Fadnavis, not keen on antagonising his ally, has said that Sena continues to be our partner in the state. It has not yet backed out of the alliance and my government is stable. BJPs confidence comes from the party top leaderships belief that the Sena will not walk out of the government two years ahead of assembly polls in 2019. It is too long to stay out of power for two years. In that period, we could break their party, a senior BJP minister told HT. Read | BMC polls are here: Mumbais parties rally support one last time So, the Plan B is to wean 22 legislators from other parties offering them ministerial posts (nearly 16 will be up for grabs including 12 from the Sena quota and four remaining from BJP quota). The party believes it can ensure winnable candidates from across the three main parties: Congress, NCP and Sena. But quitting their parties, and winning on lotus symbol, may not be an easy gamble to pull off two years after the Modi wave. If BJP had hoped for NCPs outside support, that now seems feeble. Maratha strongman, Pawar queered the political pitch again this week when he ruled out support if Sena pulled out. Instead, he said, BJP government had lost confidence of the people and that NCP would contribute to its fall if it came to such a scenario. He went on to predict mid-term polls post Mumbai civic polls. However, there are enough indications that these plans may not be necessary. Despite aggressive posturing, Uddhav Thackeray is likely to bide his time before pulling the rug. He told HT that a decision would be taken post Mumbai civic polls results even while admitting that Sena no longer had any emotional connect or common issues with the BJP and the alliance was losing its meaning. At a rally in Pimpri Chinchwad this week, he further indicated a compromise, saying if the BJP government offered farmers a loan waiver, he was willing to support it. But the final decision will be taken depending on the electoral results of the Sena in Mumbai, nine other big cities and 25 district councils that govern 75 per cent of the states rural population. Mumbai results and the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls will redefine the saffron allies strategies and their bargaining power. Even if Thackeray decides to stay in the government, which will be to buy time for political and organisational compulsions as the unhappy marriage gets more bitter. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Enforced patriotism has many pitfalls as we have seen with the national anthem being made mandatory in movie halls. There have been several instances of people being attacked for not standing up, even to the extent of a disabled person being belaboured by people who thought he did not show enough respect on account of not being able to arise from his wheelchair. So, the issue of making the anthem compulsory in any venue should be thought through very thoroughly. The Supreme Court is now examining whether it should be made mandatory in schools with reference to a statement by the attorney general that singing the national anthem instils a sense of patriotism in children and, therefore, it should be made mandatory in schools. So far, the bench has said that the issue needs to be debated and then decided. The Indian school system has many problems, among which one of the most pressing is the lack of teachers. Once such a thing is made mandatory, it becomes actionable. If there is, for example, a school which has too few teachers, how are they to ensure that the anthem is sung in the proper manner by children? If they fail to do this, this leaves them open to harassment from vested interests. What if the children dont know the words to the anthem? Read | Not compulsory to stand if national anthem is played as part of film, clarifies SC Patriotism is not instilled through the singing of the anthem alone. If children want to sing the anthem and understand what it stands for, it can be done by schools in their own time and space. The significance of the anthem and flag and the history associated with them can be taught to the child in a manner which she finds enjoyable and educative. There are many lessons to be learnt from the way in which the mandatory anthem in movie halls has been hijacked by self-styled custodians of patriotism. Invariably, when left to such people, an element of coercion and harassment enters the picture. In the case of schools, if such a move is enforced, who is to ensure that it is carried out properly? Chances are that local interests will appropriate this task and the whole thing will be given a political colour. Read | No concept of National Song in Constitution, says SC The apex court had earlier turned down a plea of making the national anthem mandatory in all public offices, including Parliament, assemblies and the courts. Schools should not be made the exemption. Of course, on certain occasions the anthem may be sung, but voluntarily. There are far more important things to deal with in the education system than this, and these should get priority. The story is old but worth retelling. Every year several thousand tribal families from south Chhattisgarh are forced to migrate to cities in Andhra Pradesh (AP), thanks to the ongoing battle between the Maoists and the security forces in the state. When they land in AP, they are picked up by contractors and made to work at salaries way low the legal minimum pay because they are not from that state. This, however, is not the only challenge. These poor people also have no access to food via the public distribution system (PDS), schools and health system because these rights are not portable yet in India. The same is the fate of the thousands of others who move from one end of the country to another in search of employment. These migrants depend either on their employer or labour contractor for food provisions or purchase food in the open market. This significantly increases their cost of living and reduces the additional earnings they might hope to remit to their families, say experts. The latest Economic Survey (ES) points to a dramatic spike in internal migration with Delhi and the NCR being the top destinations. Between 2011 and 2016, close to nine million migrated between states annually, up from about 3.3 million suggested by successive censuses, says the survey. Read: Migrants could get a job in any state as domicile quotas may go But the long sufferings of migrant workers in India could be a thing of the past if the government accepts the recommendations of a panel that looked into the working conditions of migrants. In its report, submitted last month to the ministry, the panel headed by Partho Mukhopadhyay, senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, has pushed for portability of the PDS benefits across the fair price shop system, affordable housing options and setting up of a migrant helpline to provide information about protections and benefits available to them. Under the PDS, ration cards are invalid in their work state. The panel has recommended expanding and accelerating portability of the PDS as well as healthcare benefits within states with appropriate technology and universal coverage. The panel was set up by the housing and urban poverty alleviation ministry. Read: A combination of aspiration and desperation is fuelling migration in India This report should be the first step towards making rights portable. People should be allowed to access their social entitlements the PDS grain, etc from anywhere in India. This shouldnt not be difficult to put in place with the help of technology. More than 6 million candidates have applied for 8,300 Multi-Tasking (Non-Technical) Staff (MTS) posts in the country advertised by the Staff Selection Commission (SSC). The proposed dates for Paper 1 (first part) of the examination are April 16, 30 and May 7, 2017. The competition is going to be stiff, so candidates need to make a clear-cut strategy to be able to crack the exam. Before making a strategy, candidates should keep in mind the nature of jobs offered through this recruitment process, pattern of the exam and the selection process. Nature of the job offered: The importance of awareness about the nature of duties that the job entails, lies in the fact that the questions asked in the exam will try to evaluate the competence of the candidates in performing these tasks. The post of MTS (NT) was earlier known as Group-D posts such a Peon, Daftary, Jamadar, Junior Gestetner Operator, Farash, Chowkidar, Mali etc. However, it was decided in 2010 to upgrade all Group D posts, in the government, to Group C and discontinue recruitment in Group D. It was also decided to give the designation of multi-tasking staff for various jobs in this category. (see image below the story to understand what the job entails) Pattern of exam and selection process: The written exam will consist of two papers: Paper I and Paper II. Paper II will be of descriptive type and will be qualifying in nature and will test candidates elementary language skills to be suitable for the post. Candidates will be required to write a short essay/letter in English or any language included in the 8th schedule of the Constitution. Only candidates who are shorlisted from among those appearing in Paper I will be allowed to appear in Paper II. Scoring well in Paper I is of paramount importance as candidates for each State/UT will be finally selected based on their performance in this paper, subject to their meeting basic qualifying standards fixed in Paper-II. The Paper I exam will be objective in nature. Candidates should keep in mind that there is negative marking of 0.25 marks for each wrong answer. Paper-1 will have four sections : General Intelligence & Reasoning (25 Questions), Numerical Aptitude (25 Questions), General English (50 Questions) and General Awareness (50 Questions). Each question will carry one mark. How to prepare for the exam: Advising students on how to prepare for Multi-Tasking (Non-Technical) exam, Anil Nagar, Founder & CEO, Adda247 advises candidates to focus more on GS and English section as they carry more marks (50). Students should practice solving a lot of questions from static GS (which does not change in the short-term) and current affairs, he said. For English section, Nagar said questions on Idioms, one-word substitution, antonym/synonym, fill in the blanks and passage (most important) will be asked. In the Quant section, Nagar suggests that students should practice all basic calculations and simplification related questions. Nagar says speed and accuracy are very important for this exam and so students should practice online mock test series and previous years question papers. Here is a section-wise analysis for SSC MTS EXAM 2016 as provided by Nagar: English Language: 50 Questions will be asked from this section Preparation for this section would include focusing on the following topics: one-word substitution, idioms and phrases, synonyms and antonyms, fill in the blanks (sentence completion), sentence errors, reading comprehension, sentence rearrangement and jumbled-up sentences. Narration and active voice/passive voice may or may not be there in Tier-I exam. You may overlook them if there is a scarcity of time. However, make sure you cover them for the tier-II exam. Quite often vocabulary-based questions (one-word substitution, synonyms and antonyms) as well as idioms and phrases from past SSC papers get repeated. So, it makes a lot of sense to go through previous year exam papers and focus specifically on these questions. The difficulty level of reading comprehension passages is not high. However, some practice is needed to locate the answers to comprehension questions asked from these passages. For cracking sentence error spotting questions, knowledge of grammatical rules is essential. If you find yourself lacking in grammar, you should focus on practicing English usage questions such as fill in the blanks, sentence rearrangement and jumbled-up sentences. The SSC can change the number of questions and types of questions asked in the exam at any time. Change in pattern cannot be avoided. So, be open to all possibilities. Quantitative Aptitude (Math): 25 questions will be asked from this section. The Math section consists of four major areas: Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry and Trigonometry. Simplification will be most important among all the areas. You must give it special emphasis. Practice a lot of formulas and calculations related questions. Trigonometry must not be avoided at any cost. Focus on height and distance as well as trigonometric identities. Data interpretation and analysis will become much easier if you have a good understanding of percentages and ratio and proportion. Algebra, including simplification, is generally considered a tough nut to crack. It needs more practice as compared to other areas. Profit and loss, simple interest and compound interest, time and distance and time and work happen to be the key topics, said Nagar. Reasoning (General Intelligence): 25 Questions will be asked from this section. For almost all candidates, reasoning is the most scoring section of the exam. Here, you must focus on key areas such as analogy and classification, non-verbal reasoning, syllogisms, coding-decoding, blood relations, direction test and series. Within non-verbal reasoning, the major types of questions asked in the exam are: (a) mirror image and water image (b) paper cutting, punching and folding (c) figural series completion (d) embedded figures. Make sure you cover all of them. When it comes to series and finding the missing number questions, you can expect both number series and semantic series to be there in the exam, Nagar said. Dont neglect statement-conclusion and statement-assumption questions from inferential reasoning. Even with limited practice, you can score 2 to 3 marks as these questions are fairly simple. General Knowledge (GK): 50 Questions will be asked from this section. Among all sections, GK has the most comprehensive syllabus and requires a lot of time for preparation. So, it is a must to understand the pattern of questions. While going through past year MTS exam questions papers, pay attention to the frequently asked questions from science, politics, history and geography. It is quite common for these questions to get repeated in the exam. In GK, current affairs do not carry that much weightage. So, if you are not in a position to brush up current affairs, you need not worry too much. It is overall difficult to develop a competitive edge in this section, so over emphasis on GK may not be a very good investment of the precious time left. Apart from the suggestions mentioned above, take at least a couple of full-length mock tests every week. This will help you locate your weaknesses and understand how to maximize your overall score, Nagar said. (With inputs from Anil Nagar, Founder & CEO, Adda247) Note: Visit SSCs official website regularly for latest updates. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON An assistant professor in a Delhi college, affiliated with the Delhi University, was allegedly molested by an auto-rickshaw driver when she was travelling from Huda city centre to her residence in sector 51. The victim, from Meghalaya, complained at the sector 51 women police station that she hired an auto-rickshaw on February 15 late evening. The driver took the auto to a secluded place and molested her. The victim could not identify the place and was unable to note down the number of the auto due to the dark and also because she was in shock. I got late and hired an auto-rickshaw as cabs were not available due to strike. The driver seemed fine initially but he took the auto on a secluded route claiming it to be a short cut. He parked the auto at a secluded place and pounced on me the victim told the police. She alleged that when she resisted the accused tore her clothes and after she started shouting, the driver left her and fled from the spot. She somehow reached the police station and lodged a complaint. We filed a case on the same day and are trying to identify the accused. The victim is not sure about the area where the incident took place. She is also not able to give the description of the auto driver said inspector Kailash Devi, in-charge of women police station. She said the police are questioning the auto drivers at Huda city centre and scanning CCTV cameras installed there to get some clues. Members of a helpline meant for people from Northeast have demanded speedy action in the matter. They also met Robin Hibu, joint commissioner (Delhi) and nodal officer for people from Northeast, a day after the incident. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A section of drivers employed by app-based aggregators stopped cabs near Shankar Chowk and also partially blocked vehicles on Monday leading to minor snarls on the stretch. Police officers arrived at the spot and brought situation under control. The development comes days after cab aggregators send messages to its customers claiming their services have resumed. For over a week now, the cabs belonging to aggregators Ola and Uber have been off the roads after the drivers decided to ground their vehicles demanding a revision in fares. The incident took place at about 3.30 pm at the service lane of Shankar Chowk below the NH 8 flyover. Ten cab drivers initially blocked all vehicles heading to New Delhi from Gurgaon. However, after two minutes, they cleared the way and started stopping cars with yellow number plates. The protestors were seen asking drivers whether they work for Ola or Uber. Though the protesters stopped a few vehicles and forced the passengers to step out of the vehicles, they left the spot after learning that police was on the way. Read I Gurgaon: Metro trains packed, cab strike to continue on Tuesday Soon, the passengers climbed back into the cabs they were in and left for their destinations. While, app-based aggregators have resumed their services, the drivers association are yet to call-off their strike that started on February 10. Far from calling off the strike, the protesting drivers have only intensified their stir demanding revision of rates, provision of life insurance cover and seeking non-preference for taxis owned by the cab aggregators. Our demands are yet to be met by OLA or UBER and until they are fulfilled there will be sporadic instances of disruption of services, Jaiveer Singh, a protesting cab driver said. Police officers arrived at the spot and ensure the resumption of traffic movement on the busy stretch. After receiving information that some cab drivers have disrupted traffic near Shankar Chowk, a team of officers from Udyog Vihar police station left for the spot. However, by the time reached the spot, the protesters had already left. No arrests were made, ASI, Kailash Chander, said. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.20 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: Russias Transneft crude oil pipeline company has received 7-percent share of Caspian Pipeline Consortium. In accordance with the decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Transneft got 100-percent share of CPC Company, which had a 7-percent share in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, according to the message posted on the official portal of legal information. Moreover, in accordance with Putins decree, 100-percent share of CPC Investments LLC has also been transferred to Transneft. CPC is the international oil transportation project with participation of Russia, Kazakhstan and worlds leading producer companies, which was established for construction and operation of the trunk oil pipeline more than 1,500 kilometers long. The CPC pipeline system mainly collects crude oil from large oil fields of West Kazakhstan, as well as crude oil from Russian producers. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn Police arrested four men, including the director, of a Gurgaon based Profit Network company that operated an online clickbait scheme and defrauded people of over Rs 8 crore. Initial investigation has found that the accused have cheated 4,866 persons by promising them large returns in lieu of investing small amounts, police said. The company started operations in 2016 and it ceased business in February 2017 after an FIR was registered against it. One of the accused had earlier worked with the Noida based WebWork company, which emulated another web-based fraudster Social Trade Dot Buzz that was recently busted for carrying out a multi-level online marketing fraud worth Rs 3,700 crore. The software to lure people into clicking on links, calculating their earnings, and managing their accounts was designed by the accused in Jaipur. Police identified the four men as Raj Kumar Sharma of Surat in Gujarat who is originally from Mahendragarh, Daulat Singh of Jaipur, Bharat Kumar of Alwar,Rajasthan and Ajay of Bhiwani. Most of the victims of fraud are from Gurgaon, Rewari, Mahendragarh and adjacent areas of south Haryana. Police have frozen Rs 83 lakh in seven bank accounts operated by the Profit Network Company in Gurgaon. The company had opened these accounts in four different banks, including IDFC Bank, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank and Bandhan bank. Sumit Kuhar, DCP, crime, said the accused were using the same modus operandi as the one used by the Noida based company (Social Trade Dot Buzz) that accumulated Rs 3,700 crore by offering people money in lieu of clicks. The four accused used Google advertisement to spread their business and asked people to invest small amounts first .. They managed to lure large number of people and defrauded them of a huge sum, Kuhar said. Raj Kumar had earlier worked with WebWork company. Daulat Singh and Bharat Kumar are friends. Ajay Singh managed the financial side of the business, police said. As per the scheme , people would be asked to invest Rs 4,600 or in its multiples up to Rs 1.25 lakh. For the smallest investment of Rs 4,600, the company offered 10 clicks per day at the rate of Rs 5 per click that was paid uniformally regardless of the investment. For an investment of Rs 4,600 an individual would earn over Rs 15,000 a year and this is quite a good return. So, the people invested a lot of money and also got their friends involved in the hope of making profit, Kuhar said. The police action came after an FIR was lodged by Vijay Singh of Rewari and Amit Kumar of Sonepat against the company on February 14. Both the complainants had become members of the company on January 23, 2017 and had transferred Rs 2.5 lakh to its account. On being questioned, the four men admitted that they started Profit Network company in July 2016 and duped 4,800 persons by making them its members. The members had deposited about Rs 8 crore in the companys bank accounts, police said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Hundreds of parents whose children attend the Salwan Public School protested against a mid-year fee hike at the district education office on Monday morning. Parents demanded the district education officer put in place a mechanism to ensure that private schools do not unjustifiably hike their fees. The parents who assembled at the Mini Secretariat, said a regulator such as an elected parents association, should be made mandatory in each school so that the managements are not allowed to increase the fees without seeking permission from the parents. Parents protested against Salwan Public school for the mid session hike at Mini Sec on Monday morning @HTGurgaon @htTweets @htdelhi pic.twitter.com/DO2hjz4nVl Leena Dhankhar (@leenadhankhar) February 20, 2017 The school already has surplus funds from previous years; the data on the school website showed a balance of Rs 6 crore and after objection to the fee hike, it has updated to zero. As per CBSE guidelines, any affiliated school cant implement a mid-term fee hike but the school is asking for a hike of Rs 6,700 in the name of the Seventh Pay Commission. No other school in NCR has gone for such a hike. The Delhi government is very proactive in auditing school accounts and controlling fee hike; we would request the Haryana government to help us in this matter, said Amit Ghai of Sector 15 said. The problem, however, was resolved after the district education officer visited the school. The education authorities said they held a meeting in the school to find a solution. We went to the school and organised a meeting for parents and school authorities. The matter has been resolved and the school authorities have ensured to roll back the fee hike, Neelam Bhandari, district education officer, said. Distric education officer, Neelam Bhandari to take action against Salwan Public School over fee hike @HTGurgaon @htTweets @htdelhi pic.twitter.com/ENH85hZGrE Leena Dhankhar (@leenadhankhar) February 20, 2017 The matter was amicably resolved between the school and parents, Sandhya Awasthi, principal SalwanPublic School, Sector 15, said. Rajkumar Yadav of Sector 10A said if any parents have already deposited the fee, the school authorities have agreed to refund 5% in this quarter and 9% in the next quarter which will fall in the next academic year. Parents emphasised on the need to crackdown on schools that ignore clauses 158 to 160 of the Haryana School Education Rules, 2003, which govern fees and funds in unaided schools. The rules state that schools must attribute fee hike to additional expenses and explain the same in writing by filing Form 6A with the administration three months prior to the commencement of a new academic session. Irked Parents demanded Haryana government to introduce education policy like Delhi in the state @HTGurgaon @htTweets @htdelhi pic.twitter.com/ZLLDOh9Sms Leena Dhankhar (@leenadhankhar) February 20, 2017 Parents said the administration is supposed to audit 5% of all schools every year, as per a high court order. But this never happens. At least the fee and fund regulatory committee has now ordered an audit after we submitted the complaint, another parent said. It is unjustified that the school is asking for a fee hike of around 20% and on top of that, the school is demanding arrears from Jan 2016. Increasing fee during mid-term is not allowed as per CBSE by-laws. It is surprising that there is no fee hike in their other branch in Delhi, Dinesh Kharb of Sector 11 said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Mothers singing to babies is an old practice across cultures and traditions. Now an American research finds it is actually an important way to stimulate children and help create better bonds between them and mothers. Shannon de lEtoile, professor of music therapy and associate dean of Graduate Studies at the University of Miami Frost School of Music, initially set to look at how infants behave in response to their mothers singing, also called infant-directed singing, compared to other mother-baby interactions such as reading books and playing with toys. In addition the research looked into the role that infant-directed singing plays in creating the intricate bond between mother and child. For her initial study, de lEtoile filmed 70 infants responding to six different interactions: mother sings an assigned song, stranger sings an assigned song, mother sings song of choice, mother reads book, mother plays with toy, and the mother and infant listen to recorded music. The babies showed high cognitive scores during infant-directed singing, suggesting that song is just as effective as reading books or playing with toys for engaging and maintaining babies attention, and far more effective than listening to recorded music. Singing to a baby is just as effective as reading books to them or playing with them. (Shutterstock) The promising results led de lEtoile to carry out a second study that focused on the mothers role during infant-directed singing by measuring the make-up of the song and the mothers voice. The results suggested that when infants had a high level of engagement during song, their mothers instincts were higher, with mothers intuitively knowing when to adjust pitch, tempo or key or the song to stimulate and regulate their childs response when the childs level of engagement declined. De lEtoile then looked at the acoustic range in the singing voices of mothers with post-partum depression. The results showed that although the children were still engaged, the tempo of the singing did not change and was more robotic. However de lEtoile added that for mothers with postpartum depression singing to their child can offer a distraction from negative emotions and thoughts, while children are given much-needed sensory stimulation. In conclusion de lEtoile commented, The tempo and key certainly dont need to be perfect or professional for mothers and infants to interact through song. In fact, infants may be drawn to the personalized tempo and pitch of their mother, which encourage them to direct their gaze toward and ultimately communicate through this gaze. Follow @htlifeandstyle for more I was 14 when I got married, and by 16, I was a mother. It was never planned. Things just happened, says Shahnaz Husain, when asked if she ever imagined that she would be looked upon as one of the most influential names in the beauty business. All I knew was that I had an urge to learn and study more. So, I studied cosmetic therapy and cosmetology in London (UK), Paris (France), New York (USA), Germany and Copenhagen (Denmark). I took up one course after the other to the point where they said, youve exhausted yourself. All we can offer you now is a teaching position, she recalls. Shahnaz Husain suggests using natural products such as saffron. (Istock) The academically oriented Husain returned to India and went about her beauty business without causing a ripple in the international beauty scene. However, things were set to change. I used to read a lot of beauty magazines, and I read about CIDESCO (Comite International dEsthetique et de Cosmetologie a beauty therapy association). It had listed its presence in many countries. However, I was appalled to see they had an I for Indonesia, but not India, she says. She soon wrote to Nina Haas, the president of CIDESCO at the time, who explained to Husain that perhaps she can try making India a member country. But not before going through a gruelling formality of attending a conference, applying for membership, making a presentation in front of members, then leaving it to the poll to let the ballot decide whether the represented country could be shortlisted or not. Husain decided to take the chance and proceeded to attend the conference. There she stood out because while other members represented brands, I represented India. She eventually succeeded in making India a member nation and also became the president of CIDESCO. For me, the motive was to bring the spotlight on what India had to offer. We have a rich history of Ayurveda; all that other people had to offer was chemicals, she explains. The relevance of Ayurveda is only ascending day by day, asserts Husain. These days, everything is coated with chemicals, including vegetables and fruits. Even the manure you add to crops is not gobar (cow dung), but chemicals. Why would you want to add to it by using shampoos and moisturisers that have chemicals? If you use them every day, the chemicals have a tendency to seep into your skin. Interestingly, Shahnaz learnt how to use natural products from her mother, Sayeeda Begum, who belonged to the Nizam family of Hyderabad. When I used soap, my mum would always say, Use rice powder to wash your face, beta. Its true, mothers and grandmothers always know better. Crushed almonds, saffron, turmeric and milk these are the things we should be using to wash our faces. Thats all we need, she says, adding with a laugh, Jaana to hai hi, ayurved se aaram se jayenge. (We all have to leave the world someday, Ayurveda just makes it a little painless.) Follow @htlifeandstyle for more. The author tweets @iamsusanjose SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON After several turbulent months spent out of the spotlight, Angelina Jolie made her first public appearance post her split from Brad Pitt. The 41-year-old actor has kept away from the public eye since she filed for divorce from Pitt in September. The two are currently engaged in a custody battle over their six children, reports E!. Jolie made her first official public post-split appearance Saturday at a free screening of her new film First They Killed My Father at the Terrace of the Elephant in the ancient Angkor Wat temple complex in Siem Reap, Cambodia and brought along all her kids, Maddox, 15, Pax, 13, Zahara, 12, Shiloh, 10, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 8. Hollywood star Angelina Jolie (1st-L) speaks as her children and actors of her new film stand on a stage during the premiere of Jolie's new film First They Killed My Father at the Elephant Terrace inside the Angkor park in Siem Reap. Angelina Jolie unveiled her new film on the horrors of the Khmer Rouge era on Saturday at the ancient Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia, a country the star shares a deep affinity with through her adopted son Maddox. (AFP) Pitt had made his first appearance since his and Jolies split about two months after she filed divorce papers. He attended a screening of the now Oscar-nominated film Moonlight, which he co-produced, and was later spotted at an event for his new movie Allied. Hollywood actor Angelina Jolie, second from left, waves with her adopted children Pax, left, Maddox, center, Zahara, third from right, and Shiloh, second from right, while they wait to meet Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni in Siem Reap province, Cambodia. (AP) Actor Angelina Jolie (C) attends a news conference at a hotel in Siem Reap province, Cambodia. (REUTERS) Actor Angelina Jolie arrives for a news conference at a hotel in Siem Reap province, Cambodia. (REUTERS) Hollywood star Angelina Jolie (R) pays her respects during an audience with Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni (L) at the royal residence in Siem Reap. (AFP) Actor Angelina Jolie (L) greets King Norodom Sihamoni of Cambodia as she arrives for the opening ceremony of the film First They Killed My Father in Siem Reap province, Cambodia. (REUTERS) Follow @htshowbiz for more For the first time since filing for divorce from Brad Pitt in September, Angelina Jolie has opened about it. Speaking with BBC World News Yalda Hakim in Cambodia, where Jolie was promoting her new film First They Killed My Father, she said that, I dont want to say very much about that, except to say it was a very difficult time and and we are a family and we will always be a family, and we will get through this time and hopefully be a stronger family for it. Actor Angelina Jolie arrives for a news conference at a hotel in Siem Reap province, Cambodia. (REUTERS) My family weve all being through a difficult time. My focus is my children, our children and my focus is finding this way through. We are and forever will be a family. I am coping with finding a way through to make sure that this somehow makes us stronger and closer, she continued. Right now, Im going through a moment when just everybodys in my room, she said. Two dogs, two hamsters and two children at the moment. Its wonderful. But, usually, I just wake up trying to figure out whos going to get [the] dog out, whos going to start the pancakes and did anybody brush their teeth. SIEM REAP: Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie, second from left, waves with her adopted children Pax (left), Maddox (centre), Zahara (third from right), and Shiloh (second from right), while they wait to meet Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni in Siem Reap province, Cambodia. (AP) When asked where she saw herself in five years, Jolie realised that she would be the mother of a bunch of teenagers by then. In five years time I would like to be travelling around the world visiting my children, hoping that theyre just happy and doing really interesting things, and I imagine in many different parts of the world, and Ill be supporting them. This file photo taken on May 8, 2014 shows Angelina Jolie (R) along with her husband US actor Brad Pitt as they arrive for the premiere of the film Maleficent at Kensington Palace in London. (AFP) Jolie and Pitt separated in September after more than a decade long relationship, and spent several months embroiled in a bitter custody battle over their six children Maddox, 15, Pax, 13, Zahara, 12, Shiloh, 10, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 8. Follow @htshowbiz for more The body of a three-year-old girl, with injuries indicating sexual assault, was found in a dumpyard at Thiruvottiyur in north Chennai, weeks after residents in Mugalivakkam in the south held protests over the sexual assault and murder of a seven-and-a-half-year-old. According to police, the body showed signs of torture, and sexual assault. There were injury marks on her lower body, a police officer told Hindustan Times. The girl was last seen playing near her house in Thiruvottiyur around 11 am on Saturday. Her parents realised she was missing around 2 pm when they called her for lunch. After a futile search in the neighbourhood, they lodged a complaint at 8 pm. Police sources said the girls abductor sexually assaulted her, before killing her and placing her body in a garbage bin which was later loaded onto a corporation truck and taken to the Thiruvottiyur dumpyard. A ragpicker, who was rummaging through a garbage heap, discovered the body and told the corporation truck driver, who in turn alerted the dumpyard authorities. According to an official who was present at the Thiruvottiyur dumpyard when the body was found, the three-year-olds mouth was stuffed with cloth and had been gagged. There were also injuries on her head. Investigations are currently underway, with police reportedly questioning the neighbours of the deceaseds family. Thiruvottiyur is a low income area in North Chennai with a significant number of residents who are part of fishing community. The party is called the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal), but the Badals are in the background in its campaign for the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) elections scheduled for February 26. Incumbent president Manjit Singh GK is getting pride of place ahead of the partys top leadership Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, who is the partyc chief patron; and his deputy and party president Sukhbir Singh Badal in campaign material and speeches. Reason: The series of sacrilege incidents in late 2015 in Punjab, and the support of Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda to the party on the state polls, have not gone down well with Sikh masses in Punjab, and the Delhi unit does not want that to happen in the national capital. Also read | DSGMC elections: Three-cornered contest in the offing Immediately after the dera led by Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh declared support for the SAD-BJP a week before the February 4 Punjab polls results of which will be out on March 11 GK had announced that it was not the right decision for some leaders of the party to take the deras support. This, because the Akal Takht, the Sikhs temporal seat, had issued an edict to sever all ties with the dera when the sect chief had allegedly dressed like Guru Gobind Singh in 2007. Last year, the Takht had accepted the dera heads apology, but that move was retracted after allegations that the Badals had managed it for political reasons. Thus, the edict stays. Also read | Whats at stake in DSGMC? Religious clout, a moneyed organisation, and much more The Badals, who actively campaigned during the gurdwara polls of 2013, are therefore banking on GK, who is the partys Delhi unit president, and general secretary Manjinder Singh Sirsa to lead the charge. An Akali leader did claim, They (Badals) are out of the country, and will come for the campaign in Delhi. But he did not want to be named. (left) Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) general secretary Manjinder Singh Sirsa and (centre) DSGMC incumbent president Manjit Singh GK talking to media while releasing the new manifesto of DSGMC for upcoming election in New Delhi on Monday. (Raj K Raj/HT PHOTO) GK said this about the Badals remaining low key in Delhi: Its a conscious decision by us to keep politics out of religion. Our opponents have no issues to raise against us. And this is our reply to opponents who say we mix religion and politics. We will contest the polls here on our own and make our party victorious. He said this standing on the Wall of Truth, a memorial built by the DSGMC to Sikhs killed in the 1984 riots, at Gurdwara Rakabganj Sahib. Pressed, he insisted, We are seeking their (Badals) help as and when we need it. They have never interfered in our working. We have kept politics out of religious functioning. Backing him, Manjinder Sirsa said four years work in the gurdwara committee will speak for the party. Four years ago, the story was different. Our party ousted the corrupt Sarna brothers. Now we are in a strong position and capable of winning the elections on our own, he said. Also read | Delhi Gurdwara polls: Candidates woo voters with sops About achievements, GK said, Akal Takhts maryada was restored; centenaries of Guru Gobind Singh and Baba Banda Singh Bahadur were celebrated with fervour. While releasing the manifesto, he also said, The list of works done in our term is unending. We Bala Sahib hospital released from the control of a private company; minority status was obtained for four colleges run by the committee; Wall of Truth memorial was constructed; and a piau at Gurdwara Sis Ganj that demolished by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government was reconstructed and a legal battle was won. In the Punjab assembly polls, the SAD-BJP, after two consecutive terms in power, faced stiff competition from the Congress and also the AAP. With the Panthic Sewa Dal, backed by the AAP, in DSGMC fray this time, the polls here too are a three-cornered contest. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Bihar Agriculture University (BAU) at Sabour in Bihars Bhagalpur district has initiated the process for lodging an FIR against former vice chancellor ML Choudhary over alleged irregularities in appointment of 161 assistant professors-cum-junior scientists in 2012. Incumbent VC Ajoy Kumar Singh said a formal request for lodging the FIR against Choudhary was made to Sabour police station on Monday. Choudhary is a Janata Dal (United) MLA from Tarapur constituency in the district. Singh said university had earlier received a directive from the chancellor to initiate action against Choudhary after a probe panel indicted him. The probe committee, headed by retired Patna high court judge, justice Syed Mohammed Mahfooz Alam, was appointed by the chancellor following allegation of irregularities in the appointments. BAU sources said the university had in 2011 issued an advertisement seeking applications for 281 posts of assistant professor-cum-junior scientist. The appointments were made against only 161 vacancies under general category in 2012. The inquiry was ordered on the basis of complaints received by the chancellors office about irregularities in the agriculture university. The complaints said candidates who secured low marks in academics were given high scores in interview and presentation in order to favour them. Likewise, many others with high scores in academics were shown to have fared poorly in interview and presentation, it was alleged. An RTI reply provided to an applicant also corroborated the charges of irregularities in the appointment. The BAU provided the RTI reply nearly after three years. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case against its former director AP Singh on Monday for allegedly providing favours to controversial meat exporter Moin Qureshi, who is an accused in a graft case. CBI sources said a case has been registered against Singh, Qureshi and other unknown persons. The probe agency also raided Singhs residence in Delhis Defence Colony. Singhs conduct while being the director of the probe agency had come under the scanner in 2014 when Attorney General (AG) Mukul Rohatgi brought to the Supreme Courts notice the reported messages exchanged between Qureshi and Singh. The BBM texts, unearthed by the income tax (I-T) department, indicated that the businessman had sought the former CBI directors help on behalf of the people that were being probed by the agency. Rohatgi had told the apex court that Singhs conduct was wholly unbecoming of the office he held. Two months after AGs remark, Singh quit as a member of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), an appointment he was given by the UPA government in 2013 after his CBI stint ended. Around the same time, a special court observed that there were political reasons behind the charges framed by the CBI against BJP president Amit Shah in 2012 when Singh was its director in connection with the deaths of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Tulsiram Prajapati. Although Singh was on the I-T radar after his association with Qureshi was discovered, the department did not press any charges of tax evasion or undisclosed income against the former CBI chief. I-T had referred the case to the Enforcement Directorate, which in turn asked the CBI to look into the charges against its former director. Last month, the apex court had also asked the CBI to constitute a special investigation team to look into the conduct of another one of its former directors, Ranjit Sinha, whose gate registry revealed that he was meeting several of the agencys suspects at his residence. Sinha had succeeded Singh as the CBI director in December 2012. (with agency inputs) Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 20 By Maksim Tsurkov Trend: Romanias Energy Minister Toma-Florin Petcu, in a letter on behalf of his government to his Azerbaijani counterpart Natig Aliyev, expressed highest support for the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) project and the upcoming third meeting of the SGC Advisory Council, to be held in Baku Feb. 23. The letter says that Romania, along with the support for ministers meeting within the SGC, praises the achievements of cooperation in such format, reads a message from Azerbaijans Energy Ministry. Petcu said Romania is confident that the Southern Gas Corridor remains as the most consistent choice for increasing Europes energy security through diversification of sources and routes of gas supply. The letter also noted Azerbaijans leading role in the region as a gas producer, highly appreciated the cooperation between Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR and Romanias TSO, and touched upon Romanias interest in the expansion of this cooperation. Moreover, Petcu invited Natig Aliyev to pay a visit to Romania to discuss bilateral and regional projects, as well as the opportunities for expansion of cooperation. SGC Advisory Council held its first meeting on Feb. 12, 2015 and second meeting on Feb. 29, 2016. The Southern Gas Corridor envisages transportation of 10 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas from the Caspian region to Europe via Georgia and Turkey. The gas will be exported through expansion of the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov New Delhi: More than 1.5 lakh teenagers are being trained across India to address queries of its 26 crore adolescents on reproductive and sexual health, substance abuse and mental health among other issues concerning their age. Under its Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram, Union health ministry launched Saathiya resource kit that is specially designed by experts to help peer educators, especially in villages, discuss sensitive issues and answer teenage queries in their community in an informed manner. India has nearly 26 crore adolescents and there is growing evidence that due to lack of awareness, more and more teenagers are falling victim to unsafe sex practices or substance abuse. This age group we wanted to reach out to for a long time, and not just reach but reach with an appropriate strategy, said CK Mishra, health secretary, who launched the kit on Monday. READ: http://www.hindustantimes.com/analysis/investment-in-adolescence-will-pay-dividends/story-WygvQh8HjoO5GROhWUdeXO.html One of the key interventions under the programme is introduction of the peer educators (Saathiyas) who are expected to act as a catalyst for generating demand for the adolescent health services and imparting age appropriate knowledge on key adolescent health issues. After much deliberation we realised one of the best ways to reach teenagers is through peer educators from within their own community so that they feel comfortable discussing their problems. These peer educators have been selected from within the community, and are between the age group of 15 years and 19 years. The six-day training module will take place in a phased manner, and ministry of health has been working on the training programme for close to a year. This is a very ambitious programme, as it is about changing behaviour and thoughts of the adolescent population in a positive way, said Mishra. READ: http://www.hindustantimes.com/health-and-fitness/on-the-edge-are-youngsters-in-india-emotionally-mature-to-tackle-life/story-2T1rFDOG81BfrPtd1RWwlO.html Adolescents are the critical mass of asset which in future would be the biggest dividends to the countrys economy; thereby their health and wellness are of utmost priority. Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK) was launched in January 2014, to address and cater to the health and development needs of the countrys adolescents. RKSK identifies six strategic priorities for adolescents such as nutrition, sexual and reproductive health, non-communicable diseases, substance misuse, injuries and violence (including gender-based violence) and mental health. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The policemen accompanying Mayawati wielded Kalashikovs, but at her rally on the outskirts of Kanpur, the Bahujan Samajwadi Party supremo was surrounded by her own security cordon overseen by a private tutor for mathematics, a teenaged college student in a pink overcoat, and a phalanx of construction workers, rickshaw pullers, cleaning ladies, and farm labourers. The Bahujan Volunteer Force (BVF) comprises thousands of BSP cadres across Uttar Pradesh who are tasked with ensuring security at the partys public programmes. They come from all walks of life, and are ready at a moments notice to slip on a blue and white uniform and report for duty. Their work, as the BVFs name suggests, is voluntary. When the BSP went from village to village in the 1980s, party meetings were often attacked by upper castes, said Dr Ajay Kumar, who wrote his PhD on the BSP, The BVF was set up to protect party workers during campaigning. BSP workers were also wary of UP police, which is drawn predominantly from dominant castes. Read: UP polls: People will send back outsider and reinstall UP ki beti, says Mayawati Since then, the BVF has gradually acquired the bureaucratic trappings of any force: BVF district commanders wear three stars on their shirt epaulettes, Vidhan Sabha commanders wear two stars, while their juniors wear one. At Shivarajpur, 750 BVF personnel fanned out across the rally grounds to direct crowds, cordon off a separate arena for woman, and ensure that the crowd of several thousand dispersed in an orderly fashion. The police speak harshly to our people. We are here to reassure our people while also providing security, said Sobran Singh, CO Kanpur for the BVF, Everyone in the party wants to be close to Behenji, but we actually get to accompany her. On days when he isnt on duty, 48-year-old Singh works as a private tutor for high school mathematics and accounts, while his deputy, 20-year-old Saurabh Gautam, is still in college. In our spare time, we also canvas for the party, Gautam said, Our work never stops. The organisation has also become a way for young Dalit women to escape the confines of their homes and forge new lives and friendships. As a child I was always scared of stepping out of my door, said Kumari Savitri, an 18-year-old college student who joined the BVF last year, But the BVF has given me confidence. If Behenji could go from village to village like a young girl, then why cant I? Personal safety, Savitri said, was the single most important issue for UPs women. My dream is for a UP without fear, she said. Read: Reserved seats not a given, Mayawati tells core voters dont be misled BSP campaigns have long been distinguished by their seemingly low-key nature. The rallies are meant as a show of strength to convince dithering voters of the partys electability and broad-based support, but most the work occurs through BSP affiliates like the BVF. We assign 15 workers to each booth, said a senior BSP functionary, and give each worker a target of bringing in 20 votes from friends and family, which makes it 300 votes per booth. The average Vidhan Sabha has 300 to 400 booths, which means a target of 90,000 to 1,20,000 votes per constituency from the cadre. We tell the candidate you get 10,000 votes, well get you the rest, the organizer said. The BVFs cadres are drawn from diverse backgrounds, making it ideally placed to influence followers. BVF members, Virendra Kumar Gautam and Ram Chandra Gautam work as construction worker in Kanpur, but devote a few hours of his week to attend BVF meetings. They said their distinctive uniforms make their fellow workers curious about the BSP. Also read: In 2017, UPs big riddle - where is Mayawati? It is a matter of pride to wear this uniform, Virendra said, People ask us about it, so we tell about the work done by the party. I wash dirty vessels for a living, said a BVF volunteer who declined to give her name, But my personal life doesnt matter. What matters is that I wear this uniform, and work for my community. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON India and Pakistan on Monday extended their bilateral pact, dealing with reducing the risk of nuclear weapon-related accidents, for a period of five years. Announcing the decision, the external affairs ministry said, In accordance with Article 8 of the agreement between the Republic of India and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan on Reducing the Risk of Accidents Relating to Nuclear Weapons, both countries have agreed to extend the agreement for a further period of five years. The existing validity was up to February 20, 2017. According to the pact, which was inked in 2007, both India and Pakistan shall notify each other immediately in the event of an accident relating to nuclear weapons, under their respective jurisdiction or control, which could create the risk of a radioactive fallout, with adverse consequences for both sides or create the risk of an outbreak of a nuclear war between the two countries. The parties may hold consultations, as mutually agreed upon, to review the implementation of the provisions of this agreement as well as to consider possible amendments aimed at furthering the objectives of this agreement, as per the pact. The external affairs ministry on Monday called for an internationally mandated action against Pakistan-based Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed. Effective action mandated internationally against him and his terrorist organisation is a logical first step in bringing justice, and in ridding our region (South Asia) of the twin menaces of terrorism and violent extremism, said ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup . Over two weeks after placing Saeed under house arrest, Pakistan on Saturday included the name of the 2008 Mumbai attacks mastermind in the Fourth Schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA). The JuD chiefs name has also been put on the exit control list which bars him from leaving the country. Saeed and four other men were placed under house arrest on January 30 in Lahore. The JuD chief is under UN sanctions and carries a bounty of $10 million on his head. Read | Hafiz Saeed globally proscribed terrorist, should be brought to justice: India The worlds largest importer of weapons is taking baby steps towards positioning itself as an exporter of military hardware. State-owned Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) has chalked out a plan to export anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) and Akash surface-to-air missiles. BDL managing director V Udaya Bhaskar told Hindustan Times that the defence public sector undertaking was in preliminary discussions with countries such as Turkey, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Vietnam and Myanmar to tap the export potential of the weapon systems. We are exploring opportunities to export Konkur and Milan ATGMs as well as Akash surface-to-air missiles. The ATGMs are built under license from Russian and French firms, and they will give us country-specific export clearance, Bhaskar said. BDL has already inked a deal with Myanmar for supplying light-weight torpedoes. India has identified 15 weapon systems for exports including Astra beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile, Prahar surface-to-surface missile, light combat aircraft (LCA), BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, sonars, Arjun Mk-2 tanks, airborne early warning and control systems, a variety of unmanned systems and battlefield radars. India has set a target of exporting weapons and systems worth $2 billion by 2019, six times the size of Indias current exports. The government has allowed defence PSUs to earmark 10% of their production for exports to help India increase its defence exports. PSUs could earlier export only after meeting the demands of the Indian armed forces. Bhaskar said the orders were unlikely to be very big but it would help India get a foothold in the global market. Last week at Aero India-2017, BDL signed a memorandum of understanding with French firm Thales to assess the opportunity for the transfer of technology of the laser-guided STARStreak missile to India. Through this MoU, Thales and BDL seek to jointly offer a Make in India solution to help service growing international demand for this product, said a Thales release. The missile, with three laser-guided darts, cannot be jammed by any known counter measure and can down even armoured helicopters. The Make in India plan seeks to cut the countrys dependence on imported weapons and position the country as a hub of defence manufacturing. The second round of talks between protesting jats and government panel on Monday, too, failed to break the ice, but the government agreed to form a four-member panel to look into the demand of withdrawal of pending cases against Jats for violence during last years stir. The All India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS) president Yashpal Malik said the meeting was neither positive, nor negative, and made it clear that the protests will continue till the government met all their demands. Haryana chief secretary DS Dhesi, however, said the government panel and AIJASS members agreed over two demands in the Mondays meeting and discussions are on for the rest. Also read | Quota agitation: Jats to clog Delhi on March 2, gherao Parliament Sources said during the closed-door meeting, which lasted for about four hours at the guest house of Panipat refinery, about 150 AIJASS members demanded withdrawal of all cases against Jats, release of 60 people arrested during last years violence and regular government jobs to at least one family member of 31 people killed in the violence, and increase in compensation to the victim families. Also read | Jat stir: Leaders ask protesters to stop paying electricity, water bills if demands not met The government delegation has agreed to form a four-member panel of legal experts, in which two advocates will represent the Jats to find out whether the government could withdraw all the cases or not. The government panel has given assurance to revise the compensation to those who got seriously injured in last years violence from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh. The next meeting for talks will be organised soon and the panel has sought a weeks time to put their demands before the government. The government panel has agreed to form a four-member panel to look into the pending cases against Jats, but we did not see any positive response to the demand for regular jobs to the family members of those killed in the violence, AIJASS leader Baldev Rathee told HT. He said the panel assured to form the committee of legal experts soon and sought a weeks time to look into other demands. The panel agreed to accept the demand to increase the compensation to innocent victims of violence. REASONS BEHIND IMPASSE Having strong support of opposition parties, the protesting Jats are demanding withdrawal of all pending cases and release of about 60 people booked for last years violence. The government officials say that all cases, especially registered under Sections 302 (murder) and 307 (sttempt to murder) of the IPC, cannot be withdrawn. Also three cases of violence, loot, attempt to murder and burning down of house of Finance Minister Capt Abhimanyu are being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation and state government cannot withdraw them. The protesting AIJASS members are also demanding regular jobs for at least one family member of those killed in last years violence, but the step may irk non-Jats. WHAT NOW The AIJASS has decided to continue with the protests, which entered Day 23 on Monday. They have already given a call to take the fight to Delhi. AIJASS president Yashpal Malik has announced to hold a national level rally in Delhi on March 2 and they have decided to gherao Parliament after Holi. Besides, they will also observe February 26 as black day. Whereas, sources said next meeting between government delegation and protesting Jats will be organised on February 28. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Jat leaders while passing a resolution for their future strategy in the ongoing quota agitation asked protesters to stop paying electricity, water bills and repayment of loans to government agencies if their demands were not met by March 1. All India Jat Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS), which is leading the agitation of the Jat community this time, toughened its stand against government as their agitation entered fourth week on Sunday. Also Read | Jat stir: Withdrawal of cases, govt jobs, main bone of contention in talks AIJASS chief Yashpal Malik outlined the strategy of the community to press for their demands, which include reservation in government jobs and withdrawal of police cases registered during last years quota stir. From March 1, we will start non-cooperation movement, wherein we will stop paying electricity, water bills and repayment of loans, Malik said, amid loud cheers from the crowds gathered to observe Balidaan Divas in memory of those killed last year in February. Also Read | Quota agitation: Jats to clog Delhi on March 2, gherao Parliament The Jat leader also asked the dairy owners in Haryana to stop supply of milk to Delhi on March 1 as a symbolic protest for a day. On March 2, he gave a call for a big protest to clog national capital followed by gherao of Parliament after Holi. Though the day passed off peacefully, there is a little respite for the government as the community announced to observe next Sunday, February 26, as Black Day and vowed to collect in even larger numbers. Police on Monday intensified search for four members of a gang that allegedly abducted and sexually assaulted a popular Malayalam actor when she was returning from a film shoot in Keralas Kochi, officials said. Police have come under pressure from the film fraternity to nab the four remaining accused including a known history-sheeter, Pulsar Suni, believed to be the kingpin. Three accused were held shortly after the incident on Friday night. They include her driver, identified only by his first name Martin. The 30-year-old actor, who was returning to Kochi after a shoot in Thrissur, said in her complaint that she was abducted by the seven-member gang and assaulted for nearly two hours in her car. She said they also took photographs of her. Police suspect the gang might have blackmailed others too in similar fashion. A leading producer Suresh Kumar said his wife Maneka Suresh too had faced a similar experience five years ago but the police failed to act despite lodging a complaint. State police chief Loknath Behra said a special investigation team has been constituted to probe the incident. We are closing in on the others, he said. Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said stern action will be taken against the attackers It is an unfortunate incident... Police are looking into the case seriously and stern action will be taken against those responsible for it, he said in Delhi on Sunday. Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala, however, blamed the states poor law and order situation for the incident. As the shocking news spread film fraternity stood up for the actor. Candle lighting is enough. We need action now, wrote actor Mohanlal in a Facebook post. Another veteran actor Manju Warrier hailed the victims bravery. Nobody can beat the spirit of a woman, she showed it, said actor Manju Warrier. Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) president Innocent, also a Lok Sabha MP, described the incident as a heinous crime. We have only one thing to say to those who committed this cruel act to our daughter.. sister ---defeat is yours. She will stand undefeated... Always, he said on Facebook. Actor Unni Mukundan said he respected the actress decision to speak out about her harrowing experience, adding nothing will change except for the fact that everyone will know that you are one brave girl who chose to fight. With agency inputs SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Malana, an ancient village in scenic Kullu district which is infamous for its cannabis production, has now resolved to fine the villagers and others indulging in narcotic trade. Panchayat ban will come into effect from February 25 after gram sabha finally adopts a resolution to fine villagers indulging in narcotic trade that has flourished leaps and bounds over the years. The panchyat has resolved to ban smoking as well and it will fine people indulging smuggling of contraband. Actually, village people are innocent and hence, they have always been exploited. Panchayat has decided to impose a fine of Rs 1 lakh on those indulging in narcotic trade, panchayat pradhan Malana Baghi Ram told Hindustan Times. Earlier also, we brought a resolution to prohibit photography in the panchayat, but due to lack of quorum, it could not be adopted. We have also resolved that outsiders will not be allowed to document the village life as our village is being potrayed in negatively in this cyber world, says Bhagi Ram. Malana had banned locals from employing Nepalese labour, who they see as conduit engaged drug cartels. Malana villagers draw their lineage from the famous Greek king Alexander. The legend has it when Alexander raided India, he passed through treacherous mountains in Kullu and few of his soldiers were unable to travel further, so they stayed back in Malana village. The village has its own parliament system comprising Jayeshthang and lower house Kanishthang . The upper house consists of three permanent members and eight temporary members, while the lower house has the eldest member from each family. Both the houses have decided to ban the photography as well as fine persons indulging in narcotic trade, he said. The villagers extract hashish from the plant of cannabis sativa - it has been sold at exorbitantly high rates to drug cartels active in Parvati valley for over last four decades. The hashish brand - Malana cream - is famous world over. Malana cream has given a boost to narco-tourism in the ancient village, that was in oblivion till late eighties. Traditionally, the Malanav villagers used hemp fiber to make basket ropes and slippers, which were sold in the market . But the visiting foreigners to the land locked village taught the villagers to rub cannabis plant to extract intoxicating resin. Foreigners lessons on extracting charas seemingly changed the life of people in this culturally-rich village. Villagers then took up the drug trade to turn their fortune. The government annually launches statewide campaign to destroy cannabis. This year, it destroyed cannabis on 500 bighas of land . The villagers with changing time have been struggling hard to shed off the cannabis tag, but at the same time, the successive governments plans to wean them away from narctic trade are just gathering dust. The government had proposed to rehabilitate the villagers, but so far nothing has been done on the ground. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The prime accused and two others involved in the abduction of a popular film actress sought anticipatory bail in the Kerala high court even as police continue to join the dots in the case. EC Poulose, counsel of prime accused Pulsar Suni, told the media in Kochi that the bail application will be moved on Tuesday. A police team led by inspector general P Vijayan did not reveal details about the investigation but says they have been able to track down all the accused. They have made three arrests and are keeping a close tab on the prime accused and three others. The actress was abducted on Friday night while she was on her way from Thrissur to Kochi. She was dumped near a director-turned-actors house, from where police were informed and her driver Martin was arrested. The actress told police that Pulsar Suni committed the crime at the behest of others. Suni, who has been a driver in the film industry for actors and others for some years, reportedly told her that he had been hired to kidnap her and if she resisted, he would have to use force. The actress lives in Kochi with her mother. Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan as well as former chief minister Oommen Chandy told her that everything will be done to see the perpetrators are brought to justice. She has been receiving endless support from the Malayalam film fraternity. Members gathered here to express their thoughts. Members of Keralas film fraternity at a protest meet in Kochi on Monday condemning the assault on the Malayalam actress. (HT Photo) On Monday, messages of support poured in from even the Tamil and Hindi film industries. Actor Prithviraj Sukuraman said he was supposed to start work with the actress in a week. But the actress told him she would not like to face the camera so soon and so is pulling out of the film. If its affected her enough to make her stay away from what she loves the most, I can only imagine how harrowing it must have been, he said. Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Feb. 20 By Huseyn Hasanov Trend: Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed prospects of cooperation in key areas during a phone conversation, the Turkmen government said in a message. The two presidents exchanged views on a number of topical issues of regional and global agenda. The sides confirmed mutual readiness to continue taking an active part in international efforts aimed at ensuring peace, security and sustainable development, both at the bilateral level and within international organizations, said the message. Berdimuhamedov invited Erdogan to visit Turkmenistan. The Turkish leader congratulated Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov on his being re-elected as the president of Turkmenistan. A presidential election was held on Feb. 12 in Turkmenistan. Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, who has been the president since 2007, was re-elected for a third term with 97.69 percent of votes. Nine candidates took part in the presidential election. Police have launched an overarching investigation into the alleged abduction and molestation of a popular Malayalam filmstar, amid swirling speculation that her rivals hired contract criminals to stage the crime and ruin her career. The conspiracy theories gained ground after three fugitive suspects, including alleged lynchpin Sunil Kumar alias Pulsar Suni, approached the Kerala high court on Monday for anticipatory bail. They pleaded innocent and alleged that police were hounding them without a reason. The court will hear their bail petition on Tuesday. The popular actor was allegedly taken hostage on the way from Thrissur to Kochi on Friday and molested for by a seven-member gang. The criminals took pictures and videos to blackmail her before letting her go. Read| Malayalam actor molested: 3 similar incidents before, says director quoting cops The 30-year-old actor, who had worked in more than 75 movies in several southern languages since debuting as a teenager, was returning home from a film shoot. Her driver, Martin Anthony, and two more men were arrested in the past two days for the crime, but the mastermind and his associates are still at large. Police suspect the gangsters belonged to the quotation mafia a gang that can be contracted for criminal assignments. A quotation gang is the Kerala equivalent of supari criminal. It remains unclear as to who hired the gang, but allegations are flying that the motive was to harm the actors successful career. Fellow actor Manju Warrier, addressing a protest meet organised by Malayalam movie artistes on Sunday, hinted as much about the conspiracy angle. BJP leader V Muralidharan too sniffed a conspiracy and sought a probe into the abducted actors reported tiff with a superstar of the film industry. She once said a lobby was working overtime to push her out of the industry. It should be part of the investigation, he said. But organisations and people associated with the industry, who have been rallying behind the actor, dismissed the conspiracy theories. We never expected such a statement from a senior leader. Police are investigating the case and it is not the time to cast aspersions on somebody, said Suresh Kumar, president of the Malayalam Cinema Producers Association. The investigation didnt show any tangible result on Monday, though police have prepared a list of 2,010 known criminals. These people will be picked up for questioning, while the hunt to capture the fugitive suspects will continue simultaneously. Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan sought a report on the police action so far after a meeting of the district collectors and top police officers. The National Commission for Women too got into the act, summoning Kerala Police chief Loknath Behra on Monday. It is a shocking incident. We will seek a report from the DGP and review the probe, said Lalitha Kumaramangalam, the commissions chairperson. The incident triggered outrage among the public, film fraternity and political parties. The CPM and CPI, constituents of the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) in the state, had described the assault on the actor as a one-off incident. The Opposition and womens rights groups called the statement insensitive and a mask to hide rising crime against women. Union minister for women and child development Maneka Gandhi said the Left Front government should be dismissed. There is no governance in Kerala. Women and children are at the receiving end. The state is a fit case for Presidents rule, she told a Malayalam news channel in New Delhi. Read| Kerala CM promises strict action after actor allegedly abducted, molested in moving car SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah are terrorists who are trying to terrorise people in Uttar Pradesh, a Samajwadi Party minister has said, as campaigning in the state turned ugly halfway through the seven-phase assembly elections. The comment by Rajendra Chowdhary came shortly after Modi accused the SP government of discrimination on the basis of religion. They want to create an environment of fear. They are both terrorists -- Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. They are creating terror in our democracy, Chowdhary said. #Watch Narendra Modi aur Amit Shah dono aatankwaadi hain,aatank paida kar rahe hain loktantra mein says Samajwadi Party's Rajendra Chaudhary pic.twitter.com/KGdeunr2m0 ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) February 20, 2017 They have nothing to say and hence are making wild allegations. The BJP knows it is losing the plot in UP and it will fare worse than in Bihar, the senior minister, who is also the partys spokesperson, said after voting in the third round ended on Sunday. The BJP was quick to respond. It is their (SPs) frustration and people of UP will punish them for such intemperate language against the PM, said BJP vice president and partys UP in-charge Om Mathur. BJP media in-charge Harish Srivastava also attacked the SP leaders for using wild language. Its clear that the SP is losing even in its bastion. It isnt just their tongue that is slipping. By the time seven round UP polls end UP would have slipped out of their control too, Srivastava said. On Sunday, Modi drew a parallel between Hindu and Muslim festivals to accuse the Akhilesh Yadav administration of practising discrimination on the basis of religion. If you create kabristaan (graveyard) in a village, then a shamshaan (cremation ground) should be created. If electricity is given uninterrupted in Ramzan, then it should be given in Diwali without a break. Bhedbhaav nahin hona chahiye (there should be no discrimination, Modi told a rally in Fatehpur, apparently playing the Hindutva card in the politically crucial state. PATNA Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday said the time was ripe for taking a call on the decommissioning of the Farakka barrage as it had led to huge deposition of silt in the Ganga riverbed and resulted in increasing the magnitude of flood devastation in 12 riparian districts of the state over the years. In addition to the recurring flood problem, the barrage is hindering the natural silt flow. Today, a comprehensive silt management policy is the need of the hour to maintain the unhindered flow of all major rivers, including the Ganga, if we are really keen to save the life giving Ganga from dying a slow death, he said. He was speaking at the Lok Samvad programme at the Samvad Bhavan. The chief minister also underscored his protest against the move to build a barrage and reservoir near Buxar and in Uttar Pradesh for creating a waterway route from Allahabad to Haldia. It will further hinder the free flow of the river that was becoming shallower with each passing day, he said. Maintaining that he had been flagging the issue on different forums much before the Ganga River Basin Authority was created, Kumar said: I had shown the increase in silt deposition to the then Union minister in the UPA government, Pawan Bansal. Last year, I had also apprised Prime Minister Narendra Modi in detail of the reasons behind the growing intensity of the devastation caused by floods in the state. Kumar said many experts had endorsed his views and also pointed out disadvantages of the Farakka barrage. The engineer, involved with the project, had also given his dissenting note. But he was forced to leave the job, Kumar said, adding his apprehensions have come true. Flanked by state water resources minister Lallan Singh, the chief minister said there was no benefit from the barrage, which has been the genesis of recurring floods. If the riverbed remains shallow, flood waters will spill over and devastate more areas. I have never seen floodwaters entering Bakhtiyarpur. Katihar floodwaters took a long time to recede. The barrage needs to be decommissioned to ensure the natural flow of the Ganga for its rejuvenation and better silt management, he said. Low cost water treatment model Chief minister Nitish Kumar said the government was keen to replicate the low cost water treatment model developed by environmentalist Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal, as it was crucial to the success of one of the seven resolves for governance that aimed to provide a pucca drain in every village. A team of top government officials had accompanied him on the trip to Punjab, where they saw how the Seechewal model treated waste and sewerage water collected in a pit, using indigenous methods, for reuse for irrigation and other purposes. We will be facing similar challenges once the pucca drain scheme is in place, Kumar said. He said Seechewal had also been invited to attend a two-day international seminar on the topic Ganga ki Aviralta, beginning February 25, to discuss how an unhindered flow of the Ganga could be achieved, without which the idea for its rejuvenation cannot be complete. Later, a seminar in which noted environmentalist and water management experts are expected to take part was also slated in Malda. Kumar said that during his Punjab tour, he also paid a visit to the Golden Temple in Amritsar and Jallianwala Bagh. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON After days of silence, Pakistan Army on Monday dismissed as disinformation a media report that said army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa urged officers to read a book about how India succeeded in keeping the military out of politics. The Nation newspaper reported on February 12 that Bajwa addressed a gathering of senior army officers of Rawalpindi Garrison in the General Headquarters in December and recommended Army and Nation: The Military and Indian Democracy Since Independence written by Steven Wilkinson. The book provides details of changes made in the structure and recruitment pattern of the Indian Army to suit the fledgling democracy in the new country. Army spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor issued a brief statement to reject the contents of the report. News/comments quoting COAS address to officers at Rawalpindi regarding book Army and Nation is a disinformation, he said in the statement posted on Facebook. It had been reported that Bajwa in the address dwelt on the thorny issue of civil-military equation in the country where the army has ruled for almost half of the history since independence in 1947. The report said the new army chief in a poised manner communicated it to his officers in unequivocal terms that there should be cooperation and not competition between army and civilian leadership of the country. The army has no business trying to run the government. The army must remain within its constitutionally defined role, Bajwa was quoted as saying. He also urged officers to read Wilkinsons book, according to the report. A debate is raging between the defence ministry and military headquarters over whether spouses of the army, navy or air force chiefs should be allowed to travel with them on an official visit abroad. The sensitive issue has reached defence minister Manohar Parrikar, who is expected to give his opinion this month as his ministry and the military administration hold opposite views on conventions and travel rules. The headquarters have underscored past convention to pitch for spouse travel, saying wives accompanied the chiefs since they pick up welfare measures for the military wings their husbands were in. It is standard practice for these first ladies to head welfare associations of fellow military wives and play a key role in rehabilitation of families whose kin have laid down their lives for the country. This is a military convention and many countries such as France, Germany, Vietnam, Thailand, and the UK follow, allowing the spouses to accompany their husbands, a former army chief told Hindustan Times. But the defence ministrys finance wing has pointed out that only the President, Vice President and Prime Minister are allowed to take along their better halves at government expense during an official visit outside the country. Further, according to government rules, not even a Union cabinet minister can take his or her spouse on foreign trips. That includes the defence minister. At present, only vice-president Hamid Ansari travels with his wife, Salma Ansari. In terms of protocol, the services chiefs are ex officio officers of cabinet secretary rank and report to the defence minister. Parrikar is likely to speak to the three service chiefs and the defence secretary before he decides on the spouse travel rule. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Tamil Nadu assembly secretary A M P Jamaludeen on Monday submitted a report to governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao on the unsavoury incidents in the House during the vote of confidence sought by chief minister K Palaniswami on Saturday. The report was submitted at the Governors office, official sources said. It was given a day after Rao sought a factual report from the Secretary on the entire proceedings from the time the House assembled at 11 am on February 18 and till it was adjourned sine die at 3.27 pm after adoption of the confidence motion. Palaniswami had won the trust vote by a 122-11 margin after the eviction of DMK members and and walkout by its allies, amid stormy scenes during which mikes were uprooted, chairs toppled and sheets of papers torn and hurled around. DMK working president M K Stalin, rebel AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam, who had unsuccessfully pleaded for a secret voting on the confidence motion, yesterday appealed to the governor to nullify the vote. Following days of confusion over government formation after former Chief Minister Panneerselvams revolt against party chief V K Sasikala and her conviction in an assets case on February 14, Rao had last Thursday invited Palaniswami to form government and seek vote of confidence. A rights group has accused Dhaka of facilitating ethnic cleansing of indigenous Buddhists by pushing Rohingya refugees from Myanmar into the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh. This strategy of replacing the minority Jumma people of Bangladesh with the Rohingyas has been a factor in the latters persecution in Myanmar, the group said. Jumma is a collective term for the indigenous peoples of CHT. They include the Chakma, Marma, Tripuri, Chak, Lushai, Gurkha, Assamese and Bawm. The Delhi-based Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) submitted a report on the Rohingya refugee crisis to Yanghee Lee, the United Nations special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, on the eve of her four-day visit to Bangladesh from Monday (February 20). More than six lakh Rohingyas have sought refuge in Bangladesh since 1992 but in December 2016 Myanmar offered to accept the return of fewer than 2,500 Rohingyas. The report stated that while gross human rights violations against the Rohingyas must be investigated, the UN cannot ignore the Buddhists of CHT being made a minority in their own land by the permanent settlement of Rohingya refugees who belong to the same stock of people as the majority Muslim population of Bangladesh. The Rohingya refugees, the ACHR said, have already become a majority in Bangladeshs Bandarban district and have been involved in grabbing the lands of indigenous Buddhists, attacking Buddhist monks in CHT and launching insurgency in Myanmars Arakan province from CHT. A team of researchers of the rights group had visited Rohingya refugee camps in Coxs Bzaar area of Bangladesh in January and found that they were living in makeshift camps and had no intention of returning to Myanmar because of absolute lack of guarantee against non-repetition of xenophobic attacks. At the same time, the Bangladesh government is neither registering the Rohingyas nor issuing identity cards to record their origin which is necessary for their repatriation to Myamnar. There is no intention to repatriate them, ACHR director Paritosh Chakma said. That Dhakas national survey of Rohingyas conducted in June 2016 focused on all the three districts of CHT confirms that the Rohingya refugees are mainly settled in the CHT, Chakma said. Bangladeshs latest census says the population of Bandarban district in CHT increased from 157,301 in 1991 to 298,120 in 2001 an increase of 90% against decadal growth rate of 17% for the entire country. This was the period when the Rohingyas became a majority in the district. Few in the international community recognise that the Rohingya refugees who are subjected to gross human rights violations in Myanmar have become de facto rulers over the indigenous Marmas in Bandarban district with wider implications for indigenous Jumma peoples of the CHT, Chakma said. ACHR also informed special rapporteur Lee that Dhakas policy of absorbing more than half a million Rohingya refugees and using them for settlement in the CHT has encouraged the Myanmar government to expel more Rohingyas from Arakan province. The Myanmar army had expelled more than 300,000 Indian origin people following a coup by General Ne Win in 1962. With more than one million Rohingyas already expelled since 1992, the Myanmar army believes that they can actually expel all the remaining Rohingyas and get away with ethnic cleansing, the ACHR report said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Former Isro scientist S Nambi Narayanan was instrumental in designing the system used in Chandrayaan, Mangalyaan and PSLV that launched 104 satellites in one go last week. But the 75-year-old, who has a spying case against him, is still fighting to get justice. Narayanan was in the Supreme Court to attend the hearing of his petition, seeking action against those who allegedly foisted a false case against him. There, they are using the same system that I worked upon and developed. But here, I am still fighting to get justice. I have wasted my 25 years, Narayanan said immediately after the hearing in his case ended. The court fixed February 23 to hear his petition. Narayanans career was ruined after the 1994 Isro spying scandal made headlines. He was given a clean chit after a CBI probe held that the Kerala police had fabricated the case. The scientist was arrested after the Kerala police nabbed Mariam Rasheeda a Maldivian woman on October 20, 1994. Though she was arrested for overstaying in India, police later accused her of being involved in a sex-spy scandal. It was alleged that Rasheeda was the intermediary between the organisation and two more women. She was accused of passing on Isros cryogenic programme secrets to the women, who in turn supplied the same to Russia and Pakistans ISI. Two years later, the CBI cleared all the accused, who were discharged in May 1996. CBI also filed a closure report before the court. But a change in the government re-opened the probe. The earlier consent given by the state to the CBI to investigate the case was withdrawn and the Kerala police was asked to hold a fresh inquiry. In 1998, the Supreme Court quashed the state governments decision. On Narayanans petition, the Kerala high court, in September 2012, ordered the state government to pay Rs 10 lakh as interim relief to the scientist. Later, in October 2014, action was ordered against the errant police officials. However, a division bench reversed the order in March 2015, which Narayanan has challenged before the Supreme Court. His grievance is that despite the CBI probe indicting the police officers, the state has not taken any action against them. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Central Information Commission (CIC) has directed the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) to disclose action taken on the JL Kapur Commission report on Mahatma Gandhis assassination which reportedly said evidence only points towards the theory of Veer Savarkar and his group being part of the criminal conspiracy. The CIC also recommended the PMO to build exhaustive archives on Mahatma Gandhi on the lines of recent declassification of files pertaining to Subhas Chandra Bose. The transparency watchdog transferred an RTI application seeking records related to the assassination of Gandhi on January 30, 1948, subsequent probe and the court case. The CIC said the petition should be transferred to the PMO for information and necessary action to formulate appropriate policy to build archives of records regarding Gandhis assassination, investigation, trial, punishment, official correspondence, and action taken on the recommendations of JL Kapur Commission. The government had appointed a judicial commission under the chairmanship of JL Kapur to inquire into the conspiracy angle and other aspects of the assassination of Gandhi, information commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu said. He said a copy of the Kapur report was available with Indian Law Institute, New Delhi which has a treasure trove of information about Gandhis death which needs to be probed and an archive could be built in the National Archives of India (NAI). Citing an article by noted historian and lawyer AG Noorani in The Hindu news paper, Acharyulu said the court had earlier exonerated Savarkar for want of corroborative evidence in support of the approvers confession. However, Justice Kapurs findings are all too clear. He concluded: All these facts taken together were destructive of any theory other than the conspiracy to murder by Savarkar and his group (Noorani, AG (March 15-28, 2003). Savarkar and Gandhi, The Hindu), he said. Acharyulu said that under the proactive disclosure clause of the transparency law, section four of the RTI Act, it was the duty of the concerned authorities like the PMO, culture minister, the NAI to provide authentic information in digitised form about the assassination. He said this information should be placed in public domain to facilitate research or answer curiosity of the generations to come. The people of present and future ages should have liberty of thought based on entire factual information/ documents on this national tragedy of assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, and enough freedom to formulate their own opinion on his life and achievement, Acharyulu said while deciding the petition of researcher Hemant Panda. The NAI should have consulted the ministry of home affairs and the Supreme Court for securing all records of Gandhi murder investigation, prosecution, detention in jail and execution of the accused, he said. Achryulu said if the home ministry could trace the entire record of the Kapur Commissions hearings and depositions, documents, and file notings on the same, it will enrich the collection. He said the Prime Minister has declassified 100 secret files pertaining to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in January 2016 and promised to release 25 declassified files every month. This is a significant step towards transparency about history of national heroes. Similarly, the Prime Minister needs to place the official documents, declassifying them if necessary, regarding Gandhi. There are huge repositories of books and papers on Gandhis life by private and public authorities. Unfortunately, there is no official compilation record at one place about his death, he said. The commissioner hoped that the NAI would get enough funds from the government to digitise and categorise the records of Mahatma Gandhi, making them available in an easy and accessible format on their official website to enable people to read the entire documents. Separatist leaders in Kashmir have called off their strike this Friday as Shivaratri falls on that day. Speaking to HT, spokesperson of the moderate Hurriyat faction, Shahidul Islam confirmed the decision. Earlier, in their fortnightly calendar, the joint separatist leadership-including Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik-had called for a strike on Friday, February 24. It also called for peaceful protests on the day. After Friday prayers, peaceful protests will be held throughout valley. There will be no relaxation, the statement said. Shivatri is celebrated by the Valleys Hindu population and is locally called Herath and is also a government holiday in the state. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The value of Russias contract with Iran for the supply of S-300 air defense systems was nearly $1 billion, Sergey Chemezov, the chief of Russias Rostec state corporation, said, TASS reported. We were through with the supplies of S-300 air defense systems to Iran last year, he said, adding that no more supplies of Russian weapons to Iran are currently planned. Russia signed a contract with Iran for the supply of S-300 air defense systems to the country back in 2007. However, the contract was put on hold in 2010 due to the UN imposing sanctions on Iran after the country refused to suspend its uranium enrichment program. Russian President Vladimir Putin lifted the ban for the supply of S-300 air defense systems to Iran in April 2015. Iran and the P5+1 (China, France, Russia, the UK, the US plus Germany) inked the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on July 14, 2015 and started implementing it on Jan. 16, 2016. Under the nuclear agreement, Iran undertook to put limitations on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions imposed against Tehran. DMK working president MK Stalin on Monday upped the ante against Tamil Nadus new chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami. He threatened to move another no-confidence motion against Palaniswami while describing his government as a proxy of the convicted AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikala. Stalin left no one in doubt that it is not former caretaker chief minister O Paneerselvam but the DMK that is leading the charge against the Sasikala faction of the ruling AIADMK. Stalin also questioned the legitimacy of the current state government and said that the party would be seeking an appointment with President Pranab Mukherjee to submit a report about what happened during the trust vote on Saturday. The entire state has seen political turmoil for nine months, he said on Monday. Nothing that subsequent governments, including Palaniswamis, have announced have been put into effect. They have all remained at the proposal stage. Promising that the opposition would push for a no-confidence motion in the next assembly session, Stalin termed the events of Saturday, where all 89 of the DMKs MLAs were expelled by the speaker, as being against the laws of the assembly. He also dismissed allegations from the AIADMK that they had engaged in violent activities. If I hit you and someone hits me back, that is violence, the DMK leader said. We shouted slogans, challenged the AIADMK, and sat in protest in the assembly. How can you call that violence? Stalin also tried to leverage the state-wide hunger protests on Wednesday which were organised by the DMK. Despite being organised by the DMK, the protests were not about one party tackling another, but about the people of the state questioning their government, he said as he invited the youth and students to boost the opposition ranks against the Sasikala faction. The DMK had moved the Madras high court to declare the results of Saturdays elections null and void. The case will be heard on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the secretary of the assembly submitted a report Governor Vidyasagar Rao on what happened during Saturdays ruckus, which saw the House grind to a standstill as furniture and microphones were broken. The Governor had requested a report following complaints made by both Stalin and former CM O Panneerselvam. Stalin insists that the floor test was illegitimate as it was conducted without the Opposition. Congress legislators walked out in solidarity with their alliance partners the DMK minutes before the vote was held. The DMK had demanded a secret ballot during the trust vote sought by Palaniswami, and came out in support of O Panneerselvam during Saturdays dramatic proceedings. Palaniswami won the trust vote after 122 MLAs voted for him while 11 voted against the government after speaker P Dhanapal twice adjourned the House within a couple of hours when DMK legislators broke furniture and microphones, threw papers and even occupied his chair. The 62-year-old CM now has to combat the image of being the convicted general secretarys puppet, as well as deal with his rebellious predecessor O Panneerselvam. While the Panneerselvam faction voted against the government on Saturday, giving the AIADMK grounds to expel them, experts say that is unlikely to happen as it would result in by-elections at a time when public sentiment is firmly against the ruling party. But beyond internal party squabbles, Palaniswami now has to contend with the much more significant threat of MK Stalin, who made it clear that the anti-Sasikala crusade was now being spearheaded by the DMK, and not the OPS faction. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj on Sunday directed the Indian High Commission in South Sudan to help the family of an Indian man, who was shot dead there, in bringing his body back to India. Indian High Commissioner in South Sudan -- Plz contact the bereaved family and help them, Swaraj tweeted in response to an appeal for help by a man who said his cousin had been shot dead in Juba. Indian High Commissioner in South Sudan - Plz contact the bereaved family and help them. @eoijuba https://t.co/74eVfn6d5v Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) February 19, 2017 Syed Ejaz Hussain tweeted that his cousin Syed Farooq Basha had been shot dead in Juba, South Sudan, on Saturday. He sought Swarajs help in bringing back Bashas body to India. Swaraj also tweeted the Indian high commissioner in South Sudans response, saying that the embassy had spoken to the family of Basha and promised them all help. Indian High Commissioner in South Sudan - We have spoken to the family of Syed Farooq Basha and promised them all help. @eoijuba @syed_ejaz Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) February 19, 2017 Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday mocked at Mayawati's opposition to note ban, saying BSP is no longer Bahujan Samaj Party but 'Behenji Sampatti Party'. At an election rally in Orai region of Jalaun in Bundelkhand region, the Prime Minister said those who deposit wealth for themselves can never solve the problems of people. He also attacked the SP and Congress for criticising the demonestisation decision. Where has Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) reached today...when I announced note ban on November 8 last year, arch-rivals SP and BSP, who never see eye-to-eye, came together...I was amazed when I launched war against corruption and asked for the details of blackmoney. They came together and all including the Congress started speaking the same language, Modi said. The main concern of the parties in Uttar Pradesh was not note ban but that they did not get enough time to stash away the ill-gotten money. Behenji (Mayawati) alleges that government was ill-prepared... was it the government or it was you who was not prepared...she said one week should have been given (before implementing note ban)...Mulayam also said the sam, he said. Money started being deposited in banks all of a sudden (after note ban) and (Mayawati) started shouting as why is it only at election time that the account of her brother has been made public...why is it being discussed that Rs 100 crore have been deposited, he said. Arrey Behenji discussion not because elections are being held but because you have deposited Rs 100 crore after note ban...BSP is no longer Bahujan Samaj Party...bahujan toh Mayawati me simat gaya hai...it is Behenji Sampatti Party now. Those who deposit wealth for themselves, can they solve your problem? he asked. Modi said BJP's fight is against scam meaning 'ghotale'. I have said SCAM stood for SP, Congress, Akhilesh and Mayawati...there is a leader who is seeing honesty and service in scam and had said for us scam is 'seva' do you need such service? You have an opportunity in this elections to throw out SCAM from Bundelkhand, he said, without naming Rahul Gandhi. The Congress has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of polarising voters in Uttar Pradesh through communal statements and asked the Election Commission to refrain him from bringing disrepute to his post. The Congress was reacting to Modi accusing the Samajwadi Party government of discrimination on the basis of religion. The Prime Minister is invoking communalism in order to polarise voters. The ECI should take note of this because it is a clear violation of its rules and regulations. He has brought disrepute to his post and has violated the principles for which he took his oath, Congress leader Anand Sharma said on Sunday. These conservative ideas are subscribed by the BJP, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and like-minded organisations. It seems the Prime Minister is unable to come out of this mentality. We hope the ECI will take action in this. The Congress and SP are fighting the seven-phase polls in the state jointly. The Supreme Court last month banned the practice of seeking votes in the name of religion, caste, race, community or language, in what is being viewed as a far-reaching verdict ahead of assembly elections in five states. SP leader Abu Azmi also said that Modi was just trying to create polarisation by making such remarks. Muslim rulers ruled this country for 900 years, but they never showed discrimination between Holi, Diwali and Bakr-id, Azmi said. It has been proved by the Congress and Samajwadi Party alliance that the secular votes will not be divided in the state. Soon, the way Prime Minister Modi was playing politics by gathering the small community votes is going to end, he added. On Sunday, Modi drew a parallel between Hindu and Muslim festivals to accuse the Akhilesh Yadav administration of practising discrimination on the basis of religion. If you create kabristaan (graveyard) in a village, then a shamshaan (cremation ground) should be created. If electricity is given uninterrupted in Ramzan, then it should be given in Diwali without a break. Bhedbhaav nahin hona chahiye (there should be no discrimination, Modi told a rally in Fatehpur, apparently playing the Hindutva card in the politically crucial state. Heres a quick update of whats in the news. 1) If a Kabristan can be constructed, so should a Shamshaan: PM Modi Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday lambasted the Akhilesh Yadav-led government by drawing a parallel between Hindu and Muslim festivals, accusing the local administration of discrimination on the basis of religion. In a village, if a cemetery can be constructed, so should a cremation ground. If electricity is supplied during Ramzan, so electricity should also be supplied during Diwali as well. There should not be any discrimination on the basis of religion and caste, Prime Minister Modi said, addressing a poll rally in Fatehpur. See the full story here. 2) German fighter planes escort Jet Airways flight after it loses contact with ATC A communication failure on board a Jet Airways aircraft while flying over German airspace gave a scare to at least 330 passengers as authorities scrambled fighter jets to intercept the London-bound plane, which had taken off from Mumbai. Read full story here. 3) All main parties upbeat about forming next government in UP, at halfway stage in polls The third phase of polling recorded 61.16% turnout on Sunday as the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh crossed the halfway mark in terms of districts and constituencies that have voted. The main parties the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Congress alliance, the BJP and the Mayawatis BSP are all upbeat about forming the next government. Mayawati told reporters that the BSP would win over 300 of the 403 seats in the state and she would form the next government. Read full story here. 4) Embattled Nagaland CM TR Zeliang steps down; Neiphiu Rio likely to replace him Ending more than two weeks of standoff with Nagaland Tribes Action Committee (NTAC), Nagaland chief minister TR Zeliang resigned from his post on Sunday evening. Zeliang had been under intense pressure to quit following an ultimatum given by the NTAC, an umbrella body of Nagalands 16 major tribes, which was seeking his ouster. The tribal organisations blamed him for trying to hold municipal polls with 33% reservation for women. Read the full story here. 5) Quota agitation: Jats to clog Delhi on March 2, gherao Parliament Upping the ante, the protesting Jats on Sunday decided to take their fight for reservation in educational institutions and government jobs to Delhi. The All India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS) announced that a big protest will be held in the national capital on March 2. Read the full story here. 6) Swedes troll Trump after his claims of terror incident Swedes have been scratching their heads and ridiculing President Donald Trumps remark that suggested a major incident had happened in the Scandinavian country. The comment prompted a barrage of social media reaction on Sunday. Read the full story here. 7) MS Dhoni axed as Rising Pune Supergiants skipper, Steve Smith takes over Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been removed as skipper of Rising Pune Supergiants for the 2017 Indian Premier League. The former Indian skipper, who stepped down from captaincy in the limited-overs format before the start of the England series, will now play only as a wicketkeeper-batsman. Steve Smith, the current Australia captain, will be the new skipper of the franchise. Read the full story here. 8) Monday likely to be better for Delhi-NCR commuters as more cabs hit the roads For commuters who depend on taxis, it wont be a manic Monday as more cabs have started hitting the roads even as a section of drivers continued their strike against mobile-based cab aggregators Ola and Uber. Over the weekend, commuters in Delhi-NCR had some respite when they were able to book rides after facing massive crunch over the past 10 days. Read the full story here. You may also want to read: 9) Govt panel suggests removal of domicile provision laws relating to work for migrants A working group on migration constituted by the Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation ministry has recommended that states scrap the domicile or minimum duration of local residence provisions in laws relating to work. In India, migrants constitute approximately 29% of the workforce. Read the full story here. 10) Tirupati Laddu causes Rs 140 crore annual loss to temple trust The most sought-after Tirupati Laddu has caused an annual loss of over Rs 140 crore to the cash-rich administration of Lord Venkateswara hill shrine for the last three years owing to its subsidised price and free distribution to some devotees, temple sources said. The laddu is sold at a subsidised price of Rs 25 per piece while the actual cost was about Rs 32.50. Read the full story here. The Jaipur Municipal Corporation (JMC) faces 700-crore tax default government buildings owing a bulk of the dues -- even as the mayor blamed flaws in the property tax structure and lack of manpower for a low collection. Currently the JMC taxes residential buildings which are above 300 square yards, and for commercial buildings, the condition is that they should be above 100 yards. Unlike other local bodies, such as of Hyderabad, this makes most of the buildings in the city tax free, and thus kills potential revenue sources, mayor Ashok Lahoti told HT on Monday. The annual tax revenue for the JMC stands at 150 crore compared to 1,700 crore for the Hyderabad civic body and 5,000 crore for Punes, he said. After its general body meeting on February 9, the JMC served notices to tax defaulters. On Saturday, it sealed five properties which had defaulted on tax worth 2.8 crore since 2007. The properties are Vardhman Complex in Johari Bazar, Khandelwal Senior Secondary School, Surajpol, Vidhyadhar Ka Bag, Agra Road, Cambay gold resort, Jamdoli and Krishi Upaj Mandi Samiti, Surajpol. The JMC also decided to disconnect sewerage connections to households that do not deposit the outstanding tax within 7 days, prompting the state human rights commission to intervene. Terming the decision a violation of basic rights, the commission wrote to the JMC, asking how it could deny basic amenities, such as sewerage, to the public. The rights body also said the civic bodys revenue officers are not competent in collection. At present we have 8-9 revenue officers whose duty is to collect the tax money from across 8 zones but we require around 50 officers. The JMCs enforcement team also lacks manpower, Lahoti said. Outstanding tax money has affected the civic bodys day-to-day activities. Many temporary sanitation workers went on an indefinite strike from Monday because they have not received their pay. Many government buildings, including the Jaipur Development Authority and the Rajasthan State Electricity Board, owe tax to the JMC. Of the outstanding 700 crore, around 300 crore is due from government departments. As residents, it is our collective responsibility to pay taxes so that other basic services dont suffer, Lahoti said. A satellite-based imagery of Jaipur had recently revealed that the city collects only 5% to 20% of its potential property taxes and has the scope of increasing its revenue collection manifold by making use of technology. The data analysis was part of a chapter on urbanisation published in the recent Economic Survey of the union finance ministry. Alwar police have arrested four people, including the father of a 14-year-old girl, for allegedly trying to sell her off to a family in Haryana for Rs7 lakh. Among those arrested were three people from Haryanas Bhiwani district. The incident came to light on Saturday when the accused were allegedly trying to take the girl to Haryana in a car. Following the girls complaint, the police booked all four men under sections 366 (kidnapping a woman to compel her into marriage) and 367 (kidnapping in order to cause grievous hurt, slavery etc) of the Indian Penal Code. The family members of the girl are daily wage labourers. She is the eldest among three children, said Chet Ram, station house officer (SHO), Laxmangarh police station. The three men from Haryana arrived in Butoli village on Saturday. Along with the girls father, they bundled her in the car and were taking her to the neighbouring state when she raised an alarm. Soon, other villagers gathered and prevented the car from moving further, he added. On receiving information, the police reached the spot and took the four men in custody. West Bengal Police has charged a BJP leader in a child trafficking case involving an NGO, which allegedly sold infants on the pretext of adoption. Juhi Choudhury, a BJP Mahila Morcha (womens wing) leader has been named in the FIR by the CID, which has arrested two officials of the NGO Bimala Shishu Griha -- its chairperson Chandana Chakraborty and chief adoption officer Sonali Mondol -- from Jalpaiguri in north Bengal since Saturday. The busted child trafficking ring allegedly sold two dozen children to different parts of India and countries like US and France, CID sources said. When her reaction was sought, Juhi Choudhury said Chandana Chakraborty had come to her once with complaints against the state government and stated that she was mulling going to court. I advised her to approach necessary forums. That was it, she said. However, she could not be contacted later for further queries. CID sleuths, however, said the BJP leader took Chakraborty to Delhi to meet central government officials. Both of them met a number of times and Choudhury helped run the NGO. Choudhury is a resident of Maynaguri area where Chakraborty used to work as a school teacher. We have arrested two officials of the NGO home and more people have been detained. Interrogation is on. We are also conducting raids at different places, a senior CID officer said. The accused have been booked under different sections of IPC and Juvenile Justice Act relating to child trafficking, conspiracy and others. Sleuths had information that the NGO was engaged in trafficking of children and kept a watch for the past couple of months. According to police, the NGO sold babies and children at a price, disregarding adoption rules. Last November, the CID busted an inter-state baby trafficking ring following raids in Kolkata and North 24 Parganas districts and rescued thirteen babies and arrested 20 persons, including doctors, quacks and nursing home staffs. The ring involved nursing homes, hospitals, NGO homes in at least four districts of Bengal and other parts of India where babies were sold. Police said dark-complexioned girls were sold for anywhere between Rs 80,000 and Rs 1 lakh, while fair ones got them as much as Rs 1.5 lakh. Male infants were sold for Rs 2 lakh or more. In February this year, CID named two doctors including a local BJP leader among 19 people in a charge sheet submitted to additional chief judicial magistrates court in Basirhat in North 24 Parganas district. Ending the months-long family feud, members of the ruling Yadav clan presented a picture of unity at the polling booth in Saifai, with Mulayam Singh Yadavs second wife Sadhana Yadav describing Akhilesh and Prateek as her two eyes. Journalists, thronging Abhinav Vidyalay, the polling booth in Saifai on Sunday, were barraging questions at the family members over the power tussle between chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and his uncle Shivpal Yadav, who was backed by Mulayam. Sadhana, when asked about Akhilesh and Prateek, described them as her two eyes, and said any reference to Akhilesh as her stepson pained her. Akhilesh is the son of Mulayam and his first wife Malti Devi, and Prateek was born to the former and Sadhana. Sadhana had come with Prateeks wife, Aparana Yadav at 11 am to vote and made the remarks while posing for photographs with her husband outside the booth after voting. Mulayam waved to supporters and lauded the performance of the Akhilesh government and said the party will retain power. Akhilesh, who came with his cousin and Badaun MP Dharmendra Yadav, exuded confidence of victory, but did not mention his uncle Shivpal, the SP candidate from Jaswant Nagar, until asked. In his response, he asked whether his presence in Saifai, which falls under Jaswant Nagar constituency, did not mean support for Shivpal. Read: People will teach BJP a lesson for note ban, says Akhilesh Mulayams younger brother Abhay Ram Singh Yadav, who was the first to arrive at polling station, had said the same earlier. Akhilesh Yadav will come to this polling centre and vote for Shivpal Yadav. He blamed his cousin and SP general secretary, Ramgopal Yadav for the painful rift that has been repaired now. Ramgopal, who supported Akhilesh during the feud, said, I have worked for saving the cycle (SP poll symbol). Will I not vote for the cycle? On the family feud, he objected to it being termed family drama, and claimed that the SP would win 60 of 69 seats in the third phase and 300 overall in the assembly election. Rajpal Yadav, another younger brother of Mulayam, said those responsible for family differences have been thrown out of the party. When asked to name them, he said all knew their name. Asked why Mulayam was campaigning selectively, he attributed it to the SP patriarchs age. Also Read: SP strongholds face tough battle in third phase as UP polls cross half-way mark Later, Shivpal, who reached the polling booth with his son Aditya Yadav, asserted that the SP was coming back to power and tried to convey that the family feud was a thing of the past. He also said it was his duty to comply with Netajis (Mulayam) order, apparently referring to Mulayams remark earlier in the day that Akhilesh will be chief minister again and Shivpal will get the number two status in the government. Prateek, who drove to Saifai on the newly-built Agra-Lucknow Expressway, praised the chief minister for building the expressway. Kannauj MP and Akhileshs wife Dimple Yadav was the cynosure of all eyes as she reached the polling station with her daughter. Mainpuri MP Tej Pratap Yadav and Firozabad MP Akshay Yadav too said all was well in the family. The highway linking Mainpuri and Etawah was lined with OB vans of television channels as journalists waited for the Yadavs to arrive in their SUVs to cast their votes in the third phase of polling on Sunday. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A day before Mumbai goes to polls, the Shiv Sena took one last potshot at Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, calling him a liar, and taunting him for the poor turnout at his Pune rally as evidence of him steadily losing support. In the partys mouthpiece publication, Saamana, the Sena on Monday said everyone has their eyes trained on Mumbai and are blatantly lying to get their grasp on the city. Every day, a new lie is being spoken in the name of Mumbai. Who are these liars? The states honourable Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. His chief ministership is safe only on the back of the Shiv Sena, the party said in an editorial in Saamana. The party further taunted Fadnavis saying if the Shiv Sena decides to withdraw support, the chief minister will not even have the goodwill and support of the public, as was and evident in his rallies in Nashik and Pune. Pune is the countrys cultural capital. By boycotting uncultured parties, Pune has preserved its highest standards of culture, the Sena said in the editorial. The party also criticised the chief minister for threatening to open the lid on corruption scandals, saying if thats the case, Fadnavis will have to expose his own cabinet of ministers first. The Sena also said if the development that the BJP keeps harping on had indeed been visible to the public, Fadnavis and Prime Minister Narendra Modi would have won popular support without even having to come out of their houses. But because there has been no actual work, wherever the chief minister goes he is greeted by lines of empty chairs, the Sena said. Read more: BMC elections: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis hints at post-poll alliance with Shiv Sena BMC polls are here: Mumbais parties rally support one last time Mumbai civic body spends Rs90 crore on elections Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation polls: Big fights to watch out for SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 20 By Khalid Kazimov Trend: The ground forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) of Iran have conducted military war games dubbed Peyambar-e Azam (the great prophet) in the countrys central desert. According to ISNA news agency, the IRGC forces have tested various types of advanced rockets including smart and guided ones during the drills. Several IRGC units will display their capabilities during the three-day drills, the report added. Iran has held a number of major military drills over the past several years to enhance the defense capabilities of its armed forces. The Islamic Republic says its military might poses no threat to other countries, stating that its defense doctrine is merely based on deterrence. The Congress on Sunday asked the warring Shiv Sena and BJP to give a solemn commitment to the citizens that they will not join hands after the BMC elections to share the spoils of power. Talking to the media, Randeep Singh Surjewala, media in-charge, All India Congress Committee (AICC), gave a powerpoint presentation on the failure of the ruling Sena-BJP alliance. The BJP-Sena misrule has left Mumbai bleeding with crumbling infrastructure, crushing public service and collapsing urban development, said Surjewala. We challenge the BJP-Sena to give a solemn commitment to Mumbaiites that they will not join hands after the elections to grab power, he added. He said that the same thing was done in the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) elections where the two formed an alliance to bag power irrespective of the abuses heaped on each other during the campaign. He taunted both the ruling partners for exposing each other. The BJP calls Sena as corrupt while the Sena calls BJP as Bharatiya Goonda Party and they both are right. This is an unprincipled open marriage, he added. Surjewala in his presentation showcased the failure of the Devendra Fadnavis-led state government saying Mumbai has now become a crime capital. The molestation cases have gone up by 77.5 %, while the rape cases have gone up by 18 %. Even the crimes against children and riots have also increased, he added. While the Sena-BJP are busy running down each other, the Congress party is witnessing infighting among the leaders, according to a source. Almost all the top leaders had ganged up against Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam, accusing him of not taking others into confidence. However, Surjewala downplayed the infighting saying it was a part of intra-party democracy. Our is a democratic party and there were just differences of opinion. All this has been put to rest and now all our leaders are campaigning for the candidates, he added. Surjewala said that Congress on gaining power will usher in transparency and accountability in the BMC. The party also promised relocation of dumping grounds outside Mumbai, free access to open spaces, overhaul of healthcare with increased budgetary allocation along with audited accounts annually. Read Eye on Shiv Sena-BJP clash as campaigning for Maharashtra civic polls ends SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON In the citys first electoral ward, which is reserved for women, the Mumbai civic election battle for the corporators seat is between a Congress corporator and a Shiv Sena corporators wife while the candidate from the BJP waits in the fringe. From the Shiv Sena, sitting corporator Abhishek Ghosalkars wife Tejasvi is contesting in the Kandarpada ward of Borivli (West). The Congress corporator of ward no. 3, Sheetal Mhatre, has returned to ward no. 1, which got her a seat in 2007, while the BJP chose a fresh face and fielded an advocate. The candidates are all looking at the north Indian community staying in Ganpat Patil Nagar slums, which forms a major chunk of the wards vote bank . Of the 24, 793 votes, which will be divided between 11 women at Kandarpada,it is a close fight between the Sena and Congress, according to observers. Even as the candidates enter the slum with their promises, the ward is a symbol of disparity between the slum population and the residential societies. The roads in the societies are asphalted, but the roads outside the slums are made of paver blocks. No more fear. You will not be removed, former MLA Vinod Ghosalkar promises to the local residents of Ganpat Patil Nagar, while he was campaigning with his daughter in-law. Speaking about the Coastal Regulation zone-1 (CRZ-1), the former MLA said, The rules of the CRZ were relaxed to build the Metro and Shiv smarak. These people are living here and they should not be threatened with eviction and denied facilities. The BMCs development plan has listed the Ganpat Patil Nagar slums in the CRZ-1 as a residential zone. Tejasvi points to the water tanks in the area as she walks through the slums. These were provided by the Sena and I will continue the work. The people here have been loyal to our party and this year too, it will be the same, she said. Ghosalkar speaks at length about the toilets built in the past five years. We got ration cards and Aadhar cards for them so they are not denied basic facilities such as water connection and power, the former MLA said, during the campaigning of his daughter-in-law. Residents are, however, unhappy. Some said a few candidates threatened them with eviction unless they voted for them. Giving a fight to the Sena candidate is Congress candidate Mhatre. The two-time corporator previously won from Kandarpada in 2007. In her campaign, Mhatre claimed the water connection was provided by her. Water is not regular in the area and we have to fetch water from a well. There is a toilet, but children seldom use it owing to the risk of crossing the road and because it is far, said Ranjeet Mandal, a daily wage labourer and local resident. Taking a jibe at her opponent, Mhatre said, They (Sena) did not start a single project. The work, which is done here is during my time as a corporator. My work is my identity, which is not the same thing for others. Being a fresh candidate, Suchi Yadav from the BJP is mainly sticking to door-to-door campaigning to get acquainted with the voters. Her supporters are, however, confident that she will connect with the voters given her qualification as an advocate. Local resident Sunita Mishra said, They keep calling us illegal and ignore us. But during the elections they ask for votes. The area is not cleaned properly and breeds dengue mosquitoes. In the evening as the candidates leave, all that remains in the slum lanes are shreds of their pamphlets torn by the residents. READ Mumbai civic polls: Cops detain 2000 criminals as preventive action SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON As the countrys richest civic body goes to the polls today, elaborate arrangements have been made across Mumbai to ensure it is smooth-sailing. A day before voting starts, the Mumbai police have deployed its forces across the citys 7,297 voting booths. There are 91,80,497 registered voters in Mumbai. At every polling booth is a strong room, where the electronic voting machines (EVMs) are being kept. Quick response teams will guard these rooms before and after the elections, until the votes are counted. Around 726 booths have been identified as sensitive, and will have increased police presence. The police will video record voting at these booths. After Mumbaiites vote on Tuesday, counting will be done two days later at 23 centres across the city. The police have been asked to take all precautionary measures to ensure a peaceful atmosphere during counting, said Ashok Dudhe, deputy commissioner and spokesperson of the Mumbai police. Dudhe said police personnel will be deployed within 100m of every voting booth and nakabandi and patrolling have already started at all major entry and exit points of the city. The Mumbai police have taken preventive action against 3,000 people and detained 1,100 people with criminal records. Based on seriousness of offences, 125 suspects from Mumbai and neighbouring cities like Thane and Navi Mumbai were externed. Warrants were issued again 844 people who have committed petty offences. The police has also imposed section 144 of Criminal Procedure Code, which enables them to take action if five or more people gather at a spot. Across the state, 54,025 people are under house arrest or have been banned from entry into particular areas, as preventive action. We have been taking all precautions and will keep an eye on all booths and sensitive places, not only during the election, but until counting, said Dudhe. READ MORE Big fights to watch out for The mandate for Mumbai and nine other big cities besides the 10 district councils on Tuesday (along with 15 other district councils that went to polls on February 16) is likely to do two things: determine the fate of the main political parties in Maharashtra and give a referendum on the BJP-led Devendra Fadnavis government. (LIVE UPDATES) With all the four main political parties Shiv Sena, BJP, Congress and NCP striking out on their own, every party is looking at these polls with an eye on the next big one, the 2019 assembly elections. Besides, there are other parties such as the MNS, which is fighting for relevance in state polity, and the AIMIM, which is trying to push its presence in the state. The results of this mini-assembly elections, which are underway, will shape the 2019 battle even as it gives a clear picture of the parties existing strengths. And given the bitterness between the ruling saffron allies, these results can also potentially change the political dynamics of the sitting government. The poll results will give us early trends for 2019. Can the Sena retain Mumbai? Has the Modi wave eroded? Has demonetisation come at a cost for the BJP ? Can the Congress-NCP retain their rural strongholds? The results will give us answers to these questions, which in turn can shape political futures, said political analyst Prakash Bal. For the ruling BJP and chief minister Fadnavis, this is a high-stakes battle with good performance proving that the party has been able to consolidate its position after its 2014 victory and expand its footprint across the state. Gaining greater control of Mumbai, the countrys financial capital, will help the party prove its dominance over its belligerent ally. BJPs friend-turned-foe, the Sena, on the other hand, is fighting a battle of survival with all its strength focused on its citadel, Mumbai. If the Sena emerges as the single-largest party in the Mumbai civic body with a good lead over others, the party retains its citadel and gains an upper hand in the saffron alliance. Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray will not only be able to keep his flock together, he will also be in a position to bargain better with Fadnavis and keep his government on its toes. If the Sena manages to get 80 to 85 seats, Thackerays bargaining power increases in the state and the Fadnavis-government will become vulnerable, Bal added. If the Sena does badly and comes second to the BJP in Mumbai, Thackeray will have to fight against tide to remain relevant. For every seat we win in Mumbai over our existing 31 corporators in the civic body, we are making space for our organisation in electoral wards and constituencies where we had no presence earlier. This is of course a preparation for 2019. Similarly, if we make inroads in district councils it will be at the cost of the NCP and the Congress rural bastions, said a senior BJP functionary. Away from the high-decibel Mumbai battle, the results to district councils will decide if the Congress, nursing a debilitating defeat in 2014, can get a fresh lease. If the party manages to retain its tally in the district councils that govern rural areas, the inference will be that the BJP is no longer invincible and the Congress grassroots structure is still valid. Similarly, the partys performance in Mumbai will show whether the minority vote bank is back with the party. And its score in other cities will show its standing in urban areas. For the NCP, which was the numero uno party in rural Maharashtra in the last 2012 district council polls, these elections will decide the partys relevance in the state. A rout in its strongholds will put a question mark on the partys organizational capabilities and electoral future. The party is also trying to retain its power in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad civic bodies where it is facing stiff competition by the BJP. And, for the MNS, these polls results will decide if partys chief Raj Thackeray can fight another day. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Nine other municipal corporations are going to polls, along with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, this Tuesday. And just like in the BMC, no party seems to have a clear majority in the other municipalities. This may lead to post polls alliances between traditional partners, and also may throw up surprising tie-ups in some cases for control over the civic bodies. Of Thane, Ulhasnagar, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Nashik, Solapur, Amravati, Akola and Nagpur, four corporations are either with the Shiv Sena or the BJP, while Congress has a mayor in Solapur and Amravati. Pune and Pimri-Chinchwad are under the bastion of the Nationalist Congress Party, while Nashik is with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. Though the equations have completely changed in most of these corporations, especially after the 2014-Assembly elections, the split of the two major combines has made the fight more interesting, beyond anybodys guess. In Thane, though the Shiv Sena has reportedly strengthened its position, experts and even party insiders are not confident if it will touch the half way mark of 65 seats. The party has 53 corporators and the support of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and two Republican party factions. The second largest party, NCP, finds itself in a sway with all the infighting, but may however, prove beneficial to the saffron partners, resulting in the improvement of their numbers. Ulhasnagar, where the mayor is from the Shiv Sena, has the support of the BJP and RPI (A), so this may improve in the BJP tally. Omie Kalani, son of gangster Pappu Kalani, has joined hand with the party. His 34 supporters, including sitting corporators, have been fielded under the BJPs symbol. Though his criminal background invited slurs that the BJP was joining hands with people with criminal backgrounds, the party may be in a position to claim the post of the mayor from the Shiv Sena. The infighting among key leaders Vasant Davkhare, Ganesh Naik and Jitendra Awhad has weakened the party in Thane. This is going to hit the party prospects in both the municipal corporations. Though Congress and NCP have joined hands in Thane, it is unlikely to play in their favour as AIMIM too may play a major role. On the other hand, Shiv Senas performance will be better than in the last election, said a Congress leader from Thane. The BJP has successfully poached upon key NCP leaders with a mass base and muscle power in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad and is looking to wrest power from the latter. It has led to criticism from voters in the cities known for its education and IT hub. Though the party is claiming to have improved its chances in Pune after winning all eight Assembly seats in 2014, it may find it difficult to snatch power away from the NCP, which has 51 members in the 152-seat body. NCP has a clear majority with 83 members in the 128-seat body in Pimpri-Chinchwad. The Maharashtra Navnirman Senas poor performance in Nashik has disillusioned voters, who may choose Shiv Sena and BJP over the ruling party. The last minute goof-up in distributing the AB forms to 10 candidates is likely to affect the Senas prospects. It has led to the possibility of the candidates shifting loyalties in favour of the party forming the body. The three civic bodies in Vidarbha Amravati, Akola and Nagpur may favour BJP, which has the highest number of MLAs in these places. The party has mayors in Nagpur and Akola, while Amravati is controlled by the Congress. BJP has pumped in a lot of funds for development in these three cities. Amravati was known for its bad roads, but widening and reconstruction work is in full swing and it may play in the BJPs favour. Infighting among the factions led by Ranjit Patil and Sanjay Dhotre, may hamper the partys prospective in Akola, but it has a fair chance of forming the body,a BJP leader from Vidarbha said. Political analyst Vishwambhar Chaudhary said, The BJP will have the upper hand in the elections as it has inducted the local faces on the basis of their electoral utility, irrespective of their background and ideology. Some of them have criminal backgrounds and it will help them in winning most of the civic bodies. READ MORE Eye on Shiv Sena-BJP clash as campaigning for Maharashtra civic polls ends Mumbai civic body spends Rs90 crore on elections SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON More than 2,000 hectares (ha) of Aarey Milk Colony land was transferred to Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) when it expanded in 1969, environmentalists told the National Green Tribunal (NGT). Vanashakti, which has filed petitions with the NGT seeking protection for Aarey, said that a July 22, 1980 document, accessed under Right to Information (RTI) Act , revealed that 2,076 hectare of land from Aarey Milk Scheme (as known back then) was transferred to the forest department by the revenue department. The document was submitted in the form of an affidavit at NGTs western bench on Friday during the hearing of a petition filed in 2015 by Vanashakti and Aarey Conservation Group (ACG). The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited has plans to construct a carshed for its SEEPZ-Colaba Metro 3 project in 33 ha in Aarey. Construction work has been stopped until the case is disposed of. Pursuant to an RTI application asking for historical details of Aarey Colony, records revealed that on July 22, 1980, an official communication was sent from the office of the Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra Limited (FDCM), Nagpur to the Regional Manager, FDCM, Thane that 2076.073 hectares of revenue land was transferred from Aarey Milk Scheme to be included in Borivali National Park, read the affidavit that attached annexure of the document undersigned by LP Palimkar, then divisional manager, Borivli National Park. HT is in possession of all documents submitted to the tribunal. The affidavit further read, Out of 2076.073 ha, 575 ha of land shall be extracted for a recreational zone and the rest of the land (1501.073 ha) will continue to remain a major part of the Borivli National Park. Subsequently, another communication dated October 10, 1980, was sent to FDCM Thane to declare the area as either as reserved or protected forests to allow the department to have stricter legal control under the Indian Forest Act, 1927. The petitioners said that, in view of revelation of documents that say that Aarey has been transferred to the forest department, the applicants prayed that the records indicate Aarey as forest or has forest-like characteristics. The entire area needs (1501.073 ha) to be protected and the forest department needs to provide all such data, records pertaining to Aarey at the time of notifying Borivli National Park, prayed the applicants. On Friday, members from the forest department under Thane territorial range told the tribunal that the old records of the 2076 ha area was not traceable. The NGT bench of Justice UD Salvi and Ranjan Chatterjee directed the forest department to produce all relevant documents regarding the matter at the next hearing scheduled on March 15. Environmentalists said that the matter needs to be investigated thoroughly. It is shocking that the forest department concealed this fact from the courts for the last two years. The findings points towards a massive scam that needs to be investigated at the highest level, said Biju Augustein, Aarey resident and an ACG member. We are surprised that the dairy development board had jurisdiction over this land that actually belonged to the forest department all along. Authorities speak Thane forest department officials said they had already reached out to the Mumbai suburban collector, SGNP officials and the revenue department to assess all old papers regarding the issue. SGNP was declared a national park in 1996 and 86 square kilometre was then declared as its boundary. After more forests from the Thane division were added, the total area of the park became 103.84 sq km. So we need to find out the exact boundary of the remaining 17 sq km, said Sunil Limaye, chief conservator of forest, Thane. Old documents are being examined and retired officers have been contacted. Within a weeks time we will have answers to whether the area in question is a forest or whether it is a national park. The origins of Sanjay Gandhi National Park 1870: The British government constructed two lakes Tulsi and Vihar located in Borivali and Powai respectively to supply portable drinking water to the city of Mumbai. 1942: The Bombay Municipal Corporation (as known back then) acquired catchment areas of these two lakes and also added the land from the government dairy of Aarey to protect it. 1950: The Krishnagiri National Park, covering an area of 20 sq km was established under the Bombay National Park Act. 1954: The dairy development board began their operations near Krishnagiri National Park but outside the 20 sq km area 1969: 2076 hectares (ha) of land of Aarey Milk Scheme (as known back then) was transferred to the forest department but not notified as reserved or protected forests 1976: An area of 68.27 sq. km was declared formally as the Borivali National Park July 22, 1980: An official communication was sent from the office of the Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra Limited (FDCM), Nagpur to the Regional Manager, FDCM, Thane that 2076.073 hectares of revenue land was transferred from Aarey Milk Scheme to be included in Borivali National Park. Out of 2076.073 ha, 575 ha of land shall be extracted for a recreational zone and the rest of the land (1501.073 ha) will continue to remain a major part of the Borivali National Park. October 10, 1980: Another communication was sent from Nagpur to FDCM Thane to declare the area as either as reserved or protected forests to allow the department to have stricter legal control. However, no documents show that the area was officially notified by the forest department. 1981: Borivli National Park was further expanded to include an area of 82.25 sq km. 1996: Borivali National Park was renamed as Sanjay Gandhi National Park. More forests from the Thane division were added to the original boundary to make 103.84 sq km of SGNP known today. (Source: Affidavit submitted at the National Green Tribunal, western bench by applicants NGO Vanashakti and Aarey Conservation Group that procured information through RTI) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A 28-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly raping a woman in Mumbai on several occasions on the pretext of marriage and causing miscarriage after making her pregnant twice. The case came to light on Valentines Day when the woman consumed phenyl and was admitted to a government hospital. According to police, the accused and the complainant, both aged 28 years, met in 2013, fell in love and maintained a physical relationship. The accused proposed marriage to the complainant, and on this pretext, had physical relationship with her on several occasions at different hotels in western suburbs. In 2016, the victim got pregnant but the accused took her to an abortion clinic and got her medicines for the same. He also promised to marry her and met her parents as well. She too met his parents. Neither of their parents, however, were aware of their physical relationship. However, the same year the complainant learnt that the accused was having an affair with another woman. The couple fought over this, but later patched up when he convinced he would marry her. In 2017, the complainant became pregnant again, and on checking his phone, she saw numbers of other women with whom he kept in touch. They fought over this again. When she asked the accused to marry her, he refused to do so. On Valentines day, the victim attempted suicide by consuming phenyl. The complainant was rushed to a government hospital where she got scared and said she consumed phenyl thinking it was cough syrup. A medical test at the hospital, however, revealed that she was pregnant and the police were informed. The complainant then filed a case of rape alleging that her boyfriend kept raping her on the false pretext of marriage and made her pregnant twice. Earlier this month, an FIR was registered under sections 376 (rape), 417 (cheating) and 313 (causing miscarriage without womans consent) of the Indian Penal Code. The accused was arrested and remanded to police custody by Bandra magistrates court. After some harsh criticism of former ally Shiv Sena, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has now hinted at a possibility of a post-poll alliance with the party if the BJP fails to secure a majority in the BMC elections. Fadnavis, however, did reiterate he is confident about the BJP emerging as the single-largest party. During an interaction with the media at Varsha his official bungalow on Sunday, Fadnavis called the BMC election a bipolar contest between the Sena and the BJP. After the results, the BJP will emerge on top, he told reporters. He said the strength of the Congress, which is currently the second-largest party in the BMC with 52 corporators, will reduce drastically. The CM said if the BJP is the single-largest party and there is a need for an alliance, they would take a decision based on the agenda of transparency. We will be prepared to take or give help on the agenda of transparency. But right now, we are confident we will not need any support. Power is not important, transparency is, he said. The Sena and the BJP ended their 25-year-old alliance on Republic Day and following that, both parties have engaged in a fierce war of words. When asked if entering into an alliance with a party they have been slamming during the campaign wont be a betrayal of voters trust, Fadnavis responded, People are voting for us on the agenda of transparency, and if we compromise that agenda, it would be a bigger betrayal. But we are confident of a complete majority. Meanwhile, Fadnavis attacked the Sena on Sunday and said the party had taken Mumbaiites, and especially the Marathi manoos, for granted. They [Sena] had taken the Marathi people for granted. But we have given them the vision of development. Girgaum, which is the oldest Marathi-dominated area, has water woes today despite long water pipes the BMC has laid. But we are giving them a Metro. The people affected by its construction will get 500 sqft houses each, in place of the existing 120 sqft ones. So we think they [Sena] should be given five years for self-analysis, he said. After the split, the Sena put the Fadnavis government on notice period, but Fadnavis claimed his government is not in any danger. We will remain in majority and will complete the full-term. Can a person, whose government is supposedly in danger, look so relaxed and be smiling? he asked. Fadnavis, being the face of the municipal corporation polls in the state, has put a lot of his political capital at stake, but he said there was no threat to his job. The BJP will emerge as the number one party in the municipal corporation poll and 25 Zilla Parishad polls in the state. Read more: BJP-Shiv Sena tussle in Mumbai civic polls puts Fadnavis govts future at stake Coffee@HT: I am here to stay for five years, says Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Political parties relying on the north Indian vote bank are a little worried about people leaving for Uttar Pradesh for its Assembly elections. Majority of the north Indian population that live in the city, hail from Purvanchal or the eastern part of the state. Voting in that part will be held in the last two phases, on March 4 and 8. Several north Indians have already gone for the polls in Uttar Pradesh and this could affect the calculations of political parties in some electoral wards in the city. A rough estimate shows that about 4 to 5% of the north Indian population in Mumbai visit their native districts, about 15 in number, that includes Deoria, Gorakhpur, Azamgarh, Gazhipur, Gonda, and Bhadohi to poll for more than 80 constituencies. Many of them are registered in Mumbai as well as in their native places and have political ties at the native places. Since the Assembly polls in UP and the civic polls in Mumbai are clashing around the same time, the parties are busy convincing voters not to leave the city before voting. The north Indians form the second largest community in the city after Maharashtrians, with the numbers ranging between 26 and 28% of the total population. It is true that about 5% of the community in the city joins the polls in their native districts in Uttar Pradesh. Most of them travel for about two to three weeks if their relatives or friends from the taluka are contesting. It is not necessary that they participate in campaigning for monetary gains. In most cases, its out of goodwill. Many voters are registered in both the places, but it is not necessary that they will vote twice, said Anand Shukla, editor of a Hindi newspaper and president of Uttar Bhartiya Ekta Manch. Some from the community admit that in many cases, the candidates and their parties arrange for their railway and air tickets and also for accommodation and other facilities so that they get the votes. They also admit that many voters manage to vote twice, in Mumbai and even in their native places. The Congress and now the Bharatiya Janata Party have the support of north Indian voters in the city. Both the parties are busy in ensuring that the voters do not leave the city before voting. The voters are wooed by the candidates with free air and rail tickets. The community leaders, with their influence on the voters, bear importance and are wooed with larger incentives. Trains heading to Purvanchal in the last week of the February and the first week of March have a long waiting list. BJPs more than 3,000 incumbent and former officer bearers across the city will be visiting their native places to participate in the Assembly elections. At least 5% of the 30 lakh north Indians in Mumbai will go to their native places. The political parties that have the communitys support will definitely influence hundreds of voters back home. The BJP has a larger voter base in the UP after the 2014-Lok Sabha elections and it is also important for us to garner votes for our candidates. More than 80% of the north Indian office bearers, past and present , of the party will start immediately after the BMC polls , said RD Yadav, former president of Maharashtra BJPs north India cell. President of the Congress unit in Mumbai, Sanjay Nirupam, however, said that the number was not too big. It is a working community and I dont think people will visit UP at the cost of their jobs. READ MORE BMC polls: Whatever be your choice, but please vote, say candidates 13 elections later, BMC yet to solve citizens problems, says son of former Juhu municipality V-P Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS ) chief Raj Thackeray, a shadow of his former firebrand image of 2014, given the partys large scale defections and electoral defeats, called the 2017 civic polls as a test between development and money power, alleging that BJP was riding on the latter. He slammed both his major opponents his cousin, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray and chief minister Devendra Fadnavis as liars and the ongoing Sena-BJP spat as stage managed. Thackeray predicted a post-poll alliance between the saffron allies, even as he criticised the media off for not holding them accountable. Excerpts from Thackerays interview with HT: Why have you not published your manifesto? There is no use just publishing a manifesto. There is no accountability at all of what was promised. Those who were ruling for the past 25 years and have been coming out with their manifesto every five years, have the people or the press bothered to ask them what work they have done? If you get power in BMC, what will you do for Mumbai? My vision about Mumbai is like that of the British. Even though the British may have left India, I want to create a Mumbai as envisaged by the British. Just see the town-planning of Mumbai till Mahim causeway. At that time when the population of Mumbai was hardly anything, they built the CST station, which can bear the load even today. See the Oval Maidan, Azad Maidan or Shivaji Park, do you notice such structures in the suburbs. The areas like Parel, Lalbaug and Dadar have many open spaces owing to the town planning done during those days. During the 26/7 deluge, there are no floods in the island city while the suburbs got flooded. Constructing good roads is not rocket science. If I can do it in Nashik, this can be done even in Mumbai. Why have the other parties not been able to deliver as you have performed in Nashik? Apart from what I have promised, I have done more than that. In fact after independence, MNS is the first outfit to give presentations about the work it has done in its first five years. Others want to just indulge in corruption while I want to work. I have no problems with people grilling me about the work I have done, but what about the others who do not perform. Mumbai is only city in the world where at least Rs150 crore is spent on filling potholes. Is It not is the responsibility of the road contractor to maintain the roads he has constructed? Your opponents say that Nashik got good roads owing to the Kumbh Mela where the entire infrastructure was upgraded by the state government and you are taking undue credit. It was the Nashik Municipal Corporation which was responsible for such good roads. The BJP should not talk as it was not ruling the Centre at that time. The contractors were the same. We constructed ring roads and other roads of at least 510 kilometres and there is not a single pothole there. Why does Mumbai not get good roads? Uddhav Thackeray blames the state government for the shoddy roads saying its their responsibility. He is lying as only the highways and places near flyovers are to be maintained by the state government. All internal roads need to be maintained by the municipal corporations. Why does he then go for inaugurations? It is just an attempt to hide the faults as they have failed on all fronts. See they distributed tabs to students, but even there they have failed. Your party has been hit by defections. In Nashik, you lost more than half the corporators and the situation was similar in Pune and Mumbai. These defectors looked at municipal corporations as a money-making venture. I did not allow corruption and hence they left the outfit. They were not interested in development at all. You attract crowds, but they do not seem to translate into votes. The 2014 elections were an exception as there was a Modi wave. But before that I had good crowds and also got a lot of votes. How do you rate Devendra Fadnaviss performance? There is nothing worth taking note of. He is just lying all through. You had supported Modi for the Prime Ministership? You even visited Gujarat and praised Modi. Do you regret your decision? At that time Ratan Tata had praised Modi and hence I visited Gujarat. I liked the way he had worked and praised him. If I dont like his policies, I will criticise him. See the issue of demonetisation. It may be have been done with a good motive, however, now it has failed, which is again a truth. Dont you think that migration is inevitable when urbanisation takes place? Migrants are needed for development? I think even Tamil Nadu is developing, but the focus is on the locals. The Marathi manoos has to understand this. See Jallikattu where the superstars along with all parties gathered together. However, this does not happen during Dahi Handi as here when I raise the issue, our own people criticise me. The Marathi manoos has provided all amenities to the migrants and they have to acknowledge this. However, when these migrants try to dominate us, that makes me angry. The Maharashtrians seem to be decreasing in numbers in Mumbai It is time to stop this talk of numbers. For years, non-Maharashtrians were voting for local Maharashtrians, but in the past five years, there seems to be trend of outsiders trying to create their own vote banks and constituencies on the basis of states, language and communities. Then we have to bring people like Hardik Patel to Mumbai. I want priority for locals in the jobs and this was even accepted by Mamata Banerjee when she was the railway minister. Both Sena and BJP are now accusing each other of corruption? Is it not the failure of the opposition parties? This is just a stage-managed show and they have done it before in the KDMC elections. Both cannot show any achievements and hence are resorting to such tactics just to divert the attention of the masses. MNS has performed the oppositions role effectively. Uddhav Thackeray had said why did you ask for alliance when you accuse him of corruption. More than my ego, the welfare of the Marathi Manoos is supreme for me and I am ready to keep aside anything for it. In 2012, you were called as kingmaker..where have you failed in these past five years? I failed to indulge in corruption or else I would have been distributing money to all. Nowadays, all elections are fought on money power. Today, only the BJP has the money and this talk of cashless India is all misleading. You have criticised the Metro project? Why do you want a Metro as it is designed to drive out Maharashtrians. These Metros are designed just for the migrants and has nothing to do with locals. I am not opposing development, but the hidden agenda behind Metro is dangerous. READ Mumbai civic polls: Raj Thackeray likens CM to school monitor SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Tehran, Iran, Feb. 20 By Mehid Sepahvand, Fatih Karimov Trend: Irans foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said that referendum in Azerbaijans Nagorno-Karabakh region, occupied by Armenia, is wrong and unacceptable. He made the remarks during a press conference in Tehran on Feb. 20 while commenting on the referendum to be held Feb. 20 in Azerbaijans Nagorno-Karabakh region, occupied by Armenia, to amend the illegal regimes constitution, Trend's correspondent reported from the event. Qasemi said that the referendum by the self- proclaimed regime will not help settle the conflict, risis, adding that only dialogue can resolve it. Earlier, Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry said the illegal referendum constitutes a clear violation of the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the norms and principles of international law, and, therefore, has no legal effect whatsoever. The ministry reiterated that the illegal regime established by Armenia in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan is ultimately nothing other than the product of aggression and occupation. 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. A day before Mumbai goes to polls, the Shiv Sena alleged that chief minister Devendra Fadnavis violated the poll code of conduct and misused his official position as he gave media interviews after the last date for campaigning. The party took its complaint to the State Election Commission (SEC) and said it would approach the courts if the SEC fails to take action against the CM. The Sena said if Fadnavis can be allowed, all parties should be permitted to give interviews even a day before the polls. Sena MP Sanjay Raut said, The chief minister is giving a series of interviews, with a lotus pinned on his lapel. This is misuse of the administrations rights and violation of the code of conduct. The State Election Commissioner, JS Saharia, however, said, there were no restrictions on interviews. Advertisements in print, electronic and social media have been banned after 5.30pm on February 19. There are no restrictions on the interviews and news reports of any sorts. We will examine if any complaint is registered for the use of the party symbol by the chief minister during his interviews. BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari maintained this was not a violation of the poll code. The chief minister is a senior politician and is aware of dos and donts. Even then, if anyone complaints, it will be dealt with procedurally, Bhandari said, adding the Sena had the mentality of a loser. The Sena, which has been directly targeting Fadnavis during campaigning, took one last shot at the CM, calling him a liar and taunting him for the poor turnout at his Pune rally, calling it an evidence of him steadily losing support. In the partys mouthpiece, Saamana, the Sena on Monday said, Every day, there is a new lie being spoken in the name of Mumbai. Who are these liars? The states honourable Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. His chief ministership is safe only on the back of the Shiv Sena. The party further taunted Fadnavis saying if the Shiv Sena decides to withdraw support, the chief minister will not even have the goodwill and support of the public, as was and evident in his rallies in Nashik and Pune. Pune is the countrys cultural capital. By boycotting uncultured parties, Pune has preserved its highest standards of culture, the Sena said in the editorial. The Sena also said if the development that the BJP keeps harping on had indeed been visible to the publics, Fadnavis and Prime Minister Narendra Modi would have won popular support without even having to come out of their houses. But because there has been no actual work, wherever the chief minister goes he is greeted by lines of empty chairs, the Sena said. READ MORE Mumbai civic polls: Freebies to woo north Indian voters BMC polls: Whatever be your choice, but please vote, say candidates SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON After different organisations, NGOs, civic body and state election commission officials urged people to cast their vote on February 21 to improve the low voter turnout in the financial capital, it s now the turn of the candidates. The candidates are asking voters to turn up on Tuesday and exercise their franchise, irrespective of the party they vote for. Shiv-Sena candidate Durga Shinde from Walkeshwar has kicked off her #WhatNowVoteNow campaign, where she is urging people to vote. The campaign reads, Vote for the candidate of your choice, But do vote. I am requesting the voters in my constituency to vote for me but the more important thing is for them to cast their vote and not skip it on the voting day. In my door-to-door campaign, I am requesting citizens to exercise their voting rights, irrespective of their political inclination, said Durga Shinde. In the 2012 civic election, only 41.11 % voters had turned out to vote from D ward, of which Walkeshwar (ward 219) is part of. BJP candidate Jitendra Ghadigaonkar from ward 115 (Bhandup) also undertook similar campaigning, encouraging a 100% voter turnout from Bhandup. While more than 60% of Mumbais population are registered voters, the turn out during elections has always been dismal. In the 2012 civic elections, only 44% of the population turned up to vote. Of the 24 administrative wards, the island city has seen the lowest percentage with only 34.10% voters turning up to vote. The neighbouring wards also witnessed less than the citys average voter turnout with the B ward at 37.38%, C ward at 37.13%. With all four major parties running solo this election, the voter turnout will be an important factor to decide on who will rule the countrys richest civic body. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and the election commission are leaving no stone unturned to spread awareness with incentives like free cab rides and discounts at city restaurants. READ MORE Mumbai civic polls: Uddhav or Raj? Who will Dadar, Mahim relate to? Eye on Shiv Sena-BJP clash as campaigning for Maharashtra civic polls ends SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Annoyed over the fact that farmers uprooted from their ancestral homes for public projects like dams have not been resettled for years, the Bombay high court on Monday slammed the Maharashtra government for its lackadaisical approach in rehabilitating farmers affected by Chaskaman dam in Pune district. He (the resettlement officer of Pune district) should be thrown in the dam, said the division bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice Girish Kulkarni expressing utter displeasure over delay in resettling the farmers despite repeated court orders. He has a seat to sit, said the chief justice while hearing petition filed by one of the affected farmers, Bajirao Bombale. He gets a monthly salary, even if he doesnt do anything. He doesnt feel the pinch, said the bench terming the resettlement officers attitude as callous and negligent. The comments came after Bombales lawyer, Shakuntala Wadekar, pointed out that in all 396 applications filed by families that were displaced for the Chaskaman dam have been pending since 2013 and some of the families have been rendered destitute, as they can be seen wandering about on streets. I have myself seen an old woman, who has lost her son and daughter-in-law, holding the hands of her young grandchildren and wandering on streets, said Wadekar, adding, It is really painful to see them like that. Bombale has approached the high court seeking an alternative land in village Dawadi in Pune district so that he can resettle his family, as his land along with his ancestral house has been acquired by the government for the dam. When the bench said they expect the resettlement officer to open his eyes, an assistant government pleader objected saying the court must not use such harsh words. This led the judges to question what was more harsh, their words or what has been done to the farmers. They have no house, no land for their livelihood. Nobody bothers, said the bench. The court has now summoned the district collector of Pune to court on the next hearing. He would be asked to explain the bench as to what steps he proposed to take to resettle the famers displaced by Chaskaman project. The judges also said they will arrange Lok Adalat, if needed, only for Chaskaman-affected persons. READ MORE Driven out of govt house, elderly couple lives on footpath for 7 days SC gives Narmada oustees Rs 60 lakh and 2 months time Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Rajeev Chandrasekhar, taking cognizance of the death of seven-year-old Ghazal Yadav following a karate tournament at DPS World School in Noida Extension on January 31, asked the police to expedite the investigation. Expressing concern over Ghazals death, the Rajya Sabha MP wrote to the superintendent of police (rural) of the district, Sujata Singh, to speed up the investigation. Greater Noida: After DPS students death, parents blame school, hospital Chandrasekhar also raised concerns about the safety of children in educational institutions. He said that negligence of the school authorities should be investigated in a proper, fair and impartial manner and those responsible should be held accountable for the girls death. Chandrasekhar intervened in the matter after residents of Stellar Jeevan society, where Ghazal lived with her parents, approached him on a social networking site. The MP also sent members from his office to meet the girls parents. Chandrasekhar also apprised Union minister for Human Resource Development, Prakash Javadekar, of the issue. He urged Javadekar to take an interest as the alleged crime took place within the school premises and ensure that justice is served. Case registered against DPS World School over students death In his letter to the HRD minister, Chandrasekhar said, I consider issues relating to safety of children as deeply important and also the crimes committed upon them. The parents, who are devastated by the untimely death, have approached me to ensure justice for their deceased child. Supporting the struggle of parents for justice, Chandrasekhar also mentioned, Safety of our children and their welfare is our primary duty. However, the SP (rural) Gautam Budh Nagar, Sujata Singh, denied having received a letter from Rajeev Chandrasekhar. She said, A case has already been registered and action will be taken against the guilty. But I have not received any letter from any parliamentarian. Ghazal Yadav death: Parents launch Facebook campaign to initiate action against DPS World School in Greater Noida Ghazals parents had alleged that the events of the day indicate that it was an unnatural death and that the school management is complicit in covering-up the real reason for the death. However, the school administration has repeatedly refuted the claims and maintained that the girl had complained of a severe headache and was taken to Kailash Hospital in Greater Noida where she died. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON We did not compromise. It was a murder, said Pushpa, sister of Ashok, who was gunned down in a fake encounter in 1996. After my brother was shot dead in the encounter, my father pursued the case in Dehradun but he died from a heart stroke in 2008. Then my aged mother took up the case and has pursued it till date. We had to sell our house and cattle to get money but we did not give up. The policemen visited us and told us to reach a compromise but we did not, Pushpa said. Ashok, along with three other youths from Vijay Nagar locality in Modi Nagar, had gone to Pilkhuwa to find a job in a carpet making unit on November 8, 1996. It was the day of Dhanteras festival, before Diwali. However, they were gunned down in an encounter at Machli Bazar. Their bodies were not returned to the families either. All the victims had bullet injuries to their chest while Jalauddin, Ashok and Pravesh also had bullet injuries on their head, just above the ear. Surat bhi nahi mili dekhne ko (I could not even get a last glimpse of my son). He worked at a nearby factory on daily wages and had gone out in search of another job. We searched a lot but could not find him. Since he left us, I have not been keeping well and have also lost sight in one eye. The other eye is also affected and I can hardly see. I had to sell my cattle to pursue the case, 70-year-old Sharifan, Jalaluddins mother, said. Mahender Singhs son Pravesh had also gone to Pilkhuwa while his parents were away to attend the last rituals of a relative. It was Dhanteras. He had enrolled in class 9 and also worked a daily job with his brother at a nearby factory. We went in search of him, to at least find his body, but the police did not show us even the body. They cremated all four, terming them unclaimed. Later, the police approached us for a compromise but we refused, 75-year-old Mahender, Praveshs father, said. The families said that they also protested outside the Prime Ministers residence in Delhi and got an assurance of Rs 1 lakh each. These were just promises. However, the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) helped us a lot. We relied on their counsel to get justice. The case was in a Dehradun court but it was later transferred to Ghaziabad. All families pursued the case and did not miss any hearing, he said. Of the four victims, only Jasbir, 23, was married. After the encounter on November 8, 1996, the police filed a final report and gave a clean chit to the personnel involved. The CBI took up the case on April 7, 1997, and named five police personnel in their chargesheet on September 10, 2001. The charges were framed in June 2005. On the day of the incident, the policemen involved had told their senior officials that two criminals had escaped into the sugarcane fields, following which they were ordered to open fire. After few minutes, the police shouted that two more badmash (goons) have been killed. Thereafter, Lal Singh came to the police station and filed a false written complaint against the deceased, the chargesheet stated. Then station house officer Lal Singh, sub-inspector Joginder Singh and constables Surya Bhan, Subhash Chand and Ranbir Singh were charged under section 193 (giving false evidence) of IPC apart from sections of murder and destruction of evidence. The section (193 of IPC) was levied as they had collected affidavits from locals to support their evidence in the encounter case. However, the people told the court that they were made to sign blank papers by the police and said that they did not sign any affidavit, Rajan Dahiya, the public prosecutor for the CBI, said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON More than 20 years after the Uttar Pradesh police claimed to have gunned down four criminals in an encounter in Bhojpur in November 1996, a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Ghaziabad on Monday held four cops guilty of murder, destruction of evidence and giving false evidence. CBIs Special Judge (anti corruption) Rajesh Chaudhary on Monday held the then station house officer Lal Singh, sub inspector Joginder Singh and two constables Surya Bhan and Subhash Chand as guilty for murder. The fifth accused Ranbir Singh died during the trial. The case had evoked a wide public outrage and the bodies of the victims were cremated as unclaimed. Their families could not even get a last glimpse of the victims. The quantum of punishment will be pronounced on February 22, said Rajan Dahiya, public prosecutor, CBI. During the alleged encounter at Machli Bazar area in Ghaziabad district, victims Jalaluddin, 17, and Pravesh, 17, sustained five gun shots each while a single bullet each was recovered from their bodies. The other two victims, Ashok, 17 and Jasbir, 23, sustained two shots each while a single bullet each was recovered from their bodies. Forensic investigations nailed the policemens lies. The country-made weapons which police claimed were recovered from their possession, did not match the bullet claimed to have been fired by the victims. The weapons were found planted. One bullet recovered from the body of Jasbir was found to be fired from the official revolver of IPS officer Jyoti Belur. It is not yet clear whether she had the possession of the weapon or not. She was not an accused in the case but summoned as accused by the CBI court during trial. Proceedings against her will commence once she appears in the court, Dahiya added. The former 1996 batch UP cadre IPS was on her first posting as circle officer in Modi Nagar. She is said to have resigned in 2007. Currently in the United Kingdom, she has not appeared in the court despite summons. All four victims killed during the alleged encounter hailed from poor families and had gone to Pilkhuwa in search of daily wage job on November 8, 1996. They were sitting at a tea stall outside the Bhojpur police station and were called by the police personnel inside the police station where they were tortured before being killed in a fake encounter at Machli Bazar area nearby. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Ghaziabad administration officials have issued a notice to the station house officer of Bhojpur police station under whose jurisdiction a 25-year-old daily wager was allegedly beaten and forced to drink urine at a panchayat held on February 14. The action came after a preliminary inquiry and a detailed inquiry report compiled by the administration officials. The investigation, so far, has revealed that a panchayat was held but it remains to be proved if the man was forced to drink urine. The report, containing statements from four villagers, on the incident was submitted to the district magistrate on Monday. There is complete laxity on the part of Bhojpur police officials. The area is under their jurisdiction and they should have informed the administration about the incident. A reply is sought, Atul Kumar, sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), Modi Nagar, said. It is alleged that the 25-year-old daily wager hap peeped into the house of one of the accused, where a woman was sleeping on February 10. Following the incident, a panchayat was called and the victim was allegedly beaten and forced to drink urine. Following the panchayat, the man rushed to his house and tried to commit suicide but his attempt was thwarted by onlookers. He left the village with his family and forwarded a complaint, describing the incident, to the police. Senior officials, on learning about the incident, ordered an FIR on February 17 and arrested five accused persons Amit, Rajvir, Deepu, Vikas and Satish. Sushma Devi, Amits wife, into whose house the victim had allegedly peeped into, claimed after Amits arrest that the liquid in the bottle was not urine but tea water prepared to instil fear into the victim. However, other villagers said that Amit had brought the bottle to the panchayat and had stated that it contained human urine. The accused also allegedly forced the bottle into the mans mouth during the panchayat. The detailed inquiry by district officials confirmed that a panchayat was held but states that the four villagers, whose statements were recorded, are divided over the liquid being urine. The detailed report was handed over to the district magistrate for further action. It contains the statements of four villagers. There has been a laxity on part of Bhojpur police, the SDM said. Nidhi Kesarwani, the district magistrate, said, I have received the report and directing it to the senior superintendent of police for a detailed inquiry into the incident. The victim and his wife have left their residence after the incident and are yet to return. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The 43rd edition of Indian Handicrafts and Gifts Fair (IHGF) Delhi Spring managed to get business enquiries worth Rs 1,700 crore, despite a few traders expressing disappointment over the slump in the market. The international fair attracted participation from 91 countries this year with maximum representatives coming from the USA, followed by the UK, France and Germany. The five-day handicrafts fair was held from February 16-20 at the India Expo Centre & Mart in Greater Noida. It saw the participation of over 3,000 exhibitors and potential buyers from across the globe. Rakesh Kumar, the executive director of Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH), said, The focus of buyers was mainly on product categories such as furniture and accessories, home textiles, house decor and gifts. The fair also gave a special thrust to promotion of crafts from the northeastern region of India and Jodhpur mega cluster to provide the market linkages to artisans, craftspersons and upcoming entrepreneurs from both regions. More than 26 entrepreneurs from the northeast and 10 from Jodhpur mega cluster participated in the fair, Kumar said. Besides overseas buyers, a large number of domestic retail volume buyers and e-commerce companies also visited the show and showed interest in sourcing products from artisans. To provide a boost to Indian handicrafts, a MOU was signed between EPCH and IIFT for setting up incubation centres at the craft cluster. A pilot incubation centre has already been set up at the Moradabad Resource Centre. EPCH and IIFT aims to create 5,000 entrepreneurs in the next five years, Kumar said. A group of plot allottees on Monday met additional chief executive officer of the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) Amarnath Upadhyay demanding possession of their plots without further delay. Even after seven years delay, YEIDA has failed to give possession of plots to 21,000 allottees. The authority failed because many farmers challenged the land acquisition in the Allahabad high court and refused to part with their agricultural land. Farmers continue to do farming on the land and court cases are ongoing. Read: Yamuna Expressway authority to handover 1,600 residential plots by March Last year, the YEIDA officials had promised that they will give possession of plots in October 2016. But they are failing time and again in doing that. If they are not giving us possession, they should at least stop levying interest on the defaulted amount, said Alok Singh, an allottee, who had booked a 300 square metre plot in 2009. Allottees said YEIDA charges Rs 30 interest per day on the defaulted amount. If the authority is charging interest on delayed payment, they should also pay interest to us because they took our money and failed to give us possession, Singh said. The authority launched the plot scheme in 2009 at a cost Rs 4,750 per sq m. The plots measure 300 sq m to 4,000 sq m. The authority had allotted the plots through a lucky draw in 2009-10. But it has not yet been able to hand over the possession of these plots to the allottees, who have invested Rs 2,000 crore in the scheme. Farmers demanding a hiked compensation of 64% did not let the authority take possession of their land and hand it over to allottees. These plots were allotted in sectors 18 and 20. We are also asking the authority if they can shift our plots to another area, where they have litigation-free land. But officials are not bothered about the plight of allottees, Singh said. A section of allottees are of the view that the authority should hand over the possession to all allottees soon instead of providing relief to just a handful. Their only demand is that the land site must be good. If the YEIDA decides to shift us to a land which is dispute-free, the location of the land should be good. We will not accept a shift to a new location if the plots are poor, said Safal Suri, president of Yamuna Expressway residential plot allottees. YEIDA said it is in the process of allotting 1,000 plots in the next three to four months. We have given possession to 55 allottees on January 6. We are working hard to hand over possession to 1,000 more allottees. We are procuring land from farmers after solving disputes. We are hoping to hand over plots to 1000 allottees in the next three to four months, said Upadhyay, ACEO, YEIDA. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON If Donald Trumps election and his robust views on Islamic radicalism have raised the possibility of tougher US policy on Pakistans terrorist affiliations, Chinas increasing obduracy in shielding Pakistan from Indian and international pressure on terrorism is a thwarting reality. Pakistan has been adept at playing the dual role of promoting terror as well as combating it. Its links with terrorism are both strategic and tactical. Strategically, it will not abandon its deeply-rooted jihadi links that keep India under pressure. Tactically it can take steps to defuse pressure to end terrorism from its soil. Its most recent move to curb Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeeds activities by naming him under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) is one such ploy. Pakistan has constantly argued that there is no evidence to link Hafiz Saeed with terrorism. It has treated his designation by the UN as an international terrorist and the $ 10 million US bounty on his head with contempt by giving him freedom to stage massive rallies calling for jihad against India and the West. He has been placed under house arrest at least four times, and as the government will not produce any evidence against him (how can it if it officially says there is no evidence against him?) he gets released by the courts. This charade will, therefore, go on. We remain in a bind on how to deal with our Pakistan terror problem. This is not because of any alleged shortfalls in our Pakistan policy. Our peace lobbies assert that there is no alternative to a dialogue and that we can choose our friends but not neighbours. But these are platitudes and not political strategies for achieving foreign policy goals. At various times we have been clutching at straws to justify reaching out to Pakistan. Its mounting internal problems, including domestic terrorism, the difficult economic situation and the argument that we should not turn our back on liberal elements in Pakistan have led us to pragmatically explore the possibility of improving ties. Pakistan, however, remains fixated on Kashmir. It continues to nurture jihadi groups targeting India. It is expanding its nuclear capacity and frequently threatens to use nuclear weapons against us. It abuses the provisions of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) to stall permissible Indian projects. It will not normalise economic ties with India. It has remained fundamentally intransigent on all issues and uses the dialogue mechanism only to seek one-sided concessions, backed by the use of terror. At the international level, the exposure of Pakistans terrorist affiliations wins us understanding of the terrorism challenge we face today as well as counter-terrorism cooperation, but not on the merits of the Kashmir issue. Read: China blocks US move to get Masood Azhar banned by UN The Modi government has to fashion its Pakistan policy based on these hard realities. Broadening options in dealing with Pakistan is the new strategy. Modi himself has fired some powerful shots in Islamabads direction. By mentioning Baluchistan in his 2016 Independence Day speech Modi put Pakistan on notice about its own internal vulnerabilities. The public disclosure about surgical strikes across the LoC after the Uri attack has removed the constraint imposed on Indias forces, even during the Kargil war, not to cross the LoC. Now they can retaliate at a time and place of their choosing undeterred by Pakistans nuclear threats. Modi has unsheathed the most powerful, asymmetric instrument in Indias hands to pressure Pakistan on terrorism: the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT). He has announced Indias intention to exercise its full rights under the Treaty. The option to suspend the Treaty if Pakistans terrorist misconduct persists remains an option. We have dealt firmly with the World Bank and have rejected US and UK concerns on the functioning of the IWT. Read: Pressure from US, China may have led to LeT founder Hafiz Saeeds house arrest China opposed last month a joint move in the UN by US, UK and France to designate Masood Azhar an international terrorist. That it is undeterred by the fall-out of its decision on relations with India is underscored by its announcement in advance of our foreign secretarys forthcoming visit to China that its position on Masood Azhar and Indias NSG membership remains unchanged. Both these issues do not constitute Chinas core interests and yet China is unyielding. Read: India-China talks next week, Beijing says no solid evidence against Azhar Even if India were to obtain satisfaction on both counts, it does not either impair Pakistans capacity to carry out its proxy war against India or open doors to international civilian nuclear cooperation with India hitherto shut. Chinas motives seem to be a mixture of its growing hubris, its determination to use Pakistan to box India in, its way of signalling its primacy in Asia and to remind India on the limits of what the US can deliver to it in international forums without Chinas consent. It might be advisable, therefore, not to pander to Chinas growing sense of self-importance by lobbying with it directly on Masood Azhar and the NSG membership and, instead use the space provided to more openly oppose the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, assert the illegality of Chinas presence in Pakistan Occupied J&K and generally increase pressure on Pakistan on several fronts, besides working to isolate China on both these issues more starkly in the relevant forums. The early signals sent by Prime Minister Modi on Baluchistan, surgical strikes and the IWT therefore need stronger relaying to change the calculus of all parties. Equally importantly, our internal consensus on pursuing this course has to be strengthened. Kanwal Sibal is a former foreign secretary. The views expressed are personal. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 20 By Khalid Kazimov Trend: Private drones and quadcopters have been banned from flying over the Iranian capital city of Tehran, a security official said. Brigadier General Alireza Rabie, the deputy commander of the Sarallah Headquarters, has said that the owners of drones need to obtain the required permissions in order to fly over the capital city, Tasnim news agency reported. The Sarallah Headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) is in charge of providing security in the capital city, the IRGC official added. On January 16, news sources reported on continued air defense shooting in the central areas of Tehran, a no-fly zone encompassing the headquarters of the supreme leader and the president. That was the second unleashing of air defense in downtown Tehran in less than a month due to the same reason. On December 23, 2016, Irans Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base said that its forces had shot down an unmanned aircraft in the same area. Candidates of partners Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from constituencies of Ludhiana have submitted a complaint to the Election Commission of India accusing candidates of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of creating panic among the people over counting of votes, scheduled for March 11. In a complaint filed jointly by Manpreet Singh Ayali (Dakha), Isher Singh Meharban (Payal),Gurmeet Singh Kular (Atam Nagar), Santa Singh Umedpur (Samrala), Darshan Singh Shivalik (Gill) and others, it has been stated that candidates of the AAP have made false allegations of breach in security and tampering of electronic voting machines used in the February 4 polls, and they have ulterior motives. Also read | Punjab election: AAP volunteers guard EVMs across 59 strongrooms AAP candidates and volunteers were fully satisfied at the spot when EVMs were being stored, but now they are again making hue and cry as well as nefarious attempts, thus causing panic in the general public and disturbing peace and harmony in the state, says the complaint filed through advocate Iqbal Singh Gill. In order to check these untoward incidents and hidden motives of the AAP candidates, a serious precautionary action may kindly be taken against the persons so that no untoward incident takes place. These candidates are spoiling the peace and harmony due to their vested interests, further states the complaint. Also read | Punjab polls: HC asks ECI to take appropriate steps to secure EVMs The AAP candidates in Ludhiana have been alleging that the returning officer of Gill segment had tampered with the EVMs kept in the strongroom at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), and had written to the EC about it. Similarly, in Patiala, AAP candidates raised a hue and cry over alleged tampering of EVMs. After top AAP leaders too raised the issue, a team of the commission deputed from the headquarters in Delhi inspected strongrooms in several cities of Punjab, and was satisfied with the arrangements. The region will be connected to Hyderabad and Chennai with Indigo Airlines starting its direct flights to the two cities from the Chandigarh International Airport from Monday. As per the flight schedule, the first daily direct flight from Hyderabad will take off at 11.10am and land in Chandigarh at 1.45 pm while from Chandigarh, the flight will depart at 2.15 pm and reach Hyderabad at 4.35 pm. A one-way trip will cost Rs 2,999. The first daily flight from Chennai to Chandigarh will take off at 9.30am and land here at 1.45pm via Hyderabad. From Chandigarh, it will depart at 2.15pm and reach Chennai at 6.55pm via Hyderabad. The fare from Chennai to Chandigarh will be Rs 4,152 while from Chandigarh, it will cost Rs 4,059. The operations will start with a flight to Delhi at 7.35am and conclude with the last flight (again to Delhi) departing at 9.35pm. In all, there will be 32 domestic flights from the city airport now. Jet Airways resumes flights Jet Airways will resume its seven flights (round-trip) from Monday. The city already has eight existing flights of different airlines. There will be 15 direct flights of various airlines from Chandigarh to Delhi from Monday. A one-way ticket starts from Rs 2,200 for a domestic flight, with some airlines also charging between Rs 5,000 and Rs 17,000 depending on demand and category. A senior airport official said, The occupancy rate on these flights is around 75% with 1,000 passengers daily. With new flights and older ones being resumed, the number of passengers will touch around 1,600 a day. This is assuming that the occupancy level remains the same. The annual volume of passengers at the city airport has grown by more than 20% to 15 lakh over the past year. Till 2015, there were only 13 flights from the airport. It must require remarkable political clumsiness and insensitivity to national security for a seasoned political leader like P Chidambaram to create a controversy around an issue which has grave implications for the future of India as a secular country. It is unbelievable that a former Union finance minister with Prime Ministerial pretensions should be caught arguing with jawans who are braving enemy bullets to ensure not just Indias territorial integrity but also its credentials as a secular democracy. Kashmir is far more than territory for India just as East Pakistan once was for our neighbouring country. Kashmir is integral to India as an idea not just as geographical entity. Fortunately, Indian leadership in general always seems to care enough about the countrys international standing as a civilised nation. We need not be in a holier than thou contest with Pakistan and China. But even hard-nosed diplomacy has got a lot to do with fixing ones selfish and vested interests within the golden frame of political correctness and diplomatic morality. This is one of the small mercies of diplomatic hypocrisy in a world torn increasingly apart by extreme ideologies on the one hand and by terror replacing wars as expressions of violent imperial intent on the other. In Kashmir, we are battling both these challenges on a magnified scale. What looks like ordinary crossborder terror is in fact nurtured here by its foster parents as a statement of civilisational extremity. Its neither just sensitive and innocent freedom fighters nor purely mindless terrorists that we are up against in Kashmir. The real battle is against an ideology which by its very presence negates the idea of India. Tragically, the country is threatened as much by enemies as by its friends wearing colours of extreme, communal jingoism disguised as insane nationalism. Bands of nationalists threatening to kill Indians in the name of India by implication threaten the very idea which India takes pride in. ARMYS OPTIONS IN KASHMIR But away from ideological and diplomatic corridors, what are the armys options in Kashmir? Can and should the army be told to fight with its hands tied behind its back in political handcuffs? Is it the armys job to address the political dimension of the problem? Is the army even equipped ideologically and trained mentally and physically to manage civilian peace on a long-term basis? In a democracy, is it even advisable for the army to be thus trained? Almost the first thing that I am tempted to put on my wish list on the Kashmir issue is for all political parties in Srinagar and New Delhi to place a voluntary moratorium on politicking, including public pronouncements and media posturing, for a minimum period of three years. This period must then be utilised to give peace a serious chance through a mix of diplomacy and politics. Since this seems like too much to expect from our politicians, lets by-pass dreams and get down to brass-tacks. General Bipin Rawat perhaps had the boys morale in mind while making that hotly debated statement or, may be, he truly meant business. Its my view that no one should tell a professional army like ours how to do its job once it has been passed on to it. But its doubtful if describing non-compliant civilians as the enemy and widening the armys target by openly including the people in it promotes anyones cause. That said, political leaders needed to avoid commenting on the Generals remark and making his already complicated task more tough. Both the general and the leaders could have chosen other channels to convey their respective messages the General internally to his boys and political leaders directly to the General through personal communications rather than making a public spectacle of national confusion on a sensitive issue. This could have spared everyone a bad taste in the mouth. (The writer is adviser to Punjab CM on national affairs and media) Punjab Congress spokesman Sunil Jakhar on Monday accused the ruling SAD-BJP regime of deserting the state, sensing defeat in elections. Talking to mediapersons at Congress Bhawan here, Jakhar said the Congress was confident of coming to power in the state and no policy decision should be taken till the next government is formed. Referring to the Punjab State Regulatory Commission, he said the Congress has promised to cap power rates in its poll manifesto and the commission should not announce the new rates. We have the handle to negotiate the power rates with private players and make it cheaper for not just industry but also the common man, Jakhar said. Claiming that the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue had turned volatile after Haryanas INLD had asked people to reach Punjab and begin digging on their own, he said, CM Parkash Singh Badal is not well. But what is the excuse of his son and deputy CM Sukhbir Badal? He seems to have abdicated the moral responsibility to look after the states interests. Sukhbir should be called a bhagora (absconder). He thinks, hoon Punjab khu wich jaave (let Punjab sink). It is a sinister design to leave the volatile SYL issue to the next government, Jakhar said. He also trained his guns at SAD ally BJP, saying the party was making its state president Vijay Sampla as a scapegoat for its poor show in polls. The blame lies at the door of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and not poor fellow Sampla. Demonetisation of notes and partys arrogance led to shift of BJP votebank of small traders, industrialists and urban voters towards the Congress. They do not want instability in state and have not voted for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), he said. With leaders of Haryana opposition party Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) announcing to restart construction of the controversial Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal on February 23, the Punjab government on Monday invoked Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) to thwart their attempt to cross the state border. Even the Ambala administration has also imposed section 144 CrPC. Section 144 empowers a magistrate to prohibit an assembly of more than four people in an area. As SYL is an emotional issue in Punjab and Haryana, thus MHA is also keeping a close watch, briefed a senior Punjab official. Any untoward incident can make situation volatile in neighbouring states, thus MHA officials are keeping a constant touch with police higher ups of Punjab and Haryana. Anticipating heavy turnout of INLD, The Punjab director general of police (DGP) Suresh Arora held meeting at Shambu and assigned duties to officer. A temporary control room has been setup at Shambu by punjab police, which also conducted aerial survey. Nearly 5000 policemen from Punjab have been moved to Patiala and stationed at all entry points. No one will be allowed to enter in Punjab. Forces are ready to control any situation. we are hoping that Centre will give us additional forces on Tuesday evening, said Patiala inspector general of police (IG) B Chander Shekhar. Patiala deputy commissioner (DC) Ramvir Singh, who passed the orders on Monday, said: Senior government officials are in touch with their counterparts in Haryana, while the Patiala administration is in constant touch with the Ambala administration. No one will be allowed to enter Punjab. The Punjab government has also strengthened security and placed traffic barriers besides deploying extra force in Patiala to prevent disruption to law and order. Adequate force has been mobilised... Police will not even allow All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) activists to converge at Kapuri (village bordering Haryana where the foundation of the canal was laid) or Shambhu, said the DC. The AISSF has declared to confront the INLD workers if they enter Punjab. Patiala senior superintendent of police (SSP) S Bhoopathi said the police has also decided to divert traffic on national highway-1 and other roads leading to Punjab from Haryana. A detailed security and traffic plan will be issued on February 22, he added. DGP draws plan with Patiala senior cops The decision to invoke Section 144 was taken after Punjab director general of police (DGP, law and order) Hardeep Singh Dhillon met senior cops of Patiala and neighbouring districts at Chandigarh on Monday to devise a plan to check any untoward incident. Punjab Police have also drawn a joint action plan with their Haryana counterparts, who too have beefed up security at Shambhu Barrier on NH-1 on Punjab-Haryana border. The Haryana government has reportedly decided to invoke Section 144 in Ambala as well. The INLD has given call to its workers to coverage at the Ambala vegetable market, which is nearly three kilometre from Shambhu Barrier. Haryana has decided not to allow INLD workers to move from the Ambala vegetable market, said a Punjab police official. In Punjab, two SSP-ranked officials will command security at Shambhu Barrier, while the Patiala inspector general of police (IG) B Chander Sekhar will personally monitor the movement of forces to ensure adequate security measures. The IG visited both Shambhu and Kapuri to brief cops deployed there. The Union government has confirmed deployment of 20 companies of central forces with 110 personnel each. They will reach here by February 22. Additional force from the Entire Patiala Range Police, which comprises Patiala, Sangrur, SAS Nagar, Fatehgarh Sahib and Rupnagar, has also been mobilised. Nearly 3,000 security personnel will be deputed by February 23. The numbers will be increased further depending upon inputs from our Haryana counterparts, said a senior police official. Besides barricades, water cannons, tear gas shell firing squad and horse squads have also been shifted to Patiala. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Jagannathpur legislator Geeta Kora has been nominated as a member of the Commonwealth Womens Parliamentarians (CWP) Steering Committee. Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan nominated her as a member of the CWP steering committee to represent the Indian region. The two-time member of the legislative assembly from the iron ore belt in West Sighbhum district of Jharkhand and wife of former chief minister Madhu Koda, happens to be the first woman from the state to represent the CWP. The steering committee of CWP India region comprises one woman legislator from each of the four zones of the India Region Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) with the Lok Sabha Speaker as ex-officio chairperson. Its a rare opportunity, I will make good use of the new opening and try my best to serve the interest of the state, women in particular, she said. Geeta contested the Jagannathpur seat first time in 2009 on a Jai Bharat Samanta Party (JBSP) ticket and won, beating Sonaram Birua (BJP). She tided over the Modi wave that saw the first majority government in Jharkhand led by the BJP and retained her seat in 2014 defeating the saffron partys candidate Mangal Singh Soren. The aim of CWP is to foster a closer relationship between women parliamentarians, discuss, strategise and act on gender related issues and include a gender perspective in all aspects of their role legislation, oversight and representation. The CWP steering committee member is also entrusted upon to increase women participation in Indian legislatures and provide opportunities to them in the future. Besides this, a member is expected to have a greater depth of knowledge of parliamentary practice and procedures and in-depth and practical knowledge based on accepted theories and international good practices of parliamentary democracy. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Three incidents similar to the harassment of a popular Malayalam actress allegedly by a gang of men had taken place in the state recently, an actor claimed to have been informed by the Kerala police chief. But these earlier incidents went unreported, said actor- director Lal to where the actress fled to after being molested for two hours allegedly by a gang of five men, who forced their way into her car before fleeing in a busy area in Kochi on Friday night. Addressing a galaxy of film stars assembled in Kochi tonight to attend a protest meet organised against the incident, Lal said he had telephoned Kerala DGP Loknath Behera to inform him about the incident soon after the actress reached his home and narrated her ordeal. During our conversation, the DGP told me that three similar incidents had happened in connection with Malayalam film industry recently. But no one has come to know about it...maybe, because it was suppressed using money or left unreported fearing humiliation. He (Behera) told me this incident should not meet a similar fate and asked me to provide her (harassed actress) all support, Lal said at the function attended by several leading Malayalam actors, including Mammooty, Dileep and Manju Warrier. Lal, who turned emotional during his speech, said the actress, members of her family besides her fiance were prepared to suffer any kind of hardship to get the guilty punished. But pained by remarks about the incident by some TV channels, she even thought of withdrawing the complaint, he said. Lal thanked Behera for acting promptly by sending top police officials to his house soon after he apprised him of the incident with the permission of the actress. The Malayalam film fraternity, assembled under the banner of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), took an oath of unity, expressing solidarity with the actress. ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop As a caretaker chief minister, O Panneerselvam never sat on the chair of chief minister J Jayalalithaa. But Edapaddi Palaniswami who won the trust vote on Saturday, had no such qualms as he occupied the chief ministers chambers on Monday and announced a slew of decisions to carry forward the late leaders legacy. His first task as chief minister was to sign five files, each launching a welfare measure promised by Jayalalithaa in the AIADMK election manifesto for 2016 general elections in Tamil Nadu. Among them was an order to shut down 500 government run wine shops. This is the second installment of closure of government-owned liquor outlets run by the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation after Jayalalithaa issued the first closure order following her re-election May 2016. Jayalalithaa took that decision on May 24 last year when she was sworn in as chief minister for a second consecutive term. Read | Jayalalithaa shuts down 500 liquor stores in Tamil Nadu on first day as CM But Palaniswami insisted that his most important of the five orders was the one about drought relief for farmers who are reeling under the worst drought in the state in over a century. My first priority is drought relief. The assistance will be reached to the farmers at the earliest, Palaniswami said, briefing media persons on his first working day as the new chief minister. Then, came the populist programmes from the new chief minister, widely perceived as a proxy for convicted AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikala. With these, he began delivering the poll promises Jayalaithaa had made. The most attractive of the lot was Jayalalithaas promise to that the government would pay half the price of two wheelers for every such vehicle bought by working women. Palaniswami announced subsidy for two-wheelers for one lakh working women by which the government would foot half the bill of a two-wheeler, subject to a maximum of Rs 25000 for each such woman. The two-wheeler scheme would cost the state exchequer Rs 200 crore per annum. I am following Ammas policies, he told media persons inside the CM chambers. But Palaniswami sidestepped questions from reporters and stuck to the prepared theme of populism, saying that all details you are seeking are in the press release. The chief minister also said he signed orders for increasing financial assistance to pregnant women from Rs 12,000 to Rs 18,000. The scheme is designed to benefit 600,000 pregnant women at an outlay of Rs 360 crore per annum. Other goodies included doubling the monthly allowance to unemployed youth - Rs 200 per month for those who studied up to 10th standard, Rs.300 for those passed 10th standard, Rs 400 for those who did not clear 12th standard and Rs 600 for graduates and post graduates. The additional outgo for the state will be Rs 31 crore per year on account of this dole. Palaniswami also gave clearance to build 5,000 houses for fishermen at a cost of Rs 85 crore per annum. Analysts see the populist schemes as continuation of Jayalaithaas welfare programmes as a message to the people that nothing has changed and that their interests would be best looked after by the government. How far the people, at present angry with the present dispensation, would accept the change, only time will tell, said Prof Ramu Manivannan of the Madras University. Also read | Palaniswami wins trust vote: Heres how parties played their cards Tehran, Iran, Feb. 20 By Mehid Sepahvand, Fatih Karimov Trend: An Iranian delegation is scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia on Feb. 23 to discuss this year's hajj pilgrimage, the Islamic Republics Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said. Saudi Arabia has sent an invitation to Iran, Qasemi said in a press conference in Tehran Feb. 20, Trend's correspondent reported from the event. Iran did not send its pilgrims to the 2016 hajj after a stampede during the previous year's pilgrimage, which according to Associated Press estimations, killed at least 2,426 people. Iran had the highest death toll with 464 killed. Qasemi also said the Iranian delegation will inform the Saudi officials about all the concerns of the Islamic Republic regarding the issue, adding the Iranian negotiating team will hold serious talks with Saudis during the upcoming visit. I hope we will achieve a positive result with seriousness of the Saudi side in the talks. Crime scene photos of Kim Kardashians Paris robbery were released by French media on Monday. In October, Kardashian was held at gunpoint by masked robbers in her hotel room in Paris No Address Hotel where she was tied up and robbed of millions of dollars worth of jewellery including a $4 million ring. The photos, released by French network TFI show Kardashians bed inside the hotel, the bathroom where she was held during the robbery, and shots of duct tape and plastic ties that were used to restrain her. The network also showed surveillance footage of what it claimed were the alleged suspects, reports People.com. Kardashian spent months out of the spotlight post the robbery, and her husband, rapper Kanye West had a public meltdown and brief stay at a psychiatric facility in Los Angeless Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Centre In January, French authorities charged 10 suspects in connection with the robbery. Several weeks later, French newspaper Le Monde released excerpts of police testimony with suspect Aomar Ait Kihedache where he allegedly confessed to the crime, calling it a very simply affair. Earlier in February, Kardashian testified against the robbers in New York. CCTV footage shows one of the men who has been arrested in connection with the crime. One oft the robbers reportedly dropped some jewellery as he tried to flee the scene, CCTV footage shows. A screengrab of the bedroom. The tape with which Kardashian was bound and gagged. Follow @htshowbiz for more Ahead of Rangoons release, Saif Ali Khan and Kangana Ranaut made an appearance on the most royal episode of Koffee With Karan till date. The duo took the show by storm with their exceptional candour. While host Karan Johar heaped praises on Kangana, the episode began with him asking her to bear with the unapologetic frivolities of the shows format. Kangana credited her success to KJos rejection and derision, the filmmaker constantly tried to make it up to her by saying he underestimated her ability as an actor. Saif Ali Khan, on the other hand, was a pleasant charmer throughout the episode. The actor, however, confessed that he isnt as calm on the sets of his films. After two serious sessions with the guests, the host moved on to a more raunchier segment, Koffee shots with Karan, whose primary focus was sex. The situational round had Saif and Kangana saying a yes or no by drinking coffee shots. The segment was a revelation. With Saifs confession of cheating on a partner and Kangana opening up about a lesbian encounter, it made for a controversial episode. The much-hyped rapid fire round towards the end of the episode kept the momentum going. While both Saif and Kangana gave tough competition to each other, the coffee hamper went to the 29-year-old. In an attempt to form a new relationship, KJo congratulated Kangana on her KWK victory. A post shared by Shahid Kapoor (@shahidkapoor) on Feb 15, 2017 at 9:12pm PST As the episode neared its end, Shahid Kapoor turned up to complete the Rangoon trifecta. Talking about his simple relationship with Saif and a complicated equation with Kangana, the 35-year-old definitely spilled some beans on the rumoured cold war that is brewing between them. You can stream the full episode here Follow @htshowbiz for more Kabul on Monday asked Islamabad to take action against 85 militants and 32 terror training camps on Pakistani soil, widening a row between the two countries over action against cross-border terrorism. Afghanistans ambassador to Pakistan handed over a letter with a list of the militants and camps to authorities in Islamabad, said a statement posted on the Facebook page of the Afghan foreign ministry. The statement said the Afghan envoy sought immediate action against the terrorist training camps. The list of 85 wanted militants included operatives and leaders of the Taliban and other terror groups such as the Haqqani Network. The Afghan side said they should be arrested and handed over by Pakistani authorities. The statement added that Pakistans initial response to the list was positive and there was an expression of hope that practical actions would be taken. The move came three days after the Pakistani military resorted to the unusual step of summoning Afghan diplomats and asking them to take action against 76 Pakistani terrorists believed to be on Afghan soil. The Pakistani military also pushed the US-led NATO forces to push President Ashraf Ghanis government to take action against the terrorists. Following the suicide attack, Pakistan closed crossing points on the border with Afghanistan and targeted suspected militant bases in Nangarhar with artillery. The Pakistani military moved after a suicide attack on a Sufi shrine in Sindh province killed 88 people last week. The civil and military leadership blamed a spike in violence on militants allegedly sheltering on Afghan soil. Pakistan has for long alleged that some top terrorists, including Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Mullah Fazlullah, Omar Khalid Khorasani of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and Lashkar-e-Islam chief Mangal Bagh Afridi are based in Afghanistan. On the other hand, Afghanistan has accused Pakistan of sheltering the top Afghan Taliban leadership, including leaders of the Haqqani Network. On Monday, Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah said it is unfair to accuse his country of supporting terrorism and violence. The only solution in the fight against terrorism is to cooperate and to stop supporting terrorism, he told a meeting of the council of ministers. US President Donald Trump may do another round of interviews for the position of national security adviser with new or existing candidates on Monday as he scrambles to fill the post following the ouster of Michael Flynn. Trump interviewed four finalists on Sunday and might meet with some of them again on Monday, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said. The president interviewed acting adviser Keith Kellogg, former US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, lieutenant general HR McMaster and lieutenant general Robert Caslen at his Mar-a-Lago resort. Read: Michael Flynn resigns as US national security adviser after reports he misled Pence over Russian contacts We may have some additional meetings and names tomorrow, and may also meet with a couple of those people again, Sanders said in Florida. Trump returns to Washington on Monday. The national security adviser is one of the most senior jobs at the White House, holding broad influence over US foreign policy across the globe and presiding over the National Security Council staff. White House officials made clear on Sunday that the new adviser will have autonomy over staffing decisions, an issue that has been reported to have thwarted some other candidates. Trumps first choice to fill the job after Flynns departure, vice-admiral Robert Harward, turned it down, citing family and financial reasons. Another potential choice, David Petraeus, a retired general and former CIA chief who resigned in 2012 over an extramarital affair, was cut from the presidents short list. Sources familiar with the candidates thinking said they both wanted control over staffing of their team, and Trump was reluctant to grant that authority. White House chief of staff Reince Priebus denied the reports that Harward and Petraeus wanted more control than Trump was prepared to give, and said in an interview on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace that the new adviser can do whatever he or she wants to do with the staffing. He said the issue never came up in discussions with Harward and they hadnt really gone down the road with Petraeus. The White House confirmed that Craig Deare, the NSCs senior director for Western Hemisphere Affairs, had left that role. Politico reported that he was dismissed for criticizing the president and his top aides. He was just sent back to his original position, so he wasnt fired, Sanders said. Deare is on the faculty of the National Defense University. Read: Trump knew Michael Flynn misled Pence about Russia for a while, says White House Asked if government employees should be concerned that they would lose their jobs if they criticized Trump, Sanders said: I dont think that any person that is there in order to carry out the presidents agenda should be against the presidents agenda. The national security adviser is an independent aide to the president and does not require confirmation by the U.S. Senate. The role has varied from administration to administration, but the adviser attends National Security Council meetings along with the heads of the State Department, the Department of Defense and key security agencies. Trump has added Steve Bannon, his chief White House strategist, as a regular attendee of NSC meetings. Political strategists have not typically been among NSC participants and Bannons addition has drawn sharp criticism because of his previous role heading right-wing website Breitbart News. US President Donald Trump should come clean and back moves to kick Russias ass for its alleged meddling in last years US election, senior Republican senator Lindsey Graham said on Sunday. Trump has been embroiled in questions over his ties with Russia and this week his national security advisor Michael Flynn was forced to resign over contacts with Moscows ambassador in Washington. The president has repeatedly said he wants to improve relations with Russia but Graham said Trump should be much more focused on hitting back at Russia over its alleged hacking of the Democratic Partys network to discredit candidate Hillary Clinton in his favour. My goal is to put it on Trumps desk and I hope he will embrace the idea that as the leader of the free world he should be working with us to punish Russia, Lindsey told a Munich Security Conference panel. 2017 is going to be a year of kicking Russia in the ass in Congress, he said. Graham said the president needed to be completely open. My biggest concern with President Trump ... is that hes never really looked the camera in the eye. The president should do that and say: Even though it was the Democratic Party that suffered from Russian interference, I am now the leader of the free world and I can assure you theyre going to pay a price on my watch for trying to interfere in our election, Graham said. Pakistans former ruler General Pervez Musharraf has said his administration managed freedom fighters in Kashmir but later realised a political process was needed to negotiate the issue with India, a media report said on Monday. Musharraf, who served as Pakistans president from 2001 to 2008 after he threw out the elected government in a coup in 1999, said his government was able to force India to discuss issues that New Delhi was unwilling to negotiate. In my tenure as a military chief and president of the country, we were succeeding. We were able to bring India to the negotiating table and to sort out issues that India was not ready to discuss, he told Dunya News in an interview. He said his government was managing freedom fighters in Kashmir, and later they realised that a political process was required to negotiate further with India, the report said. Musharraf left Pakistan for Dubai in March 2016 , after his name was removed from the Exit Control List. The 73-year-old said Afghanistans intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security (NDS), was playing into Indias hands and was being used as a tool to facilitate terror groups in Pakistan. He claimed operation Zarb-e-Azb - during which the Pakistan Army claimed it killed thousands of militants - had no shortcomings as it was specifically for North Waziristan. This operation cleaned up all the camps and launching pads of terrorist, who were supported by the Indian spy agency with the collaboration of NDS, to destabilise the tribal areas. Musharraf said a holistic approach and planning was crucial at the moment to curb terrorism in the country. His possible reference was to a series of deadly terrorist attack in Pakistan this year, particularly the suicide bombing at a famed Sufi shrine in Sindh in which at least 88 people died. Pakistan has blamed Afghanistan for allowing sanctuaries to terrorist groups targeting Pakistan on their soil. The former military chief questioned the steps being taken by Pakistan to eliminate the sleeper cells active in the country, including the previously peaceful Punjab province. What steps are being taken to eliminate these sleeper cells? Punjab has become the stronghold of militancy, he said, refuting a question that terrorist attacks and terror outfits like the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi existed during his tenure. This all started after I stepped down, we had carved out an effective strategy vis-a-vis Kashmir, we were near resolving Kashmir issue with India on a four-point agenda, our policies were successful; America and China were aligning with us. On Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeeds house arrest, Musharraf said the Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief is not a terrorist. He claimed India is after Saeed because his supporters go voluntarily to Kashmir to fight the Indian Army. An Afghan official says at least 10 civilians were killed and four others wounded when unknown gunmen attacked a home in eastern Laghman province. Sarhadi Zwak, spokesperson for the provincial governor, said Monday that the attack took place Sunday night. The family was eating dinner when they were attacked by unknown assailants armed with guns and hand grenades. Zwak said it was unclear who was behind the attack, and no group has immediately claimed responsibility. Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, hosting a visit by his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Monday his country believes in a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Lee explained his stand at a joint news briefing with Netanyahu, who does not endorse the two-nation approach. Lee said he realizes a two-state solution is difficult to achieve, but said it is the only way to achieve peace. Netanyahus official visit is the first to Singapore by an Israeli head of government. Last year, Lee became the first Singaporean Prime Minister to visit Israel. Netanyahu referred to Singapore and Israel at the news conference as being kindred spirits. Both nations are small, with significant defence and high-tech industries. The two countries established diplomatic relations in 1969, but have ties dating back to 1965, when Israeli military advisers covertly assisted Singapore after its declaration of independence. Acknowledging the very complex situation between Palestinians and Israel, Lee called for direct negotiations that will ensure progress toward a just and durable solution to this long-standing and often, unfortunately violent conflict. We have consistently believed that a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine, however hard to achieve, is the only way to bring peace and security to both peoples, Lee said. Netanyahu did not mention tensions in the Middle East in his remarks Monday, after which questions were not allowed. The two-state approach, in which negotiations aim to lead to an independent Palestinian nation, has wide international support. It would likely require Israel to give up occupied territory that is strategically and religiously significant. A two-state solution has anchored American diplomacy in the Middle East for two decades. When US President Donald Trump hosted Netanyahu last week, the American leader signaled a policy shift, saying both a two-state and a single-state solution should be considered. Netanyahu departs for Australia on Tuesday. More than 300 African migrants jumped the border fence between Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on Monday morning, the second mass push since Friday, the emergency services said. Eleven people were hospitalised after the jump over the 6-metre, barbed-wire fencing surrounding the North African enclave, the Red Cross said. On Friday, about 500 migrants crossed the same fenced border, often used as an entry point into Europe for African migrants who attempt to climb it or swim around it along the coast. Both Spains two North Afican enclaves, Ceuta on Moroccos northern point off the Strait of Gibraltar, and Melilla, which lies further to the east and closer to the Algerian border, are often the focus of attempted illegal border crossings. More than 1,100 migrants attempted to cross into Ceuta in January, but most were turned back. Tehran, Iran, February 20 By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend: Tehran says it is against setting up a safe zone in the war-torn country of Syria as was recently proposed by Turkey. This idea of Turkey is wrong and will worsen the problems. We do not accept it, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi told a press conference, Trend correspondent reported from the event. The response came one week after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told an audience in Bahrain that he wants to create a safe zone near Raqqa, Syria. Erdogan said the safe zone would encompass 3,475 square miles and include the Syrian town of Manbij, which was taken from the Islamic State (IS, ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) in August by Syrian Kurds working closely with the U.S. military. Commenting on Tehran-Moscow cooperation over the Syrian crisis, Qassemi said, We are in the best mode of cooperation and have had no disagreement during the Astana talks, without commenting on Tehran-Ankara relations over developments in Syria. Last week Iran, Turkey, and Russia attended a round of talks in Kazakhstans Astana to discuss how to safeguard an ongoing ceasefire in Syria. Irans elite Revolutionary Guard has launched sophisticated rockets during a military exercise, an Iranian semi-official news agency reported on Monday. The report by Tasnim, an agency considered close to the Revolutionary Guard, said the launch of smart and advanced rockets took place during an annual three-day manoeuvre which began on Monday in Irans central desert. The report did not elaborate on the model of the rockets or their capabilities, but said they successfully hit their targets. Earlier in February, the United States said it has put Iran on notice after the country test-fired a medium-range ballistic missile. US-backed Iraqi forces fought Islamic State fighters on Monday to clear the way to Mosuls airport, on the second day of a ground offensive on the jihadists remaining stronghold in the western side of the city. Federal police and elite interior ministry units known as Rapid Response are leading the charge toward the airport, located on the southern limit of the Mosul, trying to dislodge the militants from a nearby hill known as Albu Saif. The Iraqi forces plan is to turn the airport into a close support base for the onslaught into western Mosul itself. Islamic State militants are essentially under siege in western Mosul, along with an estimated 650,000 civilians, after they were forced out of the eastern part of the city in the first phase of an offensive that concluded last month, after 100 days of fighting. They are striking and engaging our forces and pulling back towards Mosul, Major Mortada Ali Abd of the Rapid Response units told a Reuters correspondent south of Mosul. God willing Albu Saif will be fully liberated today. Helicopters were strafing the Albu Saif hill to clear it of snipers, while machine gun fire and rocket propelled grenades could be heard. The advancing forces also disabled a car bomb - used by the militants to obstruct attacking forces. The Iraqi forces have been advancing so far in sparsely populated areas. The fighting will get tougher as they get nearer to the city itself and the risk greater for the civilians. Up to 400,000 civilians could be displaced by the offensive as residents of western Mosul suffer food and fuel shortages and markets are closed, United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq Lise Grande told Reuters on Saturday. Commanders expect the battle to be more difficult than in the east of the city, which Iraqi forces have took control of last month after three months of fighting, because tanks and armoured vehicles cannot pass through its narrow alleyways. The militants have developed a network of passageways and tunnels to enable them to hide and fight among civilians, disappear after hit-and-run operations and track government troop movements, according to residents. Western Mosul contains the old city centre, with its ancient souks, government administrative buildings, and the mosque from which Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared his self-styled caliphate over parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014. The city is the largest urban centre captured by Islamic State in both countries. Islamic State was thought to have up to 6,000 fighters in Mosul when the governments offensive started in mid-October. Of those, more than 1,000 have been killed, according to Iraqi estimates. The remainder now face a 100,000-strong force made up of Iraqi armed forces, including elite paratroopers and police, Kurdish forces and Iranian-trained Shiite paramilitary groups. The westward road that links the city to Syria was cut in November by the Shiite paramilitary known as Popular Mobilization forces. The militants are in charge of the road that links Mosul to Tal Afar, a town they control 60 km (40 miles) to the west. Civilian lives Coalition aircraft and artillery have continued to bombard targets in the west during the break that followed the taking of eastern Mosul. The United States, which has deployed more than 5,000 troops in the fighting, leads an international coalition providing key air and ground support, including artillery fire, to the Iraqi and Kurdish forces. US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis who arrived in Baghdad on Monday on an unannounced visit, declined to offer details about US battle plans when speaking to reporters on Sunday. The coalition forces are in support of this operation and we will continue ... with the accelerated effort to destroy ISIS, he said, using an acronym for the militant group. Members of the Iraqi rapid response forces look at smoke rising from clashes during a battle with Islamic State militants, south of Mosul, Iraq on February 20. (Reuters Photo) Mattis also said the US military is not in Iraq to seize the countrys oil, distancing himself from remarks by President Donald Trump. Islamic State imposed a radical version of Islam in Mosul, banning cigarettes, televisions and radios, and forcing men to grow beards and women to cover from head to toe. Citizens who failed to comply risked death. Capturing Mosul would effectively end the Sunni groups ambitions for territorial rule in Iraq. The militants are expected to continue to wage an insurgency, however, carrying out suicide bombings and inspiring lone-wolf actions abroad. About 160,000 civilians have been displaced since the start of the offensive in October, U.N. officials say. Medical and humanitarian agencies estimate the total number of dead and wounded - both civilian and military - at several thousand. This is the grim choice for children in western Mosul right now: bombs, crossfire and hunger if they stay or execution and snipers if they try to run, Save the Children said, adding that children make up about half the population trapped in the city. North Koreas top envoy in Kuala Lumpur on Monday denounced Malaysias investigation into the apparent killing of the exiled half brother of North Koreas ruler, calling it politically motivated and demanding a joint probe into the death. The comments from Ambassador Kang Chol came amid rising tensions between North Korea and Malaysia over the death, with Malaysia recalling its ambassador to Pyongyang over what it called baseless allegations. Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half brother of North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un, died last week after apparently being poisoned in a Kuala Lumpur airport. Security camera footage obtained by Japanese television appeared to show a careful and deliberate attack in which a woman comes up from behind him and holds something over his mouth. Pyongyang demanded custody of Kims body and strongly objected to an autopsy. The Malaysians not only went ahead but also conducted a second autopsy, saying the results of the first were inconclusive. Malaysian authorities saying they were simply following procedures, but Kang questioned their motives. The investigation by the Malaysian police is not for the clarification of the cause of the death and search for the suspect, but it is out of the political aim, Ambassador Kang Chol told reporters Monday. He referred to the dead man as Kim Chol, the name on the passport found with Kim Jong Nam. Police had pinned the suspicion on us, Kang said, calling on Malaysia and the international community to work with North Korea on a joint investigation. Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak told reporters later Monday that he has absolute confidence that police and doctors have been very objective in their work. Najib said Malaysia had no reason to paint the North Koreans in a bad light but added, We expect them to understand that we apply the rule of law in Malaysia. Kang previously said Malaysia may be trying to conceal something. On Monday, the Malaysian foreign ministry said it had recalled its ambassador to Pyongyang for consultations and had summoned Kang to a meeting, to seek an explanation on the accusations he made. The statement called Kangs comments baseless and said it takes very seriously any unfounded attempt to tarnish its reputation. Police investigating the killing have so far arrested four people carrying identity documents from North Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam. Those arrested include two women who were allegedly seen approaching Kim on Feb. 13 as he stood at a ticketing kiosk at the budget terminal of the Kuala Lumpur airport. Surveillance video footage, obtained by Fuji TV and often grainy and blurred, seems to show the two women approaching Kim Jong Nam from different directions. One comes up behind him and appears to hold something over his mouth for a few seconds. Then the women turn and calmly walk off in different directions. More footage shows Kim, a long-estranged scion of the family that has ruled North Korea for three generations, walking up to airport workers and security officials, gesturing at his eyes and seemingly asking for help. He then walks alongside as they lead him to the airport clinic. Fuji TV has not revealed how it acquired the video footage, which was taken by a series of security cameras as Kim arrived for a flight to Macau, where he had a home. Kim, in his mid-40s, died shortly after the attack, en route to a hospital after suffering a seizure, Malaysian officials say. Malaysias deputy national police chief, Noor Rashid Ibrahim, said Sunday that Kim had told airport customer service workers that two unidentified women had swabbed or had wiped his face with a liquid and that he felt dizzy. Investigators are still looking for four North Korean men who arrived in Malaysia on different days beginning Jan. 31 and flew out the same day as the attack. The Nepal government on Monday announced elections to local bodies would be held on May 14 despite opposition from Madhes-based political parties, which said they would launch protests. A Cabinet meeting decided on Monday evening that the polls would be held according to the recommendations of the Election Commission. Within an hour of the government declaring the date for the polls, a meeting of Madhes-based parties rejected the elections and decided to launch a programme of protests from Tuesday. The government decided to hold the polls in a single phase on May 14, information minister Surendra Karki said after the Cabinet meeting. The government instructed the finance ministry to release funds for the polls, he added. The government also decided to discuss the long-awaited Constitution amendment bill in Parliament in an attempt to appease the Madhes-based parties, which have already rejected the measure. The Madhes-based parties will conduct a torch rally on Tuesday and organise a strike in the southern plains bordering India on Wednesday. The parties decided they would oppose the elections being held before a political deal to address their demands. The country is in election mode, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda told journalists on Monday evening. The entire country is moving towards the elections. To address the demands of Madhes-based parties, we have decided to move (ahead) with the constitution amendment proposal that is taking place in the House from Tuesday, he said. According to constitutional obligations, Nepal has to hold elections to local bodies and for the provincial and central assemblies by February 2018. The last local elections were held in May 1997. After the tenure of the local bodies ended in 1997, then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba failed to conduct fresh elections in 2002 because of the threat from Maoist rebels and his own political ambitions, which ultimately led to his dismissal by the King. Elections held in 2005 under the direct rule of King Gyanendra were widely boycotted by major political parties. Israels opposition leader said on Monday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was ready to freeze settlement construction in most of the West Bank and reach out to regional Arab nations but ultimately backed out for fear of losing his grip on power. Isaac Herzog, head of the opposition Zionist Union, said he was prepared to join Netanyahus government based on a secret regional peace initiative brokered by then-US secretary of state John Kerry that would have limited settlement growth to just the major blocs that Israel is expected to keep in any peace accord. But Herzog said the talks broke down when Netanyahu caved under pressure from his hard-line allies. Netanyahu fled away, turned his back as opposed to his commitments to third parties...and simply reneged on the basic understanding that we had, Herzog told participants at the annual Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations in Jerusalem. History will judge Netanyahu on that failure. Herzogs comments were the latest revelations about secret peace negotiations that have shaken up Israeli politics and raised new doubts over the genuineness of Netanyahus stated commitment to pursuing Middle East peace, expressed most recently in a White House press conference last week with President Donald Trump. Former American officials have confirmed a report on Sunday in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that Netanyahu turned down an offer that would have secured regional recognition of Israel as a Jewish state a key Netanyahu demand alongside a renewal of peace talks with the Palestinians with the support of the Arab countries. Netanyahu took part in a summit that Kerry organised in the southern Jordanian port city of Aqaba last February and included Jordans King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi. Netanyahu rejected the offer, which would have required a significant pullout from occupied land, saying he would not be able to garner enough support for it in his hard-line coalition government. Two former top aides to Kerry confirmed that the meeting took place secretly on February 21, 2016. Haaretz, which broke the story, said Netanyahu presented a five-point plan that would include advancement of Palestinian economic projects, a freeze on constructing in isolated settlements and a positive reference to the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative a Saudi-led plan that offered Israel peace with dozens of Arab and Muslim nations in return for a pullout from territories captured in the 1967 Mideast war to make way for an independent Palestine. Herzog said the summit formed the basis of his short-lived talks with Netanyahu to join the government, a plan that quickly unravelled when Netanyahu chose to bring in nationalist leader Avigdor Lieberman instead and appoint him defense minister. Herzog confirmed Netanyahu was willing to make the concessions but cowed in the face of warnings from his own cabinet ministers that he would lose his coalition and even the support of his own Likud Party. Herzog himself came under scathing criticism for his apparent grovelling before Netanyahu, but now says his motives have been vindicated. I told Netanyahu lets go together, the countrys two big historic parties, to a tiebreaking move and he blinked and ran away, Herzog told Israels Channel 10 TV on Sunday night, saying such a union would have changed the face of the Middle East. Herzog said Arab leaders in the region urged him directly to join the government. They saw that as an indication of Netanyahus seriousness for the move because in practice they didnt really believe it, he said. The report and subsequent fallout has sparked renewed opposition attacks on Netanyahu as a serial refuser, while his nationalist coalition partners have lauded their own role in thwarting what they see as a dangerous gambit. Netanyahu himself did not address the report in his weekly cabinet meeting Sunday and he departed shortly after for a weeklong trip to Singapore and Australia. Yemeni rebels have abducted a dozen local staff working for the Norwegian Refugee Council in the Red Sea district of Hodeida, a minister and local sources said on Monday. Local sources told AFP the employees, all Yemeni citizens, were taken in a Thursday raid over accusations they had accepted and distributed aid from a Saudi-led coalition, which has been battling the Huthi rebels since March 2015. The 12 employees were taken hostage from the aid groups offices in the Hali district of rebel-held Hodeida late last week, Local Affairs Minister Abdul Raqib Fattah said in a statement carried by the pro-government sabanew.net news website. Yemens conflict pits a Saudi-led Arab coalition supportive of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi against Iran-backed Huthis, who currently control the Red Sea port of Hodeida along with the capital Sanaa and large parts of northern Yemen. The news comes amid a push by forces loyal to Hadi, backed by the Arab coalition, to close in on Hodeida, located on Yemens western coast. Forces loyal to the government took full control of Mokha, south of Hodeida, earlier in February as part of a major offensive to oust the Huthis and their allies from Yemens southwestern coast. Yemens conflict escalated in March 2015 when the Saudi-led coalition began air strikes to help forces loyal to Hadi to take large parts of the country back from the rebels. More than 7,400 people have been killed and nearly 40,000 injured in two years of fighting in Yemen, according to the World Health Organisation. UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen James McGoldrick in January said more than 10,000 civilians had been killed since 2015. Preparations are under way to bring senior North Korean officials to the United States for talks with former US officials, the first such meeting in more than five years, The Washington Post reported on Sunday. The talks would be the clearest indication yet that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wants to communicate with the new Trump administration. Planning for the Track 1.5 talks is still in a preparatory stage, the Post reported, citing multiple people with knowledge of the arrangements. That name, reflecting planned contact between former US officials and current North Korean ones, is a reference to what are known as Track 2 talks involving former officials on both sides. The US State Department has not yet approved the North Koreans visas for the talks, the newspaper said. A State Department spokesperson commented to Reuters only that Track 2 meetings routinely take place on a variety of topics around the world and occur independent of the US government. A White House official commented that the US government had no plans to meet with North Korea. North Koreas testing of an intermediate-range ballistic missile drew international condemnation last week. President Donald Trump told a news conference after the test: Obviously North Korea is a big, big problem and we will deal with that very strongly. Pakistan will seek the help of the Rangers, a paramilitary border-security force, to crack down on militants in Punjab province, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs power base, after attacks that killed more than 100 people last week, a government spokesman said on Monday. On Sunday, days after a suicide bomber killed 13 people in the Punjabi city of Lahore, the provincial government said the Rangers would carry out indiscriminate action against all militants and their facilitators. For the Rangers to conduct a full-scale operation in Punjab would represent the civilian government once again granting special powers to the military to fight Islamist militants. Rangers-police joint operations will start in a week or two, the Punjab governments spokesman, Malik Muhammad Ahmad, told Reuters on Monday. It was unclear whether the new crackdown would target groups like the Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba, which are aligned against Pakistans archrival, India. Critics have accused Pakistan in past crackdowns of sparing militant groups that do not attack on Pakistani soil. The Pakistani state denies this. A government statement did not specify which groups would be targeted. The armys media wing did not respond to requests for comment. Rangers have been called in for special security operations in much of the country, but the issue is politically sensitive for Sharifs home province, where local officials have expressed reluctance. A crackdown by the Rangers in the port city of Karachi in 2013 drew accusations of rights abuses and the targeting of opposition politicians, though the rate of violence has dropped sharply since. The Rangers deny any wrongdoing. A member of the Punjab governments task force on law and order said the Rangers help would be sought in counter-terrorism operations but a full-scale paramilitary operation like the one in Karachi was out of the question. He declined to be named. The Punjab government has promised indiscriminate action against all militants in the past, including after an Easter Day bombing in Lahore that killed 70 people. Last month, after years of pressure, Pakistani police arrested Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed, accused by the US and India of masterminding the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people. Just days after last weeks Lahore bombing, an attack at a shrine in the southern Sindh province killed 88 people in the countrys deadliest attack in two years, shaking a nascent sense that the worst of Pakistans militant violence may be behind it. The attack was claimed by Middle East-based Islamic State, which has a small but increasingly prominent presence in Pakistan. The police in Pakistans Sindh province released a video allegedly showing the Sehwan attacker bypassing a security check at the Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine last week. The suicide attack targeting a Sufi shrine on February 16 killed at least 88 people and injured hundreds others. It is one among a deadly series of attacks carried out by militants in recent weeks. Inspector General Police Sindh AD Khawaja was quoted by the Dawn on Sunday as saying during a press conference that the man shown in the CCTV footage was 99 per cent the suicide bomber. He described the man as an Afghan national, saying that the attacker saw the police officer at the gate and decided to go the other way. The attacker is suspected of involvement in the Shikarpur and Jacobabad blasts, the IGP said, adding that the involvement of a man named Hafeez Brohi in the Sehwan attack could not be ruled out, as he had a terrorist network in Sindh. The IGP said that police have arrested one man in connection to the Sehwan carnage in Johi, a town in Sindhs Dadu district. The suspected facilitator has been shifted to an undisclosed location for further investigation, he added. The Sindh government will have the case investigated through Sindh polices Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), as was done in suicide bombings in Jacobabad during Ashura and at Shikarpurs shrine, and then again last year in Shikarpur on the second day of Eidul Azha. Sehwan police had lodged a case on February 17 against one suicide bomber and three facilitators involved in the suicide bombing. The accused remained unidentified. The shrine has now been opened for the general public. US Vice President Mike Pence paid a somber visit to the former Nazi concentration camp at Dachau, Germany on Sunday, against the backdrop of concerns about a surge of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States since Donald Trump was elected president. Pence, his wife Karen and daughter Charlotte toured the camp where more than 200,000 political prisoners, Jews and others were incarcerated by the Nazis between 1933 and 1945. More than 40,000 people died there. Under gray skies, the Pences placed a wreath at a memorial in the center of the camp and visited the barracks, a crematorium and a gas chamber. It was a miracle that we survived, former Dachau prisoner Abba Naor told the vice president and his family, describing a typical meal as a slice of bread. Read | With greetings from Trump, Pence says US committed to Europe Pence signed a guest book, ending his visit with an hour-long service at the Church of Reconciliation on the camp grounds. Moving and emotional tour of Dachau today, he tweeted on his official Twitter account. We can never forget atrocities against Jews and others in the Holocaust. Moving and emotional tour of Dachau today. We can never forget atrocities against Jews and others in the Holocaust. pic.twitter.com/69GWN2DKDF Vice President Pence (@VP) February 19, 2017 The vice president and other senior figures in the Trump administration are touring Europe to assure nervous allies of Washingtons unwavering support for NATO, as Pence put it Saturday in a speech to an international security conference in Munich. But the stop in Dachau also had a US dimension to as it comes amid concerns over a surge of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States. Nearly 60 bomb threats have been received by 48 Jewish community centers across the country, most of them in three days in January leading up to Trumps inauguration, CNN reported. A proliferation of post-election incidents involving swastikas painted on school walls and other anti-Semitic symbols have raised concerns that white supremacist groups have been emboldened by Trumps win. Read | Prez Trumps exchange with black journo April Ryan during presser sparks outrage Asked about the incidents twice this past week, Trump initially reacted by deflecting the questions and then by taking umbrage. He angrily ordered an ultra-orthodox Jewish reporter at a White House news conference Thursday to sit down, after he asked about the bomb threats to Jewish community centers, prefacing the question by saying no one in his community thought Trump himself was anti-Semitic. Number one, I am the least anti-Semitic person that youve ever seen in your entire life, Trump said. Number two, racism. The least racist person. I hate the charge, I find it repulsive, I hate even the question, he added, accusing the reporter of asking a very insulting question. Questions were previously raised when the White House marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27 with a statement that made no mention of Jews or anti-Semitism. Tehran, Iran, Feb. 20 By Mehdi Sepahvand Trend: US Vice President Mike Pence met with the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini to talk about a whole range of different issues, including Irans nuclear deal. During the meeting, Mogherini stressed the need to preserve and fully implement the Iran deal, the European External Action Service reported February 20. The EU was involved in striking the nuclear deal in 2015. The prospect of implementation of the deal, which started in January 2016, has been a matter of question after US President Donald Trump said the deal was the worst deal ever negotiated and threatened that he would tear it up. A South Korean court on Monday urged President Park Geun-hye to decide whether she will attend her final impeachment hearing and to stop stalling trial, indicating it would not accept attempts to delay it any further. Acting chief justice Lee Jung-mi of the Constitutional Court issued the call during the 15th hearing that was held in Parks absence, saying her lawyers should stop stalling and respond by Wednesday whether Park plans to attend the final session or not, Yonhap news agency reported. Depending on her decision, the court will determine whether to hold the final hearing on Friday as planned, or postpone it to March 2 or 3 as requested by the lawyers, Lee said. The tainted President faces charges of letting her friend Choi Soon-sil meddle in state affairs, as well as colluding with her to extort money from Samsung and other conglomerates. She is also accused of neglecting her duty during the 2014 ferry capsize that killed over 300 people. Park and her lawyers have long debated the issue of whether she should appear at her final impeachment hearing to plead innocent. It will be to the Presidents advantage to actively respond to questions, the acting chief justice said, adding that the court will not accept requests to schedule an additional hearing for the president after the final one has concluded. The President must attend (a hearing) on a date scheduled by the court, she said. A verdict is expected by March 13. If Park is ousted, South Korea will hold a presidential by-election within 60 days. If she is reinstated, an election will be held in December as scheduled. Thousands of people across the US are planning to protest on Presidents Day against President Donald Trump and his policies, according to media reports. The Presidents Day is a federal holiday observed on the third Monday of February in honour of George Washington, the first US President. According to a report in NBC News, people in large numbers spent their Presidents Day Weekend at Not My Presidents Day rallies and more such rallies are expected to take place in at least 25 cities across the US on Monday. On Facebook, more than 12,000 New Yorkers said they would attend Not My Presidents Day on Monday while 47,000 have showed their interest in the event. Another rally that is expected to take place on Monday in Chicago is claimed to be aimed at uniting the people. Focusing on just one issue, like immigration, would serve the administrations purpose and further divide the country, Laura Hartman, Chicago rally coordinator, was quoted as saying. We want to fight the entirety of the administration, she said. The rally is expected to witness a gathering of around 3,000 people and members from the American Federation of Government Employees, Sousaphones Against Hate, and others are scheduled to speak at the event. According to the report, Georgia organisers are planning a peach-ful march in Atlanta that hundreds of demonstrators have signed up for on Facebook. Nearly 1,000 protesters in Dallas took to streets on Saturday and chanted Immigrants are welcome here slogans. My parents are immigrants, they came here in the late 1980s, and I cant allow their memory of what theyve done and I cant let their sacrifices be impugned by people wanting to scapegoat brown people and black people for all the problems US has, one protester was quoted as saying. Were not the problem, were the solution, the protestor added. The organiser of the protests, Eric Ramsey, said he hoped that the rallies would let the establishment know that people do not agree with its policies. We do not agree with the hateful policies they are putting into place that further marginalise these communities, Ramsey was quoted as saying. Protesters also demanded an immediate stop to the ICE raids and deportations, and pressed for Los Angeles to be established as a sanctuary city. Dressed in black, hundreds of protesters in New York Citys Washington Square attended a mock funeral for Presidents Day and listened as a eulogy was delivered for the US presidency. The department of homeland security has prepared new guidance for immigration agents aimed at speeding up deportations by denying asylum claims earlier in the process. The new guidelines, contained in a draft memo dated February 17 but not yet sent to field offices, directs agents to only pass applicants who have a good chance of ultimately getting asylum, but does not give specific criteria for establishing credible fear of persecution if sent home. The guidance instructs asylum officers to elicit all relevant information in determining whether an applicant has credible fear of persecution if returned home, the first obstacle faced by migrants on the US-Mexico border requesting asylum. Three sources familiar with the drafting of the guidance said the goal of the new instructions is to raise the bar on initial screening in order to ease strain on the courts and reduce the number of immigrants allowed to stay in the United States, often for years, while they await a hearing. The administrations plan is to leave wide discretion to asylum officers by allowing them to determine which applications have a significant possibility of being approved by an immigration court, the sources said. The guidance was first reported and posted on the internet by McClatchy news organization. In 2015, just 18 percent of asylum applicants whose cases were ruled on by immigration judges were granted asylum, according to the Justice Department. Applicants from countries with a high rate of political persecution have a higher chance of winning their asylum cases. A tougher approach to asylum seekers would be an element of President Donald Trumps promise to crack down on immigration and tighten border security, a cornerstone of his election campaign and a top priority of his first month in office. The guidelines are contained in two draft memos signed by Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and currently under review by the White House, according to two people familiar with them. The memos also outlined plans for greatly expanding the categories of people that immigration agents target for deportation, and gives them wide discretion in deciding who to deport. Previously, recent arrivals and convicted criminals were the prime targets. The new plan would include migrants who have been charged but not convicted of crimes, and would also apply to illegal immigrants who have been in the country for many years. The memos also call for quickly hiring 10,000 more immigration and customs enforcement agents as well as 5,000 more border patrol agents. The DHS declined to comment for this story, referring questions to the White House, which did not respond to a request for comment. WHAT IS CREDIBLE FEAR? Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, an applicant must generally demonstrate a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. Immigration lawyers say any applicants who appear to meet that criteria in their initial interviews should be allowed to make their cases in court. They oppose encouraging asylum officers to take a stricter stance on questioning claims and rejecting applications. Interviews to assess credible fear are conducted almost immediately after an asylum request is made, often at the border or in detention facilities by immigration agents or asylum officers, and most applicants easily clear that hurdle. Between July and September of 2016, US asylum officers accepted nearly 88 percent of the claims of credible fear, according to US citizenship and immigration services data. Asylum seekers who fail the credible fear test can be quickly deported unless they file an appeal. At present, those who pass the test are eventually released and allowed to remain in the United States awaiting hearings, which are often scheduled years into the future because of a backlog of more than 500,000 cases in immigration courts. Between October 2015 and April, 2016, nearly 50,000 migrants claimed credible fear, 78% of whom were from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala or Mexico, according to statistics from USCIS. The number of migrants from those three countries who passed credible fear and went to court to make their case for asylum rose sharply between 2011 and 2015, from 13,970 claims to 34,125, according to data from the justice department. Former border patrol chief Mike Fisher credits that trend to advice from immigration lawyers who know asylum officers are going to err on the side of caution and refer most cases to a judge. The new guidance on asylum seekers is for border personnel implementing Trumps January 25 executive order on tightening US border security. Among other measures, the presidents directive calls for expediting eligibility claims of those attempting to stay in the United States and promptly deporting those whose claims are rejected. COMPLICATED LOGISTICS Some immigration officers familiar with the draft guidance say they are concerned that a rapid increase in deportations of asylum seekers could strain overcrowded detention facilities and create transportation problems. Deportations take time and coordination, even when immigrants are quickly targeted for expulsion. US officials must get approval from a deportees home country before repatriation can take place, and transportation can be complicated and expensive. Immigrants from non-contiguous countries are flown home by plane, while Mexicans are often bused across the border. Protesters march down the steps of the federal courthouse in Seattle where a hearing was held for a Seattle-area man who was arrested by immigration agents despite his participation in a federal program to protect those brought to the US illegally as children. (AP Photo) Homeland Security personnel who worked on the guidance say they hope to expand detention space by at least 8,000 beds. The money to pay for that would require congressional sign-off. The extra beds, they say, would further the presidents goal, expressed in his executive order on border security, of ending the practice known as catch and release in which migrants, including asylum seekers, are freed pending a court hearing. The new guidance calls for expanding detention, but acknowledges that ending the practice may not be immediately possible. A congressional aide familiar with the administrations plans said DHS is considering expanding its contracts with private prison companies like GEO Group and CoreCivic, which currently hold most immigrant detainees. Immigrants rights advocates say they fear that raising the bar on the credible fear test could screen out migrants with a rightful claim to asylum, because asylum officers may dismiss cases that could make it through court if the asylum seeker were given legal counsel, said Marielena Hincapie, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center. Asylum applicants have the right to appeal denials of credible fear claims and may request to see a judge to assert their claim to be in the United States for other reasons, such as family ties. For that reason, raising the bar on credible fear might not deter asylum seekers as much as the Trump administration hopes, said former border patrol head Fisher. A draft of President Donald Trumps revised immigration ban targets the same seven countries listed in his original executive order and exempts travelers who already have a visa to travel to the US, even if they havent used it yet. A senior administration official said the order, which Trump revised after federal courts held up his original immigration and refugee ban, will target only those same seven Muslim-majority countries -- Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Libya. The official said that green-card holders and dual citizens of the US and any of those countries are exempt. The new draft also no longer directs authorities to single out -- and reject -- Syrian refugees when processing new visa applications. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the order before its made public. The official noted that the draft is subject to change ahead of its signing, which Trump said could come sometime this week. Asked about the revised order, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the document circulating was a draft and that a final version should be released soon. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Wall Street Journal also reported that the current draft of the revised order focused on the seven countries but excluded those with green cards. Trumps original executive order triggered chaos at airports around the world, as travelers were detained when the order rapidly went into effect, US permanent residents known as green-card holders among them. Attorneys provided legal assistance to those held and protesters descended on the airports as news of the orders implementation spread. In its original form, the order temporarily suspended all travel to the US for citizens of those seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days. The original order also called for Homeland Security and State department officials, along with the director of national intelligence, to review what information the government needs to fully vet would-be visitors and come up with a list of countries that cant or wont make the information available. It said the government will give countries 60 days to start providing the information or citizens from those countries will be barred from traveling to the United States. At least 22 migrants fled the United States for Canada over the weekend, sneaking across the border in Manitoba province to request asylum, authorities said on Monday. Twenty-two people, mostly from Africa, crossed the border on foot overnight on Saturday into Sunday, said Greg Janzen, a local official in the city of Emerson. Eight others had arrived on Friday. Emerson, 120km south of Winnipeg and close to the US states of North Dakota and Minnesota, has seen the porous border -- in many areas with no official crossings -- drawing greater numbers of asylum seekers since US President Donald Trumps travel ban. Read: Trump launches re-election bid as US readies new travel ban The Republican took office in January and promptly signed an order to temporarily ban US entry for nationals of seven Muslim-majority countries, and for all refugees. Under a bilateral agreement, asylum-seekers from the United States are usually turned back at Canadas border crossings. But this does not apply to those crossing the border illegally in other places. Migrants who crossed into Canada in early February faced harsh, frigid conditions: Two had their hands frozen and needed to have several fingers amputated. But temperatures were much milder this past weekend. Migrant arrivals, mostly people who are undocumented in the United States, are rising sharply in Manitoba. Ninety-nine people crossed the border since the beginning of the year to seek asylum, local authorities say. Read: Trumps travel ban: US prez says hell issue new immigration order next week The trend has officials in Emerson fretting. They have asked federal and provincial authorities to increase resources to address the situation. Illegal crossings are dangerous and a burden on our local communities, and our laws must be enforced, Tony Clement, a Conservative spokesman for public safety issues, said on Twitter. US President Donald Trump was trolled on Twitter for his remarks on Saturday that something terrible had happened in Sweden last night (Friday). While he was talking about terror attacks across Europe, Trump told his supporters at a Florida rally: We have got to keep our country safe. You look at whats happening in Germany. You look at whats happening last night in Sweden. Sweden, who would believe this? Sweden. They took in large numbers. Theyre having problems like they never thought possible. You look at whats happening in Brussels. You look at whats happening all over the world. Take a look at Nice. Take a look at Paris. This appeared to confuse the Swedish government, which asked the US state department to explain what the new president meant. We are trying to get clarity, Swedish foreign ministry spokeswoman Catarina Axelsson said. It also baffled the Sweden residents and others on Twitter as nothing unusual had happened in the country. So much so that even former Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt took to social media to express his amusement. Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking? Questions abound. https://t.co/XWgw8Fz7tj Carl Bildt (@carlbildt) February 19, 2017 Soon after Trumps statement, Twitter was flooded with hashtags ridiculing Trump for his remarks. Hasgtags like LastNightInSweden and PrayForSweden emerged on Twitter that made jokes about what Trump might had been referring to. #swedenincident Main suspect in Bowling green massacre captured by Swedish police #lastnightinsweden , thanks to tip from @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/O9XAPElcdk Madra David (@madradavid) February 19, 2017 We look forward to informing the US administration about Swedish immigration and integration policies. https://t.co/x5G3euOWRh Embassy of Sweden US (@SwedeninUSA) February 19, 2017 Trump in a tweet on Sunday clarified his remarks. My statement as to what's happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 19, 2017 The tweet confirmed suspicions that the Presidents remarks stemmed from Tucker Carlsons show on FoxNews on Friday night in which the host interviewed Ami Horowitz, a filmmaker who tried to tie Swedens taking in of asylum seekers to increased violent crimes in the country. Fox News is a US cable news channel that has sometimes been cited favourably by Trump. Trump watched Fox report on immigration to Sweden & recalled it later as major terror attack there. Paranoid cognitive dissonance. (@4free_Ukraine) February 19, 2017 After the terrible events #lastnightinSweden , IKEA have sold out of this: pic.twitter.com/Bs1XI7ffKG Jeanna Skinner (@JeannaLStars) February 19, 2017 LAST Night In Sweden??????????????????@realdonaldtrump Like last week on Bowling Green??? You are a disgrace. pic.twitter.com/9ucn9YYBUV Gerilynn (@gerryljaworski) February 19, 2017 White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders earlier on Sunday said the President was talking about rising crime and recent incidents in general and not referring to a specific incident. She reiterated that Trump did not mean to say last night but was referring to the rise in crime in Sweden. Russias ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, died suddenly after falling ill Monday in his office at the mission, Russian officials said. Churkin, 64, was rushed to a hospital in New York, where he died, Russias deputy U.N. ambassador, Vladimir Safronkov, told The Associated Press. His cause of death wasnt immediately known. Churkin had been Russias envoy at the United Nations since 2006 and was considered Moscows great champion at the U.N. He had a reputation for an acute wit and sharp repartee, especially with his American and Western counterparts. He was currently the longest-serving member of the Security Council, the U.N.s most powerful body. Among many other issues, he had recently made Russias views heard on the conflict in close ally Syria, sparring with diplomats from the U.S. and other Western countries over whether to impose sanctions or take action to end the conflict in Syria. President Vladimir Putin had been notified of the death, according to the state news agency TASS. The president was grieved to learn about the death of Vitaly Churkin. The head of state highly estimated Churkins professionalism and diplomatic talents, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the agency. Russias foreign ministry called Churkin an outstanding diplomat and expressed condolences to his friends and family. Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a Facebook post that Churkin was an extraordinary person. A bright man. We have lost a dear one. His death, the day before his 65th birthday, stunned officials at the U.N.s headquarters. Our thoughts go to his family, to his friends and to his government, said U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq, who heard the news from reporters as it circulated during a daily briefing. Diplomatic colleagues mourned Churkin as a powerful and passionate voice for his nation, with both a deep knowledge of diplomacy and a large and colorful personality. Calling Churkin a diplomatic maestro and deeply caring man, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power said on Twitter that Churkin had done all he could to bridge differences between the U.S. and Russia. French U.N. Ambassador Francois Delattre, too, said he and Churkin had always worked together in a spirit of mutual respect and personal friendship, despite their divides. One of Delattres predecessors, Gerard Araud, now French ambassador to the U.S., recalled Churkin as abrasive, funny and technically impeccable. Britains U.N. ambassador, Matthew Rycroft, tweeted that he was absolutely devastated to hear of the death of Churkin, a diplomatic giant and wonderful character. Churkin was previously ambassador at large and earlier served as the foreign ministry spokesman. Churkin had a doctorate in history and was a graduate of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. And he was a child actor in what was then the Soviet Union. Maj. Gen. Robert Milroy was convinced his Winchester forts were impregnable. He was wrong. WHEN UNION MAJ. GEN. ROBERT H. MILROY marched his division of approximately 7,000 men into Winchester, Va., on New Years Day 1863, he saw the unseasonably warm weather as an omen he had been ordained to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation and clear way the storm and tempests of war occasioned by that mighty curse, slavery. In addition to enforcing emancipation, however, Milroy had another mission in the strategically situated, oft-contested community of Winchester: protecting the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Milroy initially believed the best way to perform his duties as part of Maj. Gen Robert Schencks Middle Department was to move south, up the Shenandoah Valley, and secure as much territory as possible. But Milroys immediate superior, Brig. Gen. Benjamin F. Kelley, disagreed. Convinced any significant movement south might provoke a Confederate assault, Kelley requested that Milroy make no aggressive movement, but fortify as best you can and hold Winchester. Although Milroy was aggressive, as evidenced by his conduct during fighting at McDowell and Second Bull Run, he concurred with Kelleys view. The Gray Eagle the affectionate nickname Milroys men had given him believed strengthening Winchesters defenses would send a clear signal to Confederate sympathizers, as well as to area Unionists and African Americans who benefited from his occupation, that the United States Government had firmly re-established its power in the region. Milroy and his officers realized the city could not be easily guarded. An Ohio officer in his command wrote: Winchesterpresents no front to the enemy but can be approached from any or every directionI would rather be on the outside. Regardless of the difficulties, Milroy knew Winchester must be protected. Nearly two weeks after the generals arrival Captain Albert S. White, commanding the Independent Company of Engineers, arrived in Winchester at Kelleys behest to assist him. On January 17, White inspected the towns defenses and commented that the works already erected for the defense of said townare of great strength, and command the town and approaches. Despite Whites overall positive assessment, however, he recommended that some of the defenses be repaired, strengthened and expanded. White recommended that Milroy focus his construction efforts on three fortificationsFort Garibaldi, the West Fort and the Star Fort. Fort Garibaldi, renamed Fort Milroy (and sometimes also referred to as the Flag Fort or the Main Fort), had been constructed earlier in the war by troops under Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks and only needed repairs. The West Fort, northernmost of the fortifications, would be new, as would the Star Fortwhich would be built on the site of a series of gun emplacements earlier constructed by Confederate troops and dubbed Fort Alabama. As Milroy and his engineers were considering improving Winchesters defenses, he decided the commanding ground occupied by Fort Alabama offered a prime setting to create a star forta fortification style the general believed, thanks to his education at Captain Partridges Military Academy in Norwich, Vt., was the most useful and safest kind. One of Milroys veterans observed that the ground upon which the new fort would stand overlooked the lower hills and ridgesfrom Star Fort there was a wide and beautiful prospect over the town; over the fields and woodlands to the north. By the third week of January, Milroys troops had begun working on the fortifications. He established a seven-day rotation, where his men spent three days on guard duty, three days performing camp chores and one day each week laboring on the defenses. This meant each day approximately 1,000 men were at work on the fortifications. Despite Milroys attempts to lighten their load, the soldiers found the construction grueling and physically exhausting. A veteran from the 18th Connecticut explained that it was severe dutyworking on the fort and rifle pits, with axe, pick, and shovel[at] the Star Fort. Many of the boys had never used or handled that kind of tool. It was hard work. Building the Star Fort proved to be a doubly rewarding project for Milroy. In addition to strengthening Winchesters defenses, the new fortification would be constructed using limestone from Selma, the home of Senator James Mason, author of the controversial 1850 Fugitive Slave Law. On January 20, 1863, Milroyan ardent abolitionistordered the house, which had already been significantly damaged during Banks occupation, pulled down and the stone from it used in constructing the new structures, including the gun platforms in the Star Fort. Today the walls of Mr. Masons house were pulled down, wrote Winchester resident Cornelia McDonald, adding, They have taken the stones of Mr. Masons houseto build the fortifications. Preliminary archaeological investigations at the Star Forttoday the best preserved and the only publicly accessible defenses built under Milroys commandhave revealed significant quantities of cut limestone that presumably came from Masons home. To many of Winchesters residents, fortifications such as the Star Fort symbolized Milroys oppressive regime, but to Unionists and African Americans living in the area they offered security and the hope of permanent Union control. For Milroy and some of his men the forts also inspired a sense of invincibility. The position[was] very well chosen and formidable, recalled one Ohio veteran. In Milroys own estimation, the improved defenses offered him the opportunity to defeat a Confederate force at least three or four times his divisions strength. Milroy might have possessed limitless confidence in Winchesters defenses, but Union General in Chief Henry Halleck did not. Beginning early in the spring of 1863, Halleck feared for Milroys safety, and he urged both Milroy and Schenck to evacuate the town, warning them, that is no place to fight a battle. Hallecks anxiety increased as General Robert E. Lees Army of Northern Virginia marched north after its smashing success at Chancellorsville. Reports from Milroys scouts also stirred consternation, since intelligence sources indicated the lead elements of Maj. Gen. Richard Ewells Second Corps were preparing to strike Milroy on June 10. Milroy was certainly not prepared to give up Winchester without a fight. General Schenck supported Milroys decision to remain, but told him to make preparations for a withdrawal and remain alert. In the days leading up to June 10, Milroy ordered all the trees around the forts cleared, to improve visibility. Commenting on Milroys preparations in early June, Winchester resident Mary Greenhow Lee noted, The Yankees are in a panic; the horses are kept to the gunsready to go at any moment; Milroy is in a rage. June 10 came and went without incident, perhaps lulling Milroy into a false sense of security. But on June 12 the van of Ewells Corps appeared about 10 miles south of Winchester in Middletown. The following day Ewells command pressed Milroys brigades from Kernstown to Winchesters southern outskirts. After nightfall on the 13thduring a terrible storm that interfered with telegraph communications with Baltimore and Washington, D.C.Milroy ordered his command to take refuge inside the three fortifications they had built. Throughout the day on June 14, the Union forces waited for Ewell to attack. After a flanking maneuver of approximately 10 miles, Confederates from Maj. Gen. Jubal Earlys Division prepared to strike the smallest of Milroys three fortifications, the West Fort. Following a 45-minute artillery barrage from the 20 cannons of Lt. Col. Hilary P. Jones Battalion that started around 5 p.m., Brig. Gen. Harry T. Hays Louisiana Brigade spearheaded an assault that captured the West Fort. After Hays success, Jones gunners opened fire, initially focusing mostly on Fort Milroywhich contained the bulk of Milroys division and served as the generals headquarters throughout that day. This puzzled the Union artillerists from Captain Frederick W. Alexanders Baltimore Light Artillery who were defending the Star Fort. One gunner noted: In the early part of the fight the enemy seemed to ignore the Star Fort occupied by our battery, andconcentrated their fire on other parts of the field. But once the artillerymen fired a shot that struck one of Jones guns, the Confederate batteries turned their attention to the Star Fort. The incessant artillery barrage against Alexanders men, which included an allotment of railroad iron, prompted them to fire rapidly, even while Rebel shells burst over the gunners heads and crashed, as one artillerist recorded, against the opposite side of the parapet or burrowed in the earthworks at our front. Artillerist Frederick Wild recalled: Our little Lieutenant Peter Learywhom the boys did not think much oftook a hand in loading and firing a cannon in his shirt sleeves; cheering and hurrahing at every successful shot; and there were many. The cannoneers accuracywhich compelled the Confederate gunners in West Fort to pull back from their position three times during the artillery duelinspired Milroys men. A Union veteran from Colonel Andrew McReynolds brigade recalled: The guns in the Star Fort greeted them with shell after shell planted among them with astonishing precision, and each one as it burst in the ranks of the enemy was followed by exulting cheers from the Union troops. While most of Alexanders fire struck the Confederates in the West Fort, some of their shots landed short of the para pet walls and hit property adjacent to that fortificationincluding houses. Among those damaged was a home built of limestone belonging to Dr. William Fahnestock and his wife Mary, who were caring for wounded soldiers from both sides. Chain shot from the cannons in the Star Fort tore through the roof of the stately dwelling. The Union artillerists had to cope with incessant fire from Jones guns, which took a terrible toll on the batterys horses. Wild noticed that a piece of Confederate shrapnel tore out a piece of a beautiful black wheel horse[s] throat. Knowing that nothing could be done to save the animal, Wild led the horse out of the fort, along with several other wounded horses, where the leaden hail soon finished them. As darkness descended, the Confederate artillery fire slackened. During that lull the 6th Maryland Infantrywhich had spent much of the day in the rifle pits around the Star Fort with the 67th Pennsylvaniaentered the fortification to provide additional support to the Union guns. No sooner had the 6th gotten into position than the Federals spied what they believed were preparations for a Rebel infantry assault (Confederate accounts dont mention such a planned attack that night). In response, the Yankee cannon belched forth grape and canister while the infantry blazed away in what one of the Federal veterans regarded as a splendid display of pyrotechnics, that was, awfully! Terribly, grand! After the defenders eliminated any threat of a potential assault, real or imagined, both sides ceased fire for the night. By that time Milroy had realized the fruitlessness of defending Winchester. During a late-night council of war the Gray Eagle told his division to evacuate, ordering the guns to be spiked and all efforts made, in the words of Captain Alexander, to retire and maintain the most perfect silence and secrecy. Shortly after 1 a.m. the remainder of Milroys division quietly set out for Martinsburg. Several miles north of the fortifications, however, Maj. Gen. Edward Old Alleghany Johnsons division surprised Milroys veterans, cementing Ewells success in the Second Battle of Winchester. Winchesters Confederate civilians reveled in Ewells victory, delighted to see Federal prisonersalong with some Unionist civiliansheld captive in the same fortifications that had once enabled members of Milroys division to feel as if they were in a safe place. Mary Greenhow Lee confided in her diary, it is glorious for us now. Mary Lees euphoria would be brief. The Confederate Army suffered a crushing blow at Gettysburg the following month. Less than three weeks after writing she was almost painfully happy with Ewells success at Winchester, she faced the grim reality that General Lees defeat in Pennsylvania ensured Winchesters Confederates would likely be again left to the fury of the Yankees. Jonathan A. Noyalas is director of the Center for Civil War History at Lord Fairfax Community College. He also recently served as the Hugh and Virginia McCormick Visiting Chair in Civil War History at Shenandoah University. Originally published in the December 2014 issue of Civil War Times. To subscribe, click here. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Monday that through their resistance, the Iranian people have shown they will not tolerate threat, IRNA reported. Zarif, who is currently on a visit to Germany to attend 2017 Munich Security Conference, made the remarks during a meeting with a number of Iranian academicians living in Germany. Referring to the plan pursued by the new US government to impose a visa ban on Iranian nationals, the foreign minister said that the US behavior is a sign of hostility with the Iranian people despite their false claims (of friendship). G rab a seat on the Art Bus and tour East End galleries Beer, and a private bus to take you to the galleries what could be better? It's a bit of an insider secret that on the first Thursday of every month, a bus tour runs from 7pm to 9pm to selected galleries in east London, starting and ending at Whitechapel Gallery. The Whitechapel has instituted this incredibly easy way to see a slew of galleries after work. More than 150 are involved, running free events, exhibitions and private views during this late-night opening. There's a First Thursday online map to guide you a new one's uploaded every month. We recommend you end the evening at Whitechapel Gallery's new late bar, After Hours, open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 6pm-11pm for wine, craft beers, charcuterie and cheese. Tickets for First Thursdays Art Bus Tours are 9.50/7.50 concs. Online booking essential Visit www.whitechapelgallery.org/first-thursdays/ After Hours at The Whitechapel Refectory: www.whitechapelgallery.org/after-hours/ Make yourself at home in a corridor Do Ho Suh is one of those artists whose work we can safely say is all about connecting across cultures, and the connection between the individual and the group. In a word, it's about home. Having a home, returning home and, in Suh's latest series of works, recreating a home. Dream-like: see Do Ho Suhs latest installation at Victoria Miro Having left South Korea, firstly for New York, and now resident in London, he traditionally uses his art to memorialise the places he has lived in. At his latest exhibition at Victoria Miro Gallery, above, Suh has constructed the rooms and staircases of his previous homes out of brightly coloured mesh fabrics. A cross between sculpture and a dream-like experience, it makes you think about what home can and should mean. "I see life as a passageway, with no fixed beginning or destination. We tend to focus on the destination all the time and forget about the in-between spaces" Do Ho Suh These modules of space were designed to be packed and moved, much like clothing, as he travelled between continents. It's Suh's biggest show in London since his Serpentine retrospective in 2002, and has huge relevance in this time of questioning identity and changing borders. Victoria Miro Gallery, Wharf Road, N1: www.victoria-miro.com/exhibitions/ Any colour, as long as it's white The focus is on white at Ordovas gallery, 25 Savile Row, where the Monochrome exhibition features sculpture in various tones of the shade by artists including Barbara Hepworth, Isamu Noguchi and Richard Serra. It's the first time Alberto Giacometti's Femme has been on public display since it's creation almost 80 years ago. Coming up later this year are Monochrome at the National Gallery and Giacometti at Tate Modern. From 1966: Barbara Hepworths Maquette for large sculpture: Three Forms (Two circles) The Plasticine Kiss is truly a hands-on experience Visit Mayfair contemporary gallery Sadie Coles HQ for Urs Fischer's recreation of Rodin's The Kiss. Made of white Plasticine and slightly larger than the original, the artist wants the visitor to re-mould his work at will. Swiss-born Fischer has moved on from his candle sculptures which, once lit, also disintegrated during the course of exhibition. The Kiss will change before your eyes, and the child in us all will enjoy working with this rather welcoming piece of art. Sadie Coles HQ, Davies Street, W1: www.sadiecoles.com Turning Japanese: Brangwyn's collection includes exquisite Japanese prints Sheer Pleasure at William Morris We love the title Sheer Pleasure and it's fitting for the works that were owned by Sir Frank Brangwyn (1867-1956). The first artist honoured with a one-man Royal Academy show, he's perhaps better known now as the William Morris Gallery founder. To celebrate the 150th anniversary of Brangwyn's birth, the museum in Walthamstow is showing his personal and utterly charming collection of Japanese paintings, prints, furniture and ceramics for the very first time. Brangwyn met the Japanese artist Yoshijiro Urushibara in London, which resulted in a series of prints, combining the Western bravado of Brangwyn's designs with the subtle techniques of Japanese printmaking. On the last Saturday of each month of the exhibition, from 1pm to 4pm, there's a drop-in family day at the gallery where, this month, children aged two and over can learn traditional Japanese calligraphy and origami. There's free entry to the Family Day on February 25. It looks like you've reached a page that doesnt exist (anymore). Please use the navigation or search above to find content on Hospitality Net. Go back to home Bringing 17 years of experience in the hospitality industry, the Egyptian national began his career as a front office shift leader at Rotana Hotels. Ramez moved across various positions in different hotels of the UAE. Prior to joining Ayla Bawadi Hotel he held the position of rooms division manager at the Novotel & Adagio Abu Dhabi complex. He started his career as front office shift leader at Rotana Hotels, and after three years joined Conrad Hotels in Egypt as front office supervisor. In 2004, he joined Dubai World Trade Centre Hospitality Division as duty manager in charge of guest service operations. He moved to Novotel & Ibis World Trade Centre where he stayed for four years before joining Novotel and Adagio Abu Dhabi Al Bustan's pre-opening. He is a graduate of Bachelor of Commerce and Business Administration from Egypt and is currently studying to obtain his masters certificate in Hospitality Management from Cornell University in the USA. When CNN interviewed Gene Huber, a supporter Donald Trump invited onstage at his latest rally in Florida, nobody expected he would turn out to be an absolute Trump stan. The rabid fan confessed he saluted a cardboard cut-out of the U.S. President on a daily basis. What turned out to be a strange CNN interview raised guffaws when Twitter user @BeardedGenius hijacked Gene Hubers revelation. He added instrumentals from Eminems Stan, featuring Didos vocals. While hilarious, the remix highlights something dark about Hubers daily lifestyle. Trump held a rally in an airplane hangar in Melbourne, Florida. Police say 9,000 people showed up to cheer on the president. In the clip below, watch as Huber takes questions from a CNN anchor and proceeds to spit about his devotion to Trump all backed by production from Eminems classic. Donald Trump & Eminem Lebron James just made a moment. The Cavaliers superstar paid huge respects to the city of New Orleans this All-Star weekend, reuniting the citys prodigal hip-hop boy band The Hot Boyz. Lil Wayne, Juvenile, Turk, and Mannie Fresh were in attendance turnt all the way up, and they had the place on fire. BG, who is incarcerated, was obviously not in attendance, and neither was Birdman, who is on not great terms with the squad at the moment. Lil Wayne looked euphoric in a way we havent seen in a while. Check out videos of the reunion below. We are seriously sad we werent there, and we hope you are too. Lil Wayne Turkey proposed that the U.S. should send its own Special Forces to northern Syria to back moderate opposition forces fighting against Daesh, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Sunday, Anadolu reported. In his address to the Munich Security Conference, Cavusoglu called on the U.S. and other allies to end their support for the terrorist PKK's Syrian offshoot, PYD, and instead support the moderate opposition forces in a stronger way. "Two days ago [U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff] Gen. [Joseph] Dunford was in Ankara to discuss all these technical issues. Yes, we proposed to the U.S. to put their Special Forces on the ground to support the local moderate forces, he said. Cavusoglu underlined that the right group to support in the fight against Daesh should be the Syrian moderate opposition forces instead of the PYD/YPG, which are affiliated with the terrorist group PKK seeking an independent state. Cooperating with a terrorist organization in our fight against another terrorist organization is very dangerous," he said. That is the mistake the previous administration in the U.S. made. They gave weapons to YPG and PKK got some of the weapons. And PKK used those weapons in their terrorist attacks in Turkey, he said. Cavusoglu highlighted the success of the Syrian moderate opposition forces in the Turkey-led Operation Euphrates Shield in which Free Syrian Army fighters liberated significant areas along the Turkish border from Daesh, including large parts of Al-Bab in Syrias Aleppo province. We are about to take back Al-Bab. After Al-Bab, we can take back Raqqah together, he said, referring to the stronghold of the terrorist group Daesh in northern Syria. The Turkey-led Operation Euphrates Shield began in late August 2016 to improve security, support coalition forces, and eliminate the terror threat along the Turkish border using Free Syrian Army fighters backed by Turkish artillery and jets. Cavusoglu called on partners from the anti-Daesh international coalition to send their special forces for the planned ground offensive to retake Raqqah. Why are we relying on a terrorist organization in our fight? he asked, referring to the U.S. militarys support for the PKK/PYD terror under ex-President Barack Obamas administration, which saw the group as its ground ally against Daesh in Syria. We are 65 countries in the coalition against Daesh, and only Turkey has 600,000 troops. Are 65 countries not strong enough, or vigilant enough to defeat one terrorist organization Daesh, and we rely on another terrorist organization? he asked. Cavusoglu underlined that PKK/PYDs main interest was not to defeat Daesh, but to gain more territory and to create its own cantons or an independent state. We cannot tolerate any terrorist canton or state in the northern part of Syria, he said, reaffirming Ankara's long-standing position. He recalled reports of ethnic cleansing carried out by PKK/PYD forces in areas captured by the group, and said the PKK affiliated group was not interested at all in peace or securing the unity of Syria. The Turkish foreign minister also warned against possible sectarian and ethnic tensions, in the case of PKK/PYD forces, or Shia militias joining the Raqqah operation. On Friday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey's target after liberating Al-Bab, Syria, from Daesh is the town of Manbij, and clearing the terrorist PKK's Syrian offshoot, PYD, from the region. An upcoming target is Raqqah, a Syrian city on the northeast bank of the Euphrates River. Erdogan added, As you know, Raqqah is the most important center for Daesh, so I have told Mr. Donald Trump that we, as coalition forces, are together for the goal of clearing the region of Daesh." Sonya Kelly's award-winning play 'How to Keep an Alien' has already received the stamp of approval from audiences in Ireland, Australia, London, Edinburgh, New York and Parisand now its heading to New Zealand. But Irish theatre fans will have one last chance to see the play before it goes on tour Down Under when it's staged in Drogheda on 9 March. 'How to Keep an Alien' was created as part of Rough Magics 'ADVANCE' mentorship program in 2013, and won Best Production at the Tiger Dublin Fringe Festival in 2014. After a special one-off Irish performance on 9 March a the Droichead Arts Centre in Drogheda, Sonya will head to New Zealand for performances of her award-winning show at three Festivals; Auckland Arts Festival, Festival of Colour and UPSURGE Bay of Islands Festival, with the generous support of Culture Ireland. 'How to Keep an Alien' has played in 30 venues all over Ireland, and toured to Australia, London, Edinburgh, New York and Paris. It's a tearfully funny and tender memoir by writer and actor Sonya Kelly about securing an Irish visa for her Australian partner. The story follows Irish Sonya and Australian Kate as they try to persuade the Department of Immigration that they have the right to live together in Ireland. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Darla Jackson of Coppell, north of Dallas, wanted to change to her retail electricity company, but couldn't face the prospect of using the state's comparison shopping site, Powertochoose.org. Like many Texans, she felt overwhelmed by the number of companies, variety of plans and mind-numbing terms and conditions which, even after hours of study, left her confused, overwhelmed and uncertain of the best deal. Then, through Facebook connections, Jackson, 50, came across a website, Awesomepowertexas.com. After providing her monthly electricity consumption, the site's algorithm surveyed retail plans and data collected by the state, sifted through fine print and considered factors such as customer reviews and Better Business Bureau ratings. Ten minutes later, the site gave her a list of recommendations and she picked the one with the lowest cost. "It's the easiest process that I've ever used," said Jackson. Awesomepowertexas.com, launched in December by high school friends Zack Korman and Mike Hays, both 24, aims to unfog the murky process that is shopping for electricity in Texas' deregulated power markets. The site's guiding principle: find the best deals based on individual customers' actual energy use rather than the average prices based on theoretical consumption found on the state's website. One of the problems with Powertochoose.org, which compares average costs at average consumptions of 500, 1,000 and 2,000 kilowatts a month, is the estimates don't consider seasonal variations in electricity consumption and miss the nuances of the various plans. For example in some plans, exceeding 1,000 kilowatts by a single kilowatt might completely change the rates that consumers pay. "We live in Texas, you couldn't possibly use the same amount of electricity every month," said Korman. "It's fundamentally flawed." The state Public Utility Commission defended the Power to Choose website, saying it allows customers to shop for all available plans, which are ranked only by cost. Some for-profit sites filter and rank plans based on the commission retail electric companies pay, state officials said, and don't disclose it. Terry Hadley, a spokesman for the Public Utilities Commission, said the agency would not endorse a site like Awesomepowertexas.com. "We don't know precisely what customer data he uses, so we cannot verify, nor approve, nor recommend his service," said Hadley. The Texas Coalition for Affordable Power, a consumer advocacy group, supports Powertochoose.org because it is backed by the Public Utility Commission of Texas, which can respond to customers complaints and fine companies that violate state regulations, said Jake Dyer, a spokesman. Since Texas adopted a deregulated power market in 2002, critics have complained that it is very difficult for customers to make informed choices about their electricity plans, given the large number of retail electricity companies and the hundreds of plans they offer. Even though the Public Utilities Commission has improved the site - listing the lowest cost plans first, for example - it remains difficult for consumers to make comparisons since terms can vary widely. Korman said he realized the complexities of shopping for power in Texas after graduating from University of Edinburgh in 2015, when he was living with his parents before moving to back to the United Kingdom to get a graduate degree from Oxford University. His father was using a spreadsheet to help calculate the family's power costs, and Korman decided to peruse plans on Powertochoose.org. But Korman was stunned by how misleading some plans were, promoting low prices up front, but obscuring provisions, such as minimum use requirements, that could significantly boost costs. Retail electric companies, Korman thought, had every incentive to confuse their customers. After getting his graduate degree, Korman returned to Texas last summer and hooked up with Hays, a mechanical engineer, to build a startup based on helping Texans shop for power. For a few dollars a year, they bought a web domain. Hays already knew programming and Korman taught himself, and from July to December, they built the website. Since launching in December, they have refined their algorithm - teaching it to read PDFs, for instance, to get the fine-print details on power plans. As word spread through their hometown of Coppell, the website attracted a following. The website tries to make shopping for electricity as individual as possible. Customers provide access to electricity usage data available from Smart Meter Texas, a utility-run site backed by the state that catalogues individual energy use data for all Texans. Awesomepower.com's algorithm analyzes that usage data along with information on Texas power plans, downloaded from Powertochoose.org, and provides a list of the lowest cost plans for each customer. The math is not hard, Korman said, and the idea is not original. Bernd Braun, a mechanical engineer and a user of Awesomepowertexas.com, created his own algorithm in 2008 to tell him which plans would be the cheapest for him. Braun, 77, of Dallas, figured he saved hundreds of dollars a year. Now, Braun said, he just uses Awesomepower.com, although not before he pointed out a flaw in the Korman and Hays algorithm, which had overstated the costs of some plans. "I'm retired so I have lots of time, but not much money to spare," he said. "I have told friends, try it. It doesn't cost anything." Korman and Hays said they want to keep the site free to consumers, but are still trying to figure out how to make money. The possibilities include selling ads, selling data, and finding companies to pay commissions for referring customers to their electricity plans. Korman said that the site has about 200 users who, on average, save $400 a year by going with a plan generated by his site, rather than picking the top plan selected by Powertochoose.org. "I take it kind of personally at this point," he said, " because I know how much people are overpaying for electricity." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate In the competitive office leasing market, amenities like fitness centers and conference rooms are a must. But the spaces that really stand out have Wi-Fi and wine storage, lobbies with lounge chairs and refrigeration areas for groceries that have been delivered to the office. Whether the economy is on an upswing or in a slump, "it's all about employee recruitment and retention," landlord representative Chip Colvill of Colvill Office Properties said during a panel discussion last week about the Houston office market. He and other panelists said companies are seeking properties within walking distance of urban amenities and flexible office arrangements for a younger workforce. Office users value being close to shops and restaurants, common among many of Houston's new mixed-use developments. But for some tenants, only a certain type of building will do, said Brandi McDonald, a broker with Newmark Grubb Knight Frank. She emphasized that point in a luncheon address to nearly 200 people at the event sponsored by industry groups CoreNet and IFMA. "I'm representing a New York hedge fund," McDonald said. "While their people want a mixed-use development, the owner said: 'No, you have to be in the tallest established Class A building in the market. You have to represent you're credible and high quality.' " Keith Josey, director of real estate for Apache Corp., said an abundance of amenities stand out to prospective employees who may have other options. Josey, formerly an executive at a Houston software company, said an amenity-rich office environment is a "differentiator." "To get someone who would come from Silicon Valley to Houston, Texas, was not an easy thing to do," he said at the event, which was moderated by David Cook of Cushman & Wakefield. Josey said Apache added food service and a fitness component to its corporate headquarters a few years ago, partly as a "competitive equalizer." Dann Narveson, director of real estate for funeral company Service Corporation International, said the company's office space hasn't changed dramatically over the years. What many of SCI's employees are probably most interested in, he said, is being able to work from home. "We're pretty old school, but I think that's coming," Naverson said. McDonald, who represents tenants, said 2017 will be a good year for companies who are ready to restructure and renegotiate their leases. She expects the local office market to bottom out this year. The amount of available office space in Houston, she said, is equivalent to 27 Williams Towers, eight of which would represent the amount of sublease space available. "It's a tenant's market right now," Josey said. Even in the wine business, when you get lemons, it's best to shrug, then go make some lemonade. And that's what Douglas Skopp has done. Shortly before Christmas, the Houston wine importer/distributor received bad news. New York-based importer Neil Rosenthal, whose well-selected portfolio of mostly French and Italian wines Skopp has represented in Texas almost since he launched Dionysus Imports 15 years ago, had decided to partner with a different distributor in 2017. Losing Rosenthal, who is particularly strong in wines from the Loire and Burgundy, was going to leave a gaping hole in Skopp's lineup. But, rather than spend the holidays crying in his cabernet, he summoned his two top lieutenants, operations manager Brian Sandefur and brand manager Ross Tefteller, for some all-hands-on-deck brainstorming. The payoff? Skopp will soon be practically drowning in new wines from some of the most respected producers in France. Skopp gives Sandefur the credit for suggesting that Dionysus reach out to Martine's, a prominent importer based in San Francisco. Skopp thought to himself, "I don't think we have a chance in hell of landing any of their wines," but Martine called back within 10 minutes, and Dionysus ultimately scored nearly 20 labels, including arguably the most coveted of all Chateauneuf-du-Papes, Chateau Rayas. The allocation will be the tiny, but tiny is better than none. Dionysus also has greatly expanded its relationship with Becky Wasserman & Co., another heavyweight Burgundy importer. Skopp has only recently returned from an exploratory trip to France, where he put in long days at VINISUD, the huge annual wine expo that showcases the wines of the South of France, and also beat the bushes in Burgundy and the Loire. The trip couldn't have been more productive because Tefteller had been back in Houston, doing practically round-the-clock research of wineries he thought Skopp needed to visit while he was there. Sandefur said Dionysus' newly locked-up wines "fit hand in hand" with the wines the firm imports directly. "We were absolutely stunned by the quality of the Martine's wines (many of which recently arrived in Houston). Where Rosenthal's producers seemed to be very traditional - the same style now that they were 80 years ago - Martine's producers are showing the apex of what an appellation is capable of." A sampling of Dionysus' newly acquired French labels, all of which should be in Houston within two months: Chateau Rayas (Rhone/Chateauneuf du Pape): Though 13 varietals are permitted in Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Emmanuel Reynaud uses only grenache in Rayas' red wines. For the whites, he blends grenache blanc with clairette. Grapes, sourced from three vineyards, are vinified and aged separately in old barrels, then are blended to achieve Reynaud's vision for the vintage, always adhering to Chateau Rayas' signature style, which is to say a pinot noirlike flavor profile - kirsch, cherry, peat moss - coupled with a peppery Mediterranean flair that is distinctively "Southern France." Domaine Santa Duc (Rhone/Gigondas): Santa Duc was established in 1874 in the Southern Rhone cru of Gigondas. Owner Yves Gras stopped selling his crop off to negociants in 1985 in favor of bottling his own wine instead. The winery was certified organic in 2012. Gras practices de-budding early in the growing season to lend rigor to the fruit, leaf-pulling to increase circulation and early harvests to preserve freshness. Generous, fruity and concentrated, the wines reflect the soil and the way in which they are produced. Chateau Respide-Medeville (Bordeaux/Graves): Julie and Xavier Gonet-Medeville are, in many ways, the first couple of French wines because both hail from storied winemaking families. Julie's family is famous for its incomparable Chateau Gilette, and Xavier comes from a long line of Champagne growers in Le Mesnil. Leading a new generation of winemakers, they bring their family knowledge, methods and passion to the many wines they make together. Nicolas Joly (Loire/Savenierres): Joly studied at Columbia and worked as an investment banker until 1977, when he took over his family's wine estate Chateau de la Roche aux Moines, in Savennieres. Already skeptical about modern agriculture and its effect on nature, he came across a book on biodynamic farming and by 1980 had started to experiment. From the 1981 vintage on, his top wine, Clos de la Coulee de Serrant, has been made biodynamically; the entire estate went biodynamic in 1984. Francois le Saint (Loire/Sancerre): This is the exclusively biodynamic label of one of Sancerre's most esteemed producers. The estate totals 56 hectares, 5.5 of which are dedicated to sauvignon blanc. The wines are organically grown in kimmeridgian marls from vines that are 25-35 years old; in 2000, they switched to entirely biodynamic harvest and vinification. Chateau Tour des Gendres (Bergerac): Located in this centuries-old stronghold of classic French food and wine culture on the banks of the Dordogne River, the winery has a huge following in France, yet it is little known in the U.S. Its value wines are approachable and pleasurable, crunchy and bright with an abundance of fruit. Domaine Buisson-Charles (Cote de Beaune): Buisson-Charles has holdings among the top vineyards of Meursault as well as the neighboring Burgundy appellations Pommard and Volnay. Certain parcels in Meursault are covered in vines that are more than 100 years old. Patrick Essa, whose father-in-law, Michel Buisson, was the estate's third-generation winemaker, believes terroir, not the winemaking, should determine the taste of the wine. The Houston Chronicle's Brian Rosenthal was named the winner of the George Polk Award for education reporting Sunday for the seven-part series that showed how thousands of disabled children in Texas were denied specialized instruction guaranteed by federal law. The 68th annual George Polk journalism awards are provided by Long Island University, which credited the coverage with the subsequent rollback of arbitrary limits. The university noted that his 10-month investigation, "Denied," had exposed a long-standing but previously unreported Texas policy setting a quota denying special education services for more than 8.5 percent of students in any of the state's 1,200 school districts. It said the series "sent shockwaves through the state and led to a federal edict barring the practice, established as a budget-balancing tool in 2004, and the state has agreed to end it." "We are so proud of this body of work, which has made a real difference in the lives of thousands of Texas families," said Nancy Barnes, executive vice president and editor of the Chronicle. "At a time when journalists are under attack, this work is also an important reminder that we are here to serve our community." Denied Read the award-winning investigative series here. See More Collapse Winners will be honored at a luncheon ceremony on April 7 in Manhattan. The awards were established in 1949 by the university to commemorate George Polk, a CBS correspondent killed in 1948 while covering the Greek civil war. The awards are meant to celebrate the impact of courageous and authentic journalism on our national and global discourse. Rosenthal last week was named the winner of the 2017 Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting by the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Journalism. Rosenthal, 27, a reporter in the Chronicle's Austin bureau, began his investigation after an advocate told him that the Texas Education Agency had established an 8.5 percent benchmark that had become a de facto cap on special education enrollments, unbeknownst to legislators, federal education officials, parents and even many educators. Rosenthal amassed state and federal data that showed how special education enrollments had plummeted from just under the 13 percent national average in 2004, when the 8.5 percent benchmark went into effect, to precisely 8.5 percent in 2015, by far the lowest in America. Rosenthal, an alumnus of Northwestern University, joined the Chronicle in 2014 and was named the Texas Star Reporter of the Year for 2015 by the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors. Previously, he worked in the capital bureau of the Seattle Times. Read the full series below: Denied: In 2004, Texas arbitrarily decided what percentage of students should get special education services. Today, tens of thousands of children are paying the price. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate DEL RIO - An Air Force flight surgeon here is helping astronauts go where they've never gone before - cracking a problem that has vexed NASA since Mercury astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. famously wet his pressure suit prior to becoming the first American in space. Col. Thatcher Cardon, working in a spare room of his house on Laughlin AFB, developed a way to allow America's high fliers to relieve themselves with no muss and no fuss: an adaptable hygiene spacesuit system that cleans up after itself. Responding to NASA's Space Poop Challenge, he brainstormed a solution in around a half hour, then put the system together using $200 worth of materials he bought at dollar and hardware stores. NASA announced Wednesday that he had won a $15,000 cash prize, beating out 20,000 people who collaborated on 5,100 entries submitted to the contest. "It all seems pretty simple to me. I'm just amazed that nobody came up with it," Cardon, 49, a family practice physician who calls Seattle home, told the San Antonio Express-News. "I wish I had been there to invent quantum theory and not space poop handling methods, but I guess I'll take the minor achievement." Astronauts might not consider it minor. The International Space Station has specially designed toilets, as did the space shuttle. For those wearing pressure suits, the sole solution remains superabsorbent diapers that last 24 hours, but not comfortably. Anticipating that astronauts in the future might have to stay suited up for longer periods, including emergencies, NASA asked for a system that would allow urine, menstrual fluid and feces to be processed in pressure suits for as long as 144 hours, or six days. 'Extremely innovative' Cardon celebrated his win Wednesday at Laughlin's Club XL, which was festooned for the occasion with toilet paper, poop-emoji cupcakes and a spacesuit pinata. "I feel kind of embarrassed by all the fuss," Cardon said in a near-whisper. "There are lots of people who work hard and do cool stuff." The base's commander had another view. "When I ask him for a solution, he always gives me several options, and one of the options will be out of left field, one that I would never think about," said Col. Thomas Shank, commander of the 47th Flying Training Wing. "He's an extremely innovative person." Cardon wanted to go into biomedical engineering but became a family practice physician, figuring he could always come back to his original plan later. "I never imagined that poop would be my ticket into the field," Cardon said. When he learned of the Space Poop Challenge, he had closed his eyes and thought through all the steps he could imagine. He quickly saw how it could work and drove his wife, Gerilyn, and their kids to Del Rio to shop for what he'd need to create a mock-up. The key parts of the MACES Perineal Access & Toileting System, or MPATS, are the "perineal access port," a valved opening at the spacesuit crotch, and an "introducer," a clear plastic tube about the diameter of a half-dollar. Plenty of functions Astronauts can use the device in various configurations that include a removable suction catheter for urination, an inflatable mylar bed pan for defecation, a modified maxipad and a "C-string" - underwear. A suction motor powered by a lithium battery good for six days and attached to the astronaut's hip draws the waste away. Cardon applied for a patent for the system, which works for men and women, early this week. The inflatable bed pan consists of a hemorrhoid cushion called a donut pillow that can be bought at Walmart for $10.72. Gerilyn sewed a clear plastic pouch into the cushion. The device includes a tube that acts like a bidet, washing the area around the anus, and one model also includes a small video camera - the kind used in surgeries. But Cardon wasn't finished. He bought a long-reach hygiene wand at a drug store that costs as little as $3.95, broke it apart and then crafted something like it that would work in his system. The hygiene wand inside the introducer contains bunched tubular fabric that, like toilet paper, cleans any area that might have waste material on it. Once used, it's discarded from the hygiene system. Another one of Cardon's innovations is a layered diaper consisting of an absorbent gel separated by plastic. The problem with the diapers now used by astronauts, in addition to their relatively short half-life, is that they can't be taken off without removing the pressure suit. But they can remove the "Cardon diaper" one layer at a time through the introducer, allowing it to be worn for days - as long as they're just urinating. Like many NASA inventions, it could be used on Earth, in this case for bedridden patients, cutting the number of times diapers need to be changed. Mr. Fix-It As a kid, Cardon grew up taking things apart and putting them back together. His dad, Royal Cardon, 74, was a carpenter who'd buy toasters and TV sets at Goodwill and bring them home. Young Thatcher took them apart. The older Cardon said his son once built a bed from a wood pile. "While most 8-year-olds can't hammer a nail straight, when Thatcher was 8 he constructed his own bed frame without any adult help or direction," said Royal Cardon, who lives in Norway. "He measured, cut and nailed the frame together entirely on his own." Early in his marriage, as a college student in a small apartment, Cardon assembled a vacuum cleaner from more than a dozen wrecked ones. It lasted 10 years. "I didn't know how handy he was," Gerilyn said. A pilot, scuba diver and former SWAT team member who grew up in a home without a television, Cardon's interest in physiology is at least part of the reason why he's Mr. Fix-It. After mentioning that one form of bacteria has a rotating appendage that moves like a ship's propeller, he said, "There's lot of elegant solutions to mechanical problems in biology." Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus has said the international community should support the local population in Raqqah once the city is cleared of Daesh terrorists, Anadolu reported. Speaking after a meeting of the Council of Ministers in Ankara on Monday, Kurtulmus shared Turkey's point of view over the joint operation to recapture the Syrian city of Raqqah from the Daesh terror group. He gave the example of Syria's Al-Bab city where the native population was expected to be allowed to settle in once it gets cleared of Daesh. "We can use the same model in Raqqah. International community should support the capable local population in Raqqah, which consists of the [local] population of the city. Turkey, U.S., and other elements can give logistic support to this city," he said He added: "[This city] should not be left in the hands of other terrorist organizations." He also said Turkey's position on terrorist organizations would never change, no matter what other countries do. "Our position against terrorist organizations will never change. Both Daesh and PKK will be seen as terrorist organizations," he said. The Turkey-led Operation Euphrates Shield began in late August 2016 to improve security, support coalition forces, and eliminate the terror threat along the Turkish border using Free Syrian Army fighters backed by Turkish artillery and jets. On Sunday, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey proposed that the U.S. should send its own Special Forces to northern Syria to back moderate opposition forces fighting against Daesh. On Friday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey's target after liberating Al-Bab, Syria, from Daesh is the town of Manbij, and clearing the terrorist PKK's Syrian offshoot, PYD, from the region. An upcoming target is Raqqah, a Syrian city on the northeast bank of the Euphrates River. Erdogan added, As you know, Raqqah is the most important center for Daesh, so I have told Mr. Donald Trump that we, as coalition forces, are together for the goal of clearing the region of Daesh." Meanwhile, Kurtulmus also criticized Germany's claims that clerics of Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB) were involved in espionage. "No religious official of Turkey abroad, no member of DITIB is a spy," he said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate AUSTIN - As Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick relentlessly pushes a bill that would restrict the public restrooms transgender people can use, opposition to the measure is pouring in to his office. Patrick's office received more than 10,000 calls, emails or letters opposing the bill and just over 200 cheering it on within the two weeks after it was filed, according to a tally provided to the San Antonio Express-News in response to a Texas Public Information Act request. A spokesman attributed the lopsided communications to an "orchestrated phone and email campaign organized by the left wing." Patrick did not release copies of correspondence from the Texas residents, citing a part of the public information law that allows the lieutenant governor and lawmakers to keep communications confidential in the interest of privacy. The level of opposition and support was evident in more than 800 emails, letters and messages to Gov. Greg Abbott and nearly 200 to House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, stretching back through last summer and obtained under the open records law. The communications to Abbott, who has been fairly non-committal on the need for a new law, were about evenly divided on the issue of transgender bathroom restrictions. Those to Straus, who has voiced concern over the potential economic effect of a bathroom bill, were heavily against such restrictions. Several who contacted officials to oppose restrictions said they are Republicans, as are the three leaders and a majority of lawmakers. Many residents said there are more important issues for the state to worry about. "I was voting Republican before you could spell it. This is stupid. Do I wear my birth certificate and drivers license on my shirt before I make a bathroom call or do I just drop my pants before I go in so that someone can check the plumbing," asked a Sinton rancher in an email to Abbott's office. "I don't vote for stupidity. Don't expect another vote from me if you support this." An Ohio couple, however, last year applauded Patrick's stand against a directive from then-President Barack Obama's administration telling public schools to allow transgender students to use restrooms that correspond with their gender identity. "As Christians, we have seen so many that have turned from our Judeo-Christian values that this country was founded on, in order to be 'politically correct;' and it breaks our hearts," the couple wrote. Patrick has cited polls showing wide support for the proposal in Texas. His consultant shared findings of a Baselice & Associates survey conducted in November, which couched the question in terms of whether it should be illegal for a man to enter a public women's restroom, locker room or shower. It found 69 percent support for a law banning that. A University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll in October found a majority of Texans overall want transgender people to use restrooms based on their birth gender rather than their gender identity, and that 76 percent of Republicans have that opinion. According to the tally released by his office, the lieutenant governor received 4,822 written communications against the measure between Jan. 7 - a couple of days after Senate Bill 6 was filed - and Jan. 20. In addition, Patrick's office counted 6,074 calls against the bill through early afternoon of Jan. 23. Only 165 written comments for the measure came into Patrick's office during the January time period. His office counted 65 calls for it. Patrick spokesman Alejandro Garcia said the poll data "stands in sharp contrast to this orchestrated phone and email campaign organized by the left-wing after a misinformation blitz targeting Senate Bill 6. The vast majority of Texans support the Texas Privacy Act and are counting on the lieutenant governor's leadership in getting the bill passed. Transgender advocates have urged people who oppose a state bathroom law to contact Patrick, including through the progressive Daily Kos blog, which could help account for the large number of communications. People also are less likely to write to an official with whom they agree on an issue, Rice University political scientist Mark P. Jones said. Jones said it is telling that there is no evidence of a similar campaign on the pro-SB 6 side that would have pumped up communications to Straus. "One thing it could demonstrate is that the opposition to the bill is far more intense than the support for the bill," Jones said. Patrick by far got the largest number of overall communications on the issue received by any of the three officeholders. Abbott's office received more than 400 in support of transgender people being able to use the restrooms they choose, and about the same number against the idea. Straus' office received 174 calls or written communications against the idea of legislating transgender bathroom restrictions, two calls against discrimination and seven comments or calls favoring the idea. Fix Child Protective Services. Overhaul public school funding. Reform Texas mental health services. Fight with Harris County about the Astrodome. One of these things is not like the others. At the beginning of this legislative session we expected state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, to be a contentious voice in the Austin wilderness, calling for his peers and coworkers to keep their focus on the big challenges facing our state. Instead, he's using his 44 years of experience in Austin to stoke a battle with Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, a Republican, on the future of the Astrodome. This is the sort of scheme you'd expect from some a legislator desperate for free publicity. But when it comes to Whitmire, expect the unexpected. The Democratic senator has a track record of directing his state authority at all manner of local issues. He even picked a fight with the University of Houston over a change to on-campus housing rules back in 2014. Now the Dean of the Senate is pushing Senate Bill 884, which would require a referendum on a $105 million plan to maintain the Dome by creating underground parking spaces and a ground-level event space. Voters rejected a $217 million bond to fund a more cohesive project in 2013. The new plan, spearheaded by Emmett, can be paid for without requiring an independent bond initiative. "It's a little unusual for a legislator to file a piece of legislation that affects a specific piece of property that's totally paid for," Emmett, a Republican, said about Whitmire's Dome bill. "I have never heard of that before. It's also unusual to have legislation filed directly that tells a county how to operate without talking to the county." Furthermore, the Astrodome isn't even in Whitmire's district. If Whitmire is worried about responsible public spending, he should start by tending to his own house. Don't voters also deserve a direct say on spending in Austin? That $1 billion border security plan involves an awful lot of money with little oversight. And is Whitmire really getting the best bang for the taxpayer buck on his per diem spending? Maybe that $7,200 per year could be better spent on classroom supplies for the teachers at Whittier Elementary in Jacinto City. The Texas Legislature only has six months every other year to address the big issues facing our state. Voters need an experienced lawmaker like Whitmire to keep the Senate on task. And if Whitmire truly cares about the county's plans for the Dome, he should put his money where his mouth is: Emmett is up for reelection in 2018. Maybe that will finally be the race where Whitmire dips into his multi-million dollar campaign fund. Hmm, perhaps voters deserve a say on how politicians spend those funds, too. The following are excerpts from reports generated by the Texas County Sheriffs Department: A deputy was dispatched at about 5 p.m. Feb. 18 regarding a report of suspicious activity at a Kelly Road residence at Raymondville. The officer made contact with a man and woman there who said when they got home they found a window had been broken and their dog had been let outside. The man stated the door was locked, so he didnt know how the dog had gotten out. The officer observed that a screen on the broken window had multiple claw marks and had been ripped out from the inside, and that the glass had been broken from the inside out. The man then stated thats what he thought as well, but he just wanted to make sure. A deputy was dispatched at about 9 p.m. Feb. 18 after a woman called to report seeing a shadow figure of a man or woman standing in the middle of the roadway by her Highway 137 residence at Tyrone. Before the officer arrived, the woman called back and said she had identified what the shadow figure was, and it wasnt a person. An officer on Feb. 18 investigated a reported theft of tools valued at more than $500 from a tool trailer at a 75-year-old Cabool mans Highway PP property. There are no suspects. An 87-year-old Solo man came to the TCSD office on Feb. 15 to report that several items with a total value of $8,256 had been stolen from his Highway UU residence. The man told an investigating officer he had located all of the items at a local business, which the business owner confirmed. He also named a 39-year-old Solo man as a suspect. The investigating deputy determined the suspect was already in jail on a different charge. He was interviewed and reportedly confessed to swiping all the items. A probable cause statement was sent to the county prosecutor seeking a charge against the suspect of stealing more than $500. Multiple deputies responded on Feb. 16 to a 911 report of a domestic dispute at a Hickory Drive residence at Plato. A 29-year-old man and 27-year-old woman who live there told officers they had been in an argument that had gotten physical. The man said the woman punched him in the face, and that she had then grabbed an unloaded gun and run around the house with it. The woman said the dispute was over the mans dog urinating on the furniture, and how she wanted it to go. The woman also stated that she was tired of the same thing happening, because whenever they argue about the situation, law officers come and she then has to go to the hospital. An officer asked why she ends up going to the hospital, and she said its because the law always takes the mans side because of his rank in the military. The woman first stated she had never had a gun in her hand during the incident, but then admitted lying and showed where she had put it. An officer confirmed it wasnt loaded. Neither party wished to pursue charges. The 12-hour rule was put in place, and the man agreed to leave for the night. A deputy was dispatched at about 9 p.m. Feb. 16 to assist the Missouri Department of Conservation and Missouri State Highway Patrol with a search for poachers at an Emery Road property at Houston. No one was found. A 59-year-old Licking woman reported on Feb. 10 that $93 worth of food had been swiped from her Mallard Road residence. There are no suspects. Texas County Jail admissions Feb. 13 Casey R. Myrick drug charges Christy L. Coble possession of controlled substance Melyane D. Waxler possession of controlled substance Caleb J. Buckner 12-hour commitment Feb. 14 Shane L. Briggs Willow Springs PD hold Gary S. Kelly passing bad checks Feb. 15 Lucas L. McGaugh abuse or neglect of child Misti N. Bullacher abuse or neglect of child Cheyenne S. Mourning possession of intent to distribute Justin B. Williams traffic violations Kelly D. Williams possession of synthetic cannabinoid Feb. 16 Jennifer D. Henderson 12-hour commitment Ted L. Glidewell 60-day shock Eric L. Thornhill 48-hour commitment Christopher M. Belcher Dent County hold Feb. 19 Alisha M. Strain parole warrant Steven R. Parker stealing As an existing print subscriber it is easy to get FREE access to all our online content. When you click get started below it will walk you through creating an online account to attach your print subscription number to. After your account is created it will ask you to either add a subscription for online access or click on the print subscriber button. Click the print subscriber button header and it will open a dropdown, now click on get started. The page will reload and you will be prompted to enter an account number and a zip code. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO USE THE NUMBER OFF OF THE MOST RECENT ISSUE OR ANYTHING AFTER JANUARY 28, 2019 TO GAIN ACCESS! OLD ACCOUNT NUMBERS WILL NOT WORK The account number and zip code are easily available on your most recent issue of the High Plains Journal or Midwest Ag Journal in the address fields as is shown here. Sometimes the account number has extra zero's in front of it, just ignore those. Subscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print. Some people only want to be a digital subscriber to get access online and others want to also receive the print edition. If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create. Watches are not rocket science. Or are they? Watches are not rocket... 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,... With the construction of a cable car, the outside world is so much closer to the residents of Zhongdong Cave. (Photo : Twitter) Far from civilization, 18 families live in solitude inside an enormous cave in southwestern China. For years the countrys remaining cave-dwelling village has been undisturbed, but a local tourism development company now threatens their way of life, Capital News reported. Advertisement Before, the only access the village has to the outside world is a narrow and winding footpath that traverses through Guizhou Provinces rough terrain. Now, the outside world is suddenly closer thanks to the newly built cable car estimated to be worth 15 million yuan or $2.2 million. It is scheduled to go into operation on the first of May. According to the local tourism development company, residents of the cave can use the cable car without charge. Aside from making their lives easier, the cable car will also help present new business opportunities to the cave dwellers. The residents of Zhongdong, however, are divided on whether the cable car will improve their lives. For Wang Xingguo, a 22-year-old cave dweller, the cable car will only be an inconvenience as it cant carry poultry or unwieldy cargo. They said theyd build us a road 15 years ago, but then they discovered this was a place they could make money off and so chose not to built it, Wang told Capital News. When authorities decide to develop a scenic spot, only they get rich, he added. It is unclear when the first residents of Zhongdong moved into the cave. Most families, however, have been there for generations. Some families, like Wangs, moved into the cave after the founding of the PRC in 1949. Unlike his son, Wang Hongqing is open to the thought of tourists visiting the cave via the cable car. There are deep-seated fears, however, that the government will ask the villages once again to leave the cave, and what will happen to it if they do leave. When they make this a tourist site, theyll charge entrance fees, and I wouldnt even be able to afford to get into the place that used to be my home, the senior Wang said. The insurance market Lloyds of London has banned the consumption of alcohol during working hours. Staff could be sacked for gross misconduct if they break the rule, which applies to its 800 employees not the underwriters and brokers who do business there between the hours of 9am-5pm. The ban was reportedly brought in after roughly half of grievance and disciplinary cases within Lloyds in the past two years were found to be related to alcohol misuse. But many staff at Lloyds reacted angrily to the ban, posting comments on an internal intranet, according to the report. Will we be asked to go to bed earlier soon? and Did I just wake up from my drunken drug induced slumber to find we are now living in Orwells 1984? were among the comments said to have been posted by workers online. Lloyds used to be a fun place to work. Now it is the PC capital of the world where you cant even go out for a lunchtime pint anymore? another added. But while some reacted with outrage, others seemed to regard the rule as a statement of the obvious. Was there really a need for this? The vast majority of my colleagues know how to drink responsibly during work hours, and would never let their lunch hour socialising affect their work or decision making, one commenter said. Another echoed that sentiment, adding: This is too heavy handed...I think most people are sensible and only have a drink occasionally when celebrating success or a birthday etc. But the move may just be further evidence of a culture shift within the city, according to some commentators. City workers are acting far more responsibly compared to in the past, due to the dog-eat-dog nature of the market now, said David Buik, a market commentator at Panmure Gordon investment bank. Life is so professionally competitive now that few people working in banks or in brokers want to drink during the week. Of course, it is more than made up for at night when the wine, spirits and beer flow like Victoria Falls, he said. The Lloyds internal memo acknowledged that the London Market has historically had a reputation for daytime drinking but said that it has been changing, adding that Lloyds has a duty to be a responsible employer. Author Dan Pink is an advocate of flip-thinking, and claims that it melts calcified thinking and leads to solutions that are simple to envision and to implement. Organisations that are disrupting entire industries have often flipped the conventional wisdom. Theyve taken age-old beliefs and turned them upside down. Pink writes: What theyre doing, and what Im advising based on their success, represents smarter advice despite (perhaps because of) running counter to what many others believe. In addition to flip-thinking, Murfet has several tactics for dealing with change. She outlined to HC four change tips for dealing with disruption: Plan, check, plan, check and repeat. Before implementing the change plan, use the concept of what I call the red team, which consists of people who are not involved directly in the change. Run through the change plan and get their feedback on what youre missing. What are your blind spots? Have you addressed everything? Provide everyone with crystal clear direction on what the change is and how youre going to get there. For me its critically important to paint a clear picture of what it looks like when you get there. Its often missed, dismissed as we need to make this change because of People get caught up in their own process of change. But I think if you can paint a picture of what the future looks like the destination that helps sell the whats-in-it-for-me element. Script all of your critical moves and dont have too many choices. It creates ambiguity and can cause change fatigue. Find the feeling. Find the feeling to motivate people to understand, accept and help drive the change. That again ensures you paint the picture of what itll look like when people get there. Also understand that each person is on their own particular journey and some will get there very quickly and others wont get there at all and youll have a lot of people in the middle. Recent stories: Mass job cuts as Cadbury closes doors narvikk via Getty Images 'We Shall Overcome' Gesture I recently had the privilege of being called upon to comment on the state of racism in Montreal, Quebec, and Canada on the Leslie Roberts Show CJAD Radio. I must also thank Tommy Schnurmacher who has extended this opportunity to me many times in the past. When I hung up the phone, I was deeply unsettled. No matter how many segments one is offered, when it comes to a topic like racism in Canada, the gulf between the white Canadian public and the rest of us (the black, brown, and Indigenous people who are experiencing the racism) is so large, that there is never enough time to explain the complexity of the issues. I therefore will try to expand on a few urgent points here. Advertisement Put simply, contemporary racism is historical racism. While I understood Leslie's desire to keep the topic focused on the occurrences and impact of racism today, I wish to re-articulate that there can be no full comprehension of contemporary racism without an understanding and acknowledgement of its historical, colonial roots. Put simply, contemporary racism is historical racism; it is just a continuation and adaptation in another form, another guise of policies, strategies, systems and indeed infrastructures of racist oppression which were put in place centuries ago to differentiate free from unfree people. A case in point would be the way that the use of passes in the period of slavery -- hand written or printed documents that articulated the identity and ownership of enslaved Africans -- have been replaced by other systems of racial profiling, surveillance, and unjust data collection like carding, which are disproportionately directed at black populations. Advertisement When we understand that freedom came to be conflated with whiteness and bondage with blackness (and in Quebec, Native-ness, too) not automatically, but as a product of specific colonial strategies which empowered certain populations of European and European-Americans as settlers, then we can begin to understand the power and longevity of these historical actions and see today's racism as its legacy. Without such a historical understanding, a discussion of racism today gets coded as a series of oddities, anomalies that somehow misrepresent the "real" truth of Canada that "we" Canadians experience as an inclusive and racially tolerant nation. When Leslie invoked the Canadian "we" in his questions about Canada as a racially tolerant state, the "we" that he invoked was not racially neutral. It is unsurprising that white Canadians, talking amongst themselves, would come to the false and fact-free conclusion that racism is not an issue in Canada since it is not an issue for them. Police departments developed out of the tradition of slave patrols. However, for black, indigenous and brown people in Canada, race and racism are a daily consideration in how we live, make decisions and navigate the world. Like all of my black friends and family, I have been singled out (when in the company of whites) profiled by police and civilians in positions of power for shopping and walking while black. Many of us have been stopped for the "offence" of "driving while black" -- a particularly prevalent police tactic when racist white officers perceive a black person to be driving a nice car, one above their assumed lower-class status. Police departments developed out of the tradition of slave patrols. These were mainly white males, working independently or at the behest of a slave owner or plantation manager, to hunt down, capture or kill fugitive slaves. Fugitive slave advertising, ubiquitous across the Americas (with significant repositories in Nova Scotia, Quebec and Ontario, by the way) reveal the pervasiveness of African resistance to slavery. Advertisement But such advertisements also reveal that white participation in the criminalization and recapture of the enslaved was incentivized through the offer of rewards. When an enslaved person fled, slave owners provided detailed racialized descriptions of the people they held in bondage, including complexion, hairstyles, clothing, languages, accents and even gestures, countenance, physical habits and bodily marks suffered from perilous labour, torture and abuse. The nature and amount of such details demonstrate that the enslaved lived under constant surveillance. These descriptions helped to conflate blackness with slavery and criminality. Indeed, to abscond from one's owner was, under colonial law, as Marcus Wood has argued, a crime of "self-theft." While slavery was practiced in the territory that became Canada for over 200 years, it is rarely taught in our schools prior to university, and only sparingly in higher education. As one of the few experts of Canadian slavery employed as a professor at a Canadian university, I can attest that none of the Canadian undergraduate students (mainly in their 20's) that I have taught to date have heard about slavery in Canada prior to stumbling upon my courses. And yet, all of these students have entered my classes armed with the knowledge that "we" (again white Canadians) saved the enslaved African-Americans from bondage in the USA. The spectacular failures of Canadian education then, are a huge part of the problem in the abyss between white and black populations in the understandings of Canadian racism. Finally, in the discussion that preceded mine with Dan Philip of The Black Coalition of Quebec, Leslie asked him to quantify the number of complaints against the police that the coalition was currently fielding. But the number of cases will never reveal the true nature or pervasiveness of the problem of racist policing, since we must consider how many valid and verifiable incidents never become cases because the victims (for a variety of legitimate reasons) choose not to pursue a course of action. Advertisement As I know from personal experience, such complaints require herculean effort to document, validate, submit, and pursue. This is not a matter of days, but months and years of commitment to battling through institutional structures (often staffed by poorly trained, unsympathetic or downright hostile employees) which were in many cases designed to delegitimize and squash such complaints. For obvious reasons (time, discipline, support, and health among them), there are very few people who are willing to devote the necessary time to such long-term fights. Moving forward the "we" of Canada must be expanded to include the reality and experiences of black, Indigenous, and brown Canadians who understand contemporary racism to be a legacy of colonialism and slavery. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook Getty The price of a U.S. Green Card held steady for the past 27 years at $500,000 USD, under an investment immigration program known as EB-5. That will almost certainly change this year, when the U.S. Congress votes on raising the investor's Green Card minimum to $1.3 million. So what is a millionaire to do when the U.S. tells them to take their money elsewhere? Apparently, they look to Canada, where immigrant investor programs are seeing a flood of interest and applications from discouraged would-be U.S. immigrants, seeking to take their money to more welcoming shores. Advertisement Qualified applicants flooded one such Canadian program in the province of Manitoba after the U.S. policy shift was announced in October. With investment minimums ranging from $115,000-$300,000 USD, the Canadian options are significantly cheaper than their southern counterparts as well. Visas-for-dollars migration programs exist the world over, but no country can match the variety and affordability on offer in Canada. While Canada's infamous Federal Entrepreneur Investment Program was scrapped in 2014, to the dismay of 64,000 applicants who were shut out, there remain over a dozen smaller and less costly investor visa programs on offer. From Vancouver to Nova Scotia, 12 entrepreneur immigration programs offer the ticket to Canadian Permanent Residence, our own version of the Green Card. These programs don't advertise, because they don't need to. Perhaps this absence of promotion is why many people don't know they exist. Investors clamoring for a safe haven for their family -- and their capital -- will find a range of options waiting north of the 48 parallel. Advertisement Unlike the U.S. EB-5 model which is based on a passive investment, the Canadian investor visa programs all require the immigrant actively manage his or her new business on a day-to-day basis. The provincial governments who administer these programs are acutely aware of the unpalatable concept of wealthy families buying their way into Canada, so these programs are all focused on hands-on ownership of small mom-and-pop businesses. So how does a foreign entrepreneur go about setting up shop on the sunny Main Street in Vancouver, or a bustling avenue in Ottawa? Typically, the potential immigrant conducts an "exploratory visit" to Canada, to evaluate the business environment. In places like Manitoba, Saskatchewan, this is a required step in the process. Applicants must commission a business plan, tailored to their intended small business idea. The provinces meticulously vet investors, carefully screening out those who cannot prove their (often very substantial) net worth was legally obtained. Once the business plan and financial legitimacy of the applicant are approved, the immigrant and their family enter Canada on a temporary status and set up shop. Entrepreneurs are steered towards business projects which create jobs for Canadians, and the creation of jobs for Canadian citizens is a prerequisite for most programs. Once the immigrant verifies they have complied with the job-creation stipulation, they are eligible to apply for Permanent Residence for themselves and their immediate family. By keeping these immigration programs small, local, and closely regulated, Canada has managed to avoid the spectre of widespread fraud and collapsed mega-projects which plagued their U.S. counterparts. Canada's provincial investor programs are quickly becoming the darlings of the global middle-class who seek to open a small business in a stable country. This trend will continue through 2017, with Canada once again attracting immigrants when the U.S. turns them away. Advertisement The five things you need to know on Monday, February 20 1) OH, LORDY Brexit is back folks. Or rather the Brexit Bill - aka the EU (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill - is. Yep the historic legislation to trigger the Article 50 exit process is in the House of Lords for its second reading. Forget all the chatter about votes against second reading, theyre very rare in the Lords and only when an issue has not featured in a manifesto. Advertisement Over today and tomorrow, some 190 peers are lined up to speak. It will be worth seeing which former ministers and distinguished diplomats (Lords Hannay and Kerr are on the list, Peter Mandelson isnt) make the most powerful points. The real business will come at Report Stage next on month, with votes on the two big Labour amendments on EU citizens rights (cannily including EEA citizens too) and on a meaningful vote on the final Brexit deal. And with around a dozen Tory peers expected to abstain on both, we could see the Government defeated and the amendments sent to the Commons on Monday March 13. That will delay Theresa May by about a week but will still be in time for her end-of-March deadline. Labours leader in the Lords, Baroness Smith, confirmed to the Today programme that were not going to block the bill. And it looks like just one round of ping-pong, no more. I dont see any extended ping pong on this at all, she added. Key phrase, that. There is also zero hope of a second referendum amendment getting a Lords majority. But the Lords could do a Lords-type thing and get ministers to commit to reports back to Parliament, not on the floor of the House but to various committees via written statement. Ministers may well insist on not writing anything onto the face of the bill. I still think the real Lords trouble will come not on this bill but on the Great Repeal Bill and its myriad statutory instruments later this year. Meanwhile, we carry a blog from Labours Lisa Nandy on how the EU referendum result laid bare the big divide not between Labour and the Tories, but between cities and towns. In what reads like a riposte to both Blair and Corbyn, she adds points out that with five times more members in Islington than a town like Wigan, there is a risk that Labours perspective will be skewed away from the needs and aspirations of people in towns across the country. Advertisement 2) REFUGE, SCOUNDREL One would have thought that Donald Trump would have some fellow feeling with refugees across the globe. After all, theyre both shunned around the world by critics who believe that they pose a threat to national security and to womens safety. Today MPs will line up in Westminster Hall (not the magnificent 11th century space from which Trump has been barred, but a nondescript committee room) to debate the public petiitons seeking to block, or support, his State Visit to the UK. All this amid fresh reports of links between Trump allies and pro-Russian forces in Ukraine. Trump didnt do himself many favours at the weekend by appearing to suggest refugees in Sweden were responsible for a new terror attack on Friday night. And he hasnt done himself any favours by tweeting overnight that he was in fact referring to a (discredited) FoxNews report claiming Sweden was the rape capital of Europe. Meanwhile, in what looks like a classic Sunday night drop, it turns out that the Government is to review asylum applications from child refugees in France. Less than a fortnight after announcing it would close the Dubs programme, the Home Office says it will reconsider cases of children normally resident in the Calais camp - because up to 400 unaccompanied minors had made their way back to the so-called Jungle in recent weeks. This looks like a review not of Dubs, but of a separate plan to end the arrival of kids with direct family links to Britain under the Dublin convention. 3) POLLING IN THE DEEP The Leader of the Opposition Communications (LOTOComms) twitter account cranked into action again last night to dismiss as entirely untrue a report in the Daily Mirror. The offending story said Jeremy Corbyn had commissioned a secret mega-poll of 10,000 voters to canvass their views on his leadership. Advertisement The results of the survey by BMG research will only be seen by Corbyn, his Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell and his inner circle, not Labour MPs or Labour HQ, the paper said. Initially Corbyns office declined to comment. Now LOTO says no such questions about Jeremy Corbyn have been commissioned in any such poll. An Observer/Opinion poll yesterday put the Tories on 40%, Labour 27%. With Copeland and Stoke Central by-elections looming on Thursday, many Labour and Tory MPs will not be in Westminster this week but knocking on doors. It could be very tight indeed and Diane Abbott on Skys Ridge prog yesterday appeared to be softening up the party for a possible defeat. If we lost one or we lose both, the party will go forward - it has to go forward. As she also said Jezza should not face fresh questions about his leadership after any such losses, it seems she meant the PLP has no choice but to go forward. Dont forget that Nigel Farage last week put pressure on successor Paul Nuttall, saying Stoke Central was fundamental to the future of UKIP and Labour. MEP Patrick OFlynn tried to play that down on Westminster Hour last night. BECAUSE YOUVE READ THIS FAR 4) BIZ PHIL Few people would have thought you could make business rates a sexy story but the Lobby has done itself proud in recess week with various front pages that have raised expectations that the Chancellor has to do something to show he cares. At 5pm tonight, Philip Hammond is set to address the traditional pre-Budget meeting of the 1922 committee meeting of backbench Tory MPs and it looks like he may have something to calm them down. Party vice-chairman Mark Field told Radio 4s Westminster Hour that Im very confident that the chancellor is in listening mode. He suggests Hammond will tweak the rates changes, possibly with some transitional cash to cushion to rises for some areas, as well as a smoother (longer?) phasing period and even a cap on rises. Advertisement The Times splashes its front page with a leaked private letter from Cabinet ministers Sajid Javid and David Gauke to Conservative MPs. The letter says the whole row is being fuelled by distortions and half truths. It also has a handy attachment of councils that will jack up rates (including the PMs and Hammonds). But the Telegraph has an unnamed Cabinet minister saying: "The last thing you want to do is whack the confidence of small businesses." 5) BREAKING BAD The NHS continues to be Labours best hope of hanging on in Copeland (though theres quite a few MPs and party figures worried about a Tory victory). And the NHS continues to be Labours strongest card nationally, with fresh warnings from the British Medical Association today that the system is at breaking point as the number of overnight hospital beds in English hospitals has dropped by a fifth over the last ten years. The Daily Mail has made the report its front-page lead, a move that is always sure to make No.10 sit up. Still, ministers dispute the BMA claims and NHS England tells the paper that modern treatment advances mean patients need to spend less time in hospital. Of course, the big NHS pressure is on a lack of local care for old people. And its not just the Chancellor who sets a budget at this time of year, councils do too. The Local Government Association has a fresh warning that councils are now perilously close to the financial edge - a message Tory council chief Izzi Seccombe rammed home on the Today prog. Its survey finds that 147 out of 151 town halls are considering or have agreed to use new freedoms to increase council tax to cover the rising cost of social care of the elderly. But despite the rises of up to 4.99%, they will still have to make deep cuts in other services. That Sajid Javid sticking plaster looks like peeling off. SUNDAY SHOWS ROUNDUP Had a Sunday morning lie-in? Just had a normal life? Our Owen Bennett has his weekly round-up of all the political shows from yesterday, complete with bite-sized video clips of Mandelson, Abbott, Truss and more, HERE. Enjoy. Advertisement If youre reading this on the web, sign-up HERE to get the WaughZone delivered to your inbox. Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to maintain good relations with China. (Photo : Getty Images) The foreign ministry of China said that the recent visit of Taiwanese government officials to India was an indication of strained relations between India and China. The Chinese government takes the recent development as an expression of India's disregard of the one China policy. However, India and Taiwan do not have diplomatic ties. Advertisement Geng Shuang, a representative of the ministry, said that China was "always against any form of official contacts and exchanges between countries that have diplomatic ties with China and Taiwan and we are also opposed to the establishment of any official institutions." The spokesperson also said that India should "understand and respect China's core concerns and stick to the One China principle and prudently deal with Taiwan-related issues and maintain sound and steady development of India-China relations." When countries for bilateral partnerships with China, the countries also agree that they adhere to the one-China policy. However, the visiting delegation from Taiwan is only members of parliament. Geng explained, "The reason why China lodged the representation is because we have been requiring countries that have diplomatic relations with China to fulfill their commitment to the One China principle." He then reiterated the request that India to "side to stick to the One China principle and take concrete actions for the steady development of China-India relations." China has been increasing investments in India and imports from the mainland have grossed to $53 billion. Oil explorations by China have already begun. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said during his visit to China, "A number of decisions can be taken quickly by the state governments. These interactions also make the state governments more sensitive and aware of the international dynamics and requirements." The Chinese state media wrote that India knows that Taiwan is China's weakness and the recent visit shows that India wants to signify that the country wants to use this as a bargaining chip in issues like the Tibet conflict. According to the Global Times, "India has long wanted to use the Taiwan question, the South China Sea, and Dalai Lama issues as bargaining chips in dealing with China." The article warned, "Those who want to use the Taiwan question to contain the mainland will have to suffer losses." Bastiaan Slabbers via Getty Images It becomes clearer with each Tweet, Executive Order and press conference that the United States is in the throes of a chaotic attempted counter-revolution led - at least in name - by the President. Donald Trump sees himself as a disrupter. A man who seems to respect no one, relishes in going against convention and actually abusing whoever he feels is standing in his way, including the leaders of some of America's key allies. Advertisement Behind him are the two Stephens - Bannon and Miller - both hardline ideologues who some suspect are the real political brains in the White House. Bannon is an extreme nationalist who, when he led the far-right website, Breitbart News, among other things, championed white supremacists. In an unprecedented move Trump put him on the National Security Council, removing key military personnel to make space. Miller is a communications adviser who rose to prominence serving right-wing Republicans in Congress and who, at 31, is now so influential that he - rather than White House lawyers - apparently drafted Trump's Executive Order temporarily banning immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries and the entry of all Syrian refugees (which might explain why it didn't pass judicial scrutiny). Some observers see Trump as Bannon's 'useful idiot' but I'm not convinced. While it's clear Trump is ill-informed, doesn't seem to understand the office he now holds, or be committed to much more than being the centre of attention and making money, he seems to genuinely share Bannon's prejudices. Advertisement So, it appears those who said Trump's opponents in the election made a mistake because they "took him literally, but not seriously", were wrong. They should have done both then - and certainly need to now. Despite this, Trump's first few weeks have shown there are some constraints on him. Apart from the suspension of the Executive Order on immigration by the courts, his National Security Adviser, Mike Flynn, has had to resign after the media revealed he lied to the Vice President about his contacts with the Russian Ambassador in Washington, and, despite his rhetoric before taking office, he has so far maintained his predecessor's policies on China/Taiwan and Russia. Having said that, he has moved to gut US action on climate change and he seems intent on neutering, if not abolishing, the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as repealing Obamacare. Elsewhere, on the world stage, despite blinking first in his opening dealings with President Xi Jinping by assuring him the US would not depart from its traditional One-China policy, the chances of war between China and the US - either intentional or accidental - are still considerable if Trump follows through on his rhetoric on trade or the territorial disputes in the South China Sea. As a result, what many across the political spectrum are asking now is: who can protect the World from Trump and America from itself? Advertisement Ultimately, the main domestic constraint on a President is Congress. But, as yet, there is no sign enough Republicans are worried enough to take action against Trump, although they do seem concerned by his team's contacts with Russia during and after the election, and it is always possible a Special Prosecutor could be appointed to look into this. Whether his refusal to release his tax returns and his blurring of the lines between his personal business interests and the interests of the US government could lead to impeachment will depend on Republican Representatives and Senators deciding his actions are threatening enough to their own political interests and/or the interests of the country. In the meantime, what can the rest of the world do? Post-Brexit Britain - in danger, as it is, of slipping into less- than-splendid isolation - has decided to try to cosy up to Trump and is not going to publicly take him on. China has taken the opposite tack and we've already seen Beijing make clear it is not going to be pushed around and - at least for now - Trump back down. But many in the West are looking to Germany and Chancellor Merkel to stand up for them and the values of democracy and tolerance. Advertisement And Berlin seems up for it. After Trump talked to Merkel when he first took over, the German government made clear she - albeit politely - didn't hold back. On the subject of refugees, Merkel's spokesperson told the media "The Geneva Refugee Convention requires the international community to take in refugees from war on humanitarian grounds. All signatory states are expected to do so. The Chancellor explained this policy to the US President ..." For those of a historical bent, the age old German Question has, maybe, finally found its answer with Berlin taking on the role as key defender of western values. Quite a turnaround, given the history of the last century. Danny Lawson/PA Wire Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party face a double test on Thursday with by-elections in Stoke-on-Trent Central and Copeland. Both constituencies have voted Labour since the 1930s but it's evident that many traditional Labour supporters are fed-up with the Party and ready to go elsewhere. Labour defeat in both seats is not inconceivable and would bring to light the rapid disintegration of Labour England. Stoke was once Labour's most secure city in Britain but the Party now no longer even controls the council and sits on a narrow 5,000 majority. This is England's most pro-Brexit city with 81,000 voting leave and 36,000 remain in the referendum last June. It's no surprise then that Jeremy Corbyn has visited Stoke on just two occasions having been dogged by concerns that he is too reluctant to embrace the UK's exit from the EU. Meanwhile tweets from the Party's candidate Gareth Snell show his scepticism about departing the EU describing Brexit as a "massive pile" of excrement. UKIP leader Paul Nuttall's campaign has suffered considerable blows in recent days with two senior UKIP officials in Liverpool quitting over Nuttall's false statement that he'd lost "close friends" in the Hillsbrough tragedy. Nevertheless a UKIP victory is not totally off the cards - such is the level of anger felt within the constituency towards the current Labour Party. Advertisement Further north in the Cumbrian constituency of Copeland internal analysis of more than 10,000 conversations with constituents shows Labour's support down by a third since 2015. Labour lead the Conservatives by just 2,564 votes in a seat that firmly backs Brexit. Thousands of its voters are employed by the nuclear industry at Sellafield, an industry which Mr Corbyn has previously criticised. The more Brexit and nuclear-friendly Conservatives are favourites to win. Support for Labour in its northern heartlands such as Stoke and Copeland has been crumbling for some time. At the centre of this is a deep disconnect between voters in traditional Labour strongholds and the Establishment Left in Westminster. According to one analysis by Chris Hanretty of the University of East Anglia, almost two-thirds of Labour's 232 constituencies voted to leave the European Union last year, ignoring the advice of the Party's MPs, who overwhelmingly campaigned for Britain to stay. Comments from leading Labour figures such as Jo Stevens, who said that voting against Article 50 was an effort "to protect Labour values" hardly helps this disconnect. But the problems run deeper. As former Labour MP for the Yorkshire seat of Selby John Grogan recently reflected, Labour has taken "the working-class vote for granted on the assumption that they have nowhere else to go." Labour has failed to listen to northern working-class voters and understand the powerful sense of dislocation many of them feel. There has been little desire from the Party's elite to make inroads into the hearts and minds of many of the people they claim to represent. The problem for Labour now is that disillusioned voters do have somewhere to go - into the arms of UKIP or even the Conservative Party. Advertisement Labour could lose both by-elections this week. Such an event would send political shockwaves throughout the country with new questions raised about Mr Corbyn's leadership and his lack of political direction or ideological coherence. But it would also generate questions about the future of Labour England. Isabel Infantes/EMPICS Entertainment Home Secretary Amber Rudd has given four separate justifications for abandoning the Dubs amendment. The reasons given are not justification for Great Britain closing the door on the most vulnerable of refugees. 1. The Dubs amendment "acts as a pull". There is no evidence for this. It is highly unlikely that foreign children and their families have knowledge or an understanding of a complex British legal framework. Regardless, only children that arrived before 20th March 2016 are being considered for transfer. Advertisement 2. The Dubs amendment is leading to children using people smugglers. People Smuggling can ONLY exist in the absence of safe and legal routes. Aidan McQuade, director of Anti-Slavery International has said "the absence of safe migration options for vulnerable people fleeing war has been the single greatest factor to increase the risk of human trafficking in Europe over the past two years" 3. Child refugees in refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon are more vulnerable than those unaccompanied in Europe. This playing off of two highly vulnerable groups against each other is a distraction. Whilst child refugees in Jordan and Lebanon are undoubtedly vulnerable and in need of assistance, so too are those unaccompanied refugee children in Europe. A year ago The EU's criminal intelligence agency Europol warned that pan-European gangs are targeting minors for sex abuse and slavery. They claim that at least 10,000 children have gone missing - a number that is likely now greatly increased. 4. The 350 number that has been reached was through consultation with local authorities, thus is not the decision of the government - they are only fulfilling what they are obliged to. Advertisement The consultation process was opaque and flawed. Local authorities have not been given the opportunity to continue to offer spaces. Andy Elvin of TACT, the UK's largest fostering and adoption charity has described has described the governments claim that local authorities have no more space for refugee or unaccompanied children and young people as as "lie". He states that "When the immigration minister, Robert Goodwill, announced that there was no capacity, this was based on a complete absence of knowledge about the capacity in the sector." Please write to your MP through writetothem.com and to Amber Rudd here. Bastiaan Slabbers via Getty Images Betting odds at British bookmakers are tumbling on the possibility of Donald Trump's imminent impeachment. Ladbrokes, for instance, has taken the odds as low as 11/10 -- just over evens. But what do radically narrowing odds actually mean, especially in relation to something like a presidential impeachment -- what purchase do the bookies have on political reality? It's worth remembering that bookmakers across the board had far narrower odds on Clinton winning the 2016 election than they did for Trump -- with Paddy Power even paying out on bets on Clinton before the election was over, and in the process costing itself several million. It is worth examining more closely the eyebrow-raising markets available on Trump -- for they seem to constitute not the prediction of political change, but the hope and desire for it. Advertisement It is the scurrilously unscrupulous Paddy Power that is leading the way in what it calls "Trump Specials", including an outrageous triptych of "Golden" markets: "To paint the entire White House gold (500/1)"; "To replace the gold lift in Trump Tower (14/1)"; and -- taking the vulgarity to a new level -- "Golden Shower footage to appear on RedTube (4/1)". There is some degree of silliness here -- some of these are in line with Paddy Power's previous markets on the trial of Oscar Pistorius (they asked, to controversy, "Will he walk?"). You can also bet on "Trump to split from Melania in 2017", if you so wish. But the only odds that appear realistic might be the aforementioned market relating to a porn streaming website, and the 6/1 nestled just beneath it: "Trump to be impeached in the first 6 months of Presidency". Here it is the more 'serious' Ladbrokes that is leading the way. No concrete figures are circulating in the media, but Ladbrokes has suggested in press releases that it is working hard to keep up with the money being put towards a Trump impeachment "before the end of the 1st term" -- and it is this market that has been slimmed right down to 11/10. Practically an 'evens' bet, this is absurdly low. On the surface of things, it is to say that there is an almost even chance that Trump will or will not be impeached in his first term -- the toss of a coin. Nothing like this market would have existed for Obama, make no mistake; but had they existed at all, they would have probably been 300/1, at least. As the press have reported these drastically narrowed odds, it appears to spell bad things for Trump. Advertisement As a side note, it's a fun distraction to search Google for odds on a presidential assassination -- a conversation being held with frequency in the backrooms of the internet, but not one that will go mainstream any time soon. It takes only a very basic understanding of gambling to know why these can't be legitimate bets on their own terms: markets can affect, as much as they reflect, reality. To open a book to the effect of "chances of the President being shot" is to create a financial incentive for that outcome. But thankfully the bookies have this covered: though Paddy Power, Ladbrokes, BetFair, and many other bookies offer odds on both 'resignation' and 'impeachment', they also all have something like "When will Trump be replaced?", starting at 7/2 for this year. 'Replaced', when it is sat alongside already existing markets for resignation and impeachment, serves to cover, euphemistically, the difficult legal ground of "When will the president be shot and killed?" -- or else die of a heart-attack. The idea of a fluid relationship between betting markets and the world lies at the centre of the significance of the narrow odds on impeachment. The slimness of 11/10 odds doesn't really indicate an almost fifty-fifty chance of impeachment, but it does say something about a public fickleness towards numbers, probabilities, and predictions. Before the election, Nate Silver's number-crunching prediction-machine FiveThirtyEight was consulted as an oracular force, and its easy-to-digest visual displays of raw data were a comforting quotidian presence throughout. Clinton commanded at least an 80% chance of victory for months on end before the election. After Trump's infamous "pussy grabbing" video surfaced, this shot up past 90%. FiveThirtyEight's hard numbers became more like a soft blanket -- some solace from the nightmare notion of a Trump win. But Trump won. Suddenly, the prophetic figures of statisticians and forecasters were worth less to us -- worthless, even. What good were they if the prediction was wrong? (Of course, as Silver himself has been forced repeatedly to stress, if you're predicted to win nine times out of ten, then you're predicted to lose once every ten times. Trump won that one time out of ten.) Statisticians continue to take a thrashing at the hands of the public, as have experts and the media at the hands of the new White House administrators. It's little wonder that alternative models of prophecy are in demand, along with alternative facts. Advertisement The influx in betting on impeachment thus seems to represent a kind of more honest relationship with statistics, even if it must be a slightly grubby one. The bookies aren't working with raw data alone -- they adjust their figures in response to gossip and hearsay, incalculable effects and unquantifiable units of change. The markets will shift if the bettors -- we could call think of them as wishful 'voters' -- all move in one direction. The head of Ladbrokes' political betting was quoted in The Independent as saying, of Trump, that "Punters seem to think there's a good chance he will leave office before the end of his first term". The bookmakers are responding to the minds of the bettors, and not the other way around. Instinct, chanciness, and blind faith have sway, as do hard facts and numbers. The bookies' markets appear more honest, finally, because they are at least in part modelled on superstition as well as science; betting as a system of belief. What we find in the shrinking odds on Trump's impeachment is not necessarily a signal that his stint in the White House is nearly over, nor that his own luck has run dry. The numbers will shrink in step with the direction in which the bets are made. It's as if the bettors believe that the American public voted, but got it wrong. If only there was another vote, another black and white, binary, box-ticking exercise in chance, superstition, and belief. A sort of fantasy re-run of the whole thing, driven by bettors and bookies; a counterfactual political narrative spurned on by the exchange of small sums of money. This is what it might mean when people are drawn en masse to political betting markets, when they cast their real money in accordance with their hearts and not necessarily their minds, and when the odds are slimming drastically on a presidential impeachment. It is a fittingly neoliberal signal of both desperation and hope. dolgachov via Getty Images Here in the UK, February is LGBT History Month, and this year sees in a momentous anniversary. Fifty years ago homosexuality was decriminalised in England and Wales. The Sexual Offences Act, 1967 was given royal assent on 27 July, days before the UK's most famous gay couple - Joe Orton and Kenneth Halliwell - were found dead. Orton, an enfant terrible revelling in his defiance of the norms of the time, would probably have had a very different creative life today. In many ways, 1967 was a seminal year for the UK's move into modern times. Besides the Sexual Offences Act, the year saw the introduction of the Abortion Act. Outside of the courtroom, there was the start of colour television and the birth of Radio 1. Advertisement I wasn't around in 1967, and never knew those dark days of illegality. But social attitudes can take time to catch up with the law, and I do know how 20 years later, old prejudices persisted. For me, a closeted teenager in the '80s, it was not a good time to know you were gay. Besides the hysteria whipped up by the AIDS scare and manifesto promises for cracking down on the 'promotion of homosexuality', the realisation that shocked me most was just how much people like me were hated by mainstream society. In 1987 - 20 years after decriminalisation - the British Social Attitudes survey revealed that three quarters of the population thought sexual relations between two adults of the same sex were always wrong (64%) or mostly wrong (11%). The '80s were a strange, confusing time to become sexually and politically aware. In the run-up to the 1987 General Election, the BBC's flagship 9 O'clock News had a soundbite from a working class voter in inner London who couldn't bring himself to vote Labour because he didn't want his son 'to grow up to be a queer'. The Labour initiative that had irked him so much was a teachers' resource library stocking the book Jenny lives with Eric and Martin, a translation of the Danish story showcasing different kinds of families. This was the stuff of a culture war, with social conservatives evoking the bogyman of the left's lunatic fringe - 'perverts' corrupting society, whilst endorsing liberation movements (or 'terrorists') overseas. At the same time, a radical economic agenda was being pursued by Thatcher and Reagan. As for mainstream opinion, I think the majority wanted to cling onto the familiar socially conservative view, but embraced the new radicalism of Thatcherite economics. Advertisement Slowly but surely though, attitudes changed, at least on social issues. By 2001, Ken Livingstone, once part of the 'lunatic fringe' derided by traditional Labour supporters as much as elements of the tabloid press, managed to introduce a gay partnership register. Divisive as he may have been, his idea eventually got taken up nationally in a civil partnership law, superseded by equal marriage - pulled off by a Conservative prime minister to boot. One by one, those old 'looney left' ideas, as espoused by the GLC - equal opportunity monitoring in employment, equality of provision of goods and services, shared parental leave, disability rights - came to pass. Massively controversial at the time, today they don't even raise an eyebrow. Yet as social attitudes have shifted leftwards, the right-wing consolidated its control of economic policy. And, one by one, ideas that teachers at my comprehensive school branded 'rabid right' - privatisation, low income tax rates, outsourcing of public services, and high VAT - became entrenched. Few people starting work today and paying the 20 per cent basic rate income tax would accept a return to the 33 per cent of the late '70s - and most would struggle to believe such a rate had ever existed. Not only that, but ideas my teachers wouldn't have dreamt of - zero hour contracts, the demise of final salary pensions, the gig economy - are now mainstream. It was a cloudy, spring day and my wife and I were sitting on a bench, waiting for the Regional Historical Museum to open its doors for the day. We were in Vratsa, a small town in northwestern Bulgaria, 2-hour's train journey north of Sofia. A statue of 19th century revolutionary Hristo Botev overlooked the pavement, the hero's arm clenched across his chest as if he were about to launch into a fervent call to rebel against the long-gone Ottoman oppressors. A gypsy boy approached us. The boy mumbled something in Bulgarian, a language we had failed to master despite several meetings with a tutor who emphasized grammar, rather than conversation. The boy held out his hand. Advertisement My wife shook her head, indicating that we didn't intend to hand over any money. We had heard about the Roma, and how they were discriminated against not only in Bulgaria, but elsewhere in Europe as well. We saw them picking through the garbage outside our modern apartment building. Their horse-drawn wagons battled to make their way up our cobblestone street. We knew to keep our distance. The boy smiled. He stuck out his hand even more enthusiastically. Suddenly, we realized what we had done. We had encouraged the boy, made him think that we were going to give him some coins. In Bulgaria, a nod of the head up and down means "no" while a horizontal shake, such as my wife had made, indicates "yes". The boy thought we had agreed to give him some pittance for his efforts. It wasn't easy to get used to the Bulgarian way of nodding one's head. What complicated the matter was that when Bulgarians speak with foreigners, they often accommodate them by reversing the motions. Advertisement This was only one of the things we had to learn about our new, temporary home. My job in online marketing had been relocated to the Bulgarian capital for two years and we were adapting to the challenges of living in the eastern European country. We soaked in everything, traveling extensively from the mountains to the sands of the Black Sea coast. What we saw amazed us. Alongside the country's desire to catch up quickly with the modern world, we sensed the strong desire of Bulgarians to preserve their past. While we noticed John Deere tractors cultivating the fields, we also came across farmers working their plots with horse-drawn plows. Villages and towns were preserved with 19th century Bulgarian renaissance architecture, and ethnographic museums depicting the fashion, religion, and customs of the past were a main attraction everywhere we went. The welcoming of spring by giving each other martenitsa - red and white string tassels worn until one sees a stork or a budding tree - Bulgaria. The costumed kukeri dancers with bells on their waists to chase away evil spirits - Bulgaria. The ubiquitous shopska - a vegetable salad with feta cheese sprinkled on top - Bulgaria. The reverence for roses and the respect for monasteries in a strongly secular country - Bulgaria. Advertisement Bulgarians are a proud people, still struggling to find themselves after their break from communism in 1989. In fact, the communist era is rarely discussed. The historical period that sets the Bulgarian mood is the country's fight for independence from the Ottoman Empire in the 1870s. Today, Bulgaria is a member, possibly the poorest member, of the European Union. Unemployment is on the rise and salaries are low. One gets the feeling that the country's older generation looks back fondly to a time when the state cared for everything in their lives. We encountered very few westerners on our travels. This we found a bit strange, because visiting Bulgaria is quite inexpensive. There are luxury hotels in Sofia, Varna, and at the Black Sea resorts, but in the country's interior, family-run establishments offer friendly, affordable accommodations with home-cooked meals. Bulgaria is off the beaten track for western tourism, but this is a shame. There is something for every type of tourist in the country. Fantastic beaches, ski slopes, picturesque villages, stunning mountain ranges, quaint monasteries, parks and nature reserves, and the hubbub and culture of modern Sofia. After living in Bulgaria for two years, there is much that attracts my wife and me for future visits. I write about Bulgaria because the world is completely unaware of this Balkan gem, a modern country with priceless traditions, an affordable tourist destination, a land of proud, hospitable people, a country worth exploring. andriano_cz via Getty Images MEP Geert Wilders is the Dutch politician who believes he can become the next Prime minister of the Netherlands in just a month's time, thanks to his anti-Islam/anti-migrants' stance and thanks to both Brexit and Donald Trump's win in the United States. What would his win mean for Britain's Brexit and for the EU? Geert Wilders, launching his campaign for the General election on Saturday, addressed some of his supporters in Spijkenisse, near Rotterdam. He also spoke to reporters in English to say: "Not all are scum, but there is a lot of Moroccan scum in Holland who makes the streets unsafe. If you want to regain your country, if you want to make the Netherlands for the people of the Netherlands, your own home, again, then you can only vote for one party." Advertisement Who is Geert Wilders? Why does he even matter? Wilders believes it is his destiny. In 2009, at the end of a party meeting in Venlo, near the German border, he was already saying: "At some point, it's going to happen and then it will be a big honour to fulfil the post of Prime Minister". A few days ago, however, Rotterdam's public transport company RET delivered a resounding blow to Geert Wilders' propaganda campaign in the second largest city in the Netherlands. When they were approached about Wilders' Party for Freedom controversial "Stop Islam" banner that the far-right party wanted to see advertised on the city's trams, RET turned the offer down on the basis that they are a public transport company and politically neutral. THE MEDIA FRENZY FOR POPULISM. After the Brexit result at the EU referendum in Britain and the victory of Donald Trump in the United States, the media frenzy first turned to the Austrian Presidential election where an independent candidate eventually won the re-run of the election's second round, then they turned to the Italian referendum which saw Prime minister Matteo Renzi resign. However, there was no second populist wave either in Austria nor in Italy. No Austrian far-right President and no "Italexit" the Eurosceptic press had imagined. Imagine their disappointment! Their obvious next targets to get populism right back on track was then a win in one, two or all three major elections that will take place in 2017: the General election in the Netherlands on 15 March, the Presidential election in France on 7 May and the Federal election in Germany on 24 September. Two other elections will also be of interest to the Brexit tabloids: the Local elections in Britain on 4 May and the General election in the Czech Republic on 28 October. Advertisement As the eyes of the alternative-facts/post-truth/fake-news press are now turning to the Dutch General election, it is essential to understand where the rise of Geert Wilders and his far-right party actually started, and how relevant that election will be in the coming months and years for Theresa May's Brexit negotiations with the EU27. THE EUROPEAN FAR-RIGHT CLUB. Surfing on Brexit, Trump and the good result of the far-right candidate Norbert Hofer in the Austrian Presidential election last December, Geert Wilders met French far-right Marine Le Pen, German far-right Petry Frauke and other European populists and nationalists -- though Nigel Farage was missing -- in Koblenz, Germany, last January, all united with one aim: "Making Europe Great Again" -- the very Europe they fight to destroy -- and one theme: "Patriotism as the policy of the future". Their favourite topics and openly stated common points are to be anti-Islam, anti-migrants, anti-freedom of movement, anti-euro, anti-EU, anti-Eurocrats, anti-establishment and anti-experts. Their election manifestos and propaganda leaflets include such tempting and seducing wording as "a choice of civilisation", "vote for them and continue with the chaos", "enough with the elites", "enough of experts", "put our people first", "put our country first", "get our country back", "make our country sovereign again", "the patriotic choice", "the new Europe", etc. Empty promises. Meaningless words. After the 1919-1920's "Communist International", are we witnessing in 2016-2017 the birth of the "Populist International"? CAN WILDERS BECOME PRIME MINISTER? Can Wilders ever win and become Prime Minister? It is possible and it will all depend on whether the government will find new solutions and new measures to bring to the table for the voters to see and trust with regard to unemployment, the economy, and the migrant crisis. Advertisement If Wilders is to win the general election, because of the way politics work in the Netherlands with many small parties in parliament, he would still need to convince another political party, or maybe more than one, to work with him in order to build a majority through a coalition government. That would force him to moderate his stance on pretty much everything. Last month, the Financial Times reported that Prime minister Rutte already ruled out entering into a coalition with Geert Wilders if he gets the most seats in the Dutch Parliament, telling Dutch television: "The chances that the VVD (PM's centre-right party) will rule with PVV (Wilders' far-right party) are zero. It's not going to happen." Because, of course, Geert Wilders "only" understands, listens, and speaks on behalf of the Dutch people... Mona Relief Organisation It's not so often in the media that we hear of the happenings in Yemen, but a lot is happening, a lot has happened. Since 2015 over 11,000 deaths have happened in Yemen. 2.2 million severely malnourished children stand to die in the coming months. Health facilities are almost non-existent. Whilst 80 percent of its population wait for aid to emerge through its blocked corridors, in the shadow of a dreadful famine. Mona Relief is an organisation which started from a single tweet and for the past two years has fed almost 8 million people in Yemen. Mona is the name of the lady who donated the very first $1000 for the organisation to make their first delivery of food to internally displaced people in the area of Harf Sufiyan in Yemen. Mona's generosity and spirit for humanity was infectious; she conveyed a message of positivity and compassion. Upon recognising and appreciating her spirit, the organisation was named after her. Advertisement Mona Relief Organisation I spoke to Dr R S Karim, the co-founder of Mona Relief, he has worked for the UN for a number of years, and his team are currently on the ground in Yemen: "For almost 24 months Yemen has burnt under a million different fires, and endures a million different humiliations. To please the ambitions of a powerful Oligarchy Yemen has been blockaded, and its people starved to death, Its hospitals, schools, bridges, places of worship, museums, historical landmarks, factories, fields, farms have been bombed, droned, shelled and burnt down" describes Dr Karim Yemen has been torn apart, looted and pillaged. It has a population of 27.4 million out of which a total of 17.1 million people are now struggling to feed themselves with 7.3 million of those in need of emergency assistance. An assessment by the UN's agencies for food and for children, FAO and UNICEF, and the World Food Programme, found "unprecedented" levels of hunger with the number of people who could not be sure of having enough to eat is up by three million in seven months. Advertisement Mona Relief Organisation The UN recently launched a 2.1bn aid appeal amidst the blockade, however Dr Karim raises concerns on how this will take place, he says "The UN fell far short of its target, this new appeal for 2.1bn is still subjective as donations have just started coming in and there are no assurances that the appeal will be successful either" The situation is dire, Dr Karim's team on the ground in Yemen report that the port of Al-Hudaydah is under a total blockade. The harbour cranes were bombed by the Saudis and four new mobile cranes brought by the World Food Program have not been allowed in and so they are currently waiting in a ship at sea. Keeping in mind that Saudi Arabia has so far bombed over 400 trucks carrying food, it is going to be vital that assurances and correct mechanisms are in place in order to ascertain uninterrupted flow of aid. "90% of all the aid comes through the port of Al Hudaydah and transported further inland to different governorates. The roads have been bombed and are rendered useless, so that is another issue which will have to be sorted, in order to ensure a successful flow of aid delivery." Advertisement Mona Relief Organisation Dr Karim explains how despite such difficult conditions Mona Relief is able to assist in the region. They are a 100% volunteer organisation and all donations collected go towards providing critical aid to the people of Yemen. "Mona Relief has the largest network of Volunteers in Northern Yemen, our network spans through the Governorates of Sa'ada, Marib, Sana'a, Hajjah, Amran, Al-Mahwit, Al-Hodeidah and beyond, We have solely relied on private donors, and of course this has meant that our means have been limited. But we believe that in time we will manage to raise a powerful organization. Our work is a work of collaboration and social cooperation. We help communities help themselves; we use communities to assist us in our efforts, allowing for our network of local volunteers to grow." Mona Relief Organisation From the very beginning the organisation stood firm on its decision to stir free from politics, to ensure that their approach to humanitarian assistance will remain true to its goals: helping those in need regardless of their background, their ethnicity or faith. "Mona Relief is the first and only organisation which delivers monthly aid to the community of 65 Yemenite Jewish Families and we also run an outreach program where our volunteers deliver aid house to house to the elderly and disabled, monthly food aid to a number of orphanages" he explains. Advertisement Mona Relief Organisation Mona Relief has also provided educational supplies, clothes, blankets and essentials to thousands of children and families. The organisation has certainly ignited a ray of hope in the lives of helpless Yemenis, but the brutal conflict continues as Dr Karim says "Unless a miracle happens unexpectedly, the chances of the conflict ending anytime soon are almost zero to none." Sadly, Yemen seems be joining Syria, Rwanda, Srebrenica and Bosnia, along with other tragedies as defining a historical crisis that the world just watched and did nothing about. Let's not allow Yemen to become just another forgotten crisis; let's do what we can to help, just like Mona did. The UK needs clear targets to reduce and eventually put an end to child poverty. This is the purpose of a Private Members' Bill sponsored by Dan Jarvis MP. The Bill places the duty on the government to set targets to limit both absolute and relative child poverty, to lay out a clear strategy, and to report to Parliament on progress made to meet the targets. The Bill intends to restore the benchmarks of the Child Poverty Act 2010, which were removed by the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016. According to the Department of Work and Pensions, the proportion of children in absolute low income (before housing costs) was 17% in 2014/15, substantially more than the 5% target of the Bill being discussed in Parliament. Furthermore, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has predicted a 3-point rise in absolute child poverty between 2016 and 2020 as a result of planned tax and benefit reforms. The government must "develop a comprehensive child poverty strategy and reinstate the targets and reporting duties on child poverty". These are not my words. The government read them last year in the report of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. This was one of its 60 recommendations, made after two years of careful analysis of the evidence provided by government officials and by civil society groups, including more than 70 organisations gathered in the Just Fair Consortium. Advertisement Also last year, the Committee overseeing compliance with the most widely ratified human rights treaty, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, recommended the UK to "set up clear accountability mechanisms for the eradication of child poverty, including by re-establishing concrete targets with a set time frame and measurable indicators, and continue regular monitoring and reporting on child poverty reduction". In a joint letter sent to the UK government less than one year ago, the UN Special Rapporteurs on Housing, on Rights of Persons with Disabilities, on Extreme Poverty, and on the Right to Food, highlighted the abolition of child poverty targets as one of the most concerning issues of the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016. The government must abide by the Sustainable Development Goals, which the UK contributed to bring to life in 2015. The first one of these Global Goals requires all countries, regardless of their level of development, to adopt targeted measures to eradicate poverty according to standards to be specified nationally. Economic and social rights are proclaimed in international treaties ratified by the United Kingdom. All countries must ensure the satisfaction at the very least of a minimum social protection floor, taking measures to the maximum of available resources to improve the level of enjoyment of all human rights. Advertisement Virginia Bras-Gomes, a senior member of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, visited London last week and met with political parties, civil servants, journalists and civil society groups. Ms Bras-Gomes reminded them of the UK's international obligations in relation to economic and social rights. In an unparalleled fashion, while Ms Bras-Gomes was in London, the Ministry of Justice disclosed publicly that the government does not intend to report on implementation of the 60 recommendations made by the UN Committee last year. This announcement is deeply regrettable and sends a harmful message to the world regarding the UK's commitment to the idea of international human rights. Thankfully, in spite of the government's reluctance, Parliament has the chance to make amends. We need a well-defined path to abolish child poverty in the UK. This requires precise targets to ensure that policies are based on evidence available to Parliament and to the public. Ben Pruchnie via Getty Images Break down the result of the referendum and you will see that the growing division in England and Wales is not between North and South - or even left and right - but between towns and cities. We are increasingly a country made up of two groups of people whose shared experiences, political priorities and outlook, on the surface, are united on the surface by very little at all. The difference, as the academic Will Jennings put it, lies in 'Two Englands' - one that believes the future will be better than the past, and another that believes the past was better than the future. Increasingly, cities play host to liberal optimists while towns are home to conservative values and traditions where anxiety is commonplace. This is why, on a whole host of areas - from immigration and the EU to crime and human rights - the country is increasingly tugged in two very different directions. Advertisement It wasn't always like this. Hostility to Britain's EU membership more than doubled outside of cities between 1997 and 2015, widening the gap with fairly consistent views in cities. Academics like Rob Ford and Matthew Goodwin have charted the growing frustration in towns and a sense that mainstream political parties no longer speak for them. This should be no surprise. Cities have dominated political and economic thinking for decades. Too often, as with Brexit, cities are wrongly treated as a proxy for national opinion. City leaders have a national voice, but there is no comparable platform for civic leaders in towns. Consequently, the issues that matter to the tens of millions living in towns - good bus services, green open spaces, thriving high streets - are almost entirely absent from the political debate. This is fuelled by an economic model that treats cities as engines of growth which, at best, drag surrounding towns along in the wake of metropolitan prosperity. It means life has got harder, less secure and less hopeful for so many people in towns in recent decades. The result has been attitudes to immigration, social security and the EU to harden. With Osborne's devolution model built on this trickle-down approach from cities to towns, there is little chance this will change. Advertisement This poses a profound challenge for Labour whose membership is increasingly unrepresentative of the country as a whole. This has got worse in recent months, with new members more likely to come from cities, often home owners in well-paid jobs. With five times more members in Islington than a town like Wigan, there is a risk that Labour's perspective will be skewed away from the needs and aspirations of people in towns across the country. But what looks like a crisis could - and should - be an opportunity. Labour holds power in the majority of our great cities in England and Wales; areas of strong economic growth, where jobs and opportunities are available and society is largely multicultural, tolerant and diverse. We also represent many of our great towns, each with their own character, shared history and experience, where the sense of community is palpable and people are strongly invested in the local area, intrinsic to their own future and their families. Our enduring failure to give voice to both groups has allowed growing frustration to spill over into support for far-right parties, and this will continue for as long as we fail to act. The impact of unchecked free markets and unresponsive government has fuelled similar anger across America and the rest of Europe. While Hillary Clinton won almost 3 million more votes nationally than Trump, it was fewer than 100,000 voters in towns across Middle America who felt abandoned by the Democrats and put Trump into the White House, while across France it is town dwellers who swell the ranks at Le Pen rallies. Unless we address fundamental concerns over security and the economy, Britain will remain divided and people will continue to find an outlet for those fears through populists who offer simple answers to complex challenges. To seek consensus in modern Britain is not to seek to split the difference with politicians like Donald Trump, to somehow concede that he might have a point. It means believing instead that nobody is unreachable or irredeemable, and that allowing one half of Britain to fight the other will lead only to further battles, no matter who wins in the short term. Advertisement An illustration relating to virtual assistants. (Photo : Getty Images) Huawei Technologies Co., the third-largest smartphone vendor globally, is preparing to enter the competitive world of digital assistants as it is developing its own voice-powered service. A team that consists more than a hundred engineers is currently in the early stages of the development of this technology at its Shenzhen, China offices. The efforts are aimed at the voice-powered service of different companies such as the Siri of Apple Inc., Alexa of Amazon.com Inc. and Google Assistant of Alphabet Inc. Advertisement Huawei's voice-powered service would communicate in Chinese languages and will target domestic users. The company will continue to work with Google and Amazon outside China while working on this digital assistant. Building its own assistant that will be an answer to Siri may help Huawei devices stand out in a crowded Chinese market, wherein a lot of Google service are blocked in the dominant Android smartphone operating system. The Google Assistant only currently runs on Google's Pixel smartphone, smartwatches and home speakers. Google is trying to get third-party device makers to pre-install its Google Assistant to their devices. Having a major Android smartphone manufacturer to build an in-house voice assistant may cause an issue on Google's plans. Spokespeople from either Huawei or Google declined to comment on this. Huawei is not the first Android smartphone manufacturer to develop its own voice-powered service. Last year, Samsung has acquired Viv Labs, a startup that is formed by some Siri founders, to serve as the basis for its own voice assistant. Samsung is planning to release the first batch of devices with this new technology later this year. Baidu Unc., China's search giant, also has announced its own service in 2015. Huawei is targeting a $33 billion profit in sales from its consumer business this year as it pushes upmarket with premium features. The company trails Apple and Samsung Electronics Co. in global smartphone shipments. Enterline Design Services LLC via Getty Images BREAKING: A 2,400 year-old Greek immigrant was reported to be amongst the casualties of the Bowling Green Massacre today. Ms. Aletheia, who had been suffering from a serious degenerative condition over the past several decades, sadly never fully regained consciousness. Mr. Pseudos, who claimed to be a close relative, said in a statement to the Daily Mail that he would be taking over the family business, and that his aunt had taken the news of the Swedish Incident extremely hard. In the past, authoritarian regimes and unscrupulous governments have gone to great lengths to engineer actual events in order to justify their subsequent actions in the eyes of their people. But today, in the world of alternative facts and fake news, where the media is portrayed as the enemy of the People, fictional atrocities can be created at will - and the faithful will believe that they really happened. Advertisement After Kellyanne Conway's fictitious Bowling Green Massacre was debunked, The White House didn't retract but doubled-down. They said that a biased media was deliberately concealing such terrorist attacks. They published a list of these incidents, and aside from ignoring the majority of attacks where Muslims were the victims, did not even mention an actual massacre at a Mosque in Canada the week before. All the events had in fact been covered by the international media, sometimes in great depth. The list also listed incidents that were not terror attacks, which caused distress to the families of the victims. Even though there was demonstrably no Bowling Green Massacre, despite the claim about deliberately censored media coverage being shown to be false, a poll revealed that more than half of Trump supporters believed that that the massacre was a real event. At his first re-election campaign rally in Florida (only 1 month after inauguration), in the middle of further denigrating the press and the judiciary and seeking to justify his Muslim Ban, Trump invented another fictional incident that took place "last night in Sweden." There was no such incident, and the Swedish press was left scratching their heads trying to figure out where this idea could have come from. Trump seems to have no concept of the truth, continuing to repeat the same lies (biggest crowd, biggest electoral win, highest murder rate, etc.) even after he has been directly challenged. But the message to the faithful is that his version of reality is the true one - it's the media that tells lies, that has an agenda, that is "the enemy of the people". Sean Spicer's first unhinged press briefing revealed the attitude of the Trump administration to the truth - "This was the biggest inauguration crowd ever - PERIOD". The truth is what Trump says it is, and there will be no debate, no question, no dissent, even when it that version of the truth is demonstrably and sometimes pre-eminently false. Advertisement We have the new term alternative facts, but what is much more damaging is the pejorative Trumpist newspeak, fake news. Originally coined to describe the clickbait that infects mostly US social media, studies showed that this fake news in some instances was being deliberately employed to influence the election. The biggest story was one that led to an armed attack on a pizza restaurant - the bizarre fiction that the Comet chain was a front for a paedophile ring linked to Hilary Clinton. Now fake news is being used daily by Trump and his supporters to attack any story or argument that they don't like. It has become an immediate dismissive non-response. Trump and his surrogates now don't even have to think about spinning an answer or responding with a no comment. Simply saying fake news not only evades having to answer, it classifies the question - and to some extent those that pose it - as being beneath contempt. In the UK, the brexit campaign managed a similar spin. When facts were presented either about the contribution to the economy provided by immigration or the catastrophic effects that brexit would have on the economy and local communities, they were branded as project fear. The word expert became a pejorative term, so that scientists, economists and academics could be immediately removed from any debate, their reasoning and opinions, though based in methodical analysis of facts, could be immediately discarded. Even as more and more of these predictions are coming true, this attitude remains. The warnings are still disregarded, blame being apportioned to either the previous Labour government or vindictive EU states. Trump is attacking the press in order to ultimately control it. He is putting himself forward as the only reliable source of truth, and his followers believe it without question. After all, they say, he is the President. He gets the intelligence briefings and the top secret documents that the people never see and are protected from. Trump knows best. There are without doubt Trump supporters out there that firmly believe that there was an Islamic terror attack in Sweden, but it is being covered up by a media conspiracy. Trump will not make the kind of attacks on the press that the UK government has in the past few years. The FBI will not be smashing up newspapers' computers with sledgehammers. They won't be criminalising journalists for doing their jobs. Trump will silence the media and remove their power by removing their credibility. And he will do this by making them defend the truth against his lies. Advertisement Some pundits have said that Trump is the super-troll, a narcissist who feeds on the attention their continued offensive messages and tweets causes. The best way to get rid of a troll is not to feed it, and so they've gone so far as to suggest that they don't send correspondents to the White House anymore, or they send second string or probationary staff, and news media should no longer invite Trump surrogates and staffers onto their programmes. However, Trump is the President of the United States. His job in some respects is to set the agenda. All the media can do is continue to do their jobs as if this was business as usual. But now, every time a correspondent gets fake news yelled at them, is told to be quiet, to sit down, or is deliberately ignored, Trump wins, and a little more respect for the free press is whittled away. The more desperate the correspondents get in order to be heard, the easier it becomes for Trump to say that he is being barracked and harangued. The more that the press stands together to support each other, the easier it is for Trump to say that they are conspiring against him. In victimising the press, Trump has succeeded in painting himself as the victim. The bully becomes the bullied. Is it just me or is anyone else struggling to work out just where the hell their views now fall on the political spectrum?? For example: I've always self identified as broadly 'left leaning.' In the EU referendum I voted Remain but find deeply alarming the attempts by apparent political 'liberals' and 'moderates' to override the democratic will of the people and to keep pushing until they get the result they want. Until recently this was known as attempting to subvert democracy and stereotypically the preserve of the hard left and extreme right. Advertisement In the past week, the darling of Guardian leader writers Tony Blair deigned to take the morning off from his extraordinary money making enterprises to re-enter the political fray. The deep irony of a man whose government did so much to sow the seeds of Brexit by alienating millions of traditional Labour voters now calling for the people to "rise up" to fight Brexit should be lost on precisely no one. Blair's social liberalism allied with economic liberalism carried forth by his natural successor David Cameron was always going to be a ticking time bomb for Labour but also, as it turned out, the country. But, still, it was good of Tony with his record of sublime long term judgement to let us all know where we'd gone wrong... On the subject of Britain's most complex political beast - the Labour Party - now, I'm no particular fan of likably ineffective Jeremy Corbyn, nor am I any kind of socialist but I can find little even remotely 'hard left' about the overwhelming majority of his ideas. For the thirty years after the Second World War the ideas he's espousing would have been universally described as the epitome of social democracy. A limited programme of re-nationalisation, investment in infrastructure, economic intervention to protect industry and support for small businesses as they struggle against globalisation are all straight out of the social democratic textbook. Yet when I switch on the TV or radio news, advocates of such policies are usually subjected to varying degrees of ridicule and introduced by apparently neutral broadcasters with the epithet 'far left' or 'hard left.' Okey dokey, but has nearly thirty years of drip fed normalising of extreme free market liberalism really pickled the brains of most 'neutral' commentators to the degree that unfettered capitalism is now the only show in town? Across the Atlantic, like the vast majority of semi rational beings, I find Trump and many of his ideas regressive, disturbing and downright stupid but the determination of a liberal American establishment, horrified at a thaw in Russian relations, pushing the 'reds under the bed' narrative is absolutely risible. In the same country hardline conservatives like John McCain are currently being clutched tightly to the bosom of US moderates. Work that one out! Advertisement Likewise, in Western Europe the liberal left are now the biggest bangers of the anti Russia drum and de facto best friends of the arms dealers and warmongers by keeping tensions as high as possible with Moscow. And, let's not even try to understand the thought processes that lead 'progressives' to support quasi fascists in Ukraine... The same applies with Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu. A man on the same page as Donald Trump on many issues and one of the few international leaders to be enthusiastic and vocal in support of the new US president. One could be forgiven for expecting the liberal/left in Britain and America to take to the streets in their tens of thousands to protest at the recent visits to Washington and London of such a divisive figure as Netanyahu. In reality? Barely a murmur of disapproval. We really are in a 'through the looking glass' phase of national and international politics with a dangerous growth of 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' dogma. Self styled moderates behaving like the right. Vexed liberals coming over all authoritarian. Reactionary western nationalists having a love-in with long time foe Russia. JackyLeung via Getty Images "We are either kings or pawns of men," said Napoleon Bonaparte. In his famous quote, he describes possibly the biggest challenge facing humanity as we move into a world driven by ever smarter, more manipulative technology. Are we truly in control of our destiny or is something else secretly pulling our strings? As technology advances, we are quickly becoming slaves to it, unaware of our intentional manipulation. It could be a simple post on Facebook only visible to those targeted or an automated response to your political tweet intentionally trying to anger you for the express purpose of affecting your choice to vote for a particular candidate. Are you happy, or sad, it could be very well a series of posts targeting you and only you and the worst part is you never even know it. Advertisement In 2014, Facebook admitted that it had manipulated the news feeds of randomly selected users to change the number of positive and negative posts they saw. It was part of a psychological study to explore how emotions are spread on social media. In an academic paper published in conjunction with two university researchers, the company reported that moods were contagious. The people who saw more positive posts responded by writing more positive posts. Similarly, seeing more negative content prompted the viewers to be more negative in their posts. The appearance of choice and free will are quickly giving way to algorithmic manipulation driven by sophisticated data analytics targeting us in an attempt to take command our beliefs. At the forefront of this trend is a Washington, DC company, Cambridge Analytica. It has developed a model to translate publicly available data into personality profiles used to predict, then ultimately change people's behaviour. A recent Scout article, "The Rise of the Weaponized AI Propaganda Machine" describes the tactics in great detail. "In 2013, Dr. Michal Kosinski, then a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Cambridge's Psychometrics Center released a groundbreaking study announcing a new model he and his colleagues had spent years developing. By correlating subjects' Facebook Likes with their OCEAN (personality) scores the team was able to identify an individual's gender, sexuality, political beliefs, and personality traits based only on what they had liked on Facebook." Advertisement Psychometrics, the study concerned with the theory and technique of psychological measurement isn't new. As long as there has been marketing and advertising we have tried to understand what motivates people to do something. What is new is the ability for this to be applied alongside artificial intelligence combined with micro-level demographic targeting. Or in other words, a capacity to target individuals in real-time. Zurich's Das Magazine describes Kosinski technique, "with a mere 10 'likes' as input his model could appraise a person's character better than an average coworker. With 70, it could 'know' a subject better than a friend; with 150 likes, better than their parents. With 300 likes, Kosinski's machine could predict a subject's behaviour better than their partner. With even more likes it could exceed what a person thinks they know about themselves." If that isn't bad enough, here's the scary part. All this information used to understand you is public. We freely give it away every day on various social media platforms. Each click, each like, each pause to view something, recorded. The more we interact with technology, the better it understand us, not only as a society but as individuals. People capable of being altered in ever so slight ways for the benefit of something or someone else. So not only can psychological profiles be created from your data, but your data can also be used in reverse to search for specific profiles. Maybe you are looking for all angry introverts, or maybe even all undecided Democrats? A slight push and your undecided Democrat voter is now a no show at election time, just to enough to push a swing state to the Republican or a Brexit voter to leave. Combining psychometrics and AI can be used to identify and modify people's behaviours. These modifications don't need to be major, a slight uptick in apathy is all that might be required in many cases, especially in elections. It was these small margins in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin that won Trump the election, thanks in part to hyper-targeted advertising from the Trump campaign to particularly disenfranchised groups. Advertisement There is no question humanity is quickly changing, our relationship with technology has become symbiotic. Sit in a park or on a train, and you'll see the majority staring aimlessly into their phones. In nature, this is known as a mutually beneficial relationship. But the question that we must ask is; how long does this remain mutually beneficial, and moreover, will we even realize when it is no longer? With many children consuming at least half of their daily meals at school, good nutrition in schools is more important than ever. All meals served in schools must meet strict nutritional standards, and lunchboxes should be no exception. Despite this, a report commissioned by the Food Standards Agency found only 1% of lunchbox meals met the same healthy standards as school canteen meals. More than four-fifths contained foods high in saturated fat, salt and sugar, only one in five contained any vegetables or salad and only half included a piece of fruit. Research suggests that providing well-balanced, nutritious school meals not only improves children's general health but also drives up standards in classrooms, with well-nourished pupils showing clear academic benefits. With this in mind, it's important for parents and school workers to collaborate in a bid to encourage and deliver healthy, nutritious choices every day. Advertisement A healthy balance No single food group will provide all the nutrients that growing children need. A balanced school meal should therefore follow the following formula: Energy-giving carbohydrates (such as bread, pasta, rice and potatoes); a source of protein (from lean meat, fish, eggs, beans and pulses); a dairy item (such as cheese or yoghurt); vegetables or salad, and a portion of fruit. Following this simple formula will help ensure that each meal provides the key nutrients children need for energy, weight management, cognitive function, growth and development. Sandwich savvy Sandwiches are the obvious choice for packed lunches, but the nutritional content depends largely on the filling. Spreads such as jam and honey have high sugar content and are low in protein, which is essential for growing tissues. Meals that are low in protein are also not as satisfying as proteinrich alternatives, so may leave children feeling hungry soon afterwards. With this in mind, some ideal protein-rich sandwich fillings include: Sliced ham, chicken or turkey with mixed salad Hummous and grated carrot Cream cheese with sliced tomato or cucumber Egg and cress Peanut butter Dark green salad leaves such as rocket and watercress are a great addition to any sandwich as they are higher in hearthealthy nutrients than standard iceberg lettuce, as well as being rich in flavour. Extra fillings such as sliced avocado (rich in beneficial monounsaturated fats) and beetroot (an excellent source of potassium, magnesium and iron as well as vitamins A, B6 and C) will provide a further nutrient-boost to any sandwich. Advertisement Brown vs. white Wholemeal bread and pasta contain more nutrients and fibre than white alternatives, meaning they take longer for the body to digest and keep children feeling fuller for longer. 'Best of both' varieties of bread (made with 50% white and 50% wholemeal flours) or wholemeal pitta breads are a good alternative for children who are more used to white bread. Healthy snacks Healthy snacks for children should provide a source of energy as well as a selection of key nutrients. Most crisps, chocolates and biscuits are high in sugar or fat but low in vitamins and minerals, meaning they provide very little nutritional benefit. They are therefore best as a treat a couple of times a week, rather than an everyday staple. More nutritious alternatives include: A small pot of nuts (in non-allergic individuals) Individually wrapped cheeses (such as Babybels or mini Cathedral City squares) Fresh or dried fruit (such as a banana, an easy-peel satsuma, dried apricots or a small box of raisins) Chopped vegetables such as celery, carrot sticks or cherry tomatoes Yogurts (opt for natural yogurt where possible, with fresh berries for natural sweetness) Vegetable crisps made with carrots, parsnip and beetroot Try to give them plenty of variety so they'll have enough energy to last throughout the day and won't get bored of the same textures and flavours. Snacks that include a mix of brightly coloured produce will also provide the most varied selection of beneficial nutrients. Association of University Directors of Estates' (AUDE) chair and director of estates and facilities at the University of Surrey Trevor Humphreys, discusses the effect of recent political events on the HE sector. Just over a month into 2017 and already we've seen significant change and political turmoil. Recent headlines have been dominated by the ambiguity of Theresa May's 'hard' Brexit and the inauguration of Trump. But what does this mean for the higher education sector? Advertisement The Brexit effect Brexit will have a tremendous impact not only in the UK, but internationally. Undoubtedly the sector will be affected in many ways including our student demographic, our workforce, our costs, as well as international research funding. Historically, the UK has been the biggest destination for European students heading to study abroad. Changing attitudes towards immigration and restrictions on border control may have a substantial effect on our ability to entice to the UK global talent. Recent UCAS figures indicated that the number of EU students applying to UK universities has already fallen by seven per cent since Brexit. International students bring significant economic, social and cultural benefits to the UK, however at this time of uncertainty our continuing ability to attract students and staff from the EU and abroad is a real concern. From 2011-2012 international revenues amounted to nearly 5.7 billion from student fees, representing over 20% of all university income. The impact of any change to such a significant income stream is clear - but until we have clarification over whether the student numbers will be included within the Government's new immigration targets and how international students might feel about applying to study in the UK post Brexit, we can't be sure of how big an impact this will have. Despite these areas of concern, change brings new opportunities. The UK is world-leading in attracting overseas students and we remain a very attractive proposition as compared to other countries aiming to attract international students. According to a recent Times Higher Education report, five UK institutions were named among the top 10 "most international". Many of our higher education institutions are global research powerhouses; it would be prudent for other universities to focus on strategies to develop or maintain their credentials as international universities so to exploit new markets in the lead up to Brexit. It follows that it is crucial to ensure the learning and teaching environments are fit for purpose, that staff are flexible and have strong values, that courses focus on co-curricular, employability and industry partnering, that students are given choice, that research is impactful and that universities develop and maintain strong relationships with their communities. Advertisement The Trump card We know that higher education has become a globalised sector, with growing numbers of students seeking to study a degree outside of their home country. According to a recent report by University UK in 2011-12 the UK has 435,235 overseas students, and 70% were from outside the EU. The UK is currently the second most popular destination for international students after the United States and in the wake of Trump's immigration rhetoric, the US' appeal to overseas students may weaken. Brexit may mean Brexit, but in comparison to concerns around studying in the US, it may be possible Britain and other English speaking countries such as New Zealand and Canada, will benefit as an attractive location for non-EU students who would have looked to America last year. Net immigration targets are a constant source of worry to the higher education sector and if the government refuses to exclude overseas students from these targets, it may result in universities seeing further reduction in applications from overseas students. It is more important than ever that we create an enticing environment for non-EU students. This means strengthening our attraction to compete effectively against wider international universities in countries such as New Zealand and Canada. From an estate and facilities perspective there will be a need to ensure a strong focus on quality and efficiency to showcase value for money. We need to continue to create environments in which students learn, study, live and where staff work, that we can be suitably proud of. A campus should create a strong sense of place where international students can feel part of a wider and inclusive community. There is a clear link between a student's choice of institution and the quality of the estate, so facilities must be world class to compete with global institutions. In China's Male-Dominant Population, Chinese Dating App Provides Safeguards for Women for More Tailored Matchmaking Beijing office worker surfs the Internet looking for love at a cafe in Beijing. (Photo : Getty Images) Finding a spouse in China is clearly not as straightforward as it once was, as there are approximately 200 million single adults in China currently. As online dating was proven popular in the country, women often said they feel harassed on such sites due to user gender imbalance. A dating app is trying to combat this by protecting women users through their new app features. Advertisement Online dating has been the global modern-day answer to courting. Momo, China's biggest online dating app, has currently received 23 million active users. Due to issues on gender imbalance and the hostile online atmosphere of Momo that women refers to as "stalking," its user numbers started plummeting by 50 percent in 2015. Tantan, often referred to Chinese Tinder, is trying to combat this by placing safeguards against inappropriate content. Tantan is a location based application wherein users swipe the profile pictures of people recommended to them depending on the user's liking. Swipe right if you like the user and swipe left to skip the user. The conversation begins when both users reply with "like" swipes. The company placed a security feature wherein users only matched after manually verifying both of their profile pictures and personal information to prove authenticity. They also placed an automatic notification to the female user if a male user either sends any suspicious content or makes overt sexual references to her. If the female confirmed the notification, the male's account is deleted. The new features of the app have proven to be effective, as the company indicates that it keep the male to female ratio to approximately 6:4. and the abuse reporting rate on Tantan is now at 1 percent. According to Yu Wang, the CEO and founder of Tantan, the daily active users of the app has also increased due to the increased sense of security women feel. Bill Self, Kurtis Townsend won't be on sidelines for KU's first four games Who should control the Internet? That was the question the Obama administration sought to answer last fall, when the U.S. Department of Commerce ended its long-standing contract with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. ICANN is the nonprofit that performs the small but significant function of governing the Internets system of website and domain namesmanaging its address book, so to speak. The Internet began as a project of the U.S. Department of Defense in the 1960s, and since its creation in the late 1990s, ICANN had remained under U.S. supervision. By bringing the contract to a close, President Barack Obama freed ICANN to act autonomously. The Republican response was apoplectic. Like Jimmy Carter gave away the Panama Canal, Obama is giving away the Internet, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas said. John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the UN, characterized it as a mistake of such colossal proportions that you would have thought wed have a huge debate about it in this country. Stephen Miller, a campaign aide to Donald Trump, lamented, Internet freedom will be lost for good, since there will be no way to make it great again once it is lost. Such criticism was not just hyperbolic; it was also fundamentally misplaced. The Obama administration did not give away the Internet; what it did was relinquish a vestige of U.S. control over a domain that had long since expanded beyond the mastery of any one entity. And by reducing its oversight, the United States made a savvy decision that will protect the very features of the Internet nearly everyone cares about most: its openness, diversity, and fundamental resilience. What Obamas critics miss is that as the Internet grew into a truly global resource, so did pushback against the United States relationship with ICANN. In the view of many governments around the world, it was well past time not just for the United States to cede its role as steward of the address book but also, more broadly, for a multilateral group of states to assume greater control over the Internet. That is a dangerous aspiration, however, for it could undo the stability and openness that make the Internet so valuablewhich is why the Obama administration sought to prevent it. Rather than weaken U.S. influence over the Internet, permanently severing ties with ICANN has diminished the specter of greater state control, helping protect an essential forum for global politics, culture, and economics from those who wish to change its very nature. THE DARK AGES OF THE INTERNET To understand the merits of devolving more power to ICANN, and what it portends for the future of the digital realm, its necessary to take a brief dive into the history of the Internet. The worlds largest and most spectacular communications technology began in the 1960s as a Defense Department project called the ARPANET. A tiny system with only a few nodes, the ARPANET was designed neither for mass use nor for commercial application. The first message was sent from the University of California, Los Angeles, to Stanford University in the fall of 1969. (It was lothe programmers had been typing login when the system crashed.) Five decades later, the Internet reaches around the globe and boasts some 3.5 billion users and counting. Ensuring that all of them can reliably find what they are looking for requires a method of standardizing and organizing Internet Protocol, or IP, addressesthe labels that allow someone who types into his or her browser, say, foreignaffairs.com to reach the website of Foreign Affairs. Without allowing this ability, the Internet would be not a comprehensive, globe-encircling web but an unreliable series of Balkanized, and perhaps censored, mini-networks. As arcane as it may seem, the responsibility for creating and organizing this address book comes with substantial political and legal powers, such as the authority to create new national domain suffixes (think .tibet, .isis, or .california) and the power to enforce intellectual property rights online. Well into the 1980s, few people had the ability or the desire to go onlineit was mostly just a small coterie of engineers, academics, and hobbyists who didand so the Internets address book remained thin. In fact, the early Internet was so small that one man, the computer scientist Jon Postel, essentially ran the address book from his office in Los Angeles. But in the early 1990s, the Internet began to change rapidly. Spurred by the creation of webpages, user-friendly browsers, and dial-up service providers, the Internet transformed into a mainstream commercial and social space. Domain names and websites skyrocketed in value; ownership disputes followed close behind. These disputes centered not only on the question of who had the right to use a given domain name but also, and most important, on who controlled the right to award one. Because the Internet evolved organically, with little thought that it would become a major economic and social resource, basic questions such as these were surprisingly hard to answer. In 1995, the National Science Foundation, which had developed its own ARPANET-like network, called a conference to get to the bottom of the matter. Who, if anyone, really controlled the Internet? Military officials argued that because the Defense Department had funded the original ARPANET, it owned the Internet, too, and, therefore, the address book. Other officials were skeptical. The modern Internet had many of the same technical features as the ARPANET, but in its scale, scope, and social utility, it bore almost no resemblance. The federal government had never previously asserted that its initial funding should give it legal ownership over the Internet. Moreover, it possessed no statutory authority over the awarding of domain names. No one disputed that the Internet had been launched in the United States with federal funding. But the precise scope of the governments legal authority was extremely hazy. THE BIRTH OF ICANN By the late 1990s, Internet use was growing explosively, and such uncertainty had become untenable. The administration of President Bill Clinton argued that the solution was simple: the Internet should be run by the private sector. U.S. adversaries such as China, Iran, and Russia disagreed. Keen to control this novel communications system, they began to argue that it ought to be governed by them, or at least by the UN in a multilateral fashion. One UN agency, the Geneva-based International Telecommunication Union, which manages the radio frequency spectrum and establishes standards for communications services, viewed the Internet as a natural part of its portfolio. Having seen its powers diminished by the deregulation of the telephone industry, the ITU was searching for a new raison detre. It found one in the Internet. As a global resource, the ITU contended, the Internet ought to be governed globally, not by one country. But when, in 1997, the ITU sought to insert itself into Internet governance by hosting a signing ceremony for an agreement on domain names negotiated among several nongovernmental organizations, it generated substantial pushback from the United States. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright blasted the ITU for holding a global meeting involving an unauthorized expenditure of resources and concluding with a quote international agreement unquote. The Obama administration did not give away the Internet. The Clinton administration feared that if the Internet were governed by a multilateral body such as the ITUone that states firmly controlledits best features could be lost. It would become more vulnerable to censorship and control by governments with weak track records on freedom of expression and little tolerance for political dissent. And it might ultimately splinter into a series of regional or national networks rather than remain one global Internet. To try to thwart the increasing attempts to assert multilateral control, in 1998, Clinton set in motion a new policy. Rather than increase federal control over the Internet, he sought to devolve authority to the private sector. And so he instructed the Commerce Department to issue a call for proposals for a new body to which the U.S. government could transfer day-to-day management of the address book. The result was ICANN. The organization operated under a contract issued by the Commerce Department, which delegated to the group the responsibility for managing the domain name system and, more broadly, required it to keep the Internet running smoothly. ICANN could not alter existing policies without federal approval; the initial contract even specified which individuals at ICANN would have responsibility for various tasks. Over time, the contract granted ICANN more autonomy, and by the end, the U.S. governments role had become largely symbolic. But it never backed down on one constraint: ICANN had to remain headquartered in the United States. ICANNs governance structure is Byzantine, but it succeeds in gathering together a strikingly wide range of voices. A nonprofit incorporated under California law, ICANN is financially self-sufficient, having earned nearly $200 million in revenue from user fees and domain name auctions during the last fiscal year alone. It is led by a board of directorscurrently chaired by Steve Crocker, a computer scientist who helped develop the ARPANETand a CEO. Representatives of various interest groups, such as intellectual property owners and noncommercial Internet users, help select and advise members of the board and, in some cases, develop policies. Separate advisory committees also guide policy. The most significant of these is the Governmental Advisory Committee, which includes state representatives and an array of international organizations. Further broadening the scope of input, all of ICANNs policy proposals are open for public comment. By creating ICANN, the Clinton administration chose to embrace even more firmly the existing, if somewhat ad hoc, tradition of multistakeholder Internet governance. Unlike traditional multilateral governance, this method is not state-driven; instead, it includes a diverse mix of businesses, nongovernmental organizations, and academics working alongside governments. The White House found the approach attractive because U.S. technology companies, academics, and nonprofits already dominated Internet governance, and it fit with the privatizing spirit of the times. But above all, the administration recognized that an Internet run by a wide range of public and private actors was more likely to be managed well, and more likely to remain open, global, and free, than one run simply by governments. Indeed, the Obama administrations choice to end what remained of direct U.S. oversight over ICANN represented the culmination of Clintons earlier decision. ICANN has its critics, and over time, it has tweaked its bylaws to improve its accountability and transparency and to rein in what some have seen as an overly powerful and insular board. But much like what Winston Churchill said about democracy, ICANNs convoluted approach is probably the worst form of Internet governanceexcept for all the others. THE PERILS OF MULTILATERAL CONTROL Without question, the Internet has thrived since ICANNs creation. The last two decades have witnessed spectacular growth in the digital domain. But despite ICANNs success, the United States continuing special role only intensified the desire of other states to gain more control. At a 2012 conference facilitated by the ITU in Dubai, for instance, China, Russia, and other countries sought to negotiate an accord that would introduce rules requiring parties sending digital information to pay to reach users and that would generally enhance the ability of governments to filter and throttle content. The United States, along with 54 other countries, including Australia, India, Japan, and most of Europe, refused to sign it. But it was clear that calls for multilateral governance were mounting. Multilateral control may seem an equitable arrangement, but it would risk ending the Internet as we know it. Many governments around the world fear the free flow of information that the Internet fosters, and they would have an easier time censoring content on a multilaterally governed Internet. Invoking sovereignty, they could block services, disable websites, and thwart political opposition. At the Dubai conference, for instance, governments proposed innocuous-sounding rules over spam that the United States and its allies feared would provide governments with new ways to control mass social mobilization. As the campaign for multilateral governance gained momentum, the Obama administration faced a choice: Should it extend its relationship with ICANN in an attempt to maintain the United States traditional role as steward of the Internet, and thereby risk encouraging greater efforts to establish multilateral control? Or should it set the organization free? The administration chose the latter option and accelerated what had been planned since the Clinton years: a handoff to ICANN that would further embed multistakeholder governance and preserve the fundamental structure that so many value in the digital domain. Adding to the sense of urgency, in 2013, Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor, released classified documents revealing the NSAs widespread surveillance of Americans and foreigners, sometimes undertaken with the participation of U.S. technology and communications firms. The NSAs programs had no direct connection to ICANN, but their disclosure raised hard questions about how much foreigners could trust the U.S. government and U.S. technologies, which dominate the digital domain. In April 2014, Brazil hosted a conference on Internet governance known as NETmundial, at which the countrys then president, Dilma Rousseffwho, as Snowden revealed, had herself been a target of NSA surveillancegave a forceful opening address in which she declared a one-sided, unilateral Internet untenable and called for all governments to participate in Internet policy on an equal footing. Many participants shared her sense of anger, but their outrage had been softened by a well-timed statement by the U.S. government. Just a month before the meeting, the Commerce Department had announced that it would soon allow ICANN to operate independently. SETTING THE INTERNET FREE On October 1, 2016, the Obama administration fulfilled that promise when it allowed the Commerce Department contract to expirealthough not without a flurry of last-minute court filings by Republicans aimed at stopping the transition. For many in the Internet community, the transfer marked the triumph of an Internet whole and free over one fractured and controlled. Despite Republican claims to the contrary, the move also represented a win for the United States. Since ICANNs inception, U.S. interests have been well served by the organizations inclusive approach to Internet governance. ICANN has many flaws, to be sure, and it does not always side with the U.S. government. (The George W. Bush administration fought the creation of an .xxx domain, for example, but ultimately failed to block it.) That is all to the good: if ICANN consistently favored U.S. interests, it would lose legitimacy and stop serving as an effective check on the ambitions of many states, such as China and Russia, to assert greater state control. This threat has not abated. In November 2016, China held its own global summit on Internet governance, which President Xi Jinping attended. Xi declared that China would continue to promote equitable global Internet governance and repeated his call for cyber-sovereignty: code for greater government control over all things digital. This is the alternative vision for the Internet that the Obama administration sought to neuter. At the end of the day, the Internet is not virtual but quite physical. It relies on cables, routers, and servers overseen by a panoply of firmsall of which are subject to the jurisdiction of the country in which they reside or operate. Ultimately, the people who make the machinery of the Internet hum are vulnerable to state action. They would be all the more so if like-minded states were able to work in concert to put an end to an open and global Internet. That was one risk of insisting that the U.S. government preserve its special role. Another was that some kind of multilateral system of management could arise without U.S. consent. These risks are hard to quantify, but they are also hard to dismiss. Far better for the United States to keep the Internet relatively free and unfettered, and let go of the steering wheel. Indeed, in many respects, the U.S. governments strategy of embracing a multistakeholder framework to lock in its basic preferences on Internet governance contains parallels to U.S. grand strategy after World War II. U.S. leaders in that era understood that the United States could best sustain its newfound superpower status by creating a global order that provided public goods, reduced some of its policy autonomy, and offered participation to weaker states. The result was a raft of cooperative international institutions, from the UN to the World Bank. For the Internet, likewise, devolving power to a diverse group of actors that share the United States basic values furthers U.S. interests. It does so by ensuring that the existing online order becomes self-sustaining, kept alive not through U.S. power but through the shared effort of the unique mix of corporations, technical wizards, digital evangelists, and government regulators who have run the Internet for over two decadesand who will work to safeguard it for generations to come. Source:https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/world/2017-02-13/internet-whole-and-free The StateAgency of Bulgaria has officially launched its own website. E-gov.bg is designed to take over the management of state registers and services.One of its structures (the Bulgarian Computer Security Incidents Response Team or CERT ) also manages cybersecurity or, having processed 188 alerts about online breaches since the year began.On its Bulgarian-language website, theAgency says some 45% of the attacks analyzed by CERT are the so-called Distributed Denial of Service (DDos) which block a service by overwhelming it with traffic.Malware attacks and phishing sites are less frequent (21% and 15% of all, respectively) if compared to DDoS cases. SPAM alerts constitute only 5% of the total.E-gov.bg is a structure different to Egov.bg ("The government services and information portal") which will soon create a register of all e-services offered by the public administration. Source: http://www.novinite.com/articles/178881/Bulgaria's+e-Government+Agency+Launches+Website Children's health is compromised by the bad air quality in China's major cities. (Photo : Getty Images) Just the past Spring Festival, air pollution in Beijing and other urbanized areas in China reached critical levels and life-threatening. The worsening air quality is forcing families to relocate. Advertisement "I don't want my child to suffer from environmental pollution like I did when I was young," said Xu Ke, a founder of a start-up company and a resident of Beijing for 16 years. He and his wife decided to move to Shenzhen because the past incident of red alerts prompted him to make a decision to change their home base. They have a 3-year-old daughter. Xu said, "Our daughter started to wear masks when she was only one year old. She doesn't like it, and when we need to go out on a smoggy day, she cries and refuses to wear it, which makes me feel sad." He added that the situation was "really depressing" as they prepare to leave the city by the end of the year. There are other Beijing city dwellers who decided to leave the country altogether. This is what happened to a stay-at-home mom named Sharon Long who moved to Belgium. She recalled, "We had the air purifier running all day, and every time our son wanted to go out and play, we would check the weather and put a mask on him, but that still didn't change anything." "Although life in Belgium is very different from life in Beijing, at least we don't have to worry about our family's health," she added. Xu is thankful that Beijing is not the only city where one can find decent work. With the fast urbanization of many Chinese cities like Hangzhou and Chengdu, there are more options now than before. "Popular second-tier cities, such as Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province and Chengdu in Sichuan Province, are all good options. Beijing is no longer the only one," Xu said. The International Labor Organization predicted that the fast pace of urbanization in China will likely lead to more occupational health hazards among the workforce. The San Jose City Council is considering a proposal to install over 39,000 smart streetlights. A pilot program is already underway. These smart streetlights are not themselves a surveillance technology. But they have ports on top that, in the future, could accommodate surveillance technology, such as video cameras and microphones. EFF and our allies sent a letter to the San Jose City Council urging them to adopt an ordinance to ensure democratic control of all of that communitys surveillance technology decisionsincluding whether to plug spy cameras into the ports of smart streetlights. What Are Smart Cities? Under smart cities programs like the one in San Jose, many municipalities across the country are building technology infrastructures in public places that collect data in order to save energy, reduce traffic congestion, and advance other governmental goals. Some of these programs may improve urban life, and EFF does not oppose smart cities per se. But we have a word for government use of technology to document how identifiable people are living their lives in public spaces: surveillance. And we strongly oppose the web of street-level surveillance that is rapidly spreading across our urban landscapes. It invades privacy, chills free speech, and disparately burdens communities of color and poor people. There is an inherent risk of mission creep from smart cities programs to surveillance. For example, cameras installed for the benevolent purpose of traffic management might later be used to track individuals as they attend a protest, visit a doctor, or go to church. Democratic Control of Spy Tech To prevent this mission creep, communities must adopt laws ensuring democratic decision-making and oversight of surveillance technology. All too often, police chiefs and other agency executives unilaterally decide to install new spying tools. Instead, these decisions must be made by elected city councils after robust public debate in which all members of the community have their voices heard. Communities will reject some proposed surveillance tools, and require strong privacy safeguards for others. Last year, EFF supported the enactment of an ordinance in Santa Clara County that requires democratic control of spy tech decisions. We now support similar efforts for BART, Oakland, and Palo Alto. Our letter to the San Jose City Council urges them to adopt such an ordinance. Our allies on this letter are the ACLU (Santa Clara Valley Chapter), Asian Americans Advancing Justice, the Coalition for Justice and Accountability, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (San Francisco Bay Area Office), the Center for Employment Training, the Japanese American Citizens League (San Jose, Sequoia, and Silicon Valley Chapters), the Nihonmachi Outreach Committee, the Peninsula Peace and Justice Center, and The Utility Reform Network. Privacy By Design Privacy by design is an equally necessary means to ensure that smart cities do not devolve into surveillance programs. Privacy by design means that technology manufacturers and municipal purchasers must work together at all stages of product development to build privacy safeguards into smart cities technologies. It is not enough to bolt privacy safeguards onto completed tools at the last minute. Privacy by design has substantive and procedural components. Substantive protections include limits on initial collection of personal information; encryption and other security measures to control access to that information; and strong policies restraining use and disclosure of that information. A critical procedural measure is for cities to employ their own privacy officers. With the great power of smart cities tools comes the great responsibility to competently manage them. A privacy officer must have expertise in the technological, legal, and policy issues presented by these powerful tools. Absent such in-house expertise, cities may inadvertently create privacy problems, or unduly defer to the privacy judgments of vendors, which will not always have the same privacy goals as cities. Next Steps Now is the time for San Jose to ensure that its smart streetlights do not become another tool of street-level surveillance. To do so, San Jose must adopt an ordinance ensuring democratic control of decisions about surveillance tools. It must also practice privacy by design. Otherwise, residents may find that the new "smart" technologies designed to improve their lives have instead become tools of government spying. Holiday Hours: Presidents Day Gen. George Washington taking command of the Continental Army in Cambridge in 1775. Washington's Birthday will be celebrated on Monday, Feb. 21. The holiday was first enacted by Congress in 1879 to mark George Washington's birthday on Feb. 22 and later moved to the third Monday in February in 1968. While the name of the federal holiday remains Washington's Birthday, it is more often referred to as Presidents Day to include the birthday of Abraham Lincoln on Feb. 12. Washington was born in 1732 (or Feb. 11, 1731, according to the old-style calendar) in Colonial Virginia. A Founding Father, he would lead the new nation as head of the Continental Army in the Revolution and as its first president under the U.S. Constitution for two terms. He died Dec. 14, 1799, at his home in Mount Vernon. His military background brought him to Cambridge in 1775 as commander of the newly formed army just months after the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Cannon taken from Fort Ticonderoga were dragged through the Berkshires on their way to Dorchester Heights, where Washington placed them to force the British out of Boston in 1776. (Celebrated in Suffolk County as Evacuation Day on March 17.) During the yearlong siege, Washington stayed at a house that would later become known as the home of literary giant Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a frequent visitor to the Berkshires. His vice president was John Adams of Quincy, who would become the first president to live in the new capital of Washington, D.C. Lincoln, our 16th president who led the nation through a bloody Civil War, was born in 1809 in Kentucky. During September 1848, he spoke at the Whig convention in Worcester as well as in New Bedford, Dedham, Lowell and Boston but apparently not in the Berkshires. His son, Robert Todd Lincoln, attended Harvard and later lived in Manchester, Vt., at Hildene. While Washington and Lincoln never slept here, a number of other presidents did, or at least spent time in the Berkshires. In Massachusetts, the holiday is "unrestricted" in that businesses may open at will without permits or special pay provisions. Closed: Federal, state and local offices; no mail delivery. A group of food delivery drivers line up as they prepare for work along a street in Beijing. (Photo : Getty Images) The online food ordering industry on China currently has issues with regards to restaurants operating without licenses, false advertising of food and food safety. In order to deal with these, China's top food authority has drafted and publicized a new regulation which covers the online-ordering industry as well as other third-party platforms. Advertisement The Food and Drug Administration of China states that online food providers are required to have physical stores. Besides these, they are also required to strictly run their businesses based on the criteria of their business licenses. Online food providers are also obliged to show full copies of their business licenses either on their websites or on the third-party platforms that they use. If there are changes to their business licenses, they must update it in a timely fashion. Besides this, providers were also ordered to use safe materials to contain and transport their food to ensure the safety of it. If providers don't comply with the regulations, they will face a fine of between 5,000 and 10,000 yuan from the food authority. For third-party platforms, the regulation indicates that they should record all the details of each order, including the food's name, time of order, destination as well as the time of arrival to the customer. These records should be kept at least 6 months. They are also required to make spot checks and inspections about the business process of the online food providers. Besides this, third-party platforms should also make sure that the advertisements of the online food providers that are posted on their platforms are in accordance with the physical stores. Once illegal behaviors have been found by third-party platforms, they should stop service for the offending stores, then report them to local food authorities. Statistics in 2016 show that the volume of China's online food-ordering reached 176.15 billion yuan. Despite the huge number, illegal activities led to the closure of 225 online food providers in Beijing from December last year to early January this year. Workers union grieve the death of Kim Jong-nam. (Photo : Getty Images) The half-brother of Kim Jong Un was murdered at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport by three suspected Asian women. He was on his way to visit his family in Macau. There has been no next of kin that has come forward to claim the body. The Malaysian government has asked the family of Kim Jong Un to come forward so the government can complete their investigation. Advertisement Since the murder, China and the U.S. are put in an uneasy position. The two superpowers have been criticizing the socialist country on nuclear arms testing. Despite the criticism, Kim Jong-nam's two families in Beijing and Macau have received protection from China. North Korea has been importing heavily from China, making the two countries tight trade partners. However, trade between North Korea and China have decreased in the past two years. Total imports from China totaled to $5.4 billion in 2016. Deng Yuwen, a public affairs commentator in Beijing, said, "Kim Jong Un has been testing China's patience." He added, "Beijing wouldn't want to see the total collapse of the Kim regime, it would hope for the replacement of Kim Jong Un. This is why Kim was increasingly worried about his half-brother." Analysts also said that China will not totally abandon its relations with North Korea since the country's geophysical location is strategic to its position to the U.S. Yang Xiyu, former director of the China Foreign Ministry's Office for Korean Peninsula Issues, added that the murder of Kim Jong Un's half-brother signifies a weakness in North Korea's internal politics and China will use this as leverage. He said, "It becomes even harder for China to restrain North Korea with a delicate bilateral relation like this. Beijing won't be happy with the death of Kim Jong-nam, but it will not overact either." China is also opposed to North Korea's plan to deploy nuclear weapons, and an opportunity to enhance a military partnership between China and the U.S. Shi Yongming, an associate researcher from the China Institute for International Studies, said, "If the U.S. side really treats the Korea peninsula as one of its top international priorities, there is a lot of room for the Chinese-U.S. cooperation." New Zealand has long been a global leader in developing effective energy markets, renewable energy and establishing robust policies for electricity security, linked to its unique natural resource base and geography. Over the past decade, New Zealands growing energy needs have outpaced improvements in energy efficiency, mainly because of the countrys expanding economy and growing population, according to the International Energy Agencys latest study of New Zealands energy policies. The report, Energy Policies of IEA Countries: New Zealand 2017 Review, points out that staying competitive in industry, while limiting greenhouse gas emissions outside of the power generation remains a technology and policy challenge. New Zealand set ambitious goals to cut its greenhouse gas emissions to 30% below 2005 levels by 2030. To be in line with the Paris Agreement, it will have to adopt policies supporting the energy system transformation, encouraging greater energy efficiency, electrified transport and expanding renewable energy in the buildings, heat and industry sectors. The IEA commends New Zealand for its new initiatives, the electric vehicle programme and the update to the New Zealand Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy. Government policies, including targets and standards, are needed to open up the potential of energy efficiency in industrial heat, buildings and transport. Strong standards and policies will guide technology innovation and growth, Dr. Fatih Birol, the IEA Executive Director said when presenting the report today. New Zealand is a world-class success story for renewables and has excellent opportunities for using even more renewable energy in heat, but also in power supply and for the electrification of transport. New Zealand serves as a model for effective energy markets and secure power system operation. But the IEA report shows that security of supply cannot be taken for granted, and can be strengthened through a strategic reserve auction. The countrys unique hydro-based power system brings challenges for maintaining physical security of supply. A purely market-based system may not provide a timely or fully effective response to low water levels at all times. Security of supply will also be strengthened by boosting investment in the countrys large oil and gas resource base. The role of gas has grown in the residential sector, in power generation, and industry. However, New Zealand is not connected to the global LNG markets and does not have long-term visibility for natural gas demand and supply. The IEA applauds New Zealands electricity and gas market reforms and encourages the market regulators to continue on this path. Despite ownership changes and partial privatisations, the electricity sector has only a few large players in combined retail and generation markets. However, the retail market is developing with smaller companies gaining ground across the country. As the energy sector becomes more decentralised and local, with greater shares of wind, solar, battery storage and electric vehicles, the government should make sure that consumers and market participants are encouraged to build a smart system. The widespread deployment of smart metering and the emergence of new technologies in New Zealand provide excellent opportunities for more efficient, innovative and competitive electricity retail and distribution. Since 2012, the Chinese government has tightened its grip on civil society, citing national security and stability as main motivations. (Photo : Getty Images) The Chinese Human Rights Defenders, a group that wants to fight corruption and promotes women empowerment, released a report stating the increase of use of torture and control over independent organizations. Frances Eve, a researcher for the group said, "Mr. Xi and his administration are really intent on shutting off any avenue for civil society to participate in the improvement of the Chinese nation." Advertisement She added, "The government is saying, 'you're not allowed to participate. This is something that only we the Communist Party can do.'" "And not only are they not letting people participate, but they're criminalizing activities to take part in public participation in governance and social issues," she said. According to the report, many have been deprived of a fair trial and the government wants to "expand already strict control over independent organizations, including their funding sources, staffing, and activities." Human-rights lawyer Li Fangping said that civil-society organization has been a focus of crackdown for decades. Aside from depriving the right to be organized, the group accused the Communist Party of targeting individuals who pose a threat to state power, which was apparent in the arrest of lawyer Zhou Shifeng. Zhou convicted of subversion when he started to pursue cases of the victims of the contaminated baby scandal. He "hired protesters to disturb the judicial system" and "attempted to manipulate public opinion and damage national security by spreading subversive thoughts" according to state media. Another human rights lawyer, Xie Yang, was tortured in 2015 and spent 100 hours with shackled arms and legs. His interrogator said to him, "I'm going to torment you until you go insane." The Human Rights Watch released another report that stated, "Individuals and groups who have fought hard in the past decade for human rights gains were the clearest casualties of an aggressive campaign against peaceful dissent." The group reported that in 2015, 280 human rights activists and lawyers were detained and interrogated. Forty people from this group were detained in secret locations without access to legal representation. These individuals were accused of "major criminal gang" that "seriously disrupts public order." The content you are trying to view is exclusive to our subscribers. To unlock this article: Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the IndyArts email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} During the first few weeks of the Trump administration, weve seen increased pressure on Muslim and immigrant communities in the United States. In the face of these threats, which Marvel superhero might be best equipped to defend the people, ideals and institutions under attack? Some comic fans and critics are pointing to Kamala Khan, the new Ms Marvel. Khan, the brainchild of comic writer G Willow Wilson and editor Sana Amanat, is a revamp of the classic Ms Marvel character (originally named Carol Danvers and created in 1968). First introduced in early 2014, Khan is a Muslim, Pakistani-American teenager who fights crime in Jersey City and occasionally teams up with the Avengers. Since Donald Trumps inauguration, fans have created images of Khan tearing up a photo of the president, punching him (evoking a famous 1941 cover of Captain America punching Hitler) and grieving in her room. But the new Ms Marvels significance extends beyond symbolism. In Kamala Khan, Wilson and Amanat have created a superhero whose patriotism and contributions to Jersey City emerge because of her Muslim heritage, not despite it. She challenges the assumptions many Americans have about Muslims and is a radical departure from how the media tend to depict Muslim-Americans. She shows how Muslim-Americans and immigrants are not forces that threaten communities as some would argue but are people who can strengthen and preserve them. After inhaling a mysterious gas, Kamala Khan discovers she can stretch, enlarge, shrink and otherwise manipulate her body. Like many superheroes, she chooses to keep her identity a secret. She selects the Ms Marvel moniker in homage to the first Ms Marvel, Carol Danvers, who has since given up the name in favour of becoming Captain Marvel. Khan cites her familys safety and her desire to lead a normal life, while also fearing that the NSA will wiretap our mosque or something. As she wrestles with her newfound powers, her parents grow concerned about broken curfews and send her to the local imam for counselling. Rather than reinforcing her parents curfew or prying the truth from Khan, though, Sheikh Abdullah says, I am asking you for something more difficult. If you insist on pursuing this thing you will not tell me about, do it with the qualities benefiting an upright young woman: courage, strength, honesty, compassion and self-respect. Her experience at the mosque becomes an important step on her journey to superheroism. Sheikh Abdullah contributes to her education, as does Wolverine. Islam is not a restrictive force in her story. Instead, the religion models for Khan many of the traits she needs in order to become an effective superhero. When her mother learns the truth about why her daughter is sneaking out, she thank[s] God for having raised a righteous child. The comics paint an accurate portrait of Jersey City. Her brother Aamir is a committed Salafi (a conservative and sometimes controversial branch of Sunni Islam) and member of his universitys Muslim Student Association. Her best friend and occasional love interest, Bruno, works at a corner store and comes from Italian roots. The citys diversity helps Kamala as she learns to be a more effective superhero. But it also rescues her from being a stand-in for all Muslim-American or Jersey City experiences. Kamalas brown skin and costume self-fashioned from an old burkini point to Marvel Comics desire to diversify its roster of superheroes (as well as writers and artists). As creator Sana Amanat explained on Late Night With Seth Meyers last month, representation is a powerful thing, especially in comics. It matters when readers who feel marginalised can see people like themselves performing heroic acts. As one of 3.3 million Muslim-Americans, Khan flips the script on what Moustafa Bayoumi, author of This Muslim American Life, calls a war on terror culture that sees Muslim-Americans not as complex human being[s] but only as purveyor[s] of possible future violence. Bayoumis book echoes other studies that detail the heightened suspicion and racial profiling Muslim-Americans have faced since 9/11, whether its in the workplace or interactions with the police. Each time theres been a high-profile terrorist attack, these experiences, coupled with hate crimes and speech, intensify. Political rhetoric like Donald Trumps proposal to have a Muslim registry or his lie that thousands of Muslims cheered from Jersey City rooftops after the Twin Towers fell only fans the flames. Scholars of media psychology see this suspicion fostered, in part, by negative representations of Muslims in both news media outlets and popular culture, where they are depicted as bloodthirsty terrorists or slavish informants to a non-Muslim hero. These stereotypes are so entrenched that a single positive Muslim character cannot counteract their effects. In fact, some point to the dangers of balanced representations, arguing that confronting stereotypes with wholly positive images only enforces a simplistic division between good and bad Muslims. Kamala Khan, however, signals an important development in cultural representations of Muslim-Americans. Its not just because she is a powerful superhero instead of a terrorist. Its because she is, at the same time, a clumsy teenager who makes a mountain of mistakes while trying to balance her abilities, school, friends and family. And its because Wilson surrounds Kamala with a diverse assortment of characters who demonstrate the array of heroic (and not-so-heroic) actions people can take. For example, in one of Ms Marvels most powerful narrative arcs, a planet attacks New York, leading to destruction eerily reminiscent of 9/11. Kamala works to protect Jersey City while realising that her world has changed and will change irrevocably. Carol Danvers appears to fill Kamala in on the gravity of the situation, telling her, The fate of the world is out of your hands. It always was. But your fate what you decide to do right now is still up to you Today is the day you stand up. Kamala connects the talk with Sheikh Abdullahs lectures about the value of ones deeds, once again linking her superhero and religious training to rise to the occasion. In both cases, the lectures teach Kamala to take a stand to protect her community. Arriving at the high school gym now serving as a safe haven for Jersey City residents, Kamala realises her friends and classmates have been inspired by her heroism. They safely transport their neighbours to the gym while outfitting the space with water, food, dance parties and even a non-denominational, non-judgmental prayer area. The community response prompts Kamala to realise that even if things are profoundly not okay, at least were not okay together. And even if we dont always get along, were still connected by something you cant break. Something there isnt even a word for. Something beautiful. Kamala Khan is precisely the hero America needs today, but not because of a bat sign in the sky or any single definitive image. She is, above all, committed to the idea that every member of her faith, her generation, and her city has value and that their lives should be respected and protected. She demonstrates that the most heroic action is to face even the most despair-inducing challenges of the world head on while standing up for and empowering every vulnerable neighbour, classmate or stranger. She shows us how diverse representation can transform into action and organisations that connect whole communities by something you cant break. Katie M Logan is assistant professor of focused inquiry at Virginia Commonwealth University. This article was originally published in The Conversation Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the IndyArts email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Millions have been thrilled to hear that His Dark Materials author Philip Pullman is back with the long-awaited follow-up to the famous trilogy. The Book of Dust had been referred to as early as the publication of The Amber Spyglass in 2000, but now its been confirmed that the first in a new trilogy will be published in October. Pre-orders have already propelled the first title to the top of the bestseller lists, and speculation is running riot. This autumn Pullman fans will be able to take an exhilarating dive back into the fictional worlds of a master storyteller, whose audacious imagination brought us both daemons and dust. Daemons are the animal alter ego, external soul, and constant companion of each character. Dust is a complex entity, an idea of consciousness connected to human evolution and the development of the human body during the course of adolescence, revisiting and rewriting philosophical ideas of the spilt between the material body and the soul. As Pullman wrote on his blog recently: I always wanted to return to [Dust] and discover more. Recommended Philip Pullman announces new His Dark Materials trilogy The wildly inventive fantasy worlds of Northern Lights (The Golden Compass in its US and film versions) and its sequels combined with real-world moral and political questions to create critical and commercial successes at the turn of the 21st century. The Amber Spyglass won the overall Whitbread Book of the Year, as well as the Childrens category award in 2001, a clear sign that childrens literature was being taken seriously. Pullmans trilogy and JK Rowlings Harry Potter books have frequently been seen a ushering in a golden age of childrens literature in the UK. Both series would go on to have spin-off titles, multiple adaptations and academic works devoted to their analysis and impact. What, then, does The Book of Dust trilogy promise? Pullman says the series will be equels (rather than prequels or sequels), although the first book will focus on Lyra, the protagonist of His Dark Materials, as a baby 10 years before the start of Northern Lights. The second will switch to her as a 20-year-old. Characters that had walk-on parts in the original trilogy will take centre stage. The worlds Pullman has already created are more than capacious enough to enable ongoing world-building and the author has left himself a multitude of loose ends and unanswered questions. Part one of Pullman's new trilogy comes 22 years after Northern Lights was published in July 1995 This continual invention already spawned two short and beautifully produced associated books, Once Upon a Time in the North and Lyras Oxford. And Pullman has not been the only writer working on the worlds of His Dark Materials between since they were published. The advent of digital technologies have enabled fans to write, upload, share and comment on work inspired by traditionally published writers, most notoriously with the work that would eventually become Fifty Shades of Grey, which began life as Twilight fan fiction. His Dark Materials has provided much for fans to work on. Are Lyra and Will really separated for ever at the end of The Amber Spyglass? What happens to Lord Asriel after his deathwards plunge? Richly created fantasy worlds encourage new invention, following a tradition of minor characters having their day. Readers want to find out more, put right plot twists they disagreed with, and in the salacious sub-genre of slash fiction create sexual partnerships the author might never have envisaged. Some authors police their creations more fiercely than others. There are occasional skirmishes between JK Rowlings huge fan community and the tightly controlled world of Pottermore. Fans, though, can breathe new life into existing texts and fill a gap that the author cant always fulfil. Pullman is aware of the level of expectation around his work and the same questions that bother fan fiction writers have bothered him. Theres always more to explore, he writes on his website. Questions about that mysterious and troubling substance were already causing strife 10 years before His Dark Materials, and at the centre of The Book of Dust is the struggle between a despotic and totalitarian organisation, which wants to stifle speculation and enquiry, and those who believe thought and speech should be free. Fifteen years ago at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, in the post-9/11 context of terrorist threat and looming war with Iraq, Pullman stressed that writers must address larger questions of moral conduct if they are not to become useless and irrelevant. And critic Natasha Walter, writing about Pullmans young adult trilogy His Dark Materials (1995-2000), asked in 2001: Isnt this a great vision for the world after 11 September? Here we have a book that asks us to believe that we can build a new, highly moral world without the precepts of religion. Nicole Kidman as Mrs Coulter and Dakota Blue Richards as Lyra in 'The Golden Compass', an adaptation of Pullman's 'Northern Lights' In 2017, the world is already beset by a divisive geopolitics underpinned by religious and racial intolerance. Despite the obvious contemporary parallels, Pullmans UK publisher is quick to say that Pullman is not writing about 21st-century politics. But Pullman himself has been outspoken in his criticism of Donald Trumps election to the US presidency. Given Pullmans trenchant critique of despotism and totalitarianism, there is no doubt that the forthcoming The Book of Dust trilogy will be read allegorically. Dystopian novels such as George Orwells 1984 and Margaret Atwoods The Handmaids Tale have seen a spike in sales recently. As two of the biggest names in childrens fantasy, Pullman and Rowling are also stepping into the political fray. Pullmans repeated mantra tell them stories might yet again prove to be one of the strongest weapons in troubled times. Claire Squires is professor in publishing studies at University of Stirling. This article was originally published in The Conversation Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the IndyArts email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The latest episode of The Walking Dead - 'New best Friends' - saw a relatively unexpected reunion between two original characters who have appeared on the show since it began in 2010. Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) pays a visit to Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride) who is living in a cabin a short distance away from The Kingdom. They are yet to see each other since season six episode, an instalment which saw Carol leave Alexandria after suffering intense guilt over her merciless death count. It's been a tumultuous time for Daryl since he last saw Carol; not only has he witnessed the murder of both Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) and Glenn (Steven Yeun) at the hands of Negan, he was imprisoned by The Saviours before finally escaping in an episode before the midseason finale. Recommended The Walking Dead season 7 episode 10 review Their encounter in the episode arrives after King Ezekiel's Head of Security Richard fills Daryl in on a plan to get the monarch wanting to fight back against the Saviours - and, he tells Daryl, that it involved sacrificing "some loner" in a cabin. Putting two and two together, Daryl realises the 'loner' he's referring to is, in fact, carol - and attacks Richard when he refuses to stand down. The most touching moment the duo's scenes is where Carol, breaking down in terror over the answer, asks Daryl if The Saviours killed any of their people. Believing Carol will leave and fight with him if he tells the truth, Daryl lies and states that nobody got killed in a bid to protect her. Elsewhere in the episode, the mystery group introduced in the final scene of the midseason premiere has been revealed as a completely new faction that doesn't exist in the comic book series. You can read the episode's five major talking points here before watching the trailer for next week's Negan-centric episode, 'Hostiles and Calamities.' The Walking Dead airs in the UK tonight (20 February) on FOX at 9pm. Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the IndyArts email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Piers Morgan has pulled out of hosting the Royal Television Society (RTS) Programme Awards after a campaign was launched claiming his presence would be inappropriate. The former newspaper editor said protest efforts had generated silly noise and he did not wish to serve as an unnecessary distraction from award winners. RTS announced Mr Morgan would be hosting just three days ago, however the decision was met with furious backlash on social media and petition sites. Sky drama commissioner Cameron Roach also wrote a letter to RTS CEO Theresa Wise, which was made public, to urge her to reconsider the inappropriate and damaging appointment. After my role was announced, a campaign was started to have me banned, Mr Morgan wrote on Facebook. It suggested that I lack the creative excellence criteria required for presenting such an event and therefore my presence would be damaging and inappropriate. At the time of his appointment, Theresa Wise, the CEO of RTS, said: "Morgans reputation for being opinionated and his wealth of experience working within the industry make him the perfect host and we look forward to a lively event." However, the news sparked a series of furious spats on social media between purveyors of the arts and the Good Morning Britain Presenter. One user wrote: Appalling choice of host... Sad for anybody that is invited to attend for the excellence of their work having to share room w @piersmorgan Another said: @RTS_media I don't want Piers Morgan representing me or any other RTS members. In response to another user, Mr Morgan wrote: "I'd be quite happy hosting to an empty room & giving myself all the awards." Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the IndyArts email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Walking Dead has aired its second episode following the annual midseason break, and while not propelling the story on drastically, it was heavy on character development and saw a heartfelt reunion between two of the show's original characters. Titled 'New Best Friends,' the episode catches up with Rick (Andrew Lincoln) who we last saw smiling despite being surrounded by a group of weapon-wielding individuals. Elsewhere, this week's instalment picks up with Daryl (Norman Reedus) who was left behind at The Kingdom in a bid to lie low from The Saviours who now know he escaped his cell. You can check out last week's five major talking points here. THE WALKING DEAD - Season 7 Episode 10 trailer 1 - Daryl v Richard Richard (Karl Makinen) wants Daryl (Norman Reedus) to help him take out some Saviours. His plan is to gun down approaching members of Negan's men before luring move over via a signal fire. Once they've seen the body count, they'll follow a trail left by Richard heading directly, he tells Daryl, to the cabin "some loner" is living in. Richard believes that they'll kill that person, showing King Ezekiel (Khary Payton) "what he needs to do." Realising he's referring to Carol (Melissa McBride), Daryl refuses to let Richard proceed and attacks him.. "If anything happens to her, I'll kill you," he states. 2 - Daryl and Carol's reunion Carol hears a knock at the door - the last person she's expecting to see is her old friend. Bursting into tears, the pair embrace having not seen each other for 11 long episodes after Carol left Alexandria on her volition in the latter stages of season six. Enjoying a dinner together, Carol explains that should The Saviours hurt any of their group, she'd kill again. Without wanting to know the answer, she asks Daryl whether Negan killed anybody. In a bid to protect her, Daryl lies and tells her The Saviours didn't hurt anyone. Recommended The Walking Dead season 7 episode 10 review 3 - The Scavengers Surrounded by the new faction we last saw at the end of the midseason premiere (known as The Heapsters to some and The Scavengers to others), Rick wastes no time in attempting to recruit them in their war against Negan's men. Their leader, Jadis (Pollyanna Macintosh), refuses instead pushing Rick into a pit where he's forced to face off against a ravenous walker perilously impaled by spikes. Cutting his hand up pretty badly - yet another allusion to the character's injury in the graphic novels - Rick soon overcomes it much to the admiration of Jadis. Guns is what they want - "....and then we'll fight your fight, she tells Rick who can barely contain his smile. 4 - The bromance nobody expected Namely former-coward Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) who has rarely seen eye-to-eye with Rick. He explains how he left Alexandria (as seen in last week's midseason premiere) having been lured away by the mysterious new faction. I was beginning to lose faith but then I saw you, he tells Rick. But why did he smile when he saw this new faction? Rick puts his hand on Gabriel's shoulder and says solemnly: "Because someone showed me enemies can become friends." Even Michonne (Danai Gurira) is shocked by this development, smirking at the sight as she watches on. The most shocking Walking Dead moments Show all 10 1 /10 The most shocking Walking Dead moments The most shocking Walking Dead moments Sophie's a walker (season 2, episode 7) Much of season two's opening half is spent looking for Sophia, the missing daughter of Carol (Melissa McBride). Turns out she was locked up in Hershel's barn as a zombie all along. The most shocking Walking Dead moments Shane reanimates without being bitten (season 2, episode 12) When Carl (Chandler Riggs) guns down a deranged Shane (Jon Bernthal) to protect his father, the shock arrives when he manifests into a walker despite not being bitten; turns out everyone's infected with the virus and will turn whichever way they die. The most shocking Walking Dead moments Axel's bullet to the eye (season 3, episode 10) A character introduced in the show's prison arc, Axel is a reformed prisoner who strikes up a friendship with Carol - until he's gunned down mid-sentence. The most shocking Walking Dead moments Carl kills Lori after she gives birth (season 3, episode 4) Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) goes into labour at the very moment a zombie siege breaks out at the prison. Unfortunately, she doesn't make it through the procedure with her son Carl being the one to put a bullet to her head. The most shocking Walking Dead moments The Governor slays Hershel (season 4, episode 8) The Governor makes his dramatic return for a showdown at the prison after he captures Michonne (Danai Gurira) and Hershel (Scott Wilson). Rick reaches out, attempting to reason with him - but The Governor starts a war when he proceeds to decapitate poor old Hershel instead. The most shocking Walking Dead moments "Look at the flowers" (season 4, episode 14) In a standout episode from the show's fourth season, Carol is forced to take drastic measures when young teenager Lizzie murders her sister Mika in the belief that she'll live on as a zombie. Realising Lizzie's depraved mind would endanger those around her, Carol puts a gun to the young girl's head and, telling her to "look at the flowers," pulls the trigger, fighting back the tears. The most shocking Walking Dead moments Carl's bullet to the eye (season 6, episode 9) Season six returned from its mid-season break in typically dramatic fashion when an iconic moment from the graphic novels came to life: Carl takes a bullet to the eye. The most shocking Walking Dead moments Beth is killed (season 5, episode 8) Upon being kidnapped, Beth (Emily Kinney) is taken to Grady Memorial Hospital managed by Atlanta Law Enforcement. Forced to reside there against her will, the group - including Rick and Daryl (Norman Reedus) - eventually find her - only for her to be accidentally shot in the head by her captor. The worst thing? Her sister Maggie (Lauren Cohan) had just arrived outside. The most shocking Walking Dead moments Negan kills Abraham Season seven opened in brutal form as we discovered it was Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) at the opposite end of Negan's baseball bat. "Suck my nuts," the soldier growls as the Saviours' leader brings Lucille raining down on his head until nothing remains but a pulpy mess. The most shocking Walking Dead moments Negan kills Glenn Negan decides to punish the group once more after getting clocked round the face by Daryl. Without expectation, he thwacks Lucille round the head of poor Glenn. With his eyeball popping out of his head, he manages: "I'll find you, Maggie before Negan proceeds to finish the job ending the former pizza delivery boy's life. 5 - Daryl leaves the Kingdom After pleading with Morgan (Lennie James) to help wage war against The Saviours, Daryl decides it's time to get the ball rolling; he leaves the walls of The Kingdom with a newly-acquired crossbow (Dwight's still for his old one) and heads back to the Hilltop Colony - a dangerous move considering Negan knows he's escaped the Sanctuary. The Walking Dead airs tonight in the UK on FOX at 9pm. Watch the trailer for next week's Negan-centric episode here. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trump makes no secret of his wealth, so youd think he might be able to find a suit that fits. His trousers are too baggy, his jackets are boxy, his ties are too wide and often too long, and his lapels are too big. Trump is not the only politician guilty of wearing ill-fitting suits - across the world, the political elite dress terribly. But why? Is it deliberate, or do politicians just have bad taste? With their sartorial advisors and ample funds, surely they could make the effort to see a tailor? Trump accuses 'dishonest media' of fake news at campaign rally Well the reason is actually three-fold: Firstly, politicians all want to appear relatable - they avoid looking too slick or flashy so as not to alienate working class voters who cant afford a 5,000 suit. During last years election campaign, Hillary Clinton was blasted for wearing a $12,000 (9,600) Armani jacket and Theresa May sparked outrage for wearing a pair of 995 leather trousers. Barry Brummett, a professor of communication at the University of Texas, told Mel Magazine that you "have to show that people from all classes ... can identify with you". "You cant go on wearing overalls, but you also cant be too flashy. Secondly, the demands of holding office mean politicians weights often fluctuate - its a stressful job, and just like the rest of us, stress can result in periods of binge eating followed by not eating. If your weights changing all the time, theres no way you could be constantly in a perfectly-fitting suit, according to Washington DC-based political consultant Josh Nanberg. 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 And the third reason is that because politicians spend their days going from meetings to lunches to events, their suits get rumpled quickly. Most of us working in professions that require suits probably spend the majority of the day sitting at a desk with our jacket nicely hung-up, but not politicians. And of course, their outfits are scrutinised wherever they go (particularly if they happen to be female). So its probably only partially deliberate that Trumps suits are horrendous - he could undoubtedly get himself some better clothes without spending the average citizens annual income. Barack Obama, for example, always wore suits that fit him well, despite his admission that he didnt want to make decisions about what he wore because I have too many other decisions to make. Of course, whilst appearing relatable, a head of state also needs to seem professional, so its a tricky balance to strike. You want the voter to be concentrated not on what youre wearing, but what youre trying to communicate, Jason Levin from LA-based communications company Cerrell Associates told Mel Magazine. Trump may be unlikely to change his policies any time soon, but he could at least upgrade his wardrobe. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trump's phone could easily be hacked and used to cause global instability, a series of senior politicians have warned. The President's commitment to using his old mobile phone, as well as other security lapses, is putting the country and Mr Trump himself in danger, the fifteen politicians have warned. In a letter to the House Government Oversight committee, Representative Ted Lieu, a congressman from Los Angeles County, California, and fourteen other House Democrats criticised Mr Trump's security practices and laid out a scenario where they could be seized on by a hacker. 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 In particular, Mr Trump's phone reportedly an old Samsung Galaxy S3 could be broken into and manipulated, they warn. if that happened, a hacker could show false information to divert the President and cause "disastrous consequences for global stability", according to the letter. "Referring to the complex problem of cybersecurity, President Trump recently said in an interview, 'Im not sure you have the kind of security that you need'," the letter reads. "We fully agreewhich is why we are writing to request that the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hold a hearing into troubling reports that the President is jeopardizing national security by egregiously failing to implement commonsense security measures across the board, from using an insecure, consumer-grade Android smartphone to discussing nuclear strategy openly in a dining room at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida. "Cybersecurity experts universally agree that an ordinary Android smartphone, which the President is reportedly using despite repeated warnings from the Secret Service, can be easily hacked." The letter also criticises the way that Mr Trump looks after classified information, and his team's use of private email servers. All of those security failings could lead to people reading or hearing sensitive information, the politicians warn. The fifteen politicians ask authorities to check with the President's team to ensure that they are not being snooped on. They ask the oversight committee to check whether White House staff and Mr Trump have been properly briefed on security protocols, and if "the President and the Office of the President [can] ensure that there are no missing e-mails, communications, and technological exchangesin other words, can they confirm they are not actively being monitored?" Chinese officials investigate the case of a tourist beaten in Vietnam. (Photo : Twitter) The Chinese tourist, Mr. Xie, refused to pay bribes to the Vietnamese officials and then was beaten. The victim claimed that he was abused by eight uniformed men after refusing to pay a "tip" in the Vietnamese city of Mong Cai. Mr. Xie, his fiancee, and his mother were in Vietnam for a vacation and wanted to take pictures before their wedding. Advertisement After the incident, China requested that the Vietnamese government apologize for the cruelty sustained by Mr. Xie. A statement from the Chinese foreign affairs which said, "The Chinese embassy in Vietnam and the foreign ministry's consular affairs department have both made solemn representation to Vietnamese foreign ministry and its embassy in China, expressed serious concern about the incident and strong condemnation against violence by Vietnamese officials." "The culprits should be punished severely. They should apologize to the victim and compensate for his losses," the statement said, adding that the ministry had requested the Vietnamese authorities to thoroughly investigate the incident and in a timely manner. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through its representative Geng Shuang, said that the consular affairs in China went to talk to the Vietnamese ambassador to "once more express our stern position." He said, "China demands that Vietnam apologizes and pay compensation to the victim, severely handle those involved and take effective measures to ensure an incident does not happen again." Geng also reported that eight Vietnamese officials were already suspended from their post. A spokesperson from the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry said that they would "resolve the issue according to the nature of the event." The Vietnamese government is fighting China's claims over the South China Sea. The dispute has led to numerous cases of mistreated Chinese tourists in Vietnam. However, Chinese tourists continue to flock the former French colony. Last year, Chinese tourists account for 30 percent of total annual international visitors. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Google has launched its Fact Check tag in three more countries, as it steps up its efforts to combat fake news. The label will now appear in the expand story box in Google News search results and the Google News and Weather app in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. The feature first launched in the US last October, ahead of the Presidential election, and has since been rolled out in France and Germany. Gadget and tech news: In pictures Show all 25 1 /25 Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gun-toting humanoid robot sent into space Russia has launched a humanoid robot into space on a rocket bound for the International Space Station (ISS). The robot Fedor will spend 10 days aboard the ISS practising skills such as using tools to fix issues onboard. Russia's deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin has previously shared videos of Fedor handling and shooting guns at a firing range with deadly accuracy. Dmitry Rogozin/Twitter Gadget and tech news: In pictures Google turns 21 Google celebrates its 21st birthday on September 27. The The search engine was founded in September 1998 by two PhD students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, in their dormitories at Californias Stanford University. Page and Brin chose the name google as it recalled the mathematic term 'googol', meaning 10 raised to the power of 100 Google Gadget and tech news: In pictures Hexa drone lifts off Chief engineer of LIFT aircraft Balazs Kerulo demonstrates the company's "Hexa" personal drone craft in Lago Vista, Texas on June 3 2019 Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures Project Scarlett to succeed Xbox One Microsoft announced Project Scarlett, the successor to the Xbox One, at E3 2019. The company said that the new console will be 4 times as powerful as the Xbox One and is slated for a release date of Christmas 2020 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures First new iPod in four years Apple has announced the new iPod Touch, the first new iPod in four years. The device will have the option of adding more storage, up to 256GB Apple Gadget and tech news: In pictures Folding phone may flop Samsung will cancel orders of its Galaxy Fold phone at the end of May if the phone is not then ready for sale. The $2000 folding phone has been found to break easily with review copies being recalled after backlash PA Gadget and tech news: In pictures Charging mat non-starter Apple has cancelled its AirPower wireless charging mat, which was slated as a way to charge numerous apple products at once AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures "Super league" India shoots down satellite India has claimed status as part of a "super league" of nations after shooting down a live satellite in a test of new missile technology EPA Gadget and tech news: In pictures 5G incoming 5G wireless internet is expected to launch in 2019, with the potential to reach speeds of 50mb/s Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Uber halts driverless testing after death Uber has halted testing of driverless vehicles after a woman was killed by one of their cars in Tempe, Arizona. March 19 2018 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie 'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway resembling the giant panda is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway, resembling a giant panda, is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A concept car by Trumpchi from GAC Group is shown at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A Mirai fuel cell vehicle by Toyota is displayed at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A visitor tries a Nissan VR experience at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A man looks at an exhibit entitled 'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A new Israeli Da-Vinci unmanned aerial vehicle manufactured by Elbit Systems is displayed during the 4th International conference on Home Land Security and Cyber in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv Getty Google and Facebook have faced a great deal of criticism for the spread of fake news, and both companies say theyre committed to fighting it. We have to take the fake news problem very, very seriously and think about what we can do there, the companys chief business officer, Philipp Schindler, recently said at the Code Media conference. Fake news means a lot of different things to different people, and its often very hard to draw the line, obviously, between fake news and bad journalism. President Trump has further muddied the waters by labelling unfavourable reports fake news, while also spreading false stories. You look at whats happening last night in Sweden, Mr Trump recently said at a rally in Florida, referencing an incident that hadnt actually taken place. Sweden, who would believe this? Sweden. They took in large numbers. Theyre having problems like they never thought possible. He has since revealed that his speech had referred to a debunked Fox News report. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A rarely talked about aspect of divorce is what happens to the pets. For couples who spent many years together and jointly invested in their future - be it homes, children or finances - they may also have shared the care for a pet. Under English law, pets are considered property just like cars, handbags and furniture so their welfare is not considered in the same way as for children - even though for many people they are an integral part of the family. But things are starting to change: last month Alaska enacted a law which will treat pets more like children, the state said courts now will take into consideration the well-being of the animal when deciding which party the pets go to. Their default option is to assign joint custody of the pets, like the preferred option for children. Divorce lawyer Ayesha Vardag, who has represented several high-profile and wealthy clients at her family law firm Vardags, says pets can often be a source of huge emotional value and consequently conflict during divorce proceedings. The most shocking celebrity divorces Show all 20 1 /20 The most shocking celebrity divorces The most shocking celebrity divorces depps.jpg The most shocking celebrity divorces ben-afflect.jpg Getty Images The most shocking celebrity divorces gwen-stefabi.jpg Getty Images for L.A.M.B. The most shocking celebrity divorces melanie-griffith-antonio-banderas.jpg Getty Images for Children's Hosp The most shocking celebrity divorces miranda-kerr-orlando-bloom.jpg Getty Images The most shocking celebrity divorces tom-cruise.jpg Getty Images The most shocking celebrity divorces heidi-klum-seal.jpg Getty Images The most shocking celebrity divorces russell-brand.jpg Getty Images The most shocking celebrity divorces demi-moore-ashton-kutcher.jpg Getty Images The most shocking celebrity divorces jennifer-lopez-marc-anthony.jpg Getty Images The most shocking celebrity divorces gwyneth-paltrow-chris-martin.jpg Getty Images for Entertainment I The most shocking celebrity divorces tiger-woods.jpg Getty Images The most shocking celebrity divorces madonna.jpg Getty Images The most shocking celebrity divorces 20293.bin The most shocking celebrity divorces 20296.bin GETTY IMAGES The most shocking celebrity divorces 20298.bin GETTY IMAGES The most shocking celebrity divorces 20299.bin GETTY IMAGES The most shocking celebrity divorces 20300.bin GETTY IMAGES The most shocking celebrity divorces 20295.bin Getty Images The most shocking celebrity divorces 20297.bin Getty Images It becomes something very deep-seated and they [the parties] hang their emotions onto it, she told The Independent. Part of their mental state is that it is the end of their love, marriage and family life and the pets, which were such an integral part of it, acquire such a huge emotional significance. A post on Reddit last year revealed a womans turmoil about leaving her husband partly because they shared two cats. We have two cats that are literally the two things that I love most in the world, she wrote. One of them is more attached to him and one of them is more my cat. I would never want to separate him from his cat because I know its best for both of them if they remain together but I love that stupid cat so god damn much, the thought of leaving him behind is extremely painful and distressing. Where a pre-nup is in place this may sort out the issue of who gets the dog or cat, but when this is not the case you need to look at the overall circumstances of the individuals involved in the dispute, Vardag says. If there is enough money you try to maintain all the things that are important to people and try to enable them to continue, she explains. This is why in a 2008 case an unidentified woman was awarded 50,000 a year in maintenance for the upkeep of her three horses through a legal appeal after claiming the horses had almost become her child substitute during their 11-year marriage. Of course, couples invest in pets with huge emotion, in some cases just like children, Vardag says. When Vardag has to negotiate a divorce for a client she says she tries to come to an arrangement with the other party when it comes to pets. You try to come to some sense of arrangement, try to work out the sharing times. Its just like children really. If someone can spend more time with the animal they might be better there but might spend time with the other partner, who might be working more, at weekends. It is very similar to children in the way you deal with it in practical terms, it is just that the law doesnt deal with it that way. A way in which the law defining pets as property could be considered outdated is that it is at odds with the fact that animals have rights under UK law, however there is difficulty in redefining the law as the question of how far you go comes into play. Do you come down to working out what the hamster should be doing and what its best interests are? Vardag asks. Perhaps you should they are living creatures which are protected by the law that have rights, it is probably right and proper that all these things are taken into account. However, she warns that couples can feud for so long over the custody of a pet that actually, given the animal's shorter life span, it might not be worth it. She references a case she heard of where a divorced couple argued for so long over who got the pet rabbit that it died before the proceedings were finalised. She says both her fellow lawyers and the legal system should not dismiss the importance of pets when it comes to divorce and any custodial arrangements or disputes should be handled sensitively. People love their animals this is not to be taken lightly by the courts and lawyers handling divorces. They have to understand that if somebody is in a fragile and vulnerable state anyway and feel they have lost much of what made their life worth living, these creatures that they feel give them unconditional love who makes them happy and who they love so deeply themselves can just tip them over the edge and be devastating." This can be the most difference to peoples lives and its something we have to treat with real sensitivity. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Kristel Penn first dipped her toe into the world of trans-erotica by accident. When she was hired by Grooby, a company which specialises in producing porn featuring trans women, she was a photographer at a local newspaper and trying to write a novel. Very angsty, I know, she says. To her, it seemed like it could serve as gonzo-style inspiration for her writing and little else. It was also a great ice breaker at parties, she says. I was originally hired to do photo re-touching, which lasted exactly one day, she recalls. The next day, she was put on blogging and made the webmaster before becoming a marketer. A few years later the operation moved from Hawaii to porn-obsessed Los Angeles. Grooby - In pictures Show all 6 1 /6 Grooby - In pictures Grooby - In pictures . AVN "Sex Is" Trans Panel with Natalie Mars, Aubrey Kate, Foxxy, and Stefani Special Grooby Grooby - In pictures On-set with Amarna Miller and Jane Starr for "Real Fucking Girls" Kristel Penn Grooby - In pictures Al Tom Grooby - In pictures XBIZ Awards with Steven Grooby and Buck Angel Industry by Rick Grooby - In pictures Backstage at the TEAs with Michelle Austin, Aubrey Kate, Foxxy, and Athena Addams Al Tom Grooby - In pictures TEA After Party with Miran and Foxxy AVN and Chris King A decade later, she is at the centre of the trans porn world as the marketing and editorial director at Grooby. She helps to host the Transgender Erotica Awards in Los Angeles, and is the editor of Transformation magazine and on the board of directors of the non-profit organisation called Trans Adult Industry Foundation which raises money and donates it to organisations that provide emergency services to the adult trans community. Penn also co-founded ShameKillsLove.com, a project which encourages people to live authentically and unashamed. She also recently appeared on a panel at the AVN industry show in Los Angeles, discussing LGBT porn. We ask people to ask themselves, what would it feel like to be free of shame? Whether its shame about body, sex, sexuality, or whatever prevents you from living as your most authentic self. The concept was partly inspired by my work in the adult industry and seeing performers being proud of who they are. It was a concept that I wanted to encourage everyone to adopt for themselves. We chatted with Kristel to find out more about what the porn industry is like for non-binary people. Hi Kristel, tell us a little about Grooby and what you guys do. Grooby has been in business for over 20 years. We are the leading producer of trans content and run over 30 membership websites, host a website network for performers called the Grooby Network, release four DVDs a month, run a three-day event for the trans adult industry, and do philanthropic work within our community and beyond. Our sites feature trans women in solo scenes and hardcore scenes, mostly paired with other trans women, cis men, or cis women. Our performers are in varying stages of their transition, and likewise, our performers self-identify using various labels. Whos your target audience? Our target demographic has mostly been straight cis men, but in recent years weve seen an increase fans who are cis women, trans men and women, and gender non-conforming individuals. People consume porn for a variety of reasons other than sexual gratification. Some use it for validation and reflection. Some use it for self-exploration. I imagine many consume it for different reasons depending on whats going on in their own lives. Tell us about the sort of work that Grooby creates Last year we released a film called Real F***ing Girls that was directed by a well-known Kink performer named Mona Wales. The concept for this DVD was different than others where Mona selected the trans performers she wanted to use, who then were able to choose their own scene partners. Each scene was based on the personal stories of the trans performers. Mona also had videographer Lilith Luxe film an exclusive behind the scenes documentary of the filming process, which included some really groundbreaking interviews with the cast and crew. Recommended Feminist porn director wins right to reinstate fetish website Consumers generally see only the finished product and are not privy to what happens behind the scenes: the negotiation and consent conversations that happen between performers before shooting, the technical aspects of shooting a porn, and how performers feel about the industry and their role in it. We included the piece as one of our DVD features and have also submitted it to a few film festivals across the country to help destigmatise our industry. The film swept at both the XBIZ and AVN Awards this past year, which I believe, is the first time a trans DVD has accomplished that. Can porn be an important tool for raising awareness about the concept of gender being non-binary? I think of porn like any other type of media. In and of itself, its neither good nor bad, but it is up to us how we process it. I think it can provide a form of visibility and representation, but it all depends on how its used. Porn, overall, is not created with the intention of being a learning tool and I believe it is not its responsibility to educate. Unless a company or a producer clearly states that intention, consumers shouldnt assume it does. However, porn can be used as an educational tool in conjunction with other forms of education. What are some of the most shocking things you have experienced or witness as an advocate of queer and trans people? People can be pretty rude and it always baffles me why they are so invested in telling someone else who they are. Because of how I present [as a gay woman], Ive had people make some pretty ignorant comments to me and when Ive politely corrected them, Ive sometimes been met with aggression. From first and secondhand experience, Im always shocked by the amount of education LGBTQ people are expected to do for others who are being aggressively ignorant. Recommended How porn has changed since the 1990s I personally believe it is never the responsibility of the oppressed to educate the oppressor. Ive had people insult me and say homophobic and racist things to my face and to think it is my responsibility to educate them seems like a pretty tall order, in my opinion. Unfortunately, the question of whether or not this is right is separate from whether or not this is feasible. In order for there to be positive change, I think it takes everyones best efforts. Marginalised people will continued to educate others because its much needed and there should be a lot more self-education from those on the other side. Have you had any pleasant surprises where people have been unexpectedly accepting? Ive been pleasantly surprised by fans who are out and proud about their porn consumption. Many attend the TEAs and come up to me to express their thanks for having such an event where they can meet their favourite stars and talk about common interests. There are performers who interact with their fans in non-sexual arenas like online gaming, for example, and I think its neat to see conversations between performers and fans being as diverse as they are. This really helps consumers see how our performers, and by extension, our industry is three-dimensional. What do queer performers need from the industry to protect them and help them? Are they treated worse than cisgender actors? I cant speak to the overall treatment of queer performers in the industry, but I can say that there are safe spaces and not-so-welcoming spaces in the industry for our trans performers. Like the real world, the industry is not exempt from bigotry. And like the real world, the industry can be a really affirming place for people who are otherwise marginalised out in the real world. Just like the real world, LGBTQ performers need more allies and advocates in their corner. We need these people to know when it is appropriate to speak up (and speak up loud) and when it is appropriate to step aside and support the voices of those being marginalised. There is no singular way to do this, but rather, the discussion needs to happen often. LGBTQ community and its allies need to keep checking in with each other. How do your fans respond to your work? Are there any responses that have really hit home for you? Ive had older trans folks tell me how validating it was to discover our sites back in the 90s and see people like them being sexually desired and photographed. It can be a place of great empowerment to them. In some moments, Ive had people tell me how our porn has helped them find, solidify, and or flesh out their own identities. What is the most important thing readers should know about gender identity and porn? Porn is going to stir up different things to different people, regardless of its type. Because there is currently no other format where we can privately explore such diverse bodies and sexuality, porn has the potential to bring up both questions and answers about our own identify. People dont discuss their porn preferences because theyre afraid of how it changes their own labels, but this is not a straightforward A-to-B line. For example, if I enjoy straight porn, does that automatically mean Im straight if I identify as a lesbian? Is there enough diversity in porn? Is porn perfect? No and no, but if we can view it as a starting point for discussion, it might uncover aspects of our desire and identities we were too afraid to examine otherwise. Be a conscious consumer and find porn you like. Do as much research as you need to feel good about what youre watching. Whether its porn that reflects your own identify or not, be an active participant in your own self-reflection around it. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} More than a hundred workers across the US were reportedly fired for taking place in the Day Without Immigrants protests against President Donald Trumps immigration policies. The demonstrations, for which support was largely drummed up online, urged foreign-born workers to refuse to participate in the US economy for a day. Nearly 20 employee at Bradley Coatings, a commercial painting company in Tennessee, told supervisors on Wednesday that they would not be coming into work the following day, instead making up the time on Sunday. However, they were told on Thursday that they had lost their jobs, NBC4 reported. Robert Peal, the companys attorney, told NBC4: Regretfully, and consistent with its prior communication to all its employees, BCI had no choice but to terminate these individuals. The reason these employees missed work to engage in peaceful demonstrations had nothing to do with BCI's decision to terminate them." The story was not a one-off. Local news outlets across the whole country reported that employees returned to work only to find out they had been fired from their positions. In South Carolina, 21 members of staff at a boat manufacturing company were reportedly fired for taking part. Thirty masonry workers lost their jobs in Denver as well as 12 workers at the I Dont Care Bar and Grill, an Oklahoma restaurant. The same week, the restaurant had posted on Facebook seeking employees for its open positions. Some people have taken to Twitter to call on customers to boycott the businesses that fired workers after the protest. Diane Wong, based in Boston tweeted: Remember this name. You wont want to eat here. I Dont Care Bar and Grill in Catoosa, Oklahoma. J.C.Zarcus said: #BradleyCoatings just fired 18 workers for participated in #ADayWithoutImmigrants, stop buying this products. Mr Trump has vowed to crack down on illegal immigration and signed an executive order, which was put on hold by federal courts, restricting entry from seven Muslim-majority countries. People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Show all 16 1 /16 People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Demonstrators march during the "Day Without Immigrants" protest in Chicago, Illinois, February 16, 2017. Theopolis Waters/Reuters People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Demonstrators march during the "Day Without Immigrants" protest in Washington, DC, U.S., February 16, 2017. Aaron P. Bernstein/Reuters People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. The crowd, which grew to well over a thousand participants, marched from the Austin City Hall to the Texas State Capital. Across the country hundreds of restaurants and eateries are closing for the day to protest President Trump's immigration policies and to highlight the contributions of immigrants to U.S. business and life. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants AUSTIN, TX - FEBRUARY 16: Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Demonstrators march during the "Day Without Immigrants" protest in Chicago, Illinois, February 16, 2017. Theopolis Waters/Reuters People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Demonstrators march during the "Day Without Immigrants" protest in Chicago, Illinois, February 16, 2017. Aaron P. Bernstein/Reuters People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. The crowd, which grew to well over a thousand participants, marched from the Austin City Hall to the Texas State Capital. Across the country hundreds of restaurants and eateries are closing for the day to protest President Trump's immigration policies and to highlight the contributions of immigrants to U.S. business and life. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. The crowd, which grew to well over a thousand participants marched from the Austin City Hall to the Texas State Capital. Across the country hundreds of restaurants and eateries are closing for the day to protest President Trump's immigration policies and to highlight the contributions of immigrants to U.S. business and life. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants High school student Kathia Suarez holds up a sign as she protests with others outside the Grayson County courthouse in downtown Sherman, Texas, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017. LM Otero/AP People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants High school senior Vicky Sosa holds a sign outside the Grayson County courthouse in downtown Sherman, Texas, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017. In an action called "A Day Without Immigrants," immigrants across the country are expected to stay home from school, work and close businesses to show how critical they are to the U.S. economy and way of life. LM Otero/AP The action last week was part of a growing movement of strikes and boycotts intended to demonstrate displeasure with Mr Trump administration and its policies. In January, mass rallies focused on women's rights, drew millions of people around the globe only days after the President was sworn in. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Chinese companies are going crazy for Ivanka. According to the South China Morning Post, at least 65 companies, ranging from alcohol retailers to wallpaper companies, have applied to use the name Ivanka as their trademark, in a nod to the daughter of US President Donald Trump. The paper reports that a Beijing-based company that provides weight loss services filed 10 applications to use Ivanka, on products including cosmetics and nutritional supplements, according to information released on the website of the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry & Commerce. Separately, Fujian Yingjie Commodity Company filed an application to use Ivanka for its brand of sanitary napkins a week after Mr Trump won the US presidential election. The South China Morning Post said that most of the applications are still being processed and it is not known whether any of them will be granted trademark rights. Ivanka Trump made headlines earlier this month when high-end retailer Nordstrom announced that it had decided to cut ties with her line of clothing and accessories, citing declining sales. 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 Trump responded with a series of tweets in which he accused the chain of having acted unfairly and White House spokesman Sean Spicer characterised the retailers move as a direct attack on the Presidents policies. Ms Trumps popularity has risen in China since she visited the Chinese embassy in Washington during the lunar New Year, according to The South China Morning Post. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The global trade of weapons has risen over the past five years to its highest level since the end of the Cold War. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), worldwide sales of arms increased by 8.4 per cent in the period between 2012 and 2016 compared with the previous five years, driven by increasing demand from countries in the Middle East and Asia. Arms imports by countries in the Middle East increased by 86 per cent during the period, with Saudi Arabias up by 212 per cent and Qatars up by 245 per cent. "Over the past five years, most states in the Middle East have turned primarily to the USA and Europe in their accelerated pursuit of advanced military capabilities," said Pieter Wezeman, senior researcher with the SIPRI Arms and Military Expenditure Programme. "Despite low oil prices, countries in the region continued to order more weapons in 2016, perceiving them as crucial tools for dealing with conflicts and regional tensions." The USA was the top arms exporter during the period, accounting for a third of all exports. Its arms exports increased by 21 per cent compared to the 2007 to 2011 period. Almost half of its arms exports went to the Middle East. Russia came in second, accounting for 23 per cent of global exports. China was third as its share of global arms exports rose from 3.8 to 6.2 per cent. France and Germany accounted for 6 per cent and 5.6 per cent, respectively. The five biggest exporters accounted for 74 per cent of the total volume of arms exports. The USA supplies major arms to at least 100 countries around the worldsignificantly more than any other supplier state, said Dr Aude Fleurant, director of the SIPRI Arms and Military Expenditure Programme. 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 Both advanced strike aircraft with cruise missiles and other precision-guided munitions and the latest generation air and missile defence systems account for a significant share of US arms exports. Mr Fleurant told AFP that competition is fierce among European producers with France, Germany and Britain in the lead. The US and France are the main weapons providers for the Middle East while Russia and China are the main exporters to Asia. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Shares in Royal Bank of Scotland soared on Monday after the Government slammed the brakes on the bank's sale of Williams & Glyn (W&G). RBS jumped more almost 7 per cent, or 16.5p to 258.9p, following an announcement of the Treasury's proposals late on Friday that outlined an alternative 750m plan to boost competition in the banking market in an attempt to appease officials in Brussels. But while investors cheered the move, the wider FTSE 100 Index struggled to gain traction, slipping 9 points to 7,291.06. Recommended RBS leaves the EU in a familiar bind The embattled bank is required to sell W&G as one of the conditions for the multibillion-pound bailout by the UK Government following the banking crisis, but has struggled to strike a deal. The Treasury has been in talks with the European Commission (EC) for months about the situation and will now seek formal changes to the state aid commitments. Within the proposed package will be a fund, administered by an independent body, which challenger banks can access to increase their business banking capabilities. Competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager will propose to the College of Commissioners that they open proceedings to gather evidence on the new plan, which contains a number of measures aimed at helping small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Across Europe, Germany's Dax was up 0.5 per cent and the Cac 40 in France was marginally down. The price of oil rose 0.8 per cent to 56.26 US dollars a barrel, but concerns remained over an increase in output from US drilling rigs. On the currency markets, the pound was largely unmoved after an economic update on Britain's manufacturing industry showed orders had reached a two-year high in February. The Confederation of British Industry industrial trends survey showed that total order books improved further over the three months to February to a balance of 8%, rising from 5% in January and 0% in December. The jump was led by demand in the mechanical engineering and metal production sectors, leading to the highest balance since February 2015. Sterling was up 0.5% to 1.247 against the greenback and 0.5% higher versus the euro at 1.174. In UK stocks, shares in Unilever slumped after US food giant Kraft Heinz called off its proposed 143 billion US dollar (115 billion) mega-merger with the consumer goods firm. Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: Europes largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid 3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rues contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped 4m off of Flybes revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airlines estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year. The Anglo-Dutch company dropped more than 7%, or 279.5p to 3,518p, following a joint statement by the two companies on Sunday which said Kraft Heinz had "amicably agreed" to withdraw its proposal. Unilever had issued a strongly-worded rebuttal on Friday after the Chicago-based company tabled an offer representing an 18% premium on Unilever's closing share price on February 16. If successful, the deal would have been the biggest acquisition of a British company on record based on offer value. Kraft Heinz brands include Heinz Tomato Ketchup and Philadelphia cheese, while Unilever owns store-cupboard staples such as Marmite, PG Tips and Hellmann's. Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Every year, people arrive at Panama City, Florida, by mistake having erroneously booked to the small, friendly airport rather than its Central American cousin. The sensible ones make the most of the situation enjoying Panama City Beach and the string of smaller resorts that decorate the Gulf of Mexico coastline in South Walton. All you can eat Eating out is a joy. Mikes Diner was established in 1986, which was rather later than some of the customers and staff. A few years ago it went upmarket to become Mikes Oyster Bar, but the breakfasts are still excellent: try the Beach Hash, while some French toast saw me through to elevenses. For lunch, Schooners calls itself the last local beach club and serves up superb seafood. Nature takes over Just east of here, the beachside buildings end abruptly at St Andrew State Park until 1951, off limits to the public because it was part of a military base. Now nature has begun to reclaim the wilderness. Its a similar story on Shell Island home to one of the worlds highest concentrations of bottle-nosed dolphins. There used to be a casino and a zoo on the isle, but now just two family houses remain; once theyve gone, theyve gone no more can be built. Shell Island, Panama City Beach Back on the main strip theres no end of places to stay such as The Driftwood Lodge, a family-run beachside property that celebrates its 60th anniversary this year at 15811 Front Beach Road; despite the magnitude of the number in the address, its close to Pier Park the heart of town. Pier Park, Panama City Beach Going west from Panama City Beach takes you along whats officially known as Scenic Highway 30A through a string of communities of South Walton selected by Lonely Planet for its top 10 Best of the US for 2017. See it yourself by hiring a compact car for seven days from Jacksonville International Airport from 187. Book with Hertz.co.uk Picture Perfect Seaside, Panama City Beach The treasure is Seaside - the name of the town, though you may know it by a slightly different title. The 1998 film The Truman Show starred Jim Carrey as Truman Burbank, the unknowing star of a reality TV series. He lived in a town called Seahaven, which was really Seaside a comforting throwback to simpler times. Seaside was an idealistic experiment in new urbanism by the property developer Robert Davis. Its designed so that no home is more than a five-minute walk from the centre, designated by the post office. And the beach is only a minute further. Since the filming, Seaside has blossomed with plenty of places to eat and drink. You can visit Trumans actual house at 31 Natchez Street, though it was re-numbered 36 at the request of the director. What I love about this curve of coastline is that it embraces so much: the frivolity of the great American beach vacation, the impeccable good looks of a film set, and the perfection of raw nature. Discover more at Visit Florida Sign up for a full digest of all the best opinions of the week in our Voices Dispatches email Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Voices Dispatches email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The March for Science in response to the election of Donald Trump could be infiltrated by provocateurs and descend into violence, a physicist who advised Barack Obama has warned. Professor James Gates, director of the Centre for String and Particle Theory at Maryland University and a member of the last administrations US Presidents Council of Advisers on Science and Technology, said he would not join the demonstration. The march, due to be held in Washington DC and other cities around the world in April, echoes earlier Womens Marches protesting against Mr Trump. Scientists have been alarmed by the new Presidents anti-scientific stance on climate change, the appointment of sceptics to key positions in Government, the deletion of information on federal websites and gag orders being issued to prevent researchers from speaking publicly about their work. At the beginning of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences annual meeting in Boston, the leaders of the body reported some scientists feared the US could become like Soviet Russia, where ideology outweighed hard evidence. But Professor Gates told journalists ahead of his speech at the meeting that holding a march was not a good idea. I think scientists need to be very careful about putting the imprimatur of science on an activity like that, he said. Asked if he feared the march could widen the divide between scientists and the rest of the population by contributing to the idea that academics are elitist, Professor Gates said it might. But he added: To me the bigger danger is I dont understand how the organisers of this march can guard against provocateurs, quite frankly. I dont think they are ready for that. I dont they are considering that kind of danger. And to have sort of science represented as this political force I think is just extraordinarily dangerous. You could actually have physical violence, but the point is I dont want to see the march where it says science against the President. To me, thats just terrible. The organisers of the march have insisted they want the event to be non-partisan. They are attempting to [make it apolitical], but I dont see how they control that, Professor Gates said. I just want scientists to behave like scientists. The point is lets do this on the basis of some evidence. As scientists, he said, the organisers should have a theory of action that laid out what would happen after the march. What is your next step in the process? No one has explained this to me, Professor Gates said. I find it curious for scientists to be behaving in this way." In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Show all 32 1 /32 In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London An image of President Donald Trump is seen on a placard during the Women's March in London, England Getty In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney A view of the skywriting word reading 'Trump' as thousands rally in support of equal rights in Sydney, New South Wales EPA In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Rome People shout and hold signs during a rally against US newly sworn-in President Donald Trump in Rome Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London A protester holds a placard during the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Marseille A placard ready 'Pussy grabs back' is attached to the handle bar of a bike during a 'Women's March' organized by Feminist and human rights groups in solidarity with women marching in Washington and around the world for their rights and against the reactionary politics of the newly sworn-in US President Donald Trump, at the Old Port (Vieux Port) of Marseille, southern France Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Bangkok A young Thai girl holds a "women's rights are human rights" sign at Roadhouse BBQ restaurant where many of the Bangkok Womens March participants gathered in Bangkok, Thailand Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Bangkok A Thai woman takes a photo of a "hate is not great" sign at the women's solidarity gathering in Bangkok, Thailand Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Bangkok American expats and travellers gather with the international community in Bangkok at the Roadhouse BBQ restaurant to stand in solidarity in Bangkok, Thailand Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London Protetesters gather outside The US Embassy in Grosvenor Square ahead of the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Marseille Women's March at the Old Port (Vieux Port) of Marseille, southern France Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Marseille Protestors hold placards reading 'My body my choice, my vote my voice' during a 'Women's March' organized by Feminist and human rights groups in solidarity with women marching in Washington and around the world for their rights and against the reactionary politics of the newly sworn-in US President Donald Trump, at the Old Port (Vieux Port) of Marseille, southern France Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Rome A person holds a sign during a rally against US newly sworn-in President Donald Trump in Rome Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Kolkata Activist Sarah Annay Williamson holds a placard and shouts slogan during the Women's March rally in Kolkata, India AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Kolkata Activists participate in the Women's March rally in Kolkata, India AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London A Women's March placards are rested on a bench outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square ahead of the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London A women carries her placard ahead of the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Manila Women protesters shout slogans while displaying placards during a rally in solidarity against the inauguration of President Donald Trump, in suburban Quezon city, northeast of Manila, Philippines AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Berlin Protesters attend a 'Berlin Women's March on Washington' demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Berlin Protesters attend a 'Berlin Women's March on Washington' demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Berlin Protesters attend a 'Berlin Women's March on Washington' demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Melbourne Protesters take part in the Melbourne rally to protest against the Trump Inauguration in Melbourne, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Macau Protesters take part in the Women's March rally in Macau Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Melbourne Womens march on Melbourne protestors marching during a rally where rights groups marched in solidarity with Americans to speak out against misogyny, bigotry and hatred Rex In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Macau Protesters hold placards as they take part at the Women's March rally in Macau Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Macau Protesters hold placards as they take part at the Women's March rally in Macau, Macau. The Women's March originated in Washington DC but soon spread to be a global march calling on all concerned citizens to stand up for equality, diversity and inclusion and for women's rights to be recognised around the world as human rights Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Manila A mother carries her son as they join a rally in solidarity against the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States in suburban Quezon city northeast of Manila, Philippines AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney An infant is held up at a demonstration against new U.S. President Donald Trump in Sydney, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney A woman attends a demonstration against new U.S. President Donald Trump in Sydney, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney A woman expresses her Anti-Trump views in Sydney, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydeney Protesters demonstrate against new U.S. President Donald Trump in Sydney, Australia. The marches in Australia were organised to show solidarity with those marching on Washington DC and around the world in defense of women's rights and human rights Getty In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London Protesters march from The US Embassy in Grosvenor Square towards Trafalgar Square during the Women's March in London, England Getty In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London Protesters carrying banners take part in the Women's March on London, as they stand in Trafalgar Square, in central London Reuters He agreed that science was facing some challenges in my homeland, but this had been the case for long before Mr Trumps election. This challenge has been on the horizon for a decade or more, he said, dating the birth of anti-scientific sentiment to the USs decision not to build its own, much more powerful version of the Large Hadron Collider at Cern, in Switzerland. The LHC went on to discover the Higgs bosun, a particle that confirmed theories about how the universe was created, leading to Nobel Prizes for the scientists involved, including Professor Peter Higgs of Edinburgh University, who first came up with the idea. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Thousands of protesters angry at Donald Trump have taken to the streets in cities across the UK, as MPs debated an almost two-million strong petition calling for the US President's state visit to be cancelled. Demonstrators carrying placards gathered in Parliament Square on Monday afternoon, while inside MPs from across the political divide urged the Government to rescind its offer of an official visit hosted by the Queen. The London rally, held by the Stop Trump Coalition and campaign group One Day Without Us, drew large groups of supporters carrying signs that read, "No to racism; no to Trump". Organisers said they expected 20,000 people to attend the event. Separate demonstrations against the US President and in support of immigrants were being held in other cities including Liverpool, Manchester, Brighton, Bristol, Leeds, Newcastle, Glasgow and Edinburgh. The Stop Trump coalition had called for a nationwide day of action in addition to dozens of protests coordinated by the One Day Without Us movement celebrating the contribution of immigrants to British society. The action echoes protests in the US under the banner Day Without Immigrants, which saw businesses run by foreign-born citizens temporarily close. Demonstrators attend a rally in Westminster (PA) Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott addressed the crowds to condemn the "dark shadow of racism and anti-immigrant sentiment" that was present in populist politics. She said: "We know the values that Trump represents. With Donald Trump, you don't have to look into a crystal ball, you can read the book. "He was supported in his presidential campaign by white supremacists. "And even in the first weeks of his presidency he has had a viscerally anti-immigrant line." 'Day Without Immigrants' protest sees Americans take to the streets Alison Dale, 61, who was at the rally, said: "It's about the rise of hate and extremism, which is personified by Trump. It's not just about him, but he represents what's happening in the world at the moment "The invitation was kneejerk, and made us look desperate. Now we're leaving the European Union, it's clear we're just desperate for trade deals, and we look weak." Student Sara Sharp, 31, who carried a sign reading "Theresa the Appeaser", said she was protesting "everything" the occasion represented. She said: "If (Donald Trump) has a state visit, I think it will make our country look bad. But then I feel that sometimes Theresa May is just as bad. Xi Xiaoming was sentenced to imprisonment for corruption. (Photo : Twitter) Xi Xiaoming, who was being investigated since last year, was finally convicted and imprisoned for taking bribes from individuals and companies. The website of the Second Intermediate People's Court of Tianjin released a statement on their website. The statement said that Xi was charged for "assisting individuals and organizations with their cases and companies with their entry into the market." Advertisement Xi joined the Supreme Court in 1996 and committed various acts of corruption since then. He was tasked to create a newly research group to review China's civil code. He was investigated for corruption two months later. A similar case happened last year when another former supreme court vice president was convicted and incarcerated for collecting 3.2 million yuan in bribes. He also received bribe money amounting to 1.2 million yuan while he was president of a city-level court in southern Guangdong province in 1997. All of his properties were seized by the Chinese authorities. Huang Songyou was the first top court official who was convicted of graft. He collected money from various law firms who were seeking for favorable decisions between 2005 and 2008. State media stated, "As a chief justice, Huang knowingly violated the law by trading power for money and taking a hefty sum of bribes, which has produced a bad impact on the society, and should be punished severely." Other top officials who were punished were Chen Liangyu, a top communist party official in Shanghai who was involved in stealing pension funds. He was sentenced to serve jail for 18 years. The former director of the food and drug administration was executed for approving the sale of deadly pharmaceutical products in exchange for bribes. Many corrupt high-profile and top-ranking Communist Party officials are expected to face investigation. President Xi Jinping called for an all-out campaign against corruption since the start of his term in 2012. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Independent is pleased to announce the shortlist for the British LGBT Awards 2017. The awards celebrate community activists, public figures and straight allies who work to advance the rights of LGBT communities. The Independent is the British LGBT Awards Media Partner for 2017. The Independent is official media partner for the British LGBT Awards 2017 Top 10 LGBT+ celebrities include Laverne Cox, a transgender activist and actress who came to prominence on Netflix series Orange Is The New Black, and Kate McKinnon, impersonator and comedian, who shot to fame on Saturday Night Live after her portrayal of Hillary Clinton during the 2016 US presidential race. Top 10 media moments include the inclusion of a lesbian kiss in the BBC's broadcast of A Midsummer Night's Dream, as well as the moment the cast of Broadway musical Hamilton took to the stage to address Vice President Mike Pence in the audience and implore him to respect minority rights. British LGBT Awards founder Sarah Garrett MBE said: The 2017 NatWest British LGBT Awards shortlist features inspirational people who have and continue to use their platform to promote and enhance LGBT rights all over the world. All nominees are absolutely deserving of their place on the shortlist but it is now down to the public to choose their winners ahead of the ceremony which is set to be the biggest yet when it takes place in London on 12 May. Top 10 media moments Black Mirror's San Junipero Episode Broadway Musical Hamilton Delivers Message To Vice President Pence Cyndi Lauper Rewrites Kinky Boots In Support Of Trans Rights Gaycation, A Worldwide LGBT+ Cultural Journey, Airs On Viceland India Willoughby Features On Loose Women Panel News Coverage Of Worldwide Orlando Vigils Rio Olympics Features Most LGBT+ Athletes Ever Russell T Davies Introduces A Lesbian Kiss To The BBC's A Midsummer Nights Dream Rylan And His Husband Dan Present This Morning On ITV Supergirl's Sister Alex Danvers Comes Out As A Lesbian Adidas Top 10 LGBT+ Celebrities Olly Alexander Laverne Cox Cara Delevingne Lady Gaga Lauren Jauregui Dustin Lance Black Kate McKinnon Ellen Page RuPaul Russell Tovey Mhairi Black says the government can always find money for a war in Syria so why don't women's pensions (Getty Images) Top 10 LGBT+ Celebrity Rising Stars Saara Aalto Munroe Bergdorf Shannon Beveridge Mhairi Black MP Dino Fetscher Stephanie Hirst Matt Lister Calum Scott George Shelley Annie Wallace Crowd of people hold LGBT dance party outside Mike Pence's house JK Rowling was a prominent and proactive ally in 2016 (Getty) Virgin Holidays Top 10 Celebrity Straight Allies James Corden Ariana Grande Anne Hathaway Thierry Henry Annie Lennox Macklemore Prince William J.K. Rowling Patrick Stewart Emma Watson Barcelona has been shortlisted in the Destinations category (Oh Barcelona/Flickr) Signature Living Top 10 Best Destinations Amsterdam, Netherlands Barcelona, Spain Miami, Florida New York, New York Palm Springs, California Richmond, Virginia San Francisco, California Stockholm, Sweden Sao Paulo, Brazil Vancouver, Canada GMB Top 10 Charities or Community Initiatives 401 Challenge/Foundation Albert Kennedy Trust Diversity Role Models GIRES (Gender Identity Research and Education Society) Happy Hippy Foundation Kick It Out (LGBT) Mermaids R U Coming Out? Stonewall Thrive NE LGBT+ rights around the globe Show all 9 1 /9 LGBT+ rights around the globe LGBT+ rights around the globe Russia Russias antipathy towards homosexuality has been well established following the efforts of human rights campaigners. However, while it is legal to be homosexual, LGBT couples are offered no protections from discrimination. They are also actively discriminated against by a 2013 law criminalising LGBT propaganda allowing the arrest of numerous Russian LGBT activists. AFP/Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Brunei Brunei recently introduced a law to make sodomy punishable by stoning to death. It was already illegal and punishable by up to 10 years in prison AFP/Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Mauritania Men who are found having sex with other men face stoning, while lesbians can be imprisoned, under Sharia law. However, the state has reportedly not executed anyone for this crime since 1987 Alamy LGBT+ rights around the globe Sudan Both male and female same-sex sexual activity is illegal under Sudanese law. Men can be executed on their third offence, women on their fourth Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Saudi Arabia Homosexuality and gender realignment is illegal and punishable by death, imprisonment, whipping and chemical castration Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Yemen The official position within the country is that there are no gays. LGBT inviduals, if discovered by the government, are likely to face intense pressure. Punishments range from flogging to the death penalty Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Nigeria Both male and female same-sex sexual activity is illegal and in some northern states punishable with death by stoning. This is not a policy enacted across the entire country, although there is a prevalent anti-LGBT agenda pushed by the government. In 2007 a Pew survey established that 97% of the population felt that homosexuality should not be accepted. It is punishable by 14 years in prison Reuters LGBT+ rights around the globe Somalia Homosexuality was established as a crime in 1888 and under new Somali Penal Code established in 1973 homosexual sex can be punishable by three years in prison. A person can be put to death for being a homosexual Reuters LGBT+ rights around the globe Iraq Although same-sex relationships have been decriminalised, much of the population still suffer from intense discrimination. Additionally, in some of the country over-run by the extremist organisation Isis, LGBT individuals can face death by stoning Getty Sure Perkins role on GBBO catapulted her popularity sky-high last year (Getty Images) (Getty) Top 10 Broadcasters or Journalists Clare Balding Rylan Clark-Neal Jane Hill Owen Jones Rachel Maddow Graham Norton Paul O'Grady Tyler Oakley Sue Perkins Adele Roberts Adele is one of this years nominated music artists (Getty Images) Viacom Top 10 Music Artists Adele Elton John Miley Cyrus Fifth Harmony Kele Okereke Madonna Katy Perry Troye Sivan Tegan and Sara Years & Years Adidass Valentine's Day Instagram post from last year supported the brands entry into Campaigns shortlist (Adidas) Top 10 Brands or Marketing Campaigns Adidas Pride Pack campaign BBC's Christmas advert campaign Dove Economist H & M Lloyds Banks #HeSaidYes campaign Netflixs LGBT+ Programming Sainsbury's Skittles Virgin Holidays Activist Fox Fisher has been nominated for an Outstanding Contribution award Top 10 Outstanding Contributions to LGBT+ Life Peter Bull, Above the Stag theatre Cat Burton, trans British Airways pilot Alex Ferguson, Herts 1125 campaigner Fox Fisher, trans activist Father Andrew Foreshew-Cain, LGBT+ campaigner Jack Lewis and Ben Hunte (Our Swirl Life), YouTube vloggers Greg Owen, co-founder of iwantPrEPnow.co.uk Jay Stewart, founder of Gendered Intelligence Chardine Taylor-Stone, founder of Stop Rainbow Racism Jen Yockney MBE, bisexual campaigner LGBT traffic lights Top 10 LGBT+ Corporate Rising Stars David Bufton, Linklaters LLP Rafael Campos Valdez, TSB Carl Clarke, Vodafone Gary Coetzee, Lendlease Group Craig Dillon, Sky Becki Gibson, ASDA Esther McDermott, Dentons Christina Riley, Balfour Beatty Nina Smith, Channel 4 Warrant Officer Class 2 Karen Styles, Army Karin Cook was shortlisted for her work at Lloyds Top 10 Corporate Straight Allies Simon Allcock, Riverside Tamara Box, Reed Smith Louise Bradley, Oliver Wyman David Bryan, Cheshire Police Karin Cook, Lloyds Banking Martin Egan, BNP Paribas Jan-Coos Geesink, Thomson Reuters Benny Higgins, Tesco Bank Diana Holland OBE, Unite the Union Mike Roemer, Barclays Societe Generale Top 10 Diversity Champions Catherine Hennigan, Goldman Sachs Vinay Kapoor, BNP Paribas Angela Kay, Bupa Miles Lanham, Genesis Housing Association Samantha Jayne Nelson, Marsh UK David Pearson, KPMG Daisy Reeves, B.L.P. Law Isobel Sheldon, Johnson Matthey Battery Systems Chris Wood, Royal Navy Martin York, Fujitsu Barclays Top 10 Employers or Companies Aon Bloomberg Cisco EDF HSBC IBM J.P. Morgan Manchester Airport Group Pinsent Masons PwC Reed Smith Top 10 LGBT+ Inspirational Leaders Jo Rzymowska, Celebrity Cruises UK Rob Davey, Clarivate Analytics Nick Crofts, Co-op Group Pips Bunce, Credit Suisse Sue Baines, Barclays Ken Janssens, J.P. Morgan Jude Satchell-Foley, Atos Misa von Tunzelman, JLL Jonathan McClelland, M&G Investments Daniel Gerring, Travers Smith Network Rail has asked a director mentoring consultancy to review the effectiveness of its board every year as it struggles with spiralling costs (PA) Top 10 LGBT+ Network Groups Archway the LGBT network, Network Rail Celebrate LGBT, Action for Children Walt Disney Company LGBT+ Network, The Walt Disney Company Limited Pride UKI, Cisco ITV Pride, ITV Egalite UK, Publicis Groupe Unity - EY's LGBTA Network, EY Norton Rose Fulbright Pride network, Norton Rose Fulbright RoyaLGBT & Friends, King Digital Entertainment RBS Rainbow Network, RBS Voting for the award winners in each category is taking place on the British LGBT Awards' website. The winners will be announced on 12 May at an awards ceremony in London. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Oxford University is considering opening its first foreign campus in direct response to the UK leaving the European Union. The former director of the French ministry for education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, confirmed French authorities and institutions were working to bring the UKs most revered universities to France and said officials had also spoken to representatives from the University of Warwick. According to The Daily Telegraph, Oxford University has been informed that such a campus would automatically obtain French legal status and would therefore continue to receive EU funding after Brexit. If the plans between Oxford and what The Daily Telegraph describes as leading institutions in France come to fruition, then construction of a new Oxford University campus in the French capital could begin as early as 2018. Recommended Going to the pub is officially good for you say Oxford researchers A decision has yet to be reached, but a spokesman for Oxford said: "Oxford has been an international university throughout its history and it is determined to remain open to the world whatever the future political landscape looks like. The possibility that Brexit could lead to European research funding being withdrawn from UK universities has been described as a disaster, by academics. In addition, universities fear that lack of access to Europe will make them less attractive to potential students and staff members. Last month, Oxford Universitys head of Brexit strategy Professor Alastair Buchan said being in Europe meant the university could play in the top league. At an Education Select Committee meeting he said: This a Manchester United problem isn't it? The idea that Manchester United would not recruit players and wouldnt have fans and wouldnt play abroad really means that we have got to do three things. We have got to be absolutely sure we are open. Every student and every staff member that comes to Oxford is a benefit for this country because we recruit quality, people that play in the top league. Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, Mr Blanquer said: The idea is symbolic, to say after Brexit: we want to build bridges and that academic life is not totally dependent on political problems. We want to say to British universities: it can be a win-win game for you. To have high quality institutions from the UK working in our territory, interacting together in terms of research and collaboration. We are at the beginning of the process, so that by 2018, we are in a position to guarantee these things. The main idea is to get European funding through co-operation with the UK and other European institutions. 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. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images A spokesman for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: The UK is home to some of the worlds best universities and research institutions, and we intend to secure the best possible outcome for the UKs research base as we exit the EU. We have already taken steps to provide assurances by committing to underwrite Horizon 2020 grants bid for prior to the UKs departure from the EU and put science and research at the heart of our Industrial Strategy with an extra 2bn investment per year - and will seek agreement to continue to collaborate with our European partners on major science, research and technology initiatives. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The House of Lords will not be bullied or threatened into writing the Prime Minister a blank cheque on Brexit, peers have said, as the upper house starts a long debate on the Governments Article 50 bill. Theresa May this afternoon took the highly unusual step of attending the House of Lords session in person, watching intently from the steps of the Queens golden throne. The Prime Ministers spokesperson told journalists that Ms May was sitting on the steps in recognition of the importance of this bill as it proceeds through the Lords. Asked whether Ms May was seeking to intimidate peers he said the Government holds the House of Lords in the highest regard. Ms May is entitled to attend the chamber by virtue of her membership of the privy council. Peers are again expected to debate late into the night on Tuesday. The twin late-night sittings follow similar episodes in the House of Commons earlier this month, with MPs queuing to speak on the subject. Lords are not expected to actually vote on the bill until next week at the earliest. Labours leader in the upper house, Baroness Angela Smith, told her colleagues that it would be irresponsible to merrily wave the Government off to negotiate our future without parliamentary engagement or accountability. She criticised MPs and an anonymous government source who had reportedly called for the Lords to either be abolished or stuffed with compliant peers to pass the bill without delay. My Lords, we will not be threatened into not fulfilling our normal constitutional role and neither will we be goaded into acting irresponsibly. We have to have a serious and responsible debate, she said. And in doing so, if we ask the House of Commons to look again at an issue, it is not a constitutional outrage but a constitutional responsibility. And it is the House of Commons that will, as always, and quite rightly, have the final say. So, lets be very clear. As I have said so many times before, in your lordships House, and publicly we will not block, wreck or sabotage the legislation before us. Whatever our personal views, disappointments and genuine concerns for the future that is not the role of this House. But, Ive also said, neither should we provide the Government with a blank cheque. It would be irresponsible to, and merely ask them to return two years later with a deal. If sovereignty is to mean anything, it has to mean parliamentary responsibility. Lord Cashman, a longtime campaigner on LGBT issues, pledged to vote against the bill if it was not amended, arguing that you do not ditch your principles because theyre unfashionable or unpopular. Worlds are changed for the better by people who have the courage to be unpopular and do what is right, and decent, and good, and just for the long term. Not to give into intimidation, threats, or bullying, he said. Some Remain-supporting Conservative peers however warned against impeding the Article 50 process. Lord Hague, the former Conservative party leader and Foreign Secretary, said he was worried that amendments might turn out not to be so well thought out in two years time and that they might undermine Britains negotiating position. He described Tony Blairs intervention calling for people to rise up against Brexit last week as a great mistake citing his own acceptance of defeat at the 2001 general election to Mr Blair as a case in point. What experts have said about Brexit Show all 11 1 /11 What experts have said about Brexit What experts have said about Brexit Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond The Chancellor claims London can still be a world financial hub despite Brexit One of Britains great strengths is the ability to offer and aggregate all of the services the global financial services industry needs This has not changed as a result of the EU referendum and I will do everything I can to ensure the City of London retains its position as the worlds leading international financial centre. Reuters What experts have said about Brexit Yanis Varoufakis Greece's former finance minister compared the UK relations with the EU bloc with a well-known song by the Eagles: You can check out any time you like, as the Hotel California song says, but you can't really leave. The proof is Theresa May has not even dared to trigger Article 50. It's like Harrison Ford going into Indiana Jones' castle and the path behind him fragmenting. You can get in, but getting out is not at all clear Getty Images What experts have said about Brexit Michael OLeary Ryanair boss says UK will be screwed by EU in Brexit trade deals: I have no faith in the politicians in London going on about how the world will want to trade with us. The world will want to screw you that's what happens in trade talks, he said. They have no interest in giving the UK a deal on trade Getty What experts have said about Brexit Tim Martin JD Wetherspoon's chairman has said claims that the UK would see serious economic consequences from a Brexit vote were "lurid" and wrong: We were told it would be Armageddon from the OECD, from the IMF, David Cameron, the chancellor and President Obama who were predicting locusts in the fields and tidal waves in the North Sea" PA What experts have said about Brexit Mark Carney Governor of Bank of England is 'serene' about Bank of England's Brexit stance: I am absolutely serene about the judgments made both by the MPC and the FPC Reuters What experts have said about Brexit Christine Lagarde IMF chief urges quick Brexit to reduce economic uncertainty: We want to see clarity sooner rather than later because we think that a lack of clarity feeds uncertainty, which itself undermines investment appetites and decision making Getty Images What experts have said about Brexit Inga Beale Lloyds chief executive says Brexit is a major issue: "Clearly the UK's referendum on its EU membership is a major issue for us to deal with and we are now focusing our attention on having in place the plans that will ensure Lloyd's continues trading across Europe EPA What experts have said about Brexit Colm Kelleher President of US bank Morgan Stanley says City of London will suffer as result of the EU referendum: I do believe, and I said prior to the referendum, that the City of London will suffer as result of Brexit. The issue is how much What experts have said about Brexit Richard Branson Virgin founder believes we've lost a THIRD of our value because of Brexit and cancelled a deal worth 3,000 jobs: We're not any worse than anybody else, but I suspect we've lost a third of our value which is dreadful for people in the workplace.' He continued: "We were about to do a very big deal, we cancelled that deal, that would have involved 3,000 jobs, and thats happening all over the country" Getty Images What experts have said about Brexit Barack Obama US President believes Britain was wrong to vote to leave the EU: "It is absolutely true that I believed pre-Brexit vote and continue to believe post-Brexit vote that the world benefited enormously from the United Kingdom's participation in the EU. We are fully supportive of a process that is as little disruptive as possible so that people around the world can continue to benefit from economic growth" Getty Images What experts have said about Brexit Kristin Forbes American economist and an external member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England argues that the economy had been less stormy than many expected following the shock referendum result: For nowthe economy is experiencing some chop, but no tsunami. The adverse winds could quickly pick up and merit a stronger policy response. But recently they have shifted to a more favourable direction Getty Conservative peer Baroness Susan Williams opened the debate for the Government, saying that the long list of peers waiting to speak was testament to the seriousness with which this House takes its constitutional duty to scrutinise legislation. The Governments European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill was drawn up after the Supreme Court ruled that Parliament had to give consent for the Government to trigger Article 50. Ministers had previously argued that Theresa May had prerogative power to withdraw Britain from the European Union and that they did not need to consult MPs and peers. MPs failed to amend the bill during its House of Commons stages despite minor rebellions by some Remain-supporting Conservative MPs. Though peers cannot block the legislation, they can delay it throwing a spanner in the works of the Government's timetable. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} European migrants with British children are terrified their families will be torn apart by Brexit if they lose their right to remain in the UK, protesters have warned. Hundreds of immigrants to the UK from European Union countries held a rally outside the Houses of Parliament to call for politicians to guarantee their right to remain after EU withdrawal. Draped in flags from their home countries, protesters expressed their fears for their future in the UK, as the British government prepares to enter formal negotiations for Brexit. It is not yet known if EU citizens right to remain in the UK will be undermined by the move. The House of Lords is currently considering the Article 50 Bill which would empower Prime Minister Theresa May to trigger Article 50, the formal mechanism through which negotiations to leave the European Union can begin. MPs in the House of Commons have given the bill approval but the upper chamber must all back it before it can be given full assent. However, critics say Ms Mays proposal to enact a 'Hard Brexit', does not represent majority public opinion and could leave EU citizens in the UK with fewer rights, as well as British people currently living abroad. Isabel, a French woman living her York with her English husband and three young children, attended the rally carried placards depicting the French and British flags. She told The Independent she fears they could be ripped apart by a hard Brexit deal. She said: We fear being apart, my husband having no right to live in France and me having no right to live here. We are very worried and were waiting for the government to do something about it. My family is being broken. We need guarantees now- that marriage does stand for something, families stand for something. Ilaria Miarible, a 35-year-old researcher from Italy, said she came to the UK ten years ago to complete a PHD. She left the UK for several years, meaning she is now unsure if she qualifies for permanent residency. She said: Ive been in the UK for ten years. Ive made my life here. I think its completely unfair. I have no rights here. I think its unfair that theres such uncertainty at the moment, we dont know where we stand. I think how we migrants have been treated, across the board, is appalling. I came here with nothing and I decided to graft. I would like to stay here and pay back all the good things I have received. Brexit Concerns Show all 26 1 /26 Brexit Concerns Brexit Concerns Brexit will put British patients at 'back of the queue' for new drugs Brexit will put British patients at the back of the queue for vital new drugs, the Government has been warned forcing them to wait up to two years longer A medicines regulator has raised the alarm over a likely decision to pull out of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), as well as the EU itself. ealth Secretary Jeremy Hunt dropped the bombshell , when he said he expected the UK would quit the EMA because it is subject to rulings by the European Court of Justice. Getty Images Brexit Concerns London to lose status as 'gateway to Europe' for banks One of Germanys top banking regulators has warned that London could lose its status as gateway to Europe for the banking sector after Britain quits the European trading bloc. Andreas Dombret, who is an executive board member for the BundesbankGermanys central banktold a private meeting of German businesses and banks earlier this week in Frankfurt that even if banking rules were equivalent between the UK and the rest of the EU, that was still miles away from [Britain having] access to the single market, the BBC reports. Jason Hawkes Brexit Concerns Exodus The number of financial sector professionals in Britain and continental Europe looking for jobs in Ireland rocketed in the months after the UK voted to leave the European Union Shutterstock Brexit Concerns Brexit is making FTSE 100 executives richer Pay packages of many FTSE 100 chief executive officers are partly tied to how well share prices are doing rather than the CEOs performance -- and some stocks are soaring. ritish equities got a boost since the June vote because the likes of Rio Tinto, Smiths Group and WPP generate most sales abroad and earn a fortune when they convert these revenues back into the weakened pound. Sterlings fall also made UK stocks more affordable for overseas investors. Rex Brexit Concerns Theresa May: UK to leave single market Theresa May has said the UK "cannot possibly" remain within the European single market, as staying in it would mean "not leaving the EU at all". Getty Brexit Concerns Lead campaigner Gina Miller and her team outside the High Court Getty Brexit Concerns Raymond McCord holds up his newly issued Irish passport alongside his British passport outside the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns SDLP leader Colum Eastwood leaving the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns Migrants with luggage walk past a graffiti on a wall as they leave the 'Jungle' migrant camp, as part of a major three-day operation planned to clear the camp in Calais Getty Brexit Concerns Migrants leave messages on their tents in the Jungle migrant camp Getty Brexit Concerns The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (Adra) which distributes approximately 700 meals daily in the northern Paris camp states that it is noticing a spike in new migrant arrivals this week, potentially linked the the Calais 'jungle' camp closure - with around 1000 meals distributed today EPA Brexit Concerns Migrant workers pick apples at Stocks Farm in Suckley, Britain Reuters Brexit Concerns Many farmers across the country are voicing concerns that Brexit could be a dangerous step into the unknown for the farming industry Getty Brexit Concerns Bank of England governor Mark Carney who said the long-term outlook for the UK economy is positive, but growth was slowing in the wake of the Brexit vote PA Brexit Concerns The Dow Jones industrial average closed down over 600 points on the news with markets around the globe pluninging Getty Brexit Concerns Immigration officers deal with each member of the public seeking entry into the United Kingdom but on average, 10 a day are refused entry at this London airport and between 2008 and 2009, 33,100 people were detained at the airport for mainly passport irregularities Getty Brexit Concerns A number of global investment giants have threatened to move their European operations out of London if Brexit proves to have a negative impact on their businesses Getty Brexit Concerns Following the possibility of a Brexit the UK would be released from its renewable energy targets under the EU Renewable Energy Directive and from EU state aid restrictions, potentially giving the government more freedom both in the design and phasing out of renewable energy support regimes Getty Brexit Concerns A woman looking at a chart showing the drop in the pound (Sterling) against the US Dollar in London after Britain voted to leave the EU Getty Brexit Concerns Young protesters outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, to protest against the United Kingdom's decision to leave the EU following the referendum Getty Brexit Concerns Applications from Northern Ireland citizens for Irish Passports has soared to a record high after the UK Voted in favour of Leaving the EU Getty Brexit Concerns NFU Vice President Minette Batters with Secretary of State, Andrea Leadsome at the National Farmers Union (NFU) took machinery, produce, farmers and staff to Westminster to encourage Members of Parliament to back British farming, post Brexit Getty Brexit Concerns The latest reports released by the UK Cabinet Office warn that expats would lose a range of specific rights to live, to work and to access pensions, healthcare and public services. The same reports added that UK citizens abroad would not be able to assume that these rights will be guaranteed in the future Getty Brexit Concerns A British resident living in Spain asks questions during an informative Brexit talk by the "Brexpats in Spain" group, about Spanish legal issues to become Spanish citizens, at the town hall in Benalmadena, Spain Reuters Brexit Concerns The collapse of Great Britain appears to have been greatly exaggerated given the late summer crowds visiting city museums, hotels, and other important tourist attractions Getty Brexit Concerns The U.K. should maintain European Union regulations covering everything from working hours to chemicals until after the government sets out its plans for Brexit, said British manufacturers anxious to avoid a policy vacuum and safeguard access to their biggest export market Getty Protest organiser Matthieu Challot, 42, told The Independent he moved to London from France 18 years ago and now lives with his British partner and their child. He says he does not fear losing his right to remain in the UK, but is more worried about social attitudes due to what he perceives to be growing bitterness from British nationals towards immigrants. He said: I dont think the UK is going to expel us, they need us as taxpayers and also Im not sure they would want all their pensioners coming back in exchange. Mr Challot explained: I fear we will become second class citizens. People have started to be much more vocal about their prejudices. As a foreigner looking at the Brexit campaign it was horrendous. There was just lies and they have unleashed a new wave of populism. He said that immediately after the referendum he found bins had been turned over on top of his car, which he fears may be due to his car having French number plates. He said: Ive been told lots that the UK is a very tolerant country, but I dont want to be tolerated, I want to be accepted and integrated. I dont need to be tolerated. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Peter Mandelson has demanded that Britain be given the right to pass judgement on Theresa May's Brexit deal, raising the prospect of a second referendum or even a general election to make the decision. Writing exclusively for The Independent, Lord Mandelson accused the Prime Minister of lacking political courage and of allowing herself to be led astray by hardcore Eurosceptics in the Tory party. The Labour ex-Cabinet minister said she must be sent back to the negotiating table if her terms are rejected by the country, adding that he hoped the House of Lords would secure the right to have a meaningful decision over Ms May's deal, as the upper chamber begins a two-day debate on the issue today. His intervention comes just days after Tony Blair also made a major speech calling on people to rise up against what he called Ms May's Brexit at any cost approach to negotiations. Tony Blair says the 'debilitation of the Labour Party is the facilitator of Brexit' In his article for The Independent, Lord Mandelson, a former EU Trade Commissioner, said: When a deal is reached the country is entitled, either directly or through Parliament, to pass judgement on whats on offer. Thats what Tony Blair was arguing for in his speech and he is right to do so. I hope the House of Lords secures this right. If what replaces EU membership is a pale imitation of the benefits we have currently, we should have the chance to send the Government back to the negotiating table to secure a deal that gives us what we need. Lord Mandelson's words come amid a push by senior figures who backed the Remain camp to realign public debate away from the idea that Britain is helplessly hurtling towards Brexit regardless of what the country's future relations and trading arrangements with the EU are. In his piece he sets out how both David Cameron and Ms May have been led by the Eurosceptic right of the Conservative Party, saying: When asked by audiences why he committed such a strategic blunder by calling the EU referendum, David Cameron says it was inevitable. What he means is that the civil war over Europe had reached such fever pitch in the Tory party he feared for his job if he didnt give in. Similarly, when Theresa May says she cannot thwart the public will to take Britain out of the EU lock, stock and barrel, she means she doesnt want to expend any political capital standing up to those same ideologues, whatever the economic cost. Recommended Mandelson says public will change its mind about Brexit The Labour peer goes on: Mrs May should have summoned her political courage and statesmanship and said something like this: we have been through a divisive vote but the Governments job is to respect the result. We will do so, however, in a way that safeguards the economy ... Instead, Mrs May has gone full pelt to avoid any public debate about Britains options in Europe while rushing off to Washington to show we are not friendless. He added that the country must not lose sight of the fact the country's future prosperity for decades to come is at stake and that the whole of the country is entitled to make up their minds on the issue, not just half of it. In an interview yesterday, Lord Mandelson said the public could yet swing against Brexit, adding that people would eventually realise they were being offered less trade, at a high cost and with no real cut in immigration. The European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill reaches the Lords today, when up to 150 peers are expected to try to speak in an initial two-day debate. Lord Mandelson said he was confident an amendment will be passed to give three million EU citizens in the UK an immediate, unilateral guarantee that their rights will be protected after Brexit. 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. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images He also forecast success for an attempt to ensure Parliament is given a decisive vote on any final deal that the Prime Minister secures and, crucially, if she fails to agree one. In his speech last week Mr Blair made a rallying call for people to rise up against Brexit, stating that Britain's departure from the union is not inevitable. He said: This is not the time for retreat, indifference, or despair, but the time to rise up in defence of what we believe calmly, patiently, winning the argument by the force of argument, but without fear and with the conviction we act in the true interests of Britain. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Defence Secretary has hinted that more British troops will be needed to prevent the collapse of Afghanistan, more than two years after the end of combat operations. Sir Michael Fallon painted a bleak picture of the war-torn country where 456 British soldiers have died since 2001, amid heavy fighting between the Afghan government and the Taliban. He told the Munich Security Conference: If it was right to go in, it has to be right not to leave before the job is done as well as we can do it. Recommended Record number of children killed in Afghanistan as Isis expands If this country collapses, we here will feel the consequences, very directly. There could be three to four million young Afghan men sent out by their villages to migrate westwards, and they are heading here. They are heading to Germany or Britain and that could be the consequence if this entire country collapses. Sir Michael did not announce the deployment of extra troops to Afghanistan, where 500 British soldiers remain training local forces and operating a quick-reaction force to defend Kabul from attack. But he echoed recent comments of US General John W Nicholson Jnr, who said he needed thousands more soldiers to break a stalemate against the Taliban-led insurgency. The Defence Secretary said: We are asking the government of Afghanistan and their military to deal with the same situation that we had ten times as many troops to deal with. Terrorist groups that British and US troops first went to root out from Afghanistan more than 15 years ago remain active in the country, Sir Michael said. Districts of northern and central Helmand province that Britain spent years trying to secure have since largely slipped out of Kabuls control. At the height of the Afghan campaign, Britain had more than 10,000 troops in the country, out of an international total of nearly 150,000. David Cameron declared an end to British combat operations in October 2014, at a time when the conflict had already raged for longer than the Second World War. Last week, in little-noticed comments, the Armed Forces minister, Mike Penning, also suggested that Britain expected to be asked to send more reinforcements to Afghanistan. He told the Commons Defence Committee: We have no plans to draw down. Actually, there is a possibility that we might uplift because of what we are being asked to do. I have not been formally asked, but I might as well be honest with the committee, thats a possibility. It was an assumption I made on the conversations with the coalition. Sir Michaels focus on the likelihood of more Afghans seeking refuge in the West could be seen as an attempt to win the support of the British public to stay the course in the country. Afghans seeking a better life in the West already make up one of the largest contributions to the refugee and migrant crisis which has struck Europe in the past two years. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trump has done nothing in the first weeks of his presidency to suggest he is a racist, a Conservative MP has said. Speaking during a debate on the US President's state visit to Britain, Nigel Evans said: "When we stand up in this country and then condemn him for being racist, and I have seen no evidence of that, I have seen no evidence of him being racist, we are actually attacking the American people." The comments were followed by an audible gasp as MPs gathered in Westminster Hall reacted to the statement. He added that Mr Trump would go down as one of the only politicians who actually carried out their manifesto pledges, saying: "I respect the fact that he has stood on a platform that he is now delivering." Mr Evans also called those who voted for the Republican President the forgotten people and compared them to those who voted for Brexit in the UK. Veteran Conservative MP Edward Leigh also defended Mr Trump's record in government, including a travel restriction imposed on seven majority-Muslim countries that was later overturned by the courts. He said: "The fact is that I dont think there is any proof that this travel ban is racist. "Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world, there is no question of a travel ban on Indonesia. "These countries are riddled by civil war, this travel ban builds on work done by [Barack] Obama. "So to accuse the new President of the US of racism, misogyny and all the rest, is overstated." The remarks came as MPs were considering Theresa May's decision to extend the invitation to the US president after just seven days in the White House. The debate was held in response to petitions signed by almost two million Britons. MPs from other parties, including Labour's David Lammy, the Green's Caroline Lucas and SNP's Alex Salmond, used the debate to argue against an official state visit invitation. Anti-Trump chants were heard from Parliament Square before the debate, and appeared to die down as Labour MP Paul Flynn opened proceedings. The Stop Trump coalition has called a nationwide day of action and dozens of protests have been co-ordinated by the One Day Without Us movement celebrating the contribution of immigrants to British society. The rally in Parliament Square, which organisers claimed will attract more than 20,000 people, will be addressed by speakers including joint Green Party leader Caroline Lucas. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trumps impending state visit to the UK has been debated by MPs after a petition launched on Parliaments website attracted almost two million signatures. The discussion, held in Westminster Hall, coincided with anti-Trump demonstrations around the UK, including London, Glasgow and Brighton. MPs also debated an alternative petition, backed by almost 312,000 signatories, demanding the state visit goes ahead. In its official response to the petitions, the Government stressed ministers believe "the President of the United States should be extended the full courtesy of a State Visit". "We look forward to welcoming President Trump once dates and arrangements are finalised," the response said. The Stop Trump coalition has called a nationwide day of action and dozens of protests have been coordinated by the One Day Without Us movement celebrating the contribution of immigrants to British society. The rally in Parliament Square, which organisers claimed would attract more than 20,000 people, was addressed by speakers including joint Green Party leader Caroline Lucas. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A cross-party group of MPs has called on Theresa May to rescind an invitation for Donald Trump to attend a state visit to the UK later this year. As thousands of people protested outside Westminster, MPs branded the US President disgusting and immoral as they criticised the Prime Minister for appearing to act in desperation by extending the offer to Mr Trump just seven days after he entered the White House. The debate was triggered after a petition to block Mr Trumps state visit reached almost two million signatories. A separate petition, defending the state visit, which attracted more than 300,000 signatures, also formed part of the debate. Recommended Tory MP says he has seen no evidence of Donald Trump being racist Calling on the Government to reconsider its offer, Labour's Paul Flynn compared the US President's behaviour to a "petulant child", while fellow Labour MP Daniel Zeichner branded him a disgusting and immoral man who represents the very opposite of the values we hold. Their views appeared to echo the protesters outside Parliament. Carrying colourful placards and banners, separate groups led rallying cries, including "Hey hey, hey ho; Trump and Brexit's got to go," and "No Trump, no Brexit; no racist EU exit." Inside the house, Liberal Democrat MP Alistair Carmichael said Ms May was left looking desperate and craven while Labours Dawn Butler said the US had a pretty nasty virus, and its important that virus doesnt spread. Green MP Caroline Lucas attacked Mr Trumps effrontery to basic climate science and the SNPs Alex Salmond suggested there was desperation for a trade deal driving Ms Mays Government. They clashed with several Conservative MPs who insisted Ms May was right to prioritise Britains national interest by fostering good relations with its historic ally. Tory Nigel Evans said he had seen no evidence from the first four weeks of the Trump administration to suggest that the President was racist. "When we stand up in this country and condemn him for being racist, and I have seen no evidence of that, I have seen no evidence of him being racist, we are actually attacking the American people, he said. Nigel Evans MP says there is no evidence of Donald Trump being racist Veteran Conservative MP Edward Leigh also defended Mr Trump, saying his unsuccessful travel ban on seven majority-Muslim countries did not amount to racism. I dont think there is any proof that this travel ban is racist, he said. Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world, there is no question of a travel ban on Indonesia. These countries are riddled by civil war, this travel ban builds on work done by [Barack] Obama. So to accuse the new President of the US of racism, misogyny and all the rest is overstated. Trump Inauguration protests around the World Show all 14 1 /14 Trump Inauguration protests around the World Trump Inauguration protests around the World Activists from Greenpeace display a message reading "Mr President, walls divide. Build Bridges!" along the Berlin wall in Berlin on January 20, 2017 to coincide with the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United State Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World An activist holds up a sign at the "We Stand United" rally on the eve of US President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration outside Trump International Hotel and Tower in New York on January 19, 2017 in New York Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World Protesters burn a U.S. flag and a mock flag with pictures of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump outside the U.S. embassy in metro Manila, Philippines Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World Filipino protestors hold placcards during a protest rally in front of the US embassy in Manila, Philippines, 20 January 2017. On the eve of President-elect Donald Trump's inaguration as the 45th president of the United States, Filipinos and Fil-Americans held a protest in front of the US embassy in Manila to denounce the incoming US president. Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World Hong Kong police officers and security guards look on as an anarchist protester belonging to the Disrupt J20 movement sits after using a heavy duty D-lock and motorcycle lock to chain himself to a railing at the entrance gate to the Consulate General of the United States of America in Hong Kong to protest the inauguration of United States President-elect Donald Trump, Hong Kong, China, 20 January 2017. Two activists were arrested and taken away by Hong Kong police during the demonstration. Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World A banner is unfurled on London's Tower Bridge, organised by Bridges Not Walls - a partnership between grassroots activists and campaigners working on a range of issues, formed in the wake of Donald Trump's election, which aims to build bridges to a world free from hatred and oppression. Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World Protesters chain themselves to an entry point prior at the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in Washington, DC, U.S. Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World Bridges Not Walls banner dropped from Molenbeek bridge in Brussels, Belgium, 20 January 2017, in an Greenpeace action part of protests Wolrd protest in solidarity with people in the US, the day Donald Trump sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World A woman holds an anti-U.S. President-elect Donald Trump placard during a rally in Tokyo, Japan, Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World A Palestinian protester holds a placard during a demonstration against the construction of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and against US President-elect Donald Trump, on January 20, 2017, near the settlement of Maale Adumim, east of Jerusalem Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World Banners on North Bridge in Edinburgh as part of the Bridges Not Walls protest against US President Donald Trump on the day of his inauguration Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World Russian artist Vasily Slonov (L) and his assistant carry a life-sized cutout, which is an artwork created by Slonov and titled "Siberian Inauguration", before its presentation on the occasion of the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, in a street in Krasnoyarsk, Russia Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World A woman holds a banner during a march to thank outgoing President Barack Obama and reject US President-elect Donald Trump before his inauguration at a park in Tokyo, Japan, 20 January 2017. EPA Trump Inauguration protests around the World Palestinian demonstrators protesting this week against a promise by Donald Trump to re-locate the US embassy to Jerusalem Reuters Much of the debate centred on the timing of the offer, coming just a week after Mr Trump was inaugurated and during a hastily-arranged visit to Washington by Ms May. Barack Obama only received an invitation after 758 days, while his predecessor, George W Bush, waited 978 days before he was offered a state visit. Tory MP Crispin Blunt said he was not opposed to a state visit but said it should be delayed until 2020 the 400th anniversary of the voyage of the Mayflower. However, Foreign Office Minister Sir Alan Duncan said Mr Trump's state visit to the UK "should happen and will happen". He told MPs in the Westminster Hall debate: "This is a special moment for the special relationship. The visit should happen, the visit will happen and when it does I trust the United Kingdom will extend a polite and generous welcome to president Donald Trump." The debate over the US Presidents impending trip took place against the backdrop of protests across the UK against the state visit. The faint shouts of demonstrators could be heard inside Westminster Hall while outside in Parliament Square, thousands of protesters had gathered. Organisers of the rally said they expected more than 20,000 people to take part. Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott, addressing the crowds, warned about the "dark shadow of racism and anti-immigrant sentiment" that were beginning to emerge. She said: "We know the values that Trump represents. With Donald Trump, you don't have to look into a crystal ball, you can read the book. "He was supported in his presidential campaign by white supremacists. And even in the first weeks of his presidency he has had a viscerally anti-immigrant line." Calls for the state visit to be cancelled have been backed by Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, who criticised the president's "cruel and shameful" policies. But the Government has remained steadfast in its commitment to honour the invite. In its official response to the petitions, it stressed ministers believed "the President of the United States should be extended the full courtesy of a state visit". Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Government has announced it will review asylum applications from child refugees in France, less than two weeks after its early closure of the Dubs programme. The Home Office said it would reconsider cases of children normally resident in the Calais camp, after it emerged up to 400 unaccompanied minors had made their way back to the so-called Jungle in recent weeks. Last year, it was widely thought the Government would take 3,000 lone children from European refugee camps after Lord Alfred Dubs forced the Government to accept an amendment on the matter when the Immigration Act passed through Parliament. However the Home Office unexpectedly announced the scheme would end after 100 more children reached the UK, bringing total numbers to 350. A separate scheme to bring unaccompanied refugee children with direct family links to Britain under the Dublin convention was also closed. Now the Home Office has confirmed it has agreed with French authorities to reconsider some of these Dublin cases. France moved more than 6,000 migrants, many fleeing poverty and war in their homelands, from the Calais Jungle last October to reception centres around the country. However, child assessments seen by The Independent alleged several accommodation centres where unaccompanied minors were sent were not providing basic needs such as suitable food, security provisions and emotional support. The early closure of the Dubs scheme was met with a furious backlash from senior figures and human rights campaigners, however the Government defended its decision arguing the programme could incentivise children to travel to Europe. The Government has always been clear that we do not want to incentivise perilous journeys to Europe particularly by the most vulnerable children, Home Secretary Amber Rudd said. Recommended May closes the door on child refugees but keeps it open for Trump The section 67 obligation was accepted on the measure that it would not act as a pull factor to Europe. The Government has a clear strategy and we believe this is the right approach. Ms Rudd also attributed the closure to a lack of local funding, a claim furiously countered by several councils who said they had written to the Home Secretary to urge approval of more child asylum seekers. A High Court challenge to the schemes closure has been scheduled for early May. The legal challenge, which is being brought by the charity Help Refugees, claims the consultation process with local authorities that led to the scheme's closure was fundamentally flawed. A Home Office spokesperson told The Independent over 900 unaccompanied children had been transferred to the UK from Europe in 2016, including more than 750 from France as part of the UKs support for the Calais camp clearance. Fentanyl, Carfentanil Banned in China for Rising Cases of Overdose in US The U.S. Drugs Enforcement Administration welcomed China's move to ban fentanyl and carfentanil, which created a heroin epidemic in Ohio. (Photo : Getty Images) The CNNCC declared that fentanyl and carfentanil will be controlled because of the surge in opioid production in the country. China is the main producer of opioids. There are 66 types of fentanyl opioids that are found in China. Between 2012 and 2015, there were only six. Advertisement Carfentanil is a stronger variety of drugs that is 10,000 stronger than morphine. The drug is so powerful that it 2 milligrams of the substance can kill a human adult. The United States Drug Enforcement Administration welcomed the move. Russell Baer, a special agent of the agency said that this will slow down the sale of the drug in the country. Last year, 174 people in Cincinnati were hospitalized due to overdose from carfentanil. A case of two parents who fell unconscious while driving with their 4-year-old son was due to an overdose of the drug. Policemen found a vehicle swerving recklessly on the street and found the two parents who overdosed while their son was seated in the backseat. Two dealers of heroin laced with carfentanil were arrested. A grand jury charged Phillip Watkins, a 31-year-old, and Jeannetta Crawford, 26 years old. They are believed to be boyfriend and girlfriend. They were caught to be selling heroin with carfentanil in four occasions. Acting U. S. attorney Benjamin Glassman said, "This is the first carfentanyl trafficking case that we have ever brought in this district, in the region, in Ohio." He added, "And I believe it is the first federal carfentanil indictment ever in the country." American health officials were alarmed at the sudden spike of overdose cases that affected six states in 48 hours. "It's unlike anything we've seen before," Hamilton County Commissioner Dennis Deters said. Carfentanyl is the most powerful opioid in the world. It is cheap to produce and the substance is odorless and colorless, making it difficult to detect. Dealers have been adding it to heroine to give a more potent and longer high. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Liberal Democrats are likely to adopt as official policy a move to quash all historical sex-work convictions including brothel-keeping, soliciting business and kerb-crawling. The move to wipe convictions from peoples records will be included in a key motion at Lib Dem spring conference as part of the partys wider drive to decriminalise sex work, while strengthening laws against non-consensual activity. It will also cement official policy to oppose Government plans to introduce an age-verification process for people wishing to access online pornography, currently passing through the House of Lords. Lib Dem Leader Tim Farron thinks the quashing of all previous convictions is a critical element in the drive to decriminalise sex work, something which overall will help reduce risks faced by women and men in the industry. The partys home affairs spokesman Lord Paddick said: As a former police officer I know what works and the current laws around prostitution do not. They might sound tough but they dont protect people. The police should be focusing their resources on the very real crimes of trafficking and coercion rather than policing consenting adults. Sex workers face enormous discrimination and are more likely to fall victim to crime and violence simply because the law criminalises them. We should target our policies and efforts at reducing harm not wasting police time and creating barriers that stop vulnerable people seeking help. The former Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner said: That's why Liberal Democrats are proposing to take these outdated laws off the statute book. I believe it is time for an informed debate on this complex issue and I want my party to be leading that debate. The motion to be voted on at the conference in late March would quash past convictions for anything that would be decriminalised under the new system. In pictures: Sex workers protest in Paris Show all 8 1 /8 In pictures: Sex workers protest in Paris In pictures: Sex workers protest in Paris A protester (R) holds a sign reading 'Prostitutes with fists raised against the penalisation of clients!' during a demonstration by sex workers and supporters near the French National Assembly in Paris In pictures: Sex workers protest in Paris A protester wears a hat rimmed with red roses during a demonstration by sex workers and supporters near the French National Assembly in Paris In pictures: Sex workers protest in Paris Sex workers hold signs during a protest against new bill against prostitution and sex trafficking In pictures: Sex workers protest in Paris Transgender sex workers protest against a parliamentary vote to enforce the penalisation of solicitation, near the Assemblee Nationale (French parliament) in Paris In pictures: Sex workers protest in Paris A protester wears a mask during a demonstration by sex workers and supporters near the French National Assembly in Paris In pictures: Sex workers protest in Paris Protesters wear masks during a demonstration by sex workers and supporters near the French National Assembly in Paris, as French lawmakers take part in a final debate on a bill that would make it illegal to pay for sex. French lawmakers were poised on April 6 to pass a controversial law that makes it illegal to pay for sex and imposes fines of up to 3,500 euros ($3,970) on prostitutes' clients In pictures: Sex workers protest in Paris Protesters hold up their fists and chant slogans during a demonstration by sex workers and supporters near the French National Assembly in Paris In pictures: Sex workers protest in Paris Protesters hold a banner reading 'Don't liberate me, I'll take care of it myself!' That would include brothel keeping, which the party believes prevents sex workers from getting together to work in a safe space, solicitation, seen as something that pushes sex workers to take risks to secure business, and also kerb-crawling. As well as decriminalising sex work activity, the motion seeks to refocus laws on tackling non-consensual activity including trafficking, child prostitution and pimping, and would see a strengthening of measures against coercion into sex and sex work on the grounds of fear, force, or fraud. In addition, the policy would set up additional support for people trying to leave sex work, including through housing authorities, healthcare providers and places where education and training are available. The Digital Economy Bill, which continues its passage through Parliament this week, will force pornographic websites to add age-verification checks that will not let people watch videos until they sign up through a special process, that would involve giving personal details. But the motions says the party believes the checks to be illiberal, to pose a severe danger to privacy, and to be fundamentally unworkable. There have been a string of hacking attacks on internet pages, such as dating websites, which have seen peoples personal data stolen, spread across the internet and even used as means for blackmail. In 2016 users of elite dating site Beautiful People had their sexual preferences and personal messages splashed across the internet after being hacked. A year earlier users of the Ashley Madison website, which offered married people the chance of infidelity, had users details hacked and posted online. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The UK economy would take a 328m hit if all migrant workers stayed at home for a day, new research says today. The nations daily GDP would fall by 4 per cent if all non-British citizens stopped working for 24 hours, according to the New Economics Foundation (NEF). Its report also highlights how no less than 26 per cent of health professionals are migrants far more than the average of 10.9 per cent of the UKs total workforce. Recommended Tory revolt to end confusion over rights of EU nationals fizzles out Most starkly, it concludes: If all migrant workers stopped working for the day, the NHS and other key parts of our economy would be unable to function. The study has been published to coincide with a day of action across the country to illustrate how much immigrants contribute to the country. Events are planned for One Day Without Us in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, at university campuses, town centres and private businesses. The study also comes on the day that the House of Lords begins debating the Article 50 Bill, when peers will attempt to guarantee the rights of three million EU citizens in the UK after Brexit. Marc Stears, the NEFs chief executive, said: Britain has a long and proud tradition of openness to people from overseas and our research conclusively shows that migrants have more than repaid for the welcome they have received. Our future as a country depends on the economic, cultural and social contribution that migrants make. As countries all around the world succumb to the siren call of populism, we need to remember that contribution and to celebrate it. A number of businesses will close today to make the point that Britain couldnt manage for even one day without the contribution of migrants. They will include a jewellery shop in Edinburgh owned by Uta Rosenbrock, a German citizen, who said: I have, over the years, employed women from Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Spain and of course Scotland. I have taken pride in being part of a vibrant, multicultural community in Edinburgh. Never have I questioned my right to be here, all my adult and working life has been in Scotland. Now, suddenly, all of that is in question. I am closing my shop on 20 February so the community see what they stand to lose if we all leave. In the Commons, a threatened Tory rebellion to guarantee EU nationals rights evaporated when Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, insisted nothing would change without MPs consent. However, that means the uncertainty facing EU citizens will continue unless and until Ms May agrees a deal with EU leaders when the exit talks get underway in April. Peers across parties are confident they can force MPs to think again by passing an amendment to deliver an immediate unilateral guarantee of protected rights. Today will also see MPs debate a 1.85 million signature petition against US President Donald Trumps planned state visit to the UK. It will be followed by a demonstration outside Parliament over his attempt to ban travellers from seven mainly Muslim countries entering the US. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Robert Mugabe has claimed he has similarities with US President Donald Trump. The President of Zimbabwe said he had no issue with Mr Trumps American nationalism and had the same view about his own country. The 93-year-old also said the US President should be given a chance to prove he was a good leader and his policies should be given time. "I do not know, give him time," he said. He did however say that he had not expected the business tycoon to beat Hilary Clinton in the presidential election. I was surprised by his election, but I did not like Madam Clinton to win either, Mr Mugabe told ZBCTv, the Herald reported. When it comes to Donald Trump, on the one hand talking of American nationalism, well America for America, America for Americans on that we agree. Zimbabwe for Zimbabweans. Mr Mugabe also added that he was ready to work with Mr Trump and that he hoped the 45th president would restore good relations between the US and Zimbabwe. 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 Since 2001 Zimbabwe has been under sanctions which cut the countrys lines of credit from multi-lateral lending institutions. The move is thought to have cost Zimbabwe more than $42 billion and Mr Mugabe is hoping Mr Trump will overturn the ruling. Mr Trump may even re-look the sanctions on Zimbabwe, he said. Indeed Obama did that [impose sanctions] just before he left. Why did he have to do it? ...Why didnt he leave it to the incoming indumbent to make his own decision? We are just now under sanctions imposed not by Donald Trump but by Obama. What arrogance is that? Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has issued a warning to its members to stop psychoanalysing Donald Trump because it breeches the organisation's strict code of ethics. A great deal of armchair psychology has been written to explain Mr Trumps behaviour, with some commentators confidently claiming he is a psychopath or a sociopath terms which are often misunderstood and bandied about too casually, according to some practitioners. Some professionals have declared the President is suffering from a personality disorder with many citing narcissistic personality disorder as one they believe afflicts him. Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein: Trumps attacks on the press are more dangerous than Nixons Following his recent press conferences, psychiatrists as well as media commentators have increasingly declared something is not quite right with Mr Trumps psyche, but the APA says this increasingly common trend by psychiatrists to diagnose those they havent treated must end. The unique atmosphere of this years election cycle may lead some to want to psychoanalyse the candidates, Maria Oquendo, president of the APA, wrote, but to do so would not only be unethical, it would be irresponsible. Of course, Mr Trump is not the first politician whose character has attracted frenzied speculation by the media, the public and mental health professionals. Back in 1964, various psychiatrists decided to analyse Republican Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater. A survey in US magazine Fact questioned more than 12,000 psychiatrists about Mr Goldwater's health. About 2,400 responded, with about half of these declaring him psychologically unfit to be President. After Fact carried the results of the survey as a news story, Mr Goldwater sued for libel and won. The speculation was so frenzied that it resulted in what is known as the Goldwater rule. It states: On occasion psychiatrists are asked for an opinion about an individual who is in the light of public attention or who has disclosed information about himself or herself through public media. In such circumstances, a psychiatrist may share with the public his or her expertise about psychiatric issues in general. However, it is unethical for a psychiatrist to offer a professional opinion unless he or she has conducted an examination and has been granted proper authorization for such a statement. The Goldwater rule has been ignored by the many professionals who have waded into the debate around Mr Trumps psychology. Jeffrey Flier, a former dean of Harvard Medical School, confidently declared on Twitter: Narcissistic personality disorder. Trump doesnt just have it, he defines it. #trumpdiagnosis. And not content with a snappy 140 character tweet, a professor at Northwestern University published a 9,000 word psychological evaluation of the President from a distance rather than from the couch with mainly covered Mr Trumps perceived narcissism. In the UK, Oxford University Professor Kevin Dutton hit the headlines when he found Mr Trump scored higher than Hitler on the psychopathy scale. Other American politicians to have undergone scrutiny of their mental health include Thomas Eagleton, who in 1972 withdrew as Democrat George McGoverns running mate after it was revealed he had been hospitalised three times for depression and had undergone electric shock therapy. Both George Bush Senior and his Democratic opponent Michael Dukakis denied in 1988 they had ever undergone psychiatric treatment after the Washington Times reported on rumours related to Mr Dukakiss mental health. Recommended Mental health professionals warn Trump is incapable of being president But some psychotherapists claim they feel compelled to break their own code of ethics and speak out about Mr Trump because they believe he poses a danger to the psychological health of many Americans. As psychotherapists practising in the United States, we are alarmed by the rise of the ideology of Trumpism, which we see as a threat to the well-being of the people we care for and to American democracy itself, the Citizen Therapists Against Trumpism wrote in their manifesto. We cannot remain silent as we witness the rise of an American form of fascism. We can leverage this time of crisis to deepen our commitment to American democracy. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A former CIA operative has warned spies are plotting against Donald Trump and are trying to take him down by withholding or leaking sensitive information. In a column published by Fox News, Bryan Dean Wright, a member of the Democratic Party, said: Multiple reports show that my former colleagues in the intelligence community have decided that they must leak or withhold classified information due to unsettling connections between President Trump and the Russian Government. The former CIA operative made his comments after the Wall Street Journal reported US officials and intelligence were withholding sensitive information from President Trump because of fears the information could be leaked or compromised. Alleged strong ties between Mr Trump and President Putins government have created mistrust within the intelligence community, official sources said. Last week, Mr Trump accused the US intelligence service of illegally giving information to the "fake news media about his teams alleged contact with Russian officials. Mr Wright also blamed some spies within the intelligence community for going beyond their duty and interfering with American democracy. He also attacked those plotting against the US President, accusing them of breaking the law and committing treason. However, some of Americas spies are deciding that thats not enough. For reasons of misguided righteousness or partisan hatred, theyve taken it upon themselves to be judge, jury, and executioner. They have prosecuted their case in the court of public opinion... The spies who are plotting against President Trump are breaking US laws. Theyre violating their oaths. And theyre committing treason to remedy (perceived) treason. They likely dont see it that way, of course, he said. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Left-leaning voters in the US are warning Democrats in Congress they will be replaced if they do not form a more effective opposition to President Donald Trump. There has been a groundswell of liberal activism and street protests since Mr Trump won the election, intensifying with his controversial travel ban. A grassroots campaign group We Will Replace You, sprung up last week, claiming Democrats in the Senate and in the House of Representatives have so far been enabling and collaborating with the new President instead of properly holding him to account. It urges people to sign a primary pledge telling Democrats to, do everything you can to resist Trump, or we will replace you with someone who will. The website adds that elected officials tend to take the path of least resistance once they have made it into Congress, unless they fear a real consequence, such as losing office. Although Republicans have a majority in both houses, some liberal critics believe Democrats have rolled over and allowed Mr Trump to have his own way too often over the selection of his cabinet. The website is calling out Democrats who fail to oppose the Presidents cabinet picks including three Senators who voted in favour of Mr Trumps controversial choice for Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, an oil baron with ties to President Putin of Russia. It also points to the 14 Senate Democrats who joined with Republicans to confirm Mike Pompeo as CIA director in spite of his alleged past Islamophobic comments and his reported ties to far-right conspiracy theorists. Recommended Kansas rep Mike Pompeo confirmed as CIA director The group claims this apparent acquiescence could be disastrous in the current climate with Mr Trump seemingly determined to ride roughshod over the judiciary and Congress, who are supposed to provide checks and balances in the system of government. It has a list of demands, including that Democrats vote against all Trump appointees, fight all of his legislative priorities, oppose his Supreme Court nomination which the group says is an unconstitutional Republican theft, and bring business in Congress to a snails pace. It also wants Democrats to call for the sacking of Mr Trumps advisor Steve Bannon and to publicly support the impeachment of the President if he is found to have broken the law or violated the constitution. On the evening Mr Trump announced his pick for Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, thousands of protesters gathered outside the home of the Democrat leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, urging him to just vote no, obstruct and get a spine. Democrats in the Senate have the power to block the appointment of Mr Gorsuch through filibustering, but some have said they want to hear more about his views before they decide to do this. Although Mr Schumer has significantly slowed the progress of Mr Trumps cabinet confirmations and seen off some of his nominees, this hasnt been enough to satisfy those who feel the Democrats have become too much a part of the establishment. For many left-of-centre voters in the US, their disaffection with the Democrats grew when Hillary Clinton was chosen as their Presidential nominee over Bernie Sanders, who they believe could have beaten Mr Trump. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} President Donald Trump has named Lt Gen Herbert Raymond "HR" McMaster as the new national security adviser, following the sudden ousting of Lt Gen Michael Flynn after contact made with Russian officials prior to inauguration. Mr Trump made the announcement from his West Palm Beach resort and de facto Camp David, Mar-a-Lago. He said Mr McMaster is "a man of tremendous talent and tremendous experience". Lt Gen Keith Kellogg had served as acting national security adviser, and will now serve as the chief of staff of the National Security Council. 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 appointments follows a tumultuous end to the Trump administration's first month in office. It included the blockage of Mr Trump's controversial executive order to ban travel from seven Muslim-majority countries by a federal court, Mr Flynn's forced resignation, and the withdrawal of Labour Secretary pick Andy Puzder after decades-old domestic violence allegations came to light. The selection of Mr McMaster, 54, has come as a surprise to some, as he is known for pushing back against authority. It calls into question how well he will work with a president who values loyalty to a fault and immediately attempts to discredit any criticism. However, Mr McMaster an active three-star general who had no choice but to say "yes" to the President remains a well-respected military strategist. The new national security adviser is a graduate of West Point and earned a PhD in US history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He rose to prominence during the first Gulf War, where he was awarded a Silver Star, as he commanded the US 2nd Amy Cvalry Regiment involved in one of the biggest tank battles since World War II. In 1997, he wrote Dereliction of Duty, a book that took a critical view of the US' handling of the Vietnam War. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A US politician has proposed a law that would require men to get permission from their wives before they could be prescribed Viagra from their doctor as a pointed statement to anti-abortion lawmakers. The legislation would require men in the state of Kentucky to visit a doctor twice before they could be prescribed any drug for erectile dysfunction. They would also have to be married and to get a signed and dated letter of consent from their spouse. The bill, drawn up by a female Democrat member of the House of Representatives, Mary Lou Marzian, also calls for the man to make a sworn statement with his hand on the bible that he will only use a prescription for a drug for erectile dysfunction when having sexual relations with his current spouse. Ms Marzian said: My point is to illustrate how intrusive and ridiculous it is for elected officials to be inserting themselves into private and personal medical decisions. The proposal comes days after Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin, a Republican, signed an informed consent law requiring women to receive counselling from a doctor 24 hours before they are due to undergo an abortion. Another law recently passed by Mr Bevin requires that women seeking the procedure are required to look at an image of the foetus and hear the heartbeat before they are permitted to go ahead. The legal limit for abortion in the state has just been reduced to 20 weeks except in cases where the life of the mother is at risk. Ms Marzian, who is pro-choice, said of the new abortion laws: Do we really wnt a bunch of legislators interfering in private, personal medical decisions? The congresswoman, who is a registered nurse, told local newspaper the Louisville Courier-Journal that she does not expect the bill to get very far, but thinks it is important to make the point that it is unacceptable to have lawmakers telling women what they may and may not do with their own bodies. She also plans to file a bill requiring potential gun buyers to obtain counselling 24 hours in advance from victims of gun violence before making the purchase. Im just making sure the Government is taking care of your safety, she said. Abortion remains a deeply divisive issue in the US. The death of Norma McCorvey, whose court battle led to the legalisation of abortion in the US, reignited the debate over the weekend. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Russia's ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin has died suddenly in New York. The 64-year-old had held the post since 2006. A prominent Russian diplomat has passed away while at work. We'd like to express our sincere condolences to Vitaly Churkins family, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on its official website. The New York Post reported that Mr Churkin became ill outside the Russian Embassy on East 67th Street at around 9.30am after suffering heart problems. He was reportedly rushed to New York Presbyterian Hospital, where he later died. The announcement his death was met with shock when it was delivered during a session at the UN headquarters. He was a dear colleague of all os us, a deeply committed diplomat of his country and one of the finest people we have known, a UN official said. Recommended Turkish police detain six after Russian ambassador shot dead He is survived by a wife and two adult children. His daughter is believed to be a journalist for the Vladimir Putin-backed Russia Today network. Mr Churkin was a strident defender of Russian foreign policy, particularly the intensive bombing of Aleppo last year in order to crush rebels opposed to Syrian President Bashar-al-Assad. Russia's Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Yevgeniy Zagaynov said that Mr Churkin, who was fluent in English, French, Russian and Mongolian, kept working till the very end. Before he was appointed as the country's ambassador at the UN in May 2006, the diplomat served as ambassador to Belgium and Canada, and liaison ambassador to Nato and the Western European Union (WEU). In the 2000s he was ambassador at large at Russia's foreign ministry, while in the early 1990s he served as the special representative of the Russian President during talks on the former Yugoslavia. The UK's ambassador to the UN, Matthew Rycroft, said on Twitter: Absolutely devastated to hear that my friend & colleague Vitaly Churkin has died. A diplomatic giant & wonderful character. RIP. Alexander Yakovenko, the Russian ambassador to the UK, also tweeted his of his sadness: "Shocked and saddened to hear that my friend and colleague Vitaly Churkin has died. A diplomatic giant and a wonderful character". Mr Churkin gained a degree of notoriety in 1986, when as a relatively young diplomat, he testified on the Chernobyl nuclear power station accident, making him the first Soviet official to appear before a Congressional Committee of the US House of Representatives. Former US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power said that Mr Churkin had been a force for good in US-Russian relations. She tweeted: Devastated by passing of Russian UN Amb Vitaly Churkin. Diplomatic maestro &deeply caring man who did all he could to bridge US-RUS differences. The Russian Ambassador to Turkey, AndreI Karlov, was assassinated just before Christmas last year by a police officer who shouted Don't forget Aleppo before gunning him down. Another less senior Russian diplomat, Sergei Krivov, was reportedly found lying on the ground by the Russian Consulate in New York on the US election day last November having died in mysterious circumstances. BuzzFeed reported that US Consulate officials at first claimed he had fallen to his death, before saying he had suffered a heart attack. The medical examiner found that Mr Krivov died of natural causes. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A schoolboy is facing charges after he confessed to throwing a piece of wood at Donald Trumps motorcade, police authorities said. Secret services launched an investigation after a hard object hit one of the vehicles in the US Presidents motorcade as his convoy was greeted by protesters when making its way to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. The Palm Beach police, which is working with the secret services in the investigation, said the boy was from a local middle school and that he implicated four other students. The Presidential limo was not hit by the piece of wood and no-one was injured. Immediately after completing the motorcade movement several members of the motorcade returned to the scene and began canvassing the area looking for witnesses and any small hard objects along the roadway in that area, Palm Beach police said in a statement. Police said charges will be filed with the Palm Beach County States Attorney's Office. Chinese President Xi Jinping's Visit to Australia (Photo : Getty Images) Chinese companies keen to invest in Australia have taken on a new stance by playing down the "Chinese" element to assuage the concerns of people on Chinese acquisitions. In Tasmania, Chinese investment surged following President Xi Jinping's visit to the island in Nov. 2014. Moon Lake Investments bought Australia's largest dairy for $200 million and the sale was approved by the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board in Feb. last year. The dairy covers more than 19,000 hectares of pastoral land in Tasmania. Advertisement The Straits Times said that the growing sentiment against Chinese acquisitiveness in Australia has forced the Chinese to adapt the strategy. Following the outcry, the Australian government moved to tighten its foreign investment procedures, enforce a new property tax on foreign buyers and conduct reviews of agricultural land owned by foreigners. Although the review found that only 3 percent of foreign-owned land belongs to Chinese owners, it did not stop Senator Pauline Hanson, a far-right politician, from criticizing the Chinese. In Sept, Hanson warned that "if we keep heading down the path of selling our land and our houses and everything, we will be swamped by the Chinese". But Chinese investors have found a way to continue with their investment plans, the report said. An attempt by a Shanghai-based investor to buy 80 percent of S. Kidman and Co, Australia's largest cattle ranch, covering about 1.3 percent of Australia's total land area, was initially rejected but after teaming up with Gina Rinehart, an Australian tycoon, and reducing its share to 33 percent, the deal was finally approved in December. The same deals in agriculture and real estate will also take the same path, the report said. The Chinese government also took a different stance. Last week, during his Canberra visit, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi stood up for global trade and promoted not only China but also the "open world economy." Incidentally, the visit was made a day after the tragic phone exchange between Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and U.S. President Donald Trump. In contrast to Trump's humiliating message, China and Australia seemed to share the same thought on the importance of free trade. While Wang echoed President Xi's message in Davos, Turnbull also delivered a message a week earlier during his address to the Australian National Press Club, where he criticized "political opportunists" who "offer the false promise that subsidies and trade barriers, under the banner of Australia First, are the answer to protecting jobs." The Australian leader also defended its partnership with China, saying that the country is part of the larger Asian market that is interested to buy Australian products. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The US military is not in Iraq to steal anybodys oil Defence Secretary James Mattis has said, distancing himself from previous comments made by President Donald Trump. In January, Mr Trump told CIA staff: We should have kept the oil. But okay. Maybe youll have another chance. During a surprise visit to Baghdad, Mr Mattis said: I think all of us here in this room, all of us in America have generally paid for our gas and oil all along and Im sure that we will continue to do so in the future. Were not in Iraq to seize anybodys oil. Trump accuses 'dishonest media' of fake news at campaign rally Mr Mattis is in Baghdad to get a first-hand assessment of the US-backed war effort against Isis, as Iraqi forces push to evict the militants from their remaining stronghold in the northern city of Mosul. However, he is likely to face questions about Mr Trumps recent remarks and actions concerning the region, including a temporary ban on travel to the US from seven Muslim-majority nations. In pictures: Mosul offensive Show all 40 1 /40 In pictures: Mosul offensive In pictures: Mosul offensive A doctor carries an Iraqi newborn baby at a hospital in Mosul, Iraq July 18, 2017. Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi girls play at a yard of a school in Mosul, Iraq July 18, 2017alal Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive A woman on crutches who is a relative of men accused of being Islamic State militants is seen at a camp in Bartella, east of Mosul, Iraq July 15, 2017. Picture taken July 15, 2017. Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive A displaced girl, who fled from home carries a doll at Hamam al-Alil camp south of Mosul, Iraq July 13, 2017. Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi federal police members and civilians celebrate in the Old City of Mosul on 9 July 2017 after the government's announcement of the "liberation" of the embattled city. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's office said he was in "liberated" Mosul to congratulate "the heroic fighters and the Iraqi people on the achievement of the major victory" AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive A picture taken on 9 July 2017, shows a general view of the destruction in Mosul's Old City. Iraq will announce imminently a final victory in the nearly nine-month offensive to retake Mosul from jihadists, a US general said Saturday, as celebrations broke out among police forces in the city. AFP In pictures: Mosul offensive Members of the Iraqi federal police raise the victory gesture as they ride on a humvee while advancing through the Old City of Mosul on 28 June 2017, as the offensive continues to retake the last district held by Islamic State (IS) group fighters. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Smoke billows as Iraqi forces advance through the Old City of Mosul on 26 June 2017, during the ongoing offensive to retake the last district held by the Islamic State (IS) group. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi man wearing the green scarf of the Shi'ite faith kisses an Iraqi Army soldier on safely reaching the Iraqi forces position as Iraqi civilians flee the Old City of west Mosul where heavy fighting continues on 23 June 2017. Iraqi forces continue to encounter stiff resistance with improvised explosive devices, car bombs, heavy mortar fire and snipers hampering their advance. Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive A picture taken from the inside of an Iraqi forces armoured vehicle shows residents walking through a damaged street as troops advance towards Mosul's Old City on 18 June 2017, during the ongoing offensive to retake the last district still held by the Islamic State (IS) group. Military commanders told AFP the assault had begun at dawn after overnight air strikes by the US-led coalition backing Iraqi forces. They said the jihadists were putting up fierce resistance. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi Army soldiers advance in a destroyed street after an Iraqi forces airstrike targeted an Islamic State sniper position 17 June 2017 in al-Shifa, the last district of west Mosul under Islamic State control. IS snipers, as well as car and suicide bomb attacks continue to hinder the Iraqi forces efforts to retake the final district. A series of airstrikes by Iraqi helicopter gunships attempted to hit multiple Islamic State sniper positions in al-Shifa. Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier frisks a displaced Iraqi man at a temporary camp in the compound of the closed Nineveh International Hotel in Mosul on 16 June 2017 which was recovered by Iraqi troops from Islamic State group fighters earlier in the year. A screening centre set up in the compound's fairgrounds sees a constant stream of Iraqis fleeing the battle for Mosul, awaiting their turn to be checked by the Iraqi forces who are searching for suspected Islamic State (IS) group members. The small fairground lies at the end of a pontoon bridge across the Tigris recently opened to civilians that is the only physical link between the two banks of the river. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqis staying at the al-Khazir camp swim in a river near the camp for internally displaced people, located between Arbil and Mosul on 11 June 2017. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi government forces drive on a road leading to Tal Afar on 9 June 2017, during ongoing battles to retake the city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi policeman carries a poster bearing an image of Mosul's iconic leaning minaret, known as the "Hadba" (Hunchback), on 22 June 2017. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqis stand in line to receive food aid in western Mosul's Zanjili neighbourhood on 7 June 2017, during ongoing battles as Iraqi forces try to retake the city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters. Living conditions in Mosul have again deteriorated since the start of the Iraqi government's offensive on the city in October in which they retook a large part of the west of the city. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Displaced Iraqis carry lightbulbs and sacks as they evacuate from western Mosul's Zanjili neighbourhood as government forces advance in the area during their ongoing battle against Islamic State (IS) group fighters on 13 May 2017 AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) flashes the victory gesture as he patrols in western Mosul's al-Islah al-Zaraye neighbourhood on 13 May 2017 AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi army soldiers from the 9th armoured division on a truck flash the sign of victory as they drive back from Mosul to the town of Qaraqosh (also known as Hamdaniya) Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Members of Iraqi forces flash the sign of victory on their vehicle as they advance towards Hammam al-Alil area south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of Iraqi security forces gestures in Hammam al-Alil, south of Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi children, one flashing the sign of victory, greet Iraqi army's soldiers from the 9th armoured division in the area of Ali Rash, adjacent to the eastern Al-Intissar neighbourhood of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Peshmerga forces look at a tunnel used by Islamic State militants near the town of Bashiqa, east of Mosul, during an operation to attack Islamic State militants in Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier takes a photograph with his phone as his comrade stands next to a detained man, whom the Iraqi army soldiers accused of being an Islamic State fighter, who was fleeing with his family in the Intisar disrict of eastern Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iranian Kurdish female members of the Freedom Party of Kurdistan (PAK) hold a position in an area near the town of Bashiqa, some 25 kilometres north east of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi families, who fled their homes in Hamam al-Alil, gather on the outskirts of their town Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Displaced people walk past a checkpoint near Qayara, south of Mosul, Iraq AP In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi families who were displaced by the ongoing operation by Iraqi forces against jihadists of the Islamic State group to retake the city of Mosul, are seen gathering in an area near Qayyarah In pictures: Mosul offensive A boy who just fled Abu Jarbuah village is seen with his family at a Kurdish Peshmerga position between two front lines near Bashiqa, east of Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi child eats a pomegranate upon the arrival of Iraqi forces in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive People who just fled Abu Jarbuah village sit as they eat at a Kurdish Peshmerga position between two front lines near Bashiqa, east of Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive A couple who just fled Abu Jarbuah village are escorted by Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Women carry a boy over a wall as civilians flee their houses in the village of Tob Zawa, Iraq AP In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier and a civilian ride a motorbike as smoke rises behind them, on the road between Qayyarah and Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of Iraqi forces, wearing a skull mask, waits at a checkpoint for people fleeing the main hub city of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier sits at a checkpoint in an area near Qayyarah Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi men prepare food portions for Iraqi forces deployed in areas south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi forces celebrate upon the arrival of vehicles bringing food to them Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi childen smoke cigarettes upon the arrival of Iraqi forces in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of Iraqi forces distributes drinks to children in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty His comments are not the first time he has agreed with his Commander-in-Chief. Mr Trump admitted Mr Mattis did not agree with him about the usefulness of torture as an interrogation tactic, but said he would defer the matter to his defence secretary. Mr Mattis has also taken a more critical view of Russia and President Vladimir Putin than the president, accusing Moscow of trying to break the Nato alliance. Last week, the defence secretary distanced himself from Mr Trump attacking the media as the enemy of the American people, saying he had no problems with the press. A retired Marine general who previously led American troops in Iraq, Mr Mattis also asked for Iraqis who served with US troops, including translators, to be made exempt from Mr Trumps travel ban. He said he had not seen a new executive order which the administration is considering. But I right now am assured that we will take steps to allow those who have fought alongside us, for example, to be allowed into the United States, Mr Mattis said. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} He may have dubbed it the "Winter White House", but Donald Trump's trips to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida could be costing the US taxpayer more than $3 million (2.4m) per visit. A 2013 trip by President Obama to nearby Palm Beach via Chicago cost an estimated $3.6million (2.8m), according to an estimate by the Government Accounting Office. Along with the security costs, flights for Mr Trump, his family and his staff, the bill would likely include expenses for the Coast Guard to patrol exposed shoreline - which Mar-a-Lago also backs on to. Local police have also reportedly spent $360,000 (288,800) on officers overtime, on the three weekend visits Mr Trump has made to the resort three times during his short presidential term. How do the town where 93 per cent voted for Trump think he's doing after one month? The White House has declined to comment on the cost of Mr Trump's weekend excursions. The President has nonetheless said that he intends to use the resort to host world leaders. He has already received Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Mar-a-Lago, while paying club guests also mingled on the premises. The guests remained while the leaders attempted to deal with a North Korean missile launch from a dining table. The costs have been criticised by a conservative monitor which tracks Presidential expenses. This is an expensive way to conduct business, and the President should recognise that," said Tom Fitton, the group's president. "The unique thing about President Trump is that he knows what it costs to run a plane." A Democratic Party Congresswoman also raised safety concerns about the resort. Mar-a-Lago is no Camp David, said Lois Frankel, who represents nearby Palm Beach. Its not set up with the intention or the forethought of keeping the president safe. Along with the Florida expenses the cost of policing New York's Trump Tower, where First Lady Melania Trump lives with their son, Barron, is running at $500,000 (401,200) a day, according to the city's police force. Officials in the city fear the total costs of guarding the building could add up to $183million (146.8m) a year, according to the NY Daily News. The City has requested $35million (28 million) to help cover the costs, but has only received $7 million (5.6 million) so far. 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 Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer called for a further contribution to the Presidents security costs. "We all know that it is a national responsibility of the federal government to protect the President. And thats as it should be, he told journalists. But right now, New York City taxpayers are paying a huge amount of money to protect the President and the Trump Tower. This is his responsibility and I hope the President will step up to the plate. Mayor Bill de Blasio has promised to track all costs associated with the security of Trump Tower during the Presidency. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} President Trumps personal lawyer and a former business associate met privately in New York City last month with a member of the Ukrainian parliament to discuss a peace plan for that country that could give Russia long-term control over territory it seized in 2014 and lead to the lifting of sanctions against Moscow. The meeting with Andrii V. Artemenko, the Ukrainian politician, involved Michael Cohen, a Trump Organisation lawyer since 2007, and Felix Sater, a former business partner who worked on real estate projects with Trumps company. The occurrence of the meeting, first reported Sunday by the New York Times, suggests that some in the region aligned with Russia have been seeking to use Trump business associates as an informal conduit to a new president who has signaled a desire to forge warmer relations with Russia. The discussion took place amid increasingly intense scrutiny of the ties between Trumps team and Russia, as well as escalating investigations on Capitol Hill of the determination by U.S. intelligence agencies that the Kremlin intervened in last years election to help Trump. President Vladimir Putin seized the Ukrainian territory of Crimea in 2014 (Rex) The Times reported that Cohen said he left the proposal in a sealed envelope in the office of then-national security adviser Michael T. Flynn while visiting Trump in the White House. The meeting took place days before Flynns resignation last week following a report in The Washington Post that he had misled Vice President Pence about his discussions in December of election-related sanctions with the Russian ambassador to the United States. Cohen, speaking with The Post on Sunday, acknowledged that the meeting took place and that he had left with the peace proposal in hand. But Cohen said he did not take the envelope to the White House and did not discuss it with anyone. He called suggestions to the contrary fake news. I acknowledge that the brief meeting took place, but emphatically deny discussing this topic or delivering any documents to the White House and/or General Flynn, Cohen said. He said he told the Ukrainian official that he could send the proposal to Flynn by writing him at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. The Times stood by its story Sunday. Mr. Cohen told the Times in no uncertain terms that he delivered the Ukraine proposal to Michael Flynns office at the White House. Mr. Sater told the Times that Mr. Cohen had told him the same thing, Matt Purdy, a deputy managing editor, said in a statement to the Post. John Oliver enlists a group of singing dancers to tell Donald Trump how ruthless Putin is The Times reported that the proposal discussed at last months meeting included a plan to require the withdrawal of Russian forces from Eastern Ukraine. Then Ukrainian voters would decide in a referendum whether Crimea, the territory Russia seized in 2014, would be leased to Russia for a 50-year or a 100-year term. Artemenko said Russian leaders supported his proposal, the Times reported. In Ukraine, Artemenko belongs to a bloc that opposes the nations current president, Petro O. Poroshenko. It is a group whose efforts were previously aided by Paul Manafort, Trumps former campaign manager, who had advised Ukraines previous pro-Vladimir Putin president until his ouster amid public protests in 2014 a development that sparked the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Manafort told the Post that he had no role in Artemenkos initiative. In his remarks at the Munich Security Conference, Vice President Mike Pence said that Russia must be held accountable regarding Ukraine and demand they honour the Minsk ceasefire agreement. The back-channel discussions could disrupt delicate diplomacy between the new Trump administration and Poroshenko. Artemenko told the Times he hopes evidence of corruption by Poroshenko could be used to effect his ouster, a necessary first step to pushing his peace proposal. Cohen said the meeting between the Ukrainian politician, Cohen and Sater lasted less than 15 minutes and took place at a New York hotel. He said he received the proposal and took it with him from the hotel meeting out of politeness but never relayed its contents to anyone in the administration. He said he attended the meeting as a courtesy to Sater, a former business colleague. Cohen has been in the public spotlight since his name was mentioned in a dossier prepared by a former British spy hired by Trumps political opponents suggesting he had once served as a liaison between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign, an allegation he has emphatically denied. Cohen said no federal investigators have contacted him about the dossier, which was widely distributed to Washington journalists and published by BuzzFeed, and he called the ongoing suggestion of federal interest in the case infuriating. It has to stop, he said. Cohen had worked for a decade for the Trump Organisation, where he earned a reputation as a trusted and aggressive defender of the celebrity mogul. He left the company in January to assume a more amorphous role as Trumps personal counsel. The role holds no public policy portfolio. Sater pleaded guilty in 1998 to participating in a Mafia-related stock fraud. His sentencing was delayed while he secretly cooperated with the government on criminal and national security investigations. Law enforcement officials have praised him for his participation. Working out of an office just below Trumps in Trump Tower with a development company called Bayrock Group, Sater had worked on several licensed Trump projects, including the Trump SoHo in New York. He also worked on proposals to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, a decade ago and again in 2015. He has said he met with Trumps children Ivanka and Donald Jr. in the foreign capital in 2006 at Trumps request. In 2010, Trump allowed Sater to use a business card identifying himself as a senior adviser to the Trump Organisation while he prospected deals. Still, when Saters criminal past, which had long been sealed because of his government cooperation, emerged, Trump claimed to barely know the Russian immigrant. In sworn testimony in 2013 in litigation related to a failed project with which Sater had been involved, Trump said he would not recognise Sater if they were in the same room. Sater confirmed that the meeting at the New York hotel took place at his request after he heard about the peace plan from Artemenko. I got excited about trying to stop a war, he said. I thought if this could improve conditions in three countries, good, so be it. Sater said he held the recent meeting out of honorable intent only. He said he had no business deals in Ukraine and without thought of any business deal or inappropriate relationship with a foreign power. I was not practicing diplomacy and I was not having clandestine meetings, Sater said. He said he called Cohen because his Ukrainian lawmaker acquaintance was emphatic that he wants the war to end. He said the conversations with Cohen and Artemenko were not a back channel to the Kremlin or anything like that. Sater said he thought Cohen intended to give the document to Flynn but was unable to do so because Flynn was embroiled in a crisis over his own job and resigned days later. He had other things on his mind, Sater said. The Washington Post Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trump has waded back into the controversy over his comments on Sweden, claiming that its policy of accepting large numbers of migrants was not working. Mr Trump sparked outcry and confusion over the weekend when he held at rally in Melbourne, Florida, and spoke darkly of things that had allegedly happened last night in Sweden. As people from Stockholm to Linkoping scratched their heads as to what he was referring to, the US President then admitted he was talking about a widely debunked Fox News report he had seen on television the night before. On Monday, Mr Trump tweeted: Give the public a break The FAKE NEWS media is trying to say that large scale immigration in Sweden is working out just beautifully. NOT! Mr Trump said he had received his information from a segment on a Fox News broadcast on Friday night by Tucker Carlson. Mr Carlson interviewed Ami Horowitz, producer of a film that claimed to document alleged violence committed by refugees in Sweden. News of Mr Horowitzs documentary made headlines last year when he told conservative outlets such as Breitbart News that there were Muslim no-go zones in Europe. Over the last two years, theyve taken in over 350,000 Syrian refugees, he said. The reason why I went there was to investigate why Sweden has become the rape capital of Europe. Rape was not unknown, but relatively minor. There were few incidents of rape, lets say about 10 years ago. And rape has absolutely skyrocketed in Europe. Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein: Trumps attacks on the press are more dangerous than Nixons The New York Times reported that Swedish officials said their statistics did not justify the kind of assertions made by Mr Horowitz, and that the country had a high number of sexual assault reports, relative to other European countries, because more victims come forward, not because there was more violence. Henrik Selin, political scientist and deputy director of the Swedish Institute, a state agency dedicated to promoting Sweden globally, told the newspaper he had completed a study focusing on negative news reports about Swedens intake of refugees. Mr Carlson spoke to the producer of a widely criticised documentary (YouTube) He said there were many exaggerations and distortions, including reports falsely claiming that Sharia law was predominant in parts of the country. Swedish officials have hit back at Mr Trump's assertions. Former Prime Minister Carl Bildt responded by saying they were twice as many murders just in the Florida county where Mr Trump spoke on Saturday, compared to all of Sweden. Last year there were approximately 50 per cent more murders only in Orlando/Orange in Florida, where Trump spoke the other day, than in all of Sweden. Bad, he said. Indeed, Swedens crime rate has fallen since 2005, official statistics show, even as it has taken in hundreds of thousands of immigrants from countries like Syria and Iraq. Sweden's embassy in the United States repeated Mr Trumps tweet about having seen the Fox report, and added: We look forward to informing the US administration about Swedish immigration and integration policies. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} US President Donald Trump is strongly committed to working with the European Union, Vice President Mike Pence has said. Mr Pence reassured European leaders about Mr Trumps foreign policy direction after comments made during his campaign, when he described Brexit as a great thing and suggested the EU could soon fall apart. Today is my privilege on behalf of President Trump to express the strong commitment of the United States to continue cooperation and partnership with the European Union, Mr Pence said after meeting with European Council President Donald Tusk. Whatever our differences, our two continents share the same heritage, the same values and, above all, the same purpose to promote peace and prosperity through freedom, democracy and the rule of law. And to those objectives we will remain committed, he added. New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban Show all 27 1 /27 New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban Ethnic Yemenis and supporters protest against President Donald Trump's executive order temporarily banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen on February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. At least 1,000 Yemeni-owned bodegas and grocery-stores across the city shut down from noon to 8 p.m. today to protest the order. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban Men pray during a protest by ethnic Yemenis and supporters over President Donald Trump's executive order temporarily banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen on February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. At least 1,000 Yemeni-owned bodegas and grocery-stores across the city shut down from noon to 8 p.m. today to protest the order. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban Ethnic Yemenis and supporters protest against President Donald Trump's executive order temporarily banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen on February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. At least 1,000 Yemeni-owned bodegas and grocery-stores across the city shut down from noon to 8 p.m. today to protest the order. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban Men pray during a protest by ethnic Yemenis and supporters over President Donald Trump's executive order temporarily banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen on February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. At least 1,000 Yemeni-owned bodegas and grocery-stores across the city shut down from noon to 8 p.m. today to protest the order. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People gather for evening prayer at a rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally with flags at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally with flags at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally with flags at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally with flags at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally with flags at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban A Yemeni business owner places a sign on the gate of his store February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Across the city, Yemeni owned bodega and grocery-stores will shut down from noon to 8 p.m. to protest President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen. It is expected that over 1000 stores will be closed in protest with workers and owners participating in an afternoon rally in Brooklyn. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban A Yemeni business owner places a sign on the gate of his store February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Across the city, Yemeni owned bodega and grocery-stores will shut down from noon to 8 p.m. to protest President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen. It is expected that over 1000 stores will be closed in protest with workers and owners participating in an afternoon rally in Brooklyn. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 02: Yemeni business owner Musa closes the gate to his store February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Across the city, Yemeni owned bodega and grocery-stores will shut down from noon to 8 p.m. to protest President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen. It is expected that over 1000 stores will be closed in protest with workers and owners participating in an afternoon rally in Brooklyn. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban A Yemeni business owner closes the gate to his store February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Across the city, Yemeni owned bodega and grocery-stores will shut down from noon to 8 p.m. to protest President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen. It is expected that over 1000 stores will be closed in protest with workers and owners participating in an afternoon rally in Brooklyn. Spencer Platt/Getty His came after Mr Tusk told the press briefing too many new and sometimes surprising opinions have been voiced ... for us to pretend that everything is as it used to be. Earlier this month, Mr Tusk called the US President an existential threat to Europe in an open letter to leaders of the 27 member states. However, today Mr Tusk said: I heard words which are promising for the future, words which explain a lot about the new approach in Washington. He added: We are counting as always in the past on the United States wholehearted and unequivocal let me repeat, unequivocal support for the idea of a united Europe. The world would be a decidedly worse place if Europe were not united. Mr Pence said he was looking to explore ways to deepen our relationship with the European Union and the European community as he opened a day of meetings on the EU and Nato with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini in Brussels. Over the weekend, Mr Pence also voiced the administration's strong support for Nato, which Mr Trump branded obsolete. Mr Tusk said: The idea of Nato is not obsolete, just like the values which lie at its foundation are not obsolete. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A former advisor to President Nixon has said he is more worried about America under Donald Trump than he was during the Watergate scandal. David Gergen served as an advisor to four different administrations mainly Republican and saw the downfall of Mr Nixon from the inside. The Watergate episode is remembered as the most tumultuous time in modern American politics and generally serves as the point of comparison for all other political wrongdoing in the US. Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein: Trumps attacks on the press are more dangerous than Nixons Mr Trump himself has drawn comparison to Mr Nixon, who resigned from office before he could be impeached over the scandal which linked his administration to the burglary of the Democratic Party headquarters. Mr Gergen, who now works as a political pundit, has been deeply critical of Mr Trump, particularly criticising his administrations chaotic conduct in its first few weeks. Speaking to CNN, he said: I just cant describe the sense of both helplessness and of people just being awestruck of what we have here weve never seen anything like this in the White House in the historical memories of anyone alive today. Ive had the privilege of serving in four White Houses, this is completely different, hes completely off its so wholly different. Its hard to describe but the bottom line is, I was in the White House during Watergate, I was a young aide, ran the speech writing shop. And I was really worried about the country then. I am much more worried about the country today than I was then. Mr Gergen also expressed his concern for Mr Trumps disregard for facts, alluding to Mr Trumps claim that he won the largest proportion of electoral college votes since Mr Regan. In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Show all 32 1 /32 In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London An image of President Donald Trump is seen on a placard during the Women's March in London, England Getty In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney A view of the skywriting word reading 'Trump' as thousands rally in support of equal rights in Sydney, New South Wales EPA In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Rome People shout and hold signs during a rally against US newly sworn-in President Donald Trump in Rome Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London A protester holds a placard during the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Marseille A placard ready 'Pussy grabs back' is attached to the handle bar of a bike during a 'Women's March' organized by Feminist and human rights groups in solidarity with women marching in Washington and around the world for their rights and against the reactionary politics of the newly sworn-in US President Donald Trump, at the Old Port (Vieux Port) of Marseille, southern France Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Bangkok A young Thai girl holds a "women's rights are human rights" sign at Roadhouse BBQ restaurant where many of the Bangkok Womens March participants gathered in Bangkok, Thailand Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Bangkok A Thai woman takes a photo of a "hate is not great" sign at the women's solidarity gathering in Bangkok, Thailand Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Bangkok American expats and travellers gather with the international community in Bangkok at the Roadhouse BBQ restaurant to stand in solidarity in Bangkok, Thailand Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London Protetesters gather outside The US Embassy in Grosvenor Square ahead of the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Marseille Women's March at the Old Port (Vieux Port) of Marseille, southern France Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Marseille Protestors hold placards reading 'My body my choice, my vote my voice' during a 'Women's March' organized by Feminist and human rights groups in solidarity with women marching in Washington and around the world for their rights and against the reactionary politics of the newly sworn-in US President Donald Trump, at the Old Port (Vieux Port) of Marseille, southern France Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Rome A person holds a sign during a rally against US newly sworn-in President Donald Trump in Rome Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Kolkata Activist Sarah Annay Williamson holds a placard and shouts slogan during the Women's March rally in Kolkata, India AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Kolkata Activists participate in the Women's March rally in Kolkata, India AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London A Women's March placards are rested on a bench outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square ahead of the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London A women carries her placard ahead of the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Manila Women protesters shout slogans while displaying placards during a rally in solidarity against the inauguration of President Donald Trump, in suburban Quezon city, northeast of Manila, Philippines AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Berlin Protesters attend a 'Berlin Women's March on Washington' demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Berlin Protesters attend a 'Berlin Women's March on Washington' demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Berlin Protesters attend a 'Berlin Women's March on Washington' demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Melbourne Protesters take part in the Melbourne rally to protest against the Trump Inauguration in Melbourne, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Macau Protesters take part in the Women's March rally in Macau Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Melbourne Womens march on Melbourne protestors marching during a rally where rights groups marched in solidarity with Americans to speak out against misogyny, bigotry and hatred Rex In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Macau Protesters hold placards as they take part at the Women's March rally in Macau Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Macau Protesters hold placards as they take part at the Women's March rally in Macau, Macau. The Women's March originated in Washington DC but soon spread to be a global march calling on all concerned citizens to stand up for equality, diversity and inclusion and for women's rights to be recognised around the world as human rights Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Manila A mother carries her son as they join a rally in solidarity against the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States in suburban Quezon city northeast of Manila, Philippines AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney An infant is held up at a demonstration against new U.S. President Donald Trump in Sydney, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney A woman attends a demonstration against new U.S. President Donald Trump in Sydney, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney A woman expresses her Anti-Trump views in Sydney, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydeney Protesters demonstrate against new U.S. President Donald Trump in Sydney, Australia. The marches in Australia were organised to show solidarity with those marching on Washington DC and around the world in defense of women's rights and human rights Getty In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London Protesters march from The US Embassy in Grosvenor Square towards Trafalgar Square during the Women's March in London, England Getty In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London Protesters carrying banners take part in the Women's March on London, as they stand in Trafalgar Square, in central London Reuters Ive worked with Presidents before who have had mistaken notions, he said, citing Ronald Reagan. But the staff could go in and talk to them, and help him see why he misunderstood something, and then he would change. He had no reluctance to change, once he understood the facts. Mr Gergen asked where the adults were around the President who could help him see reality. He also suggested the White House was being poorly managed. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Sweden's American embassy has taken to Twitter to poke fun at Donald Trump, after the US leader appeared to invent a terrorist attack in the country during a campaign-style rally in Florida. "We've got to keep our country safe," the President told supporters in Melbourne, Florida. "You look at what's happening in Germany, you look at what's happening last night in Sweden." The comment was met with confusion by Swedes, who quickly took to social media to query the claim. Taking to Twitter, the country's former Prime Minister Carl Bildt asked: What has he been smoking? Donald Trump: Sweden baffled by reference to unknown terror incident Mr Trump later attempted to clarify his remarks and said they were a reference to a Fox news story concerning immigrants and Sweden. The Swedish embassy replied: We look forward to informing the US administration about Swedish immigration and integration policies. It is believed the President was referring to a story on Fox News', Tucker Carlson Tonight, which featured an interview with controversial filmmaker Ami Horowitz. Mr Horowitz claimed that Sweden had become the rape capital of Europe and said he had been investigating a surge of refugee related violence in Sweden. But Swedish officials told The New York Times that their country had a higher number of reported sexual assaults compared to other European countries, not actual incidents. Trump admits 'Sweden attack' comment based on debunked Fox report Reacting to Mr Trump's original remarks, Sweden's foreign ministry spokeswoman Catarina Axelsson said the government was not aware of any "terror-linked major incidents". Sweden's Security Police said it had no reason to change the terror threat level. "Nothing has occurred which would cause us to raise that level," agency spokesman Karl Melin said. Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet also published a list of incidents in the country, under the headline: "This happened in Sweden Friday night, Mr President." Published in both Swedish and English it included a man being treated for severe burns, an avalanche warning and police chasing a drunken driver. Sweden, which has a long reputation for welcoming refugees and migrants, had a record 163,000 asylum applications in 2015. The country has since cut back on the number it annually accepts. Its most recent attack linked to extremism happened in the capital, Stockholm, in December 2010. 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 An Iraqi-born Swede detonated two explosive devices, including one that killed him but no-one else. Throughout his month long presidency, some of Mr Trump's remarks and those of his staff have been questioned for their accuracy. The President's senior adviser, Kellyanne Conway, was also widely ridiculed after she referred to the "Bowling Green Massacre" - an incident that had not taken place. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trump sparked no small number of raised eyebrows - along with a flurry of sarcastic comments - when he suggested something ominous had happened "last night in Sweden. After Mr Trump made the remarks at a rally in Florida, everyone from Swedens former prime minister, weighed in to point out that nothing had averse had happened. What has he been smoking? pondered Carl Bildt. Weve got to keep our country safe, Mr Trump had told his supporters. You look at whats happening in Germany. You look at whats happening last night in Sweden. Sweden, who would believe this? Sweden. They took in large numbers. Theyre having problems like they never thought possible. Some smart observers suggested Mr Trump may, not for the first time, been referring to something he had watched on Fox News. Business Times pointed to a segment on anchor Tucker Carlsons show on Friday night, which included a clip from a new film by Ami Horowitz claiming to document alleged violence committed by refugees in Sweden. On Sunday evening, perhaps aware of the confusion and mockery sparked by his comments, Mr Trump indeed confirmed that Fox News had been the inspiration for his comments. President Trump cites terrorist incident in Sweden that never happened My statement as to whats happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden, he said. News of Mr Horowitzs documentary made headlines last year when he told conservative outlets such as Breitbart News, that there were Muslim no-go zones in Europe. Over the last two years, theyve taken in over 350,000 Syrian refugees, he said. The reason why I went there was to investigate why Sweden has become the rape capital of Europe. Rape was not unknown, but relatively minor. There were few incidents of rape, lets say about ten years ago. And rape has absolutely skyrocketed in Europe. The New York Times said that Swedish officials had said that their statistics did not justify the kind of assertions made by Mr Horowitz, and that the country had a high number of sexual assault reports, relative to other European countries, because more victims come forward, not because there was more violence. Henrik Selin, political scientist and deputy director of the Swedish Institute, a state agency dedicated to promoting Sweden globally, told the newspaper he had completed a study focusing on negative news reports about Swedens intake of refugees. He said there were many exaggerations and distortions, including reports falsely claiming that Sharia law was predominant in parts of the country. Some of the stories were very popular to spread in social media by people who have the same kind of agenda - he said that countries should not receive so many refugees, he said. Meanwhile, Swedens Aftonbladet newspaper said the film was full of errors. At the end of the film, Mr Horowitz says that it was not long ago that the first Islamist terrorist attack occurred in the country'." 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 It added: "He likely means Taimour Abdulwahabs suicide bombing in central Stockholm. It occurred on 11 December 2010. Thus, for over six years ago. But it is not the only remarkable error in the interview with Horowitz. The conversation is full of sweeping claims, exaggerations - and clear errors. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The White House has defended their decision to fire a senior National Security Council aide after he criticised Donald Trumps Latin American policies. Craig Deare was sacked from his role on the NSCs Western Hemisphere division, which the Trump administration assigned him to, on Friday. He was sent back to his original position at the National Defence University which he has held since 2001. A source told Politico Mr Deare criticised the President and his chief strategist Steve Bannon at the Woodrow Wilson Centre think-tank in front of around two dozen scholars. He reportedly blasted the Trump administrations handling of Latin American policies which included a humiliating readout of Mr Trump's call with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. Fox News anchor berates Donald Trump's chief of staff: 'You don't get to tell us what to do' Mr Pena Nieto announced he would not meet Mr Trump after the President threatened to cancel a string of upcoming meetings with Mexico if the country did not agree to pay for his cornerstone campaign pledge - a border between Mexico and the US. Less than 24 hours later, the two leaders held a call amid mounting friction, which Mr Trump referred to as a "friendly call". The subject of the call has not been released. White House spokesperson, Sarah Sanders, confirmed Mr Deare had been let go on Sunday, saying staffers who questioned the billionaire property developers agenda should not be part of the Trump administration. 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 "I don't think that any person that is there in order to carry out the President's agenda should be against the President's agenda," Sanders told reporters during a briefing in West Palm Beach, Florida. "It seems pretty silly that you would have someone who is not supportive of what you are trying to accomplish there to carry out that very thing." Sanders insisted she was not introducing a blanket policy but said: If you dont support the Presidents agenda then you shouldnt have a job in the White House. Mr Deare had been picked for the role by Michael Flynn, who resigned less than a month after taking office over revelations he had spoken to a Russian diplomat about US sanctions before Mr Trump entered the White House. It is illegal for a private citizen to conduct diplomacy on behalf of America. Mr Trump reportedly interviewed other candidates for Mr Deare's role at his Mar-a-Lago resort this weekend after his first choice, Vice-Admiral Robert Harward, turned down the position for personal reasons. A recently leaked audio reveals he invited guests from his New Jersey golf club to help him interview candidates for posts in his administration just after he was elected. This is not the first time a senior administration official has been sacked from their post for making comments about President Trump. A senior aide to Mr Trumps housing secretary nominee, Ben Carson, was fired and led out of the departments headquarters by security on Wednesday after a critical Op-Ed he wrote before the election surfaced in his vetting, according to sources. Shermichael Singleton, one of the few black conservatives in the Trump team, had been working at the Department of Housing and Urban Development since the middle of January as a senior adviser. More famously, Mr Trump fired his acting attorney general, Sally Yates, at the end of January after she defiantly refused to defend his hard-line immigration ban. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A teenager in India shocked his parents and relatives when he woke up on the way to his own funeral. Kumar Marewad was rushed to hospital at the weekend after he came to on the way to the ceremony in Managundi Village, Dharwad, in the state of Karnataka. The 17-year-old had been bitten by a stray dog a month previously and became critically ill with a fever in hospital. He was placed on a ventilator and doctors told his family an infection had spread across his body. Kumar was not expected to live if taken off of life support, the Times of India reports. Recommended Woman crashes own funeral to surprise of husband who hired hitman He was transferred home by his family and after a period of time appeared to have stopped moving and breathing. His family believed he had died. They made arrangements for his funeral but on the day he started moving again, just two kilometres before they reached the site for the ceremony. Kumar had opened his eyes and started moving his arms and legs. He was rushed to hospital and is in a critical condition. Cases of people waking up before their funeral are rare but have been recorded in the past. Last year a man in Mumbai who was presumed dead woke up just moments before his post mortem was due to begin. Carrie Lam is running for chief executive of Hong Kong. (Photo : Getty Images) The candidate who is running for the top Hong Kong position is Carrie Lam, the former second-in-command to Leung Chun-yin, the chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Elections will be held on March 26 and will be eyeing the favor of over 1,200 business and political elites. Advertisement Lam wants to bring unity among the people of Hong Kong. She said that she intends to develop the health and education sectors, cut red tape and lower taxes. She said, "I have to be very careful in sort of taking on an issue which has a very strong potential of splitting the society again." "Once we have some of that sort of mutual trust, I'm sure in the usual Hong Kong spirit we can tackle some of those more difficult issues," she added. She was also clear in pointing out the issues on Hong Kong's development. She said, "The time has come for us to take more innovative approach." Lam said, "We should spend more and invest, with a view that we would grow the economy and make everyone happier." The candidate wants to lessen street protests and hopes to close the rift between Hong Kong and Beijing. Her opponent, former Financial Secretary John Tsang, wants to pursue autonomy from the mainland. She stirred public attention when she said that she wants to consider consultation on the legalization of gay marriages in the region. This sparked a lot of questions from the opposition from conservative anti-gay rights groups. Lam's spokesperson clarified that Lam had no intention of pushing the legalization of same-sex marriages. Others saw it as flip-flopping, or a change of stand when it is convenient. Brian Leung Siu-Fai, chief campaigner of gay rights group Big Love Alliance, said, "How can she expect people to trust her? She lacks integrity. This issue should not be avoided." For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} CCTV footage of the moment Kim Jong-uns half-brother was allegedly attacked at Kuala Lumpur International Airport has been leaked. The footage, released by Japanese broadcaster Fuji TV, shows the suspected assassination of Kim Jong-nam, the 46-year-old half-brother of North Koreas leader who had been living under the protection of Beijing in the Chinese territory of Macau. The CCTV footage appears to show a woman attack a man believed to be Kim Jong-nam in the busy concourse of the airport. She is understood to have wiped a liquid on his face, which is thought to have been a fast-acting poison. Another woman is seen approaching him before they both walk away. A North Korean man, a Vietnamese woman, an Indonesian woman and a Malaysian man have been arrested in connection with Kim Jong-nams death, and Malaysian police are now hunting for four more North Koreans who left the country on the day Kim Jong-nam was attacked. The probe into Kim-Jong-nams death has led to a diplomatic row between Malaysia and North Korea. The countrys ambassador to North Korea has been removed from Pyongyang. North Koreas ambassador to Malaysia has insisted that the man who died in the Kuala Lumpur airport is not Kim Jong-nam and that Malaysias investigation into the death cannot be trusted. Ambassador Kang Chol questioned Malaysian authorities motives last week when they insisted on carrying out an autopsy before returning the victims body to North Korea. He has been summoned by the Malaysian foreign ministry to explain his comments. In a statement, the ministry said the ambassador insinuated the Malaysian government had something to conceal. The ambassador also alleged that Malaysia was colluding and playing into the gallery of external forces, the statement read. Malaysias Prime Minster has since said the governments investigation will be objective. We have no reason why we want to do something to paint North Korea in a bad light, but we will be objective, he said. Additional reporting by Reuters For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} An Australian school has adopted a policy allowing male Muslim students to refuse to shake hands with women. Two principals at the Hurstville Boys Campus of Georges River College, in Sydney, told guests at its 2016 presentation day that some students may not shake hands because of their faith. Instead, students at the Years 7 to 10 school placed their hands across their chest as they received their rewards. The policy is reportedly a response to a teaching in the hadith which states: It is better to be stabbed in the head with an iron needle than to touch the hand of a woman who is not permissible to you." World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty The NSW Education Department told The Australian the school had an "agreed protocol" developed after a consultation between staff, students and parents. A spokesman told the newspaper: The Department of Education requires its schools to recognise and respect the cultural, linguistic and religious backgrounds of all students, with the intent to promote an open and tolerant attitude towards a diverse Australian community." Such a literal interpretation of the hadith, which describes the words, actions and the habits of the prophet Muhammad, is rare. Australia's Grand Mufti Ibrahim Abu Mohammed is known to shake hands with women, as did his predecessor Fehmi Naji El-Imam. Former Islamic Council of Victoria secretary Kuranda Seyit said the hadith "shouldn't apply in a school context". Students should be able to shake hands with the teacher or the principal, or receive a greeting from a visitor to the school," he told the paper. Some people take it too seriously. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trumps supporters have said the media is attempting to "cover up" terror attacks in Sweden, after the President faced criticism for appearing to cite a non-existent terror plot in the country. Mr Trump later said his statement had referred to a story broadcast by Fox News. The TV channel ran a clip of a film by Ami Horowitz on Friday that alleged Sweden had seen a surge in gun violence and rape following an influx of immigrants. Yet Mr Horowitz's documentary has been criticised for being riddled with inaccuracies. One Swedish terrorism expert told The Independent the film "grossly exaggerated" the amount of crime in the country and wrongly conflated drug violence in Swedish cities with crime perpetrated by refugees. Donald Trump: Sweden baffled by reference to unknown terror incident While defending his proposal to ban travel from seven Muslim-majority countries, Mr Trump told a Melbourne crowd: You look at whats happening in Germany, you look at whats happening last night in Sweden. No terrorist incident or major attack occurred on Friday night in Sweden and Mr Trumps comments were widely ridiculed online. Yet supporters of the Republican President have insisted he has "very cleverly" drawn attention to an alleged widespread Islamist extremist problem in the country. "It was quite extraordinary; the reaction has been one of bewilderment," Dr Magnus Ranstorp, research director at the Swedish National Defence Council, told The Independent. Speaking about Mr Horowitz's film, Dr Ranstorp said: "It was grossly exaggerated and there were many aspects that were taken out of context and made to be worse than they actually are. "It was very clear that a connection between refugees, terror and crime, was a thesis that was advanced in this documentary." Instead, Dr Ranstorp said cities such as Sweden's capital Malmo had suffered with gang-related violence in racially segregated areas crime that was not typically perpetrated by refugees. "In general, the crime level has gone down, but in some of the areas, the shooting incidents, gang-related crime has gone up," he said. "This is nothing to do with extremism, it has to do with control of drug territory. "We have a serious problem with gang-related crime they shoot each other. There is the issue it's not refugees who do this." Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban Show all 11 1 /11 Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban People listen to speakers at a demonstration against racism and conservative presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent remarks concerning Muslims on December 10, 2015 in New York City. Dozens or demonstrators and activists converged at Columbus Circle to denounce the politics of Trump and the treatment of Muslim refugees both in America and Europe. Spencer Platt/Getty Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban People listen to speakers at a demonstration against racism and conservative presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent remarks concerning Muslims on December 10, 2015 in New York City. Dozens or demonstrators and activists converged at Columbus Circle to denounce the politics of Trump and the treatment of Muslim refugees both in America and Europe. Spencer Platt/Getty Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban People listen to speakers at a demonstration against racism and conservative presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent remarks concerning Muslims on December 10, 2015 in New York City. Dozens or demonstrators and activists converged at Columbus Circle to denounce the politics of Trump and the treatment of Muslim refugees both in America and Europe. Spencer Platt/Getty Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban People listen to speakers at a demonstration against racism and conservative presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent remarks concerning Muslims on December 10, 2015 in New York City. Dozens or demonstrators and activists converged at Columbus Circle to denounce the politics of Trump and the treatment of Muslim refugees both in America and Europe. Spencer Platt/Getty Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban People listen to speakers at a demonstration against racism and conservative presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent remarks concerning Muslims on December 10, 2015 in New York City. Dozens or demonstrators and activists converged at Columbus Circle to denounce the politics of Trump and the treatment of Muslim refugees both in America and Europe. Spencer Platt/Getty Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban People listen to speakers at a demonstration against racism and conservative presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent remarks concerning Muslims on December 10, 2015 in New York City. Dozens or demonstrators and activists converged at Columbus Circle to denounce the politics of Trump and the treatment of Muslim refugees both in America and Europe. Getty Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban People listen to speakers at a demonstration against racism and conservative presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent remarks concerning Muslims on December 10, 2015 in New York City. Dozens or demonstrators and activists converged at Columbus Circle to denounce the politics of Trump and the treatment of Muslim refugees both in America and Europe. Spencer Platt/Getty Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban People listen to speakers at a demonstration against racism and conservative presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent remarks concerning Muslims on December 10, 2015 in New York City. Dozens or demonstrators and activists converged at Columbus Circle to denounce the politics of Trump and the treatment of Muslim refugees both in America and Europe. Spencer Platt/Getty Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban People listen to speakers at a demonstration against racism and conservative presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent remarks concerning Muslims on December 10, 2015 in New York City. Dozens or demonstrators and activists converged at Columbus Circle to denounce the politics of Trump and the treatment of Muslim refugees both in America and Europe. Spencer Platt/Getty Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban People listen to speakers at a demonstration against racism and conservative presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent remarks concerning Muslims on December 10, 2015 in New York City. Dozens or demonstrators and activists converged at Columbus Circle to denounce the politics of Trump and the treatment of Muslim refugees both in America and Europe. Spencer Platt/Getty Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban People listen to speakers at a demonstration against racism and conservative presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent remarks concerning Muslims on December 10, 2015 in New York City. Dozens or demonstrators and activists converged at Columbus Circle to denounce the politics of Trump and the treatment of Muslim refugees both in America and Europe. Spencer Platt/Getty More than 300 people have left Sweden to fight in Syria and Iraq, making the country one of the biggest exporters of jihadists in Europe per capita. But Dr Ranstorp said the press had engaged in free discourse about the problem: "The press here is very open, and they have been reporting about jihadism. I don't see any effort to try and cover up." Sweden's Foreign Ministry has requested the Trump administration explain the President's comments. The Swedish embassy in the US said it was looking forward to informing the US administration about Swedish immigration and integration policies. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} French police were searching the headquarters of Marine Le Pen's National Front party west of Paris on Monday in relation to an alleged "fake jobs" probe. The European parliament's anti-fraud agency, Olaf, has said that, in her role as French National Front leader Le Pen had during the 2011-12 legislature paid party staff with EU funds, which EU rules say should be used only to pay EU lawmakers' assistants. But the FN accused the authorities of staging a media stunt to discredit them. "It looks on the face of it like a media operation whose goal is to disturb the course of the presidential campaign," the National Front said in a statement. Recommended Marine Le Pen is not the Donald Trump of France French judges opened a fraud investigation on 15 December after prosecutors handed the dossier over to them following a preliminary investigation of more than a year. "This is as void as space," the party's vice-president Florian Philippot told BFM television, adding that searches had taken place a year ago and nothing had been found then. "These are media-stunt searches on the day when she (Le Pen) gets a 2-point bounce in the polls. It's always when the system is in panic that these affairs come out." An Opinionway poll of voting intentions on Monday had Le Pen easily beating her four main rivals to win the April 23 first round with 27 percent of the vote. In the second-round two-way runoff against Macron or Fillon, she was still seen losing, but both scenarios saw her narrowing the gap. 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 She would lose against Macron with 42 percent to his 58, while against Fillon she would be defeated with 44 percent to his 56, the poll showed. A week ago she was polling around 36-37 against Macron. It is not clear what impact the probe could have on Le Pen or how quickly the investigation will move forward. Fillon's status as favourite to win the presidency in May has evaporated in the past three weeks amid questions about what work his wife did for hundreds of thousands of euros in taxpayers' money when she was paid as his assistant. He has vowed to fight on despite falling ratings and the threat of being placed under formal investigation by the financial police, who are handling the matter. Reuters For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Irans foreign minister has mocked being put on notice in a tweet by Donald Trump and dismissed mounting pressure coming from Washington. Mohammad Javad Zarif drew laughter from an audience at an international security conference in Munich when, referring to the President's post, he said the tweet is now very fashionable. Mr Trump had warned the Gulf nation it was formally put on notice on earlier in February after it tested a ballistic missile. 'Crippling sanctions produced a net total of 19,800 centrifuges,' foreign minister tells conference (AFP/Getty) The Trump administration then imposed sanctions on individuals and groups linked to the country's Revolutionary Guards. We dont respond well to threats, we dont respond well to coercion and we dont respond well to sanctions, Mr Zarif told the meeting. Crippling sanctions produced a net total of 19,800 centrifuges. During his campaign, Mr Trump called a nuclear deal between several world powers and Iran was one of the dumbest deals ever and vowed to swiftly dismantle it. Iran has kept its part of the deal and significantly reduced its nuclear capacity, according to international monitors. Michael Flynn: We're officially putting Iran on notice Tensions around the accord were further raised on Sunday when Vice President Mike Pence suggested Tehran was freeing resources to promote terrorism. Mr Pence also repeatedly referred to radical Islamic terrorism, aggravating critics who felt the Trump administration was targeting people for their faith. German Chancellor Angela Merkel had used a speech to warn against such language just before Mr Pence spoke. It emerged on Sunday that Republican senators were planning to introduce legislation that would impose harsher sanctions on the Islamic Republic, saying its testing of ballistic missiles violated UN Security Council resolutions. I think it is now time for the Congress to take Iran on directly in terms of what theyve done outside the nuclear programme, Senator Lindsey Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told the security conference. Mr Graham vowed to take punitive action against Tehran, which he blamed for destabilising the Middle East. Iran is a bad actor in the greatest sense of the word when it comes to the region," he told the same security conference. "To Iran, I say, if you want us to treat you differently then stop building missiles, test-firing them in defiance of UN resolution and writing 'Death to Israel' on the missile. "That's a mixed message. 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 Senator Christopher Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told the panel there was nothing preventing Congress from imposing sanctions beyond those in place before the 2016 nuclear agreement with Iran. Mr Murphy, a Democrat, said he had backed the nuclear deal in the explicit understanding that it would not prevent Congress from taking actions against Iran for issues separate to its nuclear capabilities. There's going to be a conversation about what the proportional response is, Mr Murphy said, referring to Iran's missile test. But I don't necessarily think there's going to be partisan division over whether or not we have the ability as a Congress to speak on issues outside of the nuclear agreement. Mr Murphy said the US needed to decide whether it wanted to take a broader role in the regional conflict. We have to make a decision whether we are going to get involved in the emerging proxy war in a bigger way than we are today, between Iran and Saudi, he said. Iran was among the seven countries included in Mr Trump's travel ban targeting seven Muslim-majority nations. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Isis have claimed a British suicide bomber blew up a vehicle full of explosives in an attack near the Iraqi city of Mosul. The terror group's Amaq news agency named the bomber as Abu Zakariya al-Britani. The end of his chosen pseudonym, al-Britani, is commonly used by fighters from Britain. In a statement, it said he detonated an explosives-laden vehicle in the village of Tal Kisum, southwest of Mosul. Paramilitary forces from the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation Units) are active in the area. The group claimed there had been many casualties, but there has been no official confirmation and it is unclear when the attack took place. Iraqi forces launch push to retake western Mosul from IS A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "The UK has advised for some time against all travel to Syria, and against all travel to large parts of Iraq. "As all UK consular services are suspended in Syria and greatly limited in Iraq, it is extremely difficult to confirm the whereabouts and status of British Nationals in these areas." Around 850 individuals of national security concern have travelled to join the conflict, according to figures published by the Government last year. Of those, just under half have returned to the UK and approximately 15 per cent are dead. In pictures: Mosul offensive Show all 40 1 /40 In pictures: Mosul offensive In pictures: Mosul offensive A doctor carries an Iraqi newborn baby at a hospital in Mosul, Iraq July 18, 2017. Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi girls play at a yard of a school in Mosul, Iraq July 18, 2017alal Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive A woman on crutches who is a relative of men accused of being Islamic State militants is seen at a camp in Bartella, east of Mosul, Iraq July 15, 2017. Picture taken July 15, 2017. Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive A displaced girl, who fled from home carries a doll at Hamam al-Alil camp south of Mosul, Iraq July 13, 2017. Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi federal police members and civilians celebrate in the Old City of Mosul on 9 July 2017 after the government's announcement of the "liberation" of the embattled city. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's office said he was in "liberated" Mosul to congratulate "the heroic fighters and the Iraqi people on the achievement of the major victory" AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive A picture taken on 9 July 2017, shows a general view of the destruction in Mosul's Old City. Iraq will announce imminently a final victory in the nearly nine-month offensive to retake Mosul from jihadists, a US general said Saturday, as celebrations broke out among police forces in the city. AFP In pictures: Mosul offensive Members of the Iraqi federal police raise the victory gesture as they ride on a humvee while advancing through the Old City of Mosul on 28 June 2017, as the offensive continues to retake the last district held by Islamic State (IS) group fighters. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Smoke billows as Iraqi forces advance through the Old City of Mosul on 26 June 2017, during the ongoing offensive to retake the last district held by the Islamic State (IS) group. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi man wearing the green scarf of the Shi'ite faith kisses an Iraqi Army soldier on safely reaching the Iraqi forces position as Iraqi civilians flee the Old City of west Mosul where heavy fighting continues on 23 June 2017. Iraqi forces continue to encounter stiff resistance with improvised explosive devices, car bombs, heavy mortar fire and snipers hampering their advance. Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive A picture taken from the inside of an Iraqi forces armoured vehicle shows residents walking through a damaged street as troops advance towards Mosul's Old City on 18 June 2017, during the ongoing offensive to retake the last district still held by the Islamic State (IS) group. Military commanders told AFP the assault had begun at dawn after overnight air strikes by the US-led coalition backing Iraqi forces. They said the jihadists were putting up fierce resistance. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi Army soldiers advance in a destroyed street after an Iraqi forces airstrike targeted an Islamic State sniper position 17 June 2017 in al-Shifa, the last district of west Mosul under Islamic State control. IS snipers, as well as car and suicide bomb attacks continue to hinder the Iraqi forces efforts to retake the final district. A series of airstrikes by Iraqi helicopter gunships attempted to hit multiple Islamic State sniper positions in al-Shifa. Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier frisks a displaced Iraqi man at a temporary camp in the compound of the closed Nineveh International Hotel in Mosul on 16 June 2017 which was recovered by Iraqi troops from Islamic State group fighters earlier in the year. A screening centre set up in the compound's fairgrounds sees a constant stream of Iraqis fleeing the battle for Mosul, awaiting their turn to be checked by the Iraqi forces who are searching for suspected Islamic State (IS) group members. The small fairground lies at the end of a pontoon bridge across the Tigris recently opened to civilians that is the only physical link between the two banks of the river. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqis staying at the al-Khazir camp swim in a river near the camp for internally displaced people, located between Arbil and Mosul on 11 June 2017. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi government forces drive on a road leading to Tal Afar on 9 June 2017, during ongoing battles to retake the city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi policeman carries a poster bearing an image of Mosul's iconic leaning minaret, known as the "Hadba" (Hunchback), on 22 June 2017. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqis stand in line to receive food aid in western Mosul's Zanjili neighbourhood on 7 June 2017, during ongoing battles as Iraqi forces try to retake the city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters. Living conditions in Mosul have again deteriorated since the start of the Iraqi government's offensive on the city in October in which they retook a large part of the west of the city. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Displaced Iraqis carry lightbulbs and sacks as they evacuate from western Mosul's Zanjili neighbourhood as government forces advance in the area during their ongoing battle against Islamic State (IS) group fighters on 13 May 2017 AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) flashes the victory gesture as he patrols in western Mosul's al-Islah al-Zaraye neighbourhood on 13 May 2017 AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi army soldiers from the 9th armoured division on a truck flash the sign of victory as they drive back from Mosul to the town of Qaraqosh (also known as Hamdaniya) Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Members of Iraqi forces flash the sign of victory on their vehicle as they advance towards Hammam al-Alil area south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of Iraqi security forces gestures in Hammam al-Alil, south of Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi children, one flashing the sign of victory, greet Iraqi army's soldiers from the 9th armoured division in the area of Ali Rash, adjacent to the eastern Al-Intissar neighbourhood of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Peshmerga forces look at a tunnel used by Islamic State militants near the town of Bashiqa, east of Mosul, during an operation to attack Islamic State militants in Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier takes a photograph with his phone as his comrade stands next to a detained man, whom the Iraqi army soldiers accused of being an Islamic State fighter, who was fleeing with his family in the Intisar disrict of eastern Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iranian Kurdish female members of the Freedom Party of Kurdistan (PAK) hold a position in an area near the town of Bashiqa, some 25 kilometres north east of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi families, who fled their homes in Hamam al-Alil, gather on the outskirts of their town Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Displaced people walk past a checkpoint near Qayara, south of Mosul, Iraq AP In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi families who were displaced by the ongoing operation by Iraqi forces against jihadists of the Islamic State group to retake the city of Mosul, are seen gathering in an area near Qayyarah In pictures: Mosul offensive A boy who just fled Abu Jarbuah village is seen with his family at a Kurdish Peshmerga position between two front lines near Bashiqa, east of Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi child eats a pomegranate upon the arrival of Iraqi forces in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive People who just fled Abu Jarbuah village sit as they eat at a Kurdish Peshmerga position between two front lines near Bashiqa, east of Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive A couple who just fled Abu Jarbuah village are escorted by Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Women carry a boy over a wall as civilians flee their houses in the village of Tob Zawa, Iraq AP In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier and a civilian ride a motorbike as smoke rises behind them, on the road between Qayyarah and Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of Iraqi forces, wearing a skull mask, waits at a checkpoint for people fleeing the main hub city of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier sits at a checkpoint in an area near Qayyarah Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi men prepare food portions for Iraqi forces deployed in areas south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi forces celebrate upon the arrival of vehicles bringing food to them Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi childen smoke cigarettes upon the arrival of Iraqi forces in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of Iraqi forces distributes drinks to children in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty The report comes as US-backed Iraqi forces fought Isis fighters to clear the way to Mosul's airport, on the second day of a ground offensive on the jihadists' remaining stronghold in the western side of the city. Federal police and elite interior ministry units known as Rapid Response are leading the charge toward the airport, located on the southern limit of the Mosul, trying to dislodge the militants from the nearby hilltop village of Albu Saif. The Iraqi forces plan to turn the airport into a close support base for the onslaught into western Mosul itself. Isis militants are essentially under siege in western Mosul, along with an estimated 750,000 civilians, after they were forced out of the eastern part of the city in the first phase of an offensive that concluded last month, after 100 days of fighting. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The re-conquest of western Mosul begins. Or so several headlines in the Arab press have announced. And its true that the Iraqi army and its Shia militia allies and a few token soldiers from the US, Turkey, Britain and Kurdish forces have captured some small villages abandoned by Isis near the old Mosul airport. But it is likely to be weeks perhaps months before they can claim victory over Isis in Mosul. And even if they are successful, the real blow may fall on a Syrian city hundreds of miles to the west. For behind the dust clouds and shellfire of the latest Iraqi armoured offensive against Isis in western Mosul and the usual promises of success from the Iraqi prime minister and assorted American generals lies the Syrian city of Deir Ezzor, its government defenders and perhaps 90,000 civilians now isolated by Isis into two pockets of resistance in the desert. Supplied by helicopter and led by a ferocious Druze Syrian general, the regimes forces have held out for five years. But if Isis breaks out from Mosul in the coming weeks, its fighters are likely to speed 340 miles west to the surrounded Syrian city to support their comrades there. Victory in Mosul, in other words, could mean defeat in Deir Ezzor. This, of course, is not how the story is being told. Forgetting that victorious offensives against Isis in Mosul have been proclaimed four times in the past three years, its clear that President Donald Trump, for all his illusory grasp of geography, needs a victory against the Isis cult in the Middle East. It would be the first election pledge he would be able to start honouring; which is no doubt why General Jim Mattis who earned his sobriquet of Mad Dog in Iraq was in Baghdad to encourage the advance on Mosul by the pro-American but largely Arab forces. Recommended Iraqi forces begin bitter battle for Mosul in effort to destroy Isis Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi, who once pledged to free all of Mosul by the spring of last year following its 2014 capture by Isis, desperately needs another victory against an enemy whose multi-kamikaze attacks have decimated up to 50 per cent of his best-trained brigade. And fighting in the ancient, narrow-streets of old western Mosul, neither tanks or armoured vehicles are likely to be of much use to the Iraqi army. Air strikes on a civilian population of more than half a million in western Mosul conjure up nightmares of eastern Aleppo when western leaders were loud in their condemnation of Syria and Russias air onslaught against Islamist fighters. Despite the new Iraqi offensive which looks a lot like previous ones since it has so far captured only largely empty villages the scenario is distressingly familiar: up to 650,000 civilians trapped behind Islamist lines, few escape routes and the great river Tigris as one of the front lines. Ironically, Deir Ezzor, whose fate is hinged to that of Mosul, lies along the ancient twin river of the Euphrates, which flows past the Syrian-Isis front lines to the west. Earlier this year, Isis managed to cut Syrian government-held territory in Deir Ezzor in two, and Syrian troops only just managed to maintain control of the citys airport after a massive American air attack which killed more than 60 Syrian soldiers. The Americans said this was a mistake. The Syrians said it was deliberate. Unable to undo the damage caused by Mr Trumps anti-Iraqi immigration order, General Mattis has been left to bind up other wounds caused by his presidents suggestion that US forces should have taken Iraqs oil after the Anglo-US invasion of 2003. America, Mr Mattis told Iraqis, was not in Iraq to seize anyones oil. Believing that, however, may be a tall order for Iraqi forces now ordered to bash their way into the fiery streets of western Mosul. As usual, the Americans, British and Turks will deploy their airpower, but much of the fighting on the ground and most of the dying will be done by the Iraqis and Kurds and their Isis enemies. 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 Perhaps the 650,000 trapped civilians in western Mosul will turn out to be an exaggerated figure. Eastern Aleppos 250,000 besieged men, women and children, seem to have been closer to 90,000 once the time the battle was over and statistics could regain their credibility. But the UN and other humanitarian agencies have to prepare for the worst, whatever generals and politicians and journalists may predict. Comparisons with World War Two are always fraudulent, but the conflicts propaganda still contains lessons for todays wars. Hitler announced the victory at Stalingrad in the autumn of 1942. It took the Russians six months to recapture the entire city. The latest Battle of Mosul only began four months ago. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} An Israeli newspaper reported Sunday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu turned down a regional peace initiative last year that was brokered by then-American Secretary of State John Kerry, in apparent contradiction to his stated goal of involving regional powers in resolving Israel's conflict with the Palestinians. Haaretz reported that Netanyahu took part in a secret summit that Kerry organised in the southern Jordanian port city of Aqaba last February and included Jordan's King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi. According to the report, which cited anonymous Obama administration officials, Kerry proposed regional recognition of Israel as a Jewish state -- a key Netanyahu demand -- alongside a renewal of peace talks with the Palestinians with the support of the Arab countries. Netanyahu reportedly rejected the offer, saying he would not be able to garner enough support for it in his hard-line coalition government. The initiative was also reportedly the basis of short-lived talks with opposition leader Isaac Herzog to join the government, a plan that quickly unraveled when Netanyahu chose to bring in nationalist leader Avigdor Lieberman instead and appoint him defence minister. Herzog tweeted Sunday that "history will definitely judge the magnitude of the opportunity as well as the magnitude of the missed opportunity." Netanyahu himself did not address the report in his weekly Cabinet meeting and his office refused to comment. Instead, the prime minister focused on last week's visit to Washington to meet new President Donald Trump. Netanyahu called the meeting "historic" and one that strengthened the two countries' longtime alliance. He said at the end of meeting, Trump shook his hand and told him it was a "new day" in Israeli-American relations. After eight years of testy ties with Barack Obama, Netanyahu seems to be relishing Trump's warm embrace. The new president has broken from his predecessor in adopting friendlier positions to the Israeli government regarding a tough line on Iran, a vaguer stance on Palestinian statehood and a more lenient approach to West Bank settlements. He's also promised to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to fortify Israel's claim to the city as its capital, and appointed an ambassador with close ties to the settlement movement. Netanyahu said the two leaders see "eye to eye" on Iran and a host of other issues. "There is a new day and it is a good day," he said. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu meets Theresa May In a joint press conference last week with Netanyahu, Trump offered unwavering support for Israel with the only hint of distance coming in his request of Netanyahu to "hold off" on Jewish settlement construction in territories the Palestinians claim for a future state. Netanyahu said Sunday that the sides have formed joint teams to coordinate settlement construction along with other issues. In a striking departure from longtime American policy, Trump also refrained from supporting a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying he would defer to whatever solution the sides agreed upon. Netanyahu pleased his coalition partners by holding back from mentioning a potential Palestinian state as well, even though he is on record as supporting the concept. In a further wrinkle, Lieberman chimed in that for him a Palestinian state remains the preferred outcome -- and it should come through the type of regional structure Netanyahu reportedly rejected. "My vision, it's the endgame no doubt, two-state solution. I believe that it's necessary for us to keep the Jewish state," he said at the Munich Security Conference. "The Palestinians don't have capacity to sign a lone final status agreement with Israel. It's possible only as a part of an all-regional solution, not an incremental process but simultaneously." Associated Press For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The US Ambassador to Somalia has given the countrys President a cap with the slogan Make Somalia Great Again. Stephen Schwartz, who was appointed by Barack Obama as the US ambassador to Somalia last July, was pictured handing over the white and blue cap to the newly elected Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi, known as Farmajo. The cap is clear reference to Donald Trumps own campaign hat and his motto Make America Great Again. The US mission to Somalia tweeted the picture following a two day meeting between the US ambassador and the Somali President, who was elected on February 8. Somalia is one of the seven countries named in Mr Trumps executive order, which aimed to prevent anyone from those Muslim-majority countries from entering the US for 90 days. Earlier this month President Farmajo spoke out against the ban and said he will work to remove his country from Mr Trumps list. There has been confusion over the meaning of the gift and while some social media users thought the gesture was a misstep others said it was out of order. Laura Hammond tweeted: The sentiment is ok, but the association with Trump's platform is really unfortunate. Mohamed Ali said: I hope this is not taken out of context!! Another twitter user said: Disgusting sense of humour. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A video has emerged showing the miraculous rescue of a little girl in Damascus after her home was bombed by pro-government forces. The footage shows members of the Syrian Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets, entering the ruins of a house in the citys Tishreen neighbourhood. A woman can be seen frantically directing the rescuers to a patio area where the little girl is buried. Recommended Syrian girl arrested for clothing freed after classmate protest Sorting urgently through the rubble, they manage to find the child crushed beneath debris and immediately clear her mouth of dust. Moving quickly and carefully, the White Helmets can be seen removing lumps of concrete from around her trapped body. One rescue worker tells the screaming girl: Were coming. Dont be afraid. In a little over a minute, they manage lift her free and carry her, alive, back into the house. Donald Trump open to working with Moscow to fight Isis in Syria Despite miraculously surviving the ordeal, the extent of her injuries are unclear. The bombardment, carried out by Syrian regime forces, targeted two neighbourhoods around the capital. Ten people were wounded in the strikes, activists said. Local officials in Puding county will limit banquets to funerals and weddings. (Photo : Getty Images) In the county of Puding, a banquet ban is imposed to limit the number of guests to invite. This is strictly implemented in the city of Anshun. A team of officials was organized last year to oversee the ethical and cultural practices in Anshun. The committee is supervised by the local government. Advertisement The regulating committee was also formed to monitor corruption activities of government officials. When the city government began to see the rising number of banquets, they began to probe deeper and decided to regulate social gatherings. A statement from the local government stated, "There were too many banquets. On average, each household spent about one-third of its annual income on cash gifts." The government explained, "To raise the money to provide cash gifts, some villagers sold crops they had earmarked as food for the family and even borrowed money at usurious rates." The local body also noted that the banquets became "a method of raising money" and led "the practice resulted in a huge financial burden that led to many people suffering" for those who attended. The increasing number of banquets led to the government intervention and observed that there were even people who relocated just to get rid of the burden of relocating to distant towns and cities. Zhang Qingsong, a former resident of Anshun, said that he had to move out to improve his state of life. He said, "Everybody held banquets. If you worked in my hometown, it was almost certain that you would become poorer and poorer. The money you made would not be enough to provide all the cash gifts." "Sometimes I received more than 10 invitations a month. It was a face-related issue: If you didn't ask for leave to attend banquets, other people wouldn't attend yours, so you lost face. However, if you worked a long distance away, you had an excuse to not to attend," he added. The banquet ban now limits socialization to weddings and funerals only. The new law requires bans the giving of cash gifts. Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Matt Damons monster movie The Great Wall has received a thrashing from the critics, but the real thing tends to get better reviews. The ancient fortifications wind over some of Chinas most epic scenery and seeing it is a must-do for any bucket-list-ticking traveller. There is, however, one problem the most-visited sections (theres more than 5,000 miles of the whole thing) tend to be a bit of a tourist circus, especially at the most popular section, Badaling, or the toboggan ride from the wall down to the Mutianyu section entrance. Not so authentic. Want your Great Wall experience to be a bit more special? We turned to Asia specialist Wendy Wu Tours to get tips on lesser-known sections that you can enjoy without risk of selfie-inflicted injuries. Huanghuacheng section The Huanghuacheng section snakes through the hills about 40 miles north of Beijing and is particularly picturesque owing to the reflecting lake below. Built in 1575 and only partially restored, this is the perfect place to get an idea of the walls original structure. Climbs can be steep but conquering a pass not only instils a great feeling of pride, it also gives wonderful views over lakes and countryside. The Huanghucacheng section is reflected in a lake at the bottom Trek from the Gubeikou to Jinshanling section Walk in the footsteps of the ancient dynasties that traversed this incredible structure hundreds of years ago by hiking from the Gubeikou to the Jinshanling section; the trek follows stretches of restored and unrestored parts, taking in wooded countryside and dramatic hills. The walk covers a distance of between 11km and 14km and should take between four to six hours. Or just trek the Jinshanling section Travellers can also trek along the Jinshanling section of the wall by itself if they dont have the time to walk from Gubeikou. This is a distance of between 2km to 7km, depending where you start and where you stop. Located north-east of Beijing, this section was built during the Ming Dynasty and offers great panoramic views over countryside and mountain scenery. Departing from Jinshanling village, a circular route along both renovated and unrenovated sections takes about four hours and takes in 67 watchtowers, three beacon towers and five passes. The Gubeikou section takes you to unrestored parts of the wall Simatai section Though it takes a two-hour drive from Beijing to reach Simatai, its more than worth it. Travellers should visit just before sunset the section offers incredible views of the wall as it cuts through valleys and ridges to Jinshanling. It is also the only part of the wall open for night tours. Reached by cable car, followed by a short walk on to the wall itself, this section is only part-renovated. It is also one of the most diverse sections with various towers and a range of steepness. There is a part known as the Heavenly Ladder, which offers a steep climb with cliffs on both sides. At the top is the Sky Bridge, a narrow 100-metre stretch. As it can become treacherous in the winter snow, the best times to visit this section are late spring and autumn when the temperatures are pleasant. A dilapidated section of the wall at Simatai (Getty) Juyongguan section It may be one of the closest sections of the wall to Beijing, at only 37 miles from the city, but it is often one of the quietest. The Juyongguan pass is one of the most famous in China, considered one of the three great mountain passes of the wall (the others are Jiayuguan and Shanhaiguan). Situated in a valley with mountains on two sides, it is estimated this section was first built as a military stronghold more than 2,000 years ago. Wendy Wu Tours (0800 902 0888; wendywutours.co.uk) offers various trips to the above sections as part of its China itineraries, starting from 2,990 per person for 17 days Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trumps lies about "events" in Sweden should have made it so easy for the Swedish prime minister, Stefan Lofven. In effect the American President put Lofven five yards out in front of an open goal, with the ball at his feet and the whole world screaming at him to shoot. But Lofven wont. Instead hes juggling with the ball and has surreptitiously slipped out a hand mirror to check out just how cool he looks in the floodlights of the global media. Hes not going to shoot that would be way too easy. Hell just tease him and make Trump look slightly silly. Thatll show him. Instead of taking on Trumps lies and hyperbole, Lofven will just settle for looking cool, detached and clever. Trump was addressing a rally in Florida on Saturday when he listed European countries that have been targeted recently by terrorists. You look at what's happening in Germany, you look at what's happening last night in Sweden. Sweden, who would believe this? Sweden. They took in large numbers. They're having problems like they never thought possible, he said. Donald Trump: Sweden baffled by reference to unknown terror incident There had been no terrorist attack in Sweden on Friday night as gleefully pointed out by Swedes on social media. Trump has since claimed that his comments were sparked by a Fox News documentary about Sweden on Friday night. The country's response was underwhelming: Weve noted the tweet in which Donald Trump states that he was talking about a package on Fox News. There's not so much more to say right now, Foreign Ministry press spokesperson Catarina Axelsson told the TT news agency on Monday. Recommended Trump is not the first president to sign a divisive executive order This laconic, non-confrontational response is quintessentially Swedish almost infuriatingly so. An American president has lied outrageously about one of its European allies, an ally which is almost diametrically opposed, politically, to Trumps fear-spiked right-wing populism. An ally which sits in the northern buffer zone between continental Europe and Russia. Trumps outburst should have triggered an international crisis for his renegade one-month-old administration. Trump should by now be having to fend off global condemnation for his lies. But that would have required Swedens prime minister, Lofven, to respond in a direct and forceful fashion and that is just not the Swedish way. Some observers have suggested that Sweden might be fearful of antagonising an ally of Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, whose fighter jets have buzzed the Scandinavian countrys borders occasionally over the last decade. That analysis overlooks two fundamental characteristics of Swedish civic and political life. First, confrontation is not acceptable. Swedes deal in consensus, not conflict. Deals are done, compromises sought and voices are rarely raised. To make a fuss internationally about Trumps boorish behaviour would betray that central tenet of Swedish life. Trump admits 'Sweden attack' comment based on debunked Fox report The second characteristic is understatement or, as the Swedes call it lagom, which is defined as enough, sufficient, adequate, just right. Mostly, thats an admirable principle for civic and political life. Nothing is done to excess. But its not the approach that is required now. When the Swedes should be hammering the ball into the back of Trumps net, theyre making mildly witty remarks about his behaviour, trying to prove to everyone else that theyre just too sophisticated to become drawn into Trumps yobbish view of international politics. And theyre blowing a rich opportunity to strike a blow right to the heart of Trumps infant presidency. The Good Friday Agreement is a near "miracle" that must be protected in the wake of Brexit, including border issues, according to the European Commission first vice-president. Frans Timmermans said Ireland's interests "will need special attention" as negotiations get under way proper. His comments will be a fillip to the Government, which has been lobbying hard to outline Ireland's unique position amid fears that we have the most to lose from Brexit. Mr Timmermans believes that any future Brexit deal should "reflect the need for Ireland and the UK to be able to prolong their agreements". But Mr Timmermans, who is in Dublin today on an official visit, would not commit to working for an invisible border on the island, saying the details would need to be worked out during the talks. "If the Taoiseach and the foreign minister say that a border will cause problems, this should be something we all keep in mind when we talk about finding solutions that reflect the need to separate the UK from the EU, but also reflect the need for Ireland and the UK to be able to prolong their agreements, and for all of the EU to take its share of responsibility to maintain both the letter and the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement," he told the Irish Independent. "What the final outcome of this is going to be, I don't know, but I just want to underline again and again that we all have a duty towards the Irish citizens, whether they are citizens of the Republic, or Irish people living on the island, to make sure that this historic achievement of peace is not put into jeopardy," Mr Timmermans, who is the commission's second-in-command, said. "How you do that technically is something we need to look at in the negotiations, but this state of mind should be guiding our hand in the negotiations." Mr Timmermans, a Dutchman who speaks flawless English - a skill he picked up as an adolescent while at the British school in Rome, is personally invested in safeguarding the peace process, adding that it is also in the EU's "strategic interest". "I was born in 1961, and all through my childhood until adulthood, I was confronted with images of terrible violence in the North, and a conflict that nobody thought anybody could solve," he said. "So I honestly believe the Good Friday Agreement is almost a miracle, and it deserves to be upheld and protected with all the political clout we can muster in Europe." Irish politicians, officials and interest groups have been knocking on doors all over Europe to make their case for special treatment during the Brexit talks. Read more: Gerry Adams: Hard border inevitable unless NI given special status post-Brexit While there is a lot of sympathy for Ireland's position - particularly in small island nations with strong ties to Britain, like Malta and Cyprus - many larger countries, who have greater sway in the EU, have their own agendas. In the Netherlands, France and Germany leaders are busy fending off populist challengers ahead of upcoming elections. Italy's government recently collapsed. Spain has its eyes on Gibraltar. Poland is focused on securing its citizens' rights in the UK. Mr Timmermans says there is "a tremendous amount of goodwill" towards Ireland and that "its interests will need special attention". But once the talks get under way - which will happen later in the spring, after EU leaders draw up negotiating guidelines - there are no guarantees Ireland will get a good deal. That fear has led to speculation of an Irish EU exit, which the Taoiseach vehemently rejected in a speech last week, saying the EU was fundamental to Ireland's interests. "I would absolutely never accept that Ireland would be sort of set apart from the rest of Europe simply because of geography or history," Mr Timmermans said. "Ireland is absolutely not alone in this." His boss, Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, has expressed fears the UK could divide and conquer the EU during the talks, by offering sweeteners to individual countries. "Of course it's in the nature of diplomacy that the other side - in this case being the Brits - is going to look for the best possible deal it can get," Mr Timmermans said. "They will approach member states, also individually. "But that's entirely up to the 27 [other EU countries] whether they want to play this game or not. It's entirely up to them how united they want to be." A former foreign and Europe minister, Mr Timmermans takes a philosophical view of the difficulty facing mainstream politics in the Netherlands, France and Germany ahead of elections this year. The growth of right-wing nationalism, he says, is a reaction to people's fears about their future prosperity, and is more pronounced in richer countries that have weathered the financial crisis. While visiting Ireland, he will meet Taoiseach Enda Kenny, whose political travails Mr Timmermans says are not unique in Europe. "Given the nature of politics today, given the instability in the political systems in all our member states, there is not one prime minister who knows whether she or he will survive the next couple of months," he said. "So in that sense the situation in Ireland is in line with the situation in most of our member states. "I have no judgment about the issue at hand, but the political context in which leaders of governments have to operate is comparable in many member states. "Just take one look at the United States to see how volatile things have become in the western world." Ireland's Ambassador to Britain has slammed an article in the Daily Telegraph that reports "it wont be too long before Ireland wants to leave the EU as well". The Saturday piece by columnist Simon Heffer entitled 'The British people knew what they were doing by voting for Brexit, Mr Blair' also suggests that the corporation tax rate in Ireland "is just about the only thing keeping it economically viable". Daniel Mulhall expressed his dismay at the staunch Brexiteer's work on Twitter on Sunday. "Not impressed at snide comments of Simon Heffer," he wrote. "There's lots going for Irish economy other than 12.5pc tax. Highly-educated, hard-working population, location within EU. "Compare Ireland's economic performance 1922-73 with 1973-2017. Demonstrates the value of EU membership for a country like ours," he added. 1/2 Not impressed at snide comments of Simon Heffer @Telegraph. I can assure him there is precious little support in Ireland for an EU exit. Daniel Mulhall (@DanMulhall) February 19, 2017 2/2 & Simon Heffer, there's lots going for Irish economy other than 12.5% tax. Highly-educated, hard-working population, location within EU. Daniel Mulhall (@DanMulhall) February 19, 2017 Read More Heffer's article, which begins with a reflection on Tony Blair's critical speech last week, said that we are "fretting about the nature of the border between the republic and the North after Brexit". "It is scaremongering to say a hard border would revive terrorism; terrorism in Ireland has never died, and there is no link between it and new border controls." The Department of Agriculture has been accused of having a 'lack of contingency plans' to safeguard farmers and the Irish agri-food sector from a hard Brexit. Stock Image The Department of Agriculture has been accused of having a "lack of contingency plans" to safeguard farmers and the Irish agri-food sector from a hard Brexit. In response to a parliamentary question asked by Fianna Fail TD Charlie McConalogue, it was revealed the department has assigned just three staff members to a dedicated Brexit unit. It also emerged that Bord Bia plans to hire just four additional staff at an estimated cost of 183,000. "This is appalling when you consider the enormous challenges facing the Irish agri-food sector in the months ahead," said Mr McConalogue. "It shows that the Government simply isn't putting in place the resources needed to deal with Brexit. "Secondly, the minister has confirmed to me his department has assigned just three staff members to a dedicated unit to deal with Brexit-related issues," he said. The deputy said that Minister Michael Creed has "a lot more work to do" to ensure his department is ready to deal with the fallout from Brexit. "Several agri-food businesses have already been hit hard due to currency fluctuations and the UK is yet to formally trigger Article 50," he said. "I have been growing increasingly alarmed at the lack of a coherent plan put forward by the Government to deal with the challenges posed by Brexit." In response, a spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture said there has been widespread consultation at all levels, including two All-Island Dialogues, 14 sectoral events, two plenaries, and more than 1,200 delegates representing industries and organisations from across the country. "From an agri-food perspective, and given the importance of the UK market for the sector, our demand will be for continued free access to the UK market, without tariffs and with minimal additional customs and administrative procedures, and to keep the UK market viable for Irish producers by minimising the risk from UK trade agreements with third countries," it said. "All of the department's ongoing activities will continue to be informed by the need to secure the best possible outcome for the Irish agri-food sector." Rent reviews undertaken at some of Irelands most well-known shopping centres resulted in a rise in rates of 8pc for tenants last year. Hammerson, the owner of Dundrum Town Centre and the Ilac Centre in the capitals city centre, said it forecasted that rents this year would rise by 7pc as a result of further rent reviews. Net rental income from the companys Irish operations totalled 14m (16.3m) for last year. The company also said that rents at the longer term rents at the sites would lead to a rise of over 10pc in rental income between now and 2019. In Ireland, Hammerson said it had an occupancy of 99.5pc. The company said it was primarily focussed on the Dublin market, with 70pc of retail expenditure concentrated in the capital. The company said its Irish operations have been bolstered by the purchase of a NAMA portfolio in 2015. Hammerson owns the Dundrum Town Centre in equal partnership agreement with insurance giant Allianz. The Ilac Centre is co-owned with Irish Life. Hammerson said it also has plans to develop an additional 100,000 square foot of retail space on the six-acre estate it currently owns in Dundrum. Plans are also afoot to further redevelop its Dublin Central facility with a 158,000 square foot development, although the company noted that this was the subject of a High Court Challenge. A further 272,000 square feet of retail space has been earmarked for development in Swords. Hammerson said no additional land purchases would be required to complete the purchase. The company said it expected to generate 50m in revenue from renting to 300 tenants at the site. The size of Hammerson's international property portfolio rose by 19pc last year, according to the annual results. Hammersons property portfolio increased to 9.97bn in 2016, up from 8.37bn in 2015. Rental income over the course of the year rose to 346m, up 8.8pc. The groups adjusted profit was 230m, which represented a 9.4pc rise on the previous year. Hammerson also disposed of 635m worth of assets from its portfolio but added a major strategic investment with the purchase of the Grand Central in Birmingham. Over 70% of farmers who applied for aid under Emergency Flood Damage Relief scheme last year were refused. New figures released by the Department of Agriculture, shows that some 167 farmers applied for the scheme, of which 121 were deemed ineligible. The scheme was developed in response to the serious flooding last winter. The supports put in place for farmers most affected also included the introduction of a Fodder Aid scheme (replacing damaged fodder). In addition, emergency feed was provided where there was a risk to animal welfare on farms. The Emergency Flood Damage Relief scheme assisted farmers, under 3 categories, loss of livestock, damage to fixed agricultural structures and fittings, and the necessity to move livestock to alternate housing (excluding the cost of feed). Releasing the figures following a parliamentary question from Fianna Fails Robert Troy, the Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed said those applicants who did not qualify were found not to have suffered losses under the three headings provided for. Meanwhile under the Fodder Aid Scheme, which compensated for lost fodder, there were 391 applications received of which 330 were paid a total of 660,000. Also this week the Minister Creed said details of a new scheme to help relocate farmers who have been severely affected by flooding in recent years will be brought to Government shortly by the Minister for State with special responsibility for the Office of Public Works and flood relief. He said legal advice has been received from the office of the Attorney General and Minister Canney is due to bring recommended administrative arrangements to Government in the coming weeks. The Minister said his Department will use the arrangements for the already established Voluntary Homeowners Relocation Scheme to identify those farmyard buildings to determine if any alternative remedial works can be undertaken to protect those at risk farm buildings. This, he said will inform the feasibility of any future once-off targeted scheme for Voluntary Farm Building Relocation. A farmer has revealed how he was attacked and crushed against a wall by a cow trying to protect her calf. In a dramatic movie Laois dry stock farmer Dominic Leonard has revealed how he suffered severe head injuries and nearly lost his life during the incident. "Its so easy to become complacent. When you do it every morning like I was doing and you never have any problems. Then you think you never will. "And then you do and then its too late," he said. Leonards accident happened at calving time in the beginning of March while he was doing a routine check on his cows. Over 80% of the national suckler and dairy herds calve in the months of February, March and April and the movie has been released to remind farmers of the dangers at this time of year. "The cows were all in the sheds. I would have gone out as normal at about 8am to check the cows. "A cow took exception to me trying to tag the calf and basically just shoved me against the wall. Expand Close Leonards accident happened at calving time in the beginning of March while he was doing a routine check on his cows. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Leonards accident happened at calving time in the beginning of March while he was doing a routine check on his cows. "I cracked the back of my skull on the wall. "I somehow managed to get out of the shed and get back to the house. Unfortunately, it was Dominics Daughter who he met first. She was only six at the time and witnessed an horrific scene. "She found me lying in a pool of blood. She thought I was dead," he said. Leonard who fell into a coma said after that I disappeared for basically four months". He praised his wife, who had to take over running the farm while he lay in his hospital bed. "She had to learn how to run a farm along with running the house and children and me being in hospital. Even when I came home she had to look after me quite a lot, he said. Dominic highlighted the emotional damage a head injury can have on a person. "Its really not a good place. My emotions were all over the pace. I might burst into tears for no apparent reason. It was like that for a few months. "I know my wife was scared to leave me on my own in the house. I lost my independence," he said. "If I was able to go back and talk to myself before the accident I would say now is the time to install another gate and not waiting. "Maybe you have survived a come or maybe you havent. "Just to make it as safe as possible to make sure it wont happen again. Because it could happen again, and I might not be so lucky. This article was first published in February 2017 Alibaba's Logistics Services (Photo : http://www.gettyimages.com/) French shipping line CMA CGM has signed a deal with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba on Tuesday, Feb. 14, joining Maersk line to help to provide online booking for shipment through Alibaba's One Touch platform, according to an article by seatrade-maritime.com. Advertisement The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by the two companies in Hangzhou, the report said. Under the agreement, CMA CGM will allow Chinese customers to book their shipments directly online, from China on the CMA CGM MEX 1 service to the Mediterranean and the BEX service to the Adriatic. Customers on the MEX 1 service can book direct using the One Touch platform for shipments from Shanghai, Qingdao, Ningbo and Yantian to be delivered at West Mediterranean base ports such as Barcelona and Valencia. On the other hand, for the BEX, customer can use the ports of Ningbo, Shanghai and Chiwan to load shipments to be discharged in the Adriatic ports at Trieste, Venice, Rijeka, and Koper. The direct online booking service bypasses the need for freight forwarders, the report said. In December, Maersk started offering its online booking services through Alibaba's One Touch platform. Israeli shipping line Zim has also started allowing customers to book through the platform for routes that include Shanghai to India and Pakistan, or from Xiamen to South America, Alibaba said in its website. "Alibaba.com is open to collaborating with logistics firms who want to join our platform which aims to streamline the logistics process for small and medium-sized enterprises and empower them to seize cross-border trade opportunities," an Alibaba spokeswoman said in a statement e-mailed to Reuters on Thursday, Feb. 16. Alibaba acquired One Touch in 2010, to help small and medium-sized Chinese exporters with online services such as customs clearance and logistics, especially in cross-border deliveries. It also allows them to book air freight and parcel delivery services while providing support to Alibaba's business-to-business (B2B) marketplace. If New Zealand and the UK could establish an open trading and economic relationship post-Brexit, then both countries could build upon the relative strengths of each market, including their geographic proximity to markets in the Asia-Pacific region and the EU respectively, a senior Fonterra manager has said. Open markets encourage investment, increase competitiveness, and allow for more consumer choice and product innovation in the dairy industry, according to one of Fonterras senior managers. Trade Strategy and Stakeholder Affairs Manager, Dr Francis Reid, told the Semex Dairy Conference in Glasgow that if New Zealand and the UK could establish an open trading and economic relationship post-Brexit, then both countries could build upon the relative strengths of each market, including their geographic proximity to markets in the Asia-Pacific region and the EU respectively. A good Brexit, for the UK and for the world, would help to halt the rise of protectionism, Dr. Reid said. New Zealand, he said, opted to deregulate its economy, open its industries up to competition, remove subsidies, and pursue a policy of free trade. "These policies have laid the foundations of New Zealand's current economic prosperity and growth." He said that Fonterra and New Zealand were examples of the success of open market policy and has led to New Zealands economic prosperity that has emerged over a period of economic liberalisation. He also said that in the early twentieth century the UK was New Zealands largest trading partner and the main market for New Zealands dairy exports. "This changed when the UK joined the European Economic Community (EEC), also known as the Common Market, in 1973, which resulted in New Zealand losing its preferential access to the UK." To cope with the ensuing severe economic shock, New Zealand adopted protectionist trade policies, including coupled subsidy payments for farmers and a highly controlled economy, to manage the risks that this change brought, a policy that was eventually reversed. Private investigation firms can buy vehicle tracking devices, many of which are small in size, for as little as 200. Stock Image Hundreds of companies in industries ranging from banking to insurance have been warned about the use of spy kits by private investigators, the Irish Independent can reveal. In an unprecedented move, the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner has written to around 400 separate bodies in a bid to tackle the illegal use of so-called "tracking devices". Assistant Data Protection Commissioner Tony Delaney has warned some of the country's most well-known firms that private investigators are attaching the devices to their customers' cars as part of covert surveillance activity. Mr Delaney has told the 400 bodies, some of which are also State bodies, to put the private investigators "on notice" that they face potential prosecution. He has also warned that in some cases, insurance companies have handed over full medical or consultants' reports to private firms that they pay to spy on customers. The activities of private investigators, also known as 'tracing agents', have been the subject of a rigorous and lengthy investigation by Mr Delaney and his officials. But the senior civil servant, who heads up the commission's investigations unit, has become increasingly concerned about the use of spy kits by investigators, which are placed underneath people's vehicles, often in the middle of the night. Private investigation firms can buy vehicle tracking devices, many of which are small in size, for as little as 200. The device is placed underneath a car, in virtually all cases unbeknown to the customer being tracked. The signal from the device is then sent back to a mobile phone application, allowing the private investigator to trace the person's movements 24 hours a day. The file is then sent back to the company that availed of the investigator's services. Device In most cases, the company may not be aware of the precise type of surveillance being used by the investigator. Placing a device on a vehicle without the knowledge of the owner is in breach of data protection laws. Contacted by the Irish Independent, Mr Delaney confirmed his letter was sent to firms in the sectors of banking, insurance, financial services, as well as credit unions and bodies in the local government sector. "The purpose of this letter was, in the first instance, to alert them to the fact that some private investigators are attaching vehicle tracking devices to the vehicles of individuals on whom they are carrying out surveillance and secondly, to recommend actions that they should take in relation to it," Mr Delaney said. "We strongly recommended that these entities should write to all private investigators that they currently use to put them on notice that the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner has advised that such devices may only be used with the consent of the individual vehicle owner or driver who is the subject of surveillance (and) that the use of such devices without appropriate consent should cease immediately and should not be repeated." Mr Delaney informed the companies that they reserve the right to report any suspected cases to his office or the Private Security Authority. He anticipates a number of successful prosecutions in 2017. Joan Burton has criticised a decision by a Bank of Ireland branch to target students with a 'Fear of Missing Out' loan. The bank is trialling the short-term 'FOMO' product at the Dublin City University (DCU) branch. Students who are approved for the service reportedly receive 100 directly into their bank accounts instantly. Promotion of the new service includes an email which tell students that the funds would help them "not miss out on some of the biggest events on campus". According to the paper, official complaints about the finance initiative were received by the college itself. Labour spokesperson on Finance and Education, Joan Burton, called on the Governor of the Central Bank to investigate the 'FOMO' loan "These FOMO loans by Bank of Ireland are completely irresponsible," she said on Monday. "The messaging behind these loans send the wrong message to students who may never have taken out a loan before and don't understand the weight of these consequences." Ms Burton said that banks such as BOI "should know better and they shouldn't be taking advantage of the exuberance of youth". "The FOMO loans and the messaging attached to them are reminiscent of pay day loans. These kinds of loans are a dangerous route," she said. Bank of Ireland told independent.ie that the bank is running a new mobile tech trial with customers in DCU. "There are no fees or charges for using the service and no late repayment charges, and the trial will not affect a customers credit rating," a spokesperson for the bank said. "Customers register for the trial in the DCU branch, and activate the service using our mobile technology platform designed for the trial. "Customers can only avail of one loan at a time, it is repayable within 6 weeks from drawdown and text reminders are sent when the due date is approaching. " The trial group consists of 250 students. There are currently no plans to extend the trial beyond April, or to other campus locations. Permanent TSB has been accused of not doing enough for some of the customers it overcharged on tracker mortgages. Photo: Collins Permanent TSB has been accused of not doing enough for some of the customers it overcharged on tracker mortgages. The claim was made after it emerged that the vast majority of cases where customers appealed offers of refunds and compensation from the bank have been rejected. Financial adviser Padraic Kissane, who has been fighting tracker-loss cases for eight years and is due to address an Oireachtas Committee on the issue tomorrow, claimed the appeals process was not working properly. The bank appointed independent members of what it calls a central appeals panel for customers who were not satisfied with the amount refunded and the compensation for being overcharged. But Mr Kissane is to tell the Oireachtas Committee the appeals mechanism is not working for those who use the process. He claimed some of the issues he raised at the appeals, on behalf of customers, have not been addressed when the panel's decisions are issued. Expand Close Padraic Kissane will address an Oireachtas Committee / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Padraic Kissane will address an Oireachtas Committee The financial adviser is now taking these cases to the Financial Services Ombudsman, with others going to the courts. Around 1,400 Permanent TSB customers lost out when they were taken off cheap tracker mortgages. The overcharging meant 61 of the bank's customers, and those of its subprime subsidiary Springboard, lost their homes because they could not afford repayments after losing the cheap trackers. The Central Bank fined Springboard 4.5m just before Christmas. Fines are now expected to be imposed on Permanent TSB, and against Ulster Bank. Some 15 lenders have been told to pore though their mortgage books to see if customers were wrongly taken off trackers. So far, 8,200 homeowners have been identified across all banks, and most have had the valuable mortgages restored, got interest refunds and compensation. Some 7,000 mortgage holders had either been restored to trackers or were put back on the correct tracker rate before the current probe was ordered by the Central Bank. A spokesman for Permanent TSB said it was working closely with Mr Kissane on many cases and "he has been an important voice on this issue". "However, the appeals bodies which have been established operate independently of the bank and we would be rightly criticised if we were to try to interfere with their decision making in any way," he said. The spokesman added that the appeals bodies were established as an additional option for customers. "Customers who are unhappy with the views of the independent appeals bodies can take their cases to the Financial Services Ombudsman for mediation or judgment or to the courts if they wish," he said. Permanent TSB added that the proportion of customers who appeal its proposals has been quite small. It said this suggests the majority are broadly satisfied with how it has responded to the failures they experienced. Director of the consumer protection division in the Central Bank Bernard Sheridan said last week regulators have as a priority the restoration of thousands of homeowners to tracker mortgages. "We are closely monitoring and have told lenders to put homeowners back on the correct rate as soon as they can. This is the biggest consumer protection review we have ever undertaken. Its scope is huge," he said. Mr Sheridan did not rule out the total number of people having a tracker rate restored climbing to 20,000. Silicon Valley software giant Intuit is a major provider of financial solutions to small businesses and the accounting industry. Stock Image Irish representatives are in discussions with three of the world's leading software firms about the possibility of locating here, according to a well-placed industry source familiar with the talks. There are ongoing talks with Intuit, Infor and CA Technologies about the possibility of setting up operations in Ireland, the Irish Independent has learned. It is understood that while there remains some distance to go before formal agreements are signed, talks with all three companies have been progressing well and there is a level of optimism that agreements can be reached. It is believed that one or more of the companies may seek to establish a "test base" in Ireland with around 50 employees before wider expansion plans are undertaken. Silicon Valley software giant Intuit is a major provider of financial solutions to small businesses and the accounting industry. Latest company filings showed revenues of 4.4bn for last year. Intuit currently has around 8,000 employees worldwide, with the company's only other operation within the eurozone currently in Paris. New York-based Infor provides cloud software to large businesses and multinationals across the globe. It works with around 90,000 organisations in 200 countries worldwide and had revenues of 2.5bn last year. Infor currently runs a small operation in Sandyford in Dublin with 14 employees. It is believed the ongoing talks relate to a considerable ramping up of operations it has here. CA Technologies is a financial solutions company whose revenues exceeded 3.75bn in 2016. It has earmarked $300-500m for strategic investments. The prospective arrivals could provide hundreds of jobs in the tech sector at a crucial moment for foreign direct investment in Ireland. IDA boss Martin Shanahan told the Irish Independent late last week that attracting investment was "much more challenging" in the context of widespread geopolitical uncertainty. But he insisted that Ireland remains an attractive prospect for inward investment and emphasised that the IDA would continue its efforts to bring companies here. He said the upcoming St Patrick's Day celebrations would provide a key opportunity for Irish trade delegations to reinforce Ireland's position as an attractive place for US firms to do business. Taoiseach Enda Kenny hinted at the prospect of a major new arrival in the tech sector when addressing staff at Microsoft Ireland last week. "We have nine of the top 10 software companies here. "We're about to land the 10th one I think," he said. Kraft Heinz has unexpectedly abandoned its audacious 115bn (134bn) takeover bid for Marmite-maker Unilever. The retreat came just hours after it emerged that UK Prime Minister Theresa May had ordered Downing Street officials to scrutinise a potential deal. Last week, Unilever rejected the approach for fundamentally undervaluing the company, which also makes household goods ranging from Dove soap to Persil. It is understood that the UK government had also had conversations with "high level" executives at 3G Capital, the Brazilian private equity outfit behind Kraft Heinz. "Unilever and Kraft Heinz hereby announce that Kraft Heinz has amicably agreed to withdraw its proposal for a combination of the two companies," a statement released by the companies last night said. "Unilever and Kraft Heinz hold each other in high regard. Kraft Heinz has the utmost respect for the culture, strategy and leadership of Unilever," the statement said. It is understood that Paul Polman, chief executive of Unilever, had been urging shareholders to not support its US rival's efforts. He argued that a takeover would destroy the long-term values of the Anglo-Dutch company. ( Daily Telegraph, London) Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022] 'Analog recently announced it intends buying a major competitor, Linear Technology, for $14.5bn. This could be a game changer for Analog.' Photo: PA World trade in 2017 is an absorbing study just now. There are so many ideologies being challenged and individual battles fought that any analysis is pure guesswork. However, in the middle of this complicated global picture there are localised tussles being fought out which contain their own drama. One is the struggle for domination of the semiconductor industry between the 'old hands' in the US and a determined and resourceful 'challenger' from China. I happened upon this fascinating head-to-head while I was researching the investment attractions of the Massachusetts-based Analog Devices (Analog), one of the oldest semiconductor companies around. I reminded myself that semiconductors are in pretty much everything there is these days - communications, computers, instrumentation, autos, military devices and consumer goods. Analog has the advantage of being at it for more than 50 years. The company currently has revenues that exceed $3.4bn (3.2bn). It has 10,000 employees and fabrication plants in the US, Philippines and Limerick (which it established 40 years ago, and today employs 1,000 people). It also has 30 design centres worldwide, including Canada, China, Germany and India. The company markets its products to customers worldwide. Its largest market is the industrial process sector, which contributes 44pc to group revenues. The consumer and communications markets account for 20pc each of sales. The smallest grouping is automotive. It contributes only 16pc to Analog's revenues. However, experts are of the opinion it is the area of greatest potential. The silicon content is likely to rise in autos with the development of advanced driver assistance and connected cars. Auto-producing countries (and companies) now regard the semiconductor industry as a priority. In the face of a narrowing customer base and increased costs, semiconductor companies are scrambling at a record pace to build scale. China has the ambition to become self-sufficient in semiconductors and reduce its imports. Chinese imports exceed $100bn (94.2bn) per annum, even more than it spends on imported oil. It is planning to subsidise its 130 fabrication plants by a staggering $150bn (141.3bn) and achieve self-sufficiency by 2030. With this in mind, the US semiconductor industry has chosen to restructure. Industry leader Texas Instruments bought National Semiconductor Inc, while another producer, Qualcomm, acquired the Dutch concern NXP, making it worldwide leader in auto semiconductors. Japan's Softbank recently bid for the UK chip producer (and Apple supplier) ARM Holdings plc, and the US producer Intel has also got in on the act. Analog recently announced it intends buying a major competitor, Linear Technology, for $14.5bn (13.6bn). This could be a game-changer for Analog. It will broaden its product range, lower manufacturing costs, boost profitability, increase its share in the fragmented market and add value for its investors. Net income in 2016 was $860m (810m), an increase of 14pc on the previous year. US sales account for 40pc of group sales, and the remaining 60pc comes mainly from Europe, China and Japan. European sales (Germany, Sweden, UK and France) amounted to $950m (894m), or 27pc of group sales. China is Analog's third-largest market, with $575m (541m) (17pc) of sales. A punter who has held Analog shares for five years has been well rewarded. The stock has doubled to a record, at more than $80 (75). It has an inflated price earnings multiple of 29, giving the company a market value of $24bn (22.6bn). The company continues to generate strong cash flow; last year free cash flow was a healthy $1.2bn (1.13bn). Nor have investors been neglected as share buy-backs and dividends payments last year totalled a considerable $870m (819m). Analog is a very capable company and worth a flutter, but it has to keep a very wary eye on China. Nothing in this section should be taken as a recommendation, either explicit or implicit to buy any of the shares mentioned. The Anglo-Dutch company dropped around 7pc on the London Stock Exchange (Stock picture) Shares in Unilever have slumped after US food giant Kraft Heinz called off its proposed $143bn mega-merger with the consumer goods firm. The Anglo-Dutch company dropped around 7pc on the London Stock Exchange following a joint statement by the two companies on Sunday which said Kraft Heinz had "amicably agreed" to withdraw its proposal. Unilever had issued a strongly-worded rebuttal on Friday after the Chicago-based company tabled an offer representing an 18% premium on Unilever's closing share price on February 16. If successful, the deal would have been the biggest acquisition of a British company on record based on offer value. A joint statement by the two companies read: "Unilever and Kraft Heinz hereby announce that Kraft Heinz has amicably agreed to withdraw its proposal for a combination of the two companies. "Unilever and Kraft Heinz hold each other in high regard." Kraft Heinz brands include Heinz Tomato Ketchup and Philadelphia cheese, while Unilever owns store-cupboard staples such as Marmite, PG Tips and Hellmann's. The proposed tie-up was expected to meet strong political opposition, with Prime Minister Theresa May said to have asked officials to look at the deal before it was abandoned. Mrs May vowed last year to devise a ''proper industrial strategy'' to defend UK companies from being snapped up by foreign firms. US and Asian businesses have ramped up their interest in buying British following the pound's 17pc plunge against the US dollar since the Brexit vote. George Salmon, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said it was surprising to see the deal shelved just one business day after the news broke. "The deal was set to top 100 billion, so the size premium would always have been a consideration - especially since Warren Buffett, one of the biggest names behind the bid, hardly has a reputation for paying anything other than the price he sees fit. "What exactly happened in this whirlwind of a story is yet to be fully revealed, but it looks like Unilever isn't just playing hard to get. "It was always going to be a difficult pitch to convince shareholders to relinquish their grip on Unilever, given the expectations for the company to keep churning out resilient growth in the years to come." Kraft came under fire in 2010 after pledging to keep a Cadbury factory open in Somerdale near Bath, only to change its mind soon after securing a 11.5bn hostile takeover of the UK chocolate firm In 2012, the business spun off the Dairy Milk-maker into a new company called Mondelez. Kraft Heinz was born three years later after Kraft Foods became the subject of $45bn takeover by HJ Heinz Co, owned by US business magnate Mr Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway and Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital. Kathleen Brooks, research director at City Index Direct, said managers at Kraft Heinz would be "spitting feathers" after their proposed offer was leaked on Friday. "We expect the chief reason to drop the bid was concern about the political atmosphere in Britain, which is currently against foreigners making bids for 'national treasures', even half-Dutch ones like Unilever. "Also, the leaked announcement sent Unilever shares surging 15pc on Friday, so a protracted battle for ownership would have made it an expensive deal for Buffet and co. at Kraft Heinz." The hitman Mr. Wick walks towards the front desk of the Continental. (Photo : YouTube/ Entertainment Access ) "John Wick 2" have already graced the silver screen, which received a warm response from viewers worldwide. Although no confirmation yet of another sequel, Keanu Reeves, and the movie director hinted of a potential follow-up. After seeing the exhilarating action-packed chapter 2, fans are now clamoring for a chapter 3 of Keanu Reeves' hitman movie. With the warm response of fans and movie goers alike, a possible third chapter could be underway. Such anticipation for a follow-up has been highly associated with the previous statement of Reeves expressing his personal interest of a chapter 3 depending on viewer's response. Advertisement "If they enjoy what we did -- and hopefully they do, fingers-crossed, I really dig it -- but if they do enjoy it, then I'll have the chance to continue the story of the character and the world," The List quoted Reeves as saying. With the current stride of the chapter 2 in terms of gross, it is just days away from beating the previous record set by movie's chapter 1. The sequel has undoubtedly become an explosive hit after scoring $30 million just over the weekend. Apart from the response of the fans and the statement left by Reeves, another indicator for the upcoming Chapter 3 would be the revealed setting of the follow-up. When asked about the potential setting of the third chapter of Wick's life, director Chad Stahelski told Digital Spy that United Kingdom is among the options. However, aside from the U.K. setting of the third chapter, the 52-year-old lead actor Keanu Reeves also mentioned Jerusalem as a potential movie setting. Reeves expressed the need to go to the Middle East, and explore its area. Reeves believes that there are many things that the reluctant assassin, Mr. Wick, could do in the desert. Thus, suggesting a potential exile of the main character in the desserts of Middles East. Watch here below trailer of the latest Keanu Reeves hit assassin movie: Take a break from social media and get lost in a book with our selection of 13 books every teenager should read in 2017. 1. We Were Liars, E. Lockhart We Were Liars tells the story of the beautiful and privileged teen Cadence. The book opens during a summer that Cady is spending with her rich family on their island. Cady knows there has been an accident, but she cant remember why or when it happens. What pans out through the course of the book is shocking and intense, and will keep readers on the edge of their seats. 2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen One of Jane Austens most famous of novels, this nineteenth century story follows Elizabeth Bennett, a fierce, confident and independent young lady, from a poor family of five sisters. Her personality traits cause her to quickly judge someone without knowing them. The novel wouldnt be complete without the smart and hilarious comments and thoughts of Elizabeth on her enemy, Mr Darcy, her society and the way of living in English Victorian society. 3. Asking For It, Louise ONeill Written by Irish author Louise ONeill, this book tells the story of 18-year-old, self-obsessed and attention crazy Emma ODonovan, a victim of sexual abuse in a small town in Cork. The book is split into two parts, before the incident and after it happens, when Emmas life comes crashing down. The book was a huge hit with Irish audiences, and is definitely a must read for young women and men. 4. To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee Although its a prominent part of the Junior Cert English course, this book is still an important read for anyone interested in modern literature. Narrated by the young Scout Finch, it follows her growing up in a quiet town until a case of rape breaks out between a black man whom her father Atticus must defend, and the white town troublemakers daughter. As Scout learns important life lessons from Atticus, and other characters in the novel, you will find yourself learning them along with her. 5. A Little Princess, Frances Hodgson Burnett Smart, sweet and beautiful Sara Crewe has a perfect life at a boarding school until her world is turned upside down when her father dies. The story of her life after she is forced to live in an attic is unexpected and heart-warming, making it a perfect read for anyone in search of a good book. 6. The Hunger Games series, Suzanne Collins Before they were brilliant movies, they were brilliant books. The Hunger Games series is centred around main character Katniss Everdeen, who lives in poverty stricken District 12 and is chosen to compete in the horrific Hunger Games. Katnisss character stands out from so many others as she is confident, strong and powerful, and really makes a brilliant read for any age. 7. The Book Thief, Markus Zusak Set in Nazi Germany, this book follows the story of Liesl, a nine-year-old girl who steals books and lives with a foster family, as her family have been taken to a concentration camp. A complete page-turner, this novel is gripping and brilliant by all accounts. 8. The Fault in Our Stars, John Green This is the story of teenagers Hazel and Augustus, who both have cancer. Hazels life is looking pretty grim until she meets Augustus Waters at a support group and he changes her life. A beautiful and moving book but, be warned, have plenty of tissues on hand while reading. 9. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fizgerald The Great Gatsby is a literary triumph and multi-award winning novel. Written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, this novel captures the glitz of the glam of the roaring twenties, and tells a tale of love, lies and luxury. While this book is on the Leaving Cert course, it can also be read for pleasure outside of school, where it can be enjoyed and interpreted in whatever way the reader chooses. 10. The Harry Potter series, J K Rowling Everyone has seen at least one of the Harry Potter films in their lifetime, fact. However, the novels are completely unique in the sense they can be enjoyed by any and everyone, regardless of age. 11. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky Mental health and well-being among teenagers is a common issue in todays society and is explored by author Stephen Chbosky in this coming of age novel. The book focuses in on main character Charlie as he struggles with school, friends and coming to grips with growing up. This novel is great as it is both light and dark, and provokes the thoughts of readers on relevant topics such as self- love and the the importance of relationships. Video of the Day 12. Autobiographies, selection It's important to have an interest in what you are reading and to want to know all there is about the topic you are reading about. This is where autobiographies are great, as what could be more fascinating than reading about the lives of your idols? For all the sporty teenagers out there, there are some great books out there from various sportsmen and women to enjoy (for example, Proud by Gareth Thomas and Unbelievable by Jessica Ennis). There are many more fantastic memoirs to choose from, including the best-selling Girl With The Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer. 13. The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins Having recently taken to the big screen, The Girl On The Train has sky-rocketed in popularity, and its no wonder why. This thriller follows a mentally unstable woman, Rachael, who finds herself getting involved with the investigation of a stranger's murder. The deeper Rachael digs into finding out the truth, the harder she finds it to return back to her own life, which causes trouble with her ex-husband Tom and his current wife. The gripping plot of the novel hooks readers in and keeps them engaged, which makes it ideal for teenagers. One thing is for certain, once you pick up a copy of this book, you will not want to put it down!! BBC Radio 4 presenter Steve Hewlett has died at the age of 58. The broadcaster died in the company of his family at London's Royal Marsden Hospital while listening to the music of Bob Dylan following a battle with cancer. The news was confirmed by Radio 4's Eddie Mair during his Monday evening programme. In a statement, Hewlett's family said: "Over the last year, we have been overwhelmed by the support of friends, colleagues and Radio 4 listeners. "The messages helped Steve enormously, especially over the last few months. The Royal Marsden have been amazing throughout the journey and we are indebted to all the wonderful staff there. "We'd like to thank Eddie and all the PM listeners, and if people are still keen to help, then we'd like all donations to go towards the brilliant care the Marsden provide." Hewlett was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus in March last year. Lord Hall, the BBC's Director-General, paid tribute, describing Hewlett as an "exceptional journalist". He said: "His analysis of the media industry was always essential listening. Steve was a trusted voice that embodied everything positive in public service journalism. He was hugely popular not just with viewers and listeners, but with BBC staff. "When I saw him last week, I told him how much I have admired his brave interviews with Eddie Mair about his treatment which he did with a candour and sense of inquiry that was typically Steve. "Our thoughts are with his family and many friends." Radio 4 Controller Gwyneth Williams said that he "will be much missed as an outstanding journalist". Video of the Day She added: "He was rational and informed, hard-nosed and witty, never taking himself too seriously but unpicking the stories he covered with great seriousness. "We will certainly miss his weekly presence on Radio 4, and I will miss him personally as a longstanding colleague from the days when we worked together in News. We send our deepest sympathy to his family." The BBC presenter and journalist recently revealed he had married his partner Rachel in hospital after being told he only had weeks to live. The wedding was organised in the space of an hour after learning the treatment he was receiving for cancer could not continue. Hewlett joined Radio 4's current affairs programme The Media Show when it launched in 2008, and he was a prolific columnist for The Guardian. His radio presence made him a household name but the broadcaster also had merits off-air, having held a long career behind the scenes as an award-winning editor and acclaimed producer. He was the editor of the BBC's Panorama when Diana, Princess of Wales was interviewed by the programme's host Martin Bashir. Hewlett's other credits included working as the director of programmes at Carlton TV - now Channel 4 - as well as producing programmes such as Diverse Reports, Second World War in Colour and an award-winning 1991 BBC documentary from the Maze prison. Since his cancer diagnosis, Hewlett openly discussed his experience of coping with the disease and its treatment through his interviews with Mair and also in his cancer diaries for The Observer. Simon Coveney and Leo Varadkar are seen as favourites to succeed Enda Kenny. Photo: Collins Things are moving fast in Fine Gael as speculation mounts that Enda Kenny will be stepping down as party leader in the next couple of months. So what happens next? 1. So, what are the latest developments in the Fine Gael leadership race? Leo Varadkar upped the ante on Saturday night when he released a statement, which put huge pressure on Taoiseach Enda Kenny to announce his plans to step aside. Yesterday, Housing Minister Simon Coveney effectively handed Mr Kenny an ultimatum to vacate office in around two months after the St Patricks Day visit to the White House. Just hours later, Mr Varadkar said that he supported the call. So the ball is now firmly in the Taoiseachs court. 2. When will Enda Kenny announce his plans? His spokesman said he would address the issue at the parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday evening and not before. But if he fails to spell out his intentions in a clear fashion, he will undoubtedly face a motion of no confidence as early as Thursday. If he loses that vote, he will be ousted as leader after 15 years at the helm. 3. If so many TDs want him gone, why dont they lay down the motion immediately and get it over with? Thats the preference of some but not the majority. There is a strong feeling that Enda kenny (pictured inset) should not be bullied out of office because of the years of service he has given to the party and the country. 4. But if the Taoiseach goes, does the Government fall? No. Fianna Fail has said a change of leader will not change the terms of the deal struck between the two parties. But many TDs believe the events of recent days has brought the prospect of a general election closer. 5. So when Mr Kenny does eventually step aside, what happens next? A leadership contest will be announced immediately. Regional meetings will be called, giving all candidates the chance to lay out their stall. 6. You say all candidates but theres only two, isnt there? While Mr Varadkar and Mr Coveney are seen as the frontrunners, other candidates could potentially emerge. Ministers Richard Bruton, Simon Harris, Paschal Donohoe and Frances Fitzgerald have all been linked to the leadership. 7. So are we facing weeks of leadership stories? You better believe it. But in the end, this issue will be decided at the ballot box. Party rules state that 65pc of the vote comes from the parliamentary party, which means TDs, senators and MEPs. Some 25pc of the vote is allocated to ordinary rank-and-file members, while 10pc is allocated to councillors. Sgt Maurice McCabe claims Martin Callinan (pictured) delayed a press conference on the murder of Det Gda Adrian Donohoe in 2014. Photo: Caroline Quinn Sgt Maurice McCabe claims former Garda commissioner Martin Callinan delayed a press conference about murdered detective Adrian Donohoe so he could make accusations about the whistleblower to a TD. Sgt McCabe claims former head of the Garda press office, Supt David Taylor, told him Mr Callinan asked him to postpone an event in Louth to mark the first anniversary of the murder so he could travel to Dublin to meet Fianna Fail TD John McGuinness. Mr McGuinness, who was then the chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said the former commissioner made "vile" allegations against the whistleblower when they met in the car park at Bewley's Hotel on the Naas Road, Dublin, on January 24, 2014. The previous year, Mr Donohoe was savagely murdered by criminals as he tried to stop a gang holding up a credit union in Dundalk, Co Louth. Speaking in the Dail last year, Mr McGuinness said: "The Garda commissioner confided in me in a car park on the Naas Road that Gda McCabe was not to be trusted and there were serious issues about him." In a protected disclosure sent to Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald, the whistleblower claims Supt Taylor told him the commissioner got a call from the TD on the day of the murdered garda's press conference. Expand Close Sgt. Maurice McCabe. Photo: Tom Burke / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Sgt. Maurice McCabe. Photo: Tom Burke "When commissioner Callinan finished the call he asked Superintendent Dave Taylor to postpone the press conference for an hour-and-a-half," Sgt McCabe said. The former commissioner then drove to Dublin where he met Mr McGuinness and returned to Dundalk to do the press conference, he added. Read more: Whistleblower Maurice McCabe 'told his phone was tapped' by Garda HQ Read more: Comment: Tribunal should be televised so justice can be seen by us all in full colour The alleged secret meeting between former Garda commissioner Callinan and Mr McGuinness will be probed by the judge-led commission. Mr McGuinness said he met Mr Callinan at the Garda chief's request three years ago in a hotel car park off the Naas Road. The serving Garda Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan has since claimed through her spokesman that she was not aware of the meeting between the two men. Judge Peter Charleton will examine whether such a meeting took place and the circumstances around it. He will also try to establish what was discussed at the meeting. But in a further development last week, Waterford TD John Deasy revealed that he was approached by a senior member of An Garda Siochana in early 2014 - just days before Sgt McCabe was due to appear in front of the PAC. The senior officer is alleged to have made derogatory comments about the whistleblower in his conversation with Mr Deasy. The Fine Gael deputy claimed he approached Taoiseach Enda Kenny and told him that he believed Sgt McCabe would be vindicated in his opinion. Mr Deasy, who was a PAC member at the time, followed up the conversation with a formal letter a few weeks later. He did not specifically mention the remarks made by the garda in his correspondence with the Taoiseach. Mr Deasy is the first Fine Gael politician to confirm that he saw evidence of a smear campaign against Sgt McCabe. A sentence of three-and-a-half years for a convicted killer was criticised by the victim's family today. Norma Phillips, 47, was convicted of manslaughter for the killing of 36-year-old Romanian national Stefan Neanu at the killer's home on the Phibsboro Road on April 12, 2015. Ms Phillips, who is originally from Zimbabwe, was charged with murder but a jury found her guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter. Read More At the Central Criminal Court today Justice Margaret Heneghan sentenced her to three and a half years in prison with a further two years suspended. The judge backdated her sentence as she has already spent nine months in custody. When the sentence was read out Mr Neanu's aunt Gabi Corina Tapu stood up and said "only that for the life of my baby". Outside the court shortly afterwards she asked: "If your nephew gets killed and the person who killed your nephew gets only three years and a half, are you satisfied?" She said her nephew was a quiet, honest person and the only bad thing he ever did was meeting Norma Phillips. She added: "He will never come back from the ground and she will be out in three years." Before announcing the sentence Justice Heneghan said that she was taking into account Ms Phillips's previous good character, genuine remorse and her early plea of guilty to manslaughter that was rejected by the Director of Public Prosecutions. She said that she also recognised that she had engaged with rehabilitation services. She said aggravating factors were her initial lies to emergency services and gardai when she said that an Irishman had run into her home, stabbed Mr Neanu and then run away. When gardai later told her that Mr Neanu had died, she admitted her part in his death. An alcoholic who woke a woman by beating her and demanding she perform a sex act on him has been given a six year sentence for sexual assault. The 28-year-old woman had been drinking with the man in his apartment when she fell asleep. She woke up to him standing over her and punching her in the face. The 42-year-old man pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to sexually assaulting the woman in a Kerry town on May 27, 2013. The accused, who is a painter and decorator and originally from Limerick, has 36 previous convictions. Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy adjourned sentencing after hearing evidence last December to allow for the preparation of a probation report. Today he noted that in the report the accused showed some degree of empathy for the victim and that The Probation Service considered he may be a candidate for supervision in the community. He imposed a six year sentence and suspended the final two years on condition that the accused abide by all directions of The Probation Service to include offence focused counselling, engagement with alcohol treatment services, as well as training, employment and educational services. Mr Justice McCarthy said the purpose of the supervision order was to protect the community and achieve reintegration of the accused into the community while recognising the gravity of the offence. At the original sentence hearing in December a local garda said she responded to an emergency call and found the victim sitting in the stairwell of an apartment building naked and hysterically screaming. She said the man had assaulted her. He kept trying to get her to perform oral sex but she refused. The garda told Marjorie Farrelly SC, prosecuting, that the victim told gardai the man was still in the apartment and she was concerned that he was going to self harm. Officers forced the door of his apartment open and found the man slumped to the floor with his wrists slashed. The victim was taken to the sexual assault treatment unit where she was treated for bruising and injuries to her face. The garda said the man was very aggressive. His hands were plastered to stem the bleeding. He was handcuffed and taken to hospital. He later claimed in the interview that nothing had happened and said the woman had left his apartment earlier. He was shown CCTV footage which showed she had remained there but he said he had no recollection of the incident. The garda said the woman, who didn't complete a victim impact report has since attended for alcohol counselling. Michael Bowman SC, defending said his client wanted to apologise profusely to the victim. He said the man was an alcoholic who was taken to a psychiatric hospital on his initial arrest as he was not in a fit state to be interviewed. THE grieving parents of a man stabbed to death during a brawl inside a bed and breakfast branded the justice system a joke after their sons killer was jailed for five years. Terence 'Terry' Connors (42) had originally been charged with the murder of Peter Conroy (25), at Palmerstown Lodge B&B, Kennelsfort Road Lower, Palmerstown, Dublin 20 on June 9, 2015. His plea of guilty to manslaughter and not guilty to murder was rejected by the State and last December Connors was convicted by a jury of Mr Conroys manslaughter after a one-week trial. Today, at the Central Criminal Court, Connors, of Drumcairn Avenue, Tallaght, Dublin 24, was sentenced to seven years imprisonment, with the last two suspended, for killing Mr Conroy. Expand Close Victims parents pictured Marion and Frank Conroy pictured outside Dublin central criminal court following the sentence of Terence 'Terry' Connors (42) Pic Collins Courts / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Victims parents pictured Marion and Frank Conroy pictured outside Dublin central criminal court following the sentence of Terence 'Terry' Connors (42) Pic Collins Courts Speaking outside court, the dead mans parents, Frank and Marion Conroy, broke down as they criticised the sentence handed down by Mr Justice Paul Butler. Mr Conroy said: "Peter was a loving son. He was a rock to us. He was a loving father. He didnt deserve to be killed the way he was killed. He got no justice. Seven years, with two suspended for another persons life. Wheres the justice in that? He (Connors) stabbed him four times and he got manslaughter." Wiping away tears, Mrs Conroy added: How can you put a time on a person? Wheres is the justice? The justice system is a fucking joke in this country. In any other country, hed get more. You get more for robbing that you would for murder. His kids can see him walking around, go visit him. We will never see our son again. Earlier, Mr Justice Butler was forced to adjourn the hearing when friends and relatives of the dead man reacted angrily when the sentence was delivered. Gardai were forced to remove several people from the courtroom after one women shouted: He (Connors) is laughing in our faces, and one man rushed at the accused sitting in the dock. Another woman sitting in the public gallery was heard shouting at Connors: If he smiles once more, Ill f****g punch him. During his trial, the court was told Connors had believed his children were in danger as the fighting between guests of the B&B and non-residents intensified when he fatally stabbed his victim. Delivering his sentence, the Mr Justice Butler said that although the accused had returned to the scene of the brawl with a knife and was seen to make a downwards motion towards the deceased on CCTV, the killing lacked the intention of a murder conviction. Expand Close Victims parents pictured Marion and Frank Conroy pictured outside Dublin central criminal court following the sentence of Terence 'Terry' Connors (42) of Drumcairn Avenue. Pic Collins Courts / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Victims parents pictured Marion and Frank Conroy pictured outside Dublin central criminal court following the sentence of Terence 'Terry' Connors (42) of Drumcairn Avenue. Pic Collins Courts The judge said the accused, whom he described as being from a travelling background, had expressed remorse from the bottom of his heart. However, he said the fact that Connors returned to the scene of the fight with a knife had been an aggravating factor in sentencing. Connors was also sentenced to two months jail for assaulting a woman, Elaine Blunt, during the same brawl. The judge suspended this sentence in full. The manslaughter sentence was backdated to October 1, 2015. Stephen McAuley claimed in the Circuit Civil Court that on December 20, 2012, he was a front seat passenger in a car when it was struck by another vehicle driven by Jason Whelan at a roundabout in Hollystown, Dublin. Stock Image A 39-year-old taxi driver, who a court was today told was lying through his teeth, has withdrawn a 60,000 damages claim for personal injuries he allegedly suffered in a road traffic accident. Stephen McAuley claimed in the Circuit Civil Court that on December 20, 2012, he was a front seat passenger in a car when it was struck by another vehicle driven by Jason Whelan at a roundabout in Hollystown, Dublin. Mr McAuley, of Chapelwood Avenue, Hollystown, alleged he suffered soft-tissue injuries to his neck. He had been off work for several weeks following the accident and had needed to undergo physiotherapy sessions. He told barrister Shane English, counsel for Mr Whelans insurer, Allianz Insurance, that the car had to be written off after the collision. Mr English, who appeared with Crowley Millar Solicitors, told the court that liability was not an issue in the case which had become an assessment of damages only. He said credibility, however, is very much an issue. Mr English told the court that Mr Whelan, with an address at Gleann Bhreandains Road, Lisdoonvarna, Co Clare, had insured his vehicle two weeks before the accident and cancelled his policy two weeks after it. Then we never heard of him again, Mr English said. Counsel told Mr McAuley during cross-examination that he had failed to disclose several previous accidents in court documents. You have not told us about a myriad of accidents and youre still lying, which is probably worse, because you are now are under oath. You are lying through your teeth, Mr English told him. Mr English said Mr McAuley had disclosed two previous road traffic accidents but Allianz Insurance had discovered many more, including some that had happened in similar circumstances and some for which he had been awarded damages. Mr English said Mr McAuley had last year claimed for the theft of his brand new 30,000 Audi A6, but Allianz had voided his insurance policy discovering he had forged a no claims bonus. Mr McAuley said he recovered the car last November after a friend saw two Romanians driving it. Judge James ODonohoe told Mr McAuleys legal team that the plot was thickening and there could be serious consequences for their client. Following a brief adjournment, the court was told that Mr McAuley was withdrawing his claim. Judge ODonohoe awarded legal costs against him. Tina Cahill and David Walsh celebrating their engagement in Australia in a social media picture at the New Year Just after 11pm on Friday, Tina Cahill posted a picture to her Facebook page of a group of friends, happily enjoying a night out. Hours later her fiance David Walsh (29), from Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, was dead and Ms Cahill was being quizzed over his murder. The 25-year-old woman originally from New Ross was yesterday too distressed to appear before a Sydney court charged with the murder of her fiance. Mr Walsh moved to Australia following the break-up of his marriage last year, it is understood. He met Ms Cahill and they became engaged at New Year. They had been living together in the Padstow area of Sydney. Police yesterday charged Ms Cahill with murder and were questioning a 35-year-old local man over what was described as a fracas at the couple's home on Watson Road, Padstow. Local sources were quoted in the Australian media as saying Mr Walsh was at home when his fiancee, two other women and a local man arrived at the house. A row ensued during which Mr Walsh was stabbed in the neck. It was unclear if a broken glass or knife was involved. Locals said those involved appeared to be drunk. Read more: 'Total shock' as Wexford woman charged with murder of 'Good Samaritan' fiance in Sydney Local people reported "screaming and wailing" around midnight. The victim had been in the house, possibly asleep, when the three women and man arrived, said Detective Inspector Glen Fitzgerald. Mr Walsh played for Enniscorthy United before he left for Australia, and a spokesperson for the club released a statement in tribute. "Only back from Dublin and just heard the terrible news of our former player David (Mocha) Walsh's passing," the statement said. "As with some of our players, I played with David and he also played for me. "A good player who always gave his best and when I managed him, was always respectful, hard-working and good to be around. "Really shocking that someone so young should be taken." Mr Walsh was known for carrying out building work free for needy people in Enniscorthy, according to local Independent councillor John O'Rourke, a friend of the Walsh family. Ms Cahill's family are well-known and respected in New Ross where she grew up above the family owned shop near the Three Bullets Gate in the old town. She was described by neighbours as "a lovely, lovely girl". A neighbour added: "The Cahills are the finest people you could meet. No one can understand one bit of this. "Tina was a good student at school and, I understand, very successful at whatever she worked at. There's total shock here." A police spokesman said yesterday that Ms Cahill was due to be brought before Parramatta Bail Court. However, she chose not to appear via video link as her lawyer said she was too distressed to do so. She was further remanded in custody and is due to appear before Burwood local court on Wednesday. North Korean Leader Kim Jong Il, bottom left, poses with his first-born son Kim Jong Nam, bottom right, in this 1981 family photo in Pyongyang, North Korea. (Photo : Getty Images/Choongang Monthly Magazine) After the arrest of two women suspects in the killing of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's elder half-brother, Kim Jong Nam, the hunt is still on for four men as authorities consider the possibility of an an organized plot. The theory of South Korean officials is that Jong Nam's tyrant brother has something to do with it. Advertisement South Korean officials believe Jong Nam was poisoned with a spray or a needle, Bloomberg quoted South Korea's Intelligence Committee Chairman Lee Cheol Woo saying before reporters in a press conference on Feb. 15, Wednesday. It was after Lee met the intelligence chief. Jong Nam died on Feb.13, Monday, in a crowded departure terminal in Malaysia's airport. He staggered through the Malaysian airport's fourth floor looking for help when an airport service counter receptionist found him. Clinging to life, the 45-year-old was assisted to Malaysia's airport clinic on the third floor. He quickly became unconscious and was brought to Putrajaya Hospital adjacent to Kuala Lumpur airport. He did not make it though, and was declared dead on arrival. The mysterious killing of the casino-loving traveler triggered a police manhunt. The two women who were suspected to have toxic sprayed Jong Nam's face are Doan Thi Hoang, 28, and Siti Aisyah, 25. Hoang was labeled the "LOL assassin" because she was wearing a shirt emblazoned "LOL." Meanwhile, Aisyah was reportedly made to believe she was simply doing pranks for a television show similar to "Just For Laughs" which uses a hidden camera. Aisyah is said to have been persuaded in the past to do some pranks in spraying a substance into a person's eyes for money. She reportedly did not have the idea that her recent act was an assassination attempt. Police also detained her boyfriend but only to help in the investigation. The family and relatives of the murdered North Korean are placed under police protection in Macau, South China Morning Post reported. Jong Nam's second wife and their son and daughter have been living in Macau while his first wife and son live in Beijing. The following clip has a scoop of Jong Nam's murder: A Republican splinter group is sending out press releases claiming its rivals are garda informers and sex offenders. Dublin-based Irish Republican Voice (IRV), which had close connections to slain RIRA leader Alan Ryan, issued a biz-arre release in which it named and pictured four Traveller men from Rathfarnham and Sandyford. It claimed they were responsible for the alleged crimes. The IRV statement also claimed that the four men were responsible for attacking a house with an 18-month-old child in it. It is understood that gardai are investigating the claims, but no charges have been brought in relation to the allegations. It is not known who in the IRV sent the communication to media organisations, but the dissident Republican grouping was previously led by Alan Ryan's close pal James McDonagh, who is from the Nutgrove area of Rathfarnham. McDonagh was assaulted and had his home in Nutgrove Crescent smashed up in December as part of a feud in Dublin. It is understood he has since been staying in city hotels. He has been warned a number of times by gardai about an active threat against his life. A car was damaged outside his house in November as part of a campaign of intimidation by a Traveller criminal. McDonagh claims he was targeted after a woman he knows made a serious criminal complaint against the Traveller. A pal of McDonagh is previously reported to have said the family is now homeless because of the attacks. BOMB "The people behind this have done the same thing to three other families in Nutgrove," said the pal. "They threw a pipe bomb at one of the houses but it blew up before it got to the house. The guards are trying to prevent a dangerous feud breaking out. McDonagh was a close pal of Ryan and has been in various republican groups since his murder, including the political wing of the Continuity IRA. He recently re-established the IRV after having disbanded it following pressure from other republican groups. Homeowners are being warned to prepare for interest rate rises as the era of cheap debt is now set to end. (stock photo) Buying a home is not for the average person anymore. According to Daft.ie, the housing marketing is currently struggling due to poor supply, while the rental market continues to soar. The market is in such a bad state that students renting homes are becoming a thing of the past. Students just simply cant afford the high prices of rent or struggle to find suitable accommodation. In addition to this, landlords dont want to rent homes to students anymore as they can easily find a working couple or family to lease the property who can provide good references. Families and young couples cannot afford to buy, so they are forced to rent, which means a landlord could be guaranteed a long-term lease as a result. According to the Daft.ie rental report for Q2 of 2016, rental rates have risen by 11pc in a year. As of August 1 2016, there were just 3,600 homes to rent nationwide, 1,000 less than the previous year. This volatile market is caused by a serious housing shortage across the nation; mix this with housing prices that are out of range for first time buyers but play into the hands of property developers, and you have the current market conditions. The average price of rent nationwide currently stands at 1,037 per month which works out at 259.25 a week. This would be easily achievable for a full time professional but for a first time student, it's very unlikely. As a result, Universities and Institutions have been heavily investing in on-campus accommodation, focusing on finding a short term solution to the shortage. A new category of renting specifically in the student market has grown in the lasts number of years. Third level institutions are advising home owners and families with spare rooms to rent out these rooms to students. Digs provide students with a room, electricity and heat and, in some cases, food at a reasonable rate. The idea is that students would get the luxury of living in a home while paying considerably less than renting a property. The advantage for Universities and Institution is that it reduces anti-social be behaviour outside of class hours and for parents the comfort in knowing that their son or daughter is being looked after. According to Daft.ie, Irish homeowners can put more bed spaces on the market tomorrow than any other stakeholder including the Government. The rental income on student digs is exempt from tax as long as it does not exceed 12,000 in a tax year which gives a nice incentive to Irish homeowners. Digs are becoming more and more common that they can be easily found through rental websites or your local student accommodation office. Third level institutions continue to build more on campus accommodation but with funding cuts, it is slowing their progress. At the current rate that student accommodation is being built, it will be a number of years before institutions will be fully to meet the demand of student housing. The concern is, if homeowners do not continue to rent their spare rooms many first year students next September will be forced to commute long distances or defer and have their dreams crushed. With thanks to Campus.ie. Surely it must have been the ultimate humiliation for the defeated French Emperor Napoleon: when Perfidious Albion took his horse, Marengo, and on the steed's death displayed its bones in an English museum. But now the Irish may be galloping to the rescue of Bonaparte's honour. The townspeople of Buttevant, Co Cork, have declared that the bones of Marengo - on which Napoleon rode to victory at the battles of Austerlitz, Jena and Wagram, before final defeat at Waterloo - are rightfully theirs. They claim the horse was Irish bred and sold at the town's renowned Cahirmee horse fair. Battle began after the National Army Museum in Britain announced it was to restore Marengo's skeleton and reposition him in a rampant pose. It prompted Kanturk and Mallow Municipal District Council to write to the museum to lay claim to the stallion's remains. Councillors want Marengo's skeleton to become the star exhibit at the Buttevant museum, attracting visitors - not least the French - to the town. Bernard Moynihan, a Fianna Fail councillor for Kanturk and Mallow, said: "We should get this horse back to Buttevant where it was originally sold at the famous Cahirmee Fair. "It would be a huge tourist attraction. It's in the National Army Museum in Chelsea. It's not attracting tourists there." However, there are rival claims. The Bartlemy horse fair, 40km from Buttevant, says it is where Marengo was sold, while some historians maintain it was obtained by Napoleon during his Egyptian campaign of 1798-1801. The good people of Buttevant are adamant Marengo was theirs. "I'm working on the absolute, verifiable facts I have from local historians that Marengo was sold at Cahirmee Fair," said Mr Moynihan. After his defeat at Waterloo, Napoleon fled in a cart, leaving Marengo - who had been wounded eight times in battle - to be captured alive and taken to England, where it was paraded through the streets. Marengo died at the age of 38 in 1831. The British museum said it would deal "sensitively" with Buttevant's claim to Marengo's skeleton. ( Daily Telegraph, London) Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022] Gavin Sheehan is led into Cork Circuit Criminal Court, where he was found guilty of the shot that seriously injured Ciara Sheehan. Photo: Provision An innocent young woman who survived a gunshot wound to the neck is now being subjected to vile online threats after a man was jailed for the attack. Ciara Sheehan said her family are now looking to move house after Gavin Sheehan (30), of 7 Laurel Ridge, Shanakiel, Cork and who is of no relation to Ciara's family, was sentenced to 11 years. The young woman was in her boyfriends house on the northside of Cork city last May when a shot was fired through the front window and hit Ciara in the neck. The bullet was surgically removed from Ciara's neck and she was lucky to survive. Mr Sheehan denied the charges against him, but was found guilty of possessing a firearm and discharging it, causing serious harm to Ciara. "We wanted to get closure on it," Ciara's mother Susan told RTE Radio One's Today with Sean O'Rourke programme. Expand Close Ms Sheehan in hospital Photo: Provision / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Ms Sheehan in hospital Photo: Provision "Come home and get it done with. But during the sentencing, there were threats thrown at us. "It's like they're living in their tele-land. you know Love/Hate? It's like they're living in that bubble. "They don't realise what they've done to another family. They nearly killed someone. Its a big joke kind of a thing to them. Expand Close Gavin Sheehan is led into Cork Circuit Criminal Court, where he was found guilty of the shot that seriously injured Ciara Sheehan. Photo: Provision / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Gavin Sheehan is led into Cork Circuit Criminal Court, where he was found guilty of the shot that seriously injured Ciara Sheehan. Photo: Provision "They nearly killed a young girl. It's an absolute disgrace," she added. Now, Ciara and her family are asking Cork City Council to move them from the area for a number of months. Susan said they do not want to leave their home of 20 years but Ciara is "suffering" there. Ciara described a Christmas card she received from Gavin as "blaguarding". "In the Christmas card it says 'Sorry, for anything I've done to you'," she said. "I got this card in January. "He says 'sorry' in the card, but what's he sorry for if he pleaded not guilty?" Ciara read from the letter; "I hope you don't be upset by this. I just want to say sorry what happened to you and I defo have no bitterness to you. "I'm done with all that stuff. "I wish you and Dillon the best in life and that's from the heart. The only thing I'm concentrating on is getting out and building a life for my daughter. "Tell the Cunninghams and all your family I'm so sorry, try and have a good Christmas. "I hope you do so and I'm glad you made a full recovery. "I wish you the best in your life." When asked what she thought of the letter, she replied; "Blaguarding." "You had people saying 'Best wishes Ciara' and then you had people close to Gavin leaving comments, she'll have more than a bullet in her next time. She should have died when the bullet hit her. "We're five minutes away from each other, I pass there most days and the house it happened outside. "It's just there in my head straightaway. "I don't accept the apology in the Christmas card and he didn't apologise in court. "It's left me bad. "Some nights I can't sleep, I get bad days, very bad days. It'd be better to just get out of here." During the case, Judge Sean O'Donnabhain warned Gavin Sheehan it was a miracle Ms Sheehan hadn't been killed. "This man mercilessly and deliberately took a gun and fired it into a dwelling house that was lit and occupied," the judge said. Judge O'Donnabhain told Cork Circuit Criminal Court it was "reprehensible behaviour" that Mr Sheehan had later sent a Christmas card to his victim from prison. "There is not a shred of remorse. I have been looking for remorse [in him], but I do not find it," he said. CCTV camera footage at Mr Sheehan's own home showed him with a gun in his hand that night. "The level of criminality is shown not by Garda evidence, but from his own 'peacock' display on his own CCTV camera [footage]." Mr Sheehan posted a comment that evening by mobile phone that "I'm packing well" - slang for carrying a weapon. Judge O'Donnabhain imposed a 14-year sentence, but suspended the final three years. He backdated the sentence to May 15, 2016, when Mr Sheehan went into custody. Mr Sheehan has 72 previous convictions, 14 for violent crime. In defence submissions, it was claimed he was a Garda informer in Cork, supplying information about drugs, guns and general criminality. However, Det Sergeant Denis Lynch said he couldn't comment. "I am not in a position to answer that question," he said. Charges Mr Sheehan, the father of a 10-month-old child, was convicted last November by a jury of the reckless discharge of a firearm and assault causing serious harm to Ms Sheehan at Hollywood Estate on May 15, 2016. He was also convicted of weapon and ammunition possession charges. Mr Sheehan, of Laurel Ridge, Shanakiel, Cork, denied all charges. The trial heard there was a long-running dispute between Mr Sheehan and members of the family of Ms Sheehan's boyfriend, Dillon Cunningham. "All that went through my head was that I was going to die. It was like something from a movie," Ms Sheehan said. "I felt my throat getting all tight and my face was burning. I put my hand up to my neck and it was covered in blood. I realised I was shot. "I am [now] completely broken. I am a different person. When I look in the mirror every morning, all I can see is that big ugly scar on the side of my neck. I am going through torture." The man jailed for killing eight people in Ireland's worst ever single road traffic crash is enjoying temporary release from prison. Shaun Kelly (27) was initially jailed for two years when he pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing the deaths in Buncrana, Co Donegal, in July 2010. However, the Appeal Court decided that sentence was too lenient and added another two years to the sentence originally handed down in December, 2014. Kelly, from Ballymagan in Buncrana, is not due for release until December 2018 but may be entitled to 25pc remission for good behaviour. Seven of those who died were young men aged between 19 and 23 who were passengers in Kelly's car. The eighth was a 66-year-old man on his way back from bingo. Now relatives of some of those killed in the crash have been left shocked after the young truck driver was granted temporary release from jail. Kelly, along with two friends, carried out some farming at lands at Tooban on the Inishowen Peninsula. The men arrived in a VW Passat but Kelly was not driving as he is also serving a 10-year driving ban as part of his sentence. It is understood Kelly spent the rest of the time since he was released on Friday in and around his home at Hill Head, Ballymagan. One family member of one of the young men killed in the crash between Clonmany and Buncrana, said they were outraged by Kelly's release. "It just doesn't make sense. He's only half-way through his sentence and he's allowed out," they said. Acting Chief Executive Ray Hernan has warned that the bus company could go bust within 11 months (Stock picture) Talks to halt an all-out strike at Bus Eireann are under threat after the company sent a document to staff detailing 30m cuts including three routes that may be axed in a document today. The document says that the X7 Dublin to Clonmel route, which was changed from Cork to Dublin to Clonmel to Dublin in June 2015, has continued to be loss-making. It also says the 021 Athlone to Westport route has made losses for the last number of years and no timetable changes can be implemented to improve its performance. In addition, it says the 833 Dublin Derry route has been loss making for the last number of years with no signs of improvement. "Management recommend closing this route," the document says. It says the closure of the routes would save 1.1m, although it said there are not plans "at present" to close any routes. The 'discussion document' says the company is going out of business and will be insolvent before the end of this year. It lists a number of measures to save 30m, which it says are needed for the loss within Expressway to be eliminated and generate a profit so it can reinvest in approximately 10 new vehicles for the fleet each year. The document says the current estimate is that there was a 9.4m operating loss last year, while losses for January this year are already in excess of 1.5m. It says the title of 'inspector" will be eliminated and a new role introduced to cover managerial and decision making needs, with fewer jobs available. The document says that there are currently 60 managerial, 58, executives and 220 clerical staff employed and the numbers and cost of these are "materially out of line" for a company its size. It says it is expected there will be significant reductions "in all categories" but the job losses will take place over a period of time when funds are available. It says that drivers' basic pay of approximately 32,000 a year is not out of line with industry averages. However, it says their total earnings are high, with average earnings last year at 47,000. It said a "significant number" earn over 60,000. The letter also says there is "significant scope" for savings through productivity measures in a number of areas, including overtime, scheduling and rostering of drivers, including the 'spare driver' structure, absenteeism, premium payments, bonuses and expenses and flexibility. The document was sent with a letter from Acting Chief Executive Ray Hernan which said "productivity and efficiencies" are not where they need to be for Bus Eireann to remain a viable and competitive entity. The letter, sent as talks resume at the Workplace Relations Commission to avert an all-out strike, says the company wants to reach agreement with representatives of the 2,600-strong workforce. "This will not be easy but we must all agree a way forward that deals with the immediate financial crisis and creates a sustainable future for us all," he said. SIPTU and the National Bus and Railworkers' Union reacted angrily to the document and said it is putting talks underway at the Workplace Relations Commission to avert an all-out strike under threat. Siptu accused the company of seeming to be intent on collapsing talks at the Workplace Relations Commission following the release of the document prior to talks. Sector Organiser Willie Noone said Bus Eireann had released a provocative discussion document to all staff in the middle of a negotiation aimed at avoiding industrial action. He said the company accepted last Friday that the union would not agree with workers' pay and conditions being "driven down to the floor". The NBRU said the company is determined to provoke staff by issuing an incendiary document in advance of talks. General Secretary Dermot O'Leary said it was playing "Russian Roulette" with staff and the public transport system "by deliberately provoking staff into bringing the entire transport system to a halt". "It is now a matter for the WRC to enquire of Bus Eireann if they are actually serious about resolving the Expressway crisis, or is it a case as we have suspected that the company is determined to force its own workforce onto the streets to facilitate its desire to go as low as some of its competitors in how they wish to treat workers," he said. Earlier, the union threatened to make a "rapid exit" from the talks if the company did not drop cost-cutting proposals it had already outlined. In a notice to members today, the NBRU said it will not continue at discussions if the company continues to pursue an agenda of "becoming a mirror of those private operators that treat their staff abysmally". The union warned that its members across the CIE Group have "demonstrated their desire to support their colleagues" and said it was fully prepared to engage in an all-out strike to defend its members' terms and conditions. Its notice was sent as it joins the other four unions at the bus company for what it predicted would be "difficult discussions" at the Workplace Relations Commission today. The unions agreed to suspend a threatened indefinite all-out strike and the company agreed to defer the implementation of 12m cuts to earnings, including the abolition of shift payments and cuts to allowances, from today to attend the talks. Acting Chief Executive Ray Hernan has warned that the bus company could go bust within 11 months and he wants to table a final survival plan to the board next month. The NBRU leadership said at first they had difficulty understanding the "bombshell" figure of 30m that Mr Hernan had come up with over the last number of weeks. "The NBRU have made it abundantly clear to Mr Hernan and Co that we will not allow him to move Bus Eireann to becoming a mirror of those private operators that treat their staff abysmally. In fact, we were stronger in our choice of language in stating that we found the notion that such a move was nothing short of contemptible. "The figure of 30m, we now know was designed to achieve that very thing." It said it had advised the Workplace Relations Commission that if the company were to persist with this agenda come Monday, it would be making a rapid exit from the discussions. In its notice, the NBRU said unions had achieved success in having outstanding issues dealt with. This included a Labour Court recommendation they said the company had not implemented by failing to pay a portion of an income continuance premium that had been paid by staff. The NBRU said Bus Eireann had agreed to pay this in full, and will give the date of payment today. In addition, it said the company is due to respond to their request that overtime agreements be restored to what they were prior to January 16 when a ban on overtime was imposed. "The NBRU remains in dispute mode," it said. "We are fully prepared to engage in an all-out strike to defend the hard won terms and conditions of bus workers." The union said it was more than aware of "what happened" to Irish Ferries workers while the waste industry, which its said at one time was a hotbed of union activism, had been "decimated" through "despicable" attacks on terms and conditions. It called on its members to support Tesco workers it said are being "treated abominably" by their employer by not spending their cash at its stores. "It is surely only a matter of time when the whole of the trade union movement will react in unison against both rogue employers and those who would seek to be aligned to such disgusting anti-worker behaviour," it said. Sometimes it feels like you've abandoned somewhere you grew up, where most of your best memories were made Walking down Dublins South William Street, I glance at my phone to check I havent somehow misplaced four days of my life. Its a Monday evening in February and every bar is bustling with customers. That god awful saying, which represents the kind of arrogance associated with those who played two helping hands in this countrys recession, pops into my head: The boom is back. But its not, for people in rural Ireland anyway. Expand Close 'Sometimes I wonder are people like me the reason rural Ireland is in decline' / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp 'Sometimes I wonder are people like me the reason rural Ireland is in decline' Back home in Wexford, most bars dont open until 7pm as many publicans struggle to make ends meet. A few months ago, I went to buy a bit of bacon and cabbage in a local butchers, only to be greeted by an empty shop. As someone who has lived in Irelands capital for seven years now, Im often out of the loop with the goings on in the sunny South East. One of Enniscorthys longest running family businesses had closed its doors for the last time after 47 years, and I, in my oblivious Dublin bubble, didnt have a clue. Shortly afterwards SuperValu, which had been in the town for almost five decades, was forced to shut down with the loss of 27 jobs. When stores like that are closing, you know something is wrong. Expand Close 'Wexford will always be home' / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp 'Wexford will always be home' Read More Thats life, I suppose, businesses come and go, but headlines about the decline of rural Ireland dont seem to be going anywhere. The Government is criticised for not creating more jobs in counties outside the pale, or offering incentives for young people to stay at home. But the truth is, even if there were jobs or incentives, I still dont think many of us would be tempted to leave the bright lights of Dublin. Dont get me wrong, I love where Im from and enjoy going home. I'm proud to be from Wexford and always will be. However, I would kind of compare visits home to being an auntie. You get to swan in and have all the fun, then leave before its time to deal with the serious, responsible stuff. I'm having the best of both worlds and eating my cake too by having the option of booting it back up the N11, back to the city that has spoiled me. I can get buses where I want, have some of the biggest shopping brands in the world right at my feet and a social scene which would appeal to anyone in their mid-twenties. Yet, rural Ireland trumps urban Ireland in many ways; the greater sense of community being one. Neighbours spend half their lives gossiping about each other, but if something goes wrong, theyre right by your side. Everyone may know your business, but sure I suppose its nice of them to take an interest. In Dublin, you could live beside someone for a year and never get so much as an hello from them. People tend to keep to themselves, unless youre parked in their spot or playing music too loud, then youll know all about them. Ive lost count of the amount of times Ive uttered I cant see myself moving back to Wexford over the last seven years. I suppose that is where my feeling of guilt originates from - my subconscious asking me is that not a bit selfish, though? Sometimes I wonder are people like me the reason rural Ireland is in decline. I see more people I know from Wexford on the streets of Dublin, than I do when Im in Wexford. Were all here, in the big city, taking what is probably the easier, more lucrative option. We swap the sticks for the 'big smoke' to get a college degree, but many of us stay long after graduation day. Our parents understand why we stay. However, I still get a heavy feeling in my heart when I hear the disappointment in my mam's voice if I say Im not coming home at the weekend. Its only a little over an hour down the road, so some may see that as a slight exaggeration, but its not. While we in Dublin have the privilege of hopping nightlife and job prosperity, the people we leave behind in rural Ireland are facing an everyday struggle. Local banks are closing and you may have to drive 45 minutes away to make a lodgement, family businesses can no longer keep their heads above water, and rural pubs, which were once the life and soul of the country, are dying. Towns are on edge as they wait to see which shop will be the next to close its doors. So next time you think about saying the boom is back, take a visit to rural Ireland first. You may end up feeling guilty too. GM will reportedly build self-driving cars for a Lyft test fleet in 2018 (Photo : YouTube/MotoMan TV) General Motors will reportedly team up with the ride-sharing company Lyft to test thousands of self-driving electric cars. Two sources who are very familiar with the United States automaker's plans shared the news last week. The tests would likely be the largest test of fully autonomous vehicles (AVs) of a major carmaker before 2020. Advertisement Many car companies have plans to mass-produce AVs by then. They include the Google spin-off Waymo that is now testing around 60 robotic cars in four US states, according to Reuters. Alphabet's new company was hitherto known as the Google Self-Driving Car project before mid-December 2016. San Francisco-based Lyft will use most of the customized versions of the Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicle (EV). One source shared that the company will test the AVs in its ride-sharing fleet in many states. GM's self-driving program is run by the auto giant's Cruise Automation unit. It tests Bolts that are equipped with radar, laser LIDAR sensors, and an artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled on-board computing system. GM bought Cruise for $581 million last year. The source also shared that GM has no plans to sell the self-driving Bolts to individual consumers. GM, however, has not made any official announcements about its plans for the "Bolt AV." The carmaker said in a statement on Feb. 17, Friday that the company does not provide details on possible future products or tech rollouts. It noted that it has only said the company's AV technology will show up in an on-demand ride sharing network and not in the distant future. GM executives have stated in interviews and presentations during the past year that they have plans to mass produce autonomous cars and deploy them for ride-sharing services. They have not yet revealed any details. GM's main US rivals also have plans to build AVs. Ford Motor has shared it has plans to build the automaker's first self-driving vehicles at a suburban Detroit factory sometime in late 2020. It has also invested $1 billion to develop AI for AVs, according to Forbes. Fiat Chrysler, meanwhile, has provided some Chrysler Pacifica minivans to Waymo. The Silicon Valley company will convert them to self-driving vehicles. Here's a video of a 2017 Chevy Bolt test drive: An elderly Irish woman who discovered a 5 worth 50,000 (58,6830) has sent it back and asked that it be used for charity. A Willy Wonka style golden ticket hunt is underway in the UK after a famous engraver etched a tiny picture of Jane Austen on five pound notes. According to the Daily Telegraph a total of four were created and each one is estimated to be worth 50,000. Now it has emerged that one has been found by an elderly Northern Irish woman, and she has kindly donated it to charity. She sent it back to Graham Short, who engraved the notes, with a note asking him to use it to "help young people". "5 note enclosed, I don't need it at my time of life. Please use it to help young people," the kindly woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, wrote. Mr Short's website reads: "The lady who found the note has surprised us all by sending it to the gallery and asking that it be used to help young people. So Graham and the Gallery will be working closely together to do so. "Currently contacting outlets connected to Children in Need to try and give this to a good cause so we honour the request of the lucky woman who originally discovered the note. "Stay tuned for more information as the story develops over the following days!" The elderly woman didn't want to be famous, but just wanted her fiver to do some good. An old lady found it and she said 'I don't want my picture in the papers' and she said 'if it sells for a lot of money it will be better if young children could benefit from it', Mr Short told the BBC. Mr Short spent one of each of the four special fivers in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Earlier this month Mr Shortt wrote that the Northern Ireland note had been discovered in Donegal. Writing on his site, he said: "This note was found by a wonderful lady from Donegal, just over the border from Northern Ireland, who contacted the gallery immediately, and sent us the photo above to show case her lucky find! The note was spent in Enniskillen in December and found at the end of January." Mr Short's friend and fellow artist, Tony Huggins-Haig, who launched the project, said around 5,000 people have called up falsely claiming to have found it. The series number of the remaining note is AM32885554. "It would be wondrous if someone finds it who is deserving, who is blown away by it, and who wants to do something worthwhile with it," said 53-year-old Mr Huggins-Haig. "It's been an incredible and humbling story thanks to Graham, who goes to incredible lengths to create artwork. "It really is a Willy Wonka story, and one day all four stories will be told, of which the first three are incredible." All of Mr Short's work is insured for at least 50,000, but Mr Huggins-Haig believes the notes could actually sell for up to 100,000. Housing Minister Simon Coveney bluntly warned Fine Gael TDs and Senators to "back off" Taoiseach Enda Kenny over the party leadership. The Cork TD warned today that the party had "a very difficult week last week" and he doesn't want frenzied speculation over the leadership to deliver future difficult weeks and months ahead. Meanwhile, Health Minister Simon Harris and Education Minister Richard Bruton have refused to rule themselves out of the Fine Gael leadership race. Speaking as he launched a Cork social housing scheme, Mr Coveney said it was imperative that Fine Gael officials "trusted" the Taoiseach to know what was best for the party and country. "I think that people do need to back off," he said. Mr Coveney also said that imposing time tables on Mr Kenny to depart office was not helpful. He also said he believed the majority of people within Fine Gael do not wish to see any confidence motions tabled in Mr Kenny after 15 years of sterling party leadership. The Cork TD also insisted that a change of Fine Gael leader does not mean an imminent general election - and he pointed out that Fianna Fail has committed to support the Fine Gael party in Government rather than any specific leader of that party. "We don't have a contest for the leader of Fine Gael right now," he said. "What we have is a lot of impatience from some people. But what I have said very clearly over the weekend is that I trust the Taoiseach's judgement to manage a process of transition within the party but also a process of transition for the country." "Don't forget that Fine Gael are in Government and obviously a change of leader in Fine Gael most likely means a change of Taoiseach as well." "I think people should give the Taoiseach time and space to manage the process. I don't expect that process to start until after St. Patrick's Day." Read More Mr Coveney vehemently refused to discuss any leadership bid by him or what he sees himself as offering as a future leader of Fine Gael. Mr Coveney and Dublin TD Leo Varadkar as seen as front-runners to succeed Mr Kenny. "I am not getting into a leadership contest today because we don't have one today." "I am here to launch four really good housing schemes in Cork. With respect, that is what we are here to do." But the Cork TD acknowledged that sorting the leadership issue is a priority for Fine Gael. "I think it will only start in earnest when there is an agreed process in place." "The vast majority of people in Fine Gael want to give the Taoiseach the time and space to put that process in place to make sure the transition happens in an orderly manner. Which is what is needed to ensure we have stability in Government and that we have unity and property transition within the party." "That is what the Taoiseach said many months ago that he would do before another election." "He deserves the time and space to do that - and I am not going to start laying down timetables or conditions and I am certainly not going to support anybody who suggests that we should be forcing the issue." Mr Coveney said any talk of no confidence motions was not helpful and didn't reflect on the dignity that should be shown to Mr Kenny over his lengthy leadership of the party. Read More "I have said the Taoiseach should go to Washington for St Patrick's Day - that is a very important event for Ireland." "There has been a lot of preparation for that and I know that he wants to do it. I expect that after that we will see a process in place that will manage and orderly transition." "That is what we should all works towards. I totally trust the Taoiseach to put that process in place and I think he should be given to the time and space to do that." Mr Coveney dismissed suggestions that Fine Gael leadership issue could see the party "sleep-walk" into a general election. "I think Fianna Fail have made their intentions very clear. Let us not forget that when the programme for government was put in place and the 'confidence and supply agreement' was negotiated with Fianna Fail it was very clear at the time they were agreeing a process with the Fine Gael party." "Obviously with Enda Kenny as its leader. But I think people like Jim O'Callaghan TD and others have made it very clear that their agreement is with Fine Gael, they want to see stable government focussing on delivering that programme." Race Health Minister Simon Harris and Education Minister Richard Bruton refused to rule themselves out earlier today. Speaking in Mullinga, Mr Harris said Enda Kennys decision on standing down is entirely a matter for him. I trust the Endas judgement, that the Taoiseach will know what is the right timeframe for any change of leader in Fine Gael, and much more importantly within the country, he said. Asked by Midlands 103 whether he will challenge Leo Varadkar or Simon Coveney for the top post, he replied: There is no race, there is no vacancy. If and when a vacancy arises I will consider my position at that stage. But let me be very clear I am working morning, noon and night as minister for Health. It is the greatest honour of my life. It follows controversy over a leaked WatsApp message in which Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan suggested Mr Harris wanted out of Health. Meanwhile, Richard Bruton, who launched an unsuccessful heave against Kenny in 2010, is still considering a tilt. We need to sit down as a party. We know that leadership change is coming and we need to sit down and frame that debate and make sure that we emerge from that as a stronger party offering better leadership at a time of challenge, he said at an event in Croke Park today. Last Friday Mr Bruton failed to rule out throwing his hat in the ring when speaking to Independent.ie. He again didn't rule out a leadership bid, when repeatedly question about the prospect this morning. "I haven't commented on the personalities in the leadership contest," he said. The education minister added that there are "serious challenges" facing Ireland including Brexit. "There are a lot of people around who appear to believe that our economic success can be taken for granted. "Twice in my political career I've seen bad politics destroy the potential of a very strong and recovering economy and I think people's job prospects are again at risk in the present environment and Fine Gael has to make sure to signpost the right directions for the future. "And that's where I think my particular interest is... not around the personalities of the leadership but the direction this country takes in the future years," he said. Mr Bruton was speaking to reporters after he delivered a speech at a conference in Croke Park held by education rights campaign group Equate. The conference is examining issues relating to religious patronage of schools. There was widespread shock in Fine Gael after Housing Minister Simon Coveney issued a two-month deadline for Enda Kenny to step aside as Taoiseach. Photo: Damien Eagers A series of blunders by ministers has plunged Fine Gael into meltdown mode as senior party figures fear the leadership crisis will prompt an early general election. There was widespread shock in the party yesterday after Housing Minister Simon Coveney issued a two-month deadline for Enda Kenny to step aside as Taoiseach. In a bizarre turn of events, it was suggested in an internal Fine Gael 'WhatsApp' group that Simon Harris wants to leave the Department of Health. And Leo Varadkar, a leading contender in the Fine Gael leadership race, was forced to close the party's WhatsApp group following leaks to the media. It comes as a group of rebels prepare to oust Mr Kenny as leader unless he clearly spells out his exit strategy on Wednesday night. A number of ministers last night said calm needed to be restored to the party ranks as the leadership battle between Leo Varadkar and Mr Coveney continues. Read More Mr Coveney, a frontrunner to succeed Mr Kenny, initially warned TDs of issuing "threats" or "ultimatums" to their under-pressure party leader. He took a swipe at his main rival, Mr Varadkar, who he said wanted to "push things" in relation to the leadership. But just moments later, the Cork South-Central TD issued the clearest ultimatum to date - telling Mr Kenny to step aside after his visit to the White House for St Patrick's Day. "My view is that the Taoiseach should go to Washington for St Patrick's Day. But I expect the leadership within Fine Gael, and ultimately the leadership in the country, and the issues around that will be dealt with very quickly after that," Mr Coveney told RTE's 'The Week in Politics'. Last night, a close supporter of Mr Coveney's said he had not intended to go as far as issuing such an ultimatum. Blunder Sources in the Varadkar camp immediately seized on the apparent blunder. "Quite clearly this was Simon trying to claw back ground on Leo," said one well-placed source. Mr Varadkar, however, has left a number of so-called middle ground TDs furious following his statement released on Saturday night that put serious pressure on Mr Kenny. One Cabinet minister said the move "outraged" Fine Gael members, adding "it's not the way to do business". Read more: Leo Varadkar forced to close Fine Gael WhatsApp group following leaks to media But there were further tensions within the party yesterday after Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan claimed the Health Minister wanted a different portfolio. He also suggested that Mr Harris and Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald were colluding over the leadership issue. Gaffe "He hasn't announced yet but Frances is encouraging him. He wants out of Health," Mr Flanagan posted in the group, which is made up of dozens of TDs and senators. He later responded with the message: "Clarity for leakers and fake newshounds. Earlier tongue in cheek re Simon & Frances just that!" Mr Flanagan told the Irish Independent last night that the comments were a "gag", while Mr Harris rejected outright claims that he wants to leave his ministerial post. Hours later, the Wicklow/East Carlow TD quit the WhatsApp group. Shortly after this, Mr Varadkar - who administrates the group - said he was "shutting it down". The Dublin West TD, who set up the group during the government formation talks, announced the decision to ministers, TDs and Senators on Sunday night. Ministers and senior party figures who did not engage in the exchange expressed their disgust at the events. "It's amateur hour by us," said one senior party strategist. Read More Fine Gael TDs will move on to a new group on the Confide messaging app at the suggestion of Chief Whip Regina Doherty. The Confide app means messages will be sent via end-to-end encryption, will be automatically deleted once read and cannot be screen shotted - meaning leaking will become far more difficult. Mr Varadkar said he is to set up a new, more confidential social media group so that messages "cannot be leaked to our dear friends in the media." The move was taken after a message by Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan about Health Minister Simon Harris was leaked to the media. The message suggested that Mr Harris wants to leave the department and is colluding with Frances Fitzgerald over the leadership. A number of senior ministers have not been members of the Varadkar WhatsApp group for some time, including his leadership rival Simon Coveney and Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe. Taoiseach Enda Kenny is a member though. In a message posted tonight, Mr Varadkar said the group is being closed due to leaks. But he said a new form of messaging service will be set up which will be more secure. A raft of TDs and senators quit the group after the leaks, including: Simon Harris, Alan Farrell, Maria Bailey, Josepha Madigan and senator Gabrielle McFadden. The fiasco surrounding the issue has infuriated TDs and officials. Read More Motion Meanwhile, Mr Kenny is facing a potential motion of no confidence later this week if he fails to clearly set out his departure timeline. A group of rebels, being led by the party's vice-chairman Pat Deering, will table the motion as early as Thursday if Mr Kenny does not clear the issue up at the parliamentary party meeting the previous night. In a statement to this newspaper, a spokesman for Mr Kenny said: "The Taoiseach will address the parliamentary party on Wednesday and won't be making any comment on the issue (of leadership) before then." Ministers are anxious to avoid such a confidence motion amid fears the party will be plunged into civil war. Meanwhile, Education Minister Richard Bruton is expected to clarify his intentions tonight. He will address the AGM of his Dublin Bay North branch and will be asked specifically if he intends to put his name forward as a leadership candidate. Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan (pictured) told the group that Simon Harris was being encouraged to run for the leadership by Tanaiste and Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald. Photo: Tom Burke Minister Charlie Flanagan has described his WhatsApp message suggesting Simon Harris wanted to leave the Health Department as "jovial Sunday afternoon banter". In the bizarre intervention, Mr Flanagan took to a Fine Gael WhatsApp group to suggest that Mr Harris may make a bid for the Fine Gael leadership. He said: "He hasn't announced yet but Frances is encouraging him. He wants out of Health," Mr Flanagan posted in the group of dozens of TDs and senators. Mr Harris has rejected suggestions he wants to leave the post. Mr Flanagan responded to questions on the matter as he arrived at the Department of Foreign Affairs this afternoon. "It was a joke which should be taken as that. It was jovial Sunday afternoon banter and I regret that its been taken so seriously," he said. Mr Flanagan added: "He's a great minister for health". With Taoiseach Enda Kenny set to address Fine Gael about his future on Wednesday night, possible leadership contenders are being asked about whether or not they'll enter a contest to succeed him. Speaking on Midlands 103, Mr Harris has refused to rule himself out, as has Education Minister Richard Bruton, who was speaking to reporters after an event in Dublin. Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald was asked if she'd like to succeed Mr Kenny and also didn't rule out a tilt at the leadership. She replied: "The Taoiseach has said that he'll be speaking to the parliamentary party on Wednesday. It's very important that we wait and hear what the Taoiseach has to say". She said she will be considering her own position on whether or not she'll make a bid for the leadership after Mr Kenny has made his remarks. On Friday, Education Minister Richard Bruton pointedly refused to rule out a run for the leadership when asked by the Irish Independent. His intentions will become clearer tonight when he attends the AGM of his constituency branch in Dublin Bay North. It is understood a number of delegates intend to seek confirmation from Mr Bruton over whether he will throw his hat in the ring. Sources say that while he is unlikely to secure a great deal of support from the parliamentary party, he believes he will benefit from a strong popularity among the Fine Gael grassroots. But Mr Bruton will be conscious of the need to steer clear of any motions of no confidence in Mr Kenny - having led an unsuccessful heave against the Mayo politician in 2010. Paschal Donohoe Expand Close Paschal Donohoe. Photo: Tom Burke / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Paschal Donohoe. Photo: Tom Burke In the eyes of senior Fine Gael figures such as Michael Noonan and Michael Ring, Paschal Donohoe is the ideal candidate to succeed Enda Kenny as Taoiseach. He has shown himself to be a solid pair of hands at the Cabinet table and would be well-placed to unify the party during the post-Kenny period. But Mr Donohoe has made it clear that on this occasion, he will not be putting his name forward. Expand Close Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald Picture: Colin O'Riordan / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald Picture: Colin O'Riordan He is not the type of politician to go back on his word and therefore his bona fides should be trusted. But Mr Donohoe has said he will eventually endorse a candidate - rather than sit on the fence. His endorsement could prove significant. Frances Fitzgerald As soon as the leadership issue was raised last week, Tanaiste and Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald told her inner circle that she was interested. Expand Close Finance Minister Michael Noonan. Photo: Tom Burke / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Finance Minister Michael Noonan. Photo: Tom Burke But the prospect of the country electing its first female Taoiseach has gained little traction within the Fine Gael ranks since. This is due to her botched handling of the whistleblower affair and her embarrassing 'he says, she says' row with Fianna Fail's justice spokesperson Jim O'Callaghan over the Tusla affair. Ms Fitzgerald does have supporters in the party, however, and any endorsement she offers could prove significant. She may yet decide to back Health Minister Simon Harris, who is seen as her protege. Michael Noonan Finance Minister Michael Noonan is widely expected to be the first casualty from Cabinet when the new leader is elected in the coming months. Expand Close Health Minister Simon Harris. Photo: Tom Burke / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Health Minister Simon Harris. Photo: Tom Burke However, the Limerick politician may end up playing a crucial role in advising one of the leadership hopefuls. He has already admitted that he would like to see Paschal Donohoe become leader. But whether he endorses a candidate publicly remains to be seen at this stage. While it is accepted that Mr Noonan's career is in its latter stages due to his poor health, grassroots members are likely to be highly influenced by the veteran politician. Simon Harris Although aged just 30, Health Minister Simon Harris is himself being speculated as a potential 'compromise' candidate. He spent the weekend consulting supporters in Greystones, Co Wicklow, and is said to be seriously considering entering the race once Enda Kenny makes his intentions known. Central to Mr Harris's thinking is positioning himself for a further tilt at the leadership in the future. If he does perform well in any contest, he will guarantee himself a senior ministry in either Leo Varadkar or Simon Coveney's cabinet. He is likely to announce his approach following negotiations with Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald, whom he is closely aligned to in the parliamentary party. A cashier is threatened with a gun in an armed raid on the Spar shop in Ringsend. An armed robber patiently waited in line before pulling out a loaded handgun and making off with hundreds of euro from a Dublin shop. CCTV footage given to the Irish Independent shows the criminal waiting for a customer to be served ahead of him in a Spar store. When the cashier beckons the robber to the till, he points a small loaded handgun at the staff member. The previous customer watches for several seconds before quickly exiting the shop. Several people are seen watching the serious crime from outside the Spar in Dublin. The employee of the shop on Thorncastle Street in Ringsend is seen opening and closing the till in a bid to discourage the thief from raiding it. After a few seconds the thief aggressively points the gun into the worker's face - making him stop. Once he has taken money from the till, the robber dashes out of the store. Regular The employee then alerted gardai to the incident. Expand Close CCTV footage of the thief grabbing cash from the till. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp CCTV footage of the thief grabbing cash from the till. Workers from Spar in Dublin say they know the man and claim he is "a regular". Umair Waris (24) lives in Dublin 8 and is an employee at the store. He said fortunately he was not working at the time of the robbery. "It's not good, it's not nice," he said. Expand Close Umair Waris, who works at the shop. Photo: Gerry Mooney / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Umair Waris, who works at the shop. Photo: Gerry Mooney "It's very hard for staff to work. If staff don't feel safe in a shop it's very sad." The bumbling criminal may have already been caught by gardai. A man aged in his 50s was arrested close to the scene shortly after the incident by two gardai on patrol. He has been charged and is expected to appear in court this morning. There were a number of bullets found in the suspect's pocket, and gardai saw him drop his weapon and run into nearby flats. The loaded handgun was recovered and was given to the Forensic Laboratory for ballistic examination. Cash was also found. No injuries were reported. Minister for Housing Simon Coveney has been voted the best option for the new Fine Gael leader, as pressure mounts on Enda Kenny to resign. According to a poll of Independent.ie readers, 40 per cent voted Mr Coveney as the next Taoiseach. Minister for Social Protection, Leo Varadkar came in close second with 33pc of the vote. In third, Fine Gael TD Richard Bruton received 18pc of votes. Health Minister Simon Harris, who said earlier today that "age isn't an issue" came fourth with eight pc of the vote. Independent.ie readers put Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald last, with three pc of the vote. Earlier today, Simon Coveney bluntly warned Fine Gael TDs and Senators to "back off" Taoiseach Enda Kenny over the party leadership. Read More The Cork TD warned that the party had "a very difficult week last week" and he doesn't want frenzied speculation over the leadership to deliver future difficult weeks and months ahead. Meanwhile, Health Minister Simon Harris and Education Minister Richard Bruton have refused to rule themselves out of the Fine Gael leadership race. Speaking as he launched a Cork social housing scheme, Mr Coveney said it was imperative that Fine Gael officials "trusted" the Taoiseach to know what was best for the party and country. "I think that people do need to back off," he said. Mr Coveney also said that imposing time tables on Mr Kenny to depart office was not helpful. He also said he believed the majority of people within Fine Gael do not wish to see any confidence motions tabled in Mr Kenny after 15 years of sterling party leadership. The Cork TD also insisted that a change of Fine Gael leader does not mean an imminent general election - and he pointed out that Fianna Fail has committed to support the Fine Gael party in Government rather than any specific leader of that party. "We don't have a contest for the leader of Fine Gael right now," he said. "What we have is a lot of impatience from some people. But what I have said very clearly over the weekend is that I trust the Taoiseach's judgement to manage a process of transition within the party but also a process of transition for the country." "Don't forget that Fine Gael are in Government and obviously a change of leader in Fine Gael most likely means a change of Taoiseach as well." "I think people should give the Taoiseach time and space to manage the process. I don't expect that process to start until after St. Patrick's Day." Read More Mr Coveney vehemently refused to discuss any leadership bid by him or what he sees himself as offering as a future leader of Fine Gael. Mr Coveney and Dublin TD Leo Varadkar as seen as front-runners to succeed Mr Kenny. "I am not getting into a leadership contest today because we don't have one today." "I am here to launch four really good housing schemes in Cork. With respect, that is what we are here to do." But the Cork TD acknowledged that sorting the leadership issue is a priority for Fine Gael. "I think it will only start in earnest when there is an agreed process in place." "The vast majority of people in Fine Gael want to give the Taoiseach the time and space to put that process in place to make sure the transition happens in an orderly manner. Which is what is needed to ensure we have stability in Government and that we have unity and property transition within the party." "That is what the Taoiseach said many months ago that he would do before another election." "He deserves the time and space to do that - and I am not going to start laying down timetables or conditions and I am certainly not going to support anybody who suggests that we should be forcing the issue." Mr Coveney said any talk of no confidence motions was not helpful and didn't reflect on the dignity that should be shown to Mr Kenny over his lengthy leadership of the party. Read More "I have said the Taoiseach should go to Washington for St Patrick's Day - that is a very important event for Ireland." "There has been a lot of preparation for that and I know that he wants to do it. I expect that after that we will see a process in place that will manage and orderly transition." "That is what we should all works towards. I totally trust the Taoiseach to put that process in place and I think he should be given to the time and space to do that." Mr Coveney dismissed suggestions that Fine Gael leadership issue could see the party "sleep-walk" into a general election. "I think Fianna Fail have made their intentions very clear. Let us not forget that when the programme for government was put in place and the 'confidence and supply agreement' was negotiated with Fianna Fail it was very clear at the time they were agreeing a process with the Fine Gael party." "Obviously with Enda Kenny as its leader. But I think people like Jim O'Callaghan TD and others have made it very clear that their agreement is with Fine Gael, they want to see stable government focussing on delivering that programme." Race Health Minister Simon Harris and Education Minister Richard Bruton refused to rule themselves out earlier today. Speaking in Mullingar, Mr Harris said Enda Kennys decision on standing down is entirely a matter for him. I trust the Endas judgement, that the Taoiseach will know what is the right timeframe for any change of leader in Fine Gael, and much more importantly within the country, he said. Asked by Midlands 103 whether he will challenge Leo Varadkar or Simon Coveney for the top post, he replied: There is no race, there is no vacancy. If and when a vacancy arises I will consider my position at that stage. But let me be very clear I am working morning, noon and night as minister for Health. It is the greatest honour of my life. It follows controversy over a leaked WatsApp message in which Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan suggested Mr Harris wanted out of Health. Meanwhile, Richard Bruton, who launched an unsuccessful heave against Kenny in 2010, is still considering a tilt. We need to sit down as a party. We know that leadership change is coming and we need to sit down and frame that debate and make sure that we emerge from that as a stronger party offering better leadership at a time of challenge, he said at an event in Croke Park today. Last Friday Mr Bruton failed to rule out throwing his hat in the ring when speaking to Independent.ie. He again didn't rule out a leadership bid, when repeatedly question about the prospect this morning. "I haven't commented on the personalities in the leadership contest," he said. The education minister added that there are "serious challenges" facing Ireland including Brexit. "There are a lot of people around who appear to believe that our economic success can be taken for granted. "Twice in my political career I've seen bad politics destroy the potential of a very strong and recovering economy and I think people's job prospects are again at risk in the present environment and Fine Gael has to make sure to signpost the right directions for the future. "And that's where I think my particular interest is... not around the personalities of the leadership but the direction this country takes in the future years," he said. Mr Bruton was speaking to reporters after he delivered a speech at a conference in Croke Park held by education rights campaign group Equate. The conference is examining issues relating to religious patronage of schools. Finn Balor shows the fans The Demon King look for the first time on WWE television. (Photo : YouTube/Brandon Wilkinson) Finn Balor has been out since late August last year after suffering a shoulder injury in a match with Seth Rollins at SummerSlam. Fans are wondering when he's going to return and it seems like they don't have to wait for much longer. According to Wrestle Zone, the WWE has started advertising Balor for live events this coming March. He is advertised to appear on March 10 in Buffalo, New York, March 11 in Toronto, Canada and March 26 in White Plains, New York. Advertisement The report also believes that Balor will have a match at WrestleMania 33 if he competes at the live events. However, it should be noted that he has not been cleared by WWE doctors but he is expected to be given the green light very soon. "The Demon" suffered a torn labrum in his right shoulder after receiving a powerbomb on the barricade from Rollins. He also suffered a torn bicep and pectoral tendon, a damaged cartilage and a fractured glenoid neck socket, per Wrestling Inc. Despite the injury, Balor popped his shoulder back into place and continue his match with Rollins. He went on to beat "The Architect" and became the first-ever WWE Universal champion in history. However, he also had to relinquish the title the next night because of the injury. Balor underwent surgery immediately to repair his injured shoulder and he was given four to six months of recovery. He also got a special stem cell treatment in September 2016 to speed up his recovery. He is currently continuing his rehabilitation at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. Many fans were expecting Balor to return at the Royal Rumble but it was not really in the works. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer (subscription required) reported that Balor was never planned to make an appearance at the Royal Rumble. Meltzer also reported that Balor might not even have a match at WrestleMania 33 but he is expected to make an appearance in one way or another. The WWE have already started finalizing the feuds for WrestleMania and Balor is not part of any planned matches. Nevertheless, the main priority for the WWE is to make sure that he is 100 percent healthy before he wrestles again. Check out the video below to watch Balor in one of his rehabilitation activities at the gym. 85 years ago this weekend a young Irish aviator, Maurice Scally, began an ambitious journey from Ireland that was intended to pass over exotic destinations like Naples, Tripoli, Cairo and the Syrian Desert before finishing in Ceylon (modern day Sri Lanka). Tragically, the journey was cut short just three days later when the plane became trapped in an air pocket over France and Scally died. Originally from Tullamore, Scally was an aviation enthusiast and member of the Irish Aero Club. He had only obtained his pilots license six months prior to this journey after a short and intense training course at Baldonnel. He was the first Irish pilot to apply to the Department of External Affairs for permission to fly to a foreign country. His round-the-world trip was originally intended as a race with his friend G.A. Barron-Boshell, who was in fact in India at the time of the trip. Scally had intended making the return journey via Delhi perhaps to see his friend, who sent a telegram on the morning of his departure wishing him luck. Scally was to make the journey alone and set about ordering his plane. Nicknamed the Shamrocket 1 the Comper Swift plane was described as one of the smallest planes in the world at the time. Painted green, white and orange it carried enough fuel and oil for an 800-mile cruise and had a cruising speed of 120 miles per hour. Expand Close Scally poses with the revolver he packed onto his plane, the Shamrocket 1 / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Scally poses with the revolver he packed onto his plane, the Shamrocket 1 The Irish Independent reported that the tiny aircraft was so small that one got the impression that it was built around its pilot, who had just enough room to enter and leave. When seated in the cockpit it was possible to touch the ground on either side with the hands. Scally told the Irish Independent that the plane also held an emergency tank of water and he intended to take extra food supplies in case of landing in the desert or jungle- and a revolver with ammunition. Scallys much talked about venture was said to have been purely personal but in a curious twist it was revealed that his journey was, at least in part, a secret mission. The day after Scally departed the Irish Independent reported: The secret of the flight has been well maintained, but an Irish Independent representative is now in a position to announce that Mr Scally is undertaking the flight on a secret mission on behalf of Hospitals Trust, Ltd. Expand Close Scally with his plane the Shamrocket 1 / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Scally with his plane the Shamrocket 1 On the morning of February 18, 1932 Scally took off from Gloucester Street in Dublin city centre. He had hoped to fly from the thoroughfare of OConnell Street, which would have been quite the spectacle, but was restricted due to fog. He flew to Baldonnel Aerodrome and from there began his journey to Ceylon, heading first for Croydon then to Paris and onto Marseilles. From France he was due to fly over Italy and onward across Africa. Scally had made a forced landing in Slough near Buckinghamshire due to engine trouble and the landing had damaged the tail skid of his plane. The aircraft was repaired and Scally set off toward Paris. Expand Close Scally and the Shamrocket 1 / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Scally and the Shamrocket 1 On February 21 he left Lyon Aerodrome but it was an hour later that his small craft was caught in an air pocket that caused the plane to crash. Scally was taken to hospital but died of his injuries. Scally was engaged at the time to Maud Forester who attended his funeral with James Scally, his brother, near Marseilles. Information is relatively scant about the aviator known as M.G.A Scally but this pretty astonishing story shows a man who was ambitious, determined and brave to a fault. On the day of departure Scally revealed he was already planning a second trip, this time leaving from Canada and flying across North and South America. Expand Close Scally sits as a friends signs his plaster cast / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Scally sits as a friends signs his plaster cast At the time of his death Scally was flying with a plaster cast on his leg having broken it during a test flight on Thursday, January 7. By that Sunday he was flying again. Clearly not to be held back by the minor inconvenience of a broken bone, Scally is pictured grinning as a friend signs his cast on the day he made his momentous, but sadly shortly short-lived, journey. Visit Independent Archives to see more historic Irish photos, all available as high quality prints Moonlight has beaten Oscars favourite La La Land to win the top honour at a politically-charged Writers Guild of America (WGA) Awards. The film's writer and director Barry Jenkins won best original screenplay for the drama about a young gay black man coming of age in Miami. He beat Damien Chazelle's musical La La Land - which is widely tipped for Oscar success later this month - as well Manchester By The Sea, Loving and Hell Or High Water. Accepting his award at the ceremony in Los Angeles, Jenkins said: "I can't say writing will get you on this stage but it will bring you close to the wo rld. "(This award) means the world to me." The Academy Awards ruled Moonlight to be ineligible for best original screenplay because it is based on a stage play called In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue. Instead, Jenkins is nominated for the Oscar for best adapted screenplay at the ceremony on February 26. Sci-fi drama Arrival won best adapted screenplay at the WGA Awards, beating Deadpool, Fences, Hidden Figures and Nocturnal Animals. The ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel included a number of references to Donald Trump, with an impersonator of the US president taking to the stage and two men dressed as Russian soldiers handing out awards. But Oscar-winning film-maker Oliver Stone warned it had been become "fashionable" to criticise Mr Trump as he received the Laurel Award for screen-writing achievement. Accepting his award, the Platoon director said he wanted to remind writers that "you can be critical of your government and your society". "You don't have to fit in," he said. Video of the Day "It's fashionable now to take shots at Republicans and Trump and all that, and avoid the Obamas and Clintons. "In the 13 wars we've started in the last 30 years and the 14 trillion dollars we've spent and the hundreds of thousands of lives perished from this earth, remember it wasn't one leader. It's a system, both Republican and Democrat. "In the end, it's become a system leading to the death of this planet and the extinction of us all." Aaron Sorkin, the creator of The West Wing and The Newsroom, criticised Mr Trump as he accepted the Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for television writing achievement. "We've been told that as coastal elites we're something less than real Americans and that we're out of touch," Sorkin said on stage. "If you find it mind boggling that living and working in the two largest cities in America makes you less than a real American, you're not the one who's out of touch. "If you don't think that turning away people who are seeking a safe haven from unspeakable brutality is a morally defensible idea, then you're not the one who's less than a real American." British film-maker Richard Curtis, whose movies include Four Weddings And A Funeral, Love Actually and Bridget Jones's Diary, received the Valentine Davies Award for humanitarian service. On stage, the Comic Relief co-founder urged those involved in the film and television industry to use their influence to raise money for charity. "It's not always easy," Curtis said. "You'll find yourself compromised and it's complicated but then so is everything we all do." After he was presented with his award by actor Jeff Goldblum, Curtis added: "If Hugh Grant had been anything like him, I'd have had such a happy life." Atlanta won WGA awards for best new series and best comedy series, while The Americans was named best drama series. American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson took home the award for best long form adapted series. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver won best comedy/variety show, while Saturday Night Live was named best variety sketch show. An engraving of a swastika and Adolf Hitler's name are seen on the back of Hitler's personal telephone (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) Adolf Hitler's personal telephone has been sold at auction by the son of a British officer who was given it in 1945 (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) A telephone used by Adolf Hitler during the Second World War has been sold at auction for 243,000 dollars (196,000). Andreas Kornfeld of Alexander Historical Auctions in Chesapeake City, Maryland, said it sold on Sunday afternoon to a person who bid by phone. The auction house does not disclose the names of buyers. Bidding for the phone started at 100,000 dollars (80,500). Occupying Russian officers gave the phone to a British officer, Brigadier Ralph Rayner, during a visit to Hitler's bunker in Berlin. The officer's son is now selling the red phone with a Nazi party symbol and Hitler's name engraved on the back. The phone was used in vehicles and trains as well as in Hitler's field headquarters. The handset of the phone must be rotated almost 60 degrees before it can be lifted out of its cradle. This feature kept the handset from shaking loose while being transported Mr Kornfeld said a porcelain figure of an Alsatian dog, also owned by Hitler, was also sold on Sunday to a different bidder for 24,300 dollars (19,500). AP A man walks past a wrecked vehicle after a blast in a market in the capital Mogadishu. Photo: Abdi Warsameh/AP Photo The death toll from a car bomb at a marketplace in Somalia's capital Mogadishu has risen to 34 with 52 injured. Many of the dead were carried away by their relatives soon after the blast, said police spokesman Mohamed Hussein. "It was a horrific and barbaric attack only aimed at killing civilians," he said from the scene of the blast. Sabriye Abdullahi, an ambulance driver, said that some of the injured victims died on their way to the hospitals. "Many of them suffered extensive third-degree burns and others were burned beyond recognition," he said. The blast from the car parked near a restaurant went off at a busy time when shoppers and traders were gathered inside the market, said district commissioner Ahmed Abdulle. Mohamed Haji, a butcher who suffered shrapnel wounds, pointed to a clothes shop devastated by the blast. "Someone had parked the car here and left before it was detonated," he said. Pieces of wood and metal sheets on the ground were all that was left of the shop. Women sobbed and screamed outside the market as rescue workers moved bodies and wounded victims into ambulances. "It's a painful carnage," said Ali Mire, a government soldier who was helping a friend with shrapnel wounds. The powerful explosion was the first major attack since Somalia's new president was elected on February 8. Although no group has yet claimed responsibility, it bears the hallmarks of Somalia's Islamic extremists rebels, al-Shabab. In a Twitter post, President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed condemned the blast, saying that it shows the "cruelty" of al-Shabab. A few hours before the blast, al-Shabab denounced the new president as an "apostate" and vowed to continue fighting. Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano, in a statement condemning the attack, said that "Italy remains solidly on Somalia's side in the process of the country's stabilisation". He added that "together we will act so that the terrorists don't succeed in stopping the path of peace and reconciliation that is under way". US vice president Mike Pence has moved to allay EU fears about the strength of Washington's support for the union and its commitment to European security through the Nato military alliance. During meetings in Brussels, Mr Pence said he was acting on behalf of President Donald Trump "to express the strong commitment of the United States to continued cooperation and partnership with the European Union". "Whatever our differences, our two continents share the same heritage, the same values and above all the same purpose: to promote peace and prosperity through freedom, democracy and the rule of law," he said after talks with EU Council President Donald Tusk. Mr Trump's benevolence towards Russian President Vladimir Putin and campaign rhetoric that included branding Nato obsolete and vowing to undo a series of multinational trade deals has sparked anxiety in Europe. Mr Trump was also supportive of Britain's vote last year to leave the EU. And he has suggested that the EU itself could soon fall apart. Mr Tusk, who chairs meetings of EU leaders, said he had been reassured after "open and frank talks" with Mr Pence, but made clear that the bloc would watch closely to ensure the US acts on its words of support. "I heard words which are promising for the future, words which explain a lot about the new approach in Washington," Mr Tusk said. He underlined that "too many new and sometimes surprising opinions have been voiced over this time about our relations - and our common security - for us to pretend that everything is as it used to be." "We are counting, as always in the past, on the United States' wholehearted and unequivocal - let me repeat, unequivocal - support for the idea of a united Europe," Mr Tusk said. "The world would be a decidedly worse place if Europe were not united." He asserted: "The idea of Nato is not obsolete, just like the values which lie at its foundation are not obsolete." Mr Tusk added: "Both Europeans and Americans must simply practice what they preach." After talks with Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg across town, Mr Pence reiterated the administration's strong support for the alliance, but warned that Mr Trump wants to see "real progress" by the end of the year on boosting defence spending. Nato leaders agreed in 2014 that alliance members needed to start spending at least 2% of their gross domestic product by 2024. Only five nations currently do so: the United States, Britain, Poland, Estonia and Greece. "The truth is many others, including some of our largest allies, still lack a clear and credible path to meet this minimum goal," Mr Pence said. Asked what the administration would do if allies failed to meet the defence spending target, Mr Pence said: "I don't know what the answer is to 'or else', but I know that the patience of the American people will not endure forever." Mr Pence's meetings in Brussels were aimed at assuring European leaders that his words reflected the views of Mr Trump and would not easily be swept away at the whim of the US president or undermined by statements issued on Twitter. Mr Pence, as he did in an address on Saturday at the Munich Security Conference, also said Mr Trump would demand that Russia honour its commitments to end the fighting in Ukraine. "In the interest of peace and in the interest of innocent human lives, we hope and pray that this ceasefire takes hold," he said. The vice president also noted the "heartbreaking" suicide bombings at the Brussels airport and subway system in March 2016, and said the US would continue to collaborate with EU partners to address safety and combat terrorism. "The United States' commitment to the European Union is steadfast and enduring," he said. AP A two-year-old boy has died after being recovered from a river. A major search was launched after the child was reported missing from a property in the Milton of Drimmie area, close to Bridge of Cally in Perthshire at around 11.15am on Sunday. The Police Scotland helicopter and Scottish Fire and Rescue Service personnel were involved in a full search of the area along with police officers. The child was located in the River Ericht, close to the property, at around 12.35pm. He was removed from the water by fire personnel and treated by paramedics, who had attended the scene with the air ambulance, however the boy died. In a statement Police Scotland said: "Tragically, the boy did not survive. "His family are being supported by officers at this time." John Swinney, MSP for Perthshire North, expressed his sympathy through Twitter. He tweeted: "Heartbreaking news from the River Ericht at Bridge of Cally. My deepest sympathies to everyone involved." Local councillor Liz Grant, Provost of Perth and Kinross, said: "It will be absolutely devastating for the family and the community. "It is a very small community. Bridge of Cally is a small village. "The River Ericht is fast, the rivers are all fast coming down through that area, particularly at this time of year." A court in Germany has convicted five South Korean citizens over the death of a relative in an exorcism ritual at a Frankfurt hotel in 2015. The Frankfurt regional court found the main defendant, a 44-year-old cousin of the victim, guilty of serious bodily harm resulting in death. The dpa news agency reported that she was sentenced to six years in prison. Four other defendants, including the victim's 16-year-old son, were given suspended sentences of between 18 months and two years. The sentences were lower than prosecutors had demanded. The court concluded that the defendants had genuinely believed they were driving a demon out of the 41-year-old woman's body and that reports of "gruesome torture" were not proven. The Originals (Photo : The CW) "The Originals" Season 4 just dropped a new poster featuring Hayley (Phoebe Tonkin) and Klaus' (Joseph Morgan) seven-year-old daughter, Hope (Summer Fontana). In the blue/black photo, Hope's back is turned towards the camera. She is walking towards what appeared to be a pack of dead birds. On the snap is a cryptic caption that reads, "Evil walks with us... Always and Forever." Advertisement While speaking with TV Line, former executive producer Michael Narducci dished on what is in store for Hope now that she's can already talk and understand some things. According to the exec, Hope shares her mother's street smarts, but she may also display her father's temper. At a young age, Hope is also very much invested into trying to protect her family, and there are rumors that she will be willing to risk her life just so no one else will die. While at the San Diego Comic-Con in July 2016, Tonkin opened up about Hope and what is in store for the character. The actress said that she is excited to see what is in store for the young girl. After all, she has a lot of resemblance with her father. Tonkin added that Hope has a lot of Klaus in her despite the fact that she has not spent much time with her dad for five long years. Meanwhile, Narducci previously revealed that there will be some monsters following Hope wherever she goes because she is not an ordinary kid. Since her parents are a bit of a werewolf, vampire, witch hybrid, she got all of these traits within her. The monsters will try to get rid of Hope since she is a threat to their kind, but Hayley and Klaus will not let anything bad happen to her. Hope's uncle Elijah (Daniel Gillies) will also do a great deal of sacrifices even if it means not being with Hayley for the team being if this means he could keep Hope safe. "The Originals" Season 4, episode 1 will premiere on The CW on March 17 at 8 p.m. EST. Migrants sit on the ground after storming a fence to enter the Spanish enclave of Ceuta (AP/Jesus Moron) Around 350 migrants have crossed a fence into a Spanish territory in North Africa, according to the Red Cross. They arrived three days after 500 other migrants managed to break the gates in the border fence. A spokeswoman for the Red Cross in Ceuta, the Spanish enclave on the Moroccan coast, said that 11 of the sub-Saharan African migrants were sent to a hospital to be treated for cuts, bone fractures and other injuries. Fleeing poverty and violence, hundreds of sub-Saharan African migrants attempt to cross from Morocco into Ceuta and Melilla, the other Spanish enclave in North Africa. Some also choose to cross the Strait of Gibraltar by boat. The office of the central government's envoy in Ceuta said the migrants crossed at around 3am local time, through a gate that was damaged last Friday. Officials said two agents of the Civil Guard were taken to hospital with bone fractures. More than 1,300 people are now crammed into a centre for temporary accommodation of immigrants, designed to house 512 people. Migrants are usually sent from Ceuta to different centres run by NGOs across Spain, where they receive accommodation and food. Most find informal jobs or continue north to other European nations. AP Kim Dotcom pictured in Novermbe 2014, as a New Zealand judge upheld an earlier court ruling he can be extradited to the US (Chris Gorman/New Zealand Herald via AP, File) Flamboyant internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom and three of his colleagues can be extradited to the US to face criminal charges, a New Zealand judge has ruled. The decision comes five years after US authorities shut down Dotcom's file-sharing website Megaupload and filed charges of conspiracy, racketeering and money laundering against the men. Dotcom, who lives in New Zealand, has been fighting extradition since then in a case which has moved with glacial slowness at times. And Monday's decision will not be the last, with the case likely to be appealed up to New Zealand's Supreme Court. US prosecutors say Megaupload raked in at least 175 million US dollars (141 million), mainly from people using it to illegally download songs, television shows and movies. The New Zealand district court ruled in 2015 that Dotcom and the others were eligible for extradition on the charges. High Court judge Justice Murray Gilbert found on Monday that the district court made mistakes in its ruling but that those did not alter the big picture. Dotcom tweeted: "We won but we lost anyway." The US argues that the site cost copyright holders, which included Hollywood's major movie studios, more than 500 million US dollars (403 million). Prosecutors say intercepted communications show the men talking about being "modern-day pirates" and "evil". Dotcom argues he cannot be held responsible for others who chose to use his site for illegal purposes, and that any case against him should have been heard in civil court. Born in Germany as Kim Schmitz, Dotcom has long enjoyed a flamboyant lifestyle. He was arrested in New Zealand in 2012 after a dramatic police raid on his mansion. Out on bail soon after, he released a music album, started another internet file-sharing company called Mega, and launched a political party which unsuccessfully contested the nation's 2014 election. In addition to Dotcom, who founded Megaupload and was its biggest shareholder, the US also wants to extradite former Megaupload officers Mathias Ortmann, Bram van der Kolk and Finn Batato. AP Iraqi forces have advanced into the southern outskirts of Mosul on the second day of a push to drive Islamic State militants from the western half of the city. The push came as visiting US defence secretary Jim Mattis met with officials to discuss the fight against the extremists. With aerial support from the US-led coalition, Iraqi police and army troops launched the offensive on Sunday, part of a 100-day campaign that has already driven the militants from the eastern half of the city. Iraqi helicopters fired rockets at the village of Abu Saif early on Monday, targeting a hill that overlooks the city's airport. By noon, the forces entered the village and gained control over much of the strategic hill as fighting was still raging. Separately, militarised police in armoured vehicles were moving towards the sprawling Ghazlani military base on the south-western outskirts of the city. The US-led coalition has been providing close air support throughout the campaign to retake Iraq's second-largest city. US special operations forces are embedded with some Iraqi units and thousands of US troops are in Iraq providing logistical and other support. Meanwhile, Mr Mattis was holding discussions with US and Iraqi officials, a week before he is expected to present a new strategy to President Donald Trump for defeating the Islamic State group. "We're going to make certain that we've got good situational awareness of what we face as we work together and fight alongside each other," Mr Mattis said. Mr Trump has repeatedly vowed to eliminate the extremist group but has provided few details about how his approach might differ from that of the Obama administration, which had partnered with Syrian and Iraqi forces to drive IS out of several towns and cities. The battle for western Mosul, the extremist group's last major urban bastion in Iraq, is expected to be the most daunting yet. The streets are older and narrower in that sector of the city, which stretches west from the Tigris River, forcing Iraqi soldiers to leave the relative safety of their armoured vehicles. The presence of up to 750,000 civilians also poses a challenge. Two suicide car bombers struck army and paramilitary forces west of Mosul on Monday, killing and wounding a number of troops, two army officers said, without specifying the number of casualties. A third suicide car bomber was blown up before reaching the troops, they said. IS claimed responsibility for two attacks in an online statement, saying the attackers were British and Iraqi. AP Francois Hollande said the four-nation Versailles meeting is important so the leaders "can defend the European project together and with strength" French President Francois Hollande has said he and the leaders of Spain, Italy and Germany will meet in early March to lay the groundwork for a summit on the EU's future after Britain's departure. A joint declaration by Mr Hollande and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, issued after a meeting in Malaga on Monday, said they plan to get together with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian premier Paolo Gentiloni in Versailles on March 6. A large-scale summit will follow in Rome on March 25 to mark 60 years since the beginning of the European Economic Community that became part of the broader EU. Mr Hollande said the four-nation Versailles meeting is important so the leaders "can defend the European project together and with strength". Iraqi forces have launched a ground offensive to dislodge Isil from its remaining stronghold in western Mosul and put an end to the jihadists' ambitions in the country. Announcing the start of the campaign yesterday, Haider al-Abadi, the prime minister, asked Iraqi forces to "respect human rights" during the battle, after a series of videos emerged showing abuse by uniformed men. US-backed Iraqi forces, including elite units and the federal police, snaked north through the outlying areas of western Mosul, with coalition air support. The assault was preceded by an air drop of millions of leaflets, warning residents that battle was imminent and urging jihadists to surrender "or face a fatal end". Officials on the scene described a well planned campaign delivering early results, with units capturing the villages of Athbah and al-Lazzagah, both near Mosul airport, early in the day. Federal police units led the charge on districts west of the Tigris river, working through several largely abandoned villages and reaching Zakrutiya, a hamlet 5km south of the airport, by the end of the day. They claimed to have captured a power distribution station along the way and killed several jihadists, including snipers. The campaign is expected to move north towards the crowded city centre, where fighters are thought to have entrenched themselves among booby-traps, improvised explosive devices and human shields. Medical and humanitarian agencies estimate the total number of dead and wounded - civilian and military - since the start of the Mosul offensive in October at several thousand. About 160,000 civilians have been displaced so far - and that figure could reach up to 400,000 as residents of western Mosul are cut off from food and fuel, said Lise Grande, the UN humanitarian co-ordinator for Iraq. About 650,000 people are thought to be living there, and human rights groups have voiced concern that civilians, particularly children, could become trapped in a bloody battle. Once Iraqi forces clear areas of fighters, they face the task of processing those left behind, which includes identifying Isil members and supporters. Human-rights groups have accused Iraqi forces and paramilitary groups of meting out brutal, gratuitous violence during this process. In a statement alleging abuses by the Kurdistan Regional Government's security forces, Human Rights Watch warned: "Legitimate security concerns do not give security forces licence to beat, manhandle, or use electric shocks on children." Graphic videos have emerged of men in Iraqi security forces uniforms taunting, beating and even executing unidentified, unarmed people on the streets of Mosul. Calling the footage "deeply disturbing", the UN commissioner for human rights urged the Iraqi government to investigate. ( Daily Telegraph, London) Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022] US President Donald Trump takes the oath of office during his inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., January 20, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque The sales boost came after Donald Trump's assertions that his inauguration had record attendance and millions of illegal votes were cast against him (AP) U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive at the Inauguration Freedom Ball in Washington, U.S., January 20, 2017. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson A bitter feud with the media, an ill-fated and chaotic travel ban and sparking diplomatic crises often with little more than a tweet... it is hard to believe it's only been a month since Donald Trump was inaugurated. The former reality star has certainly made waves since taking up residence in the White House. We look at some of the highlights of his frantic first weeks in office. Travel ban Trump's January 27 order has been the most stand-out aspect of his presidency to date. The order which banned people, from seven Muslim majority countries, including those with valid travel documents, from entering the states. It also put a temporary ban on refugees accessing the US. The order caused travel chaos across the world and sparked several legal challenges. The ban has now been abandoned following a ruling from a Seattle judge. It is expected that Trump will mark the fifth week of his presidency with a new immigration order. 'The Wall' In his first week Trump ordered the 'immediate construction' of his long touted wall along the US-Mexico border. He has repeatedly insisted that Mexico will reimburse the US to cover the cost of the wall. Congress are facing a budgetary review over the cost of the wall. Fake news Trump has launched an offensive on the media, starting with accusations that attendance figures at his inauguration were under-reported and culminating in his first solo news conference since he was inaugurated where he attacked the press as 'dishonest'. Expand Close U.S. President Donald Trump walks with his wife Melania Trump on the tarmac after he arrived on Air Force One at the Palm Beach International Airport for a visit to his Mar-a-Lago Resort for the weekend on February 3, 2017 in Palm Beach, Florida. President Donald Trump is on his his first visit to Palm Beach since his inauguration. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp U.S. President Donald Trump walks with his wife Melania Trump on the tarmac after he arrived on Air Force One at the Palm Beach International Airport for a visit to his Mar-a-Lago Resort for the weekend on February 3, 2017 in Palm Beach, Florida. President Donald Trump is on his his first visit to Palm Beach since his inauguration. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) "The press is out of control," he said. "The level of dishonesty is out of control." At the same conference when asked about leaks from his administration Mr Trump argued that while the leaks were real, the news about the leaks was fake. The chaotic conference bounced from one top to another, all the while peppered with barbs at the press and accusations of fake news. It is not the first time Trump has had a run in with the press. In his first press conference after the election he had a run in with CNN's Jim Acosta. The president declined to take a question from Acosta telling him: "Not you. No, Im not going to give you a question. You are fake news." Twitter Silicon Valley commentators have credited the President with reviving a struggling Twitter. His use of the micro-bogging platform has been colourful to say the least. From criticising judges who overruled his travel ban to sticking up for his daughter Ivanka and taking a swipe at Arnold Schwarzenegger. While largely focusing on either the mainstream media, dubbed 'fake news' by the commander-in-chief or on the threat of domestic terrorism, Trump has also used his Twitter feed to comment on foreign policy and on domestic issues such as Chicago's crime rate when he threatened to 'send in the feds'. Despite his prolific use of the platform he has used it incorrectly in the past - tagging the wrong Ivanka in a message, leaving a council worker in the UK with thousands of notifications on her feed when she woke up. I am so proud of my daughter Ivanka. To be abused and treated so badly by the media, and to still hold her head so high, is truly wonderful! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 11, 2017 Yes, Arnold Schwarzenegger did a really bad job as Governor of California and even worse on the Apprentice...but at least he tried hard! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2017 Yes, Arnold Schwarzenegger did a really bad job as Governor of California and even worse on the Apprentice...but at least he tried hard! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2017 In-fighting Trump has gathered a like-minded Cabinet around him and has brought advisors on board who have supported him throughout his campaig. He also relies strongly on his family, appointing Jared Kushner, his son-in-law, as a top advisor. However, his reign in the White House has been dogged with in-fighting with the US intelligence services whom he has accused of 'un-American leaks'. Officials in the White House have also been reported as pushing back from within. Federal employees have set up social media accounts to leak changes being made by Trump appointed officials, others have been resisting more openly and have attended meetings organised with the express purpose of deciding how best to express civil disobedience. Russia Trump's relationship with Russia has come under intense scrutiny in the past month and beyond. Trump reacted furiously when it was reported that the Kremlin holds a dossier with compromising information on him. Several media outlets published the dossier in full without being able to vet its contents. Trump's knowledge of Russia's influence in the election, his view of Russian President Vladamir Putin and potential business interests in Russia have all come under the spotlight. Appointments Donald Trump has failed to nominate candidates to a number of key positions, falling significantly behind the Obama administration and troubling the President's claim the White House is running like a "well-oiled machine". And those he has appointed have grabbed headlines for a variety of reasons - many of them negative. In a high-profile embarrassment for the Trump team, Michael Flynn resigned as national security adviser after it was revealed he had discussed forthcoming sanctions with the Russian ambassador to the US, and then denied it in public statements. Vincent Viola, the billionaire trader and veteran who was Mr Trump's first pick to head up the US Army, withdrew his nomination rather than divest from conflicting business interests. Allegations of domestic abuse and mistreatment of workers at his fast foot chain likewise caused Andy Puzder to withdraw from his nomination to the Labour Secretary post. Money The Trump family's first month in the White House has reportedly cost the American taxpayer more than the Obamas cost in a full year. His three visits to his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida since his presidential inauguration, combined with his sons business trips, reportedly cost 10.6m ($11.3m). While Obama was in power Trump criticised his 'vacation habits' often, writing in 2014: "Obamas motto: If I dont go on tax payer funded vacations & constantly fundraise then the terrorists win". Diplomatic relations Trump's presidency has been characterised by off-the-cuff comments and Twitter firestorms which have put the US' relationship with a number of countries at risk. In his first week in office he made good on his campaign pledge to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal, distancing America from its Asian allies. His interventions regarding Mexico lead to the President Enrique Pena Nieto cancelling a scheduled meeting with Trump in Washington - a decision Trump later framed as mutual. With the UK Trump congratulated the country on Brexit and signalled that he wants to sign a new trade deal with the UK. Trump also stoked ire in Australia when he tweeted about a "dumb" refugee deal. He has also taken several wipes at China and used Twitter to vow "it won't happen!" in reference to North Korea's threats to test an intercontinental ballistic missile. When North Korea launch the missile, however, the US President responded only with a clipped statement pledging support for Tokyo. In a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump also seemed to back away from a two state solution to conflict between Israel and Palestine. Just this week Vice President Mike Pence has rolled back on Trump's seeming derision of Nato as obsolete, saying that Trump is committed to Europe. Melania Despite staying in New York and forgoing 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue until their young son finishes school, rightly or wrongly the First Lady has become a talking point in her own right. She has been the subject of a 'Free Melania' theme on social media with people sharing images of her looking unhappy in her husband's company. Her sartorial choices and whether or not she can be held accountable for her husband's actions have all become fodder for debate since January 20. Despite appearing a seemingly reluctant First Lady Melania has said she is building an expert team around her for her term as first lady. Unfortunately her hashtag #Powerofthefirstlady left people confused, making for an awkward campaign debut. Additional reporting by Independent News Service U.S. President Donald Trump smiles a as he holds a "Make America Great Again" rally at Orlando Melbourne International Airport in Melbourne, Florida, U.S. February 18, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trumps supporters have said the media is attempting to "cover up" terror attacks in Sweden, after the President faced criticism for appearing to cite a non-existent terror plot in the country. Mr Trump later said his statement had referred to a story broadcast by Fox News. The TV channel ran a clip of a film by Ami Horowitz on Friday that alleged Sweden had seen a surge in gun violence and rape following an influx of immigrants. Yet Mr Horowitz's documentary has been criticised for being riddled with inaccuracies. One Swedish terrorism expert said the film "grossly exaggerated" the amount of crime in the country and wrongly conflated drug violence in Swedish cities with crime perpetrated by refugees. While defending his proposal to ban travel from seven Muslim-majority countries, Mr Trump told a crowd in Melbourne, Florida: You look at whats happening in Germany, you look at whats happening last night in Sweden. Read More No terrorist incident or major attack occurred on Friday night in Sweden and Mr Trumps comments were widely ridiculed online. Yet supporters of the Republican President have insisted he has "very cleverly" drawn attention to an alleged widespread Islamist extremist problem in the country. "It was quite extraordinary; the reaction has been one of bewilderment," Dr Magnus Ranstorp, research director at the Swedish National Defence Council, told The Independent. Speaking about Mr Horowitz's film, Dr Ranstorp said: "It was grossly exaggerated and there were many aspects that were taken out of context and made to be worse than they actually are. "It was very clear that a connection between refugees, terror and crime, was a thesis that was advanced in this documentary." Instead, Dr Ranstorp said cities such as Sweden's capital Malmo had suffered with gang-related violence in racially segregated areas crime that was not typically perpetrated by refugees. "In general, the crime level has gone down, but in some of the areas, the shooting incidents, gang-related crime has gone up," he said. "This is nothing to do with extremism, it has to do with control of drug territory. "We have a serious problem with gang-related crime they shoot each other. There is the issue it's not refugees who do this." More than 300 people have left Sweden to fight in Syria and Iraq, making the country one of the biggest exporters of jihadists in Europe per capita. But Dr Ranstorp said the press had engaged in free discourse about the problem: "The press here is very open, and they have been reporting about jihadism. I don't see any effort to try and cover up." Sweden's Foreign Ministry has requested the Trump administration explain the President's comments. The Swedish embassy in the US said it was looking forward to informing the US administration about Swedish immigration and integration policies. 'Could he actually not be aware that there is no solution yet to be mooted that would make both Israel and the Palestinians "happy"?' Photo: AP It's time to stop laughing. The hilarity died for me weeks ago, but there are still some among us who regard the Orange Person in the White House as priceless comic material. Understandable though this may be, the whole situation is now too dangerous for levity. At his joint press conference with Benjamin Netanyahu last week, Donald Trump effectively undid decades of agreed US policy on the Middle East with remarks that made it clear he knew nothing at all about the problems of the region. His statement on a potentially-incendiary global flashpoint was absurd. Asked if he now favoured a two-state or a one-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, he threw out his reflections with the know-nothing insouciance of a man not even aware of the extent to which he is out of his depth. Incredibly, this is what he actually said: "I'm looking at two-state and at one-state and I like the one that both parties like. I can live with either one. I thought for a while the two-state looked like it may be the easier of the two, but honestly, if Israel and the Palestinians are happy, I'm happy with the one they like best." Could he actually not be aware that there is no solution yet to be mooted that would make both Israel and the Palestinians "happy"? Neither of the parties, let alone both of them at once, "like" any proposal made thus far by any peace-negotiation process. US presidents are not expected to say: "You guys sort it out between yourselves and I'll accept whatever makes you happy." The Israel-Palestine conflict was not really at the top of Mr Trump's mind. What he was more concerned about was the forced departure of his head of national security, Michael Flynn, who had been removed from office after a breathtakingly short tenure. So obsessed was the president with this matter he made observations about it in response to utterly unconnected questions on Israeli settlements or Iranian sanctions. And those spontaneous observations directly contradicted the official White House position on the Flynn imbroglio. The hapless administration press spokesman, Sean Spicer (who is still funny), had endlessly reiterated the mantra at a press briefing only the day before: Mr Flynn had to go, not because of any legal impropriety in his conversation with the Russian ambassador but because he had lost the trust of the president by deceiving Vice President Mike Pence over the content of that conversation. Have you got that? He had to go because he had lost the president's trust. How exactly does that fit with Mr Trump's comments at the joint press conference with Mr Netanyahu where he described Mr Flynn as "a wonderful man" who had been "treated very, very unfairly by the media" (or "the fake media", as he later called it). Which is it? Did Mike Flynn have to go because the president could no longer trust him to tell the truth, or was he hounded out of office unnecessarily by the vicious media? To get to the point which he was to reiterate endlessly in his memorable solo press conference the next day: that those media outlets (in Trump's Twitter terminology, "the failing 'New York Times' and 'Washington Post'") had been fed "illegal" leaks by conspiring security services which were determined to undermine the Trump presidency. And, if they had, then that is the big story here, Mr Trump claimed over and over again: not his shambolic White House, but a plot by Washington insiders and the intelligence agencies to undermine a democratically elected president. The press briefing with Mr Netanyahu - however dramatic it may have been in actual foreign policy consequences - turned out to be just a warm-up act for the spectacular event that came 24 hours later. As we saw - those of us who watched goggle-eyed through that entire 75-minute performance - the second press conference was almost beyond belief. It was certainly the most shocking public display of unhinged, out-of-control, buffoonish aggression by a US president in living memory. There are two equally alarming possibilities: either his relentless outpouring of accusation, self-contradiction and on-the-hoof pronouncements does reflect his view of reality, or it was an almost hysterically defensive fusillade to bolster his own confidence in the face of a string of unexpected setbacks. The most serious of the concerns about his presidency is the one he would not deal with for the longest time - whether members of his election team were in touch with Russian officials during the campaign. He threw out vague accusations about the Russian connection story being a "ruse", a sham designed by Hillary Clinton's people to conceal the mistakes they made in her campaign and he finally replied that "nobody I know of" had held conversations with Russian agents. Nobody he knows of? There is enough deniability there to cover a number of eventualities. Mr Trump and his apologists are trying to create a diversion to draw attention from the chaos of his White House by insisting the real outrage is "illegal leaking" from the security services. Under ordinary circumstances, this is an argument with which I would have some sympathy. I believe in the sanctity of the democratic process with every fibre of my being. But these are not ordinary circumstances. Enough said. Nick Viall attends the Pitchfork after-party at Virgin Hotels Chicago with a performance by Vic Mensa at The Virgin Hotel on July 17, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo : Jeff Schear/Getty Images) "The Bachelor" Season 21 (2017) Week 8 features the events of hometown dates. In the highly anticipated episode 8, Nick Viall will be visiting the hometowns of his final four contestants-Corinne Olympios, Rachel Lindsay, Vanessa Grimaldi and Raven Gates. Here are a few spoilers for the next chapter of the series. Read on to find out what happens next. Also, find out who gets eliminated after the hometown dates. Advertisement [Spoiler alert! This article contains spoilers for "The Bachelor" Season 21 (2017) episode 8 spoilers. Do not read further if you don't wish to know more about it.] In the previous episode, Chris Harrison visited Nick Viall and counselled him. While Nick was planning to quit the show, a long conversation with the show host convinced him to go forward with the show. Nick eliminated two ladies from the camp. He sent Danielle Maltby home during the date. In a shocking moment, he decided to send Kristina Schulman home. Moving on to "The Bachelor" Season 21 (2017) episode 8. The network has released a detailed press release revealing the events of week 8 when Nick Viall visits the bachelorettes' hometown on the network's official website. His first hometown date takes place in Hoxie, Arkansas. Here, Nick and Raven explore the local culture and traditions. They do something that puts Nick in danger of getting arrested. They spend some fun time and share some passionate moments. Nick also gets the opportunity to meet Raven's parents wherein he learns about her father's health issues. At the same time, he receives a surprising news from Raven's father. For the second hometown date, Nick visits Rachel Lindsay's hometown, Dallas. The couple visits a church and spends some quality time. During the hometown date, the couple discusses important questions regarding the trials and tribulations they may have to deal with as an interracial couple. On his trip to Miami, Corinne takes the bachelor to exclusive malls. She wants him to buy an impressive outfit that he could adorn while meeting her family, which is quite wealthy. Nick must be able to impress Corinne's nanny Raquel and her protective father. Will Corinne's family approve of Nick? For his fourth hometown date, Nick visits Montreal to meet Vanessa. The bachelorette takes him to visit her special-needs students and her family. While her students like Nick, her family is not too sure about how will they manage their long-distance relationship? Her father is worried if Vanessa will have to move away from them to be with Nick. Towards the end of "The Bachelor" Season 21 (2017) episode 8, Nick will have surprise visitor that could change everything for him. The drama unfolds at the rose ceremony. Nick is expected to make some difficult decisions. According to Reality Steve's episode-by-episode spoilers for "The Bachelor" Season 21 (2017), Nick will eliminate Corinne Olympios. "The Bachelor" Season 21 (2017) episode 8 airs Feb. 20 at 8:00 pm on ABC. Stay tuned for more spoilers and updates. Mike Pencestands behind the gate with the infamous slogan 'Work sets you free'. US Vice President Mike Pence on Saturday brought a message of support for Europe from Donald Trump, but failed to wholly reassure allies worried about the new president's stance on Russia and the European Union. In Pence's first major foreign policy address for the Trump administration, he told European leaders that he spoke for Trump when he promised "unwavering" commitment to the NATO alliance. "Today, on behalf of President Trump, I bring you this assurance: the United States of America strongly supports NATO and will be unwavering in our commitment to this transatlantic alliance," Pence told the Munich Security Conference, offering "greetings" from the president. But he also repeated US calls for more defence spending in return: "As you keep faith with us, under President Trump we will always keep faith with you." While Poland's defence minister praised Pence, many others, including France's foreign minister and U.S. lawmakers in Munich, remained sceptical that he had convinced his allies that Trump would stand by Europe. Trump's contradictory remarks on the value of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, scepticism over the 2015 deal to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions and an apparent disregard for the future of the European Union have left Europe fearful for the seven-decade-old U.S. guardianship of the West. After Pence spoke, former NATO deputy secretary general Alexander Vershbow, who is American, summed up the mood, telling Reuters: "Many in this hall are still asking if this is the real policy." Pence, whose meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel was described by German aides as "very friendly", also marked out a divide on Iran, which the European Union sees as a business opportunity following the nuclear deal. Pence called Tehran "the leading state sponsor of terrorism", language never used by European officials. Pence's strident vow to consign Islamist militants "to the ash-heap of history" also raised eyebrows, European officials said. US Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly defended Trump's directive suspending travel to the United States by citizens of seven mostly Muslim countries, since blocked by U.S judges, which was condemned by EU governments. Kelly said he would produce a "tighter, more streamlined version" soon, saying: "We need to find ways to vet in a more reliable way to satisfy us that people coming to the United States are coming for the right reasons." French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault expressed disappointment that Pence's speech did not mention the European Union, although the vice president will take his message to EU headquarters in Brussels on Monday. "I hope that we will have a clear response (in Brussels) ... because Donald Trump has said he was overjoyed by the Brexit and that there would be others," Ayrault said, referring to Britain's decision to leave the European Union. U.S. Senator Chris Murphy, a member of the opposition Democrats, said he welcomed Pence's address but saw two rival governments emerging from the Trump administration. Pence, Trump's Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and his foreign minister Rex Tillerson all delivered messages of reassurance on their debut trip to Europe. But events in Washington, including a news conference in which Trump branded accredited White House reporters "dishonest people", sowed more confusion. "I like a lot of what I heard from Vice President Pence," Murphy told Reuters. "It's just hard to square that speech with everything Donald Trump is doing and saying," citing an assault on the free press. The resignation of Trump's security adviser Michael Flynn over his contacts with Russia on the eve of the U.S. charm offensive in Europe also tarnished the message Pence, Mattis and Tillerson were seeking to send, officials told Reuters. US Republican Senator John McCain, a Trump critic, told the conference on Friday that the new president's team was "in disarray". The United States is Europe's biggest trading partner, the biggest foreign investor in the continent and the European Union's partner in almost all foreign policy, as well as the main promoter of European unity for more than 60 years. Pence, citing a trip to Cold War-era West Berlin in his youth, said Trump would uphold the post-World War Two order. "This is President Trump's promise: we will stand with Europe today and every day, because we are bound together by the same noble ideals freedom, democracy, justice and the rule of law," Pence said. Pence received little applause beyond the warm reception he got when he declared his support for NATO. His warning that the "time has come to do more" on military spending was met with an awkward silence. The United States provides around 70 percent of the NATO alliance's funds. European governments sharply cut defence spending after the fall of the Soviet Union but Russia's resurgence as a military power and its seizure of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula has started to change that. Baltic states and Poland fear Russia might try a repeat of Crimea elsewhere. Europe believes Moscow is seeking to destabilize governments and influence elections with cyber attacks and fake news, an accusation denied at the conference by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Pence's tough line on Russia, calling on Moscow to honour the international peace accords that seek to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine, were welcomed by Polish Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz. Lavrov said after a meeting with his French, German and Ukrainian counterparts that there would be a new ceasefire from February 20. "Know this: the United States will continue to hold Russia accountable, even as we search for new common ground, which as you know, President Trump believes can be found," Pence said. Russia and its secret service operatives have been accused of plotting a coup attempt that included plans to kill former prime minister Milo Djukanovic (AP/Darko Vojinovic) Montenegro's special prosecutor has accused Russia and its secret service operatives of plotting a coup attempt that included plans to kill the Balkan country's former prime minister. Prosecutor Milivoje Katnic said an investigation into the alleged plot last October to overthrow Montenegro's government and prevent it from joining Nato has shown "that Russian state bodies were involved at a certain level". A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin said the claim was "absurd" and "irresponsible". "There can't be even talk about any sort of Russian officials' interference into Montenegro's internal affairs," said Dmitry Peskov. "Russia hasn't interfered and isn't going to interfere into domestic affairs of other countries, and in particular Montenegro with which we have very good relations." Earlier, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov also denied what he described as "unfounded accusations", adding that they "haven't been backed by a single fact". The Kremlin, opposed to further Nato expansion in Europe, has repeatedly denied involvement in the alleged plot. But it has actively supported nationalist groups opposed to Montenegro's Nato membership. Some 20 people, mostly Serbian citizens, have been arrested in Montenegro over the alleged election-day plot. The prosecutor told Prva TV that Eduard Shishmakov, an alleged Russian military spy, was the main coordinator of the plot that included the taking over of the parliament in the capital, Podgorica, and the killing of then-prime minister Milo Djukanovic, who brought the small nation to the threshold of Nato membership. Shishmakov and another Russian operative reportedly coordinated the action from neighbouring Serbia using encrypted mobile phones and other sophisticated spy equipment. They were allowed to return to Russia despite Serbian officials' acknowledgement of their alleged activities. Shishmakov was deputy Russian military attache in Poland before being expelled for espionage in 2014," Mr Katnic said. In 2014 there were several tit-for-tat expulsions involving Russia and Poland but the people expelled were never named. Mr Katnic said that Shishmakov travelled to Serbia on a passport with another name, Eduard Shirokov. "So, the passport was given to him by certain Russian state bodies under another name, and he is a member of the Russian military structures," Mr Katnic said. "It is clear that the passport on another name could not have been issued, as well as everything else... without the involvement of certain (Russian state) structures." US President Donald Trump's stand on Nato, which he has described as an "obsolete" organisation, and his warming of relations with Mr Putin, has worried many in Montenegro and the rest of the war-torn Balkans. AP An agile thief nicknamed "Spiderman", an antiques dealer and an art expert have been sentenced to prison and ordered to pay the city of Paris for stealing five masterpieces from the Modern Art Museum worth 104 million euro (88.6 million). The paintings - by Picasso, Matisse, Modigliani, Braque and Fernand Leger - have not been seen since the dramatic 2010 heist. The Paris court convicted "Spiderman" Vjeran Tomic of stealing the paintings and sentenced him to eight years in prison. Jean-Michel Corvez, the antiques dealer who orchestrated the theft, was sentenced to seven years. Yonathan Birn, who stored the paintings and told the court he destroyed them out of fear of getting caught, screamed at the judge who sentenced him to six years in prison. Birn's lawyer, Caroline Toby, called his sentence "particularly severe". The court also jointly fined the men 104 million euro for the loss of the paintings, but the verdict did not detail how they might go about raising even a fraction of the fine. Birn, a 40-year-old expert and dealer in luxury watches, previously told the court he threw the masterpieces in the rubbish and "made the worst mistake of my existence". Investigators think the paintings were smuggled out of France, although they were not able to prove that, court documents showed. Birn's co-defendants said he was "too smart" to destroy the masterpieces. Tomic, a thief with 14 previous convictions, said before sentencing that he got a buzz from the May 20 2010 overnight break-in. He took advantage of failures in the security, alarm and video surveillance systems to move around the high-ceilinged museum, near the Eiffel Tower. "It's quite spectacular. There is an adrenaline rush the moment you enter the space," he said. "The sounds resonate from one side to the other." Authorities found climbing gear at his home: gloves, ropes, climbing shoes and suction cups. He removed the glass from a bay window without breaking it and cut the padlock of the metal grid behind it, allowing him to move from one room to another without raising the security alarm. Tomic was there to steal a painting by Fernand Leger and possibly a Modigliani ordered by Corvez, the 61-year-old antiques dealer who confessed to being a receiver of stolen goods. Tomic said when he came across the Picasso, the Matisse and the Braque paintings, he decided to take them as well. Several hours after the headline-making burglary, Tomic said he offered the five paintings to Corvez, who said he was "totally stunned" by them. Corvez said he initially gave Tomic a plastic bag containing 40,000 euro (34,000) in small denominations just for the Leger, because he was unsure he would get buyers for the other paintings. Corvez then became worried about keeping the artworks in his shop after several months and showed them to his friend Birn, who agreed to buy the Modigliani for 80,000 euro (68,000) and to store the others in his studio. The Modigliani was hidden in a bank safe, he said. Birn said he panicked when police began investigating. He said one day in May 2011 he retrieved the Modigliani from the safe, returned to his workshop to break the stretcher bars on all the canvasses with fierce kicks and then threw them all into the building's rubbish. AP Heres whats happening at the Cabarrus County Public Libraries: Concord Library Tuesday, Feb.21 Baby Story Time Songs, stories, and finger plays, followed by playtime for babies and networking for parents. Ages 0 -Walking with caregiver, 9:15-10:15 a.m. Preschool Story Time Stories, songs, finger plays, and more. Ages 35 with caregiver. 10-11 a.m. Introduction to the Internet RR This class will go over the basics of the Internet and tips for staying safe online. This class requires basic computer skills. Spaces limited and registration required, call 7049203484 to register. Location: Cabarrus County Senior Center, 331 Corban Ave. SE, Concord.3-4 p.m. League of Extraordinary LEGO's Well bring the LEGOs, you bring your imagination! Now with DUPLO! Drop in. Ages 412, 4:30-5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22 Toddler Story Time Stories, songs, finger plays, and more, followed by play time for toddlers and networking for parents. Ages Walking-3 years with caregiver. 9:15-10:15 a.m. and 10:15-11:15 a.m. Platiquemos: An English Conversation Hour Native Spanish speakers looking to improve their English are invited to a conversation hour. In this program participants will have the opportunity to meet other students who are also learning English. The library is a safe and supportive place to practice speaking and listening skills. 11 a.m. to noon. Platiquemos! Las personas de habla hispana que quieran mejorar su Ingles estan invitadas a una hora deconversacion. En este programa los participantes tendran la oportunidad de conocer otros estudiantes que tambien estan aprendiendo Ingles. La biblioteca es un lugar seguro, de apoyo, que les ofrece la posibilidad de practicar sus habilidades de hablar y escuchar. Harrisburg Library Monday, Feb. 20 Baby Story Time Songs, stories, and finger plays, followed by playtime for babies and networking for parents. Ages 0 -Walking with caregiver, 9:30-10:30 a.m. Stuffed Animal Sleepover Party Put on your pajamas and bring a stuffed animal pal to the librarys Stuffed Animal Sleepover Party where the whole family will enjoy stories, crafts, and snacks! After the party, children can leave their stuffed animals for a one night sleepover at the library. Who knows what hijinks will ensue? 4-5 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21 Toddler Story Time Stories, songs, finger plays, and more, followed by play time for toddlers and networking for parents. Ages Walking-3 years with caregiver. 9:30-10:30 a.m. Preschool Story Time Stories, songs, finger plays and more. Ages 3-5 years with caregiver. Both sessions features different stories and activities. 11 a.m. to noon. S.T.E.A.M. Academy RR Join Professor Shae and explore the worlds of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math. Do you have a need for speed? Work as a team to build the best soap dish bobsled and test your skills at the bobsled races! Ages 612, 1-2 p.m. Anime Club Do you love anime? Read manga? Come join our anime club to meet others with similar interests, watch anime, and discuss this unique art form! Ages 1317, 5-6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22 Toddler Story Time Stories, songs, finger plays, and more, followed by play time for toddlers and networking for parents. Ages Walking-3 years with caregiver. 11 a.m. to noon. Kannapolis Library Monday, Feb. 20 College Prep 101: SAT Test Prep RRInterested in finding out how to improve your SAT Scores for College? We have partnered with the Princeton Review to give a free SAT Practice Test this is a great opportunity to experience the SAT in a lowpressure setting, and get a report after the test with ways to raise your scores in the future. Registration is required and can be done online at https://www.princetonreview.com/offer/freepracticetests#!TestSAT_2016, call 7049201180 with questions or for more information. Ages 1618, 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Baby Story Time Songs, stories, and finger plays, followed by playtime for babies and networking for parents. Ages 0 -Walking with caregiver, 9:30-10 a.m. Writing Workshop Come and bring out the creative writer in you. Also explore books to spark your writing creativity. Ages 7-12, 2-3 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21 Toddler Story Time Stories, songs, finger plays, and more, followed by play time for toddlers and networking for parents. Ages Walking-3 years with caregiver. 9:30-10 a.m. and 10:30-11 a.m. Mother Goose Olympics Come read nursery rhymes, then compete in the Nursery Rhyme Olympics where well be jumping like Jack (be nimble), sticking spiders on Little Miss Muffet, and playing other games. Ages 412, 4-5 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22 Preschool Story Time Stories, songs, finger plays and more. Ages 3-5 years with caregiver. 9:30-10 a.m. and 10:30-11 a.m. League of Extraordinary LEGOs Kannapolis Well bring the LEGOs, you bring your imagination! Drop in. Ages 412, 4-5 p.m. DIY Tube Bracelets Bilingual Design a oneofakind bracelet! Using beads and glitter well be making jewelry youll love to show your friends. Class will be presented in both English and Spanish. Ages 12 and up. 6-7 p.m. Mount Pleasant Library Monday, Feb. 20 Baby/Toddler Story Time Songs, stories, and finger plays, followed by play time for babies/toddlers and networking for parents. Ages 03 with caregiver, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21 Homeschool Reading Discussion Group Especially for the homeschool crowd, each week we will discuss a few chapters of the book Jake by Audrey Couloumbis and do a related activity. 10-11 a.m. Made with Code: Kaleidoscope RR Learn how to code a computer, stepbystep. Code your face into a kaleidoscopic masterpiece. Space is limited. Please call 7049202202 to register. 3-4 p.m. Made with Code: Kaleidoscope RR Learn how to code a computer, stepbystep. Code your face into a kaleidoscopic masterpiece. Space is limited. Please call 7049202202 to register. 4:30-5:30 p.m. CONCORD When Carolyn Carpenter started volunteering with the Salvation Army, she began as a bell ringer during the holidays raising funds for the organization. As a bell ringer, she would hear stories of how the Salvation Army helped people.Carpenter remembers one story of a woman on the coast whose home had been destroyed and how Salvation Army had been there to provide food and coffee. Carpenter also talked about a woman who said she dropped money into the Salvation Army kettle every time she went by one because of when she was homeless and the Salvation Army provided clothing and a doll to the womans daughter for Christmas. Her daughter had gotten a Christmas thanks to the Salvation Army and as soon as she had gotten back on her feet she always gave to the Salvation Army, Carpenter said. I heard these stories over and over again and thought, thats really why I want to do this. That was in the mid-90s and when she retired she got even more involved joining the Salvation Army Womens Auxiliary. She has been an active part of the Salvation Army for about a decade. Now, Carpenter and others with the Salvation Army Womens Auxiliary are planning one of their largest fundraisers with the 13th annual Souper Bowl, which runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21 at Forest Hill United Methodist Church, 265 Union St N, Concord. Tickets for the Souper Bowl can be purchased at the door the day of the event.Tickets are $10 for a bowl of soup with crackers, a cookie and a drink. There will be more than 20 different soups on hand from area restaurants. Carpenter said theyll have more than 60 gallons of soup available. Last year, the fundraiser generated more than $45,000. Funds are used to help in the community and the Salvation Army Womens Auxiliary has raised funds for clothes for their Angel Tree Christmas program, as well as scholarships, supplies for the local soup kitchen and mattresses for the area homeless shelter. This will be the 13th year of the Souper Bowl, with Carpenter a part of the program for about 10 years. One year she chaired the event the Souper Bowl raised more than $60,000. That was one of the biggest years weve had, Carpenter said. Each year, the Souper Bowl takes on a different theme, with past themes including a Hawaiian luau, a patriotic theme and a cowboy theme, among others. This years theme will feature painted shoes as the placeholders for the Souper Bowl with the theme being, Stepping Out to Help the Community an appropriate theme with Shoe Show as one of the main sponsors of the event. The Salvation Army Womens Auxiliary continues to look for other sponsors to help support the community and sponsorship levels start out at $100, Carpenter said. Carpenter said they are also looking for new members in the auxiliary as well as other volunteers. Membership in the auxiliary is important, with dues ranging from $15 to $100, because those funds go toward paying the cost of the Souper Bowl. We do not have any cost because our dues pay all our expenses, Carpenter said, adding that all the money people donate goes directly to helping in the community. Not only does the Souper Bowl help in the community, it is also an event many people plan for. This event, its really a social event of the community. Carpenter said. A lot of the ladies they look forward to this each year. Visit https://www.salvationarmycarolinas.org/cabarrus for more information on the Salvation Army Cabarrus County or call 704-782-7822 about joining the Salvation Army Womens Auxiliary or being a sponsor. ROWAN COUNTY- Police have arrested a man after they said he led them on a high-speed chase on Interstate 85 Sunday morning. WSOC-TV reported that around 9 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 19 police in China Grove attempted to pull over a car driven by Robert Pease for speeding in a construction zone. Pease refused to stop and led police on a pursuit that reached speeds of more than 100 mph. Police eventually stopped Pease and he and his passenger were arrested. Pease, 40, was charged with flee to elude arrest, possessing a stolen vehicle, careless and reckless driving and speeding in a work zone. Brittany Owens, 29, was the passenger in the car and was also arrested on outstanding warrants from South Carolina. Seneca, S.C.-based Community First Bank has announced the opening of a Loan Production Office in Concord, NC. Concord banker Michelle L. Riley has been hired as Vice President and City Executive to head the operation. The Concord location will be the banks first in North Carolina. Riley will cover Concord and the surrounding area, focusing on establishing and building new commercial banking relationships. The office will open March 1 at 300 McGill Avenue. Michelles extensive background and local knowledge makes her the ideal fit for this new position, said Community First President and CEO Richard D. Burleson. Were fortunate to have her lead our entry into North Carolina. Rileys banking experience includes more than 15 years in the financial services industry, primarily in commercial banking. She holds a degree in accounting from the University of Tennessee, where she also attended graduate school. Riley served as Past-President of the Cabarrus Business Network and is active in the Cabarrus County United Way, Concord Rotary Club, Cabarrus Chamber of Commerce, and Big Brothers Big Sisters. Community First currently operates seven full-service banking offices and three loan production offices in Upstate South Carolina. Two men shot at a Salisbury bar sustained injuries, and one remains in critical condition. On Sunday, Feb. 19, at about 1:15 a.m., deputies from the Rowan County Sheriffs Office and officers from the Salisbury Police Department were dispatched to the address of 3750 Statesville Blvd. in Salisbury for a reported shooting incident. This address is the Kahunas Bar & Grill but is also a known hangout for the Country Boyz Motorcycle Club. Rowan County 911 received multiple calls about the incident and dispatched Rowan County EMS in addition to the law enforcement agencies already mentioned. Upon arrival, law enforcement officers from both agencies found a chaotic scene with numbers of people at the 3750 address as well as across the street at the parking lot of a business known as Bunce Buildings, 3711 Statesville Blvd. in Salisbury, according to a report. Deputies found one victim of the shooting incident located inside the bar, on the floor, law enforcement said. This victim was a 23-year-old black male who had been shot in the pelvic area. EMS treated this victim and transported him from the scene to Rowan Novant Emergency Room by ambulance. This victim was later transported to Baptist Hospital, where he several hours of surgery to repair serious injuries caused by the gunshot, and he continues to make a slow recovery, according to a report. Detectives learned that a second victim, a 21-year-old black male, had traveled to the ER on his own, law enforcement said. It was further learned that he left the ER before being treated but only had a grazing wound to his right elbow that was minor, according to a report. Detectives did locate this victim and questioned him about the shooting incident. The location of this entire incident was determined to be in the county outside of the city limits of Salisbury. Deputies and detectives of the Rowan County Sheriffs Office Criminal Investigative Division began the task of gathering statements from the large number of people present who were witnesses to the event. Officers of the Salisbury PD assisted with scene security and crime scene management. Evidence was gathered by detectives of the Rowan County Sheriffs Office, but the crime scene involved a larger than normal area that included the property at 3750 Statesville Blvd., an area of roadway down U.S. 70, and over to the Bunce Buildings parking lot at 3711 Statesville Blvd. At present, the investigation into this incident is ongoing. Anyone with information can contact 1st. Lt. Chad Moose at 704-216-8687 or Sgt. Rodney Mahaley at 704-216-8711. To remain anonymous and possibly collect an award of up to $1,000, information can be submitted 24/7 via the web http://tips.salisburyrowancrimestoppers.org or by calling the Salisbury-Rowan Crime Stoppers at 1-866-639-5245. BARRANQUILLA, COLOMBIA Deaf evangelist Kevin Clark and his team recently spread the gospel and love of Christ without speaking a word. Clark and four other volunteers, all deaf except for one, traveled to Barranquilla in Colombia, South America, for a week starting Jan. 16 to facilitate an annual Bible camp from for deaf individuals grown out of a faithful ministry going back decades. Team member Sally Dixon, the only hearing volunteer who went on the mission trip, explained that Baptist missionaries Cliff and Brenda Tolosa were granted leave by the Southern Baptist Conventions International Missions Board in 2005 to travel to Colombia to minister to the deaf population there. The couple were not deaf themselves, but had been ministering to deaf individuals in North Carolina for 20 years before that, and felt like they were being called out into the world to share their ministry. The couple faced challenges right away, since they had to learn Spanish as well as Colombian sign language. Dixon explained that sign language lexicons are different in every country. God blessed the work down there among the deaf people, Dixon said. Over two to three years, about 200 deaf people accepted Christ. The couple trained several of these people, and they became spiritual leaders among the deaf in Colombia. Dixon said understanding and support for the deaf community is significantly lacking in Colombia. She said the unemployment rate for deaf individuals throughout the country is about 95 percent. Deaf individuals there suffer greatly from things like alcoholism and depression. They are not encouraged to marry, and sometimes are not even allowed to raise their own children. Theres not a lot of deaf pride in Colombia, because nobody really views them with a great deal of respect, Dixon said. Theres not a big push, like we see here in America, with wanting rights and privileges afforded to the deaf, or to give them assistance, and thats heartbreaking for us. The needs are really great. While the couple was on furlough for six months back in the U.S., they visited Dixons congregation at Catawba Valley Baptist Church in Morganton and shared information about the spiritual and physical needs of the deaf community in Colombia, along with two people in the deaf congregation of the church from Colombia who spoke from a firsthand perspective. We just fell in love with the deaf there without even meeting them, Dixon said. When the Tolosas returned to Colombia, they decided to offer a week-long Bible camp to deaf individuals in the area. In 2012, they sent out invitations to people in deaf ministry throughout the U.S. to help with the camp. Dixon, recently retired as a teacher from the North Carolina School for the Deaf, traveled with five other volunteers, all from North Carolina, to minister to more than 80 deaf Colombian individuals who attended the camp. It was unbelievable, Dixon said. We led Bible studies and trained them in using drama to explain Bible stories. Theyve now become quite proficient in using drama to do their Bible studies and worship services. The Tolosas decided to support and empower the deaf Colombian spiritual leaders the following year by asking them to help plan the next camp. Since that time, the deaf have taken on more and more of the responsibility of planning these camps, Dixon said. She said the Colombian leaders have made great strides in leading deaf Bible studies and worship services in various homes throughout the year due to the couples training and encouragement. In 2015, the Tolosas retired from mission work and came home to the U.S. Since then, the Special Ministries Department of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina has cleared Clark, an ordained deaf minister, to lead U.S. team members in helping the deaf leaders in Colombia continue the tradition of the camp each year. Dixon said Clark has ministered to deaf populations around the world since beginning his career. This year, four volunteers from North Carolina and one from Georgia made the trip. Dixon said the camp has expanded to include craft activities and counseling. They also support the camp and the campers financially. They paid for a campers trip to and from Venezuela and made a donation to an afterschool program for deaf children the Colombian leaders started. Fifty-five deaf Colombians attended the camp this year, about a dozen of them for the first time. They met in a hearing church that allowed the deaf camp to use its facility. Theyre a giving people, Dixon said of the deaf population in Colombia. They dont have a lot to give, but they love to give and make you feel welcome. I love getting to know the deaf Colombians and hearing them speak about how God has changed their lives and is showing them things. Thats hope in an area where theres not a great deal of hope. Its always difficult to leave them. Dixon asked people to pray for the deaf ministry in Colombia, specifically for the calling of a full-time deaf minister there and for plans for next years camp. Those wishing to financially support the deaf mission to Colombia may send checks to Dixons current church, Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church, and specify Colombian deaf ministry in the memo line. The churchs address is 1698 Conley Road, Morganton, NC, 28655. Daniel Craig talks to Stephen Colbert about James Bond films. (Photo : YouTube / The Late Show with Stephen Colbert) Daniel Craig's silence on whether or not he would return for another "James Bond" movie has baffled many, so much that even bosses at MGM are reportedly panicking as the British actor has been "off grid" for a whole year with regards the film. It was previously rumored that Craig is ready to retire from the role, although no official confirmation from the actor and the "James Bond" team has been released so far. However, The Daily Mail reported that there has been no movement on the negotiations between MGM Studios and Craig as to the next "James Bond" movie. Advertisement A source said that MGM has reached the actor and offered him a huge sum, as well as inquired about his filming availability for 2017. There were past rumors that Sony Pictures were willing to offer as much as $150 million for Craig to reprise his role as 007. No response from Craig has been received. MGM is reportedly planning to release the 25th "James Bond" movie in October 2018. Craig's previous statements have also fueled speculations about his return as James Bond. In an interview with TimeOut in 2015, Craig said he'd rather "break this glass and slash my wrist" instead of doing another "Bond" movie. "No, not at the moment. Not at all. That's fine. I'm over it at the moment. We're done. All I want to do is move on," the actor added. However, his more recent statement took a complete u-turn as he seemed to express interest at giving the role another go. "I've got the best job in the world doing Bond," Craig told fans at the New York Festival's Beyond Bond panel, The Independent reported. "If I were to stop doing it, I would miss it terribly. I love this job. I get a massive kick out of if and if I can keep getting a kick out of it, I will." At this point, there clearly is nothing holding back Craig from returning as bond and MGM doesn't seem to be so keen at replacing him as of yet. There are rumblings that Craig's age may be holding him back from returning as Bond, but age has never been quite an issue for the character. In 1985's "A View to a Kill," Roger Moore was 57 years old when he played the suave spy. Here in North Carolina, we are fortunate to have one of the largest military bases in our backyard at Fort Bragg - the epicenter of the universe. We know firsthand the unique sacrifices our men and women in uniform, our veterans and their families make for our country. Just last week, more than 40 Fort Bragg soldiers who were in Iraq providing medical support for the fight against ISIS returned home from a nine-month deployment. And, more than 80 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division returned safely after a secretive mission in Africa. We are so proud of these men and women, and we are eternally grateful for their sacrifices. After all, America is only the land of the free because of these brave. Thats exactly why Ive made it a top priority to ensure our men and women in uniform, our veterans and their families get the care and respect they deserve. As George Washington said, The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation. That statement rings true to this day. As a new generation of veterans return home from war, it is my priority to ensure they get the care promised to them for their physical and psychological wounds, and also that they can get the skills needed to transition to civilian life. This week I supported several measures to help do just that: The Boosting Rates of American Veteran Employment (BRAVE) Act (H.R. 974) would allow the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to give preference in awarding contracts for the procurement of goods and services to those that employ veterans on a full-time basis. Im pleased to see that Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) introduced companion legislation in the Senate last week. The WINGMAN Act (H.R. 512) would allow congressional casework staff to have read-only access to Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) claim records if authorized by the veteran. This is a common sense step to empower congressional caseworkers to better assist veterans in navigating the complex VA claims process. The HIRE Vets Act (H.R. 244) would encourage businesses to hire more veterans by creating a HIRE Vets Medallion Program. The Department of Labor would solicit voluntary information from employers so businesses that recruit, employ and train veterans can be officially recognized with a HIRE Vets Medallion and a certificate. As Ive said before, North Carolinas veterans can count on me to be their voice. And these actions speak loud and clear: I will always fight for the care, service and respect they deserve. These measures are common sense steps to help veterans find jobs and to help them better navigate the complicated bureaucracy at the VA. If any veterans in the eighth district can't get an answer from the VA in a timely fashion or if they feel they have been treated unfairly, please reach out to my Concord office at 704-786-1612 or my Fayetteville office at 910-997-2070. My office is here to serve you and we will work hard to help in any way we can. The recurring HB2 nightmare will celebrate a birthday next month with no end in sight. Both sides of the political spectrum find themselves in a box, albeit a cardboard box they are treating as if it had walls of steel. Governor Cooper fired the latest salvo in this running battle this week. Cooper proposed repealing HB2, increasing penalties for committing a crime in a public bathroom or locker room and requiring any cities and counties seeking to create nondiscrimination ordinances to provide 30 days' notice to the legislature. The governors proposed solution was met with immediate disdain from those on both sides but syndicated columnist and NC SPIN panelist John Hood says perhaps both were too fast with the criticism and should have reflected more before drawing swords. Hood says that there may be a compromise here. Coopers suggestion on the 30-day notification might open the door to negotiations. The legislature had originally proposed a 6-month moratorium before local governments could pass nondiscrimination ordinances; suppose both sides would agree to an outright repeal of HB2, split the difference and agree on a 90-day notification period? This compromise agreement would accomplish several important goals. If enacted before the end of this month both sides of the issue could claim victory, even if neither got all they wanted. This compromise would essentially return us to the status quo before Charlotte passed its ordinance and the legislature countered with HB2, a point where most acknowledge there werent widespread evidences of discrimination or related crimes. Such a compromise could forestall another round of ACC and NCAA boycotts for holding tournaments and events in our state, remove the barriers for businesses seeking to relocate here and staunch the damage to our reputation. Without question our state would enjoy economic benefits. Further, a 90-day notification would allow the legislature ample time to review proposed local nondiscrimination ordinances, discuss them with local government officials and respond, hopefully with more consideration and deliberation than we saw in the passage of HB2, if they deem action is desired. If a local government disagreed with legislative action it could pursue remedies in the courts, understanding that these court battles would be costly, lengthy and likely without much success, since local governments are the creation of and ultimately governed by the legislature. But that situation is unchanged from where they are currently. Cases of individual or even class action discrimination claims could be entered in state courts, also currently allowed. Curiously, there is one point upon which most agree: North Carolina must end this nightmarish HB2 debacle. What we have seen to date is a war of press releases, mutual distrust, grandstanding and tribal polarization. We dont need a champion girded for battle riding a stallion. What we do need is leaders who will talk with and listen to each other (something there is little evidence that is occurring now), who are willing to find compromise solutions and who are less concerned with who gets credit for resolving the crisis than they are in getting it resolved. Now is the time to escape the HB2 box and move forward. Failure to do so immediately will only bring more needless economic and political distress. Tom Campbell is former assistant North Carolina State Treasurer and is creator/host of NC SPIN, a weekly statewide television discussion of NC issues. Show airs in Charlotte on WCCB Sundays at 6:30 a.m. RALEIGH Do governors and state legislators really have much to do with the performance of state economies? If governors and state legislators are to be believed, their policies are responsible for all good economic news and rarely responsible for the bad news. Its easy to ridicule the self-importance of politicians. But the position on the opposite extreme, that state government has little effect on the economy, is also unwarranted. While everyone agrees that state policies can influence the growth of population, jobs, and incomes in the long run, many analysts believe that state decisions dont have much to do with economic fluctuations in the short run. Thats mistaken. North Carolinas experience during the Great Recession suggests otherwise. And a new academic study demonstrates that North Carolinas experience was hardly a fluke. The story begins back in early 2006, when then-Gov. Mike Easley and the General Assembly then controlled by Democrats were greeted with the news that North Carolina had a budget surplus of about $2.4 billion. After years of deficits or tight budgets during the early 2000s, it was a welcome relief. But what should policymakers do with the surplus? Phil Berger, then minority leader of the state senate, argued that the legislature shouldnt go on a spending spree but should instead shore up the states reserves, pay down some debts, and roll back the Democratic tax increases that were partially responsible for the higher revenues. Other conservatives made similar arguments. They were largely ignored. Although Easley and Democratic leaders did edge down the states sales and income tax rates, most of the surplus funded new expenditures. In fact, they increased state spending by 10 percent. Making matters worse, the 2006-07 budget contained hundreds of millions of dollars of recurring spending funded by one-time money. This became a recipe for disaster when the Great Recession hit. By the 2009-11 budget biennium, new Gov. Bev Perdue and Democratic legislators faced billions of dollars in deficits. They were forced to cut back the very areas that got gigantic spending hikes in 2006-07. They also resorted to a new round of economically destructive tax increases. Heres where the new academic study I mentioned comes into the picture. Published in the Journal of Monetary Economics, it explored why some states fared far worse than others during the Great Recession. Co-authors Daniel Shoag of Harvard University and Stan Veuger of the American Enterprise Institute examined the role of policy uncertainty the extent to which business leaders, investors, and entrepreneurs had reason to believe some states were in better shape than others to ride out an economic storm without adverse fiscal shocks such as budget gaps and tax hikes. Shoag and Veuger used an archive of news stories from 2006 to 2009 to construct an index measuring increases in policy uncertainty. They also looked at conditions that may well have produced or contributed to such uncertainty, such as state budget rules. The authors found that greater policy uncertainty among states was associated with larger increases in state unemployment rates. According to the study, North Carolina had the eighth-highest policy uncertainty score in the country in the run up to the Great Recession people did actually take note of the fiscal recklessness of Easley and legislative Democrats as well as the sixth-largest jump in unemployment. But what caused what? Perhaps some states were destined to have horrible recessions and just experienced more policy uncertainty as a result. The authors used other techniques to test this explanation, and found it unlikely. Uncertainty is likely to be not merely a by-product of economic conditions, but an independent driver of outcomes, they concluded. The lesson for North Carolinas current leaders should be obvious. Once again, we have a healthy revenue surplus this year. If used wisely to build up savings, pay down liabilities, and address other critical needs it will make North Carolina a more attractive place to live, work, invest, and create jobs. If squandered, that will create uncertainty about our fiscal future, with deleterious results. John Hood is chairman of the John Locke Foundation and appears on the talk show NC SPIN. You can follow him @JohnHoodNC. Startups in Delhi winning in race for investors According to data collected by LetsVenture, startups in the Delhi National Capital Region (NCR) which includes the capital Delhi and its satellites Gurgaon and Noida have closed more investment deals over the past year than their counterparts in Bangalore. According to the data, 328 startups in the NCR received investments, in comparison to only 261 in Bangalore. However, the investments in the NCR totaled US$2.50 billion, in contrast to the US$2.52 billion that startups in Bangalore received. Although Bangalore has long stood as the startup capital of India, Delhi has become increasingly competitive because of its investment ecosystem. Delhi hosts a number of leading higher education facilities, is in close proximity to the political capital of the country, and a high number of investment firms maintain their offices in Delhi. Harley-Davidson targets Tier-II cities for growth Harley-Davidson India, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the US motorcycle manufacturer, has announced plans to expand into Tier-II cities in India. A spokesperson for the subsidiary said the company was enjoying most of its sales in 26 showrooms across major cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, but that the company intended to build at least four dealerships in Tier II cities during 2017. The spokesperson said that the company currently holds an estimated 60 percent of the superbike market, a component of the automotive industry, after establishing itself in Gurgaon (Haryana state) in 2009. Two years later, Harley-Davidson set up an assembly unit in Bawana, Haryana the first assembly unit the company had constructed outside of the US. Uttar Pradesh wins Bollywoods bucks Uttar Pradeshs Film Development Council (FDC) reports that an estimated 180 filmmakers have applied to shoot in the state after its government introduced a number of business friendly measures. In October 2015, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav introduced an online portal, single-window clearance system, and a variety of subsidies to encourage the film industry to make films in the state. Although many provincial governments across the world use these kind of incentive schemes to incentivize film production, domestic media reports claim that Uttar Pradesh is the only state in India with such a comprehensive policy. Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya, the two northeastern states, are reportedly developing a similar approach to the film industry. About Us Asia Briefing Ltd. is a subsidiary of Dezan Shira & Associates. Dezan Shira is a specialist foreign direct investment practice, providing corporate establishment, business advisory, tax advisory and compliance, accounting, payroll, due diligence and financial review services to multinationals investing in China, Hong Kong, India, Vietnam, Singapore and the rest of ASEAN. For further information, please email india@dezshira.com or visit www.dezshira.com. Stay up to date with the latest business and investment trends in Asia by subscribing to our complimentary update service featuring news, commentary and regulatory insight. Dezan Shira & Associates Brochure Dezan Shira & Associates is a pan-Asia, multi-disciplinary professional services firm, providing legal, tax and operational advisory to international corporate investors. Operational throughout China, ASEAN and India, our mission is to guide foreign companies through Asias complex regulatory environment and assist them with all aspects of establishing, maintaining and growing their business operations in the region. This brochure provides an overview of the services and expertise Dezan Shira & Associates can provide. An Introduction to Doing Business in India 2017 An Introduction to Doing Business in India 2017 is designed to introduce the fundamentals of investing in India. As such, this comprehensive guide is ideal not only for businesses looking to enter the Indian market, but also for companies who already have a presence here and want to stay up-to-date with the most recent and relevant policy changes. Craggy mountains, moors, lakes (lochs), medieval castles and scary sea cliffs, Scottish Highlands pack it all. And yes, Harry Potter fans will identify Glencoe in the Highlands too. In the third film in the franchise, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), the scenes featuring Hagrids hut were filmed here, besides scenes in the sixth instalment, The Half-Blood Prince (2009). While we all know that the sexiest of all Bonds, Sean Connery, is a Scotman too, in Bond film Skyfall, in an attempt to keep M (the Head of Secret Intelligence Service MI6 played by Judi Dench) safe, Bond takes her to his family home, Skyfall, shot in Glencoe. Scotland is an amazing land with amazing people and your iconic Scottish Highlands tour will be mostly through the A82 that runs from Glasgow to Inverness by way of Fort William, the second largest settlement in the Highlands of Scotland. And this road is one which passes close to the tourist attractions in the Highlands, including Loch Lomond, Rannoch Moor, Glen Coe, Ben Nevis, the Commando Memorial, Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle. So your dream journey in the Highlands with the Isle of Skye Island as final destination begins in Edinburgh or Glasgow and then you go past incredible landscapes of mountains and deep valley called glens and lochs or lakes with first urban halt at Callander, the small but beautiful tourist town situated on the River Teith, near Stirling. It is often described as the gateway to the Highlands. This town is the meeting point between the Highlands and the Lowlands. As you travel further, your tour operator might enrich you with many stories about the clan system of Scotland in the past and the battles- stories of Rob Roy and the Jacobite uprisings, which were a series of political rebellions in Great Britain and Ireland to restore the Roman Catholic Stuart King James VII of Scotland, II of England and Ireland, and his heirs to the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland. Then as you halt at the Commando Memorial dedicated to the men of the original British Commando Forces raised during World War II, you also enjoy a sweeping panorama of mountains and valleys, including the Ben Nevis (the highest mountain in the British Isles) and Aonach Mor (another big mountain). Your next big halt is the tourist town of Fort William or An Gearasdan which in Gaelic means "The Garrison". It is one of Scotlands most popular holiday towns in the Lochaber region, which is home to The Great Glen, Glen Nevis, Glencoe and Mallaig, providing some of the stunning scenery on the West Coast of Scotland. Then you reach Loch Duich near Dornie, which is a small former fishing village. It is here that you find the most photographed castle of Scotland- Eilean Donan Castle, a Bollywood favourite too and its image they say appears on more shortbread tins and calendars than any other in the UK. Nestled on a little island, it also overlooks the Isle of Skye, at the point where three great sea-lochs meet, and surrounded by the majestic splendour of the forested mountains of Kintail. You can check out the castle either on way to the Isle of Skye or on way back. According to Scotland tourism source, over the centuries, the castle contracted and expanded for reasons that still remain a mystery to this day, until 1719 when it was involved in one of the lesser known Jacobite uprisings. The castle that visitors enjoy now was reconstructed as a family home between 1912 and 1932 by Lt Col John MacRae-Gilstrap, and incorporated much of the ruins from the 1719 destruction. A bridge was added too which completes the classic image of a castle. But leaving the castle behind, as you proceed you reach your icing on the cake of Scottish Highlands- the Isle of Skye. That Scottish highlands are panoramic is known to all, but if you are making a trip there, a two-night (3 days) trip to Isle of Skye is certainly going to be your icing in the cake. Skye is a magical island and the largest of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, now connected to the mainland with a bridge. Meaning cloud island, Isle of Skye is 50-mile-long tapestry of jagged, craggy mountains, moors, lakes (lochs) and scary sea cliffs that offer views like the one at Neist Point. The population of the island is around 10,000. The capital or the major town here is Portree, which is also a bustling port. Villages in the north of the Island include Dunvegan, Edinbane, Uig and Staffin, all of which offer some spectacular landscapes spiced up by sighting of dinosaur fossils or dramatic history about clan warfare, Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobite uprisings. While your should be staying at Portree, reaching there by evening from Edinburgh, set out early in the morning for exploring places like Neist Point and Quiraing. Your first stop should be the unmissable Neist Point. Only here in Scotland can you find a stunning view of a high cliff overlooking the emerald blue sea. The steep steps of concrete leads to a lighthouse built in 1909. Neist Point is famous for its rock formations offering the dramatic landscape. As you start walking, Neist Points sweeping beauty unravels before your eyes. So walk up to the lighthouse or stand before the sea cliff to breathe deeply. And between Neist Point and the Quiraing mountains, a must visit is Ferie Glen, which is a miniature landscape of grassy, cone-shaped natural mounds. Ferie Glen or the Fairy Glen is a beautiful halt for grassy walk, with a fairy story from one of the many Scottish fairy folklores and a huge rock that looks like a castle, said to be the abode of fairies. Next on your list should be the Quiraing, which is a part of the panoramic Trotternish ridge. This place is famous for hiking and walk. This Trotternish Ridge escarpment has been formed by a massive landslip which has created high cliffs, hidden plateaus and rock pinnacles. The Quiraing walk is a loop, returning you to the same point (the carpark). It covers a distance of 6.8 km. The Quiraing is situated in the north of Skye and as you look down from the cliff top you are treated to a panoramic view of the Table, a flat glassy plateau surrounded by rock formations and sea cliffs. Next you can head for Staffin, a place set beneath the wonderful Trottenish Ridge. If you are staying there you can explore perhaps the spotty houses, the beach and amazing geology. If you are halting here as part of sight seeing what you see from a top viewpoint are the cliffs and waterfalls along the coast. The famous Kilt Rock is a sea cliff in north east Trotternish where you can also see the Mealt Falls, a spectacular waterfall. And yes dinosaur footprints found here made Staffin so famous.With the rugged but beautiful scenery, the place boasts amazing views and the Hebridean Minch cuts through the Highland retreat close to Staffin Bay. On the day you return, you will be passing through Cuillin Hills back to the mainland. On way back to Edinburgh you certainly will enjoy the halts at the points like Loch Duich, Eilean Donan castle (most photographed in Scotland and a Bollywood favourite) and then Loch Ness, famous for the unseen Loch Ness Monster called "Nessie". On the day you return, you will be passing through Cuillin Hills back to the mainland. On way back to Edinburgh you certainly should explore Loch Ness, Scotland's largest loch, with a depth of 754 feet, and famous for the " elusive" or rather mythical Loch Ness Monster, Nessie. The spotting of this aquatic being is often called a hoax but there is a legend that developed over time on whether this creature exists or not. At a short distance from Inverness, this loch or lake however is an impressive stretch of water spreading in length up to 23 miles bordered by picturesque villages such as Foyers and Dores. Urquhart Castle, which is a former historically famous royal castle, is here, overlooking the water from the western shore. Boat trips can be your best option here to enjoy the landscape and the water body where sailing and fishing enthusiasts flock. Covering Loch Ness, you can head back to the lowlands and finally to your starting point either in Edinburgh or Glasgow. A Walk to Remember Scottish Highlands offer stunning diversity and natural beauty with its mountains, valleys, coast and lochs which provide a great enjoyment for the walkers. Some of the best places to walk are mountains like Ben Nevis near the Fort William town. This place is also called Outdoor Capital of the UK. The views are spectacular. You can also think of a less strenuous walk in the road of Glen Nevis. You can also go for walk at Glencoe and see some jaw-dropping high rise views. Loch Ossian is another place for walk. FACTSHEET HOW TO GO: You can fly directly from India to Edinburgh or Glasgow. Or you can reach London and then take a train to Edinburgh. From Edinburgh, or if you are in Glasgow, you can choose personalized mini bus tours. Scottish tourism board recommends Rabbies. WHERE TO STAY: If you are staying the night at Portree, choose any hotel or even better a home stay which are also arranged by the tour operators like the Rabbies. (The article was a re-edited version of the writer's contribution to The Telegraph and Tribune newspapers) Angelina Jolie made her first public appearance after divorce with Brad Pitt; Brings kids to premiere of new film in Cambodia Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie was spotted with her six children at the free screening of her new movie First They Killed My Father in Siem Reap, Cambodia on Saturday. (Photo : Getty Images News/WPA Pool) Since filing a divorce with Brad Pitt, Angeline Jolie has remained silent and shied away from the public eye. The Hollywood actress made her first post-split public appearance with her children last Saturday to attend the free screening of Jolie's new film "First They Killed My Father" which was held at Siem Reap, Cambodia. Advertisement Jolie and her six children - Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh and twins Knox and Vivienne were all smiles during the free screening and later on made an appearance at the Royal Residence in Siem Reap to meet the Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni, E! News reported. During the premiere, the brood spoke to the press with Jolie talking about her film "First They Killed My Father." "I cannot find words to express what it means to me that I was entrusted with telling part of the story of this country. This film was not made to focus on the horrors of the past, but to celebrate the resilience, kindness and talent of the Cambodian people," PEOPLE cited Jolie during her new film's press conference in Siem Reap. The actress also expressed and explained the "deep connection" she has had for the Southeast Asian country noting that Cambodia will always be a part of her because of her son, Maddox. "Most of all, this film is my way of saying thank you to Cambodia. Without Cambodia I may never have become a mother. Part of my heart is and will always be in this country," PEOPLE reported. The free screening of "First They Killed My Father" was held at the Terrace of the Elephant in the Angkor Wat temple complex, which was situated 100 miles away the orphanage where the actress adopted son Maddox in 2002, E! News has learned. The movie is based on the horrific experiences of author and activist Loung Ung as a child soldier in Cambodia in the year 1975 during the reign of the Khmer Rouge. Jolie directed and co-wrote the screenplay of the movie "First They Killed My Father" which will be released on Netflix later this year, according to E! News. Watch Angelina Jolie talk about her new film "First They Killed My Father" in the video below. Actors Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Millie Bobby Brown, Noah Schapp and Caleb McLaughlin, winners of the Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series award for 'Stranger Things', pose in the press room during the 23rd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The (Photo : Getty Images`/ Jeff Kravitz) More "Stranger Things" news has been coming out recently, especially after the huge buzz that followed the Super Bowl trailer for "Stranger Things" Season 2. In a recent interview, creators Ross and Matt Duffer revealed how many seasons the show will run before it closes its curtains. Advertisement Speaking to EW, the Duffer brothers revealed that they envision "Stranger Things" to last four or five seasons for now, but the numbers may change in the future. "I want it to have a really finite ending. I don't want it to be one of those shows that runs out of gas and they lose it because they're losing interest. You wanna end when you're on top," Matt Duffer said. With "Stranger Things" Season 2, the show maintains the same formula it used for the first season's narrative, particularly in that the sophomore outing will be coherent enough to appear like its one long movie. Meanwhile, "Stranger Things" Season 2 is definitely going to be bigger than its predecessor. In an interview with producer Vanity Fair Shawn Levy teased that the upcoming season will be bigger and darker. "The threat, which in Season 1 was to Will Byers, has grown. That's all I'm going to say! But, I will say Season 2 has a bigger cast and is definitely loyal to the kind of magical storytelling that we established in the first season. It's character-based and still about our core group of characters," Levy said. The second season picks up in 1984 around Halloween, which is about a year after the events in the first season. Everything is seemingly back to normal in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, but little do they know that "darkness lurks just beneath the surface." The main cast members will return to reprise their roles, including Millie Bobbie Brown, Noah Schnapp, Gaten Matarazzo, Finn Wolfhard and Caleb McLaughlin. New cast members will also join the gang: Sadie Sink, Linnea Berthelesen, Dacre Montgomery and Sean Astin. "Stranger Things" Season 2 will premiere around Halloween this year. JMC Projects India secures new orders of Rs2,277 crore; Stock gains 2.6% JMC Projects (India) Limited (JMC), a leading Civil Engineering and EPC Company has secured new orders of Rs2,277 crores. The details are as follows: Water Projects in India of... November 04, 2022 | 04-11-2022 2:08 pm Lupin receives USFDA tentative approval for Drospirenone Tablets Global pharma major Lupin Limited (Lupin) has announced that it has received tentative approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its Abbreviated New Drug ... November 04, 2022 | 04-11-2022 1:26 pm Bloomberg Report: Pegatron Corp starts production of iPhone 14 in India Pegatron Corp., a Taiwanese contract manufacturer for Apple Inc., has begun producing the most recent iPhone 14 model in India. Pegatron is now the second Apple supplier to manufacture th... November 04, 2022 | 04-11-2022 12:48 pm JMC Projects India allots NCDs for Rs100 crore; Stock rallies over 3.5% The Management Committee of the Board of Directors of JMC Projects (India) Limited at its meeting held on November 04, 2022 has allotted 1000 Repo Rate, Unsecured, Rated, Listed, Rede... November 04, 2022 | 04-11-2022 12:34 pm Nykaa receives shareholders' approval for bonus issue and ESOP; Stock down 1% The Board of the lifestyle retailer FSN E-Commerce Ventures Limited (Nykaa), on October 3, 2022, approved Bonus Issue of Equity Shares in the proportion of 5 (Five) fully paid-up Equity Sh... November 04, 2022 | 04-11-2022 12:03 pm The move comes after repeated attacks on security forces utilising motorcyles Egypts Prime Minister Sherif Ismail issued a decree Saturday to ban motorcycles from restive areas in central and north Sinai for a year, Al-Ahram Arabic website reported. The decree outlines the following areas or cities: Rafah, Sheikh Zuweid, Al-Arish, Al-Midan, Maghara, Al-Khatmiya, Sidr Al-Hitan, Qalaat Al-Gindi, and Taba, including Ras Sedr area. Ismail added that motorcycle spare parts are also barred, so far as this does not contradict the demands of the national development plan of Sinai. Egypts army and police forces have been waging a war over the past three years against an Islamist militant insurgency in North Sinai. Insurgents have killed hundreds of security personnel. Militants sometimes use motorcyles to attack army and police forces in Sinai and elsewhere. However, exact statistics of such attacks are unavailable. In July 2015, the Egyptian cabinet issued a decree banning 4x4 vehicles in the areas designated by the Egyptian armed forces as stages of military operations in North and South Sinai governorates, following an intensive military operation against Islamist militants at the time. Islamist militants have reportedly used 4x4 vehicles in repeated attacks on security forces. Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi issued a decree establishing a state of emergency in parts of North Sinai in October 2014, renewed periodically since. Under emergency law, Egypt's army and police have the authority to "take any action necessary to confront terrorism and protect public and private property in the areas under the state of emergency." A curfew in place lasts from 5pm to 7am. Search Keywords: Short link: High-rise buildings are already a hit among the urban but when it comes to turning a concept around its head to fashion something par excellence, that's when people start noticing. You may have already heard of these following structures but we thought why not compile them in one place and allow you to choose your favourite. Here goes. 1. Kingdom Tower, Saudi Arabia JEDDAH ECONOMIC COMPANY The year 2020 will bring a tower that's even taller than the Burj Khalifa. That's because Saudi Arabia is building a 3,280-feet tall Kingdom Tower that will beat Burj Khalifa in height which stands at a (modest) height of 2,716 feet by 564 feet. Now, that's ambitious! 2. Nanjing Towers, China STEFANO BOERI Promising to produce 60 kg of oxygen every day, the Nanjing Towers are the new way to combat air pollution. The skyscrapers, that are being constructed in China, will bring over 3,000 plants comprising of 1,000 trees and nearly 2,500 shrubs from 23 different local species. Finally, healthy living will become a thing! 3. Dynamic Tower Hotel, Dubai DYNAMIC ARCHITECTURE GROUP An 80-storeyed tower, the Dynamic Tower Hotel will equip its residents to spin their apartments and control the speed thereof. Every apartment will spin individually because that is the new cool thing to do (duh!). By 2020, this David-Fisher designed hotel will be up and running and will give other architects a run for their money. 4. Apple's Spaceship Campus, San Francisco Cupertino.org Apple's taken quite a fancy with innovative designs for its building its own flying-saucer shaped headquarters in San Francisco. Known as "Apple Campus 2", this 21st century design amalgams research, collaboration, and innovation. The campus that will be sprawled across 2.8 million square feet of space will accommodate 12,000 employees! Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella kicked off a three-day visit to India in the nations startup hub, Bengaluru, by speaking on a number of topics close to his heart, meeting the startup community and announcing a critical partnership with Flipkart. Satya Nadella Microsoft CEO In India 2017 Bengaluru earlier today In fact, Satya Nadella sat down with Nandan Nilekani, co-founder of Infosys, in a brief talk in front of a packed room full of startup enthusiasts in Bengaluru. While speaking to Nandan Nilekani, Satya Nadella spoke about three broad things in technology thats exciting from the Microsoft CEOs perspective. Potential of Cloud, AI, Cortana & AR First one is cloud and AI, and they kind of go together, said Satya Nadella. The fact that you have the power of the Internet and infrastructure to read large amounts of data is what powers artificial intelligence. And India is well on its way to rolling out technologies and services powered through the cloud and magic of AI, according to Satya Nadella. In conversation: Satya Nadella and Binny Bansal (from Microsoft and Flipkart, respectively) The second thing thats exciting, according to Nadella, is the power of Cortana, which is like the third runtime when it comes to humans interaction with computers is concerned. Natural language processing and the ability to converse with a computer, phone, gadget or service -- powered through Microsoft Azure Cloud -- is the ultimate promise of Cortana. And its also being rolled out around several products and partnerships (Microsoft & Tata Motors, for instance). And thirdly, just like Tim Cook spoke about this last week, Satya Nadella also believes that Augmented Reality holds a revolutionary potential in its applications through breakthrough technology -- like the Microsoft HoloLens. He spoke about just how excited he was the very first time he tried on the Microsoft HoloLens, trying to go through a virtual anatomy class, something that blew his mind away in terms of the limitless potential of AR and VR technology. On Entrepreneurship Three years after being appointed as Microsoft CEO in February 2014, Satya Nadella -- whos an alumnus of Manipal Institute of Technology batch of 1988 -- also had discussions on digital transformation in India, the need for intelligent cloud, and other topics to ensure speedy digitization of the nation. In terms of startups, Satya Nadella said there was a lot of potential for entrepreneurs to achieve great things by solving unique problems in India through the power of technology, reaffirming Microsofts commitment to building the relevant tools and technology platform that enables and empowers others to build great technologies on top of them. Microsoft & Flipkart strategic partnership Flipkart will adopt Microsoft Azure as its exclusive public cloud platform, the partnership was announced by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Flipkart Group CEO Binny Bansal at an event in Bangalore. Binny Bansal & Satya Nadella from Flipkart and Microsoft Starting with computing infrastructure, Microsoft Azure will ultimately add a layer of advanced cloud technologies and analytics to Flipkarts existing data centres. Flipkart plans to leverage artificial intelligence, machine learning and analytics capabilities in Azure, such as Cortana Intelligence Suite and Power BI, to optimize its data for innovative merchandising, advertising, marketing and customer service. With powerful insights about its business and new, intelligent services, Flipkart can deliver increasingly relevant and personalized experiences to its customers. At least thats the goal, well see how it all unfolds. At Microsoft, we aim to empower every Indian and every Indian organization with technology and key to this is forging strategic partnerships with innovative companies like Flipkart, said Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft. Combining Microsofts cloud platform and AI capabilities with Flipkarts existing services and data assets, will enable Flipkart to accelerate its digital transformation in e-commerce and deliver new customer experiences. Flipkart has always been committed to its vision of transforming commerce in India through technology. Given Microsofts strong reputation in cloud computing, coupled with scale and reliability, this partnership allows us to leverage our combined strength and knowledge of technology, e-commerce and markets to make online shopping more relevant and enriching for customers, said Binny Bansal, Group CEO and Co-Founder, Flipkart. A Mumbai-based model has filed a complaint against her ex-boyfriend who she says posted a nude photo of her's on Twitter and stalked her on social media. iTech Post/Representational Image The 25-year-old actress said she found out about the photo's online existence through a friend. In her complaint, she said, "He has been stalking me on social media since I ended the relationship a few months ago. We had been in a relationship for almost three years, during which he took my nude photos. I learnt that the photo was uploaded through his account." Reuters A case has been registered under IPC sections 354 (A) (sexual harassment), 354 (D) (monitors use by a woman of internet, commits offence of stalking) and under IT Act section 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material). Chitalsar police senior inspector GD Pingale said they were waiting for the case to be transferred from Mumbai. With the Central Information Commission (CIC) instructing the National Archives of India (NAI) to disclose Nathuram Godses statement in connection with Mahatma Gandhi's assassination, the ghost of Godse has once again risen from the oblivion. Getty Ever since his execution in 1949 after his conviction in relation to the murder of the father of nation Mahatma Gandhi on January 30th, 1948, the self-proclaimed nationalists who mostly are related to right-wing forces have tried to invoke Godses ghost decade after decade. Read more 1. Indian's Need Not Worry About H-1B Visa Issues, There Are Many More Opportunities In Trump's US Indiatimes Is US President Donald Trumps economic plan disastrous for India? The instant answer, more often than not, is a yes. It follows a predictable narrative. Trump and his people want to stamp out the H-1B visa programme, push Indians away, keep jobs for Americans. Therefore, brace for bad tidings. Obvious as this may appear, the assumption still needs to be taken beyond face value. To begin with, its not prudent to judge a new US president from a narrow IT perspective. And then, Indian IT prowess in the US doesnt stand on such feeble legs that it cant make a statement by itself. Read more 2. Satya Nadella In India, Talks Entrepreneurship, AI-AR Revolution & Flipkart Partnership Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella kicked off a three-day visit to India in the nations startup hub, Bengaluru, by speaking on a number of topics close to his heart, meeting the startup community and announcing a critical partnership with Flipkart. Indiatimes In fact, Satya Nadella sat down with Nandan Nilekani, co-founder of Infosys, in a brief talk in front of a packed room full of startup enthusiasts in Bengaluru. While speaking to Nandan Nilekani, Satya Nadella spoke about three broad things in technology thats exciting from the Microsoft CEOs perspective. Read more 3. 7 Days, Five Incidents That Show There Is Something Drastically Wrong With How India Treats Its Women Sexual harassment is one of the most pressing problems in the country. Though women are mostly at the receiving end, this is an issue that ultimately affects the entire country. In 2016, an ActionAid report found that 79% or 4 out of 5 women in India had experienced some form of public harassment or violence. Reuters A few cases recently highlight that safety of women in the country remains a deep rooted problem that leaders have not yet been able to weed out. Read more 4. As Promised By Suresh Prabhu, Mountain Man Dashrath Manjhi's Home To Get Rail Connectivity The nation can not afford to forget Dashrath Manjhi - the mountain man. Manjhi is famous for tearing apart rocky mountain single-handedly to carve out a road using chisel and hammer. Indiatimes It took him 22 years but Manjhi shortened the travel between the Atri and Wazirganj of Gaya town from 55 km to 15 km. Read more 5. Separatists In Kashmir Consider Cancelling Friday Protest As It Coincides With Mahashivratri Kashmiri Separatist known for their hostile approach towards India are mulling to hold the routine Friday protest in the valley this week because festival of Mahashivratri falls on Friday, February 24th. The Separatist organise protests against Indian establishment in Srinagar on every Friday. Indiatimes "We weren't aware that the Shivratri festival falls on (the) coming Friday (February 24). But when the issue was reported, we took the matter as urgent and started working on it," the Syed Ali Shah Geelani-led Hurriyat spokesperson Ayaz Akbar told TOI today. Read more Days after it was reported that Pakistan army chief Qamar Bajwa said that Pakistan should be more like India and reportedly advised his soldiers to read about Indias democracy, the Pakistan army now has denied that Bajwa ever said such a thing. Army and Nation, was the name of the book Bajwa had reportedly advised his officers to read. This was indicated in a cryptic tweet yesterday from Pakistan's Major general Asif Ghafoor, the spokesman of the country's armed forces. He was referring to Pakistan army chief Qamar Bajwa's alleged comment about "emulating India" was only gleaned from the fact that Ghafoor's tweet also included a news headline stating the same. AFP Last week, Pakistan's Nation newspaper reported on a December meeting held by Bajwa, during which he essentially said, "the army has no business trying to run the government". He also reportedly spoke at length about how India has managed to make democracy work without ever involving the Army in governance. The Nation's article sent shockwaves through India and Pakistan, especially Pakistan, which has seen military rule via coups as many as three times. And here's the new Army chief appearing to denounce it. News / comments quoting COAS' address to officers at Rawalpindi regarding book 'Army and Nation' is a disinformation. pic.twitter.com/vR8sjDIyw1 Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) February 19, 2017 At the December meeting, The Nation reported that Bajwa apparently urged officers to read a book "Army and Nation", written by Steven I Wilkinson. The book attempts to explain why the democratic process in India has been a success. "Till now, there has been no attempt to portray Gen Bajwa as a parallel, competing powerhouse, with strong political undertones, unlike the past when an orchestrated campaign was directed and aimed at raising the profile of the then army chief to mythic proportions. ...Gen Bajwa, through his public statements, has stressed that the army will support and assist the civilian government for national interest," the Nation wrote. Kashmiri Separatist known for their hostile approach towards India are mulling to hold the routine Friday protest in the valley this week because festival of Mahashivratri falls on Friday, February 24th. The Separatist organise protests against Indian establishment in Srinagar on every Friday. "We weren't aware that the Shivratri festival falls on (the) coming Friday (February 24). But when the issue was reported, we took the matter as urgent and started working on it," the Syed Ali Shah Geelani-led Hurriyat spokesperson Ayaz Akbar told TOI today. AFP That's why an earlier calendar last week scheduled the protests on February 24. "We have time still. We have taken note and will reschedule protest soon," he added. Meanwhile, other constituent parties, including the Mirwaiz Umar Farooq-led Hurriyat, also expressed their concern over the protest date coinciding with the Hindu festival. They too have extended support to the Hindu community in the state. "The issue is under consideration and new date will be announced soon," the Mirwaiz Umar Farooq-led Hurriyat spokesperson Shahid-ul-Islam told TOI. "We haven't issued any bandh on the date", he added. The Jammu and Kashmir Police, while issuing advisories to ensure peaceful celebration of the Mahashivratri, appealed to the people of Jammu region to cooperate in maintaining security. AFP While directing police personnel deployed to remain extra vigilant, a senior police official asked them to perform regular foot patrolling all day and night. Police have also asked people to cooperate at frisking points and tell about the miscreants. "The people have been asked to remain vigilant while travelling in passenger vehicles (or in) crowded areas (especially the places of worship)," the senior police officer said. He added that people have been asked to not touch any abandoned objects and to inform police if they see any suspicious persons or objects."If you have any information about any anti-national, anti-social elements (who can disturb the holy occasion of Shivratri) please inform the police immediately. Identity of informant shall be kept confidential," he said. Mahashivratri is a Hindu festival celebrated annually in honour of the god Shiva. European Space Agency (ESA) has expressed to further its collaboration with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) after the latter's historic launch of 104 satellites into space at one go. The ESA's Senior Scientific Advisor Mark McCaughrean said that they are "looking forward" to a renewed collaboration in space missions. He also said that it was the precision in launching satellites and cost reduction that mattered the most. isro (Also read: As ISRO Successfully Launched 104 Satellites & Made A World Record, Twitter Poured Wishes) McCaughrean further added, "ESA plans further collaboration with ISRO in various space missions. Had an informal discussion with former ISRO chairman UR Rao at Bangalore. The current ISRO chairman, AS Kiran Kumar was in a meeting in Delhi that day. Earlier, ESA had collaborated with ISRO on Chandrayaan-1 mission to Moon." The ESA has collaborated with 22 nations including India, China, Japan, Russia and the US in space missions. esa (Also Read: 5 Things About ISROs World Record Launch That Will Make You A Proud Indian) 15 space missions are already under pipeline where the ESA will send Bepe Colombo to Mercury in 2018 and Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) to Jupiter in 2022. The Mercury mission is a joint venture between the ESA and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). According to McCaughrean, the Sun's gravity will pose a huge challenge while trying to put the spacecraft into Mercury's orbit. esa (Also Read: Tesla Founder Elon Musk Calls ISRO 'Awesome', Throws His Weight Behind Make In India!) As far as JUICE is concerned, the spacecraft will spend 3 years observing the planet and 3 of its largest satellites - Ganymede, Callisto and Europa. Then, the ambitious (JUICE) to Jupiter in 2022. The explorer will spend at least three years making detailed observations of the giant gaseous planet Jupiter and three of its largest moons. "The ice crust is much deeper and there may be forms of life in these moons," said McCaughrean. He also explained how space missions to Neptune and Uranus will take time in planning as reaching there will easily take 20 to 30 years. Chinese media on Monday said that India has fared far better than China in space launch technology as the record satellite launch by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has now fast-tracked the race for space missions between nations. isro The media quoted Chinese officials as saying that ISRO's historic launch can give Beijing the much-needed push to speed up the commercialisation of its rocket launches, as reported in an article titled 'India's satellite launch ramps up space race'. Zhang Yonghe, Director of the Technology Department of the Shanghai Engineering Centre for Microsatellites, said, "The launch indicated that India can send commercial satellites into space at lower costs, giving the country's competitiveness in the global race for the burgeoning commercial space businesses." reuters He also added that compared to China, India has done a far better job at promoting its launches internationally. "China will likely fast-track the commercialisation of its rocket launches to vie for the worlds burgeoning small satellite launch market," he said. (Also Read: After Record World Satellite Launch, European Space Agency Wants To Collaborate With ISRO!) The Global Times report - which is a part of part of the ruling Communist Party of China publications - along with praising ISRO's feat, cited that "with respect to the research and development of both military and commercial rocket launch services, India lags behind China, the US and Russia". afp "India cannot match them yet unless it has enough rockets types to fulfil all satellites launches," it quoted Zhang. According to Xue Lijun, General Manager Assistant of Shenzhen Aerospace Dongfanghong Development Ltd., "Technologically speaking, the launch did not have any big difficulties what (Indian engineers) need to do is to avoid the conflicts among satellites, which involves lots of calculation and data analysis, but is not a tough task." The report also suggests that since all of India's 104 satellites have been placed in the same orbit, the country lacks capabilities required to send satellites into different orbits. Oxygen levels in the oceans have dropped 2% in the past 50 years because of increased human activity and consumption, a new research studying the effects of climate change on oceans concluded. Unsplash According to the study, oxygen levels have plummeted by at least 2% since 1960. This might seem like a miniscule figure but when it comes to the environment, even a fractional shift in forces causes magnanimous impact on natural life. Lead scientists of this study said that this change could prove to be deadly for marine animals and because nature is all interrelated, could eventually affect humans as well. Unsplash The findings showed that oxygen levels have declined by at least 2% since 1960. Although it might seem unimportant, this can cause serious damage to the marine life. The lead scientist who conducted this study warned that there could be deadly consequences for marine animals and that can affect humans too. Researchers reached their conclusions by analysing data from 1960 to 2010 by studying temperature, oxygen and other factors that could affect oxygen levels. Unsplash Authors Sunke Schmidtko, Lothar Stramma and Martin Visbeck worked on the study which was produced at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel, Germany. Theres been an uneven loss in oxygen levels, where some oceans have lost more than others. While the North Pacific ocean lost the largest volume, the Arctic Ocean lost the largest percentage. Stramma said, The oxygen losses in the ocean can have far-reaching consequences because of the uneven distribution. For fisheries and coastal economies this process may have detrimental consequences. The research did not conclude on an optimistic note and wrote that "far-reaching implications for marine ecosystems and fisheries can be expected. A sport that the Taliban has already declared 'un-Islamic', the horrific Kabul dog fight is much worse than that. ap The fighting ring brings to the fore angry mutts that are urged on by their owners to take on other dogs in a fight to finish. The fight, that had once fizzled out, is once again resurfacing in the Afghan capital after the ouster of the Taliban by the US and the UK armies. ap The gruesome images show the Afghan mastiffs and hounds brutally taking on each other - a fight that usually earns the winner a reward in five figures! ap The fights are generally held every Friday during winter months - a tradition that believes that wounds heal faster in cold weather. ap The fights, also, don't end in death. They are called off when either a dog is pinned to the floor or it chooses to run away from the fight. AP This is truly distressing. The French former diplomat spoke to Ahram Online about cross-border challenges the region must resolve for long-term stability, saying Egypt has a key role to play I am a pessimist when it comes to the idea of the two-state solution; I think that Palestinians are aware that what they have to stress most today is their legal rights beyond any immediate take on the two-state solution, said Michel Foucher a prominent French political analyst, former diplomat and assistant minister of foreign affairs. Foucher spoke to Ahram Online only a few days before US President Donald Trump said in a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu that a two-state solution might not be the way forward to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The expert in geopolitics visited Egypt last week to give two lectures on the state of borders in the region almost a century after the Sykes-Picot agreement signed secretly in 1916 to determine the modern borders of Middle Eastern states, according to the interests of the region's main former colonial powers: England and France. For the most part these borders remain, Foucher told Ahram Online, despite so many challenges to their integrity and very logic. The nation states are still holding their borders; they face internal problems, including issues that cross their borders to neighbouring countries. They also face pressure from regional and international powers, but the borders are holding, he said. For Foucher a geographer by training, who focuses on the politics of national boundaries in Europe and the world it is the undefined borders in the region that pose the biggest problems. This is not just about the borders, say, between Israel and a would-be Palestinian state but also between Israel and Lebanon for example, he said. The Middle East persists as one of the largest regions in the world with such clearly undefined borders in several areas, Foucher observed. With the current state of international affairs, Foucher said, it seems highly unlikely that these critical border situations will be resolved any time soon. Foucher said there are multiple challenges to border stability, which the region's states will have to address to bring lasting calm to the region. These include the fate and hopes of the Kurds, the influence and threat of the Islamic State (IS) group and the Sunni-Shia balance of power. "In addition to the Kurds and the Jihadists there is also the issue of the refugees which is posing some serious questions in the Middle East today," Foucher said. On the "Kurdish issue," Foucher said there is already a strong tendency towards partial independence in Iraq. There is also an eagerness among the Kurds to establish a similar status in Syria. "But in both cases, of Iraq and Syria, there is a strong Turkish influence among others, including Iranian [influence] in parts of Iraqi Kurdistan, that would resist a fully independent Kurdistan," he said, adding that "The Kurds would have their semi-autonomy but they would not have their own state with a passport and a currency." "The borders of both Iraq and Syria might be considered to be a bit more flexible in allowing for an interaction between the Kurdish zones, but they would hold as the sovereign borders of sovereign states." IS, Foucher said, is another "unlikely influence" on the borders of the Arab Mashreq. Despite its presence, and that of Al-Qaeda and Ansar Al-Islam, among other Jihadi groups, IS is not making larger territorial conquests. Rather, the group is "actually losing territorial control and could well be defeated in a year or two." I am not sure how [the borders would be affected] exactly with the war against IS and other Jihadi groups in Iraq and Syria particularly, but certainly they are losing and they would probably continue to lose, he said. "In fact, the Jordanians have managed to consolidate their borders against the penetration of IS, which is also an important sign to look at," he added. The future, for Foucher, is more dependent on the established and almost integrated groups that are actually acting across the borders of sovereign states. One "clear example" for him is Hezbollah, which plays a key role in the conflict between the Syrian ruling regime of Bashar Al-Assad and his opponents, supported by Ansar Al-Islam. What role does Hezbollah, given its unmasked ties with Iran, have in the future of Lebanon and Syria? This question, Foucher said, leads to another, about the role of the region's two heavyweights: Iran and Saudi Arabia, in the countries of the region. Then we must consider the "obvious Shia-Sunni questions that this brings to the table." "So you have the countries of the region, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen, for example, holding on to their borders as sovereign states, but you also have a Sunni-Shia interaction that reflects a cross-border influence," Foucher said. According to Foucher the challenge to national borders is not related to the waves of the Arab Spring. "Not as I see it because the Arab [revolutions] took place within the context of the concerned national states," he said. Even in the case of Libya the only Arab country, Foucher believes, whose traditional borders could be challenged by the wave of internal fighting that followed the ouster of dictator Muammar Qaddafi the beginning of the Libyan Arab Spring was designed for all of Libya. The influence or role of Hezbollah in Syria for example or the Saudi role in Yemen is also unrelated to the Arab Spring. In terms of challenging borders, an actor like Hezbollah is fundamentally different from IS because while Hezbollah acts on behalf of or in-line with a particular regime, it seeks only cross-border influence, not the near-term re-drawing of national borders. IS, on the other hand, seeks not only to over-throw a regime, but also to eliminate the sovereign borders "as established by Sykes-Picot and to pursue the Islamic Caliphate or in any case this was the excuse they were acting upon." Assuming IS' eventual defeat, Foucher said it is the Sunni-Shia matter that needs to be addressed "all without any attempt to tamper with the existing national borders of the respective sovereign states." "There has to be a deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia; this deal needs international support, but it also needs a regional broker," he said. Despite many internal concerns, which have consumed much of its political energy over the past five years, Egypt remains to be best placed to play this role. "But of course this means that Egypt would have to consolidate its political rapport with both Iran and Saudi Arabia," Foucher said. He argued that "Egyptian diplomacy is capable" of this, despite long-standing or recent disagreements Cairo has developed with either Tehran or Riyadh. "Cairo has a certain centrality and it could use this centrality to help with regional stability." Regional stability, Foucher believes, demands more than the "essential deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia." It requires, for one, a vision for dealing with refugees, which pose obvious cross-border questions for countries like Jordan and Lebanon which are inundated with people fleeing strife in neighbouring countries. Refugees themselves may tip the scales of "regional influence," particularly for a state like Turkey, which currently hosts around 2.7 million Syrians, according to UNHCR's January statistics. Clearly, Foucher argued, the answer to the refugee crisis is essentially depends on the settlement of political conflicts and this is in large part dependent on a settlement of the tug-of-war between Iran and Saudi Arabia. In other words, he suggested, the leading countries of the region, predominantly, Iran, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia need to establish working relations that can accommodate interests, concerns and realities on the ground. "For its part, Israel is not really party to this conflict; it is not influenced by the regional chaos except if it has to face direct threat - and in any case it is pursuing defensive policies," Foucher said. However, he added, there will come a time when the Palestinian-Israeli struggle that "started in 1948" will have to be addressed. Without this, stability in the region will never be assured. Search Keywords: Short link: US President Donald Trump is planning on implementing a new version of the travel ban initially enforced on January 27. The seven Muslim-majority countries previously banned will remain in place but those citizens with a green card will be allowed to enter the country. Reuters Heres a timeline of what has happened so far: February 20 Reuters Current Secretary of Homeland Security, John Kelly, announces the Presidents latest vision regarding the travel ban. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, he says, The president is contemplating releasing a tighter, more streamlined version of the first (order). February 9 A panel of three judges in the Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeals ruled against re-enforcing the travel ban. February 7 After hearing arguments for and against the travel ban, US Justice panel weighs whether to lift the country-wide block on the travel ban. February 5 A federal appeals court denies the US governments request to reinstate the travel ban. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco asks both sides to file legal briefs in order for the court to reach a conclusion. February 3 Reuters James Robart, US District Court Judge, blocks the travel ban nationally. February 2 President Trumps administration softens travel restrictions for green card holders. January 30 Reuters Former President Barack Obama criticises the ban. Says he fundamentally disagrees with the notion of discriminating against individuals because of their faith or religion. January 29 Residing President strongly defends the travel ban and offers an explanation by saying its not about religion but about terror. January 28 Reuters Mass protests take place across the country against the travel ban. January 27 Reuters President Trump signs an executive order banning citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries including Iraq and Syria from entering the country. Tunisian President Baji Caid Essebsi is set to hold a meeting on Monday with the foreign ministers of Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria, expected to be followed by a tripartite declaration on the Libyan crisis. The ministers will also discuss preparations for a summit of the leaders of Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria, planned to be held in Algiers. A date for the summit has yet to be set. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry arrived in Tunisia on Saturday to meet with his Tunisian and Algerian counterparts. Last week, Cairo hosted a meeting attended by representatives from the two main political factions fighting for control of Libya. After the meeting, Egypt said it had identified common ground between the parties, which could form the basis of a political solution to the country's crisis. The talks were attended by the chairman of the Libyan Presidential Council Fayaz Al-Sarraj, who operates in the capital Tripoli in the west of the country and is recognised by the UN as the country's president; and Field Marshall Khalifa Haftar and Parliament Speaker Aguila Saleh, who represent the House of Representatives in eastern Libya's Tobruk. In December, Egyptian officials and representatives from multiple Libyan factions issued a declaration of principles and five proposed amendments to the Skhirat Agreement -- brokered by the UN in 2015 to establish a unity government -- during a meeting in Cairo. The December conference concluded by underscoring four main principles to be respected in Libya's transition: the preservation of a united Libyan territory, support for national institutions, non-interference by foreign bodies, and the maintenance of a civil state. Search Keywords: Short link: How a Real War on Terrorism Would Look and Why the US Isnt Fighting One By Ulson Gunnar February 19, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - Since 2001, when then US President George Bush announced his War on Terror, presidents and politicians both in the United States and among Americas allies, have repeated this phrase and have done their utmost to convince the public that indeed, the West was fighting a War on Terror. Yet there is something disturbingly ambiguous about what exactly the War on Terror consists of, who its being waged against and how it could ever possibly be brought to a successful conclusion. It is also often referred to as the Long War, and for good reason. Americas ongoing occupation of Afghanistan is the longest armed conflict in US history. Additionally, US troops still find themselves in Iraq, some 14 years after the initial invasion and occupation of the state in 2003. Because of the ambiguous nature of the War on Terror, politicians have been given much room to maneuver their rhetoric, explaining why more wars must be waged, more liberties curtailed at home and more wealth and power channeled into fewer and fewer hands. Whats Really Behind Terrorism? The fanatics, weapons, supplies, vehicles and finances that grease the wheels of global terror do not merely spring forth from the pages of the Quran, as bigots across the West insist. Join with over 100,000 people in more than 200 countries, who place people before profit Get Our Free Daily Newsletter Just like any national army, the army raised and wielded in the name of terrorism has several basic components. Examining these components reveals a very uncomfortable but somewhat poorly hidden truth. In reality, fanatics must be indoctrinated. And they are, in Saudi-funded madras and mosque networks wrapping around the globe. In the United States and across Europe, these madrases and mosques often serve as both indoctrination centers and recruiting stations. They operate as such with the explicit knowledge, even cooperation of US and European security and intelligence agencies. One such center can be found in Denmark at Grimhjvej Mosque in Aarhus which openly serves as a recruiting station for militants meant to fight abroad in US-European backed wars in Libya, Syria, Iraq and Yemen. The government of Denmark openly collaborates with the mosque to integrate these individuals back into Danish society when they return. The mosque in Aarhus is hardly an isolated example. Such mosques backed and protected by US-European-Saudi money and political influence dot the globe, feeding recruits into a global mercenary army carrying out proxy war and staging terrorist attacks whenever and wherever politically convenient. Both Wikileaks and even the US own Defense Intelligence Agency has released documents exposing the role both the West and Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar have played in the arming and funding of actual militants once they reach the battlefield. Additionally, militants that have been indoctrinated, trained, armed, funded and battle-hardened by Western and Gulf sponsorship, return back to their respective nations where they are then cultivated for domestic operations. Terror attacks like those in Paris and Brussels , Berlin and elsewhere are carried out almost exclusively by militants US-European security and intelligence agencies have known about and even arrested but inexplicably released, allowing them to carry out their attacks. What a Real War on Terrorism Requires It is often said that states like Russia, Syria and Iran exist as natural allies to the United States and Europe in the fight against terrorism. And that would be true if not for the fact that said terrorism is actually a deliberate product of US-European foreign policy. Were the West to truly wage a war on terrorism, it would already be deeply cooperating with these nations on the front line against groups like Al Qaeda and the self-proclaimed Islamic State. However, terrorism is waged as a means of fighting the Wests proxy wars abroad, and to create divisive, paralyzing hatred, fear and hysteria at home. Travel bans are created to intentionally stoke controversy and distract the public from the aforementioned reality driving terrorism. As is evident in virtually all terror attacks carried out across the West, suspects are already know to security and intelligence agencies beforehand. These agencies simply need to stop them. Instead, they allow the attacks to take place, granting their respective governments political capital to channel more power into centralized hands. While the US and Europe use terrorism as a function of foreign policy, they could not do it without their intermediaries in the Persian Gulf. Without the Saudis and Qataris serving as handlers for the Wests terrorist legions, it is unlikely such legions could be raised to begin with. Targeting, rather than embracing, even protecting these state sponsors of all aspects of terrorism, from indoctrination and recruitment, to training, arming and financing terrorism on the battlefield, would be another essential step in a real War on Terror. Yet from President Bush to President Obama and now during the administration of US President Donald Trump, the US and its European allies continue to coddle the regimes in Riyadh and Doha, rather than taking any measures whatsoever to disrupt this terror pipeline. While the US remains in Afghanistan allegedly to fight terrorism, it refuses to take even the most basic steps to dismantle the ideological, political and financial structures in the Persian Gulf fueling that terrorism. A final means of combating and defeating terrorism would be to educate the public of just how small a minority is actually involved in it, isolating those groups exploiting and perverting ideologies from the vast majority who practice these ideologies constructively. Instead, US and European demagogues work ceaselessly to lump all of Islam into the terror basket, creating tension and hostility on both sides of an essentially manufactured strategy of tension. Instead of draining emotional and political resources from those seeking to recruit disillusioned individuals, the West is ensuring them an endless supply. A real War on Terror is clearly not being waged. Nothing presented by President Trump before or after his campaign victory in 2016 indicates a real war is about to be waged. In fact, much of what has been done thus far, has simply been the placing of additional bricks on a very predictable path toward the infinite horizon of this Long War. Home Sign up for our FREE Daily Email Newsletter Trump Dreams vs Trump Reality Hopes Still Permitted! By The Saker February 19, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - For a lot of Trump supporters the past week has been a painful one. Whether we chose to react with abject panic or pretended like nothing happened, something did happen and it was something big: the Three Letter Agencies pulled-off a de facto coup against Donald Trump by forcing him to fire his most important foreign policy advisor and the man who had dared to declare that he wanted to reform the bloated and largely ineffective US intelligence community. There is no way of putting a brave face on what happened. Not only because it showed that Trump is not loyal to those who are loyal to him, but because this episode pretty much killed what I would call the Trump dream. I chose my words carefully here. I speak of Trump dream as opposed to the Trump reality. Let me explain. The Trump dream When Trump won the elections the spectrum of hopes about his actions was very wide. It ranged from Trump will forever reshape the international system, end the Empire and bring peace and prosperity to the USA to he will never be as bad as Hillary no matter what he does. On that spectrum, here is what I would list as the key elements of the Trump dream: Draining the swamp: kicking the Neocons down to the basement they crawled out of 24 years ago, reforming the US intelligence community, possibly even dissolving the CIA or, at the very least, subordinating it, and the JCS, to the President. Making peace with Russia and negotiate a grand bargain which would clearly spell out how the USA and Russia would act towards each other and jointly against common threats. At the very least, this would imply an agreement on the Ukraine and Syria. Work with Russia to create a new European security system which would keep NATO as a political organization, but which would dilute it into a new security framework ranging from Portugal to the Ural mountains and which would include a 21st century version of the Conventional Forces Europe treaty. Stop pouring billions of dollars into the Empire and redirect the immense resources currently wasted on war, aggression and subversion back into the United States and their decaying infrastructure, medical care, education, small business, etc. Until now, the main profitable sectors of the US economy were either the military-industrial complex or finance. The hope was that Trump would kick-start the real economy: the production of goods and services. End what I would call the dictatorship of the minorities and replace it with a restoration of the sovereignty of the majority of the American people over their country. The Rachel Maddows who used to be the ideological masters of the AngloZionist regime would be gently ushered towards the doors and replaced by people most Americans could identify with. Law and order would be restored to the USA and the uncontrolled flow of immigrants would finally be regulated at least to some degree. Last, but most definitely not least, Trump would not act on this stupid, counter-productive and self-defeating Iran-bashing and China-bashing rhetoric. Remember what I am listing here is not a realistic evaluation of what Trump might do once in power, but what I deliberately called the Trump dream with emphasis on the second word. Sure, there might be those who wanted Trump to deliver on his threats and possibly even start a war with Iran or China, but I have not met them. (Then again, these are not people I like to be around). Again, this is my , subjective and personal outline of what I think many (most?) Trump supporters were dreaming about, nothing more. Following the past week, I would say that, for the most part, this dream is now over, especially points 1,2,3 and 5, points 6 and 7 are on life support and only 4 is having of chills and a runny nose but might still live. They key, of course, is point 1: draining the swamp. In other words, wrestling the power away from the Neocons and the US deep state and putting it back where it belongs: in the hands of a President with a mandate of a majority of the American people. That is, alas, the biggest loss we all suffered last week: the man who was supposed to drain the swamp got a humiliating smack-down by a deep state drunk on its own infinite chutzpah. The biggest deal is not that Flynn was sacked, although that is a big deal, but the fact that the deep state forced Trump into publicly betraying Flynn and sacking him instead of those who were involved in this palace coup (including Pence himself). What the deep state demonstrated this week is that everybody in the Executive Branch serves not at the pleasure of the President, but at the pleasure of the deep state, including probably Donald Trump himself. Join with over 100,000 people in more than 200 countries, who place people before profit Get Our Free Daily Newsletter By terminating Trumps #2 the Neocons have now shown the world that everybody else (#3, #4, etc.) and possibly #1 are all here only to the extend that they, the Neocons, let them. I am personally convinced that unless Donald Trump finds in himself the courage to mount a major counter-attack, the Neocons will find a way of kicking him out of the White House before his term ends. That is typically their style: sending messages and making an example. If Trump behaves they might, possibly, let him do a little of points #6 (law and order) and #4 (redirecting some money to the US homeland). As for point #7 (Iran and China bashing), that is the only part of his program which they will enthusiastically support (thereby also ending the dream of him not acting on that crazy nonsense). So yeah, this is bad, and barring a miracle, the dream is really over. However, lets put that right back in perspective. The Trump reality If the dream is over, that is hardly a reason to become despondent or to claim that supporting Trump was a mistake. Please always keep in mind what the alternative was: Hillary Clinton. One of my favorite Russian commentators, Ruslan Ostashko, brilliantly put it when he said : Not a single rational person was expecting Trump to display true friendship or love for Russia or an immediate recognition of Crimea (as part of Russia). Our joy at the election of Trump was linked to a single factor: with Clinton we would had no chances, none at all, to agree on anything. If Clinton was now sitting in the White House we would not be discussing the issue of the recognition of Crimea or the future of US sanctions. We would be trying to guess when the nuclear war would start, we would be studying our bomb shelter maps, how to use a Geiger counter, and how to count the correct dosage for iodine tablets. He is absolutely right, of course. This is also exactly what I wrote on November 9th following the election: So it has happened: Hillary did not win! I say that instead of saying that Trump won because I consider the former even more important than the latter. Why? Because I have no idea whatsoever what Trump will do next. I do, however, have an excellent idea of what Hillary would have done: war with Russia. Trump most likely wont do that. I never was a Trump dreamer. I was merely a Trump *hoper* meaning that I had hopes that Trump would not only be better than Hillary, but that he might deliver on, at least, some of his dream message. But if the choice is the Neocons humiliating Trump or thermonuclear war then I pick the former, with gratitude. Furthermore, however unpleasant this thought might be to many Americans, it is an undeniable fact that the United States are currently the host upon which the AngloZionist parasite feeds and which this parasite uses to try to subjugate the entire planet. What is happening now is that the Neocons and the deep state have succeeded in re-taking control of their host, but only at the cost of a major weakening of that host. And that is objectively good for our planet. Just as the coup in Turkey ended up gutting the military and security services and dramatically curtailing their ability to influence the events in Syria (this is, in part, why Erdogan is now playing ball with the Russians and the Iranians), the ongoing color revolution against Trump is gutting the power of the American host and, thus, of the AngloZionist parasite. For one thing, the entire political establishment is so deeply involved in the struggle for power inside the USA, that very little bureaucratic energy is left to deal with anything else. Furthermore, in political terms, the indispensable nation and city upon the hill are now the laughingstock of the planet. The next time around some State Department propagandist starts regurgitating the usual chunk of propaganda prolefeed about democracy, human right and fair elections he will be greeted with a hysterical laughter and screams of physician, heal thyself!!. And, frankly, God only knows where this process might lead us next. I, for one, would absolutely not exclude the possibility of civil war in the USA. And before that statement gets greeted with jeers and the usual set of ad hominems, let me remind you that I predicted the civil war in the Ukraine when almost everybody else was in total denial (see: The gates of Hell are opening for the Ukraine , written on Nov 20th, 2013). At this point in time, I am not predicting a civil war in the USA, but I am saying that it has become a real possibility. Civil war or not, all the Neocons and the deep state are doing is accelerating the inevitable collapse of the USA as a world hegemon. True, Trump could not have prevented it, but he could have negotiated it, using the still immense power of the USA to get the best possible deal from the other big actors. If a person falls off a skyscraper, there is no way of preventing him of hitting the ground but whether he has a parachute or not will make a huge difference to him on how he will land. That is what Trump could have done making a descent on the breaks as the Russians expression goes. The skills to make that happen are straightforward: realism, willingness to negotiate, ability to understand the other guy, the courage to give up that which is not sustainable, etc. That is the exact skillset that the Neocons totally lack. What they can do is double-down, then double-down again, and then double-down some more. And that kind of maniacal attitude always leads to catastrophe. Whatever may be the case, the big story for the foreseeable future will be the infighting inside the US deep state. Why infighting? Because Trump is also part of the deep state, he did not just suddenly pop out of nowhere ex nihilo, he had, and still has, powerful backers. Thats the, comparatively speaking, the good news. The bad news is that the faction of the deep state which is backing Trump appears to be the weaker one. And Trump himself is not exactly a knight in shining armor, to put it mildly. Still, if we imagine that by some aggregate measure of power the anti-Trump forces inside the deep state are, oh, 70% and the Trump supporters are therefore 30%, the infighting between the 70% and the 30% will leave very little energy to either party to deal with Russia, China or Iran. It is a sweet irony that the big proponents of divide et impera did just that to themselves, is it not? Conclusion It is way too early to become despondent. Yes, the Trump dream is probably over, it was beautiful as long as it lasted, but now the Trump reality is taking center stage and we all need to learn how to operate in this new context. We need to carefully and systematically study this new reality and carefully parse it for all the risk and opportunities it presents us with. And there are a lot of great opportunities, along with very real risks, to be discovered. Just the fact that the leaders of the Empire have turned against each other is a God sent blessing! Lets use that to the max. Coincidence or not, but the Duran is reporting that the Chairman of the JCS, General Joe Dunford, and General Valery Gerasimov, the Chief of the Russian militarys General Staff have met in Baku. This is the first such meeting since January 2014 and it took place in a cordial atmosphere. In fact, Dunford reassured Gerasimov that there are in fact no plans to deploy US ground troops to Syria (there are, of course, already several thousand US troops on the ground in Syria, both sides know that, but both sides also know what Dunford is referring to: regular armed forces). Can you imagine such a meeting under Hillary? What happened is really simple. With the election of Trump, the Neocons suffered a crushing defeat and it took them less than a month to regroup and castrate Trump. This is bad and the Trump dream is over. But we the resistance to Empire, as still in very good shape. After all, Trump was never *our* candidate, he was the candidate of the part of the deep state which we, opponents of the US deep state in toto, supported as a lesser evil: and we were right he was and he still is the lesser evil. Furthermore, the party which really lost the most is the Trump-supporting part of the deep state, and they now enough power left (10, 30 or 45 percent that does not really matter) to regroup and fight back. And if/when they do fight back, we still have to give them our support simply because that is the moral and pragmatic thing to do. Right now, Trump looks like Yanukovich, true. But I think that he is also a far smarter and much more honorable person than Yanukovich. Call me naive, but my gut feeling is that Trump cares for the USA and that he wants to do the right thing. I might be wrong, of course. But at least so far I do not see the clear signs of the total rot and corruption which Yanukovich has all over his face. Furthermore, Trump appears to be learning. That is very important. In his latest press conference Trump finally finally showed some real guts and counter-attacked the media, very effectively I would say. And remember how fast Trump learned from his first defeat in the debate against Hillary? Trump might be a fast learner and if that is really the case, then he might learn some most useful lessons from the entire Flynn debacle. Hopes still permitted :-) So hopes are still permitted. Not expectations those are always bad. But reasonable, reality-compatible hopes. Like all humans, politicians change. If the Neocons dont succeed in impeaching him, Trump might still end up kicking some ass, so to speak. And if they do impeach him, they will further weaken the Empire. So, all in all, I would say that while we had a very bad week we are still on good shape. The Saker Click here to visit the Saker website The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House. Click for Spanish , German , Dutch , Danish , French , translation- Note- Translation may take a moment to load. What's your response? - Scroll down to add / read comments Note to ICH community. We are testing this new comment section. We appreciate your sharing your experience regarding this new system. Please read our Comment Policy before posting - It is unacceptable to slander, smear or engage in personal attacks on authors of articles posted on ICH. Those engaging in that behavior will be banned from the comment section. Amnesty Report on Syrian Prison Deaths Questioned by Ex UK Ambassador to Syria Amnesty International's latest report on mass extrajudicial killings in Syria would not stand scrutiny, according to former British ambassador to Syria, Peter Ford. By Sputnik February 19, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - On February 7, the organization issued an explosive report titled Human Slaughterhouse, Mass Hangings and Extermination at Saydhaya prison, Syria,' alleging that the Syrian authorities were responsible of killing 13,000 opponents of President Bashar Assad at the Saydnaya prison on the outskirts of Damascus. In an interview with Sputnik, Ford pointed out that it was interesting how the report was coincidentally released after the Syrian city of Aleppo was liberated by the government forces two months ago, after successful negotiations in Astana and as it appears that Syria is coming closer to a political solution for the ongoing war. "It's very strange after this report has been over a year in gestation you have to ask, why now?" He said. According to the former Ambassador, there is a number of reasons why the report puts into question the credibility of the human rights organisation. Apart from the fact that it was based on interviews with anonymous witnesses and doesn't provide a hint of evidence, those nameless sources were wrong on basic information', and that naturally puts to doubt the veracity of other claims. The retired British diplomat had visited Saydnaya numerous times as he served in Damascus from 2003 to 2006. According to Ford, the prison was too small to contain ten to twenty thousand prisoners at one time, contrary to what Amnesty said in the report. "Ten to twenty thousand is a fair-sized town." He said in an interview. "The building which I saw at Saydnaya could not possibly accommodate more than ten percent of those numbers." The human rights group also quoted its sources as saying that Saydnaya became the main political prison in 2011, which was just as false. Not For Profit - For Global Justice Get Our Free Daily Newsletter "It was already, when I was in Syria in 2006 and many years before then, Saydnaya was the main political prison." Ford clarified. "When they get this level of detail wrong I find it very hard to believe anything at all." The former ambassador referred to the organization as "the spearheads of liberal interventionism", citing Amnesty International's "sensationalist" reports of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. "Amnesty said that they had verified that claims that Iraqi soldiers had stolen incubators in Kuwaiti hospitals and left babies on the floor to die. Turned out this was a total fabricationthey were gullible and they used it and it helped to justify the Iraqi war." Ford said. "This is the new way of picking up the white man's burden you go around changing regimes that you accuse of human rights abuses." Amnesty International has been repeatedly criticized by some countries, including Russia, the United States and China, for spreading misleading information and acting as an instrument of propaganda and information wars. In 2013 the International Business Times wrote that in the past Amnesty received funds from the European Commission, from the governments of the Netherlands, the US, Norway and, in 2009, it received 2.5 million euros from government entities. "Amnesty is well known in the NGO community for being very aggressive, for being sensationalist and for being focused very much on its own fund-raising." Ford said. Michael Hudson: Finance Really is a Mode of Warfare Video and Transcript Theres a real need for international debtor rights, says economist Michael Hudson. February 19, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - " Real News " - Transcript SHARMINI PERIES: Its The Real News Network. Im Sharmini Peries, coming to you from Baltimore. The latest economic indicator showed that the Greek economy shrank by 0.4% in the last three months of 2016. This poses a real problem for Greece, because its lenders are expecting it to grow by 3.5% annually, to enable it to pay back on its bailout loan. Greece is scheduled to make a 10.5 billion euro payment on its debt next summer, but is expected to be unable to make that payment, without another installment from its $86 billion bailout. A growing impasse between the International Monetary Fund, and the European Central Bank, Greeces two main lenders, is threatening to push Greece into default, and pull out of the euro. Meanwhile, the Greece government told its lenders, that we now call Troika today, that it will not agree to any more austerity measures. Heres what the government spokesperson told the press on Thursday. GREEK SPOKESMAN: (Greek) SHARMINI PERIES: Joining us today, to take a closer look at the Greek situation is Michael Hudson. Michael is a distinguished Professor of Economics, at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. Hes the author of many books, and the latest among them is, J is for Junk Economics: A Guide to Reality in the Age of Deception. Thank you so much for joining us today, Michael. MICHAEL HUDSON: Its good to be here. But I take issue with one thing that you said. You said the lenders expect Greece to grow. That is not so. There is no way in which the lenders did expect Greece to grow. In fact, the IMF was the main lender. It said that Greece cannot grow, under the circumstances that it has now. What do you do in a case where you make a loan to a country, and the entire staff says that there is no way this country can repay the loan? That is what the IMF staff said in 2015. It made the loan anyway not to Greece, but to pay French banks, German banks and a few other bondholders not a penny actually went to Greece. The junk economics they used claimed to have a program to make sure the IMF would help manage the Greek economy to enable it to repay. Unfortunately, their secret ingredient was austerity. Not For Profit - For Global Justice Get Our Free Daily Newsletter Sharmini, for the last 50 years, every austerity program that the IMF has made has shrunk the victim economy. No austerity program has ever helped an economy grow. No budget surplus has ever helped an economy grow, because a budget surplus sucks money out of the economy. As for the conditionalities, the so-called reforms, they are an Orwellian term for anti-reform, for cutting back pensions and rolling back the progress that the labor movement has made in the last half century. So, the lenders knew very well that Greece would not grow, and that it would shrink. So, the question is, why does this junk economics continue, decade after decade? The reason is that the loans are made to Greece precisely because Greece couldnt pay. When a country cant pay, the rules at the IMF and EU and the German bankers behind it say, dont worry, we will simply insist that you sell off your public domain. Sell off your land, your transportation, your ports, your electric utilities. This is by now a program that has gone on and on, decade after decade. Now, surprisingly enough, Americas ambassador to the EU, Ted Malloch, has gone on Bloomberg and also on Greek TV telling the Greeks to leave the euro and go it alone. You have Trumps nominee for the ambassador to the EU saying that the EU zone is dead zone. Its going to shrink. If Greece continues to repay the loan, if it does not withdraw from the euro, then it is going to be in a permanent depression, as far as the eye can see. Greece is suffering the result of these bad loans. It is already in a longer depression today, a deeper depression, than it was in the 1930s. SHARMINI PERIES: Yeah, thats an important at the very beginning of your answer here, you were making this very important point, is that although the lenders this is the Eurozone lenders had set a target of 3.5% surplus as a condition on Greece in order to make that first bailout loan. The IMF is saying, well, thats not quite doable, 1.5% should be the target. But youre saying, neither of these are real, or is achievable, or desired, for that matter, because they actually want Greece to fail. Why are you saying that? MICHAEL HUDSON: Because when Greece fails, thats a success for the foreign investors that want to buy the Greek railroads. They want to take over the ports. They want to take over the land. They want the tourist sites. But most of all, they want to set an example of Greece, to show that France, the Netherlands or other countries that may think of withdrawing from the euro withdraw and decide they would rather grow than be impoverished that the IMF and EU will do to them just what theyre doing to Greece. So theyre making an example of Greece. Theyre going to show that finance rules, and in fact that is why both Trump and Ted Malloch have come up in support of the separatist movement in France. Theyre supporting Marine Le Pen, just as Putin is supporting Marine Le Pen. Theres a perception throughout the world that finance really is a mode of warfare. If they can convince countries somehow to adopt junk economics and pursue policies that will destroy themselves, then theyll be easy pickings for foreign investors, and for the globalists to take over other economies. So, its a form of war. SHARMINI PERIES: Right. Michael, you were saying that the newly appointed ambassador, Ted Malloch of the Trump administration to the European Union has suggested that Greece should consider leaving the European Union, or the euro in particular. What do you make of this, and will this be then consistent with what Greece is suggesting? Because Greece has now said, no more austerity measures. Were not going to agree to them. So, this is going to amount to an impasse that is not going to be resolvable. Should Greece exit the euro? MICHAEL HUDSON: Yes, it should, but the question is how should it do it, and on what terms? The problem is not only leaving the euro. The problem really is the foreign debt that was bad debt that it was loaded onto by the Eurozone. If you leave the euro and still pay the foreign debt, then youre still in a permanent depression from which you can never exit. Theres a broad moral principle here: If you lend money to a country that your statistics show cannot pay the debt, is there really a moral obligation to pay the debt? Greece did have a commission two years ago saying that this debt is odious. But its not enough just to say theres an odious debt. You have to have something more positive. Ive been talking to Greek politicians and Syriza leaders about whats needed, and what is needed is a Declaration of Rights. Just as the Westphalia rules in 1648, a Universal Declaration that countries should not be attacked in war, that countries should not be overthrown by other countries. I think, the Declaration of International Law has to realize that no country should be obliged to impose poverty on its population, and sell off the public domain in order to pay its foreign creditors. The Declaration would say that if creditors make a debt that cannot be repaid, the debt is by definition odious, so there is no need to pay it. Every country has the right not to pay debts that are unpayable except by bankrupting the country, and forcing it to sell off their public domain to foreign countries. Thats the very definition of sovereignty. So, Im hoping to work with politicians of a number of countries to draw up this Declaration of Debtor Rights. Thats whats been missing. Theres an idea that if you withdraw from the euro, you can devalue your currency and can lower labor standards even further, wipe out the pensions, and somehow squeeze out enough to pay the debt. So, the problem isnt only the Eurozone. True, joining the euro meant that youre not allowed to run a budget deficit to pump money into the economy to recover like America has done. But the looming problem is that you have to pay debts that are so far beyond your ability to pay that youll end up like Haiti did after it rebelled after the French Revolution. France said, sure, well give you your independence, but youll have to reimburse us, for the fact that we no longer hold you as slaves. You have to buy your freedom. You cant say slavery is wrong. You have to make us, the slaveholders, whole. So Haiti took this huge foreign debt to France after it got its independence, and ended up not being able to develop. A few years after that, in 1824, Greece had a revolution and found the same problem. It borrowed from the Ricardo brothers, the brothers of David Ricardo, the economist and lobbyist for the bankers in London. Just like the IMF, he said that any country can afford to repay its debts, because of automatic stabilization. Ricardo came out with a junk economics theory that is still held by the IMF and the European Union today, saying that indebted countries can automatically pay. Well, Greece ended up paying taking on an enormous debt, paying interest but still defaulting again and again. Each time it had to give up more sovereignty. The result was basically a constant depression. Slow growth is what retarded Greece and much of the rest of southern Europe. So unless they tackle the debt problem, membership in the Eurozone or the European Union is really secondary. SHARMINI PERIES: All right. Theres so much more we can get into. For example, how much of Greece has already been sold out in the fire sale in order to service the debt. But lets talk about that in another segment. Thank you so much for joining us, Michael. MICHAEL HUDSON: Good to be here, Sharmini. SHARMINI PERIES: And thank you for joining us on The Real News Network. Michael Hudson is President of The Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends (ISLET), a Wall Street Financial Analyst, Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City and author of Killing the Host (2015), The Bubble and Beyond (2012) , Super-Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire (1968 & 2003), Trade, Development and Foreign Debt (1992 & 2009) and of The Myth of Aid (1971), amongst many others. U.S. Health Care System Is Very Corrupt By Chris Hedges and Margaret Flowers - RT 30,000 people die a year, because they can't get access to health care. Chris Hedges discusses how the dysfunctional U.S. health care system can be fixed with Dr. Margaret Flowers, a pediatrician and leading advocate for a single-payer system. RT Correspondent Anya Parampil looks at the soaring cost of health care. Posted February 19, 2017 Republicans Take Lead in Defining ACA Replacement, Act Now! By Margaret Flowers February 19, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - " Health Over Profit " - Roll Call reports that the Republicans introduced legislation, the Obamacare Replacement Act, in both the House and the Senate. The plan, known as the Sanford-Paul Plan for its lead sponsors, has the support of the strongest Republican caucus, the Freedom Caucus. Summaries of the legislation are not yet available. According to Roll Call, the legislation would de-link insurance coverage from employment and remove minimum coverage mandates, allowing consumers to purchase plans that fit their individual needs. It appears that people would purchase health insurance on the private market and receive a non-refundable tax credit to subsidize the purchase. The plan also includes Health Savings Accounts. Tax-credits and health savings accounts benefit people who have money, but will be of little use to most people in the United States. And rather than raising taxes on the wealthy to cover funds needed for the tax credit, Senator Rand Paul, the lead sponsor of the legislation in the senate, is calling for cuts to other government programs, otherwise known as austerity measures. Leaving insurance plans up to the market to determine means that low cost plans will cover very little and the fact will remain that people in the US will only be able to receive health care if they can afford it. Get access to news not available in the main stream Media Get Our Free Daily Newsletter The United States is an outlier among industrialized nations for being the only country that relies in large part on a private market for health insurance. Private insurers are financial institutions designed to create profit for shareholders. They are nothing like private insurers in the European Union, such as in Germany or Switzerland, which were designed as mutual insurances that have the mission to pay for health care. Reliance on the market for health care means rising prices and greater inequality and health disparities. The best way to create health security and health equity is through a universal, comprehensive publicly-financed health system. This is why we advocate for a National Improved Medicare for All. Right now the Republicans have the upper hand, not only because they are the majority but also because they have legislation in both bodies of Congress. The Democrats, who do not have single payer health care in their party platform, are largely focused on preserving the failing Affordable Care Act. The legislation that we support, HR 676: the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act, has been introduced in the House, but not in the Senate. In order to make progress in the demand for National Improved Medicare for All, we need a companion bill to HR 676 in the Senate. Senator Sanders, a long-time advocate for single payer health care, is the most obvious senator to be the lead sponsor but he has refused to make a commitment to introducing single payer legislation. We must push Senator Sanders to introduce a senate companion bill to HR 676 quickly so that people can build support for it by their senators. PLEASE USE THIS NEW CALL-IN TOOL TO CONTACT SENATOR SANDERS OFFICE: CLICK HERE TO USE IT . Syria - Turks Fail To Take Al-Bab - "Rebels" Die In Infighting By Moon Of Alabama February 19, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - " Moon Of Alabama " - This week the Turkish President Erdogan visited the Gulf states. He asked for bigger investment in Turkey and for cash for his project to occupy more parts of Syria. A week ago Erodgan had claimed : Al-Bab is about to be captured. Manbij and Raqqah are next, Erdogan said, adding their number one priority was to form a safe zone in the country. This week he brought his Army Chief of Staff Arak to the Gulf to declare victory. Several Erdogan friendly media outlets in Turkey (any other left?) reported : Operation Euphrates Shield has entered a new phase in al-Bab, as the offensive stage is over now that the town has largely been recaptured from Daesh. The operation in al-Bab is over," Chief of General Staff Hulusi Akar said at a press conference in Qatar on Wednesday during President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's trip to Gulf countries. ... Silence now dominates the area that was once scene to heavy clashes. Turkish tanks patrol al-Bab's streets and the Syrian opposition has pressed a major advance. That claim was a huge lie. While Turkish forces had earlier taken some outskirts of Al-Bab and claimed to own 40% of the city they were by then stuck and later in full retreat. Yesterday the Turkish forces lost the Al-Hikma hospital and the automatic bakery they had earlier captured and retreated from all inner districts of Al-Bab. At least 90% of Al-Bab is still in Islamic State hands. Geolocated video by the Islamic State and Turkish supported forces show that the Turks are back at their starting points at the outer city limits. As many as 430 Syrian civilians have been killed by Turkish forces and their auxiliaries. Just last week the MI-6 sponsored Syrian Observatory said that Turkish bombing killed more than 60 in Al-Bab. It confirmed videos posted by the Islamic State which showed killed children and destroyed houses. Unlike with every death cause by fighting between Takfiris and the Syrian Army no "western" main-stream media picked up on that. Turkey started to invade Syria between Aleppo and Euphrates exactly six month ago. The aim was to prevent the Syrian Kurds from taking an east-to-west corridor along the Turkish border. Such would have closed off Turkey from further influence in Syria. The Turks had hired some of the Syrian "rebels" they had earlier supported to fight the Syrian government to now fight the Islamic State and the Kurds. The Takfiris of Ahrar al-Sham are their storm troopers. The first three month showed some rapid progress. The Islamic State was bribed to move out of the northern Syrian areas without a fight and the Turks moved in. But in December they reached Al-Bab, a city east of Aleppo with originally some 60,000 inhabitants. There resistance from the Islamic State picked up and the Turkish progress stopped. Turkish armor, often placed without cover in sight of the front line, was destroyed in mass by Islamic State anti-tank missiles. Casualties climbed and the mercenaries of the FSA refused to continue the fight. As of Thursday casualties number so far were at least 64 Turkish soldiers killed and 386 wounded. Of the FSA auxiliaries at least 469 were killed and 1,712 wounded. A dozen main battle tanks were confirmed as lost. Unofficial sources claim that more than 30 Turkish tanks were destroyed as well as 20+ armored infantry carriers - nearly two battalions wasted for no significant gain. The Free Syrian Army mercenaries Erdogan hired to take on the Kurds and the Islamic State are now mostly useless. They do not fight efficiently but profusely waste ammunition for spray-and-pray show offs (vid). To compensate for that Turkey injected its own special Forces and now has some 3,000 soldiers involved in the operation. But that did not help either - losses continued and no progress was made. Another 5,000 Turkish soldiers were now send (Tur) to join the operation. It was also announced that Turkey plans to erect three garrisons in Syria. On top of the eluding Al-Bab Erdogan now also wants to take the Islamic State held Raqqa and the Kurdish held Manbij. His plan of a Raqqa operation is ludicrous. It would require to fight for and hold a corridor through Kurdish-Syrian areas: Ankara's preferred plan of action envisages Turkish and U.S. special forces, backed by commandoes and Turkey-backed Syrian rebels entering Syria through the border town of Tel Abyad, currently held by Kurdish YPG militia, the newspaper said. The forces would effectively cut through YPG territory, before pushing on to Raqqa, which lies about 100 kilometers (60 miles) south. Such a plan would require the United States to convince the Kurdish militia to grant the Turkey-backed forces a 20-kilometre (12-mile)-wide strip through YPG territory in order to push south, .. The U.S. would not (and could not) hold back Kurdish forces from attacking such a long Turkish supply line. But who takes such announcements serious anyway? After the alleged coup against him Erdogan kicked out every officer who was not, in his view, sufficiently loyal to him. His air-force was hurt the most. Allegedly only 0.4 qualified pilots per plane are available now instead of the regular 2-3. It takes up to a decade to train new pilots. The ground army may be in slightly better shape but NATO's second biggest military is no longer the serious force it once was. The whole Turkish operation is in disarray . Moreover - there is no plan for the day after or any exit strategy. Decisions and announcements change from day to day. Get access to news not available in the main stream Media Get Our Free Daily Newsletter The current Turkish plans contradict the Astana agreements concluded with Russia, Syria and Iran. Only a short, temporary role for Turkish forces was agreed upon. Al-Bab was supposed to be taken by Syrian forces. Syria has officially protested at the UN against the Turkish invasion. But neither Syria nor Russia or Iran have started to fight the Turkish forces. "Just let the Turks bleed," seems to be their current slogan. Erdogan set the date for a referendum in Turkey over a new constitution. The vote in April would legalize his quasi dictatorial powers. But the quagmire in Syria and the stalemate at Al-Bab will cost him. Why choose a dictator prone to lose his fights? Unconfirmed rumors are swiveling around claiming that Erdogan is trying to bribe the Islamic State to leave Al-Bab. Such a move would fit Erdogan's motives. He needs the victory and does not shy away from otherwise illegitimate methods. South of Al-Bab the Syrian army is moving towards the Euphrates. It will cut off the Turkish forces path to Raqqa and Manbij. In north-east Syria formerly Turkish sponsored Takfiris fight each other. Jund al-Aqsa, allied with Islamic State, is mass killing "moderate rebels" allied with Al-Qaeda. Hundreds of "rebel" fighters and prisoners have lost their lives in such infighting. In the south "moderate rebels" and al-Qaeda try to attack the city of Daraa, held by regular Syrian forces. The attacks failed. Jordan closed its borders and no longer takes care of wounded "rebels". The Military Operations Room in Jordan has stopped all supplies and payments to anti-Syrian forces. Only Israel is still secretly helping them. Syrian government forces mop up isolated rebel strongholds near Damascus. Some Syrian army forces are moving to retake Palmyra. The east-Syrian garrison in Deir Ezzor, isolated and attacked by the Islamic State, is still holding out. Bigger operations against the Takfiris in the south and north-west are planned but the smart move now is to just sit tight and let the enemies, Takfiris as well as Turks, continue in their self destruction. A dramatic incident in Enugu has seen bank workers belonging to 8 top banks in the state forced out of their offices as the buildings are sealed off. Eight top banks were sealed off in Enugu state for disobeying the directive by the state government to remit Withholding Taxes worth about N1billion into the coffers of the State Government. As a result, the Enugu State Board of Internal Revenue, after obtaining Exparte Orders from the Enugu State High Court, sealed off the banks. According to Mr. Emeka Odo Chairman, Enugu State Board of Internal Revenue the banks failed to heed several warnings conveyed to its management. A statement from Odo reads: Eight banks were this morning sealed by the Enugu State Government for failure to remit about N1, 000,000,000.00 (One Billion naira) in taxes to the coffer official the state government. The state government, through the Enugu State Board of Internal Revenue (ESBIR) on Feburary 6 and 16, 2017, obtained Exparte Orders from the Enugu State High Court to distrain the affected banks. The Board began the enforcement exercise this morning, and I wish to state that it was very successful. The eight banks are Access Bank PLC, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Skye Bank, Union Bank, Unity Bank, Heritage (Enterprise) Bank, Keystone Bank, and Sterling Bank. The branches of the affected banks in the State, which are now under lock and key will remain locked until they pay to the state government the taxes they have collected on its behalf. The government has been encouraging individual tax payers and tax agents to comply voluntarily by paying their taxes promptly. We have reformed the process of remittances of government revenues to make it easy for banks to pay their taxes like other corporate citizens. In the past one year we have written the affected banks severally and held meetings with them on the subject matter but they would rather hold onto government funds illegally. The action of the affected banks has been denying the State government of the funds it needs to execute its developmental programmes that would impact positively on the lives of the people. The eight banks have a combined branch network of 36 branches in Enugu metropolis and the neighbouring towns of Agbani and Ituku Ozalla. The sealing of the banks is the first phase of the enforcement exercise on major companies and institutions to ensure that they perform their civic obligation to the state government. We can no longer allow the banks to behave like corporate outlaws, moreso, when it is on record that the Withholding Taxes (WHT) which the state government is demanding that Banks remit to its coffer, have already been deducted by the banks from the interests that they pay on deposits to their customers. The banks have no business holding onto these taxes they collected on behalf of the government. The present administration in Enugu State has laid out an ambitious plan to upgrade critical infrastructural facilities in the State. These people-oriented programmes need to be adequately funded urgently, because the state government is in a hurry to deliver on all its campaign promises to the people. We are all aware that revenue allocation from the Federation Account to the state government has been dwindling. The government expects banks and other financial institutions to join hands with it to harness its internally generated revenues. In view of the above, we call on the people of the state, especially customers of the affected banks to be calm and see the action as a measure to enable the government serve them better as their monies in the affected banks are safe. Video purportedly showing the moment a woman grabbed Kim Jong-nam from behind and allegedly wiped a fast-acting poison on his face at Kuala Lumpur International Airport is released by a Japanese network. CCTV footage purportedly showing the deadly assault in Malaysia on the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un by a woman, who is believed to have wiped a fast-acting poison on his face, has been released by Japanese broadcaster Fuji TV. Kim Jong-nam died last Monday a short time after the attack in the departure hall of Kuala Lumpur International Airport, where he had been preparing to take a flight to Macau. Malaysian police have detained four suspects a Vietnamese woman, an Indonesian woman, a Malaysian man, and North Korean man and are on the hunt for four other North Koreans who fled the country on the day of the attack. At least three of the wanted North Koreans caught an Emirates flight to Dubai from Jakarta late on the same day, an Indonesian immigration office official said. It is reported they then flew to Pyongyang, although Malaysian police have not confirmed this. The immigration spokesman revealed the three suspects Ri Jae Nam, Hong Song Hac and Ri Ji Hyon flew on Emirates flight 359 from Soekarno Hatta international airport to Dubai on February 13. A fourth North Korean man also wanted by Malaysian police was recorded as departing Jakartas international airport on January 19. The grainy closed circuit television footage, which has been released on several websites, showed from two different angles a woman wearing a white top grab a mans face from behind with both hands and walk away. A second woman was also seen walking swiftly away in another direction after the assault, though it was unclear if she had participated in the attack. The portly, balding middle-aged man was seen stumbling and wiping his face after the assault, and later clips showed him seeking help from people while gesturing to his face and then being escorted to a clinic. More footage showed him inside the clinic seeking medical assistance. https://youtu.be/pf9FKg9c3jo Egyptian Chief of Staff Lt. General Mahmoud Hegazy met on Monday with Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya Martin Kobler to discuss the latest developments in the war-torn North African state, the Egyptian armed forces announced. According to a statement issued by the armed forces, Hegazy and Kobler discussed the results of last week's meetings in Cairo -- attended by representatives of the two main political factions fighting for control of Libya -- and steps being taken to end the crisis. The chief of staff emphasised in the meeting Egypt's keenness to settle the conflict based upon a Libyan national consensus and "national imperatives" like preserving state unity. Kobler expressed his appreciation for Egypt's efforts to support a dialogue and reach a political agreement between the factions. Hegazy is currently heading the committee assigned to mediate between the Libyan factions in Egypt. The meeting between Hegazy and Kobler was attended by a number of Egyptian armed forces commanders. Search Keywords: Short link: A company is offering a kind of leave to its employees with puppies. Scottish brewery BrewDog has instituted a new policy offering puppy parental leave for employees raising young dogs. The company announced the paw-ternity policy that provides all employees with one week off when they bring home a new puppy. BrewDog was started by two men and one dog in 2007, the brewery said in its announcement video. And we now employ 1,000 people around the world. https://twitter.com/BrewDog/status/831118635829702657?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw The brewerys headquarters in Aberdeenshire has 50 office dogs and the company said paw-ternity leave will be instituted at its Columbus, Ohio location when it opens in the spring. Its not easy trying to juggle work and settle a new dog into your life, and many members of our crew have four-legged friends at home, company co-founder James Watt told WFAA. We wanted to take the stress out of the situation and let our teams take the time they need to welcome their new puppy or dog into their family. Watt founded the company alongside Martin Dickie and both men are regularly accompanied by their own dogs Simcoe and Dr. Gonzo. The brewery expanded quickly, gathering 540 employees and 32,000 shareholders as well as establishing 44 bars as of 2015. We always want to raise the bar when it comes to offering our staff the best possible benefit, Watt said. We care about two things above all else. People and beer. We also just really like dogs. A self-acclaimed cleric that goes by the name Oluwaseyi Okikioluwa, 54, was on Monday remanded by an Ebute Meta Chief Magistrates Court sitting in Lagos for allegedly hacking his mother, Mrs Ayoola Dorcas, to death. The accused, was arraigned on a one-count charge of murder. His plea was not taken by the court. In her ruling, the Chief Magistrate, Mrs Kofo Ariyo, ordered the accused to be remanded pending receipt of legal advice from the state Director of Public Prosecution. The Prosecutor, Cpl. Hafsat Ajibode, had told the court that the accused committed the offence on Feb. 7, at about 6.00 p.m. at No. 2, Ade-Odofin Estate, Sangotedo, Lekki, Lagos. She said the accused after hitting the deceased on the head with an axe, fled the scene leaving the victim in her own pool of blood. According to her, Mr Oluwaseyi who pleaded not guilty to the charge was later arrested and made to stand trial. The offence, she said, contravened Section 221 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011, which stipulates a maximum of death sentence for offenders. The case has been adjourned till March 30. Security staff at the Abuja House in London yesterday called in policemen to arrest a correspondent of The Guardian who was on the premises to see President Muhammadu Buhari and possibly interview him. When the correspondent told a member of staff at the Abuja House, the official residence of the Nigerian High commissioner to the United Kingdom, yesterday afternoon that he had come to see the president, he replied: As far as Im concerned, hes not here. At 2:50 p.m., when a black Mercedes jeep arrived, the occupant sitting by the driver rolled down the glass and asked the The Guardian correspondent, why are you here? When I told him that l was a reporter with The Guardian and l had come to see if the president was there and to interview him, he looked quite irritated and replied angrily: hes not here, you cant see anybody here. In an extraordinary move, two police officers, Constables Marlett and Stock, were called in by the security staff at the Abuja House to arrest the reporter. When both arrived on their motorcycles, they took the reporters name and date of birth and subsequently made a check on the national database, before staying around for about 20 minutes and then left. Prior to that, the security staff threatened the reporter with the police when he called at the Kensington residence to interview President Buhari about his continued stay in the UK. A few minutes after The Guardian arrived at the Abuja House, just after 1:00 p.m., wanting to speak to the high commissioner, the reporter was directed to go to the Embassy- Nigerian House at Northumberland Avenue. Somebody should be there, he was told. Around 1:20 p.m., when a man and a teenage-looking girl wearing glasses pressed the buzzer, a security officer appeared to open the gate for the duo. When asked:Is that the daughter of the president? judging by her resemblance of the First Lady- the security officer replied: I dont know. He then reiterated that the reporter should go to the office at Northumberland Avenue. When The Guardian pressed the buzzer about five minutes later, the security man sounded angry and threatened to call the police even when the reporter disclosed his identity and said he had come to speak to the president or any member of staff of the residence. You should realise this is a private place and I will call the police, he said. When he was immediately corrected and told that the reporter was standing outside in a public place, he then said: l wont speak to you again. But around 1:40 p.m., when two guests arrived, the reporter shook hand with one of them and asked, have you come to see Mr. President? He replied cheerfully, saying yes, but he didnt enter the compound. He left about 15 minutes later. Another security officer came out shortly after and told the reporter to move away from the main gate. Excuse me, you cant just stand here, he said. Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, was also at Abuja House, a strong indication that Buhari may actually be there. At 5:13p.m., Saraki emerged from the house in a black suit, accompanied by a male aide. Hello, Senate president, hello Senate president, The Guardian said to him from outside the gate, before he entered an official car and was driven away. Meanwhile, Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose has accused the leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) of politicising the health status of President Buhari by their visitation to London which he described as make-belief and too much of eye-service. Fayose said he had temporarily suspended his criticism of the president because of his health challenges. The governor spoke on a live programme tagged, Meet Your Governor aired on the state-owned Ekiti Television and Radio Stations on Saturday. Fayose who prayed for sound health for the president said his desire for a better Nigeria accounted for why he had been criticising the Federal Government when things were not done the right way. I dont have any problem with the president; the only problem I have is with his handlers. They will say something today and say another tomorrow. Anybody can fall sick, he said. Besides, the Anglican Bishop, Diocese of Lagos West, Rt. Revd. James Olusola Odedeji yesterday cautioned Nigerians against wishing the president dead but rather pray for his health and wellbeing so that he could succeed in delivering his electoral promises to the nation. Odedeji spoke at the induction and installation of Venerable Adegoke Oludare Agara as the Dean of Archbishop Vining Memorial Church Cathedral held at the church in Ikeja, Lagos. He said: It is unfortunate in this country that Nigerians do hate their leaders. The rate at which people are willing to wish the president of the country dead is alarming. What are we going to gain if he dies? Source: Guardian Manchester United, who recently booked their place in the FA Cup quarter-finals after defeating Blackburn Rovers with a 2-1 margin, will be facing Chelsea next month. Uniteds manager Jose Mourinho fears that Chelsea may go full hyper in their FA Cup quarter-final clash as theyve already won the Premier League title. Probably Chelsea can only think about that [the FA Cup] because I think they are champions and they have nothing else to fight for, the manager said after the victory at Ewood Park. Chelsea, who is 12 points ahead of Manchester United in the Premier League, looks to be the title holder of the tough and arduous league. The FA Cup is something I believe is important for them. I have to play St-Etienne [on Wednesday], I have to play the final, I have to play hopefully another opponent in the Europa League. I have to fight for a top-four position in the Premier League. I have so many things to think about, said Mourinho as he conveyed the fact that his hands were full and that Chelseas were not. The Red Devils will face Southampton in the EFL Cup final on February 26. Nigerian newspaper headlines February 20, 2017. Punch President Muhammadu Buhari and the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, again met in London, United Kingdom, on Sunday evening. Guardian Security staff at the Abuja House in London yesterday called in policemen to arrest a correspondent of The Guardian who was on the premises to see President Muhammadu Buhari and possibly interview him. Vanguard The Presidency has promised to get President Muhammadu Buhari, who is on indefinite vacation in London, to speak to Nigerians to douse welling controversies and disquiet in the country over his health status and well-being. The Nation Seven governors have questions to answer in the alleged diversion of part of the N388.304billion London-Paris Club refunds into two accounts opened by the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), The Nation has learnt. The Sun Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi, has said he would propose a law that restricts poor men in the emirate from marrying many wives. Thisday The president left the country on January 19, 2017, a clear four days before the date indicated for the commencement of his vacation, stating that he would return to resume work on February 6. Leadership The Nigerian Army has denied claims by a pro-Biafra group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) that soldiers murdered no fewer than 11 pro-Biafra agitators in Port Harcourt on January 20, 2017. The Federal Government has been given a sound warning by Governor Ayodele Fayose that it cannot ban okada in his state. Ekiti State Governor and Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors Forum, Mr Ayodele Fayose has challenged the Federal Government over its plan to ban commercial motorcycle, popularly known as Okada in the country. He said the decision by the government is wicked. In a statement issued by its Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Governor Fayose, who was addressing Okada riders that accosted him in Ikere Ekiti on his way from Abuja on Saturday, said; ban on Okada will worsen the countrys security situation because it will remove foods from the table of so many people. Speaking further, he said, In Ekiti State, we wont ban Okada because it is a source of livelihood to a lot of families. Why would anyone even contemplate such when government did not create alternative employments? He said: With this economic recession that is biting so hard, it is sheer heartlessness for the federal government to even think of sending Okada riders out of business instead of putting machineries in motion to check their excesses. The governor, who promised Okada riders in Ekiti State his continued support and assistance, said; The federal government has no power to ban Okada in my State and under my watch, no one will prevent Okada Riders from operating as long as they do not go against the laws. The Oyo State Police Command have arrested a man for allegedly setting his family house on fire, while the occupants were asleep killing five members of the family, including an eight month old baby. The incident happened in Budo Alaka village in Kisi area of Oyo State around 2.35 a.m on Sunday. The State Police Spokesperson, SP Adekunle Ajisebutu, while parading the suspect gave the names of the five casualties as: Blessing Samuel Ode (3), Friday Samuel Ode ( 8 months), Mummy Ogbada (10), Daddy Ogbada (6) and Ogunma Ogbada (46) were burnt to death. Ajisebutu said, there were two survivors, namely Samuel Daniel Ode (24) and Mariam Samuel Ode (21) and they are currently receiving treatment at the Muslim Hospital in Kisi. According to him, the suspect, identified as Monday Daniel, a 26 year-old, escaped from the scene but was later arrested by the police. He added that the suspect upon interrogation confessed to the crime but claimed he did not know what came over him. Ajisebutu explained further that the case would soon be transferred to the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Iyaganku in Ibadan for further investigation According to a witness account, the suspect had on the previous day approached a member of the family for some money to travel to an undisclosed destination. His request was turned down. The suspect, was said to have been angered by the snub. He allegedly came back in the early hours of Sunday and set the the house on fire Related Death toll in December's Cairo church bombing rises to 29 St. Peter's church bombing targeted Egyptians, not only Christians: Coptic Pope In response to a video released Sunday by the Islamic State group, Egypt's Al-Azhar observatory warned Egyptians not to fall for the video's message, which it says promotes sectarian strife between Muslim and Christians in an attempt to recreate in Egypt what has happened in Iraq and Syria. In a statement on its website, the observatory called on all Egyptians to maintain national unity and not fall for such "evil" publications and propaganda. The observatory said the video posted Sunday night showed footage and statements taken out of context to promote sectarian strife between Muslims and Christians in the country. "The video used statements taken out of context as alleged proof of Christians' hatred towards Muslims, and employed misinterpreted Islamic scripts to promote their evil agenda," the statement read. The 20-minute video titled "fight all idolaters'' purported to show the last statements of the suicide bomber who blew himself up in Cairo's St. Peter and St. Pauls Church on 11 December 2016, killing 29 Coptic Christian worshippers, mostly women and children. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the bombing -- the deadliest attack in Egypt outside the Sinai Peninsula since 2013. In 2015, Al-Azhar created the Al-Azhar observatory to respond to erroneous and extremist interpretations of Islam, especially those which promote violence. The website produces content in 10 different languages. Search Keywords: Short link: Members of the Texas Self Storage Association (TSSA) raised more than $188,000 last year for the Shriners Hospitals for Children in Galveston, Texas, and surpassed $1 million in lifetime giving. The donation was the largest contribution the organization has made since it began raising funds for the hospital 15 years ago, according to a press release. In 2015, it raised more than $150,000. TSSA representatives presented Shriners with a check to celebrate the milestone during a recent tour of the hospital. When you see the way the hospital approaches care, treating the whole childboth body and mindwith the goal of returning their life to normalcy, you cant help but be profoundly affected, said Doug Hunt, co-chair for the TSSA Fundraising Committee. TSSA members are incredibly generous, and this is such a worthy cause. Its an honor to raise funds for this hospital, and Im proud that we were able to surpass the $1 million goal this year. TSSA raises funds by hosting a silent and live auction as well as a charity poker tournament during its annual conference each fall. A significant portion of the funds also comes from individual members, the release stated. In reaching $1 million raised, TSSA has risen to an exclusive level that few supporters join, said Dr. David Herndon, chief of staff for Shriners. Their transformational gifts represent a commitment to support Shriners Hospitals for Children in our efforts to provide the best clinical care, to advance research and to train the healthcare professionals of tomorrow. We are deeply honored to have partnered with TSSA for 15 years, and look forward to many years of continued friendship. Since the hospital entered the burn-care field in 1966, the survival rate of children with burns on more than 50 percent of their body surface has doubled. Today, patients with burns on more than 90 percent of their body can survive and go on to lead productive lives thanks to the cutting-edge clinical care, research and education regardless of a families ability to pay, the release stated. TSSA members are very generous, and through their generosity, our budget remains viable while enabling us to remain the world's most recognized pediatric burns-treatment hospital, said Greg McEwen, Shriners incoming chairman of the board. Their gifts come from the heart, and we cherish the relationship not only with the TSSA, but also each of the members. I cannot thank them enough for what they do and mean to us. The TSSA Fundraising Committee is making plans for its next campaign, which will largely be executed at the associations 2017 conference. The event is scheduled for Oct. 18-20 in San Antonio. Established in 1986, the TSSA is a nonprofit trade association dedicated to enhancing the quality of the self-storage industry in Texas. The association provides opportunities for members to increase their knowledge of the self-storage industry through education, research, discussion and exchange of information. Shriners Hospitals for Children includes 22 hospitals in Canada, Mexico and the United States, providing advanced care for children with orthopedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate. NIBA has announced that Tim Wedlock has been made president of the industry body. Wedlock, managing director of Austbrokers AEI Group, previously served as deputy president and replaces Graham Stevens, of Edgewise Insurance Brokers, in the role. Stevens will remain on the NIBA board as a director. Eric Harris, of Aon Risk Services, has been appointed as the new vice president of the board with two retirements also announced. Peter Blanco, of De Conno & Blanco in Adelaide, and Peter Roberts, formerly of InsuranceHouse Fortitude Valley, will step down from their positions. Its a great honour and responsibility to become the NIBA President, Wedlock said of his appointment. Im really looking forward to working with the greater insurance community, as well as CEO Dallas Booth, and the rest of the Board and our divisional committees, on ways of promoting our NIBA message for the future and being the voice for our broking partners around Australia. Want the latest insurance industry news first? Sign up for our completely free newsletter service now. Diane Phelan, group operations manager of BJS Insurance Brokers in South Australia, has also joined the board. Her appointment became effective in December 2016. As a South Australia divisional committee chair of NIBA, Phelan has a wealth of experience with the industry body. She becomes the second female member of the current board alongside Willis Towers Watsons Marigold Magnaye. It would be great to have more women represented on our Board to reflect the changing broker demographic and this is the first step in the right direction, Booth said of Phelans appointment. It was also announced that David Duffield, who will shortly retire from the NIBA board, will take up the role of industry representative on the Insurance Broking Code Compliance Committee following the retirement of Stephen Lardner. Related stories: Outstanding NIBA benefitting brokers Steadfast, AIMS join NIBA board Zurich has announced a new structure for its commercial insurance business in the Asia Pacific region. The major insurer has combined its global corporate and commercial units into a single division in a bid to simplify its business and give commercial clients a single entry point into the firm. The integration of the two units is being undertaken on a country-by-country basis, the insurer confirmed, and Chris Waterman will lead the new business. Waterman, who joined Zurich as chief underwriting officer, commercial for Asia Pacific in 2016, will report to Jack Howell, chief executive officer of the insurer in the region and Jim Shea, chief executive officer of Zurichs commercial insurance business globally. Want the latest insurance industry news first? Sign up for our completely free newsletter service now. We are changing our go-to-market approach so we can provide customers and brokers with one single channel to access the tailored insurance and protection solutions they are looking for, Waterman said of the changes. With this new structure, we are also empowering each country with the authority and agility they need to make even faster decisions in response to their customer conversations. The insurer has also announced that it has created three roles for leadership of casualty, specialty and property lines within the business. Penny Search, who joined the business earlier this month, will be head of casualty and crisis management for the region, while Alex Morgan, currently chief underwriting officer of commercial in Japan, will take on the role of head of specialty and relocate to Singapore in April. Waterman will also take on the role of head of property for the region. Each of the new positions will be supported by a deputy with Geoff Gillmore and Echo Chen to continue in their roles as deputy head of property and casualty respectively. Tim Warren, currently head of credit and political risk for the region, has been appointed deputy head of specialty. Related stories: Zurich adds two key hires Business interruption needs to evolve to match client need The first tangible results of Maine voters decision to legalize marijuana are being felt as possession and home growth of marijuana becomes legal in the state. Voters narrowly passed the ballot question in November, and the waiting period between the vote and legalization has expired. Contentious aspects linger, including what rules should govern businesses that will sell marijuana, such as retail stores and social clubs. The Legislature has been hammering out those details, and they will take months to fully craft, meaning it will be months before marijuana businesses open in the state. But its legal to smoke it. Its also legal to gift it, grow it and possess up to 2.5 ounces of it. The marijuana legalization vote was close, passing by only about 4,000 votes, and opponents of the spread of marijuana have vowed to continue to push for restrictions in the state. Legalization also sparked a row between legislators and Republican Gov. Paul LePage. Lawmakers on Jan. 26 unanimously approved legislation delaying the retail sale of marijuana until February 2018. But LePage at first declined to sign off on such a delay because of concerns he has about funding and oversight. He ended up signing it on Jan. 27. LePages signing of the bill also closed a loophole that could have allowed Mainers under 21 to possess pot. Cities and towns have also considered moratoriums on the establishment of marijuana businesses, and some have already approved such temporary bans. Many local officials have said they dont want to get into the business of issuing marijuana licenses until the state rules are firmly in place. Scott Gagnon, chairman of Mainers Protecting Our Youth and Communities, has said that legalization will bring a huge cultural change for Maine and that cities and towns are right to be cautious about whether they will allow sales within their borders. Maine also has a long-standing medical marijuana program, and supporters of recreational pot have vowed that broader legalization will not interfere with it. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Both maintenance workers killed by an Amtrak train near Philadelphia, Penn., last year were on drugs when the crash happened, test results show, but that doesnt appear to have factored into safety lapses and miscommunications being blamed for their deaths. Toxicology reports released by federal safety investigators show backhoe operator Joseph Carter Jr. tested positive for cocaine, and supervisor Peter Adamovich had morphine, codeine and oxycodone in his system. Tests on train engineer Alexander Hunter, who was injured in the crash, showed evidence of marijuana use. Other documents released by the National Transportation Safety Board pinned blame on a lax safety culture that put Carter and Adamovich in harms way as they performed maintenance on an active track in April. Among the other documents released was a report posted in error and later removed in which investigators criticized Amtrak managers for allowing the track maintenance work to go on without a detailed plan identifying safety hazards. Investigators said they determined the track where Carter and Adamovich were struck was closed to trains until about 20 minutes before the crash, and a foreman who took charge after a shift change never called to have it closed again. Hunter blew the horn and hit the brakes once he saw equipment on an adjacent track and on his own track, about five seconds before impact. The train slowed from 106 mph to 100 mph and only came to a complete stop about a mile down the track. Lawyers for Carters family said his positive drug test was irrelevant to the systematic failures the investigative report described at Amtrak. Carter, Adamovich and Hunter had all passed previous drug tests given as part of their employment, according to the investigative reports. No drugs were detected in post-crash tests given to surviving maintenance workers, the trains conductor and two assistant conductors. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services (DIFS) announced a new online tool to assist Michigan consumers with the filing of electronic complaints. The Office of Consumer Services (OCS) at DIFS will use this tool to start the initial review of complaints against insurance entities, banks, credit unions, mortgage companies, payday lenders, vehicle loans, personal loans, money transfers and debt management transactions. The complaint portal was soft launched in August 2016 with the aim of ironing out any technical issues. Between August and December, 476 out of 1,961 complaints were received via the new portal, the agency reported. One of our goals this past year was to provide more online services to consumers so they can file their complaints, get a response back and be able to do it all online, DIFS Director Patrick McPharlin said in the departments announcement. Also in 2016, DIFS created the Life Insurance and Annuity Search (LIAS) to help beneficiaries locate a deceased family members life insurance policy or annuity contract that was purchased in Michigan. The department said every month consumer requests are forwarded to Michigan licensed life insurance and annuity companies. Insurers respond directly to the legally authorized requestor only if they have any life insurance policies or annuity contracts naming the deceased. Contact will not be made to anyone who is not a beneficiary or legally authorized to receive information regarding the policy. Since the August announcement, DIFS has received 2,500-plus hits on the search page and more than 700 requests. Through the use of LIAS, DIFS staff was able to help get more than $29,000 in claims paid to consumers. OCS answered 87,734 phone calls, handled 1,659 written inquiries, and assisted with 5,080 formal complaints last year. Through the complaint process, OCS assisted Michigan consumers in recovering more than $10 million. DIFS hard-working consumer services staff remains focused on helping Michigan consumers navigate through the states complex financial service industry, McPharlin said. Five of the countrys 100 worst congested areas for trucks are in the state of Ohio, and three of those areas are in Cincinnati, according to a study. The American Transportation Research Institute has ranked Interstate 71 at I-75 junction north of the Brent Spence Bridge as No. 5, the highest Ohio area with truck-traffic bottlenecks on the organizations list. Two other areas in Cincinnati are listed as No. 35 and No. 84, respectively: The I-75 at I-74 interchange and the I-75/I-71 interchange at Interstate 275. The I-71/I-70 interchange in Columbus is listed as No. 67. Interstate 75 at U.S. Route 35 in Dayton is No. 50. Higher levels of distracted driving and poor driving habits are among reasons for Ohios presence on the list, Tom Balzer, president and chief executive of the Ohio Trucking Association, and others told the Hamilton-Middletown Journal-News. Thats the thing about traffic, Balzer said. Its all a chain reaction. The problem requires attention to not just infrastructure, but to highways in particular and expanding those roads whenever possible, Balzer said. Butler County Commissioner T.C. Rodgers, who will serve as president of the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Government for 2017, has told the newspaper that his goal is to get funding for the project to replace the Brent Spence Bridge. The bridge connecting Cincinnati and northern Kentucky is considered functionally obsolete, but theres been disagreement on how to fund an estimated $2.6 billion project. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Assignment of benefits abuse has escalated over the last five years to the point where it is now a serious disruption to Floridas insurance market. The abuse, which is especially rampant in South Florida, stems from unscrupulous contractors and attorneys cashing in on homeowners dealing with a water loss, such as a burst pipe or roof leak. The bad actors, as they have been dubbed by the industry, use an AOB to acquire the homeowners insurance benefits, file inflated claims, and then pursue lawsuits against insurers when those claims are disputed or denied. Because of Floridas one-way attorney fee statute, insurers are left footing the bill for the inflated claim and the attorney fees. We believe the [one-way attorney fee statute] provides an extraordinary incentive for people to get into a dispute with the insurance company and inflate the claim so the company has to pay attorney fees, said Florida Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier at the Feb. 7 Florida Cabinet meeting. The industry hopes this will be the year that the Florida Legislature addresses the problem. AOB is such a hot topic in Florida right now that it dominated discussions on almost every panel and between attendees of the Florida Chamber of Commerces Florida Insurance Summit held Feb. 1-3 in Miami. A glance at the numbers from various Florida sources tells the story of why: Frequency of water claims rose 46 percent and severity increased 28 percent between 2010 and 2015 (OIR 2015 Data Call) AOB property insurance claims totaled 28,000 in 2016, up from 843 in 2010 and 405 in 2006 (Florida CFO Jeff Atwater) Floridas Citizens saw a 30 percent increase in new lawsuits filed against the insurer between January and November 2016 (Citizens) 50 percent of Citizens water-related claims resulted in litigation in 2016, up from 15 percent in 2011 (Citizens) As of October 2016, Citizens had 9,306 litigated claims pending and continues to receive an average of approximately 850 new claims per month (average of approximately 980 per month from August to October) In South Florida, the average AOB claim costs more than $32,000, nearly triple the average of non-AOB claims (Florida Consumer Protection Coalition) Non-cat water loss claims accompanied by an AOB are increasingly coming to insurance companies in the form of a lawsuit before the insurer has even seen the claim. Data from Citizens found that 76 percent of water loss claims in 2016 were submitted to the company in the form of a lawsuit, up from the 2.5 percent of litigated water claims in 2012. Citizens CEO and Executive Director Barry Gilway said the average water damage claim is received 50 days after the loss. We are not getting these lawsuits from the insured, he said. In many of those cases we have never even seen the claim, weve never had an opportunity to adjust it or received a statement of loss its just here is a lawsuit and a bill for $30,000.' Industry Response As the situation continues to deteriorate, insurers say they can no longer afford to just watch the trend and are instead taking action to ensure that the increasing frequency and severity of claims wont deplete their surplus and ability to pay claims. According to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, nearly 73 percent of the rate filings received by insurance companies and approved by OIR were for a rate increase, largely because of AOB claims. Insurers are responding in ways other than raising rates, as well, including pulling out of certain areas of the state, filing for policy wording changes, and accepting fewer take-out offers from Citizens. The company has reached its lowest policyholder count in its history, but there are concerns those efforts will be reversed if the AOB problem continues. Citizens Gilway has been one of the loudest voices in Florida on the AOB problem, first calling attention to the issue at Citizens OIR rate hearing in August 2015. Gilway says as a non-profit insurer, Citizens is in a unique position to bring attention to how the problem is really hurting the consumer and not just a way for insurance companies to raise rates so they can make more money. I dont have any axe to grind here. My bottom line is I feel very, very sorry for the insureds. They are getting ripped off by signing one of these things. Most of the time when they sign them, they are under duress, Gilway said. Florida insurance companies are just starting to quantify the AOB abuse and its impact on their bottom lines. The industry has seen increased water loss claims and litigation, but hasnt necessarily been tracking the frequency of AOB with those claims. In OIRs 2015 Data Call, only four companies were able to provide consistent indicators of AOB for the analysis. Because private companies have not put forth concrete data like Citizens has, some have questioned if the abuse is as great as the industry has claimed. Belinda Miller, chief of staff for OIR, said regulators have closely examined if the problem is an abuse of the system or if insurance companies are somehow complicit in the increased litigation. To reach that determination, OIR evaluated consumer complaints over the last five years and if they had increased at the same rate as lawsuits. Miller said that wasnt the case. The argument that maybe its just the companies arent doing a very good job and arent paying when they should, we dont see any evidence of that, Miller said. And as AOB costs insurers more money in claims, they can raise rates in response. Insurance companies pass through these costs, said Miller. The insurance company can raise rates and keep paying. It doesnt necessarily mean they are going to make more money they are going to pass these costs on to their policyholder. Topics Lawsuits Carriers Trends Florida Claims A national consumer group has charged that innocent drivers in most states are being forced to pay more for auto insurance for accidents in which they are not at fault. The report from the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) further claims that drivers with higher incomes are penalized less than moderate income insureds involved in no-fault accidents. Insurance industry groups say the research is flawed in its conclusion and in its methodology of comparing the experience of a new customer with no prior insurance with that of a driver who has had prior coverage. But CFA and the industry agree it proves the value of consumers shopping around for the best deal on insurance. CFA said it analyzed premium quotes in 10 cities from five of the nations largest auto insurers. Among the cities tested, drivers in New York City and Baltimore pay out the most for doing nothing wrong, and customers in Chicago and Kansas City also face average increases of 10 percent or more when another driver crashes into them, according to CFA. Innocent drivers who dont cause accidents should not be charged more because someone else hit them. CFA said it found that insurers vary in how they handle no-fault accidents. Progressive used the not-at-fault penalty most aggressively, surcharging drivers in every test where such an increase is not prohibited by state law, according to the report. GEICO and Farmers sometimes raised rates by 10 percent or more for not-at-fault accidents. Allstate occasionally penalized drivers who did not cause the accident, while State Farm never increased premiums for these accidents. The CFA report compared the experiences of two female drivers in each city who lived at the same address, were 30 years old, licensed for 14 years, and drove a 2006 Toyota Camry 10,000 miles each year. The upper income driver was married, a homeowner and a bank executive with a Masters degree. The moderate-income driver was a bank teller, who was single, rented an apartment, and had a high school degree. The upper income driver has had auto insurance with the same insurer for the past three years, while the moderate-income applicant has not had insurance because she has not had a car. Comparing these two good drivers, CFA found the following: Higher-income drivers paid $78 more on average after a not-at-fault accident; Moderate-income drivers paid $208 more on average after a not-at-fault accident; Higher-income drivers faced a 6.6 percent penalty on average after a not-at-fault accident; Moderate-income drivers faced a 9.6 percent penalty on average after a not-at-fault accident. Innocent drivers who dont cause accidents should not be charged more because someone else hit them, said J. Robert Hunter, CFAs director of insurance and the former Insurance Commissioner of Texas. Most people know that if they cause an accident or get a ticket they could face a premium increase, but they dont expect to be punished if a reckless driver careens into them. CFA called on state lawmakers to prohibit penalties on innocent drivers. It said that California and Oklahoma already have regulations preventing insurers from raising rates on drivers when they are involved in an accident that was not their fault. The National Council of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL), which represents state lawmakers involved with insurance legislation, tends to agree with CFA. While he had yet to review the CFA report in detail, Tom Considine, CEO of NCOIL and former New Jersey insurance commissioner, said insurers shouldnt be assessing a surcharge or raising premiums on innocent parties involved in no-fault accidents. In these situations, the insurer of the faultless party should use subrogation against the at-fault partys insurer to recoup its expenses, he said. The blameless driver should have no adverse economic consequences. The end result is a report that attempts to present auto insurers negatively but fails to provide consumers with accurate or useful information. Insurance industry groups took issue with CFAs data collection, methodology and conclusion. Loretta Worters, vice president of communications for the Insurance Information Institute, cautioned that data collected through an insurers website is not the full story. There are often questions surrounding no-fault accidents. [I]t is rarely clear-cut as to whom the at-fault party is after a collision between two vehicles. Insurance companies look at each claim based on many factors. In addition, a not-at-fault drivers insurer often incurs expenses after an accident because of subrogation, said Worters. She said assigning fault in an accident is rarely a zero-sum process where one driver is 100 percent at-fault whereas the other driver is zero percent at-fault. CFAs choice of driver profiles to compare came in for criticism. Prior auto insurance is a commonly used rating factor that is highly predictive of future loss, said David Snyder, vice president of policy development and research for the Property Casualty Insurers of America (PCI). Rather than using the same prior insurance status to compare the moderate and higher income driver, CFA used no prior insurance for the moderate-income driver, but three years with the same insurer for the higher income driver. The result is a study that provides no real insights about the effect of a not at fault accident on premiums. Snyder also claimed the report fails to consider the variety of state laws concerning at-fault accidents. He said some states have blanket prohibitions, while others address the specific circumstances CFA provided as examples like being hit while parked or struck from the rear. The end result is a report that attempts to present auto insurers negatively but fails to provide consumers with accurate or useful information, Snyder charged. According to Neil Alldredge, senior vice president, State and Policy Affairs, for the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, the report underscores the fact that insurance rates can vary widely from company to company, based on how companies weigh the many factors considered in determining rates. He also criticized CFA for comparing one driver with prior coverage with another who didnt. This is significant because some companies reward loyal customers by forgiving infrequent accident claims a practice that belies the CFAs claim that insurers are trying to train their customers not to file claims of any sort, Alldredge said. Alldredge also noted the CFA report didnt state whether any consumers are paying these rates, suggesting that in the real-world consumers are often entitled to various discounts including for buying renters or homeowners coverage from the same insurer. While critical of CFA, Alldedge couldnt resist noting that the one insurer that did not penalize for no-fault accidents was a mutual insurer, namely State Farm. The American Insurance Association (AIA) drew an overriding conclusion from the report: consumers are wise to shop around. Personal automobile insurance remains one of the most highly regulated and competitive markets in the United States. State regulators review policies and rates, including factors cited by the Consumer Federation of America, to ensure that they are not excessive, inadequate or discriminatory, said Lawrence Eckhouse, AIA counsel. He said even the CFA report highlights the variability of rating factors, business outcomes and prices, while also encouraging consumers to shop around. Topics Carriers Auto Legislation Profit Loss Barcelona star Lionel Messi will arrive in Egypt on Tuesday for a one-day visit to promote the countrys Tour n Cure medical tourism campaign, trip organisers Prime Pharma announced on Monday. The Tour n Cure campaign runs combined tourism and Hepatitis C treatment travel packages for tourists visiting the country. The five-time Ballon D'or winners planned visit to Cairo was postponed twice. Messi was set to visit Egypt on Wednesday last week but the trip was postponed after Barcelona lost a game 4-0 against Paris Saint Germain at the Parc des Princes Stadium, hurting the team's chance of advancing in the European Champions League. In December, Messi agreed to postpone his visit after the deadly bombing of Cairos St. Peter and St. Paul's Church, which left 29 people dead. Egypt has gained global recognition for fighting Hepatitis C, with the World Health Organisation celebrating World Hepatitis C Day in Cairo in 2015. Search Keywords: Short link: ARE YOU A TOP COMPANY? What it Really Means to be a Top Company! To be a Top Company in Irish Construction Industry Magazines Top Companies listing means far more than just a rank and position in an ordered catalogue of names. To us, it means that your efforts to be the best you can be and to excel in your industry and sector have been effective and have paid dividends. To us, it means that your determination and commitment to develop and instil a positive work culture and environment have brought your business due success plus satisfaction. We see it as you being a supportive and inclusive place in which to work that strives to bring the best out of everyone across every level of the organisation. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE A trilateral meeting of the foreign ministers of Egypt, Libya, and Algeria concluded on Monday with the representatives of the three countries releasing a statement on a Tunisian declaration to support comprehensive political reconciliation in Libya. In a press conference on Monday, Tunisia's foreign minister Khamis Alaghinawa, along with his Egyptian and Algerian counterparts Sameh Shoukry and Abdel-Qader Messahel, called on all Libyan parties to participate in talks in cooperation with their neighbouring countries and the United Nations. The Tunisian declaration included six points that reiterated the rejection of foreign military or political intervention in Libyan domestic affairs. The statement stressed the importance of preserving the Libyan state and army in accordance with the 2015 Skhirat agreement and its future amendments through discussion and coordination between Libyan factions. The leaders of Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria will be briefed on the outcomes of the meeting of foreign ministers ahead of an anticipated trilateral summit in Algeria, the date of which has not yet been determined. Last week, Cairo hosted meeting of different Libyan political factions where Egypt stressed optimism that common ground existed for reaching a political end to the stalemate. Shoukry said that the main pillar of the trilateral talks in Tunis was the Skhirat agreement, adding that based on the outcomes of last weeks Cairo meeting, the three foreign ministers stressed the importance of having a mechanism of political representation in the Libyan parliament and the High Council of State. This is a sound approach of laying one brick over the other, which should lead to the installing of state institutions and dealing with urgent issues like terrorism, as well as establishing stability in Libya, Shoukry said. Algeria's FM Messahel stressed on the importance of putting in place a mechanism for implementing a comprehensive political solution on several levels and through talks between Libyan factions. He added, however, that a date for new parliamentary and presidential elections in Libya remains undetermined, and that this is for Libyans to decide. Messahel said that the statement issued by the three ministers represents a message to the Libyan people and the international community that stability and security is needed not only in Libya, but also in Algeria, Egypt, and Tunisia. The Tunisian FM said that the aim is to bring the Libyan faction to the dialogue table and create the conditions that would facilitate reaching this goal, stressing the importance of last weeks Cairo meeting in this regard. On Tuesday, the Egyptian reconciliation committee on resolving the Libyan conflict, which includes Egyptian army Chief of Staff Mahmoud Hegazi and foreign minister Shoukry, said it had found common ground between the various parties during talks in Cairo, which could form the foundation of a political settlement. The talks, which took place last Monday and Tuesday, were attended by Chairman of the Libyan Presidential Council Fayez Al-Sarraj, Libyan army General Khalifa Haftar and speaker of the Tobruk-based parliament Aguila Saleh Issa, although Al-Sarraj did not meet directly with Haftar or Issa. The meeting was the first time the Al-Sarraj and Haftar were both in Cairo for talks. Sources in the Tunisian trilateral meeting told Ahram Online that the meeting was moved up from its initial planned date of March after intelligence showed the dangerous situation on the ground in Libya, which is heading towards the outbreak of fighting for control of Tripoli and the crescent oil area. The source added that there were also reports of imminent foreign military intervention, especially with Al-Sarrajs request for NATO to intervene in Libya to resolve the situation. The same sources said that the trilateral meeting was of particular importance given that it came after broad consultations conducted by Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia with Libyan military commanders. Hours before the meeting of the three ministers, the Tunisian president announced in a televised interview that he would soon receive in Tunisia Libyan General Haftar, whom he referred to as a patriotic man with a prominent role. Essebsi added that he is ready to meet anyone who would play a role in reaching a resolution to the conflict. In December, Egyptian officials and representatives from multiple Libyan factions issued a declaration of principles and five proposed amendments to the Skhirat agreement during a meeting in Cairo. Search Keywords: Short link: President Donald Trump has been stepping up his search for a national security adviser as well as focusing on healthcare in talks with his health and budget chiefs. Reince Priebus, Mr Trump's chief of staff, used appearances on Sunday news shows to echo the president's complaints about media coverage of the White House, citing what he said were multiple accomplishments in the first few weeks of the administration. "The truth is that we don't have problems in the West Wing," Mr Priebus told NBC's Meet the Press. He also denied a report that Trump advisers were in touch with Russian intelligence advisers during the 2016 campaign and said he had assurances from "the top levels of the intelligence community" that it was false. After weeks of tumult in Washington, Mr Trump returned to Florida and his private club for a third straight weekend as he tries to refocus. After a raucous campaign rally on Saturday night, Mr Trump and his wife Melania stopped by a fundraiser at his private Palm Beach club, put on by the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. High on Mr Trump's to-do list is finding a replacement for ousted Michael Flynn as national security adviser. Scheduled to discuss the job with the president at Mar-a-Lago were his acting adviser, retired Army Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg; John Bolton, a former US ambassador to the United Nations; Army Lieutenant General HR McMaster and Lieutenant General Robert Caslen, superintendent of the US Military Academy at West Point. Mr Trump pushed out Mr Flynn last Monday after revelations he misled Vice President Mike Pence about discussing sanctions with Russia's ambassador to the US during the presidential transition. Mr Trump said in a news conference on Thursday that he was disappointed by how Mr Flynn had treated Mr Pence, but did not believe Mr Flynn had done anything wrong by having the conversations. Retired Vice Admiral Robert Harward, Mr Trump's first choice to replace Mr Flynn, turned down the offer. Mr Trump was also expected to discuss healthcare policy in a meeting with Health Secretary Tom Price and Mick Mulvaney, director of the White House budget office. Top House Republicans last week presented a rough sketch of a health overhaul to rank-and-file lawmakers that would void President Barack Obama's 2010 law and replace it with conservative policies. It features a revamped Medicaid program for the poor, tax breaks to help people pay doctors' bills and federally-subsidised state pools to assist those with costly medical conditions in buying insurance. House Speaker Paul Ryan has said Republicans would introduce legislation repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act after Congress returns in late February, but he offered no specifics. Mr Trump has lurched from crisis to crisis since the inauguration, including the botched roll-out of his immigration order, struggles confirming his Cabinet picks and a near-constant stream of reports about strife within his administration. Mr Priebus said: "The fact of the matter is the level of accomplishment that he's put forward so far in the first 30 days has been remarkable." North Korea's top envoy in Kuala Lumpur has denounced Malaysia's investigation into the apparent killing of the exiled half-brother of the country's ruler. Ambassador Kang Chol called the investigation politically motivated and demanded a joint probe into the death. The comments from Mr Kang came amid rising tensions between North Korea and Malaysia over the death, with Malaysia recalling its ambassador to Pyongyang over what it called "baseless" allegations. Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un, died last week after apparently being poisoned in a Kuala Lumpur airport. Security camera footage obtained by Japanese television appeared to show a careful and deliberate attack in which a woman comes up from behind him and holds something over his mouth. Pyongyang demanded custody of Mr Kim's body and strongly objected to an autopsy. The Malaysians not only went ahead but also conducted a second autopsy, saying the results of the first were inconclusive. Malaysian authorities said they were simply following procedures, but Mr Kang questioned their motives. "The investigation by the Malaysian police is not for the clarification of the cause of the death and search for the suspect, but it is out of the political aim," the ambassador said. He referred to the dead man as Kim Chol, the name on the passport found with Kim Jong Nam. Police had "pinned the suspicion on us," Mr Kang said, calling on Malaysia and the international community to work with North Korea on a joint investigation. Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak told reporters later on Monday that he has "absolute confidence" that police and doctors have been "very objective" in their work. Mr Najib said Malaysia had no reason to "paint the North Koreans in a bad light" but added: "We expect them to understand that we apply the rule of law in Malaysia." Mr Kang previously said Malaysia may be "trying to conceal something". On Monday, the Malaysian foreign ministry said it had recalled its ambassador to Pyongyang "for consultations" and had summoned Mr Kang to a meeting "to seek an explanation on the accusations he made". The statement called Mr Kang's comments "baseless" and said it "takes very seriously any unfounded attempt to tarnish its reputation". Police investigating the killing have so far arrested four people carrying identity documents from North Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam. Those arrested include two women who were allegedly seen approaching Mr Kim on February 13 as he stood in the terminal of the airport. North Korean ambassador read out this statement, accusing Malaysian police of contributing to news defaming its image. #KimJongNam pic.twitter.com/qz5IbeqZTf Sumisha Naidu (@sumishanaidu) February 20, 2017 Surveillance video footage, obtained by Fuji TV and often grainy and blurred, seems to show the two women approaching Mr Kim from different directions. One comes up behind him and appears to hold something over his mouth for a few seconds. Then the women turn and calmly walk off in different directions. More footage shows Mr Kim, a long-estranged member of the family that has ruled North Korea for three generations, walking up to airport workers and security officials, gesturing at his eyes and seemingly asking for help. He then walks alongside as they lead him to the airport clinic. Fuji TV has not revealed how it acquired the video footage, which was taken by a series of security cameras as Mr Kim arrived for a flight to Macau, where he had a home. Mr Kim, in his mid-40s, died shortly after the attack, en route to a hospital after suffering a seizure, Malaysian officials said. Malaysia's deputy national police chief, Noor Rashid Ibrahim, said on Sunday that Mr Kim had told airport customer service workers that "two unidentified women had swabbed or had wiped his face with a liquid and that he felt dizzy". Investigators are still looking for four North Korean men who arrived in Malaysia on different days beginning January 31 and flew out the same day as the attack. The four suspects, who range in age from their early 30s to late 50s, were travelling on regular - not diplomatic - passports, police said. Indonesian officials said three of those men transited through Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport after the apparent assassination, leaving on a 10.20pm flight to Dubai. That was about 12 hours after the attack on Mr Kim. Police also want to question three other people. Autopsy results on Mr Kim could be released as early as Wednesday, said officials. Investigators want to speak to Mr Kim's next of kin to formally identify the body. He is believed to have two sons and a daughter with two women living in Beijing and Macau. AP Darren McKinley at Merrion Capital said that an early election could disrupt indicative plans for the Government to sell an initial 25% of AIB by May or June because the timing was no longer ideal as the political controversy of the past week has brought an election nearer. There was an appetite for Irish stocks though the political uncertainty surrounding the outcome of elections on the continent also has in recent weeks led to some investor jitters. I would not be surprised to see it [the AIB sale] delayed, the analyst said. Speaking in Brussels late last month, Finance Minister Michael Noonan said the initial public offering of shares in AIB was likely to be triggered in May or June. More recently, Mr Noonan said the timing of any sale was contingent on the Government securing a good market price for its shares and that any transaction could take place later this year, or in 2018. It wants to get back the 21bn taxpayers injected into AIB to keep the lender from collapse during the crisis. Any sale would nonetheless likely face scrutiny involving questions about if it was too early to sell a major chunk of AIB shares as the bank continues to be weighed down by a high level of non-performing loans. However, a major report published yesterday by Investec Ireland said the sale of a stake worth 2.5bn3bn by the start of the summer was still the most likely outcome despite the political turmoil. Written by analyst Owen Callan, the report called AIB: Ready, Steady..., tells international clients that with Fianna Fail generally backing the sale that it did not anticipate major opposition to the transaction emerging in the Dail. We would note that recent political pressure on FG over their handling of garda whistleblowing revelations would be a risk-factor to the timing of the AIB sale, should fresh elections be called before the summer, the report said. Though reasonably unlikely, in our view, it still presents a tail-risk on the indicated May/June timing for the AIB sale, it said. Philip OSullivan, chief economist at Investec, said that allowing for no major political shock from the looming elections in eurozone countries that the Government would likely stick to its schedule to start selling AIB shares by the summer. The Investec analysis of the potential value in AIB focuses strongly on the strength of the recovery here, with AIB expected to restart paying a dividend based on its 2016 earnings. As to the valuation the Irish Government may seek in the sale of its stake in AIB, this will likely attract significant attention given the current scrutiny Nama is under as regards price levels that have applied to some of its completed disposals. Ultimately, we believe the Irish government will be pragmatic in its approach to valuation and no doubt recognises that the investment case will need to be attractive to international investors as well as representing fair value from the States perspective, said Investec. It said the payment of a dividend would help boost public perception of the overall return the State is generating from AIB. This is despite noises from Europe over the weekend strongly suggesting Britain will have no route back into the EU once it triggers Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty next month. The latest quarterly business monitor from cross-border business development agency InterTrade Ireland shows that while a healthy 84% of firms north and south are reporting stability or growth in their business, a staggering 98% claim to have no plan to deal with the after-effects of the UK leaving the EU. Furthermore, 51% of businesses active in cross-border sales are concerned about currency fluctuations and exchange rates and more than a quarter of those surveyed indicated they are finding it difficult to source appropriately-skilled workers. While in the immediate aftermath of last Junes UK referendum on EU membership stunned European leaders insisted Britons were welcome to change their minds, the mood across the rest of the bloc has shifted away. While officially the door remains open to Britain to stay, many on the continent would not welcome a U-turn now. This bus has left, said one senior EU diplomat. No one is happy about it. But we have moved on and the last thing anyone wants now is to reopen the whole issue. With close-fought elections in core EU members France and Germany this year and upstart populist movements shaking up politics across the region, few would want to predict with any confidence the final outcome of the Brexit process. That view is shared by diplomats from a range of the other EU27 states, and by some EU officials: Its going to happen, one of the latter said. Its bureaucratically embedded. Even among allies with most to lose from Brexit, there is little talk of a reprieve: We have to accept the decision that Brexit will happen, Irish Europe Minister Dara Murphy told a Dublin forum where many voiced fears for Irelands economy. From the European Commission, the Brussels executive whose Michel Barnier will negotiate Brexit for the Union, some also detect a harder tone, warning against those in Britain who want to pull back from a hard Brexit, or the clean break with the EU market that Theresa May spelled out last month. Im a bit in, Im a bit out, maybe tomorrow Ill be back ... this isnt on, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker chided last week. Youre either in, or youre out. The mood in Brussels ... has hardened really over the last few weeks, said Giles Merritt, chairman of Brussels think-tank Friends of Europe. Germany, France and other big powers worry that being soft on London could lead to a further unravelling of the EU. Even if Ms. May were to seek a soft Brexit - under which it would notably retain full access to the EUs single market in return for accepting its rules - many have lost patience with a Britain that has long secured special favours. Tempers are now so frayed, it would require a huge volte face from Downing Street for them to be able to accept that without a massive loss of face, said Mr. Merritt. Once Ms . May formally notifies the EU next month of Britains intent to withdraw under Article 50 of the EU treaty, turning back would run into a political and legal minefield. Lawyers for the British government have said that, once started, the process is irrevocable, but some EU leaders say Britain can change its mind and a legal challenge to determine whether it can be reversed has been filed with the Irish courts. People can take cases to court. My understanding is it is irrevocable and when we press the button that will go forward, UK Justice Secretary Elizabeth Truss told the BBC yesterday. Neither China, nor Mexico, are the cause of the decline in the job prospects of the middle-American white man. Automation is the real job killer. Rather like the Luddites, Donald is raging against forces that have been unstoppable for all of human history. But at least he is, in his own inchoate way, generating a debate on the future of work. In Ireland we see precious little. Automation, combined with artificial intelligence, is causing a massive upheaval in the labour market. This upheaval will not be confined simply to the middle-class Western world however. The World Bank has estimated that massive numbers of jobs in developing countries, 70% to 80%, may also be in the firing line of our new robot overlords. If this is the case, then we will find that the traditional path to development of countries such as Ethiopia and Myanmar may well cut off. In the US, recent estimates suggest that up to 85% of jobs lost over the last decade can be attributed to technological change, to automation. On the potential for job losses from automation, research from McKinsey suggests that upwards of 40% of US-based workers should fear for their positions. And with each advance in robotics the robots advance to jobs and employment previously unthought of. Throughout history, as technology advanced, persons whose employment was predicated on previous levels of technology have found themselves having to adapt or, in employment terms, die. Thus we have fewer people working in agriculture than ever before, and yet agriculture is, through technology, massively productive. The advent of automated streetlighting abolished the role of the lamplighter; there are few if any commercially employed telegraph key operators; who now can make a living as a wheelwright? A key point is often overlooked. Hysteria around automation has it that historically, the advance of automation has created massive wealth and has resulted in the creation of more jobs than were lost in the process of disruption. This is of scant comfort to those whose jobs were lost. But historically, these were jobs lost by people who did not matter, politically. For the first time in human history we are seeing a massive dislocation in employment along with the mass engagement of the population. As automation and artificial intelligence grows so too will the range of jobs which are more profitably employed using human operators. Over the last couple of decades we have become used to more computerisation and automation in service industries, with self-service check-outs, self-service banking, and a whole range of automated processes related to the purchase and renewal of everyday services. What is now happening is areas heretofore seen as being human bastions such as journalism, the arts, teaching, even some personal services, are being disrupted by automation and artificial intelligence. While globalisation may have shifted some lower paid jobs from the West to the East, at the same time automation is rendering these very jobs, and those which remain in the west, obsolete. Aided by technology, workers are producing much more but are receiving much less. It is impossible to turn back the clock, and equally impossible to recover those jobs which are, and which will be, lost to automation. The challenge for the political economy will be to create political and economic structures which share the vastly increasing wealth, and which creates educational and social structures that free that most remarkable of things the human brain to achieve its individual and collective destiny. What do you do at Cogs and Marvel? We used to be called Green Light and just last week we re-branded to Cogs and Marvel. The company was set up about 10 years ago by Jane Gallagher and Roisin Callahan. Essentially in its early days, it was an events company, very corporate stuff like conferences and on a very large scale as well. Our first big job was for Google around 2006/07 when we ran their European Sales Conference in Seville. I think that gave Jane and Roisin the confidence to grow the business and hire more people. In the last 10 years the company has essentially grown up alongside the technology industry in Ireland. We now work with most of the global technology companies that call Ireland home. We went from purely conferences and events to much more creative brand experiences for staff, for customers, and for consumers. Why San Fransisco, when it could have been easier to open in London or Berlin? Well, we have ambitious growth plans and I suppose the first step was probably the easiest one to make. We work a lot with American technology companies who have global headquarters in Silicon Valley. We work with Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and weve done some work with Uber as well. A lot of those companies are based in California and Google had said to us that we were doing some amazing things and if only we had an office in California, theyd work with us over there. Roisin, one of our founders, is an American passport holder. So she relocated there and the whole move began to come together. We have real opportunities in coming years. Ireland is going to be the only English-speaking country within the EU and for the American market, the language barrier is a big one so were hoping to capitalise on that as well. San Fransisco is a big financial investment, how did you prepare for it? I think you have to create a very robust business plan, looking at all the costs. San Francisco is not a cheap place to set up shop. Office properties are expensive and wages are ridiculous. Weve had to really adjust our parameters for salaries with recruitment over there. Weve had two people from the office in Dublin who relocated over there and three people that we hired over there as well. So it is expensive, but you have to put yourself through a robust process in terms of checking the viability of it and analysing projections. We were lucky in that we had an intention from Google before we had the office set up, so that was important for us. We didnt feel like we were starting from ground zero, that we could pay our bills quite early on. Equally, we reached out very early in the process to the IDA and Enterprise Ireland who have offices in San Francisco too. They were a great support when it came to making introductions and getting us into that network early. Weve already met other Irish success stories like Voxpro out there. There is a really strong network and a great culture of helping each other out. So it looks promising for us. Was it a culture shock? When setting up an office in another country you are always going to come up against little idiosyncrasies and cultural differences. What were learning is the way they do business over there is very detailed and very specific. You always get exactly what you asked for, but you have to know what to ask for. Doing business on this side of the Atlantic seems to be a little different in that, and maybe this is the nature of the Irish, people will remind you that you need to do x,y, and z. Whereas in the States they expect you to know what youre doing, they expect you to know what to ask for. If you ask for it, you get it quick sharp. But if you havent asked for it, you wont get it. So thats certainly been a learning curve for us. I think, generally, California and more specifically in Silicon Valley there is this history of being the birthplace of start-ups and there seems to be a lot more understanding of companies coming over to set up roots there. Some of them are going for IPOs while others go by the wayside. So, they dont really bat an eyelid when another company comes in to set up there. Why the brand change from Green Light Events to Cogs and Marvel? As I mentioned earlier we had grown up alongside the technology industry. The nature of what we were doing had changed dramatically. We felt we were changing the face of the events industry in terms of being able to bring a logistical excellence and this creative flare together. At Cogs and Marvel, we call that the how and the wow. That really is where the name came from, cogs being the logistical side and marvel being the wow. We started a re-brand process last summer. When we started it we didnt think we would end up with a new name, but we worked with a great brand identity company based in Limerick with an office in Dublin called The Pudding. They were exceptionally strong strategically and really got where we were in our business evolution. The team really challenged and forced us to think about the crossroads that we were at. They challenged us to think about our old name and whether or not Green Lights was going to get us to our destination slower or quicker. Ultimately, we felt that we had to grow up a little bit and that a change of name would capture that, so that was the reason for the re-brand. What are your future plans? Well in 2016 we turned over approximately 18m and our ambition will be to double that over the coming years. This year is all about San Francisco and consolidating and growing the Dublin business. We cant see why it cant be equally as big as the Dublin office. Depending on how quickly or slowly that happens, we would also be interested in opening offices in other parts of the world. We work with a lot of multinationals that operate on a regional basis, so we may look at Asia/Pacific or something like that or even a European-based office over the coming years. The European Union is offering simplified visa procedures and increased economic aid to Egypt and Tunisia in exchange for smoother deportations of unwanted African migrants, two senior officials in Brussels said. The bloc has agreed steps to curb arrivals from Libya, the main embarkation point for migrants seeking to get to Europe from Africa, and is now looking at its neighbours. While the numbers of migrants setting off from there is tiny in comparison with Libya, Cairo and Tunis have fully functioning governments and are able to police their borders, unlike Tripoli's U.N.-backed administration. Officials and diplomats say Cairo has put a high price tag on any new help. "Egypt has two concerns, socio-economic stability and security. And these are interlinked," said an EU official who visited Cairo in January for talks on migration. "So we are working on establishing a dialogue that would look at that, to the benefit of both the migrants there but also Egyptians from the most vulnerable groups." Egypt's foreign minister is expected in Brussels for a foreign ministers' meeting on March 6. Another EU official said that would be a good moment "for Egypt and the EU to agree that they want to intensify this cooperation." Talks with Tunisia include simplifying visa procedures in exchange for a readmission agreement that would make it easier for the EU to deport Tunisians staying illegally in Europe, or other nationals who arrived from Tunisia. The bloc already has 17 such deals, including with Turkey and Pakistan. One of the most contentious elements of the EU's push to stem illegal immigration from Africa is its involvement in migrant camps. The EU has agreed to provide financing for government-run sites in Libya, where - according to a U.N. report - people suffer consistent abuse, including arbitrary detention, forced labour, rape and torture. The second official said these camps were "probably the closest we have to concentration camps in the 21st century" but defended the strategy, saying it was better to try upgrade them than do nothing. "People say they are atrocious and they shouldn't even exist," the first official said. "But they do and we can only see if we can help." Some EU governments, including Hungry and Austria, want to go further and develop sites in north Africa to hold and screen people, and then allow only confirmed refugees to Europe. The feeling in Brussels is that such "external processing" would require extensive operations on the ground at an extremely high legal and security risk. The two officials denied this was the subject of talks with Tunisia or Egypt now. But the EU is training the Libyan coast guard to have it take migrants intercepted in the sea back to camps in Libya, which non-governmental organisations working on migration, as well as some EU lawmakers, call inhumane. Search Keywords: Short link: Tina Cahill, 25, who is originally from New Ross, Co Wexford was charged with the murder of David Walsh, 29, from Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, on Saturday. The couple had only just got engaged a number of weeks ago, with Mr Walsh writing: Heres to the new chapter, on social media last month. He is understood to be the father of three daughters. It is alleged that Ms Cahill stabbed her fiance at around midnight last Friday, local time, outside their rented property. Mr Walsh was found bleeding from his neck and mouth after police were called to the scene of a fight between several people at a property in the Sydney suburb of Padstow. He was treated by paramedics, who tried to revive him, but was pronounced dead at the scene. Ms Cahill was then arrested alongside a 36-year-old Australian man, who had been at the property. However, this man was released without charge. Ms Cahill was refused bail after she was formally charged with her fiances murder on Saturday afternoon, local time. She refused to appear via video link and the case has been adjourned until Wednesday. John ORourke, Independent councillor for Enniscorthy, told the Irish Examiner that Davids hometown is numb and his family has asked for privacy at this time. Enniscorthy is numb at the moment at the loss of a young father. Im asking that those in Davids age group, if they want to talk about Davids situation to access local services such as in the HSE, said Mr ORourke. He also said that the repatriation process of Davids body had started. Both myself, Deputy James Browne TD [for Wexford] and minister for state Paul Kehoe have been in direct contact with Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan in with regard to the repatriation of David Walsh, said Mr ORourke. We are waiting on the consulate in Sydney. Davids family have asked for their own privacy at this time. Both Mr Walsh and Ms Cahill had started new jobs in Sydney last November. Just want to wish my other half the best of luck starting your new job today, hope it all goes well babe that it may bring you happiness and joy and a better future, you go girl, wrote David on his Facebook page late last year. Tributes have been paid to Mr Walsh on social media platforms. A young man taken way too early with his whole life in front of him, read one post on an Irish community Facebook group in the Sydney area. Absolutely heartbroken and thats putting it mildly, cant believe it, cant get my head around it, read another tribute. Another friend described David as stone mad, but said that was why he was loved by all. Other friends said how in love the couple was after initially becoming friends before striking up a relationship. David, whose three daughters live in Ireland, had emigrated to Australia three years ago and had recently taken a role as a carpenter supervisor. However, it is understood that he had plans to return home. From Moran Park in Enniscorthy, his father is a respected building contractor John Walsh. David is one of six children. Clonakilty is launching a film about its wide range of local food products. Produced by local media company Ambiguous Fiddle Media the three-minute short has been launched on the Chamber of Commerce Facebook page. This is an inspiring film that will really open peoples eyes to the food culture, heritage and passion of the town. The video is a work of art, full of colour: colourful food, colourful buildings and colourful people, said Christopher OSullivan, chairman of the Clonakilty Chamber of Commerce. LAST September, Jodie Neary, her partner, Enda, and their two young daughters moved from their home in South County Dublin to Greystones, a village in Wicklow, to secure school places at a local primary school for their two-and-a-half-year-old twins, Evyie and Mia. My partner and myself are not religious and we didnt have the children baptised, says Jodie, a parliamentary assistant at Leinster House. Entry to most of the schools in their previous neighbourhood was heavily over-subscribed and schools were using the baptism barrier to deal with an overwhelming demand for classroom places this allows schools to give priority enrollment to children of their religious faith. Although both little girls names were put down for entry lists to a number of primary schools across Dublin, the couple were told they were at the bottom of the list. The State school are very over-subscribed and we knew the baptistic issue would be used, Jodie says. Even schools where religion is not an issue are hugely over-subscribed, simply because there is such demand in certain areas. So they moved to Greystones, where Jodie had put the girls names down for the local Educate Together school. Jodie Neary and her twin daughters, Mia and Evyie Neary ONeill Because we are non-religious, our children are affected, in terms of access to education we had to move house to find a place that would take our children and I feel that, at least, we are privileged enough to be able to move Ive got friends who cannot move and theyre facing a similar situation, where they may have to baptise their child. We were able to pick up our stuff and move to another location, and thereby become eligible to access school places for our children. Last week, EQUATE, an organisation that campaigns for a school system that reflects the diversity of Irish families, said that a quarter of parents agreed in a study that they would not have baptised their child if they hadnt had to gain entry to a school. Of the 400 people questioned, 72% agreed that the law should be changed, so that baptism can no longer be a requirement for school admission to state-funded schools. We have an extraordinary primary school system, in which 96% of primary schools are maintained by religious orders and most of them are Catholic schools in five counties alone, parents have no option but to send children to religious-run primary schools, which are publicly funded, said EQUATEs director, Michael Barron. Within that system, we have an extraordinary situation, where religious-run schools are allowed to give preference in admission to pupils of their own religion, above children of other, or no, religious persuasion. Because of the baptism ban, Mr Barron said, children are not getting places in their local school and are driving long distances to another school, or are in limbo about getting a school place. We have been holding community meetings across the country parents are coming to the meetings and discussing their anxiety and stress. Michael Barron, EQUATE director Parents, he said, are baptising their children to get them into schools, even if they hadnt wanted to baptise them. Its asking people to go against their own beliefs, in order to access a school system, he said. Irish people are proud of our schools. At EQUATE, we have been holding public meetings across the country and this pride is clear from our conversations with parents and communities. At these community meetings, we also hear that parents want changes in our schools and that a system that might once have reflected our lives no longer matches the reality of the diversity of our children and families in a modern, pluralist Ireland, Mr Barron said. Last year, the UN Committee on the rights of the child recommended that the State provide accessible options for children to opt out of religious classes and access appropriate alternatives, in accordance with the needs of children of minority faith or non-faith backgrounds. It also wanted the Government to significantly increase the number of non-denominational or multi-denominational schools and amend the existing legislative framework to eliminate discrimination in school admissions. Education Minister, Richard Bruton, has begun a consultation process to look at the possibility of ending the so called baptism barrier. Photo credit: Hannah Gaynor, Sarah Foley, Lee Bramble and Rianna Lyons, first year students from Lucan Community College with young photographer and music video director Christian Tierney. WHEN Christian Tierney was 15 years old, he emailed the management of rapper duo Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. The hip hop partners were en route to Ireland for a concert and Christian wanted to arranged a photo-session. On the internet, nobody can tell your age and, assuming they were dealing with a seasoned professional, Macklemores people gave the green light. It was only when the fresh-faced teenager turned up at the venue, on a half day from school, that the truth dawned. I would look up the music listings and see who was coming to Dublin, says Tierney, from Lucan, in west Dublin. I used to send hundreds of emails. Once I got Macklemore, things started rolling. He was slightly ahead of the curve, as Macklemore and Ryan Lewis were thoroughly obscure at the time. A few weeks later they released their mega-hit Thrift Shop (you may recall its annoying video in which Macklemore jumps around in a heavy fur coat). Everything changed for them and for Tierney. Id been listening to Macklemore and Ryan Lewis for a couple of years. Then I went and did the video. I had a half day from school on a Wednesday. I was telling everyone in my class but nobody had heard of them. Tierney, now an ancient 20, is one of Irelands most sought after music photographers and video directors. He has snapped the Electric Picnic and Longitude Festivals and has an ongoing working relationship with singer Gavin James. Recently, he announced an awareness-raising collaboration with the Environmental Protection Agency. The Story Of Your Stuff is a campaign to increase understanding among secondary school students of environmental issues by having them trace the origins of everyday items and document the project with photography, video, comic book illustrations etc. The message is to encourage young people to consider where stuff comes from and where it goes, says Tierney. The environment is getting exponentially worse. Its something we all need to consider. For instance, Real Madrid played a game where their jerseys were 100% made from recycled plastic bottles. I watched Leonard DiCaprios global warming documentary, Before The Flood. It really is striking to sit through especially at a time when so many politicians in the United States are in denial about climate change. Tierneys 17-year-old brother Alex has watched his siblings rise with pride but doesnt see himself as having anything to prove. Im glad he is doing so well, he says. Im not jealous or anything. Im interested in music, like him. But he was always into photography and video as well. Its fantastic to see him have such success. The future is clearly bright for the photographer. His long-term ambition is to go into feature films and to perhaps specialise in documentary. As he is aware there is a well-trod path for video makers to Hollywood, with David Fincher, Michel Gondry and Spike Jones among the one-time wunderkinds making the transition. Id like to do narrative style videos, says Tierney. The issue is that in Ireland the budgets are often limited. And Id like to make documentaries too. Im just back from meetings in New York, so I have some exciting things coming up there. One of the most enthusiastic responses was for portraits he took of rapper Kendrick Lamar at the 2016 Longitude festival. Lamar is softly spoken and self-contained, with little of the typical hip hop swagger. Yet Tierneys images caught something of the inner turmoil, which the performer expresses through his music. Hes quite reserved and doesnt have the typical rap personality. Im a massive fan. It helps when you admire the music. Tierney doesnt have an entourage or a lot of paraphernalia When shooting celebrities he has also worked with martial arts star Conor McGregor the priority is to put them at ease. You see people coming in with lights and all of this stuff and spending 20 minutes setting up. The problem is that, if there are to many things for the artist to consider, then they arent going to be comfortable. You need them to be as relaxed as possible. His parents were understandably nervous upon hearing that, after completing secondary school in Lucan, Tierney wanted to go full time into photography. They would have preferred he take the sensible option and continue to third level. Nonetheless, they didnt stand in his way. Had I gone to college, Id be in second year now, he says. Ever since transition year, I knew [further education] probably wasnt for me. Obviously your parents may not see things the same way. Theyve been very supportive which I realise is a luxury a lot of people may not have. I told them I would try photography for 12 months and see how it goes. That year went really well so they let me keep at it. Christian Tierney will judge entrants of the Story of Your Stuff Competition, which runs until March 30. More at thestoryofyourstuff.ie FAZEL RYKLIEF was uneasy as he prayed at his mosque last week. The recent terrorist attack at the Canadian mosque intruded on his mind. I felt apprehensive during prayer, uneasy, as a result of what happened in Quebec that it could happen here. I had a feeling of what if someone walks in and starts shooting? The location of Fazels place of worship, the Islamic Foundation of Ireland, commonly known as the Dublin Mosque, is central to his fears, shared by others. It is easy to walk in off the street. We are very accessible, a few metres from the gate, he said. In a few seconds you are in the door without anyone seeing you. Standing at the entrance to the landmark building, the door to the mosque is around four metres from the main entrance and could be covered in a couple of strides. The mosque is located on South Circular Road, one of the the busiest arteries in the city, in what is a built-up inner-city residential area. Fazel, a senior member of the mosque, doesnt come across as someone rash or prone to paranoia. Fazel Ryklief outside the Mosque on the South Circular Road in Dublin. Mr Ryklief says Ireland is one of the safer countries for Muslims, however the attack by a lone right-wing extremist on a mosque in Canada has increased concerns over safety. Picture: Moya Nolan Hes been in Ireland since the 1970s. He married an Irish woman and has five grown up children, two of them married into Irish families. I do see changes, some of them excellent, said Fazel. But, things can happen so quickly. He cited the speed and scale of US President Donald Trumps actions in relation to banning people from seven, mainly Muslim, countries in the context of preventing radical Islamic terrorists getting into the US. Days later, a young university student walked into Quebec City Islamic Cultural Centre, during evening prayer, and shot six people. The attack by Alexandre Bissonnette, a 27-year-old student of social sciences, was described by the Canadian government as a terrorist attack, amid reports of Bissonnettes support of far-right parties, including Frances Front National. The Quebec Muslim community was shocked by the killings. Although members did refer to a rise in recent racist incidents, local leaders said the community had generally good relations with the wider Quebec and Canadian society. Faheem Bukhatwa, another worshiper at the Dublin mosque, said Ireland is also a bit of a role model in this regard. I personally believe Ireland is one of the best countries for Muslims, for all foreigners in general, to settle in, in terms of safety, security, interaction. But, unfortunately, all it takes is one individual. He believes that the words and actions of the US president are, at least, partly to blame. I honestly believe that what happened in Canada is a direct consequence of what the policy in the US is, he said. Trump is the president of the greatest nation on Earth and the most powerful. What Trump is doing is encouraging the entire situation and inflaming the situation. With the power he has, the country he leads, his rhetoric could push people to extreme action. He also expressed deep concern at the speed of developments. Things can change so quickly, especially when a president of a country starts influencing it. It is encouraging people in other countries as well to be more right wing. He cites the growth of the far right, and upcoming elections, in France, the Netherlands and Germany. There is a big fear over the next few years things will get a lot worse in Europe and the US. But he said a country does not need a large right-wing party for there to be a threat and that lone radicalised individuals can do the damage. This Quebec incident just brought it all into focus that this can happen, that anything can happen. All it takes is just one person to do something. He said a lot of people attending the mosque were worried. I personally think that extra security procedures need to be taken. I certainly recommended it to management. The mosque here is so close to the main road, its right on the road. And usually the place in open. The imam, Yahya Al Hussein, is a quietly spoken man and is careful in what he says. He said some members of the jamah (congregation) have spoken about their fears and are upset. Imam Yahya Al Hussein in the Islamic Foundation mosque on South Circular Road says he is worried about security. Picture: Moya Nolan In relation to the Quebec attack, he said: It is saddening and worrying, that things are taking such turns, that things could escalate in this direction and what happened in Canada could happen in other places. He traced a link between the Quebec attack and what Trump has done. His overall message is very negative, not good at all, he said. It shouldnt be coming from a superpower at all. Its a very negative message. Negative words could influence people like this person [Bissonnette]. He added: There are a few [members] who mentioned this [security] and that we should be careful here as well, that something might happen. The imam said the issue of mosque security had been mentioned by a member of the management council prior to the Quebec attack. Even before this incident, one of the members was mentioning this. He said about security during the times of prayer. Imam Al Hussein said prayer time was one of the most vulnerable of times. It could happen in the prayer: everyone is in the mosque, everyone is allowed to join the prayer. There are some people thinking about that and how close we are to the road. They are sort of worried something serious could happen. He said Friday (the main prayer day) was not necessarily the riskiest as there would be more people around, as many as 800-1,000 over the day. Other days are more dangerous that Fridays, he said, there are less people. The imam added: We have great faith in the people of this country, but one person could do damage. He said it was an issue that they would be discussing at council level and that it was likely they would develop some sort of strategy in relation to it. If necessary, they would raise the matter with gardai and local politicians. Faheem said that there was a responsibility on the State and the gardai. Faheem Bukhatwa in the Dublin Mosque, which, he says is vulnerable to attack. Picture: Moya Nolan We trust and depend on the security of the Department of Justice in general and the guards and the Special Branch. Hopefully, they should be able to help. He said he hoped they monitored both extremist Muslims and extreme right wing individuals but accepted that lone individuals can be difficult to identify. The thing is if someone comes in [here] and wants to do a criminal act, it is very difficult to stop, he said. What, if anything, Taoiseach Enda Kenny should say to President Trump in his St Patricks Day visit to Washington is taken up by Faheem and the imam. Both believe the Taoiseach should raise the concerns of Irish people, including Irish Muslims, but accept he should do so in a diplomatic manner. We have to be realistic, said Faheem. First, theres not much he can say to influence the US and, second, Ireland needs America a lot more than America needs Ireland. He said the Taoiseach should not ignore public opinion here and should make the US president aware of those views. He has to use diplomacy to say that Irish people are very much against what Trump is saying and doing. Thats the least he can do. Imam Al Hussein is reluctant to tell the Taoiseach what to do, but said: Yeah, I think so, as a matter of principle. In his own way and words voice his opinion that this is not the right attitude. Faheem pointed out that the treatment of migrants was also an issue for Ireland. A senior member of the Libyan community in Ireland, he said Libyans were not being granted visas, such as student visas, over the last two years. As a senior lecturer in Griffith College, he said he had first-hand experience of this and had raised it repeatedly with the Department of Justice directly and through a local politician. I have many students who have applied [for visas] and who are refused. He said there were also greater difficulties in terms of family reunions for Libyans legally here, including those with citizenship. I dont know why [this is happening], Faheem said. I probably suspect the department thinks this [Libya] is a place where terrorism is happening. Meanwhile, Fazel said he was extremely concerned at how the international mood towards Muslims is changing so quickly and the impact that will have. Trumps actions are creating a lot more hatred of Muslims, thats how I feel, he said. You look in Europe, in France and the Netherlands and the rise of the far right, and even in Germany. The scary part is things can change so quickly. I am worried about my children and grandchildren. Ignoring this casual murder of the English language, let us reflect for a moment on the actual meaning. Who is speaking, and what is it about? Perhaps some further dystopian development in factory farming, involving even worse mass abuse of lady cattle and their baby cows? Or more positively, maybe a breakthrough in medical research? What are we talking about here bacteria? Fungus? Women, actually. Lady humans. The unintelligible sentence was uttered not by some rabid internet loon, but by an Oklahoma state legislator. A public servant with legal power. Republican Justin Humphrey a man who wears a Stetson suggests that if women are irresponsible enough to get pregnant, their bodies no longer belong to them. They are hosts. Like John Hurt in Alien, but with less legal rights. Ahhhhh, the ownership of womens bodies. There you were, walking around all independently with your own arms and legs, breathing through your own lungs, as if you owned yourself. Dont be silly. Of course you dont. Certainly not the bit equipped to grow future humans. What about our elbows or the backs of our knees or our ear lobes can we keep sovereignty over them? Our necks are they ours? Or is it just the place that has the ability to gestate an actual penis, says Humphrey, which is not ours, but belongs to the state? Didnt Margaret Atwood write a sci-fi dystopia about that decades ago? Phallocentrics like Freud tried to foist the idea of penis envy upon women, but the real envy seeding a pathological desire to control involves uterus envy. Fallopian envy. Ovarian envy. The Oklahoman legislator would get along great in Ireland with our own laws on lady body ownership perhaps a state visit might be in order? Thered be lots to talk about. We ladies could make the tea, and nod and smile. Or, if you have a slight headache from grinding your jaw, or sore arms from clenching your fists, you could watch British comedy slasher movie Prevenge. Its about a pregnant woman written, directed and starring very-pregnant-in-real-life Alice Lowe who is hosting a baby girl. Lets just say this foetus is more slash and slice than sugar and spice; she cuts through everything from the infantilisation of pregnant women (baby knows best) to the slew of losers who cross mummys path. It wont make people like Justin Humphreys and his ilk disappear that would be like trying to eliminate methane from the atmosphere but it might make you feel less furious for 1 hour 28 minutes. And if, on March 8, enough of us go on strike removing our entire bodies from the workplace, via our feet, with the rest of us torsos, heads, the lot -following that might suggest ownership of ourselves to those who legally define us as mobile incubators. A delivery of 50 MiG-29 fighter aircraft from Russia to Egypt is set to be delivered on schedule by 2020, the deputy director of Russia's Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) announced on Monday, according to Russian Sputnik news agency. The delivery will be carried out within the period set out in the contract, the FSMTC deputy director Alexei Frolkin told reporters on Monday at the IDEX 2017 military exhibition held in the United Arab Emirates. According to Sputnik, the contract reportedly initiated after Russian President Vladimir Putin's meeting with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi in February 2014 is the largest order for MiG-29 jets in the post-Soviet era. In May 2015, Russian business daily Vedomosti reported that the two countries reportedly agreed on a contract worth approximately $2bn to supply 46 MiG-29 air superiority fighters to Egypt. Cairo, however, has not provided details about the deal, and it remains unclear when the deal was made. Manufactured by the Russian Aircraft Corporation (RSK) and the Irkutsk Aircraft Production Association, the MiG-29 fighter plane is designed to destroy air targets within radar coverage limits and ground targets using unguided weapons in visual flight conditions. The fighters can carry up to two R-27 air-to-air medium-range missiles, six R-73 and R-60 air-to-air short range missiles, four pods of S-5, S-8, S-24 unguided rockets, air bombs weighing up to 3,000kg and a 30mm built-in aircraft gun with 150 rounds of ammunition. Military technology deliveries stall During the IDEX 2017 military expo on Monday, the CEO of the Rostec State Corporation Sergey Chemezov said that Russia is ready to sign the deal on military technology deliveries to Egypt as soon as Cairo solves its financial problems. Egypt has financial troubles. As far as I know, they are trying to solve them through loans, including here, with the Middle East countries. If the problems are solved, we are ready to sign the deal [on military equipment cooperation] and begin deliveries, Chemezov said in statements reported by Sputnik in UAE. It is not clear what specific military equipment the Russian CEO was referring to, though Sputnik reported that Egypt is considering Russia's offer to deliver Ka-52 Alligator helicopters for Egypts Mistral helicopter carriers. In a February interview with Russian news agency TASS, Moscow's envoy to Egypt Sergey Kirpichenko said that his country is holding talks with Egypt on supplying armaments for the Mistral ships, which he described as a complex matter that needs to be worked out carefully. The Ka-52 Alligator is a highly maneuverable reconnaissance and combat helicopter, equipped with powerful offensive weapons, suitable for takeoff and landing in hot climates and mountainous terrains and easy to service. Egypt has aimed to equip its army with modern weaponry through several military supply agreements since 2014 during the term of President El-Sisi. Search Keywords: Short link: Medicine today is still generally the same in delivery as it was years ago. Most are orally taken and have a specific time to take effect. A much better treatment might be on the way, as intelligent drugs are now closer to reality. A new method at delivering medicine is being made by researchers from the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). This new method would have medicine make its way into the bloodstream through DNA computers. These DNA computers can identify antibodies and make calculations. A DNA computer is highly suitable in delivering medicine to specific points where it is needed. DNA is known to carry genetic information, and a DNA computer would be able to be more specific in determining where the medicine can be delivered. DNA molecules can also perform calculations. This can allow researchers to put in programs into the DNA computer. Applications for DNA computers are still limited though. The input to DNA computers need DNA and RNA molecules. Researchers will have to input what specific treatment is needed based on the antibodies found at the time of the disease. This method has so far been successfully done my Maarten Merx, a biomechanical engineer. In order to target the disease, information about the antibodies present are placed into DNA in the DNA computer. This would then determine if medicine is necessary for the disease, according to the Eindhoven University of Technology's site. By having a particular DNA, a series of reactions can then be made that is needed for the DNA computer to work, as explained by Wouter Engelen, primary author of the study and Ph.D. student. The DNA computer can control enzymes. Engelen has said that it might also be possible to control antibodies through it. The DNA computer can be used in such illnesses like rheumatism, as Science Daily reports. The future of medical science seems to be towards a more personalized form of medication. With this, intelligent drugs are now closer to reality. A study shows that brain differences can be found in ADHD. A photo of what seems like a new Surface tablet has appeared on a French website. This leak is said to be for the Microsoft Surface Pro 5 that's rumored to be released around March or April. It's worth noting that the image was titled "win10-feature-surface-pro-5-z" and the said website is allegedly owned by Microsoft. With those pointed out, it's safe to say that this leak is one of the most convincing proofs that the Surface Pro 5 is indeed coming soon. Microsoft Surface Pro 5 Leak According to Phone Arena, the said leaked image that appeared in a French website showed a Surface Pro tablet with its Type Cover attached to it. The Surface Pen is also seen in front of the device. This picture, alongside the appearance of the name "Surface Pro 5" on a Microsoft associate's online profile page, makes it pretty convincing that the next-generation tablet may actually arrive on the expected date. If Microsoft releases the Surface Pro 5 April 2017, it would be a year and a half away from the predecessor's release date. Microsoft Surface Pro Tablet Cycle The Surface Pro 4 was released October of 2015 and is turning two years old this year. This means that if Microsoft fails to release the Surface Pro 5, the company's tablet line will be very much outdated. It's worth pointing out though, that a 12-month cycle for this expensive tablet is not exactly necessary considering the fact that the Pro 4 is too high-end to be considered outdated in a year. Even at one year old last year, the Pro 4 was still able to beat some of its competitions. However, if Microsoft doesn't release the Surface Pro 5 this year, the Surface Pro 4 may no longer be able to compete with its 2017 rivals when it comes to specs. Nokia has returned to the smartphone market with HMD Global taking over the brand. The company has already unleashed the midrange Nokia 6 smartphone just a few weeks ago. However, there's still no clarity as to when HMD Global will be releasing a Nokia phone with flagship specs. Needless to say, tech buffs believe that this could also happen in the future, but probably not very soon. Why A Flagship Nokia Isn't Arriving Soon As per a post by Phone Arena, there are different possible reasons why HMD Global is taking its time before releasing a flagship Nokia Android. For one, there are issues about money. It's always possible that HMD's capital may have been far from what smartphone giants have at their disposal. With that said, it could have been hard for the company to sport its first smartphones with high-end and premium specs. Additionally, it was also said that this could be a strategic step for the company. Going for midrange phones may have been a way for HMD Global to avoid big failures. Nokia Flagship Android, When Is It Coming It's clear that right now, Nokia is focused on less-expensive smartphones. The company just started releasing the Nokia 6 in China and rumor has it that more phones are coming in at the Mobile World Congress 2017. As per NDTV, the Nokia 3, Nokia 5, Nokia P1 and the Nokia 3310 reboot could all be announced at the MWC. Phone Arena reported that a flagship Nokia may also be released this year. However, it may be pushed back to the end of 2017. So as of now, there's still no solid clues that the world will be able to get their hands on a premium Nokia anytime soon. Rumors have it that the anticipated Nokia P1 will come with high-end specs. However, there's also a good chance that it will not be released internationally. For some possible strategic reasons, HMD Global may once again limit their release to China just like what they are doing with the Nokia 6. Dell introduced the Canvas at this year's CES at the Round Rock. The Texas-headquartered company is showcasing a Surface Studio-like device, called the Canvas. Dell seems to be joining Microsoft in attracting artists to patronize an innovative product that facilitates top-end creativity. Dell's Canvas features a massive 27-inch touchscreen display, which is just an inch smaller than Microsoft's all-in-one PC, the Surface studio. Dell Canvas Design And Features The Canvas is designed to be an artist's working tool, so it can be easily laid flat on the surface or angled up like an easel, thanks to its kickstand. The thing noticeable about this device is its rather bigger bezels. According to a source, Dell explained that artists prefer having enough room around their drawing surfaces to rest their palms. That's exceptionally important when working along the edges of the screen.The display is a 2,5601,440 resolution, which is the same as the 27-inch Cintiq, but less than the higher 4k Surface Studio resolution, which features at 45003000. The Microsoft Surface Studio has 10-point multi-touch while Dell's Canvas has a 20-point multi-touch screen, which allows multiple people to work on a project harmoniously. Dell Canvas Price And Availability Furthermore, Dell has also introduced a circular off-hand device, called the Totem. This resembles the Surface Dial in display and in use. This accessory also uses the same technology as that of the Microsoft's Surface Dial that one can use Microsoft's puck on the Canvas and Dell's computer wouldn't have any problem processing its controls. In addition, Dell Canvas features anti-glare Gorilla Glass on top of its sharp display. It weighs 18.5 pounds and comes along with a Stylus. At the CES, we learned that the Dell Canvas is set to launch in time for the Windows 10 Creators Update and is expected to cost less than $2,000. Almost immediately after the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus were released, there were already talks about how the iPhone 8, Apple's tenth anniversary iPhone, would look, feel and act like. One of the biggest and most popular rumors is that the upcoming handheld will come with a wireless charging feature. But up until now, there has been no tangible proof of the same. According to CNBC, who cited JPMorgan analyst Harlan Sur, Apple is working with Broadcom to create a customized wireless charging system. Sur went on to further claim that the partnership has actually been going on for years, and the technology likewise developed. However, he also cautioned that the feature might not go live in the iPhone 8. Last year, the tech world was shocked when news of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 explosions made its rounds. It was ultimately reported that the cause of the explosions were the batteries and the Korean tech giant had to recall all the shipped units as a result. It is this caution with batteries at this point in time that might stop Apple from including a wireless feature in the iPhone 8. Indeed, now might not be the smartest time to experiment with handheld batteries. The public has generally gotten more critically and more cautious about batteries that are too powerful for a handheld device. It does not help either that the issue featured one of the largest tech companies in the world. So if Apple is seriously considering wireless charging, the technology would have to be properly and strictly tested multiple times before ever getting in the hands of the public. Nevertheless, the news is directly in line with previous leaks as well. The publication noted that famed Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has gone on the record to say that he is expecting three models of the upcoming iPhone 8 to have wireless charging features. Furthermore, Apple has confirmed that it has joined the Wireless Power Consortium. On the front design, the idea of wireless charging makes sense as well. The iPhone 8 has long been rumored to be of a glass design, with an edge-to-edge display that hides the home button beneath the screen. It is likely that the wireless feature will be added in order to continue the flawless finish of the anniversary iPhone. Sur went on to say that a glass back cover would be ideal for wireless charging as the material would reduce signal interference. "It is possible for Apple to add proprietary features such as fast charging or extended charging to differentiate itself from the pack and enhance the value of its own hardware ecosystem," he said. Investors.Com has noted that this technology, fulfilled with the upcoming handheld, will lead Broadcom to massive benefits. Theoretically, the wireless charging design win will add anything from US$500 million to US$600 million in revenue. However, neither Broadcom nor Apple have gone on the record to confirm whether or not wireless charging will be part of the iPhone 8. Nevertheless, the Cupertino-based company is expected to make the official announcement on September this year. "Thank me, thank me," Jimmy Fallon's "Tonight Show" began on Thursday night. The cold approached featured the late-night host dressed as President Donald Trump, holding a press conference. "This is going to be a crazy one," he said. "Daddy came to play." Fallon Was Goofing Around Trump's Press Conference Fallon was lampooning Trump's disorienting 80-minute-long conference with the press earlier that day. During that conference alone, the president continuously attacked the news media men by name calling "out of control" and "fake." Before Fallon's Trump "took queries" Thursday night, he prefixed the conference by addressing the room: "First, you're all fake news, I hate you very much and thank you for being here," he said. Fallon's On "You're All Fakes News" all along, riffing on Trump's arrogation of the buzz expression "fake news," was quote then Fallon ranted, "I'm not even calling you fake news any longer. I've thought of to some degree new. I've changed the TV station's name. I'm now calling it now as faux news. It's much tasteful if you think about it." The rest of the parody involved responding questions by shaking a magic eight ball that exposed some of Trump's catchwords and taking a sip of water with a tiny, puppet hand. Trump's Criticism Hits Hard On Newscaster Trump's actual press conference provoked wide criticism with from Fox News anchor Shepard Smith, who said on Thursday, "[Trump] keeps reiterating ridiculous off-the-cuff lines that are not true at all and sort of dodging this issue of Russia as if we are some kind of dupes for asking the question." While Fallon has leaped aboard the Troll Trump Train now, the late night host drew ire in September when the then-presidential candidate appeared on the "Tonight Show," and Fallon tossed softballs at Trump and ruffles his hair. It's going to be a good show indeed! Controversies have been raised around the world by a doll called My Friend Cayla. Germany's telecommunications regulator has recommended parents immediately to stop using the doll that connects to the internet via Bluetooth and includes a hidden microphone that could be used to spy on families and compromise their personal information. Doll Cayla Is Banned In Germany The German regulator has recommended parents to destroy the internal microphone of the doll and immediately stop using the toy. According to News Channel 4, the setup of Cayla allows the doll to listen and respond to simple questions. However, the German regulator is concerned by the fact that the doll's design violates privacy rules. In certain conditions, Cayla could be used to spy on families. According to Olaf Peter Eul, a spokesman for the country's telecoms regulator, it is illegal to own the doll. The German regulator agency expects people to destroy the microphone's functionality on the doll. The doll has been created by a U.S. company called Genesis. The company did not comment on the bans of its toys in Germany. The dolls are distributed in Germany by the U.K.-based toy company Vivid. The company said that it is working with its German partners to solve the issue and it is serious about compliance with rules and regulations. In Germany, wireless devices with hidden microphones or cameras are illegal. However, products with a cord or with visible microphones or cameras are permitted. Germany's telecommunications regulator said that it has contacted the manufacturer of the dolls, requesting it to remove them from stores' shelves. For the moment, the regulator is not considering penalties against owners, even if the dolls are considered to be illegal. Similar concerns about the doll have been also raised in the United States. In December, a complaint has been filed with the Federal Trade Commission by a group of consumer watchdog organizations, arguing the dolls could be used to listen in on children. Security And Privacy Concerns According to NBC News, the talking doll named Cayla is posing a security risk and could allow personal data to be revealed because the software inside her could be hacked. Germany's Federal Network Agency considers that the doll's features might carry the potential for espionage. The doll uses speech-to-text technology, a Wi-Fi connection, and Bluetooth. By concealing a microphone and being able of transmitting a signal, the doll can compromise people's privacy by transmitting data without detection. Germany's regulator agency head Jochen Homann said that the measure to ban the toy aims to protect "the weakest members of society." The doll is classified now by Germany's Federal Network Agency as an illegal unlicensed radio device. All German toy stores in the market have already been instructed by the agency to remove the toy from their shelves. One of the serious security concerns of the regulatory agency is that the manufacturer of the My Friend Cayla talking doll "hadn't adequately protected" its Bluetooth feature. As consequence, third parties can gain access to the feature and tap into the doll. According to researcher Stefan Hessel, the toy lacks any security protection. In a test, the researcher was able to hack the doll even through several walls. Long before, experts have been regarding microcephaly as a condition that is present at birth in which the baby's head is much smaller than normal for an infant of that age and gender. Babies with microcephaly are perceived to have a wide array of problems which can include having a small brain and head, developmental delays, seizures, vision and hearing loss and feeding difficulty. Now, a new study conducted by a multidisciplinary team from the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston have recently uncovered the mechanisms that the Zika virus possesses to allegedly alter brain development. Zika Virus And Microcephaly: What's The Link? According to reports by Jamaica Observer, the World Health Organization has recently revealed that there are currently 70 countries and territories reporting active Zika transmission. It was found that although the Zika infection would commonly result in a symptom-free or mild infections in healthy adults and children, the risk of microcephaly in the developing fetus is an alarming consequence that has been creating a worldwide health threat. Since a normal brain develops from simple cells which also referred to as stem cells that have the ability to develop into any one of various kinds of cells, the UTMB team has deduced that microcephaly is most likely linked with abnormal function of these cells. Furthermore, in one of his statements reported by Zee News, study senior author Ping Wu, a professor at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston in the US said that their team has discovered that since there are two main lineages of the virus, namely the African and Asian; the Asian lineage Zika virus has consequently halted the proliferation of brain stem cells and hindered their ability to develop into brain nerve cells. However, professor Wu has highly emphasized that the effect that the Zika virus had created on the ability of stem cells to develop into specialized cells differed between donors. Additionally, the UTMB professor has also said that the unique system containing stem cells from three donors will allow us to dissect molecular mechanisms underlying Zika virus-induced brain malformation Study Proposition The team further claims that the difference obtained from the study is seemingly linked with a Zika-induced change in global gene expression pattern and remains to be seen which genes are responsible. Ultimately, the experts said that they have discovered that two weeks after the cells had developed into a certain type, the Zika infection was mainly found in glial cells which provide support and insulation for the brain. A 16-year-old Syrian refugee went on trial in Germany Monday accused of planning a bomb attack on behalf of the Islamic State jihadist group. The youngster was arrested at an asylum shelter in the western city of Cologne in September, with the authorities describing him as a "serious threat". Police at the time said the suspect's mobile phone showed he had been in touch with an IS contact abroad and had expressed willingness to carry out an attack. Investigators found online chat messages on the phone that included "concrete instructions" for building an explosive device, prosecutors added. Officers searching his accommodation discovered a battery pack, 70 sewing needles and several butane gas cartridges -- items that could be used to prepare a bomb, DPA national news agency reported, citing the charge sheet. The trial at the district court in Cologne, scheduled to last until March 20, is being held behind closed doors because the accused is a legal minor. A court spokesman said he had to answer charges of planning "a serious act of violence threatening state security". If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of five years' detention under the juvenile penal code. The teenager and his family were among the nearly 900,000 migrants and refugees who arrived in Germany in 2015, a record influx that has fuelled security concerns. The youngster was brought to police attention after residents and employees at the refugee shelter where he was staying voiced concerns that he had been radicalised, as did a local mosque. Germany is on high alert following a series of attacks claimed by IS, the deadliest of which was a truck rampage through a Berlin Christmas market which killed 12 people in December. Search Keywords: Short link: Every time he speaks, he makes headlines. Perhaps, this is how the global community views U.S. President Donald Trump. With his aggressive policies supposedly protecting the interest of American people in the expense of migrants and Muslim nations, he is best described as an iron leader. However, his verbal tirades might say something beyond what we see. If some experts were to be believed, Americas most powerful leader might be suffering from a physical and mental illness. Marking his first month in office, it has been reported that Trump is not adjusting well to his life in the White House. According to Mike Allens Newsletter, the 70-year-old president is suffering from cabin fever. This is characterized by headaches, and frustrations that often drives a person to lose interest in his normal routine. In Trumps case, he can't spend his evenings dining at restaurants within Trump Tower like how he used to, Yahoo Finance reports. Aside from cabin fever, some experts also analyzed that Trump has a Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NDP). This mental health condition is characterized by lack of empathy for other people, grandiosity and a constant need to be admired. People suffering from NDP are often observed to be self-centered, arrogant, manipulative and demanding. They often feel that they deserve special treatment, and are constantly hooked in their ostentatious fantasies, which includes thinking about their own success, greatness of skill, or physical beauty. According to Psychology Today, signs of NDP typically begin in early adulthood. Through the years, this will be consistent in multiple areas of a persons personal and professional life. They often think and feel that they are superior to others, and only mingles with people whom they believe are gifted and talented as well. Recently, 35 mental health professionals reportedly wrote to the New York Times and warned that Trump is suffering from grave emotional instability. They further added that this condition is indicative in his words and deeds that make him incapable of serving safely as president. Furthermore, these experts also explained that they were silent because of the goldwater rule. However, they feel that the time to speak up has come. They said that their silence has resulted to failure to lend expertise to journalists and legislators. Recently, body language expert Patti Wood explained that Donald Trump never holds the hand of his wife publicly because he wanted to exude the image of an alpha male. This was after the press documented that Melania tried to hold Donald but he only gripped and tapped her hand then released it. His predecessor, Barack Obama, is characterized as a beta male because he shows affection to his wife even in public. A team of microbiologists from the University of British Columbia has found a yeast in the guts of babies indicative of asthma as babies grow. The study was carried out on Ecuadorian children and then compared with results obtained in Canada. The researchers found that a particular type of yeast in the guts of babies predisposed them to developing asthma as they grow into childhood. About 10% of the people in Canada and Ecuador suffer from asthma This study became necessary against the background that about 10% of the people in both Canada and Ecuador suffer from asthma. The researchers analyzed the fecal samples of about 100 children from an Ecuadorian village before identifying the problematic yeast known as Pichia. This same experiment was repeated with the fecal samples of Canadian children and the results were found to be the same, Medical News Today writes. Meanwhile, related earlier study showed that gut bacteria helped against chances of developing asthma, but now the presence of Pichal yeast in the guts of infants show chances of having asthma. This tends to show that gut bacteria prevent asthma but gut yeast causes asthma in a sense. Since Canada is much cleaner than Ecuador, the researchers are trying to see if dirty environments played a role in linking gut yeast with risks of asthma in children, the study shows. Drinking clean water impacts on risks of developing asthma "Those that had access to good, clean water had much higher asthma rates and we think it is because they were deprived of the beneficial microbes," said Brett Finlay, a microbiologist at UBC. "That was a surprise because we tend to think that clean is good but we realize that we actually need some dirt in the world to help protect you." This study will serve as a basis whereby researchers will study pathogens and develop appropriate treatment for asthma. The study was conducted by Marie-Claire Arrieta, an assistant professor at the University of Calgary, and Philip Cooper, a professor at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. The findings of the study were presented at the yearly conference of the Association for the Advancement of Science. According to Finlay, "This is the first time anyone has shown any kind of association between yeast and asthma." On Tuesday, at the RSA security industry conference in San Francisco, Chief Legal Officer and Microsoft President Brad Smith called the attention of world governments to put aside their differences and pledge that they will not hack civilians. Instead, outline all the strategies to protect civilians and companies from the unknown cyber attacks. Smith also claimed that the rising trend of government entities utilizing the internet as a weapon was worrying. Microsoft Calls For A Digital Geneva Convention As reported by Top Tech News, Smith called for all the government representatives to come together and plan on how they will fight cyber attacks. He asks all to set new rules for behavior in cyberspace in order to protect civilians on the internet, similar to the protections for civilians in the events of war outlined by the Geneva Conventions. "We suddenly find ourselves living in a world where nothing seems off-limits to nation-state attacks," he said. Concerns on cyber attacks are a growing especially in the line of technology companies as well as their customers. Smith said that warfare in cyberspace often targets the noncombatants, aiming at data centers, laptops as well as software owned by civilians and companies. The Microsft President also cited the high-profile hack of Sony Corporation to be perpetrated by the North Korea and attacks last year aimed at "the democratic process itself," as a reference to mangling in the U.S. presidential election. Smith also mentioned that the new international regulatory regime should include a separate organization that can focus on investigating and sharing evidence that attributes nation-state attacks to specific countries. It should also play a role similar to that of the International Atomic Energy Agency in nuclear nonproliferation. Microsoft itself has been hesitant at times to identify the source of state-sponsored initiatives on its own services. The Role Of The Technology Companies According to Fortune, technology companies must retain the loyalty and trust of their customers. They must not assist the governments with their hacking schemes even if the world leaders may request them to do so. In an age of rising nationalism, we as the global technology sector need to become a trusted and neutral digital Switzerland, Smith said. It's not just the privacy but also the digital rights of all the citizens worldwide that Smith and other technology managers are concerned about since more governments and states are engaging in more widespread cyber attacks. Every time government manipulates the tool or service of a tech company to spy or hack citizens, it is considered a hit on a firm's credibility with its customers. We adopted what was working for them, said Smith in reference to Microsoft implementing Google and Facebooks policies. As an instance of how technology firms can work together, Smith mentioned how Microsoft was impressed with other tech companies such as Google and Facebook. Smith said that the users of the two tech giants are being notified whenever their accounts may have been yielded in state-sponsored attacks. At the RSA Conference 2016, Smith shows his support to Apple in the consumer tech giant's opposed in complying with government orders. The president of Microsoft clearly sees more cases like the Apple and DOJ emerging over the years, which could include governments compelling technology companies to better improve and carry out their initiatives. If more governments will be engaged in cyber attacks, it's more likely they are going to call on tech companies for support. It seems that more problems continue to halt the progress of the Canadian Health Care System. Since the last quarter of 2016, Canadas provincial and health ministers have been fighting each other over as they haggle with their federal counterparts for more funds to address the needs of the countrys healthcare system. Back in 2004, they received a record $41-billion over the past decade. Across Canada, emergency departments still remain congested as more senior citizens get confined for longer periods, living almost no room for younger generations who need health care. Furthermore, the Canadian Institute for Health Information released a report entitled How Canada Compares which claims that Canadians wait longer for health care compared to other patients in many other countries. This result is based on a Commonwealth Fund Study last year among adults from 11 countries. However, the study also indicates that while Canadians wait longer to be checked up by their doctors, they are generally much satisfied with the experienced of being checked up on. According to the author of the study, Canadians continue to complain that they waste longer times while waiting for medical professionals and emergency department studies, but commend the quality of the service rendered to them. Trailing behind Canada are Germany, France, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, New Zealand, and Australia. Furthermore, the study also said that less than half of Canadian patients, roughly around 43 per cent, could get an appointment either on the day they needed the treatment, or the following day. It also claimed that these patients often get checked up by their family doctors at their regular place of care the last time they needed medical attention. New Zealand garnered the highest percentage at 76 percent, followed by the Netherlands 77 percent. The international average was 57 percent, according to CBC. Globe and Mail reported that more aging Canadians suffer from multiple chronic diseases. Unfortunately, they are taken to the hospital to be treated and released once they have recovered but after a few days, they are taken to the hospital again because of their unstable health conditions. Nobody holds accountability for their safe journey across these settings. Meanwhile, Canada's health-care system has also been the subject of another study. It has been discovered that medically-assisted deaths could result in substantial reduction of health care spending in the country. Furthermore, it also suggested that doctor-assisted death will save the country between $34.7 million and $136.8 million. As expected, Apple has voiced its opposition to the proposed "Right to Repair" Bill. The company believes such a bill will turn Nebraska, one of the states lobbying for the bill, into a "mecca" for hackers. The "Right to Repair" Bill, first introduced as the Digital Right to Repair Bill, aims to require manufacturers of electronic products to allow its consumers and independent professional repairmen (and women) access to repair parts as well as diagnostic and repair manuals. The bill will stop the industry practice of only allowing electronic devices to be repaired by the manufacturing company itself or through authorized repair companies. This basically means that consumers will no longer have to spend a large amount of money just to get their devices fixed. Motherboard noted that Apple will be sending a representative to the hearing for the bill set on Mar. 9 in Lincoln, Nebraska. The hearing will also be attended by other companies that oppose the bill particularly AT&T. According to reports, Apple indicated that self-repair on smartphones could be a potentially risky affair. Smartphones use lithium batteries which can easily explode if not handled properly. Such an incident is reminiscent of how the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 ended up in flames before its production was ceased last year. This is not the first time that Apple has opposed such a bill. It succeeded before in preventing New York from passing the bill with possible safety issues as its major point of contention. Repair.org's Gay Gordon-Byrne, who will testify at the Nebraska hearing, stresses that the safety excuse is getting old. Apple and the other companies are accused of thinking more of the bill's negative effect on their income instead of caring for their customers. Sen. Lydia Brasch, a sponsor of the bill, was told by Apple representative Steve Kester that the bill will make it "easy for hackers to relocate to Nebraska". Jester, along with Alexi Madon of CompTIA, further said that there are enough authorized repair centers to accommodate all iPhones and other Apple device. Brasch countered that she has to travel 80 miles to Omaha before she can have her Apple computer fixed. Earlier this year, five U.S. states initially pushed for the "Right to Repair" bill to push through. Aside from Nebraska, the original five includes Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota and New York. Lawmakers from Tennessee, Illinois, and Wyoming have since joined the fight to allow common folks to fix their own devices. It will be a long wait until "Westworld" season 2 premieres on HBO since it is expected to air sometime in 2018. The long hiatus of the show is resulting in the slow production of updates, however, the showrunners of the hit sci-fi series dropped major hints on season 2's plot. The science of the hosts is reportedly the focus of the installment, which sparked rumors that Dr. Ford might still be alive. Showrunners of "Westworld," Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy recently teased fans on what can be expected in season 2. The duo revealed that the installment will center on how the hosts work, and will let the viewers understand how they are powered. The sci-fi series has gained high curiosity among fans, knowing that the seeming people they are watching on the show are only cyborgs. The mystery on how they work was not really touched in the previous season, hence Nolan said he wanted to work on such aspect on the next installment. From "Westworld" season 1, it can be recalled that hosts do not die the way humans do. These robots were presented in a manner where they can be fixed, rebooted and continue to live. Furthermore, they were programmed to decide on their own based on the default personality they are assigned with. With the revelation of Nolan, fans can expect to see themselves in a seeming science tour, as the show delves deeper into the lives of the hosts. As was witnessed through in season 1, there is a chance that the hosts get an access down their memory lane. Fans then assume that they will also see the hosts struggle to find out their true identity before they were turned into working machines. Meanwhile, some fans theorize that Dr. Ford is still alive. It can be recalled that the man behind Westworld was by Dolores through his head, making viewers assume that he is already dead. A fan though theorized that it is not yet over with Ford since he speculated that the doctor's host version was the one seen dead on "Westworld" season 1. The user said that Ford was able to create several host versions of himself as he was seen somewhere in season 1 creating a host in a secret lab. Fans then claim that the host he was building on the said scene was a host of himself. Theories then suggest that the doctor sent out his oldest host and asked for his death from Dolores as a ploy. What he might be up to though is yet being discussed by fans in a forum. It was revealed that the show has only started working on the script and plot of "Westworld" season 2. Fans may then have to wait a little longer before exact details will be dropped by the showrunners and the cast. Top stars Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt had a rough year and things are not looking good until now. As actors, they are part of the community of celebrities and just recently, something gave away that Brad Pitt has won the support of Hollywood. Meanwhile, Angelina Jolie has taken along their kids to Cambodia while she on work. People have invested feelings and time cheering on Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, especially their inspiring relationship but when the news of divorce was reported, fans were also heartbroken. In this time of emotional turmoil, one would wonder what Hollywood thinks of high-profile celebrity couples and break-ups and they might have just hinted that they have Brads back in this present situation. Brad made a surprise appearance at the recent Golden Globe Awards ceremony when the movie, Moonlight was given Best Motion Picture Drama. Brad was one of the producers of the said film and when he came out on the stage, he was received with a standing ovation that lasted for a while, hindering him from giving his speech. This most likely tells that Hollywood is applauding not just Brads recent career achievement but being able to keep it together amidst the divorce. It wont be a surprise that they are sympathizing with Brad especially when Angelina blindsided him with the divorce and put up charges of child abuse against him, whom she has claimed before to be a wonderful father to their children. But then again, nobody really knows the real story but the divorce and the amount of media coverage it is getting can be too much. With that, Angelina has even taken all of their six children to Cambodia, even though she was there for work. She went to Cambodia to promote her latest film from Netflix, First They Killed My Father and she said that Maddox and Pax, who were born in Cambodia, helped with the project. Despite the ongoing divorce settlement, Angelina has said that Brad will always be family to her. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told senior European Union officials in Brussels on Monday that the Trump administration was looking at ways to "deepen our relationship" with the EU. President Donald Trump alarmed EU leaders by endorsing Britain's decision to leave the bloc and by suggesting last month that other states might follow. Pence spent the weekend in Germany seeking to reassure Europeans that Trump was committed to the NATO defence pact, but left some unconvinced. Speaking to EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini before meetings with the heads of the European Council, European Commission and NATO, Pence said he was "very grateful to have the opportunity to visit with you and explore ways that we can deepen our relationship with the European Union". He met Mogherini at the U.S. mission to the EU. The last U.S. ambassador, who was dismissed by Trump as he took office, warned the new administration against reversing decades of postwar U.S. encouragement of European integration and said supporting Brexit was "the height of folly". Mogherini told Pence that Europeans and the United States had much to work on and that discussions were already under way. Search Keywords: Short link: ACTIVISTS gathered in St Thomas' Square, Newport, this afternoon (Monday) to mark the United Nations world day of social justice. Migrants from Finland, Sweden, Hungary, Poland, Australia, and Germany stood side-by-side with Islanders in a display of solidarity with refugees and the three million EU citizens currently living in the UK. Nicholas Belfitt, chairman of the Isle of Wight Liberal Democrats, said: "We shouldnt give up on global solidarity. A lot of the migrants on the IW work and help make our society and the Island better, and we need to welcome them as part of the community." In October last year, trade secretary Liam Fox MP suggested EU citizens living in the UK were "one of our main cards" in Brexit negotiations. One woman who attended the event said: "The last few months have been full of uncertainty. I came here to this square because I wanted to support the three million EU citizens who are living in the UK. "I find it incredibly mean to be used as a bargaining chip in the negotiations, its like using a human shield in a war. This is my home and we love living here. The culture, the language, its a lovely place to live. The Island is amazing and has real community spirit." Vix Lowthion, leader of the IW Green Party, added: "Weve not just gathered here as migrants, but to also represent migrants. A lot of our migrant community on the IW couldnt be here today because theyre working. And not just working in the public sector and hospitals and schools, but theyre working in the fields and care homes, and working in their own business, and we rely on them." Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin died on Monday at the age of 64, according to Russian Sputnik news agency. "A prominent Russian diplomat has passed away while at work. We'd like to express our sincere condolences to Vitaly Churkin's family," Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on its official website. No further details are available at the moment. Ambassador Churkin served as Russia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations since 2006. Prior to this appointment, he was Ambassador at Large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation (2003-2006), Ambassador to Canada (1998-2003), Ambassador to Belgium and Liaison Ambassador to NATO and WEU (1994-1998), Deputy Foreign Minister and Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation to the talks on Former Yugoslavia (1992-1994), Director of the Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR/Russian Federation (1990-1992). Vitaly Churkin held a Ph.D. in history. He is survived by his wife and two children. Search Keywords: Short link: Last week, Samsung head Jay Y. Lee was arrested in connection with a corruption scandal that resulted in the impeachment of South Korean President Park Geun-hye. Just a few weeks ago, he was living the life that comes with having a net worth of $6.2 billion. Now, the 48-year-old is confined to a single cell and is dealing with the repercussions of the scandal. According to Reuters, Lee is accused of bribing President Park to obtain favors from the government needed for him to secure the leadership at Samsung. The special prosecutors office said on Friday that it will indict the father-of-two on charges including bribery, embezzlement, hiding assets overseas, and perjury. While Lee is used to the comforts of his $4 million Seoul mansion, the scion of the countrys richest family is now in a 71-square-foot detention cell. The Business Insider detailed Lees living conditions behind bars, revealing that his cell is outfitted with a toilet in the corner behind a partition. His bed is a mattress on the floor, and the only other furnishing is a small study table at one side of the cell and a washstand. Lee is imprisoned at the Seoul Detention Centre, a facility on the outskirts of the city where arrested politicians and corporate heads are usually held. It was said that he has no contact with other inmates, as prison officials reportedly do not want the billionaire to discuss the case with others. It was also said that Lee being given a single cell is not due to special treatment, but that he is there for safety reasons as there are concerns about destroying evidence, according to an official who spoke with Reuters (via Business Insider). Lee is allowed to have visitors, but he can only speak with them through a glass partition. He is allowed to exercise for 30 minutes a day and will be given simple rice meals which cost about $1.26. He can watch TV inside his cell, but he only has access to a single channel with recorded programs broadcast by the justice ministry. Any other item that he needs such as snacks, coffee, and toiletries must be bought at the commissary. Reuters reports that Samsung employees are worried about Lees arrest, but the situation is business as usual. It wouldnt make sense for a company that size to not function properly just because the owner is away, said one employee to the media outlet. For more, check out Jobs & Hires report on Jeremy Meeks, the Hot Mugshot Guy who changed his life. Workers know all about maternity, paternity, bereavement, and sick leave, but a paw-ternity leave? Thats one program that a company in Scotland recently launched, and it allows new dog owners a week off to care for their new pet. According to Good Housekeeping, Scotlands largest craft brewer, BrewDog, is giving employees a weeks paid holiday to look after their new dog. The new leave program allows staff to make sure that their pet gets comfortable in its new home. After the time off, BrewDog allows its staff to bring their pets to work with them. According to the companys website, the reason why theyre giving their employees this perk is because they care about their people. We know only too well that having a new arrivalwhether a mewling pup or an unsettled rescue dogcan be stressful for human and hound both, said BrewDog. So we are becoming the first in our industry to give our staff a working weeks leave on us to help settle a new furry family member into their home. The company also detailed how one very special dog inspired their dog-friendly company culture. It was recalled how the original Brew Dog, Bracken, first watched the companys founders, Martin Dickie and James Watt, make its very first batch of beer back in 2007, and since then, dogs have been central to the company workers way of life. The new pooch-based perk will be available to all BrewDog crewmembers across the globe, including those joining the companys US brewery in Columbus, Ohio which will open its doors this week. Those who have dogs and are looking to get a job with BrewDog are in luck, as the company has a few open job positions in Columbus. The brewery is currently looking for a brewer, a packaging manager, a kitchen team member, city sales specialists, and a key account manager who will all be based in their new location. For more, check out Jobs & Hires report on the Italian restaurant which offers discounts to families with well-behaved children. The British classic film Death on the Nile will be screened at The Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo on 26 February. Directed by John Guillermin in 1978, the mystery film is based on Agatha Christies 1930s novel and follows the detective Hercule Poirot on a luxurious Nile cruise. When a newlywed heiress is murdered on board, Poirot must find the murderer before the ship docks. The award winning film was shot in Egypt, and treats viewers to the heritage-rich scenes along the Nile, with shots of the Karnak Temple, Abu Simbel, and other iconic ancient Egyptian historical sites. The Belgian detective Hercule Poirot enjoys a luxurious cruise down the Nile, when a newlywed heiress is found murdered on board. Will Poiret be able to identify the killer before the ship reaches the end of its journey? Starring Peter Ustinov, Mia Farrow and David Niven, the film won the Oscar for Best Costume Design, and a BAFTA award on the same category. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe for best foreign film. Programme: Sunday 26 February, at 7.30pm Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo, 1, Dr. Mahmoud Azmi Street, Zamalek, Cairo For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture Search Keywords: Short link: Email Links to our top local news stories of the day, Monday through Saturday. Former Microfibres Inc. employees may receive about 50 percent of their WARN Act compensation claim as part of a settlement, according to a bankruptcy filing Friday. Microfibres, based in Pawtucket, R.I., filed for Chapter 7 voluntary protection in January 2016 with plans to liquidate its assets. It closed its plants in Winston-Salem and Pawtucket on the same day. The local workforce was at 270 employees in 2004. About 125 employees in Winston-Salem and 60 in Pawtucket were projected to be covered by federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, protections. The lead plaintiff is former Winston-Salem employee Cedric Williams. The class-action lawsuit requested at least $1.5 million in damages and priority administrative claim status for the first $12,745 of each employees claim, meaning they typically would be first in line after secured creditors were paid. That the parties had reached a settlement was disclosed Jan. 13. A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge sealed parts of the settlement Jan. 23. The gross settlement was valued at $1 million. Fridays filing listed compensation amounts for 176 employees, which added up to $635,000 pre-tax. They claimed damages of a combined $1.26 million. The pre-tax compensation amounts range from $327.51 to $13,697, with the majority in the $2,500 to $4,500 range. The filing did not list when the compensation would be paid. Attorneys for the plaintiffs and Microfibres could not be reached for comment Monday. The filing said attorney fees would be $330,000, while $25,000 would go to lawsuit expenses and $10,000 to Williams for his role as class representative. Fridays filing listed the employees names, damages claim and pre-tax compensation, but not their addresses. The attorneys have said the settlement motion contains all the relevant information that a party requires to form an opinion on the settlements relative benefit to the estate. The WARN act was put into place in 1989 with the intent of preventing situations in which rank-and-file employees show up for work only to discover that their employer has shut down without notice. The act does this by requiring companies that are planning large job cuts defined as more than 50 employees to notify their state and local governments, as well as affected workers, at least 60 days in advance. The act provides certain benefits to laid-off workers, such as 60 days of pay and benefit contributions if the closing is immediate, and access to COBRA insurance benefits for 60 days. However, the U.S. Labor Department has no authority to enforce WARN regulations, hear employee complaints, investigate potential wrongdoing or file lawsuits representing employees. Employees must file a lawsuit in court to assert WARN rights. Joseph DiOrio, the trustee, had claimed the company is not financially liable to the workforce because it was a faltering business when it ceased operations. He said Microfibres acted in good faith toward its employees, including paying them in full for compensation they were owed. The film won over 70 awards, and was nominated for tens of others The award-winning German film The Lives of Others will screen at Mohamed Mahmoud palace on 25 February, followed by a discussion with film critic Omnia Adel Hassan. The Lives of Others is a 2006 drama that won an Oscar for best Foreign Language Film, won tens of other awards and nominations. Directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, the film is set in east Berlin in 1984, and follows an agent of the secret police who conducts surveillance on a writer and his lover, and finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives. "The film follows the intellectual scene in East Germany and the relationship between artists and those in power. Political leaders often attempt to silence certain artists and give space and resources to more favoured ones," wrote Adham Youssef in his review for Ahram Online. The Lives of Others was screened in Egypt at last years Panorama of The European Film, in the Urban Lens: Spotlight on Berlin section. Hassan is a graduate the Faculty of Arts and Literature, drama and criticism section. She previously worked as a radio presenter at Radio Misr, and is currently a film critic at El-Bayan newspaper that is based in the United Arab Emirates. Programme: Thursday 25 February, at 5pm Mohamed Mahmoud Palace, 22 Sheikh Rihan street, Downtown, Cairo For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture Search Keywords: Short link: BOSTON Hundreds of scientists, environmental advocates and their supporters held a rally in Boston on Sunday to protest what they see as increasing threats to science and research in the U.S. The scientists, some dressed in white lab coats, called on President Donald Trump's administration to recognize evidence of climate change and take action on various environmental issues. Geoffrey Supran, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who studies renewable energy solutions to climate change, said scientists are responding to the Trump administration's "anti-science rhetoric." "We're really trying to send a message today to Mr. Trump that America runs on science, science is the backbone of our prosperity and progress," Supran said. The "Rally to Stand Up for Science" in Boston's Copley Square was held outside of the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting, one of the first major gatherings of scientists since Trump was elected in November. Protesters held signs that read "Science Matters," ''Scientists Pursuing Truth, Saving the World" and "Make America Smart Again." Some of those who turned out criticized Trump's appointment of Scott Pruitt as head of the Environmental Protection Agency over the objections of environmental groups. During six years as the attorney general of Oklahoma, Pruitt filed 14 lawsuits challenging EPA regulations. He previously expressed skepticism about scientific evidence showing the planet is heating up and that humans are to blame. However, during his Senate confirmation hearing last month, he said he disagreed with Trump's past statements that global warming is a hoax. GREENSBORO Earlier this month, messages began circulating on social media that U.S. Sen Thom Tillis was undecided on Betsy DeVos, then a candidate for Secretary of Education. He wants people to call, the message said, then listed the phone numbers for the North Carolina Republicans offices, both in Washington D.C. and Raleigh. So constituents tried to reach him. I called or at least I tried, said Robert Bell, a Greensboro resident. I never got through. The phone just kept ringing. I sent an email and I got the obligatory form message back thanking me for my concerns. Tillis would go on to vote for DeVos, who was confirmed by a tie-breaking vote from Vice President Mike Pence. So Bell, aware that Tillis would be back in North Carolina during this weeks congressional recess, sent another message. Ive emailed that we would welcome a town hall meeting to be heard and I have not heard back, Bell said. It is tantamount to running into a brick wall. Tillis and other Republican lawmakers have been feeling the heat from constituents, who are angry about President Donald Trumps actions and the GOP plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act. In response, theyve limited their interaction with the public to more intimate settings and generally avoided open forums such as town hall meetings. This is part of what we could call constituent services, said J. Michael Bitzer, provost and professor of political science at Catawba College. And for any elected official, it is usually wise for them to take the pulse of constituents in their district. Nationwide, only 19 Republican members of Congress have scheduled traditional town hall meetings while others including Rep. David Rouzer, a Republican from Johnston County have listed office hours. Some of that is certainly politically motivated. Lawmakers are loathe to confront angry constituents who are unlikely to vote for them in the future, said Brandon Lenoir, a political science professor at High Point University. The No. 1 goal for any elected official is re-election, he said. If they dont see the payoff of holding a town hall during recess, they wont do it. Thats a maddening concept for constituents, who expect representation in Washington regardless of whether they voted for the person in office. Honestly, it makes me feel like the only people theyre connecting with are those who give them great deals of money, said Emily Dunn, a Winston-Salem resident who tried, and failed, to contact several members of North Carolinas Congressional delegation about DeVos and other cabinet nominations. Im sure if I were a big donor, I would have no trouble getting in touch with them. Staff members for Tillis and U.S. Sen. Richard Burr did not respond to repeated requests for comment and their websites do not list event calendars or public appearances. Other lawmakers will be in their districts but not meeting with constituents. For example, Rep. Ted Budd, a freshman lawmaker from Advance, will devote his week to touring multiple health facilities, according to a spokeswoman. Those events four total, including one in Greensboro are open to the media, but its unclear whether constituents can attend. Melissa Brown, Budds spokeswoman, did not return repeated requests for more information. Staff for Rep. Mark Walker, a Greensboro Republican, provided a detailed schedule that included a town hall with employees at a textile company in Alamance County, a meeting with the president of Bennett College and a handful of private meetings with constituents. Everything on that agenda was scheduled six to eight weeks ahead of time, well before Trump was even inaugurated, according to Scott Luginbill, his chief of staff. Luginbill added that Walker makes an effort to meet with constituents regularly, but not typically in a town hall setting. Currently, there are large numbers of people showing up to those, but the reality is that you almost never get that large-scale level of interest, he explained. Walker periodically hosts Coffee with the Congressman at coffee shops throughout his 6th District, where constituents are free to come chat and ask questions. We did 15 last year. We promote those heavily, Luginbill said. And we have maybe 15 to 30 constituents come have a substantive discussion. But unlike other lawmakers, Walker is not against the town hall format in general. In a Facebook message, Tillis told a constituent that confronting a large group of potentially angry voters offered little benefit. As of late, it has become apparent that some individuals who are not really interested in meaningful dialogue attend town halls just to create disruptions and media spectacles, he wrote. This is particularly unfortunate because it leads to a scenario in which only the loudest voices in the room can be heard and very little meaningful discussion can actually occur. Its more effective to communicate with constituents on the phone or through mail or social media, Tillis said. Thats little comfort to constituents like Bell and Dunn, who have used those methods to contact Tillis and his staff and have failed repeatedly. Speaking for myself and certainly the other folks I know who are expressing concerns were not irrational people, Dunn said. I think the concerns that we have are very valid. And its scary that theyre not interested in listening or even acknowledging the need to be heard. When Willie Carter and Robert Grier started with the Winston-Salem Fire Department, they knew their jobs would be critically important. Not only were they keeping Winston-Salem residents safe, they were two of the first black men to do it. At the fourth annual public safety black history month celebration held at Galilee Missionary Baptist Church, retired fire Capt. Carter, retired fire engineer Grier and Winston-Salem Polices retired evidence specialist Rose Jones were honored at the event for their service to their respective departments. Sundays event was led by retired police Lt. James Berry. In 1951, the Winston-Salem Fire Department became the first career department in the state to integrate. Grier and Carter were among the eight black men who were housed at engine four on Dunleith Avenue. What a blessing, Grier said. At the time we didnt think about being the first, but we knew that if we failed we failed for the whole black race. We said, Lets do this because they said we couldnt. If we had to do it again, Id do it again. We had fun. Other members of that first eight are Raphael Black, Lester Ervin, John Henry Ford, John Meredith, George Penn and John Thomas. The fire department was fully integrated by November 1967. Carter sat with a quiet smile as he listened to his accomplishments. I cant describe (how this feels), Carter said. Chief Trey Mayo and assistant chiefs Harry Brown and Frank Stowe presented Grier and Carter with plaques and firefighter helmets embossed with their last name and new title: honorary chief. Jones was known in the police department as being a no-nonsense woman who wouldnt hesitate to put people in their place. She served as an evidence specialist for 30 years, collecting property and evidence from crime scenes. She retired in 2008. I was very open, she said about working with officers and other coworkers. Some guys thought they could do and say anything they wanted to but once they got with me, they didnt think that. So often, history is HIS-story, not our story, Berry said. The city of Winston-Salem has a rich history of black people and if we dont tell our stories, who will? The event also honored young people who won the parks and recreations coloring and essay contests. In the coloring contest, London Toney, Eliana Brown, Tia Cunningham and Aniyah Akers won their grade levels. Essay winners were Zayah Kyle and Athalia Arnolda for elementary school; Antwon Rucker and Jasmyne Pitt for middle school; and Zion Jones and Ariyana March for high school. WASHINGTON The Homeland Security Department has drafted sweeping new guidelines aimed at aggressively detaining and deporting immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, according to a pair of memoranda signed by DHS Secretary John Kelly. The memos dated Friday seek to implement President Donald Trump's broad directive to crack down on illegal immigration. Kelly outlines plans to hire thousands of additional enforcement agents, expand on the priority list for immigrants marked for immediate removal and enlist local law enforcement to help make arrests, according to a person briefed on the documents, who confirmed the details to The Associated Press. "The surge of illegal immigration at the southern border has overwhelmed federal agencies and resources and has created a significant national security vulnerability to the United States," Kelly wrote. He said apprehensions on the southern U.S. border had seen an additional surge of 10,000 to 15,000 per month from 2015 to 2016. The memos leave in place one directive from the Obama administration, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allows young people who were brought into the country illegally as children to stay and obtain work permits. The program has protected about 750,000 immigrants since its inception in 2012. Trump has previously indicated his desire to end the program, but at his press conference last week indicated that he would "show great heart" toward the program. The memos were reported first by The Washington Post and other news organizations. A U.S. official familiar with the documents did not dispute the accuracy of the memos signed by Kelly, which were originally scheduled for release Friday before they were postponed for White House review. A White House official said the White House has raised objections with the documents and is working with DHS to finalize the policy. The official was not authorized to discuss the process publicly and insisted on anonymity. Under the draft guidelines, Kelly seeks to "expeditiously hire" 10,000 more enforcement agents and 5,000 Border Patrol officers. Seeking to fulfill Trump's campaign promise to build a wall along the Mexican border, Kelly also calls on Customs and Border Protection to "immediately begin planning, design, construction and maintenance of a wall, including the attendant lighting, technology (including sensors), as well as patrol and access roads." He describes the wall as necessary to deter illegal immigration and calls it a "critical component" of Trump's overall border security strategy. He says the department will also prioritize for more immediate removal those who have been convicted of a crime; charged with a crime; committed fraud in connection with a matter before a government agency; abused any program related to public benefits; or have not complied with orders to leave the country. Joanne Lin, senior legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, criticized the proposed guidelines as a Trump style of immigration enforcement in which "due process, human decency and common sense are treated as inconvenient obstacles on the path to mass deportation." "The Trump administration is intent on inflicting cruelty on millions of immigrant families across the country," she said in a statement. FAYETTEVILLE A train struck a disabled Honda SUV killing a Greensboro man and seriously injuring the vehicle's driver Sunday morning. Christopher Locklear, 50, of Mizell Road, died in the collision, a news release from the Fayetteville Police Department stated. Locklear was one of three passengers in the SUV driven by 51-year-old William Jacobs of Maxton. Police stated that Jacobs was airlifted to UNC Hospital where he is in serious but stable condition. The news release stated that the SUV became disabled at 2:04 a.m. on the railroad tracks near the intersection of Franklin and Winslow streets. The railroad track is blocks from the Fayetteville Police Department. The Associated Press reported that officers rushed to help and dispatchers tried to warn CSX of the disabled vehicle but it was too late. The train struck less than two minutes after the vehicle stopped. Officers said that the four occupants were trying to free the vehicle when the train approached. Two passengers were able to escape the SUV but Locklear and Jacobs could not. For more than 30 years, I have been advocating to make trucking safer, since my father, James Mooney, was killed in a large truck crash in 1983. He was driving on a dark rural road at a time when truck conspicuity was hardly a consideration, and his car rode under the truck trailer that was blocking the roadway. While my advocacy helped lead to a requirement for reflective tape on truck trailers, there are still too many preventable truck crashes. When I read that a tanker truck hauling non-dairy creamer overturned on I-40 in Forsyth County earlier this month, I was thankful that no one was hurt. Then I found out that the truck driver admitted to falling asleep at the wheel before overturning. I was outraged. The number of truck crashes is continuing to rise, increasing 45 percent since 2009. Yet for the past three years, Congress has passed legislation permitting truck drivers to work more than 80 hours per week, amongst other corporate handouts that will not reduce the amount of truck crashes. Requiring automatic emergency braking on trucks and mandating side underride guards on trailers are commonsense solutions that will reduce the number of truck crashes, injuries and fatalities. None of these changes, however, were included in the FAST Act or in the accompanying appropriations bill. Congress should pass legislation requiring all trucks to be equipped with automatic emergency braking (AEB). This technology will be standard on all new cars in the United States by 2022, and a requirement for it was passed in the European Union in 2012. AEB works by applying the brakes in the event that the truck driver fails to apply the brakes, like if a driver falls asleep behind the wheel. Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) shows that forward collision avoidance and mitigation and lane departure warning systems can address 1 out of 4 heavy vehicle involved crashes. Moreover, crash records from motor carriers were examined after some of their fleet was equipped with forward collision avoidance and mitigation systems, and the results were consistent. Trucks without this technology were more than twice as likely to be the striking vehicle in a rear-end crash than trucks with the system. Unfortunately, Congress has done little to require this technology, while prioritizing efforts to increase the length of double tractor-trailers, which will take even longer to stop than existing double configurations. When Rep. Hank Johnson of Georgia offered a bill mandating automatic emergency braking, it died in subcommittee; he subsequently offered it as an amendment to a larger bill to no avail. Some opponents of this technology claimed it might not be effective in reducing crashes, despite ample evidence that it does, while others claimed that AEB would hurt small business because of the costs of technology. Yet when certain large trucking companies wanted Double 33 trailers, the language was inserted into a must-pass bill. The opponents who decried the cost of AEB said nothing of the fact that increasing the size of double tractor-trailers would force many smaller companies to upgrade their fleets to remain competitive with larger trucking companies. As with past size and weight increases, there are two things we can anticipate: 1) it will not result in fewer trucks, and 2) shippers will hire companies with the maximum shipping capabilities. This means that small companies will be forced to buy new 33-foot trailers to replace their existing single 53-foot trailers or double 28-foot trailers. New trailers cost thousands of dollars. It is also frustrating that there are lawmakers who are ready to increase the length of double trailers by five feet per trailer, even though existing trailers have a long recognized safety issue a lack of side underride guards. While the European Union has required these life-saving protections on trailers for decades, the United States does not and shows no signs of doing so anytime soon. So, increasing double tractor-trailers from 28-feet per trailer to 33-feet per trailer not only results in an additional 22 feet of braking distance and a 6-foot wider turning radius but also 10 more feet of exposed area underneath the trailer. Improving underride protections would save lives and prevent injuries resulting from truck crashes. Without these protections, bicyclists and pedestrians are at risk of traveling under trailers. Motorists, like my father who was killed in an underride crash, are also at risk of death or injury as underride collisions bypass crumple zones, prevent airbag deployment, and cause passenger compartment intrusion. I am hopeful that members of Congress will recognize that despite all of their differences, they all represent a state or a district that has constituents who have been adversely affected by truck crashes. They need to be more interested in public safety rather than private interests. Passing a bill requiring automatic emergency braking on trucks and side underride guards on trailers will do just that. Requiring longer trucks that will only benefit a handful of large motor carriers, and will be more difficult for truck drivers to operate, will not. President Trumps aggressive executive order on unauthorized immigrants is controversial, to say the least. But there may be one thing about it on which some in this fight can agree: The public needs full transparency on the program. As it is now, people are being rounded up and we dont even have their names. According to the order signed recently by Trump targeting immigrants living in the United States without permission, ICE U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement may be compelled to provide more information about detainees. But theres a long way to go. ICE detained 190 people in the Carolinas and Georgia last week, it announced 84 of them in North Carolina, the Journals Bertrand M. Gutierrez reported last week. Gutierrez contacted ICE twice to obtain information about the 84, including their names, age, gender, criminal offense, residence and location of detainment, and was rebuffed both times, despite the executive order. ICE is currently determining how to best implement policies and guidance to carry out the Executive Order, which includes modifying ICEs existing privacy policy, ICE spokesman Bryan Cox said in an email to the Journal. We realize there may be a little confusion when a new order is first implemented, but those kinks should be worked out quickly. The executive order says, Agencies shall, to the extent consistent with applicable law, ensure that their privacy policies exclude persons who are not United States citizens or lawful permanent residents from the protections of the Privacy Act regarding personally identifiable information. In other words, foreign detainees have no privacy protections, so the press should be able to access their names and personal data. This could provide the press and the rest of the public with crucial information. The only silver lining here is that Trumps executive order promises unprecedented transparency of immigration enforcement, Bryan Johnson, a New York immigration lawyer, told the Journal. The public needs all the information the law allows to evaluate Trumps immigration policy. As it stands now, there is much confusion. One detainee, Bunluoen Curly Phayrin, a legal permanent resident and green card holder, is currently being held by ICE, his lawyer, Tin Nguyen, told the Journal. I think apprehending a green card holder who has been here since 1979 and has a 30-year conviction when he was 17 years old is not the best use of governmental resources to keep the general public safe, Nguyen said. According to President Trump, he wants to get the bad hombres, Susan Long, the co-director of Syracuse Universitys Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, told the Journal. Is that whats really happening here? Most would agree that ICE resources should, as Trump has said, concentrate on people who are threats to our communities. But to make sure those people are targeted, and not those, for example, with green cards and families, we need transparency. Anything else fails public safety and us, the taxpaying public. Fans of the namaste bow or tree pose will soon have a new studio to practice their regular stretching and breathing techniques, as Essential Yoga recently held its soft opening at 140 West Richardson Street (upstairs from Katie Mae's) in Summerville's historic downtown area. Read moreEssential Yoga debuts in Summerville Lets talk about offbeat news: We humans get ourselves into some interesting situations, to put it mildly. The first one made me laugh out loud. I felt bad for the cop, but lol. Read moreSmith Says: Deputy uses taser on K9 unit that attacked cow Reddit Email 0 Shares By Arzu Geybullayeva | (Globalvoices.org) | On April 16, Turks will head to polls to yay or nay constitutional amendments which have been approved by the 550 seat parliament where the majority of seats (317) belong to the ruling party of Justice and Development (AKP) under the control of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Here are some things worth knowing ahead of the vote. What's the political weather like in Turkey? Pretty grim. The referendum will take place under the State of Emergency (SoE) introduced in the aftermath of the failed July 15 coup in which 241 people died. Since the SoE was brought in 128,398 people have been sacked from their jobs, 91,658 people have been detained, 45,012 people have been arrested, 2,099 schools, dormitories and universities have been shut down, 7,316 academics have been sacked, 3,843 prosecutors and judges dismissed, 149 media outlets shut down and 162 journalists arrested according to the independent Turkey Purge watchdog. Mostly the victims of this purge have been linked by authorities to the network of Fethullah Gulen, which Turkey's government views as a terrorist group responsible for engineering the coup attempt. In many cases they have nothing to do with Gulen, but aren't neat fits in Erdogan's New Turkey. What would a Yes vote do? Basically, empower President Erdogan, who is already vastly more influential than his constitutional mandate would suggest. To be fair, Erdogan argued for a presidential political system when he was still prime minister currently the most constitutionally empowered office in the country but many suggested he had his eye on the job even then. Specifically the changes would enable the president to issue decrees, declare emergency rule, and appoint ministers and top state officials. It could also see Erdogan remain in power in the country until 2029. What is Yes saying? The rhetoric coming out of Ankara since the coup attempt has created more cleavages in a divided nation. Now, in the wake of the referendum being announced, those voting no are being described as enemies and terrorists, while those voting yes are praised as defenders of Turkish democracy. The official rationale for voting Yes, trumpeted by the bulk of Erdogan's AKP party and also the nationalist MHP party, is that the presidential system will enable decisions to be made faster and reduce the risk of political crises. This pro-government newspaper says those voting no endorse July 15, referring to the coup attempt. Speaking at an event in a pro-government think tank earlier this month, Erdogan warned that those who vote against the changes will strengthen Turkey's enemies, including the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group, which has fought the state for more than three decades from camps in the Qandil mountains in northern Iraq. Other developments indicate the hysteria surrounding the vote. One imam in Istanbul reportedly called those voting No traitors during a sermon. A family in the eastern city of Diyarbakir meanwhile named their new born baby daughter Evet, or Yes, ahead of the referendum. What do the experts say? In a recent memorandum on freedom of expression and media freedom in Turkey, Nils Muiznieks, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, said: The space for democratic debate in Turkey has shrunk alarmingly following increased judicial harassment of large strata of society, including journalists, members of parliament, academics and ordinary citizens, and government action which has reduced pluralism and led to self-censorhip. This deterioration came about in a very difficult context, but neither the attempted coup, nor other terrorist threats faced by Turkey can justify measures that infringe media freedom and disavow the rule of law to such an extent. The authorities should urgently change course by overhauling criminal legislation and practice, re-develop judicial independence and reaffirm their commitment to protect free speech. In another recently published report, the Checks and Balances Network made up of over two hundred Turkish civil society organisations doubted whether the constitutional fix could be a good thing: The overall outcome of this assessment is that a holistic perspective is required for the checks and balances system to become duly operative. While the proposal for constitutional reform being debated involves comprehensive changes especially in terms of executive power, it includes limited changes regarding representation, oversight and deliberative powers of the legislature which in fact need extensive reforms. A similar situation is true for judicial power. Bertil Emrah Oder, a constitutional law professor from Istanbul's Koc University, told Al Jazeera that the changes would disrupt balance between the branches of power: According to the proposal, presidential and parliamentary elections are going to be simultaneous and the president is allowed to act as the leader of a political party. What is No saying? Turkey's media has become a largely Yes-friendly zone following significant reversals in already weakening press freedoms since the coup attempt took place. But the two opposition parties, CHP and HDP both oppose the changes. Moreover, on social media, hundreds of No Facebook pages have popped up, with humour deployed in the face of strident state propaganda. Here is another #No from Tom Cruise Nos compiled from old Turkish films. I think, therefore No. Ahmet Sabanci, a Global Voices contributor suggested Turkish netizens begin a no gif campaign: Bugun referandum hakkndaki gorusleri icin @SenSanders ile konustuk. Kesin bir sekilde #Hayr dedi. pic.twitter.com/KCuRpUxwXu Ahmet A. Sabanc (@ahmetasabanci) February 15, 2017 We talked with @SenSandrs about the referendum today. He clearly said No. Efe Kerem Sozeri, another GV contributor, posted a video of himself strumming along to a No-themed song. Bu da benim elimden, dilimden gelen..#Hayrls var ??? pic.twitter.com/Oyfcj4YqLw efe kerem sozeri (@efekerem) February 14, 2017 But voting No is not all fun and games. At least two journalists have been fired from their jobs for openly backing the campaign. Mainstream @KanalD fires newscaster #IrfanDegirmenci for announcing to say Noto executive presidency in referendumhttps://t.co/XGYG4A6GLM JournosInTurkey (@JournosInTurkey) February 11, 2017 This is where Turkey is at right now, as it prepares for yet another high-stakes, path-defining vote. Via Global Voices Online Related video added by Juan Cole: Euronews: Referendum campaigning kicks off in Turkey Reddit Email 24 Shares By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | Last year this time, Secretary of State John Kerry was trying to put together a huge peace deal between Israel and the Arab world, according to Aron Heller and Matthew Lee of the Associated Press. The proposal built on the 2002 Arab peace plan, which offered Israel full recognition by its Arab neighbors, with trade and other ties, on condition that it give up the Palestinian territories it occupied in 1967 and which it is illegally colonizing. That 2002 Arab League initiative had been roundly rejected by then prime minister Ariel Sharon, who was from the same hard line far-right party, the Likud, that current PM Binyamin Netanyahu hails from. The plan allegedly offered Israel full recognition as a Jewish state and Jerusalem as joint capital of Israel and Palestine, with peace treaties with a much wider array of Arab countries, and an end to Palestinian demands for the right of return to the homes in Israel from which the Zionists expelled them in 1948. In return Israel would have to withdraw from the West Bank, where it has hundreds of thousands of illegal squatters. Apologists for the Israeli right wing are always going on about the alleged willingness of Israel to make peace if only it could find a partner to negotiate with. Kerry was delivering to them large numbers of such partners. Netanyahu turned the offer of wide-ranging negotiations down flat. In a parliamentary system, politicians can only remain prime minister if they retain the confidence of the parties in parliament, many of which are typically represented on the cabinet. If several cabinet ministers resign over some policy, and parliament stages a vote of no confidence that the PM loses by a simple majority, then BOOM! The PM is no longer prime minister. In March of 2015, Netanyahu had put together a government of the Likud, Shas, United Torah Judaism, Jewish Home, and Kulanu parties, giving him 61 of 120 seats in the parliament. Given that Netanyahu got where he is by cultivating the most craven, corrupt, greedy and rapacious politicians in Israeli society, his cabinet is full of arrogant pricks who would much rather have the profit on a few square feet of the West Bank than a comprehensive peace. Parties like Naftali Bennets Jewish Home have core constituents who demand that Israelis squat on and usurp Palestinian land in the West Bank. It should be remembered that colonialism is big business, so that there is what Rashid Khalidi has called a settler-industrial complex. Netanyahu toyed with the idea of bringing the center-left Labor Party (the main constituent in Isaac Herzogs Zionist Union) into his coalition. With 24 seats it could have replaced Jewish Home (8 seats) and several other small parties. But the Zionist Union isnt all that left wing, and Herzog was then campaigning on the impossibility of implementing a two-state solution at this time, arguing that the Palestinians do not have the capacity for it. Since this is Netanyahus position, he taunted Herzog, saying Good morning, Buji, welcome to the Middle East! Herzog also advocated building more walls and fences around Israeli settlements, and urged a complete separation of Israelis and Palestinians. So who knows, maybe Herzog didnt want a comprehensive peace treaty any more than Netanyahu did. The far right wing Jerusalem Post on March 16, 2016, warned in March that Israeli national unity would be necessary to block dangerous Obama Mideast initiatives. It noted that Vice President Joe Biden had visited the region and promoted an initiative based on recognizing east Jerusalem as a Palestinian capital, an end to all settlement activity, Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state and Palestinians forfeiting the Arab refugee right of return. This is precisely the plan now being described by AP. The Jerusalem Post sniffed that the Palestine Authority was inciting to the murder of Israelis (which was not truethat was fake news) and that no government could accept the Biden proposals because they would imperil Israeli security. Sure. A comprehensive peace with the Arab League statesnow that would obviously doom Israel for sure. Anyway, Netanyahu knew that if he brought the Kerry plan to his cabinet, they would reject it and enough small parties might pull out that he could even lose his majority in parliament himself, and so fall from power. So he preferred not to risk his position of power and privilege merely for the sake of peace. Lets just acknowledge that the Likud Party and its allies on the right do not want peace with the Arabs and have sabotaged all proposals to that end. If you keep rejecting peace, guess what you get? Related video: AP: WRAP Biden visits Israel, presser with Netanyahu, ADDS settlements row Reddit Email 0 Shares Luca Trenta | The Conversation | Whatever one thinks of the Trump administrations policies, it is difficult to ignore that the new presidents tenure has so far been characterised by incompetence and carelessness. And while its easy to laugh at daft missteps such as an aide plugging Ivanka Trumps clothing line in a TV interview, the indications are that Trump also struggles to handle national security. The most public indication was his decision to grapple with North Koreas missile test, an incredibly sensitive moment, in the dining room of his private club at Mar-a-Lago while surrounded by astonished guests and journalists. And then came the still-developing definitive story of this presidencys early weeks: after only 24 days in office, Trumps national security advisor, Michael Flynn, resigned in disgrace. Flynn was driven out by allegations that before he took office, he illegally discussed the possibility of scaling down sanctions on Russia with the Russian ambassador. Along with the vice-president, Mike Pence, he had publicly denied that any such conversations had taken place but the US intelligence services had been intercepting the ambassadors calls and now have transcripts of his discussions with Flynn. Even more alarmingly, the White House was apparently notified weeks before Flynn resigned that his calls and behaviour were being investigated by the FBI; former acting attorney-general Sally Yates reportedly warned the White House in January 2017 that Flynn (as well as other members of the Trump team) had extensive contacts with the Russians. (Trump famously fired Yates after she declined to defend his travel ban.) The story is still developing, and it seems Flynns resignation might be only the start not least since Trumps preferred replacement for him declined to take the job. Shocking stuff indeed. But is it really so exceptional? After all, this is hardly the first time that members of an incoming administration have been accused of unbecoming or illegal contacts with foreign officials. During the 1968 presidential campaign, Republican candidate Richard Nixon sent a message, via envoy Anna Chennault, to the South Vietnamese authorities, in which he asked them to resist a peace agreement then being discussed in Paris. Nixon feared that were an agreement reached, it could help elect his Democratic rival, Hubert Humphrey. Instead, Nixon promised South Vietnam more favourable terms; the South Vietnamese government duly refused the agreement, Nixon won the election, and the war continued claiming a further 20,000 American lives. Along similar lines, Gary Sick, former member of the National Security Council during the Carter administration, has argued that members of the Reagan 1980 presidential campaign in particular Reagans future director of the CIA, William Casey established contacts with Iranian authorities to convince them to delay the release of the US hostages in exchange for military equipment. The hostages were famously released a few minutes after Reagans inauguration. While there is some dispute over Sicks claims, they are not manifestly baseless. Both these cases demonstrate that presidential candidates and their teams have been known to put electoral victory above even concerns of national security. And in both cases, this type of transaction supposedly occurred on a quid-pro-quo basis, with foreign officials promised help in exchange for a more or less direct contribution to electoral victory. So is the current situation more of the same, or something even more sinister perhaps even treasonous? The story is still unravelling and its too soon to tell, but what we know so far is disquieting enough. Too close for comfort We already knew that during the election, Russia helped steal and release emails that damaged Hillary Clinton, the Obama administration later responding with new sanctions. Around the same time, several members of Trumps team were reportedly in touch with Russian intelligence officials. Flynns ties with Russia were well known even before the election. Trumps campaign manager Paul Manafort resigned before the election due to his pro-Russia stance and business ties. Trump is known to have business ties in Russia and he has many times praised Vladimir Putin while refusing to criticise even his more repressive practices. Even after all this, Trump seemed to care little for the potential political or security fallout. For secretary of state he picked Rex Tillerson, former CEO of Exxon Mobil, a company which would stand to gain if the sanctions on Russia were lifted. Tillerson is a noted recipient of Russias Order of Friendship, the highest honour it confers on foreign citizens. The evidence on the administrations connections to Russia is certainly of concern. Even more worrying is the fact that Republicans in Congress have so far shown little desire to formally investigate them. That includes the same Republicans who spent several years and millions of dollars doggedly investigating Hillary Clinton over the Benghazi attacks and her use of a private email server. After months of reporting information that predates Trumps inauguration, the press corps is now in a position to cover the Flynn/Russia scandal as it develops. As proposed inquiries are stonewalled by Congress and ridiculed by the White House, the presidents tweets have tried to distract from the story by suggesting that the real issue is leakers in the intelligence agencies, not potential treason. It will be up to the media and Democrats in Congress to request more clarity regarding these ties and what was involved in any potential quid-pro-quo. It will be up to them, especially, to ask again what the president knew and when did he know it? Luca Trenta, Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, Swansea University This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Related video added by Juan Cole: CBS News: Reporter: Trump raising more questions than answers on Russia I had just flown from Casablanca into JFK airport to find my flight, and all others to Boston, cancelled. I went online and managed to buy the last seat on a 10:30 pm Greyhound bus to Boston! I grabbed the shuttle to the Port Authority, slogging through snow and ice. I printed out my ticket and headed for the dock when a representative announced that all buses to Boston had been cancelled three hours ago!! But I just bought the ticket!" I whined. He shrugged. I then checked the Amtrak train schedule and grabbed a ticket for the 2:30 am train. I cabbed it to Penn station and paced anxiously in the jammed waiting room. We left on time!!! I found a seat and dozed off as the train left the station. But in a few minutes I was jolted awake by the train stopping. The lights went out except for some dim back ups. The heat was off. The train was dead. We were not fifteen minutes out of the station, in the Bronx. We were getting colder by the minute. The toilets began to overflow. The first announcement informed us that the electrical system was down; an hour later it was announced that 'they' were working on it. Four hours later, finally the train started. We limped into the next station ( New Rochelle). We were directed to leave the train immediately. We can leave our luggage on board, we were assured. The next train is right behind us. We piled onto the platform. It was ten degrees and the wind was howling. The doors shut and slowly the train pulled out of the station. People who left their luggage on board were yelling. Three trains stopped but didn't open their doors, despite our pounding. Finally a train stopped for us - but it was already full. Many of us stood for the remaining four hours to Boston. But we were warm! We could go to the bathroom! We were going home! So it took me six hours to go from Morocco to the US but eighteen hours to go from New York to Boston. What a world!" What are your good-luck/back-luck travel stories? Kashmir and wanted to go to Ladakh, in those days a forbidden kingdom high in the Himalayas Yellowstone Vietnam Florence (Ah, Firenze) Vermont Atlanta Indianapolis Phoenix London Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] on Sundayurged [text, PDF] the Israeli Supreme Court [website, in Hebrew] to repeal a 2003 law that bans many Palestinians from entering the country, including those who are seeking reunification with their families. The Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law [text] was originally enacted as a temporary one-year order but has been renewed annually. In addition to urging the Supreme Court to invalidate the law, the statement encourages Israeli authorities to resume family unification applications a process by which Israeli citizens or residents must apply to the Israeli Ministry of Interior to unify or provide status that allows their non-Jewish spouses or members of their family who do not hold Israeli citizenship or status, to live in Israel or Jerusalem. The Supreme Court is hearing a case Monday that joins 11 petitions challenging the legality of the law, the first such challenge to go before the countrys highest court since a case in 2012, and the second since 2006 [AI reports]. AI claims the law violates numerous international treatises, including Articles 2 and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [text, PDF] and Article 1 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination [text, PDF]. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been at the forefront of recent international news and reports. Last month Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he will be lifting restrictions [JURIST report] on Israelis building settlements in East Jerusalem. In December a spokesperson for British Prime Minister Theresa May condemned remarks [JURIST report] made by then-US Secretary of State John Kerry on the current Israeli government. In a speech given in December Kerry criticized the building of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, stating that such actions jeopardize prospects of peace in the Middle East. Netanyahu in December summoned [JURIST report] the ambassadors of the 14 UN Security Council members who supported a resolution condemning Israels settlement in Palestine to rebuke them for the vote. Following the passage of this resolution, Netanyahu also ordered the countrys foreign ministers to reevaluate Israels ties to the UN within the month. Earlier this month Trump was warned [JURIST report] by Palestinian leaders not to move the US embassy to Jerusalem. [JURIST] A new law passed on Monday by Cambodias parliament gives the Supreme Court the power to dissolve any political parties it finds unconstitutional. This law is seen [AFP report] as an attempt by Cambodian premier Hun Sen [BBC profile] to crack down on rival political parties before the 2018 election. Phil Robertson [official bio], the Deputy Director of Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] Asia division said in a statement [text], The passage of these amendments marks the final consolidation of absolute power in the hands of PM Hun Sen and the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party. This day will be remembered for the triumph of dictatorship over the dream of the Paris Peace Accords for a rights respecting, multi-party democracy. Parliamentary spokesperson Leng Peng Long denies that the law will be used to target political opponents and says the new law applies to all political parties. The lack of transparency in the Cambodian legislature and contention between political parties have caused international concern. In January UN rights experts called for [JURIST report] immediate release of 5 human rights defenders. In September a spokesperson from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concern [JURIST report] regarding the intimidation of opposition politicians and peaceful protesters in Cambodia. The prime minister of Cambodia filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] in August alleging defamation against an opposition leader and opposition party leader. In June the Cambodian parliament voted [JURIST report] to allow the Phnom Penh Municipal Court to open an investigation into opposition leader Kem Sohka regarding his alleged involvement with a prostitute. [JURIST] John Kelly [official profile], Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) [official website], signed several memos [text, PDF] on Friday detailing plans to facilitate the detention and deportation of immigrants in the US illegally. According to the guidelines, DHS hopes [WP report] to further enforce immigration laws by increasing the number of immigrants targeted for primary removal and expediting removal hearings. DHS may also hire more enforcement agents and work with local authorities to make more arrest. The guidelines call for authorities to use expedited removal procedures, and immigrants hoping to avoid removal will need to prove that they have resided in the country continuously for two years. Regarding those seeking asylum, DHS is expected to tighten the credible fear threshold required to enter the country. Regarding parol, the new policies may cause more immigrants to be detained during the period between arrest and court. Should the DHS policies take effect, they would largely supersede [CNN report] former president Barack Obamas prior immigration orders. The new policies may still preserve Obamas Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) [materials], which offers protection to immigrants who entered the US illegally as children. Currently the guidelines are unpublished, and therefore the DHS policies are still subject to change. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website] has since condemned [press release] the policies and warned that it may take future action if necessary. The DHS policies are part of a larger overhaul of the countrys approach to immigration undertaken by the new administration, largely departing from the policies of other post-WWII presidents [JURIST commentary]. In late January President Trump signed an executive order [JURIST commentary] to restrict travel to the US from certain countries and putting in place a temporary halt on refugees entering the US. Only a day later, a judge for the Eastern District of New York issued an emergency stay [JURIST report], temporarily preventing execution of the law, until the question of whether it applied to valid visa holders could be resolved. Earlier this month the Ninth Circuit upheld [JURIST report] a district court decision to block enforcement of the executive order nationwide. The proceedings regarding the order have been temporarily stopped [JURIST report], as Trump has announced that he will sign a new order on the issue soon. The newly-inaugurated President of The Gambia promised [Al Jazeera report] Saturday to end human rights violations in his country and ordered the release [tweet] of 171 inmates who had been detained without a trial. President Adama Barrows [BBC profile] inauguruation speech restated the emphasis he will place on human rights and the rule of law in the small west-African nation. Barrows speech was well-received by the international community. UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson [official profile] called it [tweet] a momentous day for the Gambian people and democracy in Africa. Barrow recently announced that The Gambia will stay in [JURIST report] the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website], whose primary purpose is trying individuals for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Barrows predecessor, Yahya Jammeh, had said that The Gambia would leave the ICC. Barrows election results were hotly contested by Jammeh, who filed [JURIST report] a lawsuit seeking an injunction barring Barrows inauguration in January. Jammeh also challenged [JURIST report] the election results in January before The Gambias Supreme Court, but the court delayed hearing the suit until May. In another attempt to hold power, Jammeh declared [JURIST report] a state of emergency in January, a month after Barrow won the presidential election. [JURIST] Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] said [press release] Monday that Moroccan authorities have been on a two-year campaign to obstruct Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) [advocacy website], the countrys largest independent human rights organization. According to HRW, the authorities have blocked a total of 125 AMDH conferences, meetings and other public and private events since 2014 by either expressly prohibiting the events or pressuring the owners of the meeting spaces not to allow the events to go forward. The authorities reportedly provided written notice in only seven of the 125 instances, violating Moroccos 1958 Law on Public Assemblies [text, in Arabic]. According to HRW, the canceled meetings and events covered womens rights, workers rights and other human rights related topics. Morocco has come under fire for human rights abuses in the past. In July 2015 a Moroccan court heard a case against two women for wearing skirts that were too tight [JURIST report], a case that received a large amount of criticism for showing discrimination, and 200 lawyers took turns defending the women. In June 2015 wo Moroccan gay men were sentenced [Guardian report] to four months in prison for violating the nations public modesty law by posing too closely together in a picture. In May 2015 Amnesty International [advocacy website] reported [JURIST report] widespread torture of Moroccan prisoners at the hands of authorities, with a documented 173 cases between 2010 and 2014. The report also stated that medical care, hygiene and food are lacking in the detention cells. In April 2015 a judge in Spain decided [JURIST report] that genocide charges against seven former and current Moroccan officials, who were accused of committing torture and killings in Western Sahara from 1975-91, were justified. In November 2014 HRW reported [JURIST report] that Moroccan authorities are interfering with the work of human rights organizations. A Moroccan court in August 2014 sentenced [JURIST report] human rights activist Ouafa Charaf to one year in prison after being convicted of falsely alleging that she had been tortured by police. [JURIST] Human Rights Watch (HRW) [official website] on Saturday issued a call to Philippine authorities [HRW report] to drop political charges against Senator Leila de Lima, who has spoken against President Rodrigo Dutertes war on drugs. The charges brought against de Lima, as well as her driver and several unnamed individuals, are for violation of section 5 of the Dangerous Drugs Act, which prohibits the sale, trading, administration, dispensation, delivery, distribution and transportation of illegal drugs. If de Lima were found guilty on the current charges, which HRW called an act of political vindictiveness, she would face 12 years to life in prison. Kine was emphatic that these charges show the Duterte administrations drug crackdown is a danger to not only those targeted, but also the criminal justice and political systems. De Lima said domestic and foreign lawmakers would need to stand up and denounce the Duterte administrations disregard for basic human rights. De Lima is alleged to have accepted money from drug lords and facilitated drug-trading operations while she was the justice secretary under the former president. De Lima has been the most outspoken critic of Dutertes war on drugs, particularly over the 7000 extrajudicial killings resulting from the recent crackdown. In August, de Lima headed hearings in the Committee on Justice and Human Rights, investigating these killings under Dutertes regime. Her actions have since incited various attacks on her character from the Duterte administration and pro-Duterte senators. During Philippine President Rodrigo Dutertes campaign last year, he had stated 100,000 people would die [Guardian report] in his crackdown on crime. In December the UN rights chief urged [JURIST report] a murder investigation into Duterte after Duterte stated that he had killed three suspected criminals while he was mayor. In October the International Criminal Court [official website] expressed concern [JURIST report] over the rising occurrence of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines in connection with the ongoing war on drugs. In September Duterte declared a state of lawlessness [JURIST report] in the Philippines, which would allow police and military personnel to frisk individuals and search cars. In August Duterte named [JURIST report] 150 serving and former state officials connected to the nations illegal drug trade and ordered them to either surrender to the authorities or risk being hunted down. Duterte has stated that he disregards criticisms from the UN and human rights groups. Also in August Duterte threatened to withdraw [JURIST report] the country from the UN following criticisms against his controversial crackdown on illegal drugs. [JURIST] US Republican senators announced on Sunday that they are planning to introduce a bill further sanctioning Iran for testing ballistic missiles and attempting to destabilize the Middle East. Tehran recently increased international tensions after testing [Reuters report] ballistic missiles with the inscription Death to Israel. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) [official profile] called Iran a bad actor in the greatest sense of the word and called for direct action. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif has stated, however,that Iran does not respond well to sanctions or threats. James Jones, a former national security adviser, said he believed sanctions against the country could be a useful deterrent to this behavior. Senator Christopher Murphy (D-CT) [official profile], a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee [official website], was less certain that sanctions were the appropriate measure at this time, stating that though there isnt a question of whether sanctions are within Congresss purview, [t]heres going to be a conversation about what the proportional response is. This most recent development follows the Treasury Departments [official website] recent decision to place sanctions on 25 individuals and companies [JURIST report] in connection with Irans missile program. The situation surrounding Irans development and testing of nuclear technology has been a matter of national concern and has elicited multiple sanctions over the years. A bill renewing US sanctions against Iran for another 10 years became law [JURIST report] last December. In response to renewal of the Iran Sanctions Act, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has accused the US of breaching the nuclear agreement and has ordered the head of Irans Atomic Energy Organisation to plan the development of nuclear-powered ships. The US House had approved the extension of sanctions last November [JURIST report]. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported as recently as last September that Iran had successfully maintained a stockpile of heavy water below the threshold. In July 2015 the US entered into a nuclear agreement with Iran where the county agreed not to create a nuclear bomb in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. The agreement was reached [JURIST report] after 20 months of negotiations. Iran has repeatedly claimed [JURIST report] that it has a right to nuclear technology and that its aims are peaceful. The trial of 47 suspects accused of attempting to assassinate Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan [official profile] on July 15 during a failed military coup began [Reuters report] Monday. The trial will be held in Mugla, in the southwestern corner of Turkey. Before the coup attempt had been effectively quashed, Erdogan promised [tweet] that the ring leader who plotted all of this will pay the price in front of the nation. Erdogan has already taken steps to purge his government and consolidate power after the coup. A recent report indicated that more than 90,000 Turkish public servants from the military, police, civil service and education systems have been dismissed from their jobs [JURIST report] for alleged connections to the July coup attempt. In January the Turkish Parliament approved a plan [JURIST report], which, if approved by vote later this year, would increase presidential power and allow Erdogan to stay in office until 2029. Turkey significantly restricted the activities of NGOs in November of last year and arrested opposition party leaders [JURIST report] alleging they had connections with terrorist organizations. In October Human Rights Watch warned [JURIST report] that the emergency measures put in place after the failed coup had resulted in serious human rights violations. WILCOX A potentially dangerous situation in Wilcox prompted Wilcox-Hildreth Public Schools officials to put the school on lockdown Thursday, according to a Wilcox-Hildreth Public Schools news release. A Kearney County Sheriffs Office representative told the Hub the incident was a domestic disturbance in Wilcox. The reason the school decided to lock down is because a male subject left the residence driving, and then they eventually got him stopped, the sheriffs representative said. She said law enforcement eventually stopped the man. She did not say who the subjects were or if charges were filed against the subject, because that was all the information she was allowed to give at present. According to the news release, staff at Wilcox-Hildreth Public Schools are trained to deal with emergency situations. Because of the quick action by law enforcement and the Wilcox-Hildreth staff, students at Wilcox-Hildreth were able to go home safely at the end of the school day, the news release said. GIBBON A strong commitment to public education is one reason why former South Sioux City Superintendent Vernon Fisher said he is looking forward to starting a new chapter of his career at Gibbon Public Schools. Earlier this month, the Gibbon Public Schools Board announced its hiring of Fisher as superintendent to start in July. Superintendent Larry Witt, who is finishing 13 years with the school district, announced his retirement in September. Gibbon Public Schools Board President Greg Smyth said four candidates were interviewed for the job. He said choosing the superintendent was a difficult decision. We spent several hours making this decision, and it was not easy, he said. We all had our likes, and I guess our dislikes, but we just took them individually, and the one with the best qualities and the least concerns. Smyth said some candidates didnt have experience with diversity and budgeting. Fisher has many years of administrative experience and is highly recognized in education, Smyth said. Fisher is finishing his seventh year as superintendent at South Sioux City. Before that, he was an assistant superintendent for Grand Island Public Schools, was a principal and director of school improvement at Lincoln Northeast High School, was principal at Beatrice Middle School and was working in education for 12 years in Texas. Fisher said he has experience working with a Latino population while in Grand Island, South Sioux City and Texas. Its the environment I have worked with, and Im doing some consulting work on behalf of the state department right now has been in diverse school districts, he said. Fisher is finishing out his contract at South Sioux City Public Schools as a consultant. In January, the South Sioux City School Board announced the promotion of Assistant Superintendent Todd Strom to the superintendent position. A Sioux City broadcast had reported in January anonymous sources said that Fisher was walked out of the building when Strom was promoted. Fisher and South Sioux City School Board President Marcia Mahon deny that claim. That was so full of fabricated information, false information and poor, Im just gonna say this was poor reporting by the newscast, Fisher said. Mahon shared a news release with the Hub that was sent to Sioux City area media in January. The news reports that seek to sensationalize the conclusion of Dr. Vern Fishers employment with the South Sioux City Community Schools are factually inaccurate, she said. At last months regular meeting of the South Sioux City Board of Education, Dr. Fisher submitted his resignation at the end of the 2016-17 school year, she continued. He was not escorted from the building as was reported and has not been placed on administrative leave. He will remain under contract with the district through the end of the school year. Mahon wrote in an email to the Hub that Strom is talented and was being sought after by search firms for open positions across the state. She wrote that it made sense to keep Fisher on in a consulting role during the transition. Fisher said he resigned in December, which was nearly two months before he was offered a contract at Gibbon Public Schools. He said he resigned early because he was seeking other opportunities, particularly in central Nebraska. I have family in North Platte, and I have family in Lincoln, and its an area of Nebraska that Ive really been fond of for quite some time, he said. Smyth said Fisher told the Gibbon Public Schools Board during the interview that he was now working in a consulting capacity. Smyth said the hiring process was rigorous, as the school hired a search firm to seek candidates for the position. The firm narrowed down 32 applications to seven. The four finalists then spent a day at the school meeting staff and students before interviewing before the board. A full background check was conducted as well, Smyth said. We believe he is a man of integrity. He did exactly what our board expected should those same circumstances happened in our district, Smyth said of Fisher. Fisher said he looks forward to his work in Gibbon. So Im excited about coming in and building off of the body of work that was realized under Larry Witt, working in collaboration with the community and our educators to continue to build programs that prepares our kids so that they can compete globally, he said. KEARNEY Educators, area residents and other supporters will be gathering outside the Museum of Nebraska Art tonight to help guide home not only Kearney-area commuters but immigrants and refugees as well. Nebraska per capita has the highest immigrant population in the nation, and we want to show immigrants that despite what they may feel from the current administration, were welcoming and support them, said Ashley Weets, visiting lecturer at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Weets is one of several current and former educators putting on Kearneys Light the Way rally, a peaceful, nonpartisan rally in which participants are being asked to stand together with candles and lights to create a welcome light similar to the illumination of the Statue of Libertys uplifted torch. The light is meant to represent hope, refuge and hospitality to those fleeing persecution and war. The rally is meant to create positive dialogue among area residents while reassuring immigrants that the welcome light that our nation casts to the worlds most vulnerable people, as well as the immense light that they bring to our community, should not be shut out, according to organizers. This is not a protest. Were not demanding action, Weets said. Part of the reason America is great is because it was founded on a set of ideals that welcomed immigrants, she said. The event is one of several pro-immigrant Light the Way rallies taking place around the nation on Presidents Day. The idea originated in Omaha, and sister events are scheduled in Lincoln; Minneapolis; Aspen, Colo.; and Portland, Ore., among other cities. The effort in Kearney is very grass-roots, according to Weets. Under the new administration, there have been policies pushed that are counter to what America was founded on, and something felt off, Weets said. The groups initial idea was to sponsor a refugee family headed to central Nebraska, but when the organizers contacted Lutheran Family Services, the group was told that not many refugees are making their way to Kearney things are at a standstill while immigration policies are ironed out at the federal level. The group ran across the Light the Way Omaha Facebook page shortly after that. With supporting a refugee family out of the question, the idea of putting on a sister event in Kearney felt like a good starting place, Weets said. Watching the news and seeing Syria the strife it breaks my heart. There are already immigrants here who need to know we care, that were supportive of them no matter whos in office, Weets said. Support is the key word. The goal of this rally is to stand together and open dialogue not detract from it. Participants are free to bring signs, but Weets said they should be worded to show encouragement to immigrants. The group also understands that the discussion on how to protect national safety and security goes hand in hand with the conversation on immigration, Weets said. members hope that sparking a dialogue will help the nation come to a compromise on both issues one that protects not only Americans, but the refugees and immigrants headed to America as well. National safety and security are very important; I believe that, Weets said. But the question is at what cost? Organizers will be on hand Monday night to provide information about further actions people can take, including how to help statewide refugee resettlement and immigrant support efforts and ways to contact elected officials to send a message that refugees and immigrants of all backgrounds are welcome, respected and valued. In rural America, health care cannot be ignored. It is vital for those of us living in western Nebraska to have quality local health care options. We are an agricultural community. Though we would like to think we dont experience accidents on our farms or in our small towns, that is not the case. There may be a tractor rollover, someone gets caught between the fence and an angry cow, or any other potential danger and you are in need of medical help. We also face the regular urban accidents, a slip in the shower, a car accident, etc. Then there are the strokes, heart attacks or cancers that are as mean and nasty to rural Americans as they are to urban Americans. Without fast quality care, a stroke can leave its victim in a terrible state. However, the right help given in a timely fashion can save the brain and mean a full recovery. Out here in western Nebraska, our home, we are blessed with a number of quality health care providers. At the top of the list is Regional West Medical Center, a Level II Trauma Center, one of only three in Nebraska and it is right here in Scottsbluff. It has attracted some of the best nurses, doctors and staff, providing care to all of us in rural Nebraska. This great crew recently was honored by Healthgrades as a five-star recipient for the treatment of stroke, the treatment of sepsis, the treatment of pulmonary embolism, the treatment of respiratory failure and for esophageal/stomach surgeries. These are impressive honors. Air Link is ready, as is Valley Ambulance Service, to quickly get people to RWMC or one of our other great facilities close by. There is Box Butte General Hospital in Alliance, Sidney Regional Medical Center in Sidney, Morrill County Hospital in Bridgeport, Community Hospital in Torrington, Kimball Health Services in Kimball and Community Action Partnership of Western Nebraskas Health Center all providing great health care for all of us in western Nebraska. Sometimes we feel distanced from big-city amenities, but even out here in western Nebraska, we never have to take a back seat to quality health care. To all of you in the health care field, we say thank you. Scottsbluff Star-Herald We live in a country built on opportunity, but too many Americans face roadblocks to moving up the economic ladder. As chairman of the Ways and Means Human Resources Subcommittee, I am pleased to work with members of Congress on both sides of the aisle to improve our countrys anti-poverty programs. On Feb. 15, I convened my first hearing as chairman, which focused on the Geography of Poverty. We examined how the poverty map is changing around the country and explored the challenges facing our own communities. A better understanding of local issues and solutions creates a foundation for our efforts to help more Americans find employment and experience greater economic opportunity. When thinking about poverty in America, large cities often come to mind first. However, rates of poverty in rural and remote areas have been higher than in urban areas for decades. Additionally, a larger share of working-age adults live in poverty than ever before, as fewer men and women are employed today than in the past. It was a privilege to invite Tammy Slater, CEO of Goodwill Industries of Greater Nebraska, to testify at our hearing. Slater, of Doniphan, detailed the challenges Goodwill faces in lifting people out of poverty in rural areas and how the organization achieves success through its social enterprise model, comprehensive services and community partnerships. Despite the commitment by so many like Slater to reducing povertys footprint, we know the drug epidemic in America plays a major role in limiting opportunity. This week, I managed debate in the House on using the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to overturn an Obama administration rule that greatly restricts states ability to screen unemployment insurance beneficiaries for drug abuse. As part of a bipartisan agreement in early 2012, Barack Obama signed into law legislation to allow, not require, states to screen and test UI beneficiaries for illegal drugs. The law called for the Department of Labor to set the parameters for testing. The legislative intent was for the Labor Department to work with states and industries to determine which jobs would require drug testing, either because it is required by law or because an industry requires screening for new employees. After nearly five years of delay, the Department of Labor finally produced a rule that ignores legislative intent and makes it virtually impossible for states to screen or test anyone because it is limited to beneficiaries who are looking for work solely in jobs with a federal drug testing requirement. This means even if there is a state-level testing requirement, a state cannot require screening. It also means if someone is looking for work in a career with a federal testing requirement, but also applying for jobs without a federal testing requirement, he or she cannot be screened. We know we need to correct the reverse incentives in our benefits systems. Studies have found drug abuse costs employers $81 billion per year. It should be a priority of any employment program to incentivize those looking for work to stay drug-free. The House passed the CRA resolution to roll back the Labor Departments misguided rule and ensure states have the ability to motivate job seekers to get clean and stay clean. Independence and productivity must be the goals of any program designed to help Americans escape poverty. I will continue to advance these principles while helping direct Congresss efforts to empower people through greater opportunity. Adrian Smith represents Nebraskas 3rd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. The district spans 68 counties and is one of the largest rural districts in Congress. Donald Trump has declared war on reality. And reality is winning. He campaigned as a self-anointed Emperor of Information, advancing his own often false version of the world. Hes doing the same thing as president, making patently untrue claims about voter fraud during the election and about crowd sizes during his inauguration. Those falsehoods are largely harmless. They might feed his insatiable ego, but dont directly affect public policy or the national welfare. But now his penchant for prevarication is getting serious, and two recent episodes demonstrate why: the downfall of national security adviser Mike Flynn, and the determination of three federal courts to block his executive order on refugees. In Flynns case, intelligence officers uncovered evidence that he was possibly breaking the law by talking to the Russian ambassador before Trump took office, and assuring him that the new administration would take a softer line than its predecessor on economic sanctions against Moscow. Dogged reporting by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius surfaced the story in mid-January, and Team Trump went into complete denial mode. A Trump spokesman told the Post that economic sanctions were not discussed whatsoever on the call. White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters that the call concerned only logistics: That was it, plain and simple. Those were both falsehoods. Further reporting by the Post and The New York Times revealed that the acting attorney general, Sally Yates, had warned the White House about Flynns actual conversation weeks before. Hours after those stories appeared, Flynn resigned. Trump reacted by blaming others, of course. The real story here is why there are so many illegal leaks coming out of Washington? he tweeted. And in a sense, hes right. The real story is that reality is revolting against the president. Professional fact-finders refuse to be intimidated. To answer the presidents question: There are so many illegal leaks coming out of Washington because the Trump administration so often refuses to tell the truth. The presidents executive order, barring refugees for 120 days and banning all travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries, also demonstrates his aversion to veracity. The president and his lawyers insisted that the order was essential to protect the nations security. But two district court judges, whose main job is fact-finding, disputed that assertion. One of them, Leonie M. Brinkema, who sits in Virginia, said the presidents lawyers have not offered any evidence to identify the national security concerns that allegedly prompted this EO (executive order). The president also maintained that the order had caused minimal disruption, but again Brinkema disagreed. She cited in her opinion: In 2015, 465 foreign students from the seven banned countries enrolled in Virginia schools. Barring such students in the future would cost more than $20 million in lost tuition and fees. The lesson is clear and compelling. Professional fact-finders lawyers, judges, journalists, academics, researchers, scientists, intelligence officers cannot be deterred or intimidated, no matter how many tweets and tantrums. United States Vice President Mike Pence, left, and EU Council President Donald Tusk pose for photographers as Pence arrives at the European Council building in Brussels, Belgium, on Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. Pence is currently on a one day trip to Brussels to meet with EU and NATO officials. (AP Photo/Thierry Monasse) We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form Kingstree, SC (29556) Today Partly cloudy skies this morning will become overcast during the afternoon. High 82F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies. Low 58F. Winds light and variable. The tram with the instruments on top of the drivers cabin and the AERO-TRAM logo made a total of 6228 measurement drives. (Photo: Patrick Langer, KIT) Since 2009, AERO-TRAM has covered a distance of about 200,000 km, corresponding to a trip five times around the earth. During 6228 measurement drives in the local tram network, the tram equipped with numerous instruments collected data on pollutant concentration. A result: As soon as the tram leaves the city center of Karlsruhe and enters the surrounding municipalities, nitrogen oxide concentration decreases by about 70%. Recently, the project of climate researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in cooperation with Karlsruher Verkehrsbetriebe GmbH (VBK, Karlsruhe Transport Authorities) was completed. Fine dust, nitrogen dioxide, ozone: Air quality in conurbations constantly is the subject of intense discussions. However, adequate countermeasures can only be developed, if precise scientific data are available. Having completed their AERO-TRAM project, scientists of the Troposphere Research Division of KITs Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK-TRO) have a comprehensive dataset, on the basis of which air pollution in the Karlsruhe city center and the surroundings can be represented and interpreted as a function of weather conditions, seasons, and traffic volume. Mainly in winter, we have weather conditions with hardly any exchange of air masses. This leads to extremely high concentrations of directly emitted air pollutants, such as carbon black and nitrogen oxides. Ozone, by contrast, reaches highest concentrations in summer, because it is the result of photochemical processes, for which sunlight is needed, project head Dr. Bernhard Vogel explains. The team uses a computer model developed by KIT to transfer the data measured to other cities, where no comparable mobile measurements have been made. We are highly grateful to the VBK. Coordination of research work and tram traffic was not always easy, but worked perfectly thanks to the high commitment of all parties, Vogel adds.. As a municipal company rendering transport services, we stand for sustainable mobility that reduces environmental pollution in conurbations and increases mans quality of life. We were highly pleased to support this project and hope that the data obtained provide KIT researchers with major insight into air pollution in Karlsruhe. On this basis, appropriate countermeasures can be developed, Alexander Wetzl, project manager for research and development of the Karlsruhe Transport Authorities says. Climate data from the tram: AERO-TRAM in a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWlBm1KCFzM Further dissemination of the videos, also in parts, for pedagogic, editorial or private purposes is permitted when indicating the source (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology). Any use or reproduction for purposes other than those mentioned or further dissemination in the advertising or commercial sector shall not be allowed. For the first time in Germany, we continously measured highly resolved spatial distributions of particles and nitrogen oxides produced by e.g. road traffic or combustion processes with a tram system in a conurbation over a long term, Bernhard Vogel says. These particles are smallest suspended particles (aerosols), such as carbon black or dust, which originate from a number of natural and anthropogenic sources and may influence cloud formation. High nitrogen oxide and particle concentrations were measured in the city center of Karlsruhe, above all at main traffic junctions, such as Muhlburger Tor/Kaiserallee. AERO-TRAM measurements also revealed that both concentrations decrease rapidly when entering the pedestrian area (Kaiserstrasse, Marktplatz). Nevertheless, average concentration values here are above those in the urban surroundings. It was also found that particle number and nitrogen oxide concentrations are largely independent of the wind direction. At low wind speed, these concentrations are 50% higher on the average than in case of strong winds. Measurement instruments on the roof of AERO-TRAM. (Photo: VBK) Compared to the particle numbers, nitrogen oxide concentration decreases much more rapidly when leaving the city center and entering the surroundings. For nitrogen oxide, this decrease was found to be 70%, while particle concentration dropped by 50% only. We also found a rural area, where particle numbers increased again and reached values comparable to the urban area. But here, nitrogen oxide values did not increase. Such hot spots cannot be detected with widely distributed measurement stations, Vogel emphasizes. The scientists attributed these high particle numbers to industrial emissions at five to ten kilometers distance. Due to these results, a subsequent experiment was initiated in this region (http://www.imk-aaf.kit.edu/156.php) to analyze chemical particle composition in detail. This campaign is still being evaluated. About AERO-TRAM The largely automated long-term measurement of concentrations of the trace gases ozone (O3), nitrogen monoxide (NO), additional nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), and water vapor (H2O) as well as of the total particle number and particle size distribution in the area of Karlsruhe was the objective of the project. Since 2009, a tram provided by the Karlsruhe Transport Authorities (VBK) was operated on lines S1/S11 and S2 going from the surroundings of Karlsruhe through the city center into the surroundings again. Air quality was measured in north-south direction through the Rhine valley, from Hochstetten to Bad Herrenalb and from Spock northeast of Karlsruhe to Rheinstetten in the southwest. In 2011, AERO-TRAM won the federal innovation competition 365 Places in the Land of Ideas. More information: http://www.aero-tram.kit.edu (in German only) More about the KIT Climate and Environment Center: http://www.klima-umwelt.kit.edu/english Being The Research University in the Helmholtz Association, KIT creates and imparts knowledge for the society and the environment. It is the objective to make significant contributions to the global challenges in the fields of energy, mobility, and information. For this, about 9,800 employees cooperate in a broad range of disciplines in natural sciences, engineering sciences, economics, and the humanities and social sciences. KIT prepares its 22,300 students for responsible tasks in society, industry, and science by offering research-based study programs. Innovation efforts at KIT build a bridge between important scientific findings and their application for the benefit of society, economic prosperity, and the preservation of our natural basis of life. KIT is one of the German universities of excellence. At the first National Conference on IT Security Research in Germany, the directors of the three competence centers for IT security research, namely, KASTEL of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), CISPA in Saarbrucken, and CRISP in Darmstadt handed over a position paper on the current status of cybersecurity to Johanna Wanka, Federal Minister of Education and Research. In this paper, the scientists describe major challenges and propose concrete solutions. Among others, the experts recommend strategic improvements of digital sovereignty in Germany and Europe, specific funding of cybersecurity infrastructures, and improvement of research framework conditions by e.g. research competitions and structures allowing for a rapid response to research needs. The experts point out that the Federal Republic of Germany is in a good situation. Now, strengths have to be identified, pooled, and further extended by international cooperation. The paper is available for downloading on the internet at https://www.kompetenz-it-sicherheit.de/positionspapier-cybersicherheit/ (in german only). Increasing digitization of everyday life makes information technology and its security highly important for the industry, state, and society. Every day, media are reporting about the theft of client data, cyber espionage or about elections influenced by social bots. New laws and regulations, such as the IT Security Act and the EU Basic Regulation for Data Protection, have improved cybersecurity in Germany and Europe, but threats and challenges remain. As digital and physical worlds are merging, the target for IT-based attacks becomes larger. New technical opportunities, such as big data, cognitive computing, or quantum computers, may also be used by criminals. In many areas of digitization, however, Germany and Europe are no longer capable of developing major key technologies or assessing their safety features. The increase in data-centered business models endangers privacy and today already, complexity of our IT systems can hardly be managed with known engineering methods. To develop new methods and tools for sufficient protection of complex systems, the scientists recommend further extension of fundamental and applied research into cybersecurity. Establishment of the three competence centers has already increased research capacities. Now, the scientists consider it necessary to improve the framework for innovations: Politics should create more incentives for rapid know-how transfer to enhance the use of research for industry and society and improve the opportunities of German companies on the international market. On the other hand, the experts think that research funding needs increased flexibility to more rapidly respond to changes, such as new IT attacks or changing threats for society and industry. In view of shorter development cycles in IT and growing dynamics of technology, current tender procedures with application phases of several months duration do no longer appear adequate. With budgets that can be awarded freely for acute and unforeseen cybersecurity research projects, ministries could respond more rapidly to changes. Funding of several projects competing for the best solution of a given problem would stimulate innovations. Being The Research University in the Helmholtz Association, KIT creates and imparts knowledge for the society and the environment. It is the objective to make significant contributions to the global challenges in the fields of energy, mobility, and information. For this, about 9,800 employees cooperate in a broad range of disciplines in natural sciences, engineering sciences, economics, and the humanities and social sciences. KIT prepares its 22,300 students for responsible tasks in society, industry, and science by offering research-based study programs. Innovation efforts at KIT build a bridge between important scientific findings and their application for the benefit of society, economic prosperity, and the preservation of our natural basis of life. KIT is one of the German universities of excellence. Quiet, Tight Range Expected Today (Kitco News) - Greetings From Hong Kong. Metals are relatively flat coming into early trade, as the shortened trade window, on the U.S. holiday, will likely keep gold in a tight range. The range should set within $1,235- $1,242 for the shortened day and markets will be looking for further signs of Fed hawkishness this week, with a raft of Fed governors opining. Unless the Trump administration comes out with a clear fiscal plan, we believe it unlikely that the Fed moves in March, especially with important European elections on tap. Gold may meander in the $1,225 - $1,245 range until more definitive news is available. By Peter Hug, Kitco Metals Global Trading Director; phug@kitco.com Follow @KitcoNewsNOW Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication. kitco news By Swati Pandey and Charlotte Greenfield SYDNEY/WELLINGTON, Feb 20 (Reuters) - The Australian dollar slipped for a third session on Monday after repeatedly failing to break above key chart resistance at 77 U.S. cents, with focus shifting to a slew of data and central bank events this week. The Australian dollar was 0.18-percent lower at $0.7660, but remained near a 3-1/2 month high of $0.7732 touched last week. The Aussie has flirted with the 77 U.S. cents mark for most of February and finally breached it twice last week only for those gains to fizzle away. The currency is up 6.6 percent so far this year, led by a massive rally in the price of iron ore - Australia's No.1 export earner - and a weakening U.S. dollar. "The current 'death valley' at $0.7700-$0.7750 remains intact, suggesting that investors continue to grow cautious of not only the long Aussie position overhang, but also the sustainability of iron ore prices," said Stephen Innes, senior FX trader for broker OANDA. Investors are bracing for an action-packed week, with minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia's February meeting due on Tuesday followed by data on wages growth, construction and capex, as well as two appearances by governor Philip Lowe. Traders expect Lowe to stick to his optimistic tune, given a run of positive data lately. "I think the tail risk would be for a more hawkish lean from the RBA than the market has priced in, but at a minimum, there's little impetus for the RBA to veer from its current neutral tack," Innes added. Across the Tasman Sea, the New Zealand dollar stood at $0.7174, down for a third straight day, though trading was expected to be light due to a public holiday in the United States. The Kiwi is down about 1.9 percent so far this month, with most of that fall coming after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand signalled it would keep rates at a record low for two years, pulling the rug on bets of a rate hike later in 2017. The main event on the Kiwi's calendar this week is the global dairy price auction held in the early hours of Wednesday. That is expected to show an ongoing recovery in the price of milk, New Zealand's top goods export. New Zealand government bonds gained, sending yields 1.5 basis points lower. Australian government bond futures rose, with the three-year bond contract up 2 ticks at 97.960. The 10-year contract added 2 ticks to 97.185. (Reporting by Swati Pandey in Sydney and Charlotte Greenfield in Wellington; Editing by Joseph Radford) HANOI, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Here's a snapshot of Vietnamese dong exchange rates in the official and unofficial markets, indicative SJC gold prices in Hanoi and interbank offered rates at 0401 GMT. Feb 20 Feb 17 USD/VND mid-point 22,231 22,229 USD/VND interbank 22,810/22,820 22,765/22,775 USD/VND unofficial 22,805/22,820 22,790/22,820 SJC gold (mln dong/tael) 36.70/36.99 36.72/37.04 Interbank offered rates Overnight 4.5-5.2 4.2-5.1 1 week 4.5-5.2 4.5-5.1 1 month 4.6-5.2 4.6-5.0 3 months 4.7-5.3 4.6-5.0 NOTES: As of Jan. 4, 2016 the State Bank of Vietnam has begun setting the mid-point rate on daily basis, allowing dollar/dong transactions to move in a band of +/- 3 percent around the mid point. The dong's exchange rate against other currencies is not restricted by a band. Interbank offered rates are the latest indicative bid/ask prices, quoted from market sources. One tael is equivalent to 37.5 grams or 1.21 troy ounces. SJC gold prices are quoted by state-owned Saigon Jewelry Co. For more interbank rate fixings released at 0400 GMT, click on . For Vietnam market overview click on: Vietnam's bonds market auctions: Bonds auction results: (Compiled by Hanoi Newsroom) ALGIERS, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Algeria has attracted 49 offers from international energy companies to build four refineries worth a total $6 billion, a state energy firm Sonatrach source told Reuters on Monday. Algeria is also considering a petrochemicals partnership with the Saudi Arabia's SABIC , details of which are expected to be unveiled shortly, the source told Reuters. Sonatrach has already increased its refining capacity in the past few years by renovating three plants including the Skikda, Arzew, and Algiers refineries and is trying to raise revenues after the crash in oil prices cut its energy earnings by half. Oil and gas sales provide about 60 percent of state revenues for the OPEC producer, which produces an estimated 30 million tonnes of refined products per year. "Our plan is to stop importing refined products by 2018," said the source, who asked not to be named. "Selling refined products rather than crude oil is a good way to boost revenues." Skikda, Algeria's biggest refinery, produces 17 million tonnes of refined oil products per year, Arzew's plant refines 3.75 million of crude oil, and Algiers's refinery will reach 3.5 million of products in 2018 versus 2.7 million a year now. In the south, Sonatrach has two refineries. One in Hassi Messaoud with a capacity 1.1 million tonnes per year, and a second in Adrar, which refines 600,000 tonnes of oil a year. Two other new refineries, one in Tiaret and a second in Hassi Messaoud, are on scheduled to start refining 5 million tonnes of crude oil each a year. Those two refineries are still in the bidding phase for further construction work. (Reporting by Lamine Chikhi; Editing by Patrick Markey and Louise Ireland) (Kitco News) - Hedge funds took profits in gold for the first time in three weeks as prices hit nearly a three-month high, according to the latest trade data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The disaggregated Commitments of Traders report, for the week ending Feb. 14, showed money managers reduced their speculative gross long positions in Comex gold futures by 6,803 contracts to 135,739. At the same time, short bets fell by 279 contracts to 72,114. Golds net length now stands at 63,625, contracts, down 9% from the previous week. During the survey period prices rallied to a three-month high; however, the gains were short-lived as prices eventually end the period down almost 1%. Strong US economic data, speculation the US administration will deliver fiscal stimulus, along with Fed statements pointing to possible imminent rate hikes convinced specs to materially reduce gold length, said Bart Melek, head of commodity strategy at TD Securities. Looking ahead, Jonathan Butler, precious metals strategist at Mitsubishi said that investor interest in gold is tied strongly to President Donald Trump. Whether investors continue to rotate away from non-yielding gold and towards risk assets depends on how soon details of President Trumps fiscal stimulus plans become clearer, he said. While Hedge funds have limited their exposure in gold, they continue to see potential in silver, increasing their speculative positioning. According to analysts from Commerzbank, money managers have increased their bullish exposure in silver every week since the start of the year. In other words, speculative financial investors have played a major part in the 13% rise in the silver price since the beginning of the year, they said. The disaggregated report showed money-managed speculative gross long positions in Comex silver futures rose by 6,041contracts to 84,040. At the same time, short positions fell by 464 contracts to 11,874. Silvers net length now stands at 72,166 contracts, up 10% from the previous week. Analysts at Commerzbank said that silvers net length is now at its highest level since September. The buying momentum helped silver hold near its highest levels in three months, with prices rising almost 1% during the survey period. While safe-haven demand for gold has been fairly muted so far, silver continues to enjoy rising demand with the recent surge in industrial metals, said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank. By Neils Christensen of Kitco News; nchristensen@kitco.com Follow @Neils_C By Spencer Anderson HONG KONG, Feb 20 (IFR) - The Government of Mongolia has hired banks for an exchange of the state-owned Development Bank of Mongolia's US dollar bonds due March 2017 for a proposed new issue. Credit Suisse and JP Morgan are joint dealer managers for the bond exchange. Investor meetings will take place in Asia, Europe and the US between February 22 and 28. DBM is rated Caa1/B-/B- by the three major international rating agencies. The DBM bonds have a guarantee from the state, and there had been concerns that it might struggle to meet the $580 million redemption on March 21. However, over the weekend the International Monetary Fund said it had reached an agreement on funding for Mongolia. DBM's March 2017 bonds were trading up two points to 99.400 in early Monday trading, according to Tradeweb. In a statement released on February 19, the IMF said that, following discussions with Mongolian authorities, it had reached a total external financing package of around $5.5 billion. Part of the agreement includes a three-year extended fund facility of SDR314 million ($440 million). Other international partners, such as the Asian Development Bank and World Bank, as well as bilateral partners like Japan and Korea, are expected to provide budget and project support of up to $3 billion. The People's Bank of China is expected to extend its 15 billion renminbi ($2.18 billion) swap line to the Bank of Mongolia for another three years. (Reporting by Spencer Anderson; editing by Daniel Stanton) By Jesus Aguado MADRID, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Small investors angry with the failure of Banco Popular's outgoing chairman to clean up the bank's books and its poor stock performance voiced their concerns at a shareholder meeting as he handed over power. Popular, considered a weak link in Spanish banking due to its high exposure to troubled real estate assets, has seen a 53 percent decline in the last year, becoming the second worst banking stock on the European STOXX banking index . In the same period, this index has risen 25 percent. Shareholders complained that outgoing chairman Angel Ron had left the bank with a non-performing loan ratio of 14.61 percent, the highest among Spanish banks in 2016. Ron, who has been in charge for more than a decade, will be succeeded by Emilio Saracho. "Banco Popular has behaved more like a savings bank rather than a proper well managed (private) bank," said investor Miguel Vazquez Garcia, referring to institutions that had to be bailed out during the country's banking crisis in 2012. In 2016 Banco Popular posted a record 3.5 billion-euro loss and soured property loans eroded the bank's capital position and cast doubt over its financial targets. . Retail investor Antonio Ramos said that the new chairman would need to take immediate action. "Real estate assets have left us bleeding and drained all the capital, (the new management) will need to take bold actions because we are running out of time," he told the meeting. Ron had formally resigned before the meeting on Monday so was not present to reply to the criticism. Deputy Chairman Roberto Higuera did not give any new financial targets during the meeting and said that any incoming strategy, including whether to pay dividends, would lie in the hands of Saracho, who is expected to be confirmed chairman by a separate board meeting later on Monday. Under Ron, the bank was planning to hive off 6 billion euros of its property assets into a separate division to help reduce its non-performing real estate portfolio by 15 billion euros by 2018 but it remains to be seen how Saracho will proceed. (Additional reporting By Amanda Calvo; editing by Keith Weir) A guest post by David Garrett: In our now thoroughly secular society new religions have replaced the old Christian based ones. The one which preaches loudest and thus gets the most attention is of course Environmentalism and its closely related schism, Climate Change anthropogenic of course. Like all religions, this one has its holy tenets: the planet must be put above all other considerations; almost everything we do is bad for Gaia; and of course humans are responsible for the catastrophic climate change which will engulf us on the Green equivalent of Judgment Day, unless we radically alter our behavior by next Thursday. The other religion constantly gaining ground is Health and Safety. Everything we do after getting out of bed is now seen to be surrounded by Risk, and Risk Assessments and Task Analyses and other secular sacraments must be constantly practiced, not just in the workplace, but at the school gala day and at the local playground. Activities which were once seen as entirely pleasurable are now seen to be problematic, with Hazards with an emphatic capital H now all around us. Before Christmas I took my son to the Helensville Christmas parade; usually a jolly enjoyable and impressive affair for such a small town. We made what turned out to be the grave mistake of turning up early in order to gain a good vantage point. For almost an hour before the parade started, we were harangued over the PA by a retired teacher who exhorted us to keep the young ones safe and make sure no children ran in the road because of the dreadful Hazard of floats moving when they moved at all at 3 kmh. Lolly scrambles are of course a thing of the past because of the risk of children being run down as they retrieve the treats from where they have been scattered. Has anyone reading this ever heard of a child being killed or injured during a lolly scramble? Anywhere in New Zealand? Anywhere at all for that matter? I certainly have not, but lolly scrambles have now gone, very soon I am sure, to be followed by the right to let off fireworks in our own back yards. The latest manifestation of the heresy of taking risks is the latest developments in the Pike River mine saga. Yesterday saw what I regard as the ludicrous development of the chairman of directors of Solid Energy now saying he would resign if forced to allow those who wished to risk their lives trying to recover whatever might remain of their loved ones, even if he and his fellow directors were legally indemnified against any and all liability. What an absurdly patriarchal and condescending position to adopt! What this man is saying can be boiled down to this: Even if I am absolved from any and all consequences of what I regard as your fools errand, I will resign my position if I am forced to allow you to risk your own lives. Presuming he is fully indemnified, what bloody business is it of his what risk those wishing to enter the damn thing choose to voluntarily take? How have we reached the position where adults, fully informed of the risk, and fully aware that no help will be forthcoming if they find themselves in peril, are not allowed to take those risks? A few weeks ago saw the 50th anniversary of the Strongman mine disaster in which 19 miners lost their lives in January 1967. Illustrated news articles showed tough looking men most with a roll your own cigarette accompanying their cup of tea taking a break before heading underground again to try and recover the bodies of their mates. In a much less informed era, without robots or precise analysis of what atmosphere they would be facing, there was no question of trying to prevent the workmates of the dead from recovering them. Indeed had anyone tried to stop them, I have little doubt that person would have been brushed aside if not laid out cold, whether they were a policeman or a politician. Fifty years later we have another disaster in an industry sadly bestrewn by them. Those wishing to enter the mine are enormously better informed than their compatriots of fifty years ago and yet there is endless debate about whether they should be allowed to risk their lives, even if the legal environment is altered so there is no risk to anyone else, and no legal or other consequences will befall others if they fail or find themselves in peril. There are endless red herrings bandied about, by politicians, journalists, and surprisingly for me, even commenters here, a place where one would presumably find the greatest concentration of clear thinkers and those of a libertarian bent. It is entirely irrelevant whether the plan is sound or not those promoting it wish to take the risk. It is entirely irrelevant what the precise composition of the atmosphere in the mine is those wishing to enter it wish to risk entering it regardless. It is even less relevant how much if anything remains of the 29 dead; it is important to their families and workmates to make the effort to try and recover what they can. Seventy five years ago New Zealanders fought in the greatest aerial conflict the world has yet seen. Almost 3000 New Zealand airmen lost their loves over the skies of Europe, either on their way to or returning from bombing missions over Germany. Often there was little left of the doomed crews of crashed bombers but brave French, Belgian and Dutch civilians literally risked execution to recover what they could of the crews, and give them a proper burial, even if all that remained was a limb and part of a uniform. I see the Pike River situation as little different. Miners are a tough breed working in an environment which is always subject to numerous perils. There are and sadly will always be accidents where men lose their lives. It is clearly a part of mining culture that absolutely everything must be done to recover ones lost mates. The survivors of the Strongman disaster of 50 years ago still lament the mates they were forced to leave behind in that mine. But it is not just the workplace and Christmas parades which have become infected by obsession with health and safety. The wreck of the cruise ship Mikhail Lermontev has already claimed the lives of several divers exploring it. Each time a fatality occurs there are mutterings about banning people diving on it because of the risk. So long as they are properly informed of the risks they face, its nobodys bloody business how risky it is; we supposedly live in a free society where we are allowed to risk our lives so long as we dont expect others to put their lives at risk to bail us out if it all goes wrong. Those who wish to re-enter Pike River are all adamant that the risk they wish to take is theirs alone. They dont expect anyone to come in after them. They will sign whatever document is required to absolve all and sundry for any liability or consequences of their risk taking. They will not rest until they like the fully informed brave Dutch of seventy five years ago are allowed to try and recover the remains of their comrades. Rather than coming up with endless reasons why they cant, We should be allowing them to get on with it. Nick Smith announced: Public consultation has opened on proposed legislation to fast track the redevelopment and regeneration of urban areas to better meet housing and commercial needs, Building and Construction Minister Dr Nick Smith says. New Zealand needs Urban Development Authority (UDA) legislation to enable faster and better quality regeneration in our major cities. These new authorities need the power to assemble parcels of land, develop site specific plans, reconfigure infrastructure and to construct a mix of public and private buildings to create vibrant hubs for modern urban living, Dr Smith says. These reforms are part of the solution to Aucklands growth pressures over housing and infrastructure. UDAs would enable major redevelopment projects like those proposed or under way in areas such as Hobsonville, Tamaki, Three Kings and Northcote to occur three to five years faster. The international experience in cities like London, Melbourne, Sydney, Toronto and Singapore is that UDAs can create vibrant, new suburbs, with greater gains for housing, jobs and amenities than through usual incremental, piecemeal redevelopment. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Strategy and Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho, left, shakes hands with Lord Mayor of London Andrew Parmley after their meeting at the Government Complex in central Seoul, Monday. In their meeting, Yoo said there is a necessity to consider a Korea-U.K. free trade agreement in order to maintain the two countries' mutual trade relations after the latter's exit from the European Union. / Courtesy of the Ministry of Strategy and Finance U.K. Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Karen Bradley, second from left, and Hyundai Card CEO Chung Tae-young, right, tour Hyundai Card Studio Black, a co-working space run by the card issuer near Gangnam Station, southern Seoul, during British Creative Businesses Day hosted by Hyundai Card and the British Embassy in Seoul. Startups from both Korea and the U.K. presented their businesses during the event. / Courtesy of Hyundai Card South Korea's finance minister said Monday that the country has a low possibility of falling into an economic crisis in the coming months despite rising concerns over a slew of financial weak firms and increased currency volatility. "There is little possibility that the South Korean economy will experience a critical situation like the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the 2008 global financial crisis," Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho said at a conference in Seoul. His comments came as the country is embroiled with concerns that Asia's fourth-largest economy will fall into deep economic trouble in April. Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., a major shipyard here, has 440 billion won ($383 million) in debt due in April, and there are concerns that the shipbuilder will hardly afford to pay the debt amid the dearth of new orders and a delay in the delivery of drill ships. Also, the U.S. government is expected to unveil a list of currency manipulators in April, which may include South Korea along with China. South Korea was put on a monitoring list by the U.S. Treasury Department last year, due to a significant bilateral trade surplus with the United States and evidence of market intervention. "The South Korean government has never intervened in the market," said Yoo. "We are now on a monitoring list, but we are also preparing for many possibilities." The country posted $23.3 billion in trade surplus with the U.S. last year, accounting for 26 percent of the country's total trade surplus. By Kim Jae-kyoung SINGAPORE The arrest of Lee Jae-yong, the de factor leader of Samsung Group, is not expected to cause a leadership crisis or destabilize the nation's largest conglomerate, according to foreign business experts. They believe Lee and Samsung have been used as a device by the prosecution to target President Park Geun-hye who was impeached over her alleged role in the influence-peddling scandal involving her close friend Choi Soon-sil. "Samsung is a family-controlled conglomerate, but it is a professionalized firm also. It is a very large company with very competent managers," Mauro Guillen, director of the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, told The Korea Times. "Otherwise, it would not be as competitive as it is. Therefore, I think it can do well even under these circumstances." James Rooney, founder of Apogee Partners, a global investment company, believes the incident will not lead to a leadership vacuum or crisis for Samsung. "I do not see any real issue of a leadership vacuum in the short term for Samsung," he said. "This is a very large organization with a broad and deep bench of senior managers and business plans that have to be laid down in principle many years in advance." "And I certainly do not expect Lee to remain absent from the battlefield for very long. It is not Korean style." The views came as concerns are growing that the arrest of Samsung's heir apparent Lee, currently vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, will throw the firm into a leadership crisis. He was arrested on bribery charges Friday, a first for the business group. Lee has been the de facto head of Samsung since March 2014 when his father Lee Kun-hee was hospitalized due to a heart attack. "His father faced similar stuff before," independent economist Andy Xie said. "It didn't affect the company." Calls are growing in the U.S. Congress for relisting North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism in the wake of Pyongyang's latest ballistic missile test and the killing of the half brother of the North's leader. "North Korea illegally launched yet another menacing ballistic missile. This was a high-tech, pre-fueled rocket that can be launched quickly. This type of rocket has a range of about 1,800 miles -- thus, making it an immediate threat to South Korea and Japan, as well as our troops that are stationed there," Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) said during a floor meeting last week. The lawmaker also noted that the communist nation is also trying to develop submarines from which to launch the missiles, which could threaten the United States. He said, "Kim Jong-un's threats continue to grow bolder and bolder with no repercussions. "Once upon a time, the United States had North Korea on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list. It is time to put little Kim back on that list because he is a world terrorist and a threat to world peace, and he has earned that distinction," Poe said. Last month, Poe introduced a bill calling for adding the North to the terrorism list. The legislation was referred last week to the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, and the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade. The North's apparent assassination of Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half brother of leader Kim Jong-un, has added fuel to calls for putting the North back on the terror sponsors' list. Kim was killed in Malaysia last week in what appears to be a poison attack. "The murder once again highlights the treachery of North Korea," Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) was quoted as saying in an interview. He was also quoted as saying that there is evidence of North Korean "actions and relationships that would meet the criteria of a state sponsor of terror." North Korea was put on the U.S. terrorism sponsor list for the 1987 midair bombing of a Korean Airlines flight that killed all 115 people aboard. But the U.S. administration of former President George W. Bush removed Pyongyang from the list in 2008 in exchange for progress in denuclearization talks. Calls had spiked for putting the North back on the list after Pyongyang was found to be responsible for the 2014 cyberattack on Sony Pictures. But the State Department did not do so, saying relisting would only be symbolic without significant practical consequences. The department left off the North from its latest terror sponsor list released last year, saying the regime in Pyongyang "is not known to have sponsored any terrorist acts since the bombing of a Korean Airlines flight in 1987." (Yonhap) By Lee Han-soo Dramatic CCTV footage shows the last moments of Kim Jong-nam's life. The video begins with Kim Jong-nam, half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, arriving at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. As Kim moves toward a ticket machine, the suspects are shown hovering in the vicinity. One woman suddenly approaches Kim from behind and holds something, possibly a poisonous spray or cloth, over his face. Kim and the woman wrestle for a short time, and soon afterwards the women casually disappear into the crowd. Kim flags down an airport staff member and explains that he has been attacked. Kim shows no symptoms of being poisoned as he is escorted to the medical clinic. However, it is known that he started to show symptoms inside the clinic and died on the way to the hospital. Recruiting page for Pyongyang University of Science and Technology. / Screen captured from HeySuccess By Lee Han-soo Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST), North Korea's first privately funded university, is recruiting English teachers. The school is receiving applications from candidates in dozens of countries, many of which are ironically non-English speaking, such as South Korea, China and Japan. "Preference is given to candidates who have a long-term mindset and are open to staying at PUST for a number of years," the university says in its message on www.heysuccess.com, a British recruiting website. "English teachers are required to commit to an entire 15-week semester. The spring semester begins in early March and finishes in mid-June. The fall semester begins in early September and finishes in mid-December." But the position is unpaid, with the exception of accommodation and basic cafeteria meals. "PUST is funded by various private charities (mainly from the international Korean community) but has limited funds and is not able to pay salaries," Colin McCulloch, director of external relations at PUST, said. "Therefore, those who come to serve with us must pay their own way, as regards travel and other necessary expenses." The university says the ideal candidate will be an "energetic, responsible and well-qualified professional teacher with relevant English teaching experience." It says an English teaching qualification (TEFL/ CELTA/ TESOL) is highly preferred. The university is also looking for suitable teachers for agriculture, life sciences, electrical/electronic engineering, finance, management and economics courses and is seeking instructors in other languages, primarily Chinese. Acting President and Prime minister Hwang calls assassination inhumane criminal act' By Jun Ji-hye It seems "certain" that the North Korean regime was behind the murder of Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half-brother of its leader Kim Jong-un, in Malaysia last week, acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn said Monday. During a National Security Council (NSC) Standing Committee meeting he convened at the government complex in Seoul, Hwang described the apparent assassination as an "unacceptable, inhumane criminal act." Kim Jong-nam, the eldest son of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, was killed after being attacked with poison by two women as he waited to board a flight at a Kuala Lumpur airport, Feb. 13. "If we put together the announcement by Malaysian authorities and various pieces of information and circumstances, it appears that the North Korean regime is behind this incident," Hwang said. Hwang, who took over as acting president following the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye in December for a corruption scandal, said the incident showed the Kim regime's brutality and imprudence, directing government officials to seek international cooperation in having Pyongyang pay for its "act of terrorism." Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo speaks during a press conference with foreign correspondents at the Press Center in downtown Seoul, Monday. / Yonhap By Yi Whwan-woo The murder of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's older half-brother Kim Jong-nam in Malaysia last week is making the international community more hostile toward North Korea, Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo said Monday. Speaking before the Seoul Foreign Correspondents' Club at the Press Center in downtown Seoul, Hong also said "abnormal and inhumane" incidents have been frequent in the secretive regime. "The negative view toward North Korea has been growing bigger than ever since the murder of Kim Jong-nam," he said. "The international community has expressed serious concerns and shown suspicions toward the North Korean regime from the beginning when the incident took place. This is because abnormal and inhumane events, such as the execution of Kim Jong-un's uncle Jang Song-thaek, have been occurring there over and over." Members of a group promoting South Korea's sovereignty over South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo will make a visit to Japan this week to protest against an annual ceremony stressing Tokyo's claim to the islets, the group said Monday. In a rally in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, the group said a five-person delegation will leave for Japan the same day before taking part in the "Takeshima Day" ceremony in Matsue, Japan's Shimane Prefecture, as protesters. In 2005, Shimane, which claims administrative sovereignty over the islets, designated Feb. 22 as a day to promote Takeshima, the Japanese name for Dokdo. Since then, Shimane has hosted various programs to strengthen its territorial claims to the islets on this day. At the rally, the group also accused the Japanese government of releasing a draft guideline on the school curriculum as part of efforts to require that Dokdo be stated as Japan's territory in school courses. Other than the territorial issue, the group criticized Japan for its actions related to the installation of statues symbolizing South Korean women sexually enslaved by the Japanese military during Tokyo's colonial rule period (1910-45). Choi Jae-ik, leader of the group, said, "We will let the entire world know about the unfortunate destiny of Korean women and the unhappy history of the Korean people, brought on by Japan." The delegation is scheduled to arrive in Osaka later in the day and hold a protest meeting at the South Korean Consulate General in the western Japanese city and head to Matsue, the capital of the western Japanese prefecture, the next day. On Wednesday, the delegation will hold a press conference for Japanese and foreign reporters at 10:00 a.m., a rally in front of the Shimane prefectural government building and a street march to voice their objection to Japan's frequent claims to Dokdo and call for Takeshima Day to be repealed. It marked the 13th consecutive year for the group to send a delegation to lodge a protest over the ceremony. (Yonhap) Students at Munmyeong High School in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang Province, protest its decision to use a state-authored history textbook. The students claim it is problematic for them to learn history from a book compiled by the government, which imposes a conservative view of historical events. / Yonhap By Kim Bo-eun Students at Munmyeong High School in Gyeongsan, South Gyeongsang Province, are protesting the school's decision to use a state-authored history textbook. The high school was confirmed as the only institution that will take part in the education ministry's pilot project using the controversial history book, Monday. Munmyeong High School had sent out text messages to students, Sunday, telling them not to come to school the following day, in an apparent move to prevent students from holding protests. But around 150 students and parents gathered at the school, Monday morning, demanding the school withdraw from the pilot project. The students and parents claim it is problematic for students to learn history from a book compiled by the government, which imposes a certain view. They vowed to hold another protest today. The school's student council is collecting signatures online to press the school to drop its plan. It aims to collect 10,000 signatures by Wednesday. The education ministry, however, warned it would take measures against attempts to pressure the school to drop out of the program, and expressed "regret over schools' autonomy being eroded by regional education offices and civic groups." The liberal education offices of Seoul, Gwangju and Gangwon did not send out the ministry's document outlining the program to their schools, while other offices belatedly sent out the document but stated their explicit opposition to it, which prevented schools from applying, according to the ministry. / Yonhap By Park Si-soo Part of the ceiling fell into an indoor swimming pool in Incheon, west of Seoul, on Monday, only minutes after 28 students had gone to change clothes after a lesson. Police are investigating the cause of the accident, which happened at around 11:30 a.m. "It happened about five minutes after 28 students from four Incheon-based (elementary and middle) schools left the pool," a witness was quoted as saying. The pool was built in 1986 and its arch-shaped ceiling is covered with solid insulation materials, which could have caused serious injuries or even death. Police believe moisture from the pool weakened the adhesion between the insulation materials and the ceiling. Police are therefore focusing on whether the ceiling has been maintained properly. By Yi Whan-woo Controversy is brewing over the use of U.S. and Israeli flags by supporters of the impeached President Park Geun-hye during their weekend rallies that have nothing to do with the countries. Right-wing groups have organized these rallies to counter much-larger demonstrations demanding Park's removal from power by the Constitutional Court. Pro-Park counterprotesters have waved the Korean national flag, or Taegeukgi, at the rallies, which they call "Taegeukgi rallies" themselves. Lately, they have also been bringing U.S. and Israeli flags to the political events. The participants claim it is a way to show their "patriotism," but criticism is prevalent that the flags are being misused. Several protesters, who are mainly in their 60s or older, have been waving the Korean and U.S. flags together in a bid to underscore the Korea-U.S. security alliance against "North Korean sympathizers." Some others, who call themselves devout churchgoers, have brought the Israeli flag with a wooden cross and other symbols they think can represent their faith. But critics said Monday that such expressions may only stir up misunderstandings toward the U.S and Israel as well as Christianity. The U.S. and Israeli embassies in Seoul were not available for comment. The National Christian Council in Korea (NCCK), a group of protestant congregations here, asked its believers to refrain from taking part in events organized by extremists. "The council was astonished by some of its members, including pastors, taking leading roles in collaborating with far-right activists," the NCCK said in a statement. "The members should not idolize unjust power and disgrace God's name." It also asked its radical members to repent, citing that they have been chanting for "declaration of martial law and rise of the armed forces against the rebels." Shin Yul, a political science professor at Myongji University, warned against politicizing religion. "I don't think the U.S. and Israeli governments will find it too serious but using foreign flags for a political event may cause unnecessary debate, especially when such event is politicizing a religion," he said. A Daum user with ID Clean Society posted, "The pro-Park Geun-hye forces are ruining the values of the Korean flag, conservatism and patriotism." A different Daum user with ID ojh suggested banning the use of Korean flags by Park's supporters. Half-naked members of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea brave freezing weather to promote the party's primary, holding panels that read, "Let's change the government with our own hands" at Haeundae Beach, Busan, Monday. The party will choose its candidate through votes from both party members and private citizens. / Yonhap By Kim Rahn The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) is enjoying ever-growing popularity, gaining the highest approval rating since it was established, mainly due to public disapproval of the conservative Park Geun-hye administration following the corruption scandal involving Park and her confidant Choi Soon-sil. Such a high support rate is increasing the chances of its candidate whoever it will be winnig the presidential election which is likely to take place in the first half of this year. A poll conducted with 2,521 adults by Realmeter from Feb. 13 to 17 showed Monday that the DPK's approval rate reached 47.7 percent, a record high since its establishment in 2015. The party has enjoyed a support rate over 40 percent since December; the last time the DPK or its predecessors reached such a rating was in 1998 when former President Kim Dae-jung was inaugurated. By Kim Hyo-jin At least a dozen newly elected lawmakers in the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) are considering supporting South Chungcheong Province Governor An Hee-jung over Moon Jae-in in the party's presidential primary, sources said Monday. The lawmakers, including Reps. Rhee Cheol-hee and Kang Hoon-sik, will hold a press conference to announce their backing of An soon after they make a decision. "The new lawmakers, buoyed by the surging popularity of An, are now thinking about joining An's campaign," a DPK official said. "They are expected to announce their support for An anytime soon. It can come either separately or collectively." The lawmakers have been cautious about talking about the primary while senior lawmakers widely express their support for Moon Jae-in, the party's former leader and leading presidential contender. Their changing attitude came amid An's rising popularity in opinion polls. An's support has been soaring for weeks and topped 20 percent last week, narrowing the gap with Moon by single-digit percentage points. In the latest Realmeter poll released Monday, An stood at 20.4 percent, an increase of 3.7 percentage points from the previous week, while Moon remained at 32.5 percent of support, a fall of 0.4 percentage points. He was catapulted into second place in opinion polls after U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who was once viewed as a potential presidential candidate from the conservative bloc, dropped out of the race in early February. Taking a centrist stance, An has caught the attention of voters from a wider range of the political spectrum than have other DPK contenders, pundits claim. Lawmakers who are not aligned with Moon hailed the rivalry, saying it will galvanize the party's primary. It could have been ignored by the public amid high anticipation of a comfortable Moon victory, they said. The move to support An revolves around Reps. Rhee and Kang, known to be close to Sohn Hak-gyu, a former adviser who recently joined the minor opposition People's Party, the officials said. "An's support rate is expected to increase further," Rhee said earlier in an SBS podcast. "It is a strategically positive sign. The more dramatic and dynamic the primary race gets, the more chance the party has of winning the presidential race with our final candidate." Party officials noted the possibility that Rep. Kim Chong-in, a former party leader who took over the position from Moon, could also back An. But Kim's aide told MBN that the situation would depend on whether An's support goes over 25 percent in opinion polls, otherwise Kim could contest the primary himself. Kim's support is expected to give An momentum in the primary. Kim has had close contact with lawmakers who do not follow Moon in the party. He met about 20 anti-Moon lawmakers last week and discussed developments in the primary race. The move fed speculation that more lawmakers might join a possible collective move in favor of An. This is the second in a three-part series about South and North Korea. E.D. By Doug Bandow North Korea has tested a mid-range missile, sparking the usual expressions of concern in Washington. But worse is likely to come. In his New Year's Day address North Korea's Kim Jong-un said his nation was close to testing an ICBM which could hit the U.S. Predictably, President Donald Trump responded via tweet: "It won't happen." Which means what? He doesn't believe the Democratic People's Republic of Korea will be able to develop such a missile or miniaturize such a weapon? It would be foolish to make hope the basis of U.S. policy toward the North. Maybe the president-elect means, well, nothing. Going back to George H.W. Bush every U.S. president has insisted that North Korea would not develop nuclear weapons. But it has. Perhaps Trump expects to talk the latest scion to rule the de facto monarchy into abandoning the dynasty's geopolitical ambitions. But very few Korea watchers believe Pyongyang is prepared to voluntarily cede its nuclear program. The presidentt might insist that Beijing pressure the North to stop the latter's weapons programs. However, China's influence is limited and Beijing is not interested in imposing regime change for America's benefit. Finally, perhaps Trump plans to attack North Korea. That might trigger retaliation and a much larger war. No one would deny the U.S. the right, indeed, obligation, to destroy any missile about to be launched at America. But having successfully defended against the resumption of the Korean War over the last more than 63 years, Washington should not risk starting another devastating round. Although the DPRK would lose, the carnage could be enormous. So what to do? Trump sounds like he has set one of those infamous "red lines," but, like his predecessor, has set himself up for an embarrassing climb-down when reality intrudes. Obviously, developments in the North are unsettling. Pyongyang's existing missile capabilities place much of Northeast Asia within reach. A working ICBM would put the continental U.S. within range, giving the North a nuclear deterrent against the world's most powerful nation. The bad news about these developments is obvious enough. Yet there is good news, surprisingly enough. All of the Kims, including the current ruler, appear to be ruthlessly pragmatic. The North Korean bomb is not a suicide weapon. All told, the DPRK is extremely unlikely to initiate an attack on America. What would it gain? Almost instant destruction. So as long as Washington doesn't start bombing the North, nothing much is likely to happen. That doesn't mean the situation is not dangerous. But almost the entire risk for America reflects the U.S. security guarantee to South Korea. Were American troops not present, backing up Washington's promise to go to war on the ROK's behalf, Kim would have no reason to pay much notice to America. So what should the Trump administration do? Get out of Korea. The U.S. is at risk because it has placed itself squarely within the Korean imbroglio. The South's advantages are overwhelmingabout 40 times the GDP, a massive technological edge, overwhelming international support, and twice the population. There's no need for American conventional forces to be stationed in or around the Korean Peninsula. Washington should phase out its military presence and end its security guarantee. In the short-term the U.S. should maintain its nuclear umbrella over the ROK. But over time Washington should consider other options, including the possibility of South Korea and likely Japan developing countervailing nuclear deterrents. An American withdrawal would have several advantages: remove Washington from the center of any Korean conflict, turn responsibility for the South's defense over to Seoul, eliminate Washington's role as the DPRK's enemy number one, reduce perceived security threats against Pyongyang, and shift responsibility for lowering regional tensions to countries in the region. Having gotten out of Korea, the Trump administration would have more options in how to address the North. Washington also would be better able to make a deal with China to pressure the North, dropping any attempt to use a reunited Korea as part of a campaign to contain China. North Korea remains the perpetual problem with no good solutions. But rather than paint his administration into a corner, the president could begin to put distance between America and the incipient crisis. That might not make the problems any easier to solve, but no longer would Washington be stuck with chief responsibility for dealing with the DPRK. Doug Bandow is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute and a former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan. The visit to Washington Monday of Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau seems to have gone relatively smoothly, in spite of the general fireworks underway surrounding Michael Flynn, the White House national security adviser who was forced to resign that evening. Trudeau could easily have found the storm involving President Donald Trump, Flynn and Russia of considerable concern. Canada shares closely the defense of the north of North America with the United States, is a fellow NATO member, and is as close geographically to Russia as the United States is. He might also have looked uneasily at Trump's falling out with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, which led to his cancellation or we can hope postponement of his scheduled visit to the United States to meet with Trump. The problems between Mexico and the United States, turning in part on immigration, are different from those between Canada and the United States, although Trump should not forget that renegotiation of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement would involve Canada to the north as well as Mexico to the south. If part of Trump's concern over immigration, reflected in his attempted ban on travel to the United States by citizens of the seven Muslim-majority countries, currently tied up in U.S. courts, is security, Canada's more "open door" approach to immigrants, especially from war-torn nations including Syria, is decidedly different and potentially riskier than the one Trump is attempting to pursue. Trump and Trudeau certainly had much to discuss. Apart from the travel that takes place across the long, largely undefended border, the two nations are important trading partners. Trudeau's government's approach to climate change is also different from Trump's so-far stated position, notwithstanding the fact that North American air is shared air. The effort at cordiality on the part of both leaders, in spite of their policy and age differences, is welcome to Americans and Canadians. Perhaps the next step should be a three-part meeting, to draw in Mexico's president. Trudeau would want to see that; Trump should want to see it. This editorial appeared on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and was distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. By Allen C. Guelzo and James H. Hulme "Thursday night the streets were filled with excited crowds. No one talks of anything but the necessity for prompt action. ... It is hardly prudent for any man to express his opinion adverse to immediate secession, so heated are the public passions, so intolerant of restraint is the popular will." You would probably assume that this report came from California in the wake of the 2016 election, right? After all, Alex Padilla, the California secretary of state, has now authorized the Yes California Independence Campaign to begin collecting signatures for a state referendum on California's secession from the United States. As Marcus Ruiz Evans (Yes California's vice president) argues, "California really is different from the rest of the country. ... Californians are better educated, wealthier, more liberal, and value health care and education more." Especially after the election of Donald Trump, the "next logical step" is for California to set up as an independent nation. But you would be wrong. We were actually quoting a report of the reaction of slave-holders in South Carolina to the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860. As the old saying goes, politics makes strange bedfellows, this time linking the California secessionists with the slave-holding secessionists of Lincoln's era. The demand for a so-called Calexit is not just a passing moment of electoral sore-losing. A former talk-show host, Evans insists that California, with the sixth-largest economy in the world and a population (39 million) that would put it 36th on the U.N. roster of countries, is "an economic and cultural powerhouse" that could easily go it alone. And getting a secession initiative on the ballot will not be hard to do. California law only requires 8 percent of the state's registered voters to petition for a ballot proposition. Evans would need to sign up less than one out of every 12 Clinton voters from the November election. As it is, a Reuters poll recently discovered that 32 percent of Californians were already in favor of secession. Except, of course, that the U.S. Constitution doesn't smile very favorably on state secession. Which is why the Supreme Court slammed the door shut on secession in a decision authored by one of Lincoln's "Team of Rivals" Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase. The court explicitly held that "The Constitution, in all its provisions, looks to an indestructible Union composed of indestructible States." International law, even if it were applicable, is only a little less permissive. Although the United Nations has recognized secession movements in East Timor, the Sudan, and the former Czechoslovakia, Duke University political philosopher Allen Buchanan reminds us that secession usually has to satisfy at least three criteria to be considered legitimate: It must occur as an act of self-defense; It must have the consent of a majority of those involved in the secession (in other words, it can't be the coup of an aggressive faction); It cannot be done for the purpose of evading responsibilities (like paying taxes). Calexit flunks these tests on every point. Marcus Ruiz Evans contends that "California is a Maker state, contributing more to the federal government than we receive" but this is exactly the evasion-of-responsibility which the larger world community refuses to recognize. And there is certainly nothing in the election which involves literal self-defense by Californians Evans and Yes California may not like Trump, but they are in no more bodily danger from him than is anyone else in our United States. What should be more troubling to the Yes California movement is the eerie resemblance of its predictions to those made by the Southern Confederacy in 1861. "In today's interconnected world," declares Evans, "no one tells the top economies what to do. ... No one is going to pull money out of California if it secedes, no one is going to invade." But this was exactly what secessionists in 1861 promised. "The South has more elements of strength and wealth, more ability to sustain herself as a separate government than any country of equal size in the world," said Alabama Congressman J.L.M. Curry. "We shall have no war," Robert Hardy Smith assured his fellow Alabamians, "the soldiery of the United States ... will not fight against us." Do the Calexiteers realize that they are channeling Southern slave-holding secessionists? But there is a deeper argument against Calexit and secession. The essence of democratic decision-making lies in the willingness of a minority to recognize the right of the majority to rule. To hold elections, referendums and recalls, and then walk away when the result is found disagreeable, is the opposite of democracy. "Plainly, the central idea of secession, is the essence of anarchy," Abraham Lincoln said. This is because "a constitutional majority is the only true sovereign of a free people." The signers of Yes California's petition may not like the results of the November election, but setting aside the results of one unpleasant election invites the setting-aside of any election we deem unpleasant, and that is what yields anarchy. And since anarchy is a condition with which no one can live for very long, the solution will be dictatorship. "Whoever rejects it," Lincoln warned, "does, of necessity, fly to anarchy or to despotism." Calexit can run from that logic, but it can't hide. Allen C. Guelzo is the Henry R. Luce professor of the Civil War era and director of the Civil War era studies at Gettysburg College and author of "Gettysburg: The Last Invasion." It was distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. This is the third and final in a three-part series suggesting a policy on North Korea. E.D. By Doug Bandow Candidate Donald Trump caused tremors in South Korea when he criticized America's security commitment. The possibility of having to do more in their own defense shocked South Koreans. Now Defense Secretary James Mattis has visited the Republic of Korea and offered the usual "reassurances" that American defense welfare will continue. The U.S.-ROK alliance is "obsolete" as the president referred to NATO. The former was created at the end of the Korean War in 1953 to protect a ravaged country from conquest by a totalitarian state backed by the Soviet Union and People's Republic of China. That world is gone, however. South Korea has raced past the North and enjoys 40 times the GDP, twice the population, and vastly more foreign friends. Both Moscow and Beijing do far more business with the South than with the DPRK and would not back the latter in war. Only in military terms is the North ahead. However, its conventional forces are decrepit. Seoul is well able to construct a force capable of deterring and, if necessary, defeating North Korea's military. South Koreans have many excuses for underinvesting in the military. For instance, they devote a larger percentage of their GDP to the military than do most of America's other defense dependents. Obviously the latter aren't spending enough either. That doesn't justify Seoul's behavior, however. The South provides more "host nation support" than other allies. Again true, but the major cost for America is raising additional forces to meet its extra commitments. Unfortunately, Seoul has not offered to pay the cost of recruiting military personnel, purchasing military equipment, organizing units, and more. Further, many South Koreans don't want to spend more on the military. That's their decision, of course. But it isn't the job of Americans to protect people who don't believe in protecting themselves. Pyongyang's incipient nuclear arsenal poses a different kind of threat. But so-called "extended deterrence" is a bad deal for America, entangling the U.S. in Northeast Asia's web of antagonisms and potential conflicts. Some Koreans are discussing the possibility of creating their own nuclear deterrent. It's a controversial idea, but American policymakers should consider whether the U.S. would be safer exiting the Northeast Asian imbroglio. In any case, Washington's garrison in the South does not protect against a DPRK nuclear strike. Rather, putting U.S. forces within easy reach of North Korean WMDs creates thousands of nuclear hostages, making America more vulnerable to Pyongyang. The South benefits from Washington's defense welfare. But what do Americans receive in return? The U.S. borrows more money to take on an additional defense dependent, embroiling itself in the bitter struggle between the two Koreas. But with the end of the Cold War the geopolitical relevance of the Korean peninsula has ebbed. The ROK is a valuable trading partner. The Rand Corporation's Chang Booseung justified U.S. defense subsidies for the South by citing "the $129 billion in annual trade" and resulting U.S. jobs. Of course, by Chang's logic, the South should be helping to protect America to preserve all those jobs created in the South through its trade with the U.S. Anyway, trade is no reason for Washington to pay for another nation's defense. Seoul should invest its financial gains in its own defense. A renewed Korean conflict would be a humanitarian tragedy as well, but that's no reason to enhance the horror by involving American forces. South Korea should take responsibility for preventing such an occurrence. War also would destabilize the region, but would not end Asian trade with America, as Chang suggested. Anyway, adverse regional impact is a good reason for the Koreas' neighbors to do more. Chang contended that America's garrison plays a "counter-proliferation role" as the "Kim Jong-un is working hard to put the U.S. mainland on his target list." But Kim is doing so because America is "over there," so to speak. Washington backs the DPRK's adversary, which ensures that America will be a target if North Korea eventually creates an accurate ICBM. Finally, Chang doesn't even trust his own country: in his view the U.S. must restrain its ally from starting a war. Actually, the best way to "restrain" Seoul would be to make clear that the ROK is on its own militarily. The U.S.-South Korea alliance has outlived its usefulness. Instead of reassuring Seoul, Secretary Mattis should prepare to renegotiate the alliance, creating a looser but more equal cooperative military relationship. South Korea should take on responsibilities commensurate with its capabilities. Doug Bandow is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute and a former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan. He is the author of Foreign Follies: America's New Global Empire. Dictator must be punished for inhumane crimes All things considered, it has become certain that North Korea was behind last week's murder of Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half-brother of its leader Kim Jong-un. Now the time has come for the international community to discuss measures to deal with the young dictator's unacceptable act of terrorism, considering that such an assassination is impossible without an order from the highest leader. On Sunday, Malaysian police said five North Koreans were involved in the murder, with four of them having fled the Southeast Asian country on the day of the killing, Feb. 13. They are questioning the remaining suspect, Ri Jong-chol, who was arrested in Kuala Lumpur, Saturday. Three more North Koreans are also wanted for questioning. All of this bolsters the fact that the repressive communist country has orchestrated the suspected contract killing _ two women with Vietnamese and Indonesian passports joined forces to spay a toxic liquid on Kim Jong-nam. Pyongyang tried to cover up its involvement in the assassination by hiring foreigners, but to no avail. Chairing a National Security Council meeting Monday, Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn reaffirmed the North's involvement, calling the assassination an "unacceptable inhuman criminal act." "This clearly demonstrates the reckless and brutal nature of the North Korean regime," he said. If it is conclusively determined that the isolated regime in Pyongyang planned and directed the killing, the international community should do whatever it can to punish Kim Jong-un and all others concerned. Specifically, it might be necessary for the United Nations to ask the International Criminal Court to prosecute Kim Jong-un for crimes against humanity. Kim is already notorious for having executed more than 100 generals and high-ranking officials, including his uncle Jang Song-taek, to strengthen his grip on power. Hundreds of thousands of North Koreans are also in prison camps, living in fear of torture and mistreatment. In fact, there are ample reasons to hold him accountable. The United States should consider re-designating North Korea as a state sponsoring terrorism. America removed the North from its terrorism blacklist in 2008 after keeping it on the list for more than 20 years following its bombing of a Korean Air plane in 1987. Since the latest assassination, there have been mounting calls in the U.S. Congress for putting Pyongyang on the terrorism blacklist again. The Malaysian government should act responsibly to cope with challenges from the shocking incident. It suffered a humiliation of a foreign celebrity being poisoned to death at one of its international airports in broad daylight. Malaysia must lodge a strong protest with North Korea and demand certain measures, which could include bringing back the suspects who reportedly have returned to Pyongyang. The Southeast Asian country also might need to consider severing diplomatic ties with the North. The duty free areas of Jeju International Airport often resemble the scenes left ravaged by a swarm of locusts that cut a vast swath across crop fields. In the place of old skins cast off on the path of the growing armies of bugs is a sea of wrappings from merchandise that Chinese tourists litter the floors with after unpacking them so they can carry back the contents alone, while reducing the volume of their baggage. Horror stories abound among employees at these shops. One common thread that has extensively been reported recently is about Chinese tendencies to spit on the floor. The second is about their habit of smoking in nonsmoking areas. The third is about their playing poker or mahjong in waiting areas, while eating food. They rarely clean themselves, according to reports. Also raising the eyebrows of other visitors is the case of "toilet cultural differences," in which the Chinese unaccustomed to using flush toilets do their private task while squatting on the seat with shoes on. One reported account has a Chinese tourist blocking a Japanese visitor from leaving a watch shop, insisting that Japanese should relinquish the merchandise he had paid for because he liked it. Airport authorities complain that their efforts to encourage Chinese tourists to mind their manners have not worked but using a more forceful approach is often set aside because Korea's tourism industry relies heavily on the Chinese. This year, Korea hopes to draw 17 million foreign tourists with over one third of them being Chinese. Now, the industry is reeling from a reduced number of Chinese visiting Korea after bilateral relations suffered a setback from Korea's planned deployment of a U.S. anti-missile interceptor or THAAD. Still, it is important to use awareness campaigns with varying degrees of strength and content because Chinese tourists are guests and it is our duty as hosts to treat them kindly. Chinese are just beginning to cash in on their newly found riches with overseas travels being part of their new package of privileges. With any other nations on such fast-track development, they follow the path of "ugly Americans" or "ugly Koreans." For Chinese to graduate early from the "learning curve," the best way is to learn for themselves. That learning experience may start by having themselves in other people's shoes: thinking how unpleasant they would find it if others acted without manners such as they do. The corporate reputation ranking of Samsung in the eyes of American consumers plunged 42 spots to 49th in 2017, according to an annual survey on Monday. The sharp drop in the survey by The Harris Poll on corporate brands came as Samsung is struggling with the global recall of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone and an ongoing probe into the presidential influence-peddling scandal in South Korea. Samsung, which ranked 7th in last year's survey, had been included in the top 10 list over the past three years. Amazon.com came first in the 2017 survey, followed by grocery chains Wegmans and Publix Super Markets, according to the survey. Apple, Google and Tesla Motors were also among the top 10 this year. Samsung has been suffering from the recall and discontinuation of the Note 7 smartphones over safety concerns. Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics Co., was arrested last week over his alleged role in the scandal that led to the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye. "Best-in-class companies demonstrate that corporate reputation matters -- to your customers, employees, potential hires, business partners and investors," said Sarah Simmons, senior reputation consultant at Nielsen, which owns The Harris Poll, in a statement. "Not only does it matter, but corporate reputation is critically important to measure and understand in the context of your company's business goals. A positive reputation can provide competitive advantages and help your company achieve its objectives while a poor one can obstruct your ability to execute against your business plan," Simmons said. (Yonhap) By Kang Seung-woo Samsung's corporate reputation was hit hard in the United States this past year by its troubled flagship smartphone and a recent corruption probe into its heir apparent, according to an annual survey on corporate brands, Monday. The 2017 Harris Poll ranked Samsung 49th, at a reputational quotient score of 75.17, among the 100 most notable companies, grouping Samsung with U.S.-based bank Wells Fargo and German automaker Volkswagen as firms which damaged their reputation the most. It is a huge setback for Samsung, which made the top 10 for the last three straight years _ seventh for 2014, third for 2015 and seventh for 2016. Online retail giant Amazon took the top spot for the second year in a row at 86.27 points, followed by grocery chains Wegmans and Publix Super Markets, which had 85.41 and 82.27, respectively. Samsung's information technology rivals Apple and Google were also among the top 10. KT's technology strategy team leader Kim Hyung-soo presides over the general meeting of the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) International Mobile Telecommunication (IMT)-2020 in Geneva, Friday, as the chairman of the working group. / Courtesy of KT By Yoon Sung-won KT's technology strategy team head Kim Hyung-soo will lead the global standardization of fifth-generation (5G) technologies for the next four years, the telecom company said Monday. The company said Kim was appointed as chairman of the International Mobile Telecommunication (IMT)-2020, following a decision at the general meeting of the International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) Study Group 13 in Geneva. Kim will jointly manage the international 5G technology standardization body alongside co-chairman Luca Pesando from Telecom Italia. "I believe that the appointment has been made in light of recognition over Korea's contribution to early standardization of 5G core technologies," Kim said in a statement. "By leading the 5G technology standardization procedures at the ITU-T, I will strive to make Korea's standard as the global standard." According to KT, the IMT-2020 working party has been initiated following the Resolution 92 at the World Telecommunications Standard Assembly in Tunisia last year, which wants strengthened efforts for global 5G standardization. The working party will have five research teams look into core technologies that will be part of the 5G network. Each team will examine service quality, telecom network structure, network virtualization and orchestration, and wired-wireless integration, KT said. For the ITU general meeting, Korea has sent a delegation of some 20 members from the Korea ITU Committee, led by Kim, Electronics and Telecommunication Research Institute and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. Besides Kim's appointment, Korea clinched six rapporteur positions, which is almost the 50 percent quota of the entire Study Group 13, according to KT. "Kim's appointment as the chairman of the ITU IMT-2020 working party has come as recognition of KT's efforts to lead the 5G era in the global industry," KT CTO Lee Dong-myun said. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is making his first visit to Europe since taking office, to reassure allies the United States remains a staunch friend amid concerns about the new administration's "America First" strategy and its overall approach to global affairs. Pence is scheduled to have dinner with Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel Sunday in Brussels. On Monday, Pence will meet with EU High Representative Federica Mogherini, EU Council President Donald Tusk, and other EU officials. The European Union will likely seek clarity on Trump's prediction last month in two European newspapers that other countries would follow Britain and leave the alliance. EU foreign affairs chief Mogherini said after meeting U.S. officials in Washington last week that maintaining multilateral sanctions on Russia, keeping the Iran nuclear agreement in place and addressing the refugee crisis are issues the EU would like to collaborate on with the U.S. By Jhoo Dong-chan Mercedes-Benz Korea CEO Dimitris Psillakis has been elected to lead the European Chamber of Commerce in Korea (ECCK). The ECCK held an annual general meeting at Seoul Square Building in Jung-gu, downtown Seoul, Monday, to appoint Psillakis as the European business group's third chairman. He succeeds BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance Korea CEO Jean-Christophe Darbes who led the ECCK for the past two years. Some 330 member European firms cast their votes for the post, for which Psillakis ran unopposed. He managed to poll a majority of votes from more than 10 percent of ECCK member firms, a quorum requirement for the presidential post. Sources said leaders of member firms elected Psillakis for his energetic managerial activities behind Mercedes-Benz Korea's strong sales performance last year. His appointment to the post reflects the mounting influence of the nation's imported carmakers in foreign business circles. Its peer business lobby, the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (AMCHAM), also reelected James Kim, GM Korea president and CEO, as the group's chairman late last year. Psillakis was appointed to lead Mercedes-Benz Korea in September 2015 after successfully serving in a managing director position at Mercedes-Benz Brazil. Graduated from the University of Kent in the U.K. and joining the group at Mercedes-Benz Greece in 1992, Psillakis has assumed various posts in the carmaker's sales and marketing divisions, both in the passenger and commercial vehicle sectors. Under his leadership, Mercedes-Benz was able to boost the luxury brand image in the premium car segment in Brazil, doubling sales in just two years. One of his major achievements there included the redesign and extension of the dealer network _ he jacked up the number of dealer outlets their 60 while focusing on quality standards profitability. He is believed to have successfully led the German luxury carmaker's sales unit in Korea as Mercedes-Benz Korea sold a record high of 56,343 vehicles last year, up by 19.9 percent from the previous year, to become the first import car brand to top the yearly sales plateau of 50,000. Psillakis said during press conference last month that the Korean unit of the German carmaker will invest 200 billion won to build more showrooms and workshops in cooperation with its dealers. The investment will pay for adding more than 1,000 new jobs to their payrolls. Mercedes-Benz Korea did not officially disclose its sales goal for this year but the Seoul-based outfit is expected to take the driver's seat in the competition with such imported brands as former perennial leader BMW Korea. The new Grand C4 Picasso is revealed at the Citroen showroom in Gangnam-gu, southern Seoul, Monday. / Courtesy of Citroen Korea By Jhoo Dong-chan Citroen Korea, the French carmaker's local sales unit, has introduced the all-new Grand C4 Picasso multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) and the C4 Picasso crossover, aiming to boost its presence in the nation's fast-growing recreational vehicle (RV) market. First unveiled here in 2014, the Grand C4 Picasso is the nation's first diesel-engine seven-seater, having received favorable responses from consumers for its unique design, sizable interior and high fuel-efficiency. The Grand C4 Picasso has also won various prizes overseas for its excellent quality, including the 2013 Golden Steering Wheel hosted by German auto magazine duo Bild am Sonntag and Auto Bild and the 2013 Best Family Car of the Year hosted by British TopGear. The car was named MPV of the year for two consecutive years from 2014 by U.K.-based magazine What Car? Satisfying the Euro Six emissions standards, the new Grand C4 Picasso MPV and the new C4 Picasso crossover carry the carmaker's latest eco-friendly BlueHDi diesel engine that produces up to 120 horsepower with a 30.6 kg.m torque. The power train also features six-speed EAT6 transmission, which a Citroen Korea official said offers strong fuel efficiency along with comfortable and safe driving conditions. "The BlueHDi engine combines the PSA Group's cutting-edge Selective Catalytic Reduction system with the Diesel Particulate Filter to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by 90 percent," he said. The new Grand C4 Picasso (MPV) and the C4 Picasso crossover features streamlined designs to suggest a glamorous and modern exterior. With an arch-shaped roofline, both vehicles also offer wider front vision. The new Grand C4 Picasso (MPV) and the C4 Picasso crossover have an advanced driver assistance system, including an active city brake system and blind spot monitoring system. A lane departure warning system and driver attention alert are offered as options. The all-new Grand C4 Picasso (MPV) costs 39.9 million won while the C4 Picasso crossover costs 36.9 million won. The official said Citroen would introduce the all-new Grand C4 Picasso with a 2.0-liter engine next month. This is the first in a series highlighting operations of foreign luxury brands in Korea. ED. Bulgari, Omega draw criticism By Park Jae-hyuk Imported luxury brands such as Chanel, Hermes and Louis Vuitton are highly coveted here, often promoted as "masterpieces" by home shopping channels. Korean consumers adore luxury brands. They are must-have items for many. However, the companies have long been negligent in corporate social responsibility (CSR) in a market where they rake in huge profits. They have failed to live up to their high standing given their lack of respect toward the country. Despite Korea's prolonged slump in consumption, sales of overseas luxury brands at the nation's top three department stores Lotte, Hyundai and Shinsegae rose 9 percent in 2016 from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Yet, the firms are also poor in terms of transparency in management and pricing policy. Lack of social contribution Most imported luxury brands in Korea have not been "luxurious" at all when it comes to CSR activities. Although they have posted billions of won in operating profit here, the amount of money they spent for Korean society has been almost zero. Diageo Korea director Lee Deok-won gives a lecture on responsible drinking during the orientation session for freshmen at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, Sunday. / Courtesy of Diageo Korea By Lee Hyo-sik Diageo Korea will organize lectures on responsible drinking for first-year students at nine universities in Seoul and elsewhere to encourage a "sound" drinking culture on campus, it said Monday. The Korean unit of the English premium Scotch whisky maker said it held the lecture, dubbed DrinkiQ, at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS) in Seoul, Sunday, adding that it will organize the lesson at 8 other universities until mid-March. The company expects its officials to give lectures to more than 3,200 students, as part of the universities' orientation programs for freshmen. "The event is meaningful in that it is a good opportunity to promote responsible drinking at universities," company CEO Cho Kil-soo said. "The lectures will help students drink responsibly. Diageo as an industry leader will make every effort to promote responsible drinking culture in Korea." Cho said Diageo's cool drinkers, its student ambassadors, will also take the lead in sending out the message of drinking responsibly on campus. "I had a great time learning about responsible drinking behaviours," HUFS student Cho Dae-han was quoted as saying by Diageo. "I never took a course that taught me about responsible drinking. Although the majority of college students are legally allowed to drink, I realized that we must first learn how to drink responsibly." Diageo Korea has also been working to create responsible drinking among salaried workers and other adult groups since 2009. The company has been encouraging people while they are drinking to also drink plenty of water and not to pass a glass of alcohol around and not to force others to drink. A South Korean news broadcast about the death of Kim Jong-nam, the elder brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Wading into the killing of Kim Jong-nam would only antagonise North Korea, at a time when its missile programme is the leading concern, experts say By Laura Zhou, Kristin Huang Beijing will maintain its distance from the murky saga of the murder of the estranged elder brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, in a bid to avoid further complicating its relations with its volatile neighbour, diplomatic sources and Chinese observers said. It is not known whether the head of the reclusive state was involved in the killing of Kim Jong-nam, but even if the younger Kim was linked to the death, Beijing was expected to stay silent as any accusations would only drive Pyongyang further into isolation. Beijing was more concerned about the development of the North's nuclear missile programme, they said. China has issued only a single terse statement since the death of the elder Kim last week, saying it was closely monitoring the matter. Senior Chinese officials have meanwhile attended receptions held by Pyongyang's diplomatic mission on the mainland commemorating Kim Jong-il's birthday. A diplomatic source said that given the "prudent" attitude Beijing preferred when handling North Korean matters, it was "improper for Beijing to make any premature comments". "The death traps Beijing further in a dilemma, since North Korea has become increasingly troublesome in relation to Pyongyang's missile launch and nuclear weapons development activities," the source said. The elder Kim died on his way to hospital after being attacked in the Kuala Lumpur International Airport where he was boarding a flight to Macau. South Korean and United States officials believe he was killed by Pyongyang agents. Alex Reid, a member of the Korean girl group, BP RaNia, shares her hardships as an African-American star in a KPop group. Since Alex Reid joined BP RaNia way back in 2015, she had experienced a ton of criticisms, due to her being an African-American in a Korean KPop group. She had been through all of the endless scrutiny just because of her race. According to Billboard, Alex Reid has been accused of bleaching her skin so that it would turn white, similar to the skin color of her group members. She has also been said to have forcefully incorporated the Korean culture so that she gets a rightful place in the industry. She confirms that she has gone through all of these challenges in the past few years. In one occasion, she was even criticized for wearing a traditional Korean Hanbok in one of BP RaNia's photoshoots. However, the funny thing is that no one criticized the Chinese member who wore the Korean clothing. She has to go through all of these, every day of her life, ever since she entered the KPop group. Another example was with the group's latest single, "Start the Fire". In the song's music video, she was then again criticized for not having her natural curly hair. She later explains that no one could style her hair in a curly fashion in Korea, which is why she was forced to do it on her own. According to SBS, despite all of these challenged, hardships, and endless criticisms she gets, she still remains resilient and optimistic. Thanks to her loyal supporters, she still finds the will and courage to continue with the KPop group, BP RaNia. In an environment where race and physical looks are the main focus, she knows how to do her thing, despite all the odds against her. Malaysian police are hunting for four more North Korean men in what they say was an organized hit on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's half-brother Kim Jong-nam in Kuala Lumpur last Monday. Malaysian police told reporters Sunday that "five male suspects" were implicated, in addition to two women who have been arrested for carrying out the hit, claiming that they were under the impression it was a reality-TV prank. One of the five men was arrested Friday and has been identified as Ri Jong-chol (47). He was arrested at a home on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur on Friday, where he worked for a Malaysian company. The others are Ri Ji-hyon (33), Hong Song-hac (34), O Jong-gil (55) and Ri Jae-nam (57), who fled after the hit. /Reuters-Yonhap They hold regular rather than diplomatic passports, according to the deputy inspector-general of Malaysian police, Noor Rashid Ibrahim. The entered Malaysia separately between Jan. 31 and Feb. 7 and four left the country together aboard a reserved flight on the day of the assassination and, according to the China Press, returned to Pyongyang on Friday via Surabaya, Dubai and Vladivostok. "Next plan is to get them," Ibrahim said. "We, of course, have international co-operation especially with Interpol, bilateral involvement with the country involved, we will go through those avenues to get the people involved." According to a source, the four are special operatives based in Southeast Asia working for different branches of the North Korean regime, including the General Reconnaissance Bureau and Workers Party. Asked if the four suspects work for North Korean state agencies, Ibrahim said only their nationalities have been confirmed. Malaysian Police deputy inspector-general Noor Rashid Ibrahim (left) and Selangor state police chief Abdul Samah Mat (right) take a question from journalists during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Sunday. /Yonhap The Malaysian government said it could take up to two weeks before the results of a fresh autopsy of Kim Jong-nam are available. Ibrahim told reporters that the exact cause of death and the type of toxin used in the hit remain unclear after the first post-mortem. North Korean Embassy officials earlier demanded an immediate handover of the body, but Ibrahim said any decision can be made after having Kim's family members "verify" the corpse first and undergo DNA testing. So far no members of Kim's immediate families in Macau and China have come forward to claim the body. Read this article in Korean President Park Geun-hye's lawyers have made a last-ditch bid to drag out her impeachment trial by asking the Constitutional Court to postpone the final hearing from this Friday to next week. The defense team, who have so far had little to offer the court except stalling tactics, also want again to summon Koh Young-tae, a former gigolo and drinking buddy of Park's crony Choi Soon-sil, and play 14 out of some 2,300 audio recordings of phone calls made by Koh. They made the request in a written submission to the court Sunday claiming they need more time to prepare their final statement and to "consider" whether Park will appear at the hearing. But chances are slim that they will get their way. The court has already told the defense and prosecution to submit their final summings-up by Thursday and dismissed Koh's phone recordings since they appear to relate mostly to shenanigans after the crimes with which Park is charged. Responding to an earlier request by Park's lawyers to delay the final hearing, acting chief justice Lee Jung-mi said, "There is nothing particularly new that could emerge." Park's lawyers also asked for the president to appear before the final hearing without being cross-examined and simply deliver a statement. But the court said it has the right to question Park about the reasons that led to her impeachment. A court source said, "An impeachment trial involves both sides offering their testimonies and debating the case, so how convincing would it be if the president just holds forth? It's up to her whether to answer the questions put to her." Park's lawyers said she has yet to decide on whether to attend the trial. The president, never an eager communicator, has become increasingly chary of her threadbare dignity as the evidence against her mounted and has repeatedly reneged on pledges to cooperate with two criminal investigations. The court is expected to hear final testimonies on Monday and Wednesday and hold the final hearing on Friday as scheduled. Most of the five witnesses foisted on the court by the defense at the last minute are again expected to be no-shows. Former presidential chief of staff Kim Ki-choon has already submitted a letter explaining his reason for being unable to attend. And Park's crony Choi Soon-sil and former Cheong Wa Dae secretary An Chong-bum, who are scheduled to appear on Wednesday, will also probably beg off as they are on criminal trial in the Seoul Central District Court. China abruptly halted coal imports from North Korea on Sunday after the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's half-brother Jong-nam and a missile launch earlier this month. This is a harsh blow to the regime since coal accounts for 40 percent of all the North's paltry exports and China buys almost all of it. In a press release Saturday, the Chinese Commerce Ministry and Customs Office of China said they will "temporarily suspend coal imports from the North from Sunday until Dec. 31 based on UN Security Council Resolution 2321 and the Foreign Trade Law of China." Last year, the North earned US$1.14 billion from coal exports to China. "It's hard to smuggle coal because the stuff is bulky," a source in the North Korea-China border region said. "The North will suffer a serious blow to its economy if China is serious." China took the step amid mounting tensions between the allies after the North launched a new ballistic missile on Feb. 12 and very publicly assassinated Kim Jong-nam, who was under Chinese protection, in Malaysia on Feb. 13. But perhaps it was also a message that China is abiding by its international obligations amid a stream of denunciations from the erratic Trump administration in the U.S. China has long propped up the North Korean regime as a buffer against U.S. allies in the region by supplying it with free crude oil and buying most of its coal. Last December, after the UNSC adopted a resolution curbing coal exports from the North, China still imported a huge amount. Some sources say the latest halt could only be a temporary shot before the bow. The government has cautioned Korean nationals and travelers in Malaysia to be careful after the very public assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's half-brother Jong-nam at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The South Korean Embassy in Kuala Lumpur said, "Worries are mounting about the safety of Korean nationals staying overseas after Kim Jong-nam's assassination and recent provocation threats from the North." It also cautioned Koreans to "take special care of their own safety, because of the possibility that they could be exposed to danger, including kidnapping or terrorist attacks, against Koreans visiting or staying overseas." The government here also cautioned North Korean defectors in South Korea to be careful, advising them to "refrain from traveling abroad, including visiting North Korea-China border regions." Samsung Electronics has acquired the world's largest connected car and infotainment systems manufacturer Harman International of the U.S. for US$8 billion. The deal marks the largest acquisition of a foreign company by a Korean firm. Harman on Friday said 67 percent of its stockholders voted for the takeover in a meeting in Stamford, Connecticut. The vote came although some stockholders filed a suit against the transaction, claiming Harman was undervalued, and Samsung vice chairman Lee Jae-yong was arrested for bribery last week. "Despite the bad news ahead of the acquisition, most Harman stockholders thought the transaction would be more profitable," a Samsung spokesman said. The deal is expected to be completed by the third quarter of this year after antitrust approval in China, Europe and the U.S., where Harman has operations. Once it is completed, Harman will be delisted and operated as a Samsung subsidiary. Samsung had been trying to take over Harman since it created an automotive electronics business team in December 2015 to enter the global connected car market, which grows an average of nine percent a year. The deal is expected to make Samsung a leading player in the segment backed by its own experience in the smartphone and display businesses and Harman's in-car audio and infotainment systems. The North Korean Ambassador to Malaysia on Friday engaged in furious grandstanding over the apparent assassination of Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Kang Chol called a late-night press conference at a hospital in Kuala Lumpur where Kim's body is being held and hinted darkly at a global conspiracy. "We refused to allow an autopsy since he had a diplomatic passport and was under our protection, but Malaysian authorities ignored our request and pressed ahead with the autopsy without our approval and did not allow us to witness it," he said. "We will categorically reject the result of the post-mortem." He claimed that the move disregarded "elementary international laws and consular laws." Kang said Malaysian police initially told him that Kim had died of a heart attack on the way to hospital. He said the fact that Malaysian officials have yet to hand over the body "strongly suggests that the Malaysian side is trying to conceal something which needs more time and deceive us, and that they are colluding with the hostile forces towards us who are desperate to harm us." PRESS RELEASE Rep. Marcy Kaptur Introduces Glass-Steagall into U.S. House of Representatives at the Beginning of the 2017 Session Feb. 1, 2017 (EIRNS)Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) held a press conference in the U.S. House of Representatives today to announce that she has introduced bill HR790 into the U.S. House of Representatives, calling for the re-enactment of the Glass-Steagall Act. At the press conference today, Rep. Kaptur announced that 26 other Members of Congress are co-sponsoring the bill. Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.), Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) appeared at the press conference with Representative Kaptur and made short statements, as did Bartlett Naylor, an expert on financial markets from Public Citizen. View full size Representative Marcy Kaptur website The AFL-CIO and Public Citizen also support Rep. Kapturs bill. This was the first press conference on Glass-Steagall held in the U.S. House in six years. EIR representatives attended and LPAC TV live-streamed the press conference. Three Glass-Steagall lobbying delegations came to organize support for Representative Kapturs bill, and its introduction into the U.S. Senate: 16 from Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia with petition signatures directed to President Trump; a delegation of 17-18 from New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania; and a delegation of six from Baltimore and Virginia. The delegations said they came to Congress to tell their Representatives that they have to fight for Glass-Steagall. One union representative said that she could get hundreds of signatures of support for the bill. The Ohio-centered delegation presented Representative Kaptur with 650 letters to President Trump and asked her to deliver them, which she pledged to "find a way to do." Rep. Kaptur opened the press conference by stating: "Recently, there has been a real uptick and support for restoring the Glass-Steagall Act. Fifteen state legislatures, including the state of Ohio, have introduced resolutions calling for Congress to reinstate ... Glass-Steagall. The Democratic and Republican Parties enacted Glass-Steagall positions in their ... platforms.... President Donald Trump even endorsed the call for a 21st-Century version of Glass-Steagall during a campaign statement in Charlotte, North Carolina. We have an obligation to work with him to achieve that." Rep. Walter Jones, a co-sponsor, said that with 2017 here, the time had arrived to get Glass-Steagall passed; he said he intended to be active with the Administration and fellow Republicans on this. Rep. Jones co-sponsored the Glass-Steagall bill introduced into the 114th Congress (2015-2016) as well as the bill in the 115th Congress. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard said, "I have supported Glass-Steagall for a long period of time," adding that she intended to actively work to get it passed. Rep. Tim Ryan said that the repeal of Glass-Stagall in 1999 was the "original sin that led to the downward spiral of our states and communities," and he called Glass-Steagall "just the first step" of rebuilding the economy. Rep. Ryan, was the only Congressional challenger to Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi for Democratic Leader in the House, following the Democratic losses of Congressional seats in the 2016 election. Bill H.R. 790 lists the 26 current original co-sponors: Reps. Lynch (Mass.), Ryan (Ohio), Pocan (Wis.), DeLauro (Conn.), Holmes-Norton (D.C.), Schakowsky (Ill.), Doyle (Pa.), Jones (R-N.C.), Welch (Vt.), Watson-Coleman (N.J.), Serrano (N.Y.), Lipinski (Ill.), Garamendi (Cal.), Speier (Cal.), Ellison (Minn.), Conyers (Mich.), Gabbard (Hawaii), Grijalva (Ariz.), Tonko (N.Y.), Defazio (Ore.), Lee (Cal.), Capuano (Mass.), Pingree (Me.), Fudge (Ohio), Slaughter (N.Y.), and McGovern (Mass.). (Rep. Walter Jones is the only Republican co-sponsor.) PRESS RELEASE Lavrov: Signs at Munich that the Cold War Is Still On Feb. 18, 2017 (EIRNS)For Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, remarks like those of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and others at the Munich Security Conference are indications that, for some people, the Cold War is still on. "Military cooperation should be resumed, (however) NATOs Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg surrounded by his deputies yesterday could not say NATO is ready for it," Lavrov said. "This is regretful." Lavrov went on to argue that the unipolar world system cannot last much longerand contains the seeds of its own demiseand therefore world leaders should make decisions towards a more fair world. "We do not agree categorically with those, who accuse Russia and new centers of global influence of attempts to undermine the so-called liberal world order," he said. "Crisis of this model of the world was programmed even when the concept of economic and political globalization was invented mostly as an instrument to provide growth of the elite club of countries and its dominating all the others." Citing a message from one of the most influential 19th-century Russian diplomats to U.S. Ambassador Cassius Clay in 1861, which said that any conflicting interests could be harmonized through "justice and modesty," Lavrov said that the same approach could strengthen the modern world. "If everyone adopts that approach, we could overcome the period of post-truth fast and resist information wars imposed on the international community," he said. Of course, 1861 was the beginning of the U.S. Civil War, in which the Russian fleet played a crucial role in defending the United States from the British Armada. Lavrov lamented the fact that NATO has still not decided on proposals that Russia brought to the NATO-Russia Council, last summer, to improve military transparency over the Baltic Sea. "We expected those detailed suggestions would receive a feedback immediatelyexperts would sit and agree on maps to raise the security," he said. "This did not happen, and till now we cannot begin this work." Lavrov reported that Stoltenberg told him that hopefully, the relevant experts will meet in March. PRESS RELEASE Roger Stone: Lies About Our Russian Connections Come from Obama Holdovers in the CIA Feb. 18, 2017 (EIRNS)Roger Stone, who was accused of having ties to Russian intelligence while serving as an advisor to candidate Donald Trump, told RT today that these reports are "absolutely categorically untrue," and that the leaked reports are from "intelligence agencies who are holdovers, in this case from Barack Obama." He added that Paul Manafort the chairman of Trumps campaign, also denies such accusations. Stone, a close friend of President Trump for 40 years, conducted an interview with Lyndon LaRouche on his radio show "Stone Cold Truth" in November, which fulsomely praised LaRouches work over many decades, dating from LaRouches collaboration with Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. In the RT interview, Stone nailed the cause of the anti-Trump hysteria: "The real issue here in my opinion is that Donald Trump does not want to go to war with the Russian state over Syria. He favors detente and hard-headed negotiations with President Putin in the hopes that we can live in peace and perhaps work together to crush ISIS. So Trump was the peace candidate, the military and industrial complex in this country is very upset with his election, thus this allegation about Russian interference in our elections, which I stress again is entirely unproven." He notes that no evidence of any sort has been providedsomething also pointed to by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov today at the Munich Security Conference. Stone called for a special prosecutor or a congressional committee to investigate the lies about ties to Russian intelligence, noting he would be delighted to testify and expose the lies. As to appearances on RT (both his own and those of Gen. Michael Flynn), he said: "I never thought I would ever see the day when Russian media is less censored than the media in the United States, but that is the case." Asked why Russia is treated as the bogeyman in the West, Stone replied: "Because the neocons have to justify their intended war in Syria. They have made it very clear, I should say Ms. Clinton made it very clear, that if elected President, she would have expanded the proxy war in Syria, and I think brought the United States and Russia to the brink of World War. Thank God we have stepped back from that under President Trump.... Like my mentor Richard Nixon, I prefer detente. If Brezhnev and Richard Nixon can get together to negotiate strategic arms limitations, then Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin can get together to negotiate peace. I think this is entirely possible." Asked if the intelligence community was conducting a coup of some sort, Stone reviewed the CIAs most famous lies: Iraqs "weapons of mass destruction," denying torture, Iran-Contra, Vietnam, and the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. "In the second and third levels of the agency you still have Obamas holdovers, consequently the place leaks like a sieve." Independent counsel Park Young-soo on Sunday sought an arrest warrant for former senior presidential secretary Woo Byung-woo on charges of abuse of power, dereliction of duty, and other offenses related to the massive corruption scandal centered on President Park Geun-hye. A court will decide on Tuesday. Woo was questioned for 19 hours on Saturday. A spokesman for the independent counsel said, "We were able to put the arrest warrant together swiftly as we'd gathered enough evidence before summoning him." Woo, who was in charge of auditing Cheng Wa Dae staff, is suspected of leading the cover-up when the scandal broke. The warrant relates to charges that he ordered his staff to block an official auditor from probing him and going to ground for several weeks. The independent counsel has also conducted a sweeping search of Woo's financial records when he was an attorney and discovered evidence of separate tax dodging and embezzlement. Woo is still in denial, telling reporters as he left the counsel's office that he did not know Park's longtime crony Choi Soon-sil, who is at the heart of the scandal. He also claimed that he conducted his duties as senior presidential secretary for civil affairs "properly." PRESS RELEASE LaRouche PACs and EIRs Glass-Steagall Mobilization Picks Up Steam Feb. 19, 2017 (EIRNS)Targeting Feb. 28 when President Donald Trump first speaks to Congress, the Lyndon LaRouche Political Action Committee, along with other Democratic Party activists, have collected nearly 4,000 signatures calling on the President to propose re-enacting the 1933 Glass-Steagall bank separation lawpetitions which Glass-Steagall sponsors in Congress hope to present to the President by that date. Some 1,500 of the "Trump" petitions from Ohio alone have been conveyed to sponsor Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio). Glass-Steagall legislation, the "Return To Prudent Banking Act," was introduced in the House of Representatives Feb. 1 and now has 32 sponsors there. In the same mobilization, LaRouche PAC activists and EIR representatives have obtained the legislatures of eleven states in just over one month to file resolutions calling on Congress for Glass-Steagall and/or for the "American Recovery Program." The latter starts with Glass-Steagall and consists of actions based on Lyndon LaRouches "Four Laws To Save the Nation." In four of those statesMinnesota, Illinois, Washington, and Delawarethese resolutions have moved in both houses of the legislature. These actions are concentrated in the industrial or "Rust Belt" states of the Midwest and South, and resolutions by legislators in more states are anticipated soon. After more than two years of many discussions of, and meetings on the "American Recovery Program" or "LaRouches Four Laws" with state officials, a new optimism about economic change, following the extraordinary Presidential election, is one factor in these rapid actions. Alabama State Rep. Thomas Jackson, for example, advanced such a resolution without obtaining any cosponsors in 2016, but has nine cosponsors this year. But the full involvement of LaRouche PAC activists and petitioners has also played an important role in states like Illinois, Ohio, and Iowa. In Kansas, the Cattlemens Association posted phone numbers of the entire legislature and Congressional delegation, along with an article on the "Four Laws" by LaRouche PACs Bob Baker. A few of the legislators themselves have become "activists" in the cause. Though no resolutions have been voted through state bodies yet, most of the legislatures involved will remain in session for some time after the Presidents speech to Congress. This gives the opportunity for more activists to get involved petitioning and recruiting more sponsors in their state legislatures. During this Congressional recess of Feb. 18-26, many congressmen and senators will hold large and highly controversial town hall meetings. LaRouche PAC activists in the New York Metropolitan Area plan to be at six of the town halls. In their first intervention Feb. 18, they "were swarmed by people to sign the petition." With 53 signers from roughly 300 attending, they distributed 200 copies of their Hamiltonian weekly, and were interviewed by NPR and Telemundo, a U.S. Spanish-language TV network. Activist Marta Gallegos told Telemundo, "Its very important to support the President" this way. Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D), holding the town hall, was given a packet of literature and said, "Glass-Steagall, yes, we need that." Some Volkswagen owners say theyre still waiting to complete their buybacks, almost four months after a judge approved a settlement for 2-liter diesel vehicles that were part of the automakers emissions scandal. Many problems with the buyback program have been ironed out over the last few months, but VW owners who financed their cars through third-party lenders, such as local credit unions or banks, say theyve experienced lags in response from the company. Lenders privacy concerns have slowed the paperwork process, said a lawyer for VW plaintiffs. Jamie Caffrey, 36, used a third-party lender to get a loan for his 2014 Jetta TDI Sportwagen. He registered for the buyback over the summer and then uploaded all of his paperwork in October when the online claims filing system went live. Advertisement As part of the settlement, owners can choose to have their vehicles modified or bought back. Owners also will receive additional restitution payments of at least $5,100, and some could receive as much as $10,000. Buyback amounts are based largely on the vehicles pre-scandal trade-in value, with adjustments for mileage. Caffrey, a real estate investor who lives in Hollywood, said he has waited for months to get a buyback offer. Volkswagen later contacted him to ask for additional paperwork, but when he recently called to check the status of his application, he said he was told that the document had been accidentally rejected and that he would have to resubmit it. Back in November, they assured me it wouldnt be very long, Caffrey said. But whats frustrating is the unhelpfulness. Elizabeth Cabraser, lead counsel for the consumer plaintiffs in the VW case and lead settlement class counsel for the 2- and 3-liter vehicle settlements, said she has seen recurring issues with third-party lenders who are sometimes leery of disclosing drivers loan amounts when asked by Volkswagen representatives. This is a unique situation, she said. Its not something that is familiar to third-party lenders, so they are understandably wary about giving [loan] payoff information. They dont want to do anything that violates their customers privacy. Cabraser said Volkswagen has sent out letters to third-party lenders, and she also has advised drivers to contact their loan providers to give them advance notice. Once Volkswagen receives the information from the lender, things happen very quickly. Once the lenders know that this is a legitimate and authorized transaction, theyve been really responsive to get it done, Cabraser said. She said customers have reported that lenders are responding and buyback appointments are being scheduled. The scandal erupted in 2015 when Volkswagen admitted that it had rigged diesel-powered cars between 2009 and 2015 with defeat devices to emit much fewer pollutants during emissions tests than during normal road driving. A judge approved a $14.7-billion settlement in October that allows drivers to have their affected vehicles with 2-liter diesel engines either bought back or modified by Volkswagen. According to the terms of the settlement, 85% of the vehicles must be modified or removed from the road by Volkswagen by 2018. If the automaker does not reach this goal in time, it will be required to pay a penalty, Cabraser said. The settlement affects 475,000 vehicles, and as of Feb. 14, more than 360,000 owners and lessees had submitted a claim, according to a Volkswagen lawyer during a court hearing last week. Volkswagen has given offers to more than 300,000 of those individuals, and almost 250,000 offers have been accepted. Of those, 125,000 have been completed, according to the lawyer. Early on, consumers said the automaker was not adequately prepared to handle the high volume of claims, according to a November report from the court-appointed independent claims supervisor. The report highlighted common complaints, such as claims not being processed in a timely manner, difficulty reaching claims hotline staff and staff sometimes struggling to provide clear answers or giving inaccurate information about processing timetables. Since then, Volkswagen has increased staff and training and ramped up the number of buyback appointments, Cabraser said. Volkswagen said in a statement last week that it hired about 1,300 contract workers to meet the demand. There has been very steady improvement as the program has rolled out, Cabraser said. Most of the transactions are happening very promptly. The experience with the 2-liter vehicle claims process will inform and improve the program for the 3-liter settlement, which received preliminary approval from a judge last week, Cabraser said. Volkswagen spokeswoman Jeannine Ginivan said in a statement that the automaker was encouraged by the response to the 2-liter settlement, saying the program was unprecedented in terms of size and scope. We know that there have been some issues along the way and our teams have been working tirelessly to make necessary adjustments and continually improve the process, she said. VW driver Adam Hooper, 35, said he understood that the process was a pretty big logistics nightmare, but that the company should have increased its communication with customers to let them know how the claims process was progressing. Hooper, who had a 2013 Passat, said he registered on the claims portal over the summer but did not receive a buyback offer until late December. He finally turned in his car last week. It just seems like there were a lot of misses in how it was all handled, said Hooper, who lives in Southern Oregon but commutes regularly to Palo Alto, where he serves as chief executive of a real estate investment company. They had an opportunity to kind of do it right and retain some brand loyalty, but ... I dont think I will ever have the desire to buy another Volkswagen. Cabraser said VW owners who encounter issues during the claims process should contact the plaintiffs steering committees response team at info@vwclasscounsel.com or (800) 948-2181. samantha.masunaga@latimes.com @smasunaga ALSO Six high-level Volkswagen employees indicted in emissions scandal What emissions scandal? VW may have just become the worlds top-selling automaker 2017 Volkswagen Golf Alltrack great for sporty types but not quite as off-road-ready as advertised The majority of Americans have no clear idea what sell by labels are trying to tell them. But after 40 years of letting us guess, the grocery industry has made moves to clear up the confusion. The Food Marketing Institute and the Grocery Manufacturers Assn., the two largest trade groups for the grocery industry, recently announced that theyve adopted standardized, voluntary regulations to clear up what product date labels mean. Manufacturers use any of 10 separate label phrases, including expires on and better if used by. Theyll now be encouraged to choose from only two: Use By and Best if Used By. The former is a safety designation, meant to indicate when perishable foods are no longer good. Best if Used By is a quality descriptor -- a subjective guess of when the manufacturer thinks the product should be consumed for peak flavor. Advertisement Thats what most use-by dates indicate now, though studies have shown that many consumers believe they signal whether a product is OK to eat. In fact, its fine to eat a product even well after its so-called expiration date. These dates typically indicate one of two things: a message from the manufacturer to the grocery store, telling the store when the product will look best on shelves, or a subjective measure -- often little more than a guess -- of when consumers will most enjoy the product. Methods for setting those dates have been left to manufacturers, rather like the phrasing of the labels themselves. But when consumers see a date labeled use by (or, even worse, not labeled at all) they often tend to assume that its a food-safety claim, regulated by some objective standard. The Department of Agriculture and a coalition of environmental groups have been urging the industry to clear this up. In addition to costing average Americans, in the form of prematurely tossed groceries, the waste represents a significant use of landfill space and source of greenhouse gas emissions. I think its huge. Its just an enormous step, said Emily Broad-Leib, the director of Harvards Food Law and Policy Clinic. Its still a first step -- but its very significant. Advocates and environmentalists have been warning for years that many people interpret date labels as a sign that food is no longer good to eat. As a result, one industry survey found, 91% of consumers have mistakenly thrown away past-date food, even though the label only signals the manufacturers guess at its peak quality. Shoppers shouldnt expect to see the new labels the next time they buy groceries; the change wont be immediate. While the Food Marketing Institute and the Grocery Manufacturers Assn. are urging manufacturers and retailers to make it now, they have until July 2018. Even then, the standards are voluntary, so theres no guarantee that theyll be adopted by every single company. Some states also have labeling regulations that preempt the industry standards. In Montana, for instance, milk must come with a sell by label. That means milk in the state will still say sell by, even if every other product gets the new labels. Still, a number of major manufacturers have already signaled their enthusiasm, including Wal-Mart, the largest seller of American groceries. And both the Food Marketing Institute and the Grocery Manufacturers Assn. are expecting to see widespread adoption, in part because the standards were written by a working group comprised of representatives from large food companies. The voluntary standards are also a way to influence, or preempt, pending federal regulation; there has been growing interest in a federal standard for label dates, which would align the contradictory patchwork of state rules and guarantee corporate compliance. Last May, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) introduced legislation that would standardize date labels and food donation laws. Theyre expected to reintroduce the bill in the coming weeks. In mid-December, the USDA also published nonbinding guidance that encouraged manufacturers to switch to the Best if Used By phrasing. This all delights Broad-Leib, who made similar policy recommendations in a 2013 report with the Natural Resources Defense Council. According to NRDC, Americans throw away $218 billion worth of food each year. The anti-food-waste coalition ReFED estimates that 398,000 tons, or $1.8 billion, could be saved through standardized date labels. Of course, that is just a drop in the waste bucket: To make a real dent in Americas food waste problem, Broad-Leib said, more will have to be done. The Food Law and Policy Clinic is arguing for several federal interventions, including policy changes that make it easier for companies and farms to donate food and incentives to encourage them to do so. (Some of this appears in the Food Donation Act of 2017, which Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, introduced a week ago.) Broad-Leib would also like to see the Department of Agriculture designate more funds for local composting and anaerobic facilities, as well as education campaigns for consumers. The Natural Resources Defense Council and the Ad Council are currently running one such campaign, called Save the Food. After all, Broad-Leib points out, if Americans dont understand food waste, the new labels wont help. And ultimately, neither will anything else. Caitlin Dewey is a food policy writer for the Washington Post. MORE BUSINESS NEWS Kraft Heinz drops $143-billion offer for Unilever Some VW customers are still waiting for their buybacks, 4 months after court approval Snapchat Spectacles are now sold online as vending machines take a break The early settlers snatched up the rich, loamy land along the Feather River to grow grapes and orchards. Edward Mathews, an Irishman who fled the potato famine, was peddling vegetables and didnt have the cash for that kind of soil. During heavy rains, the Yuba River would flow so hard into the Feather at Marysville, it pushed the Feather back north into Jack Slough, named for a freed slave who in 1861 sold Mathews 200 acres of its poor red soil. Advertisement On that backwashed clay, the Mathews clan would scratch out a living grazing livestock. If you came into the bank with red soil on your boots, they wouldnt loan you money, said Edwards great-grandson Charlie Mathews, 77, who lives on the land today. But the Mathews family did well for themselves. The arrival of a type of rice from Japan that grew in sunlight this far north transformed the cursed clay into a blessing: Water didnt drain through it, giving the ricegrass the pooled paddies it thrived in. Life in the region has long evolved around the ebb, flow and overflow of the Feather River. Its meandering course and merciless moods dictated where soil was good, which crops farmers grew, where they built towns, how deep they dug wells, where families went broke or dynasties were born. When California dammed the Feather River as part of its monumental project to bring water to Southern California and other parts of the state, the river became more predictable, but not totally so. Levees blew out in 1986 and 1997 and caused widespread flooding, similar to inundations that hit before the Oroville Dam was finished in 1967. Water from the swollen Feather River floods a farm last week, the result of heavy rain and the release of water from the Oroville Dam to reduce the lakes level. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) And the crisis at the dam last week, when more than 100,000 people were evacuated due to potential failure of an emergency spillway, showed that nature relentlessly works to rip down humanitys efforts to control it. Residents remain anxious as another big storm is expected to hit the area Monday. Farmers here are keenly aware of one point: They live at the pleasure of the river. Al Montna remembers the eerie moonlight glimmer off the tin roofs of houses floating downstream. Its been more than six decades since the floodwaters hit, but he still pictures it perfectly. They were the homes of his classmates. He was 10 at the time, living south of Yuba City near the river. His dad was busy trying to move equipment at the farm a few miles away, leaving his wife and kids perched on high ground of the family home. I heard this roar. I can still hear it, Montna said. It was Christmas Eve 1955. The flood, caused by a levee break at Shanghai Bend, killed 38 people and destroyed 450 homes. Waters rose to the roofs of low-lying barns. Seeing the waters surrounding them, Montnas family evacuated to the nearby Sutter Buttes dormant lava domes that loom 2,000 feet above the floodplain like a volcanic beacon for the bedraggled refugees of the valley floor. His fathers crops were lost and most of the family farm was destroyed. His dad feared financial ruin and died of a heart attack three months later. Charlie Matthews drives through his rice farm in Marysville, Calif. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) Montna lived through two more great floods along the river in 1986 and 1997. But the thought of pulling up stakes never crossed his mind. Were very ingrained here. My grandfather came here as a French immigrant. ... He drowned in that river, Montna said. This is home. This is part of our soul. Montna Farms not only recovered but is prospering, he said, specializing in premium, short-grain Japanese rice used in sushi. When county officials ordered the emergency evacuation of Yuba City last week, many residents again fled to the buttes for safety. Montna took different measures. As a board member of Levee District 1 of Sutter County, he and his entire work crew scrambled to shore up the levees, looking for leaks that could lead to bigger breaches. Flood fighting is in our DNA, he said. A few miles upstream on Feb. 12, Sarb Johl listened in disbelief to the alert that the emergency spillway on Oroville Dam might fail within 60 minutes. He loaded his wife and 92-year-old mother into a car and told them to drive to stay with family in the hilly Sacramento suburb of Roseville. He stayed an extra hour talking to other farmers and fellow officials on his levee board, determining what to do. We didnt have time to rationally plan: Would the water break to the west or the east? Could the levees hold it? You have to believe it when someone is telling you a 15-foot-high wall of water is coming down. That is a lot of water, Johl said. His father, who came from Punjab, India, began farming peaches and prunes on this reclaimed land in the 1960s. The area is known as Yuba County Levee District 10, which was formed in 1909 to make the floodplain available to farmers. While most orchard growers here dont directly draw from the river, they still survive on it. Because the state water project continued to direct the Feather River water down its historical course, the river replenishes the aquifer as it always has. Johl pumps water from wells and now conserves it by using drip irrigation for his trees, which favor the porous loam slurried down from the mountains over eons. On Feb. 13, seeing that the spillway had not collapsed, Johl came back to move his equipment onto the levee. On the other side, the silty river sifted slowly through a wild land of oak and cottonwood. A family of deer picked delicately over the bank and into the orchards safety, as one of Johls workers tried to fix a valve in the levee that the farm needed for the land to drain. His family had survived the last two big floods, but the notion that the dam could fail a nightmare that had never crossed his mind spooked him. As soon as he was done, he got in his truck and headed to Roseville. *** 1 / 66 An aerial view of the water flowing out of the Oroville Dam main spillway, in Oroville, Calif., on Tuesday, February 21, 2017. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 66 An aerial view of the water flowing out of the Oroville Dams main spillway on Feb. 21. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 66 Reduced water releases at the Oroville Dam have made damage to its main spillway more visible. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 66 With a reduced flow on Sunday, most of the water being released from the Oroville Dam is not going down the spillway; it has broken through and is flowing down the hillside. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 66 With a reduced flow on Sunday, most of the water being released from the Oroville Dam is not going down the spillway, its broken through and is going down the hillside. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 66 With a reduced flow on Sunday, most of the water being released from the Oroville Dam is not going down the spillway, its broken through and is going down the hillside. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 66 Juan Alvarez reassures his girlfriend, Sarah Hendrix, after helping her move out of her home in rural Maxwell. Water was a foot high and crews had to evacuate 100 people because of flooding-- some by boat. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 66 Ron Chambers lets Duke out of his crate for the first time in hours since the flooding began n Maxwell, Calif. on Saturday. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 66 Kevin Anfinson and other volunteers help shovel the muddy sediment that has built up in the salmon raceway at the Feather River Fish Hatchery in Oroville, Calif. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 66 Fernando Martinez and his mother, not pictured, wade through a road in Gridley, Calif., flooded by the Feather River as it continues to swell from the water being let out of Lake Oroville. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 66 A man in a 4x4 truck turns around on Gridley Road after having second thoughts about making it across the flooded road, which had been closed. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 66 Randy Boheim packs up his tools and emergency supplies in anticipation of having to evacuate his whole family as floodwaters creep closer to his home in an Oroville, Calif., mobile home park. The nearby Feather River continued to swell from the water being let out of Lake Oroville ahead of this weekends storm. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 66 A plantation in Oroville, Calif., sits in floodwaters as the Feather River continues to swell from the water being let out of Lake Oroville ahead of this weekends storm. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 66 Helicopters ferry sand and rocks to the Oroville Dams emergency spillway reconstruction project in Oroville, Calif., ahead of coming rains. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 15 / 66 California Water Service district manager Toni Ruggle surveys the Feather River at Bedrock Park downstream from the Oroville Dam. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 66 McKenna Harvey, 9, left, Kylie Atteberry, 11, and Brooklyn Atteberry, 7, hold signs thanking workers in the repair effort at the Oroville Dam. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 17 / 66 A helicopter flies over as water flows from the main spillway at Lake Oroville. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 18 / 66 Reconstruction continues in a race to shore up the emergency spillway at Oroville Dam. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 19 / 66 As rain clouds gather, friends from left, Johnny Eroh, Cody Balmer, Kristien Bravo and Jerel Bruhn hang out by the flooded Feather river in the Bedrock neighborhood of Oroville, Calif., last week. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 20 / 66 Evacuees at the Bangor Community Hall in Bangor, Calif., listen to Butte County sheriffs deputies in February as the mandatory evacuation order was lifted. An evacuation advisory was lifted Wednesday. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 21 / 66 Evacuees at the Bangor Community Hall get the news from Butte County sheriffs Deputy Jeff Heath that the evacuation order has been lifted. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 22 / 66 Evacuee Sharon Dalton, right, hugs Raiden Ellis, 10 months, and Chris Ellis as they say their goodbyes as she leaves the Bangor Community Hall in Bangor, Calif., on Tuesday. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 23 / 66 David McGlamery returns to his Oroville home with his belongings after the evacuation order was lifted. The family had to retreat to Chico, where they initially stayed at a Walmart parking lot with other evacuees. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 24 / 66 Bill Tirey helps family members move back into their home in the Bedrock neighborhood of Oroville near the Feather River after evacuation orders were lifted. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 25 / 66 Maria Alancar returns home to greets her pet pig Bacon, who was left behind when the family moved to higher ground in Honcut, Calif. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 26 / 66 Sulet Lopez, 21, left, Melissa Mendoza, 3, and Yeanet Lopez, 18, pack up their car at the Bangor Community Hall in Bangor, Calif., to head home after the evacuation order was lifted. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 27 / 66 Erica Stenholm, left, Ronnie Vaughan, and Brooklyn Jackson, 7, unpack their car upon returning home after the evacuation order had been lifted in Oroville. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 28 / 66 Jonah Avina, left, and his wife, Eileen, pray before lunch at the Maranatha Mennonite Fellowship in Bangor, Calif., on Tuesday. The Bangor-area Mennonites are hosting several immigrant families evacuated from the nearby town of Honcut. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 29 / 66 Evacuee Estafani Reynoso, left, colors with Mennonite children at the Maranatha Mennonite Fellowship in Bangor, Calif. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 30 / 66 Crews work on a damaged section of the emergency spillway at Lake Oroville on Monday. (Josh Edelson / AFP/ Getty Images) 31 / 66 An Oroville property is flooded on Monday as thousands were under evactuation orders. (Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images) 32 / 66 The Marysville cemetery underwater along the Feather River. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 33 / 66 Nirmal Singh, a Sikh priest, conducts a morning prayer ritual as evacuees sleep in the background at the Shri Guru Ravidass, a Sikh temple that has opened its doors for evacuees of the Oroville Dam crisis in Rio Linda, Calif. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 34 / 66 Kamlesh Nahar, far left, talks to fellow evacuees at the Shri Guru Ravidass Temple. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 35 / 66 Maria Lopez reads on her smartphone as she spends a second night in her fathers car in the parking lot of the Bangor Community Hall. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 36 / 66 Sharon Dalton finds a quiet spot under a table as she spends a second night with her dog Cruiser inside the Bangor Community Hall. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 37 / 66 Verna Chadwick and 10-month-old son Raiden Ellis during a second night in the Bangor Community Hall. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 38 / 66 The emergency spillway, left, and the damaged main spillway at Lake Oroville are seen in an aerial photo Monday. (Elijah Nouvelage / Getty Images) 39 / 66 A dump truck crosses the primary spillway to deliver boulders to the damaged emergency spillway at Lake Oroville on Monday evening. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 40 / 66 Helicopters place large rocks on the damaged emergency spillway at Lake Oroville on Monday evening. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 41 / 66 Around-the-clock monitoring continues on the damaged primary spillway at Lake Oroville on Monday evening. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 42 / 66 Water rushes down a spillway at the Oroville Dam. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 43 / 66 California Department of Fish and Game wardens view the damaged spillway on Monday. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 44 / 66 Bill OKelley, 86, and wife Doris OKelley, 84, of Oroville sit near a flagpole Monday at the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds evacuation center in Chico, Calif. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 45 / 66 Coua Tha, of Oroville prepares a meal for her family in the parking lot at the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds evacuation center in Chico, Calif. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 46 / 66 Desiree Garcia and daughter Kaylee Pearl Garcia, 3, of Oroville look over donated clothing Monday at the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds evacuation center in Chico, Calif. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 47 / 66 Members of Orovilles Jordan Crossing Mission pray with a volunteer service member Monday at the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds evacuation shelter in Chico, Calif. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 48 / 66 The swollen Feather River flows through Oroville, Calif., on Monday. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) 49 / 66 A building is submerged in Riverbend Park as more water is released from Lake Oroville. (JOSH EDELSON / AFP) 50 / 66 Siblings Zach Soto, 11, left, and Gabby Soto, 13, keep an eye on the Feather River along a railroad bridge in Oroville, Calif., on Monday. The family decided to stay in Oroville as they live on high ground near downtown. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 51 / 66 Water flows down the damaged main spillway of the Oroville Dam at 55,000 cubic feet per second into the Feather River. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 52 / 66 Water from Lake Oroville flows down the damaged main spillway. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 53 / 66 Water from Lake Oroville flows down the emergency spillway of the Oroville Dam toward the Feather River. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 54 / 66 Pacific Gas & Electric crews aided by a helicopter removed transmission lines and insulators from towers standing in the bed of the emergency spillway of Lake Oroville. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 55 / 66 A rainbow appears over Feather River as water cascades down the damaged spillway at Lake Oroville Dam. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 56 / 66 Water cascades down the spillway below Oroville Dam. The water is being released by authorities to avoid flooding at Lake Oroville because of recent heavy rain. (David Butow / For The Times) 57 / 66 Pacific Gas and Electric Co. crews move two electric transmission line towers on the bank of Feather River as a precaution if the Lake Oroville Dam emergency spillway needs to be used. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 58 / 66 A California Highway Patrol cruiser patrols Lake Oroville Dam, which is closed to the public due to the damaged spillway. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 59 / 66 Water cascades down the spillway below the Oroville dam. The water is being released by authorities to ease flooding in Lake Oroville because of recent heavy rain. (David Butow / For the Times) 60 / 66 Butte Country Sheriff Kory L. Honea speaks with department of water and power workers at an overlook as the observe runoff from the Oroville Dam. (David Butow / For the Times) 61 / 66 Water trickles down as workers inspect part of the Lake Oroville spillway failure in Oroville, Calif. (Randy Pench / Associated Press) 62 / 66 A boat launch at Bidwell Canyon is still hundreds of yards above the current lake level on Jan. 21, 2016. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 63 / 66 California State Park Ranger Bryan Taylor searches for signs of disturbance or theft as Californias severe drought conditions are revealing historic artifacts at Lake Oroville, June 21, 2014. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 64 / 66 Severe drought conditions are evident as a family treks across a long path back to their car at Lake Oroville, June 21, 2014. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 65 / 66 Houseboats are dwarfed by steep banks that show the water level down 160 feet from the high water mark at the Bidwell Bar Suspension Bridge over Lake Oroville on June 21, 2014. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 66 / 66 Houseboats at Bidwell Canyon Marina at Lake Oroville, January 21, 2016. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) The Oroville Dam was sold to residents as a flood control measure, but no one who understood water politics ever doubted its core purpose was to bring more water to Southern California. Population studies in the 1950s predicted millions of people would continue to flow into the region with not enough water, even with canals from the Colorado River and Eastern Sierras, to meet their needs. Plans to dam the stormy rivers of the North Coast the Eel, Mad, Klamath and Smith were scuttled as too costly or controversial. That left the Sacramento Rivers main tributary, the Feather, to become the linchpin of the states ambitious new water project. The three forks of the Feather gathered snowmelt tributaries from nearly 6,000 square miles of the Northern Sierra and Southern Cascades, converging in the canyons north of the small town of Oroville. The main stem then flowed another 71 miles to the Sacramento River, and on to San Francisco Bay. Govs. Earl Warren and Goodwin Knight helped get what was then called the Feather River Project rolling in the 1950s, and the deadly 1955 flood gave it a needed dose of urgency. Gov. Pat Brown lobbied groups up and down the state notably the powerful Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which feared the project might threaten its legal battles with Arizona for Colorado River water to bring it to fruition. By the time the renamed State Water Project was largely completed in the 1970s, the flow was diverted in the Sacramento Delta before it flowed into the San Francisco Bay. From the Clifton Court Forebay, it was pumped up into the 444-mile California Aqueduct that would follow the new Interstate 5. With branch canals and massive pumps and siphons to cross hills and mountains, Feather River water now poured out of taps in the Bay Area, Bakersfield, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and the Inland Empire. But during rainy winters, the old levee system just below the Oroville Dam still struggled to contain the flow. In Olivehurst, Mary Jane Griego said the evacuation order brought flashbacks of the floods in 1986 and 1997. Griego, owner of Dukes Diner, was stopped at a red light outside of Yuba City that night in 1986 when a police patrol car screeched into the intersection. He said the levee broke. The water is coming, Griego recalled. Then she heard a rumble and saw a churning wave of water heading toward her. It was like a scene from The Poseidon Adventure. That flood blasted through the county mall in the nearby town of Linda, which still stands gutted and empty. After the 1997 flood, Griego decided to run for Yuba County supervisor, with her top campaign issue to fix the levees in the southern portion of the county. She won and, since that time, the levees have been improved and fortified through the more populated areas. While farmers and officials along the river understand the hydrology around them like cardiologists know arteries and veins, millions of other Californians rely on the same system with varying degrees of awareness. Some know enough to complain about its great flaws its waste by evaporation or its environmental impact. Others marvel at its grand ambition, allowing great cities to exist where they otherwise could not. Some dont even know it exists. North of Lake Oroville in the small wooded town of Magalia, Keith Noble runs a hunting and fishing shop that depends on anglers coming to the lake. With the lake closed due to the spillway crisis, he was irked that several bass tournaments had been scrubbed. Noble thinks the state could have prevented the damage if officials hadnt neglected the spillway all these years in his mind, another example of the northern reaches of California getting short shrift by the big-city liberals controlling Sacramento. At the southern end of the project, Feather River water pours out of a 28-mile-long pipeline into the Lake Perris reservoir, more than 500 miles from its source and nearly 700 feet higher in elevation. Saddled between high hills of boulders and white sage, the lake draws campers, boaters and fishermen from across the region. The water teems with rainbow trout, Florida bluegill, black crappie and carp. Anglers there have caught record-size Alabama spotted bass. But the dam has its own problems. In 2005, the state Department of Water Resources discovered that parts of the foundation might be at risk during an earthquake and ordered the water lowered by 25 feet. Construction to fix the problem is expected to be completed by early next year. But the drought reduced the lake by an additional 17 feet. Brian Place, manager of the boat rental and fishing shop at Lake Perris, looks out at the low water and wonders when the state will open the spigot to bring it back up. He says Water Resources told him the lake would come up 10 feet in January, but its just starting to fill. Within the last week, its come up about 3 feet, he said. He hopes the state sends the water before the fish lay their eggs in spring, and then maintains it at that level, so a sudden change in depth doesnt kill off the spawn. He can only wait and see. State bureaucracy feeds Lake Perris, and no meteorologist can read that forecast. Charlie Matthews opens the gate to this property in Marysville. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) joe.mozingo@latimes.com Twitter: @joemozingo phil.willon@latimes.com Twitter: @philwillon ALSO The government failure at the heart of the Oroville Dam crisis Oroville Dam is about to face its next big test as a new storm moves into the area Life below Oroville Dam: Stoicism, faith ... and cars poised for a fast getaway Oroville Dam is just part of Californias crumbling infrastructure The Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department has collected the names of about 300 deputies who have a history of past misconduct such as domestic violence, theft, bribery and brutality that could damage their credibility if they testify in court. Sheriff Jim McDonnell wants to send the names to prosecutors, who can decide whether to add them to an internal database that tracks problem officers in case the information needs to be disclosed to defendants in criminal trials. For the record: An earlier version of this article incorrectly said that Assistant Sheriff Todd Rogers proposed forwarding the list of deputy names to prosecutors. Rogers says he proposed only to send warning letters to those deputies about the plan, which was developed by others. But McDonnells move has set off a heated battle that pits the privacy rights of officers against efforts by law enforcement agencies to be more transparent. Advertisement The union that represents rank-and-file deputies strongly opposes providing the names to prosecutors and has taken the department to court. The Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs argues that the disclosure would violate state laws protecting officer personnel files and draw unfair scrutiny on deputies whose mistakes might have happened long ago. An appeals court last week sided with the union, temporarily blocking the Sheriffs Department from sending names to the district attorneys office. The legal battle is being closely watched by other law enforcement agencies, including the Los Angeles Police Department, which is considering whether to adopt the same practice, said Cmdr. Stuart Maislin, who heads the LAPDs internal affairs group. Departments in at least a dozen counties, such as San Francisco and Sacramento, regularly send prosecutors the names of problem officers. Some, including agencies in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura have done so for well over a decade. The approach has recently earned praise from the states Supreme Court and gained new attention at a time of increasing demands for police accountability nationwide. At stake is an issue fundamental to the criminal justice system: the obligation of prosecutors to hand over evidence that could help the defense, including information that could undermine an officers credibility. Under the landmark 1963 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Brady vs. Maryland, prosecutors must turn over exculpatory evidence to defendants. Failing to disclose such evidence can result in faulty convictions. Jerry Coleman, a special assistant district attorney in San Francisco County who teaches prosecutorial ethics at the University of San Francisco School of Law, said the ripple effects of such a failure can spread well beyond the courtroom. They affect not just our relations with police but our relations with victims, and the integrity of the criminal justice system entirely, and the publics sense of honesty in the proceedings, he said. But finding out whether an officer has a history of dishonesty or other misconduct is not easy. California has some of the strictest protections on law enforcement officer records in the country. Discipline hearings, personnel files and even the names of officers accused in internal affairs investigations are secret. Prosecutors and defense attorneys require a special court order to glean even basic information from an officers personnel file. That gives [officers] the sense that these are the most private of secrets, Coleman said. Last year, Contra Costa prosecutors asked courts to throw out convictions in 15 cases after discovering that the Pittsburg Police Department had withheld information about two officers accused of writing police reports that failed to disclose they used force on suspects. The Contra Costa County district attorneys office, which has long had an informal agreement with area police departments to notify prosecutors about problem officers, is now trying to formalize that policy in writing, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Steven Bolen. At issue is whether its up to police departments to tip off prosecutors about officers who have a history of misconduct or whether prosecutors are supposed to find out about problem officers on their own. The Los Angeles district attorneys office, which does not have access to police discipline files, learns about potential misconduct from prosecutors who complain about wrongdoing, from law enforcement agencies when they present criminal cases in which officers are suspects and from news articles, D.A. spokesman Greg Risling said in e-mails. Risling declined to comment on the sheriffs list and would not make anyone in the district attorneys office available to answer questions about how prosecutors learn about police misconduct. A lawyer for the deputies union contends that the district attorneys office would refuse to accept the names of deputies with disciplinary histories. She pointed to a declaration filed in court this month by ALADS in which Jason Lustig, the prosecutor in charge of handling police misconduct evidence for the district attorney, stated his office actively declines to accept information from a peace officer personnel file if the information is offered by a law enforcement agency without the express permission of the involved officer. Lustig also said there is no policy or practice by which any local law enforcement agency notifies his office of potential officer misconduct. But Assistant Sheriff Todd Rogers said he believes the Sheriffs Department has a clear constitutional obligation to disclose to the D.A. the names of deputies with potential credibility issues. This is consistent with the sheriffs commitment to transparency, he said. In 2015, he noted, the state Supreme Court praised San Francisco police for notifying local prosecutors about officers who had problematic histories. And soon afterward, the attorney generals office advised the California Highway Patrol that doing so was legal. In October, the Sheriffs Department sent letters to about 300 deputies warning them that their personnel files contained evidence of moral turpitude. The letters said such acts could include accepting bribes or gifts, misappropriating property, tampering with evidence, lying, obstructing investigations, falsifying records, using unreasonable force, discriminatory harassment and family violence. Rogers said it was possible that some of the offenses didnt apply to any current deputies on the department. The targeted group represents about 3% of the departments roughly 9,100 deputies. In the letters, the department said the list would include only deputies found guilty of wrongdoing by internal investigators. The agency would send just the deputies names, not their entire personnel files, the letters said. While the officers names arent intended to become public, their presence on a list kept by prosecutors means deputies could be one step closer to having their disciplinary files scrutinized by a judge and having their police work called into question during a court proceeding. In its legal action, the deputies union filed a redacted copy of one of the letters, which also warned that deputies could be given new job duties to limit their liability. The letters urged them to use their own video and audio recording devices in interactions with the public. It was clear to me that anybody receiving this letter would be concerned, Rogers said. We understand that and were gonna be sensitive to that. The department denied a public records request sent by The Times for unredacted copies of the letters, citing, among other rules, peace officer confidentiality laws. About 15 management-level employees up to the rank of lieutenant also received the warning notices, according to the L.A. County Professional Peace Officers Assn., which represents higher-level department staff. That union filed an unfair labor practices complaint on behalf of its members, said Lt. Brian Moriguchi, the associations president. The organization is not joining the lawsuit; its members are represented by ALADS in the case because the misconduct occurred long ago when they were working as deputies, Moriguchi said. We shouldnt try to cut off their heads for the rest of their lives Elizabeth Gibbons, an attorney for the deputies union ALADS president, Det. Ron Hernandez, said sending a list of deputies names to prosecutors would be an unfair additional punishment on top of the internal discipline deputies already experienced. Hernandez said lumping deputies together on a so-called Brady List might give the impression that they all committed gross misconduct, whereas some of the wrongdoing was minor. Were not trying to hide anything thats gone on in the past. The fact of the matter is, nobody wants to be wrongly accused of anything. That applies to everyone else in the world, so it should apply to deputies too, he said. Elizabeth Gibbons, an attorney for ALADS, said relevant information in an officers personnel file, if it must be reviewed by a judge, should be considered on a case-by-case basis. Gibbons provided an example that if a deputy with an otherwise spotless reputation were found to have fibbed about what time he came into work one morning, it shouldnt disqualify him from testifying years later in an unrelated matter, such as an embezzlement investigation. We shouldnt try to cut off their heads for the rest of their lives, she said. Superior Court Judge James Chalfant ruled last month that the Sheriffs Department could give the D.A.s office the names of problem officers only when theres a pending case in which that officer might testify. The disclosure of a deputys name in conjunction with this list will create a negative stigma for the deputy, Chalfant wrote in his decision. But ALADS contested that ruling, asking for a stricter prohibition. On Wednesday, a two-judge appellate court panel granted the unions request to put a temporary hold on any transmission of names, even in pending cases. It would not surprise me if this case eventually winds up in the California Supreme Court, said the Sheriffs Departments lawyer, Geoffrey Sheldon. To read the article in Spanish, click here maya.lau@latimes.com Twitter: @mayalau MORE LOCAL NEWS Nearly 5,000 remain without power from storm-related outages, DWP says Whats Measure S? A breakdown of the ballot measure to restrict development Government severely misjudged strength of Oroville emergency spillway, sparking a crisis Im a professional liar, key witness against Robert Durst once told prosecutors in recorded call During a nationwide operation this month by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a team of ICE agents in Los Angeles approached the house of a man targeted for deportation. Good morning, police, one agent announced in the pre-dawn darkness. A man opened the door moments later. Good morning, how you doing? Im a police officer. Were doing an investigation, the agent said. Advertisement The exchange, captured on a video released publicly by ICE, seemed routine. But it has reignited long-simmering objections from immigrant rights attorneys and advocates, who say the scene illustrates unethical and in some cases, illegal ruses ICE agents have used for years, portraying themselves as officers from local police departments to ensnare people or fool them into revealing the whereabouts of family members. The use of the tactic, critics said, is particularly egregious in heavily immigrant cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, where police and elected officials have tried for decades to distinguish their cops from federal immigration agents, in an effort to convince immigrants living illegally in their cities that they can interact with local police without fear of deportation. The practice of using ruses predates the Trump administration. But the presidents announcement of his intent to dramatically increase the number of people ICE apprehends for deportation has increased concerns by immigrant advocates that the tactic will grow even more prevalent. There is something fundamentally unfair about ICE exploiting local and state policies that are trying to improve public safety by promoting immigrants trust in law enforcement, said Frances Miriam Kreimer, senior attorney at Dolores Street Community Services in San Francisco. Kreimer is challenging the legality of a ruse ICE officers used to arrest a client, in which they told the man they were police officers investigating a crime. Internally, ruses are allowed and encouraged by ICE officials, who describe them in training manuals and policy notices as an effective tool at agents disposal for dictating when and how an arrest is made. Virginia Kice, an ICE spokeswoman, declined to address questions about the use of ruses, saying the agency does not comment on tactics out of concern for agents safety and the effectiveness of its operations. The tactics agents use, she said in a statement, are consistent with their authorities under federal law and in accordance with the Constitution. Ruses and other types of deceit are used at all levels of law enforcement. Courts have long upheld the right of police, to a point, to mislead suspects during investigations and interrogations. But the legal questions surrounding the use of ruses by immigration agents are more complicated. There is nothing illegal about ICE agents simply identifying themselves as police officers while standing outside someones front door. However, agents generally are not armed with search or arrest warrants when they try to detain someone on suspicion of being in the country illegally. Without a warrant, they cannot force their way into someones home and, instead must receive consent from an adult to enter. In a few cases in which ICE agents used deception to gain entry and then arrested someone, lawyers have successfully argued the ruses ran afoul of constitutional protections. In one such case, ICE agents in Texas went to the door of an apartment early one morning in December 2008 and identified themselves as police, in search of a man they suspected of having re-entered the country illegally after being deported. The mans mother answered their knocks. Fearing that she wouldnt let them in if they showed her a photo of her son, the agents showed her a photo of another man, according to court records. After the woman told them the man was not inside, the agents pressed her to allow them in to check. The woman and the agents gave differing accounts in court of whether she consented, but once inside the agents found neither the man in photo nor the womans son. The agents, however, awoke another man, his wife and infant child asleep and inquired about their immigration status and arrested the man for being in the country illegally. The judge in the case found that even if the woman did agree to allow the agents inside, as they claimed, they had misled her so thoroughly it rendered her consent meaningless and violated the Constitutions protections against warrantless searches and seizures. The judge did not allow any statements or other evidence the agents gathered in the house to be used against the man in his trial. In the Los Angeles raid this month, the video released by ICE doesnt show how agents went from announcing themselves as police to entering the house or whether someone was taken into custody as a result. The Immigrant Defense Project and Center for Constitutional Rights, along with other advocacy groups, have documented dozens of arrests in recent years in which witnesses or people arrested say ICE agents used deceit while targeting people for deportation. In one case, ICE agents in Los Angeles identified themselves as police detectives to the mother of Luis Enrique Cruz Estrada, saying her son had information regarding the whereabouts of a person they wanted to find, according to attorney Jennie Pasquarella, director of immigrants rights for the American Civil Liberties Union of California. For weeks, the agents called Estrada on his cellphone, allegedly urging him to meet them in order to discuss their investigation. Estrada, who had a conviction in juvenile court for possession of a firearm when he was 15 and now has two small children, ultimately agreed to meet and was arrested, Pasquarella said. He is currently being held at an immigration detention facility in Adelanto. ICE officials addressed the question of ruses a decade ago after agents pretending to be officials from the governments Occupational Safety and Health Administration staged a meeting for immigrant workers in North Carolina and arrested people who attended. After OSHA officials protested, ICE leaders issued a series of policy changes that allowed ruses to continue but required agents to get the permission from any government body or private group before impersonating them in a ruse. In a memo implementing the change, the acting ICE director at the time wrote that permission was needed to ensure the agency or entitys name who we wish to use as cover has an opportunity to raise concerns about how our use of their name will affect their public image or raise security concerns for their employees. That concern is particularly acute in cities and towns where the police and elected officials have taken steps not to cooperate with efforts by ICE agents to identify and apprehend immigrants simply because they are in the country illegally. In Los Angeles, where a recent Pew study estimated the population of people in the country illegally at 375,000 , police Chief Charlie Beck and Mayor Eric Garcetti have gone to significant lengths to advocate for the rights of immigrants and distance the LAPDs work from the immigration enforcement agencys. Beck, for example, has tightened rules on when his officers can impound vehicles, arguing that immigrants unable to get drivers licenses were unfairly burdened. And, under Beck, the LAPD does not honor requests from ICE agents to hold someone in custody who would otherwise be released. When you create a shadow population ... that fears any interaction with law enforcement, Beck said in a recent interview with The Times, then you create a whole population of victims, because they become prey for human predators who extort them or abuse them because they know they wont contact the police. Beck and Garcetti have renewed their stance since the election of Trump, who made cracking down on illegal immigration a centerpiece of his campaign. Acting on an executive order Trump signed soon after taking office, administration officials this week dramatically expanded the federal governments deportation priorities, saying immigration enforcement officers are free to target any of the 11 million people in the U.S. illegally for removal. LAPD Assistant Chief Michel Moore declined to comment on the use of ruses by ICE. He said LAPD officers go out of their way to clearly identify their department whenever interviewing or interrogating someone. This week, Pasquarella said the ACLU will formally ask Beck, Garcetti and the City Council to take steps to ensure that ICE agents are not identifying themselves as LAPD officers. joel.rubin@latimes.com For more news on federal courts in Southern California, follow me on Twitter: @joelrubin ALSO This tiny California town unleashed a drama over being a sanctuary city long before Trump Homeland Security secretary drafts aggressive guidelines to carry out Trumps immigration orders Dreamer in Washington state still faces deportation as attorneys accuse immigration agents of deception UPDATES: 6:09 p.m. Feb 21: This article was updated to include an estimate from a recent study of the number of people in the country illegally living in Los Angeles and a link to the study. It also updated the number of people who could be targeted for removal from the country during the Trump administration. This article was originally published on Feb. 20 at 5 a.m. Good morning. Its Monday, Feb. 20, and heres whats going on around California: TOP STORIES Failure factor The near-catastrophic failure of the Oroville Dams emergency spillway grew out of fundamental problems with its original design issues that were never corrected despite questions about its adequacy, documents and interviews suggest. There is no way to rationalize running water down a hillslope with deep soils and a forest on it and weak bedrock, an expert on geology and California water said. Los Angeles Times Advertisement Flood zone: For the tiny farming town of Maxwell, there was little warning before flooding inundated the hamlet. Los Angeles Times Spotlight: The crisis at the Oroville Dam has brought national attention onto a long-running fight between state water officials and one Butte County official who has been an outspoken critic of how the dam is run. Oroville Mercury-Register Warning signs: The damage to the concrete spillway was an accident waiting to happen, experts say. Los Angeles Times Not over yet: This latest storm might just be too much for Northern Californias overtaxed flood control network. Los Angeles Times Day of remembrance The uneasy parallels between two presidents Donald Trump and Franklin Roosevelt and two executive orders singling out a class of people are resonating in the Japanese American community and beyond on the 75th anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066, which authorized the internment of Japanese during World War II. Many internment survivors now feel an affinity with Muslims today. Los Angeles Times Plus: Seventy-five years ago, The Times supported internment. Now the paper apologizes for its shameful response. Los Angeles Times L.A. STORIES Voices of experience: Three former L.A. mayors gathered to share thoughts on running the city. Together, their terms spanned two decades marked by the Northridge earthquake, the San Fernando Valleys threatened secession from L.A., and an economic crash that left city leaders struggling to stave off bankruptcy. But they didnt agree on how to run the city. Los Angeles Times Wake-up call: That sinkhole that swallowed up two cars during Fridays storm represents the new symbol of L.A.s infrastructure woes. Daily News What timing: A fire this weekend at a Torrance refinery has heightened already deep community concerns over safety. Daily Breeze Height fight: The battle over the Frank Gehry development on the Sunset Strip now seems far from over. Los Angeles Times Pride goeth? Theres a plan to move the L.A. Pride gay parade onto Melrose Avenue, but some residents dont like the idea. Curbed Los Angeles POLITICS & GOVERNMENT Change course? Are Latino leaders in California all wrong in the way they are fighting Trump? Sacramento Bee Friendly warning: President Trumps best friend in California has a warning for state Democrats. New York Times Hope floats: Times columnist Steve Lopez, who has been crusading about the California coast for more than a year, argues the new head of the Coastal Commission is a good thing for people who love our beaches. Los Angeles Times $$$$: Campaign spending in California broke records in 2016. Dont expect the money train to slow down in 2018. Los Angeles Times Bark: When it comes to California, President Trump talks tough. But his actions might have less bite. San Francisco Chronicle Losing ground: Why the pay gap between men and women is actually getting worse in California despite new laws and more attention. Orange County Register CRIME AND COURTS Unpredictable: A wild week in the Robert Durst murder case offers the clearest sign yet of the evidence prosecutors plan to present. But can they get it in? Los Angeles Times Familial strife: How a deportation has split up one family. San Diego Union-Tribune Cold case: Fifteen years after a man kidnapped a 14-year-old boy at gunpoint, blindfolded him and then sexually assaulted him, Los Angeles police arrested a suspect after a DNA match cracked the cold case open. Los Angeles Times CALIFORNIA CULTURE Connected: Trump and other issues have brought protests and unrest on the Mexican side of the border. That has troubling implications for San Diego. San Diego Union-Tribune Expert opinion: Diagnosing President Trump. Los Angeles Times Studio shakeup: Brad Greys expected exit from Paramount after a long and decidedly mixed run poses a host of questions for the troubled studio. Los Angeles Times Academy debate: How political will this years Oscars be? And will it be politically correct to party hard? The Guardian Dark side: Viewing the midcentury masterpieces of Palm Springs in moonlight. The Guardian CALIFORNIA ALMANAC Bay Area and Sacramento: Extreme rain storms and high risk of flooding near rivers and streams. Los Angeles: Chance of scattered showers Monday, clearing Tuesday. San Diego: Partly cloudy Monday and Tuesday. AND FINALLY This weeks birthdays for notable Californians include: Nobel laureate and UC Berkeley professor George Smoot (Feb. 20, 1945), media mogul David Geffen (Feb. 21, 1943) and actress Rashida Jones (Feb. 25, 1976). If you have a memory or story about the Golden State, share it with us. Send us an email to let us know what you love or fondly remember about our state. (Please keep your story to 100 words.) Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints and ideas to Benjamin Oreskes and Shelby Grad. Also follow them on Twitter @boreskes and @shelbygrad. The biggest issue facing Los Angeles voters on March 7 is Measure S, which would dramatically remake the citys planning rules. The ballot measure seeks to rein in development and determine where new projects condo towers, office buildings, and more can be built. Land use is a complicated subject, so were going to explain the measure. What would Measure S do? Advertisement First, it would put a two-year moratorium on development projects that need a zone change, height district change or General Plan amendment. Those changes are typically needed to build projects larger than what existing rules permit. The measure also targets General Plan amendments by drastically reducing the citys ability to change city planning rules for a single project. For example, a developer looking to build a residential tower on a piece of property designated for industrial use would no longer be able to do so. Additionally, all General Plan amendments would no longer be allowed for smaller geographical areas, or those not defined by specific planning boundaries. As it is now, City Hall routinely grants zone and height district changes, and General Plan amendments for housing, commercial buildings and other projects. Wait, whats the General Plan? The General Plan is the citys overall guidebook for land use. It includes 35 community plans, which govern building rules for each neighborhood. The Venice Community Plan, for example, calls for low-rise buildings along commercial areas such as Abbot Kinney Boulevard. The measure comes as the city has failed to regularly update its community plans to keep up with changing real estate and transportation patterns. Thats prompted developers to seek zone changes and other deviations from planning rules. Got it. So what types of development would be affected by Measure S? Housing complexes, office buildings, private schools, museums, stores, and any other type of development that seek to use the changes targeted by Measure S. Those types of projects could still be built if the ballot measure passes, but only in areas where such development adheres to existing land use rules. OK. Would there be any exemptions to these new rules? Yes. Projects with 100% affordable housing that apply for a zone or height change but dont seek a General Plan amendment would be exempt. Developments with protected rights to build or those that require construction for safety reasons or because of a natural disaster could also go forward. Now, opponents argue that the exemption for affordable housing is meaningless because those types of projects frequently require General Plan amendments. Measure S would dramatically affect the citys plan to build 10,000 units of affordable housing, an initiative backed by voters last fall, opponents say. In response, Measure S supporters contend the city can continue to allow housing for homeless people in residential and commercial zones. Is there anything that would lift the moratorium and the General Plan amendment ban? Yes. Those restrictions would be lifted if the project adheres to the respective community plan. Supporters argue that Measure S would force the city to focus on updating its community plans, rather than spend city resources on approving developments that need zoning changes or amendments. Opponents counter that because it takes years to update a community plan the process involves performing numerous studies Measure S could halt some development for 10 years or longer. Keep in mind that an updated community plan doesnt necessarily end disagreements about development. The citys new Hollywood Community Plan resulted in several lawsuits from groups concerned about more density in the Hollywood area. OK. So, what else would Measure S do? The measure states that the city cant reduce parking in a development by more than one-third from the number of spaces that current rules allow. Developers argue that parking is expensive to build, and the city shouldnt require so many parking spots. The city sometimes lowers parking regulations for developments, which can anger groups who say new residents will park in their neighborhood. Critics contend the parking provision in Measure S could make it harder for affordable housing and senior housing to be built because those types of projects can rely on reduced parking. The measure also would require the city or one of its approved consultants to perform an environmental impact report for a development. Such reports, which analyze the traffic caused by a new apartment building, for instance, are now done by developers. Opponents argue the issue of environmental impact reports was addressed earlier this month by a new law backed by the City Council. The law states that only city-approved consultants can write those reports. Finally, the measure would force the city to review its community plans every five years. All right. So, how much development would be affected by Measure S? First off, developers routinely build hotels, apartments and other large projects in Los Angeles and dont seek a General Plan amendment, zone change or height change for their projects. Measure S would have no impact on those types of developments. But supporters and opponents disagree about the effect of Measure S, however, and have used different metrics to calculate how much development would be affected. Supporters argue that the ballot measure would only affect about 5% of projects. Abundant Housing L.A., an advocacy group that opposes Measure S, predicts 22,000 units in the planning pipeline wont be constructed if Measure S passes. Who supports and who opposes Measure S? AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Los Angeles Tenants Union, Federation of Hillside and Canyon Assns., Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. and former L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan are among those supporting Measure S. The opponents include United Way of Greater Los Angeles, Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, labor groups, homeless advocacy groups, and L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti. dakota.smith@latimes.com Twitter: @dakotacdsmith ALSO Inspired by Measure S, California lawmaker takes aim at anti-growth ballot measures L.A. community plans languished for years. Now theyre an unlikely issue in the March election Labor leaders argue Measure S could block affordable housing just approved by voters UPDATES: 3:10 p.m.: This article was updated with additional information about the City Councils action on environmental impact reports. This article was first posted at 3 a.m. Firefighters in Santa Barbara County were battling a three-alarm fire early Monday that broke out at a commercial building that includes a local Islamic Society. The fire was reported about 9:15 p.m. Sunday in the 600 block of Ward Drive in Goleta, according to Daniel Christensen, a spokesman for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department. The two-story building is a 30,000-square-foot corrugated metal structure with several tenants, including a roofing company, a private storage facility and the Islamic Society of Santa Barbara. Advertisement Flames ripped through the building and about 50 firefighters from across the county were battling the blaze, said Mike Eliason, a Fire Department spokesman. Firefighters initially took an aggressive stance but adjusted to a defensive mode when several small explosions were heard inside, Christensen said. Its unclear what started the blaze. Investigators were on scene but unable to examine the building because the fire was still burning. Eliason said that authorities had no indication that the Islamic Society or another business at the building was the source of the fire or targeted in arson. Its still way too early, Eliason said. The fires not out yet. No injuries were reported. MORE LOCAL NEWS Nearly 5,000 remain without power from storm-related outages, DWP says Parolee detained in fatal shooting of two Covina women and wounding of 2-year-old boy Use of ruses by immigration agents are under fire in L.A. and around the nation Whats Measure S? A breakdown of the ballot measure to restrict development About 4,800 Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers remained without power late Sunday as storm-related outages persisted across Southern California. The DWP said the outages were spread across the city. More than 1,500 were without power in Watts, 760 in Lake Balboa, 360 in Winnetka and 655 in Palms. The outages affected a small fraction of the utilitys 1.5 million customers. The outages were greatly reduced from Friday afternoon, when more than 85,000 customers were without power at the peak of the storm. Advertisement Crews would work through Sunday night to continue repairing equipment and restoring service, prioritizing those who have gone the longest without power, said Joseph Ramallo, a DWP spokesman. Kimberley Hughes, a DWP spokeswoman, said most customers had their power restored within 12 to 24 hours but some outages lasted more than a day because of the severity of damage from the storm. The round-the-clock repair effort comes as another storm approaches the Southland. The National Weather Service said light rain was expected to arrive in Los Angeles County after midnight and continue through Monday morning. Heavier rainfall is expected in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, where the storm will dump up to 2 inches through Tuesday. In Ventura and Los Angeles counties, the total rainfall was not expected to exceed 1 inch, according to the National Weather Service. The most common cause of outages were downed trees, tree branches and palm fronds, all of which can interfere with power lines when falling, officials said. On Friday, a 55-year-old man was shocked and killed by a downed power line at Sepulveda and Burbank boulevards in Sherman Oaks. As of 10 p.m., Southern California Edison had more than 260 customers without electricity in Los Angeles County and nearly 190 without power in Orange County, according to the utilitys website. matt.hamilton@latimes.com Twitter: @MattHjourno ALSO Oroville Dam is about to face its next big test as a new storm moves into the area Flooding fears heighten as another powerful storm takes aim at Northern California Record drought + record rain = toppled trees. How do you know if your tree is in trouble? Eight people people rescued from rain-swollen Sepulveda Basin North Korea has built an anti-aircraft gun battery and a large-scale military drill ground near the border town of Kaesong, Radio Free Asia reported Sunday. RFA also posted imagery of the camp under the North Korean Army's 1344th Unit shot by a U.S. commercial satellite in October last year. The broadcaster said that at least 12 anti-aircraft guns and military equipment are hidden in an underground military facility built in a hill in front of the camp and that the facility looks similar to several underground military facilities built near Pyongyang recently. The drill ground has also been built west of the camp, it added. They seem to have been built from August 2015 to October 2016. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited this camp in November last year. A parolee with a lengthy criminal history was detained as a person of interest early Sunday in connection with the fatal shooting of two Covina women and the wounding of a 2-year-old boy, police said. Shortly after midnight Sunday, Lucas Doi Fick, 36, of Covina, knocked on a neighbors door in the 700 block of South Rancho Sinaloa with the 2-year-old boy at his side, said Sgt. Antonia Zavala of the Covina Police Department. Call the police, Fick told his neighbor. Something bad happened, he said, according to authorities. Advertisement Police entered Ficks home and found two women dead from apparent gunshot wounds. They later discovered the boy was also suffering from a gunshot wound to his back. Paramedics rushed the boy to a hospital for emergency surgery. He was expected to recover. The boys mother was one of the dead women, Zavala said. Police have not determined how Fick, the two women and the boy are related, though they were all staying in the same house, Zavala said. Police found two guns in the house. Fick, a felon on parole from a drug violation, was wearing an ankle monitor. He was arrested at the scene for being a felon in possession of a weapon. He is being held without bail. Investigators consider Fick a person of interest in the deaths, but they havent ruled out other suspects, Zavala said. Detectives are trying to determine whether the guns found at the home match the ones used to shoot the two women and the boy. Fick is affiliated with a gang, Zavala said. Court records show Fick has a lengthy criminal record that includes multiple convictions for drug possession, robbery and unlawful possession of weapons and ammunition. He was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon in 2004. In 2014, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune reported that Fick was arrested on suspicion of having unlawful sex with an underage girl. But Fick was never convicted of the crime, Zavala said. Police havent identified the two dead women because their families havent been notified yet. frank.shyong@latimes.com Twitter: @frankshyong Maywoods decision to declare itself a sanctuary city did not sit well with Enrique Curiel. To the Mexican immigrant and U.S citizen, the move 11 years ago was City Hall acting too radical to score points with Maywoods large immigrant population. Becoming a sanctuary city turned the small southeast Los Angeles County suburb into a national lightning rod. Advertisement Conservative talk-radio hosts lit into Maywood. Members of the Minutemen Project, an anti-illegal-immigration group that patrols the border, descended on the town, and City Hall was inundated with outraged messages from across the U.S. More than a decade later, President Trump has vowed to crack down on immigrants in the country illegally and threatened to punish sanctuary cities by denying federal funds. And that has caused Curiel, 62, to look at Maywoods status as a sanctuary city in a different light. Let them give Trump a good fight, Curiel said. Hes screwing everything up but the main people hes trying to screw is our own people. Maywood is among an estimated 400 sanctuary cities and counties in the country. The city, which has a total operating budget of $13 million, receives about $1.1 million in federal funds for the current fiscal year. In the debate over sanctuary cities, most of the attention has fallen on large cities, such as L.A. and New York, where city leaders have struck a defiant tone against Trump. But few places know what its like to be in the eye of the storm like tiny Maywood, which became a sanctuary city at a time when it was unusual to do so. In 2006, Maywood was 96% Latino. Officially the city had just under 30,000 residents. About 45% of the citys residents are foreign born. Maywoods decision years ago to become a sanctuary city infuriated some residents. Many of the critics were older white residents and more conservative Latinos. I disagree with sanctuary cities because it breaks federal law, said Sandra Orozco, a longtime Maywood resident and activist. I dont like that its interfering with the federal funding. At that time, many states and cities were trying to crack down on illegal immigration. In Washington, the House of Representatives tried to get a law passed that made it a crime to assist immigrants illegally living in the country. Massive protests broke out across the U.S., including one in Los Angeles that drew more than 500,000 people. But Maywood officials were determined to buck that trend. And one spark was police checkpoints in the city of 1.2 square miles. The roadblocks, which started in the 1990s, led to vehicles being impounded for up to 30 days. At times, the storage fees were so high that some drivers forfeited their cars. The checkpoints were often held during rush hour and created traffic jams that stretched into neighboring cities. The owner of Maywood Club Tow even provided free catering trucks for officers. The checkpoints generated hundreds of thousands of dollars for the towing company and the city. David Velazquez, then a priest at St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, said he was overwhelmed with complaints about the checkpoints, which seemed more aimed at catching unlicensed immigrant drivers. Some people didnt have the money; they lost their jobs, their homes and the kids couldnt go to school. It was really a disaster, Velazquez said. Police claimed they were looking for drunk drivers but it was really an excuse to persecute immigrants. Former Maywood Councilman Felipe Aguirre pushed for the town to become a sanctuary city 11 years ago. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) Velazquez found an ally in Felipe Aguirre, who ran an immigrant advocacy and counseling group before becoming a councilman. Aguirre said he began helping people fight the tickets. Eventually, Aguirre joined the priest and began showing up at City Hall to complain about the checkpoints. When that didnt work, Aguirre ran for office in 2005 with two other candidates and won. Aguirre and his allies replaced a relatively conservative Latino majority with a more activist one. The new leadership got rid of the checkpoints and dismantled the citys traffic department. The actions were polarizing. Residents angrily argued in Spanish and English during raucous council meetings. At every meeting in the city, there were fights, Velazquez recalled. It was terrible. The next fight was even nastier. Velazquez said he had heard about towns that had become sanctuary cities. The word sanctuary reminded him of the 1980s when churches offered immigrants protection from raids. Aguirre said he spoke to Velazquez about the idea and in January 2006, the city council unanimously passed a resolution to declare itself a sanctuary city. Sam Pena, then a councilman who frequently butted heads with the Aguirre-led majority, was accused of being anti-immigrant for opposing some of the moves. He pointed out that his own parents were Mexican immigrants. But even Pena said he didnt anticipate the reaction to the sanctuary city decision. In 2006, immigrant-rights protesters square off with demonstrators opposing illegal immigration in Maywood after the town declared itself a sanctuary city. (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times) He said officials had to explain to residents what it meant to be a sanctuary city. I think people just wanted clarity, and it basically was that the police department was there not to act as immigration agents, Pena said. People were still going to have to abide by traffic laws, and any kind of disputes, the police was going to get involved. For months the city was mired in heated protests involving white supremacists, Minutemen Project members and anti-immigration groups. But Pena added: Even though we were in the middle of the hurricane while everything was going on white supremacists coming in, we were getting threats, we were getting the national spotlight you look back at it now and it helped our community. Today, Maywood is still a politically tumultuous city. But Pena said its hard to imagine now fights breaking out in the council chambers over the sanctuary city issue. Now, when people say its a sanctuary city, its almost a foregone conclusion, Pena said. On a recent afternoon, Jesus Leal played with his two granddaughters in front of his small, single-story home. Leal, who entered the U.S. illegally but became a legal resident in the 1980s, arrived in Maywood when it was still predominately a white community. In the 1970s, when manufacturing jobs began disappearing, the city saw an influx of Latino immigrants. Leal remembers how difficult it was to find work. He was paid $1 an hour at a car wash and had to go outside the city to find tortillas. He said hes glad Maywood and other cities are sticking up for immigrants who lack legal status. I think about this and I just know what theyre going through, he said. So Im in support of our town. ruben.vives@latimes.com For more Southern California news, follow @latvives on Twitter. Times staff writer Sandra Poindexter contributed to this report. ALSO San Francisco sues Trump over executive order targeting sanctuary cities Texas governor threatens defiant sheriffs job and funds after she pledges to uphold sanctuary protections BART rail system may designate itself a sanctuary in transit Santa Ana declares itself a sanctuary city in defiance of Trump Engineers and construction crews worked furiously to fortify the Oroville Dams damaged spillways and crippled power plant on Sunday as forecasters warned that more heavy rain and possible flooding throughout Northern California were on the way. By Sunday afternoon, the California Department of Water Resources had released enough water from the Oroville reservoir to lower its elevation to 852 feet, creating enough room to absorb runoff from incoming storms including one due to arrive Sunday night that could dump as much as 5 inches of rain on the site by Tuesday. Weve known for several days that this storm was coming, which is why weve continued to take water out of the reservoir, said Chris Orrock, a spokesman for the agency. We might expect a short period of time when inflows will outpace outflows. Advertisement There could possibly be a 5-foot increase in the water level, he added. But thats something the reservoir can easily absorb. The agencys top priorities include protecting the underground power plant from water backing up against it like a sea swell from a pool at the bottom of the dams main spillway, clogged with an estimated 150,000 cubic yards of debris: broken concrete, uprooted trees, boulders and sediment. Over the weekend, agency engineers incrementally decreased the flow of water down the spillway to about 60,000 cubic feet per second as part of an effort to give construction crews room to begin using cranes mounted on barges to haul away the debris, allowing the pool to flow into the Feather River and away from the power plant. The agency said it is continuing to drain the reservoir behind the nations tallest dam faster than a series of storms are filling it. The reservoirs elevation has dropped more than 49 feet since it overflowed a week ago, damaging an emergency spillway that had never been used and triggering an evacuation of several communities along the Feather River basin. The trouble at Lake Oroville, the key reservoir in the State Water Project, started after state officials began sending 100,000 cubic feet per second of water into the dams main spillway earlier this month to release storm runoff and prevent the lake from overflowing. The flows were halted after engineers discovered a gaping hole in the concrete spillway. Stopping the releases, however, caused the lakes level to rise. On Feb. 11, the elevation rose to 901 feet, causing water to flow over a weir into the dams unpaved emergency spillway and erode a deep fissure into an earthen slope that helps support the 770-foot-tall dam. With reduced amounts of water surging down the main spillway on Sunday morning, the structural damage it sustained was clearly visible. Its long, concrete chute was buckled and riven with deep cracks above and below the jagged hole hundreds of feet across. Nearly all of the water being released down it was slamming into the hole, then cascading down a deep fissure that has opened up on a hillside shouldering the right side of the dam. Orrock said the state agency hopes to have fully repaired the main concrete spillway at the facility, about 65 miles north of Sacramento in Butte County, by the beginning of the next runoff season, which begins in September. As of Sunday, the costs of that effort combined with repair work on the dams emergency spillway had climbed to more than $10 million, according to a report reviewed by The Times. Repairs on both spillways could ultimately cost as much as $200 million or more, officials estimate. Meanwhile, officials warned there is a high risk of flooding in parts of already-saturated Northern California as the latest storm moves in this week. The National Weather Service said the highest risk for flooding was in a large swath of the region from Monterey to Marin County on the coast, then into the Sacramento Valley and Sierra Nevada. The storm is expected to put added stress on levees, streams, creeks and rivers that are already approaching dangerously high water levels. Parts of Northern California are already on track to have the wettest winter ever recorded. The weather service warned that the San Joaquin River at Vernalis has reached danger stage. Greater risk for levee problems. Sandbagging operations were underway there as the storm approached. Officials also said several other waterways were at major risk of flooding, including the Yolo Bypass, Clear Lake, and the Sacramento, Cosumnes, Mokelumne, Merced and Tuolumne rivers. louis.sahagun@latimes.com Richard Schickel, whose erudite prose and piercing critiques made him one of Americas most important film critics in an era when cinema became increasingly ingrained in the cultural consciousness, died Saturday in Los Angeles from complications after a series of strokes, his family said. He was 84. In a career spanning five decades, thousands of reviews and dozens of books, Schickel chronicled Hollywoods changing landscape, from the days when studios reigned with stars such as Katharine Hepburn to the rise of independent directors who summoned a new wave of realism that distilled the yearnings of a turbulent nation. A reviewer for Time magazine, Schickel had a legion of followers; he could be incisive and at times bruising in praising or panning a film. He was one of the fathers of American film criticism, said his daughter Erika Schickel, a writer. He had a singular voice. When he wrote or spoke, he had an old-fashioned way of turning a phrase. He was blunt and succinct both on the page and in life. Advertisement In his 2015 memoir Keepers: The Greatest Films and Personal Favorites of a Moviegoing Lifetime, Richard Schickel wrote: I just like to be there in the dark watching something almost anything, if truth be known. In this habit I dont know if it is amiable or a mild, chronic illness I have been indulged by wives, girlfriends, just plain friends and children. Of course, a lot of the time Im alone, unashamedly killing an evening, no questions asked. Schickel began his career as a critic in the 1960s, joining a generation of voices, including Pauline Kael and Andrew Sarris, who were capturing Hollywood at a time of aesthetic and financial change. Movies were speaking to the countrys identity, its fabric, and film critics often found themselves reviewing not only cinema but the moods of society. In his 1967 review of Stanley Kramers Guess Whos Coming to Dinner, Schickel wrote of the interracial love story starring Sidney Poitier, Spencer Tracy and Hepburn: Where to begin discussing the ineptitude with which the nightmare is realized on screen. Kramer is earnestly preaching away on matters that have long since ceased to be true issues. He took on other classics as well, describing The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) as close to travesty and The Maltese Falcon (1941) as cramped and static. But Schickel did not inflate the role of the critic or for that matter the importance of cinema. Movies at their best, he said, were a joyous enterprise and at their worst a harmless addiction. Richard was a giant of American film criticism, one of the last survivors of a golden age, Times film critic Kenneth Turan said. No one could touch him for the high quality of his writing sustained over so many formats and so many years. Schickel was a prodigious writer and documentary filmmaker. His 37 biographies, critiques and other books included an array of subjects: Gary Cooper, James Cagney, Woody Allen, Clint Eastwood, D.W. Griffith and Elia Kazan. He wrote and worked on 37 documentaries, including From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga and Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin. His review of The Aviator went like this: Director Martin Scorsese soars triumphantly close to the sun, and unlike Icarus, never falters in his flight. An epically scaled biography of Howard Hughes, the mad genius of airplanes, movies and womanizing, this is filmmaking on a grand, rare, often curiously poignant scale, featuring a stunning performance by Leonardo DiCaprio as one of the great American nut cases. Born in Milwaukee in 1933, Schickel estimated that he had seen 22,590 movies in his lifetime. The first was Walt Disneys Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1938. He won a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1964 and lectured at USC and Yale University. He is survived by daughters Erika and Jessica; step-daughter Ali Rubinstein; and grandchildren. See the most-read stories this hour Twitter: @JeffreyLAT jeffrey.fleishman@latimes.com Im Davan Maharaj, editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Times. Here are some story lines I dont want you to miss on Presidents Day. TOP STORIES Picking a National Security Advisor, Apprentice-Style? Advertisement Amid a busy Presidents Day weekend of attacking the fake news media a.k.a. the enemy of the American People! and holding a rally in Florida in which he uttered a falsehood about Sweden, President Trump interviewed four candidates for national security advisor. Two others had already dropped out of the running to succeed Michael Flynn. As with much in the young administration, reports of internal strife are clouding the process, even as Trump repeats that everything is running smoothly. More Politics -- An official says the Department of Homeland Security has drafted broad new guidelines to more aggressively capture and deport people living in the country illegally. -- White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus flatly denied any collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. -- So, what happened that night in Sweden? Welcome to Maywood: Sanctuary City Trailblazer Maywood in southeast L.A. County had fewer than 30,000 residents in 2006, but it got national attention when it declared itself a sanctuary city that year. Back then, folks werent even sure what the term meant. The decision angered some residents, for sure. Then came the conservative talk-radio hosts and the anti-illegal-immigration group called the Minutemen Project. Eleven years later, with Trump threatening to punish sanctuary cities, the landscape looks a lot different. When Americans at Home Were Treated Like Enemies Seventy-five years ago Sunday, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which led to the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans in camps scattered across deserts and swampland. At a forum in L.A.s Little Tokyo to mark the anniversary, visitors wondered if the lessons of that injustice had been forgotten in todays political climate. Oroville Dam Faces a New Test Another powerful storm is hitting Northern California, once again testing the regions flood prevention network and prompting more furious preparations at Oroville Dams damaged spillways and crippled power plant. As officials investigate the cause of the emergency spillways near-failure last week, interviews and records suggest it grew out of fundamental problems with its original design. For those with families who have lived along the mighty Feather River for decades, the drama is another example of how humanity lives at the whims of nature. From the Front Lines of Mosul The first phase of the campaign to drive out Islamic State from the city of Mosul lasted 100 days and reportedly inflicted casualty rates as high as 50% for some units of the Iraqi military. Now, after taking about a month to recuperate, those fighters, aided by U.S. special forces, have begun to retake the remainder of Mosul. Another grueling fight is expected, as Islamic State uses car bombs, suicide bombers and snipers to battle back. Our intrepid correspondent Nabih Bulos is there. Iraqi troops head toward the front lines of the fight to reclaim western Mosul from Islamic State forces on Sunday. (Nabih Bulos / Los Angeles Times) A Secret List of Problem Sheriffs Deputies If a law enforcement officer has a history of dishonesty or other misconduct, how easy should it be to find that out? Thats the crux of a battle over a list the L.A. County Sheriffs Department has compiled. It contains the names of about 300 deputies, and Sheriff Jim McDonnell wants to send it to prosecutors so they can inform criminal defendants if a problem deputy is involved. But the union representing rank-and-file deputies says its a violation of privacy and could put mistakes from long ago under unfair scrutiny. CALIFORNIA -- An Escondido family has been split in two after a mother was deported to Mexico, leaving her twin 18-year-old daughters without a parent. -- A stuntman, a bookkeeper and a bar owner are among the 20 candidates in a crowded contest for a Los Angeles City Council seat. -- George Skelton: Does California really need more dams? Were running out of places to put them. -- Bernie Sanders in Los Angeles: We are looking at a totally new political world. HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS -- Richard Schickel, one of Americas most important film critics, has died at 84. -- Countdown to the Oscars: The acting of Mahershala Ali and Janelle Monae helped drive two best-picture contenders this year with Moonlight and Hidden Figures. -- What was up with Bill Mahers Real Time interview with Milo Yiannopoulos? -- Laura Dern on fame, feminism and subversive roles. -- L.A. Operas 30-year-old Salome is back and not a kid anymore. CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD They call him Mr. Poitier. Sidney Poitier became the first African American to earn a best actor Oscar for 1963s Lilies of the Field. In 1967 alone, he starred in three classic films In the Heat of the Night, To Sir, With Love and Guess Whos Coming to Dinner. And then he went on to direct. Find out more about a Hollywood legend who turns 90 today. NATION-WORLD -- Trump promised a coal renaissance, but keeping open this Arizona plant will test his resolve. -- Treason! Its a provocative charge being leveled against Trump, and one that rarely amounts to much. -- Amid Madagascars drought, mothers send their children to bed without water to drink. -- Exit polls show leftist candidate Lenin Moreno leading Ecuadors presidential vote. BUSINESS -- SpaceX launched almost 5,500 pounds of supplies to the International Space Station in the first commercial launch from the historic pad where the Apollo and space shuttle missions began. -- How to make sure your financial planner is looking out for you. -- San Francisco loves tech and fancy coffee. So of course it has barista robots. SPORTS -- The Western Conference All-Stars beat the Eastern Conference 192-182, but the big news the Kings trade of DeMarcus Cousins to the Pelicans. -- Dustin Johnson ran away with L.A.s Genesis Open and took over the No. 1 spot in the world golf rankings. -- Bill Plaschke takes in this weekends UCLA victory over USC on the basketball court. OPINION -- Seventy-five years later, looking back at The Times shameful response to the Japanese American internment. -- Is the deep state out to get Trump? Were not there yet. WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING -- John McCain sounds the alarm on Trump, but it isnt easy for him. (New York Magazine) -- The lessons of a 100-year-old fake news story. (BBC) -- Abraham Lincolns best friend forever. (Smithsonian Magazine) ONLY IN L.A. Whats it like to hear the L.A. Phil play your music in Disney Hall? Four composers found out last week, and it was a learning experience. They are all high schoolers, after all. Read on to see how one discovered inspiration for his classical piece on the L.A. Metro. Please send comments and ideas to Davan Maharaj. If you like this newsletter, please share it with friends. There is no City Council district in Los Angeles facing a steeper uphill climb than the 9th in South Los Angeles. Running from just below I-10 south to East 95th Street and straddling the Harbor Freeway, the key-shaped district includes all or part of the Historic South Central, South Park, Florence, University Park, Exposition Park and Vermont-Slauson neighborhoods. That stretch is home to the citys poorest and least educated residents, as well as the largest (and growing) inland homeless population. But there are signs of life and hope in CD9. Employment, business income and construction are all growing, although much of that improvement is coming from two islands of wealth: the sliver of downtown L.A. thats in the district, and the University of Southern California. Exposition Park alone will see a series of huge construction projects in the coming years, and the rest of the district is attracting increasing interest because its one of the last places with low-cost underdeveloped land. For the record: An earlier version of this editorial said that Councilman Curren Price was chairman of the Jobs and Business Development Committee, as listed on the citys website. He actually is chairman of the councils Economic Development Committee. So in addition to the challenges posed by entrenched poverty, whoever holds this seat for the coming (and unusually lengthy) term will also have to grapple with increasing pressure from developers. Thats a good problem to have in an area starved for investment, but its a problem nonetheless because of the threat that rising property values will drive low-income renters and small businesses out of one of the few areas where they can afford to pay the market rate. Advertisement Nuno offers a chance to rebuild the bridges between the council office and grass-roots groups while seeking a better bargain with developers. After a decades-long influx, Latino immigrants and their descendants make up about 80% of the 9ths inhabitants, although a considerably smaller percentage of its registered voters. Two of the districts three City Council candidates this year are children of immigrants: Jorge Nuno, a graphic designer, and Adriana Cabrera, a community activist and graduate student. The third is first-term incumbent Curren Price, the latest in a line of African American representatives that stretches back 55 years. Theres more than a whiff of identity politics at work in the CD9 contest, just as there was four years ago when Price defeated Ana Cubas in the runoff. But unlike Price and Cubas, who were relatively new arrivals when they ran for the council seat, both Nuno and Cabrera were raised in the 9th District and have spent most of their lives there. The genial Price, 66, is chairman of the councils Economic Development Committee, where he has helped steer measures to raise the minimum wage, reduce employment discrimination against ex-offenders and legalize street vending. Those efforts havent brought employers to or created jobs in his district, however. Rather than any of Prices initiatives, the main sources of job growth have been the developers whove built projects in the 9th. Price touts the agreements he has negotiated with developers to require them to hire and invest in the district in exchange for getting their projects approved. This issue, however, is the greatest point of tension between Price and his detractors, who complain that he hasnt demanded enough housing that local residents can afford or funneled enough of the promised investment to truly local grass-roots organizations. Whatever you think of Prices priorities, theres been a clear breakdown between the councilman and many of the community organizations trying to serve his constituents. The risk in reelecting Price is that new developments will become islands of prosperity disconnected (or worse, walled off) from the neighborhoods around them, and that the community benefits extracted from developers will reach too few of his constituents. Nuno, 40, offers a chance to rebuild the bridges between the council office and grass-roots groups while seeking a better bargain with developers. A political novice, Nuno turned his home a mansion known as the Big House into a combination community center and incubator for small businesses and non-profits. His inexperience in government is an issue, but thats offset by his energy, resourcefulness and strong connections to grass-roots groups. His work on behalf of his community in areas such as public education, public safety and entrepreneurship has been on a limited scale, but hes undeniably been a force for positive change. The 24-year-old Cabrera, whose long resume of activism belies her age, is bright and has some experience in government, having served on the Central Alameda Neighborhood Council and interned in congressional and legislative offices. But she seems so focused on blocking gentrification that she could deny the district the capital it desperately needs. Prices experience may appeal to voters looking for a safe choice in CD9. But Nunos entrepreneurial drive and connections to the grass roots make him the better choice. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook Remembr speling? Neither does our president. In his first tweet as POTUS posted at 11:57 a.m. on Jan. 21 @realDonaldTrump tweeted, I am honered [sic] to serve you, the great American People, as your 45th President of the United States! (He later deleted the message.) He governs as he campaigned. As the Washington Posts Dana Milbank pointed out in a delicious evisceration headlined Trump attaks and dishoners English, Trump has managed to mangle gimmes like shocker (shoker) and choker (chocker), as well as second-round spelling-bee softballs such as instincts (insticts) and unprecedented (unpresidented). Now all of Washington, perhaps inspired by the man at the helm, is swimming in a sea of typos. Advertisement No dream is too big, no challenge is to [sic] great, reads the inauguration poster recently removed from the online store of the Library of Congress. If you cant figure out the proper arrangement of 26 little letters, what does that say about your larger enterprise? On Feb. 6, the White House released a list of 78 terrorist attacks it claimed the media had underreported. The list itself was tragically underconsonantalized: Attackers had become attakers, San Bernardino was allotted a single r, and Denmark got domesticated to Denmakr. Six days later, the Department of Education tried to tweet an inspiring quote (Education must not simply teach work it must teach life) by civil rights activist and historian W.E.B. Du Bois. Just one problem or two, depending on how strictly you grade your students papers: The Education mavens had spelled his last name DeBois. Four hours later came the predictable correction tweet: Our deepest apologizes [sic] for the earlier typo. Does any of this matter? By devoting ink or pixels to the topic, dont we simply prove the populist point about out-of-touch coastal elites? Once you stop laughing, some useful correctives emerge: 1) If you cant figure out the proper arrangement of 26 little letters, what does that say about your larger enterprise? 2) When you find yourself saddled with a slap-dash reputation, its time to slow down. 3) Think before you speak. And definitely before you tweet. As a copy editor at Time-Life Books in the early 1980s, I was made vividly aware that perpetrating or merely perpetuating a typo was a dismissible offense. That may sound harsh, but excellence in publishing extends all the way down to taking care that minuscule and desiccate are spelled in the quirky-but-correct way they demand. (This mind-set also explains why I never told my boss about those 2 million direct-mail brochures for Time-Lifes Civil War series that went out with Southern gentlewomen rendered as Southern gentilewomen.) Misspellings can be haunting even for non-celebrities. New York literary agent Lynn Johnston says she tries to block the worst offenders from my mind theyre too painful. Shes talking about her own career-capping typos, mind you, not those committed by the writers she represents. As director of membership recruitment for the American Bar Assn. in the early 1990s, for example, Johnston oversaw the preparation of a marketing brochure intended to address public lawyers. Instead, Johnston rues to this day, The ABA appeal went out to pubic lawyers. Henry Fuhrmann, the retired assistant managing editor for copy desks and standards for this newspaper, was in the middle of teaching a journalism class at USC when I reached him via Twitter so I couldnt tell whether haste or mortification inspired his curt answer to my query about erratacism: Look, he typed, just google Fuhrmann butt cracks. I did. Assigned to shepherd into print a story containing the sentence But cracks eventually appeared in Lambs public persona, Fuhrmanns copy desk experienced a conjunction malfunction that yielded the best typo to ever run in The Times, as Tessa Stuart of L.A. Weekly dubbed it. (It makes for a fun anecdote, Fuhrmann later conceded. In retrospect.) No one, evidently, is immune. And messages composed in the heat of the social-media moment routinely betray their spontaneity I get that. But when you have 1.07 million Twitter followers and run a $69.4-billion federal agency with 4,400 employees or lets say you have 25 million followers and run the country you should probably hire a proofreader to catch, at the very least, the obvious stuff. Mr. Precedent, now that youve visited CIA HQ and reassured the spooks you have their backs, may I suggest a reciprocal guarantee? The next time youre tempted to express yourself online, ask an intern to scan your Android screen before you press Tweet. Cultur comes from the top. Allan Fallow, who tweets as Conan the Grammarian, is a writer and editor in Alexandria, Va. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook President Trumps selection Monday of a cerebral, widely respected military strategist as his new national security advisor signaled an abrupt about-face from the chaotic tenure of Michael Flynn, forced out last week just shy of a month on the job. The choice of Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, 54, who has a reputation for battlefield acumen as well as scholarly achievement, won quick bipartisan plaudits from key lawmakers charged with oversight of national security and intelligence a boon for a White House still seeking its footing after first-month missteps. Trump infused his choice of Flynns replacement with some of his trademark showmanship, summoning his four finalists for interviews over the weekend before the announcement of McMaster at his Mar-a-Lago resort here. The president then brought the cameras into an ornate sitting room to introduce McMaster, seated beside him in uniform, as a man of tremendous talent and experience. Advertisement He is highly respected by everyone in the military, and were very honored to have him, Trump said. McMaster has deep combat experience he commanded forces in both Iraq wars and fought in a famous tank confrontation in the first Iraq war known as the Battle of 73 Easting but lacks the intelligence background Flynn had. Whether that matters remains to be seen. Temperamentally, McMaster is far from the volatile Flynn, who had raised alarm in many quarters over his conspiratorial outlook, his hotly anti-Islamic worldview and his murky ties to Russia. Associates of the new security advisor, whose appointment will not require congressional confirmation, have described him as tough and detail-oriented, with a wide-ranging intellect grounded in hard-won realism. He also has no immediately apparent connections to Russia, notable amid increasing calls in Washington for a congressional investigation into possible ties between Moscow and Trumps associates. It is not an overstatement to say that Americans and the world should feel a little safer today, tweeted Andrew Exum, an author and academic who saw combat in Afghanistan and writes widely about military affairs. But McMaster, who will remain on active duty, as previous national security advisors Brent Scowcroft and Colin L. Powell did, will inherit a position already riddled with potential pitfalls. Those include the ascension of White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon to a permanent seat on the National Security Council a sharp departure from previous White Houses that sought to shield the most sensitive security decision-making from political influence. McMasters greatest strengths could put him at loggerheads with Bannon and other powerful figures in the presidents camp. He is perhaps best known for astute analysis underscoring the need to push back against power structures in both the military and the civilian leadership. McMaster turned his doctoral dissertation into a much-lauded book, Dereliction of Duty, which detailed the failings of senior presidential aides as well as the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Vietnam War. That willingness to buck conventional wisdom carried over into his battlefield days in Iraq, where his thinking helped underpin the counter-terrorism strategy of Gen. David H. Petraeus, widely credited with changing the course of that war. Until the weekend, Petraeus was himself thought to be under consideration for the national security post, but his chances had been clouded by his forced resignation as CIA chief after having an extramarital affair and sharing classified information with his lover. Mondays seemingly smooth rollout stood in sharp contrast to the tumult surrounding Flynns resignation a week earlier, which came at Trumps behest after it became publicly known that he had misled Vice President Mike Pence and other senior administration officials about discussing U.S. sanctions with the Russian ambassador to Washington. Trumps first choice to succeed him, retired Vice Adm. Bob Harward, turned down the job amid reports that he had been unable to secure a pledge he would be able to pick his own staff. The insisted-on retention of deputy K.T. McFarland, a former Fox News commentator, was reportedly a deal breaker for Harward, who publicly cited family and financial concerns in declining the position. The White House emphasized the autonomy being given to McMaster. The president gave full authority for McMaster to hire whatever staff he sees fit, a White House spokeswoman told reporters. It is highly unusual for even a retired senior military officer like Harward to resist the call of the commander in chief to such a crucial position. For an active-duty officer like McMaster, there was little question of him stepping up. At Mar-a-Lago, McMaster said it would be a privilege to serve. Praise for Trumps pick came from both sides of the political aisle. Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said on Twitter that McMaster was a solid choice, bright and strategic-minded. Wrote the book on importance of standing up to the president, Schiff tweeted. May need to show same independence here. Even some of Trumps sharpest critics on the Republican side were effusive. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who in recent days had expressed some highly public misgivings about the administrations foreign policy direction and fundamental values, called McMaster an outstanding choice and a man of genuine intellect, character and ability. He knows how to succeed, McCain said in a statement. I give President Trump great credit for this decision. Another Republican, Rep. Devin Nunes of Tulare., who is chairman the House Intelligence Committee, pointed to McMasters history of questioning the status quo and infusing fresh thinking and new approaches into military affairs. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a veteran of the Iraq war, also hailed the selection, calling McMaster one of the finest combat leaders of our generation a true warrior-scholar. Somewhat tellingly, Trump answered only one of the multiple questions reporters asked at the announcement: whether Pence had helped select McMaster. He did, the president said. Trump and Pence spoke earlier Monday by phone as the vice president wrapped up a trip to Europe in which he worked to reassure nervous allies about the U.S. commitment to NATO. In Brussels, Pence for the first time publicly addressed Flynns misleading reassurances to him though without touching on the more explosive question of whether he felt left out of the loop after others in the White House learned weeks earlier that Flynns account did not square with intelligence intercepts of the calls between him and the Russian ambassador. I was disappointed to learn that the facts that had been conveyed to me by Gen. Flynn were inaccurate, Pence said, adding that he had fully supported Trumps decision to push out Flynn. Retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, who had been a contender for the job but considered unlikely to win it, was to stay on as McMasters chief of staff, Trump said. Another contender for the national security advisors job, former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton, was invited to play an unspecified role in the administration. Memoli reported from Palm Beach and King from Washington. michael.memoli@latimes.com Twitter: @mikememoli laura.king@latimes.com Twitter: @laurakingLAT ALSO: Trump reverts to campaigning a month into his term. This time, his opponent is the media White House denies any collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia No, Trump critics. Its highly unlikely he has committed treason UPDATES: 5:20 p.m.: This story was updated with comment from and background on McMaster and reaction from lawmakers. This story was originally published at 2:10 pm. President Trumps next national security advisor will serve as his eyes and ears to crises that pop up all over the globe and be thrust into the center of the White Houses biggest firestorms too. Amid the fallout over the firing of the first person to hold the post, Michael Flynn, the president has escalated his war with the media, questions have mounted about Trump associates ties to Russia, and his top pick to replace Flynn backed away, making it known he was concerned about how much autonomy he would have. Filling the job has emerged as a key early test of Trump and the dynamics within his White House, the subject of unprecedented scrutiny after a stormy first month. Advertisement Four candidates to replace Flynn trekked Sunday to Trumps weekend White House, his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, for in-person interviews: former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton, West Point Supt. Lt. Gen. Robert Caslen, acting National Security Advisor Keith Kellogg and Army strategist Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster. Trump told reporters a day earlier on Air Force One that he had a leading candidate among them. Others could be added to the list, officials said, and candidates could return for follow-up interviews Monday. One name that had been floated, former CIA director David H. Petraeus, was ruled out. I have many, many that want the job, Trump insisted as he promised a decision within days. Trump maintained last week that his administration is functioning smoothly and like a fine-tuned machine. But the West Wing is battling incessant reports of internal strife at the highest levels, and questions about the outsize role being played by chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon. He has been given a permanent seat on the National Security Council, which is the presidents principal forum for confronting national security and foreign policy issues and coordinating U.S. response among agencies. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said on NBCs Meet the Press that he had concerns about the makeup of Trumps National Security Council and whether it could be subject to political influence, and that others shared his view. Trumps initial choice to replace Flynn, retired Navy Vice Adm. Bob Harward, turned him down, citing family and financial considerations. But news reports suggested that Harward, a onetime Navy SEAL and now a senior executive at Lockheed Martin, rejected the post because he feared insufficient control over key staffing decisions, including the right to choose his own deputy. White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus insisted in an interview that aired Sunday that concerns over Bannons role did not play a part in Harwards decision. The issue never came up, Priebus said. Harward himself canceled a scheduled appearance on ABCs This Week, just an hour before airtime, the network said. Priebus said the new national security advisor can do whatever that he or she wants to do with staffing. The president has been very clear on that topic, he insisted to Fox News Chris Wallace in a testy interview that also touched on the White Houses complaints about coverage of Trumps troubled presidency. But even as the White House insisted that any incoming official will have full authority to shape his own staff, aides appeared to acknowledge an exception. Craig Deare, the National Security Council director for Western Hemisphere affairs, was removed from his position after reports emerged of critical comments he made about Trump policies at a private discussion at a Washington think tank, a White House official confirmed. Deare returned to his role at the National Defense University, from where he had been detailed to the National Security Council. If you dont support the presidents agenda, you shouldnt have a job in the White House, Trump spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Sunday. Trumps next national security advisor must have full authority to shape staffing, Thomas Donilon, a former national security advisor in the Obama administration, said on CBS Face The Nation. The councils deliberations should not compete with alternate and parallel processes being run by others in the administration, he said, implying Bannon. The world is looking for President Trumps definitive views, he said. And theres a high degree of uncertainty and anxiety in the world. And the place where that happens is the National Security Council. Trump had asked for Flynns resignation after law enforcement officials informed the White House that he had misled senior officials and the public about conversations hed had with the Russian ambassador over U.S. sanctions to punish Russias efforts to meddle in the presidential election. Calls have grown for a more far-reaching inquiry in Congress of Russian attempts to influence the U.S. government and potential contacts with Trump associates. Priebus flatly denied that Trumps campaign colluded with Russia during the election. Priebus, who served as chairman of the Republican National Committee last year, had said he could not speak to any involvement with Russia by campaign staff. But asked on Fox News Sunday whether there was collusion between anybody involved with Trump and anybody involved with Russia during the campaign, he replied, No. He was somewhat more equivocal in an interview on NBCs Meet the Press, when asked about a New York Times article last week that alleged contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives. U.S. intelligence assessments have said Russia interfered in the election with the aim of aiding Trump. We dont know of any contacts with Russian agents, Priebus said. The chief of staff also told NBC he was not aware of anyone else in the White House, other than Flynn, who was forced to resign last week, having been interviewed by the FBI about Russian contacts. Priebus, in the Fox News interview, cited top levels of the intelligence community as having assured him that the account of the Trump campaigns constant contact with Russian spies was incorrect, but he did not cite any official or agency, undercutting his own argument about journalists use of unnamed sources in their reports on Trump. Priebus nonetheless said on CBS that reporters should take Trump seriously when he refers to the press as an enemy of the American people. We spend, you know, 48 hours on bogus stories, and the American people suffer, he said, calling on the media to get its act together. We have done so many things that are noteworthy and an accomplishment one day after the next. The story line should not be about bogus Russian spy stories. Times staff writer Laura King in Washington contributed to this report. michael.memoli@latimes.com Twitter: @mikememoli ALSO Trump reverts to campaigning a month into his term. This time, his opponent is the media Trump leaves the White House bubble and shifts to campaign mode, hoping for momentum The White House has found ways to end protection for Dreamers while shielding Trump from blowback Many are scripted, lots are self-deprecating, some are off the cuff. Theyve been delivered at news conferences, dinner parties and in one case from a hospital gurney. Jokes, it seems, are vital to a presidency. So this Presidents Day, pause to ask not what your president can do for you, but whether he can tell a joke. Heres a look at some of the best presidential zingers. Advertisement I hope youre all Republicans. Ronald Reagan, looking up at his physicians after being shot by a would-be assassin in 1981 I am sure you have all noticed that the White House is getting a new coat of paint. The painter says it is leak-proof. I sure hope so. Gerald Ford, to the White House Correspondents Assn. in 1975 My country has in its wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived. John Adams, on his time as vice president I always look forward to these dinners where Im supposed to be funny intentionally. George W. Bush, at the 2005 White House Correspondents Assn. Dinner Im not surprised. But for what? Franklin D. Roosevelt, when told that wife Eleanor Roosevelt, visiting a penitentiary, was in prison In my final year, my approval ratings keep going up. The last time I was this high, I was trying to decide on my major. Barack Obama, at the 2016 White House Correspondents Assn. Dinner Obama on his approval ratings: "The last time I was this high, I was trying to decide on my major" #WHCD https://t.co/cU4YnxkHkv CNN (@CNN) May 1, 2016 The media is even more biased this year than ever before ever. You want the proof? Michelle Obama gives a speech and everyone loves it its fantastic. They think shes absolutely great. My wife, Melania, gives the exact same speech, and people get on her case. Donald Trump, before his election in 2016, on wife Melania Trumps Republican National Convention speech No matter how tough it gets, however, I have no intention of becoming a lame-duck president. Unless, of course, Cheney accidentally shoots me in the leg. Bush, poking fun at Vice President Dick Cheneys accidental shooting of a fellow hunter No matter how mean he is to me, I just love this guy. Because together, together we give hope to gray-haired chunky baby boomers everywhere. Bill Clinton, on Jay Leno It costs a lot to dry-clean a suit over there in Japan, and the prime minister had an expensive one. George H.W. Bush, a week after vomiting on Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa at dinner in Tokyo in 1992 With so much focus on the presidential election, Ive been feeling a little lonely these days. Im so desperate for attention, I almost considered holding a news conference. Reagan, as a lame duck, remarking on the 1988 presidential election Im surprised that a government organization could do it that quickly. Jimmy Carter, after a guide in Egypt told him it took only 20 years to build the Great Pyramid Madame, we spend our time taking pills and dedicating libraries. Herbert Hoover, when asked what retired presidents do You wont need a visa, but I may need one I was thinking of going up to the Congress. Richard Nixon, at the White House Correspondents Assn. Dinner in 1973, on a trip he was seriously thinking about taking Theyre all mine, son. Lyndon B. Johnson, addressing a Marine who said, Mr. President, this is your helicopter over here Over the last few months, Ive lost 10 pounds. Where did they go? Why havent I produced them to the independent counsel? How did some of them manage to wind up on Tim Russert? Clinton, at the 2000 White House Correspondents Assn. Dinner Former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush at the Presidential Leadership Scholars Program launch in 2014. (Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press) It was involuntary. They sank my boat. John F. Kennedy, when asked how he became a war hero If you give me a week, I might think of one. Dwight D. Eisenhower, when asked in 1960 what major ideas Nixon had contributed as vice president Tonight to show my goodwill, Im going to give you such an inside story off the record, of course, so put away your crayons. Carter, to the White House Correspondents Assn. in 1979 You dont mean necking places? Roosevelt, when asked at a news conference in 1940 about parking shoulders on highways You lose. Calvin Coolidge, after a young woman sitting next to him at a dinner party said she had bet that she could get at least three words of conversation from him I watch the commercials. I read my papers while the news is on. Reagan, when confronted about reading important documents while watching TV I got on the scale, put in a penny, a card came out that said, You are handsome, debonair, sophisticated, a born leader of men, a silver-tongued orator, and someday you will make your own mark in history. Helen leaned over, looked at the card and said, It has your weight wrong, too. Ford, on longtime White House correspondent Helen Thomas In 2008, my slogan was, Yes, we can. In 2013, my slogan was, Control-Alt-Delete. Obama, on the rocky rollout of the Obamacare website HealthCare.gov I always talk better lying down. James Madison, as he lay on his death bed Were it not for my little jokes, I couldnt bear the burden of this office. Abraham Lincoln alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com Follow me on Twitter @AleneTchek ALSO Other presidents have battled the press. But never like Trump Trumps search for a national security advisor sums up his biggest challenges so far No, Trump critics. Its highly unlikely he has committed treason Malaysian police on Sunday told North Korea they will not hand over the body of Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, without DNA samples from his family. Deputy Inspector-General of Malaysian police Noor Rashid Ibrahim told a reporters in Kuala Lumpur, "The body must be identified. The most eligible to identify the body physically are the next-of-kin." "We will verify again through scientific means, so it is very important for close family members to come forward to assist us in the process of identification based on legal procedures under Malaysian law," he added. Ibrahim said none of Kim Jong-nam's family members have come forward yet. North Korean Embassy officials earlier tried to prevent an autopsy and demanded the body be handed over immediately. Kim's first wife and son live in Beijing, while his second wife, son Han-sol and daughter Sol-hui live in Macau. Malaysian news portal FMT reported last week that Ri asked through the Chinese embassy for the body to be handed over to her, but it is unclear whether any relatives will brave the risk of traveling from China, where they are protected by the government, to Malaysia. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders got a rock stars welcome when he spoke in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday in what was theoretically a book tour stop but amounted to more of a political rally, urging progressives to play by new rules as they resist President Trumps administration. We are looking at a totally new political world, he said. If we play by the old rules, we will lose and they will win. Our job is not to play by the old rules. Sanders, 75, used the stage at the Theatre at the Ace Hotel as part of Los Angeles Times Ideas Exchange to buttress his pitch to reshape and redefine the Democratic Party after the 2016 election. Advertisement He got the crowd roaring by tearing into Trump for repeating false claims that thousands of New Jersey Muslims cheered on the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and that millions of immigrants in the U.S. illegally voted in November. I say this with no pleasure, my wife dislikes me saying this, but the truth is that Trump is a pathological liar, he said, reiterating a statement he made a week prior on NBCs Meet the Press. Either he knows that he is lying or even more dangerously, he does not know that he is lying. Since Trumps electoral college victory, Sanders has secured a spot on the Senate Democrats leadership team and begun to reassert the populist political vision that won him millions of votes against Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential primary. Sanders applauded the activism that has sprung up since Trumps inauguration and said Democrats and progressives needed to continue to build a resistance to Trump as well as a vision for the future. We can defeat Trump and Trumpism and the Republican right-wing ideology, he said. We have to understand, despair and throwing up your hands that aint an option. Sanders believes a majority of voters agree with progressive values and Trump has a mandate for nothing, but he sought to explain Trumps electoral college win despite losing the popular vote, arguing the party did not do enough to appeal to economically downtrodden industrial workers. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders speaks about what Donald Trump was able to seize up to win the election before discussing his new book Our Revolution with Los Angeles Times columnist and political cartoonist, David Horsey, at the Ideas Exchange eve Sanders said Trump whom he called a phony billionaire seized on anxiety and fear among working-class voters on his way to victory. The issue, he argued, was not that Trump won the election so much as the Democratic Party lost the election by not answering the call of those workers. He asked voters to put themselves in the hearts and the souls of workers who have lost jobs and who feel left behind by the global economy. Sanders repeated many of the populist platforms he ran on, including rallying against the influence of money in politics and a financial system he says rewards Wall Street bankers while the American middle class shrinks. The key to a progressive resurgence, he said, could be turning Trumps message on its head by persuading workers who have lost jobs that foreign workers who come to the U.S. in search of a better life are not their enemies. Instead, he said, corporate greed is the main cause of their economic woes. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks about a working class world while discussing his new book Our Revolution with Los Angeles Times columnist and political cartoonist, David Horsey, at the Ideas Exchange event in The Theatre at Ace Hotel in Los Ang Sanders began on Sunday by thanking California voters who cast ballots for him, and shouts of Bernie 2020 rang out multiple times in the sold-out theater. Clinton won Los Angeles County and California by large margins, but Sanders found support in pockets of Santa Monica and Silver Lake, as well as northeast and downtown Los Angeles. Sanders campaign found a fount of support in Los Angeles during the primary, holding rallies with hip rock bands and liberal celebrities and drawing cheers from picnickers while walking around Echo Park Lake. Updates on California politics javier.panzar@latimes.com Twitter: jpanzar ALSO: Updates on California politics Trumps search for a national security advisor sums up his biggest challenges so far Homeland Security secretary drafts aggressive guidelines to carry out Trumps immigration orders UPDATES: Feb. 21, 11:50 a.m. : This article was updated with an additional quote from Sanders about Trump. This article was originally published Feb. 19 at 10:20 p.m.. You hear this every time theres a drought or deluge in California: Why havent they built more dams? Truth is, theyve built a bunch. And theyre about done with it. Tally them up. There are more than 1,400 dams in the state. At least 1,000 are major and 55 can hold 100,000 acre-feet or more of water. One acre-foot is enough to supply two average households for a year. Advertisement There are 36 reservoirs that can contain at least 200,000 acre-feet. Eleven can hold 1 million or more. The biggest is Shasta on the Sacramento River at 4.5 million acre-feet. Then comes Oroville with its broken spillways on the Feather River at 3.5 million. The largest reservoir in Southern California is Diamond Valley in Riverside County at 810,000 acre feet. For perspective, Castaic Lake off Interstate 5 heading over the Grapevine is about 324,000 acre-feet. So theres already a heap of storage capacity in California or whats called surface storage in water talk, in contrast to underground aquifers. The largest 200 reservoirs alone have a combined capacity of 41 million acre-feet. Theres at least one dam on every river running off the west slope of the Sierra except for the Cosumnes, just south of Sacramento, says Jeffrey Mount, a water expert at the Public Policy Institute of California. And that doesnt have enough water in it to make a dam worthwhile, he adds. Thankfully. The Cosumnes frequently spills over its banks, flooding roads and barns. But just before it enters the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the natural-flowing Cosumnes forms a popular nature preserve that annually hosts thousands of migratory waterfowl, including giant sandhill cranes. California has lost 95% of its wetlands since 1900. So pardon if talk of balancing whats left isnt really appealing. Anyway, dams dont make it rain and end droughts. And lack of rain was our principal drought problem, regardless of corporate agricultures squawking about governments and judges coddling salmon. You can build more dams, but there isnt more water flowing into California, says Jay Lund, a water expert and professor of civil and environmental engineering at UC Davis. This year, theres more water than reservoirs. But if you can only fill them every 10 years, they make less sense economically. There arent many sensible dam sites left in California. Weve already built the cheap dams, Lund says. The remaining sites mostly are pretty expensive and are not going to give you that much water. Economically, youre not going to find a lot of people volunteering to pay for those dams. Theyd be happy if someone else paid for one. For environmental and cost reasons, Gov. Ronald Reagan killed dam proposals on the Eel River and the Middle Fork of the Feather nearly 50 years ago. An earthquake scare later scuttled a proposed dam on the American River above Folsom Lake. There are earthquake faults all over California that unnerve dam builders. Theres nothing simple about water in California, Lund notes. The best bet for the next major dam in California is called Sites, named after an old settlement in the low foothills of the Coast Range 14 miles west of the Sacramento River near Colusa. This would be an off-stream reservoir that didnt dam a river, so theres much less opposition from environmentalists. Water would be piped into the reservoir from the Sacramento when it was running high. Updates from Sacramento It would have a capacity of 1.8 million acre-feet and be the seventh-largest reservoir in California. Its estimated that 500,000 acre-feet could be delivered a year, split between agriculture, domestic and environmental use. But thered be only minor flood-control value, experts say. The cost? About $5 billion. Proponents are preparing to seek money from the $7.5-billion water bond issue that voters approved in 2014. Of that, $2.7 billion was set aside for water storage. Under the measure, up to half a projects cost could be paid for by the bond money. The rest would need to be footed by the water users on their monthly bills. But before water districts in the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California commit to pitching in, theyd need assurance the water could be moved through the troubled delta. And thats anything but certain. Delta farmers and environmentalists are fighting Gov. Jerry Browns $15.5-billion plan to dig two monstrous tunnels to siphon off fresh Sacramento River water before it ever reaches the estuary. And Brown hasnt shown any interest in trying to fix the fish-chomping water transfer system that exists. One other major dam is being promoted, but its economics are less promising and its environmental impact more controversial. Its Temperance Flat near Fresno on the San Joaquin River above Friant Dam. Its backers also are eyeing a piece of the 2014 bond issue. The default reaction when were faced with a water emergency is the 20th century notion that large investments in concrete will somehow solve our problem, Mount says. But if youve already tapped out that, the alternative is to look more closely at whether we can do a better job with what we have. And to date we havent done that. Operate the dams more efficiently. Recharge the aquifers. Expedite groundwater regulation. Capture storm runoff. Recycle. Desalinate. Build Sites. Compromise and fix the delta. One thing is not the answer: continuing to plant thirsty nut orchards in the arid San Joaquin Valley. george.skelton@latimes.com Follow @LATimesSkelton on Twitter ALSO Dam officials shouldve listened to those warnings about Oroville. Now were stuck with the tab California lawmakers are stuck on Trump, but theres a problem at home that needs attention: Dirty water Trump says California is out of control. State lawmakers should make sure they dont prove him right 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Killing with kindness, GOPs McClintock faces down hostile questioners as town hall goes into overti The Huntington Beach City Council on Tuesday is expected to decide whether to launch a review of the Downtown Business Improvement Districts finances. Council members will also consider approving a contract for the widening of Edinger Avenue to improve traffic flow on the busy street and discuss the possibility of opening the Central Library on Sundays. Councilman Erik Peterson has asked the council to request an investigation into the finances of the Downtown BID from the last three years, according to a document submitted to the council. A Business Improvement District (BID) is a public-private partnership that aims to revitalize a commercial neighborhood. Huntington Beach has three, including the Auto Dealers BID and the Hotel/Motel BID. Peterson said Friday that he has reviewed the financial report that the Downtown BID is required to provide to the council annually and found that it wasnt as extensive as he would have liked. That, coupled with a few complaints hes received from concerned residents regarding the BIDs spending, led him to call for an oversight review. Years ago, Peterson said, he and Councilman Mike Posey found that the Downtown BIDs financial reports lacked detail. He said the district seemed to have rectified the problem but that the latest report, submitted last year, needs clarification. The Downtown BID has an annual operating budget of about $450,000, which is mostly funded by the downtown businesses, said Kellee Fritzal, the citys deputy director of economic development. Included in the budget is a $155,000 reimbursement from the city for maintenance costs. The Downtown BID takes the helm on maintenance projects, and city public works employees monitor the work, Fritzal said. Peterson said Downtown BID members were receptive to an audit. If the item is authorized, the BID would have to turn over any financial statements and reports to the Huntington Beach Finance Commission for review. Edinger Avenue widening project The council could choose a business to helm the Edinger Avenue widening project. In a report, City Manager Fred Wilson is recommending that the council award a contract to All American Asphalt, a Southern California trucking company, because of its acceptable work on past city projects. The company submitted a bid of $399,928, the lowest among 10 potential contractors. The total project cost is estimated at $510,000, the report says. Currently the city has $423,484 available in the Edinger widening account, but Wilson has asked the council to approve the allocation of $104,000 from the traffic impact fee fund to help pay for the rest of the project. The project, approved in 2015, calls for widening the southbound side of the street, between Parkside Lane and Beach Boulevard, and lengthening the right-turn lane on Beach and Parkside. Central Library hours expansion The council will also continue discussing during a study session whether to open the Huntington Beach Central Library on Sundays, an idea that has been under consideration since former council member Dave Sullivan proposed it Nov. 21. The library had been open on Sundays from 1997 to 2010. The reduction to six days a week came during the Great Recession, when money was tight. City staff will present their findings about the fiscal ramifications of such a move. The council was set to consider the matter in January, but Peterson expressed concerns regarding cost, including pensions for new hires. A city managers report estimated that the cost of adding Sunday hours could vary from $70,000 to $260,000 annually, depending on staffing and maintenance demands. benjamin.brazil@latimes.com Twitter: @benbrazilpilot Tiny wooden houses are scattered across the harsh gray sand of Kobokara hamlet in southern Madagascar. A woman squats in one of them, looking out her low door. Her small stick house is bare, but for a blanket, a mosquito net and a homemade straw mat. Her words settle in a sigh: I have nothing left. It is the lament of a parched land, where women cry for thirsty children, and farmers hope is spent. In Madagascar, the island nation off the southeastern coast of Africa, a grim cycle has set in. Rains arrive late and leave early in the African country most exposed to climate change, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. Droughts, earthquakes, epidemics, floods, cyclones and extreme temperatures have wrought severe damage on agriculture in recent decades. Advertisement The worst drought in 35 years pushed families to the brink in the last year, with the harvest 95% lower than in 2015. Fringes of prickly pear cactus run through Kobokara, yet to bear fruit. Usually it is only cattle fodder. Its been one year that we have been eating the leaves of the cactus, said the woman in the stick house, Tonelie. Like many here, she has only one name. Nearly 850,000 people in Madagascar desperately need food aid. But the U.N.s humanitarian appeal for the country is only 29% funded because of emergencies elsewhere. Even the most desperate families are given only half of what they need to survive. Each year, farmers in southern Madagascar sow their seeds in November for the rainy season, but in recent years the skies have only spluttered sulkily for a few weeks, before drying up and searing the immature crops. Some rain finally arrived late last year, but many families had no seeds left to plant and no money to buy them. I had no money to buy water, so my children were crying. Sometimes when I see my children crying, theres a tear in my eye too. Jocelyn Rasoanakambana, 29, a single mother of six children in Ikopoky village, southern Madagascar With repeated crop failures, people have to sell firewood to survive, taking small sharp axes and hacking efficiently at the trees that are the lungs of their dying country only deepening the crisis. Tonelie, 42, has six of her eight children still living at home and no husband. She has land to farm, but it is bare. Eight months ago, she made the long, regretful walk to market to sell her last cow. Many people in this harsh land have sold their last goat or even their last chicken. Then week by week, they have sold everything else: clothes, spoons, tin plates, cups, pots, plastic sheets. Even their mattresses. They cling finally to their plastic water cans, receptacles of the last drops of hope. Tonelie even had to sell hers. Her small stick house is bare. Tonelie, of Kobokara village in southern Madagascar, had to sell everything to buy water and food. (Robyn Dixon / Los Angeles Times) Painfully thin, she speaks with quiet resignation. She rises each morning with empty pockets and has the hours of daylight to somehow come up with something so that she and her children can live another day. She works someone elses land to earn the equivalent of about 30 cents a day. She took her children out of school because there was no money, so they must help in the grinding job of survival. In Kobokara, people dig holes in the sandy ground for water, but five months ago, the water dried up. Once a week, water sellers from a village to the east drive their ox carts nine miles along the deep sandy track, and Tonelie takes out the crumpled, sweaty banknotes that will decide her week. If I have [enough] money I buy two cans. If not I buy only one can, said Tonelie, referring to the plastic five-gallon cans used to store water. (She has to borrow them.) In a bad week, that leaves the equivalent of just over one soda can apiece a day. My biggest problem is food, she said. The 30 cents she earns as a farm laborer buys water, but its not enough to buy food. Her family survives on prickly pear cactus and occasional handouts from an uncle in a nearby village. Across the south, small children endure constant, pitiless thirst. Mothers go without so that their children can drink a little more. The biggest issue in the south is water. They dont have rain. They dont have access to water, even in good years, said Elke Wisch, UNICEFs country director for Madagascar. In the neighboring village of Ikopoky, Jocelyn Rasoanakambana, 29, puts her six children to sleep without water on the days she has no money. I can borrow a bit of money to buy water, she said recently. But when its day after day after day, even my relatives dont want to give. When we have no money, we go to bed without drinking any water. Last Thursday was one of the worst days. I had no money to buy water, so my children were crying. I felt so helpless, thinking about what is happening to us. Sometimes when I see my children crying, theres a tear in my eye too. In her village, three children in one family died recently and the parents moved away. Humanitarian agencies such as the World Food Program, UNICEF, Catholic Relief Services and USAID have tried to help, providing cash grants, food, seeds, water and health projects. But their efforts havent been enough. World Food Program rations had to be cut in half because the agencys fundraising target from donors fell short, and some villages were never reached by humanitarian agencies. During Madagascars worst drought in 35 years, parents spend what little they have on food and water, leaving no money for school costs. World Food Program school meals keep children in class and address malnutrition. (Robyn Dixon / Los Angeles Times) Families are ashamed abut not being able to provide for their kids. Theyre embarrassed, said Joshua Poole of Catholic Relief Services. If a child passes away they wait until night to bury them, when no one else is around. From Tonelies house in Kobokara, its short walk past a rare shady tree to the small house of an old farmer named Veza. He plucks a red flower from the prickly pear cactus and bites into it with crooked yellow teeth. He planted last year, but the crop died; this year he had no money and no seeds, and there was not enough rain. He senses his life is coming to an end, gradually whittled back to nothing. Vezas modest wealth was the work of a lifetime: three goats and four cattle, in a culture where money and pride are counted in herds of cows and bulls. But one of the cattle died. Four years ago, after bad rains and a failed harvest, he took the bitter decision to sell the other three. I didnt have any choice. I felt terrible, because I didnt have cattle. I had nothing. A year later his wife, calling him weak, walked out and never came back. Then two of his three goats died. And with dwindling hope in recent months, he sold the last goat and all his plates and pots. I am so unhappy. Im just waiting out the rest of my life, until I die. In the parched village of Kobokara, southern Madagascar, people have been surviving on sour cactus, and small children endure constant thirst, after the worst drought in 35 years. (Robyn Dixon / Los Angeles Times) Underlying the crisis is entrenched, grinding poverty, corruption and bad governance. We are talking about a country with a large majority of the population being extremely poor, said Wisch. There is a small group of the population which is extremely rich. Around 90% of Madagascars 23 million people live on less than $2 a day and 80% survive on less than a dollar, according to UNICEF. As a result of chronic malnutrition, nearly half of the children suffer stunting, the fourth highest rate in the world. Where you have chronic poverty and theres a shock, people fall straight into crisis because they dont have any reserves. They dont have any food, said Jean-Luc Siblot of the World Food Program. In Madagascar, three years of poor rains and crop failures have led to a catastrophic situation. The U.N.s ambitious Sustainable Development Goals which include urgent action on climate change and the elimination of all hunger and poverty by 2030 are supposed to see the world humanitarian community move beyond crisis mode. The aims include boosting peoples resilience, improving education, strengthening agriculture and reversing land degradation and deforestation. But long-term goals take a back seat in times of crisis a withering drought caused by the 2015-16 El Nino, and humanitarian emergencies in Nigeria and South Sudan triggered by war. Lets be clear. To overcome a poverty situation such as this one, a development program by a number of international organizations will not solve the problem. It is the government and good governance that will at some point change the situation or make the situation a little better, said Siblot. There needs to be reforms at all levels, said Wisch, of UNICEF. There needs to be a focus on bringing down the levels of corruption. Many farmers, defeated by drought, have left to work in the wetter, less impoverished north of the country, as rickshaw cyclists or illegal miners in protected forests. They include Tonelies former partner, the father of her eight children, who sent her $3 last year. She doubts she will ever see him again. When it finally rained in Berohambato village in December, Kazy Liarihee felt a stirring of hope. Her husband hurried out early in the morning to plant the few seeds of cassava, maize and sweet potato that they have left. Even if the rain does last, the family with nine children will endure months of hunger before the harvest. Its very hot, she said. There was no rain last year and we had no crop. The wind blows all the time, and we eat only red cactus. robyn.dixon@latimes.com Twitter: @RobynDixon_LAT This story was reported with a grant from the United Nations Foundation. ALSO The practice of female genital mutilation appears to be on the decline in many countries, surveys show Kenyas High Court rules against government plan to close the worlds biggest refugee camp Syrian war memorial is dividing Dresden, itself a symbol of the ravages of war The South Sudanese government and humanitarian agencies on Monday declared a famine in parts of the country, which has been devastated by three years of war. The announcement comes as international aid agencies are overwhelmed by catastrophes unfolding in four countries. The United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan said Monday that 100,000 people are already starving in the country. In some areas in Unity state, in the north of the country, more than 30% of the population are suffering acute malnutrition. Advertisement U.N. humanitarian agencies warned that 275,000 children were at risk of starving to death unless there is a rapid increase in humanitarian aid. Famine has become a tragic reality in parts of South Sudan and our worst fears have been realized. Many families have exhausted every means they have to survive, said Serge Tissot, the Food and Agriculture Organizations representative for South Sudan. Those affected are predominantly farmers and war has disrupted agriculture. Theyve lost their livestock, even their farming tools. For months there has been a total reliance on whatever plants they can find and fish they can catch. After more than two decades of war, South Sudan won independence from Sudan in 2011 following a referendum. The worlds newest country, it relies on oil to survive, but inherited a shattered and neglected infrastructure. To make matters worse, billions of dollars went missing after independence because of rampant government corruption. Just 18 months after independence, South Sudan plunged into a civil war that has destroyed the trust among different ethnic groups and undermined the fragile government. The declaration of the famine followed a report by the government and humanitarian agencies called the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, which regularly examines several measures of famine, including mortality rates. South Sudans National Bureau of Statistics chairman, Isaiah Chol Aruai, acknowledged the problem and called on the international community to scale up aid in coming months. The U.S. Famine Early Warning Systems Network recently warned of an unprecedented need for emergency food assistance globally, with four famines or threatened famines. There is famine in parts of Nigeria and South Sudan, and famine threatened in Somalia and Yemen. Internationally, the need is staggering: 70 million people in 45 countries will need food aid this year, according to the U.S. network. The two worst crises in Nigeria and South Sudan are man-made, caused by fighting and insecurity. In other countries, such as Somalia, the worst drought in decades has led to successive crop failures and mass deaths of cows, goats, sheep and other animals. Nearly 5 million South Sudanese, or 42% of the population, are facing dire hunger or starvation, according to the Integrated Food Security report, and the number of people in crisis is expected to rise to at least 5.5 million by midyear, when South Sudans lean season sets in. The conflict in South Sudan has seen people flee their homes and has cut trade routes with neighboring countries such as Uganda and Kenya. Food prices have soared by 800%, putting food out of the reach of impoverished families. Thousands of refugees have sought shelter in camps in Uganda. Unity state is particularly fragile, having been one of the states most affected by a civil war between rival factions of the governing party, the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement. The fighting broke out in December 2013 and efforts to forge a peace deal collapsed last year. The catastrophe is most severe in the towns of Leer, Koch and Mayendit, which have grappled with extreme hunger, along with fighting, massacres and gang rapes, over the last two years. In Leer and Koch, many people have had to survive on waterlily roots in recent years. Much of the violence has been carried out by government soldiers, along ethnic lines, according to human rights organizations, although both sides have committed atrocities. In some of the more accessible areas of South Sudan, such as Bahr el Ghazal, international humanitarian assistance has helped to avert famine. It is of paramount importance that assistance not only continues in 2017, but scales up in the face of mounting food insecurity across the country, the Integrated Food Security report says. The report notes a narrow window of opportunity during the dry season to pre-position and deliver humanitarian assistance to prevent drastic increases in food insecurity through the lean season that peaks in July. It also cautions that the pressure on humanitarian resources could leave South Sudan with insufficient food aid to turn the famine around. A further problem was lack of access for humanitarian agencies because of the conflict. This famine is man-made, said Joyce Luma, country director for the World Food Program in South Sudan, which has seen its facilities looted on several occasions by armed groups. WFP and the entire humanitarian community have been trying with all our might to avoid this catastrophe, mounting a humanitarian response of a scale that quite frankly would have seemed impossible three years ago. But she warned that without peace and security, there is only so much that humanitarian assistance can achieve. robyn.dixon@latimes.com Twitter: @RobynDixon_LAT ALSO Nigerian president disdains his countrys best hospital for medical care in Britain. But what ails him? In Madagascar, mothers weep and send their children to bed without water to drink In Somalia, famine is looming and families with no food or water are leaving their land President Trumps mysterious reference to a frightening security episode in Sweden prompted a deluge of online ridicule and an official request for an explanation Sunday from a Nordic country that prides itself on tranquility. At a rally on Saturday in Florida, making a case for measures like his controversial travel ban, Trump alluded to mass-fatality terrorist attacks in recent months in European cities such as Paris, Brussels and Nice. You look at whats happening last night in Sweden Sweden! he told the crowd of supporters. Who would believe this? Sweden! Advertisement But Swedish authorities reported no terror-related incident or other episode involving large-scale violence. A Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Catarina Axelsson, told the Reuters news agency that the U.S. State Department had been asked for an explanation. We are trying to get clarity, she said. The Swedish Embassy in Washington said the same, via Twitter: About #swedenincident #lastnightinsweden unclear to us what President Trump was referring to,have asked US officials for explanation Embassy of Sweden US (@SwedeninUSA) February 19, 2017 But that was just part of a tweet storm built around a Twitter hashtag, #lastnightinsweden and #swedenincident, which yielded postings including an image of a cozy farmhouse set in an idyllic-looking snowscape, an array of riffs on complicated IKEA furniture-assembly instructions and an assortment of tweets pretending to darkly implicate Swedens perhaps best-known export, the 70s pop sensation ABBA. Police believe the notorious Abba-Meinhof Gang were responsible for the #swedenincident pic.twitter.com/ZNUyrz7evY Tom Reagans Hat (@andymannion77) February 19, 2017 Another common Twitter theme was a popular Muppets character the Swedish chef, sometimes depicted with a cleaver in hand. Prayers to the victims of the IKEA attack in Bowling Green. Never Forget. #swedenincident pic.twitter.com/ctQtxlLJMH James Romano (@JRomano312) February 19, 2017 Other tweets mused on the night in question: I guess it was pretty dark, or It was kinda cold, or Last night Trumps hair color appeared in the Northern Lights. Also weighing in was Swedens official tweeter. Each week, the countrys national Twitter account is turned over to a regular citizen, and this weeks tweeter-in-chief was a school librarian, Emma Johannson, who found herself responding to a barrage of tweets about the mystery. Among her many responses: And if anyone has missed it, NOTHING HAS HAPPENED IN SWEDEN! There is no terrorattack or anything of the sort. @sweden (@sweden) February 19, 2017 The mystery was cleared up in due course more or less. Fox News, of which the president is known to be an avid consumer, had aired an interview segment Friday night featuring filmmaker Ami Horowitz claiming a Swedish government coverup of a surge in migrant-related crime, including sexual assault. At Mar-a-Largo, the Trump-owned Florida resort where the president spent the weekend, the deputy White House principal spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said she believed Trump had seen the report, but didnt say whether the Fox segment was Trumps source of information. She told reporters the president was talking about rising crime and recent incidents in general. A short time later, Trump tweeted: My statement as to whats happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on Fox News concerning immigrants & Sweden. My statement as to what's happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 19, 2017 In his campaign-style address to supporters in Melbourne, Fla., the president had specifically referred to Swedens long-standing tradition of welcoming refugees and migrants. They took large numbers, theyre having problems like they never thought possible, he said. Asylum applications in Sweden peaked in 2015, during a surge of migration led by those fleeing countries like Syria and Afghanistan, but the numbers have since been scaled back significantly. Swedens overall crime rate remains low, falling since 2005, according to official statistics, but rape rates during the same period have risen, a change partly attributed to changes in the way sexual assault is legally defined. The bizarre claim capped a week in which some of Trumps senior lieutenants, including Defense Secretary James N. Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Vice President Mike Pence, traveled to Europe to try to soothe European allies rattled by Trumps affinity for Russian President Vladimir Putin and by doubts about the U.S. commitment to the NATO alliance. Former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt initially took to Twitter to express somewhat lighthearted incredulity that Trump would make an unsupported claim that left many believing the country had suffered a major terrorist strike. Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking? Questions abound. https://t.co/XWgw8Fz7tj Carl Bildt (@carlbildt) February 19, 2017 What has he been smoking? he tweeted acerbically. But later, the statesman took a more serious tone, telling Swedish Radio that he considered Trumps seemingly casual disregard for truth to be deeply worrying. If we are in a situation where there is tension in the world, we stand between war and peace, he said in the radio interview, according to the Associated Press. If we then have a president who spreads lots of false rumors, it can be truly dangerous. Times staff writer Michael Memoli in West Palm Beach, Fla., contributed to this report. laura.king@latimes.com @laurakingLAT ALSO Trump says he will issue a new order after a very bad decision blocked his initial travel ban White House denies any collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia Other presidents have battled the press. But never like Trump On Presidents Day, here are some of the best presidential zingers North Koreas top envoy in Kuala Lumpur has denounced Malaysias investigation into the apparent killing of the exiled half brother of North Koreas ruler, calling it politically motivated and demanding a joint probe into the death. The investigation by the Malaysian police is not for the clarification of the cause of the death and search of the suspect, but it is out of the political aim, Ambassador Kang Chol told reporters Monday. Police had pinned the suspicion on us, he said, calling on Malaysia and the international community to work with North Korea on a joint investigation. Advertisement Kim Jong Nam, the estranged brother of North Korean ruler, died last week after apparently being poisoned in a Kuala Lumpur airport. Kang, however, identified the dead man as Kim Chol. U.S. military advisors are now fighting alongside Iraqi forces near the front lines against Islamic State, a sign of President Trumps willingness to grant more latitude to American commanders than theyve had since Iraqs ground war against the militants was launched more than two years ago. The Trump administration has not yet granted new authorities, but has loosened the reins for U.S. generals running the war, allowing hundreds of U.S. troops to join advancing Iraqi forces as they embark on their most complex mission to date: liberating Mosul, their second largest city. For the record: An earlier version of this article said that Defense Secretary James N. Mattis retired as a four-star general in 2014. He retired in 2013. Allowing U.S. forces to head to the leading edge of the battle was almost unthinkable under the Obama administration, which was reluctant to be seen as putting American lives in harms way in a foreign war. Advertisement In recent weeks, however, about 450 U.S. special forces and spotters have traveled with the Iraqis to direct airstrikes against Islamic State positions and advise Iraqi ground commanders on how best to advance on the battlefield as they move to free west Mosul, said Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria. It is true that we are operating closer and deeper into Iraqi formations, he told reporters at a military outpost at Baghdad International Airport. We adjusted our posture during the east Mosul fight, and we embedded advisors a bit farther down into the formation. Townsend made the disclosure during James N. Mattis first visit to the Iraqi capital as Defense secretary. Mattis plans to submit a more aggressive battle plan to defeat Islamic State to the White House by months end, and he hinted a willingness to grant more leeway to U.S. officers overseeing the war. Well accommodate any requests from the field commanders, he said. Right now, our allies -- as you can tell from the casualty lists -- are carrying the overwhelming burden of this fight in their own territory. The authority to put U.S. forces near combat lines, rather than back at headquarters, was quietly granted in November under President Obama in his last days of office. It wasnt clear why Obama granted the authority, but U.S. generals running the fight against Islamic State appear to be embracing newfound freedom under Trump to make full use of it. Additionally, Trump ordered Mattis to devise a new battle plan to defeat Islamic State. Its due at the end of the month. The Pentagon didnt publicly announce the change in protocol, but it became apparent Sunday after scores of uniformed U.S. soldiers were seen fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with Iraqi forces in the assault on west Mosul, the Islamic States last major stronghold in the country. U.S. forces now go as close as they need to get, said Col. John Dorrian, a spokesman for the campaign against Islamic State. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi announced the much-anticipated assault early Sunday, and by nightfall roughly five square miles had been recaptured on the southern outskirts of the western bank of the Tigris River. Iraqi forces pressed their attack Monday, getting to within striking distance of the citys southern entrance on the second day of their offensive. Iraqs official combat media said units from the federal police and its special forces arm, the emergency response division, had wrested control of Albu Sayf, the last Islamic State-held area before the city. The latest push brings the troops within striking distance of Mosuls airport at the southern edge of the city. A second prong of the attack cleared a stretch of the Baghdad-Mosul highway leading into the city, further tightening a weeks-long blockade on the western half of Mosul. Mosul, which is bisected by the Tigris River, was seized by a skeleton force of Islamic State militants who swatted away a government force of some 20,000 men in the summer of 2014. It became the extremist groups Iraqi capital: Abu Bakr Baghdadi, the groups leader, announced the creation of a caliphate in a mosque in west Mosuls Old City. Since then, security forces have been eager at a chance for redemption. They got it in October, when the government, backed by the U.S.-led coalition, began its campaign, taking the citys eastern bank after 100 days of fighting so intense that it forced the government to take a break. On Monday afternoon, convoys comprising dozens of Humvees, mine-protected vehicles and construction trucks from the Iraqi counter-terrorism service were gathering near the village of Athbah, six miles from the city. Smoke billows in the background as Iraqi forces, supported by the Hashed Shaabi (Popular Mobilization) paramilitaries, advance near the village of Husseinyah, south of Mosul, on Feb. 20, 2017. (Ahmad Al-Rubaye / AFP/Getty Images) The counter-terrorism service, an elite U.S.-trained group that specializes in urban warfare, has led the charge against every Islamic State bastion, including east Mosul. It will face a potentially more difficult job in the citys western districts, home to an estimated 750,000 to 800,000 people packed in a more densely populated area. Iraqi officials say the terrain of west Mosul makes clear the need for U.S. military advisors to work alongside and help direct precision airstrikes. The ancient city is densely populated with narrow streets, alleyways and close-built communities. One miscalculation could lay generations of antiquities to waste. Sabeh Noman, spokesman for the Iraqi militarys elite counter-terrorism service, said there is little room for error. Combat vehicles are too wide to navigate through many streets, so the Iraqis will be locked in house-to-house urban combat. East Mosul was liberated last month by Iraqi forces. The four-month operation was hard-fought and backed by hundreds of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes. In that part of the city, a fighter jet could drop a 2,000-pound bomb to destroy a building, U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Matt Isler said. On the west side, that same bomb would take down eight buildings. Having a U.S. spotter to help deliver airstrikes mitigates against leveling city blocks, Isler said. Trump repeatedly said on the campaign trail that he would make a priority of defeating Islamic State, and went so far as to call Obama the founder of the group for presiding over the conditions that led to its creation. In his inaugural address, he vowed to eradicate Islamist terrorism completely from the face of the Earth. Whether the new military blueprint under Trump will speed the end of the battle against Islamic State is far from certain, but Iraqi officials believe it will be crucial against the 2,000 militants still inside the city. Ousting the Sunni Muslim extremists from Mosul is a major objective for Abadis fragile government. He has set a goal of regaining control of his nations territory and borders by the end of this year. There is no question that a successful U.S.-backed assault with 50,000 Iraqi and Kurdish troops on a major urban center would mark a turning point in a war that has been slow-moving, with constant setbacks, since the Iraqi forces abandoned the city and left their weapons behind in 2014. Even with U.S. special operations troops near the battle, Iraqi troops have the greater burden of evicting the militants and securing the city. When Mattis stepped off the C-17 cargo plane into the morning sun, it marked his first return to the war-torn country where he spent years in combat as a Marine Corps officer before retiring as a four-star general in 2013. He said he was heartened by his discussions with Abadi and other senior Iraqi government officials despite the near-constant war in Iraq for more than two decades. Theres been a lot of rocky times out here, he said. There is no doubt from my discussions today that the Iraqi people, the Iraqi military, and the Iraqi political leadership recognize what theyre up against. Times staff writer Hennigan reported from Baghdad and special correspondent Bulos from Athbah, Iraq. william.hennigan@latimes.com Twitter: @wjhenn ALSO: Climate change is real: Just ask the Pentagon Overweight, tattooed, stoned? The Pentagon may still want you Captured battlefield cellphones, computers are helping the U.S. target and kill Islamic States leaders Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans long-held dream of expanded powers and up to 10 more years in office will soon go before voters. But the proposed constitutional changes, which would usher in a presidential system, with a weak parliament, no prime minister and a subservient judiciary, have divided the country and embittered his critics. Parliament, which Erdogans Justice and Development Party dominates, endorsed the package Jan. 19, in effect voting to strip itself of power, and election authorities set April 16 as the date for a nationwide referendum. There hasnt been much public discussion, and when it begins, Erdogan has seen to it that the airwaves are likely to carry the government case. But thats only one element of the problem for free discussion. Advertisement Turks are still recovering from a failed coup in July and are living under a state of emergency. They are in a state of shock from terrorist attacks and worried by the continuing Kurdish insurgency in the southeast. The news media have been subjected to unprecedented intimidation, with Erdogan ruling by decree and closing down print outlets and broadcast units as he sees fit. Print and broadcast media are now almost entirely in the government camp, and 151 journalists and other news media workers are in jail. Demonstrators shout slogans and hold banners during a protest in Ankara, Turkey, against the dismissal of academics from universities. (Adem Altan / AFP/Getty Images) Foreign human rights monitors have issued scathing reviews of the proposals for constitutional change, under which Erdogan, already in power for 14 years, will be head of his party, government and state and be eligible to run for two more five-year terms. If passed, the changes would take effect in 2019. The amendments will pose a huge threat to human rights, the rule of law and the countrys democratic future, for they will concentrate unchecked power in the presidents hands, New York-based Human Rights Watch said last month. The current political environment is completely inappropriate for a vote of any kind, said Nate Schenkkan, a Turkey expert in the Washington-based Freedom House, who added that the April 16 decision will shape Turkey for decades to come. The Council of Europe, the continents leading human rights body, voiced deep concerns about whether the revised constitution would guarantee the separation of powers, proper checks and balances, and the independence of the judiciary, which are a prerequisite for democratic societies. In a report issued Wednesday, the European commissioner for human rights expressed grave concerns that the amendments would reduce the autonomy of an already weak judiciary and fail to address the current constitutions serious shortcomings in human rights and freedom of expression. What is the point? Hes already undisputedly running the country. Nate Schenkkan, Turkey expert at Freedom House And the European Unions most powerful politician, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, while in Ankara, the Turkish capital, this month, called the changes a profound political transformation and urged that everything should be done to ensure that separation of powers and plurality of opinion are guaranteed. Pro-government media have predicted an easy victory for Erdogan, with one daily newspaper, Sabah, calling it a shoo-in. Polls, however, show the public is almost evenly divided. Erdogan acknowledged as much Sunday as he left on a tour of Persian Gulf states. At this moment, I dont think our people have come to the point where they can understand the presidential system clearly, he said. The uncertain prospects seem to have rattled him and his top aides, who demonize opponents as following the lead of terrorist movements. Theres little dispute that Turkey needs a new constitution to replace the 1982 document imposed on the population by a military government and since ratified 18 times. But unlike the last major attempt to draft a constitution 10 years ago, which added whole sections to protect civil and human rights, the latest amendments focus almost exclusively on Erdogans desire for a presidential system. Freedom Houses Schenkkan expressed surprise that Erdogan was putting so much effort into the changes when he already has the power. What is the point? Hes already undisputedly running the country, Schenkkan said. The 18 amendments to be voted on came about not by holding a convention or assembling a panel of experts, but in an undisclosed backroom deal between Erdogans party, which has 317 deputies in the 550-seat parliament, and the rival Nationalist Movement Party. Until the failed July coup, the Nationalist Movement Party was a bitter critic of suspected corruption in Erdogans party. The second-biggest party, the Republican Peoples Party, with 133 seats, was created by the founder of modern Turkey, Kemal Ataturk, and is dead set against the changes, as is the other major party, the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party. As many as 12 members of the Kurdish party, including its two leaders, are in jail on suspicion of supporting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK, which is at war with the Turkish state. One tactic used by the governments campaign has been to use the countrys crisis to paint potential no voters as PKK sympathizers. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim charged last week that the the PKK and followers of self-exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Erdogan blames for the coup attempt, are terrorists and of course we say yes to what they say no. Erdogan, far from maintaining neutrality as is he is obliged to under the current constitution, said Sunday that the referendum was a response to the coup attempt. The position of those who will say no in the referendum could mean siding with July 15, he said, referring to the date of the coup attempt. Erdogan was just making an observation, said Ahmet Berat Conkar, a member of parliament from Istanbul, representing Erdogans party. He said neither Erdogan nor Yildirim think that no voters are members of terrorist groups. What they are saying is that these groups are very strangely lining up in the same camp. So think about your vote, he said. Then last week, Erdogan used his emergency powers to suspend Turkeys equivalent of the fairness doctrine, so there will be no penalties if television stations fail to give equal time to speeches for and against the referendum. With nearly all TV networks in the pro-government camp, this could stifle public debate. With this new regulation, only they will call the shots until the referendum, and the TV stations will be able to freely broadcast only for the advantage of one side, tweeted Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the Republican Peoples Party, after the decision was published. Conkar responded that there are dozens of media outlets. Everyone is trying to push his own position. In this complex environment of Internet, social media, everyone is able to make his statement heard, for or against the changes. And how many no campaigners will take to the streets to demonstrate their position after the arrests of young people just for carrying placards? The elected president of the country openly calls for a yes vote and accuses those who call for no of being terrorists. Can things get any more biased? said Yasemin Bektas, a civil society activist in Istanbul. Ergun Ozbudun, a law professor at Ankaras Bilkent University, headed the panel of experts that worked on the 2007 draft for a new constitution at Erdogans request. It was a much more democratic and liberal text, he said, 100% different from what is proposed today. He said he opposes the proposed changes because they will lead essentially to one-man rule, without parliamentary control, without effective judiciary control, without effective media control. It will amount to one mans personal control. Even if the amendments pass, its not the end of the road for shifting the balance of power among the branches of government, said Levent Korkut, a law professor who works with Checks and Balances, a nongovernmental organization that has done studies on the separation of powers. He said that parliament under the amended constitution is not strong enough, but that modifications could be made by giving subcommittees the authority to oversee presidential appointments and making it easier for parliament to launch investigations. But the opposition refused to enter the discussion. Thats the problem, he said. There is no creativity on the opposition side. They just defend the old system. But the old system was not a good system. Gutman is a special correspondent. ALSO Heres why the idea of moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel remains controversial A human rights activist is slain in Cambodia, and the mystery leads all the way to California Romania is engulfed by protest in a political awakening of the young Was there a terrorist attack in Sweden Friday night? No, but U.S. President Donald Trump seemed to suggest there had been, leaving Swedes baffled by just what the new American leader might have meant by an offhand remark. At a campaign rally Saturday in Florida, Trump alluded to past terrorist attacks in Europe linked to open-borders immigration, saying, "You look at what's happening in Germany. You look at what's happening last night in Sweden. Sweden. Who would believe this? Sweden." But there were no high-profile, terror-linked events in the Scandinavian country Friday night. Trump did not elaborate on the remark until Sunday evening, when he tweeted that he was referring to a Fox News broadcast about migrants and Sweden. Apple in the past too, have been troubled by Chinese firms consistently succeeding in overtaking the Cupertino giant, with better sales and cheaper prices primarily in the Chinese markets. Even if all iPhone are actually made in China, the fact that Apple has managed to concede to manufacturers in the local markets is not all surprising. Apple's pricing mainly adds to others managing to crush Apple down in general. It's not just Apple or other smartphone manufacturers who've not managed to have a successful sales chart, consistently pointing out the dropdown in sales to all these firms in China. It's likely due to the fact that the Chinese, in general, prefer to buy locally manufactured smartphones which will work out cheaper for the consumer too, with added bonus being exceptional support for the consumer. This is a primary source as to why local start-ups in China have managed to overtake corporate giants in their own nation. As reported above, Apple has lost the fourth spot in smartphone purchase to local competitor Xiaomi, as per recent quarterly results, reported by MacRumors. The Cupertino giant falls down to the fifth spot from fourth in shipment sales. Huawei managed to stay consistent in sales managing to ship out 76.2million units in 2016 itself while Apple managed to sell only 43.8million units, down by 18.2 percent, adding to the company's decline in global shipments last year. Combined shipment sales from Xiaomi and Apple only managed 131.6million shipments in china. Xiaomi too, on the other hand, fell down a bit, but not at a level that affects Apple. The analysis in the past has continuously pointed out at Apple's decline in China. Some details about the decline have been discussed on Economic times. Xiaomi at once was claimed to be the 'Apple' of China but however, not anymore. Their strategies for sales for some time have relied only on online channels. Apple, on the other hand, has mainly relied on the brand factor that is still filling up the cash in the banks. India may be able to meet its entire energy requirement from the resources on the moon by 2030. The Indian Space Research Organisation has confirmed the news on Saturday. The Sun has been always a source of energy for the world. But an untapped source of power, Moon may soon be able to meet India's entire energy requirement. India's India's entire energy requirement can be meeting through Helium-3 mined from the moon, reported by DNA. The distinguished professor at the Indian Space Research Organization has stated that our country can meet its energy demands through Helium-3 mined from the Moon. The process target will be met by 2030. Pillai said," By 2030, this processing target will be met". He has stated while delivering the valedictory address at the three-day ORF-Kalpana Chawla Space Policy Dialogue, organized by Observer Research Foundation. Pillai is a former chief of BrahMos Aerospace. He also stated that lunar dust is rich in Helium-3 and mining it was a first priority program for the ISRO. Pillai said," in a few decades, people will be going to the moon for honeymoon". According to Times of India, other countries will also be working on this project. There is a lot of helium on the moon, which can fulfill the energy requirement of the whole world. This will be only possible by creating low-cost access to Moon and developing the multi-purpose and reusable vehicle. The Director General of Indian Army, P.M. Bali said, the launch of GSAT-7, India's first dedicated military satellite, is a testimony to the country's outlook towards using the outer space for national security. He claimed that India got possession one of the largest constellations of communication and remote sensing satellite. However, Lt. Gen. Bali has stated that India continues civilian orientation to its space. But, by the changing reality of global realities, India requires to develop its global realities and also military power. The Macbook Pro 2016 edition, the most expensive Macbooks yet, have now come out with the Touchbar feature that users have mostly used it to serve their emoji needs and other text predictions while writing. The touch bar that Macbook Pro is implemented, is likely being used primarily by content creators and other creative professionals as showcased during their launch keynote last year. Microsoft Office, on the other hand, has found the Touch bar on the new Macbook Pro variants, to suit their application needs. According to a report from the Apple Insider, the Redmond-based corporation will roll out an update for Macbook Pro users letting them make use of the Touch bar to sync in progress with their office applications suite. The update will be providing quick access wherever available in their applications. The report also confirmed that the update would be in compliance with all their applications, hiding top menus like formatting in a word to be accessed on the touch bar. The initial testing procedure was available to all beta tested, eight days before final release. Additional details from Engadget also revealed that their voice calling software Skype to receive support very soon. The touch bar features will include improved features like inserting data into files or hyperlink text in the document directly on the Touchbar. Powerpoint users meanwhile will receive control-specific commands that will help in the quick creation of any presentation. The update is free of cost to all Microsoft users with a subscription. However, the touch bar might not prove to be very beneficial after all due to the constant necessity of users looking down whether their current operation was precise or not. This was, in fact, pointed out in many reviews online. It might be beneficial to speed up things but however, the primary concentration still stays on the screen. Things might change after continuous usage but the cost, however, cannot be justified. Angelina Jolie made her first official public appearance in Cambodia together with all her six children in the premiere of her newest directorial film. Jolie expressed her joy over coming back to Cambodia which she considered as her second home. The premiere night was held in Siem Reap and was about the life of a human rights activist who Angelina knew personally. Her brood got a chance to reunite with their friends in the country and also to meet and greet with Cambodia King Norodom Sihamoni. Angelina Jolie had a press conference after she and her kids met with King Sihamoni, US Weekly reported. The actress recalled how she fell in love with Cambodia back when she was just filming "Tomb Raider." This is also where she adopted Maddox, her eldest in 2002. The "Maleficent" actress mentioned that the movie was from an autobiography of Loung Ung which included gruesome details about the Khmer Rouge's regime. Angelina narrated that Ung's work opened her eyes to what has happened during the regime and helped her understand what Maddox's parents could have experienced. Maddox was very active in the production of the film, Vanity Fair reported. His brother Pax as well as his other siblings made friends with the children that were also involved in the film and their visit served as their reunion. Angelina Jolie wore a simple black dress, let her hair down and wore little makeup on. The children looked very excited as they wore monochromatic suits; their mother might have told them to wear something formal since they were going to meet the King. Angelina Jolie gave an exclusive interview on BBC regarding her new movie and her life with her kids as she goes through her divorce. The "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" star said that it has been difficult for her family but she wants them to become closer and stronger despite the ordeal. She also said that she copes by focusing on her six children. The sub-brand of ZTE, Nubia has confirmed its presence at the upcoming Mobile World Congress that will take place this month. The Chinese firm is known to produce some of the best budget smartphones in the past. Seems like ZTE have sent out event invites to the media to be present at their booth in the MWC, the biggest smartphone trade fair every year. As of now, there's no proper information about the products that's planned by ZTE to introduce to the consumers at the trade event. Reports from GSMArena indicate that they have no event-specific announcements in place likely indicating that a completely new product at the MWC is highly unlikely. Earlier rumors had pointed out to a new product from ZTE. However, The Nubia Prague S also called as the Prague S2 is expected to be announced at the annual event, which at the moment is not confirmed yet. The Mobile world congress is expected to take place in the last week of February from Feb. 27 up to Mar. 02 which will likely host a lot of smartphone manufacturers primarily Samsung and LG. Both the firms have confirmed their presence and will also likely introduce their best smartphones for this year. Details from Gadgets 360 also indicate that ZTE might announce the Gigabit phone at the event that's supposedly capable of handling insane download speeds up to a gigabit per second matching its name. The speeds will help users achieve faster downloads like virtual reality videos, FLAC music and streaming movies from Netflix etc. It's only sane to wait for the MWC to begin since very little details are known as of now from the ZTE camp. It's believed that the Chinese firm has secured a floor presence at the event. With that said, The MWC will play host to around a dozen manufacturers who'll be presenting their best hardware for the year of 2017. The Navy illustrated United States deployment of an aircraft as the start of its routine operations in the South China Sea, last Saturday, despite Beijing's warnings not to tests its power in the resource-rich ocean. China claims the greater part of the ocean as its own, in spite of its overlapping territorial and jurisdictional cases from the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Brunei. BBC reported that it has been building simulated island with airstrips in the South China Sea for various years. The plane carries warship was in the South China Sea two years prior, for activities with Malaysia's naval force and air force and has made 16 voyages to the region in its 35 years of US navy service. A week ago at the news meeting, China's Foreign Ministry representative, Geng Shuang, reprimanded an advance news of the deployment. He included that China asked the U.S. to give up from challenging China's power and security in the sea. According to USA Today, as indicated by the U.S. Defense Department in a 2015 report, there is around 30 percent of worldwide maritime trade goes through the South China Sea every year, which worth of $5.3 trillion. The water is additionally key fishing resources and is rich in oil and normal gas reserves. The United States has taken no position on the regional claims however, it has conducted an occasional freedom of the navigation operations close to the Chinese property, which have been activated heated warnings from Beijing. Tensions have additionally ascended in the past over incidental close experiences between U.S. and China's ships and aircraft around the debated zones. The USS Carl Vinson and the other ships and aircraft conducted a training off Hawaii and Guam before the launched initiated towards the South China Sea. The training was completed in the course of recent weeks, which brought the team improved of its adequacy and readiness as a strike group. The scientists have spotted more than 100 new potential alien planets, including one in the fourth-closest star system to the sun. The new study has confirmed the news. According to NBC, after 20 years of data analysis, the astronomers have spotted newfound possible exoplanets. The analysis of the data was gathered by the HIRES (High-Resolution Echelle Spectrometer) instrument at the Keck Observatory in Hawaii. The co-author of the University of California, Santa Cruz has stated that he was very happy to contribute to science that was fundamentally changing the view of us in the universe. Space has stated that by using "radical velocity" HIRES detects exoplanets. This strategy is different from the employed by the most prolific planet hunter of all the time. After the study, the astronomers have identified 60 so-called planets. They also got 54 others suggestive signals that require further investigation before they can be elevated to candidate status. In the new study, the researchers have spotted official candidates' circles the star GJ 411, known as Lalande 21185, which lies just 8.3 light-years from the sun. Last August, the astronomers announced the discovery of a potential Earth-like world orbiting Proxima Centauri. The scientific study of the research has stated that the possible GJ 411 planet is at least 3.8 times more massive than Earth and probably too hot to be habitable. The new planet lies quite close to the star, completing one orbit every 10 Earth days. However, the huge HIRES data sets consist of nearly 61,000 measurements of more than 1,600 stars. The HIRES researchers have called the biggest compilation of radial-planet-hunting observation ever and they have also shared it with other exoplanets researchers around the world. The new research, which was led by Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C, was published in The Astronomical Journal. The United States has deployed the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson to the disputed waters of the South China Sea on Saturday. The U.S Navy has confirmed this news. According to NBC, the aircraft carrier strike group that is included the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer and aircraft from Carrier Air Wing 2. The vessel was described as "routine operations" on February 18. The China's foreign ministry warned Donald Trump government against challenging Beijing's sovereignty in the region. The tension between China and the new American administration of President Donald Trump have started over trade, Taiwan, and disputed territorial rights in the South China Sea. BBC has reported that China has disputes with a number of countries over maritime areas and islands in the South China Sea. The South China Sea is considered the crucial portion of global trade and one of the busiest lanes in the world. The U.S. longstanding one china policy, which is recognized China's claim to Taiwan as a renegade province. The change in position came after a telephone call with China's President Xi Jinping. The aircraft carrier was last in the South China Sea two years ago. James Mattis, US Defence Secretary said during a recent trip to Japan that the Trump administration saw no need for "dramatic military moves" at the stage. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said," We urge the US not to take any actions that challenge China's sovereignty and security". The relations between two countries remain fraught, with each eyeing the other warily. The Chinese government and Chinese press which often reflects the Chinese government viewpoint particularly harsh toward Trump, calling him "reckless" and unfit to lead superpower policy. China wrapped up its own naval exercises in the South China Sea on Friday. War games involving its own aircraft carrier have unnerved neighbors with which it has long-running territorial disputes. Feb 20, 2017, 10:54am ET Lyft to test thousands of autonomous Chevy Bolt EVs? GM is expected to operate the largest test fleet of fully autonomous vehicles. General Motors is reportedly planning to significantly ramp up its autonomous Chevrolet Bolt test program. Several sources recently told Reuters the company will launch a fleet with thousands of prototype vehicles, most of which will be headed to Lyft as part of an experimental autonomous ride-hailing program. Most major automakers are already exploring autonomous technology via prototype vehicles on public roads, though most are only known to be operating fleets of a few dozen cars. "We do not provide specific details on potential future products or technology rollout plans," GM said in a statement. "We have said that our AV technology will appear in an on-demand ride-sharing network application sooner than you might think." Some industry players recently joined forces to lobby the federal government for a regulatory overhaul focused on autonomous vehicles. Automakers currently face a patchwork of varying state-level regulations, while the federal government only provides exemptions for test fleets of up to 2,500 vehicles per year. GM has not signaled any intention to offer its autonomous Bolt EVs to the general public. Feb 20, 2017, 5:18am ET Toyota previews Geneva-bound i-TRIL concept The i-TRIL is an electric three-seater. A brand-new Toyota concept car named i-TRIL will break cover in a few weeks' time at the Geneva Auto Show. The i-TRIL was developed jointly by Toyota's European division and its design center in Nice, France. We can tell it features an X-shaped signature lighting up front, but its styling is being kept under wraps for the time being. Toyota explains its latest concept is equipped with the Active Lean technology that debuted a couple of years ago on the diminutive i-ROAD. The model is all electric, and it offers space for up to three passengers. It's not a car, however; instead, it's billed as a new form of mobility that can replace economy hatchbacks -- like Toyota's own Yaris and Aygo models -- and motorcycles in crowded urban centers. The i-TRIL will be the exception to the rule, because Toyota's display in Geneva will put a big focus on performance. The rally-inspired, 210-horsepower Yaris GRMN will make its world debut at the show, and attendees will get to check out several race cars including the hot-rodded Yaris that spearheaded the brand's return to WRC, and the heavily-modified Hilux that tackled the grueling Dakar Rally last month. Margaret Thatcher nationalised the business rates because she felt local councils could not be trusted to work sensibly with local businesses. At around the same time she introduced the community charge in place of domestic rates, which morphed into the less regressive but still considerably regressive council tax. Liberal Democrats have agonised over the latter and our policy is still to introduce a Local Income Tax, instantly handing the tabloids an easy stick with which to beat us the Lib Dems want a chancellor in every town hall and plan to increase our taxes. The policy is right but certainly needs more careful marketing perhaps as income related council tax. We have spent less effort so far on business rates. We have tended to support the imminent ability of local authorities to retain business rates locally rather than pay into the centre, mainly on grounds of devolution. But this retention is more fictional than real, given the need to provide equalisation between (say) the City of Westminster, rural districts and northern councils and the general inability to change the actual rate itself (the multiplier) or the rateable value. Far more significant, however, than the essentially cosmetic rates retention project is the impending rates revaluation, set to blow up in the faces of many businesses in a significant part of the country. The effect is uneven: in some areas, the revaluations will be welcome. But in areas where property prices have risen sharply, the effect for some enterprises will be to turn profits into losses and thus force closures or staff cuts. Retailers, pubs and restaurants are all feeling under the cosh in London and the greater south-east (and elsewhere) and yet we are not making the case loudly for reform. The Guardian reports that three quarters of small businesses in London see business rates as the biggest problem that they face. Vibrant pubs may suddenly become boarded up I have 27 in my electoral division (lucky you, you may say), many of which have been trading for decades if not longer. Worse still, there are huge differences within areas, with (for instance) the pubs in St Albans facing raises of anything up to 240% while Sainsburys gets a cut. It cannot be right that a fiscal quirk unrelated to either the burden on or the contribution to the economy should make or break a currently profitable local enterprise. Solutions are not straightforward. The advantage of a property tax is the difficulty in avoiding or evading it. A tax on business income could simply expand the tax avoidance industry by making it look as though properties are located in low rate areas when the reality is the reverse. But we must do and say something. And do so now before we see yet further avoidable harm to our high streets. * Chris White is a member of the Liberal Democrat Voice Editorial Team, a Liberal Democrat Councillor from St Albans and Deputy Leader of the LGA Liberal Democrat Group. PUBLICANS are calling for an end to the Good Friday ban on the sale of alcohol. The Vintners Federation of Ireland has described the current law which prohibits the sale of alcohol on Good Friday as "archaic" and discriminatory. They are calling for an amendment to the licensing laws to permit all licensed premises to trade normally on the day. We do think that for a modern, multicultural city, that people would have the choice as to whether or not they wish to go to a public house, said Limerick publican and city councillor Jerry ODea, who is also secretary for the Vintners Federation of Ireland. At the moment, the situation is unfortunately a bit ludicrous, and for tourists staying in the city, theyre very confused as to where they stand, he added. Limerick was granted a special exemption from the ban in 2010, when Munster and Leinster clashed in Thomond Park on Good Friday. The boost to tourism that would result from the fixture was considered a good reason to allow local pubs to trade on the day. Thomond Park had a special stadium licence and would have been allowed to serve drinks on the day in any case. At the time, Judge Tom ODonnell said that he found it absurd that pubs could not open for business as well. People were visiting from Leinster, and it brought a lot of tourists to the city. We do feel it went very well in 2010 and wed like to see it lifted in its entirety, said Mr ODea. Its about giving people the choice, even if they are of a particular religious persuasion, its more about affording people the choice rather than about restricting people in their choice. We think it makes a lot of sense. The time is now for change, he added. Padraig Cribben, CEO of the VFI said the public view the law as being completely out-of-date. The law is over 90 years old. In 2017 Consumers should have the option to go out for a drink on Good Friday if they so choose. Indeed, many are choosing to drink at home or organise house parties on the day. Friday itself is a very important trading day for many publicans it accounts for 30% of their weekly business and this is especially true of bank holiday weekends, he said. The Government claim to be ready for Brexit but their inability to make a simple law change makes one wonder. Publicans have been engaging with politicians on this issue for the last six years but the constant response is the issue will be addressed as part of a new Sale of Alcohol Bill. Its as if ministers are living in never never land while the rest of us have to live in the real world, he added. The VFI are now calling on Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald to introduce the necessary legislation in time for Easter 2017, and to avoid further procrastination by deferring it to the Sale of Alcohol Bill. In the past, stores have noted a boost in alcohol sales on Holy Thursdays, as customers prepare for the one-day prohibition. A CAPACITY crowd helped get Abbeyfeale Enterprise Town off to a flying start. On the night of the launch alone, over 70 businesses, clubs and organisations signed up to take part and the hope now is that this will double by the time the Enterprise Town Exhibition takes place on March 3 and 4. Welcoming the initiative, which is being co-ordinated and funded by Bank of Ireland, the chairman of Abbeyfeale Community Council said the response to the initiative had been very positive. He also welcomed the fact that the Expo would open its arms to neighbouring parishes. This is a community wide effort to promote all organisations including businesses, and cottage type enterprise and to bring them all together, he said. The Abbeyfeale Enterprise Town project follows on previous successful events in Newcastle West, Askeaton and Kilmallock. Outlining the thinking behind the initiative, Bank of Ireland branch manager in Abbeyfeale, Barry OLeary said: I am really looking forward to welcoming Enterprise Town to Abbeyfeale and look forward to working with the committee on the initiative. I would encourage all businesses and community groups in the town to get involved and invite everyone to join us on one of the days of March 3 or 4. On the organising committee with Mr OLeary are Maurice OConnell, Marian Harnett, Olive Sheehan, John Morris, Kevin Kenneally, Orla Dennison, Joan Collins and Diane Browne. Businesses, clubs and societies interested in taking part in the events can register by emailing Barry_J.O'Leary@ boi.com or by calling into the Abbeyfeale branch to speak to any member of staff. THE PRODUCER of The Late Late Show has apologised to those who were offended when the Eucharist was referred to as haunted bread by one half of the Limerick comic duo, the Rubberbandits. Fr Kevin McNamara, parish priest in Moyvane, north Kerry, said that he still intends to file a complaint with the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland in relation to that segment of the show on January 6, which he described as blasphemous. Fr McNamara, who said the comments made by Blindboy Boatclub of the Rubberbandits were downright shameful and hurtful, is disappointed with the response he has received from The Late Late Show. The outspoken cleric circulated some of the responses he received from Larry Masterson, executive producer of The Late Late Show, in the Moyvane parish newsletter at the weekend. Mr Masterson said that while the phrase was certainly provocative, he does not believe that it was sacrilegious, but a linguistic phrase. Nonetheless, I accept that the phrase haunted bread has caused offence to some viewers and has been seen by some as disrespectful or mocking and for that I apologise, wrote Mr Masterson in an email to Fr McNamara, thanking him for sending his views. He said Blindboys concept was further supported by Stefanie Preissners assertion that growing up she was conflicted about eating the literal Body of Christ. In neither case did the guests deride or criticise the views of others, or their faith, but rather expressed their own difficulty with a core tenet of Roman Catholicism, said Mr Masterson. Fr McNamara said that he does not feel that The Late Late Show has adequately dealt with his concerns, and he will now take his complaint to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. In the show, Blindboy Boatclub said that young people attending Midnight Mass at Christmas were not going there for haunted bread, adding that everyone at Midnight Mass is half-cut anyway. I am disappointed with the response from The Late Late Show to my complaint referring to the blasphemous treatment of Holy Eucharist on the recent show, said Mr McNamara. During that show, presenter Ryan Tubridy enthusiastically endorsed the term 'haunted bread'. I would expect any presenter to display an unbiased view, and not to endorse any personal views expressed by guests on the show, wrote Fr McNamara to his parishioners. In Mr Mastersons response to Mr McNamara, he clarified that as part of the conversation, Tubridy, brought up a theory advanced on his radio show earlier that week that some people in their 30s are returning to the Catholic Church after a period of difficulty and scandal for the church. In attempting to hear new voices on the Late Late Show, it is inevitable that some will not like what they hear. Uncomfortable or unpopular opinions are part of debate as are views that clash or disagree with mainstream consensus, wrote Mr Masterson. Among those who support Fr McNamara is Fr Joe Young, formerly parish priest in Limerick's estate of Southill, who described the comments as totally offensive. Everybody should respect everybody's faith, regardless of what it is. When I give Communion to anyone who comes up in front of me, I believe I am giving the food of Christ, and that's what I have given my life to," said the chaplain with the Brothers of Charity in Bawnmore, Limerick. Fr McNamara said that while he is not a fan in general of the Rubberbandits' work, he believes them to be gifted and talented, and admired the song which shot them to stardom - Horse Outside. I was annoyed and hurt. I have given 35 years to the priesthood that I firmly believe in. I don't think the national broadcasting station is the place to ridicule it and make little of it. If people want to view Communion as haunted bread fine, but they should respect those of us who view it as the bread of life, and as a contact with Jesus Christ, he said. He continued: We have feelings as well, and we're being continually beaten down due to past failings and faults. There isn't one organisation in the whole world that hasn't made mistakes, and we're trying to rectify them as best we can. During the show, Blindboy Boatclub went on to argue that the Church does not want us to use critical thinking and is asking us to eat the ghost of a 2,000-year-old carpenter. MUNSTER and Ireland rugby legend Peter Clohessy has been declared bankrupt with 13.6m debt, according to reports. The 50-year-old former prop was declared bankrupt in the High Court on January 23. This is according to a notice in Iris Oifigiuil, the governments official gazette. The bankrupt is required to make full disclosure of his property to the court, it notes. Creditors may prove their debts and choose and appoint a creditors assignee. According to the Sunday Times, Mr Clohessy was declared bankrupt last month owing 13.6m. It reports that the Limerick man owed more than 7m to Pepper, an Australian finance company with an operation in Shannon, when he went bust. The Sunday Times said he had only 80 in cash and 90 in the bank, according to his statement of affairs. He attempted to reach a negotiated settlement with his creditors earlier this year but a deal was not reached and Mr Clohessys bankruptcy was subsequently approved by the High Court. Mr Clohessy, who turns 51 next month, was capped 54 times for Ireland and remains one of the most enduring figures in rugby. Nicknamed Claw, he finished his rugby player in 2002, making his first international appearance nine years earlier. He was involved in a number of businesses, the most prominent of which was Clohessys Bar and the Sin Bin Nightclub, which closed in October 2014. Mr Clohessy was not available for comment. A MAN who cycled the streets of Limerick with a sawn-off shotgun, before discharging the firearm at a group of people, has had his prison sentence increased by the Court of Appeal. Jason Freyne, aged 25, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court last year to possession of a firearm and ammunition at Hyde Road, Limerick on May 9, 2015. He was sentenced to eight years imprisonment with the final two-and-a-half suspended by Judge Tom O'Donnell on May 6, 2016. Freyne had his prison sentence increased this Monday on foot of an appeal by DPP who argued the original term was too lenient. Freyne, who has a large number of previous convictions, was resentenced to 10 years imprisonment with the final two-and-a-half suspended. Delivering the judgment, Mr Justice Alan Mahon, presiding, said Freyne had planned and executed an attack on people minding their own business. Mr Justice Mahon said Freyne had loaded a sawn-off shotgun, placed it in his backpack and cycled the Hyde Road area of the city wearing a bullet-proof vest. Having arrived at a particular location he ran towards the group before discharging the shotgun. He said the court noted that a man sustained gunshot injuries to the right side of his body and could so easily have resulted in one or more deaths. There was apparently an ongoing dispute between two families, the judge said. At the point of arrest, Mr Justice Mahon said Freyne was attempting to remove the shotgun from his backpack. However, there was no suggestion he intended to harm the gardai, the court heard. Mr Justice Mahon said Freyne had previous convictions for the unauthorised taking of a vehicle, possession of knives, possession of a stolen article, criminal damage and a number of road traffic offences. The sentencing judge remarked that he does not often comment on cases but what was alarming in this case was that a young man thought it appropriate to be riding around the streets of Limerick with a bullet-proof vest carrying an adapted shotgun. In contending that Freyne's sentence was unduly lenient, counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions, Timothy O'Sullivan BL, submitted that the value of Freyne's guilty plea was reduced because he was faced with coercive evidence. Mr Justice Mahon, who sat with Mr Justice George Birmingham and Mr Justice John Edwards, said the court was satisfied that the sentence was unduly lenient and ought to have been one of at least 10 years. Although the court viewed the two-and-a-half year suspension as not warranted, Mr Justice Mahon said the court would nevertheless and reluctantly apply the same suspended element. In doing so, the court noted the impressive progress Freyne had been making while in prison and his acknowledgement through his counsel, Anthony Sammon SC, that the feud which lay behind the offence, as far as he is concerned, is over. Feb 19, 2017, 10 PM The first Canadian-born governor general, Vincent Massey, was honored on a 6 stamp in 1969. By Michael Baadke Vincent Massey, who served more than seven years as governor general of Canada, was born Feb. 20, 1887, in Toronto, Ontario. Massey studied history at the University of Oxford in England and, along with his brother Raymond (1896-1983), later a prominent film and television actor in the United States, served in Canadas Army during World War I. Vincent Massey became an executive in his fathers Massey-Harris firm (later the Massey-Ferguson Tractor Co.) prior to serving as Canadas first minister to the United States in 1926. He was named Canadian high commissioner to England in 1943 and headed the National Gallery of Canada from 1948-52. Massey was then chosen to serve as governor general of Canada, the first Canadian-born representative so designated. During his tenure, from 1952 until 1959, Massey sought to promote Canadian artistic achievements and unify the diverse cultures of Canada. In 1967, Massey was appointed to the Order of Canada during the first year of the orders founding. He died at age 81 later that year on Dec. 30, and was commemorated on a 6 Canadian stamp issued Feb. 20, 1969 (Scott 491). We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page. This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. In the spring of 1837, a "long, gawky, ugly, shapeless man" walked into Joshua Speed's dry goods store in Springfield, Illinois, requesting supplies for a bed. Speed said the cost would be US$17, which ended up being too pricey for the visitor, who asked instead for credit until Christmas. The 23-year-old Speed was nonetheless taken with this stranger; he "threw such charm around him" and betrayed a "perfect naturalness." The stranger was none other than a 28-year-old Abraham Lincoln, a quarter-century before he would take the oath as the 16th U.S. president. Speed spontaneously came up with an alternative plan. He said he had a large room upstairs above the store and a double bed he was happy to share. Without a word, Lincoln picked up saddlebags that contained his lifes possessions and walked upstairs. He came back down and said, with a big smile, "Well, Speed, I'm moved." So began what would become one of the most important friendships in American history. It was a friendship that proved redemptive for Lincoln, helping him through two serious, suicidal bouts of depression that threatened his relationship with his future wife and his political ambitions. It is a story I tell in my new book, "Your Friend Forever, A. Lincoln: The Enduring Friendship of Abraham Lincoln and Joshua Speed." Love and loss After Lincoln moved in, the two men became inseparable, sharing stories, feelings, fears, hopes and dreams. Speed intensely idealized the impressive, articulate and very funny Lincoln, who in turn felt safe opening up to his younger friend. They shared that common bed for nearly four years, though all the evidence suggests their relationship was not sexual. It was, instead, a paradigmatic 19th-century male friendship (opens in new tab): close, even loving, as each young man sought solace in their anxious, confused attempts at wooing women. Lincoln especially struggled with intimacy. His first love, Ann Rutledge, had died suddenly in 1835, leaving him distraught. When he moved to Springfield, Lincoln was not in a good place. But he was still hopeful for love. In late 1839, 21-year-old Mary Todd moved to Springfield from Lexington, Kentucky (likely to escape the stepmother she despised). Mary moved in with her older sister, Elizabeth Edwards, and her husband, Ninian, in their imposing mansion. A sprightly, appealing woman, Mary was fluent in French, could cite long passages of poetry from memory, had an excellent sense of humor and closely followed politics. Lincoln met her at a soiree in the Edwards' mansion he often attended these events with Speed and became immediately enchanted with Mary. That winter Lincoln seriously courted her. By the following summer, the two were engaged to be married, with a date set for Jan. 1, 1841. But in a move that has baffled historians (opens in new tab), Lincoln broke off the engagement in late December 1840 and fell into a suicidal depression. Bedridden, he was prone to hallucinations, and his friends were worried enough to hide his razor. He was, in the words of his friend, future law partner, and eventual biographer William H. Herndon, "crazy as a loon." What historians haven't noted and what I was able to discover in the course of my research is that Speed, whose father had died in the spring of 1840, had been planning to return to Louisville, Kentucky, to straighten out the affairs of the family's large plantation. In August and September, Speed began to post notices in the local paper, calling in his debts as he prepared to sell his store and return to Louisville. Speed ended up not leaving until the spring of 1841. But in the fall of 1840, as his marriage to Mary Todd approached, Lincoln lived with the prospect of losing his best friend. My argument is that Lincoln became confused even panicked at the looming loss of Speed coupled with the fast-approaching wedding date. He spiraled and, without warning, suddenly broke off his engagement with Mary. A brief reunion Late in the summer of 1841, Lincoln visited Speed's Louisville plantation. Reunited, the friends took long walks together, and Speed's mother, Lucy, doted on Lincoln. Around this time, Speed met and quickly became engaged to Fanny Henning at which point he also got depressed, just as Lincoln had earlier in the year. Speed's fears of intimacy, as he later wrote in a letter to Herndon, mirrored those of Lincoln. He even feared being separated again from his friend and ended up returning to Springfield for the rest of the fall to be with Lincoln. But by the end of the year, Speed felt he needed to go back to Kentucky to prepare for his marriage in February. (There was no way, given the distance and his work obligations, for Lincoln to travel to Louisville for the wedding.) It was wrenching for both men to be separated again. During those first two months of 1842, Lincoln wrote a remarkable series of letters to Speed leading up to the marriage on Feb. 15. (Unfortunately, we dont have Speed's replies.) This most interior of men "shut-mouthed," as Herndon called him bared his deepest feelings to his best friend. "You know my desire to befriend you is everlasting," Lincoln wrote in one of these letters, "that I will never cease, while I know how to do any thing." Lincolns special knowledge of Speed's inner life pervades the very fabric of the letters. "Feeling, as I know you do," begins the very first sentence of the first letter. In another letter, Lincoln notes, "You well know that I do not feel my own sorrows much more keenly than I do yours." "You will feel verry badly," he says knowingly of Speed's fears about consummating the marriage. And later: "it is the peculiar misfortune of both you and me, to dream dreams of Elysium [paradise in classical mythology] far exceeding all that any thing earthly can realize." In other words, what Speed feels, Lincoln feels. What Speed knows, Lincoln knows. What Speed does, so does Lincoln. Lincoln inserts himself into Speeds self, which he experiences as a dimension of his own. Testing the waters of intimacy As Speed's marriage approached, Lincoln projected his own confused fantasies onto his friend to vicariously test the waters of intimacy. (Lincoln and Mary Todd, at that point, weren't in contact.) It seems Speed barely tumbled out of his wedding bed on the morning of Feb. 16 to write his friend of his successful consummation and how the roof didn't fall in which elicited a fervid response from Lincoln: "I received yours of the 12th written the day you went down to William's place, some days since; but delayed answering it, till I should receive the promised one, of the 16th, which came last night. I opened that latter, with intense anxiety and trepidation so much, that although it turned out better than I expected, I have hardly yet, at the distance of ten hours, become calm." It's remarkable to think that the 33-year-old Abraham Lincoln was still feeling anxious a full 10 hours after reading the news of Speed's successful wedding. Was this an emotional turning point for Lincoln? It's as if his fears of intimacy were suddenly allayed: If Joshua could do it, so could he. Within a few months, he resumed his courtship of Mary Todd, who had graciously waited for him. They married on Nov. 4, 1842, in the parlor of the Edwards' home. Some 10 days later, Lincoln ended an otherwise innocuous letter to a business partner, Samuel D. Marshall, by noting, "Nothing new here, except my marrying, which to me is a matter of profound wonder." Lincoln would remain often sad and melancholy, but he was never again clinically depressed and suicidal. His friendship with Speed proved therapeutic, even redemptive. Joshua Speed certainly helped guide him emotionally toward intimacy and love. As one old friend put it, Lincoln "allways thanked Josh for his Mary." Charles B. Strozier, Professor of History, City University of New York This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Follow all of the Expert Voices issues and debates and become part of the discussion on Facebook, Twitter and Google +. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. This version of the article was originally published on Live Science. The 1,900-year-old house containing scenes of nature is part of a much larger archaeological site called Omrit. A house dating back around 1,900 years, which is decorated with frescoes showing scenes of nature, has been discovered at the archaeological site of Omrit in northern Israel. Phallic amulets were also found at the site. The house was constructed during the late first or early second century A.D., and was likely two stories tall, said Daniel Schowalter, a professor at Carthage College in Wisconsin. "The floor [of the house] was plastered and its walls were covered in frescoes," Schowalter told an audience in Toronto at the joint annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America and the Society for Classical Studies in January. The frescoes show images of trees, bushes, birds, fish and plants; one includes two ducks huddled together. [In Photos: 1,700-Year-Old Mosaic Once Adorned Israeli Courtyard] Two ducks huddled together can be seen in this fresco, which was discovered in a 1,900-year-old house in Israel. (Image credit: Courtesy of Dan Schowalter) It's not certain who owned the house in ancient times. "One would guess that it might have been commissioned by a Roman official who was stationed in the area, but it could also be the home [of] a local elite who adopted some traditional Roman motifs in decoration," Schowalter told Live Science in an email. Only part of the house has been excavated so far. The excavated area "was probably a courtyard, since the doorway we have opens into the 'house' proper. In other words, you could be locked out in that area," Schowalter said. The house appears to have been demolished during the early third century, as archaeologists found a layer of fill on top of the remains of the house. On top of that layer, a new building that resembles a "stoa" (a covered walkway or portico) was constructed, Schowalter said. Several phallus-shaped amulets were found in the layer of fill that covered the demolished house, Schowalter said. "That fill was probably put down in the early third century. So the amulets date to before that time, but since it is fill, we aren't sure how long before." Amulets in the shape of peniseshave been found in many parts of the Roman Empire and may have been worn to help prevent misfortune. The excavation is part of the Omrit Settlement Excavations Project, which is co-directed by Schowalter, along with Jennifer Gates-Foster, a professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Michael Nelson, a professor at Queens College, City University of New York; Benjamin Rubin, an independent scholar; and Jason Schlude, a professor at the College of Saint Benedict & Saint John's University. Original article on Live Science. The Webb County Commissioners Court has joined over 90 counties across the state in opposing a state proposal that would provide public access to court documents online through a statewide database. Concerns include sensitive information being released to the public and a loss of revenue to the county. The Webb County Clerks Office currently charges $1 per page for copies. County commissioners passed a resolution opposing the amendment or repeal of any current statutes or rules that authorize local control over records held by the county and district clerks. The resolution also addresses the countys desire to retain its ability to determine how court records are offered to the public. It was passed in opposition of re:SearchTX, an online database contracted by the Office of Court Administration to provide access to county and district court documents from all 254 counties in Texas. The Office of Court Administration operates under the Supreme Court of Texas. The database is being introduced in phases. While it is currently only available to judges, online access is scheduled to become available to attorneys before the public is likely to see access this fall. Constitutionally and statutorily, court records are the most open records in government, David Slayton, administrative director of the Office of Court Administration, said. This system would provide individuals across the state with remote access to court documents. Attorneys in Texas are mandated by the Texas Supreme Court to file documents in both civil and criminal cases electronically. The service will be covered by an $18 million e-filing fee the state pays a third-party vendor, and will not cost the state additional money. re:SearchTX is being opposed because the clerks dont really have any idea what it entails, according to Webb County Clerk Margie Ibarra. A statewide database represents a troubling departure from local control and responsibility for the integrity of court records, the County and District Clerks Association said in a Jan. 12 letter addressed to Supreme Court of Texas Chief Justice Nathan L. Hecht. The letter was sent to notify the state of the associations opposition to the re:SearchTX database, citing areas of concern that it feels need to be addressed. According to Webb Countys clerks, the suggested database remains an unknown. Major concerns include sensitive information being released to the public and a loss of revenue due to the online availability of records. The clerks are the official custodians of all records in Webb County, and as such they carry the responsibility of ensuring sensitive information isnt placed in the wrong hands. We are only supporting that we are against (re:SearchTX) because we would have no authority, Ibarra said. The Office of Court Administration says the database would be storing unofficial copies of the records while being sensible about privacy issues and ensuring access to the public. Clerks would remain the official custodians of records and official or certified copies of records would still be obtained through the local clerks office. Record retention The association says in its letter that the re:SearchTX database has captured and stored all documents and filings submitted to the county and district courts since early last year. Ibarra said it was the countys understanding from the state when mandatory e-filing was introduced that stored documents would be deleted from the system after 30 days. However, that wasnt the case. The clerks were allegedly notified in December that the system was retaining all of the filed documents in preparation of it becoming available to attorneys and the public. The association expressed its concern about the database, saying the collection and retention of these documents as they pass through E-File Texas has been done without the express or implied consent of the county and district clerks and the approval of any county commissioners court. Ibarra said she believes the clerks should have at least been notified or asked for their opinions before records were retained or the database was rolled out. Technology The association says opposition to re:SearchTX is not a reluctance to adopt emerging technology. Webb County enjoyed the amenities that came with the introduction of e-filing. Suddenly clerks werent required to make such frequent trips to the courtroom, according to Ibarra. She said it offered direct access to the courts, giving clerks the opportunity to learn differently and move forward. The online system also offered savings on expenses, Ibarra said. But with the saved expenses comes the fear of a loss of revenue due to the database. The county currently charges a $1 per page for copies. re:SearchTX charges 10 cents per page, up to $6 per document. The recommendation is and has been all along that any revenue that is generated from the sale of the copy of documents would be the countys money, Slayton said. The database is a way to generate revenue that counties otherwise wouldnt experience, according to Slayton. Ibarra said there is concern over individuals finding ways around paying the cost of documents through the database. Record availability A subcommittee of the Judicial Committee on Information Technology, or JCIT, released recommendations early this month, saying access to basic civil filings should be provided to registered users of re:SearchTX. The JCIT serves to establish standards and guidelines for the systematic implementation and integration of technology in Texas trial and appellate courts. Basic civil filings would include cases falling under categories like civil contract, employment and injury or damage. The committee recommended re:SearchTX display that family law cases exist, but not provide access to the records of the case, Slayton said. The same would apply for criminal cases, viewers would see a pending case but wouldnt have access to the court documents. In a presentation of its recommendations, the committee said criminal cases need further review, due in part to the sensitive data issues that are unique to the criminal field that must be addressed. The committee believed it best to adopt permissions in re:SearchTX that would limit the access to information, depending on whether a judge, clerk, attorney or other user was viewing the case. JCIT is expected to release additional recommendations as it continues to address concerns over re:SearchTX access. Taryn Walters may be reached at 956-728-2528 or twalters@lmtonline.com. Joe was born in Ballagh, Newtownforbes in May 1925 and was one of John Joseph and Ellen (nee Quinn) Byrnes three children. Predeceased by his brother, John and sister, Teresa, he was the last of that generation of the Byrne family. He enjoyed a carefree childhood and delighted in the rural landscape but from an early age was keenly interested in cars and all things mechanical. At 16 years of age he was delighted to take up his apprenticeship with the old WC Pearse garage on Richmond St and so began his working life. A good humoured and witty man who made friends easily there was a change of career for Joe then some years later when he joined the famed Breadens bakery as a van delivery and salesman. It was the perfect role for him out and about and meeting people. Joes life changed for the better when he met local woman, Elizabeth Toher in 1951. They got on very well and so began a relationship that saw them married in 1955 and for the next 62 years they were rarely apart. One rarely saw one without the other. They lived first on Dublin St and it was a boisterous house to say the least as their four sons, Joe Jnr, Patrick, Michael and James, started to find their feet and voices. It was a very close knit family and both Joe Snr and Elizabeth went out of their way for their children. And as the years went on the couple were delighted to welcome eleven grandchildren and six great grandchildren into the family. Joe delighted in the company of young people and loved to hear the tales or adventure and woe from the grandchildren. He was fiercely proud of them all as they made their way in the world and would have been delighted to see them all play such a prominent role in his funeral mass. Another change in career came for Joe when he decided to join the new Midlands Health Board ambulance service. Again he was the perfect candidate for the job. He knew the roads but best of all he knew the people and on so many occasions he was a reassuring presence for families and patients as they made their way to hospital. His grand-daughter, Aisling Byrne, delivered a wonderful eulogy for her late grand-father at his funeral mass and touched on the huge esteem in which Joe was held from his time with the ambulance service. He brought his own unique sense of humour to the role and one story in particular best exemplified that. There was one Longford town man who was prone to drinking a little too much and he then tended to collapse so that the ambulance could bring him home. Usually the emergency calls came well into the night and usually after Joe Byrne had gone to bed. Well the call duly came through one night but Joe had had enough and hatched a plan. Whilst the man was lying prostrate on the ground, Joe simply told the nurse: Theres no point going to the hospital with this lad. Well go straight to the morgue. With that the man was up and walking and he never sought another lift home with the ambulance! When Joe was with the ambulance service telephones were still relatively few in the country. On another occasion he took a woman from Aughnacliffe to hospital in Mullingar and she was immediately referred to one of the Dublin hospitals. Like all Irish mothers she was more concerned however for her family at home and was keen to get word back to them. That evening after Joe Byrne had returned the ambulance to the base in Longford, he got into his own car and went out to Aughnacliffe to update her family on the womans condition. It is a story that reflected many of the great characteristics of the late Joe Byrne. He enjoyed the simple things in life and in latter years that was often a drive in the car with Elizabeth for the paper or an ice cream cone. He loved Newtownforbes, he loved Longford and its people and he was fiercely pound of where he came from. Local News, Business & Finance, Press Releases By Long Island News & PR Published: February 20 2017 During a Senate Transportation hearing on Wednesday, February 15, State Senator Todd Kaminsky questioned MTA Director Veronique Hakim on LIRRs recent poor performance. Long Island, NY - February 17, 2017 - During a Senate Transportation hearing on Wednesday, February 15, State Senator Todd Kaminsky questioned MTA Director Veronique Hakim on LIRRs recent poor performance. Over the past few months, Kaminsky has received scores of complaints from constituents decrying the LIRR service. During questioning, Senator Kaminsky read aloud a letter from a Malverne constituent criticizing the LIRR for consistent delays and cancellations: As one of your constituents, I'd appreciate it if you would be mindful of the service (or lack thereof) that the Long Island Rail Road has been providing of late. Yesterday evening 2/7/17 the entire signal system at Atlantic Terminal went down forcing all commuters to go to Penn and overcrowding those trains. This morning, some derailment occurred near Jamaica interfering with the morning rush with delays and cancellations. What is happening with the infrastructure as MTA continues to raise fares. -Scott Sulkes, Malverne My constituents are just describing and living through atrocious service by the Long Island Railroad, said Senator Todd Kaminsky during the hearing. Instead of going in a direction where things get better, it seems like you're moving backwards. Pictured still-shot from hearing video. Senator Kaminsky holding up pictures to show the state of some LIRR stations. Kaminsky also showed pictures of the dismal state of two LIRR stations - Lynbrook and Rockville Centre - in his district and pushed Hakim on why there are no plans to renovate them. This state of neglect for the Lynbrook and Rockville Centre LIRR is disappointing, said Senator Todd Kaminsky. I urge the MTA to renovate these stations as quickly as possible. I will keep advocating until they are overhauled. Despite the stations having crumbling staircases, floors and walls, the MTA has yet to allocate funding for renovating the Lynbrook and Rockville Centre LIRR stations. A 2006 Origin and Destination Study found that on the average weekday approximately 6,850 passengers board a train at Rockville Centre, making it the 12th most used LIRR station out of 122. The same study found that Lynbrook had on the average weekday 5,476 passengers and was ranked 22nd. You can view and download the hearing video here as a mpeg file. Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Press Releases By Long Island News & PR Published: February 20 2017 Suffolk County Police Third Squad detectives are seeking the publics help to locate a missing Brentwood teen. Sofia Diaz-Aguilar, 16, of Brentwood was last seen on January 29, 2017. She only speakings Spanish. Detectives are asking anyone with information on her whereabouts to call the Third Squad at 631-854-8352 or 911. Update - February 20, 2017 - The juvenile has returned home, unharmed. The original alert is below. Brentwood, NY - February 19, 2017 - Suffolk County Police Third Squad detectives are seeking the publics help to locate a missing Brentwood teen. Sofia Diaz-Aguilar, 16, of Brentwood, was last seen at her home on January 29 at approximately 11 p.m. Diaz-Aguilar, who speaks only Spanish, is 5 feet 2 inches tall, approximately 130 pounds with brown eyes and black hair. She has tattoos on her fingers that spell out her name and a religious tattoo on her left arm. Detectives are asking anyone with information on her whereabouts to call the Third Squad at 631-854-8352 or 911. News broke yesterday that Omar Abdel Rahman, an Egyptian jihadi ideologue, died in a US prison. Within hours of the reports, al Qaeda re-released a copy of Rahmans last will, in which Rahman asked his brothers to exact revenge for his death. The US District Court for the Southern District of New York convicted Rahman (seen on the right) on terror-related charges in 1995 and he was subsequently sentenced to life in prison. Rahman was convicted for his role in a conspiracy to launch terror attacks against several New York City landmarks, including the George Washington Bridge, the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels, the FBIs main office in Manhattan, and the United Nations building. Investigators also found that he was involved with the jihadists responsible for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The ninth issue of al Qaedas Al-Nafir newsletter, which was released online after news of Rahmans death spread, carried a version of Rahmans Will to the Islamic Ummah. In the text, Rahman complained of the treatment he was allegedly subjected to in an American prison, writing that the US is purposefully eliminating the scholars who speak the truth. (This is a common al Qaeda talking point, as the jihadis frequently accuse the Americans of targeting their scholars.) Rahman claimed that the Americans will eventually kill me, either through poisoning, or by giving him spoiled medicine, or with an overdose of drugs. Rahman warned that the Americans will lie about the causes of his death, so the jihadis shouldnt believe them. Rahman, who was 78, died of natural causes, according to American officials. His will has been a piece of jihadi propaganda since the 1990s. Oh brothers, if they [the Americans] kill me, and they inevitably will, then perform my funeral and send my corpse to my family, Rahman wrote, according to a translation of Al-Nafir obtained by FDDs Long War Journal. Do not forget my blood and do not squander it, but exact a most powerful and violent revenge. Rahman called on others to remember that he was their brother, spoke the truth and was killed in the way of Allah. Al-Nafirs version is similar to the text that was distributed in 1998. In The Osama bin Laden I Know, Peter Bergen wrote that copies of Rahmans will were distributed at a press conference hosted by Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri on May 26, 1998. Rahmans sons handed out a laminated card with their fathers will, as well as a fatwa authorizing attacks against the US, written on it. The text of Rahmans last will described by Bergen appears to be the same as Al-Nafirs, meaning Rahman first warned that the Americans were slowly killing him almost twenty years ago. He eventually died and now al Qaeda is using his death to call for retribution. According to the translation obtained by Bergen, Rahmans fatwa read: Cut all relations with [the Americans, Christians, and Jews], tear them to pieces, destroy their economies, burn their corporations, destroy their peace, sink their ships, shoot down their planes and kill them on air, sea, and land. And kill them wherever you may find them, ambush them, take them hostage, and destroy their observatories. Kill these infidels. Rahmans fatwa has been credited with providing theological justifications for al Qaedas attacks, as not many sheikhs endorsed bin Ladens early vision of global terror. At the May 1998 conference where Rahmans fatwa and will were handed out by his sons, bin Laden announced that he had formed the World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders. It was this front, which Rahmans sons supported, that brought the war to American targets in Aug. 1998, when the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed. Al Qaeda frequently took up Rahmans cause through the years. Bin Laden often cited Rahmans case as an example of Americas supposed injustice towards Muslims. In his 1996 declaration of war against America, Bin Laden portrayed Rahmans imprisonment as part of an alleged campaign against Islamic scholars. In 1997, according to the Washington Post, bin Laden accused the US of fabricating a baseless case against [Rahman] even though he is a blind old man. A Presidential Daily Brief delivered to President Bill Clinton on Dec. 4, 1998 warned that bin Laden and his men were working with Rahmans group, Gamaat al-Islamiyya (IG), to orchestrate an aircraft hijacking. The intent behind the putative plot was to force the US to free Rahman and others. The plot didnt progress, but it was later seen as an early harbinger of the 9/11 hijackings. In Sept. 2000, Al Jazeeras satellite channel aired footage of a meeting of several jihadi leaders in Afghanistan. All of them, including bin Laden and Zawahiri, pledged to free Rahman from jail. We promise to work with all our power to free our brother [Rahman], bin Laden said, with one of Rahmans sons by his side. Zawahiri also spoke, asking: Which one of us today would not sacrifice himself for this man who has supported every righteous stand and has been an unshakable leader? Zawahiri continued: We have a duty towards Dr. Omar Abdel Rahman, who has never abandoned a righteous stand. Do we now abandon giving him support and rewarding him? Al Qaeda and other actors continued to seek Rahmans release in the years since. After the revolution in Egypt swept Hosni Mubarak from power in 2011, Rahmans cause became even more popular. Mohamed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood figure who briefly served as Egypts president, promised his supporters that he would try to free the blind ideologue. Members of Gamaat al-Islamiyya who were closely allied with al Qaeda also helped stage a protest outside the US Embassy in Cairo on Sept. 11, 2012. The protest was pro-al Qaeda, with the groups black flag flying high and chants of Obama! Obama! We are all Osama [bin Laden]! ringing out. Some of the protesters cited Rahman in their rallying cries. In Jan. 2013, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a notorious Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) commander, orchestrated a major raid on a natural gas field in Algeria. His men took dozens of foreign nationals hostage and demanded the release of Rahman in exchange for some of them. Authorities did not comply with the demand. Al Qaeda still uses images and clips of Rahman in its propaganda. On Feb. 18, the same day that Rahmans death was announced, al Qaeda released Ayman al Zawahiris lengthy eulogy for one of Rahmans longtime comrades, Rifai Ahmed Taha Musa, who was killed in an American airstrike in Apr. 2016. Taha and Rahman were both Gamaat al-Islamiyya leaders. Zawahiri praised Taha for taking part in the aforementioned Sept. 2000 conference in Kandahar, during which the jihadis called for Rahmans release. Sheikh Rifai Taha, may God have mercy on him, took interest in the release of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman in deed, and not by merely begging America to free him, Zawahiri said. Taha agreed with bin Laden that Rahman should be freed and said so during the conference, Zawahiri remarked. Zawahiris video eulogy for Taha includes footage from the Sept. 2000 gathering, during which they praised Rahman. As Sahab, al Qaedas propaganda arm, used images of Rahman alongside Zawahiri and Taha to promote the video. (One such image can be seen above.) It may be the case that al Qaeda waited to release Zawahiris commemoration of Taha until Rahman died, as the timing of the videos online distribution is especially conspicuous. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), both of which are openly loyal to Zawahiri, released a joint eulogy for Rahman earlier today. The statement was translated by the SITE Intelligence Group. The al Qaeda branches specifically mentioned Rahmans will. We call upon the sons of Islam and its honorable knights, who were not successful in liberating the sheikh from his imprisonment, to earnestly and honestly work hard to execute his will, and to build from his blood a lighthouse that inspires the generationsto viciously avenge the sheikh against his oppressors and his wardens, the statement from AQAP and AQIM reads, according to SITEs translation. This would be the least of what his brothers in Islam and pride should do, the statement continues, as Muslims should rescueour scholars and our leaders who were faithful to Allah and never deviated from his path. Rahmans teachings had a significant influence on the development of al Qaeda and modern jihadism. For more than 20 years, al Qaedas leaders made him a central part of their cause. The jihadis will almost certainly continue to use him in their productions in the years to come. 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. February is disappearing at an alarming rate my friends. Not that Im not looking forward to spring blooms and sunnier days, but the day of reckoning (the big Italian wedding) draws ever more swiftly closer. This week were ordering our final bout of stationery so the timely arrival of the glorious celebration of Bex, a PR Director, and Toby, an Illustrator, in my inbox totally filled me with excitement and inspiration. These super-cool lovebirds wed on 13th August 2016 in one of my all time favourite places, the epically natural beauty that is North Yorkshire. Their ceremony was held at Holy Trinity Church, Boltby and the reception was at nearby High Paradise Farm. The idea of bringing the outside in was really important to us. We wanted everyone to feel like they were in the Yorkshire hills, which is why we went for a clear marquee that looked down on the breathtaking views of Boltby village from High Paradise. Tobys parents live in Boltby, a village in the North Yorkshire Moors just outside where Toby grew up, and a real beauty of a spot that we both love to visit. We live in London and I am from London too, so we also wanted to make sure there was a good enough of a mix of Yorkshire and London in all the little details; we love the rustic countryside but we wanted a bit of city chic too. Photography by Jonny Barratt Bexs incredibly stylish, modern dress was bought from The Mews Bridal in Notting Hill a stunning creation by Parisian designer Delphine Manivet. So so many of our brides found their dream dresses at The Mews Bridal and we have a growing gorgeous posse of girls who totally rocked Delphine Manivet designs too.Delphine Manivets designs are beautifully cut, so contemporary and chic but with a real sense of fun. I bounced out of the changing rooms when I put it on and knew it was a dress I would dance all night in. The dress was finished with gold Gucci mules that had a bit of a 70s vibe and a chunky heel that could handle the Yorkshire hills. Bex had her hair and make-up done by the talented Rebecca Mitchell, her soft tousled locks complemented by a blousy flower crown of heady white roses, eucalyptus and gypsophila. And to really make that pure white gown pop, Bex opted to have a Sienna X tan applied by Carly Hobbs a few days before the wedding, a treat which lasted way into the honeymoon. Toby also has to be one of the coolest grooms Ive seen this man has some serious style. His sharp, fitted suit, which he paired with a hat from Goorin Bros. in Brooklyn, New York, was finished off with a ribbon bought from Chittleborough & Morgan on Savile Rowe. He and Bex met serendipitously through a friend while she was travelling; I just love the insight into these intimate love stories! Toby wore Saint Laurent (when Hedi Slimane was still there). The minute we walked into the Bond Street store they understood Tobes style and what he was looking for. He liked it so much even his boots were Saint Laurent. It was actually a tuxedo he chose but he was much more Mick Jagger than James Bond. A friend of ours dad has a shop on Savile Rowe and hes suited the Rolling Stones since the 70s. Tobes is a huge Stones fan so it was the perfect finishing touch. I took Tobes to New York in January for his 30th birthday and bought him the hat then, not knowing it would be the wedding hat but knowing it was pretty special. Bekki Mitchell is an incredible make-up artist and totally understood that I wanted a natural look, not too heavy, but with a bit of a smouldering smokey eye to make it feel special. She also did my hair she nailed both. Toby is an illustrator and the invites were hand drawn in a concertina design where you could peer inside and reveal all the details of the day. It was all gold foil blocked with pale pink inserts with the details. They were a real labour of love, taking six friends three days to build, it was so worth the effort. The order of service had a tissue and packet of confetti attached with some beautiful bulldog clips from an Australian company called NoteMaker. The bulldog clips got stuck in customs so were definitely not one of the most cost effective elements but looked amazing. Bex walked down aisle to Avril 14th by Apex Twin and upon seeing Toby at the altar, much like her very-nearly-husband, she was completely blown away. The couple and their guests sang Our House by Crosby, Stills and Nash as one of their hymns the congregation raised the roof in a real goose bump moment that the newlyweds will never forget. They also chose John Cooper Clarkes I Wanna Be Yours, and an excerpt from A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway as readings during their ceremony, both personal favourites of mine. And just how gorgeous is their wedding stationery? Toby and I met through a friend who Bex met travelling and Toby was at uni with in Bath. When she went back to uni she told Tobes that shed met a girl he was going to fall in love with. We didnt meet until a year or so later and its fair to say she got it pretty right! Photographer Jonny Barratt was on hand to capture every love-filled moment these images are wistfully romantic, documenting all of those incomparable emotions that blossom from being surrounded by so much joy. I love the way these shots appear to have texture and such depth while totally taking advantage of natural light. Jonnys work is natural, he has personality, character and is not intrusive; an exceptional artist, photographer and person. Hes a fly on the wall, not too staged, but capturing all the key moments. He delivered so, so much more than we could have ever expected. We werent keen on the idea of even having a photographer at the beginning as we wanted to keep the day as intimate as possible. But from the moment we first Skyped Jonny we knew he was amazing and that we really connected. He very quickly and quietly figured out what we as a couple and our wedding were about and he set about creating images that captured the entire day perfectly. It has been near on impossible to narrow down our selection of images because we have so many that we love. The images have brought our friends and family to tears, made them laugh and ultimately everyone has said how they re-lived the whole day through them because of Jonnys attention to detail and incredible eye. And now we have a new friend too, so were double in luck! The images of the guests piled into the back of a big old flatbed, smiling ear to ear, are so heart-warming and the shots of the interior of Bex and Tobys incredible clear marquee are simply gorgeous. Festooned filament bulbs, abundant foliage and slim, minimal candles what is there not to love? We googled farms in the area and found Ginni and High Paradise. Ginni had recently re-launched the tea rooms at High Paradise that her grandmother had run 25 years before, so we felt like she was young, entrepreneurial and maybe a bit like us. We got in touch and got the best, most excited response that completely sealed the deal. It was so exciting as it really was they beginning of creating our perfect day. Ours was the first ever wedding at the venue and Ginni is now planning to have 3-4 weddings at the farm a year with the village, the view, the facilities and Ginnis incredible background in events and wedding planning, we think its safe to say she will be booked up for the foreseeable future and any brides and grooms to be are beyond lucky to work with her. Those stunning foliage features, as well as the bouquets and Bexs stunning headdress, were created by Sue, a friend of Tobys mum. I whole heartedly agree with Bex that this talented lady should open a floristry business. Also smothered in blooms was the couples sweet and simple wedding cake from M&S, which in all the excitement of the day they actually forgot to cut. Our chef was Ben Moore, who needs a major shout out the food was out of this world, all our guests are still talking about it. Ben is young, smart, creative and he created our perfect menu, so good it was impossible to narrow down from the tasting and we couldnt believe how he could cook for over 100 people as well as he cooked for us both then. Bex and Toby danced the night away with their loves to the musical stylings of Jonny and the Dunebugs; partly comprised of Tobys usher Johnny who is the drummer. Toby illustrated the Lets Dance drum skin making full use of his creative prowess (you have to check out his incredible site, Toby Triumph) and he and Bex kicked off proceedings with a first dance to Be My Baby by The Ronettes. Bexs best moment of the day pretty much sums up for me what a wedding is all about tying yourself to that person you like best on the whole planet, with all of your other favourite people around you. Both our speeches meant the world to each other and seeing all our favourite people in Boltby, the tiny village where Tobys parents live, was surreal and brilliant. Words of Wedded Wisdom Make it last. We purposefully took friends and family out of London so we made a long weekend of it. That way you get to spend proper time with everybody there. The people are key. Every single one of our guests REALLY showed up! From singing loudly in the church, to whooping through the speeches, sharing the hashtag like crazy and dancing all night. It was the best crowd, even if we are biased. Dont feel the need to adhere to too many traditions. The traditional service was important to us but in all the details from the stag do, to the suit, to the order of service, we always tried to make sure our personalities were reflected in everything we did and we really hope that came through on the day. The save the date is important and helps guide the look and feel of the entire day. The save the date and invite for us set the tone for the whole wedding and having that consistent design and aesthetic the whole way through the day, helped every detail feel like our ours. I cant thank Bex and Toby enough for allowing us to fawn over the gorgeous images and wonderful details of their North Yorkshire nuptials. Now I might be a tiny bit biased, hailing as I do from this spectacular place, but I think the oodles of weddings we have in our archives, which all took place in my home town, offer some concrete proof that North Yorkshire is pretty bloody beautiful. Im hopping on a plane to France as we speak, where Ill be working for the next week, alors au revoir! Em x Kochi: Three days after the shocking and harrowing attack on a renowned Malayalam actress, Pulsor Sunil, the main accused in the case filed an anticipatory bail at the High Court on Monday. In the bail plea, Sunil said that he want justice as the case was intentionally implicated against him. Meanwhile, the court will consider the petition on Tuesday. Kerala police narrowly missed arresting Pulsar Sunil on Monday, as he managed to escape before the police arrival. However the police have intensified the search for the the prime accused. RICHMOND Two Southwest Virginia lawmakers plan to require a regional economic development authority to pay $500,000 a year for a coalfields marketing initiative that the organizations director characterized as unnecessary. The money, which would go to the Lenowisco Planning District Commission, is one of the budget amendments awaiting final approval as the General Assembly heads toward adjournment Saturday. Last year, when Lenowisco submitted an application to the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority, or VCEDA, for $200,000 to fund the same marketing entity, authority director Jonathan Belcher called the proposal a conflict of interest and claimed it was redundant. Lenowisco withdrew its application in December before VCEDAs board discussed or voted on the request. This month, Del. Terry Kilgore, R-Scott, and Sen. Bill Carrico, R-Grayson, have proposed two budget amendments that would require VCEDA to pay $500,000, likely each year for three years, to Lenowisco for the international marketing initiative. They hope to match those funds with money from the Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission for a total of $3 million over three years. In the meantime, four legislators from far Southwest Virginia, Kilgore and Carrico included, have blocked two of the governors appointments to the VCEDA board in a move they say sends a message that the economic development agency needs to bring more jobs to the coalfields. We have no direct oversight over VCEDA other than the governors appointments, said Sen. Ben Chafin, R-Russell. I think what we are saying to VCEDA is that we want to do things in a different way. In a statement, VCEDA board Chairman J.P. Richardson said he was disappointed with the legislators actions. The agency and the southwest legislative delegation share many of the same concerns about unemployment and the economy in the coalfields region, he said. VCEDA has been vital to attracting employers and jobs to the region, Richardson said. While we disagree with the opinion of the Southwest delegation, and believe the facts prove otherwise, we will continue to work diligently to market the region and provide financing assistance to economic diversification in the region, Richardson said in the statement. Our mission remains unchanged as does our sincere desire to further economic diversification in the region. Call for new approach Legislators Chafin, Kilgore, Carrico and Del. Todd Pillion, R-Washington County, issued a joint statement earlier this month saying they had consulted with regional county administrators, supervisors and economic development authority members, none of whom felt the agency was doing enough for job creation in the coalfields region. With the widespread visibility of the lack of aggressive economic development marketing and lead generation from VCEDA, we can no longer tolerate the same mindset, the statement reads. We are suffering in Southwest Virginia from long term high rates of unemployment and a lack of diversity in the economy. Drastic and aggressive measures are needed to turn our economy around. Local legislators want a marketing program committed to marketing Southwest Virginia in international markets, especially Europe and Asia, Chafin said. The five members of the coalfields delegation, which includes Chafin, Kilgore, Carrico, Pillion and Del. Will Morefield, R-Tazewell, and one representative each from Lenowisco, the Cumberland Plateau Planning District and VCEDA, would be on the new marketing entitys board. VCEDA would certainly have a seat at that table, said Duane Miller, Lenowiscos executive director. VCEDA and this initiative certainly have to work hand-in-hand. Once plans are finalized, the marketing group would put out a request for proposals for an economic development expert to head the organization, Miller said. A draft marketing outline for the entity shows the regional marketing initiative would employ an executive director and a deputy director who would coordinate marketing consultants, a website developer and finance experts. The marketing initiative would track down job leads and then work with VCEDA or the Virginia Economic Development Partnership to close the deal, according to a draft marketing outline. The legislators said the authority wasnt generating enough leads that were translating into jobs in the region , which has been fighting to diversify its economy during the coal industrys decline. Where are the jobs? Thats the question, Kilgore said. Where are the jobs? Where are businesses coming to look at our area to locate at? VCEDA was created in 1988 to help the economy in the eight-locality region in far Southwest Virginia. Since its inception, it has brought more than 20,000 jobs and 285 projects to the region, according to its website. In fiscal year 2016, the authority said approved $14 million in new funding that is projected to create 580 new jobs and retain about 100 more. The entity is funded by a severance tax paid out by regional coal and gas producers , but that money is dwindling. In fiscal year 2016, the authority said its gas severance tax receipts were less than $3 million because VCEDAs coal severance receipts have declined by 71 percent. Gas tax receipts have declined by 81 percent since 2009. Too many cooks? In December, when Lenowisco submitted its application for $200,000 a year for three years from VCEDA, the economic development authoritys director said the marketing project does not comply with the VCEDA Consolidated Project Policies, according to a Dec. 5 memo. In an internal memo, VCEDAs Belcher outlined several reasons why the marketing project did not meet the authoritys funding qualifications. VCEDA does not fund the operating expenses of other economic development organizations, Lenowiscos funding request does not meet VCEDAs formula for new jobs created based on the amount of money awarded, and the request could constitute a conflict of interest because a member of Lenowisco sits on VCEDAs board, Belcher wrote. The region deserves more jobs and attention, said Julie Hensley, a former VCEDA board member whose reappointment was blocked by the legislators. But sinking $500,000 a year into a new marketing group when the region already has nearly 70 groups working toward economic development doesnt make sense, she said. Belcher, in his memo, lists 68 agencies working toward economic development in the coalfields. They include VCEDA, the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, Virginia Techs economic development office, GO Virginia, the tobacco commission and numerous local chambers of commerce and industrial development authorities, including the Lenowisco Planning District Commission. Were not supposed to be paying the day-to-day business expenses of another economic development group, Hensley said. Talk about not being sustainable. What sense does it make to have an economic development agency that pays money to keep other economic development agencies going? Many of the other economic development agencies working in the region also do marketing, Belcher wrote in his memo. If there is a desire for expanded regional marketing beyond that already being done, then the VCEDA Board may wish to consider whether it is more appropriate to do that through VCEDA as the regional economic development marketing organization for the region since 1988, Belcher wrote. Local legislators do not sit on VCEDAs board. The board is made up of the governors appointees, coal and gas representatives, members of local boards of supervisors, a VEDP representative and officials from two local planning districts. Lenowisco pulled its funding application the morning the VCEDA board was supposed to discuss the proposed marketing initiative. I am unsure exactly why, Belcher said in an email. Appointees ousted Initially, legislators from the coalfields struck all five of the governors appointees to the 16-person VCEDA board. The delegation later agreed to put three names back in the joint resolution circulating the General Assembly, Chafin said. Four of the five appointees had served on the board for less than six months, said Richardson, the VCEDA board chairman. Of the two who will not be appointed, one had served for less than six months, another for more than a year. Due to their short time on the board, the legislators decision to remove these individuals certainly cannot be related to their performance, Richardson said . Kilgore reiterated Chafins sentiment that the appointment process is the only time local legislators have a say on VCEDAs actions. The only area that we have any control over is through the appointment process, and we agreed to put three back on, Kilgore said. We met with the secretary of the commonwealth, and Im sure that the governors office will find a couple more to put on there. Mike Hymes represented Tazewell on the VCEDA board and is one of the two ousted appointees. It really hurts Tazewell County because we dont have a representative on it and theres no guarantee the governor will appoint one, Hymes said. Morefield, who normally votes in lockstep with the rest of the coalfields delegation, did not stand with the other four lawmakers supporting the VCEDA board shake-up. Morefield represents Tazewell County in the House of Delegates. Hymes, who opposed Chafin in the 2014 election, said he believes he wasnt reappointed to the board because Chafin held a grudge after the election. Hensley said she doesnt know why she was cut from the ranks. The chairwoman of the Scott County Democratic Committee had served on the board for less than six months. I wish I could point to something heroic that Ive done to be slapped down, she said. It just feels like I was standing too close to Mike when somebody stepped on us. Chafin, who won the 2014 election with a nearly 30-point margin, denied claims that cutting the appointments was an act of political retribution, but did not specify why Hymes and Hensley were not confirmed while the others were added back. Reappointed members also had no idea why they were cut, but then added back. Board appointee Larry Mosley, a member of the Lee County Board of Supervisors, said he was blindsided when Belcher told him his appointment was not confirmed. That move later was reversed. Im glad that I was put back on, Mosley said. I dont know why I was taken off. I dont know why I was put back on. Written in January 1917, Lenin analyses the cynical imperialist manoeuvres behind World War One and puts forward the proletarian revolutionary alternative as the only way out of the impasse for the working class. There is something of a holiday atmosphere in the pacifist camp. The virtuous bourgeois of the neutral countries are rejoicing: Weve made our little pile out of war profits and high prices; isnt it time to stop? We cant make more profits anyway, and the peoples patience may not last to the very end. Why shouldnt they rejoice when Wilson himself paraphrases the pacifist declaration of the Italian Socialist Party, which only just recently passed an official and solemn resolution in Kienthal to the effect that social-pacifism is utterly unsound? Is it surprising that in Avanti! Turati exults at Wilsons having paraphrased their, Italian, pseudo-socialist pacifist phrases? Is it surprising that, in Le Populaire,[2] the French social-pacifists and Kautskyites lovingly unite with Turati and Kautsky, who published in the German Social-Democratic press five particularly foolish pacifist articles, which also, of course, paraphrase the talk events have brought to the fore about a nice little democratic peace? And the present talk does differ from the previous talk in that there is some objective ground for it. This ground was created by the turn in world politics from imperialist war, which brought the peoples utter misery and the greatest betrayal of socialism by Messrs. Plekhanov, Albert Thomas, Legien, Scheidemann, etc., towards an imperialist peace, which will bring the peoples the greatest deception in the form of pious phrases, semi-reforms, semi-concessions, etc. This turn has taken place. One cannot know at the present moment even those who direct imperialist policy, the financial kings and the crowned robbers, are not in a position to determine this exactly when this imperialist peace will come, what changes in the course of the war will precede it, what the details of that peace will be. Nor is that important. What is important is the fact that a turn towards peace has been made; the important thing is the fundamental character of that peace. And these two circumstances have been made sufficiently clear by the preceding development of events. In the twenty-nine months of war, the extent of the re sources of both imperialist coalitions has become sufficiently evident. All, or nearly all, possible allies of any importance among the nearest neighbours have been drawn into the slaughter; the strength of the armies and navies has been tested and re-tested, measured and re-measured. Finance capital has made billions: the mountain of war debts shows the extent of the tribute the proletariat and the propertyless masses must now pay for decades to the international bourgeoisie for having graciously permitted them to kill off millions of their fellow wage-slaves in a war for the division of imperialist booty. It is probably impossible, in the present war, to skin the oxen of wage-labour any more than has been done already this is one of the profound economic reasons for the turn we now observe in world politics. It is impossible, because all resources in general are becoming exhausted. The American multimillionaires and their younger brethren in Holland, Switzerland, Denmark and other neutral countries are beginning to notice that the gold mine is giving out. That is behind the growth of neutral pacifism, and not noble humanitarian sentiments, as the naive, wretched and ridiculous Turati, Kautsky and Co. think. Added to this is the growing discontent and anger among the masses. In our last issue we quoted the evidence of Guchkov and Helfferich,[3] showing that both dread revolution. Is it not about time to stop the first imperialist slaughter? The objective conditions compelling cessation of the war are thus supplemented by the influence of the class instinct and class interests of the profit-glutted bourgeoisie. The political turn based on this economic turn follows two main lines: victorious Germany is driving a wedge between her main enemy, England, and Englands allies. She is able to do this because it is these allies and not England who have sustained (and may yet sustain) the heaviest blows, and also because German imperialism, having amassed a considerable amount of loot, is in a position to make minor concessions to Englands allies. It is possible that a separate peace between Germany and Russia has been concluded after all. Only the form of the political pact between those two freebooters may have been changed. The tsar may have told Wilhelm: If I openly sign a separate peace, then tomorrow, you, my august partner, may have to deal with a government of Milyukov and Guchkov, if not of Milyukov and Kerensky. For the revolution is growing, and I cannot answer for the army, whose generals are in correspondence with Guchkov and whose officers are mainly yesterdays high-school boys. Is there any point in my risking my throne and your losing a good partner? Of course not, Wilhelm must have replied, if such a suggestion was put to him, directly or indirectly. Indeed, why should we conclude an open separate peace, or any written peace treaty? Cant we achieve the same results by other, more subtle means? I will openly appeal to all humanity, offering to bestow upon it the blessings of peace. At the same time I will drop a quiet hint to the French, to let them know that I am prepared to give back all, or nearly all of France and Belgium in return for a fair share of their African colonies. I will let the Italians know that they can count on scraps of Austrias Italian lands and, in addition, on a few scraps in the Balkans. And I can bring these proposals find plans to the knowledge of the peoples: will the English be able to retain their West-European allies after that? You and I will then divide Rumania, Galicia, Armenia. As for Constantinople, my august brother, you stand as much chance of seeing it as of seeing your own ears! And Poland too, my august brother you stand as much chance of seeing it as of seeing your own ears! Whether or not such a conversation actually took place it is impossible to say Nor does it matter very much. What does matter is that events have taken precisely this turn. If the arguments of the German diplomats were unable to convince the tsar, the arguments of Mackensens army in Rumania must have been more convincing. The plan to divide Rumania between Russia and the Quadruple Alliance (i.e., Germanys allies, Austria and Bulgaria) is already being openly discussed in the German imperialist press! Loquacious Herve is already blurting out: It will be impossible to compel the people to fight any longer if they learn that we can get back Belgium and France immediately. The pacifist simpletons of the neutral bourgeoisie have already been put into action: Wilhelm has loosened their tongues! And the pacifist ... wiseacres among the socialists, Turati in Italy, Kautsky in Germany, etc., etc., are exerting all their humanitarianism, their love of humanity, their celestial virtue (and their high intellect) to embellish the coming imperialist peace! In general, how well things are arranged in this best of all possible worlds! We, the financial kings and crowned robbers, got ourselves entangled in the politics of imperialist plunder; we had to fight. Well, what of it? We are making as good a thing out of war as we make out of peace; a much better thing, in fact! And we have lackeys in plenty, all the Plekhanovs, Albert Thomases, Legiens, Scheidemanns and Co., to proclaim ours a liberation war! The time is coming to conclude an imperialist peace? Well, suppose it is? There are the war debts. Arent they obligations guaranteeing our sacred right to exact a hundredfold tribute from the peoples? And arent there simpletons to glorify this imperialist peace, to fool the peoples by sentimental speeches? We have them in plenty Turati, Kautsky and the other leaders of world socialism. The tragicomedy of Turatis and Kautskys utterances is precisely that they do not understand the real objective, political role they are playing, the role of parsons to console the people instead of rousing them to revolution, the role of bourgeois advocates, who by means of flamboyant phrases about good things in general, and a democratic peace in particular, obscure, cover up, embellish and cloak the hideous nakedness of an imperialist peace that trades in nations and carves up countries. What unites the social-chauvinists (the Plekhanovs and Scheidemanns) and the social-pacifists (Turati and Kautsky) in principle is that objectively both are servants of imperialism. The former serve it by glorifying the imperialist war, describing it as a war for defence of the fatherland; the latter serve the same imperialism by glorifying, with their talk of a democratic peace, the imperialist peace that is maturing and being prepared. The imperialist bourgeoisie needs lackeys of both species and varieties: the Plekhanovs, to encourage the continuation of the slaughter by shouting Down with the conquerors; the Kautskys, to console and placate the embittered masses by sweet songs of peace. Hence the general amalgamation of the social-chauvinists of all countries with the social-pacifists the general conspiracy against socialism referred to in the manifesto of the Berne International Socialist Committee,[4] the general amnesty to which we have more than once referred will not be an accident, but an expression of the unity on principle of both these trends of world pseudo-socialism. It is no accident that Plekhanov, while shouting frantically about the treachery of the Scheidemanns, hints at peace and unity with those gentry when the time is ripe for it. The reader may argue, can we forget that an imperialist peace is after all better than imperialist war? that, if not the whole, then at least parts of the democratic peace programme might possibly be achieved? that an independent Poland is better than a Russian Poland? that integration in Italy of Austrian-held Italian territory is a step forward? But these are exactly the arguments defenders of Turati and Kautsky use as a cover, failing to see that this transforms them from revolutionary Marxists into ordinary bourgeois reformists. Can anyone in his right mind deny that Bismarck Germany and her social laws are better than pre-1848 Germany? that the Stolypin reforms[5] are better than pre-1905 Russia? Did the German Social-Democrats (they were still Social-Democrats at that time) vote for Bismarcks reforms on these grounds? Were Stolypins reforms extolled, or even supported, by the Russian Social-Democrats, except, of course, for Messrs. Potresov, Maslov and Co., from whom even Martov, a member of their own party, now turns away with contempt? History does not stand still even in dimes of counter revolution. History has been advancing even during the imperialist slaughter of 191416, which is a continuation of the imperialist policies of preceding decades. World capitalism, which in the sixties and seventies of the last century was an advanced and progressive force of free competition, and which at the beginning of the twentieth century grew into monopoly capitalism, i.e., imperialism, took a big step forward during the war, not only towards greater concentration of finance capital, but also towards transformation into state capitalism. The force of national cohesion, the significance of national sympathies, were revealed in this war, for example, by the conduct of the Irish in one imperialist coalition, and of the Czechs in the other. The intelligent leaders of imperialism say to themselves: Of course, we cannot achieve our aims without throttling the small nations; but there are two ways of doing that. Sometimes the more reliable and profitable way is to obtain the services of sincere and conscientious advocates of fatherland defence in an imperialist war by creating politically independent states; we, of course, will see to it that they are financially dependent! It is more profitable (when imperialist powers are engaged in a major war) to be an ally of an independent Bulgaria than the master of a dependent Ireland! To complete what has been left undone in the realm of national reforms may sometimes internally strengthen an imperialist coalition this is properly taken into account by, for instance, one of the most servile lackeys of German imperialism, Karl Renner, who, of course, is a staunch supporter of unity in the Social-Democratic parties in general, and of unity with Scheidemann and Kautsky in particular. The objective course of events is having its effect, and just as the executioners of the 1848 and 1905 revolutions were, in a certain sense, their executors, so the stage managers of the imperialist slaughter are compelled to carry out certain state-capitalist, certain national reforms. Moreover, it is necessary, by throwing out a few sops, to pacify the masses, angered by the war and the high cost of living: why not promise (and partly carry out, for it does not commit one to anything!) reduction of armaments? After all, war is a branch of industry similar to forestry: it takes decades for trees of proper size that is to say, for a sufficiently abundant supply of adult cannon fodder to grow up. During these decades, we hope, new Plekhanovs, new Scheidemanns, new sentimental conciliators like Kautsky will grow up from the depths of united international Social-Democracy. Bourgeois reformists and pacifists are people who, as a general rule, are paid, in one form or another, to strengthen the rule of capitalism by patching it up, to lull the masses and divert them from the revolutionary struggle. When socialist leaders like Turati and Kautsky try to convince the masses, either by direct statements (Turati blurted one out in his notorious speech of December 17, 1916[6]), or by silent evasions (of which Kautsky is a past master), that the present imperialist war can result in a democratic peace, while the bourgeois governments remain in power and without a revolutionary insurrection against the whole net work of imperialist world relations, it is our duty to declare that such propaganda is a deception of the people, that it has nothing in common with socialism, that it amounts to the embellishment of an imperialist peace. We are for a democratic peace; and that is precisely why we do not want to lie to the peoples as Turati and Kautsky do of course with the best intentions, and for the most virtuous motives! We shall tell the truth, namely, that a democratic peace is impossible unless the revolutionary proletariat of England, France, Germany and Russia overthrows the bourgeois governments. We think it would be the height of absurdity for revolutionary Social-Democrats to refrain from fighting for reforms in general, including constitutional reform. But at the present moment, Europe is going through a period in which it is more than ever necessary to bear in mind the truth that reforms are a by-product of the revolutionary class struggle; for the task of the day not because we want it, not because of anybodys plans, but because of the objective course of events is to solve the great historical problems by means of direct mass violence, which will create new foundations, and not by means of agreements on the basis of the old, decaying and moribund. It is precisely at the present time, when the ruling bourgeoisie is preparing peacefully to disarm millions of proletarians and to transfer them safely under cover of a plausible ideology, and sprinkling them with the holy water of sentimental pacifist phrases! from the filthy, stinking, fetid trenches, where they were engaged in slaughter, to the penal servitude of the capitalist factories, where by their honest toil they must repay the hundreds of millions of national debt, it is precisely at this time that the slogan, which our Party issued to the people in the autumn of 1914,[1] viz., transform the imperialist war into a civil war for socialism, acquires still greater significance than it had at the beginning of the war. Karl Liebknecht, now sentenced to hard labour, adopted that slogan when he said from the Reichstag tribune: Turn your weapons against your class enemies within the country! The extent to which present-day society has matured for the transition to socialism has been demonstrated by this war, in which the exertion of national effort called for the direction of the economic life of over fifty million people from a single centre. If this is possible under the leadership of a handful of Junker aristocrats in the interests of a handful of financial magnates, it is certainly no less possible under the leadership of class-conscious workers in the interests of nine-tenths of the population, exhausted by starvation and war. But to lead the masses, the class-conscious workers must understand the litter corruption of such socialist leaders as Turati, Kautsky and Co. These gentlemen imagine they are revolutionary Social-Democrats, and they are very indignant when they are told that their place is in the party of Messrs. Bissolati, Scheidemann, Legien and Co. But Turati and Kautsky wholly fail to realise that only a revolution of the masses can solve the great problems of the day. They have not a grain of faith in the revolution, they do not pay the slightest attention to, or display the slightest interest in, the way it is maturing in the minds and moods of the masses precisely in connection with the war. Their attention is entirely absorbed in reforms, in pacts between sections of the ruling classes; it is to them that they address themselves, it is them they seek to persuade, it is to them they wish to adapt the labour movement. But the whole thing now is to get the class-conscious vanguard of the proletariat to direct its thoughts to, and muster its forces for, a revolutionary struggle to overthrow their governments. Revolutions such as Turati and Kautsky are prepared to accept, i.e., revolutions for which the date and the chances of success can be set in advance, never happen. The revolutionary situation in Europe is a fact. The extreme discontent, the unrest and anger of the masses are facts. It is on strengthening this torrent that revolutionary Social-Democrats must concentrate all their efforts. Upon the strength of the revolutionary movement, in the event of its not being entirely successful, will depend what portion of the promised reforms will be realised in practice, and what use they will be for the further struggle of the working class. Upon the strength of the revolutionary movement, in the event of its being entirely successful, will depend the victory of socialism in Europe and the achievement not of an imperialist armistice in Germanys struggle against Russia and England, or in Russias and Germanys struggle against England, or the United States struggle against Germany and England, etc., but of a really lasting and really democratic peace. Notes [1] See present edition, Vol. 21, pp. 2534. Ed. [2]